A62047:216
The fading of the flesh and flourishing of faith, or, One cast for eternity…
The fading of the flesh and flourishing of faith, or, One cast for eternity with the only way to throw it well : as also the gracious persons incomparable portion / by George Swinnock ...The fading of the flesh and flourishing of faith, or, One cast for eternity with the only way to throw it vvell : as also the gracious persons incomparable portion / by George Swinnock ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1662
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Chapter 7: What is requisite to preparation for Death. A change of state, and a change of nature,…
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.
Reader, If thou art out of this Covenant, thou art like a man in the midst of the Sea, without any Boat or bottom, though some in Vessels at the ⟨p. 64⟩same time are safe, yet he is sure to sink. It is related of one, that being at the point of Drowning in a River and looking up, and seeing a Rainbow in the Sky (the sign of Gods Covenant, that he would never more drown the World) he made this conclusion; What if God save the whole World from a deluge of Waters, and suffer me to perish in this River, what good will that Covenant do me? So say I to thee, though thousands escape a deluge of wrath through Gods promise to Christ, and in Christ to his purified ones, what good will it do thee if thou perishest?
Reader, If thou art out of this Covenant, thou art like a man in the midst of the Sea, without any Boat or bottom, though some in Vessels at the ⟨p. 64⟩same time are safe, yet he is sure to sink. It is related of one, that being at the point of Drowning in a River and looking up, and seeing a Rainbow in the Skie (the sign of Gods Covenant, that he would never more drown the World) he made this conclusion; What if God save the whole World from a deluge of Waters, and suffer me to perish in this River, what good will that Covenant do me? So say I to thee, though thousands escape a deluge of wrath through Gods promise to Christ, and in Christ to his purified ones, what good will it do thee if thou perishest?
An interest in this Covenant was the living comfort of dying David, He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make not my House to grow, 2 Sam. 23.5. Mark how the pious King draws all the Wine which made his heart glad (in one of his last hours) from this Pipe. Death is one of the sourest things in the World, and such things require much sugar to make them sweet. David found so much honey in the Covenant, that therewith he made Death it self a pleasant, a desirable Dish. If you observe the beginning of the Chapter, you will find that his end was near; Now these be the last words of David. But this, this was the quiet and ease of his heart, that Gods Covenant with him was everlasting and without end. As Death is famous for its terror (being King thereof) so also for his power, it brings down the mighty Princes and Potentates of the Earth;