A10663:453
A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soul of man With the…A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man With the…
A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soul of man With the several dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. By Edward Reynolds, late preacher to the honourable society of Lincoln's Inn: and now rector of the Church of Braunston in Northamptonshire.A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man With the severall dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. By Edvvard Reynoldes, late preacher to the honorable society of Lincoln's Inne: and now rector of the Church of Braunston in Northamptonshire.
London: printed by R. Hearne and John Norton for Robert Bostock, 1640
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.
But in this particular of Contemplation, notwithstanding the excellency of it, there may be Corruption in the Excess (For in those matters of Delight, except they be such as are disproportioned to our corrupt Nature, I mean divine things, we seldom err in the other extreme.) And that is, when we do not divide our selves between our parts, and let every one execute his proper function, so to attend upon mere mental notions, as to neglect the practical part of our Life, and withdraw our selves from the fellowship and regard of humane society, is as wicked in Religion, as it would be in Nature monstrous to see a fire burn without light, or shine without heat (aberrations from the supreme Law being ⟨p. 206⟩in divine things impious as they are in natural prodigious.)
But in this particular of Contemplation, notwithstanding the excellency of it, there may be Corruption in the Excesse (For in those matters of Delight, except they be such as are disproportioned to our corrupt Nature, I meane divine things, wee seldome erre in the other extreme.) And that is, when wee doe not divide our selves between our parts, and let every one execute his proper function, so to attend upon meere mentall notions, as to neglect the practicall part of our Life, and withdraw our selves from the fellowship and regard of humane society, is as wicked in Religion, as it would be in Nature monstrous to see a fire burne without light, or shine without heate (aberrations from the supreme Law being ⟨p. 206⟩in divine things impious as they are in naturall prodigious.)
And therefore that vowed sequestration and voluntary banishment of Hermits and Votaries from humane society, under pretence of devoting themselves to Contemplation, and a fore-enjoying of the Light of God, is towards him as un• pleasing, as it is in it self uncomfortable, for their very pattern which they pretend in such cases to imitate, was not only a burning lamp by the heat of his own Contemplations; but a shining lamp too, by the diffusing of his own Comforts to the refreshing of others.