B36604:198
Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity,…
Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity, excellency, and means of our readiness for sufferings are evinced and prescribed; our call to suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of many professors bewailed. By John Flavel minister of Christ in Devon.Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity, excellency, and means of our readiness for sufferings are evinced and prescribed; our call to suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of many profesours bewailed. By John Flavel minister of Christ in Devon.
London: printed for Robert Boulter, 1681
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. Attend diligently upon the Ministration of the Gospel, which is not only the procreant, but also the conserving cause of Faith, 1 Pet. 2.2. the Doctrine of Faith, is the Food and Nutriment of the Grace of Faith: There are its Rules, its Encouragements, its Cordials. Thence Faith takes and treasures up its Michtams, to which it hath recourse in times of need: Every Attribute, Command, or Promise, that shines forth there, is a Dish for Faith to feed on, but all together are a Royal Feast; Psal. 63.5. Some say the Land of Judea is called the Land of the Living, in Psal. 27.13. in respect of the Ordinances of God which that people enjoyed: Certain it is, they are the great Instruments of quickening Souls at first, and preserving that life it so begat in them: But then, be sure they have Christs stamp upon them, and that they be ministered by his own Officers, and in his own way: And so you may reasonably expect more fruits and influences from them, than from all private gifts and helps in the World: For the Lord loveth the Gates of Zion, more than all the dwellings of Jacob, Psal. 87.2. and all private helps may say, in comparison of Christs public Ordinances, as Gideon said to the men of Ephraim, Judg. 8.2. What have we done in comparison of you?
1. Attend diligently upon the Ministration of the Gospel, which is not only the procreant, but also the conserving cause of Faith, 1 Pet. 2.2. the Doctrine of Faith, is the Food and Nutriment of the Grace of Faith: There are its Rules, its Encouragements, its Cordials. Thence Faith takes and treasures up its Michtams, to which it hath recourse in times of need: Every Attribute, Command, or Promise, that shines forth there, is a Dish for Faith to feed on, but all together are a Royal Feast; Psal. 63.5. Some say the Land of Judea is called the Land of the Living, in