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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 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

we have begun our walks in this path And if thou art not terrified by the Law and the sight of thy sins been at thy wits end as it were weary of thy condition and bondage thou art not in the way yet Our sowing must be in tears And it is said that in the Church Triumphant all teares shall be wiped away from our eyes That 's a promise But is it possible that teares should be wiped from our eyes before we shed them Shall we look to goe to heaven in a way that was never yet found out Shall it be accounted a point of precisenesse to walk in this way or a soul-torturing doctrine to preach it This is the way that all our Forefathers have both preached and gone This is that time of sowing spoken of in Psal. 126.5 6. They that sow in teares shall reap in joy It brings us joy in the end to begin our sowing in teares It waters that precious seed and makes it bring forth joy unto us in abundance yea such as no man can take from us So then having laid this point for a foundation we now will come to the next That until we come to Christ the Law layes hold of us Till Christ come we are shut up under the Law kept under it And if there were nothing else in the world ro make a man weary of his condition this were enough Until a man hath given over himself to Christ and renounced his own righteousnesse he is subject to the Law kept under it not under grace It brings a man only to the place where grace is Put this therefore close to your consciences and jumble not these two together First Nature cometh and whilst you are under that you are under the Law Never think you are under the Covenant of Grace till you believe of which belief we shall speak more hereaftet Whilst you are under the Law you are held under it Whoever is under the Law is under the curse Now that I may unfold it and shew what a fearful thing it is to be under the Law to be held under it although many think it no great matter hearken what the Apostle saith of it Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to doe them Gal. 3. Well then art thou under the Law then never think of being under grace at the same time not but that we may hope to be under grace afterwards By this Law we must be judged and the judgment of the Law is very severe It requires not onely that thou doe this or that good thing but if thou continuest not in every thing that is written therein it condemns thee Strange conceits men have now adayes and strange Divinity is brought forth into the world That if a man does as much as lies in him and what he is of himself able to doe nay farther though he be a Heathen that knows not Christ yet if he doth the best he can if he live honestly towards men according to the conduct of his reason and hath a good mind towards God it 's enough he need not question his eternal welfare A cursed and desperate Doctrine they conclude hence Why say they may not this man be saved as well as the best But if it be so I ask such What is the benefit and advantage of the Jew more then the Gentile What is the benefit of Christ of the Church of Faith of Baptism of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper This ground of Pelagianism is that for which the Church abhors us when we shall undertake to bring a man to salvation without Christ whereas if he be not under grace under Christ he is accursed If thou wilt be saved by the Law it is not thy endeavour or doing what lieth in thee that will serve the turn every jot and tittle that the Law requires must be fulfilled What would be thine estate if thou shouldst be examined according to the strict rigour of the Law Not the least word or thought that is contrary to it but thou must give an account for If thou standest upon thine own bottom or lookest to be saved by thine own deeds not one vain word which thou speakest but thou shalt be questioned for cast and condemned Consider then the great difference of being under Christ and grace and of being under the law When we are under Christ we are freed from a great deal of inconvenience we are not liable to answer for those evil things which we have committed as in that comfortable place of Ezekiel All his iniquities that he hath done shall not be mentioned unto him When a man is come to forsake his old way his evils are cast out of mind a marvellous comfort to a Christian whereas if a man be not in Christ every idle word he must be accountable for if in Christ the greatest sin he ever committed he shall not hear of All they that stand on Gods right hand hear onely of the good things they have done you have fed cloathed and visited me But they on the left hand hear not a word mentioned concerning the good they have done only their evil deeds are reckoned up Now that I may declare to you the difference between the Law and the Gospel I will difference it in three particulars 1. The law rejects any kind of obedience besides that which is thorough sound full and perfect without any touch of the flesh It rejects all crackt payment it will take no clipt coyne That obedience which hath any imperfection joyn'd with it will not be accepted But here I must not speak without book See Rom. 7.14 We know that the Law is spiritual but I am carnal And then concludes O wretched man c. The Law is spiritual What 's that We may know the meaning of it by the particle but but I am carnal The Law is spiritual That is it requires that all our works be spiritual without any carnality or touch of the fl●sh If in any point of our obedience there be a smell of the cask it is rejected If the beer be never so good yet if it have an evil smatch it will not relish Let our services have this savour of the flesh and they will not relish in Gods nostrils And thus the law is spiritual but we are carnal Now it is otherwise here in the state of the Gospel Alas we are carnal it 's true The Apostle himself complaines That there is a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind and leading him captive c. Yet notwithstanding the Gospel accepts our obedience though the Law will not What 's the reason of this why it 's plain When the Law comes it looks for justice it puts a strict rule to us it requires we should be compleat But now the Gospel doth not so it requires not justification of our own but looks that being justified by Gods free grace we should

formerly No but his Light is greater his eyes are open'd and now he sees more clearly what sinne is When the Sunne shines and its rayes come in what a number of motes do we discover which before we saw not Not as if the Sunne-beames made them or the Sunne raised the dust no there are here as many motes and as much dust flying about as if the Sunne shined here What 's the matter then Why this the Sunne discovers them to us So that here 's the point Our sinnes in our souls are as motes in the ayre and are not more than they were before conversion but we cannot see them till the glorious beams of Gods Spirit shine upon us The sight of sinne and of the danger that comes by it is the work of Gods Spirit The Spirit discovers sinne unto us John 16.8 When the Spirit cometh he shall convince the world of sinne the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit shall convince them and the same word is used Heb. 11.1 where Faith is said to be the evidence of things not seene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heretofore we had a slight imagination of our sinnes but to have our mouth stopped and to be convinced is not a work of flesh and blood but of Gods Spirit Rom. 3.19 Till we are awakened by his Spirit we cannot see nor feele the mountains and heaps of sinnes that lie upon our souls Thou art dead in sinne Rom. 8. Thou art in bondage and to know it is a work of the Spirit not of nature The spirit of bondage what is that Why however we are all bondmen untill the Son hath made us free in a woful estate slaves to sinne and Satan yet till Gods Spirit convince us and shew it us and make us know it we sleep secure are not afraid but think our selves the freest men in the world and see not this to be a time of need This therfore is the first preparative when God brings his people by Mount Sinai Heb. 12.18 For you are not come unto the Mountain that may be touch't and that burned by fire nor unto the blacknesse and darkness and tempest so Gal. 4. Mount Sinai is made a figure of the Law which begets bondage Not that Mount which might be touch't and that burnt with fire where was the sound of the Trumpet and voice of words such a sound as never before was heard nor never will be till one day we shall hear the same The sound of the Trumpet which sounded at the delivery of the Law Exod. 19.19 where it is described for when the voice of the Trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder that Moses heard it was such a noise a great noise at first but it grew higher and and higher and at last it came to that heighth that it was almost incomprehensible then Moses spake And what spake he The Holy Ghost sets not down what he spake in that place Look in Heb. 12.21 So terrible was the voice that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Such a kind of lightning and loud voice this was the Lord commands such a voice as this Esay 58.1 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins When God shall sound with the voice of the Trumpet of his holy Word of his Law and shew thee that thou art a trayterous Rebel and that there is an Execution gone out against thee body and goods when God sounds thus to the deaf ear of a carnal man then cometh the spirit of bondage of necessity on him which shews that we have a time of need The Law must have this operation before thou comest to the Throne of grace None will flie to the City of Refuge till the revenger of blood be hard at his heels Nor any to Christ till he sees his want Thus the Lord makes us know our need by turning the edge of his Axe towards us Offenders when they are brought to the bar at Westminster for Treason have the edge of the Axe turned from them but when they have received the sentence of condemnation and are carried back to the Tower the edge of the Axe is turned towards them Thus is it here The Law turns the edge of Gods Axe towards us and therefore it 's said of St. Peters hearers Acts 2.38 That they were pricked to the heart The Law puts the point of Gods sword to our very brests as it were and brings us to see that we stand in great need of heaven This is the first preparative when God enlightens our minds to see our dangerous estate and then there must of necessity follow fear and desire to be rid of this condition for the will and affections alwayes follow the temper of the minde And hence when a man hath a false perswasion that he is in a good case that he is safe and well what works it but pride presumption confidence and security So on the contrary contrary effects must follow If a man be in health and jollity and on a sudden be proclaimed a Traytor that he must lose his life and goods is it possible it should be thus and he not wrought on nor have any alteration So when news comes from the Law that thou art a dead man and everlastingly must perish the Law then works wrath that is it manifests unto us the wrath of God When it is thus there follows a shaking and a trembling and it 's impossible but with Moses thou shouldst exceedingly quake and tremble 2. For all this there is a Throne of grace erected God hath not forgotten to be merciful though thy sins be never so great This is the next preparative for faith namely the discovery and acknowledgement of the Gospel of Christ Jesus We see in Ezra 10.2 We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the Land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing we have trespassed What then must we be the subjects of Gods wrath No Yet notwithstanding though we have committed this great offence there is hope in Israel concerning this thing What though we have provoked God to indignation must we be the matter for his wrath to work on No There is balme in Gilead Jer. 8. ult Is there no balme in Gilead Is there no Physitian there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered What though then we are sick to death yet there is an help in time of need And this knowledge of the people that there is a Throne of grace is the first comfort comes to a miserable and sinful soul. A man that hath a deadly disease though the Physitian do him no good which he hath made use of yet this he comforts himself in when he sees a Physician that hath cured the same disease he sees then there is some hope Thus it is with a sinful soul. When the

our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith Before the time then thou hast faith which is the day salvation comes to thine house thou art kept under the Law Thou art not assured of salvation nor canst thou expect till then that God should shew thee mercy We may have a conceit that though we are never transplanted nor cut off from our own stock yet God will shew us mercy But we shall beguile our selves to hell therein for we are kept under the Law till faith comes that so we may know our selves We are kept c. Kept It 's a Metaphor drawn from Military affairs when men are kept by a Garrison and kept in order Now the Law is Gods Garrison which keeps men in good awe and order The Law doth this not to terrifie you too much or to break your minds with despair but to fit you for the faith It 's a shutting up till that faith which should afterward be revealed He 's a miserable Preacher which ends with preaching of the Law the Law is for another end it 's to fit us for faith It 's our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. We thunder not the Law to make men run away from God but to bring them home unto him The Schoolmaster by the smart of his rod makes the child weary of his bondage and desire earnestly to be past his non-age and this is his end not that he delights to hear him cry Thus are we beaten by the law not that God delights or loves to hear us sigh or sob but that we may grow weary of our misery and cruel bondage may desire to be justified by faith The Law then is so a Schoolmaster as that by making us smart it might bring us home We see then the course method of the Scripture it hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be made to them that believe Now because men like not this kinde of Doctrine to begin with Preaching of the Law and therefore think there may be a shorter and nearer way to preach Christ first I will therefore make known unto you this method of the Scripture and I will justifie it unto you There must be this Preparative else the Gospel will come unseasonably If before we are sowred by the leaven of the Law Christ be preached he will be but unsavoury unpleasant to us 2. Does God at the first Preaching of the Gospel begin with Adam by Preaching Christ before he saw his sin and wickednesse No he said not to him presently assoon as he had sinned Well Adam thou hast sinned and broken my covenant yet there is another covenant thou shalt be saved by one that comes out of thy loynes But God first summons him to appear he brings him out of his shelters and hiding places tells him of his sin and saith Hast thou eaten of the tree which I forbad thee to eat of But the man shifts it off and the woman also to the serpent The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat Yet all this will not excuse him Gods judgments are declared his sin is made apparent he sees it Then being thus humbled comes in the promise of the Gospel The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head Be ye open then ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in 2. John the Baptist who was the Harbinger to prepare the way for Christ Preaching to the Scribes and Pharisees warned them O generation of vipers He came to throw down every high hill and to beat down every mountain calls them serpents This was his office to lay the Axe at the root of the Tree 3. And Christ himself coming into the world and Preaching to Nicodemus begins Vnlesse a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God John 3. A man in his natural condition can never enter into Heaven for he is wholly carnal That that is born of the flesh is flesh and that that is born of the Spirit is Spirit It 's carnal and must be born again A little patching will not serve the turn Thou must be new born new moulded a little mending is not sufficient A man must be a new creature and new made So that this is the substance of this doctrine of Christ that if thou be no better then moral vertue or civil education can make thee if thou hast any thing lesse then Regeneration believe me thou canst never see heaven There 's no hope of heaven till then till thou art born again till then our Saviour excludes all false fancies that way 5. The Apostles began to gather the first Church after Christs resurrection Act. 2.23 They doe not begin to preach Christ first his vertue and efficacie but first they tell them of their great sin in crucifying the Lord of life viz. Whom with wicked hands you have taken and crucified But what was the end of their doing thus It 's set down v 37. They were pricked to the heart and then they cried out Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved See this was the end of all the humbling of them that by declaring what they had done they might be pricked at the heart so that now they see if it be no better with them then for the present it 's like to go ill with them This makes them cry out What shall we doe Then saith Peter repent and be Baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost After he had told them their own and had brought them to their search which is their first work then comes the promise of Christ. Observe the Apostles method in the Epistle to the Romans which book is a perfect Catechism of the Church which containes these three parts of Divinity Humiliation Just●fication and Sanctification See how the Apostle orders his method From the first Cap to part of the third he treats all of the Law and convinces both Jew and Gentile and all of sinne Then 3 Cap. 19. mark his Conclusion that every mouth may be stopped When he had stopped every mouth cast down every strong hold which listed it self up against God when he had laid all at Gods feet and left them bleeding as it were under the knife of God then comes he to Christ Rom. 3.21 The righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested He had done his first businesse in humbling them in shewing them their sins by the Law and assoon as that was done when every mouth was stopped then comes he to the promise by faith in Jesus Christ to all them that believe You see then the method of the Scripture is first to conclude all under sin and so to fit men for the promise of Jesus Christ. Know therefore that the law is the high-way to the Gospel the path that leads to it that way which must be trodden in we are still out of our way till