A73023:56
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.
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 1all them, which sinned not in the like transgression with Adam (that is, even our children) who as they are borne, are borne not only tainted with original corruption: but guilty also of Adams sin. This is a most certain truth, though it seem strange, for few men think of it, that ever they shall answer for Adams sin: and therefore if any object, what reason is there that I answer for another mans sin? I answer, true, if it had been Adams sin alone: but it was his and thine also: for ⟨p. 26⟩he was thy father and stood in thy room: and thou also since thou wast borne, hast confirmed what he did. Now therefore though not one of many thinks seriously thereof: namely, that he should stand guilty of a sin committed more then five thousand years before he was born, yet seeing it is most true, both in Scripture and good reason: let every man subscribe in his conscience to this truth. And let this be thy first resolution in this Search, that thou standest guilty of Adams transgression.