A39660:157
Englands duty under the present gospel liberty from Revel. III, vers. 20
Englands duty under the present gospel liberty from Revel. III, vers. 20 : wherein is opened the admirable condescension and patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate sinners, the wretched state of the unconverted, the nature of evangelical faith ..., the riches of free grace in the offers of Christ ..., the invaluable privileges of union and communion granted to all who receive him ... / by John Flavell ...Englands duty under the present gospel liberty from Revel. III, vers. 20 : wherein is opened the admirable condescension and patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate sinners, the wretched state of the unconverted, the nature of evangelical faith ..., the riches of free grace in the offers of Christ ..., the invaluable priviledges of union and communion granted to all who receive him ... / by John Flavell ...
London: printed for Matthew Wotton, 1689
Sermon 1 › Application 2 › Consideration 4: IV. CONSIDERATION.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
IV. CONSIDERATION.
Reflect seriously upon your own vileness, to whom such gracious offers of Peace and Mercy are made. Thy sins have set thee at as great a distance, from the hopes and expectations of pardon, as any sinner in the World. Consider Man, what thou hast been, what thou hast done, and what vast heaps of guilt thou hast contracted by a life of sin, and yet that unto thee Pardon and Peace should be offered in Christ, after such a life of Rebellion, how astonishing is the mercy! The Lord is contented to pass by all thy former Rebellions, thy deep died Transgressions, and to sign an Act of Oblivion for all that is past, if ⟨p. 20⟩now at last thy Heart relent for Sin, and thy Will bow in obedience to the gr•at commands and call of the Gospel, Isa. 55. 2. & 1. 18.
V. CONSIDERATION.
Consider how many offers of mercy you have already refused, and that every refusal is recorded against you. How long you have tried and even tired the patience of God already, and that this may be the last overture of Grace that ever God will make to your Souls. Certainly there is an offer that will be the last offer, a striving of the Spirit which will be his last striving; and after that no more offers without you, no more motions or strivings within you for evermore. The Treaty is then ended, and your last neglect or rejection of Christ recorded against the day of your account; and what if this should prove to be that last tender of Grace which must conclude the Treaty betwixt Christ and you, what undone wretches must you then be, with whom so gracious a Treaty breaks off upon such dreadful terms!