A39678:506
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native country, and the souls of men.The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native countrey, and the souls of men.
London: printed for Thomas Cockerill, 1691
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.
2. Some think the common profession of Christianity makes them Christians enough. They are no Heathens, Mahometans, or idolatrous Papists, but Protestants, within the Pale of the True Church, that is, professed reformed Christians.
But Friends, I beg you to consider, that convictive Text, 1 Cor. 4. 20. The Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Many there be, that in words confess Christ, but in works they deny him. And why were the foolish Virgins (that is, professed reformed Christians) shut out of the Kingdom of God, if the Lamps of verbal profession, without the Oil of Internal Godliness, were enough for our Salvation? Mat. 25. 3, 12. Believe it, Sirs, many will claim acquaintance with Christ upon this account, and expect favour from him in the great day, of whom he will profess he never knew them, Mat. 7. 22. Christ need not have put men upon striving as in an Agony to enter in at the strait Gate, if Baptism in our Infancy, or Verbal Profession of Christianity were all the difficulties ⟨p. 134⟩men had to encounter in the way to Heaven.
But Friends, I beg you to consider, that convictive Text, 1 Cor. 4. 20. The Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Many there be, that in words confess Christ, but in works they deny him. And why were the foolish Virgins (that is, professed reformed Christians) shut out of the Kingdom of God, if the Lamps of verbal profession, without the Oyl of Internal Godliness, were enough for our Salvation? Mat. 25. 3, 12. Believe it, Sirs, many will claim acquaintance with Christ upon this account, and expect favour from him in the great day, of whom he will profess he never knew them,