[2.] God is infinitely holy, siqjer-iyurissimus. The faithful in this life are holy, but imperfectly ; but ' God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.' 1 John i. 5. Of all creatures, light is the most pure and defecate ; therefore it is put to resemble God's holiness. Our life is a chequerwork of light and darkness. Adam, in his innocency, though he had no corruption, yet was mutably holy ; he might commit evil ; though he were not peccator, a sinner, yet he was peccahilis, one that might sin. But God is at the greatest distance and elongation from sin and weakness : James i. 13, ' God cannot be tempted with evil, ciTrelpaaTo^; kukm, neither tempteth he any one.' Once more, the blessed spirits and angels, though they are perfectly holy in their kind, yet finitely and derivatively ; they do not love God as much as he might be loved. God loveth himself as much as he can be loved ; there is as much purity in his love as there is perfection in his essence. The creatures' lioliness is limited ; we cannot love God so much as he is to be loved. God loveth the lowest saint with a higher love than the highest angel can love God. The good angels, though they have been God's constant menial servants, without the least spot or taint of sin in nature or life ; and though they be confirmed in their happy estate, either by the merit of Christ, or their many years' experience and communion with God, yet there is folly in them in comparison of God, because of that essential mutability that is in any creature : Job iv. 18, ' He charge th his angels with folly.' It is spoken of good angels, who are oi)posed to dwellers in houses of clay. It were too easy a charge for the apostate spirits, to charge them with folly ; the angelical nature, though it be pure, yet because it is mutable, hath some kind of folly in it, it was once liable to rash attempts against the dignity and empire of God. Briefly, the holiness of God cannot be lessened nor increased, being always infinitely perfect. The regenerate creature must still be increasing to further degrees, tfll it coxne to the measure of the stature in Christ ; the blessed spirits, though separated from all defilement, yet infinitely come short of that glorious holiness which agreetli to the nature of God, and God is still raising it higher
1 Qu. 'liking?'— Ed.
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and higher in the saints on earth. Their holiness riseth and groweth like Ezekiel's waters ; but God is always equal in holiness, because in infiniteness there are no degrees.
[3.] God is originally holy. God is the fountain, the overflowing, the overflowing fountain of holiness. Ours is but a stream, a deri- vation, a ray of the father of lights ; as little children, we can defile ourselves ; but we should still lie in our filth if God did not cleanse us. The creature can no more make itself holy than it can make itself to be. God is the original both of natural and moral perfection : Lev. XX, 8, ' I am the Lord which sanctify you.' He is siimmum homtm, the chiefest good, as well as the first cause. Quod vivamus, deorum munus est ; quod bene vivanms, nostrum ; a wicked speech of Seneca ! It is by the influence of God that we are holy. Grace is called ' a par- ticipation of the divine nature,' 2 Peter i. 4. It is a weak ray of the father of lights, who is in Christ the fountain cause. The saints that have communion with God have some faint lustre, which should make us careful to maintain holiness ; it is a work of God.
2. Why must we thus look upon him in prayer ?
[1.] It is the way to beget humility and godly fear. ' Holy Father,' there is a word to beget confidence, and a word to beget reverence. This mixed affection is the fittest temper of soul in our addresses to God, confidence and reverence ; he is a father, but a holy father. Nothing driveth the creature to such self-abhorrency as the consider- ation of God's holiness ; we have to do with him who hath an infinite displeasure against sin and sinners. The more good any one is, the more he hateth evil ; since therefore God is infinitely good, he doth infinitely hate sin. The angels, that have lively and fresh thoughts of God's holiness, they are abashed in his presence: Isa. vi. 2, 3, ' Each one of the seraphims had six wings ; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.' And the prophet having a siglit of it in vision, he crieth out, ver. 5, ' Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips.' A thorough sight of God's holiness would drive us to our wits' ends. So when God had testified his displeasure for the violation of one cir- cumstance in religion, looking into the ark, fifty thousand threescore and ten men were smote, 1 Sam. vi. 20. The men of Bethshemesh said, ' Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God ?' Certainly we that are made up of imperfections should tremble more than we do, when we have to do with the holy God. So Peter, when Christ had discovered his glory in a miracle : Luke v, 8, ' Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord.' God, that doth infinitely love his own holiness, doth as infinitely hate sin. Did we consider this hatred, we would more loathe and abhor ourselves, we Avould be more ashamed than we are in our confessions. To speak thus much of ourselves to a man would make us blush ; and yet man hath but a drop of indignation against sin. God hath an ocean. God's children have a daunting power in their appearance. Guilty consciences, when they come into the presence of one that walketh closely with God, are terrified. Herod feared John Baptist, ' knowing that he was a just man and an holy,' Mark vi. 20.