A09950:946
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.
1You shall know it by these two things:
- 1Answ.
1First, by the evenness of your carriage towards the Lord; for what a man doth naturally, he doth with a kind of equality, with a kind §1of evenness: so that, as we say, an uneven pulse is a sign of a deadly and dangerous distemper within; so I say, when you find an unevenness in your carriages to the Lord, that you are off and on with him, that sometimes you do a thing for him, and anon you will do for your lusts, this is a sign that you love not naturally; feigned things are for the most part unequal: because when a man doth not do a thing naturally, he cannot hold out; a man cannot dissemble so well, but at one time or other he will discover himself; what a man doth naturally, and heartily, he is like himself in it still. Therefore when there is such an unevenness in your ways, (some will be very forward in a good cause, now in a good mood, and then out of it again) it is a sign you love not the Lord thus naturally, for then you would be even in your carriage towards him.
1First, by the evennesse of your carriage towards the Lord; for what a man doth naturallie, he doth with a kinde of equalitie, with a kinde §1of evennesse: so that, as we say, an uneven pulse is a signe of a deadlie and dangerous distemper within; so I say, when you finde an unevennesse in your carriages to the Lord, that you are off and on with him, that sometimes you doe a thing for him, and anon you will doe for your lusts, this is a signe that you love not naturally; feigned things are for the most part unequall: because when a man doth not doe a thing naturallie, he cannot holde out; a man cannot dissemble so well, but at one time or other hee will discover himselfe; what a man doth naturally, and heartily, he is like himselfe in it still. Therefore when there is such an unevennesse in your waies, (some will be verie forward in a good cause, now in a good moode, and then out of it againe) it is a signe you love not the Lord thus naturallie, for then you would be eaven in your carriage towards him.