A39682:410
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.
An honest well experienced heart is a singular help to a weak head, such a heart will serve you in stead of a Commentary upon a great part of the Scriptures: by this means you shall far better understand the things of God than the learned Rabbis and profound Doctors (if graceless and unexperienced) ever did, you shall not only have a more clear, but a more sweet perception and gust of them: a man may discourse orthodoxly and ⟨p. 193⟩profoundly of the nature and effects of faith, the troubles and comforts of Conscience, the sweetness of Communion with God, that never felt the efficacy and sweet impressions of these things upon his own spirit: but O how dark and dry are these notions, compared with his, upon whose heart they have been acted? when such a man reads Davids Psalms, or Pauls Epistles, there he finds his own objections made and answered: O saith he, these holy men speak my very hear•! their doubts were mine, their troubles mine, and their experiences mine. I remember Chrysostom speaking to his people of Antioch about some choice experiences, useth this expression. Sciunt initiati quid dico: those that are initiated know what I say, experience is the best Schoolmaster. O then! study your hearts, keep your hearts.
An honest well experienced heart is a singular help to a weak head, such a heart will serve you in stead of a Commentary upon a great part of the Scriptures: by this means you shall far better understand the things of God than the learned Rabbies and profound Doctors (if graceless and unexperienced) ever did, you shall not only have a more clear, but a more sweet perception and gust of them: a man may discourse orthodoxly and ⟨p. 193⟩profoundly of the nature and effects of faith, the troubles and comforts of Conscience, the sweetness of Communion with God, that never felt the efficacy and sweet impressions of these things upon his own spirit: but O how dark and dry are these notions, compared with his, upon whose heart they have been acted? when such a man reads Davids Psalms, or Pauls Epistles, there he finds his own objections made and answered: O saith he, these holy men speak my very hear•! their doubts were mine, their troubles mine, and their experiences mine. I remember Chrysostome speaking to his people of Antioch about some choice experiences, useth this expression. Sciunt initiati quid dico: those that are initiated know what I say, experience is the best Schoolmaster. O then! study your hearts, keep your hearts.