A39669:720
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.
Thirdly, Having seen what the receiving of Jesus Christ 1is, and that it is the faith by which we are justified and saved: I next come to open the Dignity and excellency of this faith, whose praises and Encomiums are in all the Scriptures: there you find it renowned by the title of precious faith, 2 Pet. 1. 7. enriching faith, Jam. 2. 5. the work of God, Joh. 6. 29. the great mystery of Godliness, 1 Tim. 3. 16. with many more rich Epithets throughout the Scriptures bestowed upon it.
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Now faith may be considered two ways, viz. either Qualitatively or Relatively.
Considered qualitatively, as a saving grace, it hath the same excellency that all other precious saving graces have: as it is the fruit of the Spirit it is more precious than Gold, Prov. 8. 11, 19. and so are all other graces as well as faith: in this sense they all shine with equal glory, and that a glory transcending all the glory of this world: but then consider faith Relatively as the instrument by which the righteousness of Christ is apprehended and made ours, and in that consideration it excels all other graces.