A39682:74
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. 'Tis the most important business of a Christians life; without this we are but Formalists in Religion: all our Professions, Gifts and Duties, signify nothing: My Son give me thine Heart, Pro. 23. 26. God is pleased to call that a gift, which is indeed a debt; he will put this honour upon the Creature to receive it from him in the way of a gift, but if this be not given him he regards not what ever else you bring to him: there is so much only of worth and value in what we do, as there is of Heart in it: Concerning the Heart, God seems to say as ⟨p. 17⟩Joseph of Benjamin, If you bring not Benjamin with you, you shall not see my face. Among the Heathens when the Beast was cut up for sacrifice, the first thing the Priest looked upon was the Heart, and if that were unsound and naught, the Sacrifice was rejected. God rejects all duties (how glorious soever in other respects) offered him without a heart: He that performs duty without a heart, viz. heedlessly, is no more accepted with God then he that performs it with a double heart, viz. hypocritically, Isa. 66. 3. And thus I have briefly opened the nature of the Duty, what is imported in this phrase, Keep thy heart.
3. 'Tis the most important business of a Christians life; without this we are but Formalists in Religion: all our Professions, Gifts and Duties, signifie nothing: My Son give me thine Heart, Pro. 23. 26. God is pleased to call that a gift, which is indeed a debt; he will put this honour upon the Creature to receive it from him in the way of a gift, but if this be not given him he regards not what ever else you bring to him: there is so much only of worth and value in what we do, as there is of Heart in it: Concerning the Heart, God seems to say as ⟨p. 17⟩Ioseph of Benjamin, If you bring not Benjamin with you, you shall not see my face. Among the Heathens when the Beast was cut up for sacrifice, the first thing the Priest lookt upon was the Heart, and if that were unsound and naught, the Sacrifice was rejected. God rejects all duties (how glorious soever in other respects) offered him without a heart: He that performs duty without a heart, viz. heedlesly, is no more accepted with God then he that performs it with a double heart, viz. hypocritically,