A73023:55
M. Perkins, his Exhortation to repentance, out of Zephaniah preached in 2. sermons in…
M. Perkins, his Exhortation to repentance, out of Zephaniah preached in 2. sermons in Stourbridge Fair. Together with two treatises of the duties and dignity of the ministry: delivered publicly in the University of Cambridge. With a preface prefixed touching the publishing of all such works of his as are to be expected: with a catalogue of all the particulars [sic] of them, diligently perused and published, by a preacher of the word.M. Perkins, his Exhortation to repentance, out of Zephaniah preached in 2. sermons in Sturbridge Faire. Together with two treatises of the duties and dignitie of the ministrie: deliuered publiquely in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge. With a preface præfixed touching the publishing of all such workes of his as are to be expected: with a catalogue of all the perticulers [sic] of them, diligently perused and published, by a preacher of the word.
London: printed by T. Creede for William Welby, 1605
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.
And yet for our better help in this duty, and that there may be nothing wanting to that soul, that seeketh God, therefore we are further to know, that if we will search our selves by the law profitably, we must mark three rules, the truth whereof unless we know, acknowledge, and feel: we ⟨p. 24⟩shall never see our own estate, nor profit by this Search, but plod on from sin to sin, until we plunge into hell.
And yet for our better helpe in this dutie, and that there may bee nothing wanting to that soule, that seeketh God, therfore we are further to know, that if we will search our selues by the law profitably, wee must marke three rules, the truth whereof vnlesse wee know, acknowledge, and feele: wee ⟨p. 24⟩shall neuer see our owne estate, nor profite by this Search, but plodde on from finne to sinne, vntill wee plunge into hell.
The first Rule is, that every man that came from Adam, sinned in the sin of Adam: Thou must therefore know, that his sin in eating the forbidden fruit, was thy sin: and thou sinnedst therein, as well as he (though thou wast then unborn) and that thou art guilty of it before God, and must answer for it to Gods justice, unless Christ do it for thee. The reason hereof is, because we are his seed & posterity, we were then in his loins, he was the father of us all: and was not a private man as we are now, but a public person, the pledge of all mankind, and bare the person of us all at that time: therefore what he did then, he did it for himself, & for us: what covenant God made with him, was made for himself and us: what God promised him, and he to God, he promised for himself, & for us: what he received ⟨p. 25⟩in his Creation, he received for himself, and for us: and what he gained or lost by his fall, he gained and lost for us, as for himself. He lost the favour of God, and original purity: therefore he lost it for all his posterity: guiltiness, and Gods anger, and corruption of nature which he gained, he got for us all, as well as for himself. If we doubt of this point, it is proved by the Apostle: where the holy Ghost saith; Sin entered by one man, and death by sin: and that sin went over all, and that it went over