I Come now to the Inference the Apostle makes from the precedent Doctrine, What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness? One word here needs a little explication, and that is holy; What is meant by a holy conversation.
Holiness is an Equivocal Term. It is attributed either to God, or to the Creature. When it is attributed to God, it signifies either,
1. The unspotted Purity of his Nature, and the constant and immutable rectitude of his Will. So it is taken, 1 Iohn 3. 3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure: and 1 Pet. 1. 15. As he which called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation: Because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. Psal. 145. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
- His Sovereign Majesty and Greatness, appearing in his transcendent Wisdom and Power, in his Supreme and Absolute Dominion over all things: in respect whereof, he is called the Holy One of Israel, and his Name is said to be Holy: that is, to be invoked with the greatest reverence. Holy and reverend is his Name. Because of this his Greatness and Excellency he is to be worshipped and adored with the most submissive humility and veneration, with a transcendent and incommunicable Worship and Devotion.
When Holiness is attributed to Creatures, it signifies either an Inherent and Inward, or a Relative or Outward, Holiness.
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Inherent or Inward Holiness is a Conformity of Heart and Life to the Will of God: or as1 others define it, An habitual Frame of Mind: whereby we are fitted for Vertuous Actions, but more especially for the Duties of Religion: Indeed Holiness doth always include a reference to God.
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Relative or Outward Holiness results from a Separation and setting a-part any thing from a prophane and common, and applying it to a Sacred or Religious Use. For the Majesty of God, who at first created, and continually sustains and governs all things, being so great and inviolable, all Persons, Things, and Times, and Places, and Ceremonies separated and appropriated to his Service and Worship, are by all Nations esteemed Sacred, and to have a Character of Holiness imprinted on them.
By Holiness in this place, is to be understood an inherent Holiness, which is well defined by Dr. Outram,2 a Conformity of Heart and Life to the Will of God. I shall not discourse at large concerning a holy Conversation, nor instance particulars wherein it consists. That would be to write a Body of Practical Divinity: I shall therefore at present suppose the Reader sufficiently instructed in that. My business shall be to shew the strength of the Apostle’s Inference.
It may be said, How doth this Dissolution concern us, who may perchance be dead and rotten a thousand Years before it comes? What have we to do with it?
I answer, It concerns us, 1. Because it’s possible it may happen in our times; it may surprize us before we are aware. The precise time thereof is uncertain. And it shall be sudden and unexpected, coming as a Thief in the Night, as we have before shewn; therefore we ought always to be upon our guard, to have our loyns girt about and our lights burning. This use the Scripture in many places makes of the uncertainty, of the time of Christ’s coming, Luke 12. 40. Be ye therefore ready: for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not, Luke 21. 34, 35. And take heed to your selves, lest at any time your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the whole earth. Parallel whereto are Matth. 24. 42. and Mark 13. 33, 35. That it shall come is certain, when it shall come is uncertain, and it every day draws nearer and nearer, therefore it is not wisdom to remove the evil day far from us: and as in reference to the day of Death, it is an usual and prudent advice, so to live every day, as if it were our last day; or at least, as we would not be afraid to do should it be so: because we are sure, that one day will be our last, and for ought we know, the present may be it: so likewise it is rational Counsel in respect of the End of the World, so to prepare our selves for it by a holy Conversation, that we may get above the terror and dread which will otherwise attend the apprehension of the approach of it: and that we may be provided against the worst that may follow; and be secure come what can come.