A94157:152
The door of salvation opened by the key of regeneration
The door of salvation opened by the key of regeneration: or A treatise containing the nature, necessity, marks and means of regeneration; as also the duty of the regenerate. / By George Swinnocke, M.A. and pastor of Rickmersworth in Hertfordshire.
London: printed by John Best for Tho. Parkhurst, 1661
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.
Secondly, If without Regeneration it be impossible to attain Salvation, it informeth us of the insufficiency of several things to speak a mans right to felicity. For this is a certain truth, That whatsoever cometh short of this new birth, or whatsoever may happen to, or be in a man unregenerate, that is a false evidence for our title to the undefiled inheritance, because Regeneration is absolutely necessary.
SEcondly, If without Regeneration it be impossible to attain Salvation, it informeth us of the insufficiency of several things to speak a mans right to felicity. For this is a certain truth, That whatsoever cometh short of this new birth, or whatsoever may happen to, or be in a man unregenerate, that is a false evidence for our title to the undefiled inheritance, because Regeneration is absolutely necessary.
Now there are nine or ten sandy foundations which many build their hopes upon, all which come short of Regeneration (though most of them are good things, for I speak not against them, but against resting in them as infallible signs of sincerity) and therefore when the storm of death cometh they will fail, and then the house of their hopes will fall to the ground.
Now there are nine or ten sandy foundations which many build their hopes upon, all which come short of Regeneration (though most of them are good things, for I speak not against them, but against resting in them as infallible signs of sincerity) and therefore when the storm of death commeth they will fail, and then the house of their hopes will fall to the ground.
First, Civil practices are but a slender evidence of thy right to the holy place: Civility is commendable, but without Sanctity it is not sufficient: A mere civil and sanctified man differ, as much as a lifeless picture, and a living person. Thou mayst make a fair show in the flesh, and be wholly a stranger to this life after the spirit: Paul was one of the strictest of the Pharisees, concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless, even then when he was out of zeal persecuting the Church, and in an unregenerate estate,