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The golden sceptre held forth to the humble With the Churches dignityThe golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie
The golden sceptre held forth to the humble With the Churches dignity by her marriage. And the Churches duty in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekly fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolns Inn. By the late learned and reverend divine, John Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to His Majesty, Mr. of Emanuel College in Cambridge, and sometime preacher at Lincolns Inn.The golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie by her marriage. And the Churches dutie in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekely fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne. By the late learned and reverend divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to His Maiesty, Mr. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and somtime preacher at Lincolnes Inne.
London: printed by R. Badger for N. Bourne, 1638
THE GOLDEN SCEPTRE. › Doctrine 4THE GOLDEN SCEPTER. › Doctrine 4
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 for Faith, know that the more strongly 1a man lays hold on CHRIST and prizeth him, the more he goes on to apprehend his sin, and is emptied of himself; and though a man took CHRIST truly at his first conversion, yet there are degrees of prizing him; when a husband takes a ⟨p. 102⟩wife, though at their feast marriage there was such love between them as they would have chosen each other before any other in the world, yet so as this their love may admit degrees; after marriage, they may see more grounds of loving each other more, so that though the match is made, yet they may be more confirmed in their choice, which may be made more full and absolute: So towards Christ the will and affections may be wound up to a higher peg, which is done by a further degree of humiliation. What is faith, but a laying hold of Christ? Now the emptier the hand is, the further 2hold it takes, and the more we are taken off our own bottom, the further we will cleave to Christ. A man in a river that is like to be drowned, and hath a rope cast to him, he will be sure to catch as fast hold 3as he can, you shall not need to bid him. And to this end it is, that Christians are still taught more and more, by the spirit to see the vanity of the creature, the vileness of their natures; and they are led through this wilderness to humble them, that so Christ may have the higher place in their hearts.
First for Faith, know that the more strongly 1a man layes hold on CHRIST and prizeth him, the more he goes on to apprehend his sinne, and is emptied of himselfe; and though a man tooke CHRIST truly at his first conversion, yet there are degrees of prizing him; when a husband takes a ⟨p. 102⟩wife, though at their feast marriage there was such love betweene them as they would have chosen each other before any other in the world, yet so as this their love may admit degrees; after marriage, they may see more grounds of loving each other more, so that though the match is made, yet they may be more confirmed in their choice, which may be made more full and absolute: So towards Christ the will and affections may be wound up to a higher peg, which is done by a further degree of humiliation. What is faith, but a laying hold of Christ? Now the emptier the hand is, the further