A39682:290
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.
Arg. 2. The second Argument is drawn from the Secrecy of sin: O (saith Satan, this sin will never disgrace thee ab•oad, none shall know it.
Arg. 2. The second Argument is drawn from the Secresy of sin: O (saith Satan, this sin will never disgrace thee ab•oad, none shall know it.
This Argument may be retorted, and the heart secured thus: Thou sayest, none shall know it; but Satan, canst thou find a place void of the Divine Presence for me to sin in? Thus Job secured his heart from this temptation, Job 31. 4. Doth he not see my ways, and count all my steps? therefore he makes a Covenant with his eyes, verse 1. After the same manner Solomon •eaches us to retort this temptation, Prov. 5. 20. 21. And why my Son wilt thou be ravished with a strange Woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. What if I hide it from the eyes o• all the world for the present, I cannot hide it from God; and the time is at hand, when all the world shall know it too; for the Word assures me, Luke 8. 17. That what is done now in secret, shall be proclaimed as upon the house top. Besides, is not my Conscience as a thousand witnesses? Do I owe no reverence to my self? could t•e Heathen ⟨p. 142⟩man say, turpe quid assurus, te sine teste time, when thou art tempted to commit sin, fear thy self without any other witness: and shall not I be afraid to sin before mine own Conscience, which always hath a reproof in its mouth, or a pen in its hand, to record my most secret actions?