A62047:332
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.
2.1 The Doctrine may be useful by way of trial: If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition be, That God is his portion; then, Reader, examine thy self whether God be thy portion or no. I must tell thee, the essence and heart of Religion consisteth in the choice of thy portion; nay thy happiness dependeth wholly upon thy taking of the blessed God for thine utmost end and chiefest good; therefore if thou mistakest here, thou art lost for ever.
2.1 THe Doctrine may be useful by way of tryall: If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition be, That God is his portion; then, Reader, examine thy self whether God be thy portion or no. I must tell thee, the essence and heart of Religion consisteth in the choice of thy portion; nay thy happiness dependeth wholly upon thy taking of the blessed God for thine utmost end and chiefest good; therefore if thou mistakest here, thou art lost for ever.
- 1The second Use by way of Trial, whether God be our potion or no.The second Use by way of Tryal, whether God be our po tion or no.
I shall try thee very briefly by the touchstone which Christ hath prepared: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, Matth. 6. Now Friend, Where is thy heart? is it in earth? is it a diamond set in lead, or a sparkling star sixth in heaven? Are thy greatest affections like Saul's person among the stuff and rubbish of this world? or do they, like Moses, ⟨p. 140⟩go up into the Mount and converse with God? Do they with the Worms crawl here below? or like the Eagle soar aloft and dwell above? A man that hath his portion on earth, like the earth, moveth downward, though he may be thrown upward by violence (as a stone) by some sudden conviction, or the like; yet that imprest virtue is soon worn out, and he falleth to the earth again; but he who hath his portion in heaven, like fire, tendeth upward ordinarily, though through the violence of temptation he may (as fire by the wind) be forced downward, yet that removed, he ascendeth again.