The Crown and Glory of Christianity
In the fifteenth place, He that is really holy, propounds [ 15] ordinarily to himself holy aims and ends in his actings and undertakings. The glory of God is the mark, the white that holy men have in their eyes, Rom. 14.7, 8. They live not to themselves, but they live to him who lives forever; they live not to their own wills, lusts, greatness and glory in this world; but they live to his glory, whose glory is dearer to them then their very lives. They make divine glory their ultimate end, 2 Cor. 4.5. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord: that is, in our preaching we woo not for ourselves, but for Christ. We are no kin to those who speak two words for themselves, and hardly one for Christ. In all our preaching we eye the glory of Christ, we design the honor and exaltation of Christ; Real holiness is commonly attended with a single eye; as counterfeit holiness is commonly attended with a squint eye; squint eyd aims, and squint eyd ends do usually wait upon double hearts. Take a holy man in the exercise of his gifts and graces for the good of men's souls, or take him in the exercise of charity for the good of men's bodies, and in both you shall find his eye fixed upon the glory of God. Suitable to that 1 Pet. 4.11. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ; to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever, Amen. Look as bright shining golden vessels do not retain the beams of the Sun which they receive, but reflect them back again upon the Sun: So those that are really holy, they do return and reflect back again upon the Sun of righteousness the praise and glory of all the gifts, graces and virtues that they have received from him. The daily language of their Souls, is, Non nobis Domine, non nobis Domine. Not unto us Lord, not unto us Lord, but to thy name be all the glory. Holy men make conscience of giving men their dues: how much more then do they make conscience of giving God his due. Now glory is God's due, and God stands upon nothing more, then that we give him the glory due unto his name, as you may see in Psalm 29.1, 2. There are three gives in those two verses, Give unto the Lord, give unto the Lord, give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto his name. Glory is God's right, and he stands upon his right; and this holy men know, and therefore they give him his right; they give him the honor and the glory that is due unto his name. Holy hearts do habitually eye the glory of Christ in all things. When they eat, they eat to his glory; and when they drink, they drink to his glory; and when they sleep, they sleep to his glory; when they buy, they buy for his glory; and when they sell, they sell for his glory; and when they give, they give for his glory; and when they recreate themselves, they recreate themselves for his glory; so when they hear, they hear for his glory; and when they pray, they pray for his glory; and when they fast, they fast for his glory; and when they read, they read for his glory; and when they come to the Lord's Table, they come to his glory in all natural, moral and religious actions. Holy hearts have an habitual eye to divine glory. Do not mistake me, I do not say that such as are really holy, do actually eye the glory of Christ in all their actions: Oh no, this is a happiness desirable on earth, but shall never be attained till we come to heaven. By and base ends and aims will too often creep into the holiest hearts, but holy hearts sigh and groan under them; they complain to God of them, and they cry for Justice, Justice upon them: And it is the strong and earnest desires of their souls to be rid of them. But take a holy Christian in his ordinary, usual and habitual course, and so he hath holy aims and ends in all his actions and undertakings. But now such whose holiness is counterfeit, they never look at divine glory in what they do; sometimes their eye is upon their credit, and sometimes their eyes are upon applause, sometimes they have pleasure in their eyes, and sometimes they have profit in their eyes, and sometimes they have preferments in their eyes, &c. They will be very godly when they can make a gain of godliness; they will be very holy, when holiness is the way to outward happiness; but this religious wickedness will double damn them at last. This is most certain, that some carnal or worldly consideration or other, always acts him who hath not real, principles of holiness in him: but he that is really holy makes the glory of God his Center. Propter te Domine, propter te, was once, and is still a holy man's Motto.
Quest. But how may a person know when he makes the glory of God his aim, his end, in this or that service which he performs? I shall answer this Question briefly, thus.
Answ. First, Such a man as makes the glory of God his aim, his end, he will do duty when all outward encouragements to duty fail; when the eye of men, the favor of men, the respects of men, and all other encouragements from men fails, yet then a holy man will hold up, and hold on in his work and way, yea, when all outward encouragements from God shall fail, yet such a person will keep close to his duty, Hab. 3.17, 18. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the Olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herds in the stalls▪ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. When all necessary and delightful mercies fail, yet he will not fail in his duty: though God withholds his blessings, yet he will not withhold his service: in the want of a livelihood he will be lively in his duty; when he hath nothing to subsist by, yet then he will live upon his God. Though war and want come, yet he will not be wanting in his duty. There are three things in a holy heart that strongly incline it to duty when all outward encouragements fail: The first is a forcible principle, divine love: The second is a mighty aid, the Spirit of God: The third is a high aim, the glory of God: but now it is otherwise with those that have only a show of godliness: let but their outward encouragements fail them: let but the eye, the ear, the applause of the creature fail them: if they cannot make some gain of their godliness, some profit of their profession, some advantage of their religion, they are ready with Demas, to throw up, and throw off all. Profit and applause are usually the baits that these men bite at; and if they miss these baits, then farewell profession, farewell religion, farewell all. But now look as Ruth kept close to her mother in the want of all outward encouragements, Ruth 1. So souls that eye the glory of God in duties, they will keep close to duties when all outward encouragements fail. Though outward encouragements be sometimes as a side wind, or as oil, or as chariot wheels, means to move a Christian to go on more sweetly, easily and comfortably in the ways of God, yet when this wind shall fail, and these chariot wheels shall be knocked off, a real Christian will hold on his way, Job 17.9.
[ 2] Secondly, When a man aims at the glory of God in what he doth, then he labors to hide and conceal all his human excellencies that may any ways tend to obscure, eclipse, or darken the glory of God, 1 Cor. 2.3, 4, 5. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech, and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Holy Paul handled holy things in such a manner, as much of God, and little (or nothing) of man could be perceived. In religious exercises, Paul seems to say to human eloquence, and fleshly wisdom, to affected Rhetoric, and flattering Oratory, Stand a far off, come not near; I have now to do with God, and to do with souls, and to do with eternity, and therefore what have I to do with you? Paul had an eye to divine glory in what he did, and therefore he durst not tip his tongue, and store his head with aiery notions, or with the enticing words of man's wisdom. Of all the Apostles, Paul was most eminent and excellent in all human Arts, Parts, and Gifts, and yet in religious exercises he lays them all by, 1 Cor. 14.18, 19. I thank my God, I speak with tongues more then you all: Yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, then ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. The Church of Corinth excelled all other Churches in gifts (I do not say in grace) and many among them prided themselves up in the exercise of their gifts and tongues in their Church Assemblies, that so they might win the more credit and repute to themselves of being men of great learning, reading and parts; but the holy Apostle by his own example labors to win them to decline all vain ostentation, and to work them to express themselves so as might be most for the information, conviction, edification and salvation of their hearers souls. Holy Paul had much learning, and yet in religious exercises he used little. The Corinthians had less, and yet made such shows and flourishes of it (even in their religious duties,) as if in their breasts all the Libraries in the world had been locked up. This puts me in mind of what once I have read concerning a Rabbi that had but little learning and less modesty and ingenuity; for he usurping all the discourse at Table where many were, one much admiring of him, asked one of his friends in private, Whether he did not take such a man for a great Scholar? to whom he answered, For ought I know he may be learned; but I never heard learning make such a noise. The more learning, the less noise; the less learning, the more noise men will make. The Sun shows least when it is at the highest; and those waters are most deep, that run most silent: they usually are men of the greatest parts, that use them least in religious works. Famous Mr. Dod was wont to say, that so much Latin was so much flesh in a Sermon. The gilt upon the Pill may please the eye, but it profits not the Patient; The paint upon the glass may feed the fancy, but the room is rather the darker then the lighter for it. Painted glass in Churches is more glorious, but plain glass is most perspicuous: when men come to Church-work, to Pulpit-work, all plainesse must be used: Starched Oratory may tickle the brain, but its plain Doctrine that informs the judgment, that convinces the conscience, that bows the will, and that wins the heart. That Sermon hath most learning in it, that hath most plainesse in it. And therefore a great Scholar was wont to say, Lord, give me learning enough, that I may preach plain enough. Silly ignorant people are very apt to dote upon that most, and admire that most which they understand least; But prudent Christians judge of Ministers not by their lungs, but by their brains: not by their throats, but by their hearts and lives: not by their voices and tones, but by the plainness, spiritualness, suitableness and usefulness of their matter: Like Demost henes, who when he heard an Orator bellowing with a loud and roaring voice, said ( Non quod magnum est been est, sed quod been est magnum est. ) I mark rather the goodness then loudness of an Oration. It is observable, that throughout the Scriptures, that the profoundest Prophets, and the greatest Apostles, yea, and Christ himself did commonly accomodate themselves to their hearers capacities: they kept in, and kept under all those human excellencies, the discovery of which might any ways cloud divine glory. Men that have their eyes upon divine glory, do know that the more any acquired parts, gifts and excellencies do appear in holy exercises, the more the name, honor and glory of God is clouded, and the more those that have most of the indwellings of God are dissatisfied and disadvantaged & therefore those that have real respect to divine glory, they draw as it were a curtain between all their human excellencies, & religious exercises. That none may think this is my private opinion, let me add a few sayings of theirs that have been eminent in acquired excellencies. Greg. Naz▪ a holy & a weighty Writer compares curiosity & novelty of speech in the things of God unto lascivious dancing, & the arts of Jugglers whereby they deceive the senses of those that look on. And further saith that simple proper genuine language was in holy things wont to be esteemed godliness. And it was a remarkable saying of golden-mouthed Chrysostom (as some call him) When I first began to preach (said he) I was a child, and delighted in Rattles, in the applause of the people; but when I was a man, I began to depise them. New phrases and expressions do many times make way for the introducing of new doctrines, as learned Pareus in his Comment on 1 Cor. 1.1. observes; for the most part, saith he, those who in points of Divinity devise new terms and unusual expressions, do hide under them some new and strange doctrines; they wrap up their error in some intricate words and distinctions; when our words in preaching differ from the style of the Holy-Ghost, the people be in danger of turning aside to vain jangling, saith Danaus. Loquamur verba Scripturae, &c. said that incomparable man, Peter Ramus, let us speak the words of Scripture, let us make use of the language of the Holy-Ghost, and forever abominate those that profanely disdain at the stately plainness of God's blessed book, and that think to correct the divine wisdom and eloquence with their own infancy and sophistry. Non quanta eloquentia, sed quanta evidentia, saith Aug. Melius est ut nos reprehendant Grammatici, quam ut non intelligúnt populi, the same Author in Psalm 138. Such as mind more (saith another) the humouring of their hearers fancies, then the saving of their souls, do little consider that of Seneca, (Aeger non quaerit medicum eloquentem sed sanantem) Sick men are not bettered by Physicians sugared words, but by their skillful hands. Doctor Sibbs was wont to say, That great affectation and good affection seldom go together. Truth is like Solomon's Spouse, all glorious within; she is most beautiful when most naked, as Adam was in innocence. The King of Persia having sent to Antalcidas the Lacedaemonian Captain a Garland of Roses wonderfully perfumed with Spices and other sophistications, he accepted of his love, but misliked the present, and sent him word, ( Rosarum odorem artis adulteratione perdidisti ) Thou hast marred the sweetness of the Roses with the sweetness of thy perfumes. So many mar the sweetness of the Word by perfuming it with their human eloquence and oratory. For a close, remember, that God himself the great Master of speech, when he spake from heaven, he made use of three several Texts in a breath, Matth. 17.5. This is my beloved son. Psalm 2.7. In whom I am well pleased. Isaiah 42.1. Hear ye him. Deut. 18.15. which you may note against the curious queasiness of such nice ones [ 3] as disdain at the stately plainness of the Scriptures. But,
Thirdly, If thou dost really and actually aim at the glory of God in what thou dost, then the glory of God will swallow up all by-aims and ends that may thrust themselves in upon the soul, whilst it is at its work. Look as Aaron's rod ( Exod. 7.10, 11, 12.) swallowed up the Magicians rods, so the glory of God will swallow up all carnal aims and ends. Look as the Sun puts out the light of the fire, so the glory of God will put out and consume all other ends. This is most certain, That which is a man's great end, that will work out all other ends. If thou settest up the glory of God as thy chief end, that will by degrees eat out all low and base ends. Look as Pharaohs lean kine ( Gen. 41.4.) eat up the fat, so the glory of God will eat up all those fat and worldly ends that crowd in upon the soul in religious work. The keeping up of the glory of God as thy great end, will be the keeping down and the casting out of all other ends.
[ 4] Fourthly, He that really and actually aims at the glory of God in what he doth, he will be doing what God commands, though nothing for the present comes of it: If his eye be truly fixed upon divine glory, a command of God shall be enough to carry him on in his work. Psalm 27.8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face Lord, will I seek. When the glory of God is a man's mark, his heart will sweetly echo and graciously comply with divine commands. Jer. 3.22. Return ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings: Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. God's commands fall with great power and force upon that man's heart, that hath divine glory in his eye. One word from God will command such a soul to a gracious compliance with what God requires, Psalm 119.4, 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently: O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes! As soon as God lays a command upon a Christian, he look: up to heaven for power to turn that precept into practice, O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes! O that I were as holy as God would have me to be! O that I were as humble and lowly as God would have me to be! O that I were as heavenly and spiritual as God would have me to be! O that I were as pure and perfect as God would have me to be! So ver. 48. My hands will I lift up to thy Commandments which I have loved. Many there be which thrust away with all their might thy Commandments, but I lift up my hands to thy Commandments. Many there be that will strain themselves to take a comfort, but I strain myself to lift up thy Commandments. Many there are who will stretch out their hands to take a reward, but I stretch out my hands to take hold on thy Commandments. To give a little more light into these words, Sometime the lifting up of hands betokens admiration; when men are astonished and ravished, they lift up their hands; I will lift up my hands to thy Commandments; that is, I will admire the goodness, the holiness, the righteousness, the purity and excellency of thy Commandments. Again, we lift up our hands when we betake ourselves to refuge; why God's commands are the Saints refuge; when they house and shelter themselves under the wings of God's commands, they are safe. Again, men lift up their hands when they take hold on a thing; now gracious souls do take hold on God's Commandments to do them, to practice them, and to express the life and power of them. Again, men lift up their hands to those things that are high and above them; now the commands of God are high, they are sublime, they are above us; they are sublime and high, in regard of their original, they come down from God; they are sublime and high in regard of the matter of them, they are heavenly Oracles, they are dictates of divine wisdom; they are sublime and high in regard of the difficulty of keeping of them, they exceeding all human strength; and they are sublime and high in regard of their situation, they are situated in heaven: Thy word (says David) endures forever in heaven; but yet as sublime and as high as they are, a man that hath his eye upon divine glory, will lift up his hands unto them; he will do all he can to express the pleasure that he takes in them, and the readiness of his soul to a holy compliance with them. A man that hath his eye upon divine glory, he will keep close to his work, to his hearing work, to his praying work, to his mourning work, to his repenting work, to his believing work, to his waiting work; though nothing comes on it, though he make no earnings of it, though comfort doth not come, though joy and peace doth not come, though assurance doth not come, though enlargements do not come, though answers and returns from heaven do not come, though good days do not come, though deliverance doth not come, yet such will keep close to their work, that have their eye upon divine glory. But now such who eye not the glory of God in what they do, they quickly grow weary of their work; if they can make no earnings of their seekings, and fastings, and prayings, they are presently ready to throw up all, and to quarrel with God himself, as if God had done them an injury, Isa. 58.1, 2, 3, 4.
[ 5] Fifthly and lastly, A man that really aims at the glory of God in this or that duty, he cannot be satisfied nor contented with the performance of duties without some enjoyments of God in duties; without some converse and communion with God in duties, his soul cannot be satisfied; his soul thirsts and longs to see the beauty and the glory of the Lord in his sanctuary, Psalm 63.1, 2, 3. and without this sight he cannot be quieted. Here is the Ordinance, but where is the God of the Ordinance? Here is prayer, but where is the God of prayer? Here is the duty, but where is the God of duty? Here is enlargements, but where is the God of enlargements? Here are meltings and breakings of spirit, but where is the God of these meltings and breakings? Psalm 84.2. My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord: My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. The Courts of the Lord without spiritual converses with the living God, could not satisfy his soul: O saith he, Here be the Courts of the Lord, the Courts of the Lord, but where is the living God? where is the living God? where is that God that makes men to live, and that makes Ordinances to be living & lively Ordinances to his children's souls? O the Courts of the Lord are very desirable, but the living God is much more desirable! The Courts of the Lord are precious and glorious, but the living God is infinitely more precious and glorious! Here is the mantle of Elijah, but where is the God of Elijah? Here are the Courts of the Lord, but where is the Lord of these Courts? It was the speech of holy Mr. Bradford, That he could not leave a duty, till he had found communion with Christ in the duty; he could not give off a duty, till his heart was brought into a duty frame; he could not leave confession, till he had found his heart humbled and melted under the sense of his sin; he could not give over petitioning, till he had found his heart taken with the beauties of the things desired, and strongly carried out after the enjoyment of them. Neither could he leave thanksgiving, till he had found his spirit enlarged, and his soul quickened in the return of praises. And so it was with holy Bernard, who was wont to say, O Lord, I never come to thee but by thee; I never go from thee without thee. A man that hath his eye upon the glory of Christ, he cannot put off his soul with anything below communion with Christ, in those Religious services and duties that he offers up to Christ: Though the breasts of duty are sweet, yet those breasts will not satisfy the soul, except Christ lies betwixt them. Can. 1.13. But now men that have base, poor, low, and by-ends in what they do, they can come off easily from their duties, though they find no spirit, no life, no warmth in duty; yet they can come off with content from duty, though they have no communion, no converse at all with God in duty, though they have no pledges of grace, no pawns of mercy, no tastes of love, no relishes of heaven in a duty, yet they can come off from the duty with content and satisfaction of spirit; let but others applaud him, and his own heart hug him, and he hath enough.
In the sixteenth and last place, A man that is really holy, speaks a holy language; a holy heart and a holy tongue are inseparable companions; if there be grace in the heart, there will be grace in the lips; if the heart be pure, the language will be pure. Christ says, his Spouses lips are like a thread of scarlet; they are red with talking of nothing but a crucified Christ; and they are thin like a thread, not swelled with other vain discourses. And ver. 10. he tells you, That the lips of his Spouse drop as the honey-combs (or drop honey-combs) and that honey and milk are under her tongue. You know that Canaan was a land that flowed with milk and honey; why the language of the Spouse was the language of Canaan; her lips were still dropping such holy, spiritual and heavenly matter, as was as sweet, pleasant, profitable, desirable and delectable to men's souls, as ever honey and millk was to men's palates or appetites; and as many were fed and nourished by milk and honey, so many were fed and nourished by the holy droppings of her lips; Psalm 37.30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. If the heart be holy, the tongue will be a talking wisely, fruitfully, feelingly, affectionately of that which may profit both a man's self and others. Prov. 10.20. The tongue of the just is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is little worth. Good men's words are of more worth then wicked men's hearts: and look as choice silver is known by its tinkling, so holy men are known by their talking. And as choice silver giveth a clear and sweet sound, so the tongue of the just soundeth sweetly and pleasantly in the ears of others. Look as choice silver is highly prized and valued among men, so is the tongue of the righteous among those that are righteous: And look as choice silver allures and draws the hearts of men to a love and liking of it; so the tongues of the righteous do allure and draw the hearts of men to a love and liking of virtue and goodness. Ver. 21. The lips of the righteous feed many. They feed many by their exhortations, instructions, admonitions and counsels: The mouths of the righteous are like the gates of some hospitable persons, where many are fed. The lips of the righteous are a free and well furnished table, at which many are fed and nourished with the dainties of heaven to eternal life. Righteous men keep open house, they keep free hospitality for all comers and goers; and if they have not always bread in their hands, yet they have always grace in their lips to feed many. Though they may be outwardly poor, yet they have a treasure within to enrich many. The tongue is the instrument of a Christians glory, and is so interested in the quality it expresseth, that in the original it is taken for it, Cavod signifying both glory and the tongue, (by the authority of no less Rabbin's then Jacob and David ) as thereby intimating that the chiefest glory of man is his tongue. The Primitive Christians talked so much and so often of high and heavenly things, that the Ethnics began to surmise that they affected the Roman Empire, when indeed their ambition was of another, a nobler and a higher nature. But now men that have only a show of godliness, they do practically say, Our tongues are our own, and who shall control us? Their speech is so far from administering of grace to their hearers, that it administers usually either matter of carnal mirth, or of contempt, or of scorn, or of sorrow and mourning; certainly they have no holiness in their hearts, who have so much of hell, and the Devil, and lusts in their mouths. I may say to most, You are unholy persons, your speech bewrays you, your worldliness, your profaneness, your cursing, your swearing, your lying, your slandering, your reviling, your railing, your deriding, &c. doth plainly evidence that you have no holiness, in you. Well, remember this, a tongue that is set on fire from hell, is in danger to be set on fire in hell. Hell is for that man, and that man is for hell, that hath so much of hell in his mouth; the Devil is for that man, and that man is for the Devil, that hath so much of the Devil in his mouth; Damnation is for that man, and that man is for damnation, that hath so much of damnation in his mouth; the world is for that man, and that man is for the world, that hath so much of the world in his mouth. Whatever is in the heart, will break out in the lips; if wickedness be in the heart, it will break out in the lips. Physicians say that the nature of diseases is as well known by the tongue, as by the pulse or urine. The spiritual diseases that be in the heart, will quickly discover themselves by the tongue. Wherever holiness is in the heart, it will break forth in the lips; a holy heart and a holy tongue are married together, and it is not in man to put them asunder; you shall sooner separate the soul from the body, then you shall separate a holy tongue from an holy heart. And thus I have done with this use of examination; the Lord make you wise to lay these things to heart, that so you may know how it is like to go with you in another world.
Use 3.
THe third Use shall be a Use of Exhortation, and that both to unsanctified and sanctified ones. First, let me speak to unsanctified ones; is it so, that real holiness is the only way to happiness, and that without men are holy on earth, they shall never come to the beatifical vision or blessed fruition of God in heaven: O then, how should this provoke and stir up all unholy persons to strive and labor, as for life, after this real holiness, without which they shall never come to have anything to do with God in everlasting happiness, &c?
Now that I may the better prevail with unsanctified souls; I shall,
[ 1] First, propound some motives to stir and provoke their hearts to look and labor after real holiness, &c.
[ 2] Secondly, I shall propose some means for the obtaining of holiness.
[ 3] Thirdly, I shall endeavor to answer those objections, and remove those impediments that hinder and keep men off from laboring after real holiness.
For the first, I shall propound these following considerations to provoke all unsanctified persons to look after holiness.
[ .1] First, Consider the necessity of holiness: It is impossible that ever you should be happy, except you are holy. No holiness here, no happiness hereafter. The Scripture speaks of three bodily inhabitants of heaven: Enoch before the Law; Elijah under the Law; and Jesus Christ under the Gospel; all three eminent in holiness, to teach us, that even in an ordinary course there is no going to heaven without holiness. There are many thousand thousands now in heaven, but not one unholy one among them all: There is not one sinner among all those Saints; not one Goat among all those Sheep; not one weed among all those flowers; not one thorn or prickle among all those Roses, not one Pibble among all those glistering Diamonds: There is not one Cain among all those Abel's: nor one Ishmael among all those Isaac's; nor one Esau among all those Jacob's in heaven: there is not one Seth among all the Patriarchs: not one Saul among all the Prophets: nor one Judas among all the Apostles; nor one Demas among all the Preachers: nor one Simon Magus among all the professors. Heaven is only for the holy man, and the holy man is only for heaven: Heaven is a garment of glory, that is only suited to him that is holy. God who is truth itself, and cannot lie, hath said it, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Mark that word, no man; without holiness the rich man shall not see the Lord: nor without holiness the poor man shall not see the Lord; Without holiness the Noble man shall not see the Lord; nor without holiness the mean man shall not see the Lord. Without holiness the Prince shall not see the Lord; nor without holiness the Peasant shall not see the Lord. Without holiness the Ruler shall not see the Lord; nor without holiness the Ruled shall not see the Lord. Without holiness the learned man shall not see the Lord; nor without holiness the ignorant man shall not see the Lord. Without holiness the husband shall not see the Lord; nor without holiness the wife shall not see the Lord. Without holiness the Father shall not see the Lord; nor without holiness the child shall not see the Lord. Without holiness the Master shall not see the Lord; nor without holiness the servant shall not see the Lord. For faithful and strong is the Lord of hosts that hath spoken it. In this day some cry up one form, some another; some cry up one Church-state, some another: some cry up one way, some another: but certainly the way of holiness is the good old way; it is the King of Kings high-way to heaven and happiness, Isa. 35.8. And a high-way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness, the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those: the way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein. Some men say, lo, here is the way; Other men say, lo, there is the way; but certainly the way of holiness is the surest, the safest, the easiest, the noblest, and the shortest way to happiness. Among the Heathens, no man could enter into the Temple of Honor, but must first enter into the Temple of Virtue. There is no entering into the Temple of happiness, except you enter into the Temple of holiness. Holiness must first enter into you, before you can enter into God's holy hill. As Sampson cried out, Give me water, or I die: or as Rachel cried out, Give me children or I die; so all unsanctified souls may well cry out, Lord give me holiness or I die: give me holiness, or I eternally die. If the Angels, those Princes of glory fall once from their holiness, they shall be forever excluded from everlasting happiness and blessedness. If Adam in Paradise fall from his purity, he shall quickly be driven out from the presence of divine glory. Austin would not be a wicked man, an unholy man one hour for all the world, because he did not know but that he might die that hour: and should he die in an unholy estate, he knew he should be forever separated from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power. O Sirs, do not deceive your own souls: holiness is of absolute necessity, without it you shall never see the Lord; it is not absolutely necessary that you should be great or rich in the world: but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy: it is not absolutely necessary that you should enjoy health, strength, friends, liberty, life, but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy. A man may see the Lord without worldly prosperity; but he can never see the Lord except he be holy. A man may to heaven, to happiness without honor or worldly glory, but he can never to heaven, to happiness, without holiness: without holiness here, no heaven hereafter, Rev. 21.27. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth. God will at last shut the gates of glory against every person that is without heart purity. Ah Sirs, holiness is a flower that grows not in natures garden. Men are not born with holiness in their hearts, as they are born with tongues in their mouths: holiness is of a divine offspring: it is a pearl of price, that is to be found in no nature but a renewed nature, in no bosom but a sanctified bosom. There is not the least beam or spark of holiness in any natural man in the world. Gen. 6.5. Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually. Job 25.4. How can man be clean that is born of a woman? The interrogation carries in it a strong negation, How can man be clean? that is, man cannot be clean that is born of a woman: man that is born of a woman, is born in sin, and born both under wrath and under the curse. And who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Job 14.4. Isa. 64.6. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, Rom. 3.10, 11. There is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none thot seeketh after God. Every man by nature is a stranger, yea, an enemy to holiness. Rom. 8.7. Every man that comes into this world, comes with his face towards sin and hell, and with his back upon God and holiness. Such is the corruption of our nature, that propound any divine good to it, it is entertained as fire by water, or wet wood with hissing. Propound any evil, then it is like a fire to straw; it is like the foolish Satyr that made haste to kiss the fire; it is like that unctious matter which the Naturalists say, sucks and snatches the fire to it, with which it is consumed. All men are born sinners, and there is nothing but an infinite power that can make them Saints. All men would be happy, and yet they naturally loath to be holy. By all which you may clearly see that food is not more necessary for the preservation of natural life, then holiness is necessary for the preservation and salvation of the soul. If a man had the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Sampson, the courage of Joshua, the policy of Ahitophell, the dignities of Haman, the power of Ahashueros, and the eloquence of Apollos, yet all these without holiness would never save him.
[ 2] Secondly, Consider there is a possibility of obtaining holiness. Holiness is a golden mine that may be come at if you will but dig, and sweat, and take pains for it; it is a flower of Paradise that may be gathered: it is a crown that may be put on; it is a pearl of price that may be obtained, if you will but part with the wicked man's Trinity, the world, the flesh, and the devil to enjoy it. Though some of the Attributes of God be incommunicable, yet holiness is a communicable attribute; and this should mightily encourage you to look after holiness. Well sinners, remember this, it is possible that those proud hearts of yours may be humbled, it is possible that those hard hearts of yours may be softened, it is possible that those unclean hearts of yours may be sanctified; it is possible that those blind minds of yours may be enlightened; it is possible that those stubborn wills of yours may be tamed; it is possible that those disordered affections of yours may be regulated; it is possible that those drowsy and defiled consciences of yours may be awakened and purged; it is possible that those vile and polluted natures of yours may be changed and purified. There are several things that do witness that holiness is attainable. As,
[ 1] 1. Witness God's promise to give his holy Spirit to them that ask it, Luke 11.13. If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him! The holy Spirit is a gift more worth then a world, yea, then heaven itself, and yet to make men holy, God is willing to give his holy spirit upon very easy terms; They shall have it for asking: the Spirit is a spirit of holiness, he is holy in himself, and the Author of all that holiness that is in man; it is he that most powerfully moves and persuades men to holiness: it is he that presents holiness in its beauty and glory to the soul; it is he that sows seeds of holiness in the soul; and it is he that causes those seeds to grow up to maturity and ripeness. Nil nisi sanctum à sancto spiritu prodire potest: Nothing can come from the holy spirit, but that which is holy. The holy Spirit is the great principle of all the holiness that is in the world; and this holy Spirit God hath engaged himself to give to those that are unholy, Ezek. 36.25, 26, 27. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your Idols will I cleanse you. A new heart will I also give you, and a new spirit well I put within you, and I well take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them. The holy spirit is a gift, a free gift, a noble gift, a precious gift, a glorious gift, that God will bestow upon the unclean, upon the unsanctified, that they may be cleansed and sanctified, and so fitted for the Lord's service and use. It is possible that you may be holy: Witness,
2. His holy word that he hath given on purpose to make [ 2] men holy, and to keep men holy: his commandments are holy, just and good; his threatenings are holy, just and good; and all his promises are holy, just and good. The holy Scriptures were written with a finger of holiness, so as to move to holiness, and to work holiness; the whole word of God is an entire love-letter to provoke to holiness, and to promote holiness. Holy commands should sweetly persuade us to holiness, and holy threatenings should divinely force us to holiness, and holy promises should effectually allure us to the love of holiness, to the embracing of holiness, and to the practice of holiness. The great design of God in sending this sacred volume in golden letters from heaven, was to enamour men with the love and beauty of holiness. Again, it is possible that you may attain to true holiness; Witness,
3. Those holy Ambassadors that he hath sent on purpose [ 3] to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ. Their great business and work is to treat with you about holiness, it is to woo you to match with holiness, and to follow after holiness; it is to remove all lets and impediments that may any ways hinder your embracing of holiness; and it is to propose all manner of encouragements that may win you over to make holiness your great All. Again, it is possible that you may be holy: Witness,
[ 4] 4. The holy Examples of all the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Saints that are left on record, on purpose to provoke you to an imitation of them in holiness; their holy examples, as so many shining stars, are left upon record, to influence us to holiness. In the holy examples of those that are now triumphant in heaven, you may run and read that holiness is attainable. In their holy examples, as in so many looking-glasses, you may see that holiness is a Jewel that may be procured; by that holiness that others have reached to, sinners may see that it is possible that they may be made Saints. Again, it is possible that you may be holy: Witness,
[ 5] 5. All those notorious sinners that the Scripture declares, have been sanctified and made holy, to instance only in a few. Adam you know was created in an estate of innocence, integrity and perfect holiness; he being made in the image of God, and after the likeness and similitude of God; it was agreed upon in the Parliament of heaven, that man should be made glorious in holiness, and so he was, for he was made after God's own image. And this the Apostle clearly and fully evidences in that famous Scripture, Ephes. 4.22, 23, 24. That Adam was invested and endowed with righteousness and holiness in his first glorious estate; with righteousness, that he might carry it fairly, justly, evenly, and righteously towards man; and with holiness, that he might carry it wisely, lovingly, reverentially and holily towards God; And that he might take up in God as his chiefest good, as in his great All, might be fufficiently made good out of this Scripture last cited: but I shall not now stand upon the discovery of Adams beauty, authority, dominion, dignity, honor, and glory with which he was adorned, invested and crowned in innocence. Let this satisfy, that Adams first estate was a state of perfect knowledge, wisdom, and understanding; it was a perfect state of holiness, righteousness, and happiness; there was nothing within him, but what was desirable and delectable; there was nothing without him, but what was amiable and commendable; nor nothing about him, but what was serviceable and comfortable; and yet in the height of all his glory, he falls to Apostasy and open Rebellion against God; he takes part with Satan against God himself; he transgresses his righteous Law, he affronts his justice, he provokes his anger, he stirs up his wrath against himself and his posterity. The sin of Adam was a voluminous sin, all kinds of notorious sins were bound up in it, as backsliding, rebellion, treason, pride, unbelief, blasphemy, contempt of God, unthankfulness, theft, murder and idolatry, &c. The Philosopher being asked which was the best member of the body, answered, The tongue; for if it be good, it is the best Trumpet of God's glory; And being asked again which was the worst, answered, The tongue; for if it be bad, it is the worst fire-brand of hell. So if any should ask me, Which was the best creature of God? I would answer, Man in honor before his fall: If you should ask me, Which is the worst? I must answer, Man in his fall. Adam was once the wonder of all understanding, the mirror of wisdom and knowledge, the image of God, the delight of heaven, the glory of the creation, the worlds great Lord, and the Lord's great darling; but being fallen, ah how low, how poor, how miserable, how sottish, how senseless, how brutish, yea how much below the beast that perisheth was he! and yet God pardoned, changed, and sanctified him, and stamped his image of holiness afresh upon him, when he made a Covenant with him in Christ, Genesis 3.
So Manasseh, he was a notorious sinner, he was a sinner of the greatest magnitude, his sins reached up to heaven, his soul was ripe for hell, he had sold himself to work all manner of wickedness, as you may see in 2 Chron. 33. in verse. 3. He reared up Altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. verse. 4. He built Altars in the house of God. verse. 5. Yea for all the host of heaven did he build Altars in the Courts of the house of God. This was a horrid piece of impudence to provoke God to his very face, by equalizing his Altars to God's Altar. verse. 6. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Here was inhumane superstition, and inhumane cruelty, to offer his own children in sacrifice to the Devil. Also he observed times, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards; he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. verse. 9. He made Judah and Jerusalem to err, by his example, and to do worse then the Heathens. The actions of Rulers, are most commonly rules for the people's actions, and their example passeth as currant as their coin. The common people dare practice the very worst of wickedness that they see acted in a scarlet Robe; they are like tempered wax, easily receiving impressions from the seals of great men's vices; they make no bones on it to sin by prescription, and to damn themselves with authority. The heathen brings in a young man, who hearing of the adulteries and wickednesses of the gods, said, What, do they so, and shall I stick at it? so say most, when great ones are greatly wicked, Why, they do thus and thus, and why should we stick at it? The Egyptians esteemed it graceful and their duty, to halt on that leg on which their King limped; most men think it a grace to imitate the greatest authority in their most graceless actings: Which made the Poet say,
So Paul was once so great a sinner, that had he stepped but one step further, he had fallen into the unpardonable sin against the Holy-Ghost; in 1 Tim. 1.13. you have a brief survey of his great transgressions.
He was a Blasphemer, he blasphemed God, and Christ, and his ways and truth; he made a mock and scoff at holiness; he made nothing of blaspheming that God that he should have feared, and of blaspheming that Christ that he should have sweetly embraced; and of blaspheming those Truths that he should have readily entertained. Paul was a great proficient in the School of blasphemy, he made nothing of belching out blasphemy in the very face of heaven. And he was a persecutor too, he persecuted holiness to the death; yea he was mad in persecuting the poor Saints and servants of Christ; he did all he could to make their lives a hell, and to rid them out of this world; he thought them not worthy to live, though they were such Worthies of whom this world was not worthy; he was a ravening and an untired Woolf that was never weary in worrying Christ's little flock, and in sucking out the blood of his Lambs. Yea, and he was an injurious person too, he made no conscience of wronging others, or of squaring his carriage by that golden rule, Do to others, as you would have others do to you: This Royal Law, this standard of equity he regarded not; he made nothing of haling men and women to prison, and of compelling them to blaspheme by his cruelty and wicked example; he spared no sex, but practiced the highest cruelty upon all that had anything of sanctity in them; he would adventure the torments of hell, rather then not be a tormenter of the Saints here; and the more active any were in holiness, the more injurious was he to them. And yet behold this blasphemer, this persecutor, this injurious person, became a sanctified Christian, an eminent Saint, a pattern of holiness to all Christians in all ages.
Once more, witness that sad bed-rool of unsanctified persons that are mentioned in 1 Cor, 6.9, 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God. These monstrous sinners and prodigious sins, were enough to have brought another flood upon the world, or to have provoked the Lord to rain hell out of heaven upon them, as once he did upon Sodom and Gomorrah, or to have caused the ground to open and swallow them up, as once it did Corah, Dathan and Abiram, and yet behold some of these are changed and sanctified! v. 11. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Oh! the infinite goodness, Oh! the infinte grace, Oh! the infinite wisdom and power of God, that hath pardoned, washed, sanctified and cleansed such guilty, filthy, and polluted souls! The worst of sinners should never despair of being made Saints, considering what unholy ones have been made holy. It is possible that you may be made holy. Witness,
6. All those sanctified ones among whom you live, who once were as unholy or more unholy it may be, then ever you were; the sanctified husband is a clear witness to the unsanctified wife, that she may be sanctified; the sanctified father is a witness to the unsanctified child that he may be sanctified; the sanctified master is a witness to the unsanctified servant that he may be sanctified; the sanctified Prince is a witness to his unsanctified people that they may be sanctified; and the sanctified Minister is a witness to his unsanctified hearers that they may be sanctified; the same Spirit, the same Grace, the same Power, the same Presence that hath sanctified any of these, may sanctify all of these; there is no heart so unholy, but a holy God can make it holy; there is no spirit so unclean, but a holy Spirit can make it clean. Well sinners, there are many living and standing witnesses of divine grace among you, and about you, that do sufficiently declare that it is possible that you may be sanctified and saved. Again, it is possible that you may be sanctified and made holy. Witness,
7. The Oath of a holy God, Ezek. 33.11. Say unto them, [ 7] As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? As I live, is the form of an Oath, and is much used in the Scripture by God himself; wicked men are very hardly persuaded to believe that God is willing that they should be sanctified and saved, and therefore God takes his oath on it, that he is infinitely more willing that wicked men should turn from their evil ways and be sanctified and saved, then that they should perish in their sins, and be damned forever. As I live, is a weighty oath, and imports the certainty of that which follows; it is absolute without evasion or revocation; As sure as I live and am God, I have no pleasure in destroying and damning of souls, but desire that they would turn from their evil ways, and that they would be sanctified and saved; let me not live, let me be no longer a God, if I would not have the wicked to live and be happy forever: The possibility of your being holy, God hath confirmed by an oath, and therefore you may no longer question it. The Egyptians (though Heathens) so hated perjury, that if any man did but swear by the life of the King, and did not perform his oath, that man was to die, and no gold was to redeem his life: And do you think that a holy God doth not stand more upon his oath then Heathens, yea then the worst of Heathens? Certainly he doth.
8. Lastly, it is possible that you may be a holy; Witness, [ 8] The great designs and undertakings of Jesus Christ to make lost man holy. His great design in leaving his fathers bosom and coming into this world, was the destroying, the dissolving of the works of the Devil. 1 John 3.8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil. Sin is Satan's work, and Christ comes to destroy it, and break it all in pieces. Men's sins are Satan's chains by which he links them fast to himself; but Christ was therefore manifested, that he might loose and knock off these chains; Satan had knit many sinful knots in our souls, but Christ comes to untie those knots; he had laid many snares, but Christ comes to discover and to break those snares. It was the great design of Christ in the divesting of himself (as it were) of his divine honor, glory, and dignity, and in his taking on him the nature of man, to destroy Satan, and to sanctify the souls of men. Heb. 2.11, 14, 15. It was the great design of Jesus Christ in giving of himself for us, in giving his soul, his body, his life, to justice, to death, to wrath for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. The crown of holiness was fallen from our heads, and Christ freely and willingly uncrowns himself, that once more we might be crowned with holiness, immortality and glory. Christ was resolved that he would lose all that was near and dear unto him, but he would recover our lost holiness for us. Christ knew that heaven had been but a poor purchase, had he not purchased holiness for us. As heaven is but a low thing without God, so heaven is but a low thing without holiness. It is holiness that is the sparkling Diamond in the Ring of happiness; a man were better be holy in hell, then unholy in heaven; and therefore Christ ventures his All for holiness. The great design of Christ in redeeming of souls with the choicest, the purest, the costliest, the noblest blood that ever run in veins, was that they should serve him in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives. In a word, Christ had never taken so great a journey from heaven to earth, but to make men holy; he had never taken upon him the form of a servant, but to make us the servants of the most high God. He had never lain in a manger, he had never trod the Wine-press of his fathers wrath, but to make you holy; he prayed, he sweat, he bled, and he hung on the Cross, and all to make you holy; he was holy in his birth, and holy in his life, and holy in his death, and holy in all his sufferings, and all to make you holy: The great design of Christ in all he did, and in all he suffered, was to make man holy. And thus you see by all these Arguments, that holiness is attainable.
Thirdly, Consider this, that real holiness is the honor [ 3] and the glory of the creature, and therefore the Apostle links holiness and honor together. 1 Thes. 4.3, 4. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; That everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. The vessel is man's body (which is the great utensil or instrument of the soul, and contains it as in a vessel) now the sanctity and chastity of this vessel, is the honor of a Christian; even bodily purity is a Christians glory; he that keeps his vessel in holiness, keeps it in honor: Holiness is the greatest dignity that mortal man is capable of; it is man's highest promotion, it is his highest exaltation; holiness is the true gentility, and the true nobility of the soul. Deut. 26. ult. And to make thee high above all Nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God. There is nothing that lifts a people so high, and that makes them so truly famous and glorious, as holiness doth: Holiness is the praise, the renown, the crown, and glory of a people: Holiness is the diadem, the beauty, and the excellency of a people: Holiness is the strength, the honor, and the riches of a people: Holiness is the image of God, the character of Christ; it is a beam of the divine nature, a spark of glory, it is the life of your lives, and the soul of your souls; it is only holiness that makes men to excel in honor all other people in the world. Look as God's holiness is his glory, and the Angels holiness is their glory, and the Churches holiness is their glory; so the holiness of any particular person, is the glory of that person. Why was Jabez reputed more honorable then his brethren, but because he was more holy then his brethren! 1 Chron. 4.9, 10. And Jabez was more honorable then his brethren; And his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. Holiness is the truest and the greatest nobility and honor in the world. It is very observable, that among Turks, Jews, Indians, Persians, and Papists, the strictest and holiest among them are most highly esteemed and honored. Romanus the Martyr, who was born of noble parentage, entreated his persecutors that they would not favor him for his nobility; for it is not (said he) the blood of my ancestors, but my Christian faith that makes me noble. David thought it not so happy, nor so honorable a thing to be a King in his own house, as to be a door-keeper in God's house. Solomon did prefer the title of Ecclesiastes, (that is, a soul reconciled to the Church) before the title of the King of Jerusalem: Holy Theodosius the Emperor preferred the title of membrum Ecclesiae, a member of the Church, before that of Caput imperii, the head of the Empire, professing that he had rather be a Saint and no King, then a King and no Saint. And holy Constantine rejoiced more in being the servant of Christ, then in being the Emperor of the world. And Luther had rather be ( Christianus rusticus, then Ethnicus Alexander ) a Christian clown then a Pagan Emperor. These holy men well knew that holiness was the top of all their honor and glory. Well sinners, remember this, that holiness is the high and ready way to the highest honor; and therefore as ever you would be truly honorable, labor to be truly holy. Great swelling titles are but as so many Rattles, or as so many Fethers in men's caps, without holiness; he that can be content to live without holiness, must be contented to see his honor intombed whilst he lives. Honor without holiness, is but a wind that will blow a man the sooner to hell. Honor without holiness, is but magnum nihil, a great nothing, a glorious fancy. Many a man hath been the worse, but where lives that man that hath been ever the better for his worldly honor? A man swelled with honor (without holiness) is like a man in a Dropsy, whose bigness is his disease. Well, let Ambitionists and all others who hunt after the breath of popular applause, know, that that honor which attends holiness, is the truest honor, the highest honor, the greatest honor, the happiest honor, the surest honor, the purest honor, and the most lasting and abiding honor. Mollerus upon Psalm 73.20. concludes that wicked men's earthly honors and dignities are but as idle dreams, and their splendid braveries, but lucid fantasies. Adonibezek, a mighty Prince, is quickly made a fellow-commoner with the dogs, Judge. 1.7. And Nebuchadnezzar, a mighty conqueror, turned a grazing among the Oxen. And Herod reduced from a conceited god, to be the most loathsome of men, a living carrion arrested by the vilest of creatures, upon the suit of his affronted Creator. And great Haman feasted with the King one day, and made a feast for Crows the next; but that honor that waits on holiness, is honor that will abide with a man, that will to the grave with a man, yea that will to heaven with a man. Some heathens have been weary of their honors, but the honor that attends holiness is no burden to a Christian; and others have rejected honors when they have been offered them, because of the cumber and danger that attends them: High seats are never but uneasy, and Crowns are usually stuffed with thorns. But the honor that attends holiness, is a Rose without prickles, it is a Crown without thorns; that honor that springs from a root of holiness, shall be both sanctified and sweetened by God, so as that it shall not hurt nor harm a gracious soul. Ah sinners, sinners, if you will be ambitious, be ambitious of that honor that comes in upon the foot of holiness, for there is no honor to that honor. The Romans were insatiable in their desires after worldly honor, which is but as a blast, a shadow, a dream. O! how much more insatiable should you be in your desires and endeavors after that honor that is linked to holiness, and that is substantial and lasting!
[ 4] Fourthly, To stir you up to look after real holiness; Consider that holiness is very attractive, drawing, and winning; it draws love, it draws desire, it draws delight. Holiness is like a precious perfume, whose savor spreads itself, and is pleasing and delightful to all that come near it. 2 Kings 4.9, 10. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed, a table, and a stool, and a candlestick; and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. The holiness of the Prophets spirit, the holiness of his principles, the holiness of his behavior, and the holiness of his conversation, did so allure and win upon this great Lady, that she becomes an importunate suitor to her husband, that he might be lovingly, freely, courteously, and commodiously entertained and accommodated as often as he came that way. So Acts 2.46, 47. And they continued daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart; Praising God, and having favor with all the people. That which did grace and ingratiate these holy Converts into the favor of the people, was the exercise of their grace and holiness. It was their sweet unity, their noble charity, their holy familiarity, their blessed harmony, their singular sincerity, and their Christian constancy, that brought them into favor with all the people; visible holiness is a loadstone that will draw eyes and hearts after it. 1 Pet. 3.1. Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the Word, they also may without the Word be woon by the conversation of the wife. A holy conversation is a winning conversation; the holy conversation of the wife, may be the conversion of the husband; the holy, the wise, the watchful, the circumspect conversation of the wife, may issue in the salvation of the husband; many a husband hath been woon to Christ by the holy conversation of the wife, and many a wife hath been woon by the holy conversation of the husband; many a servant hath been woon by the holy conversation of the Master; and many a Master hath been woon by the holy conversation of the servant. Zozomen reports, that the holy life of a poor captive Christian maid, made a King and all his family to embrace the Christian faith. I have read of Cicilia a poor virgin, who by her holy and gracious behavior in her martyrdom, was the means of converting four hundred to Christ. Many a soul hath been woon by the dumb Oratory of a holy life. Justin Martyr confesseth, that the constancy of Christians in their piety and sufferings, was the chiefest motive that converted him to Christianity. For I myself (saith he) was once a Platonist, and did gladly hear the Christians reviled: but when I saw they feared not death, nor any of those miseries which did most frighten all other men, I began to consider with myself, that it was impossible for such men to be lovers of pleasure more then lovers of piety; and that made me first think of turning Christian. There is nothing that hath that influence upon the judgments of men to persuade them, upon the consciences of men to awe them, upon the mouths of men to stop them, upon the hearts of men to convince them, and upon the lives of men to reform them, as holiness. What Plato once said of his moral virtue, viz. that if it could be seen with bodily eyes, it would be beloved of all, and draw all hearts to itself: That is most true of this Theological grace, holiness; holiness is so beautiful and so lovely a thing, that it renders men amiable and lovely in the very eyes of their enemies. Tilligny for his rare virtues, was rescued from death by his greatest enemies, at the massacre of Paris. Holiness makes a man's face to shine, as it did Moses his, and Stephens; nothing pleases the eye, nor wins the heart, like holiness: What is gold to godliness, gifts to grace, parts to piety? a spark, a ray, a beam of holiness, will certainly have an influence upon the spirits of men, either to restrain them, or change them, or allay them, or sweeten them, or win them, or one way or another to better them. Look as the unholy lives and conversations of many professors do occasion some to blaspheme God, others to bely God, others to withstand God, and others to forsake God; Look as the looseness of many Christians doth work some to reproach Christ, others to deny Christ, others to refuse Christ, others to revile the good ways of Christ, and others to oppose and despise the faithful followers of Christ: As Lactantius reports, that the loose lives of many Christians was made by the Heathens the reproach of Christ himself, (Quomodo bonus Magister, cujus tam pravos videmus discipulos?) How can we think the Master to be good, whose disciples we see to be so bad? And Salvian also complains, that the loose walking of many Christians, was made by the Heathen the reproach of Christ himself, saying, If Christ had taught holy doctrine, surely his followers had led better lives. And further the same Author relates, how the Heathens did reproach some Christians, who by their lewd lives made the Gospel of Christ to be a reproach: Where (said they) is that good Law which they do believe? Where are those rules of godliness which they do learn? they read the holy Gospel, and yet are unclean; they hear the Apostles writings, and yet are drunk; they follow Christ, and yet disobey Christ; they profess a holy Law, and yet do lead impure lives. Now, I say, look as the holiness of many professors is a dishonor to God, a reproach to Christ, a scandal to Religion, a blot to profession, and a grief to many whom God would not have grieved: So the power of holiness, the practice of holiness, is very influential upon the worst of men, to win and work them to the Lord, and to a love and liking of his ways. The holy lives of the Saints made the very Heathens to say, Surely this is a good God, whose servants are so good! Ambrose his holiness did very much draw out the heart of Theodosius the Emperor to him; and the holiness of Paphnutius did very much draw out the heart of Constantine the great to him; there is nothing that gives a man that heart-room and that hearty room in the souls of others, as holiness, it is the holy man that is a man of a thousand. But,
[ 5] Fifthly, Consider, that real holiness is the excellency of all a man's excellencies. As holiness is the glory of God, a part of the divine nature, a spark of heaven, a ray of glory; so it is the excellency of all a man's excellencies, it is the excellency of all our natural excellencies, it is the excellency of all our moral excellencies, and it is the excellency of all our intellectual excellencies. Look as God's holiness is the excellency of all his excellencies, as the Angels, who best know what is the top of his excellency, do evidence by that three-fold repetition, Holy, holy, holy, Isa. 6.3. these multiplied acclamations of holiness, denote the superlative eminency, excellency, and perfection of God's holiness. Both among the Hebrews, and among the Grecians, the holiness of God is the excellency of his omnisciencie, omnipotency, and omnipresence; it is the excellency of his eternity, immutability, and fidelity; it is the excellency of his wisdom, love, care and goodness. Psalm 111.9. Holy and reverend is his name. God's name comes to be reverend by holiness; if his name were not holy, it would never be reverend; and why is God called so often the holy one, but to show us that holiness is the very top of all his glory, and excellency! God could not be glorious in anything, if he were not glorious in holiness; That which speaks his power to be glorious power, is his holiness; and that which speaks his wisdom to be glorious wisdom, is his holiness; and that which speaks his mercy to be glorious mercy, is his holiness, &c. Were not the power of God a holy power, it could never be a glorious power; were not the wisdom of God a holy wisdom, it could never be glorious wisdom; and were not the mercy of God holy mercy, it could never be glorious mercy, &c. So the holiness of a man, is the glory and excellency of all a man's excellencies; it is the perfection of all a man's perfections; in Paradise, man's perfect holiness was his perfect blessedness; and in heaven, man's perfect holiness will be his perfect happiness. Holiness adds an excellency to all a man's excellencies; that which adds an excellency to a man's wisdom is holiness; when a man's wisdom is a holy wisdom, then it is excellent wisdom. So holy courage is excellent courage; and holy zeal is excellent zeal, and holy knowledge is excellent knowledge, and holy faith is excellent faith, and holy love • s ex • ellent love, and holy fear is excellent fear; it is the adding of holiness to all these, that renders these virtues truly excellent; it is holiness that is the top of all these royalties. Look as all ciphers signify nothing except you add a figure to them: so all the excellencies that be in men, whether they are natural, moral, or acquired, they signify nothing, except you add holiness to them. Birth and breeding, wit and wealth, honor and learning, are but the shadows and shapes of nobleness and true excellency; it is holiness that is the soul and substance of all; and without holiness all other things are of no worth, all other excellencies have no excellency at all in them. Naaman was General of the Kings Army, he was a man in great favor with his Prince, a man much honored among the people for being a savior and deliverer to them. He was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a Leper; this But he was a Leper, was a cloud upon all his glory, it was a veil upon all his honor, greatness and nobleness: So to say, there is a wise man, but unholy; and there is a great man, but unholy; and there is an ingenuous man, but unholy; and there is a noble-man, but unholy; and there is a valiant man, but unholy; and there is a good natured man, but unholy; and there is a learned man, but unholy, &c. What is this But unholy, but a cloud of darkness upon all the excellencies that are in these persons? But let now holiness be but added to each of these, and then they will shine as so many Suns. Holiness is a garment that sets off arts, and parts, and all other excellencies that be in man; let but this garment be wanting, and the nakedness of all things will quickly appear. And this made Jerome to say, that he had rather have Saint Paul's coat with his heavenly graces, then the purple of Kings with their Kingdoms. Look as a precious Jewel set in gold, makes that much more conspicuous and glorious, which was glorious before: So holiness adds beauty, splendor and glory to a man's parts, birth, honor, and estate, &c. But,
[ 6] Sixthly, Consider that holiness is not only an honor, and an ornament to the person that hath it, but it is also an honor and an ornament both to the persons and places to whom he stands related; the holiness of the father is an honor and ornament to the child, so was Abraham's to Isaac; and the holiness of the child is an honor and an ornament to the father, so was Isaac's to Abraham; the holiness of the husband is an honor and ornament to the wife, so was Abraham's to Sarah; and the holiness of the wife is an honor and an ornament to the husband, so was Sarah's to Abraham: So in Prov. 12.4. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. (A crown is the top of honor, it is the top of royalty and glory; why a virtuous wife is such a thing.) A sweet, a good natured wife, is as a gold ring upon her husbands finger; a gifted wife is as a gold chain about her husbands neck, but a holy virtuous wife is as a crown upon her husbands head. The holiness of the Prince is an honor and an ornament to the people; and the holiness of the people is an honor and an ornament to the Prince. The holiness of the master is an honor and an ornament to the servant; and the holiness of the servant is an honor and an ornament to the master. And the holiness of one brother, is an honor to another brother. Jude glories in this, that he was the brother of James, Vers. 1. James was famous for his sanctity; for his holiness he was called the just, as Eusebius writes; his holiness did so sparkle and shine, that the Jews were generally convinced that in holiness he was more eminent and excellent then others. Now Jude took it for a very high honor to be related to one so eminent in holiness: Holy persons reflect a credit and an honor upon their relations: It was the speech of a Heathen notably qualified, though but meanly bred and born, to a dissolute person well born, upbraiding him with his birth, I am a grace to my stock, but thou art a blot to thy linage. Yea holy persons are an honor to the places where they have been born and bred. Psalm 87.5, 6. And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. God seems to be very much affected and taken with the very places where holy men are born; he loves the very ground that holy men tread on, and he delights in the very air that holy men breath in; holy persons reflect honor upon the very places where they were born; the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, were the honor and the glory of the ages and places where they lived. They were as so many bright morning Stars, they were as so many rising Suns in the places where they were bred and born. Melancthon was called the Phenix of Germany, and Luther was the glory of the age wherein he lived. And so were many of the ancients before them, and many since, who have been burning and shining lights in the places of their abode. Look as an unholy person is a plague and a curse to the very place he lives in, and hasteneth down wrath and vengeance upon it: as Bias the Philosopher hath long since observed; for he being at Sea in a great tempest, among many profane debauched fellows, and perceiving them to call upon their gods (as the worst of men usually do in such cases) he comes to them, and desires them to hold their peace, lest the gods should take notice that they were in the Ship, and so not only themselves but others also should suffer for their sakes. It was the wickedness of the wicked, that brought the sweeping flood upon the old world; and it was the wickedness and filthiness of the Sodomites, that caused God to rain hell out of heaven upon the Cities where they lived: Let men be never so honorable, or never so potent, or never so witty, or never so wealthy, &c. yet if they are profane, if they are wicked, they will hasten down the wrath and vengeance of God upon the places of their abode. So a holy person is an honor and a blessing to the very place he lives in: As you may see in Jacob and Joseph, who were choice and noble blessings to the very families where they lived. O Sirs, as ever you would be an honor to your relations, to your Country, and to the places of your abode, labor for holiness. Some venture life and limb, and many a better thing, to reflect honor upon their relations, and upon their Country; and why then should not you venture far, and venture high for holiness, which will be not only an honor to yourselves, but also an honor and a glory to all persons and places that you have relation to?
Seventhly, Consider, that holiness is the very ear-mark, [ 7] the very livery and badge of Christ's servants and subjects. Isa. 63.8. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their savior, And ver. 18. they are called the people of his holiness. God's people are too holy to lie, they will not lie for his glory, nor for their own worldly good. They will rather die then lie, with that brave woman that Jerome writes of, who being upon the Rack, bade her persecutors do their worst; for she was resolved rather to die then lie. Neither the merry lie, nor the jesting lie, nor the officious lie, nor the pernicious lie, will down with those that are the people of God's holiness, or that are his holy people: saith God, I have been at so much cost and charge about them, I have carried it so kindly, so bountifully, so sweetly, so favourably, so nobly, to them I have been such an all-sufficient Savior, such a mighty preserver, and such a glorious deliverer of them, that certainly they will not lie, they will not deceive my expectation, they will not deny me, they will not deal disloyally nor unworthily by me; they are of Augustine's opinion, who hath long since told us, that we must not tell so much as an officious lie, though it were to save all the world. So Jer. 2.3. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend: evil shall come upon them saith the Lord. Holiness to the Lord, is the mark that God sets upon all his precious ones. Psalm 4.3. Know that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself. God hath wonderfully, gloriously, marvelously, yea miraculously set apart the pious, the holy, the merciful, the godly man, the gracious Saint, by some mark of distinction for himself, that is for his own honor, and glory, and service, and delight. Look as Rahahs house was known by a red thread, and the Ephraimites by their lisping, and Jehu by his driving, and Peter by his speaking: so real Christians are known by their holiness. Holiness is King Jesus his Livery, by which all his subjects and servants are known and differenced from all other persons in the world. And in the Primitive times a Christian was known from another man, only by the holiness of his conversation, as Tertullian witnesses. Look as our Lord Jesus Christ by the spirit of holiness raising him up from the dead, was declared to be the Son of God: so it is the spirit of holiness, it is principles of holiness, it is the life and practice of holiness, that declares us to be the sons of God. Holiness is that golden character by which God differences and distinguisheth his people from all others in the world. Look as the worshippers of the Beast are known by the mark of the Beast that is upon them, so the worshippers of Christ, the people of Christ, are known by that mark of holiness that Christ hath set upon them. This title, this compellation, Saints, is given fourscore times to the people of God in Scripture, as if God took a greater delight to have his children known by this badge and livery, then by any other. As for such that have the name of Saints upon them, but nothing of the nature of a Saint in them; that have a name to be holy, and yet are unholy; that have a name to be gracious, and yet are graceless; that have a name to live, and yet are dead; these God will in that day unmask, when he shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. An unholy Saint is a white Devil, he is a monster among men. Christ sweat, and prayed, and died, and was raised to make sinners Saints, to make the rebellious religious, and the licentious conscientious; all he did and suffered was to stamp the seal and impress of holiness upon them. And therefore as ever you would be owned and honored by Christ another day, look that the holy Spirit sets the seal of holiness upon you. If the impress of holiness be upon you in the day that the Lord makes up his Jewels, he will declare you to be his before all the world. He will say, These are my sheep, these are my sons, I know them by that mark of holiness that I find upon them. But,
[ 8] Eighthly, Consider this, that a man of holiness, or a holy man, is a common good, a common blessing. All fare the better for a holy man; all in the family, all in the Court, all in the City, all in the Country fare the better for the holy man's sake. All in Laban's family did fare the better for Jacob's sake; and all in the City of Zoar did fare the better for Lots sake; and all Pharaoh's Court, and the whole Country of Egypt did fare the better for Josephs sake. Sodom was safe whilst holy Lot was in it: Holy Elijah was the chariots and horsemen of Israel: whilst holy Moses stood in the gap, destroying judgments were diverted: when holy Phineas took up his Censer and stood between the living and the dead, the plague was stayed. Holy persons are public mercies, public blessings. Job 22.30. He shall deliver the Island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands: or as some read the words, the innocent shall deliver the Island; that is, the inhabitants of the Island; the innocent shall deliver those that are not innocent; had there been but ten innocent, but ten righteous persons in Sodom, Sodom might have been a glorious city to this day; had there been but ten righteous souls among them, God would never have rained hell out of heaven upon them. The guiltless shall deliver the guilty in an Island; the guiltless by lifting up pure hands to God in prayer, shall stay the hand of God, that it destroys not the guilty. It is the holy seed that upholdeth the civil state. Isa. 6.13. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall he eaten: as a teyltree, and as an oak whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. The holy seed were the stay and prop of their Land, and this the Lord evidences by a very familiar instance or similitude; it is as if he should say, You see the way or cawsey leading from the Kings house to the Temple (spoken of in 1 Kings 10.5. and 2 Kings 12.21. 1 Chron. 26.16, 17. and 2 Chron. 9.11.) how by reason of the oaks and trees on either side thereof, the earth between is stayed and held up firm, which otherwise would fall to decay and molder away: So saith God, it is the holy seed that bears up the whole state, and were it not for them, desolation and destruction would come in as a flood upon you. Prov. 10.25. The righteous is an everlasting foundation; the Hebrew Doctors sense it thus, The righteous are the foundation of the world, which would soon shatter and fall to ruin, but for their sakes. The whole world fares the better every day for the righteous sake. If it were not for this holy seed, the chaff of this world would soon be set on fire; if the number of the holy seed were but called and converted, God would quickly turn the whole world into flames and ashes; it is they that bear up the pillars of the earth. Psalm 75.3. I bare up the pillars of the earth; holy persons are the true Atlasses both of Church and state; they are the pillars on whom all do rest, the props on whom all do lean; do but overturn these pillars, and all will fall about your ears, as the house did about the Philistines when Sampson shook it; let but Kingdoms and Common-wealths wrack these, and they shall quickly be ship-wracked themselves. There is not a sinner in the world, but enjoys his estate, his relations, his outward accommodations, yea his very life, upon the account of the Saints, and therefore they must needs be bewitched, or fools, or mad men, that are still a lifting and a thrusting at these very pillars that bear them up. Look as Samson's strength did lie in his locks, so the strength and safety of the Nation lies in the holy seed, they are the Bullwarks and Ammunition of the Nation; the safety and felicity of the whole is bound up in them; it is not Armies, nor Navies, nor walled Cities, nor fortified Casiles, nor golden Mines, nor grave Counsels, that will secure a Nation; if once the people of God's holiness be cast by as broken pitchers: it is their piety and prayers that keeps off sweeping judgments from a Nation, and that brings down variety of mercies upon a Nation. Holy persons are the clouds that water the earth, as a common blessing; and they are the rising Sun that scatters all clouds and darkness. A holy man is ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) a publke diffusive blessing in the place where he lives; look as one sinner destroys much good, so one Saint may save a Land, a Country. Jer. 5.1. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. Though Jerusalem was far larger and more populous, I say not only then Sodom, but then all the other Cities that sinned and perished with it, yet God makes so large and noble an offer, that if there could be found in it but one man divinely qualified, but a man of justice, a man of faithfulness, a man of uprightness, a man of holiness, the Lord would pardon it, that is, he would spare it, he would not destroy it, not ruin it: God once made an offer to Abraham, that if there were but ten righteous souls in Sadome, he would save it; but here he falls so low as to make an offer, that if there could be but one righteous soul found in Jerusalem, he would not destroy it. One Saint may save a City, yea, a world of sinners from confusion and destruction. Luther, whilst he lived, by Faith and Prayer, kept off troubles from Germany, but soon after he was gone to his grave in Peace; O! the wars, the miseries and mischiefs, the distractions and confusions that came in like a stood upon them! Possidonius in the life of Augustine tells us, that the famous City of Hippo could never be spoiled whilst Augustine lived. The flood could not drown the old world till holy. Meth • s • lah was laid up in peace. O Sirs! as ever you would be a public blessing, labor to be holy. But,
Ninthly, Consider the antiquity of holiness; holiness [ 9] is of the greatest, highest, and ancientest antiquity; the first suit that ever was put upon the back of man's Nature, was holiness; sin is of a later edition then holiness, holiness was when sin was not: Let us make man (saith God) in our own Image: Sin is against nature, it is a def • ct in nature, it came in by a lie, and by the by, through the subtlety of the Father of lies. God stamped his Image of holiness upon man, before ever Satan assayed to tempt him. Holiness is of the ancientest house, of the greatest antiquity. Sin is but an upstart, holiness is the first-born; the way of holiness is the oldest way. Jer. 6.16. Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find • rest for your souls, but they said we will not walk therein. The way of holiness was that old way in which Adam at first, and in which all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets walked. In this sense it is most certain, that the oldest way is the best way; the way of sanctity is of greatest antiqui • y: Let Papists and carnal superstitious Protestants cry up their superstitious ways, as way • of greatest antiquity, yet when they have said all they can, there is no Antiquity to that of holiness; the way of Will-worship was not the first way of worshipping God in the world. Many carnal men cry out that they are for the good old way, they care not for this new way, they care not for this new Religion (as they call it), they say that we have never had good days since there hath been so much Praying, and so much Preaching, and so much Fasting, and so much Printing, and so much ado about c • ose walking with God: 'It is most certain that a carnal Religion is best pleasing to a carnal heart; and this you may see evidently among the Turks, whose Religion gives much carnal liberty to the professors of it; and whose Religion promises them a Paradise of sensual pleasures in another world: And the same is very observable among the Papists, and all the carnal Protestants in the world, who cry up that for the best Religion, and for the true Religion, and for the good old Religion, that is most suitable to their carnal reason, and most pleasing and indulging to their lusts. Socrates is sufficiently condemned, for his prescribing of men to worship God according to the manner of the country where they lived; and what was this, but to gratify the lust of men by subjecting the rule of God's worship, to the laws and customs of men, but from the beginning it was not so. Holy Noah, holy Enoch, and the rest of the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, walked only in ways of Piety and Purity. Holy Abraham, holy Isaac, and holy Jacob; never walked in those ways that are now by loose, formal, carnal and superstitious persons, cried up for the good old way, but in ways of holiness and righteousness. I have read of the Cretans, that when they cursed their enemies, they did not wish their houses on fire, nor a sword at their hearts, but that they might be delighted and given up to an ill custom. It is one of the greatest and bitterest Curses and Woes, to be delighted and given up to ill customs; and the older the custom is of evil, the worse it is; and ah how many are fallen under these curses in these days, wherein multitudes are addicted and given up to carnal and superstitious customs and choose rather to follow an ill custom, though it be never so absurd, irregular, vain, and superstitious, then to walk in a way of peace and holiness. Well Sirs, shall the Antiquity of holiness provoke you to be holy? Many will do much for Antiquity sake, and why then should not you do much for holiness sake? Holiness is God's first-born, it is as ancient as the ancient of days: The way of holiness is gray-headed, and of ancientest institution; all other ways are but of yesterday, they are but new ways to the way of holiness. And O that this might alaram you to look after holiness! The Gibeonites cheated Joshua with their old clouted shoes, and with their old sacks, and old boots, and old garments; And so doth Rome this day cheat and delude multitudes of poor, blind, ignorant souls, with their old customs, and with their old ceremonies, and old traditions, and old inventions, under a pretence of the good old way, and the good old religion; but certainly the way of holiness, the way of purity, is of the greatest Antiquity, and therefore O embrace it! O walk in it! Look as the stamp of Antiquity upon some things is a disparagement and a dishonor to them, as an old garment that is past wearing, and an old house that is past mending, and an old ship that is past rigging; so the stamp of Antiquity upon other things is a praise and an honor to them, as old gold, old friends, old manuscripts, old monuments, old scars, and old holiness; the stamp of Antiquity upon holiness, is the praise and honor of holiness. Look as it is an honor to a man to be descended of an ancient house; so it is an honor to a man to be allied to holiness, because sanctity is of greatest Antiquity; and therefore above all gettings, get holiness. But,
Tenthly, Consider, that of all things holiness will render [ 10] you most beautiful and amiable; as holiness is the beauty of God, and the beauty of Angels, so it is the beauty and glory of a Christian too: holiness is a Christians greatest honor and ornament. Psalm, 93.5. Holiness becometh thine house (that is thy Church) O Lord forever. There is no garment that suits the Church, that becomes the Church, like the garment of holiness; it is sancti • y that is the Churches excellency and glory; it is purity that is the Churches ornament and beauty. Holiness is a beauty that beautifies the Church; it is the gracefulness and comeliness of the Church; holiness is so beautiful a thing, that it puts a beauty on all things else; as holiness is the greatest ornament of the Church Triumphant, so it is the greatest ornament of the Church Millitant, Ephe. 5.26, 27. The redness of the Rose, the whiteness of the Lily, and all the beauties of Sun, Moon, and Stars, are but deformities to that beauty that holiness puts upon us. If all natural and artificial beauty were contracted into one beauty, yet it would be but an obscure and an unlovely beauty, to that beauty that holiness puts upon us. Psalm. 29.2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm. 96.9. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm. 110.3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauty of holiness. You see beauty and holiness is by God himself still linked together, and those whom God hath so closely joined together, no man may put a sunder. The Scripture last cited doth not only speak our holiness to be a beautiful thing, but it speaks out many beauties to be in holiness. Those Christians that are volunteers in the beauties of holiness, they shall be very beautiful and shining through holiness: Holiness casts such a beauty upon man, as makes him very amiable and desirable. The holiness of parents renders them very amiable and desirable in the eyes of their children; and the holiness of children renders them very amiable and desirable in the eyes of their paren • s. When that incomparable Lady Cornelia presented her sons to the Common-wealth; she said, (Haec sunt mea ornamenta) these are my Jewels, these are my ornaments. Holy children are their parents crown, their parents ornaments; no glistering gold, no sparkling diamonds, no shining or glittering apparel, renders children so amiable and lovely in the eyes of their parents, as holiness doth. The holiness of the husband renders him very amiable in the eyes of the wife, and the holiness of the wife renders her very desirable in the eyes of her husband. The holiness of the master renders him very lovely in the eyes of his servants, and the holiness of the servants renders them very comely in the eyes of their masters, &c. Jewels holiness, Bradfords holiness, and Bucer's holiness, rendered them very amiable and lovely, not only in the eyes of their friends, but also in the eyes of their enemies. There is nothing in this world that will render all sorts and ranks of people so glorious and famous in the eyes of one another, as holiness will do: Were all ranks and orders of men more holy, they would certainly be more lovely in the eyes of one another. O that all men would cease from being injurious one to another, and labor to be more holy, and then I am sure they would be more comely in one another's eyes. Holiness is lovely, yea loveliness itself; purity is a Christians splendor and glory; there is no beauty to that of sanctity; nothing beautifies and bespangles a man like holiness: Holiness is so lovely and so comely a thing, that it draws all eyes and hearts to an admiration of it. Holiness is so great a beauty, that it puts a beauty upon all other excellencies in a man. That holiness is a very beautiful thing, and that it makes all those beautiful that have it, is a truth that no Devil can deny. And therefore, O Sirs, as ever you would be ebautiful and lovely, labor to be holy. The natural beauty of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Joseph and Absalom was no beauty to that beauty, luster and glory that holiness puts upon a man. Demetrius (saith Plutarch ) was so passing fair of face and countenance, that no Painter was able to draw him; Holiness puts so rare a beauty upon man, that no Painter under heaven is able to draw him. Scipio Africanus was so comely a person, that the Barbarians in Spain stood amazed at his comeliness: Holiness puts such a comliness, and such an amiableness upon a person, that many admire it, and stand amazed at it. O Sirs, as ever you would be amiable and desirable, be holy; as ever you would be lovely and comely, be holy; as ever you would be famous and glorious, be holy; as ever you would outshine the Sun in splendor and glory, labor to be holy. Many have ventured their names, their estates, their liberties, their lives, yea their very souls to enjoy a lovely Bathsheba, a fair Helena, a beautiful Diana, a comely Cleopatra, &c. whose beauties have been but clay well coloured: O how much more then should you be provoked to labor and venture your All for holiness, that will imprint upon you that most excellent and most exquisite beauty, that will to the grave and to glory with you; yea that will render you not only amiable and excellent in the eyes of men, but also lovely and comely in the eyes of God! I remember Bernard writing to a noble Virgin that was holy, tells her, that others were clothed with purple and silk, but their consciences were poor and beggarly; they glistered with their Jewels, but were loose in their manners; but you, (saith he) are without meanly clad, but within shine exceeding beautiful, not to human, but to divine eyes; both in the eyes of God, Angels and men, none shine and glister so gloriously, as those that are holy. Unholy souls are foul souls, ugly souls, deformed souls, withered souls, wrinkled souls, they are altogether unlovely and uncomely souls. I have read of Acco an old woman, who seeing her deformity in a glass, run mad. Should God but show unholy men their deformity in the glass of the Law, it would either make them spiritually mad, or else it would make them fall in love with holiness; that so they might be made comely and lovely, by being made pure and holy. But,
[ 11] Eleventhly, Consider this to provoke you to be holy; that holiness is the most gainfullest and the most thriving trade in the world. Now that everyone cries out that all trading is gone; O that everyone would settle to the trade of holiness! O there is no gain, there is no advantage, to the gain that comes in upon the account of godliness, 1 Tim. 6.6. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Though godliness itself be great gain, yet godliness brings in a great deal of gain besides itself. The godly man is still of the gaining side, his piety brings him in the greatest plenty. chap. 4.8. Godliness is profitable to all things. A man is as well able to tell the stars of heaven, and to number the hairs of his head, as he is able to tell the several commodities, or to number up the variety of blessings, or multitude of mercies that comes flying in upon the wings of godliness. Godliness hath the promise of both lives, that is, both of earthly favors, and of eternal blessings also. It is profitable, not for some things, but for everything; both temporal, spiritual and eternal blessings do grow upon this Tree of life, holiness. There is no trade to the trade of godliness. Prov. 22.4. By humility and the fear of the Lord, are riches, and honor, and life. Godliness hath the promise of Gold as well as of Grace, of honor as well as of heaven; of life and happiness here, as well as of glory and blessedness hereafter. The good things of this life, as well as the great things of a better life, follows holiness hard at heels. Holiness is not a barren but a fruitful womb; it is like that tree in Rev. 22.2. which did bear twelve manner of fruits, and that yielded fruit every month. What is of greater value among men then riches? and what is more glorious among men then honor? and what is more sweet among men then life? Why, all these fruits and ten thousand more, grow upon the tree of holiness. The bag of riches, the robe of honor, and life, that is the comfort and sweet of both, hangs all upon the back of holiness. But that I may the more effectually win upon you, and provoke you to look after holiness, let me by an induction of particulars, further confirm the truth of this last consideration, especially considering that there is no argument under heaven that is so taking with all men as this of gain. Profit is a bait that all bite at; it is the great god of the world. And therefore thus,
First, Consider that holiness brings in present gain; and [ 1] what gain to present gain? there are many that lay out much, and venture far, and run the hazard of all, and yet it is long before they see returns. O but holiness, that brings in present profit. Rom. 6.22. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. The Apostle doth not say, Ye may have your fruit unto holiness; but, Ye have your fruit unto holiness; he doth not say, Ye shall have your fruit unto holiness; but, Ye have your fruit unto holiness; he doth not say, O that ye had your fruit unto holiness; but, Ye have your fruit unto holiness. So Psalm 19.11. Not only for keeping, but also in keeping of his commands, there is great reward. Holiness is its own reward; whilst a Christian is in the very exercise of holiness, O what blessed sights, what sweet tastes, what glorious incomes from heaven hath he! O the secret visits, the secret whispers, the secret joggings, the secret love-tokens that Christians meet with in the very practice of holiness! Holiness brings in present comfort and joy. 2 Cor. 1.12. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our consciences, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-wards. There is no mirth, no joy, to that that holiness brings in; let a man's load be never so heavy, yet holiness will bring in that joy that will make him bear up bravely and cheerfully under it. Holiness brings in present peace; hence it is that you read of the peaceable fruits of righteousness, Heb. 12.10, 11. And holiness will bring in present communion with God. 1 John 1.7. But if we walk in the light, as he is the light, we have fellowship one with another: (that is, God and we have fellowship together, as it is ver. 3.) Now to walk in the light as he is in the light, what is it but to walk in holiness, to walk in paths of sanctity? for only in such paths the Lord walks. And therefore as you love present gain, labor after holiness. But,
[ 2] Secondly, As holiness brings in present gain, so holiness brings in the best & greatest gain; & this I shall evidence thus.
[ 1] First, Holiness will make a man rich in the midst of poverty. R • v. 2.9. I know thy poverty, but thou art rich; though the Church of Smyrna was poor in goods, yet she was rich in grace, she was rich in faith, and rich in hope, and rich in patience, and rich in contentment, &c. she was rich in Christ her head, and rich in promises, and rich in experiences, she had spiritual riches in possession, and glorious riches in reversion; so in 2 Cor. 6.10. As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. A holy man cannot be a poor man: A holy man is still the richest man: But this is a riddle the world understands not. The riches of a Christian have no bottom; all a Saints bags are bottomless bags. Experience tells us, that unholy men's bags, purses, coffers, and mints may be drawn dry; but the Treasury, the riches of a Saint, can never be exhausted, for he still possesses all things in Christ and with Christ; Though he hath nothing in hand, yet he hath all things in hope; Though he hath nothing in the cistern, yet he hath all things in the fountain. Gen. 33.9. Esau could say (Li Rab) I have much; and it was much that an Esau should say he had much: but says holy Jacob, v. 11. (Li col) I have all. Esau had much, but Jacob had all, because he had the God of all: He had him that was all in all. It hath been said of the great Duke of Guise, that (though he was poor as to his present possessions) yet he was the richest man in France, in bills, bonds, and obligations, because he had engaged all the Noble men in France to himself, by preferring of them. A holy man is the richest man in the world in promises and obligations, for he hath the great and glorious God engaged by many thousand promises to own him, to bless him, to stand by him, to give grace and glory to him, and to with-hold nothing from him that may be good for him. When wicked men brag of their Lordships and Manors, and boast of their great possessions, and glory in their thousands a year: A holy man may make his boast of God, and say, God is mine, God is mine: he is my great all, he is my all in all; and therefore I am richer and a greater possessor then any wicked man in the world, yea then all wicked men in the world put together. But,
Secondly, By holiness you will gain a good report, a [ 2] good name, Heb. 11.39. And these all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: Nothing raises a man's name and fame in the world like holiness. The seven Deacons that the Church chose were holy men, Acts 6.5. and they were men of good report, ver. 3. they were men well witnessed unto, well testified of, as the Greek word imports. Cornelius was a holy man, Acts 10.1, 2, 3, 4. and he was a man of good report among all the Nation of the Jews. ver. 22. Ananias was a holy man. Acts 9.10, 20. and he was a man of a good report. Acts 22.12. Gaius and Demetrius were both holy men, and they were men of good report, witness that third Epistle of John. The Patriarchs and Prophets were holy men, and they were men of a good report. Heb. 11.1, 2. For by it the Elders obtained a good report: their holiness did eternalize them. The Apostles were holy men, 1 Thes. 2.10. And they were men of a good report, 2 Cor. 6.8. Now certainly it is none of the least of mercies to be well reputed and reported of; next to a good conscience, a good report is the noblest blessing. Good fare doth not more rejoice and strengthen the outward man, the ignoble part of man, then a good report doth rejoice and strengthen the inward man, the noble part of man. Prov. 15.30. A good report makes the bones fat. Yea and I may add, it makes the heart fat too. It is no small pleasure to a man, to know that others are pleased with him. Beautiful objects do not more delight the eyes, then a good report delights the ears. O Sirs, as ever you would obtain a good report, you must labor after holiness. You may obtain a great report without holiness, but you can never obtain a good report without holiness. There is no such way to perpetuate your names, as to labor after holiness. Holiness will inbalm your names, it will make them immortal. Psal. 112.6. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. Prov. 10.7. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. Wicked men many times out-live their names, but the names of just men out-live them. When a holy man dies, he leaves his name as a sweet and as a lasting scent behind him; his fame shall live when he is dead. According to the Hebrew, the words may be read thus, The memory of the just shall be for a blessing. The very remembering of the just shall bring a blessing upon them that remember them. Whilest the just, the holy man lived, he was a blessing to those amongst whom he lived, and when he is dead, his memory is a blessing to posterity. But the name of the wicked shall not: whilst a wicked man lives, he laeis his name under disdain and disgrace, and when he dies, he leaves it under an odious stink. Wickedness corrupts not only the heart but the name: And look as wickedness makes a man's soul stink in the nostrils of God, so wickedness makes a man's name stink in the nostrils of men. Look as a wicked man's body (when he is dead) stinks under ground, so his name stinks above ground. His very name casts forth so stinking a savor, that all the perfumes in the world, and all the spicery of hell can never sweeten it. Well, once more remember, that these words, The name of the wicked shall rot, are a Metaphorical speech taken from a tree, which though for a time it grows green and flourishes, yet at length it grows rotten; so though wicked men may flourish and be green and glorious for a time, yet at last they shall rot, their names shall rot on earth, their bodies shall rot in the grave, and their souls shall rot in hell: but the memory of the just shall be blessed. Next to a holy man's soul, there is nothing so near and dear to him as his name: and this God will so perfume, as that the fragrancy of it shall last forever. The name of a holy man shall be always as an ointment poured forth: but the name of a wicked man shall be always as a stinking Jakes. O Sirs! what a deal of stir do many men make to get a name, to get a name to be wise, a name to be knowing, a name to be learned, a name to be skillful, a name to be rich, a name to be great, a name to be mighty, and a name to be valiant, &c. And why then should you not labor after holiness, that so you may get a good name, which is rather to be chosen then riches, Prov. 22.1. and which is better then precious ointment! Eccles. 7.1. O Sirs, shall many Romans and others run the hazard of damning their souls to immortalize their names, and will not you labor after holiness to eternalize yours? There is no way to a good name, to a good report, but by getting of holiness.
[ 3] Thirdly, By holiness you will gain a hiding place, a shelter, a refuge in stormy and tempestuous times. Prov. 11.6. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. Let a holy man's enemies, dangers, snares, hazards be never so many, yet his righteousness shall shelter him against all. In the midst of trouble, holiness will keep a man from trouble; and in the midst of dangers, holiness will keep a man from dangers: Holiness is the most sovereign Antidote in the world, against all the troubles of this life. Noah's sanctity was Noah's safety in the midst of a deluge: And Lots piety was Lots security, in the day of Sodom's ruin and misery: And the three children's innocence, was a wall of fire about them in the midst of the fiery furnace: And David's integrity was a shield and buckler against Saul's rage and cruelty; so in Prov. 13.6. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. There is no guard, no protection against troubles and dangers, to that of righteousness. Righteousness and holiness is the most puissant Army, and the strongest Tower of defense against all hazards and enemies. The Hebrew word that is here rendered keepeth, is from Natsar, that signifieth to keep with the greatest care, diligence, and vigilancy that can be; it signifies to preserve and keep, as a man would preserve and keep the Apple of his eye, which is the chiefest and the tenderest piece of the tenderest part; and it signifies to keep, as a man would keep ammunition and provision from fire, or from treacherous hands, when a powerful and enraged enemy is drawing near. Why says he, look how careful and diligent, &c. men are to keep and preserve those things that are most near and dear unto them, and that are most highly prized and valued by them; So will righteousness and holiness preserve and keep the righteous man in times of trouble and danger: So in Ezek. 14.14, 20. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord. Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter: they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. These three, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were very holy men, they had great interest in God, and were very prevalent with God. But the Decree being gone forth, they could not prevail with God for others; yet their righteousness should be their own preservation, safety and security, in days of calamity and misery. So in Isa. 33.15, 16. He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing of evil, He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munition of rocks, bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure. Let us dive a little into this admirable promise, He shall dwell on high, but rather as the Hebrew hath it, He shall dwell on hights; if the holy man were among his enemies, he might be in danger, but he shall dwell on hights, on many hights, and many ascents, he shall be out of harms way, out of Gun-shot, he shall be above the reach of danger. O! but his enemies may raise up mounts, and so get as high as he is; Well, grant that, but yet they shall not hurt him; for he is in a place of defense. O! but though he be in a place of defense, yet his defense is not so strong, but it may be broken down and destroyed. No, not so, for his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; many rocks, and many munitions of rocks, shall be the place of his defense, and therefore his defense is impregnable, and invincible. O! but though his defense be munitions of rocks, yet he may be famished, he may be starved out, for rocks are barren places, and there is no plowing and sowing upon rocks: No, he shall not be starved nor famished out of his strong place of defense; for bread shall be given him, God will spread a Table for him. O! but though he hath bread, yet he may perish for want of water; for he hath no faith, skill nor power to fetch water out of a Rock. Moses had not, and he hath not, and therefore he may be forced to deliver up his place of defense for water to quench his thirst, as King Lysimachus and others have done; no not so, for he shall have water too. O but his water may be spent, his water will not always last, his Well, as well as Hagar's bottle, may be dry; his pipes may be cut off, or the water that now supplies him may be turned another way. No, not so, for his water shall be sure. O! the safety and security of holy men. Plutarch in the life of Alexander tells us, that when he came to besiege the Sogdians, a people who dwelt upon a Rock, (or such as had the munition of Rocks for their defense) they jeered him, and asked him whether his soldiers had wings or not? for, said they, except your soldiers can fly in the air, we fear you not. Such is the safety of God's holy ones, that they need not to fear: There are no ladders long enough to scale their place of defense, nor no Artillery or Engine strong enough to batter down their munitions of Rocks. There is an Apologue how the Dove made moan to her fellow birds of the tyranny of the Hawk; one counsels her to keep below, but saith another, The Hawk can stoop for his prey; another advised her to soar aloft, but saith another, the Hawk can mount as high as she; another wished her to shroud herself in the woods, for there she should be secure, but saith another, alas, there is the Hawks Manor, the place where he keeps Court; another bids her keep the Town, but saith another, that is to become a prey to man; but at last one bids her rest herself in the holes of the Rock, and there she should certainly be safe, for violence itself could not surprise her there, and there she was safe. Dove-like Saints, they have their munitions of Rocks to fly to, and there they shall be safe. O Sirs! there is no breast-plate to that of Righteousness, there is no Armor of proof, no munitions of Rocks to that of holiness. Noah's holiness was an Ark to save him, when Nimrods Tower of Babel which was raised five thousand one hundred forty six paces high, could not secure him: And therefore as you tender your own safety and security in times of trouble and calamity, O labor to be holy.
[ 4] Fourthly, By holiness you will gain deliverance from death in death, Prov. 11.4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death: and Chap. 10.2. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death. Many Treasuries of the most precious Jewels that be in the world cannot ward off a blow, a disease, a sickness in the day of God's wrath. It is not the Crown of gold, that can cure the head-ache; nor the golden Scepter, that can cure the Palsy hand; nor the Neck-lase of Pearl, that can cure the Aking teeth; nor the Honorable Garter, that can ease the Gout; nor the Purple Robe, that can chase away the burning Feaver; nor the Velvet Slipper, that can heal the kibe-heel; no more can Treasures of gold or silver deliver from wrath, or help in a day of death! O, but Righteousness that delivers from death. Look what the Sword, the Shield, the Helmet, the Brest-plate, the Coat of Mail is to the Soldier in the heat of battle, that, all that, and more then that, is righteousness to the righteous in the day of death. Righteousness or holiness of affection, of action, of life and conversation, delivers from spiritual death, and from eternal death, yea, it delivers from the evil, the hurt, the horror, the terror, the dread, and the stinge of temporal death. Piety delivers not only from the second death, but also from all the evils and miseries of the first death too. As the righteousness of the righteous will be a royal protection to him, both against the day of wrath, and the wrath of the day: So the righteousness of the righteous will be a royal protection to him, both against death, and against all the evils of death. Righteousness unstings death, it takes away the venom, the poison and bitterness of death: It turns that curse into a blessing, that punishment into a benefit, that night of darkness into a day of light, that wilderness into a Paradise, that hell into a heaven, Prov. 12.28. In the way of righteousness is life, and in the path thereof, there is no death In the way of righteousness is (chaiim) lives: so the Hebrew hath it, in the way of righteousness there are many lives: in that way there is spiritual life, and eternal life, and natural life, and all the comforts, and sweets, and blessings, and happiness of that life, without which man's life would be but a lingering, a languishing death; yea, a hell rather then a heaven unto him. And in the path thereof there is no death. There is no spiritual death, there is no eternal death, yea, there is no corporal, no temporal death to hurt or harm the them, to sting or terrify them, to damage or disadvantage them: for death is an out-let, and an in-let to a holy man: it is an out-let to sin, to sorrow, to shame, to suffering, to afflictions, to temptations, to desertions, to oppressions, to confusions, and to vexations; and it is an in-let to a more clear, full and constant fruition of God and Christ, and an in-let to the sweetest pleasures, the purest joys, the highest delights, the strongest comforts, and the most satisfying contentments. Death is the funeral of all a holy man's sins and miseries, and it is the resurrection of all his joys, and the perfection of all his graces and spiritual excellencies. Death to a holy man is nothing but the changing of his grace into glory, his faith into vision, his hope into fruition, and his love into perfect comprehension. The Persians had a certain day in the year in which they used to kill all Serpents and venomous creatures: such a day as that will the day of death be to a holy man. (Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis, & mors sepulchrum peccati.) Sin was the Midwife that brought death into the world, and death shall be the bearers that shall carry sin out of the world. When Sampson died, the Philistines died together with him: so when a holy man dies, his sins die with him. Death came in by sin, and sin goeth out by death: As the worm kills the worm that bred it; so death kills sin that bred it. Death cures all diseases, the aking head and the unbelieving heart: the diseased body and the defiled soul. At Stratford Bow were burned (in Queen Mary's days) a lame man and a blind man; after the lame man was chained, casting away his crutch, he bade the blind man be of good comfort; for saith he, Death will cure us both, it will cure thee of thy blindness, and me of my lameness. Death will cure the holy man of all natural and spiritual distempers. Death is the holy man's Jubilee, it is his greatest advantage, it puts him into a better estate then ever he had before. It is God's Gentleman Usher to conduct us to heaven; it will blow the bud of grace into the flower of glory. O! who would not go through hell to heaven! who would not go through a temporary death to an eternal life! who would not willingly march through mortality to immortality and glory! O Sirs, holiness will make you look upon death as a welcome guest, a happy friend, a joyful messenger: it will make you kiss it and embrace it, as Favinus the Italian Martyr kissed and embraced his executioner: it will make you desire it, & long after it with tears, as holy Bradford did. By all this you see, that holiness will deliver you from death in death; and therefore I shall close up this head, as that wise (& witty) man Sr. Francis Bakon closed up a paper of verses,
Fifthly, and lastly, by holiness you shall gain the greatest [ 5] boldness in the day of judgment; nothing will embolden a man in that great day like holiness; holiness will then make the face to shine indeed, 1 John 4.17. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. That which will make Christ's last appearance delightful to Christians, will be their likeness to Christ in holiness: in nature and grace likeness begets the greatest boldness. As there is no child so bold with the Father, as he that is most like the Father, so there is no Christian so bold with Christ, as he that is most like to Christ. A holy Christ is most famiiar with a holy Christian; and a holy Christian is most bold with a holy Christ. The more a Christian is like to Christ in holiness of heart and life, in holiness of affecti-and conversation, the more divinely bold and familiar will that man be with Christ, both in this world, and in the great day of account; when he that was a brat of Satan's, is made a Saint, when he that was like hell, is made like heaven, when he that was most ugly and uncomely, is made like him that is the holy of holies, this is that which gives boldness both here and hereafter. O Sirs, it is not wit, nor wealth, but holiness; it is not race nor place, but holiness: it is not power nor policy, but holiness; it is not honor nor riches, but holiness: it is not natural excellencies, nor acquired abilities, but holiness that will give boldness in the day of Christ's appearing, 1 Pet. 1.5, 6, 7. A well-tried faith (which is but a branch of holiness) shall be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. At the coming of Christ, holiness shall be a man's praise, and honor, and glory. In that great day when shame and everlasting contempt shall be poured forth upon the great Monarchs of the world, who have made the earth to tremble, when the Kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief Captains, and the mighty men, &c. shall cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them, and to hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: then, I say then shall the righteous shine as the Sun in the firmament. In life and death, and in the day of account a righteous man will be as bold as a Lion. Real holiness will make a man death proof, and hell proof, and judgment proof. The day of judgment will be to a holy man a marriage day, a day of redemption, a day of coronation, a day of exaltation, and therefore he may well lift up his head and rejoice. Look as the Israelites who had the blood of the Passover on their door-posts, though the destroyer was abroad, and a dreadful cry was all over Egypt, yet they were not slain, not stricken; they did not fear, not tremble, but had their loins ready girt, and staves in their hands, boldly and cheerfully expecting when the happy and joyful hour of their redemption would come. So those that have the door-posts of their hearts and consciences sprinkled with holiness, in this terrible day of the Lord, they shall with boldness and cheerfulness lift up their faces, because the day of their redemption is come. And this made Luther say, that he had rather never have been born, then not to be in hope of this day. This day to God's holy ones will be (melodia in aure, jubilum in cord.) like music in the ear, and a Jubilee in the heart. It is true, the ungodly shall not stand in Judgment: Stand they must to be arraigned, sentenced and condemned. Stand they shall, but not with any boldness or cheerfulness, comfort or content. Stand they shall, but not to be approved, acquitted, or absolved. Chaff and stubble cannot stand before that God that is a consuming fire. When Belshazzar saw the hand writing upon the wall, O how was he affrighted, how was his countenance changed, his joints loosed, and his knees dashed one against another! O how do many ungodly men now tremble at a thunder-crack in the clouds, and at a flash of lightning in the air! but how will they tremble and quake, when the whole frame of heaven and earth shall break in pieces, and be set in a flame about their ears! O, what trouble of mind? what horror and terror of conscience? what weeping and wailing? what crying and roaring? what wringing of hands? what tearing of hair? and what gnashing of teeth will there be among the ungodly in this day, when they shall see their sins charged on them on the one side, and divine Justice terrifying them on the other side! when they shall look upward, and there see an angry God frowning upon them, and look downward, and there see hell gaping ready to receive them; and look inward, and there find conscience accusing and gnawing of them! When they shall look on their right hands, and there behold the good Angels standing with so many flaming swords, to keep them out of heaven; and look on their left hands, and there behold the devil and his Angels ready pressed to dragg them down to the lowest hell! O now how will they wish for the Rocks to fall upon them, and the mountains to cover them! how will they wish that they had never been born, or that they might now be unborn? how will they now wish that their immortal souls were mortal, or that their souls might be turned into the nature of Beasts, Birds, Stones, Trees or Air, or anything rather what they are! I have read a story of two Soldiers, who being in the valley of Jehoshaphat in Judea, the one said to the other, Here in this place shall be the general Judgment, and therefore I will now take up my place where I will then sit; and so lifting up a stone, he sat down upon it, as taking possession before hand, but being sat, and looking up to heaven, such a quaking and trembling fell upon him, that falling to the earth, he remembered the day of Judgment with horror and amazement forever after. But alas, what heart is able to conceive, or what tongue is able to express the fear and dread, the horror and terror, the astonishment and amazement that will fall upon all ungodly persons in this day! And yet even now God's holy ones shall lift up their heads and hearts: they shall be bold and steadfast, they shall be far from fear, shame or trembling. And thus you see that godliness, that holiness is the most gainful trade: And therefore Sirs, as you love gain, as you tender your own profit and advantage, labor to be holy. But,
[ 12] Twelthly, Consider this, that holiness will put the greatest splendor and majesty upon persons that can possibly be put upon them. There is nothing that imprints such a reverence and Majesty upon man, as holiness doth: There is nothing that is such a grace to man as grace. It is holiness that puts the greatest excellency and majesty upon man, Psalm 16.3. But to the Saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight. Saints are the most excellent ones; The Hebrew word ( Veadire from Adar ) that is here rendered excellent, signifies (magnificis) the magnificent ones, or the noble, glorious, or wonderful ones. Saints or holy persons are the most excellent, magnificent, noble & glorious ones. And in Dan. 8.24. the holy people are called mighty, because there are no people upon the earth, that have might and Majesty stamped upon them as they have. Cant. 6.10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the Moon, clear as the Sun, and terrible as an Army with banners! The light, grace, glory and holiness of the Church rises by degrees: and this makes her terrible to all her enemies. Every degree of holiness is terrible to the unholy: but the higher the Church rises in holiness, the more terrible and majestical it grows. Holiness puts such a splendor and graceful Majesty upon all persons that have it, as even dazzles the eyes sometimes of wicked men, and begets in them an awe and reverence: As it is evident in Saul, 1 Sam. 24.17. And Saul said to David, Thou art more righteous then I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. So Herod in Mark 6.20. it is said That he feared John, knowing that he was a just man, and holy, and observed him. Holiness is very Majestical; the greatest Monarchs fall down before it. Herod reverences John not for his birth or breeding, but for his holiness: not for his Arts or Parts, but for his holiness; not for his Schollarship or greatness, but for his holiness. So that great Monarch King Joash fell down before the holiness of Jehoiada whilst he lived. And so did the holiness of the three children command tespect and honor from that great Monarch Nebuchadnezzar. And so did the holiness of Daniel cause King Darius to reverence him, and to cast a favorable Aspect upon him. And so did the Holiness that was written upon Judas the High Priest, cause Alexander the Emperor to reverence him, and to fall down before him. In holiness there is such a sparkling luster, that none can behold it, but must admire it, and bow before the graceful majesty of it. It is not greatness but grace, it is not riches but righteousness, it is not outward pomp or splendor, but holiness that can over-awe the vain spirits of men. A holy life is the upbraiding of that which is corrupt, Wisdom 2.15.12. He is grievous unto us, even to behold him; for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion, he upbraideth us with our offending the Law. Grace will make a man majestical among those that have no grace. Bradford was had in so great reverence and admiration for his holiness, that a multitude that never knew him but by fame, greatly lamented his death, yea, and a number of Papists also wished heartily his life. Holy men have a daunting presence and majesty with them, as Athanasius had, and Basil had; for when Valens the Emperor came to surprise him, he being in holy exercises, such a splendor and majesty was upon him, thnt it struck such a terror into the Emperor, that he reeled, and had fallen backward, had he not been upheld by those that were with him. Henry the second King of France being present at the martyrdom of a certain Taylor who was burnt by him for his Religion, and so terrified by the boldness of his countenance, and by his holy and gracious behavior in his sufferings, that he swore at his going away that he would never be present at such a sight more. It is very observable, that the moral virtues of the Heathen did put a great deal of splendor and majesty upon them: To instance only in Cato; Cato was a man of much justice and integrity; he was a man of an unspotted conversation and of high reputation among the Romans: Now his morality put such a splendor and majesty upon him, that when he was present, the very worst of the worst durst not in speech or gesture discover any impiety or immodesty, any wantonness or wickedness. Now certainly, if morality puts such a splendor and majesty upon men: true sanctity will put much more upon them. And therefore Sirs, as ever you would have a splendor & majesty upon you, labor to be holy. Maximilian the Emperor had such a presence & majesty with him, that a stranger that never saw him before, pointed him out among thirty great persons. O Sirs, it is not the gray beard, nor the purple Robe, nor the grim look that makes a man so much a man of presence and majesty as holiness doth; and therefore as you would indeed be men of presence, men of majesty, labor to be holy. But,
[ 13] Thirteenthly, Consider that the times and seasons wherein we live, call aloud for holiness. Many say, the times are bad, very bad, extreme bad: I, and let me tell you that your hearts and lives are bad, very bad, extreme bad; and it is these that have made the times so bad, so very bad, so extreme bad; it is in vain to talk of better times, or wish for better times till you mend your manners, and get better hearts. The times would quickly mend, if every man would but in good earnest labor to mend one. If your hearts and lives were but more holy, the times would quickly be more happy. You say you shall never have peace and prosperity till all be brought to uniformity in Religion: but I say you shall never have any lasting peace, felicity, or prosperity till you come to be holy, 2 Kings 9.22. And it came to pass when Joram saw Jehu, that he said Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her witchcrafts are so many? The interrogation carries with it a strong negation, What peace? that is, there is no peace to such a wicked wretch as thou art: thou mayest wish for peace, and dream of peace, and long for peace, and look for peace, and pursue after peace; and yet thou shall be far off from peace. What Jehu said to Joram, I may say to all unholy persons; What peace, and what prosperity can you expect whilst your drunkenness, and uncleanness, and wantonness, and lukewarmness, and dead-heartedness, and wantonness, and wickedness remains? what good days, what happy year can you look for whilst your formality, and indifferency, and hypocrisy, and infidelity do bear witness against you? So when Israel was very superstitious and vain in her worship, then there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexati • ns were upon all the inhabitants of the Countries, and Nation was destroyed (or beaten in pieces) of Nation, and City of City: for God did vex them with all adversity, 2 Chron. 15.5, 6. When men are unholy, God will vex them, he will vex them with adversity, he will vex them with all adversity. When Nations are ungodly, God will destroy them, he will beat them in pieces, he will beat them in pieces one against another. When there is no holiness in him that comes in, nor in him that goes out, then there shall be no peace to him that goes in, or to him that goes out; When all is said that can be said, and when all is done that can be done, wicked men will still be as unquiet as the raging and foaming sea, Isa. 57.20, 21. God will one day or another be still at war with that man that is at peace with his sin. It is said of the Locusts that came out of the bottomless pit in Rev. 9.7, 8, 9. that they were like unto horses, and on their heads were as it were Crowns of gold, and their faces as it were faces of men, and their hairs as the hair of a woman, and their teeth were as it were the teeth of Lions, &c. Here are quasi Horses, quasi Crowns of gold, quasi faces of men, quasi hairs of a woman, and quasi teeth of Lions, &c. Now just such things are all the comforts and contentments of unholy persons, their gold and silver, is but as it were gold and silver; and their prosperity and plenty is but as it were prosperity and plenty; their peace and tranquility is but as it were peace and tranquility; and their victories and triumphs are but as it were victories and triumphs; and their joys and rejoicings are but as it were joys and rejoicings. But mark when the holy Evangelist comes to set down a description of the Locusts tails, he doth not say that there were as it were strings in their rails; but in plain positive downright terms he tells you that there were stings in their tails, ver. 10. he tells you that their stings were true stings, real stings, certain stings; And so while men remain unholy, there are sure and certain stings in the tails of all their comforts, contentments and enjoyments. The best way on earth to have a sure, a sound, a solid, a lasting peace with God, with ourselves, and with others, is to put onholinesse as a Robe upon us, & to put all iniquity far from us, Job 11.13, 20.
O Sirs, the worser the times are, the better should every man labor to be. Many complain of burdens, Taxes, oppressions, and vexations, and they say with those, That Judgment is turned backward, and that Justice standeth afar off, and that truth is fallen in the street, and that equity cannot enter, and that he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey, that judgment is far from us, and that Justice doth not overtake us, that we wait for light, but behold obscurity: for brightness, but behold darkness; that we grope for the wall like the blind, that we grope as if we had no eyes, that we stumble at noon-day, that we roar all like Bears, and mourn sore like doves: that we look for Judgment, but there is none: and for salvation, but it is far off from us. These and a thousand more such complaints may be found amongst us. This Scripture last cited, puts me in mind of a strange, but yet of a very true saying, viz. That there is more justice and equity in hell, then there is in France: for in hell, the oppressor is oppressed: in hell he that would not give a crumb of bread, shall not have a drop of water. In hell such as shed innocent blood, have blood to drink; in hell there are no bribes, in hell there is none to plead an unrighteous cause, in hell there is no respect of persons; in hell every man hath according to his deserts: but in France it is otherwise, &c. And do not the strong cries, tears, sighs, groans and complaints of the poor and needy, of hirelings, orphans, and widows, &c. in most Nations strongly demonstrate that there is more Justice and Equity in hell, then there is in most of the Nations of the earth? But now what is the choicest salve for all these sores? certainly holiness. What is the most sovereign Remedy against all these maladies? nothing but holiness. O Sirs, the more holiness rises in a Nation, the more will righteousness run down as mighty streams, and the more the hearts of the poor and needy will leap and sing for joy. There is no way to make a Nation happy but by making of it holy. O Sirs! as you are men, as you are English-men, as you love your Country, as you honor your King and Country, and as you desire the peace, prosperity and felicity of your Country, labor to be holy. O England, England, it is holiness that will be a wall of fire about thee, and a glory in the midst of thee: it is holiness that will make thee happy at home, and prosperous abroad. Among all English men, there is no man to the holy man: Certainly that man that is most busy about mending his own heart and life, contributes most to the mending of the times. There are many sturdy blades that will talk stiffly for their Country, and that say that they will stand stoutly for their Country, and yet by their daily ungodliness they do undo their Country: these men destroy by their lives, what they seem to build with their hands. And therefore as ever you would have all things that are out of order in order, labor for a well ordered heart, and a well ordered life. Holiness of conversation is the best means under heaven to prevent confusion and desolation.
Again, If you will look upon the present times as times wherein the Judgments of God are abroad in the world, I say if you will thus look upon them, then I say the times call aloud upon you for holiness. Isa. 26.9. When thy Judgments are abroad in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness! O Sirs! when garments are rowld in blood, when the sword devours the flesh of the slain, when Justice lays heap upon heap; when pestilence and famine destroys all on the right hand and on the left. O! then everyone will say, Come let us break off our sins, let us turn to the Lord, let us mend our ways, and reform our lives, and get holiness into our hearts. We behold many sorer, heavier and worse judgments then these are upon us this day, if we had but eyes to behold them. O! that hardness of heart, that barrenness of soul, that blindness of mind, that searednesse of conscience, that perverseness of Spirit, that Superstitious Will-worship, and that looseness of life that multitudes are given up to this day! O! those God-dishonoring, those Christ-denying, those Ordinance-despising, those Conscience-wasting, those life-corrupting, and those Soul-damning opinions, principles, blasphemies, and practices that multitudes are given up to this day! O! the spiritual decays, the spiritual witherings, the spiritual slumberings, the spiritual faintings, the spiritual langiushings that are to be found among a professing people this day! Now certainly there are no judgments to spiritual judgments; none reach the soul like these, none separate between God and the soul like these: none lay men open to temporal and eternal judgments like these. Spiritual judgments are the most insensible judgments, they are the most dreadful judgments, they are the most incurable judgments, they are the most damnning judgments of all judgments. Spiritual judgments have most of wrath and most of horror, and most of hell in them. O that now these terrible judgments are abroad in the earth, you would learn righteousness that you would learn to be holy! For as there is no such sense against, temporal judgments, as holiness; so there is no such sense against spiritual judgments as holiness. O the spiritual strokes, the spiritual Arrows, the spiritual diseases, the spiritual sicknesses, the spiritual plagues that are abroad in the world! and O that the dread and sense of these might provoke you, and prevail with you to labor after real holiness, to labor after the power of godliness, which will be your greatest security against these most deadly and soul-killing maladies!
Again, the days and times wherein we live, call aloud for holiness; if you look upon them as days and times of grace, what greater and higher engagements to holiness were ever put upon a people, then those that God hath put upon us, who enjoy so many ways, means and helps to make us holy? O the pains, the care, the cost, the charge that God hath been at, and that God is daily at, to make us holy! Hath he not sent, and doth he not still send his Messengers, rising up early, and going to bed late, and all to provoke you to be holy? Have not many of them spent their time, and spent their strength, and spent their spirits, and spit up their lungs, and spent their very lives, to make you holy? O Sirs! what do holy Ordinances call for, but holy hearts and holy lives? What do days of light call for, but walking in the light, and casting off the deeds of darkness? What is the voice of all the means of grace, but this, O labor to be gracious? And what is the voice of the holy Spirit, but this, O labor to be holy? And what is the voice of all the miracles of mercy that God hath wrote in the midst of you, but this, Be ye holy, be ye holy? O Sirs, what could the Lord have done that he hath not done, to make you holy? Hath he not lifted you up to heaven, in respect of holy helps? Hath he not to this very day followed you close with holy offers, and holy entreaties, and holy counsels, and holy encouragements, and all to make you holy? And will you be loose still, and proud still, and worldly still, and malicious still, and envious still, and contentious still, and unholy still? O what is this, but to provoke the Lord to put out all the lights of heaven, to drive your Teachers into corners, to remove your Candlesticks, and to send his everlasting Gospel, that hath stood long a tip-toe, among a people that may more highly prize it, and dearly love it, and stoutly defend it, and conscientiously practice it, then you have done to this very day? By what hath been said, I suppose there is nothing more evident, then that the times and seasons wherein we live, calls aloud upon everyone to look after holiness, and to labor for holiness; never complain of the times, but cease to do evil, and labor to do well, and all will be well; Get but better hearts, and better lives, and you will quickly see better times.
[ 14] Fourteenthly, Consider that holiness will render you most like to a holy God, a holy Christ, and to holy Angels. God is frequently called the holy one in Scripture; he is called the holy one above thirty times in the Old Testament. Angels are holy, and Saints are holy, but it is God alone that is the holy one. His person is holy, Isa. 6.3. his name is holy, Luke 1.49. his works are holy, Psalm 45.17. his judgments are holy, Psalm 22.1, 2, 3. his habitation is holy, Isa. 57.15. his Temple is holy, 1 Cor. 3.17. his Kingdom is holy, Rev. 21.27. his Word is holy, Psalm 19. and his Sabbaths are holy, Exod. 16.23. Now this is God's own Argument, Be ye holy, for I am holy, Lev. 19.2. 1 Pet. 1.15, 16. Concerning the holiness of God, I shall speak at large (by divine assistance) when I come to press you upon perfecting of holiness, and therefore let this touch suffice for the present. Sirs, you cannot be l • ke to God in many other things, but you may be like to God in this one thing, in this noble thing, in this most necessary thing, Holiness; and therefore labor after it.
Again, as holiness will render you most like to a holy God, so holiness will render you most like to a holy Christ. The Apostle calls him the holy one, 1 John 2.20. Christ is essentially holy, he is infinitely holy, he is originally holy, he is singularly holy, he is eminently holy, he is perfectly holy, he is transcendently holy, and he is immutably holy: And so much the Devil himself confesseth, in Mark 1.24. I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God, or rather as the Greek hath it, ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) that holy one by way of excellency and eminency. Yea Christ takes delight to characterize himself by this title, in Rev. 3.7. These things saith he that is holy: And in Dan. 9.24. he is called the most holy; or as the Hebrew hath it, the holiness of holinesses. These abstracts speak out the vigor and strength, the eminency and excellency of Christ's holiness: Christ is holiness itself, yea holinesses; and what do these abstracts speak out, but that perfect and complete holiness that is in Christ: The Angels in Isa. 6.3. do three times iterate or repeat, holy, holy, holy; now though some do conceive that this three-fold repetition hath reference to all the three persons, holy Father, holy Son, and holy Spirit, yet they that will but compare the Text with John 12.37, 42. shall plainly see that it relates only to our Lord Jesus Christ: and so the three-fold repetition denotes only the superlative eminency of Christ's holiness. Christ is holy in his natures, in his offices, in his purposes, in his counsels, in his word, and in his works: His conception was holy, his conversation was holy, his converse was holy, &c. Holiness is the image of Christ, it is the picture of Christ, the perfections of Christ, it makes a man conformable to the life of Christ. Christ's Holiness, is that noble copy, after which we should all endeavor to write: Subjects may without Treason or offense attempt to be like their Prince, in wisdom, goodness, righteousness, holiness, peace, piety, clemency, and sanctity; though they cannot without rebellion and disobedience endeavor to be like him in power, greatness, might, majesty, splendor and glory; so we may safely and honourably attempt to be like to Jesus Christ in wisdom, righteousness, and holiness, &c. Though we may not attempt to be like him in his miracles, signs and wonders. O Sirs! Some have counted it their greatest honor and glory in this world, that they have been like such and such, who have been high and glorious in the world; and why then should not you reckon it your greatest glory and happiness to be like to Christ in holiness, though not in measure or quantity, yet in truth and reality. As you would resemble Christ to the life, labor to be holy; in other things you cannot be like to Christ, but in holiness you may; you cannot be like to Christ in his greatness, majesty, or glory, nor yet in his omnipotency, omnisciency, nor omnipresence, nor yet in his general or special providence, nor in a thousand other things, but you may be like to Christ in his holiness: Look as face answers to face (as Solomon speaks) so you may reach to that holiness that in reality may answer to the very holiness of Christ: And this is your only way to be like to Christ.
Again, as holiness will render you most like to a holy Christ, so holiness will render you most like to the blessed Angels. The blessed Angels are holy in their nature, and holy in their offices, and holy in their actings; they are called holy Angels, Mat. 25.31. When the son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy Angels with him; and so in Rev. 14.9, 10. And he that worshippeth the beast, or that receives his mark in his fore-head, or in his hand, he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The Angels holiness is their conformity to the original pattern of purity and excellency. The Crown of holiness was set upon the heads of Angels at their Creation; those Princes of glory were crowned with holiness (as it were) in the cradle. The Angels are holy in their praises, and holy in their waitings, and holy in their operations, and holy in all their ministrations. Boddin tells a story of one, who desired of God the guidance and assistance of an holy Angel, and accordingly he had sensible manifestations of a holy Spirit that assisted him, and followed him to his death; if in company he spake any unwary words, he was sure to be advertised and reproved for it by a dream in the night; or if he read any book that was not good, the Angel would strike upon the book, to cause him to leave reading in it. When that Sorcerer Balaam went to curse the people of God, a holy Angel stood in the way, drew his sword upon him, and justled his bones against the wall, and all to prevent the execution of his wicked and cursed intentions, Numb. 22.22. O! how much more then do they stand in the way of the Saints, to prevent those weaknesses and miscarriages which Satan and their own corruptions would otherwise carry them to. And doubtless as they have a hand to restrain the Saints from evil, so they have an eye and an influence upon them for good: 1 Tim. 5.21. I charge you before God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Elect Angels, &c. The holy Angels have their eyes and their influences upon us; they are our observers and overseers; they are called watchers in Dan. 4.17. for they watch our words, and they watch our works, and they watch our ways; they watch us before duties, and they watch us in duties, and they watch us after duties; they watch us before duties, to see how we prepare and fit ourselves to meet with God; and they watch us in duties, to see how our graces are acted upon God, and how our hearts and affections are running out after God; and they watch us after duties, to see whether we walk worthy of God, and worthy of our duties, and worthy of our profession, and worthy of our high calling. In times of health, strength, peace, prosperity, &c. they watch to see how wisely, holily, humbly, fruitfully, cheerfully, and thankfully we will walk with God; and in times of adversity, they watch to see how believingly, how contentedly, how self-denyingly, and how patiently we will submit to God, &c. All which speaks out the holiness of the Angels. O! Sirs, you cannot in this world be like to the Angels in power, strength, might, nor in agility, activity, splendor, beauty or glory; but yet you may be like to them in purity and sanctity. Sirs, do not deceive yourselves, you shall never be like to the Angels in glory, if you will not be like to them now in grace; if you will not with them now put on the robe of holiness, you shall not with them hereafter put on the crown of happiness. We are to follow the examples of the best men, not an inch further then they were followers of Christ. Christians (saith father Latimer ) are not bound to be the Saints Apes, they are not to imitate them in everything; where their examples were good, it is good to imitate them; and where they were bad, it is duty to decline them. The fairest copies that ever were written by Saints, have their blots, their blurs, and their errata's, and therefore it is best, it is safest, it is noblest, to set the most exact, the most perfect, and the most excellent copy of the Angels before us; who as they excel in strength, so they excel in holiness also. Psalm 103.20. Bless the Lord ye his Angels, that excel in strength, that do his Commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his Word. The Angels obey divine commands readily, cheerfully, faithfully, universally, reverentially, humbly, affectionately, and unweariedly. O Sirs, such obedience, such holiness will be your honor here, and your happiness hereafter. To gather up all; as ever you would be like to a holy God, a holy Christ, and the holy Angels, labor to be holy. In holiness you may be like them, in other things you cannot resemble them. But,
[ 15] In the fifteenth and last place, to provoke you to labor after holiness, consider, the stinging Argument in the text, viz. That without it no man shall see the Lord: The expression is exclusive; now, to see, is an Hebraeism, and implies both vision and fruition; now without holiness, no man, be he high or low, noble or ignoble, rich or poor, &c. shall ever come to a blessed acquaintance with God here, or to a glorious fruition of God hereafter. O friends, if it were so great a misery to Adam to be cast out of Paradise, and so great a punishment to Cain to be cast out of his fathers family (which was the only visible Church of God on earth) and such a sore affliction for the Lepers in the Law to be shut out from all converse with men, and so great a trouble and torment to Absalom to be banished his fathers Court, and so great a hell to Jonah to be seemingly cast out of God's sight, and so great a tribulation to John to be confined to the Isle o • Patmos? O! how great a misery, how great a punishment, how great an affliction, how great a trouble and torment, how great a tribulation, how great a hell will it be for all unholy persons forever and ever to be banished the Court of heaven, and to be shut out from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power? If it were such an unspeakable grief and misery to the Primitive Christians (as indeed it was) to be debarred of one another's society and company, by being confined to Isles, and Mines, and strong holds: O then, what an unspeakable grief and misery will it be to all unholy persons to be forever debarred of the blessed society of God, Christ, Angels, and Saints, and to be everlastingly confined to the strong holds of hell, and to the society and company of that damned crew who will be still a cursing and a blaspheming of God, and adding to one another's torments! O Sirs, it is the sight of God in heaven, wherein man's happiness and blessedness doth consist; it is the fruition of God in heaven, that is the life, the honor, the crown and glory of Angels and Saints: Heaven itself would be but a low thing, yea it would be but magnum nihil, a great nothing, without the sight and fruition of God there. Now without holiness there is no seeing of God, there is no possessing or enjoying of God, there is no possibility of ever obtaining a part or portion in God. Ah friends, without holiness all is lost; thy soul is lost, thy Christ is lost, thy God is lost, thy Crown is lost, thy Heaven is lost, thy glory is lost, and what are all other losses to these losses? Demorrathus (of Corinth ) saith, they lost the chiefest part of their lives happiness, that did not see Alexander sit on the throne of Darius, but what was their loss, to that inconceivable and inexpressible loss, that all unholy persons must sustain, who shall never see the King of Kings in his beauty, who shall never behold the Lord on the throne of his glory! Well Sirs, if none of these Arguments can prevail with you to labor after holiness, I must conclude that divine Justice hath hardened you, and that Satan hath blinded you, and that your lusts have besotted you, and that this world hath bewitched you, and that it had been ten thousand thousand times better for you, that you had never been born, then to live without holiness, and to die without holiness, and to be everlastingly damned for want of holiness. And thus much for the Motives.
I come now to lay down some means and helps to holiness. Supposing that the language of some of your souls may be this: O, what shall we do to be holy! O what course, what way, what means must we use that we may obtain this holiness, without which we now clearly see that we shall never come to a fruition of happiness! Methinks I hear some of you crying out, Oh none but holiness, none but holiness: As that Martyr once cried out, Oh none but Christ, none but Christ: Methinks I hear you crying out, O give me holiness or I die: As Sampson once cried out, Give me water or I die: Or as Rachel once cried out, Give me children or I die: So you cry out, O give us holiness or we die, give us holiness or we eternally die. O what shall we do to be holy! we see we are undone without holiness, we shall be damned without holiness. O! that we were but made holy, that hereafter we may be assuredly happy.
Well then, if you are in good earnest resolved to be holy, I would thus advise and counsel you: First take heed of some things: Secondly, Labor to put in practice other things. The things that you are to avoid and shun, even as you would shun poison in your meat, or a Serpent in your way, yea as you would shun the Devil himself, or hell itself, are these.
[ 1] First, Take heed of mistaking some particular Scriptures, as that of Ezek. 14.6. Chap. 18.30, 31, 32. and Chap. 33 11, 14, 16, 19. from these and such like Scriptures, many unholy hearts are apt to conclude that they can repent when they please, and that though they do defer their repentance, yet it is no such difficult thing to confess their sins at last cast, and to be sorry for their sins at last cast, and to forsake their sins at last cast, and to beg the pardon of their sins at last cast: And that if they do so, God hath given his Word for it, he hath given it under his own hand, that he will pardon their sins, and save their souls. Now to prevent these soul-undoing mistakes, thou must know O sinner, First, that thou canst as well wash a Blackamore white at pleasure, as thou canst repent at pleasure; thou canst as well raise the dead at pleasure, as thou canst repent at pleasure; thou canst as well make a world at pleasure, as thou canst repent at pleasure; thou canst as well stop the course of the Sun at pleasure, as thou canst repent at pleasure; thou canst as well put the Sea in a Cockle-shell at pleasure, and measure the earth with a span at pleasure, as thou canst repent at pleasure; witness the proofs in the margin. I confess that if to repent, were to hang down the head like a Bull-rush for a day, or to whine with Saul for an hour, or to put on sackcloth and walk softly with Ahab for a short space, or to confess with Judas, I have sinned, or to say with Simon Magus, Pray to the Lord for me, or to tremble with Felix for a moment; I say, if this were to repent, doubtless you might repent at pleasure; but alas friends, to repent is another thing, to repent is the hardest and difficultest work in the world; and that will appear in the next particular. And therefore,
Secondly, To repent, is to turn a flint into flesh, it is to [ 2] turn darkness into light, hell into heaven; and is this easy? To repent, is to make all clean, in-side clean, and outside clean; it is to make a clean head and a clean heart, a clean lip and a clean life; and is this easy? True repentance includes a true sense of sin, a deep sorrow for sin, a hearty loathing of sin, and a holy shame and blushing for sin; and is this easy? To repent, is for a man to loath himself as well as his sin; and is this easy, for man, that is so great a self-lover, and so great a self-exalter, and so great a self-admirer, to become a self-loather? To repent, is to cross sinful self, it is to walk contrary to sinful self, yea it is to revenge a man's self upon himself; and is this easy? To repent, is to pluck out right eyes, and to cut off right hands, and offer up only Isaac's; and is this easy? True repentance is a daily turning of the soul further and further from sin, and a daily turning of the soul nearer and nearer to God. It is a repentance not to be repented of; it is a repentance from sin, as well as a repentance for sin: Sin hath cast the soul at such a distance from God, that though the soul be every day a turning nearer and nearer to God, yet it can never (in this life) get so near him as once it was, and as in heaven it shall be. And now tell me, O soul, is this such an easy thing to be every day a turning thy back upon sin, and a turning thy face nearer and nearer to God? surely no: True repentance lies in a daily dying to sin, and in a daily living to him who lives forever. The very life of repentance, is the repentance of the life; and is this easy? But,
Thirdly, True repentance is a turning, not from some sin, [ 3] but from every sin. Ezek. 18.30. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not he your ruin. Every sin strikes at the Law of God, the honor of God, the being of God, and the glory of God, and therefore the penitent must strike at all. Every sin fetcheth blood from the heart of Christ, and every sin is a grief and vexation to the Spirit of Christ, and therefore the penitent must set upon crucifying of all: Every sin is an enemy to a man's peace, and to a man's comfort, and to a man's confidence, and to a man's assurance, and to a man's communion with God, and therefore he must set upon forsaking of all. If ever thou art saved, O man, thou must repent as well of thy Achan's as thy Absalom's, of thy Rimmons as of thy Mammons, of thy David's as of thy Goliath's, of thy secret as well as thy open sins, of thy loved as well as of thy loathed lusts, of thy babe-transgressions as well as of thy Giant-like provocations: If thy repentance be not universal, it will never be effectual: If a ship spring three leaks, and only two be stopped, the third will certainly sink the ship; or if a man hath two dangerous wounds in his body, and takes only order for the cure of one, the other will undoubtedly kill him; or if a man hath two grievous diseases upon him, and will only deal with the Physician for remedies against the one, he will without all peradventure perish by the prevalency of the other. Herod turned from many sins, but not from his Delilah, his Herodias, which was his ruin. Judas you know was a Devil in an Angels habit, he seemed to be turned from every sin, but he was not; he was a secret thief, he loved the bag, and that golden Devil, Covetousness, choked him, and hanged him at last. Saul for a time turned from several evils, but his sparing one Agag, cost him his soul and his Kingdom at a clap. I have read a story of a devout man, who amongst other gifts, had the gift of healing, and many persons resorted to him for cure: Among the rest, one Chromatius, who being sick, sent for him, and told him of his sickness, and desired that he might have the benefit of cure, as others had before him: The devout man replied, I cannot do it till thou hast beaten all the Images in thy house to pieces. O that shall be done said Chromatius; Here take my keys, and where you find any images, break them in pieces; which accordingly was done; upon this the devout man went to prayer, but no cure was wrought; whereupon the sick man cried out, O I am as sick as ever, O I am very weak and sick still: It cannot be otherwise, replied the devout person, neither can I help it, for there is doubtless one Idol yet in your house undiscovered, and that must be defaced too: True (saith Chromatius ) it is so indeed, it is all of beaten gold, it cost 200. l. I would fain have saved it, but here take my keys again, you shall find it fast lockit up in my chest, break it also in pieces; which being done, the devout man prayed, and Chromatius was healed. The moral of it is good; the sin-sick soul must break, not some, but all its Idols in pieces, before a cure will follow. It must deface its golden Idols, its most costly Idols, its most darling Idols; the returning sinner must make head against all his sins, and trample upon all his lusts, or else he will die and be undone forever; and though this be as difficult as it is noble, yet it is no more then what God hath engaged to do, and to see done, as you may see by comparing Ezek. 36.25, 26, 27. with Isa. 30.21, 22. Now is this an easy thing, to turn from every sin, to loath every sin, and to abandon every sin, with a Get you hence, for what have I more to do with you? Hos. 14.8. Surely no. As Nehemiah cast out Tobiah and all his household-stuff, in Nehem. 13.6, 7, 8. so true repentance, it casts out Satan and all his retinue; As Moses would not leave so much as a hoof behind him, Exod. 10.26. So true repentance will not leave so much as a lust behind; a dispensatory conscience is always an evil conscience; he that can dispense with one sin, will, when opportunity presents, commit any sin. And as the flood made clean work, it swept away all Noah's friends, and drowned all his servants; so the flood of penitent tears makes clean work, it sweeps away every lust, it drowns every corruption in respect of love and dominion. And as some Conquerors would not give so much as one of their enemies Quarter; so true repentance will not give one lust quarter; it falls heavily upon the bones of every sin, and nothing but the blood and death of sin will satisfy the penitent soul; the true penitent is for the mortifying of every lust that hath had a hand in crucifying of his dearest Savior. It was worthily (and wittily) said by one, that true repentance strips us stark naked of all the garments of the old Adam, and leaves not so much as the shirt behind. Well Sirs, remember this, to repent of sin, and yet to live in sin, is a contradiction; And if thou repentest with a contradiction (saith Tertullian ) God will pardon thee with a contradiction; thou repentest and yet continuest in thy sin, God will pardon thee, and yet send thee to hell; theres a pardon with a contradiction.
Again fourthly, if repentance be such an easy work as you suppose, I beseech you tell me, why do many men lie under such horrors and terrors of conscience as they do, for not repenting, when as repentance would quickly give them ease, and turn their hell into a heaven! I was last Winter with a young man, who upon his dying-bed for several hours together, being in a dreadful agony, lay crying out, I am damned, I am damned, I am damned, I am damned! Ah how soon would this poor wretch have got out of this hell, if it had been so easy a thing to have repented, as you imagine it is! and how many, when they have been pressed to repent, have professed, that if they might have a thousand worlds to repent, they could not repent! And will you say that repentance is easy? How many have sought repentance with tears, and would have bought repentance with the price of their dearest blood, but could not obtain it? and will you say that repentance is easy? O Sirs, is it good to be damned? is it good to go to hell? is it good to dwell with a devouring fire, and to live in everlasting burnings? Is it good to have your habitations amongst Devils and damned spirits? Is it good to be banished the Court of heaven, and to be separated forever from the glorious presence of God, and the sweet enjoyments of Christ, and the blessed society of Angels and Saints, and the fruition of all the happiness that heaven affords? O no! O no! O why then do not men prevent all this by repentance, if it be such an easy thing to repent! But,
Lastly, If repentance be such an easy work, why then do your hearts so rise both against the Doctrine of repentance, and against those that preach it and press it? of all words, is not the word of repentance the hardest word to read? and of all sayings and Sermons, is not that of repentance the hardest to hear and bear? Luther confesses that before his conversion he met not with a more displeasing word in all the Scripture, nor in all his study of Divinity, then that word Repent. O man! if repentance be so easy, why doth thy spirit rage, and why doth thy heart so swell and rise against those that preach repentance unto life? Of all Preachers, there are none that do so displease and move thee, that do so cut and gall thee, as those that are still a crying out, Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance is the vomit of the soul; and ah how do sinners hearts rise against that Physic, and those that bring it? Repentance is the bleeding of the soul; and ah how do wicked men storm and take on at that hand that lets them blood? You love those that preach pleasing things, that tickle your ears, though they never touch your hearts; that please your fancies, though they never meddle with your consciences; and one Sermon of mercy you prefer before a thousand Sermons of repentance. Now certainly if repentance were so easy to you, the Doctrine of repentance would be more pleasing to you. For a close, know, that that white Devil who now presents repentance to thee as the easiest thing in the world, He will at last cast, to work thee to despair, and to cut the throat of thy soul, present it not only as a hard and difficult work, but as an impossible work. O that these things may be so blest unto you, as to preserve you from being deceived and deluded with a conceit that repentance is easy, and so by this means keep you from laboring to be holy!
Now as to that part of the plea (from the Scriptures formerly cited) viz. That hereafter will be time enough to repent; I shall thus reply, Certainly the present call of God, the uncertainty of the Spirits motion, and the danger of delay, calls upon thee for present repentance; it is a dangerous thing to deal with God, as ill Debtors do by their Creditors; first they put them off one week, and then another week, and then a third week, &c. till at last they provoke their Creditors to cast them into prison, and to practice all severity upon them; they that thus deal with God, shall be as severely dealt with by God, as you may see in Prov. 1.24. to 32. The ancient warriors would not receive an old man into their Army; and dost thou think O vain man, that when thou hast spent thy time, and wasted thy strength, and exhausted thy spirits in the work of Satan, and in the service of thy lusts, that God will receive thee to his grace and favor? If thou dost thus flatter thyself, it is ten thousand to one but that thou wilt deceive thyself; that God that hath made a promise to late repentance, hath made no promise of late repentance; & though true repentance is never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true: Ah how many millions are now in hell, who have thought, and resolved, and said, that they would repent hereafter, but that hereafter never came! Thou sayest tomorrow, tomorrow thou wilt repent, when thou knowest not what a tomorrow will bring forth. Alas! how many thousand ways may death surprise thee, before tomorrow comes? Though there be but one way to come into the world, yet there is a thousand thousand ways to be sent out of the world. O the diseases, the hazards, the dangers, the accidents, the deaths, that daily, that hourly attend the life of man! A Jewish Rabbin pressing the practice of repentance upon his Disciples, exhorted them to be sure to repent the day before they died; to which one of them replied, that the day of a man's death was very uncertain; to which the Rabbin made answer, Repent therefore every day, and then you shall be sure to repent the day before you die. O Sirs, except you do repent today, you cannot tell that you shall repent the day before you die; for who knows today, but that he may die tomorrow? It was once demanded of one, What he would say of a wicked man who had lived loosely, but died penitently? &c. to whom he replied, What would you have me say? That he is damned? I will not, for I have nothing to do to judge him. Shall I say that he is saved? I dare not, for I would not deceive thee; what then? Why this, repent thou out of hand, and thou art safe, whatever is become of him. Ah friends, you are never safe till you repent; it is repentance that puts you out of all danger of miscarrying forever. Shall the husband-man take his present seasons for sowing and reaping? Shall the good Tenant repair his house while the weather is fair? Shall the careful Pilot take his advantage of wind and tide, and so put out to Sea? Shall the Traveler mend his pace, when he sees the night comes on? and shall the Smi •• strike when the Iron is hot? and shall not we take the present opportunity of repenting and turning to the Lord? Remembering that there will be a time when time shall be no more; and when there shall be no place found for repentance, though it should be sought carefully with tears; and remembering that there will be a time when thy glass will be out, & when the door will be shut, and when there will be no entrance at all. And remembering that it is a safer course with prudent Prometheus to foresee a danger and shun it, then with foolish Epimetheus to go on unadvisedly, and be punished.
Ah friends, it is a dangerous thing to make repentance, which should be the practice of all your days, to be the task of old Age. Doth not common experience tell us, that the longer the Ship leaketh, the harder it is to be emptied; and that the longer the house goes to decay, the worse it is to repair; and that the further the nail is driven, the harder it will be to get out? and so certainly the longer any man defers his repentance, the more difficult it will be for him to repent; his heart will every day grow more and more hard, & his will more and more perverse, and his judgment more and more corrupted, and his affections more and more disordered, and his conscience more and more benumbed or enraged, and his whole life more and more defiled and debauched. Friends, do not deceive yourselves, old age is but a sad, a sandy, a tottering and sinking foundation for you to build your hopes and happiness upon; for you to build your everlasting condition, your eternal making or marring upon. Are the dog days of old age, are the trembling hands, the wrinkled face, the dazzled eyes, the stinking lungs, the fainting heart, the feeble knees, and the failing legs, are these a sacrifice worthy of God? is a body full of sores, aches, and diseases, and a soul full of sin, an offering becoming a God? surely no. O what madness, what wickedness is this, to serve Satan, your lusts, and this world with full dishes, and to put off God with scraps? to serve these in the flower, in the prime and primrose of you days, and to put off God with the dregs of old age? Certainly repentance is rather a work for youth then old age, it is a work rather for strength then weakness; and for health then sickness. O do not let Satan deceive you, do not let your own hearts delude you, but fall upon the work of repentance presently, knowing, that as you have one day more to repent of, so you have one day less to repent in. What a piece of vanity is it, that while the Ship is sound, the tackling sure, the Pilot well, the Sailers strong, provisions laid in, and the wind favorable, that the Mariners and passengers should lie in the Rode, carding, drinking, diceing, dancing and idling! And when the Ship is leak, the Pilot sick, the mariners faint, provisions spent, and the winds boisterous, then to weigh Anchors, and hoist up sail, to make a voyage into a far Country! And yet such is the vanity of most men, who in the days of their youth, health and strength, who when their memories are strong, and their fancies quick, and their Reason ripe, &c. do sin away, and fool away, and trifle away the day of grace, the offers of mercy, the motions of the Spirit, and the entreaties of Christ; and when old age comes, when their wits are cracked, their souls distracted, their senses stupefied, their hearts astonied, their minds darkened, and their bodies diseased and distempered, O then they think to leap into heaven, with a Lord have mercy upon me in their mouths: and though they have lived like devils, yet they hope they shall die like Saints; and though they never took no care of God's honor, yet they hope that God will take care of their souls; but when the thread of their lives is cut, the next news that ever you shall hear of these, is, that they are gone to hell.
I have read of a young man, who being admonished of the evil of his way, and course, and being pressed to leave his wickedness, and to break off his sins by repentance, upon the consideration of Judgment, Eternity and Death a coming: he answered, what do you tell me of these things? I warrant you I will do well enough, for when death comes, I will speak but three words, and that will help all, & so he went on in his wickedness: but in the end coming to a Bridge on Horse-back to go over a deep water, the Horse stumbling, and he laboring to recover his Horse, could not, but at last he let go the Bridle, & gave up himself and his Horse to the waters, and was heard to say these three words, Devil take all: Here were three words with a witness. And ô that all that think to repent at last, with a Lord have mercy upon me, would lay this instance to heart. The light of thy life may be put out before thou canst once say, (Miserere mei Deus) Lord be merciful to me a sinner. Though the Chariot wheels run all the day long very near one another, yet they never overtake one another. O, take heed of delaying thy repentance; for the more thou delayest it, the more will thy account be increased, thy debt augmented, Satan strengthened, thy body enfeebled, thy lusts emboldened, thy soul endangered, and all the difficulties of conversion more and more multiplied; by delaying of thy repentance, thou goest the way to gratify Satan, to cozen thyself, to lose the opportunities of grace, and to damn thy soul forever and ever. Well, remember this, if thou wilt not repent today, God may swear in his wrath tomorrow, that thou shalt not enter into his rest, and then woe to thee, that ever thou wert born. And thus much for the preventing of these sad mistakes about repentance, which mistakes keep off many a man from looking and laboring after that holiness without which there is no happiness.
Secondly, If ever you would be holy, O then take heed of a Witch; take heed of the world; the world [ 2] often swells the heart with pride, it makes men forget God, neglect Christ, slight Ordinances, and despise holiness. Ah the time, the thoughts, the strength, the spirits that this enticing world hath made many to spend and consume, whilst their souls have lien a bleeding, and eternity hath been posting upon them! Oh the deadness, the barrenness, the listlessness, the heartlessness to anything that is good, that doth attend a worldly temper! Many men are so bewitched with the profits, pleasures and honors of the world, that they mind not holiness, they regard not holiness, they care not for holiness, nor the means that lead to holiness, Philip. 3.18, 19. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now I tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ: whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly: and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things. Who were those that walked disorderly? why those that minded earthly things: Who were those that fetched tears from the Apostles eyes? why those that minded earthly things: Who were those that were enemies to the cross of Christ? why those that minded earthly things: Who were those whose end is destruction? why those that minded earthly things: who were those whose God was their belly? why those that minded earthly things: Who were those whose glory was their shame? why those that minded earthly things. Sicily is so full of sweet flowers, that dogs cannot hunt there: and what do all the sweet contents and delights of this world, but make men lose the scent of heaven and holiness! The world proves silken halters to some, and golden fetters to others: to some it is like the Swallows dung that put out Tobias eyes, to others it is like the waters of Nile, that makes the inhabitants deaf. All the flowers of this world are surrounded with many briars. The world is all shadow and vanity, its like Jonahs gourd; man may sit under its shadow for a while, but it soon decays and dies. He that shall but weigh man's pains with his pay, his miseries with his pleasures, his sorrows with his joys, his crosses with his comforts, his wants with his enjoyments, &c. may well cry out Vanity of vanity, and all is vanity. The whole world is circular, the heart of man is triangular, and we know a circle cannot fill a triangle. O Sirs, if your hearts be not filled with holiness, they will be filled with the world, the flesh and the Devil. Either holiness or Satan must possess you: Some there be that have much holiness, and much of the world too, as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, David, Hezekiah, Daniel, &c. And others there be that have no holiness, nor nothing of the world neither; these men are fair for two hells, a hell of misery here, and a hell of torment hereafter. Some have much of the world, but not a spark of holiness: as Saul, Haman, Dives, Herod, &c. who had a world of wealth, but not a dram of grace; and others have a great deal of holiness, that have but little or nothing of the world, as the Apostles, and Lazarus, &c. Now is it not infinitely better, to have holiness without the world, and so be happy forever, then to have much of the world without holiness, and so be damned forever?
A man bewitchit with the world, will loose many precious opportunities of grace, which are more worth then a world; witness Rich Felix, who had no leisure to hear poor Paul, though the hearing of a Sermon might have saved his soul. A man bewitchit with the world has his sinning times, and his eating times, and his sleeping times, and his trading times, and his feasting times, and his sporting times, &c. but he has not his hearing times, nor his praying times, nor his reading times, nor his mourning times, nor his repenting times, nor his reforming times, &c. He can have time, yea and he will have time for everything but to honor his God, and to make himself happy forever.
A man bewitchit with the world, will, when 'tis put to his choice, rather part with Christ to enjoy the world, then part with the world to enjoy Christ; witness the young man in the Gospel, who preferred a drop before a Sea, a crumb before a Crown, and his treasure on earth, before treasure in heaven; he would not leave that on earth which he could not long keep, for the enjoyment of that in heaven, which he should never loose; rather then he would let his possessions go, he would let God, and Christ go, and heaven go, and all go, &c. If Heaven can be had at no cheaper a rate, then parting with his possessions, Christ may keep his Heaven to himself, and make the best on it he can if he will, for he'l have none on it upon those terms.
Again, a man bewitchit with the world, will prefer the most base and contemptible things before the Lord Jesus Christ, he will with the Gergesens, prefer his very Swine before a Savior; when they saw what a sad market their Hoggs were brought to, they desired Christ to depart out of their country; these Gergesites had rather loose Christ, then loose their Porkets; they had rather that the devil should possess their souls, then that he should drown their Pigs; they prefer their Swine before their salvation, and present a wretched petition for their own damnation; they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts, though there be no misery, no plague, no curse, no wrath, no hell to Christ's departure from a people, yet men bewitched with the world will desire this. Men bewitched with the world will prefer a Barabbas before a Jesus, they will with Judas betray Christ, and with Pilate condemn Christ, and with the Scribes and Pharisees they will cry out, Crucify him, Crucify him, away with this Jesus, away with this Jesus, let Barabbas live, but let Jesus die, let Barabbas be saved, but let Christ be hanged. Ah what incarnate Devils will such men prove who are bewitched with this world?
A man bewitchit with the world will gain no good by the Ministry of the Word; witness Ezekiel's hearers, Ezek. 33.31, 32, 33. and witness the stony ground, Mat. 13.22. and witness Christ's followers, John 6. Some Writers say that nothing will grow where Gold grows, certainly where the love of this world grows, there nothing will grow that is good: A heart filled either with the love of the world, or the profits of the world, or the pleasures of the world, or the honors of the world, or the cares of the world, or the businesses of the world, is a heart incapacitated to receive any divine counsel or comfort, tis a heart shut up against God and holiness, tis a heart possesit with many devils; and therefore no wonder if such a heart loathes the honey-comb of holiness; yea tis no wonder to see such a heart to deride and scorn holiness as the greatest foolishness, Luke 16.14. The Poets tell of Licaon being turned into a Wolf; but when a worldling is made holy there is a Wolf turned into a man, yea a devil turned into a Saint; therefore the Holy Ghost speaking of Zacchaeus (who had long been bewitchit by the world) brings him in with an Ecce, Behold, as if it were a wonder of wonders that ever such a worldling should be made holy.
A man bewitchit with the world will venture the loss of his soul to enjoy the world, Mat. 16.26. As that Pope that sold his soul to the devil, for the enjoyment of the Popedom six years. We hate the Turks for selling of Christians for slaves, but, Ah, how many be there among us that call themselves Christians, who yet sell themselves and their souls to the devil for slaves for half a crown, yea for a half penny? Look as Shimei by seeking his servant lost his life, so many by seeking of the world have lost their souls. Now though of all losses the loss of the soul is the greatest, the saddest, the sorest, the heaviest, and the most intolerable, inconceivable and irrecoverable loss, yet a man bewitchit with the world will run the hazard of losing it, of damning it to enjoy the world. You know the Reubenites in Josh. 22. preferred the country that was commodious for the feeding of their cattle (though it were far from the Temple, where they might have fed their souls, and have got heaven and holiness for their souls) before their interest in the Land of Promise; We so, men that are bewitchit with this world in these days, O! how do they prefer their sensual delights, their brutish contentments, and their carnal enjoyments before the heavenly Canaan, and before the beauties of holiness, and before the Temple of God's holiness, where holiness sparkles and shines in all its bravery and glory, and where their souls might be abundantly satisfied and delighted with the most ravishing joys, the most surpassing delights, and the most transcendent pleasures which are at God's right hand. To draw to a close, the Arabic Proverb saith, That (Mundus cadavar est, & petentes eum sunt canes) the world is a carcass, and they that hunt after it are dogs. If this Proverb be true, what a multitude of professors will be found to be dogs, who hunt more after earth then heaven, who hunt more after Terrestial then Celestial things, who hunt more after nothingnesses and emptinesses, then they do after those fulnesses and sweetnesses that be in God, Christ, Heaven and Holiness. Well friends, as ever you would obtain that real holiness, without which there is no happiness, take heed of a Witch, take heed of this world; and to that purpose, O that you would always look upon the things of this world, as you will look upon them when you come to die. O that you would now look upon all the pomp, state, bravery, and glory of the world, as you will look upon it when your souls shall sit upon your trembling lips. O with what a disdainful eye, with what a weaned heart do men look upon those things then? do so now, and I dare assure you, that though the world may trouble you, yet it shall never bewitch you. I have read of a man that lying in a burning Feaver, professed that if he had all the world at his dispose, he would give it all for one draught of Beer, at so low a rate do men value the world at such a time as that is, if men were so wise to value the world at no higher a rate in health, then they do in sickness, in life, then they do at the time of their death, it would never bewitch them, it would never be as a wall of separation between holiness and them: As ever you would be holy here, and happy hereafter, take heed of this Witch, and believe it to be a Witch before it hath bewitched you, or else you may believe it too late.
[ 3] Thirdly, If ever you would be holy, then take heed of comparing yourselves with those that are (at least supposedly) worse then yourselves; many there be who by comparing themselves with those that are bad, very bad, think themselves to be good, very good, yea to be too good to go to hell, and yet they are not good enough to go to heaven; and many there be who are worse then others, and yet by comparing themselves with those they suppose very bad, they conclude themselves to be very good; such a one was that proud Pharisee in Luk. 18. who thought himself a far better man then the poor Publican, and yet he was not half so honest, nor half so just, nor half so righteous, nor half so good as he was; the poor Publican was ashamed of himself, he loathed himself, he abased himself, he judged himself, and he condemned himself; the poor Publican acknowledged God, he adored God, he dreaded God, he admired God, and he justified God, in all which he exceeded the proud Pharisee; and yet, O! how scornfully does this proud Pharisee look upon him? and how disdainfully and disgracefully does he speak of him? And this was the general frame and temper of the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought no man's penny so good silver as their own, who thought themselves better then the best, when they were the very worst of the worst; for Publicans and Harlots believed and repented, and entered into the Kingdom of God before them, Mat. 21.31, 32. And so they in that of Isa. 65. were naught, very naught, yea, stark naught, they were the basest among the base, they were the vilest among the vile, they were the most rebellious among the rebellious, and the most superstitious among the superstitious, witness v. 2, 3, 4. And yet, O! how do they stroke themselves, and bless themselves, and commend themselves, and cry up themselves, and exalt themselves as the only holy ones, v. 5. they could defy themselves, and yet damn and devilifie others, though they were such monsters as God abhor'd, v. 6. Ah! how many be there who by comparing themselves with those that are worse then themselves, do judge themselves to be good enough, and holy enough? they are good negative Christians, and they think that's enough to bring them to heaven; they bless themselves that they are no Nabal's for drunkenness, nor no Sodomites for filthiness, nor no Haman's for haughtiness, nor no Ammon’s for lustfulness, nor none of the old world for idleness, nor no Zacchaeus's for covetousness, nor no Laodiceans for lukewarmness, &c. They bless themselves that they are no Gehazies for lying, nor no Shemeies for cursing, nor no Joab's for swearing, nor no Rabshakehs for railing, nor no Doeg's for cruelty, nor no Judases for treachery, nor no Demases for Apostasy, &c. And thus they cheat themselves, and find out fine ways to delude and damn their own souls; they think it grace enough, and holiness enough, that they have attained to this, viz. not to be so bad as the worst, though they fall infinitely short of coming near unto the best. Well sits, remember this; if you are not so great sinners as others, your horrors, your terrors, your torments, your hell shall not be so great, nor so hot as others, but without holiness you shall be as certainly damned as others; and what a cold comfort is this to have a cooler and a lighter hell then others, and yet this is all the comfort that can be handed to unholy hearts. But,
Fourthly, Take heed of flatterers: Ah! how good might [ 4] many men have been, who are yet exceeding bad, had they not sold their ears to flatterers; flatterers are soul-murderers, they are soul undoers, they are like vain Surgeons that skin over the wound, but kill the Patient; flattery is the very mother of folly, and the very nursery of all impiety; flatterers will cry up those for religious, who are only superstitious, and those for wise men, who are foolish, and those for knowing men, who are ignorant, and those for virtuous men, who are vicious, and those for holy men, who at best are but civil, and those for happy men, who are (certainly) miserable; flatterers dare call the proud happy, and bless them whom God has cursed, they dare call evil good and good evil, they dare call darkness light and light darkness, they dare say that that man has grace that has none, yea they dare swear that such and such shall be saved, though for the present they live as if they were resolved to be damned; they dare take upon them to tell you that such and such men's names are wri • ten in Heaven, and that such and such belong to the election of Grace, though their lives speak them out to be void of all Grace. Ah, how many a man has been kept off from the thoughts of holiness, and from the ways of holiness, and from the love and liking of holiness, by flatterers who have flattered them, that doubtless they are in the favor of God, and that certainly God did not make men to damn them, and that without all peradventure they have an interest in Christ, and that there is no question but that their hearts are as good as the best, and that their conditions are good, and their souls happy; yea, they are so confident of their happiness that they dare venture a going to hell, if ever such should go to hell whom they fondly flatter; they dare pawn their souls and their salvation on it, that such shall never miscarry; and by these fla • teries they harden men in sin, and arm them against holiness: flattery is that sweet poison that has destroyed many a soul; witness Rehoboam, Ahab, Herod, Nero, Alexander, &c. So true is that of the wise man, Prov. 26. ult. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. A flattering mouth ruins name, fame, estate, life, body and soul, it ruins a man both temporally and eternally, it often undoes a man in both worlds, it makes a man miserable both here and hereafter: flatterers are devouring Caterpillars: flatterers tongues do more mischief then persecutors swords, for their swords can but destroy the bodies of men, but flatterers tongues destroy the souls of men: flatterers are the greatest soul-cheaters, and soul undoers in the world; flatterers dare call vice virtue, they dare call pride neatness, covetousness good husbandry, drunkenness good fellowship, prodigality liberality, wantonness a trick of youth, passion zeal, revenge courage, &c. They dare call enormities infirmities, and wickednesses weaknesses, they dare call great sins little sins, little sins no sins, they gild over all their poisonous Pills with gold, they draw the fairest Glove upon the foulest hand, they lay their neatest colors upon the filthiest sores, they put their best paint upon the worst faces, and the richest robes upon the most diseased bodies; and by these devices they entangle many to their utter ruin, Prov. 29.5. A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. The Hebrew word ( Machalik from Chalak ) that is here rendered flatterer, signifies a smooth-boots, a soft butter-spoken man, because flatterers, the better to deceive, do use to oil their tongues, and to butter their lips, that so by their smooth soft speeches they may the more insinuate themselves into men's affections, and so make way for their destruction: flat • erers have their silken nets to ensnare and entangle poor souls to their eternal ruin. Look as Fowlers strew corn and lay baits, to draw Birds into their nets; or look as Hunters spread their nets, that they may take beasts and prey upon them, or make a prey of them; so flatterers they spread their nets that they may catch poor souls, and either prey upon them, or else make make a prey of them. Flattery is the devils invisible net, and happy is that soul that escapes it: the flatterers net is worse then his sword, for his sword may be the more easily seen, feared, and avoided, then his net. Of all arms the flatterers net is the most perilous and dangerous, both to the lives, estates, and souls of men; 'twere ten thousand times better to trample a flatterer under a man's feet, then for a man to suffer his feet to be taken in the flatterers net. A flatterer is a sore enemy in the habit of a friend, he is a Wolf in Sheeps clothing, he is a devil transformed into an Angel of light; and what punishment can be too great for such? The severity of many Heathen Princes and Emperors has been very great against flatterers; take one instance for all, Alexander Severus commanded one Turinus a great flatterer, to be tied to a stake and stifled with smoke, with an Herald standing by, and proclaiming to all the people, that 'twas but just that he that lived by the smoke of flattery, should die by smoke. Now what a shameful thing is it that such as are called Christians should affect to be flattered, when Heathens have so severely punished flatterers. Well sirs, as ever you would be holy, take heed of flatterers, and take heed of flattery; let Solomon's counsel be always in your eye, and let it always lie warm upon your hearts, Prov. 20.19. He that goeth about as a tale-bearer, revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. A man that loves his soul, and would be happy in another world, should shun flatterers as he should shun a Thief, a Serpent, a Wolf, a Lyon, a Devil; till thou stoppest thine ears against a spirit of flattery, there is little hopes that ever thou wilt be holy.
[ 5] Fifthly, If ever you would be holy, O! then take heed of putting the day of death far from you. Man is a creature naturally prone to look upon death at a distance, to look upon death afar off, and to say with those in Ezekiel, Behold they of the house of Israel, say the vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are afar off. So the rich man in the Gospel reckoned upon many years, when he had not many months, no not many weeks, no not many days, no not many hours to live in this world. Unholy persons are very apt to say to death as Pharaoh said to Moses, Get thee from me, and let me see thy face no more: When death knocks at the poor man's door, he sends it to the rich man's gate, and the rich man translates it to the Scholar, and the Scholar posts it away to the Citizen, and the Citizen to the Courtier, and the Courtier to his Lady, and his Lady to her Maid, & so death is posted away as it were from one to another, everyone crying out to death, O let me not see thy face, O let me not see thy face. 'Twas even a death to Queen Elizabeth, Sigismund the Emperor, Louis the 11 of France, Cardinal Beauford and others, to think of death, or to hear of death; and therefore they strictly charged all their servants about them, that when they saw them sick, they should never dare to name that bitter word Death in their ears. And Pashur cannot cast his eye upon death, but he is presently a Magor Missabib, a terror to himself, Jer. 20.3. And Saul though he was a valiant King, yet at the news of death he falls on his face, 1 Sam. 28.20. And so Belshazzar though he was a mighty Emperor, Dan. 5.1, 7. yet a letter to him, from him whom Bildad calleth the King of terrors, Job 18.14. Ah how does it amaze, astonish, affright, and terrify him! and how many are there who with Mecaenas in Seneca, had rather live in many diseases then die; and with the most famous Heathens, prefer the meanest life on earth; above all the hopes they have of another world; like Achilles who had rather be a servant to a poor country Clown here, then to be a King to all the souls departed; or like Withipoll a rich and wretched man, who when he was in danger of death, earnestly desired that he might live five hundred years, though it were but in the shape of a Toad. Near Louis in Sussex a woman being ill, one of her neighbors coming to visit her, told her that if she died she should go to heaven and be with God and Jesus Christ, and with Angels and Saints, the sick woman answered that she had no acquaintance there, she knew nobody there, and therefore she had rather live with her and her other neighbors here, then to go thither to live amongst strangers. And thus you see how apt persons are to shrug at death, which is a common lot, and to say to it as Ephraim did to his Idols, Get you hence, what have we more to do with you? but this is and must be for a lamentation, that men put off the thoughts of their latter end, to the latter end of their thoughts. Man naturally is a great life-lover, and therefore he will bleed, sweat, vomit, purge, part with an estate, yea with a limb, I limbs, to preserve his life; like him that cried out, O give me any deformity, any torment, any misery, so you spare my life. And upon this account 'tis that he desires that such a guest as death may not knock at his door; but, Ah, that all such vain men would consider, that by putting the day of their death far from them, they do but gratify Satan, strengthen their sins, provoke the Lord and make the work of faith and holiness more hard and difficult, and so lay a deep foundation for their own eternal destruction.
Well sirs, remember this, the serious thoughts and meditations of death (if anything) will work you to break off your sins, to mend your lives, and to look to the salvation of your souls; there is nothing that will sooner work a man to a holy fear of offending God in anything, and to a holy care of pleasing God in everything, then the serious meditation of death: Though that text, Remember thy latter end, and thou shalt never do amiss, be Apocryphal, yet the truth asserted is Canonical. I have read a story of one that gave a young prodigal a Ring with a Deaths-head, on this condition that he should one hour in a day, for seven days together, think and meditate upon Death, which accordingly he did, and it bred a great change and alteration in his life and conversation. O! man, thou doest not know but that the serious thoughts of death may work that desirable thing in thee, viz. holiness, which yet has not been wrought in thee by all the holy counsels, the gracious examples, the fervent prayers, & the sorrowful tears of thy dearest friends; thou doest not know but that the serious meditation of Death, may do thee more good then all the Sermons that ever thou hast heard, or then all the books that ever thou hast read, or then all the prayers that ever thou hast made, or then all the sighs or groans that ever thou hast poured out; and why then shouldest thou put the thoughts of death far from thee? Certainly, as he is a sinner in grain, that dares look death in the face and yet sin, that dares cut a purse when the Judge looks on; so he is a monster rather then a man, that dares look death in the face, and yet satisfy himself to live without holiness; that dares look death in the face, and yet say I will drink and be drunk, I will sware and swagger, I will roar and whore, I will cheat and cozen, I will hate and oppose, I will quarrel and kill, and my hands shall be as bloody as my heart, and let death do her worst; if such a person be not in the ready way of being miserable forever, I know nothing.
Well sirs, remember these three things.
[ 1] First, That there is nothing more certain then death: That Statute Law of heaven, Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, Gen. 3.19. will take hold of all the sons of men: There is no man that lives and shall not see death. Though Jacob wrestled with an Angel and prevailed, yet death was too hard for him; though Hazael was as light of foot as a wild Roe, yet he could not out-run death, and Absalom could not out-ride it, nor Pharaoh out-drive it; though Saul and Jonathan were as swift as Eagles, and as strong as Lions, yet were they slain among the mighty: 'Twas not Solomon's wisdom that could deliver him, nor Samson's strength that could rescue him, nor Haman's honor that could secure him, nor Goliath's sword that could defend him, nor Dives riches that could ransom him from the grave; and therefore why should men put this day so far from them? But,
Secondly, As there is nothing more certain then death, so [ 2] there is nothing more sudden then death. When the old world, when Sodom, when Pharaoh, when Hagar, when Amalek, when Haman, when Nebuchadnezzar, when Belshazzar, when Dives, when the Rich fool, and when Herod, were all in their prime and pride, when they were in their most flourishing estate, when they were at the very top of their glory, Ah how suddenly, how sadly, how strangely, how unexpectedly, and how wonderfully were they brought down to the Grave, yea to Hel • ? O! the thousand thousands of crosses, losses, diseases, sicknesses, calamities, dangers, and deaths which attends the life of man, and by the least of which he may be suddenly surprised and carried into another world; and therefore why should man cry out cras, cras, tomorrow, tomorrow, when he does not know whether he shall have a tomorrow, when he does not know but that he may die before he had begun to live? Waldus a rich Merchant of Lions in France, seeing one suddenly drop down dead in the streets, went home, repented, changed his life, studied the Scriptures, and became a worthy Teacher, Father and Founder of the Christians called the Waldenses, or poor men of Lions; And O! that the serious thoughts of the suddenness of death might have that happy effect upon your souls, as to work you to break your league with sin, and to fright you (as it were) into a love of holiness, and into a life of holiness. O! swearer what doest thou know, but that death may seize on thee whilst the oath is in thy mouth? And what doest thou know, O drunkard, but that death may step in between the cup and the lip, as it did to Belshazzar? And what dost thou know, O adulterer, but that a poisoned dart may strike thorough thy liver whilst thou art in the very flagrancy of thy lust, as it did though • ough Zimries and Cozbies? And what dost thou know, O proud Haman, but that thou who art thus noblely feasted one day, mayest be a feast for the Crows the next day? And what dost thou know who art so crafty, O Ahithophel, but that if thy subtle counsel be rejected one hour, thou mayest hang thyself the next hour? And what doest thou know, O thou opposing and murmuring Corah, but that the earth may suddenly open and swallow thee up? and therefore why should you put that day so far from you, that may so suddenly overtake you?
Berline in Germany charged Saint Paul with a lie in the Pulpit, and was suddenly smitten with an Apoplexy, and fell down dead in the place: And what doest thou know, who art so apt to charge the people of God with lying, but that God may strike thee both dumb and dead, whilst the lie is in thy mouth? Bibulus a Roman General riding in Triumph in all his glory, a Tyle fell off from a house in the street and knocked out his brains: And what doest thou know, O vain glorious man, but that whilst thou art triumphing in thy world glory, by some unexpected blow thou mayest be sent into another world?
Lepidus and Avsidius stumbled at the very threshold of the Senate and died, the blow came in a cloud from heaven; God by an invisible blow may send thee out of this visible world.
Sophocles died suddenly by excessive joy, and Homer by immoderate grief; excessive joy or excessive grief may suddenly bring thee to thy long home. Olympus the Arian Heretic speaking against the Holy Trinity as he was a Bathing himself, was struck dead by a threefold Thunderbolt: We may run and read some men's sins in the very face of their punishments. Mr. Perkins speaks of One, who when it thundered, scoffingly said, It was nothing but Tom Tumbrel a hooping his Tubs, &c. and presently he was struck dead with a thunder-bolt from heaven. There would be no end of recounting the several judgments that have suddenly surprised all sorts of sinners; let these few instances suffice to stir up every unholy heart, to take heed of putting far off the day of death. But,
[ 3] Thirdly, As there is nothing more sudden then death, so there is nothing more short then life, and why then should you put the day of your death so far from you? If you consider the life of man absolutely, 'tis but short, 'tis but as a span, a shadow, a dream, a bubble, a blast, a puff of wind, a pile of dust, a fading leaf, or a tale that is told, &c. The life of man is as a dream that vanisheth when one awaketh, 'tis a wind that goeth away and cometh not again, 'tis as a cloud that is soon dispersed with the wind, 'tis as a vapor that appeareth for a time, and then vanisheth away, 'tis as the grass that soon withereth, 'tis as the flower that soon fadeth, 'tis as the candle that every light puff of wind bloweth out: The life of man is rather made up of days then years, Psal. 90.12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Moses does not say Lord teach us to number our years,