A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 23 (Question 4 cont.)
SERMON XXIII.
3. ANOTHER of the Divine Vertues expreſſed, is his Endlineſs. This is … of thoſe Attributes, which hath a glo…i… diſplay in the works of Efficiency: It is alſo … of them which are called communicable Perfections, becauſe there is the Image of it in Angels & Saints: but it belongs to him Originally, and tranſcendently. Here therefore we may enquire, 1. Into the Nature of this Attribute. 2. In what ſingular reſpects it belongs to him 3. Wherein the diſplays of it are eſpecially to be obſerved.
[1.] OF Holineſs take this Deſcription; It is God bound for himſelf & his own glory, as his laſt End. Holineſs in the largeſt ſenſe may ſerve to ſet God forth abſolutely Perfect, in his Being; and ſo it comprehends all the Attributes under it: but looking on it as a diſtinct Perfection, and ſo it reſpects the Divine Purity. God's Holineſs may be conſidered, either, as it is Eſſential, and ſo it is his ſpotleſs Glory; hence ſaid to be Glorious in Halineſs, Exod. 15.11. Or, as it is relative to his Works of Eſſiciency, and therein it appears to us according to the Deſcription given. There are two things to which Holineſs is oppoſed in Scripture, which will give ſome light to the knowledge of it:
1. TO things that are unclean Hence the Prophet when he had a glimpſe of this Perfection, preſently cries out of his own, and his People's Uncleanneſs, Iſa. 6.3.5. And one cried unto another, and ſaid, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hoſts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Then ſaid I, Wo is me, for I am undone, becauſe I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midſt of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have ſeen the King, the Lord of hoſts. The Prieſts were forbidden to touch any unclean thing, becauſe they were holy: this in a moral ſenſe tells us that Sin and Holineſs are directly oppoſite. God's Holineſs is negatively his Being altogether without Sin. Now the moſt comprehenſive Nation of Sin in a Creature, is that it carries him to ſome other end than God and his Glory; that is its impurity.
2. TO things that are common. Things were therefore made holy by Conſecration, which was done by a ſeparating of them from common, and dedicating them to Divine Uſe. On this account the Tabernacle, Temple, and all their Utenſils, Prieſts. Levites; yea, and the people of Iſrael were made holy, and ſo called, becauſe they were made God's peculiar; hence that title, 1 Pet. 2.9.—An holy nation.— So that the more ſolemnly any Perſon or thing were devoted to God, and the farther ſeparate they were from any other end or uſe, the more holy they were accounted: hence we have ſome glimpſe of the Holineſs of God; and in the Deſcription obſerve two things, 1. IT is God bound for himſelf, and his own Glory. He hath as it were ſeparated himſelf from all inferiour ends, and devoted himſelf to emuloy himſelf for his own glory; to look after, and ſee to the advancement of that. We have God himſelf expreſſing his Holineſs after this manner, Iſa. 42.8. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praiſe to graven images. It is the Creature's Sanctity to be for God, becauſe it is of him, Rom. 11.36. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever, Amen. It is his, to be for himſelf, becauſe he is of himſelf, and from no other. And this is that which he ſtands bound for, i. e. in all his works of Efficiency, he aims at it, and is reſolved to promote it; Prov. 16.4. The Lord hath made all things for himſelf: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Rev. 4.11. Ezek. 28.22.) All he doth is for his great Name ſake, that he may diſplay his wondrous Perfections, and declare that he alone is God. 2. HEREBY he makes himſelf his own laſt End. That which one is bound for, is his End; that which he is ultimately bound for, is his laſt End. Holineſs is a diſpoſition to ſeek the advancement of the moſt excellent End in the laſt place, and to have no other in co-ordination with it, but to ſubordinate them all unto it: the laſt Good, is deſervedly the laſt End: becauſe God is better than the Creature, he is therefore its End; and becauſe there is none better than he, he is its laſt End; and becauſe he hath no equal, he muſt have no Competitor; and becauſe he knows none better, no other God beſides himſelf, therefore is he his own laſt End; you have a ſufficient Reaſon for it, Iſa. 44.8.—Is there a God beſides me? yea, there is no God, I know not any. When therefore God promotes in all his works, the declarative glory of himſelf; and makes all things to contribute to the illuſtration and exaltation of it, then he appears to be holy; Iſa. 5.16. But the Lord of ho…s ſhall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy, ſhall be ſanitiſed in righteouſneſs. And ſee, Ezck. 36.23. And I will ſanitiſe my great name which was profaned among the …eathen, which ye have profaned in the midſt of them, and the heathen ſhall know that I am the Lord, ſaith the Lord God, when I ſhall be ſanctified in you before their eyes. They had endeavoured to make his name common among the Heathen; but he would ſhew himſelf to be the moſt excellent one: God indeed doth carry on ſubordinate Ends in the World, he manageth things in the …der wherein he … placed them, and he …th a peculiar great deſign in the Salvation … …t Elect; …t this and all other are …how… up… … own Glory: and this is …is …neſs.
[2.] IN that ſingular reſpect Holineſs belongs is God?
Anſw. BECAUSE the Vertues of God are ſaid to be Communit… i. e. That there is ſomething like to them is be found in ſome Creatures, and which have the ſame denomination put upon them. We ought to obſerve the ditierence; … exemplification whereof we may take in this of Holineſs, which may be applied to his Wiſdom, Power, &c. Here then,
1. IN general, God is tranſcendently … ſurpaſſingly holy. There are none in Heaven … Earth that are like him for Holineſs; hence that, 1 Sam. 2.2. There is none holy as the Lord. For this reaſon he is ſaid to be th…ce holy, Iſa. 6.3. And to be Glorious in holineſs, Exod 15.11. The greateſt purity of the moſt ſpotleſs Beings in the Creation, is unholineſs compared with his; Job 14.16. &c 15.15. Behold, he putteth no truſt in his ſaints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his ſight. But,
2. MORE particularly, Let this Difference be obſerved,
1. HOLINESS is in God, his Nature, his Eſſence; whereas in the Creature it is but a Quality. We indeed aſcribe it to him as a quality, according to our manner, but in reality he hath none; whatſoever is in God, is God. So that God, and his Holineſs are one and the ſame; whereas the Creature, and its holineſs are two diſtinct things; its eſſence is one thing, and its qualities another: and hence it is aſcribed to God in the Abſtract, to them but in the Concrete; they are ſaid to be holy, but never to be Holineſs; hence that, Pſal. 89.35. Once have I ſworn by my Holineſs, that I will not lie unto David. Hence,
2. THE Divine properties belong to this Attribute in him; which put an unconceivable difference between him & the Creature's ſanctity: for what God is in his Being, that he is in all his Perfections, which are his Being. Here then.
1. GOD's Holineſs is Infinite, the Creature's finite. Among them there are ſome that have more than others; but he that hath moſt, hath a poor little to what he hath. Angels among ſecond beings excell in this as in other Perfections; how often are they called holy ones; but alas, when they come into his holy preſence, they all veil and cover their faces and feet, as being aſhamed of themſelves: they glorify God with their whole might, but not up to his deſert: but it is an Infinite, unmeaſurable Sanctity that God poſſeſſeth; for he loves himſelf with an Infinite love, and is therefore called love it ſelf, 1 Joh. 4 8. and his Holineſs cannot be better expreſſed, than in his loving himſelf with the choiſeſt love, and loving other things for himſelf.
2. IT is Eternal. He is the Eternal God, and he never was without his Holineſs; it is impoſſible that God ſhould be, and not be holy, whereas Creatures once were not, there was a time when they began to be, & they could not be holy before they were; and there is a vaſt diſproportion between that which is Eternal & what is temporary. God's Holineſs having no beginning, can have no end; the Creatures that once were … may … be. Some indeed ſhall never actually ceaſe, but they have a poſſibility. Hence,
3. GOD is Unchangably holy. He cannot loſe his, but the Creature may part with its purity. God's Holineſs being himſelf is inſeparable from him; but the Creatures being a quality, may be ſeparated, though its Being continue: there are ſome natural qualities of things, which cleave ſo cloſe, that the removal of them deſtroys their being; but all moral perfections in the Creatures may be loſt: a wofull inſtance of it we have in fallen Angels and Men, who are become altogether corrupt and defiled by Sin: and on theſe accounts God is ſaid only to be holy; Rev. 15.4. Thou only art holy—.
3. GOD is holy Originally, the Creatures are ſo but by derivation. His Holineſs is the Prototype, theirs but the Copy; his the ſubſtance, theirs but the image or ſhadow; his the fountain, theirs but ſome few drops, or ſmall ſprings that iſſue from it: all the Holineſs that is in all the Creatures is borrowed of him; he hath his in and of himſelf, and they have theirs of and from him. Man became holy by God's putting his Image upon him; Gen. 1.26. And God ſaid, Let us make man in our image, and after our likeneſs: and let them have dominion over the fiſh of the ſea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattel, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. He is beholden to God for it, whereas God owes his to none; hence that, Rom. 11.35. Or who hath firſt given to him, and it ſhall be recompenſed unto him again?
4. HENCE God's Holineſs is above all degrees, whereas that of the Creature is gradual. God is full, perfect, can receive no addition or encreaſe, it is impoſſible that he ſhould be more holy than he is; but ſecond beings are capable of more, at leaſt they are contained in bounds and gradations. Put all the Holineſs together, that is in all Angels, Saints, the third Heaven, and all will not make up ſuch an one as is in God, they are none of them pure in his ſight. Tho' Angelical Holineſs be ſinleſs, yet I know not why it may not be growing; if they encreaſe in knowledge, they may in love.
[3.] WHEREIN the diſplays of this Attribute are more eſpecially to be obſerved?
Anſw. IT is certain that Holineſs runs thro' all God's Works: Pſal. 145.17. The Lord is —holy in all his works. But there are ſome particulars in which it more eminently beans out to us: there are dark Providences that puzzle the godly, and are the bane of wicked men, the Holineſs whereof God will one day vindicate, to the confuſion of thoſe ungodly ones who thought him to be altogether like them: but there are other things on which his Holineſs is imprinted in Capital Letters which may be reduced to four heads,
1. GOD's Holineſs appears in the Image which be ſtampt upon Reaſonable Creatures, and the law which be gave them. I put them together, becauſe in the one they were futed for, in the other they were appointed to their end: when God would make a Creature like himſelf, and would grave his own Image upon it, he made it holy; Eph. 4.24.— The new man, which after God is Created in — true holineſs. As if in nothing could he be equally repreſented, as in this Perfection: and what elſe was that Rule of Government, which he gave unto Man, for the regulating of himſelf by in his whole Converſation, but a Rule of Holineſs? This is the Encomium that Paul gives the Law, Rom. 7.12. The Law is holy—. It was a Rule of glorifying God, of loving him with our beſt love, and our neighbour for his ſake, Matth. 22.37, 38. A farther teſtimony did he give to this Attribute, in the Sanctions which he put to this Law, in that he promiſed felicity to Man on condition of his perfect conformity to this Law, which conſiſted in a life of holineſs; he engaged no leſs a reward than Eternal happineſs to it; and in that he menaced him with Death in caſe of his tranſgreſſion, that if he came ſhort of that Holineſs he ſhould die: what greater teſtimony could he give to the Creature, that he loved Holineſs, and hated Iniquity?
2. IN the diſpleaſure which he providentially diſcovers at Sin & Unholineſs. In this he diſcovers how contrary it is to his nature; the Infinite diſtance which he ſtands at from all thoſe that ſtand in the way of his glory; that he will have no ſociety or fellowſhip with ſuch; that he will not admit them to any Communion with himſelf: Pſal. 94.20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowſhip with thee, which frameth miſchief by a law? As he holds ſecret and everlaſting Correſpondence with thoſe that join with him in his ends, Prov. 8.17. Holy Men, are Men after his heart, Acts 13.22. But thoſe that go about to croſs him in his ends, and that ſwerve from his great and holy law, he cannot endure them, nor will he defile himſelf by having any thing to do with them he cannot ſo much as look on them, Hab. 1.13. Thou are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canſt not look on iniquity. (Pſal. 5.4, 5.) And that he executes ſuch amazing Judgments upon impure and obſtinate Sinners, hereins he ſhews his Holineſs eminently: The Pſalmiſt ſaith, Pſal. 9.16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is ſnared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion, Selah. q. d. Let all the world meditate on this, and how is he known but in his Holineſs? When Man that was made upright, and was a friend and intimate of his, fell from his Integrity, God turned him out of Paradiſe, and made the Curſe to fall upon him; Sin therefore is ſaid to ſeparate between God & Man, Iſa. 59.2. When proud Pharoah would juſtle with God, and ſet himſelf to oppoſe him, what fearfull Plagues, and what aſtoniſhing ruin did he bring upon himſelf; and Moſes confeſſeth him herein to ſhew himſelf glorious in holineſs, Exod. 15.11. When God thus comes to recover his Glory of his inſolent enemies, he tells the world that he i… an Holy God.
3. IN … way of Man's Redemption by Chriſt … God would exalt his Mercy, in the recovery of a Company of Sinners from the miſery they were fallen into, who had ſinned and fallen ſhort of his Glory; rather than do it in any ſuch way as ſhould in the leaſt reflect on his ſpotleſs purity, or give the world any ground to ſuſpect that he had any favour for Sin, the gave his own Son for a ranſom, and puniſhed Sin in him without any favour, he made him to bear the whole weight of wrath that was due to his Elect. When therefore the Son of God was under the terrible forſakings of his Father, and ſevereſt impreſſions of his Anger for Sin, which he undertook to ſatisfy for, …he then takes notice of, and acknowledgeth his Holineſs, Pſal. 22.3. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praiſes of Iſrael Juſtice indeed did the execution upon our dear Saviour, but it was Holineſs that hid his face from him, and employed that Juſtice of his.
4. IN qualifying of his Elect for Eternal Glory. The he hath loved them with an everlaſting love, and appointed them to be Heirs of the Kingdom before the foundation of the world; yet he brings them not to it till they are by Holineſs prepared for it; and therefore gives them the Aſſurance in the Goſpel that without it they ſhall never come into his preſence, Heb. 12.14. Follow—Holineſs, without which no man ſhall ſee the Lord. He therefore ſanctifies them throughout, in Soul, Body & Spirit, in order to his ſaving of them; and Chriſt by his Spirit thus fits them to be preſented to himſelf in Glory, by taking away every ſpot and wrinkle, and blemiſh; and hath certified us, that there ſhall enter into the holy place, nothing that defiles.
USE 1. WE hence learn the miſerable ſtate of Sinners. The Holineſs of God is a glaſs in which all ungodly Men may read their doom: and Oh that ſuch as live and ly in Sin would conſider of it I Think who that God is, with whom you have to do, and then ſay what hopes have you to eſcape his Infinite Wrath? Doth his Holineſs engage him to ſtand up for his own Glory, and ſhall ſuch vile Creatures who do nothing but diſhonour him, hope to avoid the ſuffering of the impreſſions of his hot diſpleaſure? It is the Sinner that ſets himſelf againſt God. Sin is the thing that diſhonours him, that tramples upon his Glory, and will God ſtand by as one unconcerned? Will he always keep ſilence? Where is his Holineſs then? They that think ſo, believe not this Attribute of his Sinners, know it, you have an holy God to deal withal, one that hates Sin irreconcilably, one that will not loſe the leaſt tittle of his Glory, tho' he deſtroy a whole World that ſet themſelves in oppoſition to it. And then remember, that his Wiſdom, and his Power, which are equally Infinite, Eternal and Unchangable, do ſtand engaged for the upholding of his Holineſs, and will exert them ſelves in the Deſtruction of all thoſe that are Enemies of it. And now ſay, how ſhall you eſcape and how ſhall you endure? Is it not a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of that God, whoſe Holineſs will cauſe his fury to come into his face, and engage the other Attributes to conſpire in your Deſtruction▪ think of this, and let it drive you to Repentance, and make Sin an evil and better thing to you.
USE 2. LEARN hence a ſufficient reaſon for all the Judgments which God brings upon any places or people. It thould point us to, and call upon us to adore God in his Holineſs. When a whole World is drowned becauſe of abounding Iniquity, a Sodom burnt with fire from Heaven, yea, when Jeruſalem is laid in Aſhes, all is to diſplay this Attribute. When therefore we ſee the hand of God out againſt a profeſſing People, and his Judgments awfull upon them and Men are ready to ſay, what means the heat of this ſo great Anger? ſee and enquire it ſuch a People have not oppoſed God's great ends, if by Sin they have not greatly diſhonoured him; wonder not then, if they do not glorify him, if he glorify himſelf.
USE 3. IT tells us what to think of ſuch as mock at Holineſs. Is there not ſuch a generation of Men among us, that ſcoff at the Conſcientious care of God's People to abſtain from Sin, and live in the conſtant exerciſe of Holineſs in all manner of Converſation; who laugh at Faſtings &c Prayers, who ridicule thoſe who are afraid of ſwearing, filthy communication, and profanation of God's Name & Day: certainly, theſe are impure, filthy Creatures, and muſt needs be enemies of an holy God, and muſt expect his Holineſs to fall upon them and conſume them.
USE 4. THIS tells thoſe that want Holineſs, whither to go for it. Think, without it you are miſerable; and do you find your ſelves impure, and cry out of your uncleanneſs, and enquire where you may get to be made holy; remember, God is not only ſo in himſelf, but he is a fountain of it to all ſuch as want it; and he hath in Chriſt opened this fountain in his Ordinances; Zeeh. 13.1. In that day there ſhall be a fountain opened to the houſe of David, and to the inhabitants of Jeruſalem, for ſin, and for uncleanneſs. And if you carry your unholy hearts to him, he hath ſet up a ſanctifying Office, his Holy Spirit is the diſpenſer of this Grace, who can reſtore this Image to you, and by working you up to a conformity unto the Holineſs of God, make you ſit to dwell with him in that holy place, into which no unholy thing ſhall enter, where Holiness grown perfect ſhall be crowned with everlaſting Bleſſedneſs.
[OCTOBER 8. 1689.]