Part 77 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 78 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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(1.) The first motive to whet and stir up your spirits to labor after greater degrees and higher measures of holiness than yet you have attained to—consider that notwithstanding all the means, and all the advantages, and all the opportunities that you have enjoyed to work you to perfect holiness in the fear of God—yet you have obtained but to very small measures of holiness. You are rather babes than men in holiness; you are rather shrubs than cedars in grace; you are rather dwarfs than giantsin godliness to this very day. This sad charge I shall briefly charge against you by an induction of eight particulars, thus:
[1.] First, The strength, the power, the activity, and the prevalence of SIN in you to this day does witness to your faces that you have yet obtained but small measures of holiness. Romans 7:22-24; Isaiah 59:12. O my brethren, are not many of your corruptions as powerful and as strong as they were five, ten, yes, twenty years ago—notwithstanding all the prayers that you have made, and all the sermons that you have heard, and all the tears that you have shed, and all the resolutions that you have taken, and all the promises that you have made, and all the conflicts that you have had? And what does this speak out but that holiness is at a low ebb in your souls? O sirs, were but holiness risen to a greater height in your souls—how readily would you trample upon your lusts!
As the house of David grew stronger and stronger—the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker, 2 Sam. 3:1. As holiness rises in the soul by degrees—sin dies in the soul by degrees. The more any man abounds in holiness—the more he abounds in his spiritual conquests over the world, the flesh, and the devil, Gal. 8:14. O sirs, your pride testifies to your faces, and your self-love testifies to your faces, and your worldliness testifies to your faces, and your passion testifies to your faces, and your meager faith testifies to your faces, and yourhypocrisy testifies to your faces, and your carnality testifies to your faces, etc., that yet you are not got up many rounds in Jacob's ladder, Hosea 5:5, and 7:10. But,
[2.] Secondly, You have not attained to much holiness; witness that high price that you set upon the toys, the trifles, and the vanities of this world, as Jonah did upon his gourd, Gen. 24:30-31. Ah, at what a rate do men value the empty honors, the fading riches, and the fleeting pleasures of this world! Did not Peter prefer an earthly tabernacle (Matthew 17) above a celestial palace, not made with hands, and eternal in the heavens? But what do I talk of Peter, when this disease had again and again and again overspread the hearts of all the disciples, as you may evidently see by comparing these scriptures together. [Mat. 17:4; 2 Cor. 5:1-2; Mat. 18:1-2; Mark 9:33-36; Luke 9:46-47, and 22 to 28.] They had dispute upon dispute—which of them should be accounted greatest. They had often sharp contests among themselves, which of them should have the greatest honor, the best office, and the highest place in Christ's earthly kingdom! Indeed their thoughts, heads, and hearts were so taken up about an outward kingdom, a worldly kingdom, that they little minded either the spiritual kingdom of God within them, or the glorious kingdom of God above them.
As the foolish Indians prefer every toy and trifle before their mines of gold—just so, many Christians, who are low in holiness, prefer the trifling vanities of this world before the glorious treasures and endless pleasures which are at God's right hand, Psalm 16:11. Oh—but where holiness is risen to any considerable height, there men will make a very footstool of earthly crowns, for Christ to get up and ride in triumph. There all the glory and glitter of this world will be but as dross and dung, "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:7-8. There men would, like the woman, the church, in the Revelation, "trample the moon," that is, all the things of this world, which are as changeable as the moon, "under their feet," Rev. 12:1. Were there but more holiness in your hearts, all the mirthful and gallant things of this world would be more contemptible in your eyes. O sirs, if Midas was condemned to wear ass's ears, because he preferred Pan's pipe before Apollo's lute, that is, human policy before divine providence—how severely are they to be censured, who prefer the poor, low, empty nothings of this world before all the glory and happiness of the eternal world! etc. But,
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Part 78 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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