A39669:1025
The Method of Grace
The method of grace, in bringing home the eternal redemption contrived by the Father, and accomplished by the Son through the effectual application of the spirit unto God's elect, being the second part of Gospel redemption : wherein the great mystery of our union and communion with Christ is opened and applied, unbelievers invited, false pretenders convicted, every mans claim to Christ examined, and the misery of Christless persons discovered and bewailed / by John Flavell ...The method of grace, in bringing home the eternal redemption contrived by the Father, and accomplished by the Son through the effectual application of the spirit unto God's elect, being the second part of Gospel redemption : wherein the great mysterie of our union and communion with Christ is opened and applied, unbelievers invited, false pretenders convicted, every mans claim to Christ examined, and the misery of Christless persons discovered and bewailed / by John Flavell ...
London: printed by M. White for Francis Tyton, 1681
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Inference 5.
If the burden of sin be so heavy, how sweet then must the 1pardon of sin be to a sin-burdened soul! Is it a refreshment to a prisoner, to have his chains knocked off? a comfort to a debtor, to have his debts paid, and obligations cancelled? What joy must it then be to a sin-burdened soul, to hear the voice of pardon and peace in his trembling conscience? Is the light of the morning pleasant to a man after a weary tiresome night? the Spring of the year pleasant after a hard and tedious Winter? they are so indeed; but nothing so sweet, as the favour, peace and pardon of God to a soul that hath been long restless and anxious under the terrors and fears of conscience: for though after pardon and peace a man remembers sin still, yet it is as one that remembers the dangerous pits and deep waters from which he hath been wonderfully delivered, and had a narrow escape. O the unconceivable ⟨p. 189⟩sweetness of a pardon! Who can read it, and not wet it with tears of joy? Are we glad when the grinding pain of the Stone, or racking fits of the Colic are over? and shall we not be transported, when the accusations and condemnations of conscience are over? Tongue cannot express what these things are; this joy is something that no words can convey to the understanding of another, that never felt the anguish of sin.
If the burden os sin be so heavy, how sweet then must the 1pardon of sin be to a sin-burdened soul! Is it a refreshment to a prisoner, to have his chains knockt off? a comfort to a debtor, to have his debts paid, and obligations cancelled? What joy must it then be to a sin-burthened soul, to hear the voice of pardon and peace in his trembling conscience? Is the light of the morning pleasant to a man after a weary tiresome night? the Spring of the year pleasant after a hard and tedious Winter? they are so indeed; but nothing so sweet, as the favour, peace and pardon of God to a soul that hath been long restless and anxious under the terrors and fears of conscience: for though after pardon and peace a man remembers sin still, yet it is as one that remembers the dangerous pits and deep waters from which he hath been wonderfully delivered, and had a narrow escape. O the unconceivable