Part 9 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 10 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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9. Ninthly, He who is truly holy—will labor and endeavor to make others holy. A holy heart loves not to go to heaven alone; it loves not to be happy and blessed alone. A man who has experienced the power, excellency, and sweetness of holiness, will strive and study how to make others holy. When Samson had tasted honey, he gave his father and mother some with him, Judges 14:8-9. Holiness is so sweet a morsel, that a soul cannot taste of it but he will be a-commending of it to others. ["We therefore learn—that we may teach," is a proverb among the Rabbis. The heathen could say, I do therefore lay in and lay up, that I may draw forth again for the good of many.] As you may see in holy Moses, in Num. 11:29, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!" A holy soul will never make a monopoly of holiness. The prophets, you know, were men of greatest grace and holiness; now holy Moses is very importunate and earnest with God that he would not only make the two who prophesied—but all the Lord's people eminent and excellent in grace and holiness. Such was Moses' holiness and humbleness, that he desires that all others might either equal him or excel him in gifts and grace. A heart eminently holy is so far from envying of the gracious excellencies of others, that it can rejoice in every sun that outshines his own. Every light that burns more dim than his—he desires that it may be snuffed, not put out, that so it may give a clearer and a greater light to others.
Just so, holy Paul in Acts 26:29, "I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains." True holiness is no churl; nothing makes a man more noble in his spiritual desires, wishes, and actings for others, than holiness. Real holiness, like oil, is of a diffusive nature; like light, it will spread itself over all; like Mary's box of ointment, it fills all the house with the sweet scent thereof. Are you a holy father? then you will, with holy Abraham, labor to make your children holy, Gen. 18:17-19. A holy heart knows that both by his first birth—but especially by his new birth, he stands obliged to promote holiness in all—but especially in those which are parts and pieces of himself. Are you a holy master? then you will, with holy Joshua, labor to make all under your charge holy: Josh. 24:15, "But as for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord."
True holiness cannot be concealed; it will be a-stirring and a-provoking of others to be holy: as a holy man does not love to be happy alone, so a holy man does not love to be holyalone. A holy master loves to see a crown of holiness set upon every head in his family. Holiness is a very beautiful thing, and it makes those beautiful in whom it exists. In a holy master's eye, there is no servant so lovely and beautiful as he who has the beauty of holiness upon him.
A holy magistrate will labor to make both his servants and his subjects holy: as holy David, holy Asa, holy Isaiah, and holy Hezekiah did; he knows that the souls of his servants and subjects are the choicest treasure that God has committed to his care; he knows that every soul is more worth than his crown and kingdom; he knows that he must one day give up an account for more souls than his own, and therefore he improves his power and interest every way for the making of all holy under him. Louis the Ninth, king of France, took pains to instruct his poor kitchen-boy in the way to heaven, and being asked the reason of it, he answered, The poorest have a soul to save as precious as my own, and bought by the same blood of Christ. It is said of Constantine that in this he was truly great, that he would have his whole court gathered together, and cause the Scriptures to be read and opened to them, that they might be made holy courtiers, and so fitted for the court of heaven, into which no unclean person or thing can enter, Rev. 21:27. It grieved an emperor that a neighbor of his should die before he had done him any good. Ah, it is the grief of a holy magistrate to see others die before they are made holy. The great request of a holy magistrate, living and dying, is this, "Lord, make this people a holy people! Oh, make this people a holy people!"
Are you a holy kinsman, a holy friend; then you will labor to make your kindred holy, and your friends holy; as holy Cornelius did, as you may see in Acts 10:24, "Cornelius was waiting for him and had called together his relatives and close friends to meet Peter." And in verse 33, says Cornelius to Peter, "So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now here we are, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you." [Just so, in John 1:39, 49, and 4:28-30.] Devout Cornelius gets his kinsmen and near friends together, that they also might be partakers of the grace and mercy of God with him. He had experienced a work of grace and holiness upon his own heart, and he uses his best endeavors that they might experience the same on theirs.
A holy Christian is like a magnet, which draws to itself first one iron ring, and that another, and that a third. As there is a natural instinct in all creatures to propagate their own kind, as in beasts, birds, and fish; so there is a holy, a spiritual instinct in all gracious hearts to propagate grace and holiness in whatever hearts they can. Look! as fire will assimilate and turn everything that comes near it into its own nature, so will a holy heart labor to make all that comes near him like himself. Look! as one drunkard labors to make another, and oneswearer another, and one wanton another, and one thief another, and one idle person another, and one fearful person another, and one doubtful person another, and oneerroneous person another, etc.—just so, one holy heart labors to make another holy heart; one gracious heart labors to make another gracious heart. [It is a true saying in science, that it is the most natural act or work of every living thing to produce another like unto itself.]
He who is humble will labor to make others humble, he who is sincere will labor to make others sincere, he who is faithful will labor to make others to be faithful, he who is fruitfulwill labor to make others fruitful, and he who is watchful will labor to make others watchful. A heart that is truly holy will labor, by prayers, reproofs, tears, example, counsel, and commands—to make others like himself. He knows that there is no love, no wisdom, no care, no pains—compared to that which he takes with his own heart, compared to that which is laid out to make unholy hearts holy. And therefore he prays and weeps, and weeps and prays, that holiness may be written upon all that his name is written upon; he learns and teaches, and he teaches and learns, and all that he may teach and learn others to be holy; he counts it not worth while to live in this world, were it not for the glory of God, and the good of his own and others' souls.
But now, what shall we say of those people who are so far from being holy, who are so far from drawing others to be holy, that they do what they can to make those who are holy to become unholy, and who strongly tempt those who are unholy to be more unholy? These are agents and instruments for hell, and certainly such solicitors shall at last be most dreadfully handled by hellish tormentors. But,
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