Thursday, April 05, 2007

holy,holy,holy


Holy, holy, holy(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity, or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)"Who is like You, glorious in holiness?" Exodus 15:11God is . . . infinitely holy, transcendently holy, superlatively holy, constantly holy, unchangeably holy, exemplary holy, gloriously holy. All the holiness that is in the best and choicest Christians is but a mixed holiness, a weak and imperfect holiness. Their unholiness is always more than their holiness. Ah, what a great deal . . . of pride is mixed with a little humility, of unbelief is mixed with a little faith, of peevishness is mixed with a little meekness, of earthliness is mixed with a little heavenliness, of carnality is mixed with a little spirituality, of harshness is mixed with a little tenderness! Oh, but the holiness of God is a pure holiness, it is a holiness without mixture; there is not the least drop or the least dreg of unholiness in God! "Godis light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5In God there is . . . all wisdom without any folly, all truth without any falsehood, all light without any darkness, and all holiness without any sinfulness.God is universally holy. He is holy in all His ways, and holy in all His works.His precepts are holy precepts, His promises are holy promises, His threatenings are holy threatenings, His love is a holy love, His anger is a holy anger, His hatred is a holy hatred, etc. His nature is holy, His attributes are holy, His actions are all holy.He is holy in sparing; and holy in punishing. He is holy in justifying of some; and holy in condemning of others. He is holy in bringing some to heaven; and holy in throwing others to hell.God is holy . . . in all His sayings, in all His doings, in whatever He puts His hand to, in whatever He sets His heart to.His frowns are holy, His smiles are holy.When He gives, His givings are holy giving; when He takes away, His takings are holy takings, etc. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty!" Isaiah 6:3God is eminently holy. He is transcendently holy.he is superlatively holy.He is glorious in holiness.There is no fathoming, there is no measuring, there is no comprehending, there is no searching, of that infinite sea of holiness, which is in God. O sirs! you shall as soon . . . stop the sun in its course, and change the day into night, and raise the dead, and make a world, and count the stars of heaven, and empty the sea with a cockle-shell,as you shall be able either to conceive or express that transcendent holiness which is in God!God's holiness is infinite. It can neither be . . . limited, nor lessened, nor increased. God is the spring of all holiness and purity. All that holiness which is in angels and men flows from God, as the streams from the fountain, as the beams from the sun, as the branches from the root, as the effect from the cause. Ministers may pray that their people may be holy, parents may pray that their children may be holy; but they cannot give holiness, nor communicate holiness to their nearest and dearest relations. God alone is the giver and the author of all holiness. It is only the Holy One who can cause holiness to flow into sinners' hearts; it is only He who can form, and frame, and infuse holiness into the souls of men.A man shall sooner make make a world--than he shall make another holy. It is only a holy God, who can . . . enlighten the mind, and bow the will, and melt the heart, and raise the affections, and purge the conscience, and reform the life, and put the whole man into a holy gracious temper. God is exemplary holy. He is the rule, example, and pattern of holiness. "Be holy, as I am holy." 1 Pet. 1:15.God's holiness is the copy which we must always have in our eye, and endeavor most exactly to write after.

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