A39669:2202
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.
Fourthly, The death of the Cross was a very opprobrious and shameful death: they that dyed upon the cross were loaded with ignominy: the crimes for which they dyed were exposed to the public view: after this manner dyeth sin, a very shameful and ignominious death. Every true believer draws up a charge against it in every prayer, aggravates and condemns it in every confession, bewails the evil of it with multitudes of tears and groans, making sin as vile and odious as they can find words to express it, though not so vile as it is in its own nature. O my God (saith Ezra) I am ashamed, and even blush to look up unto thee, Ezra 9. 6. So Daniel in his confession: Dan. 9. 7. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day. Nor can it grieve any believer in the world to accuse, condemn, and shame himself for sin, whilst he remembers and considers that all that shame and confusion of face which he takes to himself, goes to the vindication, glory, and honour of his God: as David was content to be more vile still for God, so it pleaseth the heart of a Christian to magnify and advance the name and glory of God by exposing his own shame, in humble and broken hearted confessions of sin.
Fourthly, The death of the Cross was a very opprobrious and shameful death: they that dyed upon the cross were loaded with ignominy: the crimes for which they dyed were exposed to the publick view: after this manner dyeth sin, a very shameful and ignominious death. Every true believer draws up a charge against it in every prayer, aggravates and condemns it in every confession, bewailes the evil of it with multitudes of tears and groans, making sin as vile and odious as they can find words to express it, though not so vile as it is in its own nature. O my God (saith Ezra) I am ashamed, and even blush to look up unto thee, Ezra 9. 6. So Daniel in his confession: Dan. 9. 7. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day. Nor can it grieve any believer in the world to accuse, condemn, and shame himself for sin, whilest he remembers and considers that all that shame and confusion of face which he takes to himself, goes to the vindication, glory, and honour of his God: as David was content to be more vile still for God, so it pleaseth the heart of a Christian to magnifie and advance the name and glory of God by exposing his own shame, in humble and broken hearted confessions of sin.