The character of the perfect and upright man; his peaceful end described; and our duty to observe it laid down. : In a discourse on Psalm XXXVII. 37. / By Mather Byles, M.A. ; [Six lines of quotations]

The character of the perfect and upright man; his peaceful end described; and our duty to observe it laid down. : In a discourse on Psalm XXXVII. 37. / By Mather Byles, M.A. ; [Six lines of quotations]

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The CHARACTER and END of the Perfect Man &c.

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The CHARACTER and END of the Perfect Man &c.

PSALM, XXXVII. 37.

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is Peace.

THERE is nothing more becoming rational creatures, than a constant regard to the end of their several actions. It is the effect of true wisdom, to look beyond present things, forward to futurity, and inquire how they will terminate; and then to direct in the most proper methods, to avoid a mischievous, and produce a happy period.

IT is the peculiar excellency of the Holy Scriptures, that they address mankind in a manner thus suitable to themselves, and with a rational authority and majesty, strike the human soul, and command assent and reverence.

[Page] THE Psalm immediately under our view is of this character, in which the Royal Prophet undertakes to vindicate the dispensations of Divine Providence, from every objection of injustice, unfaithfulness, and inequality, with which the sons of profaness might affront and blaspheme them. From the consideration of the righteousness and equity in the dealings of GOD most high, to men upon the earth, the Psalmist perswades to the exercise of patience and holiness, and directs us where to look for that real felicity, after which our eyes wander, and our hearts incessantly pant. The inspired reasoner concludes with an exhortation, exciting all the sincerely pious, that they by no means be discouraged from the service of their Lord, and enforces the exhortation by several motives and arguments. The last of these is, the different ENDS of the righteous and the wicked. Both the righteous and the wicked must come to an end; For it is appointed unto all men once to die, and what man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? But how wide and distant are the ends of these two very different parties of men? Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the END of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together, the END of the wicked shall be cut off.

IN the words of my Text, there are three evident divisions, which I shall distinguish into descriptive, doctrinal, and practical. These I shall consider in their order.

I. THE descriptive; in which, we have the CHARACTER of the good man: PERFECT and UPRIGHT. Mark the perfect man, & behold the upright. These two terms, Perfection & Uprightness, are a short, but a most comprehensive character of an heir to caelestial and unfading glories. They are a very compendious and brief epitomie of the heart and life of a sincere christian: The fair lines of his character are here drawn, but in miniature, exact, and elegant. PERFECT and UPRIGHT: Perhaps, on the one hand, some would confine the meaning too close, and take both the words to signify the same [Page]thing. Like Pharoah's dreams, they will say, the words are one, and the interpretation is one.

OTHERS may perhaps strain them too far, and be willing to make a devout remark, which however it may entertain the Fancy, and be true in it self, perhaps may not have the weight of a demonstration with the judgment, as being otherwise than prettily deduced from this immediate text. PERFECT, say they, that is internally holy; UPRIGHT, that is externally religious. It is, without doubt a true character of a servant of GOD, that he is holy both in heart and life; but whether the two branches of my Text point most accurately at these two parts of sanctification, I shall not here pretend to determine.

BUT that I may consider the words in a suitable latitude and clearness, I shall show how they appear to me, in a more particular answer to the question, WHAT is the PERFECTION which good men attain to in this life?

IN discussing this enquiry I shall say,

I. Negatively. BY the word PERFECT in the text we are not to understand SINLESS Perfection. This is a degree of felicity not attainable by men, while they dwell in this present evil world. Of natural men, it is strictly true, what we read, in Psal. XIV. 3. They are ALL gone aside, they are ALTOGETHER become filthy; There is NONE that doth good, no NOT ONE. And even of those renewed by the SPIRIT of our GOD, it is as infallibly certain, I. Joh. i. 8. If we say we have NO SIN, we deceive our selves, & the truth is not in us.

INDEED if we take perfection in the rigid sense of the word, it means something beyond what any created Being may assume to it self; supremely and divinely good. And in this respect, surely there is none good but one, that is, GOD, Mat. XIX. 17.

BUT in a larger sense, moral perfection is applied to Creatures, and signifies a state entirely free from all sin. Such is the blessedness of the holy Angels, these sons of perfection, and possessors of unsullied purity: And such is the honour of all the Saints, in [Page]the consecrated mansions above. There, in a most exalted sense, they stand PERFECT and compleat in ALL the will of GOD; and are most emphatically called, the spirits of just men made PERFECT.

HOWEVER, in this world, alas, it is far otherwise: For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not, Eccles. vii. 10. This is a truth very easy to be proved from reason, from scripture, from example, and from our own unhappy experience.

WAS there ever a meer man, upon earth, since the fall of ADAM, that had a perfect understanding of the Law of GOD. It reaches to every action of life; to every word we speak or ought to speak; to every thought in our minds, or that should be there. It forbids sin at all times, and there is no season but there is some particular duty which it commands and exacts. In a word, the commandment is exceeding broad: so broad, that the mind of no man, weakned and obscured by the fall, can ever so much as fully understand it. It is plain then, if no man can have a compleat understanding of the divine law, he cannot fully practise it: For it is first necessary to know in order to do our duty. Thus DAVID admires, Psal. xix. 7. The Law of the LORD is PERFECT—and no wonder then, he exclaims, ver. 12. Who can UNDERSTAND his Errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Thus we see reason gives it, that as the law of GOD is of too wide a compass to be fully comprehended by sinful man; so, by consequence, it cannot be compleatly practised, any more than ignorance can be the mother of rational devotion. To this we may subjoyn another argument, namely, that did we fully understand the moral commands, yet no man perfectly comes up to what he knows.

WHO among the presuming sons of men, after he has performed one single duty, dares look back on it and appeal to GOD, that he sees no sinful defect in it, for which he desires a pardon? Not one among the deluded mortals, that boast a perfection in this life, dares venture upon this tryal; and truly if they did, what would it prove, but their impudence and [Page]vain conceit? GOD I thank thee, said the proud Pharisee, while he stood and caressed himself, and run the insolent disparity, GOD I thank thee, that I am not as other men, — or even as this publican.

SURELY if any mortal might have asserted perfection in this life, who would have been more likely than the admirable PAUL, who was the holiest among the most holy, and came not behind the very chief of the Apostles. Yet this is the very man, whom the HOLY GHOST selects out, to inspire his moving language with those pathetick and mournful sentiments, which flow through the vii. Chap. to the Romans, see from the 14. ver. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not; for what I would that I do not; but what I hate, that do I.—For I know, that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to perform that which is good I find not. For the good which I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.—I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. — I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! And is this indeed PAUL? the devout, the laborious, the most excellent PAUL! the very same who could triumph in those harmonious and gallant periods of inspiration, II. Cor. xi. from the 21 ver.—Where in soever any is bold, I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I: are they Israelites? so am I: are they the seed of Abraham? so am I: are they ministers of CHRIST? I am more: in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwrack; a night and a day have I been in the deep: In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in [Page]the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings, often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who would imagine that these two, are the descriptions of the same person! That he who was so excellent, and did so much, should cry out, Oh! the body of death! Yet, this is he; the great Paul, the renowned doctor of the Gentibes. By choosing out this distinguished Hero of Christianity, to fill his tongue with the lamentation of sin polluting all his duties, the HOLY SPIRIT seems to have pitched upon the fittest person in the world, to stop the mouth of gainsayers. For when a character so great and exalted as that of the Apostle PAUL, owns the blemishes of sin, what petty mortal presumes to stand up, and boast his superiour attainments? The Man, who drove on unrivalled through the race of Christianity, and flung even the Apostles themselves at an humble distance; to hear his confessions of defect and sin: with what pity, and contempt, and indignation must we hear a grovelling set of Enthusiasts, pour out their absurdities and nonsense, in self-applauses at their own more untarnished Holiness? None of them venters to say, He himself has attained Perfection; but they all it seems agree together, that it is scattered, invisibly, somewhere among their conceited numbers.—No doubt they are the people, and Perfection shall die with them.—

As there has been enough said to confute this vain and arogant opinion, of a sinless perfection attainable in this life, so the objections and cavils against the true Doctrine in this respect, may be as easily obviated and overthrown. It happens very uncomfortably for the asserters of Perfection, that all the texts they bring to establish their error, lie so near other texts which explain them in a different sense, that a man must be very sensibly given up to strong delusions before he can believe so evident a lie.

[Page] Do the Scriptures call some men perfect? it happens very well for our doctrine, that there is not one meer man called so, but some sin of his is also recorded, to prevent mistakes about the matter. Was † NOAH a just man, & PERFECT in his generations? This same NOAH, we are informed, * lay drunk and uncovered in his tent. Was ASA'S heart PERFECT with the Lord all his days. ‖ In the very next Chapter four of his Crimes are transmitted down to posterity. Did HEZEKIAH walk before GOD with a PERFECT heart, § yet did the sin of HEZEKIAH bring wrath upon him and upon Judah, and upon Jerusalem. Even our Father ABRAHAM himself, to whom the command was given, walk before me and be thou PERFECT, * even HE, the faithful Abraham, failed in that very grace wherein lay his chiefest excellency. He was twice over reproved by a heathen, for a crime into which he was betrayed through diffidence and infidelity. See Gen. xii.12—. xx.—. In a word, let the pretenders to perfection, look over the Scriptures, and produce from thence their meer man without sin.

PERHAPS they will give up their argument from example, and lie intrenched rather under some precept which commands perfection. They will frame their plea thus: Are we not plainly commanded to be perfect? Now is it reasonable to imagine that we should be required to perform an impracticable duty? There needs no other answer to the objection, than to cite the very text they allude to, Mat. v. 48. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. No man can understand this literally; or take it otherwise, than as a command to endeavour after perfection, as much as ever he can. And that this should be our endeavour is agreed by all: But that ever it will be our attainment in this World, still remains to be proved.

THE last argument I shall take notice of, urged by the asserters of perfect holiness in this Life, is perverted [Page]from some texts, which seem to a careless eye, to look that way: But these too, all lie near such places, as very effectually explain their meaning. In the Epistle of James, Chap. iii. 2. we are told, If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. It is well however that the very words before are, In many things we offend all. So that there can be no difficulty in this text. But the most noted passages which these men produce, are in the 1st. Epistle of John, particularly, Chap. iii. 9. He that is born of GOD sinneth not. Methinks this Epistle of all others, should be the most unlikely to find favour with these men. The first chapter of it, is directly armed to overthrow their tottering foundation. See 8 and 10. verses. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. To conclude, There is no way for these men to prove their point out of this Epistle without making the inspired author contradict himself. I shall here dismiss this point, and make some positive answer to the Question. What is that perfection good men attain to in this life, spoken of in the Text?

1. IT implies INTENTIONAL Perfection. In this particular the text explains it self, and perfection means uprightness, and sincerity. Mark the PERFECT man, and behold the UPRIGHT. If good men are not positively perfect, yet they are intentionally so; and though they can never in this life fully acquire this felicity, yet they are always endeavouring after it. So the Apostle Paul at the same time calls himself perfect, and yet says he has not attained to perfection. Phil. iii. 12, 13, 14, 15. NOT as though I had already ATTAINED, or were already PERFECT, but I follow after it.—Brethren, I COUNT NOT my self to have apprehended. But this one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind; and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of GOD in CHRIST Jesus. Let US therefore, as many as be PERFECT, be THUS MINDED. This was the Gospel preached by [Page] Paul, that though he had not arrived to perfection in the strict sense of the Word, yet, while he pressed after it, he might in the sense of the Gospel come into the number of as many as were perfect.

AND the same conclusion rears it self, on a comparison of Job i. 1. with Job. ix. 20. In the first of these Job is called a PERFECT and UPRIGHT man, one that feared GOD, and eschewed evil. And in the other Job himself pronounces, If I justify my self, my own mouth shall condemn me; if I say I am 'PERFECT', it shall also prove me perverse. Hence it plainly follows, that Job's perfection was only uprightness, and signified no more than that he feared GOD, and eschewed evil; that is, endeavoured after perfection.

AND this is a perfection which belongs to all good men. They DESIRE to be perfect; their desire forms itself into a settled PURPOSE to pursue it; their purpose produces an ENDEAVOUR; their endeavour demonstrates their SINCERITY, and their sincerity is a Gospel PERFECTION.

INDEED if we consider how sincerity operates in a good man, we shall observe some resemblance of a real perfection in it. The regards of a holy Man to the new Covenant, flame with the purest ardor, and proceed with a direct integrity. He is entirely for GOD, and aims at his glory, with a single eye, and an upright heart. Though he obeys the Law of GOD but in part, yet he obeys every part of it: That is; tho' he cannot fully come up to any single precept of it, yet, there is no single precept, which he does not endeavour to come up to. So that though the obedience of faith is not sinless, yet it is universal; and this both in regard to the person obeying, and the law obeyed.

IT is universal in respect of the person obeying; because he observes it with his whole spirit, soul, and body, and submits it both externally and internally. Thus runs the exhortation of the Apostle, Jam. iv. 8. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye double-minded. The hands and heart here specified, have a plain reference to the two constituant parts of man, body and soul.

[Page] IT is the care of the man of GOD, to present his BODY as well as his spirit a living sacrifice to GOD; and the several members that support and adorn it, he improves as the members of his LORD JESUS CHRIST. The several senses of his Body too, the holy man dedicates to the GOD who contrived their curious constitution, and maintains their various powers of action and delight. His EYES discover the image of the Deity clearly reflected from the glass of nature, and the will of GOD more clearly revealed in the mirrour of his word; and are then lifted up to heaven, in admiration and praise. His EARS catch the glad tydings of the Pulpit, and attend devoutly at the sacred place of thunder; and not only so, but they endeavour to learn something forGOD in the most trifling or vain Company. His Food relishes upon his PALATE with a finer flavour, and a stronger gust, when he eats to the glory of GOD, and therein tastes that the LORD is gracious. The Fields do not breathe their odors upon him, and render the air about him a perfume, without his articulating the scented breath in sounds of gratitude and thanksgiving. He does with his might, what his HANDS find to do, and his FEET are directed in right paths, while, like his JESUS upon Earth, he walks about constantly doing good. He calls upon his TONGUE, awake my glory to praise the LORD: And to what end, says he, have I my voice, but to praise thee aloud with joyful LIPS. In fine, the whole body of the good man, and all the members and senses of it, are dedicated to the service of GOD, and employed in the sacred exercise.

AND not only does he serve GOD in his body, but with his SPIRIT also which belongs to GOD. The HEART is the principalthing, & to this both the pious man, and his GOD have a principal regard. A constant watch over his own heart, is essential in the character of the holy man. Wherever he walks, whatever he does, this is his care, and the serious bent of his thoughts. This is a secret and silent, but a great work, and makes the upright heart, conscious to many joys which a stranger intermedles not with; and also [Page]to know its own bitterness, and feel its own plague, which none else can be a witness to. Hence we read of the hidden life of a christian, Col. iii. 3. and of the hidden man of the heart, I. Pet. iii. 4. And indeed every power and capacity of the pious soul is consecrated to the glory of GOD. This sacred employment forever furnishes its invention with a pleasing labour; renews its memory to a sweet recollection; exercises its judgment in a rational debate; and kindles its affections with a holy rapture. Thus we see the obedience of the christian to the divine Law, is universal in respect of the PERSON obeying: that is, both parts of the man yield obedience, even every faculty of his SOUL, and every member of his BODY.

AND if we consider the LAW obeyed, the obedience is universal in regard to that too. The sincere christian endeavours a conformity to the whole moral law, without any exception, and counts none of the commandments grievous. Both tables of the decalogue make but one system of rules for the direction of his life. His GOD, his neighbour, and himself, are all the objects of his becoming care and solicitude. That nicely-drawn Scheme of practical religion, Tit. ii. 12. is but a regular sketch of his life, Denying all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, he lives soberly, righteously, and godiily, in this present world; looking for the glorious rewards of another. Here is contained both the negative and positive epitome of his heart and life. He forbears to do what the law forbids, denying all ungodliness, and every worldly lust: and as it commands, he lives soberly with regard to himself; righteously with respect to his neighbour; and godlily with reference to his Maker; while at the same time the internal principle is declated looking to future rewards. So his blessed LORD upon Earth, was holy, harmless, undefiled, seperate from sinners, Heb. vii. 26. Holy before GOD, harmless towards men, and undefiled in himself; while, in a negative character, he was separate from sinners.

[Page] THIS is the picture of the PERFECT and UPRIGHT man, spoken of in our Text; and indeed none but he, is universal in his obedience to the divine law. The bypocrite is quite of another character, forever partial in his obedience, and still rolls some beloved lust as a sweet morsel under his tongue, which he will by no means part with. Nor can the most painted among that unhappy generation be described any further than he, Mar. vi. 20. He did MANY things. Many things; not all. But so much for the first thing, that the good man is intentionally perfect. To proceed,

2. HE is perfect by IMPUTATION. And in this sense, the believer is perfect in the strictest sense of the word, as it can be applied to creatures: Fully, and completely perfect. The imputation of CHRIST'S righteousness, gives the faithful a claim to a perfection without spot or blemish. The true Christian, holy as he is, and perfect as he endeavours to be, forever renounces his own righteousness, and stands perfect before GOD in the imputed righteousness of the Mediator. This is most emphatically expressed in that humble devotion and ardor of our Apostle, Phil. iii. 7, 8, 9. What things are gain to me I count loss for CHRIST. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of CHRIST JESUS my Lord — and do count them but dung that I may win CHRIST, and be found in him, not having my OWN righteousness, which is of the law, but THAT which is THROUGH FAITH in CHRIST, the RIGHTEOUSNESS which is of GOD BY FAITH. In like manner the ignorance and vain-conceit of those who go about to establish a righteousness of their own, are detected by the same Apostle, Rom. x. 4. For CHRIST is the end of the law for RIGHTEOUSNESS to every one that believeth. But it is not easy to express any thing more plainly than this matter is declared in the fifth chapter to the Romans. See from the 12 verse, where the Apostle treats this subject at large. I am not concerned to know what subtilties the unlearned and unstable may use to wrest this passage of Paul's Epistle: [Page]But sure they will at least keep from contradicting the Dictrine as we here lay it down; for the same Trick which will evade the Aposile's Argument, will also serve to explain all that we assert according to their own Scheme. I do not see how it is possible to deliver this Doctrine in plainer and fewer words than those, As by one man's DISOBEDIENCE many were made SINNERS; so, by the OBEDIENCE of one, shall many be made RIGHTEOUS.

IN short, this Justification by the imputed Righteousness of CHRIST, is so evidently asserted and explained in the holy writings, that a man must be more cunning than ordinary; who can perswade them to a different confession. No doubt the various Racks of the Critick, or the Commentator (men who have a wonderful knack to illustrate away the meaning of the clearest texts, and explain them into nonsense) no doubt, but the artificial engines of these men may pervert the plainest words, and extort half a dozen contradictions from every verse in the New Testament: But however their ingenuity may please themselves, and gratify a few Gentlemen of their own opinions, yet they will never be able to convince the serious inquirer after truth, or weaken the authority of the inspired oracles; to a mind at the same time devout and rational.

IF then the Scriptures declare the rightcousness of CHRIST imputed to the true believer, no wonder he is called the PERFECT MAN. This is the distinguishing glory of the sons of GOD among men; and this honour have all the saints. The radiant attire of his Saviour's righteousness shines over the justified soul of the perfect man. This untarnished and dazling robe, renders it approved and beauteous in the eyes of heaven. Not the strict and impartial justice of GOD can charge it with the least defect, adorned so illustrious and magnificent. Not an angel in the imperial city above sparkles in the circle of so divine a splendour; nor does the whole constellation of morning stars blend their beams in an equal glory.

STAND still then, Mark the PERFECT man! and behold the UPRIGHT! Take notice and observe his [Page]Character. PERFECT; that is, JUSTIFIED by the imputation of a perfect righteousness, even CHRIST's. UPRIGHT; that is, SANCTIFIED by the HOLY SPIRIT. Thus is the good man PERFECT as he who has called him is PERFECT; and he walks in the shining path of the just, which rises more and more unto the PERFECT day!

WE come now to the SECOND main thing in the Text, which may properly enough be called the DOCTRINAL part of it.

II. THE perfect and upright man has PEACE in his END.

IT is a great mistake to imagine that there is no peace in the way of a true Believer; for certainly his WAYS are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace; Prov. iii. 17. But it is surely a much greater error to suppose that the end of his way is not peaceful and happy. Nay, the END of that man is PEACE; a PEACE passing all understanding, and a peace without any end at all.

BUT for the clearer illustration of this matter; we may here make a concession, and acknowledge that the death of believers may sometimes be attended with uneasy and grievous circumstances. When we assert the peaceful end of the good man, we do not always mean to banish from his death-bed, every thing of a frightful and ghastly aspect; and spread sun-shine and serenity over the gloomy vale. No; the pious man may die in such a manner, as to wear quite a different face from that of peace, in the unsanctified eye. All may seem to end in a tragedy; his sun may set in a cloud; and the grave may open a hideous mouth, and gape upon him black and dismal. The righteous and unerring Providence of GOD in this World, makes no distinguishing and constant difference between the holy and impious. For we see that WISE MEN DIE, likewise the FOOL and the BRUITISH PERSON perish. And HOW dieth the WISE MAN? as the FOOL, Eccl. ii. 14, 15, 16. The WISE MAN—and the FOOL—I my self perceived that ONE EVENT happened to them all. Then said I to [Page]my self, as it happeneth to the FOOL, so it happeneth unto ME; and why was I then more WISE?

THESE equal distributious of providence, in regard to the just and the unjust, for ever check the daring pride of the men who would judge of their neighbours uprightness, by the events that befall them. It is a vain arrogance to judge a man's estate in the other world, by the manner of his expiration here: And it is a vain presumption to expect that all good men should die with the outward signs of peace, and basking in the visible dawn of a future blessedness. Our blessed Saviour has warned us against these indecent and uncharitable censures, Luk. xiii. 1-5. There were present at that season, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with the sacrifices: And Jesus answering, said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, NAY: — Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men which dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, NAY:— Thus the death of good men may sometimes look with an awful and surprizing aspect; far from peace and calm. They may die by casualties; like those slain of Siloam: They may be afflicted with grievous diseases; like the upright Job: they may be murdered by the cruelties of martyrdom; as the righteous Abel: or they may be struck by the immediate hand of heaven; as the too-zealous Uzziah.

NAY, what is most of all dreadful, a good man may die in great dejection of mind: and instead of peace, his whole soul may be in a tumult; and the sound of war, may alarm his last moments. GOD may hide his face from him; and withdraw the sense of his love. The Devil may be let loose, and urge his onsets with redoubled sury, because be knoweth that he hath but a short time. In a word, the good man may die with all possible circumstances of horror and anguish, except an absolute despair.

[Page] BUT is this any objection to the truth of the Doctrine, The END of that man is PEACE? Surely no: even amidst all the shuddering of this agony, and though the thundering tempest beat with the utmost outrage upon the departing saint; yet is there peace and calm in it all. Faith shews the heavenly calm of paradise, far-distant, behind this momentary tumult: and let the winds rise, the waves roar, and the storm thicken and grow black in the cloudy atmosphere below: Yet above does the ether shine ever clear and serene; and the climate is eternally pure, and soft, and indulgent. There the sun-beams play about without the least stain or obstruction; but the whole ample space, seems but one unbounded ocean of flame and glory. Nay, even all the present affliction; the grief of soul, and the pangs of death; it is all intended for the advantage of the good man; and shall only promote his flight to the smiling regions, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.

HAVING made this concession, and considered the objection which might arise from it, I shall now show, HOW the END of the perfect and upright man is PEACE.

1. A good man dies in a STATE of PEACE and reconciliation to GOD. Sin has made a terrible controversy between GOD and man; while man is become the rebel, and GOD the avenger. The deplorable condition in which the fallen race of Adam stand with relation to the holy GOD, is like that, Zach. xi. 8. — My soul loathed them, and their soul abhorred me.

BUT though the state of the unregenerate is thus unhappy and dismal, while GOD holds them for his enemies: Yet it is much otherwise with true believers. The difference between GOD and them is made up. GOD is at peace with them, and they are reconciled to GOD. Rom. v. 1. Being justified by faith, we have PEACE with GOD, through our Lord Jesus CHRIST. That blessed Prince of peace, has made peace for us; He has bought it with his blood, and sealed it to us by [Page]his holy Spirit. He has drawn up the articles of it, in his new and everlasting Covenant; and settled it upon strong foundations, forever fixed and immoveable. There it stands like a mighty city, of the finest symmetry and proportion: divine wisdom is the architect; divine truth the basis, and it is supported upon the pillars of omnipotence. Surely the death thus defended and secured, cannot but be really peaceable and blessed. But,

2. THERE is not only a real peace in the death of believers, but it is very often attended with a SENSE of that happy and glorious PEACE. They have frequently a taste of peace, as well as always a state of peace, when they come to die. TO DYE! alas, how improper the phrase for our purpose here! Rather, it is a sleeping in JESUS; an entrance into rest, and into glory. A soft transition to the upper World; a short step to a full reward of our labours. DEATH! Tis but the opening of the gates of Paradise; and though they may sometimes seem to grate upon their hinges, and affright the soul with a jarring sound; yet how often do they, on the contrary, move smooth and easy, and ring their golden harmony in the ears of the dying saint. Open, ye gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in PERFECT PEACE, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee, Isai. xxvi. 2, 3.

OH! happy condition of the expiring good man! O peace divinely sweet, and divinely full! Death if self is no longer an enemy, but a friend beyond expression welcome to a triumphing soul. O death, he shouts aloud, O DEATH! where is thy sting? O GRAVE where is thy victory? His conscience now when he has ost need of it, appears for him, and anticipates the sentence of his Judge. It pronounces, Well done, good and faithful servant, thou shalt presently enter into the joy of thy Lord. His SAVIOUR now speaks peace to him, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. GOD his FATHER, with smiling lips, and an enlightened countenance, tells him, SON, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. The HOLY [Page]SPIRIT becomes in him, a spirit of adoption, and of consolation; inspires him with a noble courage, and transports him with a full assurance. The attending Angels that hover round his curtains, to receive the dis-united soul, are busy to strengthen him in his agony. They say, Fear not, our friend, for thou hast found favour with GOD: Hail! thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed shalt thou be for ever: And as for us, we also are thy fellow-servants, and thy brethren. Nay, the believer himself how can he choose but sing, divinely raised! I am now ready to be offered up, and my departure is at hand; I have sought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which CHRIST the righteous judge will give me on that day. Ah, vain world, says be, no more shall your gilded vanities mock my eyes: I am going to a world of substantial and unfading delights! Ah, vile sin, no more shall you molest and perplex me: I am just entring into the city, where nothing entreth that defileth, or worketh abomination. Ah, tempting devil, yet a little while and I am with you, and then I go to my father: and whither I go, thither you cannot come. These elevated flights, this triumphant language, is often heard from the quivering lips of the expiring Believer.

MARK now, the perfect man, and behold the upright; and say, ye wise observers, say, is not the end of that man peace? BEHOLD, his eyes strive with departing light, and hang upon the ebbing day; anon, they fix, they darken, they go out: But say, O FAITH! what are the joys which the soul, the immortal part, sees, and conses with, while the mortal eyes are languishing in death! What visions of endless glory rise up to the smiling spirit! How is it cheer'd, how transported, by the rushing beams of a future blessedness, that break the clouds of the awful valley! MARK, his breast heaves, and his heart seems to labour in the final struggle: But, oh! does the pale bosom really pant with agony? or rather, does not the heart leap and bound with a joy unfelt till this blessed moment; [Page]and is not the breast swell'd and extended only by the ravishing beginnings, of the extasy without limits, and without end.

THERE is not a more noble sight in nature, than a good man amidst all the confusions and horrors of death, relying on his blessed Redeemer with such an unruffled and heavenly calm of mind. The very heathen paid this complement to virtue, as certain also of their own poets have express'd it: * The man resolute in goodness hears regardless the clamours of the despicable rabble, and mocks the frown of the threatning tyrant. Nor storms, nor the thunder of God, can shake the solid peace of his mind. Should the orbs of heaven fall crushing about him, fearless would he stand, and hear a world shatter to ruins. If the Poet of the Gentiles can sing thus, what strains shall the Apostle of the Gentiles raise, for the lips of the dying christian. Rom. viii. 35, 37, 38, 39. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am perswaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These may well be the notes, the hallelujahs, which the Saint giving up his soul, may send to paradise before him. Assured that nothing shall separate him from the love of CHRIST; and assured that his maker is his friend, HE, the GOD who manages all the wheels of Nature and Providence, what has he to fear. GOD, may he say, is my father; Heaven is my home; Death is my friend; Angels are my guardians; all things are instruments of my good.

He may demonstrate to all about him, that there is something in religion able to support, and bear him up, under all the confusions & shipwrecks of nature. The uproar of a dissolving universe cannot disturb the soft and settled [Page]tranquility of his mind, while the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD breathes and operates there. He attends the Thunder as it shakes the skies over him, and he shouts to the noble sound. O, says he, I hear my father speak here; it is his dear voice that breaks the clouds; and bends the poles! And as the Lightnings flourish the power of his GOD, in flaming characters, thro' the gloomy sheets of midnight, There, he sings, there behold the glory of my inheritance in light, stream down the skies, in every blaze, and every gleam. If death rushes to meet him, upon the wings of a whirlwind, undaunted, unappall'd; he smiles upon the welcome angel, and hears the blasts of the hurricane, as the trumpet of the herald to proclaim his ascent to paradise. He says * among the trumpets, ha, ha; he defies the tempest afar off, the thunder of the winds, and the roaring. He mocks at fear, and is not affrighted, neither turns he back from the blast, the shaft, that hisles along towards him, feathered with death, and commissioned for his soul. Even in an Earthquake, when all things about him look wild in a general shudder, composed and easy, he may set still, and sing; and not Paul and Silas tune the air to more melodious sounds.

UPON the whole, what a glorious peace runs like a golden thread through the whole christian life; while the end of it is in a more particular manner blazon'd with the glittering fringe, like the splendid garments of Aaron? † ‘Behold, happy is the man whom GOD thus calleth away. In six troubles and in seven shall no evil touch him: neither shall he be affraid of destruction, when it cometh. At destruction and famine he shall laugh; neither shall he be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For he shall be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at PEACE with him. And he shall know that his tabernacle shall be in PEACE: and he shall visit his habitation, and shall not sin. He shall come to his grave in a full age, like as a shook of corn cometh in its season.’

[Page] 3. AFTER their death believers go into EVERLASTING and PERFECT PEACE. If we would so mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, as to have a full view of their peaceful END, let us look beyond the grave, into the invisible world. Isai. Ivii. 1, 2. The righteous perisheth, and the merciful man is taken away — The righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into PEACE—. But when will it once be that he shall enter into this unmolested peace? Truly, when he is taken away; and at the END of his life here. Rom. vi. 22. Being now made free from sin, and becoming servants to GOD, ye have your sruit unto holiness, and the END everlasting life. No sooner is the last gasp over, but the spirit of the believer wings away for paradise, the realms of immortal peace and triumph. A flight of Angels, watch unseen, round his dying curtains, to be the convoys of the fleeting soul: And soon as the vital thred snaps asunder, they receive it with a glad caress, and spread their pinions and soar away. If our minds could but follow the shining ascent, what a wonderful scene of glories would open upon them? How does a soul just escaped from a body of sin, and pain, and death, exult as it towers away in the midst of such bright attendants! What Hallelujahs spread tuneful round the unmeasured AEther, as the pomp rises through it, to the regions of life, ever-fair and flourishing!

BUT, O the peace, the joy, the rapture inconceivable! when the orient gates of the new Jerusalem shall be thrown open for the reception of the perfect man! O dazling splendors of the crown, that never fades or grows dim, prepared for the man faithful unto the death! O the unknown transports, in the open immediate vision of JESUS, the very life of the good man below, and the crown of his future glory! Here is the great peace we look for: The end of the perfect and upright man, is a translation to this holy and illustrious world. Here we shall have peace from corruptions; nor shall we complain any more of the body of death, after the death of the body. Here we [Page]shall have peace from temptation; for there is no serpem in that heavenly paradise, no forbidden tree in that beaureous garden of GOD. Here we shall have peace from afflictions of all sorts; for there are no sorrows where all tears are wiped from the ruptured eyes: There is no sickness where the Sun of Righteousness shines in his meridian glory, with healing in his wings: There are no reviling Shimei's in the New Jerusalem; nor can any losses happen to those who find these durable riches.

THESE are faint shadows of the heavenly blessedness! Alas, how little a portion is known of it! No more—To speak of the glory of heaven fully, who is sufficient for these things! What the perfection of it will be, we know not now; we shall know hereafter. Fitter are these themes for the Hallelujahs of a Seraph, than the fauitering tongue of a mortal: better to be admired than described: to dwell for ever in a sacred meditation on our hearts; to influence every action we perform; and at last, to breathe a peace into our final hour, and inspire the instant of our death, with a joy untasted in the brightest moment of our life. This is the LAST End, of the perfect and upright man; and this the PEACE which spreads its wings over it. ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor can the heart of man ascend high enough to conceive it all!’

THE LAST part of the text, we observed was properly PRACTICAL; and consists of a direction to perform a particular duty; Namely,

III. WE are to take a particular NOTICE and OBSERVATION of the peaceful end of the perfect ind upright man. MARK, BEHOLD, says the text; that is, Take particular HEED, and be careful to remember, and fix in your minds the joys and assurances of the perfect man, as he lies gasping on the bed of death: observe and record his conquest of the last enemy. I shall but just touch upon this point, and having offered a few hints to show our duty and advantage in this respect, I shall finish with a brief Reflection upon the whole. We should MARK and BEHOLD the peaceful END of the perfect and upright man, Because,

[Page]I. IT CONFIRMS OUR FAITH in the truth of the Gospel. O most excellent religion, we cry, that can inspire its votaries with such noble and well-timed courage! Here seems to be the seal of GOD that it is indeed true. Blessed are the ways which End thus happily.

2. IT ENCOUR AGES OUR HOPE, that OUR END also may be PEACE. We look upon the departing believer rejoycing in the hope of the glory of GOD, and ravished with the foretaste of his approaching blessedness; and we say within our selves, ‘Who knows but GOD may thus graciously support and inspire me too, when I languish in the same contion.’ We see his pale lips smiling in a perfect calm, and his closing eyes lifted up in the raptures of desire and assurance, while we hear the last notes flutter upon his dying tongue, ‘How long, O LORD! — When shall I come and appear before GOD? — Come, Lord JESUS, come quickly? — Why is thy chariot so long a coming? why tarry the wheels of thy chariot! — I desire to depart, and to be with. CHRIST! — Father, thy will be done! — Lord JESUS, receive my spirit.’ We stand by the bed of death, and BEHOLD the scene of tranquility, and MARK the sacred, and sublime, and joyous language, and our glowing hearts argue, ‘This good man was such an one as I now am: He fuffered the same temptations; laboured under the same insirmities; and, it may be, slipt into the same sins which now cause me to walk softly and mourning. But now, GOD has forgotten all; he is comforted, and entring upon endless satisfactions. The same GOD whom we both serve, may, as far as I can tell, deal thus with me too.’

3. SUCH observations MAKE US WILLING, and TEACH US HOW to die. Who can behold the man of GOD amidst the shades of death, thus composed and serene, thus chearful, and thus ravished, and not be willing to be as he is, and even wish to repose our dying heads upon the same happy pillow? To look death in the face with the same courage, and commit [Page]our fleeting souls into the hands of JESUS with the same confidence and ardour?

4. WHEN we mark the happy END of the perfect man, we are induced to FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE. While we mark and behold the happy END of good men; we are excited to mark and behold their LIVES too, by a wise imitation of them. The felicity that glitters to the period of a pious life, powerfully urges and perswades us, to follow those who through faith and patience inherit the promises; to shew the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the END: Their faith we follow, considering the END of their conversation.

BUT it is time to hasten to a CONCLUSION. Let us pause, and REFLECT.

MARK the perfect man, and BEHOLD the upright, the END of that man is PEACE: Go to now, MARK and BEHOLD the WAY to OBTAIN PEACE in our latter END.

To this purpose; Let us not be so stupid and foolish as to put far from us the thoughts of our end, forget the day of our death, and make it an evil day by doing so. Are we all going down to the dead? and shall we permit such madness in our hearts as to do it blindfold; and rush upon the flames of hell as the horse rusheth to the battel? O that we were wise, that we understood this, that we would consider our LATTER END! Let us consider that we are not far from our End, but our lives fly swiftly to a period. Especially to such as put off the solemn preparations for their end, to such is applicable that, in Ezek. vii. 5, 6. Thus saith the Lord GOD,—the END is come, the END is come, it watcheth for thee, behold it is come! And is it indeed come; and does it thus stand ready for the secure sinner; and shall he still mock it, and scoff it from afar? shall he urge it on with an insolent frenzy? will he think to dare the vengeance of heaven, and out-brave omnipotence! Ah! be not thus wicked over-much, neither foolish; why shouldst thou be destroyed before thy time.

[Page] MARK the perfect man, and behold the upright, the END of THAT man is peace: But what is the END of those who are NOT perfect and upright? Will these unhappy men have peace in their latter end? what peace so long as the sins of a wicked life remain unpardoned! Verily, there is NO PEACE saith my GOD, to the wicked! Shall I carry you to the death-bed of a wretch who has lived without GOD, and without CHRIST, and without hope in the world: And who dies as he lived, without hope, and abandoned to trembling, and agony, and despair? Who can utter, or what heart conceive, the wild horror of such a guilty soul, just gasping into the hands of an almighty and inexorable judge! Just sinking down into the place of torment, the fathomless pit of perdition, and the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, from whence the smoke rolls up for ever and ever! How does the amazed spirit, recoil, and shrink back into the body, at the dismal prospect before it! How does it shudder upon the edges of the vast duration, which stretches from its eyes in an endless succession of ages! that eternity, which waits to overwhelm and swallow it up! But, alas, vain are all its tears, and out-cries; it looks wild about for any way to escape in vain. The prospect of life is wholly over; the door of mercy is for ever shut; the holy angels are all drawn off, and will no more defend it; the devils stand all hissing around, and wait to rush in upon it; hell opens its voracious jaws, and flames of fire leap out; the soul begins to feel the unsufferable scorches, and finds, that let it shriek and strive ever so much, IN IT MUST! To sum up all in a word, GOD holds it for an enemy! The GREAT GOD is engaged against it; dooms it to suffer his almighty vengeance: and who knows the power of his anger! even as his fear so is his wrath.

BUT this is only the state of the death-bed; and the picture of the spirit shivering on the borders; what are the scenes which open behind? Is thers any PEACE TO COME? any hope of hereafter? alas, no. Where is the language to declare the strange [Page]plagues, which will continue for ever to torment the ruined sinner? Not the howlings of hell it self can express its torments; not the horrid imagination of a devil can paint his future and eternal misery. This is the END of all that forget GOD. The pleasures that now flatter them, will be bitterness in the LATTER END; will at LAST bite like a serpent, and sting like an adder. They shall mourn at the LAST: and find the END of those ways to be the ways of death. He who pursues his sinful pleasures, in such an open defiance of heaven, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his END shall be a fool. Numb. xxiv. 20. His LATTER END shall be that he PERISH FOREVER.

SURE, it can be no indecency to speak with emphesis here: for who can think of these things unaffected? who can let his mind loose upon these awful mysteries of damnation, and not be moved at the dire idea? who can look down into this horrible furnace, and talk of the devouring and unquenchable fire, in cool blood? For my own part, when I meditate, my flesh trembles; my lips quiver at the thoughts; terrors enter into my heart; and I tremble in my self, that I may find PEACE in the day of trouble * the hour of death.

AND is this indeed the END of all that forget GOD? and on the other hand, Is the End of the good man so divine and glorious as we have heard? who would not pray with him, Numb. xxiii. 10. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my LAST END be like his! Would we be thus happy in our end, and dye the peaceful death of the righteous? Let us be thus sincere in our beginning, and live the holy life of the righteous.

LET us all be at last perswaded to sue for peace with GOD, that we may have peace in our latter end.

WAS there ever more affecting words uttered among men, than those, II. Cor. v. 20. We are ambassadours for CHRIST, as tho' GOD did beseech you by[Page]us: we pray you in CHRIST's stead, be ye RECONCILED TO GOD?

WITH what pathetick language did our blessed Saviour mourn over Jerusalem, who had outstood tis day of grace; and had an eternal bar fixed to its peace with GOD! Luk. xix. 41, 42. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy PEACE! but now they are hidden from thy eyes! O let us not delay our endeavours after a peace with GOD, least This condition, also become ours.

BUT in our transactions about this great affair, let us by no means forget our Lord Jesus CHRIST; but do all through him, depending upon him, and ascribing all to him. Of him it is declared, Mich. v. 5. THIS MAN IS THE PEACE. Having secured a part in his friendship and mediation, we are happy for ever: nothing can hurt us; all things will work together for our good.

LET the end of our lives come now as soon as they will, the day of our death, will prove better than the day of our birth. Then shall unmolested,—smiling, immortal peace spread her heavenly wings over us. We may throw our selves upon the bed of death, and sing, in the notes of the psalmist, Psal. iv. 8. I will lay me down in PEACE and sleep, for thou LORD makest me dwell in safety.

FINIS.

Notes

†

Gen. vi. 9.

↵

*

Gen. ix. 20, 21.

↵

‖

2. Chron. xv. 17.

↵

§

2 Kin. xx. 3.

↵

*

Gen. xvii. 1.

↵

*

Hor. Lib. III. Ode. 3.

↵

*

Job. xxxix. 25.22.

↵

†

Job v. 17, 19, 21-26.

↵

*

Hab. 3.16.

↵

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

Mr. BYLES's SERMON, From PSALM XXXVII. 37.

§

§

[Page]

THE CHARACTER OF THE Perfect and Ʋpright Man; HIS Peaceful END described; AND Our Duty to OBSERVE it laid down. In a DISCOURSE On PSALM XXXVII. 37.

By Mather Byles, M.A.

Phil. I. 21.

For me to live is CHRIST, and to die is gain.

Quod si putatis longius vitam trahi

Mortalis aura nominis,

Cum sera vobis rapiet hoc etiam dies,

Iam vos secunda mors manet.

Boet.

BOSTON: Printed for S. GERRISH in Cornhil. MDCCXXIX.

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Title statement

The character of the perfect and upright man; his peaceful end described; and our duty to observe it laid down. : In a discourse on Psalm XXXVII. 37. / By Mather Byles, M.A. ; [Six lines of quotations]

Byles, Mather, 1707-1788.

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Text Creation Partnership,

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2009-10.

ID [DLPS]

N02652

ID [TCP]

N02652

ID [STC]

Evans 3144

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APZ0116

ID [IMAGE-SET]

3144

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99037732

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 3144.

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— The character of the perfect and upright man; his peaceful end described; and our duty to observe it laid down. : In a discourse on Psalm XXXVII. 37. / By Mather Byles, M.A. ; [Six lines of quotations], Byles, Mather, 1707-1788..

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[4], 27, [1] p. ; 19 cm. (8vo)

Printed for S. Gerrish in Cornhil.,. Boston: :: MDCCXXIX. [1729]. (Half-title: Mr. Byles's sermon, from Psalm XXXVII. 37.) (Running title: The character and end of the perfect man.)

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