A39669:1086
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 2.
Hence it follows, That none have cause to be troubled, when God makes the souls of their friends or relations sick with the 1sense of sin. It was the saying (as I remember) of Hierom to Sabinian, Nothing (said he) makes my heart sadder, than that nothing can make thy heart sad. 'Tis matter of joy to all that rightly understand the matter, when God smites the heart of any man with the painful sense of sin; of such sickness it may be said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. Yet how do many carnal relations lament and bewail this as a misery, as an undoing to their friends and acquaintance; as if then they must be reckoned lost, and never till then that Christ is finding and saving them. O if your hearts were spiritual and wise, their groans for sin, would be as music in your ears. When they go alone to ⟨p. 202⟩bewail their sin, you would go alone also to bless God for such a mercy; that ever you should live to such a happy day: you would say, now is my friend in the blessed pangs of the new birth: now is he in the very way of mercy: never in so hopeful a condition as now. I had rather he should groan now at the feet of Christ, than groan hereafter under the wrath of God for ever. O Parents, beware as you love the souls of your Children, that you don't damp and discourage them, tempt or threaten them, divert or hinder them in such cases as this; lest you bring the blood of their souls upon your own heads.
Hence it follows, That none have cause to be troubled, when God makes the souls of their friends or relations sick with the 1sense of sin. It was the saying (as I remember) of Hierom to Sabinian, Nothing (said he) makes my heart sadder, than that nothing can make thy heart sad. 'Tis matter of joy to all that rightly understand the matter, when God smites the heart of any man with the painful sense of sin; of such sickness it may be said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. Yet how do many carnal relations lament and bewail this as a misery, as an undoing to their friends and acquaintance; as if then they must be reckon'd lost, and never till then that Christ is finding and saving them. O if your hearts were spiritual and wise, their groans for sin, would be as musick in your ears. When they go alone to