A09466:316
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.
But God awoke him out of his •reame, and set his sins before his face: ⟨p. 154⟩for when the lot had caught Jonah, then be sure that his sin came to remembrance again, & that his conscience raged no less than the waters of the sea. And then he thought he only was a sinner, and thought also that as verily as he had fled from God, as verily God had cast him away: for the sight of the rod maketh the natural child not only to see and acknowledge his fault, but also to forget all his fathers old mercy and goodness. And then he confessed his sin openly, and of very desperation to have lived any longer he had cast himself into the Sea betimes except they would be lost also, for all this God provided a fish to swallow Jonah. When Jonah had been in the fishes belly a space, the rage of his conscience was somewhat quieted, and he came to himself again, and had received a little hope: and the qualms and pangs of desperation which went over his heart were half overcome, then he prayed to God, and gave thanks unto him. When Jonah was cast upon the land again then his will was free, and he had power to go whether God sent him, and to what God commanded him, his own imagination laid apart: for he had ben at a new school & in a ⟨p. 155⟩furnace where he was purged of much refuse & dross of fleshly wisdom which resisted the wisdom of God. For as far as we be blind in Adam we cannot but seek and will our own profit, pleasure & glory: & as far as we be taught in the spirit, we cannot but seek and will the pleasure of God only. Then Jonah preached to Nineveh, and they repented: then Jonah showed again his corrupt nature for all his trying in the Whales belly. He was so displeased because the Ninevites perished not, he was weary of his life & wished death for very sorrow, that he had lost the glory of his prophesying in that his prophecy came not to pass, but he was rebuked of God, as in his prophecy you may read. The apostles Christ taught them ever to be meek & to humble themselves: yet oft they strived among themselves who should be greatest: the sons of Zebedee would sit one on the right hand of Christ, the other on the left. They would pray that fire might descend from heaven & consume the Samaritans. When Christ asked, who say men that I am? Peter answered Thou art the son of the living God, as though Peter had been as perfect as an Angel.