428 ThefecondBooke ofDimínitie, CH AP .8. ofour being in Chriíl, and the meanes of thofe two no- tableGraces that wee haue from him , Iuflification and Sanctification ; as Generation is the meanesof that cor- ruption that from our flefhly Parents commeth downe uponvs : fo our Sauiour taketh it in the d place before named, propounding this as the fumme ofChriflianitie, Vnlcic a Haan be 6orne again, hecannot fee theKingdome ofGod. And this Regeneration is indeed a great and a wonderful! workeofGod, a Miracle ofall Miracles,and the onely Miracle which now adayes he worketh ordì- navily in the Church, rayfing men from death to life: (amore excellent life then we loft in Adam) whereupon it is calledA gwickening, Ephef. 2.5. To proceed then to the opening of the former defi- nition: our fyatuuall Firíl, The worke of Regeneration is altogether hea- uenly and fpirituall,as in Generation all things are flefh- ly and carnali ; whereupon it is called , The SeedofGod, 1.1ohn 3.9.This deceiued that great Do for Nicoderntu, that when our Saviour taught him,rrnleffea man beborne againe, he cannotfee theKingdorne ofGod ; he anfwered, r Iòisx34e Bowe can this bee? Can a man that to old , enter into his Mothers wornbe, and bce borne agxine ? Not vnderflan- ding that all things here are fpirituall.The begetter not a man, as our Parents according to the flefh , are; but fig'', 3.6. the Spirit ofGod himfelfe : That f which is borne of the g loin t.r3. Spirit , is Spirit , g which are not borne of' blood , nor of thewill of'man, nor ofthe will of theflelh, but of GOD. 14x.e®r.xt,13. k By one Spirit wee are all baptized into one Bodte, &c. ñ r.lobn3.9. The feed wherewith wee arc begotten , is the ifeedof God , not corruptible , but immortali; the worke it felfe : For that which is borne oftheSpirit, is Spirit, Iohn 3.6,And thus doth theApofile,r.Cor.a5.4ç. compare our laeauenly and fpirituall condition that wee haue byChrifl, oppefing it to that wee had in A- dam, who, thoughhe were made_perfedly holy, yet was made
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=