of grace the thing that he doth is he presents unto the Father Christ bleeding gasping dying buried and conquering death and when he presents Christ to him he opens his case and confesses his sin to the full and says Lord this is my case As a beggar when he comes to ask an alms of you he will make a preface and tell you his extremity Sir I am in great want I have nor tasted a bit of bread in so many days and unless you help me by your charity I am utterly undone Now when these two concur that there is true need in the beggar and liberality in him of whom he begs it encourages the beggar to be importunate and he prevails you may know when the beggar hath need by his tone accent or language The needy beggars tone and accent is different from the sturdy beggars that hath no need but yet though the beggar be in great misery if he see a churlish Nabal go by him he hath no heart to beg and follows him not nor begs so hard because he hath but little hope to attain any thing from him But I say let both these meet together first that the beggar is in great need then that he of whom he begs is very liberal it makes him beg hard but now cannot he pray without book Think not that I speak against praying by the book you are deceived if you think so but there must be words taken to us besides which perhaps a book will not yield us A beggars need will make him speak and he will not hide his sores but if he hath any sore more ugly or worse than another he will uncover it good Sir behold my woful and distressed case he lays all open to provoke pity So when thou comest before God in confession canst thou not find out words to open thy self to Almighty God not one word whereby thou mayst unlap thy sores and beseech him to look on thee with an eye of pity I must not mince my sins but amplifie and aggravate them that God may be moved to pardon me till we do thus we cannot expect that God should forgive us A great ado there is about auricular confession but it 's a meer bable It were better to cry out our sins at the high Cross than the confess in a Priests ear Thou whisperest in the Priest's ear what if he never tell it or if he do art thou the better Come and pour out thy heart and soul before Almighty God confess thy self to him as David did for that hath a promise made to it Psal. 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou may be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest Why so Why one main cause why we should confess sin is to justifie God When a sinner confesses I am a child of wrath and of death if thou castest me into hell as justly thou mayst I have received but my due when a man does thus as the King's Attourney may frame a Bill of Inditement against himself he justifies Almighty God He gives God the honour of that justice which at the present he executes in pouring horrour into the conscience of the sinner and hath farther in store in providing the Lake of fire and brimstone for the impenitent Thus did David Against thee against thee c. Now when we have thus aggravated our misery comes the other part of begging to cry for mercy with earnestness and here 's the power of the Spirit It 's one thing for a man to pray and another thing for a man to say a prayer but to pray and cry for mercy as David did in good earnest to wrestle with God to say Lord My life lies in it I will never give thee over I will not go with a denial this is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the work of God's Spirit I named you a place in Jude ver 20. where the Apostle exhorts but ye beloved build up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost there 's the prayer of the faithful to pray in the Holy Ghost And in the Ephesians we read of an Armour provided for all the parts of a man's body yet will not serve the turn unless prayer come in as the chief Ephes. 6.18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance c. This is the prayer of faith that procures forgiveness of sins we must pray in faith and in the Spirit that is the language which God understands He knoweth the meaning of the Spirit and knoweth none else but that Many men are wondrously deceived in that which they call the Spirit of prayer One thinks it is a faculty to set out ones desires in fair words shewing earnestness and speaking much in an extemporary prayer This we think commendable yet this is not the Spirit of prayer One that shall never come to Heaven may be more ready in this than the child of God for it is a matter of skill and exercise the Spirit of prayer is another thing The Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought the Spirit it self makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 What shall we think then that the Holy Ghost groans or speaks in prayer No but it makes us groan and though we speak not a word yet it so enlarges our hearts as that we send up a volley of sighs and groans which reach the Throne of grace And this is the Spirit of prayer when with these sighs and groans I beg as it were for my life This is that ardent affection the Scripture speaks of A cold prayer will never get forgiveness of sins it 's the prayer of faith which prevails The prayer of the people availeth much if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fervent In the Ancient Churches those that were possessed with an evil spirit were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that caught them up and made them do actions not sutable to their nature Prayer is a fire from Heaven which if thou hast it will carry all Heaven before it there is nothing in the world so strong as a Christian thus praying Prayers that are kindled with such a zeal are compared to Jacobs wrestling with the Angel Hos. 12.4 whereby he had power over the Angel The Prophet expounds what this wrestling was he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with him This is the wrestling with God when thou fillest Heaven with thy sighs and sobs and bedewest thy couch with thy tears as David did and hast thy resolution with Jacob I will not let thee go except thou bless me God loves this kind of boldness in a beggar that he will not go away without an answer As the poor Widow in the Parable that would not give over her suit
them take them to whom they appertain viz. Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken But on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to peices If their own destruction will not take them off from touching the Lords anointed and from plucking the stars out of his hand let yet the Anguish and vexation that shall accompany their destruction either deter them or confound them For he hath said it who will make it good that there shall be a Resurrection both unto Gods truths and to such as bear Testimony thereunto Mean while let this satisfie such as are faithful whilst God and those that truly fear God prize faithful Ministers it matters not what the rest think of them As King David said in not much an unlike Case of those shall they be had in honour I have now done with the most famous Author of these Sermons of whom I may say as one very Learned saâ—d of Mr. Calvin That famous Man and never to be named without some Preface of Honour Or as another of a Learned and Godly Man God hath so provided that they who lived in Heaven whilst on Earth shall live on Earth whilst in Heaven That they shall leave their Names for a blessing when others leave them behind them for a curse or rather with the Apostle of Demetrius he hath a good Report of all men and of the truth it self A word now concerning these Sermons of his by occasion of the publishing whereof I have thus enlarged They are not so exact as his Immanuel or the Incarnation of the Son of God so accurately couched that you cannot find a word defective or redundant because they wanted his own hand for their publication but yet they are such wherein the Reader may discern much of the Gracious and Heavenly Spirit of this unparalleld Bishop They were preached ad populum in the Vniversity of Oxford the general Subject of them is Conversion or turning from Sin unto God and so mightily did the Lord bless them not only to the Edification and Consolation of very many but also to the Conversion of some as we have good cause to Judge I will say no more the Name of Doctor Vsher by which he is more known to some and the Name of the most Reverend and Learned Father of our Church Doctor James Usher late Arch Bishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland by which he is more known to others not only in these our Kingdomes but in foreign parts his great and good Name I say every wrere as oyntment poured forth prefixed before this Book though with some allay is enough to raise high Expectation of whatsoever cemeth after these words And is argument enough to invite the Reader to look within and read them over And then he will find the least siling of this Master Workmans Gold very precious Good Wine they say needs no bush and if this Wine was so sweet at first running I presume whosoever tasts it now though he have it but at the second or third hand will find it hath not altogether lost its strength nor will he repent his labour in reading these Sermons if he be one that desires to profit his soul more then to please his Palat. That out of this Phoenix the Lord would raise such successors as may by Pen Life and Doctrine do as this burning and shining Light hath done before them is the prayer but scarce the belief of him that prayeth for the Peace and Prosperity of Jerusalem and therein hopeth to have his share in the concurrent prayers of every Godly Reader Stanley Gower Dorchester October the third 1659 A TABLE Directing to the TEXTS of SCRIPTURE Handled in the Following SERMONS Sermon I. HEbrews 4.7 Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David to day after so long a time as it is said to day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts pag. 1 Sermon II. Heb. 4.7 Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David to day after so little time as it is said to day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts p. 8 Sermon III. Gal. 6.3 4. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself but let every man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another p. 16 Sermon IV. Ephes. 2.1 2 3. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince that ruleth in the Air the spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the Children of wrath even as others p. 24 Sermon V. Gal. 3.22 But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe p. 32 Sermon VI. Lament 5.16 Woe unto us that we have sinned p. 40 Sermon VII Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death p. 48 Sermon VIII Rev. 21.8 But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murtherers and whore-mongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death p. 55 Sermon IX Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. Let this mind be in you which also was in Jesus Christ who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion of a man he humbled himself unto the death even the death of the Cross. p. 65 Sermon X. Phil. 2.8 And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became Obedient unto the Death even the Death of the Cross. p. 92 Sermon XI John 1.12 But to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name p. 82 Sermon XII Ephes. 1.13 In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the words of truth the Gospel of your Salvation in whom also after you believed you were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise p. 90 Sermon XIII 1 Cor. 11.29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body p. 99 Sermon XIV Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need p. 108 Sermon XV. Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. p. 117 Sermon XVI Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ p. 127 Sermon XVII Rom.
with it which as rust eats it out and cankers it if he beget a child he is accursed there 's a curse against his person and his goods and all that belongs unto him there 's still a curse over his head The creditor in this World by the Laws of the Realm may choose whether he will have his debtors person seized on or his goods and chattels But not so here this writ is executed against his person and goods and all that belongs unto him So that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God If this be the condition of a wicked man that his very blessings be curses what a woful case is it There 's nothing till he be reconciled to Christ but hath a curse at the end of it Consider that one place in the Prophesie of Malachy where the very blessings are accursed not onely when God sends on him the itch or botch or scab or sword but in blessings cap. 2.2 he 's accursed If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name saith the Lord I will even send a curse upon you But how See how this curse is threatned I will curse your very blessings yea I have cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart Mark is it not a great blessing that God yet affords the Word that we yet enjoy it but if we come to hear but formally to hear it onely and lay it not to heart God curseth this blessing yea I have cursed it already saith the Lord. When thou prayest in hypocrisie thy prayer is a curse to thee If thou receive the Sacrament unworthily the cup of blessing is a cup of poison a cup of cursing to thee Stay not therefore one hour longer quietly in this cursed condition but fly unto Christ for life and blessing run to this City of refuge for otherwise there is a curse at the end of every outward thing that thou enjoyest I have cursed these blessings already It is as sure as if already pass't on thee What a woeful thing then is it think you to be liable to the curse of God! 2. But what 's become of the soul now Why if thou didst but see the cursed soul that thou carriest in thy body it would amaze thee These outward curses are but flea-bitings to the blow that is given to the soul of an unregenerate man that deadness of spirit that is within didst thou but see the curse of God that rests upon the soul of this man even while he is above ground it would even astonish thee 1. Consider there are two kinds of blows that God gives unto the soul of an unregenerate man The one is a terrible blow The other which is the worst of the two is an insensible blow The sensible blow is when God lets the conscience out and makes it fly into the face of a man when the conscience shall come and terribly accuse a man for what he hath done This blow is not so usual as the insensible blow but this insensible is far more heavy But as it falls out that as in this World sometimes before the glory in Heaeen the Saints of God have here a glimpse of Heaven and certain communion with God and Christ certain love tokens a white stone a new name ingraven which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it And this is the testimony of a good conscience which is hidden joyes Privy intercourse is between Christ and them secret kisses And as Gods Children do as it were meet with a Heaven upon Earth sometimes and are as we read of Paul caught up into the third Heaven which to them is more then all the things in the World besides So the wicked have sometimes flashes of Hell in their consciences If you had but seen men in the case that I have seen them in you would say they had an Hell within them they would desire rather and they have expressed it to be torn in pieces by wild horses so they might be freed from the horrours in their consciences When the conscience recoyls and beats back upon it self as a musket or'e charged it turns a man over and over And this is a terrible thing This sometimes God gives men in this World And mark where the word is most powerfully preacht there is this froth most rais'd which is the cause many desire not to come where the word is taught because it galls their consciences and desire the Mass rather because they say the Mass bites not They desire a dead Minister that would not rub up their consciences they would not be tormented before the time They would so but it shall not be at their choice God will make them feel here the fire of Hell which they must endure for ever hereafter This is the sensible Blow when God le ts loose the conscience of a wicked man and he needs no other fire no other worm to torment nothing else to plague him he hath a weapon within him his own conscience which if God lets loose it will be Hell enough But now besides this blow which is not so frequent there is another more common and more insensible blow God saith he is a dead man and a flave to sin and Satan and he thinks himself the freest man in the World God curses and strikes and he feels it not This is an insensible blow and like unto a dead palsie Thou art dead and yet walkest about and art merry though every one that hath his eyes open seeth death in thy face O this deadness this senselesness of heart is the heaviest thing that can befal a sinner in this life It is the cause the Apostle speaks of in the Rom when God delivers up a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a reprobate mind And so in the Epistle to the Ephes. 4.19 declares such a man to be past feeling Who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness even with greediness Although every sin as I told you before is as it were the running a mans self on the point of Gods sword yet these men being past feeling run on on on to commit sin with greediness till they come to the very pit of destruction they run amain to their confusion When this insensibleness is come upon them it is not Gods goodness that can work upon them Who art thou that despisest the riches of Gods goodness not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee unto repentance Rom. 2.4 It is not Gods judgments that will move them they leave no impression as Rev. 9.20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils c. brass nor stone and wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk They repented not though they were spared but worshipped Gods which cannot see nor hear nor
Christ should be lyable to these Passions But it is certain God the Father made an immediate impression of pains upon his soul his soul did immediately suffer Look on him in the Garden he was not yet touched nor troubled by men and yet he fell in a sweat Consider the season of the year this was then when they that were within doors were glad to keep close by the fire he thus did sweat in the Garden when others freez'd within this was much but to sweat blood thick blood clotted congealed blood for so the word will bear it not like that in his veins and yet it came through his garments and fell to the ground this is a thing not to be comprehended Our blessâ—d Saviours encountring with his Father he falls a trembling and is overwhelmed as it were with the wrath beseeching God intensively saying Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Mat. â—7 39 thou mayst give free pardon which affections in Christ are such a thing as pusâ—els us all we must not say Christ did forget for what he came but he did not remember these words proceeded from the seat of passion which while it is disturbed reason suspends its Acts. Christ had Passions though no impurity in them As take a clear Vial full of water from the fountain and shake it it may be frothy yet it will be clean water still Christ did not forget only he had the suspension of his faculties for a time As a man in a sleep thinks not what he is to do in the morning and yet he is said properly to forget He cryed My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.40 He was contented to be forsaken for a time that thou mighst not be forsaken everlastingly and this was no faint prayer if you will read the place in the Psalm He cryed out unto God And Heb. 5.7 It 's said Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears He cryed to the Almighty he made Gods own heart to pity He would break Isa. 53. yet his heart is repenting and rolled together so that he sent an Angel to support and comfort him Psal. 27. those strong cries are expressed with a more forcible word My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring Consider how it was with Christ before any earthly hand had touched him when he beseeched God for his life this shews the wonderful suffering of Christ and for that point Why hast thou forsaken me Consider it was not with Christ as with the Fathers they suffered a great deal of punishment and taches and would not be delivered yet Christ was more couragious than they all He had a spirit of fortitude he was anointed abve his fellows and yet he quivers Our Fathers cryed unto thee they trusted in thee and were not consumed they were delivered but I am a worm and no man I can find no shadow of comfort Lord Why art thou so angry with me this speech came not from the upper part of the soul the seat of reason but from the lower part the seat of Passion My God my God these were not words of desperation He held fast to God Why hast thou forsaken me these are words of sense thus you see the price is paid and what a bitter thing sin is God will not suffer his Justice to be swallowed up by Mercy It must be satisfied and our Saviour if he will be a Mediator must make payment to the uttermost farthing Consider what a time this was when our Saviour suffered The Sun with-draws his beams the earth shakes and trembles What aileth thee O thou Sun to be darkned and thou earth to tremble was it not to shew his mourning for the death of its Maker The soul of Christ was dark within and it 's fit that all the world should be hung in black for the death of the King of Kings But mark when he comes to deliver up his life and to give up the Ghost the vail of the Temple rent in twain and that was the ninth hour which in the Acts is called the hour of prayer it was at three a Clock in the afternoon Hence it is said Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice The Priest was killing the Lamb at that time there was a vail that severed the Holy of Holies it was between the place of oblations and the Holy of holies which signifies the Kingdom of Heaven Assoon as Christ died the vail rent and Heaven was open the Priest saw that which was before hidden Our Saviour saith the Apostle entred through the vail of his flesh unto his Father and fit it was that the vail should give place when Christ comes to enter but what becomes of Christ's soul now his soul and body were pull'd asunder and through the vail of his flesh as it were with blood about his ears he entred the Holy of Holies unto God saying Lord here am I in my blood and here is blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel that cries for vengeance this for blessing and expiation of our sins JOHN 1.12 But to as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name HAving heretofore declared unto you the woful estate and condion wherein we stand by nature I proceeded to the Remedy that God of his infinite Mercy hath provided for the recovery of miserable sinners from the wrath to come And therein I proposed two things that our Saviour that was to advance us and raise us out of this condition when we had lost our selves in Adam did both deliver us from the punishment which we had deserved and also translate it upon his own person He did his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 We having eaten sour grapes he was to have his teeth set on edge we accounted him smitten of God and buffeted but we had sinned and he was beaten That when the Lord in his wrath was ready to smite us he underwent the dint of God's sword and stood betwixt the blow and us the blow lighted on him that was equal with God and deserved not to be beaten Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow The sword was unwilling to strike him and thus being smitten he became a propitiation for our sins The chastisement of our peace was on him He offered himself a sacrifice Here are two things considerable 1. How Christ was offered for us 2. How he is offered to us First For us and so he offered up himself a Sacrifice a sweet smelling Sacrifice unto God Eph. 5.2 Mark the point is he is not only the Sacrifice but the Sacrificer He offered up himself saith the Apostle He was the Priest and
so that the Judge though he feared not God nor cared for man by reason of her importunity granted her desire Mark the other thing in the Apostle he bids us pray with the Spirit and with perseverance and he that cometh thus hath a promise made to it He that calleth on the Name of the Lord shall be saved Call on me in the day of trouble and I will hear thee it 's set down fully Matth. 6.7 Ask and you shall have seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be as opened One would think this were idem per idem but it is not so He bids us ask and it shall be given seek and you shall find c. There is a promise annexed to asking seeking and knocking but it is also proved by universal experience for every one that asketh c. It 's very man's case never any man did it yet that hath lost his labour in not attaining what he asked If thou hast it not yet thou shalt have it in the end it is so fair a petition to ask to have thy sins pardoned that God would be friends with thee and that Christ would make thee love him and that God would be thy God that God delights in it This is the point then Suppose God answer not presently yet knock still seek still that is perseverance the thing whereby it is distinguished from temporary asking The hypocrite will pray in a time of need and adversity but his prayer is not constant Job 27.10 Will the hypocrite always call upon God If they come and seek God and he will not answer as Saul did they will try the Devil God would not answer Saul and he presently goes to the Devil It 's not so with God's children they pray and pray and wait still they pray with the Spirit and with perseverance God deals not always alike with his children but differently sometimes he answers presently sometimes he makes them wait his leisure Psal. 32.5 I said I would confess my sins says David and my transgressions and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin so Dan. 9.21 When he set himself to seek God even while he was speaking and praying the man Gabriel appeared unto him and touched him about the time of the evening oblation Before the word was out of his mouth God was at his heart and presently sends him a dispatch The like we see in Esay 65.24 Mark what a promise there is It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear This is a great encouragement but it may be God will not always do this and what 's the reason Why he hath a wonderful great delight to be wrestled withal and to hear the words of his own Spirit nothing is more delightful to him than this when the Spirit is earnest and will not give over I will not let thee go unless thou bless me Gen. 32.26 It 's said in the Canticles honey is under the lips of the Church Cant. 4.11 Why so it's because there is no honey sweeter to the palate than spiritual prayer to God And therefore God delays to answer thee because he would have more of it If the Musicians come and play at our doors or windows if we delight not in their Musick we throw them out money presently that they may be gone but if the Musick please us we forbear to give them money because we would keep them longer for we like the Musick So the Lord loves and delights in the sweet words of his children and therefore puts them off and answers them not presently Now God's children let him deny them never so long yet they will never leave knocking and begging they will pray and they will wait still till they receive an answer Many will pray to God as prayer is a duty but few use it as a means to attain a blessing Those who come to God in the use of it as a means to attain what they would have they will pray and not give over they will expect an Answer and never give over petitioning till they receive it ROM 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. HAving declared unto you the nature of faith and that point which concerns the practice of it in our near approach unto God I am now come to shew unto you the fruits and benefits Christians receive from this Mother-grace and that the Apostle sets down in these words He sets down 1. The Mother-Grace it self together with its principal benefit Justification or reconciliation with God that whereas we were afar off we are made near and of enemies made friends of God Then 2. There are the daughters or hand-maids of this grace For when we are justified by Faith then 1. We have peace with God that peace of conscience which passeth all understanding then 2. We have free access by faith unto the Throne of grace so that we need not look for any other Mediators Christ hath made way for us to God so that we may go boldly to the Throne of grace and find help at any time of need 3. There follows a joyful hope that a Christian hath by it a taste of Heaven before he come to enjoy it We rejoyce in hope saith the Apostle hope being as firm a thing as faith faith makes things absent as present hope hath patience with it and would have us wait We shall be sure of it but yet we must wait patiently 4. Not only rejoycing in hope but even in that which spoils a natural man's joy as in crosses troubles afflictions for even these are made the matter of this man's joy not delectable objects only Not in time to come after afflictions but in afflictions so as that which spoils the joy of a natural man is fuel to kindle this man's joy Now concerning justification by faith though it be an ordinary point yet there is nothing more needs Explication than to know how a man shall be justified by Faith It is easily spoken hardly explicated Therefore in this mother-Grace I shall shew you 1. What faith is that doth justifie And 2. What this justification is For it is not so easie a matter neither 1. Concerning the nature of faith I have spoken sufficiently already wherein it consists but yet notwithstanding there is a certain thing as like this faith as may be and yet comes short of it Many there are who are like the foolish Virgins that thought they were well enough and thought they should come time enough So many think verily that they have faith yea and perchance go with such a perswasion to their very graves and think they have grace and that they labour after Christ and lay hold on him and are free from worldly pollutions so as that they have a
do it for them i.e. though I have done it and intend to do it yet will I do it by the means of prayer Howsoever that God had promised Eliah that rain should come upon the face of the earth yet he goes upon the Mount and saw no shew of a cloud The Text saith not what he did but he put his head between his knees Saint James saith he prayed and â—he opened Heaven and brought down rain It was an humble secret gesture A man may be more free in private than in publick He prayed and the heavens opened God had promised it and would do it but yet he would be sought to So we see the mediate cause is prayer so though the Lord will do this yet for all this he will be enquired of It is not with God as with men men who have promised would be loth to be sued to not to break their promise they account that a dishonour to them but it is not so with God God hath promised yet thou shalt have no benefit of it until thou sue to him for it therefore thou must go to God and say Lord fulfil thy promise to thy servant wherein thou hast caused me to trust God loves to have his bond sued out Lord make good this word perform that good word that thou hast spoken God would have his bond thus sued out And as thy faith repentance prayer is renewed so is thy pardon renewed When God will make a man possess the sins of his youth when a man is careless this way it pleaseth God to awaken him Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquity of my youth Job 13.26 When a man forgetteth the iniquities of his youth and reneweth not his repentance and hath not new acts of faith and petition then God maketh him to possess the iniquities of his youth he makes his sins stand up and cry out against him and by this means his old evidences are obliterated When a man hath a pardon and it 's almost obliterated the letters almost worn out that they cannot be read he would be glad to have it renewed to have a new exemplification Every sin it puts a great blur upon thine old evidences that thou canst not read them They may be firm in Heaven and yet perhaps be so blurr'd that thou canst not read them and therefore if thou wouldst get them clear'd again thou must go to God by prayer and renew them again so that whether our evidences be blur'd or whether it be that God will make us possess the iniquities of our youth it is necessary to pray for the forgiveness of those sins which have been before forgiven But now you will say when I have sinned afterward how come I then to be justified Then a man would think repentance only doth it and without repentance a man cannot be justified But you must understand repentance is not an instrument at all faith only is the instrument faith justifyeth me from sin hereafter as well as before The case is this faith brings lifâ— The righteous shall live by his faith as the Prophet Habakkuk speaks 2.4 What do then new sins do 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 hindred 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 〈◊〉 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 But this forgiveness of sins what doth it free us from In sin we must consider two things the fault and the punishment Now consider sin as it is in it self and as it respects the sinner as acted by him as respecting the fault of the sinner it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law The punishment is death as it respects the sinner it is guilt The sin is not guilt but the guilt the sinners For instance a man that hath told a lye or sworn an oath the act is past but a thing remains which we call the guilt At if a man commit murder or adultery the act is past but yet if he sleep or walk or wake the guilt follows him If he live an hundred years he is a murderer still and an adulterer still the guilt follows him and nothing can take away the murder or adultery from the soul but the blood of Christ applied by faith First God takes away the punishment There is now saith the Apostle no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 what nothing in him worthy condemnation God knows we are worthy of a thousand condemnations There are two Judges there is a double guilt when a man is brought to the bar first the Jury judge the fact and then the Judge that sits on the Bench he judgeth the punishment one saith guilty or not guilty The other saith guilty then he judgeth him Now when we are justified we are freed from both these guilts sin when it is accomplish't it bringeth forth death Jam. 1.15 You know the natural work of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it labours with death now God will stop the acts