unblamable Conversations Which is according to that sound Admonition of the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold Glorifie God in the day of Visitation Notwithstanding all the Malitious Cavils and Atheistical Objections made against Religion yet a true Christian that walks answerably to his Profession must gain at the last a Repute and Esteem from all that are Lovers of God and Virtue 2. If we would do things of good Report and which may purchase us a good Name amongst Men we must carefully avoid not only the open practice of Vice but whatever may have any suspicion in the Minds of Men of Vice And this is called by the Apostle An abstaining from all appearance of Evil 1 Thess 5.22 Whether that signifie from every sort or kind of Evil or from every thing that bears the likeness appearance or shew of a Sin For he that will venture as near to the Confines and Borders of Sin as he can seems to declare a Tacit Liking and Approbation of it and consequently exposes himself to the hazard of being Betrayed and Surprized and so of losing his Credit and Reputation Therefore a Wary and Cautious Christian and such it behoves every Man to be will studiously avoid every thing that may cause the least Jealousie in the Hearts of others of his Sincerity There are many things which are not directly Sinful yet to another who has not that Maturity and Ripeness of Understanding may prove an occasion of Stumbling and Falling and therefore are not to be done by him who would acquire a good Esteem and Reputation It is true if a thing that is in it self indifferent be upon weighty Reasons and Grounds commanded by Law and another through Weakness is scandalized at the use of it it is a thing which a good Christian cannot help and there is an Offence taken but not given Though it were to be wished that there were as few of these Stumbling Blocks laid before Weaker Persons as may fairly consist with the Honour and Interest of Religion it self 3. He that would acquire a Good Name and Reputation must take care that in all his Actings with others he be sincere i. e. upon all Emergences he must practise Virtue for Virtues sake because it is in it self the best and most desirable thing in the World For if in our Conversation we proceed upon Sinister Ends and that Self-advantage and Interest be the Measure of our Actions besides that it redounds to the discredit of Religion it casts a Disgrace upon us and we so far deviate from the Principles of true Virtue as Selfishness is concerned in our Actions And the Reason is because he that makes a fair show of some Virtuous Actions merely to compass Self-Advantage does hereby manifestly declare that if it were not for this Private and Self Love he would not do them which the generality of Mankind must needs look upon as a gross piece of Hypocrisie and Dissimulation than which nothing can be a greater Enemy to our true Credit and Reputation Thus you have an Account of the several Virtues to the practice of which the Apostle so seriously Exhorts us And he that has any Care for the Peace of his Conscience in this Life and his Eternal Happiness hereafter will carefully think on these things Which that we may all do He who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith grant to us to whom be all Honour and Glory both now and for evermore Amen A DISCOURSE OF Sincerity John 1.47 Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile THESE Words our Saviour spake of Nathanael who is reckoned one of the Twelve Apostles though called by another Name for we find him expressly mentioned with them John 21.2 This Person being brought by Philip to Jesus when he was come within distance or hearing Christ says Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile As if our Lord had said See here a Man of that Integrity Simplicity and Sincerity which is highly valued and prized in God's sight And though this were spoken particularly of that Apostle yet it instructs us in this Great and Weighty Truth That Sincerity is the great Accomplishment and Perfection of a Christian in God's sight For it is no new thing for true Christians to be called in Scripture by the Name of Israelites For St. Paul expresses it so in more than one place in plain terms Rom. 9.6 They are not all Israel which are of Israel i. e. though they may Lineally descend from Israel yet it is only those that are Sincere that are the proper Israelites or true Christians So again Rom. 2.28 Now to be without Guile here is to be Sincere and without Hypocrisie whereby it appears that a Man is Valued and Esteemed in the Eyes of God according to his Sincerity And this sometimes is represented by the Name of Truth I have no greater Joy says St. John Ep. 3.4 then to hear that my Children walk in Truth that is that they are Sincere Christians I am sure it was St. Paul's great Comfort when he supposed himself near his Death 2 Cor. 1.12 That in Sincerity and Godly Simplicity he had his Conversation in the World He neither flattered himself nor those that heard him but told them the plain Truth shewing them both by what he himself and they must hope to go to Heaven And this was the down-right Sincerity of his Heart when he had no doublings windings or turnings with God but endeavoured as far as ever he could to please him and do his Will This alone has the Promise of Heaven and upon this the Blessed Land of Righteousness the Pleasant Mansions of Immortality are Entailed This is the Complement and Perfection of Holiness without which all our Religion is but a mere Shadow Pageantry For then only is the Soul of Man said to be Sincere when it is fully and wholly carried out after that which is simply and absolutely the best And all Men that have any sense of Religion must own that God and the Participation of his Nature is absolutely and above all Comparison the best thing in the World And to attain to a Union with God cannot be denied to be the greatest Happiness the Mind of Man is capable of And since this is not only simply the best but the utmost and compleat Felicity of our Nature it follows that Sincerity is then most perfect when our Wills with all their Affections and Desires are fully and wholly carried out after it Fully and wholly I say that is without any By-ends or Self-designs or Sinister Respects of particular Fame or Gain or any such thing but merely upon a clear Knowledg that it is the best thing in the whole Creation For he whose Intention is not directed aright can hardly attain that excellent Qualification our Saviour so much commended in his
Here now is that Divine Nature that we are called to partake of and this is the perfect Image and Resemblance of the Divinity that we are to be conformed to and yet these are no other than Moral Vertues and our partaking of the Nature of God is the conformity of our Souls to these and such like Rules of Eternal Reason 3. The Practice of Moral Virtues is so absolutely necessary that without it we can never perform any Christian and Acceptable Service unto God The Ten Commandments must first be kept before we can arrive to that higher measure of Perfection required of us under the Gospel and we must first be good Men before we can be good Christians and none can be good except he be true and faithful and just and honest For what Sign can that Man give that he desires to be like to God in Justice and Equity who never omits any occasion of injuring and defrauding his Neighbour How can he be said to be a Follower of Jesus who went about doing good that will neither afford Relief to the Bodies or Souls of Men God is Love but when Men live in Envy and Hatred and Malice it were strange they should be like to God Suppose any Person should say That he desires and hopes to inherit the pure State of Angels hereafter can we believe this when we see him at the same time pursuing all beastly and sensual Pleasures The Practice of Moral Vertue is a thing that God has put into our Power and he requires that we should be faithful to it because from hence Springs that new Nature which is wrought in us by the overshadowing Power of the Spirit of God There is such a near connection between these Moral Virtues and that Divine Life which Jesus came to plant in our Souls that one cannot be without the other nor can we perform any Service acceptable to God while we either neglect or are false in the Practice of these These are the Arguments which may serve to enforce the serious Practice of Vertue in general upon us and to let us know that the esteem which God hath of us is according to our Growth and Progress in it All other Qualifications are of little or no worth in Comparison of this And if we are defective here though we are otherwise never so gloriously accomplished it will do us no good We may now briefly consider the Incouragements the Apostle gives to the faithful Discharge of these Virtues in general They are these two express'd v. 9. 1. That these things are not new nor strange the Apostle desires nothing but what they had learnt and heard and seen in him If they feared the Truth of what he said they should look on him and see if his Life and Actions were not conformable to his Doctrin Examples are very great Encouragements to a Holy Life and Christians ought not to walk every Man by himself but imitate and stir up and follow one another in the same Course of Holiness That as they offer up the same Common Petitions and Prayers for themselves and all Mankind so they should all strive together and incourage one another in the same way of Virtue that so at last they may all come to the glory and felicity of Jesus who is gone before them 2. He tells them the God of Peace should be with them in so doing The highest Motive and Incentive to the Practice of Holiness and Virtue that can be thought of Though all the World be in a Storm and Confusion about us yet so long as we are Holy and Good that God who Creates an Everlasting Peace for Righteous Men shall be always with us And where he is present there is an Eternal Quietness and Calm God will never forsake his own Life and Nature and Holiness being the very Nature of God he cannot but love and regard it wherever he finds it in any person Though Earthly Parents may forget their Children yet God cannot be unmindful of those that are Good Virtuous and Holy He can never withdraw himself from them but will continually visit them with his Powerful Love He gives them that Peace of Conscience in this Life that the World cannot give and brings them at last to that Land of Peace and Blessedness where there is no Disturbance or Alteration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are true The Gospel being given to amend the Manners and reform the Lives of Mankind and to bring into use those Virtues which began to grow out of fashion through the general Wickedness and Corruption of the World the Apostle begins with Truth Whatsoever things are true Now Truth is to be considered 1. As it refers purely to the Understanding 2. As it relates to Practice First in Opinions and in reference to our belief of any Doctrin that is propounded to us and thus 't is opposed to Error or Falshood and Heresie So that when the Apostle injoins us to follow those things that are true he would have us entertain no other Doctrins but such as are purely Christian Now although a good Christian that believes the Scriptures and sincerely endeavours to understand them aright and to lead his Life according to them may be well assured that God will keep him from all Errors that are destructive of his Salvation yet because Error is so various and that there be too many who act the Devil's part and make it their business to delude Harmless and Innocent Persons it will not be amiss to lay down some few Rules whereby we may discern true Doctrins from false and secure our selves in a good measure from being imposed upon For the Scripture being a Book that is not all of the same Nature nor written by one Man in the same Method and Style but is filled in some places with Advices and Counsels to that which is best sometimes with Precepts and Commands and in other places with dark and obscure Prophesies and lastly with the choicest Parts of true Reason and Knowledg though often delivered in somewhat a Mysterious way These things being considered it is impossible that all Men should have the same Thoughts and Apprehensions and conceive of all places in the Scripture after the same way and manner Hence it comes to pass that some Men through weakness and carelesness and others out of design broach many Errors and Falshoods and spread them abroad in the World Therefore if there may be some plain Rules set down which may serve as a Mark to guide us in a doubtful and dangerous way it cannot but be gratefully received by every one that loves Ingenuity and Truth 1. Therefore whatever Doctrin is repugnant and inconsistent with the Goodness Wisdom and Power of God it is to be rejected as an Error For the Goodness Wisdom and Power of God are so manifest in all things and in all places that as no Man can miss of the knowledg of the Being of his Creator so it cannot be a
Truth that seeks to diminish and obscure those Essential Attributes of the Deity which so evidently appear throughout all the Tracts of Immense space Thus then when we look into the Frame of the World nay but into the Fabrick of our own Nature and see with what wonderful Art and Contrivance things are made and how each Part is subservient and conspires to one great End and Purpose that is for the good of the whole this very Consideration That things are made and framed for Ends and Designs will lead us to the knowledg of a Conscious and Intelligent Nature which is no other than an infinitely Good and Wise and Powerful God Therefore if any one should go about to perswade us that either the Beautiful Frame of this visible World or the Admirable Structure of Humane Bodies in which is lodged so much Art and Skill had no other Original but blind Chance and Fortune and arose from the Fortuitous Coalitions of Atoms we cannot but look upon it at first sight as an Error and Delusion because it derogates and takes away from that Infinite Power and Wisdom which we behold in the making even of the least thing in the World Again if any Person should tell us that God made the greatest part of Mankind on purpose to Damn them without any Consideration of their Sin and Provocations It is impossible keeping our selves to this Rule that ever we should believe such a Doctrin because it is so contrary to his Goodness and Love which as it brought all things into Being for no other end but that they might be Happy so it will never destroy or turn any thing out of that Happy State without it's own demerit and default To instance once more If any Man shall Teach That the Commands of God are impossible to be performed and that though he invite all Men yet he denies sufficient Grace to the greatest part of them whereby they may be inabled to Obey him and be Extricated out of their Miserable Condition By this Rule we ought to look upon such a Doctrin as a downright Falshood Because it is certain that an Infinitely Wise and Good God cannot command and injoin Impossibilities nor exact and require Men's Obedience to his Laws without furnishing them with a sufficient Power whereby to do them And to do otherwise would so little deserve the Name of Justice and Equity that it would be no better than Tyranny and unaccountable Self-will Hence now it follows not only in these Instances but in any other Doctrins whatever if they any way lessen the Goodness Wisdom or Power of God if they disparage all or any of these Attributes such Doctrins can never be true For Truth is always the same and alike and is ever found agreeable with the Nature of God who is the Fountain of all Truth 2. If any thing be taught that is contrary to the undoubted Principles of found Reason or the clear Evidence of Sense it is to be looked upon as False Because Reason is that Lamp or Candle of the Lord which he has lighted and set up in the Soul of Man whereby it is able to make a difference and discern between Truth and Falshood And our Senses are another infallible means of Communicating the true Knowledg of things to us when they are sound and not vitiated and their Objects duly and conveniently Circumstantiated Now as our Eyes and Ears were given us to discern Objects of Sight and Hearing so are our Reasons to discern those things that belong to Reason And as no Man but such a one as is Crazed in his Intellectuals will distrust his Eyes or Ears when their Objects are duly placed so neither will he distrust his Reason when it Acts according to those common and self-evident Notions upon which all Reason is founded And that this may yet be more manifest it is to be Considered that the Nature of Man is not indifferent to Truth or Falshood that is no Man can believe what he pleases whether right or wrong It is not in the Power of any to believe that to be True which he knows to be False because there is such an ungratefulness and disagreeableness between Falshood and the Rational Nature of Man and to believe a Falshood were to offer Violence to our Rational Faculties Wherefore because it is not in the Power of Man to believe or disbelieve at his Pleasure his Understanding being limited and bound up by those Eternal Rules of Truth and Falshood it is clear that Right Reason must be the measure of Truth and Falsehood and consequently that Doctrin must be False that is contrary to Reason To give some light to this in a particular Instance Our Adversaries of the Romish Church say that Transubstantiation is True that is that the Consecrated Wafer and every Crum of it is the whole and entire Body of Christ that hung upon the Cross But according to this Rule it is utterly False because it is contrary to the Reason and Sense of Mankind It is contrary to Reason because Christ's Natural Body cannot be in Heaven and at the same time without any continuation of it self be in a Thousand distant Places upon Earth And it is contrary to the Evidence of Sense because Three of our Senses viz. our Tasting Touching and Seeing inform us that it is still Bread And if our Faculties may deceive us in their proper Objects it is impossible we should ever arrive to the certain knowledg of any Thing but must be Condemn'd to an Eternal Scepticism But that our Senses are true Judges when they are rightly Circumstantiated appears from all the Miracles which our Saviour wrought which are only so many Appeals to the Evidence of Sense 3. Whatever Doctrin or Opinion there be in Religion that does not drive at Holiness of Life nor design the Perfection of Men's Souls it is to be looked upon all one as if it were False For all the Mysteries and Truths of the Christian Religion are such as some way or other serve to beget in us a true Fear and Reverence of God and tend to the making us better Their Design is to communicate such a knowledg of God and of his Works to us as may affect our Hearts and render us more God-like Holiness is the Intent and Purpose of the whole Gospel and whatever does not in some measure promote and advance a Pious and Religious Life cannot be believed to come from God Thus if a Man shall imagine that a bare Naked Faith without an inward Change and Renovation of the Mind is enough to save him or if he shall frame to himself any Opinion that gives any Liberty Indulgence or Allowance to any Sin These and such like Fancies are utterly False and to be Abhorred because they destroy the great End of Religion which is the inward Holiness Purity and Sanctity of the Mind and Spirit By these Rules we may Examin the Truth of all Doctrins propounded to us in
order to God and to Religion And this may serve as an Explication of Truth as it relates to the Understanding 2. Truth as it relates to Practice is properly Veracity and is opposed to Lying and Deceit To be plain and true hearted in our Words and Promises according to the simplicity of the Gospel So that when the Apostle bids us mind such things as are true it is all one with his Exhortation Ephes 4.25 Wherefore putting away Lying speak every Man the Truth with his Neighbour For God being a God of Truth and not capable of deceiving Men either in his Words or Promises he would have Men to be like unto him And this Duty is necessary upon these Two Accounts 1. From the Conformity and Likeness it hath to the Nature of God God is represented in the Old Testament by the Holy One of Israel that cannot Lie and in the New the Apostle Argues from the Immutability of the Nature of God that it is impossible for him to Lie or to Deceive For to Lie is a Weakness Sickness and Imperfection of the Mind which God cannot be subject to No Power or Force can constrain him to do otherwise than his Nature wills and his Counsels and Will being directed by an Infinite Goodness and Wisdom there cannot be in him any Variableness Inconstancy or shadow of turning And he is most like unto God who stands Confidently and Immutably to what is True and Right For Truth deriving from an Infinite and Almighty Being is bold and takes place when Deceit and Falshood is put to its Shifts and runs into holes hating the light Therefore the wiser Heathens used to say That to speak the Truth and to do Good were things that made us most like to God And most certain it is that the more a Man swerves and declines from Truth the further he is removed from a Participation of the Nature of God Hence when the Jews would not believe our Saviour who testified that Truth he had received of God he tells them John 8.44 They were of their Father the Devil who was a Lyar and the Father of it He was the first Inventer and the first Author of Lies in the World Therefore says Christ when he speaketh a Lie he speaketh of his own 'T is none of God's Creation but an effect which he is the sole Cause and Author and Original of When that foul Spirit had once disjoined and separated himself from God then he began to Lie and to Deceive and taught Men to do so too which shewed the weakness of his Nature when once it became uncentred and unhinged from that Stable and Unchangeable Being who is Truth it self 2. Truth is the Bond and Foundation of all Civil Society There is no Commerce or Intercourse between Men in the World without this And hence it is that a Liar is banished and excluded from all sober Society and the Reason is because he destroys that which God and Nature ordained should preserve and maintain a Correspondence one with another Therefore the very Formality that is the Nature of a Lie includes in it a piece of Injustice and is a real Injury done to another For Words and Expressions being only the significations of our Minds one to another every Man has a right of judging and understanding by these what is signified to him Now when a Man tells a Lie he imposes upon his Neighbour and deprives him of his Right by making him to believe quite contrary to what the things are Therefore our Blessed Saviour tells us That for every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall be accountable Mat. 12.36 which is not meant of every impertinent or useless but every vain or false Word i. e. for every Lie And there is a great deal of Reason for this because he that Lies to another not only betrays the Effeminateness and Weakness of his Nature but is really injurious to his Neighbour and destroys and undermines that which is the common Cement and Bond by which Societies are incorporated together Wherefore let it be every Man's Care to avoid all Fraud and Dissimulation in his Words and Actions For nothing is more unbecoming a Man much more undecent and odious is it in a Christian who professes a Religion that owns the greatest simplicity and openness and freedom and plain-heartedness in the World Our Blessed Saviour tho' he many times prudently avoided Captious and Ensharing Questions yet when he was demanded an Account of that for which he came into the World i. e. whether he were the Christ or the true Messiah he owns it though he knew this very Truth would cost him his Life When the Cause of God and a good Conscience lies at stake then Truth must in a particular manner shew it self For to Dissemble and to be False to this is to betray the Religion that we profess Therefore we find among the Catalogue of those that are excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven are all such as love and make a Lie Revel 22.15 not only such as make Deceits and Dissimulations to betray the Truth but such as love and delight in such Treacherous Actions And in express terms God Almighty Threatens all Liars Revel 21.8 That they shall have their Portion in the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Because Falshood is not only contrary to the Nature of God and sinks us into a Condition the furthest removed from him but destroys the Interest of Christianity which requires in all its Professors the greatest Truth and Faithfulness in all their Words and Actions Christ came to promote a Fair and Innocent Nature in the World which cannot consist with those Blemishes and Spots that attend Lying and Deceit Truth is plain and easie but a Lie is crooked and perverse and made up of many windings and turnings So that he that considers the Nature of God who is absolute Truth the Interest of Religion and the Good of Mankind will not think such an Exhortation as this to be unseasonable but will with all diligence pursue and follow such things as are true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are honest Besides what we have here discoursed of Virtue in general we may further Note that these and such like are the Moral Furniture of our Souls they are the Transcripts and Derivations of the Nature of God which however by a long Degeneracy they seem to be worn out and the Traces of them in many to be scarce visible yet there is such a Cognation and Congruity between them and the Nature of our Souls that they are ready to embrace whenever duly offered to them After having advised to things true the Apostle comes next to whatsoever things are honest which is not to be taken in a strict signification as Honesty is a part of Justice for that St. Paul mentions afterwards but the word honest here must be taken in a larger signification for whatever is becoming So the Word in the Original imports
much Candour and Passionate Sweetness that those whose Sins are Reproved may clearly see it is their Good and Benefit and Advantage that is only aimed at For otherwise Men's Minds may rather be Exasperated than Healed when Truth it self in such a Case is delivered with too great a Sharpness and Harshness Men do not usually care to hear of their Faults but when they shall be laid open and discovered with Bitterness Contempt and Scorn it is so far from casting an healing Influence upon their Souls that it provokes and inflames their Minds 3. He that would exactly follow that which is Lovely must provide that in doing Kindnesses he do not Upbraid and Shame them upon whom he intends to confer them There are many Persons of that tender and modest Disposition who blush and are ashamed either to ask or to receive those Kindnesses which really they want And then the doing things Lovely obliges a Man so to assist them in whatever it be as may least of all make them Ashamed Now by what has been said from General Observations drawn from the Life of our Saviour and by these few Particulars we may competently enough understand what the Apostle means by Exhorting us to the Practice of Whatsoever things are Lovely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are of good Report The last instance of Virtue the Apostle makes use of is to persuade us to the practice of such things as are of good Report By which we are taught to think of and do all such things as may purchase us a Good Name and Esteem and Reputation among such as are Virtuous and understand the differences of things Now from hence we are informed 1. That all things are not indifferent and alike There is a Natural Bravery Excellency and Becomingness in some Actions and there is a Baseness and Filthiness in others whether we will or not For the Difference and Distinction of things does not depend upon our Wills nor can we change their Natures as we please Indeed to the Atheist and to such as do not believe the Existence of any Spiritual Being but resolve all things into Dead and Senseless Matter there is no Distinction or Difference of things but only what Men are pleased to make and then as oft as Wicked Men get into Power they may make things Vitious in themselves to be called by the Name of Virtues But since there is a God and none but Fools can think otherwise we are assured that all Virtue derives from him and is a participation of his Image and Nature and Consequently that there is an Essential Difference in the Nature of things And God hath Copied out and Engraven this his Image upon the Souls of Men whereby all Men that have a due use of their Faculties have likewise the differences of Good and Evil deeply Sealed upon their Minds and they cannot change them at their Pleasure Hence it comes to pass that such Actions as are Conformable and Agreeable to those Intellectual Laws and Principles which God has fixed in our Minds they are Virtuous and Praise-worthy and such as are otherwise they are Detestable and Vile and have an inward Turpitude sticking fast to them And since all Men have the Laws of Virtue written on their Hearts and are sensible that they ought to walk according to these there will Naturally arise an Esteem for those Persons who walk the nearest according to these Rules And this which we call Esteem or Fame and a Good Name or Report is indeed a part of the Reward of Virtue when Men are Applauded and Praised when they fulfil the end of their Creation and Act like Rational Creatures according to those Laws and Prescriptions the Eternal Mind has interwoven in the Essential Frame and Contexture of their Souls True it is Fame and Reputation is a thing that is mightily sought after even by those that are no great Admirers of the strictness of Virtue and there is in all Men a secret Desire and Tendency towards the Embalming and Consecrating their Names to after Ages Of which no other Reason can be given but that there are some secret Convictions and Natural Presages of a State of Immortality after this Life in all Men's Minds There is something that whispers to them and mixes it self with all their Thoughts and Actions that they have something in them that shall survive their Ashes and Live and Act when their Bodies are Dead and Rotten in the Grave And from hence they Naturally Affect and Desire a Continuation of themselves and a kind of Immortality in this Life And this sets them upon those various Ways and Methods of the Purchase and Acquisition of it some by Valour and Heroick Actions others by Honour and some by the increase of their Posterity Which evidently shews the Desires and Inclinations of all Men to continue and live for ever upon Earth at least in their Fame and Names and Memory although they are withdrawn from it as to their Personal Beings Thus we Read Psal 49.11 of some whose inward thought was That their Houses should continue for ever and they call their Lands after their own Names i. e. Many Men seeing that themselves are Mortal and quickly Die yet desire to perpetuate their Names and that their Memory should Live after them Whereas this only shews that there is implanted in Men Naturally a Sense that there are things of good Report which will procure Fame and Esteem and a Good Name while they Live here and continue it when they are gone from hence But they mistook in the Ways and Means of Attaining it But now true Religion assures us that it is only the sincere Practice of Virtue that will advance a Good Name and purchase Esteem here and continue it after Death according to that of the Scripture The Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance It is true many a Wicked Man's Name is Remembred but then 't is to his Infamy and Disgrace Therefore it is said Prov. 10.7 The Name of the Wicked shall Rot i. e. it shall be as Offensive and Unpleasant as a Dead and Rotten Carkass We Read of a Covetous and Treacherous Judas who sold his Master but we Detest and Abhor his Memory And of a Cruel and Bloody Herod but with almost as keen a Passion as those sorrowful Mothers felt at the Death of their little Infants Thus every Wicked Man if he be at all Remembred 't is with some Infamous Character and Note of Disgrace as that he was a Profane and Debauch'd or a Lascivious Covetous or Unjust Person and it were better that our Names Perish for Ever and we descend into a Common and Ignoble Grave than to be thus Remembred 2. We are informed that the proper Judges of things of good Report are Virtuous and Wise Persons Among all those things that are Valuable with Men there is none or at least ought not to be any of so high an Esteem as true Virtue which being the