A39669:2714
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, Labour to get a deep sense of the misery of such a condition; for till you be awakened by conviction, you can never be healed. O that you did but know the true difference betwixt common and saving light, the want of this keeps you in darkness: you think because you know the same things that the most sanctified man doth, that therefore there is no difference betwixt his knowledge and yours; and are therefore ready to say to them as Job to his friends, Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard, and understood it: What ye know, the same do I know also; I am not inferior unto you, Job 13. 1, 2. But O that you would be convinced that your knowledge vastly differs from the knowledge of believers. Though you know the same things that they do, it is a knowledge of another kind and nature. You know spiritual things in another way, merely by the light of reason assisted and improved by the common light of the Gospel: they know the same things by spiritual illumination, and in an experimental way. 1 John 2. 20. Ye have an unction from the holy one, and ye know all things. Their knowledge is practical, yours is idle. They are working out their salvation by that light which God hath given them, Psal. 111. 10. Their knowledge of God and Christ produces the fruits of faith, obedience, mortification, and heavenly mindedness in them: It hath no such fruits in you: whatever light there be in your understandings, it makes no alteration at all upon your hearts. Their light brings them to heaven, John 17. 3. Yours shall be blown out by death, 1 Cor. 13. 8. and your selves left in the mists of eternal darkness: except your eyes be opened seasonably by the anointing of the holy Ghost. Conviction is a great part of your cure.
First, Labour to get a deep sense of the misery of such a condition; for till you be awakened by conviction, you can never be healed. O that you did but know the true difference betwixt common and saving light, the want of this keeps you in darkness: you think because you know the same things that the most sanctified man doth, that therefore there is no difference betwixt his knowledge and yours; and are therefore ready to say to them as Job to his friends, Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard, and understood it: What ye know, the same do I know also; I am not inferiour unto you,