fect obedience which God requires from us, it is evident that we are only holy so far as we seek to fulfil the law in all respects. For example, will you give this glorious title to him who regularly attends the public assemblies of his Christian brethren, who voluntarily distributes a certain portion of his goods to the poor, but who, besides all this, gives himself up to all sorts of worldly pleasures? Is he holy in all manner of conversation? There are only too many who fancy that they may atone for their sins by their almsgivings, and secure to themselves the right of keeping up the indulgence of their passions, by the regularity with which they come to listen to the preaching of the Gospel. A man shall give himself the liberty of choosing among the precepts of Christ, those whose observance is the least burdensome to him, those which agree best with his inclinations and humours; but can we ever regard such a man as having at heart a true and sincere regard to piety? We shall see persons thus shamefully seeking to connect vice and virtue in their conduct. They pray to God, and they cheat their neighbour. They avoid swearing, and seem to think they may lie with impunity. They are sober, but they are malicious and vindictive: shall we say that these are saints? My brethren, do we not thus trace portraits, too many originals of which it would be only too easy to point out? Would to God all this were less true! So to speak, numbers who live in the church are only half-pious. They are neither altogether sinners, nor altogether saints. Consider them on one side, and you admire them; view them on another, alas! you must form a judgment altogether different. And yet, few of

them but fancy that they are walking in the way of salvation! It is allowed that none are so perfect as they ought to be; but these, under the pretext that they have surmounted one or two bad habits, or that they have entered on the performance of one or two virtues, assure themselves that they belong to those faithful disciples of our Lord, who hear his sayings and do them. But can it be said that they are obliged to continue in this delusion? A precept so clear as this of Be holy," he says, "in

the Apostle, must it not open their eyes? all manner of conversation."

In all manner of conversation! That is to say, in all your duties; in those which regard yourselves; in those which have your neighbour for their object. In all your conversation! That is to say, your thoughts must be Christian, your desires must be just, your words pure, your behaviour legitimate and regular. Be holy in all manner of conversation! That is to say, obey without exception all the divine commands; flee from vice of every kind; not only avoid grosser sins, but abstain from the very appearance of evil; labour to acquire all virtues, however difficult their observance may seem to be. Be holy in public, in private, as parent, as child, as servant, as master, as magistrate, as subject be holy in every sense. : The exhortation of the Apostle is unrestricted here or elsewhere, and true sanctity respects universally all the laws of God; because he who has said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, has said also, Thou shalt not kill: because he who has laid down the severest prohibitions, has commanded also those

duties which seem to be of the least importance. "Be holy in all manner of conversation."

4. The last character of true holiness is, that it must be persevering and constant. This is implied in the language before us. To be holy in our whole conversation relates, not merely to its extent, but also to its duration. We must be holy in the entire course of our life; for the obligation to be holy continues from moment to moment, and never ceases to exist. And thus are we to be on our guard against the inconstancy of the resolutions which we form, but often so soon violate, to devote ourselves to the service of God. But here, we know not whether we must deplore our weakness, or reproach our lightness and inconstancy. Happy moments sometimes arrive when we seem illuminated as with some new light, animated by some new zeal. We taste that the Lord is gracious; we find that it is good to draw near to him. It may be a sacrament-day, or a period of sickness, or the reception of some extraordinary benefits, which produces in us these effects. But how soon do they vanish! At other times, there remain in us scarcely any traces of these quickened feelings of religion. Cold in all the offices of piety, we pray with indifference, we read the word without reflection, a fatal languor spreads over our mind and heart, and we sleep on in this dangerous security.

You say that it is very difficult to maintain one's-self always in the same degree of virtue: you allege these frequent temptations, these sudden passions, these unforeseen occurrences, which turn the most pious, you pretend, from their duty. You bring forward the example of some truly devoted saints, who, advanced as they were in the way of salvation, have not always moved on with equal steps. knowledge with you these melancholy truths. We add, also, that this strong ardour of devotion that you sometimes profess to feel does not constitute the essence of sanctity. But, on the other side, you must not deny that it is the duty of the Christian to observe the commandments of God perpetually. At least, if piety is not always equally lively, it must always be equally sincere, always hold the first place in the heart, always govern the conduct. Your obligation to love and serve God will not be less strong to-morrow, after some weeks, after years have gone by, than it is to-day. It will not be more difficult for you to keep the commands of God in the future, than it is now, and than it has been formerly. The law of God is always the same, we have the same interest in performing what it requires, and it cannot be impossible for us to apply ourselves seriously to that to which we have applied ourselves seriously on other occasions. Let us complain, then, of our corruption, let us deplore our unhappiness in allowing so often our zeal to cool but let us still acknowledge that sanctity ought to be uniform at all times; in youth and in age; in prosperity and in adversity; in health and in sickness; in the tumult of the world and in retirement and leisure. Watch and pray without ceasing so the Scripture enjoins.

Thus, by the words, "Be ye holy in all manner of conversation," the Apostle exhorts us equally to a holiness inward and spiritual, a

holiness abundant in good works, a holiness complete, a holiness persevering and constant. To give a more limited extent to the exhortation would be to enfeeble it.

III. But it now remains that we consider the powerful reason assigned by the Apostle, why we should be thus holy: "As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye also holy." Let us, therefore, thirdly, examine the force of this, consequence.

The Apostle places before us a double obligation to become holy. The one is founded on the holiness of God, considered in itself: the other arises from the knowledge of holiness which God has given us in the Gospel. We shall not dwell long on these two articles, because you already, without doubt, understand sufficiently how necessary it is that men should labour to become holy.

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1. Our first principle, and our first induction, may thus briefly be stated God is holy; therefore you ought to be holy. God is holy; that signifies, as we have shown you, that he is the most excellent of all beings, and the Sovereign of the universe. This of itself is enough to establish the necessity imposed on us of living a holy life. The simple light of good sense will teach us that a subject is bound to respect and obey his Prince. fullest right to rule over us; pending entirely on his will. to his empire, to receive his homage. What can be more plain?

God is our supreme Lord. He has the our life, our death, our existence, deWe ought, then, to submit absolutely orders, and to render him our sincere

But further: God is holy in this, that he sovereignly loves his own virtues, and sovereignly hates all that wounds them. Hence, therefore, ye must be holy, because he is holy. In effect, he who enters not the paths of sanctification, withdraws himself from the laws of God. The sinner, whoever he is, transgresses his ordinances, or refuses to fulfil them. In either case, he is a rebel, setting himself in opposition to his King. God requires his love, and he refuses to love him. God commands him to renounce his own inclinations, and only to consult the precepts which come to him from on high; and the sinner arrogates to himself the right to live according to his own desires. He disposes of himself as if he were independent. He outrages the power of God, in not fearing it; the goodness of God, in making it, so to speak, the accomplice of his faults; the justice of God, in flattering himself with impunity. We act thus whenever we abandon ourselves to evil. Not that we have the boldness thus to oppose ourselves to him avowedly; but the offence in its own nature is the same as if we knowingly cherished this intention. But do you conceive that God, seeing himself thus outraged by his creature, will grant him his grace and peace? Before he does this, God must renounce his own glory, and no longer regard his power, his sovereignty, his goodness, his justice; in a word, he must deny himself! For it is important to consider, that the love which he has for his perfections, and the hatred he has for all that is contrary to them, are not arbitrary sentiments, which he may change, as it were, at his good pleasure: these sentiments have their source in the very nature of the all-perfect Being,

since, from the moment that he loved any object to the prejudice of his own virtues, he would cease to be all-perfect any longer. Behold, then, the man, so long as he remains a sinner, deprived of all legitimate hope of enjoying the favour of God, and necessarily exposed to his hatred.

This is much, my brethren, but it is not all. Whosoever refuses to be holy, exposes himself to the severest judgments of a just and angry God. God cannot permit any one to offend him with impunity. This would be to allow the splendour of his moral virtues to be obscured, his authority to be trodden under foot, his majesty to be profaned, without any vindication. Where would then be that infinite love which he bears to his attributes, if it were indifferent to him whether he were honoured or dishonoured? His holiness renders it necessary that he should "take vengeance," and that in proportion to the crime which is to be punished. But it is not a single crime; it is a numberless multitude of crimes that the sinner has committed; and there is not one of the moral excellencies of God which these crimes have not assailed. They are, therefore, all interested in the punishment of the sinner he is exposed on all sides to the wrath of God: that terrible wrath abideth upon him; and when once it blazes forth, say, if you can, when the time will come that it will be appeased. Thus there is no middle path. We must either be holy, or this must be our wretched doom. God is holy be ye therefore holy in all manner of conversation.

2. This obligation acquires still higher degrees of strength by that clear revelation of his holiness which God gives us in our evangelical vocation. We have already established the fact. The Gospel causes the adorable perfections of the Supreme Being to shine resplendently before us; the Gospel brings us to Jesus dying for our offences; the Gospel seeks to detach us from the world and from ourselves, and to inspire us with sentiments directly contrary to our first and natural inclinations. From this we conclude that the God who gives us such a revelation is holy himself; and from this, as strongly do we conclude further, that we ought to be holy. But, that we may not fatigue your attention by the too frequent allegation of the same arguments, let us view the subject in a somewhat different manner. If we prove that the great design of God in establishing the Christian religion is no other than the sanctification of man, the justice of the consequence we are now considering will be demonstrated, that because He who calls us by the Gospel is holy, we, also, who are thus called, ought to be holy in all manner of conversation.

What is that religion, my brethren? A wonderful assemblage of doctrines, precepts, promises, and threatenings; to which may be added the acts of worship which its Author has himself instituted. But all these points, whether considered separately, or united in one, offer nothing to the mind but this grand idea of holiness. All its dogmas come to this. Has God chosen us? It is that we should be holy. Has God redeemed us? It is that we might serve him in righteousness and holiness before him all the days of our life. Has

Jesus Christ given himself for us? It is that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Has the influence of the Holy Spirit been effectual in us? Then has he created us after God in righteousness and true holiness. The entire moral system of the Gospel only tends to enforce on us the duties of a personal sanctification, to make them clear to us, and to bring us to approve them. It appropriates the precepts of the ancient Scriptures, and adds to them new ones. "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?" Thus, in effect, does it speak with a Prophet. And then with an Apostle, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." The promises of the covenant of grace only regard those who purify themselves even as He is pure, who cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God; and who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality. The threatenings, on the contrary, regard indifferently all sorts of sinners. Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, shall be upon every soul of man that doeth evil. They who only say to the Son of God, "Lord, Lord," shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven: they alone who do the will of God shall be admitted there. Baptism saves, not as putting away the filth of the flesh, but only as joined with the answer of a good conscience towards God. And if we approach the table of the mystic supper, not having on the weddinggarment, we eat and drink to our condemnation. "Holiness unto the Lord:" this is the august device of the whole of religion, as under the law it was the inscription on the mitre of the High-Priest. Go, after this, lukewarm Christians, cowardly and slothful disciples, go, and trust in the mercy of God. Enlarge the way to heaven, always too narrow for your taste. Promise yourselves peace. Delay your conversion. It may be that at present God keeps silence; but he will speak, and you shall hear him, in the day of vengeance, and of righteous retribution. "You thought," will he say, "that I was altogether such an one as yourselves. You professed to believe that holiness was my glory, and yet that this should never be made manifest. But know me now, now that the thrones are set, and the books are opened, and I am about to judge and reprove you, and set all in order before your eyes."

We thus finish the discussion of the subject: let us pass to its application.

It is not just now, as though for the first time, my brethren, that we learn the importance of the truths on which we have hitherto been discoursing. It is not just now that we are for the first time taught that we must be holy. This great and indispensable duty has long been known to us, and continually are you urged from this pulpit to its fulfilment. Since you have heard such exhortations, what vices might you not have vanquished, what virtues might you not have acquired and perfected! Nevertheless, our deficiencies are always the

same.

Our piety is always languishing and defective. If we show