Eighthly and lastly, As God is continually holy, so God is exemp- larily holy? He is the rule, pattern, and example of holiness : 1 Pet. i. 15, ' Be ye holy, as I am holy.' God's holiness is the great example and pattern of all that holiness which is in the creatures. God's holi- ness is the copy that we must always have in our eye, and endeavour most exactly to write after. Carnal friends, and this blind world, and Antichrist, and such as love to lord it over the conscience, will be still a-presenting to you other examples and patterns, but it is your wisdom and your work to cast them all behind your backs, and to trample them under your feet, and to follow that form and pattern that the Lord hath set before you ; and that is, to be holy as he is holy. All our holiness is to be brought to the holiness of God, as the standard and measure of it ; and therefore, oh what cause have we to be still a-perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord ! And thus I have done with the second thing, viz., means to increase holiness, and to raise you up to the highest pitches and degrees of holiness.
And so I come to the third thing proposed, and that was, to lay down some signs or evidences whereby persons may know whether they have attained to any high pitch or eminent degrees of holiness or no. Now, sirs, if you desire in good earnest to know whether you have attained to any perfection of holiness or no, then seriously weigh these following particulars, and try yourselves by them.
[1.] First, The more a man can warm his heart at the promises, and cleave to the promises, and rest upon the promises, and suck mar- row and fatness and sweetness out of the breasts of the promises, when
' Lev. XX. 26. Remember this, you and I must answer for examples as well as pre- cepts.
Heb. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 399
divine providences seem to run cross to divine promises, the greater measure of holiness that man hath attained to. Where there are but little measures of holiness, there every seeming contrariety to the pro- mise troubles a man, and every little cloud that hangs over the pro- mise will mightily perplex a man, &c. But where holiness is raised to any considerable height, there that man will suck honey out of the flint, he will suck sweetness out of the promise, even then when pro- vidence looks sourly upon the promise ; yea, when providence seems to bid defiance to the promise. Witness Jacob, in that Gen. xxxii. 6-8, compared with ver. 9, 11, 12, ' And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying. We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed : and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; and said. If Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, 0 God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me. Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee : deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau : for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multi- tude.' Now here you see holy Jacob, in the midst of all his fears and frights, in the midst of all his perils and dangers, in the midst of all his damps and dreads, and in the midst of all cross, amazing and amusingi providences, be turns himself to the breasts of the promise, and sucks marrow and sweetness out of those breasts. Jacob puts the promise into suit, he sues God upon his own bond, and so bears up sweetly under dark and dismal providences. And so did Moses in that Num. x. 29, * And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good : for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.' Moses had been almost now forty years in the wilderness, and many thousands were fallen on his right hand, and on his left ; yet saith he to Hobab, in the face of all those dismal providences, come go along with us, and be as eyes unto us, and we will certainly do thee good, ver. 31. But Hobab might have objected, Alas ! what good can I expect in a wilderness condition, where so many are weak, and so many are sick, and so many thousands are fallen asleep ; and where all the people are every day surrounded with a thousand dangers, difficul- ties, and deaths. Well, saith he, though all this be true, yet go along with us, and be serviceable and useful to us, and we will do thee good ; * for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.' Here this holy man Moses turns himself to the promise, and in the face of all sad providences, he draws comfort and encouragement from the promise. And so did Jehoshaphat, in that 2 Chron. xx. When the children of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir came against him to battle, vers. 1, 10, he turns himself to the promise, ver. 7-9, and gathers life and spirit from thence. And so did David, in that Psalm Ix. In the 1 = Leading to ' musing' or meditation. — G.
400 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XTI. 14.
Ist, 2d, and 3d verses, you have a narrative of many cross and dreadful providences, and yet in the face of them all holy David sucks strong consolation out of the breasts of the promise, ver. 6, ' God hath spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice : I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.' God hath promised in his holiness, that David should be king over all Israel, and therefore, notwithstanding all strange providences, David triumphs in the promise, and looks up- on himself as master of all those strongholds that are mentioned in ver. 7-9. And so Abraham, he wanted a son, and God promised him an Isaac. Now in the face of all his own deadness, and natural in- abilities as to generation, and Sarah's deadness and barrenness, Rom. iv. 17-21, he turns about to the promise; and his faith and holi- ness being high, he draws sweetness and satisfaction from thence. Notwithstanding present providences, the naked promise was a well of life and salvation to him.