First, There is a moral truth and iipriglifness, which we may call a field-flower, because it may he foimd n^rowinjj- in the wild and waste of nature. It cannot be denied, but one that hath not a dram of sanctifying, saving grace, may shew some kind of uprightness and truth in his actions. God himself comes in as a witness for Abimelech, that what he did in taking Sarah was in the uprightness of his heart. Gen. xx. G ; ' I know,' saith God, ' that thou didst this in tlie integrity of thy heart;' that is, Thou didst mean honestly as to this particular business, and didst not intend any wrong to Abraham, whose wife she was, unknown to tliee. Joab, though a bloody man, yet dealt very uprightly and squarely with David, concei-ning the rendition of Rabbah, when he had a fair advantage of stealing away the honour from his prince to himself. Many such instances may be given of men that have been great strangers to a work of grace on their hearts; but this is not the uprightness that we mean in the point laid down. It doth indeed render a person very lovelv and amiable before men, to be thus upright and honest in his dealings ; but methinks I hear the Lord saying, concerning such, as once he did to Samuel of Eliab, 1 Sam. xvi. 7, '.Lo»k not on their coun- tenance,' so as to think these ai-e they which he accepts ; uo, he hath refused them, ' for the Lord seeth not as man sceth.' God's eye looks deeper than man's. There are two great defects in this uprightness, v/hich God rejects it for. First, It grows not from a good root, a renewed heart. This is a hair on the moral man's pen, which bhu-s and blots his copy, when he writes fairest. It is like the leprosy of Naaman ; that same, ' but he was a leper,' took away the honour of his greatness at court and prowess in the field ; so hei-e it stains the fairest action,s of a mere moral man, ' but he is a Christless, graceless person.' The uprightness of such does others more good in this world than themselves in another. They are by this moral honesty profitable to those that have civil commerce with them ; but it doth not render themselves acceptable to God. Indeed, had not God left some authority of conscience to awe and keep them that have uo grace within some boimds of honesty, this world would have been no more habitable for the saints than the forest of wild beasts is now for man. And such is the uprightness of men, void of sanctifying gr-ace, that they are rather rid by an overpowering light of conscience that scares them, than sweetly led by any inward princi])le inclining them to take complacency in that which is good. Abimelech himself, for whom, as we heard, God so apologized, yet is let to know, that his honesty in that matter came rather from God's restraint upon him, than any real goodness in him. Gen. xx. : ' I also v.'ithheld thee from sinning against me, therefore suftered I thee not to touch her.'
Secondly, This moral uprightness falls short of the chief end indispensably necessai-y to make a person upright indeed : this is, the glory of God : 1 Cor. X. 31, ' Whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' The archer may lose his game by shooting short, as well as shooting wide. The gross hypocrite shoots wide, the uprightest moralist shoots short. He may and oft doth take his aim right, as to the particidar and immediate end of his action, but ever fails in regard of the idtimate end. Thus, a servant may be faithful to his master, scorn to wrong him of a farthing, yea, cordially seek his master's profit, and yet God never looked at, or thought of, in all this, and so all worth nothing, because God is left out of the story, who is principally to be regarded, Eph. vi. 7 : servants are commanded to 'do their service as to God, not to man;' that is, not only, not cliiefly to man. It is true, the master is not to be looked at in the servant's duty, but in his way, only as it leads to the glory of God ; he nuist not, when he hath desired to please his earthly master, sit down as at his journey's end, but pass on, as the eye doth through the air and clouds to the sun, where it is terminated ; so he to (Jod, as the chief end why he is dutiful and faithful to man. Now no principle can lead the soul so high as to aim at God, but that which comes from God. See both these excellently couched together, Phil. i. 10, 11 : ' That ye may be sincere, being filled with the fniits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.' Where you may observe. First, that the sincerity of the right stamp is that which brings forth fruits of righteousness to the praise of God ; that is, where the glory of God is the end of all our actions. Secondly, That such fruit cannot be borne but by Christ ; the soul must be planted into Christ before it can be tluis sincere, to bear fruits of righteousness to the praise of God. Hence thes-e
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228 HAVING YOUR LOINS