43 quotes
George Swinnock Quotes
The sharpest, most searching lines from George Swinnock, drawn straight from the Puritan Paperbacks. Filter by theme, or browse the whole collection.
“Reprove compassionately. Soft words and hard arguments do well together. Passion will heat the sinner's blood, but compassion will heal his conscience.”
“The course of thy life will speak more for thee than the discourse of thy lips.”
“In regeneration nature is not ruined, but rectified.”
“A stroke, from guilt, from wrath, broke Judas' heart into despair; a look from love, from Christ, broke Peter's into tears.”
“Satan watcheth for those vessels that sail without a convoy.”
“Heaven must be in thee before thou canst be in heaven.”
“He grieves truly that weeps without a witness.”
“The reprover should have a lion's stout heart, or he will not be faithful, and a lady's soft hand, or he is not like to be successful.”
“A godly man is free from the sting, but not from the stroke, from the curse, but not from the cross of death.”
“All in the church may hear the Word of Christ, but few hear Christ in the Word.”
“Solitude is a release to the soul that was imprisoned in company.”
“Upon the two hinges of faith and repentance do all the promises of the Bible stand.”
“God does not do many things that He can, but He does all things that He will.”
“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.”
“Friends lost may be reconciled, an estate lost may be regained, but time lost can never be recalled.”
“One fervent prayer in secret will speak more for our sincerity than many in public.”
“The whole world is a great vast library, and every creature in it a several book, wherein he that runs may read the power, and goodness, and infinite perfections of its Maker.”
“For doctrine. Where Scripture hath not a tongue to speak, I must not have an ear to hear.”
“It is better to receive the greatest thieves into our houses, than vain thoughts into our hearts.”
“As the caterpillar consumeth the leaf, and the canker the rose, so will idleness thy godliness.”
“How averse are our souls to anything that is spiritual! How many excuses, pretences, delays will they make! To sin man needs no tutor; he can ride post to hell without a spur.”
“The Christian, like a net, must have both the lead of a godly fear and the cork of a lively faith.”
“The south wind of prosperity now bloweth, but expect the north wind of adversity. If thou hast two heavens, thou hast more than Christ himself had.”
“Solemn meditation is a serious applying the mind to some sacred subject, till the affections be warmed and quickened, and the resolution heightened and strengthened thereby, against what is evil, and for what is good.”
“It is a sin in many Christians that they know not when to be silent. This is a great part of Christian prudence, to understand when to keep silence. It is much harder to learn to be silent than to learn to speak.”
“In prosperity, prepare for adversity.”
“Prayer is one of the great ordinances that batters down the strongholds of the devil; hence he sets his wits at work to divert men from it. It is the soul's armor and Satan's terror.”
“The proud man is Satan's throne, and the idle man is his pillow.”
“No softening like gospel-softening; no hardening like gospel-hardening.”
“A clear head must be accompanied with a clean heart; saving knowledge is ever a sanctifying knowledge.”