A62040:1266
The works of George Swinnock, M.A
The works of George Swinnock, M.A. containing these several treatises ...
London: printed by J.B. for Tho. Parkhurst, 1665
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Chapter 15: The excellency of this Calling, and the Conclusion of the Treatise.
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.
When Agesilaus was ready to dye, he charged his friends that they should not make any picture or statue of him; for saith he, If I have done any thing that is good, that will be my monument; but if otherwise, all the statues you can make will not keep my name alive. The Egyptians in their funeral orations never commended any for his riches (because they thought them the goods of fortune) but for his righteousness and justice.
Piety is a lasting pillar, that causeth the righteous to be had in everlasting remembrance. Time shall not out-live the Saints honour; grace renders him more illustrious then ever the Mausolean mountain did that Carian. As the hairs of Tarandrus are not to be pierced with any weapon; so the name of a Saint cannot be hurt by all the slanders and calumnies of the wicked. They who are Sainted in Heavens Calendar, and whose names are enrolled in the Lambs book of life, are truly honourable and eternally glorious, maugre the malice ⟨p. 849⟩of Men and Devils. The disgrace which the wicked cast on the righteous is at worst, but like the noise of some loud tongued gun, ceased as soon as heard; but the honour which God and Scripture put upon the godly, is a pillar which endureth to all eternity; such a monument as neither age, nor time, nor envy, can waste or wear out. Demetrius under all the obloquy and contempt which his countrymen cast upon him, could comfort himself in this, that Though the Athenians demolished his statues, yet they could not extinguish his virtues, the cause of raising them.
Piety is a lasting pillar, that causeth the righteous to be had in everlasting remembrance. Time shall not out-live the Saints honour; grace renders him more illustrious then ever the Mausolean mountan did that Carian. As the hairs of Tarandrus are not to be pierced with any weapon; so the name of a Saint cannot be hurt by all the slanders and calumnies of the wicked. They who are Sainted in Heavens Calendar, and whose names are enrolled in the Lambs book of life, are truly honourable and eternally glorious, maugre the malice ⟨p. 849⟩