A09977:478
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.
Quest. But what is that more particularly?
Answ. I will show it to you in these three things.
Answ. I will shew it to you in these three things.
1. See that thy spirit be as near him as thy lips are, Isay 29.13.1 He complains of a sort of people, that draw nigh unto God with their mouth, and with their lips do honour him, but have removed their heart far from him, and their fear towards him is taught by the precepts of men. So Jer. 12.2.2 Thou oh Lord art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. Now if thou wouldest worship him in spirit, see that thy spirit be as near him as thy words are. As, for example, in prayer thou confessest thy sins, and professest that thou doest hate them, thou prayest for mortification, and grace, & for weanedness from the world; herein thy words and Gods will do ⟨p. 34⟩agree, they are consonant, and when yet, it may be, the inward inclination of thy heart is far enough off from this expression: therefore bring thy spirit near to God as thy lips are, and then thou worshippest him in spirit. To show you more plainly what this farness off of the spirit is; take a covetous man, and put him upon the rack of any exigent, where he must part with all to save his life, he will say as much as need to be in this case: but his heart is set as close to his wealth, as ever it was before, so that he is loath to part with any thing. And take a thief that comes before the Judge, he confesseth his fault, and begs pardon, and saith that he will do so no more: but yet his heart sits as near to his theft, he is as far from honesty as ever he was before. So take a man, when he comes into some exigent, (for that usually is the time) as at the receiving of the Sacrament, or at his day of death, he comes and professeth to the Lord, that he will follow no more his wicked courses; but he will become a new man, here his words draw near, but look to the bent and inclination of his heart, to the radical constitution of it, and that is far from holiness, there he sits as close to his sin as he did before. Therefore, if thou wouldest worship God in spirit, take care that thy spirit draw near to him upon all such occasions, as thy words do. A man in his ordinary course, it may be, prays, and his prayers are good: but how far his heart is from it, that his life