order to God and to Religion And this may serve as an Explication of Truth as it relates to the Understanding 2. Truth as it relates to Practice is properly Veracity and is opposed to Lying and Deceit To be plain and true hearted in our Words and Promises according to the simplicity of the Gospel So that when the Apostle bids us mind such things as are true it is all one with his Exhortation Ephes 4.25 Wherefore putting away Lying speak every Man the Truth with his Neighbour For God being a God of Truth and not capable of deceiving Men either in his Words or Promises he would have Men to be like unto him And this Duty is necessary upon these Two Accounts 1. From the Conformity and Likeness it hath to the Nature of God God is represented in the Old Testament by the Holy One of Israel that cannot Lie and in the New the Apostle Argues from the Immutability of the Nature of God that it is impossible for him to Lie or to Deceive For to Lie is a Weakness Sickness and Imperfection of the Mind which God cannot be subject to No Power or Force can constrain him to do otherwise than his Nature wills and his Counsels and Will being directed by an Infinite Goodness and Wisdom there cannot be in him any Variableness Inconstancy or shadow of turning And he is most like unto God who stands Confidently and Immutably to what is True and Right For Truth deriving from an Infinite and Almighty Being is bold and takes place when Deceit and Falshood is put to its Shifts and runs into holes hating the light Therefore the wiser Heathens used to say That to speak the Truth and to do Good were things that made us most like to God And most certain it is that the more a Man swerves and declines from Truth the further he is removed from a Participation of the Nature of God Hence when the Jews would not believe our Saviour who testified that Truth he had received of God he tells them John 8.44 They were of their Father the Devil who was a Lyar and the Father of it He was the first Inventer and the first Author of Lies in the World Therefore says Christ when he speaketh a Lie he speaketh of his own 'T is none of God's Creation but an effect which he is the sole Cause and Author and Original of When that foul Spirit had once disjoined and separated himself from God then he began to Lie and to Deceive and taught Men to do so too which shewed the weakness of his Nature when once it became uncentred and unhinged from that Stable and Unchangeable Being who is Truth it self 2. Truth is the Bond and Foundation of all Civil Society There is no Commerce or Intercourse between Men in the World without this And hence it is that a Liar is banished and excluded from all sober Society and the Reason is because he destroys that which God and Nature ordained should preserve and maintain a Correspondence one with another Therefore the very Formality that is the Nature of a Lie includes in it a piece of Injustice and is a real Injury done to another For Words and Expressions being only the significations of our Minds one to another every Man has a right of judging and understanding by these what is signified to him Now when a Man tells a Lie he imposes upon his Neighbour and deprives him of his Right by making him to believe quite contrary to what the things are Therefore our Blessed Saviour tells us That for every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall be accountable Mat. 12.36 which is not meant of every impertinent or useless but every vain or false Word i. e. for every Lie And there is a great deal of Reason for this because he that Lies to another not only betrays the Effeminateness and Weakness of his Nature but is really injurious to his Neighbour and destroys and undermines that which is the common Cement and Bond by which Societies are incorporated together Wherefore let it be every Man's Care to avoid all Fraud and Dissimulation in his Words and Actions For nothing is more unbecoming a Man much more undecent and odious is it in a Christian who professes a Religion that owns the greatest simplicity and openness and freedom and plain-heartedness in the World Our Blessed Saviour tho' he many times prudently avoided Captious and Ensharing Questions yet when he was demanded an Account of that for which he came into the World i. e. whether he were the Christ or the true Messiah he owns it though he knew this very Truth would cost him his Life When the Cause of God and a good Conscience lies at stake then Truth must in a particular manner shew it self For to Dissemble and to be False to this is to betray the Religion that we profess Therefore we find among the Catalogue of those that are excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven are all such as love and make a Lie Revel 22.15 not only such as make Deceits and Dissimulations to betray the Truth but such as love and delight in such Treacherous Actions And in express terms God Almighty Threatens all Liars Revel 21.8 That they shall have their Portion in the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Because Falshood is not only contrary to the Nature of God and sinks us into a Condition the furthest removed from him but destroys the Interest of Christianity which requires in all its Professors the greatest Truth and Faithfulness in all their Words and Actions Christ came to promote a Fair and Innocent Nature in the World which cannot consist with those Blemishes and Spots that attend Lying and Deceit Truth is plain and easie but a Lie is crooked and perverse and made up of many windings and turnings So that he that considers the Nature of God who is absolute Truth the Interest of Religion and the Good of Mankind will not think such an Exhortation as this to be unseasonable but will with all diligence pursue and follow such things as are true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are honest Besides what we have here discoursed of Virtue in general we may further Note that these and such like are the Moral Furniture of our Souls they are the Transcripts and Derivations of the Nature of God which however by a long Degeneracy they seem to be worn out and the Traces of them in many to be scarce visible yet there is such a Cognation and Congruity between them and the Nature of our Souls that they are ready to embrace whenever duly offered to them After having advised to things true the Apostle comes next to whatsoever things are honest which is not to be taken in a strict signification as Honesty is a part of Justice for that St. Paul mentions afterwards but the word honest here must be taken in a larger signification for whatever is becoming So the Word in the Original imports
Imprimatur Geo. Royse R. R. in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Johanni Archiep. Cantuar. a Sacris Domest April 23d 1692. THE EXCELLENCY OF Moral Vertue FROM THE Serious Exhortation of St. Paul to the Practice of it In several Discourses upon Phil. 4.8 To which is added A Discourse of Sincerity FROM JOHN i. 47. By HENRY HALLYWELL Vicar of Cowfold in Sussex LONDON Printed for Iames Adamson at the Angel and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. To the most Reverend Father in God JOHN by the Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. May it please your Grace TO accept of the following Discourses as a Testimony of my Humble Thankfulness for your Grace's Favours towards me The Substance of them was lately delivered to a small Country Auditory into whose Minds I endeavoured to instill a Generous Sense of Virtue being Convinced not only of the Great Vsefulness of such Monitory Exhortations in a Degenerate Age but fully persuaded that if Men Neglect the Sincere Practice of Virtue the Renovation of their Minds into the faultless Image of Jesus will never effectually be carried on I most Humbly Beg your Grace's Pardon for their Imperfections hoping your Grace will not be offended at the Meanness of an Offering which proceeds only from a Desire of doing Good And to Assure your Grace of the Vprightness of my Intentions herein I have added as an Appendix I judged not unsuitable to the foregoing Discourses one likewise of Sincerity in which your Grace will see the high Esteem and Value I have of that Lovely Qualification Now that God would preserve your Grace in Health and Prosperity for the Good and Benefit of this Church and Nation and after you have finished your Course that your Grace may receive a never fading Crown of Glory when the chief Shepherd shall appear is the hearty Prayer of My Lord Your Grace's most Humble and most Affectionate Servant Henry Hallywell Phil. 4.8 Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any Virtue and if there be any Praise think on these things THE true life and spirit of Religion consists not in dry and barren Speculation but in Practice And that we may the better know what is the matter of our Practice the Apostle here instances in divers Moral Duties which frequently occur in the life of Man and indeed seems to resolve all Religion into the serious and hearty Regulation of the Life and Actions according to the Rules and Measures of Virtue And because Morality by some hath been too much slighted and undervalued and a Moral Man looked upon but as a more refined Reprobate or Cast-away I shall endeavour to make good this in the first place That the sincere Practice of Moral Virtue is the Ground work and Foundation of that Life by which we must be saved or That the main and substantial part of Religion consists in the Practice of Moral Virtue For to be a Christian is to be all this that the Apostle mentions to be true in our Words and Promises to be honest in walking answerably to the Dignity of our Natures to be just in our dealings one with another to be pure in our Bodies and Souls and to practise such things as are lovely and of good report amongst the best and wisest Men. And if there were any Pagans that ever attained to this high and excellent pitch they must be reckoned amongst those that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitly disposed for the Kingdom of God Luke 9.62 Acts 13.48 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ranked and set in order for Eternal Life And whoever thinks himself to be a Christian without the due observance of these and such like Duties which flow from true and right Reason he has the name indeed but wants the thing it self and does but cheat and deceive himself and will hereafter feel the ill effects of his delusion when he comes into the other World By Morality then I understand all these Virtues the Apostle mentions and whatever else is consonant to true and right Reason and tends to the improving and bettering the Life of Man I do not say that the Practice of these Virtues alone will save a Man because the Gospel is set at something a higher Pitch and requires such a Nature as cannot be attained barely by these But this I say that all these Virtues are the foundation of our Salvation and without the sincere Practice of these we shall never be saved They are as necessary to Salvation as the casting of Corn into the Ground is to the future Harvest And he that is not right in the practice of these let him otherwise never so much applaud himself is so far from being a true Christian that he is but a dissembling Hypocrite both in the sight of God and Man Now that the main of Christian Religion consists in the Practice of Moral-Virtue will appear 1. In that God in the Scriptures seems to set this as the ultimate end and perfection of Religion Micah 6.8 What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God that is God requires nothing more or greater in comparison of these for otherwise there were other things which God required as immediate parts of his Worship and a Prevarication in which had doubtless been a very great sin but he required the Practice of these Virtues chiefly and in respect of themselves and declares that the doing these things is more grateful to him than a Thousand Sacrifices And Christ himself approved of what the Scribe said Mark 12.33 That to love the Lord with all our heart with all our understanding and with all our Soul and with all our strength and to love our Neighbour as our selves is more than all Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices For though God had commanded the Daily Sacrifice to be offered yet the practice of Moral Virtue was more pleasing to him this having an inward Goodness and Loveliness in it which the other had not Nay God disdains and reproaches even the Acts of his own Worship when they are performed by Men of unholy Lives and Conversations as we read Isa 1.11 To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the Burnt-Offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats Here is a manifest slighting even of those very Acts of Worship which he himself had injoined and what should be the reason that the Lord should abhor his own Offering and not be pleased with what he himself had commanded We find it expressed Verse 15. Your hands are full of Blood They were guilty of open Violations
and Transgressions of the Eternal Laws of Nature Therefore it follows Verse 16. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do well relieve the Oppressed judg the Fatherless and plead for the Widow From hence you see that it is clear as the Sun that God puts a higher estimate and value upon the faithful discharge of these Moral Duties of Religion than he does upon the immediate Acts of his own Worship And that whatsoever Service is performed to him it is no further acceptable than as it stands in Conjunction with Acts of Kindness Beneficence Justice and Equity towards our Fellow-Creatures Nay our Saviour himself and his Apostles when they would give us a brief Summary or Compendium of Religion they always make the practice of Moral-Virtue to be the main part and foundation of it For thus our blessed Lord himself says that to love God and our Neighbour are the substance of the Law and the Prophets And St. James tells us Chap. 1.27 that true Religion before God and the Father is this To visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World Moreover the value that God puts upon Moral-Virtue is so great that when the Scripture gives a Character of any person that is dear and acceptable to God the description is for the most part drawn from instances of Morality In the 31st Chapter of Job we find that Holy Man making a profession of his Innocency and Integrity and all the instances he gives of it are but so many Acts of Moral-Virtue yet has he this Commendation given him That he was a perfect and upright man one that feared God and eschewed Evil Job 1.1 And that which indeared Cornelius to God and made him be thought worthy of the Visit of an Angel first and then of an Apostle was as we read Acts 10.2 That he was a just and devout Man one that feared God with all his House and gave much Alms to the people and prayed to God always Insomuch that St. Peter makes this general Deduction and Conclusion from it Verse 34 35. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that fears him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him As if the Apostle had said In all times and ages whoever he be and in whatsoever part of the World that acknowledges the being of a God and sincerely honours him and lives up as near as he can to the Prescriptions of right Reason that Almighty Being looks down with a favourable Eye upon him Certain it is that Christianity it self whose ultimate end is the Salvation and Blessedness of Mankind hath therefore appeared saith St. Paul Tit. 2.12 teaching us That denying all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Which is nothing but the perfection of Morality And that we may conclude this Argument when the Apostle would give us the Character of a compleat and full grown Christian he says Heb. 5.14 that he is such a one who by reason of use hath his Senses exercised to discern both good and evil So that the Perfection of all Religion is made to consist in having a vital rellish and discrimination of good and evil 2. By these Moral Actions we partake of the Nature of God The Apostle in 2 Pet. 1.4 makes the ultimate End and grand Design of Christian Religion to be our partaking of a Divine Nature Now the Nature of God as it is communicated to us does not consist in Wisdom or Power but in Goodness and Truth in Holyness Justice and Equity in Love Commiseration and Pity All which are Moral Excellencies and Perfections and as we partake more or less of them so do we more or less resemble and draw down God into our Souls The Eternity Omniscience and Omnipotency of God are no where set as our Copies to follow for these are Incommunicable Properties of his Nature but in all his Moral-Perfections we are to imitate and become like unto him It is by his Holiness and Purity by his Love and Goodness that God falls down into our Souls and impregnates them with his Sacred Life and forms there his own Image and Likeness And we cannot doubt but that which so nearly resembles God and is nothing but his own Life and Nature copyed out and implanted in his Creatures must needs be most of all valued and respected by him and we are in his Favour as we increase in Holyness and Purity in Truth Goodness and Righteousness Now that God accounts these Things most dear to him is evident from that Example he proposes to us for our Imitation that is The Example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who was God dwelling in our Nature and in whom that Divine Life which is the highest Perfection of Men and Angels was most clearly and conspicuously discovered And the great Things which have made the Life of Christ Examplary and set as a Godlike Pattern for us to follow were 1. His Superlative Love and Charity designing not so much his own Interest as the universal and common Good of all the World His Kindness and Compassions were not circumscribed to this or that particular sort of Men but extended and communicated to all that were capable of them He made no distinction of Age or Sex or Parties but scattered his Bounty to all and filled all Places and all Persons with Joy and Gladness by his Presence And whenever he made use of that Almighty Power which resided in him it was not to the Harm and Damage but to the Support and Relief of those he conversed withal 2. Again he made his Life an Examplary Pattern to us in his Humility and the Resignation of his Mind to the Divine Will and Pleasure For we never find our Saviour ever arrogating any Praise or Glory to himself but refers all the Glory of his Actions to God Insomuch as though he knew himself to be Innocent and without Sin yet he refuses to be called Good saying That none was good save one that is God And whatever his Condition was he never murmured or repined at it but entirely committed himself to the wise Providence and Disposal of God Nor did he ever desire the fulfilling his own Will and Desires any further than they might consist with the good Pleasure of his Heavenly Father 3. And then lastly Our Lord has given us a clear Example of an unspotted Purity both of Body and Soul He conversed with a Wicked and Censorious World with Men that lay at the catch to ensnare him and yet we do not read they could ever fasten any Sin upon him And as his Soul was ever kept undefiled and unspotted from the World so his Body was never polluted by any inordinate Pleasure or Excess but both Body and Soul remained always pure as the Temple of the Living God
Truth that seeks to diminish and obscure those Essential Attributes of the Deity which so evidently appear throughout all the Tracts of Immense space Thus then when we look into the Frame of the World nay but into the Fabrick of our own Nature and see with what wonderful Art and Contrivance things are made and how each Part is subservient and conspires to one great End and Purpose that is for the good of the whole this very Consideration That things are made and framed for Ends and Designs will lead us to the knowledg of a Conscious and Intelligent Nature which is no other than an infinitely Good and Wise and Powerful God Therefore if any one should go about to perswade us that either the Beautiful Frame of this visible World or the Admirable Structure of Humane Bodies in which is lodged so much Art and Skill had no other Original but blind Chance and Fortune and arose from the Fortuitous Coalitions of Atoms we cannot but look upon it at first sight as an Error and Delusion because it derogates and takes away from that Infinite Power and Wisdom which we behold in the making even of the least thing in the World Again if any Person should tell us that God made the greatest part of Mankind on purpose to Damn them without any Consideration of their Sin and Provocations It is impossible keeping our selves to this Rule that ever we should believe such a Doctrin because it is so contrary to his Goodness and Love which as it brought all things into Being for no other end but that they might be Happy so it will never destroy or turn any thing out of that Happy State without it's own demerit and default To instance once more If any Man shall Teach That the Commands of God are impossible to be performed and that though he invite all Men yet he denies sufficient Grace to the greatest part of them whereby they may be inabled to Obey him and be Extricated out of their Miserable Condition By this Rule we ought to look upon such a Doctrin as a downright Falshood Because it is certain that an Infinitely Wise and Good God cannot command and injoin Impossibilities nor exact and require Men's Obedience to his Laws without furnishing them with a sufficient Power whereby to do them And to do otherwise would so little deserve the Name of Justice and Equity that it would be no better than Tyranny and unaccountable Self-will Hence now it follows not only in these Instances but in any other Doctrins whatever if they any way lessen the Goodness Wisdom or Power of God if they disparage all or any of these Attributes such Doctrins can never be true For Truth is always the same and alike and is ever found agreeable with the Nature of God who is the Fountain of all Truth 2. If any thing be taught that is contrary to the undoubted Principles of found Reason or the clear Evidence of Sense it is to be looked upon as False Because Reason is that Lamp or Candle of the Lord which he has lighted and set up in the Soul of Man whereby it is able to make a difference and discern between Truth and Falshood And our Senses are another infallible means of Communicating the true Knowledg of things to us when they are sound and not vitiated and their Objects duly and conveniently Circumstantiated Now as our Eyes and Ears were given us to discern Objects of Sight and Hearing so are our Reasons to discern those things that belong to Reason And as no Man but such a one as is Crazed in his Intellectuals will distrust his Eyes or Ears when their Objects are duly placed so neither will he distrust his Reason when it Acts according to those common and self-evident Notions upon which all Reason is founded And that this may yet be more manifest it is to be Considered that the Nature of Man is not indifferent to Truth or Falshood that is no Man can believe what he pleases whether right or wrong It is not in the Power of any to believe that to be True which he knows to be False because there is such an ungratefulness and disagreeableness between Falshood and the Rational Nature of Man and to believe a Falshood were to offer Violence to our Rational Faculties Wherefore because it is not in the Power of Man to believe or disbelieve at his Pleasure his Understanding being limited and bound up by those Eternal Rules of Truth and Falshood it is clear that Right Reason must be the measure of Truth and Falsehood and consequently that Doctrin must be False that is contrary to Reason To give some light to this in a particular Instance Our Adversaries of the Romish Church say that Transubstantiation is True that is that the Consecrated Wafer and every Crum of it is the whole and entire Body of Christ that hung upon the Cross But according to this Rule it is utterly False because it is contrary to the Reason and Sense of Mankind It is contrary to Reason because Christ's Natural Body cannot be in Heaven and at the same time without any continuation of it self be in a Thousand distant Places upon Earth And it is contrary to the Evidence of Sense because Three of our Senses viz. our Tasting Touching and Seeing inform us that it is still Bread And if our Faculties may deceive us in their proper Objects it is impossible we should ever arrive to the certain knowledg of any Thing but must be Condemn'd to an Eternal Scepticism But that our Senses are true Judges when they are rightly Circumstantiated appears from all the Miracles which our Saviour wrought which are only so many Appeals to the Evidence of Sense 3. Whatever Doctrin or Opinion there be in Religion that does not drive at Holiness of Life nor design the Perfection of Men's Souls it is to be looked upon all one as if it were False For all the Mysteries and Truths of the Christian Religion are such as some way or other serve to beget in us a true Fear and Reverence of God and tend to the making us better Their Design is to communicate such a knowledg of God and of his Works to us as may affect our Hearts and render us more God-like Holiness is the Intent and Purpose of the whole Gospel and whatever does not in some measure promote and advance a Pious and Religious Life cannot be believed to come from God Thus if a Man shall imagine that a bare Naked Faith without an inward Change and Renovation of the Mind is enough to save him or if he shall frame to himself any Opinion that gives any Liberty Indulgence or Allowance to any Sin These and such like Fancies are utterly False and to be Abhorred because they destroy the great End of Religion which is the inward Holiness Purity and Sanctity of the Mind and Spirit By these Rules we may Examin the Truth of all Doctrins propounded to us in
Apostle Now to the end we may judg of our own Sincerity we may resolve our selves by these Two plain Notes or Characters 1. If our Religion be as well in Private as in Publick For he that confines his Religion only to the Church or to a Festival-Day is like those Heathens that Chained up their gods for fear they should run away and they should never find them again But when we are hearty in Religion and it be deeply sealed and impressed upon our Souls it will exert and shew it self as well when none but God is present as if Ten Thousand Eyes of Men were upon it For since we believe that God is Omnipresent and that the bright Eyes of Eternity are ever broad awake and looking upon us it argues little Fear and Veneration of that Holy Being if we can dare commit a Sin in his presence though no other Being in the World were privy to it Therefore when all Circumstances are fair and inviting and concur to the Acting a pleasant or profitable Vice with the greatest Secrecy and Impunity then to Abstain and Hate the Sin out of a Religious Fear of offending God and debasing our own Souls it is a good Argument that the Purposes of our Hearts are Right and Sincere 2. If we adhere to God and keep firm in the ways of Virtue as well in Adversity as Prosperity It is easie to be Religious when God incircles us with his Blessings and Rains down Pearls as it were into our Mouths but when he hides his Face and writes bitter things against us and a Storm of Miseries and Afflictions from without blows hard upon us then to be Virtuous is truly Honourable and Praise-worthy And as it si no great Credit to practise a Virtue that is in Fashion or to Adorn our selves with a Modish Piety But to follow Virtue through rough and uneven Paths and to be Religious when Holiness is contemned and disgraced that shews a steady Resolution and that a Man Loves God because he is the most Excellent Being These Notes and Characters of Sincerity are few and plain and by them we may examine our own Hearts and discern whether there be any Hypocrisie in them or not And by these we may discover the state of our Souls without perplexing our selves with a Multitude of Evidences and Signs of our Salvation which it may be upon an exact search may prove either Impertinent or Unreasonable Nay certainly he that is throughly possessed with a Vigorous Sense of God and Virtue and makes it his whole business incessantly to breath after though with the loss and hazard of all these Worldly Enjoyments yea even of Life it self shall find a more lasting Comfort and a stronger Security for Heaven flowing from his own Soul than if an Angel should tell him he was Ordained to a Celestial Happiness And we have the more reason to endeavour after this Integrity and Uprightness of Heart from its great Necessity and apparent Usefulness There are Two main Seasons or Times of Tryal of a Christian wherein a Sincere and Candid Breast will be his greatest Strength and Support And these are 1. The Days of Affliction and Calamity Prosperity is a very false Glass and most commonly represents us to our selves in other Colours and Features than really we are But Adversity and Affliction wipes off all this Painted Gloss and Varnish and shews us the true Face of things And in this Case a Formal and Hypocritical Dress will do us no good While we can draw Waters at our own Cisterns we speak well of God and make a chearful Profession of Religion But when a severe Providence dries up the Well-springs of our Comforts and leads us through a Scorching Wilderness wherein we Combat with fierce and fiery-flying Serpents then is the time of Tryal And indeed the True and Native Glory of Virtue is never made so Visible and Conspicuous as when it is surrounded and begirt with the greatest Dangers Adversity is a proper mean to discover whether our Love to God and Virtue be Sincere and Unfeigned or whether it be Counterfeit and Adulterate Which our Saviour intimated in a Parable in the Gospel where the Scorching Beams of the Sun i. e. the Times of Misery and Tribulation quickly shew'd the difference of the Soil wherein that Divine Seed was cast 2. The Hour of Death is another of those Times which will discover our Sincerity Men have not the same Apprehensions of Sin in their Health and Strength as when they are drawing near their End and entring upon the borders of another World For as the Body in Sickness Loaths even those things that were most grateful and pleasant in its Health So is it with the Mind or Spirit When it foresees that 't is hastning to another and stranger World it distasts and hates the thoughts of those Sins it so freely Acted and Indulged it self in before For then the Body which is the Root and Occasion of Sin being broken and out of order the Soul may more freely and clearly behold the difference between Good and Evil and accordingly is more sensibly affected with it And the clearer sight we have of Sin and Wickedness the greater is that Horror and Fear the Conscience inflicts upon us when we are sensible of our own Guilt Now since the Hour of Death and Dissolution of our Earthly Tabernacles makes so perfect a Representation of Things to us stript of all their outward Appearances and divested of that Paint and Flourish we put upon them it must needs be a mighty support and comfort to find the Face of our Souls Calm and Smooth and our selves not burdened with the Heaviness and Weight of Guilt But when the Sins of our past Days come into our Remembrance and we consider how False we have been to God and our own Souls when it may be we have betrayed our Faith and Religion to support a frail and tottering Interest in this World there will then be little else but a dismal Scene of Horror presented to our Eyes The nearness of our Approach to that State wherein we must dwell for ever strikes a Chilness and Coldness to our very Hearts And all because we have lost that Hope and Confidence which flows from Sincerity when we have done our best to serve God And if now I should endeavour to bring into view this Frame and Temper of Spirit which we call Sincerity Clothed with all its Native Richness and Glory I should sooner want Words to express it than be able fully to represent the Excellency of it It s Beauty is so faultless and irreprehensible and the sweetness of its Nature so great that there is nothing on Earth so Lovely and so Desirable 'T is such a State of Soul which he that is possessed of would not lose and he that has it not if he knew but the worth of it would give all the World if he had it in his power to purchase it For certainly if ever
much Candour and Passionate Sweetness that those whose Sins are Reproved may clearly see it is their Good and Benefit and Advantage that is only aimed at For otherwise Men's Minds may rather be Exasperated than Healed when Truth it self in such a Case is delivered with too great a Sharpness and Harshness Men do not usually care to hear of their Faults but when they shall be laid open and discovered with Bitterness Contempt and Scorn it is so far from casting an healing Influence upon their Souls that it provokes and inflames their Minds 3. He that would exactly follow that which is Lovely must provide that in doing Kindnesses he do not Upbraid and Shame them upon whom he intends to confer them There are many Persons of that tender and modest Disposition who blush and are ashamed either to ask or to receive those Kindnesses which really they want And then the doing things Lovely obliges a Man so to assist them in whatever it be as may least of all make them Ashamed Now by what has been said from General Observations drawn from the Life of our Saviour and by these few Particulars we may competently enough understand what the Apostle means by Exhorting us to the Practice of Whatsoever things are Lovely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are of good Report The last instance of Virtue the Apostle makes use of is to persuade us to the practice of such things as are of good Report By which we are taught to think of and do all such things as may purchase us a Good Name and Esteem and Reputation among such as are Virtuous and understand the differences of things Now from hence we are informed 1. That all things are not indifferent and alike There is a Natural Bravery Excellency and Becomingness in some Actions and there is a Baseness and Filthiness in others whether we will or not For the Difference and Distinction of things does not depend upon our Wills nor can we change their Natures as we please Indeed to the Atheist and to such as do not believe the Existence of any Spiritual Being but resolve all things into Dead and Senseless Matter there is no Distinction or Difference of things but only what Men are pleased to make and then as oft as Wicked Men get into Power they may make things Vitious in themselves to be called by the Name of Virtues But since there is a God and none but Fools can think otherwise we are assured that all Virtue derives from him and is a participation of his Image and Nature and Consequently that there is an Essential Difference in the Nature of things And God hath Copied out and Engraven this his Image upon the Souls of Men whereby all Men that have a due use of their Faculties have likewise the differences of Good and Evil deeply Sealed upon their Minds and they cannot change them at their Pleasure Hence it comes to pass that such Actions as are Conformable and Agreeable to those Intellectual Laws and Principles which God has fixed in our Minds they are Virtuous and Praise-worthy and such as are otherwise they are Detestable and Vile and have an inward Turpitude sticking fast to them And since all Men have the Laws of Virtue written on their Hearts and are sensible that they ought to walk according to these there will Naturally arise an Esteem for those Persons who walk the nearest according to these Rules And this which we call Esteem or Fame and a Good Name or Report is indeed a part of the Reward of Virtue when Men are Applauded and Praised when they fulfil the end of their Creation and Act like Rational Creatures according to those Laws and Prescriptions the Eternal Mind has interwoven in the Essential Frame and Contexture of their Souls True it is Fame and Reputation is a thing that is mightily sought after even by those that are no great Admirers of the strictness of Virtue and there is in all Men a secret Desire and Tendency towards the Embalming and Consecrating their Names to after Ages Of which no other Reason can be given but that there are some secret Convictions and Natural Presages of a State of Immortality after this Life in all Men's Minds There is something that whispers to them and mixes it self with all their Thoughts and Actions that they have something in them that shall survive their Ashes and Live and Act when their Bodies are Dead and Rotten in the Grave And from hence they Naturally Affect and Desire a Continuation of themselves and a kind of Immortality in this Life And this sets them upon those various Ways and Methods of the Purchase and Acquisition of it some by Valour and Heroick Actions others by Honour and some by the increase of their Posterity Which evidently shews the Desires and Inclinations of all Men to continue and live for ever upon Earth at least in their Fame and Names and Memory although they are withdrawn from it as to their Personal Beings Thus we Read Psal 49.11 of some whose inward thought was That their Houses should continue for ever and they call their Lands after their own Names i. e. Many Men seeing that themselves are Mortal and quickly Die yet desire to perpetuate their Names and that their Memory should Live after them Whereas this only shews that there is implanted in Men Naturally a Sense that there are things of good Report which will procure Fame and Esteem and a Good Name while they Live here and continue it when they are gone from hence But they mistook in the Ways and Means of Attaining it But now true Religion assures us that it is only the sincere Practice of Virtue that will advance a Good Name and purchase Esteem here and continue it after Death according to that of the Scripture The Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance It is true many a Wicked Man's Name is Remembred but then 't is to his Infamy and Disgrace Therefore it is said Prov. 10.7 The Name of the Wicked shall Rot i. e. it shall be as Offensive and Unpleasant as a Dead and Rotten Carkass We Read of a Covetous and Treacherous Judas who sold his Master but we Detest and Abhor his Memory And of a Cruel and Bloody Herod but with almost as keen a Passion as those sorrowful Mothers felt at the Death of their little Infants Thus every Wicked Man if he be at all Remembred 't is with some Infamous Character and Note of Disgrace as that he was a Profane and Debauch'd or a Lascivious Covetous or Unjust Person and it were better that our Names Perish for Ever and we descend into a Common and Ignoble Grave than to be thus Remembred 2. We are informed that the proper Judges of things of good Report are Virtuous and Wise Persons Among all those things that are Valuable with Men there is none or at least ought not to be any of so high an Esteem as true Virtue which being the
Image of God Communicated unto Man it follows that things are only so far of good Report as they are Virtuous And hence it is that the true Judg of what is Virtuous and what is not must be the Wise and Virtuous Man himself For he being plentifully endued with and perfectly awakened into this high and exalted Principle of Life he presently feels and knows and has a quick tast and rellish of what is agreeable to that Divine Life which his Soul is so throughly possessed of And being perfectly Dead to all Sensual Affections which may Cloud or Distruct his Judgment he instantly discerns the least Blemishes and Corruptions of Life and so becomes perfectly inabled to determin what is Laudable and Praise worthy and of good Report This Internal Sense of his being as fitly qualified to discern its proper Objects as the clear Eye is to discern Light and Colours But as for Men of Depraved Souls and Wicked Lives they are no more able to determin and define things of good Report than Swines are to Judg of the Symmetry of a Beautiful Picture So that when we speak of things of good Report we must take our Measures from what the best and wisest Persons in all Times and Ages have accounted so And for a Man to undervalue the Judgment of such who have jointly and unanimously concluded from that inward Sense they have of Virtue that such and such Actions are Laudable and of good Report and the contrary Dishonest and Base is no better than a great piece of Pride and Arrogance 3. He that purchases a good Name by Virtue he purchases the greatest Treasure that is to be had in this World Therefore Solomon says Prov. 22.1 That a good Name is rather to be chosen than great Riches Because Riches are something without us and do not at all contribute to the Perfection of the Soul but things of good Report being nothing but the effects of Virtue and of that Life which is the true Being of the Soul they are inseparable from it Moreover the Virtuous Man cannot fail by such Actions of making many Friends which are as Boethius speaks Pretiosissimum divitiarum genus The most pretious kind of Riches And further our good or ill Fame is not peremptorily confined to this World but passes before us into the next And every Man by his good or bad Behaviour brings a good or ill Report of himself in the Regions of Spirits before he comes to dwell and converse with them If we be Wicked we are as much scorned there and our Names as Hateful as the Names of Judas or Herod The Angels and separate Spirits quickly know what we are for those discerning Spirits are not easily deceived and the Fame of our Doings arrives to them before we leave the World Those Blessed Spirits are said to Rejoyce at the Conversion of a Sinner Luke 15.10 which is an evident Testimony that our good or evil Behaviour readily comes to their Notice and Cognizance And surely 't is no small dammage to have an ill Report among those who should Assist us and Minister to us in our Wants and Necessities 4. By doing things of good Report we consult not only our own Esteem but the Credit of that Holy Religion we profess It is said 1 Sam. 2.17 that the Sin of Elie's Sons made Men abhor the Offering of the Lord. Their Sinful and Vitious manner of Living brought an ill Report upon themselves and it redounded likewise to God's Dishonour and caused Men to Slight and Despise and Undervalue his Worship and Service So it is with us when we deservedly by some Evil Action bring an ill Report upon our selves the Dishonour lights not only upon us that reflects on God and that Holy Religion that we profess Thus it is said likewise of David 2 Sam. 12.14 That by his Sin he had given cause to the Enemies of the Lord to Blaspheme When they saw so Holy a Man as David fall so foully into Sin they would be apt to despise Religion it self and cry out Is this the fruit of Religion And when those that are Christians shall commit Dishonest and Abominable Actions when they shall allow themselves in the Practice of Open and Scandalous Sins Wicked and Prophane Persons are apt to traduce and speak Evil of Religion it self Thus our Holy Lord and his Religion which he Sealed with his own Blood is Despised and Contemned through the Bad Lives of those that Profess it It should therefore be our Care to consult the Credit of Religion and to make it appear Lovely as it is in all Men's Eyes by our practising all such things as are favoured and well esteem'd by all the Lovers of Virtue When we go to the House of God and tread his Sacred Courts we should use no light and trifling Behaviour but compose both our Souls and Bodies with that Awful Reverence as becomes the Presence of God and his Holy Angels Our Devotion should be grave serious and fervent without any Affectedness or vain desire of Ostentation And we should make it appear that our Hearts are inwardly touched and inflamed with that unimitable Love of Christ in Dying for the World by our frequent Communicating of his Blessed Body and Blood For these things as they are matters of good Report and will certainly procure favour and esteem so they shew that Religion has something that is really valuable in it and that Christianity is the choicest Wisdom that ever was communicated to Mankind If we would therefore do things that are of good Report we ought 1. To put in Practice all these forementioned Virtues and whatever else is Laudable and Praise-worthy The Honour and Credit of Religion is never better secured than by a due Regard to its Sacred Laws and Institutions Though we profess to own Truth yet if we are always wavering and unsettled and tossed about with every wind of Doctrin if we are not true to our Words and Promises but Falsifie and Dissemble and Lie one to another we seem not to be over-jealous of her Honour Nor can we be said to consult the Credit of our Holy Profession while by the Lightness Vanity and Unbecomingness of our Actions we express no Veneration for it Who can believe that we are in Earnest when we talk of Justice and yet do not endeavour to frame our Conversations by that excellent Rule of doing as we would be done by A Discourse of the Sanctity and Purity of Angels will little affect others while we our selves wallow in the Mire and Sink of all Carnal Lusts and Pollutions Should we tell Men of an Internal Beauty and Loveliness in things yet it would be but Words spent to no purpose unless we demonstrate our knowledg of it by doing lovely and obliging Actions It is the faithful discharge of our Duty that conciliates Reverence and Esteem to Religion and promotes a fair Reputation to our selves when Men shall see that we are in Earnest by our
unblamable Conversations Which is according to that sound Admonition of the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold Glorifie God in the day of Visitation Notwithstanding all the Malitious Cavils and Atheistical Objections made against Religion yet a true Christian that walks answerably to his Profession must gain at the last a Repute and Esteem from all that are Lovers of God and Virtue 2. If we would do things of good Report and which may purchase us a good Name amongst Men we must carefully avoid not only the open practice of Vice but whatever may have any suspicion in the Minds of Men of Vice And this is called by the Apostle An abstaining from all appearance of Evil 1 Thess 5.22 Whether that signifie from every sort or kind of Evil or from every thing that bears the likeness appearance or shew of a Sin For he that will venture as near to the Confines and Borders of Sin as he can seems to declare a Tacit Liking and Approbation of it and consequently exposes himself to the hazard of being Betrayed and Surprized and so of losing his Credit and Reputation Therefore a Wary and Cautious Christian and such it behoves every Man to be will studiously avoid every thing that may cause the least Jealousie in the Hearts of others of his Sincerity There are many things which are not directly Sinful yet to another who has not that Maturity and Ripeness of Understanding may prove an occasion of Stumbling and Falling and therefore are not to be done by him who would acquire a good Esteem and Reputation It is true if a thing that is in it self indifferent be upon weighty Reasons and Grounds commanded by Law and another through Weakness is scandalized at the use of it it is a thing which a good Christian cannot help and there is an Offence taken but not given Though it were to be wished that there were as few of these Stumbling Blocks laid before Weaker Persons as may fairly consist with the Honour and Interest of Religion it self 3. He that would acquire a Good Name and Reputation must take care that in all his Actings with others he be sincere i. e. upon all Emergences he must practise Virtue for Virtues sake because it is in it self the best and most desirable thing in the World For if in our Conversation we proceed upon Sinister Ends and that Self-advantage and Interest be the Measure of our Actions besides that it redounds to the discredit of Religion it casts a Disgrace upon us and we so far deviate from the Principles of true Virtue as Selfishness is concerned in our Actions And the Reason is because he that makes a fair show of some Virtuous Actions merely to compass Self-Advantage does hereby manifestly declare that if it were not for this Private and Self Love he would not do them which the generality of Mankind must needs look upon as a gross piece of Hypocrisie and Dissimulation than which nothing can be a greater Enemy to our true Credit and Reputation Thus you have an Account of the several Virtues to the practice of which the Apostle so seriously Exhorts us And he that has any Care for the Peace of his Conscience in this Life and his Eternal Happiness hereafter will carefully think on these things Which that we may all do He who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith grant to us to whom be all Honour and Glory both now and for evermore Amen A DISCOURSE OF Sincerity John 1.47 Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile THESE Words our Saviour spake of Nathanael who is reckoned one of the Twelve Apostles though called by another Name for we find him expressly mentioned with them John 21.2 This Person being brought by Philip to Jesus when he was come within distance or hearing Christ says Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile As if our Lord had said See here a Man of that Integrity Simplicity and Sincerity which is highly valued and prized in God's sight And though this were spoken particularly of that Apostle yet it instructs us in this Great and Weighty Truth That Sincerity is the great Accomplishment and Perfection of a Christian in God's sight For it is no new thing for true Christians to be called in Scripture by the Name of Israelites For St. Paul expresses it so in more than one place in plain terms Rom. 9.6 They are not all Israel which are of Israel i. e. though they may Lineally descend from Israel yet it is only those that are Sincere that are the proper Israelites or true Christians So again Rom. 2.28 Now to be without Guile here is to be Sincere and without Hypocrisie whereby it appears that a Man is Valued and Esteemed in the Eyes of God according to his Sincerity And this sometimes is represented by the Name of Truth I have no greater Joy says St. John Ep. 3.4 then to hear that my Children walk in Truth that is that they are Sincere Christians I am sure it was St. Paul's great Comfort when he supposed himself near his Death 2 Cor. 1.12 That in Sincerity and Godly Simplicity he had his Conversation in the World He neither flattered himself nor those that heard him but told them the plain Truth shewing them both by what he himself and they must hope to go to Heaven And this was the down-right Sincerity of his Heart when he had no doublings windings or turnings with God but endeavoured as far as ever he could to please him and do his Will This alone has the Promise of Heaven and upon this the Blessed Land of Righteousness the Pleasant Mansions of Immortality are Entailed This is the Complement and Perfection of Holiness without which all our Religion is but a mere Shadow Pageantry For then only is the Soul of Man said to be Sincere when it is fully and wholly carried out after that which is simply and absolutely the best And all Men that have any sense of Religion must own that God and the Participation of his Nature is absolutely and above all Comparison the best thing in the World And to attain to a Union with God cannot be denied to be the greatest Happiness the Mind of Man is capable of And since this is not only simply the best but the utmost and compleat Felicity of our Nature it follows that Sincerity is then most perfect when our Wills with all their Affections and Desires are fully and wholly carried out after it Fully and wholly I say that is without any By-ends or Self-designs or Sinister Respects of particular Fame or Gain or any such thing but merely upon a clear Knowledg that it is the best thing in the whole Creation For he whose Intention is not directed aright can hardly attain that excellent Qualification our Saviour so much commended in his