Upon Uprightness, Chapter 3

Upon Uprightness · Chapter 3

p. 123CHAP. III. The Application.

SECT. I.

THe third thing follows, which is the Application: what may we gather hence for the bettering of our Minds or Manners? To inform the former, §. 1. Information.and to reform the latter.

Use Information. For the former.

1. This Doctrine proclaims the Equity of God. To an upright man he will shew himself upright; why then his wayes are equal. Though clouds and darkness be round about him, [his wayes be hidden] yet Judgment and Righteousness are the habitation of his Throne, [they are alwayes holy, just and equal.] Psal. 97. 2. He that hath a cause to be tryed for Land or Life, counts it a priviledge that he shall have justice; and that at least, every man may expect from God. His wayes are equal, though our wayes be p. 124unequal, Psal. 99. 4. The Kings strength (and who is that but God?) loveth judgment, thou doest establish equity. So he doth by his Rule and by his Example. Conclude therefore whatever his dealing is with you or others, that he is righteous in all his wayes, and holy in all his works.

The Subject cannot alwayes see the Reason of his Princes method, no nor a child his fathers; but when they come to the knowledge of them, they magnifie what before they were ready to misconstrue: Even so perhaps you understand not the wayes of God towards you or his Church; but be silent before him, for you shall see at the long run, that with righteousness doth he judge the world, and the people with equity.

2. This Doctrine pronounces the Misery of all hypocrites. For it follows by the Rule of contraries, that with such froward pieces, God will show himself froward. He that walks contrary to God, shall have God to walk contrary to him. The way of hypocrisie, as well as of impenitency, is a way of contrariety to God, whose holy Law the hypocrite casts behind his back; it is a way of contrariety to Jesus Christ, his Prophetical Chair, his Priestly p. 125Cross, and his Kingly Throne; and certainly God will walk contrarily unto them. He will out-wit the subtlest, and overthrow the stubbornest hypocrite on earth. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the Iob 5. 13Job 5:13froward is carried headlong. He that will wrestle with God, shall feel it first or last.

The vain hypocrite hopes to over-reach God, to carry his contrivance cleanly; but let him not be deceived, for God is not mocked: as a man sows, so shall he reap, Job 8. 14. His hope shall be cut off, and his trust shall be a spiders web. You see a spiders web to be a very curious work, but its original is from a spiders bowels, and its design to catch poor flies; and though she be as secure in it as in a castle, yet when the Broom comes, down they go. The thread that an hypocrite spins is very fine, but it hath no higher principle than Self, nor greater end than to deceive. And though he bless himself in his heart, and sit like a Queen in the web that he hath spun, yet when Gods besome comes, down he falls into Hell, and great is the fall of him.

Quest. But you will say, who or what i… an hypocrite?

p. 126Answ. He is one that hath no Affection to the Nature of Religion, and yet hath an Affectation of the Name, and Reputation of Religion: That professes the hatred of sin, and yet cordially loves it: That pretends to love piety, and yet inwardly distasts it; this is an hypocrite and woe be to him. The keenest Scriptures, the sharpest Judgments, the hottest Torments are the portion of his cup. The very next verse is enough to overwhelm him, With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward. When infinite Patience grows froward, there will be infinite frowardness. None so true a Friend, and none so fierce an Enemy. Proud men, Atheists, and Hypocrites, God hath a peculiar quarrel with, and they shall feel the weight of his indignation. Alas! Sirs, you drive the maddest trade on earth: your Profession of piety hazards the losing of this World, and your Practise of hypocrisie loseth you the other; and thus you lose Two Worlds for want of One Upright heart. Repent therefore quickly of this your wickedness, & change your course. If holiness be bad, why do you pretend it? If it be good, why do you abhor it? What man of reason will put on the shape of one he hates, when thereby he p. 127gets only the applause of a few, and loses the love of many? Alas! you lose the respect of the most on earth by your outside, and of the best in Heaven by your inside. O therefore cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purifie your hearts ye doubleminded. Abominate that course, that besides its own vileness, loseth both God and Men, and your selves at last.

But as when cheats are lookt after… they slip away and hide themselves in the throng, so the hypocrite when threatned, will not be convict, and therefore alledges these things.

Object. 1. General Approbation. I am well esteemed, and that among the best: If I were rotten, sure they would find me out. I love good people, and they love me, and how can I then be an hypocrite?They that make the Queen believe that I counterfeit with her, cannot make God believe that I counterfeit with him. Earl of Essex to Sr …. B…con.

Answ. They judge of thee by the judgment of Charity, but God will judge thee with the judgment of Verity: They neither can, nor will, nor dare be censorious; but do guess thee to be sound within, because thou art smooth without. Their great work lies in assuring their own salvation, and not in questioning others; and so thou maist go by them to hell unsuspected as Judas did by the Disciples; they never dream'd of his hypocrisie, p. 128but rather suspected themselves, but this made not his case the safer.

And then that you love the people of God, will be difficult to be proved. You like their company (perhaps) for some natural, moral, or acquired excellencies in them; they are well temper'd, civil, learned, intelligent, or perhaps of some use or stead for you; but alas! you hate their holiness, and least like them when they are in their most religious frame. You care not for their talk of Heaven, when you are pleas'd with their news or discourses upon things on earth. He that loves an holy man for his Sanctity, loves them all as far as they are holy, and so the holier the person is, the better you will love him.

Object. 2. Singular Obedience. I have perform'd abundance of Duties, and have forgone divers Sins, and have continued so to do a great while, and can an hypocrite do so?

Answ. Is there no known Duty that lies by you undischarged? and do you delight in the duties you perform, as well as do them? do the Precepts of the Law please you, as well as the Promises of the Gospel? And do you live in no known sin with purpose, pleasure and perseverance? p. 129its true, an hypocrite will not alwayes call upon God, but its hard to say how long he may; certainly, while any of his base ends draw him on. Indeed when sharp troubles come for Religion, then generally such are weary of it, and utterly deny that which they never delighted in. Canst thou now say in the midst of thy multiplied duties, that thou hadst rather do them, than not do them? Dost thou only use prayer, or chuse prayer? Dost thou only avoid sin, or abhor sin? That is something, or else that Pharisee, Luke 18. shall be justified, as soon as thou.

Object. 3. Quiet of Conscience: My own heart condemns me not, that is most privy to my own estate, and would be (surely) most faithful to me in this weighty case; nay, it is more against an hypocrite, than any other sinner.

Answ. Remember that a Conscience pacified, is not alwayes a sign of a Conscience purified. If Conscience be not blinded, it will see; if it be not bribed, it will speak; if it be not brawny, it will feel: but if it have been curb'd and silenc'd, and sinn'd against, it may let you alone (even as God doth) and never bark till it bite, and make its teeth to meet. There p. 130are that deceive others, until at length Like that P…rk Warbeck who counterfeited to be one of K. Ed. 4. Sons, so long that at length he really believed he was the Duke.they be deceiv'd themselves: that have deceived their own hearts so long, till a deceived heart hath turned them aside, that they cannot deliver their souls, nor say, is there not a lye in my right hand, Isa. 44. 20.

And yet if one should refer it to thee, Dost thou think in thy very Conscience, that thou art an upright Saint, and a sincere servant of Jesus Christ? Dost thou not know that by thy self, which is inconsistent with integrity of heart? what is that which makes thee tremble at death? in a fright at thunder, in pain at a searching Sermon? afraid at the reading or hearing of any sisting marks or signs? And then for bearing a great hatred to hypocrites, that's nothing, for one proud man may hate another for standing in his light, and rotten hearts are usually most suspicious and censorious of others. Thy best evidence would be to loath thy self; and thy only cure, to be pricked at the heart.

p. 131SECT. II.

II. Use. THe second Improvement of this Point is for Reprehension:§. 2. Reproof.

1. Of those that Disturst an upright God.

2. Of those that Distast an upright Man.

1. That Distrust an upright God. No greater trouble to an upright man, than to be suspected and distrusted, to have his word question'd, and his wayes misconstrued. Good and upright is the Lord, and he cannot indure to be called in question. They that know him will take his word, for more than this world is worth, Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee. But alas! how few are these? if we run over those very particulars wherein he shews himself upright, you shall find much distrust in the world, yea in the very best. If we be in Danger, how sew can quiet themselves in Gods promise of succour? If we have fallen into Temptation, how long ere we can heartily believe our pardon sealed in p. 132the blood of Christ? when we begin to Pray, which of us believes, that as sure as we ask, we shall receive? how difficult to relye upon the grace of God for perseverance, or on the promise of God for all good things in this life, and for a Crown of glory in another? O the wretched distrust of mans heart! whence else do men run to unworthy means, to attain their desires every day; and lean no more on him, or on his word, than on a weak staff, that we dare not trust? you can trust a man when he hath money in his hand, you should trust God when he gives money in the Promise. The World should know we serve a God, whom we dare trust. The promise is ever as good, as the thing promised. He is no flincher with whom you deal. To distrust him, is to devest him, and that of his dearest Attribute, his Truth. When we distrust God, we make him man; when we trust in man, we make him God.

How many experiments have you read, nay how many experiments have you had of his uprightness to you? and must they all stand for nothing? What man can come out and say, I was under such a promise, but I never had the benefit of p. 133it? I trusted Jacobs God in vain? And must you be the first instances of his unfaithfulness? God forbid. To instance; what disquieting thoughts have we, sometimes, about provision for our Children? they'l be left succourless, and quite forsaken, (and unworthy courses are sometimes taken to prevent it) and yet we know they will fall Wards to God, and that the Generation of the upright shall be blessed. And because here perhaps you may reply, that herein you do not so much question Gods uprightness, as your own, therefore see in another Instance, what perplexities are Gods servants in for his Church, when it is rent with schisms, eclips'd with errors, oppress'd with troubles? And yet he hath undertaken to rule the world for his Churches good, and that the Gates of Hell (stronger than armes on earth) shall never prevail against her. O silence then and charm down your unbelief, and credit this word, To the upright man, he will shew himself upright.

2. This Reproves those that Distast an upright man. He that is unlike God, cannot but dislike both him and his likeness. Semper … liena virt…s form… dolosa …Wonder of wickedness, that ever any reasonable creature should hate his Makers p. 134picture; dislike the men that are after Gods own heart, and the better the man, the worse to hate him. It was so in the beginning, is now, and will be world without end. 1 Sam. 29. 6. Surely (sayes Achish to David) as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright; nevertheless the Lord favours thee not. Let a man be never so honest, charitable, unblameable, yet if he discover his integrity by reproving sin, by a strict watch over his words, by a peaceable demurring at a thing he is unsatisfied in: there's some of you though you never saw him, were never disoblig'd by him, yet out of an inveteracy against God (it can be nothing else) you dislike and declaim against him. If this man have an hundred excellent qualities, and but one defect or fault, all his good qualities are buried, and he goes with you under the notion of his single sin. But on the other hand, let a man be never so ignorant, unclean, swearer, drunkard, Atheistical; yet divers of you can imbrace him, delight in his company, or at least he shall live quietly by you, and (if he do not personally affront you) no Magistrate shall ever be inform'd of him, that he might reform him. And (to see your equity) if this man have an hundred ill p. 135conditions, and but some one good quality, as perhaps of an obliging carriage, all his faults are silenced, and he obtains a favourable character from this single vertue; which shews clearly, that your spite is at the good man, as he is good, or else you would cry down other mens faults as well as his, and lend to them a mantle as well as to others.

If pride be bad, or covetousness, or passion, why do you not blame them, where-ever you find them?

Object. Perhaps you'l say, they are bad (its true) in any, but they are intollerable in one that professes more Sanctity than others.

Answ. His sanctity or profession are neither faults nor faulty, but these you have an aking tooth at: and though they do aggravate his Sins before God, yet I hope with men he may pass better, that hath but one or two faults, than he that hath an hundred. And if you be not haters of God, you ought to love him better that hath a few errors, and those bewailed, (for so all upright men do, though you see them not) than him that abounds in them, and rather glories in them, than mourns over them

p. 136Object. I know your usual saying, you dislike none but hypocrites, an upright man you could love in your heart.

Answ. Can you prove all them hypocrites, whom you distast? and can you justifie your suspicion, where you can make no proof? I think there is no greater a sign of an hypocrite, than easily to judge others so. But for all your professions, I am perswaded, if Christ himself were now on earth, and should be so severe in his life, as never to laugh; so impartial in reproof, as to spare neither Prince nor Priest; so heavenly in his discourse, as alwayes to draw it to some spiritual matter; abundance of Christians would utterly O qua…tus est in populo Christia… ho…or Christi, ubi Religio ignobilem facit & mali coguntur …obiles … viles habeantur. Salv.dislike him, never consort with him, but pursue him to his cross again. Alas! it is integrity and honesty you hate, and the affront is to God more than to men herein. And is not this hatred without a cause? Is not this to rage at Beauty, and to have an Aversion to Innocency it self? Are not these men (such as I have describ'd) the best husbands, the best parents, the best children, the best servants, the best subjects, publick Goods, Prov. 11. By the blessing of the upright the City is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. O relent towards them, and p. 137let your love and pity run in the stream with Gods. Carry your selves to them, as you think David, Paul, or Christ would do if they were here; and judge in your own Consciences, whether they would sort with vile swearers in an Alehouse, or with upright mourners in a Chamber: you cannot have a better coppy than Him in the Text, and therefore with the upright man, shew you your selves upright.

SECT. III.

THe third Use of this Doctrine leads §. 3. Examination.unto Tryal and Examination of our own selves. I report me to your own Consciences, how needful this is. Needful for your comfort here, needful for your salvation hereafter. And pray be exact and serious herein.

1. Because mans heart by Nature is false and froward. Deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, Jer. 17. 9. The Nature of God, the Love of Christ, and the Heart of man, are things inscrutable. Its true, Eccl. 7. 29. God made man upright at first. Our faces were directly upon God, our hearts uniform, but we got a fall, and p. 138now the whole man is turn'd quite another way. He that sayes, I have ever had a good heart, that man never had a good heart: we are estranged from the womb from our God, and from our best selves. No cheat so cunning as the heart of man, 'twill cry out as the Pharisee, I thank God I am not as other hearts are, when seven abominations are therein. And not only false but froward; in other diseases the diseased party is called the Patient, and patient they are to abide the Physicians order, but here the Patient is the greatest Disease. Quid miserius misero non miserante seipsum? What greater misery than a miserable man not commiserating himself? Having to do therefore with such a Piece, what need have you of the strictest care, that you may not be bankrupt, before you feel your decay, and broken for want of bruising?

2. A man may proceed very far, and yet prove rotten at the heart. He may go nineteen steps, and for want of going one other step, fall short of Heaven, Mat. 19. 20, 21. That young man had gone far in keeping six commandments: where is the young man that can come forth and truly say the like? yet one thing was lacking, and that lost all the rest. Consider well p. 139how many changes may pass upon th… heart without a through saving change. A moral change from debauchery to civility, a formal change to the profession of Godliness, a partial change, a temporary change; but uprightness of heart lyes in a hairs breadth; you may hit the Butt, and yet miss the Mark, and by considering how far Herod, Saul, Judas, and others of our acquaintance have gone, and yet fallen away, we see need to sift our selves to the bran, and put our Integrity to the tryal.

3. A man may verily think he's upright, and yet not be right, Prov. 30. 12. There is a generation [that is, abundance in all Ages] that are pure in their own eyes, [shine illustriously, as the Hebrew word signifies, in their own opinions and judgments] and yet are not cleansed from their filthiness: were never truly regenerate. That River of God, the blood of Christ, never run through their hearts: you have heard, he that long deceives others, at last deceives himself, Deceiving and being deceived. Plain in the foolish Virgins, Mat. 25. who thought their case was good, till the gate was shut. A dreadful case! to be damn'd just at Heaven gates, and to feel a Hell, before we fear it: How p. 140blank would a man look, that hath a sum of money to pay, and when it comes to the touch, it proves all Counters, all his money Counters? even so will many a formal hypocrite look at the last day, when all his graces prove spurious; … name to live, but dead at heart. When the great Judge of Heaven and earth shall come with his Mene Tekel, &c. put this glistring Professor into the Balance, alas he is too light; weigh that mans Faith, then his Repentance, then his Love in the Balance, they are all too light. Alas! thy kingdom is departed from thee, thou art … lost man world without end.

Now I say, if a man may verily think he's upright, and yet prove naught, it is high time to come to tryal. And though the Description which you have had, wi… much supersede this work; and that whe… all is said, a man that is really upright may most clearly by reflection, and spiritual sensation, find and feel the integrity of his heart, as the mother knows she i… with child, when she feels it leaping i… her womb; yet for your further assistanc… I shall here with much plainness and br… vity (the which I study) give you som… clear characters of uprightness, and s… hasten to an end; with this Advertisement, p. 141that if you can lay a sound claim to any one of them, though you should labour to find them all, you may rest with comfort in the safety of your condition, though at present you may not discern the rest; for that, where there is one Integra… member of the new man, there is the whole, though not apparent. But let not one Character pass your eye, without a faithful tryal; Is it thus with me? that you may know your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you, and then you are not reprobates.

SECT. IV.

I. THe first Character of an upright §. 4. Characters of an Upright man.man is, He really approves himself to God, 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study to shew thy self approved to God. This is the care and business of every upright man. In all business and companies, his chiefest care is, that the words of his mouth, and Psal. 19.Ps 19the thoughts of his heart may be pleasing to him. Famous is that story of Bernard, who after a curious Sermon, among the general applause, was found dejected and in his dumps: and after a more sincere plain discourse, the day following exceeding p. 142chearful; told one of his friends, that inquir'd the reason, Heri Bernardum, hodie Jesum Christum praedicavi, yesterday I preach'd Bernard, but to day I have preached Jesus Christ. When you can say, Lord, others know my actions, but thou knowest my ends; others may lift me up too high, or cast me down too low; but I am satisfied, if thou art pleased with me: For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. And this is to walk worthy of the Lord, in all Pleasing: When a mans great aim is at God, and not to please, or exalt himself or others.

Whereas an hypocrite he is quite another man, Mat. 23. 5. For all their works they do to be seen of men: and therefore they chose Trumpets to distribute their alms with, and corners of Streets (Streets would not serve, but corners of Streets) that so two full Streets might view them in their prayers: and so (poor creatures) they paid themselves before the great Payday, Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. Their thought is, how will this or that man like this word or action? If such and such commend me and applaud me, I have enough. But the upright man looks at God, and a smile from him gives p. 143him content. He may endeavour to compass the good opinion of men, but he will serve God first, and hate any base courses to procure the praise of men. Its part of his Character, Rom. 2. 29. Whose praise is not of men, but of God.

II. The second mark of an upright man is, He chiefly loves God. To love the Lord our God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the strength, is an infallible Character of an upright man. When it comes to be a disputable case between God and Mammon, God and the Belly, God and Relations, God and a right Eye or Hand; if thou cannot find (at least for the most part) thy soul determining for God, over-ruling the case in his behalf, and that thy love to him can make thee contemn the world, and all that is in it; fear nothing, thou hast an upright heart. Try now, do you use the World to enjoy God, or do you make use of God to enjoy the World? He love… thee little, O Lord, that loves any thing with thee, which he loves not for thee Aug.Do you love him for himself, do you love him like himself, in every thing, above every thing?

Object. But how should I know I love him best?

Answ. Hath he, if not the most, yet the heartiest of your thoughts? When p. 144your ends are raffled to the bottom, do they end at him, or self? **Luther at a signal mercy writes on the wall, Tambach (the place where then he was) est mea phanuel ibi apparuit mihi D… minus.do you love the hours and duties that tend towards him? Are not you troubled that you can love him no more? is not Heaven it self desirable to you on this account, because there you will love him and hate sin, perfectly, and eternally? can you delight in your mercies, when you fear they come not in love? can you live contentedly, under the sence or fear of his absence or displeasure? in a word, doth that please you best, that tends and ends in his honour, though it shame your persons, or cross your other designs? do you dearly affect his blessed word, and those parts thereof that have nothing to commend them to you, but their holiness? not only the Histories of the Bible, but the Doctrine, the Precepts of the Bible: Can you taste more sweetness in a Sermon of Christ, an Epistle of Paul, the hundred and nineteenth Psalm, than in any human writings in the world? Doth the remembrance of your communion with God, and communication from him, more refresh you than the review of other delights? Cant. 1. 4. We will remember thy love more than wine, the upright love thee. That is a sign of love, this is a sign of uprightness.

p. 145III. A third sign of an upright man is, He willingly obeys God. 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son, serve thou the God of thy Fathers, with a perfect heart, and a willing mind. What he does, his will is in it. He will do what he can, yea more than he can. An hypocrite doth more than he would. He acts not, but is acted by profit, credit, and the like; and when this wind blows not, he stands as the Windmill, stock still. Love to God oyls the wheel of obedience, and then a man runs the way of his Commandments, when the Lord hath inlarged his heart, Psal. 119 32. Amor meus, pondus mcum. Happy for ever that man, whose principle of motion is within. An hypocrite he hath no hearty good will to the very duties he performs; he prays, but he hath no good will to prayer; he gives, but his will is another way, his obedience is against his mind; his interest draws him one way, his mind goes another; and what a wretched life must he live, the generality of whose visible actions go against the frame of his mind, and so neither God, nor himself hath pleasure in them? 2 Cor. 8. 12. If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath and doth. Try your selves therefore; do you p. 146find that your wills are prest for God? do you obey your Master, as your servants should obey you, with good will, doing service as to the Lord, and not to men? 'Tis true, you will find another Law, another will drawing the other way, but if you can say with Paul, Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man, your hearts are upright: you grieve for your unwillingness, you bring your wills to every ordinance, and use the means to make them better; and cordially desire to do his will on earth, as it is done in Heaven. The crossness of your will is your greatest burden; and you are getting ground herein, are you not? then your case is good.

IV. The fourth Character of an upright man is, He can Judiciously appeal to God. I call God to record on my soul, saith Holy Paul. And this not only in a crowd, and before others, but in secret in his closet. After consideration of the Law of God, and after the survey of his own heart, an upright man (if there be no eclipse upon his spirit) can appeal to the all-searching God, in his closet, concerning the uprightness of his heart; and this I think few hypocrites can reach to do. Thus Peter could say, John 21. 17. Lord p. 147thou that knowest all things, thou knowest I love thee. I appeal from Satan and the World to thee, whether I do not love thee above all the world, and above my self; if my heart were open'd, whether thou wouldst not find Jehova, and Jesus, and Holiness to the Lord, written there. The just man dare appeal to the severest Judge, and a sincere Saint to an allseeing God. Psal. 139. 23, 24. Search me, O Lord, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. So if you can say, Lord, look at me every way, try me by the light of thy word, search me to the quick, I appeal to thee, thou knowest I am Gold, not Gilded, I am thine, thy Name is on me, and thy Nature is in me, thou that knowest all things, knowest I love thee: No plainer sign of a cheat, than unwillingness to come to tryal; but he that dare bring his heart to the most trying Books, to the most searching Ministers, to the all-searching God, is sound at heart, and a Saint within. I should have nam'd no more, but that I find two more signs within the …ken of my Text, with which I shall con…lude this Use.

p. 148V. The fifth mark of an upright man is, He trades not in Presumptuous sins. Psal. 19. 13. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright—The Tyranny of sin is one thing, the Dominion of sin is another. It is the opinion of Divines, that though a child of God may have a Darling sin, one sin to which he is more inclin'd then another; yet he hath not a Reigning sin, that is, (I suppose they mean) no sin hath the absolute command of the whole soul: no, there is a seed of God in a sanctified heart, that cannot so yield to sin. So that the difference between the sin of an upright man and another, lies not so much in the nature and kind of the sin committed, as it lies in the heart of a sinner. That may be an Infirmity in one, that is a grosser sin in another. A less sin chosen, is worse than a greater sin fallen into without choice: a less allowed, than a greater disallowed.

The presumptuous sinner adds the contempt of God to his sin, and so is said to si… with an high hand, Numb. 15. 30. (th… first place (I take it) that speaks of such) But the soul that doth presumptuously, r… proacheth the Lord, and shall be utterly o… p. 149off, and no sacrifice admitted for him: which interprets that, Heb. 10. 26. If we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. And both opposed to sinning ignorantly, n…d yet not every sin of knowledge, a presumptuous sin: but when a man knows it, but cares not, heeds not God, or his will, but lifts up an high hand against him, and will venture. Sin is never said to be done with an high hand, but when there is a full convincement a fie… consent, and absolute allowance, and this never after Conversion. Mr. Capel.It is one thing to sin willingly, another thing to sin wilfully. There is of the will in most sins, but not the whole will. There is a predominant motion of the will toward it, but there is in it an habitual hatred of it. Rom. 7. 20. Now if I do what I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. There is in every sin an interpretative contempt of God; but I conceive to create a Presumptuous sin, there must be actual presumption and contempt of God; whereof certainly that man was guilty, that was stoned to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath day; and thereupon his Tragedy is related immediately upon the Law against presumptuous sinners, Numb. 15. An upright man hath a radical hatred of sin, and he that hates sin, can scarce sin presumptuously.

p. 150VI. The sixth and last Character of an upright man is, He keeps himself from his own iniquity. You have this in the next verse but one before the Text. I also was upright before him:—prove it—I kept my self from mine iniquity. Every man hath some sin of his own. We are capable of every sin, but we are not inclin'd to every sin. Our constitutions usually do chuse our darling sin, our condition of life or calling may nurse it up. This Sin is the tryal of our sincerity. An hypocrite chides it before folks, but keeps it under his tongue, cordially favours it, and so makes provision for it; in effect prefers it before Christ and Heaven. 'Tis this sin that sends most men to hell. They'l part with many; but skin for skin, yea soul and all will a man give for the life of this. And there is no wickedness too great to wade through to the fruition of it.

Now an upright man, had at his Conversion, the deepest prick in this vein. The dearer the sin, the dearer it costs in Repentance: and thereupon he keeps a jealous eye upon it, and is whetted also with an holy revenge against it, for displeasing such a God as now he finds him to be, and for hindring so much the comfort of his soul; that he mainly hates this p. 151sin, and indeavours to prevent and crucifie it. He most hates it, though he can least vanquish it. And thereupon he faithfully makes use of all the means he knows to mortifie it, and carefully avoids all occasions that may further it, he grieves bitterly for his relapses into it, and gives no rest to his God, or his soul, till he see the funerals of it; he is resolv'd to dye in the conflict, before he will make a peace.

Now feel your Pulse for the Lords sake, and deceive not your own souls. These signs will state your case, if you will but prove your own selves. The explication of them is ours, the application of them is yours. Do not shut the book, till you have opened your hearts, and found either the name of a Saint, or an Hypocrite. Why do you retreat? It is not your enemy, but your Physician that is at door. To try your case can do no hurt. If all be right, you may have the comfort; if all be naught, yet you may have a cure. Rush not blindfold into Hell. Put us not to our best skill in describing Characters, and then let them alone as you found them, for want of pains. If this work not, remember we have told you that the clearest sign of an hypocrite is, he dare not come to tryal.

p. 152SECT. V.

THe Fourth Use is by way of Exhortation: Have you made a faithful §. 5. Exhortation to the Upright.scrutiny? Then upon tryal, either you find the Characters of sincerity, or else you find them not, or else you hang in doubt, whether you be upright or no. And accordingly I shall direct my Exhortation three wayes. First, to those that are upright with God; and you I exhort,

1. To praise the Lord, and be thankful. Psal. 33. 1. Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. You of all men have cause to be merry; Praise becomes no bodies mouth but yours. Be chearful in your selves, and thankful to the Lord. What a…les you to be lean from day to day, that are Kings Sons? Who can lay any thing to your charge? It is God that justifieth. What can dishearten you, seeing the root of the matter is found in you? Turn your plaints into praises. Stand still and admire the distinguishing mercy of God to you, that among so many Heathens the Lord should ma…e you Christians; that among p. 153so many Hypocrites, the Lord should make you upright. Adore Electing, admire Converting Grace; say, Lord, who am I? naturally a very Pagan, an errand hypocrite, that thou shouldst crown me with Truth in the inward parts—And then kneel down and offer him an Hecatombe of praises, charm up all the daughters of musick, thy best affections, and tune up thy note with Angels, Blessing and Honour and Immortality be given to him that sitteth on the Throne, and to the Lamb for evermore. And let heart, and lip, and life keep tune; and where thy words fail, let thy deeds extol his holy Name. O Lord, do but tell me which way I may honour thee, and thou shalt see, thy Grace assisting, that no service shall be too hard for such a wretch to such a God.

2. Proceed and walk on in your upright way. Hear David, Psal. 26. 1. O Lord, I have walked in mine integrity—Ay, but are not you weary on't, David! O no; hear him, verse 11. But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; I have don't, and I will do it again. It is enough for sinners, to be weary of their wayes: but as for me, I will walk in my integrity. Improve in your uprightness. Job 17. 9. The righteous also shall hold on their way, and p. 154he that hath clean hands, shall grow stronger and stronger. Get ground of your hypocrisie, and weed it out of your hearts and duties day by day. A little sin is a great burden to him that hath a great deal of grace, as a little spot is to a very cleanly man. Purge out therefore the old leaven, and keep the feast with that daint… fare, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let nothing byas those honest hearts of yours. Answer your temptations, that you can do any thing but lye, and temporize, and sin against God; that Crowns cannot see you to betray Christ, or wound your Consciences; that you fear no body but God, and nothing in the world but sin. A man of uprightness must be a man of strength.

The more uprightness, the more communion with God; the more uprightness, the more confidence with men; the more uprightness, the more comfort in your own souls. 1 Chron. 29. 17. I know also my God, that thou tryest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. O do him a pleasure then by walking in your integrity, and resolve with that upright Champion, Job 27. 5, 6. Till I dye, I will not remove my integrity from me,—My p. 155heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

SECT. VI.

SEcondly, To those that are in Doubt, §. 6. Exhortation to the Doubtful.whether they be upright or no. It is better indeed to doubt with a cause, than to be confident without a cause: and better to begin in doubts, and end in certainties, The road to Resolution lyes by doubt: The next way home's the farthest way about.than to begin in certainties, and end in doubts. But take advice;

1. Sit not down quiet in this uncertainty. Who that's charg'd with forgery, will be quiet till he be cleared? In the Authority of Gods unerring word, I charge all men by nature with rottenness, corruption, Quarles.and hypocrisie. If you be true men, clear your selves, and hang not (as the Papists place One of their small friends) between Heaven and Hell. Who that's going a journey would be content, whilst he is ignorant whether in the way or out? you are going a long journey, quite to eternity; for your own comfort sake be at a point whether you be in the way to the Holy, or to the Miserable eternity. You'l be at cost to clear and settle your outward estate. O be not worse to your souls, than p. 156you are to your lands: you cannot imagine how far you might go in this work in one Moneths time, nay in the spare hours of one Moneths time. It is a sad case that is threatned, Deut. 28. 66. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night. O but what is it then, to have everlasting life hang in doubt before a man, the soul daily taking wings, and you know not whither! O sit not down quiet with this uncertainty.

2. Set about the means to clear up your condition. Knock at each Ministers door that's near you, and borrow light from the Wise. When you have a doubtful distemper, you run to the Physician; when you have a knot in your deed, you run to the Lawyer: you are at a demur concerning the state of your souls, O run to the Minister. Put on boldness and fear not; he deserves not the name of a Preacher, that is not gladder of your company, than of the greatest Mammonist within his charge. Open your mind freely, Sir, I am in a great dismay about the state of this my soul; this I can say for my self, and this against my self: Deal truly with me, and give out a perfect lot.

Be take your selves to the most searching Books, try your selves by the abovenamed p. 157marks; but above all, to the Law, and to the Testimony. But be not hasty to conclude upon the reading any of these, either for or against your selves, without good advice; lest you rush on the Rock of Presumption, or be swallowed up in the Rever… Dr. Rob. Harris in dayes of his strictest Examination, used to set down his evidences for Salvation in writing: now in Propositions from the Scripture, now in Syllogisms; these he oft subscribed in a Book, kept for that purpose. In vita.Quicksand of Despair. Get into the right method, and then spare not for a little pains. He must give diligence, that will make his calling and election sure. This course hath been found useful to some, namely, single out some trying Scripture, as for Instance, that Psal. 119. 140. and spend your spare minutes in one day, or week, to know the True meaning of it: the next day or week compare your selves by it, with all faithfulness: spend another day or week in urging all such objections you can justly find against your plea: and a fourth day or week in a sound Reply unto them. And then lay them before God, and joyn your earnest prayer, to the searcher of all hearts, to clear and settle you. And when this is done, try another, and a third. The comfort will pay the trouble. The answer of a good Conscience is worth some serious thoughts, or else it is worth nothing.

p. 158SECT. VII.

THirdly, The Exhortation runs to §. 7. Exhortation to those that want uprightness.them that want it, Labour for uprightness: Buy this truth and sell it not. For the love of God be not hypocrites. Consider three things.

1. Uprightness is Amiable. 1. In the eye of God; you see that in 1 Chron. 29. 17. He hath pleasure in uprightness. You that displease him by your Infirmities, had need to please him by your Integrity; Cant. 4. 7. Thou art fair, my love, sayes Christ, there is no spot in thee. This makes you all fair in his eyes. All the beauty of Heaven and Earth doth not please God as an upright man: no creature like the New creature. And on the contrary, no sight so odious P…ssima creaturarum visibilium est Homo degener; pessimus hominum pseudo-Christianus; Christianorum vero pessimus est nequam Verbi minister, Dr. Arrows.to him as an hypocrite. He that counterfeits the Kings coyn, dyeth the same death with a Rebel. A lukewarm Christian makes Christs stomach to rise, Rev. 3. 16. And

2. Uprightness is amiable to men. Where enmity to God hath not quite raz'd p. 159out all reliques of Reason and Honesty, every man seems to be pleas'd with integrity; and will speak for such as they think in their Consciences mean and speak uprightly. Few would hurt us, if we could more sincerely be followers of that which is good. But an hypocrite is odious to all men, like those Proto-hypocrites, 1 Thes. 2. 15. They please not God, and are contrary to all men. He makes an ill choice that imbraces a course, that God and man are agreed to abhor.

2. Uprightness is Comfortable. A sound upright good Conscience, is a continual feast. In troubles, reproaches, sickness, death, no comfort like an upright heart. This will support the spirits, supply with new spirits the weather-beaten Christian, and make him sing in prison, when his enemies shall tremble on the Throne. This gave the Apostle Paul that boldness before Princes, that he lived in all good Conscience. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy righteous judgments. And on the contrary, a man hath no comfort from hypocrisie, none at all. What joy can a man have, when he knows his heart is rotten? What comfort in a velvet patch, when it only covers a filthy ulcer? What content, when p. 160a man dare not commune with himself? he that is not welcome unto his own Conscience, can be merry no where in the world.

3. Uprightness is Necessary.

1. To every good duty here. Without it, Preaching is but a tinkling Cymbal, Prayer but as the howling of a Dog, Religious discourse but the prating of a Parrot. Nothing acceptable without it, Goats-hair a rich present with it. A sincere sigh of him that joyns, more worth than the fained eloquence of him that makes the Prayer. The two mites of the good Widow, more valuable than the great sums cast in by Pharisees. Our duties are not numbred, but weighed; they are not measured by their length or breadth, but by their prosundity. If they be hearty, sincere, the right stamp upon them, they are current in Heaven, or else they are but the cutting off a dogs neck, the offering of swines flesh, and God abhors them.

2. Necessary to our eternal-Salvation hereafter, Psal. 24. 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. A man may go to Heaven without Parts, without Riches, without Gifts, but there is p. 161no coming there without uprightness; that is, the land of uprightness, it is there all in fashion. The great question at those Gates will be, Man, Woman, where's thy oyl? Though men may be deceived, God will not be mocked. He that sowes the wind, shall reap the, whirlwind. In the darkest corner of Hell there lye the hypocrites. O the rage, horror and torment of an hypocrite in Hell! when his hope is like the giving up the Ghost. O the confusion and shame that will cover him, when his fellow-Professors shall see him so unexpectedly packt into Hell! And what brutish madness is it to make others believe, that thou art going towards Heaven, and that while thou steal into Hell! O sinner, it is absolutely necessary to salvation, that thou be upright. And therefore in the Name of God, inquire the means to obtain it, and set about them.—Well, will you faithfully use them? Then they are these.

SECT. VIII.

I. STudy Humility, Hab. 2. 4. Behold §. 8. Means for the attaining of uprightness.his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him. Pride hath a great influence p. 162into hypocrisie, and humility into uprightness. He that takes a pride in being counted Great or Good, no wonde… that he will put on the vizard of more goodness than he hath. And on the other side, he that is content of an ordinary Reputation, will study to be sound, and not play the white Devil, to get applause. The humble man concludes, I am a very weak creature, and I am a very great sinner, and what care I for a golden name, and know I have but a leaden heart. Do but study the pure Law of God, and then study thy impure heart, and be proud if thou canst: where a truer heart than in Paul? yet he for his part is of Saints the least, of sinners the chief, although the Lord reckoned him greater than the greatest of the former, and less than the least of the latter. Humility and Integrity are born and dye together.

II. Be faithful in Self-examination. Psal. 77. 6. I communed with my heart, and my spirit made diligent search. And for this end, let your Consciences be heard; for the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, to search the innermost parts of the belly. You think all's right, but when matters come to tryal you'l find all's naught. While the Sun is under the cloud, you p. 163can see no motes in the room; but when its beams shine in, you may see thousands. How do young people live in the dark, and little feel or fear the plague that is upon them? but when once the light of saving knowledge, Self-knowledge breaks in, then Ephraim bemoans himself, and Paul cryes out, O wretched man that I am! For shame, live not so long strangers at home. If a man do not know himself, he knows nothing. Commune with your own hearts, and be still. You commune with God in religious Duties, you commune with men in your civil Callings, but when do you commune with your selves? Go to the Law, try your selves by every command. Luther going about this, and beginning at I am the Lord thy God, profess'd that he was so overwhelm'd thereby, that he could go no further. Alas! your Confidence flows from your Ignorance; one saving sight of your woful state, would go far in your oure. O lose not your souls, for want of one serious thought.

III. Get an hatred to hypocrisie; and a love of uprightness: Behold them both in their own colours. Read Mat. 23. That glass will shew you the face of the one, and Psal. 119. will shew you the features of the other. If you would put the worst p. 164badge in the world upon a man, you call him Hypocrite: if you would give any man the most advantageous title, you write him an honest man, an upright man. And when once you hate Hypocrisie, you will flee it: when once you really love uprightness, you'l take pains to procure it. Shall I yield to that my soul hates? dwell in an house that I abhor? Ile never do it. May so rare a Jewel as Sincerity be had, and shall I live without it? shall it be offered me and I deny it? No, whatever it cost me I will not live or dye an hypocrite. Shall I be a Dunghill covered with Snow? how odious shall I be, when my snow-white mantle will be stript off? Speak man of Reason; is Simulation lovely? Is Dissimulation amiable? Why wilt thou wear that ugly vizard? For a Name in this World, lose a Soul in another? For a Shadow of Religion, lose the Substance of Salvation? A serious hatred of Hypocrisie, is not only a means to conquer it, but is a conquest of it. A hearty love to integrity, is Integrity.

IV. Attend a searching Ministry, 1 Pet. 2. 2. Desire the sincere milk of the Word. He that would attain Sincerity, must desire Gods sincere Word. A searching Ministry will make a sound Professor; a plain Minister, p. 165will make a plain Christian. Lay your naked heart under the naked truth of God, and let him write on that blank paper, what he pleaseth. For the word of the Lord is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joynts and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts, and intents of the heart. Such a Sword rightly welded will cleave an hair, and give a man as little rest in formality, as in prophaness. The word of truth, is the way to create the grace of truth; the sincere word, a sincere heart. The babe draws spirits with the milk, and that nourishes. And in the word truly dispensed, the spirit is conveyed; and if the spirit of truth step in with the word of truth, then the work is done, Psal. 143. 10. Thy spirit is good, lead me into the land of Uprightness. This good spirit will take you by the hand, and not only shew you, but bring you into the land of uprightness. And go not so much to judge the Minister, as to be judged by the Sermon. Let the most of your severity be imployed upon your selves, and the largest of your charity upon the Preacher. The humble sincere hearer doth mostly go home with the benefit, when the censorious person p. 166goes away with the talk. And remember this; that as it requires more grace to hear and profit by a weak or offensive Preacher, so a warm and serious spirit will infuse heat and vigour into the most cold general Sermon, if not into the Minister.

V. Be instant in prayer. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. This is a good and perfect gift, O seek it from the Father of lights. The Matter of such a prayer pleaseth him, and the Mediator pleaseth him, and so nothing can frustrate it, but the Man or the Matter. Add faith and forveney, and the manner is sure. And then let not your suit fall for your own fault, nor lose a prayer for up. rightness, for want of an honest heart. Beg also the prayers of others: he may hear Job, that will not hear his friends. Pray and wrestle till this blessing come. O Lord, I have heard such a Character of uprightness, that I misdoubt my self, I seel much amiss, I fear all's amiss, I tremble at my condition: I am a Christian by profession, but I am an hypocrite by nature; thy word hath found me out, and I am lost. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right upright spirit within me. p. 167And know that the God of Heaven will give grace more freely, than an earthly Father will bread. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

And thus you have the Means, and do you mean to use them? what are directions, if you will not be directed by them? O let not these words stand here to be your accusers, but your monitors; and remember that Practise is the End, the Crown of Preaching.

SECT. IX.

V. THe Fifth and last Use is for Consolation §. 9. Consolation.to all upright ones. You are blessed men in the mouth both of Law and Gospel, Psal. 119. 1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, that walk in the Law of the Lord. Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. You may be crost by men, but you shall be blest by God: you may not see the desire of your hearts in this life, but you shall see God in life everlasting: you may live poor, but you shall dye rich. Prov. 19. 1. Better is the poor, that walketh in his integrity; than he that is perverse in his lips, p. 168and is a fool. He that's poor in his wealth, but rich in his integrity, hath coyn that will pass in the other world. Uprightness and Blessedness are inseparable companions.

O but Sir, that's my fear, that my heart is rotten at the core, my wayes crooked; and your discourse hath increas'd my doubts, that I fear I have not one dram of sincerity. And my fears are increas'd upon such grounds as these.

Doubt. 1. The Allegatiòns of Satan. See, saith he, thy rottenness after such a Duty, in such a temptation, thou hast but a shew: and these accusations he follows with fears and terrours in my spirit, that my soul is sometimes weary of my life.

Resol. 1. There are roots of hypocrisie in the sincerest heart; as of all other sins, so of this. That's remarkable, Luk. 12. 1. Jesus began to say to his Disciples first of all, take heed and beware of hypocrisie. Christs own Disciples were in danger of this leaven. All the stock below the grass is perfect Crab-tree. This you may grant with grief, and yet retain your integrity with comfort.

2 Satans Bills are void in Law, for he is the Accuser of the Brethren right or p. 169wrong: he had a face to accuse upright Job, that had his Maker for his compurgator. Satan tempts to sin, and then tempts for sin. Sed Christus Diabolnm vicit, & pro te vicit, & in te vicit. Aug.And then the accusation of a condemned person is no proof, in any Court of Record; yea his terrors may be your evidences, for he seldom or never troubles his own house: while his prisoners are quiet, he holds his peace; but when they are broken from him, he shakes his chain after them. But then hold up a crucified Christ before his very face, (with worthy Gesner) and say, Huic offendi non tibi, vince hunc & me vinces; It's this Christ that I have offended, (thou fiend of Hell) I never sinn'd against thee; conquer him and then thou conquerest me.

Doubt. 2. The Censures of men: my Scutum conscienti… contra gladium linguae. We may hear that by way of reproach from an enemy, that was but faintly whispered by a friend. Sir Fr. Bacon.Friends whisper it, my Foes proclaim it, and the Minister meets me in every Sermon. I may be partial to my self, but others will speak plain.

Resol. 1. The censures of others should make us more severe in trying our selves. To doubt of sincerity, is one thing; to try it, is another. When they charge the State of hypocrisie upon us, we should mourn for the Habits of hypocrisie in us; and bless God that their opinion for substance is not true; they do but say what you might have been. And when your p. 170estate is question'd never so unjustly, 'tis a good way to pass a Fine upon it, and make it surer. And so you will be gainers not losers by such surmises.

2. While your heart is right with God, heed not the censures of men. Who more upright than Job? yet hypocrisie was his charge, an hypocrite was his badge; so David, so our dear Lord Jesus himself. The malicious world will be sure (as was said) to charge those faults on you, whereof there is no clearing in this life. Resolve with Paul, 1 Cor. 4. 3. But with me it is a very small thing, that I should be judged of you, or of mans judgment, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. We shall at last fall to an equal sentence, and till then we have reason to rejoyce, that we are counted worthy to suffer this reproach for his Names sake. Nazianzen saith, we must be dung'd with reproaches, that we may be more fruitful.

Doubt. 3. The cry of my own Conscience: And if a mans heart condemn him, who can acquit him? this hath alwayes been my fear, and who can clear him that is condemn'd of himself?

Resol. 1. You must distinguish between Hypocrisie dwelling, and Hypocrisie reigning: where it only dwells, it is as gr… vel p. 171in the shoe, as the mote in the eye, as the Souldier in his Quarters, you are weary of it, it makes you halt, you give it no rest, you are very sick of it: where it reigns you cannot indure to be touch'd or search…d, and it orders your life and actions; your main design is, to cloak with God, and to cheat the world.

2. Conscience rightly inform'd may go far in this decision: But Conscience is not Regula regulans, but Regula regulata. Its like the Dial that must be set by the Sun of Gods word, and rightly determines only by vertue of that. And sometimes, such pangs and terrors overwhelm the Conscience, that then it is not a competent Judge of the cause. If every man whose Conscience pricks him, were an hypocrite; God help the greatest part of Conscientious Christians!

Doubt 4. My sad Experience, 1. of my Dryness in secret Duties. I am better in the assembly, than in my family, better in my family, than in my closet, and there an upright man is best. He that is enlarged and enlivened with others, and straitned in his own bowels, cannot be upright.

Resol. 1. The more company we have in Ordinances, the more inlargement we may p. 172expect, and yet upright withall. Our Saviour himself when he saw the multitudes, it opened his mouth, Mat. 5. 1. and we read but few such Sermons from him as that was: for besides, that the numerousness and seriousness of others, is a rational means to quicken us that are about the same work; we may expect more of the manifestations of the Divine Presence, where the persons and graces of so many are, that are dear to God.

2. But yet every upright man will be serious and hearty in secret, and earnest withall. He would not be hired out of his secret devotions: and a little truth and zeal in a closet, is more than the larger expressions of them with a multitude; what is done in secret, provided you do it of choice and in Conscience to God, hath more genuine features of real integrity; than much more in publick, for that must needs proceed from the love of God and of his service.

O but 2. I have experience of Decayes in my soul, and no growth. The path of the just is like the shining light, that shines more and more to the perfect day. I …eel my self rather worse every way, but not better.

Resol. 1. It is not easie to determine of spiritual growth or decayes; For its object p. 173is various: some grow more visibly in zeal, others in knowledge, others in stability, some more in the roots, some more in the bulk, some more in fruit. And then to discern growth, is a work of time: our progress in grace, is not so discernable as our entrance; for the change here is specifical, there only gradual; and the younger children are, the more is Dr. The. Goodwin.their growth discerned.

2. A sensible sight of your decayes, is a true sign of growth; the clearer the sight, the less motes are discerned, when there We are like benumbed limbs, sometime… have life in us, but feel it not. Mr. Cap…l.is joyn'd withall a grief for our defects. Descendendo ascendimus, we grow higher in Gods esteem, by growing lower in our own. Corruption doth not usually discover corruption; nor decayes, decayes. If therefore you find, that you hate sin as heartily, and can wisely prevent it, that you can be fully as serious and spiritual in your duties, as wise in reproofs, though perhaps not so frequent as heretofore; you have no just cause to charge your self with decayes, much less with dissembling in Religion.

Yea, but 3. I have experience of Inconstancy; my soul is in a perpetual Ague, one while burning hot, another while key-cold; unconstant in avoiding evil, and p. 174more unconstant in the performance of what is good; and this is an hypocrites temper, and this is mine.

Resol. 1. A perfect setledness is not to be expected in this life. Our day will have a night; our Sunshine will have eclipses; suavis hora, brevis mora, hath been an old complaint. Grace that dwells in such a soul, a soul that dwells in such a body, a man that dwells among such variety of business, In a perfect soul there is no interest but Gods, in a sincere his interest is highest. Mr. …ax.companies and temptations, cannot escape much variableness and daily alterations. Though thou art upright in the way, yet thou art but in the way, viator not comprehensor. Heaven is the only state of invariable holiness and happiness.

2. The inconstancy of an hypocrite i… about the choice of the end, about the very object of the soul; whether he shall chus… Christ or Corruption, God or Mammon. The upright man is fully resolved in this, and his inconstancy is only in the use of means; not whether he should pray or not pray, meditate or no, but he hath not alwayes the same degree of love to them, heat and delight in them, and comfort from them. And this must be mourn'd for here, but can be cur'd only in Heaven.

p. 175Doubt. 5. The Deceitfulness of the heare; this is so great, that after all my tryal I may be mistaken; there are lamps that may delude a man even to the gates of Heaven. And I am sure my heart is one of the worst of the kind, and so most likely to deceive and be deceived.

Resol. 1. Though the Heart be deceitful in its self, yet it is discernable by the help of Gods spirit. Jer. 17. 10. I the Lord search the heart; and he can and will lead every diligent self-searcher into the darkest corners thereof. God and man together may find out it. Indeed a carnal careless eye sees it not, but he that would know himself, shall know himself. No man is deceived herein, but he that is willing to be deceived.

2. Your holy jealousie as it is a good Sign of uprightness, so it is a good Antidote against hypocrisie. He that detects a cheat, is not then of his party; and he that knows he hath a Proteus to deal with, will be vigilant over him. He that hates and bewails hypocrisie, and most in himself, will never dye an hypocrite.

And therefore be of good comfort ye upright ones. Your matter shall stand, your tenure is good, notwithstanding the suits commenc'd against it. These shaking p. 176fits do but confirm your health. The greatest tempest hurts not the tree that's well rooted, its roots will spread the more. The pinching trying Frosts strengthen the sound man, and every thing doth good to him that is good and upright in his heart. However you may be reputed or used in this world, whatever condition concludes you here; yet in Life, in Death, in Judgment, and in Eternity, Integrity will be a Cordial.

FINIS.

End of the text · Richard Steele, Upon Uprightness (1672)