The monster of sinful self-seeking, anatomized together with a description of the heavenly and…The monster of sinful self-seeking, anatomizd together with a description of the heavenly and…

Qu. What is this heavenly and blessed self-seeking?

Qu. What is this heavenly and blessed selfe-seeking?

Ans. To understand this aright, is a point of great concernment. For the more we know of this Divine self-seeking, the more we will shun and abhor the sinful self-seeking. Give me leave to deliver what I have to say about it, in these ensuing Propositions, which I do not name as several distinct heads, but as divers instances of a divine and sublimated self-seeking, (amounting most of them, to one and the same purpose.)

Ans. To understand this aright, is a point of great concernment. For the more we know of this Divine selfe-seeking, the more we will shun and abhor the sinfull self-seeking. Give me leave to deliver what I have to say about it, in these ensuing Propositions, which I doe not name as several distinct heads, but as divers instances of a divine and sublimated selfeseeking, (amounting most of them, to one and the same purpose.)

That man who seeks the good of his Soul, more than the good of his body, seeks himself after a Divine manner. The Body ¹of Man is the worst half of Man, vilissima pars hominis, The shell, the box, the carcass of Man. Intus est, quod homo est, The Soule of Man is the Man of Man. Animus uniuscujusque is est quisque. And therefore he that seeks to get his Soul beautified with grace, to be made Christs picture, and a real member of his body, this Man, and this Man only, seeks himself. He that seeks the good of his body, to the hurt of his Soul, doth not seek himself, but the destruction both of Body and Soul. That Man that makes such a fire, as to burn himself and his house, doth not seek the good of himself nor his house. That Merchant that so over-loads his Ship, as to drown it, and himself, doth not seek his own good. Even so that Man that over-pampers his Body, that laboureth curare cutem, magis quam animam, to stuff his body with dainty food, to clothe his body with fine apparel, and in the mean time to neglect his most precious Soul, this Man doth not seek himself, but ruin himself. For the happiness of the Body, depends upon the happiness of the Soul. If the Soul go to Hell at death, the Body at the great resurrection will go thither also: And therefore he that beats down his