A39669:434
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.
Secondly, Let us be Serious in our work as well as judicious. Remember O ye Ambassadors of Christ, you bring a message from the God of heaven of everlasting consequence to the souls of men. The eternal decrees are executed upon them in your Ministry: to some you are the savour of life unto life, and to some the savour of death unto death, 2 Cor. 2. 16. Heaven and hell are matters of most awful and solemn Consideration. O what an account have we also shortly to give unto him that sent us!
These are matters of such deep Concernment as should swallow up our very spirits, the least they can do is to compose our hearts unto seriousness in the management of them.
Thirdly, Be filled with tender affections toward the souls 1of men with whom you treat for reconciliation: you had need be men of bowels as well as men of brains: you see a multitude of poor souls upon the brink of eternal misery, and they know it not, but promise themselves peace, and fill themselves with vain hopes of heaven: and is there a more moving, melting spectacle in the world than this! O think with what bowels of Commiseration Moses and Paul were filled, when the one desired rather to be blotted out of Gods Book, and the other to be accursed from Christ, than that Israel should not be saved, Exod. 32. 33. and Rom. 9. 3. Think how the Bowels of Christ yearned over Jerusalem, Matth. 23. 37. and over the multitude,