3. Thirdly, If real holiness be the only way to happiness, and that if men be not holy on earth, they shall never come to a blessed vision or fruition of God in heaven ; then, by way of conviction, this looks sourly and sadly upon all formalists who Jmve only a form, a show, a profession of holiness, hut have nothing of the reality, spirit, life, or power of holiness in them : 2 Tim. iii. 5, ' Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof ; from such turn away.' They have, M6p(f)(i)aiv €ucrey3eta<f, a face, a vizard, a mask, a show of godliness, but they have nothing of the pith, sap, life, or marrow of godliness. Their devotion, their godliness, lies in good words, and in fair shows, and in religious gestures, Isa. Iviii. 1-3, and Zech. vii. 4-6. If you hearken to their voice, if you look upon their eyes, if you observe the motion of their hands, and the bowing of their knees, and the shaking of their heads, &c., you would think that they were men of much religion, of much godliness ; but if you look into their hearts and lives, you will find them to be the greatest renouncers and deniers of religion and godliness in the world. They have the semblance of godliness, but not the substance ; they have the lineaments of godli- ness, but not the life ; they have the face of godliness, but not the heart ; they have the form, the shadow of godliness, but not the power. They are like a well-drawn picture, which hath all the lineaments of a man, but wants life, wants a principle of motion and operation.^ Mark, 1. The form of godliness is common, but the power of godliness is rare. 2. The form of godliness is cheap, but the power of godliness is dear. 3. The form of godliness is easy, but the power of godliness is difficult. 4. The form of godliness is a credit, but the power of godliness is a reproach. 5. The form of godliness is pleasurable and delightful, but the power of godliness is displeasing and undelightful to the ignoble part of a Christian. 6. The form of godliness will stand with secret and with open wickedness — as you see in Saul, Jehu, Judas, Simon Magus, Demas, and the Scribes and Pharisees — but the power of godliness will not. The power of godliness lays the axe to the very root of all sin, both secret and open. Rachel was very fair and beautiful to the eye, but she was barren, and that marred all ; so the formalist, he is a very fair and beautiful Christian to the eye, but he is barren Godwards, and Christwards, and heavenwards ; he is fruitless, sapless, and lifeless, and that mars aU. The formalist takes up a form of godhness, 1. To quiet his conscience ; 2. To get himself a name ; 3. To cloak over his sins ; 4. To advance his worldly interest ;
' A form of godliness is England's epidemical disease.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 87
and, 5, To avoid opposition and persecution from the world, the flesh, and the devil ; 6. And to conform to old customs. And what should such formalists do in heaven ? A formal Christian is but a figure, a flauntji a flourish, a flash, and all he doth is but the shadow of what he should do. A formalist is more light than life, more notion than motion, more head than heart, more outside than inside, more leaves than fruit, more shadow than substance. A formalist is a blazing comet, a painted tomb, a stage-player, a white devil, or a devil in an angel's habit ; and what should such devils do in heaven ? Certainly if without real holiness no man shall see the Lord, then the formalist, that hath only the shape, the show, the form of godliness, but nothing of the reality and power of it, shall never be blessed with such a sight. A formalist is neither hot nor cold. Of all sorts of sinners he is the worst ; and God so loathes him, that he is resolved he will rid his stomach of him: Rev. iii. 16, 'I will spue thee out of my mouth;* and certainly heaven is too holy a place to lick up that gorge Grod hath cast up. Lukewarm water cannot be so loathsome to our stomachs as a formalist is to God's. God is never at such ease as when he hath cast up and cast out the formal Christian. I have read of Anastasius the emperor, how God shot him to death with a thunderbolt because of his lukewarmness and formality. 2 God hath a thunderbolt for every formalist, by which he will at last certainly strike them down to the lowest hell. A formalist is too loathsome a thing, too heavy a burden, for heaven to bear.
4. Fourthly, If real holiness be the only way to happiness ; if men must be holy on earth, or else they shall never see the face of God in heaven ; then this truth, by way of conviction, looks sourly and sadly upon all those who please and satisfy themselves with civility and common honesty ; who are good negative Christians, who bless themselves that they are no swearers, nor drunkards, nor extortioners, nor adulterers, &c. ; they pay every man his own, they are just and righteous in their dealings ; no man can say black is their eye ; their carriage is civil, comely, harmless, and blameless.3 ' They make a fair show in the flesh,' Gal. vi. 12, or as the Greek hath it, they set a good face on it. But as good a face as they do set on it, I must crave leave to tell them that civility is not sanctity; civility rested in is but a beautiful abomination, a smooth way to hell and destruction. I may truly say of all civil men — who are destitute of that real holiness that leads to happiness — what Erasmus said of Seneca : If you look upon him as a heathen, then he seemeth to write as if he were a Christian ; but if you look upon him as a Christian, then he seemeth to write as a heathen. So if you look upon many civil, moral men's lives, you will find them so full of ingenuity,* equity, righteousness, sweetness, and justice, that you will be ready to say. Sure these are holy men. But then do but observe how unacquainted they are with God, with Christ, with the Scripture, with the way and working of the Spirit, with the filthiness of sin, with the depths and devices of Satan, with their own hearts, with the new
1 ' Finery ' = display, another Shakesperian word : Winter'B Tale, iv. 3.— Q.
3 Luke xviii. 10-14; Mat. v. 21, and xix. 20-22.
* ' Ingenuousness.' — G.
88 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.