George Swinnock

[VirginiaHuguenot]

George Swinnock, English Puritan (1627 - November 10, 1673), was a worthy minister of the gospel. He was ejected from his pulpit in 1662 for nonconformity, although he was able to preach again briefly before his death after the 1672 Indulgence. His works were collected into five volumes, including a remarkable exposition of magistracy in Psalm 82: The beauty of magistracy in an exposition of the 82 Psalm, where is set forth the necessity, utility, dignity, duty, and mortality of magistrates : here many other texts of Scripture occasionally are cleared, many quæries and cases of conscience about the magistrates power, are resolved, many anabaptistical cavils are confuted, and many seasonable observations containing many other heads of divinity, are raised : together with references to such authors as clear any point more fully.

George Swinnock on the Lord's Day

George Swinnock on the Col. 3.16

Another Swinnock quote on Col. 3.16:

George Swinnock (1627-1673) English Puritan commenting on Colossians 3:16: “The Holy Ghost when he commandeth that the word should keep house with us, doth also enjoin us to ‘teach and admonish one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.’ (which are the titles of David’s Psalms, and the known division of them, expressly answering to the Hebrew words, Shurim, Telhillim, and Mizinurim, by which his Psalms are distinguished and entitled, as the learned observe.) ‘singing and making melody with grace in our hearts to the Lord,’ Col. 3:16, Eph. 5:19, Jam. 5:13.”

George Swinnock on Godliness as Man's Principal Business

George Swinnock on Printing Sermons:

In his The Christian Man’s Calling [The Works of George Swinnock, M.A. (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1868), I, 57], Swinnock offers this fascinating observation about why “ministers are often more exact in their printing than in their preaching”:

“...men print, in a sense, for eternity. Sermons preached, or men’s words, pass away with many like wind—how soon are they buried in the grave of oblivion! but sermons printed are men’s works, live when they are dead, and become an image of eternity: ‘This shall be written for the generation to come.’ ”

Several George Swinnock quotes on Worship

More George Swinnock Quotes:

"Pride is the shirt of the soul, put on first and put off last."

"Sin goes in a disguise, and thence is welcome; like Judas, it kisses and kills; like Joab, it salutes and slays."

"Extremes are dangerous: a middle estate is safest; as a middle temper of the sea, between a still calm and a violent tempest, is most helpful to convey the mariner to his haven."

"A gracious wife satisfieth a good husband, and silenceth a bad one."

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

James Hamilton, Our Christian Classics: Readings from the Best Divines, with Notices Biographical and Critical, Vol. II, p. 282:

Except to a few collectors, the writings of Swinnock are almost unknown; but we confess that we have rejoiced in them as those that find great spoil. So pithy and pungent, and so practical, few books are more fitted to keep the attention awake, and few so richly reward it.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

His 5 volumes of Works are available on Ebay.