A39669:2558
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, Let us consider what unbelief excludes a man from, and it will be found that it excludes him from all that may help and save him: for
First, it excludes him from the pardon of sin. John 8. 24. If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Now he that dies under the guilt of all his sins must needs die in a state of wrath and condemnation for ever. For the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6. ult. If a man may be saved without a pardon, then may the unbeliever hope to be saved.
Secondly, Unbelief excludes a man from all the saving benefits that come by the sacrifice or death of Christ. For if faith be the only instrument that applies and brings home to the soul the benefits of the blood of Christ, as unquestionably it is: then unbelief must of necessity exclude a man from all those benefits, and consequently leave him in the state of death and condemnation. Faith is the applying cause, the instrument by which we receive the special saving benefit of the blood of Christ, Rom. 5. 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Eph. 2. 8. By grace are ye saved through faith. So then if the unbeliever be acquitted and saved, it must be without the benefit of Christs death and sacrifice, which is utterly impossible.