A09977:463
Life eternalLife eternall
Life eternal or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithful and worthy minister of Jesus Christ, John Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inn.Life eternall or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inne.
London: printed by Richard, 1631
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.
Answ. When the bodily appetite, and inclination shall arise so high, as to rule the stern of the soul, and the actions of it, then the body gets rule over the soul: but when these shall be subdued, and ruled, and guided by the soul, when they shall be brought to that square, which the spirit within shall set down, then the spirit rules over the body.
Answ. When the bodily appetite, and inclination shall arise so high, as to rule the sterne of the soule, and the actions of it, then the body gets rule over the soule: but when these shall bee subdued, and ruled, and guided by the soule, when they shall bee brought to that square, which the spirit within shall set downe, then the spirit rules over the body.
Object. But my inclinations are strong, and I cannot rule them: what must I do then?
Object. But my inclinations are strong, and I cannot rule them: what must I doe then?
Answ. Thou must do in this case as Saint Paul did, who kept under his body by violence, as men use to tame horses; we should keep it down, we must take heed of carnal lusts, they will keep the body too high, as a Horse may be too lusty for his rider: yet so, as on the other side it must not be kept too low, for the body is the instrument of the soul: but only the soul must have dominion over it, it should always be subject to the principal agent, as it is said of a servant, that he should not be Supra negotium, nor infra negotium, but par negotio, not above, nor below, but fit for his business: so ought the body to be the souls servant. Beloved, consider this, do but think what your souls are, that you should suffer them to be thus in subjection, Think what a shame it is, that these bodily affections should so overrule the spirit that is made like to God, the soul, that shall live for ever, the soul for which Christ dyed, that is better then all the world beside; think I say, with your selves, what a senseless and unreasonable thing it is, that this soul should be kept under by the body, and that the body should rule over it? Are not men in this kind, like to beasts, subject to sensuality, that eat that they may play, and play that they may eat? and the soul is not considered all this while, how it is a spirit, that is like to God himself, who is a spirit. Alas, what is the body to it? It is in it as in a prison: such is the body to the soul, not