A brief declaration of the chief points of Christian religion set forth in a…A briefe declaration of the chiefe points of Christian religion set forth in a…

For first, when it pleaseth him to disclose that secret which he had purposed from before all beginning 14, at such time as men least look ¹for it 15 (as men are blinded and yet think they see most clear 16, when as in very deed death & damnation hangeth over their head 17) he ⟨p. 27⟩cometh suddenly, & setteth before their eyes the great danger wherein they are; and that they might be touched more sharply and lively, he addeth to the witness of their own conscience, being as it were asleep, and dead, the preaching of his law 18, and ²the examples of his judgments, to strike them with the horror of their sins: not that they should remain in that fear, but rather, that be holding the great danger thereof, should fly to that only Mediator Jesus Christ 19: in whom after the sharp preaching of the law, he setteth forth the sweet grace of the Gospel, but yet with this condition, ³that they believe in him 20, who only can deliver them from condemnation 21, ⟨p. 28⟩and give them right and title to the heavenly inheritance 22: Yet all these things were but vain if he should only set before mens eyes these secrets, by the external preaching of his word written, & published in the Church of God, which notwithstanding is the ordinary means whereby Jesus Christ is communicated unto us 23: therefore, as touching his elect 24, unto the external preaching of his word, he joineth the inward working of his holy Spirit, ⁴the which doth not restore (as the Papists imagine) the remnants or residue of free will (for what power soever of free will remaineth in us, ⁵serveth to no other use, but willingly to sin 25, to flee from God 26, to hate him ⟨p. 29⟩27, and so not to hear him 28, nor to believe in him 29, neither yet to acknowledge his gifts 30, no not so much as to think a good thought 31: and finally to be children of wrath and malediction) but contrariwise changeth their hard harts of stone, into soft harts of flesh 32, draweth them 33, teacheth them 34, lighteneth their eyes 35, and openeth their sense 36, their heart, their ears, and understanding: first to make them to know (as we have said before) their own misery: and next, to plant in them the gift of faith, whereby they may perform that condition, which is joined to the preaching of the Gospel. And that standeth in two points: