7. Seventhly, Consider that hohness is the very ear-marh, the very livery and badge of Ghrisis servants and subjects: Isa. Ixiii. 8, ' For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie : so he was their Saviour ;' and ver. 18, they are called ' the people of his holiness.' God's people are too holy to lie ; they will not lie for his glory, nor for their own worldly good. 2 They wUl rather die than lie, with that brave woman that Jerome writes of, who being upon the rack, bade her persecutors do their worst, for she was resolved rather to die than lie. Neither the merry lie, nor the jesting lie, nor the officious lie, nor the pernicious lie, will down with those that are the people of God's holiness, or that are his holy people. Saith God, I have been at so much cost and charge about them, I have carried it so kindly, so bountifully, so sweetly, so favourably, so nobly to them ; I have been such an all-sufficient Saviour, such a mighty preserver, and such a glorious deliverer of them, that certainly they will not lie, they will not deceive my expectation, they will not deny me, they will not deal disloyally nor unworthily by me.^ They are of Augustine's opinion, who hath long since told us, that we must not tell so much as an officious lie, though it were to save all the world. So Jer. ii. 3, * Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase : all that devour him shall ofiend ; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.' Holiness to the Lord is the mark that God sets upon all his precious ones : Ps. iv. 3, ' Know that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself.' God hath wonderfully, gloriously, marvellously, yea, miraculously set apart the pious, the holy, the merciful, the godly man, the gracious saint, by some mark of distinction for himself, that is, for his own honour, and glory, and service, and delight.* Look, as Rahab's house was known by a red thread, Josh. ii. ; and the Ephraim-
^ Afl before. — G. ' Job xiii. 7; Eom. iii. 7, 8 ; Rev. xiv. 5.
^ It is said of golden-mouthed Chrysostom that he never lied ; answerable to this, laa. Ixiii 8. * The Hebrew word, chasid, imports as much.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 167
ites by their lisping, Judges xi. ; and Jehu by his driving, 2 Kings ix. ; and Peter by his speaking. Mat. xxvi. ; so real Christians are known by their holiness. Holiness is King Jesus his livery, by which all his subjects and servants are known and differenced from all other persons in the world. And in the primitive times, a Christian was known from another man only by the holiness of his conversation, as Ter- tuUian witnesses. Look, as our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of holiness raising him up from the dead, was declared to be the Son of God, Rom. i. 4 ; so it is the spirit of holiness, it is principles of holi- ness, it is the life and practice of holiness, that declares us to be the sons of God, 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. Holiness is that golden character by which God differences and distinguisheth his people from all others in the world. Look, as the worshippers of the beast are known by the mark of the beast that is upon them ; so the worshippers of Christ, the people of Christ, are known by that mark of holiness that Christ hath set upon them. This title, this compellation, ' saints,' is given fourscore times to the people of God in Scripture, as if God took a greater delight to have his children known by this badge and livery than by any other. As for such that have the name of saints upon them, but nothing of the nature of a saint in them ; that have a name to be holy, and yet are unholy ; that have a name to be gracious, and yet are graceless ; that have a name to live, and yet are dead ; these God will in that day unmask, when he shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. i An unholy saint is a white devil, he is a monster among men. Christ sweat, and prayed, and died, and was raised to make sinners saints, to make the rebellious religious, and the licentious conscientious. All he did and suffered was to stamp the seal and im- press of holiness upon them. And therefore, as ever you would be owned and honoured by Christ another day, look that the Holy Spirit sets the seal of holiness upon you. If the impress of holiness be upon you in the day that the Lord makes up his jewels, he will declare you to be his before all the world. He will say. These are my sheep, these are my sons, I know them by that mark of holiness that I find upon them. But,
8. Eighthly, Consider this, that a man of holiness, or a holy man, is a common good, a common blessing. All fare the better for a holy man. All in the family, all in the court, all in the city, all in the country, fare the better for the holy man's sake. All in Laban's family did fare the better for Jacob's sake ; and all in the city of Zoar did fare the better for Lot's sake ; and all Pharaoh's court, and the whole country of Egypt, did fare the better for Joseph's sake. Sodom was safe whilst holy Lot was in it: holy Elijah was the chariots and horsemen of Israel. Whilst holy Moses stood in the gap, destroying judgments were diverted : when holy Phinehas took up his censer, and stood between the living and the dead, the plague was stayed.2 Holy persons are public mercies, public blessings : Job
1 Rev. xiii. 16 ; xiv. 9, 10, and xix. 2C. A man were better be a beast, than to have the mark of the beast upon him. The title of a saint is but an empty thing without holiness.
* Gen. XXX. 27; xix. 21-24, and xli., &c. ; 2 Kings ii. 12; Ts. cvi. 23; Num. iivi.
168 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, KARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.