A89737:1448
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few…
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perilous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begetting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perillous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begeting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.
London: printed by John Macock for Henry Cripps, 1654
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
The Soul is a Spirit, not a Body consisting of matter, Luk. 24.39. It is a real and very being, as the body is, only of a higher kind; the Body is of the Earth, the Soul is immediately from God. It should not prejudice the being of the Soul, because it is not visible to our eyes; we may as well question the being of God himself, or of the Angels, who are invisible; or our own selves to be Men, for from the Soul it principally is that we are Men, or Women. It is a substance not depending, in respect of its being, upon any other Fellow-creature, as accidents do, whose being is by having their in-being in another Fellow-creature as their subject. Its subsistence exceeds that of the Body, the Soul can subsist without the Body, but the Body continueth not a Body without the Soul. Hence we read of separated Souls, but not of separated Bodies. The Soul is compared to a large vessel, Rom. 9.22, 23. as high as Heaven, as deep as the earth, Prov. 25.3. more capacious than the world, Eccles. 3.11. As the capacity of a vessel may be learned by the quantity it is able to contain; so the understanding of the word of command (which considered alone is exceeding broad, Psal. 119.90.) Promise and Curse, together with the works of God, helps us to conceive of the largeness of the Soul. Solomon in respect of his exceeding much understanding, is said to have largeness of heart, even as the sand which is by the Sea shore, 1 King. 4.29. yet Solomons heart, compared with Adams innocency, or his own Soul now in glory, was but a narrow heart. Between Pauls Soul in the body, and in glory, there is as great a disproportion, as between a child and Solomon, 1 Cor. 13.11.
The Soul is a Spirit, not a Body consisting of matter, Luk. 24.39. It is a real and very being, as the body is, only of a higher kind; the Body is of the Earth, the Soul is immediately from God. It should not prejudice the being of the Soul, because it is not visible to our eyes; we may as wel question the being of God himself, or of the Angels, who are invisible; or our own selves to be Men, for from the Soul it principally is that we are Men, or Women. It is a substance not depending, in respect of its being, upon any other Fellow-creature, as accidents doe, whose being is by having their in-being in another Fellow-creature as their subject. Its subsistence exceeds that of the Body, the Soul can subsist without the Body, but the Body continueth not a Body without the Soul. Hence we read of separated Souls, but not of separated Bodies. The Soul is compared to a large vessel,