A62050:433
Ouranos kai tartaros= heaven and hell epitomized. The true Christian characterized. As also an…
Ouranos kai tartaros= heaven and hell epitomized. The true Christian characterized. As also an exhortation with motives, means and directions to be speedy and serious about the work of conversion. By George Swinnocke M.A. sometime fellow of Balliol College in Oxford, and now preacher of the Gospel at Rickmersworth in Hertfordshire.Ouranos kai tartaros= heaven and hell epitomized. The true Christian characterized. As also an exhortation with motives, means and directions to be speedy and serious about the work of conversion. By George Swinnocke M.A. sometime fellow of Baliol Colledge in Oxford, and now preacher of the Gospel at Rickmersworth in Hertfordshire.
London: printed by E.M. for Tho. Parkhurst, 1659
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.
What love is that which did all this for such a worm as thou art? such a sinner, such ⟨p. 161⟩a rebel; what would God lose, if thou wert eternally lost? the least tittle of his happiness would not be diminished; this Sun is no loser, when men shut their eyes, and will not behold its light: what gaineth God, if he gain thee to himself, to his service? thou canst not add the least cubit to the stature of his perfections; the refreshment is to men, not to the Spring when the weary passengers drink of it. He doth not command thee to repent from any need he hath of thee, but from the pity he hath to thee. He entreateth thee to return, not that he may be blessed and happy, but that he may be bountiful & liberal in bestowing on thee those blessings which accompany salvation. Methinks the apprehension of Gods great love and goodness should have such an impression on thee as to make thee little and low in thine own thoughts. Is it not a wonder, that God should vouchsafe a gracious look upon such a clod of earth, a piece of clay as thou art? but what admiration can answer this love and condescension, that God should wait and entreat to lift thee up, who wouldst cast him down! That an Emperor should sue to a traitor; that Majesty should thus stoop ⟨p. 162⟩to misery; that the Lord of life and glory should prepare for thee exceeding rich and precious promises, a crown of life, a purchased possession, and beseech thee to accept of them. Were thy heart never such hard metal, one would think that such an hot fire of burning love should melt it. I have in two or three Authors read of five men that met together, and asked each other what means they used to abstain from sin? The first said, The thoughts of the certainty of death, and uncertainty of the time moved him to live every day, as if it were his last day. The second said, He meditated of the day of of judgment, and the torments of hell, and they frighted him from meddling with his dangerous enemy, sin. The third considered of the deformity of sin, and beauty of holiness. The fourth, of the abundant happiness provided in heaven for holy ones. The last continually thought of the Lord Jesus Christ and his love; and this made him ashamed to sin against God.
What love is that which did all this for such a worm as thou art? such a sinner, such ⟨p. 161⟩