A39669:2237
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.
Inference 3.
Hence it follows, that manifold and successive afflictions are no more than is necessary for the best of Christians: the mortification 1of our lusts require them all, be they never so many, 1 Pet. 1. 5. if need be, ye are in heaviness: 'tis no more than need, that one loss should follow another to ⟨p. 475⟩mortify an earthly heart: for so intensely are our affections set upon the world, that it is not one, or two, or many checks of providence, that will suffice to wean and alienate them. Alas, the earthliness of our heart will take all this, it may be much more than this to purge the earthliness of them: the wise God sees it but necessary to permit frequent discoveries of our own weakness, and to let loose the tongues of many enemies upon us, and all little enough to pull down the pride and vanity that is in our hearts. Christian, how difficult soever it be for thee to bear it; yet the pride of thy heart requires all the scoffs and jeers, all the calumnies and reproaches that ever the tongues or pens of thy bitterest enemies, or mistaking friends have at any time thrown upon thee. Such rank weeds as grow in our hearts will require hard frosts, and very sharp weather to rot them: the straying Bullock needs a heavy clog, and so doth a Christian, whom God will keep within the bounds and limits of his commandments, Psal. 119. 67. Dan. 11. 35.
Hence it follows, that manifold and successive afflictions are no more than is necessary for the best of Christians: the mortification