Holiness

Consider the necessity of Holiness. It is impossible that ever you should be happy, except you are holy. No holiness here, no happiness hereafter. The Scripture speaks of three bodily inhabitants of heaven-Enoch, before the law; Elijah, under the law and Jesus Christ, under the Gospel: all three eminent in holiness to teach us, that even in an ordinary course there is no going to Heaven without holiness. There are many thousand thousands now in heaven, but not one unholy one among them all; there is not one sinner among all those saints; not one goat among all those sheep; not one weed among all those flowers; not one thorn or prickle among all those roses; not one pebble among all those glistering diamonds. There is not one Cain among all those Abels; or one Ishmael among all those Isaacs; nor one Esau among all those Jacobs in heaven. There is not one Ham among all the patriarchs; not one Saul among all the prophets; nor one Judas among all the apostles; nor one Demas among all the preachers; nor one Simon Magus among all the professors. Heaven is only for the holy man, and the holy man is only for heaven: heaven is a garment of glory, that is only suited to him that is holy.

God, who is truth itself, and cannot lie, hath said that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Mark that .word ‘ no man.’ Without holiness the rich man shall not see the Lord; without holiness the poor man shall not see the Lord; without holiness the nobleman shall not see the Lord; without Holiness the mean man shall not see the Lord; without holiness the prince shall not see the Lord; without holiness the peasant shall not see the Lord; without holiness the ruler shall not see the Lord; without holiness the ruled shall not see the Lord; without holiness the learned man shall not see the Lord; without Holiness the ignorant man shall not see the Lord; without holiness the husband shall not see the Lord; without holiness the wife shall not see the Lord; without holiness the father shall not see the Lord; without holiness the child shall not see the Lord; without Holiness the master shall not see the Lord; without holiness the Servant shall not see the Lord. ‘ For faithful and strong is the Lord of hosts that hath spoken it.’ (Josh. xxiii. I4.)

In this day some cry up one form, some another; some cry one Church state, some another; some cry up one way, some another; but certainly the way of holiness is the good old way’ It is the King of kings’ highway to heaven and happiness: ‘And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, tho fools, shall not err therein. (Isaiah 35:8). Some men say, Lo, here is the way; other men say, Lo, there is the way; but certainly the way of Holiness is the surest, the safest, the easiest, the noblest, and the shortest way to happiness.

Among the heathen, no man could enter into the temple of honour, but must first enter the temple of virtue. There is no entering into the temple of happiness except you enter into the temple of Holiness. Holiness must first enter into you before you can enter into God’s Holy Hill. Even as Samson cried out, ' Give me water or I die '; or as Rachel cried out, ' Give me children, or I die so all unsanctified souls may well cry out, Lord, give me Holiness or I die: give me holiness or I eternally die. If the angels, those princes of glory, fall once from their holiness, they shall be ever excluded from everlasting happiness and blessedness. If Adam in paradise fall from his purity, he shall quickly be driven out from the presence of Divine glory. Augustine would not be a wicked man, an unholy man, one hour for all the world, because he did not know but that he might die that hour; and should he die in an unholy estate, he knew he should be for ever separated from the Presence of the Lord and the glory of His power.

O, sirs, do not deceive your own souls; holiness is of necessity; without it you shall never see the Lord (II Thess. 1:8-10)? It is not absolutely necessary that you should be rich in the world; but it is absolutely necessary that you be holy: It is not absolutely necessary that that you should enjoy health, strength, friends, liberty, life; but it is absolutely necessary you should be holy. A man may see the Lord without prosperity, but he can never see the Lord except he be holy. A man may to heaven, to happiness, without honour or worldly glory - but he can never to heaven, to happiness, without holiness. Without holiness here, no heaven hereafter. 'And there shall in no enter into it anything that defileth.' (Rev. xxi. 27.) God will at last shut the gates of glory against every person that is without heart-purity.

"Ah, sirs, holiness is a flower that grows not in Nature's garden Men are not born with holiness in their hearts, as they are with tongues in their mouths: holiness is of a Divine offspring - it is a pearl of price, that is to be found in no nature but a renewed nature, in no bosom but a sanctified bosom. There is not the beam or spark of holiness in any natural man in the world. The imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually (Gen. vi. 5.) ' How can man be clean that is born of a woman (Job xxv. 4.) The interrogation carries in it a strong negation ' How can man be clean ? ' that is, man cannot be clean that is born of a woman: a man that is born of a woman is born in sin and born both under wrath and under the curse. 'And who bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? ' But we are all an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. There is none righteous, no not one; is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh afterGod. Every man by nature is a stranger, yea, an to holiness. Every man that comes into this life comes with his face towards sin and hell, and with his back to God and holiness.

Such is the corruption of our nature, that, propound Divine good to it, it is entertained as fire by water, or wet wood with hissing. Propound any evil, then it is like fire to straw; It is like the foolish satyr that made haste to kiss the fire; it is like that unctuous matter which, the naturalists say, sucks and snatches the fire to it, with which it is consumed. All men are born sinners and there is nothing but an infinite power that can make them Saints. All men would be happy, and yet they naturally loathe to be Holy. By all which you may clearly see that food is not more necessary for the preservation of natural life, than holiness is necessary to the preservation and salvation of the soul. If a man had the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Samson, the courage of Joshua the policy of Ahithophel, the dignities of Haman, the power of Ahasuerus, and the eloquence of Apollos, yet all those without Holiness would never save him.

The days and times wherein we live call aloud for holiness. If you look upon them as days and timesof grace, what greater and higher engagements to holiness, what greater put upon a people, than those that God hath put upon us who enjoy so many ways, means, and helps to make us holy ? Oh the pains, the care, the cost, the charge, that God hath been at and that God is daily at, to make us holy. Hath He not sent and doth He not still send His messengers, rising up early, and going to bed late, and all to provoke you to be holy And Have not any of them spent their time, and spent their strength, and spent their spirits, and spent their lives to make you holy ? O, sirs, what holy ordinances call for, but hoIy hearts and hoIy Iives ? What days of light call for, but walking in the light, and casting off deeds of darkness ? What is the voice of all the means of grace, this, Oh, labour to be gracious ? And what is the voice of the Holy Spirit, but this, Oh, labour to be holy ? And what is the the voice of all the miracles of mercy that God hath wrought in the midst of you, but this, Be ye holy, be ye holy '?

O, sirs, what could the Lord have done that He hath not done to make you holy? Hath He not lifted you up to heaven in respect of holy helps ? Hath He not to this very day followed you close with holy offers, and holy entreaties and holy counsels, and holy encouragements, all to make you holy ? And will you be loose still, and proud and worIdly still, and malicious still, and envious still, and unholy still ? Oh, what is this, but to provoke the Lord to put out all the lights of heaven, to drive your teachers into corners, to remove your candlesticks, and to send His everlasting Gospel, that hath stood long a tip-toe, among a people that more highly prize it, and dearly love it, and stoutly defend it, conscientiously practice it, than you have done to this very day? I suppose there is nothing more evident than that the times and seasons wherein we live call aloud every one to look after holiness, and to labour for holiness. Never complain of the times, but cease to do evil, and labour to do well, and all will be well; get but better hearts and better lives, and you will quickly see better times. -Rev. Thomas Brooks. Rector of St. Margaret, Fish Street Hill, London. 1662.