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George Swinnock (1627-1673)

A Fiery Puritan Preacher and Nonconformist.

Today, many Christians are turning back to the puritans to, “walk in the old paths,” of God’s word, and to continue to proclaim old truth that glorifies Jesus Christ. There is no new theology. In our electronic age, more and more people are looking to add electronic books (ePubs, mobi and PDF formats) to their library – books from the Reformers and Puritans – in order to become a “digital puritan” themselves. Take a moment to visit Puritan Publications (click the banner below) to find the biggest selection of rare puritan works updated in modern English in both print form and in multiple electronic forms. There are new books published every month. All proceeds go to support A Puritan’s Mind.

“In regeneration nature is not ruined, but rectified. The convert is the same man, but new made. The faculties of his soul are not destroyed, but they are refined; the same violin, but newly tuned. Christ gave not the blind man new eyes, but a new sight to the old ones. Christ did not give Lazarus a new body, but enlivened his old body. So God in conversion doth not bestow a new understanding, but a new light to the old; not a new soul, but a new life to the old one.”

His Works:

The Works of George Swinnock available in old English:

1. The Works of George Swinnock, Volume 1. (544 pages) PDF Internet Archive
This volume contains part 1 (and a portion of part 2) of A Christian Man’s Calling.

2. The Works of George Swinnock, Volume 2. (542 pages) PDF Internet Archive
This volume contains the remainder of part 2 (and a portion of part 3) of A Christian Man’s Calling.

3. The Works of George Swinnock, Volume 3. (488 pages) PDF Internet Archive
This volume contains:
1. The conclusion of A Christian Man’s Calling
2. Heaven and Hell Epitomised
3. A portion of The Fading of the Flesh.

4. The Works of George Swinnock, Volume 4. (524 pages) PDF Internet Archive
This volume contains:
1. The conclusion of The Fading of the Flesh
2. The Pastor’s Farewell
3. The Gods are Men
4. The Beauty of Magistracy
5. Men are Gods
6. The Incomparableness of God.

5. The Works of George Swinnock, Volume 5. (506 pages) PDF Internet Archive
This volume contains:
1. The Door of Salvation Opened by the Key of Regeneration
2. The Sinner’s Last Sentence.

 

Biography of George Swinnock (1627-1673):

George Swinnock (1627-1673), nonconformist divine, born at Maidstone in Kent in 1627, was son of George Swinnock of Maidstone, whose father was mayor of the borough. Owing to the death of his father, George Swinnock, jun., was brought up in the house of his uncle Robert, a zealous puritan. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, whence he removed on 7 Oct. 1645 to Jesus College (Addit. MS. 5820, f. 162); he graduated B.A. in 1647–8, and then proceeded to Oxford to obtain preferment, entering as a commoner at Magdalen Hall. On 19 Jan. 1648–9 he became chaplain at New College, and on 6 Oct. following he was made a fellow of Balliol College by the parliamentary visitors. He was incorporated B.A. on 29 Nov. 1650, and graduated M.A. on the next day. In the same year he resigned his fellowship, and was appointed vicar of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. In 1655 he was appointed to St. Leonard’s chapel at Aston-Clinton in Buckinghamshire, and on 10 Jan. 1661 was presented to the vicarage of Great Kimble in the same county by Richard Hampden, to whom he was then chaplain. In the following year he was ejected for nonconformity, both from St. Leonard’s and from Great Kimble, and took up his abode with the Hampden family at Great Hampden. Upon the issue of the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he retired to Maidstone, where he became pastor to a large congregation. He died on 10 Nov. 1673, and was buried in the parish church.

Swinnock was the author of: 1. ‘The Door of Salvation Opened,’ London, 1660, 8vo and 4to; 3rd edit. 1671. 2. ‘The Christian Man’s Calling,’ London, 1661–5, 4to. 3. ‘Heaven and Hell Epitomised,’ London, 1659, 8vo. 4. ‘The Incomparableness of God,’ London, 1672, 4to. 5. ‘The Sinner’s last Sentence,’ London, 1675, 8vo. 6. ‘Life of Thomas Wilson,’ 1672, 8vo. A collective edition of Swinnock’s ‘Works’ was published in 1665, London, 4to, containing Nos. 2 and 3, as well as several shorter treatises and sermons.

[Wood’s Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 1001; Lipscomb’s History of Buckinghamshire, ii. 94, 348; Clutterbuck’s Hertfordshire, i. 202; Calamy’s Nonconformist’s Memorial, ed. Palmer, i. 303; Newton’s Hist. of Maidstone, 1741, p. 132; Foster’s Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Burrows’s Reg. Oxford Visitation (Camden Soc.).]

 

 

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