1 ' Heathen.'— Q. « James i. 26, 27, and iii. 8, 12; Mat. xxvi. 73. . . .
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 151
I. For the first, I shall propound these following considerations to provoke all unsanctified persons to look after holiness.
1. First, Consider the necessity of holiness. It is impossible that ever you should be happy, except you are holy. No holiness here, no happiness hereafter. The Scripture speaks of three bodily inhabitants of heaven — Enoch, before the law ; Elijah, under the law ; and Jesus Christ, under the gospel ; aU three eminent in hoKness, to teach us, that even in an ordinary course there is no going to heaven without holiness. There are many thousand thousands now in heaven, but not one unholy one among them all : there is not one sinner among all those saints ; not one goat among aU those sheep ; not one weed among all those flowers; not one thorn or prickle among all those roses ; not one pebble among all those glistering diamonds. There is not one Cain among all those Abels ; nor one Ishmael among all those Isaacs ; nor one Esau among all those Jacobs in heaven. There is not one Sethi among all the patriarchs ; not one Saul among all the prophets; nor one Judas among all the apostles; nor one Demas among all the preachers ; nor one Simon Magus among all the pro- fessors. ^ Heaven is only for the holy man, and the holy man is only for heaven : heaven is a garment of glory, that is only suited to him that is holy.3 God, who is truth itself, and cannot lie, hath said it, that ' without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' ^ Mark that word ' no man :' without holiness the rich man shall not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the poor man shall not see the Lord ; without holi- ness the noble man shall not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the mean man shall not see the Lord ; without holiness the prince shall not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the peasant shall not see the Lord ; without hoHness the ruler shall not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the ruled shall not see the Lord ; without holiness the learned man shall not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the ignorant man shall not see the Lord ; without holiness the husband shall not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the wife shaU not see the Lord ; without holiness the father shaU not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the child shall not see the Lord ; without holiness the master shall not see the Lord ; nor without holiness the servant shall not see the Lord. ' For faithful and strong is the Lord of hosts that hath spoken it,' Josh, xxiii. 14. In this day some cry up one form, some another ; some cry up one church state, some another ; some cry up one way, some another ; but certainly the way of holiness is the good old way, Jer. vi. 16 ; it is the King of kings' highway to heaven and happiness : Isa. XXXV. 8, ' And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over it ; but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.' Some men say, Lo, here is the way ; other men say, Lo, there is the way ; but certainly the way of holiness is the surest, the safest, the easiest, the noblest, and the shortest way to happiness. Among the heathens, no man could enter into the temple of honour, but must
^ Recollection, almost translation of the often-recurring illustrations of the mediajval preachers. — G. » Rev. v. 11, and vii. 9 ; Heb. xii. 22, 23.
* Those that would be immortally happy, they must live holily and justly, saith Antisthenes, the heathen.
152 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
first enter into the temple of virtue. There is no entering into the temple of happiness, except you enter into the temple of holiness. Holiness must first enter into you, before you can enter into God's holy hill. As Samson cried out, 'Give me water, or I die:' or as Kachel cried out, 'Give me children, or I die;' so all unsanctified souls may well cry out. Lord, give me holiness, or I die: give me holiness, or I eternally die.i If the angels, those princes of glory, fall once from their holiness, they shall be for ever excluded from ever- lasting happiness and blessedness. If Adam in paradise fall from his purity, he shall quickly be driven out from the presence of divine glory. Augustine would not be a wicked man, an unholy man, one hour for all the world, because he did not know but that he might die that hour : and should he die in an unholy estate, he knew he should be for ever separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. 0 sirs, do not deceive your own souls; holiness is of absolute necessity ; without it you shall never see the Lord, 2 Thes. i. 8-10. It is not aljsolutely necessary that you should be great or rich in the world ; but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy : it is not absolutely necessary that you should enjoy health, strength, friends, liberty, life ; but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy. A man may see the Lord without worldly prosperity, but he can never see the Lord except he be holy. A man may to heaven, to happiness, without honour or worldly glory, but he can never to heaven, to happiness, without holiness. Without holiness here, no heaven hereafter : Kev. xxi. 27, ' And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.' God will at last shut the gates of glory against every person that is without heart-purity. Ah, sirs ! holiness is a flower that grows not in nature's garden. Men are not born with holiness in their hearts, as they are born with tongues in their mouths : holiness is of a divine offspring : it is a pearl of price, that is to be found in no nature but a renewed nature, in no bosom but a sanctified bosom. There is not the least beam or spark of holiness in any natural man in the world : Gen. vi. 5, ' Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually ; ' Job xxv. 4, ' How can man be clean that is born of a woman? '2 The interrogation carries in it a strong negation, ' How can man be clean ?' that is, man cannot be clean that is born of a woman : man that is born of a woman, is born in sin, and born both under wrath and under the curse. ' And who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? ' Job xiv. 4 ; Isa. Ixiv. 6, ' But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ;' Rom. iii. 10, 11, ' There is none righteous, no not one ; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.' Every man by nature is a stranger, yea, an enemy to holmess, Rom. viii. 7. Every man that comes into this world, comes with his face towards sin and hell, and with his back upon God and holiness. Such is the corruption of our nature, that, propound any divine good to it, it is entertained as fire by water or wet wood, with hissing. Propound any evil, then it is like a fire to
' Ps. XV. throughout.