THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.-HEB. XII. 14. I REMEMBER a saying of golden-mouthed Chrysostom, ' If I were,' said he, 'the fittest man in the world to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in one congregation, and had some high mountain for my pulpit, from whence I might have a prospect of all the world in my view, and were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud as the trumpet of the archangel, that all the world might hear me, I would choose to preach on no other text than that in Ps. iv. 2, "O mortal men, how long will ye love vanity, and follow after leasing?" So I say, had I Chrysostom's tongue, head, and heart, and were I every way advantaged to preach a sermon to the whole world, I would choose to preach on this text before any other in the Bible, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' Beloved! the salvation of souls is that which should be first and most in a minister's eye, and that which should always lie closest and warmest upon a minister's heart. O sirs! our dear Lord Jesus was infinitely tender of the souls of men. He left his Father's bosom for souls; he trode the wine-press of his Father's wrath for souls; he prayed for souls; he paid for souls; he sweated for souls; he bled out his heart's blood for souls; and he made himself an offering for souls:2 and oh, what an encouragement should this be to all his faithful messengers to woo3 for souls, to mourn for souls, to pray for souls, to study for souls, and in preaching to spend and to be spent for the salvation of souls! Ah, friends, there is no work nor wisdom on earth to that of winning souls, Prov. xi. 30, and he that winneth souls is wise.' There is no art, no industry to that of winning souls, of 'taking' souls, as fowlers take birds, as the Hebrew word npsi On Ps. iv. 2. Homil.-G. Isa. Lxiii. 3; John xvii. 22; Luke iv. 24; 1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 Pet. i. 18-20; Heb. ix. Misspelled 'woe.'-G. 12-15. imports. Now, though there is a great deal of art required to take birds, yet there is ten thousand times more art required to take souls. In a word, to convert a soul is a greater work than to sway a sceptre, or than it is to pour out ten thousand talents into the baskets of the poor.1 My design in choosing this text is the winning of souls, it is the salvation of souls, it is the bringing in and building up of souls. I have read of Louis the Ninth, king of France, that he was found instructing his poor kitchen-boy in the way to heaven; and being asked the reason of it, he answered, 'The meanest hath a soul as precious as my own, and bought by the same blood of Christ.' He who only went to the price of souls, hath long since told us that a soul is more worth than a world, Mat. xvi. 26. That I may catch some poor soul or other by a holy craft, 2 Cor. xii. 16, and establish and strengthen others in the love and liking of holiness, and in the power and practice of holiness, I have cast my thoughts upon this scripture. But to draw nearer to my text. As no means hath more enriched hell than beautiful faces, so no means hath more enriched heaven than the beauty of holiness. Now that I may discover the necessity, beauty, rarity, and excellency of holiness, I have chosen this text, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' I shall give a little light into the words, and then come to that main point I intend to stand upon. 2 Follow peace with all men.' The Greek word 4tÓKETE, translated follow, signifies to pursue and press after peace, as the persecutor pursues and presses after him he persecutes. It notes an earnest, an eager, an affectionate, and an incessant pressing and following after peace with all men: Ps. xxxiv. 14, Seek peace, and pursue it."" Here the Hebrew word, Up, translated seek, signifies to seek earnestly,' vehemently, studiously, industriously. Thus peace with God, and peace with conscience, and peace with men must be sought. 'Seek peace and pursue it.' The word translated pursue, 1771, from 77, signifies an earnest pursuit.' It is a metaphor taken from the earnestness of wild beasts, or ravenous fowl, which will run or fly fast and far, eagerly and unweariedly, rather than be disappointed of their prey. Though Christians meet with many rubs and remoras, yet peace must be resolutely pursued. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of peace, and God delights to be styled Deus pacis, the God of peace, and Christ affects3 to be Princeps pacis, the Prince of peace, and King of Salem, i.e., King of peace.4 Ubi pax, ibi Christus, quia Christus pax: Where peace is, there is Christ, because Christ is peace. Therefore let all that are interested in Christ pursue after peace. But this is not the point that I have in my eye at this time. I shall hasten to it. With all men;' that is, with all orders, ranks, and sorts of men. 'And holiness,' &c.5 1 Chrysostom. A man may be miserable We must so pursue after peace as that we do Dulce nomen pacis-The very name of peace is sweet. Gal. v. 22; 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Isa. ix. 6, 7; Heb. i. 2. under peace, but never under holiness. not neglect holiness for peace sake. Better is holiness without peace, than peace without holiness. Holiness differs nothing from happiness. but in name. Holiness is happiness in the bud, and happiness is holiness at the full. Happiness is nothing but the quintessence of holiness. A man were better be holy in hell, than unholy in heaven. Holiness would make hell to be no hell, as the fire was no fire to those holy worthies, Dan. iii. 27. Look, as unholiness would make heaven to be no heaven, yea, turn a heaven into a very hell, so holiness would turn a hell into a very heaven. What holiness this is in the text, I shall discover to you in the opening of that point I intend to stand upon. 'Without which no man.' This expression is exclusive, 'no man,' be he rich or poor, high or low, honourable or base, young or old, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, under one form or another, &c. 'Shall see the Lord.' To 'see,' in the Hebrew phrase, is ordinarily used to enjoy:' Ps. iv. 6, Who will shew us any good?' The word in the Hebrew is from 77, to 'see,' 'Who will make us to see any good?' that is, to enjoy any good. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord; that is, without holiness no man shall ever come to a blessed, to a glorious fruition and enjoyment of the Lord. There was once a holy man [Chrysostom] who professed that the want of the enjoyment of God would be a far greater hell to him than the feeling of any punishment; and yet this great hell, every one shall be sure to feel that lives and dies without holiness. The Jews say of holy Moses, that he died ad osculum oris Dei, at the kisses of God's mouth, and in divine embraces, Ps. xxxvii. 37. When a man of holiness dies, he shall be sure to die in divine embraces, and live for ever in divine embraces. When Socrates was to die, he comforted himself with this, that he should go to a place where he should enjoy Homer and Musæus, and other worthies who lived before him.1. But ah, what an unspeakable comfort is this to a holy man when he comes to die, to consider that he is going to a place where he shall see the Lord, not as now, through a glass darkly, but in all his heavenly bravery, and in all his divine embroidery and bespangled glory! 1 Cor. xiii. 12. And let this suffice for the opening of the words. In my text you have two things: First, An exhortation to 'follow peace and holiness.' Secondly, The reason or argument to enforce the duty pressed, viz., without which no man shall see the Lord.' The words will afford us many weighty observations. I shall only name one, which I intend to insist upon, and that is this-viz.: Doct. That real holiness is the only way to happiness. All men must be holy on earth, or they shall never see the beatifical vision, they shall never reach to a glorious fruition of God in heaven. For the clearing up, and making good of this great and glorious truth, I shall endeavour these three things: First, to shew you what this holiness is, without which no man shall see the Lord.' Secondly, I shall, by an induction of particulars, make good the proposition. 1 Plato, Phaedo; Xenophon, Mem. iv. 8, § 4, &c.-G. Thirdly, Give you the reasons of the point. I. First, What is this holiness without which no man shall see the Lord'? I answer, there is a sixfold holiness. 1. First, There is a legal holiness. Now a legal holiness consists in an exact, perfect, and complete conformity in heart and life to the whole revealed will of God, and this was the holiness that Adam had in his innocency; and this holiness was immediately derived from God, and was perfect. Adam knew the will of God perfectly, so far as it was revealed to him, and had a divine principle in him of perfect conformity to that blessed will. Adam's holiness was as co-natural to him, as unholiness is now to us; and had he stood fast in that glorious condition, we had all been as naturally holy from the womb, as now we are sinful. Adam's holiness was as natural, and as pleasing, and as delightful to him, as any way of unholiness can be natural, pleasing, and delightful unto us. But this holiness, which was Adam's choicest sparkling gem of beauty, and his weightiest crown of glory, is by Satan's policy long since fallen off from Adam's head, Ps. li. 5. Now if this legal holiness were the holiness meant in the text, then woe to man that ever he was born; for then no man should ever see the Lord, Rom. iii. 10. For by Adam's fall all men are gone out of the way, and there is none legally righteous, no not one. Now if we look upon man as fallen from that holiness which was his greatest honour, dignity, and excellency, he is become a pile of dust, a puff of wind, saith one; a dream of a shadow, saith another; a shadow of smoke, saith a third; a poor silly flea, a worm, a little soul, a curious nothing;1 yea, man fallen from his primitive glory is become a very vanity, saith the prophet: Ps. xxxix. 5, Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity.' 'Verily;' this asseveration is only used in matters of greatest weight and moment, and notes the reality and certainty of the things delivered. Every man, [-, ‘all Adam,'] or every son of Adam; not some man, but every man at his best state, [32, from Jatsab ;] that is, in his most settled and composed condition, when he is best constituted and underlaid, when he stands a-tiptoe, and is in the height and perfection of all creature comforts and contentments, is altogether, not in some measure, but altogether, vanity, [chol hebel,] all vanity. Since the fall of Adam every natural man in his best estate is vanity; nay, every man is every vanity. Imagine what vanity you will, fallen man is that. He is a comprehensive vanity-he is an epitome of all vanity. Man in honour, before his fall, was the best of creatures; but since his fall, he is become the worst of creatures. By his fall he is fallen below the very beasts that perish, Isa. i. 3, 4; Prov. vi. 6; Jer. viii. 7; Mat. vi. 26. He that was once the image of God, the glory of paradise, the world's lord, and the Lord's darling, is now become a burthen to heaven, a burthen to himself, and a slave to others, &c., which made one cry out 'Oh, what is man? A scuttleful of dust, a measured span, By all which you may easily perceive how far we are off from that 1 Greg. Nazianz.; Pindarus; Eschylus; Marcus Imperator. 2 Quarles. legal holiness that Adam had in innocency. Rabbi Solomon1 makes Adam so high, that he touched heaven with his head. I shall not dispute the certainty of that; but certainly the higher he was in holiness, the greater was his fall, and ours in him. This legal holiness was so lost in Adam, that no son of Adam could ever find it since Adam fell; and if this were the holiness without which no man should ever see the Lord, then farewell for ever to all the sons of Adam. But this legal holiness is not the holiness in the text. 2. Secondly, There is an imaginary holiness, a conceited holiness, an opinionative holiness: Prov. xxx. 12, 'There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.' They were very bad, and yet they had a great opinion of their own goodness. They were very filthy, and yet they stood very much upon their own purity. Their hands were black, their hearts were black, their works were black, and their ways were as black as hell, and yet they durst say that none could say black was their eye. They were filthy within, and filthy without; filthy in body, and filthy in soul, and filthy in spirit. Filthiness had quite overspread them, and yet they thought to cover their filthiness with a vizard of holiness. The worst men are commonly best conceited of themselves.2 Ah, friends, there hath been no generation wherein there hath not been such a generation of men who have wallowed in sin like swine in the mire, and yet have kept up in themselves a strong opinion of their own goodness and holiness. This generation had neither their souls nor consciences washed in the blood of Christ, nor sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, and yet they gloried in their conceited purity and holiness, as if they had been purified by Christ. There are many that are shining Christians, that are pure golden Christians in their own eyes, that are viler than dross, yea, than smoke in God's eyes: Isa. lxv. 5, 'Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou: these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.'3 They were very licentious, very ungracious, very rebellious, very superstitious, very idolatrous, (ver. 12-4,) and yet counted themselves very religious. They were worse than others, and yet thought themselves better than others; they were very bad, and yet judged themselves very good; they were more impure, more profane, and more polluted than others, and yet they reckon themselves more pure and holier than others; they stand upon their comparative goodnesses, and yet at the same time are charged by God of the greatest wickedness. And thus their kinsmen the Pharisees stand upon their images, forgeries, and outward dresses of holiness, when at the same time they practised the worst of wickedness, Mat. xxiii. 5; Luke xviii. 11, 12; so those in Hosea xii. 8, And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find no iniquity in me,' that were sin, or is sin. Ephraim's iniquities were grown over his head, as may be seen throughout this whole prophecy, and yet Ephraim 1 R. Solomon on Deuteronomy, c. 3.-G. Cœlum gratis non accipiam. I will not have heaven but at a rate, said a proud, impure person. Regis animum quisque intra se habet. Every man hath in him the mind of a king: is Calvin's note on that, 1 Pet. v. 5. 4 'Fraudulent appearances.'-G. |