A09950:1096
The Breastplate of Faith and Love
The breast-plate of faith and love. A treatise, wherein the ground and exercise of faith and love, as they are set upon Christ their object, and as they are expressed in good works, is explained. / Delivered in 18 sermons upon three several texts, by the late faithful and worthy minister of Jesus Christ, John Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, Master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inn.The breast-plate of faith and love. A treatise, wherein the ground and exercise of faith and love, as they are set upon Christ their object, and as they are expressed in good workes, is explained. / Delivered in 18 sermons upon three severall texts, by the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.
London: printed by W. Jones for Nicolas Bourne, 1630London: printed by W. Iones for Nicolas Bourne, 1630
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
It is this doing of his will, this action that puts you into a high condition: I see not that Paul was ambitious of any thing but of this, that he might be doing, that he might live a useful, a profitable life, in the 15. Rom. 20.1 I was ambitious saith Paul, to Preach the Gospel, even where it had never been preached, this is all my ambition to put my self upon the hardest tasks: so it should be your ambition to do some thing for the Church. When you read the story of Moses, that He was mighty in word and deed; of David, of the Judges, and the Worthies of the Church, they should be so many incentives to you, to stir you up to be doing in your place.
It is this doing of his will, this action that puts you into a high condition: I see not that Paule was ambitious of any thing but of this, that he might be doing, that he might liue a usefull, a profitable life, in the 15. Rom. 20.1 I was ambitious saith Paule, to Preach the Gospell, even where it had never been preached, this is all my ambition to put my selfe upon the hardest taskes: so it should be your ambition to doe some thing for the Church. When you reade the storie of Moses, that He was mightie in word and deede; of David, of the Iudges, and the Worthies of the Church, they should be so many incentives to you, to stirre you up to be doing in your place.
2But this is not all that we would commend to you at this time, to be men of action, and to observe the opportunities, but there is an other thing, and that is this, that likewise the season con mends to you, that is, to fast and pray: as in husbandry, so in the Church, there are certain seasons of actions, and those seasons must not be omitted. Mark what the course of the Scripture was in every calamity, in Joel when there was a famine begun, Sanctify a fast, saith the Lord, call a solemn Assembly: when their is a plague coming, when there are great enterprises in hand, when there is any thing plotting for the advancement of the good of the Church, do you not think now, that the omission of opportunities are sins, for you to neglect this duty, do you not