The Touchstone of Sincerity, Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
Containing divers practical instructive Inferences from this doctrine, with a serious exhortation to self-tryal, and through examination.
SECT. I.
Infer. 1. ARe there such variety of tryals appointed to examine the sincerity of mens graces, how great a vanity then is Hypocrisie, and to how little purpose do men endea…our to conceal and hide it! We say, murder, will out, and we may as confidently affirm hypocrisie will out. When Rebekah had laid the plot to disguise her son Iacob, and by personating his brother to get the blessing; Iacob thus objects against it, My Father perad venture will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing, Gen. 27. 12. as if he should say; but what if my Father detect the cheat, how then shall I look him in the face? how shall I escape a curse? After the same manner every upright soul scares it self from the way of Hypocrisie. If I dissemble, and pretend to be what I am not: my Father will find me out. Ah there is no darkness nor shadow of death that can conceal the the Hypocrite: but out it will come at last, let him use all the art he can to hide it▪ Oftentimes God discovers him by the tryals he appoints in this world, and men in that day shall return and discern betwixt the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not, Mal 3. 18. but if he make an hard shift to get by a private way to hell, carrying this comfort with him to the last step; that no body know… or thinks he is gone thither; yet there wil… be a day when God will strip him naked before the great assembly of Angels and men, and all shall point at him and say,
Loe this is the man that made not God his hope this is he that wore a garment of profession to deceive, but God hath now stript him out of it, and all men see what he is: for, there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known: Matth. 10. 26. and the Apostle assures us, 1. Tim. 5. 24, 25. that they that are otherwise cannot be hid: if mens works be not good, it's impossible they should be hid long: a gilded piece of brass may pass from hand to hand a little while; but the touchstone will discover the base metal: if that do not, the fire will.
O sinners, away with your Hypocrisie, be honest, sincere, plain, and hearty in Religion; if not, confusion of face shall be your recompence from the Lord, that is what you shall get by it.
Infer. 2. Secondly, Are there such tryals appointed and permitted by the Lord for the discovery of his peoples sincerity in this world, then let none of Gods people expect a quiet station in this world: certainly you shall meet with no rest here: you must out of one fire into another, and it is a merciful condescension of the Lord to poor creatures, thus to concern himself for their safety and benefit: what is man that thou shouldest magnifie him? and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him? that thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him every moment? Job 7. 17, 18.
O 'tis a great deal of honour put upon a poor worm, when God will every moment try him and visit him: it argues the great esteem the Goldsmith hath of his gold, when he will sit by the Furnace himself, and order the fire with his own hand: when he pries so often, and so curiously into the fining pot, to see that none of his precious metal upon which he sets his heart be lost.
Think it not then a debasing to you to be so often exposed to tryals: if God did not value you highly, he would not try you so frequently: what would become of you▪ if your condition here should be more settled and quiet than now it is? I believe you find dross enough in your hearts after all the fires into which God hath cast you: surely there is filth enough in the best of Gods people to take all this: it may be a great deal more trouble than they have yet met with▪ we fancy it a brave life to live at ease, and if we meet with long respites and intervals of tryal than usual, we are apt to say, we shall never be moved, as David did, Psal. 30. 6. or we shall dye in our nest as it is, Iob 29. 18. our hard and difficult days are over, but woe to us if God should give us the desire of our hearts in this: see what the temper of those mens spirits is, that meet with no changes, Psal. 55. 19. Because they have no changes, therefore they have not God: O it's better to be preserved sweet in brine, than to … in honey.
Infer. 3. Thirdly, Let none boast in a carna confidence of their own strength and stability; you are yet in a state of tryal: hitherto God hath kept you upright in all your tryals, bless God but boast not: you are but feathers in the wind of temptation, if God leave you to your selves. Peter told Christ (and doubtless he spake no more than he honestly meant) though all men forsake thee yet will not I: and you know what he did when the hour of his tryal came: Matth. 26. 35. Angels left to themselves have fallen: it's better be a humble worm, than a proud Angel.
Ah how many Pendletons will this professing age shew, if once God bring us to the fiery tryal? let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall: you have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin: none stand upon firmer ground, than those that see nothing in themselves to stand upon: he that leans upon his own arm, usually benums it, and makes it useless.
Infer. 4. Fourthly, Doth God kindle so many fires in Sion, and set his Furnaces in Ierusalem to discover and separate the dross from the gold, how contrary are those men to God that allow, yea and prize the dross of Hypocrisie which God hates, and stick not to make the holy God a patronizer and countenancer of it in the hearts and lives of men!
It is amazing to read what Popish pens have impudently written about this matter Sylvester puts the question,A sum. adv. simulatio. n. 4. whether it be a sin to make a false shew of sanctity? and answers it thus: If it be for the honour of God, and profit of others, it is no sin: nay, they have a reverence for hypocrisie as an holy Art. Vincentius spends a whole Chapter in commedation of the hypocrisie of St. Dominick; and entitles it, de sancta ejus hypocrisi, (i. e.) of the holy hypocrisie of that Saint: reckoning it among his commendations, that he had the art of dissembling. And yet one peg higher, A Religious person (saith another) that feigns himselfRosellain v. Hypocrisis. n. 1. to have more holiness than he hath, that others may be edified, sins not but rather merits.
Blush O heavens! that ever such factors for hell should open and vend such ware as this in the publick market, and invite the world to Hypocrisie, as that which makes for the glory of God, the edification of men, and a work meritorious in the Hypocrite himself. This is the doctrine of devils indeed.
Infer. 5. Fifthly, If it be so, that all grace must come to the test, and be tryed as gold in the fire, even in this world: how are all men concerned to lay a solid foundation at first, and throughly deliberate the terms upon which they close with Christ, and engage in the profession of his name! Which of you saith Christ intending to build a Tower sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost? Luk. 14. 28. if some men had sate down at first and pondered the conditions and terms of Christ, they had not sate down now discouraged and tryed in the way. The Apostle Paul went to work at another rate: he accounted all but dung and dross for Christ, Phil. 3. 8. and was of the same mind, when the actual tryal came; for then he tells us, he counted not his life dear unto him, Acts 20. 24. And the Apostle Peter admonishes believers not to think it strange concerning the fiery tryal which was to try them, 1 Pet. 4. 21. q. d. let none of these things be surprisals to you, you were told before-hand what you must trust to: every Christian must be a Martyr, at least in the disposition and resolution of his heart.
O that men would ballance the advantages and disadvantages of Religion, & throughly ponder the matter in their deepest thoughts: to the test you must come: the rain will fall, & the storm beat upon your buildings, look carefully therefore to the foundations.
Infer. 6. Sixthly and Lastly, Learn from this point the unavoidableness of scandals and offences in the way of Religion; for if there be a necessity of tryal, there is also a necessity of scandal. It must needs be that offences come, Luke 17. 1. Why must it needs be? the reason is evident, all must come to the tryal, and all are not able to bear it. Our Lord tells us, Matth. 24. 8, 9, 10. of a day of great straits and perplexity coming: and then (saith he) shall many be offended. The day of tryal is the day of scandal: by these offences some are put a searching themselves, and some fall a censuring all others; but the holy God brings about his end both wayes, in them that are saved and in them that, perish.
SECT. II.
WEll then, if it be so that all must into the furnace, let every man try his own work, Examine your selves, professours, search your hearts, commune with your reins: nothing more concerns you in all the world than this doth. O that you would be more in your closets, and oftner upon your knees: O that you would look into the Bible, then into your hearts; & then to God, saying with David, search me O God and know my heart; prove me, and try my reins; and see if there be any way of iniquity in me: never did Religion thrive in the world since mens heads have been so over-heated with Notions and Controversies, and their hearts so sensibly cooled in their closet work. I have elsewhere more largely pressed this duty upon the professours of this generation,See my Saint indeed, p. 191, 192, 193, &c. and thither shall refer the Reader for the present to see the necessity and importance of this work.
Here I shall only urge the duty of selftryal by some pressing Motives, and awakening Considerations.
Motive 1. And the first shall be the exceeding difficulty of this work: difficulty in some cases may be a discouragement, but where the matter is of absolute necessity as it is here; nothing provokes more to diligence; strive (saith our Lord) to enter in at the strait gate, for many will seek to enter in and shall not be able, Luke 13. 24. A double difficulty is found attending this work of self-tryal. Difficulty in bringing the heart to it, and difficulty in the right and successful management of it: who find it not hard to perswade his heart to such work as this? nature declines it, flesh and blood relish it not: it's one of the great severities in Religion: 'tis no easie thing to bring a man and his own heart together.
It is in this case as in the study of Geography, we are more inquisitive to know, and delighted when we discover the rarities of forraign Countreys, and strange things in …he remote parts of the world; than those of our own native Countrey. I fear there be many professours of Religion that can spend day after day in hearing, & love to be disputing fruitless controversies, that never spent one day in searching what influence all those Sermons they have heard, have had upon their hearts, or in rightly stating & determining that great Controversie, in whose right and possession their souls are, & which way they shall go assoon as death hath divided them from those mortal bodyes; yea, I doubt many sinful hours are spent in praying into, reporting and censuring the failings of others, and not one hour faithfully imployed in judging their own hearts before the Lord: O men had rather be about any other work than this: there's no pleasure in it to the flesh.
And yet how difficult soever it be to bring our hearts to the work, it's certainly much more difficult to manage it successfully, and bring the great question of our sincerity to a clear result and issue. O how many upright hearts have sate close to this work many a year, and lifted up many a cry to heaven, and shed many a secret and undissembled tear about it; and yet still are in the dark, and their minds greatly perplext, and filled with fear about it: what would they not do, what would they not suffer? what pleasant enjoyment would they not gladly part with to arrive at the desire of their souls, the full assurance of their sincerity! It was the saying of a pious woman, I have born (said she) seven Children, & they have cost me as dear as ever Children did cost a Mother; yet would I be content to endure all that sorrow over again, to be assured of the love of God to my soul.
Motive 2. Secondly, And as the work is full of difficulty, so the discovery of your sincerity will be full of sweetness, and joy unspeakable: it will never repent you that you have prayed and mourned, that you have trembled and feared, that you have searched and tryed: nay, it will never repent you that God hath tryed you by thousands of sharp afflictions and deep sufferings; if after all, your sincerity may be fully clea…ed up to the satisfaction of your souls; for in the same day your sincerity shall be cleared, your title to Christ will be made as clear to your souls as your sincerity is: you may then go to the promises boldly, and take your own Christ into the arms of your faith, and say, my beloved is mine, and I am his: yea, you may be confident it shall be well with you in the Judgment of the great day, for God will not cast away the upright man, Job 8. 20. if the word clear you now, it cannot condemn you then.
O what an ease is it to the soul when the …ears and doubts that hanged about it are gone! when a man sees what he is, & what he hath in Christ and the promises; and what he hath to do; even to spend the time betwixt this and Heaven in admiring the grace of God that hath delivered him from the ruining mistakes and miscarriages by which so great a part of the professing world perish to all eternity.
Motive 3. Thirdly, The deep concernment of your souls in the matter to be tryed, should awaken you to the utmost diligence about it. The tryals of men for their life, at humane bars, is but a trifle to this: 'tis your eternal happiness that stands or falls with your sincerity.
It's said in the tryal of opinions, that if a man superstruct hay or stubble upon the foundation, he shall suffer loss, yet he himself may be saved, 1 Cor. 3. 12. but if Hypocrisie be in the foundation, there is no such relief, there is no possibility of salvation in that case.
Ah Reader, thou must be cast for ever according to the integrity or hypocrisie of thy heart with God. Summon in then all the powers of thy soul, bring thy thoughts as close as it is possible to bring them to this matter: if there be any subject of consideration able to drink up the spirits of a man, here it is: never was time put to an higher improvement, never were thoughts spent upon a more important business than this is: happy is the man that rescues the years, months, dayes, yea, the very moments of his life from other imployments, to consecrate them unto this solemn, awful, and most important business.
Motive 4. Fourthly, How evidential will it be of your sincerity, when you are willing to come to the tryal of your own hearts!
Suppose your doubts and fears should in some degree remain with you, yet in this you may take some comfort, that if Hypocrisie be in your heart, it is not there by consent: you are not loth to rich and come to the tryal, because like Rachel you sit upon your Idols: certainly it is a good sign thy heart is right, when it is filled with so much fear lest it should be false: you know all the disciples said, Master, Is it I: before Iudas who was the Traytor spake a word. Last of all (saith the text) Iudas said is it I? our willingness to be tryed, is a good sign that the desire of our souls is to be right with God.
Motive 5. Fifthly, Conclude it to be your great advantage to be throughly tryed, whatever you befound to be in the tryal: if you be found sincere, you are richly rewarded for all your pains and labour: never did that man repent of digging and toyling, that after all hit upon the rich vein that he digged for: what is a vein of gold to a vein of sincerity!
If upon search you find the contrary, a false Hypocritical unsound heart, yet in that very sad discovery you meet with the greatest advantage that ever you had in your lives for salvation. This discovery is your great advantage: for now your vain confidence being over-turned, and your ungrounded hopes destroyed; you lye open to the stroke of a deep and effectual conviction o… your sin and misery, which is the introductive mercy to all other mercies to your souls… and surely till you come to that, to give up your false hopes, and quit your vain pretensions: there is no hope of you. Christ told the Pharisees, Matth 21. 31. Publicans and Harlots enter into the Kingdom of Heaven before you: Publicans were the worst sort of men, and harlots the worst sort of women, and yet they stood in a fairer way for heaven than the Hypocritical Pharisees, because conviction had easier access to their consciences: they had not those defences and pleas… of duty and strictness to ward off the word, that the self-couzening Pharisees had.
I may say of your vain and groundless hopes, as Christ in another sense said to the officers that came to seize him in the garden… if you seek me, let these go their way. So 'ti… here, if you expect Christ and salvation by him; let your vain confidences go their way: away with your masques and vizards▪ …f ever you expect to see Christ. O 'tis your …appiness to have all these things stript off, and your nakedness and poverty discovered, …hat you may be rich as the Text speaks.
Motive 6. Sixthly, Consider how near the …ay of Death and Judgment approach you. Oh these are searching dayes wherein you cannot be hid: will your consciences, think you, be put off in a dying day as easily as …hey are now? no, no; you know they …ill not.
I have heard of a good man that consumed …ot only the greatest part of the day, but … very considerable part of the night also in …rayer to the great weakening of his body; …nd being asked by a relation why he did …o, and prayed to favour himself, he returned …his answer, O I must dye, I must dye: plainly …ntimating, that so great is the concernment of dying in a clear assured condition, that …t's richly worth the expence of all our time …nd strength to secure it.
You know also that after death the Judgement, Heb. 9. 27. you are hastening to the …udgement of the great and terrible God. Death will put you into his ballance to be weighed exactly: and what gives the soul a …ouder call to search it self with all diligence, whilest it stands at the door of eternity, and …ts turn is not yet come to go before that awful Tribunal? O that these considerations might have place upon our hearts!