HOM. II. On the Misery of Man. we be crab-trees, that can bring forth no apples. We be, of ourselves, of such earth, as can but bring forth weeds, nettles, brambles, briers, cockle and darnel. Our fruits be declared in the fifth chapter to the Galatians. We have neither faith, charity, hope, patience, chastity, nor any thing else that is good, but of God; and therefore, these virtues be called there the fruits of the Holy Ghost, and not the fruits of man. Let us, therefore, acknowledge ourselves before God, as we be indeed miserable and wretched sinners. And let us earnestly repent, and humble ourselves heartily, and cry to God for mercy. Let us all confess, with mouth and heart, that we be full of imperfections: let us know our own works, of what imperfection they be, and then we shall not stand foolishly and arrogantly in our own conceits, nor challenge any part of justification by our merits, or works. For truly there be imperfections in our best works: we do not love God so much as we are bound to do, with all our heart, mind, and power: we do not fear God so much as we ought to do: we do not pray to God, but with great and many imperfections: we give, forgive, believe, live, and hope imperfectly: we speak, think, and do imperfectly: we fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly. Let us therefore not be ashamed. to confess plainly our state of imperfection: yea, let us not be ashamed to confess imperfection, even in all our best works. Let none of us be ashamed to say, with the holy St. Peter, I am a sinful man. Let us say, with the holy prophet David, we have sinned with our fathers, we have done amiss, and dealt wickedly. Let us all make open confession with the prodigal son, to our Father, and say with him, we have sinned against heaven, and before thee, O Father, Gal. vi Luke v. Psal. cvi, Luke xv. On the Misery of Man. HOM. II Let us all we are not worthy to be called thy sons. say, with holy Baruch, O Lord our God, to us is worthily ascribed shame and confusion, and to thee righteousness: we have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have behaved ourselves ungodly in all thy righteousness. Let us all say with the holy prophet Daniel, O Lord, righteousness belongeth to thee, unto us belongeth confusion. We have sinned, we have been naughty, we have offended, we have fled from thee, we have gone back from all thy precepts and judgments. So we learn of all good men in holy scriptures, to humble ourselves, and to exalt, extol, praise, magnify, and glorify God. Thus we have heard how evil we be of ourselves, how of ourselves, and by ourselves, we have no goodness, help, or salvation, but contrariwise, sin, damnation, and death everlasting: which, if we deeply weigh and consider, we shall the better understand the great mercy of God, and how our salvation cometh only by Christ. For in ourselves, as of ourselves, we find nothing, whereby we may be delivered from this miserable captivity into the which we are cast, through the envy of the devil, by breaking of God's commandment in our first parent Adam. We are all become unclean, but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves, nor make one another of us clean. We are by nature the children of God's wrath, but we are not able to make ourselves the children and inheritors of God's glory. We are sheep that run astray, but we cannot of our own power come again to the sheepfold, so great is our imperfection and weakness. In ourselves, therefore, may we not glory, which, of ourselves, are nothing but sinful: neither may we rejoice in any works that we do, all which be so imperfect and impure, that they are not able Baruch ii. Dan. ix. 2 Cor. iii. Psal. 1. Ephes, ii. 1 Pet. ii. HOM. II. On the Misery of Man. to stand before the righteous judgment seat of God, as the holy prophet David saith, enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord; for no man that liveth shall be found righteous in thy sight. To God therefore must we flee, or else shall we never find peace, rest and quietness of conscience in our hearts. For he is the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation. He is the Lord, with whom is plenteous redemption; he is the God which of his own mercy saveth us, and setteth out his charity and exceeding love towards us, in that of his own voluntary goodness, when we were perishing, he saved us, and provided an everlasting kingdom for us. And all these heavenly treasures are given us, not for our own deserts, merits, or good deeds, which of ourselves we have none, but of his mere mercy freely. And for whose sake? Truly for Jesus Christ's sake, that pure and undefiled Lamb of God. He is that dearly beloved Son, for whose sake God is fully pacified, satisfied, and set at one with man. He is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world, of whom only it may be truly spoken, that he did all things well, and in his mouth was found no craft nor subtlety. None but he alone may say, the Prince of the world came, and in me he hath nothing. And he alone may also say, which of you shall reprove me of any fault? He is the high and everlasting priest, who hath offered himself once for all upon the altar of the cross, and with that one oblation, hath made perfect for evermore them that are sanctified. He is alone the mediator between God and man, which paid our ransom to God with his own blood, and with that hath he cleansed us all from sin. He is the Physician which healeth all our diseases. He is that Saviour which saveth his people from all Psal. cxliii. 2 Cor. i. Psal. cxxx. John i. 1 Pet. ii. John viii, Heb. vii, 1 John ji, On the Misery of Man. HOM. II. their sins: to be short, he is that flowing and most plenteous fountain, of whose fulness we have all received. For in him alone are all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God hidden. And in him, and by him, have we, from God the Father, all good things pertaining either to the body or to the soul. O how much are we bound to this our heavenly Father for his great mercies, which he hath so plenteously declared unto us in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour! What thanks worthy and sufficient can we give to him? Let us all, with one accord, burst out with joyful voice, ever praising and magnifying this Lord of mercy, for his tender kindness, shewed unto us in his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Hitherto we have heard what we are of ourselves; very sinful, wretched and damnable. Again, we have heard how that of ourselves, and by ourselves, we are not able either to think a good thought, or work a good deed, so that we can find in ourselves no hope of salvation, but rather whatsoever maketh unto our destruction. Again, we have heard the tender kindness and great mercy of God the Father towards us, and how beneficial he is to us for Christ's sake, without our merits or deserts, even of his own mere mercy and tender goodness. Now, how these exceeding great mercies of God set abroad in Christ Jesus for us, be obtained, and how we be delivered from the captivity of sin, death, and hell, shall more at large, with God's help, be declared in the next sermon. In the mean season, yea, and at all times, let us learn to know ourselves, our frailty and weakness, without any cracking or boasting of our own good deeds and merits. Let us also acknowledge the exceeding mercy of God towards us, and confess, that as of ourselves cometh all evil and damnation: so likewise of him cometh all goodness and salvation, and Matt. i. Hosea xiii. God himself saith by the prophet Hosea, O Israel, thy destruction cometh of thyself, but in me only is thy help and comfort. If we thus humbly submit ourselves in the sight of God, we may be sure that in the time of his visitation, he will lift us up unto the kingdom of his dearly beloved Son, Christ Jesus our Lord; to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory for ever. Amen. This Homily is a further declaration of man's impotency and danger through sin; and of the great love of God in providing the means of salvation. HOMILY III. On the Salvation of mankind, by only Christ our Saviour, from Sin and Death everlasting. BECAUSE all men be sinners and offenders against God, and breakers of his law and commandments, therefore can no man by his own acts, works and deeds, seem they never so good, be justified, and made righteous before God; but every man, of necessity is constrained to seek for another righteousness. of justification to be received at God's own hands; that is to say, the forgiveness of his sins and trespasses, in such things as he hath offended. And this justification or righteousness, which we so receive of God's mercy and Christ's merits, embraced by faith, is taken, accepted, and allowed of God, for our perfect and full justification. For the more full understanding hereof, it is our parts and duties ever to remember the great mercy of God, how that (all the world being wrapped in sin by breaking of the law) God sent his only Son, our Saviour Christ into |