A39669:1899
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.
Lesson 4.
Fourthly, The Lord teaches the soul that is coming to Christ, that though it be their duty to strive to the uttermost for salvation; yet all strivings in their own strength are insufficient to obtain it. This work is quite above the power of nature: 'tis not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy: the soul is brought to a full Conviction of this, by the discovery of the heinous nature of sin, and of the rigour and severity of the Law of God: no repentance, nor reformation can possibly amount unto a just satisfaction, nor are they within the compass and power of our will. It was a saying that Dr. Hill often used to his friends, speaking about the power of mans will, he would lay his hand upon his breast and say, every man hath something here to confute the Arminian doctrine; this fully takes off the ⟨p. 382⟩soul from all expectations of deliverance that way: it cannot but strive, that is its duty; but to expect deliverance as the purchase of its own strivings, that would be its sin.
Fourthly, The Lord teaches the soul that is coming to Christ, that though it be their duty to strive to the uttermost for salvation; yet all strivings in their own strength are insufficient to obtain it. This work is quite above the power of nature: 'tis not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy: the soul is brought to a full Conviction of this, by the discovery of the heinous nature of sin, and of the rigour and severity of the Law of God: no repentance, nor reformation can possibly amount unto a just satisfaction, nor are they within the compass and power of our will. It was a saying that Dr. Hill often used to his friends, speaking about the power of mans will, he would lay his hand upon his breast and say, every man hath something here to confute the Arminian doctrine; this fully takes off the ⟨p. 382⟩