Twenty sermons preached at Oxford before His Majesty, and elsewhere

There are two sorts of sins; one of ordinary incursion, which cannot be avoided; these break no friendship betwixt God, and us; these only weaken our faith, and make us worse at ease. But there are other sins which waste a mans conscience; A man that hath committed murder, adultery, and lives in covetousness, which (in the Apostles) is Idolatry; as long as a man is in this case, he cannot exercise the acts of faith; we must know faith justifieth not as an habit, but as an act applying Christ to the comfort of the soul. Now a wasting sin it stops the passage of faith, it cannot act till it be opened by repentance; Physicians give instances for it. Those that have Apoplexies, Epilepsies, and the Falling sickness, are thought to be dead for the time, as it was with Eutichus, yet saith Saint Paul, his spirit was in him, Act. 20.13. Every one thought him dead, yet his spirit is in him; however in regard of the operation of his senses it did appear he was dead. So, if thou art a careless man and lookst not to thy watch, and to thy guard, but art overtaken in some gross, and grievous sin, thou art taken for dead. I say not, a man can lose his life that once hath it; but yet in the apprehension of others, and of himself too, he may appear to be dead. As in Epilepsies, the nerves are hindered by obstructions; so sin obstructs the nerves of the soul, that there cannot be that life and working, till these sins be removed. Now what is repentance? why, it clears the passages, that though faith could ⟨p. 133⟩[…] before, yet now it gives him dispositions unto it. As a man in a […], cannot do the acts of a living man, till he be refreshed again; so […] its repentance which clears the spirits, and makes the life of faith pass throughout, Now when repentance clears the passages, then faith acts, and now there is a new act of faith, faith justifies me from my new sins; faith at first and at last, is that whereby I am justified from my sins, which I commit afterwards.

There are two sorts of sins; one of ordinary incursion, which cannot be avoided; these break no friendship betwixt God, and us; these only weaken our faith, and make us worse at ease. But there are other sins which waste a mans conscience; A man that hath committed murder, adultery, and lives in covetousness, which (in the Apostles) is Idolatry; as long as a man is in this case, he cannot exercise the acts of faith; we must know faith justifieth not as an habit, but as an act applying Christ to the comfort of the soul. Now a wasting sin it stops the passage of faith, it cannot act till it be opened by repentance; Physicians give instances for it. Those that have Apoplexies, Epilepsies, and the Falling sickness, are thought to be dead for the time, as it was with Eutichus, yet saith Saint Paul, his spirit was in him,