A39660:247
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 3 › DOCTRINE. › Bar 1: First Bar.Sermon 3 › DOCTRIN. › Bar 1: First Bar.
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.
First Bar.
The first Bar making fast the Soul of Man against Christ, is Ignorance, that obex infernalis, that hellish Bolt, which effectually keeps Christ out of the Soul.
If Knowledge be the Key that opens the Heart to Christ, as its plain it is, from Luke 11. 52. where Christ denounceth a woe to them that took away the Key of Knowledge; then Ignorance must needs be the shutter that makes fast the door of the Heart against Christ. Upon this ground Christ told the Woman of Samaria, John 4. 10. that her Infidelity grew upon the root of her Ignorance, If thou […] the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Ah sinners, did you but know what a Christ he is that is offered to your Souls in the Gospel, did you see his beauty, fullness, and suitableness, and feel your own necessities of him, all the World could not keep you from him: You would break through all reproaches, all sufferings, all self-denials, to come into the enjoyment of him. But alas, it is with you as it was with those, Cant. 5. 9. What is thy beloved (say they to the Spouse) more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? Unknown excellencies attract not: Ignorance is Satan's Sceptre, which he sways over all his Kingdom of darkness, and holds his Vassals in miserable bondage to him. Hence the Devils are called, The rulers of the darkness of this World, Ephes. 6. 12. Alas, were the Eyes of sinners but opened to see their woeful ⟨p. 51⟩