The Touchstone of Sincerity, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
Shewing what proof and tryal is made of the soundness or unsoundness of our graces by the duties of Religion which we perform.
SECT. I.
WE now come (according to the method proposed) to make tryal of the truth of falseness of grace▪ by the duties we daily perform in Religion▪ And certainly they also h…ve the use and efficacy of fire, for this discovery, 1 Joh. 2▪ 4, 5. He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments [is a lyar] and he truth is not in him: but whoso keepeth his word, i… him verily is the love of God perfected: an… hereby know we that we are in him.
This is a practical lye; of which the Apostle speaks here, by which men deceive… other … while, and themselves for ever: a lye not spoken, but done; when a mans course of life contradicts his profession. The life of an Hypocrite is but one long o… continued lye: he saith or professeth he knows God, but takes no care at all to obey him in the duties he commands: he either neglects them, or if he perform them, it is not as God requires: if they draw nigh … him with their lips, yet. their heart is far from him, Isa. 29. 13. Thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins, Jer. 12. 2.
There are some that feel the influence & power of their Communion with the Lord in duties, going down to their very reins: & there are others whose lips and tongues only are toucht with Religion.
This is an age of light and much profession: men cannot now keep up a reputa…ion in th… sober & professing world, whilest they let down, and totally neglect the duties of Religion: but surely if men would be but just to themselves, their very performances of duty would tell them what their hearts are.
SECT. II.
FOr there among others these following particulars, that do very clearly diffe…ence he sound from the unsound prfessour.
1. First, The designs and true Levels and …aims of mens hearts in duty will tell them what they are.
An Hypocrite aims Low, Hosea 7. 14. They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they …owled upon their beds; they assembled themselves for Corn and Wine, and they rebel against me. It is not for Christ, and pardon, …or mortification, and holiness; but for corn, and wine, thus they make a Market of Re…igion; all their ends in duty are either carnal, natural, or legal; it is either to accommodate their carnal ends, or satisfie and quiet their Consciences: and so their duties are performed as a sin-offering to God.
But an upright heart, hath very high, and pure aims in duty; the desire of their …oul is to God, Isa. 26. 8. their soul follows …ard after God, Psal. 63. 8. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the Lord; and to enquire in his Temple, Psal. 27. 4. These are the true Eagles that play at the Sun, and will not stoop to low and earthly objects. Alas! if the enjoyment of God be missed …n a duty, it is not the greatest enlargements of gifts will satisfie: he comes back like a man that hath taken a long journey to meet his friend upon important business; and lost …is labour; his friend was not there.
2. Secondly, The engagements of men… hearts to God in duties will tell them wha… they are. The hypocrite takes little heed to… his heart, Esa. 29. 13. they are not afflicted really for the hardness, deadness, unbelief▪ and wanderings of their hearts in duty; as upright ones are: nor do they engage thei… hearts, and labour to get them up with God… in duty as his people do. I have intreate… thy favour with my whole heart, saith David. Psal. 119. 58. they are not pleased in duty till they feel their hearts stand towards God like a bow in its full bent. I say not it is alwayes so with them, what would they give that it might be so! but surely if their souls in duty be empty of God, they are filled with trouble and sorrow.
3 Thirdly, The Conscience men make o… secret as well as of publick duties, will tel… them what their hearts and graces are, true, or false. A vain Professour is curious in th… former, and either negligent, or at best formal in the latter: for he finds no inducement… of honour, applause, or o…tentation of gift… externally moving him to them: nor hath he any experience of the sweetness & benefit of such duties internally to allure and engage his soul to them.
The Hypocrite therefore is not for the closet▪ but the Synagogue, Matth. 6. 5. 6. not bu… that education, example, or the impulse o… conscience may sometimes drive him thither; but it is not his daily delight to be there; his meat and drink to retire from the clamour of the world to enjoy God in secret. …Tis the observation of their duties is the great inducement to these men to perform them; and verily saith our Lord, ver. 2. they have their reward, foreign they have it away; or they have carryed off all the benefit and advantage that ever they shall have by Religion. Much good do them with their applause and honour, let them make much of that aery reward, for it's all that ever they shall have.
But now for a soul truly gracious, he cannot long subsist without secret prayer. 'Tis true, there is not always an equal freedom and delight, a like enlargement and comfort in those retirements: but yet he cannot be without them: he finds the want of his secret, in his publick duties: if he and his God have not met in secret, and had some Communion in the morning, he sensibly finds it in the deadness and unprofitableness of his heart and life all the day after.
4. Fourthly, The spirituality of our duties tryes the sincerity of our graces: an unregenerate heart is carnal, whilest engaged in duties that are spiritual. Some men deceive themselves in thinking they are spiritual men, because their imployment and calling is about spiritual things, Hosea 9. 7. this indeed gives them the denomination, but not the frame of spiritual men: and others judge themselves spiritual persons, because they frequently perform and attend upon spiritual duties: but alas the heart and state may be carnal notwithstanding all this. O my friends, it is not enough that the object of your duties is spiritual, that they respect an holy God; nor that the matter be spiritual, that you be conversant about holy things; but the frame of your heart must be spiritual, an heavenly temper of soul is necessary, and what are the most heavenly duties without it?
The end and design you aim at must be spiritual, the enjoyment of God, and a growing conformity to him in holiness; else, multiply duties as the sand on the sea shore, & they all will not amount to one evidence of your …incerity. God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit, saith the Apostles, Rom▪ 1. 9. he seems to appeal to God in this matter. I serve God in my spirit, and God knows that I do so. I dare appeal to him that it is so: he knows that my heart is with him, or would be with him in my duties: the armes of my faith do either▪ …ensibly grasp, or are stretched out towards him in my duties. O how little …avour do gracious hearts find in the most excellent duties, if God and their souls do not sensibly meet in them!
Certainly Reader, There is a time when God comes nigh to men in duty, when he deals familiarly with men, and sensibly fills their souls with unusual powers and delights. The near approaches of God to their souls are felt by them, (for souls have their senses as well as bodies;) and now are their minds abstracted and marvellously refined from all that is material and earthly, and swallowed up in spiritual excellencies and glories.
These are the real prelibations or foretastes of glory, which no man can by words make another to understand, as he himself doth that feels them.
These seasons I confess do but rarely occur to the best of Christians,Rara hora, brevis mora; fapit quidem suavissimè, sed gustatur rarissimè. B…rnard. nor continue long when they do: alas! this wine is too strong for such weak bottles as we are. Hold Lord (said an holy man once) it is enough▪ thy poor creature is a clay vessel, and can hold no more: this is that Ioy unspeakable and full of glory, which is mentioned, 1 Pet. 1. 7, 8. something that words cannot describe: these seasons are the golden spots of our lives, when we are admitted to these near and ineffable views and tastes of God: possibly some poor Christians can say but little to these things; their sorrows are exercised in duties mo… than their Joys: they are endeavouring … mount, but the stone hangs at the heel: they essay, but cannot rise to that height tha… others do, who are got up by their labou…ing faith into the upper Region, and ther… display their wings and sing in the Su…beams: but though they cannot reach thi… height, yet have they no satisfaction in d… ties wherein there is no intercourse betwix… God and their souls.
That which contents another, will no… content a Christian: if the King be absent▪ men will bow to the empty chair; but i… God be absent, an empty duty gives no satisfaction to a gracious spirit. The poore… Chrictian is found panting after God by sincere desires, and labouring to get up that dead and vain heart to God in duty; though alas! it's many times but the rolling of the returning stone against the hill: yet the never expects advantage by that duty wherein the spirit of God is not; nor doth he expect the …pirit of God should be, where hi… own spirit is not.
5. Fifthly, Assiduity and constancy in duties of Religion makes a no…able discovery o… the soundness or rottenness of mens heart… The Hypocrite may shew some zeal and fo…wardness in duties for a time, but he will jade and give out at length: Iob 27. 10▪ …ill he delight himself in the Almighty? will … always call upon God? No, he will not. If … is motions in Religion were natural, they would be constant; but they are artificial &e is moved by external inducements; & so …ust needs be off and on: he prays himself …eary of praying, and hears himself weary …f hearing: his heart is not delighted in his …uties, and therefore his duties must needs …row stale and dry to him after a while. …here be three seasons in which the zeal of …n Hypocrite may be inflamed in duties.
First, When some iminent danger threat…ns him, some smart rod of God is shaked …ver him: when he slew them, then they sought im, and returned and enquired early after God, …sal. 78. 34▪ O the goodly words they give, the fair promises they make; and yet all the …hile they do but flatter him with their lips, and …ye unto him with their tongues, ver. 36, 37. …or let but that danger pass over, and the …eavens clear up again, and he will restrain …rayer, and return to his old course …gain.
Secondly, When the times Countenance …nd favour Religion, and the wind is in his …ack: O what a zeal will he have for God▪ …o in the stony ground, Matth. 13▪ 5. the …eed sprung up and flou…ished till the sun …f persecution arose, and then it f…ded away; for it had no depth of earth: no deep solid inward work or principle of grace … maintain it.
Thirdly, When self…ends and designs at … accommodated & promoted by these thing… this was the case of Ie…u, 2 Kings … 16. come see my zeal, for what? for a ba… self-interest, not for God: how ferventl… will some men pray, preach, and profel… whilest they sensibly feel the incomes & profit of these duties to their flesh: whilest the… a…e admired and applauded!
These external incentives will put an hy…pocrite into an hot fit of zeal, but then as … is with a man whose colours are raised b… the heat of the fire, and not by the heal…h… fulness of a good constitution; it soon fade… and falls again.
But blessed be God it is not so with all The man whose heart is upright with his God, will keep judgment, and do righteousnes… at all time…, Psal. 106. 3. whether dange… threaten or no; whether times favour Religion no no; whether his earthly interest b… promoted by it or no; he will be holy still: he will not part with his duties when they a… stript naked of those external advantages: as the addition of these things to Religion di… not at first engage him, so the substraction o… them, cannot disengage him.
If his duty become his reproach, yet Mose… will not forsake it: Heb. 11▪ 26. If he lose… company, and be left alone, yet Paul will …ot flinch from his duty, 2 Tim. 4. 16. if …azard surround duty on every side, yet Da…el, will not quit it, Dan. 6. 10▪ for they con…dered these things at first, and counted the …st, they still find Religion is rich enough … pay the cost of all that they can lose or …ffer for its sake; yea, and that with an …undred-fold reward, now in this life. They …ver had other design in engaging in Re…gious duties, but to help them to heaven, …d if they recover heaven at last; whether …e way to it prove better, or worse; they …ve their design, and ends: and therefore …ey will be stedfast, alwayes abounding in …e work of the Lord, as knowing their …our is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. …. ult.
6. Sixthly, The humility and self-denyal … our hearts in duties will try what they …e for their integrity and sincerity towards …od. Doth a man boast his own excellencies … prayer as the Pharisee did, Luke 18. 10, … God I thank thee I a… not as other men: …hich he speaks not in an humble acknow…gement of the grace of God which dif…ences man from man; but in a proud …entation▪ of his own excellencies? Doth … man make his duties his Saviours, and trust … them in a vain confidence of their worth …d…dignity? Luke 18. 9. Surely his heart which is thus lifted up within him, is … upright, Hab. 2. 4. But if the heart be … right indeed, it will express its humility, … in all other things, so especially in its dut… wherein it approaches the great and ho… God.
First, It will manifest its humility in th… awful and reveren…ial apprehensions it h… of God, as Abraham did, Gen. 18. 27. … now I that am but dust and ashes (saith … have taken upon me to speak unto God. T… humility of Abrahams spirit is in some mea… to be found in all Abrahams Children.
Secondly, In those low and vile thoug… they have of themselves, and their religi… performances: thus that poor peni… Luke 7. 38. stood behind Christ weepi… yet the dogs eat the crumbs, saith anot… Mark 7. 28. I am more brutish than … man, saith a third, Prov. 30. 7. I abho… self in dust and ashes, saith a fourth, Iob … 6. and as little esteem they have for t… performances, Esa, 64. 6. all our righteous… are as filthy rags. I deny not but the… pride and vanity in the most upright o… but what place soever it finds in their … ver…es with men, it finds little room in t… converses with God; or if it do, they lo… it, and themselves for i….
Thirdly. But especially their humility duty is discovered in renouncing all t… …uties in point of dependance, and relying …tirely upon Christ for righteousness, and …cceptance: they have special regard to du…es in point of obedience, but none at all in …oint of Relyance.
7. Seventhly, The Communion and intercourse …hich is betwixt God and men in duties, …otably discovers what their persons and …races are. And it must needs do so, because …hat communion soever the hypocrite hath …ith duties, or with Saints in duties; to …e sure he hath none with God.
None can come nigh to God in duty, but …ose that are made nigh by reconciliation: … special Communion with Christ, is found… in real union with Christ: but The wick… are estranged from the womb, Psal. 58. 3.
But now there is real communion betwixt …od and his people in duties. Truly our… llowship, foreign, our Communion is with …e Father and Son, 1 Ioh. 1. 3. God pours …rth of his spirit upon them, and they pour … …th their hearts to God. It is sensibly ma…fest to them when the Lord comes nigh … their souls in duty, and as sensible they …e of his retreats and withdraw…ents from …eir souls, Cant. 3. 1, 4. They find their …arts like the Heliotrope, open and shut ac…rding to the accesses and recesses of the …vine presence. They that never felt any …ing of this nature, may call it a fancy, but the Lords people are abundantly satisfied of the reality thereof.
Their very Countenance is altered by it, 1 Sam. 1. 18. the sad and cloudy countenance of Hannah, cleared up, there was fai… weather in her very face, assoon as she kne… she had audience and acceptance with he… God. I know all communion with God doth not consist in joyes and Comforts, the… is as real communion with God in the mo…tifying and humbling influences of his spi…i… upon men, as in the cheering and refreshing influences thereof. I know also there is … great diversity in the degrees and measu… thereof. It is not alike in all Christians, no… with the same Christian at all times: b… that real Christians have true and real Co…munion with God in their duties, is a tru… as manifest in spiritual sense and expe…ence of the Saints, as their Communion … one with another.
8. Eightly, Growth and improvement … grace in duties notably differences the soun… and unsound heart. All the duties in t… world will never make an hypocrite mo… holy, humble, or heavenly than he is: b… as the watering of a dry stick will soon rot it, than make it flourishing and frui… What was …udas the better for all those h…venly sermons, prayers, and discourses Christ which he heard? and what … …y soul be the better for all the duties thou …erformest weekly and daily if thy heart be …nsound? It's plain from Ioh. 15. 4. there …ust be an implantation into Christ, before …ere can be an improvement in fruitful o…edience. And it is as plain from 1 Iohn …. 14. that the virtues of the ordinances must …emain, the efficacy and powers that we …ometimes feel under them, must abide and …emain in the heart afterwards; or we can…ot grow, and be made fruitful by them.
But the false professour is neither rooted …n Christ by union with him, nor doth or …an retain the vertue of ordinances within …im: but like one that views his face in a glass, quickly forgets what manner of man he was: his head indeed may grow, his know…edge may increase, but he hath a dead …nd withered heart.
But as the Saints have real Communion with God in duties, so they do make im…rovements answerable thereunto: there is …ost certainly a ripening of their graces that way; a changing or gradual transformation …rom glory to glory; a springing up to that …ull stature of the man in Christ. They that …re planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish …n the Courts of our God, Psal. 92. 13, 14. There is pure and sincere milk in the breasts …f ordinances: a believer sucks the very …reasts of Christ in his duties, and doth grow 1 Pet. 2. 2. they do grow more and mor… judicious, experienced, humble, mortified and heavenly, by conversing with the Lor… so frequently in his appointments.
There is I confess a more discernable growth and ripening in some Christians, tha… in others: the faith of some groweth exceedingly, 2 Thes. 1. 3. others more slowly▪ Heb. 5. 12. but yet there are improvements of grace in all upright ones: habits are more deeply radicated, or fruits of obedience mor… increased.
Obj. If any upright soul be▪ …tumbled at this, … not being able to discern the increase of h… graces after all his duties.
Sol. Let such consider the growth o… grace is discerned as the growth of plants is, which we perceive rather Crevisse, quà… crescere: to have grown, than to grown: compare time past and present, and yo… may see it: but usually our eager desires after more, make us over look what we have as nothing.
9. Nint…ly, The assistances and influences of the spirit in duties, shews us what we are: no vital sanctifyi…g influences can fall upo… carnal hearts in duties. The spirit helps no… their infirmities, nor makes intercession fo… them with groanings which cannot be u… tered, as he doth for his own people: Rom▪ 8. 26, 27. they have his assistances in th… …y of common gifts, but not in the way … special grace: he may enable them to …ach judiciously, not experimentally: to pray …erly and neatly, not feelingly, believingly, …d broken heartedly: for as many as are by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God, …m. 8. 14. he never so assists, but where he …h first sanctified. Carnal men furnish the …erials of their duties out of the strength …heir parts; a strong memory, a good in…tion are the fountains whence they draw. But it is otherwise with souls truly gra…us: they have ordinarily a three fold a… …ance form the spirit in reference to their …ies.
First, Before duties, exciting t…em to it; …ing them feel their need of it: like the …l of an empty stomach: Psal, 27. 8. Thou …, Seek my face: my heart answered, Thy … Lord Will I seek.
Secondly, In their duties, furnishing both …tter and affection; as in that text lately …ed, Rom. 8. 26. guiding them not only … at to ask, but how to ask.
Thirdly, after their duties, helping them … only to suppress the pride and vanity of …ir spirits, but also to wait on God for … accomplishment of their desires.
Now though all these things wherein the …e…ity of our hearts is tryed in duties, be …nd in great variety (asto degrees) among Saints, yet they are mysteries unknown … experience to other men.