or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)
Holiness will render you most beautiful and amiable. As
holiness is the beauty of God, and the beauty of angels
--so it is the beauty and glory of a Christian also.
Holiness casts such a beauty upon man, as makes him
very amiable and desirable.
The redness of the rose, the whiteness of the lily, and all
the beauties of the natural universe--are but deformities,
compared to that beauty which holiness puts upon us. If
all natural beauty were contracted into one beauty--yet
it would be but an obscure and an unlovely beauty,
compared to that beauty which holiness puts upon us!
Holiness is lovely, yes--loveliness itself. Purity is a Christian's
splendor and glory. There is no beauty compared to that of
sanctity; nothing beautifies and bespangles a man like holiness.
Holiness is so attractive and so lovely a thing--that it draws all
eyes and hearts to an admiration of it. Holiness is so great a
beauty--that it puts a beauty upon all other excellencies in a
man. That holiness is a very beautiful thing, and that it makes
all those beautiful who have it--is a truth that no devil can deny!
"Demetrius," says Plutarch, "was so lovely of face, that no
painter was able to draw him." Just so, holiness puts so rare
a beauty upon man--that no painter under heaven is able to
draw him! Scipio Africanus was so lovely a person, that the
Spaniards stood amazed at his loveliness. Holiness puts such
a loveliness, and such an amiableness upon a person--that
many admire it, and stand amazed at it.
O sirs, as ever you would be amiable and desirable--be holy!
As ever you would be attractive and lovely--be holy!
As ever you would outshine the sun in splendor and
glory--labor to be holy!
Many have ventured their names, their estates, their liberties,
their lives, yes, their very souls--to enjoy a lovely Bathsheba,
an attractive Helena, a beautiful Diana, a lovely Cleopatra, etc.,
whose beauties have been but clay, well-colored. Oh, how
much more, then, should you be provoked to labor and venture
your all for holiness--which will imprint upon you that most
excellent and most exquisite beauty--which will go to the grave
and to glory with you; yes, which will render you not only amiable
and excellent in the eyes of men--but also lovely and lovely in
the eyes of God!
Unholy souls are . . .
foul souls,
ugly souls,
deformed souls,
withered souls,
wrinkled souls,
altogether unlovely souls.
sorry haven't had time to blog my thoughts but this article's really good
No comments:
Post a Comment