A39669:730
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.
Fourthly, It is the means of our spiritual livelihood and subsistence: all other graces like birds in the nest depend upon what faith brings in to them: take away faith, and all the graces languish and dye: joy, peace, hope, patience, and all the rest depend upon faith, as the members of the natural body do upon the vessels by which blood and spirits are conveyed to them. The life which I now live (saith the Apostle) is by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2. 20. it provides our ordinary food, and extraordinary Cordials, Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed. And seeing it is all this to our souls,
Fourthly, It is the means of our spiritual livelihood and subsistance: all other graces like birds in the nest depend upon what faith brings in to them: take away faith, and all the graces languish and dye: joy, peace, hope, patience, and all the rest depend upon faith, as the members of the natural body do upon the vessels by which blood and spirits are conveyed to them. The life which I now live (saith the Apostle) is by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2. 20. it provides our ordinary food, and extraordinary Cordials, Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed. And seeing it is all this to our souls,
Fifthly, In the last place it is no wonder that it is the main scope and drift of the Gospel to press and bring souls to believing: 'tis the Gospels grand design to bring up the hearts of men and women to faith. The urgent commands of the Gospel aim at this, 1 Joh. 3. 23. Mark 1. 14, 15. Joh. 12. 36