A39669:2031
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.
Evidence 2.
As the spirit of God hath been a convincing, so he is a quickening spirit to all those to whom he is given: Rom. 8. 2. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death: he is the spirit of life (i. e.) the principle of spiritual life in the souls whom he inhabiteth: for uniting them to Christ, he unites them to the fountain of life: and this spiritual life in believers manifests it self as the natural life doth in vital actions and operations. When the spirit of God comes into the soul of a man that was dead, and senseless under sin, O (saith he) now I begin to feel the weight and load of sin, Rom. 7. 24. now I begin to hunger, and thirst after Christ and his Ordinances, 1 Pet. 2. 2. now I begin to breath after God in spiritual prayer, Acts 9. 11. Spiritual life hath its spiritual senses, and suitable operations. O think upon this you that cannot feel any burden in sin, you that have no hungerings or thirstings after Christ; how can the spirit of God be in you? I do not deny but there may at some times be much deadness and senselessness upon the hearts of Christians, but this is their disease, not their nature: it is but at some times not always, and when it is so with them they are burdened with it, and complain o• it as their greatest affliction in this world: their spirits are not easy and at rest in such a condition as yours are, their spirit is as a bone out of joint, an Arm dislocated which cannot move any way without pain.
As the spirit of God hath been a convincing, so he is a quickening spirit to all those to whom he is given: