A39669:1534
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 1.
Hence it follows, that the state of unbelievers is the most sad and uncomfortable state in the world: having no interest in Christ 1the Consolation of Israel. 'Tis true, they abound in Creaturecomforts, they live in pleasure upon earth. Joy displays its colours in their faces: but for all this there is not the least drop of true Consolation in any of their hearts: they have some comfort in the Creature, but none in Christ: that little they gather from the Creature now, is all their portion of joy, Luke 6. 24. Ye have received your consolation: as this is all they have, so they shall enjoy it but a little while, Job 21. 13, 17. and while they do enjoy it, it's mixed with many gripes of Conscience, Job 14. 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness: whatever consolation any unbeliever speaks of besides this, is but by rote; for when the day of his distress cometh, and the terrors of ⟨p. 295⟩Conscience shall awake him out of his pleasant dreams, all his sensual joys will vanish from him, and the doors of true Consolation will be all shut against him. Let him go to Jesus Christ, knock at that door, and say, Lord Jesus thy name is Consolation, my heart is ready to burst within me, hast thou no Consolation for me? O Lord for one drop of Spiritual Comfort now, but alas there is none, no not in Christ himself for any unbeliever. 'Tis Children's bread; the Saints privilege; comfort and grace are undivided: let him return into himself, search his own Conscience for comfort, and say, O Conscience, thou art more than a thousand witnesses, and thousands have been comforted by thee: where thou speakest comfort, none can speak trouble, hast thou no Consolation for me in my deepest distress? Alas, no, if God condemn thee, wherewithal shall I comfort thee? I can speak neither more nor less than the Scriptures put into my mouth, and I find not one word in all the Book of God warranting me to be thy Comforter: believe it as an undoubted truth, (though the sense of the bewitched world over-rules it) that the state of unbelievers, even at the best, is a sad and dismal state.