Elias_Amare
Puritan Board Freshman
John Flavel, The fountain of life, Works 1:39
"Let all that mind the honour of religion, or the peace and comfort of their own souls, wholly sequester and apply themselves to the study of Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Wherefore spend we ourselves upon other studies, when all excellency, sweetness, and desirableness is concentered in this one? Jesus Christ is fairer than the children of men, the chiefest among ten thousands, " as " the apple-tree among the trees of the wood;" Quae faciunt divisa beatum, in hoc mixtafiuunt : These things which singly ravish and delight the souls of men, are all found conjunctly in Christ. O what a blessed Christ is this ! * whom to know is eternal life. From the knowledge of Jesus Christ do bud forth all the fruits of comfort, and that for all seasons and conditions. Hence Rev. xxii. 2. he is called " the tree of life, which bears twelve " manner of fruits, and yields its fruit every month ; and the " very leaves of this tree are for healing. In Christ souls have, (1.) All necessaries for food and physic. (2.) All varieties of fruits, twelve manner of fruits ; a distinct sweetness in this, in that, and in the other attribute, promise, ordinance. (3.) In him are these fruits at all times, he bears fruit every month ; there is precious fruit in Jesus Christ, even in the black month ; winter fruits as well as summer fruits."
"Let all that mind the honour of religion, or the peace and comfort of their own souls, wholly sequester and apply themselves to the study of Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Wherefore spend we ourselves upon other studies, when all excellency, sweetness, and desirableness is concentered in this one? Jesus Christ is fairer than the children of men, the chiefest among ten thousands, " as " the apple-tree among the trees of the wood;" Quae faciunt divisa beatum, in hoc mixtafiuunt : These things which singly ravish and delight the souls of men, are all found conjunctly in Christ. O what a blessed Christ is this ! * whom to know is eternal life. From the knowledge of Jesus Christ do bud forth all the fruits of comfort, and that for all seasons and conditions. Hence Rev. xxii. 2. he is called " the tree of life, which bears twelve " manner of fruits, and yields its fruit every month ; and the " very leaves of this tree are for healing. In Christ souls have, (1.) All necessaries for food and physic. (2.) All varieties of fruits, twelve manner of fruits ; a distinct sweetness in this, in that, and in the other attribute, promise, ordinance. (3.) In him are these fruits at all times, he bears fruit every month ; there is precious fruit in Jesus Christ, even in the black month ; winter fruits as well as summer fruits."
