A39669:49
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.
One thing I shall earnestly request of all the people of God, into whose hands this shall fall; that now at last, they will be persuaded to end all their unbrotherly quarrels and strifes among themselves; which have wasted so much precious time, and decayed the vital spirits of Religion; hindered the conversion of multitudes, and increased and confirmed the Atheism of the times: and now at last opened a breach at which the common enemy is ready to enter, and end the quarrel to our cost. O put on as the elect of God, bowels of mercy, and a spirit of charity and forbearance; if not for your own sakes, yet for the Churches sake; Si non vis tibi parcere, parce Carthagini.
One thing I shall earnestly request of all the people of God, into whose hands this shall fall; that now at last, they will be perswaded to end all their unbrotherly quarrels and strifes among themselves; which have wasted so much precious time, and decayed the vital spirits of Religion; hindred the conversion of multitudes, and increased and confirmed the Atheism of the times: and now at last opened a breach at which the common enemy is ready to enter, and end the quarrel to our cost. O put on as the elect of God, bowels of mercy, and a spirit of charity and forbearance; if not for your own sakes, yet for the Churches sake; Si non vis tibi parcere, parce Carthagini.
I remember it is noted in our English History as a very remarkable thing, that when the Severn overflowed part of Somersetshire, it was observed that Dogs and Hares, Cats and Rats, to avoid the common ⟨image 13⟩destruction, would swim to the next rising ground, and abide quietly together in that common danger, without the least discovery of their natural antipathy.
The story applies it self, and O that Christians would every where depose their animosities; that the hearts of the Fathers might be turned to the children, and the children to the Fathers; lest God come and smite the earth with a curse.