A39669:2367
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.
Pattern 3.
The self-denial of Christ is the pattern of believers, and their Conformity unto it is their indispensable duty. Phil. 2. 14, 5, 6. 2 Cor. 8. 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Jesus Christ for the glory of God, and the love he bare to the elect, denied himself all the delights and pleasures of this world, Mat. 20. 28. The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many, he was all his life long in the world a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, Isa. 53. 3. more unprovided of comfortable accommodations, than the birds of the air, or beasts of the earth. Luke 9. 58. The Foxes have holes, and the Birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. Yet this was the least part of Christs self-denial: what did he not deny when he left the bosom of his Father with the ineffable delights and pleasures he there enjoyed from Eternity, and instead thereof to drink the cup, the bitter cup of his Fathers wrath for our sakes? O Christians, look to your pattern; and imitate your self-denying Saviour. There is a threefold self you are to deny for Christ.
The self-denial of Christ is the pattern of believers, and their Conformity unto it is their indispensable duty.