A39669:1174
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.
Secondly, 'Tis as plain, that no such personal perfection and freedom is found in any man on this side death, and the grave, 1 Joh. 1. 8. 1 Kings 8. 46. Philip. 3. 12. a truth sealed by the sad experience of all the Saints on earth.
Thirdly, If such freedom and perfection must be before we can be perfectly happy, and no such thing be done in this life; it remains that it must be done immediately upon their dissolution, and at the very time of their glorification: as sin came in at the time of the union of their souls and bodies in the womb, so it will go out at the time of their separation by death: then will Christ put the last hand to this glorious work, and perfect that cure which hath been so long under his hand in this world: and thenceforth sin shall have no power upon them; it shall never tempt them more, it shall never defile them more; it shall never grieve and sadden their hearts any more: henceforth it shall never cloud their evidences, darken their understandings, or give the least interruption to their communion with God: when sin is gone, all these its mischievous effects are gone with it. So that I may speak it to the comfort of all gracious hearts, according to what the Lord told the Israelites in Deut. 12. 8, 9. (to which I allude for illustration of this most comfortable truth) Ye shall not do after all the things that ye do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes, for ye are not as yet come to the rest, and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. Whilst you are under Christs cure upon earth, but not perfectly healed; your understandings mistake, your thoughts wander, your affections are dead, your communion with God is daily interrupted: but it shall not be so in Heaven, where the cure is perfect: you shall not know, love, or delight in God as you do this day; for you are not as yet come to the rest, and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you: and so much as to the diseases of sin, and Christs method of curing them.