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Some of thofe heathens, who wrote fine morality, it is well known, practifed, and even obliquely recommended, with all the charms of wit and eloquence, vices which degrade man below the brute.

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Of Holiness-its true Meaning, and abfolute Neceffity.

ET a man's mind be holy, and he will not Le doubt one moment of the truth of "Chrift. ianity. It is not enough that it be learned or fagacious; it must be holy; and then the more learned or the more fagacious, fo much the more firmly will its belief be fixed, and fo much the better enabled to extend the faith. Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Milton, Addifon, Lord Chief Justice Hale, poffeffed intellects as vigorous as ever fell to the lot of human beings; but they were educated piously as well as learnedly, according to the manners of their times. They lived bolily; the Spirit of Grace took early poffeffion of their hearts, and they became not only believers but defenders of the faith. Not to their learning, but to their holiness, be the glory. They faw God by the eye of faith, not of philofophy *.

There is one qualification, without which we fhall never be admitted to the favour of God, or

*Such men (when in the church, i. e. when ordained ministers) highly reverence the true ufe of every thing that is outward in religion; but, like the Pfalmift's daughter, they are all glorious within.... they break open the whited fepulchre, they awaken the hearts, and fhew all its filth and rottennefs of death; but they leave it not, till the kingdom of beaven is raised up witkin it.

to

to felicity in the mansions of future glory, and it is HOLINESS: without this, we read, no man fhall fee the Lord. Follow PEACE with ALL men, and HOLINESS, without which, no man fball fee the Lord*.

No words can be plainer and more express than thefe. A question naturally arifes in the mind of every thinking man, in what confifts this quality, which is indifpenfably neceffary to fecuring the beatific privilege of enjoying the divine presence? What is holiness?

The excellent Jofeph Mede informs us, that "fanctity, or holiness, imports difcrimination,-or diftinction from other things by way of exaltation and pre-eminence +."

God himself is originally, abfolutely, and effentially HOLY; man, only by communication.

Holiness I therefore underftand to be that state, in which God vouchfafes to man his HOLY SPIRIT, and difcriminates him from those who, rejecting his offers of grace, prefumptuously adhere to the world and its vanities; who neglect religion entirely, and who live without God in the world, defpifers of his grace. To be holy, is to be refined, by the Spirit of God, from the corruptions of the world; to be separated from fin and impurity, like the metal from the bafe alloy.

He, therefore, who would fee the Lord, muft, by obedience, seek the manifestation of the Spirit,

*Heb. xii. 14.

†Thus Kimchi, on Ifaiah lvi. 2.

"To fanctify the fabbath, is to feparate it from other days."

"קדוש שבת להבדילו משאר הימים *

י כי כן כל לשון קרושה הוא ענין הבדלו י מאחר במעלת:

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"Becaufe all words of fanctity import a thing feparated from other things by way of pre-eminence or excellency."

Vide MEDE's Works, vol. i. p. 8.

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by prayer obtain the divine affiftance, and thus be admitted to a participation of the divine nature: according as his DIVINE POWER hath given unto`us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the CORRUPTION that is in the world through luft*.

The happy state of holiness constitutes the true dignity of human nature. This at once purifies and elevates it. The man who poffeffes it, enjoys this world with calm complacency, while he rifes fuperior to it, and hopes for a better in reversion. He acts rightly, yet never rigidly; he always tempers juftice with kindness and mercy; his whole behaviour is gentle, flowing from an internal principle of benevolence. The fear of God and the love of man operate on his heart as the main fprings of all his activity. To exprefs his conduct in fcripture language, he does juftice, loves mercy, and walks humbly with his God.

Behaviour thus amiable and beneficent is the fureft proof of holinefs. Great pretenfions, fanctimonious deportment, a rigid observance of external ceremonies, and a pertinacious adherence to particular doctrines, are all confiftent with an unholy ftate, with felf-deceit, and with hypocrify. But he who is kindly affectioned to his fellow-creatures with brotherly love; he who is unoftentatiously pious, and displays the fruits of the Spirit by good works, he can entertain little doubt of SEEING GOD; feeing the truth of his word, and enjoying his presence in the living temple of his heart, thus confecrated by the influence of the Holy Ghost.

2 Pet. i. 4.

A delightful

A delightful ferenity attends that ftate of holinefs, which arifes from an humble confidence in God; fuch as would render it devoutly to be wifhed for, if its confequences extended only to the pleasurable enjoyment of this life. It causes our journey to resemble a paffage through those charming countries, where the air is genially foft, the fky clear, and the prospect variegated with every beauty of nature. The cold, fhivering, felfdependent mortal, who walks through the world all folitary, who has not God for his friend and companion, may be compared to the forlorn favage, prowling for prey far from the folar beam, in the regions near the pole. How would he rejoice in the warm funshine and sweet serenity of an Italian climate?

THE

SECTION XLVI.

Of a good Heart..

HE moft defirable treasure which a human being can poffefs, whether he has regard to his own happiness or to thofe around him, is a GOOD HEART. In every fituation, and under all circumftances, this will furnish a ftore of fweets which the wicked cannot obtain, and delicious. though it is, would not relish, fo vitiated is their tafte. A good heart communicates liberally the pleasures it enjoys; bleffed or bleffing under all circumstances and in every period of life *..

* Natural evil will, indeed, interrupt the felicity and impede the beneficence of the best men; and here we can only weep over human nature, and wait with patience for tha ftate when tears shall be wiped from all eyes.

K.6

But

But what conftitutes a good heart? The grace of God operating upon it. The mild, gentle, healing fpirit of the gofpel; or, to use the language of fcripture, the UNCTION of the HOLY GHOST, mollifying its hardnefs, and preferving it from corruption *. This it is which forms a good heart, and a good heart is a land of Canaan to itself, a land flowing with milk and honey.

*Very pleafing is the defcription which Lactantius gives of the effect of Chriftanity in meliorating the difpofition. I will tranfcribe his words:

"Da mibi virum, qui fit iracundus, maledicus, effrænatus: pauciffimis Dei verbis tam placidum quam ovem reddam. Da cupidum, "avarum, tenacem: jam tibi eum liberalem dabo et pecuniam fuam

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plenis manibus largientem. Da crudelem & fanguinis appetentem; "jam in veram clementiam furor ille mutabitur. Da injuftum, infipi"entem, peccatorem: continuò et æquus, & prudens, & innocens erit. "Uno enim Lavacro malitia omnis abolebitur. Tanta DIVINE SA-, "PIENTIA vis eft; ut in hominis pectus diffufa, matrem deli&torum, "ftultitiam, uno Jemel impetu expellat; ad quod efficiendum, non mer"cede, non libris, non lucubrationibus opus eft. Gratis ifta fiunt, facilè, cito; modo pateant aures et PECTUS SAPIENTIAM SITIAT: num quis bac philofophorum aut unquam præftitit aut præftare potuit ?"Give me a man who is choleric, abufive in his language, headstrong, and unruly; with a very few words, (the words of God,) I will render him as gentle as a lamb. Give me a greedy, miferly, closefitted man; and I will presently return him to you a generous creature freely beftowing his money by handfuls. Give me a cruel, blood-thirsty wretch; inftantly his ferocity fhall be transformed to a truly mild and merciful difpofition. Give me an unjuft man, a foolish man, a finful man; and on a fudden, he thall become honeft, wife, and virtuous. In one LAVER (the laver of regeneration) all his wickedness fhall be washed away. So great is the efficacy of the divine (or Chriftian) Philofophy; that when once admitted into the human heart, it expels FOLLY, the parent of all vice; and in accomplishing this great end, there is no occafion for any expence, no abfolute need of books or deep and long ftudy or meditation. The benefit is conferred gratuitoufly, cafily, expeditiously; provided that the ears and the heart thirst after the wifdom (from above). Did any, or could any, of the heathen philofophers accomplish such important purposes as these? LACT. Inft. Lib. ii. C. 26.

Thus appears the fuperiority of CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY, in a moral view, over all other philofophy. Lactantius had been a heathen philofopher, and spoke experimentally.

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