unholiness of thy heart the unholiness of thy affections the unholiness of thy intentions the unholiness of thy resolutions the unholyness of thy expressions and the unholiness of thy conversation Joel 2.12 Turne ye to the Lord with weeping and with mourning The foundation of a thorough reformation must be laid in a deep humiliation the best way to be holy is to accuse Ezra 6.2 Jer. 50.4 Psal 51.5 indict arraign and condemn thy self for thy unholiness you shall as soon espouse light and darkness and marry midnight to the noon day as you shall espouse or marry a holy God to an unhumbled sinner O! who can look upon sin as an offence against a holy God as the breach of a holy law as the wounding and crucifying of a holy Saviour as the grieving and sadding of a holy sanctifier and as an eternal loss and undoing of his own soul and not mourn over it O! who can cast a serious eye upon the nature of sin or upon the exceeding sinfulness of sin or upon the aggravations of sin and not have his heart humbled his soul grieved and his Spirit melted for sin O! who can look upon sin as it strikes at the honor of God the name of God the being of God the glory of God and the design of God and not have his mouth full of penitential confessions his eyes full of penitential tears and his heart full of penitential sorrow Some as they say of witches cannot weep for sin but they that weep not for sin here where there are handerchiefs in the hands of Christ to wipe off their tears shall weep out their eyes in hell hereafter 't is better to weep bitterly for thy sins on earth then to weep eternally for thy folly in hell Ah how hard is that heart that can sadly lament and bewail the loss of a groat a chick a child a sheep a ship a friend c. and yet can't let fall a tear to save a lost soul Jacob weeps and prevails with God Hosea 12.4 His tears made a happy conquest upon God Jacob weeps and prevailes with God for his life and what dost thou know but that by thy penitential tears thou maist prevail with God for thy soul he weeps and prevails with God for temporals and why mayest not thou by weeping prevail with God for eternals he weeps and prevails with God for some outward happiness and why maist not thou by weeping prevail with God for inward holiness 'T is an old observation that the tears of repenting sinners are the wine of Angels Certainly God himself can smile to see a sinner grieve for his sins and to see him grieve that he can grieve no more Psal 51.17 for that he has sinned against a God so great so gracious so bountiful so merciful c. though God be displeased with a sinners sins yet he is very well pleased with a sinners tears and therefore as he has a bagg for the one so he has a bottle for the other It can't but be a pleasure to God to see a sinner drown his sins in a deluge of penitential tears though tears of indignation as was Esaus and tears of dissimulation as was Ishmaels and tears of desperation as was Judas's be abominable to God yet tears of godly compunction and contrition are acceptable and delightful unto God A sinner never looks so sweetly as when he weeps most penitentially witness Mary Magdalen Manasseh and those murderers of Christ Acts 2. A sinners face never shines so beautiful as when 't is bedewed with penitential tears tears have a voice as well as blood Psal 6.8 And God has an eye as well upon a mans tears as upon his prayers Penitent tears are divine Ambassadors that never return from the throne of grace without answers of grace Isa 38.5 Peter said nothing but went out and wept bitterly and obtained mercy Mat. 26. ult Tears are a kind of silent prayers that will at last prevail for mercy Naaman the Syrian was cleansed of his leprosie by the waters of Jordan 2 King 5. penitential tears may do much towards the cleansing of thy leprous soul from sin he that really grieves that he cannot grieve for sin is grieved for sin he that is truely sorry that he cannot be sorry for sin is in a measure sorry for sin he that truly desires to drown his sins in his tears he has in Divine account drowned his sins in his tears The Maid in Scaliger swooned at the sight of a Lilly O! how much more should you at the sight of your unholiness Basil wept when he saw the Rose because it brought to his mind the first sin from whence it had the prickles O! how should a sinner fall a weeping when he looks upon the greatness of his wickedness and his want of holiness As ever you would be holy mourn over your own unholiness But Secondly If ever thou wouldest be holy thou must seek the holy Spirit the spirit is the efficient cause of all that holiness that is in the world The Spirit of God is a Spirit of holiness Rom. 1.4 he is frequently called the holy Spirit Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me Psal 5.11 But they rebelled and vexed his holy spirit Isa 63.10 And grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit 1 Thes 4.8 In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed by the holy spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 To make a man holy is more then to create a world 't is a work too high and too hard for Angels or men it becomes none and it can be done by none but by the holy spirit sanctification is made the spirits personal operation in that 2 Thess 2.13 and in that 1 Pet. 1.2 'T is the great work of the spirit to shape form and fashion the new creature holiness in all the vessels of glory The spirit is the root of all holiness and therefore the several parts of holiness are called the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22 'T is true God purposes holiness to his people and Christ has purchased holiness for his people but 't is onely the spirit that is the efficient cause or worker of holiness in his people though the Father Son and Spirit hath designed to re-imprint holiness upon mans heart yet the spirit has the greatest hand in that work When man was in his primitive glory holiness was his loveliness and his likeness to God but being now faln that image is so broken and mar'd that no hand can repaire it or restore it but the hand of the spirit The great principle of holiness which was in Christ as to his humane nature was the holy Spirit which he had above measure for he was anointed with the Unction of the Spirit above his fellows So that
as much called out of the kingdome of darkness as another and one Saint is as much called to Jesus Christ as another in vocation God looks with as favourable an eye upon one as he do's upon another And as all Saints are equally called so all Saints are equally justified 2 Cor. 5.19 20. 1 Cor. 1.30 though one Saint may be more sanctified then another yet no Saint is more justified then another the weakest believer is as much justified and pardoned before the throne of God as the strongest is that pure perfect matchless and spotless righteousness of Christ is as much imputed to one Saint as 't is to another And as all Saints are equally justified so all Saints are equally adopted Gal. 4.4 5 6. the weakest believer is as much an adopted son as the strongest believer in the world is God is no more a father to one then he is to another the Babe in the armes is as much a son as he that is of riper yeares Thus you see that Gods love of good will is equall in all his Saints and therefore you are to understand this Argument of Gods love of complacency now this love runs out more to some Saints then it do's to others for they that have much holiness are much beloved John 14.21 23 but they that have most holiness are most beloved the greater thou art in holiness the greater wilt thou be beloved of God O Daniel Dan. 9.23 thou art greatly beloved And why do's God love more and delight more in Christ then he do's in all the Angels and Saints in heaven and in all the upright ones that are on earth but because Christ is more eminent and glorious in holiness then all created beings are Heb. 1.3 he is more the express Image of his Fathers person and the brightness of his Fathers glory then others and therefore he is more beloved then others 'T was an excellent observation of one of the Fathers August Tract in John 1.14 viz. that God loved the humanity of Christ more then any man because he was fuller of grace and truth then any man Now for the further clearing up of this great Argument Consider first that the more holy any person is the more excellent that person is All corruptions are diminutions of excellency the more mixt any thing is the more abased it is the more you mix your wine with water the more you abase your wine and the more you mix your Tin with Gold the more you abase your Gold but the purer your wine is the richer and the better your wine is and the purer your Gold is the more glorious and excellent it is so the purer and holier any person is the more excellent and glorious that person is Now the more divinely excellent and glorious any person is the more he is beloved of God and the more he is the delight of God But secondly the more holy any person is Heb. 11.5 the more that person pleases the Lord fruitfulness in holiness fills heaven with joy The Husbandman is not so much pleased with the fruitfulness of his fields nor the wife with the fruitfulness of her womb nor the father with the thriving of his child as God is pleased with the fruitfulness and thriving of his children in grace and holiness now certainly the more God is pleased with any person the more he loves that person and the more pleasure and delight he takes in such a person if God be most pleased with holiness he cannot but be most delighted in those that are most holy But thirdly the more holy any person is the more like to God he is and the more like to God he is doubtless the more he is beloved of God 't is likeness both in nature and grace that alwayes drawes the strongest love Though every child is the father multiplyed the father of a second edition yet the father loves him best and delights in him most who is most like him and who in feature spirit and action do's most resemble him to the life and so do's the father of spirits also he alwayes loves them best who in holiness resemble him most There are foure remarkable things in the beloved Disciple above all the rest 1. John 13.23 Ch. 18.16 Ch. 19.26 Vers 27. That he lay nearest to Christs Bosome at the Table 2. That he followed Christ closest to the high Priests Palace 3. That he stood close to Christ when he was on the Cross though others had basely deserted him and turn'd their backs upon him 4. That Christ commended the care of his virgin mother to him Now why did Christs desire love and delight run out with a stronger and a fuller Tyde towards John then to the rest of the Disciples doubtless 't was because John did more resemble Christ then the rest 't was because John was a more exact picture and lively representation of Christ then the others were But fourthly the more holy any man is the more communion and familiarity that man shall have with God As you may see in Moses Moses was a none-such for meekness and holiness Num. 12.3 Now the man Moses was very meeke above all the men which were upon the face of the earth There was no man so slighted wronged provoked teazed perplexed and troubled by that wicked unthankful unbelieving and murmuring Generation as Moses was and yet he did neither raile at them nor revile them he did neither storme nor rage he did neither fret nor fling and though he had a sword of Justice in his hand and might easily have avenged himselfe on them yet he would not but exercised all patience tenderness goodness and sweetness towards them O the lowliness the meekness the holiness of this man Moses And O the freeness the friendliness the openness and the familiarness of God with Moses Deut. 34.10 And there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face To give you a little light into these words Some of the Rabbies observe that Moses surpassed all the other Prophets not only in sublimity of Prophesies but also in excellency and number of miracles for Moses within one Age wrought seventy six miracles when all the rest of the Prophets from the beginning of the world quite downe to the ruine of the first Temple wrought only seventy foure And as for those words whom the Lord knew face to face you are not to understand them thus that God hath a face as man hath nor that Moses had a view of the essence of God which is invisible John 1.18 1 Tim. 6.16 for in this sense no man hath seen God at any time and indeed the least beame of Gods essentiall glory and Majestie would have swallowed up Moses alive But these words whom the Lord knew face to face are to be understood of Gods speaking to Moses in a free friendly familiar and plaine manner God did speak to
all the blessings of a holy man are blest unto him and all the relations of a holy man are blest unto him and all estates and conditions that are incident to a holy man are blest unto him Isaac tills the ground Gen. 26.12 ch 4.12 and sows his seed and God blesses him with an hundred-fold And Cain tills the ground and sows his seed but the earth is cursed to him and commanded not to yeeld to him her strength But Fifthly If thou art a holy person if thou art one that hast that real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that thy holiness is a glorious witness and evidence of thy Effectual Vocation 1 Pet. 1.15 As hee who hath called you is holy so bee yee holy in all manner of conversation Many are externally called that are not internally called and many are ineffectually called that are not effectually called But now real holiness that speaks out an internal call an Effectual Call 1 Pet. 2.9 a call out of darkness into marvelous light it speaks out such a call as makes sinners Saints slaves Sons enemies Friends and strangers Favourites Gen. 41. As Joseph a stranger was called out of a prison a dungeon and made a very great Favourite in Pharaohs Court so real holiness is a glorious witness and evidence that you are effectually called out of the prison of sin and the dungeon of wrath and made a Favourite to the King of Glory 2 Tim. 1.9 1 Pet. 5.10 Gal. 4.6 The Author of this Call is a holy God our holy Calling depends upon the purpose of God the power of God and the grace and good pleasure of God the means of our holy Calling are the Spirit of God and the Word of God and the ends of our Calling are Holiness and the Glory of God O Sirs you are not called upon the account of your Parents Faith or Nobility nor upon the account of any intrinsecal vertues in you nor upon the account of any extrinsecal services done by you but upon the account of Gods peculiar Election and particular Vocation and therefore by Holiness make good the honour of your High-Calling And if any should object against you the meanness of your birth and outward calling put them in minde of your High and holy Calling and ask them what they think of Lazarus that is now asleep in Abrahams bosome And if others should object against you your former wickedness and cast your sins as dirt and dung in your faces let them know that St. Paul can tell them from Heaven that though once hee was a wretched blasphemer and a bloody persecuter that yet now hee is a glorious Saint in Heaven But Sixthly If thou art a holy person if thou art one that hast this real holiness without which there is no happiness then know for thy comfort that thy holiness is a blessed evidence of thy Adoption and Sonship John 1.12 Rom. 8.17 If thou art a holy person then of a childe of wrath thou art become a childe of God a childe of love and of an heir of Hell thou art become an heir of Heaven and of a slave thou art become a Son Gal. 4.4 5 7. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law To redeem them that were under the Law that wee might receive the Adoption of Sons wherefore thou art no more a servant but a Son Rom. 8.14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God The leadings of the Spirit are all holy leadings and there are none that are the Sons of God but such as are under the holy leadings of the Spirit of God Phil. 2.15 That yee may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom yee shine as lights in the world There are none worthy of this title of Honour viz. the Sons of God but such who in the main of their lives and conversations are blameless and harmless without rebuke and that are as shining lights in the world There are two waies whereby wee may know fire to bee real fire and that differences real fire from painted fire or from imaginary fire the first is by the heat of it and the other is by the flame of it Now though sometimes it so falls out that the fire do not flame yet at that very time you may know it to bee real fire by the heat it gives So there are two waies of knowing our Adoption Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.16 the first is by the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father in our hearts And the other is by our Sanctification and Holiness now though sometimes it may so fall out that the flame the witness of the Spirit of Adoption may bee wanting yet the heat of Sanctification and Holiness remains and wee may have recourse to this fire and warm our hearts at it and sit down satisfied and assured of our Adoption for as fire may bee known to be fire by its hear though it want a flame so though the Spirit of Adoption do not witness our Adoption to us yet wee may know our Adoption by our real Sanctification and Holiness Every holy person is a high-born person John 3.5.8 ch 1.12 13. for as his Divine Birth so his Divine Adoption is high very high exceeding high yea even as high as Heaven it self 'T is a very high honour to be the Son of a King 1 Sam. 18.23 24. yea to be the Son-in-Law of a King for so David reckoned it Seemeth it saith hee to Sauls servant a light thing to you to bee a Kings Son-in-Law seeing that I am vile and lightly esteemed Oh then what an honour it is to be the Son of God Rev. 1.6 to bee the Son of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord 'T is a very high honour to be Gods servant and so David accounted it as you may see in that 2 Sam. 7.5 8. And so did Theodosius the Emperour and Constantine the Great and many others account it O then what an honour must it be to be Gods Son The blessed Apostle cannot speak of this high priviledge but with great admiration as you may see in that 1 Job 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that wee should bee called the Sons of God 'T is an infinite condescention in God to honour us with the title of Sons and therefore wee should never think of it nor never speak of it but with much Admiration O Sirs what matter of Admiration is this that the great and glorious God who hath many millions of glorious Angels waiting on him that hee should look upon all holy persons as his Sons and that he should love them as Sons and delight in them as Sons and cloathe them as Sons and feed them as Sons and protect them as
may be much like his own should attempt to come in yet the Father will keep him out and wish him to repair to his own home So when the night of death comes the Father of Spirits will only take into the family of heaven his own child viz. the child of holiness but now if the child of gifts which is so like the child of holiness should press hard upon God to come in as that child of gifts Baalam did Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his God will answer him No he will say to him as he did to that child of gifts Judas Acts 1.25 Mat. 8.12 Go to your own place In the night of death and judgement the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out the children of the Kingdom that is of the Church now the children of the Kingdom are children of gifts and yet there will come a day when these children shall be cast out Gen. 25.6 c. As Abraham put off the sons of the Concubines with gifts but entailed the inheritance upon Isaac So God puts off many men now with gifts but he entails the heavenly inheritance upon holiness Psalm 24.3 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully Heaven is for that man and that man is for heaven who hath clean hands and a pure heart whose holy conversation is attended with heart-purification a pure heart is better then a golden head a heart full of holy affections is infinitely beyond a head full of curious notions there is no Jewel there is no anointing to that of holiness he that hath that hath all and he that wants that hath nothing at all But Eightly and lastly if real holiness be the only way to happiness if men must be holy on earth or they shall never come to a blessed fruition of God in heaven then by way of conviction let me say that this truth looks very sowerly and angrily upon those who are so far from being holy themselves that they cannot endure holiness in those that are about them or any waies related to them Ah how many unholy people be there that cannot endure holiness in their Ministers and how many unholy husbands are there that cannot endure holiness in their yoak-fellows and how many unholy parents are there that cannot endure holiness in their children and how many unholy Masters are there that cannot endure holiness in their servants The Panther say some when she cannot come at the man she rendeth and teareth his picture in pieces so many unholy husbands unholy fathers and unholy masters when they cannot rend and tear the persons of their relations in pieces ah how do they do their best to rend and tear the image of God upon them Matth. 23.14 15. 2 Sam. 6.16 20. viz. holiness in pieces These forlorn souls will not be holy themselves nor suffer others to be holy neither they will neither go to heaven themselves nor suffer others to go thither who are strongly biased that way Some despise their gracious relations even eâ— nomine for that very reason because they are holy sometimes you shall hear them speak at such a rate as this Well our relations are wise and witty but so holy they are very knowing and thriving but so precise they have good parts and sweet natures but they are so strict they are so round that they will not endure an oath a lye c. and therefore I cannot abide them I cannot endure them These are like he in Seneca which was so fearfully idle that his sides would ake to see another work So these are so fearfully wicked that it makes their sides their heads their very hearts ake to see others holy How far these are in their actings below Heathens you may see in Rom. 16.10 11. Aristobulus and Narcissus that are spoken of in this Scripture were both Heathens and yet they had in their families those that were in the Lord those that were gracious c. Heathens were so ingenuous that they would not despise that holiness in others that they wanted in themselves they were so noble that they would give holiâ—ess house-room though they knew not how to give it heart-room Gen. 39.1 2 3 4. So Potiphar though he was an Heathen yet he gave holy Joseph both house-room and heart-room These and several other heathens of the like spirit with them will one day rise in Judgement against many in these dayes that are so far faln out with holiness as that they will not endure it under the roof of their houses yea as that they make it the greatest matter of scorn and derision Like those in Lam. 2.15 16. All that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the City that men call the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole earth All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee they hiss and gnash the teeth they say We have swallowed her up c. Ah how many such monsters are there in these dayes who express their derision disdain and contempt of holiness and holy persons by all the scornful gestures postures and expressions imaginable that clap their hands that hiss that wag their head that gnash their teeth and that say Lo these are your Saints these are your holy ones your perfect ones your beautiful ones It is very sad to want holiness but it is saddest of all to deride holiness to disdain holiness Of this evil spirit Salvian complained in his time Salvi de Guber lib. 4. What madness is this saith he amongst Christians that if a man be good he is despised as if he were evil if he be evil he is honoured as if he were good And as great cause have we to complain of the prevalency of the same evil spirit in our times If the wife be holy 1 Cor. 7.16 how is she despised by her unholy husband as if she were wicked If she be wicked how is she honoured as if she were holy So if the child be gracious how is he disdained as if he were gracless if he be gracless how is he admired as if he were gracious So if a Servant be godly how is he scorned as if he were godless if he be godless how is he applauded as if he were godly Certainly God will never endure such to stand in his sight who cannot endure the sight of holiness Doubtless Psalm 1.5 God will never give them any room in heaven who will not so much as give holiness a little house-room I say not heart-room here He that now despises and disdains holiness in others shall at last be eternally despised and disdained for want of holiness himself Vse 2. THe second Use is
fullest of holiness and who hath most to shew for a fair estate in the other world Certainly to an holy man there is no wife to an holy wife no child to an holy child no friend to an holy friend no Magistrate to an holy Magistrate no Minister to a holy Minister nor no servant to an holy servant internal excellencies carries it with a holy man before all external glories The Jews say that those seventy souls that went with Jacob into Egypt were as much worth as all the seventy Nations in the world Doubtless seventy holy persons in the esteem and judgement of those that are holy are more worth then a whole world Plato could say that no Gold or precious stones doth glister so gloriously as the prudent spirit of a good man yea then seventy worlds of unrighteous souls A soul truly holy sets the highest price upon those that are holy holy Paul prized holy One simus as his Son Philem. v. 10. as himself v. 17. yea as his own bowels v. 12. 2 Sam. 22.27 With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure or as the Hebrew will bear it with the choice thou wilt shew thy self choice Pure souls are the choicest souls in all the world They are choice in every eye but their own All worldly excellencies in the judgement of a holy man are but as Copper Brass Tin and Lead but holiness is the tryed silver the gold of Ophir the pearl of price in his eye that hath purity in his heart They only rate and value men aright who rate and value them according to their holiness and if men were thus rated and valued most men in the world would be found not worth the money that Judas sold his Master for If thou prizest others for their holiness thou art a holy person no man can truly prize and highly value holiness in another but he that hath holiness in his own heart Some prize Christians for their wit others prize them for their wealth some prize them for their birth and breeding others prize them for their beauty and worldly glory some prize them for the great things that have been done by them others prize them for the good things that they have received from them some prize them for their Eagles eyes others prize them for their silver tongues but he that is truly holy prizes them for their holiness he values them for their purity and sanctity But Fourthly He that is truly holy will be still a reaching and stretching himself out after higher degrees of holiness Psal 84.7 Psal 119.106 Col. 1.10 2 Cor. 7.1 yea a man that is truly holy can never be holy enough he sets no bounds nor limits to his holiness the perfection of holiness is the mark that he hath in his eye he hears and prayes and mourns and studies and strives that he may come up to the highest pitch of holiness Phil. 3.12 13 14. Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind A Metaphor from runners in a race who strain and stretch out themselves to the utmost that they may take hold on the mark or prize that is set before them and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Received measures of holiness will not satisfie a holy soul so much holiness as will keep hell and his soul asunder will not satisfie him nor so much holiness as will bring him to happiness will not satisfie him he will be still reaching and stretching out after the highest measures of holiness his desires are for more holiness Psalm 27.4 the beauties of holiness do so affect him and inflame him that he cannot but desire to be more and more holy Lord saith the soul I desire to be more holy that I may glorifie thy name more that I may honour my profession more and that I may serve my generation more Lord I desire to be more holy that I may sin less against thee and that I may enjoy more of thee I would be more holy that I may be more prevalent with thee and that I may be more victorious over all things below thee And as a man of holiness desires more holiness so a man of holiness earnestly prayes for more holiness Psalm 51.2 7. Job 17.9 Prov. 4.18 He prayeth that he may be filled with the fruits of righteousness and that he may go on from faith to faith and from strength to strength he prayeth that his spark of holiness may be turned into a flame his drop of holiness into a Sea and his mite of holiness into a rich Treasurie he prayeth that he may like the Eagle fly higher and higher and that his soul may be like the rising Sun that shines brighter and brighter till it be perfect day he prayeth that he may like the Gyant refreshed rejoyce to run his course and that holiness in his soul like the waters in Ezekiel's sanctuary Ezek. 47. may still be rising higher and higher It was Beza's prayer Lord perfect what thou hast begun in me that I may not suffer Shipwrack when I am almost at heaven And as a man of holiness prayeth for more holiness so a man of holiness believes for more holiness Psalm 51.7 in your Translations you read the words prayer-wise but in the Hebrew the words run in the future thus Thou wilt purge me from sin with Hyssop and I shall be clean thou wilt wash me and I shall be whiter then snow In the sense of all his sinfulness and vileness he believes that God will give out greater measures of purity and sanctity to him Thou wilt purge me and I shall be clean thou wilt wash me and I shall be whiter then snow So in Psal 65.3 Iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away Though for the present iniquity did prevail yet he had faith enough to believe that God would purge him from his transgressions and that he would mortifie prevailing corruptions And as a man of holiness believes for more holiness so a man of holiness hopes for more holiness 2 Pet. 3.14 1 John 3.2 3 4. In every ordinance he hopes for more holiness and under every providence he hopes for more holiness and under every mutation and change of his condition he hopes for more holiness When he is in prosperity he hopes that God will make him more zealous thankfull cheerfull fruitfull and usefull and when he is in Adversity he hopes that God will inflame his love and raise his faith and increase his patience and strengthen his submission and quiet his heart in a gracious resignation of himself to God I dare boldly say that that
happiness Jerem. 6.16 Isa 35.8 And a high-way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holinesse the unclean shall not passe 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 holinesse is the surest the safest the easiest the noblest and the shortest way to happinesse Among the Heathens no man could enter into the Temple of Honour but must first enter into the Temple of Vertue There is no entring into the Temple of happinesse except you enter into the Temple of holinesse Holinesse must first enter into you before you can enter into Gods 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 holinesse or I die Psalm 15. throughout give me holinesse or I eternally die If the Angels those Princes of glory fall once from their holinesse they shall be for ever excluded from everlasting happinesse and blessednesse 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 for ever separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power O Sirs do not deceive your own souls holinesse is of absolute necessity 2 Thess 1.8 9 10. 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 happinesse without honour or worldly glory but he can never to heaven to happiness without holiness without holinesse here no heaven hereafter Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth God will at last shut the gates of glory against every person that is without heart purity Ah Sirs holinesse is a flower that grows not in natures garden Men are not born with holinesse in their hearts as they are born with tongues in their mouths holinesse is of a divine off-spring it is a pearl of price that is to be found in no nature but a renewed nature in no bosome but a sanctified bosome There is not the least beam or spark of holinesse in any natural man in the world I have read that the Isle of Arren in Ireland hath such a pure Air that it was never yet infected with the Plague but such is not the nature of man Gen. 6.5 Every imagination of the thoughts of mans 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 holinesse 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 holinesse 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 kisse 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 holinesse would never save him Secondly Consider there is a possibility of obtaining holiness Prov. 2.2 3 4 5 6 7. Holiness is a golden mine that may be come at if you will but digg 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 Rom. 13.12 13 14. it is a pearl of price that may be obtained if you will but part with the wicked mans Trinity the world the flesh and the devil to enjoy it Though some of the Attributes of God be incommunicable yet holinesse 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 softned 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 drowsie 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. Witness Gods 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 it self and yet to make men holy God is willing to give his holy spirit upon very easie terms They shall have it for asking John 3.6 Titus 3.5 1 Cor. 6.11 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
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 antients 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 prophane 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 wickednesse of the wicked that brought the sweeping flood upon the old world and it was the wickednesse and filthynesse of the Sodomites that caused God to rain hell out of heaven upon the Cities where they lived Let men be never so honourable or never so potent or never so witty or never so wealthy c. yet if they are prophane 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 honour 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 honour to your relations to your Countrey and to the places of your abode labour for holiness Some venture life and limb As many of the Romans did and many a better thing to reflect honour upon their relations and upon their Countrey and why then should not you venture far and venture high for holinesse which will be not only an honour to your selves but also an honour and a glory to all persons and places that you have relation to Seventhly Consider that holinesse is the very ear-mark the very livery and badge of Christs servants and subjects Isa 63.8 For he said Surely they are my people children that will not lye so he was their saviour And ver 18. they are called the people of his holiness Gods people are too holy to lye they will not lye for his glory nor for their own worldly good They will rather die then lye Job 13.7 Rom. 3.7 8. Rev. 14.5 with that brave woman that Jerom writes of who being upon the Rack bade her persecutors do their worst for she was resolved rather to die then lye Neither the merry lye nor the jesting lye nor the officious lye nor the pernicious lye will down with those that are the people of Gods holinesse or that are his holy people saith God It is said of golden mouthed Chrysostom that he never lyed answerable to this Isa 63.8 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 Saviour such a mighty preserver and such a glorious deliverer of them that certainly they will not lye they will not deceive my expectation they will not deny me they will not deal disloyally nor unworthily by me they are of Augustines opinion who hath long since told us that we must not tell so much as an officious lye 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. Holinesse 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 The Hebrew word Chasid imports as much Josh 2. Judg. 11. 2 King 9. Matth. 26. that is for his own honour and glory and service and delight Look as Rahahs house was known by a red thred and the Ephraimites by their lisping and Jehu by his driving and Peter by his speaking so real Christians are known by their holinesse Holinesse 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 holinesse of his conversation as Tertullian witnesses Look as our Lord Jesus Christ by the spirit of holiness raising him up from the dead Rom. 1.4 was declared to be the Son of God so it is the spirit of holinesse it is principles of holinesse it is the life and practice of holinesse 2 Cor. 6.17 18. that declares us to be the sons of God Holinesse is that golden character by which God differences and distinguisheth his people from all others in the world Rev. 13.16 chap. 14.9 10. chap. 19.20 A man were better be a beast then to have the mark of the beast upon him 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 holinesse 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 The Title of a Saint is but an empty thing without holiness 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 gracelesse 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 impresse of holinesse upon them And therefore as ever you would be owned and honoured by Christ another day look that the holy Spirit sets the seal of holinesse upon you If the impresse of holinesse 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 Eighthly Consider this that a man of holinesse or a holy man is a common
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 Jer. 7.13 25. Chap. 25.3 4. and chap. 35.14 15. Isa 49.4 5. 2 Cor. 12.14 15. Rom. 13.11 ult 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 dayes 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 labour to be gracious And what is the voice of the holy Spirit but this O labour 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 intreaties 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 Rev. 2 4 5. Isa 32.25 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 every one to look after holinesse and to labour for holinesse never complain of the times but cease to do evil and labour to do well Isa 1.16 17 18 19. and all will be well Get but better hearts and better lives and you will quickly see better times Fourteenthly Consider that holinesse 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 Gold being the most precious mettal you lay it over those things that are most precious to you so doth God lay holiness over all those things that are most precious to him 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 judgements 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 Gods own Argument Be ye holy for I am holy Lev. 19.2 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Concerning the holinesse of God I shall speak at large by divine assistance when I come to press you upon perfecting of holinesse and therefore let this touch suffice for the present Sirs you cannot be lâ—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 Holinesse and therefore labour after it Again as holinesse will render you most like to a holy God so holinesse 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 Alluding as some think to Exod. 28.36 the holy one of God or rather as the Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Kodesh kâ—dashim the holiness of holinesses These abstracts speak out the vigour and strength the eminency and excellency of Christs holiness Christ is holiness it self yea holinesses and what do these abstracts speak out but that perfect and compleat 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 Christs holiness Christ is holy in his natures in his offices in his purposes in his counsels in his word and in his works Acts 4.23 Luke 1.35 Ephes 4. Gal. 2.20 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 Christs Holiness is that noble copy after which we should all endeavour to write Subjects may without Treason or offence attempt to be like their Prince in wisdom goodness righteousness holiness peace piety clemency and sanctity though they cannot without rebellion and disobedience endeavour to be like him in power greatness might majesty splendour and glory so we may safely and honourably attempt to be like to Jesus Christ in wisdom righteousness and holiness c. It is Christs particular honour to be imitated in all morals absolutely Though we may not attempt to be like him in his miracles signs and wonders O Sirs Some have counted it their greatest honour 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 labour 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
heart be one of the hardest works in the world yet this may be done by the word There are no lusts so strong but the word can cast them downe nor no staines so deep but the word can wash them out Three thousand sinners were made Saints by one Sermon Acts 2.41 and five thousand more were converted and sanctified by another Sermon Chap. 4.4 Here were eight thousand men cleansed sanctified and saved by two Sermons and doubtless most of them were young Oh Sirs as ever you would have holy principles laid in your souls and holy affections raised in your souls and holy ends aimed at by your souls heare the word in season and out of season oh attend it oh waite on it 't will be sope to cleanse you and fire to purge you and water to wash you and a winde to turne you from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ Acts 26.16 24. The Gospel preached hath been the power of God to the salvation of multitudes of souls Rom. 1.16 The word is that immortall seed by which holiness which is not only a grace but the conjunction of all graces is formed in the soule 1 Pet. 1.23 'T is the word that gives a spiritual Birth and Being to men Gal. 4.19 The word enlightens the eye Psal 119.105 It softens the heart Deut. 32.2 It purges the conscience and it converts the soule Psal 19.7 It dethrones Satan it casts downe strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 5. It quickens the dull Psal 119.50 and it raises the dead Joh. 5.24 25. Oh therefore heare it and waite on it and come to it that you may be made holy by it many come to heare the word to censure it others to mock at it others to inrich their curious notions by it and others come to catch the Minister at it but doe thou come to it that thou mayest be made holy by it and doubtless first or last thou shalt obtaine thy end yea 't is good for a man to come to the word though his designe in coming be bad 't is good for a man to sit under that great ordinance of the word though he sits upon thornes as it were all the while he is there They that come to see who hath got the newest fashions may have their hearts fashioned into a conformity with the word They came to catch but were caught in that John 7.46 Austin coming to Ambrose to have his ears tickled had his heart touched and turned Come saith old Father Latimer in a Sermon before King Edward the Sixt to the publick meeting 1550. though thou comest to sleepe it may be God may take thee napping When thou comest though it be but to taste the Ministers spirit yet then God may take hold on thy spirit and make it the day of his power upon thy soule though thou comest with a heart full of prejudices against Christ yet by the word thou mayest be brought to a love of Christ to a liking of Christ and to a choice of Christ and to a blessed close and resignation of thy selfe to Christ They that came to surprize Christ were so taken with Christ that being filled with admiration they could not but proclaime his divine Excellencies Never man spake like this man The word is the word of the Lord let the hand be what it will that brings it When gold is offered men care not how noble or ignoble how great or how base he is that offers it so men should not look so much at the hand that brings the word as at the word it selfe the word of the Lord was as much the word of the Lord in the hand and mouth of Amos who was raised a Prophet from amongst the Heardsmen of Tekoa as it was the word of the Lord in the hand and mouth of Isaiah who as some think was a Prophet of the blood-royall Ambrose observes of the Woman of Samaria John 4.7 that she came peccatrix to Jacobs Well but she went away praedicatrix she came a sinner but she went away a Prophetess Oh Sirs let nothing hinder you from coming to the word oh come to the word though you come sinners yet come for though you doe come sinners yet you may goe away Saints though the dew of heaven hath richly and sweetly fallen upon your hearts and yet like Gideons sleece you are still dry yet come to the word still for who can tell but that by the very next Sermon God may make thy soule like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters faile not Isa 58.11 It is reported of young King Edward the Sixth Sir John Hayward in vita that being about to lay hold on some thing that was above the reach of his short Arme one that stood by espying a great Boss'd Bible lying on the Table offered to lay that under his feete to heighten him but the good young King disliked the motion and instead of treading it under his feete he laid it to his heart oh come to the word but come not to trample upon it come not to scoff or mock at it come not to despise it or to revile it but come and lay it to your hearts and it may doe you good for ever there is no better way to make thee holy then to attend on the holy word But Fourthly If ever you would be holy then associate your selves with those that are holy Look as he that walkes with the wise shall be wise Prov. 13.20 so he that walkes with the holy shall certainly be prest and provok't to be holy As Socrates made it his business to better others by his company so a holy man will make it his business to make others holy by his counsell prayers and example he knowes that it is one of the most noble and divine imployments in the world to make others holy and therefore he sets upon that worke with all his might Psal 119.115 Psal 1.1 Look as there is no greater a hinderance to holiness then the society of the wicked so there is no greater a help to holiness then the society of those that are godly Look as the beginning of ungodliness is to keep Company with those that are ungodly so the beginning of holiness is to keep company with those that are holy Look as one drunkard makes another and one swearer makes another and one proud person makes another and one worldling makes another and one formalist makes another so one holy man makes another or look as one sober man makes another and one prudent man makes another and one resolute man makes another and one zealous man makes another and one heavenly minded man makes another so one holy man makes another Ah sinners sinners there are no companions in the world that will pitty you as these that will weep and mourn over you as these Rom. 10.1 1 Pet. 3.1 that will strive and wrestle with God for you as these there
nihil a great nothing and who then would spend an houres time to secure it neare and deare relations cannot for the delight of Ezekiels eyes is taken away with a stroake Ezek. 24.16 Job 1.10 and all Jobs children are snatcht away in a day all our nearest and dearest relations are like a Nose-gay which the oftner we smell to it the sooner it withers But now holiness may be made sure witness the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven Heb. 12.23 and witness the many thousands of Christians this day in the world who doe experience the principles of holiness in their hearts and who doe evidence the power of holiness in their lives O Sirs if the serious consideration of the preciousness and worth of your souls will not draw you out to study holiness to love holiness to prize holiness and to press after holiness what will O Sirs 't is only holiness that is the happiness of the soul the safety and security of the soul the prosperity and felicity of the soul and the lustre and glory of the soul and therefore why should you not labour as for life after this inestimable Jewel holiness O let the remembrance of the preciousness of your souls be an effectuall means to draw you to heare that you may be holy and to pray that you may be holy and to reade that you may be holy and to mourne that you may be holy and to sigh and groane after holiness as after that which is the souls only happiness O Sirs there is nothing below heaven so precious and noble as your souls and therefore doe not play the Courtier with your souls now the Courtier do's all things late he rises late and dines late and sups late and repents late O doe not poyson your precious souls by gross enormities O doe not starve your souls by the omission of religious duties O doe not murther and damne your souls by turning your backs upon holy Ordinances I have read of a Woman who when her house was on fire so minded the saving of her goods that she forgot her only childe and left it burning in the fire at last being minded of it she cryes out Oh my childe oh my poore childe but all too late all too late so there are many men now so mad upon the world and so bewitcht with the world that they never mind they never regard their poor souls till they come to fall under everlasting burnings and then they cry out O our souls O our poor souls O that we had been wise for our souls O that we had got holiness for our souls O that we had made sure worke for our souls but all too late all too late the Lord make you wise to prevent soul-burnings at last If he be rather a monster then a man that feasts his slave but starves his wife what shall we say of those that pamper their bodies but starve their souls and that have thred-bare souls under silke and sattin Cloaths and that please themselves with deformed souls under beautifull faces surely it had been good for these that they had never been born I have read of a Scythian Captain who having for a draught of water yeelded up the City cryed out Quid perdidi quid prodidi What have I lost what have I betrayed So all unholy persons will at last cry out we have betrayed our immortall souls we have lost a precious Father we have lost a deare Redeemer we have lost the company of glorious Angels we have lost the society of the spirits of just men made perfect and we have lost all the pleasures and joyes and delights that be at the right hand of the most High We have lost these we have lost all these and we have lost them for ever and ever surely there is no hell to this hell For a close of this direction remember this that as the soul is the life and excellency of the body so holiness is the life and excellency of the soul and as the body without the soul is dead so the soul without holiness is dead This my Son was dead and is alive if you get holiness into your souls your souls shall live for ever but if you die without holiness your souls shall die for ever and ever I have read that there was a time when the Romans did weare Jewels on their shooes oh that in these dayes most men did not doe worse oh that they did not trample under feete that matchless Jewel their precisouls But Seventhly If ever you would be holy then set in good earnest upon reading of the holy Scripture many a man has been made holy by reading of the holy Word Luther com in Gen. cap. 19. The Bible is the book of books 't is the onely book all other books in the world are but waste paper to it Augustin crys out away with our writings that room may be made for the book of God notwithstanding the greatness and multiplicity of the affairs of Princes yet they were diligently to read the word Deut. 17.19 And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them God looks that the greatest Princes on earth should make use of this Library Though David was a great Prince and had a multitude of weighty businesses upon his hand yet he was so much in reading meditating on the word that he made it his Counsellors the word was Davids Learned Counsel Psal 119.24 to which he reforted for counsel advice and comfort in all his necessities and miseries Alphonsus King of Arragon hath been highly extolled for reading the Scriptures fourteen times over with glosses and expositions notwithstanding his great publike employments And Alphonsus King of Naples read over the Bible forty times notwithstanding many great affairs were upon his hand Theodosius the Emperor and Constantine the Great were much taken up in reading of the Scriptures So Queen Elizabeth when she passed in triumph through the streets of London after her Coronation and had the Bible presented to her at the little Conduit in Cheap-side she received the same with both her hands and kissing it Speeds Hist laid it to her breasts saying That the same had ever been her chiefest delight and should be the rule whereby she meant to frame her Government And 't is very observable that the Eunuch was reading the Scripture when Philip was commanded Acts 8.26.40 by Commission from the Holy Ghost to joyn himself to his Chariot and to instruct him in the knowledge of Christ which proved his conversion and salvation And Junius was converted by the reading of that first of John In the beginning was the Word c. being amazed with the strange majesty of the stile Lib. 8. conf cap. 12. and the profound misteries therein contained And Augustine was
grace and holiness And thus much for this third motive Fourthly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness consider that the more your holiness is encreased the more the great God will be honored and glorified Math. 5.16 Fruitfulness in holiness sets the weightiest crowne of glory upon the head of God John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bare much fruit The more eminent any person is in holiness the more clearely and convincingly he proclaimes God before all the world to be a rich God a full God a bountiful God an overflowing good there is nothing that works men to admire God so much and to exalt God so high as a Christians fruitfulness in holiness O how good must that God be whose servants are so good said the Heathen O how glorious in holiness must that God be whose people are so holy Look as the thriving child is a credit to the Nurse and the rich servant an honor to his Master and a plentiful Crop the praise of the husbandman so that Christian that thrives in grace that grows rich in holiness is the greatest credit and the highest honor and the sweetest praise to God in the world The Tree in Alcinous Garden had alwayes blossomes buds and ripe fruits one under another O! Sirs those Trees of righteousness Isa 61.3 that have not only the blossomes and buds of holiness upon them but also the ripe fruits of holiness one under another they are the greatest honor and glory to God in the world What will men say when they shall behold your eminency in sanctity will they not say certainly God is no hard Master Math. 25.24 he never looks to reape where he do's not sowe nor to gather where he do's not straw Certainly he keeps a noble house his Tables are richly spread his Cups overflow he feeds yea he feasts his servants with the choicest rarities and varieties that heaven affords witness their thriving and flourishing estate in grace and holiness And thus you see that the more your holiness is encreased the more highly the God of heaven will be exalted and magnified But Fifthly To provoke you to endeavour after higher degrees of holiness Consider that the more holiness thou hast the more hee 'l give thee At first God gives holiness where there is none and where this holiness is improved there God will be still augmenting and increasing of it do thou but make it thy business to perfect holiness in the feare of the Lord Heb. 6.7 and the Lord will not faile to make new and fresh additions of more grace and holiness to that thou hast Psal 84.11 The Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Mark those words viz. that the Lord will give grace and glory that is grace unto glory hee 'l still be adding more grace to that thou hast till the bud of grace be turn'd into the flower of glory till thy grace on earth commenceth glory in heaven the more holiness any man has the more still God will give him Math. 13.12 For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance He that hath principles of grace and holiness laid into his soul he shall finde a plentifull increase of those sanctifying and saving principles he shall have more abundance his spark of holiness shall grow into a flame his drops of holiness shall be turn'd into a sea and his mite of holiness shall be multiplyed into millions Math. 25.29 The greater harvest of holiness a Christian brings forth the greater encrease of holiness shall he experience every exercise of grace and holiness is alwayes attended with new increase of grace and holiness Look as that arme is greatest and strongest that is most used and exercised so that particular grace that is most exercised and used is most strengthned and greatned Look as earthly Parents when they see their children to husband and improve a little Stock to great advantage then they adde to their Stock they increase their Stock they double their Stock so when the father of spirits sees his children to husband and improve a little Stock of grace and holiness to the great advantage of their souls then he will increase their spiritual Stock he will be still a adding to their Stock yea he will double their Stock John 15.2 Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Such as are fruitful shall be made more fruitful Christ will take most paines to make them better who are already very good of all Christians in the world there are none that have so much grace as humble Christians have and yet God delights to pour in grace into their souls as men pour liquor into empty vessels humility is both a grace James 4.6 and a vessel to receive more grace And thus much for this fifth Argument But Sixthly To provoke you to labour after higher degrees of holiness Consider that the more holiness you attaine to the greater will be your heaven of joy and comfort in this world Though the least spark of true holiness will bring a man to heaven certainly yet 't is only an eminency in holiness that will make a man walk to heaven comfortably the more holiness any man has Psal 16. ult the more he shall enjoy him in whose presence is fulness of joy and the more any man enjoyes the presence of God with his Spirit the greater will be his heaven of joy in this world Look as a little Star yeilds but a little light so a little holiness yeilds but a little comfort and look as the greatest Stars yeilds the greatest light so the greatest measures of holiness alwayes yeilds the greatest comforts Divine joy ebbs and flowes as holiness ebbs and slowes soul comforts rises and falls as holiness rises and falls Great measures of holiness carries with them the greatest evidence of the reality of holiness now the more clearely and evidently the reality and sincerity of a mans holiness appeares the higher will the springs of joy and comfort arise in his soul Great measures of holiness carry with them the greatest evidence of a mans union and communion with God and the more evident a mans union and communion is with God the more will that mans soul be fill'd with that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Acts 9.31 In great measures of holiness a man may see and reade most of the love of God the face of God the favour of God and the heart of God and the more a man is blest with such a sight as this is the more will that Babe of grace divine joy spring in his soul The greater measures of holiness and sanctification any man attaines to the clearer and brighter will the evidences of his Justification be Rom. 5.1 2 3. And Ch. 8.30 33 34 35 Now the clearer evidences any