A39660:280
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
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. Inference.
Learn hence the necessity of Conversion in order to Salvation. Christ and Heaven are shut up against you till your hearts be savingly opened unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born again, John 3. 5. O sinner, that hard Heart of thine must be humbled; thy stubborn and refractory Will must be bowed; all the powers of thy Soul must be unlocked, and opened unto Christ; he must come into thy Soul, or thou canst never see the face of God in peace. It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory, Col. 1. 27. Till thy Heart be opened, Christ with all the hopes of glory stand without thee. And if hopes from the death of Christ without us, without the application of his person, be enough to save Men, then why are any damned? Consult 1 Cor. 1. 30. Adams sin damns none but only such as are in him, and Christs righteousness saves none but those only that are by faith in him; the eternal purposes of the Father, the meritorious death of the Son, puts no Man into the state of Salvation and happiness till both be brought home by the Spirits powerful application in the work of saving conversion. Tis good news, good indeed, that Christ died for sinners; tis good news that Christ is brought to our very doors in the tenders of the Gospel, and that the Spirit knocks at the door of our Hearts by many convictions and persuasions to open to him and enjoy the unspeakable benefits ⟨p. 64⟩of his death: these things bring us nigh to Christ, the next door to Salvation, and yet all this may be eventually but a dreadful aggravation of our damnation, and will certainly be so to them whose Hearts are but almost opened to Christ.