A39669:2086
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.
Sixthly, The same power which created the world, still under-props and supports it in its being: the world owes its conservation, as well as its existence to the power of God, without which it could not subsist one moment. Just so it is with the new Creation, which entirely depends upon the preserving power which first formed it, Jude ver. 1. Preserved in Christ Jesus; and 1 Pet. 1. 5. Who were kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation: as in a natural way we live, move, and have our being in God, Acts 17. 28. so in a spiritual way, we continue believing, repenting, loving, and delighting in God; without whose continued influence upon our souls we could do neither.
Seventhly, In a word, God surveyed the first Creation with complacence and great delight: he beheld the work of his hands and approved them as very good, Gen. 1. 31. so is it also in the second creation; nothing pleaseth, and delights God more than the works of grace in the souls of his people: it is not any outward privilege of nature, or gift of Providence which commends any man to God: circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but a new creature, Gal. 6. 15. ⟨p. 432⟩And thus you see, upon what grounds the work of regeneration in man is styled a new Creature, which was the first thing to be opened.
Seventhly, In a word, God surveyed the first Creation with complacence and great delight: he beheld the work of his hands and approved them as very good, Gen. 1. 31. so is it also in the second creation; nothing pleaseth, and delights God more than the works of grace in the souls of his people: it is not any outward priviledge of nature, or gift of Providence which commends any man to God: circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but a new creature,