A09977:606
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
Sermon 14: THE FOURTEENTH SERMON.Sermon 14: THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON.
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.
Secondly, You may see from hence, how to help that vanity to which the creature is subject:1 for if unchangeableness be the property of God, thou must not seek a stability from the creature, but consider that it hath no further in it, then God is pleased to communicate the same to it. Therefore to go to him to whom unchangeableness belongs: for as mutable as they be, yet if he will make thy friends to be stable, or thy wealth, it shall be so. Therefore the only way is, to go to him, to make those things firm, which otherwise are unconstant. The love of a friend is unconstant, for he may dye, the breath is in his nostrils, and if he do live, yet his thoughts may perish, and his affections alter: So that they shall fail thee as a land flood doth ⟨p. 106⟩in summer, as Job saith. It dries up in summer time, and yet that is the time of thirst; and so will they fail thee in time of need: and the like may be said of all things else, so that he whose comfort doth depend upon them, hath but a dependent felicity, which is like the motion of mills, and ships, which cease when the water or wind fails them. But yet as mutable as they are, God can put a constancy unto them. Apply this therefore to thy self. Thou livest now, and art in health and wealth, in such and such a place, and such circumstances as may continue it: the only way to establish thee in all this is, to go to God, and to beseech him to put a stability into thy condition. For the creature, as it is made of nothing, and is built upon a foundation of nothing: So it is apt to return to nothing. And remember this, that the more retired, and weaned, and fearful thy affections are about any thing, so that thou canst say in good earnest; If God will, I shall enjoy them to day, and next day, but his will I know not, I know not how long I shall enjoy them; if thou canst say thus, thou shalt hold them the longer, and the faster: for that is a sign that thou dependest upon God, and not not on the creature, that thou trustest him, and art not fastened to it.
Secondly, You may see from hence, how to helpe that vanity to which the creature is subject:1 for if unchangeablenesse be the property of God, thou must not seeke a stabilitie from the creature, but consider that it hath no further in it, then God is pleased to communicate the same to it. Therefore to goe to him to whom unchangeablenesse belongs: for as mutable as they be, yet if he will make thy freinds to be stable, or thy wealth, it shall be so. Therefore the only way is, to goe to him, to make those things firme, which otherwise are unconstant. The love of a freind is unconstant, for hee may dye, the breath is in his nostrils, and if he doe live, yet his thoughts may perish, and his affections alter: So that they shall faile thee as a land floud doth