The works of George Swinnock, M.A

Another duty that concerns thee in secret, is to read some portion of the Word of God. The Work-man must not go abroad without his Tools. The Scripture is the Carpenters Rule, by which he must square his building; the Tradesman's Scales, in which he must weigh his commodities; The Travellers Staff, which helpeth him in his journey: There is no acting safely, unless we act scripturally; Bind it continually upon thy heart, and tie it about thy neck; When thou goest it shall lead thee, when thou sleepest it shall keep thee, when thou wakest it shall talk with thee; For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life, Prov. 6. 21, 22, 23. The Lawyer hath his Littleton or Cook, which ⟨image 275⟩[…] ⟨image 275⟩[…] ⟨p. 504⟩he consulteth; The Physician hath his Galen or Hippocrates, with which he adviseth; The Scholar ha•h his Aristotle; The Soldier his Caesar; And the Christian his Bible, that Book of Books, to which all those Books are but as a course list, to a fine cloth, and scarce worthy to be wast paper for the Binder to put before this to shelter it; This will teach the Lawyer to plead more effectually then Cicero, when undertaking the cause of Quint•• Ligarius, one of Caesars enemies, he did by the power of his Oratory, make Caesar his Sovereign to tremble, and often to change colour; and when he described the Battle of Pharsalia, caused him to let his books fall out of his hand, as if he had been without spirits and life, and forced him against his will, to set Ligarius at liberty; this will teach him so to plead, as to prevail with, and overcome God himself. This will teach the Physician to work greater cures then ever Aesculapius wrought, to produce more strange and rare effects then the most powerful natural causes. The Weapon-salve, and most extraordinary cures that ever have been wrought, are nothing to the healing a vitiated nature by the spirit, and a wounded conscience by the blood of Christ, which have been frequently done by the Word of God. It hath opened the eyes of the blind, abated the dropsy of pride, softened the stone in the heart, stopped a bloody issue of corruption, healed the falling-sickness or back-sliding, and raised the dead to life, He sendeth his Word and healeth them,