5G8 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FKOM THE [BOOK V.
consideration hereof I shall at present omit, and pursue what I have proposed.
Thirdly, In my discourse concerning the necessity of holiness, with the grounds and reasons of it, and arguments for it, I shall con- fine myself unto these two things : —
1. That the reasons, arguments, and motives which I shall insist on, being such as are taken out of the Gospel or the Scripture, are not only consistent and compliant with the great doctrines of the grace of God in our free election, conversion, justification, and salvation by Jesus Christ, but such as naturally flow from them, [and] dis- cover what is their true nature and tendency in tliis matter.
2. That I shall at present suppose all along what that holiness is which I do intend. Now, this is not that outward show and pre- tence of it which some plead for; not an attendance unto, or the observation of, some or all moral virtues only ; not a readiness for some acts of piety and charity, from a superstitious, proud conceit of their being meritorious of grace or glory. But I intend that holiness which I have before described ; which may be reduced to these three heads: — (1.) An internal change or renovation of our souls, our minds, wills, and affections, by grace; (2.) An universal comjyliance with the will of God in all duties of obedience and ab- stinence from sin, out of a principle of faith and love; (8.) A desig- nation of all the actions of life unto the glory of God by Jesus Christ, according to the gospel. This is holiness ; so to be and so to do is to be holy.
And I shall divide my arguments into two sorts: — 1. Such as prove the necessity of holiness as to the essence of it, — ^holiness in our hearts and natures; 2. Such as prove the necessity of holiness as to the degrees of it, — holiness in our lives and conversations.
I. First, then, The nature of God as revealed unto us, with our dependence on him, the obligation that is upon us to live unto him, with the nature of our blessedness in the enjoyment of him, do re- quire indispensably that we should be holy. The holiness of God's nature is everywhere in the Scripture made the fundamental prin- ciple and reason of the necessity of holiness in us. Himself makes it the groimd of his command for it: Lev. xi. 44, "I am the Lord your God : ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy." So also chap. xix. 2, xx. 7. And to show the everlasting equity and force of this reason, it is transferred over to the gospel: 1 Pet. i. 15, 16, " As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; because it is written, Be ye holy ; for I am holy." God lets them know that his nature is such as that unless they are sanctified and holy, there can be no such intercourse between him and them as ought to be between a God
CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 569
and his people. So he declares the sense of this enforcement of that precept to be : Lev. xi. 45, "I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy ;" — " With- out this the relation designed cannot be maintained, that I should be your God and ye should be my people." To this purpose belongs that description given us of his nature, Ps. v. 4-6, " Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight : thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak lying: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man;" — answerable unto that of the prophet, " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity," Hab. i. 13. He is such a God, — that is, such is his nature, so pure, so holy, — that previous to the con- sideration of any free acts of his will, it is evident that he can take no pleasure in fools, liars, or workers of iniquity. Therefore Joshua tells the people, that if they continued in their sins they con Id not serve the Lord, "for he is an holy God," chap. xxiv. 19. All the service of unholy persons towards this God is utterly lost and cast away, because it is inconsistent with his own holiness to accept of it. And our apostle argues in the same manner, Heb. xii. 28, 29, " Let us have gi'ace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire." He lays his argument for the necessity of grace and holiness in the worship of God from the consideration of the holiness of his nature, which, as a consuming fire, will devour that which is unsuited unto it, incon- sistent with it. There would be no end of pursuing this reason of the necessity of holiness in all places where it is proposed expressly in the Scripture. I shall only add, in general, that God of old strictly required that no unholy, no unclean, no defiling thing should be in the camp of his people, because of his presence among them, who is himself holy; and without an exact observance hereof he declares that he will depart and leave them.