A39669:2575
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
Sermon 32 › DOCT. › The Uses follow. › Subsection 4: Inference 4.
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 4.
If this be the case of all unbelievers, it is not to be admired 1that souls under the first convictions of their miserable condition, are plunged into such deep distresses of Spirit. It's said of them, Acts 2. 37. That they were pricked at the heart and cried out, Men and brethren what shall we do? And so the Jailer, He came in trembling and astonished, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Certainly if souls apprehend themselves under the condemnation and sentence of the great God; ⟨p. 548⟩all their tears and tremblings, their weary days and restless nights, are not without just cause and reason. Those that never saw their own miserable condition by the light of a clear and full conviction, may wonder to see others so deeply distressed in Spirit. They may misjudge the case, and call it melancholy or madness: but spiritual troubles do not exceed the cause and ground of them, let them be as deep and great as they will: and indeed it is one of the great mysteries of grace and providence; a thing much unknown to men, how such poor souls are supported from day to day under such fears and sorrows as are able in a few hours to break the stoutest Spirit in the world. Luther was a man of great natural courage, and yet, when God let in spiritual troubles upon his soul, it is noted of him, ut nec vox, nec calor, nec sanguis superesset, He had neither voice, nor heat, nor blood appearing in him.
If this be the case of all unbelievers, it is not to be admired 1