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
turn from his sin The spots of the Leopard are not in him by accident but by nature and they are such which no Art can cure nor water wash off because they are not only in the skin but in the flesh and bones in the sinews and most inward parts By custom sin hath bespotted not only the skin the life the outside of a poor sinner but also the very heart and soul of a poor sinner so as that he is never able to wash off these spots Ambrose reports of one Theotimus that having a disease upon his body his Physitian told him that except he did abstain from intemperance drunkenness uncleaness c. he was like to lose his eyes his heart being habituated to sin and set upon wickedness he answered Vale lumen amicum farwell sweet light then But Thirdly as there is a contracted Cannot an habituated Cannot so there is a judicial Cannot The Lord inflicts a judicial cannot upon many persons in judgement they cannot return from their sins they cannot withstand a temptation they cannot lay hold on eternal life they cannot make sure work for their souls they cannot leave their bosome lusts they cannot prefer Christ above all the world they cannot make provision for eternity they cannot see the things that belong to their peace c. and this Cannot the Lord in wrath hath brought upon them Isa 6.9 10. And he said Go and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes or annoint besmeer lime their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears Many men saith Bernard do seek for straws to put out their own eyes and understand with their heart and convert and be healed They would not see they shall not see they would not hear they shall not hear they would not understand they shall not understand they would not convert they shall not convert they would not be healed they shall not be healed When men are stifly and desperately resolved upon their sinful courses when men grow stubborn rebellious licentious and will wilfully wink and shut their eyes against the light and stop their ears against the truth God in his just judgement gives them up to dulness stupidness blindness darkness Isa 44.18 They have not known nor understood for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dawbed or plaistered or he hath dawbed up their eyes from seeing and their hearts that they cannot understand God in his righteous judgement casts a judicial Cannot upon them he hath dawbed up their eyes that they cannot see and he hath shut up their hearts that they cannot understand the great concernments of their souls Now whilest men lie under these sad Cannots they can never see the kingdom of God These three Cannots like a threefold cord bind poor sinners so as that they can never come to a sight or fruition of God in grace or glory till they are delivered from these Cannots by a new birth by being born again See the kingdom of God that is they cannot enter into it they cannot enjoy it they can have no childs part or portion in it except they are new born except they pass the pangs of the second birth Let their education be never so sweet their illumination never so great their profession never so amiable and their conversation never so unblameable yet except they are new born it had been good for them that they had never been born And thus you see by plain Scriptures that the Lord hath bolted the gates of glory against all unholy persons A second Argument to prove that without holiness there is no happiness c. is this Without holiness men are strangers to God and therefore without holiness they cannot be admitted to a co-habitation with God God loves not to dwell with strangers nor to associate himself with strangers now such are all unholy persons Ephes 2.12 That at time ye were without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel or being far removed from the Citizenship of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world Here are five withouts in the words 1. They were without God the Author of hope 2. They were without Christ the foundation of hope 3. They were without the Church which was contained in the Common-wealth of Israel the place of hope 4. They were without the Covenants of promise That is they were without the precious promises which God in his Covenant had made and oftentimes renewed with the Israelites and therefore called Covenants in the plural number the ground and reason of hope And Lastly they were without the grace of hope they had no hope of communion with Christ no hope of fellowship with the Saints no hope of any interest in the promise no hope of reconciliation to God here nor no hope of a fruition of God hereafter And thus you see what strangers they were to the Lord and to the great concernments of their own souls God of old would not have strangers come into his Sanctuary And do you think then that he will ever admit such into heaven Surely no. Ezek. 44.6.7 9. And thou shalt say to the rebellious even to the house of Israel Thus saith the Lord God O ye house of Israel Heaven would be no heaven were there any strangers there See my String of Pearls let it suffice you of all your abominations In that ye have brought into my Sanctuary strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my Sanctuary to pollute it even my house when ye offer my bread the fat and the blood and they have broken my Covenant because of all your abominations Thus saith the Lord God No stranger uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my Sanctuary Mat. 7.21 22 23. Ch. 25 11 12. Ch. 22.11 12 13. of any stranger that is among the children of Israel Such as had no holiness within nor no holiness without such as had no holiness in their hearts nor no holiness in their lives God would not have them to enter into his Sanctuary and therefore certainly such he will never suffer to enter into heaven If God shuts the doors of an earthly Tabernacle against such as were strangers to him to his Covenant to his Church and to themselves will he not much more shut the door of his heavenly Tabernacle against such that are strangers to him and to his Christ and to his word yea that are strangers to their own souls and to all the concernments of another world and such are all those that are uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh Princes Pallaces are not for strangers but for sons friends familiars favourites no more is the Pallace of heaven we will not admit strangers to cohabit with
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
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
to say with those in Ezekiel Behold they of the house of Israel say the vision that he seeth is for many days to come Amos 6.3 Ezek. 12.27 Luk. 12. and he prophesieth of the times that are afar off So the rich man in the Gospel reckoned upon many years when he had not many monthes no not many weeks no not many days no not many hours to live in this world Unholy persons are very apt to say to death as Pharaoh said to Moses Get thee from me Exod. 10.28 and let me see thy face no more When death knocks at the poor mans door he sends it to the rich mans gate and the rich man translates it to the Schollar and the Scholar posts it away to the Citizen and the Citizen to the Courtier and the Courtier to his Lady and his Lady to her Maid so death is posted away as it were from one to another every one crying out to death O let me not see thy face O let me not see thy face 'T was even a death to Queen Elizabeth Sigismund the Emperor Lewes the 11 of France Cardinal Beauford and others to think of death or to hear of death and therefore they strictly charged all their servants about them that when they saw them sick they should never dare to name that bitter word Death in their ears And Pashur can't cast his eye upon death but he is presently a Magor Missabib a terror to himself Jer. 20.3 And Saul though he was a valiant King yet at the news of death he falls on his face 1 Sam. 28.20 And so Belshazzar though he was a mighty Emperor Dan. 5.1 7. yet a letter to him from him whom Bildad calleth the King of terrors Job 18.14 Ah how does it amaze astonish affright and terrifie him and how many are there who with Mecaenas in Seneca had rather live in many diseases then die and with the most famous Heathens prefer the meanest life on earth above all the hopes they have of another world like Achilles who had rather be a servant to a poor country Clown here then to be a King to all the souls departed or like Withipoll a rich and wretched man who when he was in danger of death earnestly desired that he might live five hundred years Vitellius looking for the messenger of death made himself drunk to drown the the thoughts of it though it were but in the shape of a Toad Near Lewes in Sussex a woman being ill one of her neighbors coming to visit her told her that if she died she should go to heaven and be with God and Jesus Christ and with Angels and Saints the sick woman answered that she had no acquaintance there she knew no body there and therefore she had rather live with her and her other neighbors here then to go thither to live amongst strangers And thus you see how apt persons are to shrug at death which is a common lot and to say to it as Ephraim did to his Idols Get you hence what have we more to do with you but this is and must be for a lamentation that men put off the thoughts of their latter end to the latter end of their thoughts Man naturally is a great life-lover and therefore he will bleed sweat vomit purge part with an estate yea with a limb I limbs to preserve his life like him that cryed out O give me any deformity any torment any misery so you spare my life And upon this account 't is that he desires that such a guest as death may not knock at his door but Ah that all such vain men would consider that by putting the day of their death far from them they do but gratifie Satan strengthen their sins provoke the Lord and make the work of faith and holiness more hard and difficult and so lay a deep foundation for their own eternal destruction Well sirs remember this the serious thoughts and meditations of death if any thing will work you to break off your sins to mend your lives and to look to the salvation of your souls there is nothing that will sooner work a man to a holy fear of offending God in any thing and to a holy care of pleasing God in every thing then the serious meditation of death Though that text Remember thy latter end and thou shalt never do amiss be Apocryphal yet the truth asserted is Canonical I have read a story of one that gave a young prodigal a Ring with a Deaths-head on this condition that he should one hour in a day for seven days together think and meditate upon Death which accordingly he did and it bred a great change and alteration in his life and conversation O! man thou doest not know but that the serious thoughts of death may work that desireable thing in thee viz. holiness which yet has not been wrought in thee by all the holy counsels the gracious examples the fervent prayers the sorrowful tears of thy dearest friends thou doest not know but that the serious meditation of Death may do thee more good then all the Sermons that ever thou hast heard or then all the books that ever thou hast read or then all the prayers that ever thou hast made or then all the sighs or groans that ever thou hast poured out and why then shouldest thou put the thoughts of death far from thee Certainly as he is a sinner in grain that dares look death in the face and yet sin that dares cut a purse when the Judge looks on so he is a monster rather then a man that dares look death in the face and yet satisfie himself to live without holiness that dares look death in the face and yet say I 'll drink and be drunk I 'll sware and swagger I 'll roar and whore I 'll cheat and cozen I 'll hate and oppose I 'll quarrel and kill and my hands shall be as bloody as my heart and let death do her worst if such a person be not in the ready way of being miserable for ever I know nothing Well sirs remember these three things First That there is nothing more certain then death That Statute Law of heaven Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Gen. 3.19 will take hold of all the sons of men There is no man that lives and shall not see death Psal 89.48 Gen. 32. Though Jacob wrestled with an Angel and prevailed yet death was too hard for him though Hazael was as light of foot as a wild Roe yet he could not out-run death 2 Sam. 2.18 and Absalom could not out-ride it nor Pharoah out-drive it though Saul and Jonathan were as swift as Eagles and as strong as Lyons yet were they slain among the mighty 'T was not Solomons wisdom that could deliver him nor Sampsons strength that could rescue him nor Hamans honor that could secure him nor Goliahs sword that could defend him nor Dives riches that could
and therefore rather then Daniel shall be hurt God will by a miracle preserve him he will stop the mouthes of the hungry Lyons and he will tame their rage and over-master their cruelty rather then a hair of Daniels head shall perish when Daniel was taken out of the Den there was no hurt no wound no sore no bruise found upon him Daniel was a harmless man and God keeps him from harms in the midst of harms Acts 18.9 10. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision be not afraid but speak and hold not thy peace For I am with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in this City Paul met with many trials and troubles bonds and prisons oppositions and persecutions Acts 20.23 and yet none of all these hurt him but God miraculously preserved him even to old age All the troubles Phil. 9. afflictions and persecutions that attends holiness can never reach a Christians soul they can never diminish a Christians treasure they reach the shell not the kernel the Case not the Jewel the lumber not the goods the out-house not the Palace the ribbon in the hat not the gold in the purse the most fiery trials and persecutions can never deprive a Christian of the special presence of God nor of the light of his countenance Psal 23.4 2 Cor. 1.8 9 12. nor of the testimony of a good conscience nor of the joys of the spirit nor of the pardon of sin nor of fellowship with Christ nor of the exercise of grace nor of the hopes of glory and therefore certainly they can't hurt a Christian they can't wronge a Christian in his greatest and chiefest concernments O Christian let persecutors do their worst they can't reach thy soul thy God thy comfort thy crown thy Paradise c. and therefore let no man be kept off from pursuing after holiness because of afflictions or persecutions seeing none of these can reach a Christians great concernments When the Emperor Valens threatned to confiscate Basils goods and to torment him and to banish him or kill him Basil makes this noble reply He needs not fear confiscation of goods that hath nothing to loose nor banishment to whom heaven onely is a country nor torments when his body may be dash't with one blow nor death which is the onely way to set him at liberty the Emperor hearing of him thus undantedly to speak told him that he was mad to whom he replyed opte me in aeternum sic delirare I wish that I may be for ever thus mad Basil knew that no torments nor sufferings could hurt him or harm him and therefore he bravely triumphs over them They may kill me said Socrates of his enemies but they cannot hurt me So may a Saint say they may kill my body but they cannot hurt my soul they may take away my natural life but they cannot take away my spiritual life for that is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 they may take away this and that outward comfort Heb. 11. but they cannot take away my Christ they may take away my costly ornaments but they cannot take away that Robe of righteousness that Christ has put upon me Isa 61.10 they may take away my earthly crown but they cannot take away that crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous Judge 2 Tim. 4.8 has laid up for all that love his appearing Methinks said one of the Martyrs I tread upon pearls when he trod upon hot burning coals Vincentius and I feel said he no more pain then if I lay in a bed of Doune and yet he lay in flames of fire I have read of Nero that he had a shirt made of a Salamanders skin so that if he walk't through the fire in it it would keep him from burning it would keep him from being hurt or harmed by the fire our Lord Jesus Christ is this Salamanders skin that will keep the Saints from burning yea from being hurt or harmed by the most fiery afflictions and persecutions that can befall them in this world But Fourthly I answer That the condition of persecutors of all conditions under heaven is the most sad and deplorable condition and this will appear by the consideration of these five things First By the prayers and enditements that the Saints have preferred against them in the highest court of Justice I mean in the Parliament of Heaven Psal 35.3 9. Psa 69.22 29. Neh. 4.3 4 5. turn to it Draw out the Spear and stop the way against them that persecute me say unto my soul I am thy salvation Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt Let them be as chaffe before the winde and let the Angel of the Lord chase them Let their way be dark and slippery or darkness and slipperiness and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them For without cause have they hid for me their net Both good and evil Angels are at Gods beck ready to execute vengeance upon his and his peoples enemies and persecutors and therefore the Text may be understood of both in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soule Let destruction come upon him ar unawares and let his net that he hath hid catch himselfe into that very destruction let him fall So in that 83 Psalme David sighs out his sad complaints against his persecutors from ver 2. to ver the 9th and from ver the 9. to ver the 18. he prayes against them turne to it 't is a text that is worthy of your most serious meditation Psal 119.84 How many are the dayes of thy servant when wilt thou execute judgement on them that persecute me Jer. 15.15 O Lord thou knowest remember me and visite me and revenge me of my persecutors take me not away in thy long suffering know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Chap. 17.18 Let them be confounded that persecute me but let not me be confounded let them be dismayed but let not me be dismayed bring upon them the day of evill and destroy them with double destruction or break them with a double breach Lam. 3.61 ult Thou hast heard their reproach O Lord and all their imaginations against me The lips of those that rose up against me and their device against me all the day Behold their sitting down and their rising up I am their musick or I am their song Render unto them a recompence O Lord according to the work of their hands Give them sorrow of heart thy curse unto them Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord. 2 Tim. 4.14 Alexander the Copper-smith did me much evill the Lord reward him according to his works Thus you see how the hearts of the Saints have been drawn out against their persecutors Prayers are the Armes that
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
man has of his Justification the stronger will be his consolation and indeed the strongest waters of consolation doe alwayes flow from a cleare sight and a true sense of a mans justification no man lives so comfortably no man bares the cross so sweetly no man resists the devill and the world so stoutly nor no man will die so chearfully as he that lives and dies in a cleare sight of his Justification The more holiness any man attaines to the more his feares will be scattered his doubts resolved and all those impediments removed that commonly bar out joy and comfort and what will be the happy issue of these things but the bringing in of a sea of joy and comfort into the soul 'T is not riches nor honors nor applause nor learning nor friends nor a great name in the world but an eminency in holiness that can highly raise the springs of divine joy in a Christians soul Though the windowes of the Temple were broad without but narrow within yet the joy and comfort of a Christian that is eminent in holiness is broad and full within though it be narrow and contracted without O Sirs as ever you would have your joy full labour for a heart fill'd with holiness your comforts will be alwayes few and low if your holiness be low Why have the Angels alwayes Harpes in their hands and Hallelujah's in their mouths but because they have attain'd to a fulness of holiness But Seventhly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness Consider that the more holy any person is the more the Lord will reveale and manifest himselfe and his mind and will unto him Joh. 14.21 23. Hosea 6.3 Ezekiel was a man of eminent holiness and a man that had glorious visions and deep mysteries and rare discoveries of God and of the great things that should be brought about in the latter dayes See 2 4 7 8 9 10 11 12 Chapters of Daniel discovered to him And Daniel was a man of very great holiness and O what secrets and mysteries did God reveale to him many of those great and glorious things which concernes the destruction of the four last Monarchies and the growth increase exaltation flourishing durable invincible and unconquerable estate of his own kingdome was discovered to him 2 Cor. 12.2 4. Among all the Apostles Paul was a man of the greatest holiness and of all the Apostles Paul had the most glorious revelations and discoveries of God manifested to him witness those glorious Revelations that he had when he was caught up into the third heaven into Paradise and heard unspeakable words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wordless words such as words were too weak to utter such as was not possible for man to utter and that either because they transcended mans capacity in this life or else because the Apostle was forbidden to utter them they being revealed to him not for the publike use of the Church but only for his particular encouragement that so he might be the better able to encounter with all the hardships difficulties dangers and deaths that should attend him in the conscientious discharge of his ministerial work Some of the Ancients are of opinion that he saw Gods essence for say they other things in heaven might have been uttered but the essence of God is so great and so glorious a thing that no man or Angel can utter it or declare it but here I must crave leave to enter my dissent for the Scripture is express in this John 1.18 1 Tim. 6.16 1 Ioh. 4.12 that no man hath thus ever seen the Lord at any time and that no man can thus see the Lord and live And as great a favourite of heaven as Moses was yet he could only see the back parts of God he could only behold some lower representations of God Others say that he heard the heavenly singing of Angels and blessed Spirits which was so sweet so excellent and glorious that no mortall man was able to utter it and this of the two is most probable but no man is bound to make this opinion an Article of his faith this I think we may safely conclude that in this rapture besides the contemplation of Celestial Mysteries he felt such unspeakable delight and pleasure that was either like to that or exceeding that which Adam took in the terrestrial Paradise doubtless the Apostle did see and heare such excellent and glorious things as was impossible for the tongue of any mortal man to express or utter And so John was a man of most rare holiness and Christ reveals to him the General estate of his Church and all that should befall his people and that from Johns time unto his second coming Christ gives John a true representation of all the troubles tryalls changes mercies and glories that in all times and in all Ages and places should attend his Church untill he came in all his glory About sixty years after Christs ascension 'T is the General opinion of the learned that this book of the Revelation was penned about the latter end of the Reigne of Domitian the Emperour which was about sixty years after Christs Ascension Christ comes to John and opens his heart and unbosomes his soul and makes knowne to him all that care that love that tenderness that kindness and that sweetness that he would exercise towards his Church from that very time to the end of the world Christ tells John that though he had been absent and seemingly silent for about threescore years that yet he was not so taken up with the delights contents and glory of heaven as that he did not care what became of his Church on earth O! no And therefore he opens his choicest secrets and makes knowne the most hidden and glorious mysteries to John that ever was made knowne to any man As there was none that had so much of the heart of Christ as John so there was none that had so much of the eare of Christ as John Christ singles out his servant John from all the men in the world and makes knowne to him all the happy providences and all the sad occurrences that were to come upon the followers of the Lamb that so they might know what to pray for and what to fit for and what to waite for also he declares to John all that wrath and vengeance all that desolation and destruction that should come upon the false Prophet and the Beast and upon all that wondered after them and that were worshippers of them and that had received their marks either in their foreheads or in their hands We reade of holy Polycarpus that as he lay in his bed he saw in a vision the bed set on fire under his head A vision and thus God did forewarne him and manifest to him what manner of death he should die and accordingly it fell out for he was burnt for the cause of Christ and rejoycingly sealed to the
except there be sound repentance on their sides and pardoning mercy on Gods they are so abominable debauched and wicked But Eightly When God hath separated and severed his people from the corrupt and sinful customes and manners of the world and brought them into fellowship with himself and into Gospel-Communion with one another O then in a special manner hee calls aloud upon them to be holy Levit. 20.23 24 26. And yee shall not walk in the manners of the Nation which I cast out before you for they committed all these things and therefore I abhorred them But I have said unto you ye shall inherit their Land and I will give it unto you to possess it a Land that floweth with milk and hony I am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people And yee shall be holy unto mee for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that yee should bee mine Distinguishing mercies should breed and nourish distinguishing qualities O Sirs 't is not for you who are separated and severed from the world by God to be proud and carnal and formal and distrustful and hypocritical and earthly and froward c. as the world is 't is not for you to deny your principles to debauch your consciences to change your notes to turn your coats to defile your souls to blot your names and to scandalize your profession O Sirs if God hath separated you and severed you from the world by a call from Heaven it highly concerns you not to think as the world thinks nor to speak as the world speaks nor to judge as the world judges nor to walk as the world walks nor to worship as the world worships but so to think speak judge walk and worship as may make most for the honour of God the glory of the Gospel and as best becomes those that have had the honour and the happiness of being separated and severed by God from the world But Ninthly When the day of the Lord draws neer and when wee look for the accomplishment of great things O then God calls aloud upon his people to bee holy 2 Pet. 3.10 11 12 13 14. But the day of the Lord will come as a Theif in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Element shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall bee burnt up Seeing then that all these things shall bee desolved what manner of persons ought yee to bee in all holy conversation and godliness Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall bee desolved and the Element shall melt with fervent heat Never-the-less wee according to his promise look for a new Heaven and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Wherefore Beloved seeing that yee look for such things bee diligent that yee may bee found of him in peace without spot and blameless The neerer the day of Christ is to us and the more great and glorious things wee expect from God Isa 65.17 18 19 20. the more holy the more spotless and the more blameless wee must labour to bee I know there are many that look for new heavens and a new earth that is for a glorious Church-state here on earrh wherein shall dwell righteousness 't is certain that the highest Heavens where God keeps his Royal Court was never without righteousness righteousness hath been alwaies the habitation of his Throne righteousness hath alwaies dwelt in the highest Heavens and indeed Heaven would bee no Heaven yea it would rather hee a Hell than a Heaven if righteousness did not alwaies dwell there neither can the highest Heaven ever wax old neither were they ever made of Earth or Brittle mouldering matter the Pallace of the great King will bee alwaies new fresh shining and gloriousness but indeed the Earth in all Ages have been full of injustice unrighteousness wickedness tyranny cruelty and oppression so that righteousness seems to have been banished out of the world ever since Adam fell from his primitive righteousness and holiness O! but there is a glorious day a coming wherein the Earth shall bee full of righteousness and holiness as I have formerly proved at large from other Scriptures Now Christians the more great and glorious things you expect from God as the downfall of Antichrist the conversion of the Jews the conquest of the nations to Christ the breaking off of all yoâ—ks the new Jerusalems coming down from above the extraordinary pouring out of the spirit and a more general union among all Saints the more holy yea the more eminently holy in all your waies and actings it becomes you to bee many there bee that will talke high and speak big words and tell you stories of great things that they expect and look for in these daies which are the last of the last times and yet if you look into their lives you shall finde them loose and vain and what not O! that these would for ever remember that the more great and glorious things wee expect and look for from God the more holiness God expects and looks for from us and therefore as wee would not have God fail our expectation let not us frustrate his and the higher your expectation rises the higher alwaies let your holiness rise Eccle. 12 2 3 4 5. for there is nothing that will hasten that desirable day of glory upon the world like this But Tenthly and lastly When you draw neer your end when there are but a few steps between you and the Grave between you and Eternity when you have but a little time to live when death stands at your backs and treads on your heels and knocks at your doors when the eyes begin to grow dark when the grinders begin to cease when the keepers of the house the hands and the arms begin to tremble and when the strong men the legs and thighs begin to bow and stagger and totter as being too weak to bear the bodies burden O then what a holy people should you bee this very consideration had a very great influence upon that great Apostles spirit in that 2 Pet. 1.12 13 14 15. Wherefore I will not bee negligent to put you alwaies in remembrance of these things though yee know them and bee established in the present truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To rouse you up The Greek word signifies to awaken rouse and raise such as are a sleep There is a sinful slugishness and drousiness that often hangs upon the best of men and therefore they stand in much need of being awakned and roused up to look after their spiritual and eternal concernments to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ shewed me Moreover I will endeavour that you
requisite beauties and abilities that might render him lovely and comely to every eye In a word mans first estate was a state of perfect happiness all within him and all without him and all about him spoke him out to be compleatly blessed there was nothing within him but what was very sweet and desirable there was nothing without him but what was very delightful and amiable neither was there any thing about him but what was serviceable and comfortable Lam. 5.16 O but now by his fall his crown is faln from his head and from the heads of all his posterity for Adam was a publick person he was the Prince of all mankind and though all mankind was not actually in his loyns when he fell yet they were all potentially in his loyns when he fell If two Kings make a league and the one break it he makes not only himself but all his Subjects lyable and obnoxious to all the calamities and miseries that shall follow thereupon Adam was our common Father and we are all his Sons and Daughters Now we know by the Law of inheritance that if the Father forfeit his Lease he dis-inherits his posterity Now Adam forfeited his Lease as I may say and divine Justice took the advantage of the forfeiture and so hath turned all his posterity out of doors So that there is now no way under heaven to be happy but by being holy all sorts and ranks of men are faln in Adam and there is no way to rise but by Christ and holiness c. A second Reason why I dedicate this Treatise to all sorts and ranks of persons is because the matter contained in this book is of the greatest and highest concernment imaginable to all ranks and degrees of men from the greatest Emperour that ever set upon a Throne to the meanest and the poorest wretch that ever lay upon a Dunghill And doubtless that which is of such a marvellous importance to all may very justly and reasonably be dedicated to all A third reason why I dedicate this Treatise to all sorts and ranks of persons is because God intends to save some of all sorts ranks and degrees though greatness and goodness do not alwayes meet yet greatness and goodness do sometimes meet and though riches and religion do not alwayes meet yet riches and religion do sometimes meet though not many wise yet some wise 1 Cor. 1.26 though not many mighty yet some mighty though not many noble yet some noble shall be called sanctified and saved Look as the Sun in the Firmament doth cast his light and warmth upon all sorts ranks and degrees of men Matth. 5.45 So doth the Sun of righteousness shine upon the understandings and consciences of all sorts ranks and degrees of men and by his secret and spiritual influences he warms and cheers the hearts of high and low rich and poor noble and ignoble Abraham was very great and very gracious Joseph was very high and very holy Job was very rich and very righteous It is a strange sâ—ying in Lâ—psius The names of all good Princes saith he may easily be engraven or written in a small Ring Lips de coâ—stantia lib. 2. cap. 25. Though most of those Kings and Princes that we read of in Scripture were bad very bad yet some of them were good yea very good Some of them were as famous for grace righteousness and holiness witness David Asa Josiah Hezekiah Jehosaphat c. as Saul Jehoram Jehu Ahab and others of them were infamous for all unrighteousness and wickedness God for the glory of his own grace and the honour of his Sons blood will have some of all sorts ranks and degrees sanctified and saved and upon this very ground he engages his servants to pray for all sorts ranks and degrees of men in 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. Now where God is resolved to save there he is resolved to sanctifie where he is resolved to make happy there he is resolved to make holy And therefore I look upon my self as many wayes obliged to have so large a heart for God as to do all I can to help on the salvation of all sorts ranks and degrees of men in the world My hearts desire and prayer for England is Rom. 10.1 Pauls Copy is not to be despised but imitated that her Princes and Nobles may be sanctified and saved and that her Gentry may be sanctified and saved and that all the people of the Nation may be sanctified and saved I look upon my self as engaged to do all I can by my pen and prayers to help make England holy that so England may be truly happy For of this I am most certain that if God will but make England a holy Nation it is not all the powers on earth nor all the powers of hell that shall ever make England a miserable Nation A fourth Reason why I thus Dedicate this Treatise as you see is because my former poor labours and endeavours have been acceptable to some of all ranks and degrees and they have been blest to some of all ranks and degrees and I have been encouraged whetted and stirred up by some on all hands once more to cast in my Net and now I have done it O that it may issue in the drawing of many souls to Christ and in the making of the gracelesse gracious the prophane holy and in the making of those that are holy to be yet more holy c. A fifth Reason why I thus Dedicate this Treatise as you see is because though all men are bound to be holy yet the great the rich the noble and the honourable of the earth are bound above all other men in the world to be holy Reader if thou art one that standest upon thy birth nobility and greatness do thy self that favour and thy soul that right as to read from page 343. to page 447. before thou goest any further God hath laid upon them greater obligations and Tyes to holinesse then he hath upon any other men under heaven and this you may see so clearly and so fully proved in this Book from page 433. to page 447. that neither the world nor the Devil as cunning and as learned a Devil as he is will ever be able to disprove This reason alone is sufficient to justifie my present practice My sixth and last Reason why I thus Dedicate this Treatise as you see is that it may be a blessed Testimony and a standing Witnesse for Christ in this day of blasphemy prophanesse loosnesse Isa 43.10 12. chap. 44.8 and wickednesse against all sorts and ranks of persons into whose hands it may fall who notwithstanding all that is here said shall continue obstinate and impenitent in their ungodly courses and practises as men resolved rather to go to hell then to heaven and to be for ever unhappy rather then they will be holy Wo wo to them for ever that had rather be Satans bond-slaves then Christs free-men
that had rather be vessels of wrath then vessels of honour and that had rather be fire-brands of hell then glorious Saints in heaven Ephes 2.12 Rom. 9.22 And so I have done with those reason◠that may satisfie the Reader concerning my Dedication of this Treatise to all sorts ranks and degrees of persons Having premised these things in the general give me leave to say That if this Treatise should fall into the hands of any of the Learned Judges of this Land or into the hands of any of the Justices of this Nation I would then take the humble boldnesse to offer this to their most serious consideration viz. That if they would discharge the duties of their places so as to give up their accounts at last with joy and cheerfulness to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords it highly concerns them to study this doctrine of holinesse yea to fall in love with holinesse and highly to prize it and earnestly to presse after it and to be restlesse in their own spirits till they have experienced the powerful operations of holinesse in their own souls for till then they will never be able so to administer Justice and Judgement as becomes those that have the name of God and the name of profession upon them and that judge themselves to be in a higher Form then those Heathens were who were famous for justice and righteousnesse Cato Fabricius Scipio Cambyses c. and yet never heard of a Christ nor salvation by him and as becomes those that would not stand trembling and quaking in the great and terrible day when Christ the Lord-chief-Iustice of heaven and earth shall passe a righteous and impartial judgement upon all the Judges and Justices that ever were on earth Joel 2.11 31. Acts 17.31 2 Tim. 4.1 2. Where justice is God is and where God is there is no want of men or fortitude said Herod at the head of his Army the better to encourage his souldiers My Lords and Gentlemen you know that the wisest Prince that ever set upon a Throne hath told us that Righteousnesse exalts a Nation Prov. 14.34 It is not valour in war but righteousnesse it is not policie in Government but righteousnesse it is not wittinesse of invention but righteousnesse it is not civility in behaviour but righteousnesse it is not antiquity of forms but righteousnesse it is not largenesse of dominion but righteousnesse nor it is not greatnesse of command Iustice is conservatrix Humanae conjunctionis quae ad beatitudinem via est c. Amos 5.24 The Hebrew word Veiiggalchat is here rendred run down is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Galal that signifies to roul down f eely plentifully plainly vigorously constantly Where justice thus rouls down all the world shall never make that Nation miserable but righteousnesse that is the honour and the safety that is the renown and the security of a Nation That Nation that exalts righteousnesse that Nation shall be certainly exalted by righteousnesse It is not Achitophels policy it is not Jeroboams calves in Dan and Bethel it is not Jehues pompous zeal it is not Goliahs sword it is not rich Mines of Gold and Silver nor Magazines nor Armies nor Counsels nor Fleets nor Forts but Justice and Righteousnesse that exalts a Nation and that will make a mean people to become a great a glorious and a famous people in the world The world is a Ring and Righteousnesse is the Diamond in that Ring The world is a body and Righteousnesse and Justice is the soul of that body Ah England England so long as judgement runs down as waters in the midst of thee and righteousnesse as a mighty stream thou shalt not die but live and bear up bravely against all gain-sayers and opposers but if injustice shall grow rampant and thou shalt brandish the sword of Justice in the behalf of the friends of Baal Balaam and Bacchus and turn the wheel upon the righteous if the sword of justice shall be a sword of protection to the desperate swearer and to the cruel oppressor and to the roaring drunkard and to the cursing monster and to the Gospel despiser and to the Christ contemner c. and shall be a devouring sword to the upright and peaceable in the Land Divine vengeance will dig thy grave and divine Justice will tumble thee into it though all the Nations of the earth should labour to prevent it It is a base and ignoble spirit to pity Cataline more then to pity Rome to pity any particular sort of men more then to pity the whole It is cruelty to the good to justifie the bad It is wrong to the sheep to animate the Wolves It is danger if not death to the Lambs not to restrain or chain up the Lyons but from all these vanities the Lord deliver all your souls And O that you would for ever remember this that as the constitution of a mans body is best known by his pulse if it stir not at all then we know he is dead if it stir violently then we know him to be in a Fever if it keep an equal stroak then we know he is sound well and whole so the estate and constitution of a Kingdom or Common-weal is best known by the manner of executing justice therein for justice is the pulse of a Kingdom if justice be violent then the Kingdom is in a Fever in a very bad estate if it stir not at all then the Kingdom is dead but if it have an equal stroak if it be justly and duely administred then the Kingdom is in a good a safe and sound condition When Vespasian asked Apollonus What was the cause of Nero 's ruine he answered That Nero could tune the Harps well but in Government he did alwayes wind up the strings too high or let them down too low The Application is easie Now having premised thus much in the general give me leave to tell you that there are eight special Rules that you are carefully and faithfully to observe in the administration of Justice and Righteousnsse And how you will be able to act sutable to those Rules without a Spirit of holinesse without principles of holinesse and without an experience of the powerful influences and operations of holinesse in your own souls I cannot for the present understand Now my Lords and Gentlemen the first Rule that you are to observe in your administring of Judgement and Justice Psalm 82.1 6. Luke 20.21 Mat. 22.16 is this You must do Justice impartially you are called Gods and in this you must be like to God who is no acceptor of persons Audi alteram partem said Lotharius the second Duke of Saxony he accepts not the rich man because of his Robes neither doth he reject the poor man because of his Rags Deut. 1.17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgement but you shall hear the small as well as the great you shall not be afraid of the face of
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
paper and wrote upon the top of the leaf Moderation and in the middle of the leaf Moderation and at the bottom of the leaf Moderation signifying thereby thus much to the King that the best way in the world to have his Crown set fast and to keep his Kingdom safe was to manage throughout all his affairs with moderation And there is nothing more evident in Scripture and History then this that many by scruing the pegs of Government too high have broke all in pieces about their ears Now my Lords and Gentlemen there are five things or Rules that will be of singular use to help you in this case to steer such a course as may be safe and honourable to you and as may render you a mercy and a blessing to the Nation And the first is this never make those things to be sins which God never made to be sins to make those things to be sins which God hath made to be no sins is to make gods of your selves yea it is to lift up your selves above God himself as if you were more holy more wise more just and more righteous then the holy one of Israel is Indeed the Papists that are will-worshippers and commonly highly conceited of their own wisdom and worth they frequently transgresse this Rule with their Touch not Col. 2.21 23. taste not handle not which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship c. but why should you why should you who have a higher profession upon you and a more clear Gospel-light shining every day more strongly upon you But Secondly Never make those things to be absolute and necessary duties that God hath nowhere declared to be such Isa 33.22 Jam. 4.12 Such things that do neither fall under a general nor a particular command of God may not be imposed upon the consciences of men as absolute and necessary duties to be performed by them a faithful observing of these two Rules would prevent a multitude of sins a sea of sorrows and a world of troubles But Thirdly In all your administrations of justice take the Authority of the Word with you this will yield you most comfort most peace most security and most boldnesse in the great day of your account But Fourthly Never put off your own souls with any such pleas or arguments now that are not pleadable in the Court of conscience when you shall lie upon your dying-beds nor that are not pleadable before the Court of heaven when you shall stand before Christs Judgement-feat But Fifthly and lastly In all your administrations of justice and judgement be sure that you act nothing upon the account of any command commission or authority under heaven that you dare not own plead and stand by before the great authority of heaven when the King of Kings shall make a narrow inspection into all your Judicial proceedings and accordingly passe judgement upon you What though this command and that commission and the other authority may bear you out in this world yet if they are too weak to bear you out in the other world you will curse the day that ever you were born and wish that you had rather been a turning of spits or lying under an hedge or a begging at the rich mans door then that you had ever sate in seats of Judicature to act upon such grounds as are no wayes pleadable before the Lord Jesus Christ when he shall come in the glory of his father with all his holy Angels to judge all the Kings Princes Nobles Judges and Justices of the earth My Lords and Gentlemen if these five things or Rules were but sincerely seriously resolutely and constantly followed no heart can conceive nor no tongue can expresse the hainous sins the sore troubles and the dreadful calamities and woful miseries that thereby would be prevented And thus my Lords and Gentlemen I have done with those special Rules that you are carefully diligently faithfully and constantly to observe in all your Judicial administrations but how you will be able to act suitable and answerable to these Rules without a spirit of holinesse without a principle of holinesse and without an experiment of the powerful operations of holinesse in your own souls I am not able to see If you please to read from page 433. to page 447. you will find many more weighty arguments to move you to labour after holiness and therefore how much it stands you upon that want that holinesse that this Treatise holds forth to study holinesse to love holinesse to prize holinesse to countenance holinesse to encourage holinesse to promote holinesse and to be restlesse till you have experienced the power and life and sweet of holinesse in your own hearts and lives I must leave you to Judge And O that after all this pains that I have taken upon the account of your immortal souls I may not have cause to complain as once Marcus Antonius did Alas saith he those Graces which the Deity sent down as so many pillars to stay up humane Societies viz. Faith and Modesty Justice and Verity they found such cold entertainment in the world that they are fled back to heaven I shall follow these weak endeavours with my best prayers that you may all put on holinesse as a Royal Robe and that all your Judicial administrations may savour of a spirit of holinesse and of the power and prevalency of holinesse that so you may be as high in happinesse above others as you are now in power and place exalted above others If this Treatise should fall into any of their hands who call and account themselves the only Ministers of Jesus Christ I mean such who preach rather to please then to profit to tickle the ear then to awaken the conscience that are better at fleecing of their Flocks then they are at feeding of their Flocks Ezek. 13. read it throughout Mat. 23.23 Mat. 15.1 10. that seek more mens goods then their good that set up mens Traditions above Gods own institutions that prefer humane commands before divine commands that are very zealous and warm for Mint Anise and Cummin but are very cold carelesse and negligent in the great and weighty matters of the Law viz. Judgement Mercy and Faith That can blesse God in the Church and blaspheme him in the Tavern That prefer musick in the Church Gentlemen if you please to turn to page 296 297 298 299. of this book you will find more matter that concerns you before singing of Hallelujahs in heaven That prefer a fat Benefice before an interest in an heavenly inheritance That can kneel devoutly behind a pillar and in their drunken fits rail as stoutly against a post That pretend a greaâ— deal of reverence to the name of Jesus and yet in their lives do daily crucifie the Lord Jesus That with Judas can kisse Christ and betray Christ in a breath That pretend much kindnesse to the head and yet shew nothing but unkindnesse to
and many special Means to enable you to perfect holinesse in the fear of the Lord and many evidences whereby you may certainly and infallibly know whether you have attained to any considerable highth of holinesse or no and in the opening of these things you will find that great Doctrine about degrees of Glory in Heaven to be Asserted and Proved and the Objections against it to be fairly dismissed c. Reader If thou art one that to this very day art in an unsanctified estate and an enemy to holinesse or a scoffer at holinesse or a a secret despiser of holinesse or a desperate opposer of holinesse or a bitter persecutor of holinesse then I would commend this following Treatise before any I know extant in the world to the service of thy soul for I know none that is so calculated and fitted up for that purpose as this is Read and judge This I will assure thee O thou unsanctified soul that the grand design of this book is thy salvation it is to make thee really holy that thou mayest be eternally happy and of this thou mayest be confident viz. that I shall follow these poor labours with my earnest prayers that they may be blessed to the internal and eternal welfare of thy soul and that they may issue in the conviction conversion and salvation of thy soul I shall send this Treatise forth into the world with Jacobs blessing and prayer for his sons Gen. 43.14 God Almighty send thee mercy in the sight of the man c. in the sight of the proud man that he may be humbled and in the sight of the hardened man that he may be softened and in the sight of the carnal man that he may be spiritualized and in the sight of the polluted man that he may be washed and in the sight of the unsanctified man that he may be sanctified and in the sight of the ignorant man that he may be enlightened and in the sight of the stubborn man that he may be bowed and in the sight of the unconverted man that he may be changed and in the sight of the lost man that he may be saved Christian Reader I suppose by this time that I have almost tired thee in reading as I have my self in writing and therefore I shall presently draw to a close only before I take my leave of thee give me leave to say that I am much of Carthagena's his mind who to those three things which the Antients held impossible saith that to find a Book Printed without Errata's should undoubtedly have been added as a fourth impossible if the Art of Printing had been then invented though the Author had Briareus his hands and the Printer Argus his eyes Notwithstanding all the care that hath been taken thou wilt find figures misplaced and some mispointings with some other mistakes of the Printer I hope the ingenuous Reader will cast a mantle of love over the mistakes of the presse and do me that right and himself that curtesie as to correct such errours of the Presse that the second Impression may prevent Seneca I remember is railed upon by slanderous tongues for the faults of Nero his Schollar And the scapes of Quintilians Schollars are imputed to Quintilian himself but I know the Christian Reader that is daily sensible of the Errata's of his life hath not so learned Christ Reader I do not offer thee that which cost me nothing This Treatise that now I put into thy hand is the fruit of much prayer and serious study If thou findest any profit and benefit by it give Christ all the glory the crown of praise becomes no head but his only when thou art in the Mount let me lie near thy heart O pray earnestly pray fervently pray frequently and pray unweariedly that I may have much of the fresh annointings of the holy Spirit that my communion with a holy God may every day rise higher and higher and that all my transactions both before God and man may savour of some highths of holinesse So thou wilt the more strongly oblige me to be Thy souls Servant in all Gospel-Engagements Tho. Brooks The Necessity Excellency Rarity and Beauty of HOLINESSE HEBREWS 12.14 Follow Peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. I Remember a saying of golden mouth'd Chrysostom The preamble to the Text. If I were said he the fittest man in the world to preach a Sermon to the whole world gathered together in one Congregation and had some high mountain for my Pulpit from whence I might have a prospect of all the world in my view and were furnished with a voice of Brass a voice as loud as the trumpet of the Arch-Angel that all the world might hear me I would choose to preach on no other text then that in Psalm 4.2 O mortal men how long will ye love vanity and follow after leasing So I say had I Chrysostomes tongue head and heart and were I every way advantaged to preach a Sermon to the whole world I would choose to preach on this Text before any other in the Bible Follow peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Beloved the salvation of souls is that which should be first and most in a Ministers eye and that which should always lye closest and warmest upon a Ministers heart Isa 63.3 John 17.22 Luke 4 4. 1 Cor. 6.20 1 Pet. 1.18 19 20. Heb. 9.12 13 14 15. O Sirs our dear Lord Jesus was infinitely tender of the souls of men he left his Fathers bosome for souls he trod the Wine-press of his Fathers wrath for souls he prayed for souls he payed for souls he sweated for souls he bled out his heart blood for souls and he made himself an offering for souls and O what an encouragement should this be to all his faithfull Messengers to woe for souls to mourn for souls to pray for souls to study for souls and in preaching to spend and to be spent for the salvation of souls Ah friends there is no work nor wisdom on earth to that of winning souls Prov. 11.30 and He that winneth souls is wise There is no Art no industry to that of winning souls of taking souls as Fowlers take Birds as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports Now though there is a great deal of Art required to take Birds yet there is ten thousand times more Art required to take souls In a word to convert a soul is a greater work then to sway a Scepter Chrysostom or then it is to pour out ten thousand Talents into the Baskets of the poor My design in chusing this Text is the winning of souls it is the salvation of souls it is the bringing in and building up of souls I have read of Lewis the ninth King of France that he was found instructing his poor kitching-boy in the way to heaven and being asked the reason of it he
was Adams choicest sparkling gemm of beauty and his weightiest crown of glory is by Satans policy long since fallen off from Adams head now if this Legal holiness were the holiness meant in the text then woe to man that ever he was born for then no man should ever see the Lord. Rom â— For by Adams fall all men are gone out of the way and there is none legally righteous no not one Now if we look upon man as fallen from that holiness which was his greatest honour dignity and excellency Greg Nazianz. Pindarus Aeschylus Marcus Imperat he is become a pile of dust a puff of wind saith one a dream of a shadow saith another a shadow of smoak saith a third a poor silly flea a worm a little foul a curious nothing yea man faln from his primitive glory is become a very vanity saith the Prophet Psalm 39.5 Verily Every man at his best state is altogether vanity Verily this asseveration is only used in matters of greatest weight and moment and notes the reality and certainty of the things delivered Every man chol Adam all Adam Or every Son of Adam not some man but every man at his best state Nitsab from Jatsab that is in his most settled and composed condition when he is best constituted and underlaid when he stands a tiptoe and is in the heighth and perfection of all creature comforts and contentments is altogether not in some measure but altogether vanity chol Hebel all vanity Since the fall of Adam every natural man in his best estate is vanity nay every man is every vanity Imagine what vanity you will fallen man is that he is a comprehensive vanity be is an Epitome of all vanity Man in honour before his fall was the best of creatures but since his fall he is become the worst of creatures by his fall he is fallen below the very beasts that perish Isaiah 1.3 4. Prov. 6.6 Jer. 8.7 Matth. 6. He that was once the Image of God the glory of Paradise the worlds Lord and the Lords darling is now become a burthen to heaven a burthen to himself and a slave to others c. which made One cry out Oh what is man Quarles A scuâ—tlefull of dust a measured span Mans breath a bubble and his dayes a span T is glorious misery to be born a man By all which you may easily perceive how far we are off from that legal holiness that Adam had in innocency R. Solom Deut. cap. 3. Rabbi Solomon makes Adam so high that he touched heaven with his head I shall not dispute the certainty of that but certainly the higher he was in holiness the greater was his fall and ours in him This Legal holiness was so lost in Adam that no son of Adam could ever find it since Adam fell and if this were the holiness without which no man should ever see the Lord then farewell for ever to the sons of Adam But this legal holiness is not the holiness in the Text. Secondly There is an Imaginary holiness a Conceited holiness an Opinionative holiness Prov. 30.12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes Coelum gratis non acciqiam I will not have heaven but at a rate said a proud impure person and yet is not washed from their filthiness they were very bad and yet they had a great opinion of their own goodness they were very filthy and yet they stood very much upon their own purity their hands were black their hearts were black their works were black and their ways were as black as hell and yet they durst say that none could say black was their eye they were filthy within and filthy without filthy in body and filthy in soul and filthy in spirit filthiness had quite overspred them and yet they thought to cover their filthiness with a vizzard of holiness the worst men are commonly best conceited of themselves Ah friends there hath been no generation wherein there hath not been such a generation of men who have wallowed in sin like Swine in the mire and yet have kept up in themselves a strong opinion of their own goodness and holiness this generation had neither their souls nor consciences washt in the blood of Christ nor sanctified by the spirit of Christ and yet they gloried in their conceited purity and holiness as if they had been purified by Christ There are many that are shining Christians that are pure golden Christians in their own eyes that are viler then dross yea Regis animum quisque intra se habet Every man hath in him the mind of a King is Calvins Note on that 1 Pet. 5.5 then smoak in Gods eyes Isa 65.5 Stand by thy self come not near to me for I am holier then thou these are a smoak in my nose a fire that burneth all the day they were very licentious very ungracious very rebellious very Superstitious very Idolatrous ver 2 3 4. and yet counted themselves very religious they were worse then others and yet thought themselves better then others they were very bad and yet judged themselves very good they were more impure more prophane and more polluted then others and yet they reckon themselves more pure and holier then others they stand upon their comparative goodnesses and yet at the the same time are charged by God of the greatest wickedness And thus their kinsmen the Pharisees stand upon their images forgeries and outward dresses of holiness when at the same time they practised the worst of wickedness Mat. 23.5 Luke 30. 18.11 12. So those in Hos 12.8 And Ephraim said yet I am become rich I have found me out substance in all my labours they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin or is sin Ephraims iniquities were grown ever his head as may be seen throughout this whole Prophecy and yet Ephraim cannot bear the being charged with iniquity it was little less then sin to charge Ephraim with sin though he was notoriously guilty of the highest crimes yet he would have you to know that he was as shie of sin and as clear of sin as he that was shiest and clearest Ephraim could give good words when his works were abominable he could pretend much to innocency when he was guilty of the greatest impiety but though Ephraim had his cloak at hand yet it was too short to cover his sin for God saw it and condemned him for it Chrysostom doth elegantly set forth the blindness and brutishness of such persons When they lie in the mire saith he they think they are besmeared with some sweet oyntments when they are full of Vermine There is a truth in that old saying Avaro deest tam quod habet quam quod non habet A covetous man wanteth as well that which he hath as that which he hath not they vaunt themselves as if they were adorned with pretious stones And so the Laodiceans were of the same temper of spirit Rev.
use 2. So Christ is said to sanctifie himself when he dedicated himself to be a sacrifice for the sins of his people c. so it takes in a dedication and devoting of them to a holy use And thus the Nazarites Temple Mount Zion the Sabbath day and other Festival dayes are said to be holy under the Law In short the whole Jewish Religion did lie in holy times holy places holy persons and holy things and certainly without this holiness without this dedicating of our selves to God we shall never come to a glorious fruition of God he that doth not dedicate himself really to God wholly to God only to God and alwayes to God on earth shall never come to a sight and vision of God in heaven if we do not give up our selves to God God will never give up himself to us Hos 3.3 And I said unto her Thou shalt abide for me many dayes thou shalt not play the harlot and thou shalt not be for another man so will I also be for thee God will be only theirs that are really his and he will be altogether theirs that are wholly his he will only be a husband to them that dedicate themselves to him as a wife doth to her husband he will devote himself theirs who devote themselves his he will avouch himself to be theirs who avouch themselves to be his Deut. 26.17 18 19. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes and to keep his Statutes and his Commandments and his Judgements and to hearken unto his voice And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee and that thou shouldst keep all his commandments And to make thee high above all Nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou mayst be a holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken That is an apt saying of Tertullian Negotiatio est aliquid amittere ut majora lucreris That is right merchandise when something is parted with to gain more God will resign himself up to them who resign themselves up to him he will give up himself to them that have given up their names and their hearts to him He will bestow himself as the greatest pearle of price upon them that shall make a surrender of themselves to him There is no way to be higher then others happier then others more noble and honourable then others then by making a dedi-gift of our selves to God He that dedicates himself to God dedicates all he that doth not dedicate himself dedicates nothing at all What Eschines once said to Socrates Others said he give thee Gold Silver Jewels but I give thee my self That must a Christian say to his God Ah Lord there are some that give thee their lips but I give thee my heart others give thee good words good expressions but I give thee the best of my affections others give thee a few cold prayers but I give thee my whole soul and had I as many hearts in my body as I have hairs on my head I would give them all to thee for thou art worthy thou only art worthy What the King of Israel once said to the King of Syria 1 Kings 20.4 I am thine and all that I have that must a Christian say to his Christ I am thine O Lord and all that I have A Christian must cry out with him who cried Lord I have two mites a soul and a body and I give them both to thee Bernard And this was the honour and commendations of the Macedonians that they gave up themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 Having no better present at hand they present themselves to God and certainly there is no present more honourable Romans 12.1 dilectable and acceptable to God then this of giving up our selves to God Well remember this That man was never really holy that is not relatively holy nor that man will never be really happy that is not relatively holy without Relative holiness there will be no vision of God in everlasting happiness We must be separated from the corruptions and pollutions of the world and we must dedicate our selves to God or we shall never come to a future fruition of God But Fifthly There is an imputative holiness and that is the holiness of Christ imputed to us For to prevent mistakes you may please to take notice that there is a twofold holiness in Christ Consult these Scriptures Luke 1.35 Mark 1.24 Heb. 7.26 Rom. 5.19 Col. 1.22 Rom. 2.3 4. 2 Cor. 5.21 22. Galat. 3.13 Jerem. 23.6 first there is his essential and personal holiness as he is God Now this essential holiness of Christ cannot be imparted nor imputed to any mortal man it is essential to him But Secondly there is his mediatory holiness or that holiness which he wrought for us as Mediator Now the holiness of Christ as Mediator did consist both in the habitual holiness of his person in the absence of all sin and in the rich and plentiful presence of all holy and supernatural qualities as also in the actual holiness of his life and death by his active obedience by his subjecting of his heart and life to divine precepts he perfectly fulfilled the commands of the Law and by his passive obedience his voluntary sufferings he fully satisfied the comminations penalties and curses of the Law Now this mediatory holiness of Christs is ours by imputation and by vertue of which we stand recti in curia justified in the sight of God 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption This Mediatory holiness of Christ reckoned unto a believing sinner is that whereby he is constituted holy in foro Dei and upon this account they are said to be all fair Cant. 4.7 Nemo-bonus qui non ex malo bonus Aug. to be without spot or wrinckle Ephes 5.25 26 27. to be compleat in him Col. 2.10 and to be without fault before the throne of God Rev. 14.4 5. And certainly without this mediatory holiness of Christ there is no appearing before God there is no glorious vision nor fruition of God Hab. 1.13 God is a God of that infinite purity and holiness that no holiness below the imputative holiness of Christ can make a man stand before him or bring a man to the fruition of him It was a very sweet and excellent saying of Bernard when in his own opinion he was at the point of death I confess said he I am not worthy Guliel Abbas in vita Bern. lib. 1. cap. 12. I have no merits of mine own to obtain heaven by but my Lord had a double right thereunto An hereditary right as a Son and a Meritorious right as a Sacrifice He was contented with the one right himself the other right he hath
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
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
state of darkness or in a state of light you are in a state of life or in a state of death you are in a state of love or in a state of wrath you are either Goats or Sheep Sons or Slaves you are either in the broad way to destruction or in the narrow way of salvation and therefore what can be of greater concernment in this world to you then to know in which of these two spiritual estates you are in How can you order aright your prayers or your praises or any religious services till you come to know in which of these two spiritual estates you stand whether you be in a state of nature or in a state of grace in a state of sin or in a state of holiness for all religions duties must be ordered according to mens spiritual estates If a man be in a state of nature his work lies one way if he be in a state of holiness his work lies another way By all which it is most evident that it very nearly concerns you to search and try whether you have this bird of Paradise Holiness in your bosoms or no And for a close let me say that a mistake about your spiritual estate will at last be found not only insufferable and inexcusable but very terrible and damnable Thirdly Consider That a cordial willingness to enter upon this work of tryal is a hopefull evidence of your real integrity and sanctity Unsanctified souls hate the light they had rather go to hell in the dark then come to be weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary As pure gold fears neither fire nor furnace neither test nor touchstone John 3.20 neither one ballance nor another so a pure heart a sanctified soul dares venture it self upon tryal yea Job 31.5 6. Psalm 26 2. Psalm 139 23 24. Matth. 12.20 upon the very tryal of God For he knows that God never brings a pair of scales to weigh his graces but only a touchstone to try the truth of his graces he knows if his gold be true though it be never so little it will pass for current with God As Bankrupts care not for casting up their accounts because they know all is naught very naught stark naught with them so unsanctified souls they care not to come to the tryal to the test because they know that all is naught yea worse then naught with them They have no mind to cast up their spiritual estates because at the foot of the account they must be pâ—t to read their neck-verse Undone undone for ever undone And therefore as old deformed women cannot indure to look into the looking-glass least their wrinckles and deformity should be discovered so unsanctified souls cannot endure to look into the glass of the Gospel least their deformities impieties and wickednesses should be discovered and detected I have read of the Elephant how unwilling he is to go into the water but when he is forced into it he puddles it lest by the clearness of the stream he should discern his own deformity So unholy persons are very unwilling to look into their own hearts or into the clear streams of Scripture lest their souls deformity and ugliness should appear to their own terror and amazement And therefore as you would have a hopefull evidence of your integrity and sanctity fall upon this work of tryal For as it is a hopeful evidence that the Clyents cause is good when he is ready and willing to enter upon a tryal and as it is a hopefull sign that a mans gold is true gold when he is willing to bring it to the touchstone and that a man thrives when he is willing to cast up his books so it is a hopeful evidence that a Christian hath real holiness Gal. 6.4 5. when he is ready and willing to bring his holiness to the test to try whether it be true or no when he is willing to cast up his books that he may see what he is worth for another world Fourthly Consider that there are very many that deceive themselves about their spiritual estates Job 15.34 Prov. 30.12 It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to deceive himself there are those that do but think that they stand 1 Cor. 10.12 and these at last come to fall from their seeming standing into a real hell Matthew 23. Yea from their highest standing into the lowest hell There are many that think themselves to be something when they are nothing Gal. 6.3 There are many that have a form of godliness Isaiah 9.17 Chap. 29.13 Jer. 7.4 8 9 10 11. Rev. 3.16 17 18. Isa 65.2.3 4 5 Matthew 25. but none of the power 2 Tim. 3.6 There are many that have a name to live but are dead Rev. 3.1 There are many that are very confident of their integrity and yet are full of horrible hypocrisie There are many that carry the Lamps of profession that have no oyle of grace in their hearts There are many that take a good nature for grace civility for sanctity and a garb of godliness for real holiness yea there are those who dare say that they excell others in holiness when in truth they exceed most men in wickedness Yea there are many now in hell who have had a great confidence of going to heaven There are many that cry out with Agag Surely the bitterness of death is past wrath is past and hell is past and damnation is past when as vengeance is ready to fall on them and hell stands gaping to devour them The heart of man is full of self-love full of self-flattery and full of hypocrisie and therefore many a man who is only a Jew outwardly Rom. 2.28 29. thinks himself to be a Jew inwardly many a man thinks himself to be as good a Christian as the best and to be as happy as the best and to be as fair for heaven as the best till he comes to hear that tormenting word Depart I know ye not As many are kept off from Christ by a conceit that they have him already so many are kept off from holiness by a conceit that they have it already And therefore it doth very much concern you to make a diligent enquiry whether you have that holiness without which there is no happiness or no. I have read of Plato that when he did walk in the streets if he saw any disordered in speech disguised in drink or otherwise our of frame he would say to himself Num ego talis Am I such a one as this is Am I such a swearer as this is Am I such a drunkard as this is Am I such a wanton as this is Am I such a royotous person as this c. So should every Christian say when he hears of any that doth but think that they stand Num ego talis Am I such a one as this is When he sees one that thinks himself something when he is nothing he should say Am
I such a one as this is when he sees a man to have a form of godliness but no power he should say Am I such a one as this is when he hears of a man that hath a name to live but is spiritually dead he should say Am I such a one as this is c. and when he hears or reads of one that is really holy he should say am I such a one as this is As you would not put a cheat upon your own souls it highly concerns you to try whether you have real holiness or no. Look as many young children catch many a fall out of a strong conceit of their abilities to go so many a man out of a strong conceit that he hath holiness when he hath none catches many a fall in an eternal fall at last The best way to prevent an everlasting miscarriage is to make a privy search after holiness in thine own heart Fifthly Consider that there is a great deal of counterfeit grace and holiness in the world There is not more counterfeit coin this day in the world then there is counterfeit holiness in the world Look as many Bristows stones and counterfeit Gemms do so shine and sparkle like true Jewels that if a man be not very carefull he may be easily cheated so counterfeit grace counterfeit holiness doth so shine and sparkle they do so neerly resemble real holiness and the sanctifying and saving graces of the Spirit that a man may be easily mistaken if he do not make a narrow search Doth the gracious soul abstain from gross sins Matth. 25.1 2 3 4. Ezra 8. Esther 4. Daniel 9. Mat. 6.16 Luke 18 11. Matth. 27. Hebrews 12. Matthew 6. Acts 10.1 2 3 4 Luke 19.11 Acts 21.8 1 Sam. 15.24 Isaiah 58. 2 Chr. 32.26 1 Kings 22.15 Ionah 3. Mark 6. Ezek 33.30 31 32 33. Luke 18.11 so doth the formalist too Do Saints fast and pray so do Pharisees too Doth Peter shed tears so doth Esau too Doth Peter repent so doth Jâ—das too Doth Cornelius give Alms so do the Pharisees too Doth Zacheus believe so doth Simon Magus too Doth David confess his sin so doth Saul too Doth David delight in approaching to God so doth Isaiahs hypocrites too Doth Hezekiah humble himself so doth Ahab and the King of Nineveh too Doth a gracious soul hear the word with joy so did Herod too Doth a gracious soul receive the word with joy so did the stony ground too Doth a gracious soul delight in his teacher so did Ezekiels worldlings too Is a gracious soul in Closset duties so is the Pharisee too c. When counterfeit coin is abroad you will not take a piece but you will try it you will bring every piece to the touchstone Ah that you would deal so by your holiness there is a great deal of counterfeit holinesse abroad and therefore you had need bring yours to the tryal As all is nor gold that glisters so all is not holinesse that men take for holinesse that men count for holinesse The child is not more like the Father nor one Brother like another Wine in the Bottle is not more like to Wine in the Butt nor water in the Cistern more like to water in the River The difference between these true and counterfeit graces is largely discovered in my Treatise on Assurance nor fire in the forge more like to fire in the chimney nor milk in the sawcer to milk in the breasts then counterfeit grace and holinesse is like to that which is real Counterfeit faith doth so neerly resemble true faith and counterfeit love true love and counterfeit repentance true repentance and counterfeit obedience true obedience and counterfeit knowledge true knowledge and counterfeit holinesse true holinesse that it is not an easie matter to discover the one from the other The Cyprian Diamond saith Pliny looks so like the true Indian Diamond that if a man do not look warily to it he may easily be deceived and cheated O Sirs true grace and counterfeit true holinesse and counterfeit look so like one another that without a divine light to guide you you may be easily cheated and deceived for ever In these dayes of profession there is abundance of false ware put off Satan is a subtile Merchant and where prophanesse will not passe for current coin there he labours to furnish his customers with the shews and resemblances of grace and holinesse that so he may hold them the faster in golden setters and put them off from looking after that real holinesse without which no man can be blessed here or happy hereafter And therefore it neerly concerns every â—an to search and try whether he hath real holinesse or no. Sixthly Consider If upon tryal you shall find in you this real holinesse that paves the way to happiness it will turn exceedingly to your accounts thy happinesse depends upon the real being of holinesse in thee but thy comfort depends upon thy seeing of holinesse Real holinesse will yield thee a heaven hereafter but the seeing of holinesse will yield thee a heaven here he that hath holinesse and knows it shall have two heavens a heaven of joy comfort peace content and assurance here and a heaven of happinesse and blessednesse hereafter but he that hath holiness and doth not know it shall certainly be saved 1 Co. 3.11 16. yet so as by fire he shall have a heaven at last but he must passe to it by the flaming sword When a person is heir to a great estate and knows it when a person is son to a King and knows it when a person is highly in favour knows it when a person is out of all hazard and danger and knows it when a persons pardon is sealed and he knows it then the springs of joy and comfort rises in him So when a man is holy and knows it Ezek. 47.2 3 4 5. 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. then the springs of divine joy and comfort rises in his soul as the waters rise in Ezekiels Sanctuary The knowledge of the goodnesse and holinesse of thy estate will make heavy afflictions light long afflictions short and bitter afflictions sweet the knowledge of the goodnesse and holinesse of thy estate will make thee frequent fervent constant and abundant in the work of the Lord. The knowledge of the goodnesse and holinesse of thy estate wiâ—l strengthen thy faith raise thy hope inflame thy love 1 Cor. 15. ult increase thy patience and brighten thy zeal The knowledge of the goodnesse and holinesse of thy estate will make every mercy sweet every duty sweet every ordinance sweet and every providence sweet The knowledge of the goodnesse and holinesse of thy estate will rid thee of all thy sinfull fears and cares Phil. 1.22 23. 2 Cor. 5.1 10. it will give thee ease under every burden and it will make death more desireable then life The knowledge of the goodnesse and holinesse of thy estate will make thee
vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further So holy Agur Prov. 30.2 3. Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not * Binath Adam the understanding of Adam the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the holy Though all men are brutish yet holy men are most sensible of their brutishness and most affected and afflicted with it wicked men are more brutish then the beasts Isa 1.3 4. yet they see it not they bewail it not but holy Agur both sees his brutishness and bewails it Holy Agur looking upon that rare knowledge that depth of wisdom and those admirable excellencies that Adam was endued with in his integrity and innocency confesses himself to be but brutish to be as much below what Adam once was as a bruit is below a man Psalm 51. So holy David cries not Perii I am undone I shall perish but peccavi I have sinned I have done foolishly And so for his being envious at the prosperity of the foolish Psalm 73.2 3. how doth he befool and be-beast himself Psalm 73.22 So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee The Hebrew word Behemoth Therefore the Elephant is called Behemoth in Job 40.15 that is here rendred beast generally comprehends all beasts of the greater sort As an aggravation of his folly he confesseth that he was as a beast as a great beast yea as an Epiâ—ome of all great beasts So the holy Prophet Isaiah complains that he was undone Isa 6.5 that he was cut off not upon any worldly account but because he was a man of unclean lips and dwelt in the midst of a people of unclean lips Dan. 9. So holy Daniel complained not that they were reproached and oppressed but that they had rebelled So Peter Luke 5.8 Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord Or as the Greek hath it I am a man a sinner O Lord depart from me for I am a mixture and compound of all vileness and sinfulness Rom. 7.23 24. So holy Paul cries not out of his opposers or persecutors but of the Law in his members rebelling against the Law of his mind Pauls body of death within him put him to more grief and sorrow then all the troubles and trialls that ever befell him An holy heart laments over those sins that he cannot conquer a holy person labours to wash out all the stains and spots that be in his soul in the streams of godly sorrow that his sins may never drown his soul Zach. 2.10 Isa 59.1 2. he will do what he can to drown his sins in penitential tears A holy person looks upon his sins as the crucifiers of his Saviour and so they affect him he looks upon his sins as the great incendaries make-bates and separatist between God and his soul and so they afflict him he looks upon his fins as so many reproaches to his God blemishes to his profession and wounds to his credit and conscience and so they grieve and trouble him he looks upon his sins as those that make many a righteous soul besides his own sad whom God would not have sadded and that opens many a sinful mouth that God would have stopped Ezek. 13.22 and that strengthens many a wicked heart that God would not have strengthened and so they fetch many a sigh from his heart and many a tear from his eyes When a holy man sins he looks upwards and there he sees God frowning he looks downwards and there he sees Satan insulting he looks within himself and there he finds his conscience either a bleeding raging or accusing he looks without himself and there he finds gracious men lamenting and mourning and graceless men deriding and mocking the sense of which doth sorely and sadly afflict a gracious soul Some say that Saint Peters eyes after his great falls were alwayes full of tears insomuch that his face was furrowed with continual weeping for his horrid thoughts his desperate words his shameful shifts and his damnable deeds which made him look more like a child of hell then like a Saint whose name was written in heaven Some say of Adam that when he turned his face towards the Garden of Eden he sadly lamented his great fall Some say of Mary Magdalen that she spent thirty years in Galba in weeping for her sins Davids sins were ever before him and therefore no wonder if Tears instead of Gemms were so constantly the ornaments of his bed Wicked Pharaoh cryes out Psal 115.3 Oh take away these filthy frogs take away these dreadful judgments but holy David cryes out O Lord take away the iniquity of thy servant Pharaoh cryes out because of his punishments but David cryes out because of his sin Anselm saith that with grief he considered the whole course of his life I found saith he the infancy of sin in the sins of my infancy the youth and growth of sin in the sins of my youth and growth and the ripeness of all sin in the sins of my ripe and perfect age and then he breaks forth into this patheticall expression What remaineth for thee wretched man but that thou spend thy whole life in bewailing thy whole life By all which it is most evident that holy hearts are very much affected and afflicted with their own unholiness and vileness Now certainly those persons are as far off from real holiness as hell is from heaven who take pleasure in unrighteousness who make a scoff and mock of sin who commit wickedness with greediness who talk wickedly who live wantonly who trade deceitfully who swear horribly who drink stifly who lye hideously and who die impenitently But Seventhly Real holiness naturalizes holy duties to the soul it makes religious services to be easie and pleasant to the soul 1 Pet. 1 2. Jam. 5.15 Hence prayer is called the prayer of faith because holy faith naturalizeth a mans heart to prayer it is as natural for a holy man to pray as it is for him to breath or as it is for a bird to fly or fire to ascend or a stone to descend Rom. 16.26 Psalm 119.166 And hence it is that obedience is called the obedience of faith because holy faith naturalizes a mans heart to obedience As soon as ever this plant of renown was set in the heart of Paul he cryes out Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.6 Gal. 3.2 And hence it is that hearing is called the hearing of faith because this holy principle naturalizes a mans heart to hearing Psalm 122.1 2. I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord. And so in Isa 2.3 And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of
screws up his Consciencee till he makes all crack again Under all his shews of sanctity he had not so much as common honesty in him Counterfeit holiness is often made a stalking horse to the exercise of much unrighteousness Certainly that man is as far from real holiness as the Devil himself is from true happiness who lives not in the exercise of righteousness towards men as well as in a profession of holiness towards God Well Christians remember this it were better with the Philosopher to have honesty without Religion then to have Religion without honesty But Ninthly He that is truly holy will labour and endeavour to make others holy a holy heart loves not to go to heaven alone it loves not to be happy and blessed alone a man that hath experienced the power excellency and sweetness of holiness will strive and study how to make others holy When Sampson had tasted honey Judg. 14.8 9. he gave his father and mother some with him Holiness is so sweet a morsel that a soul cannot taste of it 1 Thes 1.5 6 7 8. but he will be a commending of it to others As you may see in holy Moses in Numb 11.29 And Moses said unto him Enviest thou for my sake Lilmod le lammed we therefore learn that we may teach is a proverb among the Rabbines would God that all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them A holy soul will never make a monopoly of holiness the Prophets you know were men of greatest grace and holiness now holy Moses is very importunate and earnest with God that he would not only make the two that prophesied but all the Lords people eminent and excellent in grace and holiness such was Moses his holiness and humbleness that he desires that all others might either equal him or excell him in gifts and grace The Heathen could say I do therefore lay in and lay up that I may draw forth again for the good of many A heart eminently holy is so far from envying of the gracious excellencies of others that it can rejoyce in every Sun that out-shines his own and every light that burns more dim then his he desires that it may be snufft not put out that so it may give a clearer and a greater light to others So holy Paul in Acts 26.29 And Paul said I would to God that not only thou but also all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these bands True holiness is no Churl nothing makes a man more noble in his spiritual desires wishes and actings for others then holiness Real holiness like oyl is of a diffusive nature like light it will spread it self over all like Maries box of ointment it fills all the house with the sweet scent thereof Art thou a holy Father then thou wilt with holy Abraham labour to make thy children holy Gen. 18.17 18 19. A holy heart knows that both by his first birth but especially by his new-birth he stands obliged to promote holiness in all but especially in those that are parts and pieces of himself Art thou a holy Master then thou wilt with holy Joshua labour to make all under thy charge holy Josh 24.15 But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. True holiness cannot be concealed it will be a stirring and a provoaking of others to be holy as a holy man doth not love to be happy alone so a holy man doth not love to be holy alone A holy master loves to see a Crown of holiness set upon every head in his family Holiness is a very beautiful thing and it makes those beautiful in whom it is in a holy Masters eye there is no servant so lovely and beautiful as he that hath the beauty of holiness upon him George Prince of Aâ—halt his family is said to have been Ecclesia Academia Curia A Church an University and a Court. A holy Magistrate will labour to make both his servants and his subjects holy As holy David holy Asa holy Josiah and holy Ezekiah did he knows that the souls of his servants and subjects are the choicest treasure that God hath committed to his care he knows that every soul is more worth then his Crown and Kingdom he knows that he must one day give up an account for more souls then his own and therefore he improves his power and interest every way for the making of all holy under him As Lewis the ninth King of France took pains to instruct his poor Kitchin-boy in the way to heaven and being asked the reason of it he answered The meanest have a soul to save as precious as mine own and bought by the same blood of Christ It is said of Constantine that in this he was truly great that he would have his whole Court gathered together and cause the Scriptures to be read and opened to them that they might be made holy Courtiers Rev. 21.27 and so fitted for the Court of heaven into which no unclean person or thing can enter It grieved an Emperour that a neighbour of his should die before he had done him any good Ah it is the grief of a holy Magistrate to see others die before they are made holy the great request of a holy Magistrate living and dying is this Lord make this people a holy people O make this people a holy people Art thou a holy kinsman a holy friend then thou wilt labour to make thy kindred holy and thy friends holy As holy Cornelius did So in 1 John 39 49. Chap. 4.28 29 30. as you may see in Acts 10.24 27. And the morrow after they entred into Cesaria and Cornelius waited for them and had called together his kinsmen and near friends And as Peter talked with him he went in and found many that were come together And in ver 33. saith Cornelius to Peter Thou hast well done that thou art come Now therefore we are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Ver. 1 2 3 4. Devout Cornelius gets his kinsmen and near friends together that they also might be partakers of the grace and mercy of God with him he had experienced a work of grace and holiness upon his own heart and he uses his best endeavours that they might experience the same on theirs A holy Christian is like a loadstone that draws to it self first one iron ring and that another and that a third It is a true saying in natural Philosophie that it is Naturalissimum opus viventis generare sibi simile the most natural act or work of every living thing to produce another like unto it self As there is a natural instinct in all creatures to propagate their own kind as in beasts birds and fishes so there is a holy a spiritual instinct in all gracious hearts to propagate grace and holiness in whatever hearts they
the holy dispensers of the Word for their work sake Acts 10.24 25 26. Gal. 4.14 Isa 52.7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation that saith unto Zion thy God reigneth If the very feet of those that brought good tidings though they were afar off â—nd sweaty dusty and dirty with traveling upon the mountains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were so desirable and amiable honourable and comfortable Oh then what was their faces what was their messages surely they were much more amiable and desireable So in 1 Thes 5.12 13. And we beseech you Brethren to know them which labour among you in the Lord Acts 26.16 17 18. If a Minister had as many eyes as Argus to watch as many heads as Typheus to dispose and as many hands as Briareus to labour he might find employment enough for them all in the faithful discharge of his Ministerial function and admonish you And to esteem them very highly or more then abundantly as the Greek hath it in love for their work sake and be at peace among your selves Their work is to bring Christ and your souls together and to keep Christ and your souls together Their work is to turn you from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ Their work is gradual first they are to bring you to a saving acquaintance with Christ and then they are to bring you to a holy acceptance of Christ and then they are to bring you to a willing resignation of your selves to Christ and then they are to bring you to a sweet and blessed assurance of your interest in Christ and so to fit you and prepare you for a glorious fruition of Christ and therefore certainly their work is high and honourable excellent and eminent laborious and glorious and why then should you not have a high and honourable esteem of them even for their work sake I have read of Ambrose that being once to leave the Church of Milan the people of the place flocked about him laid hold of him protesting that they had rather lose their lives then lose their Pastor beseeching him to remain and to promote among them the Gospel and Government of Christ professing and promising for his encouragement their ready submission to Christ Chrysostoms hearers were wont to say that they had as good be without the Sun in the Firmament as to be without Chrysostom in the Pulpit Some of the antients have long since concluded that Herod might have kept his oath Mark 6.23 and yet have spared John Baptists head because Johns head Johns life was more worth then all Herods Kingdom O Sirs Shall Titus Sabinus his dog bring meat to the mouth of his dead master and hold up his head in Tyber from sinking because sometimes he gave him a crust of bread And will not you highly love honour and esteem of those Pastors who feed your souls with the bread of life yea with that bread that came down from heaven Certainly the more any man is affected and taken with the holiness of the Word the more highly they will honour and prize the holy and faithful dispensers of the Word Holy men know that their place is honourable their calling honourable and their work honourable and therefore they cannot but honour them Holy men know that if they do not honour them they dishonour him whose Embassadors they are Holy men know that Christ takes all the affronts that are put upon them Luke 10.16 Mat. 22.4 8. chap. 21.33 44. and chap. 23.37 38 39. 2 Chron. 36.14 22. 2 Sam. 10.1 7. compared with chap. 12. ver 31. as put upon himself and will accordingly revenge them as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the margin together Embassadors are inviolable by the Law of Nations David never played any such harsh part as he did to the Ammonites that despitefully used his Embassadors that he sent unto them when they shaved off one half of their beards and cut off their garments in the middle c. I have read that Rome was destroyed to the ground for some abuses that were offered to an Embassador that was sent unto it And the Romans sacked the famous City of Corinth and razed it to the ground for a little discourtesie that they offered to their Embassadors No wonder then if God deal so severely with those that slight his Embassadors who come with messages of grace and favour from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and whose great work is to make a firm an everlasting peace between God and sinners souls and that all differences between God and them may be for ever decided and a free trade to heaven fully opened and maintained As for such as slight scorn and despise the holy and faithfull dispensers of the word I think they are as far from real holinesse as hell is from true happinesse And so doubtlesse are they that grumble at the expence of a penny for the maintenance of that divine Candle that wasteth it self to give light to them 2 Cor. 12.14 15 16. that will rather die to save charges then spend a little money to save their lives yea their souls In the fourteenth place A man that is really holy will be holy among the unholy he will retain and keep his holinesse Psal 119.112 Psal 106.3 1 Joh. 3.9 10. let the times be never so unholy Principles of grace and holinesse are lasting they are not like the morning cloud nor the early dew Holy Abraham was righteous in Caldea holy Lot was just in Sodom holy Job was upright in the land of Vzz which was a place of much prophanesse and superstition Holy Nehemiah was couragious and zealous in Damasco And so was holy Daniel in Babylon The several generations wherein these holy men lived were wholly devoted to wickednesse and superstition and yet these precious souls had wholly devoted themselves to godlinesse And of the same spirit mind and mettal was holy David Psalm 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgements at all times Let the times be never so dangerous licentious superstitious or erroneous yet Davids heart was strongly carried forth to Gods judgements that is to his word for under this title Judgements you are to understand the whole word of God And so there were some in Sardis that were of the same spirit with the Worthies above mentioned Rev. 3.4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments Rev. 14.4 5. and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy In polluting times pure hearts will keep themselves pure A holy heart will keep himself undefiled even in defiling times when others are besmeared all over he will keep his garments white and clean Let the times never so often turn you shall find that he that is really holy will be holy
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
himself to work all manner of wickedness as you may see in 2 Chron. 33. in vers 3. He reared up Altars for Baalim and made groves and worshipped all the hoast of heaven and served them vers 4. He built Altars in the house of God vers 5. Yea for all the hoast of heaven did he build Altars in the Courts of the house of God This was a horrid piece of impudence to provoke God to his very face by equalizing his Altars to Gods Altar vers 6. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom Here was inhumane superstition and inhumane cruelty to offer his own children in sacrifice to the Devil Also he observed times and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger The complaint is antient in Seneca that commonly men live not ad rationem but ad similitudinem Seneca de vita beata cap. 1. vers 9. He made Judah and Jerusalem to err by his example and to do worse then the Heathens The actions of Rulers are most commonly rules for the peoples actions and their example passeth as currant as their coin The common people dare practise the very worst of wickedness that they see acted in a scarlet Robe they are like tempered wax easily receiving impressions from the seals of great mens vices they make no bones on it to sin by prescription and to damn themselves with authority The heathen brings in a young man who hearing of the adulteries and wickednesses of the gods said What do they so and shall I stick at it so say most when great ones are greatly wicked Why they do thus and thus and why should we stick at it The Egyptians esteemed it graceful and their duty to halt on that leg on which their King limped most men think it a grace to imitate the greatest authority in their most graceless actings Which made the Poet say Subjects and Kingdoms commonly do chuse The manners that their Princes daily use Vers 10. And the Lord spake unto Manasseh but he would not hearken He was settled in idolatry and stopt his ears against all the counsel and admonitions of the Prophets that were sent to reclaim him Now who would ever have thought that one so abominably wicked and wretched should ever have obtained such favour with God as to be pardoned renewed and sanctified and yet vers 12 13. He besought the Lord and humbled himself greatly before the Lord and prayed unto him and God was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God He now acknowledges Jehovah to be the true God and renounces all other gods that he may cleave to God alone There is no heart so wicked but grace can make it holy So Paul was once so great a sinner that had he stept but one step further he had faln into the unpardonable sin against the Holy-Ghost in 1 Tim. 1.13 you have a brief survey of his great transgressions He was a Blasphemer he blasphemed God and Christ and his wayes and truth he made a mock and scoff at holiness he made nothing of blaspheming that God that he should have feared and of blaspheming that Christ that he should have sweetly embraced and of blaspheming those Truths that he should have readily entertained Paul was a great proficient in the School of blasphemy he made nothing of belching out blasphemy in the very face of heaven And he was a persecutor too Acts 9. Chap. 26.11 he persecuted holiness to the death yea he was mad in persecuting the poor Saints and servants of Christ he did all he could to make their lives a hell and to rid them out of this world he thought them not worthy to live though they were such Worthies of whom this world was not worthy Chap. 8.3 he was a ravening and an untired Woolf that was never weary in worrying Christs little flock and in sucking out the blood of his Lambs Yea and he was an injurious person too he made no conscience of wronging others Mat. 7.12 or of squaring his carriage by that golden rule Do to others as you would have others do to you This Royal Law this standard of equity he regarded not he made nothing of haling men and women to prison and of compelling them to blaspheme by his cruelty and wicked example he spared no sex but practised the highest cruelty upon all that had any thing of sanctity in them he would adventure the torments of hell rather then not be a tormenter of the Saints here and the more active any were in holiness the more injurious was he to them And yet behold this blasphemer this persecutor this injurious person became a sanctified Christian an eminent Saint a pattern of holiness to all Christians in all ages Once more witness that sad bed-rool of unsanctified persons that are mentioned in 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 drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God These monstrous sinners and prodigious sins were enough to have brought another flood upon the world or to have provoked the Lord to rain hell out of heaven upon them as once he did upon Sodom and Gomorah or to have caused the ground to open and swallow them up as once it did Corah Dathan and Abiram and yet behold some of these are changed and sanctified v. 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Oh! the infinite goodness Matthew Zacheus Mary Magdalen the Jaylor and the murderers of Christ Acts. 2. are clear instances of this truth 1 Cor. 7.14.16 1 Pet. 3.1.6 Oh! the infinte grace Oh! the infinite wisdom and power of God that hath pardoned washed sanctified and cleansed such guilty filthy and polluted souls The worst of sinners should never despair of being made Saints considering what unholy ones have been made holy It is possible that you may be made holy Witness 6. All those sanctified ones among whom you live who once were as unholy or more unholy it may be then ever you were the sanctified husband is a clear witness to the unsanctified wife that she may be sanctified the sanctified father is a witness to the unsanctified child that he may be sanctified the sanctified master is a witness to the unsanctified servant that he may be sanctified the sanctified Prince is a witness to his unsanctified people that they may be sanctified and the sanctified Minister is a witness to his unsanctified hearers that they may be
sanctified the same Spirit the same Grace the same Power the same Presence that hath sanctified any of these may sanctifie all of these there is no heart so unholy but a holy God can make it holy there is no spirit so unclean but a holy Spirit can make it clean Well sinners there are many living and standing witnesses of divine grace among you and about you that do sufficiently declare that it is possible that you may be sanctified and saved Again it is possible that you may be sanctified and made holy Witness 7. The Oath of a holy God Ezek. 33.11 Say unto them As I live saith the Lord God Ezek. 18.31 32. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will you die O house of Israel As I live is the form of an Oath and is much used in the Scripture by God himself wicked men are very hardly perswaded to believe that God is willing that they should be sanctified and saved and therefore God takes his oath on it that he is infinitely more willing that wicked men should turn from their evil wayes and be sanctified and saved then that they should perish in their sins and be damned for ever As I live is a weighty oath and imports the certainty of that which follows it is absolute without evasion or revocation As sure as I live and am God I have no pleasure in destroying and damning of souls but desire that they would turn from their evil wayes and that they would be sanctified and saved let me not live let me be no longer a God if I would not have the wicked to live and be happy for ever The possibility of your being holy God hath confirmed by an oath and therefore you may no longer question it As Paulus Fagius observeth in his comment on Genesis The Egyptians though Heathens so hated perjury that if any man did but swear by the life of the King and did not perform his oath that man was to die and no gold was to redeem his life And do you think that a holy God doth not stand more upon his oath then Heathens yea then the worst of Heathens Certainly he doth 8. Lastly it is possible that you may be a holy Witness The great designs and undertakings of Jesus Christ to make lost man holy His great design in leaving his fathers bosom and coming into this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dissolve unravel the works of the Devil was the destroying the dissolving of the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil Sin is Satans work and Christ comes to destroy it and break it all in pieces Mens sins are Satans chains by which he links them fast to himself but Christ was therefore manifested that he might loose and knock off these chains Satan had knit many sinful knots in our souls but Christ comes to unty those knots he had laid many snares but Christ comes to discover and to break those snares It was the great design of Christ in the divesting of himself as it were of his divine honour glory and dignity Phil. 2.6 7 8 15. and in his taking on him the nature of man to destroy Satan and to sanctifie the souls of men Heb. 2.11 14 15. It was the great design of Jesus Christ in giving of himself for us in giving his soul his body his life to justice to death to wrath for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Titus 2.14 and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The crown of holiness was faln from our heads and Christ freely and willingly uncrowns himself that once more we might be crowned with holiness immortality and glory Christ was resolved that he would lose all that was near and dear unto him but he would recover our lost holiness for us Christ knew that heaven had been but a poor purchase had he not purchased holiness for us As heaven is but a low thing without God so heaven is but a low thing without holiness It is holiness that is the sparkling Diamond in the Ring of happiness a man were better be holy in hell then unholy in heaven and therefore Christ ventures his All for holiness The great design of Christ in redeeming of souls with the choicest the purest the costliest the noblest blood that ever run in veins Luke 1.74 75. was that they should serve him in righteousness and holiness all the daies of their lives In a word Christ had never taken so great a journey from heaven to earth but to make men holy he had never taken upon him the form of a servant but to make us the servants of the most high God He had never lyen in a manger he had never trod the Wine-press of his fathers wrath but to make you holy he prayed he sweat he bled and he hung on the Cross and all to make you holy he was holy in his birth and holy in his life and holy in his death and holy in all his sufferings and all to make you holy The great design of Christ in all he did and in all he suffered was to make man holy And thus you see by all these Arguments that holiness is attainable Thirdly Consider this that real holiness is the honour and the glory of the creature and therefore the Apostle links holiness and honour together 1 Thes 4.3 4. 2 Cor. 3. ult Eph. 5.27 For this is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour The vessel is mans body which is the great utensil or instrument of the soul and contains it as in a vessel now the sanctity and chastity of this vessel is the honour of a Christian even bodily purity is a Christians glory he that keeps his vessel in holiness keeps it in honour A heathen could say Nobilitas sola est atque unica vertus Vertue is the only true nobility Holiness is the greatest dignity that mortal man is capable of it is mans highest promotion it is his highest exaltation holiness is the true gentility and the true nobility of the soul Deut. 26. ult And to make thee high above all Nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God There is nothing that lifts a people so high and that makes them so truly famous and glorious as holiness doth Holiness is the praise the renown the crown and glory of a people Holiness is the diadem the beauty and the excellency of a people Holiness is the strength the honour and the riches of a people Holiness is the image of God
the character of Christ it is a beam of the divine nature a spark of glory it is the life of your lives and the soul of your souls it is only holiness that makes men to excell in honour all other people in the world Look as Gods holiness is his glory Exod. 15.11 Isa 6.2 3. Psalm 93.5 Eph. 5.27 and the Angels holiness is their glory and the Churches holiness is their glory so the holiness of any particular person is the glory of that person Why was Jabez reputed more honourable then his brethren but because he was more holy then his brethren 1 Chron. 4.9 10. And Jabez was more honourable then his brethren And his mother called his name Jabez saying because I bare him with sorrow And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my coast and that thine hand might be with me and that thou wouldst keep me from evil that it may not grieve me And God granted him that which he requested Holiness is the truest and the greatest nobility and honour in the world It is very observable that among Turks Jews Indians Persians and Papists the strictest and holiest among them are most highly esteemed and honoured Romanus the Martyr who was born of noble parentage intreated his persecutors that they would not favour him for his nobility for it is not said he the blood of my ancestors but my Christian faith that makes me noble David thought it not so happy nor so honourable a thing to be a King in his own house as to be a door-keeper in Gods house Solomon did prefer the title of Ecclesiastes that is a soul reconciled to the Church before the title of the King of Jerusalem Holy Theodosius the Emperour preferred the title of membrum Ecclesiae a member of the Church before that of Caput imperii the head of the Empire professing that he had rather be a Saint and no King then a King and no Saint And holy Constantine rejoyced more in being the servant of Christ then in being the Emperour of the world And Luther had rather be Christianus rusticus then Ethnicus Alexander a Christian clown then a Pagan Emperour These holy men well knew that holiness was the top of all their honour and glory Well sinners remember this that holiness is the high and ready way to the highest honour and therefore as ever you would be truly honourable labour to be truly holy Great swelling titles are but as so many Rattles or as so many Fethers in mens caps without holiness he that can be content to live without holiness must be contented to see his honour intombed whilest he lives Honour without holiness is but a wind that will blow a man the sooner to hell Honour without holiness Acts 25.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with great fantasie or vain shew all the honour pomp and state of this world is but a fantasie is but magnum nihil a great nothing a glorious fancy Many a man hath been the worse but where lives that man that hath been ever the better for his worldly honour A man swelled with honour without holiness is like a man in a Dropsie whose bigness is his disease Well let Ambitionists and all others who hunt after the breath of popular applause know that that honour which attends holiness is the truest honour the highest honour the greatest honour the happiest honour the surest honour the purest honour and the most lasting and abiding honour Mollerus upon Psalm 73.20 concludes that wicked mens earthly honours and dignities are but as idle dreams and their splendid braveries but lucid fantasies Adonibezek a mighty Prince is quickly made a fellow-commoner with the dogs Judg. 1.7 And Nebuchadnezzar a mighty conqueror Dan. 4.28 Acts 12.23 turned a grazing among the Oxen. And Herod reduced from a conceited god to be the most loathsom of men a living carrion arrested by the vilest of creatures upon the suit of his affronted Creator And great Haman feasted with the King one day Est 7.10 and made a feast for Crows the next but that honour that waits on holiness is honour that will abide with a man that will to the grave with a man yea that will to heaven with a man Some heathens have been weary of their honours Maximus c. but the honour that attends holiness is no burden to a Christian and others have rejected honours when they have been offered them because of the cumber and danger that attends them High seats are never but uneasie and Crowns are usually stuft with thorns But the honour that attends holiness is a Rose without prickles it is a Crown without thorns that honour that springs from a root of holiness shall be both sanctified and sweetened by God so as that it shall not hurt nor harm a gracious soul Ah sinners sinners if you will be ambitious be ambitious of that honour that comes in upon the foot of holiness for there is no honour to that honour The Romans were insatiable in their desires after worldly honour which is but as a blast a shadow a dream O! how much more insatiable should you be in your desires and endeavours after that honour that is linkt to holiness and that is substantial and lasting Fourthly To stir you up to look after real holiness Consider that holiness is very attractive History tells us of many Infidels that have been woon to the Christian faith by the holy lives of the Saints c. drawing and winning it draws love it draws desire it draws delight Holiness is like a precious perfume whose savour spreads it self and is pleasing and delightful to all that come near it 2 Kings 4.9 10. And she said unto her husband Behold now I perceive that this is a holy man of God which passeth by us continually Let us make a little chamber I pray thee on the wall and let us set for him there a bed a table and a stool and a candlestick and it shall be when he cometh to us that he shall turn in thither The holiness of the Prophets spirit the holiness of his principles the holiness of his behaviour and the holiness of his conversation did so allure and win upon this great Lady that she becomes an importunate suitor to her husband that he might be lovingly freely courteously and commodiously entertained and accommodated as often as he came that way So Acts 2.46 47. And they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart Praising God and having favour with all the people That which did grace and ingratiate these holy Converts into the favour of the people was the exercise of their grace and holiness It was their sweet unity their noble charity their holy familiarity their blessed harmony their singular sincerity and their Christian constancy that brought them into favour with
the glory due unto his name worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse Psalm 96.9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse Psalm 110.3 Thy people shall bee willing in the day of thy power in the beauty of holinesse You see beauty and holinesse is by God himself still linked together and those whom God hath so closely joyned together no man may put a sunder The Scripture last cited doth not only speak our holinesse to be a beautiful thing but it speaks out many beauties to be in holinesse Those Christians that are voluntiers in the beauties of holinesse they shall be very beautiful and shining through holinesse Holiness casts such a beauty upon man as makes him very amiable and desirable The holinesse of parents renders them very amiable and desireable in the eyes of their children and the holinesse of children renders them very amiable and desirable in the eyes of their parenâ—s When that incomparable Lady Cornelia presented her sons to the Common-wealth Isa 22 22. she said Haec sunt mea ornamenta these are my Jewels these are my ornaments Holy children are their parents crown their parents ornaments no glistering gold no sparkling diamonds Xenophon in Plutarch never prayed that his son Gryllus might be long lived but that he might be a good man no shining or glittering apparel renders children so amiable and lovely in the eyes of their parents as holinesse doth The holinesse of the husband renders him very amiable in the eyes of the wife and the holinesse of the wife renders her very desirable in the eyes of her husband The holinesse of the master renders him very lovely in the eyes of his servants and the holinesse of the servants renders them very comely in the eyes of their masters c. Jewels holinesse Bradfords holinesse and Bucers holinesse rendred them very amiable and lovely not only in the eyes of their friends but also in the eyes of their enemies There is nothing in this world that will render all sorts and ranks of people so glorious and famous in the eyes of one another as holinesse will do Were all ranks and orders of men more holy they would certainly be more lovely in the eyes of one another O that all men would cease from being injurious one to another and labour to be more holy and then I am sure they would be more comely in one anothers eyes Holinesse is lovely yea loveliness it self purity is a Christians splendor and glory there is no beauty to that of sanctity nothing beautifies and bespangles a man like holinesse Holinesse is so lovely and so comely a thing that it draws all eyes and hearts to an admiration of it Holinesse is so great a beauty that it puts a beauty upon all other excellencies in a man That holinesse is a very beautiful thing and that it makes all those beautiful that have it is a truth that no Devil can deny And therefore O Sirs as ever you would be ebautiful and lovely labour to be holy The natural beauty of Sarah Rebeccah Rachel 2 Sam. 14.25 Joseph and Absalom was no beauty to that beauty lustre and glory that holinesse puts upon a man Demetrius saith Plutarch Plutarch in the life of Demetrius was so passing fair of face and countenance that no Painter was able to draw him Holinesse puts so rare a beauty upon man that no Painter under heaven is able to draw him Scipio Africanus was so comely a person that the Barbarians in Spain stood amazed at his comelinesse Holinesse puts such a comlinesse Mark 6.20 and such an amiablenesse upon a person that many admire it and stand amazed at it O Sirs as ever you would be amiable and desirable be holy as ever you would be lovely and comely be holy as ever you would be famous and glorious be holy as ever you would out-shine the Sun in splendor and glory labour to be holy Many have ventured their names their estates their liberties their lives yea their very souls to enjoy a lovely Bathsheba David Theseus Prince Paris Mark Antony c. a fair Helena a beautiful Diana a comely Cleopatra c. whose beauties have been but clay well coloured O how much more then should you be provoked to labour and venture your All for holinesse that will imprint upon you that most excellent and most exquisite beauty that will to the grave and to glory with you yea that will render you not only amiable and excellent in the eyes of men but also lovely and comely in the eyes of God! I remember Bernard writing to a noble Virgin that was holy tells her that others were cloathed with purple and silk Psalm 45.13 14. but their consciences were poor and beggerly they glistered with their Jewels but were loose in their manners but you saith he are without meanly clad but within shine exceeding beautiful not to humane but to divine eyes both in the eyes of God Angels and men Ezek. 16.1 12. none shine and glister so gloriously as those that are holy Unholy souls are foul souls ugly souls deformed souls withered souls wrinkled souls they are altogether unlovely and uncomely souls I have read of Acco an old woman who seeing her deformity in a glass run mad Should God but shew unholy men their deformity in the glass of the Law it would either make them spiritually mad or else it would make them fall in love with holinesse that so they might be made comely and lovely by being made pure and holy But Eleventhly Consider this to provoke you to be holy that holinesse is the most gainfullest and the most thriving trade in the world Now that every one cryes out that all trading is gone O that every one would settle to the trade of holinesse O there is no gain there is no advantage to the gain that comes in upon the account of godlinesse 1 Tim. 6.6 But godlinesse with contentment is great gain Though godlinesse it self be great gain Godliness is the greatest riches the best treasure the highest honor and the most lasting fame yet godlinesse brings in a great deal of gain besides it self The godly man is still of the gaining side his piety brings him in the greatest plenty chap. 4.8 Godlinesse is profitable to all things A man is as well able to tell the stars of heaven and to number the hairs of his head as he is able to tell the several commodities or to number up the variety of blessings or multitude of mercies that comes flying in upon the wings of godlinesse Godlinesse hath the promise of both lives that is both of earthly favours and of eternal blessings also It is profitable not for some things but for every thing both temporal spiritual and eternal blessings do grow upon this Tree of life holinesse There is no trade to the trade of godlinesse Prov. 22.4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life
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
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
and yet thus much thou doest proclaime upon the house-top when thou cryest out hereafter hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness But Secondly I answer that 't is thy wisdom and thy work to set one may be against another Eccl. 7.14 thou say'st now that hereafter may be time enough to look after holiness O set another maybe against this may-be Isa 55.6 and say if I now neglect this season of grace it may-be I shall never have another if I now slight the offers of mercy Pro. 1.20 to the 33. Heb. 2.1 2 3. Luke 19 41. 45. Gen. 6.3 it may be I shall never have such offers more if I now despise this day of salvation it may be I shall never have such another day if I now withstand the tenders of Christ it may-be Christ will never make a tender to me more if I now resist the strivings of the Spirit it may be the Spirit will never strive with my soule more and then wo wo to me that ever I was borne O don't put off God don't put off thy soule don't put off the thoughts of holiness don't put off eternity with may-bees Heb. 3.18 least the Lord should sweare in his wrath that thou shalt never enter into his rest and seeing that thou wilt not suffer holiness to enter into thee thou shalt never enter into thy Masters joy O! why shouldest thou put off thy poor soule so as thou wouldest not have God to put it off thou wouldest not have God to put off thy soule with may-bees as with a may-bee I will pardon thee it may-bee I wilt lift up the light of my countenance upon thee it may-bee I will change thy nature and save thy soule it may-bee I will fill thee with my Spirit and adorne thee with my grace it may-bee I will bring thee to my kingdome and glory O thou wouldst not have God to put thee off with such may-bees and why then shouldst thou deale more hardly and cruelly with thine own soule then thou wouldst have God to deale with thee But Thirdly I answer 't is a cleare argument that thou art not truly nor throughly sensible of thy present condition and danger who thus objectest wert thou but truly sensible of thy lost and undone estate out of Christ didst thou but indeed know what 't is to live one houre in a Christ-less and grace-less condition didst thou but see that wrath that hangs over thy head didst thou but reade the curses that are pronounced in the book of God against thee didst thou but behold how hell gapes to devoure thee didst thou but see how farre off thou art from God Christ the Covenant Acts 2.39 Ephe. 2.12 and all the glory and happiness of another world ah how wouldst thou every day cry out give me holiness or I die give me holiness or I eternally die The Patient that is truly sensible of his disease will not say hereafter will be time enough to send for the Physitian nor the wounded man will not say hereafter will be time enough to fetch the Surgeon nor the condemned man will not say hereafter will be time enough to sue for a pardon nor the needy man will not say hereafter will be time enough to look for reliefe nor the fallen man will not say hereafter will be time enough to lift me up nor the drowning man will not say hereafter will be time enough to bring a Boate to save my life now this is the very case of all unsanctified persons in the world and why then should they cry our hereafter hereafter will be time enough to be holy The Boare in the Fable being questioned why he stood wherting his teeth so when no body was neare to hurt him wisely answered that it would then be too late to whet them when he was to use them and therefore he whetted them so before danger that he might have them ready in danger Ah Sirs there is nothing more dangerous then for you to have your holiness to seek when temporal spiritual and eternal dangers are at your heels there is no wisdom to that which leads men forth to a present pursuit after holiness nor no hell to that for a man to have his holiness to seek when he should use it Fourthly I answer that the brevity shortness and preciousness of time Sumptus protiocissimus tempus Theophrastus calls aloud upon thee to pursue after holiness without delay time past is irrecoverable time to come is uncertaine the present time is the only time and on this moment of time depends eternity this very day is a day of grace O that thou hadst but grace to take notice of it this very time is an acceptable time O that thou hadst but a heart to accept of it and to improve it he that hath a great way to goe and a great deale of worke to doe in a little time had not need to trifle away his time and this is the case of every unsanctified soule O the sins that such a soule has to repent of O the graces that such a soule has to seek O the evidences for heaven that such a soule has to secure O the miseries that such a soule has to escape O the mercies that such a soule has to press after c. and therefore of all men in the world it stands unsanctified persons upon well to husband and improve their present time O 't is a dangerous thing to put off that worke to another day which must be done to day or else thou mayest be eternally undone to morrow the old saying was Nunc aut nunquam now or never if not now done it may be never done and if so then thou art undone for ever Many sinners are now in hell who when they were on earth were wont to put off the motions of the Spirit by crying out eras cras to morrow to morrow Time is so precious a thing that mountaines of gold and rocks of pearle cannot redeem one lost moment which that great Lady well understood when on her death-bed she cryed out Queen Elizabeth Call time againe call time againe a world of wealth for an inch of time ah what a precious and gainfull commodity would time be in hell where for one day to repent yea for one hour to seek after holiness a man would give ten thousand worlds were they in his hands to dispose of Time is so costly a Jewel that few know how to value it and prize it at a due rate witness that sad and frequent complaint among many O what shall we doe to drive away the time come let 's goe to Cards to drive away the time or let 's goe to Tables to drive away the time or let 's goe to the Taverne and take a pint and a pipe to drive away the time or le ts goe and take a walke in the fields to drive away the time c. Thus most are lavishly and
in times of persecution the Saints have still had recourse to The Romans being in great distress were put so hard to it that they were faine to take the weapons out of the Temples of their gods to fight with their enemies and so they overcame them so when the people of God have been hard put to it by reason of afflictions and persecutions the weapons that they have fled to has been prayers and teares and with these they have overcome their persecutors as is evident in the three Children in Daniel and many others c. But Secondly Persecutions doe but raise whet and stir up a more earnest and vehement spirit of prayer among the persecuted Saints See Acts 4.17.21 29 31. compared Luke 18.7 Lam. 5.59 60 61 c. Rev. 6.9 10. And when he had opened the fift seal I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slaine for the word of God and for the testimony which they held And they cryed with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth The blood Blood hath as many tongues as drops to cry for vengeance which made King James say that if God did leave him to kill a man he would think God did not love him 1 Cor. 6. ult 1 Pet. 1.18 19. of the persecuted cryes aloud for vengeance upon the persecutors By the souls under the Altar you are to understand the persons of the Saints which were martyred and lay slaine upon the ground like sacrifices at the foot of the Altar under the Roman persecuting Emperours There is no blood that cries so loud and that makes so great a noise in heaven as the blood of the Martyrs as the blood of butchered persecuted Saints Persecutors like these Roman Emperours in all ages have causlesly and cruelly destroyed the people of God they delight in the blood of Saints they love to wallow in the blood of Saints they take pleasure in glutting themselves with the blood of Saints they make no conscience of watering the earth nor of colouring the Sea nor of quenching the flames with the blood of the Saints yea if it were possible they would willingly swim to heaven through their hearts-blood whom Christ has purchased with his own most precious blood as all Historians know and as you may all know if you would but search a little into Ecclesiastical Histories and therefore 't is no wonder if the blood of the Martyrs cry aloud for vengeance upon such desperate persecutors The blood and prayers of persecuted Saints will first or last bring down wrath and ruine upon their persecutors Persecution puts an edge yea a sharp edge upon the prayers of the Saints Acts 12.5 Peter therefore was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies earnest and stretched-out prayer When Peter was in prison All these circumstances doe wonderfully declare the power of God in his deliverance Some say he had 16. others say he had 20 Souldiers for his Guard the greater was his deliverance sleeping between two Souldiers and bound with two chains and the keepers standing before the prison doore O how earnest O how instant O how fervent O how vehement O how constant were the Saints in their prayers for his deliverance O their hearts their souls their spirits were in their prayers O their prayers were no cold prayers no formal prayers no luke-warme prayers nor no dull or drowsie prayers but their prayers were full of life and full of warmth and full of heate they knew Herods bloody intention to destroy this holy Apostle by his imprisoning of him and by the chaines that were put on him and by the strong Guards that were set upon him and by his bathing of his sword in the innocent blood of James James was the first of the Apostles that dyed a violent death that his hand might be the more apt and ready for further acts of murther and cruelty and O how did the consideration of these things whet and provoke their spirits to prayer O now they will have no nay now they will give God no rest till he has overturn'd the Tyrants counsell and designes and sent his Angel to open the prison doores and to knock off Peters chains and to deliver him from the wrath and fury of Herod and their prayers were successfull as is evident in the 12. ver And when he had considered the thing he came to the house of Mary the mother of John This house is thought by many to be the house where the Apostles commonly had their meetings whose surname was Mark where many were gathered together praying or rather as the Originall has it where many thronged together to pray the violence and rage of their persecutors did so raise whet and incourage them to prayer that they throng together they crouded together to pray yea when others were a sleeping they were a praying and their prayers were no sleepie prayers they were no lazy dronish prayers nor they were no book-prayers but they were powerfull and prevalent prayers for as so many Jacob's or as so many Princes they prevailed with God they prayed and wept and wept and prayed they call'd and cryed and cryed and call'd they beg'd and bounc'd and they bounc'd and beg'd and they never left knocking at heavens Gates till Peters chains were knockt off and Peter given into their Armes yea their bosomes as an answer of prayer O the power and force of joynt prayer when Christians doe not only beseech God but besiege him and beset him too and when they will not let him goe till he has blest them and answered their prayers and the desires of their souls I have read that Mary Queen of Scots that was mother to King James was wont to say that she was more afraid of Mr. Knox's prayers and the prayers of those Christians that walk't with him then shee was of a knocking Army of ten thousand men And that is a remarkable passage of the Psalmist Psal 109.3 4. They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a caâ—se The like speech you have in that Psal 120.7 Vaani uzephillah But I prayer For my love they are my adversaries but I give my selfe unto prayer or as the Hebrew has it But I am prayer or a man of prayer Persecuted Saints are men of prayer yea they are as it were made up all of prayer David prayed before but O when his enemies fell a persecuting of him then he gave up himsâ—lf wholly to prayer O then he was more earnest more fervent more frequent more diligent more constant and more abundant in the work of prayer Plutarch in the life of Numa When Numa King of the Romans was told that his enemies were in Armes against him he did but laugh at it
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
Epistles were written when he was in bonds yet he preacht and though he was accounted as an evil doer yet he preacht that the Elect might be sanctified and saved Though his persecutors did lay Irons upon his legs yet they did not lay a law of silence upon his lips and though they shut him up from going to others yet they did not shut out others from coming to hear him for even in bonds he exercised his ministerial office As cruel as his persecutors were they would not shut the prison doors upon them that waited on his Ministry So Philemon was converted by Paul when he was in bonds Phil. v. 10. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my bonds Paul had a blessing going along with his Ministry when he was in bonds as well as when he was at liberty Onesimus was converted when Paul was a prisoner God made Pauls prison to be a Paradise to Onesimus Paul by his preaching patience and chearfulness in suffering converts Onesimus to the faith prisons in these times were turn'd into Churches And so they were in Queen Maries daies Act. and Mon. fol. 1457. for as bloody as her Raign was most of the prisons in England were turn'd into Christian Schools and Churches saith Mr. Fox so that there was no greater comfort then for Christians to resort to prisons and to hear the Martyrs to pray and preach and to behold their holy humble heavenly gratious conversation Ibid. 1381. So the afflictions and persecutions of the Saints in the primitive times issued in the conversion and salvation of many souls We read that Cicilia a poort Virgin by her gracious behaviour in her martyrdom was the means of converting 400. to Christ Adrianus by seeing the Martyrs suffer so patiently and chearfully was converted to the faith and afterwards sealed to the truth with his blood Justin Martyr was also converted in the same way In the third persecution Faustus and Jobita Citizens of Brixia suffered Martyrdom with such invincible patience courage and chearfulness that Caeloccrius cryed out Vere magnus Deus Christianorum Verily great is the God of the Christians Upon which words he was presently apprehended and so suffered martyrdom with them And that was a remarkable saying of Luther Ecclesia totum mundum convert it sanguine oratione the Church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer Now if by your troubles afflictions and persecutions and the exercise of grace under them you shall be instrumental to convert and save a soul or souls from wrath to come it will turn wonderfully to your advantage and you shall shine as the stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 That same power presence wisdom and grace that converted others by the sufferings of former Saints is able to accomplish the same glorious effects by the sufferings of the Saints of this Generation and therefore beare up bravely and neither fear nor faint under your present sufferings But Fourthly The troubles afflictions and persecutions that Christians meet with in their pursuit after holiness will further the increase and growth of their grace grace never rises to so great a height as it do's in times of persecution suffering times are a Christians Harvest times Psal 69.7 8 9 12. Let me instance in that grace of zeal I remember Moulin speaking of the French Protestants saith When Papists hurt us for reading the Scriptures we burn with zeal to be reading of them but now persecution is over our Bibles are like old Almanacks c. All the reproaches frowns threatnings oppositions and persecutions that a Christian meets with in a way of holiness doth but raise his zeal and courage to a greater height Micha's scoffing at David did but inflame and raise his zeal 2 Sam. 6.20.21 22. If this be to be vile I will be more vile Look as fire in the winter burns the hotter by an Antiperistasis because of the coldness of the air so in the winter of affliction and persecution that divine fire the zeal of a Christian burns so much the hotter and flames forth so much the more vehemently and strongly In times of greatest affliction and persecution for holiness sake a Christian hath first a good Captain to lead and encourage him Secondly a righteous cause to prompt and embolden him Thirdly a gracious God to relieve and succour him Fourthly a glorious heaven to receive and reward him and certainly these things cannot but mightily raise him and inflame him under the greatest opposition and persecution These things will keep him from fearing fawning fainting sinking or flying in a stormy day yea these things will make his face like the face of an Adamant as God promised to make Ezekiels Ezek. 3.7 8 9. Job 41.24 Pliny Now an Adamant is the hardest of stones 't is harder then a flint yea 't is harder then the nether-milstone The Naturalists observe that the hardness of this stone is unspeakable the fire cannot burn it nor so much as heat it thorow nor the hammer cannot break it nor the water cannot dissolve it and therefore the Greeks call it an Adamant from its untameableness and in all storms the Adamant shrinks not it fears not it changeth not its hue let the times be what they will the Adamant is still the same in times of persecution a good cause a good God and a good conscience will make a Christian like an Adamant 't will make him invincible and unchangeablâ— When one desired to know what kind of man Basil was there was presented to him in a dream saith the History a Pillar of fire with this motto Talis est Basilius Basil is such a one he is all on a light fire for God persecutions will but set a Christian all on a light fire for God Look as Well-water is warmest in the winter time so real Christians are warmest for God his glory truth and ways in the winter of affliction and persecution true grace rises by opposition persecution many a man had not been so good if the times had not been so bad many a man had not been so gratious if the times had not been so dangerous many a man had not been so holy if the times had not been so prophane many a man had not been so zealous if the times had not been so lukewarm many a man had not been so stout and resolute against bowing the knee to Baal if multitudes had not been worshppers of Baal Rev. 14 1. 6. All the afflictions and persecutions that befall the people of God do but add to their spiritual life light and lustre As Stars shine brightest in the darkest nights and as Spices smell sweetest when pounded and as Vines are the better for bleeding and Gold the brighter for scowring and Palm-trees the better for pressing so the graces of the Saints shine brightest and smell sweetest and rise highest in times of affliction and persecution The Naturalists have long since observed that though
if he had been riding in state and triumph And holy Mr. Saunders speaking of his consolations in his sufferings saith that he found a wonderfull sweet refreshment flow from his heart unto all the members of his body and from all the parts of his body to his heart againe By all these instances 't is most evident that persecuting times are the Saints rejoycing times God reserves the best and strongest wine of consolation to a day of persecution sutable to that 2 Cor. 1.3 4 5. Blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercy and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ Oh the sweet looks the sweet words the sweet hints the sweet in-comes the sweet joggings the sweet imbraces the sweet influences the sweet discoveries the sweet love-letters the sweet love-tokens and the sweet comforts that Christians experience in their sufferings for Christ in all their afflictions and persecutions they may truly say we have sweet-meats to eate and waters of life to drinke and heavenly honey-combes to suck that the world knows not of and indeed when should the Torch be lighted but in a dark night and when should the fire be made but when the weather is cold and when should the cordiall be given but when the patient is weak and when should the God of comfort the God of all kinds of comfort and the God of all degrees of comfort comfort his people but under their afflictions and persecutions for then comfort is most proper necessary seasonable and sutable and then God will be sure to poure in of the oyle of joy into their hearts And thus you see the great and glorious advantages that will redowne to the people of God by all their afflictions and persecutions But Eighthly I answer That to suffer affliction and persecution for holiness sake is the greatest and the highest honour that you are capable of in this world To die for Christ is the greatest promotion that God can bring any in this vale of misery unto said Mr. Philpot the Martyr the crowne of a Mrtyrdom is a crowne that the Angels those Princes of glory are not capable of winning or wearing and O who art thou what art thou O man that God should set this crowne upon thy head 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you on their part he is evill spoken of but on your part he is glorified The very suffering condition of the people of God is at the present a glorious condition for the Spirit of glory rests upon them and they must needs be glorious yea very glorious upon whom the Spirit of gloâ—y dwells Dan. 3. The sufferings of the three Children tended very much to their honour and advancement even in this world and had those vessels of honour slipt their opportunity of suffering they had lost their glory In the primitive times when some good people came to comfort some of the Martyrs that were in prison and ready to suffer they called them blessed Martyrs O no said they we are not worthy of the name of Martyrs These holy humble hearts thought Martyrdom too high an honour for them The Apostles all along counted their sufferings for Christ their highest honour And that is a remarkable Scripture that you have in that 11 Heb. 36 37 38. And others had tryall of cruell mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment They were stoned they were sawn asunder they were tempted they were slaine with the sword they wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented O but these were surely the most sad miserable wretched and forlorne creatures in all the world O no and that is most evident if the testimony and judgement of the holy Ghost may be received for ver 38. They were such of whom the world was not worthy the persecuting world was not worthy of their love nor worthy of their prayers nor worthy of their presence nor worthy of their fellowship and therefore God call'd them home and set them downe upon thrones by himself And to me 't is very observable that when that great Apostle Paul would glory in that which he accounted his honour glory and excellency he do's not glory in his high Office nor in his being wrapt up in the third heaven nor in the interest that he had in the hearts of the Saints nor in his arts or parts c. but he glories in his sufferings in that 2 Cor. 11.23 28. In stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one Thrice was I beaten with Rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwrack a night and a day have I been in the deep In journeying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils by my own Countrey men in perils by the heathen in perils in the City in perils in the wilderness in perils in the Sea in perils among false brethren In weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakedness Thus you see that this blessed Apostle looks upon his sufferings as his greatest glory To suffer for Christ is the greatest honour and promotion that God gives in this world said old Father Latimer John Noyes Latimer John Noyes took up a Fagot at the fire and kissed it saying Blessed be the time that ever I was borne to come to this preferment When they had fastned Alice Driver Alice Driver with a chaine to the stake to be burnt Never said she did Neckarchief become me so well as this chaine Balilus Balilus the Martyr when he was to die requested this favour of his persecutors viz. that he might have his chaines buried with him as the Ensignes of his honour When Ignatius Ignatius was to suffer it 't is better for me saith he to be a Martyr then to be a Monarch What are we poore wormes full of vanities and lyes that we should be called to be maintainers of the truth for sufferings for Christ are the Ensignes of heavenly Nobility said Calvin Calvin 'T was a notable saying of a French Martyr when the rope was about his fellow Give me said he that Golden chaine and dub me Knight of that noble Order I am the unincetest man for this high office of suffering for Christ that ever was appointed to it said blessed Sanders I shall conclude this head with that excellent saying of Prudentius Their names saith he that are written in red letters of blood in the Churches Calender are written in Golden letters in Christs Register the
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
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is then a stalled Ox and hatred therewith Chap. 16.8 Better is a little with righteousness then great revenues without right Chap. 17.1 Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith then a house full of sacrifices with strife Psal 37.16 A little that a righteous man hath is better then the riches of many wicked Where there is a holy God and a holy heart a little of the world will go far a little will be a sufficiency to him who with it enjoys that holy one that is All-sufficiency it self Though a whole world will never fill nor satisfie an unsanctified heart yet a little Phil. 4.11 20. a very little of the world will satisfie and content a holy heart There are two things that an unholy heart can never finde it can never finde any sweetness in Spirituals Esth 5.9 14. nor it can never finde any satisfaction in Temporals but a holy heart alwayes findes the greatest sweetness in Spirituals and is as easily satisfied with the least and meanest of Temporals Gen. 28.20 21. And Jacob vowed a vow saying if God will be with me Bread water with the Gospel is good chear said holy Greenham He is rich enough that lacketh not bread and high enough that is not forced to serve Jerom. and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Holy Jacob does not indent with God for costly Apparel or delicate fare he does not make a bargain with God to be housed bravely and fed daintily and clothed gorgiously and lodged easily and waited on noblely O no bread to eat and clothes to wear is as much as holy Jacob looks after Ah friends a little will serve nature and less will serve grace though nothing will serve or satisfie an unsanctified mans lusts O sirs the very pulse and locusts which a holy man eats relishes better then all the Gluttons delicious fare and the very Sheep-skins and Goat-skins which he wears wear softer and finer then all the purple and soft raiment that is in Princes houses and the very holes and Caves and Dens wherein holy men live are more pleasant and delightful then the stately Palaces of the great ones of the world It is great riches not to desire riches and he hath most that covets least Socrates godliness and contentment does so sweeten and so lengthen out all a Christians mercies that he can't but reckon himself a happy man though he may be the poorest among many men Let me conclude this third Answer thus This worlds wealth that men so much desire May well be likened to a burning fire Whereof a little can do little harm But profit much our bodies well to warm But take too much and surely thou shalt burn So too much wealth to too much wo do's turn But Fourthly Consider That worldly riches and holiness do often meet together a man may be a very holy man and yet a rich man too Abraham and Lot were as wealthy men as most in their time Gen. 13. Isa 41.2 Abraham is called the righteous man and yet behinde none for faith and holiness David and Solomon and Jehosaphat and Hezekiah had crowns on their heads and Scepters in their hands and very great revenues at their commands and in all these grace and greatness sweetly meet Job 1.3.8 Job was a very holy man and yet a very rich man if you cast your eye upon the first of Job and survey his estate you shall finde that he had seven thousand Sheep three thousand Camels five hundred yoke of Oxen five hundred she Asses and a very great Family but if you will look into the last of Job and survey his estate there you shall finde it doubled Joseph Nehemiah Mordecai Daniel and the three children were very gracious and yet very high and great in the world As every wicked man is not a rich man so every holy man is not a poor man if you will but set the gracious against the graceless the holy against the prophane I doubt not but for one holy man whose estate is low and mean you will finde thousands of wicked men whose conditions are beggarly and low in this world God many times delights to confute the devils Proverb viz. That plain dealing is a Jewel but he that useth it shall die a Beggar Now God by heaping up riches and honor and greatness upon the righteous gives the devil the lye and lets the world see that holiness many times is the ready way to worldly greatness 'T is observable that when all the sons of Jacob returned with corn and money in their sacks from Egypt Gen. 44. Benjamin had not onely corn and money in his sack but he had over and above the silver cup put into the mouth of his sack as a singular pledge of his brother Josephs favor so God many times gives to his Benjamines the sons of his right hand not onely as much of the world as he does to others but more of the world then he does to others he does not only give them corn and money in common with others but he also gives them the Silver-cup the Grace-cup he puts in some singular temporal blessings into their sacks more then into other mens for he is the great Lord of all and therefore may dispose of his own as he pleases But Fifthly Consider Psal 63.1 2 3 4. That most men are best in a low condition David was never better then when he was in a wilderness condition for degrees of Grace and for the exercise of Grace and for communion with the God of Grace 't was best with David when his condition was low in the world 't was never better with Jacob Gen. 32.10 then when he past over Jordan with a staff in his hand Jobs Job 1. graces never shined so gloriously as when he sat upon a dunghil and could bless a taking God as well as a giving God though John was poor in the world yet the Holy-Ghost tells us Mat. 11.11 that he was the greatest that was born of women Paul was but a poor Tent-maker Phil. 3.20 and yet his conversation was in heaven The Church of Smyrna was the poorest Church Rev. 2.8 9. but yet the best of all the seven Churches in Asia Christ knew very well that his Disciples would be best in a low condition and therefore he fed them but from hand to mouth Learned Ainsworth had but nine pence a week to live on whilst he wrote his excellent Commentary on the Penteteuch Mat. 8.20 21. he that could have turned stones into bread could as easily have turned stones into gold and so have made his Disciples rich and great in the world but he would not Christ could easily have changed their raggs into
14.34 Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people or as the Hebrew has it to nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nations or peoples The world usually accounts either beggerliness of estate or badness of scituation or rudeness of behaviour or changes in Government or dulness of invention or a disuse of Armes or some such like imperfections to be the reproach of Nations but the holy Ghost tells us that 't is sin 't is sin that is the reproach of nations that is the shame of nations that is the contempt and scorne of nations and that blots and blurres all the excellencies and glories of nations impious persons makes the nations infamous and the more impious any nation City or person is the more infamous that nation City or person is Pro. 6.32 33. But who so committeth adultery with a woman What an indeleble blot was this still upon David viz. That his heart was upright in all things save in the matter of Vriah lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own soul A wâ—und and dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away There is nothing that is such a blemish and such a wound to a mans honor as sin sin leaves such a blot such a blurr and such a reproach upon a mans name fame and reputation that no Art no paines shall ever be able to wipe it out all the water in the Sea cannot wash away nor all the rubbing in the world cannot wipe away the disgrace disdaine and contempt that enormities that wickednesses lays a people under Jer. 24.9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt to be a reproach and a proverb a taunt and a curse in all places whether I shall drive them 'T was not for their holiness their godliness but for their wickedness and ungodliness that God was resolv'd to make them a reproach and a proverb a taunt and a curse in all places Pro. 10.7 The memory of the Just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot The wickedness of the wicked heaps so much disgrace disparagement and dishonor upon them that it makes their very names to rot and stinke above ground their carkasses doe not more rot and stinke under ground then their very names do rot and stinke above ground the wickedness of the wicked will make their very names such a detestation and such an abhorring that they shall either not be remembred at all or if they be they shall be only remembred as a rotten stinking putrified thing As the curse of God follows the soul of a wicked man to hell so the curse of God follows the name of a wicked man on earth so that it becomes most noysome and loathsome among the sons of men Sin do's so debase and bebeast the great ones of the world that the Prophets as Grotius hath rightly observ'd use to set forth wicked Kings by the names of Beasts Dan. 7 3 4 5 6 7. Pro. 28.15 16. as the Goat the Ram the Léopard the Beare to note the beastliness of their conditions and because they commonly maintaine and exercise their government by brutish violence and Tyranny And Christ himselfe who never spoke Treason nor Sedition tearmes king Herod a Fox in that Luke 13.32 And he said unto them goe ye and tell that Fox behold I cast out devils and I doe cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected Herod was as crafty and as subtile as Fox he was as cruel and as fraudulent as a Fox and therefore he is very fitly tearmed by Christ a Fox And so Paul describes Nero by the name of a Lyon 2 Tim. 4.17 And I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon that is out of the mouth of Nero who for his power and cruelty was like a Lyon for he was a most cruell and desperate persecutor of the Christians and made a bloody decree that whosoever confessed himself a Christian should without any more adoe be put to death aâ— a convicted enemy of mankinde Now by what has been said you see that 't is not holiness but wickedness that is the greatest disgrace dishonor and disparagement imaginable to the sons of men and therefore there is no reason why the great ones of the world should disdaine to pursue after holiness upon the account of this objection But Fourthly I answer That this objection savours strongly of cursed pride and of hellish loftiness and stateliness of spirit for who art thou O great mountaine who art thou O great man Zech. 4.7 Calvin hath this note on that 1 Pet. 5.5 viz. Regis animum quisque intra se habet every man hath in him the minde of a King or what art thou O mighty man but that thou mayest be dishonored and disparaged for holiness sake what are thy great swelling Titles but as so many Rattles what are thy Honors but as so many Meteors and what is all thy worldly greatness but a winde that may blow thee the sooner to hell all thy glory is but a glorious fancy a magnum nihil a great nothing and this Haman and Herod found by experience and so did Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar who gave a charge to the Pretors of Rome that they should not suffer his name to be worne thread-bare Bajazet who was one of the greatest Commanders in the world was carried about in an Iâ—on-grate to be a foot-stool to an insulting Conquerour And Belisarius the most famous Generall that the latter Age of the Roman Empire knew and in greatest favour with Justinian his Prince was reduced to that great want that he was faine to beg his bread And thus in all Ages men have quickly fallen from the highest pinacle of honor to sit with Job upon the dunghill The true honor of a Souldier lyes not in boasting of the nobleness of his linage nor in the blazing of his Armes nor in telling of large Stories of his Pedigrees and Genealogies nor in his brave Cloaths nor in his rich plunder c. but his honor lyes in a torne Buckler a crackt Helmet Of these Biron the French Marshall boasted at his death And so did many of the Romans a blunt Sword and in the scarres and wounds that he has received in the defence of his Countrey so thy true honor O thou great piece of vanity that makest this objection do's not lye in thy Coat of Armes nor in thy great Titles nor in thy great Lordships and Mannors nor in thy high Birth c. but in thy interest in Christ in thy new birth in thy being an heire of the promises in thy Title to heaven and in thy pursuit after holiness and verily if you should live and dye without these things it had been ten thousand times better that you had been brought up in a Cave then that you had been brought up at Court and that you
under a black Cassock they dare be such they make no bones on 't to sin by prescription and to damn themselves with Authority Austin brings in some excusing their compliances with the sinfull customes of those times in drinking healths thus Great personages urged it and it was at the Kings Banquet where they judged of Loyalty by Luxury and put us upon this election drink or die they thought it a sufficient excuse to plead the examples of great men And if their examples are vertuous there are none so winning and drawing as theirs Carus the Romane Emperour us'd to say Bonus duae bonus comes A good leader makes a good follower It is observable in the very course of nature that the highest Spheres are alwayes the swiftest in their motion and carry about with them the inferior Orbes by their celerity so men that are high and eminent in Authority power and dignity and eminent also in grace and holiness they carry the inferior people by their examples to a liking of holiness and to a love of holiness and to a pursuit after holiness As the biggest Stars in the Firmament are alwayes the brightest and gives the greatest lustre to those of a lesser magnitude so those that in respect both of Greatness and grace are as so many shining Stars they give the greatest light and lustre to others by their shining conversations O! what a world of good will the gracious example of a good Prince provoke unto 'T was the saying of Trajanus a Spaniard Qualis Rex Talis Grex Subjects prove good by a good Kings example Stories tells us of some that could not sleep when they thought of the Trophies of other Worthies that went before them the gracious examples of great men are very awakening quickning and provoking to that which is good as is most evident in all those Kingdomes Countries Cities and villages where such men live And therefore great men are the more obliged to be good men and honorable men to be holy men But Fourthly Of all men under heaven you will have the greatest accounts to make up with God and therefore you have the more cause to seek after holiness Where God gives much Luke 12.48 It was excellent counsell that the Heathen Oratour gave his hearers Ita vi vamus ut â—ationem nobis reddendam arbitremur Let us so live as those that must give an account of all at last there he looks for much O Sirs God will bring you to an account for that Talent of honor and that Talent of wealth and that Talent of birth and that Talent of power and that Talent of Authority and that Talent of interest and that Talent of Time c. that he has intrusted you with and how will you be able to stand in the day of account without holiness in your hearts King Philip the third of Spaine whose life was free from gross evills professing that he would rather lose all his Kingdoms then offend God willingly yet being in the Agony of death and considering more thorowly of his account that he was to give to God feare struck into him and these words brake from him Oh would to God I had never reigned oh that those years I have spent in my kingdome I had lived a private life in the Wilderness oh that I had lived a solitary life with God! how much more securely should I have now dyed how much more confidently should I have gone to the Throne of God What do's all my glory profit me but that I have so much the more torment in my death Well Gentlemen there is a day a coming wherein the Lord will call you to a strict account both for the principall and also for the interest of all those Talents of honor riches and greatness c. that he has put into your hands and how will you be ever able to hold up your heads in this day of account without you experience principles of holiness in your hearts and hold forth the power of godliness in your lives If Saul was astonished when he heard Jesus of Nazareth but calling upon him Acts 22.7 8. Mark 6.16 1 Sam. 21.9 Num. 7.10 If Herod was affrighted when he thought that John Baptist was risen from the dead If the Philistians were afraid when they saw Davids Sword If the Israelites were appalled when they saw Aarons Rod Den. 38.2 If Judah was ashamed when he saw Thamars Signet and Staffe And if Belshazzar was amazed when he saw the hand writing on the wall Dan. 5.9 O! how astonished how affrighted how ashamed and how amazed will the great ones of the world be who live and die without holiness when God shall bring them to the Barr and command them to give an account of all the Talents that he has put into their hands If the Carthagenians were troubled when they saw Scipio's Sepulchre If the Saxons were terrified when they saw Cadwallon's Image And if the Romans were dashed when they saw Caesars bloody Robe Ah how will all the Great unholy ones of the earth be troubled terrified and dashed in the great day of their accounts there are none that will have such large accounts to give up as the great ones of the world and therefore there are none that stand so strongly engaged to look after holiness as they doe But Fifthly The greater any men are on earth if they live and die without holiness the greater will be their torments in hell all their Greatness Glory and Gallantry will but sink them the lower in hell The Scribes and Pharisees were the rich the high and the great ones of the times Math. 23.14 and these Christ lays under the greater damnation The Germans have this proverb The pavement of hell say they is made of the bare sculs of the Priests and the glorious Crests of Gallants Their meaning is that the more eminent any are in Church or State and doe not employ their eminency power and Authority in wayes of piety and sanctity the lower they shall lye in hell yea these men of all others shall lye lowest in hell Rev. 18.7 Isa 47.8 How much or in as much as she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her for she saith in her heart I sit a Queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow Babylons torment and sorrow must be sutable to her sin Babylon excell'd all others in pride haughtiness luxury and blasphemy c. and her punishments must be answerable So the Great the rich the high and the mighty men of the world they usually exceed all others in pride drunkenness uncleanness filthiness oppression vaine-glory Gluttony and Tyranny c. and answerable to their sins will be their torments and their punishments in hell Isa 30.33 For Tophet is ordained of old I it may be for the poore meane and beggarly of the world yea for the King it is prepared he hath made it deep
as you would not have a hand in the damnation of sinners take heed of scandalous sins O! Sirs 1 Kings 11.9 as you would not provoke the great God as you would not crucifie afresh the Lord of glory and put him to an open shame as you would not set the Comforter a mourning that alone can comfort you as you would not raise a hell in your own consciences and as you would not darken the Churches Glory fly from scandalous sins as you would fly from hell it selfe I have read of holy Polycarp that religious Martyr and Bishop of Smyrna how that in the time of the fourth persecution under Marcus Antonius Verres when he was commanded to sweare but one Oath made this Answer Euseb Hist lib. 2. cap. 15. Fourscore and six years have I endeavoured to doo God service and all this while he never hurt me and how then shall I speak evill of so good a Lord and Master who hath thus long preserved me And being further urged to sweare by the Proconsul he answered I am a Christian and cannot doe it let Heathens and Infidels sweare if they will I cannot doe it were it to the saving of my life This holy man would rather sacrifice his life then fall into a scandalous sin O Christians pray and watch and watch and pray that you may never be left to staine your own honor or the honor of your profession by falling into scandalous sins Well friends remember this 't is not infirmities but enormities 't is not weaknesses but wickednesses that will cast the crowne from off your heads and that will strip you of all your glory and therefore as you would hold fast your crowne keep at an everlasting distance from scandalous sins c. But Secondly Declare and evidence the reality and power of holiness by your cordial thankfulness for so rare a Jewel Psal 103.1 2 3 4 5. or as the originall will bare bow the knee O my soul and for so great a mercy O Sirs one drop one spark of holiness is more worth then heaven and earth and how then can you but be thankful for it Wilt thou be thankful to that God that made thee a man and wilt thou not be thankful to the same God that made thee a Saint Wilt thou bless him that made thee a creature and wilt thou not bless the same God that has made thee a new creature Wilt thou praise him for the heavens that are but the workmanship of his hands Psal 8. and wilt thou not praise him for holiness Augustin writ his 49. Ep. to one called Deo gratias which is the workmanship of his heart Tell me O Christian is not holiness a soul-mercy and what mercies wilt thou be thankful for if not for soul-mercies Tell me O Christian is not holiness of all mercies the most necessary mercy the want of other mercies might have troubled thee I but the want of holiness would have damned thee and wilt thou not be thankful for holiness which is the one thing necessary Tell me O Christian is not holiness an incomparable mercy what 's thy health thy wealth thy wit to holiness darest thou mention thy birth thy breeding thy arts thy parts thy honor thy greatness or thy advancement in the world in that day wherein holiness is spoken of surely no and wilt thou not then be thankful for such an incomparable mercy as holiness is Tell me O Christian is not holiness a peculiar mercy a peculiar treasure that God intrusts but few men with 1 John 5.19 Don't the world lye in wickedness are not the multitude in all places strangers yea enemies to holiness and how then canst thou but be thankful for holiness Yea once more tell me O Christian is not holiness a mercy sweetning mercy is it not the beauty of holiness that puts a beauty upon all thy mercies is it not holiness that bespangles all thy comforts and contentments O how sower would all thy mercies tast and how pale and wan would all thy mercies look were it not for holiness 'T is the want of holiness that makes all a mans mercies look as ill-favoured as Pharaoh's leane kine Gen. 41.2 3 4. and 't is the fruition of holiness that makes all a mans mercies look as well-favour'd as Pharaoh's fat-kine 't is holiness that both puts a colour upon all our mercies and that gives a tast and a rellish to them All our mercies without holiness will be but as the waters of Marah Exod. 15.23 24 25. bitter 't is only holiness that is the Tree that will make every bitter sweet and every sweet more sweet and how then canst thou but be thankful for holiness O remember how far off thou wert from God Eph. 2.12 and Christ and the promise and heaven and happiness when thou wast without holiness in this world O remember what a child of wrath what a bond-slave to Satan what an enemy to God and what an apparent heire to hell thou wert when thou wert an opposer of holiness and a secret despiser of holiness and then be unthankful for holiness if thou canst O remember that now by holiness of a slave thou art made a Son and of an heire of wrath Rev. 8.16 17. thou art made an heire of heaven and in stead of being Satans bond-man thou art now made Christs free-man John 8.36 thy Iron-chains are now knockt off as sometimes Joseph's were and the Golden chaine of holiness is now put upon thee Gen. 41.14.42 and what do's all this call aloud for but thankfulness This saying is also fathered on Socrates c. Thales a Heathen gave thanks to God for three things 1. That he had made him a man and not a beast 2. That he had made him a man and not a woman 3. That he was borne a Greek and not a Barbarian And O then what cause of thankfulness hast thou for thy supernatural being and for all those noble principles of holiness that the Lord has stampt upon thy soul c Shall the husbandman be thankful for a plentiful Harvest and the Merchant for quick returnes and the Shop-keeper for a full Trade and the Marriner for a good voyage and wilt not thou be much more thankful for holiness Shall the beggar be thankful for a crust to feed him and shall the blind be thankful for a dogge to lead him and shall the naked be thankful for raggs to cover him Ingratum dixeris omnia dixeris and shall the Aged be thankful for a Staffe to support him and shall the diseased be thankful for a cordial to raise him and wilt not thou be thankful for holiness yea for that holiness that is bread to strengthen thee and a Guide to lead thee and rayment to cloath thee and a Staffe to support thee and a cordial to comfort thee O remember that ingratitude is a monster in nature a solecisme in manners and a paradox in
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
holy man proceeds from grace to grace from vertue to vertue he goes from faith to faith and from strength to strength till at length he shines as the Sun in his strength So in that Hosea 14.5 6 7. I will be as the due unto Israel he shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth his root as Lebanon His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the Olive-tree and his smell as Lebanon They that dwell under his shaddow shall return they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon The growth the fruitfulness and the flourishing estate of the Saints in grace and holiness is set forth by a seven-fold Metaphor in these words the Similes are all plain and easie and you may easily dilate upon them in your own thoughts and therefore I shall pass them I shall conclude with that precious promise John 4.14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life The Spirit in its gracious operations shall be a constant spring in believers hearts and it shall every day rise higher and higher like the water in Ezekiel Ezek. 47.1 7. till grace be swallowed up in glory And thus you see by these choice promises that 't is possible for you to attain to a greater measure of holiness But Secondly The prayers that have been put up upon this very account do clearly evidence the same Certainly the people of God would never have prayed for higher degrees of grace and holiness if they had not been attainable Now 't is very observable that the spirits of the Saints have run out much this way as is evident in these instances Phil. 1.9 10 11. And this I pray 〈◊〉 brevis penetrat Coelum that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Col. 1.9 For this cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Chap. 4.12 Epaphras who is one of you a servant of Christ saluteth you always laboring fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Metaphor from a Ship whose Sails are filled with wind Epaphras was an humble petitioner that the souls of the Colossians might be filled with the highest degrees of grace and holiness as the Sails of a Ship are filled with winde 1 Thes 3.12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men even as we do towards you The Apostle by doubling his word encrease and abound discovers himself to be an importunate suitor that a double portion of grace and holiness might be given out to the Thessalonians So in that Heb. 13.20 21. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen The Apostle can't beg any thing for these believing Hebrews below perfection And the Apostle Peter puts up the same requests for those blessed converts that were scattered throughouâ— Pontius Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia In that 1 Pet. 5.10 But the God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you God is called the God of all grace because he is the giver of all kinds of grace and of all degrees of grace Now nothing will satisfie this great Apostle when he comes to plead for these Saints below perfection though they had as much grace as would bring them to heaven yet he begs such a perfection of grace as might raise them high in heaven And thus it appeareth by the prayers of these holy men that Saints may still be rising in grace and holiness But Thirdly The experience of other Saints does clearly evidence this that you may attain unto higher degrees of grace and holiness then those that yet you have attained unto Psal 37.37 Phil. 3.11 16. Can. 4.7 Eph. 5.26 27. Rev. 14.4 5. Prov. 2.21 Chap. 11.5 2 Tim. 3.16 17. Gen. 6.9 Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation and Noah walked with God Noah was not only perfect with a perfection of parts nor onely perfect in respect of desires endeavors and aims nor onely perfect â—n respect of his justification before God by imputed righteousness nor onely perfect in respect of Gods approbation acceptation and delight nor onely perfect in respect of Gods designe and intentions to make him so in another world nor onely perfect in respect of those gifts and graces with which he was adorned and furnished for the discharge of his place office work to which the Lord had called him nor onely comparatively perfect in regard of that prophane ungodly and debauched generation among whom he lived but also he is said to be perfect in respect of an eminent progress that he had made in grace and holiness he had attained to considerable degrees and measures of grace and holiness and though his proficiency in the exercise of grace and practice of piety fell short of compleat perfection yet it rise to such a height that God could not but crown him and and Chronicle him for a perfect man 1 Pet. 2.2 1 Joh. 2.12 13 14. Heb. 5.12 13 14 In all Ages of the world there has been four several Ages of Christians viz. Babes children young men and old men Noah was not a babe nor a child nor a young man but an old man in grace and holiness and therefore he is said to be perfect There are several forms in Christs School some higher some lower now he that is in the highest form may be said to be perfect in regard of those that are in a lower or in the lowest form now Noah was in the highest form of grace and godliness therefore he is said to be perfect and in this sense I suppose Job is said to be a perfect man Job 1.1.8 There was a man in the Land of Vz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil And the Lord said unto Satan hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him
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
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
grace and holiness And thus much for this third motive Fourthly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness consider that the more your holiness is encreased the more the great God will be honored and glorified Math. 5.16 Fruitfulness in holiness sets the weightiest crowne of glory upon the head of God John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bare much fruit The more eminent any person is in holiness the more clearely and convincingly he proclaimes God before all the world to be a rich God a full God a bountiful God an overflowing good there is nothing that works men to admire God so much and to exalt God so high as a Christians fruitfulness in holiness O how good must that God be whose servants are so good said the Heathen O how glorious in holiness must that God be whose people are so holy Look as the thriving child is a credit to the Nurse and the rich servant an honor to his Master and a plentiful Crop the praise of the husbandman so that Christian that thrives in grace that grows rich in holiness is the greatest credit and the highest honor and the sweetest praise to God in the world The Tree in Alcinous Garden had alwayes blossomes buds and ripe fruits one under another O! Sirs those Trees of righteousness Isa 61.3 that have not only the blossomes and buds of holiness upon them but also the ripe fruits of holiness one under another they are the greatest honor and glory to God in the world What will men say when they shall behold your eminency in sanctity will they not say certainly God is no hard Master Math. 25.24 he never looks to reape where he do's not sowe nor to gather where he do's not straw Certainly he keeps a noble house his Tables are richly spread his Cups overflow he feeds yea he feasts his servants with the choicest rarities and varieties that heaven affords witness their thriving and flourishing estate in grace and holiness And thus you see that the more your holiness is encreased the more highly the God of heaven will be exalted and magnified But Fifthly To provoke you to endeavour after higher degrees of holiness Consider that the more holiness thou hast the more hee 'l give thee At first God gives holiness where there is none and where this holiness is improved there God will be still augmenting and increasing of it do thou but make it thy business to perfect holiness in the feare of the Lord Heb. 6.7 and the Lord will not faile to make new and fresh additions of more grace and holiness to that thou hast Psal 84.11 The Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Mark those words viz. that the Lord will give grace and glory that is grace unto glory hee 'l still be adding more grace to that thou hast till the bud of grace be turn'd into the flower of glory till thy grace on earth commenceth glory in heaven the more holiness any man has the more still God will give him Math. 13.12 For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance He that hath principles of grace and holiness laid into his soul he shall finde a plentifull increase of those sanctifying and saving principles he shall have more abundance his spark of holiness shall grow into a flame his drops of holiness shall be turn'd into a sea and his mite of holiness shall be multiplyed into millions Math. 25.29 The greater harvest of holiness a Christian brings forth the greater encrease of holiness shall he experience every exercise of grace and holiness is alwayes attended with new increase of grace and holiness Look as that arme is greatest and strongest that is most used and exercised so that particular grace that is most exercised and used is most strengthned and greatned Look as earthly Parents when they see their children to husband and improve a little Stock to great advantage then they adde to their Stock they increase their Stock they double their Stock so when the father of spirits sees his children to husband and improve a little Stock of grace and holiness to the great advantage of their souls then he will increase their spiritual Stock he will be still a adding to their Stock yea he will double their Stock John 15.2 Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Such as are fruitful shall be made more fruitful Christ will take most paines to make them better who are already very good of all Christians in the world there are none that have so much grace as humble Christians have and yet God delights to pour in grace into their souls as men pour liquor into empty vessels humility is both a grace James 4.6 and a vessel to receive more grace And thus much for this fifth Argument But Sixthly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness Consider that the more holiness you attaine to the greater will be your heaven of joy and comfort in this world Though the least spark of true holiness will bring a man to heaven certainly yet 't is only an eminency in holiness that will make a man walk to heaven comfortably the more holiness any man has Psal 16. ult the more he shall enjoy him in whose presence is fulness of joy and the more any man enjoyes the presence of God with his Spirit the greater will be his heaven of joy in this world Look as a little Star yeilds but a little light so a little holiness yeilds but a little comfort and look as the greatest Stars yeilds the greatest light so the greatest measures of holiness alwayes yeilds the greatest comforts Divine joy ebbs and flowes as holiness ebbs and slowes soul comforts rises and falls as holiness rises and falls Great measures of holiness carries with them the greatest evidence of the reality of holiness now the more clearely and evidently the reality and sincerity of a mans holiness appeares the higher will the springs of joy and comfort arise in his soul Great measures of holiness carry with them the greatest evidence of a mans union and communion with God and the more evident a mans union and communion is with God the more will that mans soul be fill'd with that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Acts 9.31 In great measures of holiness a man may see and reade most of the love of God the face of God the favour of God and the heart of God and the more a man is blest with such a sight as this is the more will that Babe of grace divine joy spring in his soul The greater measures of holiness and sanctification any man attaines to the clearer and brighter will the evidences of his Justification be Rom. 5.1 2 3. And Ch. 8.30 33 34 35 Now the clearer evidences any
truth with his blood Mr. John Hus was a man eminent in holiness he was borne in Prague in Bohemia A Prophesie and was Pastor of the Church of Bethleem his name Hus in the Bohemian language sâ—gnifies a Goose at his Martyrdome he told them that if they rosted him in the fire out of the ashes of the Goose an hundred years after God would raise up a Swan in Germany that should carry the Cause on for which he suffered and whose singings would affright all those Vulters which was exactly fulfilled in Luther whose name in the Bohemian language signifies a Swan for God raised him up as a famous instrument in his hand who carried on that glorious Cause with mighty success and upon his death the Bohemians under Ziska rose in Armes and had most admirable success against the Emperour and the Papists A Prophesie Luther was a man of great holiness and being one time more then ordinarily earnest with God in prayer he came downe to his Friends and told them with a very great confidence that it should goe well with Germany all his dayes he knew what was done in heaven by that which God had done in his own heart accordingly it fell out The Martyr that was burnt last in Smithfield A Prophesie told the people that they should be of good comfort for he was fully perswaded that he was the last that should suffer under Queen Mary and so he was Thus you see that men of greatest holiness have had the clearest and choicest manifestations discoveries of God and of his mind made knowne to them Suitable to that choice promise that you have in that 33 Jer. 3. Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty or hidden things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hidden as bunches of Grapes are hidden under the leaves of the Vines which thou knowest not God will make knowne to his holy ones the most hidden and abstruse things and the more holy they are the more they shall know of the most secret and mysterious things of God John 7.17 If any man will doe his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my selfe Christ will be most open to them that are most obedient to him they shall know most of the doctrine of Christ who are most complying with the will of Christ David was a man of great holiness as is evident by that glorious testimony that God has given of him in that 13 Acts 22. And when he had removed him that is Saul v. 21. he raised up unto them David to be their King to whom also he gave testimony and said I have found David the son of Jesse a man after mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All my wills to note the eminency transcâ—ndency universality and sincerity of his obedience Now if you will but look into that 2 Sam. 7.27 there you shall see how the Lord declares and makes knowne himselfe and his intentions towards him For thou O Lord of Hosts God of Israel hast revealed to thy servant saying I will build thee an house But the Hebrew is more full and excellent in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it runs thus Lord thou hast revealed this to the eare of thy servant Now the emphasis lyes in those words to the eare of thy servant When God makes knowne himselfe and his intentions to such as are eminent in holiness he do's it in their eare God tells David in his eare that he will build him an house that is that he would continue his kingdome to him and to his posterity after him this was blessed newes and this God tells in his eare Such as are our special friends and favourites we often whisper them in the eare when we would acquaint them with our most secret and weighty purposes intentions and resolutions we give them a whisper in the eare such persons that are eminent in holiness are the great favourits of heaven and God tells them in the eare of many a rare secret which all others are kept ignorant of Well Sirs for a close remember this that there are no persons on earth that are so prepared and fitted for the clearest fullest and highest manifestations of God as those that are eminent in holiness nor none that set so high a price upon the discoveries of God as men that are eminent in holiness nor none that are so able to bare the Revelations of his will as men that are eminent in holiness nor none that will make such an humble faithful constant and through improvement of all that God shall make knowne to them as men that are famous for holiness and therefore as ever you would have God in an eminent way to manifest and discover himselfe and his mind unto you O labour after a greater measure of holiness But Eighthly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness Consider that the more holy any man is the more singular delight and pleasure God will take in all his religious duties and services Generally 't was the custome of the Eastern countries to wash before worship The very heathen gods would be served in white the very emblem of purity holiness puts a divine savour upon all a mans services there are no duties so sweet as those that have most holiness in them Mal. 3.3 4. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the dayes of old and as in former years After the Lord Jesus Christ hath been to his people as a refiners fire and as Fullers sope that is after he hath refined scoured and purged his people from their drossiness filthiness earthliness selfishness and sensualness c. then their offerings shall be pleasant to the Lord. Look as light makes all things pleasant and delightful to man so holiness makes all a mans duties and services pleasant and delightful to the Lord. Zach. 13.9 And I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tryed they shall call on my name and I will heare them I will say it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God When God has refined his people as silver is refined then he will bow his eare and open his hand and grant them the desires of their hearts O the pleasure and delight that God takes in the prayers tears hearings readings meltings mournings and repentings of such who are eminently purged and sanctified the more holiness any man has the less of the flesh polution and corruption there is in all his duties and services and the less there is of
providing for eternity mind nothing Luke 12.16 21. nor talke of nothing but pullin◠down their Barns building of greater What strugling is there for places of honour what desperate ventures for rich commodities and what high attempts are there for large possessions O the time the strength the spirits Psal 4.6 that many spend in an eager pursuit after earthly things O how sad is it to consider that Satan shall have more service of a worldling for an ounce of gold then God shall have for the kingdome of heaven though the world in all its bravey is no better then the Cities which Solomon gave to Hiram which he called Cabul that is 1 Kings 9.13 displeasing or dirty yet O how mad are men upon it though all the great the gay and the glorious things of the world Gen. 3. may fitly be resembled to the fruit that undid us all which was faire to the sight smooth in handling sweet in tast but deadly in operation yet O how fond are men of these things Multi amando res noxias sunt miseri habendo miseriores August in Psal 16. and how do most long to be touching and tasting of them though a touch a tast may exclude them out of Paradise for ever O Sirs what fools in Folio are they who dare hazard the loss of a Paradise for a wilderness of a crowne for a crum of a kingdome for a Cottage and of Pearls for trifles and yet such fools are all those who spend themselves in multiplying and encreasing of their earthly enjoyments In that 13 Gen. 2. 'T is said that Abraham was very rich in Cattel in silver and in gold but according to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it runs thus Abraham was very heavie in Cattel in silver and in gold to shew that riches that gold and silver which is the great god of the world are but heavie burdens and rather a hinderance then a help to heaven and happiness Gold and silver which are but the white and yellow guts and garbage of the earth is fitly called by the Prophet Hab. 2.6 thick clay which will sooner break a mans back then satisfie his heart and O what folly and madness is it for a man to be still a loading of himself with the clay of this world though the Sumpter horse be loaden with rich treasure all the day long yet when night comes he is turn'd into the dark stinking Stable with an empty belly and with his back full of gauls sores and bruises so though vaine men may be loaded with the treasures of this world during the day of their life yet when the night of death comes then they shall be turned into a dark stinking hell with consciences full of guilt and gauls and with souls full of sores and bruises and then what good will all their treasures do them Luke 16. Though the rich man in the Gospel lived like a Gentleman a Gallant yet when he died he went to hell Though Mammon as Aretius and many others observe is a Syriack word and signifies wealth riches yet Irenaeus derives Mammon of Mum that signifies a spot and Hon that signifies riches to shew that riches have their spots and yet O how unwearied are men in their adding of spots to spots men in their pursuit after the things of this world seeme to act by an untired power they are never weary of heaping up bags upon bags nor of enlarging their Tents nor of encreasing their revenues c. Now O how should this provoke every gracious soul to be adding of grace to grace and holiness to holiness O let not the men of the world out-doe you let them not out-act you O let not nature excell grace O let the muck-wormes of this world know that divine principles are too high and noble to be matcht or to be out-acted by any thing that they can doe O Sirs shall children grow in your families and oxen grow in your stalls and fish grow in your ponds grass grow in your fields and flowers grow in your gardens c. and shall not holiness grow in your hearts well friends remember this 't is infinitely better to be poore men and rich Christians then to be rich men and poore Christians But Sixteenthly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness consider that the more holiness you attaine to in this world the more weighty and heavy the more bright and glorious will be your faithfull Ministers crowne O Sirs as you rise higher and higher in holiness 2 Epist of John 4. so the springs of joy rises higher and higher in your Ministers souls O Christians 't is neither your seraphical notions nor your pompous profession 't is neither your good words nor your sweet looks 't is neither your civilities nor your courtesies that raises joy in your Ministers hearts or that will adde to your Ministers crowne Rom. 15.14 but an encrease of holiness will do both The Thessalonians were rare Christians they were very eminent high in holiness as you may see in that 1 Thes 1.5 6 7 8. And they were the Apostles joy and crowne of rejoycing as you may see in Ch. 2.19 20. For what is our hope or joy or crowne of rejoycing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming For ye are our glory and joy The Apostle tells these raised these renowned Thessalonians that as they were now his hope his glory and joy so at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ they should be his joy and crowne of rejoycing Look as Christ has his thousand Shekels of silver Shekels of silver were their common money and a name both for weight and coyne being in value answerable to our English half-crowns so his faithful laborious Ministers have their two hundred Shekels of silver and that indeed is a great reward Cant. 8.12 My vineyard which is mine is before me thou O Solomon must have a thousand and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred O what an honor is it for faithful Ministers to have a fift part of that Reward that Christ has himself in this 12 v. Christ opposeth his vineyard his Church to that of Solomons which is mentioned in v. 11. and though doubtless Solomons vineyard was one of the rarest choicest and fruitfullest vineyards in all Judaea yet it was wonderful inferiour to Christs vineyard and that partly because Christs vineyard cost him a dearer and a greater price even the price of his blood then ever Solomons cost him 1 Pet. 1.18 19 partly bécause his vineyard serves to more spiritual high honorable and noble ends 1 Tim. 3.15 then ever Solomons did viz. the glory exaltation of God the propagating of truth the bringing forth of the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 23. viz. love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance the bringing in of sinners and the
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
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
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
with his own heart that he had no such Trophies to shew but had spent his time in courting of Ladies rather than in encountring of Knights and that hee was better for a dance than for a march and that hee knew no Drum but the Tabret nor no courage but to bee Drunk and Rant hereupon hee presently retired himself repented entred into a combate with his own lusts and affections and subdued them and became temperate continent valiant and vertuous Now when the Souldiers came to receive their Wreaths their Crowns their Honours c. Hee steps in and challenges a Wreath a Crown for himself but being asked upon what title his challenge was grounded hee answered if honours bee given to Conquerours then they must bee given to mee too for I have gotten the noblest conquest of all and it being demanded wherein he answered these have subdued strange Foes and conquered their outward enemies but I have subdued my self I have conquered the enemies that were in my own bosome O Sirs there are no mens names written in the book of life but theirs who by grace and holinesse have subdued and brought under their sinful selves and who have conquered the corruptions that bee in their own bosoms that is in respect of love and dominion many there bee who are exceeding inquisitive to know whether their names are written in Heaven or no I would say to such there is no such way to know this Phil. 4.3 Heb. 11.38 Seneca though a Heathen saw so much excellency that morality put upon a man that hee cryes out Ipse aspectus boni viri delectat the very looks of a good man delights one Sapiens dei comes est saith Philo. as by your holinesse hast thou broke off thy sins by sound repentance hath the Gospel chang'd thy inside and thy outside hath it made thee a new creature and turned thee from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ c. then without all peradventure thy name is written in Heaven and thou art the person that hast the greatest cause in the world to joy and rejoyce Again the Holy Christian is the best Christian in the world nay hee is such a one of whom this world is not worthy and therefore God cannot but take singular pleasure and delight in him many there are which are accounted deep Scholars great Linguists profound Philosophers good Grammarians excellent Mathematicians sharp Logitians cunning Polititians fine Rhetoritians sweet Musitians c. but the truth is hee is the best Grammarian that hath learn't to speak the truth from his heart and hee is the best Astronomer that hath his conversation in Heaven and he is the best Musitian that hath learn't practically to sing out the praises of God and hee is the best Arithmetitian that knows how to number his daies and hee is the best read in Ethicks that every day grows holier and holier and hee is the best skild in Oeconomicks that trains up his Family in the fear of the Lord and hee is the best Polititian that is as good at taking good counsel as hee is at giving good counsel and hee is the best Linguist that speaks the language of Canaan and therefore God cannot but take the greatest content and satisfaction in such Again the Holy Christian is the only man for whom God hath wrought the greatest miracles hee can tell you that he was blinde but now God hath given him eyes to see sin to bee the greatest evil and Christ to bee the choisest Good hee can tell you that once hee was so deaf that though God called very often and very loud upon him by his word and by his works by his rods at home and by his judgements abroad and by his spirit and conscience that were still a preaching in his bosome sometimes Life sometimes Death sometimes Heaven and sometimes Hell yet hee could not hear but now God hath given him an hearing ear so that now hee can with delight hear the sweet Musick of the promises on the one hand and with a holy trembling lissen to the voice of divine threatnings on the other hand Psal 45.1 Jude 3. The very Heathen could say quando sapiens loquitur aulea animi aperit When a wiseman speaketh hee openeth the rich treasure and wardrob of his minde hee can tell you that once hee was so dumb that if hee might have had the whole world hee could not have spoke a good word for God nor for his waies nor for his people nor for his ordinances nor for any of his concernments in the world O but now his tongue is as the pen of a ready writer and hee is never better than when hee is a speaking either of God or for God and his concernments now hee can contend for the faith and speak for Saints and plead for Ordinances and though in some cases hee may want power to act for God yet hee never wants a tongue to speak for God The Spouses lips drop honey combs in that 4 Cant. 11. And the tongue of the just is as choice silver in that 10. Prov. 20. yea his tongue is a tree of life whose leaves are medicinable in that 12. Prov. 18. Hee can tell you that once hee was so lame that hee was not able to move one foot Heaven-wards or Christ-wards or Holiness-wards c. but now his feet delights not only to go but to run in all the waies of Gods commands Psal 119.32 Yea hee can tell you that once hee was dead as to all his soul concernments but now hee is alive and the life that hee leads in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God that hath loved him and given himself for him Gal. 2.20 It was by a miracle that the River Jordan was driven back and t is no less a miracle to see a sinner that was accustomed to do evil habituated now to do good That the tyde of sin which before did run so strong should bee so easily turned that the sinner which a little before was sailing Hell-ward and wanted neither wind nor tyde to carry him thither should now on a sudden alter his course and tack about for Heaven what a miracle is this To see the earthly man become heavenly a carnal man become spiritual a loose man become precise a proud man become humble a covetous man become liberal and a froward man become meek c. is to behold no less than miracles To see a sinner move cross and contrary to himself in the waies of Christ and holiness should bee as wonderful in our eyes as to see the Sun go backward or the Earth to fly upward or the Dead to raise themselves or the Bowl to run contrary to its own byass Now how can God but take infinite delight and pleasure in his holy ones considering the many miracles that hee hath wrought both in them and for them Psa 4.6 7. Again there are no persons under Heaven that
all the blessings of a holy man are blest unto him and all the relations of a holy man are blest unto him and all estates and conditions that are incident to a holy man are blest unto him Isaac tills the ground Gen. 26.12 ch 4.12 and sows his seed and God blesses him with an hundred-fold And Cain tills the ground and sows his seed but the earth is cursed to him and commanded not to yeeld to him her strength But Fifthly 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 thy holiness is a glorious witness and evidence of thy Effectual Vocation 1 Pet. 1.15 As hee who hath called you is holy so bee yee holy in all manner of conversation Many are externally called that are not internally called and many are ineffectually called that are not effectually called But now real holiness that speaks out an internal call an Effectual Call 1 Pet. 2.9 a call out of darkness into marvelous light it speaks out such a call as makes sinners Saints slaves Sons enemies Friends and strangers Favourites Gen. 41. As Joseph a stranger was called out of a prison a dungeon and made a very great Favourite in Pharaohs Court so real holiness is a glorious witness and evidence that you are effectually called out of the prison of sin and the dungeon of wrath and made a Favourite to the King of Glory 2 Tim. 1.9 1 Pet. 5.10 Gal. 4.6 The Author of this Call is a holy God our holy Calling depends upon the purpose of God the power of God and the grace and good pleasure of God the means of our holy Calling are the Spirit of God and the Word of God and the ends of our Calling are Holiness and the Glory of God O Sirs you are not called upon the account of your Parents Faith or Nobility nor upon the account of any intrinsecal vertues in you nor upon the account of any extrinsecal services done by you but upon the account of Gods peculiar Election and particular Vocation and therefore by Holiness make good the honour of your High-Calling And if any should object against you the meanness of your birth and outward calling put them in minde of your High and holy Calling and ask them what they think of Lazarus that is now asleep in Abrahams bosome And if others should object against you your former wickedness and cast your sins as dirt and dung in your faces let them know that St. Paul can tell them from Heaven that though once hee was a wretched blasphemer and a bloody persecuter that yet now hee is a glorious Saint in Heaven But Sixthly If thou art a holy person if thou art one that hast this real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that thy holiness is a blessed evidence of thy Adoption and Sonship John 1.12 Rom. 8.17 If thou art a holy person then of a childe of wrath thou art become a childe of God a childe of love and of an heir of Hell thou art become an heir of Heaven and of a slave thou art become a Son Gal. 4.4 5 7. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law To redeem them that were under the Law that wee might receive the Adoption of Sons wherefore thou art no more a servant but a Son Rom. 8.14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God The leadings of the Spirit are all holy leadings and there are none that are the Sons of God but such as are under the holy leadings of the Spirit of God Phil. 2.15 That yee may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom yee shine as lights in the world There are none worthy of this title of Honour viz. the Sons of God but such who in the main of their lives and conversations are blameless and harmless without rebuke and that are as shining lights in the world There are two waies whereby wee may know fire to bee real fire and that differences real fire from painted fire or from imaginary fire the first is by the heat of it and the other is by the flame of it Now though sometimes it so falls out that the fire do not flame yet at that very time you may know it to bee real fire by the heat it gives So there are two waies of knowing our Adoption Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.16 the first is by the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father in our hearts And the other is by our Sanctification and Holiness now though sometimes it may so fall out that the flame the witness of the Spirit of Adoption may bee wanting yet the heat of Sanctification and Holiness remains and wee may have recourse to this fire and warm our hearts at it and sit down satisfied and assured of our Adoption for as fire may bee known to be fire by its hear though it want a flame so though the Spirit of Adoption do not witness our Adoption to us yet wee may know our Adoption by our real Sanctification and Holiness Every holy person is a high-born person John 3.5.8 ch 1.12 13. for as his Divine Birth so his Divine Adoption is high very high exceeding high yea even as high as Heaven it self 'T is a very high honour to be the Son of a King 1 Sam. 18.23 24. yea to be the Son-in-Law of a King for so David reckoned it Seemeth it saith hee to Sauls servant a light thing to you to bee a Kings Son-in-Law seeing that I am vile and lightly esteemed Oh then what an honour it is to be the Son of God Rev. 1.6 to bee the Son of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord 'T is a very high honour to be Gods servant and so David accounted it as you may see in that 2 Sam. 7.5 8. And so did Theodosius the Emperour and Constantine the Great and many others account it O then what an honour must it be to be Gods Son The blessed Apostle cannot speak of this high priviledge but with great admiration as you may see in that 1 Job 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that wee should bee called the Sons of God 'T is an infinite condescention in God to honour us with the title of Sons and therefore wee should never think of it nor never speak of it but with much Admiration O Sirs what matter of Admiration is this that the great and glorious God who hath many millions of glorious Angels waiting on him that hee should look upon all holy persons as his Sons and that he should love them as Sons and delight in them as Sons and cloathe them as Sons and feed them as Sons and protect them as
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
rises against little sins Page 113-120 Of a Little holiness Most Christians have but a little holiness this is proved by eight Arguments Page 469-479 M. Of Melancholy Of Melancholly and the effects of it Page 367 368 369. Of Manifestations The more holy any man is the more God will manifest himself to that man Page 498 499 500 501 502. Of Marriages Holy persons are not to marry with those that are unholy Page 56 57. Of a scandalous Ministry and of a holy ministry Settle not your selves under a lewd scandalous Ministry 296 297-299 See many considerable things in the Epistle concerning prophane ignorant scandalous debauched Ministers He that would perfect holiness in the feare of the Lord must fix and settle himself under a faithful holy Ministry Page 575 576 577. Of Mockers Mockers shall not goe to Heaven Page 71 72 73 74 75 Of Mortifying of sin He that would be more holy must fall in good earnest with all his might upon mortifying his most raging corruptions and most darling sins Page 582 583 584 585. Of Mourners and mournings Seven reasons why a holy man mournes for other mens sins 139-145 He that would be holy must mourne over his own unholiness 299 300 301. Mourne over the loss of holiness Page 466 467 468. Motives Seven Motives to move you to try whether you have any real holiness or no. 89-101 Fifteen Motives to get holiness 170-209 Seventeen Motives to perfect holiness in the feare of the Lord. 469-517 The more spiritual Motives and considerations carries a man on in religious duties and services the greater measures of holiness has that man attained to Page 606 607 608. N. Of Necessity The necessity of holiness Page 170 171 172 173 174. Of Neuters Neuters shall not goe to Heaven Page 79 80 81 82. Number The Number of Saints not diminished but increased by persecutions Page 398 399 400 401. O. Of Objections 1. Ob. We have no power to make our selves holy answered from 341-347 2 Ob. But hereafter may be time enough to look after holiness we may yet spend a few more years in pursuing after the profits pleasures c. of the world Ans 347-352 3. Ob. If we should press and pursue after holiness then we must take our farewel of all joy and comfort of all delight and pleasure c. Ans 352-369 4. Ob. We see that there are none so afflicted and persecuted as those who mind holiness who follow after holiness c. Ans 369-423 5. Ob. If we should labour after holiness then we must resolve to be poore and meane and low in the world for we shall never grow rich by godliness Ans 423-433 6. Ob. Should we pursue after holiness it would be a disgrace and dishonour to us who are honorable great rich and high in the world we are high borne we are Gentlemen and well bred and holiness seems to be too poore and too low a thing for such as we are to looke after Ans 433-446 7. Ob. Should we pursue after holiness we shall be sure to be reviled reproached and slandered and we shall become a scorne and a by-word c. to all that are round about us Ans Page 446-456 Of Obstinate sinners No special communion to be held with obstinate sinners Page 48 49. Of Overcoming The more a man can overcome evill with good upon holy and gracious accounts the greater measure of holiness that person has attained to Page 597 598 599 600. P. Of Persecution and persecutors Persecution has been the common lot and portion of the people of God 369 370. Christ and his Apostles has long since foretold us that afflictions and persecutions will attend us in this world 370 371 372. Persecutions that befalls the Saints for holiness sake shall never hurt nor harme the Saints 372 373 374 375 376. That the condition of persecutors of all conditions under Heaven is the most sad and deplorable condition is made good by five Arguments 376-389 That God will bare his people company in all their afflictions and persecutions 389 390 391 392. He shall be sure to suffer from Christ that refuses to suffer or that is afraid to suffer persecution for Christ 392 393 394 395 396. Many great advantages that will redowne to Christians by all the afflictions and persecutions that does befall them 396-411 To fuffer afflictions and persecutions for holiness sake is the greatest honour that Christians are capable of in this world 411 412 413. The afflictions and persecutions that commonly attend Christians in these dayes are nothing to the fiery tryalls that the Saints and Martyrs of old have been exercised with 413 414 415. Vnholy persons have suffered as great and grievous things for the satisfying of their lusts c. as Christians are like to suffer for their pursuing after holiness 415 416. Though persecutions may attend the people of God yet he has very many wayes to preserve his people from being ruin'd and destroyed by persecuting hands As 1. By laying a Law of restraint upon persecutors 2. By setting persecutors one against another 3. By passing a sentence of death upon persecutors 4. By altering and changing the hearts of persecutors 5. By taking of persecutors feet in the same snares that they have laid for others 6. By providing Cities of refuge and hiding places to shelter them 416-420 All the persecutions that the Saints meet with on earth shall advance their glory in Heaven Page 420 421 422 423. Of Perseverance Christians must persevere in their pursuit after holiness Page 460 461 462. Of what is Possible 'T is possible for unholy persons to be made holy this is proved by eight arguments 174-183 'T is possible for those that are holy to attain to greater measures of holiness then any yet they have attained to and this is proved by five Arguments Page 479-488 Of Prophane persons Prophane persons shall not goe to Heaven Page 70 71. Of False Prophets No speciall communion to be held with false Prophets Page 47 48. Of Prayer He that will be holy must be much in Prayer and be sure 〈…〉 Of Vowes He that will be holy must dwell much upon his solemne vowes Page 309 310 311 312. Of Universal Obedience The more universal a mans obedience is the more holy that man is Page 602 603. Of Unbeleevers We are to have no sacred no speical communion with unbeleevers Page 42 43. Of the Unholy A holy person will be holy among the unholy Page 154 155 156 157. Of the Use of earthly things Holy persons will be holy in the use of earthly and common things Page 136 137 138. Of Uprightness Enduring of persecution an argument of uprightness Page 396 397 398. W. Of Waiting He that will be holy must waite upon the word faithfully preacht 304-307 He that will be holy when he has done all must waite Page 337 338 339. Of Wants He that would perfect holiness in the feare of the Lord should labour to be more acquainted and affected with his spirituall wants Page 572 573. Of the Word A holy man loves the word for its holiness 144-147 How a person may know when he is affected and taken with the word as 't is a holy word Answered 5 ways Page 147-154 Of the World Take heed of the world and why 239-284 But here remember once for all that by the Printers mistake next to page 240. followes 280. The next Impression will prevent this and other mistakes also The more worldlings strive after the world the more Christians should strive to perfect holiness Page 513 514 515. Of Worship Christians must stand for purity of worship and why Page 462 463 464 465 466. Of Working All things shall work for good to the holy man Page 636 637 638. FINIS