A09965:574
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.
Dost thou fly to Christ, to comfort thy self in him, when thou art in a doubtful case, that concerns thee as much as thy ⟨p. 286⟩life? whither dost thou go for counsel and direction? is it to Christ, to beseech him to guide thee, to direct thee, when thou art pressed hard? whither doth thy heart go for succour and for help to keep thy self safe? Is it to Christ, or to some what else? My beloved, I assure you this, that a carnal man that is not in Christ, in these times of distress knows not whither to go; he dares not go to Christ, for he fears that it shall be asked him, upon what acquaintance? for he hath been a stranger to the Lord, he was never acquainted with him: but a carnal man that is out of Christ, he goes to his muses, he goes to his farms, he goes to his bushes, as the hunted hare was wont to do, to go to the places that she used when she lived quiet, thither she flies when she knows not how to escape: so in that fashion it is with men, look what things they were wont, to which their hearts had recourse in time of prosperity, and what their haunts have been; to those bushes they fly: But alas! they are but bushes, such as will not defend them. But now the Christian on the other side, the muse, the farm as it were (it is but to express it to you) that his soul is acquainted with, the strong hold that he was wont to fly unto, upon every several evil, upon every ordinary doubt, upon every dejection, discouragement and fainting of heart; he was wont to fly to Christ, and there he was wont to find comfort, and thither he goes in time of ⟨p. 287⟩greatest difficulty in the day of death, and there he finds comfort. Consider if he be thy chief refuge, for if thy heart hath taken him as he is thy chief excellency, thy chief joy, thy chief treasure; so he will be thy chiefest refuge, yea when all things else are taken away, yet that cover remains safe: Suppose thou be in prison, suppose thy credit be taken away, (I mean) thy worldly credit (for the other credit cannot be taken away from any man that hath Christ:) suppose thy life be taken away, suppose thou be stripped of all that thou hast; yet thou hast Christ for thy chief refuge, and thou thinkest so, and thy heart is satisfied with it.
Dost thou fly to Christ, to comfort thy selfe in him, when thou art in a doubtfull case, that concernes thee as much as thy