A17412:817
Sermons upon the ten first verses of the third chapter of the first Epistle…
Sermons upon the ten first verses of the third chapter of the first Epistle of S. Peter Being the last that were preached by the late faithful and painful minister of Gods word, Nicolas Byfield. Wherein method, sense, doctrine, and use, is, with great variety of matter, profitably handled; and sundry heads of divinity largely discussed. Published since the authors death by William Gouge.Sermons upon the ten first verses of the third chapter of the first Epistle of S. Peter Being the last that were preached by the late faithfull and painfull minister of Gods word, Nicolas Byfield. Wherein method, sense, doctrine, and vse, is, with great varietie of matter, profitably handled; and sundry heads of divinitie largely discussed. Published since the authors death by William Gouge.
London: printed by H. Lownes for George Latham, 1626
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1First for righteousness. Here it is the greatest burden of life unto the godly, that they are not able to serve God as they desire; the imperfections of their gifts, the corruption of their natures, the daily infirmities that discover themselves in their conversations, make life many times more bitter than death would be to them: as appeareth by Saint Paul, Rom. 7. But there, all that is imperfect shall be done away; there shall be no danger of displeasing God, for we shall be made perfect in all parts and degrees of holiness: our nature shall be perfect, like the nature of God; our members shall never more be servants unto unrighteousness, and our souls shall exactly resemble God in all perfection of goodness and gifts Here the glory of mans inheritance lieth in the goodness of things without them; there it shall consist principally in an everlasting goodness, confirmed upon themselves: We shall be without spot and wrinkle, Eph. 5.27. We shall be as he is in holiness, 1. Joh. 3.2. Here is our grief, that our hearts cannot be so filled with the love of God, and the godly, as they should be; there our hearts shall burn with an eternal inflammation of affections towards God, and the blessed ones, ⟨p. 155⟩without any interruption or decay: we shall never more be troubled with hardness of heart, discouragement, fear, distractions, inordinate desires, and perturbations. Yea, our holiness shall be better than Adams in Paradise: for he had a power not to sin, but we shall have no power at all to sin. Yea, in relation to Christ, it shall be better with us then, than it is now: for now we are reckoned just men only by the benefit of Christs righteousness imputed to us; but then we shall be made so perfectly holy by inherent righteousness, that we shall stand everlasting righteous before God, by the righteousness that is in us. Imputation shall there cease for ever, when Christ hath delivered up the kingdom to God the Father, and when Faith shall be done away. Lastly, the difference in this point may further appear in the freedom of our will. In this life many times our wills are not free to desire to do the good we should do, and most an end want power to execute what we desire: but there shall be all liberty, so as we shall never want either desire or power, to accomplish what may be for Gods everlasting glory, or our own felicity.