A64642:446
Eighteen sermons preached in Oxford 1640 of conversion, unto God. Of redemption, & justification,…
Eighteen sermons preached in Oxford 1640 of conversion, unto God. Of redemption, & justification, by Christ. By the Right Reverend James Usher, late Arch-bishop of Armagh in Ireland. Published by Jos: Crab. Will: Ball. Tho: Lye. ministers of the Gospel, who writ them from his mouth, and compared their copies together. With a preface concerning the life of the pious author, by the Reverend Stanley Gower, sometime chaplain to the said bishop.Eighteen sermons preached in Oxford 1640 of conversion, unto God. Of redemption, & justification, by Christ. By the Right Reverend James Usher, late Arch-bishop of Armagh in Ireland. Published by Jos: Crabb. Will: Ball. Tho: Lye. ministers of the Gospel, who writ them from his mouth, and compared their copies together. With a preface concerning the life of the pious author, by the Reverend Stanly Gower, sometime chaplain to the said bishop.
London: printed by S. Griffin for Will, 1660
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.
Object. Now then this is an easy matter, you will say.
Object. Now then this is an easie matter, you will say.
Sol. Not so easy a matter as you guess it to be. It were easy indeed, were there nothing but saying the word to make man and wife; there are terms and conditions to be agreed upon. God casts not his Son away, he looks there shall be conditions on thy side; he must be thy King and Head, if thou wilt have him to be thy husband. But what shall I get by him, then saith the wife? Get? there is no end of thy getting. All is thine, Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Life, &c. Thou art Christs, and Christ is Gods. Every man will take Christ thus for the better: but there's somewhat else in the match. If thou wilt have him, thou must take him for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer. Indeed there are precious things provided for you. Its your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom; you shall be Heirs with Christ, but for the present, while you are in the Church Militant, you must take up your Cross; you must not look for great things in this world: In this world you must have tribulation, you must deny your selves, and your own Wills. What? would you have Christ the wife, and you the husband? No, If you think so, you mistake the match. Christ must be the Husband and the Head; and as the wife promises to obey her husband, to stick to her husband in sickness and in health, and to forsake all others; so Christ asketh, wilt thou have me? if thou wilt, thou must take me on these terms, thou must take my Cross with me, thou must deny thine own Will, yea, it may be thine own life also. Let a Christian consider all these things, these are the ⟨p. 427⟩words, and these are the benefits and then compare them together, & then if he can say, I will have Christ how•ver, for I shall be a saver by him, I'll take him withal faults, & I know I shall make a good bargain, therefore I will have him on any terms come what will; when a man can have his will so perpendicularly bent on Christ, that he will have him, though he leave his skin behind him, there's a true acceptation of him. We must not here distinguish with the Schools about Velleities, a general wishing and woulding, and true desires after Christ: Wishers and Woulders never thrive; but there must be a resolution to follow Christ through thick and thin, never to part with him: a direct Will is here required. And therefore Christ bids us consider before—hand what it will cost us.