Ambrose - Houston-Packer Collection BX5200 .A49 1674

4 (d) Not d:ar we can w:.it b; a po r.·cr d our own, but he that lairh, TIJ:refDre -rr_ill rh~ Lord ll!tHt, tbar he may be you may walk in new wayes, talk with new tongues, ~s being new creatures, created . unto good works. Thus would you (d) wart on God mhis way, I trull: the Lord in mercy would remember you, and his Spirit wouldblow upon you, and then you would finde and feel fuch a change within you, as that you would blelfc God fur ever, that you were thus born again: Otherwife, how wo!ul are you, confidering this barre in heavens door, to keep out the unregenerate, Except] l:.xcepe '"'Mn be born againc, he cannotfee the Kingdome ofGod. io1cious to yw, Ira. 30. 18 he tlrawc~, and gives a power to wair on him, atllt he comes in, when waited, in the! fi.ucH time. he hath Doer. I, Rev.2r. 27- ]ercm. Ioi 5· Luke 1. 15. * ,!lJ!i11Pectm patre> rrtpJjllft BeU,Jrmimbo Tt~mo flcuudo Hb. 2 de ej}cllu Sacra11unro– rum. cap. 3 Jloafc, Erc!ef· .Pjlit.li&. s. {efi.S9· A1uin 5· p.m. qu;jl,68.a· r.2. Thus far of the Exception; we now come to the Perfo"; that is in a nift prim in the front, Except: This is the party that mull: profeeute the caufe, a mtm, .A man.] AND this man] is every man, and every part of man: It implies all men, for all arc bound to it; and all man, for all the parts of his body, and all the powers of his foul are to be renewed, or he cannot be faved: The word then is general, whether we refpet't gmera fmgulwum, the kinds, all men; or jinuula ge– nemm, the Individuums ; all man, or all the parts of man, body and foul. \'\le will firft begin with the kinds: All men (er aft 1mmk.!"d) mnft be rezenerated before they be fa'!Jed; not one of all the fons of .Adam that fhall ever go to heaven, except he be born agam: may your contemplations (guided by Gods Word) go in– to that Paradice above, there walk the ll:reets, behold the towers, view the fub– je,'\s, from the one tnd of heavm to anotht:'f, and whom find you there? Not one that lives and dies in fin ; there is not in it, nor fhall enter mto it any thing that de– jiieeh, neither whatfoC1Jer work..ftb abomination, or m.•kfth a lie, Rev. 21. 27. yet if fuch repent them of their fins, the gares Jha/1 no: be jlmt againfl tbem; all the Saints tjlat now walk__ in the light of it, were finners; but lirll: they were purged by the Lamb, and fant'tificd by the Spirit; firll: they were regenerated, and fo they were faved. You may objeCl:, If a\l .mcn that go to heaven mull: be new bom, what fhall become of infants that die ere they be born? Can a man enter the fccond time into Ins mothers Womb, and be born.? (faid lvicodenms.) But can a man enter into the feco~d birth in his mothers Womb, (fay you) and he bmt again, before he is once born. I anfwer [To be bom again] fuppofeth to be once born indeed; therefore ac. carding to the letter, our Saviour fpeaketh of aman already born into the world, that .he mull: be bom again. But if we feck out the fence [To be born again] (as our Saviour interprets) is to be born of Water and of the Spirit; and fo may Infants not born into the \Vorld, be born again, Thus we read of Jerem)'> The word •f ehe Letter came unto him, Jaying, Before I formed thee in the Belly, 1 i{?mv thee, and before thoit cameft forth out of the Womb, I fancrified thee, Jcr. I. 5. And thus we read of John the Baptill:, the Angel of the Lord faying of him, that He Jhould be jilicd with the Holy Ghofl, C1Jen from hi; mothers Womb, Luke I. 1 5. By thefe ex– amples we fee wh~t the Lord can do; yea, what he cloth indeed, although we know not how, nor can it be obferved by us. You may yet objeCl:, [to be born again] is (faith our Saviour) [to be born of Wa-' ter and of the Spirit:) now water is the outward Baptifine,& the Spirit is the inward grace (thus* all Ancients have conll:rued this text, faith Hookfr) but children not born (howfoever they arc fanctificd by the Spirit) they cannot be baptized with water, and therefore they cannot foe the Kmgdom of God. I anfwer: In cafes of extremity, or impoffibility, if actual Baptifrne' be wan– ting, voc~l is enough, and thus far fame of our adverfaries grant us; Thor:gh it be wanting in deed (faith Aquinas) yet Baptifme in deftre i; fufficient to Salvation: And to this end he cites Auf/in, faying SanCfiJiration may be without Bqti[m, and Baptifm without Sanctification; if SanCfication be;,though Baptijl11be nor,it availJ to Salvation; b~tt if Baptifm be, a11d SanUific(<tim be not, it awzils nothing at all, Our conclulion is this, Ail men

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