were born, and have lived so long in sin, ever be made so pure and holy, as to be meet to live with Saints and Angels, with Christ and God Himself, in the world to come? It is, I confess, no easy matter; but, howsoever, it is possible for every one here present to be so; nay, more than that, none of us can fail of it, unless we be failing to ourselves in our endeavours after it: as we may easily perceive, if we do but consider how others have been, and so how we ourselves may be sanctified or made Saints, if we do but set ourselves in good earnest about it.

IV. For which end we may observe, that this being too great a work for us to do by our own strength, the eternal Son of God Himself was pleased to undertake it for us. And for that purpose, having taken our nature upon Him, He gave Himself for us, as to redeem us from all iniquity, so "to purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good Tit. 2. 14. works." And so He is made to us, Wisdom, as well as 1 Cor. 1.30. Righteousness, Sanctification as well as Redemption. That, as we are justified and redeemed from our sins, so we may be made wise and holy through Him, Who is the Fountain, as of all the good things we do or can enjoy, so likewise of all the goodness and virtue we are or can be endued with. It all flows from Him; Who therefore tells us, that "with- John 15.5. out Him we can do nothing," but by Him there is nothing but we can do; as St. Paul found by experience, saying, “I Phil. 4. 13. can do all things through Christ Which strengtheneth me."

Hence, therefore, if we desire to be made holy, we must apply ourselves to Christ, Who, although He be now in Heaven as to His human nature, yet He is always present with us here below, both in His Divine Person, and also by His Holy Spirit; and so is ready upon all occasions to assist us in our endeavours after piety, and to crown them with that success, as to make us sincerely pious. For which purpose, as He sanctified our human nature in general by assuming it into his Divine person, so He sanctifieth our human persons in particular, by making us partakers of His Divine nature; which He doth by sending His Holy Spirit, of the same Divine nature with Himself, into our hearts, which by degrees makes us also holy and spiritual, and so

SERM. in our capacities like unto Himself, and partakers of His Own nature.

II.

Now the great thing which He requires of us, in order to His doing this great work for us, is, that we believe in Acts 26. 18. Him; for He Himself saith, that we are "sanctified by faith that is in Him." Not by believing only His Gospel in general to be true, but by believing particularly in Himself, so as to have a sure trust and confidence on Him, to give us such illuminations and assistances of His Holy Spirit, whereby we may be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, and so be made sincerely, as He is infinitely, pure and holy. And, indeed, this is the first and great thing we ought to believe and trust in our Saviour for, and that which is the foundation of all our other expectations from Him: for we have no ground to expect either pardon, or any other blessing at His hands, until we repent and be converted. But if we firmly believe and depend upon Him, in the first place, for grace to repent and turn to God, and so become holy and new creatures, according to the promises that He hath made us to that purpose; as He will then most certainly perform such promises to us, so all the other blessings that He hath purchased for us, will then follow in course: for if we be truly sanctified and made holy, then our sins will be all pardoned, our persons justified, our duties accepted, God reconciled to us, and at length our souls eternally saved: but all these things depend upon our being first sanctified by Him, as that doth upon our believing in Him.

Eph. 2. 8.

But faith, as the Apostle saith, "is the gift of God." And therefore, if we desire to believe, so as to be sanctified, we must ask and expect it from Him, in the use of those means which He hath appointed, both for the begetting and increasing of it; we must read, and hear, and meditate upon His Holy Word; we must fast and pray, and receive the Sacrament of our Lord's Supper; for these are the ordinary means which God hath established in His Church, whereby to make known Himself unto us, to convince us of the truth and certainty of His promises, and so work and confirm in us a true belief of them, by the power of the Holy Ghost,

which for that purpose doth continually assist and influence. the administration and performance of such duties; which, therefore, are not only holy duties in themselves, but the means too, whereby we may become holy.

But, for that purpose, we must perform not only one or more, but all of them, so as to go through the whole course that God hath prescribed for the healing of our spiritual distempers, and for the restoring us to a sound frame and constitution of mind, wherein, as I have shewn, the nature of true holiness properly consists.

And that we must do too, not only now and then, but through the whole course of our lives, so as to be constantly, as much as possibly we can, employed in some or other of these holy exercises; not in a careless and superficial manner, but heartily, sincerely, earnestly, as for our lives; for our lives, our eternal lives, in a great measure depend upon it: for it is by our continual exercise of those holy duties, and the grace of God always accompanying of them, that our hearts are insensibly taken off from sin and the world, and raised up higher and higher towards God and Heaven, until at length our whole soul being sanctified by a quick and lively faith in Christ, we are "made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light."

And what cause have they, who are so, to give thanks, as St. Paul here doth, to God the Father for it! for the whole of our Salvation, from first to last, must be ascribed unto Him: it is begun, continued, and ended all in Him; for it was He "Who so loved the world, that He gave His Only- John 3. 16. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." It was He "Who spared Rom. 8. 32. not" this "His Son, but delivered Him up," to be tempted, to be scourged, to be spit upon, to be arraigned, condemned, crucified, and all for us and our Salvation. It was He, Who "having raised up this His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless us, Acts 3. 26. by turning every one of us from his iniquities;" "and made 2 Cor. 5. 21. Him, Who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." It was He "Who Acts 5. 31. hath exalted Him with His Own right hand, to be both a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance and remission of sins." It is He Who hath passed by the greatest part of

12.

II.

SERM. mankind, and hath revealed Himself and His Son to us, the unworthiest of all His creatures: it was He Who caused us to be born and bred within the pale of His Holy Catholic Church, and in one of the soundest and purest parts of it upon the face of the whole earth: it is He Who still continues the means of grace to us, and us to them, and His blessing both to them and us: it is He Who gives us His Holy Spirit, to mortify the deeds of the flesh, and to quicken us with newness of life; to raise up our minds from the world, and fix them upon Himself; to keep us from evil, and to enable us to do or suffer any thing we can for His sake: it is He Who calls upon us continually, by the ministry of His Word, to repent and believe the Gospel, and gives us grace to do it. In a word, it is He Who hath sent me, the unworthiest of all His ministers, at this time, to acquaint you in His Name, how ye may be "meet partakers of the inheritance of the saints in Light;" and it is He alone can make you so.

And therefore all, who are so made, may well join with the Choir of Heaven, in those seraphic anthems we find Rev. 7. 10- them singing in the Revelation; "Salvation to our God Which sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."

SERMON III.

Preached before the House of Peers, in the Abbey Church of Westminster, on Sunday, November 5, 1704.

ESTHER, ix. 27, 28.

The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their appointed time, every year; And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the remembrance of them perish from their seed.

As God made all things at first, so He still doth all things for Himself, for His Own honour and glory. And therefore He hath made several creatures, as the Angels in Heaven and upon earth men, capable of reflecting upon what He doth, and of discerning, acknowledging, and admiring those infinite perfections which He sheweth forth in doing it, and so of giving Him the praise and honour that is due unto Him for it which therefore He requireth all men to do. And for that purpose, it hath been usual in all ages to appoint some certain times and seasons wherein to do it, not only privately, every one by himself, but publicly, and in a body, many meeting and joining together, for no other end, but to own and celebrate the wonderful works that God hath done, and to testify and declare the same by all such outward acts by which we are said to worship Him.

EE