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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ability_n	able_a	great_a	116	3	2.2258	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10194	The perpetuitie of a regenerate mans estate VVherein it is manifestly proued by sundry arguments, reasons and authorities. That such as are once truly regenerated and ingrafted into Christ by a liuely faith, can neither finally nor totally fall from grace. It is also proued, that this hath beene the receiued and resolued doctrine, of all the ancient fathers, of all the Protestant churches and writers beyond the seas, and of the Church of England. All the principall arguments that are, or may be obiected against it, either from Scripture, or from reason, are here likewise cleared and answered. By William Prynne Gent: Lincolniensis.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1626 (1626)	STC 20471; ESTC S115319	355,787	462

established doctrine of our Church is yet the doctrine of the Church and I am ready to recant In which words as Mr. Mountague hath vsed a pretty sleight to keepe off men from writing or speaking against him lest they should come within the compasse of these two hatefull names Puritan and Papist so he hath discouered himselfe egregiously vnto the world and that in these particulars First hee hath discouered himselfe to be a meere Roman Catholicke in heart what euer he professe in words in hauing his beliefe and faith not grounded on the word of God but on the Church Hee beleeues only as the Church beleeues and not otherwise let come what will the Churches faith shall still bee his If our Church will owne this doctrine of his then hee will defend it then hee will teach it if our Church will not owne it then hee will disclaime it and recant it not because that this his doctrine is in it selfe true or false but meerely because it is the doctrine of the Church Now for any man thus to tie and pinne his faith vpon the Church and vpon that only what is it but to bee a professed Romane Catholicke Secondly by these his words hee hath discouered himselfe to be but a meere temporizer a meere Proteus and Chamelion a meere Neuter and a man of all religions as time and place shall serue and so a man of no religion or grace at all Let the Church of England not owne this doctrine of a totall and finall fall from grace Mr. Mountague will forthwith disclaime it though hee himselfe hath affirmed it to bee the doctrine of the Scriptures Fathers and of the learnedest in the Church of England So that his Tenets and religion shall bee alwayes altered and changed with the times and seasons And will you my Brethren receiue this for a sound and orthodox truth and as the receiued doctrine of the Church of England when as Mr. Mountague himselfe is as ready to disclaime it as to owne it will you suspend and pinne your faith your judgement and religion vpon Mr. Mountagues sleeue whose religion is but a meere Weather-cocke that is altered and turned about with euery blast and change in Church or State and who hath yet no other positiue or resolued religion in him but only this to be of no religion or of any religion as the times shall serue O hazard hazard not your soules vpon such vncertainties but rather sticke and cleaue to such who will sooner loose their liues and all they haue then bee remoued from this present truth which none of our Antagonists will dare to doe in defence of these their Errors And now seeing I haue made it manifest vnto your soules and consciences by vndeniable proofes and testimonies against the forgeries of Mr. Mountague and his Abbettors that this assertion of the totall and finall perseuerance of the Saints is not only the positiue established and resolued doctrine of the Scriptures but likewise of the ancient Fathers of all the Protestant Churches beyond the Seas and of this our Mother Church of England ô then if you tender the glory honour and authority both of the God and word of truth which shall judge you at the la●…t if you reuerence and respect the authority of the ancient Fathers and of all the Churches of God or if you tender the peace the good and welsare of this your Mother Church be willing to submit and yeeld vnto the truth What if Mr. Monntague what if men of greater worth and place then hee oppugne and contradict this truth what if carnall men of great abilities and parts who are no more able to judge of this our present assertion then blinde men are of colours because it is a sensible and experimentall a spirituall and heauenly truth which is principally testified and reuealed to the soules of men by the inward operation of Gods Spirit and is not subject vnto carnall reason doe publish this as a sound and orthodox truth That the true regenerate Saints of God may Apostatize and fall both totally and finally from grace are not the Scriptures and the word of God are not the Fath●…rs and the Churches of God and tho●…e many godly learned and famous writers which I haue cited who haue farre transcended them euen in parts learning of better credit and repute with you then they If not then farwell all religion let Poperie and Arminianisme let herisie and Atheisme rule and sway the world But if the Scriptures if the Fathers if all the Churches of God and all those worthies which they haue produced haue any estimate or credit with you then striue contend and stirre no more in this our present controuersie nor yet in any other that depends vpon it but willingly subscribe to this most orthodox sound and comfortable assertion of ours which is the only proppe and pillar of a Christian soule and the only thing which makes men liue and die with joy and comfort which they haue all ratified and resolued with one vnanimous and joynt consent That those who are once truly regenerated and ingrafted into Christ by a true and liuely faith can neither finally nor totally fall from grace AN ANSWER TO THE Arguments which may be objected HAuing thus as I suppose sufficiently and fully proued the truth of this position That those who are once truly regenerated and ingrafted into Christ by a true and liuely faith can neither finally nor totally fall from grace By vnanswerable proofes and Arguments there is nothing now remaining but that I should giue a satisfactory answer to all such Arguments and texts of Scripture as either are or may be objected to the contrarie and then I doubt not but that this truth will bee so cleere and euident in the hearts and consciences of men that they shall neuer dare for to resist it or oppose it more Now that I may the better answer and cleere those Arguments which shal be obiected I would first of all intreate you to take speciall notice of two things which I shall propound vnto you which will take off all future objections that are made against me and giue a finall determination to the point in question The first thing I would wish you to obserue is this That there is no place or text of Scripture which doth either expressely positiuely or totidem verbis say or else by way of necessarie and vndeniable consequence proue That a true regenerate man and one that is truly ingrafted into Christ can either finally or totally fall from the state of grace but that all the Arguments which are objected from the Scriptures are nothing else but bare inferences and wrested Collections contrary to the true scope and meaning of the places There is not any of our Antagonists that can shew me any expresse absolute and positiue text of Scripture which doth either in expresse words or by way of necessary sound and ineuitable consequence confute this Doctrine of the

in it selfe but not in vs. I answer that if grace in its proper nature bee perpetuall immortall and alwayes perseuering then it must of necessitie bee so in respect of vs. First because that which is perpetuall permanent immortall and alwayes perseuering in its owne nature must need●… bee so in all respects for nothing can bee truly considered as abstracted from its owne essence and nature for then it ceaseth for to bee the thing it is especially is it bee considered in a Notion which is quite contrary to its nature A thing that is immortall and perpetuall in its owne nature and essence cannot bee considered as a thing that is mortall and momentarie because this consideration destroyes the essence and nature of the thing considered If therefore grace be immortall incorruptible and perpetuall in its owne nature it cannot bee mortall corruptible and transitorie in respect of those that doe inioy it Secondly Grace hath neuer any essence being or subsistence but in man it is no substance but an habit and quality and therefore it hath no being essence or existence in it selfe but as it is conioyned with its subject man Let grace be seuered from man or man from grace then grace must needs perish and cease to be it cannot subsist of it selfe it cannot bee transferred to another subject and therefore it must needs vanish and come to nought If grace therefore hath no being essence subsistence or existence of its owne but only as it is inherent in its proper subject man if it bee immortall perpetuall and alwayes perseuering in its owne nature it must needs bee so likewise as it is in man because it hath no being no essence no nature or existence but as it is in man Wherefore this your answer which would giue grace a being and subsistence of its owne abstracted from its subject man must needs bee false and idle and so the ●…quell of the Major proposition can neuer bee denied If you denie the Minor proposition that true and sanctifying grace is not of a Diuine permanent perpetuall immortall growing and increasing nature I answer that the premises doe sufficiently and vndeniable proue it But you will object First that Grace may decay in part it may decay in the fruites and in the degrees of it therefore it may decay in the whole and so it is not of a Diuine perpetuall and immortall nature To which I answer first That in grace there are these two parts First there are the seedes and habits of grace which are here in question secondly there are the degrees and the fruites of grace which are not controuerted here True it is that the fruites the effects and the degrees the strength and vigor of grace may decay in part and be suspended for a time but the habit and the seed of grace they neuer perish they neuer doe decay they neuer suffer any diminution or abatement the decay the fading and suspention of the fruites and effects of true and sauing grace doth not argue or imply a decay or diminution in the seed and habit of grace No man is so simple as to argue thus the Sunne is oft-times hindered from shining on vs by reason of the interposition of the Earth therefore the Sunne is not alwayes of a shining nature Or the Sun doth not alwayes shine so bright at one time as it doth at others therefore there is some defect decay and imperfection in the Sunne it selfe No man will argue thus the effects the fruites and faculties of the soule doe oft-times decay by reason of sicknesse old age or distemperatures of the minde therefore the soule it selfe doth decay and so is not eternall so neither is this a good argument the fruites the effects and the operation of true and sauing grace doe some-times decay in men and are oft-times suspended therefore the very seeds and habits of grace doe decay and so they are not of a perpetuall and immortall nature Wee all see by common experience that the leaues and fruites of trees of grasse and hearbes doe annually decay and yet the trees themselues and the rootes of grasse and hearbes are alwayes liuing and doe not decay with them So it is with Grace the sense and feeling of it the strength and vigor of it the fruites and effects of it may bee weakned lessened and suspended for a time but yet the seed and habit of grace remaine without any diminution or decay at all Secondly I answer that the remission diminution and suspention of the degrees the operations and the fruites of grace proceed not from any defect or decay in the seed the habite or roote of grace but from some externall cause and impediment which doth hinder and suppresse the operations and th●… fruites of grace For either it proceeds from God himselfe who doth sometimes withdraw and suspend the influence of his holy Spirit into our hearts for a season which should quicken and inliuen these fruites and operations of grace to humble vs and to make vs see our weaknesse without his afsistance or to cause vs for to prise the influence and assistance of his Spirit more then wee did before or to stirre vs vp to seeke him with greater diligence and importunity or to punish vs for some neglect or sinne Or else it proceeds from some defect or impediment in our selues For either wee neglect the meanes of grace in part or in the whole we doe not vse them all or else wee vse them but negligently carelessely and superficially or else wee doe not cherish and stirre vp these sweet and comfortable motions which Gods Spirit doth infuse into our soules or else wee grieue the good Spirit of God and hinder his sweete influence into our hearts by some sinne or other which wee doe commit or else there is some indisposition either of body or minde which doth suppresse and hinder the operations fruites and effects of grace for a season So that these defects ecclipses and suspentions in the operations fruits and effects of grace proceed not from any defect or decay in the habite and seed of Grace it selfe but from some extrinsecall causes and impediments which though they doe suspend and cloude the operations and fruites of Grace for a season yet they neuer extinguish nor yet annihilate and extirpate the seed and habite of Grace which is in men And no sooner are these outward impediments remoued but the habite and seed of Grace become more operatiue more strong and vigorous then euer they were before Wherefore this first obiection makes nothing at ●…ll against this perpetuall immortall and perseuering nature of true and ●…auing Grace But now you will obiect in the second place That true and sauing Grace perpetually requires some spirituall nourishment and sood to feed it and preserue it or else it would decay and perish therefore it is not of a perpetuall permanent and immortall nature To this I answer First that the antecedent is false For

know that wee were once ingrafted truly into Christ and therefore it is impossible for vs to bee broken off from him wee were once inuested into the state of Grace from which wee cannot fall and therefore we are now in Christ wee are in the sure state of grace and shall continue in it all our dayes This would be able to ward off all these fierce assaults of Satan that they should neuer hurt them this would comfort and beare vp their soules and keepe them from sinking in despaire this would make men for to die with ioy and comfort and to lie downe and rest in peace For then they might say with Paul Wee haue finished our course wee haue fought a good fight and wee haue kept the faith henceforth there is laid vp for vs a crowne of glory Whereas now they cannot die with ioy with comfort and assurance and lie downe in peace because they are not sure of their perseuerance they are not sure of their state of grace it may be that they are alreadie fallen from their state of Grace for ought they know if not they may fall from it ere they die yea in the very last gappe and minute of their liues they may commit such sinnes as may cut them off from Christ for euer because they cannot liue for to repent of them before their death and so desp●…iring or at least doubting of their owne saluation the diuell being aptest then for to assault them with desperate and auxious thoughts and feares when as they are neerest to their ends and least able to resist his fierce assaults they lie downe in terrour and rest in woe and griefe Alas what comfort could a godly and a Christian life which otherwise would comfort and reioyce the soule beyond expression bring any man at his death if this were true that hee might after all fall finally or totally from grace if all the workes and holy duties which hee had done or wrought in all his life might vtterly be lost and be remembred of the Lord no more If hee might loose the wages and reward of all his paines at last Certainly if faithfull Christians and holy men who are the only happy men on earth and haue the only cause for to reioyce and ioy continually might either finally or totally fall from grace they should of all men bee most wretched and miserable they should be stripped of all true comforts here and be driuen to despaire at the last day Away then with this Doctrine of a finall or totall fall from grace which sauoureth of nothing but of meere despaire God grant that those who doe maintaine it in their health may neuer feele the smart and terrour of it in their temptations sicknesses or deaths But you may perchance obiect that though regenerate men may fall totally from grace and so may bee discouraged and perplexed for the present yet they may comfort and sustaine their hearts and soules with this that God in his mercy may raise them vp againe and may in some good measure assure their soules that because God hath bestowed grace vpon them heretofore therefore he will be the more ready and willing to restore it to them againe and to impart it to them the second time To this I answere that you are much mistaken in this point and it is nothing so For their hauing of Grace bestowed on them heretofore doth rather argue that God will therefore bestow grace on them no more because they did not keepe it at the first God seldome or neuer giues those grace the second time who haue not kept it at the first Gods graces they are alwayes pretious hee will neuer cast them before such dogges and swine as haue lost and trampled them vnder foote before This is euident by all those places of Scripture which our Antagonists doe principally object against vs. For Ezech. 18. 24. When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquitie and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall bee liue Marke the comfort which you talke of no all the righteousnesse which hee hath done shall bee no more remembred God will not so much as once respect it in his trespasse that hee hath trespassed and in his sinne that hee hath sinned in them shall hee die So Hebr. 6. 4 5 6. It is impossible for them who were once inlightened and haue tasted of the heauenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and haue tasted of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come if they fall once away to renew themselues againe vnto repentance seeing that they crucifie again●… vnto themselues the Sonne of God and put him to open shame Marke the words it is impossible for such as fall totally from grace to be renewed againe vnto repentance they cannot bee ingrafted into Christ the second time Where then is the truth or comfort of your answer So Heb. 10. 26. 27. If w●… sinne wilfully after that wee haue receiued the knowledge of the truth there remaines no more sacrifice for sinnes but a certaine fearefull looking for of iudgement and fiery indignation to deuoure those that doe Apostatize from Grace These and such like Scriptures which are objected against vs for to proue a totall or a finall fall from true and sauing grace serue only to satisfie this objection to terrifie the hearts and daunt the soules of all such men as shall once fall from grace and to exclude them for euer from Gods mercy and from rising vp againe So that the possession and inioyment of grace before if it be once lost serues only for to proue that those which had it shall neuer haue it nor injoy it any more and not that God will therefore bee more ready and willing to bestow it on them againe And so the due consideration of all these Scriptures and this position of a totall or a finall fall from grace would driue men vnto finall desperation You therefore that maintaine this desperate and terrible doctrine of the finall or totall Apostacy of the Saints beware lest that you quench the smoaking flax and breake the bruised reede which Christ himselfe would neuer doe Beware lest you afflict and wound to desperation the tender and the broken heart the troubled conscience and the soft and tender soule which God himselfe commands you for to heale to comfort cherish and binde vp with the comfortable assurance of his immutable constant and perpetuall loue to them in Christ and with the impossibility of a finall or totall fall from grace If the pressing of this doctrine driue any to despaire as it cannot choose but doe vnlesse they are perswaded by Gods Spirit to the contrary their bloud and soules shall be required at your hands that presse it and Christ himselfe who is that good and great Shepheard of his sheepe which wil not suffer any of his sheepe to perish will

nothing impeach the truth of this our assertion The seuenteenth obiection against this present assertion is drawne and collected from Psal. 27. 9. 11. Psal. 51. 11. Psal. 71. 9. and from other places and prayers of this nature and it is but this in substance The regenerate Saints of God doe alwaies pray to God not to hide his face from them not to put them away in his anger not to leaue them nor forsake them not to cast them off at last nor to take away his holy Spirit from them Therefore they may fall from grace or else these prayers would bee but vaine and idle I answer that the argument followes not and the reason which you alledge for to confirme it is but friuilous First because that prayer is a chiefe meanes to preserue the Saints of God from Apostacie and backsliding and to confirme and settle them in the state of grace therefore the vse of prayer cannot imply a falling from grace This is no good argument The Saints of God do vse the meanes to pe●…seuere therefore they may fall from grace because the Saints cannot perseuere in grace but by vsing of the meanes and the vse of the meanes is the cause of perseuerance not of Apostacie this is your argument in effect The Saints of God doe vse prayer to God which is a meanes of perseuerance therefore they may fall from grace What a ridiculous and absurd argument this is let all men judge The perpetuall care of God ouer his Saints his euerlasting loue towards them his continuall presence with them together with the guidance and direction of his Spirit are the chiefest causes why the Saints of God do thus perseuere in grace which though God hath promised vnto them freely and will be sure to make them good vnto them yet hee will haue them for to pray vnto him for the accomplishment and performance of them that so they may bee thankfull to him for them that so they may prise them at an higher rate and ascribe the glory of them vnto him Therefore their prayers vnto God to haue these promises accomplished and made good vnto them cannot imply a finall or a totall fall from grace Secondly The argument followes not nor yet the reason which is alledged because it makes the promises of God vncertaine euen in respect of God himselfe God hath promised not to leaue nor yet forsake his children Deut. 31 5. Iosh. 1. 5. 1 Sam. 12. 22. and Heb. 13. 6. hee hath promised them not to cast them off Iob. 8. 20. Isay. 41. 9. 1 Sam. 12. 22. and Iohn 6. 37. and that his spirit shall abide with them for euer Iohn 14. 16 17. doe their prayers therefore vnto God make these promises of God vncertaine in themselues and doubtfull whether they shall bee performed by that God of truth and faithfulnesse that made them to them God forbid for this would bee nothing else but to make God a lyar and to make him subiect vnto change and ficklenesse in whom there is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning I am 1. 17. I would demand but this question of you who presse this argument whether your praying vnto God for his presence and spirit doe imply that God will not giue them to you If it doth how then can you pray in faith without doubt and wa●…ering beleeuing that you shall receiue the thing you pray for It is impossible for any man to pray in faith if his prayer vnto God did imply an incertaintie in Gods persormance of the thing hee prayes for and so it should bee impossible for any man to haue any fruite or benefit by his prayers because they are not made in faith So that if this were true your prayers must needes be faithlesse and fruitlesse and all these gratious and comfortable promises of God concerning the hearing and answering of your prayers would bee of no effect or truth If it doth not implie thus much that God will not grant the things you pray for how then will this your Argument follow or stand good If the prayers of the Saints to God not to cast them off not to forsake them or depriue them of his presence or his Spirit doe not implie that God will ca●…t them off forsake them and withdraw his Spirit from them then you can collect nothing at all against me from these prayers no not so much as a possibilitie of falling from the state of grace Wherefore if you will but recollect your senses and weigh but this your Argument in an vpright ballance you cannot but acknowledge and confesse it to be ridiculous false and idle and nothing to the present purpose The eighteenth objection that may bee made against me is collected from these words of Paul Gal. 5. 4. Christ is become of none effect vnto you who euer of you are iustified by the law ye are fallen from grace The Saints of God may fall from grace in seeking to be justified by the law therefore they may fall away from grace I answer that the Antecedent is not warranted by this place which you alledge for the scope of this place and of this whole Epistle is nothing else but to disswade the Galathians from seeking iustification and righteousnesse by the Law and to seeke justification only by faith in Christ. So that this place alleaged is nothing else but a dehortation and no more in sense then this Those that seeke to be justified by the law shall haue no benefit by the death of Christ and therefore beware how you seeke to be justified by the law What is this to our purpose Surely nothing at all Yea but you will say that the Galathians fell from grace Well I grant it But from what grace was this surely the grace of God offered vnto them in the Gospell or the grace of the Gospell which is not here in question but not the true and sauing graces of Gods Spirit they fell from the doctrine of grace in cleauing to the law not from the Spirit and habit of grace by cleauing vnto sinne The greater part not all the Galathians fell from the Gospell to the law but that the true regenerate Saints of God which were among them did so to that they fell away from the state of Grace this place is not sufficient for to proue it though you racke and wrest it to the vtmost The nineteenth obiection may be drawn from that prayer of Agur. Pro. 30. 8. 9. Giue me neither pouerty nor riches feed me with food conuenient for mee left I be full and denie thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poore and steale and take the name of God in vaine Plentie or pouertie may make a regenerate man to fall from grace as appeares by this prayer of Agur. therefore regenerate men may fall from grace I answer first that plenty or pouertie may cause regenerate men to fall from grace if God should leaue them to themselues

for that was not in danger to be lost for any former sinnes The holy spirit of God therefore continuing still in Dauid it is certaine that he did not fall totally from the state of Grace by these sinnes of his Fourthly if Dauid had fallen quite away from the state of grace he could not haue repented so soone as now he did For no sooner had Nathan told him thou art the man but presently Dauid he doth confesse his sinne to God I haue sinned saith he against the Lord and presently vpon this confession of his God returnes him this answer by Nathan the Lord also hath put away thy sinne thou shalt not die whence he records it of himselfe Psal. 32. 5. I acknowledge my sinne vnto the Lord and my iniquitie haue I not hid I said I will confesse my transgression to the Lord and thou gorgauest the iniquitie of my sinne Certainly if Dauid had beene dead in sinnes and trespasses if he had had no life of grace within him he had not beene so soone awaked and reuiued as now he was he could not haue penned such a passionate and true poenitentiall Psalme as this I will not stand to argue that Dauid was borne of the immortall seed of grace and therefore he could not sinne vnto death because the seed of grace remained in him and because he was borne of God or that he could not fall from grace because the Lord sustained and vpheld him with his hand the former reasons are sufficient for to doe it Now that Dauid did not fall totally from grace nor yet lose the Spirit of God by this his fall we haue the testimonies of Irenaeus lib. 4 adu Haereses cap 45. Of Origen hom 4. in Psal. 36. of Basil Scholia in Psa. 50. alias 51. Of Chrisostome Hom. 44. in 1 Cor. 16. Of Augustine de Doctr Christ lib. 3. cap. 21. and Comment in Psal. 50. alias 51. Of Anselme Com in Hebr. 6. Of Bernard de Natura dignitate amoris diuini cap. 6. Of Luther in Psal. 51. vers 11. 12. Of Caluin in Psa. 51. vers 11. 12. Of Bucer in Psal. 1. and in Rom. 8. Of Marlorat Exposit in Psal. 51. 11 12 13. and in 1 Iohn 39. Of Musculus in Psal. 51 O●… Tyndall in his Treatise of the manner of Election Of Abbot Benefield Scharpius Prideaux Zanchius Beza Bastingius and all other moderne Protestant and Orthodox writers Tertullian Cyprian and the other ancient Fathers they onely make mention of Dauids sinne and repentance but speake not that he fell from grace and therefore there is no great question but that Dauid continued still in his estate of grace notwithstanding that he fell into these sinnes As for that which is objected by our Antagonists that Dauid prayes to God to create in him a cleane heart therefore his heart was wholly polluted before and he was fallen quite from grace I answer that this word create though in its proper acception it signifies to make a thing out of nothing yet here it signifies no more then to renew as the most and best expositers on this Psalme agree which is euident by the words which are coupled and conjoyned with it for saith the Psalmist create in mee a cleane heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within mee now if Dauid had not intended meerely a renouation but a new creation of his heart and graces he would haue vsed onely these words create in me a new heart omitting these subsequent words and renew a right spirit within mee for else there were a contradiction in them For creation is to make a thing out of nothing renouation is to repaire and renew a thing that was in being before and therefore Dauid joyning them both together his meaning is no more but this Lord repaire the breaches of my heart and soule and renew those graces of thy Spirit in me which my sinnes haue blurred and d●…aced take then these words in their naturall and proper sense and then they make for me not against me Secondly I answer that Dauid was here deeply affected with his sinnes and hee beheld a great deale of filth of sinne of flesh and corruption in his heart and therefore out of a godly zeale and feruencie and a detestation of his sinne he prayes to God to giue him a new heart and to create in him such an heart as might be cleane and free from all corruption and this hee doth not because there was no synceritie and grace in his heart before for then it is certaine that hee could not haue prayed thus to God but because he did desire to haue his heart better then it was before So that these words of Dauid being but a prayer they doe not necessarily implie that Dauid had no grace in him before I would aske our Antagonists but this question Whether this prayer of Dauid be not the daily prayer of euery true regenerate man Doe not those who are in the state of grace pray earnestly to God To create in them a new heart and to renew a right spirit within them to make them new men and new creatures and will you then conclude that because these true regenerate Saints of God doe vse this prayer that therefore they are not in the state of grace If you should doe so you would but make your selues ridiculous and therefore if you cannot conclude that those Saints of God which vse this prayer as well as Dauid are not in the state of grace because they vse it neither can you conclude that Dauid was not in the state of grace because he vsed it You know it is the vsuall custome of the Saints of God to humble and debase themselues in the sense and feeling of their owne corruptions Iacob he confesseth that the dayes of his pilgrimage were but few and euill Holy Iob the most just and vpright man vpon the earth he confesseth himselfe to be vile and therefore he abhors himselfe and repents in dust and ashes the holy Prophet Isaiah he cries out Woe is me for I am vndone because I am a man of vncleane lips Peter he falls at Iesus feet saying depart from me for I am a sinfull man O Lord and holy Paul records it of himselfe Wee know that the law is spirituall but I am carnall sold vnder sinne for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing and therefore he cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death I thinke now that no man will bee so vncharitable or absurd as to say that Iaacob Iob Isaiah Peter and Paul had no grace at all within them that they were in the state of death and damnation because they vse these words of themselues And againe I suppose that no man will be so ridiculous as to affirme that euery one which doth vse the Lords prayer is not in the state of grace and