A39660:604
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 6 › Application 2: II. Use.Sermon 6 › Application 2: II. Vse.
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.
1. The same day and hour you give your cordial consent to take Christ upon Gospel terms, that is to say, Christ with his yoke of obedience, ⟨p. 210⟩and Christ with his Cross of Sufferings, all your debts to the Law are discharged and paid; what have you been doing ever since you came into the World but running upon score to God, deeper, and deeper every day? O what a vast sum owest thou to his Justice? And not able to pay one farthing. If thou consent not to Christs offer, the Bailiff and Executioner, Death and the Devil, will shortly be upon thy back, and hurry thee away to that prison from whence thou shalt not come out until thou have paid the last farthing, Matth. 5. 25, 26. If thou consent to Christs terms thy debts are paid upon thy marriage day; thy bonds cancelled, and thy discharge in Heaven sealed, Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ; and the reason is given, vers. 4. in this, That the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us that believe. But how in us? Certainly the meaning is not that the To credere, the act of Faith doth, as it is, a work of ours, satisfy the demand of the Law, and fulfil its righteousness; no, but it apprehends the righteousness of Christ, applies it, and makes it ours, and so the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us that believe. Is it an ease, is it a comfort to be out of debt? Then embrace the offer of Christ, for after thy espousals to him, the Law cannot touch thee by any act of condemnation; it goes to the Husband Christ, thou art discharged. Well then, resolve what to do; shall the debt run on and increase till Justice come to levy it upon you in Hell Torments? Or will you accept of Christ and the riches of righteousness that are in him, and so be fully and finally acquitted from all your debts at once, and so be able to lye down in ⟨p. 211⟩peace, and enjoy your lives without slavish fear? He that owes nothing, fears no Bailiffs, but may (as we use to say) whet his Knife upon the Counter threshold.
1. The same day and hour you give your cordial consent to take Christ upon Gospel terms, that is to say, Christ with his yoak of obedience, ⟨p. 210⟩