A09977:67
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.
If things have a being from themselves, it is certain then that they are without causes;1 as for example; That which hath no efficient cause, (that is) no maker, that hath no end. Look upon all the works made by man (that we may express it to you;) take an house, or any work, or instrument that man makes; therefore it hath an end, because he that made it, propounded such an end to himself; but if it have no maker, it can have no end: for the end of any thing is that which the maker aims at. Now if things have no end, they could have no form: for the form and fashion of every thing ariseth only from the end, which the maker propounds to himself; as for example, the reason, why a knife hath such a fashion, is, because it was the end of the maker, to have it an instrument to cut with: the reason why an axe or hatchet hath another fashion, is, because ⟨p. 9⟩it might be an instrument to chop with; and the reason, why a key hath another fashion different from these, is, because the maker propounded to himself another end, in making of it, namely, to open locks with; these are all made of the same matter, that is, of iron, but they have divers fashions, because they have several ends, which the maker propounds to himself. So that, if there be no ends of things, there is no form, nor fashion of them, because the ground of all their fashions, is their several ends. So then we will put them all together; if there be no efficient, no maker of them, then there is no end, and if there be no end, then there is no form nor fashion, and if there be no form, then there is no matter, and so consequently, they have no cause; and that which is without any cause, must needs be God; which I am sure none dares to affirm; and therefore they have not their being of themselves. But besides that negative argument, by bringing it to an impossibility, that the creatures should be Gods, we will make it plain by an affirmative argument, that all the creatures have an end.
If things have a being from themselves, it is certaine then that they are without causes;1 as for example; That which hath no efficient cause, (that is) no maker, that hath no end. Looke upon all the workes made by man (that we may expresse it to you;) take an house, or any worke, or instrument that man makes; therefore it hath an end, because he that made it, propounded such an end to himselfe; but if it have no maker, it can have no end: for the end of any thing is that which the maker aymes at. Now if things have no end, they could have no forme: for the forme and fashion of every thing ariseth only from the end, which the maker propounds to himselfe; as for example, the reason, why a knife hath such a fashion, is, because it was the end of the maker, to have it an instrument to cut with: the reason why an axe or hatchet hath another fashion, is, because