TO bee plaine in words, certaine in sence, and short in writing, I will briefly describe the strength of the poi­son of sin. It is a spirituall poison, The breach of Gods Law, 1 Ioh. 3.4. The which whosoeuer committeth is of the Diuell, 1 Iohn 3.8. Yea, it is the vile, and most damnable thing in the world. The onely Noli me tangere, which no man without the displeasure of Almighty GOD, could euer taste, or touch in the least degree. For, Via peccati ingredientes contaminat, progredientes obstinat, e­gredientes exterminat. Sinne in the [Page] first entrance defileth, in the pro­gresse hardeneth, and at his going out destroyeth. It causeth all those that commit it to dishonour God, to crucifie Christ a fresh, and to greeue the Holy Ghost: It makes the An­gels to moure, and all Gods crea­tures to groone and sigh vnder the burthen of it, Rom. 8.22.

It is the very excrement of the Diuell, that old Serpent; the age of it is almost as old as the worlde: for scarce was there a world, but it was a prisoned worlde with sinne; and almost no sooner was there a man, but hée was infected with this poison. And so strong was this poi­son, euen at the first committing of sinne, that it made all the worlde mourne for her mallidy, the which neither Ghiron, Esculapius, nor A­pollo could euer heale: No, if all the Angels and men both of heauen and earth were in one, they could neuer heale it.

Our poysoned soules could not [Page] bee cured without a Mithradate con­fection of the best bloude that euer was in the worlde, euen the most pretious bloud of Christ Iesus, the onely begotten Sonne of God. So this spirituall poyson can bee no­wayes cured, but by a spirituall an­tidote; this most deadly poyson must haue the most soueraine anti­dote; onely here is the difference, that as hel giueth the poyson, so hea­uen giues the helps.

There is no sinne so small, that hath not cost the Sonne of God e­uen a sea of sorrowes. O what a hell (thinke wee) was Iesus Christ in for our sinnes, when hee swet both water and bloud, and prayed thrice most feruently to haue that bitter cup pase from him? Yea hee brake out into this sundring voice, and cried to God his Father. Quare de­reliquisti me? Why hath thou forsa­ken me?

Whose bloudy sweat came trick­ling downe to the ground Luke 22.44. [Page] In the which (no doubt) he felt the force and strength of sinne, the wrath of God against it, the Iustice of God requiring punishment for it, the power of the Law pronoun­cing condemnation to it; the force of death, the tyrannie of Satan, and the torment of hell, which was forcible enough to haue drawne streames of teares out of the driest eye that euer was in the head of man, and to haue excited a multi­tude of sorrowfull groanes out of the hardest heart that euer GOD made.

Oh, was the strength of sinne so great, that it caused Christ to shed dropps of blood for our sinnes, and cannot we shed forth one teare for the same?

Oh, I beseech you, let the horror of it be alwayes fresh in our memo­rie, and the meditation thereof im­printed in our hearts, that wee may remember those grieuous dropps of that most precious blood, [Page] which Iesus Christ shedde for our sakes, for our sinnes, for our soules, and for our saluation. Let vs loue him for it, thanke him for it, and serue him for it, all the dayes of our liues. So that our hands may tremble and shake for feare, and our whole body may quake with terror of it, when any euill imagination is hatched in our hearts, or any wic­ked deede should be acted with our hands, that we may be euer terri­fied from nourishing sinne in our bosome, whose condition is so vile and base. For such is the nature of sinne, enter where it will, it is the heart it aimes at, and it will not stay vntill it comes there: because sinne and Sathan loue no venison but the heart, no fowle but the breast, and no fish but the soule. The heart is the throne where sinne would raigne, and the soule it selfe is the seate where sinne would sit. And therefore, the more sinne la­bours to poyson that part, the more [Page] should wee striue to preserue it.

If our heart bee Gods throne then is hee a most vile traytor to God and himselfe, that suffers sin, Gods great enemy, that proud, pre­sumptuous, aspiring Tyrant, to sit in the seat, and tyrannize in the throne of the Soueraigne Maiestie of Almighty God.

Thus wee may see, that the very subiect and seat of sinne is the heart and soule of man, that most glori­ous and pretious part, which God made like to himselfe, and for the which the Sonne of God was cru­cified.

And as sinne delights to sit and captiue both the heart and soule of man, so the longer it raignes there the worse it is; for as in good things the elder the better; so in the euill of sinne, the elder the worse, and the more they will grow in num­ber. Aske one of the holiest men, hee that had fewest sinnes; They are more in number (saith hee) than the [Page] haires of my head. Oh who can vn­derstand his errours? Psalme 40.12. Psal. 19.12. Or who can tell how oft he offendeth? Yea, sinne is growne so foule, so great, and is so scattered abroad into so many mens hearts, that S. Iohn saith, Totus mundus in maligno positus est: The whole world lyeth plungeth in wickednesse.

Now to speake more of the euill of sin, it appeareth in thrée things; First in the deformity. For God doth loath it. Secondly, in the ini­quity, For the Diuell doth loue it. Thirdly, in the generall contagious poyson and leprosie thereof: (as S. Iohn saith) the whole world is infe­cted therewith.

Secondly, how mans soule became infected therewith.

At the beginning, God suruay­ing his workes with the eyes of his wisedome, after they had passed the hand of his power, his Iustice pro­nounced [Page] this infallible sentence, Genesis 1.31, Loe they were all very good. How then came it to passe, that mans soule became poysoned? And Christ sayth in another place, From the beginning it was not so. Mat. 19.8. Salomon sayth, God made man righteous, Eccles. 7.29.

The answere whereof our Chri­stian Philosophy sheweth vs, that our poysoned soules which defile our whole nature came from the fault and fall of Adam; and from the curse of the earth through A­dams transgression. For the Di­uell, that Roaring Lyon, in whom the full perfection of malice lies, knowing how to most hurt, hath poysoned the Fountaine, Adam and Eue: & the Fountaine once poisoned, then the streames issuing from the same are sure and most certainly in­fected. The which Dauid confesseth in the person of all regenerate men, I was shapen in wickednesse, and in sin hath my mother conceived me, Ps. 51.

[Page]Thus our spirituall poyson came into the soule and body of man by the subtiltie of Sathan, that arch-enimy of man-kinde. For he being once an Angell in Heauen, a goodly creature, would needes become a God, and consequently a Creator. Now, a Creator must needes make something, and therefore here we may behold his worke; Lo [...], it is euen sinne, for sinne is the true creature, and onely worke of the Diuell. And as he is a spirit, so hee hath society with the spirits, as bodi­ly creatures haue with our bodies.

Thirdly, How the soule of man poiso­ned by sinne, may be cured and re­stored.

The soule of man that is poyso­ned by sinne, must begin to be cured in this life, but it cannot bee perfe­cted in this life: For whatsoeuer is begunne here in grace, in the life to come shall be perfected in glory.

[Page]And for this great cure, we ought diligently to obserue three things.

1. First, wee must know our selues, what estate wee are in, that wee may see how wee are poysoned.

2. Secondly, wee must vse the remedy to cure the poyson.

Thirdly, we must take our me­dicine in due time.

Therefore, hee that hath eares to heare, let him heare; and that hath eyes to see, let him see, and diligent­ly obserue what salue hee must take to cure this poyson of sinne. The first and principall thing is to take this precept of the philosopher, Nos­ce teipsum, Know thy selfe; It is the first thing to bee done to this cure, and the beginning of all grace: For in vaine is the medicine ministred, where the disease is dissemblingly couered, and kept vnknowne.

Wherefore, whosoeuer thou bée that feelest thy selfe to bee infected with this poisoning sinne, and art inwardly touched with any care of [Page] thine owne saluation, and doest groane with earnest desire to stand in fauour againe with God; thou must seriously enter into thy selfe, and make a true suruey of thine in­ward man, that thereby thou mayst know how sinne hath poisoned thée both in greatnesse and danger. For vntill thou knowest thy sinnes, and how they haue infected thy soule, that thy conscience may bee conui­cted by them, thou canst neuer bee cured. No man can rightly ac­knowledge his owne sinnes, no man can truly confesse his fayth, no man can duly vse the Sacraments, that doth not first earnestly try and examine his owne conscience: That is, throughly to try, narrowly to search, and dilligently to prooue, who, and what manner of person hee is, and in what case hee feeleth himselfe, how deeply his owne con­science is poysoned with sinne. And withall, to know how, and which [Page] way hee may come into fauour a­gaine with God. To the same ef­fect S. Paul sayth, Let euery man proue his worke, Gal. 6.4. And a­gaine, Proue your selues whether you be in the faith, 2. Cor. 12.5. Examine your selues, and bee sorrowfull for your sinnes; not for some sinnes, but for all sinnes wherewith you are infected and poysoned: And that not for an houre, nor a day, nor for a weeke, nor a moneth; but mourne for your misdeedes, and bee sorrie for your sinnes continually, euen so long as you liue.

Wee must doe as the Prophet Dauid did, when he had considered his wayes, and found they were euill, He euer after turned his feet vnto the testimonies of the Lord. Ps. 119.56

So must euery one doe, that mindeth to bee cured from the poy­son of his sinne; examine his owne conscience, and make his heart smart for his sinne, by aggrauation thereof.

[Page]The Church of God confesseth not her sinnes lightly, but with wonderfull griefe. Dan. 9.

Secondly, wee must vse the re­medy to cure the poyson of sinne.

As by nature wee hate euery thing that hurteth vs, how much more by grace should wee abhorre sinne that woundeth vs? Amongst all the workes of the Diuell, there was none so mighty and malicious as the poisoning and destroying the soules of men by sinne.

So for to cure our soules from this deadly poison, our Sauiour Ie­sus Christ, that heauenly Physition, hath accordingly giuen vs a reme­dy proportionable to our malady, out of his glorious store-house of the holy Scriptures If we will he cured from the poyson of sinne, we must take Christ, and the vertuous physicke hee giues vs by a liuely fayth; but wee must keepe and re­taine him, and it, by holinesse of life. These two, faith and holinesse [Page] are the two bonds of our vnion with Christ: Faith brings Christ to vs, and holinesse keepes him with vs, and vs with him. If any man (saith Christ) heare my voyce, and open the doore, I will come into him, and will stay with him, and hee with me. Thus by faith we take this heauen­ly Physicke, and by holinesse wee kéepe it. Wherefore, all those which formerly obeyed sinne, if they will be cured from the poison thereof, by faith and holinesse of life, they must now withstand it. They which were wont to yeelde vnto it, must now striue against it: they which were wont to delight in it, must now lament it: they which did for­merly let sinne raigne and captiue their soules in them, must now raigne ouer it, quench it, and subdue it, and flie from it, as from the most venemous sting of a Serpent. If the filthy and stinking poyson of their sinnes cannot moue them, let the shortnesse and vncertainty of [Page] their liues dampe them. If the shortnesse of their lines cannot, let the small number of them that shall be saued fray them. If that cannot, tell Death terrifie them. If Death cannot, let the day of iudgement shake them. If all these cannot, then will the torments of hell for euer­more torment them.

Thirdly, wee must take our medi­cine in time.

For common experience teach­eth vs, that Tempus est pretiosum, breue, & irreuocabile, Time is pre­tious, short, and irreuocable, Qui non ost hodiè, cras minús aptus erat, He that is not ready to receiue this Heauenly physicke to day, will bee lesse ready to morrow. Let vs there­fore take this time while wee haue it, for we haue no time but this pre­sent time; the time past is not ours, it is gone, and cannot bee recalled the time to come is not, for beeing not come, it may bee it neuer shall come: Onely the present houre is [Page] ours, let vs take and make good vse of it.

So that now, euen now is the time to take this wholesome and brauenly phisicke to purge away our sinnes; while wee are here in this life, the time is in our hands. Now the doore is open, but after this life it will be shut. Therefore now while the Gospell shineth, now while Christ calleth, now while he speaketh, now while hee kneek­eth, let vs amend our former liues; let vs now therefore heare Gods word, let vs now obey him, let vs make this day our day to returne vnto God. And although we could neuer bee mooued by reading any booke heretofore, or by hearing Gods word preached hitherto, yet let vs now be moued at the last, and with good Ezechias, let vs be afraid of Gods threatning, sorrow afore­hand, examine our consciences, and mourne for our sinnes, let vs clense and purge our hearts and soules [Page] from this poison, and let vs neuer drinke, nor taste that deadly dregs againe. Let vs walke no more so inordinately in it, wallow no more in the filthie mire of it, o­bey no more the lust of it, nor giue our members any more to be wea­pons to fight for it: But with all our power let vs oppose it, resist it, and manfully with all our force fight against it. Oh let vs shake off our sinnes, banish them, send our dearest darlings packing, and neuer pittie them, neuer loue them, neuer be led by them, for they would poi­son our soules most deadly vnto e­ternall destruction.

To conclude, God grant that we may all, and euery one of vs forsake our sinnes in time, before it bee too late; and as Physitions doe heale many sore maladies with sharpe medicines: so giue grace O eternall and most gracious God, that these my labours (though they seeme vn­sauery, and sharpe to the wicked) [Page] may yeelde such sound and godly Phisicke, that they may become a salue to cure, and preserue the soules of the godly, in their zeale of thy glory.

And furthermore grant O swéet Iesus, that it may offer and minister all such spirituall Physicke vnto the soules infected with the poyson of sinne, that it may be a meanes to withdraw them from the same. And that the salue, which is here presen­ted vnto such as are sicke, and almost past recouery, may worke so effectually one them, that it may both strengthen, helpe, and heale them of that damnable poy­son, wherewith they are so deadly infected.

This GOD grant, without whose helpe all the labour of man is in vaine. And thus both from the poyson of sinne, and the pu­nishment due for the same, the Lord deliuer vs all, euen for his deare Sonne Christ Iesus his sake, our [Page] onely Saviour, To whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour, glory, praise, power, and dominion, both now, and for euer. Amen.