Part 76 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 77 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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[6.] Sixthly, Evidence and declare the truth and reality of your holiness—by pursuing, pressing, and following after the highest degrees of holiness. Oh, do not sit down satisfied with some drops or sips of holiness—but labor after the perfection of holiness. Oh, don't content yourselves with so much holiness as will bring you to happiness, or with so much holiness as will keep wrath and your souls asunder, or hell and your souls asunder, or eternal ruin and your souls asunder. The exhortation in the text, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness," Heb. 12:14, is an exhortation that was given out to saints who were holy before, and the life and force of the exhortation lies in this—that those who were holy should labor to be more and more holy, they should still be adding of grace to grace, holiness to holiness, they should still be a-going on from faith to faith, and from strength to strength. [2 Pet. 1:5-13; Romans 1:17; Psalm 84:7.]
As holiness has its conception, birth, and infancy—just so, it has its full growth, and after the highest degrees of holiness, all Christians must strive. Holiness is not like to Jonah's gourd, which shot up in a night—but it is like plants and trees which grow up by degrees, (Psalm 92:14,) and after the highest degrees we must endeavor. [Only mushrooms grow up to perfection in one night.] After the prophet Elijah had traveled a day's journey in the wilderness, he sat down and slept under a juniper-tree, and there God calls upon him, "Get up and eat," 1 Kings 19:4-5; and when he found him the second time he calls again upon him, "Get up and eat, because you have a great journey to go," verse 7. O Christians, you have a howling wilderness to travel through, you have a great journey to go, you have many a mountain to walk over, and many an enemy to vanquish—even the world, the flesh, and the devil, and many a cross to bear, and many a mercy to improve, etc., and therefore you have very great cause to up and eat. I say, get up and eat, that is—grow stronger and stronger in holiness, and to walk from grace to grace, and from virtue to virtue, and to come off from your milk, and to feed upon strong meat, Heb. 5:12-14, that you may hold out to the end of your journey, and neither faint nor fall short of that great salvation which attends perfection of holiness.
This progress in holiness is that main thing that the apostle presses upon the believing Corinthians in that 2 Cor. 7:1, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." The apostle having in the former chapter armed the believing Corinthians with many strong arguments against all communion and fellowship with idolaters, he comes at last to touch upon those great and glorious promises which, upon the account of their high and holy calling, they were interested in, verse 16-18. He presents them as singular motives, and as choice and precious encouragements, to move them to perfect holiness in the fear of God. There is no work on earth that so well befits the heirs of such precious promises as that of cleansing themselves from all filthiness on the one hand, and that of perfecting holiness in the fear of God on the other hand.
Now this being a point of the highest concernment, and of the greatest importance imaginable to the saints, I shall therefore endeavor these three things:
I. First, To lay down some motives to provoke you to perfect holiness in the fear of God, etc.
II. Secondly, I shall propound some means, some directions, that may help you to make a progress in holiness, etc.
III. Thirdly, I shall show you how you may know whether you have attained to such a perfection of holiness as we are all to strive after, etc.
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Part 77 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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