I will give thy substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all Jer. 17. 3. Isa 30. 7. thy treasures to the spoil Isa 30. 7. They will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young Asses Honours credit and reputation are expressed under the other term in the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often used in Scripture to express the favour of others to us Thus the world accounteth him or her that is rich honourable in credit and favour with the world more excellent than those that are of mean parentage mean estate or of no repute in the world And thus I have given you a short account of the most of those things which raise the value of any person in the world to which might have been added Wit and Fancy and some noble vertuous actions The latter is mentioned in the text Many daughters have done vertuously And indeed though it be the great errour of the men of the world to over-rate those things and because of them to set too high a value upon the person possessed of them yet there is something of true worth value and excellency in them and they at least some of them and some of them more than others do confer something of excellency upon the person whom it pleaseth God to bless with them Solomon himself yields it when he saith in the text Many Daughters have done vertuously And that leadeth me to a further consideration what there is of real value in these things we shall find if we wisely consider it That the true excellency which these things have and which they can confer upon the person blessed with them chiefly dependeth upon these things First They are all of them the gifts of God though they be not of his choicest and best sort of gifts yet his gifts they are and not the portions of all persons That one is more nobly and ingenuously born is Gods gift who breathed his soul into a finer piece of clay than anothers He is our Potter and they are his hands that have shaped one body into a more lovely and beautiful form than anothers and hath knit the joynts of one more strong than anothers It is he that hath given to one a quicker understanding a more dexterous wit and fancy a more solid judgement a more tenacious memory a more active spirit than another All this cometh from the Lord. It is he that hath more disposed the mind of one than another to moral vertue meekness ingenuity courtesie sobriety c. It is he that hath given to one more than to another favour in the eyes of Princes and great persons or in the eyes of the common people It is he that hath given to one a greater estate than to another and by whose guidance and assistance one doth more noble and virtuous actions than another Promotion cometh not from the East nor from the West nor from the South but God is the Judge he pulleth down one and setteth up another saith the Psalmist Psal 67. 6 7. Favour is not to men of skill Eccles 9. God gave Joseph favour in the eyes of his Keeper and the Israelites in the sight of the Egyptians It were easie to shew you the Scripture speaking the like concerning Riches and other-accomplishments of Nature and gifts of Providence so Christians call them acknowledging the donor of them the Heathen called them the gifts of fortune which they dreamed to be one of the four causes of all things and made to be a God Now I say this putteth an excellency upon the things themselves and also upon the person possessed with them whoso hath them hath more to shew for a favour that God hath to him than he that wanteth them unless he hath this same excellent thing in my text A second thing which commendeth these or some of these things is their usefulness as to our comfortable being and subsistence in this life Riches and Favour though they be things more external and forein to what truly makes up a reasonable creature or adorneth him considered in that capacity yet they have this excellency in them that whoso is possessed of them is at a better advantage than another man for a comfortable subsistence in the world and to do good to others than he that is poor and of no credit and reputation in the world Strength and health of body upon which strength you know much depends are necessary and advantagious to us for our comfortable subsistence An Active busie diligent spirit is that also which maketh rich through the blessing of God and upon this account all these things have a true and real excellency in them and ought to be looked upon as the blessings of God which we ought to acknowledge and to receive with thankfulness at his hand Lastly There is an excellency in some of them and which they give to the persons that are possest of them which lies in their approvableness to the reasonable nature of man All of them do not so approve themselves to our rational part reason understands not the excellency of great parentage or a fair face nor of riches or honours c. But now knowledge prudence sobriety temperance modesty with other moral virtues are things which have in them a certain innate and connatural beauty even reason being Judge and make the person possessed of them as much to excite another that is ignorant immodest impudent intemperate foolish as light excelleth darkness and upon this account it was that the wiser Heathens valued them though they knew nothing of the revealed mind and will of God in reference to them and considered them not at all as falling under a divine precept but only as improvements of nature and due products of a soul that had not lost its reason and was not metamorphosed by debauchery The Heathens had no other eye than that of reason no other ballance than that in which to weigh things that differed And now I think we have made a just estimate of other things the fear of the Lord only excepted which either do or may put a value upon any person in this world above his neighbour we have seen what they are and how much they signifie The summ is this That there are many things which either really or at least in common opinion make a man or woman to excel Bodily perfections strength health beauty mental endowments knowledge judgement wit prudence moral vertues temperance sobriety c. An active diligent spirit and temper fitted for business in our respective callings things more external such as honour estate favour credit and reputation And though it be very usual as I have said to over-rate these things and to overvalue persons blessed with them because of them yet these things considered as the gifts and favours of God and as things of singular advantage to us with reference to the comfortable beeing and subsistence of our outward man in the world and as some of them are naturally far more
mortal who with you could glory Of all those things which serve to fill your story Birth Breeding Beauty Riches Honours she Knew what there was of true felicity In these The strains of courtesie and wit What Courtship several qualities would fit She knew how to receive a Complement And to return it with a Grace when lent And one thing more she knew which was to call These Trifling Vanities and slight them all To her to live was to Read Hear and Pray Her life was but one constant Sabbath day She sometime went abroad 't is true but trode Act. 10. 38. Her Saviour's path she went but doing good Had she been Catholick in the Romish sense What stock their thrifty Church had raised hence For poorer Madams Oh! how many pair Would she alone have watch'd for unto prayer How many might have sate at Cards and sent Their Beads to her to drop for them or spent Their time at Playes and charg'd her with their share Of close Devotions she had had to spare She of Moguntia whom the Priest espied V. Gazâ—â— pia bilaria Lond. 1657. p. 67. Ex Coesarâ— l. 5. cap. 5. With troops of Devils riding all astride On her long train to Church they from her glass Came with her something tardy unto Mass Mean while where were the Exorcists to indure Upon the holy ground fiends so impure Had notwithstanding scap'd the purging fire If this rare Lady had been of their Quire Her early presence and her Zeal no doubt Had clear'd the hallowed soil scar'd spirits out The Holy-water had been spar'd her eyes Had dropt the lazy Ladies Sacrifice Fond Catholicks charge us no more that we Advancing Faith teach good works needless be This Protestant out-did you every one And yet lookt to be sav'd by Faith alone Love to your selves is what makes you so free And by your works you think to satisfie Her good deeds were no peuance yet their store Was every whit as great if not much more Than yours which are design'd in Commutation For Purgatorial paâ—ns or expiatioâ— Of some flaâ—gtious crimes Her purer love To Christ constrain'd her noble soul above Your Lott'ry deeds you 'd nere your pence throw down Did not you vainly hope to draw a Crown You put your Alms to interest for gain She lent she gave and lookt for naught again You in Devotions who were wont to go To Walsingham hence forward learn to know The way to Chapplefield there you may see The place where once this Saint abode where she So long wrought Miracles of Love Far more Than your dull Colledge that was there before Thence weeping pass to Blicklin vault and there Pay your Devotions to her Sepulchre When this is done go you and do likewise Acknowledge Christ the only Sacrifiâ—e For Sin Take Heaven upon the gift of Grace Then work as she Thus you may see the place Where she abides and a Saint Frances find Can you believe 't that was not of your mind ERRATA PAge 3. line 10. read feeble Dove p. 5. l. penult r. Dinah p. 6. l. 9. r. she p. 19. l. 12. dele ordinarily p. 24. l. 1. r. from spending p. 43. l. 13. r. Jedidâ—ah p. 46. l. 20. r. their p. 54. l. 3. r. account of p. 58. l. 30. r. Jael p. 59. l. ult r. lazy p. 64. l. 16. r. excell p. 76. l. 28. r. because p. 77. l. 1. r. these are p. 80. l. penult r. on p. 86. l. 13. r. peruse Justinians c. p. 101. l. 8. r. the loss p. 103. l. ult r. all the p. 110. l. 22. r. Paul p. 121. l. 17. r. in the Land p. 122. l. 3. r. demission p. 153. l. 12. r. custos In the second Part. In the Epist Ded. p. 3. l. 13. r. Navis p. 6. r. approve himself p. 178. l. 22. r. a p. 183. l. 8. r. Root p. 187. l. 3. the verse misquoted 30 for 39. p. 195. l. 16. r. in p. 199. l. 22. r. the p. 201. l. 32. r. eternal p. 208. l. 17. r. An hungring after p. 210. l. 2. a comma at doubting p. 212. marg r. Cant. 8. 5. p. 217. l. penult r. hath done p. 222. l. 18. r. in p. 232. l. 4. blot out do p. 240. l. 9. r. to p. 240. l. 21. r. face TO THE Honourable Memory OF THE Lady FRANCES HOBART late of Chapplefield in Norwich NAtures Endymion whose Lyntean eye Did's Mistress secret Cabinet descry Who plants describ'd from Leb'nons Cedar tall Unto the creeping Hysop on the wall Who seeing Knowledge puffeth up might vaunt His held in capâ—te by special grant From the Lord Paramount who virtue vice Nature and Art what not did enterprise Remits the search t' a more sagacious mind Saying A vertuous woman who can find One of a thousand men no female mate Sure God dâ—d Male and Female good create And though the strong man armed first attaqueâ— The weaker Sex and her his Engine makes Yet God to countermine makes her also The Magazine of Arms and Champion too An Achillean Spear to wound and heal Right Weapon-Salve cause both of woe and weal And now through grace goodness in man and woman Without exception doth enter common Vertue is not monopoliz'd but mean Nor 's Phoenix masculine but Epicene Here was a Vertuous Woman Solomon Might here have had for his Deucalion A Pyrrha one where each becoming grace Ambitious of an advantageous place To shew it self agreed in one Tense To make themselves a noble residence Here you might see greatness and couâ—tesie In-laid and counterpointed equally There 's Modesty like to the Morning Rose Which Phoebus tyring doth but half disclose 'Bove them with eyes lift up and bended knee Is Closet-piety This you may not see That 's Charity on her attendant stands With chearful aspect free and open hands She in th' old dress which there you standing see Waiting on her is Madam Constancy And that below which hangeth down the crest Humility which graceth all the rest If Vertue need an adventitious praise Beauty and Honour here did lend its bayes Heroick Vertue from prolifick womb Of Noble blood by th' holy Spirit doth come If Rarity Encomiums may indite O' th' better side she was an Heteroclite Not many Noble called chosen ones All goods are rare Pearls are call'd Unions Goodness impal'd with greatness is indeed A Noble Vine and wholly a right seed How O Vinedressers for the Vine laid waste Whose shadow was so sweet whose fruit did taste So gratefully 'T is cut up branch and root Nor slip nor cion left again to sprout The comfort 's this she is no withered gourd A Tree of Righteousness Plant of the Lord By him transplanted she more fruit shall yield In the Elysian than in Chapplefield To the Illustrious Memory OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lady FRANCES HOBART late of Capplefield in Norwich OH for a Sea of tears for tears of blood Oh! for an hundred eyes to weep a flood Of waters
her is that she is the most excellent woman There are many others praise-worthy in their order and kind many to whom sua laus debetur but there is none like unto her she hath to speak in the Hebrew dialect ascended above them all Others may deserve some praise but she shall be praised she in the most eminent manner deserveth praise Two things then are said 1. She is the most excellent person 2. She deserveth most true and eminent praise The latter justly followeth upon the former That therefore is it alone which I shall insist upon and the general question is Quest 2. Wherein it doth or may appear that a woman fearing the Lord in this sense is the most excellent woman that person the most excellent person The commendation in the text being in the superlative degree the most natural way to demonstrate the truth of the Proposition is that which Solomon here directeth us to per modum comparationis comparing her with other women or persons to whom the world giveth praise or honour and shewing you the excellency of her and those perfections of which she is possessed above all other persons of her order whom the world admireth and doteth upon and above all those things for which the mistaken world so admireth others This therefore is the method which I shall follow having the Holy Ghost himself for my guide I will then 1. Enquire what those things are which a◠adjuncts to persons inhance their value either really or in the opinion of men weighing them all in the ballance of reason and Religion as I go along and shewing you what there is of excellency in them 2. Secondly I will shew you what there is in this supereminent quality The fear of the Lord which maketh it to out-shine all those other excellencies even before any abatement of their value and supposing them not subject to those accidents which indeed they are subjected to which will inforce a rebatement in any reasonable soul of what they are at first blush and appearance worth 3. Lastly I will consider both the one and the other in their due circumstances and so consider both the one and the other substracting what either Reason or Religion will shew reasonable to be substracted from the appearing value of those other things And then I hope it will be easie for us to cast up the total summ of each and by comparing them together to judge of the truth of the Proposition 1. As to the first set aside what is here comprehended under the notion of The fear of the Lord all things which either in reality or in opinion do inhance the value of any person may be reduced to three heads 1. The ornaments perfections and accomplishments of the body which is our outward man 2. The endowments of the mind 3. More external accidental forein advantages to our persons The first head is The ornaments perfections and accomplishments of our bodies There are strength and beauty both mentioned in the text in the terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word of very large interpretation Primarily it signifieth natural strength and courage Thence in Scripture it is ordinarily used to express an Army which is ordinarily made up of strong men Men of strength as the Hebrew dialect is Thus Gen. 47. 6. If there be Gen. 47. 6. amongst them any men of strength or activity as we translate it for activity dependeth upon Judg. 11. 1. strength So Jephthah is called A mighty man of valour Where the same word is again used it is translated Army Exod. 14. 9. Jer. Exod. 14. 9. Jer. 37. 7. 37. 7. It is true that amongst us strength doth not ordinarily fall into the commendation of the female sex but you know of old Deborah and Joel were renowned for this Judg. 5. 2. Beauty is that bodily ornament which more ordinarily commendeth the woman it lieth in the perfection and proportion of bodily parts and in a due mixture of colours proper to flesh and blood But the indowments of the mind are things which yet further raise the value of any person These fall under three heads 1. Knowledge which is the furniture of the intellectual part of the soul the object of it is as large as Heaven and Earth and all things contained in it Without knowledge saith Solomon Prov. 19. the soul is not good without divine knowledge not spiritually good without natural knowledge not morally good Knowledge is a great ornament 2. Moral virtues Nobleness of spirit chastity temperance sobriety justice mercy and pity bounty and liberality meekness humility affability courtesie The woman indued with these and such like habits is far more excellent than her neighbour that is leud drunken intemperate ill-tongued morose immodest c. This kind of excellency is expressed in the text under the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which both in the text and vers 21. is translated virtue A third thing is activity of spirit when one is disposed and ready for business apt to manage affairs and agile in it Thus we translate this word Gen. 47. 6. If there be Gen. 47. 6. amongst them any men of activity It is used Exod. 18. 21. to express the fit qualifications Exod. 18. 21. of Magistrates we there translate it able able men where certainly it signifies knowledge prudence and almost all moral virtue together with activity of spirit The woman of an industrious active diligent spirit and temper is far more excellent than her who is of a slothful crazy idle temper and this also is comprehended in the text under the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you may see by comparing v. 10. of this chapter with the following verses the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned v. 20. is expounded by Solomon to be one that seeketh wooll and flax and worketh willingly with her hands that riseth while it is night and giveth meat to her houshold and a portion to her Maidens This now is a second sort of things which raise the value of a person in the world The third and last sort I call more external advantages such as are not inherent in our persons but forein to us and indeed alone signifie little or nothing to the commendation of a rational creature as such These are 1. Noble Parentage and Relations to be born atavis regibus of noble progenitors related to great persons or families these are some of those things which the Heathens called good things of fortune and the Poet knew not how to call Ours Vix ea nostra voco 2. Honours which are lookt upon highly by many but are things still without us having their original in the favour of others 3. The Affection and Favour of men which begetteth a good and honourable name 4. Riches a great estate in mony or lands c. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often signifieth Riches Jer. 17. 3.
conclude that happiness even on this side of Heaven must lie in the enjoyment of this God having an interest and portion in him nor can any assent to principles of reason above Atheism but his reason will inforce his subscription to this for if he believes there is a God he must acknowledge him supremely good and his reason will tell him happiness must needs lie in an union with the highest good The Heathen Philosophers indeed having not the light of divine revelation according to their various humours not knowing of any possibility of enjoying God judged pleasures riches honours knowledge vertue to be the greatest good and consequently mans happiness to lie in the fruition of them But we though our common share in reason with them enforceth us to agree with them in that main principle That mans chiefest happiness must necessary lie in his union to and fruition of the greatest good Yet being further enlightened cannot agree with their notion of that good for although they had their dark notions of a divine beeing yet the possibility of a creatures union with God through Christ Gods in-dwelling in the soul the having of God for their God reconciled in Christ were things which Aristotle and Plate never dreamt of But we having by the light of the divine Spirit made these discoveries even their reasonable principle enforceth us to conclude That the highest enjoyments and happiness of man even in this life must needs be his union with and enjoyment of God His being made partaker of the Divine Nature and transformation into the Divine Image So that all those other things do not reach so much as this end the happy beeing of a man in this life for we all know it is possible that men and women may have strength beauty knowledge prudence wit great relations riches honours c. and yet enjoy nothing of God but be at infinite distance from him whom we acknowledge the supreme and chiefest good But now this excellent habit The fear of the Lord doth both evidence our present union with God and his special favour to us and also it worketh us up to further degrees of union and communion with him But further yet we who are Christians are taught to look beyond this life to consider our selves as creatures under an ordination to a certain Eternity either in happiness or misery We know that our souls are immortal substances and will not as the sensitive souls of beasts when they die evaporate into air Hence we are concerned to consider wherein the happiness of a soul in its state of separation lyes and believing the Scriptures we cannot but believe that even these immortal bodies shall in the Resurrection put upon immortality these corruptibles incorruption and so are concerned further to inquire wherein the happiness of the soul and body lies in its state of reunion Here again we cannot but with the Philosophers agree that it must needs lie in an union with and an enjoyment of the best and chiefest good which the holy Scripture calleth A seeing of God as he is knowing him as we are known being ever with the Lord In one word Eternal life This now our reason naturally working upon Scripture hypotheses inforceth us to believe and that this is the noblest and highest end of man as to priviledge to which it is but reasonable that he who knoweth it should direct all his actions Now let us consider all those other pretty things and see what they signifie with relation to this end The strong man the beautiful woman the knowing the prudent and politick person may all of them go to Hell the morally vertuous person may be for ever excluded the Kingdom of God that righteousness exceedeth not the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees The Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 26. speaking of those whom God hath chosen saith Not many noble not many wise after the flesh not many mighty but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise The poor of this world hath God chosen saith St. James Could you look into the black dungeon of infernal spirits where miserable souls are reserved in chains unto the further judgement of the great and terrible day you would see there many a Goliah whose strength could not rescue him from the potent arm of divine Justice Many a Thais whose beauty instead of commending her to those eyes which see not as man sees rather betrayed her into that miserable pit Many a Prince and Emperour who knew not God nor obeyed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Many a cunning Achitophel whom God took in his craftiness Many an ingenuous Atheist many a rich Dives but amongst them all you would not find one single man or woman that in this life feared the Lord. No Prov. 3. 18. Wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her All those other notes of distinction make some difference betwixt one creature and another as to this life but as to the noblest and highest end of man the blessed and happy enjoyment of God to all eternity nothing but grace nothing but the fear of the Lord makes any difference at all without this all persons noble and base rich and poor beautiful or deformed knowing or ignorant witty or heavy prudent or foolish vertuous or vitious will go to the same place of torments This therefore must be the most excellent habit and the person possessed with it the most excellent person because leading to and prepared for the most noble and excellent end Again the fear of the Lord will appear to be the most excellent thing and the person possessed of it to be the most excellent person if we consider those noble actions to which the soul is by this principled Humane actions are ordinarily divided unto such as are natural such as eating drinking c. moral and civil or political such are the works of our callings giving to every one their due living soberly and temperately c. and such as are Religious which are our actions of homage to God of these now the second are more noble than the first and the last the noblest of all Again as to our religious actions they are either more imperfectly or more perfectly such I call those more imperfectly such which indeed are so as to the matter of the act but not as to the manner or form of the performance so prayer hearing the Word of God c. But these are not so in a perfect and true notion unless performed from a due principle in a due manner and to that due end which God hath commanded Now those are our most noble and perfect actions which are religious in the most proper and perfect sense and to those this excellent quality The fear of the Lord principleth the soul Others do but dispose and fit the body or mind for natural or moral actions strength bodily activity do no more no more do knowledge prudence or the habits
approvable to the reasonable nature of man than their contraries have some true real worth and excellency in them and persons possessed of them may in their degrees be justly judged more excellent and valuable than those that want them But the person fearing Jehovah is yet the most excellent person Others upon the aforementioned accounts have ascended to use the Hebrew phrase or do excel many others in the world But the person that eminently feareth the Lord hath as the text speaketh eminently ascended above them all Amongst them all there is none like to that person and that brings me to the next thing which I promised you in the explication and demonstration of the Predicate of the Proposition Quest 2. What there is in this supereminent Quality The fear of the Lord which so raiseth the price of its subject that the person which hath it by reason of it so much out-shineth others In my former discourse I gave you the just value of all valuable things in the world this only excepted which make one person in the world considerably to differ from another in any degree of excellency without making any rebatements for the accidents to which those things are subjected I shall anon make that rebatement My present work is to rate The fear of the Lord and shew you the true value of it In the general I must say of it as Job hath spoken before me Silver shall not be weighed Job 28. 15. for the price thereof it cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire The Gold and the Chrystal cannot equal it and the exchange of it shall not be for Jewels of fine Gold No mention shall be made of Coral nor of Pearls for the price of wisdom is above Rubies the Topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it nor shall it be valued with pure Gold Or in the words of Solomon Happy is the man that findeth wisdom Wisdom and Prov. 3. 13 14 15 c. Grace and The fear of the Lord are much the same in the dialect of Scripture and the man that geiteth understanding for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine Gold she is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her Length of daies are in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Her waies are waies of pleasantness and all her paths are peace She is a Tree of Life to all that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her Prov. 8. 11. All the things that may be Prov. 8. 11. desired are not to be compared with her Lest you should doubt what is meant by wisdom Job expoundeth both himself and Solomon Job 28. 28. Job 28. 28. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom But lest you should judge these empty wordâ— blowing up a thing beyond its due value let us but rationally consider The fear of the Lord and the person blessed with it and we shall find these were not vain words I shall demonstrate to you the superlative excellency of this spiritual quality and the person indued with it if you please with me to consider these six or seven things 1. The particular fountain or spring head from which it floweth 2. The particular subject which it blesseth â—r channel in which it runneth 3. The excellent object to which it moveth 4. The admirable end towards which it worketh 5. The noble actions to which it principleth 6. The admirable use of it not only in reference to God and our selves but also with reference to others in our political converse 7. The train of good things which ordinarily attend it I shall speak something to each of these in their order Let us first then consider the particular fountain or spring-head from which the fear of the Lord floweth The Apostle telleth us That Jam. 1. 17. every good and perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of Lights I told you before that health strength beauty honour riches favour with men and those other things before mentioned of a less valuable consideration came from God The Lord raiseth up one and pulleth down another The blessing of the Lord maketh rich It is as true and in a more eminent manner concerning The fear of the Lord Jer. 32. 40. I will put my Jer. 32. 40. fear into their hearts God is the Author of every good gift and thing but in a different manner Divines distinguish betwixt a more general love of God to his creatures which they call his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his more special distinguishing love which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to dispute that distinction it is most certain that there is a Will in God freely to do good to the Sons and Daughters of men which we call his Love It is as certain that this free and just Will of God is not to do alike good to all to some he willeth to shew some particular grace and mercy which he willeth not to others Upon the first account He maketh his Sun to shine Mal. 5. 46. and his Rain to fall upon the just and unjust He leaveth not the Heathen without a testimony of his love giving them fruitful times Acts 14. and seasons From this fountain flow riches honours and all other effluxes of his goodness which we call the gifts of common Providence Divines rank them under the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things for this life yea and there are some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritual gifts and spiritual means such as knowledge and the fruits of restraining grace our natural endeavours only supposed such are the habits of moral vertues all these flow from the more general common love of God But now there are others flowing from a special distinguishing love in reference to the spiritual and eternal advantâ—ge of our souls From his Convenant-love and such is this supernatural quality And I will make an everlasting Jer. 32. 4. Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall never depart from me Now this is enough in the first place to evince the excellency of the fear of the Lord and the superlative excellency of the person possessed of it above the value of such as are possessed of more inferiour gifts Let us but argue rationally and after the manner of men If there be any excellency in the favour of a man or if the collation of a mans favour doth imprint any excellency upon the person upon whom it is bestowed then certainly the more any one hath of that favour or the greater and higher degrees he hath of it the more he hath of excellency The story is known of the Emperour who displeased his Courtier by giving him a Ring when he
gave another a kiss what was he angry for the Ring for use in the world was more worth than a kiss What use could be made of that Oh! but the kiss spake an eminent degree of the Princes love and so imprinted a greater excellency upon him that had it When the Lord giveth unto any strength beauty riches honour they are but as so many Rings But where he gives his fear there he gives the kiss and this speaketh a greater excellency in the fear of the Lord and in the person blessed with it than in any other thing or person the soul that hath this hath indeed ascended above them all in the favour of God that soul hath ascended above them all As you see the strength of this demonstration dependeth upon these two postulata 1. That the person in favour with God iâ— upon that account more excellent than any other person that is not so And this is no hard thing to be granted by those who judge that the favour of an earthly Prince who is but a mortal man doâ—h give an excellency to the person blessed with it 2. That the greater degree of favour any soul hath with God the greater is his excellency which easily followeth if the former be granted This is the first thing But secondly Let us consider the particular subject which the fear of the Lord blesseth Or if you will the special channel in which it runneth or indeed the capacity in which it blesseth the soul Take the most of the aforementioned gifts they only innance the price and value of the outward man Beauty is subjected in the surface of the body strength in the nerves and bodily parts riches honour favour great friends and relations they are indeed the gifts of God and of great use and advantage but the advantage of them is from their usefulness to the well-being of the outward man and the accommodation of a man in this life Some indeed of the things aforementioned innoble the inward man that doth knowledge prudence moral vertue Some distinguish betwixt the body the mind and the Spirit The Apostle seemeth to allow that distinction 1 Thes 5. 23. If it be allowable 1 Thes 5. 23. none of the things aforesaid the fear of the Lord only excepted reach further than the mind that is the soul of a man considered as a a rational substance Look upon the soul as a noble immortal beeing under an ordination to an eternal existence in happiness or misery and these things signifie little to it A noble person may go to Hell A rich and honourable man a knowing prudent man a comely beautiful person may have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone Yea and the Apostle saith not many of them will go to Heaven Not many noble not many wise c. But now the most noble inward part of man and that not considered only as a rational substance but in its most excellent capacity ordained to eternity is the subject wherein this excellent quality resides That which it blesseth The price of the body is raised by strength beauty a good and healthy constitution The price of the mind is raised by knowledge wit judgement memory and by moral vertues But the value of the soul considered as a spiritual beeing that is immortal and under ordination to eternity is raised by grace by the fear of the Lord and indeed by that only This is that which marketh out a soul for Heaven while another is left in the road to everlasting burnings The seat of this noble quality is not the surface of the outward man which is the throne of that pitiful thing which the world so much doteth on which we call beauty nor yet the bones sinews nerves of a man which are the seat of strength nor the head of a man which is the seat of knowledge and prudence nor the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rational part of a man which is the seat of moral vertue where it sitteth as a Queen and giveth Laws to brutish passions and all motious of the sensitive appetite But it is the immortal soul considered as a spiritual substance and destinated to immortality and life and an eternal existence Now this soul and thus considered is the better part of man man considered in his most excellent capacity and whatsoever blesseth adorneth and advantageth the soul considered in this notion and under this capacity must needs be more excellent than what only commendeth the body which is but the outside of a rational creature or the mind which a Pagan may have in as good a condition as a Christian As that house is the more noble and excellent house which hath the best inside and where the rooms are best furnished not that which hath nothing but a lofty gay front So doubtless in the judgement of reason that man or woman whose soul is ennobled with the most excellent qualities is far more valuable than he or she who have nothing to commend them but a well proportioned body or an hansom face Pro. 11. 22. Pro. 11. 22. As a Jewel of gold in a Swines snout so is a woman of beauty we may add pari ratione a woman of strength wit parts c. without discretion without the fear of the Lord. The woman fearing the Lord is The Kings Daughter all glorious within She is excellent in the most excellent part and in the most excellent capacity Others may have an excellent outside she hath a most excellent inside Others may be painted Sepulchres she hath a most excellent soul They have excellent limbs and features in their faces she hath the most excellent qualities in her nobler and more inward part They are it may be well accommodated for this life she is best prepared for eternity therefore she must needs ascend or be lifted up above them all It is an usual saying amongst Philosophers Animus cujusque est quisque The mind of the man is the man It is much more true of the soul considered in the capacity I mentioned The bodies indeed of the Saints are called The Temples of the Holy Ghost but it is by reason of the redeemed souls which inform them The Holy Ghost dwelleth in the whole person of the believer as his Temple The body is but as the Outward Court into which common excellency comes such as strength beauty c. The mind of man is as the Inner Court into which come a better sort of divine gifts this is ennobled with knowledge prudence c. and other habits of intellectual and moral vertues But the soul considered in the capacity before expressed as a spiritual immortal substance is that part of man into which the Holy Ghost entreth and which is as it were his throne Here the fear of the Lord resideth and maketh it truly excellent I shall now conclude my second demonstration That is the most excellent quality which ennobleth the most excellent part and that in the
most excellent capacity and that is the most excellent person whose better and more excellent part is so ennobled and made excellent But the fear of the Lord ennobleth the more noble and excellent part and that in the noblest and most excellent capacity Thirdly The truth of the Proposition will appear if we consider the excellency of the object to which this excellent quality moveth the soul and for an union with which it prepareth it The force of the demonstration dependeth upon the principle That the more excellent any object is towards an union with which any quality is subservient and working the more excellent that habit or quality is which is a principle so justifiable to reason and allowed by common consent and judgement that I need not insist on the proof of it Take all other qualities or advantages which the creature can afford they serve us no further than to the creature preparing us for an union with that For instance Beauty is an amiable gift of God but wherein doth it serve us it indeed may commend the woman to an husband but it will not at all commend her to Christ Wisdom and Knowledge are rare habits and prepare us for an union and endearment to and with wise and learned men but they commend not a soul at all unto God The like may be said of those other distinguishing excellencies before mentioned But now this excellent habit The fear of the Lord commendeth the soul to the Creator and prepares it for a glorious union with him who is the supreme good and unquestionably the most excellent object The beautiful the knowing the wise person may be abominable to God a child of wrath and abhorred by him but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him saith the Apostle Reason teacheth us to judge those the most excellent persons in the world who upon a just account are most approvable to the wisest and most excellent persons of the earth and those things the most excellent which render any so acceptable upon this account if there were no other we should set a great rate upon knowledge vertue and wisdom above what we set upon beauty and riches and bodily strength c. because they commend us to the more judicious rational and wiser part of the world By the like parity of reason certainly if we will but use our reason and accordingly form our judgement we must judge the fear of the Lord the most excellent quality and the person who feareth the Lord the most excellent person he alone is the Jedidiah the person whom God loveth the soul whom God careth for This and this alone is that which commendeth the Creature to the Creator Fourthly That is the most excellent quality which directeth to and prepareth the soul for the most excellent end There is an end to which the wise Creator hath ordained and designed every thing which he hath made and there is an end which every rational agent propoundeth to it self in working and there is an end or issue which every thing will have The great end of man in point of action for which God hath created him is the glorifying of his holy Name The wise man saith God made all things for himself And the Apostle saith For him are all things God in working worked for the best ends cause he could work for no greater wrought for himself The Apostle saith of man particularly We are created in Christ Jesus unto Eph. 2. 10. good works which God had before ordained that we should walk in them Mans great end in point of fruition and priviledge is the enjoyment of God here in the influences of grace hereafter in the beatifical vision of his glory There now are the great ends of man the ends for which God hath created him and which the wiser sort of men will propound to themselves Besides these great ends of man there are also some little ends of humane actions to which men direct much of their action such as the obtaining of a comfortable beeing and subsistence in this life c. An end though in it self considerable yet exceeding little in comparison with the former as every one will judge who hath but learned to compare Time with Eternity and the soul with the body and outward man Take now all those other things before mentioned as things either in reality or vulgar estimation raising the price of one mortal above another this only excepted the highest end they move towards which they dispose and prepare the creature for is no more than a sweet and happy beeing in this life and that too according to the various humours of men as one fancieth happiness to lie in riches a second in pleasure a third in intellectual or moral virtue Bodily strength and health are great blessings of God but what further fruit do they bring forth than what tasts well to a mortal pallat what do they signifie more than that such as are blessed with them pass the time of their mortality with less pain sorrow and trouble than those that want them Beauty is an amiable gift but hath it any further influence upon mans felicity than this that whose are blessed with it stand in a nearer capacity to some creatures favour than others more deformed and uncomely to whom being united by marriage or some near degrees of affection they shall probably in the world have a life of more content pleasure and outward satisfaction than others who are not under so lovely circumstances Come from them to the indowments of the mind knowledge prudence a diligent industrious or active spirit c. and indeed what ever else can be named this fear of the Lord only excepted they neither direct the soul to its best and noblest end nor any way prepare and dispose it for the obtaining of it unless in a very remote capacity What 's the issue of knowledge wisdom but this that the persons thus far blessed stand upon better ground to live in the world than other men as well in regard of the satisfaction these habits give to the mind as of the light that ariseth from them to direct a mans converse and the usefulness of such a person unto others The same might be said of moral vertues Riches Honours great Relations c. They none of them look beyond this life nor contribute any thing to an happiness beyond it Nay it were yet something if they perfectly blessed a man so long as he is circumseribed with the limits of time and mortality but how little do they if I shall evidence they come short of this than which there is nothing of more easie demonstration For to us who are Christians there 's something more required even to such an happiness than an affluence of worldly contentments We know and believe that there is a God that this God is the chiefest good and consequently building upon the rational principle of all Philosophers we
of moral vertues or if some of those other things do dispose and principle any to religious actions yet it is but to such actions more imperfectly considered It is true knowledge is an excellent thing and hath its use not only in fitting a man for greater perfections in natural and civil actions but also for religious services it prepareth men for prayer hearing the Word c. and the habits of moral vertues prepare men for vertuous actions commanded in the word of God and which are to be performed in obedience to the command of God but now Grace the fear of the Lord disposeth and prepareth the soul for the most perfect performance of religious duties such as are truly religious in all circumstances so as they shall be acceptable unto God Every one who giveth to the poor or doth a just action doth not that which is acceptable to God but he alone who doth those things from a principle of faith or in the fear of God and in obedience unto God doth that which God accepteth So saith Peter In every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Every one that worketh righteousness from the fear of the Lord principling his soul to such righteous acts is accepted of God So as this fear of the Lord upon this account is the most noble and excellent habit as it principleth the soul to its most noble acts and to the truest and most perfect performance of them being that without which as the principle it is impossible a soul in its highest acts of devotion should please God The vertuous actions of men yea the religious actions of formalists devoid of this principle are no better than splendid sins as Augustine called the moral of the Heathens so that by the same reason that we judge knowledge prudence or any other intellectual or moral habits more excellent than other ornaments of a man as sitting and disposing persons for more noble and brave actions We must also judge The fear of the Lord more excellent than them all because it further ennobleth the soul preparing and disposing it yet to and for more brave and excellent acts as such whereby we most answer the end of our creation in glorifying of God and wherein or in the performance of which in such manner as this directeth we are acceptable unto God 6. But let us further consider this noble and excellent quality in the aspect which it hath upon us not only in the performance of our duty to God under which respect we have already considered it but in the influence which it hath upon us in our civil and political converse with men David Psal 16. 3. calleth the Saints which are in the earth the excellent Indeed they are so and that not only as Saints as persons prepared for God as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Saints in that place seems to import but also upon a rational view and a truly civil and political consideration Persons fearing the Lord have not only the best souls and are not only best considered in themselves and in reference to God but they are also the best neighbours This will appear to you upon the digesting these two considerations 1. That the Word of God considered as a systeme of precepts fitted for the maintaining of humane society is the most excellent body of such political precepts with all possible advantages of comfort to such as are engaged as câ—â— relates in such societies 2. Secondly which I told you in opening the subject of the Proposition That the person fearing the Lord is a person who having the dread of God upon his heart exerciseth himself in a strict observance of the Divine Law in all things to keep a good conscience both towards God and towards man 1. The first is a most demonstrable truth take all the Laws of the wisest Nations and Law-givers that ever were in the world pick out the best of those of the twelve tables at Rome amend what is deficient there by those of Solon and Licurgus refuse Justinians Code Search all the bodies of Laws in the world and out of them all make one Systeme one body of political and domestick precepts it will not prove so fitted for the comfortable and advantageous living in humane society as the Law of the Lord contained in the holy Scriptures is I durst appeal to the reason of a Cato or Aristides in the case Let but any person out of the Book of God draw out those precepts which it hath given concerning Magistrates and Subjects Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants or any political 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then let him but suppose such a City in the world where within doors all Parents and Children all Masters and Servants all Husbands and Wives lived exactly according to those Rules and without doors the Publick Magistrates and the people governed by them the Ministers and their respective flocks neighbours and friends behaved themselves each to other according to those prescriptions and let him fancy if he can and soberly tell me if he can what could be wanting to the beauty honour and comfortable living of such a society So true in this case also is that of David Psal 19. 7 8. The Law of the Lord is perfect The Statutes of the Lord are right It were easie to demonstrate this in particular were it not too large a digression Now I say in the second place That a person fearing the Lord is one who doth exercise himself in this in a strict observance of the Divine Law to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men Whence it must necessarily follow that the fear of the Lord is the most excellent quality and the person fearing the Lord the most excellent person considered in a political as well as a religious capacity The best neighbour husband wife parent child c. as well as the best Christian Let us but use our reason a little Is not that man or woman best prepared to and fitted for humane society who is under the highest obligations imaginable To do no kind of wrong to another To give to every one his due and that in every capacity and as he hath occasion even to his enemies and to the worst of men without any respect to his particular prejudices to do all possible good and who accordingly so liveth so walketh The person fearing God 1. As to these things is under the highest imaginable obligations 2. Thus he walketh thus in a great measure he liveth giving still allowance to humane infirmities 1. I say first he is as to these things under the highest imaginable obligations This will be evident to you if you will consider that the Law of the Lord which he owneth as his only Rule requireth these things at his hands that this Law is not only in his eye but in his heart that he stands obliged
glass and espying a little better air of her countenance a better mixture of colours in her cheeks than in other womens thinks this is warrant enough for her to admire her self stretch out her neck and mince it with her feet all the day after Or if the view of her face doth not in all points please her she thinketh it worth the while to spend both her money and her precious time to mend it with patchings and paintings with trickings and trimmings of her self And doth not the vain gallant think Beauty something who is so bewitched with it that forgetting the noble soul of which he is possessed ordained to higher imployments and the reason which he inheriteth which should guide him to a better purpose thinks his money and his time well spent while both are miserably expended to evidence his dotage upon this painted Sepulchre which it may be within is nothing but darkness filth and rottenness In the mean time let us look wistly upon this thing which we call Beauty is it any more than a perfection of bâ—dily parts plâ—ced in a due proportion each to other and with a due and proportioned mixture of such colours as are proper to flesh and blood As to the former what is there in it more than is to be found in many an Horse or Dog it may be an higher degree As to the latter what is there more than in a Rose or a Lilly Nay what so much as in many a flower of the field or in many a picture As to many of these it may be said as our Saviour said of Solomon compared with the Lilly The most beautiful woman is not for colour like one of them Oh what a lye is beauty then that which in outward appearance is such that a vain woman will sacrifice her soul life estate time to obtain preserve or maintain it that which a vain man will spend all that he is worth in a base service and homage to it when in reality it is no further perfection than may be found in a Dog an Horse or other brute creature yea in a vegetable creature in a pittiful flower or plant above what can be found in any of the Sons and Daughters of men For Favour or Honour it is a thing that carrieth a great shew in the world what high thoughts of themselves doth it raise in them that are â—â—gnified with it what a supercilious eye do those that have it but in a superiour degree cast upon those but a step beneath them How much doth it make vain man admired served complemented in the world But in reality what is this gay thing The world is yet at a loss where to find its residence whether in honorante or in honorato in the person that giveth or that receiveth it Certain it is that it is a meer air and in reality just nothing that which is often gained by fordid persons which neither betters the man as to his body mind nor soul only serveth him as to a comfortable subsistence in this life and gains him the wall a cap and a knee and a title Take Riches another thing which in vulgar opinion carries with it a great notion of excellency and imprinteth upon man a considerable difference from his neighbour They make a fair shew and have a great appearance hence whoso hath them swells in the opinion of himself and all he world does him homage But what is silver and gold in reality What is gold more than yellow sand and silver more than white earth considered in it self without the relative value which men put upon it Indeed more by far is to be said for the inward habits of the mind Knowledge Prudence Sobriety and the rest of the moral vertues but neither are they without their vanity as I shall shew you anon I shall add no more to this first thing demonstrating the vanity and emptiness of such other things as inhance the price of one man above another They are a great deal more in appearance than they are in reality 2. The second thing which I instanced in was this They are such as never fill or satisfie the mind of the person possessed of them like dreams of feasts notwithstanding which we are hungry lyes in our right hand like wind in the body which often filleth the stomach and spoileth the appetite to its proper food but never nourisheth the body nor satisfieth the hunger I shall shew 1. That they will not satisfie the wants of the soul 2. That they less satisfie the souls expectation 1. I say first They will not satisfie the souls wants The true wants of the reasonable soul are and can be satisfied with nothing but divine influences It is a noble spirit and none but the Father of spirits can fill its emptiness The soul while it sleeps in the Lethargy of sin while it sojourneth in its estate of estrangement from God like the Prodigal it feedeth Swine and filleth its belly with the husks but after it hath once fixed its resolution to return to its Fathers house nothing less than God can fill it it cries out as once Rachel for children Lord give me Christ or else I die It is plainly impossible that any thing but the favour of God and the sense of that favour or at least good hopes of it through grace should ever satisfie that soul that is once awakened to consider its self as in its natural constitution a spiritual immortal being ordained to an Eternity and as it is in its depraved estate by nature a child of wrath I say again the soul thus reflecting upon it self can be satisfied with nothing less than the sense or firm hopes of Gods favour making over the Righteousness of Christ unto it and accepting it as righteous in and through Christ and whatsoever soul is satisfied without this is either ignorant of its own state and capacity or exceeding vain and careless not regarding its highest concerns As Abraham when God bid him ask what he would and he would give it him replied What canst thou give me whiles I go childless So the awakened soul saith What can God give me whiles I go childless Beauty is a pretty thing but what is it to Eternity Riches are useful things but they will not ransom my soul from the pit of Hell Honour will serve me to take a place or the wall in this world but it will not give me a place at Gods right hand Pleasure is a sweet thing oh but endless torments will be a dreadful issue of it Great Friends and Relations are great blessings but it is Christ alone can stand my friend in the Court of Heaven to speak for me that I may not be sent unto eternal burnings 2. And as nothing but divine influences will satisfie the souls wants so nothing else will satisfie the souls expectation The wise man who had as great experience as any mortal man ever had cries out The eye is not satisfied
ease The prudent man is not wise enough to remove the distemper nor yet under it to comfort himself None of them by their knowledge learning wisdom can save themselves from death nor redeem their souls from the pit As dieth the fool so also dieth the prudent man leave this life and what profit hath the poor creature of all those fine things which before differenced him from his neighbour wherein doth he now differ he is alike laid in the grave with him But in these hours the fear of the Lord is excellent and of infinite advantage to the soul that is blessed with it 1. In a day of Affliction It is true grace and the fear of the Lord doth not deliver a man from the common incidents of that mortal condition into which sin hath brought us it doth neither free us from troubles without nor yet from fears within but it giveth the soul comfort and satisfaction in this hour Lord remember saith Hezekiah how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart A man fearing God in an hour of affliction is quite another man from one under the same kind and degree of affliction that he is fuller of strength fuller of comfort more satisfied with his condition 2. In the day of Death It is true the first curse must have its verification We have sinned and we must die But dieth the child of God as a fool dieth dieth a man fearing the Lord as the man who hath no fear of God in his heart surely there is a great difference in their latter end Even Balaam had some sight of this when he desired that he might die the death of the righteous that his latter end might be like his See that famous instance of David a man indeed according to Gods own heart yet you know how he failed both in the matter of Bathsheba and Vriah He comes 1 Sam. 23. to his death bed and the Scripture recordeth his last words He considereth the Rule which God had set him that he who ruled over men should be just ruling them in the fear of the Lord that his light should be like the light of the morning c. He considers again that his house had not been so with God as it ought to have been what comforts him Thou hast saith he made a Covenant with me well ordered and sâ—re in all things c. This and this alone is that which in these hours of distress can relieve a poor creature and the worst of men will give in their evidence to this They will at their dying hour and when they lie upon beds of sickness cry out Favour is deceitful Beauty is vain They will then agree with Solomon to warn their friends to fear God and keep his Commandments telling them this is the end of all This now is sufficient to have spoken in the Explication or evidence of the point which may all be summed up in this one Argument Whoso is possessed of that quality which both in it self considered absolutely and in respect of all circumstances is the most excellent person But that man or woman in whom the true fear of the Lord is and dwelleth most eminently is possessed of the most excellent habit whether it be considered in it self more absolutely or with respect to circumstances Therefore that person is the most excellent person I come now to the Application of the Point In the first place what you have heard Use 1 may serve to evince the vulgar mistake concerning the excellent of the earth and also to abate those high conceits which men ordinarily have of themselves who in the little things of the world differ a little from their neighbours The world if this Doctrine be true is greatly mistaken both in their judgements concerning the most excellent things and concerning the most excellent persons 1. I say first in their judgements as to the things that differ and are more excellent than other If you should run to and fro the streets of your City and ask every one whom you meet Friend let me have your opinion what do you judge the most excellent thing in the world it is very like they would not all agree in their answers some would say Pleasures and a satisfaction of their lusts Others would say Riches if a man had as much money as he could spend a plentiful estate to live on Others would say Honour and Favour if a man be great at Court a favourite to Princes they will judge him the happiest man alive It may be others would judge Learning and Knowledge is most excellent or Moral Vertue is the most excellent but where shall we find a person who would say The fear of the Lord is the most excellent thing Some rare person possibly might be found who would say with David There be many that say who will shew us any Psal 4. good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Or with Solomon after he had tasted of all those sweet things which the world affords Eccles 12. 13. Hear the conclusion of all Fear God and keep his Commandments But the most of men would neither like David's nor Solomon's judgement in the case Nay even of those who would say Grace is the most excellent thing how few are they whose practice would not condemn them in what they speak with their mouths Man naturally loves desires valueth chuseth approveth the things which he judgeth most excellent The low opinion which the most men have of Religion and the fear of the Lord their little endeavours for it and pursuit after it are plain instances let men say what they will that they judge other things more excellent Yet could you meet with any who had the sentence of death in himself any strong apprehensions that he must in a short time go down to the pit and upon whom the terrours of Hell had seized this man would tell you that of all things the fear of the Lord is most excellent which is enough to evince the truth of the thing and that nothing but the violence of temptations and prevalence of corruptions makes men to judge otherwise 2. As what you have heard leadeth you to judge truly concerning the best things so it leadeth you also to a true judgement concerning the best persons What the Prophet complained in his time is true in our time We call the proud happy We judge them the best that are the richest the most honourable and who are dignified with the greatest titles Thus oft-times we call a covetous worldling a griping Vsurer or Extortioner a swinish drunkard a sordid unclean person a prophane swearer a blasphemous curser one that rends the sacred Name of God with unheard of oaths revilings blasphemies The best men in our Cities in our Parishes and yet we contend our Parishes to be particular Churches and these the members of them Away with such more than Pagan Non-sense The Heathens would not
There is a bundle of Principles some of which have grown too fast too in these evil times which are calculated for the very Meridian of Atheism and devised as if it had been on purpose to banish all dread of God out of mens hearts That things are not ordered by Providence but come in a meer series and succession of necessary natural causes That there are no spirits no such things as indications of divine wrath That there is no Judgement to be made from Providences If we should see the Earth open and swallow up Corah Dathan and Abiram yet there is nothing to be concluded but these may be as honest men as those that do not go down quick into the pit These and such like Principles are Doctrines devised on purpose to make men faces of Brass that they might not blush and necks of Iron that they might not bow at any divine rebukes but might out-face God to the utmost until he tear them in pieces and there be none to deliver 2. Secondly Take heed of customary sinning against God Frequency in sin taketh away the sense of it and a custom of daring God makes men to forget all kind of fear and dread of the Divine Majesty Sin naturally hardens the heart and takes away all natural modesty 4. Fourthly Nothing so contributes to fear as faith Both faith of assent and faith of adherence Faith of assent is that habit by which we give assent to the Proposition of the word Faith of Reliance is a gracious habit by which we rest upon the person of the Mediatour Either of these hath an influence upon us to beget this fear and dread of God in our souls The one as it perswades us of the truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning the Glory and Majesty of God concerning his Purity and Holiness concerning his Justice and Severity all which represent God unto us as the true and proper object of our fear The other as it uniteth us to Christ and endeareth him to our soâ—ls and so layeth us under a sacred awe of sinning against him as we naturally fear to offend any person whom we dearly and intirely love and honour It is true the Apostle saith Rom. 8. We have not received the spirit for bondage again to fear And again Perfect love casteth out fear But those texts must be understood not of a filial reverential fear but of a slavish servile fear our daily experience teacheth us that the more intirely we love any person the more we fear to offend and grieve them and to do any thing which we think they will take ill at our hands Faith therefore as it is the root of hope and love so it is the kindest root of filial and ingenuous fear 5. Lastly Beg this Grace of God It is a plant of our heavenly Fathers it is a part of Gods Covenant I will put my fear into their heart that they shall never depart from me O beg of God that he would bestow his fear upon you The fear of God is prima gratia saith Bernard torius Religionis exordium radix est custos omnium bonorum i. e. The fear of the Lord is the first grace the very beginning of all Religion the root and the keeper of all good things therefore pray that above all things God would bestow this grace upon your souls But I shall add no more to the first branch of the Exhortation Let me in the next place speak to you in whom God hath created this fear of his great and glorious Name Two things this Doctrine calleth to you for 1. To grow in this excellent habit 2. To live like excellent persons 1. Labour to grow in this excellent habit There is a fear of God in which the more perfect a Christian is the more he decreaseth in it This is that servile and slavish fear which I mentioned dreading God as a Judge an Enemy one that can cast both body and soul into Hell fire The more a soul grows up into communion with God and into an assurance of union with him the more this fear dieth and weareth out of his soul It is a dread of God which attendeth the spirit of bondage and much possesseth the soul in the moment of its conversion and wears off as the soul comes to receive the spirit of Adoption touching it to cry Abba Father and groweth moâ—â— perfect in Love But there is another fear which as the soul groweth more perfect in love and in the exercise of grace the more this groweth up and increaseth in the soul this is that fearing of the Lord and his goodness of which the Scripture speaks Such a fear as the tender wife fears her husband with and the dutiful child its Parent who he knows intâ—rely loves him he feareth not his Fathers rod but he fears his frown he fears the change of his countenance towards him This is that habit of fear in which I would have you to grow 2. And as in this habit so in the performance of all acts and exercises by which you may testifiethis your reverencing of the great God of Heaven and Earth The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom saith Solomon it is both the beginning and the perfection of it The fear of the Lord is a grace necessary at all times especially in evil times Cyril saith that the soul that is full of the fear of the Lord velut nâ—uro obsepta fortis est is strong as a City guarded with a wall and in a manner invincible 2. This Doctrine calleth to you to live like excellent persons I hinted the reason of this before every one should live ratably to his honour and dignity Persons fearing God are the most excellent persons they should therefore live like the excellent of the Earth distinguishing themselves from others by their lives as God hath distinguished them by his favour But I have hinted this before and therefore shall not here inlarge upon that discourse I have but one word more to add That is to the men of the world in general To them I shall speak from the advantage of what you have heard for three things 1. To undervalue other excellencies in comparison with this Learn to speak after Solomon Favour is deceitful Beauty is vain Riches commend not a soul to God they profit not in the day of wrath Why should you set your eyes upon things that are not and admire things that have nothing of worth in them proportioned to your affection to them admiration of them pursuit after them Knowledge is a fine thing by it a man differs from a beast Wisdom and Moral Vertues are excellent things by these things men out-shine men and excel each other as light excelleth darkness But what are all these to the fear of the Lord O then let these things ride but in the second Chariot let the fear of God in the throne of your estimation be greater than they are Remember nothing so much
have often heard her say That she now saw more of the goodness of God in one ten pounds which a friend sent her and could better acknowledge it than she did before in those many thousands which were her own Nay when after all this it pleased the Lord to return upon her and to lay his hand upon her skin and flesh visiting her with a tormenting incurable disease yet she laid her hand upon her mouth and not only acknowledged the Lords justice but also admired his mercy and if at any time it pleased God to give her any respiration from her tormenting pains how straightened was her tongue in the expressing the thankfulness of her heart how did praise wait in her thankful soul for God Sometimes indeed I saw her troubled at Gods more external dispensations to her and that to a degree beyond what could be called a just sense of them but upon discourse with her I constantly found the cause Either a bitter reflection upon the influence which the sad providence of God blasting her dear Husbands estate had upon many other persons and families which she could never think on without tears and which she would often profess more troubled her than her own her dearest husbands and childrens concerns Or else some fears heightened in her by the advantage her subtil adversary took of her afflicted state lest the Rod of God should be an indication of his wrath the dread of which infinitely more troubled her than her low condition as to the comforts of this life upon which the Lord had taught her to set a very cheap valuation Verily it hath often startled me to suppose my soul in her souls stead and to think what I should have been under such dispensations as it pleased God to measure out to her which she imbraced with wondrous degrees of meekness and chearfulness 2. A second thing eminently conspicuous in this Excellent Lady was her exceeding tenderness of conscience and watchful jealousie over her own heart It would have made a good Christian to have suspected himself to have seen her scrupulosity of every action how wary she was in setting every foot how afraid of the least sin against God she often discovered unto me living with her under the same roof the state of her soul what she found what she wanted what she resolved upon what grievances and what comforts at any time she had but scarce ever did it without adjuring me to be saithful unto her in telling her what I judged of her condition in reference to eternity indeed the hearing her strictly charging me not to flatter her but to deal faithfully with her hath often made me tremble lest through temptation or weakness I should fall short of my duty to her Indeed she was over-jealous and through fear of sin would sometime scruple what was her duty yea her greatest duty How often did I hear from her these words Oh Sir Satan is very busie he would have me let go my hold on my dear Saviour but I am resolved to keep it until I die Sir may I not I beseech you tell me if you think I may not 3. A third thing was her admirable love to publick Ordinances She might truly say with David How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts This very thing was her great motive to chuse her dear Sisters family for the place of her recess and rejoyce in it by reason of the private Chapel where the Ordinances of God were ordinarily dispensed and she could attend them without any publick notice taken of her as best suited her present condition she was never either absent from or tardy at a Sermon when by reason of the prevailing of her bodily distempers she could not go down the stairs she chose rather to be carried down than to miss the Ordinance till her Physicians advice restrained her Nor was her carriage at Religious exercises less exemplary her outward posture discovered with what reverence and trembling she heard the holy Word of God she received the Word of God as the Word of God 4. Her secret communion with God was as remarkable Her way was not to set a trumpet to her mouth when she went to her devotions but whatever company was in the house she was exceeding certain to her hours of secret prayer and in her discourse continually commended it as that by which a Christian comes best to understand his own heart and by her countenance and discourse when she came from her closet it was easie for us who conversed with her to judge what she had been doing she was much in prayer much in tears much in reading the holy Scriptures in reading over good books and notes of Sermons which her self had taken and as we could judge by her discourse much in the application of what she read to her own soul and examining her heart by them Thus you have her copy towards God though the lineaments of her perfections in this are imperfectly drawn and much is left to be understood I omit any discourse of her intellectual and moral virtues she was a Lady of great knowledge prudence humility modesty gravity and sobriety of behaviour temperance courtesie nobleness of spirit c. but my design is to shew you how far she was an excellent Christian 5. A fifth thing remarkable in her was her well ordered tender love to her dearest relations None could by the dejection of her countenance have known that the providence of God had blown cross upon her had not some sad thoughts for the exiled state of her dear Husband sometimes darkened her joy and disturbed her thoughts nor was her love seen only in fond expressions and a fondness of behaviour in which the love of the most evaporates Her husband and childrens person were exceeding dear to her but their souls were more exceeding dear She was acquainted with no Christian whom she did not importune for prayers for her dear husband and children I remember it was her great request to me in a great sickness which she had about a year before she died when we thought she had received the sentence of death That I would not in any prayers forget her husband and children when she should cease to be for her husband that God would be with him and keep him from the temptations and pollutions of that Popish Country into which the Providence of God had driven him And for her children that Jesus Christ might be formed in them It was the great ambition of this Elect Lady that her children might be found walking in the Truth this was the portion she desired for them this the treasure even a treasure in Heaven where moth could not corrupt nor thief break through nor steal How far it pleased God to hear her her worthy and only Son yet surviving being at that time in his childhood is a living testimony who as by his religious and virtuous disposition he demonstrates that the prayers of his Mother