¶ The second homily concerning the death and passion of our saviour Christ.¶ The seconde homilee concerning the death and passion of our sauiour Christ.

¶ The second homily concerning the death and passion of our saviour Christ.

¶ The seconde homilee concerning the death and passion of our sauiour Christ.

That we may the better conceive the great mercy and goodness of our Saviour Christ in suffering death universally for all men: it behoveth us to descend into the bottom of our conscience, & deeply to consider the first and principal cause wherefore he was compelled ¹so to do. When our great grandfather Adam had broken Gods commandment, in eating the apple forbidden him in paradise, at the motion and suggestion of his wife, he purchased thereby, not only to him self, but also to his posterity for ever, the just wrath & indignation of God, who according to his former sentence pronounced at the giving of the commandment, condemned both him & all his to everlasting death, both of body and soul. For it was said unto him, Thou shalt eat freely of every tree in the garden: but ²as touching the tree of knowledge of good & ill, ⟨p. 368⟩thou shalt in no wise eat of it. For in what hour soever thou eatest thereof, thou shalt dye the death. Now as the Lord had spoken, so it came to pass. Adam toke upon him to eat thereof, and in so doing he dyed the death, that is to say, he became mortal, he lost the favour of God, he was cast out of paradise, he was no longer a citizen of heaven: but a firebrand of hell, and a bond slave to the devil. To this doth our saviour bear witness in the Gospel, calling us lost ³sheep, which have gone astray & wandered from the true shepherd of our souls. To this also doth saint Paul bear witness, saying, That by the offence of only Adam, death came upon all ⁴men to condemnation. So that no we neither he, nor any of his, had any right or interest at all in the kingdom of heaven, but were become plain reprobates and castaways, being perpetually damned to the everlasting pains of hell tyre. In this so great misery and wretchedness, if mankind could have recovered him self again, and obtained forgiveness at Gods hands, then had his case ben somewhat tolerable, because he might have attempted some way how to deliver him self from eternal death. But there was no way left unto him, he could do nothing that might pacify gods wrath, he was altogether unprofitable in that behalf. There was none that