[9.] Ninthly, When the day of the Lm-d draws near, and when we look for the accomplishment of great things, oh, then, God calls aloud upon his people to be holy : 2 Pet. iii. 10-14, ' But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Look- ing for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.' The nearer the day of Christ is to us, and the more great and glorious things we expect from God, the more holy, the more spotless, and the more blameless we must labour to be, Isa. Ixv. 17-20. I know there are many that look for new heavens and a new earth, that is, for a glorious church-state here on earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness. It is certain that the highest heavens, where God keeps his royal court, was never without righteousness. Kighteousness hath been always the habitation of his throne ; righteousness hath always dwelt in the highest heavens ; and, indeed, heaven would be no heaven, yea, it would rather be a hell than a heaven if righteous- ness did not always dwell there ; neither can the highest heaven ever wax old, neither were they ever made of earth, or brittle mouldering matter. The palace of the great King will be always new, fresh, shining, and gloriousness ; but, indeed, the earth in all ages, have^ been full of injustice, unrighteousness, wickedness, tyranny, cruelty, and oppressions ; so that righteousness seems to have been banished out of the world, ever since Adam fell from his primi- tive righteousness and holiness. Oh, but there is a glorious day a-coming, wherein the earth shall be full of righteousness and holiness, as I have formerly proved at large from other Scriptures. Now, Christians, the more great and glorious things you expect from God, as the downfall of antichrist, the conversion of the Jews, the conquest of the nations to Christ, the breaking off of all yokes, the new Jerusalem's coming down from above, the extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit, and a more general union among all saints, the more holy, yea, the more eminently holy in all your ways and act- ings it becomes you to be. Many there be that will talk high, and speak big words, and tell you stories of great things that they expect and look for in these days, which are the last of the last times ; and yet if you look into their lives, you shall find them loose, and vain, and what not ? Oh that these would for ever remember, that the more great and glorious things we expect and look for from God, the more holiness God expects and looks for from us ; and therefore as we
^ A construction found in Brooks in common with his contemporaries, by which the last noun, being plural, mrkes the verb plural also. — G.
Heb. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 445
would not have God fail our expectation, let us not frustrate his, and the higher your expectation rises, the higher always let your holiness rise, for there is nothing that will hasten that desirable day of glory upon the world like this. But,
[10,] Tenthly and lastly, TVhen you draio near your end, ivJien there are but a few steps hetioeen you and the grave, hetiueen you and eternity ; when you have but a little time to live, lohen death stands at your back, and treads on your heels, and knocks at your door ; when the eyes begin to grow dark, when the grinders begin to cease, when the keepers of the house — the hands and the arms— begin to tremble, and when the strong men — the legs and thighs — begin to bow and stagger, and totter, as being too weak to bear the body's burden, Eccl. xii. 2, 3. Oh then ! what a holy people should you be ! This very consideration had a very great influence upon that great apostle's spirit in that 2 Pet. i. 12-15, ' Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle,^ to stir you up, by putting you in remem- brance ; knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ shewed me. Moreover, I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.' The apostle having the sentence of death in himself, oh, how doth he bestir himself, and how doth he stir up all that grace and holiness that was in his heart, yea, in all his ministerial and apostolical gifts, and all to better himself, and to make those that were really holy, to be eminently holy ! Peter being very sensible of the near approaches of death, did very earnestly desire, and greatly endeavour so to act his part before he went off the stage of life, that when his head was in the dust, and his soul in heaven, those saints that should survive him might be very famous in grace and holiness. That of Eleazer is very remarkable, who would not do anything which might seem to be evil, because he would not spot his white head. 0 sirs 1 when once the gray hairs of holiness and righteousness are upon you, it highly concerns you to shun the very shows and appearances of evil, that so you may not spot nor stain the honour of your white head. I have read of Joshua, that valiant soldier, that when he was a young man, and in the prime and flower of his days, when his ' bones were full of marrow, and his breasts full of milk,' as Job speaks, that then he was least in vigour and valour for God, and how that sometimes in cases of imminent danger he would conceal himself ; but when he grew older, and found the strength of nature declining and decaying, then he bestirred himself exceedingly for God. 0 sirs ! when you have one foot in the grave, God calls aloud upon you to bestir yourselves ex- ceedingly for His honour and glory, and for your own internal and eternal welfare. Solon was not ashamed to say that he learned much in his old age. And Julianius, the lawyer,2 was wont to say that when he had one foot in the grave, he would have the other in the school.
^ Auyeipeiv, 'to rouse you up.' The Greek word signifies, to awaken, rouse, and raise Buch as are asleep. There is a sinful sluggishness and drowsiness that often hangs upon the best of men, and therefore they stand in much need of being awakened and roused up, to look after their spiritual and eternal concernments.
• The Greco-Roman Jurist. — G.
446 THE NECESSITY, ETC., OF HOLINESS. [HeB. XII. 14.