3. In our actions. Our actions may be parted into two things, — worship, and ordinary conversation.
(1.) In our worship, there God especially will be sanctified. Lev. X. 3, ' I will be sanctified in all that draw near unto me.' God is very tender of his worship : sancta Sanctis, holy things must be managed by holy men in a holy manner. Therefore, what is it to sanctify God when we draw nigh to him ? To have a more excellent frame of heart in worship than we have about other things. As in prayer, the frame of our hearts must not be common ; we must not go about it with such a frame of heart as we go about our calhngs, worldly business, and converses with men : but there must be some special reverence, such as is peculiar to him. When we draw near to God in the word, he will be sanctified. The word must be received with meekness, and by faith applied to our souls, as an instrument designed to our endless good. When we have a peculiar reverence for God, and a respect to God in all our approaches ; Eccles. v. 1, ' Look to thy feet when thou goest to the house of God : ' we must not go about these holy services hand over head, but with great caution and heed. Thus is God sanctified in worship, or in our immediate converse with him.
(2.) In our ordinary conversation. Then God is sanctified ; when our life is ordered so that we may give men occasion to say, that surely he is a holy God whom we serve. By two things you may know you sanctify God in your conversations: when you walk as remembering you have a holy God, and when you walk as discovering to others you have a holy God.
[1.] When you walk as remembering yourselves that you have a holy God, therefore you must be watchful and strict. It is notable, when the Israelites were making a hasty promise, Joshua puts them
88 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI. 9.
in mind, chap. xxiv. 9, ' You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God.' So we should remember when we give up ourselves to God, he is a holy and jealous God, that is narrowly observant, and he will not be put off with anything that is common.
[2.] As discovering you have a holy God. A carnal worshipper profaneth the memory of God in the world. But now a Christian that walks according to his holy calling, that is holy in all manner of conversation, he discovereth what a God he hath. 1 Pet. ii. 9, ' That ye should show forth the praises of him, Avho hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.' We are not only to conceive and make use of them to beget fear and reverence in our hearts of the all- seeing God, but are to show them forth, to evidence them to others. We should discover more than a human excellency, that so those which look upon us may say. These are the servants of the holy God.
Secondly, For the reasons why God will be so glorified, that he may be sanctified.
1. Because this is the glory that is due to his name. Ps. xcvi. 8, ' Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name.' Every glory will not serve the turn, but such glory as is proper and peculiar for that God we serve. It is a stated rule in scripture, that respects to God must be proportioned to the nature of God. God is a spirit, there- fore will be worshipped in spirit and truth. God is a God of peace, therefore lift up your hands without wrath and doubting. God is a holy God, therefore will be sanctified. They which worship the sun, among the heathens, they used a flying horse, as a thing most suitable to the swift motions of the sun. Well, then, they that will glorify and honour God with a glory due to his name, must sanctify him as well as honour him. Why ? For God is ' glorious in holi- ness,' Exod. XV. 11. This is that which God counteth to be his chief excellency, and the glory which he will manifest among the sons of men.
2. This is that glory which God affects, and therefore the saints will give it him, Isa. vi. 3. The holy angels, what do they cry out Avhen they honour God ? They do not acknowledge his power and dominion over all creatures as Lord of all ; but they give him his peculiar glory, ' Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory.' So David, Ps. ciii. 1, ' Bless the Lord, 0 my soul ; yea, all that is within me, bless his holy name.' That is the notion upon which he pitcheth, he would praise God with such praise as is welcome and acceptable to him.
3. This is the attribute which is most eclipsed and most blotted out in the hearts of the sons of men, because of God's patience, because he doth not take vengeance of all the sins of men : ' Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thyself,' Ps. 1. 21. Certainly if men did not blot and stain God in their thoughts, if they did not fancy an un- reasonable indulgence, such as is not comely and proper to his majesty, they could not go on in sin, and think God could be so pure ; there- fore he will be so glorified, that he may be sanctified.