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fore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. 'And this

We were all miserable persons, sinful persons, damnable persons, justly driven out of Paradise, justly excluded from heaven, justly condemned to hell-fire: and yet, see a wonderful token of God's love, he gave us his only-begotten Son-us, I say, that were his extreme and deadly enemies. Hom. xxv. 2.

Before the coming of Christ into the world, all men universally were nothing else but a wicked and crooked generationrotten and corrupt trees-stony ground full of brambles and briers-lost sheep-prodigal sons-naughty and unprofitable servants-unrighteous stewards-workers of iniquity-the brood of adders-blind guides-sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death to be short, nothing else but children of perdition, and inheritors of hell-fire. To this doth St. Paul bear witness in divers places of his Epistles, and Christ also himself in sundry places of his Gospel. But after he was once come down from heaven, and had taken our frail nature upon him, he made all them that would receive him truly, and believe his word, good trees, and good ground-fruitful and pleasant brancheschildren of light-citizens of heaven-sheep of his fold-members of his body-heirs of his kingdom-his true friends and brethren-sweet and lively bread-the elect and chosen people of God. Hom. xxiv. 1.

f And there is no health in us.

Confession.

We do daily and hourly, by our wickedness and stubborn disobedience, horribly fall away from God. Hom. xxxii. 1.

We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep; we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts; we have offended against thy holy laws; we have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. Confession.

Have mercy upon us, miserable sinners. Confession.

We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed.

Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Rom. viii. 13. That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Rom. iii. 19. By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Rom. v. 18. The wages of sin is death. Rom. vi. 20. To be carnallyminded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,

Com. Service.

Rom. viii. 6. He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. Gal. vi. 8. If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. John viii. 24.

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.

infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated, whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greek, 'phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God. And although

We are letted by the natural corruption of our own flesh, and the wicked affections of the same. Hom. xxxii. 1. See also Article XV. e, f.

O Lord, raise up, we pray thee, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us, through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord; to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, world without end. Amen. Coll. for the fourth Sunday in Advent.

h But what booteth it now to bewail? Sin is come, and so come that it cannot be avoided. "There is no man living, no, not

But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Rom. vi. 18, 22, 23. The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom. viii. 7, 8. I find a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Rom. viii. 21, 23. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Rom. vii. 25. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 1 Pet. iv. 2. There is not a just man upon earth, who doeth good and sinneth not. Eccles. vii. 20. For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again. Prov. xxiv. 16. Who can say, I have made my e art clean, am pure from my

sin. Prov. xx. 9. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not inus. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John i. 8, 10. We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Isa. Ixiv. 6. In many things we offend all. James iii. 2.

8 To be carnally minded (φρόνημα Tus ragxos) is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind (φρόνημα της

agxos) is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Rom. viii. 6, 7. Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto for thou savourest not (ov govts) the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Matt. xvi. 22, 23.

me:

h Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath

H

there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin.

the justest man on the earth, but he falleth seven times a day," as Solomon saith. (Prov. xxiv. 16.) And our Saviour Christ, although he hath delivered us from sin, yet not so that we shall be free from committing sin; but so that it shall not be imputed to our condemnation. Hom. xxv. 2.

i Q. Dost thou say that unadvised and sudden desires, and short thoughts that come upon the very godly, are sins, although they strive against such, rather than yield to them? A. Surely it is plain that all corrupt thoughts, although our consent be not added to them, do proceed of our corrupt nature. And it is no doubt that sudden desires that tempt the hearts of men, although they prevail not so far as to win a stedfast assent of mind and allowance, are in this commandment (the seventh) condemned by God as sins. Nowell, p. 26.

everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John v. 24. He that believeth on him is not condemned. John iii. 18. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Mark xv. 16. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. v. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. viii. 1. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Gal. iii. 21.

i I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Rom. vii. 7. Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery

with her already in his heart. Matt. v. 28. The thought of foolishness is sin. Prov. xxiv. 9. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Ps. xciv. 11. I hate vain thoughts. Ps. cxix. 113. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Isa. liv. 7. O Jerusalem, wash thyself from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee! Jer. iv. 14. The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom God abhorreth. Ps. x. 3. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. Prov. xiv. 14. Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. x. 5.

X. Of Free-Will.

THE condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare him

* Adam took upon him to eat thereof, and in so doing he died the death; that is to say, he became mortal, he lost the favour of God, he was cast out of Paradise, he was no longer a citizen of heaven, but a fire-brand of hell, and a bond-slave to the devil. So that now neither he, nor any of his, had any right or interest at all in the kingdom of heaven; but were become plain reprobates and castaways, being perpetually damned to the everlasting pains of hell-fire. Hom. xxv. 2.

As transgressors of God's commandment, they and their posterity are brought to a perpetual shame and confusion. Hom. xvii. 1.

In this so great misery and wretchedness, if mankind could have recovered himself again, and obtained forgiveness at God's hands, then had his case been somewhat tolerable; because he might have attempted some way how to deliver himself from eternal death. But there was no way left unto him; he could do nothing that might pacify God's wrath; he was altogether unprofitable in that behalf. Hom. xxv. 2.

Man's nature hath been so corrupted and destroyed with this active mischief, that if the goodness and mercy of Almighty God had not with applying a remedy holpen and relieved us in affliction, like as we fell in our wealth into all calamities, and in our bodies into all miseries of diseases, and of death, so should we of necessity fall headlong into darkness and everlasting night, and into fire unquenchable, there, with all kind of punishment, to be perpetually tormented.-Oh deadly and horrible plague and calamity by sin! Nowell, p. 40.

b We are tied and bound with the chain of our sins. Occas, Prayers.

O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, &c. Fourth Sunday after Easter.

The image of God in man is, since the fall of Adam, by original sin and by evil custom, so darkened, and natural judgment so corrupted, that natural man doth not sufficiently understand what difference is between honest and dishonest, right and wrong. Nowell, p. 29.

b A deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Isa. xliv. 20. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help. Hosea xiii. 9. When we were yet with

out strengh, Christ died for the ungodly. Rom. v. 6. God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Acts iii. 26. As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth

self, by his own natural strength and good

For in ourselves (as of ourselves) we find nothing, whereby we may be delivered from this miserable captivity, into the which we were cast, through the envy of the devil, by breaking God's commandment in our first parent Adam. We are all "become unclean:" Ps. xiv. 3. but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves, nor make one another of us clean. We are by nature "the children of God's wrath :" Eph. ii. 3. but we are not able to make ourselves the children and inheritors of God's glory. We are " sheep that run astray :" 1 Pet. ii. 25. but we cannot of our own power come again to the sheepfold, so great is our imperfection and weakness. Hom. ii. 2.

We must beware and take heed, that we do in no wise think in our hearts, imagine or believe, that we are able to repent aright, or to turn effectually unto the Lord by our own might and strength. For this must be verified in all men, "Without me ye can do nothing." (John xv. 5.) Again, " Of ourselves we are not able as much as to think a good thought." (2 Cor. iii. 5.) And in another place, "It is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed. (Phil. iii. 13.) And therefore that holy writer and ancient father Ambrose doth plainly affirm, " that the turning of the heart unto God is of God," as the Lord himself doth testify by his prophet, saying, " And I will give thee an heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart." Hom. xxxii. 1.

Create and make in us new and contrite hearts. Coll. for Ash-Wednesday.

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, &c. Com. Service. O God, make clean our hearts within us; and take not thy Holy Spirit from us. Morn. Prayer.

O Lord, from whom all good things do come; grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same. Fifth Sunday after Easter.

them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. John v. 21. And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him. Col. ii. 13. Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. Acts xvi. 14. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. Acts v. 31. They glorified God, saying, Then hath God also

to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Acts xi. 18. The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. Prov. xvi. 1. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Ps. lxxxv. 4. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned I repented. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for thou art my praise. Jer. xvii. 14.

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