A39678:98
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native country, and the souls of men.The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native countrey, and the souls of men.
London: printed for Thomas Cockerill, 1691
THE REASONABLENESS OF Personal Reformation, › Chapter 2 › Section 1
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.
SECT. I.
Such is the degeneracy and deep Corruption of some Mens Natures by ill Education, base Company, and long Custom in Sin; that abandoning and casting away the bonds and restraints of right Reason, as well as Religion, they give the full scope and Liberty to their Lusts and Passions, reckoning their chief happiness to consist in the Gratification and Satisfaction of their Sensitive Appetites. They affect a soft, delicate, sense-pleasing Life, reckoning it the only real Heaven to be desired and sought by them; and any other Heaven beside that, to be merely notional and fantastic. This is the Element they desire to ⟨p. 20⟩live and sport in, fitly described, Tit. 3. 3. […] serving divers Lusts and Pleasures. Hence it com•• to pass, that their Bodies serve only to be straine•• for Meats and Drinks, and Channels for filth• Lusts to stream through. In this stream the•• Masculine Agility melts away, and all publi•• Hopes and Expectations from them are totall• defeated and disappointed. Appetite is the Maste• and Reason the Slave.
SUch is the degeneracy and deep Corruption of some Mens Natures by ill Education, base Company, and long Custom in Sin; that abandoning and casting away the bonds and restraints of right Reason, as well as Religion, they give the full scope and Liberty to their Lusts and Passions, reckoning their chief happiness to consist in the Gratification and Satisfaction of their Sensitive Appetites. They affect a soft, delicate, sensepleasing Life, reckoning it the only real Heaven to be desired and sought by them; and any other Heaven beside that, to be meerly notional and phantastick. This is the Element they desire to