N20568:7461
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being…
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
LETTER XXII. From Mr. BRADFORD, describing a Comparison between the OLD MAN and the NEW, &c.
A Man that is regenerate and born of God, (which that every one of us be, our baptism, the sacrament of regeneration, doth require under pain of damnation, and therefore let every one of us say with the virgin Mary, "Be it unto me, O Lord, according to thy word," according to the sacrament of baptism, wherein thou hast declared our adoption; and let us lament the doubting hereof in us, striving against it as we shall be made able by the Lord (a man, I say, that is regenerate, consisteth of two men, (as one may say) namely of the old man and of the new man. The old man is like to a mighty giant, such a one as was Goliath, for his birth is now perfect. But the new man is like to a little child, such a one as was David, for his birth is not perfect until the day of the general resurrection.
A Man that is regenerate and born of God, (which that every one of us be, our baptism, the sacrament of regeneration, doth require under pain of damnation, and therefore let every one of us say with the virgin Mary, "Be it unto me, O Lord, according to thy word," according to the sacrament of baptism, wherein thou hast declared our adoption; and let us lament the doubting hereof in us, striving against it as we shall be made able by the Lord (a man, I say, that is regenerate, consisteth of two men, (as one may say) namely of the old man and of the new man. The old man is like to a mighty giant, such a one as was Goliah, for his birth is now perfect. But the new man is like to a little child, such a one as was David, for his birth is not perfect until the day of the general resurrection.
THE old man therefore is more strong, lusty, and stirring than the new man, because the birth of the new man is now begun, and the old man is perfectly born. And as the old man is more active, lusty, and strong, than the new man; so is the nature of him clean contrary to the nature of the new man, as being earthly and corrupted with the seed of Satan; the nature of the new man being heavenly, and blessed with the celestial seed of God. So that inasmuch as the old man is corrupt with the seed of the serpent, so is the new man blessed with the seed of God from above. And as the old man is a sinner, and an enemy to God, so, inasmuch as he is regenerate, he is righteous and holy, and a friend to God, the seed of God preserving him from sin, so that he cannot sin, as the seed of the serpent, wherewith he is corrupt even from his conception, inclineth him, yea enforceth him to sin, and nothing else but to sin: so that the best part in man before regeneration, in God's sight, is not only […] enemy, but even enmity itself.