Chapter 266 of 325

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‘Men should not think they are more evangelical than the Author of the Gospel—more skilled in the mystery of conversion and edification of the souls of men than the Apostles: in a word, more wise than God himself; which they must think, if they neglect this part of his ordinance. The hearts of believers are like gardens, in which there are not only flowers, but weeds; and just as the former must be watered and cherished, so the latter must be curbed and nipped. If nothing but dews and showers of promises should fall upon the heart, though it seems they to tend to cherish their graces, yet the weeds of corruption are apt to grow up with them, and in the end to choke them, unless they are nipped and blasted by the severity of chastenings. Although, in the use of means, they will be secured from falling under the final execution of God’s punishment; yet they know there is an infallible connexion signified in them between sin and destruction (1Cor. 6.9-11), and that they must avoid the one, if they would escape the other.’ Owen on Heb. 2.2-4.

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