A39669:575
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.
Nor is this principle or habit acquired by accustoming our selves to holy actions, as natural habits are acquired by frequent acts, which beget a disposition, and thence grow up to an habit or second nature; but it is infused or implanted into the soul by the Spirit of God. So we read Ezek. 36. 25, 26. a new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you: it grows not up out of our Natures, but is put, or infused into us: as it's said of the two witnesses, Rev. 11. 11. who lay dead in a Civil sense three days and an half, that the Spirit of life from God entered into them; so it is here in a spiritual sense, the spirit of life from God enters into the dead, carnal heart: it's all by way of supernatural infusion.
Nor is it limited to this or that faculty of the soul, but grace or life is poured into all the faculties: behold all things are become new, 2 Cor. 5. 17. The understanding, will, thoughts, and affections are all renewed by it: the whole inner man is changed, yea, the tongue and hand, the discourses and actions, even all the ways and courses of the outward man are renewed by it.
But more particularly, we shall discern the nature of this spiritual life, by considering the properties of it, among which these are very remarkable.