A09466:313
A treatise tending unto a declaration whether a man be in the estate of…A treatise tending vnto a declaration whether a man be in the estate of…
A treatise tending unto 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 may discern it, and persevere in the same to the end. The points that are handled are set down in the page following.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.
London: printed by R. Robinson for T. Gubbin, 1590
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Timoth. Every member of Christs congregation is a sinner and sinneth daily some more, & some less, for it is written, 1. Joh. 1. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us. And Paul, Rom. 7. That good which I would, that do I not; but that evil which I would not, that do I. So it is not I that do it (saith he) but sin that dwelleth in me. So the Christian man is both a sinner and no sinner, which how it can be show it me by your experience.
Timoth. Euerie member of Christs congregation is a sinner and sinneth daily some more, & some lesse, for it is written, 1. Ioh. 1. If we saie we haue no sin we deceiue our selues, and the truth is not in vs. And Paule, Rom. 7. That good which I would, that do I not; but that euill which I would not, that doe I. So it is not I that doe it (saith hee) but sinne that dwelleth in mee. So the Christian man is both a sinner and no sinner, which how it can be shew it me by your experience.
Euseb. I being one man in substance and two men in quality, flesh and spirit, which in me so fight perpetually the one against the other, that I must go either backward or forward, and cannot stand long in one state. If the spirit overcome in tentations, then is she stronger and the flesh weaker. But if the flesh get a custom, then is the spirit none otherwise oppressed of the flesh then as though she had a mountain on her back, and as we sometime in our dreams think we bear heavier then a millstone on our breasts: or when we dream now and then that we would run away for fear of some thing, our legs seem heavier then lead: Even so is the spirit oppressed and overladen of the flesh through custom, that she struggleth and striveth to get up and to break loose in vain, until the God of mercy which heareth my groan through Jesus Christ come and lose her with his power, and put something on the back of the flesh to keep her down to minish her strength and to mortify her. So then no sinner I am if you regard the spirit, the profession of my heart toward the law of God, my repentance and sorrow that I have both because I have sinned and am