Holiness

 The things which have been spoken at this time give us a further view of the dignity and excellency of genuine holiness, and how far it is above the reach of corrupted nature; and consequently how precious those influences of the Spirit are which raise up the souls of men to such sweet and sublime exercises. Many people talk of holiness, and of the work of the Spirit, who are little aware of the true nature and glory of these things.

 There is much reason to lament that cold death which is manifest in many professors of religion with respect to these things. How little of this genuine zeal for God, and love to men flowing from it, is to be found in Christian societies! Here the hypocrisy of many pretensions to faith is awfully discovered. Many who talk highly of religious comfort are so far from any vital experience of these holy exercises which I have been describing, that they cannot endure the mentioning of them. God will get honour to himself by and by in the dismal surprise which shall seize on many such hypocrites when they make their appearance in the invisible world. Therefore,

 Let us the more closely try our sincerity in this matter. Do we truly condemn and abhor ourselves for our want of such zeal and love? Does the hearing of them excite in us an eager ambition after these things? Have we ever tasted of the heavenly sweetness of these holy exercises of soul? Those who despise the sweetness of the work of Christianity will find at length that their comfort in Christian privileges was but delusion.

How deplorable and dangerous is the condition of many souls who are either dead, in a hateful indifference about the interests of God and of mankind, or are inflamed with a false and diabolical zeal to oppose and destroy the true work of God!

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."