SERMON Of Sincerity towards God and Man. Preasëd atKing- fkone July 19, 1694. The laß hi, Greve preash'd. JOHN 1.47. 3efus fan, Nathanael coming to him, and faith of him, Behold an Ifraelite indeed, in whom is no guile. HO this Nathanael-was, upon whom our Saviour be- ftows this extraordinary Charafter, doth not certain- ly appear, his Name being but once more mention'd in the whole Hiftory of the Gofpel : For. certain, he was a good Man, who deferv'd this extraordinary Commendation ; and none but our Saviour, who knew what was in Man, and needed not that any fhould tell him, could have given it, efpecially of one whòm he had never feen before that time ; for when 7efus faw him coining to.him, he faith of hint, Behold an Ifraelite indeed. The whole Nation of the Jews were Ifraelites by Natural Defcent, being the Seed of Jacob or ',Peel; but in a fpecial and more excellent Senfe, none are efteem'd the true Pofterity of Ifrael, butthofe who refembled this Father of. their Nation in true Piety and Goodnefs ; for (as the Apoftle reafons) they are not all Ifrael; whoare of Ifrael ; they onlyare Ifreelites indeed, who refemble good old Jacob, in-the Sincerity of his Piety, and the Simplicity of his Temper and Difpofition for our Saviour feems here to allude to that Charaéer which is given of Jacob, (Gen. 25. 27.) That he was aplain Man, or, as the Hebrer7 Word fignifies, a perfell and Jincere Man, in Oppofition to his Brother Efau, who is faid to be cunning ; fo that to bean Ifraelite indeed, is to be a down- right honeft Man, without Fraud and Guile, 'without any Arts of Hypocrify and Deceit. In fpeaking ofthis Virtue ofSincerity, which is the higheft Charafter and Coin- mendation of a Good Man, I fhall confider it, ,as it refpecîs God and Man. As it refpe&s God, fo it imports the Truth and Sincerity ofour Piety and Devotion to- wards him. As it regards Men, fo it lignifies a Simplicity of Mind and Manners, in our Carriage and Converfation, one towards another : Both thefe are included, and very probably were intended, in the Charafter which our Saviour here gives of Nathanael. I. I fhall confider this Grace, or Vertue of Sincerity, as it refpe&s God, and . fo it imports the Truth and Sincerity of our Piety towards him, that we heartily believe, and fear, and honour him, and that the outward Expreflìons of our Piety and Obedience to him are the genuine Iffue of our inward Apprehenfions of him, and Affefions towards him ; and this, no doubt, our Saviour intended, in the first place, in the Charafter of this Good Man, that he wasa Man of a real and fubítantial and unaffeaed Piety, and in truth, what he appear'd to be; that he did fincerely love God and his Truth, and was ready to embrace"it, whenever it was fairly propofed to him, as did plainly appear in his Carriage towards our Saviour ; for when Philip invited him to come and fee him, he did not conceal the Prejudice and Obje&ion he had againft him, grounded upon a common, but B unche-
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