England'S Duty,
[ 395 ]
ENGLAND'S DUTY,
UNDER THE PRESENT
GOSPEL - LIBERTY.
From Revelation iii. 20.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
MOUNT PISGAH :
; OR, A Thanksgiving SERMON for ENGLAND's Delivery from POPERY, Feb. 1688-9.
95995555555
An EPISTLE TO THE READER.
Candid Reader, THE following discourse HE following discourse comestothyhandin that native preached.
I was confcientiouflyunwilling to alter it, because I found by experience,the Lordhadbleffed and prospered it in that dress, far beyond any other composures on which I had bestowed more pains.
Let it not be cenfuredas vanity or oftentation,that I here acknowledge the goodness of God, in leading me to, and blessing my poor labours upon this subject.
Who, and what am I that I should be continued, and again employed in the Lord's harvest, and that with success and encouragement, when so many of my brethren, with their much richer furnitures of gifts and graces, have in my time been called out of the vineyard, and are now silent in the grave! It is true, they enjoy what I do not; and it is as true, I am capable of doing some service for God,which they are not. In preaching these sermons, I had many occasions to reflect upon the mystical sense of that fcripDdd2
An Epistle to the Reader. ture, Amos ix. 13. " The plowman shall overtake the reaper,
" and the treader of grapes him that foweth feed."
Sowing and reaping times trode so close upon one another, that (in all humility I speak it to the praise of God) itwasthebufiest and blessedest time I ever saw, since I first preached the gospel.
England hath now a day of special mercy: there is a wide doorofopportunity opened to it; O that it might prove an effectual door ! It is transporting and astonishing, that after all the high and horrid provocations, the atheism, prophaneness and bitter enmity against light and reformation : this sweet voice is still heard in England, Behold, 1stand at the door and knock.
The mercies and liberties of this day are a new trial obtained for us by our potent Advocate in the heavens : if we bring forth fruit, well; if not, the ax lieth at the root of the tree.
Let us not be secure. Jerusalem was the city of the great King; the feat of his worship, and symbols of his preTence were fixed there; it was the joy of the whole earth, the
house of prayer for all nations ; thither the tribes went up to worship, the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel.
For there were set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David, Psal. cxxii. 4, 5.
These privileges she enjoyed through the succession of many ages,and had remained the glory of all nations to this day, had the known and improved, in that day, the things that belonged to her peace ; but they neglected their season, rejected their mercies, and miserably perished in their fins : for there ever was, and will be found an inseparable connexion betwixt the final rejection of Christ, and the destruction of the rejecters, Matth. xxii . 5, 6,
The contemplationwhereofdrew those compassionate tears, from the Redeemer's eyes, when he beheld it in his descent from the mount of Olives, Luke xix. 41, 420
Let all that are wife in heart henceforth depose theiranimo, fities, sadly reflect on their follies, encourage and assist the labours of their brethren in the Lord's harvest; and rejoice that God hath set them at liberty by law, whose assistance in so great an opportunity is necessary and desirable.
It is against the laws of wisdom and charity,to envy the liberty, andmuchmore the success of our brethren, 1 Cor. xiii. 4.
If the workmen contend and scuffle ina catching harvest, who but the owner suffers damage by it ? If, after so miraculous, recent, and common a salvation as this, we still retain our old prejudices and bitter envyings ; if we smitewith the tongue and pen, whenwecannot with the hand ; and study to blast the reputation and labours of our brethren ; and still hate those we can
An Epiftle to the Reader.
not hurt : In a word, if we still bite and devour, one another, we shall be devoured one of another.
Let us not lay the fault upon others, we ourselves have been the authors and instruments of our own ruin; and this must be the inscription upon our tombstone, Q England, thou hast destroyed thyself.
I am more afraid of the rooted enmity and fixed prejudices, that are to be found in many against holiness and the serious professors of it, and inflexible obstinacy and dead formality in many others, (the tokens of a tremendous infatuation) than I am of all the whispered fears from other hands, or common enemies upon our borders.
To prevent these mischiefs, and promote zealand unaminity among the ministers of the gospel, I have presumed to address them in the following epistles.
I am conscious of my own unworthiness to be their monitor, and of the defects their judicious eyes will easily discern in the stilewherein it is written ; and yet can promise myself a becoming reception of what is so faithfully, seasonably, and honestly designed for their good.
I am fatisfiedthat no candidandingenuous person will put words upon the rack, quarrel at a fimilitude, or expose a trifle, when he finds thedesignhonest, and the matter good and necessary.
As to the treatise itself, thou wilt find it a persuasive to open thy heart to Christ.
Thy soul, reader, is a magnificent structurebuiltby Christ; such stately rooms as thy understanding, will, conscience and affections, are too good for any other to inhabit.
If thou be in thy unregenerate state,thenhefolemnly demands, in this text, admission into the soul he made, by the consent of the will : which, if thou refuse to give him, then witness is taken, that Christ once more demanded entrance into thy soul which he made, and was denied it.
If thou haft opened thy heart to him, thou wilt, I hope, meet somewhat in this treatise that will clear thy evidences, and cheer thy heart: Pray read, ponder and apply.
I am Thine and the Church's servant,
JOHN FLAVEL.
398 1 A LETTER To the dearly beloved Ministers of the Gospel, (much to be reverenced in Christ) now at length, by the wonderful Providence of God, restored to Liberty:
Addressed as a humble Supplication to the more aged, and as anExhortation to younger Ministers and Candidates.
Reverend Fathers, and Brethren in Christ, THOUGH it is not fit for us tocoinmetaphors, according to our fancy, yet we ought to have a great liking to those, which the Spirit himself hath authorised in scripture.
There he hath represented, and painted to the life, the deliverance of his suffering church, by the sweet delights of the advancing
Spring, Cant. ii. 12.
In the Spring, the Earth, like a most bountiful parent, opens herbosom,produces varietyofherbs, adorns the meadows with abundance of flowers ; the trees,which had been stript of their formergreenleaves,areclothedwithnewones ; the cold being now driven away, the air becomes warm, and thecattlebring homeudders fullofmilk ; Then joyous birds frequent the lonely groves.
DRYDEN'S Virgil.
All nature is renewed and smiles ; the season is kindly, favourable, and admirably well adapted to the benefit of all things, chiefly of those endued with life. All which things have been, in a very elaborate and ingenious manner, applied by our learnedcountrymanBrightman, to that remarkable period, when Cyrus published that edict of his, (which can never
* This letter was originally wrote in Latin, the author judging it necessary to be so, as what allowed him a greater freedom of expression, than might seem convenient at that time in the common language; yet, that every reader might be profited by it, the publisher of this edition hath thought fit to translate it into English.
It has a reference to the troubles before, and the blessings after the Revolution.
A LETTER.
be sufficiently commended) for fettingGod's people at liberty.
The enliveningbeams of a like providential interpofition, like the fun entering the sign ofAries, have made us, who were half-dead, to revive.
We are not insensible, as our wounds are yet green, what great and sharp afflictions we have fufferedformany years. by past, for conscience sake. Alas,what fadthings have we not seen ! what oppressions have we not unjustly endured, during this rough, dismal,and every-way destructive winter ? We have seen the sea swelling with dreadful storms,by reason of which, some being amazed and confounded, theyhoised fail to any wind whatsoever: we have seen trees that excelled others, both infruitfulness andcomeliness, beat down and laid low by the stormy winds ; others, which bare neither fruit nor leaves, have been, as it were,blasted.
Mountains have we seen become white with hoar-frost, rivers locked up in ice, lands covered, nay, buried in snow ; flocks of fowls, and herds of cattle starved with hunger,wandering up and down ingreatwant; cunningfowlers spreading their nets, and insnaring many : In a word, we have seen Christ's church (alas !) pierced with arrows wingedwithherown feathers ; the civil state founded on laws, almost subvertedbylaws ; everything having abadaspect, and growing dailyworseandworse.
Long and fore have we been tossed in the sea of trouble ; in our youth we were plunged into it, we are come out of it in old age : our case hasbeenthe fame withwhathappened at the siege of Tyre, Ezek. xxix. 18. Every head is made bald, and every shoulder is peeled; but yet all these things seem troublefsome rather than wonderful, to any one who seriously confiders the things prophesied by the great apostle, 2 Tim. üi. 1. In the last days, perilous times shall come. Of which perilous times, * Lactantius writes thus :
When the end of this world ' is approaching, the state of human affairs must needs be greatly changed, and grow worse,through the prevalency of 'wickedness ; in so much that this present age,wherein fin and 'wickedness have been arrived to the greatest pitch, may, when compared with that abandoned and incorrigible age,
'be justly deemed the happy and golden one. Forthenrigh- ' teousness shall decrease, and ungodliness, avarice, ambition, and lust increase : fo that whosoever shall happen then to be
' sober and religious, shall become a prey to the wicked, and * be greatly harraffed by the unrighteous ; the vicious alone
* Lactan. tih, 70. de divino pramio, p. 578, 579.
A LETTER shall be prosperous and happy,whilethepeopleofGod shall • meet with every kind of bad treatment, and be reduced to extreme poverty. All right shall be confounded, laws shall
* perish; then nobody shall possess anythingbutwhat is ill got, or what he isobligedtodefendby force; rapine andvi- • olence shall carry everything before them: there shall be no < fidelity among men, no peace, no humanity, no shame, no truth,and neither fafetynor order,noranyreft from trouble;
' for the whole earth shall be in confusion,and the noise and • dinof war heard everywhere; all nations shall be up in arms, and attack one another; neighbouring states shall war among themselves ; destruction shall run over the face of the
' earth, cutting down everything,and laying it along,as corn- • fields are in harvest.
The reason of which dreadful calamity and strange confusion,will be this, That the Roman name,
•which has subdued the whole world, shall then(I tremble to • utter it, but, since it is certain, utter it I must) be quite ex- ' tinct.'
What think you, reader, is not this a description of our own times, or must wewaitlonger, till that pernicious and wicked race of men shall appear upon the stage ? That this hath been fulfilled in our late troubles, none sure can hesitate that hath any difcernment.
But God at length, pitying our distresses, hath raised up a man *, both zealous for the truth, and a lover of godliness, boldly to assert his cause in the face of danger and toil, and to put a new face on things.
Concerning this time it shall be said, What wonderful things hath God done ? Now every impediment being removed, and the dreadful storm calmed,
(which scatters up and down like stubble) our gracious God doth in this manner bespeak us, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away ; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the sing ing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
As if he hadfaid, You havebeenlong enough confined at home ; come now (for you may fafelycome) abroad. There is the greatest appearance of safety and incitement to labour everywhere. Thus the severity of the Winter recommends to us the pleasures of the Spring.
For my part, I had no sooner heard the joyful news of Liberty, than presently I began to prepare myself for my proper and much longed for work; for iffo much pleasure is found
* WILLIAM
III .
Prince of ORANGE.
A LETTER.
in the study of the mathematics, that when one has talted of it, he is so ravished and bewitched with it, that he cannot be taken off from the study of them ; it will certainly be the sweetest pleasure of all, to employ our labours, however much we are exhausted, for the glory of Christ, and good of fouls : it gives me therefore no small pleasure, that at length I may putinmyfickle,whichhathbeenlong indisuse, into the Lord's harvest, together with the restofmyfellow-labourers.
Thanks to my God, who hath not only seasonably opened a door of opportunity, but hath also (which I earnestly supplicated for) given me to see the happy effects of found doctrine, and hath long ago blessed it unto many.
These first-fruits of Restored Liberty, and which many have importuned me to publish, I now most humbly offer unto you.
Indulgeabrother,the weakest of all, and one who reckons himself justly inferior to all the servants of Christ ; if, on this signal and most extraordinary occasion, Christian zeal should break forth a little more freely than maybe suitable either to mysmallshareoflearning or experience.
Here your preacher hath not fought after the pomp of eloquence. Through the whole I have used a popular, not polite, stile; pithy, not showy: for I thought it might be justly said concerning Theology, what Cicero says of Philosophy, That to talk upon subjects of that nature in an elaborate stile, is childish; but to be capable of delivering with plainness and perspicuity, is the part of a learned and knowing man.
I should be justly displeased with myself, if I preached the doctrine of a crucified Christ, ina stile unbecoming his cross ; which surely is the character of a stile pompous and swelling.
These things being premifed, I. Let us rejoice in our liberty, with ajoyduely moderated;
I mean, with a joy equally balanced, and guarded on all hands by grief for past sins, and dread of future ones. We read in Jeremiah, of the voice offighing and weeping, with which the faithful would, about the time of their deliverance, confess their fins, by which they had provoked God, and would sincerely bewail them with contrite hearts. And how suitable was that song of the church, even at the laying the foundation of the second temple ; a song equally composed of joyful shouting, andabundantweeping,Ezra iii. 10. "Manyweepedwith
" a loud voice, many shouted aloud for joy ; so that the people "couldnotdifcern the noise of the shoutofjoy,from the noise
" oftheweepingofthe people." Nor are the saints ashamed VOL. IV.
Eee
A LETTER. to confess their falls and shameful deeds to the gloryofGod, for nothing is a loss to us, which redounds to his glory.
Our countenance muftin his fight be comely and amiable, when he fees penitential tears mixed with those of joy and thanksgiving.
It is the character ofa true penitent to lament his faults,that he may not again commit things to be lamented. wich tant a
Afaph has fetbefore us an illustrious example of penitence, Psal. lxxiv. 8. Remember not (fays he) against us our former iniquities. God is said to remember iniquities, when calling fins to an account, and judging of their greatness and number, he resolves to punish. Afaph speaks of God after the manner of men , for they,when greatly offended, and about to punish. their children,do thencallto mind all their former faults : let us, in like manner, reflect on ours, and sincerely bewail our past slothful conduct,anunhappyconcomitantofliberty : Thus we have neither flamed with ardent love on the one hand, nor grieved with that degree of sorrow which was requisite on the other : we have oftentimes spoken more from the head than from the heart. We have both prayed and preached too too coldly about matters the most awful and important.
We have not followed the footsteps ofthoseworthies that went before us in the last age, so as to come up with them. We have been at small pains to support the majesty of religion, by the gravity of our conversation, and the usefulness of our difcourses.
For which cause our God has conceived just anger against us, and has manifested that by the past calamities ; and by fo manifesting it hath plainly admonished us to be on our guard for the time to come.
II. Therefore brethren, Iearnestlybeg of you, in the bowels. of Christ, that you will not forget these words of the apostle,
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, livepeaceably with all men, Rom. xii. 18.
There is added a twofold limitation, first, If it be possible, that is, consistently with justice, piety, and truth: Such a regard is not to be had to truth, as that the study of peace be entirely neglected; nor is such unity to be fought after, as destroys truth ; but speak the truth in love, as the fame apostle exhorts, Eph. iv. 15.
For, as our countryman Mr.
Davenant justly observes, they love neither from the heart, who love not both.
Christians therefore, when they both live peaceably in owning the truth, and speak the truth in love, are a great ornament to their profession.
The other limitation is, As much as lieth in you, that is, live in friendship with all, if it be possible ; and if they will not be friendly on their part, be sure you be so on yours.
Truth begets hatred among the
A LETTER.
wicked, and godliness is everdespisedby them; ofwhichLac- -tantius † assigns this reason, That he who fins, wants to have ⚫⚫a free opportunityoffinning, and thinks he can no otherwise
•enjoy securely the pleasure of his ill deeds, than when there are many who delight in the fame faults. Hence they study to destroy and cut off rootandbranch, those who are witnesses of their wickedness, and they cannot endure that good
• mens lives should be a reproof, as it were, of theirs.
Therefore by the friendship of the wicked, piety is endangered.'
We have some amongst us, that put on a form ofgodliness, :but have denied the power thereof: of such † Bernard in his
time thus complained : Woe to this generation, which hath the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy : If indeed
** that should be called hypocrisy, which now through its pre- - valencycannot be hid, and through its impudency seeks not to be hid. At present rottenness and corruption affects the whole body of the church, and the wider it spreads, the more
• desperate; and the more inwardly it spreads, the more dangerous: for if an heretic, an open enemy, should rise up, he
⚫would be cast out ; ifaviolentenemy, the(i. e.)the church)
would perhaps conceal herself from him.
But now, whom shall the church cast out ? or whom shall she hide herself • from ? All are friends, and all are enemies : all are in mutual connexions, as relations, yet in mutual contests, as adversa- ' ries : all are fellow-members of one family, yet none are
' promoters of peace : all are neighbours, yet all are seekers of ' their own things : by profession servants of Christ, in reality
• they serve Antichrist: they make an honourable figure ty the good things they have received from the Lord, while, at • the fame time, they give no honour to the Lord.
I willfay ofthesemen,My soul, come not into their council ; my glory, be not in their assembly.
Buttherearemanyothers,zealousofpeace and truth,agreeinginfundamentals, and standing equally against the common enemies of the reformed religion,who, notwithstanding, differ
(alas!) about matters not necessary to salvation, and iplit into opposite parties, and cause strife : while this fierce contention spreads itself among the brethren, it affords a continual occasion to their enemies to insult and molest them.
Could any one find out a remedy for this epidemicaldistemper, he would deEee2 † Lactantius on Justice, b. 5. p. 382, 383.
‡ Bernard, Sermon xxxiii , on Cant,
A LETTER. servewellofthe church ; but since the experienceoffomany years has put it beyond doubt that it is difficult, or indeedim practicable to accomplish this by scholafticdisputes, or by oppreffingthe confciencewithpenalties ; it were more advise able to fopite all their debates,than,by fruitless strife, to tear asunder the church ; and in fine, to have recoursetothatwhich is the most useful, if not the only rule for promoting peace, Phil. iii. 16. Wherein we have already attained, let us walk by the fame rule : with which agrees well that most wholesome advice given by Toflanus to the college of Tubing, in the following words:
All bitter railings and accusations ought justly to be • laid aside, and the judgment of these matters in debate left
•wholly to the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to our own posterity, who, not being authors but spectators of the
• debate, will judge more impartially about it.
Our adversaries still live and becomeboldereveryday; they make it their business, night and day, to plot and contrive how they may
• extinguish the light of the gospel that has arisen, and bring ⚫ancient darkness; in the meantime,we who,at first,with one
⚫accord, by God's grace, preached the gospel,do now, with < weapons of death turned against one another, rush mutually
• on destruction; thereby exhibiting a delightful spectacle to • our enemies, who place more of their safety and confidence
• in our contentions,than the weak foundation of their own • cause.'
Let us therefore frequently consider that of the apostle, Gal.
V. 15. But ifye bite anddevourone another, takeheedthatyebe not consumed one of another.
What Cicero said of the discords ofgreatmen, our countryman Davenant scruples not to affirm concerning those of the churches, That they commonly end, either in the ruin of both parties,or in the unjust tyranny of that side which overcomes. It is greatly to be feared, that every one,by these continual and fierce debates, is hastening (may
God prevent it) his own ruin : yetI doubt not but thatalldif cords amongst the godly might be extinguished, whatever some mayalledge to the contrary, if the minds of some were freed from the violent emotions offufpicion, anger, and envy.
Behold, brethren, what a seasonable and proper softening plaister our skilful Physician hath applied to us all at this time. God grant it the desired effect; left the scar not being right closed up, the wound should breakout again.
The godly in every place lament the present deplorable state of the church ; and, from the destruction offome,do, conjec turewhatdangerhangs over all,
A LETTER.
+Hence let contending nations know, What direful mischief'sfrom their difcordsflow.
Certain it is, that all wife and good men on both sides, (however they differ among themselves) are unanimous in this at least, That these are not times for strife, but times that call for prayer and reformation ; for, such are the prayers they everywhere offer up : May God turn the heart of the fathers to 'the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, left he come andsmite the earth with a curse.
These do not well 'consult their own interest,who,because of disputes among the ' learned, perhaps never to be ended, will needs be tearing the ' church by perpetual divisions. Our brethren, that seriously
' profess they differ from us in smaller matters of religion, for ' no other reason, thana fear of offending, these ought to be
' embraced with the greatest affection.
Let all causes of of- ' fence be presently removed, that we may not stumble twice
'on the fame stone.
If we fall upon it again, we are broken in pieces. We will not grant them this praise, that they are
'more studiousofpeaceandconcord than ourselves. You may ' re-exact a conformityinfundamentals and things necessary in
' religion; but in matters of indifference, and not absolutely ' necessary, you may give a larger liberty. No body should
'assume to himself a liberty of dividing the church, and dissol- ' ving brotherly unity on such aground as neither Christ, nor ' the apostles, northeprimitive church in its purest state would
'ever have approved."
Itmustbeconfessed,that all kinds of controversy will never beat an end ; nevertheless we can bid farewel to all discord ; for variety of opinions,and unity among those that hold them, are not things inconsistent. Why should there dwell in the breast of a Christian, the fierceness of wolves, the madness of dogs, the deadly poison of serpents, the cruel savageness of beasts ? as Cyprianlong since complained. That is(faith Gregory) anew and unheard of manner of preaching, that forces a belief with stripes: therefore let all bitter railing and accufationbe gone ; MaytheGod ofpeacebring all into order and peace.
III. Especially and above all,I humbly beseech you, that, having laid aside all designs of smaller importance, you would mind this onething,howyoumaygain to Christ the souls com- + En quo difcordia gentes Perduxit miferas.
A LETTER. mitted to you, to which all earthly things are to be postponed.
This is the labour,this the work incumbent onus.
Put far from you a vile, niggardly sparing of your gifts, an immoderate care for worldly things, an excessive indulgence of the vile body.
Let it not seem much to us to spend a little sweat for the fake of those souls for which Christ so willingly andplentifullypoured out his own most precious blood.
If we hide the Lord's talent in a napkin,where shall we find a napkin to dry up our tears of blood for fobafe a crime?
Remember, brethren,that it will be required at our hands, how we have spent every portion ofthattimewhich is given us; how much of it have we already loft in unprofitable silence! But among all the oppreffions,under which you have longgroaned, I persuade myself, there isnoneyou have more forrowed for than that of beingsolongwithholdenfrom feeding poor hungry fouls. The present opportunity is slippery, and may be loft, as to what concerns futurity, the clouds return after the rain. Up then ye servants of God, mind this your business, and the Lord shall be with you : don't regard the usual murmurings of the flesh. Look forward to thatheavenlycrown: " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firnament; and they that turn many to righteousness
" as the stars for ever and ever."
With the hopes of this, let us rouze up and fortify our drooping hearts, against the mockings and troubles we may expect for the sake of the gospel; What bowels ofcompaflion ought we to put on, when we speak to such menoffaving their souls, and shunning perdition, into which they may quickly fall, but who, in the meantime, have not the least thought about these things themselves ? A famous author in Amesius * complains, That the words of life in some preachers and • teachers lips die away, as to any power or efficacy : Forfo
⚫coldly and unconcernedly do they deliver the wordofGod, that it seems to die in their lips.
Hence, as they themselves are cold and dead preachers, so they leave their hearers in a ◄coldanddead frame.
I knew one who left Paris for this rea- *son, because he said,he was more and more benumbed with the lectures and sermons he heard fromdaytodayin that city; and was afraid,that if he staidmuch longer there, his soul
⚫would have perished with spiritual cold: wherefore he join.
⚫ed himself to lively ministers,as unto live-coals; thatfoby * Cases of Conscience, book 3. р. гб.
A LETTER..
•conversing with them,he mightnourishandencrease an ho • ly flame in his heart.'
Lift up your eyes and behold the fields white, and ready to harvest; fee how you are on every side furroundedwith crouds. of poor hungry fouls,with open mouth and earnest looks beg-
ging spiritual bread from you.
If we have the bowels of the chief Shepherd in us, let us feed his sheep.
Some are almost wornoutwithold age and various troubles : others lessen the majesty of scripture by insisting much on things of little moment, and fill the ears of the multitude with a vain noise of words, or tickle them with smooth speeches.
In such a situation, if you,who are furnished with all kind of gifts,and have fo full and fair opportunity, do not burn with zeal to God, and love to fouls; I tremble to look forward to the dreadful and wretched end of you all.
IV. Lastly, I will conclude with a few things which I thought necessary for students of Theology, and candidates for the mi-> nistry, who have at this needful time willingly devoted them-> selves to this service, or are about to do it : We have longborne theburdenandheatofthe day; we are veteran soldiers almost worn out.
The next age will possibly produce more tractable minds, and men of gentler dispositions thanourtimes afford.
I congratulate you on account of your birth especially, if your natural birth be, or shall beennobled and fanctifiedby regeneration : and this is the more reasonable, because all our famous chronologers andfearchers into times,whohavebestowedmuch time and pains in that study, are big with expectation, likeawomanbig with child, past the time of her reckoning, who therefore expects her pains to come upon her every hour.
It is very probable, that the day which all the prophets: foretold, and all good men have, as it were with outstretched neck, been eagerly looking for, is now at hand.
Do you, therefore, ye brave youths, the hope and desire of the reviving church, with eagerness lay hold on this favourable opportunity of enriching your minds with all necessary gifts and endowments.
Keepyourselves close night anddayatyour studies and most fervent prayers : He will make the best divine, that studies on his knees. And how shall we contend for the truth, or defend it against the adversaries, if we are destitute of gifts ? Neither a good disposition, nor the charms ofelo quence, nor a graceful gesture, nor good manners, cancompensatefor the want of gifts .
But on the other hand, beware, brethren, lest while the tree of knowledge every day thrives and profpers, the tree of life
A LETTER. alone should languish and become barren, as an excellent di vine † speaks verypertinently.
Take care you putnotthatlaft, which should be first ; and that, again, first, which should be last.
Measures soperniciously preposterous will be fatal to the wholeworkofconversion. A head well instructed, is much to be desired; but a sanctified heart is absolutely necessary.
" Covet earnestly the best gifts, andyetshewI unto you a more " excellent way," 1 Cor. xii. 31.
For gifts,let them increase; but grace, let it outshine them all.
Let these words of the great apostle take deep root in your hearts, 1 Cor. ix. 27. "But " I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, left that
" by any means, when I have preached unto others, I myself " should be a cast-away."
For what will it profit,to be learned and damned ?
It is one thing to be learned in the truths of Christ, another to be taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.
Continuallybearinmind this serious warning of our learned countryman Reynolds , Let us not think much of ourselves, though God should have adorned us with the finest gifts ofna ture,with a lively genius, with an elegant diction, much reading, long experience of things, skill in the arts, languages and sciences, folidityofjudgment, quickness of understanding, almost like that of angels,unless at the fame time he add to all, the gift of his Spirit to help us to know and delight in the heavenly mystery.
For though by the exercise of those shining accomplishments, wemayprocure to ourselves the favour and esteem of men, though from thence great advantage may redound to the learned world, and to the church of Christ, yet do they not at all tend to obtain for us either the favour of God, or the reward ofheavenlyhappiness.
MayGodgive you ministerial and sanctifying gifts,that you may approve yourselves to be defenders of Chriftandhis religion, and firm oppofers of his enemies .
But it is time to close this unpolished and homely letter, which, however, Ihopeyou willfavourably accept as a teftimonyofthat respect due to you from Your fellow-servant in the gospel of Christ,
JOHN FLAVEL
↑S. Ford. Ambitiofac.
‡ Animal is homo.