Part 70 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 71 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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When a great Lord of this land, who was as graceless as he was great, met Mr. Fox in London streets, and asked him how he did, Mr. Fox said little or nothing to him; whereupon says this great Lord, "Sir, do you not know me?" "No, not I" said Mr. Fox. Says the Lord, "I am such a one." "Sir," said Mr. Fox, "I desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Polycarpus meeting at a certain time with Marcion the heretic: says Marcion, "Don't you know me?" "Yes," said Polycarpus, "I know you to be the first-begotten child of the devil." And indeed, why should we prefer him before a piece of copper, that prefers a piece of gold before his God, yes, that prefers his lusts and every toy and trifle before Jesus Christ, his immortal soul, and the great concernments of the eternal world? God commanded in the old law that whatever did go with its breasts upon the ground, should be an abomination to us. Oh, how much more should we abominate that man whose heart and soul is glued unto a piece of earth, or to this or that defiling and destroying lust: Proverbs 29:27, "An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked."
The quarrel between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is almost six thousand years old, Gen. 3:15. Light and darkness, heaven and hell, are not more opposite and contrary one to another, than these are contrary one to another. That seed of enmity that was at first between them is now grown up on both sides to an abomination, and an abhorring of each other. [The antipathies which are in nature between the elephant and the boar, the lion and the rooster, etc., is nothing to that which is between the just and the unjust.] The just man says, "What have I to do with you, you son of Belial?" And the unjust man says, "What have I to do with you, you son of David?"
The original in the text last cited is observable, the just abhors the man of iniquity, that is, the man who is made up of iniquity, that is, nothing but iniquity. Now, this shows that it is iniquity in the man who makes the man to be an abomination to the just; but now wicked men they abhor the upright for their very uprightness, they abhor him who is upright in the way, and could wish him quite out of the way, and will do what they can to do away with him. The uprightness of the upright is such a terror to the wicked that they cannot but abominate and abhor the upright; and therefore, no wonder if the upright abominate them; and indeed, who can look upon wicked men, as enemies to God, as adversaries to Christ, as murderers of their own souls, as fighters against the church, as champions for Satan, and as pests and plague of a nation—and not abhor them, and not abominate them?
O sirs, not to despise the wicked, is an argument that you yourselves are wicked; and not to despise the wicked is a means to make them more wicked; not to despise the wicked is to encourage and tempt the wicked to be sevenfold more wicked; yes, not to despise the wicked, who despise God, Christ, heaven, and holiness, etc., is to despise God himself. As for such who advance the wicked, who magnify the wicked, who flatter the wicked, who strengthen the hands of the wicked, who are most in with the wicked, who joy and glory in the prosperity of the wicked, and who sigh and mourn at the downfall of the wicked; these are certainly wicked, yes, they are eminently wicked, and therefore the more to be slighted and scorned by men of integrity and sanctity. But,
[5.] Fifthly and lastly, To neglect the pursuit of holiness upon the account of this objection, is to debase the great God, and to overvalue vain man, as if there were more power, ability, policy, and malice, etc., in worthless man to hurt and harm you, than there is power, all-sufficiency, wisdom, goodness, and graciousness in God to defend you, and secure you, and arm you against all the reproaches and revilings of slanderous tongues. Now who are you, and what are you, O vain man! that you should dare to lessen God—and greaten man; to debase God—and exalt man; yes, to set up man above God himself, and to ungod him as much as as you can? And yet all this you do when you turn your back upon holiness, because of the revilings and reproaches of wicked men.
But I shall say no more to this objection, because I have spoken very largely to this objection in my former books. If you desire further satisfaction to this objection, turn to that treatise called "Apples of Gold," etc., and you will find seven more distinct answers to it. And see also my "Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod," and you will find eight answers more to this objection. I confess several other objections might be made against your pursuing after holiness—but because I have spoken to them at large in my former writings, therefore I shall not trouble you with them here; and therefore let thus much suffice for answer to those objections that usually men make when they are pressed home to follow after holiness.
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Part 71 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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