you.

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you;" John xv. 13-15.

(1.) Abraham" was called the Friend of God;" Jam. ii. 23. (2.) And they are called the Lord's jewels; Mal. iii. 17. (3.) They are called his beloved, and dearly beloved; Deut. xxxiii. 12. Psal. lx. 5. cxxvii. 2. Cant. ii. 16. vi. 3. vii. 10. Holy and beloved are inseparable. "Beloved of God, called to be saints;" Rom. iv. 7. "The elect of God, holy and beloved;" Col. iii. 12. They are the dearly beloved of his soul (Jer. xii. 7.); for they are "accepted in the beloved" (Eph. i. 6.); even in the "beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased;" Matt. iii. 17. xvii. 5.

(4.) They are called children, or adopted sons; Gal. iv. 6. John i. 12. And he disdaineth not to be called their Father; Heb. xii. 9. Matt. xxiii. 9. 2 Cor. vi. 18. "I will be a father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty;" Mal. iii. 17. He will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him.

(5.) They are called also the heirs of heaven; Rom. viii. 17. A more honourable heritage than earth affords.

(6.) They are called "a peculiar people to the Lord" (Tit. ii. 14.); and his "peculiar treasure;" Exod. xix. 5. Psal. cxxxv. 4.

(7.) They are called "kings and priests to God;" Rev. i. 6. They are a" chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people;" 1 Pet. ii. 9.

(8.) The sanctified are called the spouse of Christ; Cant. iv. 8-13. Because of the similitude of the holy covenant which they make with Christ to a marriage covenant; and because of the dearness of his love to them, and the nearness and sweetness of his communion with them. Matt. xxii. 2. 4. 9. The Lord is said to be married to them; Jer. iii. 14. And their Maker calls himself their Husband; Isa. liv. 5.

(9.) Yea more, they are called the members of Christ; 1 Cor. vi. 15. xii. 12. They are the " body of Christ and members in particular;" ver. 27. We are " members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, loved and cherished by him, as a man doth his own flesh;" Ephes. v. 25. 28-30. 32. They are kept by the Lord as the apple of his eye;

Deut. xxxii. 10.

And he that "toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye;" Zech ii. 8. What nearness! what dearness do those terms express!

(10.) Yea, they are said to be one with Christ; "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit;" 1 Cor. vi. 17. "That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. -That they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one ;" John xvii. 21-23. Not that they are one in Godhead, or personality, or office with Christ, but most nearly conjoined as subjects to their prince, that make one body politic, and as a wife to a husband, and nearer than these can express, in that they have the communications of his Spirit.

Judge now by all these wonderful titles, whether any but an atheist or infidel can deny, that the godly are the most honourable people in the world? If it be not a contemptible thing to be the son of a king, how much less to be the sons of the Eternal King. Deny the honour of those that are so nearly related to him, and you deny the himself, and consequently deny him to be God. the beginning and end of all.

honour of Atheism is

3. Moreover the servants of the Lord have the most honourable natures or dispositions in the world. And the honour that ariseth from a man's intrinsical disposition, is far greater than that which accrueth to him from his parentage, or wealth, or worldly greatness, or any such extrinsic accidents. Many a proud and worthless person doth boast of the nobility of their ancestors, and tell you what blood doth run in their veins; when they have debased souls, and nothing advanced them or their ancestors, but their riches or the pleasure of some prince; and they know that the beggars at their doors did come from Noah as well as they. The surgeon findeth no purer blood in their veins, than in the beggars; nor are their carcases any more sweet or lovely; and therefore if their manners are worse, they are more base than honest beggars. It is the mind that beareth the true stamp of nobility. They are the noblest that have the noblest souls. All the silks and velvets in the world, will not make an ape as honourable as a man, nor an idiot as a wise man. Solomon in all his royalty was not clothed like

some of the flowers in the field (Matt. vi. 28, 29.); and yet he was more honourable than they. A corpse may be most sumptuously adorned; a crown may be set on the head of an image. Such as the mind is, such is the man. And that the souls of the sanctified are more nobly qualified than those of other men is easily demonstrated. For,

(1.) Christ dwelleth in them by faith, and by his Spirit; Eph. i. 17. ii. 22. We are the temples of the Holy Ghost; 1 Cor. vi. 19. The new nature of the saints hath no meaner an Author than the Lord himself. It is the Divine power that giveth us all things that pertain to life and godliness; 2 Pet. i. 3. As it is the honourable work of God the Father to be our Creator, and of God the Son to be our Redeemer; so is it the honourable work of God the Holy Ghost to be our Sanctifier. And therefore as it is a blaspheming of the Creator to vilify the creation; and a blaspheming of the Redeemer to vilify the redemption; so is it a blaspheming of the Sanctifier to vilify sanctification. Though I say not that it is the unpardonable blasphemy, yet a fearful blasphemy it is. O that those wretches knew their crime, that mock at the special work of the Holy Ghost!

(2.) The new creature is illuminated with a heavenly light, and cured of its former mortal blindness, and is "brought out of darkness into marvellous light;" (Eph. i. 18. Acts xxvi. 18. Col. i. 13. 1 Pet. ii. 9.); and is taught of God; John vi. 45. 1 Thess. iv. 9. 1 John ii. 27. And it is more honourable to see, than to be blind, and to live in the open light, than in a dungeon. And it is the highest matters in the world that the gracious soul is savingly acquainted with. It is more honourable to have the knowledge of the profoundest sciences, than of some low and poor employment. And it is more honourable to have the saving knowledge of God, and of the life to come, which the poorest sanctified person hath, than to have the most admired fleshly wisdom, or all the common learning in the world. What high, and excellent, and necessary things doth grace acquaint the Christian with! He knoweth him that is the cause of all things else, having himself no cause. He knoweth him that is knowledge itself, and that knoweth all things. He knoweth him that is eternal, that never began, and shall never end; that is greater than the world; that is more glorious than the sun; that can do all things

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because he is Almighty; and yet can do no evil, because he is most good and holy. He knoweth him that made the world and all things, and holdeth them in the hand of his omnipotency, and ruleth them by his wisdom, and doeth all things according to the good pleasure of his will. He knoweth him that is man's felicity, to know whom is eternal life. He knoweth the Redeemer, and the riches of his grace and promises. He knoweth the diseases of his own soul, and their danger and cure. He knoweth what end he hath to aim at, and the work that he was made and redeemed for to do; the temptations which he must resist; the enemies which he must conquer; the duties which he must perform. He knoweth his Redeemer's laws and covenants; what he commandeth, promiseth, and threateneth, and to whom. He knoweth what will be hereafter: and where he shall live when this life is ended; and what he shall do ten thousand years hence, yea, unto all eternity. He knoweth what will become of all the godly and ungodly (that die such) in the world, and where they shall be for evermore. In a word, he knoweth whence he came, whither he is going, and which way he must go. He knoweth God as his Maker, Governor, and End. He knoweth that God that he must please, and how to please him, and how to be saved, and to live with God for ever. This is the honourable knowledge of the sanctified; which no men have but they alone. The cunning politicians of the world have none of it (as such). The speculators of nature, the great mathematicians, the learned doctors, famous for their skill in languages, philosophy, and the theory of divinity, are oft without it. They have more of the words, and notions, and forms, and methods, than unlearned saints have; but they want the thing that these are made for. They have the signs, and the godly have the thing signified. They have the body of theology, and the godly Christian hath the soul. The ungodly doctors have better skill to break the shell, but the godly Christian only knows how to eat the kernel. The learned may be better at the office of a cook, to dress the meat; but only the godly do feed on it, and digest it. Knowledge is to be valued, (as all creatures are) according to its usefulness. As it is more honourable to know how to govern a kingdom, command an army or navy, or save men's lives, than to make a fiddle or a hobby-horse; so it is ten thousandfold more

honourable, to know how to order our hearts and lives, and to walk with God, and obtain the everlasting glory, than to know how to get the riches, and pleasures, and vainglory of the present world.

(3.¿ The sanctified are made alive to God, when other men are dead to sin; Rom. vi. 11. 13. Eph. ii. 1. And the poorest man alive is more honourable than the carcase of an em"A living dog is better than a dead lion;" Eccles.

peror. ix. 4.

(4.) The sanctified are cleansed from the filthiness of their sins, which are the most odious defilements in the world: and they are purified by the blood and spirit of Christ; 1 Johni.7.9. Eph. v. 26. 2 Cor. vii. 1. The "word of Christ hath made them clean;" John xv. 3. Their hearts are "purified by faith;" Acts xv. 9. 1 Pet. i. 22. 1 John iii. 3. And therefore the most odious part of their dishonour is removed; "sin is a reproach to any people;" Prov. xiv. 34. Whatever it may seem before ungodly men, it is sin that is your shame before the Lord. And this reproach the godly are now cleansed from. Though it be a dishonour to them that they were ungodly once, it is their honour that now they are not such; and that they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

(5.) The holy nature of the saints disposeth their hearts, and inclineth their wills to the highest and most honourable things. As in their knowledge, so in their inclinations they are above the baseness of the world. The nature of man is not to feed as beasts, and horses, and dogs do: he is above their food; and above their converse and kind of life. That will not content him that contenteth them. And the new nature of a sanctified man, is above the delights and contents of the ungodly. His heart cannot endure to take up with that kind of life. To mind nothing but this world, and to have no pleasure but to the flesh, and live as an utter stranger to God, and not to feed on the heavenly delights, and riches of the Gospel, but live as if there were no such thing, this sensual life is below his inclination, as feeding on dross, or conversing only with swine or cattle, is below the nature of a man. The noble soul is that which is inclined to the most noble objects; even to God, and holiness, and everlasting life, and cannot endure the poor, and low, and sordid life of men, that have their portion here; Psal. xvii. 14. No