A39669:1848
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.
Consid. 3.
That no Judgement of God on this side hell is greater than a hard heart, and stupid Conscience under the Word: it were much better that the providence of God should blast thy Estate, take away thy Children, or destroy thy health, than harden thy heart, and sear thy Conscience under the Word. So much as thy soul is better than thy body, so much as Eternity is more valuable than time; so much is this spiritual Judgement more dreadful than all temporal ones: God doth not inflict a more terrible stroke than this upon any men in this world.
That no Judgement of God on this side hell is greater than a hard heart, and stupid Conscience under the Word: it were much better that the providence of God should blast thy Estate, take away thy Children, or destroy thy health, than harden thy heart, and seare thy Conscience under the Word. So much as thy soul is better than thy body, so much as Eternity is more valuable than time; so much is this spiritual Judgement more dreadful than all temporal ones: God doth not inflict a more terrible stroke than this upon any men in this world.
O therefore as you love your own souls, and are loth to ruin them to all Eternity, attend upon every opportunity that God affords you, for you know not in which of them the ⟨p. 368⟩Lord may work upon your hearts: lay aside your prejudices against the Word, or the weaknesses and infirmities of them that preach it: for the Word works not as it is the word of man, as it is thus neat, and elegant, but as it is the Word of God: pray for the blessing of God upon the Word, for except his word of blessing go forth with it, it can never come home to thy soul: meditate upon what you hear; for without meditation it is not like to have any effectual operation upon you. Search your souls by it, and consider whether that be not your very case and state which it describes, your very danger whereof it gives warning; take heed lest after you have heard it, the cares of the world choke not what you have heard, and cause those budding convictions which begin to put forth, to blast and wither: carefully attend to all those Items and memorandums your Consciences give you under the word, and conclude that the Lord is then come nigh unto you.