THE PLAIN-MANS PATH-VVAY TO HEAVEN Wherin every man may clearly see whether he shall be saved or damned Set forth Dialogue-wise for the better understanding of the simple By Arthur Dent Preacher of the Word of God at South-Shoobery in Essex The six and twentieth Edition Corrected and amended With a Table of all the principall matters and three prayers necessary to be used in private families hereunto added Zephaniah 3.5 Every morning the Lord bringeth his judgment to light he faileth not but the wicked will not learn to be ashamed LONDON Printed by Ja. Young for G. Lathum in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Bishops-head 1643. To the Right Worshipful Sir Julius Caesar Knight one of the Masters of the Request to the Kings Majesty Judge of the high Court of Admiralty and Master of St. Katherins A.D. wisheth all good things in Christ Jesus HAving finished Right Worshipfull and made ready for the Presse this little Dialogue I bethought me sith the common manner of all that write any books in this age is to dedicate the same to one or other of great place to whom I might dedicate thâ—se my poor labours At last I did resolve with my self none to be more fit then your Worship boâ—h in regard of some affinity in the flesh as also because of those manifold good parts wherewith the Almighty hath endued you Having therefore none other thing to present your Worship withall in token of a thankefull heart for your courtesies shewed towards mee behold I doe here send unto you this third fruit of my labours published most humbly beseeching you to take it in good worth not weighing the value of the thing which is of no value but the simple and good minde and meaning of the giver This work doth sharply reprove and evict the world of sin and therefore is like to find many deadly enemies which with cruell hatred will most eagerly pursue it unto death Zoilus also and his fellows I know will bitterly carp at it therefore it slieth unto your Worship for protection and humbly desireth to take sanctuary under your wings Wherefore I humble intreat you to take upon you the patronage and defence of it that by your means it may be delivered both from the calumnious obloquies of evill disposed persons and also from the worlds malignity so as it may take no injury And concerning this little volume the sum of the matter of it you shall find it in the Epistle to the Reader As concerning the maner here is no great matter of learning wit art eloquence or ingenious invention for I have herein specially respected the ignorant and vulgar sort whose edification I doe chiefly aime at yet somewhat there is which may concern the learned and give them some contentment Whatsoever it be I leave it with your Worship beseeching you to give it entertainment And so I doe most humbly take my leave commending both your selfe your good wife and your whole family to the mercifull protection of the everliving God From South-Shoobery in Essex April 10. An. Dom. 1601. Your W ps to command in the Lord ARTHUR DENT The Epistle to the Reader GEntle Reader seeing my little Sermon of Repentance some few yeeres since published hath been so well accepted of I have for thy further good published this Dialogue being the third fruit of my labour wishing it the like successe that God thereby may have the glory thou who are the Reader comfort I have in one part of this Dialogue produced some of the ancient Writers and some of the wise Heathen also to testifie upon their oath in their own language and to bear witnesse of the ouglinesse of some vices which we in this age make light of which I wish may not be offensive to any In other parts of this work I do in a manner relinquish them But in this case I have in my weake judgement thought them to be of some good use to shew forth thus much That if we doe not in time repent forsake our sinnes and seek after God both the ancient Christian Fathers whose eys saw not that we see nor their ears heard what we hear yea the very Heathen also shall rise up in judgment against us Let none therefore stumble at it But if any man do let him remember I am in a Dialogue not in a Sermon I write to all of all sorts I speak not of some few of one sort But that which is done herein is not much more then that of the Apostle As some of your owne Poets have said Acts 17. which is warrantable One thing dear Christian I pray thee let me beg of thee to wit that thou wouldest not read two or three leaves of this book and so cast it from thee but that thou wouldest read it throughout even to the end For I doe assure thee if there be any thing in it worth the reading it is bestowed in the latter part thereof and most of all towards the conclusion Be not discouraged therfore at the harshnesse of the beginning but look for smoother matter in the midst and most smooth in the perclose wind up of all For this Dialogue hath in it not the nature of a Tragedy which is begun with joy and ended with sorrow but a Comedy which is begun with sorrow ended with joy This book meddleth not at all with any controversies in the Church or any thing in the state Ecclesiasticall but onely entreth into a controversie with Sathan and sin It is contrived into six principall heads First it sheweth mans misery in nature with the means of recovery Secondly it sharply inveigheth against the iniquity of the time common corruptions of the world Thirdly it sheweth the marks of the children of God and of the reprobates together with the apparent signs of Salvation and Damnation Fourthly it declareth how hard a thing it is to enter into life and how few shall enter Fifthly it layeth open the ignorance of the world with the objections of the same Last of all it publisheth and proclaimeth the sweet promises of the Gospel with the abundant mercies of God to all that repent beleeve and truely turn unto him The Author of all blessing give a blessing unto it The God of peace which brought againe from the dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make us perfect in all good works sanctifie us thorowout amend all our imperfections and keepe us blamelesse untill the day of his most glorious appearing Amen Thine in the Lord A. D. The Contents of this Dialogue FIrst it sheweth mans misery by nature with the means of recovery Secondly it sharply inveigheth against the iniquity of the time and common corruptions of the world Thirdly it sh weth the marks of the children of God and of the reprobates with the apparent signs of Salvation and Damnation Fourthly it declareth how hard a thing it is to enter into life and
so bold as blind Bayard your hope is but fancy and as a sicke mens dreame You hope you cannot tell what You have no ground for what you say For what hope can you have to be saved when you walke in no path of salvation What hope can a man have to come to London speedily that travelleth nothing that way but quite contrary What hope can a man have to reap a good crop of corne that useth no meanes neither ploweth soweth nor harroweth What hope can a man have to be fat and well liking of his body that seldome or never eateth any meat What hope can a man have to escape drowning which leapeth into the Sea Even so what hope can you have to be saved when you walke nothing that way when you use no meanes when you doe all things that are contrary to the some For alas there is nothing in you of thou things which the Scriptures doe affirme must be in all those that shall be saved There be none of the forenamed signes and tokens in you You are ignorant profane and carelesse God is not worshipped under your roofe There is no true feare of God in your selfe nor in your houshold You seldome heare the Word preached You content your selfe with an ignorant Minister You have no prayers in your family no reading no singing of Psalmes no infirmitions exhortations admonitions or any other Christian exercises You make no conscience of the observation of the Sabbath You use not the name of God with any reverence You breake out sometimes into horrible oathes and cursings You make an ordinary matter of swearing by your faith and your troth Your wife is irreligious your children dissolute and ungratious your servants profane and carelesse You are an example in your owne house of all Atheisme and consciencelesse behaviour You are a great gamester a riotour a spend thrift a drinker a common ale-house-hunter a whore-hunter and to conclude given to all vice and naughtinesse Now then I pray you tell me or rather let your conscience tell me what hope can you have to be saved so long as you walk and continue in this course Doth not St. John say 1 John 2.6 If wee say we have fellowship with him and walke in darknesse we are liers 1 John 3.4 Doth not the same Apostle avouch that such as say they know God and keepe not his commandements are lyers Againe doth hee not say Hee that committeth sin is of the Divell And 1 John â— 18 Whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God Doth not our Lord Iesus flatly tell the Iewes which bragged that Abraham was their father that they were of their father the Divell because they did his workes Doth not the Apostle Paul say Rom. 6. â—â— His servants wee are to whom we obey whether it be of sinne unto death or of obedience unto righteousnesse Doth not the Scripture say John â— 7 Hee that doth righteousnesse is righteous Doth not our Lord Iesus affirmâ— that Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Mat. 7.21 but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Therefore I conclude that forasmuch as your whole course is carnall carelesse and dissolute you can have no warrantable hope to be saved Phil. I doe verily think that this mans case which now you have laid open is the case of thousands Theol. Yea doubtlesse of thousand thousands the more is the pitie Asun Soft and faire Sir you are very round indeed Soft fire maketh sweet malt I hope you know wee must be saved by mercy and not by merit If I could doe all my selfe wherefore serveth Christ I hope that which I cannot doe he will doe for mee And I hope to be saved by Jesus Christ as well as the best of you all Theol. Oh now I see which way the game goeth You would faine make Christ a cloak for your sinnes You will sin that grace may abound You will sin frankly and set all upon Christs score Truly there be many thousands of your mind which hearing of Gods aboundant mercy in Christ are thereby made more bold to sin But they shall know one day to their cost what it is to abuse the mercie of God Rom. 2.4 The Apostle saith The mercy and loving kindnesse of God should lead us to repentance But we see it leads many to further hardnesse of heart The Prophet saith Psal 13.4 With him is mercy that hee may be feared But many thereby are made more secure and carelesse But to come nearer to the marke You say you hope to be saved by Iesus Christ I answer If those things be found in you which the Scripture avoucheth to be in all that shall be saved by him then you may have good confidence and assured hope otherwise not Now the Scriptures do thus determine it and set it down that if a man be in Christ and look to be saved by him he must be endued with these qualities following First he must be a new creature 1 Cor. 5.27 Nine things required of all that shall be saved by Christ Secondly hee must live not after the lusts of men but after the will of God 1 Pet. 4.2 Thirdly hee must be zealous of good workes Tit. 2.14 Fourthly hee must die to sin and live to righteousnesse Rom. 6.14 Fifthly he must be holy and unblameable Col. 1.23 Sixthly hee must so walke as Christ hath walked 1 John 2.6 Seventhly he must crucifie the flesh with the affections lusts Gal. 5.24 Eighthly he must walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 Last of all he must serve God in righteousnesse and true holinesse all the dayes of his life Luk. 1.75 Loe then what things are required of all that shall be saved by Christ Now therefore if these things be in you in some measure of truth then your hope is currant sound and good otherwise it is nothing worth For in vaine doe men say they hope to be saved by Christ when as they walke dissolutely The reason hereof is because the members must be sutable to the head but Christ our head is holy therefore wee his members must be holy also as it is written 1 Pet. 2.15 Be ye holy for I am holy Otherwise if wee will joyne profane and ungodly members to our holy head Christ then we make Christ a monster As if a man should ioyne unto the head of a Lion the necke of a Beare the body of a Wolfe and the legs of a For were it not a monstrous thing would it not make a monstrous creature Even such a thing they goe about which would have swearers drunkards whoremongers and such like to be the members of Christ and to have life and salvation by him But sith you doe so much presume on Christ I pray you let me aske you a question Antil What is that Theol. How doe you know that Christ vsed for you
particularly and by name Antil Christ dyed for all men and therefore for me Theol. But all men shall not be saved by Christ How therefore do you know that you are one of them that have speciall interest in Christ and shall be saved by his death Antil This I know we are all sinners and cannot be saved by any other than by Christ Theol. Answer directly to my question How do you know in your selfe and for your selfe that you are one of the elect and one of those for whom Christ died Antil I know it by my good faith in God because I put my whole trust in him and in none other Theol. But how know you that you have faith or how shall a man know his faith Antil I know it by this that I have alwayes had as good a meaning and as good a faith to God-ward as any man of my calling and that is not book-learned I have alwayes feared God with all my heart and served him with my prayers Theol. Tush now you go about the bush and hover in the aire answer mee to the point How doe you know certainely and 〈◊〉 that Christ dyed for you particularly and by name Antil You would make a man mad You put mee out of my faith you drive mee from Christ But if you goe about to drive me from Christ I will never beleeve you For I know we must be saved onely by him Theol. I goe not about to drive you from Christ but to drive you to Christ For how can I drive you from Christ seeing you never came neere him How can I drive you out of Christ seeing you were never in him But this is it that deceiveth you and many others that you thinke you beleeve in Christ because you say you beleeve in Christ as though faith consisted in words or as though a man had saith because hee saith so If every one that faith he hath faith therefore hath faith and every one that saith hee beleeveth in Christ doth therefore beleeve then who will not have faith who will not beleeve But in very deed your faith and the faith of many others is nothing else but meere imagination But all this while you have not answered my question touching your particular knowledge of Christ Antil I can answer you no otherwise then I have answered you And I thinke I have answered you sufficiently Theol. No no you faulter in your speech your answer is not worth a button you speak you wot not what you are altogether befogged and benighted in this question But if there were in your heart the true knowledge and lively feeling of God then I am sure you would have yeelded another and a better answer then you would have spoken something from the sense and feeling of your own heart and from the worke of Gods grace within you But because you can yeeld no found reason that Christ died for you particularly and by name therefore I suspect you are none of them which have proper interest in him and in whom his death takes effect indeed Phil. I think this question would gravell a great number and few there be that can answer it aright Theol. It is most certaine I know it by lamentable experience that not one of a hundred can soundly and sufficiently answer this question none indeed but onely those in whom the new worke is wrought and do ty the inward worke of the Spirit feele Christ to be theirs I have talked with some which are both witty sensible and learned who notwithstanding when they have beene brought to this very point and issue have stuck sore at it and staggered very much And howsoever they might by wit and learning shuffle it over and in a blundering sort speak reason yet had they no feeling of that which they said and therefore no assurance and consequently as good never a whit as never the better It is the sanctifying Spirit that giveth feeling in this point and therefore without the feeling of the operation of the same spirit it can never be soundly answered Thus then I doe close up this whole matter As the Vine-branch cannot live and bring forth fruit except it abide in the Vine no more can wee except wee abide in Christ and be truly graffed in him by a lively faith None can have any benefit by him but they onely which dwell in him None can live by Christ but they which are changed into Christ None are partakers of his body but they which are in his body None can be saved by Christ crucified but they which are crucified with Christ None can live with him being dead but those which die with him being alive Therefore let us root downward in mortification that wee may shoot upward in sanctification let us die to sinne that we may live to righteousnesse let us die while wee are alive that wee may live when wee are dead Asun If none can be saved by Christ but onely these which are so qualified as you speake of then Lord have mercy upon us then the way to heaven is very strait indeed and few at all shall be saved For there be few such in the world Theol. You are no whit therein deceived For when all comes to all it is most certaine that few shall be saved which thing I will shew unto you both by Scripture reasons and examples Asun First then let us heare it proved by the Scriptures Theol. Our Lord Iesus saith Mat. 7.10 Enter in at the strait gate For it is the wide gate and broad way that leads to destruction and many there be which goe in thereat because the gate is strait and the way narrow that leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it Againe hee saith Many are called Mat. 20.16 but few chosen In another place we reade of a certaine man which came to our Saviour Christ asked him of purpose whether few should be saved To whom our Saviour answered thus Luke 13.14 Strive to enter in at the strait gate For many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able In which answer albeit our Saviour doth not answer directly to his question either negatively or affirmatively yet doth hee plainly insinuate by his speeches that few shall be saved For first hee bids us strive earnestly noting thereby that it is a matter of great griefe against the World the Flesh and the Divell Secondly hee affirmeth that the gate is very strait noting that none can enter in without vehement crowding and almost breaking their shoulder-bones Lastly hee saith that many which seeke to enter in shall not be able noting thereby that even of them that seek many shall step short because they seeke him not aright Esaias also saith Except the Lord of hosts had left us a seed Esay 1.9 wee had beene as Sodome and had beene like to Gomorrah The Apostle also alledgeth out of the Prophet Rom. 9 28. Esay 10.22