A39695:395
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 8
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.
4. Fourthly, There is an opposition to he root of sin, and an opposition to the fruits of sin. A gracious soul opposeth root and fruit, but others the latter only. The great design of an upright soul, is not only to lop off this or that branch, but to kill the root of sin which is in his nature, Rom. 7.
24. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? but the great care and endeavours of others is to suppress outward acts of sin, and escape the mischievous consequents of it: yea, their study is as Lactantius phraseth it, Potius abscondere, quam abscindere vitia: to hide, rather than to kill their Lusts.
5. Fifthly, There is an opposition to sin, in the strength of God, and an opposition to sin, in our own strength: The former is proper to a real Christian, the later is found frequently with unsanctified persons: when a Christian goes forth against any sin, it is in the strength of God: So you read their rule directs them, Eph. 6. 10. Be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might: take unto ⟨p. 114⟩you the whole armour of God: and suitab•• you shall find them frequently upon the• knees begging strength from heaven again their Lusts; 2 Cor. 12. 8. For this cause I b• sought the Lord thrice, saith Paul (i. e.) Ofte• and earnestly, that the temptation mig depart from him.