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A15703 A nevve anatomie of vvhole man aswell of his body, as of his soule: declaring the condition and constitution of the same, in his first creation, corruption, regeneration, and glorification. Made by Iohn Woolton minister of the Gospell. Woolton, John, 1535?-1594. 1576 (1576) STC 25977; ESTC S120280 46,530 114

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kinde of worshipping of god exacting an obedience vnto the same in proposing vnto him that law of the tree of knowledge of good euill In the which he gaue vnto man formed after his image as it were a remēbrance that he should be both obedient thākfull vnto him for his blessings and that he would afterward translate him vnto the place of endlesse ioy felicity where he might cōtinually beholde the very essentiall image of God most brightly shining in his son our sauiour Iesus Christe So that immortality being annexed in the tre of life did both admonish mā inhabiting this elimentall regiō and being endued vvith profoūde knovvledge of things diuine humaine that he should vse that tree as a remedy against sicknes diseases mortality it self and thervvithal that he should have a manifest assurāce of a better life Into the vvhich godly men shoulde be remoued out of and aboue all elimentall regions vvherin he might behold god face to face inioying infinite blessednesse where Gods maiestie shal be all in all to his glory and our endlesse comfort And these be the proprieties of the image of God imprinted and ingraffed in mans substaunce at suche time as he breathed into him the beames of hys lighte Whereof it is requisite that our mindes should be well informed and instructed when we ponder and examine vvith our selues what manner of image that vvas which Adam had howe it was spoyled defaced in mans fall after what manner it is repaired in vs by the holy ghost and of the glorious perfection thereof in the world to come ¶ The second part of the Anatomy shewing the ruine and de struction of Gods image in Man. SECONDARELY LET vs consider howe this image of God was destroyed in mās fall In so muche that there scarce remaine any remnants of that notable monunent and building of mans best estate For when man who was left in the hands of his owne counsaile in the liberty of his will did eat of the fruit which was forbidden him and shaking off all feare of God vnto whom all creatures owe obedience did transgresse his iust and good lawe And being seduced with the Dragons voyce turned him selfe ftom God casting away all pietie reuerence and feare whiche was due to the eternall maiestie He then lost the image of god and death seazed vppon man according to the commination of god before vttered became the image of the diuell and so losing the holy ghoste hee fell into the horrible wrath of god and euen then tasted certen beginnings of the same he sawe the miseries of minde will and harte and death euerlasting threatned in the lavv For being infected with the poyson of sinne he coulde not reteyne any longer the image of iustice wisedome and lyfe which was stamped in him But whole man vvas miserably deformed corrupted and lost all his ornamentes and qualities in so much that he who was before in his vvhole substance qualities powers a bright glasse of iustice and holines became the maske and dounghill of the filthy dragon of hell and the childe of vvrath and euerlasting death And to deale somewhat in perticularities the good thinges and ornamentes vvhich our firste parentes and all their progeny loste in this heauy fall and lamentable shipwracke vvere partly naturall partly gratuite and as Bonauenture saith Man was vtterly spoyled of his gratuit gyftes and wounded in th●naturals For in his minde he loste the perfit knovvledge of his God So that alvvayes after it was full of darkenes ignorance folishnesse and rebellion againste God And in externall and corporall thinges also that light is exceeding shadovved and obscured For who is novve able to discerne and vevve the nature of lyuing creatures but halfe so well as vvas out father Adam before his fall The vvill of man also quite turned avvay from God loste all good inclination habilitie to obey him so that we feele our selues a very conspiracy open rebellion against his maiesty as S. Paule dolefully deploreth saying I feele in my members another law fighting against the lawe of God O miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from the death of this body c. In mans hart the loue of god is vtterly extinct and flames of raging affections doe burne vvhereof almighty god complaineth in this vvise The lumpe or masse of mans harte is euill from his mothers wombe This destruction of Gods image in mans nature and the putting on of the filthie forme of Satan is plainely set foorth in the accions of Adam streight after his fall as vvell in him selfe as in all his posteritie When as he beeing pricked vvith the sting of a guilty cōscience did both runne avvay from God and savve his miserable nakednesse whereof he vvas ashamed For the very nakednesse vvhiche man did see in him selfe most euidently doth not onely signifie the outwarde but also the inwarde deformitie both of body and soule By meanes therefore of Adams fall the image of God vvas destroyed in mans nature all his povvers and faculties were either depraued or vtterly loste He vvas spoyled of all his gyftes in minde will hart And the vvhole masse or lumpe of man was with gods vvrath with the tyranny of the diuell vvith all sicknesse sorowes of body mind corrupt wher by we to our great grief feele the burthē of sinne the biting and gnawing of a wounded conscience pityfull passions of the soule and finally in this vvorlde the destruction and dissolution of oure bodies into dust of the earth These euils and greuous woundes Adam savve and felte after he had entred into league and society vvith the diuell And therwithall tasted of gods horrible vvrath the pauors and torments of eternall death and the strength of the lavve vvhereof the Apostle speaketh By the law commeth knowledge of sinne and the law worketh wrath Through the bitternesse and vveight of these greate dolors and torments he must needes haue presently perished and incurred eternall damnation if the mercifull Lorde had not taken pitty on the miserie of man by the supplicatiō of his sonne Christ in respect of whom he vttered the promise of the gospel made ioyful mentiō of the blessed seede of the woman and turning away his angry countenance loked vpon man with the eyes of his mercy Besides al these things Adam sawe the fruite of his fal and the detestablenes of his offence not without great sorow and heauines of hart For his first begotten sonne Cayne that Parriside bathing his hāds in his brothers blood did abūdātly declare the calamitie of nature corrupted the crueltie of sinne blindnes bred naturally in his brest the prauitie of his vvill and wickednes of his hart Almightie god him selfe lamēteth this soule fall of man in Paradise appointeth condigne punishmēts for the same and therwithall protesteth that himselfe was not the author of this corruption
Ethicke good thinges are elected and euill thinges refused by Logicke vve discerne truth from vntruth by Phisicke vve distinguishe betweene thinges profitable and vnprofitable After this followeth mans vvill vvhiche hathe had a triple ruyne For vvhereas it vvas the propertie of vvill to cleaue faste to vertue and Innocencie and entierly to loue the supreme maiestie through selfewill and pryde it is fallen from heauen to earth and thorough concupiscence of the eyes luste of the fleshe and pride of lyfe dothe nowe loue and embrace vvorldly thinges Nowe vvhat can bee more vnhappie then this fall and ruine of mannes estate vvhereby his memorie ▪ reason and vvill are so pitifully empayred and vvhole man so miserably corrupted ▿ ¶ The third part of the Anatomie shewing the remnants of Gods Image in man after his fall BECAVSE THE CONsideration of contraries doe moste plainely explicate all thinges therefore I vvill as briefely as I can shevv by collation of Antitheses vvhat is reteyned in mans nature of the image of God For that vve haue susteyned a great losse and an horrible shipwracke of heauenly induments qualities it hath bene plainly and euidently declared As for the Ethnicks and Gentiles they are altogether ignorant of Adams transgression and doe suppose that throughe malicious nature mankinde hath bene subiect to thraldome and miseries euen from the beginning Man hath lost that excellent vvisedome and knovvledge vvhich he had in diuine and spirituall matters Especially touching the essence and vvorshipping of God properly apperteyning to the first table And hath left in him onely certen sparkes and seedes of the same ●● his hart to wit That there is a God that he is to be worshipped that he is a sincere and iust power rewarding vertue punishing vice Whiche knowledge although it be obscure yet is it a pricke or stinge in the conscience vexing the hart in heynous offences and breeding terrible terrors of Gods wrath indignation Hereof arise those notable sentences of the cōscience in the wrytinges of the Heathen This smal knowledge is maruelous obscure in man forlorne is oftentimes euen buried and vtterly blotted out by mans wilfull obstinacie whereof the Phalmist speaketh The foolish body hath sayde in his hart there is no God. And againe All his cogitations are that there is no God God doth not see it Muche like to the Cyclops wherof the Poet maketh mention I force not for the threates of the Goddes Man hath also almoste loste perfecte wisdome in the seconde table that is to say of mundayne worldly things But he hath left vnto him a certen wisdome in externall accions and vertues apperteining to the second table that is to say a power to discerne betweene things honest and vnhonest and to vnderstand the grounds of liberall artes of good lawes of honest accions This knowledge of reason as the Philosophers call it was not altother extinct in mans ruyne For it vvas Gods good pleasure that there shoulde yet be some difference betweene reasonable man and brute beastes And surely they differ in nothing so much as by reason that light vvhich yet in some sort thineth in mans hart conteining a certen rule or paterne of all artes and accions And although the Psalmist seemeth to ▪ take away this difference Man beeing in honor indured not but became like the beastes of the fielde yet wee muste call to minde that similitudes doo holde but in some respecte For in this place man is compared to bruite Beastes because he is no lesse subiect to death then they bee Euen as Sainct Augustine do the vvell expounde it saying he is compared in corruption and not in vvhole nature vnto brute beasts This remnāt of vvisdome knowlege albeit vnperfect is called the lawe of nature or naturall lawe and is set out by saint Paule with excellent termes and speeches as that it is the doctrine of God the worke of the law written in mans hart Hereof commeth the knowledge of manuarie and liberall sciences so needefull for mans life hence all ciuill lavves haue their origen together with discipline societie betwene man and man the desire of praise the auoyding of dispraise the honor of vertue and the punishment of vices That knowledge which was so notable in our first parentes touching the property of thinges is altogether loste and what so euer we haue we haue it by obseruation and experience For our eyes do behold the course of the planets and reason deuiseth instruments to take the altitude longitude and latitude of thē Againe with our eyes vve looke vppon herbes but reason searcheth oute the strength vse application And so with our senses vve comprehende liuing creatures But mans industrie by vse and experience vnderstandeth their properties and natures But Adam before his fall was an excellent Diuine an excellēt Lawyer and an excellent Philosopher Man hath also vtterly lost all sanctity iustice and purity both of body and of soule by meanes of that filthy plague or leprosie which hath inuaded and infected all our substance so that Iob cryed out not without cause Who can make him cleane that is borne of vncleane And saint Paul All men haue sinned And there remaineth but novv in him a certen carnall appetition of iustice comming from the lavve of nature and precepts of maners This is only an externall discipline or honesty of lyfe which is very weake and faint as we al by experience are forced to confesse For novve the malice of our nature doth wonderfully preuaile and hindereth good diuices and endeuours Wherefore in all places of scripture vvhere vve finde iustice attributed vnto the Gentiles We must vnderstand thereby externall iustice or the iustice of the fleshe Man hath lost that fre facultie and power of his strength members in these things which are spirituall and appertayne to the true worshipping of god And besides that his powers or facultie eyther to desire or to deteste thinges carnall and earthly is wonderfully impaired vexed and troubled yea and oftentimes peruerse As Medea rightly saide Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor He hath yet left vnto him some vnderstāding in worldly things subiect to reason For if man were without this also he should then differ nothing at al frō brute beasts and without this no discipline no iudgement nor no punishmēt could be exercised amōgst the Infidels And hereof cōmeth that distinctiō betwene things that worke woluntarily naturally and in like maner betvveene things wrought reasonably and brutishly In that therfore mā somtime cōsulteth and determineth happily in ciuill external things it is a portion of the image of God although most cōmonly cernal affections leude perturbations of the mind do carie reason wil quite out of the right way But yet those powers of man hovve feeble or faynt soeuer they be whether they be of the minde of the vvill of
the hart or of any other member of man if they bee good affections they are certayne remnauntes of Gods image Man hath also almost lost that notable wisdome and absolute authoritie of rule and dominion ouer liuing creatures For albeit there remayneth in him vnto this day some povver ouer them yet the same is ioyned vvith greate perill and greefe not vvanting tyrannie and crueltie For the horse vvyll not obey man vvithoute bytte and brydle neyther vvyll the Oxe dravve the Plough vvithout he bee yoked The sheepe will not yeelde wooll and milke vnlesse she be bounde Byrdes are taken vvith pollicie and cunning And fishes vvith the hooke net other instrumentes As for Tygres Lyons Beares Woolfes Panthers and suche like they are not onely not obedient but extreme aduersaries to mankinde Nowe if any man aske vvhye God made vvilde beastes so disobedient and hurtful to man It is to be answered that this is commen to passe That disobedient children might be corrected For man vvell deserued suche a scourge after his transgression And therefore by meanes of sinne our seruants are armed against vs wild beasts suffred to tormēt afflict vs for so the scripture saith I wil sende amongst you famine and wilde beastes When man was in the state of innocency they were all tame and obedient vnto him And novve thoughe they rebell yet by Gods mercy fewe doe perishe by them And if anye miscarie there ariseth therof a double commodity First an example of gods seueritie as in the Samaritanes who were killed of Lyons In the children that for scorning at Elizeus were destroyed of Beares and in the disobedient prophet who perished with the Lyon. Secondly gods maiesty herein shevveth it selfe mightely in that he is able to cause the wilde and cruell beastes to reuenge his cause against disobedient persons And finally herein we may also consider gods great goodnesse tovvarde vs in secluding shutting them vp out of mennes societie into desertes wildernesses appoynting them the night to walke in and to seeke their pray whiles morning when man goeth about his busines they all auoyd his sight presence and lie hid in their dennes with trembling and feare Man hath also lost eternall felicitie and blessednesse and hath onely lefte vnto him in steede thereof this worldly and earthly lyfe which is short miserable painefull and is subiect to daungerous death euery moment For cruell death seasoneth vppon all men that are borne of corrupt parents assone as they are fashioned in their mothers wombe because they are infected with sinne And therfore all the dayes of their lyfe death is as it were mans hangman and tormētor First the imbecillity of mans substance and strength is the bitte of Satan Then the shortnes of mans lyfe the perils dangers in the same the cruell diseases the vntimely soden vnnatural deathes the resolution of our bodies into dust ashes do euidently expresse his force and malice against mankinde Whiche thinges I willingly note to admonishe men deepely to consider their miserable and wretched estate For man is not only a bubble of water during but a short time sodenly vanishing away but he is a thing much more miserable wherby it is most apparant that man is not now any longer the excellent image of God but the bondslaue of the diuell then the whiche there can bee nothing more lamentable or miserable But the vse of that which we haue vttered alreadie touching the remnantes of Gods image in man is to put vs in remembrance of those great things which we haue lost by sinne and those remnants are much like the rubble of a faire and beautifull citie destroyed And such as they be they ought not to be cōtemned beeing as it were notes remembraunces that god will in eternall life renew restore his image to man according to his holy worde Prouided always that by meanes of this doctrine no power at all be ascribed to man in spirituall matters before regeneration and not ouer much neither in carnall and earthly things For both these excesses are culpable Let vs therefore bewayle this great losse of ours and agayne let vs not forget to geue thanks that it hath pleased him to leaue in vs some print of his image and cheefly let vs reioyce that by Christe wee are regenerate and reconciled to God in this life and that his Image shall be perfectly restored vnto vs in the life to come And before I conclude this parte I thinke it not amisse to admonishe my Reader of certayne detestable and grosse Errors quite contrarie to this doctrine First certayne Athistes and Epicures hold that there is nothing corrupt in man after his first creation and condition vvhich opynion the Manichees doo also mayntayne And this Error seemeth too springe of meere Ignoraunce of mannes creation and fall The Pelagians and certayne Scholemen dreamed mannes nature to bee syncere and vncorrupte after hys Natiuitie euen as Adam vvas before his fall But that furor is directly agaynst the vvorde of God Beholde I am conceyued in iniquitie And agayne The sence of the fleshe is Enimitie agaynste the spirite And some also nowe a dayes vvrite that there is some povver in man before regeneration euen in spirituall thinges and that man is a cooperator or worker vvith God and that it is in mans power to take to folow to assent albeit faintly with God in spirituall thinges which is meere cōtrary to the holy scripture for the Apostle saith The naturall man perceiueth not thinges whiche be of Gods spirite for they are folishnesse vnto him speaking of man not regenerate Finally this extremitie is to be reprehended that there is no porcion at all of gods image left in man And that there is left vnto man no knovvledge of God at al that he hath no principles of arts or accions but that hee is muche like a cleane sheete of paper ot table into the vvhiche vvith education and study hee maye write thinges But saint Paule saith That the worke of the lawe is written in the Gentiles hartes And euen by the law of nature those that be not yet regenerate haue some knovvledge albeit obscure that there is a God and that he is a iuste god Albeit they vnderstande nothing of his essence and of his perfect wil conteyned in the lavve and gospell The fourth part of the Anatomie of the renouation or regeneration of the olde Man. OVT OF WHAT EXCELlent dignitie and honor man vvas deposed and caste by meanes of his transgression and vtterly drovvned in a deepe sea of all euill it hath bene already briefely and plainely declared It now remayneth that vve haue some due consideration of Gods greate mercy povver and goodnesse in the renouation and regeneration of the olde manne For after the fall of Adam God could not doe any thing eyther more mightely or mercifully then to sende