A39660:476
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. You see what Christ's knocking at the Soul of a sinner implies, and by what instruments it is performed. In the last place, we will consider the manner how this action is performed, in the Ten following Particulars, wherein much of the mystery of Conversion will be opened; ⟨p. 149⟩the Lord grant your experience may answer them. We cannot indeed exactly describe and mark all the footsteps of the Spirit in this Work upon the Souls of Men; yet these things seem eminently observable.
III. You see what Christ's knocking at the Soul of a sinner implies, and by what instruments it is performed. In the last place, we will consider the manner how this action is performed, in the Ten following Particulars, wherein much of the mistery of Conversion will be opened; ⟨p. 149⟩the Lord grant your experience may answer them. VVe cannot indeed exactly describe and mark all the footsteps of the Spirit in this VVork upon the Souls of Men; yet these things seem eminently observable.
1. The knocks of Christ at the sinners Heart are silent and secret to all persons in the World except the Soul it self, at whose door he knocks; here be many hundreds of you this day under the Word; if the Lord shall this day knock by Conviction at any Man's Heart, none will hear that knock, but that Man only; for it is a knock without sound or noise to any but the particular Soul concerned in it. It was fore-prophesied of our Redeemer, and of this very act of his, Isa. 4. 2. 2. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the Street. The Kingdom of God cometh not into the Souls of Men with public observation; you read in 1 Cor. 2. 11. No Man knoweth the things of a Man, saving the Spirit of a Man that is in him. None knows what Convictions another Man's Conscience feels, until he himself shall discover them; you hear the same sound of the Gospel, but you hear not the inward strokes it gives to another Man's Conscience. Christ's approaches to the Soul make no noise; little do we know what the Spirit of Christ whispers in the Ear of him that sits next us. 'Tis said of the inward comforts of the Spirit, I will give him the hidden Manna which no Man knows but he that eateth of it. This is true also of inward terrors and troubles. Christ's knocks by Conviction are but a secret whisper of his Spirit in the Ear of a sinner, saying, Thou art the Man, this is thy case. That is the first thing in the