Gods husbandry

Hearken therefore, Use 2 all ye servants of God,¹ whom he hath pleased to purge and cleanse, and whiten, whose corruptions he hath much abated and subdued: hearken you, I say, and accept of that portion of comfort which the Lord doth allot you. Do you ⟨p. 125⟩not find in your selves that self-same operation of God, which our Saviour here doth appropriate to living branches? why then, collect a joyful assurance to your selves, that you are indeed true members of Christ, seeing that the Lord hath pleased to make you known for such, by doing that for you, which he doth perform for all true Christians, and only for them.

HEarken therefore, Vse 2 all ye seruants of God,¹ whom hee hath pleased to purge and cleanse, and whiten, whose corruptions hee hath much abated and subdued: hearken you, I say, and accept of that portion of comfort which the Lord doth allot you. Doe you ⟨p. 125⟩not finde in your selues that selfe-same operation of God, which our Sauiour heere doth appropriate to liuing branches? why then, collect a ioyfull assurance to your selues, that you are indeed true members of Christ, seeing that the Lord hath pleased to make you knowne for such, by doing that for you, which hee doth performe for all true Christians, and onely for them.

1. 1Comfort to them that find pruning.Comfort to them that finde pruning.

I confess that there is a kind of cleansing,¹ which is not from Gods sanctifying Spirit, such as hath bin found even in Heathen men, without the Church, and without Christ. This is such a leaving of some one or other outward gross sin as ariseth from age or misery, or other like natural causes: the heart, in the general disposition, still remaining the same; for a mans own rod may so beat him, as the common Proverb speaketh, that he may be forced from those evil practices which once he followed: as the unthrifty man, after he hath wasted his estate almost to the bottom, and perceiveth penury coming against him, may so far return to himself, as to cease to be riotous; and the thieves that hath been frighted once or twice with the narrow escape of hanging, may cease to give himself over to thievery; and the man whose age and bodily decay doth not serve the turn to perform his unchaste pleasures, may cease to follow harlots; and so in other like particulars. This departing from a few outward acts of evil, the heart remaining still empoisoned with the wonted inward disorders, or other as