A02178:4535
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.
4 Howsoever some think but meanly of God his promise, yet nothing is more worthy1 our consideration and thankfulness. That that is, 1. Sam. 18 18. in the speech of David, whe• one told him, that Saul was disposed to give him one of his daughters in marriage, may here be noted, for what, saith he, seemeth it small to you to be a Kings son: what am I? or what is my life? or the family of my father in Israel, that I should be the son in law unto a King? So may we say, what are we? or what is our life, or the family of our father, that the Lord should vouchsafe to make such promises unto us? David made no light account of his promise. To set David in our case, and Saul in the Lords, Davids case was far better than ours. For by reason of his victories he had deserved well of the country, and therefore worthy to be considered of Saul: again, though he should have had Michol to wife, he was not for this to be heir of the crown, and yet he saith seemeth ⟨p. 755⟩it to you a small thing? Then I say, if we could come to make the comparison between Saul and God, who is the Saul of Sauls, and prince of Princes, in whose respect all the Princes of the world are but wash pots, and Cyrus is nothing to him, he unto whom the Angels are subjects and servants, and to whom heaven and earth stoop down, what analogy would there be betwixt him and Saul? On the other side, that we may stand in stead of David, if the Spirit of God would show us our unworthiness in a thing far above the promise of David, we would say, or we should say, what are we? what is our fathers house? that the Lord should have respect to us? were not our fathers Amorites, drowned in superstitious idolatry, carried away with the love of the world, sold unto sin, and men full of ignorance? what was in our fathers house? for ourselves what are we? have we not been deriders of the word of God, or hearers of the Lord speak to us, with far less reverence than we hear a mortal men? what is there in us? I think not of the worst, but he that can best express his mind and meaning, cannot express our unworthiness. My stammering speech cannot utter i•, we must conceive more of it, & know that there is nothing in us, or in our fathers house, that the Lord should vouchsafe us such mercy.