First, To win over souls to Christ, and bring them in love with religion. Practical holiness is a very lovely, attractive, and obliging thing. If the heathen could call moral virtue verticordia, turn- heart, from that obliging and winning power it exercises upon the hearts of men ; if they could say of it, that were it visible to hu- man eyes, all men would adore it, and fall in love with it ; how much rather may we say so of true holiness, made visible in the lives of saints ! This is the turn-heart indeed. It makes the souls of men to cling and cleave to the persons in whom it is ; as it is pro- phesied, Zech. viii. 23. of the Jews, when they shall be called, (which shall be a time of great holiness,) " in that day, ten men " out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt " of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have " heard that God is with you." So much of God as appears in
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men, so much drawing excellency there is in them. And this is the apostle's argument, 1 John i. 3. " That ye may have fellow- " ship with us.11 "Why, what is there in your fellowship to invite men to you ? " Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with " his Son Christ Jesus.'" Who can choose but to covet their com- pany, that keep company every day with God ? Great is the efficacy of visible holiness to work upon the hearts of men ; either as a coticau.se, working in fellowship with the word, or as a single instrument, working solitarily without the word.
Where God is phased to afford the zcord unto men, there the prac- tical holiness of saints is of' singular use, to assist and help it in its operation upon the hearts of men. When the lives of Christians sensibly experience that to the eyes of men, which the gospel doth to their ears ; when so we preach, and so ye believe and live ; when we draw by our doctrines, and you draw with us by your examples ; when we hold forth the word of life doctrinally, and you hold it forth practically, as Phil. ii. 16. WThere is the heart that can stand before us ? O ! when the plain and powerful gospel pierces the ears of men, and at the same time, the visible holiness of professors shines so full in their faces, that they must rather put out their own eyes, or else be forced to acknowledge, that God is in you of a truth ; then it will work to purpose upon souls. Then will Christ see of the travail of his soul daily.
Yea, if God deny the word to men, yet this practical holiness I am speaking of, may be to them an ordinance for conversion. This way, souls may be icon to Christ without the word, as the apostle speaks, 1 Pet. iii. 1. Though pulpits should be silent, and vision fail ; yet, if you would this way turn preachers, if your lives may but preach the reality, excellency, and sweetness of Jesus Christ and his ways ; and, if you would this way preach down the love of the world, and let men see what poor vanities these are ; and preach up the necessity and beauty of holiness ; surely you, even you might be honoured to bring many souls to Christ, to turn many to righteousness, and cause many to bless God, on vour behalf, in the day of visitation. This is the use God hath for the holiness and purity of your lives, and doth not this engage you strongly to it ? What, not when it may prove the means of eter- nal life to others? Surelv, if you have anv bowels of mercy in you, you cannot hide from others that whereby they may be saved. How can you, instead of holding forth the zcord of life, (which is your manifest duty) visibly hold forth the zcorls of death before men ? Have you been beholden to others, and shall none be be- holden to you for help towards heaven ? Dare you say, let others shift as well as they can, find the Way to heaven by themselves if they can, they shall have no benefit by your light ? If you be
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Christians, you are Christians of a different stamp and spirit from all those we find described in scripture. Should you not rather say as the lepers did, 2 Kings vii. 6. " Do we well to hold our peace," whilst others are perishing ? Shall the lips qf ministers, and the lives of Christians, be both silenced together ? Shall poor sinners neither hear any thing from us, nor see any thing from you, that may help them to Christ ? The Lord have mercy then upon the poor world, and pity it, for its case is desperate. O put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercy. Destroy not, by the looseness of your conversation, so many souls ; for your scandalous miscar- riages are like a bag of poison put into the spring which supplies the whole city with water.
Secondly, Another use God hath for it, is to recover and salve the credit of' religion, which by the apostasies of hypocrites, and scan- dalous Jails qf careless Christians, is wounded and exposed to con- tempt. Much reproach by this means is brought upon religion, and how shall that reproach be rolled away, but by your strictness and purity ? By this the world must be convinced that all are not so. Though some be a blot to the name of Christ, yet others are his glory. The more others slur and disgrace religion, the more God expects you to honour and adorn it. I remember Chrysostom brings in the persecutors speaking to two renowned martyrs, after this man- ner, Nonne videtis alios vestri ordinis hoc fecisse ? i. e. Why are you so nice and scrupulous ? See you not that others of your rank and profession have done these things ? To which they returned this brave answer, Nos hac potissimum ratione viriliter stabimus, i. e. have they done it? For that very reason we will stand out like men, and will never yield to it. There is an holy Antiperistasis in the zeal of a Christian, which makes it, like fire, burn most ve- hemently in the coldest weather. If men make void God's law, therefore will David love his commandments above gold, Psal. cxix. 127. If there be many Pendletons among professors who will betray Christ and his truth to save their flesh ; God will have some Sanders to repair that breach, by their constancy and courage in appearing for them.
Thirdly, God makes use of it for the encouragement qf his min- isters who labour among you. And indeed it is of no small use to refresh their hearts, and strengthen their hands in their painful work : " Now we live (saith the apostle) if we stand fast in the Lord," 1 Thes. iii. 8. He speaks as if their very life lay at the mercy of the people, because so much of the joy and comfort of it is wrapt up in their regularity and stedfastness. God knows what a hard providence his poor ministers have, and how many discourage- ments attend them in their work ; hear how one * of them ex-
* Lockyer upon the Colossians, p. 528, 529.
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