A39669:1738
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 4.
How comfortable and sweet should the converses and communication of Christians be with one another in this world! Christ is bringing them all to God through this vale of tears, they are now in the way to him, all bound for Heaven, going home to God to their everlasting rest in glory: every day, every hour, every duty brings them nearer and nearer to their journeys end, Rom. 13. 11. Now, saith the Apostle, is our salvation nearer than when we believed. O what manner of heavenly communications and ravishing discourses should Believers have with each other as they walk by the way! O what pleasant and delightful stories should they tell one another about the place and state whither Christ is bringing them, and where they shall shortly be▪ What ravishing, transporting, transforming visions they shall have that day they are brought home to God: how surprisingly glorious the sight of Jesus Christ will be to them, who died for them to bring them unto God. How should such discourses as these shorten and sweeten their passage through this world; strengthen and encourage the dejected and feeble minded, and exceedingly honour and adorn their profession! Thus lived the Believers of old, Heb. 11. 9, 10. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange Country, dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac, and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked for a City which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. But alas, most Christians are either entangled in the cares and troubles, or so ensnared by the delights and pleasures, which almost continually divert and take up their thoughts by the way, that there is but little room for any discourses of Christ and Heaven among many of them: but certainly this would be as much your interest as your duty. When the Apostle had entertained the Thessalonians with a lovely discourse of their meeting the Lord in the air, and being ever with the Lord, he charges it upon them as their great duty to comfort one another with those words,