5. Sanctification is a beautiful thing ; it makes God and angels fall in love witli us, Ps. ex. 3., " The beauties of holiness." As the sun is to the world, so is sanctification to the soul, beautifying and bespangling it in God's eyes. That which makes God glorious, must needs make us so. Holi- ness is the most sparkling jewel in the Godhead, Exod. xv. 11., " Glorious in ho- liness." Sanctification is the first fruit of the Spirit ; it is heaven begun in the soul ; sanctification and glory differ only in de- gree,— sanctification is glory in the seed, and glory is sanctification in the flower. Holiness is the quintessence of hai)pincss.
G. Sanctification is an abidinsr thin"-. 1 John iii. 9., " His seed remaiucth in hiui." He who is truly sanctified, cannot fall from that state. Indeed seeming holiness may be lost, colours may wash off, sanctificatiou may suffer an eclipse. Rev. il. 4., " Thou, hast left thy first love :" but true sanctifi- cation is a blossom of eternitv, 1 Jolin iL
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27., " The anointing whicli ye have re- ceived of him abideth in you." He who. is truly sanctified, can no more fiill away,, than the angels which sire fixed in their lieavenjy orbs.
7. Sanctification is a progressive thing, it is growing ; it is compared to seed which grows, — first the blade springs up, — then the ear, — then the ripe corn in the car ; such as are already sanctified, may be more sanctifie<l. 2 C»>r. vii. 1. Justification doth not admit of degrees : a believer cannot be
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more elected or justified than he is, but he may be more sanctified than he is ; sanc- tification is still increasing, like the morn- ing sun, which grows brighter to the full meridian. Knowledge is said to increase, Col. i. 10., and faith to increase, 2 Cor. x. 15. A Christian is continually adding a cubit to his spiritual stature. It is not with us as it was with Christ, who receiv- ed the Spirit without measure ; Christ could not be more holy than he was. But we have the Spirit only in measure, and may be still augmenting our grace; as Apelles, when he had drawn a picture, he would be still mending it with his pencil. Tiie image of God is drawn but imperfect- ly in us, therefore we must be still mend- ing it, and drawing it in more lively co- lours ; sanctification is progressive ; if it doth not grow, it is because it doth not live. Thus you see the nature of sancti- fication.
Quest. JMiat are the counterfeits of sanc- tification ?
Ans. There is something looks like sanc- tification, which is not.
1. The first counterfeit of sanctification is moral ^drtue. To be just, temperate, to be of a fair deportment, not having one's scutcheon blotted with ignominious scandal, this is good, but not enough : this is not sanctification. A field-flower differs from a garden-flower. 1. Heathens have attain- ed to morality; Cato, Socrates, Aristides. Civility is but nature refined ; there is no- thing of Christ there; the heart may be foul and impure, under these fair leaA'es of civility, the worm of unbelief may be hid. 2. A moral person hath a secret antipathy against grace ; he hates vice, and he hates grace as much as vice. The snake hath a fine coloiu', but a sting. A person adorn- ed and cultivated with moral virtue hath a secret spleen against sanctity : those Stoics, which were the chief of the moralized heathens, were the bitterest enemies St. Paul had, Acts x\\\. 18.
2. The second counterfeit of sanctifica- tion is superstitious devotion : this abounds in popery; adorations, images, altars, vest- ments, holy water, which I look upon as a religious frenzy: this is far from sanctifi- cation. 1. It loth not put any intrinsical
goodness into a roan, it doth not make a man better. If the legal purifications and Avashings, which Avere of God's own ap- pointing, did not make them that used them more holy, (the priests, wlio wore holy gar- ments, and liad holy oil poured on them, were never the more holy, without the an- ointing of the Spirit,) then surely those su- perstitious innovations in religion which God never appointed, cannot contribute any holiness to men. 2. A superstitious holi- ness costs no great labour ; there is nothing of the heart in it ; if to tell over a iew beads, or bow to an image, or sprinkle themselves Avith holy Avater, if this Avere sanctification, and were all that Avere re- quired of them that should be saA'ed, then hell Avould be empty, none Avould come there.