OfSincerity towards God and Man. Vol. I. it is only for want of true Wifdom and Underftanding, that . Men turn afide to Tricks, and make Di/mulation and .Lies their Refilge. It is Solomon's Obfer - vation, 'That he that walketh uprightly, walketh furely ; but the Folly of Fools is deceit: The Folly of Fools, that is, the moft egregious piece of Folly that anyMan can be guilty of, is to play the Knave : The vulgar Tranflation renders this Claufe a little otherwife, but yet towards the fanie Senfe, Seel Stultus di= vertit ad dolos, but the Fool turns afide to Tricks ; to make ufe of thefe, is a fign the Man wants Underftanding to fee the plain and dire& Way to his End. I will not deny but thefe little Arts may ferve a prefent turn, and perhaps fix- ' cefsfully enough ; but true Wifdom goes deep, and reached' a great way further, looking to the Ehd of Things, and regarding the future as well as the prefent, and, by judging upon the whole Matter and Sum of Affairs, doth clearly dif- cern that Craft and Cunning are only ufeful for the prefent Occauon ; whereas Integrity is of a lading life, and will be ferviceable to us upon all Occafions, and in the whole Courfe of our Lives ; and that Diflimulation and Deceit, tho' they may do force prefent Execution in Bufinefs, yet they recoil upon a Man terribly afterwards, fo as to make him ftagger, and by degrees to weaken, and at laft to deftroy his Reputation, which is a much more ufeful and fub- ftantial and lifting Inítrument of Profperity and Succefs in Humane Affairs, than any Tricks and Devices whatfoever. Thus have I confidered this great Virtue of Sincerity, both as it regards God, and the mutual Converfation and Inter - courfe of Men one with another. And now having ekplain'd the Nature of Sincerity to God and Man, by de- claring the Properties of it, andin what Inftances we ought chiefly to pra&ife it, and `what Things are contrary to it ; that which remains, is to perfwadeMen to endeavour after this excellent Quality, and topra&ife it in all the Words and Allions of their Lives. Let us then, in the firft place, be fincere in our Religion, and ferve God in Truth and Uprightnefs of Heart, out of Confcience ofour Duty and Obligations to him, i and not with flouter Refpeíts to our private Intereft or,Paffion, to the pùblick Approbation or Cenfure of Men. Let us never make ufe of Religion to ferve anybafe and unworthyEnds, cloaking our Defigns ofCovetoufnefs, or Am- bition, or Revenge, with Pretences of Confeience and Zeal for .God ; and let us endeavour after the Reality of Religion, always rernembring that a fincere Piety doth not conflit in Shew, but Subitanee, not in Appearance, but in Ef- fe& ; that the Spirit of True Religion is till and calm, charitable and peaceable, making as little Shew and Stir as is pofftble ; that a truly and fincerely Good Man does not affe& vain Oftentation, and an unfeafonable Difcovery of his good Qualities, but endeavours rather really to be, than to feem Religious, and, of the two, rather feeks to conceal his Piety, than to fet it out with Pomp ; gives his Alms privately ; prays to God in fecret, and makes no Appearance of Reli- gion, but in fuch Fruits and Effeecs as cannot be hid in the quiet and filent Vir- tues of Humility, and 1Vleeknefs, and Patience, of Peace and Charity in go- verning his Paflìons, and taking heed not to offend with his Tongue, by Slander and Calumny, by envious Detra&ion or rafh Cenfure, or by any Word or Alban that may be to the Hurt andPrejudice of his Neighbour : But, on the contrary, it is a very ill Sign, ifa Man affe& to make a great Noife and Buftle about' Re- ligion ; if he blow a Trumpet before his Good Works, and by extraordinary Shews ofDevotion fummon the Eyes of Men to behold him, and do, as it were, call aloud to them to take Notice of his Piety, and to come and fée bis Zealfor the Lord of Hofs. It is not impoffible brit fuch a Man, with all his Vanity and Oftentation, may have force real Goodnefs in him ; but he is as the Hypocrites are, and does as like one as is poflìble ; and, by the mighty Shew that he makes, to wife and confiderate Men, greatly brings in queftion the Sincerity of his Religion. And
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