some of his dear children, eminent saints, when they have indulged unholy tempers, or committed unholy actions. Moses, who spake unadvisedly with his lips, was not permitted to enter the goodly land he longed for. Jonah, when he deserted his duty, was imprisoned in the whale's belly: and David, when he fell into some gross sins, was severely visited, and the bloody sword was entailed upon his family. The holy God hates sin wherever he sees it, but most of all when he sees it in his children; as a gardener hates a weed the more, when he finds it in a bed of his choicest flowers. God is indeed reconciled to the sinner who believes, but he is never reconciled to his sins; he loves his person, but he hates his vices. Surely, then, believers should avoid even the appearance of evil, for they serve a holy God.

5. But we must visit Calvary, if we would behold at once the most awful, and the most engaging display of the divine holiness. "Not all the vials of judgments which were ever poured out on a guilty world, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced against rebellious devils, nor the groans of damned sinners, afford such a demonstration of God's hatred to sin, as the sufferings of Christ on the accursed tree." It was because he was infinitely displeased with sin, that "the Lord was pleased to bruise his Son, and put him to grief." It was holiness that drew the veil between the Father's countenance and the Saviour's soul, when horrible darkness covered the earth, and he cried, in the bitterness of his broken heart, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" God's affection to his holiness seemed, in this instance, to surmount his affection to his Son. Rather should his well beloved Son expire on a disgraceful cross, than sin should be suffered to live, and his holiness be disparaged by the violations of his law. Thus was sin made the chief mark of his displeasure, while the poor sinner becomes the happy object of his pitiful regard. The odiousness of sin is exposed, while the compassion of his heart is dis

played. His infinite abhorrence of sin, and his infinite love to the sinner, go hand in hand together. Thus "Mercy and Truth meet together"-Mercy to the misery of the sinner, Truth to the purity of the law. "Righteousness and peace embrace each other"-the Righteousness of God, and the Peace of the believers in Jesus; and thus "there is forgiveness with God, that he may be feared." And this leads us to the last evidence we shall produce of the holiness of God.

6. The holiness of God appears in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and in all means appointed for that purpose.

God, who, from eternity, designed the everlasting happiness of his people, decreed that they should be holy; "he predestinated them to be conformed to the image of his Son." Rom. viii. 29. For this purpose he gave his Son, and his Son gave himself, "that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." It was impossible that Jesus Christ, who is "the Holy One of Israel,” should become "the minister of sin," or even permit the purchase of his blood to remain the slaves of corruption: he came 66 by water as well as by blood" (1 John vi. 6); and intended, by the power of his death and resurrection, to introduce us not only into a relative state of happiness by justification, but also into a real state of grace by sanctification. "For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. vi. 10.

For this purpose also the Holy Spirit is given to all believers, for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." It is by the gospel of truth that men are begotten again, and made new creatures, for "of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." James i. 18. The gospel of the

free grace of God, which some mistaken persons charge with an unholy tendency, is the very instrument of renewing them in holiness after the image of God. The Saviour promised that his disciples should know the truth, and that the truth should make them free; and again he prayed for his disciples, saying, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." John xvii. 17. The faith which they have in Christ, if true and genuine, has always this effect "it purifies the heart," "it works by love," "it overcomes the world." If men, professing to receive the truth, and to believe in Christ, are not holy, we are bold to say that their knowledge is not true, their faith is not genuine. They deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them.

All the ordinances of God's appointment, and all the means of grace, private as well as public, are instruments in the hand of the Holy Spirit to promote the holiness of believers. They are properly called "means of grace," for in the diligent use of them, God is pleased to communicate those "supplies of his Spirit," by which we are gradually and progressively transformed into his image, "from glory to glory."

For the same blessed end, he who governs the world, and orders all its affairs according to his allwise and all-holy plan, so directs and overrules the affairs of his people, that "all things work together for their good." They certainly do so, when they promote and increase their holiness. This is particularly affirmed of their afflictions; for though these are irksome, and what we would gladly avoid, yet, "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Afflictions are, indeed, "not joyous, but grievous," nevertheless, "they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and thus he who inflicts them, makes us "partakers of his holiness." Heb. xii. 6, 10, 11.

Thus then it appears, from the Scripture, from the original state of man, from the law, from God's

anger against sin, from the death of Christ, and from the work of the Spirit-that our God is a most holy God.

We conclude with some practical inferences from what has been advanced; and,

1. Is God so holy? then how base and sinful is the hatred of holiness! So awfully is man fallen, that he is not only by nature destitute of holiness, but he hates it in others. He forms a false notion of God, as if he were not holy. It is charged upon the sinner (Ps. i. 21) "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself,"-an unholy being, that could dispense with sin; as the heathens worshipped fancied gods, who were wicked like themselves. No wonder then, that those who love sin, hate holiness in others. Hence, all endeavours to be holy, are despised, by many persons, as mere hypocrisy; and the very name-a saint, is a term of the utmost contempt. A surer sign of being, at present a child of the devil, there cannot be, than to hate and despise holiness; for this is to hate and despise God himself, for he is holy, and holiness is his image. But let it be remembered, that "without holiness, no man can see the Lord;" and, most assuredly, they are "without holiness" themselves, who despise it in others. Let such persons tremble, and repent.

2. Is God so holy? then what cause is there for humiliation! Let all men, let even the best of men, prostrate themselves in deep humiliation, before this Holy Lord God. So did the holy prophet Isaiah, when he saw the vision in the text, and heard the words of it pronounced, "Woe is me!" said he, "for I am a man of unclean lips!" So, when holy Job had a special manifestation of the power and holiness of God, he cried, " Behold, I am vile! I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." A right view of the holiness of God will effectually repress the pride of our minds, and keep us from boasting

of good hearts and good works, and from "going about to establish our own righteousness." "Shall mortal man pretend to be just with God?" Shall he pretend to be pure in his sight? Far be it. Deep repentance and self-abhorrence better become him.”

3. We may learn from hence the need of a Mediator and Redeemer. If we are duly impressed with the truth now declared, we shall cry, with the Bethshemites of old, "Who can stand before this holy Lord God?" Who indeed? In themselves, none can stand. The best man must say with David, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." There can be no safe approach to this holy God, but by Jesus Christ the Mediator. "No man," said he, "cometh to the Father, but by me." But, blessed be God, we may come, we are invited thus to come. God has declared himself to be reconciled through the death of his Son; and now, by his servants, condescends to intreat us to be reconciled to him. Yes? we may now come; come even with freedom and boldness to the throne of his grace, and there obtain mercy to pardon all our sins, and grace to help us in every time of need.

4. Finally Is God holy? then let us also be holy. Such is the high command of God himself—" Be ye holy, for I am holy." This should be our grand object. Here is the bright, the only perfect example, for our imitation. For this purpose, being born in sin, we must needs "be born again"-born of the Holy Spirit, whose gracious influence on the heart, through faith in the gospel, makes us a kind of" new creatures"-brings us, as it were into a new world; for such it is to every one who, contrary to the example of the world, sincerely hates sin and loves holiness.

This will render our worship truly holy. "Holiness becometh the house of God for ever." Let us then "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;" let us "praise his great and terible name, for he is