Sanctification Study (Polhill)

CHAPTER XII

Touching a holy life: It is not from principles of nature; it is the fruit of a renewed, regenerated heart; it issues out of faith and love; it proceeds out of a pure intention towards the will and glory of God; it is humble, and dependant upon the influences of grace; it requires a sincere mortification of sin without any salvo or exception; it stands in an exercise of all graces; it makes a man holy in ordinances, aims, prosperity, adversity, contracts, calling: there is such an exercise of graces as causeth them to grow: The conclusion of the chapter.

HAVING treated of justification, I come in the last place to speak of a holy life; which is an inseparable companion of the other: where grace justifies and pardons, there it heals; where Christ is made righteousness, there he is made sanctification: these twins of grace can never be parted; but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, saith the apostle. (1 Cor. 6:11.) Justification and sanctification are ever in conjunction, as in God justice and holiness: in Christ the priestly and kingly offices; in the gospel the promises and the precepts; and in the sinner the guilt and the power of sin are in conjunction; so in believers, justification and sanctification are in conjunction: were this conjunction dissolved, the other could not well together consist; the person being justified and yet not sanctified: God’s justice must spare him, yet his holiness must hate him; Christ must satisfy and save him as a priest, yet not command him as a king. The promises must speak comfort to him, yet are the precepts broken by him; the guilt of sin must be done away, yet the power and love of it must remain; but none of these can stand together, neither can justification stand without sanctification.
A holy life is a life separate and consecrated unto God; the life of sense is common to brutes; a life of reason is common to men; but a life of holiness is separate and consecrated unto God. The epicurean would frui carne, enjoy the flesh; the stoic would frui mente, enjoy his mind and reason; but the holy man would frui Deo, enjoy his God. The Jewish doctors call God, סָקום, place, and the holy man makes him such; he would not go out from God, or seek any other being but in him; he would not dwell in the barren region of self or creatures, but in God, the fountain and ocean of all goodness: his works are all wrought in God; his rest and centre are only in his will and glory; he is not his own any longer. The great titles of Creator and Redeemer proper to his God, will not suffer him to be so; it is no less than sacrilege in his eyes to be his own, or so much as in a thought to steal away ought from God, to whom his spirit, soul, body, all is due. His reason is not his own; as one who knows it to be a borrowed light, he resigns it up to God the Father of lights, to be illuminated by him, and to the holy mysteries, to be ruled by them, without asking any why’s or wherefores. Those two words, Deus dixit, God saith, is satisfaction enough to him; his will is not his own, it is not a rule or law to itself. God is indeed such to himself; but the holy man will not perversely imitate God; or like the prince of Tyrus, “Set his heart as the heart of God,” (Ezek. 28:2). He will not snatch at God’s crown, or assume his glory; he knows that his will was made to be subject to God’s, and in that subjection stands his liberty and true freedom. His will doth not stand upon its own bottom, but resigns up itself to his grace to be made free indeed, and to his commands as the supreme law; his affections are not his own; he suffers them not to wander up and down among the creatures, there to gather hay and stubble, a false happiness to himself; but he dispatches them away into the other world, and makes them ascend up to God, the true centre of souls, and fountain of goodness; he surrenders up his soul and all to God: the image of heaven, which is upon him, plainly tells him, that all is due to him who is above; to keep back part of the price or subtract ought from him, is to lie to that Holy Spirit, who hath set his stamp upon every part of the new creature, and by an universal sanctification sealed up the whole man for his own. The life of a holy man is a life κατὰ Θεὸν, according to God. (1 Pet. 4:6.) It aspires after an imitation of the Holy One; it complies with his holy commands, and in all aims at his glory as the supreme end of all. The apostle notably sets forth this consecration of man to God, “They gave themselves to the Lord,” (2 Cor. 8:5.) They would be their own no longer. They surrendered up themselves to God; they dedicated themselves to his will and glory. All christians, nay, almost all men will at least seem to cry up a holy life; but that we may see wherein it doth consist, I shall set down several things.
First, a holy life is not the product of our natural reason and will; that of Pelagius (A Deo habemus quod Homines sumus, à nobis ipsis quod justi sumus; That we are men is from God, that we are just men is from ourselves) is impium effatum, a very wicked saying, such as justly grates upon the ears of good men, because it utterly evacuates the grace of Christ. It is true reason is a very excellent thing: it can dive into nature, and bring up some of the secrets of it. It can teem out many arts and sciences; it can measure out rules and moral virtues to men; but it cannot make a man holy; it can of itself tell us, That God is an infinite, wise, just, good, super-excellent being; but after all is done, it cannot raise up that love to him, which is the spring of a holy life; that love is from God, and a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Bellarmine lays down this very fairly and roundly. Non posse Deum sine ope ipsius diligi, neque ut Authorem naturæ, neque ut largitorem gratiæ, nequè perfectè, neque imperfectè ullo modo; That without the help of grace we cannot love God, neither as the author of nature, nor as the giver of grace, neither perfectly nor imperfectly any way. If reason cannot elevate our love to God, then it cannot produce a holy life, which is a fruit of that love. Further, it may, having the gospel set before it, gather up a great stock of notions touching God, and Christ, and the holy commands in the word, and the incomparable rewards in heaven; but it cannot raise up holy principles and actions in us; if it could, then the very first and rudest draught of Pelagius, which made all grace to consist in doctrinâ et libero arbitrio, must be a very truth; then internal grace, which renews the soul, and rectifies the faculties thereof, must be a fancy needless and altogether superfluous; it is true the will in man is a free princle, but to divine objects it is not at all free till it be made so by grace. There is such a gravedo liberi arbitrii, such a pressure of innate corruption in it, that it cannot ascend above itself to love God above all, and dedicate the life to him. Thus we see that a holy life is too high a thing to issue forth from mere principles of nature, when the apostle tells us “That love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, are fruits of the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:22.) It is no less than profane to put our spirit in the room of God’s, and to say these are the fruits of our reason and will; when again he tells us, that “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” (Ephes. 2:10.) It is horrible presumption in us to put by the new creation, and think that the old may serve the turn for a holy life: I can as easily believe that Jewish fable, that there is in the body a luz, a little bone never putrifying, from whence the resurrection begins, as that there is anything left in fallen man which in itself may become a principle of regeneration and holy living; could there be any such thing found in us, there would be no necessity of grace, but of nature only; a Creator we might praise, but a Redeemer we need not: our own spirit may serve the turn, God’s may be spared.
Secondly. A holy life is the fruit of a renewed and regenerated heart; it is the budding and blossoming of a divine nature in us; in it a man shews himself to be a man off from the old stock of Adam, and to be engrafted into Christ, and as a branch in him to have life and spirit from him to dedicate and consecrate himself unto a God. Without this new state there can be no such thing as a holy life. Upon this account St. Austin tells the Pelagians, those enemies of grace, that they were in their doctrine ruina morum, the ruin of good life. For if you take away that grace which makes the new creatures, there can be no such thing as a holy life; that must stand upon some foundation, and in lapsed nature there is, there can be no other but a new creature. To show this more fully, I shall lay down two things distinctly. The one is this: An unregenerate man cannot lead a holy life. The other is this: A holy life issues out of a principle of regeneration. These two will fully clear the point.
The first thing is, An unregenerate man cannot lead a holy life. I say not, that an unregenerate man cannot become regenerate; but that an unregenerate man, whilst such, cannot live holily; not that there is a natural impotency, a want of the faculties of understanding and will: but that there is a moral one, and indwelling corruption which renders him incapable to attain to it. That of our Saviour, “A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit,” (Matt. 7:18,) carries a great evidence of reason in it; the fruit cannot exceed the tree; the effect will not be better than the procreant cause is; if an unregenerate man be a corrupt tree, if a holy life be good fruit, the one cannot proceed from the other. It is vanity and folly to expect grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles; and to look for a holy life from an unregenerate heart is no less. It is the apostle’s conclusion, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 8:8.) By those in the flesh is not meant the regenerate, who, if any on earth, do surely please him, but the unregenerate. Accordingly, the apostle opposes those in the flesh, (verse 8,) to those in the Spirit, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells (verse 9); that is, the unregenerate to the regenerate. Hence we may conclude thus, The unregenerate are in the flesh, in their corrupt nature; and because such, they cannot please God; they cannot live that holy life which is grateful to him. Therefore the apostle in this chapter doth not only distinguish between the regenerate and unregenerate, the one being in the spirit and the other in the flesh, but between the acting of the one and of the other. The regenerate, or those in the Spirit, are after the Spirit, and mind the things of the Spirit; the unregenerate, or those in the flesh, are after the flesh, and mind the things of the flesh. (Verse 5.) We have here two distinct principles and actings; the regenerate nature acts in a way of holiness and obedience; but the old corrupt nature acts in a way of sin and wickedness; and unless a man be new made by grace, it will continue to do so; neither need we wonder at it; the proverb is no less rational than ancient: “Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked.” (1 Sam. 24:13.) A sinner studies sin, and hath it in the very frame of his heart; he thirsts after it, and drinks it as water; he rejoices in it, and makes a sport at it; he is never so much in his element as when he is committing it. But in a holy life there is nothing congruous or connatural to him; his carnal mind is emnity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” (Rom. 8:7.) His will is contrary to God’s; the way of holiness is a burden to him, too grievous to be borne: and how can we expect that in this unregenerate state he should in the least enter upon a holy life? In all reason first there must be a power or divine principle, and then an act. It is unnatural and cross to the method of wisdom, that the beam should precede the sun, or the fruit the root; that acts of sense or reason should go before their faculties; or that a holy life should be imagined to take place before that divine nature which is the vital root of it. “The eye,” saith Anselm, “must be acute before it can see acutely.” “The wheel,” saith St. Austin, “must be round, before it can move regularly.” The will must be first illuminated and rectified in regeneration, before it can rightly will and move. “Repairing grace,” saith Hugo, “first aspires, that there may be a good will, and then inspires, that it may move rightly.” “Charity,” saith the apostle, “is out of a pure heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned,” (1 Tim. 1:5.) But alas! in the unregenerate what principles are there? can aught be found there which may tend to a holy life? His heart is impure through the many vile lusts which dwell there; his conscience is defiled through the many guilts which he hath contracted; his faith is a vain fancy or presumption, and not a faith; and how can he live holily, or what principles hath he for it? There must be a proportion between the power and the act: and so there is in the regenerate, between the seed of God and the crop of holiness; between the holy unction and the odours of good works; but what proportion can be imagined between an unregenerate heart and a holy life? An unregenerate man, as he is described in Scripture, is weak and without strength; and what can he do towards it? He is unclean and polluted, and how can such a thing as a holy life proceed from him? He is dark, nay, darkness itself, and how can he walk in the light? He is dead in sins and trespasses, and how can he live a divine life? He is a stranger, nay, and an enemy to God and his law, and how can he walk with God, or comply with his law? In a holy life we walk in the Spirit, and shew forth the virtues of God; and how can he walk in that, or shew forth that which he hath not? A holy life points directly to heaven as its centre, but the principles in a carnal man tend to hell and death: instead of bearing a proportion to holiness and life eternal, they carry in them a black contrariety and opposition to both. I will only add one thing more; to say, that there may be a holy life in one unregenerate, is a contradiction. The very light of nature tells us, that God must be consecrated in the heart, and worshipped purâ mente. In the heathen sacrifices the priests first looked on the heart, to see that it was right. The Persians thought, that God regarded nothing but the soul in the sacrifice; God loves Spiritualitèr immolantes, those that offer up the spirit to him in every duty; a holy life, if it be such in substance, and not in shadow only, must be from a pure heart; and who can find such an one in an unregenerate man? Or if it could be found there, what need could there be of regenerating grace; If a holy life must be from a pure heart, and such a heart cannot be in a man unregenerate, then it is not at all possible that a holy life should be in him, till regenerating grace hath made his heart right. It is said of Amaziah, that “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.” (2 Chr. 25:2.) In the first part of the verse his obedience looks very fair and amiable; but in the latter part of it there is a black mark set upon it, to show that it was not right: the like marks must be set upon all that seeming sanctity which is in unregenerate men.
The next thing proposed is this: a holy life issues out of a principle of regeneration. The Socinians (who deny original sin, and therefore cannot speak cordially of regeneration) do sometimes speak so blindly and perversely of the Holy Spirit, as if they meant to confound a holy life and its principle together. Thus Socinus: Christi spiritus obedientia est; The spirit of Christ is obedience; as if the cause and effect were all one. Thus Volkelius will understand by the Spirit, either the mind of man informed with Christ’s doctrine, or else the doctrine itself; as being loth to own the regenerating spirit. But it is evident in Scripture that a holy life is distinct from regeneration, and issues from it as a blessed fruit thereof: first, God creates us in Christ, and then there is a progeny of good works: first, he quickens and gives us a spiritual being, and then we walk, and live a holy life: first, there is a good treasure of grace in the heart, and then the good things are brought forth out of it, (Matt. 12:35.) “Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, whereto, or into which, you were delivered,” saith St. Paul, (Rom. 6:17.) Here we see whence a holy life springs; the gospel was not only delivered to them, but by the regenerating spirit they were delivered into it, and cast into the holy mould of it; and this was the true reason of their obedience in a holy life: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures,” (James, 1:18.) The apostle, in the precedent verse shews us the infinite sun or fountain of all good things, and in this verse he gives us a famous instance in regeneration, opposing it to that concupiscence which is immediately before spoken of; concupiscence is the fountain of sin, and so is regeneration of holy obedience; the very end of regeneration is, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, separate from the world, and consecrated unto God in a holy life, living as those who by regenerating grace are made a choice portion and peculiar people to him. It is observed by some divines, That the holy patriarchs had barren wives, that their posterity might shadow out the church, which is not produced by the power of nature, but of grace; the end of which production is, that fruit might be brought forth unto God in a holy life. The Hebrew doctors say, That God out of his great name Jehovah, added the letter he to the names of Abram and Sarah. Hence that of the Cabalists, Abram non gignit, sed Abraham; Sarai non parit, sed Sarah: in allusion to this, I may say, It is not the human principles, but the divine nature (which believers, the children of Abraham, partake of) that makes them bring forth the fruits of a holy life. We have this exemplified in a greater than Abraham, even in Jesus Christ; he was first conceived of the Holy Ghost, and then gave us that incomparable pattern of holiness in his excellent life. Suitably, we are first supernaturally begotten to a spiritual being, and then we live a holy life: “He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one,” (Heb. 2:11.) Hence Camero observes, that between Christ and believers there is a wonderful communion of nature: both have a human nature, sanctified by the Holy Spirit; he was conceived by the Holy Spirit; they are regenerated by it, that they may live unto God. But to make this point the clearer, I shall consider the two parts of the new creature; that is, faith and love: I call them so, because the apostle, who saith,” Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature,” (Gal. 6:15); saith also, “Neither circumcision availeth, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love,” (Gal. 5:6.) intimating, that faith and love are two great parts of the new creature: a holy life flows from both these; hence some learned divines observe, that the good acts of heathens have an essential defect in them, the good acts of believers have only a gradual defect; but the good acts of heathens have an essential one, in that they do not flow from faith and love, and so cannot centre in the glory of God; therefore St. Austin retracts that speech, wherein he said, philosophos virtutis luce fulcisse, that the philophers did shine with the light of virtue: but to speak distinctly of these two graces.
First. A holy life issues out of faith; a holy life is virtually in faith, and proceeds actually from it; faith sees the commands of God to be, as they are, richly engraven with the stamps and signatures of divine purity and equity; such as proclaim that God is in them of a truth, and that they are the very counterpanes of his heart; and from hence it presses the believer unto obedience, and secretly dictates that these are the very will of God, and must be done; “Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it,” saith David. (Psal. 119:140.) The emphatical [therefore] in the text, cannot be practically understood by any thing but faith; the carnal mind, which is enmity to God, would argue from the purity of the command to the hatred of it; but faith, such is its divine genius, argues from thence to love and obedience. It doth not only point out the divine authority which is stamped upon the command, but shows the purity and rectitude which is there to attract us into our duty; and that we may do it in a free filial manner. Faith derives a free spirit from Christ to make obedience easy and natural to us; a man with his old heart drudges in the ways of God, and brings forth duties as the bond-woman did her son, in a dead servile manner; but when faith comes, the commands are easy; and the will is upon the wheel, ready to move sweetly and strongly in compliance thereunto. The believer is spirited and new natured for obedience; his heart is in a posture to do the will of God; everywhere faith finds arguments and impulsives for it. Doth it look upon the life of Christ? It immediately concludes, these are the steps of our dear Lord, and shall we not follow him? After whom shall we walk if not after him? It is true he walked in pure sinless perfection, such as we cannot reach; but the gracious covenant hath stooped to our frailty, and made us sure that sincerity will be accepted, and how can we deny it, or refuse to comply with such condescending grace? Doth it look upon Christ’s wounds and bloody death? these will cast shame and confusion upon an unholy life. May any one imagine that our Saviour bore the curse and wrath of God, that we might provoke it; or expiated our sins at so dear a rate, as his own blood and life, that we might indulge them? Who sees not now that sin is bloody, and holiness amiable? and what easy terms are proposed to us, when the death and curse was only Christ’s, and the sincere obedience is all that is required to be ours? Doth it look up for the Spirit, the purchase of Christ’s death? We well know where that is to be found: the more we walk in the holy commands and ways of God, the more are we like to have of the gales and divine comforts of it; while we are obeying and doing the will of God, that Spirit will usher in assistances and heavenly consolations upon us; to give us an experimental proof of that promise, that the Holy Spirit is given to them that obey him: doth it look within the vail to the rivers of pleasures and plenitudes of joy in heaven, where pious souls see truth in the original, and drink good at the fountain head? Nothing is more obvious than this, that a holy life is the true way thither; who can rationally think that he can carry the blots and turpitudes of an impure life into such a place, or that any thing less than sincere obedience can make him meet to enjoy God and holy angels there? Nothing can be more vain than such an imagination; as sure as heaven is heaven a holy life must be the way thither. Thus we see what a mighty influence faith hath into holiness; hence Ignatius saith, ἀρχὴ ζωῆς πίσις, faith is the beginning of life; without faith a man cannot live a holy life. And St. Austin calls faith, omnium bonorum fundamentum, the foundation of all good things. So good a thing as a holy life cannot stand without it. A fide, saith another, venitur ad bona opera; unless we begin at faith, we shall never come to a holy life. To conclude this with that of the apostle, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Heb. 11:6.) Therefore without faith it is impossible to lead a holy life, which is very acceptable to him.
The next thing is, a holy life issues out of divine love; without this neither heart nor life can be right; not the heart; the will without divine love in it, is tota cupiditas, all concupiscence, pouring out itself to every vanity that passes by: not the life; whatever good is done without that love, is done servilitèr, non liberalitèr; whatever is in the hand, it is not done out of choice; in animo non facit, his will concurs not as it ought: in God’s account it is as if it were not done at all. Love is the root of a holy life, the summary of the law; though the precepts of the law are many in diversitate operis, in the diversity of the work, yet they are but one in radice charitatis, in the root of charity. True love is donum amantis in amatum; the soul, being drawn and called out of itself by the object loved, yields and surrenders up itself thereunto; if thus we love God, there must needs be a holy life: the heart, when given up and consecrated unto him, cannot choose, but carry the life with it. It would be a prodigy in nature if the heart should go one way, and the life another: true love sets a great price upon its object; and if the object be, as God is, supreme, it rates it above all things; if we set the highest estimate upon God’s will and glory, nothing can divert us from a holy life, which complies with his will, and promotes his glory; it is irrational to neglect that which we value above all other things. True love seeks more and more union with God, to be one spirit with him; to have idem velle, et idem nolle; to love as he loves, that is, holiness; to hate as he hates, that is, sin. It aspires after a further transformation into the divine image and likeness: it never thinks the soul like enough or near enough to him; where it is thus, there a holy life cannot be wanting; the heart being assimilated to God, the life must needs answer the heart, and shine with the rays of the divine image which is there. True love desires to have a complacential rest and delight in God; it flies to him, like Noah’s dove to the ark, there to repose itself. What weight is in a body, that love is in the soul; weight makes the body move towards its centre: love makes the soul tend, by a holy life, to centre in God the supreme goodness, leaving all other things, as the woman of Samaria did her pitcher; it hastens in a way of obedience to enjoy him. Thus we see how a holy life issues out of a regenerate heart, and particularly out of faith and love; the doctrine of it is not to be slubbered over, as if it did merely consist in external actions or moralities. But we must search and see whether there be a new creature, a work of regeneration at the bottom of it. Job, being by his friends charged as a hypocrite, tells them “That the root of the matter was found in him.” (Job 19:28.) He was not a man of leaves and outward appearances only, but the root of true piety was in him; without this all good actions, how specious soever, are but like the apples of Sodom, which, though fair to the eye, upon a touch fall into ashes and smoke.
Thirdly, a holy life proceeds out of a pure intention. Bonum opus intentio facit, intentionem fides dirigit, saith St. Austin.* The intention makes the work good, and faith directs the intention. This is the single eye mentioned by our Saviour: “If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” (Matt. 6:22, 23.) A pure intention casts a spiritual light and lustre upon the body of our good works, but that being wanting, the whole body of our works is dead and dark, like a carcase void of all beauty and excellency. “Let thine eyes look right on, saith the wise man.” (Prov. 4:25.) That is, have a pure intention to the will and glory of God: this is one thing in the church which ravishes the heart of Christ: “Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” (Cant. 4:9.) The first thing which excordiated Christ, and took away his heart, was the one, the single eye; and then the chain of obedience ravished him also: without a pure intention a man, in his fairest actions, squints and looks awry, by a tacit blasphemy he makes as if there were something more excellent than the will and glory of God for him to look unto; and when man squints, God looks off, and will have none of his obedience. “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit to himself.” (Hos. 10:1.) Fruit, and yet empty, is a seeming contradiction, but the words reconcile themselves. He bringeth forth to himself פְרִי יְשַֹׁרֶה לו, he weighs out his fruit to himself: he proportions his religion to himself; all being for himself, God accepts it not, but esteems it as nothing at all: such fruit and mere emptiness are much one before God. He tells them (Levit. 26:27), That they did walk with him בְּקֶרִי in accidente, at all adventures, when they chanced to light upon him, by the bye; and besides their intention, quasi aliud agentes, as if the service of God were a πάρεργον, a business only by the by; but would God accept them, or take it well at their hands? No, he will walk with them בְּקֶרִי too, by chance, at all adventures; his blessings shall come upon them, as it were per accidens; his mind is not towards them, as it is towards those which serve him spiritually. A man’s life cannot be holy preter-intentionally, or by accident: it is a pure intention which spiritualizes and sanctifies the life before God. To clear this, it is to be considered, that the life must be dedicated to God in a double respect; it must be dedicated to him by a conformity to his will. And again, it must be dedicated to him by a tendency to his glory. In both these there must be a pure intention to direct the same.
The first thing is, There must be a pure intention in our conformity to the will of God. Socinus saith, that there is a verbum quoddam interius, a kind of internal word in man; that is, a reason to discern between that which is just and that which is unjust: and then he adds, “He that obeys this internal word, obeys God himself, Etiamsi ipsum Deum non esse quidèm aut sciat aut cogitet;” although he do not know or think that there be a God. And after concludes, “That such an obedience is grateful to God.” But as great an admirer of holiness as this heretic would seem to be, it was no less than a profane assertion to say, that there might be a grateful obedience without any respect at all had to God or his will. Doth not St. Paul condemn in the Athenians, the worship of an unknown God? Doth not Christ charge the Samaritans, that they did worship they knew not what? Yet these are the portenta opinionum, which this master of reason vents to the world. But to pass over this; it is not enough for a holy life, that the thing done be materially good; but it must be therefore done, because God commands it so to be; a holy man follows after holiness, because this is the will of God. Now that the material goodness of a thing is not enough, may appear by these instances:—Jehu, in destroying the house of Ahab, did do that which God commanded him to do; yet God saith, that “He will avenge that blood upon the house of Jehu,” (Hos. 1:4.) And why so? Jehu did that which God commanded, but he did not obey in it; he did it not in compliance with God’s command, but in pursuance of his own design; as it is with the hand of a rusty dial, which stands still (suppose) at ten of the clock, to a traveller passing at that hour it seemeth to go right, but it is but by accident; so was it with Jehu. He seemed to obey in that which hit with his own will; but he did it not upon the account of God’s; for then he would have done other things. But though he destroyed Ahab’s house, yet he did not destroy the calves at Dan and Bethel, for there God’s will did not fall in with his. Another instance we have in the acts of moral virtue in the heathen; those acts were materially good, yet they did not in them serve God, but their own reason. It is true, right reason signifies the very will of God; but they did them not in compliance with reason, as significative of God’s will, but in compliance with it as a chief part of themselves. This is evident upon a double account; the one is this: that they were animals of glory. They did what they did, not in a humble subjection to the will of God, but in a proud self-glorying way; they arrogated all the praise and honour to themselves; in all they did but sacrifice to the pride of their own reason. The other is this: They did not only follow right reason in their moral virtues, but corrupt reason in their idolatries: the apostle saith, “Their foolish heart was darkened,” (Rom. 1:21). Here they followed reason as a part of their corrupt self: which those, who follow it as significative of God’s will, cannot be supposed to do. Right reason, which imports God’s will, was against their idolatries; yet they continued in them. Hence it appears, that in their moral virtues they did not serve God, but their own reason. Hence St. Austin contends, that their virtues were not true virtues. They might be just, sober, merciful; but they did all infidelitèr, without respect to the will and glory of God: malè bonum facit, qui infidelitèr facit. Hence, as Camero observes, Lucretia hated immodesty, and Cato perfidiousness; not out of love to God, but because those things were incongruous to reason. Another instance we have in carnal professors under the gospel; they hear, read, pray, give alms, but they do not do these spiritually, in compliance with the will of God; the duties are high, but the aims in them are low and carnal. Vast is the difference between a holy and a carnal man. A holy man is holy even in natural and civil actions; the kingdom of heaven is by a pure intention brought down into his trade; nay, into his very meat and drink. His deeds are by a prerogative wrought in God: when he toils as a servant in servile employment, yet he serves the Lord Christ; all is spiritualized by a pure intention. But on the other hand, a carnal man is carnal even in spiritual actions. There is, indeed, the opus operatum, the flesh, the outward body of a duty, but there is no soul or spirit in it; no pure intention to carry it up to the will and glory of God, to which it is consecrated. Thus we see, that it is not enough for a holy life that the thing done be materially good: no; it must be done in compliance to the divine will. “I will keep the commandments of my God,” saith David, (Psal. 119:115) He would keep them, not upon any by-account, but because they were God’s, to whose will he dedicated himself. “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” saith our Saviour, (Heb. 10:7). And again, “I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father, which hath sent me,” (John 5:30). Here we have the great pattern of holiness; his will was devoted and swallowed up in God’s: all that he did and suffered, was in conformity to the divine will. We must not dream of any true holiness, till we do what good we do, out of compliance with the divine will; as in matters of faith we must believe, quià Deus dixit, so in matters of practice we must obey, quià Deus voluit. His command must sway and cast the balance in heart and life; the nature of holy obedience is this, to do what God willeth, intuitu voluntatis, because he willeth it; and hence a holy man doth not pick and chuse among the commands of God, but carry a respect to all of them.
The next thing is this: There must be a pure intention to direct our good actions to the glory of God. Seeing God is Alpha, he must be Omega; seeing he is the supreme good, he must be the ultimate end of all things. Nothing can be more rational than this, That a creature should be referred to its Creator; that a finite good should run and do homage to an infinite one; nothing can be more absurd and inordinate than this—that a creature should be a centre to itself, or should be loved or enjoyed for itself; or that God, the most excellent being, should be made but a medium, or should be loved or used for some other thing. This is practically to blaspheme, and say, God is not God, there is something better than he to be loved and enjoyed for itself. When the angels would stay at home, and frui seipsis, enjoy themselves, they became devils, and lost all their glory in a moment. All things therefore must be referred unto God; his glory must be the supreme end; to this, angels fly with eagles’ wings; to this, holy men walk; to this, irrational creatures by a secret instinct are carried; to this, devils, will they, nill they, must be drawn; this is the great end of all things; for a rational creature not to aim at this, is against nature and reason; the want of this made an essential defect in the moral virtues of the Pagans; here they fall short; they did not in them aim at the glory of God. This appears in divers things: they at the best made virtue but pretium sui, the reward of itself for the honesty which was in it. But they looked no further to the glory of God, as they ought; they looked on themselves as the chief object of their love; and so this love never ascended to God; they boasted and gloried in their virtues, as merely their own, and never saw any centre but themselves; they did not therefore aim at the glory of God in them. Hence St. Austin, who pronounces them no true virtues, saith, that true virtues are to be discerned, non officiis, sed finibus; not by the work itself, but by the end; and that their virtues were good only in officio, in the work done; not in fine, in a right end: and that not only the epicureans, who would taste of carnal pleasures; but the stoics, who would set up right reason, did live after the flesh; their virtues were referred to themselves, and that was corrupt flesh; they were no longer virtues, but pieces of pride and presumption. Virtutes, saith the same author, cum ad seipsas referuntur, inflatæ et superbæ sunt, Virtues if referred to themselves, are proud and blow up with their own excellency. Julianus the Pelagian, was so far convinced of this, that he said, they were sterilitèr boni, because they acted not for God: their virtues would do them no good in another world; in all reason, those virtues which are not referred to God as the ultimate end, cannot possibly have anything of holiness in them. They cannot be holy without a consecration to God, and that cannot be without a pure intention towards his glory. It is not therefore enough for a holy life to have moral virtues, but we must search our hearts, and see what our end is; what forms are in naturals, that the end is in morals, “As the man thinketh, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7.) Mens cujusque id est quisque, the man is as his mind is, and his mind is as his end is; though the end be extrinsical to the act in genere entis, yet it is essential to it in genere moris; the act cannot be holy, unless the end be so: hence the apostle tells us, that “Whatsoever we do, all must be done to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31.) The Jewish rabbins say the same, that whatever we do, must be done in nomine Dei, in the name of God: an act not dedicated to that great end, is cut off and separate from its centre. And upon that account it is not holy, but common and profane; no less a nullity in spirituals, than a creature, if cut off from God the fountain of being, would be in naturals: hence St. Austin tells us, That which is good in officio, may yet be sin in fine; for, as the schools speak, Finis dat speciem in moralibus. Those acts which are good in the matter of them may be utterly marred by perverse intention; it becomes us then to look to the scope of our actions. Our Saviour Christ, the great exemplar of sanctity, tells us, that “He sought not his own glory, but his Father’s,” (John, 8:50, compared with John, 7:18.) He was Deus de Deo, God of God; the eternal Creator; yet as he was in formâ servi, in the form of a servant, a man in time, he sought not his own glory, but his Father’s. We see here what is the design of a holy life; it is that God may be glorified: our holiness should shine as a little beam or spark from the Holy One; the drops and measures of mercy in us should point out that infinite ocean of mercy which is in him: we should by our obedience tell the world that God is supreme, and by our sincerity testify that he is omniscient, and present everywhere; we should study how to serve the interest of the blessed God, how to show forth his praise, how to unfold his glory in a holy, righteous, humble, heavenly conversation; still there should be oculus in metam, a pure intention at the glory of God: if we are by a pure intention joined to that great end, then our works will be spiritualized; our holiness will never see corruption; there will be a kind of immortality in every good action: but if we are off from that great end, our holiness perishes, or rather is none at all. There is a worm at the root; one base, low, inferior end or other, putrifies the good work, and makes it moulder into nothing. When the woman in the Revelations was ready to be delivered, the dragon stood before her to devour her child, but it was caught up to God and his throne. A devout papist glosses it thus: “When we bring forth our good works, Satan stands before us to devour them by one false intention or other, and will certainly do it, unless by a pure one they be caught up to God and his glory.” Another expostulates thus: Quid juvat bonorum operum prolem gignere, et eam per intentionis depravationem necare? What profits it to beget a progeny of good works, and to kill it by a depraved intention? A man who wants a right intention, murders his best progeny. The church therefore tells us, that “All her fruits were laid up for Christ,” (Cant. 7:13.) Proper te, Domine, propter te, is the holy man’s motto; all his good works are, by a pure intention, consecrated unto God. When an hypocrite doeth good works, the centre and compass of all is himself only; and upon that account, those works are not good in the eyes of God: but when a saint doeth good works, they fall into God’s bosom, and centre in his glory. To conclude: where pure love adheres to God as the supreme good, there a pure intention will dedicate the life to his glory as the ultimate end; then, and not before, may we call the life holy.
Fourthly. A holy life is humble and dependant upon the influences of God’s Spirit and grace. Hence the apostle bids us “Work out our salvation with fear and trembling,” (Phil. 2:12;) that is, with all humility: and the reason is added, “For God worketh to will and to do of his good pleasure” (v. 13), which would be no reason at all, if we could stand upon our own bottom, and work out our salvation without any dependence upon that grace, which worketh the will and the deed: but if, as the reason tells us, God works the will and the deed of his good pleasure, then we have all the reason in the world to work it out with fear and trembling, as knowing our dependence upon God and his grace. Again, the apostle saith of himself, “I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me.” (1 Cor. 15:10.) Observe his great caution; he ascribes nothing to himself, but all to grace. He said, indeed, I laboured, yet he piously retracts it, saying, yet not I, but the grace of God. He ascribes all to grace, because in all his labours he was in a humble dependence upon it, as being that without which he could do nothing. This note of a holy life doth also show that the moral virtues of the heathens were not right: they were indeed wise, sober, just, merciful: but what was their posture in their doing these things? how did they crow, and reflect upon themselves, and cry up their own reason and will, as the only fountains of virtue? The philosopher, saith Epictetus, expects all ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ from himself. Deorum immortalium munus est, quod vivimus, philosophiæ, quod benè vivimus: Our life is from the Gods; but, which is greater than life, our virtue, is from philosophy. Thus Seneca, their virtuoso, could vie perfection with God himself: Hoc est quod philosophia mihi promittit, ut me parem deo faciat, saith Seneca: philosophy was to make him equal to God. Nay, there is a strain higher: Est aliquid, quo sapiens antecedet Deum, ille naturæ beneficio non suo sapiens est, saith he: there is something wherein a wise man hath the precedence of God: God is God by nature, but the wise man is so by his reason and will. They scorned that virtue should be res beneficiaria, a thing precarious or dependant upon the grace of God; they would have it to be merely and entirely their own. Virtutem nemo unquàm acceptam Deo retulit, nimirùm rectè propter virtutem jure laudamur; in virtute rectè gloriamur; quod non contingeret, si id donum à Deo, non à nobis haberemus, thus Cicero: No man ever thanked God for being virtuous, for virtue we are justly praised, in virtue we rightly glory, which we could not do if it were from God, and not from ourselves: and may we call this holiness? No, surely; it is horrible impiety and desperate pride, for them thus to lift up themselves, and dethrone God the great donor. The angels by reflecting on their own excellencies in a thought were turned into devils; and, I confidently say it, virtues, which by a proud reflex, are turned back upon themselves, lose their nature; being altogether independant upon God, the fountain of goodness, they are no longer virtues, but fancies and nullities. A proud self-subsister is a man in a posture as cross to the gospel as possibly can be; the tumour in his heart makes him incapable of that grace which is given to the humble, the self-sufficiency there makes it impossible for him to live by faith, as the just do; he depends not on God’s grace, and now can he live to his glory; he is all to himself, and what can God be to him? Some Pagans, saith St. Austin, would not be christians, quià sufficiunt sibi de bonâ vitâ suâ, because they could live well of themselves. If a man can stand upon his own bottom, and work out of his own stock, to what purpose are Christ and grace? If he may be a principle and end to himself, what need he go out of his own circle? Such a man as this is an idol to himself, fraught with vanity and horrible presumption; but utterly void of God and a holy life. I shall say no more to this: a holy life is a life of dependance; the just or holy man lives by faith; he looks to God, and is saved; he waits till mercy come; he commits himself to God and his grace; he leans and rolls upon him, as not bearing up his own weight; he casts his burden on him, as being too much for himself. He gives himself to the Lord, resigning up all his property in himself, that God may be all in all; still he is in dependance upon him: he moves but under the first mover; he acts but under the great agent; when he sails towards heaven, he looks for the holy gales; when he sows precious seed, he waits for the heavenly dews and sunbeams: still he depends upon grace. In the 119th Psalm, where we have the breathings of vital religion, David admirably sets forth how in all his holy actings he did depend upon God: “Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts; but O that my ways were directed to do so.” (Verses 4, 5.) “I will keep thy statutes; but O forsake me not utterly.” (Verse 8.) “With my whole heart have I sought thee; but O let me not wander from thy commandments.” (Verse 10.) “I will run the way of thy commandments, but do thou enlarge my heart.” (Verse 32.) “I love thy precepts; but quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving-kindness.” (Verse 159.) “I have chosen thy precepts; O let thine hand help me.” (Verse 173.) We see here the true picture of a holy life: it is working and depending; it is obedience and influence in conjunction. The holy man very well knows, that the new creature, though it be in itself an excellent thing, and more worth than the soul itself, is defectible, and cannot stand alone, or subsist without a divine concourse: it was breathed out from God; and, without his continual spirations to support it, it will vanish into nothing; should God tell him that he should stand alone and upon his own bottom, he would, though richly furnished with divine graces, fall into an agony, and be ready to sink into despair; his heart would immediately suggest to him that he might, with David, roll in adultery and blood; or, with Peter, deny the Lord Christ; or, with Julian, turn total, final apostate, were he left in the land of his own counsel; he knows he might do anything which hath been done by others, St. Austin brings in one speaking thus: Non multa peccavi, I have sinned little, yet love much: and then answers thus; Tu dicis te non multa commississe: Quare? quo regente? Hoc tibi dicit Deus tuus, regebam te mihi, servabam te mihi, agnosce gratiam ejus, cui debes et quod non admisisti? Thou sayest, that thou hast not sinned much: Why? who ruled thee? Thy God saith to thee, I ruled thee, I preserved thee; acknowledge then his grace, to which thou owest even this, that thou hast not sinned as others. The holy man is very sensible that unless God bear him up with his grace, he shall soon sink into all manner of sin. Hence that of Luther, Vita hominis nihil aliud est nisi oratio, gemitus, desiderium, suspirium ad misericordiam Dei: Our life should be a perpetual breathing after that grace of God, upon which we depend: were we full of divine light, yet if we should shut the windows, and go about to possess it in a self-subsistence, we should soon be in the dark, and find by experience that every beam hangs upon that grace which is above: were we never so rich in inherent graces, unless there were influences from heaven also, we should soon spend our stock, and become bankrupts. The holy man is a part or member of Christ, and lives in dependence upon him as the head. There is, as St. Chrysostom saith, τὸ πνεδμα ἄνωθεν ἐπιῤῥεόμὲνον, a Spirit descending from Christ above, which touches all his members, and makes a kind of spiritual continuity between him and them. Hence they are said in Scripture to live in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, do all in the influence of that Spirit, which comes down from the Head to actuate their graces. Hence St. Paul saith, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,” (Gal. 2:20.) His graces, as they had their being from Christ, the true Immanuel, so were they continued and actuated by the influences of his Spirit which, in a sober sense, are a kind of Immanuel, God with us, to uphold and quicken us to all holy obedience. As the human nature of Christ acted not in a separate way, but in union with the divine; so the believer’s graces do nothing apart, but all in union with Christ. Still there must be, as the Milevitan council tells us, an adjutorium gratiæ, a supernatural aid to work in us to will and to do. When we do good, then, as the Arausican council hath it, “Deus in nobis atq. nobiscum, ut operemur, operatur;” God works in and with us, to make us work. The holy man’s powers and graces cannot go alone. He is, therefore, depending upon that Spirit which acts the sons of God in pure ways towards heaven. To deny this dependence is, like the worshippers of angels, “Not to hold the head, from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment, ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God,” (Col. 2:19.) Were the holy man off from the head, what would become of him? what illapses of the Spirit or influences of grace could he look for in a state separate from him? how could he remain holy, or continue in the divine life any longer? in such a case he would be no longer a living branch, but ὡς κλῆμα, a quasi branch, dead and withered, and fit for the fire, as the expression is, (John, 15:6.) He could no more walk in holiness, than the old Dionysius (as the fable runs) could walk a great way with his head off. We see, then, what manner of thing a true holy life is; it is that which stands in doing the will of God in a way of humble dependence upon his grace; it is not enough to do that which is good, but we must do it waiting, and looking up to the God of grace, that he would strengthen our inner man, order our steps, hold up our goings in his paths, incline our hearts, and work all our works in us; that he would, by the continual supplies of his Spirit, enlighten us when dark, quicken us when dead, draw us when backward, hold us when falling, enlarge us when in straits, and actuate our graces in the midst of our infirmities. How excellent is the life, when God’s arm joins itself to ours to set it a working; when the Spirit breathes on our graces, and the spices flow out; when the influences of auxiliary grace are as dew; and the roots of habitual graces cast forth themselves in holy works suitable thereunto; when there is grace with our spirit, and, in a sense, a kind of Immanuel, God with us, to incline our hearts to do all the will of God; and in the power of his grace we set ourselves seriously to the doing of it? This is indeed a holy life; not only good in the matter, but pious in the manner of it: a vein of faith and dependance runs through every good work. God, the fountain and original of holiness, is sanctified in every step we take; there is a holy life in us, but the fountain of life is above; we do good works, but God is the great operator—he works all our works in us. I shall conclude with that of the Arausican council, Adjutorium Dei etiàm renatis ac Sanctis semper est implorandum, ut ad finem bonum pervenire, vel in bono opere perdurare possint. (Can. 10.) Help from the Holy One must be ever implored, even by the saints themselves, that they may arrive at the good end, and abide in the good work.
Fifthly, in a holy life there must be a sincere mortification of sin, without any salvo or exception; no known sin may be indulged or spared. It is true in a holy man there are relics of indwelling sin adhering to him; there are quotidian infirmities, effluviums of human frailty breathing forth from him; but neither of these are indulged, both are inevitable in this life: original corruption is a very great burden to him: it is the grief of his heart to have such an evil in his bosom; to be a clog upon his faculties, a damp upon his prayers, a cooler upon his zeal and charity, and a stain upon all his duties and good works. This makes him groan and cry out, “Oh! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? This is an evil always present; the holy man shakes himself, and yet it adheres; he flies, and yet it encompasses; he mortifies, and yet he must mortify on; it is not, it will not be extinct till death dissolves him into dust. He prays, weeps, sweats, fights, runs, labours, and yet he cannot make a total riddance of it. However, he indulges it not. In like manner is it with his daily infirmities; these are not indulged, but they lie as a heavy burden upon him: he wishes for, he breathes after perfection. Oh! that there were no remaining sin—no motes of infirmity. But alas! it will not be here: Concupiscere nolo, et concupisco, saith the father; Innate corruption will be stirring and bubbling up in us; all that can be done on earth is to war and fight against it; the triumph, the crown of sinless perfection, can be found nowhere but in heaven. But to clear this particular, I shall set down two things.
The one is this: a man who indulges or allows sin in himself, cannot, while he doth so, lead a holy life; he hath no principles for it; no principle of repentance: he cannot mourn over sin while he joys in it; he cannot hate sin while he loves it; he cannot forsake sin while he follows after it. No principle of faith; he cannot trust in God’s mercy when he rebels, and is in arms against him; he cannot receive the Lord Christ, when he hath another master to rule over him; he cannot close in with the precious promises of the gospel when he embraces the lying promises of sin. No principle of holy love; he cannot truly love God with an idol in his heart; he cannot love him and close in with sin his great enemy; he cannot love him, and habitually willingly violate his commands. Such an one can have no pure intention towards God’s will or glory: not towards God’s will; he obeys with a salvo or exception; he picks and chooses among the divine commands; he complies only with those commands which cross not his darling lust. The Jewish rabbins say, He that saith, I receive the whole law, except one word only, despises the command of God. The same divine authority is upon all the commands; and that obedience, which is, with the exception of one command which crosses the indulged lust, is as none at all: nor yet towards God’s glory. How can he glorify God, who by wilful sinning dishonours him? or how can he aim at that glory, who aims at the satisfaction of his own lust? or which way can one promote two such contrary ends, as that glory and his own satisfaction? Heaven and hell, light and darkness, holiness and impurity, may as soon be reconciled as two such contrary ends can meet together. Every indulged lust is one idol or other: either it is Baal, pride and lordliness; or Ashtaroth, wealth and riches; or Venus carnal and sensual pleasure; or Mauzzim, force and earthly power; unless the idol be put away, we cannot serve God in a holy life.
The other thing is this: It is of high concern to a holy life to mortify sin. A holy man is one in covenant with God; therefore he must maintain war against sin, the enemy of God. Sin is an opposite to God, a rebellion against his sovereignty, a contradiction to his holiness, an abuse to his grace, a provocation to his justice, a disparagement to his glory; and how can a holy man, a friend of God, do less than set himself against it, that he may kill and utterly destroy it? “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil,” saith the Psalmist, (Ps. 97:10.) The exhortation is pregnant with excellent reason: If you do indeed love God, who is purity, power, wisdom, excellency, itself; ye can do no less than hate sin, which is pollution, weakness, folly, and vileness; and if you do hate it, you will seek the utter ruin and extirpation of it: a holy man is one in union with Christ, and upon that account he must mortify sin: in Christ crucified he hath a pattern of mortification; what was done to his pure flesh in a way of expiation, must be done to our corrupt flesh in a way of mortification. The nails which fastened him to the cross, tell us, that our corruption must have such a restraint upon it, that it may, like one on a cross, be disabled to go forth into those acts of sin which it is propense unto; the piercing and letting out his heart-blood, shews us that the old man must not only be restrained, but pierced; that the vital blood, the internal love of sin may be let out of the heart; he was active in his passion; he freely laid down his life, yet violence was done to him; in like manner we must freely sacrifice our lusts; we must willingly die to sin, yet sin must not die a natural death, but a violent one; it must be stabbed at the heart, and die of its wounds: and, because it will not die all at once, it must by little and little languish away till it give up the ghost; there must be mortification upon mortification, because sin is long a dying. But further; we have from Christ not an examplar of mortification only, but a spirit and divine power for the work, while by faith we converse about the wounds of Christ; we have that Spirit from him which mortifies the deeds of the body, (Rom. 8:13.) That mind of Christ which makes us suffer in the flesh, ceasing from sin, “That we may no longer live to the lusts of men, but to the will of God,” (1 Pet. 4:1, 2.) If, then, the holy man will live like himself, and as becomes a member of Christ, he must by that virtue and spirit, which he hath from him, crucify his lusts and corruptions: thus the apostle, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” (Gal. 5:24.) They ought to crucify them; they do crucify them so far, that sin can reign no longer; they go on crucifying every day more and more, that the body of sin may be destroyed.
Moreover, a holy man hath such a divine faith, as blasts all the world in comparison of heavenly things; in the eyes of faith, earthly riches are not the true ones: those treasures which glitter so much to sense, are but poor moth-eaten things; the world’s substance is but a shadow, an apparition, a thing that is not; too low for an immortal soul to aim at; too mean to enrich the inward man; the sensual pleasures which ravish flesh and blood are but the vain titillations of the outward man; momentary things; such as perish in the using, and die in the embraces, leaving nothing behind them but a sting and worm in the conscience of the poor voluptuary. Mundane glories, which take carnal men so much, appear to be but a blast—a little popular air: to a man up among the stars, the whole earth would be but a small thing; and to a man who by faith converses in heaven, earthly crowns and sceptres are no better. Now when sin, which uses to wrap up itself in one piece of the world or other, is blasted in its covers and dresses of apparent good; when those pomps and fancies of the world, which usually paint and cover sin, to render it eligible unto men, are discovered by faith to be but vanities and empty nothings. Sin will be loved no longer: nay, it will look according to its own hue like a vile, base, deformed thing, fit for nothing but to be hung upon a cross; there to die and expire. Hence it appears that a holy man, as long as his faith discovers a vanity and nothingness in the fairest prospects of the world, must needs overcome the world, and the lusts of it. Again: a holy man, according to that supernatural consecration which is upon him, surrenders up his love, and joy, and delight to God and Christ and heavenly things; the stream of his heart, which before run out upon the lying vanities here below, is now turned to the excellent things above; his conversation is in heaven; his treasure and his heart are both there; and then what must become of sin? must it not needs die away, and become as a body without a spirit in it? It is the love, and the joy, and the delight of man which animate sin; but if these are not here any longer, but risen and gone away into the upper world, to place and centre themselves upon the excellent objects which are there, then sin must needs languish and die away; it hath nothing to animate or enliven it any more: were this divine surrender in perfection, sin could not so much as be; and proportionably where it is but in truth only, sin must needs grow heartless and powerless. Notable is that of the apostle, Walk in the Spirit, i. e. in the elevations of holy faith and love, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of flesh. (Gal. 5:16.) Sin shall grow weak, and by little and little give up the ghost.
To conclude this character; a holy man, which way soever he looks, sees just reason to mortify sin; the rectitude of the law saith, it must die for its crookedness and ataxy: the threatening of death saith, it must die, or the soul must die in the room of it. The bleeding wounds of our dying Lord say, that the crucifier must not be spared, but die after that manner. That excellent guest, the Holy Spirit, saith, it is too vile a thing to live under the same roof with itself. The precious immortal soul saith, the wounds and turpitudes of it are too intolerable to be endured any longer. Heaven, that blessed region, saith, it is not to be tolerated by any who mean to enter into that place: we must then “mortify the deeds of the body, that we may live,” (Rom. 8:13.) that we may live a life of holiness here, and a life of glory in another world.
Sixthly: A holy life is not made up of the exercise of this or that grace in particular; but of the exercise of all graces, pro hic et nunc, as occasion serves. St. Peter saith, “That we must add to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness charity.” (2 Pet. 1:5, 6, 7.) Holy men, who are partakers of the divine nature, spoken of immediately before, have grace upon grace; and must, as occasion serves, exercise one after another, that there may be a constellation of graces appearing in their lives, to give the more full resemblance of the perfections which are in their Father in heaven; our Saviour Christ (in whom all graces are set forth in lively and orient colours, and are really and practically exemplified to our view) had this character justly given him, he went up and down doing good; every step one odour of grace or other broke forth from him: subjection to parents or magistrates, or zeal towards God, or humility in washing his disciples’ feet, or meekness under false accusations, or melting compassions, letting out cures on the bodies, and heavenly truths on the souls of men, or admirable patience under great sorrows and sufferings; one glorious ray of holiness or other was always coming from him: proportionably, a holy man, who is a living member of Christ, must be in his measure “holy in all manner of conversation,” (1 Pet. 1:15.) In the original it is, ἐν πάσῃ ἀνασροφῆ, which way soever he turn himself, he must be holy in it: he must have a respect to God at every turn; this will best appear by the particular parts of his life.
Take a holy man in divine ordinances, there he is holy. He would first be sure that he is in a right church, and in a right ordinance: in a right church; for there the Lord commands the blessing, even life for evermore; in a right ordinance, for unless the institution be from God, the benediction cannot be expected from him: and then he would serve God in a right manner, and sanctify his name in his approaches; when he comes to an ordinance, he hath high thoughts of God, as being the infinite majesty of heaven, the excellency of all perfections; one whom angels adore, and devils tremble at: accordingly he lies low before God; he serves him with reverence and godly fear; he draws nigh to him, yet forgets not the infinite distance between them; he blushes to think that he must go before so pure a majesty, with the dust of mortality about him: and again he blushes to think, that he must do so in the spots and rags of many infirmities, which being in the soul are much more abasive than those in the body. The beams of the divine glory strike a holy awe into him and make him conclude, that a soul, though entirely given up, is to God but a little, very little thing; but as a beam to the sun, or a drop to the ocean; and which is matter of more shame and abasement; the soul is much less, in that the innate corruption holds back, and the bewitching world steals away a great deal of it from God: very little or rather nothing it is, that we can give to him; however the holy man, such is his divine temper, would not abate any thing, but endeavours in ordinances to give God his spirit and highest intention; he knows that God is a Spirit, and mere bodily worship is as nothing to him. What is the bowing of the knee, when there is an iron sinew of rebellion within? or the lifting up of the hands or eyes, when there is an earthly depression upon the affections? To what purpose is an open ear, when the heart is deaf, and shut up against holy truths? And what a shadow, a mere lie in worship is the body, when the mind is stolen away, and gone after vanity? He therefore sets himself to serve God in spirit and in truth; while God is speaking to him in his sacred word, he would nave no converse at all with worldly objects; he bids these stand by, and not interrupt his attention, while he is speaking to God in prayer; he would not only pour out words to God, but his very heart and spirit, if it were possible, all of it, without reserving so much as a glance, or a piece of a broken thought towards carnal things: a duty to the great God is a thing of vast import and consequence; therefore he would do it with the greatest strength of intention and affection. David like, he calls upon his soul, and all that is within him, to intend the thing in hand; but because when he hath done his utmost, there will yet be many failures and infirmities; the holy man looks up to mercy for a pardon, and offers up all his duties in and through Jesus Christ the great Mediator. In the Old Testament the holy man prayed thus: “Remember, O my God, and spare me,” (Neh. 13:22). “Enter not into judgment with thy servant,” (Psal. 143:2). “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who shall stand?” (Psal. 130:3.) The sense of their many imperfections made them fly to a mercy-seat. In the New Testament we are expressly directed, “To do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,” (Col. 3:17). “To make our approaches to God in and through him,” (Eph. 2:18). “To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by him,” (1 Pet. 2:5). Every duty must be tendered unto God in and through the Mediator: therefore the holy man doth not stand upon the perfection of his services, but implore a pardon of his infirmities; neither doth he tender his services immediately unto God, but he puts them into the hand of Christ, that being perfumed, and as it were, glorified by his merits, they might from thence ascend up before God, and be graciously accepted by him. Moreover, because ordinances are but media and channels of grace, the holy man in the use of them lifts up his eyes to God, to have them filled with the divine Spirit and blessing; a mere outward sanctuary of ordinances will not serve his turn; he would see the power and the glory, the goings of God in it. He cannot live by bread only; not the life of nature by the bread of creatures only; not the life of grace by the bread of ordinances only: in both he waits for that word of blessing which proceeds out of God’s mouth; this is that which makes the ordinance communicate grace and comfort to us. When the Word is preached, it is not enough to the holy man to have the sacred truths outwardly proposed, or to hear the voice of a man teaching the same; but his heart and his flesh cry out for the living God. Oh! that God would speak inwardly in words of life and power; that deep and divine impressions might be made upon the heart, to sanctify it by the truth, and to cast it more and more into the mould of the divine will! Oh! that God would come and shine into the heart, that he would uncover the holy things, and bring forth evangelical mysteries to the view, that the heart might be ravished in the sweet odours of Christ, that the promises might flow out as a conduit of celestial wine, and make the soul taste some drops of the pure rivers of pleasure which are above! This is the desire and expectation of the holy man in hearing; in like manner, in prayer, it is not enough to him to pour out words before God, but he looks for the Holy Spirit to help his infirmities, and breathe upon his devotions; that as Christ pleads above by his merits and sweet-smelling sacrifice, so the Holy Spirit may plead in the heart, with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered; being conscious to himself, what a thing his heart is, how much coldness, hardness, straitness, is yet remaining there, he waits for the Spirit to be as fire from heaven to inflame the heart, and make it ascend up unto God; to melt it, and make it open and expand towards heaven; to set it a running in spiritual fluency and enlargements towards God. The holy man esteems all to be lost and to no purpose, unless he can have some converse and communion with God in every ordinance: his heart and the ordinance have both the same scope and tendency, that there may be a divine intercourse between God and him: “God draws, and he runs,” (Cant. 1:4.) God saith, “Seek ye my face”; and the soul answers,” Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” (Psal. 27:8.) There are divine influences and spirations on God’s part, and there are compliances and responses in the holy heart; in prayer it burns and aspires after him who set it a fire by the communications of his grace and love; in praise it carries back the received blessings, and lays them down at the feet of the great donor; in the hearing of the word, it hath something or other to answer to every part; it trembles at the threatening; it leaps up, and in triumphs of faith embraces the promise; it complies with the pure command in holy love and obedience: without this communion, in which God and man spiritually meet together, the holy man looks on ordinances but as dry empty things, void of life, and separate from their chief end; but if the Holy Spirit breathe upon the heart, and that breathe out itself to God; if the soul set itself to seek God’s face, and that irradiate the duty; then the ordinance is full of life, and reaches its end. The holy man then perceives that God is in it of a truth: hence one, as Bellarmine relates, used to rise from duty with these words, Claudimini oculi mei, claudimini, nihil enim pulchrius jàm videbitis; be shut, O my eyes, be shut, for I shall never behold a fairer object than God’s face, which I have now beheld.
Take him in alms and charity, he is holy there; he knows that he was born, nay, and by a divine generation born again, that he might do good. It was a notable speech of the philosoper, The beasts, plants, sun, stars, were designed for some work or other, σὐ οὐν πρὸς τὶ; and what are you for? When he thinks that he is a man, a rational creature, and which is more, a new creature, and by adoption one of the seed royal of heaven; he sees a necessity laid upon him to be fruitful in charity and good works: if he who hath a first and a second birth, who hath the good things of nature and grace, do not do good, who shall do it? or where may it be expected? The holy man therefore sets himself to do good; he doth not only do the outward work of charity, but he doth it readily and freely; when an object of charity meets him, he doth not say, Go and come again. When he himself goes to the mercy-seat, he would not have God delay or turn him off after that manner: neither will he do so to his poor brother. Not only the command of God, but the taste that he hath of the divine grace, make him ready and free in good works; his good works have not only a body, but there is a free spirit in them; and as the thing given supplies the receiver’s want, so the manner of giving revives his spirit: the holy man doth not only give alms, but he doth it out of love and compassion; Beneficentiâ ex benevolentiâ manare debet; he doth good out of good will; he opens his heart as well as his hand; he doth not only draw out his alms, but his soul to the hungry; he doth not only give outward things, but himself, in real compassions to the afflicted: he knows that sacrifice is not acceptable to God without mercy; no more is the outward almsdeed without inward pity; he, therefore, as the elect of God, puts on bowels of mercy, that when his hand is distributing, his bowels may be moved towards those in misery, that he may not give a mere external thing, but aliquid sui ipsius, something of himself—I mean, his compassion; it doubles the alms to give it with pity; mere mercy in itself is a comfort to the afflicted, but when it comes with a supply of necessaries in its hand, it is then a comfort in matter and manner. Moreover, the holy man hath not only human bowels, but Christian; in all his acts of charity he moves from a high principle, and unto a high end; and upon that account the apostle calls those acts “Pure religion,” (Jam. 1:27.) And St. Austin calls them a sacrifice, a divine thing. First, I say he acts from a high principle; he doth not extend mercy to men in misery only out of humanity, but out of love to God; he doth not respect them merely because they are his own flesh, such as are in conjunction of nature with him, but chiefly because they are rational creatures, such as stand in relation to God, and are capable of union with him; the love of God, (who alone is to be loved for himself,) is the great wheel which moves our love and mercy towards our neighbour. St. John argues thus, “Whoso seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” (1 John, 3:17.) It is all one, as if he had said, There is no love of God at all in him; for if there were any that would open his bowels towards his brother, piety towards God is the right fountain of charity towards men. Again: he acts unto a high end; “Charitas est motus animi ad fruendum Deo propter ipsum, et se et proximo propter Deum,’ saith St. Austin: Charity is the motion of the soul to enjoy God for himself, and itself and its neighbour for God. The holy man in his acts of charity hath a supreme respect unto God; he would resemble and glorify God in them; there is nothing wherein he can shew himself more like unto God than in mercy and love: God, when he proclaims his name, (Ex. 34:6,) insists very much upon mercy. “He is good and doeth good.” (Psalm 119:68.) Therefore the holy man would be still a doing of good, that he might in his sphere, though but a little one, resemble that God who doth good in the great sphere of nature. God makes his sun to shine and rain to fall everywhere; and the holy man who would be like him, endeavours to shine in good works, and drop in charities upon all occasions; in all he would have no other centre than God and his glory; his aim is that those drops and models of mercy which are in him may bear witness to the infinite fountain and ocean of mercy which is above; still he desires that God in all things may be glorified.
Take him in prosperity, he is holy there. I may say of him what the historian saith of Mauritius the emperor, His prosperity doth not make him leave his piety. He esteems himself less than the least of God’s mercies; he holds all that he hath in capite of God the great donor; he desires to see free grace in every crumb of bread, drop of drink, and moments of patience; when there is a table spread, and a cup running over, and an affluence of all good things, he suffers nothing to be lost, but returns all in a thankful acknowledgment unto the giver. Thus holy David, “All things are of thee.” (1 Chron. 29:14.) Life, health, peace, prosperity, the whole catalogue of blessings are from God; the holy man looks on it as no less than sacrilege to subtract the least fragment from him. He looks upon blessings in dependance upon their original; he sees the sense and meaning of them to be this, that our hearts may be guided and directed by them to the infinite fountain of goodness. He possesses them, but he will not be possessed by them; they may flow round about him, but they must keep their distance, and not enter into the heart, which is reserved as a holy place for God; while they stand without and minister to the outward man, they are blessings, and glasses of the divine goodness; but if once they leave their station and are taken into the heart, they are idols and vanities; there is a blast and a curse upon them, because they turn away the heart from God the fountain of living waters. In the midst of all outward blessings, the holy man is but a pilgrim in this world; here is not his happiness or centre of rest; he looks after far greater and nobler things than those which grow here below; corn, and wine, and oil are in his eyes but poor things in comparison of God’s favour. Heaven is his country, and, by a divine touch, from thence his heart, though courted by the world, will point thither; he resolves with himself he will be happy only in God, and in nothing else: whilst he is here he uses his outward good things in the fear of God. He knows that, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” God is the absolute proprietor, and man but a steward only. The poor man in his necessities hath a right to have supply out of the superfluities of the rich; the charity of the rich is but fidelitas in alieno, Faithfulness in that which is another man’s. (Luke 16:12.) Riches are a talent and must be accounted for; if oppression make the beam cry out of the wall, or if outward things become the fuel of lust, or if the non-user bring a rust upon them, it will be a very ill reckoning at the last day; therefore the holy man endeavours to perform his trust; he is, what his riches call for, rich in good works; the goodness of God to him makes him good to others; the open hand of the great donor makes him ashamed to shut his own. His great interest lies in the other world; and upon that account he exchanges his outward things thither, by such acts of charity as follow him and live for ever.
Take him in adversity, he is holy there; as in prosperity, his answer is (what was so much in the mouth of the ancient christians), Deo gratias, God be thanked for this mercy and that mercy; so in adversity, his answer is a holy silence under God’s hand: or if he open his mouth, it is in some such language as that, “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good:” who should sit at the stern, and rule all, but he? His will is supreme, and a law to itself; his actions are all just and wise; the holy man will not murmur, or charge him foolishly; he will not interpose in the government, or so much as start a thought that things might be better ordered than they are; whatever his sufferings be, still he would have God govern; still he concludes, nothing can be better than that which God doth. When he is tossed on earth, he casts his anchor in heaven; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord; in an admirable manner he hangs upon him who smites him; he adheres to him, who seems to cast him off; he looks for a secret support from him, who presses him down; he expects that the very hand which wounded, should heal him; though all outward things take wing, and fly away, he will not part with God; though God wrap himself up in a cloud of black providences, yet he will wait at the door of one promise or other, till he have a smile or glimpse of the divine favour; and, if that be suspended, yet he will wait on, and comfort himself, The affliction is not hell; all the troubles of this life are but the ashes of the furnace,—a little time will blow them away; and then comes a heaven, an eternity of joy and comfort, which pays for all. The holy man will wait, but that is not all; he sets himself seriously to read the meaning of the cross; and by comparing his heart and this affliction, he picks out the sense thus: Here, saith he, pointing to his heart, is the vanity, and there is the fan which drives away the chaff; here is the dross of earthly affections, and there is the fire which melts it away; here are the ill humours, and there the bitter pills which purge them out; and while he is humbling himself in such considerations as these, at last he comes to read love in the cross, and to have a sweet experience, that even that works for his good; God doth it in faithfulness, to wean him from the breasts of creatures, and to endear heaven to him; to make him learn that great lesson, To be subject to the Father of Spirits, and live for ever; to make his faith and patience come forth, as gold doth out of the furnace, in their pure lustre and glory: and, as soon as he perceives this, all is well; he can now sit down, and sing Deo gratias; not to blessings only, but also to afflictions; upon the whole account he finds, “That it was good for him that he was afflicted. Thus he sanctifies God under the cross”.
Take him in his contracts and dealings in the world, he is holy there; he doth, according to that golden rule, Do to others as he would have them do to him. In his contracts he deals bonâ fide, truly and honestly: so he makes, and so he performs them. In selling, he will have no more gain than what is reasonable, and in a just proportion; in buying, he will allow as much; he imposes not upon an unskilful person, but uses him as one would a child, in a fair manner; he will not ὑπερβαίνειν, go beyond his brother; he will not have lucrum in arcâ, damnum in conscientiâ, gain in the purse, with loss in the conscience. No, he loves plainness, he speaks the truth, he doth that which is just and right; he carries himself like a true honest man, and this he doth with a respect to God. Three great things God calls for in the prophet, “To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8.) If there be no righteousness there will be no mercy; if there be no mercy there will be no humble walking with God. Three great things the gospel grace calls for in the apostle, “To live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world.” (Tit. 2:12.) Here is summa vitæ christianæ, the total of Christianity, to live soberly, as to ourselves, righteously as to others, and godly as to God. Still righteousness is one of the three; the holy man deals justly, not merely because it is congruous to his own reason, but because it is congruous to the will of God; the fear of God urges him to it. If he did oppress, “Destruction from God would be a terror to him.” (Job 31:23.) A divine Nemesis would pursue and overtake him. The love of God constrains him to it; God is true to him, and he will not be false to others; God is merciful to him, and he will not be unjust to others. The honour of religion calls for it from him: he that is pious in the first table, must not be wicked in the second. A christian must not in honesty be below a pagan; the child of grace must not live against principles of nature; grace is not to take away morality, but to refine and spiritualise it. A horrible shame and blot it would be upon Christianity, if pagans should live as men, in just and fair dealing among themselves, and yet christians should live as wolves or beasts of prey, tearing and devouring one another. In nobis Christus patitur opprobrium, saith Salvian, As often as we do wrong, the Holy Jesus suffers a reproach in us: the Holy Man, therefore, will deal justly, that religion may not suffer by him.
Lastly, take him in a calling, he is holy there; he knows he must not be idle. That of Cato hath been received as an oracle, Nihil agendo, malè agere discis; idleness teaches to do evil; it opens an ear to every extravagant motion; it entertains every sinful fancy; it tempts the devil, the great tempter, to tempt us. St. Jerom adviseth his friends thus: Semper aliquid boni operis facito, ut diabolus te semper inveniat occupatum; Be always a doing of some good thing, that the devil may not find thee at leisure: the holy man, therefore, will have a calling, and therein he will abide with God, (1 Cor. 7:24): and his works, by a divine prerogative, “are wrought in God. (John 3:21.) The ordinance of God, which saith, That he must eat in sudore vultûs, in the sweat of his brow, presses him to diligence, that he may do what the idle man cannot, eat his own bread. The all-seeing eye of God, which is upon all his ways, makes him faithful in his station. A mean servant, if holy, serves “in singleness of heart, fearing God.” (Col. 3:22.) The eye of God, which is upon him, causes him to be upright in the service; the holy man in the works of his calling so carries himself, ac si nihil aliud in hoc mundo esset præter illum et Deum, as if there were none in all the world besides himself and God; still his eye is upon God; whatever he doth he doth it heartily, “as unto the Lord, and not unto men,” (Col. 3:23.) The great end and centre of his actions is God’s glory, and under that he designs to do good to men; he would conferre aliquid in publicam, cast in something into the common good of mankind. A holy magistrate hath the fear of God upon him; he judges not for man, but for the Lord; he judges righteous judgment, and that, as the rabbins say, is a sure sign that the Shecinah, the divine presence, is with him in the judgment: a holy minister carries with him an Urim and Thummim, light in his doctrine, and integrity in his life. He burns in zeal for God and Christ; he melts in labours and compassions for the souls of men. His motto is the same with that of Mr. Perkins, “Verbi minister es, hoc age.” In a word, whatever the calling be, the holy man is active, faithful, bent for the glory of God; still he remembers that he is a christian; religion hath an influence upon his calling. His particular calling, which is vocatio ad munus, to a course of life, is made subordinate to his general calling, which is vocatio ad fœdus, to the faith and obedience of the Gospel.
Thus we see, a holy man is like himself at every turn, as occasion is; one odour of grace or other is still a breaking forth from him.
Seventhly, In a holy life there is not only an exercise of graces, but in that exercise a growth of them: the holy man of a plant comes to be a tree of righteousness; of a babe he comes to be a man in Christ; he goes from strength to strength; his path is as the shining light, “which shines more and more unto the perfect day,” (Prov. 4:18.) He travels on from virtue to virtue, to meet the everlasting day. He grows in every part of the new creature, till he come to heaven, where grace is perfected in glory. His knowledge grows; by following on to know the Lord, he comes to know more of him; by doing of God’s will, he comes to understand it better than ever he did: the eye is more open, the heart is more unveiled, the truth is more sealed to the mind, the understanding is more quick in the fear of the Lord, the taste and savour of divine things is higher than it was before: he had, at his first conversion, a spiritual knowledge and understanding, but exercising himself to godliness, he comes by degrees “to all knowledge,” (1 Cor. 1:5), and “to riches of understanding,” (Col. 2:2). Notions are enlarged, and withal heavenly things are known per gustum spiritualem, by a spiritual taste of them: his faith grows. At first there was but contactus; but upon the exercise of graces there comes to be complexus fidei; the touch of Christ by faith is advanced into an embrace; the recumbency on his blood and righteousness is stronger; the subjection to his royal sceptre is more full than it was; the reliance on promises, and compliance with commands, are both raised up to a higher pitch than they were before; at last adherence comes to be assurance. His love grows; there comes to be a higher estimate set upon God, a closer union with him, a greater complacence in him than there was before. At last, love becomes a vehement flame, (Cant. 8:6.) flamma Dei, the flame of God, which burns up the earthly affections, and aspires after the full fruition of God in the holy heavens. Also, his obedience and patience are upon the increase: by much obeying, the intention becomes more pure, the will more free, the obedience more easy and abundant; he doth not only do the work of the Lord, but he abounds in it; he doth not only bring forth fruit, but “much fruit,” (John, 15:8.) By patient bearing of afflictions, the art or divine mystery of suffering comes to be understood: the heart is yielded and resigned up to the divine pleasure; he would be what God would have him be; he hath not only patience, but “all patience,” (Col. 1:11.) Patience hath not only a work, but “a perfect work,” (James. 1:4.) Thus in the holy man grace is still a growing.
Further; the holy man grows every way; he grows inward; by exercising himself to godliness his vital principles become more strong, his supernatural heat is increased, his inner man is strengthened more than ever it was before; he hath a divine vigour to overcome corruptions, to repel temptations, to live above earthly things, to perform heavenly duties, and to endure sufferings. He is strengthened “in the inner man,” (Eph. 3:16,) and that “in all power,” (Col. 1:11,) to do what is decorous to his spiritual nature: he grows outward; he hath not only the fruits of righteousness, but “he is filled with them,” (Phil. 1:11.) The influences of grace and supplies of the Spirit, make him to bring forth much fruit, and that with great variety; as occasion serves, all the fruits of the Spirit, “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” which the apostle mentions, (Gal. 5:22, 23,) break forth from him in their spiritual glory; “He is like the tree planted by the rivers of waters,” (Ps. 1:3,) which hath a fruit for every season; or like “Joseph’s fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall,” (Gen. 49:22.) There is a redundance and exuberancy of holy fruits, which shew that he hath a divine spirit, a well of living water in him springing up into all obedience and good works. He grows upward; by conversing in holy things, he is unearthed and unselved; he converses more than ever in heaven; the glory of God is more precious to him; his intention towards it is more pure than it hath been; he waits and longs to be in that blessed region where God is all in all: every duty and good work looks up more directly than was usual, to God the great centre and end of all things. He grows downwards, I mean in humility; by conversing with God he comes to have a greater light than ever, which discovers the majesty and purity of God, the rectitude and holiness of the law, the infirmity and relics of corruption in the lapsed nature of man; and this discovery makes him very humble and vile in his own eyes; even his very lapses and falls serve occasionally to this growth: hence St. Austin, treating on those words, “All things work together for good to them that love God,” (Rom. 8,) adds, Etiam si deviant et exorbitant, hoc ipsum eis faciat proficere in bonum, quia humiliores redeunt et doctiores; Experience tells him that he is nothing, and grace is all.
Moreover, the holy man never thinks that he hath grace enough; never saith, I am perfect, or, I have attained; this would shew him to be no holy man, to have no grace at all. He is still a breathing and pressing after more grace; the divine touch, which in conversion was made upon his heart, causes it ever after to point towards God the fountain of grace; the sweet taste of grace which he hath had, makes him earnestly thirst after more; it is true, he has not a thirst of total indigence: in this respect “he shall never thirst,” (John 4:14.) but he hath a thirst of holy desires after more grace; his soul pants after more of the divine image: Oh! that he were more like unto God! that his will were swallowed up in the divine will! Nothing can satisfy him, unless he be made more holy. He avoids those things which hinder spiritual growth; he will not lie in a sink of sensual pleasures, he will not clog himself with a burden of earthly things, he will not fret away himself in envy; he will not puff up himself with pride and presumption, he will not wither away in an empty fruitless profession, he will not grieve the Holy Spirit of grace, or willfully make any wounds in conscience. All these will be impediments to growth in grace; therefore he puts them away from him: he busies himself in those things which may make him grow: he is much in prayer, that God would give the increase; that the showers of holy ordinances may not drop and come down in vain; that the gales of the Holy Spirit may fill every ordinance, that the sun-shine of God’s favour may make every thing prosper: he knows that none can bless but he who institutes; nothing can make rich in grace but the blessing; for that he waits in all his devotions. He is much in the holy word; he hears, reads, meditates, digests it, lays it up as a treasure, keeps it as his life, feeds on it as his meat, hath his being in it; and all that he may grow in grace, that “beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, he may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord,” (2 Cor. 3:18), that the face of his heart and life may shine with a divine lustre and beauty. He acts his faith upon Christ, he adheres and cleaves to him; he aspires after more close union and communion with him, that by a divine spirit and life from him “he may increase with the increase of God,” (Col. 2:19.) that he may live like one in union and conjunction with Christ; that he may honour that glorious head, in whom the Spirit is above all measure, and from whom it flows down upon all his members. He exercises himself unto godliness; he stirs or blows up his holy graces: he repents, believes, loves, obeys, runs, strives, labours to do the will of God; and all that he may hold on his way, and grow “stronger and stronger.” (Job 17:9.) In a word, he esteems it a horrible shame and disparagement to be barren and unfruitful under the gospel. What, is the divine nature, which he partakes of, for nothing? Every little living creature propagates and brings forth its image, and shall the divine nature have no progeny of good works to resemble its Father in heaven? Are ordinances given in vain? The outward rain hath its return in herbs and flowers, and excellent fruits of the earth; and shall the showers of ordinances, which come from a higher heaven than the visible one, have no return at all? To what purpose is Christ a head to believers? A head is to communicate life and motion to the members; and can the members of so glorious a head as he is, be dry and wither away in an empty unfruitfulness? Why is the Spirit communicated, but to profit withal? When it moved upon the waters at first, it brought forth abundance of excellent creatures in the material world; and shall it do nothing in the spiritual one? or shall it produce heavenly principles in men, and not bring them into act or exercise? Nothing can be more incongruous than such things as these. The holy man, therefore, makes it his great business in the world, to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, to abound more and more in obedience and holy walking, till he come to the crown of life and righteousness in heaven.
We see what a holy life is, nothing remains but that we labour after it; lapsed nature lies too low to elevate itself into holy principles and actions; how should we cast down ourselves at God’s feet for regenerating grace? How much doth it concern us to wait upon him in the use of means? to have our minds enlightened to see spiritual things? to have our hearts new made and moulded into the divine will? to have a precious faith to receive Christ in all his offices? to have a holy love to inflame the heart towards God? It is God’s prerogative to work supernatural principles in us; let us then look up to him to have them wrought in us. We have lost the crown and glory of our creation; we are sunk into a horrible gulf of sin and misery: but oh! let our eyes be upon God; he can set to his hand a second time, and create us again unto good works; he can let down an arm of power, and lift us up out of the pit of corruption: nothing is too hard for him; he can turn our stony heart into flesh; he can, by an omnipotent suavity, make our unwilling will to be a willing one. Oh! wait for this day of power; and when it comes, give all the glory to free grace, and live as becomes the sons of God, who are born not of the will of man, but of God; it is too much time we have spent in doing the will of the flesh; let us now consecrate and dedicate ourselves to the will of God. In the doing of it let us live a life of faith and dependance upon the influences of grace: let us get a single eye, a pure intention towards the will and glory of God. What good we do, let us do it in a holy compliance with his will; in a sincere subserviency to his glory. This is right genuine obedience, in which God is owned as the first principle and the last end. If we depend not on him the fountain of grace, how shall we stand or walk in holiness? If we direct not all our good works to his will and glory, how are our works holy or consecrated unto God? Let us put away our high thoughts and proud reflexes upon self, that we may wholly depend upon his grace. Let us cast away all our squints and corrupt aims from us, that we may directly look to his will and glory. Still let us remember, that the work of mortification must be carried on; if we indulge sin, we rend off ourselves from God the chief good and ultimate end; if we consecrate ourselves to God, we must needs cast away sin from us: the Spirit and flesh are contrary principles, and cannot rule together; the works of the one and of the other cannot be compounded; the great centres, heaven and hell, are at a vast distance, and cannot meet. We must therefore die to sin, or else we cannot live to God; let us labour to be holy in all manner of conversation; let us go forth and meet God in every dispensation; in ordinances let us meet him with devotion and holy affection; in alms, with love and a free spirit; in prosperity, with praises and good works; in adversity, with patience and silence; in our dealings, with justice and righteousness; in our callings, with faithfulness and diligence: in everything let us walk worthy of God; as becomes those who are consecrated unto rum. Let us so exercise ourselves unto piety, that we may grow in all graces; that our faith may be more lively, our love more ardent, our humility more low, our heavenliness more high, our obedience more full, our patience more perfect; that we may have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Let us be ever making ourselves ready for that blessed region, where there are plenitudes of joy, crowns of immortality, rivers of pleasures; where God is the light, life, love, all in all to the saints.


Polhill, E. (1844). The Works of Edward Polhill (94–109). London: Thomas Ward and Co.