A39660:299
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.
III. Mark.
If Christ be come into thy Heart, then the love and delight of every sin is gone out of thy Heart. Christ and the love of sin cannot dwell together; what Christ said to the Soldiers that ⟨p. 71⟩apprehended him, in the Garden, the like he saith to every Soul that comes to apprehend him by Faith, If you seek me, let these go their way; away with the sin thou most delightest in, Christ cannot come in till these be gone, Isa. 55. 6, 7, 8. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Here be the terms of your Acceptation and Salvation plainly laid down, forsake thy ways and thoughts; the way notes the external acts of sin, and the thoughts the internal acts; both of contrivance, and delight in sin, both these must be forsaken; and that's not all, for this makes up but a negative holiness, Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy. It is in vain for Men to make the door of Salvation wider than God hath made it; we cannot bring down Christs terms lower than he hath set them; if we will not come up to them, Christ and we must part. And this makes the great struggle, the sharp debate, in the Souls of Converts. Oh, tis hard to give up pleasant and profitable lusts; but away they must go, a Bill of Divorce must be signed for them, or you cannot be espoused to the Lord Jesus. This will be found to be a harder tug than to part with all externals for Christ sake.
If Christ be come into thy Heart, then the love and delight of every sin is gone out of thy Heart. Christ and the love of sin cannot dwell together; what Christ said to the Soldiers that