A09977:641
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.
Fourthly, It is set out comparatively. To compare him, with the greatest of men,1 Kings, what are they unto him, who is the King of Kings? Nay, take Nations which are greater, nay take all Nations, you shall see what they are to him. Isa. 40.15. Behold the Nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing, & Lebanon is not sufficient to burn for a burnt offering. All Nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less then nothing and vanity. The very scope of this place is, to show the greatness of God by comparison. A bucket of water is but a small thing, but the drops that fall from it, they are of no use: Again, the dust of the earth is but a small thing, but the dust of the scales, that will not so much as turn them, that must needs be exceeding little: but all the world is not so much to him, as a little dust. Another comparison you shall find in Isa 55. My thoughts are above your thoughts, as the heaven is above the earth. Beyond all things are the thoughts of man; for though Nations be great, yet a mans thoughts go beyond them: notwithstanding the Lord is as much beyond the scantling, and model that we draw of him in our thoughts, as the heavens are above the earth: When you have thought upon me as much as you can think; when you have thought ⟨p. 127⟩me merciful, (for that is the thing which he speaks of) yet I am as much more merciful, then you can think of me, as the heavens are above the earth.
Fourthly, It is set out comparatively. To compare him, with the greatest of men,1 Kings, what are they unto him, who is the King of Kings? Nay, take Nations which are greater, nay take all Nations, you shall see what they are to him. Isa. 40.15. Behold the Nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the ballance: Behold he taketh up the Iles as a very little thing, & Lebanon is not sufficient to burn for a burnt offering. All Nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him lesse then nothing and vanity. The very scope of this place is, to shw the greatnesse of God by comparison. A bucket of water is but a small thing, but the dropps that fall from it, they are of no use: Againe, the dust of the earth is but a small thing, but the dust of the scales, that will not so much as turne them, that must needes be exceeding little: but all the world is not so much to him, as a litle dust. Another comparison you shall finde in Isa 55. My thoughts are above your thoughts, as the heaven is above the earth. Beyond al things are the thoughts of man; for though Nations bee great, yet a mans thoughts goe beyond them: notwithstanding the Lord is as much beyond the scantling, and modell that we draw of him in our thoughts, as the heavens are above the earth: When you have thought upon mee as much as you can thinke; when you have thought