GOD's ARRAIGNMENT OF ADAM: DECLARED In a Sermon preached at St PAUL'S, Septemb. 5. 1658. before the right Honourable the Lord Major, Aldermen, and Common-Council.  
By Thomas Cartwright, M. A. of Queens Coll. Oxon. and now Vicar of Walthamstow in Essex.  
LONDON, Printed for John Baker, at the sign of the Peacock in S. Paul's Churchyard, 1659.   

To the Right Worshipful and much Honoured JOHN ROBINSON Esquire, Alderman, and then Sheriff of the City of London.  
SIR,  
WHen your command gave life to this Sermon, I did not imagine that it could have been exposed to any such uncharitable censures as might force it to return to your name for shelter and protection; by which means I doubt not but it will find better entertainment than it can deserve, or I hope for: For now unless they resolve to run the hazard of a public disgrace, they must needs blush to proclaim their dislike of that, which a person of so much honour and judgement as yourself, was pleased (with many other good men) in the hearing to approve of; and therefore I presume will not now dislike of. Sir, I knew when I preached it, that telling the truth was not the way to insinuate into many of my Auditors affections, and if I am therefore become their enemy, my case is in this no worse than Saint Paul's, Gal. 4. ver. 16. Nor indeed are they such Cato's, as that it should be punishment enough to be condemned by them; but they rather publish the clearness of the light in declaring how offensive it was to their e●es. The honey is never the worse, because it made their wounds to smart: If Saint John Baptist had been only a shining and not a burning Lamp, he might possibly have kept his head upon his shoulders: when the truth shows itself, there is none can dislike it; but when it shows them, there are many that hate it, because it gives Checkmate to their interest; and such I hope will appear to be their displeasure, whose stomaches could not digest this Sermon almost a quarter of a year after they received it. Wholesome meat must not be kept from the table, because some aguish stomaches nauseate it. It was delivered in as general terms as I could think upon, that so they who are angry might accuse themselves.  
Sir, If there be any thing in it that may be worthy of your perusal, be pleased to accept it as your due, and a testimony of my gratitude; for having run so long upon the score, till the interest of your favours exceeds the principal of my abilities, rather than I would put off so noble a Creditor with a Non sum solvendo, I thought it more commendable, with the bad borrowers of our times, to begin the payment of great debts by such a slender composition as this; there is a power in your aceptance to make its meanness fashionable, and to teach others to have a more charitable opinion of  
Sir, Your Worship's most obliged servant and Chaplain, Tho. Cartwright.   

GOD's ARRAIGNMENT OF ADAM.  Gen. 3. 9 And the Lord called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 
NO Sooner does a man step out of God's highway into the by-paths of wickedness, but he is travelling in the ready road to misery. Sin and punishment like Hypocrates his twins go hand in hand together; so that as soon as that unprofitable work of wickedness is done, the wages of death is ready to be paid it; for as mercy will permit no good deed to go unrewarded, so justice will let no bad deed go unpunished: And if you trace these bitter streams, you will find their fountain to be but a little above my text; in which you h●ve the Judge of heaven and earth managing a legal 〈…〉 ss against our first parents for the first breach of his Law, of which they were newly guilty; and that he who is the rule of all justice and equity, might appear most perfect in it himself, before he sentences the Delinquents he summons them before him to plead to that Indictment which their own consciences had found against them, which is summed up in my Text: in which I might observe; 1. The Judge, the Lord. 2. The prisoner, Adam. 3. His Summons, he was called, as it were, to the bar, and by his indictment, where art thou? i. e. in what condition, whether guilty or not? But that my discourse may be the more methodical, I shall rather divide the whole into two parts:  
I. Magna vocantis benignitas, the great benignity of the party calling, which appears if you look upon the words in these six senses, of which they are easily capable; viz. As they are either.  

1. Verba Judicis reum citantis: the words of a Judge to his arraigned prisoner.  
2. Verba patris filium increpantis: the increpation of a father chiding his son.  
3. Verba medici conf●ssionem morbi extorquere conantis: the words of a Physician, enquiring into the condition of his patient.  
4. Verba creatoris, creaturae suae sortem commiserantis: the words of a Creator commiserating the condition of his lapsed creature▪  
5. Verba Prophetae, veritatem conditionis suae indicantis: the prophetical words of the God of truth, declaring to Adam the truth of his condition.  
6. Verba monitoris, culpam suam in memoriam reducentis: the words of a monitor, putting the offender in mind of his offence.   
II. Magna vocati malignitas: the great malignity of the party called: viz. of Adam, who because he offended first, must first be handled.  
Now his offence was the eating of the forbidden fruit, which was the cause of his fall from that state of integrity in which God had created him. But perhaps you'll desire that the Apostle Saint Paul may be admitted to plead for him, and that I would take his words into consideration, 1 Tim. 2 14. Adam was not seduced, but the Woman being seduced was in the transgression: and if so, how comes it then to pass that he is charged here with delinquency in my text, and that he himself confesses, ver. 12. That the woman gave him of the tree, and he did eat.  
For the better reconciliation of which two texts (which are not so unlike, but that they may both be fathered upon the God of truth) consider,  
1. That Adam was not seduced as was the woman, immediately, nor strictly and externally by the fraud and discourse of the Serpent; nor before (as he was created) but after her, and by her.  
2. The Apostle does not treat so much of the seduction itself, as of the manner and order of it; so that the wmman who was created last, ver. 13. (says he) was seduced first, ver. 14 And this puts us in mind to consider, why it then is, that God lays this charge to him particularly by name, and not rather to her; for he does not say Eve, but Adam w●e●e art thou? which certainly was because he was her Husband, and so consequently her head, and her superior: from whence we may deduce these two conclusions: viz.  
1. That the quantity of the offence is to be measured (amongst other circumstances) from the quality of the offendor.  
2. That a superior shall be called to an account not only for his own, but likewise for the offences of those that are under him.  
And first, of the former of the two: viz.  
That the quantity of the offence, is to be measured (amongst o●her circumstances) from the quality of the offender: for though Eve had sinned first, yet Adam is summoned first, though she had first offended, yet was he first blamed, because he was her superior and so should not have followed her, especially when she did not follow the commands of her God.  
The greatness of the man is so far from lesning, 〈…〉 it augments the greatness of his offence. The higher God has placed them, the greater is their fall, and so will their punishment be, for God's laws are not like Cobwebs which only catch the lesser flies; but amongst a multitude of delinquents, he first takes care to cull out the fattest, and sacrifice them to his justice. Laertius tells us of Diogene, that he complained, that the greater thiefs in his time did ordinarily punish the lesser, and yet secure themselves, that secret thiefs condemned open robbers; but when God comes to sit in judgement, he will summon the biggest to the bar first, and make them give an exact account of their misdemeanours, that so their punishment may be as exemplary as their transgressions, and that they who went before others in sin, might likewise go before them in suffering.  
This then condemns all such corrupt magistrates, who like fishing-rods stand indifferently straight, when a small fish is to be taken up, but bow and yield when some greater one is to be hanged and drawn up; not considering that God's Vicegerents should be like himself, who is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an accepter of persons, but one who will set the saddle 
Acts 10. 34.  upon the right horse, punish the rich as well as the poor, the greatest as well as the meanest men.  
Examples work more upon most men, than precepts, who read lives more than books; and therefore if they whose carriage should be as a looking-glass for others to dress their lives by, shall represent false things to them, God will quickly break them, that others may no longer be the worse for them: If they who should not be a law to others, become a stumbling-block, God will in mercy to others take care to remove them out of the way.  
God's anger is heightened with men's ingratitude, and therefore when they whom he has placed a degree above others, whether in knowledge or dignity shall fall short of others in the practice of godliness, their knowledge being without obedience, and their honour without holiness, will but serve to damn them the more profoundly. In how sad a condition are these men who presuming upon such like privileges have so grossly abused Gods love, as to side with the first against the second Table of the Decalogue, boasting of their godliness, and yet overlooking the punctilios of upright dealing, whereas godliness and moral honesty cease to be, by being parted. Certainly those that tread in that path mistake the way to heaven; for the business of our salvation does not consist in the keeping of Sabbaths and fasts, in repetition of long prayers, in receiving of the monthly Sacrament; I doubt many Hypocrites have done all these, and yet are damned into the bargain; he that does not go on farther, to the observation of the second Table, must sit down on this side heaven: The performance of some part of his duty will never apologise for the neglect of the other, his keeping of fasts will never absolve him from breach of oaths. His frequenting of Sermons will never make sacrilege a virtue; his long prayers will fall short of acquitting him from oppression; nor will his configuring to a form of Godliness ever make amends for his cheat; his parts, places, privileges and preferments, if not accompanied with righteousness to his neighbours as well as holiness to his God, will ●e as so many millstones about his neck to sink him the deeper into the bottomless pit of destruction. If the magistrate ●hare in the people's sins, the husband in his wives, or the master in his families, they shall likewise be the copartners with ●hem in their sufferings, and have the precedence then too as well as at other times. Though Adam sinned after, yet ●as he called to an account before Eve.  
And this calls upon me to insist on the second proposition, viz.  
That a superior offending shall be called to an account, not only for his own, but likewise for the offences of those that are under him.  
Because when he is with them in any villainy; they do offend (as they think) by prescription, and so by prompting, or participating with them, he becomes guilty of their crimes.  
Alas! they think themselves privileged to sin with such Authors, as if the conscienciousness of their duty were unmannerly (if not saucy) when it gave checkmate to the crimes of their Superiors.  
A Magistrate is as it were the Physician of his Subjects, upon whose prescriptions their lives and safeties do depend; if therefore he either administer things that are prejudicial to them, or by his ill example or silence seem to countenance them, their blood may justly be required at his hands: The Physician may easily be guilty of his Patient's miscarriage, and if his skill be not answerable to his profession, the more practice he has, the more unhappiness: In him 'tis a greater fault to be accessary to a man's death, than in any other, because it is a breach of trust.  
 in corporibus, sic in imperio, gravissimus est morbus qui 
Plin.  à capite diffunditur: As in the body natural, so likewise in the Politic, those diseases are most dangerous which seize first upon the Head. Superior sibi indulgens peracerbus est in subditos: A Magistrate does not only hurt himself, but his subjects by his sins; and therefore 'tis but reason that he who multiplies other men's sufferings, should likewise himself be beaten with many stripes.  
When the Judges know not God who placed them in authority, and understand not his Law, which should be a lantern to their feet, and a light to their paths; when they will neither learn what is their office from others, nor yet understand it of themselves; then all the foundations of the earth are 
Psal. 82. 5.  out of course (says David;) all fundamental Laws, all commendable customs, all good orders (which are the very basis and foundation of humane societies) are broken: And therefore when they who should establish others, are themselves unsettled; when they that like Atlas' should bear up others, shall stoop of themselves, the manifold inconveniences that follow their offence will cry aloud to the offended justice of heaven, to make them drink deep of the vials of his vengeance.  
Constantia praecepti est exemplum praecipîentis, nutatmandatum quod non stabilitur superioris, moribus: The confirmation of a precept is the example of him that commands it; and the people look upon that Law as nulled and abrogated which is not to be read in the lives of them who should enforce it, so that their sins being both vicious and scandalous, must needs have a double punishment.  
Scarlet crimes are of a double dye, and therefore God will assuredly take the more notice of them. If you whom God has placed higher than others, shall offend him more highly than others, how can you flatter yourselves with the least hopes of escaping his fury? The fall of Lucifer was the more impardonable, because it was a fall from heaven. Adam's sin was the more inexcusable, because 'twas committed by him the then Monarch of this lower world. If Moses the Prince of God's peoplesin, how can be expect to enter into the promised land? If Aaron the Priest (whose life and mouth should speak the same Creed) offend, God's wrath must needs be incensed against him. Tantò majus peccatum esse cognoscitur, quantò major qui peccat habetur. Needs must it grieve our Saviour to be wounded in the house of his friends, and trouble him much to consider, that one of his own Apostles should give the blow. That the brutish Gadarens should esteem their swine above their Saviour is no great wonder; but that they who a●e in covenant with him should rather part with him that their sins, is a prodigy; and therefore when they whom he has married to himself in everlasting kindness, shall run a whoring after their own inventions, a double punishment will certainly overtake them, and that for a double reason:  
1. Because they sin against a greater measure of knowledge than other men: Ignorance may sometimes excuse in part, but knowledge does always aggravate a crime. Weakness cannot mitigate more, than does wilfulness heighten an offence. They therefore that know their masters will, and do it not: they that have graces, and employ them not; they that have talents, and improve them not; they that see the right way, and yet will not walk in it, they deserve not more pity, but more punishment than others.  
2. Because they sin against a greater measure of mercies than other men, and that speaks their unthankfulness. When God had done so much, that he could not do more for his Vineyard, then certainly for it to bring forth wild grapes, 〈◊〉 served a curse. To whom much is given, of him will much 〈◊〉 expected; and to whom much is forgiven, of him will much be required. Where God sows benefits he expects to reap gratitude, (that's all the return we can make him for his mercies;) and therefore when he misses that obedience which in duty and gratitude we ought to have yielded him, no wonder if he pay us the wages which are due to such disobedient and ingrateful servants as we are. If men abuse the dignities and places with which God has entrusted them, to the scandal and prejudice of those that are under them, their punishment shall quickly let them know there is a God above them, who will summon them to give an account of their Stewardship. The Inferior may first break the ice in sinning, but yet if the Superior follow him, he shall have no other privilege but to be punished before him. Eve first tasted of the forbidden fruit, but Adam must first taste of the bitter consequences of it; for behold the great Judge of heaven and earth calls him to the Bar to answer for both; Adam, where art thou?  
Applic. The Application of this Doctrine should be in an Use of Caution. Is it so, that a Superior offending must be called to an account not only for his own, but likewise for the offences of those that are under him? then Cavete quid facitis, Take heed what ye do, (remembering that that wit is always better cheap, which is purchased with the fight of other men's punishments, than with the feeling of your own) the higher is your place, the greater will be your fall; and the greater your talents are, the more will you suffer for the mis-imploiment of them. If you who should be like Constantine and Theodosius, Scuta Christianorum, the bucklers of those Christian people that are committed to your charge, shall butcher them, in betraying their liberties and persons to the violence and malice of their enemies; if you who are as it were the singers of that hand with which God does rule this part of the world, shall favour some, fear others, and so not judge uprightly, God will certainly sweep you away as he did Nebuchadnezar, with the bosom of destruction, till your bodies be brought to their graves, and your souls to hell; and then shall the survivers take up this proverb against 
Isa. 14. 4.  you, as they did against the King of Babylon, and say, How have the oppressors ceased, the golden city ceased? If you who should be the Keepers of the peace both of Church and Sta●e, shall be Docti in perturb and â utriusque pace, more ready to make than to hinder such uneven reckon as fractions are, you may expect that God should give you an exact and punctual payment at last. If you who should lead others in the paths of truth and righteousness, shall either lead them, or be led by them into the by-paths of error and injustice, God will summon you to the bar to answer theirs and your own transgressions. Adam was concerned in Eves as well as his own offence, because God gave the Law to him; and he by command to her, as committed to his charge; and therefore when he permitted her not only to eat herself, but likewise to set his teeth on edge, to taste of the forbidden fruit, he quickly heard of it on both ears; for immediately after God comes to him with an  summons, saying, Adam, where art thou? Which brings me to the second general part of my Text, viz.  
2. Magna vocantis benignitas, The infinite mercy of God, in that he first sought Adam, and called him to an account so soon after his transgression; which will appear if you look upon the words in those six senses of which they are capable, viz. as they are  
1. Verba Judicis reum citantis, The words of a Judge to his arraigned prisoner. God is not so prone to condemn men as willing to acquit them, and therefore before he sentences Adam, he is willing to call him to the bar, and to examine him what it is that he can say for himself; Adam, where art thou? Though it is impossible for Adam to have done any thing which might escape God's knowledge (he being acquainted with the very secrets of our hearts) Judiciario tamen more interrogat Deus à reo id quod planè scit, ut vel hinc discant Judices reum interrogare quod ipsi nesciunt, & 
Rupertus & Abulensis.  se scire praesumunt, ne quem inauditum damnent aut puniant: Yet that his judgement might appear ro be just, he proceeds legally against him, and asks him that which he knew well enough before, that he might leave Judges a precedent to ask the prisoner such things which they presumed to know, but might possibly be ignorant of, and so by an overhasty judgement might condemn or punish them before they heard them. God was willing to try whether Adam could clear himself of the whole, or excuse himself in part of the crime: so that he chose rather to conceal his knowledge of the fault, then to sentence the Delinquent, before he had given him leave to make his defence. The Devil (that old Serpent) was sentenced indeed without any summons, because 'twas impossible that he should either clear his innocence, or make out his repentance. But God deals not so with us, that we might not deal so with one another; for before Adam is sentenced, he is summoned to answer for himself, Adam, where art thou? From whence we may draw these two conclusions, viz.  
1: That it is a rash and overhasty judgement to pass sentence upon an arraigned person, before we hear what it is that he can reply to his accusation.  
2 That judgement treads upon the heels of a sinner.  
Conclu. 1 That it is a rash & overhasty judgement to, etc. Qui statuit aliquid parta inanditâ alterâ, aquum fecisset si nunquam statuisset. It were better not to judge at all, then to do it before you lend an equal care to both parties. A judge had need know that man well to whom he trusts both his ears; nor can there be a greater blemish charged upon him, than that he will believe the probable argument of a friend, before the demonstration of an enemy; or that he cannot read any cause but thorough the false spectacles of a favourite; by which means he can never clearly see what it is that the plaintiff or the prisoner can plead for themselves. Though the tempest were so great that the Ship was likely to be broken, and Jonah declared to be the cause of the danger by the infallible oracle of heaven, yet the Mariners (who are usually in a greater rage than the Sea itself) would 
Jonah 1. 8.  not cast him over board till they had put these questions to him; For whose cause is this evil come upon us? What is thing occupation? whence comest thou? what is thy country? why hast thou done this? what shall we do unto thee?  
Quem sors judicaverat cogunt propria voce confiteri, (as 'tis in the interlineary Gloss;) though the lot had judged him yet they asked him some questions as forced him to confess it himself, before they put the judgement in execution. Rei inauditi & indefensi tanquam innocentes pereunt. It is as justifiable to condemn an innocent person as one that is guilty before you have heard what defence he is able to make for himself.  
Use. Be not so overhasty therefore as to judge any man or his cause before you have heard or examined it.  
Take heed of being overcurious in observing or over-critical in judging a mote in your brethren's eyes, lest they turn again, & to your greater shame, reprove you for a beam in your own. Consider that charity will never make her conclusions like those of the Syllogism, to follow the worse part, but the better; nor will she judge men by a few actions (lest the sentence should fall too heavy upon the righteous) but by all, and (as near as she can) square her judgement according to that strait rule of the Schools, In judicandis aliis, eorum bona certa meliora, certa mala minora; bona dubia certa; dubia mala nulla judicemus. In the judging of others, let us reckon their certain good works to be better than they are; their certain miscarriages to be lesser; if their good deeds be doubtful, let us look upon them as if they were certain; if their offences be doubtful, let us judge them none at all. A doctrine that could never be more seasonably pressed than in this age of ours, in which the multitude, like flies that stick only upon sores, are apt to make even the precious ointment of a good name unsavoury; and such are those who will not be induced to believe that any good thing can come out of Nazareth, I mean that any piety can lodge in such men's breasts as are not of their party; and so being rapt with the pang of a furious and misordered zeal, do judge, censure and condemn them, before ever they hear what evidence they are able to produce of a power of godliness working effectually in them beyond the bare form, of which they are perhaps accused. They presume too much of themselves, who think they are as well acquainted with their brother's transgressions as God was with Adam's, and yet he was pleased to hear him before he judged him, to summon him before he sentenced him, saying, Adam, where art thou? And thus much for the first inference; the second follows, viz.  
2. That judgement treads upon a sinner's heels. No sooner had Adam tasted of the forbidden fruit, but God called him to an account for his transgression, saying, Adam, where art thou? Sin is not less old than Adam, and punishment is altogether as old as sin; so that after his work is done, a sinner seldom tarries long for his wages which is death. God is said to ride upon the wings of the wind, to intimate that it will not be long before he overtake his enemies. The gall of bitterness does immediately succeed the honey of sin; nor do those rivers of unlawful pleasures ever leave running till they are buried in the salt sea of miseries. Sin is like Gunpowder, no sooner touched with an hot appetite, but it immediately flies in our faces; so that it is ill fight for the Devil (as a sinner does) since the press-money that he gives them is no small punishment, and it will not be long before he pay them to the full; nay the more service his Soldiers do him, the worse it fares with them, for he studies nothing more than how to torment them most; because their Tragedy shall never have an Epilogue, he takes care that where old go off, new scenes of miseries shall be ready to take their Cut's. So that sin and suffering are relatives, near akin one to the other; they are but like the two neighbouring links of that chain in which a sinner is bound, the one hangs or borders upon the other, so that he who bears one must bear both. Credas individuo nexu sceleri illigatam poenam, aut inhaerentem calcaneo illius tanquam viperam. Suffering is so firmly entailed upon sinning, that nothing but God's mercy upon our repentance can cut off the entail: For otherwise what Solomon says of one holds true of every sin, ori 
Acts 28. 5.  novissimo mordebit, and he that would suffer no harm by it, must with St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, shake this viper into the fire, left it pull him into those unquenchable flames out of which there is no escape.  
If Adam offend against the law of God, his own conscience will be sure to indite him, and the Judge of heaven and earth will call him to the bar, as he did in the language of my Text, Adam where art thou? which may be considered, Secondly, as they are,  
2. Verba patris, filium increpantis; the words of a father, rebuking his son; in which the affection of a father mitigates the severity of the judge. God is not like that severe Roman, qui exuit patrem, ut consulem ageret, who put off the father that he might put on the Consul; for he does not condemn Adam without any more ado (as he did the lapsed Angels) but he gives him an opportunity of repentance, and in tenderness calls him to him after his delinquency, that so he might have an opportunity to sue out his pardon: As if he had said; O my son what is become of thy obedience and duty which thou owest to thy father? how prodigal art thou of thy happiness? how quickly hast thou mortgaged that inheritance which I so lately settled upon thee in Paradise? how earnestly dost thou endeavour to disinherit thyself and thy posterity? art thou so willing to divest thyself of the title of a son of God, to be styled a slave of sin? dost thou not foresee the dangerous consequences of this thy disobedience? what will be the end of thy travelling on in this road? is it not high time for me now to call thee to an account and to reckon with thee for thy transgressions? how canst thou possibly expect that I should spare thee any longer whilst thou continuest in this perverse course; turn thine eye into thine own breast and see what will become of thee: Adam, where art thou? which may be wound up on this bottom, viz.  
Conclus. That the love of a father is never so clearly manifested, as when he can even oblige his children by reproving them.  
Dignus patre amor est, quem censura consileat. It is the commendation of a father's affection, when it can so allay the sourness of a reproof that the patiented son may not digest it but relish it kindly. Thus did our Saviour 
John 4. 19  Christ oblige the woman of Samaria even by the discovery of her shame; for when he told her of her adultery she made no reply but this; Sir, I perceive thou art a prophet, and immediately ministered unto him.  
When the party reproved can perceive that the reproof is the result of the reprovers love, he cannot choose but be in love with it; for the lashes of a father are better than the kisses of an enemy; reproofs that are thus qualified are like Seneca's poma suaviter aspera, Apples that have a pleasant sourness in them, and so are more acceptable to the best palates than flattering Sweetings.  
Now that we may so correct our brother as not to corrupt him, we must come to him as God here did to Adam in the cool of the day, when his passion is over; and like the King of Bees, bring honey but no sting along with us; and this is a lesson chief to be learned of them who are termed fathers of their country, which very name carries clemency along with it.  Homer. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
That so the greater is their power, the lesser may be their passion. Set Moses' meekness as a pattern before you, and then though you do rebuke men in hatred of their faults, yet you will do it in love and long-suffering, remembering yourselves to be his Vicegerents, who has said, That he will visit their iniquities with stripes, nevertheless his loving kindness will he not utterly take from 
Psal. 89. 32, 33.  them; And thus did he deal with Adam, whom by a paternal increpation he endeavoured to move to repentance, saying, Adam, where art thou? which you may look upon thirdly, as they are  
3. Verba medici, confessionem morbi extorquere conantis: the words of a Physician, enquiring into the condition of his patient. He does not condemn, he does not reproach, he does not revile him, but makes a gentle search into his disease, a meek inquiry into the state and condition in which he then was, saying, Adam, where art thou? least the remedy should offend him more than the disease.  
Though he knew well enough where, and in what condition Adam now was, yet was he pleased in starting this Quaere to tempt him to confession, and then by an argument drawn from his present desperate condition to seek out for a Saviour, of which he could not but be the● sensible how much need he had: as if he should have said, Adam, how dishonourable is that which thou hast lately acted, to me, and how destructive to thyself? Dost not thou feel an insupportable burden upon thy shoulders? Does not the Law pursue thee for a rebel? Where wilt thou take Sanctuary? There's nothing wanting but execution to make thee irrecoverably miserable: Give me leave to search thy soar, that so at length I may salve it; tell me, how dost thou feel thyself? Adam, where art thou? From whence we may draw this conclusion, Viz.  
Conclus. That an hearty and ingenuous confession of our failings to Almighty God, is the best invitation for his mercy to restore and strengthen us.  
The confession of our disease makes way for our Physician; which he that neglects, does carelessly sleight his own cure. Ipse sibi denegat curam, qui suam medico non publicat causam. It's bad to transgress, but it is worse to deny it; for 'tis a sign that we are not sufficiently ashamed of the offence, when we blush to confess it. Primae sanitatis pars, est velle sanari. The first step to health is a desire to obtain it, which cannot be expressed without an acknowledgement of our disease. He that is unwilling to discover his wound, is not desirous to part with it: The beggar will freely show his rags as the best invitation for your charity to relieve him. The Petitioner will neglect no means possible of discovering his grievances, that so his Prince may be the more graciously pleasad to redress them; The Malefactor must confess his crime, before ever he be capable of a pardon. When a sinner is caught with the Tempter's hook, he must (as the fish Scolopendra does its bowels) cast it out again by an humble confession, unless he desire to be further ensuared. Non perit qui suum agnoscit errorem, an humble ack 〈…〉 ledgment of our sins to God is the only way to smother them. 'Twas the Prodigals peccavi which moved his father to make him so welcome. The Pharisees Non sum sicut (I am not like other men) stopped the current of God's mercy; but the Publicans Miserere mei (Lord be merciful to me a sinner) opened it. That therefore God may not impute our sins to us, let us sound aggravate them to our selus; for the only way possible to hid our sins from him, is to lay them open before him, from whom indeed they can never be hid. When he call us to confession, we must answer at the first word, if we do expect the benefit of an absolution.  
That the Chirurgeon might search his Patients sore, and so apply a suitable plaster to it, he bids him open it; and thus did God deal with Adam, saying, Adam, where art thou? which words may, fourthly, be looked upon as they are,  
4. Verba creatoris, creaturae suae sortem commiserantis: The words of a Creator, commiserating the condition of his lapsed creature and so they are Verba dolendi, words of pity; and as much as if he had said, Alas! thou art upon the brink of destruction, thou art become the most sad object that ever eye shall bedew with tears of pity. Thou wert clothed with innocence, but now art thou naked! What's become of that image after which I formed thee? Who has robbed thee of those graces with which I beautified thy soul? What witness rises up against thee? Quis test is adest, quis detulit? (who pursues thee? what's the meaning of those blushes, those fig-leaus? I left thee in one place, but I am now to seek thee in another: Whither fliest thou? Adam, where art thou? From whence we may infer,  
Conclus. That a just man is always in God's presence, but a sinner flies from it.  
Cain had no sooner stained his soul with his brothers Abel's blood, but he went out of the presence of the Lord. Adam had no sooner committed the trespass, but he fled for it▪ when he was just and upright, he walked before God, but now having transgressed he is sought out by God, Adam, where art thou? There is this evil (which indeed is the cause of all other) entailed upon sin, that it makes a sinner as it were a stranger to God; it blo●s such out of the book of his remembrance, and when he comes to make up his jewels he casts them aside with a Nescio vos. I know you not, depart from me ye workers of iniquity. Is not sin a strange defacing of the soul, when he that first made it, does not then know it? Desperate must needs be the condition of that creature, of which the creator himself seems to be ignorant; and were there no other Hell this would make it a kind of damnation to be a sinner.  
Amongst others of God's names in Hebrew [Machon] is one (which signifies a place) and therefore the question was most pertinent whereby God inquires of Adam where he was, since he moved not in his proper orb, since he was not to be found in his right place, Locus enim hominis Deus est, extra quem nusquam bene est. He 
Rupertus.  that is not in God (not interested in him) is not in his proper place, and the farther he strays from him, the nearer does he draw to misery.  
'tis a sign he is not where he would be, when God and his conscience or any other messenger, propound this question to him that he did to Adam, saying, Adam where art thou? which may be considered, fifthly, as they are.  
5. Verba prophet● veritatem conditionis suae indicantîs. The prophetical words of the God of truth declaring to Adam the truth of his condition. Adam where art thou? And so the interrogation is a most keen and vehement form of assertion, whereby God (does not doubt himself but) labours to certify Adam of the truth of his condition, viz.  
Conclu. That no place could be safe for a sinner; but when he thinks himself most, then indeed is he least secure. There's is no corner can secure or privilege him from the arrest of God's judgements, but he who searches all, will find him out in any place, so that he can never be safe till he be at peace with his maker; for there is no peace, says my God, to the wicked. Qui in peccato est, in perditione est. He that drinks in iniquity like waters is plunged over head and ears in miseries; and this was that Doctrine, which God here preached to Adam so soon after his fall. As if he should have said in other terms. Adam, deceive not thyself with those fig leaves, let the woman no longer beguile thee, nor the serpent both of you; for you have lost your innocency, and in that your happiness. Do you not now see what a cheat the Devil has put upon you? and how by crediting the father of lies before the God of truth, you and your posterity are fallen into his hands? do you not perceive what a change is wrought in you for the worse: Heu Quantum mutatis ex ipso? I made you, but you have marred yourselves; consider what I did for you, and how your have undone yourself: I left you in a far better condition than I now find you; turn your eye into your own breast, and there read the truth of your present condition, let not your heart deceive you, deal impartially with yourself, what a strange alteration has a few hours made in thee? Adam where art thou? And thus I am come to the last acception of which the words seem capable, viz. as they are,  
6. Verba monitoris culpam suam in memoriam reducentis: the words of a monitor putting the offender in mind of his offence; for God does not ask, as if Adam's iniquity were hid from his eyes, but that he might lay it open to his own. Compare this former with thy present condition. Qualis ex quali factus? What's become of the serpent's promises and thy vain confidence in them? What Panic fear is that which has now seized upon thee? Thy flight proclaims thy guilt; thou didst not seek such startingholes as these during the time of thy innocency; see what a kindness thy sins has done thee to turn thy love into fear, and to teach thee to fly from thy God, whom before thou didst seek will all thy heart; compare thy former happiness with thy present misery, that so thou mayest regain by repentance, what thou hast already lost by disobedience.  
Adam where art thou? so that two things may we learn from hence; the one from the matter, the other from the form or manner of this reproof.  Conclus. 1 1. That God does earnestly desire the repentance and life of a sinner, and therefore he checks him in the career of his sins, and puts him in mind how if he do not stop his course, he will quickly run headlong into the bottomless pit. 
God goes but slowly when he goes about to punish, that so the sinner repenting of his sins may escape his judgements; like a tender father he inquires after his prodigal son, when he had lost and forgot himself, and having found him puts him in mind of the ruin into which his riot will bring him, and if he will be wooed to a return, he will meet him half way and embrace him. When the sinful offspring of Adam do like their forefathers run from God, he is pleased in mercy to follow them; and to draw nigh to them, that so they may no longer estrange themselves from him, and to put them in mind of the right way, that so they may no longer run on in their Erroneous courses.  
Use 1 1. And has not God sought us thus again and again?  
Has not he caused his messengers to sound their woes in our ears before ever he sent them into our bosoms? Was not the sword of vengeance first shaked over our heads, and then sheathed in our bowels? and yet do we continue in our sins with as little regret as formerly? Consider that he is now pleased to allow another opportunity of laying to heart the heinousness of our sins; and therefore let us pray unto the Lord that he would give us grace in this our day to mind the things that concern our peace before they be hid from our eyes.  
2. And as God dealt with Adam when fallen, so ought 
Gal. 6. 1.  we to do, with our brother when overtaken in an offence; for when we see him offend God and do no● reprove him for it, we do as much as in us lies, justify him. In omnibus peccantibus pecco, quando eos quos scio 
Prosp. de vit. contempt.  peccore quadam crudeli, animi malignitate non increpo: It is cruelty and not charity to see your neighbour out of the way, and not to labour presently to reduce him, and that with meekness too, that a rebuke may not be construed for a reproach, which that God did to Adam is deducible from the manner of this reproof, it is a gentle one, from whence it follows, in the second place,  Conclus. 2 2. That the sin of our brother should not abate our charity, nor alienate our love and respect to his person. 
When we hate a person, we hate to name him, and therefore when Saul sought David in indignation, he did not say, where is David? but where is the son of Ishai? the Jews did not say, where is Jesus? but where is that fellow? but that God might declare that sin itself should not alienate his love from his creature, though Adam had offended him, yet he allowed him his proper name, saying, Adam where art thou?  
Use And with such gentle terms as these should we treat our erring brethren, lest pinching too hard and not fetching blood we cause their wounds to fester. Quicquid enim exacerbat animo dixeris, punientis est impetus noncorrigentis 
S. August.  charitas. Charity is such an enemy to passion that if your rebuke be perceived to have any of that corrupt mixture in it; the patiented to whom you tender it, will never be induced to follow it. A reproof must be handled not like a sword but a lancet, so it must not be the enemy, but the Physician that does the cure; and 'twill commend his skill if he can hid the point of it till the smart be over, for than will they reward that as a courtesy which otherwise they might possibly have looked upon as a piece of cruelty. Reproofs candyed over with good words like guilded pills looks pleasantly, are swallowed suddenly, and work kindly. Though Adam had provoked God highly, yet was he pleased to give him a fair and gentle summons in the words of my Text, saying, Adam, where art thou?  
And now to apply the whole, let me beg of you to examine your selus, whether your own consciences, and your Ministers, have not frequently called upon you to behold where you are; whether in a state of grace, or under a sentence of condemnation? whether in the narrow path that leads to life, or the broad road that leads to destruction? I will not throw the first stone at you, your own actions will best acquaint you with your deserts. Consider therefore, could your consciences plead not guilty if you were indicted for dishonouring God, for contemning Christ, for wounding and blaspheming his Holy Spirit? for crumbling his Zion into factions? for calling Religion to help out your faulty wares? for citing the name of God to make up weight and measure? for leaving good counsel at the Church where you heard it? for looking upon honesty as the birthright of fools? for scrambling for your particular interests, and not minding the public good (as if in the safety of the whole were not contained the good of each individual). Have you not against your own eyes and consciences complied with the public sins of the times? Have you not eaten out the power of godliness by your corroding and satirical censures of them that differ from you in forms of worship? and has not that your prejudice like a sullen Porter kept better company out of your affections than ever it let in?  
Whilst others were casting lots for Christ's coat, have not you made it your business to divide it? if you have, the weakest-sighted man in the world may read without the help of any other spectacles than your own actions where you are. Into what dregs of times are we fallen, when men's consciences are so seared, their senses so stopped, their foreheads so steeled, their hearts so hardened, so much carnal bias clapped upon their souls, that all the art & industry which we can use, cannot keep them straight, but they will still run aside after their own inventions. O that remedies were as easy as complaints! Has not this Iron-age of ours out done all before us in villainies? Were there ever so many the Devil's factors amongst us as now, who make it their business to drive on the interest of hell? ●la●l how sensibly does the deluge of sin prevail over us? Is not Christ again put to open shame, whipped, scorned, and crucified; though his person cannot be reached are not these affronts and injuries put upon his Spouse the Church? Nay farther, do not men please and flatter themselves in these mischief's? and pretend to do God good service in killing his Son? Is it possible that you should style yourselves men after Gods own heart, and yet do what his soul abhors? Can Hypocrites, can adulterers, can extortioners, can uncharitable Nabals, can factious disturbers of the peace of Jerusalem ever attain to that height of presumption, as to dream that their names are enroled in the catalogue of life? If such as these be Christians, who are Scythins? If these Saints, who are Devils? if these be God's favourites, who are his foes?  
Do you think to purchase heaven wi●h as much ease as you have done, it may be an opinion of sanctity in your deluded brother's breast? Alas! it is not your hypocritical faces, your artificial tears, your long prayers, your civil language, your aguish holiness which takes you by fits, nor is it your frequent attendance in this place that will do it. It is not every one that cries Lord, Lord, who shall presently enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  
How ambitious are you to be accounted just and merciful, and yet how unwilling to be so? What severe censurers are you of your own crimes in other men's persons, and how negligent of others in your own? What a sin is Drunkenness in the Temple, and yet what a blessing in the Tavern? How loud are you against the sins of the times when before others, and yet how closely do you hug them when you are by yourselves? How freely do you spend your censures upon so many of your brethren as without scruple do any of those things which you upon false grounds have fond condemned as utterly unlawful? and yet how angry are you, when upon such just grounds they style you uncharitable? Have you not first l●●t your reason, and then your modesty in your sins? acting upon the open stage what at first you did but behind the curtains, and saying in the blindness of your heart, Tush, God does not see it: And therefore does not a parasite find better entertainment amongst you then a Prophet? As if you had rather be cozened with a flattering li●, than cured with a galling truth. What murmur, what discontents, what repine are there continually amongst you?  
Did you formerly surfeit upon peace and plenty, that you now nauseate even the best of God's blessings? Suppose God should not strike off your chariot wheels till you were in the red sea; suppose he should no● cu●b or check you in this your career by your ministers, or judgements, what incredible haste would you make into the bottomless pit? But consider in this your day that he does once more stretch for●h hi● hand to a gainsaying, and rebellious people: He now calls upon you as a Judge, to try whether you can acquit yourselves of the whole, or excuse yourselves in part of these crimes, these crying sins that are laid to your charge. Does he not sometimes cause your consciences to reado you that sentence of condemnation under which you lie, that so if by any means possible he might move you to repentance: Does he not mitigate the severity of a judge with the tenderness of a father, and show how unwillingly? he is to disinherit you; and how desirous rather that you should return and live. Does he not like a Physician make a search into your disease, the sad condition in which your souls lie? That so having made you sensible of your distemper and danger you may be desirous of a cure. Does he not call to you in pity, and show you how you are even upon the brink of destruction, so that there is hardly a hairs breadth between you and misery? Has he not frequently declared to you by his prophets, in how unsafe a condition you are, and how much at a loss, if he should call you ●o an account for your stewardship? Has he not now sent me to tell you that if you knew where you wer●, in what a sinful, and so miserable condition, your heart's 〈◊〉 gush out at your eyes in tears of pity for yourselves? Harken then to this voice (as Adam did to Gods) all ye that have his fear before your eyes, and especially you that are superiors; for your charge is greater than other men's, you have received more talents and so have a greater account to give in the last day; consider that you are now in the Church reaping that benefit from us, which we may expect from you when in your counsels; and therefore when ever you sit down to consult, remember the Church and servants of God, that when we kneel down to pray, we may not forget the State and hers.  
FINIS.