2. Sanctification is the greatest benefit of the two, if you compare them together. Many will cry up justification, but neglect sanctifica- tion, but preposterously ; for, of the two, sanctification is the greater pri- vilege. I prove it thus —
[1.] Justification freeth us a malo naturali, from pain and suff'er- ing; but sancti^cation a malo moroli, from sin and pollution ; for sin is worse than misery, and holiness is to be preferred before impunity; and therefore justification, which frees us from miser}', is not so great a privilege as sanctification, which frees us from sin. And the saints here have chosen the greatest sufteiings rather than the least sins ; as Mo.ses ' chose rather to sufi'er afiliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,' Heb. xi. 25. And God hateth sin, as being against his very nature. God may inflict punishment, but he cannot infuse sin. Now, as misery and punish- ment is less than .sin, .so justification, which frees us from misery and
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punishment, is not so great a blessing as sauctification, which frees us from sin.
[2.] The end must needs be more noble than the means. Now, sanctification is the end of justification, as glorification is the end of sanctification. God's end in justifying is to sanctify, or to promote holiness ; and therefore, Heb. ix. 14, Christ is said to ' purge our conscience from dead works, that we may serve the living God ;' and Luke i. 74, 75, ' He hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies, that we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives.' Therefore we are piu'ged from the sentence of death, therefore we are delivered from the curse of the law, and from hell. Certainly the end must needs be more noble than the means : now the wisdom of God hath appointed justification to pi'oniote sanctification.
[3.] This is that which is nearest to the life of glory. Ends are more noble, as they are nearest the last end. Justification is the pledge of the life of glory ; but sanctification is not only a pledge, but a beginning. Indeed justification is causa removens prohibens ; it takes away that which hinders, namely, guilt, or the sentence of cou- <lemnation, which is that which hinders our entering into glory ; but sanctification beginneth that life which is perfected in glory, and dif- fereth from it as an infant from a man. When we know God per- fectly, and love God perfectly, then our happmess is completed, and not till then. C(miplete lioliness and conformity to God is the great thing that God designeth ; and therefore, the more of that the more are we advanced towards eternal happiness: Eph. v. 25-27, ' Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might pre- sent it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wi'inkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish.' First he doth cleanse and sanctify, and then he doth perfect all in glory ; when they are fully freed from all sin, then they are fully freed from all misery.
[4.] Eeal perfections are above relative. Sanctification is a real moral perfection, but justification is but a relative one; our state is changed by it, but not our hearts ; that is done by this other privilege of sanctification. Real moral perfections make us like God : Exod, XV. 11, 'God is glorious in holiness ; ' he counts that his highest and chiefest glory. Moral perfections exceed natural ; and of all moral perfections, holiness is the greatest. It is better to be wise than to be strong, and to be holy than to be wise. Beasts have strength, and man hath reason, and tiie devils have cunning and knowledge ; but angels are holy, and God is glorious in holiness ; that is their perfec- tion, and herein we most resemble God, in that which is his chiefest glory.
[5.] This is that which renders us most amiable in the eyes of God, and therefoi-e it is the greatest privilege. Now God loveth us for holi- ness ; he delighteth in it, as the reflex of his own image upon us ; he doth not love us as pardoned, but as holy. We love him indeed for pardoning : Luke vii. 47, ' She loved much, because much was forgiven her;' but God delights in the pure and upright. God is the first
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object of his own love ; aud next, ' the saints and excellent ones upon earth, in whom is his delight,' Ps. xvi. 3. So that though we love him for pardoning, yet he loveth us for holiness. Tiiere is amor compla- centice, as the sciipture witnesseth, Prov, xi. 20, ' Such as are upright in their way are his delight.'
[6.J God's interest and honour is to be preferred before our comfort and personal benefit. Justification, though it sets forth the glory of God's grace, yet it doth more immediately concern our comfort. In sanctificution. besides our personal benefit, which is the perfection of our nature, God's honour and interest is concerned in our subjection to him ; and this, besides the honour of his grace for our sanctification, sprmgs only from grace, as our justification doth, and is the fruit of Christ's merits. Well, then, we need to look after this benefit, as well as justification, which is of such use and service to us, lest the main disease be left un cured.