A62047:288
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.
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.
This delight and joy in God ariseth from his suitableness to the nature of the heaven-born Saints (as I shall discover in the next heads) and their propriety in him.1
THis delight and joy in God ariseth from his sutableness to the nature of the heaven-born Saints (as I shall discover in the next heads) and their propriety in him.1
- 1God is a suitable good to Man• Soul.God is a sutab•e good to Man• Soul.
Secondly, God is a proportionable good. That which makes a man happy, must be suitable to his spiritual soul. All satisfaction ariseth from some likeness between the faculty or temper which predominateth, and the object. The cause of pleasure in our meats is ⟨p. 116⟩the suitableness of the saline humour in our taste to that in our food. Therefore silver doth not satisfy one that is sick, 1nor raiment one that suffereth hunger, because these are not answerable to those particular necessities of nature. The Prince of Philosophers observeth truly, That those things only content the several creatures, which are [Greek or Hebrew] accommodated to their several natures. Birds and beasts, and fish, do all live upon and delight in that food, which is proportionable to their distinct beings. The Ox feedeth on grass, the Lion on flesh, the Goat on Bough's; some live on the dew, some on fruit, some on weeds; some creatures live in the Air, others sport themselves in the waters; the Mole and Worm are for the earth: the Salamander chooseth rather the fire; Nay in the same plant, the bee feedeth on the flower, the bird on the seed; the sheep on the blade, and the swine on the root; and what is the reason of all this, but because nature must have its rest and delight from that only which is suitable to its own appetite and desire. Hence it is that though God be so perfect a good, yet he is not the happiness of evil Men, or evil Angels, for he is not suitable to their vitiated depraved natures. The carnal mind (which beareth sway in unregenerate men) is enmity against God, and Devils are as contrary to Gods nature, as fire is to water. Hence it is, that spiritual men place and enjoy happiness in the Father of Spirits, because he is the savoury meat which their souls love. Though the sinner can live upon dregs, as the swine on dung; yet the Saint must have refined Spirits, and nothing less then Angels food and delights.