A09977:482
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.
When you worship God with all the might and strength, and endeavour of the mind and all the faculties of it, this is to worship God in spirit. 2 Sam. 6.14.1 It is said of David, that he danced before the Lord with all his might: it was a worship of God, a spiritual worship of God, wherein David, by his outward act of dancing, did express his exultation, and rejoicing in the Lord. Now the text saith, that he did this with all his might, with all the might of his spirit; (for so you must understand it.) It is a Metaphor taken from the body, when a man useth all his strength, and might to do any thing, he unites all the forces of his body to it: so a man worshippeth God in spirit, when all the faculties of the soul, are concentered and united together in the performance of such a duty. And therefore it is called a wrestling with the Lord, as Jacob did: and it is called a striving with God, as Paul saith, that you strive together with me in prayer: Rom. 15.30.2 that is, when the soul, and the mind are joined all together, when he bends the whole soul to the work, this is to worship God in spirit. Such ⟨p. 36⟩an expression you have, Act. 20.3 where Paul went bound in the spirit to Jerusalem; that is, his spirit did not hang loose, but it was girt up in a resolution to go through with the work, whatsoever came of it, his spirit was bound. Now, when thy spirit hangs loose upon the duty, half on, and half off, when a man cares not whether he doth it or no, this is not to worship God with the spirit; but when thy mind is girt up, and thou dost it with all the intention of thy soul, then thou dost it heartily, as it is Col. 3.22.4