Eptffleofs. PodtoTitus. CxAp.34. iuttified ; our reliques of(inne by the fpiric of God, are daily mortified, 6z9 and foour felues ingood meafure fan&ified : it muff needes be granted 0lia eft depofi- do peceati,qui that our faluation is in our hands,and that finne,death,hel, and thegraue doraturex par- csnnot hindervs from the highcf} degreeof it : nay rather we mull cer- ái;a mortá;ta tainely expe&death, the graue, and the judgement day to let vs in full cis qui (yen. fruitionofour perfeet glorie. cur. Z'fe. r. Whofoeuer would be faued hereafter, muff be faued here: Nonefaucd a Saint hereafter, a Saint here : the gate of heauen is here belowe, and herea@crwho the fuburbsofchat great citie into which the iufl doe enter'. Chrjft is arc hére n,ot faued the doore , by him we muff enter into the paradife ofGod. Laie hold onhimwithhis merits by the beleefeofthy foule, thou haft gotten fal- uation alreadie ; and in not beleeuing in him, thou arc condemned al- readie. Fearefull is the ettace of men , that neuer acquaint themlelues with faluation before the endof their dayes; and then theywill bee o ther men, and dreame of another condition. But Saints in heauen.,muft be the fame men theyare vpon earth , and change not their condition, but onely in obtaining a further degree of grace, glorie, holineffe, life, and happineffe , which they had beginnings of euen in this life; they purchafed heauen while theywere vpon earth,treafut'ed inheauen while they wandred in the earth , conuerfed in heauen while they liued vpon the face of theearth. Alas, how fewe areacquainted with fuck a life as this, which is thebeginningof all happincfe and faluation ? Wee call men to forfake the world in affeétion,as the Saints in heauen haue eau- ally done; to file the corruptions that are in the world through lull, as theyhaue put off all corruptions and finnefull tufts : tohaue no fellow- fhip with the vngodly ones of the world, no more then they whole foie conuerfe is with God andhis Saints. But howeknocke we (as they fay) at ¿cafemens domes : themot} haue no portion , no trea{ure but below, and therefore their heartsmufl be belowe where their treafure is. As for the auoidingof finne, whereby as the ele& of God, they might thine invnblameable and vndefiled conuerfati6, and fo reprooue the darkeneffeof thiscull! world ; they fay they cannot be Saints here where all men are (inners, and becaufe they cannot be fo, their lufts are let loofe, and are at all manner of Iibertie.As for the focietie of the un- godly, they mutt goe out of the world if they would auoide it : it is e- nough if in heauen after the final' feparation, they haue nothing to doe with them; but while they are in earth mixed with them, they fettle themfelues to runne with them into all riot and excelleof wickedneffe. Is thisnow a beginning of the kingdome of heauen? or is it not rather a courfe that tendeth to nothing elfe but deftru&ion ? And as we call men fromearth, earthly cooties , and companie ; fo alto we call them R r a unto
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=