A64642:515
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.
When a man considers deliberately, here is the loss, I must deny my self and obey him, but I shall have a Kingdom, Gods blessing, and peace of conscience; All things considered, casting the best with the worst, then the resolution is, this is a true saying worthy of all acceptation, &c. I'll take him on any terms, be they never so hard, for I shall be a saver in the end: when we can take Christ as it were with all his faults, this is the will which God requires. There is another comparison in Scripture, John 6.35. its compared to hunger and thirst. Believing was expressed by coming. Believing is expressed by hungering and thirsting. So when I see such a will and desire after Christ; that I hunger and thirst after him, that a hungry man longeth not more for bread, nor the Hart thirsteth more for the water-brooks, than my soul doth for Christ; why then there is a promise made unto us; and a promise ⟨p. 373⟩is never made unto us till we be in Christ. Matth. 5. Rev. 22. Isaiah 55. We find promises in them all; in Mat. 5.6. Bl•ssed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven, they shall be filled. Consider here what the nature of hunger and thirst is; they shall be filled, which implies they were empty before, but now they shall be filled. Suppose now I am not filled with Christ, What am I without him? No, I want him; yet there's a blessing to the hungry and thirsty, and there's no blessing without faith. If we be not heirs of the faith, we cannot be heirs of the blessing. Dost thou find in thy self an hungering and thirsting after Christ? Thou art blessed, this faith will save thee. Now faith will say, I am wonderfully pained, faint, and even starved, that I cannot be filled with Christ; yet be content man, thou shalt be filled with him; in the mean while thou hast him, and hast blessedness, and shalt be blessed. It's said, 1 John 5.13. These things have I written unto you that believe in the Name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the Name of the Son of God. Mark how the Apostle distinguishes these two things; thou believest on the Name of Christ, yet sayest thou, though I believe, I am not sure of my salvation, I do not know it. Why, let not that much trouble thee, that's a consequent of it, and that assurance will follow after;