A39682:220
A Saint Indeed
A saint indeed: or The great work of a Christian, opened and pressed; from Prov. 4. 23 Being a seasonable and proper expedient for the recovery of the much decayed power of godliness, among the professors of these times. By John Flavell M. of the Gospel.
London: printed by W.R., 1668
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.
3. Help. Beg of God a mortified fancy, a working fancy (saith one) how much soever it be extolled among men, is a great snare to the Soul; except it work in fellowship with right reason, and a sanctified heart: the fantasy is a power of the Soul placed between the senses and the understanding, 'tis that which first stirs it self in the Soul, and by i•s motion the other powers are stirred, 'tis the common shop where thoughts are first forged and framed, and as this is, so are they; if imaginations be not first cast down, 'tis impossible that every thought of the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ, 2 Cor. 10. 5. this fancy is naturally the wildest and most untameable power in the Soul. Some Christians (especially such as are of hot and dry constitutions) have much to do with it.
3. Help. Beg of God a mortisied fancy, a working fancy (saith one) how much soever it be extold among men, is a great snare to the Soul; except it work in fellowship with right reason, and a sanctified heart: the phantasie is a power of the Soul placed between the senses and the understanding, 'tis that which first stirrs it self in the Soul, and by i•s motion the other powers are stirred, 'tis the common shop where thoughts are first forged and framed, and as this is, so are they; if imaginations be not first cast down, 'tis impossible that every thought of the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ, 2 Cor. 10. 5. this fancy is naturally the wildest and most untameable power in the Soul. Some Christians (especially such as are of hot and dry constitutions) have much to doe with it.
And truly, the more spiritual the heart is, the more 'tis troubled about the vanity and wildness of it. O what a sad thing it is! that thy nobler Soul must lackey up and down, after a vain roving fancy, ⟨p. 108⟩