HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 47
suitable to inward habits. It is with spiritual habits as it is with natural habits ; the more they are acted an'd exercised, the more they are increased and strengthened. Holy habits are golden talents that must be employed and improved. Gracious habits are the candles of the Lord set up in us ; and God hath set up those candles of heaven not to idle by, not to sleep by, but to work by, and to walk by. Where there is holiness of disposition, there must be, nay there will be, holiness of conversation. A holy heart is always attended with a holy life. You may separate a man from his friend, but you can never separate, though you may distinguish, acts of holiness from the habits of holiness. Now it is certain, without this holiness, you shall never come to a sight or fruition of God in happiness.! And thus I have shewed you what that holiness is, without which there is no hope, no possibility of ever seeing the Lord.
II. I come now to the second thing, and that is to prove the truth of the proposition — viz., that without men are holy, they can never be happy. Without holiness on earth, none of the sons of men shall ever come to a blessed vision and fruition of God in heaven. Now this great and weighty truth I shall make good by an induction of particu- lars, thus :
1. First, God hath by very plain and clear scriptures bolted and barred the door of heaven and happiness against all unholy ones.2 Witness 1 Cor. vi. 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 revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.' Heaven is an undefiled inherit- ance, and none that are defiled can enter into the possession of it, 1 Pet. i. 4. When the angels fell from their righteousness, heaven rejected them ; it would no longer hold them ; and will it now accept of the unrighteous ? will it now entertain and welcome them ? Surely no. Such sinners make the very earth to mourn and groan now ; and shall they make heaven to mourn and groan hereafter ? Surely no. What though the serpent did wind himself into an earthy paradise, yet none T)f the seed of the serpent, so remaining, shall ever be able to wind themselves into a heavenly paradise. Witness Gal. v. 19-21, ' Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, mur- ders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like : of the which I tell you before, as I also have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' Before they go to hell, he tells them again and again that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. By the kingdom of God we are to understand the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of glory. Now the kingdom of heaven, of glory, is called the kingdom of God ; 1. Because he hath prepared it. 2. Because it is a royal gift that he confers and bestows upon his little, little flock. Mat. xx. 23 ; Luke xii. 32. Augustus, in his solemn feasts, gave trifles to some, and gold to others.^ The trifles of tliis world God
^ Where there are the seeds of holiness, there will be the flowers of holiness.
=" See also Mat. vii. 21-23, and xxv. 10-12. ' Suetonius, Octavius, c. 75.— G.
48 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14
often gives to the worst and basest of men ; but the kingdom of heaven he only gives to his bosom-friends, Eev, iv. 10, 11, and xx. 6 ; Dan. iv. 16, 17. 3. Because that of and under him, the saints hold it and possess it. 4. Because with him they shall for ever reign in the fruition of it. And so that in John iii. 3, ' Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' To give a little light into the words :
' Verily, verily : ' the Greek is ' amen, amen.' i The word amen is Hebrew, and in the Old Testament is most commonly used by way of wishing or imprecation ; but here, and in other places of the New Testament, the sense of it is altered from precatory to assertory, or from the way of wishing to the way of affirming. This phrase, ' Amen, amen,' or ' Verily, verily,' imports,
[1.] First, The truth and certainty of the things delivered ; for the word ' amen ' doth properly signify truth.
[2.] Secondly, This double asseveration is never used but in matters of greatest weight and importance : the matters here spoken of are of a very celestial and sublime nature.
[3.] Thirdly, This gemination, * Verily, verily,' is a vehement con- firmation of what Christ speaks.
[4.] Fourthly, This gemination calls aloud for the greatest observa- tion and most serious attention of the soul to what Christ is a-saying.
* I say unto thee : ' 'I,' that thou hast confessed to be a teacher sent from God ; ' I,' that lie in the bosom of the Father, John i. 18 ; * I,' that am of the cabinet-council of heaven ; * I,' that know his heart and all his secrets. Rev. iii. 14 ; ' I,' that am the faithful and true witness, and cannot lie ; ' I,' that am called the * Amen,' the truth itself; 'I,' that have the keys of heaven and hell at my own girdle. Rev. i. 18 ; * I,' that open and no man shuts, and ' I,' that shut and no man opens ; 'I,' that shall be your Judge in the great day, ' I say unto thee,' &c.
' Except a man be born again : ' A man, be he old or young, learned or unlearned, high or low, rich or poor, knowing or ignorant, circum-^ cised or uncircumcised, under this form or that, a member of this church or that, let his disposition be never so ingenuous, and his parts never so high, and his conversation as to men never so blameless and harmless ; yet, except this man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, Rom. ii. 28, 29.
' Be born again : ' Except a man be first unmade, and new-made up again ; except he be of an old creature made a new creature, yea, a new creation of God, 2 Cor. v. 17, there is no seeing of the kingdom of God. The whole frame of the old man must be dissolved, and a new frame erected, else there is no heaven to be enjoyed. The kingdom of God is a divine kingdom, and there is no possession of it without a divine nature. A new head without a new heart, a new lip without a new life, will never bring a man to this kingdom of light. That man is for the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is for that man, that hath got the kingdom of God within him. 2 If the kingdom of grace do not enter into thee here, thou shalt never enter into the
^ dfiriv, ifiifv, Truth, truth, or truly, truly » 2 Pet. i. 4 ; 1 Cor. vu. 19 ; Gal. t. 6 j L
Luke svii. 21; Kom. xiv. 17.
Heb. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 49