A39669:2153
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.
Thirdly, have these convictions overturned your vain confidences, and brought you to a great pinch, and inward distress of soul, making you to cry what shall we do to be saved? These are the ways of the spirit in the formation of the new creature. Acts 16. 29. Acts 2. 37. If no such antecedent works of the spirit have passed upon your hearts, you have no ground for your confidence, that the new creature is formed in you.
Thirdly, have these convictions overturned your vain confidences, and brought you to a great pinch, and inward distress of soul, making you to cry what shall we doe to be saved? These are the ways of the spirit in the formation of the new creature. Acts 16. 29. Acts 2. 37. If no such antecedent works of the spirit have passed upon your hearts, you have no ground for your confidence, that the new creature is formed in you.
Secondly, Consider the concomitant frames and workings of spirit which ordinarily attend the production of the new creature, and judge impartially betwixt God and your own souls, whether they have been the very frames and workings of your hearts.
First, have your vain spirits been composed to the greatest seriousness, and most solemn consideration of things eternal, as the hearts of all those are whom God regenerates? When the Lord is about this great work upon the soul of man, whatever vanity, levity, and sinful jollity was there before, it is banished from the heart at this time, for now heaven and hell, life and death, are before a mans eyes, and these are the most awful and solemn things that ever our thoughts conversed