2I Wish that those beautiful children of righteousness, courtesy, and meekness in my carriage, ⟨p. 77⟩may have the Spirit of God for their Parent; I mean, that the fear of my God may be the principle from which they flow. I shall lose the race, how well soever I run, if I do not set out at the right place. Men look only to my practices, and accordingly judge of my principle; if my life be without fault, their charity tells them that my heart is without fraud; but Gods eye is on my principle, and accordingly he judgeth of my practices; if my affections be not gracious, he knoweth that my actions cannot be righteous. My God knoweth me thorough and thorough; He spieth the rottenness and crawling vermin, that are in the bowels of a painted Sepulchre. If I be like a Peach with a craggy stone in my heart, under the cover of a velvet Coat, he understandeth it altogether; I may cozen the dark eyes of men, who when they behold the inoffensiveness of my life, and the height of my profession, are ready to cry out of me, as Samuel of Eliab, when he saw the comeliness of his countenance, and the height of his stature, Surely the Lords anointed is before him;2 but I cannot deceive God; he seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Alas, if I have no more to show for my title to Heaven, then a fair outside, what have I more then an Hypocrite, nay then some Heathen! A few flourishes in a Paper or Parchment, is but a poor evidence for an inheritance. How many be there in the World, who as some revelling Gallants, by their gay clothes, and gaudy attire, speak that they are worth thousands, when they have not a penny in their pockets; who by their outward conversations seem to be rich ⟨p. 78⟩in grace, when indeed like Laodicea, they are poor and miserable, and blind and naked! O that all my fruits of righteousness, might grow upon the root of holiness, and spring from a renewed nature! then and not till then, they will be acceptable to my Saviour; then my beloved will come into his Garden, and eat his pleasant fruits; I would be mindful of these moral duties, because my God commandeth them, and as knowing that I cannot be religious, if I be not righteous. Though the sensitive soul may be without the rational, as in Beasts; yet the rational soul is never without the sensitive;
2I Wish that those beautiful children of righteousness, courtesie, and meekness in my carriage, ⟨p. 77⟩may have the Spirit of God for their Parent; I mean, that the fear of my God may be the principle from which they flow. I shall lose the race, how well soever I run, if I do not set out at the right place. Men look onely to my practices, and accordingly judge of my principle; if my life be without fault, their charity tells them that my heart is without fraud; but Gods eye is on my principle, and accordingly he judgeth of my practices; if my affections be not gracious, he knoweth that my actions cannot be righteous. My God knoweth me thorough and thorough; He spieth the rottenness and crawling vermine, that are in the bowels of a painted Sepulchre. If I be like a Peach with a craggy stone in my heart, under the cover of a velvet Coat, he understandeth it altogether; I may cozen the dark eyes of men, who when they behold the inoffensiveness of my life, and the height of my profession, are ready to cry out of me, as Samuel of Eliab, when he saw the comeliness of his countenance, and the height of his stature, Surely the Lords annointed is before him;2 but I cannot deceive God; he seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Alas, if I have no more to shew for my title to Heaven, then a fair outside, what have I more then an Hypocrite, nay then some Heathen! A few flourishes in a Paper or Parchment, is but a poor evidence for an inheritance. How many be there in the World, who as some revelling Gallants, by their gay cloaths, and gaudy attire, speak that they are worth thousands, when they have not a penny in their pockets; who by their outward conversations seem to be rich ⟨p. 78⟩in grace, when indeed like Laodicea, they are poor and miserable, and blind and naked! O that all my fruits of righteousness, might grow upon the root of holiness, and spring from a renewed nature! then and not till then, they will be acceptable to my Saviour; then my beloved will come into his Garden, and eat his pleasant fruits; I would be mindful of these moral duties, because my God commandeth them, and as knowing that I ca•not be religious, if I be not righteous. Though the sensitive soul may be without the rational, as in Beasts; yet the rational soul is never without the sensitive;
- 2The principle must Legr•ciou•.
- 21 Sam: 16.6.7.
