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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09466	A treatise tending vnto a declaration whether a man be in the estate of damnation or in the estate of grace and if he be in the first, how he may in time come out of it: if in the second, how he maie discerne it, and perseuere in the same to the end. The points that are handled are set downe in the page following.	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.	1590 (1590)	STC 19752; ESTC S114483	131,535	301

his flesh hee is haled and pulled on to doe wickednesse Paule saith of himselfe that hee was solde vnder sinne that is hee was like a slaue who desireth to escape out of his Maisters handes and yet is faine in great miserie to serue him Thirdly after hee hath sinned hee is sore displeased with himselfe for it and truelie repenteth As Peter before the denying of his Maister had no purpose to doe it but rather to die in his cause In the act hee had a striuing with himselfe as appeareth by this that first hee answered faintly I knowe not what thou saist and yet after when the assault of Sathan more preuailed he fell to swearing cursing and banning After his fall he repented himselfe and wept bitterly for it All was contrarie in Iudas who went to betra●e his maister with full intent and purpose for the diuell long tempting him vnto it entred into him that is made him yeelde and resolue himselfe to doe it Afterward when Christ was betraied and condemned Iudas was not sorrowfull for his sinne with a godly sorrow but in dispaire of mercie hanged himselfe XLVI Fruites worthy of amendment of life are such fruites as the trees of righteousnes beare namely good workes for the doing of a good worke there be three things requisite First it must proceede from iustifying faith For the worke cannot please God except the person please him and the person cannot please him without this faith Secondly it is to bee done in obedience vnto Gods reuealed word to obeie is better then sacrifice and to hearken is better then the fatte of Rams Thirdly it is to be referred to Gods glorie Whether ye eate or drinke saith Paule or whatsoeuer ye doe doe all to the glorie of God The speciall workes of Christians which they and none but they truly performe are these fiue which follow XLVII The first is the good hearing of the worde my sheepe saith Christ heare my voice and followe me And againe he which is of God heareth his voice And this was one note of the faithfull in the primatiue Church to assemble to heare the worde This good hearing of the worde is the sauing hearing that bringeth life eternall In this action Christians are vsually thus disposed Before they come to heare the worde of God they make themselues readie to heare it as the men of Berea did who receaued the worde with all readines This preparation standeth in two points First they disburden themselues of all impedimentes that like vnto runners in a race they may be swift to heare these impedimentes are sinne and troubled affections and they come with humble heartes as fooles that they may become wise Secondly they quicken vp themselues and come vnto the assemblies hungring and thirsting after the worde of God as men doe after meate and drinke When they are in hearing Gods worde their minds are fixed and attentiue onely to that which is spoken as Lydias was Thirdly they truly beleue the word of God carefully applie it to their owne souls Fourthly they feel the liuely power of it in thēselues It is as salt in them to drawe out their inward corruption it is to them the sworde of the spirite and as a sacrifising knife in the hande of Gods Minister by which their flesh is killed and they are offered vp in a liuing sacrifice to God it is spirite and life to quicken and reuiue their soules that are dead in sin And the reason of this is plaine The word of God preached is as a cuppe of wine the true Christian is the Lords guest but he hath sauce of his owne He bringeth his suger with him namely his true faith which he tempereth and mingleth with Gods worde and so it becommeth vnto him as a cuppe of sweete wine and as water of life Nowe the hypocrite because hee bringeth no faith with him drinketh of the same but thinketh the wine to bee sowre and tarte and voyde of relishe and in truth it is vnto him as a cuppe of ranke poyson Againe they heare the worde of God as in Gods presence and therefore their hearts are full of feare and trembling And they receiue the worde not as from man but as from Christ Iesus the onely Doctor of the Church And they regarde not so much the Embassadour or his abilitie as the Embassage of reconciliation sent from the king of Heauen After they haue hearde the worde they are bettered in knowledge and in affection and they remember it and meditate vpon it continuallie that they may frame all their doinges by it Worldlie men vse to buie bookes of statutes and to haue them in their houses to reade on that they may knowe howe to auoide daunger of lawe And so the faithfull doe alwaies sette before them Gods worde and in all their dooinges it is their Counseller lest they shoulde come into daunger of Gods displeasure XLVIII The second worke is the receauing of the Sacraments of Baptisme once onely when a man is admitted into the Church and of the Lords Supper often The first sealeth vp to the heart of a Christian that he is vnited vnto Christ and hath true fellowshippe with him in being fullie iustified before God and inwardly sanctified The second serueth to seale vp in the heart of a Christian the continuall growing and increasing of the same graces This thing euerie true beleeuer shall haue often experience of either in or after the receauing of the Sacrament and yet it shall not bee so alwaies for sometimes the Church being brought into Christes wine-celler shall fall into a sounde and not feele any refreshing there Yet the beleeuer is not to bee dismaied if he feele not alwaies comfort presentlie after the Sacrament A sicke man feeles no comfort or nourishment when hee eateth meate and yet it preserueth his life So the weake Christian though hee feele himselfe not nourishe at the Sacrament by Christes bodie and bloud yet hee shall see in time that his soule shall be preserued thereby vnto euerlasting life Furthermore when a Christian feeleth no comforte by the Sacrament let him then humble himselfe before the Lorde more heartily then euer before confessing his sinnes and praying for increase of grace and then hee shall feele the fruite of the Sacrament XLIX The third worke is a relieuing of the poore bretheren in Christ proceeding of a brotherly kindenesse towardes them This is a speciall woorke not to bee done to all men alike as saint Paule saith Doe good to all men but especiallie to them of the housholde of faith Directions for this matter are the faithfull of Hierusalem who were all in one place and had all thinges common namely in vse And they solde their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as euerie one had neede Also the bretheren at Corinth in their extreame pouertie relieued the

God is honoured and in my heart I doe the same that you doe with the like delectatiō feruency of spirit Now he that receiueth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet receiueth a Prophets reward that is he that consenteth to the deede of a Prophet and maintaineth it the same hath the same spirite and earnest of euerlasting life which the Prophet hath and is elect as th● Prophet is Nowe if wee compare worke to work there is a difference betwixt washin● of dishes and preaching the word of God but as touching to please God none at all For neither that nor this pleaseth God bu● as farre foorth as God hath chosen a man and hath put his spirite in him and purified his heart by faith trust in Christ. As the Scriptures call him carnall which is not renued by the spirit borne again in Christs flesh al his works like euen the verie motions of his heart and mind as his learning doctrine and contemplation of hie things his preaching teaching and studie in the Scripture building of Churches founding of Colledges giuing of almes and whatsoeuer he doth though they seeme spirituall after the law of God neuer so much So contrariwise he is spirituall which is renued in Christ and all his workes which spring from faith seeme they neuer so grosse as the washing of the disciples feete done by our Sauiour Christ and Peters fishing after the resurrection yea deedes of matrimonie are pure spirituall if they proceede of faith and whatsoeuer is done within the laws of God though it be wrought by the bodie as the verie wiping of shooes and such like howsoeuer grosse they appeare outwardlie yet are sanctified Timoth. What be the speciall thinges in which you lead your conuersation Euseb. One thing is the reading of the Scripture Timoth. It is dangerous to read the scriptures you that haue no learning may easilie fall into errors and heresies Euseb. As he which knoweth his letters perfectlie and can spell cannot but read if he be diligent and as hee which hath cleare eies without impediment or let and walketh thereto in the light open daie cannot but see if he attend and take hede euen so I hauing the profession of my Baptisme onelie written in my heart and feeling it sealed vp in my conscience by the holie Ghost cannot but vnderstād the Scripture because I exercise my selfe therein compare one place with another and marke the manner of speech and aske here and there the meaning of a sentence of them that be better exercised then I. for I feele in my hart and haue a sensible experience of that inwardlie which the spirite of God hath deliuered in the Scriptures So that I find mine own feeling as a good cōmentarie vnto me Timoth. We are all baptized belike the● we shall all vnderstand the Scriptures Euseb. But alas verie few there be that are taught feele their ingrafting into Christ their iustification their inwarde dying vnto sin liuing vnto righteousnes which is the meaning of their Baptisme And therefore we remaine all blinde generallie as well the great Rabbins which brag of their learning as the poore vnlearned laie man And the Scripture is become so darke vnto thē that they grope for the dore can find no waie in it is become a maze vnto thē in which they wāder as in a mist or as we saie led by Robin goodfellow And their darkenes can not comprehend the light of the Scriptures but they read them as mē do tales of Robin hood as riddles or as olde priests read their Ladies mattins which they vnderstand not And vntil a mā be taught his baptisme that his heart feele the sweetnes of it the Scriptures are shut vp frō him so dark that he could not vnderstād it though Peter Paul or Christ himself did expound it vnto him no more then a man starke blinde can see though thou set a candle before him or shew him the Sun or point with thy finger vnto that thou wouldest haue him looke vpon As for heresie there is no danger if a man come to the Scripture with a meeke spirit seeking there to fashion himselfe like vnto Christ according to the profession and vowe of his Baptisme but contrariwise hee shall there finde the mightie power of GOD to alter and chaunge him in the inner man by litle and litle til in processe he be full shapen after the image of our Sauiour in knowledge and loue of all truth power to worke thereafter Heresies spring not of Scripture no more then darkenes of the Sunne but are darke cloudes which spring out of the blind hearts of hypocrites giuen to pride and singularitie and doe couer the face of the Scripture and blind their eies that they cannot beholde the bright beames of the Scripture Timoth. By this I also can gather that the Papists which cannot reade the Scriptures except they fall into errours haue not the spirite of Christ working in them and teaching them but the lying spirite of Antichrist the Diuel and that if God woulde giue them anie true feeling and open their eies they would quite change their minds But what other exercises haue you Euseb. Praier and thankesgiuing to God For God hath promised verie bountifullie vnto them which praie in truth and it is one of the greatest comforts I haue at all times Again God which commandeth me not to steale commandeth me also to pray and his will is that one commandement should be as well kept as an other and therfore I am perswaded that condemnation will befall me as well for the one as for the other And that praier ought to be continuallie euen in euerie thing a man doth me thinketh it most agreeable to Gods will For if I shoulde come into my neighbours house and take his goods and vse them not borrowing them or asking anie leaue they would laie handes on mee and make mee a thiefe The world and all the thinges in the world are the Lords not mine so then if I shall dailie vse them neuer seeking to the Lorde by praier for the vse of them before God I am an vsurper nay a ranke thief and therfore I desire of God heartily that I may vse all his good creatures with feare and reuerence and that I may sanctifie his name in thē which Paule sheweth me to be done by the worde of God and praier the worde showing me the lawful vse of his creatures praier obtaining at Gods hands that I may vse them aright If this practise were vsed of men in their professions and callings I am perswaded there would be a thousand vices ●ut off which are in euerie mā most aboun●ant and are committed without shame Timoth. I thinke the rest of your Christi●n exercises bee the practising of the commandements of the lawe Euseb. Yea they are indeed Timoth. Me thinkes it is an hard point of the law for a man to loue his enemie Euseb. It is