honest man an upright man And when once you hate Hypocrisie you will flee it when once you really love uprightness you 'l take pains to procure it Shall I yield to that my soul hates dwell in an house that I abhor I le never do it May so rare a Jewel as Sincerity be had and shall I live without it shall it be offered me and I deny it No whatever it cost me I will not live or dye an hypocrite Shall I be a Dunghill covered with Snow how odious shall I be when my snow-white mantle will be stript off Speak man of Reason is Simulation lovely Is Dissimulation amiable Why wilt thou wear that ugly vizard For a Name in this World lose a Soul in another For a Shadow of Religion lose the Substance of Salvation A serious hatred of Hypocrisie is not only a means to conquer it but is a conquest of it A hearty love to integrity is Integrity IV. Attend a searching Ministry 1 Pet. 2. 2. Desire the sincere milk of the Word He that would attain Sincerity must desire Gods sincere Word A searching Ministry will make a sound Professor a plain Minister will make a plain Christian. Lay your naked heart under the naked truth of God and let him write on that blank paper what he pleaseth For the word of the Lord is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Such a Sword rightly welded will cleave an hair and give a man as little rest in formality as in prophaness The word of truth is the way to create the grace of truth the sincere word a sincere heart The babe draws spirits with the milk and that nourishes And in the word truly dispensed the spirit is conveyed and if the spirit of truth step in with the word of truth then the work is done Psal. 143. 10. Thy spirit is good lead me into the land of Uprightness This good spirit will take you by the hand and not only shew you but bring you into the land of uprightness And go not so much to judge the Minister as to be judged by the Sermon Let the most of your severity be imployed upon your selves and the largest of your charity upon the Preacher The humble sincere hearer doth mostly go home with the benefit when the censorious person goes away with the talk And remember this that as it requires more grace to hear and profit by a weak or offensive Preacher so a warm and serious spirit will infuse heat and vigour into the most cold general Sermon if not into the Minister V. Be instant in prayer Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights This is a good and perfect gift O seek it from the Father of lights The Matter of such a prayer pleaseth him and the Mediator pleaseth him and so nothing can frustrate it but the Man or the Matter Add faith and forveney and the manner is sure And then let not your suit fall for your own fault nor lose a prayer for up rightness for want of an honest heart Beg also the prayers of others he may hear Job that will not hear his friends Pray and wrestle till this blessing come O Lord I have heard such a Character of uprightness that I misdoubt my self I seel much amiss I fear all 's amiss I tremble at my condition I am a Christian by profession but I am an hypocrite by nature thy word hath found me out and I am lost Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right upright spirit within me And know that the God of Heaven will give grace more freely than an earthly Father will bread Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way And thus you have the Means and do you mean to use them what are directions if you will not be directed by them O let not these words stand here to be your accusers but your monitors and remember that Practise is the End the Crown of Preaching SECT IX V. THe Fifth and last Use is for Consolation to all upright ones You are blessed men in the mouth both of Law and Gospel Psal. 119. 1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way that walk in the Law of the Lord. Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God You may be crost by men but you shall be blest by God you may not see the desire of your hearts in this life but you shall see God in life everlasting you may live poor but you shall dye rich Prov. 19. 1. Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool He that 's poor in his wealth but rich in his integrity hath coyn that will pass in the other world Uprightness and Blessedness are inseparable companions O but Sir that 's my fear that my heart is rotten at the core my wayes crooked and your discourse hath increas'd my doubts that I fear I have not one dram of sincerity And my fears are increas'd upon such grounds as these Doubt 1. The Allegatiòns of Satan See saith he thy rottenness after such a Duty in such a temptation thou hast but a shew and these accusations he follows with fears and terrours in my spirit that my soul is sometimes weary of my life Resol 1. There are roots of hypocrisie in the sincerest heart as of all other sins so of this That 's remarkable Luk. 12. 1. Jesus began to say to his Disciples first of all take heed and beware of hypocrisie Christs own Disciples were in danger of this leaven All the stock below the grass is perfect Crab-tree This you may grant with grief and yet retain your integrity with comfort 2 Satans Bills are void in Law for he is the Accuser of the Brethren right or wrong he had a face to accuse upright Job that had his Maker for his compurgator And then the accusation of a condemned person is no proof in any Court of Record yea his terrors may be your evidences for he seldom or never troubles his own house while his prisoners are quiet he holds his peace but when they are broken from him he shakes his chain after them But then hold up a crucified Christ before his very face with worthy Gesner and say Huic offendi non tibi vince hunc me vinces It 's this Christ that I have offended thou fiend of Hell I never sinn'd against thee conquer him and then thou conquerest me Doubt 2. The Censures of men my Friends whisper it my Foes proclaim it and the Minister meets me in every Sermon I may be partial to my self but others will speak plain Resol 1. The censures of others should make us more severe
he will pursue thee with never-ending torments if thou wilt sin in Tuo Eterno thou must suffer in Suo Eterno and every man shall find like for like SECT III. ANd now 't is time to be gathering something for our instruction and let this be the Lesson hence to be learn'd namely Doctrine Where God doth find an upright man he shews himself an upright God True he finds none but whom he makes he finds them of his own making but where-ever such a man is found on the Throne or in a Prison or on a Dunghill he shall find a God of his own that will deal uprightly with him However he is an upright God let men be what they will whatever contrary motions the lower spheres have yet the Primum mobile keeps its even and constant motion and is never diverted out of its course at all so is it with our God let vain hypocrites walk never so crookedly yet the holy God will be justified when he speaketh and clear when he judgeth He will be upright with you in executing his threatnings if you hinder the current of his uprightness in performing Promises The filthy Dunghill cannot infect the glorious Sun that shinesall day upon it nor can any mans Evil cause him to cease from being Good But the meaning of the Point is to the upright man he shews himself a graciously upright God a true-hearted man on earth shall find a true-hearted God in Heaven The most proper and profitable way I â—…an think of for the handling of this Doctrine within the intended limits is 〈◊〉 By shewing wherein stands the uprightâ—…ess of a man 2. By declaring how God â—…hews himself an upright God 3. By drawâ—…ng out some inferences and uses thereof And first of the first SECTION IV. THere are Four words especially whereby Uprightness is exprest 〈◊〉 Scripture which being considered will give us some view of this Orient â—…ewel 1. It is called Truth 1 Sam. 12. 24. Serve him in truth Now Truth moral is â—…he conformity of the mind and heart to â—…hings said and done when therefore the â—…eart prayes with the tongue when the â—…eart obeys with the hand when we do â—…he things of God heartily as to the Lord. â—…his is to serve him in truth and upâ—…ightly And this sure is the sense of that Heb. â—…0 22. Let us draw near with a true heart â—…t is our sin and folly to keep at distance â—…rom God both in and out of his service afraid or loth to come up It is Gods wâ—… that we should draw near and nearer yeâ—… and that with a true heart a true-hearteâ—… man at a Prayer does the work when mâ—…ny of great appearances do but beat tâ—… Air. So when we come to men 1 John 3. 1â—… Let us not love in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth having a Princip of unfeigned love in our hearts to everâ—… body and thence producing words anâ—… deeds of pure Charity This is an uprigâ—… man whose heart within doth not give tâ—… lye to his word and actions Survey hâ—… duties to God and men they are pious juâ—… and charitable open his heart Piety Rigâ—… teousness and Love are written there Like him that professed if he might haâ—… had the molding of himself Light shouâ—… have been his Body and Truth should haâ—… been his Soul 2. Another word for this is Sincerity 〈◊〉 word taken from Pure Honey that is siâ—… cera without wax unmingled When thâ—… New man hath as little as may be of thâ—… Old man mingled with him This word 〈◊〉 us'd Phil. 1. 10. That ye may be sincere Thâ—… Greek word there signifies that which 〈◊〉 Sun-proof as wares that can abide to 〈◊〉 tryed between you and the Sun suâ—… 〈◊〉 an upright man bring him to the Scripâ—…ure he is sound bring him to any solid â—…arks he can stand before them put â—…im into the scales he is weight however he is right Gold though he may want some grains of allowance He is of a right Eagle breed though haply young or weak yet he can look at the Sun â—…nd not be daunted An hypocrite can â—…ook men in the face but an upright man â—…he can look God in the face As for me I will behold thy face in righteousnoss This â—…one but a righteous upright man can â—…do 3. There is another word of this import and that is Singleness of heart Acts 2. 46. They did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart that is with a cordial chearfulness and bounty And to this referrs that Luke 11. 34. When thine eye is single when thy heart is singly bent to honour and serve God then the whole life will relish of that principle the whole body will be full of light but if the heart double with God the life will be no way uniform with men And this is taken to be the meaning of the Oneness of heart promised Ezek. 11. 19. whereas the hypocrite hath an heart and an heart and an heart and an heart for every lust an heart A double minded man is unstable in all his wayes He is unresolved in the end he drives at and so unfixed in his desires and actions that tend thereunto Now the upright mans heart is one he goes all one way he is what he seems one intention one delight one face one tongue in a word he is all but one man Psalm 103. 1. Bless the Lord O my soul and ALL that is within me praise his holy Name And to this purpose is the fourth word that signifies uprightness and that is Integrity 1 Kings 9. 4. And if thou wilt walk before me as David walked in Integrity of heart and in uprightness And that is when all the soul in every faculty is resolv'd and bent for God and his glory In an hypocrite the Judgment is against the Will the Conscience against the Affection the Reason against the Appetite but in the upright all the faculties agree and combine within themselves and the opposition is onely outward against a common enemy He is a whole man for the whole will of God So then you see an upright man is a True hearted a sincere-hearted a single-hearted and a whole-hearted man SECT V. THis Uprightness 1. Respects God 2. Respects Man The former may be called Uprightness of heart the latter Uprightness of Life and both these must be explained and where they meet there we find an upright man Concerning uprightness of heart we must assert that it is not so much a distinct Grace a grace by its self as it is all Grace t is that which stamps a Reality on every other grace Without it Nec amanda est ipsa Charitas nec ipsi Fidei fidendum nec bene sperandum de ipsa spe We cannot believe our Faith nor love our Love nor hope well of our Hope it self Uprightness and Watchfulness are Catholick graces of a general necessity the former to wit Uprightness
11. He that is filthy let him be filthy still So when a man is uprightly bent to serve him he spurs them on with his word and spirit saying He that is righteous let him be righteous still and thus herein to the upright man he shews himself upright SECT IV. IV. THe Lord shews himself upright to the upright man In hearing his prayers Prov. 15. 8. The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord But the Prayer of the upright is his delight No musick so sweet to men as sincere prayers are to God The upright man delights to pray and the upright God delights to hear How pleasant is the childs first language to the father he had rather hear it than an elegant Oration and the reason is first it is his own child and secondly it speaks poor thing as it thinks there is no colour upon its words nor dissimulation in them Even so the prayers of the upright man are most welcome to God his heavenly Father for the child is his own and then his prayer is the counterpane of his heart He cries against his sin and also he hates it he sues for Grace and he doth heartily long and indeavour for it and Hearts can come into Heaven when Words must stand at door He gets out of the hearing of many a starch't Oration but Psal. 145. 18. He gets nigh to them that call upon him to them that call upon him in Truth O when confessions are the sad note of a bleeding heart when supplications are the real breath of an hungry soul the Lord listens to such melody There is a vast difference between the formal note of a young beggar and the sensible cries of him that is half starved we neglect the former and are ready to serve him only with reproof but when the other cries that begs in truth his face cries his rags cry his tears cry the whole beggar cries then we draw out our heart and hand unto him even so doth our gracious God he slights and hates affected words coming from an unaffected heart but when the heart comes up with them then he comes and brings his alms with him and his reward before him O what incouragement should this give to an upright heart Thou hast an ear for God and he hath an ear for thee Thou art ready and quick in thy obedience he is as quick and ready in his audience thou art punctual to yield to him in any thing he is punctual to yield in any thing unto thee In a word thou art resolved to do his will he is resolved to do thine Hence Lâ—…ther boldly Fiat voluntas mea quia tua est Let my will be done because it s thine Thine are broken prayers but they are upright prayers There is no Rhetorick in them â—…but there is Logick in them there are arguments that will conquer God himself There is no argument on earth like Integrity nor in Heaven like the Blood of Christ. Object Ah but then I fear my state and doubt of my sincerity in that I have pray'd long for such a child for a better memory for strength against some sins and have received no answer and so may conclude my self a very hypocrite Answ. 1. God often delights in prayer when he seems to deny it and never denies his servants but when the deniâ—… is better then a grant You must distinguish between delaying and denying our God delayes to try us not to deny us to make us cry the louder so he put off Jacob to whet him on the more seem'd to be weary of his company but he would not pass so lames him yet hee 'l pray and wrestle on one leg rather then give out So the woman of Canaan Drink is more welcome when very thirsty and when the Lord sees you cannot be without a mercy you shall have it And then the Greatness of the mercy shall pay for the length of its stay and like money at Interest so your prayâ—…s which have been long on the file shall bring the greater increase back again Answ. 2. God often hears our Prayers when we perceive it not In this sence he speaks once and twice yet man perceives it not Psal. 138. 3. In the Day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. On the same Day that his letter was sent he had an answer and what was it Why he was strengthned with strength in his soul. If he were not answered in the Letter yet he was answered in the Better He often gives Gold when we ask for Silver If he denied Abraham for Ismael he gave him Isaac He denies Moses Canaan but gave him Heaven Sometimes our thirst for more makes us think we have received none As rich covetous people never have enough because their desires are insatiable When you are arrived at Heaven you shall see that the Lord did book every Petition and answer it in the best manner for you It may be you are denied for one child but God gives it you for another or perhaps the Grandchild reaps the prayers that you sowed for the Father The Lord gives you not a stronger memory but yet bestows on you a softer heart you discern no strength against some sins yet you have deeper throws of repentance for them Still this is a truth inviolable that the upright mans Prayer when it is put up in Christs name for things agreeable to Gods will is graciously heard and answered in mercy Let not therefore your Fathers seeming denials trouble you for our wise God sometimes yields to the suits of Satan himself while he demurrs upon the supplications of his own Servants I had almost said of his own Son Compare Job 2. 5. and Luke 8. 32. with Gen. 17. 18. and Mat. 26. 39. But then his Grants to Satan are for his greater Confusion and his Denials to his Children are for their greater Consolation SECT V. V. THe Lord shews himself upright to the upright man In comforting him in his straits Psal. 116. 6. The Lord preserveth the simple that is the upright I was brought low and he helped me His integrity freeth him not from the common infirmities of mankind as wants sickness prisons losses crosses unkindnesses and death it self at last but his God takes special care to support and comfort him and at length deliver him In all these storms he is sure of Sunshine and you know the Sun-beams when it shines do guild every drop that the clouds pour down and make the storm as a calm So the face and favour of God doth refresh the upright in heart for Psal. 11. 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the Upright And unworthy is that man of Heavens Glory that prefers not the sharpest sickness the darkest prison the heaviest cross with the light of Gods countenance before the riches of Egypt with his frowns This made Paul and Silas sing in prison when
to the Being and Truth of Grace and the latter to wit Watchfulness to the Preservation and Exercise of Grace And belike on that account sincerity is called a Girdle Ephes. 6. 14. having your loyns girt about with truth Religion is to many as a Cloak though it will prove the dearest Cloak that ever was worn which they can put on abroad when it serves their purposes and put off at home when it troubles them in their lusts but now sincerity is like a Girdle that ties it close to us This makes all our Garments sit close to us and to be ungirt here is to be unblest And may be thus described Uprightness of heart is that Grace or gracious temper whereby the soul is unreservedly resigned to God and heartily bent to walk with him without guile In short when one is A man after Gods own heart for Truth is nothing but an agreement of things with their first Principles so that the Heart agreeing plainly with the Heart and Will of God is an upright heart The same thing is meant by an Honest heart Luke 8. 15. that is resolved to carry squarely towards God as there in the hearing of Gods Word when the heart is clearly carried with the stream of Gods will without Exception or Dissimulation As you know an honest man is ruled and swayed by Reason and Equity in a business without squinting at his own opinions and ends even so an upright heart honestly yields his Reason and Will captive to the Will of God though it cross his own conceits and ends And thus he is a man after Gods own heart is as like him humane frailty considered as ever he can look Now this blessed Uprightness may be considered 1. In the Grounds of it 2. In the Nature of it 3. In the Object of it I. The Ground and root of Uprightness of Heart stands in the total Receiving of Christ by the Heart and the total Resigning of the Heart unto him This done and there 's a good foundation laid for sincerity of soul. 1. There must be a total Receiving of Jesus Christ tendered in the Gospel when you do take hold of the Lord Jesus and cleave to him with purpose of heart As Barnabas prest them at Antioch Acts 11. 23. Many have a months mind of Christ some velleities and wouldings but wilt thou have him and cleave to him and that with purpose of heart this is sincerity to receive a whole Christ with a whole heart Not Christ the Saviour or Refuge only so most would be willing but Christ the Prince and Portion also in the land of the living So David could say Psal. 142. 5. O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living How many would fain have the Lord Jesus Christ for their Refuge when Conscience pinches affliction presses or death stares them in the face but how few will choose him for their portion and happiness in the midst of their outward comforts the Hypocrite dare not dye without him the upright Saint cannot live without him Cant. 1. 4. The upright love thâ—… and love cannot live contentedly without fruition To be content of a Christ because of some present need of him is one thing is nothing if that be all but to chuse him as the fairest of ten thousand and that with an intire heart to have Mind Will Conscience and Affection all of a mind and this mind to be set on Christs yoke as well as his Crown his Spirit as well as his Merit his Rule as well as his Righteousness here goes the upright heart whereas an hypocrite he hath some fancy for Jesus Christ but will not have him this pleases him but that likes him not and so he dodges endlesly and parles with him through the window but bolts the door and keeps him out for ever O that ever an holy just and offended God should follow such miserable sinners with a bleeding Christ in his arms and that ever such wretches should put a refusal upon him 2. There must be a total Resignation of the heart unto the Lord Jesus Christ wherein you do cordially deliberately and freely give up your souls and bodies to him and to his service which is called Ingageing the heart to approach to the Lord Jer. 30. 21. Who is this that ingaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord And thereupon that happy Covenant is drawn in the next verse ye shall be my people and I will be your God Who is this saith God Who in the World Who in this Congregation Who in this Family Who in this Seat Where 's the Man the Woman the Child O let each answer quickly it is I. But you must ingage not only hanker incline desire purpose but ingage 't is not bidding but buying will make this Pearl your own Alas it is the ordinary guise of people to stand off and treat only but Sirs will ye ingage is 't a bargain and will ye stick to it get or lose by Christ you will have him and then 't is the ingagement of the heart you did subscribe your hands in Baptisme this very Covenant was sealed in your name and behalf when you were children little and your not revoking it doth assert it but now we come for your hearts thereunto Where 's the Mind the Conscience the Will O where 's the Will that submits resolves and ingages to be the Lords Happy this day this word and happy you if hereupon one shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel Isa. 44. 5. You are the Lords by your Christian names already O when will you be his by your surname also This is the Gospels great design this is our errand here we come for you and are loth to go without you We beseech you by the mercies of God to make a present of your selves as a living sacrifice to God Poor sinners are like Rebels besieged whom Christ Jesus will either win or starve His Ordinance is mounted and it batters A breach is made in the Judgment but the sinner will not yield another in the Conscience yet is he loth to yield the white flag of mercy is set up but of a long time the sturdy sinner will not treat the red flag is hung out divine wrath is on the march and a storm is preparing The Ordinance of God replanted again and now if it hit right and a breach be made upon the will then Christ is victor the City is won and the sinner yields And then his note is changed Psal. 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant Mark how the Psalmist redoubles it I am I am truly I am Redoubled refusals call for redoubled submissions I will neither be my own master nor my own servant I here make a Deed of Gift of my
Mark the perfect man and behold the upright you may see them both at once His heart is intirely devoted to the will and wayes of God The hypocrite he hath ever some exceptions and reservations Such a sin I must not leave such a grace I cannot love such a duty I will not practise thus far I will yeild but no farther thus far I will go it is consistent with my carnal ends but all the world shall not perswade me farther The Judgement of the hypocrite will drive beyond his Will his Conscience beyond his Affections he is not intire his heart is parted and so he is off and on The Upright man hath but one Happiness and thâ—…t is the injoyment of God but one Rule and that is his holy Will but one Work and that is to please his Maker and thereupon he is intire and certain in his choice in his desires in his wayes and contrivances And though there may be some demurs in his prosecution of his main business yet there is no hesitancy and wavering between two objects for he is intirely fixt and resolv'd therein and so may be said to be perfect and intire wanting nothing There is in every hypocrite some one Fort or strong hold that hath never yielded to the soveraignty and empire of Gods will Some lust castles it self in the will but where integrity enters it brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Lord saith he I am wholly thine do what thou wilt with me say what thou wilt to me write what thou wilt upon me Other Lords have had dominion over me but by thee onely will I make mention of thy name Isa. 26. 13. here is the upright man 5. An Upright heart is Plain without Guile Psal. 32. 2. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no Guile Here is a blessed word indeed Alas we have great and many iniquities were it not happy for us to be as if we had never sinned why non-imputation will be as well for us as if there had been no transgression sins remitted are as if they had not been committed The debt-book crost as good as if never entred But who is this blessed man In whose spirit there is no Guile that is 1. no fundamental guile that hath not deceitfully covenanted with his God 2. That hath no approved guile to approve and yeild to any way of wickedness that doth not juggle with God or men or with his own Conscience that hides not his Idols under him when God is searching his Tent but as it follows there verse 5. acknowledges and hates and leaves his sin When the Upright man confesseth his sin his heart akes and he is deeply troubled for it he dissembles not the hypocrite proclaims open war but maintains secret intelligence with his lusts When the upright man prayes for any grace he earnestly desires it and he takes pains to compass it too for he is in good earnest and dissembles not The hypocrite is afraid in his prayers to be taken at his word for he loves not the image or grace of God at all And so in every thing else there is nothing but guile in him he that will dissemble with God will dissemble with any man in the world See the wide difference between Saul and David Saul is charged with a fault 1 Sam. 15. 14. lie denies it the charge is renewed verse 17. still he minces the matter looks for fig-leaves to cover all But plain-hearted David is another man he is charg'd and he yields one prick opens a vein of sorrow in his heart he tells all he makes a Psalm of it and therein concludes this Psal. 51. 6. Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts The plain-hearted man sayes God is for me with the upright man I will shew my self upright SECT VII III. ANd thus you have the Nature of uprightness a little opened and now let us consider the Object about which this uprightness is conversant And the great business of the upright heart is about 1. Inward Religion 2. Universal 3. Constant 1. He is a Student and Practitioner of Inward Religion Diligent he is in the outward acts of it also but that he hath common with the hypocrite but his greatest study is to be good within Rom. 2. 28 29. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly that is he is no Jew as to the esteem and acceptation of God or as to the spiritual priviledges of the Covenant neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh to wit that is not the Circumcision which God chiefly looks at and which a man is chiefly advantag'd by But he is a Jew which is one inwardly that is a Saint in soul and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter It is not water on the face but blood on the heart which makes a saveable Christian. O Sirs what change hath there been on your spirits what fear and love and sanctity is there in your hearts look to this or else you will break like bubbles And then it follows Whose praise is not of men but of God that is whose aim and whose honour it is not to be prais'd of men but of God The Upright man trades in Invisible things 1. The upright man studies to obtain invisible Graces Psal. 45. 13. The Kings daughter is glorious within In the hidden man of the heart is the beauty of an upright man To be drest with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit with a compos'd and serious spirit with a penitent and believing spirit Ah beloved how like are many of us to the River which Athenaeus mentions whose upper waters are sweet but brackish at the bottome like fine clothes silk without and canvas within a smooth carriage and an unpolish'd uncircumcis'd heart the upright man would not be so He looks not at things that are seen but at things that are not seen Grace and Glory are the study and ambition of the inward Christian. The hypocrite may be forward for unsanctified Gifts Simon Magus would give money for such O the time and cost and strength that many men spend to attain the gift of Knowledge of Prudence of Language of Elocution of memory and such like that never spend a serious thought to attain the grace of Repentance Faith Self-denial sincere love to God and godliness but this is the great design in the upright heart O that I may be stored with the saving knowledge of my God and of my self Here 's an Ordinance O that I may have my faith increased my love inflamed the back of my patience strengthned by this holy Duty These are the Pearles our Merchant seeks for 2. The Upright man studies to perform invisible Duties There is an Outside and an Inside in Religion The bended knee that 's the outside in prayer The broken heart that 's the inside To hear Gods
word that 's the outside To meditate of it that 's the inside To read each day two or three Chapters in the Bible that 's the outside to feel the efficacy of it that 's the inside To reprove another that 's the outside but to watch over thine own heart that 's the inside To draw out thy purse to a poor man that 's the outside but to draw out thy heart in pitty to him that 's the inside of the duty The hypocrite may and oft doth excell in the former the upright man is diligent and careful in the latter He can pray in secret and is no stranger to Self examination Meditation Ejaculations and Soliloquies these retired acts of Religion nay in these is his Excellency he is a Saint in secret the holiest alone a busie man in an Ordinance He wrestles as well as makes supplication and sweats at that which others sleep at The Pharisee Luke 18. had the larger Oration but the Publican had the more penitent heart The Scribe might have more dealing with the Law but the Apostle delighted in it in the inward man Rom. 7. 22. and so doth every upright man His best wares are within out of sight As you know its the Tradesmans custom all his wares shall be vendible and good but behind in his Warehouse and Closet are his choicest things Even so the upright man he will be exact and diligent in all his ordinary and visible duties but his Master-pieces they are within He performs invisible Duties 3. The upright man studies to conquer invisible Sins Those that he might go to his grave with and no body aware of them yet these he labours to rout Horse and Man An hypocrite on the contrary prunes off the sins that will shame him but nourishes the sins that will damn him Open drunkenness uncleanness oppression profaneness these an hypocrite disdains but mean while he lives perhaps in some of these secretly or at least he takes no pains to subdue proud wanton envious and other inward motions that do as much war against the soul as other sins The hypocrite shaves the hair but the upright man plucks it up by the roots 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit There is a filthiness of the Spirit which he that would perfect holiness will be cleansing himself from such as the habits of unbelief impenitency hardness of heart pride of spirit dulness in Gods service and such as Atheistical loose impertinent thoughts wandering in the worship of God envy at his neighbours riches or reputation and carnal contrivances to satisfie tâ—…e lusts of the flesh these cost him warm water break his sleep and fill his prayers which never cost the hypocrite nor secure world one penitent thought It was Tertullians cry Ad leonem extra potius quam ad leonem intra The upright man knows that as the filthiness of the flesh will may make him a beast so the filthiness of the spirit will make him a Devil and therefore he assaults his invisible sins SECT VIII 2. AN upright man endeavours after universal Religion There is a counterpane of the will of God in his heart that agrees with the Scripture in every thing 1. He hates All sin with an hatred of Abomination of Aversation of Opposition Dress it with what disguises you will and press it with what motives ends or advantages you can the upright man hates it in his heart Psal. 119. 1 2. Blessed are the undefiled in the way they walk in the Law of the Lord. They also they for their part do no iniquity they walk in his way There is a party in him that would be tampering with it but he likes it not O saith God do not this abominable thing that I hate Jer. 44. 4. No Lord saies he for I hate it as well as thou His heart is on Gods side against Sin And particularly against his own iniquity Psal. 18. 23. I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity Mine iniquity Every man hath some sin of his own which he is most inclinable to least able to resist and lothest to leave Thus he drags each prayer before God and cries Lord if thou lovest me strike here This sin he prosecutes with prayers and tears and all good means beside forelaies it in cool bloud and with continual preventing contrivances disappoints crosses intercepts and by degrees starves it to death And as no sin is so dear as to ingratiate with him so no sin so small but his stomack rises at it and hence it is that the upright man hath not so wide a swallow as other men of large and strained Consciences and so meets with many an hypocrite in his dish because he would hate the Appearance of Evil as he hates the Appearance of the Devil but still he hates his own sins more than others and those as much as any which no body sees but himself 2. He loves All his Duty he is neither afraid to know nor ashamed to own all his duty By this the Lord measures Integrity 1 King 9. 4. And if thou wilt walk before me as David thy Father walked in integrity of heart and in uprightness to do according to all that I have commanded thee Here 's the just Standard of sincerity For can the holy wise and just God appoint any thing unreasonable or uncomfortable for his own creature his dear child to perform Alas All his wayes are mercy and truth and all his Laws tend to his servants good What harsher Law in appearance than that Matth. 5. 29. If thy right eye if thy right hand offend thee pluck it out cut it off And yet if any of you had an eye that were alwayes leading you into pits and precipices to drown and destroy you would not you have it out if you had an hand that were alwayes running into the fire and you could not keep it out would not you hack it off why it is no other eye or hand the Gospel hath a quarrel with but those that would lead into ruine run you into hell and how reasonable and necessary is it to be rid of such The upright man is convinced of this and so he knows nothing in Religion but what he likes Some things may grate upon his carnal appetite yet he loves them dearly Now an hypocrite is quite another man like a sorry Scholar in a hard Chapter he skips over the hard words and makes nothing of them whereas the well taught Scholar will spell and labour at them and rather venture a whipping than skip over them So is it between the hypocrite and the upright in the duties of Christianity An hypocrite runs smoothly on in divers Religious exercises till he meets with some costly hard or hiddén duties and there he stands stock-still he considers that there is no credit or profit but only pains or peril to be got and presently skips over these hard words and
neither loves nor obeyes whereas the upright man finding his duty bides by it dwells upon it and will deny himself ere he will deny his duty If God will have me love mine enemies I will love them If he wil have me forsake this company or course that I am taken with I will freely leave them If he will have me pray yea and fast too no duty shall be so hard but I will do it no sin so sweet but I will leave it with my whole heart and my whole soul. We have both these in that trying verse Psal. 119. 128. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way Each word is a sacred touchstone Therefore It is said ver 126. Wicked men make void the Law That 's so far from carrying the upright man down the stréam that therefore he loves it the more he knows it cannot but be excellent that such men hate Is the Sabbath generally broken he is stricter in observing it Are oathes more frequent he abhors them the more Is true Piety hated and hist out of the world his heart and house shall more throughly imbrace it I esteem I cannot observe thy precepts as I would but I do dearly value them The least of thy Laws is more unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver I esteem thy precepts I do not only esteem the Truths of the Bible the Histories in the Bible the Promises of the Bible but I esteem thy Precepts those that cut out my work as well as those that hold out my Reward And all these those that are against my nature and interest and custome as well as those that are agreeable to my nature and custom and subservient to my interest They are all wise holy and good Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loves it And I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right Those precepts that give rules for my bargains as well as for my hearing that controule me at my meat as well as those that direct me in my prayers they are all right and good And I hate every false way I do not say I escape and miss them all happy if I could but I hate them and he that hates sin will avoid it as much as he can And that every false way I see they are false wayes neither directed by my God nor leading to him and therefore I hate them all And this is an upright man he is Universally Religious SECT IX 3. AN upright man labours after Constant Religion His sanctity is a second Nature in him now that which is natural is constant There is great difference between the natural heat of an healthy man and the praeternatural heat of an Ague such is the difference between the true Saint and the hypocrite An hypocrite may have some fits of Piety but they are adventitious they flow from some outward cause and accordingly they last but for a while and when that cause ceaseth suppose some sharp judgement fear'd or felt some qualm of Conscience or shallow Sermon-sickness then a cold fit follows as bad or worse than before alas it is praeternatural it was no habit but the upright man hath a constant heat he fears alwayes and maintains constant duty though he cannot keep equal heat therein And here 's the difference between the inconstancy of an upright man and of an hypocrite the inconstancy of the hypocrite is in the Substance of the duty it self one while he prayes another while he restrains prayer one while he is strict and cautious and shortly loose and careless whereas the upright man keeps on in the course of his duty though he cannot do it alwayes alike he prayes and would not bâ—… hired from it though the thread of his prayers be uneven there may be remisness in it but not an intermission of it there 's constant Religion though not equal Religion The hypocrite makes a Cloak of his Religion which he puts on and off as it serves his purpose the upright man wears it as his every day cloathes and puts not off his integrity till he dye There may be some Parentheses in his holy course wherein vanity and sin may be written too many of these God knows in the best mans heart and life but still the sentence runs current the sence and scope of his heart runs Heaven-ward whereas on the contrary the full sence of an hypocrites heart is to please or promote himself though there may be some parentheses of Religion no part of the scope of his soul you have their character Psal. 78. 36 37. Nevertheless they did statter him with their mouth and they lied to him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him neither were they steadfast in his Covenant No greater sign of a rotten heart than a fundamental unstedfastness in the Covenant of God when a man is rul'd by times and companies to shew good or evil this mans heart is not right with God It s true a tempest may bend the boughs of a living tree or perhaps the tree it self if the storm be great but they return to their straightness they come to themselves but the rotten sticks and branches are broken and overturn'd just so some strong temptation may drive an upright man out of his honest way but he soon returns and by mending his pace makes amends for his stumbling Three Scriptures give the upright man his character concerning this matter Proverbs 28. 14. Happy is the man that feareth alwayes To be alwayes afraid looks like a miserable life among men but to have a waking eye and careful heart for fear of sin is no more a misery than to walk or ride with a vigilant regard to prevent a fall This fear is not troublesome or vexatious at all he 's an happy man that uses it and no wise man will count the other hapy for going running riding without fear or wit in danger every moment to break his bones Again Hos. 12. 6. Keep mercy and judgement and wait upon thy God continually The whole life of a sincere Saint is a continual waiting upon God whatever his work be whoever his company wherever he goes whenever he eats or drinks yet in all these he waites upon his God and serves the will of his heavenly Father And agreeable to this is the other passage Prov. 23. 17. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long Most emphaticall both for the duty commanded and for the term of the duty both most apposite to set out an upright man The fear of the Lord that is universal Religion be thou in thâ—… more than if he had said let the fear of the Lord be in thee be surrounded with it swallowed up in it And then this all the day long not only a fit of Religion at thy prayers in the morning and another at night but work and walk eat and drink in it all the
former else the other is but like a candle in a dark lanthorn which burns away to no purpose This is the very Sinew of humane Society and makes men happy in one another It is such an excellent thing that they who never practise it yet alwayes pretend to it The veriest knaves abhor to be so called and would be reputed and stiled honest and upright men And that must needs be amiable which all men commend and necessary which no society can subsist without So that there abides a Crown of honour for a Downright Heathen as well as a Crown of glory for an Upright Christian and there will be an easier punishment for those I may call them Christian-Pagans than for abundance of our Pagan Christians 2. This Uprightness of life is not sufficient without the former 'T is good but not good enough To be a fast friend to men and a broken bow to God will yeild you little comfort Yet how many sit down here and think themselves well would not steal a shoe latchet from their neighbour for a world and yet make no Conscience of stealing from God his Honour and his Day That would not wrong their Brethrens Name by any reproach for a world and yet make no bones of wronging the Name of the great God and take it in vain day by day The squareness of your actions may crown you with reputation but the rottenness of your hearts will leave you in condemnation by that God that trieth the hearts and reins As in the Law without bloud there was no remission so in the Gospel without Oyle there is no admission into the Kindome of Heaven Civility and Sanctity are two things 3. This uprightness of life cannot be without that uprightness of heart It loseth in truth its name and nature for want of a principle For that which is truly good must have all its causes which this wants It is a common experiment that water will not ascend above its spring without a violence upon nature and it is as true that no mans actions can carry a higher level than the fountain of them so that to make the life upright you must begin at the heart and first make the Tree good and then the fruit will be good also Now this Uprightness of Life is the exact agreement of a mans words and actions with an honest and upright heart When the life is the picture of the heart and there is a blessed harmony between the frame of the soul within and the course of the life without when a man doth not frame his life to gratifie the company or serve the times he lives in or the corrupt humours of other or any carnal ends of his own but his heart is sincere and so are his words and deeds Not that we expect an absolute exactness here the uprightest man on earth hath enough to humble and afflict him but for the main there is no known ordinary and willing swerving of his course from his frame within or of that from the holy will of God And herein also we shall consider 1. It s Essence 2. It s Object SECT XII I. THe Nature or Being of Uprightness of life shines 1. In Simplicity Prov. 28. 6. 18. Better is the poor that walketh in his Integrity than he that is perverse in his wayes though rich The word for wayes in both places is Dual and intimates two wayes An hypocrite is a man with two wayes The one he goes in the other he seems to go in The poor upright man hath but one way and that 's better than them both 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 When this Apostle was traduc'd by men yet this afforded him not only content but joy to wit the testimony of his Conscience An hypocrite may have quiet in his Conscience but an upright man hath a Testimony in his Conscience He carries every where Letters Testimonial in his bosom And why all this joy that we have had our conversation in simplicity As our ends have been single in preaching the Gospel so our Lives have not been double The drift of our preaching and lives hath been the same Happy that Preacher that can here subscribe his hand This Simplicity of an upright man makes him sometimes the Subject of loss and sometimes the Object of scorn Job 12. 4. The just upright man is laughed to scorn and many a Simpleton he is called yet he goes on and carries it in the end His great consideration is What is my duty according to that Prov. 4. 25. Let thine eyes look straight on and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee That is without squinting at events or how it will please or whom it will lose he is resolved to live and dye in his duty Mistake me not as if Prudence and Integrity could not dwell together certainly they may and ought His simplicity only excludes the subtlety of the Fox which stands in being cunning to do mischief not the wisdom of the Serpent which stands in carefully avoiding it 2. Uprightness of Life stands in Purity Prov. 16. 17. The high-way of the Upright is to depart from evil His usual road is as far from the broad way as ever he can and his care herein sometimes carries him rather too far upon which account his Conscience breeds more scruples then other mens that can swallow any thing that comes to hand but his integrity in other things apologizeth for him to all wise men and at least brings him off with peace and comfort And this very thing hath brought upon very many of these upright men the badge of a Puritan which is by too many applied to subvert sincere holiness and to cast an odium on downright Christianity and the practise of that we all profess Sure I am the Scripture opens Heavens gates to none but those whose lives are pure and holy Psal. 24. 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 c. Hence the upright man dare not mingle with those vain fooleries vitious excesses or suspicious recreations that men of devasted Consciences are drowned in nor can all the good nature that 's in him nor importunity of neighbours or kindred draw him to such company or courses that would sting his Conscience when he should sleep except God leaves him to himself sometimes to try and humble him 3. This Uprightness of Life shines in the perfection of his Life Understand a Perfection of parts each part of him is sincere See that Isa. 33. 14. Fearfulness hath surprized the hypocrite who among us shall dwell with devouring fire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnnings that is stand before the holy just and upright Jehovah who
can approach him when he executes judgements here or passes final sentance hereafter when all hypocrites shall be in a fright when their cobweb-coverings shall fall off and they must stand naked like so many cheats on a pillory before God Angels and Men who then shall stand with comfort and confidence Mark verse 15. He that walketh righteously his feet walk uprightly and speaketh uprightly carries an upright tongue despises the gain of oppressions keeps an upright heart in him that shakes his hands from holdding bribes both his hands are upright too that stops his ears from hearing of bloud his ears are tipt with integrity and shuts his eyes from seeing evil he looks with an upright eye Thus you see he is upright all over Let him deal with friends or enemies with godly or ungodly with wise or foolish you may trust him for he stands in awe of his God and of Himself He hath not one heart for his Religion and another for his bargains and calling but studies the Scripture and drives his life into it as near as he can This is to obey Gods voice Indeed And from this perfection flows an excellent evenness of conversation so that Queen Elizabeths motto well becomes his life Semper eadem Still the same 2. This Uprightness shines in the Plainness of his life There are few Criticisms in the life of an upright man He 's plain and that 's his prayer Psal. 27. 11. Lord lead me in a plain path that 's my desire He hath no quirks or tricks of legerdemain If he cannot stand by plain dealing he 'l fall by it when he trades and bargains though he be discreet and careful yet he is plain When he reproves a fault or advises he is sober wise and affectionate but still he is plain his discourse and Sermons though elaborate yet still plain Among his very enemies though he be cautious and considerate yet there he is plain also Lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies He is like Him that wisht his body were made of Chrystal that his sincerity might be transparent Such was that Martyr whom the persecutors requir'd to discover his companion whom they were prosecuting promising to him his own life for the discovery and so either by denying his knowledge of the place of his friends abode or by betraying it he might have saved his own life after a little pause breaks out into these words Mentiri non possum prodere nolo I cannot lye and I will not betray him and so laid down his life to save one of the Brethren Here was an upright man that would not tell a lye to save a life that had rather dye than lye He will be plain though he suffer for it But how generally is this plainness banisht out of the world every man almost walking in a vain shew disguizing their intentions looking one way and rowing another that the Tropicks are not more distant than most mens intentions are from their Actions And so I come to the Object about which this uprightness of life is conversant SECT XIII II. THe Object of an Upright life follows which is 1. Words 2. Deeds or Actions 1. The Upright man is sincere in his words Ps. 15. 2. He walketh uprightly and speaketh the truth in his heart His heart is inditing a good matter and thereof his tongue is the pen of a ready writer And indeed that is the genuine use of words to be the interpreters of the heart and mind And therefore that is a black brand set on our Neighbour Nation that they use not to sing as they prick nor to read as they write nor to speak as they think which if true would render their society more intollerable than the brutes themselves The upright man perhaps cannot speak elegantly but he can speak truly he cannot flourish his letters but he can write a plain Secretary and his words you may believe more than others oathes If you would see a fuller view of him as who would not delight in such asight these Foyles will set him off 1. An upright man is a greater hater of Flattery He cannot abide to be either active or passive in it He rather desires to know the worst of himself than to hear the best for that open rebuke is better than secret love and he knows that unjust praises are more dangerous than unjust slanders And then for others if he might get all the Town by it he cannot give flattering Titles to any man or extol any thing in any body for his own ends How fair an opportunity had Micaiah to have gain'd his liberty and the favour of two potent Kings if he could have sooth'd Ahab in his vanity but prison or no prison he could not flatter How easily might Paul have come off before Foelix with a smooth oration if he had learn'd to have courted him and his Drusilla with a Panegyrick of praise but he rather chose to speak of Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come so to save them rather than sooth them in their sins 'T is true he loses many an one by this plain dealing whom he might have kept by his flattery but these are better lost than kept Job 32. 22. I know not saith Elihu to give flattering titles in so doing my Maker would soon take me away These acts are below a man much more below a Christian and generally there is unsoundness in the heart or baseness in the ends of those that use them It s true a man may without any breach in his uprightness give another his due praises when there is just occasion so to do but to exceed bounds herein and that out of any base design of procuring the like again or for worldly profit is very far from true sincerity A false heart and a flattering tongue usually go together Prov. 26. 23. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsheard cover'd over with silver dross No man so likely to have a tongue and a tongue as he that hath an heart and an heart 2. An upright man is a great hater of Lying A sin that is directly contrary to the nature of sincerity I may not inlarge upon the kinds or aggravations of this sin whole Sermons yea Volumes are little enough to overthrow it it is so common and so dangerous If a lye will save their credit few will lose it if a lye will gain any thing few will sit down by loss if a lye will shelter one from anothers anger thousands will venture the displeasure of the Eternal God before that of a silly worm and chuse to have their Head broken that their Helmet may be spared O the woful havock of mens Consciences by this sin now an upright man abhors a lye he knows that the God of truth desires truth in the inward parts and hath in him a particular Antipathy to this sin Dress it in what clothes you will call it a jesting lye an officious lye what
lye you will he likes it not his heart rises against it Psal. 119. 163. I hate and abhor lying two words for failing to shew his great hatred of this sin Be it with him or against him the upright man will speak the truth Whereas an hypocrite as he is nothing else but a Lye so he can swallow them as fast as occasion serves Poor man thou wouldst not speak it if the man that stands by thee saw into thy heart and how darest thou speak it when the holy and true God sees into thy heart and can choke thee with thy dissembling words 3. An upright man hates all Equivocations and mental Reservations That is he speaks his words in a sense that he would have them construed in and keeps no part of a sentence in his mind to contradict what he pronounced with his mouth especially with an intent to injure another Such was that jugling trick we read of Cydias that being betrusted by Archetimus with a sum of mony afterwards flatly denies it There being no witness to prove the truth Cydias is summon'd to his Oath before the Altar and a great Assembly he quilts the mony in his staffe and going to take his Oath gives Archetimus his staffe to hold the while and then confidently swears he had given him back his money But this deceit lasted not long for Archetimus seeing his perjury in a rage throws down his staffe it breaks and the fraud is found And such is the usual issue of such Equivocations The upright man hath no skill at this he knows if the plain truth will not bear him out these cunning shifts never can My brethren it beseems not the plain-heartedness of a Christian to speak like the Delphian Oracle to be understood in two contrary sentences The Romans themselves would not so much as hear those Embassadors that were painted saying how shall we believe them whose very face and looks do lie An upright man if he do not speak all his heart yet will speak according to his heart He loves not to walk with a dark lanthorn much less to deal with false lights but plain genuine are his expressions without and fair and candid is his heart within 4. An upright man greatly hates promise breaking whether it be to God or men A great note of integrity in Jephthah Judg. 11. 35. I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot go back It was a rash vow but conscience of the obligation brake all other considerations which in his case might have been many and he chose rather to have his very heart broken than his word It is enough for a subtile Polititian to have Distinctions and Evasions ready to help himself out of the straightest bonds the upright man delights not after vows to make inquiry Well advised every man should be before he binds himself in any thing to the Lord but when his soul is fast let him be very well advised how he releases himself for there is nothing doth more prostitute the Conscience and utterly undo men than being fast and loose with God in sacred vows and promises The same abhorrence hath the upright man of breaking his word with men and thereupon his word is as good as his bond If he bids so much for a commodity he seldom shrinks but gives it if he bargain to his prejudice yet he changes not the scarceness of the thing the rising of the market cannot prevail with him to rescind his punctual agreement whether he gain or lose he will not lose his honesty nor his reputation O what a Golden age would return unto us if men were but plain in their dealing and punctual in their performances and unworthy is it for a man a Christian man to be so vile that no body can believe him nor trust him How will that Atilius Regulus rise up in judgment and condemn this generation who being prisoner at Carthage and assur'd of his own death if he fail'd in his negotiation was set at liberty to effect a peace at Rome upon the single security of his own word to return if he fail'd to procure it but such was his publick spirit that he effectually disswaded his Countrymen from a peace assuring them of a certain conquest and such the integrity of his spirit that after this he fairly return'd and accepted of a cruel death rather than infringe his word Ten thousand pities such heroick acts should be lost for want of a right principle and ten thousand shames that Christians should break their word for a groat while Pagans will not do it for their lives SECT XIV SEcondly An upright man is sincere in his Deeds or Actions Isa. 33. 15. He walketh righteously as well as speaketh uprightly As his words are a true Commentary upon his heart so his actions are a true Exposition upon his words Whatsoever Office or Relation he stands in he adorns it with integrity The upright Judge when he puts on his Robes puts off his worldly relations The upright Justice of the Peace disdaining to be drawn by favour or driven by fear besides his duty The upright Counsellour will not plead when his Tongue is confuted by his Conscience The upright Juror without all by respects esteems the least grain of Evidence more weighty than a Talent of Ophirs Gold The upright Atturney when he perceives the cause to be a drop blown up by malice into a bubble sounds a retreat to his Client though he lose thereby The upright Physician will rather go with an empty purse than torture either the body or purse of his Patient without cause The upright Tradesman will be upright in his words upright in his weights and upright in his wares and upright in his rates And the upright Minister will put on his Thummim that is uprightness a word derived from that in my Text as well as Urim and rather lose the love of ten by his plain dealing than the soul of one by dissimulation and unfaithfulness Thus uprightness like a silver thread is drawn through the whole course of the sincere Christian and he that is upright is upright every where And that I may set out this holy course by its most proper Opposites 1. An upright man is a great enemy to Craftiness or Subtlety Though he studies to be Wise yet he delights not in Cunning. Craft is wisdom degenerated it is wisdom devested of honesty A tang of this was in that practise of Rebecca Gen. 37. 35. to procure the blessing for Jacob by a wile But it cost him many a sweating day and many a frosty night Guile and guilt go hand in hand Job 15. 5. Thy mouth utters thy iniquity and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty Carnal policy was never friend to inward piety though it sometimes wears Lambs wool without yet it is alwayes lin'd within with the Foxes furre But the true and holy God disappoints the devices of the crafty and drives the counsels of the froward
Foelix trembled on the Throne And they say the Apostle James was so chearful at his Martyrdom that one that drew him to the Tribunal was converted by it For Death that King of terrours that dismounts the proudest spirits the most effectual refuter of all Atheists and Surprizer of Hypocrites is disarm'd of all its terribleness by an upright heart Isa. 57. 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in their uprightness The Bed of an hypocrite is a Grave wherein he lyes rotting in his sins the Grave of an upright man is a Bed of spices wherein his body is at rest whose soul hath walked before God in his Uprightness O be of good chear then all ye single-hearted ones The handkerchief of Gods love shall wipe away your tears his cordials shall stay your faintings The Lyons shall roar and the young Lyons suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord shall want no good thing If wants be good for you look for them if sickness be good for you be content with it if prisons if losses if crosses come they shall do you no hurt A summo Bono nil nisi Bonum Every stream of Providence how fierce soever is turn'd through that Promise All things shall work together for good to them that love God His Properties his Promises his Providences do all smile on the true-hearted man Poor men your straits may be great Poor women your pangs may be sharp but All 's for good yea for the best God is with you the great wise and holy God And is this nothing Are the Consolations of God small with you If he give quietness who then can make trouble Heaviness may indure for a night but joy cometh in the morning The story alwayes ends well to the sincere-hearted man Psal. 112. 4. Unto the upright ariseth light in the darkness Dark providences may well be born when clear promises are sealed upon the heart This was noble Hezekiahs comfort when all forsook him Isa. 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in Truth and with a perfect heart I have done uprightly with thee now deal uprightly with me now remember and the Lord hath too good a memory to forget such a man in his needs he gives him a Lease gratis of fifteen years both of Life and Kingdom Who would not intirely love and serve such a God The poor mans Friend the sick mans Doctor yea and Bed-maker the prisoners Companion the true-hearted the unwearied the everlasting God a very present help in trouble Name that strait wherein God hath not supported or relieved his people Ask thy Fathers and they shall tell thee how in six troubles and in seven he hath been with them All the Patriarchs can prove this Abraham and Job and Daniel Speak we only with David was he not very poor when he sent to crave of Nabal God gave him Content and at last Plenty Was he not in dreadful hazard in Keilah in Gath in Mahanaim but he came off well and dyed in his bed Was he not upon a time very sick so that some said An evil disease did cleave to him yet God remembred him and made him safe and sound All the Saints will bear witness for God that he is no flincher of his friends yea at last all men shall say Psal. 58. 11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth Though things seem to go cross with his poor children yet take one thing with another he deals very uprightly with them In very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me If they want a fuller table yet they have a lighter heart if they have not such costly clothes yet they have more healthful constitutions if they reach not such vast treasures yet they can injoy the light of Gods countenance which is far better Artabazus thought himself wrong'd when Cyrus gave him a Golden cup at a feast and to Chrysantas only a kiss of Respect deeming thereby that he had a lesser portion of kindness than the other and shall not we much more value his glorious smiles above the greatest earthly gifts Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth For his love is better than Wine Though you be not delivered from your straits yet being upheld in them you are well It was all one to the three Worthies to be kept in the fire as to be kept out of it One way or other light shall spring to the righteous and joy to the upright in heart SECT VI. VI. THe Lord shews himself upright to the upright man In directing him in his doubts Prov. 11. 3. The integrity of the upright shall guide them Many an upright man is under great doubts and knows not what to believe or what to do Arguments and pleas on both hands Great men on one side and Good men on another for seldom are they both on a side likely reasons court his Assent either way The commands of men sometimes countermanded by his Conscience and he wants parts learning and judgement to cleave an hair and state the case exactly either of Faith or Fact Now in this case when he hath us'd the means of resolution that he is capable of the integrity of the upright shall guide him His plain honest heart is neither suspicious of more evil to be in men or things then evidently appears nor on the other side doth he study extricating Salvo's or subtle evasions to sleep with a whole skin and salute the upper party but according to his best knowledge he fixes his faith and orders his actions by the Rule of Gods Word which he knows will best bear him out An upright man sometimes meets with Doubts in matters of Faith but herein he stands fairest for that promise which Christ hath made to lead his into all truth Though his integrity may not secure him from Error that it will not yet 't will secure him from being an Heretick He hath Doubts sometimes about things to be done towards God in his Worship towards men in his Life In the former he studies the will of God in his Word knowing that nothing which is offered to him will please him unless directed by him And for Men he is relieved in most of his doubts by that golden Rule Mat. 7. 12. What soever ye would that men should do to you do ye to them And lastly he is perplexed with some Doubts about the Love of God and the salvation of his Soul but here also his Integrity so guides him that he is far from presuming though he be loth to despair and the Lord gives him Comfort from his Sincerity though he want the joyes from Assurance And is not uprightness a choice Jewel to lay claim to this guidance Psal. 25. 8. Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way This conducting a poor sinner in the way flows from his Goodness
and Uprightness and therefore as long as there is a drop of goodness or a dram of uprightness in God the penitent sinner shall never lack a guide And to this refers that promise Isa. 30. 21. Of a voice behind you saying this is the way walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand or to the left alluding as some think to a Schoolmaster prompting his Scholar over the shoulder how he should pronounce his words when he poor child is puzzled and knows not what to say even so will God lead his upright ones in the way that he shall chuse when they are in the dark and you shall find that Scripture true Prov. 13. 6. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way But wickedness overthroweth the sinner Resolve then in such cases after you have us'd the means of illumination as Jehoshaphat in another O Lord I know not what to do but mine eyes are unto thee I perceive the blindness of my eyes but thou seest the uprightness of my heart I would do thy will if I knew it teach me thy way and I will walk in thy truth consider my weakness and neither leave me in perplexing doubts nor suffer me to erre from thy will And be sure God will not forsake thee for it is plain that many an honest heart is preserved in the way of truth when many of great but unsanctified parts have fallen into damning errors With the upright man he is us'd to shew himself upright SECT VII VII GOds uprightness will yet appear In clearing his integrity Sincerity hath the sweetest visage but bad men put on it often the foulest vizard and many a dear Saint wears the note of an hypocrite to his grave Though you see that no man is so far from hypocrisie as this man no sin he hates more yet this character is usually fastned on our plain-hearted man It is the subtlety of Satan to charge the Saints with those sins whereof he is sure they can hardly clear themselves till the day of judgment And those are commonly these two 1. Covetousness 2. Hypocrisie Both which for the nature of them lye so within that it is almost impossible to refell his charge Hence the Apostle is driven in the former to make his appeal to God 1 Thes. 2. 5. For neither at any time us'd we flattering words as ye know for this you can clear us nor a cloak of Covetousness God is witness herein God only can purge us And the like the latter Rom. 1. 9. For the Lord is my witness whom I serve with my spirit c. And the upright Lord will clear up these mens integrity first or last Holy David lay under many heavy charges and that for a long time How long will ye turn my glory into shame Naught he was not fit to live in his own native Country he hatch'd treason against Saul and undermin'd his Government and Religion he had none but at length his Righteousness did shine as the noon-day Saul himself was convincâ—…d of his integrity and acquitted him though thereby he condemn'd himself So upright Job past for a notorious hypocrite among his enemies for he was accounted no other by his friends but the Lord brought out his Justice as a Lamp that burneth And what is more common in the World than to brand every one for an hypocrite that is but serious in his Religion If any man do humbly and conscientiously indeavour to live according to his Covenant in Baptism do set himself against the world the flesh and the devil and deny the pomps and vanities wherein the generality of men do wallow presently his envious and carnal neighbours when they can tax him with nothing condemn him for an hypocrite his outside is smooth but inwardly he is an arrand hypocrite but his upright God that knows his heart will clear him sooner or later at furthest at that great day of setting things at right The Lord Jesus will come with his thousands of Saints Jude vers 15. to convince the ungodly world of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him See here you implacable wretches this is the man this the woman whom you condemn'd for hypocrites they were praying for you while you were cursing them I knew their uprightness and will now declare it Thus shall it be done to those I delight to honour and you must go with a curse into eternal torments Rejoyce in the Lord therefore O ye Righteous and be glad all ye of upright heart Be not dismay'd at mens rebukes these Reproaches do but adde to your Crown And God permits them to make you search your hearts the more Though these be poor commodities yet you may make a trade of them and live the better for them They charge you with the Foxes pranks and you have the Foxes Nature They charge you with one fault and thereby you find out another they write Hypocrite and you subscribe Formal Dead Secure and chief of Sinners And know for your comfort that your names shall have a Resurrection as well as your bodies and you shall shine in glory when your enemies shall only shine in flames And even in this world your God doth justifie you in their Consciences the most of them could wish their souls in your souls stead for all their talk at least when pale death stares them in the face then O let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my latter end be like his It is not oft that an hypocrite goes undiscovered to his grave nor very oft that an upright man dies without the testimony of the Centurion even from men Certainly this man was a dear child of God SECT VIII VIII THe Lord shews himself an upright God to the upright man In Stablishing him to the end its elementary fire that goes out the Coelestial ever burns Prov. 10. 29. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright He only is the persevering man The fixed Stars appear but small the blazing Star looks far greater but the former abide from age to age and the latter being but exhalations compounded of corruptible matter are spent and consumed to nothing they had perhaps more eyes fixed on them than on the others but they waste away Even so an hypocrite may make a greater blaze in his profession may be more admired and talk't of in the world but the real Saint is fixed he abides no tempest can shake him he is built on a Rock and abideth for ever The way of the Lord is strength to the uprighs Every prayer strengthens him every Sermon strengthens him yea every temptation like the wind to a well-rooted tree causeth his roots to spread and stand the stronger moved he may be but not removed fall he may but not fall away and yet an upright tree you know falls not so soon as that which leans An upright man never makes a right Apostate Psal. 25. 21. Let integrity and
to come shall fare the better for your integrity Abraham he hardly injoyed one foot of that land which fell to him for his true-heartedness but his posterity had it all And many an upright man lives and dyes but with an ordinary estate for he dare not do wrong to grow rich but the Lord remembers his posterity and his seed shall be mighty in the earth the generation of the upright shall be blessed Hold on therefore in your integrity you are in the way of preferment Prov. 21. 21. He that followeth after righteousness findeth life righteousness and honour he finds more than he lookt for 'T is true the vilest men may be exalted and the posterity of evil men may be both great and good but they have no such promise for it as you have They may have fairer houses finer fare costlier clothing but they have a curse with it and a sad reckoning to come O therefore for your healths sake for your estate sake for your posterities sake but above all for your souls sake for an upright Gods sake study integrity be true-hearted sincere-hearted and whole-hearted men for God SECT X. X. GOd will shew himself upright to his upright ones in Crowning their integrity 1. With Internal Peace Melchizedek was first the King of Righteousness and then King of Salem King of Peace and where Christ hath ingraven Sincerity which is the true Righteousness then follows Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost There 's no Rest but in Religion nor any sound Peace but in Piety Others may have Quiet of Conscience but the upright man hath the Testimony of his Conscience that is quite another thing Theirs is but a truce a dayes sickness will break it The hypocrite hath a Conscience Pacified but what 's this without a Conscience Puri fied It is Righteousness and Peace that only will kiss each other The quieâ—… of most mens Consciences is from theiâ—… Blindness not from their Goodness thus the beasts are well because they know nâ—… better fear no worse Thus millions lyâ—… still and dye like Lambs If these had morâ—… knowledge they would have less quiet They are like the malefactor in a dungeon that sees not his misery or as the bird busie at the chaff when the Net 's unseen One thundering threat set on by the spirit of bondage will spoil all their mirth There can be no true peace where sin is suffered in quiet It were well for such as you to be frighted Cries were your best Musick and Tears the best Nectar you could drink you must be let blood or dye such is your disease that you must be lanc'd or lost But now when true grace comes in after that spiritual conflict that breaks the heart of sin the Conscience hath a sweet peace or at least ground for it The Law charges the Devil charges Conscience in Christs blood that discharges He that makes Conscience of sin hath his Conscience quit from sin Now I can eat and sleep and go in the dark my Conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost though the earth be removed and the Mountains carried into the midst of the sea yet here 's tranquility In the world ye shall have Tribulation but in me saith Christ ye shall have peace and this is the fruit of uprightness Isa. 32. 17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever While Francis Spira kept on in his upright way he had a heaven of peace but after his sinful compliance he had not one day or hour of quiet in his soul. And it is recorded that Cicero when dying and reflecting on his warping and temporizing he cried out O me miserum O me nunquam felicem c. Sincerity and Serenity live and dye together And 2. With Eternal Glory There he payes home the upright man for all When his God leads him into the Land of Uprightness Psal. 143. 10. there he shall meet with all Gods hidden ones of whom the world was not worthy Ah poor hypocrite he knows not what to do when he dyes each step he takes is towards Hell the longer he lives the nearer his destruction Job 27. 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gain'd wealth repute c. when God hath taken away his soul Their very hope which is all the comfort that 's left them will flee away and leave them in the bryars But then the upright man shall be some body Here he is a Prince unknown there he enters his kingdom Here he is under a cloud there the righteous shall shine as the Sun for ever and ever As he that hath an Estate in Reversion though he live poor a while yet the Estate will fall An inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away and this as sure as God is in Heaven and thy name in the Bible Genes 17. 1. Walk before me and be perfect I will be thy exceeding great reward Who can desire more than him that is Alt It will be merry when the upright God and the upright Man do meet Art thou he that receiv'd my dear Son and resign'd thy heart so freely to him Art thou he that gave inward universal and constant obedience to my will Art thou he that stuck to me in such and such times and tryals Art thou he that walked righteously and spake the truth in thy heart Come up hither Angels put on his Crown sing an Authem ye sons of the morning at my upright servants coming home Come enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Here live and love and rejoyce for ever Psal. 140. 13. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to thy name the upright shall dwell in thy presence Now many a poor upright heart hath hardly a house to cover his head scarce a bed to rest on here he must not dwell and there he must not dwell but there is but one life between him and a glorious Palace whereof the spangled firmament is but the floor He hath an house pav'd with Rubies and fill'd with Saints and Angels like so many Suns and there he shall dwell and sing among them world without end Into that Corporation all upright men may come and their greatest enemies will never follow them Seeming Saints will be in the Church none but Sincere Saints must come into Heaven Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Rejoyce therefore in the Lord O ye Righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart O what a shout will there be in Heaven when all this blessed Tribe meet together and have Christ among them and then you shall see how the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance doth behold the upright Then shall you be paid for every drop of blood for every drop of tears for every step for every thought that you have laid out for his Name And thus you have the second