Sermons preached before his MajestySermons preached before his Maiestie

And therefore the first thing that must be done, to bring a man out of this miserable condition of death, is to waken him, to open his eyes, to see that he is a child of wrath, and to see what extreme need he stands in of Jesus Christ, and to seek and to long after him; as a condemned man longs after his pardon, and as he that was pursued by the avenger of blood, in the old law came to the city of refuge, for safety and for shelter: I say, after that manner we must first be awakened. This you shall see, Eph, 5. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead. That wakening therefore is the first work. And so Rom. 7. 9. (it is an excellent expression) saith he, I was once alive without the Law, but wen the Law came, sin revived, and I dyed; the meaning of it is this, before when I was ignorant of the Law, I thought my self a ⟨p. 42⟩living man, in as good an estate as the best; but when the Law came that is, when I was enlightened, when I saw the true meaning of the Law, that I saw my self, and saw sin in a right glass, then sin was alive and I died; that is, I found my self to be no better than a dead man. So that is the first work, that God doth to a man, whom he means to save, to waken him out of this dead sleep, to charge sin upon his conscience, and to set it upon him to pursue him, as the avenger of blood we spake of before. When that is done once, then a man will fly to the city of refuge, that is, he flies to Christ, as Joab did to the horns of the altar, & he cries and calls earnestly for the pardon of his sins, even as Sampson cried for water, Give me water, or I die. And when a man comes thus to Christ, thus humbled, then Christ accepts him; and then he breathes this breath of life into him, as God breathed the breath of life into Adam, and so is made a living man, according to that, Joh. 5. 29. The time shall come, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it shall live, that is, those that are spiritually dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those that hear it shall live; for when a man toucheth Christ by faith, as the woman touched the hem of his garment, there goes a certain virtue out from him, that heals the soul, as that virtue healed her bloody issue.

And therefore the first thing that must bee done, to bring a man out of this miserable condition of death, is to waken him, to open his eyes, to see that hee is a childe of wrath, and to see what extreame neede hee stands in of Iesus Christ, and to seeke and to long after him; as a condemned man longs after his pardon, and as hee that was pursued by the avenger of bloud, in the old law came to the citie of refuge, for safetie and for shelter: I say, after that manner we must first be awakened. This you shall see, Eph, 5. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead. That wakening therefore is the first worke. And so