A64642:684
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.
But forasmuch as the Devil transforms himself into an Angel of light; there is no work of Gods Spirit in the hearts of his children, but Satan like an Ape labours to imitate in the hearts of wicked men, to make them secure; we must know that there are joys ⟨p. 460⟩in some who are not regenerate. They that received the Word on the Rock, received it with joy; the Word if it be apprehended, and hath but the least footing, brings joy with it.
But forasmuch as the Divel transforms himself into an Angel of light; there is no work of Gods Spirit in the hearts of his children, but Satan like an Ape labours to imitate in the hearts of wicked men, to make them secure; we must know that there are joys ⟨p. 460⟩in some who are not regenerate. They that received the Word on the Rock, received it with joy; the Word if it be apprehended, and hath but the least footing, brings joy with it.
But now to know how I may get this joy, how comfortable a thing is it to have such a comfort on earth, as to know that I have this true joy! and to be able to distinguish this joy from the joy, from the flashes, those fleeting joys of the wicked, which are but as the crackling of thorns under a pot; for theirs is but as a blaze that suddenly goeth out. Now if thou wouldst know thy joy aright, and whether it differ from that counterfeit joy which flesh and blood, and the Devil suggests; Look to the things that go before, and produce this joy.
But now to know how I may get this joy, how comfortable a thing is it to have such a comfort on earth, as to know that I have this true joy! and to be able to distinguish this joy from the joy, from the flashes, those fleeting joys of the wicked, which are but as the crackling of thornes under a pot; for theirs is but as a blaze that suddenly goeth out. Now if thou wouldst know thy joy aright, and whether it differ from that counterfeit joy which flesh and blood, and the Divel suggests; Look to the things that go before, and produce this joy.