false accusations; that whereas their malice and hatred of the ways of God, hath provoked them to speak all manner of evil of the profession of them; by the holiness and righteousness of the saints, they are convinced and made ashamed, as a thief is when he is taken, and be driven to acknowledge that God is amongst them, and that they are wicked themselves; John xvii. 23. (2dly.) Hereafter; It is said that the saints shall judge the world: it is on this as well as upon other considerations. Their good works, their righteousness, their holiness, shall be brought forth, and manifested to all the world, and the righteousness of God's judgments against wicked men, be thence evinced. See, says Christ, these are they that I own, whom you so despised and abhorred; and see, their works following them, this and that they have done, when you wallowed in your abominations; Matt. xxv. 42, 43,

2dly. The conversion of others. 1 Pet. ii. 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that wherein they spake against you as evil doers, beholding your good works, they may glorify God in the day of visitation;' Matt. ver. 17. Even revilers, persecutors, evil speakers, have been overcome by the constant holy walking of professors, and when their day of visitation hath come, have glorified God on that account; 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2.

3dly. The benefit of all; partly in keeping off judgments from the residue of men, as ten good men would have preserved Sodom; partly by their real communication of good to them, with whom they have to do in their generation. Holiness makes a man a good man, useful to all, and others eat of the fruits of one Spirit, that he brings forth continually.

4thly. It is necessary in respect of the state and condition of justified persons; and that whether you consider their relative state of acceptation, or their state of sanctification.

(1st.) They are accepted and received into friendship with a holy God; a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; who hates every unclean thing. And is it not necessary that they should be holy, who are admitted into his

a. Gen. xviii. 32. v. 33.

presence, walk in his sight, yea, lay in his bosom? Should they not with all diligence cleanse themselves from all pollution of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord?

2dly. In respect of sanctification. We have in us a new creature; 2 Cor. v. 17. this new creature is fed, cherished, nourished, kept alive by the fruits of holiness. To what end hath God given us new hearts, and new natures? Is it that we should kill them, stifle the creature that is found in us, in the womb? that we should give him to the old man to be devoured?

5thly. It is necessary in respect of the proper place of holiness in the new covenant, and that is twofold.

(1st.) Of the means unto the end. God hath appointed that holiness shall be the means, the way, to that eternal life, which as in itself and originally is his gift, by Jesus Christ; so, with regard to his constitution of our obedience, as the means of attaining it, is a reward; and God in bestowing of it a rewarder. Though it be neither the cause, matter, nor condition of our justification, yet it is the way appointed of God, for us to walk in, for the obtaining of salvation. And therefore, he that hath hope of eternal life, purifies himself, as he is pure; and none shall ever come to that end, who walketh not in that way; for without holiness it is impossible to see God.

(2dly.) It is a testimony and pledge of adoption; a sign and evidence of grace, that is, of acceptation with God. And, 3dly. The whole expression of our thankfulness. Now, there is not one of all these causes and reasons of the necessity, the indispensible necessity, of our obedience, good works, and personal righteousness, but would require a more large discourse to unfold and explain, than I have allotted to the proposal of them all; and innumerable others there are of the same import, that I cannot name. He that upon these accounts doth not think universal holiness and obedience to be of indispensible necessity, unless also it be exalted into the room of the obedience and righteousness of Christ, let him be filthy still.

b 2 Cor. vii. 1.

Rom. vi. 23. Heb. xi. 6. Gen. xv. 1. Psal. xix. 11. lviii. 11. Matt. v. 12. x. 41. Rom. iv. 4. Col. ii. 18. iii. 24. Heb. x. 35. xi. 26. ↑ Pet. ii. 31.

These objections being removed, and having at the entrance of this chapter, declared what is done on the part of Christ, as to our fellowship with him in this purchased grace, as to our acceptation with God; it remains.

(2.) That I now shew, what also is required and performed on our part, for the completing thereof. This then consists in the ensuing particulars.

[1.] The saints cordially approve of this righteousness, as that alone which is absolutely complete, and able to make them acceptable before God. And this supposeth five things.

1st. Their clear and full conviction of the necessity of a righteousness, wherewith to appear before God. This is always in their thoughts; this in their whole lives they take for granted. Many men spend their days in obstinacy and hardness, adding drunkenness unto thirst, never once inquiring what their condition shall be, when they enter into eternity. Others trifle away their time and their souls, sowing the wind of empty hopes, and preparing to reap a whirlwind of wrath. But this lies at the bottom of all the saints' communion with Christ. A deep, fixed, resolved persuasion of an absolute and indispensible necessity of a righteousness, wherewith to appear before God. The holiness of God's nature, the righteousness of his government, the severity of his law, the terror of his wrath, are always before them. They have been all convinced of sin, and have looked on themselves as ready to sink under the vengeance due to it. They have all cried, Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved? Wherewith shall we appear before God?? And have all concluded, that it is in vain to flatter themselves with hopes of escaping as they are by nature; if God be holy, and righteous, and of purer eyes. than to behold iniquity, they must have a righteousness to stand before him and they know what will be the cry one day, of those who now bear up themselves, as if they were otherwise minded; Isa. liii. 15. Mich. vii. 6, 7.

2dly. They weigh their own righteousness in the balance, and find it wanting. And this two ways..

(1st.) In general, and upon the whole of the matter, at their first setting themselves before God. When men are convinced of the necessity of a righteousness, they catch at

every thing that presents itself to them for relief. Like men ready to sink in deep waters, catch at that which is next, to save them from drowning, which sometimes proves a rotten stick, that sinks with them. So did the Jews, Rom. ix. 31, 32. they caught hold of the law, and it would not relieve them; and how they perished with it, the apostle declares, chap. x. 14. The law put them upon setting up a righteousness of their own; this kept them doing, and in hope, but kept them from submitting to the righteousness of God. Here many perish, and never get one step nearer God all their days. This the saints renounce; they have no confidence in the flesh; they know that all they can do, all that the law can do, which is weak through the flesh, will not avail them. See what judgment Paul makes of all a man's own righteousness; Phil. iii. 8. 10. This they bear in their minds daily, this they fill their thoughts withal, that upon the account of what they have done, can do, ever shall do, they cannot be accepted with God, or justified thereby. This keeps their souls humble, full of a sense of their own vileness all their days.

(2dly.) In particular; they daily weigh all their particular actions in the balance, and find them wanting, as to any such completeness, as upon their own account to be accepted with God. Oh! says a saint, if I had nothing to commend me unto God, but this prayer, this duty, this conquest of a temptation, wherein I myself see so many failings, so much imperfection, could I appear with any boldness before him? Shall I then piece up a garment of righteousness out of my best duties? ah! it is all as a defiled cloth Isa. Ixiv. 6. These thoughts accompany them in all their duties, in their best and most choice performances. Lord what am I in my best estate? How little suitableness unto thy holiness is in my best duties? O'spare me! in reference to the best thing that ever I did in my life. When a man who lives upon convictions, hath got some enlargements in duties, some conquest over a sin or temptation, he hugs himself, like Micah when he had got a Levite to be his priest; now surely it shall be well with him, now God will bless him, his heart is now at ease; he hath peace in what he hath done. But he who has communion with Christ,

Neh, xiii. 12.

when he is highest in duties of sanctification and holiness, is clearest in the apprehension of his own unprofitableness, and rejects every thought that might arise in his heart, of setting his peace in them, or upon them. He says to his soul, Do these things seem something to thee? Alas.! thou hast to do with an infinitely righteous God, who looks through and through all that vanity, which thou art but little acquainted withal; and should he deal with thee, according to thy best works, thou must perish.

3dly. They approve of, value and rejoice in this righteousness, for their acceptation, which the Lord Jesus hath wrought out, and provided for them; this being discovered to them, they approve of it with all their hearts, and rest in it; Isa. xlv. 24. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength.' This is their voice and language, when once the righteousness of God in Christ is made known unto them; here is righteousness indeed, here have I rest for my soul. Like the merchant-man in the gospel, Matt. xiij. 45, 46. that finds the pearl of price; I had been searching up and down, I looked this and that way for help, but it was far away; I spent my strength for that which was not bread; here is that, indeed, which makes me rich for ever. When first the righteousness of Christ, for acceptation with God, is revealed to a poor labouring soul, that hath sought for rest and hath found none, he is surprised and amazed, and is not able to contain itself: and such a one always in his heart approves this righteousness on a fivefold account.

(1st) As full of infinite wisdom. Unto them that believe, saith the apostle, Christ crucified, is the wisdom of God;' 1 Cor. i. 24. They see infinite wisdom in this way of their acceptation with God. In what darkness, says such a one, in what straits, in what entanglements, was my poor soul? How little able was I to look through the clouds and per-. plexities wherewith I was encompassed? I looked inwards, and there was nothing but sin, horror, fear, tremblings; I looked upwards, and saw nothing but wrath, curses, and vengeance. I knew that God was a holy and righteous God, and that no unclean thing should abide before him; I knew that I was a poor, vile, unclean, and sinful creature, and how to bring these two together in peace, I knew not. But in the