A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

(1.) It cannot be otherwise, for the Devil hath a right in us, as long as we remain in Sin; therefore there must be a rescue from his Power, Col. 1.13. Who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. Christ and Satan cannot reign in the same Heart, nor God and the h•• World. Joseph was taken out of Prison, and then preferred to Pharaoh. This is •he Method, Luke 1.73. That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies, might serve him without fear, in Holiness and Righteousness before him, all the Days of our lives. Deliverance hath the precedence; first the Thorns must be rooted out, and then the Corn is sowed.

(1.) It cannot be otherwise, for the Devil hath a right in us, as long as we remain in Sin; therefore there must be a rescue from his Power, Col. 1.13. Who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. Christ and Satan cannot reign in the same Heart, nor God and the h•• World. Ioseph was taken out of Prison, and then preferr'd to Pharaoh. This is •he Method, Luke 1.73. That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies, might serve him without fear, in Holiness and Righteousness before him, all the Days of our lives. Deliverance hath the precedence; first the Thorns must be rooted out, and then the Corn is sowed.

(2.) It must not be otherwise; God will have nothing to do with us, till we have renounced Sin. A plausible Life is but a counterfeit Varnish, like gilding over a rotten Post, or a moral Integrity, till Sin be renounced. The Prodigal left his Husks, and then returned to his Father. This is the Method at our first Conversion: indeed afterwards there is some difference, when once Grace is once planted in the Heart, it hath the advantage of Corruption, and worketh first. Thus it is said of Job, Chap. 1.1. That Man was perfect and upright, one that feared God, and eschewed Evil. First fearing God, then eschewing Evil. Grace having taken possession, and being seated in the Heart, it works first. Like a Man possessed and seated in his House, he seeketh to expel his Enemy: So at first, way is made for the Operation of Grace, and then all the Work afterwards is the destruction of Sin.