delivereth them out of all their trouble. Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of all. He keepeth all his bones Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate ;" Psal. xxxiv. 15. 17. 19, 20. "For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints, they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off;" Psal. xxxvii. 28. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him;" ver. 37. 39. 43. "My flesh and My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever;" Psal. lxxiii. 26. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget; yet will not I forget thee. He hath said, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee;" Isa. xlix. 15. "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink," &c. Heb. xiii. 5. Matt. vi. 25. "Fear not them which kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul-The very hairs of your head are all numbered;" Matt. x. 28. 30. "Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness;" Isa. xli. 10. See ver. 13, 14. chap. xliii. 1, 2. "Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt," &c. "The Lord preserv"O love the Lord

eth the way of his saints;" Prov. ii. 3. all ye his saints; for the Lord preserveth the faithful ;” Psal. xxxi. 23. "He preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hands of the wicked;" Psal. xcvii. 10. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desires of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy;" Psal. cxlv. 11-23. "Say not, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he will save

thee;" Prov. xx. 22. "He is faithful that hath promised;' Heb. x. 23.

I hope the believer will not be weary to read over all these precious promises, which are his security from God, for soul and body. I sum up all in that one, 1 Tim. iv. 8. "Godliness is profitable to all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." Judge whether godliness be the safest state. Can a man of so many promises be unsafe? But instead of these the ungodly are threatened with everlasting vengeance.

6. He is safer that hath continually a guard of angels, as certainly all the faithful have, than he that hath none, but is a prisoner of the devil, as the ungodly are.

Hear the Scriptures: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them;" Psal. xxxiv. 7. "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone;" Psal. xci. 11, 12. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven;" Matt. xviii. 10. "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb.i. 14. And have the wicked any such attendance for their security? No: but a fearful captivity to the devil.

7. Lastly, That is the safest state where man is safe from the greatest evil. Everlasting misery is the great evil which the godly are initially saved from. They are liable to afflictions as well as others, but not to damnation, and therefore they are safe. They must be sick and die as well as others; but they shall escape eternal death. Yea, they are already "passed from death to life" (1 John iii. 14.), and have "eternal life begun with them;" John xvii. 3. "He that hath the Son hath life;" 1 John v. 12. 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life;" ver. 22. "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation;" ver. 28, 29. "The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which

the wind driveth away: therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish;" Psal. i. 3-6.

If yet you are unresolved whether godliness be the only way of safety, I dare say it is because you believe not the holy Scriptures; for there the doubt is as fully decided as any one in all the world. O how blessed is the state of the poorest, most afflicted saint, that may always say,' My soul is safe! If my health, or wealth, or friends be gonė, yet am I safe from everlasting misery. Other things I shall have as God seeth best for his honour and my spiritual good; but salvation I may be sure of, if I abide in Christ.' What needs he fear, that hath escaped hell! But O the dreadful case of the ungodly! that are passing to damnation when they never think of it! Their bodies may be strong, their riches great, and they may fare sumptuously every day; Luke xvi. 19. But O what a case are their poor souls in! they be when this mirth is ended! ver. 25. safe from hell one hour.

and where will They are not

CHAPTER VII.

Holiness is the only Honest Way.

We have tried whether the way of godliness or ungodliness be the safest. Let us next try which is the most honest, of which one would think we should never meet with a man so shameless as to make a question. But experience telleth us, that such there are, yea, and that they are very common. Even in their reproaching of a holy life, they will join the boastings of their own honesty, and say, 'Though we swear or are drunk now and then, and make not such a stir about God's service and our salvation, yet we are as honest as these more precise people, that make more ado, and censure us as ungodly.' As truly and wisely as if a common whore should say, 'I am as honest as these precise people that will not play the harlot, as I do.' And as wisely as if a thief should say,Though I steal for need, I am as honest as these pre

cise people that will not steal.' But yet we have this advantage by these shameless boasts, that still the name of honesty is in credit, and the worst men honour it, by pretending to it, while they dishonour themselves by their renouncing the thing itself, and by the impudency of their pretences.

Honesty is nothing but true virtue, or the moral goodness of the mind or actions. An honest man and a good man is indeed all one καλός or καλοκαγαθός with the Greeks; one that is both inwardly virtuous, and manifests it in the cleanness and integrity of his life, in the sight of men. All men, for aught I can perceive, would be accounted honest. This reputation honesty hath among its vilest enemies, that they approve the name, and would not appear to be its enemies, till they have put some other name upon it. While they hate honesty, and persecute it, they would be called honest men themselves. And therefore by the consent of all the world, friends and foes, that is the best way which is the most honest.

O that you would all but stand to this, in the choosing of your course, and in your daily practice! Will you all agree upon a holy life, if I prove it past all doubt to be the most honest? O that you would! Yea, if I prove that there is no man truly honest in the world, that is not truly godly. If you would stand to this, you would soon be changed. Indeed it is nothing but dishonesty that we would have you changed from. And if you will not stand to this, but will refuse honesty when you know it, for shame lay by the name of honesty, and wish not men to call you honest any more. Either be what you would be called; or give men leave to call you as you are. Let us come then to the trial, and see who is indeed the honest man, the godly or the ungodly.

1. I have already told you, that God who is the most infallible Judge, hath given his sentence on his people's side. If you will think yourselves that it is not those that thieves and harlots call honest that are so likely to be honest, as those that wise men and virtuous men call so; we have then far greater reason to conclude, that it is not those that you call honest, that are so fit to be judged such, as those that God calls so. How say you? Will you not freely give us leave to take God's judgment or word before yours? If not, we will take leave. And God calls all the ungodly by the name

of evil and wicked men! and the godly are they that he calleth upright, good, and honest. The whole Scripture, you know, if you know any thing of it, speaketh in this language, It is they that "hear the word and keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience, that receive it into honest and good hearts;" Luke viii. 15. This is the life that is "acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, which is in all godliness and honesty." These are inseparable, godliness and honesty ; 1 Tim. ii. 3. Indeed the Greek word here is that which signifieth gravity and seemliness of behaviour; but that which is frequently translated 'good' is it which signifieth the truly honest. And you know none of the ungodly are ever called good in Scripture, but clean contrary. "The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness;" Prov. xi. 6. So ver. 18-20. "The wicked worketh a deceitful work, but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil, doth it to his own death. They that of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord; but such as are upright in their way, are his delight." Every where you see how God abhorreth the ungodly, and extolleth those that love and fear him. Christ calleth the ungodly "evil men, that out of the evil treasure of their hearts do bring forth evil things;" Matt. xii. 35. All is evil; the life evil, the heart evil, and the man evil. "The righteous man is more excellent than his neighbour, but the way of the wicked seduceth them;" Prov. xii. 26. And Psal. 16, David called the godly "the excellent, in whom is all his delight." It is an excellent spirit that is in them (Dan. iii. 12. 14. lxiii.), and an excellent way in which they go (1 Cor. xii. 31.), and an excellent knowledge which the Spirit's illumination causeth them to attain ; Phil. iii. 18. Ephes. iii. 18, 19. You have God's judgment of the case, if that will satisfy you, who it is that is the best and most honest man, the holy or the unholy.

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2. Do you think that that man is an honest man, that will deny you your due, and rob you of all that is your own? or rather, is not the just man the honest man, that will give every man his own? I know you will give your voices for the latter. O then take heed lest you condemn yourselves! If you be not holy, your own testimony doth condemn you. For it is only the godly that give God his own, when the un