A39669:2434
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, This resemblance and conformity to Christ appears 1necessary from the communion which all believers have with Christ in the same Spirit of grace and holiness. Believers are called Christs fellows or copartners, Psal. 45. 7. from their participation with him of the same spirit, as it is, 1 Thes. 4. 8. God giveth the same spirit unto us which he more plentifully poured out upon Christ. Now where the same spirit and principle is, there the same fruits and operations must be produced, according to the proportions and measures of the spirit of grace communicated; and this reason is farther enforced by the very design and end of God in the infusion of the spirit of grace: for it is plain from Ezek. 36. 27. that practical holiness, and obedience is the scope, and design of that infusion of the spirit. The very inna• property ⟨p. 517⟩of the spirit of God in men is to elevate their minds, and set their affections upon heavenly things, to purge their hearts from earthly dross, and fit them for a life of holiness and obedience: its nature also is assimilating and changeth them in whom it is into the same image with Jesus Christ their heavenly head, 2 Cor. 3. 18.
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Fourthly, The necessity of this imitation of Christ may be argued from the design and end of Christs exhibition to the 1world in a body of flesh. For though we detest that doctrine of the Socinians which makes the exemplary life of Christ to be upon the matter, the whole end of his incarnation: yet we must not run so far from an error as to lose a precious truth. We say the satisfaction of his blood was a main and principal end of his Incarnation, according to