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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.

John Flavel

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John Flavel
Age: 61 †
Born: 1630
Born: January 1
Died: 1691
Died: June 26
Author
Cleric
Theologian
John Flavell
Johan Flavel
Johannes Flavel
Becomes
Approaches
Christ
Nearer
Lives
Desirable
Stills
Pictures
Certain
Distance
Still
Creatures
Soul
Approach
Fairest
Like
Longer
Sweeter

More quotes by John Flavel

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Let all Arminians know: we have as high an esteem for faith as any men in the world, but yet we will not rob Christ to clothe faith.
John Flavel
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All the dark, intricate, puzzling providences at which we were sometimes so offended...we shall [one day] see to be to us, as the difficult passage through the wilderness was to Israel, the right way to the city of habitation.
John Flavel
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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.
John Flavel
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Tell me, you vain professor, when did you shed a tear for the deadness, hardness, unbelief, or earthliness of your heart? Do you think that such an easy religion can save you? If so, we may invert Christ's words and say, 'Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to life, and may there be that go in there.'
John Flavel
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We acknowledge no righteousness but what the obedience and satisfaction of Christ yields us. His blood, not our faith his satisfaction, not our believing it, is the matter of our justification before God.
John Flavel
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What a mercy was it to us to have parents that prayed for us before they had us, as well as in our infancy when we could not pray for ourselves!
John Flavel
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Ah, did we but rightly understand what the demerit of sin is, we would rather admire the bounty of God than complain of the straithandedness of Providence. And if we did but consider that there lies upon God no obligation of justice or gratitud to reward any of our duties, it would cure our murmurs (Gen. 32:10).
John Flavel
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Christ comes with kingly power, to rescue sinners, as a prey from the mouth of the terrible one.
John Flavel
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No doctrine is more excellent, or necessary to be preached and studied, than Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
John Flavel
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It is a common thing for men to benumb their own arms, and make them as dead and useless by leaning too much upon them: so it is in a moral as well as a natural way: all the prudence and pains in the world avail nothing without God. So saith the Psalmist, in Psalm cxxvii. 2.
John Flavel
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A saving, though an immethodical knowledge of Christ, will bring us to heaven, John 17: 2, but a regular and methodical, as well as a saving knowledge of him, will bring heaven into us, Col. 2: 2, 3.
John Flavel
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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.
John Flavel
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Brethren, it is easier to declaim against a thousand sins of others, than to mortify one sin in ourselves.
John Flavel
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It is the duty of the saints, especially in times of straights, to reflect upon the performances of Providence for them in all the states and through all the stages of their lives.
John Flavel
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Observed duties maintain our credit but secret duties maintain our life.
John Flavel
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Where there is no want, there is usually much wantonness.
John Flavel
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To see a man humble under prosperity is one of the greatest rarities in the world.
John Flavel
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Whatever be the ground of one's distress, it should drive him to, not from God.
John Flavel
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Oh sirs, deal with sin as sin, and speak of heaven and hell as they are, and not as if you were in jest.
John Flavel
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Providence is like a curious piece of tapestry made of a thousand shreds, which, single, appear useless, but put together, they represent a beautiful history to the eye.
John Flavel