ably of their holiness. He that honoureth the Holy God will honour his image in his holy people. "In his eyes a vile person will be contemned, but he will honour them that fear the Lord." (Psal. xv. 4.) "The saints on earth are the excellent" in his eyes, and his " delight" in them. (Psal. xvi. 2, 3.) The breathings of divine love in the holy prayers, praises and speeches of the saints, and their reverent and holy mention of his name, are things that a holy soul doth sweetly relish, and take pleasure in, as we would do to hear an angel speak of the holy things of the invisible glory.

3. And relative holiness itself, though the lowest, must be honoured by us. Holy offices and persons in them must be reverenced for their relative holiness. Holy ordinances (which also participate of the law, as significative) must be reverently used. Due reverence must be given even to that which is lawfully by men devoted to a holy use, as are temples and utensils of worship, and the maintenance dedicated to the service of God. That which is holy, must not be devoured, (Prov. xx. 25,) nor used as we do things common and unclean.

2. God's Holiness must make us holy we must fall in love with it, and wholly conform ourselves unto it. Every part of sanctifying grace must be entertained, and cherished, and excited, and used by us. Sin must be loathsome to us, because it is contrary to the Holiness of God. No toad or snake should seem to us so ugly. A dead carcase is an unpleasant sight, because it sheweth us a privation of natural life: But an unholy soul is incomparably a more loathsome, ghastly sight, because it sheweth us the privation of the life of holiness. No man can well know the odiousness of sin, and the misery and loathsomeness of the unholy soul, that knoweth not the Holiness of God. Speak unto all the congregation of Israel, and say unto them, ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy." (Lev. xix. 2.) "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy, for I am the Lord your God." (Lev. xx. 7, 8.) "As he that hath called us is Holy, so must we be holy in all manner of conversation." (1 Peter i. 25.) It is "an holy calling wherewith we are called." (2 Tim. i. 9.) We are "sanctified to be a peculiar people to Christ." (Titus ii. 14.) "That denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." (ver. 12.). We are made

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an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice, acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter ii. 5.) We must therefore" present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, our reasonable service." (Rom. xii. 1,2.) For we are "chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame," (Ephes. i. 4,) and are redeemed and sanctified by Christ," that we may be presented glorious, holy, and without blemish." (Ephes. v. 26, 27.) See therefore that you "follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." (Heb. xii. 14.) For "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see him." (Matt. v. 8.)

3. The Holiness of God, must be to us a standing unanswerable argument to shun all temptations that would draw us to be unholy, and to confound all the words of wicked men that are spoken against holiness. Remember but that God is Holy, and if thou like that which is spoken against God, thou art his enemy. Think on the prophecies of Enoch," Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14, 15.) "God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his holy name in vain ;" much less that blasphemeth Holiness, which is the perfection of his blessed nature.

4. The Holiness of God must possess us with a sense of our uncleanness, and further our humiliation. When Isaiah heard the seraphims cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory," (Isa. vi. 3,) he said, “Woe 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." (verse 5.)

5. The Holiness of God must cause us to walk continually in his fear, and to take heed to all the affections of our souls, and even to the manner of our behaviour, when we come near to him in his holy worship. What suffered the Bethshemites for irreverent looking into the holy ark, (1 Sam. vi. 19,) and Uzzah but for touching it? And what a dreadful example is that of the two sons of Aaron, that were slain by a devouring fire from the Lord, for offering strange fire

And Aaron was "I will be

which he commanded not. (Lev. x. 1, 2.) awed into silence by this account from God. sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified." (ver. 3.) Take heed lest irreverence, or deadness, or customary, heartless, wordy services, should be brought before a Holy God. Take heed of bypocritical, carnal worship. The Holy God will not be mocked with compliments and shows.

CHAP. XIX.

18. The next attribute of God to be spoken of is, his Veracity, Truth, and Faithfulness. This is the result of his per, fect wisdom, goodness and omnipotency: For because he is most wise and powerful, he cannot be necessitated to lie : And because he is most good, he will not lie. Though God speaketh by none but a created voice, and signifieth his will to us by men, that in themselves considered are defectible, yet what he maketh his voice shall speak truth; and what he chooseth to signify his will, shall truly signify it. He therefore condemneth lying in man, because it is contrary to his own veracity. For if any should say that God is under no law, and therefore is not bound to speak truth, or not deceive a prophet or apostle by his inspirations; I answer, that he hateth lying as contrary to his perfect nature, and is himself against it, and cannot possibly be guilty of it, because of his own perfection; and not because he is under a law. Lying comes from some imperfection, either of knowledge, power, or goodness, which can none of them befall the Lord, The goodness of the creature is a goodness of conformity to an obliging law; and the goodness of the law is a goodness of conformity to, and expressive of the good will of God. But the Goodness of God is a perfection of essence, the primitive goodness, which is the fountain, and standard, and end of all other good; and not a goodness of conformity to another.

And this attribute of God is of very great use to his servants. 1. From hence we must be resolved for duty, and for a holy, heavenly life: because the commands of God are serious, and his promises and threatenings true. If God were not true, who tells us of these great eternal things, then might we excuse ourselves from godliness, and justify the worldling in his sensual way: There is nothing of common

sense and reason that can be said against a holy life, by a man that denieth not the Truth of God or of his word. And to deny God's Truth, is most unreasonable of all. O sirs, when you read and hear of the wonderful weighty matters of the Scripture, of an endless life, and the way thereto; bethink you, if these things be true," what manner of persons you should be, in all holy conversation and godliness!" (2 Peter iii. 11.) If the word be true, that telleth us of death and judgment, and heaven and hell, is it time for us to sin, to trifle, and live unready!

2. The Truth of God is the terror of his enemies. O happy men, if their unbelief could make void the threatenings of God, and doubting of them would make them false ! and if their misery were as easily remedied as denied; and ended as easily as now forgotten! or forgotten hereafter as easily as now! But true and righteous is the Lord, and "from the beginning his word is true." (Psal. cxix. 16.) Not a word shall fall to the ground, nor a jot or tittle pass unfulfilled.

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3. The Truth of God is the ground of faith, and the stay of our souls and the rock of all our confidence and comfort: A Christian did not differ from another man (unless in being somewhat more deluded) if God were not true. But this is the foundation of all our hopes, and the life of our religion, and all that we are as Christians, proceeds from this. Faith is animated by God's Veracity, and from thence all other graces flow, or are excited in us. O Christians, what a treasure is before your eyes, when you open the blessed Book of God! What life should it put into your confidence and comforts, to think that all these words are true! All those descriptions of the everlasting kingdom, and all those exceeding precious promises of this life, and that which is to come, and all the expressions of that exceeding love of God unto his servants, all these are the true sayings of God. "A faithful witness will not lie," (Prov. xiv. 5,) much less will the faithful God. "Eternal life is promised by God that cannot lie." (Titus i. 2.) " Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set be

fore us." (Heb. vi. 17, 18.) Let faith therefore live upon the truth of God, and let us be strengthened, and rejoice therein.

4. Abhor all doctrines which deny the truth and faithfulness of God, for they destroy the ground of Christian faith, of all divine faith, and all religion. The Veracity of God is the formal object of all divine faith: We believe God, because he cannot lie: If he can lie, and do lie, he is not credible. But you will say, Is there any that hold such odious doctrines? Answ. I like not the charging of persons with the consequences of their opinions which they discern. not, but disclaim: God will not charge them with such consequences, who do their best to know the truth, and why should we? All men have some errors, whose consequences contradict some articles of faith. It is not the persons that I persuade you to dislike, but the doctrine. And the doctrine is never the less to be abhorred, because a wise or good man may hold that which doth infer it.

I shall now instance only in the Dominicans' predetermination. They that hold that it is necessary to the being of every circumstantiated act, natural and free, that God be the principal immediate physical efficient predetermining cause of it, do hold that he so causeth all the false speeches and writings, (as well as other sins) that ever were spoken or written in the world: not only as they are acts 'in genere,' but as these words in particular; as that he so predetermined the tongues of Ananias and Sapphira to say those very words which they said, rather than others: Now seeing it is apparent, 1. That God hath not a voice, but speaketh to us by a created voice, even by prophets and apostles, and that the Scripture was written by men. 2. And that God's Veracity, which is the formal object of our faith, consisteth in his not using lying instruments, nor sending a lying messenger to us; (it is Veracitas revelantis per alium.') 3. And that no way of inspiration can make God to be any more the cause of the words or writings of an apostle, than his immediate physical efficient specifying predetermination doth (for it can do no more than irresistibly as the first cause, physically to premove the agent to his thought, will, word, or deed, considered with all its circumstances). It followeth that we have no certainty when God premoveth an apostle or prophet to speak true, and when to speak falsely; and that no words or writings are of certain truth upon any ac