holy, for I am holy.' [I shall give you light into these words when I come to open the holiness of God to you.] So Mat. v. 48, ' Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' i Our summum bonum in this world consists in our conformity to the heavenly pattern. In all imitations it is best to choose the most per- fect pattern. There is nothing more laudable and commendable than for a Christian to endeavour more and more to resemble his God in the highest perfections of righteousness and holiness. So Eph. v. 15, 16, ' See then that ye walk circumspectly, [a/cpt/Seo?,] not as fools, but as wise ; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.' Chris- tians must walk precisely, curiously, exactly, accurately. As the carpenter works by line and rule, so a Christian must walk by line and rule ; he must labour to get up to the very top of godliness ; he must go to the utmost of every command, as the original word importeth. So Phil. ii. 15, ' That ye may be blameless and harmless,' or sincere, ' the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and per- verse nation, among whom ye shine,' or shine ye, ' as lights in the world.' God's sons should be spotless sons,^ as the Greek imports, that is, they should be without aU such spots as are inconsistent with sonship or saintship. And so in Col. ii. 6, ' As ye have therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk ye in him.' They had received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Law-girer, they had received Christ as a ruling Christ, as a reigning Christ, and as a commanding Christ ; and now the great duty incumbent upon them is to walk at such a rate of holiness as may evidence that they have thus received Christ. And so in 1 John ii. 6, ' He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked.' Christians are to set all Christ's moral actions before them as a pattern for their imitation, John xiii. 15. In His life a Christian may behold the lively picture or linea- ments of all virtues, and accordingly he ought to order his conversa- tion in this world. To walk as Christ walked is to walk humbly, holily, justly, righteously, meekly, lowly, lovingly, fruitfully, faithfully, uprightly, with an 'as' of quality or similitude, but not with an ' as ' of equality ; for that is impossible for any saint on earth — to walk so purely, so holily, so blamelessly, so unspottedly, so spiritually, so heavenly as Christ walked ; that is, with an ' as ' of equality. To walk as Christ walked is to slight the world, and contemn the world, and make a footstool of the world, and to live above the world, and to triumph over the world as Christ did ; that is, with an ' as ' of quality, but not with an 'as' of equality. To walk as Christ walked is to love them that hate us, to pray for them that persecute us, to bless them that curse us, and to do good to them that do evil to us ; but still with an ' as ' of similitude, but not with an * as ' of equality, Mat, v. 44-47. To walk as Christ walked is to be patient, and silent, and submissive, and thankful, under the vilest reproaches, the heaviest affictions, and the greatest sufferings, 1 Pet, ii. 20-23 ; with an ' as ' of quality, but not with an ' as ' of equality. Now a holy heart that is taken with the holiness of the word, he is certainly taken most with those parts of the word that do most call for holi-
^ Ad similitudinem, non sequalitatem. — Calvin. ' AfienvToi, i.e., Sine querela, Bine reprehensione.
138 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
ness, and that do most strongly press the soul to make a progress in holiness. I have given you a taste of some of the most principal scriptures that do incite most to holiness, and I shall leave it to your own consciences to give in witness for you or against you, according to what you find in your own spirits. Certainly to a holy man there are no prayers, no sermons, no discourses, no conferences, no books, nor no parts of scripture, to those that do most encourage and provoke to holiness. But,
[5.] Fiftlily and lastly, He that loves the word, and that is affected and taken with the word as it is a holy word, he highly prizes and values the holy dispensers of the word for their work's sake. Acts x. 24-26 ; Gal. iv. 14. Isa. Hi. 7, ' How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace ; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation ; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!' If the very feet of those that brought good tidings, though they were afar off, and sweaty, dusty, and dirty with traveUing upon the mountains, were so desirable and amiable, honourable and comfortable, oh then what was their faces, what was their messages ! Surely they were much more ami- able and desirable. So in 1 Thes. v. 12, 13, ' And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you in the Lord, and admonish you ; and to esteem them very highly' (or, more than abundantly, as the Greek hath it^) ' in love for their work's sake; and be at peace among yourselves.' Their work is to bring Christ and your souls together, and to keep Christ and your souls together. Their work is to turn you from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ. 2 Their work is gradual : first, they are to bring you to a saving acquaintance with Christ ; and then they are to bring you to a holy acceptance of Christ ; and then they are to bring you to a willing resignation of yourselves to Christ ; and then they are to bring you to a sweet and blessed assurance of your interest in Christ, and so to fit you and prepare you for a glorious fruition of Christ ; and therefore certainly their work is high and honourable, excellent and eminent, laborious and glorious ; and why, then, should you not have a high and honourable esteem of them, even for their work's sake ? I have read of Ambrose, that being once to leave the church of Milan, the people of the place flocked about him, laid hold of him, protesting that they had rather lose their lives than lose their pastor, beseeching him to remain, and to promote among them the gospel and government of Christ, professing and promising, for his encouragement, their ready submission to Christ. Chrysostom's hearers were wont to say, that they had as good be without the sun in the fij-mament, as to be without Chrysostom in the pulpit. Some of the ancients have long since concluded that Herod might have kept his oath, Mark vi. 23, and yet have spared John Baptist's head, because John's head, John's life, was more worth than all Herod's kingdom. O sirs, shall Titus Sabinus his dog bring meat to the mouth of his
^ virepeKirepiffcrou.