A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

9. And it is the Honour of the Godly, that they that are themselves most Honourable, do Honour them. To be magnified by a fool, or wicked flatterer, is small Honour: but to be magnified by the best and wisest men, this is true Honour. We say that Honour is in him that giveth it, and not in him that receiveth. But it is God himself that Honoureth his Saints: It is he that speaketh all these great and wondrous things of them which I have hitherto recited. Search the Texts which I have alleged, and try whether it be not he. And surely to have the God of Heaven to applaud a man, and put Honour upon him, and so great Honour, is more then if all the world had done it. Yet we may add, (if any thing could be considerable that is added unto the approbation of God) that all his servants, the wisest, and the best, even his holy Angels, are of the same mind, and honour the godly in conformity to their Lord.

9. And it is the Honour of the Godly, that they that are themselves most Honourable, do Honour them. To be magnified by a fool, or wicked flatterer, is small Honour: but to be magnified by the best and wisest men, this is true Honour. We say that Honour is in him that giveth it, and not in him that receiveth. But it is God himself that Honoureth his Saints: It is he that speaketh all these great and wonderous things of them which I have hitherto recited. Search the Texts which I have alledged, and try whether it be not he. And surely to have the God of Heaven to applaud a man, and put Honour upon him, and so great Honour, is more then if all the world had done it. Yet we may add, (if any thing could be considerable that is added unto the approbation of God) that all his servants, the wisest, and the best, even his holy Angels, are of the same mind, and honour the godly in conformity to their Lord.

And here Christian, I require thee from the Lord, to consider the greatness of thy sin and folly, when thou art too desirous of the applause of men, especially of the blind ungodly world; and when thou makest a great matter of their contempt or scorn, or of their slanderous censures. What! is the approbation of the eternal God so small a matter in thy eyes, that the scorn of a fool can weigh it down, or move the balance with thee? If a feather were put into the scales against a mountain, or the whole earth, it should weigh as much as the esteem or dis-esteem of men, their honouring thee, or dishonouring thee, should weigh against the esteem of God, and the honour or dishonour that he puts upon thee, (as to any regard of the thing it self; though as it reflecteth on God, thou mayest regard it.) He is the wise man that God calls wise: and he is the fool that God calls fool: (and that is every one that layeth up riches for himself, and is not rich towards God,