as much called out of the kingdome of darkness as another and one Saint is as much called to Jesus Christ as another in vocation God looks with as favourable an eye upon one as he do's upon another And as all Saints are equally called so all Saints are equally justified 2 Cor. 5.19 20. 1 Cor. 1.30 though one Saint may be more sanctified then another yet no Saint is more justified then another the weakest believer is as much justified and pardoned before the throne of God as the strongest is that pure perfect matchless and spotless righteousness of Christ is as much imputed to one Saint as 't is to another And as all Saints are equally justified so all Saints are equally adopted Gal. 4.4 5 6. the weakest believer is as much an adopted son as the strongest believer in the world is God is no more a father to one then he is to another the Babe in the armes is as much a son as he that is of riper yeares Thus you see that Gods love of good will is equall in all his Saints and therefore you are to understand this Argument of Gods love of complacency now this love runs out more to some Saints then it do's to others for they that have much holiness are much beloved John 14.21 23 but they that have most holiness are most beloved the greater thou art in holiness the greater wilt thou be beloved of God O Daniel Dan. 9.23 thou art greatly beloved And why do's God love more and delight more in Christ then he do's in all the Angels and Saints in heaven and in all the upright ones that are on earth but because Christ is more eminent and glorious in holiness then all created beings are Heb. 1.3 he is more the express Image of his Fathers person and the brightness of his Fathers glory then others and therefore he is more beloved then others 'T was an excellent observation of one of the Fathers August Tract in John 1.14 viz. that God loved the humanity of Christ more then any man because he was fuller of grace and truth then any man Now for the further clearing up of this great Argument Consider first that the more holy any person is the more excellent that person is All corruptions are diminutions of excellency the more mixt any thing is the more abased it is the more you mix your wine with water the more you abase your wine and the more you mix your Tin with Gold the more you abase your Gold but the purer your wine is the richer and the better your wine is and the purer your Gold is the more glorious and excellent it is so the purer and holier any person is the more excellent and glorious that person is Now the more divinely excellent and glorious any person is the more he is beloved of God and the more he is the delight of God But secondly the more holy any person is Heb. 11.5 the more that person pleases the Lord fruitfulness in holiness fills heaven with joy The Husbandman is not so much pleased with the fruitfulness of his fields nor the wife with the fruitfulness of her womb nor the father with the thriving of his child as God is pleased with the fruitfulness and thriving of his children in grace and holiness now certainly the more God is pleased with any person the more he loves that person and the more pleasure and delight he takes in such a person if God be most pleased with holiness he cannot but be most delighted in those that are most holy But thirdly the more holy any person is the more like to God he is and the more like to God he is doubtless the more he is beloved of God 't is likeness both in nature and grace that alwayes drawes the strongest love Though every child is the father multiplyed the father of a second edition yet the father loves him best and delights in him most who is most like him and who in feature spirit and action do's most resemble him to the life and so do's the father of spirits also he alwayes loves them best who in holiness resemble him most There are foure remarkable things in the beloved Disciple above all the rest 1. John 13.23 Ch. 18.16 Ch. 19.26 Vers 27. That he lay nearest to Christs Bosome at the Table 2. That he followed Christ closest to the high Priests Palace 3. That he stood close to Christ when he was on the Cross though others had basely deserted him and turn'd their backs upon him 4. That Christ commended the care of his virgin mother to him Now why did Christs desire love and delight run out with a stronger and a fuller Tyde towards John then to the rest of the Disciples doubtless 't was because John did more resemble Christ then the rest 't was because John was a more exact picture and lively representation of Christ then the others were But fourthly the more holy any man is the more communion and familiarity that man shall have with God As you may see in Moses Moses was a none-such for meekness and holiness Num. 12.3 Now the man Moses was very meeke above all the men which were upon the face of the earth There was no man so slighted wronged provoked teazed perplexed and troubled by that wicked unthankful unbelieving and murmuring Generation as Moses was and yet he did neither raile at them nor revile them he did neither storme nor rage he did neither fret nor fling and though he had a sword of Justice in his hand and might easily have avenged himselfe on them yet he would not but exercised all patience tenderness goodness and sweetness towards them O the lowliness the meekness the holiness of this man Moses And O the freeness the friendliness the openness and the familiarness of God with Moses Deut. 34.10 And there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face To give you a little light into these words Some of the Rabbies observe that Moses surpassed all the other Prophets not only in sublimity of Prophesies but also in excellency and number of miracles for Moses within one Age wrought seventy six miracles when all the rest of the Prophets from the beginning of the world quite downe to the ruine of the first Temple wrought only seventy foure And as for those words whom the Lord knew face to face you are not to understand them thus that God hath a face as man hath nor that Moses had a view of the essence of God which is invisible John 1.18 1 Tim. 6.16 for in this sense no man hath seen God at any time and indeed the least beame of Gods essentiall glory and Majestie would have swallowed up Moses alive But these words whom the Lord knew face to face are to be understood of Gods speaking to Moses in a free friendly familiar and plaine manner God did speak to
given unto me by the vertue of which gift I do rightly lay claim unto it and am not confounded Though we cannot lay claim to heaven nor to a blessed fruition of God by any inherent holiness in us it being weak and imperfect yet we may lay claim to both by the mediatory holiness of Christ imputed to us As Christs Essential holiness gives him an hereditary right to everlasting happiness So his Mediatory holiness gives us a right to everlasting blessedness The costly cloak of Alcisthenes which Dionysius sold to the Carthaginians for an hundred Talents was but a mean and beggarly ragg to that embroidered royal Robe of Christs mediatory holiness that is imputed or reckoned to us And therefore as ever you would come to a vision of God in happiness you must labour to be interested by faith in Christs mediatory holiness But Sixthly and Lastly there is an inherent internal qualitative holiness Holiness is not any single grace alone but a conjunction a constellation of all graces together Now this inherent holiness lies in two things First in the infusing of holy principles divine qualities or supernatural graces into the soul such as the Apostle mentions in Gal. 5.22 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no Law These habits of grace which are severally distinguished by the names of faith love hope meekness c. are nothing else but the new nature or new-man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.24 These seeds of holiness these habits of grace are those sweet ointments with which all must be annointed 1 John 3.9 2 Cor. 1.21 1 John 2.27 that shall ever come to a blessed sight or vision of God You may know much of God you may hear much of God you may talk much of God and you may boast much of your hopes and interest in God and yet without these habits of holiness you shall never come to a blessed fruition of God in happiness without these feeds of holiness you shall never reap a crop of blessedness But Secondly This inherent this qualitative holiness lies in an holy use and exercise of those supernatural graces in a way of holy walking Acts 10.35 1 John 1.3.7 Tit. 2.12 Luke 1.73 2 Pet. 1.8 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Isa 35.8 all holy habits must be brought forth into holy acts gracious habits must be attended with gratious motions gratious operations and a gracious conversation outward works must be suitable to inward habits it is with spiritual habits as it is with natural habits the more they are acted and exercised the more they are increased and strengthened holy habits are golden Talents that must be imployed and improved Gracious habits are the candles of the Lord set up in us and God hath set up those candles of heaven not to idle by not to sleep by but to work by and to walk by Where there is holiness of disposition there must be nay there will be holiness of conversation a holy heart is alwayes attended with a holy life Where there are the seeds of holiness there will be the flowers of holiness you may separate a man from his friend but you can never separate though you may distinguish acts of holiness from the habits of holiness now it is certain without this holiness you shall never come to a sight or fruition of God in happiness And thus I have shewed you what that holiness is without which there is no hope no possibility of ever seeing the Lord. I come now to the second thing and that is to prove the truth of the Proposition viz. That without men are holy they can never be happy without holiness on earth none of the sons of men shall ever come to a blessed vision and fruition of God in heaven Now this great and weighty truth I shall make good by an induction of particulars thus First God hath by very plain and clear Scriptures bolted and barred the door of heaven and happiness against all unholy ones See also Mat. 7.21 22 23. Ch. 25.10 11 12. Witness 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Heaven is an undefiled inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 and none that are defiled can enter into the possession of it When the Angels fell from their righteousness heaven rejected them it would no longer hold them and will it now accept of the unrighteous will it now entertain and welcome them surely no. Such sinners make the very earth to mourn and groan now and shall they make heaven to mourn and groan hereafter Surely no. What though the Serpent did wind himself into an earthy Paradise yet none of the seed of the Serpent so remaining shall ever be able to wind themselves into a heavenly Paradise witness Gal. 19.20 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness Idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envying murders drunkenness revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I also have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Before they go to hell he tells them again and again that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God By the Kingdom of God we are to to understand the kingdom of Heaven the kingdom of glory now the kingdom of heaven of glory is called the kingdom of God 1. Because he hath prepared it 2. Mat. 20.23 Luke 12 32. Because it is a royal gift that he confers and bestows upon his little little flock Augustus in his Solemn Feasts gave trifles to some and Gold to others Rev. 4.10 11. Chap. 20.6 Dan. 4.16 17. The trifles of this world God often gives to the worst and basest of men but the kingdom of heaven he only gives to his bosome friends 3. Because that of and under him the Saints hold it and possess it 4. Because with him they shall for ever reign in the fruition of it And so that in John 3.3 Jesus answered and said unto him Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again be cannot see the kingdom of God To give a little light into the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth truth or truly truly Verily verily the Greek is Amen amen The word Amen is Hebrew and in the Old Testament is most commonly used by way of wishing or imprecation but here and in other places of the New Testament the sense of it is altered from precatory to assertory or from the way of wishing to the way of affirming This phrase Amen amen or Verily verily imports First The
3. A promise to live well Austin Austin well observes That as many think the eating of an Apple was but a small sin So many think that the eating of the Sacrament is but a small sin But as many horrid sins were wrapt up in that so are there many wrapt up in this 1. Here is pride else no man in his wickedness would presume to come to the Lords Table 2. Here is Rebellion and Treason against the Crown and dignity of Christ Romans 2.22 their hands and lips adore him as Judas his did but their hearts and lives abhor him 3. Here is Theft and Sacriledge now if to take away the Communion cup be such a high offence 1 Cor. 11.27.29 such horrid sacriledge what is it then to take the Bread and Wine set apart and sanctified for a holy use by the Lord himself 4. Here is Murder the worst murder the greatest murder the cruelest murder thou killest thy self thy soul and as much as in thee lies Gods dearest Son Now certainly in some respects this sin is a greater sin then Adams was For 1. Adams Eating was against a Creator but thine is against a Redeemer now it is more to redeem a soul then to create a world 2. His was against the word of the Lord thine against the blood of the Lord. 3. His struck at the Covenant of Works thine at the Covenant of Grace 4. He eat but once but thou eatest often Yea Aquinas Aquinas saith the Majesty of Church Discipline should never suffer this to let open and known offendors presume to come to the Table of the Lord. It was a worthy saying of Bilson an approved Author Suppose any man saith he be he a Prince Bilsons Christian Subject par 3. pag. 63. 64 74 c. 52. if he will not submit himself to the precepts of Christ but wilfully maintain either heresie or open impurity the Ministers are to admonish him what danger from God is at the door and if he impenitently persist they must not suffer him to communicate either in divine prayer or any holy mysteries among the people of God but wholly to be excluded the Congregation Again not only the lack of the word and Sacraments saith the same Author but the abuse of either greatly hazards the weale of the whole Church yea casting holy things to dogs c. procures a dreadfull doom as well to consenters as presumers it being the way to turn the house of God into a den of Theives if prophane ones be allowed to defile the mysteries and Assemblies of the faithfull I said Calvin Calvin will sooner die then this hand of mine shall give the things of God to the contemners of God Mr. Rutherford Rutherford that champion for Presbyterie in his divine right of Church-Government pag. 520 saith that they are co-partners with the wicked who dispence the bread to them who are knowingly dead in sins I might multiply many others but let these suffice for a close let me only say How the Father can be guiltless of the death of his child that giveth him poyson to drink with this Caution that he telleth him it is poyson I cannot see Josephus reports of some that prophanely searched the sepulchres of the Saints Joseph Antiq. lib. 12 13. l. 16. cap. 11. supposing to find some treasures there but God made fire to rise out of the earth that devoured them on a suddain Now if Gods wrath like fire breaks forth to consume such as wrong but the sepulchres of his Saints c. Oh then with what flames of fury will God burn up such as abuse not only the Sacrament of his Son but his Son himself It was a very great wickededness in Julian to throw his blood in the face of Christ but for a wicked Communicant to take Christs own blood as it were running from his heart and to throw it into he face of Christ is most abominable and damnable By all that hath been spoken you clearly see that unholy persons are to bâ— shut out of the special communion of Saints here on earth and therefore certainly the Lord will never suffer such to have communion with him in heaven it will not stand with the holiness and purity of God to have fellowship with such in the kingdom of glory whom he would not have his people have fellowship with in the kingdom of grace The eighth Argument to prove that without real holiness there is no happiness Unholy persons are throughout the Scriptures branded to their everlasting contempt with the worst Appellations that without holiness on earth no man shall ever come to a blâ—ssed vision or fruition of God in heaven is this The Scripture that speaks no Treason stiles unholy persons beasts yea the worst of beasts and what should such do in heaven Unholy persons are the most dangerous and the most unruly pieces in the world and therefore are emblemized by Lions Psalm 22.21 and they are cruel by Bears and they are savage Isa 11.7 by Dragons and they are hideous Ezek. 29.3 by Wolves and they are ravenous Ezek. 22.27 by dogs and they are snarling Rev. 22.15 by Vipers and Scorpions and they are stinging Mat. 12.34 Ezek. 2.6 by Spiders and Cockatrices and they are poysoning Isa 59.5 by swine and they are still gruntling Mat. 7.6 No man in this world is more like another It was wont to be a tryal whither land belonged to England or Ireland by putting in Toads or Snakes c. into it if they lived there it was concluded that the land belonged to England if they died to Ireland then the Epicure is like a Swine the fraudulent person a Fox the lustfull person a Goat the back-biter a barking Curr the slanderer an Asp the oppressor a Wolf the Persecutor a Tyger the Seducer a Serpent Certainly the Irish Air will sooner brook Toads and Snakes and Serpents to live therein then heaven will brook such beasts as unholy souls are to live there Surely God and Christ and the Spirit and Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect are not so in love with Dogs and Swine c. as to put them into their bosoms or make them their companions Heaven is a place of too great state to admit such vermine to inhabit there When Cyneas the Embassador of Pyrrhus after his return from Rome was asked by his Master what he thought of the City and State he answered and said that it seemed to him to be Respublica Regum a State of none but great Statesmen and a Common-wealth of Kings Such is heaven it is no other State then a Parliament of Emperours a Common-wealth of Kings There is not a soul in heaven under the degree of a King Rev 6.1 and every King there hath a Robe of honour upon his back a golden Scepter in his hand and a glorious Crown upon his head And do you think that it will stand with the State of heaven or
with the State of this Common-wealth of Kings to admit such vermine as as unholy persons are to be of that noble society surely no God hath long since resolved upon it that no unclean beasts shall enter into heaven that no dirty dogs shall ever trample upon that golden pavement All in heaven are holy the Angels holy the Saints holy the Patriarchs holy the Prophets holy the Apostles holy the Martyrs holy but the Lord himself above all is most glorious in holiness and therefore all those holy ones do as it were in a divine Anthem sing and say Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty Rev. 21. ult There are no Owls in Creet nor no wild beasts in Lebanon heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory Now certainly it would be a hell to these holy ones to have unholy wretches to be their companions When the holy Angels fell from their holiness heaven was so holy that it spewed them out Isaiah 6.3 as once Canaan did its unholy inhabitants and therefore certainly there will be no room in heaven for such filthy beasts as unholy persons are Well remember this that all those stinging Expressions and Appellations which disgrace and vilifie unholy persons they were inspired by a holy spirit and penned by holy Secretaries and enrolled in his holy word and published by his holy messengers and all by his holy appointment who as he is greater then the greatest and wiser then the wisest and better then the best Lev. 18.28 So he is too pure and too holy to eat the words that are gone out of his mouth or to deny or unsay what he hath spoken or not to maintain the truth thereof against all gain-sayers It is prophecied that when the Church shall be restored to her purity and glory such beasts shall not be there Isa 35.9 Ezek. 28.24 The Majesty of Church-discipline shall be such as shall keep out all such beasts Jerusalem above is too glorious a habitation for beasts or for men of beastly spirits or beastly principles or beastly practices The City of the great God was never built for beasts A wilderness and not a Paradise is fittest for beasts The ninth Argument to prove the truth of the Proposition Exod. 23.32 Chap. 34.12 If you would see the greatness and dangerousness of this sin then read Ezra 10. 1 Kings 11. with Exo. 34.14 15 16. Judg. 3.6 7 8. When Dionysius the elder Tyrant of Syracusa asked Aristides a Locrian his good will to marry his daughter I had rather see my daughter dead said he then married unto a Tyrant Plutarch in the life of Timoleon The Application is easie is this God would not have his holy ones in this world to be yoked in marriage with unholy ones and therefore certainly he will never suffer such to be yoked to himself to all eternity That God would not have his righteous people to be yoked in marriage with the unrighteous is most evident by these Scriptures Deut. 7.3.6 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give to his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy Son For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth Ezra 9.12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons neither take their daughters unto your sons But did they keep this commandment of the Lord No as you may see in the second verse of that chapter For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands yea the hand of the Princes and Rulers have been chief in this trespass But how did this operate upon good Ezra that you may see in the third verse And when I heard this thing I rent my garment and my mantle and pluckt off the hair of my head and of my beard and sate down astonied Oh the sorrow the grief the perplexity the holy passion the indignation the amazement the astonishment that this abomination begot in the heart of good Ezra The like effect this sin had upon the heart of good Nehemiah as you may see in that remarkable text Neh. 13.23 24 25. compared with Ch. 10.29 30. So in 2 Cor. 6.14 15. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness And what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel It is an evil thing a dangerous thing to be yoked to any who have neither skill nor will to bear the yoke of Christ Under the Law an Ox and an Asse might not be yoked or coupled together Deut. 22.10 and to this the Apostle alludes as some judge God would not have righteous souls to be yoked in marriage with those that are unrighteous a gracious soul were better be married to a quartern ague then to an ungracious wife Proverbs 12.4 A vertuous wife is a crown to her husband she is the life of life if thou art a man of holinesse thou must look more for a portion of grace in a wife 1 Cor 7.39 then for a portion of gold with a wife thou must look more after righteousnesse then riches more after piety then money more after what inheritance she hath in heaven then what possessions she hath on earth more at what interest she hath in Christ then at what interest she hath in creatures more at her being new born then at her beâ—ng high born more at her being good then at all her worldly goods If money makes the match and she be good enough that hath but goods enough thou shalt be sure to have hell enough with such a wife In thy choice to err but once is to be undone for ever at least as to the comforts and contentments of thy life once blest or curst must be for ever so Men have not leave to choose or change often By what hath been said it is most evident that God would not have the holy seed to mingle or marry with the unholy And do you think that a holy God wil mingle and marry with such in heaven that he would not have his people to mingle or marry with on earth surely no. Or do you think that that God that would not in the Law have an Ox and an Asse plough together that he will be yoked to such wretches may I say to such Asses whose ungodliness hath debased them below the very Ox and Asse Isa 1.3 Surely no. The tenth and last Argument to prove that without real holinesse there is no happinesse c. is this Unholy persons are adjudged doomed and sentenced to another place viz. to hell Matth 11.23 Ch. 23.15.33 The Hebrew word Shâ—ol hath several significations Sometimes it signifies
be meer strangers to union and communion with Christ and to the more secret and inward operations and workings of the spirit of Christ and to the most spiritual duties and services that are commanded by Christ Civility is very often the nurse of impiety Mat. 5.19 20 Acts 7.54 Chap. 13.50 Ch. 17.17 18. Romans 8.7 the mother of flattery and an enemy to real sanctity a high conceit of civility keeps many a man from looking after inward and outward purity moral honesty proves to many men a bond of iniquity There are those who are so blinded with the fair shews of civility that they can neither see the necessity nor beauty of sanctity there are those that now bless themselves in their common honesty whom at last God will scorn and cast off for want of real holiness and purity Matth. 25.3.11 12. As Aristides so Socrates Plato Titus Vespatian Tully with multitudes of others amongst the Lacedemonians Grecians Romans c. Many of the Heathens were so famous for justice and righteousness for equity fidelity and sobriety for civility and moral honesty that it would put many professors to the blush to read what is written of them and yet there was such a tincture of popular applause of pride and vain glory of hypocrisie and self-flattery upon their civility and moral honesty that for any thing we can find in Scripture to the contrary there is cause to fear that they shall be miserable to all eternity for all their civility and moral honesty they were left in a damnable I will not say in a damned condition he that rises to no higher pitch then civility and moral honesty shall never have communion with God in glory Naaman was a great man but a Leper 2 Kings 5.1 Naaman was an honourable man but a Leper Naaman was a mighty man but a Leper Naaman was a victorious man but a Leper Naaman was in high favour and esteem with his Prince but a Leper This but he was a Leper stained all his honour and was a blot upon all his greatness and glory both at Court and in the field both in the City and in the Countrey So it is a stain a blot upon the most moral honest man in the world to say he is a very civil honest man but Christless he is a very just man but graceless he is a man of much moral righteousness but he hath not a dram of real holiness c. This but is a fly in the box of ointment that spoils all Well Sirs remember this though the moral honest man be good for many things yet he is not good enough to go to heaven he is not good enough to be made glorious Mat. 5.20 Certainly there is nothing in all the world below real sanctity that will ever bring a man to the possession of glory And though it may grieve us to speak after the manner of men to see sweet natures to see many moral honest men take many a weary step towards heaven and to come near to heaven and to bid fair for heaven and yet after all to fall short of heaven yet it will be no way grievous to a holy God to turn such sweet natures into hell Psal 9.17 moral honesty is not sufficient to keep a man out of eternal misery all it can do is to help a man to one of the best rooms and easiest beds that hell affords For look as the moral mans sins are not so great as others so his punishments shall not be so great as others This is all the comfort that can be afforded to a moral man that he shall have a cooler hell then others have but this is but cold comfort Moral honesty without piety is as a body without a soul and will ever God accept of such a stinking sacrifice Surely no. Fifthly If real holiness be the only way to happiness if men must be holy on earth or else they shall never come to a fruition of God in heaven then this truth by way of conviction looks sowerly and sadly upon all Neuters who divide their hearts between God and Mammon Matth 6.29 who halt between God and Baal 1 Kings 18.21 Zeph. 1.5 2 Kings 17.32 33. Chap. 18.11 James 1.8 A double-soul'd man Matth. 19.16.26 who divide their souls between heaven and earth between Religion and their lusts Like the Samaritans who both worshipped the Lord and the Assyrians Idols too A Neuter is a monster he hath two tongues two minds and two souls he hath a tongue for God and a tongue for the world too he looks up to God and saith Certainly thou art mine he looks down upon the world and saith Surely I am thine He hath a mind to be religious and a mind to save his own stake in the world too He hath a soul reaching after the happiness of another world Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his saith Balaam and he hath a soul strongly reaching after this evil world too 1 Pet. 2.15 Jude 11. Callenuceus tells us of a Noble man of Naples that was wont prophanely to say that he had two souls in his body one for God and another for whosoever would buy it as if heaven and happiness were wrapt up in it As you may see in the same person he loved the wages of unrighteousness he loved it as his portion he loved it as his life he loved it as his happiness he loved it as his all he loved it as his soul yea he loved it above his own soul for he damned his soul to gain it It is true when he was under a divine restraint he professed that he would not curse the people of God for a house full of Gold but when he was from under that restraint his heart was so set upon the unrighteous reward that he would have curst them for a handfull of gold The Neuter as the Romans paint Erasmus hangs between heaven and earth He is neither fit to go to heaven nor yet worthy to live on earth If Meroz was to be certainly curst to be bitterly curst to be universally curst as the Hebrew phrase cursing curse ye Meroz imports in Judges 5.23 for standing Neuter when they should have come forth to the help of the Lord Do you think that Neuters in religion shall be blest Do you think that ever such shall go to heaven who are indifferent whether they go to heaven or no or that ever such shall be happy who are indifferent whether they be holy or no or that ever such shall see the face of Christ with joy who are indifferent whether they have an interest in Christ or no or that ever such shall be admitted into the kingdom of glory who are indifferent where ever they have any entrance into the kingdom of grace or no. Certainly heaven is too holy to hold any such indifferent irresolute Neutral souls In the University not long since
and make a great shew for a time but their lustre will soon wear off Nil fictum est diuturnum nothing counterfeit will last long Maud mother to King Henry the second being besieged in Winchester-castle counterfeited her self to be dead Anno 1141. and so was carried out in a Coffin whereby she escaped at another time being besieged at Oxford in a cold Winter by wearing white apparrel she got away in the snow undiscovered but at last vengeance did over-take her So though hypocrites may for a time seem to be dead to sin Job 17.8 chap. 36.13 and dead to the world though they may cloath themselves with a snow-like purity and with the white sattin of seeming sanctity yet God at last will unmask and unmuffle them and vengeance will with a witness overtake them Isa 33.14 Hypocrites are like blazing Stars which so long as they are fed with vapours Job 20.5 Hosea 6.4 shine as if they were fixed Stars but let the vapours dry up and presently they vanish and disappear As the joy of the hypocrite so the goodness of the hypocrite is but for a moment it is as a morning cloud and as the early dew an hypocrite is a meer comet a flaunt a flash principles of holiness are lasting but hypocrisie makes a man only constant in inconstancy Seventhly If real holiness be the only way to happiness if men must be holy on earth or they shall never come to a fruition of God in heaven Then this truth by way of conviction looks sowerly and sadly upon such who please and bless themselves with common gifts and common grace 1 Cor. 12.4 Matth. 7.22 with a gift of knowledge a gift of faith a gift of prayer a gift of utterance a gift of memory c. when they have nothing of real holiness in them Like chose in Mat. 22.23 who had great gifts but were so far from real sanctity that they were workers of iniquity they had a flood of gifts but not a drop of grace they had many gifts but not one saving grace they could work miracles but that miracle of holiness being not wrote in them Christ takes an everlasting farewell of them Depart from me ye workers of iniquity So they in Heb. 6. had enlightened heads but where was their humbleness and holiness of heart they had silver tongues but where was their sanctified souls they had some smack some tastes and relishes of heavens glory but where was their inward and outward purity Notwithstanding all their extraordinary gifts of speaking with tongues casting out of Devils and opening of prophesies yet were they not renewed regenerated and sanctified by the Holy Ghost As Nurses milk is of use to others but of none to themselves Their gifts might be of singular use to the enlightening quickening edifying comforting and encouraging of others and yet never have any influence upon their own hearts to the changing renewing and sanctifying of them Men of greatest gifts are not alwaies men of greatest holiness The Scribes and Pharisees Judas Dâ—mas Tertullus and Simon Magus were men of great gifts and yet they had no real holiness they had the ninety nine of gifts whâ—ch Christ looks not after but wanted the one viz. real holiness Matth. 23.15 which with Christ is all in all Augustine trembled when he considered the extraordinary gifts and parts that were in his base child to think what God meant in infusing so precious a soul and in giving such rare gifts to such an impure creature The Devil hath greater gifts then any man on earth and yet he is a Devil still gifts without holiness will but make a man twice told the child of hell The more of gifts here the more without holiness of hell hereafter The greatest Schollars have often proved the greatest sinners the stoutest opposers and the worst of persecutors There are none so wicked as he that is wittily wicked The highest gifts many times prove but the fairest pathes to the chambers of death As the richer the Ship is laden with barrs of silver and gold the deeper it sinks so the richer the soul is laden with silver parts and golden gifts and yet not ballanced with real holiness the deeper it sinks under wrath and misery And no wonder for 1. Gifts do but tickle the ear they do not cleanse heart 2. They do but stir the affections they do not kill corruptions 3. They are but ornaments to a mans profession they have no saving influence upon a mans conversation They tempt a man to take up with the world but they never help a man to overcome the world 4. They make a man wise to deceive and wise to delude both â—imself and others rare accomplishments are many times turned into beautiful ornaments to adorn the Devil and errour withall 5. The gifted man cares not who is most holy so he may be most honoured who is highest in favour with God so he may be highest in favour with men who is most serviceable so he may be most acceptable who gets most of another world so he may have most of this world and what should such an one do in heaven Gifts differ as much from real holiness as an Angel in heaven differs from a Devil in Hell Zach. 7.5 6. Rom. 14.6 7 8. 6. Gifts makes a man work for life but holiness makes a man work from life 7. Gifts work a man to set up for himself and to deal and trade for himself but holiness works a man to deal for God and to trade for God and his glory 8. Gifts takes up in ingenuous civilities and outward formalities but holiness takes up only in that holy one Hab. 1.12 1 Cor. 8.7 9. Gifts only restrains the soul but grace renews and changes the soul 10. Gifts puffs the soul but holiness humbles the soul 11. Gifts makes a man beautiful like Rachel but holiness makes a man fruitful like Leah 12. Gifts makes a man most studious and laborious about mending and reforming other mens hearts and lives but holiness makes a man most studious and industrious in mending and reforming his own heart and life Psalm 45.13 13. Gifts makes all glorious without but holiness makes all glorious within 14. Gifts makes a good head but holiness makes a good heart 15. Gifts envies lessens darkens obscures and disparages with buts and ifs and ands the excellencies of others but holiness makes a man rejoyce in every Sun that out-shines its own John 4.14 1 John 3.9 16. Gifts are fading and withering but holiness is an everlasting spring that can never be drawn dry 1 Cor. 13.1 6. 17. Gifts draws from God but holiness draws to God though men of gifts may bid fair for heaven yea come so near as to hear the musick of heaven yet without holiness they shall never enter into heaven When night comes the Father will only take in his own child into his house and though another child which
and to be shut out from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes 1.7 11. and from the glory of his power If it were such an unspeakable grief and misery to the Primitive Christians as indeed it was to be debarred of one anothers society and company by being confined to Isles and Mines and strong holds O then what an unspeakable grief and misery will it be to all unholy persons to be for ever debarred of the blessed society of God Christ Angels and Saints and to be everlastingly confined to the strong holds of hell and to the society and company of that damned crew who will be still a cursing and a blaspheming of God and adding to one anothers torments O Sirs it is the sight of God in heaven wherein mans happiness and blessedness doth consist it is the fruition of God in heaven that is the life the honour the crown and glory of Angels and Saints Heaven it self would be but a low thing yea it would be but magnum nihil a great nothing without the sight and fruition of God there Now without holinesse there is no seeing of God there is no possessing or enjoying of God there is no possibility of ever obtaining a part or portion in God Ah friends without holiness all is lost thy soul is lost thy Christ is lost thy God is lost thy Crown is lost thy Heaven is lost thy glory is lost and what are all other losses to these losses Demorrathus of Corinth saith they lost the chiefest part of their lives happiness that did not see Alexander sit on the throne of Darius but what was their loss to that unconceivable and unexpressible loss that all unholy persons must sustain who shall never see the King of Kings in his beauty who shall never behold the Lord on the throne of his glory Well Sirs if none of these Arguments can prevail with you to labour after holiness I must conclude that divine Justice hath hardened you and that Satan hath blinded you and that your lusts have besotted you and that this world hath bewitched you and that it had been ten thousand thousand times better for you that you had never been born then to live without holiness and to die without holinesse and to be everlastingly damned for want of holinesse And thus much for the Motives I come now to lay down some means and helps to holiness Supposing that the language of some of your souls may be this O what shall we do to be holy O what course what way what means must we use that we may obtain this holiness without which we now clearly see that we shall never come to a fruition of happiness Methinks I hear some of you crying out Oh none but holiness none but holiness As that Martyr once cryed out Oh none but Christ none but Christ Methinks I hear you crying out O give me holiness or I die As Sampson once cryed out Give me water or I die Or as Rachel once cryed out Give me children or I die So you cry out O give us holiness or we die give us holiness or we eternally die O what shall we do to be holy we see we are undone without holiness we shall be damned without holiness O! that we were but made holy that hereafter we may be assuredly happy Well then if you are in good earnest resolved to be holy I would thus advise and counsel you First take heed of some things Secondly Labour to put in practise other things The things that you are to avoid and shun even as you would shun poyson in your meat or a Serpent in your way yea as you would shun the Devil himself or hell it self are these First Take heed of mistaking some particular Scriptures as that of Ezek. 14.6 Chap. 18.30 31 32. and Chap. 33 11 14 16 19. from these and such like Scriptures many unholy hearts are apt to conclude that they can repent when they please and that though they do defer their repentance yet it is no such difficult thing to confess their sins at last cast and to be sorry for their sins at last cast and to forsake their sins at last cast and to beg the pardon of their sins at last cast And that if they do so God hath given his Word for it he hath given it under his own hand that he will pardon their sins and save their souls Now to prevent these soul-undoing mistakes thou must know O sinner First that thou canst as well wash a Blackamore white at pleasure as thou canst repent at pleasure thou canst as well raise the dead at pleasure Jer. 13.23 chap. 31.18 Lam. 5.21 Acts 5.31 Eph. 1.17 18 19. 2 Tim. 2.25 Acts 11.18 as thou canst repent at pleasure thou canst as well make a world at pleasure as thou canst repent at pleasure thou canst as well stop the course of the Sun at pleasure as thou canst repent at pleasure thou canst as well put the Sea in a Cockle-shell at pleasure and measure the earth with a span at pleasure as thou canst repent at pleasure witness the proofs in the margin I confess that if to repent were to hang down the head like a Bull-rush for a day or to whine with Saul for an hour or to put on sackcloath and walk softly with Ahab for a short space or to confess with Judas I have sinned or to say with Simon Magus Pray to the Lord for me or to tremble with Felix for a moment I say if this were to repent doubtless you might repent at pleasure but alas friends to repent is another thing to repent is the hardest and difficultest work in the world and that will appear in the next particular And therefore Secondly To repent is to turn a flint into flesh it is to turn darkness into light hell into heaven and is this easie Ezek. 36.25 26. Acts 26.18 Ezek. 16.61 62 63. To repent is to make all clean in-side clean and out-side clean it is to make a clean head and a clean heart a clean lip and a clean life and is this easie True repentance includes a true sense of sin a deep sorrow for sin a hearty loathing of sin and a holy shame and blushing for sin chap. 29.43 and is this easie To repent is for a man to loath himself as well as his sin and is this easie for man that is so great a self-lover 2 Corin. 7.10 11. and so great a self-exalter and so great a self-admirer to become a self-loather To repent is to cross sinful self it is to walk contrary to sinful self yea it is to revenge a mans self upon himself and is this easie To repent is to pluck out right eyes and to cut off right hands and offer up only Isaacs and is this easie True repentance is a daily turning of the soul further and further from sin and a daily turning of the soul nearer and nearer to God It is a repentance not to
as repentance would quickly give them ease and turn their hell into a heaven I was last Winter with a young man who upon his dying-bed for several hours together being in a dreadful agony lay crying out I am damn'd I am damn'd I am damn'd I am damn'd Ah how soon would this poor wretch have got out of this hell if it had been so easie a thing to have repented as you imagine it is and how many when they have been prest to repent have professed that if they might have a thousand worlds to repent they could not repent And will you say that repentance is easie How many have sought repentance with tears and would have bought repentance with the price of their dearest blood but could not obtain it and will you say that repentance is easie O Sirs is it good to be damn'd is it good to go to hell is it good to dwell with a devouring fire and to live in everlasting burnings Is it good to have your habitations amongst Devils and damned spirits Is it good to be banished the Court of heaven and to be separated for ever from the glorious presence of God and the sweet enjoyments of Christ and the blessed society of Angels and Saints and the fruition of all the happiness that heaven affords O no! O no! O why then do not men prevent all this by repentance if it be such an easie thing to repent But Lastly If repentance be such an easie work why then do your hearts so rise both against the Doctrine of repentance and against those that preach it and press it of all words is not the word of repentance the hardest word to read and of all sayings and Sermons Joh. 6.60 is not that of repentance the hardest to hear and bear Luther confesses that before his conversion he met not with a more displeasing word in all the Scripture nor in all his study of Divinity then that word Repent O man if repentance be so easie why doth thy spirit rage and why doth thy heart so swell and rise against those that preach repentance unto life Of all Preachers Mat. 3.2 Acts 2. c. there are none that do so displease and move thee that do so cut and gall thee as those that are still a crying out Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Repentance is the vomit of the soul and ah how do sinners hearts rise against that Physick and those that bring it Repentance is the bleeding of the soul and ah how do wicked men storm and take on at that hand that lets them blood Isa 30.10 Jer. 5.30 31. chap. 14.14 chap. 23.11 to the end You love those that preach pleasing things that tickle your ears though they never touch your hearts that please your fancies though they never meddle with your consciences and one Sermon of mercy you prefer before a thousand Sermons of repentance Now certainly if repentance were so easie to you the Doctrine of repentance would be more pleasing to you For a close know that that white Devil who now presents repentance to thee as the easiest thing in the world He will at last cast to work thee to despair and to cut the throat of thy soul present it not only as a hard and difficult work but as an impossible work O that these things may be so blest unto you as to preserve you from being deceived and deluded with a conceit that repentance is easie and so by this means keep you from labouring to be holy Now as to that part of the plea from the Scriptures formerly cited viz. That hereafter will be time enough to repent I shall thus reply Certainly the present call of God the uncertainty of the Spirits motion and the danger of delay calls upon thee for present repentance it is a dangerous thing to deal with God as ill Debtors do by their Creditors first they put them off one week and then another week and then a third week c. till at last they provoke their Creditors to cast them into prison and to practise all severity upon them they that thus deal with God shall be as severely dealt with by God as you may see in Prov. 1.24 to 32. The antient warriers would not receive an old man into their Army and dost thou think O vain man It is reported that God should say to a man who desired to repent in his old age Vbi consumpsisti farinam ibi consume furfurem Where you have spent your flour there go spend your bran c. that when thou hast spent thy time and wasted thy strength and exhausted thy spirits in the work of Satan and in the service of thy lusts that God will receive thee to his grace and favour If thou dost thus flatter thy self it is ten thousand to one but that thou wilt deceive thy self that God that hath made a promise to late repentance hath made no promise of late repentance though true repentance is never too late yet late repentance is seldom true Ah how many millions are now in hell who have thought and resolved and said that they would repent hereafter but that hereafter never came Thou saist to morrow to morrow thou wilt repent when thou knowest not what a to morrow will bring forth Alas how many thousand wayes may death surprize thee before to morrow comes Though there be but one way to come into the world yet there is a thousand thousand wayes to be sent out of the world O the diseases the hazards the dangers the accidents the deaths that daily that hourly attend the life of man A Jewish Rabbin pressing the practice of repentance upon his Disciples exhorted them to be sure to repent the day before they died to which one of them replyed that the day of a mans death was very uncertain to which the Rabbin made answer Repent therefore every day and then you shall be sure to repent the day before you die O Sirs except you do repent to day you cannot tell that you shall repent the day before you die for who knows to day but that he may die to morrow It was once demanded of one Austin What he would say of a wicked man who had lived loosly but died penitently c. to whom he replyed What would you have me say That he is damned I will not for I have nothing to do to judge him Shall I say that he is saved I dare not for I would not deceive thee what then Why this repent thou out of hand and thou art safe whatever is become of him Ah friends you are never safe till you repent it is repentance that puts you out of all danger of miscarrying for ever Shall the husband-man take his present seasons for sowing and reaping Shall the good Tenant repair his house while the weather is fair Shall the careful Pilot take his advantage of wind and tide and so put out to Sea Shall the
to make the glory of God his supream scope Now there is not a wicked man on earth that do's or can eate oâ— drink c. to divine glory he do's not nor cannot set up the glory of God as the chiefe and ultimate end of his natural and common actions Now who but fooles in folio will reason thus wicked men are to eate and drink c. to divine glory but this they cannot doe Titus 1.15 and therefore wicked men must neither eate nor drink c. But Fifthly The force and spirit of this objection if there were any in it lyes as flat and full against all other religious duties as it do's against prayer it lyes as strong against hearing reading and meditating on the word c. as it do's against prayer and who but such who are sadly left of God and wofully blinded by Satan will be so wretched as to say wicked men must neither heare the word nor reade the word nor meditate on the word because they cannot doe these actions in faith and whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom. 14. ult But Sixthly There are those that can say by experience that the first special work of God that ever they perceived on their own hearts was while they were pleading with God at the throne of grace there are those that have brought proud hearts to the throne of grace but have returned with hearts humbled and that have brought hard hearts but have gon away with hearts graciously broken and melted and that have brought carnal hearts but returned with spiritual hearts and that have brought worldly hearts but returned with heavenly hearts God sometimes heares prayers for his own sake and for his Sons sake and for his glories sake and for his promise sake when he will not heare prayers for the sinners sake But Seventhly Sinfull omissions lead to sinful commissions yea sometimes they lead to ruine As you may see in the Angels that fell from the highest heaven to the lowest hell and in Adam who fell in paradise from the highest pinacle of glory to the lowest step of sin and misery Those Reprobates in that 25 Math. did not rob the Saints but only omitted the relieving of them and this proved a damning to them Rich Dives did not rob the poore but his not relieving of them was his ruine Luke 16. Moab and Ammon were banished the Sanctuary to the tenth Generation for a meere omission because they met not Gods Israel in the Wilderness with bread and water Deut. 23.3 4 6. Look as the omission of good dyet breeds natural diseases in the body so doth the omission of good duties breed spiritual diseases in the soul all â—â—nful omissions make worke for hell or for the Physitian of souls Oh man thou doest not know what deadly sin what deadly temptation may follow upon a meere single omission Origen going to comfort and encourage a Martyr that was to suffer was apprehended by the Officers and constrained either to offer to the Idolls or to have his body abused by a Blackamore that was ready prest for that service being thus hard put to it to save his life he bowed to the Idolls but afterwards when he came to himselfe he sadly bewailes his sin and confesseth that he went forth that morning without making his prayers unto God which sinful omission God did so severely punish by leaving of him to fal into so great a sin which pierc'd his soul through with many sorrows I am apt to think that many a sin many a snare and many a fall might have been prevented if such and such religious duties had not been omitted sinful omissions prepare the way to sinful commissions and both prepare the way to a fatal destruction I believe many men had never been so abominable vicious if they had not first cast off religious duties he that lives in the neglect of prayer tempts more Devils then one to beset his soule yea to destroy his soule c. But Eighthly and lastly there are several weighty arguments that may be produced to prove that 't is the duty of wicked and unconverted men to performe religious duties as to pray and seek the Lord c. Among the many that may be brought forth I shall only give you these fix First This is evident from divine commands as you may clearly see by comparing of these Scriptures together Isa 55.6 7. Acts 8.21 22 23. Psal 65.2 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing is an indefinite injunction and who art thou oh man that darest to prohibite what God commands are not his commands oblieging and may not disobedience to the least of them cost thee thy life thy soul thy all Gods commands are neither to be slighted censured nor neglected woe to him that looks upon great commands as little commands and little commands as no commands Math. 23. Oh Sirs 't is a very dangerous thing to act or run Counter-cross to Gods express command it may cost a man deare as you may see in that sad Story 1 Kings 13.24 The Heathens indeed would frequently run cross to their gods commands for when their gods commanded them to offer up a man they would offer up a Candle and so Hercules when he was to offer up a living man he offered up a painted man but do's it become Christians to deale thus with the great God with the living God with the God of gods as the Heathens did by their gods surely no Gods commands are not like unto the commands of the Heathens that might be contradicted and changed but they are like to the commands of the Medes that cannot be reversed nor changed they must be Evangelically obeyed or you will be eternally destroyed Jer. 35.2 5 6 7. Psal 103.20 The Rechabites were very rigid observers of their fathers commands and will you make slight of Gods commands and the Angels that excell in strength doe his Commandements and will you despise them why should the peasant scorne that work in which the Prince himself is engaged But Secondly Prayer is a natural worship and is incumbent upon all men as they are created by God prayer is a duty which the very Law of nature as well as the Law of the word lays upon men And this you may see in those Pagans Jonah 1. â— The Marriners cryed every man to his god That there is a God and that this God is to be called upon are lessons that are taught in natures Schoole Isa 45.20 They pray to a god that cannot save for any man to say a wicked man ought not to pray is to say a wicked man ought not to worship God nor acknowledge him to be his maker and who but such who are either blinde or mad dare speak such language Certainly they that live in the neglect of prayer under the Gospel sin against a double light the light of nature and the light of the Gospel and therefore they shall be double-damn'd there is no hell to these
I have thoughts of grace and thoughts of mercy and thoughts of love c. for I will dwell among them and be a little Sanctuary to them and make up the want of all outward ordinances and priviledges to them I have read of the Tyrians that they bound their Gods with chains Josh 1.5 Psal 89.33 34. Jer. 32.38 39 40 41. that they might not leave them in their greatest need but our God has bound himselfe with many Golden chains I meane promises that he will never leave nor forsake his people in their greatest necessity and extremity Theodoret had a precious presence of God with him in his sufferings for he sound so much sweetness when he was on the Rack in the midst of his tortures that he profest he did not find any anguish in his torments but a great deale of pleasure and when they took him down from the Rack he complained that they did him wrong in taking of him down and in ceasing to torment him for said he all the while I was on the Rack and you were venting your malice against me I thought there was a young man in white an Angel that stood by me which wiped off the sweat and I found a great deale of sweetness in my sufferings which now I have lost O! Christians in all your sufferings the Angel of Gods presence will bare you company and he will sweeten the most cruel torments and wipe off all the sweat Isa 63.9 and take away all the paine yea he will turne your paines into pleasure If Joseph be cast into prison Gen. 39.20 21. Jer. 36.6 to the 14. Psal 23.4 5. the Lord will be with him there If Jeremiah be throwne into the Dungeon the Lord will be with him there If David walk through the valley of death Gods Rod and his Staffe shall comfort him If the three Children be cast into a fiery Furnace the presence of the Son of God shall preserve them if Daniel must to the Lyons Den God will keep him company there and chain up the Lyons nature and sow up the Lyons mouths and lay a law of restraint upon the Lyons pawes that they shall not have so much as a disposition to touch him or in the least to hurt him or harme him 2 Tim. 4.16 17 18. If Paul be brought before Nero's Judgement seate God will stand by him though all men forsake him and bring him off with credit and triumph Thus you see that in all the afflictions and persecutions that doe befall the people of God God will not faile to keep them company and therefore let not troubles trouble you let not afflictions afflict you nor let not persecutions discourage you But Sixthly I answer That he shall be sure to suffer from Christ that refuses to suffer or that is afraid to suffer for Christs sake or holiness sake or the Gospels sake no man can suffer so much for Christ as he shall be sure to suffer from Christ if he disdaine and refuse to suffer for Christ Mark 8.35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake That Husbandman that keepes his wheat looses his wheat but he that sowes his wheat renewes his wheat and the Gospels the same shall save it He that shall attempt to save his life by crossing his light by shifting off of truth or by forsaking of Christ shall lose it he that thinks to shun suffering by sinning shall be sure to suffer with a witness 't is a gainfull loss to suffer for the truth 't is a lossfull gaine by time-serving and base complying with the lusts and humors of men to provide for our present safety security plenty peace and ease c. either by denying the truth or by betraying the truth or by exchanging the truth or by forsaking the truth When Henry the fourth of France French History had conquered his enemies he turn'd Papist and gave this reason of it That he might settle himselfe in peace and safety Ravilliak who slew him as he was riding abroad in his Coach to refresh himself confessed that the reason why he stabb'd him was because he was of two Religions and thus by endeavouring to save his life he lost it One Philbert Hamlin in France having converted a Priest to the profession of the truth was together with the Priest apprehended and cast into prison at Burdeaux But after a while the Priest being terrified with the prison and feare of death renounced Christ and was set at liberty whereupon Philbert said to him O unhappy and more then miserable man is it possible that to save your life for a few dayes you should so deny the truth Know therefore that though you have avoided the corporal fire yet your life shall not be prolonged for you shall die before me and you shall not have the honor to die for the cause of Christ but you shall be an example to Apostates And accordingly as he went out of the prison two Gentlemen that had a former quarrel with him met him and slew him And thus he also lost his life by endeavoring sinfully to save it Though life be sweet and every creature makes much of it from the highest Angel to the lowest worm yet wo to him that is set upon saving of it when Christ calls upon him to be divinely prodigal of it no fool to him who thinks to avoid a less danger by running himself into a greater danger who thinks to save his body by losing his soul and to save his temporal life by losing eternal life there is no loser to him who by sinful attempts to saved his life shall lose a better life then ever he can save So ver 38. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels Ah friends what are prisons and dungeons and racks and flames to Christs being ashamed of a man in the great day when he shall be attended with Troops of Saints and millions of Angels when in the face of the Court of Heaven when all the Princes of glory shall set upon their thrones Christ shall disdain a man and scorn so much as to look upon him or take any notice of him or shew the least respect or favor towards him O what a Sea of sorrow and a hell of horror will this raise in him I have read that when Sapores King of Persia raised a violent persecution against the Christians Sozom. Hist l. 2. c. 8. Vsthazares an old Nobleman and one of King Sapores Eunuches and Courtiers being a Christian was so terrified that he left off his profession and setting at the Court-gate when Simeon an aged holy Bishop was led to prison and rising up to salute him You may see the same story in Mr. Fox his book of
have in heaven shall not be given out to them upon the account of their merits or the dignity of their persons or the worthiness of their works but upon the account of Gods meere mercy and grace who in the day of retribution will delight to crowne his own gifts not our merits and where he shall finde the greatest measures of grace holiness Deus nihil coronat nisi dona sua Aug. When God crowneth us he doth but crowne his own gifts in us c. there he will of his own free mercy bestow the greatest measure of glory Well friends remember this you must alwayes carefully distinguish between the essence and substance of glory and between degrees and measures of glory Now the essence and substance of glory which consists in the Saints full communion with God and in their perfect conformity to God and in their universal subjection to God and in their everlasting fruition of God be common to all the Saints so that no one Saint shall have more of the essence and substance of glory then another has yet the degrees and measures of glory shall be distributed to some more to some less Now that there shall be different degrees of glory in heaven answerable to the different degrees of grace and holiness that the Saints reach to here on earth and that God will at last proportion his Rewards according to the different degrees of labour seâ—â—ice and sufferings of his people in this world may be made evident 1. By cleare Scriptures 2. By Arguments Now there are severall Scriptures that speaks out this truth take these for a taste First that 1 Cor. 3.8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour The Apostle having compared his own and Apollo's work together adds That both should receive their reward according to their work that is as their work differed so should their reward differ though they both preacht one and the same doctrine and had both one and the same designe and purpose viz. to bring in souls to Christ and to build up souls to Christ yet according to their different degrees of labour so should be their different degrees of reward Though no man should work in Gods vineyard for nought yet he that was most faithful diligent and laborious in planting or in watering Gods Husbandry should have the greatest reward Paul and Apollo shall at last receive their different reward according to their different labour or neerer the Original they shall each of them receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper reward according to their proper work A second Scripture is that 1 Cor. â—5 41 42. There is one glory of the Sun and another glory of the Moone and another glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another in glory so also is the resurrection of the dead Mark here is the full stop and these words are not to be referr'd to those following words viz. That the body is sown in corruption and riseth againe in incorruption For the Apostle speaks not here of the difference between glorious and inglorious corruptible and incorruptible things but he speaks here of the difference that is between heavenly and glorious things for faith he one Star differs from another in glory 'T is very observable that the comparison runs between the glorified condition of some Saints that shall rise and other some that shall rise in the great day So that look as one Star differs from another Star in glory so one Saint shall differ from another Saint in glory at the resurrection of the dead Though every Star is bright shining and glorious yet some Stars are more bright shining and glâ—rious then others are so though every Saint still shine gloriously in heaven yet some Saints shall have a greater lustre glory and shine upon them then others shall Look as some heavenly bodies are more glorious then others so in the morning of the resurrection some Saints shall be more glorious then others c. A third Scripture is that 2 Cor. 9.6 But this I say He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully A sparing liberality shall be attended with a sparing reward and a bounteous liberality shall be attended with a bounteous reward Look as the harvest answers the measure of seed that is sown so that he that sows but little reaps but little and he that sows much reaps much so Saints reaping at last will be answerable to their sowing here All mens charities shall at last be rewarded proportionable to the severall degrees of it he that gives a pound shall have a greater reward then he that gives a penny he that sows thousands shall reap more then he that sows hundreds he shall have the most plentifull crop in heaven who has sow'd most seed here on earth c. They shall have interest upon interest in heaven who sow much on this side heaven A fourth Scripture is that Luk 19.12 20. Now in this Parable you have a great Lord going into a far Country Mina here translated a pound is twelve ounces and a halfe which pound according to five shillings an ounce is three pound two shillings and six pence starling money Math. 2.2 Rev. 17.14 and ch 1.5 but before he goes he gives ten pounds to ten of his servants to trade with till his returne Now upon his returne he that had increased his pound to ten pounds was made ruler over ten Cities v. 17. And he that made five of one was made ruler over five Cities v. 19. Here he that gained most received the greatest reward The Nobleman in this Parable is our Lord Jesus Christ who is truly and highly noble he being coeternall and coequall with his Father in respect of his Deity he was borne a king and is now King of kings and Lord of lords and Prince of the Kings of the earth The far Countrey that he is gone to is heaven for thither he went at his ascension now when he shall returne from heaven to judge the quick the dead he will then bring men to an account to a reckoning about their improvement of all the gifts and graces that he has intrusted them with and according to the different improvement that men shall make of their Talents so shall be their reward he that makes the greatest improvement of his pound he shall have the greatest reward he shall be Ruler over ten Cities that is he shall be very highly honored and exalted and he that makes a lesser improvement he shall have a lesser reward he shall be Ruler over five Cities he that makes a great improvement of a little he shall if I may so speak sit at Christs right hand but he that makes a lesser improvement he must be contented to sit at Christs left hand God will proportion out mens reward at last answerable to their improvement of
that treasure that he has put into their hands and yet this doth not infer merit of works but a gracious disposition in God to encourage his servants in a way of well-doing c. The fift Scripture is that Dan. 12.3 From this very Text your English Annotators conclude that there are degrees of glory in Heaven c. And they that bee wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever The glory of Heaven is here laid out in shining terms for look how gloriously the shining of stars doth excel the shining of the Firmament so some Saints shall as far out-shine others in glory as the Stars do now out-shine the Firmament look as the Stars are a more beautiful and glorious part of the Orb than the Firmament is so some Saints shall have a great deal more beauty and glory upon them than others shall And look as there are different degrees of glory between the glory of the Firmament and the glory of the Stars now so there shall bee different degrees of glory between one glorious Saint and another at last All the Saints shall at last shine as the firmament but those that by their Doctrine Instruction and Conversation turn many to righteousness these shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Some of the highest seats in glory shall bee for such Act. 26.18 who turn sinners from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ T is very observable that as the Apostles were very eminent in this work so Christ has given it under his own hand Matth. 19 28. Luke 22.28.29 that they shall sit upon twelve Thrones as so many Kings judging the twelve tribes of Israel they had done and suffered more for Christ than others and therefore Christ will put a greater glory upon them than upon others though many learned men differ about the interpretation of those words yee also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel and therefore I dare not peremptorily conclude this or that to bee the sense of them yet this is most plain and evident in the Text that the Apostles are under a promise of some peculiar and more eminent degree of honour glory and dignity than others are under look as their Service to Christ was a peculiar and eminent service so Christ promises them a peculiar and eminent Reward every man of them shall have his particular Throne and every one of them shall have the honour and dignity of judging that is of governing and ruling the twelve tribes of Israel Look as Embassadors and cheif Counsellors and Presidents have the highest and chiefest seats in the Kingly Assembly Heb. 12.22 23 so the Apostles shall have the highest and the chiefest seats in the general Assembly and Church of the first born in Heaven they shall sit as it were on the Throne or on the Bench with Christ so highly and greatly shall they bee exalted If wee cannot hit upon the meanings of the Reward here promised yet wee may safely and easily gather from the description of it that there shall bee different degrees of glory in Christs Kingdome of glory The Apostles followed Christ through great tribulations and afflictions and they continued with him in all his temptations they forsook all to waite on him and after they had faithfully laboriously successfully and very eminently served him they made themselves an offering for him as I have formerly shewed you and therefore Christ will at last in a more eminent way exalt them and glorifie them than hee will others that have never seen that of Christ nor received that from Christ nor done that for Christ nor suffer'd that for Christ as they have done degrees of glory shall at last bee proportion'd out answerable to those degrees of service which in this life men have been drawn out to Such a thing as this the Apostle Paul do's more than hint if I mistake not in that 1 Thes 2.19 20. For what is our hope or joy or Crown of rejoycing are not even yet in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming For yee are our glory and joy the crown that Paul speaks of here is not that common crown of righteousness nor that common crown of life and immortality 2 Tim. 4.8 Jam. 1.12 Rev. 2.10 1 Pet. 5.4 nor that common crown of glory that all the Saints shall bee crown'd with at last but hee speaks here of an Apostolical crown of a special peculiar crown that should accrue to him upon the account of his serviceableness to their Souls and of this crown hee speaks again in that Phil. 4.1 Therefore my brethren my dearly beloved and longed for my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved hee calls the Philipians his crown and that partly because their spiritual growth constancy and perseverance was now his glory among other Churches but mainly because they should bee his particular crown of rejoycing in the great day of our Lord Jesus hee knew that the Philipians profit would bee his crown and his advantage another day The Apostle alludes here to the custome of the Romans who as they had their common crownâ— of Bayes Ivie and Lawrell c. and these were such that their horses which won the race were often crown'd with which occasioned Theocritus to say see what poor things the world glories in for as their Conquerours are crown'd so are their Horses so they had their peculiar their special crowns that were the rewards of their Conquerors that had done special service for their country So there are common crowns that belong to all the Saints as Saints as the crown of righteousness the crown of life and the crown of glory and as there are these common crowns so there are special and peculiar crowns that they shall bee crown'd with that are exercised in more high and excellent services than others have been employed in and this is the crown that here the Apostle speaks of hee knew very well that his reward should bee answerable to his work for though God never did nor never will reward men for their works as if they were the meritorious cause of the reward yet hee will for degrees reward them according to their works there are peculiar crowns special crowns for those that have done peculiar and special services for Christ on Earth A sixt Scripture is that Matth. 5.11 12. Blessed are yee when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Rejoyce and bee exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Suffering Saints persecuted Saints shall bee sure of great rewards God will reward upon his people not only their innocencie integrity patience and courage under their sufferings but the more their sufferings revilings and persecutions are multiplyed in this world the more shall
their recompence and reward bee multiplied in another world 'T is true Christ hath many lovers of his Crown but few bearers of his Cross all would rejoyce with him but few care to suffer for him but yet 't is as true on the one hand viz. that they who bear most of his Cross shall bee greatest sharers in his Crown they that suffer most for him on Earth shall bee most blest and rewarded by him when they come to Heaven 2 Cor. 1.4 5. Look as the consolation of the Saints rises higher and higher in this world even as their sufferings rise higher and higher so the glory of the Saints shall rise higher and higher in the other world as their sufferings has rise higher and higher in this world The persecuted Christians in Tertullian cries out Crudelitas vestra gloria nostra your cruelty is our glory and the harder wee are put to it the greater shall bee our reward in Heaven One speaking of the Martyrs said look how many sufferings they have so many crowns they shall have for every suffering God shall set a crown on their heads By how much mens sufferings have been greater saith Chrysostom by so much the more their crown shall bee bright and splendent The greater conflicts and buffetings any Saint hath endur'd the greater shall bee his reward and the more ample shall bee his glory saith Austin As Christ hath many crowns upon his head sutable to the multitude of his sufferings and victories so Christians at last shall have crowns sutable to the multitude of their sufferings Rev. 19.7 and sutable to those famous victories they have gained over a tempting Devil and a persecuting world certainly it will bee but Justice that they should receive the weightiest Crown 1 Joh. 5.4 chap. 2.13 14. who have bore the heaviest Cross The seventh and last Scripture that I shall produce is that Matth. 10.41 Hee that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward that is say some they shall bee partakers of the same reward that is laid up for the Prophets Without all dispute these two things lyes fair in the Text First that there is some special and eminent degrees of reward due unto a Prophet above other men And Secondly that he that shall entertain a Prophet and perform any offices of love and favour to him under that name and notion hee shall bee partaker of that reward hee that receives a Prophet as hee is Gods messenger and imployed in his service and sent about his arrant and not upon any carnal or worldly respects hee shall receive a Prophets reward that is hee shall receive either such a reward as the Prophet himself shall receive at last or hee shall receive such a large ample and noble recompence as is meet for one to receive that received a Prophet as coming from the Lord and as acted by the Lord Look as sucâ— who give an honourable reception to the Ambassadours of Kings or Princes do highly raise themselves in the favour and esteem of those Kings or Princes that had sent them so those that receive the faithful Prophets of the Lord as the Ambassadours of God they shall bee highly interested in the favour of God and as nobly bee rewarded by God I might produce several other Scriptures As that Mat. 6.20 Joh. 14.2 Mat. 20.20 to the 24. that sound to the same purpose as these Seven do but enough is as good as a feast I shall therefore in the Second place come to the Reasons that may further evidence and confirm this great truth viz. That there shall bee different degrees of glory in Heaven among many other reasons that might bee given I shall only give you these five First there are diversities of degrees of Angels in Heaven There are Cherubims and Seraphims and there are Angels and Archangels now the Cherubims and Seraphims are a lower rank and order of Angels and the Archangels are a higher rank and order of Angels And the Apostle speaks clearly of several ranks and orders of invisible creatures in that Col. 1.16 here you have an enumeration of Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers and so in that Eph. 1.21 Far above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion These principalities and powers are the blessed Angels that Minister before the Lord and that are subordinate unto one another and here they are reckoned up by assending power is above principality and might above power and dominion above might To define those orders and degrees of Angels with which God is invironed is a work too high and hard for mee and though the Papists and several School-men are so bold as to define their particular offices and orders Dionysius Areopagita Thomas Aquinas Anselm c. yet I dare not be wise above what is written where the Scripture is silent I love to be silent and where the Scripture hath no tongue there I desire to have no ears There is an order in Hell an order among the Devils and therefore you read in * Mat. 9.34 chap. 12.34 Mark 3.22 The very supposition of order supposeth inequality and disproportion three Scriptures of the Prince of Devils and so much also that expression imports that you have in that Mat. 25.41 The Devil and his Angels which intimates a Prince among those unclean and damned spirits Now shall there be order in Hell and confusion in Heaven Shall there be order among the evil Angels and shall there not much more be order among the good Angels Certainly that God that is the God of order and that hath made all things in order and that to this day keeps all things in order here below will never suffer the least disorder and confusion to be among those Princes of glory that stand continually before him Hee that denies order in Heaven denies Heaven to be Heaven and hee that grants order in Heaven grants degrees of glory in Heaven Though there is no difference between the Angels in natura Angelica the Angelical nature being alike in all yet in officio in office there is a great deal of difference in the glory of the Angels for God imploys some of the Heavenly Host in more high noble and excellent services than others and answerable thereunto shall their reward bee Though all Angels shall share alike in the essential and substantial glory of Heaven yet there is an additional glory an accidental glory an over-plus of glory that shall be conferred upon the Angels answerable to the several and various services that they have managed and ingaged in Now the Scripture tells us plainly Matth. 22.30 that in Heaven wee shall be like to the Angels and therefore if there be degrees of Angels and if the Angels in Heaven shall have a different glory and reward according to the work in which they have been employed then the glory of the Saints in respect of degrees shall bee different also But
Secondly There are degrees of Torments in Hell and therefore by the Rule of Contraries there shall bee degrees of Glory in Heaven Now that there are degrees of torments in Hell is most evident from several plain Scriptures as from that 10th of Matth. v. 14 15. And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when yee depart out of that house or City shake off the dust of your feet Verily I say unto you Contempt of Christ and his Gospel is worse than Sodomy it shall be more tollerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement than for that City Sodom and Gomorrah shall have an easier and cooler Hell than such Cities shall have that have contemned the tenders of Grace and the offers of Mercy 'T is very observable that the punishments that God in this life hath inflicted upon the Jews for their contempt of Christ and his everlasting Gospel have been more terrible than his raining Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah for on a sudden and in a moment God consumed them and burnt them up but God hath for above this sixteen hundred years been a raining Hell out of Heaven upon the Jews hee hath for a long time vext them with all manner of adversity and to this very day hee hath made them all the world over a spectacle of his dreadful severity but all those plagues and punishments that the Jews have been and still are under are but flea-bitings and scratches on the hand to those dreadful and amazing judgements that God in the great day of account will inflict upon all Christs refusers and Gospel-despisers And so chap. 11.20 21 22 23. Then began hee to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Chorazin wee unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you it shall bee more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Judgement than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted up to Heaven shalt bee brought down to Hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day The more mercy hath been upon the bare knee intreating sinners to repent the more earnest the Lord Jesus hath been in wooing sinners to beleeve on him and to resign up themselves wholly and only to him the more clearly and sweetly the everlasting Gospel hath sounded in sinners ears and the more neer and the more often Heaven hath been brought to sinners doors and yet they have bid defiance to all and hardened themselves in their sins with the greater violence and with the more dreadful vengeance shall such be plunged into the lowest Hell And so in that Mat. 23.14 Woe unto you Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites for yee devour Widdows houses and for a pretence make long prayer therefore yee shall receive the greater damnation Hypocrites shall bee double-damned the hottest and the darkest place in Hell is reserved for them Give him his portion with hypocrites for number and weight there are no torments in Hell to the torments of hypocrites Counterfeit sanctity is double iniquity and therefore 't is but justice that the hypocrite should have double torment And so in that Luke 12.47 48. That servant that knows his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes and hee that knew it not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall bee beaten with few stripes Sins against light and knowledge are sins against the noblest remedy they waste and wound the conscience most they most open sinners mouths to blaspheme God and they most harden sinners hearts in sinning against God and every way they dare God most and provoke God most to strike with an Iron-Rod and to whip the knowing transgressor not with Rods but with Scorpions 'T is very observable that the more light and knowledge men sin against in this world Rom. 1.21 22 23. the greater judgements God gives them up to even in this life take a remarkable instance in the most refined and civil Heathens who are presumed to have most light and knowledge who were given up to the most beastly errours about the nature of God as the Romans and Grecians who worshipped Feavers and humane passions yea every paltry thing c. whereas the Scythians and more barbarous Nations worshipped the Sun and the Thunder c. things terrible in themselves Oh how much more then will God in the great day give them up to the greatest judgements who have given themselves up to the greatest sins Certainly the Professors of this age yea of this City whether they go to Heaven or Hell will be the greatest debtors that shall be in either place the one to the Free-grace of God and the other to his Justice that they that have most of Hell in their mouths and most of Hell in their hearts and most of Hell in their lives should have most of Hell in their souls at last is but justice I shall conclude this second Argument with a saying of one of the Antients Augustin Look saith hee as in Heaven one is more glorious than another so in Hell one shall be more miserable than another Now if there be degrees of torments in Hell which I suppose the Scriptures but now cited doth undeniably prove then doubtless there will be degrees of glory in Heaven Thirdly God in this life dispenses the gifts and graces of his Spirit unequally among his Saints to some hee gives two Talents to others five and to others ten Hence 't is you read both of a weak Faith and of a strong Faith Matth. 25. and ch 8.10 26. ch 15.28 Why are yee afraid O yee of little Faith And O woman great is thy Faith And Verily I have not found so great Faith no not in Israel And hence it is that you read both of weak Christians and of strong Christians Hee that is weak in the Faith receive Rom. 14.1 2. 1 Cor. 9.22 2 Cor. 12.10 Heb. 5.13 14 1 Pet. 2.2 v. 1. Another who is weak eateth herbs And to the weak I became as weak that I might win the weak Wee then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves When I am weak then am I strong And hence 't is that you read of Babes and of Children and of young Men and of old Men in the Scripture Saints are of different growths Some are but babes in gifts and grace others are children others young men and others old men That God that distributes the good things of this world unequally among the Sons of men as to some more to others less to some great things to others little things to some high things to others low things that God unequally distributes
spiritual blessings among his dearest children to some hee gives more light to others less to some a greater measure of love to others a less to some a greater degree of joy to others a less c. Some Saints shine in grace and holiness as the Firmament and others shine in grace and holiness as the Stars some shine in grace and holiness as the Moon and others shine in grace and holiness as the Sun and all this springs from those different measures of grace and holiness that God bestows upon his people Now doubtless men may as well plead for equal degrees of grace as they may for equal degrees of glory they may as well plead for an equal share in the good things of this world as they may plead for an equal share in the happiness and blessedness of that other world Doubtless as God dispenses his gifts and graces unequally in this life so hee will dispense his Rewards unequally in the other life As mens gifts and graces are different here on earth so their glory shall be different when they come to Heaven without all peradventure they shall have the whitest and the largest Robes of Honour and the heaviest and the brightest Crowns of Glory whose souls are most richly adorned with grace and whose lives are most eminently bespangled with holiness The more grace and holiness any Saint hath here the more hee is prepared and fitted for glory and the more any Saint is fitted for glory the more that Saint shall at last be filled with glory The greatest measures of grace holiness do most inlarge the soul and widen the soul and capacitate the soul to take in the greatest measures of glory and therefore the more grace the more glory the more holiness the more happiness a Saint shall have at last Certainly God will crown his own gracious works in his children proportionable to what they are but they are different and unequally in all his children in respect of measures and degrees and therefore God will set different Crowns of glory upon the heads of his children at last But Fourthly They that have more grace and holiness than others they are more like to God than others They bear his glorious Image in a greater print they have a brighter character of God upon them and they are the most lively picture of God in all the world Now wee know though Parents love their children well and wish all their children well and do for all their Children well yet commonly they love them most and provide for them best that resemble them most Parents cannot but love those children most and lay up for them most who have most of themselves in them and I cannot see how God can do otherwise than love them most and provide for them best who most resembled him to the life the nature of God is a holy nature and so there lies a holy necessity on his nature to love them most who have most grace and holiness in them look as t is natural to God to hate wickedness Psal 45.7 so t is natural to God to love holiness and as the higher men rise in wickedness the more a holy God hates them so the higher men rise in holiness the more a holy God loves them now the more any are like to God and the more they are beloved of God the higher doubtless in glory shall they bee advanced by God The best and the largest Portion is laid up for that Childe that is most like his Father the more any man in holiness resembles God on Earâ—h the greater and the larger Portion of glory that man shall have when hee comes to Heaven But Fiftly and lastly to deny degrees of glory in Heaven and to say that God won't sute mens wages to their works nor their rewards to their services nor crown the highest improvements of grace with the highest degrees of glory is to render useless many glorious exhortations that are scattered up and down in the Scripture as that in the 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved Brethren bee yee stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord for asmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. If this were not a truth that I have been all this while asserting why then when men meet with this exhortation they may say why t is no great matter whether we are stedfast unmoveable and alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord or no for if wee are wee shall never advance our reward in Heaven wee shall never add Pearls to our glorious Crown wee shall never add one mite to our happiness and blessedness and if wee are not wee shall bee as high in Heaven and our reward as great and our crown as weighty as theirs shall bee who are stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord. And so the denyal of degrees of glory in Heaven will take off also the edge of all those other exhortations of perfecting holiness of sowing liberally 2 Cor. 7 1. cap. 9.6 2 Pet. 3. ult Joh. 15.8 2 Pet 1.5 6 7. of growing in grace of bringing forth much fruit and of adding vertue to vertue c. yea this will cut the throat of all divine endeavours for who will labour to bee rich in grace and to bee much in service and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness and holiness when none of all this will turn to a mans advantage in another world If hee that sows little shall have as great a Harvest as hee that sows much if hee that is dull and negligent in the work of the Lord shall have as great a reward as hee that is active and abundant in the work of the Lord. If those trees of righteousness which bring forth much fruit shall have no greater a recompence than those trees of righteousness which bring forth many leaves of profession but little fruit c. who would sow much and who would bee active and abundant in the work of the Lord and who would bring forth much fruit verily but few if any But now the opinion or rather the truth that I have been labouring to make good viz. that there shall bee different degrees of glory in Heaven and that God will proportion mens reward to their work and that he will measure out happiness and blessedness to them at last according to the different measures of grace bestowed upon his people and according to the work service and faithfulness of his people in this world This truth I say held forth in its luster and glory is a marvellous incouragement and a mighty provocation to all sincere Christians to labour after the highest pitches in Christianity and to bee very eminent in grace and holiness for what man is there that will not reason thus the more grace the more glory the more holiness the more happiness the more work the more wages and the greater my service shall bee here the
sixth hour wee are to understand those who are turned to the Lord in their strength and in their full and perfect age Fourthly By those who were called at the ninth hour wee are to understand those who are converted and turned to the Lord in their declining age And fifthly By those who were called at the eleventh hour wee are to understand those who are converted and turned to the Lord in their decrepit old age when they have one foot in the grave and there is but a short step between them and eternity when with the Theef upon the crosse they are even ready to bee turned off of the Ladder of life Now the Vineyard being the Church all that this parable proveth is no more but this that whether men are cal'd into the Vineyard of the Church either sooner or later either at the first hour or at the ninth or eleventh hour Yet this shall neither greaten nor lessen their reward for if they are called at the first hour their recompence shall bee never the greater upon that account or if they are called at the eleventh hour their reward shall be never the lesser upon that account the reward shall not bee different according to the different times of mens being called and converted and that this Parable proves but the reward shall bee different according to the diversity of our works and that my former arguments prove But Thirdly If the Penny The Roman penny is the eight part of an ounce which after five shillings the ounce is seven pence half penny that every one had in the Parable be meant of glory then it will roundly follow that murmurers shall be saved and glorified as well as others for the murmurers had their Penny as well as the rest vers 10 11 12. But when the first came they supposed that they should have received more and they likewise received every man a Penny And when they had received it they murmured against the good man of the house saying These last have wrought but one hour and thou hast made them equal unto us which have born the burden and heat of the day The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is here rendred murmured signifies to grunt as Swine grunt they grumbled and grunted and they grunted and grumbled and pray tell mee what should such Swine as murmurers are do grunting and grumbâ—ing in Heaven doubtless the Crown of Glory is too bright too noble too glorious and too weighty a Crown to be set upon murmurers heads Heaven would be no Heaven if there were but one gruntler or murmureâ— there in Heaven all the vessels of Glory shall be full and there shall not be the least shadow of envy or repining there In the streets of that new Jerusalem above none shall ever complain that others have too much or that themselves have too little every glorified Saint shall sit down fully satisfied and contented with his portion there Now should wee by the Penny understand a glorified estate and condition then this would unavoidably follow that many shall be brought to a state of glory which are not elected nor sanctified nor prepared for glory but this can never nor must never be granted and therefore without all peradventure this Parable doth no way hold out that state of glory and felicity which all the called and chosen of God shall have at Christs coming to judge the quick and the dead But Fourthly The Penny that is here mentioned in this Parable cannot nor may not be interpreted so as to signifie an equality of glory or an equality of happiness and blessedness that the Saints shall have in Heaven because such an interpretation such an exposition is cross and contrary to the common and received Rules of interpreting and expounding of Scripture Now among other Rules that are to be observed in the interpreting and expounding of Scripture there are these two First You must so interpret and expound one Text of Scripture that you do not set it at strife and variance with another Text of Scripture for though there is a seeming contradiction between Scripture and Scripture yet there is a blessed harmony and a glorious correspondency between all the parts of Scripture 'T is a very dangerous thing so to interpret Scripture as to raise contests and opposition between Scriptures and Scriptures 't is an evil thing to raise up Scripture against Scripture and so to interpret one as to make it affront another Woe to him that by his interpretations of Scripture proclaims the Scriptures to be at open war amongst themselves Now to interpret the Penny in the Parable so as to make it signifie an equality of glory and happiness among the Saints in Heaven is to set this Scripture at variance and strife withall those Scriptures that I have produced to prove an inequality in the glory and happiness of the Saints in Heaven and therefore such an interpretation is rather to be abhorred than to be received But Secondly Another Rule that is to be observed in the interpreting of Scripture is this wee must alwaies interpret those Scrptures that are more dark and mysterious by those Scriptures that are more plain and clear and not interpret those Scriptures that are plain and clear by those that are dark and mysterious Job 38.2 for this were to darken counsel by words without knowledge Now they that interpret the Penny in the Parable to signifie an equality of glory among the Saints in Heaven they transgress this second Rule for they must then interpret all those clear and plain Scriptures that I have brought to prove degrees of glory in Heaven by this dark and mysterious Parable whereas they should interpret this dark and mysterious Parable if I may so say by those plain and clear Scriptures that I have already cited and therefore their interpretation must be rejected 'T is true of some Parables wee may say as Gregory doth viz. That they rather require a Practicer than an Interpreter And 't is as true Psal 49.4 Psal 78.2 John 16.29 that other Parables are so dark obscure and mysterious that wee shall never understand them without the sweat of our brows and the beating of our brains and such a Parable this seems to be and therefore wee must interpret the parts of it rather by other clear Scriptures than to make clear and plain Scriptures bow to this that seems to have a vail upon it And thus you see by these Arguments that the Penny in the Parable hath no reference at all to Heaven nor to any equality of glory that shall be among the Saints there Secondly Chrysostome's Vide Chrisostom in hunc locum counsel on the Text should be eyed and followed saith hee Wee should not strain every particular of a Parable but only consider the scope of Christ in the propounding of it and accordingly apply it Wee look not on every particular colour in a well drawn picture but on the whole peice
love is a holy love and his anger is a holy anger and his hatred is a holy hatred c. His nature is holy his attributes are holy and all his actions are holy hee is holy in punishing and holy in sparing hee is holy in justifying of some and hee is holy condemning of others hee is holy in bringing some to Heaven and holy in throwing others to Hell God is holy in all his sayings and God is holy in all his doings God is holy in what ever hee puts his hand to and hee is holy in what ever hee sets his heart to his frowns are holy and his smiles are holy his liftings up are holy and his castings down are holy when hee gives his givings are holy givings and when hee takes away his takings are holy takings c. But Fourthly As God is universally holy so God is eminently holy hee is transcendently holy hee is superlatively holy Exo. 15.11 and therefore hee is said to bee glorious in holiness there is no fathoming there is no measuring there is no comprehending there is no searching of that infinite Sea of holiness that is in God as neither Men nor Angels can set banks or bounds to Gods holiness so neither Men nor Angels can sound to the bottome of Gods holiness all that holiness that is in Angels and Men is but a spark to Gods flame t is but a drop to his sea t is but a beam to his sun t is but a mite to his millions c. O Sirs you shall as soon stop the Sun in his course and change the day into night and raise the dead and make a world and tell the stars of heaven and empty the sea with a Cockle-shell as you shall bee able either to conceive or express that transcendent holiness that is in God This glorious Name or Title the holy one of Israel is ascribed to God about thirty times in the Old Testament and all to shew that hee is most excellent and transcendent in holiness and the Seraphims which stood before the Throne cryed out three times a row Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of hosts Isa 6.3 to shew that God is most eminently and superlatively holy for so thrice holy in some languages is most holy for holiness God is a none-such there are none to bee compared with him neither are there any among Angels or among Men yea or among the Gods that are like unto him who is like to thee among the Gods glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Gods holiness is infinite t is so super-eminent and so super-excellent that it can neither bee limited nor lessened nor augmented if men should blaspheme or reproach the Lord hee would bee never the worse he would be never the lesse holier then hee is and if men should bless him and worship him hee would bee never the better never the holier unto perfection there can be no addition a drop taken out of the sea can no waies add unto the sea Hee is exalted above all blessing and praise Nehe. 9.5 All the Angels in Heaven and all the men on earth cannot add one Ray one Beam of glory to the essence of God to the holiness of God as God is goodness in the very Abstract and justice in the very abstract and mercy in the very abstract and righteousness in the very abstract and lovingkindness in the very abstract so hee is holiness in the very Abstract so that no man can flatter him or add unto him and hence t is that God glories in the Attribute of his Holiness more than in any other Attribute For Isa 57.15 thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy when God would lift up himself in all his Glory hee doth it by declaring that his name is holy and so when God would swear by himself hee swears by his holiness Psal 89.25 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lye unto David and so in that Amos 4.2 The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness that lo the daies shall come upon you that hee will take you with hooks and your posterity with fish-hooks Look as the great men of the World are wont to swear upon their honour when they would give us the greatest assurance of what they will do because such Oath are look't upon as most sacred and inviolable so the great God swears by his holiness because his holiness is his greatest Honour and because hee hath no greater nor no better nor no choicer nor no sweeter nor no preciouser things to swear by let mee saith God bee never owned as a God nor honoured as a God nor trusted as a God nor feared as a God nor valued as a God if I do not Inviolably keep my promises and make good my threatings having sworn thereunto by my Holiness Now you know the Scripture saith when God could swear by no greater hee sware by himself Heb. 6.13 so I may say when God could swear by no greater Attribute by no greater Excellency hee swears by his Holiness that being the top and the glory of all Look as all the wisdome of the creatures compar'd with the wisdome of God is but folly and as all the goodness of the creatures compared with the goodness of God is but naughtiness and as all the fulnesse of the creature compared with the fulnesse of God is but emptiness and as all the power of the creature compared with the power of God is but weaknesse and as all the righteousnesse of the creature compared with the righteousnesse of God is but unrighteousnesse So all the holinesse of the creature compared with the holinesse of God is but unholinesse mans highest purity is but impurity when 't is compared to the purity of God yea the very holinesse of Angels compared with the holinesse of God is chargeable with folly Job 4.18 That fulnesse of holinesse that is in Angels or Saints is only the fulnesse of the Vessel but that fulnesse of holinesse that is in God is the fulnesse of the Fountain that fulnesse of holinesse that is in Angels or Saints is but the fulnesse of the Branches but that fulnesse of holinesse that is in God is the fulnesse of the Root that fulnesse of holinesse that is in Angels or Saints is but the fulnesse of Sufficiency but that fulnesse of holinesse that is in God is the fulnesse of redundancy But Fifthly As God is infinitely holy transcendently holy superlatively holy so God is originally radically and fundamentally holy the Divine Nature is the root original and spring of all holinesse and purity all that holinesse that is in Angels and men flows from God as the streams from the Fountain as the beams from the Sun as the branches from the Root and as the effect from the Cause There is no holinesse to be had but from the Holy One hee is the Author and Original of all the holinesse that
Lawfulnesse For a man to be often a looking over his Natural actions his Moral actions and his Religious actions and to be still a putting this question to himself O my soul dost thou eye what is expedient dost thou eye as well what is expedient as what is lawful such a frame and temper of spirit speaks out much of Christ and Holinesse within O the sins O the sorrows O the shame O the reproach O the troubles O the travels O the trials c. that might have been prevented had the Law had the Rule of Expediency been more minded and followed by Christians in these daies c But Twelfthly and lastly The more a man can deny himself when hee hath an opportunity power and authority to raise himself to greaten himself to seek himself and to lift up himself the greater measure of Holiness that man hath attained to Providence often puts many a rare and fair opportunity into Moses his hand Exod. 32.9 15. Deut. 9.13 14 18 19 20. Heb. 12.24 25. Nehem. 5.14 ult whereby hee might have raised himself and have greatned himself in the world and yet then even then hee denies himself And Nehemiah was a man of the same mind and metal hee stood upon the advantage ground to have greatned himself and to have lifted up himself as others had done before him but instead of this hee lessens himself hee denies himself hee degrades himself and being of a very noble generous publick spirit hee turns his back upon his own worldly interest and keeps a very free and bountiful Table upon the account of his own particular Revenue and not upon the account of a publick purse And so Daniel was one in Spirit with the former when God had brought him into high favour with the Prince of the Eunuchs Dan. 1.8 9 10 11. and given him a great deal of heart-room there yet upon no terms would hee defile himself with the Kings meat or comply with the requests of the Prince of the Eunuchs it argues a great deal of holiness for a man to deny his temporal self Rev. 4.10 11. to dethrone his temporal self when hee stands upon the advantage ground to advance his temporal self and to throne his temporal self in the world I have read of Trojane the Emperour how hee sent Eustochius one of his chiefest Captains against the Barbarians who having vanquished them returned home The Emperour being very joyful at this good news goes to meet him and brings him gloriously into the City Now Eustochius being high in the Emperours favour 't was but ask and have speak and speed but on this very day of Pomp Triumph and Glory hee chose rather to suffer the Martyrdome of himself his wife and children than with the Emperour to offer sacrifice to Apollo and so denies himself and all his present Pomp and Glory when hee might greatly have inriched himself and advanced himself Nothing speaks out greater measures of holiness than for a man to deny himself when hee may seek himself and exalt himself if hee pleases I have read of a godly man who being sorely tempted by Satan was much in duty to whom Satan said why takest thou this pains thou dost watch and fast and pray and abstainest from the sins of the times But O man what dost thou more than I do art thou no Drunkard no more am I art thou no Adulterer no more am I dost thou watch why let mee tell thee I never slept dost thou fast why I never ate nor drank what dost thou more than I do why I will tell thee Satan said the holy man I pray I serve the Lord nay more than all this I deny my self nay then saith Satan thou goest beyond mee for I am proud and I exalt my self and so vanished O the excellency of self-denial and O the holiness and the happiness of that man that can deny himself that can debase himself that can even trample upon himself when hee hath power and authority in his own hand to greaten himself and to exalt himself Power and authority will try what metal men are made of Ah how many have there been among us of late years who when they have had no power nor authority in their hands to help themselves have seemed to be great deniers of themselves but no sooner had they power and authority in their hands but ah what self-love what self-interest what self-seeking and what self-exalting was to be found amongst them O how have many among them instead of loving God to the contempt of themselves loved themselves to the contempt of God and who instead of debasing themselves that they might exalt God have debased God that they might exalt themselves and who instead of losing themselves that they might finde God have lost God that they might finde themselves These put mee in minde of the Abbot in Melancthon who lived strictly and lookt demurely and walkt humbly so long as hee was but a Monk but when by his seeming sanctity and humility hee had got to be Abbot hee grew most intollerable proud and insolent c. and being asked the reason of it hee confessed that his former lowly looks was but to see if hee could finde the keyes of the Abby how many such Abbots wee have had amongst us you all know Ah how rare is it to finde a man to deny himself when hee is advantaged to seek himself such a man is worth gold but this Iron-age affords few such golden-men Where this frame of spirit is there the streams of holiness runs deep And thus much for this Use of Trial and Examination And so I come now to the last Use of this Doctrine and that is for Comfort and Consolation to all those that have this real holiness without which there is no happiness O Sirs open wide the everlasting doors of your souls that not a River but a Sea of joy and comfort may flow in upon you For First Know for your comfort That real holiness is the seal of your eternal Election Some are elected to glorious offices in this world others are elected to eternal glory in the other world Joh. 6.70 Judas was chosen to be an Apostle on Earth but not to be a Saint in Heaven but the Thessalonians were elected to eternal glory in Heaven 1 Thes 1.4 though they were not chosen to any glorious offices here on Earth It may be thou art a poor creature that never wast nor never art like to be elected to any noble or honourable imployments either in Church or State O but if thou art a holy person then know for thy everlasting comfort that thy real holiness is a real seal of thine Eternal Election 't is the counterpane as it were of all that gracious love good will and eternal favour that God bears unto thee Ephes 1.4 Hee hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that wee should be holy God did not chuse us either
because wee were holy or because hee did fore-see that in time wee would be holy but hee chose us to that very end that wee should be holy Look as Esther Esther 1. was first chosen out among the Virgins and then purified and decked with Rich and Royal Ornaments and Garments before shee was brought into the presence of the King So God first chuses poor sinners and then hee purifies them Psal 45.13 and adorns them with the rich and glorious Garments of Grace and Holiness that so they may be meet and fit to enter into his Royal Presence 1 Thes 1.4 Knowing Brethren Beloved your Election of God Vers 5. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost Vers 9. And how yee turned to God from Idols to serve the Living and True God When the Gospel comes in Power and in the Holy Ghost and turns persons from Idols to serve the Living God 't is a clear and evident sign of their Election real Sanctification is a sure evidence a fair copy of a mans Election Look as the Pattern is known by the Picture and the Cause by the Effect so Election is known by real Sanctification A Christian need never put himself to the charge of making a Ladder to climbe up to Heaven to search the Records of Glory to see whether his Name is written in the Book of Life in the Book of Election or no but rather make a strict and diligent enquiry whether hee be really and throughly sanctified or no for where there is real sanctification there the glorious Image of Gods Election is in Golden Characters stampt upon the soul A man may have his Name set down in the Chronicles yet lost wrought in durable Marble yet perish set upon a Monument equal to a Colossus yet be ignominius inscribed on the Hospital gates yet go to Hell written in the front of his own house yet another come to possess it All these are but writings in the dust or upon the waters where the Characters perish so soon as they are made they no more prove a man happy than the fool could prove Pontius Pilate happy because his Name was written in the Creed but in real Sanctification a man may see his Name so written in the Book of Gods Election as that it shall remain legible to all Eternity But Secondly If thou are a holy person if thou hast that real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that the Lord takes singular pleasure delight and complacency both in thy holiness and in thy person Psa 149.4 5. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people hee will beautifie the meek with salvation Let the Saints be joyful in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds The Hebrew word Rotseh that is here rendred pleasure is from Ratsah that signifies pleasure delight complacency content c. O God takes singular pleasure singular delight singular complacency and singular content in all his Saints in all his sanctified ones Holiness is the express Image of God and therefore hee cannot but take pleasure in it and in all those that bear it Zeph. 3.13 The Remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies neither shall a deceitful tongue bee found in their mouth Well here are glorious Characters of their holiness but what pleasure what delight c. doth God take in these holy ones why certainly very much as you may see in ver 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty hee will save hee will rejoyce over thee with joy hee will rest in his love hee will joy over thee with singing Look as a Bridegroom rejoyces over his Bride Isa 62.4 5. so will the Lord rejoyce over his holy ones and look what delight complacency and content the Bridegroom takes in his Bride the same yea greater God takes in all his sanctified ones Yea look as a fond Father joyes over his dear childe that hee carries in his arms or dandles upon his knee with singing so God will joy over all his holy ones which are his fondlings with singing such is the singular delight satisfaction and content that hee takes in them Look as the Husbandman delights much in that ground that was once barren but is now fruitful and as the Captain takes a great deal of pleasure in that souldier that once run from his colours but is now returned and fights valiantly and resolutely against all opposers and adversaries and as the Father takes a great deal of joy content and satisfaction in the return reformation and amendment of his Prodigal Son Luke 15. even so a holy God is wonderfully delighted pleased enamoured and even overjoyed Heb. 6.7 â— when such as brought forth nothing but the thorns and briers of wickedness Heb. 2.10 do now bring forth the pleasant fruits of righteousness and holinesse and when such as have run from Christ the Captain of their salvation and run from their profession and run from their principles and run almost from every thing that is good shall now return to the Captain of their Salvation and fight it out most valiantly and resolutely against the world the flesh and the devil and when such as have proved Prodigals and spent all that portion all that stock and all that treasure that they have been intrusted with shall now break off their sins and humble themselves and reform their lives and mend their waies God is so infinitely pleased and delighted in these that hee Records their Names in Heaven Luke 10.20 Rejoyce not in this that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven 't is matter of the greatest joy in the world for a man to have his name inrol'd in Heaven look as 't is the sinners hell that his name is ingrossed in the book of perdition so 't is the beleevers heaven that his name is ingrossed in the book of election I have read of a Senatour Tacitus who relating to his Son the great honours that were assign'd to some Souldiers whose names were written in a certain book whereupon the Son was very importunate to see that book his Father shews him the outside and it seemed so glorious that hee earnestly desired him to open it no saith the Father by no means for it is sealed by the counsel then saith the Son pray tell mee if my name bee written there his Father replies no because all the names of those Souldiers were kept secret in the breasts of the Senatours The Son studying how hee might get some satisfaction desired his Father to acquaint him with the merits of those Souldiers whose names were written in that book the Father relates to him their noble atchievements and worthy acts of valour wherewith they had eternized their names such are written said hee and none but such must bee written in this book whereupon the Son consulting
more eyes then it hath done good to hearts O this golden-wedge this silver squinsie hath made many men silent and speechlesse in good causes Titus Vespasian was so delighted in doing of justice that if a day had past over his head wherein he had done no 〈◊〉 of justice he would cry out Amici diem perdidi O my friends I have lost a day And so Epaminondas a Heathen though he was very poor and often tempted with great bribes and presents to be unjust yet he refused and scorned all and would commonly say that if the cause were good he would do it without a bribe because it was good but if the cause was bad he would not meddle with it for a world These Heathens will one day rise in judgement against all such corrupt Judges and Justices that will not do justice without a bribe If this Treatise should fall into the hands of any such I would then let them know that God will one day make good that dreadful word against them that you have in Job 15.34 For the Congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Or as the Septuagint reads it of men that take gifts fire shall consume or rather as the Hebrew hath it Fire shall eat the Tabernacles it shall feed on their Tabernacles as greedily as a hungry man doth feed on his meat O the sumptuous buildings and brave structures that have been built by the hands of bribery shall be set on fire by a hand of justice Prov. 10.2 3. and chap. 3.33 If bribery brings in a thousand one year Divine justice will cast away two for it the next year God will one day burn up on both hands all the comforts and all the contentments and all the enjoyments of corrupt Magistrates Judges and Justices I have read of a Polonian Judge that stood up very stoutly and resolutely a long time for a poor Plaintiff against a rich Defendant but at last he received from the Defendant a great summe of money stamped with the usual stamp of that Countrey which is a man in compleat armour and at the next Session in open Court he adjudged the Cause in the favour of the Defendant and being sharply blamed by his friends for it he shewed them his large bribe and demanded of them Who could stand out against so many men in compleat armour Ah England England it would be better with thee if this spirit did not still survive but alas what good will all these mens men in armour do them in the great day of our Lord when the thoughts of all such corrupt Magistrates Judges and Justices shall be exceedingly troubled their countenances changed their hearts terrified their consciences awakened their souls amazed and their knees dashed one against another O that all Judges and Justices would for ever make Isa 5.23 their daily companion Wo to them which justifie the wâ—cked for a reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him I have read of Sysamnes a covetous tenacious Judge who for filthy lucre pronounced a false sentence whereupon Cambyses King of Persia commanded him to be killed and flead and his skin to be nailed over the Tribunal and then he commanded his son to sit as Judge there that so this sight might arm him against all injustice and be a terrour to all that succeeded him If Princes did but exercise such Royal justice upon all corrupt covetous Judges and Justices justice would be had at a cheaper rate and poor men would not be so often put to pawn their Coats nor rich men would not so often empty their Purses nor mortgage their inheritances But Fourthly As you must do justice sincerly so you must do justice deliberately you must have one ear for the Defendant and another for the Plaintiff Deut 17.4 or else you will tell the world at once that you are both weak and wicked Deut. 19.17 18 19. vide It argues much weakness and emptiness of spirit to judge a matter before all is heard that can be said Job 29.16 Jobs piety and prudence shined forth eminently in this that the Cause that he knew not he searched it out Before God would pronounce judgement upon Adam Gen. 3. he first examins him and propounds several interrogatories to him And in those two great and famous acts of justice when God confounded Babels builders Gen. 1. and chap. 18. and rained hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorah he tells you that he will go down and see You are called gods in this it is as much your glory as it is your duty to imitate the great God Though Solomon was in all his glory yet he had patience to hear both what the mother and the harlot had to say The Holy-Ghost puts the fool upon him that answers a matter before he hears it Prov. 18.13 It was the usual custom of Philip King of Macedon to step one of his ears whilest the accuser was speaking that so he might reserve it for the defendant I have read of some who have deeply suffered both in their civil liberties and in their consciences for their rash and hasty passing of judgement upon others Why hath God given the Judges of the earth two ears and but one tongue 〈◊〉 that they should be swift to hear and slow to speak I have read of Lewis King of France that when he had through inadvertency granted an unjust suit as soon as ever he had read those words of the Psalmist Blessed is he that doth righteousness at all times Psalm 106.3 he presently recollected himself and upon better thoughts gave his judgemâ—nt quite contrary Certainly all acts of justice ought to flow from mature deliberation All Magistrates Judges and Justices in their administrations of justice and judgement should wisely observe by what principles they act and by what Rules they act and by what Authority they act and in what manner they act and to what ends they act and how all these important things can be done without serious deliberation I cannot for the present understand Justice in the Emblem is represented with a Ballance in the one hand and a Sword in the other to note that matters must be first delibâ—rately weighed in the Ballance before Judgement can be passed He that only useth the Sword and not the Ballance may smite an innocent Naboth and acquit a guilty Ahâ—b The Civil Law concludes it very unreasonable for any man to give Advice or Judgement before he hath considered and weighed the whole Cause Civile dig 4. de legis senatusque consul And therefore by your own Laws you are bound to deliberate before you give Judgement Unlesse you will tell the world that you even you are unreasonable men who above all others should be the Masters of the greatest reason as well as men of the greatest measures of grace and holinesse But Fifthly As you must do Justice deliberately so you must
full of dead mens bones and of all uncleanness Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within ye are full of hypocrisie and iniquity They were outwardly religious but inwardly vitious they had the semblance of sanctity but inwardly very full of impurity They were fair Professors but foul Sinners they were gracious without but impious within Look as they are the worst of vices that are covered over with the shew of vertue so they are the worst of sinners that cover over their inward filthiness under the vizards of outward holiness The Egyptian Temples were fair without but foul and filthy within such were the Scribes and Pharisees in Christs days and such are many professors in our dayes It is said of Dionysius the Tyrant that though he loved not the Philophers yet he would wrap himself up in their cloaks that men might have the better opinion of him So there be many that put on an outward dress of holiness that wrap themselves up in the cloak of holiness that so others may take them for holy persons and yet they love not holiness they have nothing of real honliess in them but as he is not a Jew which is one outwardly Romans 2.28 29. Cha. 4.12 but not inwardly so he is not a holy person who is only so outwardly but not inwardly that hath the name of holiness upon him but hath no principles of holiness in him though without outward visible holiness no man shall see the Lord yet a man may have an outward visible holiness that shall never see the Lord in happiness I hate him even to hell saith the Heathen in Homer that saith one thing with his mouth and thinketh another thing in his heart So God will at last hate that man to hell Mat 23.14 2 Tim. 3.5 1 Cor. 7.19 Philip. 3.3 Gal. 5.6 Chap. 6.15 yea cast him into the hottest place in hell that hath a form of godliness upon him but nothing of the reality and power of holiness in him Outward holiness is good but it must be throughout-holiness that will do a man good to all eternity It is not the shews but the substance of holiness that will bring a man to everlasting happiness Meer outward holiness will certainly leave a man short of heaven and happiness but throughout-holiness will certainly lodge the soul in the bosome of God for ever It is true all men reach not to an outward holiness which made Athanasius wish Vtinam omnes essent Hypocritae Would to God that all were hypocrites Without all peradventure it is a very desireable thing that all were outwardly holy yet all that reach to this must go farther or else they will sit down on this side happiness Mat. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven Now they were much in works of Piety in works of Charity in works of Equity and in works of Curtesie by which means they gained so much upon the hearts of the people that it was commonly conceited and voted among them that if there were but two of all the world that should go to heaven the one should be a Scribe and the other a Pharisee Yet your righteousness must exceed theirs or the gates of glory will be shut upon you Their righteousness and holiness was only external not internal it was partial not universal it was rather circumstantial then substantial and therefore Heavens doors were double-bolted against them Heaven is for that man and that man is for heaven that is not only outwardly holy but throughout holy Fourthly There is a Relative holiness now Relative holiness is a special relation which persons or things have unto God Relative holiness includes two things First A separation of persons or things from common use and thus in the Law Deut. 19.2 1 Kings 8.35 Ezra 8.28 Chap. 10 11. Isa 63.18 those things were called holy which were separated from common use and set apart for the Worship and Service of God As the Oyl Shewbread First-fruits Incense Altars Vestments and in this sense the Priests and Levites were called holy because they were separated from others to serve in the Tabernacle And in this sense the people of Israel are frequently called a sanctified people a holy people c. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which commonly signifies that which is appropriated to a holy use and this is the proper notion of holiness in the Old and New Testament as I might shew you out of some hundred places of Scripture Now certainly without this holiness of special separation from the common conversation of the world there is no seeing of God nor no fruition of God hereafter 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty God will have no communion with any in this world that are not separated from the sinfull practises of the world God will look upon none he will own none he will delight in none he will acknowledge none he will receive none for his sons and daughters but such as are separated from all evil vices and unholy courses Suitable to this is Isa 52.11 Depart ye depart ye go ye out from thence touch no unclean things go ye out of the midst of her Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Estrange your selves from them that are estranged from God Cicero though Heathen had rather to have no companion then a bad one have nothing to do with them that have nothing to do with God separate your selves from them who have separated themselves from God have no delightfull converse with them who have no delightfull converse with God have no bosome communion with them that have no bosome communion with God Oh Sirs you are to keep your selves as pure and clean from others defilements as you would keep your selves free from others punishments He that will imitate others in their sins shall certainly participate with others in their sorrows It is true we may live with wicked men in their Cities but it is as true we must not lie with wicked men in their enormities There are many professors that are like the Planet Mercury good in conjunction with those that are good and bad with those that are bad but these wound many at once God Christ the Gospel and their own credits and consciences These do virtutis stragulam pudefacere put virtue to an open shame And these are deservedly to be shamed by your separating from them and by your renouncing all intimate communion or fellowship with them But Secondly As Relative holiness takes in a separation of persons or things from common
shall not tarry in his sight Psal 5.5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight or as the Hebrew hath it before thine eyes thou hatest all workers of iniquity God will never admit fools to be his favourites he will at last shut the door of glory against them Mat. 25.4 13. A seventh Argument to prove that without real holiness there is no happiness that without holiness on earth no man shall ever come to a blessed vision or fruition of God in heaven is this Unholy persons are to be excluded and shut out from sacred from special communion and fellowship with the Saints in this world and therefore without all peradventure they shall never be admitted to everlasting communion and fellowship with God Christ Angels and Saints in that other world That they are to be shut out from having any special communion with the Saints here is most plain and evident from several Scripures take these for a taste Lev. 10.10 Lev. 13.46 Numb 5.1 2 3 4. Exod. 12.48 Lev. 22.3 4 5 6 7. As oft said One as I have been among wicked men I return home less a man then I was before The Docrenean well will quench a burning torch so will bad company the most burning and most shining Christians as you see in Joseph and Peter Psal 106.35 when they were mingled among the Heathen they quickly learn their works Psa 119.115 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean Ezek. 44.23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and prophane and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean And because the Priests did not improve their power and interest to preserve the things of God from prophaning and polluting the Lord was very much offended and provoked Ezek. 22.26 Her Priests have violated my Law and have prophaned mine holy things they have put no difference between the holy and prophane neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths and I am prophaned among them And in Chap. 44.7 8. God sadly complains that they brought into his Sanctuary strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh and prohibits such from entring into his Sanctuary ver 9. Thus saith the Lord God No stranger uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my Sanctuary of any stranger that is among the children of Israel God expects that faithfull teachers should put a difference between person and person between the holy and prophane between the clean and the unclean in all holy administrations Jerem. 15.19 Therefore thus saith the Lord If thou take forth the pretious from the vile then thou shalt be as my mouth let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them Now certainly if under the Ceremonial Law natural uncleanness did exclude and shut out the Israelites from a participation in holy things then certainly moral uncleanness may justly exclude and shut out Christians from a participation in holy things under the Gospel Mat. 7.6 Give not that which is holy unto dogs neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rent you Holy things are too precious to be spent and spilt upon swinish sinners Gospel administrations are pretious pearls that must not be given to swine 2 Cor. 6.17 Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Prophane scandalous blind and ignorant persons are very unclean things and from them we must come out as we would be in with God we must be out with them we must reject them as we would have God to receive us 2 Tim. 3.5 Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away Our Saviour Christ hied him to the wilderness amongst the beasts and carried his Disciples with him holding their fellowship to be less hurtfull and dangerous It is better to live among beasts then to live among men of beastly principles and beastly practises Now there are ten sorts of persons that Christians must turn from that they must have no intimate no special communion with in this world First Unbelievers 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16. We should not close with them that have not closed with Christ nor give our selves up to them who have not given up themselves to Christ Every unbeliever is a condemned person the Law hath cast him John 3.18 the Gospel hath cast him and his own conscience hath cast him and what sacred communion what delightfull fellowship can believers have with condemned persons Ver. 36. Every Unbeliever is under the wrath of the great God he is under that wrath that he can neither avoid nor abide and what communion can such have who are under love with those that are under wrath Every unbeliever makes God a Lyar. 1 Iohn 5.10 And what children will have communion with such who every day give their Father the Lye to his very face Every unbeliever doth practically say Tush there is no such loveliness or comeliness there is no such beauty or glory there is no such fulness or sweetness there is no such goodness or graciousness in Jesus as men would make us believe and what is this but to give God the Lie Tus◠there is no such favour there is no such peace there is no such pardon there is no such Righteousness there is no such Grace there is no such glory to be reaped by Christ as God and men would perswade us and what is this but to tell God he lyes to his very teeth And what ingenuous child can take pleasure in such who are still a spitting in his Fathers face Every unbeliever is a disobedient person Numb 14.11 Heb. 11.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5.8 2 Cor 6.14 15. 1 Cor. 14.23 ult 2 Tim. 3.1.6 and therefore unbelievers and disobedient are in the Greek expressed by one word and what communion can obedient children have with those that are disobedient and rebellious Every unbeliever is a Pagan a Heathen in the Scripture dialect and what communion can those who are of the houshold of faith have with Pagans and Heathens Every unbeliever is a Traytor he commits Treason daily against the Crown and dignity of heaven and what Loyal Subjects will hold communion with Traitors Unbelievers are the greatest Robbers they rob God of his declarative glory though they cannot rob him of his Essential glory they rob h m of the glory of his truth and faithfulnesse as if he would falsifie the word that is gone out of his mouth as if he were yea and nay and as if his credit was so low and contemptibe that he must needs run a hazzard that shall trust to him or roul himself upon him They rob him of the glory of his goodness and mercy as if there were any sins too great
everlasting strength that it may go well with them for ever I have read of a chaste Virgin who being strongly tempted and soliticed by a lewd Russian to uncleannesse after some disscourse she called for a pan of burning coals requesting him for her sake to hold his finger in them but one hour he answered it is an unkind and unreasonable request it is truth saith she it is so but you ask me a more unkind and unreasonable request viz. to satisfie you in a thing for which I shall not only burn an hour but burn both body and soul in hell fire for ever and ever And so overcame the temptation But Lord if I must go into fire into everlasting fire Oh let me have some good company in my misery No the Devil and his Angels shall be your companions Ah who can conceive or express the misery of cohabitation with Devils and damned Spirits Many unholy souls would not live in a house haunted with evil spirits one night for all the world and yet they live as if it were nothing to be billetted with hellish Fiends and furies for ever If the sight of a seeming ghost for a moment be such a terror and torment to thee what will the horrible sight of devils and the gastly sight of the damned be Job 30.29 If it was so great an affliction to Job to be a companion to Owls what will it be to thee to be a companion to devils Psalm 120.5 If it was so great a grief and wo to David to sojourn in Mesech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar for a time what a wo will it be to unholy souls to dwell with Devils and reprobates for ever Ah how will Satans deformity antipathy and cruelty amaze thee and torment thee How will the damneds wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth abash thee and confound thee How will thine old companions cursing of thee the sight of thy near relations in misery with thee and devils scornfully insulting over thee and the never dying worm feeding perpetually upon thee be many hells of horror to thee Had an unholy soul as many worlds in his hand to give as there be stars in heaven he would give them all for a license alwayes to sleep under those pains and torments that will admit of no intermission or mitigation In Rev. 21.8 As the Antients fain of Endymion that he got leave of Jupiter alwayes to sleep you have a catalogue of that damned crue of that rout of Reprobates which shall be your companions for ever But the fearfull and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death These companions are the devils lime-twigs they are his scorpions with which he will torment and whip poor souls for ever Such companions will make many hells to meet in one they will be the top of the souls torments Thus I have done with those arguments that prove the point Viz. That without holiness there is no happiness c. I come now to the Reasons of the Point Why is it that Without holiness there is no happiness that without holiness on earth no man shall ever come to a blessed vision or fruition of God in heaven Among other Reasons that might be rendered you may please to take these Reason 1 First Because God hath said it who is truth and faithfulnesse it self and cannot lye That he hath said it witnesse the very Text and the proofs that are produced to make good the doctrine and hath he said it and shall it not come to pass Hath he spoken it and will he not accomplish the word that is gone out of his mouth Isaiah 46.11 Chap. 48.15 Jerem. 32.24 Isaiah 55.11 Zech. 1.6 Dan. 9.12 Psal 119.138 God is not a man that he should lye Numb 23 19. Also the strength of Israel will not lye 1 Sam. 15.29 God will make good every word that is gone out of his mouth Men sometimes eat their words as soon as they have spoken them they often say and unsay but so will not the holy One of Israel that first and supream being that gives being to all others will certainly give being to all his promises and threatnings God himself shall sooner cease to be then the word that is gone out of his mouth shall be frustrated He that is the faithful witnesse hath said it that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And verily heaven and earth shall pass away before one jot or one tittle that is before the least letter or particle of a letter of Gods blessed word shall pass unfulfilled Matth. 5.18 Gods faithfulnesse is great Lam. 3.23 It reaches unto the clouds Psalm 36.5 He will not suffer his faithfulnesse to fail Psalm 89.33 His faithfulnesse endures through all Generations Psalm 119.90 God will never suffer his faithfulnesse to be stained or blotted and therefore he will undoubtedly make good the word that is gone out of his mouth I had rather said Plutarch that men should say there was never any such person in the world as Plutarch then that they should say Plutarch is unfaithfull A man were better say there is no God then say that God is unfaithful a noble spirit can better bear any charge then that of being unfaithfull and so can a faithfull God Secondly Because real holinesse is that great principle Reason 2 that fits and capacitates souls for communion with God The glory of glory consists in seeing of God 1 Cor. 13 12. 1 John 3.2 as the hell of hell lyes in the souls everlasting separation from God and for a blessed sight and fruition of God Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Without a principle of purity of sanctity there is no vision of God in glory If a man be never so poor yet if his heart be pure God will make a house of his heart wherein his honour will delight to dwell let a mans outside be never so homely yet if his inside be but cleanly God will make it his own habitation God is for that man and that man is for God that carries about with him a pure heart Heart-purity makes a man a darling of heaven Many affect pure language pure houses pure habits pure hands pure air pure meat pure drink pure gestures c. who yet for want of heart-purity shall never see the face of God in glory Heart-purity speaks a man eternally happy Holinesse is that noble principle that fits a man for the happiest sight of God it makes a man a meet companion for God both here and herafter without this principle no man can have communion with God in this world much lesse can he have communion with God in heaven if this precious principle of holinesse be not seated in his heart it will not stand with the holinesse of God
to have any thing to do with those that have no principles of holiness in them It is a principle of holinesse that fits a man for the service of God that fits a man for fellowship with God that fits a man for walking with God that fits a man for correspondency with God and that fits a man for the delight of God and that fits a man for an everlasting fruition of God And therefore certainly without holinesse there is no happinesse without a principle of purity there can be no seeing of the face of God in glory Reason 3 A third Reason why Without real holiness there is no happinesse c. is this because heaven is a holy place and therefore no unholy souls can enter there it is called the high and holy place Isa 57.15 the inheritance of the Saints in heaven is an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled 1 Pet. 1.4 Holinesse dwells in heaven 2 Pet. 3.13 as a man dwells in his house Heaven is the house of Gods holinesse and therefore certainly without holinesse there is no entring into that house Exod. 26.34 Psalm 78.69 Hebrews 9.8 Chap. 12.24 Rev. 21.27 The Holy of Holies in the Temple was a Type of heaven And as none might enter into the Holy of holies that were unholy so none can enter into heaven which is the true Holy of holies but those that are holy Heaven was so holy that it cast out the Angels when they fell from their holinesse Paradise was a Type of heaven and no sooner did Adam lose his holinesse but he was shut out of Paradise Heaven is a City of holinesse and none can enter into that City but such as are holy Rev. 22.14 Heaven is so holy that it would groan to bare one unholy soul Well heaven is a holy place and the inhabitants are all holy and the work of heaven is holy and what then should unholy souls do there Reason 4 A fourth Reason why Without real holiness there is no happinesse Coelum est altera gehenna damnatorum Heaven is another hell to the damned said One. Isa 66.3 4. c. is this Because unholy persons have no hearts to go to heaven though now and then they may talk of heaven and now and then lift up their eyes and hands to heaven and now and then expresse a few cold wishes and lazy desires after heaven it is no difficult thing to demonstrate that in good earnest they have no heart to go to heaven For First How often hath God set life and death heaven and hell before them and they have chosen death rather then life and hell rather then heaven 2. Do you â—hink that that man hath any heart to heaven that will not so much as part with a lust for heaven Luke 13.33 34. 3. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven that hath not so much as a hand to lay hold on the opportunities of grace that might bring him to heaven 4. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven that daily hardens his heart against him who is the way to heaven 5. John 14.6 Isa 63.10 Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven who is still a grieving vexing and quenching that spirit of holinesse that can only fit frame and form him for heaven 6. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven that rarely spends a serious thought of heaven and that lives in this world as if there were no heaven 7. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven whose sinfull courses speak him out to be one of those who have made a covenant with death Isa 18.15 18. and an agreement with hell 8. Do you think that that man hath a heart to go to heaven Rom. 3.8 1 Cor. 4.9 10. that detests those most that are the best woers for heaven 9. Do you think that that man hath any heart to go to heaven who can take no pleasure nor delight in those that are travailing towards heaven 10. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven that will do nothing affectionately for heaven that will not hear for heaven nor pray for heaven nor trade for heaven nor look for heaven nor long for heaven nor strive for heaven No man ever went to heaven sleeping nor wait for heaven The heart commands all it carries all if the heart were bent for heaven the head would contrive for heaven the eye would look out for heaven and the ear would hear for heaven and the tongue would speak for heaven and the foot would walk towards heaven and the hand would do for heaven By all which it is most evident that unholy persons are not cordially willing to go to heaven it is most certain that unholy persons have no such great mind to go to heaven as some imagine when Dives was in hell his desire was not to be with Abraham in heaven Luke 16.24 27 28 29. but that Lazarus might come and give him a little ease in hell he preferred a little ease in hell before his being with Abraham in heaven Neither did he desire that his five brethren might go to heaven but that they might be kept out of hell and that not out of love to them but out of love to himself he knowing that their company would be no small increase of his own torments Heauen would be a very hell to an unholy heart If now the presence of God in his servants and the presence of God in his Ordinances be such a hell to unholy souls Ah what a hell would the presence of God in heaven be to unholy hearts It is true an unholy heart may desire heaven as it is a place of freedom from troubles afflictions oppressions vexations c. and as it is a place of peace rest ease safety c. but this is the least and lowest part of heaven but to desire it as it is a place of purity of grace of holinesse of enjoying of God c. is above the reach of an unholy heart The company of heaven are all holy the imployments of heaven are all holy and the enjoyments of heaven are all holy and therefore heaven cannot but be an undesireable thing to unholy hearts An unholy heart is no ways desirous nor ambitious of such a heaven as will rid him of his darling sins as will make him conformable to a holy God as will everlastingly divorce him from his old companions and link him for ever to those gratious souls that he hath scorned despised and persecuted in this world Ergo c. Reason 5 Fifthly and Lastly Because without real holinesse men are good for nothing they are fit for nothing without holinesse men are neither good for Church nor State they are neither fit to Rule nor to be ruled to command nor to be commanded to guide nor to be guided
mocked at the Virgin dâ—ughter of Sion but his scoffs issued in the destruction of his Army by the hand of an Angel and in his own by the hands of his two Sons Julian the Emperour was a great mocker and scoffer at the Christians but God struck him with an Arrow from heaven which made him cry out Vicisti Galilee thou Galilean meaning our Lord Jesus hast overcome me Felix for one malicious scoff did nothing day and night but vomit blood till his unhappy soul was separated from his wretched body Lucian for barking against religion as a dog was by the just judgements of God devoured of dogs History tells us of some scoffers that God hath stricken with madness Others with blindness others with loathsome diseases and some God hath stricken dead and others he hath left to be their own Executioners Scoffing at holiness is a Metropolitan sin and therefore no wonder if God executes upon scoffers Metropolitan judgements Mockers and scoffers are the worst of sinners Among the three sorts of sinners that David mentions Scorners have the chair The chair of Pestilence as the Septuagint translateth it Scorners are the pests of mankind Psalm 1.1 In Cathedra pest lentiae The eye of the Scorner is blinded the heart of the scorner is hardned the judgement of the scorner is perverted the will of the scorner is enthralled and the conscience of the scorner is seared and this makes the scorner fall mad upon scoffing at holy men and holy things Look as they are the worst of servants that will scoff and mock a child in the family because he is his Fathers picture though they take wages of his Father and live by his Father so they are the worst of sinners who scoff at holiness which is the very picture of God though they live by him and cannot live without him Yet this world is full of such monsters who count it a grace to disgrace holiness and to lade holy ones with all the names of scorn and contempt that they can invent or that Satan can help them to These are your holy brethren these are Phanaticks these are your holy Sect these are your pure souls these are your strict Precifians these are the Saints forsooth these are the brotherhood Erasmus saith that that Proverb A young Saint and an old devil was devised by the Devil himself to scoff and mock men out of their holiness It hath been the common portion of men most eminent in grace and holiness to be most scofft and scorned in all Ages Iob 17.2 Nehem. 4.1 Isaiah 28.22 Luke 18.32 witness Noah Isaac and Elisha but now cited and witness Job Chap. 21.3 Suffer me that I may speak and after that I have spoken mock on Chap. 12.4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour who calleth upon God and he answereth him the just upright man is laughed to scorn So David Psalm 35.16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth Psalm 44.14 Thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen Psalm 79.4 We are become a reproach and derision to them who are round about us Psalm 109.25 I am become a reproach to them when they looked upon me they shaked their heads So Isa 8.18 Behold I and the children that the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel So Jeremiah Chap. 20.7 I am in derision daily every one mocketh me So Paul Acts 17.18 What will this babler say So the Apostles Acts 2.13 Others mocking said These men are full of new wine So those Worthies of whom this world was not worthy Heb. 11.36 Mat. 26.68 Ch. 27 29 31. Luke 22 63. Chap. 23.11 Mark 15 31. Yea the Philosophers called Christ a Magician and affirmed that he did all by Necromancy Calv. Jnst Advers Libert c. 9. Others had tryal of cruel mockings But above all how sadly how frequently yea how fearfully was our Lord Jesus Christ scoffed and scorned by Herod and Pilate and flouted by the rascally souldiers but the vengeance of his Father overtook them all And in the Primitive times as Tertullian observes the Saints were called heards of Asses vile fellows the Disciples of a man crucified Galileans Nazarites Eaters of mens flesh and drinkers of mens blood The Heathens as the same Author observes painted the God of the Christians with an Asses head and a book in his hand to signifie that though the Christians pretended to knowledge yet they were a company of silly ignorant Asses The Libertines of old have cast much scorn and contempt upon all the Apostles they call Matthew an Usurer Lam 3.45 1 Cor. 4 45. Lam 2.15 16. Ch. 4 2. vide Peter an Apostate Luke a pelting Physitian Paul a broken vessel and John a foolish young man c. by way of scorn and contempt Athanasius was called Sathanasius and Cyprian was called Coprian one that gathers up dung and so Luther Calvin and almost every one that hath attained to any eminency in holiness they have been commonly accounted as the off-scouring and refuse among the people Now certainly if holiness be the only way to happiness c. then such as are scorners and scoffers at holiness are out of the very way to happiness and how such are like to come to heaven that scorn the very path that leads to heaven I shall leave you to judge If the Ravens of the valley shall pick out his eyes that mocketh his Father and the young Eagles eat out his eyes that despiseth the instruction of his Mother Prov. 30.17 The first thing that Eagles do when they have found a carkass is to pick out its eyes as Solomon speaks then of how much sorer punishment are they guilty off who mock and scoff at holiness which is the very Image picture and glory of God himself holiness is so near akin to God that no man can deride holiness but he derides God himself As he that mocks the poor derides him that made him Prov. 17.5 so he that mocks holy ones derides that God that made them holy And will God take this at the scorners hands no he will retaliate he loves to retaliate scorn upon the scorner Proverbs 3.34 Surely he scorneth the scorners God will pay home scorners in their own coyn scorners shall be sure to have scorning enough Prov. 1.24 ult Psalm 2.4 Isa 37.36 God so scorns the persons and prayers of scorners that he will have nothing to do with them The Angels so scorn scorners that instead of being a life-guard to them they stand ready prest to execute the vengeance of heaven upon them And Saints are so far to scorn them by a divine precept as not to reprove them Prov. 9.8 Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee Yea God in his just judgements will make scorners to be an abomination to all sorts of men Prov. 24.9 The scorner is an abomination to men that is to all sorts of men the scorner is an abomination
not only to holy men but also to all ingenious men and to all civil and moral honest men As the scorners tongue and hand is against every man so every mans tongue and hand shall be against him Now if the scorners of men be abominable to men then much more are the scorners of holiness abominable to God and therefore certainly such shall be shut out from a glorious fruition of God Thirdly If real holiness be the only way to happiness and that if men be not holy on earth they shall never come to a blessed vision or fruition of God in heaven Then by way of conviction this looks sowerly and sadly upon all Formalists who have only a form a shew a profession of holiness but have nothing of the reality spirit life or power of holiness in them 2 Tim. 3.5 Isa 58.1.2 3. Zach. 7.4.5 6. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away They have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a face a vizard a mask a shew of godliness but they have nothing of the pith sap life or marrow of godliness their devotion their godliness lies in good words and in fair shews and in religious gestures if you hearken to their voice if you look upon their eyes if you observe the motion of their hands and the bowing of their knees and the shaking of their heads c. you would think that they were men of much religion of much godliness But if you look into their hearts and lives you will find them to be the greatest renouncers and denyers of Religion and godliliness in the world They have the semblance of goliness but not the substance they have the lineaments of godliness but not the life they have the face of godliness but not the heart they have the form the shadow of godliness but not the power They are like a well drawn picture which hath all the lineaments of a man but wants life wants a principle of motion and operation Mark 1. A form of godliness is Englands Epidemical disease The form of godliness is common but the power of godliness is rare 2. The form of godliness is cheap but the power of godliness is dear 3. The form of godliness is easie but the power of godliness is difficult 4. The form of godliness is a credit but the power of godliness is a reproach 5. The form of godliness is pleasurable and delightfull but the power of godliness is displeasing and undelightful to the ignoble part of a Christian 6. The form of godliness will stand with secret and with open wickednesse as you see in Saul 1 Peter 1.17 Jer. 44.17 Jehu Judas Simon Magus Demas and the Scribes and Pharisees but the power of godliness will not the power of godliness layes the Ax to the very root of all sin both secret and open Rachel was very fair and beautifull to the eye but she was barren and that marred all So the Formalist he is a very fair and beautifull Christian to the eye but he is barren God-wards and Christ-wards and Heaven-wards he is fruitless sapless and lifeless and that marrs all The Formalist takes up a form of godliness 1. To quiet his conscience 2. To get himself a name 3. To cloak over his sins 4. To advance his worldly interest and 5. To avoid opposition and persecution from the world the flesh and the Devil 6. And to conform to old customs And what should such Formalists do in heaven A formal Christian is but a figure a flaunt a flourish a flash and all he doth is but the shadow of what he should do A formalist is more light then life more notion then motion more head then heart more outside then inside more leaves then fruit more shadow then substance A formalist is a blazing Comet a painted Tomb a Stage-player a white devil or a devil in an Angels habit and what should such devils do in heaven Certainly if without real holiness no man shall see the Lord then the formalist that hath only the shape the shew the form of godliness but nothing of the reality and power of it shall never be blest with such a sight A formalist is neither hot nor cold of all sorts of sinners he is the worst and God so loaths him that he is resolved he will rid his stomack of him Rev. 3.16 I will spue thee out of my mouth and certainly heaven is too holy a place to lick up that gorge God hath cast up Lukewarm water cannot be so loathsome to our stomacks as a formalist is to Gods God is never at such ease as when he hath cast up and cast out the formal Christian Magdenburge Cent. 5. I have read of Anastasius the Emperour how God shot him to death with a thunder-bolt because of his lukewarmness and formality God hath a thunder-boult for every formalist by which he will at last certainly strike them down to the lowest hell A formalist is too loathsome a thing too heavy a burden for heaven to bear Fourthly If real holiness be the only way to happiness if men must be holy on earth or else they shall never see the face of God in heaven Then this truth by way of conviction looks sowerly and sadly upon all those who please and satisfie themselves with civility and common honesty who are good negative Christians who bless themselves that they are no swearers nor drunkards Luke 18.10 11 12 13 14. Mat. 5.21 Chap. 19.20 21 22. nor extortioners nor adulterers c. they pay every man his own they are just and righteous in their dealings no man can say black is their eye their carriage is civil comely harmless and blamelesse They make a fair shew in the flesh Gal. 6.12 or as the Greek hath it they set a good face on it But as good a face as they do set on it I must crave leave to tell them that civility is not sanctity civility rested in is but a beautifull abomination a smooth way to hell and destruction I may truly say of all civil men who are disstitute of that real holiness that leads to happiness what Erasmus said of Seneca If you look upon him as a heathen then he seemeth to write as if he were a Christian but if you look upon him as a Christian then he seemeth to write as a heathen So if you look upon many civil moral mens lives you will find them so full of ingenuity equity righteousness sweetness and justice that you will be ready to say Sure these are holy men But then do but observe how unacquainted they are with God with Christ with the Scripture with the way and working of the spirit with the filthiness of sin with the depths and devices of Satan with their own hearts with the new-birth and with the great concernments of eternity and you will judge them to be meer heathens to be men void of all principles of grace and holiness and to
a Use of Tryal and Examination Is it so that real holiness is the only way to happiness must men be holy on earth or else they shall never come to a blessed vision or fruition of God in Heaven Oh then what cause hath every one to try and examine whether he hath this real holiness without which there is no happiness or no! Now because this is a point of great importance and a mistake here may undo a man for ever and considering the great aversness and backwardness of mens hearts to this noble and necessary work I shall therefore in the first place propose some considerations to provoke all your hearts to fall in good earnest upon this great point of Tryal and Examination Now to this purpose consider First it is possible for you to know whether you have this real holiness or not it is possible for you by the light of the Spirit See my Treatise of Assurance pag. 1 to 26. where you have this truth made fully evident by the light of the Word and by the light of your own Consciences to see whether holiness which is the image of God be stamped upon your souls or no Though it be impossible for thee to climb up to heaven to search the records of glory to see whether thy name be written in the book of life yet it is possible for thee to go down into the Chambers of thine own soul to enter into the withdrawing rooms of thine own heart and there to read what impressions of holiness are upon thee though this work be hard and difficult yet it is noble and possible though the heart be deceitful and full of shifts yet it is possible for a man to make such a curious such a narrow such a diligent such a faithful and such an impartial search into his own soul as that he may certainly know whether he hath that real holiness that is the pledge of immortal happiness or no it is possible for him that hath this Jewel this holiness to know it to finde it and in the beautiful face of holiness to read his own everlasting happiness I might call in the experiences of many precious Saints As Abraham Noah Jacob David Job Paul and others to bear witness to this truth but I suppose it is needless What great and weighty what high and hard what hazardous and dangerous things do many Souldiers Saylers sick Patients and others attempt and undertake upon the meer account of a possibility it is possible that the Souldier may win the field it is possible that the Mariner may make a happy voyage it is possible that the sick Patient may recover it is possible that he that strives for mastery may overcome c. Now upon this very account that it is possible what will they stick at what will they not attempt and endeavour to effect And why then should not Christians upon the account of a possibility make a diligent search after that holiness that will at last throne the soul in everlasting happiness Well Christians as a possibility of obtaining grace and mercy should bear up your hearts against despair Matth. 9.26 Mark 10 27. Chap. 14.36 Mark 9.23 Luke 18.27 as a possibility of obtaining a pardon should keep up your hearts in a seeking and a waiting way and as a possibility of salvation by Christ should be argument sufficient to work a soul to venture it self upon Christ so a possibility of knowing whether you have this pearl of price Holiness should work you to make a diligent search and enquiry after it Let no man do more upon the account of a possibility for this world then you will do upon the account of a possibility for another world Let no man do more upon the account of a possibility for his body then you will do upon the account of a possibility for your souls Let no man do more upon the account of a possibility for temporals then you will do upon the account of a possibility for eternals It is possible for you to know whether this babe of grace Holiness be formed in your souls or no and therefore search and enquire after it Secondly Consider this that it is a point of very great concernment to you to know whether you have this real holiness or no your souls lies upon it eternity lies upon it Psalm 4.5 your All lies upon it and an errour here may make a man miserable for ever it is good for thee to know the state of thy body the state of thy family the state of thy flock Prov. 27.25 Multi multa sciunt se autem nemo but it is of infinite more consequence for thee to know the state of thine own soul No man lives so miserable nor no man dies so sadly as he that lives and dies a stranger to his own soul It is good for thee to set all reckonings even between thy self and others but it is far better to set all reckonings even between God and thine own soul Ah how many are there who are better known to others Luke 12.16 17 18 19 20 21. Chap. 16.19 26. then they are to themselves and who are able to give a better account of their Lands and Lordships of their Treasures and Mannors yea of their Horses Hawks and Hounds then they are of the state of their souls Ah how many are there that are very inquisitive to know things to come Eccles 7.10 to know what will be hereafter to know whether they shall be great and rich in the world to know whether they shall be prosperous and successful in their undertakings to know whether they shall be crowned with length of dayes Job 21.23 24. Isa 41.22 23. Chap. 43.9 10. The heathens did admire that saying as an Oracle Nosce te ipsum Know thy own self or whether they shall be cut off in the flower of their age to know the secret counsels of Princes and what will be the issue of such and such mutations and revolutions that have happened amongst us and yet are not at all inquisitive after the state of their souls nor whether they have this real holiness without which there is no happiness They never enquire what will become of them hereafter They never enquire what state they shall enter upon after death whether upon a state of eternal wo or a state of everlasting bâ—â—s Of all acquaintances in this world there is none to that of a mans being acquainted with the state of his own soul A mistake about my outward condition may trouble me but a mistake about my spiritual condition may damn me There are many wayes to make up my mistakes about temporals but there is no way to make up my mistakes about eternals If at last I shall be sound to be mistaken in the great concernments of my soul I am undone for ever Well Sirs you are in a state of nature or in a state of grace you are in a
strikes the sinner into such a damp as a discourse on the holiness of God it is as the hand-writing upon the wall nothing makes the head and heart of a sinner to ake like a Sermon upon the holy one nothing gaules and gripes nothing stings and terrifies unsanctified ones like a lively setting forth of the holiness of God But now to holy souls there are no discourses that do more suit them and satisfie them that doth more delight and content them that doth more please and profit them then those that do most fully and powerfully discover God to be glorious in holiness Well this is an everlasting truth he that truly affects the holiness of God and affects God for his holiness is certainly made partaker of his holiness if you are really holy you are much affected and taken with the holiness of God Souls what say you to this But Secondly True holiness is diffusive it doth extend diffuse and spread it self all over the soul Psal 119.6 128. Bonum est sui communicativâ—m it spreads it self over head and heart lip and life inside and outside Psal 45.13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within her cloathing is of wrought gold inward holiness is the inward glory of the Kings daughter the Kings daughter is all glorious within her understanding is hang'd with holiness her mind is adornâ—d with holiness her will is bowed to holiness all her affections are sprinkled yea cloathed with holiness her love is holy love her grief is holy grief her joy is holy joy her sorrow is holy sorrow her fear is holy fear her care is holy care her zeal is holy zeal and her cloathing is of wrought gold that is her life and conversation which is as visible to others as the cloathes she weares is very sparkling and shining in grace and holiness True sanctification is throughout it reaches to soul body and spirit 1 Thes 5.23 True holiness is a divine leaven Mat. 13.33 which leavens the whole man Look as leaven diffuses it self through the whole dough so true holiness diffuses it self through the whole man Look as Absoloms beauty was spread all over him even from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot 2 Sam. 14.25 so the beauty of holiness spreads it self over every member of the body and every faculty of the soul Look as Solomons Temple was glorious both within and without so holiness makes all glorious both within and without Look as Adams sin spread it self over the whole man 1 John 16. so that holiness that we have by the second Adam spreads it self over the whole â—â—n so that that man that is not all over holy that is not throughout holy that man was never truly holy Look as that holiness which was in Christ did diffuse and spread it self over all Christ so that his person was holy his natures were holy his heart was holy his language was holy and his life was holy so real holiness spreads it self over head hand 1 Pet. 1.15 heart lip and life The fruit of the spirit is in all goodness Ephes 5.9 he that is truly good is all over good he hath goodness engraven upon his understanding and goodness engraven upon his judgement and goodness engraven upon his will and goodness engraven upon his affections and goodness engraven upon his inclination and goodness engraven upon his disposition and goodness engraven upon his conversation he that is not all over good is not really good there are those that have new heads but old hearts new words but old wills new expressions but old affections new memories but old minds new notions but old conversations and these are as far off from true holiness as the Pope the Turk and the Devil are from real happiness In every holy person there are many divine miracles there is a dead man restored to life a dumb man restored to speech a blind man restored to sight a deaf man restored to hearing a lame man restored to walking a man possest with Devils possest with grace a heart of stone turned into an heart of flesh and a life of wickedness turned into a life of holiness if it be thus with thee I dare write thee and call thee both holy and happy But Thirdly Persons of real holiness do set the highest price and the greatest value and esteem upon those that are holy they do not as the blind world do value persons by their great places names professions arts parts gifts gay cloathes gold chains honours and riches but by their holiness As a holy God Chrysostom called some holy men in his time Aggelous earthy Angels and so Doctor Taylor lookt upon holy Bradford as an Angel so holy souls look not how rational men are but how religious not how notional but how experimental not how great but how gracious not how high but how holy and accordingly they value them Psalm 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Prov. 12.26 The righteous is more excellent then his neighbour It is holiness that differences one man from another and that exalts one man above another a holy man is a better man then his neighbour in the eye account and esteem of God Angels and Saints there is no man to the holy man The Sun doth not more excell and out-shine the Stars then a righteous man doth excell and out-shine his unrighteous neighbour Prov. 28.6 Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness then he that is perverse in his ways though he be rich A man of holiness prefers an holy Job though upon the dunghill before a wicked Ahab upon the throne he sets an higher price upon an holy Lazarus though cloathed with rags and full of sores then upon a rich and wretched Dives Luke 16. who is cloathed gloriously and fares sumptuously every day As King Ingo valued poor ragged Christians above his Pagan Nobles saying that when his Pagan Nobles in all their pomp and glory should-be cast down to Hell those poor Christians should be his consorts and fellow-Princes in heaven this blind mad world rates and values men according to their worldly interest greatness glory and grandure but men of holiness rate and value men by their holiness by their inward excellencies and by what they are worth for another world the world judgeth him the best man in the Parish that is most rich but a holy man judgeth him the best man in the Parish that is most righteous the world counts him the best man in the Town that is cloathed most gorgeously but a holy man counts him the best man in the Town whose inside and outside whose heart and life whose body and soul is cloathed with sanctity and purity the world reckons him the best man in the City whose bags are fullest and whose estate is largest but a holy man reckons him the best man in the City whose heart is
upon the soul This a holy heart well understands and therefore it hates and abhors the least sin But Secondly A holy heart knows that little sins have exposed both sinners and Saints to very great punishments A gracious soul remembers the man that was stoned to death for gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day He remembers how Saul lost two kingdoms at once Nu. 15.30.37 1 Sam. 15.23 Mat. 25.25.31 Acts 5.3 4. Gen. 19.26 ch 3. ch 27. his own kingdom and the kingdom of heaven for sparing of Agag and the fat of the Cattel he remembers how the unprofitable servant for the non-improvement of his Talent was cast into outer darkness He remembers how Ananias and Saphira were stricken suddenly dead for telling a lie He remembers how Lots wife for a look of curiosity was turned into a pillar of Salt He remembers how Adam was cast out of Paradise for eating an Apple and the Angels cast out of heaven for not keeping their standings He remembers that Jacob smarted for his lying to his dying day He remembers how God followed him with sorrow upon sorrow and breach upon breach filling up his dayes with grief and trouble He remembers how Moses was shut out of the holy land because he spoke unadvisedly with his lips 1 Kings 13. He remembers the young Prophet who was slain by a Lyon for eating a little bread and drinking a little water contrary to the command of God though he was drawn thereunto by an old Prophet under a pretence of a revelation from heaven Luk. 1.19 20 21 22 23.62 2 Sam. 6.7 8. He remembers how Zacharias was stricken both dumb and deaf because he believed not the report of the Angel Gabriel He remembers how Vzzah was stricken dead for staying up the Ark when it was in danger to have fallen Yea he can never forget the fifty thousand men of Beth-shemesh who were slain for looking into the Ark. 1 Sam. 6.19 20 21. Now ah how doth the remembrance of these things stir up the hatred and indignation of a gracious soul against the least sins A dram of poyson disfuseth it self to all parts till it strangle the vital spirits and separates the soul from the body A little coal of fire hath turned many a stately fabrick into ashes A little prick with a thorn may as well kill a man as a cut with a drawn sword A little fly may spoil all the Alablaster Box of ointment General Norris having received a slight wound in his Arm in the wars of Ireland made light of it but his Arm gangren'd and so he lost both Arm and life together Fabius a Senator of Room and Lord Chief Justice besides was strangled by swallowing a small hair in a draught of milk Three fits of an Ague carried away Tamerlain who was the terror of his time Anacreon the Poet was choaked with the kernel of a grape An Emperour died by the scratch of a comb One of the Kings of France died miserably by the chock of a Hog And his Brother with a blow of a ball at Tennis was struck into his grave And thus you see little things have brought upon many great miseries And so little sins may expose and make persons very liable to great punishments And therefore no wonder if the heart of a holy man rises against them Those sins which are seemingly but small are very provoking to the great God and very hurtfull to the immortal soul And therefore they cannot but be the object of a Christians hatred Thirdly A holy heart knows that a holy God looks and expects that the least sins should be shunned and avoided He looks that the Cockatrice should be crushed in the Egg. Psalm 137.9 God looks that Babylons little ones should be dashed against the stones Not only great sins but little ones must be killed or they will kill the soul The Viper is killed by the little ones that she nourishes in her own bowels So many a man is eternally slain by the little sins that he nourishes in his own bosome as a little stab at the heart kills a man so a little sin without a great deal of mercy will damn a man God expects that his children should abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5.22 Bernard glosseth Quicquid est male coloratum Whatsoever id of an ill shew or ill report As thou wouldst neither wound thy conscience nor thy credit God nor the Gospel thou must keep off from the very appearances of evil A Christian is to hate not only the flesh but the garment and not only the garment which is besmeared but the very garment that is but bespotted with the flesh Jude 23. Our first Parents were not only forbidden to eat of the forbidden fruit but they were forbidden to touch it Gen. 3.3 And certainly he that would not gape after forbidden fruit must not gaze upon forbidden fruit He that would not long after it must not look upon it he that would not taste it Numb 6.3 4. must not touch it The pious Nazarite was not only commanded to abstain from wine and strong drink but also from eating grapes whether moist or dry yea he was prohibited from eating any thing that was made of the vine-tree from the kernels even to the husk Lest by the sweet and contentment of any of these he should be tempted or enticed to drink wine and so forget the Law Prov. 31.5 Difficile quis venenum bibet vivet Cypr. A man can hardly drink poyson and live and break his vow and make work for hell or repentance or the Physitian of souls Sin is so hatefull a thing that both the remote occasion and the least occasion that might draw the soul to it is to be avoided and shunned as a man would avoid and shun hell it self He that truly hates the nature of sin cannot but hate the least sin yea all appearances of sin A holy heart knows that the very thought of sin if not thought on will break forth into action action into custom custom into habit and then body and soul are undone for ever Look as nothing speaks out more sincerity and real sanctity then shunning the very appearances of vanity so nothing speaks out more indignation against sin then the avoiding the occasions of sin But Fourthly A holy heart knows that the indulging of of the least sin is ground sufficient for any man to question his integrity and ingenuity towards God he hath much reason to suspect himself and to be suspected by others who dares break with God and with his own conscience for a trifle he that will trangress for a morsel of bread Prov. 28.21 will be ready enough to sell his soul for a groat He that will pervert Justice for a few pieces of silver what will he not do for a hatful of gold he that will sell the poor for a pair of Shoos Amos 2.6 will destroy the poor for a brace of
blessed book and that think to correct the divine wisdom and eloquence with their own infancy and sophistry Non quanta eloquentia sed quanta evidentia saith Aug. Melius est ut nos reprehendant Grammatici quam ut non intelligúnt populi the same Author in Psalm 138. Such as mind more saith another the humouring of their hearers fancies then the saving of their souls do little consider that of Seneca Aeger non quaerit medicum eloquentem sed sanantem Sick men are not bettered by Physitians sugared words but by their skilful hands Doctor Sibbs was wont to say That great affectation and good affection seldom go together Truth is like Solomons Spouse all glorious within she is most beautiful when most naked as Adam was in innocency The King of Persia having sent to Antalcidas the Lacedemonian Captain a Garland of Roses wonderfully perfumed with Spices and other sophistications he accepted of his love but misliked the present and sent him word Rosarum odorem artis adulteratione perdidisti Thou hast marred the sweetness of the Roses with the sweetness of thy perfumes So many marr the sweetness of the Word by perfuming it with their humane eloquence and oratory For a close remember that God himself the great Master of speech when he spake from heaven he made use of three several Texts in a breath Matth. 17.5 This is my beloved son Psalm 2.7 In whom I am well pleased Isaiah 42.1 Hear ye him Deut. 18.15 which you may note against the curious queasiness of such nice ones as disdain at the stately plainness of the Scriptures But Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat Zanchius Thirdly If thou dost really and actually aim at the glory of God in what thou dost then the glory of God will swallow up all by-aimes and ends that may thrust themselves in upon the soul whilest it is at its work Look as Aarons rod Exod. 7.10 11 12. swallowed up the Magicians rods so the glory of God will swallow up all carnal aims and ends Look as the Sun puts out the light of the fire so the glory of God will put out and consume all other ends This is most certain That which is a mans great end that will work out all other ends If thou settest up the glory of God as thy chief end that will by degrees eat out all low and base ends Look as Pharaohs lean kine Gen. 41.4 eat up the fat so the glory of God will eat up all those fat and worldly ends that croud in upon the soul in religious work The keeping up of the glory of God as thy great end will be the keeping down and the casting out of all other ends Fourthly He that really and actually aims at the glory of God in what he doth he will be doing what God commands Rom. 16.19 Obedientia non discutit Dei mandata sed facit Prosper though nothing for the present comes of it If his eye be truly fixed upon divine glory a command of God shall be enough to carry him on in his work Psalm 27.8 When thou saidst Seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek When the glory of God is a mans mark his heart will sweetly eccho and graciously comply with divine commands Jer. 3.22 Return ye back-sliding children and I will heal your back-slidings Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Gods commands fall with great power and force upon that mans heart that hath divine glory in his eye One word from God will command such a soul to a gracious compliance with what God requires Psalm 119.4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently O that my wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes As soon as God laies a command upon a Christian he look Tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est Austin The whole life of a good Christian is a holy wish up to heaven for power to turn that precept into practice O that my wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes O that I were as holy as God would have me to be O that I were as humble and lowly as God would have me to be O that I were as heavenly and spiritual as God would have me to be O that I were as pure and perfect as God would have me to be So ver 48. My hands will I lift up to thy Commandments which I have loved Many there be which thrust away with all their might thy Commandments but I lift up my hands to thy Commandments Many there be that will strain themselves to take a comfort Prior est Autoritas imperantis quam utilitas servientis Tertul. The chief reason of obedience is the Authority of the Lord not the utility of the servant but I strain my self to lift up thy Commandments Many there are who will stretch out their hands to take a reward but I stretch out my hands to take hold on thy Commandments To give a little more light into these words Sometime the lifting up of hands betokens admiration when men are astonished and ravished they lift up their hands I will lift up my hands to thy Commandments that is I will admire the goodness the holiness the righteousness the purity and excellency of thy Commandments Again we lift up our hands when we betake our selves to refuge why Gods commands are the Saints refuge when they house and shelter themselves under the wings of Gods commands they are safe Again men lift up their hands when they take hold on a thing now gracious souls do take hold on Gods Commandments to do them to practise them and to express the life and power of them Again men lift up their hands to those things that are high and above them now the commands of God are high they are sublime they are above us they are sublime and high in regard of their original they come down from God they are sublime and high in regard of the matter of them they are heavenly Oracles they are dictates of divine wisdom they are sublime and high in regard of the difficulty of keeping of them they exceeding all humane strength and they are sublime and high in regard of their scituation they are scituated in heaven Thy word saies David endures for ever in heaven but yet as sublime and as high as they are a man that hath his eye upon divine glory will lift up his hands unto them he will do all he can to express the pleasure that he takes in them and the readiness of his soul to a holy compliance with them Compare these Scriptures together Psalm 44.12 20. Can. 3.1 2 3. Isa 26.8 9. chap. 59.8 9 10 11. Hab. 2.1 2 3. Micha 7.7 8 9. Lam. 3.8 44. compared with ver 24 25 26 31 32 40 41 55. A man that hath his eye upon divine glory he will keep close to his work to his hearing
work to his praying work to his mourning work to his repenting work to his believing work to his waiting work though nothing comes on it though he make no earnings of it though comfort doth not come though joy and peace doth not come though assurance doth not come though enlargements do not come though answers and returns from heaven do not come though good dayes do not come though deliverance doth not come yet such will keep close to their work that have their eye upon divine glory But now such who eye not the glory of God in what they do they quickly grow weary of their work if they can make no earnings of their seekings and fastings and prayings they are presently ready to throw up all and to quarrel with God himself as if God had done them an injurie Isa 58.1 2 3 4. Fifthly and lastly A man that really aims at the glory of God in this or that duty he cannot be satisfied nor contented with the performance of duties without some enjoyments of God in duties without some converse and communion with God in duties his soul cannot be satisfied his soul thirsts and longs to see the beauty and the glory of the Lord in his sanctuary Psalm 63.1 2 3. and without this sight he cannot be quieted Here is the Ordinance but where is the God of the Ordinance Here is prayer but where is the God of prayer Here is the duty but where is the God of duty Here is enlargements but where is the God of enlargements Here are meltings and breakings of spirit but where is the God of these meltings and breakings Psalm 84.2 My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God The Courts of the Lord without spiritual converses with the living God could not satisfie his soul O saith he Here be the Courts of the Lord the Courts of the Lord but where is the living God where is the living God where is that God that makes men to live and that makes Ordinances to be living lively Ordinances to his childrens souls O the Courts of the Lord are very desireable but the living God is much more desirable The Courts of the Lord are precious and glorious but the living God is infinitely more precious and glorious Here is the mantle of Elijah but where is the God of Elijah 2 Kings 2.12 13 14. Mr. Fox Acts and Mon. Here are the Courts of the Lord but where is the Lord of these Courts It was the speech of holy Mr. Bradford That he could not leave a duty till he had found communion with Christ in the duty he could not give off a duty till his heart was brought into a duty frame he could not leave confession till he had found his heart humbled and melted under the sense of his sin he could not give over petitioning till he had found his heart taken with the beauties of the things desired and strongly carried out after the enjoyment of them Neither could he leave thanksgiving till he had found his spirit enlarged and his soul quickned in the return of praises And so it was with holy Bernard who was wont to say O Lord I never come to thee but by thee Nunquam abs te absque te recedo Bern. Mâ—ditat I never go from thee without thee A man that hath his eye upon the glory of Christ he cannot put off his soul with any thing below communion with Christ in those Religious services and duties that he offers up to Christ Though the breasts of duty are sweet yet those breasts will not satisfie the soul except Christ lies betwixt them Can. 1.13 But now men that have base poor low and by-ends in what they do they can come off easily from their duties though they find no spirit no life no warmth in duty yet they can come off with content from duty though they have no communion no converse at all with God in duty though they have no pledges of grace no pawns of mercy no tastes of love no relishes of heaven in a duty yet they can come off from the duty with content and satisfaction of spirit let but others applaud him and his own heart hug him and he hath enough Psalm 45.1 2. Zeph. 3.9 Can. 4.3 Compare these Scriptures together Prov. 11 30. chap. 1â— 18 chap. 25.11 Mat 7.6 chaâ— 12.35 Col. 4.6 Eph. 4.29 Acts 26.25 John 6.25 1 Pet. 4 11. In the sixteenth and last place A man that is really holy speaks a holy language a holy heart and a holy tongue are inseparable companions if there be grace in the heart there will be grace in the lips if the heart be pure the language will be pure Christ saies his Spouses lips are like a thred of scarlet they are red with talking of nothing but a crucified Christ and they are thin like a thred not swelled with other vain discourses And ver 10. he tells you That the lips of his Spouse drop as the honey-combs or drop honey-combs and that honey and milk are under her tongue You know that Canaan was a land that flowed with milk and honey why the language of the Spouse was the language of Canaan her lips were still dropping such holy spiritual and heavenly matter as was as sweet pleasant profitable desireable and delectable to mens souls as ever honey and millk was to mens palates or appetites and as many were fed and nourished by milk and honey so many were fed and nourished by the holy droppings of her lips Psalm 37.30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgement If the heart be holy the tongue will be a talking wisely fruitfully feelingly affectionately of that which may profit both a mans self and others Prov. 10.20 The tongue of the just is as choice silver Quod hominis dignitas excellentia nulla alia re magis cognoscitur quam oratione Pet. Martyr 2. pag. 4. Qui in Christum credunt loquuntur novis the heart of the wicked is little worth Good mens words are of more worth then wicked mens hearts and look as choice silver is known by its tinkling so holy men are known by their talking And as choice silver giveth a clear and sweet sound so the tongue of the just soundeth sweetly and pleasantly in the ears of others Look as choice silver is highly prized and valued among men so is the tongue of the righteous among those that are righteous And look as choice silver allures and draws the hearts of men to a love and liking of it so the tongues of the righteous do allure and draw the hearts of men to a love and liking of vertue and goodness Ver. 21. The lips of the righteous feed many They feed many by their exhortations instructions admonitions and counsels The mouthes of the righteous are like the gates of some hospitable persons where many are fed The
lips of the righteous are a free and well furnished table at which many are fed and nourished with the dainties of heaven to eternal life Righteous men keep open house they keep free hospitality for all comers and goers and if they have not alwayes bread in their hands yet they have alwayes grace in their lips to feed many Though they may be outwardly poor yet they have a treasure within to enrich many The tongue is the instrument of a Christians glory and is so interested in the quality it expresseth that in the original it is taken for it Cavod signifying both glory and the tongue by the authority of no less Rabbines then Jacob and David as thereby intimating that the chiefest glory of man is his tongue The Primitive Christians talked so much and so often of high and heavenly things that the Ethnicks began to surmise that they affected the Roman Empire when indeed their ambition was of another a nobler and a higher nature But now men that have only a shew of godliness they do practically say Our tongues are our own and who shall controul us Their speech is so far from administring of grace to their hearers that it administers usually either matter of carnal mirth or of contempt or of scorn or of sorrow and mourning certainly they have no holiness in their hearts who have so much of hell Jam. 1.26 27. chap. 3.8.12 Matth. 26.73 and the Devil and lusts in their mouthes I may say to most You are unholy persons your speech bewrayes you your worldliness your prophaneness your cursing your swearing your lying your slandering your reviling your railing your deriding c. doth plainly evidence that you have no holiness in you Well remember this a tongue that is set on fire from hell is in danger to be set on fire in hell Hell is for that man and that man is for hell that hath so much of hell in his mouth the Devil is for that man and that man is for the Devil that hath so much of the Devil in his mouth Damnation is for that man and that man is for damnation that hath so much of damnation in his mouth the world is for that man and that man is for the world that hath so much of the world in his mouth Whatever is in the heart will break out in the lips if wickedness be in the heart it will break out in the lips Physitians say that the nature of diseases is as well known by the tongue as by the pulse or urine The spiritual diseases that be in the heart will quickly discover themselves by the tongue Whereever holiness is in the heart it will break forth in the lips a holy heart and a holy tongue are married together and it is not in man to put them asunder you shall sooner separate the soul from the body then you shall separate a holy tongue from an holy heart And thus I have done with this use of examination the Lord make you wise to lay these things to heart that so you may know how it is like to go with you in another world Vse 3. THe third Use shall be a Use of Exhortation and that both to unsanctified and sanctified ones First let me speak to unsanctified ones is it so that real holiness is the only way to happiness and that without men are holy on earth they shall never come to the beatifical vision or blessed fruition of God in heaven O then how should this provoke and stir up all unholy persons to strive and labour as for life after this real holiness without which they shall never come to have any thing to do with God in everlasting happiness c Now that I may the better prevail with unsanctified souls I shall First propound some motives to stir and provoke their hearts to look and labour after real holiness c. Secondly I shall propose some means for the obtaining of holiness Thirdly I shall endeavour to answer those objections and remove those impediments that hinder and keep men off from labouring after real holiness For the first I shall propound these following considerations to provoke all unsanctified persons to look after holiness First Consider the necessity of holinesse It is impossible that ever you should be happy except you are holy No holinesse here no happinesse hereafter The Scripture speaks of three bodily inhabitants of heaven Enoch before the Law Elijah under the Law and Jesus Christ under the Gospel all three eminent in holinesse to teach us that even in an ordinary course there is no going to heaven without holinesse There are many thousand thousands now in heaven but not one unholy one among them all There is not one sinner among all those Saints not one Goat among all those Sheep not one weed among all those flowers not one thorn or prickle among all those Roses not one Pibble among all those glistering Diamonds There is not one Cain among all those Abels nor one Ishmael among all those Isaacs nor one Esau among all those Jacobs in heaven Rev. 5.11 Chap 7.9 Heb. 12.22 23. Those that would be immortally happy they must live holily and justly saith Antisthenes the Heathen there is not one Seth among all the Patriarchs not one Saul among all the Prophets nor one Judas among all the Apostles nor one Demas among all the Preachers nor one Simon Magus among all the professors Heaven is only for the holy man and the holy man is only for heaven Heaven is a garment of glory that is only suited to him that is holy God who is truth it self and cannot lie hath said it that without holinesse no man shall see the Lord. Mark that word no man without holinesse the rich man shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the poor man shall not see the Lord Without holinesse the Noble man shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the mean man shall not see the Lord. Without holinesse the Prince shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the Peasant shall not see the Lord. Without holinesse the Ruler shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the Ruled shall not see the Lord. Without holinesse the learned man shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the ignorant man shall not see the Lord. Without holinesse the husband shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the wife shall not see the Lord. Without holinesse the Father shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the child shall not see the Lord. Without holinesse the Master shall not see the Lord nor without holinesse the servant shall not see the Lord. For faithfull and strong is the Lord of hosts that hath spoken it Josh 23.14 In this day some cry up one form some another some cry up one Church-state some another some cry up one way some another but certainly the way of holinesse is the good old way it is the King of Kings high-way to heaven and
happiness Jerem. 6.16 Isa 35.8 And a high-way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holinesse the unclean shall not passe over it but it shall be for those the way-faring men though fools shall not err therein Some men say lo here is the way Other men say lo there is the way but certainly the way of holinesse is the surest the safest the easiest the noblest and the shortest way to happinesse Among the Heathens no man could enter into the Temple of Honour but must first enter into the Temple of Vertue There is no entring into the Temple of happinesse except you enter into the Temple of holinesse Holinesse must first enter into you before you can enter into Gods holy hill As Sampson cried out Give me water or I die or as Rachel cried out Give me children or I die so all unsanctified souls may well cry out Lord give me holinesse or I die Psalm 15. throughout give me holinesse or I eternally die If the Angels those Princes of glory fall once from their holinesse they shall be for ever excluded from everlasting happinesse and blessednesse If Adam in Paradise fall from his purity he shall quickly be driven out from the presence of divine glory Austin would not be a wicked man an unholy man one hour for all the world because he did not know but that he might die that hour and should he die in an unholy estate he knew he should be for ever separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power O Sirs do not deceive your own souls holinesse is of absolute necessity 2 Thess 1.8 9 10. without it you shall never see the Lord it is not absolutely necessary that you should be great or rich in the world but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy it is not absolutely necessary that you should enjoy health strength friends liberty life but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy A man may see the Lord without worldly prosperity but he can never see the Lord except he be holy A man may to heaven to happinesse without honour or worldly glory but he can never to heaven to happiness without holiness without holinesse here no heaven hereafter Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth God will at last shut the gates of glory against every person that is without heart purity Ah Sirs holinesse is a flower that grows not in natures garden Men are not born with holinesse in their hearts as they are born with tongues in their mouths holinesse is of a divine off-spring it is a pearl of price that is to be found in no nature but a renewed nature in no bosome but a sanctified bosome There is not the least beam or spark of holinesse in any natural man in the world I have read that the Isle of Arren in Ireland hath such a pure Air that it was never yet infected with the Plague but such is not the nature of man Gen. 6.5 Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart is only evil continually Job 25.4 How can man be clean that is born of a woman The interrogation carries in it a strong negation How can man be clean that is man cannot be clean that is born of a woman man that is born of a woman is born in sin and born both under wrath and under the curse And who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Job 14.4 Isa 64.6 But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Rom. 3.10 11. There is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none thot seeketh after God Every man by nature is a stranger yea an enemy to holinesse Rom. 8.7 Every man that comes into this world comes with his face towards sin and hell and with his back upon God and holinesse Such is the corruption of our nature that propound any divine good to it it is entertained as fire by water or wet wood with hissing Propound any evil then it is like a fire to straw it is like the foolish Satyr that made haste to kisse the fire it is like that unctious matter which the Naturalists say sucks and snatches the fire to it with which it is consumed All men are born sinners and there is nothing but an infinite power that can make them Saints All men would be happy and yet they naturally loath to be holy By all which you may clearly see that food is not more necessary for the preservation of natural life then holiness is necessary for the preservation and salvation of the soul If a man had the wisdom of Solomon the strength of Sampson the courage of Joshua the policy of Ahitophell the dignities of Haman the power of Ahashueros and the eloquence of Apollos yet all these without holinesse would never save him Secondly Consider there is a possibility of obtaining holiness Prov. 2.2 3 4 5 6 7. Holiness is a golden mine that may be come at if you will but digg and sweat and take pains for it it is a flower of Paradise that may be gathered it is a crown that may be put on Rom. 13.12 13 14. it is a pearl of price that may be obtained if you will but part with the wicked mans Trinity the world the flesh and the devil to enjoy it Though some of the Attributes of God be incommunicable yet holinesse is a communicable attribute and this should mightily encourage you to look after holiness Well sinners remember this it is possible that those proud hearts of yours may be humbled it is possible that those hard hearts of yours may be softned it is possible that those unclean hearts of yours may be sanctified it is possible that those blind minds of yours may be enlightened it is possible that those stubborn wills of yours may be tamed it is possible that those disordered affections of yours may be regulated it is possible that those drowsie and defiled consciences of yours may be awakened and purged it is possible that those vile and polluted natures of yours may be changed and purified There are several things that do witness that holiness is attainable As 1. Witness Gods promise to give his holy Spirit to them that ask it Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him The holy Spirit is a gift more worth then a world yea then heaven it self and yet to make men holy God is willing to give his holy spirit upon very easie terms They shall have it for asking John 3.6 Titus 3.5 1 Cor. 6.11 the Spirit is a spirit of holiness he is holy in himself and the Author of all that holiness that is in man it is he that most powerfully
moves and perswades men to holiness it is he that presents holiness in its beauty and glory to the soul it is he that sows seeds of holiness in the soul and it is he that causes those seeds to grow up to maturity and ripeness Nil nisi sanctum à sancto spiritu prodire potest Nothing can come from the holy spirit but that which is holy The holy Spirit is the great principle of all the holiness that is in the world and this holy Spirit God hath engaged himself to give to those that are unholy Ezek. 36.25 26 27. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new heart will I also give you and a new spirit well I put within you and I well take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgements and do them The holy spirit is a gift a free gift a noble gift a precious gift a glorious gift 2 Tim. 2.21 that God will bestow upon the unclean upon the unsanctified that they may be cleansed and sanctified and so fitted for the Lords service and use It is possible that you may be holy Witness 2. His holy word that he hath given on purpose to make men holy and to keep men holy Deut. 4.6 7 8 9. Rom. 7.12 Luke 1.70 to 76. his commandments are holy just and good his threatnings are holy just and good and all his promises are holy just and good The holy Scriptures were written with a finger of holinesse so as to move to holiness and to work holinesse the whole word of God is an intire love-letter to provoke to holiness and to promote holiness Holy commands should sweetly perswade us to holiness and holy threatnings should divinely force us to holiness and holy promises should effectually allure us to the love of holiness to the embracing of holiness and to the practise of holiness The great design of God in sending this sacred volume in golden letters from heaven was to enamour men with the love and beauty of holiness Again it is possible that you may attain to true holiness Witness 3. Those holy Embassadors that he hath sent on purpose to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ Acts 26.18 2 Corin. 5.18 19 20. Their great business and work is to treat with you about holiness it is to woo you to match with holiness and to follow after holiness it is to remove all lets and impediments that may any wayes hinder your embracing of holiness and it is to propose all manner of encouragements that may win you over to make holiness your great All. Again it is possible that you may be holy Witnesse 4. The holy Examples of all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Praecepta docent exempla movent and Saints that are left on record on purpose to provoke you to an imitation of them in holiness their holy examples as so many shining stars are left upon record to influence us to holiness In the holy examples of those that are now triumphant in heaven you may run and read that holiness is attainable In their holy examples as in so many looking-glasses you may see that holiness is a Jewel that may be procured by that holiness that others have reached to sinners may see that it is possible that they may be made Saints Again it is possible that you may be holy Witnesse 5. All those notorious sinners that the Scripture declares have been sanctified and made holy to instance only in a few Adam you know was created in an estate of innocency Gen. 1.26 integrity and perfect holiness he being made in the image of God and after the likeness and similitude of God it was agreed upon in the Parliament of heaven that man should be made glorious in holiness In this Scripture he speaks plainly of the Renovation of that knowledge holiness and righteousness that Adam somtimes had but lost it by his fall Psal 8.4 5 6. Gen. 2.20 and so he was for he was made after Gods own image And this the Apostle clearly and fully evidences in that famous Scripture Ephes 4.22 23 24. That Adam was invested and endowed with righteousness and holiness in his first glorious estate with righteousness that he might carry it fairly justly evenly and righteously towards man and with holiness that he might carry it wisely lovingly reverentially and holily towards God And that he might take up in God as his chiefest good as in his great All might be fufficiently made good out of this Scripture last cited but I shall not now stand upon the discovery of Adams beauty authority dominion dignity honour and glory with which he was adorned invested and crowned in innocency Let this satisfie that Adams first estate was a state of perfect knowledge wisdom and understanding it was a perfect state of holiness righteousness and happiness there was nothing within him but what was desirable and delectable there was nothing without him but what was amiable and commendable nor nothing about him but what was serviceable and comfortable and yet in the height of all his glory he falls to Apostasie and open Rebellion against God he takes part with Satan against God himself he transgresses his righteous Law he affronts his justice he provokes his anger he stirrs up his wrath against himself and his posterity The sin of Adam was a voluminous sin all kinds of notorious sins were bound up in it as backsliding rebellion treason pride unbelief blasphemy contempt of God unthankfulness theft murder and idolatry c. The Philosopher being asked which was the best member of the body answered The tongue for if it be good it is the best Trumpet of Gods glory And being asked again which was the worst answered The tongue for if it be bad it is the worst fire-brand of hell So if any should ask me Which was the best creature of God I would answer Man in honour before his fall If you should ask me Which is the worst I must answer Man in his fall Adam was once the wonder of all understanding the mirrour of wisdom and knowledge the image of God the delight of heaven the glory of the creation the worlds great Lord and the Lords great darling but being faln ah how low how poor how miserable how sottish how sensless how brutish yea how much below the beast that perisheth was he and yet God pardoned changed and sanctified him and stampt his image of holiness afresh upon him when he made a Covenant with him in Christ Genesis 3. So Manasseh he was a notorious sinner he was a sinner of the greatest magnitude his sins reached up to heaven his soul was ripe for hell he had sold
all the people visible holiness is a loadstone that will draw eyes and hearts after it 1 Pet. 3.1 Likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the Word they also may without the Word be woon by the conversation of the wife A holy conversation is a winning conversation Phil. 2.15 1 Cor. 7.16 the holy conversation of the wife may be the conversion of the husband the holy the wise the watchful the circumspect conversation of the wife may issue in the salvation of the husband many a husband hath been woon to Christ by the holy conversation of the wife and many a wife hath been woon by the holy conversation of the husband Monica woon her husband Patricia from being an impure Manichee not by force of argument but by purity and chastity of life saith Augustine many a servant hath been woon by the holy conversation of the Master and many a Master hath been woon by the holy conversation of the servant Zozomen reports that the holy life of a poor captive Christian maide made a King and all his family to embrace the Christian faith I have read of Cicilia a poor virgin who by her holy and gracious behaviour in her martyrdom was the means of converting four hundred to Christ Many a soul hath been woon by the dumb Oratory of a holy life Justin Martyr confesseth that the constancy of Christians in their piety and sufferings was the chiefest motive that converted him to Christianity For I my self saith he was once a Platonist and did gladly hear the Christians reviled but when I saw they feared not death nor any of those miseries which did most frighten all other men I began to consider with my self that it was impossible for such men to be lovers of pleasure more then lovers of piety and that made me first think of turning Christian 1 Pet. 2.12 Chap. 15.3 16. There is nothing that hath that influence upon the judgements of men to perswade them upon the consciences of men to awe them upon the mouthes of men to stop them upon the hearts of men to convince them and upon the lives of men to reform them as holiness What Plato once said of his moral vertue viz. that if it could be seen with bodily eyes it would be beloved of all and draw all hearts to it self That is most true of this Theological grace holiness holiness is so beautiful and so lovely a thing that it renders men amiable and lovely in the very eyes of their enemies Tilligny for his rare vertues Vide the French History in the life of Charles the ninth was rescued from death by his greatest enemies at the massacre of Paris Holiness makes a mans face to shine as it did Moses his and Stephens nothing pleases the eye nor wins the heart like holiness What is gold to godliness gifts to grace parts to piety a spark a ray a beam of holiness will certainly have an influence upon the spirits of men either to restrain them or change them or allay them or sweeten them or win them or one way or another to better them Look as the unholy lives and conversations of many professors do occasion some to blaspheme God others to belye God others to withstand God and others to forsake God Look as the loosness of many Christians doth work some to reproach Christ others to deny Christ others to refuse Christ others to revile the good wayes of Christ and others to oppose and despise the faithful followers of Christ As Lactantius reports that the loose lives of many Christians was made by the Heathens the reproach of Christ himself Quomodo bonus Magister cujus tam pravos videmus discipulos How can we think the Master to be good whose disciples we see to be so bad And Salvian also complains that the loose walking of many Christians was made by the Heathen the reproach of Christ himself saying If Christ had taught holy doctrine surely his followers had led better lives Salvianus de G. D. l. 4. And further the same Author relates how the Heathens did reproach some Christians who by their lewd lives made the Gospel of Christ to be a reproach Where said they is that good Law which they do believe Where are those rules of godliness which they do learn they read the holy Gospel and yet are unclean they hear the Apostles writings and yet are drunk they follow Christ and yet disobey Christ they profess a holy Law and yet do lead impure lives Now I say look as the holiness of many professors is a dishonour to God Ezek. 13.22 a reproach to Christ a scandal to Religion a blot to profession and a grief to many whom God would not have grieved So the power of holiness the practice of holiness is very influential upon the worst of men to win and work them to the Lord and to a love and liking of his wayes The holy lives of the Saints made the very Heathens to say Surely this is a good God whose servants are so good Ambrose his holiness did very much draw out the heart of Theodosius the Emperour to him and the holiness of Paphnutius did very much draw out the heart of Constantine the great to him there is nothing that gives a man that heart-room and that hearty room in the souls of others 2 Thes 1.3 4 5. read it as holiness it is the holy man that is a man of a thousand But Fifthly Consider that real holiness is the excellency of all a mans excellencies As holiness is the glory of God a part of the divine nature a spark of heaven a ray of glory so it is the excellency of all a mans excellencies it is the excellency of all our natural excellencies it is the excellency of all our moral excellencies and it is the excellency of all our intellectual excellencies Look as Gods holiness is the excellency of all his excellencies as the Angels who best know what is the top of his excellency do evidence by that three-fold repetition Holy holy holy Isa 6.3 Rev. 4.8 Some Greek Copics have the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy nine times over c. these multiplied acclamations of holiness denote the superlative eminency excellency and perfection of Gods holiness Both among the Hebrews and among the Grecians the holiness of God is the excellency of his omnisciencie omnipotencie and omnipresence it is the excellency of his eternity immutability and fidelity it is the excellency of his wisdom love care and goodness Psalm 111.9 Holy and reverend is his name Gods name comes to be reverend by holiness if his name were not holy it would never be reverend and why is God called so often the holy one but to shew us that holiness is the very top of all his glory and excellency God could not be glorious in any thing Exod. 15.11 That which God accounts his highest honour is his
Godlinesse hath the promise of Gold as well as of Grace of honour as well as of heaven of life and happinesse here as well as of glory and blessednesse hereafter The good things of this life as well as the great things of a better life follows holinesse hard at heels Holinesse is not a barren but a fruitful womb it is like that tree in Rev. 22.2 which did bear twelve manner of fruits and that yielded fruit every moneth What is of greater value among men then riches and what is more glorious among men then honour and what is more sweet among men then life Why all these fruits and ten thousand more grow upon the tree of holinesse The bag of riches the robe of honour and life that is the comfort and sweet of both hangs all upon the back of holiness There is no argument to that which is drawn ab utili Haec omnia tibi Dabo said Satan to Christ But that I may the more effectually win upon you and provoke you to look after holinesse let me by an induction of particulars further confirm the truth of this last consideration especially considering that there is no argument under heaven that is so taking with all men as this of gain Profit is a bait that all bite at it is the great god of the world And therefore thus First Consider that holinesse brings in present gain and what gain to present gain there are many that lay out much and venture far and run the hazard of all and yet it is long before they see returns O but holinesse that brings in present profit Rom. 6.22 But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life The Apostle doth not say Ye may have your fruit unto holinesse but Ye have your fruit unto holinesse he doth not say Ye shall have your fruit unto holinesse but Ye have your fruit unto holinesse he doth not say O that ye had your fruit unto holinesse but Ye have your fruit unto holinesse So Psalm 19.11 Not only for keeping but also in keeping of his commands there is great reward Holinesse is its own reward whilest a Christian is in the very exercise of holinesse O what blessed sights what sweet tastes what glorious incomes from heaven hath he O the secret visits the secret whispers the secret joggings the secret love-tokens that Christians meet with in the very practice of holinesse Holinesse brings in present comfort and joy Seneca a Heathen hath confessed that the best receipt to drive away sadness was to live well 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our consciences that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you-wards There is no mirth no joy to that that holinesse brings in let a mans load be never so heavy yet holinesse will bring in that joy that will make him bear up bravely and cheerfully under it Holinesse brings in present peace hence it is that you read of the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse Heb. 12.10 11. And holinesse will bring in present communion with God 1 John 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is the light we have fellowship one with another that is God and we have fellowship togegether as it is ver 3. Now to walk in the light as he is in the light what is it but to walk in holinesse to walk in pathes of sanctity for only in such pathes the Lord walks And therefore as you love present gain labour after holiness But Secondly As holinesse brings in present gain so holinesse brings in the best greatest gain this I shall evidence thus First Holinesse will make a man rich in the midst of poverty Râ—v 2.9 I know thy poverty but thou art rich though the Church of Smyrna was poor in goods Jam. 2.5 yet she was rich in grace she was rich in faith and rich in hope and rich in patience and rich in contentment c. she was rich in Christ her head and rich in promises and rich in experiences she had spiritual riches in possession and glorious riches in reversion so in 2 Cor. 6.10 As poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things A holy man cannot be a poor man A holy man is still the richest man But this is a riddle the world understands not The riches of a Christian have no bottom all a Saints baggs are bottomless baggs Experience tells us 1 Cor. 3. chap. 22 23. that unholy mens baggs purses coffers and mints may be drawn dry but the Treasury the riches of a Saint can never be exhausted for he still possesses all things in Christ and with Christ Though he hath nothing in hand yet he hath all things in hope Though he hath nothing in the cistern yet he hath all things in the fountain Gen. 33.9 Esau could say Li Rab I have much and it was much that an Esau should say he had much but saies holy Jacob v. 11. Li col I have all Esau had much but Jacob had all because he had the God of all He had him that was all in all It hath been said of the great Duke of Guise that though he was poor as to his present possessions yet he was the richest man in France in bills bonds and obligations because he had engaged all the Noble men in France to himself by preferring of them A holy man is the richest man in the world in promises and obligations for he hath the great and glorious God engaged by many thousand promises to own him to bless him to stand by him to give grace and glory to him Psalm 84.10 11. and to with-hold nothing from him that may be good for him When wicked men brag of their Lordships and Mannors and boast of their great possessions and glory in their thousands a year A holy man may make his boast of God and say God is mine God is mine he is my great all he is my all in all and therefore I am richer and a greater possessor then any wicked man in the world yea then all wicked men in the world put together But Secondly By holinesse you will gain a good report a good name Heb. 11.39 And these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise Nothing raises a mans name and fame in the world like holinesse A good renown is better then a golden girdle saith the French Proverb The seven Deacons that the Church chose were holy men Acts 6.5 and they were men of good report ver 3. they were men well witnessed unto well testified of as the Greek word imports Cornelius was a holy man Acts 10.1 2 3 4. and he was a man of good report among all the Nation of the Jews ver 22. Ananias was a
the way of righteousnesse is chaiim lives so the Hebrew hath it in the way of righteousnesse there are many lives in that way there is spiritual life and eternal life and natural life and all the comforts and sweets and blessings and happinesse of that life without which mans life would be but a lingering a languishing death yea a hell rather then a heaven unto him And in the path thereof there is no death There is no spiritual death there is no eternal death yea there is no corporal no temporal death to hurt or harm the them Death is not mors hominis but mors peccati not the death of the man but the death of his sin Phil. 1.23 2 Cor. 5.12.4.7 8. Death is a Christians Quietus est it is his discharge from all trouble and misery to sting or terrifie them to dammage or disadvantage them for death is an out-let and an in-let to a holy man it is an out-let to sin to sorrow to shame to suffering to afflictions to temptations to desertions to oppressions to confusions and to vexations and it is an in-let to a more clear full and constant fruition of God and Christ and an in-let to the sweetest pleasures the purest joys the highest delights the strongest comforts and the most satisfying contentments Death is the funeral of all a holy mans sins and miseries and it is the resurrection of all his joyes and the perfection of all his graces and spirituall excellencies Death to a holy man is nothing but the changing of his grace into glory his faith into vision his hope into fruition and his love into perfect comprehension The Persians had a certain day in the year in which they used to kill all Serpents and venemous creatures such a day as that will the day of death be to a holy man Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis mors sepulchrum peccati Sin was the Midwife that brought death into the world and death shall be the bearers that shall carry sin out of the world When Sampson died the Philistines died together with him so when a holy man dies his sins die with him Death came in by sin and sin goeth out by death As the worm kills the worm that bred it so death kills sin that bred it Vltimus morborum medicus mors Acts Mon. fol. 1733. Death cures all diseases the aking head and the unbelieving heart the diseased body and the defiled soul At Stratford Bow were burned in Queen Maries dayes a lame man and a blind man after the lame man was chained casting away his crutch he bade the blind man be of good comfort for saith he Death will cure us both it will cure thee of thy blindnesse and me of my lamenesse Death will cure the holy man of all natural and spiritual distempers Death is the holy mans Jubilee it is his greatest advantage it puts him into a better estate then ever he had before It is Gods Gentleman Usher to conduct us to heaven it will blow the bud of grace into the flower of glory O! Death is but an entrance into life Miseri infideles mortem appellant fideles vero quid nÃsi pascham Bernard Miserable â—nbelievers call it death but to faithfull believers what is it but a Passeover but a Jubilee who would not go through hell to heaven who would not go through a temporary death to an eternal life who would not willingly march through mortality to immortality and glory O Sirs holinesse will make you look upon death as a welcome guest a happy friend a joyfull messenger it will make you kisse it and embrace it as Favinus the Italian Martyr kissed and embraced his executioner it will make you desire it long after it with tears as holy Bradford did By all this you see that holiness will deliver you from death in death and therefore I shall close up this head as that wise witty man Sr. Francis Bakon closed up a paper of verses What then remains but that we still should cry Not to be born or being born to die Fifthly and lastly by holinesse you shall gain the greatest boldnesse in the day of judgement Job 19.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies boldness of face a lifting up of the face countenance in the sight or face of many beholders It signifies a freedom and liberty of speech nothing will imbolden a man in that great day like holinesse holinesse will then make the face to shine indeed 1 John 4.17 Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldnesse in the day of judgement because as he is so are we in this world That which will make Christs last appearance delightfull to Christians will be their likenesse to Christ in holinesse in nature and grace likenesse begets the greatest boldnesse As there is no child so bold with the Father as he that is most like the Father so there is no Christian so bold with Christ as he that is most like to Christ A holy Christ is most famiiar with a holy Christian and a holy Christian is most bold with a holy Christ The more a Christian is like to Christ in holinesse of heart and life in holinesse of affecti-and conversation the more divinely bold and familiar will that man be with Christ both in this world and in the great day of account when he that was a brat of Satans is made a Saint when he that was like hell is made like heaven when he that was most ugly and uncomely is made like him that is the holy of holies this is that which gives boldnesse both here and hereafter O Sirs it is not wit nor wealth but holinesse it is not race nor place but holinesse it is not power nor policy but holinesse it is not honour nor riches but holinesse it is not natural excellencies nor acquired abilities but holinesse that will give boldnesse in the day of Christs appearing 1 Pet. 1.5 6 7. A well-tried faith which is but a branch of holinesse shall be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ At the coming of Christ holiness shall be a mans praise and honour Rev. 6.15 16 17. and glory In that great day when shame and everlasting contempt shall be poured forth upon the great Monarchs of the world who have made the earth to tremble when the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men c. shall cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb then I say then shall the righteous shine as the Sun in the firmament Dan. 12.1 2 3. Prov. 28.1 In life and death and in the day of account a righteous man will be as bold as a Lion Real holinesse will make a man death proof and hell proof and
judgement proof The day of judgement will be to a holy man a marriage day a day of redemption a day of coronation a day of exaltation and therefore he may well lift up his head and rejoyce Look as the Israelites who had the blood of the Passeover on their door-posts Exo. 12.7.11 though the destroyer was abroad and a dreadfull cry was all over Aegypt yet they were not slain not stricken they did not fear not tremble but had their loyns ready girt and staves in their hands boldly and cheerfully expecting when the happy and joyful hour of their redemption would come Heb. 9.14 So those that have the door-posts of their hearts and consciences sprinkled with holinesse in this terrible day of the Lord they shall with boldnesse and cheerfulnesse lift up their faces because the day of their redemption is come Sermon de Signis prae extr Júd And this made Luther say that he had rather never have been born then not to be in hope of this day This day to Gods holy ones will be melodia in aure Psalm 1.5 2 Thess 2.7 8 9 10. jubilum in corde like musick in the ear and a Jubilee in the heart It is true the ungodly shall not stand in Judgement Stand they must to be arraigned sentenced and condemned Stand they shall but not with any boldnesse or cheerfulnesse comfort or content Stand they shall but not to be approved acquitted or absolved Chaff and stubble cannot stand before that God that is a consuming fire When Belshazzar saw the hand writing upon the wall Heb. 12. ult Dan. 5.5 6. O how was he affrighted how was his countenance changed his joints loosed and his knees dashed one against another O how do many ungodly men now tremble at a thunder-crack in the clouds and at a flash of lightning in the air but how will they tremble and quake when the whole frame of heaven and earth shall break in pieces and be set in a flame about their ears O what trouble of mind what horror and terror of conscience what weeping and wailing what crying and roaring what wringing of hands what tearing of hair and what gnashing of teeth will there be among the ungodly in this day when they shall see their sins charged on them on the one side and divine Justice terrifying them on the other side when they shall look upward and there see an angry God frowning upon them and look downward and there see hell gaping ready to receive them and look inward and there find conscience accusing and gnawing of them When they shall look on their right hands and there behold the good Angels standing with so many flaming swords to keep them out of heaven and look on their left hands and there behold the devil and his Angels ready prest to dragg them down to the lowest hell O now how will they wish for the Rocks to fall upon them and the mountains to cover them how will they wish that they had never been born or that they might now be unborn how will they now wish that their immortal souls were mortal or that their souls might be turned into the nature of Beasts Birds Stones Trees or Air or any thing rather what they are I have read a story of two Souldiers Holcot who being in the valley of Jehosaphat in Judea the one said to the other Here in this place shall be the general Judgement and therefore I will now take up my place where I will then sit and so lifting up a stone he sate down upon it as taking possession before hand but being sate and looking up to heaven such a quaking and trembling fell upon him that falling to the earth he remembred the day of Judgement with horror and amazement for ever after But alas what heart is able to conceive or what tongue is able to expresse the fear and dread the horror and terror the astonishment and amazement that will fall upon all ungodly persons in this day And yet even now Gods holy ones shall lift up their heads and hearts they shall be bold and stedfast they shall be far from fear shame or trembling And thus you see that godlinesse that holinesse is the most gainfull trade And therefore Sirs as you love gain as you tender your own profit and advantage labour to be holy But Twelthly Consider this that holinesse will put the greatest splendour and majesty upon persons that can possibly be put upon them Job 29.8 9 10 11. vide Prov. 12.26 There is nothing that imprints such a reverence and Majesty upon man as holinesse doth There is nothing that is such a grace to man as grace It is holinesse that puts the greatest excellency and majesty upon man Psalm 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Saints are the most excellent ones Arias Montanus Junius c. The Hebrew word Veadire from Adar that is here rendred excellent signifies magnificis the magnificent ones or the noble glorious or wonderfull ones Saints or holy persons are the most excellent magnificent noble glorious ones And in Dan. 8.24 the holy people are called mighty because there are no people upon the earth that have might and Majesty stampt upon them as they have Cant. 6.10 Some by the Moon understand inherent righteousness and by the Sun they understand imputed righteousness Who is she that looketh forth as the morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with banners The light grace glory and holinesse of the Church rises by degrees and this makes her terrible to all her enemies Every degree of holinesse is terrible to the unholy but the higher the Church rises in holinesse the more terrible and majestical it grows Holinesse puts such a splendor and graceful Majesty upon all persons that have it as even dazles the eyes sometimes of wicked men and begets in them an awe and reverence As it is evident in Saul 1 Sam. 24.17 And Saul said to David Thou art more righteous then I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil So Herod in Mark 6.20 it is said That he feared John knowing that he was a just man and holy and observed him Holinesse is very Majestical the greatest Monarchs fall down before it Herod reverences John not for his birth or breeding but for his holinesse not for his Arts or Parts but for his holinesse not for his Schollarship or greatnesse but for his holinesse 2 Kings 11.1 2. So that great Monarch King Joash fell down before the holinesse of Jehojada whilest he lived And so did the holinesse of the three children command tespect and honour from that great Monarch Nebuchadnezzar And so did the holinesse of Daniel Daniel 3. cause King Darius to reverence him and to cast a favourable Aspect upon him And so did the Holinesse that was written upon
immortality to this day death could never have carried man out of the world had not man first let sin into the world Rom. 5.12 ult Secondly If you compare the life of man to the long lives of the Patriarchs before the stood then the life of man is but short threescore years and ten is mans age Psal 90.10 And where one man lives to this age how many thousands die before they come to it But what is this age to the age that men lived to in former times Enoch lived as many yeers as there be days in the year and Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and Methuselah lived nine hundred sixty and nine years Gen. 5. Now what were Platoes eighty years or Thomas Pars 160. years or Johannes de Temporibus John of the times three hundred threescore and one years to the long lives of the Patriarchs and though in Davids time old age and seventy often shook hands yet 't is otherwise in our times for as mens wickedness do more and more increase so their days do more and more decrease the more wicked any generation is the shorter liv'd that generation shall be God will quickly dispatch them out of the world who make quick dispatches in ways of wickedness Thirdly The life of man is but short if you compare it to what it shall be after the morning of the Resurrection O then mans day shall reach to eternity eternity is that unum perpetuum hodie one perpetual day that shall never have end when men after the resurrection begin to live they shall never dye after that day every man shall live in everlasting bliss or in everlasting wo when the last Trumpet has sounded man shall live for ever and ever Fourthly The life of man is but short if you compare it with the days of God Psal 39.5 Mine age is nothing before him all time is nothing to eternity mans life is but a minute 't is but a point of time to the days of eternity what head what heart can conceive or reckon up the duration of God who ever was who still is and who ever will be every child and every fool can tell you their age but what man on earth or what Angel in heaven can tell you the years of the Most High surely none Fifthly and lastly the life of man is but short if you compare it with the lives of other creatures some say that 't is neither age nor sickness that killeth the Eagle she casteth her feathers yearly and so gets new whereby her youth strength is renewed Pliny August Calvin Psal 103.5 by which means she will live till she be an hundred years old she dies not till her upper Bill be so grown over her under that she cannot take in her meat and so at last she is staryed And some Elephants live three hundred years witness Aelian Solinus and Strabo c. by all which you see the brevity of mans life And why then should man be so weak so vain as to put the day of his death so far from him I have read of the Birds of Norway that they flye faster then the fowls of any other Country they knowing by an instinct that God has put into them that the days in that Climate are very short not above three hours long say some do therefore make the more haste to their nests And O! that all that hear me this day would learn by these birds of Norway to make haste to believe and to make haste to repent and to make haste to love God and to make haste to be holy c. seeing their day of life is so short and their night of death is posting towards them And as the life of man is very short so 't is very considerable that a very small matter a very little thing may quickly put an end to mans life When the Emperor threatned the Philosopher with death he replyed Conrad Ves perg Nancler Jo. Boel in Adrian Paulus Jovius Elog. lib. 2. what is that more then a Spanish flie may do An ordinary flye flying casually into the mouth of the proud Pope Adrian stifled him that made the highest state then in the Christian world stoop even to the holding of his stirrop Tamberlain a Scythian Captain the terror of his time died with three fits of an Ague Anacreon the Poet was choaked with the kernel of a Grape Aeschylus was killed by the shell of a Tortoise which fell from an Eagles Talons who as some conceive took his bald head for a white rock The Lord Mountaigne tells us of a Duke of Britany that was stifled to death in such a throng of people as is in some great congregations on the Lords day An Emperor died by the scratch of a Comb and one of the Kings of France died by the chock of an Hogg and one that was brother to a great Lord playing at Tennis received a blow with a ball a little above the right ear which struck him into his grave There is nothing so small but may be a mans bane The paring of a Toe the cutting off a corn the scratch of a nail the prick of a pin a fish-bone a hair a drop of water a crum of bread a bad air or an evil smell may bring a man to his long home yea a little smoak may soon stifle him or his own spittle let down unwarily may suddenly choak him And O! that all that I have spoken upon this account might be so blest as to work you to take heed of putting the day of your death so far from you The evil servant when he thought his Master was gone afar off Luke 12.45 then he layes about him distempers himself Prov. 7.19 20. and beats his fellow-servants And so the leud woman in the Proverbs when the good man was gone a long journey when he was far from home then she grew wanton vain and secure so when men put afar off the day of their death then they grow more loose prophane and unholy whereas a serious and frequent eying and minding of death as at hand as at a mans elbow would alarm a man to break off his sins by repentance and to labor for holiness as a man would labor for life it self I have read of the women in the Isle of Man that the first Web they make is their winding sheet wherwith they usually gird themselves when they go abroad to shew that they are still mindful of their mortality Ah friends a constant minding of your mortality would contribute very much towards the making of you holy He that daily looks upon death will be daily a looking after holiness the oftener any man looks into the grave the oftener that man will be looking up to heaven and a begging that God would make him holy even as he is holy But Sixthly and lastly Take heed of settling your selves under a leud and scandalous Ministry or of having any inwardness with
look which way you will the Spirit still appears to be the great principle of holiness holiness is the very picture of God and certainly no hand can carve that excellent picture but the spirit of God Holiness is the divine nature and none can impart that to man but the Spirit A man never comes to see his sins nor to be sick of his sins nor to loath his sins nor to arraign his sins nor to condemn his sins nor to judge himself for his sins evangelically till he comes to be possest of the holy Spirit A man never comes to spit out the sweet morsels of sin he never come to make a sacrifice of his onely Isaac and to cut his delicate Agag in pieces and to strangle his Dalilah and in good earnest to set upon an utter exterpation of those sins that his constitution inclination custome calling and interest does most incline him to till a spirit of holiness comes upon him till this holy Spirit which is a spirit of judgement and burning falls upon the hearts of sinners they will never be fired out of their pride formality carnality sensuality and security when this holy Spirit comes as a Spirit of Glory and Power to change thy heart to destroy thy sins to reform thy ways and to save thy soul c. Oh then cry out let him still go on conquering and to conquer till all his enemies ate made his footstool Oh let him cut off every right hand and pluck out every right eye c. that does offend O let him do justice upon every sin upon every open sin upon every secret sin upon every bosom sin upon every pleasing sin and upon every gainful sin Oh set your selves under the Celestial influences and sweet distillings of the holy Spirit Oh prize his motions Oh welcome his motions Oh comply with his motions Oh follow his motions that so you may be holy and happy for ever When David asked counsel of God whether he should goe up against thâ— Philistins or no he received this answer When thou hearest the noise of one going in the top of the Mulbery-trees 2 Sam. 5.24 then remove for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the Philistines So should every one wisely observe when the Spirit sweetly and strongly moves them to mind holiness to fall in love with holiness to press after holiness when the spirit moves them to leave off their sins to turn to God to open to Christ to tremble at threatnings and to imbrace promises Oh make much of these holy motions Oh cherish these divine breathings Oh don't quench these heavenly sparks least the Spirit never move thee more nor never strive with thee more Gen. 6.3 Oh when thou hearest a voice within thee or a voice behind thee saying Come with me from Lebanon my sister Isa 30.21 Cant. 4.8 my spouse c. Come away from thy cups thou drunken wretch come away from thy wanton Dalilahs thou unclean wretch come away from thy sinful pleasures thou voluptious wretch come away from thy baggs thou worldly wretch come away from thy honors thou ambitious wretch and come away from thy fraud thou cheating wretch Oh hearken to this voice Oh obey this voice that it may go well with thy soul for ever if now thou strikest whilest the iron is hot if now thou hoistest up sail whilst the wine is fair thou maist be made for ever In that 5 Joh. 4. there were certain times when the Angel came down and troubled the waters and whosoever did then step in was healed of whatsoever disease he had So there are certain times and seasons wherein the Spirit of holiness stirs the heart and affections and moves and breaths upon the soul now if men were wise to observe these times and seasons they might be happy for ever the time of the spirits moving is the acceptable time if you observe it you are made if you neglect it you are mar'd all the movings and motions of the spirit are in order to an eternity of felicity and glory Oh therefore don't grieve the Spirit don't cross the Spirit don't vex the Spirit don't tempt the Spirit Spiritus sanctus est res delicata don't quench the Spirit don't oppose the Spirit don't resist the Spirit don't deal harshly or unkindly with the Spirit by sinning against illumination conviction resolutions and promises of reformation Oh be more tender of the gracious motions of the Spirit then thou art of thy name thy estate thy liberty thy life for he designs thy internal good in this world and thy eternal good in the other world and therefore don't affront him nor carry it unworthily towards him if thou shouldest it may be as much as thy life and thy soul is worth if a man slip the opportunity of a favorable gale he may lie wind-bound till all be spent when the Spirit moves salvation and all the glory of heaven stands waiting at thy door if now thou will but open the King of glory will enter in and bless thee for ever Saul by neglecting his opportunity lost an earthly kingdom take heed least thou by slighting the motions of the Spirit comest to loose a heavenly kingdom the letting slip one season when the Spirit moves may undo a man in both worlds and some think Felix found it so Well sirs as ever you would be holy you must labor for a Spirit of holiness and for your encouragement remember this that though the holy Spirit be the great Jewel of Glory yet God is more ready to give it then you are to aske it witness that 11. of Luke from the 9. to the 14. verse But Thirdly If ever you would be holy then you must waite upon the word the word of God faithfully preached is the ordinary meanes by which holiness is wrought in sinners hearts the word is that triumphant Chariot of the Spirit wherein he rides conquering and to conquer the souls of men the holy word is designed by God to beget holiness in sinners hearts and to countenance cherish nourish and strengthen holiness where it is begotten John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth And for their sakes c. I sanctifie my selfe that they also might be sanctified through the truth ver 19. So Chap. 15.3 Now ye are cleane through the word which I have spoken to you The ordinary way of making uncleane souls cleane unholy souls holy is the Ministry of the word Phil. 5.26 As there is a cleansing vertue in the blood of Christ 1 John 1.7 so there is a cleansing vertue in the word of Christ Psal 119.9 Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Of all men the young man is usually most wild and wicked most licentious and rebellious and yet the word of God is the power of God to his conviction and conversion to his sanctification and salvation though the cleansing of a young mans
strangely converted by hearing a voice from heaven saying Tolle lege Tolle lege Take and read take and read and taking up the Bible the first passage of Scripture that he cast his eyes upon was that Rom. 13.13 14. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in gluttony and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof and no sooner had he read the verses but the work of conversion was finished and pious resolutions for a through reformation of life was settled in him The Gospel read is sometimes the power of God to salvation as well as the Gospel heard Rom. 1.16 Cyprian confesseth that he was converted from Idolatry and Negromancy by hearing the history of the Prophet Jonas read and expounded by Cecilius whom therefore he calleth the father of his new life And Luther confesseth that he was converted by reading I have read of a scandalous Minister that was struck at the heart and converted in reading that Rom. 2.21 22. Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self thou that preachest a man should not steal doest thou steal Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery doest thou commit adultery thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit sacriledge There is a Schollar now alive who being perswaded by an honest poor man to leave reading of Poetry and to fall upon reading of the Bible did so and before he had read out Genesis his heart was changed and he was converted O sirs as you tender your conversion your salvation make more conscience of reading the Scripture then ever you have done be often in wheting of these Scriptures upon your hearts Deut. 6.6 7 8 9. ch 31.11 12. Jer. 36.6 7. John 5.39 In these Scriptures God requires all sorts of people both men women children and strangers both learned and unlearned to read the Scriptures and to search after the heavenly treasures that are laid up in them as men search for Gold and silver in the Oar. And Paul charges Timothy that he gives attendance to reading And blessed is he saith John 1 Tim. 4.13 Rev. 1.3 that heareth and readeth the words of this Book Yea Christ himself hath highly honored reading with his own example for coming to Nazareth as his custom was he stood up to read the Scriptures Luk. 4.16.21 and the Bereans for reading and searching of the Scriptures are stiled more noble then the Jews of Thessalonica or as the Greek has it Acts 17.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were better born and bred they were better Gentlemen they were of a more noble and ingenious disposition though they did belong to the Country Town of Barea then the Thessalonians were who dwelt in the rich and stately City of Thessalonica sometimes there is more true nobility and ingenuity under a Russet coat then there is under a Sattin suit The Holy Ghost gives a very large Encomium high commendation of the Scriptures in that 2 Tim. 3.15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus 'T is observable that in these words you have not simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy Scriptures but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Scriptures the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is very emphatical and 't is used by the Holy Ghost to distinguish these sacred writings from all prophane writings and to note the eminency and excellency of the holy Scriptures above all other mens writings whatâ—oever Now the Scriptures have this adjunct this Epithet Holy given them in five respects 1. In respect of their Author and original viz. a Holy God 2. They are holy in respect of the Pen-men who were holy men of God 2 Pet. 1.21 3. They are holy in respect of their matter they treat of the holy things of God a vein of holiness runs through every line of Scripture the Scripture calls for holy hearts and holy lives it calls for holy principles and holy practises holy words and holy works holy affections and holy conversations 1 Pet. 1.15 4. They are holy in respect of their effects and operations they are a means to effect and work holiness and they are a means to compleat and perfect holiness Joh. 17.17 The word is not onely a pure word but also a purifying word 't is not only a clean word but also a cleansing word Psal 19.8 9. 5. They are called holy by way of distinction and in opposition not onely to all humane and prophane writings but also to the writings of the best and choicest men that ever wrote for they have had their failings weaknesses and infirmities and therefore must have their many grains of allowance but the holy Scripture is most perfect and compleat Now sirs if ever you would be holy it stands you upon to make more conscience of reading the holy Scriptures then ever yet you have done many a man has been made holy by reading the holy Scriptures and why maist not thou also be made holy by reading of the same holy word Certainly all the Angels in heaven and all the men on earth can't tell to the contrary but that thou mayest be made holy even by reading of the holy word the Holy Ghost is a free Agent and he can as well work holiness in thy heart by reading as by hearing and therefore set thy self about this noble and necessary work Ah friends the Scriptures are Gods Epistle they are Gods love-letter to the sons of men and why then will you not read them Count Anhalt that princely preacher was wont to say that the Scriptures were Christs swadling bands the child Jesus being to be found almost in every page in every verse and in every line Oh who would not therefore be often in looking upon and in handling of these swadling bands O sirs there are no histories that are comparable to the histories of the Scripture First For Antiquity Moses is found more antient then all those whom the Grecians make most ancient as Homer Hesiod and Jupiter himself whom the Greeks have seated in the top of their divinity Secondly For rarity Thirdly For brevity here you have much wrapt up in a little room heâ— you have Homers Iliads compriz'd in a Nut-shell Fourthly For perspicuity the foundations of Religion and happiness are so plain and clear that every one may run and read them 'T was a true saying of Augustin Inclinavis Deus Scripturas ad infantium lactentium capacitatem That God hath bowed down the Scriptures to the capacities even of Babes and Sucklings Fifthly For harmony though there may seem to be a contrariety between Scripture and Scripture yet there is a blessed harmony between all the parts of Scripture the contrariety is seeming not real As when a man is drawing water out of a well with two
vessels of a different mettal the water at the first seemeth to be of a different colour but when he draweth up the vessels nearer to him the diversity of colours vanish and the water appeareth to be of one and the same colour and when he tasteth them they have one and the same relish So though at first sight there may seem to be some contradictions in the Scriptures yet when we look more nearly and narrowly into them and compare one place with another we shall finde no contrariety no repugnancy in them at all but a perfect harmony and a full and sweet consent and agreement between one place and another between text and text Scripture and Scripture Sixthly For verity the Scriptures are most sure and certain heaven and earth shall pass away before one jot or tittle of the Scripture shall pass unfulfilled Seventhly For variety there are no varieties to those that are to be found in Scripture as in Noahs Ark all sorts of creatures were to be found so in this heavenly Ark the Scriptures all varieties are to be found here you may finde Physick for every disease and Balm for every wound and a plaister for every sore Here the Lamb may wade and here the Elephant may swim here is milk for Babes and here is meat for strong men here is comfort for the afflicted and succour for the tempted and support for the distressed and ease for the wearied here is a staff to support the feeble and a sword to defend the mighty That which a Papist reports lyingly of their Sacraments of the Mass viz. That there are as many misteries in it as there are drops in the sea dust on the earth Angels in heaven Stars in the sky Atoms in the Sun-beams or sands on the Sea shore c. may be truly asserted of the holy Scriptures there are many thousand thousand varieties in this garden of Paradise the Scripture Eighthly For fulness the Scriptures are full of light and full of life and full of love they are full of righteousness and full of holiness and full of all goodness 'T was a weighty saying of Tertullian Adoro plenitudinem scripturarum I adore the fulness of the Scripture Many men talk much of the Philosophers Stone that it turns Copper into Gold and of Cornucopia that it had all things necessary for food in it and of the Herb Panaces that it was good for all diseases and of the Drugg Catholicon that it is instead of all purges and of Vulcans armor that it was full proof against all thrusts and blows but that which they vainly attribute to these things for bodily good may safely and honorably be attributed to the blessed Scriptures in a spiritual manner the Scriptures turns hearts of Copper into hearts of Gold 't is a Paradise that is full of the Trees of life Rev. 22.2 and these trees of life are both for food Physick here is all manner of fruit to feed you fill you to delight you and satisfie you and the very leaves of these Trees are singular medicines to heal you and cure you the Scripture prescribes the choicest druggs to purge you viz. Repentance and the blood of Christ and 't is the Scripture that furnishes you with the best armor of proof against all principalities and powers and against all spiritual wickednesses in high places Eph. 6.11.18 Oh how should the consideration of all these things work you to be much in reading of the holy Scriptures if you will but make trial you should be sure to finde in them stories more true more various more pleasant more profitable and more comfortable then any you will find in all ancient or modern writers Ah friends if you would but in good earnest set upon reading of the holy Scriptures you may finde in them so many happinesses as cannot be numbred and so great happinesses as cannot be measured and so copious happinesses as cannot be defined and such precious happinesses as cannot be valued and if all this woâ—â—t draw you to read the holy Scriptures conscientiously and frequently I know not what will It 's said of Mary that she spent the third part of her time in reading of the word and Caecilia a Roman Maiden of noble parentage carried always about her the New Testament and spent much time in reading it Alfredus once King of England compiled Psalms and prayers into one book and called it a Manuel which he always carried about him and spent much time in the perusal of it Augustin Vide Pos in vita Aug. caused Davids penitential Psalms to be drawn upon the walls of his Chamber that he might read them as he lay in his bed he read and wep't and wept and read Well if all this will not prevail with you to be much in reading of the Scriptures consider that Agesilaus an excellent King of Sparta would never go to bed nor rise up before he had looked into Homer whom he called Amasium suum his sweet heart but what was Homers books to Gods Book which is the book of books as Charles the great did signifie when he crowned it with his own crown And Scipio Africanus was much commended Plutarch Moral for that he usually had in his hands the books of Xenophon But Oh how much more commendable will it be for you to have always in your hands the book of God Alphonsus had always in his bosom the commentaries of Caesar and he was so much delighted with the history of Titus Livius that he once commanded certain Musitians that were very skilful in that Art to depart his presence saying he could read a more pleasant story out of Livius Alas what are Livius his stories to the blessed stories that be in the Bible Oh sirs if Lipsius when he did but read Seneca thought that he was even on the top of Olympus above mortality and humane things And if Julius Scaliger thought twelve verses in Lucan better then the German Empire O then of what infinite worth and value is the blessed Scripture shall Heathens take such pleasure in reading of the Works of Heathens and shall not Christians take as much pleasure in reading of the holy Scriptures wherein there is so much of the Spirit hand and heart of God Shall they set so high a price upon the books of Heathens and shall we so slight and undervalue the books of God as not to thinke it worth a opening once a day verily I am afraid I am afraid that there are some among us that hardly open their Bibles once a weeke and others that hardly open their Bibles once a moneth and not a few that hardly open their Bibles once a quarter c. Certainly as the rustiness of some mens gold Jam. 5.1 2 3. will be a witness against them in the great day of the Lord so the mustiness of some mens Bibles will be a witness against them in that great day Quest But is it not lawfull
and though Legal terrour Evangelical joy are inconsistent Zach. 12.10 1 Pet. 1.8 yet Evangelical sorrow and Evangelical joy are consistent in one and the same soule the same eye of faith that drops tears of sorrow drops also tears of joy A cleare sight of free-grace of pardoning mercy and of a bleeding dying Saviour will at the same time fill the soul both with sorrow and joy as the experiences of a thousand Christians can testifie A Christian alwayes joys most and mourns most Luke 7. when he is most under the sense of divine love the influences and incomes of heaven the hopes of glory the reports of mercy and the precious sealings of the blessed Spirit Look as Physick is the way to health so godly sorrow is the way to holy joy Prov. 14.13 look as a wicked mans joy ends in sorrow so a godly mans sorrow ends in joy Isa 61.3 To appoint unto them that mourne in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning the garment of gladness for the spirit of heaviness that they may be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Godly sorrow is the Parent of holy joy a Godly mans mourning time is his most joyfull time I have read of a godly man who lying upon his dying bed and being askt which was the joyfullest time that ever he had in all his life cryed our O give me my mourning dayes againe O give me my mourning dayes againe for they were the joyfullest dayes that ever I had The more a Christian sowes in teares Psal 126.6 the greater even in this world shall be his harvest of joy his merry dayes shall be alwayes answerable to his mourning dayes But Thirdly I anâ—wer that this is a false charge a meere slander an unjust calumny that Satan and his bond-slaves have cast upon holiness and the wayes of holiness on purpose to hinder men from pursuing and following after holiness The language of the objection is quite contrary to the language of the holy Scripture witness that Psal 138.5 Yea they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord. When the Kings of the earth shall be generally converted and sanctified as 't is in ver the 4th Then they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord when they shall come to experience and taste the power excellency and sweetness of holiness then they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord. Conversation and sanctification administer the highest grounds of joy and rejoycing 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you-wards A holy conversation affords the greatest ground of rejoycing There is no joy to that which springs from the testimony of a sanctified conscience God has given it under his own hand Pro. 3.17 that the wayes of wisdom which are alwayes wayes of holiness are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace There is no pleasure nor felicity to that which flowes from the wayes of sanctity The sweetest Roses the strongest comforts and the greatest pleasantness is to be found in the wayes of holiness O! the joy the peace the tranquillity the serenity that attends the wayes of purity I might call in many millions of Saints who from their own experiences are able to give the lye to this objection and further to tell you that they have met with more comforts sweetness and pleasantness in one houres communion with God in one houres walking with God then ever they have found in all the wayes of ungodliness and wickedness wherein they have wandered O! they are able to tell you Isa 57.20 21. that when they walkt in wayes of impiety they found by experience that God had made a seperation between sin and peace between sin and joy Rom. 6.21 between sin and assurance between sin and the light of his countenance c. and they are able to tell you from what they have found that there is no feare no terror no horror no gripes no grief no stings no hells to those that attend the wayes of ungodliness and this were enough to blow off this objection But Fourthly I answer that the joy of the Saints is chiefly and mainely an inward joy a spiritual joy a joy that lyes remote from a carnal eye the joy of a Christian lyes deep it cannot be expressed it cannot be painted look as no man can paint the sweetness of the Honey-combe nor the sweetness of a Cluster of Grapes nor the fragrancy of the Rose of Sharon so no man can paint out the sweetness and spiritualness of a Christians joy it lyes so deep and low in a gracious heart and look as the life of a Christian is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 so the joy of a Christian is hid with Christ in God as their life is a hidden life so their joy is a hidden joy the joy of a Christian is hidden Manna 't is the new name and white stone Rev. 2.20 that none knoweth but he that has it Pro. 14.10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddâ—e with his joy The joy of a Saint is a Jewel that falls not under a strangers eye Look as the greatest terrors and torments of the wicked are inward so the greatest joyes and comforts of the Saints are inward and look as the heart of man is deep Jer. 17.9 10. so holy joy is a treasure that lyes deep and 't is not every man that has a golden key to search into this Treasury As a man standing on the Sea-shore sees a great heap of waters one wave riding upon the back of another and making a dreadfull noise but all this while though he sees the water rouling and hears it raging and roaring yet he sees not the wealth the gold the silver the Jewels and incredible Treasures that lye buried there so wicked men they see the wants of the Saints but not their wealth they see their poverty but not their riches their miseries but not their mercies their conflicts but not their comforts their sorrows but not their joyes 1 Cor. 2.14 O the blinde world cannot see the joys and rejoycings the comforts and consolations of the Saints that lye at the bottom of their souls their joys are inward and spiritual and so must the eye be that discernes them the joy of the Saints is like a Garden inclosed Cant. 4.12 a spring shut up a fountaine sealed Psal 45.13 And as the glory of the Church is inward so the joy of the Church is inward Isa 12.3 The waters of consolation lye deep in the wells of salvation The richest veines of Oare lye deepest under ground and so do's the strongest and the choicest
up to holy rules and live out holy principles must prepare for sufferings All the Roses of holiness are surrounded with pricking Briers The History of the ten persecutions and that little book of Martyrs the 11. of the Hebrews and Mr. Fox his Acts and Monuments with many other Treatises that are extant do abundantly evidence that from age to age and from one generation to another they that have been born after the flesh Gal. 4.29 Within the first 300. years after Christ all that made a profession of the Apostles doctrine were cruelly murdered have persecuted them that have been born after the spirit and that the seed of the Serpent have been still a multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the woman Would any man take the Churches picture saith Luther then let him paint a poor silly Maid sitting in a wilderness compassed about with hungry Lyons Wolves Bores and Bears and with all manner of other cruel hurtful Beasts and in the midst of a great many furious men assaulting her every moment and minute for this is her condition in the world As certain as the night follows the day so certain will that black angel persecution follow holiness where-ever it goes In the last of the ten persecutions seventeen thousand holy Martyrs were slain in the space of one moneth And in Queen Maries days or if you will in the Marian dayes not of blessed but of most abhorred memory the Popish Prelates in less then four years sacrificed the lives of eight hundred innocents to their Idols and O that that precious innocent blood did not still cry to Heaven for vengeance against this Nation But Secondly Christ and his Apostles hath long since foretold us that afflictions and persecutions will attend us in this world the Lord hath long since forewarned us that we may be fore-armed and not surprised on a sudden when they come Christ hath shot off many a warning piece in his word and sent many a Harbinger that so we may stand upon our guard and not be surprised nor astonished when afflictions and persecutions overtake us Mat. 10.22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake but he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved Chap. 16.24 Then said Jesus unto his Disciples if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Luk. 21.12 But before all these they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the Synagogues and into prisons being brought before Kings and Rulers for my names sake John 15.20 Remember the word that I said unto you The servant is not greater then the Lord if they have persecuted me Non potest qui pati timet ejus esse qui passus est He that is afraid to suffer cannot be his disciple who suffered so much Tert. they will also persecute you if they have kept my saying they will keep yours also Ah Christians since they have crowned your head with thornes there is no reason why you should expect to be crowned with Rose-buds God-fry of Bullen first King of Jerusalem refused to be crowned with a crown of Gold saying That it became not a Christian there to wear a crown of Gold where Christ for our salvation had sometime worn a crown of thornes Chap. 16. ult These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world Acts 14.21 22. And when they had preached the Gospel to that City and had taught many they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God As there was no way to Paradise but by the flaming sword nor no way to Canaan but through a wilderness Loddela Corda computeth fourty four several kinds of torments wherewith the Primitive Christians were tryed Adv. Sacr. cap. 128. so there is no way to heaven but by the Gates of hell there is no way to a glorious exaltation but through a Sea of tribulation They do but dream and deceive their own souls who think to go to heaven upon Beds of Doun or in a soft and delicate way or that think to be attended to glory with mirth and musick or with singing or dancing the way to happiness is not strewed with Roses but full of Thornes and Briers as those of whom this world was not worthy have experienced Ecclesiastical Histories tells us that all the Apostles died violent deaths Peter was crucified with his heels upward Christ was crucified with his head upwards but Peter thought this was to great an honor for him to be crucified as his Lord and therefore he chose to be crucified with his heels upward and Andrew was crucified by Egeus King of Edessa Acts 12.2 James the son of Zebedee was slain by Herod with the sword and Philip was crucified at Hierapolis in Asia and while Bartholomew was preaching the glad-tydings of salvation multitudes fell upon him and beat him down with staves and then crucified him and after all this his skin was fleaed off and he beheaded Thomas was slain with a Dart at Calumina in India and Mathew was slain with a Spear say some others say he was run through with a sword and James the son of Alpheus who was called the Just was thrown down from off a Pinacle of the Temple and yet having some life left in him he was brained with a Fullers club Lebbeus was slain by Agbarus King of Edessa and Paul was beheaded at Rome under Nero and Simon the Canaanite was crucified in Egypt say some others say that he and Jude was slain in a Tumult of the people Matthias was stoned to death Rev. 1.9 and John was banished into Patmos and afterwards as some Histories tells us he was by that cruel Tyrant Domitian cast into a Tun of scalding Lead and yet delivered by a miracle Thus all these precious servants of God except John died violent deaths and so through sufferings entered into glory they found in their own experience the truth of what Christ had foretold concerning their sufferings and persecutions About the year 1626 A book formerly printed and intituled A preparation to the cross of Christ composed by John Frith Martyr was brought in the belly of a Fish to the Market in Cambridge Mr. Jer. Dyke in a Fast Sermon at Westminster and that a little before the Commencement time when there was a confluence of much people from all places of the Land which was construed by them that feared the Lord to be no less then an heavenly warning to all the people of England to prepare for the cross But ah since that year who can recount the heavy crosses that has generally attended the people of this Nation most
be the Herald of his honor Psal 7.15 16. He made a pit and digged it Histories would furnish us with many hundred instances of this nature and is fallen into the ditch which he hath made His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate The wicked shall be undone by their own doings all the Arrows that they shoot at the righteous shall fall upon their own pates Maxentius built a false bridge to drown Constantine but was drowned himself Henry the third of France was stabbed in the very same Chambe where he had help't to contrive the cruel Massacre of the French Protestants And his brother Charles the ninth who delighted in the blood of the Saints had blood given him to drink for he was worthy Afterwards he was made Lord Cobham Soon after Thomas Arundel Arch-bishop of Canterbury had condemned Sir John Oldcastle a godly Knight it pleased the Lord to strike the Arch-bishop so in his tongue that he could neither swallow down any food nor speak a word before his death and so he was starved to death The Duke of Somerset in King Edward the sixth's days by consenting to his brothers death made way for his own by the same Ax and hand that beheaded his brother 'T is usuall with God to take persecutors in the snares and pits that they have laid for his people as many thousands in this Nation have experienced and though Rome her confederates are this day a laying of snares and traps and a digging of pits for the righteous who will rather burn then bow to their Baal yet do but wait and weep and weep and wait a little and you shall see that the Lord will take them in the very snares and pits that they have laid and digged for his people But Sixthly and Lastly God sometimes preserves his people from persecuting hands by providing Cities of refuge to shelter them and by providing hiding places to hide them in Mat. 10.23 If they persecute you in one city flye to another God has always found one City of refuge or another to shelter his persecuted people in And so when bloody persecuting Jezebel had cut off many of the Lords Prophets God provided an Obadiah to hide an hundred of them by Fifty in a Cave 1 Kin. 18.4.13 The Learned judge that there were several others in Israel that kept other Prophets of the Lord from Jezabels fury besides those that Obadiah hid Three years before Titus Vespasian besieged Jerusalem there was a voice frequently heard go up to Pella go up to Pella which very many of the Jews did and were saved God never wants a Chamber of presence a chamber of providence a chamber of protection a chamber of salvation to hide his people in Isa 26.20 I have read of one that in the time of the Massacre at Paris crept into a hole to hide himself and as soon as he was in there came a spider and weaved a Web before the hole the next morning the murderers came to search for him search in that hole said one and see if he be not there O no said another he can't be there for there is a Cob-web at the holes mouth upon which they did not suspect his being there by which means he was preserved from the rage and fury of those men of blood Constantius the Emperor promised a reward to those Captains or Souldiers that should bring Atharasius head to him but God hid him in a pit and fed him there a long time by the hand of a friend but being at last discovered by a Maid-servant the very night before his adversaries search't for him the providence of God opened away for his escape and sent him into the West by which means he was preserved from the rage and fury of his adversaries I think no men under heaven have had larger experience of this truth then English men Ah what Cities of refuge what hiding places has God provided for them to hide them from the wrath and rage of their persecutors for many years And thus I have given you a brief account of some of those ways which God takes to deliver his people out of persecuting hands But Quisquis volens detrahit famae meae nolens addit mercidi meae saith Augustin Twelfthly and lastly I answer That all the persecutions that you meet with on earth shall advance your glory in heaven the more Saints are persecuted on earth the greater shall be their reward in heaven as persecutions do increase a Christians grace so they do advance a Christians glory Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Luk. 6.22 23. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and * Excommunicate and Anathematize you as notorious shameful and abominable offenders cast out your name as evil for the son of mans sake Rejoyce ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is in heaven for in the like manner did their fathers unto the Prophets They that are now opposed and persecuted by men shall at last be owned and crowned by God yea and the more afflictions and persecutions are multiplyed upon them in this world the greater shall be their recompence in another woâ—ld The Original words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Matthew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Luke signifies exceeding great joy such as men usually express by skipping and dancing let your hearts leap and let your bodies leap for joy for great is your reward in heaven Look as wanton young cattle in the Spring when every thing is in its prime and pride do use to leap and skip for joy so says Christ do you leap and skip under all the afflictions and persecutions that befalls you for righteousness sake for great is your reward in heaven Bernard speaking of persecutors saith That they are but his Fathers Goldsmiths who are working to add Pearls to the Saints Crowns It is to my loss said Gordius the Martyr if you abate me any thing of my present sufferings sufferings for Christ are the Saints greatest glory they are those things wherein they have divinely glorified Crudelitas vestra gloria nostra your cruelty is our glory say they in Tertullian and the harder we are put to it the greater shall be our reward in heaven Chrysostom hit the nail when he said if one man should suffer all the sorrows of all the Saints in the world yet they are not worth one hours glory in heaven By the consent of the Schoolmen all the Martyrs shall appear
in the Church Triumphant bearing the signs of their Christian wounds about them as so many speaking testimonies of their godly courage that what here they endured in the behalf of their Saviour may be there an addition to their glory O Christians all your sufferings will certainly increase your future glory every affliction every persecution will be a grain put into the scale of your heavenly glory to make it more weighty in that day wherein he will richly reward you for every tear for every sigh for every groan for every hazard and for every hardship that you have met with in the pursuit of holiness c. for light afflictions you shall have a weight of glory and for a few afflictions you shall have as many joys 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. pleasures delights and contents as there be Stars in heaven or sands on the Sea-shore and for momentary afflictions you shall have an eternal crown of glory If you have suffering for suffering with Christ on earth you shall have glory for glory with Christ in heaven Ah Christians your present sufferings are but the seeds of your future glory and the more plentifully you sowe in tears the more abundant will be your harvest of glory Cyrus in a great expedition against his enemies the better to encourage his souldiers to fight in an Oration that he made at the head of his Army promised upon the victory to make every foot souldier an horseman and every horseman a Commander and that every Officer that did valiantly should be highly rewarded but Christ our General promises more for he promises a Crown Rev. 2.10 And a throne Chap. 3.21 to all his afflicted and persecuted ones which are the greatest rewards that a God can give or that man can crave It troubled one of the Martyrs when he was at the stake that he was going to a place where he should be for ever a receiving of wages for a little work Aristippus being demanded in a storm Why he was not as fearful as others were answered That there was great reason for it For saith he they fear the torments due to a bad life but I expect the reward due to a good life Ah Christians shall not the hopes of that great reward that attends suffering Saints bare you up bravely and carry you out sweetly under all the storms that may beat upon you whilst you are sailing heaven-wards and holiness-wards Surely yes I have read that Lycurgus could draw the Lacedemonians to any thing by temporal rewards And O then how much more should I draw all your hearts to a readiness and willingness to do any thing to be any thing and to suffer any thing for Christs sake and holiness sake upon the account of that great reward that sure reward and that eternal reward that attends suffering Saints And let thus much suffice for answer to this fourth objection I hope none of you will think that I have been too long in answering this Objection considering the present times But Fifthly Others may object and say We would labor after this holiness without which there is no happiness c. But if we should then we must resolve to be poor and mean and beggarly in the world we must resolve then to fare hard and lye hard and labor hard and live low in the world for we shall never raise an estate to our selves by holiness and strictness we shall never grow rich and great in the world by godliness nay by driving this trade of holiness we shall lose our Trades our Customers and those estates we have and quickly bring a noble to nine pence c. Now to fence and arm you against this objection give me leave to propose these six following considerations First Consider that 't is not absolutely necessary that you should be rich or high or great in this world but 't is absolutely necessary that you should be holy the want of riches can onely trouble you but the want of holiness will certainly damne you you may be happy in another world though you are not high in this world many a man has gone to heaven without a penny in his purse or good cloaths on his back Luk. 16.19 31. and doubtless 't is infinitely better with ragged naked Lazarus to go to heaven then 't is with Dives to go rich and bravely clad to hell 't is better to go to heaven poor and halt and maimed then to go to hell sound and rich poverty and outward misery with salvation is far better then worldly prosperity and felicity with everlasting perdition Holiness and not riches is the One thing necessary if thou hast holiness nothing can make thee miserable but if thou wantest holiness nothing can make thee happy Outward blessings are no infallible evidences of a blessed estate Was Abraham rich so was Abimelech to Was Jacob rich so was Laban to Was David a King so was Saul to Was Constantine an Emperor so was Julian to 'T is onely holiness that sets the crown of happiness upon a Christians head But Secondly Consider that 't is not sanctity but impiety 't is not holiness Prov. 24.33 34. Ch. 28.19.22 but wickedness that exposes men to the greatest poverty and misery Prov. 6.26 For by the means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread Whoredom is a very costly sin the prodigal had quickly spent his portion among his Harlots Luk. 15. Whoredom can't be a greater Paradise to the flesh then 't is a purgatory to the purse and many great ones have found it so Mar. 6.23 24. Herod that old fornicator was so inflamed and bewitched with the immodest wanton dancing of his Damosel that he swore he would give her to the half of his kingdom And 't is very observable that whilst Solomon in his younger days kept holy 1 King 10.27 28. Chron. 1.15 16 17. chast and pure silver and gold was as plentious at Jerusalem and at Court as the stones of the street but when Solomon had given himself up to his Concubines they quickly exhausted his Treasuries and brought him to so low an ebb that he was forced to oppress his subjects with such heavy taxes 1 Kings 12.1 20. burdens and tributes which occasioned the revolt of the ten Tribes Josephus in his Antiquities tells us of one Decius Mundus that offered to give so many hundred thousand Drachmes that came to six thousand pound English money to satisfie his lusts one night with a whore and yet could not obtain his desire There is no sin that has brought more men and greater men to beggary and misery then this has it is a great misery to be brought to a piece of bread to a scrap a little bit of bread but to be brought into so low a condition by Harlots doubles the misery for he that is by a whorish woman brought to a piece of bread on earth shall be brought to a drop of water in hell
Robes and their Cottages into stately Palaces and their Barley loaves into costly Banquets but he knew that their hearts would be best when their condition was lowest and therefore he makes them live upon short Commons As there was none so holy as Christ so there was none so poor as Christ Christ lived poor and died poor for as he was born in another mans house so he was buried in another mans Tombe Austine has long since observed that when Christ died he made no Will he had no crown lands If there were any happiness in riches the Gods would not want them said Seneca all he had was a coat and that the souldiers parted amongst them had there been any true happiness or blessedness in Gold and Silver gay clothes stately Mansions brave attendants or in well furnished Tables c. Christ who was and still is the Lord of all would certainly have been so favorable to himself and so kind to his disciples as not to have deprived himself or his Family of that happiness and blessedness which they might have enjoyed by enjoying the brave things of this world but he very well knew that true happiness and blessedness was too great and too glorious a thing to be found in any such worldly enjoyments and upon that foot was willing to be without them himself in his wise providence he so ordered the affairs of his own house that those whom he loved best should have least of those things wherein there was no true happiness Lazarus was very poor but very holy he was houseless but not Lordless his body was clothed with raggs but his soul was adorned with grace he had no bread to eat and yet he had bread to eat that the world knew not of whilst he lived the Doggs being more kinde then their Master lick't his sores but when he died the Angels carried him into Abrahams bosom In all Ages this has been an experienced truth that most men are best in at low condition Pope Martin reports of himself that whilst he was a Monke and lived in the Cloyster he had some evidences for heaven but when he was a Cardinal then he began to fear and doubt whether ever he should go to heaven but afterwards when he came to be Pope he utterly despaired of ever going thither Ah how holy how humble how heavenly how gracious how serious how zealous how prudent how vigilent and how diligent have many men been in these late years whilst their condition was low and poor and mean in the world but when under various changes they changed their Brass into Silver their Copper into Gold their Cottages into Palaces their Shops into Lordships and their Shipskins into Scarlet c. Ah how proud how stately how earthly how carnal how careless how cold how formal how lukewarm how indifferent how light how slight how vain how loose did they generally grow I think since Christ was on earth there has not been a more evident proof of mens being best when their condition was lowest then what has been given within these late years Mandrobulus in Lucian offered to his god the first year Gold the second year Silver and the third year nothing at all so many in our times who were forward in the days of their poverty and adversity to offer Gold and Silver I mean prayers and praises to God yet in the days of their prosperity and worldly glory they offered either nothing to God or else that which was next to nothing I have read of the Pine-tree that if you pull off the Barke it will last a long time but if the Barke continue on it will rot the Tree Ah how has the Bark of honor the bark of riches the bark of pleasure the bark of success the barke of applause and the barke of preferment c. rotted and corrupted and worsned many glorious professors in these days And O that now their barke is taken off they may with the Pine-tree grow better and better O that now they may grow more holy then ever and more humble then ever and more heavenly then ever and more spiritual then ever and more watchful then ever and more faithful then ever and more friendly then ever and more united then ever c. Now if most men are best in a low condition then there is no reason why any man should turn his back upon holiness because of poverty that often treads upon holiness heels The Cypress-Tree is high but barren and the Olive-Tree is low but fruitful Ah Christians 't is infinitely better to be an Olive-Tree low and fruitful to be low in the world and full of the fruits of righteousness and holiness then to be a Cypress-Tree high in honors riches and worldly greatness c. and to be barren of all grace and goodness But Sixthly and lastly consider That spiritual riches which are the best of riches do commonly wait on the poorest Saints usually there are none so rich in spirituals as those that are poorest in temporals there are none that have so much to shew for another world as those that have least to shew of this world Solus sapiens dives saith the Philosopher James 2.5 Hearken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him Though they have never a penny in their purses nor never a ragg to hange on their backs nor never a bit to put in their bellies yet they are rich heirs and their heads are destinated to the Diadem usually the poorest Saints are the richest Christians in comforts 2 Cor. 1.2 3 4 5. Rom. 5.3 in Graces in promises in experiences and in spiritual enjoyments c. The holy soul drives the freest and the greatest Trade heaven-wards the holy soul may sail to any Port that lies in Gods Dominions and Trade freely and what inriches men like a free and a full Ttade There are infinite Treasures laid up in precious promises and all these treasuries lye open to the holy soul a Christian may lade his soul as deep as he pleases with the precious commodities of heaven I have read of Tiberius the Emperor who seeing a Cross set in a Marble stone lying in the ground In the year of our Lord 577. commanded it to be digged up and when 't was digged up he found a rich Treasure under the Cross O sirs under the cross of poverty there are treasures spiritual treasures lasting treasures and satisfying treasures to be found though holiness may be attended with cross upon cross loss upon loss and misery upon misery and calamity upon calamity and sorrow upon sorrow and vexation upon vexation c. yet under every cross and every loss c. a Christian shall be sure to finde such spiritual and Heavenly treasure that for weight worth use delight and duration all the treasures of the world are not to be compared
and large Tophet is the name of a place in the valley lying on the South side of Jerusalem Josh 18.16 Now in this vale stood Tophet wherein the Idolatrous Jews used to burne their children in sacrifice to the Idol Moloc and it had that name from the Drums or Tabrets that their Idolatrous Priests used to beat upon at the time of their detestable services to drowne the hideous shrieks and lamentable cryes of the poore sacrificed children the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a streame of Brimstone doth kindle it Alas the Brick-kilns of Egypt and the Furnace of Babel were but as a blaze of straw to this Tormenting Tophet that has been prepared of old for the great and mighty ones of the earth Oh how dreadfull must that fire be that is prepared by God himselfe and that is kindled by the breath of the Lord and that shall never be quenched and yet such is the fire that is prepared for the great and mighty ones of the world O! the easeless the endless the remediless the unsufferable and yet the inevitable Torments that are prepared for those that are great and graceless in hell their wanton eyes shall be tormented with ugly and fearefull sights of ghastly Spirits and their ears that us'd to be delighted with all delightfull musick shall now be filled with the hideous cryes howlings and yellings of Devills and damned Spirits and their tongues of blasphemy shall now be tormented with drought and thirst and though with the Glutton they cry out for a drop to coole their tongues yet Justice will deny them drops who have denyed others crums and their hands of bribery cruelty and tyranny shall now be bound with everlasting chaines and so shall their feete which were once swift to shed innocent blood In a word their torments shall be universall they shall extend to every member of the body and to every faculty of the soul Ah Sirs fire sword famine prisons Racks and all other torments that men can invent are but as flea-bitings to those Scorpions but as drops to those vials of wrath and but as sparks to those eternal flames that all unsanctified persons shall lye under Look as the least joy in heaven infinitely surpasseth the greatest comforts on earth so the least torments in hell doe infinitely exceed the greatest that can be devised here on earth for a close remember this as there are degrees of glory in heaven so there are degrees of torment in hell and as those that are most eminent in grace and holiness Math. 10.15 Chap. 11.22 Luke 12.47 48. shall have the greatest degrees of glory in heaven so those that are most vile and wicked on earth shall have the greatest degrees of torments and punishments in hell Now common experience tells us that the rich the great the high the honorable and the mighty ones of the world are usually the most excelling in all wickedness and ungodliness and therefore their condemnation will be the greater they shall have a hotter and a darker hell then others except they labour after this holiness which will be their only fence against hell and their sure path to heaven But Sixthly and lastly of all men on earth the rich the great and the honorable will be found most inexcusable The poore and the mean ones of the earth will plead their want of time and want of means and want of opportunities they will be ready to say Psal 127.1 2. Lord we have rise earely and gon to bed late we have labour'd and sweate and droyl'd and all little enough to get bread to eate and cloaths to weare As the poore people on the Northerne borders when to suppress their Theeveries some prest upon them the eighth Commandement they to excuse themselves replied that that Commandement was none of Gods making but thrust into the Decalogue by King Henry the eighth and to keep the Sargeant from the doore and to pay every man his own had we had but the time the meanes the advantages that such and such Gentlemen have had and that such and such Nobles have had and that such and such Princes have had c. O how would we have minded holiness and studied holiness and prest after holiness but seeing it has been otherwise with us we hope Lord we may be excused but what excuse will you be able to make O ye great ones of the earth who have had time and opportunities and all advantages imaginable to make your selves holy and happy for ever and yet you have trifled away your golden seasons and forgotten the one thing necessary and given your selves up to the lusts and vanities of this world as if you were resolv'd to be damn'd Let me a little allude to that John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak or excuse for their sin So will God one day say to the great ones of the woâ—ld Had I not given you riches and greatness and honor c. to have encouraged you to look after holiness and that you might have time and leasure and opportunity to seek holiness and pursue it you might have had some â—loak some excuse for your neglecting so great so glorious so noble and so necessary a work O but now you have no cloak no excuse at all for your sin now you can shew no reason under heaven why an eternal doom should not be past upon you and ah how silent how mute how speechless Titus 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-condemned or self damned and how self-condemned will all the great ones of the world be when God shall thus expostulate with them O! that such would seriously lay to heart that Math. 22.11 12. And when the King came in to see the Guests he saw there a man which had not on a wedding Garment And he saith unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding Garment and he was speechless By the wedding Garment the Learned understand holiness of heart and life now when the King questions him about the want of this wedding Garment he is speechless or as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports He was muzzled or haltered up that is he held his peace as though he had a bridle or a halter in his mouth he was not able to speak a word for himselfe his own conscience had past a secret sentence of condemnation upon him and he sat silent under that sentence as having nothing under heaven to say why he should not be cast into utter darkness And this will be the very case of all the rich the great and the mighty ones of the world who shall be found without the garment of holiness when the Lord shall enter into Judgement with them And thus you see by these six Arguments that there are no persons under heaven that are so eminently engaged to look after
the man of iniquity i. e. the man that is made up of iniquity that is nothing but iniquity now this shews that 't is iniquity in the man that makes the man to be an abomination to the just but now wicked men they abhor the upright for their very uprightness they abhor him that is upright in the way and could wish him quite out of the way and will do what they can to make him away the uprightness of the upright is such a terror to the wicked that they can't but abominate and abhor the upright and therefore no wonder if the upright abominate them and indeed who can look upon wicked men as enemies to God as adversaries to Christ as murderers of their own souls as fighters against the Church as Champions for Satan and as the Pests and Plague of a Nation and not abhor them and not abominate them O sirs not to contemn the wicked is an argument that you your selves are wicked and not to contemn the wicked is a means to make them more wicked not to contemn the wicked is to encourage and tempt the wicked to be seven-fold more wicked yea not to contemn the wicked who contemn God Christ Heaven and holiness c. is to contemn God himself As for such that advance the wicked that magnifie the wicked that flatter the wicked that strengthen the hands of the wicked that are most In with the wicked that joy and glory in the prosperity of the wicked and that sigh and mourn that stamp and take on at the downfall of the wicked these are certainly wicked yea they are eminently wicked and therefore the more to be slighted and scorned by men of integrity and sanctity But Fifthly and lastly To neglect the pursuit of holiness upon the account of this objection is to debase the great God and to overvalue vain man as if there were more power ability policy and malice c. in worthless man to hurt and harm thee then there is power allsufficiency wisdom goodness and graciousness in God to defend thee and secure thee and arm thee against all the reproaches and revilings of slanderous tongues Now who art thou and what art thou O vain man that thou shouldst dare to lessen God greaten man to debase God and exalt man yea to set up man above God himself and to ungod him as much as in the lyes and yet all this thou doest when thou turnest thy back upon holiness because of the revilings and reproaches of wicked men But I shall say no more to this objection because I have spoken very largly to this objection in my former books If you desire further satisfaction to this objection turn to that Treatise called Apples of Gold c. and from Page 311. to Page 327. you will finde seven more distinct answers to it And see also my Mute Christian under the smarting Rod and from Page 304. to Page 326. you will finde eight answers more to this objection I confess several other objections might be made against your pursuing after holiness but because I have spoken to them at large in my former writings therefore I shall not trouble you with them here and therefore let thus much suffice for answer to those objections that usually men make when they are prest home to follow after holiness And so I shall come now to the second part of the Exhortation and that relates to Gods holy ones to his sanctified ones to those that have obtained holiness that have experienced the principles the power the life and the sweetness of holiness And here let me exhort such First To express declare evidence and hold forth both the reality and power of holiness and that First By keeping your selves free from gross enormities from scandalous wickednesses Rom. 2.23 24 25. O remember that one scandalous sin will obscure and cloud all your graces and spiritual excellencies Look as one spot in the face spoils all the beauty The Schoolmen say that if a Sow do but wallow in one miry or dirty hole she is filthy c. and one blot upon the copy obliterates the whole copy and as one drop of Inke coloureth a whole glass of clear water so one scandalous sin will blot and blur all former acts of piety and holiness it will stain all a mans duties and services it will deface all a mans contentments and enjoyments it will dash and rase out all those golden Characters of righteousness and goodness that has been stampt upon the soul Ezek. 36.20 The Babylonians beholding the enormities of the Jews cryed out These are the people of the Lord these are come out of the Lords land Davids one act of folly with Bathsheba made the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme When one commended Alexander for his many noble acts another objected thus against him I but he killed Calisthenes He was valiant and successful in the wars Plutarch in vita I but he killed Calisthenes He overcame the great Darius I but he killed Calisthenes his meaning was that this one unjust and unrighteous action clouded and darkned all his most noble deeds A Christian can't after his conversion fall into a scandalous sin but 't will be objected against him by every one to the defacing and darkning of all his spiritual glory When Naaman the Syrian was cured and as some think converted by the Prophet Elisha he offers gold and rich garments 2 Kings 5.1 One flaw in a Dyamond takes away the lustre and the price of it and if we fall but once into a puddle it will defile us and make every one point at us but he bows in the house of Rimmon he seems to be very devoute and religious but he bows in the house of Rimmon he promises to offer to none but the Lord but yet he bows in the house of Rimmon this Rimmon like the flye in the Alabaster box spoyl'd all his best intentions and highest resolutions and thus one scandalous vice disgraceth all the Noble vertues that be in a Christian O such a man is a very holy man but and such a one is a very gracious experienced Disciple but and such a one is a very wise and understanding man but and such a one is a very active stirring Saint but c. and this but marrs all If there be but one crack in the honey-glass there the waspe will be buzing and if there be but one scandalous sin that a Christian falls into in all his life how will the wicked be still a buzing of that about both in City and Country O sirs there are no sins that opens so many mouthes and that sads so many hearts and that swells so many eyes and that endangers so many souls as scandalous sins doe and therefore above all keeping keep off from them O Sirs as you would not harden sinners as you would not encourage sinners as you would not tempt sinners Rom. 14.13 as you would not stumble sinners yea
Winter is past and the singing of birds is come and anone you say your Winter is like to be longer then ever now you say there is Balm in Gilead and anon you say your wound is incurable now you say all is your own and anon you are ready to give up all as lost c. and thus your hearts rise and fall according to the working of second causes When you have full purses and powerful Armies and subtle Councellors Psal 30.6 7 8. and great Allies then you are ready to say surely our mountain is strong and we shall never be removed but when your bags are empty and your forces broken and your counsels dissipated and your Allies faln off then you are ready to cry out O now there is no hope there is no help O but now were you eminent in holiness then under the saddest and crossest workings of second causes 2 Chron. 14.11 you would say with Asa O Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power 2 Kin. 6.16 17. Exod. 14.13 and with Elisha They that be with us are more then they that be with them and with Moses Stand still Psal 118.6 and see the salvation of God and with David The Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do unto me Holiness in any considerable heighth will set the power of God in opposition to all the power of the world Psal 65.6 11. and then divinely triumph over them Plutarch in vita Pomp. Pompey once gloried in this that with one stampe of his foot he could raise all Italy up in Arms but the great God with one stampe of his foot or with one word of his mouth can raise not onely Italy but also all the Angels in heaven and all the men on earth in Arms at his pleasure and in the power of this God raised holiness will enable a man to glory all the day long Where holiness is weak there men stand and fall as second causes work but where holiness is eminent there men will live upon the first cause and however second causes may wheel about yet such a man will live upon him and look up to him that hath a wheel within every wheel Ezek. 1.15 22. But Seventhly You have but little holiness witness that soul-leanness Psal 106.15 Isa 24.16 and Chap. 10.16 barrenness and unfruitfulness that is among you at this very day Ah how may most cry out with the Prophet Isaiah O my leanness my leanness O our leanness our leanness our barrenness our barrenness c. though God has waited many three years for fruit yet behold nothing but leaves I have read of the Indian Fig-tree how that its leaves are as broad as a Target Athenaeus de Ipnosoph lib. 3. but its fruit is no bigger then a Bean Ah how many Christians be there in these days whose leaves of profession are very broad but their fruits of righteousness and holiness are very small and as the Indian Fig-tree though it be of fair and goodly dimensions yet it riots out all its sap and juce into leaves and blossoms So many in these days who though they carry it fair and make a goodly shew yet they riot out all that spiritual sap and life that is in them into the mear leaves and blossoms of an empty profession Ah how are many of our hearts like to the Isle of Pathmos which is so barren that nothing that is good will grow on 't all the good things that grow there is from the earth that is brought from other places Look as a company of Ants are very busie about a Mole-hill running to and fro and wearying themselves in their several movings and turnings this way and that and yet never grow great for after all their motions and stiring they are still the same as to the slender proportion of their bodies so many Christians in these days run to and fro they run from one duty to another and from one ordinance to another and from one opinion to another and from one principle to another and from one Minister to another and from one Church to another and from one way to another and from one notion to another and yet they make little progress in holiness 2 Pet. 3.18 2 Tim. 3.6 7. they grow but little in the love the life the likeness and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ they are like those silly women that Timothy speaks of who were ever learning and yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth and they are like Nazianzens country of Ozizala which abounded with gay flowers but was barren of corn so these abound in gay notions and flourishing parts but are barren of grace and holiness Seneca hath long since observed that as the Philosophers in his time grew more and more learned so they grew less and less moral and is there any thing more evident in these days then this viz. that as men grow more and more in empty airy notions and in a pompous Religion and profession so they grow less and less zealous and religious The reason say some why Christ cursed the Fig-tree though the time of bearing fruit was not come was because it made a glorious shew with leaves and promised much but brought forth nothing What 's a barren tree a barren ground or a barren womb to a barren heart Many in our days are like the Cypress-tree Joh. 15.6 which the more it is watered the more it is withered so the more many are watered with the means of grace the more they wither the more the dews of heaven falls upon them and the more heavenly Manna is daily rained round about them the more lean fruitless and barren they grow Such souls may do well to remember that those trees that are not for fruit are for the fire Heb. 6.8 Augustin For a close let me tell you that I fear with that Father that many grieve more for the barrenness of their lands then they do for the barrenness of their lives and for the barrenness of their trees then they do for the barrenness of their souls and for the loss of their Cattel then they do for the loss of Gods countenance But Eigthly lastly You have but little holiness witness that great indifferency and inconstancy that is to be found among you My Lord Paulet kept both great favor and places under Henry the eighth a Papist and under King Edward the sixth a Protestant and under Queen Mary a Papist and under Queen Elizabeth a Protestant being ask'd how he could do so he answered that he always imitated the willow and not the oak Ah how many Christians are there in these days of Gospel-light who are indifferent who they hear or what they hear who are indifferent whether they pray or not or walk in Gospel-order or not or keep Sabbaths or not or maintain
some instinct of gratitude and shall not a divine instinct enable Christians to do much more in a way of gratitude both upon the account of their own graces and upon the account of those eminent measures of grace that other Saints are blest and crown'd withal though Seiarus did dare to sacrifice to himself yet a Christian must not dare to sacrifice to himself nor to his duties nor to his graces c. the sacrifice of praise in regard of grace received is a crown of glory that is due to none but the God of grace All the Rivers return to the Sea from whence they had their beginning God will give you his Covenant and he will give you his Ordinances and he will give you his heaven and he will give you his Son yea he will give you himself Isa 42.8 but his glory his glory he will not give unto another Whatever he parts with he is resolved that neither Angels nor men shall share with him in the glory of his grace I have read of a Stork that cast a Pearl into the bosom of a Maid which had healed her of a wound O! Sirs when God comes to heal you of your spiritual wounds and diseases and not onely so but shall also richly bespangle and adorn your souls and others with his precious graces what can you do less then cast that Pearl of praise into the bosom of God as David did in that Psal 103.1 6. The best means to get more grace is to be thankful for that grace you have for God loves to sowe much where he reaps much if your returns are answerable to your receipts you will still be on the receiving hand thankfulness is Gods impost for all his blessings and they that truely and duely payes this impost shall be sure to abound in the best of blessings thankfulness for one blessing always draws on another blessing as Saints by experience daily find And thus you see by these Arguments that 't is possible for you to attain higher degrees of holiness then any yet you have reach't unto But Fifthly and lastly 'T is possible for you to attain to higher degrees of holiness c. witness those choice those rare and singular gifts that Christ has bestowed upon many of his servants for this very purpose viz. that they may help on a growth and an increase of holiness in your hearts Eph. 4.8 11 12 13. Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ One main end of Christs giving such eminent gifts to his Church Officers is that his people may be made eminent in holiness 't is not onely to bring them in but also to build them up 't is not onely to convert them but also to edifie them 't is not onely to begin a work of holiness but also to perfect and carry on a work of holiness and therefore the Word is not only compared to seed that begets holiness in mens hearts but also to wine and milk and strong meat that helps forward the growth and increase of holiness in mens hearts 'T is only the holy soul that can truely say Credo vitam aeternam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 edo vitam aeternam Cyprian lib. 4. Ep. 6. And so the great end of the Lords Supper is not to work spiritual life where it is not but to encrease it where it tis 't is not to change the heart but more and more to sanctifie the heatt 't is not to work holiness but to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord 't is not to sowe the seed of grace in the soul but 't is to cause that seed to grow and flourish in the soul The Martyrs in the Primitive Church when they were to appear before the cruel Tyrants they were wont as Cyprian shews to receive the Lords Supper and thereby they were fired with zeal and fervor and filled with faith and fortitude c. Chrysostom saith that by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we are so armed against Satans temptations that he fleeth from us as if we were so many Lyons that spit fire The Lords Supper is a Cabinet of spiritual Jewels And O then how unmanly and unseemly a thing is it to hang this Cabinet of Jewels which is more worth then the Gold of Opher in a Swines snout And how that mother can be guiltless of the death of her child that giveth him poison in a Golden cup with this caution that she tells him it is poison I know not no more do I know how that Minister can be guiltless of the body and blood of our Lord who dispences the bread of Life to those who are known to be without spiritual life yea that are known to be dead in sins and trespasses The end of the 43. Sermon And thus you see by these five arguments that 't is possible for you to attain to greater measures of holiness then any yet you have reacht unto and so much for the second Motive Thirdly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness Psal 16.3 4. consider that the more holy you are the more you will be the delight of God and the more deare you will be to God and the more beloved you will be of God For the right understanding of this argument you must carefully distinguish between Gods love of good Will and his love of complacency now Gods love of good Will is equall to all his Saints whether they are rich or poore high or low bond or free or whether they have a sea of grace or but a drop of grace Gods love of good Will runs as much out to the weakest Christian as it do's to the strongest to a Babe in grace as to a Gyant in grace All Saints are equally elected God never chose one man a vessel of glory more then another Rom. 11.17 the weakest Saint is as much elected as the strongest And as all Saints are equally elected so all Saints are equally redeemed by Jesus Christ Isa 53.3 12. Christ bled as much for one Saint as another and he sweat as much for one Saint as another and he sighed and groaned as much for one Saint as another and he trod the wine-press of his Fathers wrath as much for one Saint as another 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Christ paid as great a price for his Lambs as for his Sheep for Lazarus in his Rags as for David in his Royal Robes And as all Saints are equally redeemed so all Saints are equally called 1 Pet. 2.9 one Saint is
Moses by a cleare articulate voice even as one man speaks to another when they speak face to face And so when Aaron and Miriam were swell'd with pride and envy and began to bespatter Moses and to pick a hole in his Coat and to cloud eclipse and diminish his glory see at what ahigh and noble rate God speaks of Moses see how God magnifies and exalts and lifts up Moses in that 12 Num. 6 7 8. And he said heare now my words if there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dreame My servant Moses is not so who is faithfull in all my house with him will I speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold Wherefore then were ye not-afraid to speak against my servant Moses Now here you see how God owns Moses and stands up for Moses and pleads for Moses and tells Aaron and Miriam to their faces that Moses was the greatest favourite and that he had far greater respects for Moses then he had for them and that there was not a man in all the world that was so inward with him as Moses and that had so much of his eare and heart as Moses had God did appeare to oâ—her Prophets in Dreames and visions which were transient but with Moses God will speak mouth to mouth God will speak to him without an interpreter he will speak to Moses more familiarly and frequently then he did to others by visions and more clearely plainly and assuredly then he did to others by dreames God here engages himselfe to hold a more close familiar friendly and constant conference and correspondence with Moses then with any others in the world Moses was blest with as cleare and with as full and with as apparent sight of God and communion with God as he was able to bare and comprehend Some of the learned are of opinion that Christ did converse with Moses in a humane shape as he had done with Abraham before Gen. 18. Ch. 32.30 c. they conjecture that the Lord Jesus did very friendly and familiarly shew himselfe to Moses with that very same face and forme of humane nature which he afterwards assumed but this I dare not press upon you as an Article of your faith And whether Moses had one hundred and seventy three familiar conferences with God which none of the Prophets had lyes upon those Rabbies to prove that doe assert it but this is granted on all hands that he was a speciall favourite and a man in high communion with God and one that had very cleare and eminent discoveries and manifestations of God And so Abraham was a man of great holiness and a man eminent in his communion with God God own'd him as a friend Isa 41.8 as an honorable friend as an eminent friend as a bosome friend as a peculiar friend and as a faithful friend and therefore he made him one of his Privy Councell and open'd his heart and his secrets to him And the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I doe Gen. 18.17 Abraham is stil'd the friend of God by a specialty though God had many friends yet 't was Abraham that was his singular friend his darling friend his rare friend c. and accordingly God was most free and full and rich in the communications of his favours and secrets to Abraham 't was not enough for Abraham to be of Gods Court but he must be also of his Cabinet Councell 'T was alwayes a principle in morality that sweet and intimate friendship cannot be extended to many Friends usually goe by paires And thus you see that the more holy any man is the more communion that man shall have with God and the more communion any man has with God the more beloved shall that man be of God the highest communion is alwayes attended with the highest love But Fifthly and lastly the more holy any man is the more actually ripe and fit for heaven that man is A Christian at first conversion is but ruâ—â—e cast but as holiness is encreased Job 5.26 so he comes more and more every day to be prepared polished squared and fitted for a full and glorious fruition of God in heaven though the least degree of grace and holiness puts a man into an habitual preparedness and fittedness for heaven yet 't is only an eminency in grace and holiness that puts a man into an actuall preparedness and fittedness for heaven the richer in grace the riper for glory the higher you are in holiness the fitter you are to enter into the joy of your Lord Math. 25.19 to ver 24. though the least drop or dram of holiness is enough to keep a man from dropping into hell yet 't is only growne holiness that actually prepares and fits a man to goe to heaven Now doubtless the more actually ripe and ready any man is for heaven the more pleasure and delight God takes in him the more the vessels of grace are fitted for glory the more complacency God takes in them When God set himselfe upon the creation of the world in the close of every dayes work except the second for which the opinions of the learned are various God set to his Seale that it was good but when he had perfected and compleated the whole Creation and cast an eye upon all together then he concludes Gen. 1. ult that it was very good And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good or extream good so some or very pleasant and delightfull so others The work of Creation was so curiously and gloriously fram'd and so full of admirable rarities and varieties that it raised delight and complacency in God himselfe Aug. in Gen. 1.31 Whereupon Augustine observes that even to every grace yea of the least degree of grace he saith it is good but when he beholds the graces of his Saints fresh and flourishing your faith acted and strengthened your repentance daily renewed your humility increased c. then he concludes that all is very good O Sirs if the Lord Jesus Christ be so ravished with one of his Spouses eyes Cant. 4.9 and with one chaine of her neck with the least drops or sips of grace or with the least grains and drams of grace and holiness O how much more will great measures of grace and holiness take him and ravish him Well for a close of this Argument remember this that as the Sun shines hotter on some Climates then it doth upon others and as the dew falls more upon one place then another and as the water over-flowes some pastures more then others so Gods love of complacency and delight shines hotter and brighter upon some Christians then it do's upon others and these I have shew'd you to be such who are most eminent and excellent in
building up of Saints and partly because his eye is still upon it and his protection is still over it Psal 121.3 4 5 6 7 8. and his presence is still with it Isa 27.2 3. In that day sing ye unto her a vineyard of red wine I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day But Solomons eye was not alwayes upon his vineyard neither was his hand of protection alwayes over it neither was his kingly presence alwayes with it and partly because all his treasure is laid up in his vineyard his Church his treasures of grace Eph. 3.10.17 18 19 20. his treasure of mercy his treasures of comfort his treasures of goodness c. is all laid up in his Church but Solomon as rich as glorious a King as he was yet he had no such treasures laid up in his vineyard Solomon never made his vineyard his treasury and partly because his vineyard was given to him for ever Psal 2.7 John 6.39 Ch. 17.6 8 12. as an everlasting inheritance but Solomons was but temporary and mutable Now all those that are painfull and faithfull labourers in Christs vineyard shall receive a noble a liberall compensation and recompence for their labours no man shall shut a dore nor open a dore in Christs vineyard for nought no man shall labour an houre there without a reward all faithfull Ministers are Fellow-labourers with Christ in the spirituall husbandry 1 Cor. 3.8 9. they dig with Christ they plant with Christ and they prune with Christ and they water with Christ and they watch with Christ therefore Christ will allow them a fift part of the glory and reward with himselfe as he has his thousand pieces of silver so he will look to it that they shall have their two hundred pieces of silver a thousand is the number of perfection and here it may note that fulness of glory that Christ should have the two hundred may note that very great proportion of heavenly glory that all the faithfull labourers in Christs vineyard shall have Math. 19.27 28 29. who have helpt forward the flourishing estate of that vineyard Look as the thriving of the child adds to the comfort and the credit of the Nurse and the fruitfulness of the field adds to the pleasure and delight of the Husbandman and the health and increase of the Flock adds to the joy and reward of the Shepherd so the increase of holiness the thriving the fruitfulness of souls in holiness adds to the credit and comfort to the pleasure and delight to the joy and reward of faithful painful Ministers who are Nurses Husbandmen and Shepherds in the language of the holy Scriptures Though it be true that faithful Ministers are a sweet savour to God both in them that are saved 2 Cor. 2.15 and in them that perish though their labour whether it hit or miss is accepted and shall be rewarded of the Lord Isa 49.45 as the Physitian has his Fee though the patient dies the Nurse has her wages though the child don't thrive and the Vine-dresser has his hire though the Vines don't bare fruit yet the more they win men to heaven and the more by their means the work of holiness is carried on in the hearts lives of men the weightier will be their crowne of glory and the greater will be their joy and rejoycing in the great day of our Lord. O Sirs did you but see your faithfull Ministers tears did you but heare their heavy sighs and groanes were you but acquainted with their fervent and frequent prayers on your behalfes did you but believe how they beare their brains and how willing they are not only to spend themselves but even to spit out their very lungs in the service of your souls how would you call upon your own souls to adde holiness to holiness yea charge your own souls to perfect holiness in the feare of the Lord. Well friends as ever you would adde to your faithfull Ministers comfort here and to their joy and crowne at the coming of our Lord labour after higher degrees of holiness But Lastly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness consider that the more holiness you have here the more happiness you shall have hereafter the more grace you have on earth the more glory you shall have in heaven Now before I come to make good this Argument viz. that some Saints shall partake of more glory in heaven then others shall give me leave to promise these few things to prevent mistakes First That the object of their happiness which is God blessed for ever will be one and the same to all Saints all glorified Saints shall have but one God among them all God shall be no more one Saints God then he shall be every Saints God in heaven c. Secondly That the beatifical vision shall be seen by all the Saints and communicated to all the Saints they shall all have a happy and blessed fruition and possession of God all the vessels of glory shall be filled to the brim with a cleare sight of God and with a full injoyment of God and yet doubtless for all this some Saints shall apprehend more of God then others and comprehend more of God then others and enjoy more of God then others though all shall be filled with those everlasting springs of pleasure and delight that be at Gods right hand Psal 16. ult yet some shall be able to take in more of those pleasures of Paradise then others shall 2 Kings 4.3 8. Though all the widows vessels were filled to the brim with oyle yet doubtless some being greater and larger then others they accordingly contained more oyle then others and so 't will be with the Saints when they come to heaven There shall be no lack of glory to any of the Saints in glory all the Saints shall be fill'd with glory according to their capacity If you bring a thousand vessels of different sizes to the Sea the Sea fills them all though their sizes differ and some are bigger and others lesser yet all are fill'd every little vessell hath its fill as well as the greater so every Saint shall have his fill of glory when he comes to glory the felicity of every Saint shall be perfect God will be all in all to all Saints Psal 17.15 Thirdly All Saints shall be freed from all evills alike they shall all be freed from the aking head and from the unbelieving heart they shall all alike be free from the evill of sin and from the evill of sufferings there shall not be a Saint in glory that shall ever feele a pricking brier Ezek. 28.24 or a grieving thorne there all sorrow shall be removed from all their hearts and all tears shall be wipt from all their eyes Rev. 7.17 Fourthly and lastly the degrees of glory that Saints shall
greater shall bee my reward hereafter and therefore O my Soul grow in grace perfect holiness and abound in the work and service of the Lord knowing that thy labour shall not bee in vain in the Lord And thus I have given you the reasons that prove that there shall bee degrees of glory in Heaven Now I have nothing further to do upon this point but to give a few brief Answers to such Objections as are commonly raised against this truth that I have asserted and proved Obj. First Some object and say that one Christ bought us all and that all our portions are bought by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and that therefore all beleevers shall share alike in the inheritance of the Saints in light now to this Objection I shall Answer First That all Saints shall bee equal sharers in the substantial and essential glory of Heaven c. but of this I have spoken before and therefore Secondly Though a Father buyes a rich inheritance for all his Children yet this laies no necessity nor obligation at all upon him to alot to every one of his Children an equal portion so though our Lord Jesus Christ hath by his blood purchased a rich inheritance for his Children yet this layes no necessity nor obligation at all upon Jesus Christ to divide this rich inheritance by equal portions among his Children t is true that Christ hath purchased all with his blood and t is as true that hee may divide his purchase among his people as hee pleases if every man may do with his own as hee pleaseth why may not Christ must hee needs bee bound when others are free Thirdly and lastly I answer that as it is true that the merits and satisfaction of Christ is the ground and foundation of our reward and that alone which makes our works capable of a reward so t is as true that our works are the subject of reward and this is most agreeable to the compact that was made between Christ and his Father that everlasting happiness and blessedness that eternal glory and felicity should bee measured out to the Saints according to their different measures of grace and different degrees of service that they have been engaged in in this world and all this upon the credit of Christs blood certainly there is nothing under heaven below the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that can make differing works capable of a different reward the Papists are most sadly out for they are so blinde and bold as to affirm that the more grace any man hath the more glory hee merits by his grace these men make degrees of grace and not the blood of Jesus Christ to be the meritorious cause of degrees of glory and therefore of all men I think they are furthest from glory certainly this is the beleevers glory and his crown of rejoycing that all recompences and rewards shall flow in upon him not upon the account of his merits but upon the account of Christs blood and thus much shall suffice to have spoken by way of Answer to this Objection Obj. 2. But now in the Second place I shall come to answer their grand and main objection and that is taken from that Parable in the 20 Matth. where the Kingdome of Heaven is compared to a vineyard now in this Parable there is mention made of a Husband-man that call'd several labourers into his vineyard at several hours in the day some hee call'd at the first hour and some hee call'd at the third and some at the ninth and some at the eleventh now when they came all to receive their wages the story tells us that hee gave every man a penny hee gave every man an equal reward they that laboured from the first hour and they that laboured from the third hour and they that laboured from the sixth hour of the day had no greater a recompence than hee that came in at the eleventh hour and so had labour'd but one hour in the vineyard and bore but little if any of the heat of the day from whence the Objectors conclude that there are no degrees of glory in Heaven but that all shall have glory alike happiness and blessedness alike every man shall have his penny every man shall have an equal reward and no mans penny in Heaven shall bee brighter or bigger than anothers Now by way of answer to this objection give mee leave to premise these three things First That this Parable of the housholder in giving to every man a penny hath no reference at all to Heaven nor to the reward nor to the glory that shall bee confer'd upon the Elect and this I shall clearly and fully prove by these four following Arguments First This illative particle for in vers 1. sheweth that this Parable is inserted to expound the former conclusion viz. that the first shall bee last and the last shall bee first and therefore the end of the Parable is concluded with the repetition of the same sentence vers 16. the last shall bee first and the first shall be last Christ by this Parable would teach his hearers that there is no reason under Heaven why they which are first called in respect of time should boast or triumph over others because hee can easily call the uncalled at pleasure and either make them equal with them or else prefer them before them which are first The scope of Christ in this Parable is not to set forth the equality of celestial glory 't is not to prove that the happiness and blessedness of the Saints shall be equal in Heaven but the very drift of the Parable is to shew that they which are first called and converted have no cause at all to despise the uncalled unconverted or to trample upon them with the foot of pride considering that they who are yet in their sins and in their blood and in an unconverted and unsanctified estate may yet be called and either made equal to them or preferred before them But Secondly Interpreters do generally agree in this that by the Husbandman wee are to understand God himself and by the Labourers men upon earth and by the Vineyard the Church of God and several of them say Chrysostom Origen Jerom Gregory Austin that by the five hours in the Parable wee are to understand the five ages of man First By those who were called in the morning See my Apples of Gold and sent into the Vineyard wee are to understand those who in their childhood are called and converted they are such who begin to seek the Lord and to serve the Lord even as soon as they are capable of the use of reason As Samuel did and as Josiah did and as Timothy did Secondly By those who are called at the third hour wee are to understand those who are converted and turned to the Lord in their youth in the prime the spring and morning of their daies Thirdly By those who were called at the
a fixed eye upon the infinite and most glorious holiness of God Now that this direction may the better work premise with mee these eight things concerning the holiness of God First Premise this with mee that God is essentially holy Mat. 19.17 There is none good but God that is there is none essentially good but God c. and in this sense none is holy but himself Now essential holiness is all one with God himself Gods essential holiness is Gods conformity to himself holiness in God is not a quality but his essence Quicquid est in Deo est ipse Deus whatsoever is in God is God holiness in Angels and Saints is but a quality but in God it is his essence The fallen Angels keep their natures though they have lost their holiness for that holiness in them was a quality and not their essence Look as created holiness is the conformity of the reasonable creature to the Rule so the increated holiness of God is Gods conformity unto himself Gods holiness and his nature are not two things they are but one Gods holiness is his nature and Gods nature is his holiness God is a pure Act and therefore whatsoever is in God is God 't is Gods prerogative royal to be essentially holy the most glorious creatures in Heaven and the choicest souls on Earth are only holy by participation 1 Sam. 2.2 There is none holy as the Lord Gods holiness is so essential and co-natural to him that hee can as soon cease to be as cease to be holy Holiness in God is a substance but in Angels and men 't is only an accident or a quality the essence of the creature may remain when the holiness of the creature is lost As you may see in Adam and the fallen Angels but Gods essence and his holiness are alwaies the same his very nature is holy Exod. 3.14 and therefore 't is that hee is called Jehovah and I Am because what hee is really that hee is essentially Though men for our information do distinguish between the Attributes of God and the Nature of God yet in him they are the same Look as the Wisdome of God is the wise God and the Truth of God the true God and the Power of God the powerful God and the Justice of God the just God and the Mercy of God the merciful God and the Mightiness of God the mighty God and the Righteousness of God the righteous God and the graciousness of God the gracious God so the Holiness of God is the holy God Gods Nature and his Name are one and the same God is essentially holy and that is the top of all his glory But Secondly As God is essentially holy so God is unmixedly holy the Holiness of God is a pure Holiness 't is an unmixed Holiness 1 Joh. 1.5 God is light and in him is no darkness at all There are no mixtures in God God is a most clear bright-shining light yea hee is all light and in him is no darknesse at all The Moon indeed when it shines brightest Plato calls God the horn of plenty and the Ocean of beauty without the least spot of injustice c. hath her dark spots and specks but God is a light that shines gloriously without the least spot or speck Now look as that darknesse which hath not the least light attending it is the grossest the thickest Egyptian darknesse that can be so that light that hath not the least cloud of darknesse attending it must be the most clear splendid light that possible can be and such a light is the holy one of Israel 'T is very observable the Apostle to illustrate the perfect purity and sanctity of God adds a Negative to his Affirmative In him is no darkness at all that is God is so pure that not the least spot the smallest speck can cleave to him hee is so holy that no iniquity can be found in him there is no defect not default in the Nature of God hee is a God of Truth and without iniquity just and right is hee As Moses spake in that Deut. 32.4 God is a pure a most pure Act without the least potentiality defectability or mutability and therefore in the highest sense hee is light and in him is no darkness at all Surely there is no unrighteousnesse in God no evil can dwell with him or come neer unto him God stands at such a distance from iniquity yea hee so abhors it that hee never did nor never will bestow a good look upon it Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity There are four things that God cannot do 1. He cannot lye 2. Hee cannot dye 3. Hee cannot deny himself nor 4. Hee cannot look with a favourable eye upon iniquity God doth indeed look upon iniquity with a hateful eye with an angry eye with a revengeful eye and with a vindictive eye but hee never did nor will look upon iniquity with an eye of delectation or with an eye of approbation witnesse his hurling the fallen Angels out of Heaven and his banishing of sinning Adam out of Paradise By all this you see that the Holinesse of God is a pure Holinesse 't is a Holinesse without mixture but now all the holinesse that is in the best and choicest Saints in the world is but a dreggy holinesse a mixt holinesse a weak and imperfect holinesse their unholinesse is alwaies more than their holinesse Ah what a deal of pride is mixt with a little humility and what a deal of unbeleef is mixt with a little faith and what a deal of passion is mixt with a little meeknesse and what a deal of earthlinesse is mixt with a little heavenlinesse and what a deal of carnalnesse is mixt with a little spiritualnesse and what a deal of hardnesse is mixt with a little tendernesse O but now the Holinesse of God is a pure Holinesse 't is a Holinesse without mixture there is not the least drop nor the least dregge of unholinesse in God 't is true the Gods of the Heathen were such as had been impure beastly filthy men Arnobius Austin Tertullian c. and therefore several writers have taken a great deal of pains to convince Heathens of their impiety and folly in worshipping such for gods upon whom they fastened many horrid ridiculous lascivious and impious actions and therefore they conclude against them that they are no gods t is most certain that the true God that Hee that is the high and the holy one cannot bee charged with any iniquity no nor with the least shew or shadow of vanity In God there is wisdome without folly truth without falshood light without darkness holiness without sinfulness But Thirdly As God is unmixedly holy so God is Universally holy hee is holy in all his waies and holy in all his works his precepts are holy precepts and his promises are holy promises and his threatnings are holy threatnings his
ever was or that is this day in the world all the seeds of holiness and all the roots of holiness that are to be found in Angels or men Phil. 1.11 are of the Lords sowing and planting All that holiness that the Angels had in Heaven and all that holiness that Adam had in Paradise and all that holiness that Christ had in his humane nature and all that holiness that ever any Saints have had was from God and all that holiness that any Saints now have is from God The Divine Nature is the first root and original fountain of all sanctity and purity James 1.17 Ministers may pray that their people may be holy and Parents may pray that their children may be holy and Masters may pray that their servants may be holy and husbands may pray that their wives may be holy and Wives may pray that their husbands may be holy but none of these can give holinesse none of these can communicate holinesse to their nearest and dearest relations t is only God that is the giver and the Author of all holinesse If holy persons could convey holinesse into others souls they would never suffer them to go to Hell for want of holiness to hand out holiness to others is a work too high for Angels and too hard for all mortals 't is only the Holy One that can cause holiness to flow into sinners hearts 't is only hee that can form and frame and infuse holiness into the souls of men A man shall sooner make a man yea make a world and unmake himself than hee shall make another holy t is only a holy God that can enlighten the mind and bow the will and melt the heart and raise the affections and purge the conscience and reform the life and put the whole man into a holy gracious frame and temper But Sixthly As God is originally radically and fundamentally holy Isa 44.24 Rev. 1.18 so God is independently holy the Holiness of God depends upon nothing below God God is the Alpha the fountain from â—â—ence all holinesse springs and hee is the Omega the Sea to which all glory runs As all our holiness is from God so all our holiness must terminate in the honour and glory of God 'T is God alone that is independently holy All that holiness that is in Angels and men is a dependent holiness it depends upon the Holiness of God as the streams depend upon the Fountain the beams upon the Sun the branches upon the Root and the members upon the Head God is Unum principium ex quo cuncta dependent one beginning upon whom all things depend God hath his Being only of himself and 't is hee alone that gives Being unto all other things God is the first cause and without all causes himself the very Beings that Angels and men have they have by participation from God And 't is the first cause that giveth unto all causes their proper operations Isa 44.6 I am the first and I am the last and besides mee there is no God God never had a cause of his Being as all other creatures have He is a glorious being a holy being without all causes either efficient or formal or material or final and therefore hee must needs be independently holy Look as the power of God is an independent power and the wisdome of God an independent wisdome and the goodness of God an independent goodness and the righteousness of God an independent righteousness so the holiness of God is an independent holiness And as it is the glory of his power that his power is an independent power and the glory of his goodnesse that his goodnesse is an independent goodnesse so 't is the glory of his holinesse that his holinesse is an independent holinesse And look as all that power that Angels and men have depends upon the power of God and as all that wisdome that Angels and men have depends upon the wisdome of God and as all that goodnesse that Angels and men have depends upon the goodnesse of God so all that holinesse that Angels and men have depends upon the holinesse of God c. Philo could say that God is such a fountain that hee breaks forth with the streams of his goodnesse upon all things but receives nothing back again from any to better himself therewith There are none in Heaven nor none on Earth that are absolutely independent but God alone Seventhly As God is independently holy so God is constantly holy hee is unchangeably holy hee was holy yesterday and hee is holy to day and hee will be holy for ever What is natural is constant and lasting Now Gods holinesse is natural to him 't is as natural for God to be holy as 't is for us to breathe yea as 't is for us to bee unholy God can as well and as soon cease to bee as hee can cease to be holy Holinesse is his nature as well as his name and therefore his holinesse cannot decay though ours may whatever wee may lose of our holinesse yet 't is certain that God can never lose one grain of that holinesse that is in him Here our holinesse ebbs and flows but the Holinesse of God never ebbs but is alwaies a flowing and over-flowing there is still a full tyde of Holinesse in God Though the Saints cannot fall from that seed of holinesse that is sown in their hearts 1 Joh. 3.9 yet they may fall from some degrees of holinesse that they have formerly attained to they that have been old men in holinesse may fall from being old men to be but young men in holinesse and they that have been young men in holinesse 1 Joh. 2.12 13 14. 2 Pet. 2.1 2 3. may fall from being young men to be but children in holinesse and they that have been children in holiness may fall from being children to be but babes in holiness but now that holiness that is in God is never subject to any decayings abatings or languishing that spring that Sea of holiness that is in God is no waies capable of diminution nor of Augmentation Plato could say that God is one and the same Pierius and alwaies like himself And it was a custome among the Turks to cry out every morning from a high Tower God alwaies was and alwaies will bee and so salute their Mahomet O Sirs God hath been alwaies holy and God will bee alwaies holy whatever men may lose yet God is resolved that hee will never lose his honour nor his holiness But Eighthly and lastly As God is continually holy so God is exemplarily holy Levit. 20.26 Remember this you and I must answer for examples as well as precepts Hee is the Rule Pattern and Example of holiness 1 Pet. 1.15 Bee yee holy as I am holy Gods Holiness is the great example and pattern of all that holiness which is in the creatures Gods holiness is the Copy that we must alwaies have in our eye and indeavour most
Sons and stand by them as Sons and lay up for them as Sons and lay out himself for them as Sons that they that have not deserved a smile from God a good word from God a bit of bread from God or a good look from God should be made the Sons of God What manner of love is this that they that have so highly provoked God that they that have walkt so cross and contrary to God that they that were so exceeding unlike to God that they that have preferred every lust and every toy and vanity before God that they that have fought many years under Satans Banner against God that they that have refused all the offers of mercy that hath been made by God that they that have deserved to be reprobated by God to be damned by God and to be thrown to Hell by God that these should be made the Sons of God O stand and wonder O stand and admire at the freeness of Grace and at the riches of Grace But Seventhly If thou art a holy person if thou art one that hast that real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that thou art an undoubted heir of everlasting Glory Rom. 8.16 17 18. James 2.5 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Rom. 8.29 30. For whom hee did foreknow hee also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that is in holinesse that hee might bee the first born among many Brethren Moreover whom hee did predestinate them hee also called and whom hee called them hee also justified and whom hee justified them hee also glorified Holiness is a most sure earnest and pawn of glory 2 Thes 2.13 God hath chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God 1 Joh. 3.2 3. When hee shall appear wee shall be like him that is in glory for wee shall see him as hee is And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as hee is pure Hee that hath a real hope a lively hope of being like to Christ in Glory and of reigning with Christ in Heaven will set roundly upon the work of self-purifying there is no hope to that hope that runs out into holiness and that leads the soul on to the highest degrees of purification and that inables a man to set up Christs purity as the most perfect Pattern and exact Coppy for his Imitation Titus 3.4 5 6 7. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of Righteousness which wee have done but according to his mercy hee saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which hee shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour That being justified by his Grace wee should bee made heirs according to the hope of eternal Life Holiness is an infallible forerunner of glory 't is the first-fruits of that eternal happiness and blessedness that God hath laid up for his children in the highest Heavens And O what cause of joy and gladness should this be to every holy heart what though thou shouldest never have a good day more on Earth what though all the springs of comfort should be dried upon thy right hand and on thy left hand what though God should never smile on thee more in this world what though the remaining part of thy life should bee filled up with crosses losses troubles and trials what though God should let Satan loose to tempt thee and wicked men grow strong to oppress thee and friends turn enemies to grieve thee Yea what if thou shouldest go to thy grave with tears in thy eyes and with sorrow in thy heart yet as long as thou art sure that thou art an heir of Glory and that all the happiness of Heaven is thine and that thy Crown is safe Psal 16. ult and that thou shalt be for ever filled and satisfied with those everlasting pleasures and delights that be at Gods right hand thou hast cause to joy and rejoyce in the midst of all thy sorrows and sufferings Heb. 12.28 1 Pet. 1.3 4. See my String of Pearls on that very Text. yea to glory and triumph in the hopes and expectations of a Kingdome that shakes not of a Crown that withers not of Riches that corrupt not and of an Inheritance that fadeth not away O Sirs 't is not all the Silks of Persia nor all the Spices of Egypt nor all the Gold of Ophir nor all the Treasures of both Indies nor all the Crowns and Scepters in the world no nor yet the worth of ten thousand worlds that are to be compared with that Glory that is treasured up for all Gods holy ones they have an Inheritance reserved in Heaven for them that cannot be moth-eaten nor spoiled by hostile invasion nor wrung from them by power nor won from them by Law nor mortgaged for debt nor impaired by publick calamity nor plundered by Theeves and Robbers nor changed by Kings or Parliaments no nor violated by death it self and therefore what infinite cause of joy and rejoycing have all such that are interested in such an Inheritance and in such a perfect happiness and compleat blessedness that is reserved in Heaven for all Gods holy ones O what a singular comfort must this be to a Christian in the midst of all his miseries and distresses Psal 73.24 when hee is able to look upon God and say This God is my God for ever and ever and hee shall be my Guide to Glory and when hee is able to look up to Heaven and say This is my Inheritance yea when hee is able to look upon all the Glory and Happiness of another world and to say All this Glory and Happiness is mine for I have that Holiness that is the earnest of it Qui spirituali exultationis oleo uncti sunt c. Macar Hom. 17. the pawn of it and the first-fruits of it in my own soul 'T was an observable saying of Macarius They that are anointed with the spiritual Oil of gladness saith hee have received a sign of that incorruptible Kingdome to wit Gods Spirit for an earnest they are the Secretaries of the Heavenly King and relying confidently upon the Almighty they enter into his Palace where the Angels and the Spirits of holy men are although they be yet in this world for although they be not yet come to the intire Inheritance which is prepared for them in that world yet they are most sure of it by that pledge which they have newly received as sure as if they were already crowned and had the key of the Kingdome in their own possession 'T was a very sweet and comfortable speech which the Emperour used to Galba in his childehood and minority when hee took him by the chin and said Tu Galba c. Thou Galba shalt one day sit upon a Throne so 't is very sweet and
606. The more solid and exact a Christian is in religious duties and services the more holy he is Page 608 609. E. Of Election Reall holiness is a sure evidence of election Page 614 615 616. Of not Enduring Such as cant endure holiness in others shall never goe to Heaven Page 87 88 89. Of Ends. A holy man propounds holy ends to himself in all his actings and undertakings Page 157 158 159. How persons may know when they make the glory of God their end answered five wayes Page 159-168 Of Errors We are to have no speciall communion with such as erre in foundation truths Page 44 45 46. Of Exercise He that would have more holiness must be much in the exercise of that holiness he has Page 578 579 580. Of Expediency The more a man lives by the rule of expediency the more holiness he has attained to Page 611 612. Of the Eye of God He that would attain to greater measures of holiness must alwayes remember that the eye of God is continually upon him Page 573 574 575. F. Of Fellowship Vnholy persons have familiarity and fellowship with Satan Page 26 27. Of the Favour of God Holy persons are highly in Gods favour Page 630 631 632. Of the Fewness of those that shall be saved The number of those that shall goe to Heaven are but few Page 67 68 69. Of Flatterers Take heed of flatterers Page 285-289 Of Formalists Formalists shall not goe to Heaven Page 75 76 77. All unholy persons are fooles they have all the characteristical notes and properties of fooles And this is shewed in eight particulars Page 30-44 Christians are to have no speciall communion with fooles Page 49. G. Of our Generation The more holy any man is the more serviceable and usefull he will be in his generation Page 509 510. The meer gifted man shall not goe to Heaven Where you have seventeen differences between gifts and grace Page 84 85 86 87. Of Growth The afflictions and persecutions of the Saints will further the growth and increase of their grace Page 403 404 405. Of Guilt Of guilt upon the conscience Page 362 363. H. Of Hatred Where there is true holiness there is a hatred of all ungodliness Page 109-123 Of Heaven Ten arguments to prove that unholy persons have no mind to goe to Heaven Page 64 65 66. Of Heaven The more holy any man is the more actually ripe for heaven that man is Page 493 494. That there are degrees of glory in Heaven That some Saints shall partake of more glory in Heaven then others shall is approved by Scripture and Arguments from p. 517. to p. 565. only observe that next to p. 520. followes p. 553. all this misfiguring of the pages will be prevented in the next impression Objections against degrees of glory in Heaven answered from p. 565. to p. 572. Of Hell Vnholy persons are doomed adjudged and sentenced to Hell Page 57-62 Of an Heir Reall holiness is a sure evidence that thou art an Heir of glory Page 626 627 628 629. Of Holiness There is a sixfold holiness Page 5-19 Holiness is the honor and the glory of the creature Page 183 184 185 186. Holiness is very attractive drawing and winning Page 186 187. 188. Holiness is the excellency of all a mans excellencies Page 188 189 190. Holiness is an honor and an ornament both to the persons that have it and also to the very places where they were borne Page 190 191 192 193. Holiness is the very ear-mark the very livery and and badge of Christs servants and subjects Page 193 194. A man of holiness is a common blessing a publick mercy Page 194 195 196 197. Holiness is of the greatest antiquity Page 197 198 199. Holiness will render you most beautiful and amiable Page 199 200 201 202. Holiness is the most gainefull trade in the world This is made good by five Arguments Page 202-216 Holiness will put the greatest splendor and majesty upon persons that can possibly be put upon them Page 216 217 218. The times wherein we live calls aloud for holiness Page 218 219 220 221 222 223 224. Holiness will render you most like 1. To God 2. To Christ 3. To the blessed Angels Page 224. 225 226 227 228. Without holiness there is no seeing no enjoying of of God Page 228 229. Eight arguments proving that most Christians have but a little holiness Page 466-479 The more holiness any man has the more holiness God will give him Page 495 496. The more holiness any man has the more God will reveale himself to him Page 498 499 500 501 502. None under Heaven are so strongly obliged to perfect holiness in the feare of the Lord as holy ones are Page 505 506 507. The times require greater measures of holiness Page 512 513. Christ will certainly preserve thy holiness Page 634 635 636. Of the Holiness of God 1. God is essentially holy Page 585 586. 2 God is unmixedly holy the holiness of God is a pure holiness Page 586 587 588. 3. God is universally holy Page 588. 4. God is eminently holy he is transcendently holy he is superlatively holy Page 588 589 590 591. 5. God is originâ—lly radically and fundamentally holy Page 591 592 6. God is independently holy Page 592 993. 7. God is constantly holy he is unchangeably holy Page 593 594. 8. God is exemplarily holy Page 594. Of Holiness Where ever reall holiness is it will discover it self p. 639. Holiness rises by degrees p. 639 640. There is a great deale of preciousness in the least degrees of holiness and this is evidenced by an induction of Ten particulars 640 641 642. All Saints have not a like measure of holiness 643 644. A Christian may have more holiness at one time then at another 644 645 646 647. There will come a time when even in this world holiness shall be more generall and more eminent Page 647 648 649. Of Honor and of honoring of God The more holiness is increased the more the great God will be honored 494 495. The highest degrees of holiness are commonly attended with the highest degrees of honor Page 510 511 512. Of Hypocrites Hypocrites shall not goe to Heaven Page 82 83 84. I. Of Idleness We are to have no special communion with idle persons Page 43 44. Of Joy Of Joy several considerable things Page 352-369 The more holiness any man attains to the greater will be his Heaven of joy in this world Page 496 497 498. Of the Judgements of God He that will be holy must dwell much upon the memorable Judgements of God that in this life has fallen upon unholy persons Page 339 340 341. K. Four reasons why the Kingdom of Heaven is called the kingdom of God Page 19. L. Of Labour A holy heart will labour to make others holy Page 132 133 134 135. Of Life Several Arguments proving the life of man to be but short Page 292-296 Of Little sins Five Reasons why a holy heart
you may be like to Christ in his holiness Look as face answers to face as Solomon speaks so you may reach to that holiness that in reality may answer to the very holiness of Christ And this is your only way to be like to Christ All Angels in respect of their nature are alike but what the particular differences are between Angels Archangels principalities and powers and what their distinct offices are I confess with Austin I understand not neither is it my duty to know nor my danger to be ignorant of these things c. Again as holiness will render you most like to a holy Christ so holiness will render you most like to the blessed Angels The blessed Angels are holy in their nature and holy in their offices and holy in their actings they are called holy Angels Mat. 25.31 When the son of man shall come in his glory and all his holy Angels with him and so in Rev. 14.9 10. And he that worshippeth the beast or that receives his mark in his fore-head or in his hand he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The Angels holiness is their conformity to the original pattern of purity and excellency The Crown of holiness was set upon the heads of Angels at their Creation those Princes of glory were crowned with holiness as it were in the cradle The Angels are holy in their praises and holy in their waitings and holy in their operations and holy in all their ministrations Boddin tells a story of one who desired of God the guidance and assistance of an holy Angel and accordingly he had sensible manifestations of a holy Spirit that assisted him and followed him to his death if in company he spake any unwary words he was sure to be advertised and reproved for it by a dream in the night or if he read any book that was not good the Angel would strike upon the book to cause him to leave reading in it When that Sorcerer Balaam went to curse the people of God a holy Angel stood in the way drew his sword upon him and justled his bones against the wall and all to prevent the execution of his wicked and cursed intentions Numb 22.22 O! how much more then do they stand in the way of the Saints to prevent those weaknesses and miscarriages which Satan and their own corruptions would otherwise carry them to And doubtless as they have a hand to restrain the Saints from evil so they have an eye and an influence upon them for good 1 Tim. 5.21 I charge you before God and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Elect Angels c. The holy Angels have their eyes and their influences upon us they are our observers and overseers they are called watchers in Dan. 4.17 for they watch our words and they watch our works 1 Cor. 11.10 Hebr. 1. ult Rev. 22.9 The Angels watch you in all places cases and conditions c. and they watch our wayes they watch us before duties and they watch us in duties and they watch us after duties they watch us before duties to see how we prepare and fit our selves to meet with God and they watch us in duties to see how our graces are acted upon God and how our hearts and affections are running out after God and they watch us after duties to see whether we walk worthy of God and worthy of our duties and worthy of our profession and worthy of our high calling In times of health strength peace prosperity c. they watch to see how wisely holily humbly fruitfully cheerfully and thankfully we will walk with God and in times of adversity they watch to see how believingly how contentedly how self-denyingly and how patiently we will submit to God c. All which speaks out the holiness of the Angels O! Sirs you cannot in this world be like to the Angels in power strength might nor in agility activity splendour beauty or glory but yet you may be like to them in purity and sanctity Sirs do not deceive your selves you shall never be like to the Angels in glory if you will not be like to them now in grace if you will not with them now put on the robe of holiness you shall not with them hereafter put on the crown of happiness We are to follow the examples of the best men 1 Cor. 11.1 not an inch further then they were followers of Christ Christians saith father Latimer are not bound to be the Saints Apes they are not to imitate them in every thing where their examples were good it is good to imitate them and where they were bad it is duty to decline them The fairest copies that ever were written by Saints have their blots their blurs and their errata's and therefore it is best it is safest it is noblest to set the most exact the most perfect and the most excellent copy of the Angels before us who as they excell in strength so they excell in holiness also Psalm 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandments hearkening unto the voice of his Word The Angels obey divine commands readily cheerfully faithfully universally reverentially humbly affectionately and unweariedly O Sirs such obedience such holiness will be your honour here and your happiness hereafter To gather up all as ever you would be like to a holy God a holy Christ and the holy Angels labour to be holy In holiness you may be like them in other things you cannot resemble them But In the fifteenth and last place to provoke you to labour after holinesse consider the stinging Argument in the text viz. That without it no man shall see the Lord The expression is exclusive now to see is an Hebraeism and implies both vision and fruition now without holiness no man be he high or low noble or ignoble rich or poor c. shall ever come to a blessed acquaintance with God here or to a glorious fruition of God hereafter Gen. 3. chap. 4.13 and Levit. 14. 2 Sam. 14.13 14. Jonah 2. Rev. 1.9 O friends if it were so great a misery to Adam to be cast out of Paradise and so great a punishment to Cain to be cast out of his fathers family which was the only visible Church of God on earth and such a sore affliction for the Lepers in the Law to be shut out from all converse with men and so great a trouble and torment to Absalom to be banished his fathers Court and so great a hell to Jonah to be seemingly cast out of Gods sight and so great a tribulation to John to be confined to the Isle oâ— Patmos O! how great a misery how great a punishment how great an affliction how great a trouble and torment how great a tribulation how great a hell will it be for all unholy persons for ever and ever to be banished the Court of heaven