A39669:2068
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.
YOU have seen one trial of an interest in Christ in our last discourse, namely by the donation of the Spirit: we have here another Trial of the same matter, from one of the greatest, and most noble effects of the Spirit upon our souls; namely, his work of renovation, or new creation: if any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature. The Apostles scope in the immediate context is to dissuade Christians from a carnal, sinful partiality, in their respects to men: not to dispense them after the manner of the world, according to the external differences, but the real internal worth and excellency that is in men. This the Apostle presses by two arguments; one drawn from the end of Christs death, verse 15. which was to take us off from those selfish designs, and carnal ends by which the world is swayed. Secondly, from the new spirit by which believers are acted: they that are in Christ, are to judge ⟨p. 427⟩and measure all things by a new rule: if any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature: old things are passed away: q. d. we have done with that low selfish spirit of the world which was wholly governed by Carnal interest; we are now to judge by a new rule, to be acted from a new principle, aim at a new, and more noble end: behold all things are become new. In these words we have three general parts to be distinctly considered.
YOU have seen one tryal of an interest in Christ in our last discourse, namely by the donation of the Spirit: we have here another Tryal of the same matter, from one of the greatest, and most noble effects of the Spirit upon our souls; namely, his work of renovation, or new creation: if any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature. The Apostles scope in the immediate context is to disswade Christians from a carnal, sinful partiality, in their respects to men: not to dispense them after the manner of the world, according to the external differences, but the real internal worth and excellency that is in men. This the Apostle presses by two arguments; one drawn from the end of Christs death, verse 15. which was to take us off from those selfish designs, and carnal ends by which the world is swayed. Secondly, from the new spirit by which believers are acted: they that are in Christ, are to judge ⟨p. 427⟩and measure all things by a new rule: if any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature: old things are passed away: q. d. we have done with that low selfish spirit of the world which was wholly governed by Carnal interest; we are now to judge by a new rule, to be acted from a new principle, aim at a new, and more noble end: behold all things are become new. In these words we have three general parts to be distinctly considered.