Ray [formerly Wray], John (1627–1705)

The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation

London

Printed for Samuel Smith

1691

"We are careful enough of wounding or maiming our Bodies, but we make bold to lash and wound our Souls daily; for every Sin we commit, being contrary to its Nature, is a real Stripe yea a mortal Wound to the soul, and we shall find it to be so, if our Consciences be once awakened to feel the Sting and Smart of it."

This is our Duty, but alas what is our Practice? Our great Partiality towards our Bodies, and Neglect of our souls, shews clearly which Part we prefer. We are careful enough of wounding or maiming our Bodies, but we make bold to lash and wound our Souls daily; for every Sin we commit, being contrary to its Nature, is a real Stripe yea a mortal Wound to the soul, and we shall find it to be so, if our Consciences be once awakened to feel the Sting and Smart of it. We are industrious enough to preserve our Bodies from Slavery and Thraldom, but we make nothing of suffering our souls to be Slaves and Drudges to our Lusts, and to live in the vilest Bondage to the most degenerate of Creatures, the Devil: We are thrifty and provident enough not to part with anything that may be serviceable to our Bodies under a good consideration, and we so esteem them, as that we will part with all we have for the Life of them; but we make little Account of what is most beneficial to our souls, the means of Grace and Salvation, the Word of God and Duties of his Worship and Service; nay, we can be content to sell our souls themselves for a Trifle, for a thing of nothing, yea for what is worse than nothing, the Satisfying of an inordinate and unreasonable Appetite or Passion. We highly esteem and stand much upon our Nobility, our Birth and Breeding, though we derive nothing from our Ancestors but our Bodies and Corporeal Qualities ; and it is useful so far to value and improve this Advantage, as to provoke us to imitate the good Examples of our Progenitors, not to degenerate from them, nor to do any thing unworthy of our Breeding; and yet the divine Original of our Souls, which are Beams from the Father of Lights, and the immediate Offspring of God himself, [Greek], hath little influence upon us to engage us to walk worthily of our extraction, and to do nothing that is Base or ignoble, and unsuitable to the Dignity of our Birth.

Body::Wound

Reading (in the British Library)

23 entries in ESTC (1691, 1692, 1701, 1704, 1709, 1714, 1717, 1722, 1727, 1735, 1743, 1744, 1750, 1756, 1758, 1762, 1768, 1777, 1798).

Ray, John. The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. Being the Substance of Some Common Places Delivered in the Chappel of Trinity-College, in Cambridge. (London: Printed for Samuel Smith, at the Princes Arms in S. Pauls Church-Yard, 1691). <Link to ESTC>

06/22/2014