^ Nunquam abs te absque te recede. — Bern. Meditat.
HeB. XII. 14,] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 149
have no communion, no converse at all with God in duty, though they have no pledges of grace, no pawns of mercy, no tastes of love, no relishes of heaven in a duty, yet they can come off from the duty with content and satisfaction of spirit ; let but others applaud him, and his own heart hug him, and he hath enough.
16. In the sixteenth and last place, A man that is really holy speaks a holif language.^ A holy heart and a holy tongue are insepar- able companions ; if there be grace in the heart, there will be grace in the lips ; if the heart be pure, the language will be pure. Christ says his spouse's lips are like a thread of scarlet ; they are red with talking of nothing but a crucified Christ ; and they are thin like a thread, not swelled with other vain discourses. And ver. 11, he tells you that ' the lips of his spouse drop as the honeycombs,' or drop honeycombs ; and that ' honey and milk are under her tongue.' You know that Canaan was a land that flowed with milk and honey. Why ? the lan- guage of the spouse was the language of Canaan ; her lips were still dropping such holy, spiritual, and heavenly matter, as was as sweet, pleasant, profitable, desirable, and delectable to men's souls, as ever honey and milk was to men's palates or appetites ; and as many were fed and nourished by milk and honey, so many were fed and nourished by the holy droppings of her lips : Ps. xxxvii. 30, * The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.' If the heart be holy, the tongue will be a-talking wisely, fruitfully, feel- ingly, affectionately of that which may profit both a man's self and others : Prov. x. 20, ' The tongue of the just is as choice silver ; the heart of the wicked is little worth.' Good men's words are of more worth than wicked men's hearts : and look, as choice silver is known by its tinkUng, so holy men are known by their talking. And as choice silver giveth a clear and sweet sound, so the tongue of the just soundeth sweetly and pleasantly in the ears of others. Look, as choice silver is highly prized and valued among men, so is the tongue of the righteous among those that are righteous : and look, as choice silver allures and draws the hearts of men to a love and liking of it ; so the tongues of the righteous do allure and draw the hearts of men to a love and liking of virtue and goodness.^ Ver. 21, 'The lips of the righteous feed many.' They feed many by their exhortations, instruc- tions, admonitions, and counsels. The mouths of the righteous are like the gates of some hospitable persons, where many are fed. The lips of the righteous are a free and well-furnished table, at which many are fed and nourished with the dainties of heaven to eternal life. Kighteous men keep open house, they keep free hospitality for all comers and goers ; and if they have not always bread in their hands, yet they have always grace in their lips, to feed many. Though they may be outwardly poor, yet they haJ^e a treasure within to enrich many. The tongue is the instrument of a Christian's glory, and is so interested in the quality it expresseth, that in the original it is taken for it, cavod signifying both glory and the tongue — by the authority
' Ps. xlv. 1, 2 ; Zeph. iii. 9 ; Cant. iv. 3. Compare these scriptures together — Prov. xi. 30, xii. 18, and xxv. 11 ; Mat. vii. 6, and xii. 35 ; Col. iv. 6; Eph. iv. 29; Acts xxvi. 25; John vi. 25; 1 Pet. iv. 11.
' Quod hominis dignitas et excellentia nulla alia re magis cognoscitur quam oratione. . . . Qui in Christum credunt, loquuntur novis. — Peter Martyr, ii. 4.
150 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RAEITY, [Heb. XII. 14.
of no less Kabbins than Jacob and David — as thereby intimating that the chiefest glory of man is his tongue. The primitive Christians talked so much and so often of high and heavenly things, that the Ethnicksi began to surmise that they affected the Koman empire, when indeed their ambition was of another, a nobler and a higher nature. But now men that have only a show of godliness, they do practically say, Our tongues are our own, and who shall' control us ? Their speech is so far from administering of grace to their hearers, that it administers usually either matter of carnal mirth, or of con- tempt, or of scorn, or of sorrow and mourning. Certainly they have no holiness in their hearts who have so much of hell, and the devil, and lusts in their mouths. 2 I may say to most. You are unholy per- sons, your speech bewrays you, your worldliness, your profaneness, your cursing, your swearing, your lying, your slandering, your reviling, your railing, your deriding, &c., doth plainly evidence that you have no holiness in you. Well ! remember this, a tongue that is set on fire from hell, is in danger to be set on fire in hell. Hell is for that man, and that man is for heU, that hath so much of hell in his mouth ; the devil is for that man, and that man is for the devil, that hath so much of the devil in his mouth ; damnation is for that man, and that man is for damnation, that hath so much of damnation in his mouth ; the world is for that man, and that man is for the world, that hath so much of the world in his mouth. Whatever is in the heart will break out in the lips ; if wickedness be in the heart, it will break out in the lips. Physicians say that the nature of diseases is as well known by the tongue as by the pulse or urine. The spiritual diseases that be in the heart will quickly discover themselves by the tongue. Wherever holiness is in the heart, it wiU break forth in the lips. A holy heart and a holy tongue are married together, and it is not in man to put them asunder. You shall sooner separate the soul from the body, than you shall separate a holy tongue from a holy heart. And thus I have done with this use of examination. The Lord make you wise to lay these things to heart, that so you may know how it is like to go with you in another world.
Use 3. — The third use shaU be a use of exhortation, and that both to unsanctified and sanctified ones. First, let me speak to unsanctified ones. Is it so, that real holiness is the only way to happiness, and that without men are holy on earth, they shall never come to the beatifical vision or blessed fruition of God in heaven ? Oh then, how should this provoke and stir up all unholy persons to strive and labour, as for life, after this real holiness, without which they shall never come to have anything to do with God in everlasting happi- ness! &c.
Now that I may the better prevail with unsanctified souls, I shall,
First, propound some motives to stir and provoke their hearts to look and labour after real holiness, &c.
Secondly, I shall propose some means for the obtaining of holiness.
Thirdly, I shall endeavour to answer those objections, and remove those impediments, that hinder and keep men ofi" from labouring after real holiness.