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venient to feem good, let him be fo indeed, and then his goodness will appear to every body's fatisfaction: for truth is convincing, and carries its own light and evidence along with it; and will not only commend us to every man's confcience, but, which is much more, to God, who fearcheth and feeth our hearts. So that, upon all accounts, fincerity is true wifdom. Particularly as to the affairs of this world, integrity hath many advantages over all the fine and artificial ways of dissimulation and deccit; it is much the plainer and eafier, much the fafer and more fecure way of dealing in the world; it hath lefs of trouble and difficulty, of intanglement and perplexity, of danger and hazard, in it; it is the fhorteft and nearest way to our end, carrying us thither in a ftraight line, and will hold out and last longeft. The arts of deceit and cunning do continually grow weaker, and lefs effectual and ferviceable to them that ufe them whereas integrity gains ftrength by ufe; and the more and longer any man practifeth it, the greater fervice it does him, by confirming his reputation, and encouraging those with whom he hath to do, to repofe the greater truft and confidence in him, which is an unfpeakable advantage in the bufinefs and affairs of life.

But a diffembler must always be upon his guard, and watch himself carefully, that he do not contradict his own pretence; for he acts an unnatural part, and therefore muft put a continual force and restraint upon himself. Truth always lies uppermoft; and if a man do not carefully attend, he will be apt to bolt it out: whereas he that acts fincerely, hath the easiest task in the world; becaufe he follows nature, and fo is put to no trouble and care about his words and actions; he needs not invent any pretences beforehand, nor make excuses afterwards, for any thing he hath faid or done.

But infincerity is very troublefome to manage; a man hath fo many things to attend to, fo many ends to bring together, as make his life a very perplexed and intricate thing. Oportet mendacem effe memorem; "A liar had "need of a good memory;' " left he contradict at one time what he faid at another: but truth is always confiftent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out; it is always near at hand, and fits upon our lips, and is

ready

ready to drop out before we are aware; whereas a lie is troublefome, and fets a man's invention upon the rack, and one trick needs a great many more to make it good. It is like building upon a falfe foundation, which continually ftands in need of props to fhore it up, and proves at laft more chargeable, than to have raised a fubftantial building at firft upon a true and folid foundation: for fincerity is firm and fubftantial; and there is nothing hollow and unfound in it; and because it is plain and open, fears no difcovery, of which the crafty man is always in danger; and when he thinks he walks in the dark, all his pretences are fo tranfparent, that he that runs may read them: he is the laft man that finds himself to be found out; and whilst he takes it for granted that he makes fools of others, he renders himself ridiculous.

Add to all this, that fincerity is the most compendious wifdom, and an excellent inftrument for the speedy difpatch of bufinefs; it creates confidence in those we have to deal with, faves the labour of many inquiries, and brings things to an iffue in few words: it is like travelling in a plain beaten road, which commonly brings a man fooner to his journey's end, than by-ways, in which men often lofe themselves. In a word, whatfoever convenience may be thought to be in falfhood and diffimulation, it is foon over: but the inconvenience of it is perpetual; because it brings a man under an everlafting jealoufy and fufpicion, fo that he is not believed when he fpeaks truth, nor trufted when perhaps he means honeftly when a man hath once forfeited the reputation of his integrity, he is fet faft, and nothing will then ferve his turn, neither truth nor falfhood.

And I have often thought, that God hath in great wifdom hid from men of falfe and difhoneft minds the wonderful advantages of truth and integrity to the profperity even of our worldly affairs. Thefe men are fo blinded by their covetoufnefs and ambition, that they cannot look beyond a prefent advantage; nor forbear to feize upon it, though by ways never fo indirect; they cannot fee fo far, as to the remote confequences of a fteddy integrity, and the vaft benefit and advantages which it will bring a man at last. Were but this fort of men wife and clear-fighted enough to difcern this, they would be ho

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nelt

neft out of very knavery; not out of any love to honefty or virtue, but with a crafty defign to promote and advance more effectually their own interefts: and therefore the juftice of the divine providence hath hid this trueft point of wisdom from their eyes, that bad men might not be upon equal terms with the juft and upright, and ferve their own wicked designs by honeft and lawful

means.

Indeed, if a man were only to deal in the world for a day, and fhould never have occafion to converfe more with mankind, never more need their good opinion, or good word, it were then no great matter (fpeaking as to the concernments of the world) if a man fpent his reputation all at once, and ventured it at one throw: but if he be to continue in the world, and would have the advantage of converfation whilft he is in it, let him make ufe of truth and fincerity in all his words and actions; for nothing but this will last and hold out to the end; all other arts will fail, but truth and integrity will carry a man through, and bear him out to the laft.

It is the obfervation of Solomon, Prov. xii. 19. The lip of truth fhall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. And the wifer any man is, the more clearly will he difcern how ferviceable fincerity is to all the great ends and purpofes of human life; and that man hath made a good progrefs, and profited much in the fchool of wifdom, who valueth truth and fincerity according to their worth. Every man will readily grant them to be great virtues, and arguments of a generous mind; but that there is fo much of true wifdom in them, and that they really ferve to profit our interest in this world, feems a great paradox to the generality of men; and yet I doubt not but it is undoubtedly true, and generally found to be fo in the experience of mankind.

6. Laftly, Confider that it is not worth our while to diffemble, confidering the fhortnefs, and especially the uncertainty of our lives. To what purpofe fhould we be fo cunning, when our abode in this world is fo fhort and uncertain? Why fhould any man, by diffembling his judgment, or acting contrary to it, incur at once the difpleafure of God, and the difcontent of his own mind? efpecially if we confider, that all our diffimulation fhall

one

one day be made manifeft, and publifhed on the open theatre of the world, before God, angels and men, to our everlasting shame and confufion; all difguife and vizards fhall then be plucked off, and every man shall appear in his true colours. For then the fecrets of men fhall be judged; and God will bring every work into judg– ment, and every fecret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Nothing is now covered, which shall not then be revealed; nor hid, which shall not then be known.

Let us then be now what we would be glad to be found in that day, when all pretences fhall be examined, and the clofeft hypocrify of men fhall be laid open, and dafhed out of countenance; when the fecrets of all hearts fhall be disclosed, and all the hidden works of darkness fhall be revealed, and all our thoughts, words, and actions fhall be brought to a strict and fevere trial, and be cenfured by that impartial and infallible judgment of God, which is according to truth; in the day when God fhall judge the fecrets of men by Jefus Chrift.

To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghoft, be glory now and for ever.

Amen.

SERMON

LVI.

The excellency of Abraham's faith and obedience.

Preached at Whitehall, 1686, before the Princefs Anne.

HE B. xi. 17. 18. 19.

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Ifaac: and he that had received the promises, offered up his only begotten fon: of whom it was faid, That in Ifaac fhall thy feed be called: accounting that God was able to raife him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

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HE defign of this epiftle to the Hebrews is, to recommend to them the Christian religion, to which they were but newly converted; and to

encourage

encourage them to conftancy in the profession of it, notwithstanding the fufferings which attended it.

He fets before them in this chapter feveral examples in the Old Teftament of thofe, who though they were under a much more imperfect dispensation, yet, by a stedfast belief in God and his promifes, had performed fuch wonderful acts of obedience and felf-denial.

He begins with the patriarchs before the flood; but infifts chiefly upon the examples of two eminent perfons of their own nation, as nearest to them, and moft likely to prevail upon them, the examples of Abraham and Mofes; the one the father of their nation, the other their great lawgiver; and both of them the greatest patterns of faith, and obedience, and felf-denial, that the hiftory of all former ages, from the beginning of the world, had afforded.

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I fhall at this time, by God's affiftance, treat of the first of these, the example of Abraham; the conftancy of whofe faith, and the chearfulness of whose obedience, even in the difficulteft cafes, is fo remarkable above all the other examples mentioned in this chapter. For, at the command of God, he left his kindred and his country, not knowing whither he should go by which eminent act of obedience, he declared himself to be wholly at God's difpofal, and ready to follow him. But this was no trial in comparison of that here in my text, when God commanded him to offer up his only fon: but fuch was the inmutable ftedfaftness of his faith, and the perfect fubmiffion of his obedience, that it does not appear that he made the least check at it; but, out. of perfect reverence and obedience to the authority of the divine commmand, he went about it as readily and chearfully, as if God had bid him do fome fmall thing: By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Ifaac.

For the explication of which words, it will be requifite to confider two things.

1. The trial or temptation in general.

2. The excellency of Abraham's faith and obedience upon this trial.

Firft, The trial or temptation in general. It is faid, that Abraham, when he was tried, the word is werpaLouw, being tempted; that is, God intending to make

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