A30592:304
Moses his choice with his eye fixed upon Heaven, discovering the happy condition of…
Moses his choice with his eye fixed upon Heaven, discovering the happy condition of a self-denying heart, delivered in a treatise upon Hebrews II, 25, 26 / by Jeremiah Burroughs.
London: printed by John Field, 1650
Moses his Choice. › Part 1 › Chapter 11: Afflicted godliness, is better then delightful wickedness.
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, take them at the best, yet they are such, as the excellency of true virtue consists in the moderation 1of them, yea, in the raising the heart above them, so as to disdain and contemn them, if they would come in as our portion; certainly if they were the highest good, the glory of virtue would be in expatiating the heart towards them, in letting out the heart fully to them, in enlarging the heart in enjoyment of them, in satisfying the heart in the sweetness received from them; but it is otherwise, much of the commendation of virtue, hath been in the ability to moderate affections towards them, to deny themselves in them. It is the beginning of a good mind, says Seneca, not to rejoice in vain things. Yea, there is no greater pleasure, says Tertullian, then the contempt of pleasures.
Fourthly, take them at the best, yet they are such, as the excellency of true vertue consists in the moderation 1of them, yea, in the raising the heart above them, so as to disdain and contemn them, if they would come in as our portion; certainly if they were the highest good, the glory of vertue would be in expatiating the heart towards them, in letting out the heart fully to them, in enlarging the heart in enjoyment of them, in satisfying the heart in the sweetness received from them; but it is otherwise, much of the commendation of vertue, hath been in the ability to moderate affections towards them, to deny themselves in them. It is the beginning of a good minde, says Seneca, not to rejoyce in vain things. Yea, there is no greater pleasure, says Tertullian, then the contempt of pleasures.
- 1Initium bonae mentis non gaudere vanis. Nulla major voluptas quàn voluptatis fastidium. Tertul. despect. Vides conviviū peccatores: interrogaje us conscientiā. Noune gravius omnibus foetet sepulchris? Intuer is laetitiam ejus & salubritatem corporis, filiorum atque opum •bandantiam: introspiceulcera, vibices anime cjus, cordisque maestitudinem. Amb. offic. l. 1. c. 12.Initium bonae mentis non gaudere vanis. Nulla major voluptas quàn voluptatis fastidium. Tertul. despect. Vides conviviū peccatores: interrogaje us conscientiā. Noune gravius omnibus foetet sepulchris? Intuer is laetitiam ejus & salubritatem corporis, filiorum atque opum bandantiam: introspiceulcera, vibices anime cjus, cordisque maestitudinem. Amb. offic. l. 1. c. 12.