Reader, If thou art one of these flesh-pots of Egypt; What folly and madness art thou guilty of? Is not thy spirit [Greek or Hebrew],1 an Heavenly plant, the immediate workmanship of the glorious God, and thy flesh like the first Adam of the earth Earthy, and art thou not a fool to prefer Dirt before that which is divine? Is not thy spirit the impress and Image of God himself, in its immortality, noble faculties, and capacity of honouring, and enjoying his infinite Majesty; and thy body the resemblance of beasts, nay, in many things inferior to them, and art thou not unwise in esteeming that which is brutish, above that which is the Picture of Gods own perfections? Again, is not the well-being of thy body, involved in the welfare of thy soul? As really as the branches depend on the root for its flourishing, thy body dependeth on thy soul for its salvation, how mad art thou therefore to let the Vessel sink, and yet presume to preserve the Passenger that saileth in it. Once more, shall not the life of thy spirit run parallel with the life of God himself, and the line of eternity? and hath not God himself told thee, that thy flesh will fail thee? dost thou not find it now and then tottering, and as it were telling thee that it must drop down? and art not thou a fool in grain, a fool in the highest degree, to place all thy happiness for ever, to set all thy stress & weight for thine unchangeable estate on this rotten bough which will certainly break under thee, when thou mightest have sure footing, and lay up a good ⟨p. 26⟩Foundation by an hearty regarding thine Heaven-born soul; O consider it, and give conscience leave to call thee fool once, that thou mayst be wise for ever. Attilus King of Swethland made a Dog King of the Danes, in revenge of some injuries received from them. What wrong hath thy soul done thee, that to be revenged on it, and to spite it to purpose, thou makest its slave its Sovereign, that part by which thou art kin to the beasts, its Lord and King.
Reader, If thou art one of these flesh-pots of Egypt; What folly and madness art thou guilty of? Is not thy spirit 〈non-Latin alphabet〉,1 an Heavenly plant, the immediate workmanship of the glorious God, and thy flesh like the first Adam of the earth Earthy, and art thou not a fool to prefer Dirt before that which is divine? Is not thy spirit the impress and Image of God himself, in its immortality, noble faculties, and capacity of honouring, and enjoying his infinite Majesty; and thy body the resemblance of beasts, nay, in many things inferior to them, and art thou not unwise in esteeming that which is brutish, above that which is the Picture of Gods own perfections? Again, is not the well-being of thy body, involved in the welfare of thy soul? As really as the branches depend on the root for its flourishing, thy body dependeth on thy soul for its salvation, how mad art thou therefore to let the Vessel sink, and yet presume to preserve the Passenger that sayleth in it. Once more, shall not the life of thy spirit run parallel with the life of God himself, and the line of eternity? and hath not God himself told thee, that thy flesh will fail thee? dost thou not find it now and then tottering, and as it were telling thee that it must drop down? and art not thou a fool in grain, a fool in the highest degree, to place all thy happiness for ever, to set all thy stress & weight for thine unchangeable estate on this rotten bough which will certainly break under thee, when thou mightest have sure footing, and lay up a good ⟨p. 26⟩Foundation by an hearty regarding thine Heaven-born soul; O consider it, and give conscience leave to call thee fool once, that thou mayst be wise for ever. Attilus King of Swethland made a Dog King of the Danes, in revenge of some injuries received from them. What wrong hath thy soul done thee, that to be revenged on it, and to spight it to purpose, thou makest its slave its Soveraign, that part by which thou art kin to the beasts, its Lord and King.
- 1Plate.
