The works of George Swinnock, M.A

God hath given us three Books, which we ought to be studying whilst we are living. The Book of Conscience, the Book of Scripture, and the Book of the Creature; In the Book of Conscience we may read our selves, in the Book of the creature we may read God, in the Book of Scripture we may read both God and our selves. The great God sets us excellent lectures in the volume of the creation. Though this Book hath but three leaves in it, Heaven, Earth, Sea, yet it teacheth us many rare lessons; If we think of the visible Heaven, and behold those great lights of the world; how swiftly they move in their proper orbs; how unwearied they are in their perpetual courses; how they fail not a minute of their appointed time, nor wander an inch out of their designed way; how they divide the day and night, and the several seasons of the year; how they bless the earth with their smiling aspects, and keep the inhabitants of this lower world from finding it a Dungeon by their enlightening beams; we may therein discover the wisdom and power of its maker, and cry out with David, Psa. 19. 1. and 8. 2, 3. The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-works; When I consider the heavens, the work of thy singers, the Moon and Stars which thou hast made; What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou dost thus visit him? O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth? ⟨p. 377⟩and thy glory above the heavens! What rare fruit may a soul gather from these celestial trees! if the porch of Heaven be such a curious piece, the work of his fingers, i. e. an elaborate piece of embroidery, how curious is the Palace within! If the outward Court be so glorious, how glorious is the holy of holies! If light be so sweet, and it be so pleasant a thing to behold the Sun, how sweet is the light of my Gods countenance, and how pleasant is it to behold the Sun of righteousness! O what a blessed day will that be, when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun as the light of seven days, when all believers shall shine as the Sun in the firmament of their Father! Lord, thou speakest to the Sun, and it riseth not, to the Moon, and it standeth still; Why should not thy Servant be as obedient to thy command, even when it is against my natural depraved course!