13. Thirteenthly, Consider that the times and seasons ivherein ive live call aloud for holiness. Many say the times are bad, very bad, extreme bad : ay, and let me teU you that your hearts and lives are bad, very bad, extreme bad ; and it is these that have made the times so bad, so very bad, so extreme bad. It is in vain to talk of better times, or wish for better times, till you mend your manners, and get better hearts. The times would quickly mend, if every man would but in good earnest labour to mend one. If your hearts and lives were but more holy, the times would quickly be more happy. You say you shall never have peace and prosperity till all be brought to uniformity in religion; but I say you shall never have any lasting peace, felicity, or prosperity till you come to be holy : 2 Kings ix. 22, ' And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu ? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?' The interro- gation carries with it a strong negation, ' What peace ? ' that is, there is no peace to such a wicked wretch as thou art : thou mayest wish for peace, and dream of peace, and long for peace, and look for peace, and pursue after peace, and yet thou shall be far off from peace. What Jehu said to Joram, I may say to all unholy persons. What peace and what prosperity can you expect whilst your drunkenness, and uncleanness, and worldliness, and lukewarmness, and dead-heart- edness, and wantonness, and wickedness remains? what good days, what happy year can you look for, whilst your formality, and indiffer- ency, and hypocrisy, and infidelity, do bear witness against you ? So when Israel was very superstitious and vain in her worship, then ' there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed' (or beaten in pieces) ' of nation, and city of city ; for God did vex them with all adversity,' 2 Chron. xv. 5, 6.1 When men are unholy, God will vex them ; he will vex them with adversity, he will vex them with all adversity. When nations are ungodly, God will destroy them ; he will beat them in pieces, he will beat them in pieces one against another. When there is no holiness in him that comes in, nor in him that goes out, then there shall be no peace to
^ Ver. 3 doubtless relates to Jeroboam's and the ten tribes' first revolt from the house of David, and from the house of God, and from all his ordinances ; and this was a very wicked and unholy time, as is evident in several scriptures.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 185
him that goes in, or to him that goes out. When all is said that can be said, and when all is done that can be done, wicked men will still be as unquiet as the raging and foaming sea, Isa. Ivii. 20, 21. God will one day or another be still at war with that man that is at peace with his sin. It is said of the locusts that came out of the bottomless pit, in Rev. ix. 7-9, that ' they were like unto horses, and on their heads were as it were crowns of gold, and their faces as it were faces of men, and their hairs as the hair of a woman, and their teeth were as it were the teeth of lions,' &c. Here are quasi horses, qtiasi crowns of gold, quasi faces of men, quasi hairs of a woman, and quasi teeth of lions, &c. Now just such things are all the comforts and content- ments of unholy persons : their gold and silver, is but as it loere gold and silver ; and their prosperity and plenty, is but as it were prosperity and plenty ; their peace and tranquillity, is but as it were peace and tranquillity ; and their victories and triumphs, are but as it were vic- tories and triumphs ; and their joys and rejoicings, are but as it were joys and rejoicings. But mark, when the holy evangelist comes to set down a description of the locusts' tails, he doth not say that there were as it were stings in their tails, but in plain, positive, downright terms he tells you that there were stings in their tails ; ver. 10, he tells you that their stings were true stings, real stings, certain stings. And so while men remain unholy, there are sure and certain stings in the tails of all their comforts, contentments, and enjoyments. The best way on earth to have a sure, a sound, a solid, a lasting peace with God, with ourselves, and with others, is to put on holiness as a robe upon us, Job xxix. 14, and to put all iniquity far from us, Job xi. 13, 20.
O sirs, the worser the times are, the better should every man labour to be. Many complain of burdens, taxes, oppressions, and vexations ; and they say with those, that ' judgment is turned back- ward, and that justice standeth afar off, and that truth is fallen in the street, and that equity cannot enter, and that he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey ; that judgment is far from us, and that justice doth not overtake us ; that we wait for light, but behold obscurity ; for brightness, but behold darkness ; that we grope for the wall like the blind, that we grope as if we had no eyes, that we stumble at noonday, that we roar all like bears, and mom-n sore like doves ; that we look for judgment, but there is none ; and for salva- tion, but it is far off from us,' Isa. lix. 9-11, 14, 15. These and a thousand more such complaints may be found amongst us. This scripture last cited, puts me in mind of a strange, but yet of a very true saying, viz., that there is more justice and equity in hell, than there is in France : for in hell the oppressor is oppressed ; in hell he that would not give a crumb of bread, shall not have a drop of water. In hell such as shed innocent blood, have blood to drink ; in hell there are no bribes ; in hell there is none to plead an unrighteous cause ; in hell there is no respect of persons ; in hell every man hath accord- ing to his deserts : but in France it is otherwise, &c. And do not the strong cries, tears, sighs, groans, and complaints of the poor and needy, of hirelings, orphans, and widows, &c., in most nations strongly demonstrate that there is more justice and equity in hell, than
186 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RAKITY, [HeB. XII. 14.