HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 117
called their idols delectable, or desirable things, Isa. xliv. 9 ; they did dearly affect and delight in their idols ; but when God should come to put a spirit of holiness upon them, then their hearts should rise in hatred and detestation of their idols, as you may see in Isa. xxx. 18, 25 ; mark ver. 22, ' Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold : thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth ; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.' They were so delighted and enamoured with their idols, that they would deck them up in the greatest glory and bravery ; they would attire them with the most rich, costly, pompous, and glorious raiment. Oh, but when a spirit of holiness should rise upon them, then they should defile, deface, and disgrace their idols, then they should so hate and abhor them, they should so detest and loathe them, that in a holy indignation they should cast them away as a menstruous cloth, and say unto them, Get ye hence, pack, begone, I will never have any more to do with you.i God hath now made an everlasting divorce between you and me. And so in Isa. ii. 20, ' In that day ' — that is, in the day of the Lord's exaltation in the hearts, lives, and consciences of his people, ver. 17 — ' a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.' In the day of God's exaltation they shall express such disdain and indignation against their idols, that they shall take not only those made of trees and stones, but even their most precious and costly idols, those that were made of silver and gold, and cast them to the moles and to the bats ; that is, they shall cast them into such blind holes, and into such dark, filthy, nasty, and dusty corners, as moles make underground, and as bats roost in : so when holiness comes to be exalted in the soul, then all a man's darling and bosom sins, which are his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, these are with a holy indignation cast to the moles and to the bats ; they are so loathed, abandoned, and cashiered, that he desires they may be for ever buried in oblivion, and never see the light more. Idols were Ephraim's bosom-sin : Hosea iv. 17, ' Ephraim is joined,' or glued, 'to idols, let him alone ;' but when the dew of grace and holi- ness fell upon Ephraim, as it did in chap. xiv. 5-7, ' Then saith Eph- raim, What have I any more to do with idols ?' ver. 8. Now Ephraim loathes his idols as much or more than before he loved them ; he now abandons and abominates them, though before he was as closely glued to them, as the wanton is glued to his Delilah, or as the en- chanter is glued to the devil, from whom by no means he is able to stir. Ephraim becoming holy, cries out, ' What have I any more to do with idols ? ' Oh, I have had to do with them too long and too much already ! Oh, how doth my soul now rise against them 1 how do I detest and abhor them ! surely I will never have more to do with them. But now unholy hearts are very favourable to bosom-sins ; they say of them, as Lot of Zoar, ' Is it not a little one ? and my soul shall live ! ' Gen. xix. 20. And as David spake of Absalom, 2 Sam.
^ After the return of the Jews out of Babylon, they bo hated and abhorred idols, that in the time of the Romans they chose rather to die than to suffer the eagle, which was the imperial arms, to be set up in their temple. [As before. — G.]
J18 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
xviii. 5, ' Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom.' ' Beware that none touch the young man Absalom,' ver. 12. ' And the king said. Is the young man Absalom safe ?' ver. 29. An unholy heart is as fond of his bosom-sins as Herod was of his Hero- dias ; or as Demetrius was of his Diana ; or as Naaman was of the idol Rimmon, which was the idol of the Syrians ; or as Judas was of bearing the bag ; or as the Pharisees were of having the uppermost seats, and of being saluted in the market-place with those glorious titles, ' Rabbi, rabbi.' Bosom-sins have at least a seeming sweetness in them ; and therefore an unholy heart will not easily let them go. Let God frown or smile, stroke or strike, lift up or cast down, promise or threaten, yet he will hide and hold fast his darUng sins ; let God wound his conscience, blow upon his estate, leave a blot upon his name, crack his credit, afflict his body, write death upon his rela- tions, and be a terror to his soul, yet will he not let go his bosom-lusts. He will rather let God go, and Christ go, and grace go, and heaven go, all go, than he will let some pleasurable or profitable lusts go. An unholy heart may sigh over those sins, and make war upon those sins, that war against his honours, profits, or pleasures, and yet at the same time make truce with those that are as right hands and right eyes ; an unholy person may set his sword at the breasts of some sins, and yet at the same time his heart may be secretly courting of his bosom- sins. But now a holy heart rises most against the DeHlah in his bosom, against the Benjamin, the son, the sin, of his right hand. And thus you see how a holy heart hates and disdains all sins ; he abhors small sins as weU as great, secret sins as well as open, and bosom-sins as well as others that have not that acquaintance and acceptance with the soul. Real hoUness will never mix nor mingle itself with any sin, it will never incorporate with any corruption. Wine and water will easily mix, so the wine of gifts and the water of sin, the wine of civility and the water of vanity, the wine of morality and the water of impiety, will easily mix ; but oil and water will not mix, they wiU not incorpor- ate ; so the oil of grace, the oil of holiness, will not mix ; it will not incorporate with sin, the oil of holiness will be uppermost, Mark, natural and acquired habits and excellencies, as a pregnant wit, an eloquent tongue, a strong brain, an iron memory, a learned head, all these, with some high speculations of holiness, and some profession of holiness, and some commendations of hoHness, and some visible actings of holiness, are consistent with the love of lusts, with the dominion of sin: witness the Scribes and Pharisees, Judas, Demas, and Simon Magus ; but the real infused habits of true grace and holiness, will never admit of the dominion of any sin, whether great or little, whether secret or open. But,