Fifty sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London, and elsewhere whereof twenty on the Lords Prayer / by ... Anthony Farindon ... ; the third and last volume, not till now printed ; to which is adjoyned two sermons preached by a friend of the authors, upon his being silenced.

The Fifteenth SERMON. (Book 15)

Gen. III. 12. And the man said, The Woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

WE have here the antiquity of Apologies: we find them almost as ancient as the World it self. For no sooner had Adam sinned, but he runneth behind the bush. No sooner had our first parents broken that primor dial Law, as Tertullian calleth it, which was the womb and matrix of all after-laws, but they hide themselves * 1.1 amongst the trees of the Garden; and, as if they had made a covenant and agreement, they joyntly frame excuses. The Man casteth it off upon the Woman, and in effect upon God himself; The Woman gave it me, and Thou gavest me the Woman; and thus he lyeth down, and sleepeth, and is at rest. The Woman removeth it from herself upon the Serpent, The Serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. So that now, * 1.2 God having made inquisition for the fact, neither Adam nor Eve are retur∣ned, but the Serpent; nay indeed God himself, who maketh the Inquiry, is charged as a party and accessory; The Man did eat because the Woman gave, and God gave the Woman: and Adam thinketh himself safe behind this bush. And therefore as Adam hideth himself from God, so doth God return his folly upon his own head, and seemeth to seek him as if he were hid indeed, Adam where art thou? in a kind of ironie he acteth the part of an ignorant person, he calleth as at a distance, and seemeth not to know him who was so unwilling to be known. Or, if we take Tertullian's in∣terpretation, * 1.3 we must not read it simplici modo, id est, interrogatorio sono, UBI ES, ADAM? as a plain and easy and kind interrogation, WHERE ART THOU, ADAM? sed impresso, & incusso, & imputativo, ADAM, UBI ES? but as a sharp and smart demand, as a demand with an imputation, ADAM, WHERE ART THOU? that is, jam non hic es, Thou art not here, not where thou wast, not in paradise, not in a state of immortality, but in a state of perdition, in a state of corruption, never more open and naked then in the thicket and behind the bush. This was not quaestio, but vagulatio, as it is called in the XII Tables. All the thick trees in the Garden could not conceal Adam, and keep him from the eyes of his God; but thus God was pleased to question his folly with some bitterness and scorn. It is the first question that was ever put to Man. And we may be sure all is not well when God asketh questions. His Laws, his Precepts, his Counsels, yea, his Comminations, are all delivered per rectam orationem, by a plain and positive declaration of his mind: HOC FAC, ET VIVES, Do this and live; * 1.4

If thou eatest of the forbidden fruit, thou shalt dic the death. What he com∣mandeth * 1.5 to be done he supposeth will be done; and never beginneth to ask questions till our Disobedience questioneth his Law: Then he proceedeth against us ex formula, in a kind of legal and judiciarie way. When the Angels fall, he calleth after them, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lu∣cifer, * 1.6 son of the morning? and when Adam is in the thicket, he seeketh him, Adam, where art thou? A question, one would think, of force to plow up his heart, and to rend it in pieces, that so his sin might evaporate and let it self out by an humble confession; a question sufficient, one would think, to fill his soul with sorrow, horrour and amazement. But though Adam were now out of the thicket, he was behind the bush still, He striveth to hide himself from God when he is most naked, and speaketh of his Fear, and of his Nakedness, but not at all of his Sin, I heard thy voice, saith he, in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid my self. He * 1.7 was sensible, not of the breach of the Law, but of his nakedness: It was the voice of God that frighted him, not his transgression. We commonly say, Suam quisque homo rem bene meminit, that every man hath a good memorie for that which concerneth him. Only Sin, which is properly ours, and whereof we are the proprietaries, to which we can entitlenei∣ther God, nor the Devil, nor any other creature but our selves, we are un∣willing to own and to call ours. Ours it is whilst it is in committing; on it we spend and exhaust ourselves; we prostitute our wills, we give up our affections, we sell our selves, all the faculties of our souls and all the parts of our bodies; we woe it, we wait for it, we purchase it: But when it is committed, we cast it from us, we look upon it as upon a bastard issue, we strive to raize it out of our memories; we are afraid when we are de∣prehended, we deny when we are accused; when we are questioned our to answer is an excuse, Nolumns esse nostrum, quia malum agnoscimus, Ours we will not call it because we know it to be evil. One would think that Excuse were the natural offspring of Sin; or rather, that Sin and Excuse were twins. Omne malum pudore natura suffundit; No sooner hath Sin stai∣ned the soul, but shame dieth the face with a blush. The Philosopher will tell us that, shame is nothing else but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, fear of just reprehension; which to avoid we seek out many inventions: We run behind the bush; and when the voice of God calleth us from thence, we make a thicket of our own, a multitude of excuses, where we think our selves more safe then amongst all the trees of the Garden. Behold here the first sin that ever was committed, and behold our first Father Adam ready with an excuse as soon as it was committed. God came unto him, not in a sire devouring be∣fore * 1.8 him, nor in a mighty tempest round about him, but in the cool of the day he cometh not with a rod, but with meekness: he inviteth him to mercy, and prompteth him to repentance; he asketh him, Adam, where art thou? not out of ignorance, as if he saw him not; but as a remembrance, that he might see himself. And when he cannot extort from him so much as a bare mention of his sin, but only of his fear and his nakedness, which were in∣deed the bitter effects of it, he cometh nearer to him, and is instant with him, as if he would dictate to him, and bespeak him to confess, and put a form of words into his mouth; Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I com∣manded * 1.9 thee that thou shouldest not eat? A question so plain, so keen, of such an edge, that it was able to have cleft his heart in twain, and let his sin out at his mouth by an humble confession. What was it but as the Hand writing upon the wall? and sure now it cannot be but Adam's countenance is * 1.10 changed, his thoughts troubled, his joynts loosed, and his knees smiting each other. Against this battery what hold can prevail? But oh the Sinful∣ness of Sin! oh the mighty powea of sin; which so stupifieth the heart,

and so filleth it with it self, that it feeleth it not, which transformeth an heart of flesh into brass or marble, that no hammer can malleate it, no sword can pierce it, no influence from God himself can mollifie it! In ipso pec∣cato impudentiam discimus, & ab ipso, In sin it self we learn a kind of im∣pudent remorselessness, and we learn it from it. These two are contrary, saith St. Chrysostom, Sin and Repentance. In Sin we see shame and confu∣sion; in Repentance, hope and confidence: but the devil hath changed and in∣verted this order, and hath placed upon Sin boldness and confidence, and shame upon Repentance. Adam here was not ashamed to commit sin, but he is a∣shamed to confess it; and therefore he maketh an apron for his sin, as he had done for his body; but he was never more naked then in his fig-leaves: And the man said, The VVoman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

My Text then, ye see, is not an Answer, but an Excuse, and therefore will not so easily admit a methodical division. For in these ambages in the turnings and windings, in the mazes and labyrinths of Excuses, what or∣der can we find? But though we cannot orderly divide this excuse, we will dissect and anatomize it, and make some use of our Father's sin. God may seem sometimes to have been more ready to discredit his Saints then to ho∣nour them, in that he setteth down oftentimes and recordeth their faults, but wrappeth up their repentance in silence. The story of Noah is shut up * 1.11 with his drunkenness. After the relation of Lots's incest we hear no more * 1.12 of him. After the storie of Solomon's idolatry, it followeth immediate∣ly, And Solomon slept with his Fathers. Adam no doubt did repent; yet we * 1.13 see his storie concluded with his punishment. Nor may we think that this was done by chance, but, as the Apostle speaketh, all these things are writ∣ten * 1.14 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. As therefore they who come to see dead bodies cut up, although they purpose not to learn Anatomie, yet by that sight go away informed, what manner of substance the Heart, the Spleen, the Liver are of; so by dissection of this Excuse of Adams, and by view and inspection as it were of the very entralls of our Progenitors, we may read our own disease, we may learn to search and examine our own hearts, and find that our 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and constitution is the very same with theirs, that we resemble them not only in their fall, but also in their excuse, and that we are as skilful ar∣tificers to few fig-leaves together, to apologize for our sins and to extenuate them, as ever our first father was. The lines then by which we are to pass are these. First we will anatomize and disect this excuse of Adam's: Next, we will look into our selves, take some notice of our own hearts, and of those excuses which we commonly frame; and then, to make an exact A∣natomie-lecture, we will lay open the danger of the disease, that we may learn to avoid what was fatal to our Parents, and though we sin with Adam, yet not with Adam to excuse our sin. Of these in their or∣der.

And the Man said, The VVoman, &c.] I told you this was no Answer, but an Excuse; For indeed an Excuse is no Answer. An answer must be fit∣ted to the question which is asked; but this is quite besides it. We find indeed ambages, a circuit of words, which the Philosopher calleth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because they run round as it were in a circle, and never point in a direct line to the matter in hand, never present it with what the Question expecteth▪ but something else in stead of it. The Question here is, Hast thou caten of the forbidden tree? The Answer is wide from the purpose, an accu∣sation of the Woman, yea of God himself; The VVoman whom thou gavesl to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. In civil Courts Pa∣tronus negat, defendit, transfert, minuit, deprecatur, saith the Orator; It is

usual and commendable for him who taketh upon himself to be an Advocate either to deny the fact, or defend it, or translate it, or extenuate it, or put it off; and he who falleth short of this act, deserveth not the name of a Patron. But in the court of Conscience there is no room for this act: Here every man must be not his own advocate but accuser and judge. For when God asketh the question, maketh inquisition for bloud or any o∣ther sin, to extenuate the offense is to aggravate it, to put it off is to draw it closer on, to defend it is to augment it. There is no answe∣ring of God, when he questioneth us, but by acknowledgment.

But to proceed orderly in our Dissection; We find the Man doth not deny, but in plain terms confess that he did eat. And COMEDI, I have eaten, by it self, had been a wise answer: but it is COMEDI, with▪ MULIER DEDIT, I did eat it, but the Woman gave it, a confession with an extenuation: And such a confession is far worse than a flat denyal. I did eat were words that might have proved as sweet as the rivers of para∣dise, had it not been for the poison of the excuse. But Adam's last words * 1.15 are lost in the former, as the lean and ill-favoured Kine in Pharaoh's dream ate up the fat ones. Deny indeed the fact he could not. For as God had built him up in his own image and likeness, so he had raised up within him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a natural tribunal, his Conscience, and made him thus far a God unto himself, as not only to discern evil from good, but also to search the very inwards of his own heart, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. saith St. Chrysostome; all men, of what rank soever, though they sit not in the throne of justice, though they be not Judges and Magi∣strates, though they have no executioners, nor prisoners, nor gives, nor bolts, yet they judge and condemn Sin in themselves and others, and that by the common principles of Discourse and Reason, and by that secret verdict and sentence which every man carrieth in his own breast. The first man that condemneth a Sinner is a Sinner himself; Se judice nemo nocens absolvitur; in himself he beareth about him a Court and Seat of justice from which no appeal lieth. His reason is his judge, his Conscience is his ac∣cuser, himself his own prisoner: The terrours of an afflicted Conscience hang him up and crucifie him every day, though no forreign autority arrest him. For as the shadow followeth the body, saith Basil, so doth Sin the Soul; and whithersoever we go, it presenteth it self before us. No sooner do we reach out our hand to the Apple; no sooner is our eye full of the adulteress, * 1.16 no sooner hath Lust conceived and brought forth Sin, but presently verbera∣mur tacito cogitationis nostrae opprobrio, as St Ambrose speaketh; our own thoughts are as whips and scorpions to scourge us; our conscience striketh us with amazement and horrour when no man pursueth us, she plougheth up our soul, and maketh deep furrows there, laniatus & ictus, as the Hi∣storian speaketh, stripes and wounds, when no other hand is lift up against us. But as Judges would see more clearly and judge more uprightly if they were not blinded with a bribe, so would the Conscience speak more plainly, if we did not teach her broken and imperfect language, to pro∣nounce Sibboleth for Shibboleth, to leave out some letter, some aspiration, * 1.17 some cicumstance in sin. But to speak truth, the Conscience cannot but speak out to the offender, and tell him roundly that he hath broken God's law. But as we will not hearken to Reason when she would restrain us from sin, so we slight her when she checketh us for committing it; we neither give ear to her counsel before we eat, nor to her reproof after we have ea∣ten; we observe her neither as a friend nor as an enemy. Adam's consci∣ence told him he had broken the command, had eaten of the forbidden fruit and must die; but the shame of what he had done, and the fear of what would follow, made him as deaf to his conscience after his fall as he was

before, as unwilling to acknowledg his sin as to prevent it; and therefore he seeketh to palliate and colour over what he could not deny, he faltreth in his language, and instead of a confession rendreth nothing but an excuse, an excuse which indeed is nothing.

Now to dissect and examine the Excuse; We shall find that Adam dea∣leth like an unskilful Phisitian, qui pro morbo extinguit hominem; He re∣moveth not the disease, but destroyeth himself, and by applying a reme∣dy worse than the disease maketh the disease incurable. His Apologie up∣braideth him, and he condemneth himself with his excuse. For first, MULIER DEDIT, The woman gave it me, weigh it as we please, is an aggravation of his sin. We may measure Sin by the tentation: It is alway the greatest when the tentation is least. A great sin it would have been to have eaten of the forbidden fruit, though an Angel had given it, what is it then when it is the Woman that giveth it? Why should the Wo∣man prevail over the Man? the weaker over the stronger vessel? He was made her head, and was to rule over her. His Duty saith St. Chrysostome, was not only to have refused the woman's offer, but also, to have shewed her the greatness of the sin, and to have kept her from eating; not only to have saved himself, but to have plucked her also out of the fire. But for Strength to yield to Weakness, for the Head to be directed by the Body, for him to put himself in subjection who ought to command, for him to fol∣low to evil who should lead to good, was to invert the order which God had constituted. What a shame do we count it for a man of perfect limbs to be beaten by a criple? for a son of Anak to be chased by a grashopper? for Xerxes's army which drank up the sea, to be beaten out of Greece by three hundred Spartains? Certainly he deserveth not power who betray∣eth it to Weakness. The VVoman gave it me, then, was a deep aggrava∣tion of the Man's transgression.

Again, it is but, The VVoman gave it. And a gift, as we commonly say, may be either taken or refused; and so it is in our power whether it shall be a gift or no. Had the man been unwilling to have received, the Woman could have given him nothing. Nunquid obsecravit? num disseruit? num decepit? saith the Father. Did she besiege him with her intreaties? did she use the battery of discourse? did she cunningly undermine him with a fallacie? No, it is but dedit; she only gave it him. The Orator will tell us, Necessitas est magnum humanae infirmitatis patrocinium, that Ne∣cessity is the best Plea that humane weakness hath for the misery that be∣falleth us: But it is too common a thing, as Tertulian saith, licentiam usurpa∣re praetextu necessitatis, to make Necessity a pretense for our liberty and licentiousness in sinning. At this door enter-in Covetousness, Intempe∣rance, Revenge, Pride, which we might easily keep out, even with one of our fingers. Nusquam est necessitas, nusquam violentia, sed electio & voluntas: Here was no necessity, no violence. It is but DEDIT, she gave it him, and he was willing to receive it. Oh how are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battel! how is Adam fallen in the midst of his strength! He who had the Graces of God encompassing him about as a ring, who had his Understanding richly adorn'd, and his Will obedient to his Understan∣ding, who had an harmonie in his Affections, and an Heaven in his Soul, who had the Angels for his guardians, and God for his strength, who was himself a kind of God upon earth, and had dominion over all the creatures surrendreth up all at the sight of a gift, a gift which he might have refu∣sed, and which he was bound to refuse. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the * 1.18 proverb, The Gods themselves have not strength enough to strive against Ne∣cessity; but he is weaker than a man who yieldeth where there is no necessi∣ty: The VVoman gave it me, then, is but a weak apology.

Further yet, What was the gift? was it of so rich a value as to counter∣vail the loss of Paradise? No: it was DE FRUCTU ARBORIS, the fruit of the tree. We call it an Apple. Some would have it to be an Indi∣an Fig. The Holy Ghost vouchsafeth not once to name it, or to tell us what it was. Whatsoever it was, it was but fruit, and of that tree of which Man was forbidden to eat upon penalty of death. Quasi vero rationis a∣liquid * 1.19 haberet haec defensio, saith a Father; As if this defense had any shew of reason in it, when he confesseth that he preferred this apple, this slight gift of the Woman, before the command of God, The Woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Here are two, God, and the Woman; the Gift, and the Command; the Apple, and Obedience. To hearken to the Woman, and to be deaf to God; to forsake the command for the gift; to fling off obedience at the sight of an apple, is that which sheweth Adam's sin in its full magnitude, and yet is taken-in here for an apologie. But perhaps this fruit may be of high price, this apple may be an apple of God, with this glorious inscription upon it, ERITIS SICUT DII, if ye eat it, ye shall be as Gods: Who would not venture then to touch upon such hopes? who would not eat an Apple to become a God? It is true, if this had not been the Devil's inscription, whose every letter is a lie, and whose grea∣test gift is not worth an apple, whose kingdoms of the world and glorie of * 1.20 them are overbought with a thought. Mala emtio, saith the Oratour, semper ingrata est, quia semper exprobrare videtur domino stultitiam; An evil bargain is an ey-sore, because it alwayes upbraideth him with folly who made it. And such a bargain here had our first father made. He had bought gravel for bread, wind for treasure, spem pretio, hope for a certainty, a lie for truth; an apple for paradise. The Woman, the Gift, the gift of an Apple, these are brought-in for an excuse, but are indeed a li∣bel.

Further still, to aggrandize Adam's fault, consider how the reason of his excuse doth render it most unreasonable. Why doth he make so buisy a defense? why doth he shift all the blame from himself upon the woman? Here was no just detestation of the offence, but only fear of punishment. The fruit of the tree had been pleasant to the eyes and tast, but MORTE MORIERIS, Thou shalt surely die, was bitter as gall. He would offend * 1.21 with the woman, but with the woman he would not be punished. For love of her he did eat; but now he hath eaten, see how he loveth her. Behold, the Lord cometh with a fiery sword to take vengeance for his sin! Doth he oppose himself to the danger? doth he stand between the sword and his wife? doth he urge her weakness? doth he plead for her? doth he call for the blow on himself? No: She gave, and let the blow light upon her. Per∣nitiosè misericors, & pernitiosiùs crudelis, saith Bernard; He had been too pliant and kind to sin with his wife, but now most cruel when he should be merciful. It was too much mercy to joyn with her in the sin, but cruelty without mercy to leave her in the Punishment. And here is a sign that A∣dam is fallen indeed, even fallen from the high degree of a Lord to the low condition of a Servant; who feareth not to offend, but to be puni∣shed; would break the command at pleasure but that Death is the best re∣ward that followeth. To a good man Punishment appeareth not in so hor∣rid a shape as sin: for punishment is but the evil of passion inflicted for the evil of action, and of the two the evil of action is far the worse. The lips of an harlot are far worse then the biting of a cockatrice: Theft is far worse then the whip: Yea, to sin, as Anselm saith, is far worse then to be damned. For there is a kind of justice in punishment which is not sin. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Neither God nor Man will deny but that it is most just that he who sinneth should suffer for his sin. Omnis pana, si justa

est, peccati paena est, saith Augustine. But for sin punishment were not just. We may bespeak Adam in the stile of the imperial Law, ipse te subdedisti paenae; thou hast brought thy self under punishment, and deservest to have it doubled for shifting it off to thy wife. He had taken possession of Pa∣radise upon condition, and had made a contract with God: And the Scho∣liast on the fifth of Aristotle's Ethicks will tell us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, There is in punishment a kind of giving and receiving; in which the nature of all contracts doth consist. He who receiveth by theft, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Latine phrase is, dabit paenas, he must give punishment. Adam receiveth an apple, and he must give paradise, yea his life, for it. We have said enough to shew that Adam did but pavemen∣tare peccatum, as St. Augustin speaketh, parget and plaister ever his sin, and did 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, alleage that for a cause of his transgression which in truth was none. But,

In the last place, that which maketh his apologie worse than a lie; and rendreth his excuse inexcusable, is, that he removeth the fault from the Woman on God himself; Not the Woman alone is brought in, but MU∣LIER QUAM TU DEDISTI, The Woman whom thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Which indeed is a plain sophism non causae pro causa: That is made a cause which is not a cause, but an occasion only. It is a common axiome, Causa causae est causa causati, That which produceth the cause, produceth also the effect of that cause: And it is true in Causes and effects essentially coordinate. But here it is not so, God indeed gave Adam the Woman: but he gave him not the Woman to give him the Apple Dedit sociam, non tentatricem; He gave her for a companion, not for a tempter: He gave her not to do that which he had so plainly forbidden. The true cause of Adam's sin was in himself and in his own will. It was not the Woman, which God gave him, but the Woman which he gave him∣self, who gave him the fruit: God gave him a Woman to be obedient to him, not to command him. God gave him a Will to incline to his com∣mand, but not to break it. Whatsoever God gave him was good: The Woman was good, the Fruit was good, his Will was good, the Command was good; but he gave himself a Woman who was a seducer, fruit which was poison, a will which was irregular, and the command he made his ru∣ine. And now he who affected to become like unto God, doth desire also to make God like to himself; he who would be made a God, maketh God a man, and bringeth him in as guilty of the transgression: And so he added to his guilt by defending it, ut culpa ejus atrocior fieret discussa, quàm fuit per∣petrata, saith the Father: His sin was greater being excused than it was when first committed. To exalt it to the highest, we may well call it Blas∣phemy. For as we may blaspheme by giving that to the Creature which is proper to God, so may we also by attributing that to God which is the Creatures only. To worship an Angel, or a Saint, is contumelious to God; to make God an Angel is blasphemy; what is it then to make him a Man? what is it to make him a Sinner? I know nothing that Adam could call his own but the transgression. There is some truth in the TU DEDISTI; for his Wife God had given him: So Paradise was God's gift, and his Body God had created him. But if we bring-in his Sin, then TU DEDISTI is blas∣phemy: For God gave him not that, nay God could not give it him; but he must father it who was the father of us all.

To recollect all, and lay before you these bella tectoriola, these excuses, in brief. What if the Woman gave it? The Man was stronger then the Wo∣man, and Lord over her. What though it were a Gift? He had will to re∣fuse it, his hands were not bound, nor his feet put into fetters; there was no chain of necessity to force him. But then it was but an Apple: and what

was all the fruit in Paradise to the loss of his obedience? What was the Devil's promise to God's threatning? how unjust and cruel was he to his wife, in transferring the fault upon her? Lastly, how blasphemous was he against God, in imputing his very gift unto him as the only cause of his sin? If the Woman seduce him, must it be with a Gift? If a Gift will prevail, must it be no more then an Apple? Must an Inscription, a Promise, a Lie de∣ceive him? and must he buy the false hope of eternity with the certain loss of Paradise? If he sin with Eve, why is he unwilling to be punished with Eve? And why doth he dispute with God, and darken counsel by words with∣out knowledg? We may well cry out, Adam, where art thou? In a thicket * 1.22 amongst the trees, nay, amongst the leaves. For all excuses are so, even leaves, nay, not so good shelter as leaves: for they do not cover, but be∣tray us. Adam increaseth his shame by endeavouring to hide it. Mulier quam dedisti, is not an excuse, but an accusation.

And now I wish that the leaves of those trees among which Adam hid himself had cast their shadow only upon him. But we may say as St. Am∣brose doth of the storie of Naboth and Ahab, Adami historia tempore ve∣tus est, usu quotidiana; This historie of Adam is as antient as the World; but is fresh in practice, and still revived by the sons of Adam. We may therefore be as bold to discover our own nakedness as we have been to pluck our first father from behind the bush. We have all sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, and we are as ready to excuse sin as to commit it; that we may seem to take this at least from Adam, as Pelagius thought we do all other defects, only by imitation. Do we only excuse our sin? No; Many times we defend it by the Gospel, and even sanctifie it by the doctrine of Christ himself. Superstition we commend for Reve∣rence, prophaneness for Christian liberty, indiscretion for Zeal, will-wor∣ship for Obedience: Nay, doth not Rebellion come towards us under the grave habit of Religion, with a Sword in one hand, and a Bible in the o∣ther; as if God himself had decreed to set up these men of Belial against his own ordinance, and the word of God were powerful not to demolish imaginations, but Kingdoms. The Oratour telleth us, that honesta verba moribus perdidimus, by our evil manners we have lost the proper and native signification of many good and honest words, so have we also almost lost the knowledg of our Sins in words, in borrowed titles, and assumptitious names. And hence it cometh to pass that neither our Virtues are as they appear; nor our Vices appear to us as they are, but we look upon our de∣fects without grief, and applaud our false virtues with joy, our feigned Temperance, our adulterate Charity, our mock-Fasts, our superficial Mortifi∣cation, our spurious Humility, our irregular Devotion, our Pharisaical Zelé, our Obedience with a sword drawn and ready to strike: Nor are we con∣tent alone to be deceived, but we affect it, & sub nomine religionis famulamur errori, we talk of God, but worship our own imaginations, & sub velamento nominis Christi adversus nomen Christi militamus, we fight against Christ even under his own colours. This disease of Adam's runs through each vein and passage of our soul, by which we are still unlike ourselves, like Adam indeed in Paradise, but then when he was in the thicket, and like unto him out of the thicket, but with an excuse in his mouth. We may observe, that many things in themselves not commendable do yet help to make up our defects, and one vice serveth to set out another. Impudence promo∣teth Ignorance. For do we not see many whose boldness is the greatest part of their learning, and whose confidence is taken for judgment and wisdome? Good God! what cannot a brow of brass, a sad countenance and a forced deportment do? This Quintilian maketh one reason why a∣mongst the vulgar sort Ignorance many times beareth the bell, and is more

amiable and gratious than Knowledg. And may we not in like manner think that that peace and quietness we have at home in our own breasts, and that approbation we gain abroad, is due; not alwaies to our virtue, but oft∣times to our whorish and impudent looks, not to that constant tenour and equality of life which Reason prescribeth, but to this art of apologi∣zing, to our manifold evasions and excuses; which, if we look nearer up∣on them, are of a fouler aspect then those sins they colour and com∣mend.

To come close home therefore, we will stay a little, and draw the pa∣rallel, and shew the similitude that is betwixt Adam and his sons. We shall still find a Mulier dedit to be our plea as well as his. Some Woman, some∣thing weaker then our selves, overthroweth us, and then is taken-in for an excuse. Omnes homines vitiis nostris favemus; & quod propriâ facimus voluntate, ad naturae referimus necessitatem. saith Hierom to Amandus, We all favour ourselves, and our vices too; and what we do willingly, we ac∣count as done out of necessity of nature. If we taste the forbidden fruit, we are ready to say, The Woman gave it us. Again, it is some gift, some pro∣fer, that prevaileth with us, something pleasant to the eye, something that flattereth the body and tickleth the phansie, something that insinuateth it self through our senses, and so by degrees worketh upward, and at last gai∣neth power over that which is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and should command, our Reason and Understanding. Whatsoever it is, it is but a Gift, and may be refu∣sed. Homo potest peccare; sed, si nolit, non facit, saith St. Augustine; Man may fall into sin; but if he will not, he doth not. What though it be plea∣sant? I may distast it. What though it flatter? I may frown upon it. What though it be Honour? I may look down upon it. What though it be Wealth? I may cast it upon the waters, or fling it into the sea. What if * 1.23 the Devil say, All these things will I give thee? If we will not reach out * 1.24 the hand, they are not a gift. No insinuation, no flattery, no smiling ten∣tation, no argument, no rhetorick is of more power and activity then the Will, which may either take or refuse the gift as it please. Further, as it is something presented in the manner of a gift which overcometh us, so commonly it is but an Apple, something that cannot make us better, but may make us worse; something offered to our Hope, which we should fear; something that cannot be a gift till we have sold our selves; nor be dear to us till we are vile and base to our selves; at the best but a guilded temptation, an Apple with an Inscription, with an ERITIS SICUT DII, upon it, with some promise, some shew, and but a shew and glimpse, of some great blessing; but earthy and fading, yet varnished with some re∣semblance of heaven and eternity. Look upon those gifts which are most welcome unto us, and which we run after as unwilling to stay till they be proferred, and ye shall find an ERITIS SICUT DII upon them. There is upon Honour such an Inscription; For Honour either maketh us God's, or at least maketh us think we are so. There is the like upon Wealth: for when our chests are full, how do we worship ourselves, and sacrifice to * 1.25 our own net! Nay, ye may see it written in the dresses and paint and fore∣head of the Harlot: for are not the strumpets smiles the wantons paradise? are not her embraces his heaven? in a word, it is written upon every thing that is offered as a gift, and being received is a sin: For when we sin, vo∣lumus Divinam excellentiam imitari, saith the Father, we emulate the Ma∣jesty of the Highest, we acknowledg no superior, but would be as Gods, to do what we please. Lastly, the TU DEDIST I will come in too. For be it the World, God created it; be it Wealth, he openeth his hand and giveth it; be it Honour, he raiseth the poor out of the dust; be it our Flesh, he fashioneth it; be it our Soul, he breathed it into us; be it our

Understanding, it is a spark of his Divinity; be it our Will, he gave it us; be it our affections, they are the impressions of his hand: But be it our In∣firmity, we are too ready to say that that is a Woman too of God's making. But God never gave it. For suppose the Flesh be weak, yet the Spirit is strong: & si spiritus carne fortior, nostrâ culpâ infirmiora sectamur, saith Tertullian; If the Spirit be stronger than the Flesh, it is our fault if the weaker side prevail. And therefore let us not flatter our selves, saith he, because we read in Scripture that the flesh is weak; for we read also that the * 1.26 spirit is ready, that we might know that we are to obey, not the flesh, but the spirit. Of all discourses those of our own infirmity prove many times most dangerous. For this indeed is the Woman which giveth us the Apple. If we blaspheme God's name, it is our infirmity; if we revenge our selves, it is our infirmity; if we steal, it is our infirmity; if we taste of forbid∣den pleasures, it is our infirmity: when our greatest infirmity is to talk so much of infirmity, and still to alledg it as an excuse of our faults. Ine∣very sin we commit we renew this antient storie, and Eve continually o∣vercometh Adam. Nay further yet, as Adam excused himself by Eve, so do we excuse our selves by Adam; we lay all our sins on his shoulders, and hide all our actual transgressions within the folds of original corruption. When God cometh to question us, and to ask us, Where and In what state we are, we cannot but be guilty and conscious to ourselves of sin; we cannot but say that we have eaten, and done that which was forbidden: But then nolumus esse nostrum, quia malum agnoscimus, though the sin be ours, we are unwilling to own it because of its deformity, We carry Sin about us; Nay, saith Luther, unusquisque infernum in se habet, every man hath an Hell with∣in himself, and therefore he casteth-in this water, these cold excuses, to cool and allay it.

And thus ye see what a near resemblance and likeness there is be∣tween Adam and his posterity, that we are so like him in this art of apo∣logizing,

Ut sit tam similis sibi nec ipse,

that we cannot easily tell whether had most skill to paint Sin with an ex∣cuse, the Father, or the Children. Adam behind the bush, Adam with a Mulier dedit, is a fair picture of every sinner; but it is not easy to say that it doth fully express him. But now, to draw towards a conclusi∣on, that we may learn exuere patrem, to cast off the old man, and to avoid that danger that was fatal to him, we must remember that we are not only of the first Adam, but also of the second; not only of the earth, earthy, but also * 1.27 of the Lord from heaven; and as we have born the image of the earthy, so we must also bear the image of the heavenly: We must remember that we are born with Christ, that we are baptized and buried with Christ, and that we must rise with Christ; that the Woman was given to be in subjection, the Flesh to be subdued by us, and the World to be troden under our feet; that we must not count these as enforcements and allurements before sin, lest we take them up as excuses after sin; that we must not yield to them as stron∣ger than ourselves, that we may not need to run to shelter ourselves under them in time of trouble. A strange weakness it is to talk of Weakness when we are to sight: for this is to yield before we strike a stroke; and no won∣der, si vincantur, qui jam victi sunt, if they fall by conquest who in their own opinions are already overcome. And as great weakness it is when the Woman hath prevailed, and we have given up our strength to infirmity, then, out of that to draw an apologie, from whence by resistance we might have raised that virtue which would have crowned us with honour and glo∣ry. It was the Woman, saith Adam: It is my Melancholy, saith the

Envious; it is my Bloud, saith the Wanton; It is my Appetite, saith the Glutton; It is my Choler, saith the Murderer. But God gave Adam a wife, not a tempter: and God gave an appetite, not Gluttony; natural tempers and constitutions, not Envie, not Luxurie, not Revenge. And the Envious should clear-up the cloud of Melancholy with the light of Reason, the fu∣rious Gallant purge his Choler, the Wanton quench the fire in his bloud, and make himself an Eunuch for the Kingdom of heaven, and the Glutton 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, * 1.28 wage war with his appetite, put a knife to his throat, and beat down * 1.29 his body with fasting and abstinence. Beloved, if this care were general and serious, we should not hear Adam complain of Eve, nor should we complain of Adam, nor make our Infirmity an apologie for sin, nor our Weakness to resist temptation a temptation to those sins which encrease our weakness. God sendeth us into the world as the Romans did their armies against Carthage, not to return but with conquest. If we fail and be foiled, it will be in vain to urge and plead our Infirmity. It is the perverse∣ness of the will, saith St. Ambrose that damneth the wicked; but no necessity of nature nor infirmity of the flesh can excuse them. God indeed gave the Woman to Adam, but dedit in adjutorium, he gave her him to be an helper: So there is not any thing which God hath given us that of it self can hurt us. There is no natural appetite or inclination in man, say the Schools, which may not be drawn up to a virtuous act: There is no fuel, no spark, in our na∣ture which may not be improved and fixed up at last as a star in the firma∣ment of the soul. For every inclination is from God, and therefore is good, and tendeth to good. My inclination to Anger may end in true Christian Fortitude; my inclination to Sorrow may be perfected in Repentance; my inclination to meats, in Sobriety and Abstinence. If the Woman had been given to Adam to have given him the Fruit, he might have tasted, and not dyed; and if our natural inclination did necessitate us to the act, we may say it, and be no lyars, that we have no sin: What pretence then can we find, what excuse can we possibly frame, when we break God's command? That Sin doth insinuate? A Christian hath a charm. That it is invisible, and so insensible? Faith unfoldeth it. That our nature is weak? Christ doth strengthen us. That there is a Woman with an Apple in her hand, many incitements to sin? There are more and stronger to goodness. There needeth no instructour to teach us, saith St. Basil, no Ora∣tour to perswade us, to hate a loathsom disease; and by the common principles of Reason we commend Justice and Temperance, and condemn that which is evil. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, There is, saith he, in the soul of Man an avers∣ness from evil, which he never learned, but brought with him into the world. But then what if Evil look well, and speak well, and appear in some glory? We have light enough to discover that imposture. For the Fruit with the inscription there is a Morte morieris. If the World flattereth, God threatneth. If Nature incline, grace is a bridle. If the Devil sug∣gest, the Angels are our guardians. If he fetch his circuit and compass to see where he may foil us, they are ready to pitch their Tents round a∣bout us. What speak we of Temptations? They are officina meritorum, a shop to build good works in. If Temptation cloath it self with Lust, I may make it Chastity and Temperance. If it smile in a piece of gold, I may make it poverty of spirit. If it cringe to me in his knee that ho∣noureth me, I may shadow it with humility. Our Passions which have quandam mulieritatem, a kind of womanishness in them, and are many times as froward and perverse as any of that Sex, yet may be made use∣ful and serviceable, cùm illud quod in illis foemininum est, virile facimus, saith the Father, by turning their effeminacy into true manhood; by making my Fear a Centinel to warn me of danger, my Anger a Magistrate to punish

my sin, and my sorrow, a penetentiary to water my couch with tears: nay, cùm illud quod in illis ferinum, est divinum facimus, by making that Divine which was bestial and brutish in them. And indeed, wherein can we more nearly resemble God then in the destruction of sin? and this we may work by help of our passions. This fleshly part of ours God hath given us; but dedit sociam, he gave it for a companion, not an enemy. Nyssene will tell us that the Soul may set it in tune, as a Musician doth his Harp and Lute, and make such an harmony as shall be very delightful in the ears of God. And a friend also we may make it to exalt and promote us. It may help us to a Confessors place in Heaven by the con∣fession of the tongue, it may procure us a Virgin's place by chastity, and crown us with Martyrdome by dying for Christ. Nemo non in cansa Dei facere potest quod in causa sua quotidiè facit. We are prodigal of our blood and of our life, if our Lust or some quarrel call for it; why should it then be so difficult a matter to employ and spend it in the cause of God? If we shall search the Scripture to improve our knowledge, if we shall earnestly beg of the God of grace to inflame our Love, let the Woman tempt never so much, we shall not hear her. Let our natural endowments be what they will, he that doth little amongst us shall do much, and he that doth much shall do much more. And for our enemies which we so fear; and which we bring in as an excuse of our cowardise, one of us (as * 1.30 it was said of the Israelites) shall chase a thousand of them, and if they * 1.31 come out against in one way, they shall flee before us seven wayes. Nor shall we ever so forget our selves as to palliate our offences, and when God and our Conscience, or our Conscience, which is our God, shall call us to account; put them off upon Adam, as Adam did here upon Eve: There shall never come a MULIER DEDIT, or a TU DEDISTI, The Woman both done this, or, Our Flesh hath done this, or, God hath done this, into our apology: Nor will we hide our selves under any Tree but that whose leaves are to heal the Nations, nor run unto any Rock but the * 1.32 holes and sides of the Rock Christ Jesus.

To shut up all, and conclude (for I fear I have trespassed) my advice shall be first that of Arsenius the Eremite, Impera Evae, & cave serpentem, & tutus eris; tutior autem si arborem non inspexeris: Command Eve, and beware of the Serpent, and thou shalt be safe: but, if thou wilt be out of the reach of danger, do not so much as look towards the forbidden Tree. Let thy Reason take its place, and hold dominion over thy Will: Look not upon the VVine when it is red, nor upon Beauty when it smileth, * 1.33 nor upon the Apple when it is pleasant to the eye, but fly all occasion and ap∣pearance * 1.34 of evill, and hate Sin even in a Picture: And this, that thou mayst not sin. But in the second place, if thou hast sinned, if thou hast tasted of the forbidden fruit, if thou hast meddled with the accursed thing, then, as Joshua speaketh to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glorie to the Lord * 1.35 God of Israel, and make confession unto him. Run not behind the Bush, studie not apologies: make not the Woman, which should help thee to stand, an excuse of thy fall: nor think that paint, or curtains, can hide thy sin from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun, and * 1.36 in whose besom thou art, even when thou runnest into the thicket of excu∣ses. No: Give glory to God, that God may seal a pardon to thee: Open thy sin by confession to God, and the mercy of God will hide it; Con∣demn it, and judg thy self for it, and thy excuse is made, thou shalt never be judged for it by the Lord: Lay it open before the Lord, and he will blot it out for ever. Excuse can make but an imaginarie Saint; and such Saints shall houl in utter darkness: But Confession maketh us glorious in his sight who cannot be deceived: It maketh our head fit for a Diademe:

It lifteth us up when it casteth us down, maketh us appear lovely in out de∣formity, and by condemning absolveth us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, (as the Greek Fathers were bold to speak) making the Judg even ashamed of our shame, working in him compassion, that his bowels yern at our sighs and groans, that he maketh haste and falleth upon our necks, and embraceth us, cancel∣leth * 1.37 the hand-writing that was against us; and seeing our sins lye open before him, he covereth them with his mercy, forgiveth them, forgetteth them, as if they had never been; and finding us thus humbled under his hand, with his hand he lifteth up our heads, and crowneth them with glorie and immortality.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Vers. 8.
• * 1.2

  Vers. 13.
• * 1.3

  Adv. Mar∣cion. l. 2.
• * 1.4

  Luk. 10. 23
• * 1.5

  Gen. 2. 17.
• * 1.6

  Isa. 14. 12.
• * 1.7

  Gen. 3. 10.
• * 1.8

  Psai. 51. 3. Gen. 3 8. 1 Cor. 4. 21.
• * 1.9

  v. 11.
• * 1.10

  Dau. 5 5.
• * 1.11

  Gen. 9.
• * 1.12

  Gen. 19.
• * 1.13

  1 Kings 11. 43
• * 1.14

  1. Cor. 10. 11.
• * 1.15

  Gen. 41. 4.
• * 1.16

  2 Pet. 2. 14. Jam. 1. 15.
• * 1.17

  Judg. 12. 6.
• * 1.18

  Plato de Log.
• * 1.19

  Gen. 2. 17.
• * 1.20

  Mat. 4. 8.
• * 1.21

  Gen. 3. 6. Gen. 2. 17.
• * 1.22

  Job 38. 2.
• * 1.23

  Eccles. 11. ••.
• * 1.24

  Mat. 4. 9.
• * 1.25

  Habac. 1. 16.
• * 1.26

  Mat. 26. 41.
• * 1.27

  1 Cor. 15. 47. 49.
• * 1.28

  Mat. 13 12.
• * 1.29

  Prov. 23. 2. Cor. 9. 27.
• * 1.30

  Deut. 32. 30.
• * 1.31

  Deut. 28. 7.
• * 1.32

  Rev. ••••. ••.
• * 1.33

  Prov. ••••. 31.
• * 1.34

  1 Thes. 5. ••2.
• * 1.35

  Joh. 7. 19.
• * 1.36

  Eccl. 23. 19.
• * 1.37

  Col. 2. 14.