Epifkofs. Paul toTitra. CHAP.3. S and ifthepower had been proper andnaturall,or infeparably tyed to it, it would haue healed the fecond and third thathad flepped in as well as the firfi. So we faywhen the fpirit ofGodmooneth thefewaters ofbap- tifine, there foiloweth a cure , without which if a man were euery day baptized, it would be vnuaileable to regeneration and fan&fication. Thus not to follow the refl,and waft time in them,we may fee that when men willingly blind themfelues, it is iuf}withGod to giue them vp to all delufions,that in feeing they might not fee,nor vnderfland. Yfe. a. As to magnifie and reuerence thefe fanElified waters , as the outward means in the right vfe ofwhich,the fpirit worketh and exhibi- teth that which they reprefent : foalto to beware lean wanting this in- ward work ofthe fpirir, which giueth all efficacie and comfortable fruit ofbaptifine,it become not a barren and anaked figneahe rather,in that the Lord himfelfe obferued this corruption amonghis own people,that they flood toomuch vpon outward inilitutions,as the Tempie,the law, circumcifion ,the fathers, &c. and therefore in many places charged them ,nottotruftinfuch lying words ,but to get the foreskinne of their hearts circumcifed,as wel as the foreskinne of their flefli;andnot to refi in the title ofa Iewe, which was to be but one outwardly, and in the letter,nor that they were defcended ofAbrahamaccording to the flefh, except they were Iewes within, and defcended of Abraham according to the faith alfo,fo as bydoing hiaworkes they might refemble him. So when we fee Chrillians (land fo mach vpon outward baptifine, and are well contented without the inward vertue of it : whenwe fee them glo- ry in the bare title, without the power ofChrifltanity; it is our part to i- mitate theLord and his Prophets,and call our people toget thecircum eition not triodewith hands ,but by the finger and-fpirit of God: which is more then to wafh the fouleneffe of the body; for it is toput off the fin- full body, euen the wicked corruptionof the heart : for fo it is expoun- ded tobe the tefemblance of Chrifl in his death and burial] firfi, & then in the life ofgrace and glory, towhich he role againe. Boat}not then ofthy baptifme, without this change ofthy heart and life, for then thou boas}ef} of a broken vowe: call it notehy Chrif}endome, vnleffe by it thou been fet into Chrifi, & tranfplanted by it into the fimilitude ofhis death : thou art no better before God, then an heathen or Turke, not.. withfiandingthy bodie bath been wathed in this lauer, if thy heart Rill remaine foule and filthy : and as goodheuer a whit as neuer the better. And this I fpeakeofgood ground,and in the language ofScripture,Doe we not fee the Iewes charged as not circunicifed, although theyhad the skinne oftheir ficlh cut ?- Ifai.24. 57.3. and Steven goeth not,as we fay', behind the dome. to call them jitfenecked and ncircumcrfed: fo why may 653 Labour to kale the proper worke of Eap. tiffe in thee. Ter 7.5. Celol3h.t. If. Ad.7.st.
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