Chapter III: Part 3

Let the importance of this concern therefore keep your attention awake, while I briefly run over some of the proofs of christianity, and thus lead you down to the surest and best of them, which is contained in my text.

Many are the outward testimonies which God hath given to the gospel of his Son; many witnesses have confirmed it from the time that Christ appeared in the flesh, to the day when St. John wrote this epistle. If we trace his life from the cradle in the manger to his cross and the grave, we shall find the rays of divinity still shining round his doctrine and his works, still pointing to his person, and proving his commission with a convincing and resistless light. At his birth the witnessing angels appeared in much brightness, and while the Son of God lay an infant below, his record was on high; for there appeared a strange new star, and was his witness in heaven. The wise men of the East were his witnesses, when they came from afar, and paid tributes and offerings, gold and incense to the God, the king of Israel. Simeon and Anna in the temple, by the Spirit of prophecy witnessed to the holy child Jesus. And the doctors with whom he disputed at twelve years old, were his witnesses that there was something in him more than man. At his baptism the Father and the Spirit witnessed to the Son of God; they told the world that this was He, the Messiah: The Father by a voice from heaven, saying, _This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased_; and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. His life was a life of wonders, and each of them witnessed to the truth of his commission, and to the divinity of his doctrine. Every blind eye that he opened, saw and witnessed Jesus, and declared his divine power. Every one of the dead that he raised were his witnesses. They came from the land of silence to speak his glory, and to give a loud testimony to his mission from heaven. The devils themselves, when he drove them out of their possessions, confessed that he was Christ, _The holy one of God_; but he had no mind to accept their witness, and therefore forbade them to speak. Miracles attended him to the cross and the grave, and opened the grave again for him, and made a passage for him to his Father’s right hand. Nor did the witnesses of his person and of his doctrine then cease; for _that salvation which began to be spoken by Jesus the Lord_, was afterwards published _by those that heard him, God himself bearing them witness with signs and wonders_; as in Heb. ii. 3, 4.

But all these still were outward witnesses to convince an unbelieving world. There is an inward witness that my text speaks of, that belongs to every true christian: _He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself._ And let us prepare now to examine whether our religion be true, and whether we are believers on the Son of God in truth, by searching after this inward witness; which we shall endeavour to explain, by considering these three things:

I. What believing on the Son of God means.—II. What this inward witness is, that faith gives to christianity.—III. What sort of witness it is, and how it exceeds other testimonies in several respects. And, _Lastly_, We shall make some inferences.

I. What is meant in my text by _believing on the Son of God_? I answer briefly under these two heads. It is,—1. A believing Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the world.—2. A trust in Christ Jesus as our Saviour.

1. It is a _believing_ Jesus Christ _to be the Saviour of the world_; and in this manner it is often expressed by our apostle in these epistles: a belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, who was foretold by all the prophets, and represented by all the types and shadows of the Old Testament. This usually includes a belief of the most important things that are related in the gospel concerning his person; such as these, that he is true God and true man, _i. e._ that God and man are united in him; that he was the Son of God before all ages, and the son of man born in time. _That he was the seed of David after the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead_; Rom. i. 3, 4. That he is that eternal Word, who _in the beginning was with God, and was God_, and who was in due time _made flesh and tabernacled among us_, as in John i. 14. This is that _mystery of godliness_ which we must believe, _God manifest in the flesh_; 1 Tim. iii. 16.

It implies also our belief of his doctrine, as well as of the divinity and humanity united in his person; _viz._ That we are all sinners condemned by the law of God; enemies to God in our minds, transgressors in our lives, and exposed to eternal death: That the divine law is so strict, so perfect, so holy, and so just that no mere man since the fall can fulfil it, nor yet can excuse or free himself from the condemnation of it: That Christ himself came _to fulfil this law_, as he tells us in Mat. v. 17, 18. That he came not only to perform the duties of it by an active obedience, but to put himself under the curse and condemnation for our sakes. Which the apostle to the Galatians expresses in this language, that _in the fulness of time he was made under the law_ to become _a curse for us_, that we who are under the law _might be redeemed from the curse, and receive a blessing_; Gal. iii. 13. and iv. 5. That _he died for our offences_, that _he rose again for our justification_; and that he has received the spirit of holiness, which he sends into our sinful natures, to form us fit for that heavenly inheritance which he hath purchased for us by his death. That without this purification of our natures, we can have no hope of heaven, for _without_ repentance and _holiness no man shall see God_. That Jesus Christ our Lord shall raise the dead, shall come in the last day to judge the world, and pass a decisive sentence, and shall then _reward every one according to their works_. Though all these things were not so plainly taught by our Saviour himself in his public ministry in the world, yet these were the doctrines which his apostles preached continually, and they received them from him by private instructions, or the inspiration of his Spirit, so that they may be properly called the doctrines of Christ.

But this is not all that is required of believers; for so much knowledge, and so much faith as this is, the devils may have, and Simon Magus the sorcerer might have as much as this when he believed. The faith that is expressed in this epistle, and in other places of scripture, is more than a bare assent to the great truths of the gospel; for it is such a faith as _overcomes the world_, such a faith as _gains a victory_ over things sensual, and over Satan; such a faith as evidences a man _to be born of God_. And therefore something more must be implied in it than a mere belief of the nature and person of Christ, and the truth of his doctrine.

2. It therefore implies a _betrusting the soul into the hands of Christ, that he may be our Saviour_. And I have sometimes thought that those words in the Greek, which we render _faith_ and _believing_ are continually used in the New Testament, to signify _faith_, a _saving faith_; because they not only signify, in their natural sense, the _believing of a truth_, but the _trusting in a person_. They signify believing the doctrine of Christ, and committing the soul into his hands as a Saviour, as it is expressed by St. Paul; 2 Tim. i. 12. _I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him._ To _believe on the Son of God_ therefore, is when a person, from a sense of sin and danger of eternal death, and his inability to escape any other way, applies himself unto Christ Jesus, as the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. When the soul commits itself into his hands, as one All-sufficient in himself to save, and one appointed by the Father for this glorious purpose. When the soul is made willing to be justified by the merits and righteousness of another, seeing itself unable, by all its own works, to attain to a justifying righteousness. When the soul is desirous to be sanctified by the grace that is from above, because it sees the necessity of holiness, and yet feels itself utterly incapable to renew its own nature, to mortify its own sins, or to form itself fit for the enjoyment of God and heaven. When the soul for these ends, puts itself under the care of Christ Jesus, who is authorised and commissioned by the Father to take care of sinful and guilty souls, to remove and cancel their guilt by his sacrifice, and invest them with a perfect righteousness, to begin the work of grace in them, to fill them with principles of holiness, and by degrees to fit them for his glory: such a soul is a believer on the Son of God, and such a soul has the witness in himself, that our religion is divine, and that christianity is from above.

II. The second thing I proposed to consider, is, _What is the inward witness that faith gives to the truth of christianity?_

At the first promulgation of the gospel, there were some souls overpowered with present miracles, attended with a divine light shining into them. This was such as they could not resist, such as carried glorious evidence with it, and effectually wrought upon them to believe that our religion was from heaven, that Christ was the Son of God, and that his name was the only ground of hope for salvation. This was miraculous and extraordinary, and not to be expected every day now; such was the conversion of St. Paul to christianity, and many such instances of miracles appeared in the first seasons of the gospel.

But the witness that the apostle John speaks of in my text, is such as belongs to every believer. It is an universal proposition, _He that believes, has the witness in himself_.

In order therefore to enquire into the nature of this testimony, I shall not lead you, nor myself into the land of blind enthusiasm, that region of clouds and darkness, that pretends to divine light. The apostle does not mean here a strong impulse, an irrational and ungrounded assurance that our religion is true. Many times these vehement impulses are but the foolish fires of fancy, that give the enquiring traveller no steady light or conduct, but lead him far astray from truth. Christianity has a better witness than this; being such as belongs to every believer, it must approve itself to the reason of men. And I will endeavour to explain it thus according to scripture.

Let it first be noted here, that the word _witness_ is used frequently, by our translators, to signify _testimony_, or _evidence_. Nor will it create any confusion to use these words promiscuously in this discourse, while we distinguish them from the _thing witnessed_, (which in the original, is also μαρτυρια) and is translated the _record_, ver. 10, 11.

Now if we enquire what is that _testimony_ to christianity, or that _inward witness_ that every believer has in himself, let us consider what that record is which God has testified concerning his Son Christ Jesus. That you will find in the context, ver. 11, 12. _This is the record_ or thing witnessed, _that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son; he that hath the Son of God hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life_. He then that _believes on the Son of God hath the witness_, or testimony to christianity, in himself, for he hath within him the _thing testified_. He hath eternal life in himself, he hath this eternal life already begun, and it shall be carried on and fulfilled in the days of eternity. By believing in Christ, we have a glorious testimony, or witness, within ourselves, that Christ is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and the author of eternal life; that his person is divine, that his doctrine is true, for eternal life is begun in us.

We shall make this more fully appear, by considering what is _eternal life_, and shewing how far it is found in every believer, and how it becomes a witness of christianity in his heart.

Eternal life consists in _happiness_ and _holiness_; it is made up of these two, and there is such a necessary connection between them, that they run into one another; but for order-sake, I shall distinguish them thus:

The happiness of eternal life consists in the pardon of sin, in the special favour of God, and in the pleasure that arises from the regular operation of all our powers and passions. Now these three things are, in some measure, found with every soul that believes in Christ.

The happiness of eternal life consists,——I. _In the pardon of sin_; thence arises _peace of conscience_. This is a part of heaven; the perfection of this peace belongs to the heavenly state. Our pardon is complete on earth, but the sense of this pardon is not complete and free from all doubts, or at least from all danger of doubting, till we arrive at full glory. When a soul is made sensible, that all its iniquities are for ever cancelled, that God will never avenge any of his crimes upon him, when he knows that this God, who has a right to punish with everlasting revenge, is at peace, and will demand no more satisfaction for his sins; this soul then has the beginning of heaven. This is a part of final blessedness, and of complete eternal life.

Now this is, in some measure, found in believers here: They that have trusted in the Son of God, begin to find peace in their own consciences, they can hope God is reconciled to them through the blood of Christ, that their iniquities are atoned for, and that peace is made betwixt God and them. This belongs only to the doctrine of Christ, and witnesses it to be divine: For there is no religion that ever pretended to lay such a foundation of pardon and peace, as the religion of the Son of God does; for he has made himself a propitiation; Jesus the righteous is become our reconciler by becoming a sacrifice: Rom. iii. 25. _Him hath God set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God_, Rom. v. 1. _Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world!_ was the language of John, who was but the forerunner of our religion, and took a prospect of it at a little distance: And much more of the particular glories and blessings of this atonement is displayed by the blessed apostles the followers of the Lamb.

Other religions, that have been drawn from the remains of the light of nature, or that have been invented by the superstitious fears and fancies of men, and obtruded on mankind by the craft of their fellow-creatures, are all at a loss in this instance, and can never speak solid peace and pardon.

1. The religion of the _Heathens_, and the best of philosophers, could never assure us, _Whether God would pardon sin at all, or no_. The light of nature indeed would dictate thus much, that God is, in his own nature, gracious, and compassionate, and kind; but whether God would be gracious to you or me, compassionate to such ill-deserving sinners, as we are, the light of nature could never determine. It is only the Son of God, that came down from the bosom of the Father, could so well inform us how the Father’s heart worked towards such sinners, in the designs of pardon and reconciliation.

2. Again, the light of nature could never tell us, _how often God would pardon sinners_. Suppose it could be found out by reason that God is so compassionate, that he could forgive offences, yet it could never be inferred how often we would be forgiven; and if he had pardoned us once, we might for ever despair if we had committed new iniquities: For who but a divine messenger can tell us, that he will often repeat his pardons?

3. The light of nature could never inform us _how great the offences were that could be forgiven_; reason could never tell us, that rebellions of the biggest size, and treasons of the blackest aggravation, should be all cancelled; the light of nature could never say, _All manner of sin, and blasphemy, shall be forgiven to men_. This the Son of God hath only taught us, who came from the bosom of the Father, and who laid a foundation for the brightest displays of pardoning grace.

4. Reason, with all the principles of natural religion, could never teach us _what we must do to obtain pardon_, and on what terms God would forgive. Reason indeed might require us to repent of sin, but it could never assure us, that _he that confesseth, and forsaketh his sins, shall find mercy_. Nor could it shew us any mediator or reconciler between God and man, nor how, or in what manner, we must address ourselves to him, or to an offended God by him; reason could never start a thought of this strange way of salvation, that we must believe, or trust in another’s sufferings in order to the pardon of our own sins; that we must depend on the merits and righteousness of one that died, in order to obtain forgiveness and life; that _by faith, in the blood of Christ, God will justify them that believe in Jesus_? What could the light of mere nature teach us concerning this Jesus? And yet _there is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved_; Acts iv. 12.

5. The light of nature, or any religion invented by men, could never acquaint us _with the foundation of divine forgiveness_, nor shew _us any merit sufficient to procure it_; and in this sense we are left at a loss in all other religions, _upon what ground we could expect pardon from God_: For they knew nothing of an atonement equal to our guilt, nothing of a satisfaction great as our offences, and that could answer the high demands of infinite and offended justice. Mankind found out by reason, and by the stings and disquietudes of a guilty conscience, that there was an offended God in heaven; and in several countries they followed the dictates of a wild and uneasy imagination, inventing an endless variety of methods to appease the angry Deity. What multitudes of rams, and goats, and thousands of larger cattle, were cut to pieces, and burnt, to atone for the sins of men? What deluges of blood have overflowed their altars? What fanciful sprinklings, and vast effusions of wine and oil? The first-born son for the transgression of the father, and the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul? What cruel practices on their own flesh? What cuttings and burnings to procure pardon? And yet, after all, no true peace, nor reasonable hope.

The Jewish religion indeed was invented by God himself, and it contained in it the way of obtaining pardon, but it was veiled and darkened by many types and shadows; though it was not defective as to real pardon, yet it was very defective as to solid peace; therefore the apostle tells us, Heb. x. 1, 2, &c. _The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect, &c._ The sense of which, compared with the following verses, is plainly this, _Those sacrifices, that were so often repeated, could never perfectly take away the conscience of guilt_: there still remained some trembling fears, some uneasy doubts, some painful concern of mind, whether their iniquities should be entirely cancelled or no: because they were convinced that the blood of bulls and goats could not do it, and they could not fully and plainly see the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour. Dark hints, and obscure notices of such a Messiah, and such a sacrifice, they had; but such a one as could not generally free their consciences from all sense of defilement and guilt, and fears, though it cleansed their souls in the sight of God.

The Socinians, in our age, can have but very little solid comfort, if they are truly awakened to a spiritual sight of the law of God; for when they have nothing to plead with God, and nothing to trust in but his mere absolute mercy, while they deny the proper satisfaction of Christ Jesus, how weak must their hope be, how feeble is the foundation of it! but when a poor, convinced, awakened soul, that now believes the doctrine of Christ, has been long before tormented in his conscience about atonement for sin, and found no hope; the christian religion, the gospel, with its pardoning grace, and the satisfaction that Christ has made, gives the soul peace, and leads the troubled conscience to rest and quiet; he trusts this gospel, he receives this salvation, and hath the witness in himself that it is divine.

II. The happiness of eternal life consists also in the _special favour_ of God, which is distinct from the _pardon of sin_; for it is very possible for a criminal to be pardoned, and not to be made a favourite of the king. The favour of God, and a sense of this favour, is a great part of heaven. This is called seeing of God, often in scripture. When souls are fully possessed of the love of God, when they have it shed abroad in their hearts in perfection; when they know that the infinite and eternal Maker and Governor of all things loves them, and will for ever love them, this is eternal life; and this is enjoyed in some measure here on earth by true believers, this is a part of eternal life begun in the heart of every christian; for when God pardons, he receives into his peculiar favour.

This the christian religion teaches us, but the light of nature could never tell us so: for if the light of nature and reason could have proceeded so far as to acquaint us with pardoning grace in all the extent of it, yet it could never have presumed to assure us _that he should make the rebels he had pardoned his favourites for ever_. We might have been forgiven, and then annihilated. But the scripture teaches us, whom God forgives he makes favourites too. And Christ Jesus has laid the foundation of this double blessing; for he has not only made an _end of sin_, but _brought in an everlasting righteousness_; Dan. ix. 24. He has fulfilled the law in all the commands of it, as well as borne the penalty; he has purchased all the blessings of divine love, as well as bought a freedom from divine vengeance. _If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life_, Rom. v. 10. And in ver. 1, and 2, he saith, _Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God_. Thus you see there is not only _reconciliation_ but _full salvation_; not only _peace with God_, but the _hope of glory_ to be obtained by believing on the Son of God. Many are the instances of saints here dwelling in flesh in a day of grace, that have been raised to a good degree of eternal life in this respect, that have had a joyful sense of the love of God shed abroad in their souls, and upon solid grounds have hoped for glory, such as no other religion could pretend to furnish them with; and this is a witness to the truth of christianity.

No mere human religion can pretend to tell how this special love of God may be attained, no human religion can ever tell us how long this love of God shall continue; but the word of God gives us full evidence and assurance that the worst of sinners who apply to Jesus Christ the Saviour, in the way of humble faith and hearty repentance, shall not only be forgiven and released from the guilt of sin and punishment, but also shall be beloved of God for the sake of Christ, and that this divine love is everlasting. Read Acts iii. 19. _Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out._ Acts xvi. 31. _Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved._ And when persons are interested in these promises, who shall lay any thing to their charge? Who shall condemn them when God justifies? Who shall separate them from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, famine or sword? No, by no means; _for in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that has loved us_; and we are _persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord_; Rom. viii. 38, &c.

When a rational mind is awakened to see the emptiness of all creatures, and their insufficiency to make him happy, and finds nothing but the eternal love of God capable to make a creature truly blessed; how miserably must that soul be tormented, that knows not whether God will love him or no, nor how this love may be attained; nor, when once attained, how long this love will continue? But he finds an answer to all these painful questions in the gospel of Christ: For the Father loves the Son infinitely, and loves all those that believe on him for his sake; they are for ever accepted; in him who is first and for ever accepted: and they are beloved in him who is first and for ever beloved; Eph. i. 6.

III. The happiness of eternal life consists in the pleasure that arises from the regular operation of all our powers and passions. This was a great part of the happiness of the innocent man; his reason was the guide to all the meaner faculties, and his appetites, and his affections in a sweet harmony followed the conduct of his reason: And as his understanding and judgment put forth their regular dictates, so the meaner powers paid a constant obedience, and pursued their proper objects. There was no irregular anger to set his blood on fire; no intemperate and corrupt wishes to vitiate his nature, to pollute his pleasures, and disturb his peace; none of those tumults and hurricanes in his soul, which we so often feel in our fallen state, and lament them much oftener than we can suppress them. And as the fancy and appetites of innocent Adam submitted to his reason, so, doubtless, if his Maker were pleased to reveal any sublimer truth to him, which his reason could not comprehend, then reason itself submitted to that revelation, believed the word of a speaking God, and resigned the throne to faith. His natural powers had no uneasy contest, there was no civil war nor rebellion amongst them to interrupt his happiness.

And thus shall it be again, but in a more glorious manner, when we are raised from all the ruins of our fallen state, and eternal life is made complete in heaven.

But before we arrive at that final glory, the same sort of happiness is begun in every believer in a state of grace. These are the beginnings of eternal life, the earnests and the pledges of the perfect blessedness which we hope for; and this arises from our faith in the Son of God. For when we have attained a good hope of forgiving grace through the blood of Christ, and believe that we are beloved of God our Maker, what have we then to do but to abide in his love? We learn to despise those tempting objects that would awaken our intemperate passions, and walk onward in peace and pleasure towards our complete felicity. For since God is become our God through the mediation of his Son, we have no need to seek the meaner delights of sense and appetite, because we possess the supreme. We have the Son of God himself for our leader and example, and he that believes on the Son of God, walks as he also walked.

Besides these moral or persuasive helps that belong to the christian life, we have also the Spirit of God given to reform our natures, to put all our misplaced and disjointed powers into their proper order again, and to maintain this divine harmony and peace. It is the blessed Spirit that inclines reason to submit to faith, and makes the lower faculties submit to reason, and obey the will of our Maker, and then gives us the pleasure of it. And if at any time, through the power of temptation, the violence of appetite, and the imperfection of grace, this blessed harmony and order be disturbed, and this pleasure interrupted; the soul of the christian is never easy till it rise again by repentance, and recur to the Son of God, to fetch new and vigorous supplies of the Spirit, and of this eternal life from him, and thereby it regains its peace and pleasure.

But these thoughts naturally lead me on to the second part of this subject, _viz._ holiness.

Thus much shall suffice therefore concerning the first part of eternal life, which consists in happiness, _viz._ pardon of sin, peace of conscience, the favour of God, the sense of his love, and the pleasurable harmony of our natural powers. These are found in true believers, and this is a noble witness to christianity to prove it divine.

SERMON II.
_The Inward Witness to Christianity._
1 JOHN v. 10.—He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the Witness in
himself.
THE SECOND PART.

When such a text as this is named for the foundation of discourse, some nicer hearers begin to grow jealous, that the preacher is entering into mystery and inward light, and they expect to hear no clear and solid reasoning, nor any justness of thought. Thus blinded by their own prejudices, they prevent their improvement by the ministry of the word; and because they have heard the experiences of christians wittily ridiculed, they resolve to believe that nothing of experimental religion can be justified to strict reason, or have any thing to do with argument.

But how impious, and how unreasonable a fancy this is, will sufficiently appear, if it can be proved that every true christian has a most rational and incontestable evidence of the truth of his religion, drawn from the change that is hereby made in his own heart. If it can once be made evident, that eternal life is begun in every soul that believes in Jesus Christ, this will confirm christianity with a high hand, and confute the wicked scandal for ever.

I have begun this attempt in the first discourse, and have shewn that eternal life is composed of two parts, _viz._ holiness and happiness.

The happiness of it consists in a just and comfortable sense of the forgiveness of sin, and a lively hope and persuasion of the special love of God, and the delightful harmony of all the natural powers, _viz._ reason, conscience, the will and the passions. Where these are found, heaven is begun; eternal life has taken possession of the soul; and this evidently proves the doctrine that effected it to be divine.

Now, if an atheist, a heathen, or a Jew, should cavil and say, “Are not all your hopes mere presumption? Are not your sense and persuasion of the love of God mere delusions of fancy, and raptures of warm imagination, without any ground, or solid foundation of reason?” The christian may boldly refute such suspicions. These are no vain transports, no foolish visions of hope and joy, because as high and glorious as my comforts and my expectations are, they are built on a due apprehension of the justice of God, as well as his mercy; I have no hopes of pardon by Jesus Christ, but what are supposed by the righteousness and truth of God, as well as his goodness; for in this way of salvation, offended justice is satisfied to the full, and mercy can exert itself in full glory, without the least dishonour or reflection on the strict righteousness of God. God is just in the justification of a sinner this way; _He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness_; 1 John i. 9.

Besides, says the christian, the change wrought in me is real, and not imaginary; I am quite another creature than once I was: the several powers of my nature, that were wont to be in perpetual war, now enjoy a peaceful harmony, and my soul feels the pleasure, and the divine peace. My strictest and severest reason approves the change, and owns it to be divine.

And thus I am led onward to speak of the other part of eternal life, and that is holiness. This also is found in believing souls, and becomes an evidence of the truth of the gospel.

Holiness may be described by these five necessary ingredients of it.

1. An aversion to and hatred of all sin.—2. A contempt of the present world, in comparison of the future.—3. A delight in the worship and society of God.—4. Zeal and activity in his service.—5. A hearty love to fellow-creatures, and more especially to fellow-saints.

I shall discourse of each of these particularly, and shew that eternal life consists in them, and this eternal life is found in believers.

Holiness consists in an aversion to, and hatred of all sin. This is complete in heaven, and without this, heaven cannot be complete. Into heaven _there entereth nothing that defileth_; Rev. xxi. 27. Every inhabitant there is completely averse to all iniquity, and hates every thing that displeases God; for nothing but perfect obedience is found there; the spirits of the just are there made perfect; Heb. xii. 23. Now this in a measure and degree is found in believers here, for _he that abideth in Christ sinneth not_; 1 John iii. 6. He cannot sin with a full purpose of heart; _he that is born of God cannot sin with constancy_ and greediness, as others do that are only born of flesh and blood; he cannot sin without an inward sincere reluctancy, without the combat of the spirit against the flesh; he doth not make a trade of sin, sinning is not his business, his delight and pleasure.—This is a blessed testimony of the truth of the gospel, that faith in the Son of God purifies the heart; Acts xv. 9.

Every christian has an aversion to all sin: If he chuses some sins, to continue in them, and hates other iniquities, he can never be said to be a true believer in Christ, and to have the work of faith in sincerity wrought in his heart.

Other religions have professed an aversion to some sins, but indulged others. Some make cruelty a part of their duty, and require the sacrificing of mankind to appease the anger of their gods; a bloody and impious practice, as well as a vain and fruitless one! Some forbid murder, but allow and encourage variety of uncleanness, and make that a part of their worship. Other professions have forbid wanton practices, and commended chastity; but they indulge resentment and revenge, as a necessary part of the character of a warrior, or a great man. Carnal and sensual lusts have been opposed and hated by some of the old philosophers, but spiritual iniquities have hereby been promoted. Pride has hereby been wonderfully increased, and none of them can excuse themselves from those sins which make men very like Satan, although they are freed from the brutality of sensual lusts. But the business of the gospel of Christ is to keep men from committing any kind of sins whatsoever.

Other religions have changed one lust for another; but the religion of Christ forbids all manner of iniquity, and changes the whole nature into holiness. Christianity refines the soul in all the powers of it, and inclines us to the duties both of the first and second table; it writes the law of God in the heart, and brings the soul to a sweet compliance therewith. All the affections are renewed; all old things are done away, and all things are become new; he that is in Christ is a new creature; he has crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts; 2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. v. 24.

Surely there is a spirit and power that accompanies the religion of our Lord Jesus, such as other religions know not; and this was manifest abundantly in the primitive christians, when those wretches were converted, whose names were once written in that black catalogue that the apostle speaks of; 1 Cor. vi. 9. when they by the light of the gospel, were purified, were purged from their defilements, and were made new creatures. The apostle could appeal to the Corinthian church, and say, so vile and filthy were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God; 1 Cor. vi. 11. Not in the names of other Gods, and other religions, but in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Philosophy was raised to a great height in the city of Corinth; it was almost enough for a man to be accounted learned, to have been in that city, and to have known a little of the customs of it; yet all their learning was not sufficient to reform them, for they were a profligate and lewd people still. But the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ breaking in upon their souls, purified, refined them, and made such an alteration in them, that the world beheld, and were amazed at the surprising change. They thought it strange that the christians would not run to the same excess of riot; 1 Pet. iv. 4. They were astonished to see a drunkard at once turn sober and temperate; a lewd unclean wretch, by hearing the gospel, become a professor and an example of chastity; a cruel and passionate temper made calm, and kind, and forgiving; a swine forsake the mire, and put on the nature of a cleanly animal; a dog or a lion changed into a lamb. This wrought conviction with power: This was miracle and demonstration; this witnessed the truth and divinity of the gospel of Christ beyond all contradictions or doubts.

II. A contempt of this world, is another part of holiness, and of heaven; a sacred disregard of temporal things raised by the sight of things eternal.

If we look upwards to heaven, we shall behold there all the inhabitants looking down with a sacred contempt upon the trifles, amusements, businesses, and cares of this present life, that engross our affections, awaken our desires, fill our hearts with pleasure or pain, and our flesh with constant labour. With what holy scorn do you think those souls, who are dismissed from flesh, look down upon the hurries and bustles of this present state, in which we are engaged? They dwell in the full sight of those glories which they hoped for here on earth, and their intimate acquaintance with the pleasures of that upper world, and the divine sensations that are raised in them there, make them condemn all the pleasures of this state, and every thing below heaven. This is a part of eternal life, this belongs in some degree to every believer; for he is not a believer that is not got above this world in a good measure; he is not a christian, who is not weaned, in some degree, from this world: For this is our victory, whereby we overcome the world, even our faith. He that is born of God overcomes the world; he that believes in Jesus, is born of God; 1 John v. 1, 4. Whence the argument is plain, he that believes in Jesus the Son of God, overcomes this present world. And where christianity is raised to a good degree of life and power in the soul, there we see the christian got near to heaven: he is, as it were, a fellow for angels, a fit companion for the spirits of the just made perfect. The affairs of this life are beneath his best desires and his hopes; he engages his hand in them so far, as God his Father appoints his duty; but he longs for the upper world, where his hopes are gone before: “When shall I be entirely dismissed from this labour and toil? The gaudy pleasures this world entertains me with, are no entertainments to me; I am weaned from them, I am born from above.” This is the language of that faith that overcomes the world: And faith, where it is wrought in truth in the soul, hath, in some measure, this effect; and where it shines in its brightness, it hath, in a great degree, this sublime grace accompanying it; or rather, (shall I say?) this piece of heavenly glory.

Pain and sickness, poverty and reproach, sorrow and death itself, have been contemned by those that have believed in Christ Jesus, with much more honour to christianity, than ever was brought to other religions by the same profession, and the same practice.

Other religions have in some degree, promised a contempt of the world, a contempt of sickness, and pain, and death; but then it hath been only here and there a person of a hardier mould of body; here and there one in an age, or one in a nation, who by a firmness of natural spirits, an obstinate resolution, attained by much labour of meditation, and toil of thought, hath got above the world, and above death. But our religion boasts of its hundreds and thousands, and that not only those who had firmer natural spirits, or have been skilled in thought and meditation, and absent from sensual things by philosophy, and intellectual exercises; but the feeblest of mankind, the weak things of this world, the foolish and the young, the infant (as it were) in years, and the feeble sex, have been made to contemn this world, and the pleasures of it, the hopes, and the sorrows, pain and death. They have learnt to live above all the enticing joys and affrighting terrors of this present state, that is, to live near to heaven: So that whatsoever religion pretends to a competition with ours, it falls vastly short in this respect, in raising the affections above the world, above the joys and fears of the present life.

Again if we consider what motives have argued the minds of men to the contempt of the world, we shall find the religion of Christ Jesus is far superior to all in this respect.

Other religions have taught men to despise the good things of this world and to be unconcerned about the evils of it, in a mere romantic way: Such was the Stoical doctrine, denying health and wealth, sleep and safety, to have any goodness in them; and professing that pain, poverty, sickness, want, hunger, and shame, were no evils; and upon this account they taught their disciples to be unsolicitous about the one or the other, because they were neither good nor evil. Thus, while they change the use of words they would make stocks and stones of us, rather than intelligent and holy despisers of sensible things; but the christian doctrine teaches us to contemn both the good and evil things of sense and time, by the expectation and prospect of the invisible and eternal world, where both the good and evil things are of infinitely greater importance: So our Saviour preaches, Mat. vi. 19, 20. _Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal._ Pluck out a right eye, cut off a right hand on earth, lest sparing these thy whole body be cast into hell, where the gnawing worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched: Mat. v. 29, 30. Mark ix. 43, &c. And the afflictions, as well as the comforts of life, are contemned and surmounted by the spirit of a christian, upon the same noble principles; Rom. viii. 18. He reckons that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us; and therefore he endures the cross, and despises the shame, following the divine example of Christ.

Other doctrines have endeavoured to raise the minds of men above the solicitudes or cares of this life upon mean and base principles, unworthy of human nature, denying the immortality of the soul, and the life to come. Thus the Epicureans would raise the professors of their religion above the fears of death, by assuring them, that after death there was nothing; that the soul and body died together, were blended in the dust, and were for ever lost in one grave: but, on the other hand, the religion of Christ gives us a view of things beyond the grave, insures a resurrection to us, brings life and immortality to light by the gospel, by Christ Jesus, who together with the Father, is originally possessed of eternal life, and thus leads us on to a glorious contempt of this present world of vanity: _For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal. For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens_; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. and v. 1.

Other professions taught their followers not so much to contemn riches and pleasures, as to exchange them for fame and glory, and public applause; and this they looked upon as their chief good. Most of the philosophers may be charged with this just accusation; and Cicero, that great philosopher, in a notorious degree; but the christian both labours and suffers reproach, because he trusts in the living God, and has the promise of the life to come; 1 Tim. iv. 8, 10. he goes through the trial of cruel mockings, as well as scourgings and torture, that he may obtain a better resurrection; Heb. xi. 35, 36. He neglects his ease and his honours together, and despises fame as well as pleasure and riches, and all mortal desirables, when they stand in competition with his immortal hopes.

Others have despised the grandeur and pomp of life, and thrown their money into the sea; but instead of exalting themselves above men, they have neglected all the necessary duties and decencies of life; they have lived as it were, in common with their fellow animals of the earth, and degraded themselves to the rank and level of brute-beasts; such were the Cynic philosophers: But the christian is diligent and active in all services to God and man, and fulfils the duties of his present state with honour, while he lives upon the hopes of futures and invisibles.

Thus if we consider either the degree of this part of holiness, _viz._ the contempt of the world, if we consider the reasons upon which it is founded, or how far this contempt of the world has prevailed among the generality of christians; we shall find the gospel hath infinitely the advantage of all other doctrines of all other religions.

To see a man raised above this world, and yet exercised in all the duties of life; to see him live with a holy superiority to all things below heaven, and yet fulfilling all his relative duties among men with diligence; to see a man ready every moment to be gone from this world, and yet content to stay here as long as his Heavenly Father pleases, under the troubles, and burdens, and agonies of this life too; this shews the religion to be divine, and from heaven: _he that believes, has this witness in himself_; and where faith rises high, this witness appears evident and glorious.

III. Another part of the holiness of eternal life, consists in a delight in the worship and enjoyment of God. This is perfect in heaven, this is eternal life; Rev. vii. 15. They are before the throne of God night and day, that is, perpetually, and serve him there in his temple. Now the christian religion attains this end in a good measure; it brings the soul to delight in divine worship and converse with God, which no mere human religion could ever do: For since no human religion could ever teach an awakened sinner, how he might appear in the presence of a holy God, with assurance and comfort, no other religion could make a soul delight in the worship of God. We can never delight in drawing near to God, that hath infinite vengeance in him, while we know not but he will pour that vengeance out upon us; we fly far from him, unless we have some good ground of hope, that he will forgive us our iniquities and receive us into his favour. Now since there is no other doctrine that shews us how our sins may be forgiven, or how the favour of God may be attained; there is no other religion can allure or draw us into the presence of God with pleasure; Heb. x. 19, 20. Let us draw near and worship the Father, in full assurance and confidence, that he will accept our persons and our worship, since we have such an high-priest to introduce us with acceptance; since by his flesh and incarnation, he has made a way for us to come into the presence of God with satisfaction and pleasure, therefore let us draw near and worship him. The influence of this argument has been found by christians, by every christian; for there is not one that hath believed in Christ, but has had this witness in himself. There is a sweet serenity and calmness of spirit belongs to the souls of those in whom faith is lively and strong, even when they stand before God, though he be a God of terror and vengeance to sinners: for they know Jesus is their atonement, their introducer, their peace; and therefore they love to draw near to him as a God reconciled, they rejoice in him as their highest happiness.