cannot bear the being charged with iniquity. It was little less than sin to charge Ephraim with sin ; though he was notoriously guilty of the highest crmies, yet he would have you to know that he was as shy of sin, and as clear of sin, as he that was shyest and clearest. Ephraim could give good words, when his works were abominable ; he could pretend much to innocency, when he was guilty of the greatest impiety. But though Ephraim had his cloak at hand, yet it was too short to cover his sin ; for Grod saw it, and condemned him for it. Chrysostom doth elegantly set forth the blindness and brutishness of such persons. When they lie in the mire, saith he, they think they are besmeared with some sweet ointments ; when they are full of vermin, they vaunt themselves, as if they were adorned with precious stones. And so the Laodiceans were of the same temper of spirit: Kev. iii. 17, 'Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' They had a great opinion of their own goodness, worth, and excellent state, having need of nothing, when they had nothing of a Christian in them.i Thou sayest thou art ' rich ; ' ay, but thou dost but say so. Thou boastest and braggest of thy riches, as many proud beggars do of that wealth they have not. For all thou deemest thyself rich, thou art but poor and beggarly. It is man's sin and judgment, that ever since he ceased to be what he should be, he striveth to seem to be what he is not. Thou sayest thou art ' increased with goods, and needest nothing ; ' ay, but thou dost but say so, thou dost but dream it is so : for thou art ignorant of thine own wretched and lamentable estate. 'Thou sayest thou art rich, but I know thou art poor and beggarly. If a drachm of grace would save thy life, thy soul, thy family, nay, the whole world,^thou hast it not. Thou sayest thou 'seest'; but thou art blind, thou art destitute of spiritual eyesight ; thou seest not thine own wants, nor Christ's worth ; thine own emptiness, nor Christ's ful- ness ; thine own sinfulness, nor Christ's holiness ; thine own poverty, nor Christ's riches and plenty ; thine own misery, nor Christ's mercy ; thine own insufficiency, nor Christ's all-sufficiency ; thine own vanity, nor Christ's glory, &c. Multi multa sciunt, se autem nemo: Many know much, but few know themselves, or their own danger, infelicity, or misery ; and indeed no misery to this. The Chinese used to say of themselves, that all other nations of the world did see but with one eye, they only with two ; and of this spuit and temper were those blind Laodiceans. They thought they knew all things, when they knew nothing that they should, nor as they should. I3y all which you may see that there is an imaginary holiness, a conceited holiness, where there is no real holiness ; but an imaginary holiness will bring a man but to an imaginary blessedness ; a conceited holiness will bring a man but to a conceited happiness ; he that doth but dream that he is holy, he doth but dream that he shall be happy.
Bastards of old were not to inherit, but to be thrust out from among the true heirs: Gen. xxi. 10; Judges xi. 1, 2, 'Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot :
1 There is a truth in that old saying, Avaro deest tam quod habet, quam quod non habet : A covetous man wanteth as well that which he hath, as that which he hath not.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 41
and Gilead begat Jephthah. And Gilead's wife bear him sons ; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.' Ah, sirs, you that are but bastard Christians, bastard professors, bastard believers, bastard saints, you shall never inherit among the heirs of glory, but shall be thrust out for ever from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, and thrust into utter darkness, because you have pleased yourselves, and satisfied your spirits, and blessed your souls in a bastard holiness, in a conceited holiness, 2 Thes. i. 8, 9 ; Mat. viii. 12, and xxii. 13; Deut. xxiii. 2, 'A bastard shall not enter i into the congregation of the Lord.' He shall have no fellowship nor communion with the people of God ; the door of admis- sion shall be shut upon him. The foolish virgins had but a bastard holiness, a conceited holiness, an outward dress of holiness ; and there- fore the door of life, the door of hope, the door of help, the door of grace, the door of mercy, the door of glory was shut upon them, Mat. XXV. 10-12, vii. 21-23. William the Conqueror was much slighted and scorned because he was a bastard. God and his people will slight such, and scorn such, and turn their backs at last upon such that have no more than a bastardly holiness ; and therefore this cannot be the holiness here meant. But,
3. Thirdly, There is an outward, external, visible holiness, which includes men's freedom from scandalous vices, and their ordinary per- formance of religious duties. Now, in this sense, Zacharias and Elizabeth were both holy persons : for they ' walked in all the com- mandments and ordinances of God blameless.' ^ And so the apostles, 1 Thes. ii. 10, ' For ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.' Answerable to this, is that of the apostle in 2 Cor. i. 12, ' For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, 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.' These precious souls behaved themselves holily towards God, justly towards the world, and unblameably towards believers. They were holy in religious work, they were just in their civil affiiirs and commerce, and unblameable in their private carriage and behaviour amongst their familiar and most bosom friends. And this is that the apostle presses upon Christians in Phil. ii. 15, 'That ye may be blame- less and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,' (or unblemished,) * in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine' (or shine ye) ' as lights in the world.' Christians must be the spot- less sons of God : they must have no spots upon them that are incon- sistent with sonship or saintship, Deut. xxxii. 5. Now it is certain, without this outward visible holiness there is no happiness, there is no fruition of God in everlasting blessedness. They that pretend their hearts are as good as the best, when their lives are as bad as the worst, shall experience this truth at last to their shame and cost,
1 Misprinted ' inherit.' — G.