5. Fifthly, Where there is real holiness, there is a holy hatred, de- testation, and indignation against all ungodliness and wickedness, and that upon holy accounts : ^ Ps. cxix. 101, ' I have refrained my feet from every evil way.' But why ? ' That I may keep thy word ; ' ver. 104, ' Through thy precepts I get understanding : therefore I hate every false way.' The good that he got by divine precepts stirred up his hatred against every false way : ver. 128, ' Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right ; and I hate every false way.' His high esteem of every precept raised up in him a holy indignation against every evil way. A holy man knows that all sin strikes at the hoKness of God, the glory of God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the law of God ; and therefore his heart rises against all ; he looks upon every sin, as the Scribes and Pharisees that accused Christ ; and as that Judas that betrayed Christ ; and that Pilate that condemned Christ ; and those soldiers that scourged Christ ; and as those spears that pierced Christ ; and therefore his heart cries out for justice upon all. He looks upon every sin as having a hand in the death of his Saviour, and therefore he cries out, Crucify them all, crucify them aU ; he looks upon every sin as a grieving of the Spirit, as a vexing of the Spirit, and as a quenching of the Spirit ; and so nothing will satisfy him but the ruin of them all. 2 He looks upon every sin as a dishonour to God, as an enemy to Christ, as a wound to the Spirit, as a reproach to the gospel, and as a moth to his holiness ; and therefore his heart and his hand is against every sin. But now, if you will but look into the Scriptures, you shall find that all those that have been but pretenders to holiness, their hearts have been always engaged to some one way of wickedness or another, Isa. Iviii. 1, 9 ; Zech. vii. 4-7. Jehu was very zealous against idolaters ; but yet his heart was engaged to his golden calves. Herod hears John Baptist
^ True hatred is irpJs to. yevri, against the whole kind. [As before. — 0.] = Eph. iv. 30 ; Isa. Ixiii. 10 ; 1 Thes. v. 19.
110 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII, 14.
gladly, and reforms -many things, Mark vi. &c. ; but yet his Herodias must still lie in his bosom. Judas was as forward in religious services as any others, but yet money did bear the mastery with him, John xii. 6. The Pharisees made long prayers, that they might the better make a prey upon widows' houses. Mat. xxiii. 19, and xxvi. 23. The young man offered fair for heaven, but yet his possessions had so possessed and locked up his heart, that Christ could get no entrance. Though Simon Magus believed, and was baptized, and wondered at the miracles and signs which were done by Philip ; yet for all these shows of godliness, he was a prisoner to his lusts ; his condition was dangerous, poisonous, and odious ; he was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, Acts viii. 13-23. So those in Mat. vii. 21-23, though they complimented with Christ, saying, ' Lord, Lord;' though they prophesied in Christ's name, and cast out devils in Christ's name; yea, though they did not a few, jjut many wonderM works in Clirist's name ; yet all this while they were workers of iniquity, they were artists in sin ; they were so addicted to sin, that they made a trade of sin.i Look, as every lion hath his den, every dog his kennel, every sow her sty, and every crow her nest ; so every unholy person hath one sin or another, to which his heart is engaged and married ; and that sin will undo him for ever. As Lysimachus lost his earthly king- dom by drinking one draught of water, 2 so many lose a heavenly kingdom by indulging some one sin or other. One flaw spoils the diamond, one treason makes a traitor, one turn brings a man quite out of the way, one leak sinks the ship, one wound strikes Goliath dead, one Delilah betrays Samson, one broken wheel spoils the whole clock, and one fly spoils the whole box of ointment. And as one bastard destroyed Gideon's seventy sons. Judges viii., so one pre- dominant sin is enough to destroy the soul for ever. As by taking one nap Samson lost his strength, and by eating one apple Adam lost paradise ; so many men, by favouring one sin, lose God, heaven, and their souls for ever. He that favours any sin, though he frowns upon many, doth but as Benhadad, recover of one disease and die of another ; yea, he takes pains to go to hell. Sin favoured ever ends tragically. And as no unholy heart rises against all sin, so no unholy heart disdains sin or rises against sin upon noble accounts, upon holy and heavenly accounts. Sometimes you shall have an unholy person angry with sin, and falling out with sin, because it hath cracked his credit, or clouded his honour, or hindered his profit, or embittered his pleasure, or enraged his conscience, or exposed him to shame here and hell hereafter : but never because a righteous law is transgressed, a holy God is dishonoured, a loving Saviour is afresh crucified, or the blessed Spirit grieved. It is between a holy and an unholy soul, as it is between two children ; one will not touch the coal because it will smut him, and the other will not touch it because it will burn him. A holy heart rises against sin because of its defiling nature ; but an unholy heart rises against sin because of its burning and damning nature. A holy man is most affected and afflicted with the evil that is in sin ;
^ Qui hahet unicum Tntium, habet omnia: He that hath any one vice, hath all other with it, saith Seneca truly. * Plutarch : de ser : num. vindict : as before.— G.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. Ill
but an unholy heart is most affected and afflicted with the punishment that is due to sin. A holy person hates sin because it pollutes his soul ; but an unholy person hates it because it destroys his soul. A holy person loathes sin because it makes against God's holiness ; but an unholy person loathes it because it provokes God's justice. A holy person detests sin because of the hell that is in sin ; but an unholy person detests sin because of the hell that follows sin. A holy heart abhors all sin ; but an unholy heart is still in league with some sin, Kom. xii. 9, and vii. 15, 19 ; Isa. xxviii. 15, 18. Now because this is a point of great concernment, I shall a little more open and evidence the truth of it, in these three particulars : —