A39669:1831
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.
viz. 1. Over the word which works. 2. Over the soul wrought upon. 3. Over the time and season of working.
First, The Spirit hath a glorious sovereignty over the word it self, whose instrument it is, to make it successful or not; as it pleaseth him, Isai. 55. 10, 11. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from Heaven, &c. so shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth: as the Clouds so the word is carried and directed by divine pleasure: 'tis the Lord that makes them both give down their blessings, or to pass away fruitless and empty: yea, 'tis from the Spirit that this part of the word works and not another: those things upon which Ministers bestow greatest labour in their preparation, and from which accordingly they have the greatest expectation; these do nothing, when mean time something that dropped occasionally from them, like a chosen Shaft strikes the mark and doth the work.
First, The Spirit hath a glorious soveraignty over the word it self, whose instrument it is, to make it successful or not; as it pleaseth him, Isai. 55. 10, 11. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from Heaven, &c. so shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth: as the Clouds so the word is carried and directed by divine pleasure: 'tis the Lord that makes them both give down their blessings, or to pass away fruitless and empty: yea, 'tis from the Spirit that this part of the word works and not another: those things upon which Ministers bestow greatest labour in their preparation, and from which accordingly they have the greatest expectation; these do nothing, when mean time something that dropt occasionally from them, like a chosen Shaft strikes the mark and doth the work.