1584, William Allen, A True, Sincere and Modest Defence of English Catholics, London: The Manresa Press, 1914, Volume 2, Chapter 8, p. 126, And it is a singular note of irreligiosity in our days, that these profane heretics and godless persons do prefer human things before divine; the regiment temporal before spiritual; the body before the soul; earth before heaven; regality before priesthood; and this life before the next and all eternity.
Source: wiktionary