The works of George Swinnock, M.A

Should I seem pious in those duties which concern thy worship, and yet be perverse in my dealings with men, I am in thy judgement a wicked person. Thou hast said of such, Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? Micah. 6. 11. If there be iniquity in my ⟨p. 60⟩hands, there is hypocrisy in my heart; How clearly doth a person that picketh and chooseth his food, (liking this, and loathing that, though ne•er so wholesome) prove a foul stomach; and how fully do I demonstrate secret filth in my inward parts, if I pick and choose amongst (the food of my soul) the precepts! When the soul is clean and sound, every command will be sweet; if my heart be sincere, all my dealings will be square. O let me never be like those Pharisees, who made long prayers for a cover, that they might prey the more closely upon their Neighbours; but let thy spirit in my heart, send up the sap of grace into every branch of my life, that all the passages thereof may abound in the fruits of righteousness, and I may esteem all thy precepts, concerning all things, to be right.

Should I seem pious in those duties which concern thy worship, and yet be perverse in my dealings with men, I am in thy judgement a wicked person. Thou hast said of such, Shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? Micah. 6. 11. If there be iniquity in my ⟨p. 60⟩hands, there is hypocrisie in my heart; How clearly doth a person that picketh and chooseth his food, (liking this, and loathing that, though ne•er so wholsom) prove a foul stomach; and how fully do I demonstrate secret filth in my inward parts, if I pick and choose amongst (the food of my soul) the precepts! When the soul is clean and sound, every command will be sweet; if my heart be sincere, all my dealings will be square. O let me never be like those Pharises, who made long prayers for a cover, that they might prey the more closely upon their Neighbours; but let thy spirit in my heart, send up the sap of grace into every branch of my life, that all the passages thereof may abound in the fruits of righteousness, and I may esteem all thy precepts, concerning all things, to be right.