A39669:2007
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.
In the first sense it is put for the God-head, 1 Tim. 3. 16. Justified in the Spirit, (i. e.) by the power of his Divine Nature, which raised him from the dead. In the second sense it denotes the third person, or subsistence in the glorious and blessed Trinity, and to him this word Spirit is attributed, sometimes properly in the sense before mentioned, as denoting his personality; at other times metonymically, and then it is put for ⟨p. 407⟩the effects, fruits, graces, and gifts of the Spirit, communicated by him unto men: Eph. 5. 11. be ye filled with the Spirit. Now the fruits or gifts of the Spirit are either, 1. Common, and assisting gifts, or 2. Special, and sanctifying gifts.
In the first sence it is put for the God-head, 1 Tim. 3. 16. Justified in the Spirit, (i. e.) by the power of his Divine Nature, which raised him from the dead. In the second sense it denotes the third person, or subsistence in the glorious and blessed Trinity, and to him this word Spirit is attributed, sometimes properly in the sence before mentioned, as denoting his personality; at other times metonymically, and then it is put for ⟨p. 407⟩the effects, fruits, graces, and gifts of the Spirit, communicated by him unto men: Eph. 5. 11. be ye filled with the Spirit. Now the fruits or gifts of the Spirit are either, 1. Common, and assisting gifts, or 2. Special, and sanctifying gifts.
In the last sense and signification, it must be taken in this place: for as to the common, assisting and ministering gifts of the Spirit, they are bestowed promiscuously upon one as well as another. Such gifts in an excellent degree, and large measure are found in the unregenerate, and therefore can never amount to a solid evidence of the souls union with Christ: but his special sanctifying gifts being the proper effect and consequent of that Union, must needs strongly prove and confirm it. In this sense therefore we are to understand the Spirit in this place: and by giving the spirit to us we are to understand more than the coming of the spirit upon us: the spirit of God is said to come upon men in a transient way, for their present assistance in some particular service; though in themselves they be unsanctified persons: thus the spirit of God came upon Balaam,