ation, and all, did
preach forth his holiness. Nazianzen saith of him, "That he cried louder
by the holiness of his life, than by the sincerity of his doctrine."
And were it not so, the apostle would not have exhorted the Philippians
unto this, saying, _Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk, so as ye have us for an ensample_, &c. chap. iii. 17.--And
so says the apostle James, _Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have
spoken in the name of the Lord, for an ensample_, &c. chap. v. 10. And
no question, that next to the down-pouring of the Spirit from on high,
the rapid and admirable success of the gospel, both in the primitive
times, and in the beginning of our reformations (from popery and
prelacy) in a great measure must have been owing to the simplicity, holy
and exemplary lives of the preachers and professors thereof. A learned
expositor observes, "That ministers are likely to preach most to the
purpose, when they can press their hearers to follow their example[5]."
For it is very observable that without this, the church of Christ is so
far from gaining ground, that it loses what it hath already gained in
the world; of which the church of Scotland is a most glaring document;
yea truth itself suffers by this means, and can gain no credit from
their mouths; and how despicable must that man's character be, whose
authority is lost, and his example goes for nothing. So that upon the
whole, I flatter myself that no small advantage (thro' the divine
blessing) might accrue to the public from this subject in general, and
from the lives of our Scots worthies in particular, providing these or
the like cautions following were observed: And that is, 1. We are not to
sit down or rest ourselves upon the person, principle or practice of any
man, yea the best saint we have ever read or heard of, but only to seek
these gifts and graces that most eminently shone forth in
them.--_Praeceptis, non exemplis, standum_, i.e. "we must not stand by
examples but precepts:" For it is the peculiar honour and dignity of
Jesus Christ only to be imitated by all men absolutely, and for any
person or persons to idolize any man or men, in making them a pattern in
every circumstance or particular, were nothing else than to pin an
implicit faith upon other mens sleeves. The apostle to the Corinthians
(in the forecited text) gives a very good caveat against this, when he
says, _Be ye followers_ (or as the Dutch annotators translate,