2. It is our duty to inquire into the nature of evangelical holiness, as it is a fruit or effect in us of the Spirit of sanctification, because it is abstruse and mysterious, and (be it spoken with the good leave of some, or whether they will or no) undiscernible unto the eye of carnal reason. We may say of it in some sense as Job of wisdom : " Whence cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understand- ing? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of heaven. Destruction and death say. We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof And unto man he said. Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding," chap, xxviii. 20-23, 28. This is that wisdom whose ways, residence, and paths, are so hidden from the natural reason and understandings of men. No man, I say, by his mere sight and conduct, can know and understand aright the true nature of evangeli- cal holiness; and it is, therefore, no won'der if the doctrine of it be despised by many as an enthusiastical fancy. It is of the things of the Spirit of God, yea, it is the principal effect of all his operations in us and towards us; and these "things of God knoweth no man,
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but the Spirit of God," 1 Cor. ii. 11. It is by liim alone that we are enabled to " know the things that are freely given to us of God," verse 12, as this is, if ever we receive any thing of him in this world, or shall do so to eternity. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him ;" the comprehension of these things is not the work of any of our natural faculties, but " God reveals them unto us by his Spirit," verses 9, 10. Hence it often falls out, as it did in the Jews and Pharisees of old, that those who are most zealous and industrious for and after a legal righteousness, walking in a strict attendance unto duties proportionable unto light and con- victions, pretending to be it, and bearing some resemblance of it, are the most fierce and implacable enemies of true evangelical holi- ness. They know it not, and therefore hate it; they have embraced something else in its place and stead, and therefore despise and persecute it; as it befalls them who embrace error for truth in any kind.
8. Believers themselves are ofttimes much unacquainted with it, either as to their apprehension of its true nature, causes, and effects, or, at least, as to their own interest and concernment therein. As we know not of ourselves the things that are wrought in us of the Spirit of God, so we seldom attend as we ought unto his instruct- ing of us in them. It may seem strange, indeed, that whereas all believers are sanctified and made holy, they should not under- stand or aj)prehend what is wrought in them and for them, and what abideth with them ; but, alas ! how little do we know of our- selves, of what we are, and whence are our powers and faculties, even in things natural ! Do we know how the members of the body are fashioned in the womb? We are apt to be seeking after and giving reasons for all things, and to describe the progress of the production of our natures from first to last, so as if not to satisfy ourselves, yet to please and amuse others ; for " vain man would be wise, though he be born like the wild ass's colt." The best issues of our considera- tion hereof is that of the psalmist: " Thou, O Lord, hast possessed my reins : thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them," Ps. cxxxix. 13-16. By diligent consideration of these things we may obtain a firm foundation to stand on, in a holy admii'ation of the infinite wisdom and goodness of that sovereign Architect who
o7l^ THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV.
hath raised this fabric unto his own glory; and what we farther at- tempt is vanity and curiosity. How httle do we know of these souls of ours ! and all that we do so is by their powers and operations, which are consequential unto their being. Now, these things are our own naturally, — they dwell and abide with us; they are we, and we are they, and nothing else : yet is it no easy thing for us to have a reflex and intimate acquaintance with them. And is it strange if we should be much in the dark unto this new nature, this new crea- ture, which comes from above, from God in heaven, .wherewith our natural reason hath no acquaintance? It is new, it is wonderful, it is a work supernatural, and is known only by supernatural revelation.