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notwithstanding the humble Senfe he himself had of his own Failings, yet ftill God gives him that great Character of Uprightness and Perfection-Job ii. Verse 3. A Perfect and an Upright Man, one that feareth God and efcheweth Evil; and still he holdeth faft his Integrity.

Thus have you seen who is in the Scripture-Sense a Perfect and an Upright Man, and what Sort of Uprightness and Perfection it is that God will require of us, and will be pleas'd to accept from us, to wit, Uprightnefs of Heart, and a Perfection of Integrity, though there be not an Abfolute Perfection of Unfinning Obedience.

And now I come to Confider in the

II.

IId Place, the Regard that is due to such a Man, to the Perfect and Upright Man; Mark (fays the Pfalmift,) and Behold him. Which I fhall take in a threefold Senfe:

1, Mark and Behold him as a Rare Inftance of Goodnefs, fit to be Admir'd by us. 2dly, Mark and Behold him as a great Example of Goodness, fit to be Imitated by us: And 3dly, Mark and Behold him as a Proper Instance for the Vindication of Providence, fit to be Obferved by us.

I.

I. Mark and Behold him as a Rare Inftance of Goodnefs, fit to be Admir'd by us. Fools and Knaves, Cunning and Deceit

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ful Men, are every where to be met with, but are not worth Regarding. But the Perfect and Upright Man, the Sincere, Honeft, Good Man, is a Sight not every Day to be feen. The Stoicks talk'd much of Their Wife Man, meaning a Man perfectly Accomplisht by the Rules of their Philosophy; and gave flaming Characters of him; but then they tell you, that such a Man is born into the World (Phoenix-like,) scarce once in five hundred Years. Our Perfect and Upright Man, (I mean, the Man that is accomplisht to his Perfection by a much furer Rule of Perfection, the Word of God,) it is to be hop'd is not altogether fo Uncommon, tho' fuch Men have been very Scarce in every Age. Noah indeed was such a One; a Juft Man (we are told,) and Perfect in his Generation: But then he was the only Perfect Man in that Generation; for we are told at the fame Time, Gen. vi. that besides him, All Flesh had corrupted his Way. So likewife we are told of Job, that He was a Perfect and an Upright Man; but He alfo was Singular in his Generation, the only Perfect Man of his Time; for we are told in the very fame Verfe, Job i. 8. that there was none like him in all the Earth. And when God would have fav'd Sodom if but Ten Righteous Men could have been found in it, we do not hear that there was (befides Righteous Lot, who was but a Sojourner there,) fo much as one Righteous

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Man to be found in that Large and Populous City, even by his All-feeing Eye: But we are very fure that there were not Ten Righteous to be found there. And when Jerufalem wanted fuch a Man, upon the same Account, to stand in the Gap, and procure God's Favour and Pardon for it, the Prophet tells them even at Jerufalem, (once the Holy City, the Place which God had chofen to put his Name there,) how narrowly they muft fearch, before they would be able to

find him; fer. v. 1. Run ye to and fro through the Streets of Jerufalem, and fee now and Know, and feek in the broad Places thereof, If ye can find a Man; If there be any that executeth Judgment, and that seek. eth the Truth, and I will Pardon it.

What the Succefs of this Search was, the Prophet Jeremy does not tell us; but we are told by the Mouth of another of the Prophets, that fuch a Man was not to be found there, to fave the City from Deftruction. It had been somewhat better in Solomon's Days, who tells us upon his diligent Quest after such a Man, a Man of thorough Goodness and Integrity, that One Man among a Thousand he had found, but a Woman among all thofe he had not found, Eccles. vii. 28. I fought for a Man (fays God by the Prophet Ezekiel, Chap. xxii. 30.) I fought for a Man amongst them that should make up the Hedge, and ftand in the Gap before me for the Land,

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that I should not Deftroy it; but I found None; therefore have I poured mine Indignation upon them.

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If then the Perfect and Upright Man is fo very Uncommon a Perfon, there is more than Common Regard due to him; All Eyes are, or ought to be upon him, to Mark and Behold him *. We are told of God himfelf, that His Eyes are upon the Righteous, and that He Beholds them with Satisfaction and Complacency, with an Eye of Approbation and Love; Pfal. xi. 7. The Righte ous Lord Loveth Righteousness; his Coun tenance doth Behold the Upright. Nay, God feems as it were to Glory, in the having such a Servant and Champion as obt, and points him out, and makes the Devil himself take Notice of him to his Shame and Confufion; fuch a One as he should not find the like in all his Vaft Range throughout the Universe; [Fob i. 8.] Haft thou confidered my Servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth? a Perfect and an Upright Man. And our Bleffed Lord, when He Saw fuch a Man,

*Egregium fanctumque Virum fi Cerno, bimembri; Hoc monftrum puero, vel mirandis fub aratro

Pifcibus inventis, vel fœtæ comparo Mulæ. Juv. Sat. + Ecce Spectaculum Deo Dignum, Vir fortis cum malâ For tunâ Compofitus Non video quid habeat in Terris pulchrius, quàm ut Spectet Catonem, jam Partibus non femel fractis ftantem, nihilominùs inter Ruinas Publicas Rectum. Sen. de

Prov.

Nathaniel

Nathaniel by Name, coming to him, he who knew what was in Man, and needed not that any one should tell him, fixes the Eyes of all his Followers on him, calling upon them to Mark and Behold him; John i. 47. Be. hold (fays he,) an Ifraelite indeed, in whom there is no Guile-Such a One, an Ifraelite indeed, is One worth Beholding; The Excellency of the Person, and the Unusualness of the Sight, do Both of them justly call for the Highest Efteem and Admiration of all Beholders: And for all due Praise and Thankfulness to the Giver of all Good Gifts, and to the Author and Fountain of all Goodness, who has given fuch Gifts unto Men; and has ftill preferv'd in Human Nature fuch Remains of his own Image, as declare the Excellency of that Rectitude and Perfection in which he at firft Created us.

Such Men may poffibly be look'd upon by the Wicked with an Evil Eye, as Men of wild. ii. another Fashion, made to Reprove their 14, 15. Ways But Good Men will always be Regarded and Admir'd by those that are Good. Thus the Holy Pfalmift declares. All my pf. xvi. 3ì Delight is upon the Saints that are in the Earth, and upon fuch as Excel in Virtue. And indeed, as they bear aRefemblance of their Heavenly Father, and are (in faint Colours,) a Kind of Portraitures of the Divine Goodnefs, they ought to be Lov'd, and Reverenc'd, and had in Honour, of all that are round about them.

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