The works of George Swinnock, M.A

THE EPISTLE TO THE READER.

Such is the beauty of Holiness, the excellency of Divine Nature, and the reasonableness, and righteousness of the Service of God; as also the necessity of Mans devoting himself wholly to it, that were not his understanding, which is the Sun in the lesser world, strangely ••uffled with clouds; his will, which as the Moon, borroweth its light from it, full of spots and changes, and desperately bent upon evil; his affections as stars of malevolent influence, brutishly enslaved to his sensual appetite; and his whole nature deplorably vitiated, it were impossible for him, to turn his back upon the authority, commands, and threatenings of his Maker; to ⟨image 4⟩trample on the bowels, and blood, and entreaties of his Redeemer; to despise the motions, and persuasions, and assistance of the holy Spirit, in order to his recovery out of that bottomless gulf of misery, into which he hath plunged himself, and his restoration to a state of purity and eternal happiness; and there would be no such need of calling so frequently and fervently, and of crying so urgently and earnestly to him, to exercise himself unto godliness.

SUch is the beauty of Holiness, the excellency of Divine Nature, and the reasonableness, and righteousness of the Service of God; as also the necessity of Mans devoting himself wholly to it, that were not his understanding, which is the Sun in the lesser world, strangely ••uffled with clouds; his will, which as the Moon, borroweth its light from it, full of spots and changes, and desperately bent upon evil; his affections as stars of malevolent influence, brutishly enslaved to his sensual appetite; and his whole nature deplorably vitiated, it were impossible for him, to turn his back upon the authority, commands, and threatnings of his Maker; to ⟨image 4⟩trample on the bowels, and blood, and intreaties of his Redeemer; to despise the motions, and perswasions, and assistance of the holy Spirit, in order to his recovery out of that bottomless gulph of misery, into which he hath plunged himself, and his restauration to a state of purity and eternal happiness; and there would be no such need of calling so frequently and fervently, and of crying so urgently and earnestly to him, to exercise himself unto godliness.