Ecumenical Christian Library

  • Loading…

A Godly Man Is a Sincere Man

166612 min read

  1. A godly man is a sincere man,1 Iohn 1. 47. Behold an Israelite indeed, in whose spirit there is no guile. The word for sincere, […] signifies sine plicis, without pleats and folds: A godly man is plain-hearted, having no subtil subterfuges; Religion is the Livery a godly man wears, and this Livery is lined with Sincerity.

Quest. Wherein doth the godly mans Sincerity appear?

Answ. 1. The godly man is that which he seems to be; he is a Iew inwardly, Rom. 2. 29. Grace runs through his heart, as silver through the veins of the earth: The hypocrite is not what he seems. —Fronte positus, Astutam vapido servans sub pectore vulpem.

A picture is like a man, but it wants breath: The Hypocrite is an Effigies, a picture, he doth not breathe forth Sanctity; he is but like an Angel on a Sign-post: A godly man answers to his profession, as the Transcript to the Original.

  1. The godly man labours to approve himself to God in every thing, 2 Cor. 5. 9. We labour that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. ‘Tis better to have God approve, than the world applaud: They that did run in the Olympick Race, laboured to have his approbation, who was the Judge and Umpire of the Race: There is a time shortly coming, when a smile from Gods face will be infinitely better than all the applauses of men: How sweet will that word be, Euge bone serve, Well done thou good and faithful servant, Mat. 25. 21. A godly man is ambitious of Gods Letters-Testimonial; the hypocrite desires to carry it fair with men: Saul was for the vogue of the people, 1 Sam. 15. 30. A godly man approves his heart to God, who is both the Spectator and the Judge.

  2. The godly man is ingenuous in laying open of his sins, Psa. 32. 5. 1 confessed my sin to thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. The hypocrite doth vail and smother his sin; he doth not abscindere peccatum, but abscondere; like a Patient that hath some loathsome disease in his body, he will rather die than confess his disease: But a godly mans sincerity is seen in this, he will confess and shame himself for sin, 2 Sam. 24. 17. Lo I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: Nay, a Childe of God will confess sin in particular; an unsound Christian will confess sin by wholesale, he will acknowledge he is a sinner in general; whereas David doth as it were point with his finger to the sore, Psal. 51. 4. I have done this evil: He doth not say, I have done evil, but this evil; he points at his bloud-guiltiness.

  3. The godly man hath blessed designs in all he doth; he propounds this end in every Ordinance, that he may have more acquaintance with God, and bring more glory to God; as the herb Heliotropium turns about according to the motion of the Sun; so a godly mans actions do all move towards the glory of God: It is an axiom in Phylosophy, The means are in order to the2 end. A godly mans praying and worshipping is, that he may honor God; though he shoots short, yet he takes a right aim; the hypocrite minds nothing but self-interest, the sails of his Mill move not, but when the wind of preferment blows; he never dives into the waters of the Sanctuary, but to fetch up a piece of gold at the bottom.

  4. The godly man abhors dissimulation towards men, his heart goes along with his3 tongue, he cannot flatter and (Psa. 28. 3) hate, commend and censure, Rom. 12. 9. Let love be without dissimulation. Dissembled love is worse than hatred; counterfeiting of friendship is no better than a (Psa. 78. 36) lye, for there is a pretence of that which is not: Many are like Ioab, 2 Sam. 20. 9. He took Amasa by the beard to kiss him, and smote him with his sword in the fifth rib, and he4 died. —Impia sub dulci melle venena latent.—

There is a River in Spain, where the fish seem to be of a golden colour, but take them out of the water, and they are like other fish: All is not gold that glisters; there are some pretend much kindness, but they are like great veins which have little bloud; if you lean upon them, they are as a Leg out of joynt: For my part I much question his truth towards God, that will flatter and lie to his friend, Pro. 10. 18. He that hideth hatred with lying lips is a fool. By all that hath been said, we may try whether we have this note of a godly man, to be sincere.

Sincerity (as I conceive) is not properly […] grace, but rather the ingredient into every grace: Sincerity is that which doth qualifie grace, and without which grace is not true, Eph. 6. ult. Grace be with them, which love our Lord Iesus Christ in sincerity: Sincerity qualifies our love; sincerity is to grace, as the bloud and spirits are to the body; there can be no life without the bloud, so no grace without sincerity.

Use. As we would be reputed godly,5 let us labour for this Character of sincerity.

Motive. 1. Sincerity renders us lovely in Gods eyes; God saith of the sincere soul as of Sion, Psal. 132. 14. This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it: A sincere heart is Gods Paradise of6 delight: Noah found grace in Gods eyes: Why, what did God see in Noah? he was girt with the girdle of sincerity, Gen. 6. 9. Noah was perfect in his Generation. Truth resembles God, and when God sees a sincere heart, he sees his own Image, and he cannot chuse but fall in love with it, Pro. 11. 20. He that is upright in his way, is Gods delight.

  1. Sincerity makes our services find acceptance with God; the Church of Philadelphia had but a little7 strength; her grace was weak, her services slender, yet of all the Churches Christ wrote to, he found the least fault with her: What was the reason? because she was most sincere, Rev. 3. 8. Thou hast kept fast my word, and hast not denied my Name. Though we cannot pay God all we owe, yet a little in currant Coyn is accepted; God takes sincerity for full payment: A little gold, though rusty, is better than Alchimy be it never so bright; a little sincerity, though rusted over with many infirmities, is of more value with God, than all the glorious flourishes of hypocrites.

  2. Sincerity is our safety; false hearts that will step out of Gods way, and use carnal policy, when they think to be most safe, they are least secure; he that walketh purely, walketh surely, Pro. 10. 9. A sincere Christian will do nothing but what the word warrants, and that is safe, as to the Conscience: Nay, oftentimes such as are upright in their way, the Lord takes care of their outward safety, Psal. 4. I laid me down and slept. David was now beleaguer’d with Enemies, yet God did so incamp about him by his Providence, that he could sleep securely as in a Garrison: Ver. 5. The Lord sustained me: The only way to be safe, is to be sincere.

  3. Sincerity is Gospel perfection, Iob 1. 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect, and an upright man. Though a Christian be full of infirmities, and like a Childe that is put out to Nurse, weak and feeble, yet God looks upon him, as if he were compleatly righteous: Every true Saint hath the Thummim of perfection upon his breast-plate.

  4. Sincerity is that which the Devil strikes most at: Satans spite was not so much at Iobs Estate, as his integrity; he would have wrested the Shield of Sincerity from him, but Iob held that fast, Iob 27. 6. A Thief doth not fight for an empty purse, but for money: The devil would have robbed Iob of the Jewel of a good Conscience, and then he had been poor Iob indeed: Satan doth not oppose Profession, but Sincerity: Let men go to Church, and make glorious pretences of holiness, Satan doth not oppose this; this doth him no hurt, nor them no good; but if men will be sincerely pious, then Satan musters up all his forces against them: Now that which the Devil doth most assault, we must labour most to maintain: Sincerity is our Fort-Royal, where our chief treasure lies; this Fort is most shot at, therefore let us be more careful to preserve it: While a man keeps his Castle, his Castle will keep him: While we keep Sincerity, Sincerity will keep us.

  5. Sincerity is the beauty of a Christian, wherein lies the beauty of a Diamond, but in this, that it is a true Diamond? If it be counterfeit, it is worth nothing: So wherein lies the beauty of a Christian, but in this, that he hath truth in the inward (Psa. 51. 6) parts: Sincerity is a Christians Ensign of glory; ‘tis both his Breast-plate to defend him, and his Crown to adorn him.

  6. The vileness of hypocrisie: The Lord would have no leven offered up in Sacrifice; leven did typifie hypocrisie, Luke 12. 1. The hypocrite doth the devil double service, under the Vizor of Piety, he can sin more, and be less (Euseb) suspected, Mat. 23. 14. We unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye devoure Widows houses, and for a pretence, make long prayers: Who would think they were guilty of Extortion, that would pray so many hours together? Who would suspect him of false weights, that hath the Bible so often in his hand? Who would think he would slander, that seems to fear an oath? Hypocrites are the worst sort of sinners, they reflect infinite dishonor upon Religion; hypocrisie for the most part ends in scandal, and that brings an evil report upon the ways of God; one man breaking, makes such as are honest suspected; one scandalous hypocrite, makes the world suspect that all Professors are so; the hypocrite was born to do Religion a spite, and to bring it into an odium.

The hypocrite is a lyer, he worships God with his knee, and his lusts with his heart; like those 2 Kin. 17. 33. They feared the Lord, and served their own gods.

The hypocrite is an impudent sinner, he knows his heart is false, yet he goes on: Iudas knew himself to be an hypocrite; he asks, Master is it I? Christ replies, Thou hast said it? Yet so shameless was he as to persist in his falseness, and betray Christ: All the plagues and curses written in the Book of God, are the hypocrites portion, Hell is his place of Randezvous, Mat. 24. 51. Hypocrites are the chief guests the Devil expects, and he will make them as welcome, as fire and brimstone can make them.

  1. If the heart be sincere, God will wink at many failings, Numb. 23. 21. He hath not seen iniquity in Iacob. Gods love doth not make him blind, he can see infirmities, but how? not with an eye of revenge, but pitty, as a Physitian sees a disease in his Patient to heal him: God doth not see iniquity in Iacob, so as to destroy him, but to heal him, Isa. 57. 18. He went on frowardly, I have seen his ways, and I will heal him: How much pride, vanity, passion, doth the Lord pass by in his sincere ones! He sees the integrity, and pardons the infirmity: How much did God overlook in Asa! the high-places were not removed: Yet it is said, 2 Chron. 15. 17. The heart of Asa was perfect all his days. We esteem of a picture, though it be not drawn at the full length: So though the graces of Gods people are not drawn at their full length, nay, have many scars and spots, yet having something of God in sincerity, they shall find mercy; God loves the sincere, and ‘tis the nature of love to cover (Pro. 12. 10) infirmity.

  2. Nothing but sincerity will give us comfort in an houre of trouble: King Hezekiah thought he had been dying, yet this revived him, that Conscience drew up a Certificate for him, Isa. 38. 2. Remember O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, &c. Sincerity was the best flower of his Crown: What a golden Shield will this be against Satan, when he shall roar upon us by his temptations, and set our sins before us on our Death-bed, then we shall answer, ‘Tis true Satan, these have been our miscarriages, but we have bewailed them; if we have sinned, it was against the bent and purpose of our heart; this will stop the Devils mouth, and put him to a retreat; therefore labour for this Jewel of Sincerity, 1 Ioh. 3. 24. If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence towards God: If we are cleared at the Petty Sessions in our own Conscience, then we may be confident, we shall be acquitted at the Great Assizes at the day of Judgement.

Footnotes

  1. 13 Character. ↩

  2. Media sunt appetenda propter finem. ↩

  3. Homo sine fuco. Erasm. ↩

  4. Mel in ore, fel in corde. ↩

  5. Use of Exhort. ↩

  6. Tali corde unicè delectatur Deus, id veluti dulcisonum quoddam spirituale nabl[…]um, harmoniae suae suavitate, modulorumque oblectamine, aures ejus mirum in modum mulcet. ↩

  7. […]. ↩

Backlinks