A62047:333
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.
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.
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 fixt in heaven? Are thy greatest affections like Saul's person among the stuffe 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 Wormes 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 vertue 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.