A94157:344
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.
So I might speak of other Ordinances of God; for there is a constant trade driven between the Convert and heaven, which is carried on by several commodities; and if this commerce were broken off, he could not subsist: He findeth the means of grace as needful to keep grace and soul together, as meat to keep life and soul together: his heart, though fired with this spiritual life, is like green wood which will burn no longer then its blown with the bellows of Ordinances.
Reader, How dost thou find thine appetite unto the bread and water of life? dost thou hunger after the Word, Prayer, Sacraments, Communion of Saints, and the Lords day? canst thou feed on them with delight? dost thou rise from Table with an appetite, longing to sit down again? Canst thou lay as the Psalmist, I watch, and am as the Sparrow upon the house top? Psal. 102.7. Observe, the Sparrow upon the top of an house looketh on this side and that side of the house, it looketh this way and that way, and round about if he can spy any corn, and food; and when it can see any, it flieth to that place, and pecks it up; so, dost thou watch for, and resort to the Ordinances of God which are the food of thy soul? what sayest thou? It may be thou art for high language, oratorical expressions; such Sermons only are pleasing to thee; the dish must be set out with many flowers, on which thou lookest more then at the meat. Believe it, as there is no greater sign of a foul stomach then to loath solid meat, and to pick salads, or feed on ashes; so there is hardlier a greater sign of an unsanctified heart, then to loath the solid food of the word, and to pick the flowers of mans wisdom in a Sermon, or to feed on the world.
Reader, How dost thou find thine appetite unto the bread and water of life? dost thou hunger after the Word, Prayer, Sacraments, Commonion of Saints, and the Lords day? canst thou feed on them with delight? dost thou rise from Table with an appetite, longing to sit down again? Canst thou lay as the Psalmist, I watch, and am as the Sparrow upon the house top? Psal. 102.7