The works of George Swinnock, M.A

Ungodly men are always worst at last; when they come to the bottom, they are flat and dead, and nothing but grounds and dregs. How often in the eyes of the world, do wicked persons go out ⟨p. 618⟩like a Lamp, leaving a stench behind them! The scandalous sinner, usually, like the Goats beard, or star of Jerusalem, closeth up the flower of his presumptuous hope at high noon, he is cast in his own conscience long before his death. The Hypocrite ordinarily, as the Daisy and Dandelion, declares the approach of the evening, by shutting up before its approach; If he be gold in the morning, and silver at noon, yet (as we say of Butter) he is lead at night. What is the hope of the Hypocrite, when God shall take away his soul! As its storied of the Pardora, a people in India, that in their youth they have silver hairs, but in their age, their hairs are quite black; Or as the She Wolf hath a yearly defect in generation, the first time she hath five, the second time four, then three, then two, then one, then barren ever after. So the Hypocrite declines and decreaseth in goodness, faster then the Moon in its last quarter, and is commonly worst at last. But the sincere Christian hath his best at the bottom, and hath his daintiest dish reserved to be served in at the last course• Naturalists tell us of Honey, that that is the thickest and best Honey, which is squeezed last out of the Comb. O what excellent periods and endings, both in regard of the exercise of grace and comfort, have many of the Children of God made! The Death-bed to some Saints, hath been like Tharah to the Israelites in the Wilderness, where after many journeys growing near to the Land of Canaan, they rested themselves, and it was called Tharah, from Roah and Tarah, which signifieth a breathing time. The Sun when it declines into ⟨p. 619⟩the West, hath even then much more light then any of the Stars; The meanest upright Christian when he is near setting, hath more joy and comfort then a specious Hypocrite any day of his life. When some asked Oecolampadius, lying on his death-bed, whether the light did not offend him, he answered, pointing to his breast, Hic sat lucis, H•re is abundance of light, of joy; He asked one of his Friends, What news? His Friend told him, None; Then saith he, I will tell you some news; I shall presently be with my Lord Christ.