A39695:369
The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptoms of hypocrisy opened…The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptomes of hypocrisie opened…
The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptoms of hypocrisy opened in a practical treatise upon Revelations III 17, 18 being the second part of the Saint indeed / by John Flavell ...The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptomes of hypocrisie opened in a practical treatise upon Revelations III 17, 18 being the second part of the Saint indeed / by John Flavell ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1698
Title page typeset from the transcription.
THE Touchstone of Sincerity: OR, THE SIGNS Of GRACE, AND Symptoms o… › Chapter 6 › Section 7
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.
So then to fret at Christ's Laws that tie us up from our Lusts, to be weary of all spiritual employments as a burden intolerable, never to be in our Element and Centre till we are off from God, and plunging in the ⟨p. 106⟩world, and our lusts; this is a sad note of a soul in subjection to sin.
So then to fret at Christ's Laws that tie us up from our Lusts, to be weary of all spiritual imployments as a burden intolerable, never to be in our Element and Centre till we are off from God, and plunging in the ⟨p. 106⟩world, and our lusts; this is a sad note of a soul in subjection to sin.
Object. But may not an upright soul find some weariness in spiritual things?
Sol. Doubtless he may, for he hath flesh as well as spirit, and tho' the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak: he is sanctified but in part, and his delight in the Law of God is but according to, or after the inner man, Rom. 7. 22. but he sees another law in his members, (i.e) contrary inclinations. However, if he be weary sometimes in the duties of Godliness, to be sure he is more weary out of 'em, and is not Centred and at rest till he be with his God again: But the Carnal heart is where it would be when it is in the service of sin: and as a Fish upon dry land, when engaged in spiritual duties. Especially such as are secret, and have no external allurements of reputation to engage him to them.
Sol. Doubtless he may, for he hath flesh as well as spirit, and tho' the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak: he is sanctified but in part, and his delight in the Law of God is but according to, or after the inner man,