A94157:261
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.
Quintus Aurelius, in the days of Sulla, had a fair Grange, which lay convenient for some great person, which caused him to be put in among them that were to be put to death; but as soon as he saw his name among those that were in the list, he cried out my Land at Alba hath killed me.
Quintus Aurelius, in the dayes of Sylla, had a fair Grange, which lay convenient for some great person, which caused him to be put in among them that were to be put to death; but as soon as he saw his name among those that were in the list, he cried out my Land at Alba hath kild me.
Some mens Lands have cost them their lives, and been the knife to cut the throat of their bodies; but many a mans gold hath lost him his God, and been the knife to cut the throat of his soul. Rich men like pampered horses are the more unruly, leaping over the hedges of divine precepts, the hardlier kept within their bounds because full fed; the young mans silver lost him his precious soul; He went away from Christ sorrowful, because he had great possessions; (Had the man been poor for a few days, he might have been rich for ever; but alas his wealth here through the wickedness of his heart caused his everlasting want) whereupon Christ tells us; How ⟨p. 124⟩hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! I say unto you that it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of an Needle, then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven, Mat. 19.23, 24. Heaven is a stately Palace with a narrow portal, through which this Camel with his thick bunch of clay can hardly get. It is observed amongst Anglers, that Pickerels are not easily, nor often caught. A man may catch an hundred Minnows before he take one Pickerel, and the reason is, he preyeth at pleasure on the lesser fish, and therefore seldom hath any stomach to bite at the bait; so it faireth with rich men, their stomachs are so cloyed with the things of this world, that they have no appetite to the dainties of the word, when the poor are Gospelized. They contentedly take that for their portion, which God intended only for their pension, and make their wealth their throne to sit down upon with delight, which God designed for their footstool, and the faithful laid at the Apostles feet.