A09466:327
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. What means do you find most effectual to strengthen your faith, to increase Gods graces in you, and to raise you up again when you are fallen?
Timoth. What means do you finde most effectuall to strengthē your faith, to increase Gods graces in you, and to raise you vp againe when you are fallen?
Euseb. Surely I have very great comfort by the sacrament of the Lords Supper: for whereas I am spiritually diseased, and am prone and ready to fall, and am most cruelly oftentimes invaded of the fiend, the flesh, and the law, when I have sinned: and am put to flight, and made to run away from God my father: therefore hath God of all mercy and of his infinite pity & bottomless compassion set up his sacrament as a sign upon a hie hill, whence it may be seen on every side far and near to call again them that be run away. And ⟨p. 167⟩with this sacrament he (as it were) clocketh to them, as a hen doth for her chickens, to gather them under the wings of his mercy▪ and hath commanded his sacrament to be had in continual use, to put us in mind of his continual mercy laid up for us in Christs blood, and to witness and testify it unto them, and to be the seal thereof. For the sacrament doth much more lively print the faith, and make it sink down into the hart then do bare words only. Now when the words of the testament and promises are spoken over the bread (this is my body that was broken for you: this is my blood that was shed for you) they confirm the faith; but much more when the sacrament is seen with the eyes, and the bread broken, the wine poured out and looked on: and yet more when I taste it and smell it, As you see when a man maketh a promise unto another with light words between themselves & so they departed, he to whom the promise is made beginneth to doubt whether the other spake earnestly or mocked, & doubteth whether he will remember his promise, to abide by it or no. But when any man speaketh with advisement, the words are more credible: & if he swear, it confirmeth the thing ⟨p. 168⟩