An excelent comfort to all Christians, against all kinde of calamities no lesse comfortable, then pleasant, pithy, and profitable: Compendiously compiled by Iohn Perez, a faithfull seruant of God, a Spaniard (in Spanish) and now translated into English by Iohn Daniel, of Clements Inne, with diuers addicions by him collected and therevnto annexed.

What we were before our being re∣duced to God. Cap. ii.

IF we dyd vnderstād how the sinne which we dyd commit against God in the beginning dyd leaue vs, after

it had once gotten power & emperye ouer vs, we should vnderstand aswel how great the loue & goodnesse of him was, that dyd redeeme and take vs out of the same, and deliuer vs from y^e condēpnacion, so iustly due vnto vs for it. The diuell by sinne dyd breake in and destroy all goodnesse that God had indued vs with, by the which we were cléerely knowen to be his owne workmāship, he did blot out y^e Image of god which was grauē in our soules so that y^e likenes of him by whom we were created, was taken quite frō vs, & we depriued of all kinde of holines & rightuousnes, & also made strāgers to all trueth & cleannes. He did leaue vs without y^e direction & libertie y^t we had to cōfort our selues w^t, in all thīgs by y^e diuine wil of god. Finally we did remaine voyde & emptied, of all those gifts & graces, w^t the which God had adorned, bewtified, & enritched vs, to be serued by: Bicause we might haue him euermore to be our god, and y^t we might be known to be his childrē, & by y^e effect of those his wicked works in y^e world,

he dyd destroy in vs all y^e good that god had geuen vs: so that we remayned full of all euill, that is to be abhorred, and cōtrary to god. For that the diuel in place of the perfect picture, Image, and likenesse, of him that was in vs, did put his owne. And so we were ful of all vnrightuousnesse of life, hipocri∣sie, fornicacion, mallice, couetousnesse, enuie, guyle, hatred, wickednesse, ab∣hominable abhorrours & haters of god and his trueth, proud, vaine glorious, disobedient, vnfaithfull, without vn∣derstandinge, altogether blynde and without mercy, made at the last a pe∣stilent picture euen like vnto the di∣uell, whose captiues we were.

In the Epistle to them of Ephesus, Sainct Paule declareth, and in them to vs, that such was our condicion be∣fore God did call vs. And you sayth he were dead by your owne delightes of sinne, in the which sometyme ye walked according to the course of this world, after the prince and gouerner that ruleth in the Ayre, which is the spirit that now worcketh in the chil∣dren

of vnbeléefe, amonge the which we all in tymes past haue béene con∣uersant, in desires of the flesh, and ful∣fylled the wyll and mynde thereof, so that by nature we wer the children of wrathe. And thus he concludeth that in vs there was not one spot of goodnesse, nor rightuousnesse, but that we were in all subiect to the diuell, & that all our delightes and pleasure, was in naughtinesse and infidelitie, so that all our works were of y^e flesh, corrupted and accursed. Bicause that if the flesh be an enemie to God, and not subiect to his lawe, nor may nor can be. All the worckes that procéede thereof is so likewise, and plaine de∣mōstracions of the hatred of y^e truth, wherewith the hart should be posses∣sed. And if that all humaine thoughts (or thoughts of men) doo from the be∣ginning tend to euil, all workes done by them, be of the same qualitie, euil, cōdempned, lost, & prouokers of gods great indignacion and ire: so that all our euil commeth by nature. At the first we were the childrē of god, now

by sinne we are the children of his wrath, that is, wholly lost, banished, & disinherited of his riches & goodnesse, & moreouer enimies to all that dooth please him. All of vs are corrupted & abhominable (saith y^e Prophet) there is none that dooth good, there is none, no not one. Then being by sinne and y^e flesh al corrupted, what may spring & come therof but curssed stick of such efficacie, y^e it corrupteth all goodnesse by y^e which it passeth. By reasō wher∣of we are compared by the same pro∣phet to an open sepulchre wher ther is nothing but bodies dead & rotten, & ful of worms, frō whēce may nor can come nothing, but suche cruel stincke as dooth infect, corrupt and kill. The mouth of this sepulchre is our throfe, as the said Prophet saith, & y^e we cary y^e venome of waspes vnder our ton∣gues, bicause all y^e commeth out of the mouth is of such force that it killeth. Our mouthes are full of curssing and bitternesse: we haue our féete swift to runne to shed bloud, our wayes & manners of liuing are mortal & dead∣ly

aswell for that they kill, as also for that there is nothing in them but ca∣lamities and griefes, misaduentures and mischiefes, which are plaine testi∣monies of our perdiciō. For in y^t mise¦rable seruitude of sinn, in y^e which we wer tyed & deceiued, we did not know the way of peace, for y^t we did know nothing that might please god, wher∣by we might be reduced or brought a∣gaine to his fréendship, we were de∣stitute of the feare and rightuousnesse of God. We dyd runne lyke vnbryd∣led horses, into all kinde of wicked∣nesse, if it had not béene for the vaine feare of men, we had cōmitted openly and publickly all kinde of vice, which was hidden in our hartes.

A man after that the soule is depar∣ted from y^e flesh, ther resteth nothing but to bury the body, for that it is wormes meate. Euen so we, be∣inge deade in sinne and sinfull de∣lighte, and God seperated from our soules, there remayneth nothynge but to be buryed in Hell, and to be made foode for eternall Deathe which we

haue most iustly deserued, in suche wise, that if god would geue sentence definitiue against vs, & shut vs from the processe of his goodnesse and mer∣cy, we should be constrained, by our owne proper consciences, to confesse and yelde our selues, to be well and rightuously cōdempned. Bicause our workes, our thoughtes, our desires, hartes and all that we haue within vs, hath condempned vs and forced God vnto it: who will not suffer so much vnrightuousenesse, nor yet tol∣lerate so great and monstrous slande∣rours of his truthe, and bewty of his worke, the which wer not our selues, before our fal into that estate so mise∣rable, all that was in vs, was matter and cause of iust condempnacion, and to sturre vp the wrath and iudgemēt of God, by y^e which all shalbe destroy∣ed and cōsumed, bicause that all was darcknesse, malediction, sinne, and the fruites of sinne, deformed, and ex∣treme contrary, to that which God doth require of vs, in such maner that we had not nor cold not, doo any thing

that was good: for that we were euil tréese corrupted & rotten, which colde not bring forth good fruite, by reason whereof we haue bene wholly subiect to all the foresayde paynes and pu∣nishments, cursse & malediction that was due vnto vs, & there hath rested nothing but to be cut of from all the goodnesse of God, and put in the com∣pany of the diuel and of his ministers all redy condempned.

Notes

• Genes. 3. & 2.3, 4. &c.
• Fruites of the Image of the diuel
• Rom. 8. & 29.30. &c.
• Titus. 3. & 2.3. &c.
• Ephes. 2. &. 1 2.3. Collos. 2. &. 22.23.
• Rom. 8. &. 8
• Genes. 6. &. 2.3.
• Ephes. 2. &. 1.
• Psal. 14. & 2 Psal. 53. &. 2.4.
• Psalm. 5. &. 10.11.
• Psal. 104. &. 3.
• Psalm. 10. &. 7.
• Prouer. 1. &, 16.
• Psalm. 14. &. 5, 6,
• Rom. 3. & 16, 17, &c,
• Iohn. 1. & 5.6.7. &c.
• Math. 12. &. 33,