The works of George Swinnock, M.A

As its said of grief, Ille dolet vere qui sine teste dole•, He grieves truly, that weeps, without a witness; so it may be said of godliness, he is sincere in his godliness, who is godly in secret. The best characters, and truest pictures which can be drawn of the minds of men, are to be taken from the bent of their thoughts, rather then from their works; Wicked men cannot do the mischief they conceive, for lack of the Midwifery of fit instruments and opportunities to bring it forth; Good men are unable to act all the good they would, because they want power and ability for Execution; As Paul acknowledgeth that he was better at willing then performing; but every man hath liberty to devise and meditate, to study and contrive what he will• Though a mans hand or actions may be over awed and over-ruled against his own will, yet ⟨p. 367⟩his heart and thoughts cannot. As he thinks in his heart (saith the wise man) so is he, Pov. 13. 7. Practice• may be swayed by outward ends, but the thoughts are always genuine and natural. Violence may cause the former, but love carrieth the latter in its own way. Hence good men have been signalized for Saints, from the holiness of their thoughts. (They thought upon his name, they meditate in his law day and night, and they have even appealed to God with comfort, upon their confidence of their uprightness, from the goodness of their thoughts, Try me O God, and know my thoughts,) as being the purest and most unfeigned issues of the soul, Mal. 3. 17. Psalm 1. and such as have least danger of infection from foreign aims. Its observable also, that wicked men are set forth by this secret mark, They devise mischief, they imagine wickedness; the thoughts and imaginations of his heart are evil; God is not in all his thoughts; because, as Adam begat a son after his own likeness, so doth the heart of every man beget thoughts according to its own likeness, whether it be spiritual or carnal.

As its said of grief, Ille dolet vere qui sine teste dole•, He grieves truly, that weeps, without a witness; so it may be said of godliness, he is sincere in his godliness, who is godly in secret. The best characters, and truest pictures which can be drawn of the minds of men, are to be taken from the bent of their thougts, rather then from their works; Wicked men cannot do the mischief they conceive, for lack of the Midwifery of fit instruments and opportunities to bring it forth; Good men are unable to act all the good they would, because they want power and ability for Execution; As Paul acknowledgeth that he was better at willing then performing; but every man hath liberty to devise and meditate, to study and contrive what he will Though a mans hand or actions may be over awed and over-ruled against his own will, yet