A Golden Chain, Dedication 8 – Conclusion 1
TO THE RIHGT HONOVrable and vertuous Ladie, the Ladie Margaret, Countesse of Cumberland, Grace and peace.
RIght Honourable, the kingdome of heauen, of which the Scripture speaketh so oft, is properly a certaine state or cōdition, wherby we stand in the fauour and louelove of God, in and by Christ. And this kingdome is compared to a graine of Musterd-seede, to teach vsus that a man is euen at that instant alreadie entered into the kingdome of heauen, when the Lord, that good husband-man, hath cast but some little portion of faith or repentance into the ground of the heart: yea though it be but as one graine of musterd-seed. Of this little graine I hauehave penned this little treatise, in quantitie answerable thereto: and now I present the same to your La…ship, not to supplie your want (for I hope you are stored with more graines of this kinde) but to performe some dutie on my part. Hoping therefore that your Ladiship will read and accept the same, I take my leaue, commending you to the blessing and protection of the Almightie.
Your H. to command, William Perkins.
A Graine of Musterd-seede: or, the least measure of grace that is, or can be effectuall to saluation.
IT is a very necessarie point to be knowne, what is the least measure of grace that can befall the true child of God, lesser thē which, there is no grace effectuall to saluation. For first of all, the right vnderstanding of this, is the very foundation of true comfort vntounto all troubled and touched consciences. Secondly, it is a notable meanes to stirre vp thankfulnes in them that hauehave any grace at all; when they shall in examination of themselues consider, that they hauehave receiued of God the least measure of grace, or more. Thirdly it will be an inducement, and a …purre to many carelesse and vnrepentant persons, to imbrace the Gospel, and to beginne repentance for their sinnes; when they shall perceiue, and that by the word of God, that God accepts the very seeds, and rudiments of faith and repentance at the first, though they be but in measure as a graine of musterd-seede. Now then for the opening and clearing of this point, I will set downe sixe seuerall conclusions, in such order as one shall confirme and explaine the other, and one depend vponupon the other.
I. Conclusion.
A man that doth but begin to be conuerted, is euen at that instant the very child of God: though inwardly he be more carnall then spirituall.
The Exposition.
IN a man there must be considered three things, the substance of the bodie and soule, whereof a man is said to consist, the faculties placed in the soule and exercised in the bodie, as vnderstanding, will, affections: the integritie and puritie of the faculties, wherby they are conformable to the will of God, and beare his Image. And since the fall of Adam, man is not depriued of his substance or of the powers and faculties of his soule, but onelyonly of the third, which is the puritie of nature, and therefore the conuersion of a sinner, whereof the conclusion speaketh, is not the change of the substance of man, or the faculties of the soule: but a renewing and restoring of that puritie and holinesse which was lost by mans fall, with the abolishment of that naturall corruption that is in all the powers of the soule. This is the worke of God, and of God alone, and that on this manner. First of all, when it pleaseth God to worke a chaunge in any, he doth it not first in one part, then in an other, as hee that repaires a decaied house by peece-meale: but the worke, both for the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment, is the whole man, and eueryevery part at once, specially in the minde and conscience, will and affection: as on the contrary, when Adam lost the image of God, he lost it in eueryevery part. Secondly, the conuersion of a sinner is not wrought all at one instant, but in continuance of time, and that by certaine measures and degrees. And a man is in the first degree of his conuersiō, when the holy ghost by the means of the word, inspires him with some spirituall motions, and begins to regenerate and renewe the inward powers of the soule. And he may in this case very fitly be cōpared to the night in the first dawning of the day, in which though the darknesse remaine and be more in quantitie then the light, yet the Sunne hath alreadie cast some beames of light into the aire, whereupon we tearme it the breaking of the daie. Nowe then, the very point which I touch, is, that a man at this instant and in this very state (God as yet hauing but laid certaine beginnings of true conuersion in his heart) is the very child of God, and that not onelyonly in the eternall purpose of God (as all the elect are) but indeede by actuall adoption: and this is plaine by a manifest reason. There bee foure speciall workes of grace in eueryevery childe of God, his vnion with Christ, his adoption, iustification, and conuersion, and these foure are wrought all at one instant, so as for order of time, neither goes before nor after other: and yet in regard of order of nature, vnion with Christ, Iustification, and adoption, goe before the inward conuersion of a sinner, it beeing the fruite and effect of thē all, VponUpon this it followeth necessarily, that a sinner in the very first act of his conuersion, is iustified, adopted, and incorporated into the … ca… body of Christ. In the parable of the prodigall sonne, the father with ioy receiues his wicked child, but when… surely when he sawe him comming a farre off, and when as yet he had made no confession or humiliation to his father, but onelyonly had conceiued with himselfe a purpose to returne and to say, Father I hauehave sinned against heauen and against thee, &c. And Paul saieth of many of the Corinthians, that he could not speake vntounto them as spirituall men, but as carnall, euen babes in Christ. 1. Cor. 3.1.