A39669:592
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, But though we cannot pry into these secrets by the eye of reason, yet God hath revealed this to us in his word, that it is wrought by his own almighty power, Eph. 1. 19. The Apostle ascribes this work to the exceeding greatness of the power of God: and this must needs be, if we consider, how the Spirit of God expresses it in Scripture by a new Creation: (i. e.) a giving being to something out of nothing, Eph. 2. 10. In this it differs from all the effects of humane power, for man always works upon some pre-existent matter, but here is no such matter: all that is in man, the 1subject of this work, is only a passive capacity or receptivity, but nothing is found in him to contribute towards this work: this supernatural life is not, nor can it be educed out of natural principles: this wholly transcends the Sphere of all natural power: but of this more anon.
- 1Ab uno desuper principio quod convenienter voluntati operatur dependent prima, secunda & tertia. Quemadmodum minima pars ferry lapidis magnetis spiritu movetur, per multos annulos ferreos extensi: ita etiam qui sunt virtute praediti, divino spiritu attracti, cum prima mansione conjungantur, deinceps autem alii usque ad postremam. Glem. Alexan. Strom. lib. 7.Ab uno desuper principio quod convenienter voluntati operatur dependent prima, secunda & tertia. Quemadmodum minima pars ferri lapidis magnetis spiritu movetur, per multos annulos ferreos extensi: ita etiam qui sunt virtute praediti, divino spiritu attracti, cum prima mansione conjungantur, deinceps autem alii usque ad postremam. Glem. Alexan. Strom. lib. 7.