Inquiry for a Suitable Return for Continued Life In and After Time of Plague, Part 2 · Section 19
SECT. XIX.
Seventeen Arguments to Gods People to be better.1. YOu are not ſo good as once you were; I mean in your Primitive condition and firſt creation, we had more goodneſs as we came out of the hands of God; then we had good and no evil: And when God hath reſtored us, we ſhould labour to come up as near to what we were in Adam, (though not by the ſame Covenant) as we can.
2. You are not ſo good as you ſhall be. You were good in Adam, but you ſhall be better in Heaven: In Adam we were perfectly good, in Heaven we ſhall be perpetually good; and ſhould you not labour to get as much of Heaven into your heart as you can.
3. You are not ſo good as you ought to be, no, not by many degrees; you come farr ſhort of what you ſhould be in grace and goodneſs.
4. You are not ſo good as you may be: Though you cannot be ſo good as you were in Adam, as you ſhall be in Heaven, as you ought to be upon earth, yet you may be better than you are. You have not ſo many degrees of love to God, but you may have more, nor ſuch ſtrong deſires after Chriſt, but you may have more: How weak is thy love! how cold are thy deſires! how ſtupid is thy heart! not only in compariſon of what it ought to be, but of what it may be: Thou wanteſt many degrees, Oh Chriſtian, put on, there is much more that is yet attainable.
5. You are not ſo good, but you need to be better. If thou be no better, and ſhouldſt come into ſome conditions, thou wouldeſt be found not good enough to go through the ſame as becomes the Goſpel. Thou mighteſt be brought into thoſe ſtraits, and aſſaulted by thoſe temptations, that except thou haſt more Patience, more Love to God, more Faith in Chriſt, thou wilt not be able to bear them, nor reſiſt them, as becomes a Childe of God to doe: Thy burdens might yet be greater, and thy Duties greater, and thy Temptations greater, therefore thou ſhouldeſt haſten to be better.
6. You are not ſo good as others are, that have had but the ſame time, and the ſame means, and Helps as you have had, nay ſome that have not had ſo much preaching as you have had, nor ſuch Examples as you have had, nor ſo much time, that did ſet out for Heaven after you, that were bad while you were good, yet have overtaken you, and gone beyond you: Oh Chriſtian, thou art lagging behinde, put on, leaſt thou ſhouldeſt be laſt of all.
7. You are not ſo good, but you are as bad. You have not ſo much grace, but you have as much ſin; nay, is not your ſin more than your grace? is not your unbelief more than your faith? and your wandring thoughts in duty more than your fixed thoughts in duty? and your dulneſs more than your livelineſs? If thou canſt ſay truely, it is not, do thou go and bleſs God that it is not ſo with thee, while I muſt go and be humbled before God, becauſe it is ſo with me.
8. The better you are, the more excellent you will be. Riches is not your excellency, and Learning is not your excellency, and Grace is not your utmoſt and your higheſt excellency, but the higheſt degrees of Grace is. Reaſon makes a man differ from a beaſt; and the more rational a man is (by the improvement of Reaſon) than others, the more excellent as a man (for a Fool might excell a Wiſe man in riches) he is above other men: So Grace makes a Chriſtian differ from a man as ſuch, and the better Chriſtian he is than others, the more excellent he is than other Chriſtians are.
9. The better you are, the more like to God, who is the greateſt, the chiefeſt, and the beſt good. When we loſt our goodneſs, we loſt our likeneſs unto God; and when God makes us good, he makes us like himſelf, and the better God doth make us, the more he makes us like himſelf: And ſhould not this provoke thee to be better? eſpecially conſidering, to be moſt like to God, is
Thy greateſt
Duty: The end of all the reſt.
Deſires: Oh that I were more like to God.
Dignity: And therefore our dignity will be greateſt in Heaven, becauſe there we ſhall be likeſt unto God.
10. The better you are, the more you ſhall have Gods approbation: And what will it be to be approved of God! You may by ſeeming goodneſſe have the approbation of men, but you muſt be really good, if you will have the approbation of God; and the better you are, the more he will approve you. God obſerveth the worſt of men, but approveth only of good men; and only the good actions of good men, not their ſinful actions, 1 King. 15.5.
11. The better you are, the more clearly you will ſee that you are good. Many queſtion, they are not good, and the reaſon of their doubt is, becauſe they are no better: That time you ſpend in complaining you fear you are not good, improve in endeavouring to be better, and your doubts will be ſooner anſwered, and your fear expelled.
12. The better you are, the more profitable you will be to all about you. The better you are in your ſelf, the better it will be for your ſelf, and the better for all about you; the better you are, the more you will lay out your ſelf for God, and for the good of ſouls. Others ſhall be the better,
For your Counſels: You will be directing them how to do good.
For your Reproofs: You will be telling them when they do evil.
For your Example: You will lead them in the good Way.
For your Experiences: You will communicate to them how good God hath been unto you, and what God hath done for you.
13. The better you are, the more inward joy, and the more eſtabliſhed peace you ſhall finde. The great trouble of a Chriſtian is, becauſe he is no better; be you better and you will have the leſſer trouble within, though the better you are, the more trouble you might have from men; but thats not ſo great matter.
14. The better you are, the more glory you will bring to God. Herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit, Joh. 15.8. And what is your deſign in the world, but to glorifie God, and to do that, and be that which tendeth moſt thereunto?
15. The better you are, the more you will credit Religion, and realize the wayes of God; it will appear that Religion is a real thing, when it hath made bad men good, and good men better. If there were nothing elſe to diſgrace the ways of ſin, this would be abundantly ſufficient to behold the great wickedneſs of thoſe men (how bad they be) that walk moſt therein.
16. The better you are while you live, the more undaunted you ſhall be when you come to dye: The reaſon why we are ſo troubled in our ſickneſs, is becauſe we were no better in our health; conſcience then remembers at ſuch a time I ſinned, and at ſuch a place I fell, and in ſuch company I defiled my ſoul; be better in Health, you will be the better in ſickneſs and death.
17. The better you are upon earth, the weightier your crown ſhall be in heaven: Thoſe that be truly good, ſhall have ſure glory, but thoſe that are better, ſhall have more. There ſhall be no want of any thing to any one in heaven, but yet ſome ſhall ſhine more eminently in glory, than others.
Thus I have diſpatched this particular alſo, that you be better after ſuch a ſignal providence as this, for if you be not, this very thing will be a greater Plague, than the Plague upon the body; and if you ask me wherein you ſhould be better? you muſt gather up that in the following Directions, which ſhall be more particular; and ſuch as may be uſeful to prevent men from growing worſe, which was the firſt thing, and helpful to promote this duty of being better, which was the ſecond thing I have ſpoken to.