A Godly Man Is an Heavenly Man

14. A godly man is an heavenly man;¹Heaven is in him, before he is in Heaven; the Greek word for Saint, […], signifies a man taken off from the earth: a person may live in one place, yet belong to another; he may live in Spain, yet be a free Denizon of England; Pomponius dwelt at Athens, yet was a Citizen of Rome: So a godly man is a while in the² world, but he belongs to the Hierusalem³above; that is the place to which he aspires; every day is Ascension day with a Believer: The Saints are called Stars, for their sublimeness; they are gotten above into the upper Region, Pro. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise: A godly man is Heavenly six ways.

15. In his Election.

16. In his Disposition.

17. In his Communication.

18. In his Operation.

19. In his Expectation.

20. In his Conversation.

21. A godly man is heavenly in his Election; he chuseth heavenly objects: David did chuse to be a Residentiary in Gods house, Psa. 84. 10. A godly person chuseth Christ and grace, before the most illustrious things under the Sun: That a man is that his choice is; and this chusing of God is best seen in a critical houre: When Christ and the World come in competition, and we part with the world to keep Christ and a good Conscience, a sign we have chosen the better (Luke 10. 42) part.

22. A godly man is heavenly in his Disposition; he sets his affections on things above, Col. 3. 2. He sends his heart to heaven before he comes there; he looks upon the world, but as a beautiful prison, and he cannot be much in love with his Fetters, though they are made of gold: An holy person contemplates glory and Eternity; his desires have gotten wings, and are fled to heaven: Grace is in the heart like fire, which makes it sparkle upwards in Divine breathings and ejaculations.

23. A godly man is heavenly in his Communication, his words are powdred with salt to season others, Col. 4. 6. As soon as Christ was risen from the grave, he was speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdome of God, Act. 1. 3. No sooner is a man risen out of the grave of Unregeneracy, but he is speaking of heaven, Eccles. 10. 12. The words of a wise mans mouth are gracious: He speaks so heavenly, as if he had been already in heaven; the love he bears to God, will not suffer him to be silent; the Spouse being sick of love, her tongue was as the pen of a ready writer, Cant. 5. 10. My beloved is white and ruddy, his head is of fine gold, &c. If Wine be in the house, the Bush will be hung forth, and where there is a principle of godliness in the heart, it will vent it self at the lips; the Bush will be hung forth.

How can they be termed godly, 1. Who are possessed with a dumb devil? They never have any good discourse; they are fluent and discoursive enough in secular things; they can speak of their wares and drugs, they can tell what a good crop they have, but in matters of Religion they are as if their tongue did cleave to the roof of their mouth: There are many persons, if you come into their company, you cannot tell what to make of them, whether they are Turks or Atheists, for they never speak a word of Christ.

2. Whose tongues are set on fire of Hell: Their lips do not drop honey but poyson, to the defiling of others. Plutarch saith, speech ought to be like gold, which is then of most value, when it hath least dross in it: O the unclean malicious words that some persons utter! What an unsavoury stench comes from these dunghils; those lips had need have Davids (Psa. 39. 1) Bridle, that gallop so fast in sin: Can the body be healthful when the tongue is black? Can the heart be holy when the devil is in the lips? A godly man speaks the language of Canaan, Mal. 3. 16. They that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.

3. A godly man is heavenly in his Operation. The motions of the Planets are Caelestial: A godly man is sublime and sacred in his motions, he works out salvation, he puts forth all his strength, as they did in the Olympicks, that he may obtain the Garland made of the Flowers of Paradise; he prays, fasts, watcheth, he offers violence to heaven, he is divinely acted, he carries on Gods Interest in the world, he doth Angels work, he is in his Operations Seraphical.

4. A godly man is heavenly in his Expectation; his hopes are above the (Psa. 39. 7) world, Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life: A godly man casts Anchor within the⁴ vail; he hopes to have his fetters of sin filed off; he hopes for such things as eye hath not seen; he hopes for a Kingdome when he dies; a Kingdome promised by the Father, purchased by the Son, assured by the Holy Ghost; as an Heir lives in hope when such a great Estate shall befall him, so a Childe of God, who is a Co-heir with Christ, hopes for glory: This hope comforts him in all varieties of condition, Rom. 5. 2. We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God.

5. This hope comforts a godly man in affliction; hope doth lighten and sweeten the most severe Dispensations: A Childe of God can laugh with tears in his eyes; the time is shortly coming, when the Cross shall be taken off his shoulders, and a Crown set upon his head: A Saint at present is miserable, with a thousand troubles, in an instant, cloathed with Robes of Immortality, and advanced above Seraphims.

6. This hope comforts a godly man in death, Pro. 14. 32. The righteous hath hope in his death: If one should ask a dying Saint, when all his earthly comforts were gone, what he had left? he would say, the Helmet of Hope. I have read of a Martyr Woman, who when the Persecutor commanded that her breasts should be cut off, she said, Tyrant do thy worst, I have two breasts which thou canst not touch, the one of Faith, the other of Hope. A soul that hath this blessed hope, is above the desire of life, or the fear of death: Would one be troubled to exchange a sorry Lease for an Inheritance that will be for him and his Heirs? Who would care to part with life, which is a Lease will soon be run out, to be possessed of a glorious Inheritance in light?

7. A godly man is heavenly in his Conversation; he casts such a lustre of Holiness, as adorns his Profession; he lives as if he had seen the Lord with bodily eyes; what zeal, sanctity, humility, shines forth in his life: A godly person doth emulate not only the Angels, but imitate Christ himself, 1 Iohn 2. 6. The Macedonians celebrate the Birth-day of Alexander, on which day they wear his picture about their necks, set with Pearl and rich Jewels; so a godly man carries the lively picture of Christ about him, in the heavenliness of his deportment, Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven.

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