1. First, A person of real holiness is much affected and taken tip in the admiration of the holhiess of God. Unholy persons may be some- what aiFected and taken with other of the excellencies of God ; but it is only holy souls that are affected and taken with the holiness of God : Exod. XV. 11, * Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord, amongst the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing won- ders?' In this stately description of God, holy Moses is most taken up in magnifying and admiring the holiness of God. Holiness is that glory of the Creator that holy ones most delight to glory in. So holy David : Ps. Ixxi. 22, ' Unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel : ' so Isa. xii. 6, ' Cry out and shout, thou inhabi- tant of Zion : for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee:' so Ps. Ixxviii. 41, and Lxxxix. 19, &c, ; Isa. xliii. 3, and xlix. 7. The inhabitants of Zion must shout and hoUow out, (as the Hebrew word carries it,) in token of joy, because he that is great and in the midst of them is the Holy One of Israel. So Hab. i. 12, ' Art not thou from everlasting, 0 Lord my God, my Holy One?' Among holy ones, none to the Holy One : yea, the more holy any are, the more deeply are they affected and taken with the holiness of God : as you may see in Isa. vi. 3, ' And one cried unto another' — or this cried to this — and said, ' Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory.' The holy seraphims, by trebling the accla- mation of his holiness, ' Holy, holy, holy,' do denote not only the superlative eminency, glory, and excellency of God's holiness, but also they do discover how greatly, how abundantly they are affected and taken with the holiness of God. To the holy angels, the holiness of God is the sparkling diamond in the ring of glory. But now unholy persons are rather affected and taken with anything than with the holiness of God. The carnal-secure sinner is affected and taken with the patience, forbearance, and long-suffering of God : Oh, saith he, what a God of patience is this, that hath waited so many years for my repentance ! that he that might long since have damned me, waits still to save me ! that he who might long since have cast me into hell, is still willing that I should go to heaven ! The presumptuous sinner is much affected and taken with the mercy and goodness of God. Well, saith the presumptuous sinner, though I have sinned thus and thus, yet God hath been merciful to me ; and though I do sin daily thus and thus, yet God is still merciful to me ; and though I should still go on to sin sevenfold more, yet he would be merciful to me, Deut. xxix. 18-21 ; Eccles. viii. 11. He doth not delight in the death of a sinner, nor in the damnation of souls ; oh, what a merciful God is God ! The prosperous sinner, he is taken with the bounty and liberality of God. Oh, saith he, what a bountiful God, what a liberal God is this, who fills my barns, who fills my bags, who prospers me at home and abroad, who hath blest me with a healthful body, a fair estate, a saving wife, a full trade, laborious servants, and thriving
HtB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 105
children ! &c. But where is there a sinner in all the world that is affected and taken with the holiness of God ? Certainly there is no- thing that renders God so formidable and terrible to unholy persons as liis holiness doth: Isa. xxx. 11, ' Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease fi-om before us.' Oh that you would not preach so much, nor talk so much to us of the Holy One of Israel ! Oh that you would once cease from molestr ing and vexing us with message upon message from the Holy One 1 Why cannot you as well talk and preach to us of the merciful one, the compassionate One, the affectionate One, the pitiful One, &c., as be still a-talking to us of the Holy One, the Holy One 1 Ok, we love not to hear it ! Oh, we cannot tell how to bear it ! Nothing strikes the sinner into such a damp as a discourse on the holiness of God; it is as the hand- writing upon the wall, Dan. v, 4-6 ; nothing makes the head and heart of a sinner to ache like a sermon upon the Holy One ; nothing galls and gripes, nothing stings and terrifies unsanctified ones, like a lively setting forth of the holiness of God, Hab. i. 13. But now to holy souls, there are no discourses that do more suit them and satisfy them, that doth more delight and content them, that doth more please and profit them, than those that do most fully and powerfully discover God to be glorious in holiness. Well, this is an everlasting truth ; he that truly affects the holiness of God, and affects God for his holiness, is certainly made partaker of his holiness. If you are really holy, you are much affected and taken with the holiness of God. Souls, what say you to this ? But, 2. Secondly, True holiness is diffusive. Bonum est sui communica- tivum ; it doth extend, diffuse, and spread itself all over the soul ; it spreads itself over head and heart, lip and life, inside and outside : Ps. xlv. 13, ' The king's daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold.' Inward holiness is the inward glory of the king's daugh- ter. The king's daughter is ' all glorious within ;' her understanding is hanged with holiness, her mind is adorned with holiness, her will is bowed to holiness, and all her affections are sprinkled, yea, clothed with holiness. Her love is holy love, her grief is holy grief, her joy is holy joy, her sorrow is holy sorrow, her fear is holy fear, her care is holy care, her zeal is holy zeal ; and her clothing is of ' wrought gold ' — that is, her life and conversation, which is as visible to others as the clothes she wears, is very sparkling and shining in grace and holiness. True sancti- fication is throughout, it reaches to soul, body, and spirit, 1 Thes. v. 23. True holiness is a divine leaven, which leavens the whole man. Mat. xiii. 33. Look, as leaven diffuses itself through the whole dough, so true holiness diffuses itself through the whole man. Look, as Absalom's beauty was spread all over him, even from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, 2 Sam. xiv. 25, so the beauty of holiness spreads itself over every member of the body, and every faculty of the soul. Look, as Solomon's temple was glorious both within and without, so holiness makes all glorious both within and without. Look, as Adam's sin spread itself over the whole man, so that holiness that we have by the ' second Adam ' spreads itself over the whole man ; so that that man that is not all over holy, that is not throughout holy, that man was never truly holy, 1 John i. 16. Look, as that holmess which was
106 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.