serue to trie if our ioy be sound and our mirth such as is of moment doth it spring from the vprightnes of thy heart and art thou righteous in all thy courses why then thou art the merry man indeed else not Wicked men may laugh but alas they haue little cause The bread of deceit may make some persons pleasant for the present but death will be in the pot their sweete morsels must be vomited vp againe and become as grauell in their mouthes Let such reioyce but woe to them for they shall one day waile and weepe their â—ghter shall be turned into mourning their wine to wormewood And who would not wonder but that their hearts are seared that they haue any figure or shew of mirth and gladnes at all But we will omit them and commiserate them seeing their ioy is not sound and sudden sorrow shall surely follow Vse 3 And if the vpright man be the only merry man here on earth among his enemies and singeth his Hebrew songs with delight in a strange land Then what joy shall he haue in heauen in the presence of the Lord and communion of all the blessed Saints and Angels Can the Apprentice reioyce in his bondage and not in his freedome Shall the captiue sing in his shackels what will he do when the prison doore is opened and hee at libertie If Dauid could dance before the Arke how will hee leape before the Lambe Shall Peter cry out It is good to be here being but in the transfiguration Oh! what will hee say when and where hee is not deceiued Is it possible for an Hebrew to sing and play in Babylon and not be rauished with ioy in the house of Bethel will strangers doe thus from home what then will they doe in the heauen of heauens And how should this carry the minds of the vpright to thinke of their latter end to desire the comming of the Lord and restauration of all things Truly this if it were felt in part tasted here below and seriously thought vpon it would fill the heart with ioy vnutterable glorious make our Pauls long to be loosed and Iohns to crie Come Lord Iesus come quickly The little experience that we haue what ioy is in an vpright heart here must make vs wonder at that which shall be in heauen hereafter A cluster of grapes brought from Canaan proued that there was a very good land wine pleasant and in abundance Vse 4 And this in the last place should be a strong load-stone and motiue to cause vs to cast off sinne and to be righteous and religious We all would faine be merry and haue glad hearts why this is the only way and there is not another let vs then take Dauids counsell and taste how good the Lord is drinke of this water though it be brackish on the top like the salt sea yet it will proue sweeter in the bottome Men are in this thing as the prouerb is worse feared than hurt Children cast away the new coate because at the first it pincheth them but after two or three daies wearing they would pine and pule if it should be tooke from them Sinners are like the sluggard when the winde bloweth in at the creuises of the walls windows the curtaines drawne about him and he wrapped in the warme rags of his bedding Oh how loth he is to peepe out leaue his pillow and to put on his cold apparell yet when hee hath leaped foorth of his bed and clothed himselfe with his old attire he would not for a piece of siluer be in his former place and patches he was cast into and folded in So an vnrighteous person hee findeth warmth in the old rags of sinne is vnwilling to put off the reliques of his father Adam yet if once hee had but done it and clothed himselfe with the righteous robes of Christ Iesus he would not for a world be in his former condition of clothing And name the worst hardest thing in religion yet it will bring ioy to the doer yea they that mourne in the very act shall haue or in the euent great comfort and the greater sorrow the more solace Example Peters sinne caused Peters weeping but his weeping did procure matter of mirth Zacheus in restoring had more comfort than in deceiuing But men will not trie and wash in this poole of Siloam Iordan is not regarded of the leprous Naamans and Syrians of our daies I haue obserued that when boyes goe to bathe they feele with a finger touch with a toe and if it be cold at the first they shrinke draw back put on their apparell and vow they will not wash till weather and water be warmer when as one of more experience and better resolution leapeth in and after he hath swom one or two bouts feeleth no part so cold as that which is cut of the riuer So fearefull and irresolute persons come to this poole of Repentance but either they thinke its hard cold and painfull or that the time to come will be better and fitter and so the sunne of their life sets they neither wash at all nor find out this hidden coÌ„fort But let me entreate thee to make triall of this matter mourne for thy sinne restore the wrongs done by deceit get faith in Christ labour for an honest heart and then if thou finde not the doctrine true cast off righteousnes goe to thy old course count me a false prophet and curse me when thou diest FINIS Soli sapienti Deo gloria Rom. 8. 1. Psal 32. 2. Gen. 1. 3. Heb. 1. 6. Colos 3. 3. 1. Iohn 3. 2. Eccles 7 vlt. 1. Iohn 2. 1. Rom. 4. 3. Heb. 11. 6. Rom. 5. 1. 10. Rom. 3. 9. Rom. 13. vlt. Hab. 2. 4. Ephes 2. 1. Col. 3. 3. 1. Ioh. 3. 2. 1. Cor. 2. 9. Rom. 11. 33. 1. Tim. 3. vlt. 1. Pet. 1. 12. Isai 7. 14. Ioh. 3. 4. 2. Cor. 1. 22. 2. Tim. 2. 19. 2. Cor. 2. 14. Rom. 11. 34. 2. Pet. 3. 16. 2 Cor. 4. 4. ler. 17. 9. 1. Ioh. 3. 2. 2. Pet. 2. 12. 1. Cor. 2. 11. 2. Cor. 12. 4. Math. 7. 1 Ioh. 4. 32. Math. 13. 44. Psal 31. 19. Exod. 5. 2. Mal. 3. 14. 1. Cor. 2. 14. Prou. 17. 7. 1. Cor. 4. 3. Luk. 23. 34. Acts. 7. vlt. Isai 52. 14. Mat. 11. 18. 19. Acts. 2. 13. 1. Thes 1. 6. 2. Cor. 6. 9. 1. Pet. 4. 12. Psal 77. 7. 51. 12. 13. Iob. 14. vlt 1. Cor. 10. 13. Ioh. 3. 8. 1. Ioh. 3. 9. Psal 119. 11. Rom. 7. vlt. 2. Tim. 2. 18. 2. Cor. 5. 6. Ephes 6. 8. Matth. 10. vlt. 2. Tim. 2. 6. Numb 23. 10. â—sal 37. 37. Psal 112. 6. Prou. 10. 7. Prou. 21. 21. ler. 17. 13. Psal 1. vlt. Psal 37. 35. Iob. 21. 7. Ephes 5. 30. Mal 3. 9. Ioh. 8. 33. Ioh. 8. 36. Psal 32. 10. 2. Thes 3. 2. Mark 16. â—6 2. Sam. 21. 20. Iudg. 1. 5. 6. 2. Pet. 1. 1. 4. Ephes 2. 8. Gal. 4. 30. 1. Cor. 5. 7. Psal 24. 7. Reu. 3. 20. Gal. 6. 9. Iob. 5. 26. 1. Thes 5. 24. Isai 38. 1. Heb. 10 38. Iob. 33. 28. Psal 16. vlt. Notes of an vpright man Psal 122. 1. Neh. 8. 12. Acts 2. 46. and 16. 25. 1. Thes 1. 6. Acts. 5 41. Iob. 5. 22. Acts 7. 55. Prou. 3. 17. Phil. 14. Psal 19. 1. Math. 9. 2. Isai 61. 10. Prou. 15. 15. Rom. 8. 1. Psal 16. 9. Iob. 19. 26.
condemned already Many in their fond imaginations thinke that like the Giant of Gath they haue vpon the hand of their faith sixe fingers yet alas when they come in the day of death or time of triall to feed on the promise to put on the Lord Iesus Christ they like Adonibezek will lacke their thumbes and dye for want of feeding on the food and true bread of eternall life Now the righteous haue not only the precious promises but also precious faith the which two being vnited carry the whole man into the garner of God and large field of the kingdome of glory for me are saued by faith And as the sickle is to the hand of the reaper so is faith to the soule of the righteous and true beleeuer Reason 4 And last of all hee that is a reaper of these fauours must fit himselfe for the kingdome of heauen and that the Lord of glory may come in He must cast out the bondwoman and her sonne Satan and all the seeds of sinne purge himselfe of the old leauen cleanse the inside of the cup and platter of his soule and this will none but the righteous doe vngodly men lodge their Lord in the Inne they cast him into a cratch suffer him to knocke yet permit him not to enter and suppe with them They will not dresse and sweepe the floore of their soules cast out the rotten goundsell in the barnes of their hearts and emptie themselues of that rubbish that shutteth the doore dammeth vp the roome and shouldreth out this heauenly ricke this haruest of the Lord But the righteous they sweepe the house make way for the haruest open the doore pluck vp the euerlasting gates and giue the King of glory good great and royall entertainment so that he will sup with them they with him and partake of all his fatlings Vse 1 And seeing the point thus by reason and Scripture confirmed let vs come to make application And here in the first place we may see the vanity of our prophane and vngodly persons who crie out as the people in former times if wee preach this doctrine that Only the righteous reap these great fauours you take too much vpon you Moses and Aaron for all the congregation is holy Thus they in this cleere light of the Gospell say what in their hearts with the foole No in publique and seeke to defend it that All shall be heires of Gods greatest benefits not one shall perish And wee say too that if they be righteous and for number as the dust of the earth or starres in heauen that they shal all inherit the kingdom of God and of glorie but if they be proud vniust deceitful and want vpright hearts were they as the sand on the sea shore drops in the huge Ocean graines on the ground or fishes in the water for multitude that so liuing and so dying they must reape nothing but wrath vengeance and the largest fields of Gods highest displeasure euery mothers sonne Darkness trembling terror and the sting of the second death shal be the sheafe of their field the corne of their barne and the best graine that shall be preserued for the garner of their soules for they were neuer vnited to Christ haue any right to the promises truth of faith in their hearts neither would open the gates of their soules that the King of glorie might come in and finde fauourable acceptation And yet for all this in the land of vprightnes they will doe wickedly What shal I say or where shal I begin and when make an end Haue wee not the biting vsurie the cursed couetousnesse the deuouring oppression the destroying extortion the shop of dearth darknes and deceit the vnequall weight mixt ware and counterfeit stuffe And as sure as the word of God is true and holy and iust that vpon whom these foule sinnes shall be found hee shall dye the death I know that this is a hard position to settle in their minds yet he that denieth this for a truth must turne Atheist gainsay that there is a resurrection a iudgement to come and a iust Iudge that reuengeth all wrong Psal 50. 21. 2. Pet. 3. 3. 4. Vse 2 And in the second place here is a world of comfort to the vpright in heart For whatsoeuer the Lord hath sowne in earth or heauen if thou faint not thou shalt reape in due time In earth thou shalt haue food and raiment fit and conuenient and if need be in great abundance Let the waters swell the sea rore the earth tremble the winde blow and the floods come yet thou shalt escape all danger Let the Sunne be darke the Moone turned into blood the Starres fall the heauens burne and the elements melt with heate yet iust Lot shall be deliuered Noah escape drowning for righteousnes is written in thy forehead and the destroyer shall not destroy thee What if thou sow in teares plow vp thy ground in a time of mourning yet thou shalt reape with ioy and by the hand of the Angell be carried like a rick of come in due time into the garner of God For faithfull is he that hath promised and will surely doe it Hee hath sowen and his sonnes shall reape though the haruest be long in comming the crop shall be the bigger the better Therefore in the middest of all thy sorrowes let this meditation comfort thy soule that the righteous and vpright in heart of which number thou art shall be the reapers of Gods greatest benefits Vse 3 And seeing this is thus Let no man say that It is in vaine to serue the Lord and that Godlinesse is not gainfull for it is profitable euery manner of way Iob serues not God for nought neither doth righteousnes preuent riches The fooles prouerbe is that He that vseth plaine dealing shall die a beggar I say no and adde more that hee that doth not vse it shall dye like Iudas a very beast and iudge whether is the better I can tell you that when the heauy sentence shall visit vs that did Ezekiah Thou must dye not liue then will the worth of a well led life be a matter of moment a thing much set by seene into and this tidings shal come and will not tarry and then shall the iust liue by his faith haue boldnes of spirit and reape that riches the great husband in heauen had sowne and prepared from the beginning for the vpright Then shall he haue all teares wiped from his eyes rest from his labours and his life shall see the euerlasting light yea he shall reape fulnes of ioy freedome from all bondage and pleasures for euermore Vse 4 And in the last place seeing the righteous are the only reapers of the Lords greatest blessings it must be a strong motiue to moue vs to be such We would all be set at libertie both spirituall and corporall enjoy all the blessings that the great
Seeds-man of the earth and heauen hath prouided why then striue to be vpright in heart Noah was a righteous Preacher Lot was iust Paul had a good conscience Ezekiah walked before the Lord with an vpright heart and these were freed from many dangers on earth died at the last with honour and now are reapers of that vnspeakable light in the kingdome of heauen But because many boast of their owne righteousnes crie Stand apart I am more holy than thou yet are not of this number we will giue some true trials and notes of vpright and iust men First an vpright man lookes backward and forward wipes off the score both with man and the Lord. If hee haue wronged any by forged cauillation with Zacheus if he be of abilitie then he maketh full restitution if hee be not yet will he make confession to the partie if conuenient craue pardon with a resolution that if euer the Lord enable him he will restore to the vttermost farthing and will not faile in the meane time to inuocate the Lord that he who by him hath been iniured may some way or other gaine more through his bountie than by his wickednes he hath been depriued of This is a true note of one vpright in heart for restitution is of absolute necessitie to righteousnes at the least in resolution and will where wealth to restore is wanting And Iudas in this went beyond many and will rise vp in iudgement against many for he so will not they made restitution And for time to come hee will doe to his brother as he would be done vnto alwaies endeuouring to keepe a good conscience with euery person in euery action Wee haue some that turne to their former courses when as they haue acknowledged their sinne and made their neighbour satisfaction as the theefe that when the sore is worne out of his hand and the print of the burning iron falls to filching but an honest heart will steale no more neither willingly wrong any man either outwardly in action speech or inwardly by cogitation resolution for he holds that the least motion of the will whereby his brother is wronged is a sinne and to be abandoned And marke this he will proportion his almes according to his abilitie and the poore mans necessitie For the righteous measureth all his affaires by iudgement Thus much of his carriage towards man now follow trials or signes of his iustice towards God First hee will truly confesse that it is the Lords mercie hee was not long agone for his sinnes consumed Againe he mourneth and weepeth that he hath offended so good a God so mercifull a Father Thirdly he only relies vpon the meere mercie of God and sole merits of Christ Iesus for remission and iustification hee hateth mans merits as he loueth the Lords mercie Besides hee taketh no action in hand but he seeketh good ground for it out of Gods booke hee doth not like a carelesse Carpenter worke at an aduentrue without his Rule but like a boy that would speake true Latin who first lookes at the precept then speaketh so hee hath first an eye to the word and then to his worke Furthermore hee endeuoureth to bring the whole man to the subiection of Gods law as all the vnderstanding all the affection all the will he would haue the corrupt part of serue God as well as the regenerate And this is only to be found in the righteous and in none other for hee would giue all his members and all of all his members as so many weapons to serue the Lord in righteousnesse And finally in all matters of triall hee will appeale to God and make him chiefe Iudge of all things for hee knoweth that the Lord is iust and loueth not iniquitie neither will peruert iudgement And this is the cause why good men haue so longed that Christ would come to iudge the earth for then they shal haue their faithfulnes discouered ratified rewarded If thou finde these things in thee thou art one that shall reape all good fruits in the land of righteousnes but if not the weeds of Gods wrath in the land of wickednes And this shall suffice for the first proposition the second succeedeth to be handled in its order whence we collect that Doct. 3 The vpright man shall be the only merry man Nay he is already the ioyfull man Few thinke so but it is so This doctrine may be confirmed by the seuerall actions done by the righteous being in diuers conditions and of contrary vocations functions Was not the King glad when the people said vnto him Come let vs goe vp to the house of God Did not the people goe home and make great mirth that they vnderstood the word that was taught them Are the Christians said to continue with one accord in the Temple and to eate their meate together with gladnesse and singlenes of heart The Apostles sung Psalmes in prison The Thessalonians receiued the word with great ioy in affliction Did not some returne home reioycing that they were counted worthie to suffer for the Name of Christ Iob saith The righteous shall laugh at death And Stephen had boldnes at his departure And thete is neuer an action in Christianitie but as euery flower hath his smell so it hath and yeeldeth comfort and consolation for all her waies are waies of pleasure and all her paths prosperitie Paul prayed and gaue thankes with great reioycing and wonderfull is that ioy which the vpright haue and doe feele in these priuate and hidden duties for then the Lord reueileth himselfe most cleerely answereth the poore petitioner familiarly yea God like man giueth his greatest gifts to his dearest children in priuate for hee vpbraideth no mans person And how haue the vpright been rauished in minde with the meditation of the glorie of God and his wonderfull workes Surely as a man beholding the Sunne with a corporall eye in his brightnes dazeleth turneth back his face and cannot endure it so may the vpright man with the eye of his faith see such excellencie in the Sonne of righteousnes that for the time he may be astonied varie the obiect and say I haue enough These things be secret yet most certaine and the reasons be as cleere as the noone day Reason 1 For first his sinne is pardoned And is not a pardon to a poore condemned person a thing that yeeldeth great ioy vnspeakable comfort When a castaway heareth but of such a matter how will his dead heart reioyce his cold spirits dilate them themselues and his sorrowfull soule gather consolation From this ground Christ vnto the man that was sicke of the palsie said Be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiuen thee Remission of sinne is the mother of great mirth and this the vpright man is assured of Psal 32. 2. Reason 2 Againe he is clothed with the righteous robes of Christ and adorned with all the sauing graces that are