hath it and is great in the eyes of men and they lift him up and he is lifted up in his own heart then he goes on with a full saile in the wayes of God and his calling he is called to but alas let that cease from him and his spirit is down and flags And what 's the reason of this Alas poore creature he was ready to think it was the breathings of the Spirit of God that fill'd his sails and it was nothing but a little popular breath Take it away and the sailes fall flat there is no motion any more When the affections of a people toward a man are the chariot wheels take them but off he drives sadly and heavily as Pharaohs chariots did Ah poor soul This is their penny they will not serve the Lord cannot walk nor work his works except they have their penny except they be so and so thought of have so much and so much the hearts of his people Well such they have their penny Mat. 20.9 But it is their all and a poore reward it is as our Saviour speaks it will not serve at the last day when they cast up their reckonings they will finde it to be a poore thing Saith Luther Haud velim gloriâ aut nomine vehi majus enim gaudium in maledictis blasphemiis Well this is our condition the Lord make us sensible of this deceit of our hearts I doubt if we were well searched many of us would be found guilty before the Lord to be such as seek the honour that is of man and therefore our faith must be of necessity hindred How can ye believe c Tenthly a man that careth not what becometh of him so he have honour from men So Saul 1 Sam. 30 Honour me now before the people Use 3 The third Use shall be of exhortation then to stir us up every one Brethren this day in the fear of God and for the bowels of Jesus Christ as we would ever be saved by believing in the Lord Jesus or live by faith to look to it that we mind not so much the praises which are of men as the praise of God Oh that we were all of us perswaded this day but to study our hearts better to mind with what ends we are carried out to every thing Ask your hearts the question why do I this or that Is it to be seen of men is it to please men is it to have the honour and the praise of men and be humbled for it and not rejoyce in your sincerity uprightness before the Lord. Wherwithal shal I perswade you brethren To use a few arguments Arg. 1 It is the example of the Lord Jesus I receive not glory of men that is to say I do not gape for it I am not earnest for the good opinion of men it neither addeth to me nor diminisheth from me How oft did he silence the people when he had wrought great works as the Leper that was cleansed Mat. 9.30 Mat. 8.4 See thou go and tell no man And two blind men whose eyes he opened Jesus straightly charged them saying let no man know it Alas when our Saviour perceived they would come and take him by force and make him King dreaming of an earthly kingdom the Messiah should have he withdrew himself he had no mind of such things he came not to seek his own glory but the glory of him that sent him Which of us should have kept such Revelations as the Apostle Paul had 1 Cor. 12.2 so long a time together even fourteen years as he did Arg. 2 Heb. 11.24 The examples of other Saints that have gone before us Moses cared not to be accounted the sonne of Pharaohs daughter her adopted son he accounted the reproach of Christ greater gain then the pleasures of sinful delights 1 Thes 2.6 and their honours We sought not glory of men saith the Apostle neither of you neither of others Alas however you account of me whether as a Minister of Christ or no or as not approved as some would exclude us out of your affections It is a small thing for me to be judged of you or of mans judgement 1 Cor 4.3 Arg. 3 It is the Lord who must judge Brethren who knoweth the heart and will not judge as man judgeth according to mens parts and abilities and gifts of grace but according to that which is within Many a poore trembling soule that breatheth after the Lord Jesus is able to say little to make out little Oh how much dearer may he be in the eyes of the Lord then we with our honours with our great titles with our raised parts and learning as that learned man said when he saw the poore shepheard weeping over the toad that God had not made him such a creature and he had not been sufficiently thankful Oh saith he Surgunt indecti rapiunt coelum Oh! the Lord knoweth where is the circumcision of the heart Brethren where is the beleeving soul the humble soule indeed where is the fruitful soul full of love and of good fruits this is the soul that shall be accepted with him and he knoweth the ambition of the heart that would faine rise higher upon the wings of fame and renown Oh brethren remember this when we are any of us cried up what will this avail us if the Lord cry us down That which is of high esteem with men may be abomination in the eyes of God Oh therefore above all brethren Luk. 6.15 Phil. 4.8 let me beg of you that we may mind the things that are praise-worthy indeed If there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things that is to say such things as will rather approve us unto God then unto men Arg. 4 Minde it Brethren What ever parts or abilities or gifts the Lord hath given any of us they are not our own but for the good of his people only the sincerity of our heart in the managing of them is our own Now while we have hearts lifted up in us Hab. 2.4 because of them where is the sincerity for so saith the Spirit of God whose heart is lifted up is not right within him so that alas poor creatures when we seek our own glory by our parts or gifts or whatsoever setteth us off in the eyes of men and not the glory of the Lord Jesus we boast of that which is not our own are proud of that which we have received and spend it upon our own lusts upon our own pride and ambition This is the reason wherefore the Lord denieth such parts to many that desire them to their own hurt not knowing the basenesse of their own hearts Oh therefore let us study our own hearts Brethren in this particular and what ever men speak of us look to it that it be found within us that it be good built not upon their sayings upon their charitable thoughts but upon what we
thousands of soules perish upon this account They will be accounted the Lords people and all holy and have no difference made between the precious and the vile And others do account them so and receive them as such though never so vile And doth not this strengthen the hands of the wicked while they thus receive honour one of another one thinketh well of another and he as well of him and so both are kept off from beleeving from coming to Jesus Christ from closing with him Look we among Professours Brethren and is there not an abundance of this seeking of honour one of another Do they not many times claw one another to an high conceit one of another Do they not affect great swelling titles of honour that never were duly put upon them Was not this one of the great sinnes of the Pharisees they loved to be called Rabbi Rabbi Master Master Was not this a seeking of honour from men and did not this keep them off from Christ did not this seale them up and then the Lord knew them afarre off Brethren I envy no mans titles of honour that are due and justly his but I cannot but take notice what affectation there is of titles of honor amongst us Except men be raised in their titles many steps higher then ever their desarts carried them they are not honoured Look to it Brethren I thought and I am sure it hath been professed by some they have done much to pull down these things But for ought I see the spleene was more at the Persons who had them then the titles themselves Why we desire them not you 'l say we cannot help it if they will put it upon us Say you so Brethren but take notice of your hearts are not they more acceptable to us and do we not take them more to favour us who scratch our itching distemper then such as are more sparing in them Minde it do not your hearts sometimes rise against such within you that give you not all the respect you expect though it is more then is due happily and do you stomack this and will you say you cannot help it Will you think thus to mock God and deceive your own soules This is but a fig-leafe not broad enough nor thick enough to cover the nakednesse If thou wert not willing nor glad of such clawing how easily mightest thou drive away such a flattering tongue with an angry look Be not deceived God will not be mocked if there were no receiver there would be no thief if there were no ambition of those honours among men there would be no sycophants who to please them would say any thing And now while it is thus can we think this is a time of so much faith as we pretend to Surely no Brethren you cannot beleeve while you seek honour thus one of another Use 2 Use 2. In the next place Brethren it shall be a Word of tryal to every one of us how the case stands with us whether or no we be such as seek honour one of another It is of very great moment brethren you see it keepeth off a soule from beleeving and closing with the Lord Jesus This is most clear and if we beleeve not we must perish And if it hinder our beleeving but in part so that we cannot serve him so much as otherwise we might how much glory doth it rob him of and how much comfort and peace and strength and sweet communion with God doth it rob us of Therefore I beseech you let us minde it a little and see if we be not many of us guilty First then he that seeks not the glory which is onely from God he seeks honour from men for there is such a principle in man Brethren that there must be some approving of him some to think well of him or else he cannot be quiet See how our Saviour opposeth them here Ye seek honour one of another and not that which is of God If they had sought that honour that glory which is only from God they had not sought that which is of men Rom. 2.29 I suppose the meaning will very well be opened by that parallel Scripture He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew that is one inwardly whose praise is not of man but of God The Jew outwardly his praise was of men but the Jew inwardly his praise was only of God and not of men So that he which never careth for the inward circumcision the circumcision of the heart not that of the flesh The meaning is He that seeks not after the mortification and sanctification of the Spirit by the power of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus but liveth after the flesh only he hath the name of a Jew the name of a Christian and the outward signe of the Covenant of God and resteth in this and maketh his boast in this this is to seek honour of men What is the reason else Brethren that so many follow and adhere to them who will not nor do make any separation of the precious from the vile among us because alas they seek honour from men If those that teach them will account them for Christians so look on them and accordingly receive them to all manner of communion to all Ordinances they never look further never look whether they have Christ within them whether they be born of God Ah deare friends I wish none of us that have come under a narrower search and have been more strictly sifted deceive not our selves in this point If we deceive men minde it God is not deceived O how will some take on if the people of God look not upon them as such as godly as fear him But though they live much without God enjoying him not in his Ordinances nor without them though they live in much close and secret hypocrisie and iniquity they never take on for this Is not this to seek the honour of men and not that glory which is only of God that inward glory that inward approving of the soul and conscience to him Secondly if there be any among us Brethren that teach the peopl that we would reign in mens consciences and be accounted as Gods take upon us his priviledges when all we say must be Gospel though happily not a word in the Gospel to prove it when we expect that our own dictates uttered from us should be believed without any authority from the Gospel of Jesus Christ Is not this seeking of honour from men with a witnesse If we are ready to take it ill if our bare affirmations be not more beleeved then all the Scripture and reason produced by another to never so good purpose Are we guilty any of us herein we seek the honour which is of men Thirdly he that speaks of himself our Saviour saith seeks his own glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 7. â—â— Let men
pretend what they will of revelations new lights and higher dispensations if they speak not according to the Law and the Testimony c. if they speak of themselves from themselves any other doctrine then what they have received from the Lord Jesus they seek the honour of men Let us not be so silly as to swallow down any mans opinion because he is thus and thus holy in any appearance The Devil never deceiveth so dangerously as when he is like an Angel of light But judge according to the rule that Jesus Christ hath given us to judge He that speaks of himself and from himselfe he seeks his own glory he would be singular he would be somewhat more then others and by that meanes be some body Alas were it not for some singularities of opinion there are many whose honour would hardly ever reach its present pitch it is at Is not this a seeking of honour which is of men look to it try your selves Brethren Fourthly for a man to hold any opinion or practice because it pleaseth the people is of account with them is to seek the honour which is of men Doubtless this was the great reason wherefore the Jewes would not beleeve in the Lord Jesus it crossed the old doctrine as they thought which they had received and would have been looked upon as innovators and therefore they made their boasts We are Moses his Disciples Joh. 9.26 We have â—â—tiquity on our side though they were mistaken as our Saviour tells them For if they had been his Disciples they would have beleeved what he wrote concerning Him He that hath no better grounds for his opinion or practises then this Because it is pleasing to the people he seeks the honour of men He that hath no better grounds for it but this is the maine thing that moveth or else he would easily forsake his other grounds he seeks the honour of men let us look narrowly to our hearts Fifthly when a man wil somtimes speak meanly of himself of his own unworthiness on purpose to draw from others a commendation of himself is not this to seek the praise of men more then the praise of God Are there not some hearts that will seem to lament these things before men that they never lament before the Lord and complaine much more of their hearts before men then before him Is not this to seek the praise of men more then the praise of God Isa 57.15 God loveth and delighteth in dwelleth with and approveth of the humble broken soule that lieth low before him indeed in secret that mournes for his abominations Now when a man shall have little of this and many times will be speaking to others meanly of himself to give them occasion to speak better of him is not this hypocrisie is not this to love the praise of men more then the praise of God Beloved many times a man will speak so meanly of himself as if another should speak half so much of him what unkindnesse would there be taken what alienation would there be in affection Oh the mystery of iniquity that is in the heart Brethren except we look narrowly to it it is that which will undo us Sixthly dost thou chew the cud upon any commendation that is past upon thee and roll it up and down under thy tongue as a sweet morsel Oh what nourishment here is for this pride to feed upon such a one thinketh well of me speaketh well of me and such a one saith so and so of me that am thus low and heavenly another Moses for Meeknesse another Solomon for Wisdome another Job for Patience another Joseph for Chastity another John for Love Oh! how doth the heart feed upon this chews it in secret delights to call it to remembrance again and again Is it not thus with us Brethren and is not this to seek the honour that is of men to seek honour one of another Seventhly he that seeks more after gifts and parts then after Grace Brethren seeks the honour which is of men For men usually judge according to others gifts and not their faith which is the hidden man of the heart and not discernable Oh how earnest are some of us after the gift of prayer the gift of prophecie and why That we might set forth our selves to men not to edifie our brethren not that we might have more communion with God our selves I must confesse To covet and that earnestly 1 Cor. 12.31 the best gifts is a duty and rather the gift of prophecie But for what end To edifie I shew you a more excellent way That is to say Love without which all knowledge and tongues and gifts are nothing for it is love that edifies Oh! here search your hearts with candles for a mans ends lie deep as the marrow in the bones lie deepest and most hard to be discovered beg of God by his Spirit to search you try you herein else we shall be deceived But you will say But do we not desire gifts not to edifie others for that is a sweet frame of Spirit that would not be for himself alone but for others as well as himself But is it not that we might be some body might be renowned and minde not so much growing in faith in love in humility in self-denial in the graces of the Spirit which are the main things and without which the rest are nothing I am afraid herein we fail m ny of us very much Eighthly you may know Brethren whether we seek honour one of another if there be in us a spirit envying others well spoken of if more then our selves we cannot endure it and take every commendation of another to be a discommendation of our selves It argues we place much of felicity in it else we should not envy them for it for we envy only for some excellency and therefore you shall finde such a one with his Buts he is so wise and so humble but he failes in another point Oh Brethren when one member is honoured all the rest should rejoyce Shall one member envy 1. Cor. 12.26 because another is honoured because more honour is put upon the head then upon the hand or foot shall they envy no but they should rejoyce in it A shoe of leather becomes the foot as well as a Beaver doth the head Shall our eye be evil because that Gods eye is good Ah! that is a sweet spirit indeed that is a man of another spirit that can when another is honoured more in the work of Christ then himself bless the Lord can rejoyce in it that the Lord hath any fit to honour him though himself be notable to do it This is not to seek the honor which is of men but the praise which is of God Ninthly it is an argument That a man seeks the honour of men too much when he cannot go on cheerfully with the work of Christ if he have not the applause of men When a man
finde upon serious searching of our own hearts Be sure to make it your great work to grow inwardly Oh look to the circumcision of the heart that which God onely seeth and which he approveth and commendeth and is praise-worthy indeed For what will it availe us to be never so much celebrated amongst men and when we appear before the Lord Jesus to be cast off as an abominable thing Oh seek the glory which is of God! Arg. 5 It is the master sinne in sanctification as unbelief in justification For al other sins yield obeysance and give way to this Wherefore did the Heathens forbear much other wickednesses as Scipio and others was it not for honour among men and meerly for that Caput omnium peccatorum Primo enim vitio lapsa est anima hoc ultimum vivat saith Aug. upon Psal 7. And therefore the perfect or grown Christian should take heed of this above all others The second Branch of this Exhortation shall be to take heed then of laying snares in one anothers wayes I mean by loading a poore creature with honour and respect It may be that which may undo him away then with this base flattery in swelling and undeserved titles that is amongst us If such as will have honour amongst men seek it let them seek but not finde If there were no flatterers ambition would quickly flatten bring not fuel to the fire but rather cast on water You had more need Brethren stil to be putting on one another in minde of something to humble us then feeding one anothers humour with honours What doest thou know but the applause and honour thou through flattery puttest upon such a one may be the deadly snare to his soul to undo him for ever for if it lift him up and the Lord then know him afar off what is become of him then It is a great folly in us to think it is any advantage to any man or to our selves to flatter them into any high conceit of themselves to puffe them up with great titles and honours for if they be puffed up their hearts are not right within them and what then can you expect from them Ah Brethren you that know how catching corruption is what tinder it is that will take the least spark for Christs sake be more tender one of anothers souls I know indeed in some cases when the soule is indeed dejected and cast down and ready to cast away all comfort seeth nothing good in him it may be an act of charity then yet with sobriety and tendernesse but alas this is not the ground of our speaking highly one of another and to another Therefore take heed of this Use 4 The fourth Use shall be of Caution Notwithstanding that a man may not hence take boldnesse to prostitute his name and be prodigal of his credit not at all to heed what others speak of him For my own part if I see a man that hath no care of his name let people speak well or ill never heedeth it like Gallio careth not for any of these things I should be afraid such a one careth not for his conscience neither to keep a good conscience before God nor before men or towards men as well as towards God Therefore take heed of this 1. Such evil speakings of thee are a chastisement a rod can Shimei curse David and the Lord hath not bidden him curse Can a dog move his tongue against them and the Lords hand is not in it Can a man be outed of the hearts of the people of God and he hath not done it And hath not every rod a voice is it a child-like spirit not to matter what it speaks nor how many rods are laid upon thy back 2. Through thy name Religion may suffer if thou be disgraced and profess the Lord Jesus it reacheth further then thy self specially if a publick person Crudelis enim qui famam negligit Therefore the Apostle spent so much paines in vindicating of himself from those aspersions that false Apostles cast upon him as of being burdensome to them being poore and mean and contemptible in his bodily presence He knew that hereby the Gospel suffered much disadvantage and his Ministry was prejudiced and therefore he bestirreth him But it was not because he had an ambition to be thought highly of by men but because he knew his endeavours would not be so effectual for the Lord Jesus in his Kingdom 1 Cor. 9.15 as otherwise they would Therefore it is better for me to die saith he then to lose my glorying to make his glorying void in those former respects And that though born out of due time yet he had the Gospel by immediate revelation from God as well as the rest of the Apostles Use 5 A word of comfort to the poore soule that haply may gather some discomfort from this Doctrine as knowing much of the deceit of the heart in this respect Alas what shall I do might one say I thought something was the matter that I could not believe in the Lord Jesus and now I see what is the matter I have sought the honour which is of man and not the honour which is of God and therefore how can I beleeve I am more an outside Christian then an inside For answer to this 1. The best of Gods people have some of this corruption remaining in them Brethren some more and some less It is not thy case alone There is a desire of vain-glory at the bottom many times we are not aware of it Sometime we feel it sensibly Therefore it is possible thou mayest be a beleever though it be thus with thee It is not the having but the affecting of this or any other sinne that stands not with the Covenant of Grace 2. There is a contrary principle within that strives against it at least where it is known And is it not so with thee Is it not thy burden is it not thy trouble The Disciples had very much of it when they would be striving which should be greatest among them 3. It doth indeed more or lesse hinder faith Therfore pray against it be humbled for it Act faith upon the Lord Jesus and the Covenant of Grace That he should subdue all our iniquities for us Mic. 7.8 But be not discouraged because it is in thee if it reign not if thou love it not delight not in it please not thy self in it for it is that which is the ruine of poor souls in this particular FINIS