Serm. I. OfSincerity towards God and Man. And with the Sincerity ofour Piety towards God, let us joyn the Simplicity and Integrity of Manners in our Converfationwith Men. Let us ftridtly charge our (elves to ufe Truth and Plainnefs in all our Words and Doings ; let our Tongue be ever the true Interpreter of our Mind, and our Expreflions the lively. Image of our Thoughts and Affe&ions, and our outward A&ions exaétly agree- able to our inward Purpofes and Intentions. Amongft too manyother Inftances of the great Corruption and Degeneracy of the Age wherein we live, the great and general want of Sincerity in Conver, ftion is none of the leaft. The World is grown fo full of Diflimulation and Complement, that Men's Words are hardly any Signification of their Thoughts; and if any Man meafure his Words by his Heart, and fpeak as he thinks, and do notexprefs more Kindnefs to every Man, than Men ufually have for any Man, he can hardly efcape the Cenfure of Rudenefs and Want Of Breeding. The old Englifh Plainnefs and Sincerity, that generous Integrity ofNature and Honefty of Difpofition, which always argues true Greatnefs of Mind, and is ufually accom- panyed with undaunted Courage and Refolution, is in a great meafure loft among us ; there hath been a long Endeavour to transform us into Foreign Manners and Fafhions, and to bring us to a fervile Imitation of none of the beft of our Neighbours, in forne of the worft of their Qualities. The Dialed of Converfation is now-a-days fo fwell'd with Vanity and Complement, and fo fur- feited{as I may fay) of Exprefiions of. Kindnefs and Reaper, that ifa Man that lived an Age or two ago, fhould return into the World again, he would really want a Dictionary to help him to underftandhis own Language, and to know the true intrinfick Value of the Phrafe in Fafhion, and would hardly, at firft, be- lieve at what a low rate the higheft Strains and Expreffions of Kindnefs ima- ginable do commonly pafs in current Payment; and when he fhould come to underftand it, it would be a great while before he could bring himfelf, with a good Countenance and a good Confcience, to converfe with Men upon equal Terms, and in their own way. And, in truth, it is hard to fay, whether it fhould more provoke our Con- tempt or our Pity, to hear what folemn Expreffions of Refpe& and Kindnefs will pafs betweenMen, almoft upon no Occafion ; how great Honour and Efteem they will declare for one whom perhaps they never heard of or faw before, and how entirely they are all on the fudden devoted to his Service and Intereft, for no Reafon ; how infinitely and eternally obliged to him for no Benefit ; and how extremely they will be concern'd for him, yea, and aftliaed too, for no Caufe. I know it is faid, in Juftification ofthis hollow kind of Converfation, that there is no Harm, no real Deceit in Complement, but the Matter is well enough, fo longas we underftand one another, Et Verba válent ut Nummi, Words are like Money, and when the current Value of them is generally under- Itood, no Man is cheated by them. This is fomething, if fuch Words were any-thing; but being-brought into the Account, they are sneer Cyphers. How- ever, it is 1till a juft Matter of Complaint, that Sincerity and Plainnefs are out ofFafhion, and that our Language is 'running into a Lie, that Men have almoft quite perverted the Ufe of Speech, and made Words to fignify nothing ; that the greateft part of the Converfation of Mankind, and of their Intercourfe with one another, is little elfe but driving a Trade of Diflimulation ; infomuch that it would make a Man heartily fick and weary of the World, to fee the little Sincerity that is in Ufe and Pra&ice among Men, and tempt him to break out into that melancholy Complaint and Withof the Prophet, Jer. 9. 0 that I had in the Wildernefs a Lodgingplace of wayfaring Men, that I might leave ny People, and go from them; for they are all Adulterers, and an Affembly of treacherous Men; andthey bend their Tongue like their Bon), fir Lies, but have no Courage for the Truth upon Earth. Take ye heed every one of his Neighbour, and trufl ye not in anyBrother ; for every Brother will utterly, fup plant, and every Neighbour will walk with Slanders. Thine Habitation as in the
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