Part 40 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 41 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Objection 2. HEREAFTER may be time enough to look after holiness. I may yet pursue after the pleasures and profits of the world; I may yet spend some years in gratifying my own lusts, and in walking after the course of the world; I have time enough before me, and therefore some future years may be time enough to look after holiness. Now to this objection I shall give these answers:
1. First, You will not say that you can be saved too soon, nor happy too soon, nor blessed too soon, nor pardoned too soon, nor in the favor of God too soon, nor out of the danger of wrath, hell, and everlasting burnings too soon. And if so, then certainly you can not be holy too soon—for you can never be truly happy until you are truly holy. No man will be so foolish and mad as to say he may be rich too soon, and great too soon, and high and honorable in the world too soon, and in favor and esteem with men, especially with great men, too soon. Why then should you be so mad and foolish, as practically to say that you can be holy too soon? Yet this is exactly what you proclaim upon the house-top, when you cry out, "Hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness." But,
2. Secondly, I answer, That it is your wisdom and your work to set one "perhaps" against another. You say, "Perhaps hereafter may be time enough to look after holiness." Eccles. 7:14. Oh, set another perhaps against this perhaps, and say, "If I now neglect this season of grace—perhaps I shall never have another!" Isaiah 55:6 "If I now slight the offers of mercy—perhaps I shall never have another such offer! If I now despise this day of salvation—perhaps I shall never have another such day! If I now withstand the offers of Christ—perhaps Christ will never again make an offer to me! If I now resist the strivings of the Spirit—perhaps the Spirit will never strive with my soul again! And then—woe, woe to me that ever I was born!" [Proverbs 1:20-33; Heb. 2:1-3; Luke 19:41-45; Gen. 6:3.]
Oh, don't put off God, don't put off your soul, don't put off the thoughts of holiness, don't put off eternity with a perhaps—lest "the Lord should swear in his wrath, that you shall never enter into his rest." Heb. 3:18—and seeing that you will not allow holiness to enter into you, you shall never enter into your master's joy. Oh, why should you treat your poor soul—as you would not have God to treat it? You would not have God treat your soul with a perhaps; as with "Perhaps I will pardon you; perhaps I will lift up the light of my countenance upon you; perhaps I will change your nature and save your soul; perhaps I will fill you with my Spirit and adorn you with my grace; perhaps I will bring you to my kingdom and glory. Oh, you would not have God to put you off with such a perhaps. Why then should you deal more harshly and cruelly with your own soul—than you would have God to deal with you? But,
3. Thirdly, I answer, It is a clear argument that you are not truly nor throughly sensible of your present condition and danger, who thus object. Were you but truly sensible of your lost and undone estate out of Christ; did you but indeed know what it is to live one hour in a Christless and graceless condition; did you but see that wrath that hangs over your head; did you but read the curses which are pronounced in the book of God against you; did you but behold how hell gapes to devour you; did you but see how far off you are from God, Christ, the covenant, and all the glory and happiness of the eternal world; ah, how would you every day cry out, Give me holiness or I die, give me holiness or I eternally die! Acts 2:39; Eph. 2:12.
The patient that is truly sensible of his mortal disease will not say, "Hereafter will be time enough to send for the physician." Nor will the mortally wounded man say, "Hereafter will be time enough to fetch the surgeon." Nor will the condemned man say say, "Hereafter will be time enough to plead for a pardon." Nor will the needy man say, "Hereafter will be time enough to look for relief." Nor will the fallen man say, "Hereafter will be time enough to lift me up." Nor will the drowning man say, "Hereafter will be time enough to bring a boat to save my life." Now this is the very case of all unsanctified people in the world; and why then should they cry out, "Hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to be holy!"
The boar in the fable, being questioned why he stood sharpening his teeth so, when nobody was near to hurt him, wisely answered, that it would then be too late to sharpen them when he was to use them, and therefore he sharpened them before danger that he might have them ready in danger. Ah, sirs, there is nothing more dangerous than for you to have your holiness to seek—when temporal, spiritual, and eternal dangers are at your heels. There is no wisdom, compared to that which leads men forth to a present pursuit after holiness! Nor is there any hell compared to that hell—for a man to have his holiness to seek when he should use it.
4. Fourthly, I answer, That the brevity, shortness, and preciousness of TIME—calls aloud upon you to pursue after holiness without delay. Time past is irrecoverable; time future is uncertain; the present time is the only time—and on this moment of time depends eternity! This present day is a day of grace; oh that you had but grace to take notice of it. This present time is an acceptable time; oh that you had but a heart to realize it, and to improve it. He who has a great way to go, and a great deal of work to do in a little time—had not need to trifle away his time! This is the case of every unsanctified soul. Oh, the sins that such a soul has to repent of! oh, the graces that such a soul has to seek! oh, the evidences for heaven that such a soul has to secure! oh, the miseries that such a soul has to escape! oh, the mercies that such a soul has to press after, etc. Therefore of all men in the world, it is incumbent upon unsanctified people—to well utilize and improve their present time.
Oh, it is a dangerous thing to put off that work to another day which must be done today, or else you may be eternally undone tomorrow. The old saying was, "Now or never!" If not now done, it may be never done, and if so, then you are undone forever! Many people are now in hell, who when they were on earth were accustomed to put off the motions of the Spirit by crying out, "Tomorrow, tomorrow!" Time is so precious a thing that mountains of gold and rocks of pearl cannot redeem one lost moment; which Queen Elizabeth well understood, when on her death-bed she cried out, "Call time again, call time again! A world of wealth for an inch of time!"
Ah, what a precious commodity would time be in hell, where for one day to repent, yes, for one hour to seek after holiness—a man would give ten thousand worlds, were they in his hands to dispose of.
Time is so costly a jewel that few know how to value it and prize it at a due rate. Witness that sad and frequent complaint among many, "Oh, what shall we do to drive away the time? come, let's go to cards to drive away the time! or let's go to gaming tables to drive away the time! or let's go to the tavern, and take a pint and a pipe to drive away the time! or let's go and take a walk in the fields to drive away the time!" etc. Thus most are lavishly and profusely prodigal of that precious time which is their greatest interest to redeem! Time is a precious talent, and the non-improvement of it God will charge upon men at last, as he did upon Jezebel, Rev. 2:20-21, especially upon such who trifle away, who play away, whoidle away, yes, who grossly sin away their precious time! How many are there like children, who play until their candle be out, and then they go to bed in the dark! Just so, these play and fool away their precious time, until the candle of life be out, and then they go to their beds, they go to their graves in sorrow, yes, they go to hell in the dark!
I have read of a young man who, living vainly and loosely, was very fearful of being in the dark, who after falling sick and could not sleep, cried out, "Oh, if this darkness be so terrible, what is eternal darkness!" He who makes no conscience of trifling away his precious time, shall one day experience the terribleness of eternal darkness. The poets paint time with wings, to show the rapidity and swiftness of it. O sirs, if the sense of the brevity, shortness, and preciousness of time did but lie in its full weight upon your spirits, it would certainly put you upon a speedy and earnest pursuit after holiness! Oh, then you would never say, "Hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness." But you would address yourselves to a fervent and a constant pressing after holiness as the one thing necessary, and be restless in your own spirits, until you had experienced the power and sweetness which is in holiness! But,
5. Fifthly and lastly, I answer, That it is the greatest folly and madness in the world for you to put off the great God and the great concernments of your soul—as you dare not put off your superiors. Where is the subject or servant, who dares put off a lawful duty urged upon him by his prince with a "Perhaps I will do it." or "Later I will do it." Where is the loving child who dares put off a present duty pressed upon him by his parents with a "Perhaps I will do it." or "Later I will do it." Where is the affectionate wife who dares put off the just desires and requests of her husband with a "Perhaps I will do it." or "Later I will answer your desires, or hereafter I will answer your requests?" O sirs, you dare not put off your superiors with a 'perhaps', or with 'laters'—and how then do you dare to put off the King of kings and the Lord of lords, with a 'perhaps', or with 'later' I will look after holiness, it may be I will study holiness, it may be I will prize holiness, or hereafter I will press after holiness, I will pursue after holiness, hereafter I will follow hard after holiness. Oh, remember that as there is nothing that does more incense, enrage, and provoke a prince against his subjects, a master against his servants, a father against his child, and a husband against his wife, than the putting off of their services and commands with a 'perhaps', or with 'laters'—so there is nothing that does more incense, inflame, and provoke the great God, than to put him off with a 'perhaps', or with 'laters' as you may see by comparing these scriptures together. [Psalm 95:6, to the end. Heb. 3:7, to the end.] And oh that for time to come you would tremble at the very thoughts of a 'perhaps', and at the very mentioning of a 'later', so that you may never put off the commands of God, to pursue after holiness with a 'perhaps', or with 'later' any more. And let this suffice for answer to this second objection.
Objection 3. Thirdly—but if we should thus press and pursue after holiness—then we must take our farewell of all joy and comfort, of all delight and pleasure, and never more expect to enjoy another merry day—for we observe that there are no people under heaven who live such a melancholy, sad, sorrowful, pensive life, as those who press most after holiness, and who make most stir and noise about holiness, and therefore if we should resolve to follow after holiness, we must resolve to spend our days in sorrow and sadness, in sighing and mourning, etc.
Now to this grand objection, I shall give these eight answers:
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