A39669:1394
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.
And indeed herein the grace of God doth admirably shine forth in the freeness of it, that even the most barbarous Nations are not excluded from the benefit of redemption by Christ. This is that the Apostle admires, that Christ should be preached to the Gentiles, 1 Tim. 3. 16. A people that seemed to be lost in the darkness of Idolatry; yet even for them Christ was given by the Father. Ask of me (saith he) and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Secondly, Christ the desire of all Nations, plainly notes the sufficiency that is in him to supply the wants of the whole world: as the Sun in the Heavens suffices all Nations for light and influence, so doth the Sun of Righteousness suffice for the Redemption, Justification, Sanctification and ⟨p. 265⟩salvation of the people of God, all the world over, Isa. 45. 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth.
Thirdly, It implies the reality that is in godliness: it shows you that Religion is no fancy, as the Atheistical world would persuade us: and this evidently appears in the uniform effects of it upon the hearts of all men in all nations of the world, that are truly religious: all their desires, like so many Needles touched by one and the same Lodestone, move towards Jesus Christ, and all meet together in one and the same blessed object Christ. Were it possible for the people of God to come out of all Nations, Kindreds and Languages in the world, into one place, and there confer, and compare the desires and workings of their hearts; though they never saw each others face, nor heard of each others name; yet as face answers to face in a glass, so would their desires after Christ answer to each other: all hearts work after him in the same manner, what one saith, all say; these are my troubles and burdens, these my wants and miseries: the same things my desires and fears: one and the same Spirit harmonically works in all Believers through the world, which could never be, if Religion were but a fancy as some call it, or a combination or confederacy as others call it: fancies are as various as faces; and confederacies presuppose mutual acquaintance, and conference.