The works of George Swinnock, M.A

I Wish that when ever I sequester my self from worldly business,¹ I might leave all my sinful and worldly thoughts behind me. ¹There can no work of concernment be done in secret, unless these disturbers be absent. Should I entertain such guests, I forbid Christ ⟨p. 450⟩my Company. Vicious thoughts are his sworn enemies, and he will not dwell in the same heart, in the same house with them; If I desire him to sit upon the throne of my heart, I must give him leave to cast down every imagination, and to bring every thought to the obedience of himself; Places that are full of vermin, are not fit for a Princes presence; Vain and unnecessary thoughts about lawful objects, are strangers, though not sworn enemies, and will give my best friend distaste. Though a noble person should come to give me a visit, if he should hear me debasing my self to converse needlessly with inconsiderable impertinent fellows, I may look that he should pass by without calling in; Christ loves not to be entertained in a room full of dust-heaps and cobwebs. If vain thoughts lodge within, the blessed Jesus will stand without; Gold and Clay will not mingle; If these mists arise, and these clouds interpose, they will hinder my sight of the true Sun. Besides, My works will be answerable to my thoughts; if my thoughts be wicked or fruitless, so will my actions be. My hands are but the Midwife, to bring my thoughts, the conception of my heart, into the world. My thoughts are the seed that lieth in the ground out of sight; my works are the crop which is visible to others; according to the seed, whether good or bad, such will the crop be. If men be so careful to get the purest, the cleanest, and the best seed for their fields, that their harvest may be the more to their advantage; how much doth it concern me that my heart be sown with pure and holy thoughts, that my crop may tend both to my credit and comfort! Lord, there is no good seed ⟨p. 451⟩but what comes out of thy garner. I confess, the piercing thorns of vicious thoughts, and the fruitless weeds of vain thoughts, are all the natural product of my heart. O let thy good spirit plough up the fallow ground of my soul, and scatter in it such seeds of grace and holiness, that my life may be answerable to thy Gospel, and at my death I may be translated to thy glory.