Quotes About Holiness

Clearly the Holy Spirit is not merely a quality to be found in the divine nature … He is a holy intelligent person.

Let a soul exercise itself to a communion with Christ in the good things of the gospel—pardon of sin, fruits of holiness, hope of glory, peace with God, joy in the Holy Ghost, dominion over sin—and he shall have a mighty preservative against all temptations.

There are two things that are suited to humble the souls of men, and they are, first, a due consideration of God, and then of themselves;—of God, in his greatness, glory, holiness, power, majesty, and authority; of ourselves, in our mean, abject, and sinful condition.

It is, moreover, evident from hence that it is a greater matter to be truly and really holy than most persons are aware of. We may learn eminently how great and excellent a work this of sanctification and holiness is from the causes of it. How emphatically doth our apostle ascribe it unto God, even the Father: 1 Thess. v. 23, "Even the God of peace himself sanctify you." It is so great a work as that it cannot be wrought by any but the God of peace himself.

It is sufficient unto our present purpose that in and by these promises we are made partakers of the divine nature, and are therein endowed with a constant, habitual disposition and inclination unto all acts and duties of holiness; for our power followeth our love and inclinations, as impotency is a consequent of their defect.

The true notion of holy, evangelical truths will not live, at least not flourish, where they are divided from a holy conversation. As we learn all to practice, so we learn much by practice. There is no practical science which we can make any great improvement of without an assiduous practice of its theorems; much less is wisdom, such as is the understanding of the mysteries of the Scripture, to be increased, unless a man be practically conversant about the things which it directs unto.

The Mortification Of Sin In Particular Described

Be of good courage, all ye that trust in the Lord; you may, you ought, without fear or dauntedness of spirit, to engage into the pursuit of universal holiness. He who hath commanded it, who hath required it of you, will bear you out in it.

That in the sanctification of believers, the Holy Ghost doth work in them, in their whole souls, their minds, wills, and affections, a gracious, supernatural habit, principle, and disposition of living unto God; wherein the substance or essence, the life and being, of holiness doth consist.

To walk in the Spirit is to walk in obedience unto God, according to the supplies of grace which the Holy Ghost administers unto us; for so it is added, that "we shall not then fulfil the lusts of the flesh,"—that is, we shall be kept up unto holy obedience and the avoidance of sin.

It is to be feared that the most of us know not how much of glory may be in present grace, nor how much of heaven may be attained in holiness on the earth.

2.) Mortification prunes all the graces of God, and makes room for them in our hearts to grow.

no man can express a greater enmity unto or malice against the gospel, than he that should assert or maintain that the faith, profession, lives, ways, and walkings of the generality of Christians are a just representation of its truth and holiness.

And whereas holiness may be reduced unto two heads,—1. The renovation of the image of God in us; 2. Universal actual obedience,—they are the sum of the preceptive part of the gospel, Eph. iv. 22–24; Tit. ii. 11, 12.

Morality divorced from the doctrines of the gospel is not that holiness which the gospel requires.

There is no imagination wherewith man is besotted, more foolish, none so pernicious as this,- that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy in their life, should afterwards be taken into that state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God. Neither can such persons enjoy God, nor would God be a reward to them. Holiness is perfected in heaven: but the beginning of it is invariably confined to this world.

Among those who walk with God, there is no greater motive and incentive unto universal holiness, and the preserving of their hearts and spirits in all purity and cleanness, than this, that the blessed Spirit, who hath undertaken to dwell in them, is continually considering what they give entertainment in their hearts unto, and rejoiceth when his temple is kept undefiled.

That God hath no design for his own glory in us or by us, in this world or unto eternity,—that there is no especial communion that we can have with him by Jesus Christ, nor any capacity for us to enjoy him,—but holiness is necessary unto it, as a means unto its end.

Evangelical holiness is purchased for us by him, according to the tenor of the everlasting covenant, is promised unto us on his account, actually impetrated for us by his intercession, and communicated unto us by his Spirit.

It is true, our interest in God is not built upon our holiness; but it is as true that we have none without it.

Wherefore let us be much in the contemplation of what he was, what he did, how in all instances of duties and trials he carried himself, until an image or idea of his perfect holiness is implanted in our minds, and we are made like unto him thereby.

And there hath not been any one more effectual means of bringing unholiness, with an ungodly course of conversation, into the Christian world, than this one of teaching men to satisfy themselves in this duty by their saying, reading, or repetition of the words of other men, which, it may be, they understand not, and certainly are not in a due manner affected withal; for it is this duty whereby our whole course is principally influenced.

Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who doth not kill sin in this way takes no steps towards his journey's end. He who finds not opposition from it, and who sets not himself in every particular to its mortification, is at peace with it, not dying to it. This

God will justify us from our sins, but he will not justify the least sin in us: He is a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.