A39663:2267
The Fountain of Life Opened
The fountain of life opened, or, A display of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun, carried on, and finished by his covenant-transaction, mysterious incarnation, solemn call and dedication ... / by John Flavell ...The fountain of life opened, or, A display of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun, carryed on, and finished by his covenant-transaction, mysterious incarnation, solemn call and dedication ... / by John Flavell ...
London: printed for Rob. White, 1673
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.
Fourthly, And lastly, Your very enemies engage you to this §4pure and holy life upon a double ground. You are obliged by them two ways, viz. as they are your bold censurers, and your watchful observers. They censure you as hypocrites, and will you give them ground and matter for such a charge? they say only your tongues are more holy than other mens, and shall they prove it, from your practice? They also observe you diligently. Lie at catch, and are highly gratified by your miscarriages. If your lives be loose and defiled, you will not only be a shame to your friends, but the Song of your enemies. You will make mirth in ⟨p. 616⟩Hell. And gratify all the enemies of God. This is that they watch for. They are curious observers of your goings. And that which makes them Triumph at your falls and miscarriages, is not only that deep rooted enmity betwixt the two seeds, but because all your miscarriages and evils are so many absolutions to their consciences, and Justifications (as they think) of their ways and practices. For look as your strictness and holiness doth as it were cast, and condemn them, as Noah, Heb. 11.7. by his practice, condemned the world, their consciences fly in their faces, when they see your holy and pure conversations. It lays a damp upon them. It works upon their consciences and causes many smart reflections. So when you fall, you as it were absolve their consciences, loose the bonds of conviction you had made fast upon them, and now there's matter of Joy put before them.
Fourthly, And lastly, Your very enemies engage you to this §4pure and holy life upon a double ground. You are obliged by them two waies, viz. as they are your bold censurers, and your watchful observers. They censure you as hypocrites, and will you give them ground and matter for such a charge? they say only your tongues are more holy than other mens, and shall they prove it, from your practice? They also observe you diligently. Lie at catch, and are highly gratified by your miscarriages. If your lives be loose and defiled, you will not only be a shame to your friends, but the Song of your enemies. You will make mirth in ⟨p. 616⟩