by John Flavel
in ePub, .mobi & .pdf formats
John Flavel's The Balm of the Covenant Applied to the Bleeding Wounds of Afflicted Saints is a masterful and deeply pastoral work, offering profound comfort to Christians facing life's sharpest trials. Written with the heart of a shepherd, Flavel addresses the intense struggles of afflicted saints, applying the soothing truths of God’s covenant promises to their wounded spirits. He reminds readers that affliction, though painful, is under the sovereign and loving hand of God, who uses it for His glory and the ultimate good of His people.
At the core of this work is the assurance that the covenant of grace provides unfailing support to God’s children, even in their darkest seasons. Flavel unpacks how the covenant not only secures salvation but transforms suffering itself into an instrument of sanctification. Through rich biblical exposition, he illustrates how God’s unchanging love sustains His people, altering the very nature of affliction from a curse into a blessing.
Readers will be drawn to the book’s deeply compassionate tone and its ability to speak directly to the heart of the suffering believer. Flavel’s insights are steeped in Scripture and aimed at bringing practical, soul-stirring consolation. For those wrestling with loss, grief, or trials, The Balm of the Covenant offers a powerful reminder that the promises of God remain steadfast and that His covenantal love never fails.
This book is not merely a theological treatise; it is a spiritual balm, a guide for navigating affliction with faith, and a call to see God's providence even in life’s hardest moments. Whether you are seeking comfort in your own struggles or aiming to minister to others, Flavel’s words will inspire trust in God’s sovereign care and deepen your confidence in His covenant of grace.
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Table of Contents
To the Virtuous and Much Honoured Madam, Ursula Upton
The Balm of the Covenant
Observation 1. That God's covenant people may be exercised with many sharp afflictions
Observation 2. A declining family is a sore stroke from the hand of God
Observ. 3. That the sure covenant of grace, affords sure relief to all that are within the bonds of it
Proposition 1. That the minds of men, yea, the best men, are weak and feeble things under the heavy pressures of affliction, and will reel and sink under them, except they be strongly relieved and under-propped.
Proposition 2. The merciful God, in condescension to the weakness of his people, hath provided the best supports and reliefs for the feeble and afflicted spirits.
Argument I. Whatsoever disarms afflictions of the only sting whereby they wound us, must needs be a complete relief and remedy to the afflicted soul.
Argument. II. As the covenant of grace disarms all the afflictions of believers of the only sting by which they wound them: so it alters the very nature and property of their afflictions
Argument. III. The covenant doth not only alter the nature and property of the saints, afflictions, but it also orderly disposes, and aptly places them in the frame of providence, among the other means and instruments of our salvation
Argument. IV. As the covenant sorts and ranks all your troubles into their proper classes and places of service, so it secures the special, gracious presence of God with you in the deepest plunges of distress that can befal you
Argument. V. As this covenant assures you of God's gracious and special presence, so it fully secures all the essentials and substantials of your happiness
Argument. VI. As God strikes none of the substantial mercies of his covenant people, so when he doth smite their external accidental comforts, the covenant of grace assures them, that even those strokes are the strokes of love, and not wrath
Argument. VII. Lastly, The covenant doth not only discover the consistence and connection betwixt the love and the rod of God, but it also gives full satisfaction to the saints
Use I. For information, in three corollaries.
Use II. Seeing then that the covenant of God is the great relief and support of all his afflicted people, let the afflicted soul go to this blessed covenant; study and apply it in all distresses.
Use III. The great question to be decided, is, whether God be our covenant-God, and we his people?
Use IV. A word of consolation to your dejected and drooping hearts, upon this sad and mournful occasion.