A02178:2176
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,…
The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham, minister and preacher of the Word of God collected into one volume: revised, corrected, and published, for the further building of all such as love the truth, and desire to know the power of godliness. By H.H.The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham, minister and preacher of the Word of God collected into one volume: reuised, corrected, and published, for the further building of all such as loue the truth, and desire to know the power of godlinesse. By H.H.
London: printed by Thomas Snodham and Thomas Creede for William Welby, 1612London: printed by Thomas Snodham and Thomas Creede for VVilliam VVelby, 1612
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
No marvel then (seeing by this means we being confounded and ashamed of our selves, & staying our selves on the only promises of God, do come to confess our own nakedness and wretchedness) if the Prophet should say, that the Lord is pleased, with his sacrifice as with the sacrifice of sacrifices. The Prophet Isaiah 40. 6. 7. 8. saith. All flesh is grass, and the beauty thereof as a flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the 1flower falleth, when the breath of the Lord falleth upon it. Where the Prophet painting out man in his proper colours, and driving him to seek out salvation not in himself, but in Christ, describeth the outward part of man to be as grass: and by the flower of grass, he showeth his gifts of mind being unregenerate, as wisdom, memory, knowledge, and understanding. So that, when Gods spirit doth but breath on us, all our wisdom, all our knowledge, ⟨p. 283⟩riches, and authority fall before the presence of the Lord of hosts, neither can we remain, but only by the word of God, whereby we are borne again. Wherefore the considering and meditating of our transitory estate, driveth us to a contrition and humbleness of spirit. Besides, the Lord God, saith Isaiah, whom the heavens cannot contain, nor the earth hold,2 will come and dwell with a lowly, poor, and troubled spirit, and which standeth in awe of his word▪ God doth not accept our sacrifices, which are offered without trembling at his word, no more than if we should kill a man, and choke a dog, or offer swines flesh, which was counted an abominable thing among the Jews, or praise the thing that is unright. Lastly, to this accordeth the Gospel, and the Apostles. Our Saviour Christ, Matth. 9▪ 13. saith, I 3came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; not every sinner, but that sinner which condemneth sin in himself, and is weary and laden with his sins. Matth. 11. 28.