A39669:989
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.
O when a mans conscience shall say to him in a day of trouble, as Reuben to his afflicted brethren, Gen. 42. 22. Spake I not unto you saying, do not sin against the child: and ye would not hear, therefore behold also his blood is required. So conscience, Did I not warn you, threaten you, persuade you in time against these evils? but you would not hearken to me, therefore behold now you must suffer to all eternity for it: the wrath of God is kindled against thy soul for it: this is the fruit of thy own wilful madness and obstinacy. Now thou shalt know the price of sinning against God, against light, and conscience. O this is terrible! every bite of conscience makes a poor soul to startle, and in a terrible fright to cry, Oh the worm! Oh the bitter foretaste of Hell! a wounded spirit who can bear?
O when a mans conscience shall say to him in a day of trouble, as Reuben to his afflicted brethren, Gen. 42. 22. Spake I not unto you saying, do not sin against the child: and ye would not hear, therefore behold also his blood is required. So conscience, Did I not warn you, threaten you, perswade you in time against these evils? but you would not hearken to me, therefore behold now you must suffer to all eternity for it: the wrath of God is kindled against thy soul for it: this is the fruit of thy own wilful madness and obstinacy. Now thou shalt know the price of sinning against God, against light, and conscience. O this is terrible! every bite of conscience makes a poor soul to startle, and in a terrible fright to cry, Oh the worm! Oh the bitter foretast of Hell! a wounded spirit who can bear?
This is a fourth wound of conscience, and it makes way for a fifth, for here it is as in the pouring out of the vials, and the sounding of those woe-trumpets in the Revelation, one woe is past, and another cometh. After all these deadly blows of conscience upon the very heart of a sinner, comes another as dreadful as any that is yet named, and that is,