A39669:674
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.
First, By the perfect intelligence of sense, not hindered or deceived. So I believe the truth of these propositions, Fire is hot: water moist: honey is sweet: gall is bitter.
Secondly, By the native clearness of self-evidencing principles. So I believe the truth of these propositions, The whole is more than a part: the cause is before the effect.
Thirdly, By discourse, and rational deduction▪ So I believe the truth of this proposition, Where all the parts of a thing are, there is the whole.
Fourthly, By infallible Testimony, when any thing is witnessed or asserted, by one whose truth is unquestionable: and of this sort is the assent of faith: which is therefore 1called our receiving the witness of God, 1 Joh. 5. 9. our setting to our Seal that God is true, Joh. 3. 33. This prima veritas, divine veracity is the very formal object of faith: into this we resolve our faith. Thus saith the Lord, is that firm foundation upon which our assent is built: and thus we see good reason to believe those profound mysteries of the incarnation of Christ, the Hypostatical Union of the two natures in his wonderful person, the mystical Union of Christ and believers, though we cannot understand these things by reason of the darkness of our minds. It satisfies the soul to find these mysteries in the written word, upon that foundation it firmly builds its assent: and without such an assent of faith, there can be no embracing of Christ: all acts of faith and religion without assent, are but as so many Arrows shot at random into the open air, they signify nothing for want of a fixed determinate object.