A10663:59
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.
By Divine Raptures we aspire, And are inflamed with noble fire.
By Divine Raptures we aspire, And are inflam'd with noble fire.
The office of the Imagination to the Will, is to quicken, allure, and sharpen its desire towards some convenient object: for it often cometh to pass, that some plausible Fancy doth more prevail with tender Wills, than a severe and sullen Argument, and hath more powerful insinuations to persuade, than the peremptoriness of Reason hath to command. And the reason •ereof is, because liberty being natural unto mans Will, that course must needs most of all gain upon it, which doth offer least force unto its liberty: Which is done rather by an Argument of delight, than of constraint; and best of all, when a rational and convincing Argument is so sweetened and tempered, to the delight of the hearer, that he shall be content to entertain Truth, for the very beauty and attire of it; so that you shall not know, whether it were the weight of the Reason that over-ruled, or the elegance that enticed him. A man can be well pleased, to look with delight on the picture of his enemy, when it is drawn with a skilful and curious hand. And therefore, in that great work of mens conversion unto God, he is said to allure ⟨p. 20⟩them, and to speak comfortably unto them, to beseech, 1and to persuade them; to set forth Chris• to the Soul, as altogether lovely, as the fairest […] ten thousand, as the desire of the Nations, as th• Riches of the World, that men might be inflame• to love the beauty of Holiness. That which must persuade the Will, must not only have […] truth, but a worthiness in it: in which respect, the Principles of Knowledge are called [Greek or Hebrew] worthy or honourable speeches: and the Gospel is not only called [Greek or Hebrew], a true saying; but [Greek or Hebrew], a worthy saying; and in that respect fitted for acceptation. It is true of the Will, which Seneca hath observed of Princes; Ap Reges etiam quae prosunt ita tamen t delectent su denda sunt: That unto them even things profitable must be represented with the face rather of delight than of necessity; even as Physicians, when they minister a very wholesome Potion: