A39669:1337
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.
Fifthly, Altogether lovely, (i. e.) transcending all created excellencies in beauty and loveliness, so much it speaks: if you compare Christ and other things, be they never so lovely, never so excellent and desirable; Christ carries away all loveliness from them, he is (saith the Apostle) before all things, Col. 1. 17. not only before all things in time, nature, and order; but before all things in dignity, glory and true excellency: in all things he must have the preeminence: for let us but compare Christs excellency with the creatures, in a few particulars, and how evidently will the transcendent loveliness of Jesus Christ appear! For,
Fifthly, Altogether lovely, (i. e.) transcending all created excellencies in beauty and loveliness, so much it speaks: if you compare Christ and other things, be they never so lovely, never so excellent and desireable; Christ carries away all loveliness from them, he is (saith the Apostle) before all things, Col. 1. 17. not only before all things in time, nature, and order; but before all things in dignity, glory and true excellency: in all things he must have the preeminence: for let us but compare Christs excellency with the creatures, in a few particulars, and how evidently will the transcendent loveliness of Jesus Christ appear! For,
First, All other loveliness is derivative and secondary, but the loveliness of Christ is original and primary. Angels and men, the world and all the desirables in it, receive what excellency they have from him, they are streams from the fountain: but as the waters in the fountain it self are more 1abundant, so more pure and pleasant than in the streams: and the farther any thing departs and is removed from its fountain and original, the less excellency there is in it.
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