John Flavel
John Flavel
John Flavelwas an English Presbyterian clergyman, puritan, and author...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionClergyman
covenant firsts privilege
Christ and his benefits go inseparably and undividedly... Many would willingly receive his privileges, who will not receive his person; but it cannot be; if we will have one, we must take the other too: Yea, we must accept his person first, and then his benefits: as it is in the marriage covenant, so it is here.
firsts spirit christ
The Spirit must therefore first take hold of us before we can live in Christ, and when he doth so, then we are enabled to exert that vital act of faith, whereby we receive Christ.
firsts lows forsake
As God did not at first choose you because you were high, He will not now forsake you because you are low.
bows corn foot god grow head heaven himself humble lower nearly people ripe sinners
When the corn is nearly ripe it bows the head and stoops lower than when it was green. When the people of God are near ripe for heaven, they grow more humble and self-denying...Paul had one foot in heaven when he called himself the chiefest of all sinners and least of saints.
angels devils entertain men strange unaware
By entertaining of strange persons, men sometimes entertain angels unawares: but by entertaining of strange doctrines, many have entertained devils unaware
weather white clothes
Afflictions have the same use and end to our souls, that frosty weather hath upon those clothes that are laid and bleaching, they alter the hue and make them white.
iron hot cold
A hot iron, though blunt, will pierce sooner than a cold one, though sharper.
opportunity giving gold
If time be a ring of gold, opportunity is the rich diamond that gives it both its value and glory.
relief needs failing
When our needs are permitted to grow to an extremity, and all visible hopes fail, then to have relief given wonderfully enhances the price of such a mercy
events sober lord
How often has providence convinced its observers, upon a sober recollection of the events of their lives, that if the Lord had left them to their own counsels they had as often been their own tormentors, if not executioners!
titles birth resurrection
Christ's resurrection is the ground-work of our hope. And the new birth is our title or evidence of our interest in it.
soul spirit christ
That soul is dead to which the Spirit of Christ is not given in the work of regeneration; and all its works are dead works.
soul quality principles
Regeneration expresses those supernatural, divine, new qualities imparted by the Spirit to the soul, which are the principle of all holy action.
distance soul christ
Creatures, like pictures, are fairest at a certain distance, but it is not so with Christ; the nearer the soul approaches Him, and the longer it lives in the enjoyhment of Him, still the sweeter and more desirable He becomes.