A94156:193
The Christian-man's calling: or, A treatise of making religion ones business. Wherein the nature…
The Christian-man's calling: or, A treatise of making religion ones business. Wherein the nature and necessity of it is discovered. : As also the Christian directed how he may perform it in [brace] religious duties, natural actions, his particular vocation, his family directions, and his own recreations. / By George Swinnock ...
London: printed for T.P., 1662
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.
The greatest thing (saith one) in this world is Man, and the greatest thing in man is his Soul. It is an abridgement of the invisible world, as the body is of the visible: The body though no mean work considered absolutely, yet of ordinary worth considered comparatively to the soul. It is a mud wall inclosing a rich treasure; as a common mask ⟨p. 50⟩to a beautiful face, as a course cabinet having in it a precious carkanet.
The greatest thing (saith one) in this world is Man, and the greatest thing in man is his Soul. It is an abridgement of the invisible world, as the body is of the visible: The body though no mean work considered absolutely, yet of ordinary worth considered comparatively to the soul. It is a mudwall inclosing a rich treasure; as a common mask ⟨p. 50⟩to a beautiful face, as a course cabinet having in it a precious carkanet.
The very Heathen acknowledged that the soul was the man, 1the body but its servant; and therefore the Christian may well call it, and care for it as his darling, as his only one, as the original is in that place, Psal. 22.20. Chrysostom observeth, Omnia Deus dedit duplicia. 2God hath given man two Eyes, two Ears, two Hands, two Feet, that the failing of the one, may be supplied by the help of the other; Animam vero unam, but one Soul; if that miscarry there is no remedy: Nebuchadnezzar lost his Reason, and that was restored; David lost his Wives, Children and Goods, and yet they were recovered; nay Lazarus lost his life and was revived, but for the loss of the Soul, no power can recover it, no price can redeem, no pearls, no not the whole world can recompense its loss.