content himselfe with such simple euidences in the matter of his lands or liuing or his temporall estate how much more doest thou deserue the same name that dalliest with thy selfe so fondly in matters whereupon thine eternall estate dependeth but if thine hopes be well grounded shew vs the grounds of them and bring them forth now in so due an houre before God and thine owne conscience Where is thine holinesse where is the Image of God wrought in thee shew how the spirit and the word of God haue wrought together to change thee into a new man when diddest thou see and feele I doe not say hell open before thee ready to receiue thee for that Iudas saw and felt and yet was neuer regenerated but the filthinesse of thy nature thine abominablenesse sinfulnesse and wickednesse what feruent and strong desires hast thou found of being renewed and sanctified by the spirit of God Where be thy cries thy groanes thy teares begging reconciliation at Gods hand and earnestly seeking vnto him to reforme thy leaud nature Where is the firme purpose of thy soule out of the apprehension of his grace to please him in all things Where is thy godly conuersation thy departing from all wickednesse and exercising thy selfe constantly in that that is good What combates hast thou made with sinne and Satan and with the vnsanctified world Where is thy growth and proceeding in all godlinesse Shew mee the vertues of the inward man formerly declared Shew mee thy loue and feare of God shew me thine hatred of sinne and sorrow for it shew me thy mindfulnesse of God thy thinking of him thy beleeuing and reioycing in him and in his word Are these things to be found in thee Canst thou approoue before the liuing God and thine owne soule that these matters are in thee then stand to thine answere then confirme thy selfe in thy perswasion and be thou more and more assured that the spirit and word of God haue begotten thee againe indeed but if these things be absent from thee or if thou please thy selfe in certaine shadowes and resemblances and conceits of them I say vnto thee thy conceits are vaine thine answere false and thou art so much the further off from being the child of God by how much thou dost more peremptorily boast of thy being such Brethren what should I say more you see the necessity of this searching into your selues I haue endeauoured to goe before you in it continue you now constantly and neuer giue your selues any rest till by looking narrowly into your hearts you haue attained a true and sure knowledge of your estates and bee able to say and shew that you are regenerated yea or not CHAP. VIII Containing an vse of terrour to them that are vnregenerate ANd in the second place let me turne my speech to all them which are without doubt the greater number that if they will answere truly 2. To the vnregenerate 1. Terrour because of their hard estate must answere negatiuely to this question must confesse if they will not lie that in very deed they are not regenerate To which kind of men I haue two things to speake the one to shew them their wretchednesse out of Christs owne words the other to beseech them that they would be carefull and willing to come out of it Come hither all yee vnregenerate men and see your hard condition you know you must not liue in this world alwaies you see so many dye before you that you cannot but see though you refuse to consider of it that death must ceaze vpon your persons also afore long And you haue been wont to flatter your selues with hopes of being saued when you die But now I pronounce against you that all these your hopes are lying hopes and like a broken reed will but runne into your armes if you rest vpon them Either out Lord Iesus Christ did egregiously falsifie when he did so vehemently assure Nicodemus that a man cannot see the kingdome of God vnlesse he be borne againe or else you haue most egregiously deluded your owne soules with vanitie lies when being vnregenerate you haue been bold to make your selues beleeue that you should be saued Now for our Sauiour wee are sure he affirmeth nothing but what hee knoweth his words be all pure words tryed in the furnace seuen times he that is the author of saluation can well enough tell to whō he will grant it you therfore euen all you that haue maintained cōtrary hopes in your selues haue lied to your selues haue trusted in vanity haue bin beguiled by sin and Satan haue flattered your selues foolishly and shall surely be disappointed of your goodly hopes vnlesse you take a better course then heretofore I say vnto thee that art vnregenerate Though thou liuest an honest and ciuil life though thou cariest thy selfe iustly and truly towards thy neighbours in thy dealings though thou giue much almes to the poore though thou come to Church and heare the Word and receiue the Sacraments though thou hast been baptized and professest to beleeue in Christ though thou reade the Scriptures and pray with thy family yea though thou haue some fits of sorrow for some sinnes yea though thou confessest and leauest many sinnes and seemest to take much pleasure in the companie of good men and beest forward to the externall exercises of religion and pietie though thou doest all these things as al these things may be done and yet beest not regenerat thou canst not for al that haue any admittance into the kingdome of God How miserable therefore is thy condition that loosest all thy paines and cost that thou bestowest in some good things and canst not bee saued by all that thou doest Doubtlesse euen so stands it with all your soules that are vnregenerate your best works are but guilded sins and that that in you seemeth faire and louely to your selues and to your neighbours to God that searcheth the heart and iudgeth of all things by the heart appeareth exceeding loathsome and abominable Acknowledge thy wretchednesse therefore thou that art not regenerate for to speake all in one word Do what thou canst so long as thou remainest in this estate there is an vtter impossibilitie of thy comming to heauen But you may perhaps say vnto me Who be the men whom I dare charge to bee vnregenerate and in that name barre vp the Kingdome of God against them I answere Too too great a multitude and more by farre then wee doe desire euen all those that boast of their owne vertues and will needs make themselues beleeue that they loue God aboue all and with all their hearts and their neighbour as themselues that is in a word That they doe more then euer any of all the Prophets and Apostles or any besides Christ in the present World since the first sinne of Adam All these that find in themselues so great store of the loue and feare of God as that they conceiue that they loue him with all
the light that beginneth to appeare and to hold downe the truth in vnrighteousnes striuing not to know sinne because he would not leaue it and out of a purpose to practise it for the profit or pleasure of it still labouring to haue somewhat to say in its defence and to elude and shift off whatsoeuer may be said against it but he is willing to know desirous and ready to yeeld and when the light begins to shine within he quickly opens his eyes to behold the same and if he suspect it he lookes more narrowly into it with a sincere purpose of being conuinced if the truth appeare vnto him And this is the first part of a good life The second and as necessary as the first is doing of good wherein hee is carefull to exercise himselfe and though all be not alike fruitful yet euery regenerate man is fruitfull in some degree The life of grace hath its gratious effects as well as the life of nature its naturall and hee that hath the former is as kindly and freely carried to the one as he that hath the life of nature to the other By the supernaturall life of God that is in the sanctified man it is naturall to him to speake to God in prayer to heare from God in the Word to conferre with God in holy meditations Wherefore these things hee findes himselfe inwardly moued vnto and hee cannot chuse but be constant in them If at any time his wicked flesh hinder him from them as sicknesse makes a man sometimes that hee cannot eate his meate then doth hee feele as sensible a misse of them euen as of his meales and he could be as well without foode as without these exercises for in truth they are the foode of his soule and he relisheth them as foode though sometimes lesse then at other times as the diseases of his soule grow more or lesse within him Further mercie iustice liberalitie truth diligence and other vertues are now natural vnto him as well as religion He takes comfort in doing the duties thereof and makes conscience of doing them as he hath occasion Indeed sometimes he findes a great loathnesse and backwardnesse as a man that is lame limps and goes softly and with paine but yet he goes and hee must needs goe and for all the loathnesse hee cannot be well vnlesse he addresse himselfe vnto them Often he hath little mind to pray and doe other religious duties but then alacke he finds himselfe as wee say for the body not well at case and hee hath something within him that puts him forward that presseth and vrgeth him and causeth that he must doe them though with much weaknes and resistance of his fleshly hart for in part it is stil fleshly If he haue neglected a work of mercy he is not wel after it and he is inwardly grieued for it and resolues to take the opportunitie better next time If he haue not followed his calling diligently he is vexed at heart to thinke of it and that day is a day of little comfort that night a night of little rest vnto him So if he haue omitted admonitions exhortations good conference or any other part of good life Not alone one but all good duties both of the first and second Table so farre as his knowledge extendeth begin to bee to him naturall and familiar Hee takes a secret and a sweet delight in doing them he finds himselfe exceedingly discontented with himself if he doe them not and therefore commonly though he come farre short of what he would and should yet there is no day without a line some or other good worke he doth daily herein indeede exceeding al that himselfe was able to doe before or that vnsanctified men can attaine to that what he doth he doth it because God would haue him doe it and his heart doth often actually incline it selfe to the will of God and moue it selfe to the duties with minding it selfe of the good pleasure of God It is not companie it is not applause nor credit nor gaine which sweyes him if all these things were away yea if all these things were against him yet he would doe good for he knowes that Gods wil is his guide and that is the thing he desireth to accomplish in his very soule And further though he be like a young Artificer that vseth his tooles somwhat vnskilfully and doth his businesse somewhat bunglingly yet the Scriptures the Word of God they bee his line and his leuell and according to the direction either special or general which he receiueth from them he striueth to frame his life and actions So is the true Conuert godly in life grosse sinnes vsually he commits not the smallest knowne sins he euer dis-alloweth condemneth confesseth before God in secret and suspected sins he labors to know and for feare auoideth and vnknowne sins he is ready and willing to know Al and all maner of good duties though some he finds more hard and difficult and himselfe more backward vnto them yet I say all and all manner of good duties he resolueth to do and striueth to do and either doth them or is afterwards very angry with himself for not hauing done them so that his life is to his own feeling but a very death if he find it to haue bin vnprofitable which is much to be marked he is heartily glad to see that others can do the good that he cannot or can do it better then himself 3. Knowledge of this good estate So you haue the second effect of regeneration the third followes and that is a knowledge of this his good estate The man regenerate vnderstands himself to be regenerate as the man that liueth walketh that he liueth and walketh So S. Iohn tels vs plainly 1. Iohn 3.14 We know that we are translated from death to life Loe I say an assured word of knowing vsed by the Apostle But how knowes he it euen by a most infallible knowledge grounded vpon the perceiuing of the effects of a spiritual life as hee knowes that he is a liuing man and not a carcasse by feeling in himself the manifest effects of this common life For in very truth spirituall life can no more be hidden then naturall Can that admirable change that cumbersome combat that so far from former times differing life be found in a man and he not know of it Can a blind man become seeing and he not know it Can a deafe man heare a lame man go a sicke man become whole a dead man liue and not know of these alterations in themselues It is vtterly impossible that such things should be hidden from him in whom they be the taking away of blindnes deafenes dumbnes lamenes death from the soule is to him in whom it is no lesse manifest and euident then the remouing of these bodily infirmities And therfore S. Iohn saith 1. Iohn 2.13 I write vnto you babes because you haue knowne the Father meaning
he knoweth not how to deny himselfe nor his couenant But perhaps still the Diuell may be busie with thee and cast some quiddity and subtill cauill in thy way as sometimes he hath done telling thee that if thou beest not as thou findest thy selfe not to be regenerate thy prayers cannot be heard because they be not of faith Thou maiest answere him that that worke of God in his word which moueth thee so to pray is a beginning of regeneration which shall vndoubtedly be perfected if thou continue to pray and therefore that thou wilt not be hindred by such cauils For thou beleeuest that God hath said true when he said Ho euery one that thirsteth and seeing out of a perswasion of the truth of this generall promise thou addressest thy selfe to performe the duty whereto the promise is made thy prayer must needs be of faith though of a weake faith and be no sinne but an acceptable seruice vnto God Now therefore brethren be not discouraged for praying for the spirit of life to breathe vpon you by any cauils or obiections of Satan be not made carelesse of seeking so necessary a thing by any fond imaginations that he will put into your minds be not diuerted from doing this duty by any worldly businesse that may come betwixt but what euer thou doest now in thine heart and when thou commest home in thy closet and in the solemnest manner bow thy selfe to God and cry vnto him for the holy Ghost to regenerate thee And O thou blessed spirit that art like the wind and breathest euen where thou lusteâ—â— breathe into the hearts of some of these that heare me this day and cause some of them to be inflamed with a desire of regeneration and to be incouraged to the begging of it whereas yet it hath not been wrought And so much for the first meanes to be vsed 2. An hiding of the word of God in the heart The second meanes is a diligent hiding of the word of God in the heart For seeing that is the seede of immortality if it be closely laid vp in the ground of our soules it will fructifie to life This law is pure and it will purifie It is perfect and it wil conuert the soule if like a plaister it be laid vnto it Let it be ingraffed into you like a science and it will change the wild sap of your nature and make you able to bring forth fruits of holinesse A man then buries the seed of the word in his hart when he doth ponder and muse vpon it when he sets himselfe seriously to consider the truth of it and to apply it vnto his owne soule taking that that is generally deliuered as pertaining to himselfe in speciall Now the whole word must be thus whetted vpon the heart not the Law alone for that of it selfe will breed nothing but miserable terrours not the Gospel alone for that finding the heart vnprepared to receiue it in such ill ground will bring forth nothing but the stinking weedes of presumption but both the Law and the Gospell it so being tempered together and obtaining a ioynt worke in the soule by their mutual forces they may both produce the grace of sanctification So then if one would be regenerate he must take to himself the whole Word of God He must set himself al alone to muse of it saying to himself These coÌ„mandements the Law giueth to al mankind among the rest to me these curses it denounceth against the transgressers of it of which seeing I cannot deny my selfe to bee one the curses thereof belong vnto me and I alasse I lie vnder them But the Word of God hath shewed me the way of escaping the curse for Christ Iesus the Sonne of God was in our stead accursed that wee might be free from the curse and bee partakers of that blessing which was long since promised in him saying In thy seede shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed Also the Word of God doth plainely declare concerning al the sonnes of men Psalm 14. that they haue done a corrupt and abominable deede and that none of them doe good no not one It shuts them all vnder sinne and pronounceth them al the sonnes of wrath But Iesus Christ is become the Sauiour of mankind and in him his Father is well pleased and none that beleeue in him shall perish Yea in him is preached remission of sinnes and life euerlasting to all that beleeue in him and rest vpon his merits as vpon a perfect satisfaction and hee doth ratifie all the sweete promises of the Law to all that beleeue in him and striue to obey him so that for his sake they shall obtaine all the good things which the Law promiseth but because we are all sinfull it cannot bestow them on vs. I am a sinfull wretch I am a cursed creature I am vnder Gods anger in my selfe but Christ Iesus hath satisfied for my sinnes he hath performed a perfect righteousnesse for me I will goe out of my selfe I will renounce mine owne righteousnesse and rest onely in him euen vpon him onely in whom O my soule assure thou thy selfe to find full remission and perfect saluation onely so be it thou turne not the grace of God into wantonnesse but out of loue to him set thy self to keep his holy coÌ„mandements and take vpon thy neck that sweet gentle yoke of his the bearing of which is the most comfortable liberty in the World Certainly men and brethren he that will often renew these meditations in his soule and see the foulenes of sin in the glasse of the Law and the sweetnes and brightnes of Gods free grace shining forth in the doctrine of the Gospel shal surely be translated into the image of God from glory to glory Therefore now resolue with your selues that you wil find time constantly to meditate on the Word of God and it shal not faile to giue light vnto your eyes and life vnto your soules So haue you the second meanes of attaining regeneratioÌ„ Tâ—irâ— constant 〈◊〉 tâ—e Worâ— pâ—eached The third and last is to attend at the gates of Wisdome to waite on her posts I meane to be constant hearers of the Word of God preached This is the ordinance of God which he will worke by most effectually and most vsually The mouth of the Minister is the Conduit pipe wherby the Lord doth please to deriue the sweet wholsome waters of life into the soules of men 1. Cor. 1.20 It hath pleased God by the foolishnes of preaching to saue theÌ„ that belieue The Lord hath appointed his Ministers to be spirituall fathers by their labours in publishing his Word to beget men vnto him and whosoeuer will not seeke regeneration and saluation here where God hath taken order that he may meete with them he for his carelesnes or ignorance of Gods ordinance shall neuer bee able else-where to attaine them I told you mine opinion before of the Word
communion betwixt God and man by Gods participating his fauour and blessednesse vnto man so long as man remaineth in the estate of his corrupted nature not being created according to God in righteousnesse and true holinesse It neither is now nor euer was nor euer shall bee found that any man should get within the gates of the kingdome of glory vnlesse he haue first entred into the kingdome of grace through the Churches narrow wombe of regeneration A new birth is absolutely needfull to an eternall life and in a word regeneration of perfect necessity to saluation It were a matter euen very superfluous to seeke more proofes after such a testimony of such a witnesse or author rather as Christ is But the vnbeleeuing spirit of man doth stand in neede of ouer-abundant conuiction in truthes of this straine Wherefore I will a while stand to make good this point and then after explanation proceed to apply it First we may reade Ezechiel crying out to the old Church in these words Make you a new heart and a new spirit Ezech. 18.31 for why will you die O house of Israel What more euident then that this question doth take it for granted that the house of Israel the seede of Abraham followers of the true God professors of true religion sealed with circumcision admitted vnto the Altar and participating of the sacrifices according to the Law and worshipping the God of heauen after the externall manner prescribed by himselfe that these I say and therefore questionlesse none other could not escape death euen eternall death death of body and death of soule if they got not a new heart and a new spirit that is the same thing being expressed in diuersitie of phrases were not borne againe as our Sauiour pleaseth to tearme it For this cause the same Prophet a little after and in one or two places more calleth vpon them Vers 32. saying returne and liue ye so that but by conuerting there is no liuing and conuersion and regeneration are alwaies and altogether inseparable therefore life and regeneration must needs goe together haue one and haue both misse one and misse both To the same purpose the author to the Hebrewes speaketh Chap. 12.14 in these words Without holinesse and that no man hath but by being borne againe for the image of God lost in Adam is not recouered but by the new birth in Christ I say without holinesse no man shall see God CHAP. II. Shewing the reasons of the point THree testimonies are plentifully sufficient to confirme any diuine truth But because it will helpe much to conceiue of the point of regeneration that wee doe well vnderstand the grounds of the impossibility of being saued without it wee will therefore lay them downe also for further proofe of the point These are Reasons 4 in whole or in chiefe foure First the monstrous filthinesse of man in his first birth Secondly the infinite purity and perfection of Gods nature Thirdly the tenour of the couenant of grace wherin the saluation of lost mankind is promised Fourthly the fruit and end of Christs death and obedience whereby our saluation is deserued For the first of these reasons Man in his first birth 1. From mans naturall filthinesse euen euery particular man woman and child Christ Iesus alone excepted who was therefore conceiued by the holy Ghost that hee might escape that pollution is conceiued in sinne and borne in wickednesse Psalm 51. as Dauid speaketh of himselfe First by imputation of the sinne of our first parents which is ours because they did it in each of our steads in whom each of vs was then originally comprehended and then by transfusion because wee are branches of that bitter root we are each of vs become sonnes of disobedience subiects to the God of this world slaues to sinne captiues vnder the dominion and power of lust hauing our vnderstandings darkened and harts hardened so that we can neither conceiue nor receiue the things of God but are led of Satan at his pleasure to doe his will according as hee doth effectually worke in vs. In a word wee are enemies to God heires of death children of the diuell dead in sinnes and trespasses doing the lusts of the flesh and of the minde and by nature sonnes of wrath and destruction one as well as another A man in the state of corrupt nature is nothing else but a filthy dunghill of all abominable vices hee is a stinking rotten carrion become altogether vnprofitable and good for nothing his heart is the diuels store-house an heape of odious lusts his tongue is a fountaine of cursing and bitternesse and rotten communication his hand is a mischieuous instrument of filthinesse deceit and violence his eyes great thorow-fares of lust pride and vanity his feet are swift engins mouing strongly to reuenge wantonnesse and lucre his life a long chaine of sinfull actions euery later linke being more wicked then the former yea it is but as it were one continued web of wickednesse spun out and made vp by the hands of the diuell and the flesh an euill spinner and a worse weauer He brings into the world with him the kernell of all impiety and iniustice euen an aptnesse and disposition to all the foulest acts that lie within the possibility of his naturall strength and meanes to performe either against the Lord or against his neighbour and an vtter vnaptnesse and inability to doe any thing that in the true iudgement and estimation of God who onely can iudge aright in this case is or may bee termed good as answerable to his law In his soule and body there lies the spawne of all wickednesse of Atheisme of pride of vnbeleefe of hypocrisie of rebellion of impatiencie of hatred and contempt of God and of his word of indeuotion of prophannesse of ambition of wrath of filthinesse of worldlinesse of arrogancie of selfe-conceitednesse of murthers of whoredomes of thefts of periuries and whatsoeuer thing besides is hatefull to God and contrary to his most holy law He is wholly darknesse wholly flesh wholly and totally opposite to the liuing God to whose law hee neither is subiect nor will nor can be till he be cast into an other and a fairer mould by the working of his spirit Such a thing as this my brethren euen iust such a thing and none other is a man euen euery man such an one am I are you are all and each of all the sonnes of Adam that haue been are or shall be and that vniuersally without any exception as witnesseth the Prophet saying Psal 14. They are all gone out of the way they are all become vnprofitable there is none that doth good no not one All these words and more then all these or all that can be spoken by vs falls farre short of a full description of mans naturall sinfulnes For if the tongue it selfe one poore and little member may well be intitled Iam. 3.6 as it is intitled
vile in his owne eyes because he knowes hee hath deserued to be damned and that so foule a thing as sinne wherewith his Maker hath due cause to be so much displeased doth not alone abide but raigne and command in him Wherefore hee doth euen lie downe at the foote of the throne of Gods iustice and in a most ardent abhorring of himselfe doth subscribe to the righteousnes of God in his owne feared destruction hauing nothing in the world to say for himselfe as of himselfe why he should not be destroyed and not so much as a tittle of a word to obiect against the perfect and exact equitie of the liuing God if that he should destroy him Sinne I say sinne not alone the punishment of sin but sin it selfe is discouered vnto him hee sees its loathsomnes and vilenes he sees its strength and violence he sees his owne totall defilement hee perceiues himselfe throughly and throughly polluted with it and cries out bitterly Ah what shal I doe not only nor so much because I shall be damned but because I am so wicked so sinfull so contrary to God so rebellious against him so very a traytor vnto him and so vtterly vnable to mend these woful disorders of my soule These be his groanes these be his plaints and his cryings out are of his wickednesse and iniquitie wherein hee was conceiued wherein hee was borne wherein hee hath liued and whereof now he perceiueth not so much as one part of his heart or of his life to be cleane and vnspotted This acknowledgement and sense of our sinfulnes is the very first beginning of holinesse The vnregenerate often sees and feeles his damnation the regenerate alone his sinfulnes the miserable deprauation of his nature the vtter totall odious pollution of his whole man being so loathsome that hee sees God cannot chuse in iustice but detest him and for any thing that is in himselfe for euer reiect him This apprehension of sinfulnes is mixed alwaies at first at least often with the feare of Gods wrath and vengeance but it doth so temper and allay that feare as the bitternes thereof carries not the soule furiously to contend against God as else he could not chuse but doe For his hatred is not stirred now against God whom in truth by vertue of a secret vnfelt and vndiscerned hope that the spirit of God hath created and doth vphold in him he loueth and honoureth though he be more then half in doubt lest hee may destroy him but alone against himselfe his wretched hatefull selfe that is so intollerably wicked and naught that he can see no cause but that the Lord should glorifie his equitie and iustice in damning him And so much for this first worke of regeneration the second followes it close at the heeles and is nothing else 2. An earnest deâ—â—â—e of â—â—â—â—nesse with remâ—â—â—ion of siâ—nes but an earnest desire of attaining holines and vertue together with remission of sinnes and the fauour of God in Christ Iesus For you must conceiue the partie that is now in regenerating to haue a generall knowledge of the doctrine of the Gospell and a generall assent also to the truth of it this doctrine being as I said before an instrumentall cause of regeneration But now the generall knowledge begins to bee made speciall and the man touched with a sense of sinne is moued also with a most vehement longing after grace and mercie not alone to pardon his sinne but also to heale his soule of it as of a desperat wound which he feeleth to be most smarting and mortall So hee cries out who shall deliuer me from this body of death No hungrie man did euer with a more eager appetite wish for meate nor thirstie man for drinke nor couetous man for money nor ambitious man for aduancement then hee now longeth to be reconciled vnto God in Christ to haue his foule nature made cleane his wofull sinnes forgiuen his abominable corruptions remoued and killed and holinesse planted in their roome Oh how faine he would be holy O how faine would hee be humble faithfull obedient how faine he would beleeue in loue feare serue God! but ah wretch that he is he cannot Woe woe vnto him he cannot O how shall hee be able to preuaile against these vile disorders of his heart and life how shall hee doe to be lesse sinfull and more righteous These be his thoughts these his wishes these his groanes hee findes so great a misse of nothing as of the pardon of his sinne and the graces of the Spirit of God and if he had that bestowed vpon him were he a beggar a prisoner a slaue any thing yet he should seeme to himselfe an happy man and ah Lord thinkes he that thou wouldest be pleased for Christ his sake to forgiue my wickednes and to heale my nature Now the thirst that hee had after the things of this world is wonderfully cooled and as a man in a burning fit of an ague makes no reckoning of his fine cloathes hee doth almost put off all those desires and poore or not poore esteemed or not esteemed it is no great matter but that he might be accepted into the fauour of God and haue his sinnes pardoned and subdued and his vnholy nature made holy that is all in all within him There is to be seene in vnsanctified men in case of terrors of conscience which sometimes do lie long vpon them a great desire to be free from the insufferable euils they see comming vpon them For who can make question but that Iudas would faine not haue been damned or that the damned in hell haue not a wonderfull desire get out of their torments this being one maine aggrauation of their pangs that they cannot but desire to be deliuered out of those euils which they cannot escape But they not hauing the supportation of the Spirit of God to vnderprop them with hope doe vanish in these desires and lose the fruit of them for lack of a kindly working of them towards the Lord for they be not lifted vp to heauen-ward But the man that is now in framing a new being sustained with the fore-mentioned secret hope hath vehement and setled wishes fixed and fastened in him whereby hee thirsteth after the grace of God not alone to saue but also to amend him So the desires of the sanctified arising from the spirit are differenced from the desires of the vnsanctified that are meere fruits of nature which would faine be wel eased of an heauie burthen by these two things First that they are directed vnto God whereas the other are rouing and confused desires Secondly by their being set alwaies as well often as much somtimes more vpon holinesse as vpon freedome from punishment vpon the getting of vertue and goodnesse as vpon the getting of an heauenly kingdome wheras the heart of the vnsanctified is so taken vp when he must needs feele it with the sense of his misery and punishment that hee cannot
of God to reforme ones heart and soule as well as his free fauour to pardon former offences An vnsanctified man by benefit of Christian acquaintance in long and heauie terrours may come to the one of these to the other alone the Spirit of sanctification can leade one To which passe when the heart is once brought at length 4. A perswasion of mercie bringing a resolution of obedience the fourth act of the Holy Ghost doth plainely shew it selfe for it becomes a spirit of adoption within him the very earnest penny of saluation sealing vp vnto him the fauour of God the pardon of sinne the attaining of life and by a new and in truth considering the difference of former times a strange worke perswading him that God is reconciled vnto him and hath accepted him for his childe As it made him able to take vnto him words and goe vnto the Lord crauing to bee accepted graciously so it brings him word againe from God that he shal be yea that he is accepted gratiously and answering him euen as one would say with a sensible answer in the middest of his prayers oft-times so strongly and vndoubtedlie â—â—â—ures him of his being heard that hee makes for the time no more question of it then whither he liues yea or no. From which assurance of spirit hauing tasted the sweetnesse of Gods Grace and felt how good the consolations of his Word and Spirit are he growes resolute in his very soule for the time to come in all things to please God and finds a new kind of disposition inabling him to auoide euill and doe good so hauing put his necke vnder the gentle and easie yoke of Christ Iesus hee finds rest vnto his soule and thus is Christ formed in him and he transformed into a new creature For this firme purpose of will to please God in all things is so manifest and euident and sensible a worke of grace that now we may say this act of regeneration is growne to some good ripenesse and euen now perfected in him before he was in making a new man but now he is made new now he is begotten againe and become a sonne of God and heire of his kingdome and fellow-heire of Christ I know that it may befall an hypocrite lying vnder the burthen of a terrified conscience which may be totally and perpetually separated from regeneration and regeneration from it by the diligent inculcating of the comforts of the Gospell and the earnest labour of some Christian and godly men that in such case would faine speake peace to bee brought because they are told there is none other way of comfort to a purpose of neuer committing such and such grosse sinnes as they are accused of in their owne soules and to some promise of amendment of life but this is rather a resolution forced vpon them by striuing of others hereupon promising comfort then a thing growing in themselues out of the sense of the louing kindnesse of the Lord their God Whereas a Christian finds somewhat within him inclining him and making him to say within himselfe and euen little lesse then to sweare and vow with Dauid that hee will surely keepe the righteous iudgements of the Lord and that in all things and for euer to his dying day And thus is the worke of regeneratioÌ„ brought to some perfectioÌ„ thus doth the holy Ghost mould the soule of a man into a new fashion thus doth hee stampe vpon him a new image and as you would say the very lineaments and proportion of God his Father whom in a sweete likenesse that makes him amiable to God and Angels he begins to resemble Onely my brethren vnderstand you one thing for the better conceiuing of all that hath been spoken There are two sorts of regenerate men in the world Some it pleaseth God to call to himselfe euen very betimes dropping pietie and grace into them almost together with their mothers milke by benefit of that great fauour of God holy and Christian education and that euen in certaine insensible degrees so that they cannot so easily name the beginning and progression of this worke In these all the forenamed things are most manifestly found for in truth the working of them doth not cease till life cease and that so as sometimes the one of these workes of grace is more strong then the other Sometimes they find a more sensible abasement of themselues within their owne hearts out of the apprehension of their sinfulnesse sometimes desires and prayers are more vehement sometimes a comfortable resolution of pleasing God doth more mightily stirre in them yet because of the early working and that they were wrought in a still manner by very small degrees the worke did almost goe beyond obseruation and they cannot so distinctly tell when they began to be abased when to be raised vp But there is another sort of men regenerate who did liue a long time in vnregeneracie yea perhaps also in profanenes and notable and notorious wickednesse for oft it falleth out that the Pharisies and Scribes make lesse haste to the kingdome of heauen then the Publicans and sinners I meane that the grosse offenders are sooner regenerated then the ciuill liuers Now for such men it pleaseth the holy Ghost many times yea most times to worke these foure fore-rehearsed workes very distinctly making as it were some euident pause betwixt each of them and grace goes forward in them euen step after step in the manner that hath been described Most times if not alwaies the difference of their former life when they were but dead making the matter euident enough they can name when and where and by what meanes the Lord began first to lay them low to pull them downe and as they say in nature corruption and generation goe together to kil their old man by terrors till being so slaine he had in a calmer manner shewed them the filthinesse and lothsomnesse of it They can tell what longings they felt before they durst pray and what adoe they had to bring themselues to pray and then how long they continued praying before they were answered and lastly wheÌ„ that sweet tidings came that rauished their soule with ioy and made them so inamoured of Gods goodnesse that they euen made a strong couenant with him to walke in his waies and keepe his iudgements All these things I say they can tell well and nothing doth them more good then to recount with themselues this mightie act of the most high whereby their foules with as great a miracle as once Lazarus his body were raised vp from the rotten graue of sinne wherein they lay wrapt vp in the winding sheet of hardnesse of heart and blindnesse of mind stinking and putrifying as a carcasse crawleth with wormes swarming with those noysome lusts that are able to poyson vp an honest heart CHAP. V. Shewing the effects of Regeneration ANd so haue you brethren the order and so farre as may be collected out of scripture the
manner of the bringing to passe of this most excellent and wonderfull worke of a new begetting by the most excellent and wonderfull begetter the Spirit of truth and by that excellent and wonderfull seede of life the word of truth 3. The effects of regeneration which are foure Now I will declare vnto you that which is the third thing I promised the effects that follow hereupon Not euery particular for who can name them the life of grace abounding in multiplicitie of actions and operations as it were eating drinking breathing grieuing striuing smarting of the soule as the life of nature but alone some principall and most eminent by the seeing of which in it selfe the soule of the new borne babe of Christ shall haue cause to receiue much comfort The principall effects therefore of regeneration are these foure First a spirituall combat Secondly a good life for all this combat Thirdly a knowledge of that good estate whereinto the regenerate is translated Fourthly Spirituall growth in those graces that at first were but weake and feeble in the regenerate For alack an infant is a very tender thing and so are Gods infants For the first of these 1. The spirituall combat with No sooner doth a Christian begin to draw the breath of this new life but he findes himselfe called to fighting euen in the very cradle as I may so speake and as they fabled of that renowned heathen man He stands in a pitched field of enemies so soone as he can goe vpon the feete of his soule and there hee must neuer cease giuing and taking blowes till hee cease to be in this lower world Although indeed there be some intermission and relaxation of the strength and furie of the encounter as it pleaseth the Lord that knowes all things to temper them to his strength and direct them to his good 1. The Diuell First the diuell begins to play his part with him and finding him gained out of his hands and pulled from vnder his tyrannie musters vp an armie of tentations wherewith at least to annoy him if hee cannot as hee cannot preuaile to bring him backe againe to his seruitude and thraldome For when the strong man armed kept his house all things were at quiet vnder him but when he feeles himselfe bound and cast out and his house rifled by a stronger then himselfe then it must needs follow that hee will bestirre himselfe and lay about him with all the power that he can make So now the poore Christian though perhaps but an infant in grace is violently assailed by Satan according to his nature with extreame rage and subtiltie And if it haue so falne out that the Spirit of God was faine to batter downe the height of his heart and make passage for himselfe with horrible feares and terrors then Satan labours often to reuiue those terrors and by infinit cauils and obiections to make him euen despaire of his saluation There is none end almost of the diuels striuing in this case but hee will labour continually with new doubts and obiections to call his saluation into question and to make him thinke that hee shall neuer enioy the quiet possession of his heauenly inheritance Yet against all these the Spirit of God so strengthens him that by vertue of the gratious promises of God and by the power of constant prayers and supplications he supports himselfe and still continues to rest himselfe vpon the free goodnesse of God in Christ notwithstanding all these obiections and shakings Neither yet will Satan rest here but is further troublesome vnto him by stirring vp innumerable vile suggestions to draw him to the committing of some most notorious sinnes perhaps worse then euer in all his life before and for his old corruptions he ceaseth not to prouoke and incense them with all vehemency that he may driue him into lewd and hatefull practises of sinne But against these suggestions also he fighteth resolutely much indeede vexed and disquieted with them but still reiecting abhorring thē and beating them back by the word of God which is his sword by constant supplications whereby still he settles his soule firme and fast in his holy purposes of obedience I confesse that the diuell is a common enemie to all mankinde both sanctified and vnsanctified and therfore the vnregenerate also are much molested with him oftentimes when hee growes exorbitant and seeketh to pull them by the strength of vtter despaire as it were quicke into hell and to make them kill themselues or doe some other most grosse and vnnaturall crime But Satan is not willing to deale so roughly with them if he could chuse for he stands euer in most danger of losing them when hee carries himselfe towards them in so hard a fashion Wherefore he rather flatters and faunes endeuouring to rocke them asleepe still if hee can in the cradle of securitie and presumption Neither will he storme thus but when he sees his aduantage in regard of some bodily crosse or distemper or that he sees the Lord will needes awaken their sleepie consciences But for the poore Christian hee would not giue him rest no not for a day or two from the most horrible feares and from the foulest tentations whereto his corruption giues any passage or from others more hideous especially if hee see him weake scrupulous and iniudicious then hee makes vse of such ignorance and weaknesse and will neuer finde time to make an end of vexing him but that the Lord himselfe doth please to sound a retraite Indeede the Lord by this meanes to keepe downe his pride and ouer-master his strong corruptions doth giue much way to Satans rage but so still that he forgets not to refresh him with seasonable aide of his spirit of prayer and with the strength and comfort of his holie word and promises And in these termes stands hee with Satan euer almost assailed and incumbred by him And besides this the flesh also 2. Of the flesh as a more dangerous enemie though not so violent steps foorth to incounter him For though by grace it be wounded and mortified yet is it not quite and cleane taken away and remoued Wherefore the corruptions of his heart also grow violent in him lusting against the spirit and with a kinde of insinuating and secret inclination carrying him forward to all the former lusts of his ignorance and perhaps to some that are more loathsome and abominable Now vnbeliefe passion lust reuenge wantonnes worldlines and all the old distempers will be mouing in his soule and hee shall finde himselfe euer and anon little lesse then ready to yeeld vnto them and to be quite ouercome by them But the spirit in this case reuiueth it selfe also and lusts against the flesh stirring vp good motions against the bad and holy desires against the vnholy and vertuous wishes against the vitious and heartie prayers and requests to God against the sinfull inclinations of the euill heart so that at length his
the same spirit that at first regenerated him But by vertue of that diuine assistance it comes to passe quite contrary for those enemies doe but quicken and further his proceedings in goodnesse and in spight of them all let earth and hell and his owne heart doe the worst that euer they can hee is able to liue godly in Christ Iesus He is inabled both to leaue euill and to doe good for both these parts of a good life must be had or else indeed the life is not good and that in a good measure and quantitie and farre better then euer he could doe in former times Indeed he doth neuer satisfie himselfe in this matter but alwaies falleth farre shorter then his owne desires aspire vnto but were the former lusts of his ignorance compared to that his present behauiour a blinde man might perceiue the difference to be exceeding great For as to the first part of a good life which stands in leauing off wickednesse hee commeth so farre not as to be quite free from all sinne ah this life were a little heauen vnto him if he could once attaine to such freedom but indeed he cannot attaine it here for in many things ah that word many is too true a word I say in many things we sin all and they be quite besides their Christian wits that imagine once repenting to be sufficient for a Christian man in all his life but yet so farre hee comes as to forsake the ordinary practise of grosse sins and the allowance of all knowne and vehemently suspected sins So soone as euer a Christian is truly regenerate so soone he ceaseth to make a trade of sinning Hee that is borne of God sinneth not neither can sin in this manner He may slip into faults of grosse nature once twice many times sin cleauing so fast vnto him as it doth but still it is not his vsuall practise so to transgresse For in truth now sin is become vnnaturall to him and as contrarie to the life of grace bestowed vpon him as poyson is contrary to his naturall life and as bitter things are to his taste and harsh sounds vnto his eare wherefore his soule riseth against it and he doth much more frequently ouercome the tentations by resistance then is ouercome of them Sins I meane grosse and grieuous sins are to him as deadly wounds to his body which sometimes as a man in a frenzie hee is drawne to giue himselfe but vsually hee doth not so And when hee doth so the manner is exceedingly different from his former course Then hee committed it with greedinesse now with great and continuall reluctation Then hee kept in himselfe a purpose of sinning if he could for feare of shame or danger now his heart stands constantly resolute not to sinne Then he followed after the occasions of sinning now hee flyes farre from them Then hee shifted and excused himselfe hauing committed sinne now hee becomes a most bitter and seuere censurer of himselfe for sinne if hee doe commit it Hauing falne he riseth againe and with anger indites and arraignes himselfe before the Lords tribunall There hee poureth foorth many bitter lamentations and could almost finde in his heart to throw himselfe downe to very hell for it He thunders out against his owne heart all the bitter curses and threatnings of the Law and is euen almost willing that God should euen damne him for it but that he hopeth for his mercie sake hee will not so doe And such is his freedome from grosse sinnes that are against the plaine light of nature or expresse words of the Law and wherein the members of the body are giuen as weapons of vnrighteousnes He falls into them if at all yet seldome and seldomer and seldomer with an horrible strife with great anxietie with little or no content and with a most vehement condemning of himselfe before the face of God in secret afterwards Thus vnlesse perhaps hee bee cast into a sowne for a time and cannot yet rise againe which if hee be hee fares all that while as a man that hath a thorne in his eye or wound in his sides neuer at rest neuer quiet filled with bitter and intollerable anguish and full of wofull and continuall complaints For still he heareth the voyce behinde him sounding in his cares and saying this is not the way And still the anoynting that he hath receiued doth so preserue him that he cannot sinne meaning giue himselfe ouer to a setled resolution or practise of sinne And yet further for sinnes of a lesse grieuous nature euill motions sudden passions dulnesse and distractions in good things and the like God knowes and he knowes that he commits full many of them But alwaies hee is so vpright with God that hee allowes them not Hee doth not extenuate them he doth not shift them off with a pish hee doth not runne ouer them as matters of nothing hee doth not let them passe vnobserued and vnregarded as in former time and as it is with vnsanctified men But they be vnto him matter of constant and daily sorrow and shame and humiliation He confesseth them daily he prayes against them daily and he is continually in a quarrell with himselfe because he cannot be so free from them as he desireth So it comes to passe that he purgeth himselfe as Christ is pure so farre preuailing against these sinnes that hee commits fewer of them and commits them seldomer sees them with more dislike of himselfe and growes by them more meane and base in his owne eyes and is made by them more carefull to sue vnto the Lord Iesus and to take more stedfast hold of his merits So hee casteth off the old man as concerning the conuersation in time past and that euen out of his new nature not moued thereto by reward or punishment either alone or principally but by a kinde of naturall working of grace in him but indeed it is a supernaturall nature poured into him from aboue by which it comes to passe that as S. Iohn saith he cannot sinne he knowes not how to work wickednesse he cannot finde in his heart to be a slaue to sinne any longer Company or no company seene of men or not seene danger or no danger shame or no shame punishment or no punishment still he is auerse from sinne in his regenerate part he wils not to doe it he shunneth it he bewaileth it one or both that so it may be manifestly seene there is a contrariety betwixt his very soule and all sins that hee knoweth to be sins And for those that are not knowne to him hee is not ignorant of them because he will not know them with neglect of the meanes of knowing or with a wilfull resistance of them but alone because he cannot know them either for want of meanes to know or capacitie to conceiue of or light to see the truth offered Hee doth not winke with his eyes he doth not set himselfe to finde out shifts to bury
tyred with a burning fit of an ague then he with these fits Rest comfort quiet he can get none Indeed the diuell and the world in some cases doe as friends vse to doe in case of sicknesse They bring likely conserued Plums or Marmelade or some such like sweete meate which the poore sicke man takes indeede because they will haue it so that are about him but alas they doe but clamme his mouth and hee findes their very sweetnesse bitter and troublesome So the diuell and the world and the flesh offer to the Christian soule the pleasures and profits of this world as it were sweet meats he willing to find ease in any thing seekes if there it may bee had but alas he finds it not he cannot relish these pleasures he hath smal comfort in these profits this credit is a drie credit vnto him his heart will not relish such things as these but still he tosseth and tumbleth finding no rest in his estate nor perhaps power to get out of it for it may bee hee cannot bring himselfe to pray at all Psal 32.3 as Dauid could not for he saith of himselfe that he held his peace or if he doe it 's too coldly and faintly to remoue so mortall a sicknesse But still as the same Dauid also confesseth of himselfe he roareth and crieth out all the day long I cannot but be fully perswaded that there he describes his estate in the interim betwixt his sinne and his earnest repentance for some feeble offers to repentance perhaps he might haue before and so now his case is a very restlesse and diseasefull case Solomon the man that of all Gods sicke children I thinke by surfetting caught the so rest sicknesse shall witnesse this He wanted no sweete meates but they cloied him in stead of comforting him he professeth of them al that he found them meere vanity and vexation of Spirit So when a Christian lies vnder these spirituall diseases all his outward comforts are but euen vexation of spirit vnto him When he hath thus almost wounded and killed himselfe Oh how hee smarts and bleedes and is troubled Indeed he still perhaps is carried after the vanities of the world sinne hauing now so very much preuailed against him that he wants power to with-draw himselfe and to goe backe but yet full many a time hee sighes and groanes and lookes towards God and towards the spirituall rest of his former life and hee finds a very bitter bitter heart He is in very great extremity and it is euen a pang of death for him to remember how the case stood with him once and how it is now And in very truth were hee let alone in this case his soule would perish the life of grace would die and hee would proue his disease mortall But Ah hee hath a good Father who is also a good Physition who finding his disease grow mortall and that the admonitions of the Word in publike will not reforme him and that the voyce of the spirit behind him is now too weake to be heard by him though still it cease not to checke him and to call vpon him and to make him sometimes purpose to returne againe from this out-straying doth now like a good and wise practitioner administer some such phisicke as shall serue the turne Some potion of a bitter crosse which the spirit shall worke withall to make it effectuall is put into his hand to drinke it or some sore tentation of Satan or some horrible feare of heart which opens these stoppages purgeth out these humours reuiueth his soule and then wofully most wofully he cries out of himselfe laments his exceeding folly goes to God hartily confessing his sinnes and with all rigor passing sentence vpon himselfe for the same and so continues to mourne and cry and beg mercy till he finde it and then striues to make amends for his former not growing by growing so much the faster for it now So hee is recouered and continues to the end for totally or finally fall away by sinne he cannot because the annoynting of the spirit preserueth him till he be raised vp at the last day Christ will not cease keeping him yea to saluation is he kept by the power of that great God that hath adopted him to himselfe for a sonne and this spirituall life giuen in regeneration indeed becomes an eternall life sicke he may be dye he cannot CHAP. VI. Shewing the principall graces which by Regeneration are begotten in the soule ANd so much for the fourth effect of regeneration and for three of those things I promised to speake of I goe on now to the fourth and last point 4. The principall graces in regeneration bestowed on the regenerate viz. to make knowne vnto you the principall graces that shew themselues in the regenerate man and by hauing of which seeing by nature hee had them not he deserueth to be intitled a new creature These are in all the powers of his soule For as I said at first holinesse is infused into his whole man First 1. In his principall faculties in the principall faculties vnderstanding conscience and will Secondly in the inferiour powers thinking-power memory and affections of which let vs speake in order but briefly First then the vnderstanding of the regenerate is perfected with two most excellent and beautifull graces 1. In his vnderstanding knowledge and faith Knowledge I say first of God then of himselfe out of which springeth humility as a proper effect of both He perceiueth a new light shining within him inabling him to conceiue with a very stedfast apprehension not with a wauering wandring doubtful confused fancy as that was which he had before that there is a God an eternall and infinite essence his maker the maker of all things most wise most mighty most true most righteous most mercifull most holy hating sin with a perfect hatred and fully bent to punish the impenitent sinner with vnutterable punishments fully resolued with all louing kindnes to accept of the penitent And in one word euery way inconceiueably excellent as being indeed the fountaine of all goodnesse the creator preseruer gouernour of all things the Father the Son the holy Ghost as he hath reuealed himself to his Church The brightnesse of this light discouereth it selfe vpon his soule so effectually that now hee stands vndoubtedly perswaded of these things which is also a principall cause of all other the good things that are begun in him and so is fulfilled in him the word of God Heb. 8.11 saying They shall all know me from the least to the most Ioh. 17. last and againe righteous Father the world hath not knowne thee but these haue knowne that thou hast sent me and I haue made knowne thy name vnto them and wil make it knowne Iob. 17.3 So it begins to be to them life eternall to know the onely true God and him whom hee hath sent Iesus Christ Further as it
were a reflexe of this knowledge followes an apprehension of himselfe as of a most meane base and contemptible thing compared to God in his very creation for hee was made of dust and came of very nothing but in this his corruption which came afterwards as a most loathsome vile and abominable creature because he is now he findes it full of wickednesse and extreamly sinful So growes he more and more to dis-esteme himselfe and to haue himselfe in no reputation yea to be vile and odious to himselfe and loathsome in his owne eyes and by acknowledging his infinite basenesse in comparison of God Gods infinite excellencies in cōparison of him he is made truly humble Secondly faith is wrought in his mind for this I conceiue to be the seate of it for it is the vnderstanding that must diduct particular conclusions from generall and so make application of them wherein consists the very essence of faith faith I say both in God and in the word of God Faith in God whereby hee is verily perswaded that God is his God being inabled in true and sound maner to apply to himselfe the sweet couenant of God whereby the Lord hath made himselfe one with him he cā say with assurance of heart O Lord my God and the Lord is my shepheard and my Redeemer liueth For in truth finding the liuely portraiture of the diuine nature in him how should he but know his father by his image this assurance that God is his he Gods is to him the sweetest thing in al the world thē to misse which he had rather chuse to misse his very life soule The strōger it is the more cheerfull happy is he the weaker it is as sometimes it hath its faintings the lesse liuely is hee There is also faith in the word of God to bee seene in him out of an experimentall feeling and certainty of the truth of it hee is vndoubtedly resolued that it is from God and that so as hee is inabled to apply it to himselfe in all the parts thereof For hauing beene to him as Paul speaketh in power 1. Thes 1.5 it must needs also be in much assurance Before the word of God doth worke so mightily to conuert the soule a man may haue a confused opinion of its being true taken vp vpon trust because in the places and among the persons where he hath receiued his education it is so generally accounted or else wrought by a common grace of illumination inabling the mind to giue a light weake and infirme assent vnto it but hee cannot be throughly and infallibly resolued of the truth thereof nor that it is from God and therefore it is said of the stony ground that they beleeued indeed but withall that the seed had no roote in them Luk. 8.13 they had a conceit and a sudden flashing apprehension that sure this doctrine must needs bee true but they had no setled wel grounded and established assurance thereof Onely when the word sinketh thus into the bottome of the soule and a man hath had so liuely experience of its wonderfull and diuine working hee makes no more question whether it be of God or no then whether the Sunne shine and whether that bee food that doth daily nourish his body Wherfore by the inward operation of the spirit and mighty efficacy of the word being most effectually cōuinced of its diuinity truth he now makes care to apply it in all parts to himselfe he laies hold vpon the promises threats precepts and makes particular vse thereof to his owne heart captiuating his reason sense and all to the infallible certainty and verity thereof for he knowes that God is the author of it seeing it hath begotten him againe to be the child of God So is his vnderstanding beautified with these two most admirable fruits of the spirit by which also hee attaineth as the Scripture calleth it a notable sharpnesse of wit Prou. 1.4 quickening him to the discerning of things spirituall and diuine in such maner and measure as a man of far better wit more learning but destitute of the same help could not attaine vnto In the next place his conscience is also quieted with peace 2. In his conscience in liued with conscionablenesse Whether conscience be a distinct faculty of the soule or whether alone a particular act of the vnderstāding reflecting vpon its selfe its owne actions with immediate reference to God I hold it not very needfull to dispute but here we wil speake of it as of a speciall faculty by reason of the wonderfull power that it is perceiued to haue in al the soule First then I say the conscience of the regenerate proclaimes within him an established peace betwixt God and him For the kingdome of God is peace saith the Apostle Paul Rom. 14.17 and being iustified by faith which in nature goeth before this work of regeneration though in time they be conioined we haue peace with God Then in truth Christ fulfilleth his promise of leauing his peace with them Iob. 14.27 euen such a peace as the world cannot take away from them and this peace that passeth all vnderstanding is euen as a guard a watch to keepe their whole soules in quietnesse safety though in the world they meete with many troubles and disquietments Their consciences by this most sweet grace becommeth an admirable friend vnto them It tels them from God that he is reconciled vnto them and being calmed from the former raging wherwith it was tossed it now makes vnto thē euen within to the care of the soule the most pleasing musicke the sweetest melody that is to be heard in all the world It acquitteth it excuseth in the name and in the roome of God it pronounceth absolution O vnspeakable consolation This is the peculiar happines of the sanctified they haue many times tranquillity in their soules through this peace of their consciences which with a quiet countenance a still voice it doth publish within in their hearts And yet in the middest of this peace their consciences are not dead and sleepy neither but are ready in a friendly louing maner to check controll thē if at any time in things known vnto them to be euill they shall offend a good man is so conscionable that he can in no known thing swarne out of the way but his conscience will bee telling him of it Onely this is done in faire termes not with outragious bitternes driuing him frō God as in former times but with kind yet earnest expostulations drawing him before God to confesse seek pardon 1. Sam. 24.5 Thus Dauids hart that is his conscience smote him when he had cut off the lap of Sauls garment Thus his hart also smote him after the numbring of the people he went in before the Lord said I haue done exceeding foolishly 1. Sam. 24.10 but do away the sin of thy
their hearts and feare him with all their hearts and trust in him with all their hearts and repent euerie day and beleeue in Christ as well as the best and haue done euer since they can remember these full men these rich persons these that haue soules so perfectlie replenished with all graces that they finde no want of faith or of repentance or of humilitie or of the spirit of prayer or of the loue of God or almost any thing These that haue no faults in themselues they were neuer proud in all their liues they know as much as any of them all can tell them and they haue not brought vp so many children they trow but that they can tel how to be saued that neuer wronged any in al their liues and that hope in God they shall be saued for their good liues and good meanings All these ignorants neuer vnderstood and therefore onely boast of much because wanting knowledge totally they cannot know their owne wants Wherefore if any amongst you be such and out of ignorance so well-conceited of himselfe let him not pretend to be regenerate In vaine he claimeth Gods Kingdome if he be not changed and become another man Yea all those that though they haue more knowledge then to brag thus yet neuer felt themselues to haue been the children of wrath nor were neuer pained with the apprehension of their owne sinfulnesse These also I affirme to be vnregenerate and so remaining cannot be saued Yea all that allow wicked thoughts in their hearts and neuer take care to see and lament the euill conceits of their inward man but rather serue sinne in the lusts of it and please themselues in thinking of that which for feare or shame they doe not dare to accomplish those also haue no part in Gods Kingdome as the case goes with them hitherto Yea all that makes no conscience of smal sinnes which the world doth not take notice of but passe ouer such trespasses without making any matter of them or troubling themselues to bewaile them these haue cause to fearâ— that heauen is fast locked vpon them Yea all that allow themselues for gaine profit or pleasure sake in any one sinfull action secret or open excusing and shifting and turning themselues into all shapes to make themselues not to know it to be sinfull and labouring not to be moued with the exhortations of the Word checks of their owne consciences but holding still their resolution that that thing they must needs do they cannot chuse but doe though their consciences would willingly checke them for the same were they not by them put to silence All these are to number themselues among the vnregenerate and such as if God be as he is most perfectly iust cannot be saued whilest they abide such But most of all those that liue in open grosse sinnes and yet flatter themselues with hopes of doing wel enough because others liue as bad as they and because they doubt not to ouer-entreate God with the repentance of the last houre these are farthest off from regeneration and remaine in a dangerous and damnable estate so that I doubt not to proclaime vnto them in the name of God that so continuing Christ shall profit them nothing Christ shal neuer bring them to heauen Now therefore if any of you that heare me do perceiue your selues to be such I pray you lay aside all your conceits of going to heauen I pray you surcease to feede your selues with vanitie and wind and to make your selues secure by making false promises to your soules of that they shal neuer attaine Know thou whosoeuer that art an ignorant boaster of thine owne goodnes or a man senselesse of thine owne badnesse and must be dispenced with all in some one darling sinne which faine against the truth beginning to shew it selfe to thee thou wouldest not haue to bee counted a sinne know thou whosoeuer that art a worker of iniquity and puttest off repentance till the time of sicknesse that thou hast no part nor portion in this inheritance that thou art the old Man leauened with old leauen and not renewed nor purged and therefore that it cannot possibly befall thee to see Gods Kingdome if Christ be true and God iust so long as thou abidest vnchanged What should one doe to make dead men feele their death If we could speake plainer to you we would brethren for why we know that at this very point your whole happinesse must begin The vnregenerate can neuer become regenerate till he first perceiue himselfe vnregenerate A child of Satan can neuer be made the childe of God till he feele himselfe the child of Satan Our spirituall felicitie begins in the sense of our spirituall misery and therfore we take all this paines to make you see your wretchednesse because it is vpon none other conditions auoidable Open thine eies therefore and see open thine heart and feele thine vnregeneracie thy being in the state of death thine horrible sinfulnesse and thy being as I haue often said and cannot too often say no better then the very sonne and daughter of the Prince of Darkenesse Will you not see will you not feele will you hood-winke your selues will you harden your hearts will ye suffer the Diuell to turne you from heeding your owne estate till at last it be past recouery I pray you doe not so be not so great enemies to your owne soules I entreate you But what should I goe forward with more words to you I will turne my speech to God for you And O thou Author of life and light be pleased now to remember the end of thine owne ordinances and make them fruitful for the purposes by thy selfe appointed O open the eyes of some one of these blind men inlighten the soules of some one of them at least with so much light that they may perceiue themselues hitherto to haue been voide of light put into them at least that first motion of life that they may feele themselues hitherto to haue been but dead men and voide of life O let not thy word returne empty but make it effectuall to all to which thou sendest it CHAP. IX Containing an exhortation to seeke regeneration AND now brethren in the next place 2. Exhortation that they seeke to come out of this hard estate if there bee amongst you any whose soule the Lord may haue awakned to feele their vnregeneracy to them let vs further ad a word of exhortation It were in truth a poore comfort to know ones wound if there were not a plaister deliuered withall to heale those wounds But we come to entreate you to be made the children of God and to bee begotten againe and withall wee come to assure you that you may be such if you do not reiect the present offer of grace I pray you therefore let these words sinke into your minds and be you willing desirous to be the children of our heauenly Father I hope brethren the request
will not seeme to you vnreasonable nor the motion light and not worth harkening to when the God of heauen sues vnto you that be his enemies to be changed and become his adopted sonnes Sure I am that if a Gentleman should with the same good meaning make the same offer to a poore miserable beggar either he would greedily accept the motion or else all that knew him would esteeme him mad How much worse then mad art thou then which wilt reiect the Lords owne motion offering to become thy Father and intreating thee to bee willing to be made his child by adoption you may perhaps say vnto me that you do already wish and desire so to bee with all your hearts but that all the difficultie lies in being made such as you desire to be And I answere that if you doe indeed and in truth long and desire to be regenerate with a setled and firme desire and stable and confirmed wishing of your hearts that then the greatest impediment is remoued and the greatest difficultie ouercome and your regeneration is now in a faire forwardnesse yea verily it is already begun and doe you but cherish these motions and it shall be perfected You may perhaps make another obiection and say that it is not in your power to regenerate your selues and therfore it is an idle attempt of me to perswade you to become such as you cannot make your selues to be for the Spirit of God must regenerate and who can command that to come vpon him To which I answere that indeed a man cannot possibly regenerate himselfe this is Gods act not his he is a meere patient in it But yet I say moreouer that the doctrine of the Gospell is the ministration of the Spirit and where that is preached as now it is preached amongst you there the holy Ghost comes to regenerate there he comes with his in-liuing vertues there he is present with his quickning power and he that wil not resist the motions and exhortations that the word and spirit of God doe raise vp within him shall surely be visited from on high and shall haue the spirit of God descending vpon him to make him a new creature Yea further I say to such an one that God hath appointed certaine things to be done by men which they that will not refuse to doe may doe and those that shall doe shall be regenerated For there is a common worke of illumination so making way for regeneration that it puts a power into man of doing that which when he shall doe the spirit of God will mightily worke within him to his quickening and purging All you therefore that finde your selues as yet not to be regenerate but yet faine would be for to others it is in vaine to speake they be not yet so farre inlightned as to be capable of regeneration but all you hearken and vnderstand what it is that you must doe that you may be regenerate and by doing which you shall not faile of receiuing this wonderfull blessing of a new life to be created in you onely yet with one prouiso that you doe not dampe the present motions of the word and spirit of God with procrastinations and delayes with putting off and deferring till an other time Nay you must accept of the offers of grace whilest it is called to day and know that nothing doth more harden your hearts and chase away the spirit of God from them then that foolish and slothful shifting off his perswasions with a purpose of setling about the worke hereafter but not yet Thou must take Gods time and not bid him tarry thy time It is no reason the King should waite vpon the traitor till he were at leisure to receiue a pardon If thou wilt not haue while when the Lord sees it fit to make thee a sweet promise of grace remember the terrible threatning of Wisdome You shall seeke me and not finde me Prou. 1.24.28 because I stretched out mine hands and you would not heare me O then venture not to put off God till hereafter Who can tell whether euer he will come so neere thee againe if at this time thine entertainment of him be no better then to shut vp the dores of thine heart and tell him the roomes are otherwise filled there is no place for him as yet But now I say with prouiso that you will now begin without further deferring I will shew you the way of life and tell you that which if you will be pleased to doe and it shall be no such hard matter nor impossible but that your owne soules shall confesse there is nothing to hinder you from doing it but your owne vnwillingnesse or carelesnesse or both if I say you will be pleased to doe I testifie vnto you in the name of the Lord that you shall bee regenerate and that from the time you begin to doe them you begin to be regenerate Now these things are in number three as I said before neither impossible for you to doe Wheâ—eof the meanes are three nor yet difficult there lackes but a willing mind and they be easily done onely vnderstand of them that you must not satisfie your selues with hauing done them once but must doe them continually because they are meanes of encreasing holinesse as well as attaining it The first is 1. To desire and pray for the spirit of regeneration so to nourish your apprehension of your owne misery in not being regenerated and your earnest desire of being regenerated for the escaping of this misery that it may breake forth into requests and petitions vnto God for his spirit of regeneration Goe thou and muse thus with thy selfe Alas I see most euidently that as yet I am but a sonne of old Adam there is no thorough change of mine heart nor of my life from sinne to holinesse I am as I was borne and haue not been altered by a new birth and therefore I am in no possibility of being saued This night if God should as how know I but he may this night take away my soule from me O I perish for out of heauen the blessed Sauiour of mankind hath excluded mee for thither he tels vs euidently that none must enter that are not borne againe and O miserable man I that am not yet capable of eternall life and that stand in such tearmes with God to this day that hee cannot both keepe his owne truth and saue my soule What shall I doe what course shall I take O could I once obtaine regeneration then I were safe then I were sure then if death should come immediately I neede not feare it then were the gates of heauen opened vnto mee and then I both might and should enter in thereto O that I were regenerate O that I were borne againe O that I were a new creature O that once the image of Christ Iesus were imprinted vpon me All the goods and honours of this world would not so much aduantage me as
barely read I cannot esteeme it quite deuoide of all power to regenerate where God doth not giue vnto men a possibilitie of vsing other helpe I see not that he should be thought either vnable or vnwilling to worke by this but where preaching with paines or cost may be gotten there he that to saue his labour or to spare his purse will neglect it shall neuer be borne againe Wherefore beloued you must make high account of this ordinance you must follow it you must be constant in frequenting it that the Lord by the mouthes of his faithful seruants may breathe the breath of life into you I confesse that there is a kind of fine neate daintie preaching consisting in wel-sounding words and streines of wit and humane learning to set out the skill and art of the speaker and make the hearer applaud and commend him which a man may well doubt whither God wil euer blesse to the winning of soules These selfe-preaching men that make preaching little else but an ostentation of wit and reading doe put this sword of the Spirit into a veluet scabbard that it cannot pricke and wound the heart it cannot worke life by working death first it cannot quicken by killing before it quicken But the plaine and downe-right preaching of the Word by laying it open in plaine termes to the eyes of the mind and laying it hard to the very consciences by exhortations rebukes and comforts for which it is profitable euen this foolish preaching is that that must make you wise to saluation Wherefore how much were it to be desired that all we Ministers would follow that whereby with fetching lesse circuits and taking lesse vnprofitable and selfe-intended labour wee might doe more good to men and bring more glory to God and Oh how much are you to be called vpon to loue the Word of God preached to be glad to haue it plainely deliuered vnto you and with earnestnesse pressed vpon you without all quirkes of wit and guilded shewes of mans wisdome and of gay words In one word therefore I doe you all to wit that this preaching is the instrument of God I meane the chiefe and principall instrument by which he is pleased to regenerate mens soules Wherefore I command you all in the name of the Lord to loue it honor it frequent it submit your selues to it as you loue your soules-health But let me adde one necessary obseruation more in this point They bee but vncleane beasts that doe not chew the cud If you will haue the Word which you heare effectuall to make you the sonnes of God you must not be carelesse and forgetfull hearers you must not let it slip from you as soone as it is heard but you must ioyne meditation with it and after you haue heard consider with your selues what you haue heard and ponder vpon it as vpon a thing that much concernes you and lay the precepts reproofes threats promises and exhortations thereof vnto your soules saying each to himselfe I see this is a dutie haue not I omitted it O yes I haue and so fall a begging pardon for former omissions and strength for more carefull performance hereafter and so in all the other parts of the Word that may be deliuered vnto you And brethren the Word thus heard in the Church and thus ruminated digested and concocted at home will be a Word of power vnto you to conuert you to God from the power of Satan Thus I haue shewed you the meanes of being made the sonnes and daughters of the liuing God Be they not plaine be they not possible be they not easie If any of you misse of a new birth is it not because he cares not for it and in very truth because he is not willing to accept it I cal your owne soules to witnesse and that God in whose name and those Angels in whose presence I haue spoken these things vnto you that God desireth not your death hee would haue you saued hee offers saluation hee would haue you renewed and hee offers the spirit of renouation and if you want it it is only meerely wholly because you regard it not and because you will not take his directions in seeking it O thou therfore that art vnregenerate see thine vnregeneracie desire to be regenerate call vpon God for his Spirit of grace to regenerate thee ponder vpon his Law and his Gospell the seede of regeneration Hearken to his voyce speaking in his messengers and meditate on what thou shalt heare from them and thou shalt bee regenerate But if thou wilt needs stand in thine owne light and out of a conceit of being already in a good estate keepe thy selfe irrecouerably in an euill estate or out of sloathfull negligence or prophane carelesnesse omit to follow the sound directions which haue been giuen thee be thou euer then the child of the Diuell be thou euer the sonne of perdition worke out thine owne destruction and thy blood bee vpon thine owne head the Lord is free wee are free and of thine owne hand alone it shall be required CHAP. X. Comforting the Regenerate ANd so much bee spoken to them that are not borne againe 3. Vse to those that are regenerate Now from the same point also wee haue something to say to those that through the grace of God haue been blessed with this greatest of al blessings and that both for comfort and exhortation First then 1. Câ—ns let vs lay open before the sanctified man the riches of consolation of which the words of our Sauiour doe put him in possession This worke of the Spirit of God doth him more good then al the wealth strength health wit learning beauty credit fauour and grace that could befall him in the world For all these things fore-named a man may haue in as great abundance as this earth could yeeld and yet bee no whit nearer to heauenly felicitie yea bee quite out of all present possibilitie of attaining it But so soone as euer the Spirit of God from aboue hath visited the soule of a man and hath begotten in him the image of Christ Iesus so soone is he interessed into the glorious Kingdome of God and hath that riches and honour of heauen appertaining vnto him as an inheritance that cannot fal besides him Euery true Christian therefore be he of neuer so meane repute parts in the esteeme of others or of himself is yet a great and a rich heire and hath a mighty and large kingdome by vertue of this birth-right appertaining vnto him for the excluding of all that are not borne againe from out of heauen is a plaine admittance of all them into heauen to whom this benefit of a new birth hath befalne The one cannot but be saued as well as the other cannot possibly bee saued Seeing if the cause that hindreth our entrance into Gods Kingdome bee remoued we neede make no question but that our passage afterwards shall be found both certaine and easie enough
is honey in the mouth but grauell in the belly Hidden bread is pleasant and stolne waters are sweete but O the miserable agonies which must ensue before the soule can bee clearely purged againe from the remainders of such poyson It is a pleasing thing to dally to reuenge to deceiue to play the glutton and the drunkard but it must cost a man so much toile so many sorrowfull confessions so many heauie passages before hee can recouer againe the quiet of his conscience and his enioyment of the assurance of Gods fauor that at last it shall appeare a deare-bought contentment and an euill penny-worth of delight No wise man will drinke Wine and Sugar if it haue been first impoysoned with some deadly thing neither let any Christian so farre forget the rules of Christian wisdome as for any paltry pleasure or profit or credit which lying swearing whoredome drunkennes idolatrie or any like grosse sin may yeeld vnto him to venture the committing of them Doubtlesse if he do his complaint shall bee at last as those sonnes of the Prophets once said O man of God death is in the pot But to surfet is little lesse dangerous 3 Taking heed of excesse in things indifferent and accustoming to sparing and moderation then to feede on poyson to labour ouer-much and ouer-hard to the inflaming of the bloud to drinke when a man is hot to eate and drinke excessiuely these things doe so exceedingly disquiet and ouer-charge the body that many a man dies of them So in the soule it is likewise found that the excessiuenesse of things lawfull and the vnseasonablenesse of indifferent actions doth sometimes little lesse annoy the soules welfare then the committing of things sinfull Especially if a man doe mistake and account that thing lawfull or indifferent which is wicked and sinfull and hereupon out of his erroneous iudgement lay the reynes vpon the necke of his carnall desires grosse knowne confessed sinnes doe no more infeeble the soule and ouerthrow the quiet and strength of the inward man then such licentiousnesse The abuse I say of things in themselues lawfull through the vntimely and immoderate doing of them is exceeding perillous vnto the soule and often death is little lesse then ready to enter in at this window The ouer-eager following of worldly businesse when a man not out of obedience to Gods commandements and out of a desire to humble himselfe by iust painefulnesse in his calling but out of a loue of wealth and a desire to grow rich and great in the world doth set his thoughts and hands a worke about the affaires of this life so that hee can scarce thinke or speak with any life or comfort of any other thing then this earth this greedy and continuall pursuing of worldly businesses though in themselues lawfull honest and commendable doth vexe the spirit choak the word dis-hallow the soule offend God and wound the conscience no lesse then the committing of fornication would doe for this is to commit spirituall whoredome with that grand harlot the wicked world Also the perpetuall and vnsatiable vse of pleasures and pastimes in themselues it may be no way sinfull nor condemnable yet still pursued with an ouer-vehement affection to them with an ouer-strong delight in them when they bee not vsed as meanes of maintaining our health or fitting our selues for the workes of our calling and indeede according as the name of recreations beareth for the refreshing of the mind and making it more liuely and chearefull in better things but are followed for their owne sakes out of a loue of pastime which is a childish and too base a thing for a wise heart to bee in loue with and when there is no conscionable regard had of that rich and pretious iewel of time which no treasure caÌ„ redeeme I say the most honest and lawfull recreations in the world so inordinately followed without regard of the due end thereof and without the practice of Christian moderation in them is no lesse harmefull to the soule then it is to the body to bee ouer-watched or ouer-laboured It dulleth the heart it clogs the conscience it stoppeth the mouth from praying it interrupteth all good meditations and by little and little doth steale away the hart from God and godlines till at the length grosse sinnes and presumptuous doe come in the neck of lawfull liberties abused The same be spoken of the vse of daintie fare and soft raiment and all other naturall comforts when the heart begins to bee ingaged to them when we onely seeke our owne satisfaction in them when we forget to demonstrate in our manner of vsing them a deniall of the world and a crucifying of our selues to the world and the world to vs then they are dangerous to our soules and doe euen little lesse then kill vp the new man in vs. O I would that the experience of many a Christian did not verifie this Learne therefore to temper your selues in things indifferent to be moderate in following your calling moderate in vsing recreations moderate in meate and drinke and attire and alwaies rather to be ouer-sparing to your selues in these things then ouer-large rather abridge thy selfe of somewhat thou mightest haue then by venturing as farre as euer thou art able to make thy selfe beleeue it is lawfull to bring thy selfe in danger of going a step or two further and falling into a fâ—at sinfull abuse Shew forth the vertues of Christ Iesus let it appeare that thou doest not loue the world nor the things therof by being content alwaies to come a little too short of thine allowance then any whit at all excâ—eding it The most wholsome diet is that that is most sparing and it is profitable for the body somewhat to deny the appetite and abridge the stomacke Euen so it is also for the soule and no man shall euer bee other then a dwarffe and weakeling in godlinesse that will not be drawne to denie himselfe somewhat of his lawfull liberty for so slippery is our standing so weake are our feete that if we venture to doe all we think lawfull in these kinds wee shall surely doe it vnlawfully I haue told you brethreÌ„ belieue it as a sure truth which your experience shal iustifie though your tongues may deny You shall not be confirmed in the inward man if you doe not keepe your selues somewhat short in outward liberties of the body about profit pleasure foode attire and the rest of these bodily and sensuall matters O preferre thy soule before thy bodie and make more account of inward strength then of outward wealth credit or merriment But lastly if a man doe starue himselfe for want of victuall 4. By being constant in religious exercises and pine his body by neglecting his due meales it is without all doubt that he shall haue a weake and feeble body So it is also for the soule The Lord that hath ordained bread to make mans heart strong hath ordained also the spirituall
to striue for the attainement of the same excellencies Yea for those most notorious sinners that are habituated so strongly in sinnes and wickednesses that vertue stirreth vp hatred and ill will in them if euer any crosse befall them or any trouble of mind or the like accident that somewhat crusheth their corruptions and abateth the power of their lusts at that time they cannot but make knowne a secret estimation that goodnesse winneth vpon them and euen desire to seeke some comfort of those whom they think able to afford it Wherefore it is required of al those whom the Lord hath begotten againe to life euerlasting that they frame their conuersation as beseemeth the Gospell of Christ and agreeably to their high and excellent calling that men beholding it may glorifie their heauenly Father and may be allured to a liking of pietie which is the first step towards the working of it They must euen shine as lights in the middest of a froward generation being blameles and sincere and holding out the word of life among them yea they are expressely commanded to walk wisely towards them that are without because their walking may be a great furtherance to the others conuersiō They must shew forth the vertues of him that hath called them from darknes to light that their light may helpe to enlighten others also They must bee patient in affliction gentle in bearing wrongs painefull in doing seruice iust in all their dealings true in all their speeches pure in all their carriage sober in all their liues and vnspotted in their whole conuersation They must beare much and suffer long and be plentifull in workes of mercy and cheerfull in workes of kindnesse and aboue all shine forth in doing good against euill and ouercomming iniuries with good turnes They must shew themselues cheerfull and amiable peaceable and heauenly minded and that they do not serue themselues but seeke the profit and good of their brethren in charity They must neither be so licentious as to be wonne by company of others to things that are vnlawfull nor so ouer strict and scrupulous as to bee enemies to the lawfull vse of lawfull contents And it is certaine that that man which being sanctified by the spirit doth shew forth the fruits of the spirit ioy loue peace temperance goodnesse meeknesse and the rest and that obserueth a prudent mediocrity in all things so that hee neither ouerlash in vnlawfull things nor bee too strait in lawfull liberty shal winne to himselfe an honourable estimation in the hearts of them that are not starke naught and shall make them ready to receiue his exhortations and to ioyne with him in good exercises by which they may at length be made partakers of the grace of God Wherefore my brethren see that yee beautifie the doctrine of God see that ye honour the name of Christ see that ye be doers of the word and not hearers onely deceiuing your owne soules Denie your selues crucifie your lusts serue not your owne bellies seeke not your owne things but shew your holy conuersation in the meeknesse of wisdome Let those that are not yet regenerate behold in you that be something that may affect them that may stirre them to a good liking to a care of following and to a desire at least of being found such as you are and so by working out your owne saluation be helpers also to the saluation of others Secondly let your tongues be well ordered 2. By good conference and your words gratious Let your lips feede many let your mouthes be wel-springs of life and pleasant and fruitfull trees the words of which as it were leaues may heale many Although the preaching of the word by the Minister be the chiefe meanes of begetting againe yet there can be no doubt made but that good communication of priuate men hath bin and may be and if it were wel vsed would be effectual to the same purpose The preaching that first spread abroad the Gospell was of men by priuate conference speaking to those of their acquaintance whom they found opportunity so to teach as well as by a more publike preaching of Ministers Apostles Euangelists and Prophets taking the aduantage of publike assemblies And in this sense it is said of all those that were scattered abroad by the persecution of Saul that they preached the Gospell to such as they met not all indifferently but alone the Iewes vntill at length some of them of Cyrene began also to speake vnto the Gentiles Now the words of a godly man tending to conuert others must be of two sorts or rather three First instructions I meane a plaine declaration of such necessary heads of Christian doctrine as are most vsefull to the working of grace viz. of Adams fall and the miserable estate of mankind thereby of the necessity and nature of repentance of the death and sufferings and natures and offices of Christ Iesus of the exceeding great danger of sinning and of the endlesse torments of hell of the certainty of saluation to all beleeuers and of the nature of true faith and such other like These a godly man should seeke opportunity to fall in speech of and auoiding all iangling and friuolous disputes about vnnecessary quirkes and quiddities and forbearing all opposition in matters of ceremony and disputable points in things externall wherewith some doe onely take vp the time and trouble themselues the Church without edification I say shunning or slenderly lightly passing ouer these should bend himselfe to a more plentifull and serious deliuering of these points which are so necessary that without them men cannot be saued according as God hath giuen him vtterance and ability alwaies remembring to obserue the circumstances of time place person and not to speake in the eares of a scorner that will despise the wisedome of his heauenly speeches O how happily might a priuate mans lips spread abroad knowledge if he would thus redeeme the time to holy conference not as if it were not lawfull to speake of other matters either of businesse or for delight but that the best things should not be quite shouldred out vtterly forgotten Thus as men ride together by the way as they walke together in the field as they sit together in their houses they might without hinderance to their naturall affaires bee busie in furthering their owne and other mens euerlasting estate And doubtlesse that man should be wonderfully confirmed in knowledge himselfe that would thus endeauour to communicate his knowledge to his brethren Other things are diminished by participating but knowledge is encreased by making it common with a most happy and a gainfull kind of encrease where both sides be gainers and the giuer getteth so much more to himselfe by how much he giueth more vnto another Wherefore if those amongst you that haue knowledge doe meete with ignorant persons as alas the store of them is so great that you cannot chuse but meet with many then open your lips with