The Incomparableness of God
George Swinnock is one of the easiest Puritan authors to read. He is theological yet his doctrine is expressed in vivid fashion and, while he is practical, his counsel is marked by a keen sensitivity to the doctrines taught in Scripture. Thomas Manton commended his work as coming ‘from one both of a good head and heart.’ In this exposition of Psalm 89:6, which looks at the incomparable being, attributes, works, and word of God, Swinnock is not content to let the truth lie on the surface of the mind. He drives it home to the heart, using powerful arguments, colourful illustrations, and personal applications. His great desire is for the reader to come to know, enjoy and love the incomparable God of the Bible. ‘He who knows God aright is fully satisfied in him; when he once drinks of the “fountain of living waters,” he thirsts no more after other objects.’
‘The holiness and happiness of the rational creature consists in these two: his holiness, in conformity to God; his happiness, in communion with him. And these two have a dependence on each other. They only who are like him, can enjoy him.’
Publisher: Banner of Truth
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781848715363
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George Swinnock was brought up in the home of his uncle Robert Swinnock, sometime mayor of Maidstone, in an environment saturated in the Puritan tradition of prayer and family worship. After graduation from Cambridge he remained as chaplain at New College until his appointment as a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford in 1648. Two years later he became Vicar of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire where he served until 1660 when he was appointed Vicar of Great Kimble in Buckinghamshire. Deprived of his living in the Great Ejection of 1662, for the next decade Swinnock served as chaplain in the family of Richard Hampden of Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire. Following the Declaration of Indulgence he returned, in 1672, to minister in his home town of Maidstone, where he died in November 1673.
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George Swinnock is acknowledged to be one of the easiest to read of the Puritans. This is an outstanding book about THE outstanding subject—the God who exists and with whom we have to deal. It is a book about reality. It is a book about the only way a person created in the image of God can be happy. I read this book for myself and then read it aloud to my wife for family devotions. She has read it herself twice again for it is that good. Let me explain why. This paperback book is an extended meditation on Psalm 89:6—“For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord.” Swinnock goes on to explain how God is incomparable to anything in heaven or earth. The God who has revealed Himself in creation, in history, in Israel, in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His church is the real and true God and He is truly amazing! Dr. J. I. Packer viewed the Puritans as “God’s redwood trees”, God’s giants, over-topping every other group and period of Christian history. If you have not read THE INCOMPARABLENESS OF GOD, I urge you for your sake and the well-being of your soul to read it, reread it and weep with joy that this God is your God! Steve Martin