Part 59 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 60 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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[1.] First, Consider that it is not absolutely necessary that you should be rich, or high, or great in this world; but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy. The lack of riches can only trouble you—but the lack of holiness will certainly damn you. You may be happy in the eternal world, though you are not high in this world. Many a man has gone to heaven without a penny in his purse, or good clothes on his back. Doubtless it is infinitely better with ragged, naked Lazarus to go to heaven—than it is with Dives to go rich and well-clad to hell, Luke 16:19-31. It is better to go to heaven poor, and halt, and maimed—than to go to hell healthy and rich. Poverty and outward misery with salvation, is far better than worldly prosperity and felicity with everlasting perdition. Holiness, and not riches, is the one thing necessary. If you have holiness, nothing can make you miserable; but if you lack holiness, nothing can make you happy.
Outward blessings are no infallible evidences of a blessed estate. Was Abraham rich? so was Abimelech too. Was Jacob rich? so was Laban too. Was David a king? so was Saul too. Was Constantine an emperor? so was Julian too. It is only holiness which sets the crown of happiness upon a Christian's head. But,
[2.] Secondly, Consider that it is not sanctity—but impiety; it is not holiness—but wickedness, which exposes men to the greatest poverty and misery!
Proverbs 6:26, "For by the means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread." Whoredom is a very costly sin, Proverbs 24:33-34, and 28:19, 22; the prodigal had quickly spent his portion among his harlots, Luke 15. Whoredom cannot be a greater paradise to the flesh, than it is a purgatory to the purse—as many great ones have found it so. Herod, that old fornicator, was so inflamed and bewitched with the immodest wanton dancing of the damsel, that he swore he would give her to the half of his kingdom, Mark 6:23-24. And it is very observable, that while Solomon, in his younger days, kept holy, chaste, and pure—silver and gold was as plenteous at Jerusalem and at court as the stones of the street; but when Solomon had given himself up to his concubines, they quickly exhausted his treasuries, and brought him to so low an ebb, that he was forced to oppress his subjects with such heavy taxes, burdens, and tributes, which occasioned the revolt of the ten tribes. [Kings 10:27-28; 2 Chron. 1:15-17; 1 Kings 12:1-20.]
Josephus, in his Antiquities, tells us of Decius Mundus, who gave a great amount to satisfy his lusts one night with a whore—and yet did not obtain satisfaction. There is no sin which has brought more men, and greater men, to beggary and misery than this has. It is a great misery to be brought to a piece of bread, to a scrap, a little bit of bread; but to be brought into so low a condition by harlots, doubles the misery; for he who is by a whorish woman brought to a piece of bread on earth, shall be brought to beg a drop of water in hell, except there be found repentance on his side, and pardoning mercy on God's.
Take another instance in that Proverbs 23:20-21, "Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags." [The glutton and the drunkard were to be stoned to death, Deut. 21:20-21. Basil calls drunkenness a self-chosen devil. When Eschines commended Philip king of Macedon for a jovial man who would drink freely, Demosthenes, being by, told him that was a good quality in a sponge—but not in a prince.] Many dukes, earls, lords, and gentlemen of great estates, have sadly experienced the truth of this scripture.
Luxurious company has brought many a man to extreme poverty. The full cup makes an empty purse; and the fat dish makes a lean money-bag. He who fills you wine with one hand, and sets before you dainty dishes with the other hand, will be sure to pick your pockets with both hands! This Caligula, the Roman emperor, found by experience; for his gluttony brought him to incredible poverty. Diogenes, hearing that the house of a certain prodigal was offered to sale, said, "I knew that house was so accustomed to surfeiting and drunkenness, that before long it would spew out the master."
There was a street in Rome called vicus sobrius, the sober street, because there was never an ale-house in it; but this, I think, is hard to say of any street in London, yes, of any street in England. Excessive drinking is now so great in our land. Ah, sirs! what is more evident than this, that drunkenness flows in England! Oh, what a deal of ground has this sin made within this few months upon English hearts! There was a time when drunkards were as rare in England as wolves—but now they are as common as swine. Ah, what staggering, reeling, and shameful spewing is to be found, both among the great ones, the priests, and people of this nation!
The prophet Hosea complained in his time, that the princes, upon their king's day, made him sick with bottles of wine, Hosea 7:5 "On the day of the festival of our king, the princes become inflamed with wine." This day of their king was either his birthday, or his coronation day; or the day wherein their king Jeroboam set up his golden calves at Dan and Bethel, as some others conceive. Now in this day of their king there was such carnal triumphing, and such pampering of the flesh, and such roaring, carousing, and drinking of bottles of wine, that the princes drank themselves sick, drowning their bodies and souls in bottles and kegs of wine. Memorable is the king's late proclamation against all such debauched people, who, pretending to drink to his health, destroy their own by a shameful abusing of the precious creatures of God.
If the prophet Hosea were now alive in this nation, ah, what cause would he have to complain that both high and low, men and women, young and old have given themselves to this beastly sin, which unmans a man, and which besots the soul, and which destroys the body, and which proves a cankerworm to men's estates! What are most ale-houses, but hell-houses—but the devil's houses, in which the name of God is notoriously blasphemed, piety scorned, the saints derided, young ones impoisoned, and old ones hardened, and many thousand families impoverished? And why, then, should it be almost as easy a task to conquer the West Indies, to overcome the Turk, and to bring down the Pope—as it is to bring down such wretched ale-houses, as are the very nurseries of all sin, and the synagogues of incarnate devils, and the very sinks of all misery, poverty, and beggary. By these instances it is most clear that it is not holiness—but wickedness that exposes men to the greatest poverty and misery. But,
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