A godly and learned exposition or commentary upon the three first chapters of the…A godly and learned exposition or commentarie vpon the three first chapters of the…

That Christ might fully make known unto them their ignorance of themselves, it pleaseth him to describe to them their natural estate, & so proportionally the natural condition of all Churches, & of all people: which is the state of mans misery. This he propoundeth two ways: first generally in these words, and knowest not how thou art wretched and miserable: then by the parts thereof, which be three, Poverty, Blindness, and Nakedness.

That Christ might fully make knowne vnto them their ignorance of thēselues, it pleaseth him to desrcibe to thē their naturall estate, & so proportionally the naturall condition of all Churches, & of all people: which is the state of mans miserie. This he propoundeth two waies: first generally in these wordes, and knowest not how thou art wretched and miserable: then by the parts thereof, which be three, Pouertie, Blindnesse, and Nakednesse.

For the first. The word translated Wretched, signifieth one subject to calamities, griefs, and in a word, to all miseries. And that we may know who is thus wretched, I will enter into a description of mans misery; whereof that we may conceive aright, two things are to be considered: First the root and fountain thereof; for therein we shall best see what misery meaneth. This root is original sin, and it hath two branches: First, that particular transgression whereby Adam sinned, which was not only the sin of his person, but also of the whole nature of man, spreading it self to all his posterity, Christ excepted. Secondly, the defacing of Gods Image, and the corrupting of mans heart, which by reason of the fall of our first parents hath in it a proneness unto all sin both in will, affection, and in all the faculties of the soul. In these two stands original sin, and in them, and with them must we conceive of mans misery, as in the root thereof. Secondly, we must conceive of mans misery under the form of punishment, having relation to the first sin of Adam, & to the corruption of each mans nature thereby received. The punishment of sin, must be considered sundry ways, according to the divers kind of mans being: either in this world, or after. For it is either in this life; or at the end of this life; or after this life. And so accordingly is misery to be considered.