A39669:2617
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.
Inference 4.
Hence it also follows, that the work of conversion is a very difficult work: the soul is scarcely half won to Christ, when Satan 1is cast out of the understanding by illumination. The Devil hath deeply entrenched himself, and strongly fortified every faculty of the soul against Christ. The understanding indeed is the first entrance into the soul, and out of that faculty he is oftentimes expulsed by light and conviction, which seems to make a great change upon a man. Now he becomes a professor; now he takes up the duties of Religion, and passes up and down the world for a convert: but alas, alas, all the while Satan keeps the Fort-royal, the heart and will in his own possession: and this is a work of more difficulty. The weapons of that warfare must indeed be mighty through God, which do not only cast down imaginations, but bring every thought of the heart into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10. 4, 5. While the heart stands out, though the understanding be taken in, the soul remains in Satan's possession: 'tis a greater work (and we daily find it so) to win one heart, than to convince twenty understandings.
Hence it also follows, that the work of conversion is a very difficult work: the soul is scarcely half won to Christ, when Satan 1is cast out of the understanding by illumination. The Devil hath deeply intrenched himself, and strongly fortisied every faculty of the soul against Christ. The understanding indeed is the first entrance into the soul, and out of that faculty he is oftentimes expulsed by light and conviction, which seems to make a great change upon a man. Now he becomes a professor; now he takes up the duties of Religion, and passes up and down the world for a convert: but alas, alas, all the while Satan keeps the Fort-royal, the heart and will in his own possession: and this is a work of more difficulty. The weapons of that warfare must indeed be mighty through God, which do not only cast down imaginations, but bring every thought of the heart into captivity to the obedience of Christ,