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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64642	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.	Ussher, James, 1581-1656.; Gower, Stanley.; Crabb, Joseph, b. 1618 or 19.	1660 (1660)	Wing U173; ESTC R217597	234,164	424

and feet But that which he shed in the garden in the cold winter time when he shed great drops great clots of blood thickest blood that pierc'd his garment and ran down upon the ground Consider how much blood he lost when he was whipped and lashed when the spear came to the very Pericardium thus let us weigh his torments and it will be a means to make us much affected with his sufferings for us But this is not all there is another thing yet in the blood this was but the outward part of his sufferings Yet some there are who are against Christs sufferings in his soul If it were so say they then something either in the sacrifices of the old Testament or in the new Testament should signifie it What ever such persons object against it I am sure there was as much in the sacrifices of the old Testament as could possibly be in a Type to signifie it Now that I may make this to appear know that in every sacrifice there were two parts or two things considerable and those were the Body and the Blood the whole was to be made a sacrifice viz. both Body and blood the body was to be burned the blood to be poured forth Now nothing in a beast can signifie the sufferings of Christ in soul better then the pouring out of the blood Lev. 17.11 The blood was the life and this is that which had a relation to the soul and was therefore as in the same place appears poured out as an attonement for the soul And to this in our common prayers there is an allusion viz. Grant us gracious Lord so to eat the flesh of thy dear son Jesus Christ and to drink his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood And in Isa. 53.12 The Metaphor holds He poured out his soul unto death for us So that whatever some have fondly thought its evident and manifest that Christ suffered both in soul and body both soul and body were made an offering for sin who knew no sin I should have gone further but the time cuts me off FINIS HEB. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly ùnto the throne of grace that we may obtaine mercy and finde grace to help in time of need IN handling heretofore the Doctrine of the conversion of a sinner I declar'd and shew'd you what mans misery was and what that great hope of mercy is that the Lord proposeth to the greatest sinner in the world I shew'd unto you the means whereby we may be made partakers of Christ and that was by the grace of faith which doth let fall all other things in a mans self and comes with an open and empty hand to lay hold on Christ and fill it self with him I shew'd you also the acts of Faith as it justifies And now because it is a point of high moment wherein all our comfort stands and in which it lies I thought good to resume it all again so farre as may concerne our practice that we may see what the work of Gods Spirit is from the first to the last in the conversion of a sinner from the corruptions and pollutions of the flesh in which he wallowed and to this purpose have I chosen this place of Scripture wherein we are encouraged by Gods blessed Word that what ever we are though accursed and the greatest sinners in the world and that whatever we want we should come to Gods throne of grace And we are to think that whatever sinnes are or have been committed and though our sinnes are never so great yet that they are not so great as the infinitenesse of Gods mercy especially having such not only an Intercessor but Advocate to plead the right of our cause so that Christ comes and he pleads payment and that however our debts are great and we runne farre in score yet he is our ransome and therefore now Gods justice being satisfied why should not his mercy have place and free course This is the great comfort that a Christian hath that he may come freely and boldly to God because he comes but as for an acquittance of what is already paid As a debtor will appear boldly before his creditor when he knows his debt is discharg'd he will not then be afraid to look him in the face Now we may come and say Blessed Father the debt is paid I pray give me pardon of my sinnes give me my acquittance And this is that boldnesse and accesse spoken of Rom. 5.2 In whom we have accesse by faith Now that I may not spend too much time needlesly come we to the ground and matter in the words Wherein there is 1. A preparative for grace 2. The act it self whereby we are made partakers of the grace of God First the preparatives are two The law and the Gospel and wrought by them The first preparative 1. Wrought by the Law The Law works in a time of great need this is the first preparative for a man to be brought to see he stands in great need of Gods mercy and Christs blood so that the sinner cries out Lord I stand in great want of mercy His eyes being thus opened he is no longer a stranger at home but he sees the case is wondrous hard with him so that he concludes Unlesse God be merciful unto me in Christ I am lost and undone for ever This is the first preparative and till we come to it we can never approach the throne of grace The second is 2. Wrought by the Gospel I see I stand in great need but by this second preparative we see a Throne of grace set up and that addes comfort unto me If God had onely a throne and seat of Justice I were utterly undone I see my debt is extreme great but the Gospel reveals unto me that God of his infinite mercy hath erected a Throne of grace a City of refuge that finding my self in need my soul may flie unto And now to fit us for this Gods blessed Spirit works by his Word to open unto us the Law and our wants to enlighten our understandings that we stand in great need to win our affection and open the Gospel and its comforts Therefore first for the time of need the Law reveals unto us our woful condition to be born in sin as the Pharisee said and yet not able to see it Every man may say in generalities I am a sinner yet to say and know himself to be such a sinner as indeed he is to stand in such need that he cannot do This one would think to be a matter of sence but unlesse Gods Spirit open our eyes we can never see our selvs to be such sinners as we are or else what is the reason that the child of God cries out more against his sinne and the weight thereof after his conversion than he did before What are his sinnes greater or more than they were

and ashes and yet darest thou thy Maker Dost thou saith God lift thy self up against him before whom all the powers of Heaven do tremble whom the Angels do adore Exaltest thou thy self against him who inhabiteth Eternity What oppose thy self a base creature to Almighty God thy Creator Consider this and let the basenesse of the delinquent and the Majesty and Glory of that God against whom he offends be the first aggravation of sin and thou shalt find sin out of measure sinful 2. Consider the smalnesse of the Motives and the littlenesse of the inducements that perswade thee so vile a creature to set thy self against so glorious a God If it were great matters set thee a work as the saving of thy life it were somewhat But see how small and little a thing does usually draw thee to sin A little profit it may be or pleasure It may be neither of these or not so much When thou breathest out oaths and belchest out fearful blasphemies against God when thou rendest and tearest his dreadful and terrible name what makes such a base and vile villain as thou thus to fly in Gods face Is there any profit or delight in breathing forth blasphemies Profit thou canst take none and if thou take pleasure in it then the Devil is in thee yea then thou art worse then the Devil himself This is the second Consideration which may make us to see the vilenesse of sin and abhor our selves for it to wit the slenderness of the temptations and smalnesse of the motives to it 3. Adde what strong helps and meanes God hath given thee to keep thee from sin As I say thou shouldst consider the basenesse of the delinquent the glory of the offended the mean motives which cause so base a creature to do so vile an act so also consider the great means God hath given thee to keep thee from sin He hath given thee his Word and this will greatly aggravate thy sins to sin against his word Gen. 3.11 When God convinces Adam he proceeds thus with him Hast thou saith he eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat What hast thou done it as if thou wouldst do it on purpose to cross God God hath given thee an express command to the contrary and yet hast thou done this Hast thou so often heard the Law and pray'd Lord have mercy on me and incline my heart to keep this law and yet wilt thou lye swear commit adultery and deal falsly and that contrary to the command of God obstinately disobey him Now God hath not onely given this great meanes of his Word and Commandement but great grace too Where understand that there is not onely final grace but degrees of grace else the Apostle would not have said receiv'd not the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain Consider then how much grace thou hast received in vain How many motions to good hast thou rejected Perhaps thy heart is touched at this Sermon though it is not my tongue nor the tongue of the most elegant in the world that can touch the heart but the Spirit that comes along with his word Now when thou findest wirh the Word a Spirit to goe with it it is a grace If thy conscience be enlightned and thy duty revealed to thee so that it tels thee what thou art what thou oughtst to doe and not to doe it is a grace Now if for all this thou blindly runnest through and art never the better but obstinately settest thy self against God and doest many things which others that have not received the same grace would not have done know then that thou receivest this grace in vain and thy case is lamentable 4. Consider Gods great goodnesse towards thee 1. First his goodnesse in himself There 's nothing but goodnesse infinite goodnesse in him and canst thou find in thy heart to sin against so good a God To offend and wrong a good disposition'd person one of a sweet nature and affection it aggravates the fault 't is pity to wrong or hurt such a one as injures no body Now such a one is God a good good infinite in goodness rich in mercy very goodnesse it self and therefore it must needs aggravate the foulnesse of sin to sin against him But now he is not onely thus in himself but 2. Secondly He 's good to thee Rom. 2. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance c. What hast thou that thou hast not received from his bountiful hand Consider of this and let this be a meanes to draw thee off from thy sinfulnesse When David had greatly sinned against God and when God bring● his murther home to him he pleads thus with him When thou wert nothing in thine own eyes I brought thee saith God to the Kingdome I took thee from the sheepfold and exalted thee and brought thee to a plentiful house And may not God say the like to us and doe you thus requite the Lord O you foolish people and unwise that the more his mercy and goodnesse is to you the higher your sins should be against him 5. Besides Consider more then all this we have the examples of good men before our eyes God commands us not what we cannot doe If God had not set some before our eyes that walk in his wayes and doe his will then we might say that these are precepts that none can perform But we have patterns of whom we may say such a man I never knew to lye such a one never to swear and this should be a means to preserve us from sinning Heb. 11. Noah was a good man and being moved with fear set not at nought the threatning of God but built the Ark and thereby condemned the world His example condemned the world in that they followed it not although it were so good but continued in their great sins So art thou a wicked deboist person there is no good man but shall condemn thee by his example It 's a great crime in the land of uprightnesse to doe wickedly to be profane when the righteous by their blamelesse lives may teach thee otherwise 6. And lastly Adde to all the consideration of the multitude and weight of thy sins Hadst thou sinned but once or twice or in this or that it were somewhat tolerable But thy sins are great and many they are heavy and thou continually encreasest their weight and addest to their number Jer. 5.6 A lyon out of the forrest shall slay them and a wolf of the evening shall spoile them a leopard shall watch over their Cities and every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces Why Because their transgressions are many and their back-slidings are encreased If thou hadst committed but two or three or four sins thou mightst have hope of pardon but when thou shalt never have done with thy God but wilt be still encreasing still multiplying thy sins How can I pardon thee Thus David sets

shew'd you the last day and did then promise to shew you the other to wit the wofulnesse of his estate being once come into his place The act done to the sinners soul before he is sent to hell is the deprivation of his light the taking away of his talent For whilst a man is in this world he hath many good things in him too good to accompany him to hell Now all these excellent gifts and natural endowments which did adorn a wicked mans soul before the soul is hurled into hell must be taken away from him There is a kind of degradation of the soul it is depriested 〈◊〉 were and becomes lik● a degraded Knight that hath his honour taken from him All the rich talents and all the rich prizes that were put into the fools hand shall be taken from him Is there any moral vertue Are there any common graces and natural endowments in the miserable soul it shal be stript of all and packt to hell You that have abused your learning and gifts that God hath given you do you think that they shall go with you to hell No such matter you shall be very sots and dunces there All your learning shall be taken from you and you shall goe to hell arrant blockheads He that had fortitude in this world shall not carry one drachm of it to hell all his courage shall then be abased and his cowardly heart shall faint for fear Fortitude is a great advantage to a man in distresse but let not the damned soul expe●t the least advantage his fortitude which he had whilst he was in the way shall be taken from him It may be he had patience in this world Now patience is ● vertue unfit for hell therefore shall that be taken from him A man if he were in most exquisite torments yet if he had patience it would bear it up with head and shoulders as we say but this shall adde to his torments that he shall not have any patience left him to allay it A man hath perhaps hope in this world and as the Proverb is were it not for hope the heart would burst yet even this too shall be taken away from him he shall have no hope left him of ever seeing Gods face again or of ever having any more tasts of his favour And so what hath been said of some may be said of all his graces and endowments he shall clean be stript of all ere he be sent to hell I come now to speak of the place of torment it self wherein the sinner is to be cast eternally which is the second act But think not that I am able to discover the thousandth part of it no nor any man else God grant that no soul here present ever come to find by experience what it is What a woful thing is it that many men should take more paines to come to this place of torment then would cost them to goe to heaven that men should wilfully run themselves upon the pikes not considering how painful it is nor how sharp those pikes are And this I shall endeavour to my power to set forth unto you This Text declares unto us two things 1. Who they are for whom this place is provided 2. The place it self and the nature of it 1. For whom the place is provided The Text containes a Catalogue of that black Roll though there are many more then are here expressed but here are the grand crimes the ring-leaders to destruction the mo●●er sins And here we have in the first place the Fearful whereby is not meant those that are of a timorous nature for fear simply is not a sin those that are simply fearful but such as place their fear on a wrong object not where it should be that fear not God but other things more then God Such as if affliction and iniquity were put to their choise will rather choose iniquity then affliction Rather then they will have any cross betide them rather then they will incur the indignation of a man rather then they will part with their life and goods for Gods cause will adventure on any thing choosing iniquity rather then affliction being afraid of what they should not fear never fearing the great and mighty God This is the fearful here meant See how Job expresses it Job 36.31 This hast thou chosen This that is iniquity rather then affliction to sin rather then to suffer Christ biddeth us not to fear poor vain man but the omnipotent God that is able both to kill and to cast into hell The man that feareth his Landlord who is able to turn him out of his house and doth not fear God who is able to turn him into hell this dastardly spirit is one of the Captains of those that goe to hell those timerous and cowardly persons that tremble at the wrath or frowns of men more then of God But what 's the reason men should thus stand more in fear of men then of God Why it is because they are sensible of what men can doe unto their bodies but they cannot with Moses by faith see what that is that is invisible They are full of unbelief for had they 〈◊〉 they would banish all false fears See what the Lord saith Esa. 41 14. Fear not thou worm Jacob I will help thee saith the Lord. He saith not Fear not ye men or thou man for then perhaps thou mightst be thought to have some power to resist but fear not thou worm A worm you know is a poor weak thing apt to be crushed by every foot yet be this thy case be thou a worm unable to resist the least opposition yet fear not thou worm Fear not why for I will help thee saith the Lord. Couldst thou but believe in God this would make thee bold and hadst thou faith thou wouldst not fear When word was brought to the house of Jacob that two Kings were come up into the Land to invade it Esay 7.2 it is said his heart was moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind But what is the remedy of this fear See Esay 8.12 Fear not their fear nor be afraid that was a false and a base fear sanctifie the Lord in your hearts and let him be your fear and let him be your dread Esay 51.12 there is an object of our faith and comfort and a remedy against fear proposed I even I am he that comforteth thee who art thou that shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die and the son of man that is as grass What art thou one that hast God on thy side how unworthy art thou of that high favour if thou fear man The greatest man that lives cannot shield himself from death and from a covering of worms and wilt thou be afraid of a man and forget the Lord thy Maker The more thou art taken up with the fear of man the lesse thou fearest God and the more thou remembrest man the more thou

of our bodies pulls body and soul in sunder A thing which hath little hurt in it self were it not for the sting of it which makes it fearful To die is esteemed far worse then to be dead in regard of the pangs that are in dying to which death puts an end This temporal death is in an instant but this other eternal whereby we are ever dying and never dead for by it we are punished with an everlasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thess. 1.9 and that from the presence of the Lord by the glory of his power Then which place I have no need to adde more for as much as can be s●id of men and Angels is fully comprehended in it The Apostle terms this a fearful thing indeed Heb. 2.15 whereon if a man but think if he hath his wits about him he would for fear of it be all his life long subject to bondage He would scarce draw any free breath but would still be studying how to avoid it and would still be in bondage and drudgery till he were delivered Thus I have declared the nature of the place and of this second death That I may now goe farther know that this Lake and this place is the place that the Lord hath provided for his enemies It is the Lords slaughter-house it s called a place of torments Luke 16. a place wherein God will shew the accomplishment of his wrath and revenge upon his enemies Those mine enemies that would not have me to reign over them bring them forth and slay them before my face Those vessels of wrath those rebels the King is in raged and his wrath is as the roaring of a Lyon which makes all the beasts of the forrest to tremble Prov. 19.12 And where there is the wrath of such a King the issue thereof must needs be death Prov. 16.14 The wrath of a King is as a messenger of death How much more fearful is the wrath of the King of Kings God hath sharp arrows and he sets a wicked man as his Butt to shoot at to shew his strength and the fierceness of his wrath See the expression of Job in this case The arrows of the Almighty stick fast in me and the venome thereof hath drunk up my spirits In so few words there could not be an higher expression of the wrath of God First that God should make thee a Butt and then that thou shouldst be shot at and that by Gods arrows And then they are not shot by a child but as the man is so is his strength by the Almighty by his bow wherein he draws the arrow to the head And then again these arrows are poyson'd arrows and such poyson as shall drink up all thy soul and spirit Oh what a fearful thing is it to fall into the hands of such a God! It 's a saying of Moses Psal. 90.11 for 't is Moses Psal. Who knoweth the power of thine anger the power of Gods anger is unknown And so in his Song Deut. 32.22 he sets it out in some measure A fire is kindled in mine anger which shall burn unto the lowest hell c. So that the King being thus provoked is provoked to curse thee Mat. 25. It 's put into the form of thy sentence this cursing shall be thy lot in hell it shall be thy very sentence Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire There is nothing but cursing As Job cursed himself and the day of his birth so then shall cursing be all thy song thou wilt curse thy self that thou didst not hearken to the Preacher that thou wouldst not accept of Christ and the meanes of mercy and grace when it was offered thee and thou wilt curse the time thou wert acquainted with this man and that man and others will curse thee for drawing them to sin God curses thee and man curses thee and God curses not in vain when he curses others will curse thee and thou thy self and others and think then how cursed will be thy condition All the curses that can be thought on and all the curses that cannot be thought on shall rest on the head of an impenitent sinner to shew Gods terrible and just indignation against him Oh beloved to deliver us from this curse Christ the Son of God was made a curse for us the curse is so great nought else can free us from it But now that I may rank these punishments of the damned and bring them for memories sake into some order although there be no order there for it 's a place of confusion you may consider that the penalties of Gods enemies are penalties partly of losse and partly of sense 1. Of loss And that consists in the deprivation of every thing that might administer the least comfort to him and for this cause hell is termed utter darknesse Now darknesse is a privation of all light so is Hell of all comfort to shew that there is not the least thing that may give thee content nor is the poorest thing thou canst desire to be had there Darknesse was one of the plagues of Egypt though there were no kind of sense in it yet we may think what a plague and vexation it was to them to sit so long in darkness The darknesse of Hell is darker then darknesse it self They shall not see light saith the Scripture they shall not have so much as a glimpse of it To be cast into this utter darkness where shall be nothing to administer the least comfort what an infinite misery will that be Were it only the losse of the things we now possesse and enjoy of all which death robs us as pomp honour riches and preferment this were grievous to a wicked man These are things death dispossesses a man of these cannot follow him nought but thy works accompany thee thy friends may follow thee to the grave but there they shall leave thee To have been happy and to be miserable is the greatest woe to have lived in good fashion and to be wretched is the greatest grief How will this adde to the sinners misery when he shall say to himself I had once all good things about me but have now for my portion nothing but woe I had a bed of down but it is now exchanged for a bed of fire I was once honourable but now I am full of shame and contempt this will greatly adde to his misery But all this is nothing these are but the beginnings of his sorrow in regard of losse for a man to be rich and wealthy to day and to morrow to be stript of all and left not worth a groat to have all swept away this is a woful case 2. But if this be so grievous what is it to lose Heaven Certainly to lose the highest and greatest good is the greatest evil and punishment that can be inflicted upon a creature Which makes many Divines think that the penalties of losse are far greater then those of sense though they seem not to

make that impression It 's another thing to judge of things by sense then by losse As for example a man is greatly troubled with the tooth-ach and he thinks his case more miserable then any and thinks no man ever endur'd so much misery as himself he judges of his misery by sense Another man is in the consumption and he hath little or no pain at all yet if a man come with a right judgment he will judge his condition far worse then the others So take all the pains in Hell though sense may say they are the greatest that can be yet discreet judgment can say that the losse of God the greatest good is the worst of evils Now if thou be a firebrand of Hell thou must be for ever banish't from Gods presence Thou base wretch dost thou thin● Heaven a place for thee not so 'T is without are dogs and sorcerers c. Thou art a damned dog therefore thou must out from God and from the company of the blessed Saints and Angels When Peter saw Moses and Elias with Christ in his Transfiguration though he had but a glimpse of glory yet he saith It is good for us to be here But oh how infinite good will it be to be in Heaven how shall we be then wrapt up with glory when we shall be for ever with the Lord in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore On the contrary how exceeding terrible will it be to be shut out from the presence of God when God shall say avaunt hence whip out this dog what doth he here let him not defile this room this is no place for such a filthy dog Oh the unspeakable horrour and dread oh the infinite shame of that man who is in such a case But this is not all There is yet one thing more the wicked shall not only be banished from Gods gracious presence and cast into Hell but this shall be done in the sight of Heaven The glorious Saints of God have continually a sight of Gods justice upon sinners that they may glorifie his mercy the more The Scripture runs much to this purpose Rev. 14.10 If any man worship the beast and his image the same shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of God and of his holy Angels This in the 9th verse is the portion of them that worship the beast that is the Pope and receive the mark of his name That is if any will be an expresse publick or private Papist if any one will be a slave to the Pope see his portion he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God and be banished from the society of holy Angels and be tormented with hell-fire in their presence Oh what a vexation will this be to the damned when they shall see others in heaven and themselves shut out of door This will cause weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth It will go to their very heart when they shall see Moses and Aaron and the Prophets and holy Saints in joy and glory and shall consider and remember that if they had made use of these means and opportunities of grace they might have lived in Heaven too whereas now they must be everlastingly tormented in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone and that without any hope of recovery 2 Thess. 1.9 Punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power You know that by the Law of Moses whensoever an offender was to receive his stroaks Deut. 25 2 3. The Judge was to cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face and he himself was to see it done So when God comes to give the damned their stroaks in hell for hell is the place of execution wherein he that knows his masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes he himself will see them beaten in the presence of all his holy Angels and if so how shameful will their punishment be when there shall be so many thousand witnesses of it when they shall be made as we say the worlds wonder These are they that shall rise to everlasting contempt Dan. 12. So in Esay ult Cap. v. ult it 's said of the damned their worm shall not die nor their fire be quenched but they shall be an abhorring to all flesh and the holy Angels and Saints shall go forth and look upon them those proud ones that scorned Gods people here shall then be abhorred and scorned of them 4. Adde to all this that he 's not only banish't from the presence of God for a while but from all hope of ever seeing God again with comfort Thy estate is endless and remediless Whilst thou art here in this life of a Saul thou mayst become a Paul and though thou art not yet a beloved son yet thou mayst come in favour Whilst thou livest under the means of grace there is yet hope of recovery left thee it may be this Sermon may be the meanes of thy conversion But then amongst all thy punishments this will be one of the greatest that thou shalt be deprived of all means of recovery and this shall be another hell to thee in the middest of hell to think with thy self I have heard so many Sermons and yet have neglected them I had so many opportunities of grace and yet have slighted them this will make the sinner rage and bite his tongue and tear himself to think how that now all meanes are past And this is the first penalty the penalty of loss That of the sense succeeds By the former we are deprived of all the joyes and comforts of heaven earth of Mount Sion shut out of the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem depriv'd of an innumerable company of Saints of the general assembly and Church of the first-born of God himself the Judge of all and the souls of the Saints made perfect This shall make a sinner curse himself Now follows the penalty of torments and sense When Adam was banished out of Paradise he had the wide world to walk in still but it is not so here Thou art not only cast out of heaven but cast into hell and art deprived of thy liberty for ever 1 Pet. 3.19 It 's said Christ preached to the spirits in prison them that in the dayes of Noah were disobedient and for this cause are now in prison Hell is compar'd to a prison and a prison indeed it is and that an odious one For 1. Look on thy companions If a man were to be kept close prisoner it were a great punishment but goe ye cursed saith God into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels To be among such companions is most infinitely miserable there is nothing but Devils and damned howling ghosts woful companions If there be an house possessed with an evil spirit a man will scarce be hired to live in it

will not be in good liking that eats but once a year but a man must eat once a day at least A Christian should feed on Christ every day make him his ordinary food renewing every day the acts of his faith receive Christ crucified by faith every day If a Christian would consider that God offers Christ unto him every day and thou renewest thy faith and claspest him every day it would be a special way whereby joy should be raised in the soul. It s said in Rom. 15.13 We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Thus when thou hast exercised the acts of faith in believing and then upon that rejoycest then its seasonable and true joy and not the counterfeit joy of the wicked when it arises and springs from believing when that procureth it it likewise distinguishes it from all false joys The Apostle tells us Phil. 1.24 Having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith It is called the joy of faith because it springs from that principle of rejoycing from the mother grace that your rejoycing may be the more abundant The preaching of the Word whereby faith is wrought brings abundance of joy That place of St. Peter is remarkable 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory yet believing that is yet exercising the acts of faith which we too much neglect If we did exercise these acts every day we should have our Charter of joy renewed every day yet believing ye rejoyce 3. Pray and be thankful praise and thanksgiving are those fruits which fulfill all our joy when thou prayest thou conversest with God thou speakest with him face to face as Moses did He who can pray spiritually and pray hard unto God as Moses face shined when he talked with God so will thy soul thrive praying hard and being thankful there is no greater means then this to get this joy Psal. 37.1 Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright Upon this hangs all our comfort praise alwayes brings rejoycing the one begets the other In Isaiah The comfort there that Gods children receive is the changing of rayment Christ preaching the acceptable year of the Lord to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give to them beauty for ashes the oyle of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness The ground of praise is joy one follows the other Observe God will give us the oyle of joy Christ was anointed with this oyle above his fellows Christ hath fulnesse of joy this oyle doth not come on his Priesthood alone but it trickles down unto the lowermost hemme of his garment I will adde in the last place when a man considers the great things which are given to him by God and what an estate we get by Christ. I have forgivenesse of sins and blessed is the man whose sinnes are forgiven Christs blood is wine and my name is written in the book of life Do not rejoyce saith our Saviour because the Divels are subject unto you but because your names are written in the book of life When I consider that I am not in the black Roll and it is my faith which strengthens me which makes me reckon Christ my chiefest wealth this makes me rejoyce in mine inheritance and in hope of the glory of God When I consider the great reward in the world to come this is a great cause of rejoycing and therefore Gods children long for the coming of Christ it is made Tit. 2.13 a mark of those that shall be saved That they long for the appearance of Jesus Christ looking for and hastning unto the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. And in 2 Pet. 3.12 Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of God A longing expectation not only they but we also that have the first fruits of the Spirit groan and long for the coming of it and therefore the last breath of the Scripture is breathed in this Rev. 22.20 He that testifyeth these things saith Surely I come quickly Amen even so be it come Lord Jesus there is a sweet Allegory to expresse this in Cant. ult 14. make haste my beloved and be like the Hinde and like the Roe Come Lord Jesus come quickly and come as the Hinde and as the Roe and as a Hart upon the Mountaine of spices Make hast and come quickly be swift and do not tarry and in a better place I cannot end FINIS A TABLE An Advertisement That the Printers mis-paging may be no hindrance to the use of this Table the Reader is to take notice that it refers to the pages as they are figured not as they should be and that whereas after page 431. the numbers take their rise back at 361. and from thence are repeated over again this Asterisk * placed before any figure notes the latter order of pages so figured A ACceptation and Affiance two acts of Faith page 424 Active Obedience See Obedience Aggravations of sin p. 90 A temporary Believer desires Christ only in Affliction p. * 388 389 Assurance no part of justifying faith p. 428. It is attainable p. * 457 Why so many Christians want it p. * 438 B. Baptism what it obliges to p. 54. It hath not its full effect till the day of our death ibid. To believe is a hard matter p. 53.426 To believe is our duty p. 408 Five words or Scripture-wayes that God uses to perswade sinners to Believe in Christ viz. General Proclamation p. 402. Special invitations p. 405. Entreaties p. 406. Commands p. 408. Threatnings p. 409 To Believe is to come to Christ p. * 350 It is exprest by Hungring and Thirsting p. * 372 A Believers case like the Beggars p. * 376 A true Believer distinguished from a Temporary 1. by the ground of his desires p. * 388. 2. by his desiring Grace as well as Mercy p. * 394 3. by his Love to God p. * 395 A Believers priviledge p. * 456 C. GOd Calls sinners to Christ by five words p. 402 Christ's equality with God p. 360. It renders his Humiliation the greater and more meritorious p. 361 Christ's Humiliation the extent degrees and particulars of it p. 363 371 372. Part of his Humiliation to be Gods Servant p. 365. He was a Serant on earth in respect of men p. 367. used and valued at the rate of a bond-man p 368 Christ's sufferings the more meritorious because voluntary p. 374. Christ's Active Obedience in the course of his life p. 375. his Humiliation and sufferings from his Conception to his death described p. 379. c. Christ's death described