A39669:576
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 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.
First, The soul that is joined to Christ, is quickened with a divine life, so we read in 2 Pet. 1. 4. where believers are said to be partakers or consorts of the divine nature: a very high expression, and warily to be understood. Partakers of the divine nature, not essentially, so it's wholly incommunicable to the Creature, nor yet Hypostatically and personally, so Christ only was a partaker of it, but our participation of the Divine nature must be understood in a way proper to believers, that is to say, we partake of it by the inhabitation of the Spirit of God in us: according to 1 Cor. 3. 16, 17. know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? the Spirit who is God by nature, dwells in and actuates the soul whom he regenerates, and by sanctifying causes it to live a divine life: from this life of God the unsanctified are said to be alienated, Eph. 4. 18. but believers are partakers of it.