A39695:420
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 7 › Section 2
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.
The end and design you aim at must be spiritual, the enjoyment of God, and a growing conformity to him in holiness; else, multiply duties as the sand on the sea shore, & they all will not amount to one evidence of your sincerity. God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit, saith the Apostles, Rom▪ 1. 9. he seems to appeal to God in this matter. I serve God in my spirit, and God knows that I do so. I dare appeal to him that it is so: he knows that my heart is with him, or would be with him in my duties: the arms of my faith do either▪ sensibly grasp, or are stretched out towards him in my duties. O how little •avour do gracious hearts find in the most excellent duties, if ⟨p. 121⟩God and their souls do not sensibly meet in them!
The end and design you aim at must be spiritual, the enjoyment of God, and a growing conformity to him in holiness; else, multiply duties as the sand on the sea shore, & they all will not amount to one evidence of your •incerity. God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit, saith the Apostles, Rom▪ 1. 9. he seems to appeal to God in this matter. I serve God in my spirit, and God knows that I do so. I dare appeal to him that it is so: he knows that my heart is with him, or would be with him in my duties: the armes of my faith do either▪ •ensibly grasp, or are stretched out towards him in my duties. O how little •avour do gracious hearts find in the most excellent duties, if ⟨p. 121⟩God and their souls do not sensibly meet in them!
Certainly Reader, There is a time when God comes nigh to men in duty, when he deals familiarly with men, and sensibly fills their souls with unusual powers and delights. The near approaches of God to their souls are felt by them, (for souls have their senses as well as bodies;) and now are their minds abstracted and marvellously refined from all that is material and earthly, and swallowed up in spiritual excellencies and glories.