3. Together with a representation of the holiness of God in Christ, there is a revelation made of what holiness in us he doth require and will accept. As was observed before, the consideration of it absolutely neither requires nor admits of any but that which is ab- solutely perfect ; and where there is any one failing, the whole of what we do is condemned, James ii. 10. This, therefore, can only perplex and torture the soul of a sinner, by pressing on him at the same time the necessity and impossibility of holiness, Isa. xxxiii. 14. But now, as God is in Christ, through his interposition and mediation he accepts of such a holiness in us as we are capable of, and which no man hath any discouragement from endeavouring to attain.
4. There is in and by Christ declared and administered a spiri- tual power of grace, which shall work this holiness in us, or that conformity unto the holiness of God which he doth require. From this fountain, therefore, we draw immediately, as the reasons of the necessity, so prevalent motives unto holiness in our souls. Hence some things may be inferenced ; as, —
(1.) That the mediation of Chr'ist, and in particular his satisfaction, is so far from being a hinderance of or a discouragement unto holiness, as some blasphemously pretend, that the great fundamental reason of it in us, — namely, the holiness of God himself, — can have no influence upon us without the supposition of it and faith in it. Unless faith be built hereon, no sinner upon a view of God's holiness, as absolutely considered, can have any other thoughts but those of Cain, "My sin is great ; it cannot be pardoned. God is a holy God ; I cannot serve him,
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and therefore will depart out of his presence/' But the holiness of God as manifested in Jesus Christ, including a supposition of satisfaction made unto what is required by its absolute purity, and a condescen- sion thereon to accept in him that holiness of truth and sincerity which we are capable of, doth equally maintain the indispensable necessity of it and encourage us unto it. And we may see what contrary conclusions will be made on these different considerations of it. Those who view it only in the first way can come to no other issue in their thoughts but that which they express in the prophet, Isa. xxxiii. 14, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burn- ings?" God's fiery holiness serves, towards them, unto no other end but to fill them with terror and despair. But other inferences are natural from the consideration of the same holiness in the latter way. "Our God," saith the apostle, "is a consuming fire." What then? what follows as our duty thereon? "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear," Heb. xii. 28, 29. There is no such forcible reason for, no such powerful motive unto, our adherence unto him in holy obedience. Such different conclusions will men make from these different con- siderations of the holiness of God, when once they come to be serious and in good earnest about them !
(2.) It follows from hence, also, that our holiness under the new covenant, although it has the same general nature and one princi- pal end with that which was required in the covenant of works, yet as it hath an especial spring and fountain which that had not, and relates unto sundry causes which the other had no concernment in, so it is not of the same especial use therewith. The immediate end and use of that holiness in us was, to answer the holiness of God absolutely as expressed in the law; whereon we should have been justified. This is now done for us by Christ alone, and the holiness which God requireth of us respects only those ends which God hath proposed unto us in compliance with his own holiness as he will glorify it in Jesus Christ; which must be afterward declared.
Secondly, We may consider in what particular instances the force of this argument is conveyed unto us, or what are the especial rea- sons why we ought to be holy because God is so; and they are three : —
1. Because herein consists all that conformity unto God whereof in this world we are capable ; which is our jyrivilege, pre-eminence, glory, and honour. We were originally created -in the image and likeness of God. Heroin consisted the privilege, pre-eminence, order, and blessedness of our first state. And that, for the substance of it, it was no other but our holiness is by all confessed. Wherefore,
CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD, 573
without this conformity unto God, without the impress of his imao-e and hkeness ujjon us, we do not, we cannot, stand in that relation unto God which was designed us in our creation. This we lost by the entrance of sin. And if there be not a way for us to acquire it again, if we do not so, we shall always come short of the glory of God and of the end of our creation. Now, this is done in and by holiness alone, for therein consists the renovation of the image of God in us, as our apostle expressly declares, Eph. iv. 22-24, with Col. iii. 10. It is, therefore, to no purpose for any man to expect an in- terest in God, or any thing that will prove eternally to his advantage, who doth not endeavour after conformity unto him; for such a man despise th all the glory that God designed unto himself in our crea- tion, and all that was eminent and peculiarly bestowed upon our- selves.