A39696:830
Two treatises the first of fear, from Isa. 8, v. 12, 13, and part…
Two treatises the first of fear, from Isa. 8, v. 12, 13, and part of the 14 : the second, The righteous man's refuge in the evil day, from Isaiah 26, verse 20 / by John Flavell.
London: printed by H.H. for Robert Boulter, 1682
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.
1. If he object the many sharp afflictions, and manifold rods of God upon thee, call not the Love of God in question for that; but remember what •he saith, Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Fatherly Corrections are so far from being inconsistent with the love of God, that his love is rather questionable without them, than for them; they are love tokens, not marks of hatred.
2. Yield not up thy claim and title to the love of God, because he sometimes hides away his face ⟨p. 258⟩from thee; thou knowest the sun is up, and going on in its regular course, in the darkest and closest day. My God, my God, saith Christ himself, Why hast thou forsaken me? believe he is still thy God, and his love immutable, when the sense and manifestations thereof do fail.
3. Call not the Love of God into question, because of thy great vileness and unworthiness; say not when thou most loathest thy self, God must needs loath thee too; he can love where thou loathest. Return, return, O Shulamite, return, return, that we may look upon thee: what will ye see in the Shulamite? as it were the company of two armies. The Spouse was exceeding beautiful in the eyes of others, when most base and vile in her own: What would you see in the Shulamite? alas, there is nothing in me, at the best, but Conflicts, and Wars, betwixt Grace and Corruption, as it were betwixt two Armies, Cant. 6. 13.