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[Holiness is a conformity to the mind and will of God. And to it are we called by the Gospel. "The grace which brings salvation to us, teaches us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Negative holiness, if I may so express myself, is to be sought in the first instance. We are "no longer to fashion ourselves according to our former lusts in our ignorances;" but, advancing to the positive execution of our duty, we are to be "holy in all manner of conversation." In all our walk with God, we must be sincere and upright: there must be no allowed guile in our hearts. And in our intercourse with men, every action, word, and thought, must be under the influence of love, and agreeable to its dictates. Neither times nor circumstances are so to operate as to produce in us any allowed deviation from God's perfect law. We are to be altogether "a holy people unto the Lord." It was for this end that the Lord Jesus Christ both lived and died, even "that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good worksh." And to this are we chosen by God himself: for though we were chosen to salvation, it was to be through sanctification of the Spirit, as well as through the belief of the truth." To this effect St. Paul speaks: "God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we may be holy." And to the same effect St. Peter also says, in the commencement of this epistle; "We are elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience1." The command then is clear, that we are to be holy both in heart and life.]

2. The reason with which it is enforced

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[As children of God, we ought to be "children of obedience." The very circumstance of our having been "called" by divine grace, lays this obligation upon us. But there is a remarkable force in the reason here assigned; "Be ye holy; FOR I am holy." It seems to import these three things: "Be ye holy; for without holiness you cannot belong to me, or enjoy me, or dwell with me in my kingdom." I could never acknowledge an unholy person as having an interest in my favour: it would be unworthy of me: it would be to make myself a patron and partaker of his sins. Nor could an unholy being gain access to me: his very dispositions would separate him from me; and prevent his having communion with me. Nor, though he were admitted into heaven, could he be happy

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there. He would find no one there that resembled him, or that had a like taste with him, or that could join with him in any of his pursuits. He would be out of his element altogether: nor would one in hell pant more for deliverance, to get rid of his pains, than he would for an escape from the company and occupations for which he felt no relish. Hence, when God says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy," we must understand him, not as issuing a mere arbitrary command, but as declaring, that none but a holy being has any reason to expect, or any capacity to enjoy, his favour.]

But we shall have a deeper insight into the injunction, if we consider,

II. The exhortation founded upon it

"As he that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy, in all manner of conversation." In these words the Apostle does not merely confirm the authority of the injunction itself, but points out the extent to which it is to be obeyed, and the object we must aim at in order to a full compliance with it.

We must take God himself for our pattern".

[The natural perfections of the Deity are, and ever must be, peculiar to himself: but his moral perfections must be possessed by us, so far as we are capable of attaining them. His goodness, his patience, his mercy, his love, his truth, his faithfulness, are all to be imitated by us; so that "what God himself is in the world, that are we to be also"." That we might be at no loss on this all-important subject, the Lord Jesus Christ has "set us an example, that we might follow his steps" and we are "to walk in all things as he walked"," and to "purify ourselves even as he was pure." Of course, we cannot expect ever to attain his perfection: but that is no reason why we should not aim at it. There is no one point in which we should allow ourselves to fall short of it: we should strive to be holy in all things, even as God himself is holy; and "perfect, even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect."]

By this must we shew that we are his people indeed[It is to this that "God has called us." It is the very object which he had in view, in his whole work of grace upon

m This is the idea suggested in the original.

o 1 Pet. ii. 24. r Matt. v. 48.

P 1 John ii. 6.

n 1 John iv. 17.

q 1 John iii. 3.

our souls, even that we might be "created anew after his image, in righteousness and true holiness." And, if our hearts be upright before God, this is the thing which we shall pant after, no less than after heaven itself. Sin will be our burthen and aversion; and a conformity to God will be regarded as the first object of our desire. Yea, to be "like him" will be contemplated by us as the perfection of our happiness, in "seeing him as he ist."]

ADDRESS

1. Those who are yet in nature's "ignorance "

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[To exhort you to holiness were a vain attempt. You have no eyes to discern, no heart to appreciate its excellence. You must have the eyes of your understanding enlightened by the Spirit of God, before you can form any just conception of the beauty of holiness: you must have your heart of stone removed, and a heart of flesh given you, before you can be capable of bearing on you any lineaments of the Divine image. Let your first concern, therefore, be to become regenerate: for most assuredly, except ye be born again, you can never enter into, nor ever see, the kingdom of God. Remember, I say not this to those only who are openly and grossly wicked: I say it to the most moral amongst you: if you were as moral and amiable as Nicodemus himself, I would say to you, "Ye must be born again"." "A new heart must be given you, and a new spirit must be put within you," ere you can have the very first principles of holiness in your souls. I pray you, therefore, to seek this first of blessings at the hands of God; and not to rest, till, through the operation of his Spirit upon your souls, “old things are passed away, and all things are become new."]

2. Those who have been "called" out of darkness into God's marvellous light

[You are longing for the very blessing of which we have spoken. But in many of you there yet remains a considerable degree of ignorance respecting the appointed method of obtaining it. You are looking too much to your own exertions, and too little to the Saviour: and hence you make but little progress in the divine life. Hence, also, you obtain but little comfort in your own souls. You are ready to say, How can I be a child of God, when I bear so little of his image? and how can I venture to apply to myself his promises, whilst I am so unworthy of them. But these persons need to be informed, that they reverse God's method of making his people holy. They would become holy first, and then apply to themselves u John iii. 3, 5, 7.

S

Eph. iv. 24.

t 1 John iii. 2.

the promises of God: whereas they must first take to themselves the promises of God as sinners; and then, through their influence upon the soul, obtain a conformity to the Divine image. "God has given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by them we may be made partakers of the Divine nature." Hence the Apostle says, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of Gody." Adopt this method, then: look to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and "lay hold on him as your sure hope and refuge." First receive him in all the freeness and all the fulness of his salvation; then shall you attain the holiness you desire; and be able to say with the Apostle, "We, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord"."]

x 2 Pet. i. 4.

y 2 Cor. vii. 1.

z 2 Cor. iii. 18.

MMCCCLXXXVII.

THE NECESSITY OF HOLY FEAR.

1 Pet. i. 17. If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.

CHRISTIANS possess many privileges by means of their relation to God; yet it is not their privileges, but their practical improvement of them, that will determine their state in the eternal world. They are called to be holy after the example of their God; and they must be conformed to his image, if they would be partakers of his glory. There will be no more partiality shewn to them than to others in the day of judgment. God will determine the fate of all by their actions; and the condition for which they are meet, shall be the condition allotted them to all eternity. St. Peter, inculcating the need of holy fear, insists upon it particularly as conducing to fit us for that strict account to which we shall all be very shortly called. In discoursing on his words we shall shew,

I. The impartiality of the future judgment

The children of God maintain communion with God as their Father in Christ

[The Apostle speaks of Christians as "obedient children;" and as calling upon the Father for a supply of their daily wants. This is the privilege of all true Christians; “a spirit of adoption is given them, that they may cry, Abba, Father;" and, because they are children, they may expect to receive all the glory of heaven as their inheritance -] Nevertheless they will experience no partiality in the day of judgment

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[Among men it is but too common for parents to feel an undue bias in concerns relating to their children. But God has established one mode of procedure for all. His written. law is the standard to which every thing shall be referred. The principles from which our actions flowed, the manner in which they were performed, and the end for which they were done, will be minutely investigated, and a sentence passed upon us according to their real quality. There will be no difference in this respect between Jew or Gentile, rich or poor; nor will any regard be shewn to men's professions: it will be to no purpose to plead, "that they had Abraham to their Father," or that they had "cast out devils in the name of Christ;" the one inquiry will be, Were ye holy? and according as this appears, their state will be for ever fixed.]

Interested as we are in the event of that day, let us inquire into,

II. The influence which this consideration should have upon us

God requires us to pass our short span of life in fear

[We are "sojourners in this world, as all our fathers were.' It is but a short time that any of us have to live, and then we shall be removed to our long home. The present state is a state of probation, a moment allotted us to prepare for eternity. Under such circumstances we should be " working out our salvation with fear and trembling." Not that we should indulge a servile dread of God as a hard master, and a vindictive judge, but a holy reverential fear of offending him, and a tender concern to please him in all things. This is "the fear in which we should walk all the day long."]

Nor can any thing tend more to produce this fear in us than the consideration now before us

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