The works of George Swinnock, M.A

Lord, if the earth be thine, and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein; Whose then am I? Surely thine; O help me to disown all title to my self, to quit all my interest in my self, and to live as one that is not his own, but the Lords; the earth is full of thy riches, let my heart be full of thy righteousness, and that will turn earth to me into heaven, whilst I am full of thy likeness and thy love.

Lord, if the earth be thine, and the fulness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein; Whose then am I? Surely thine; O help me to disown all title to my self, to quit all my interest in my self, and to live as one that is not his own, but the Lords; the earth is full of thy riches, let my heart be full of thy righteousness, and that will turn earth to me into heaven, whilst I am full of thy likeness and thy love.

If we consider the Ocean, that amazeth a beholder with its fierce countenance, and seems to have neither banks nor bottom; how it threatens the earth with its boisterous billows, as if it intended to swallow it up in a moment, and yet when it hath swoln it self to the height of its pride, and its insulting waves have showed their teeth, how soon it retreats, like a coward, as if it were afraid of the smallest worm, and had already outgone its bounds and commission! what innumerable Fish, both small and great, take up their chambers in the waters, and find their food in the jaws of that devourer! what multitudes of massy Vessels she fetcheth off from one Island, and carrieth upon her back as a Porter his burden, and sets them down safe at another; ⟨p. 381⟩how she playeth with them, what frights she puts them in by the way, as men do little children, tossing them up to heaven, and then throwing them down again, as if her belly should be the certain place of their burial, and after all her frowns and fury, refresheth them with her smiles and favour, and doth but prepare them thereby to salute their harbour with the greater joy and gladness! how she sendeth out of her store-house provision, for the several families of the world, furnishing the several pipes and aqueducts of the earth with fresh springs and streams, for the comfort of Man and Beasts; If we but consider these things, what cause shall we have to say with the Psalmist, They that go down into Ships, see his wonders in the deep, and with those Mariners, What manner of man is this, whom the Winds and the Seas obey? What manner of God is this, who gathereth the waters of the Sea together, and layeth up the Floods in store-houses, who shutteth in the Ocean with bars and doors, and saith, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed, who puts a bridle in the jaws of such a monster, and when she threatens nothing but death and destruction pulls her in, and makes her retreat to her own den without doing the least hurt? O what a God is this, whom the rugged blustering winds, and raging boisterous seas obey! What excellent conclusions may a Christian gather from such premises! Do the Winds and Seas obey God as stubborn and surly as they are, and shall not I obey him? Are they kept within their banks, and shall not I be kept within my bounds?