442 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
as well as he has cause to bless Grod for his graces and mercies. Look, as every particular stain doth not blemish the universal fineness of the cloth, so neither doth this or that particular fact disprove and deny the general bent of a person's heart or life. Particulars may not decide the estate eitlier way. It is true, a man by a particular sinning is denominated guilty, but by no one particular can a man's estate be challenged either to be good or bad. He that shall judge of a Chris- tian's estate by particular acts, though very bad, will certainly con- demn ' the generation of the righteous,' Ps. Ixxiii. 15. We must always distinguish betwixt some single good actions and a series of good actions. It is not this or that particular good action, but a con- tinued course of holy actions, that denominates a person holy. Cer- tainly as there is no man so holy but sometimes he falls into this or that particular sin, so there is no man so wicked but he falls in with this or that particular duty, as you may see in Pharaoh, Balaam, Said, the Ninevites, Felix, Herod, Judas, yea, and the very scribes and pharisees. Now look, as every sin which a godly man falls into, through infirmity, dotli not presently denominate him ungodly, so neither will a few good actions done by a wicked man prove him godly. It is what the course and tenor of the life is that must be most dil igently and wisely observed ; for every man is as his course is. If his course be holy, the man is so ; if his course be wicked, the man is so. There is a maxim in logic, viz., that no general rule can be established upon a particular instance ; and there is another maxim in logic, viz., that no particular instance can overthrow a general rule. We are never to make a judgment of our estates and conditions by some par- ticular actions, whether they are good or evil, but we are still to make a judgment of our estates and conditions by the general frame, bent, and disposition of our hearts, and by the constant tenor of our lives. Now, I dare appeal to you, and all others that have observed the con- stant tenor of her life and conversation, whether it has not been such as becomes the gospel, and as hath adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour — human infirmities excepted, Phil. i. 27 ; Titus ii. 10 ; Gen. vi. 9. And oh that this might be the mercy of all her children, to walk with God as she hath done, and then I should not doubt but that they would all meet in heaven at last. But,
7. Seventhly, Imitate her in her love to the saints, to all the saints, in ivhom she coukl discern aliquid Christi, anything of Christ. Did she not love, deliglit, and take jileasure to see the graces of the Holy S[)irit sparkling and shining in the hearts, lives, and lips of the saints ? 1 John iii. 10, 14 ; secretly wishing in herself that her soul were but in so noble a case. Were there any men in all the world that were so precious, so lovely, so comely, so excellent, and so honour- able in her account, in her eye, as those that had the image of God, of Christ, of grace, of holiness, most clearly, most fairly, and most fully stamped upon them? Ps. xv. 1, 4, and xvi. 3 ; 1 John v. 1. Did she not love saints as saints ? Was it not the image of God that drew out her affection to the people of God ? Many, like the Bohemian cur, can fawn upon a good suit; but grace was lovely in her eye, though clothed with rags. IMany love godly men, as they are poli- ticians, or potent, or learned, or of a sweet nature, or affable, or
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related, or as they have been kind to them ; but all this is but natural love ; but to love them because they are spiritually lovely, because of the seed of God in them, 1 John iii. 9, because they are all glorious within, Ps. xlv. 13, is to love them as becometh saints, it is to love them at a higher and nobler rate than any hypocrite in the vv^orld can reach to. Did she not set the highest price and the greatest value and esteem upon those that were gracious ? Had she not an honour in her heart for them that feared the Lord ? Did she not value persons according to their worth for another world, and not according to their worldly greatness or grandeur ? Prov. xii. 26, and xxviii. 6. Did she not prefer a holy Job upon a dunghill, before a wicked Ahab upon the throne ? Did she not set a higher price upon a gracious Lazarus, though clothed with rags and full of sores, than upon a rich and wretched Dives, though he were clothed gloriously, and fared sumptuously every day ? Was not her love to the saints universal ? to one Christian as well as another, to all as well as any, to poor Lazarus as well as to rich Abraham, to a despised Job as well as to an admired David, to an afHicted Joseph as well as to a raised Jacob, to a despised disciple as well as to an exalted apostle ? Phil. i. 21 ; 1 Pet. ii. 17. Did she not love to see the image and picture of her heavenly Father, though hung in never so poor a frame, and in never so mean a cottage ? Without peradventure, he that loves one saint for the image of Grod that is stamped upon him, he cannot but fall in love with every saint that bears the lovely image of the Father upon him. And oh that this might be all your mercy, to write after this copy that she has set before you ! But,