A09965:304
Four godly and learned treatises Entitled, I. A remedy against covetousness. II. An elegant…Foure godly and learned treatises Intituled, I. A remedy against covetousnesse. II. An elegant…
Four godly and learned treatises Entitled, I. A remedy against covetousness. II. An elegant and lively description of spiritual death and life. III. The doctrine of self-denial. IV. Upon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. Delivered in sundry sermons, by that late famous preacher, and worthy instrument of Gods glory, John Preston, Doctor of Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty; master of Emanuel College, and sometime preacher of Lincolns Inn.Foure godly and learned treatises Intituled, I. A remedy against covetousnesse. II. An elegant and lively description of spirituall death and life. III. The doctrine of selfe-deniall. IV. Vpon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. Delivered in sundry sermons, by that late famous preacher, and worthy instrument of Gods glory, Iohn Preston, Doctor of Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinarie to his Majestie; master of Emanuel Colledge, and sometime preacher of Lincolnes Inne.
London: printed by Thomas for Michael Sparke, 1633
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.
First, it is a happy life; and it must needs be so, because it is the life of God and Angels: it is that life which we shall live hereafter; ye may live this natural life, and want happiness. This life of grace and the life of glory differ only in degrees, not in kind; the competent judges of this are the Saints, who have tried both. Heb. 11.15.16. If they had been mindful of that country from which they came, they had liberty to have returned; but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly. In a Heard of Swine, if some stray away from the rest, and return not again, it is a sign they have found a better pasture: so when men leave their companions, and return no more, it is a sign, ⟨p. 121⟩they have found some better things. Conceive not then of this life as many do; to be only a privation, or a melancholy thing, nothing but a mere mortification; this is a life, which hath its comforts, eating, recreations, and delights; ye loose not your pleasures if ye live it, but change them for advantage: he that leads this life, dies as the corn doth; from a seed it grows up into many stalks, he gains by this bargain. Christ doth make an hard bargain with none, he that deals with him, gains a hundred fold.