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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A73023	M. Perkins, his Exhortation to repentance, out of Zephaniah preached in 2. sermons in Sturbridge Faire. Together with two treatises of the duties and dignitie of the ministrie: deliuered publiquely in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge. With a preface præfixed touching the publishing of all such workes of his as are to be expected: with a catalogue of all the perticulers [sic] of them, diligently perused and published, by a preacher of the word.	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Crashaw, William, 1572-1626.	1605 (1605)	STC 19706.5; ESTC S123485	128,687	352

when God comes with his priuie search his hypocrisie shall bee discouered and his nakednesse shall be layd open in the view of men and Angels to his eternal confusion Thirdly Search saith the Prophet but not so content he forceth it againe Euen search you In thus repeating and vrging this exhortation the holy Ghost giues them and vs to vnderstand that the true searching of a mans heart and life is a duty of a great moment and special necessitie therefore he leaues it not after once naming it but inforceth it the second time as being no matter of indifferency but of great necessitie thereby shewing that it is a principal dutie in repentance euen the beginning and foundation of all true grace And further it is a meanes also to preuent Gods Iudgements for when men search not themselues then God sendes the fire of afflictions and Crosses to trie and Search them but when they Search themselues then God spareth to Search them by his iudgements Now in that this dutie of searching is both the beginning of all true grace and the meane to stay Gods iudgements and therefore is so pithely and forceably vrged by the holy Ghost it must teach vs all a necessarie lesson namely to make great conscience of searching our selues First because God hath so commanded and we are to make conscience of obedience to euery commandement Secondly because therby we shal reape two so great commodities as first thereby we shal lay a sure foundatiō for the good work of grace in vs and secondly shall stay the hand of God and his iudgements from being executed vpon vs. Let vs therefore hearken to this counsaile of the holy ghost let vs take the fan of the Lawe and therewith search and winnowe our hearts and liues Our hearts for secret and hidden corruptions Our liues for committing of euil and omitting of good Doe with your hearts as men doe with their wheate they will not suffer their corne to lie long in the chaffe least the chaffe hurt it but commits it to the fanne that the winde may separate them So the graces of God in our hearts are pure corne our sinnes and corruptions are Chaffe looke well and thou shalt finde in thy selfe much chaffe and but little corne let not then the chaffe lye too long mingled with the Corne lest it corrupt the corne Let not thy sinnes lye mingled with the grace of God in thee if thou doe they will choake it in the end and so depriue thee of all grace therfore rippe vp thy heart and looke into thy life and when thou hast sinned enter into thy selfe aske thy conscience what thou hast done be not quiet till thou hast found out thy sin and the foulenesse of it and neuer thinke that thou knowest any thing in Religion till thou knowest what is in thine owne heart And what are thy special and priuiest corruptions and looke into thine owne faults not with a partial eye but with a censorious and a strait iudgement spare sin in no man but especially condemne it in thy selfe But alas these times of ours cry out of an other state for euen Ieremies case is ours We may complaine as hee did No man repents him of his wickednesse saying what haue I done the same is the sore of our people and the sicknesse of all Nations that euery man runnes on in his sinnes from sinne to sinne carelesly euen as the barde horse into the battaile But how rare a thing is it to find a man that dayly searcheth himself examines how he liues and how the case standeth betwixt GOD and himselfe and that when hee hath done amisse entereth into the closet of his heart and strikes himselfe vpon the breast and disputes the case with himselfe saying What hane I done O what is this that I haue done against God against his Church and against my owne soule The want of this is that which the Prophet complaines of in that place not as though it were sufficient thus to doe in a mans owne conscience but because it is a good beginning and a step to further grace For if a man did seriously thus deale with his conscience after his sinne his conscience would shape him such an aunswere and would tell him so roundly what hee had done that hee would take heede how hee did the same againe and looke more narrowly and warily to himselfe all the dayes of his life Seeing therefore it is so necessarie a dutie let euery one of vs indeuour the practise of it namely to rippe and ransacke our hearts and to search our wayes vnto the bottome Now for your better instruction and furtherance in the performance hereof you must know that this Search is to be made by the Lawe of God for nothing els but Gods law can helpe vs let vs see that which we must search for for if wee search by any other means we may seek search long enough ere we find any thing that wil be matter of repentance Aske the diuel he will tell thee all is well that thou art in an excellent estate and God loues thee and thou art sure of Heauen this song the diuell alwayes sings for the most part til a man comes to die for then hee appeares in his colours but till then hee laboures to sing and lull all men a sleepe in the cradle of securitie Aske our owne flesh our owne hearts and natures and they will answere and say that all is well and safe and that wee haue beleeued and loued and feared God all our dayes Aske the world and men in the world and they will aunswere all is well and they will say further that thou art a right good fellow and art worth twentie of these curious fooles that sticke vpon points stand vpon circumstances as swearing and drinking and good fellowshippe and gaming and such other nice and circumstanciall points thus will worldly men answere for thy prophane course is acceptable to them because thereby thou approuest the same in them Nay goe further and aske all humane learning in the world and it cannot tell thee what one sinne is nor what it is to offend God so that there remaines onely the law of God the light whereof will disclose the darknesse of our hearts and the iustice whereof will reueale the vnrighteousnesse the peruersnesse of our natures therefore to the lawe of God must we flye to helpe vs in this Search And yet for our better helpe in this dutie and that there may bee nothing wanting to that soule that seeketh God therfore we are further to know that if we will search our selues by the law profitably wee must marke three rules the truth whereof vnlesse wee know acknowledge and feele wee shall neuer see our owne estate nor profite by this Search but plodde on from finne to sinne vntill wee plunge into hell The first Rule is that euery man that came from Adam sinned in the sinne of Adam Thou

M. PERKINS HIS EXhortation to Repentance out of Zephaniah Preached in 2. Sermons in Sturbridge Faire TOGETHER WITH TWO Treatises of the Duties and Dignitie of the Ministrie Deliuered publiquely in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge With a Preface praefixed touching the publishing of all such workes of his as are to be expected with a Catalogue of all the perticulers of them diligently perused and published by a Preacher of the Word Prouerbs 28. 13. Hee that hideth his sinnes shall not prosper But he that confesseth and for saketh them shall finde mercy LONDON Imprinted by T. C. for William Welby and are to bee sold at his Shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Grey-hound 1605. To the right worshipfull my very worthie and Christian friend Syr William Gee Knight one of his Maiesties Honourable Counsell in the North Recorder of the Towne Maiesties Iustices of peace in the Eastriding of the Countie of Yorke a true friend of learning and pietie and to the vertuous and religious Lady his wife Grace and peace from God c. AMongst the many reasons Worshipful Syr ' which haue perswaded mee that Poperie cannot bee the true religiō this is not the lest the insufficiency of their doctrin of faith repētance which two things though they be the chiefe principal points in Religion and so necessarie that he who doth not both knowe and practise them aright can neuer be saued yet I dare auouch that the faith and repentance of the Romish Church as they are taught by many of the best approued Papists are no better then such a faith and such a repentance as an hypocrite and a very reprobate may attaine vnto Indeed to insist vpon repentance onely they make many faire florishes they call it penance they make it a sacrament say it is a boord that saues a man after shipwrack and write great volumnes of it and of confession and of Cases of conscience as you good Syr in your owne reading know better then I yet alas when all is done it is but a shadow of repentance and indeede how can they teach aright the doctrine of repentance which erre so fowly in setting downe the iustice of God and the vilenes of sin which 2. points a man must know else he will neuer repent but Poperie misconceiuing the iustice of God teaching it not to bee infinite in as much as it needes not an infinite satisfaction misconceiuing the nature of sin teaching euery sin not to bee damnable 〈◊〉 to offend Gods Infinite iustice ●●ring I say in these 2. how is it possible they should conceiue aright the nature of repentance by which a man seeing his sins their foulenesse their punishment and his own misery by them confesseth them bewails them fearing Gods iustice flyeth frō it and craues forgiuenesse of his mercie and lastly purposeth indeuoureth to leaue them all and to leade a newe life The serious consideration hereof hath often made me wonder why many Popish treatises being in some sort exhortations to repentance should be so accounted of as they are by some for though I confesse there are in some of them good and holesome meditations and many motiues to mortification and good life yet would I gladly learne of any man but this one thing how those exhortations can be pithie or powerful sound or any way sufficient to moue a man to repentance when as not those bookes nor all Poperie is able to teach a man sufficiently what true repentance is If any man reply I will therefore learne the doctrine out of the Protestants bookes and vse the Papists for exhortation onely I then answere is it not a more compendious and conuenient and a lesse scandalous course to seeke exhortations out of such writers as do teach the doctrine aright nay I doubt how it is possible to finde a powerfull exhortation to repentance in any Papist who erres in the Doctrine the reason is manifest because Doctrine is the ground of exhortation and if the doctrine be vnsound how can the exhortation be any better Let vs therefore leaue these muddic puddles and fet our water at the fountaine the water of life at the fountaine of life I mean the doctrine of faith and repentance at the written word of God and at such mens writings as are grounded therevpon and agreeable thereunto Now amongst those many instruments of God who haue laboured with profit in this great point of Religion namely repentance drawing their doctrine out of the two brests of the 2. Testaments of Gods booke I may well say to say no more that this man of God Maister Perkins deserues to haue his place whose labours whilst he liued and his yet liuing labours what they deserue I had rather others should proclame then I once name who professe my selfe to bee one of those many who may truely say that by the grace of God his good meanes principally I am that I am But leaning him in that glorious mansion which Christ the Lord of the Haruest hath prepared for him and now giuen him I returne to my selfe and doe humbly praise the Lord of heauen who gaue mee my time in the Vniuersitie in those happie dayes wherein beside many other worthy men of God whereof some are falne asleepe and some remaine aliue vnto this day this holy man did spend him self like a Candle to giue light vnto others The scope of all his godly endeuours was to teach Christ Iesus and him crucified and much laboured to moue all men to repentance that as our knowledge hath made Popery ashamed of their ignorance so our holy liues might honour our holy profession And as repentance was one of the principal ends both of his continuall preaching and writing soespecially and purposely hath hee twise dealt in that Argument First in his Treatise of Repentance published 1592. wherein briefly as his manner was but soundly pithily and feelingly hee layeth downe the true doctrine and the very nature of repentance and after the positiue doctrine hee toucheth some of the principall controuersies and difficulties in that doctrine but afterwards thinking with himselfe that hee had not seriously and forcibly enough vrged so great necessarie a Lesson as Repentance is therefore shortly after being desired and called to the duty of preaching in that great general assembly at Sturbridge-Faire he thought it a fit time for this necessary and generall exhortation to Repentance to the intent that as wee were taught the doctrine of Repentance in the former treatise so in these sermons we might bee stirred vp to the practise of it And certainly Good Sir I iudge there could haue beene no matter more fit for that assembly then an exhortation to repentance for as the audience was great and general of all sorts sexes ages and callings of men and assembled out of many corners of this kingdom so is this doctrine generall for all some doctrines are for Parents some for children some for schollers