06. Question 2. How shall we evidence this? Answered

Question 2. How shall we evidence this? Answered But you will say, How should we evidence and declare to the world our interest and propriety in God? we are willing to do it, if we did but know how we should do it. Why then, thus:

[1.] First, Evidence and declare your interest and propriety in God, by your labouring and endeavouring with all your might to draw on others to get an interest and propriety in God. O sirs! have you been convinced of the necessity and excellency of interest and propriety in God? have you experienced the profit, the sweet, the comfort, and the happiness of propriety and interest in God? and how then can you but strive, as for life, to persuade others to look after their interest and propriety in Christ, as the one thing necessary? When Samson had tasted honey, he gave his father and mother some with him, Judges 14:8-9. O my brethren, propriety and interest in God is so sweet a morsel, that I cannot see how it is possible for a man to taste of it and not to commend it to others. They that have tasted that the Lord is gracious, cannot but cry out with the psalmist, ’Oh taste and see that the Lord is good,’ Psalms 34:8. Propriety and interest in God will never make a man a churl, it will never work a man to make a monopoly of so rare a jewel as that is. Oh the fervent prayers! Oh the burning desires! Oh the vehement wishes! Oh the strong endeavours of such that have an interest and propriety in God, to draw on others to seek after an interest and propriety in God! All true propriety and interest in God is of a diffusive nature; it is like light, that will spread itself over all; it is like leaven, that will run through all; it is like Mary’s box of sweet ointment, that filled all the house with the sweet scent thereof. If thou art a minister, evidence thy propriety in God in doing all thou canst to provoke those that are under thy charge to secure their propriety in God; other things cannot be secured, but propriety in God may be secured, Acts 26:29. If thou art a magistrate that hast a propriety in God, evidence it by doing all thou canst, by thy commands, and by thy counsel, and by thy example, and by thy prayers, to persuade and win others over to be restless till they have secured their interest and propriety in God, Joshua 24:15. If thou art a father that hast interest and propriety in God, oh, then, let thy soul be still in travail for thy children, till Christ be formed in them, till they are new born, and till they have experienced the power and sweet of propriety and interest in God. But,

[2.] Secondly, Evidence your propriety and interest in God, by keeping far off from all such sinful courses, practices, and compliances, that may any ways put yourselves or others to question the truth of your propriety and interest in God. Thus did those worthies, ’of whom this world was not worthy,’ in that Hebrews 11. It is very observable that when the holy things belonging to the sanctuary were to be removed, God commanded Aaron and his sons that there should be a special care had to cover them all over, lest in journeying dust should any ways soil them, Numbers 4:5-13. O beloved! it highly concerns you that have an interest and propriety in God, to look narrowly to your hearts, words, works, and ways, and to see that there be such a covering of grace and holiness, such a covering of care, fear, wisdom, watchfulness, and circumspection over your whole man, that no scandalous sins, pollutions, or defilements be found upon you; according to that exhortation of the apostle, in that Philip. 2:15, ’That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine (or shine ye) as lights in the world.’ Revelation 14:3-5, chap. 3:4. I have read of the dove, that there is such a native dread of the hawk implanted in her, that she is afraid of every feather that hath grown upon a hawk, and that she so detests and abhors the very sight of any such feather that she will fly from it, and keep at the greatest distance imaginable from it. And shall not that divine fear, O Christians! that is planted by the hand of the Spirit in your hearts, be of as great force and prevalency to keep your souls from all those enormities and wicked compliances that may in the least occasion you or others to question your propriety and interest? Remember Francis Spira, and tremble! You know a scrivener may by one great blot at last spoil all that he hath done for many days before upon a large patent or lease; so a man may by one foul blot, by one enormous crime, by one wretched act of compliance, dash and obliterate the fairest copy of a virtuous life, and raze out all the visible golden characters of divine graces that once seemed to be printed upon the soul. Look, as one drop of ink coloureth a whole glass of water, so one gross sin, one shameful action, one hour’s compliance with anything of antichrist, will colour and stain all the great things that ever you have suffered, and all the good things that ever you have performed; it will stain and colour all the good prayers that ever you have made, and all the good sermons that ever you have heard, and all the good books that ever you have read, and all the good words that ever you have spoke, and all the good works that ever you have done. And therefore, whatever you do, keep off from sin, and keep off from all sinful compliances, as you would keep off from hell itself. But,

[3.] Thirdly, Declare and evidence your propriety and interest in God, by maintaining and keeping up the sense of your interest and propriety in God, in opposition to all other interest whatsoever. Maintain your interest in God in opposition to sin’s interest, and in opposition to Satan’s interest, and in opposition to the world’s interest, and in opposition to antichrist’s interest, and in opposition to all carnal and superstitious interests, Psalms 63:1, Revelation 14:1-4 : as Moses did, and as Joshua and Caleb did, and as Mordecai and Nehemiah did, and as Daniel and the three children did, and as the apostles and the primitive Christians did. Certainly the heart of a gracious man cannot but rise, and his anger and indignation cannot but swell, against every thing and every interest that threatens to make a breach upon his interest and propriety in God, Psalms 69:9. A man that hath an interest and propriety in God, in the midst of all oppositions, is like a man made up all of fire, walking in stubble and straw: he overcomes and consumes all oppositions, and all difficulties are but whetstones to his fortitude. He encourages his soul in the face of all oppositions and dangers, as Hezekiah once did his soldiers in that 2 Chronicles 32:7-8, ’Be strong and courageous, be not dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.’ He is a fool, we say, that will be laughed out of his coat; but certainly he is a fool in folio that will be laughed out of his skin, nay, out of his soul, out of his profession, out of his eternal salvation; but doubtless such fools as these have never experienced the sweet of propriety and interest in God. Without all peradventure, there were many broad jests and many bitter scoffs broken upon Noah, whilst he was a-building of his ark. The people laughed at him, and derided him, and thought the poor old man doated and dreamed, not, as we say, of a dry summer, but of a wet winter; but yet Noah’s propriety and interest in God being clear, Noah begins his work, and goes on his work, and never ceases till he had finished that work that God had set him about.

Alciat observes in one of his Emblems, that a dog then barketh most when the moon is at fullest; but whether it be by some special influence that it then worketh on the dog, or whether it be occasioned by the spots in the moon represented unto him in the form and shape of another dog, I shall not conclude; but yet let the dog bark never so much, the moon will run her course. She will walk her station securely through the heavens, though all the dogs in the town bark never so fiercely at her; so a man that hath an interest and propriety in God, and knows it, he is like the moon, he will hold on his course heavenwards and holinesswards, though all the lewd and debauched wicked wretches in city and country should bark at him, and deride him, and oppose him, and speak all manner of evil against him. Propriety and interest in God will make a man set light by all such paper-shot, yea, it will carry him through the pikes, not only of evil tongues, but it will also carry him through the most fierce and eager opposition that either Satan himself, or any of his instruments, can possibly raise against him. But,

[4.] Fourthly, Declare and evidence your propriety and interest in God, by your sweet and noble carriage and deportment towards those that have an interest and propriety in God. Look, as a child carries it in a different way to his father to what he doth to others, so you must carry it in a different way towards those that have an interest and propriety in God, to what you do towards those that have no interest nor propriety at all in God. Though a wife be very kind and courteous to all comers and goers, yet she carries it in a very different way to her husband from what she doth to all others; she carries it with a great deal more kindness, and sweetness, and tenderness, and familiarness, and nobleness, &c., towards her husband, than she doth towards others, whether they be friends or strangers; and just thus should you carry it towards those that have a propriety and interest in God. I have not faith enough to believe that such men have any interest and propriety in God, who carry it very strangely, and proudly, and churlishly, and scornfully, and deridingly, and tyrannically, and disdainfully, and enviously, and maliciously, and rigorously, and sourly, and bitterly, &c., towards those that have an interest and propriety in God, and yet carry it at the same time very fairly, and sweetly, and courteously, &c., towards such wretches that have no interest or propriety in God at all, yea, to such that blaspheme his name, and that profane his Sabbaths, and that pollute his ordinances, and that trample upon his mercies, and that despise his warnings, and that are given up to their own hearts’ lusts, and that live as if there were neither God, nor heaven, nor hell. But,

[5.] Fifthly, Evidence your interest and propriety in God, by doing such things for God, which such as have no interest in God cannot do, nor will not do, nor have no heart nor mind to do. Evidence your interest in God, by doing singular things for God, Matthew 5:44-48; by doing such things for God that are above their reach that have no interest nor propriety in God at all; as by denying yourselves, your sinful selves, your natural selves, and your religious selves; and by keeping a singular guard upon your own hearts, words, and ways; and by stepping over the world’s crown to take up Christ’s cross, as Moses did, Hebrews 11:24; and by lessening yourselves to greaten Christ, as John did, John 3:30-32; and by lifting up of Christ above your lusts, above yourselves, above the world, above outward privileges, above your performances, above your arts, parts, and gifts, as Paul did, Philip. 3:7–9; and by blessing a taking God as well as a giving God, as Job did, Job 1; and by rejoicing and glorying in all the afflictions and sufferings that befall you for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s sake, as the apostles and primitive Christians did; and by choosing to suffer rather than to sin, as those worthies did ’of whom this world was not worthy;’ and by keeping of yourselves from the defilements, pollutions, and abominations of the times, as some in Sardis did, Revelation 3:4; and by following of the Lamb wheresoever he goes, as those hundred, forty and four thousand did, who had their Father’s name written in their foreheads, chap. 14:1–5. O sirs! it is infinitely better not to challenge any interest or propriety in God at all, than to pretend high as to interest and propriety in God, and yet to do no more for God, nay, it may be not so much, than they that have no interest nor propriety in God at all. But,

[6.] Sixthly and lastly, Evidence your interest and propriety in God, by falling roundly in with the interest of God, in opposition to all carnal interests in the world. O sirs! the interest of God will by degrees eat out and swallow up all other interests in the world. Look, as Pharaoh’s lean kine ate up the fat, Genesis 41:4, and as Aaron’s rod swallowed up the Egyptians’ rods, Exodus 7:11-12, so the interest of God will in time eat up and swallow up all that superstitious carnal worldly antichristian and Satanical interest that men labour now to uphold, with all their might, Isaiah 8:9-10. Daniel 2:35, ’Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.’ Verse 44, ’And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.’ And so chap. 7:27, ’And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’ Revelation 17:12-14, ’And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.’ If these scriptures do not clearly evidence, that the interest of Christ shall swallow up all other interests, I understand nothing. Now mark, the people of God are the interest of God, and the gospel of God is the interest of God, and the ordinances of God are the interest of God, and the institutions and pure worship of God are the interest of God, &c. And therefore, all you that have an interest and propriety in God, evidence it by your ready and resolute falling in with the interest of God. Believe it, they that fall in with the interest of God, shall fall in with the strongest side, and will be sure to carry it against ten thousand worlds. What is the stubble, to the flames? what is weakness to strength? what is impotency to omnipotency? what is folly to wisdom? what is emptiness to fulness? No more are all the carnal interests in the world to the interest of God; and therefore thrice happy is that man that falls timely and cordially in with the interest of God. But now, if upon trial and examination any of you shall find that yet the Lord is not your portion, and this I believe will be the case of many of you, I would exhort all such persons to labour with all their might, yea, to labour as for life, to get the Lord to be their portion. O sirs! this is the one thing necessary, this is the sun among the stars, this is the work of works that lies upon your hands; when this is done, all is done; till this be done, there is nothing done that will do you good in another world. O sirs! your lives lie upon it, your souls lie upon it, eternity lies upon it, your all lies upon it; and therefore you had need be restless till you have gained the Lord to be your portion.