A39669:2341
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.
First, What the Saints imitation of Christ supposeth and compriseth. Now there are divers great and weighty truths 1supposed and implied in this imitation of Christ; or walking as he walked, viz.
First, What the Saints imitation of Christ supposeth and comprizeth. Now there are divers great and weighty truths 1supposed and implyed in this imitation of Christ; or walking as he walked, viz.
- 11.
First, It supposes that no Christian is or may pretend to be a rule to himself, to act according to the dictates of his own will and pleasure: for as no man hath wisdom enough to direct and govern himself; so if his own will were made the rule of his own actions, it would be the highest invasion of the divine prerogative that could be imagined: I know, O Lord, (saith Jeremiah) that the way of man is not in himself, it is not in him that walketh to direct his own steps, Jer. 10. 23. We may as well pretend to be our own makers as our own ⟨p. 498⟩guides. It is a pretty observation of Aquinas, that if the workmans hand were the rule of his work, it were impossible he should ever err in working: and if the will of man were the only law and guide of his way, we might then say no man would sin in his walking. The Apostle indeed saith of the Heathens, Rom. 2. 14. that they are a law to themselves; but it is not his meaning that their will is their law, but the law of God engraven upon their hearts: the light and dictates of their own Consciences, did oblige and bind them as a law.