A39669:903
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.
From the Saints Union with Christ, there doth naturally and immediately result a most sweet and blessed communion or fellowship with him in graces and spiritual privileges, Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (or things) in Christ: in giving us his Son, he freely gives us all things, Rom. 8. 32. so in 1 Cor. 1. 30. of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption: and once more, 1 Cor. 3. 22, 23. all are yours, and ye are Christs: what Christ is and hath is theirs by communication to them, or improvement for them: and this is very evidently carried in all those excellent Scripture metaphors by which our Union with Christ is figured and shadowed ⟨p. 166⟩out to us: as the Marriage Union betwixt a man and his wife, Eph. 5. 31, 32. You know that this conjugal union 1gives the wife interest in the estate and honour of the husband, be she never so meanly descended in her self: the natural Union betwixt the head and members of the body, by which also the mystical union of Christ and believers is set forth, 1 Cor. 12. 12. excellently illustrates this fellowship or communion betwixt them: for from Christ the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted, by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body, as the Apostle speaks, Eph. 4. 16. The Union betwixt the graft and the stock which is another emblem of our Union with Christ, Joh. 15. 1. imports in like manner this communion or partnership betwixt Christ and the Saints. For no sooner doth the graft take hold of the stock, but the vital sap of the stock is communicated to the graft, and both live by one and the same juice.