A94156:196
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 Apostle calls the body a vile body, Phil. 3. ult. in regard of its original production (it was made not of heavenly materials, as Sun or Stars; nor ⟨p. 51⟩of precious materials, as pearls or jewels, but ex pulvere limoso & lutoso, of dust mingled with water) and in regard of its ultimate resolution, it becomes first an ugly ghastly carcass, and then moulders into earth; but the Holy ghost calls the Soul, The breath of the Almighty, Job 33.4. It was not as the body framed of the dust, but immediately breathed by God himself; it was not the fruit of some preexistent matter, but the immediate effect of Divine power: The soul is in a spiritual as well as in a natural sense, the life of the body, especially if you take vivere for valere, to live for to be lusty, and to be in health; for what the Sun is to the greater, that the Soul is to the lesser World. When the sun shineth comfortably how cheerfully do all things look? how well do they thrive and prosper? the birds sing merrily, the beasts play wantonly, the trees and herbs put forth their buds and fruits; the whole Creation enjoyeth a day of light and joy: But when the Sun departeth, what a night of horror followeth? how are all things wrapped up in the sable mantle of darkness? nay let but the heat of its beams abate, how do all faces gather paleness? the creatures are buried, as it were in the winding sheet of Winters frost and snow: so when the soul shineth pleasantly on the body, refreshing it with its beams of holiness, with its rays of grace, the body cannot but enjoy a Summer of health and strength. Such a soul in such a body, is like a pure wax candle in a crystal lantern, refreshing with its sent, directing by its light, and ⟨p. 52⟩comforting with its heat; but if the soul be weak, and full of spiritual wants, the body must needs wither. The soul is the ship in which the body sails, if that be safe the body is safe, if that sinks the body sinks for ever.
The Apostle calls the body a vile body, Phil. 3. ult. in regard of its original production (it was made not of heavenly materials, as Sun or Stars; nor