The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…

for oftentimes evil motions do so possess the souls of Gods children sinking down so deeply in them, that though they weep, pray, and meditate (which be the last means & remedies to ease and cure them) though they feel them with irksomeness and loathsomeness, as we feel sickness in our bodies: yet those motions will be continually in them without diminishing, the delight only excepted. Wherefore for our¹ comfort herein, we are not to martyr our selves with disquietness of mind, because we are so pestered and thronged with wicked motions and assaults, but rather let us quiet our selves, and not suffer our selves to be hindered with sickness either of body or mind: by means whereof we should become more unprofitable to our selves & the whole Church of God. For the godly shall not be so freed from sin, but that they shall be assaulted with evil motions, suspicions, delusions, vain fantasies and imaginations; the body of sin shall never be from us so long as we live. For the scum thereof is almost continually boiling² and walloping in us, foaming out such filthy froth & stinking savour into our minds, that it is not only detestable to the mind regenerate and renewed by the spirit of God, but also it would make abashed the very natural man, to look into so loathsome a sty of sin, and sinkhole of iniquity. Yea it maketh us often to quail, and if it were possible, it would corrupt the very part regenerate. For mighty is the power, and raging is the strength of sin: Neither for all this must we cease to sorrow for our sins, nor despair on the other side, although our sorrow be but small. For if we be sorrowful for the hardness of our hearts, if we can be grieved for that we are no more grieved for our sins, if we can but sigh & groan because we feel our iniquities; it is so much a greater comfort unto us, as it is a greater testimony that our hearts are not altogether hardened: so that if we feel sorrow indeed, although we weep not, yet we may gather comfort, considering that this sorrow is for sin with a love and hunger after righteousness: yea if our assaults be distrust, pride, arrogance, ambition, envy, concupiscence, as hot as the fire in the furnace all our days, and though Satan layeth out oil in great measure and out of measure, that it is the wonderful mercy of the Lord that we stand;

for oftentimes euil motions do so possesse the soules of Gods children sincking downe so deeply in them, that though they weepe, pray, and meditate (which be the last meanes & remedies to ease and cure them) though they feele them with irkesomenesse and loathsomenesse, as we feele sicknesse in our bodies: yet those motions will be continually in them without diminishing, the delight onely excepted. Wherefore for our