A39669:1732
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.
Deduction 1.
Great is the preciousness and worth of souls, that the life of Christ should be given to redeem and recover them to God: As God laid out his thoughts and counsel from eternity upon them to project the way and method of their salvation: so the Lord Jesus in pursuance of that blessed design, came from the bosom of the Father, and spilt his invaluable blood to bring them to God. No wise man expends vast sums to bring home trifling commodities. How cheap soever our souls are in our estimation, 'tis evident by this they are of precious esteem in the eyes of Christ.
Deduction 2.
Redeemed souls must expect no rest or satisfaction on this side Heaven, and the full enjoyment of God: the life of a Believer in this world is a life of motion and expectation: they are now coming to God, 1 Pet. 2. 4. God, you see, is the centre and rest of their souls, Heb. 4. 9. As the Rivers cannot rest 1till they pour themselves into the bosom of the Sea, so neither can renewed souls find rest till they come into the bosom of God. There be four things which do and will break the rest and disturb the souls of Believers in this world; afflictions, temptations, corruptions, and absence from God: if the three former causes of disquietness were totally removed, so that a Believer were placed in such a condition upon earth where no affliction should disturb him, no temptation trouble him, no corruption defile or grieve him: yet his very absence from God must still keep him restless and unsatisfied,