deemed, so all saints are equally called ; one saint is as much called out of the kingdom of darkness as another, and one saint is as much called to Jesus Christ as another, 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; in vocation God looks with as favourable an eye upon one as he does upon another. And as all saints are equally called, so all saints are equally justified, 2 Cor, V. 19, 20 ; though one saint may be more sanctified than another, yet no saint is more justified than another; the weakest believer is as much justified and pardoned before the throne of God as the strongest is ; that pure, perfect, matchless, and spotless righteousness of Christ is as much imputed to one saint as it is to another, 1 Cor. i. 30. And as all saints are equally justified, so all saints are equally adopted. Gal. iv. 4-6 ; the weakest l)eliever is as much an adopted son as the strongest believer in the world is. God is no more a father to one than he is to another ; the babe in the arms is as much a son as he that is of riper years. Thus you see that God's love of goodwill is equal in all his saints, and therefore you are to understand this argu- ment of God's love of complacency. Now this love runs out more to some saints than it does to others ; for they that have much holiness are much beloved, but they that have most holiness are most beloved, John xiv. 21-23. The greater thou art in holiness, the greater wilt thou be beloved of God, ' 0 Daniel, thou art greatly beloved,' Dan. ix. 23. And why does God love more and delight more in Christ, than he does in all the angels and saints in heaven, and in all the upright ones that are on earth ? but because Christ is more eminent and glorious in holiness than all created beings are ; he is more the express image of his Father's person, and the brightness of his Father's glory than others, and therefore he is more beloved than others. It was an excellent observation of one of the fathers, viz., that God loved the humanity of Christ more than any man, because he was fuller of grace and truth than any man.i Now for the further clearing up of this great argument, — Consider, first, that the more holy any person is, the more excellent that person is. All corruptions are diminutions of excellency. The more mixed anything is, the more abased it is. The more you mix your wine with water, the more you abase your wine, and the more you mix your tin with gold,^ the more you abase your gold ; but the purer your wine is, the richer and the better your wine is, and the purer your gold is, the more glorious and excellent it is, so the purer and holier any person is, the more excellent and glorious that person is. Now the more divinely excellent and glorious any person is, the more he is beloved of God, and the more he is the delight of God. But, secondly, the more holy any person is, the more that person pleases the Lord, Heb. xi. 5. Fruitfulness in holiness fills heaven with joy. The husbandman is not so much pleased with the fruitfulness of his fields, nor the wife with the fruitfulness of her womb, nor the father with the thriving of his child, as God is pleased with the fruitfulness and thriving of his children in grace and holiness. Now certainly the more God is pleased with any person, the more he loves that person, and the more pleasure and delight he takes in such a person. If God be most pleased with holiness, he cannot but be most delighted in those that are most holy. But, thirdly, the more holy any person is, the more like to God he is, and the more like to * August. Tract, in John. i. 14. ^ Qu. ' Your gold with tin' ? — Ed.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 349