Mijtakgs about Converfion. mother ofdeftruttion, Ho{. 4· 6. for the mother of ~ devotion : they that know mans conJl:itution, and the nature ofth~.reafonable fouls operation~cannot but know,thattlle underfian<;ling having the Empire in the foul, he that will go rationa+ly t9 work,muft labour to let in the light here. Ignorantis non eft con– f~nfut. And therefore that you may not miftake me, I £hall fhew you what I meanby the converfi .. 011 Iperfwadeyou to endeavour after. It is fioried, that when Jupiter let down thego!.. it en Chaplets fromHeaven,all of them but one were fto1en : Whereupon (left they fbould lofe a re– Iique of fo great efteem) they made five other:; kJ like. it, that ifany were fo wickedly minded, as to fteal that alfo, they .ibould not be able to difcern whichwas it. And truely my beloved the Devil hath made many counterfeits of this Converfion ; &Qd cheat3 one with this,and another with th:;tt; and ft~ch acraft andartifice he hath, in this myfi:ery of deceits 3 (that if.it-were poffible) hewo~uld . deceive the very EleCt. Now that I may cure the damnable mittakes of fome, who think they are converted when t hey are not, as well as remove the troubles, and fears of others, that think they are not con· verted when they are ; I £hall iliew ·you the nature Qfconverfion, both t)egatively, or wha~ it is not; -and pofiti~ely what it is. . We will beginwith the N~gative. I I. It u not the t aki ng_ fiJn tt-s theProfeffion of,Cbrijliani· ty. Doubtlefs Ch:riftianity is more than aname. If we w'ill hear P-nut, it lie-s-notihword, but in power'., I .Cor. 4· 2.0! . iftoceafe to be ]ltws and Pagans, and to· put on the Chrifiian Proteffion had bijen true Converfion, (as this is all, that fame \Vould have to be underftood by it}\vho better Chriftians than they of Sardi' and Lttodicea ? Thefewere all Chrifii– ans byprofeffion, andhadanatne to live, but be- - caufc
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=