A39669:19
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.
Sir, It was a special happiness which Chrysostom earnestly recommended to persons of quality, that they would so order their conversations, that their Parents might rather glory in them, than they in their Parents; motherwise (saith he) it is better to rise to honour from a contemptible Parent, than to be contemptible from an honourable Parent: but blessed be God, you and your worthy Ancestors mutually reflect honour upon each other.
- mMelius est de contemptibili fieri clarum, quam de claro genere contemptibilem esse. Chrysostom in Mat. 4. Nec fieri potest quin hunc comitetur ignobilitas etiamsi vel A•is, vel Proavis natus sit vitâ inculpatis, qui ab eorum studiis alienus est, seque longissimè tum dictis, tum factis à-nobilitate disjungit.
Had God suffered you to degenerate, as many do, it would have been but a poor consolation to have said, my Progenitors were men of honour, the love and delight of their Country. This as none excellently expresseth it, would be the same thing as if one that is blind himself, should boast what a sharp and piercing sight his father had, or one that is lame himself should glory in those feats of activity his Grandfather performed: but God (to whose bounty therefore ⟨image 5⟩you are doubly obliged) hath made you the inheritor of their virtues, as well as of their lands, and therein fulfilled many thousand prayers which have been poured out to God upon your account. But I must forbear, lest I provoke others to envy, and draw upon 2my self the suspicion of flattery: what hath been already said may serve for a sufficient reason of this Dedication. I know the