any one of them though you should labour to find them all you may rest with comfort in the safety of your condition though at present you may not discern the rest for that where there is one Integraâ—… member of the new man there is the whole though not apparent But let not one Character pass your eye without a faithful tryal Is it thus with me that you may know your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you and then you are not reprobates SECT IV. I. THe first Character of an upright man is He really approves himself to God 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study to shew thy self approved to God This is the care and business of every upright man In all business and companies his chiefest care is that the words of his mouth and the thoughts of his heart may be pleasing to him Famous is that story of Bernard who after a curious Sermon among the general applause was found dejected and in his dumps and after a more sincere plain discourse the day following exceeding chearful told one of his friends that inquir'd the reason Heri Bernardum hodie Jesum Christum praedicavi yesterday I preach'd Bernard but to day I have preached Jesus Christ. When you can say Lord others know my actions but thou knowest my ends others may lift me up too high or cast me down too low but I am satisfied if thou art pleased with me For not he that commendeth himself is approved but whom the Lord commends And this is to walk worthy of the Lord in all Pleasing When a mans great aim is at God and not to please or exalt himself or others Whereas an hypocrite he is quite another man Mat. 23. 5. For all their works they do to be seen of men and therefore they chose Trumpets to distribute their alms with and corners of Streets Streets would not serve but corners of Streets that so two full Streets might view them in their prayers and so poor creatures they paid themselves before the great Pay-day Verily I say unto you they have their reward Their thought is how will this or that man like this word or action If such and such commend me and applaud me I have enough But the upright man looks at God and a smile from him gives him content He may endeavour to compass the good opinion of men but he will serve God first and hate any base courses to procure the praise of men It s part of his Character Rom. 2. 29. Whose praise is not of men but of God II. The second mark of an upright man is He chiefly loves God To love the Lord our God with all the heart with all the soul with all the strength is an infallible Character of an upright man When it comes to be a disputable case between God and Mammon God and the Belly God and Relations God and a right Eye or Hand if thou cannot find at least for the most part thy soul determining for God over-ruling the case in his behalf and that thy love to him can make thee contemn the world and all that is in it fear nothing thou hast an upright heart Try now do you use the World to enjoy God or do you make use of God to enjoy the World Do you love him for himself do you love him like himself in every thing above every thing Object But how should I know I love him best Answ. Hath he if not the most yet the heartiest of your thoughts When your ends are raffled to the bottom do they end at him or self do you love the hours and duties that tend towards him Are not you troubled that you can love him no more is not Heaven it self desirable to you on this account because there you will love him and hate sin perfectly and eternally can you delight in your mercies when you fear they come not in love can you live contentedly under the sence or fear of his absence or displeasure in a word doth that please you best that tends and ends in his honour though it shame your persons or cross your other designs do you dearly affect his blessed word and those parts thereof that have nothing to commend them to you but their holiness not only the Histories of the Bible but the Doctrine the Precepts of the Bible Can you taste more sweetness in a Sermon of Christ an Epistle of Paul the hundred and nineteenth Psalm than in any human writings in the world Doth the remembrance of your communion with God and communication from him more refresh you than the review of other delights Cant. 1. 4. We will remember thy love more than wine the upright love thee That is a sign of love this is a sign of uprightness III. A third sign of an upright man is He willingly obeys God 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son serve thou the God of thy Fathers with a perfect heart and a willing mind What he does his will is in it He will do what he can yea more than he can An hypocrite doth more than he would He acts not but is acted by profit credit and the like and when this wind blows not he stands as the Windmill stock still Love to God oyls the wheel of obedience and then a man runs the way of his Commandments when the Lord hath inlarged his heart Psal. 119 32. Amor meus pondus mcum Happy for ever that man whose principle of motion is within An hypocrite he hath no hearty good will to the very duties he performs he prays but he hath no good will to prayer he gives but his will is another way his obedience is against his mind his interest draws him one way his mind goes another and what a wretched life must he live the generality of whose visible actions go against the frame of his mind and so neither God nor himself hath pleasure in them 2 Cor. 8. 12. If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to what a man hath and doth Try your selves therefore do you find that your wills are prest for God do you obey your Master as your servants should obey you with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men 'T is true you will find another Law another will drawing the other way but if you can say with Paul Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man your hearts are upright you grieve for your unwillingness you bring your wills to every ordinance and use the means to make them better and cordially desire to do his will on earth as it is done in Heaven The crossness of your will is your greatest burden and you are getting ground herein are you not then your case is good IV. The fourth Character of an upright man is He can Judiciously appeal to God I call God to record on my soul saith Holy Paul And this not only in a crowd and before others
to the Being and Truth of Grace and the latter to wit Watchfulness to the Preservation and Exercise of Grace And belike on that account sincerity is called a Girdle Ephes. 6. 14. having your loyns girt about with truth Religion is to many as a Cloak though it will prove the dearest Cloak that ever was worn which they can put on abroad when it serves their purposes and put off at home when it troubles them in their lusts but now sincerity is like a Girdle that ties it close to us This makes all our Garments sit close to us and to be ungirt here is to be unblest And may be thus described Uprightness of heart is that Grace or gracious temper whereby the soul is unreservedly resigned to God and heartily bent to walk with him without guile In short when one is A man after Gods own heart for Truth is nothing but an agreement of things with their first Principles so that the Heart agreeing plainly with the Heart and Will of God is an upright heart The same thing is meant by an Honest heart Luke 8. 15. that is resolved to carry squarely towards God as there in the hearing of Gods Word when the heart is clearly carried with the stream of Gods will without Exception or Dissimulation As you know an honest man is ruled and swayed by Reason and Equity in a business without squinting at his own opinions and ends even so an upright heart honestly yields his Reason and Will captive to the Will of God though it cross his own conceits and ends And thus he is a man after Gods own heart is as like him humane frailty considered as ever he can look Now this blessed Uprightness may be considered 1. In the Grounds of it 2. In the Nature of it 3. In the Object of it I. The Ground and root of Uprightness of Heart stands in the total Receiving of Christ by the Heart and the total Resigning of the Heart unto him This done and there 's a good foundation laid for sincerity of soul. 1. There must be a total Receiving of Jesus Christ tendered in the Gospel when you do take hold of the Lord Jesus and cleave to him with purpose of heart As Barnabas prest them at Antioch Acts 11. 23. Many have a months mind of Christ some velleities and wouldings but wilt thou have him and cleave to him and that with purpose of heart this is sincerity to receive a whole Christ with a whole heart Not Christ the Saviour or Refuge only so most would be willing but Christ the Prince and Portion also in the land of the living So David could say Psal. 142. 5. O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living How many would fain have the Lord Jesus Christ for their Refuge when Conscience pinches affliction presses or death stares them in the face but how few will choose him for their portion and happiness in the midst of their outward comforts the Hypocrite dare not dye without him the upright Saint cannot live without him Cant. 1. 4. The upright love thâ—… and love cannot live contentedly without fruition To be content of a Christ because of some present need of him is one thing is nothing if that be all but to chuse him as the fairest of ten thousand and that with an intire heart to have Mind Will Conscience and Affection all of a mind and this mind to be set on Christs yoke as well as his Crown his Spirit as well as his Merit his Rule as well as his Righteousness here goes the upright heart whereas an hypocrite he hath some fancy for Jesus Christ but will not have him this pleases him but that likes him not and so he dodges endlesly and parles with him through the window but bolts the door and keeps him out for ever O that ever an holy just and offended God should follow such miserable sinners with a bleeding Christ in his arms and that ever such wretches should put a refusal upon him 2. There must be a total Resignation of the heart unto the Lord Jesus Christ wherein you do cordially deliberately and freely give up your souls and bodies to him and to his service which is called Ingageing the heart to approach to the Lord Jer. 30. 21. Who is this that ingaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord And thereupon that happy Covenant is drawn in the next verse ye shall be my people and I will be your God Who is this saith God Who in the World Who in this Congregation Who in this Family Who in this Seat Where 's the Man the Woman the Child O let each answer quickly it is I. But you must ingage not only hanker incline desire purpose but ingage 't is not bidding but buying will make this Pearl your own Alas it is the ordinary guise of people to stand off and treat only but Sirs will ye ingage is 't a bargain and will ye stick to it get or lose by Christ you will have him and then 't is the ingagement of the heart you did subscribe your hands in Baptisme this very Covenant was sealed in your name and behalf when you were children little and your not revoking it doth assert it but now we come for your hearts thereunto Where 's the Mind the Conscience the Will O where 's the Will that submits resolves and ingages to be the Lords Happy this day this word and happy you if hereupon one shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel Isa. 44. 5. You are the Lords by your Christian names already O when will you be his by your surname also This is the Gospels great design this is our errand here we come for you and are loth to go without you We beseech you by the mercies of God to make a present of your selves as a living sacrifice to God Poor sinners are like Rebels besieged whom Christ Jesus will either win or starve His Ordinance is mounted and it batters A breach is made in the Judgment but the sinner will not yield another in the Conscience yet is he loth to yield the white flag of mercy is set up but of a long time the sturdy sinner will not treat the red flag is hung out divine wrath is on the march and a storm is preparing The Ordinance of God replanted again and now if it hit right and a breach be made upon the will then Christ is victor the City is won and the sinner yields And then his note is changed Psal. 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant Mark how the Psalmist redoubles it I am I am truly I am Redoubled refusals call for redoubled submissions I will neither be my own master nor my own servant I here make a Deed of Gift of my
whole self to thee without Reservation and without Power of Revocation It is not enough to say this in a pang of kindness or in a complement as we do to men What 's more common with us than Your servant Sir but it s a servant without service and such servants hath God a great many his Servants but their own Masters but holy David was not such a man I am thy servant truly I am thy servant I am resign'd to thee I am resolv'd for thee thou hast boar'd my ears Psal. 40. 6. and oblig'd me to thee for ever I will be thine both Totally and Finally When you thus give your Own selves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8. 5. This is the ground and root of Uprightness SECT VI. II. THe Nature of this Uprightness of Heart is best discern'd by those expressions us'd by the Holy Ghost concerning it which have been partly observ'd already and shall be reduc'd to these five following It is 1. Single without Division 2. Sound without Rottenness 3. Pure without Mixture 4. Perfect without Reservation 5. Plain without Guile 1. An Upright heart is Single without Division Unto an hypocrite there be Gods many and Lords many and he must have a heart for each but to the upright there is but one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ and one heart will serve them both He that fixes his heart upon the Creatures for every Creature he must have an heart and the dividing of his heart destroyes him Hos. 10. 2. worldly profits knock at door he must have an heart for them carnal pleasures present themselves he must have an heart for them also sinful preferments appear they must have an heart too Necessariorum numerus parvus opinionum nullus Of necessary objects the number is few of needless vanities the number is endless The upright man hath made choice of God and hath enough A single Christ is enough for a single heart hence holy David prayes Psal. 86. 11. Unite my heart to fear thy Name Let me have but one heart and mind and let that be thine As there are thousands of Beams and Rayes yet they all meet and center in the Sun so an upright man though he hath a thousand thoughts yet they all by his good will meet in God Subordinate ends he hath many to procure a livelihood to preserve his credit to provide for his children but Supreme end he hath none but God alone Hence that Steadiness in his Resolutions that Undistractedness in his holy duties that Consistency in his Actions and that Evenness in the frame of his Heart which miserable hypocrites cannot attain 2. An Upright Heart is Sound without Rottenness Psal. 119. 80. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I may not be ashamed The more sincerity the less shame Integrity is the great author of confidence Every frost shakes an unsound body and every tryal shakes an unsound soul. An upright man hath not alwayes so pure a colour as an hypocrite may have but his colour is natural it is his own it is not painted his constitution is firm The hypocrites beauty is borrowed the fire of tryal will melt it off An Upright man hath his infirmities his diseases but his new nature works them out for he is sound within A leprosie overspreads the hypocrite but he hides it Psal. 36. 2. He flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful He endeavours to hide himself from God more from men most from himself he would fain be in with himself howsoever and this trade he drives till his iniquity be found to be hateful But now an Upright man he is alwayes sifting and trying himself am I sound am I right are my services rightly done are my infirmities consistent with integrity and the like An upright Saint is like an apple with rotten specks but an hypocrite is like the apple with a rotten core The sincere Christian hath here a speck of passion and there of worldliness and there of pride but cut him up anatomize him he is sound at heart there Christ and Christianity live and reign Now an hypocrite is like an apple that is smooth and lovely on the outside but rotten within His words exact his duties devout his life blameless but look within and his heart is the sty of sin the den of Satan 3. An Upright heart is Pure without Mixture Not absolutely pure that happiness is reserv'd for heaven but compared with that pollution and base mixture that constitutes an hypocrite Though his hand cannot do all that God bids yet his heart is sincere in all he doth His soul is bent for perfect purity and so he hath his name from that Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart In his words he sometimes fails and so in his thoughts and deeds but open his heart and there is a love a desire a design and an indeavour after real and absolute purity Not legally pure that is free from all sin but Evangelically pure free from the reign of all sin especially of hypocrisie which is so flatly contrary to the Covenant of Grace And in this sence the upright man is the Scripture Puritan and so 〈◊〉 further from hypocrisie than any other man He is really glad that God is the searcher of hearts for then he knows that he will finde his name and nature in his own And yet the most upright man in the world hath some hypocrisie in him Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin but this he detects resists and hates and so it cannot denominate him an hypocrite in this world nor damn him for one in another His ends are generally purely at the glory of God his frame of heart and thoughts pure and generally better than his outside the farther you trace him the better he is Pure from dishonesty in his dealings purer yet in his family from all appearance of evil purer still in his closet and purest in his heart though there be sin there yet there is also there an antipathy against it that it mingles not with it The hypocrite chooses sin the upright man would have no sin if he could choose The Traveller its true meets with dirt in his way but he keeps it off as well as he can mingles not with it and if he be soil'd he rubs it off as soon as may be but the swine delights in it cannot be well without it 'T is just so between the upright man and the hypocrite The most upright Saint on earth is bemir'd with sin sometimes but he did not design it in the morning nor sleeps he with it at night but an hypocrite he designs it he delights in it he is never so well contented as in sin In a word the hypocrite may avoid sin but no man can abhor sin save the upright man 4. An Upright man is Perfect and intire without Reservation Psal. 37. 37.