Characters of a Godly Man, Title page – Dedication
Characters OF A Godly Man.
Both, as more and leſs Grown in Grace.
By DANIEL BƲRGESS, Miniſter of the Goſpel.
Here are they that keep the COMMANDMENTS of God, and the FAITH of Jeſus, Rev. 14.12.
If ye KNOW theſe things, happy are ye if ye DOE them, Joh. 13.17.
Examine your ſelves, whether ye be in the Faith; Prove your own ſelves: Know ye not your own ſelves, that JESƲS CHRIST IS IN YOƲ EXCEPT YE BE REPROBATES? 2 Cor. 13.5.
Exceptis PAUCISSIMIS qid eſt OMNIS coetus Chriſtianorum? Salvian.
LONDON, Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower End of Cheapſide near Mercers-Chapel, 1691.
To the Right Honourable and the moſt Eminent Ladies,
That diſown their Portion and Good Things in this Life, and being written in the Earth; — Jer. 17.13.
That receive the Word of their Bleſſed Saviour from his moſt unworthy Miniſter;
And by their religious Zeal do provoke many of Inferior Rank;
Grace and Peace be multiplied from God our Father, and the Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
Ladies,
THis Book is not cloathed with ſoft Raiment. It doth not wear Joſeph's coloured Coat. But it claimeth his celebrated Name. Zapnath Paaneah, a Revealer of Secrets. For it diſcovereth the things which are moſt Needful and moſt Difficult to be known. It diſplayeth no leſs things than the STATES and CONDITIONS of Souls. And preſenteth divine Preſcriptions for making both of them good.
Wherefore I have preſumed to make it yours. And to beſeech your Honours and Ladiſhips to do me the favour, to admit it to be your Miniſter, a Clerk of your Cloſets, and a Servant unto your Soliloquies and Sacred Communings with your ſelves therein.
Ladies, This I have done of my Gratitude and Piety, againſt many Contradictions of my Modeſty. Yet without one bluſh, for the Plainneſs wherewith I array divine Truth. Becauſe, Diamonds ſuffer loſs by Painting; and Gold needeth not to be gilded. New-Teſtament Divinity wants no ſound of Sackbut and Pſaltery. Preachers rich Language, holdeth many Poor: and that which Men will call Poor, maketh many Rich.
The Chriſtians unto whom I do more ſtatedly Miniſter, do care for no Apes and Peacocks from Ophir. But prefer wholeſom Food, above fineſt Feathers. And I am well ſure, Your Ladiſhips are none of thoſe, that take him for the King, who wears moſt Lace and Ribband on his Cloaths. Or him for the Divine, whoſe Periods are moſt gay with Wit and Elegance.
I dare no more to Flatter, than to Murder. But I muſt take leave to mention that great Grace of God in you, which alone can warrant this my Boldneſs with you. In my own defence, I do here ſay it; I have obſerved you to reliſh Manna without Quails. The words of Eternal Life, without the enticing ones of Man's Wiſdom. To reverence the Ark of God, there where it hath been covered with Badgers Skins. To be far from dreaming that your Saviour is Divided. Or confined unto any Dividing Party, that crieth, Lo he is HERE or THERE only.
Admirable Grace! And ſo much the more, by how much bigger you are in this World. For Greatneſs and Goodneſs meet not often. The Obligations of great Perſons unto their Maker's Service, are Superlative. But ſo are their Temptations from it, alſo. And as theſe latter do always Overtake, they do almoſt always Overcome the former. So that, the Supream Landlord hath moſt of his Rent from Cottages: Courts, and greateſt Houſes do pay him leaſt. It is ſaid that the natural Heavens are more diſtinctly ſeen in ſome low Vaults, than upon high Mountains. But it is every ones obſervation, that the Third Heaven is beſt ſeen by People of lower Place. There is no actionable Scandalum Magnatum in the Holy Bible. But there we read, that, Not many of them are Called. That it is rare that Camels do (off with their Bunches, and) paſs through the Needles eye. That, as Bees are drowned in Hony, the Rich are choaked with their Proſperity.
They do know, that there is no Armour againſt Fate. That Peerage is no Protection againſt Death's Arreſt. And Imperial Crowns exempt not the Heads that wear them, from the common Golgotha. Their eyes ſee that earthly Gods die as other Men do. The Miſery is, they put off the day, which, otherwiſe than in imagination, they cannot put off. They take ſerious Remembrancers for miſ-timed Tormentors. Or elſe make their Anſwer, with the more audacious madneſs of Laughter. And dub them all for Cow-hearts, that tremble at our ſound of a World to come. Eſpecially, if they do any more than Tremble. If they come to argue, [not, Let us Eat and Drink, but,] Let us Believe, and Repent, for to Morrow we Die. Notable Paſtime among them, maketh ſuch Language as that rare Gentleman's; who, (with Five hundred Pounds for charitable Uſes,) ſent a Letter to Sir Edwin Sands, thus Subſcribed,
Your Brother in Chriſt, Duſt and Aſhes.
It is true, dying hours do change the colour and taſte of earthly Grandeurs. Then they receive a little ſight, when their Eye-ſtrings are ready to break. Then they believe the inviſible Judge, and his Tribunal, who before were blind to Sunſhine, and deaf to Thunder. And then when they can ſwallow no other Cordial, ſome do call for the Goſpel. Then, when, if the bleſſed Fountain thereof doth give forth his Grace, it can be known only unto himſelf. We do all know there is but one, if one inſtance, in all the holy Scripture, of a Man receiving his ſpiritual, and parting with his natural Life, upon the ſame day.
Ladies,
This is a Lamentation; and I doubt not but it is religiouſly yours. Yet is there a relict Honour of our Nation, even as to your high Order in it, which we have to Congratulate. Namely, that, with the beſt KING on the earthly Globe, we have a QUEEN of ſerious Religion, and of Honourable Women not a few.
In which Conſtellation may your Honours and Ladiſhips, long and brightly ſhine! And, Living and Dying, be renowned Witneſſes of theſe Eternal Truths; ſc. That this ſinful World is not ſupreamly Eligible; that the Heavenly Manſions are by no means Contemptible; and that the Paſſage from hence unto them is not invincibly Terrible!
So Prayeth, in the ſenſe of his deep Obligations,
Honourable Ladies, Your moſt humble Servant in Chriſt Jeſus, Daniel Burgeſs.