The second tome of homilies of such matters as were promised, and entitled in…The second tome of homilees of such matters as were promised, and intituled in…

Behold, the law bringeth a curse with it, and maketh us guilty, not because it is of it self naught or unholy (God forbid we should so think) but because the frailty of our sinful flesh is such, that we can never fulfil it, according to the perfection that the Lord requireth. Could Adam then (think you) hope or trust to be saved by the law? No, he could not. But the more he looked on the law, the more he saw his own damnation set before his eyes, as it were in a most clear glass. So that now of him self he was most wretched and miserable, destitute of all hope, & never able to pacify Gods heavy displeasure, nor yet to escape the terrible judgement of God, whereinto he and all his posterity were fallen, by disobeying the straight commandment of the Lord their God. But O the abundant riches of Gods ¹great mercy. O the unspeakable goodness of his ⟨p. 371⟩heavenly wisdom. When all hope of righteousness was past on our part, when we had nothing in our selves, whereby we might quench his burning wrath, & work the salvation of our own souls, and rise out of the miserable estate wherein we lay: Then, even then did Christ the Son of God, by the appointment of his father, come down from heaven, to be wounded for our sakes, to be reputed with the wicked, to be condemned unto death, to take upon him the reward of our sins, and to give his body to be broken on the cross for our offences. He (saith the prophet Isaiah, ²meaning Christ) hath borne our infirmities, & hath carried our sorrows, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, & by his stripes are we made whole. Saint Paul like wise saith: God made ³him a sacrifice for our sins, which knew not sin, that we should be made the righteousness of God by him. And saint Peter most agreeably writing in this behalf, saith: Christ hath once died & suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, &c. To these might be added an infinite number of other places to the same effect: but these few shall be sufficient for this time. Now then (as it was said at the beginning) let us ponder & weigh the cause of his death, that thereby we may be the more moved to glorify him in our whole life. Which if you will have comprehended briefly in one word, it was nothing else in our part, but only the transgression and sin of mankind.