cast upon him, and not spare; he would fain flee out of his hand_, Job xxvii. 20, 21, 22. Moreover, the purity of the Scripture farther appears, in that it warns sinners of that eternal ruin, which they expose themselves to in the other world; _Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power_, 2 Thess. i. 9. All these things discover the purity and holiness of the word of God. (3.) It never gives the least indulgence or dispensation to sin, nor in any of its doctrines, which are pure and holy, doth it lead to licentiousness; it not only reproves sin in the lives and outward conversations of men, but also discovers its secret recesses in the heart, where its chief seat is; obviates and guards against its first motions, tending thereby to regulate the secret thoughts of men, and the principle of all their actions, which it requires to be pure and holy. In this the Scripture excels all other writings with respect to its holiness. (4.) All the blessings and benefits which it holds forth, or puts us in mind of, as the peculiar instances of divine favour and love to man, are urged and insisted on as motives to holiness; thus it is said, _The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance_, Rom. ii. 4. and when Moses had been putting the Israelites in mind of God’s increasing them, _as the stars of heaven for multitude_, Deut. x. 22. compared with chap. xi. 1. he adds, _therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge and statutes, his judgments and commandments alway_. And when the loving kindness of God has been abused by men, it severely reproves them for their vile ingratitude; as when it is said, Deut. xxxii. 6. _Do ye thus requite the Lord, oh foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy Father that bought thee? Hath not he made thee, and established thee?_ (5.) All the examples proposed to our imitation therein, are such as savour of, and lead to, holiness; and when it recommends the actions or conversation of men, it is more especially for that holiness which is discovered therein: and, on the other hand, when it gives us the character of wicked men, together with the dreadful consequences thereof, it is that we may avoid and be deterred from committing the same sins that will be their ruin in the end. (6.) The rules laid down relating to civil affairs in the Old Testament dispensation, and the behaviour of one man towards another, have a vein of holiness running through them all. Thus the government of the Jewish state, as described in the books of Moses, and elsewhere, discovers it to be an holy commonwealth; and they are often called an holy nation, as governed by those laws which God gave them; so the government of the church in the Gospel-dispensation, is a holy government: visible holiness is a term of church-communion, and apostacy and revolt from God excludes from it.