A39669:1169
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.
Fourthly, As the power of sin hardeneth the Heart, so that nothing could affect it, or make any impression upon it; when sanctification comes upon the soul, it thaws and breaks it, as hard as it was, and makes it dissolve in the breast of a sinner in godly sorrow, Ezec. 36. 26. I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. It will now melt ingenuously under the threatenings of the word, 2 Kings 22. 19. or the strokes of the Rod, Jer. 31. 18. or the manifestations of grace and mercy, Luke 7. 38.
Fourthly, As the power of sin hardneth the Heart, so that nothing could affect it, or make any impression upon it; when sanctification comes upon the soul, it thaws and breaks it, as hard as it was, and makes it dissolve in the breast of a sinner in godly sorrow, Ezec. 36. 26. I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. It will now melt ingenuously under the threatnings of the word, 2 Kings 22. 19. or the strokes of the Rod, Jer. 31. 18. or the manifestations of grace and mercy, Luke 7. 38.
Fifthly, As the power of sin misplaced and disordered all the affections, so sanctification reduces them again, and sets them right, Psal. 4. 6, 7. And thus you see how sanctification becomes the rectitude, health and due temper of the soul, so far as it prevails, curing the diseases that sin in its dominion filled the soul with. True it is, this cure is not perfected in this life: there are still some grudgings of the old diseases in the holiest souls, notwithstanding sin be dethroned from its dominion over them: but the cure is begun, and daily advances towards perfection, and at last will be complete, as will appear in the cure of the next evil of sin, namely,