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
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
Judge the world in righttousness My Lords and Gentlemen give me leave to tell you Tennes the son of Cyrnus who was worshipped as a god was so strict and exact in Judgement that he caused an Ax to be held over the witnesses heads to execute them out of hand if they were taken with falshood and from thence was the Proverb Tenedia bipennis that that Judge to whom you must be responsible is no ignorant Judge nor no covetous Judge nor no partial Judge nor no fearful Judge nor no doating Judge nor no trifling Judge though such there may be in the world but he is an omniscient Judge an omnipotent Judge an impartial Judge a holy Judge a couragious Judge a serious Judge a severe Judge an unbiassed Judge a righteous Iudge and a resolute Iudge Alas Sirs it is not your scarlet Gowns nor your Titles of honour nor your great estates nor your interest in Princes nor your noble relations nor your applause among men that will stand you in stead when you shall stand before that Iudge that is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult Well Gentlemen remember this there is never a professing Iudge nor Iustâ—ce in the world that will be able at last to give up their accounts with joy and to stand in judgement when the Lamb shall sit upon his Throne but such as have made it their great businesse to take the spirit of the Lord for their guide and to set up the glory of the Lord as their great end and to make the Word of the Lord their principal Rule and to eye the example of the Lord as their choicest and chiefest pattern and therefore it is much to be feared that the numher of such Iudges and Iustices that will be able to stand before the Iudge of all the world will be but few But Seventhly As you must do justice and judgement exactly so you must do justice to others as you would have others do justice to you For Judges and Justices to do as they would be done by is the Royal Law the golden Rule and the Standard of equity Judges and Justices should think of others as they would have others think of them and speak of others as they would have others speak of them and do to others as they would have others do to them Mat. 7.12 Severus the Emperour had this Scripture often in his mouth and whensoever he punished any of his souldiers for offering of injuries to others he still commanded this Scripture to be proclaimed by the Cryer Whatever by the light of nature or by the light of conscience or by the light of Scripture a Judge a Justice would have another do to him the same must he do to another In all just things for so this Law of Christ is only to be understood we must do to others as we would have others do to us as we would have others carry it equally justly and righteously towards us so we must carry it equally justly and righteously towards others and as we would not have others to wrong us in our names estates rights liberties lives so we must not wrong others in their names estates rights liberties lives c. This Law of Christ is the summe of all righteousnesse it is the foundation of all Justice and Equity Self-love doth so commonly blind the sons of men that to judge righteously they must change the person they must put themselves in others room All Princes Judges Justices Parents Masters Subjects Servants Children should so act in their relations as they would have others act in the correlation All injustice will be repaid one time or another and therefore men had need be just and do to others as they would have others do to them I have read of a Citizen of Comun in the Dukedom of Farrara who being cast into prison upon suspitâ—on of murder his wife could get no promise of his deliverance unlâ—sse she would give the Captain whose prisoner he was two hundred Ducats and yield her body to his pleasure which with the consent of her husband she did but after the Captain had his desire he notwithstanding put him to death The Duke Gonzala hearing of it commanded the Captain to restore the two hundred Ducats to the widow with an addition of seven hundred Crowns then he enjoyned him to marry her presently and lastly before he could enjoy his new wife the Duke caused him to be hanged for his treachery and injustice Sometimes in this life injustice is repaid upon the heads of unjust Judges My Lords and Gentlemen before I close up this head give me leave heartily to recommend to your Justice those wrongs and injuries which more immedâ—ately strike at the honour and glory of the great God God hath put his name upon you Psalm 82.6 I said that ye are gods yet it must be granted that you are gods in a smaller letter mortal gods gods that must die like mâ—n all the sons of Ish are sons of Adam And as God hath put his name upon you so he hath made you his Vice-Royes 2 Chron. 19 6. Ye judge not for your selves but for the Lord. Rom. 13.2 Exod. 16.7 8. 1 Sam. 8.7 And therefore God takes all affronts that are done to you as done to himself as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the margin together And God hath provided for your honour among men Exod. 20.28 Thou shalt not revile the gods Rom. 13.7 Josh 4.14 i. e. the Magistrates nor curse the Ruler of thy people I have read of Fabius Maximus who highly reverenced and honoured his own son being Consul this Heathen will one day rise up in judgement against all such that scorn to give to Magistrates that honour that by the fifth Commandment is due unto them 2 Pet. 2.9 10. 1 Sam. 10.2 Iude 8.2 1 Sam. 8.7 And God is very severe in revenging the wrongs that are done to you He interprets all the injuries that are done to you as done to himself And why then will you not revenge the wrongs and injuries that are done to the great God Give me leave Gentlemen in the behalf of the great God a little to expostulate with you Shall the least dishonourable word that is spoken against an earthly Prince be severely punished and shall all those horrid and hellish blasphemies by which the Prince of the Kings of the earth is dishonoured and reproached all the Nation over passe unobserved Rev. 1.5 Shall all affronts that are offered to Embassadors be deeply resented and justly censured as high indignities done to the Prince that employed them And shall the Embassadors of the great God I mean such as are called commissionated spirited gifted and graced for that high office by God himself be scorned defamed injured reviled and on all hands evilly intreated and yet no man say Why do you thus wickedly 2 Chron. 36.15 ult to provoke the great God to your own destruction Shall it be
that when he hath a suit of cloathes to make would send for a bungling Taylor to make it surely none And why then should not men be as wise for their souls Do not you know that that sort of persons that now I am a speaking of have been the greatest instruments of bringing the greatest calamities and miseries and the sorest desolations and destructions that ever have been brought upon Cities Nations Kingdoms and Countries Compare the Scriptures in the margin together Jer. 26.8 9 11 14 15. Lam. 4.11 12 13. Amos 7.10 11. 1 Kings 22. 2 Chron. 18. and then let conscience speak And who is so ignorant as not to know that it was the High-Priests Scribes and Pharisees that brought the innocent blood of our Lord Jesus Christ upon that once great and glorious Nation of the Jews to their utter destruction and desolation about forty years after Christs Ascension when the Romans came and took their City and practised the greatest severity and cruelty imaginable upon them as Josephus and other Historians shew In the Marian dayes and in the Massacre of the Protestants in France how great a hand this sort of men had that I am now a reasoning with all the world knows And so the Pagan Priests stirred up the Pagan Emperours to be desperate Persecutors of the people of God that were within their Empires which occasioned Tertullian to give that good counsel to Scapula a Pagan persecutor God saith he will surely make inquisition for our blood and therefore if thou wilt not spare us yet spare thy self if not thy self yet spare thy Countrey which must be responsible when God comes to visit for blood Do not you know that his Majestie hath very Christianly Zealously argumentatively and smartly declared against drunkennesse lewdnesse prophansse c. and that he hath declared that his resolution is and shall be to promote the power of godlinesse to encourage the Exercises of Religion both publick and private to take care that the Lords day be applyed to holy Exercises without unnecessary divertisements and that insufficient negligent and scandalous Ministers be not permitted in the Church Do not you know that when the great Shepherd our Lord Jesus Christ shall appear 1 Pet. 5.2 3 4 Ezek. 3.17 18 19. that he will call you to a particular and exact account for every soul that hath miscarried under your charge either by reason of your ignorance insufficiency prophanesse loosnesse or superstition c. and how will you then be able to stand in that day c. Gentlemen if you say you know not these things and that they are Riddles and Mysteries to you how dare you say that you are the Ministers of Jesus Christ But if you shall say that you know very well that these things are certainly true yea that they are such clear and undenyable truths that no Devil can deny and yet shall continue in your ignorance insufficiency prophanesse loosnesse superstition c. what man on earth is there that hath but read the Scriptures and that can but write his own name and that would not be begged for a fool in folio will believe you to be the true faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ Well Gentlemen I have read of Alexander the great how that he had a souldier of his name that was a Coward which when he understood he commanded him either to fight like Alexander or else to lay down the name of Alexander So say I to you Gentlemen either preach as the Ministers of Jesus Christ ought to preach viz. plainly spiritually powerfully fâ—elingly fervently frequently c. and live as the Ministers of Jesus Christ ought to live viz. heavenly graciously holly humbly righteously harmlesly and exemplarily c. Or else lay down your very names of being the Ministers of Jesus Christ and put no longer a cheat upon your selves nor upon the people by making them believe that you are the only Ministers of Jesus Christ when you have nothing of the Spirit of Christ nor of the Anointings of Christ nor of the Grace of Christ nor of the life of Christ in you Gentlemen if this counsel be seriously minded and faithfully followed it will turn more to your accounts in the great day of our Lord Jesus and do you more good then then all the profits preferments and honours of this world can do you good now But if you shall slight and despise this counsel now I shall be found a true Prophet to your wo and misery in that great day c. If this Treatise should fall in the hands of any Ladies and Gentlewomen as I suppose it may that have not yet experienced the sweet and powerful operations of holinesse in their own souls I would then say Ladies and Gentlewomen your souls are as precious and as immortal and as capable of union and communion with Christ here and of an eternal fruition of Christ hereafter as the souls of any men in the world are I have read a sad story of one Bochna a woman which had but two sons in all the world and whilst she was walking with the one towards the River she heard the other crying out and hastening back she found a knife sticking in his side which killed him immediately then she made haste to the other child but he in her absence was fain into the River and drowned and so she lost both her sons at once Now Ladies this is your very case every one of you have two children as I may say a soul and a body a life eternal and a life temporal and O what a dreadful and unspeakable losse would it be to lose both these at once and yet as certain as there is a God in Heaven you will lose them both without Holinesse All know that know any thing of Scripture or History that there have been many great Ladies and Gentlewomen that have been great lovers of holinesse and great delighters in holinesse and great prizers of holinesse and great admirers of holinesse and great countenancers of holinesse and great encouragers of holinesse and great promoters of holinesse and great followers after holinesse and great experiencers of the sweet and powerful operations of holinesse in their own souls And O that this might be all your honour and happinesse to be in all respects as famous for holinesse as any of your sexe hath been before you Christ hath prayed as much for your souls as he hath for the souls of others and he hath paid as much for your souls as he hath for the souls of others and he hath sweat and wept and bled as much for your souls as he hath for the souls of others and he hath suffered and satisfied as much for your souls as he hath for the souls of others and he hath purchased and prepared as great and as glorious things for your souls as he hath for the souls of others if you will be but a holy people to him and what doth all this speak
the motions turnings and windings of the approachiny enemy with such an eye we should mark them that cause divisions And avoid them the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a studious carefull declining of them A man must decline and shun them as he would decline and shun such persons or things that are most pernicious dangerous or infectious to him Divisions are a dishonour to Christ a reproach to Christians a blot upon profession a block in the way of the weak and a sword in the hand of the wicked they are Satans Engines and an inlet to all destruction and confusion And therefore the Authors of them are to be shunned and avoided Sixthly Such Christians as are scandalous and prophane in their lives and conversations 1 Cor. 5.11 But now I have written unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be joyned mixed or mingled wâ—th them c. Prov. 9.6 Psal 15.4 Ephes 5.7 Psal 119.115 Prov. 4.14 15. not to keep company if any man that is called Brother be a fornicator or covetous or an Idolater or a rayler or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one no not to eat with such a Brother who belies his profession with such a Brother whose course and conversation contradicts his profession we must not hold Christian communion Certainly I may not have fellowship with him at the Lords Table whom I may not have fellowship with at my own Table Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with unfruitfull works of darkness but rather reprove them Acts 2.40 Save your selves from this untoward generation Wicked company is very dangerous and infectious 1 Cor. 15.33 Evil communication corrupts good manners As he that walketh in the Sun will be tanned and he that toucheth pitch will be defiled so he that associateth himself with the wicked will be tainted and polluted Guilt or grief is all you shall gain by bad company 2 Pet. 2.7 8. witness Lot David Joseph Psal 120.7 8. Gen. 42.15 16. Maâ—k 14.66 ult 1 Kings 22.8 2 Chron. 24.17 18. and Peâ—er By bad company Christians come to lose much of the sweetness seriousness goodness and graciousness of their spirits Gold though the noblest mettal loseth of its lustre by being continually worn in the same purse with Silver Familiarity with vain persons hath much worn off the spiritual lustre beauty and glory that hath been upon many Christians Bad company will prove a very great hinderance to you in your Christian course Psalm 119.115 Away from me ye wicked for I will keep the commandments of my God I cannot keep my Gods commands whilst I keep your company I shall never do my duty till I abandon your Society Divine commands will never lie close and warm upon my heart so long as I give you my hand How hard is it to keep the commandment of labour among the slothfull or the commandment of diligence among the negligent or that of liberality among the covetous or that of humility among the Ambitious or that of love among the malicious or that of union among the contentious or that of chastity among the lascivious or that of righteousness among the unrighteous or that of faithfulness among the unfaithfull or that of fruitfulness amongst the unfruitfull or that of thankfulness among the unthankfull or that of faith among the doubtfull c. But Seventhly Matth. 16.6.11 12. Gal. 1.8 Mat. 7 15.13 De. 13.1 2 3. Titus 10.11 A seventh sort of persons that Christians must have no intimate no special communion with is false Prophets false Teachers They are not to give such any house room 2 Joh. 10.11 nor heart room Mat. 24 23 24.26 They are to shun them and avoid them Rom. 16.17 It is not safe for a Christian to hear them or to have any communion or fellowship with them Aristotle writeth of a certain Bird called Capri-mulgus a Goat-Sucker Lib. de Animal which useth to come flying on the Goats and suck them and upon that their milk dryeth up and they grow blind Ah how many a seeing man hath been made blind and how many hopeful thriving Christians have had all their springs of love of life of sweetness and goodness dried up in them by the slights deceits and insinuations of false Teachers False Prophets have their pithanology their good words and fair speeches and subtile devices whereby they blind many souls and dry up all the spiritual milk and moisture that is in them and therefore they are to be shunned and avoided But Eighthly you must have no intimate no special communion with such as are obstinate and refractory and that will not submit to Christs Rules and Laws The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very significant for it denotes such a perturbation of the mind that he who is affected therewith seeks up and down wherâ— he may hide himself for shame 2 Thes 3.14 And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed or that he may turn into himself as it is in the Orignal Such as are refractory must be noted with a brand of infamy such must be infamous in your eye who look with an eye of contumacy upon any command or institution of Christ The Greek word Semeiousthai signifies to note him so as to make a sign as it were of him or to mark him so as to put him to the blush to put him to shame The obstinate the refractory person should be a marked person you must set a cross upon him that all may know him and shun him the Assemblies of the Saints are honourable and refractory Christians are to be shut out of them Matth. 18.15 16 17. Moreover if thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tâ—ll him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother But if he will not hear thee if he be refractory then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a Publican He that shall be refractory under private and publick admonition is to be shut out from Church-communion He that to small faults shall add contumacy is to be cut off from the Saints Society We must turn our backs upon him that turns his back upon the Church As we would keep our selves untainted as we would preserve the Church from being infected as we would not have the name of God blasphemed and as we would have the refractory Christian ashamed and humbled we must neither have Sacred nor Civil Society with him A ninth sort of persons that Christians must have no intimate no sacred no special communion with are fools Prov. 9.6 Forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding Chap.
3. A promise to live well Austin Austin well observes That as many think the eating of an Apple was but a small sin So many think that the eating of the Sacrament is but a small sin But as many horrid sins were wrapt up in that so are there many wrapt up in this 1. Here is pride else no man in his wickedness would presume to come to the Lords Table 2. Here is Rebellion and Treason against the Crown and dignity of Christ Romans 2.22 their hands and lips adore him as Judas his did but their hearts and lives abhor him 3. Here is Theft and Sacriledge now if to take away the Communion cup be such a high offence 1 Cor. 11.27.29 such horrid sacriledge what is it then to take the Bread and Wine set apart and sanctified for a holy use by the Lord himself 4. Here is Murder the worst murder the greatest murder the cruelest murder thou killest thy self thy soul and as much as in thee lies Gods dearest Son Now certainly in some respects this sin is a greater sin then Adams was For 1. Adams Eating was against a Creator but thine is against a Redeemer now it is more to redeem a soul then to create a world 2. His was against the word of the Lord thine against the blood of the Lord. 3. His struck at the Covenant of Works thine at the Covenant of Grace 4. He eat but once but thou eatest often Yea Aquinas Aquinas saith the Majesty of Church Discipline should never suffer this to let open and known offendors presume to come to the Table of the Lord. It was a worthy saying of Bilson an approved Author Suppose any man saith he be he a Prince Bilsons Christian Subject par 3. pag. 63. 64 74 c. 52. if he will not submit himself to the precepts of Christ but wilfully maintain either heresie or open impurity the Ministers are to admonish him what danger from God is at the door and if he impenitently persist they must not suffer him to communicate either in divine prayer or any holy mysteries among the people of God but wholly to be excluded the Congregation Again not only the lack of the word and Sacraments saith the same Author but the abuse of either greatly hazards the weale of the whole Church yea casting holy things to dogs c. procures a dreadfull doom as well to consenters as presumers it being the way to turn the house of God into a den of Theives if prophane ones be allowed to defile the mysteries and Assemblies of the faithfull I said Calvin Calvin will sooner die then this hand of mine shall give the things of God to the contemners of God Mr. Rutherford Rutherford that champion for Presbyterie in his divine right of Church-Government pag. 520 saith that they are co-partners with the wicked who dispence the bread to them who are knowingly dead in sins I might multiply many others but let these suffice for a close let me only say How the Father can be guiltless of the death of his child that giveth him poyson to drink with this Caution that he telleth him it is poyson I cannot see Josephus reports of some that prophanely searched the sepulchres of the Saints Joseph Antiq. lib. 12 13. l. 16. cap. 11. supposing to find some treasures there but God made fire to rise out of the earth that devoured them on a suddain Now if Gods wrath like fire breaks forth to consume such as wrong but the sepulchres of his Saints c. Oh then with what flames of fury will God burn up such as abuse not only the Sacrament of his Son but his Son himself It was a very great wickededness in Julian to throw his blood in the face of Christ but for a wicked Communicant to take Christs own blood as it were running from his heart and to throw it into he face of Christ is most abominable and damnable By all that hath been spoken you clearly see that unholy persons are to bâ— shut out of the special communion of Saints here on earth and therefore certainly the Lord will never suffer such to have communion with him in heaven it will not stand with the holiness and purity of God to have fellowship with such in the kingdom of glory whom he would not have his people have fellowship with in the kingdom of grace The eighth Argument to prove that without real holiness there is no happiness Unholy persons are throughout the Scriptures branded to their everlasting contempt with the worst Appellations that without holiness on earth no man shall ever come to a blâ—ssed vision or fruition of God in heaven is this The Scripture that speaks no Treason stiles unholy persons beasts yea the worst of beasts and what should such do in heaven Unholy persons are the most dangerous and the most unruly pieces in the world and therefore are emblemized by Lions Psalm 22.21 and they are cruel by Bears and they are savage Isa 11.7 by Dragons and they are hideous Ezek. 29.3 by Wolves and they are ravenous Ezek. 22.27 by dogs and they are snarling Rev. 22.15 by Vipers and Scorpions and they are stinging Mat. 12.34 Ezek. 2.6 by Spiders and Cockatrices and they are poysoning Isa 59.5 by swine and they are still gruntling Mat. 7.6 No man in this world is more like another It was wont to be a tryal whither land belonged to England or Ireland by putting in Toads or Snakes c. into it if they lived there it was concluded that the land belonged to England if they died to Ireland then the Epicure is like a Swine the fraudulent person a Fox the lustfull person a Goat the back-biter a barking Curr the slanderer an Asp the oppressor a Wolf the Persecutor a Tyger the Seducer a Serpent Certainly the Irish Air will sooner brook Toads and Snakes and Serpents to live therein then heaven will brook such beasts as unholy souls are to live there Surely God and Christ and the Spirit and Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect are not so in love with Dogs and Swine c. as to put them into their bosoms or make them their companions Heaven is a place of too great state to admit such vermine to inhabit there When Cyneas the Embassador of Pyrrhus after his return from Rome was asked by his Master what he thought of the City and State he answered and said that it seemed to him to be Respublica Regum a State of none but great Statesmen and a Common-wealth of Kings Such is heaven it is no other State then a Parliament of Emperours a Common-wealth of Kings There is not a soul in heaven under the degree of a King Rev 6.1 and every King there hath a Robe of honour upon his back a golden Scepter in his hand and a glorious Crown upon his head And do you think that it will stand with the State of heaven or
with the State of this Common-wealth of Kings to admit such vermine as as unholy persons are to be of that noble society surely no God hath long since resolved upon it that no unclean beasts shall enter into heaven that no dirty dogs shall ever trample upon that golden pavement All in heaven are holy the Angels holy the Saints holy the Patriarchs holy the Prophets holy the Apostles holy the Martyrs holy but the Lord himself above all is most glorious in holiness and therefore all those holy ones do as it were in a divine Anthem sing and say Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty Rev. 21. ult There are no Owls in Creet nor no wild beasts in Lebanon heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory Now certainly it would be a hell to these holy ones to have unholy wretches to be their companions When the holy Angels fell from their holiness heaven was so holy that it spewed them out Isaiah 6.3 as once Canaan did its unholy inhabitants and therefore certainly there will be no room in heaven for such filthy beasts as unholy persons are Well remember this that all those stinging Expressions and Appellations which disgrace and vilifie unholy persons they were inspired by a holy spirit and penned by holy Secretaries and enrolled in his holy word and published by his holy messengers and all by his holy appointment who as he is greater then the greatest and wiser then the wisest and better then the best Lev. 18.28 So he is too pure and too holy to eat the words that are gone out of his mouth or to deny or unsay what he hath spoken or not to maintain the truth thereof against all gain-sayers It is prophecied that when the Church shall be restored to her purity and glory such beasts shall not be there Isa 35.9 Ezek. 28.24 The Majesty of Church-discipline shall be such as shall keep out all such beasts Jerusalem above is too glorious a habitation for beasts or for men of beastly spirits or beastly principles or beastly practices The City of the great God was never built for beasts A wilderness and not a Paradise is fittest for beasts The ninth Argument to prove the truth of the Proposition Exod. 23.32 Chap. 34.12 If you would see the greatness and dangerousness of this sin then read Ezra 10. 1 Kings 11. with Exo. 34.14 15 16. Judg. 3.6 7 8. When Dionysius the elder Tyrant of Syracusa asked Aristides a Locrian his good will to marry his daughter I had rather see my daughter dead said he then married unto a Tyrant Plutarch in the life of Timoleon The Application is easie is this God would not have his holy ones in this world to be yoked in marriage with unholy ones and therefore certainly he will never suffer such to be yoked to himself to all eternity That God would not have his righteous people to be yoked in marriage with the unrighteous is most evident by these Scriptures Deut. 7.3.6 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give to his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy Son For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth Ezra 9.12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons neither take their daughters unto your sons But did they keep this commandment of the Lord No as you may see in the second verse of that chapter For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands yea the hand of the Princes and Rulers have been chief in this trespass But how did this operate upon good Ezra that you may see in the third verse And when I heard this thing I rent my garment and my mantle and pluckt off the hair of my head and of my beard and sate down astonied Oh the sorrow the grief the perplexity the holy passion the indignation the amazement the astonishment that this abomination begot in the heart of good Ezra The like effect this sin had upon the heart of good Nehemiah as you may see in that remarkable text Neh. 13.23 24 25. compared with Ch. 10.29 30. So in 2 Cor. 6.14 15. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness And what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel It is an evil thing a dangerous thing to be yoked to any who have neither skill nor will to bear the yoke of Christ Under the Law an Ox and an Asse might not be yoked or coupled together Deut. 22.10 and to this the Apostle alludes as some judge God would not have righteous souls to be yoked in marriage with those that are unrighteous a gracious soul were better be married to a quartern ague then to an ungracious wife Proverbs 12.4 A vertuous wife is a crown to her husband she is the life of life if thou art a man of holinesse thou must look more for a portion of grace in a wife 1 Cor 7.39 then for a portion of gold with a wife thou must look more after righteousnesse then riches more after piety then money more after what inheritance she hath in heaven then what possessions she hath on earth more at what interest she hath in Christ then at what interest she hath in creatures more at her being new born then at her beâ—ng high born more at her being good then at all her worldly goods If money makes the match and she be good enough that hath but goods enough thou shalt be sure to have hell enough with such a wife In thy choice to err but once is to be undone for ever at least as to the comforts and contentments of thy life once blest or curst must be for ever so Men have not leave to choose or change often By what hath been said it is most evident that God would not have the holy seed to mingle or marry with the unholy And do you think that a holy God wil mingle and marry with such in heaven that he would not have his people to mingle or marry with on earth surely no. Or do you think that that God that would not in the Law have an Ox and an Asse plough together that he will be yoked to such wretches may I say to such Asses whose ungodliness hath debased them below the very Ox and Asse Isa 1.3 Surely no. The tenth and last Argument to prove that without real holinesse there is no happinesse c. is this Unholy persons are adjudged doomed and sentenced to another place viz. to hell Matth 11.23 Ch. 23.15.33 The Hebrew word Shâ—ol hath several significations Sometimes it signifies
everlasting strength that it may go well with them for ever I have read of a chaste Virgin who being strongly tempted and soliticed by a lewd Russian to uncleannesse after some disscourse she called for a pan of burning coals requesting him for her sake to hold his finger in them but one hour he answered it is an unkind and unreasonable request it is truth saith she it is so but you ask me a more unkind and unreasonable request viz. to satisfie you in a thing for which I shall not only burn an hour but burn both body and soul in hell fire for ever and ever And so overcame the temptation But Lord if I must go into fire into everlasting fire Oh let me have some good company in my misery No the Devil and his Angels shall be your companions Ah who can conceive or express the misery of cohabitation with Devils and damned Spirits Many unholy souls would not live in a house haunted with evil spirits one night for all the world and yet they live as if it were nothing to be billetted with hellish Fiends and furies for ever If the sight of a seeming ghost for a moment be such a terror and torment to thee what will the horrible sight of devils and the gastly sight of the damned be Job 30.29 If it was so great an affliction to Job to be a companion to Owls what will it be to thee to be a companion to devils Psalm 120.5 If it was so great a grief and wo to David to sojourn in Mesech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar for a time what a wo will it be to unholy souls to dwell with Devils and reprobates for ever Ah how will Satans deformity antipathy and cruelty amaze thee and torment thee How will the damneds wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth abash thee and confound thee How will thine old companions cursing of thee the sight of thy near relations in misery with thee and devils scornfully insulting over thee and the never dying worm feeding perpetually upon thee be many hells of horror to thee Had an unholy soul as many worlds in his hand to give as there be stars in heaven he would give them all for a license alwayes to sleep under those pains and torments that will admit of no intermission or mitigation In Rev. 21.8 As the Antients fain of Endymion that he got leave of Jupiter alwayes to sleep you have a catalogue of that damned crue of that rout of Reprobates which shall be your companions for ever But the fearfull and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death These companions are the devils lime-twigs they are his scorpions with which he will torment and whip poor souls for ever Such companions will make many hells to meet in one they will be the top of the souls torments Thus I have done with those arguments that prove the point Viz. That without holiness there is no happiness c. I come now to the Reasons of the Point Why is it that Without holiness there is no happiness that without holiness on earth no man shall ever come to a blessed vision or fruition of God in heaven Among other Reasons that might be rendered you may please to take these Reason 1 First Because God hath said it who is truth and faithfulnesse it self and cannot lye That he hath said it witnesse the very Text and the proofs that are produced to make good the doctrine and hath he said it and shall it not come to pass Hath he spoken it and will he not accomplish the word that is gone out of his mouth Isaiah 46.11 Chap. 48.15 Jerem. 32.24 Isaiah 55.11 Zech. 1.6 Dan. 9.12 Psal 119.138 God is not a man that he should lye Numb 23 19. Also the strength of Israel will not lye 1 Sam. 15.29 God will make good every word that is gone out of his mouth Men sometimes eat their words as soon as they have spoken them they often say and unsay but so will not the holy One of Israel that first and supream being that gives being to all others will certainly give being to all his promises and threatnings God himself shall sooner cease to be then the word that is gone out of his mouth shall be frustrated He that is the faithful witnesse hath said it that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And verily heaven and earth shall pass away before one jot or one tittle that is before the least letter or particle of a letter of Gods blessed word shall pass unfulfilled Matth. 5.18 Gods faithfulnesse is great Lam. 3.23 It reaches unto the clouds Psalm 36.5 He will not suffer his faithfulnesse to fail Psalm 89.33 His faithfulnesse endures through all Generations Psalm 119.90 God will never suffer his faithfulnesse to be stained or blotted and therefore he will undoubtedly make good the word that is gone out of his mouth I had rather said Plutarch that men should say there was never any such person in the world as Plutarch then that they should say Plutarch is unfaithfull A man were better say there is no God then say that God is unfaithful a noble spirit can better bear any charge then that of being unfaithfull and so can a faithfull God Secondly Because real holinesse is that great principle Reason 2 that fits and capacitates souls for communion with God The glory of glory consists in seeing of God 1 Cor. 13 12. 1 John 3.2 as the hell of hell lyes in the souls everlasting separation from God and for a blessed sight and fruition of God Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Without a principle of purity of sanctity there is no vision of God in glory If a man be never so poor yet if his heart be pure God will make a house of his heart wherein his honour will delight to dwell let a mans outside be never so homely yet if his inside be but cleanly God will make it his own habitation God is for that man and that man is for God that carries about with him a pure heart Heart-purity makes a man a darling of heaven Many affect pure language pure houses pure habits pure hands pure air pure meat pure drink pure gestures c. who yet for want of heart-purity shall never see the face of God in glory Heart-purity speaks a man eternally happy Holinesse is that noble principle that fits a man for the happiest sight of God it makes a man a meet companion for God both here and herafter without this principle no man can have communion with God in this world much lesse can he have communion with God in heaven if this precious principle of holinesse be not seated in his heart it will not stand with the holinesse of God
not only to holy men but also to all ingenious men and to all civil and moral honest men As the scorners tongue and hand is against every man so every mans tongue and hand shall be against him Now if the scorners of men be abominable to men then much more are the scorners of holiness abominable to God and therefore certainly such shall be shut out from a glorious fruition of God Thirdly If real holiness be the only way to happiness and that if men be not holy on earth they shall never come to a blessed vision or fruition of God in heaven Then by way of conviction this looks sowerly and sadly upon all Formalists who have only a form a shew a profession of holiness but have nothing of the reality spirit life or power of holiness in them 2 Tim. 3.5 Isa 58.1.2 3. Zach. 7.4.5 6. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away They have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a face a vizard a mask a shew of godliness but they have nothing of the pith sap life or marrow of godliness their devotion their godliness lies in good words and in fair shews and in religious gestures if you hearken to their voice if you look upon their eyes if you observe the motion of their hands and the bowing of their knees and the shaking of their heads c. you would think that they were men of much religion of much godliness But if you look into their hearts and lives you will find them to be the greatest renouncers and denyers of Religion and godliliness in the world They have the semblance of goliness but not the substance they have the lineaments of godliness but not the life they have the face of godliness but not the heart they have the form the shadow of godliness but not the power They are like a well drawn picture which hath all the lineaments of a man but wants life wants a principle of motion and operation Mark 1. A form of godliness is Englands Epidemical disease The form of godliness is common but the power of godliness is rare 2. The form of godliness is cheap but the power of godliness is dear 3. The form of godliness is easie but the power of godliness is difficult 4. The form of godliness is a credit but the power of godliness is a reproach 5. The form of godliness is pleasurable and delightfull but the power of godliness is displeasing and undelightful to the ignoble part of a Christian 6. The form of godliness will stand with secret and with open wickednesse as you see in Saul 1 Peter 1.17 Jer. 44.17 Jehu Judas Simon Magus Demas and the Scribes and Pharisees but the power of godliness will not the power of godliness layes the Ax to the very root of all sin both secret and open Rachel was very fair and beautifull to the eye but she was barren and that marred all So the Formalist he is a very fair and beautifull Christian to the eye but he is barren God-wards and Christ-wards and Heaven-wards he is fruitless sapless and lifeless and that marrs all The Formalist takes up a form of godliness 1. To quiet his conscience 2. To get himself a name 3. To cloak over his sins 4. To advance his worldly interest and 5. To avoid opposition and persecution from the world the flesh and the Devil 6. And to conform to old customs And what should such Formalists do in heaven A formal Christian is but a figure a flaunt a flourish a flash and all he doth is but the shadow of what he should do A formalist is more light then life more notion then motion more head then heart more outside then inside more leaves then fruit more shadow then substance A formalist is a blazing Comet a painted Tomb a Stage-player a white devil or a devil in an Angels habit and what should such devils do in heaven Certainly if without real holiness no man shall see the Lord then the formalist that hath only the shape the shew the form of godliness but nothing of the reality and power of it shall never be blest with such a sight A formalist is neither hot nor cold of all sorts of sinners he is the worst and God so loaths him that he is resolved he will rid his stomack of him Rev. 3.16 I will spue thee out of my mouth and certainly heaven is too holy a place to lick up that gorge God hath cast up Lukewarm water cannot be so loathsome to our stomacks as a formalist is to Gods God is never at such ease as when he hath cast up and cast out the formal Christian Magdenburge Cent. 5. I have read of Anastasius the Emperour how God shot him to death with a thunder-bolt because of his lukewarmness and formality God hath a thunder-boult for every formalist by which he will at last certainly strike them down to the lowest hell A formalist is too loathsome a thing too heavy a burden for heaven to bear Fourthly If real holiness be the only way to happiness if men must be holy on earth or else they shall never see the face of God in heaven Then this truth by way of conviction looks sowerly and sadly upon all those who please and satisfie themselves with civility and common honesty who are good negative Christians who bless themselves that they are no swearers nor drunkards Luke 18.10 11 12 13 14. Mat. 5.21 Chap. 19.20 21 22. nor extortioners nor adulterers c. they pay every man his own they are just and righteous in their dealings no man can say black is their eye their carriage is civil comely harmless and blamelesse They make a fair shew in the flesh Gal. 6.12 or as the Greek hath it they set a good face on it But as good a face as they do set on it I must crave leave to tell them that civility is not sanctity civility rested in is but a beautifull abomination a smooth way to hell and destruction I may truly say of all civil men who are disstitute of that real holiness that leads to happiness what Erasmus said of Seneca If you look upon him as a heathen then he seemeth to write as if he were a Christian but if you look upon him as a Christian then he seemeth to write as a heathen So if you look upon many civil moral mens lives you will find them so full of ingenuity equity righteousness sweetness and justice that you will be ready to say Sure these are holy men But then do but observe how unacquainted they are with God with Christ with the Scripture with the way and working of the spirit with the filthiness of sin with the depths and devices of Satan with their own hearts with the new-birth and with the great concernments of eternity and you will judge them to be meer heathens to be men void of all principles of grace and holiness and to
may be much like his own should attempt to come in yet the Father will keep him out and wish him to repair to his own home So when the night of death comes the Father of Spirits will only take into the family of heaven his own child viz. the child of holiness but now if the child of gifts which is so like the child of holiness should press hard upon God to come in as that child of gifts Baalam did Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his God will answer him No he will say to him as he did to that child of gifts Judas Acts 1.25 Mat. 8.12 Go to your own place In the night of death and judgement the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out the children of the Kingdom that is of the Church now the children of the Kingdom are children of gifts and yet there will come a day when these children shall be cast out Gen. 25.6 c. As Abraham put off the sons of the Concubines with gifts but entailed the inheritance upon Isaac So God puts off many men now with gifts but he entails the heavenly inheritance upon holiness Psalm 24.3 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully Heaven is for that man and that man is for heaven who hath clean hands and a pure heart whose holy conversation is attended with heart-purification a pure heart is better then a golden head a heart full of holy affections is infinitely beyond a head full of curious notions there is no Jewel there is no anointing to that of holiness he that hath that hath all and he that wants that hath nothing at all But Eightly and lastly if real holiness be the only way to happiness if men must be holy on earth or they shall never come to a blessed fruition of God in heaven then by way of conviction let me say that this truth looks very sowerly and angrily upon those who are so far from being holy themselves that they cannot endure holiness in those that are about them or any waies related to them Ah how many unholy people be there that cannot endure holiness in their Ministers and how many unholy husbands are there that cannot endure holiness in their yoak-fellows and how many unholy parents are there that cannot endure holiness in their children and how many unholy Masters are there that cannot endure holiness in their servants The Panther say some when she cannot come at the man she rendeth and teareth his picture in pieces so many unholy husbands unholy fathers and unholy masters when they cannot rend and tear the persons of their relations in pieces ah how do they do their best to rend and tear the image of God upon them Matth. 23.14 15. 2 Sam. 6.16 20. viz. holiness in pieces These forlorn souls will not be holy themselves nor suffer others to be holy neither they will neither go to heaven themselves nor suffer others to go thither who are strongly biased that way Some despise their gracious relations even eâ— nomine for that very reason because they are holy sometimes you shall hear them speak at such a rate as this Well our relations are wise and witty but so holy they are very knowing and thriving but so precise they have good parts and sweet natures but they are so strict they are so round that they will not endure an oath a lye c. and therefore I cannot abide them I cannot endure them These are like he in Seneca which was so fearfully idle that his sides would ake to see another work So these are so fearfully wicked that it makes their sides their heads their very hearts ake to see others holy How far these are in their actings below Heathens you may see in Rom. 16.10 11. Aristobulus and Narcissus that are spoken of in this Scripture were both Heathens and yet they had in their families those that were in the Lord those that were gracious c. Heathens were so ingenuous that they would not despise that holiness in others that they wanted in themselves they were so noble that they would give holiâ—ess house-room though they knew not how to give it heart-room Gen. 39.1 2 3 4. So Potiphar though he was an Heathen yet he gave holy Joseph both house-room and heart-room These and several other heathens of the like spirit with them will one day rise in Judgement against many in these dayes that are so far faln out with holiness as that they will not endure it under the roof of their houses yea as that they make it the greatest matter of scorn and derision Like those in Lam. 2.15 16. All that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the City that men call the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole earth All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee they hiss and gnash the teeth they say We have swallowed her up c. Ah how many such monsters are there in these dayes who express their derision disdain and contempt of holiness and holy persons by all the scornful gestures postures and expressions imaginable that clap their hands that hiss that wag their head that gnash their teeth and that say Lo these are your Saints these are your holy ones your perfect ones your beautiful ones It is very sad to want holiness but it is saddest of all to deride holiness to disdain holiness Of this evil spirit Salvian complained in his time Salvi de Guber lib. 4. What madness is this saith he amongst Christians that if a man be good he is despised as if he were evil if he be evil he is honoured as if he were good And as great cause have we to complain of the prevalency of the same evil spirit in our times If the wife be holy 1 Cor. 7.16 how is she despised by her unholy husband as if she were wicked If she be wicked how is she honoured as if she were holy So if the child be gracious how is he disdained as if he were gracless if he be gracless how is he admired as if he were gracious So if a Servant be godly how is he scorned as if he were godless if he be godless how is he applauded as if he were godly Certainly God will never endure such to stand in his sight who cannot endure the sight of holiness Doubtless Psalm 1.5 God will never give them any room in heaven who will not so much as give holiness a little house-room I say not heart-room here He that now despises and disdains holiness in others shall at last be eternally despised and disdained for want of holiness himself Vse 2. THe second Use is
because it makes against Gods holinesse but an unholy person loaths it because it provokes Gods justice A holy person detests sin because of the hell that is in sin but an unholy person detests sin because of the hell that follows sin a holy heart abhors all sin but an unholy heart is still in league with some sin Rom. 12.9 Cha. 7.15 19. Isa 28.15 18. Now because this is a point of great concernment I shall a little more open and evidence the truth of it in these three particulars First The heart of a holy man rises against secret sins against such as lye furthest off from the eye of man Psal 119.113 I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love What more secret then vain thoughts and yet against these the heart of a holy man rises When Joseph was tempted to be secretly wicked with his Mistris his heart rises against it How can I do this great wickedness and sin against the Lord Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart Genes 39. 2 Chron. 32.24 25 26. Heart sins lye most close and secrret And yet for these a holy man humbles himself Job would not suffer his heart in an Idolatrous way secretly to kisse his hand Job 31.26 27. The heart of a holy man rises against wickednesse in the dark against folly in a corner Rom. 7.23 24. against sin a Closet So Paul was much affected and afflicted with the operations of sin within him with the Law in his members rebelling against the Law of his mind Paul after his conversion never fell into any scandalous sin those sins that did most trouble him and distresse him were of his own house yea were in his own heart A holy man knows that secret sins are sins as well as those that are open Psalm 19.12 He knows that secret sins must be repented of as well as others he knows that God takes notice of secret sins as well as of open 2 Sam. 12.12 Thou didst it secretly he knows that secret sins do often interpose between God and his soul Psalm 90.8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance Gen. 38.24 25 26 27. He knows that secret sins will quickly become publick except they are presently loathed and speedily mortified He knows that secret sins like secret diseases and secret wounds do oftentimes prove most dangerous and pernicious He knows that secret sins are the price of blood as well as open sinnings He knows that secret sins are a grief to the Spirit as well as those that are manifest He knows that sometimes God punishes secret sins with manifest Judgements as you may see in that great instance of David 2 Sam. 12.10.18 Upon all which accounts a holy heart rises in a detestation of secret sins But Secondly The heart of a holy man rises against the least sins as well as against secret sins in a strict sense I know there is no sin little because there is no little hell no little damnation no little Law nor no little God to sin against but yet some sins may comparatively be said to be little 2 Kings 2.3 Matth. 23.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 24.5 2 Sam. 24.10 if you compare them with those that are more great and grosse that are more hainous and odious Now the hatred of a holy man rises against the least Psalm 119.163 I hate and abhor lying but thy Law do I love I hate I abhor with horror I loath I detest I abominate lying as I do hell it self So much the Original word imports Davids heart smote him for the cutting off the lap of Sauls garment And his heart smote him again for numbring of the people and yet neither of these sins were hainous or scandalous Some write that there is suth a native dread and terror of the Hauk implanted in the Dove that it detests and abhors the very sight of the least feather that hath grown upon the Hauk Certainly there is such a holy dread of sin implanted in the heart of a Saint 1 Cor. 8.13 Daniel 8.1 Gal. 2 3 4. Jude 23. that he cannot but detest and and abhor the least sin yea the very appearance of sin his soul rises against the least motions or inclinations to evil though they are silverd over with the most specious shews and most glorious pretences for he knows that the least sins are contrary to a righteous Law a holy God and to his blessed Saviour and the Spirit his only Comforter First A holy man knows that little sins if not prevented will bring on greater 2 Sam. 12.26 Mat. 26.70 ult David gives way to his wandring eye and that led him to those scandalous sins for which God broke his bones hid his face and withdrew his Spirit So Peter first denyes his Master and then forswears him and then falls a cursing and damning of himself as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports he imprecated the wrath of God to fall upon him and that he might be separated from the presence and glory of God if he knew the man and then concludes with a most incredible lie I know not the man when as there was hardly a Jew which knew not Christ by face he being very famous for the many miracles that he daily wrote before their eys Ah to what a height will sin suddenly rise Ge. 27.19 20. So Austin confesseth that his Mother Monica by sipping and supping when she filled the cup to others came at last to take a cup of Nimis sometimes Plutarch So Jacob first he tells three lyes in a Breath 1. I am Esau 2. Thy first born 3. I have done according as thou badest me and then he dissembled in calling his meat venison and then he takes the name of God in vain by intitling God to that he did The Lord thy God brought it to me Ah of what an incroaching nature is sin how insensibly and suddenly doth it get ground upon the soul I have read of a young man that was tempted to three great sins viz. to kill his Father to lye with his Mother and to be drunk judging the last to be the least he yielded to it and being drunk he killed his Father and ravished his own Mother Lesser sins usually are inlets to greater As the little Thief let in at the window opens the door and makes way for the greater and the little wedge makes way for the greater When Pompey could not take a City that he assaulted by force he pretended that he would withdraw his Army only he desired that they would entertain a few of his weak and wounded Souldiers which accordingly they did these Souldiers soon recovered their strength and opened the gates of the City by which means Pompeys Army entred and subdued the Citizens So little sins yielded to soon gather strength and open the door to greater and so a conquest is made
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
happiness Jerem. 6.16 Isa 35.8 And a high-way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holinesse the unclean shall not passe over it but it shall be for those the way-faring men though fools shall not err therein Some men say lo here is the way Other men say lo there is the way but certainly the way of holinesse is the surest the safest the easiest the noblest and the shortest way to happinesse Among the Heathens no man could enter into the Temple of Honour but must first enter into the Temple of Vertue There is no entring into the Temple of happinesse except you enter into the Temple of holinesse Holinesse must first enter into you before you can enter into Gods holy hill As Sampson cried out Give me water or I die or as Rachel cried out Give me children or I die so all unsanctified souls may well cry out Lord give me holinesse or I die Psalm 15. throughout give me holinesse or I eternally die If the Angels those Princes of glory fall once from their holinesse they shall be for ever excluded from everlasting happinesse and blessednesse If Adam in Paradise fall from his purity he shall quickly be driven out from the presence of divine glory Austin would not be a wicked man an unholy man one hour for all the world because he did not know but that he might die that hour and should he die in an unholy estate he knew he should be for ever separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power O Sirs do not deceive your own souls holinesse is of absolute necessity 2 Thess 1.8 9 10. without it you shall never see the Lord it is not absolutely necessary that you should be great or rich in the world but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy it is not absolutely necessary that you should enjoy health strength friends liberty life but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy A man may see the Lord without worldly prosperity but he can never see the Lord except he be holy A man may to heaven to happinesse without honour or worldly glory but he can never to heaven to happiness without holiness without holinesse here no heaven hereafter Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth God will at last shut the gates of glory against every person that is without heart purity Ah Sirs holinesse is a flower that grows not in natures garden Men are not born with holinesse in their hearts as they are born with tongues in their mouths holinesse is of a divine off-spring it is a pearl of price that is to be found in no nature but a renewed nature in no bosome but a sanctified bosome There is not the least beam or spark of holinesse in any natural man in the world I have read that the Isle of Arren in Ireland hath such a pure Air that it was never yet infected with the Plague but such is not the nature of man Gen. 6.5 Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart is only evil continually Job 25.4 How can man be clean that is born of a woman The interrogation carries in it a strong negation How can man be clean that is man cannot be clean that is born of a woman man that is born of a woman is born in sin and born both under wrath and under the curse And who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Job 14.4 Isa 64.6 But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Rom. 3.10 11. There is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none thot seeketh after God Every man by nature is a stranger yea an enemy to holinesse Rom. 8.7 Every man that comes into this world comes with his face towards sin and hell and with his back upon God and holinesse Such is the corruption of our nature that propound any divine good to it it is entertained as fire by water or wet wood with hissing Propound any evil then it is like a fire to straw it is like the foolish Satyr that made haste to kisse the fire it is like that unctious matter which the Naturalists say sucks and snatches the fire to it with which it is consumed All men are born sinners and there is nothing but an infinite power that can make them Saints All men would be happy and yet they naturally loath to be holy By all which you may clearly see that food is not more necessary for the preservation of natural life then holiness is necessary for the preservation and salvation of the soul If a man had the wisdom of Solomon the strength of Sampson the courage of Joshua the policy of Ahitophell the dignities of Haman the power of Ahashueros and the eloquence of Apollos yet all these without holinesse would never save him Secondly Consider there is a possibility of obtaining holiness Prov. 2.2 3 4 5 6 7. Holiness is a golden mine that may be come at if you will but digg and sweat and take pains for it it is a flower of Paradise that may be gathered it is a crown that may be put on Rom. 13.12 13 14. it is a pearl of price that may be obtained if you will but part with the wicked mans Trinity the world the flesh and the devil to enjoy it Though some of the Attributes of God be incommunicable yet holinesse is a communicable attribute and this should mightily encourage you to look after holiness Well sinners remember this it is possible that those proud hearts of yours may be humbled it is possible that those hard hearts of yours may be softned it is possible that those unclean hearts of yours may be sanctified it is possible that those blind minds of yours may be enlightened it is possible that those stubborn wills of yours may be tamed it is possible that those disordered affections of yours may be regulated it is possible that those drowsie and defiled consciences of yours may be awakened and purged it is possible that those vile and polluted natures of yours may be changed and purified There are several things that do witness that holiness is attainable As 1. Witness Gods promise to give his holy Spirit to them that ask it Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him The holy Spirit is a gift more worth then a world yea then heaven it self and yet to make men holy God is willing to give his holy spirit upon very easie terms They shall have it for asking John 3.6 Titus 3.5 1 Cor. 6.11 the Spirit is a spirit of holiness he is holy in himself and the Author of all that holiness that is in man it is he that most powerfully
moves and perswades men to holiness it is he that presents holiness in its beauty and glory to the soul it is he that sows seeds of holiness in the soul and it is he that causes those seeds to grow up to maturity and ripeness Nil nisi sanctum à sancto spiritu prodire potest Nothing can come from the holy spirit but that which is holy The holy Spirit is the great principle of all the holiness that is in the world and this holy Spirit God hath engaged himself to give to those that are unholy Ezek. 36.25 26 27. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new heart will I also give you and a new spirit well I put within you and I well take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgements and do them The holy spirit is a gift a free gift a noble gift a precious gift a glorious gift 2 Tim. 2.21 that God will bestow upon the unclean upon the unsanctified that they may be cleansed and sanctified and so fitted for the Lords service and use It is possible that you may be holy Witness 2. His holy word that he hath given on purpose to make men holy and to keep men holy Deut. 4.6 7 8 9. Rom. 7.12 Luke 1.70 to 76. his commandments are holy just and good his threatnings are holy just and good and all his promises are holy just and good The holy Scriptures were written with a finger of holinesse so as to move to holiness and to work holinesse the whole word of God is an intire love-letter to provoke to holiness and to promote holiness Holy commands should sweetly perswade us to holiness and holy threatnings should divinely force us to holiness and holy promises should effectually allure us to the love of holiness to the embracing of holiness and to the practise of holiness The great design of God in sending this sacred volume in golden letters from heaven was to enamour men with the love and beauty of holiness Again it is possible that you may attain to true holiness Witness 3. Those holy Embassadors that he hath sent on purpose to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ Acts 26.18 2 Corin. 5.18 19 20. Their great business and work is to treat with you about holiness it is to woo you to match with holiness and to follow after holiness it is to remove all lets and impediments that may any wayes hinder your embracing of holiness and it is to propose all manner of encouragements that may win you over to make holiness your great All. Again it is possible that you may be holy Witnesse 4. The holy Examples of all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Praecepta docent exempla movent and Saints that are left on record on purpose to provoke you to an imitation of them in holiness their holy examples as so many shining stars are left upon record to influence us to holiness In the holy examples of those that are now triumphant in heaven you may run and read that holiness is attainable In their holy examples as in so many looking-glasses you may see that holiness is a Jewel that may be procured by that holiness that others have reached to sinners may see that it is possible that they may be made Saints Again it is possible that you may be holy Witnesse 5. All those notorious sinners that the Scripture declares have been sanctified and made holy to instance only in a few Adam you know was created in an estate of innocency Gen. 1.26 integrity and perfect holiness he being made in the image of God and after the likeness and similitude of God it was agreed upon in the Parliament of heaven that man should be made glorious in holiness In this Scripture he speaks plainly of the Renovation of that knowledge holiness and righteousness that Adam somtimes had but lost it by his fall Psal 8.4 5 6. Gen. 2.20 and so he was for he was made after Gods own image And this the Apostle clearly and fully evidences in that famous Scripture Ephes 4.22 23 24. That Adam was invested and endowed with righteousness and holiness in his first glorious estate with righteousness that he might carry it fairly justly evenly and righteously towards man and with holiness that he might carry it wisely lovingly reverentially and holily towards God And that he might take up in God as his chiefest good as in his great All might be fufficiently made good out of this Scripture last cited but I shall not now stand upon the discovery of Adams beauty authority dominion dignity honour and glory with which he was adorned invested and crowned in innocency Let this satisfie that Adams first estate was a state of perfect knowledge wisdom and understanding it was a perfect state of holiness righteousness and happiness there was nothing within him but what was desirable and delectable there was nothing without him but what was amiable and commendable nor nothing about him but what was serviceable and comfortable and yet in the height of all his glory he falls to Apostasie and open Rebellion against God he takes part with Satan against God himself he transgresses his righteous Law he affronts his justice he provokes his anger he stirrs up his wrath against himself and his posterity The sin of Adam was a voluminous sin all kinds of notorious sins were bound up in it as backsliding rebellion treason pride unbelief blasphemy contempt of God unthankfulness theft murder and idolatry c. The Philosopher being asked which was the best member of the body answered The tongue for if it be good it is the best Trumpet of Gods glory And being asked again which was the worst answered The tongue for if it be bad it is the worst fire-brand of hell So if any should ask me Which was the best creature of God I would answer Man in honour before his fall If you should ask me Which is the worst I must answer Man in his fall Adam was once the wonder of all understanding the mirrour of wisdom and knowledge the image of God the delight of heaven the glory of the creation the worlds great Lord and the Lords great darling but being faln ah how low how poor how miserable how sottish how sensless how brutish yea how much below the beast that perisheth was he and yet God pardoned changed and sanctified him and stampt his image of holiness afresh upon him when he made a Covenant with him in Christ Genesis 3. So Manasseh he was a notorious sinner he was a sinner of the greatest magnitude his sins reached up to heaven his soul was ripe for hell he had sold
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
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
unholiness of thy heart the unholiness of thy affections the unholiness of thy intentions the unholiness of thy resolutions the unholyness of thy expressions and the unholiness of thy conversation Joel 2.12 Turne ye to the Lord with weeping and with mourning The foundation of a thorough reformation must be laid in a deep humiliation the best way to be holy is to accuse Ezra 6.2 Jer. 50.4 Psal 51.5 indict arraign and condemn thy self for thy unholiness you shall as soon espouse light and darkness and marry midnight to the noon day as you shall espouse or marry a holy God to an unhumbled sinner O! who can look upon sin as an offence against a holy God as the breach of a holy law as the wounding and crucifying of a holy Saviour as the grieving and sadding of a holy sanctifier and as an eternal loss and undoing of his own soul and not mourn over it O! who can cast a serious eye upon the nature of sin or upon the exceeding sinfulness of sin or upon the aggravations of sin and not have his heart humbled his soul grieved and his Spirit melted for sin O! who can look upon sin as it strikes at the honor of God the name of God the being of God the glory of God and the design of God and not have his mouth full of penitential confessions his eyes full of penitential tears and his heart full of penitential sorrow Some as they say of witches cannot weep for sin but they that weep not for sin here where there are handerchiefs in the hands of Christ to wipe off their tears shall weep out their eyes in hell hereafter 't is better to weep bitterly for thy sins on earth then to weep eternally for thy folly in hell Ah how hard is that heart that can sadly lament and bewail the loss of a groat a chick a child a sheep a ship a friend c. and yet can't let fall a tear to save a lost soul Jacob weeps and prevails with God Hosea 12.4 His tears made a happy conquest upon God Jacob weeps and prevailes with God for his life and what dost thou know but that by thy penitential tears thou maist prevail with God for thy soul he weeps and prevails with God for temporals and why mayest not thou by weeping prevail with God for eternals he weeps and prevails with God for some outward happiness and why maist not thou by weeping prevail with God for inward holiness 'T is an old observation that the tears of repenting sinners are the wine of Angels Certainly God himself can smile to see a sinner grieve for his sins and to see him grieve that he can grieve no more Psal 51.17 for that he has sinned against a God so great so gracious so bountiful so merciful c. though God be displeased with a sinners sins yet he is very well pleased with a sinners tears and therefore as he has a bagg for the one so he has a bottle for the other It can't but be a pleasure to God to see a sinner drown his sins in a deluge of penitential tears though tears of indignation as was Esaus and tears of dissimulation as was Ishmaels and tears of desperation as was Judas's be abominable to God yet tears of godly compunction and contrition are acceptable and delightful unto God A sinner never looks so sweetly as when he weeps most penitentially witness Mary Magdalen Manasseh and those murderers of Christ Acts 2. A sinners face never shines so beautiful as when 't is bedewed with penitential tears tears have a voice as well as blood Psal 6.8 And God has an eye as well upon a mans tears as upon his prayers Penitent tears are divine Ambassadors that never return from the throne of grace without answers of grace Isa 38.5 Peter said nothing but went out and wept bitterly and obtained mercy Mat. 26. ult Tears are a kind of silent prayers that will at last prevail for mercy Naaman the Syrian was cleansed of his leprosie by the waters of Jordan 2 King 5. penitential tears may do much towards the cleansing of thy leprous soul from sin he that really grieves that he cannot grieve for sin is grieved for sin he that is truely sorry that he cannot be sorry for sin is in a measure sorry for sin he that truly desires to drown his sins in his tears he has in Divine account drowned his sins in his tears The Maid in Scaliger swooned at the sight of a Lilly O! how much more should you at the sight of your unholiness Basil wept when he saw the Rose because it brought to his mind the first sin from whence it had the prickles O! how should a sinner fall a weeping when he looks upon the greatness of his wickedness and his want of holiness As ever you would be holy mourn over your own unholiness But Secondly If ever thou wouldest be holy thou must seek the holy Spirit the spirit is the efficient cause of all that holiness that is in the world The Spirit of God is a Spirit of holiness Rom. 1.4 he is frequently called the holy Spirit Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me Psal 5.11 But they rebelled and vexed his holy spirit Isa 63.10 And grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit 1 Thes 4.8 In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed by the holy spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 To make a man holy is more then to create a world 't is a work too high and too hard for Angels or men it becomes none and it can be done by none but by the holy spirit sanctification is made the spirits personal operation in that 2 Thess 2.13 and in that 1 Pet. 1.2 'T is the great work of the spirit to shape form and fashion the new creature holiness in all the vessels of glory The spirit is the root of all holiness and therefore the several parts of holiness are called the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22 'T is true God purposes holiness to his people and Christ has purchased holiness for his people but 't is onely the spirit that is the efficient cause or worker of holiness in his people though the Father Son and Spirit hath designed to re-imprint holiness upon mans heart yet the spirit has the greatest hand in that work When man was in his primitive glory holiness was his loveliness and his likeness to God but being now faln that image is so broken and mar'd that no hand can repaire it or restore it but the hand of the spirit The great principle of holiness which was in Christ as to his humane nature was the holy Spirit which he had above measure for he was anointed with the Unction of the Spirit above his fellows So that
look which way you will the Spirit still appears to be the great principle of holiness holiness is the very picture of God and certainly no hand can carve that excellent picture but the spirit of God Holiness is the divine nature and none can impart that to man but the Spirit A man never comes to see his sins nor to be sick of his sins nor to loath his sins nor to arraign his sins nor to condemn his sins nor to judge himself for his sins evangelically till he comes to be possest of the holy Spirit A man never comes to spit out the sweet morsels of sin he never come to make a sacrifice of his onely Isaac and to cut his delicate Agag in pieces and to strangle his Dalilah and in good earnest to set upon an utter exterpation of those sins that his constitution inclination custome calling and interest does most incline him to till a spirit of holiness comes upon him till this holy Spirit which is a spirit of judgement and burning falls upon the hearts of sinners they will never be fired out of their pride formality carnality sensuality and security when this holy Spirit comes as a Spirit of Glory and Power to change thy heart to destroy thy sins to reform thy ways and to save thy soul c. Oh then cry out let him still go on conquering and to conquer till all his enemies ate made his footstool Oh let him cut off every right hand and pluck out every right eye c. that does offend O let him do justice upon every sin upon every open sin upon every secret sin upon every bosom sin upon every pleasing sin and upon every gainful sin Oh set your selves under the Celestial influences and sweet distillings of the holy Spirit Oh prize his motions Oh welcome his motions Oh comply with his motions Oh follow his motions that so you may be holy and happy for ever When David asked counsel of God whether he should goe up against thâ— Philistins or no he received this answer When thou hearest the noise of one going in the top of the Mulbery-trees 2 Sam. 5.24 then remove for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the Philistines So should every one wisely observe when the Spirit sweetly and strongly moves them to mind holiness to fall in love with holiness to press after holiness when the spirit moves them to leave off their sins to turn to God to open to Christ to tremble at threatnings and to imbrace promises Oh make much of these holy motions Oh cherish these divine breathings Oh don't quench these heavenly sparks least the Spirit never move thee more nor never strive with thee more Gen. 6.3 Oh when thou hearest a voice within thee or a voice behind thee saying Come with me from Lebanon my sister Isa 30.21 Cant. 4.8 my spouse c. Come away from thy cups thou drunken wretch come away from thy wanton Dalilahs thou unclean wretch come away from thy sinful pleasures thou voluptious wretch come away from thy baggs thou worldly wretch come away from thy honors thou ambitious wretch and come away from thy fraud thou cheating wretch Oh hearken to this voice Oh obey this voice that it may go well with thy soul for ever if now thou strikest whilest the iron is hot if now thou hoistest up sail whilst the wine is fair thou maist be made for ever In that 5 Joh. 4. there were certain times when the Angel came down and troubled the waters and whosoever did then step in was healed of whatsoever disease he had So there are certain times and seasons wherein the Spirit of holiness stirs the heart and affections and moves and breaths upon the soul now if men were wise to observe these times and seasons they might be happy for ever the time of the spirits moving is the acceptable time if you observe it you are made if you neglect it you are mar'd all the movings and motions of the spirit are in order to an eternity of felicity and glory Oh therefore don't grieve the Spirit don't cross the Spirit don't vex the Spirit don't tempt the Spirit Spiritus sanctus est res delicata don't quench the Spirit don't oppose the Spirit don't resist the Spirit don't deal harshly or unkindly with the Spirit by sinning against illumination conviction resolutions and promises of reformation Oh be more tender of the gracious motions of the Spirit then thou art of thy name thy estate thy liberty thy life for he designs thy internal good in this world and thy eternal good in the other world and therefore don't affront him nor carry it unworthily towards him if thou shouldest it may be as much as thy life and thy soul is worth if a man slip the opportunity of a favorable gale he may lie wind-bound till all be spent when the Spirit moves salvation and all the glory of heaven stands waiting at thy door if now thou will but open the King of glory will enter in and bless thee for ever Saul by neglecting his opportunity lost an earthly kingdom take heed least thou by slighting the motions of the Spirit comest to loose a heavenly kingdom the letting slip one season when the Spirit moves may undo a man in both worlds and some think Felix found it so Well sirs as ever you would be holy you must labor for a Spirit of holiness and for your encouragement remember this that though the holy Spirit be the great Jewel of Glory yet God is more ready to give it then you are to aske it witness that 11. of Luke from the 9. to the 14. verse But Thirdly If ever you would be holy then you must waite upon the word the word of God faithfully preached is the ordinary meanes by which holiness is wrought in sinners hearts the word is that triumphant Chariot of the Spirit wherein he rides conquering and to conquer the souls of men the holy word is designed by God to beget holiness in sinners hearts and to countenance cherish nourish and strengthen holiness where it is begotten John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth And for their sakes c. I sanctifie my selfe that they also might be sanctified through the truth ver 19. So Chap. 15.3 Now ye are cleane through the word which I have spoken to you The ordinary way of making uncleane souls cleane unholy souls holy is the Ministry of the word Phil. 5.26 As there is a cleansing vertue in the blood of Christ 1 John 1.7 so there is a cleansing vertue in the word of Christ Psal 119.9 Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Of all men the young man is usually most wild and wicked most licentious and rebellious and yet the word of God is the power of God to his conviction and conversion to his sanctification and salvation though the cleansing of a young mans
profusely prodigall of that precious time which is their greatest interest to redeem Time is a precious Talent and the non-improvement of it God will charge upon men at last as he did upon Jezabel Rev. 2.21 especially upon such who trifle away who play away who idle away yea who grossly sin away their precious time how many are there like children who play till their Candle be out and then they goe to bed in the dark so these play and foole away their precious time till the Candle of life be out and then they goe to their beds they goe to their graves in sorrow yea they goe to hell in the dark Drexellius I have read of a young man who living vainly and loosely was very feaâ—ul of being in the dark who after falling sick and could not sleep cry'd out Oh if this darkness be so terrible what is eternall darkness he that makes no conscience of trifling away his precious time shall one day experience the terribleness of eternal darkness The Poets paint time with wings Sophocles Phocilides c. to shew the volubility and swiftness of it O Sirs if the one sense of the brevity shortness and preciousness of time did but lye in its full weight upon your spirits it would certainly put you upon a speedy and earnest pursuit after holiness O then you would never say hereafter hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness but you would address your selves to a fervent and a constant pressing after holiness as the one thing necessary and be restless in your own spirits till you had experienced the power and sweetness that is in holiness But Fifthly and lastly I answer that 't is the greatest folly and madness in the world for thee to put off the great God and the great concernments of thy soule so as thou darest not put off thy Superiors Where is the subject that dares put off a lawfull duty urg'd upon him by his Prince with a may-be or with an hereafter it may-be I will doe it or hereafter I will doe it or where is that servant that dares put off his Lords present commands with a may-be or with an hereafter it may-be I will doe it or hereafter I will doe it or where is the ingenious child that dares put off a present duty prest upon him by his parents with a may-be or with an hereafter it may-be I will doe it or hereafter I will doe it or where is the affectionate wife that dares put off the just desires and requests of her husband with a may-be or with an hereafter it may-be I will answer your desires or hereafter I will answer your requests O Sirs you dare not put off your Superiors with may-bees or with hereafters and how then doe you dare to put off the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords with may-bees and with hereafters it may-be I will look after holiness it may-be I will study holiness it may-be I will prize holiness or hereafter I will press after holiness I will pursue after holiness hereafter I will follow hard after holiness O remember that as there is nothing that do's more incense inrage and provoke a Prince against his Subjects a Lord against his servants a father against his child and a husband against his wife then the putting off of their services and commands with may-bees or with hereafters so there is nothing that do's more incense inflame and provoke the great God then to put him off with may-bees or with hereafters Psal 95.6 to the end Heb. 3.7 to the end as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the margent together And O that for time to come you would tremble at the very thoughts of a may-bee and at the very mentioning of an hereafter that so you may never put off the commands of God to pursue after holiness with a maybe or with an hereafter any more And let this susfice for answer to this second Objection Object 3 Thirdly But if we should thus press and pursue after holiness then we must take our farewell of all joy and comfort of all delight and pleasure and never expect to enjoy one merry day more for we observe that there are no persons under heaven that live such a melancholy sad sorrowfull pensive life as those who press most after holiness and who make most stir and noise about holiness and therefore if we should resolve to follow after holiness we must resolve to spend our dayes in sorrow and sadness in sighing and mourning and this we had as leave die as doe c. Now to this grand objection I shall give these eight answers First It may be thou lookest only on the dark side of the cloud and not on the bright thou lookest only on thy left hand where the mourners in Zion stand but didst thou but cast an eye on thy right hand there thou wouldst see many of the precious sons and daughters of Zion rejoycing and triumphing Isa 61.1 2 3 10 11. Chap. 35. ult Now thus to look what is it but to look for a straw to thrust out thine own eyes with O Sirs 't is neither wisdom nor righteousness to look only upon those who mourn and not upon those that rejoyce Isa 52.8 9. Jer. 31.7.12 upon those that sigh but not upon those that sing Before you pass a judgement upon the people of God or the good wayes of God look on both hands I say againe look on both hands and then you will be sure to see some Saints in their wedding attire as well as others in their mourning weeds no man in his wits will argue thus because such and such men of such a Calling or Trade are in their mourning weeds therefore all men of that Calling or Trade are in their mourning weeds and yet so witless are many men as thus to argue against the people of God and the wayes of God But Secondly I answer As there are tears of sorrow so there are tears of Joy Jacob weeps over Joseph Compare these Scriptures together Gen. 43.30 Chap. 45.2 and Ch 46.29.30 1 Sam. 1.13 to the 20. John 4. c. but 't was with tears of exceeding joy the sweetest joy is from the sowrest tears tears are the breeders of spirituall joy A holy mans heart is usually fullest of joy when his eys are fullest of tears when Hannah had wept she went away was no more sad The Bee gathers the best honey of the bitterest herbs Christ made the best wine of water The best the purest the strongest the sweetest joys are made of the destilled waters of Evangelical repentance Gospel mourning is no way inconsistent with holy joy though it must be granted that the love of sin and true joy are inconsistent and that the reign and dominion of sin true joy are inconsistent yet it must be confest that mourning for sin and holy joy are consistent in one and the same heart
pleasures as from delighting in a Rattle a Pipe a Feather a Hobby-horse a wooden Sword c. So all the pleasures and delights that holiness takes a man off from they are babish and foolish yea they are base dangerous and devilish and therefore it must needs be rather a high felicity then a misery for God to take thee off from such sinful pleasures and delights by laying principles of holiness into thy heart O! remember that holiness will be no loss unto thee it will be onely an exchange of sinful delights for those that are holy and of carnal for those that are spiritual and of earthly for those that are heavenly Gen. 22. Isaac was not to be sacrificed but the Ram all the delights that holiness will put thee upon to sacrifice are but the Rammish and rank delights of sin and the world which may better be sacrificed then spared holiness will secure thy Isaac that is thy spiritual laughter thy spiritual joy and thy heavenly delights and pleasure Well for a close remember this that sensual pleasures are below a man witne s Tully who saith that he is not worthy of the name of a man qui unum diem velit esse in voluptate that would entirely spend one whole day in pleasures and witness Julian the Apostate who professed that the pleasures of the body were far below a great spirit he that delights in sensual pleasures shall find at last his greatest pleasures to become his bitterest pains all that holiness will do is but to ease thee of thy pains and therefore thou hast more cause to pursue after it then to turn thy back upon it But Seventhly I answer That it may be their present case and condition bespeaks rather the exercise and evidence of sorrow and of grief then of gladness joy and triumph First Psal 51. Multi conscientiam habent non ad remedium sed ad judicium saith One. And Tolle conscientiam tolle omnia saith another For first It may be some wound or guilt at present may lye hard upon their consciences as once it did on Davids and who then is able to rejoyce under a wounded conscience a guilty conscience As long as Adam did Fast in Paradise he stood fast but having once wounded his conscience by eating the forbidden fruit though he tarried a while in Paradise yet he could take no delight nor content in Paradise 't is true the Sun did shine as bright as ever and the Rivers ran as clear as ever and the Birds sang as sweetly as ever and the Beasts played as pleasantly as ever and the Flowers smelled as fragrantly as ever and all the Trees and fruits of the Garden did flourish as bravely as ever c. Ah but now Adam had contracted guilt upon his conscience and this marrs his joy and spoils his delight and unparadises Paradise to him his fall had made so deep a wound in his conscience that he could take no delight in any of the delights of Paradise guilt as an arrow did stick so fast in his conscience that instead of sucking sweetness from the fairest fruits Gen. 3.10 Jer. 20.4 he runs to hide himself under the broadest leaves Guilt makes a man a Magor-Missabib a terror to himself Put never such stately Robes upon a wounded man he mindes them not set never such dainty fair before a wounded man he rellisheth it not lay him on never so soft a bed yet it pleaseth him not and let him hear never such sweet musick yet it delights him not the smart and sense of his wound takes off the sweet of all and so does a wound in the conscience take off the sweet of all a mans enjoyments and contentments A guilty conscience like Prometheus's Vulture Desperare est in infernum descendere Isid Mat. 8.19 lies ever gnawing What the probationer-Disciple said to our Saviour viz. Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest that a guilty conscience says to a fallen sinner if thou fast I will follow thee and fill thy minde with black and dismal apprehensions of God of justice of hell if thou feast I will follow thee and shew thee the hand-writing on the wall Dan. 5.5 that shall make thy countenance to change thy thoughts to be troubled and thy joynts to be loosed and thy knees to be dashed one against another when thou goest forth I will follow thee with terrors and when thou returnest home I will follow thee with horrors when thou goest to board I will follow thee with stinging accusations and when thou goest to bed Job 7.14 I will follow thee with terrifying and affrighting dreams Now what joy can be in such a mans heart 'T was guilt that made that despairing Pope say That the Cross could do him no good he had so often sold it what gladness can be in such a mans face surely none I remember a saying of Luther una guttula malae conscientiae totum mare mundam gaudii absorbet one drop of an evil conscience swallows up the whole Sea of worldly joy O 't is better with Enagrius to lye secure on a bed of Straw then to lye with a guilty conscience on a bed of Doun having the Curtains Imbroidered with Gold and the Fringes bespangled with Pearls Sin brings such a stain and such a sting with it as spoils all a mans joys and delights And if this be the present case of a Christian as it may then never wonder to see him hange down his head and to walk mournfully before his God Or Secondly Secondly This may arise from some great and heavy affliction which for the present may sadly distress and oppress a Saints spirit as Jobs did his or as Hezekiahs did his Job 3.38 Isa 9. 16. Gen. 37.30 to the end or as Jacobs did his c. The disease may be so violent the Physick may be so strong the wound may be so deep the Plaister may be so corroding the melting-por may be so hot the Iron chains may be so heavy the Gaul and Wormwood may be so bitter that a Christian may be so far from joy and rejoycing as that he may for the present be so shut up under trouble and amazement and under sorrow and grief Psal 77.4 as that he may not be able if you would give him all the world to open his case unto you his eyes may in some sort tell what his tongue can in no sort utter usually they are the smallest miseries when he that hath them can presently tell all the world of them the greatest sorrow hath for the most part the deepest silence attending on it what Christian ever had joy in his heart or gladness in his face when God was carrying of it harshly and roughly towards him Or Thirdly Lam. 1.16 Gen. 31.2 5. Psal 30.7 Read the 77. and the 88. Psalms Isa 8.17 Mich. 7.7 8 9 17. Psal 4.6 Psal 42.5 11 c. Thirdly It may be they are
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
5 6 8. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake hearing and seeing the miracles which he did And there was great joy in that city Samaria was a very wicked corrupt place and bewitch't by the Sorceries of Simon Magus yet God had his people there Vers 14 15 16 17. and by the Ministry of Philip not Philip the Apostle but Philip the Deacon who was a persecuted brother he called them home to be partakers of his Spirit and Grace And thus the scattering of the Church was the great advantage and increase of the Church Witness Faber Farellus Ruffus and many others in France and witness our Brethren who were forced to fly to New-England the persecution of one Church may be the gathering edifying multiplying and erecting of many Churches Such Ministers who have been by persecution driven from their own Churches have been eminently instrumental in the planting of many other Churches Though the Gospel and the faithful Preachers and professors of it was by the Scribes Pharisees High Priests Elders and great council exploded blasphemed and persecuted at Jerusalem which was once the holy City yet it was with joy received in the poluted bewitched scorned and dispised City of Samaria O the Freeness O the riches of grace Persecution is the multiplication of the people of God in all ages the more the Saints have been afflicted oppressed and persecuted the more they have increased The removing of the seven Churches in Asia brought the Gospel to Europe and Affrica During the ten cruel persecutions of the Heathen Emperors the Christian faith was spread thorow all places of the Empire because the oftner they were mowen down the more they grew as Tertullian witnesseth and the more we are cut down by the sword of persecution saith the same Author the more still we increase Persecuted Saints are like Cammomile which grows and spreads by being trod upon the more persecutors tread upon the people of God the more they will spread and grow Austin has long since observed that though there were many thousand Christians put to death for professing Christ yet they were never the fewer for being slain Julian the Apostate devised all manner of torments to terrifie the people of God and to suppress them and yet they increased and multiplyed so fast that at last he thought it his best course to give over persecuting of them and this he did not out of love to them but because the more they were persecuted the more they increased In Dioclesians time under whom the last and worst of the ten persecutions fell for then Christian Religion was more desperately opposed and persecuted then ever and yet then Religion prospered and prevailed more then ever Ruffinus so that Dioclesian himself observing that the more he sought to blot out the name of Christ the more legible it was and the more he labored to block up the way of Christ the more passible it was and that whatever of Christ he though to root out it rooted the deeper and rose the higher thereupon he resolved to engage no further but retired to a private life And it is very observable that the reformation in Germany was much furthered by the very opposition that the Papists made against it yea and 't is not to be forgotten that when two Kings wrote against Luther viz. Henry the eighth of England and Ludovicus of Hungary this Kingly Title being entred into the controversie made men more diligently and curiously to examine the matter by which means there was stir'd up in men a general inclination to Luthers opinion I have read of one who observing the Christian Religion to be so furiously persecuted by bloody Nero concluded that surely that must needs be good yea very good which was so cruelly persecuted by Nero who was so bad so very bad if men would sit down and study which way to make most proselytes to such and such opinions and practices that are different from their own certainly they cannot pitch upon a better way then to persecute those that differ from them 't is the sword of the Spirit and not the sword of persecution that will reduce the erroneous when the disease lies in the head the remedy must be answerable to the disease certainly a man shall as soon conquer a Castle by Spiritual arguments as he shall conquer a conscience by club-law when our Lord Jesus Christ sent forth his Disciples to make a conquest upon an ignorant erroneous and deluded world he did not send them forth with swords pistols or any such military weapons O no but he sent them forth under the choice anointings of his Spirit and with his everlasting Gospel and by these means he turned the world upside down these were the means by which he turned sinners from darkness to light Acts 26.18 and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ The weapons that the Apostles used were not carnal but Spiritual 2 Corinth 10.4 5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but Spiritual Vide Calvin Beza and Estius and mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Satan had many strong holds and sin had many strong holds and carnal reason had many strong holds and the world had many strong holds in sinners hearts and yet all these strong holds Forts Towers Castles c. were not able to stand before the Apostles Spiritual weapons they all come tumbling down before the Spirit and the word of the Lord in the mouths of his faithful Ministers by these Spiritual weapons Satan was disarmed and rebellious transgressors were conquered captivated and subdued to the obedience of the Lord Jesus But Thirdly The troubles afflictions and persecutions that befall you in the pursuit after holiness may issue in the conversion and salvation of others as is evident in Acts 8. which Chapter I recommend to your most serious perusal So in that 2 Tim. 2.9 10. Wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds but the Word of God is not bound though Paul was fettered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause yet the word was free Therefore I endure all things for the Elects sakes that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory Paul for preaching of the Gospel clearly and faithfully was imprisoned at Rome and handled as if he had been a malefactor all which he was contented to suffer upon these very grounds that the Elect might be called converted saved and glorified 'T is very observable that though Paul was a prisoner yet he preacht though he was in bonds Several of Pauls
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
service of God and to detract from the excellency and glory of it The Kings and Princes of this world have most severely punisht such who by their base mixtures have imbased their coyne and there is a day a coming wherein the King of Kings will most severely punish all such who have imbased his worship and service by mixing their Romish traditions with his holy institutions Rev. 22.18 Rev. 22.18 For I testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the prophesie of this booke if any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this booke And no wonder for what horrible pride presumption stoutness and baseness of spirit is it in foolish man to be so bold with the great God as to dare to mix any thing of his own with his worship and service which according to divine institution is so perfect and compleat God will never bare it to see men lay their dirt upon his gold and to put their Raggs upon his Royal Robes Ah Christians Christians evidence your holiness by standing up for holy ordinances and pure worship in opposition to all mixtures whatsoever oh don 't you touch a poluted worship don't you plead and contend for a poluted worship but let Baal plead for Baal and though all the world should wander after the Beast yet don't you wander and though every fore-head should have the mark of the Beast upon it yet doe you abhor his mark and what ever else it be that do's but smell and savour of the Beast It is observable that in Kings and Princes Courts children fools and the rude Rabble are much taken with fine pictures and rich shews and glistering gaudy cloaths c. but such as are wise serious grave Statesmen they mind not they regard not such poor things they look upon those things as things that are much below the nobleness and the greatness of their spirits who have honorable objects and the great and weighty affaires of the State to busie themselves about so my Brethren though the children the fools and the Rabble of the world are much affected and taken with such polutions and mixtures as makes up a glorious pompious worship yet you that have a spirit of holiness and principles of holiness in you O how should you slight such things and pass by such things as things below you as things not worthy of you who have a holy God a holy Christ a holy Gospel and a holy worship to busie your thoughts your minds your heads and your hearts about But Fifthly Evidence the truth and reality of your holiness by bewailing and lamenting the loss of holiness Ah how is this crowne of holiness fallen from our heads Lam. 5.16 O the leanness of souls O the spiritual witherings and decayes in grace and holiness It s very uncomfortable to see the dayes grow shorter and to see friends grow behind-hand in the world that is to be found among many Christians this day Some complaine of the loss of Trade and others complaine of the loss of estate some complaine of the loss of câ—edit and others complaine of the loss of friends but what are all these losses to the loss of holiness and yet how few be there that complaine of the loss of holiness holiness is fallen in our hearts in our families in our streets and in our Churches and yet how few are there to be found that laments the fall of holiness O Sirs will you lament such as are fallen from riches to poverty from honor into disgrace and from the highest pitch of prosperity to the lowest step of beggary and misery and will you not lament such who are fallen from the highest round to the lowest round in Jacobs Ladder O Sirs will you mourne over a decayed estate will you weep over decayed friends and will you sigh and sob over a decayed body and will you not much more lament and mourne over decayed souls c Ah how many have lost that love Rev. 2.4 5. that life that heat that zeale that readiness that forwardness and that resoluteness that once they had for God and godliness Some are fallen from their holiness by giving themselves elbow-roome to sin against the checks and lashes of conscience Psal 51. others are decayed in holiness by their secret resisting and smothering the gracious motions of the Spirit Acts 7.51 Some are fallen frpm holiness either by their neglect of precious means 1 Thes 5.20 or else by their heartless using of the meanes others are fallen from their holiness either by the allurements and enticements of a tempting world 2 Tim. 4.10 or else by the frownes and threatnings of a persecuting world Some are fallen from holiness by their non-exercise of grace and others are fallen from holiness by not discerning their first decayes in grace So that upon one account or another multitudes in these dayes are fallen from that holiness which was once their glory If you look into families there you shall finde Masters complaining that their servants are so careless foolish frothy light slight slothfull unfaithfull proud and lofty that they are not to be spoken to nor trusted and if you look againe into the same Families there you shall finde servants complaining that their Masters and Mistrisses are so exceeding froward pevish passionate worldly neglective of duties and careless of their souls that 't is even a hell to servants to live with them Now what speaks all these sad complaints but either a total want of holiness or else a very great decay of holiness And if you look among all other relations as husbands and wives parents and children Magistrates and people Ministers and Christians oh what sad divisions what fiery contentions and what feareful Jars are there to be found oh what slightings what revilings what under-valuings what heart-risings what heart-swellings and what heart-burnings are to be found amongst them and what doe all these things declare but that the Glory of God is departed from Israel and that holiness is fallen to a very low ebbe ah friends were there but more holiness among you there would be more union among you and more love among you and more sweetness and tenderness among you and more forbearance and patience among you Oh then you would never be snarling one at another nor biting one of another nor plotting one against another nor devouring one of another any more Again if you look among men whose parts are great whose gifts are high whose profession is glorious and whose expressions and notions are very seraphical ah what a little holiness will you finde O Sirs shall the men of this world vex and fret shall they weep and waile and shall their lamentation and mourning be like that of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo 2 Chron. 35.24 25. and that for the loss of a little wealth or for a punctilio of honor or a day of pleasure or
the smiles of a Prince c and will not you lament and mourne for the loss of holiness which is the choicest Jewel in a Christians Crowne Tears instead of Gemmes were the ornaments of Davids bed when he was fallen from his holiness Psal 51. And though the Persian Kings would have no mourning nor mourning apparel worne in their presence yet the King of kings loves to see his people a mourning for the falls of holiness as well as for the heights of wickedness When news was brought to Xenophon of his Sons death Val. Max. lib. 5. c. 10. he put off his Crowne from his head and wept O my Brethren who can heare of the death of holiness and behold the death of holiness in mens hearts lives and families and not put off his crowne and weep and not put off his ornaments and weep till he can weep no more c. But Sixthly Evidence the truth and reality of your holiness by pursuing pressing and following after the highest degrees of holiness Bernard in Cant. crys out I would not upon the sudden attaine to my highest pitch but grow towards it by little and little 2 Pet. 1.5 13. Rom. 1.17 Psal 84.7 Mushromes grow up to perfection in one night O sit not down satisfied with some drops or sips of holiness but labour after the perfection of holiness O don't content your selves with so much holiness as will bring you to happiness or with so much holiness as will keep wrath and your souls asunder or hell and your souls asunder or eternal ruine and your souls asunder The exhortation in the Text Follow peace with all men and holiness is an exhortation that was given out to Saints that were holy before and the life and force of it lyes in this that those that were holy should labour to be more and more holy they should still be adding of grace to grace holiness to holiness they should still be a going on from faith to faith and from strength to strength As holiness hath its conception birth and infancy so it hath its full growth and after that all Christians must strive Holiness is not like to Jonahs Gourd that shoote up in a night but 't is like Plants and Trees that grows up by degrees Psal 92.14 and after the highest degrees we must endeavour 1 Kings 19.4 5. After the Prophet Elias had travelled a dayes journey in the wilderness he sate downe and slept under a Juniper Tree and there God calls upon him up and eate and when he found him the second time he calls againe upon him Ver. 7. up and eate because thou hast a great journey to goe O Christians you have a howling wilderness to travell through you have a great journey to goe you have many a mountaine to walke over and many an enemy to vanquish even the world the flesh and the devil and many a cross to bare and many a mercy to improve c. and therefore you have very great cause to up and eate I say to up and eate that is to grow stronger and stronger in holiness and to walke from grace to grace and from vertue to vertue and to come off from your milke Heb. 5.12 13 14. and to feed upon strong meate that you may hold out to the end of your journey and not faint nor fall short of that great salvation which attends perfection of holiness And this progress in holiness is that maine thing that the Apostle presses upon the believing Corinthians in that 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises dearely beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the feare of God The Apostle having in the former Chapter armed the believing Corinthians with many strong Arguments against all communion and fellowship with Idolaters he comes at last to touch upon those great and glorious promises Ver. 16 17 18. which upon the account of their high and holy calling they were interested in and he presents them as singular motives and as choice and precious encouragements to move them to perfect holiness in the feare of God There is no work on earth that so well becomes the Heirs of such precious promises as that of cleansing themselves from all filthiness on the one hand and that of perfecting holiness in the feare of God on the other hand Now this being a point of the highest concernment and of the greatest importance imaginable to the Saints I shall therefore endeavour these three things First To lay downe some motives to provoke you to perfect holiness in the feare of God c. Secondly I shall propound some meanes some directions that may help you to make a progress in holiness c. Thirdly I shall shew you how you may know whether you have attained to such a perfection of holiness as we are all to strive after c. I shall first begin with the motives that may whet and stir up your spirits to labour after greater degrees and higher measures of holiness then yet you have attained to and to that purpose I beseech you seriously to consider of these following particulars First Consider that notwithstanding all the means and all the advantages and all the opportunities that you have enjoyed to worke you to perfect holiness in the feare of God yet you have obtain'd but to very small measures of holiness you are rather Babes then Men in holines you are rather shrubs then Cedars in grace you are rather Dwarfs then Giants in godliness to this very day And this sad charge I shall briefly make good against you by an Induction of eight particulars thus First The strength the power the activity and the prevalancy of sin in you to this day do's witness to your faces that you have yet obtain'd but small measures of holiness Rom. 7.22 23 24. Isa 59.12 Oh my Brethren are not many of your corruptions as powerfull and as strong as they were five ten yea twenty years agoe notwithstanding all the prayers that you have made and all the Sermons that you have heard and all the tears that you have shed and all the resolutions that you have taken and all the promises that you have made and all the conflicts that you have had and what do's this speak out but that holiness is at a low ebbe in your souls O Sirs were but holiness risen to a greater height in your souls Ch. 8.10 how readily would you trample upon your lusts and how easily would you leade captivity captive As the house of David grew stronger and stronger 2 Sam. 3.1 so the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker As holiness rises in the soul by degrees so sin dies in the soul by degrees and the more any man abounds in holiness the more he abounds in his spirituall conquests over the world Gal. 8.14 the flesh and the devill O Sirs your pride testifies to your faces and your self-love
in the earth a perfect and upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil Job was a very considerable person he was a man of a choice spirit he was caller in goodness and higher by the head and shoulders in grace and godliness then any of the Saints in that Age and corner of the world where he lived Job was a man of the greatest weight and worth for holiness that was in all the world Job was a none such no Christians could come neer him as he was the greatest so he was the best of the best of all the Saints that were in the East for heighths of grace and holiness he was a Giant and all the Christians round about him were but as so many Dwarfs he was the Paragon of his time for piety and sanctity none could parallel him none could match him And in this sense we are to understand the Apostle both in that 1 Cor. 2.6 We speak wisdom among them that are perfect and in that Phil. 3.15 Let as many as be perfect be thus minded He speaks here not of an absolute perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I persecute I follow with as hot and as eager a spirit after perfection as persecutors do follow after those they persecute for such a perfection himself disclaimeth in vers 12. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus By the force of the Original word that is here rendred follow the Apostle declares that he had perfection in chase as it were and that his spirit was with much heat and eargerness carried out in pursuing after it and resolved not to rest till he had attained to it An absolutely perfection is very desireable on earth but shall never be obtained till we come to heaven Absolute perfection is not the priviledge of Saints militant but of Saints triumphant and therefore the perfection that the believing Corinthians and holy Philippians had attained to was not an absolute but a comparative perfection they were perfect incompaâ—ison of those that were but Babes and Shrubs and Dwarfs in Christ And 't is a very high and honorable report that the Apostle gives of the Corinthians in that 2 Cor. 8.7 Therefore as ye abound in every thing in faith in utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also And 't is a very large testimony that the same Apostle gives of the Romans in that Rom. 15.14 And I my self also am perswaded of you my brethren that ye are also full of goodness filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another Now the fullness the Apostle speaks of is not a fulness of parts for the weakest believer as well as the strongest is at first conversion renewed and sanctified in every part though it be but in part and imperfect and this is a fulness of parts but of this fullness the Apostle does not speak but then there is a fullness of degrees now this fullness is either an absolute fullness or a comparative fullness the Apostle is to be understood of a comparative fulness the Romans were full of all goodness and knowledge in comparison of those in whom Christ was but newly formed and in whom the work of grace was but newly erected and they were full of all goodness and knowledge now in comparison of what they were at their first acquaintance with Christ and first acceptance of Christ and first resignation of themselves to Christ and at their first marriage-union and communion with Christ And thus you see by the experiences of other Saints that 't is possible for you to attain to higher degrees of grace and holiness then any those are that yet you have attained to But Fourthly 'T is possible for you to attain to higher degrees and pitches in holiness then any yet you have reach't unto witness the praises and thanksgivings that has been offered up to God upon their accounts who have attained to a very great heighth of holiness Take a few Scripture-instances for the clearing up of this particular as that in 1 Cor. 1.4 5 7. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ That in every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge Though injuries should be writ in the dust yet spiritual mercies should be writ on Marble that our hearts may be the better provok't to thankfulness for them so that ye come behind in no good gift and that in Eph. 1.3 7 8. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ who according to the riches of his grace hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence Here the Apostle trumpets out the high praises of God for that he had blest them and enrich't them though not with corn or oyl or wine or with gold or silver which is but red and white clay that yet he had blest them with all spiritual blessings which are the choicest the chiefest and the sweetest of blessings for spiritual blessings are right-handed blessings they are peculiar blessings they are blessings sweetning blessings for they sweeten all the blessings man enjoys and they are blessings begetting blessings for they beget and bring forth many other blessings to the enriching and adorning of a Christians soul and they are blessings sanctifying blessings they are blessings that sanctifie all other blessings and they are blessings preserving blessings they are blessings that will preserve all our other blessings spiritual blessings are peculiar blessings they are costly blessings they are blessings that reach to the very spirit and soul of a Christian they are blessings that raises the spirit of a Christian and that enobles the spirit of a Christian and that cheers up the spirit of a Christian and that a thousand ways betters the spirit of a Christian and therefore 't is no wonder that the Apostles heart was so affected with spiritual blessings and that his mouth was so filled with spiritual praises as indeed it was And so in that 1 Tim. 1.12 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was overful redundant or hath abounded to flowing over as the sea doth overflow the banks many times and drown the lower grounds that are nearest to it And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord because the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus And thus you see by others thanksgivings that 't is possible for you to attain to far higher degrees of holiness then what for the present you are raised to The Stork is said to leave one of her young ones where she hatcheth them and the Elephant to turn up the first sprig towards heaven when he comes to feed and both out of
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
Colonus the Dutch Martyr called to the Judge that had sentenced him to death and desired him to lay his hand upon his heart and then asked him whose heart did most beate his or the Judges here was a man of an heroick spirit indeed Basil was a man of great holiness and a man of a most masculine and couragious spirit when the Emperour sent to him to subscribe to the Aarian heresie to engage him Hist Tripart lib. 7. cap 36. promised him great preferment to which he replyed Alas these speeches are fit to catch little children withall that look after such things but we that are nourished and taught by the holy Scriptures are readier to suffer a thousand deaths then to suffer one syllable or tittle of the Scripture to be altered And when the Emperour threatned him with imprisonment banishment death he answered Let him threaten boyes with such Fraybugs as for my part I am resolved that neither menaces nor flatteries shall silence me or draw me to betray a good Cause or a good Conscience Charles the ninth king of France The History of France in the yeare 1572. who had a deep hand in that barbarous and bloody Massacre of many thousands of the Saints in France soone after that horrid tragical and perfidious slaughter was over he called the Prince of Conde proposed to him these three things Either to go to Mass or to die presently or to suffer perpetual imprisonment To which he returned this noble bold and heroick answer viz. That by Gods help he would never chuse the first and for either of the other two he left to the kings pleasure and Gods providence John Duke of Saxony was eminent in Christianity and he did heroically assert and maintaine the cause of God against all opposition in three Imperial Assemblies And when it was told him that he should lose the favour of the Pope and the Emperour and all the world besides if he stuck so fast to the Lutheran cause to which he gave this noble answer Here are two ways said he I must serve God or the world which of these do you think is the better and so put them off with this pleasant indignation and when the States of the Empire forbid all Lutheran Sermons he presently prepared to be gone and professed boldly that he would not stay there where he might not have liberty to serve God And thus you see by all these famous instances that the more eminent any persons are in holiness the more bold resolute couragious and heroical they will be for God for the things of God and therefore as ever you would be men of high courage and resolution for God labour to be high in holiness Such men who in all Ages have been eminent in holiness have been like Shammah one of Davids Worthies who stood and defended the field when all the rest fled But Twelfthly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness Consider that the more holiness any man attains to the more serviceable and usefull he will be in his Generation David was a man eminent in holiness and as eminently serviceable in his Generation Acts 13.36 For David after he had served his own Generation by the will of God fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption Men that have but a little Stock of holiness will be but a little serviceable in their Generation but men that have a great Stock of holiness will be greatly serviceable in their Generation men that have but little Farms little Stocks are but a little serviceable to their Countrey but men that have great Farmes and large Stocks and rich revenues are greatly serviceable to their Countrey What a world of good sometimes do's one Rich man doe in a Towne a City a Countrey So one Saint that is rich in grace and holiness O what a world of good do's he do to all that are round about him Merchants that have great Stocks trade to the East and West Indies and so inrich their Countrey when as those that have but weak estates can only Barter with their neighbours at home and so are instruments but of little publike good A Candle inlightens the Roome but the Sun inlightens the whole world the more holiness any man has the more meete for publike use that man will be As there was none so holy as Christ 2 Tim. 2.21 Acts 10.38 so there was none of so publike a spirit as Christ he went up and downe doing good he laid out himselfe and he laid downe himselfe for publike good he healed others but was hurt himselfe he filled others but was hungry himself A man that is eminent in holiness will be of his minde who was rather willing to beautifie Italy then his own house Num. 14.11 12 13 14 19 20. Moses was a man of great holiness and of famous use in his Generation ah how often did he turne away the fierce anger and indignation of God from sinful Israel Deut. 9.14 Psal 106.23 and O the famous deliverances and glorious salvations that God brought about by his hand Nehemiah Nehe. 5.14 ult was a very holy man and he laid out himselfe and his great estate for publike service Mordecai was a very pious man Esth 4. vide a man famously serviceable in his Generation Esth 10.3 For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus and great among the Jews accepted of the multitude of his brethren seeking the wealth of his people and speaking peace to all his seed King Jehosaphat and Joshuah were men of eminent holiness and of singular use and service in their Generation men that have no holiness others that have but a little holiness will be still a carrying on a private interest of honor or profit or friends or Relations and this we have seen evident amongst us in these latter dayes therefore as ever you would be eminently serviceable in your Generation labor after an eminency in holiness But Thirteenthly To provoke you to labor after higher degrees of holiness consider that the greatest degrees of holiness are usually attended wirh the highest degrees of honor 2 Cor. 3.18 Grace is called glory and the greatest measures of Grace are commonly crowned with the greatest degrees of glory Eph. 5.27 Abraham was a man eminent in Grace and holiness and he was highly in honor among the people Gen. 23.6 Hear us my Lord thou art a mighty Prince amongst us Or as the Hebrew has it thou art a Prince of God amongst us that is thou art a notable Prince thou art an excellent Prince for so the Hebrews speak of all things that are notable and excellent Job Job 1.1 2. was a man that had attained to a very high degree of holiness and he was highly honored among the people Job 29.25 I chose out their way and sat chief and dwelt as a king in the Army in all weighty
obscure others that their own Sun may shine the brighter these labour to lessen others reputation hoping thereby to greaten their own these admire themselves and contemn others these look upon themselves as the greatest Doctors and upon all others as the worst of Dunces from these turn aside Some there be that spend their time and their strength in studying and preaching of dry and sapless controversies which are so far from bettering of mens hearts and from reforming of mens lives that they leave men as much and many times more under the power of sin and dominion of Satan than they were before from these turn aside And others there be that stand most upon easie things and little things upon things of least worth and weight and in these they will be very nice and curious 1 Tim. 1.5 6 7. Mat. 23.25 ch 6.3 4 5. and yet readily pass over the great and the weighty things both of the Law and of the Gospel they stand more upon circumstantials than upon substantials upon a Saints-day than upon a Sabbath-day upon an Easter-offering than upon offering up of themselves to the Lord upon a Pipe a Vesture a Gesture than upon saving of immortal souls from these turn aside Some there be that speak two words for Christ Ezek. 13. 2 Pet. 2.1 2 3 4 Rev. 18.11 12 13. and ten for themselves that are very zealous to fleece their flocks but are neither headed nor hearted to feed their flocks that minde mens goods more than their good and the serving of themselves than the saving of souls So they may be clad sprucely and fate deliciously and live lazily they care not though millions of souls go to Hell yearly to pick your purses they will indulge your consciences and so it may go well with them in this world they care not what becomes of you in the other world from these turn aside And others there be that take more pains to make Proselites than to make men holy they make it their great business to win over men to their opinions Mat. 23.15 when they should be a winning of men over to Jesus Christ they make it more their work to convert men to their way than they make it their work to better mens hearts or mend their lives or save their souls they will compass Sea and Land to make men one with themselves and yet think all that time and pains lost that is spent in indeavouring to make men one with Christ these are Factors for Hell and resemble the Prince of darkness to the life for as hee so they will spare no pains to gain Proselytes from these turn aside And give up your selves to their labours who make it the top of their glory to preach holiness to advance holiness to magnifie holiness and to practise holiness and this will be an excellent means to raise you up to higher degrees of holiness But Fourthly Be most in with them that are most eminent and excellent in holiness let the delight and joy of your hearts run most out to them who are still adding to their stock of holiness Thus it was with that Princely Prophet in that Psal 16.2 3. My goodness extendeth not to thee But to the Saints that are in the Earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight The Disciples by discoursing with Christ had a holy flame raised up in them Luk. 24.32 And they said one to another did not our hearts burn within us while hee talked with us by the way Act. 18.5 and opened to us the Scriptures And when Paul met Silas and Timotheus hee burned in spirit these two men were eminent in holiness and by their company and communion the zeal and courage of the Apostle Paul was very much heated and raised Look as one flaming Bavin may kindle a thousand so one precious Saint in whom grace is strong and holiness is high may by a divine and secret operation convey heat and life power and vigour into all that touch him or come neer unto him even as the Load-stone by a secret operation conveyeth power and vigour into Iron The prayers the conferences the counsels and all the carriages of a man eminent in holiness will mightily help on the work of holiness in their hearts where the streams of holiness runs but low Look as rich and costly Banquets do refresh and raise and strengthen their spirits that are weak and faint So men that are rich in grace and holiness will raise and strengthen their spirits who are weak in grace and who for want of greater measures of holiness are apt to faint Look as young plants will not thrive under dropping-trees so such as are weak in holiness will never thrive so long as they only associate themselves with those that are weak Look as many times one rich man makes many poor men rich so many times one man rich in holiness makes many rich in holiness and therefore as over you would abound in holiness look not so much at gifts as at grace look not so much at Saints out-sides as at their in sides look not so much at their external Garb as at their internal worth and alwaies make them your choicest and your chiefest companions who do most excel in grace and holiness their tongues their lips their lives will still be a droping divine marrow and farness and therefore be sure to keep most in with them But Fifthly If ever you would attain to higher degrees of holiness then be much in the exercise and actings of that holiness you have all the honour and glory that God hath from us in this world is from the exercise of holiness Look as the frequent actings of sin is the strengthening of sin so the frequent actings of holiness is the strengthening of holiness Look as the non-exercise of holiness brings upon the soul a decay of holiness so the exercise of holiness breeds in the sould an increase of holiness Holiness is alwaies made more and more perfect by acting Look as Wells are the sweeter for drawing and Fountains the better for overflowing so holiness is sweerest and best when it is drawn into action Look as the running-water is the best and sweetest water so the active Christian is the best and sweetest Christian That musical Instrument alwaies makes the sweetest melody that is most frequently used and so doth that Christian that is most frequent in the exercise of grace and holiness Wee get nothing by dead and useless habits talents hid in a Napkin gather rust and the noblest faculties are imbased when not improved in exercise and therefore the Apostle exhorts Timothy to stir up the gift of God that was in him in that 2 Tim. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies to rekindle or revive when the world the flesh and the Devil go about to put out that Divine Fire that should bee alwaies â—â—â—ning in our hearts wee must do all wee can to foster it and keep
and who are much in the Publick trade of Christianity viz. hearing the word conferences family duties c. but very rarely shall you finde them in their closets as ever you would bee eminent and excellent in holiness keep up your private trade with God maintain your closet communion with the holy one of Israel But Seventhly If ever you would attain to higher degrees of holiness then fall with all your might upon subduing and crucifying your most raging corruptions and your most darling-lusts O do not defer O do not delay the work of spiritual mortification O do not think that you can both fight and overcome fight and triumph in one day O do not think that your golden and your silver Idols will lay down their Arms Isa 2.20 and yeeld the field and lye at your feet and let you trample them to death without striking a blow O remember that bosome-sins will do all they can to keep their ground and therefore you must arise with all your strength against them and bray them in a morter and stamp them to powder and burn them to ashes O deal with them as they dealt with the Leviets Concubine force them to death and cut them to peeces Judg. 19. 2 King 9. O leave not the Palm the skull of this cursed Jezabel undevoured undestroyed O deal by your most inraged lusts as the Philistims did deal by Sampson pluck out their eyes and make them to grinde in the Mill of Mortification till their strength be utterly consumed and wasted Whilst Saul lived and kept the Throne and was in his strength little David was kept exceeding weak and low but when Saul was dethroned and slain little David quickly grew stronger and stronger 2 Sam. 3.1 so all the while a darling sin lives and keeps the Throne in the hearâ—â— grace and holiness will be kept exceeding weak and low but when your darling Rom. 8.10 13. sin is dethroned and slain by the power and the sword of the Spirit grace and holiness will quickly grow stronger and stronger and rise higher and higher When men would have a rough field fitted for the plow and fitted to bring forth fruit will they not first fall with all their strength and with all their might upon grubbing up by the roots the strongest Trees and the sturdiest Oaks knowing that when these are grubbed up weaker trees will easily fall So as ever you would have your hearts and lives full of the fruits of righteousness and holiness fall with all your strength and with all your might upon grubbing up by the very roots your beloved sins your strongest lusts and then the rest of your corruptions will easily fall When Galiah was slain the Philistims fled and were easily brought under when a General in an Army is cut off the common souldiers are quickly routed down but with your darling-sins and then the conquest of other sins will be easie When a man hath eat poison nothing will make him thrive till hee hath vomited up the poison that hee hath eaten 't is not the most wholsome food the choicest dainties nor the richest cordials under Heaven that will increase blood and spirits and strength in such a person hee will throw up all and nothing will stay with him to do him good till his poison be cast up and cast out Beloved-sins they are the poison of the soul and till these are vomited up and cast out by sound repentance and the exercise of Faith in the Blood of Christ the soul will never thrive in grace and holiness all the wholesome food of the Gospel and all the dainties and cordials of Heaven will never beger good blood nor noble spirits nor divine strength in their souls that upon no terms will part with their darling sins and therefore as ever you would be strong in the grace of the Lord draw up all the strength that ever you are able to make and fall on with the greatest courage upon your bosome-sins and never cease till in the strength of Christ you have got a compleat victory and conquest over them In the Law 't was the blood of the Sacrifice and the Oil that cleansed the Leper and that by them was meant the blood of Christ and the Spirit of Grace is agreed by all Ah friends as ever you would be cleansed from your darling-sins which do so exceedingly hinder the increase of holiness be often in looking upon a crucified Christ and in the application of his blood to your own souls I have read of five men that being asked what was the best means to mortifie sin gave these Answers saith the first The best means to mortifie sin is to meditate of death Saith the second The best means is to meditate of the judgement-day Saith the third The best means is to meditate on the Joyes of Heaven Saith the fourth The best means is to meditate on the torments of Hell But saith the fifth The best means is to meditate on the blood and sufferings of Christâ— and doubtless the last hit it to a hair If any thing under Heaven will subdue and bring under darling-sins it will be the daily sight of a bleeding groaning dying Saviour Phylosophy saith Lactantius may cover vices but it never cuts off vices it may hide a lust but it can never quench a lust As black-patches instead of plaisters may cover some deformities in nature but they can never cure them Ah Sirs if you do not kill your darling-sins they will kill your precious souls Isa 37. When Senacheribs Army was destroyed by an Angel and hee returned home with a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips hee enquired of one about him what hee thought the reason might be why God so favoured the Jews to which hee replied That there was one Abraham their Father that was willing to sacrifice his beloved Son to death at the command of God and that ever since that time God favoured that people well said Senacherib if that be it I have two beloved Sons and I will sacrifize them both to death if that will procure their God to favour mee which when his two Sons heard they as the story goes slew their Father being more willing to kill Isa 37.38 than be killed Oh friends you must kill or be killed if you are not the death of your beloved sins your beloved sins will prove the death and ruine of your immortal souls and therefore never leave looking up to a crucified Christ till vertue flow from him to the crucifying of those special sins that do most obstruct and hinder the growth and increase of holiness But Eighthly and lastly If ever you would attain to higher degrees of holiness then dwell much upon the holiness of God O be still a musing be still a pondering upon the holiness of God Certainly if there be any means under Heaven to raise you up to higher degrees of holiness 't is this and therefore keep alwaies
longer and bee quicker and nimbler in religious duties than others that are more aged in grace and holinesse but yet they that are aged in grace and holinesse do perform religious duties with more spiritual art and accuratenesse and with more divine skill judgement and understanding than they do in whom the spring of holinesse runs low A young Scholar may run over more paper and write more paper and make more letters than his Master doth but yet his Master writes more understandingly exactly and accurately than hee doth So many young converts may run over more duties than others and yet others may perform duties more understandingly and more exactly and more accurately than they do let the duty bee never so short yet if there bee much spiritualnesse holinesse brokennesse seriousnesse and accuratenesse in it it will carry all before it 't will win the blessing and obtain the crown when the longest duties wherein there is no such frame nor temper of spirit shall not prevail with God at all Zach. 7.4 5 6. Isa 58.1 6. It argues a very great measure of holinesse when the soul is habitually carried on in religious duties with much solidnesse seriousnesse spiritualnesse exactnesse and accuratenesse But Tenthly The more any man makes it his great businesse and work in all his duties waies and walkings to approve himself to God and to bee accepted of God Jer. 12.3 Psa 17.3 The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chakreni signifies a very strict careful diligent search and inquisition c. the greater height of holinesse that man hath attained to David was a man of great holinesse and how studious and industrious hee was to approve his heart to the Lord you may see in that 139. Psalm 23 24. Search mee O God! and know my heart try mee and know my thoughts and see if there bee any wicked way in mee and lead mee in the way everlasting The Psalmist knew that God had an eye upon him both at home and abroad both at bed and at board both in publick and in private both in his family and in his closet hee knew that God had an eye in every corner of his house and in every corner of his heart and therefore hee appeals to God and hee approves his heart to God and nobly ventures upon the tryal of God Search mee O God and know my heart c. this frequent repetition and doubling of words Search mee O God and know my heart try mee and know my thoughts c. doth not only note the earnestnesse and seriousnesse of Davids spirit in prayer but also the soundnesse the uprightnesse the plainnesse and the unfeignednesse of Davids heart in that hee was very willing and ready to submit himself to the search tryal examination and approbation of God And so Peter that great Apostle of the Gentiles makes it his great businesse to approve himself to Christ thrice together Joh. 21.15 16 17. Lord thou knowest that I love thee Lord thou knowest that I love thee Lord thou that knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Christ best knew the reality and sincerity of Peters love and therefore Peter appeals to him as to a judge that would bee sure to judge righteous judgement Thou knowest that I love thee And so the Apostle Paul speaking in the Name of his fellow Apostles saith wherefore wee labour that whether present 2 Cor. 5.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or absent wee may bee accepted of him The Greek word that is here rendred labour is a very Emphatical word it signifies to labour and endeavour with all earnestnesse and might to indeavour with a high and holy ambition to bee approved of by God and to bee accepted of God judgeing it to bee the greatest honour and the most desireable happinesse in all the world to bee graciously owned approved and accepted of the Lord as ambitious industrious and laborious as Haman was to bee highly accepted with King Ahasuerus yet he was not more ambitious to bee accepted with the King than the Apostles were ambitious to be accepted of the King of Kings O Sirs when in every Sermon you hear and in every prayer you make and in every fast you keep and in every action you do and in every way that you walk and in every mercy that you enjoy and in every cross that you bear c. you make it your great businesse and work to approve your selves to the Lord and that though the world should discountenance you and friends hate you and near and dear Relations reject you that yet you may find blessed acceptance with God this argues holiness to be upon the Throne when in all your dealings and tradings with God you make it your Heaven to approve your selves to God and when in all your transactions with men you make it your happiness to approve your selves to God 't is an Argument that the springs of holiness are risen high in your souls But Eleventhly The more a man lives by the Rule of Expediency as well as by the Rule of Lawfulnesse the greater measure of holinesse that person hath attained to Joh. 16.7 2 Cor. 8.10 Weak holinesse hath only an eye upon the Rule of Lawfulnesse but raised holinesse hath one eye upon the Rule of Lawfulnesse and the other upon the Rule of Expediency Weak holinesse saith O this is lawful and that is lawful O but saith raised holinesse is it expedient is it expedient as well as lawful That Angelical Apostle Paul had still his eye upon the Law of Expediency 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful unto mee but all things are not expedient all things are lawful for mee but I will not bee brought under the power of any And so ch 10.23 All things are lawful for mee but all things are not expedient all things are lawful for mee but all things edifie not And so in that 2 Cor. 12.1 'T is not expedient for mee doubtless to glory Many things may bee lawful that yet may bee very inexpedient for our place state calling and condition in the world 'T was lawful for the Apostle to eat meat Rom. 14. but 't was not expedient for him to eat meat when his eating of meat would make his weak Brother to offend or grieve or stumble or fall And therefore hee resolves that rather than hee will eat meat to offend 1 Cor. 8.13 hee will never eat meat whilst the world stands The more unchangeably resolved any person is to eye the Rule of Expediency and to live by the Rule of Expediency the greater measure of holinesse that person hath certainly attained to the streams of holinesse runs low in that Christians heart that hath two eyes to behold the Rule of Lawfulnesse but never an eye to see the Rule of Expediency it argues a very great height of holinesse for a man to make as much conscience of living by the Rule of Expediency as hee doth of living by the Rule of
Lawfulnesse For a man to be often a looking over his Natural actions his Moral actions and his Religious actions and to be still a putting this question to himself O my soul dost thou eye what is expedient dost thou eye as well what is expedient as what is lawful such a frame and temper of spirit speaks out much of Christ and Holinesse within O the sins O the sorrows O the shame O the reproach O the troubles O the travels O the trials c. that might have been prevented had the Law had the Rule of Expediency been more minded and followed by Christians in these daies c But Twelfthly and lastly The more a man can deny himself when hee hath an opportunity power and authority to raise himself to greaten himself to seek himself and to lift up himself the greater measure of Holiness that man hath attained to Providence often puts many a rare and fair opportunity into Moses his hand Exod. 32.9 15. Deut. 9.13 14 18 19 20. Heb. 12.24 25. Nehem. 5.14 ult whereby hee might have raised himself and have greatned himself in the world and yet then even then hee denies himself And Nehemiah was a man of the same mind and metal hee stood upon the advantage ground to have greatned himself and to have lifted up himself as others had done before him but instead of this hee lessens himself hee denies himself hee degrades himself and being of a very noble generous publick spirit hee turns his back upon his own worldly interest and keeps a very free and bountiful Table upon the account of his own particular Revenue and not upon the account of a publick purse And so Daniel was one in Spirit with the former when God had brought him into high favour with the Prince of the Eunuchs Dan. 1.8 9 10 11. and given him a great deal of heart-room there yet upon no terms would hee defile himself with the Kings meat or comply with the requests of the Prince of the Eunuchs it argues a great deal of holiness for a man to deny his temporal self Rev. 4.10 11. to dethrone his temporal self when hee stands upon the advantage ground to advance his temporal self and to throne his temporal self in the world I have read of Trojane the Emperour how hee sent Eustochius one of his chiefest Captains against the Barbarians who having vanquished them returned home The Emperour being very joyful at this good news goes to meet him and brings him gloriously into the City Now Eustochius being high in the Emperours favour 't was but ask and have speak and speed but on this very day of Pomp Triumph and Glory hee chose rather to suffer the Martyrdome of himself his wife and children than with the Emperour to offer sacrifice to Apollo and so denies himself and all his present Pomp and Glory when hee might greatly have inriched himself and advanced himself Nothing speaks out greater measures of holiness than for a man to deny himself when hee may seek himself and exalt himself if hee pleases I have read of a godly man who being sorely tempted by Satan was much in duty to whom Satan said why takest thou this pains thou dost watch and fast and pray and abstainest from the sins of the times But O man what dost thou more than I do art thou no Drunkard no more am I art thou no Adulterer no more am I dost thou watch why let mee tell thee I never slept dost thou fast why I never ate nor drank what dost thou more than I do why I will tell thee Satan said the holy man I pray I serve the Lord nay more than all this I deny my self nay then saith Satan thou goest beyond mee for I am proud and I exalt my self and so vanished O the excellency of self-denial and O the holiness and the happiness of that man that can deny himself that can debase himself that can even trample upon himself when hee hath power and authority in his own hand to greaten himself and to exalt himself Power and authority will try what metal men are made of Ah how many have there been among us of late years who when they have had no power nor authority in their hands to help themselves have seemed to be great deniers of themselves but no sooner had they power and authority in their hands but ah what self-love what self-interest what self-seeking and what self-exalting was to be found amongst them O how have many among them instead of loving God to the contempt of themselves loved themselves to the contempt of God and who instead of debasing themselves that they might exalt God have debased God that they might exalt themselves and who instead of losing themselves that they might finde God have lost God that they might finde themselves These put mee in minde of the Abbot in Melancthon who lived strictly and lookt demurely and walkt humbly so long as hee was but a Monk but when by his seeming sanctity and humility hee had got to be Abbot hee grew most intollerable proud and insolent c. and being asked the reason of it hee confessed that his former lowly looks was but to see if hee could finde the keyes of the Abby how many such Abbots wee have had amongst us you all know Ah how rare is it to finde a man to deny himself when hee is advantaged to seek himself such a man is worth gold but this Iron-age affords few such golden-men Where this frame of spirit is there the streams of holiness runs deep And thus much for this Use of Trial and Examination And so I come now to the last Use of this Doctrine and that is for Comfort and Consolation to all those that have this real holiness without which there is no happiness O Sirs open wide the everlasting doors of your souls that not a River but a Sea of joy and comfort may flow in upon you For First Know for your comfort That real holiness is the seal of your eternal Election Some are elected to glorious offices in this world others are elected to eternal glory in the other world Joh. 6.70 Judas was chosen to be an Apostle on Earth but not to be a Saint in Heaven but the Thessalonians were elected to eternal glory in Heaven 1 Thes 1.4 though they were not chosen to any glorious offices here on Earth It may be thou art a poor creature that never wast nor never art like to be elected to any noble or honourable imployments either in Church or State O but if thou art a holy person then know for thy everlasting comfort that thy real holiness is a real seal of thine Eternal Election 't is the counterpane as it were of all that gracious love good will and eternal favour that God bears unto thee Ephes 1.4 Hee hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that wee should be holy God did not chuse us either
because wee were holy or because hee did fore-see that in time wee would be holy but hee chose us to that very end that wee should be holy Look as Esther Esther 1. was first chosen out among the Virgins and then purified and decked with Rich and Royal Ornaments and Garments before shee was brought into the presence of the King So God first chuses poor sinners and then hee purifies them Psal 45.13 and adorns them with the rich and glorious Garments of Grace and Holiness that so they may be meet and fit to enter into his Royal Presence 1 Thes 1.4 Knowing Brethren Beloved your Election of God Vers 5. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost Vers 9. And how yee turned to God from Idols to serve the Living and True God When the Gospel comes in Power and in the Holy Ghost and turns persons from Idols to serve the Living God 't is a clear and evident sign of their Election real Sanctification is a sure evidence a fair copy of a mans Election Look as the Pattern is known by the Picture and the Cause by the Effect so Election is known by real Sanctification A Christian need never put himself to the charge of making a Ladder to climbe up to Heaven to search the Records of Glory to see whether his Name is written in the Book of Life in the Book of Election or no but rather make a strict and diligent enquiry whether hee be really and throughly sanctified or no for where there is real sanctification there the glorious Image of Gods Election is in Golden Characters stampt upon the soul A man may have his Name set down in the Chronicles yet lost wrought in durable Marble yet perish set upon a Monument equal to a Colossus yet be ignominius inscribed on the Hospital gates yet go to Hell written in the front of his own house yet another come to possess it All these are but writings in the dust or upon the waters where the Characters perish so soon as they are made they no more prove a man happy than the fool could prove Pontius Pilate happy because his Name was written in the Creed but in real Sanctification a man may see his Name so written in the Book of Gods Election as that it shall remain legible to all Eternity But Secondly If thou are a holy person if thou hast that real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that the Lord takes singular pleasure delight and complacency both in thy holiness and in thy person Psa 149.4 5. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people hee will beautifie the meek with salvation Let the Saints be joyful in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds The Hebrew word Rotseh that is here rendred pleasure is from Ratsah that signifies pleasure delight complacency content c. O God takes singular pleasure singular delight singular complacency and singular content in all his Saints in all his sanctified ones Holiness is the express Image of God and therefore hee cannot but take pleasure in it and in all those that bear it Zeph. 3.13 The Remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies neither shall a deceitful tongue bee found in their mouth Well here are glorious Characters of their holiness but what pleasure what delight c. doth God take in these holy ones why certainly very much as you may see in ver 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty hee will save hee will rejoyce over thee with joy hee will rest in his love hee will joy over thee with singing Look as a Bridegroom rejoyces over his Bride Isa 62.4 5. so will the Lord rejoyce over his holy ones and look what delight complacency and content the Bridegroom takes in his Bride the same yea greater God takes in all his sanctified ones Yea look as a fond Father joyes over his dear childe that hee carries in his arms or dandles upon his knee with singing so God will joy over all his holy ones which are his fondlings with singing such is the singular delight satisfaction and content that hee takes in them Look as the Husbandman delights much in that ground that was once barren but is now fruitful and as the Captain takes a great deal of pleasure in that souldier that once run from his colours but is now returned and fights valiantly and resolutely against all opposers and adversaries and as the Father takes a great deal of joy content and satisfaction in the return reformation and amendment of his Prodigal Son Luke 15. even so a holy God is wonderfully delighted pleased enamoured and even overjoyed Heb. 6.7 â— when such as brought forth nothing but the thorns and briers of wickedness Heb. 2.10 do now bring forth the pleasant fruits of righteousness and holinesse and when such as have run from Christ the Captain of their salvation and run from their profession and run from their principles and run almost from every thing that is good shall now return to the Captain of their Salvation and fight it out most valiantly and resolutely against the world the flesh and the devil and when such as have proved Prodigals and spent all that portion all that stock and all that treasure that they have been intrusted with shall now break off their sins and humble themselves and reform their lives and mend their waies God is so infinitely pleased and delighted in these that hee Records their Names in Heaven Luke 10.20 Rejoyce not in this that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven 't is matter of the greatest joy in the world for a man to have his name inrol'd in Heaven look as 't is the sinners hell that his name is ingrossed in the book of perdition so 't is the beleevers heaven that his name is ingrossed in the book of election I have read of a Senatour Tacitus who relating to his Son the great honours that were assign'd to some Souldiers whose names were written in a certain book whereupon the Son was very importunate to see that book his Father shews him the outside and it seemed so glorious that hee earnestly desired him to open it no saith the Father by no means for it is sealed by the counsel then saith the Son pray tell mee if my name bee written there his Father replies no because all the names of those Souldiers were kept secret in the breasts of the Senatours The Son studying how hee might get some satisfaction desired his Father to acquaint him with the merits of those Souldiers whose names were written in that book the Father relates to him their noble atchievements and worthy acts of valour wherewith they had eternized their names such are written said hee and none but such must bee written in this book whereupon the Son consulting
comfortable for the Saints to consider that how mean and contemptible soever they may be in the eyes of the world that yet there is a day a coming when they shall sit upon a Throne and be crowned with Glory and reign with Christ to all Eternity But Eighthly If thou art a holy person if thou hast that real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that all things shall be sanctified unto thee Tit. 1.15 Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled When a mans heart is once sanctified then all things are sanctified to him when a mans Spirit and way is clean and pure then all things are clean and pure to him O Sirs this is so great and so glorious a priviledge to have all things sanctified to us that 't is more worth than a world yea than many worlds Next to a mans interest in Christ hee cannot begge a greater mercy than this that all things may be sanctified to him that is that all things may so work as to make him more and more holy that every cross may make him more holy and that every comfort may make him more holy that every mercy may make him more holy and that every misery may make him more holy that every Ordinance may make him more holy and that every Providence may make him more holy that every Affliction at home may make him more holy and that every Judgement abroad may make him more holy every condition is sweet when it is sanctified to us sickness is as sweet as health when 't is sanctified to us and weakness is as sweet as strength when 't is sanctified to us and poverty is as sweet as liberty when 't is sanctified to us and disgrace is as sweet as honour when 't is sanctified to us and bonds are as sweet as liberty when they are sanctified to us and death is as sweet as life when it is sanctified to us Look as no condition can be a happy condition that is not a sanctified condition so no condition can bee a miserable condition that is a sanctified condition now this is only the holy man priviledge the holy mans mercy to have every estate and every condition sanctified unto him and this indeed is the Cream and Crown of all our mercies to have them sanctified unto us I and every bitter will bee sweet yea very sweet when 't is sanctified unto us what though thy mercies O Christian are fewer than others and lesser than others and leaner than others and shorter than others yet thou hast no reason to complain as long as thy mercies are sanctified mercies and what though thy tryals are greater than others and thy burden is heavier than others and thy sorrows are deeper than others and thy crosses comes thicker than others yet thou hast no cause to complain as long as they are sanctified Art thou a Holy person O then remember for thy comfort that every bit of bread thou eatest is sanctified and every draught of beer thou drinkeh is sanctified and every suit of cloaths thou wearest is sanctified the beds thou liest on are sanctified and the stooles thou sitest on are sanctified the very aire thou breathest in is sanctified and the very ground thou treadest on is sanctified every penny in thy purse is sanctified and every pound in thy shop is sanctified whatsoever thou hast at home is sanctified and what-ever thou hast abroad is sanctified And O! how should the sense of these things sweeten all thy bitters and turn thy Hell into Heaven and wipe all tears from thy eyes and turn thy sighing into singing and thy mourning into rejoycing c. But As those Heathens that have no hope 1 Thes 4.13 Ninthly If thou art a Holy Person if thou hast that real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that thou art a person very high in favour with God thou art one of his peculiar ones Dan. 14.1 Yee are the Children of the Lord your God yee shall not cut your selves nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God and 〈…〉 the Lord hath chosen thee to bee a peculiar people to himself above all the Nations that are upon the Earth All Gods holy ones are his peculiar ones God hath a peculiar respect for their persons Dan. 9.23 O Daniel thou art greatly beloved or as the Hebrew word Chamudoth signifies thou art a man of desires Now Daniel is called a man of desires because the desires of God run out strongly after him as one that was singularly beloved of him and as one that was highly in favour with him and as God hath a peculiar respect for their persons so hee hath a peculiar respect for their duties and services Prov. 15.8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight God takes more delight to hear the prayers of the upright and to grant the prayers of the upright than the upright takes delight to pray how burdensome and troublesome soever their prayers may bee to others yet they are still delightfull to God but more of this in the next Particular And as God hath a peculiar respect for their services so hee hath a peculiar respect for their tears for hee puts them into his Bottle Psal 56.8 and as hee hath a peculiar respect for their tears so hee hath a peculiar respect for their names for hee writes them in his Book Luke 10.20 And as hee hath a peculiar respect for their names so hee hath a peculiar respect for their blood Psa 116.15 and this Cain found by wofull experience from the cry of his Brothers Blood O Sirs God by making of you holy hath made you like himself like his Son like his Spirit and like his most glorious Angels which excel in strength and what doth this speak out but Gods peculiar favour God makes many rich and many great and many honourable and many mighty and many wise and many noble and many beautifull and many successful whom hee will never make holy Ephes 1.3 in making of you holy God hath made you spiritually great rich honourable wise and beautiful c. and this speaks you out to bee highly in the favour of God Holiness is a singular fruit of Gods special favour and love God hath a common favour and love for all men yea for the worst of men Ephes 2.4 5. witnesse that common preservation and common protection and common provision that hee vouchsafeth to them and God hath a special love and favour and this runs out only to his holy ones holiness is a divine beam a heavenly drop a choice pledge of Gods special favour and love O Sirs though the world may slight you and enemies revile you and friends dis-favour
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
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.
3.17 Because thou saiest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked They had a great opinion of their own goodness worth and excellent state having need of nothing when they they had nothing of a Christian in them Thou sayest thou art rich I but thou dost but say so thou boastest and braggest of thy riches as many proud Beggars do of that wealth they have not for all thou deemest thy self rich thou art but poor and beggarly It is mans sin and judgement that ever since he ceased to be what he should be he striveth to seem to be what he is not Thou sayest thou art increased with goods and needest nothing I but thou dost but say so thou dost but dream it is so for thou art ignorant of thine own wretched and lamentable estate Thou sayest thou art rich but I know thou art poor and beggarly if a dram of grace would save thy life thy soul thy family nay the whole world thou hast it not Thou sayest thou seest but thou art blind thou art destitute of spiritual eye-sight thou seest not thine own wants nor Christs worth thine own emptiness nor Christs fulness thine own sinfulness nor Christs holiness thine own poverty nor Christs riches and plenty thine own misery nor Christs mercy thine own insufficiency nor Christs alsufficiency thine own vanity nor Christs glory c. Multi multa sciunt se autem nemo Many know much but few know themselves or their own danger infelicity or misery and indeed no misery to this The Chineses use to say of themselves that all other Nations of the world did see but with one eye they only with two and of this spirit and temper were those blind Laodiceans they thought they knew all things when they knew nothing that they should nor as they should By all which you may see that there is an imaginary holiness a conceited holiness where there is no real holiness but an imaginary holiness will bring a man but to an imaginary blessedness a conceited holiness will bring a man but to a conceited happiness he that doth but dream that he is holy he doth but dream that he shall be happy Bastards of old were not to inherit Gen. 21.10 but to be thrust out from among the true heirs Judges 11.1 2. Now Jepthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour and he was the son of a harlot and Gilead begat Jephthah And Gileads wife bare him sons and his wives sons grew up and they thrust out Jephthah and said unto him Thou shalt not inherit in our Fathers house for thou art the son of a strange woman Ah Sirs you that are but bastard Christians bastard Professors bastard Believers bastard Saints you shall never inherit among the heirs of glory 2 Thes 1.8 9. Matth. 8.12 Ch. 22.13 but shall be thrust out for ever from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power and thrust into utter darkness because you have pleased your selves and satisfied your spirits and blest your souls in a bastard holiness in a conceited holiness Deut. 23.2 A bastard shall not inherit in the Congregation of the Lord he shall have no fellowship nor communion with the people of God the door of Admission shall be shut upon him Mat. 25.10 11 12. Ch. 7.21 22 23. The foolish Virgins had but a Bastard holiness a conceited holiness an outward dress of holiness and therefore the door of life the door of hope the door of help the door of grace the door of mercy the door of glory was shut upon them William the Conquerour was much slighted and scorned because he was a Bastard God and his people will slight such and scorn such and turn their backs at last upon such that have no more then a bastardly holiness and therefore this cannot be the holiness here meant But Thirdly There is an outward external visible holiness which includes mens freedom from scandalous vices and their ordinary performance of religious duties Luke 1.5 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were both saith the Vulgar Sine querela without complaint their conversation was such as none could justly complain of it It was irreprehensible it could not be reprehended Now in this sense Zacharias and Elizabeth were both holy persons for they walked in all the commandments and ordinances of God blameless And so the Apostles 1 Thess 2.10 For ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves among you that believe Answerable to this is that of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity Not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you-wards These precious souls behaved themselves holily towards God justly towards the world and unblameably towards believers they were holy in Religious work they were just in their Civil affairs and Commerce and unblameable in their private carriage and behaviour amongst their familiar and most bosome friends And this is that the Apostle presses upon Christians in Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmeless the sons of God without rebuke or unblemished in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine or shine ye as lights in the world Christians must be the spotless sons of God Deut. 32.5 they must have no spots upon them that are inconsistent with Sonship or Saintship Now it is certain without this outward visible holiness there is no happiness there is no fruition of God in everlasting blessedness They that pretend their hearts are as good as the best when their lives are as bad as the worst shall experience this truth at last to their shame and cost that without visible holiness here there can be no fruition of God hereafter Yet this must be granted 2 Tim. 3.5 They say of Halifax Nuts that they are all shells no kirnels There are many that make a glorious shew before men that are abominable in the sight of God Luke 16.15 that are Aurum hominibus lutum Deo Gold in mans eyes dirt in Gods sight Gregor Mor. c. 34. l. 13. that a man may be visibly holy that is not inwardly holy A man may be outwardly holy that is not throughout holy a man may have an outward dress of holiness upon him that hath not the spirit and vitals of holiness in him As Judas had and Simon Magus had and Demas had and the Scribes and Pharisees had Matth. 23.25 27 28. We unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of extortion and excess Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye are like unto whited Sepulchres which indeed appear beautifull outward but are within