A39669:108
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.
But how excellent soever Christ is in himself, what treasures of righteousness soever lye in his blood, and whatever joy, peace, and ravishing comforts spring up to men out of ⟨p. 2⟩his incarnation, humiliation, and exaltation; they all give down their distinct benefits and comforts to them in the way of Effectual application.
For never was any wound hea•ed by a prepared, but unapplied plaster. Never any body warmed by the most costly garment made, but not put on: Never any heart refreshed and comforted by the richest Cordial compounded, but not received: nor from the […] of the world was it ever known, that a poor deceived, condemned, polluted miserable sinner was actually delivered out of that woeful state, until of God Christ was made unto him, wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
For never was any wound hea•ed by a prepared, but unapplied plaister. Never any body warmed by the most costly garment made, but not put on: Never any heart refreshed and comforted by the richest Cordial compounded, but not received: nor from the 〈…〉 of the world was it ever known, that a poor deceived, condemned, polluted miserable sinner was actually delivered out of that woful state, until of God Christ was made unto him, wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
For look *as the Condemnation of the First Adam passeth not to us, except (as by generation) we are his; so grace and remission pass not from the Second Adam to us, except as (by regeneration) we are his. Adams Sin hurts none but those that are in him; and Christs blood profits none but those that are in him: how great a weight therefore doth there hang upon the effectual application of Christ to the Souls of men! and what is there in the whole world so awfully solemn, so greatly important as this is! Such is the strong consolation resulting from it, that the Apostle in this context offers it to the believing Corinthians, as a superabundant recompense for the despicable meanness and baseness of their outward condition in this world, of which he had just before spoken in ver. 27, 28. telling them though the world contemned them as vile, foolish, and weak, yet of God Christ is made unto them wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.