[2.] To make us prize Christ. Our best w^orks would stink in the
VeR. 11.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 295
nostrils of tlie most holy God if tliey were not accepted in and for Christ. Nothing can be acceptable to infinite purity but what is pure : Hab. i. 13, ' Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.' We should not have one good look from Grod were it not for Christ. To salve this attribute was Jesus Christ sent into the world. We think that Christ was only sent to satisfy justice ; God hateth sin out of holiness, punisheth it out of justice, and executeth that punishment by his majesty and power ; so that we dread God for his wrath, power,, and justice ; but all these are awakened by his holi- ness, there is the root of all. So that the consideration of God's holi- ness maketh us to prize Christ. Alas ! what should vile creatures do before a holy God out of Christ !
[3.] It is God's principal glory: Exod. xv. 11, 'Thou art glorious in holiness.' God is mighty in power, rich in grace, glorious in holi- ness. It is good to mark the distinctness of expression in all the attributes. God, that he might show us how much we should prize grace, would be glorious in nothing so much as in holiness. This is seraphical divinity ; the angels would teach us no other divinity and notions of God but ' Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts,' Isa. vi. 3, This is most pleasing to God, profitable to men. Christ taught us to pray first of all, 'Hallowed be thy name.' This should be the chiefest thing that we should think of in our addresses to God. So when the Angel Gabriel came to give notice of Christ : Luke i. 35, ' That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' Prhls sanctum quam Dei filium nominavit, saith one of the fathers. You cannot call God nor Christ by a better title, it is his darling attribute. So the saints in heaven, Kev. iv. 8, ' They rest not day and night, say- ing. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.' It is nine times m Plan- tius's edition, as if they were delighted with the mention of it ; they take a sweet content in the work, holy Father, holy Son, holy Spirit. In heaven they bless and praise God ; praise him for his excellences, bless him for his benefits. We praise him for his holiness, we bless him for his mercy in Christ ; this will be our employment in heaven : Ps. xcix. 5, ' Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool ; for he is holy.' God counteth it his chiefest glory, that he might teach the creature that moral perfections are to be preferred before natural ; it is better to be wise than strong, to be holy than wise.
3. Why especially must we thus look upon him when we deal with him for grace and sanctification ?
[1.] Because it is a relief to faith when we represent God to ourselves as the fountain of holiness. He is ' the holy one of Israel,' and Christ calls him 'Holy Father;' Jude 1,'To them that are sanctified by God the Father.' There is enough in God : when we come for pardon, he is richin mercy; when we come for holiness, he is glorious in holi- ness ; he is the God of grace ; you may have enough, if you be not wanting to yourselves. Men are willing to spare out of their fulness ; the holy God is as able as willing to sanctify you, it is a work that he delighteth in. Joab interceded for Absalom, 'when he perceived the king's heart was towards Absalom,' 2 Sam. xiv. 1.
[2.] It may be a means to enlarge your spiritual desires. You are to be ' holy as he is holy,' 1 Peter i. 15. The children, if they be of
296 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XVI.
tho right stock, they should have some lesemblancG of their father. Now you ask holiness of God that you may be as God in some degree of conformity, though not in exact equalit}'. Assequi non possumus, saltern nunquam sequi desinamus. AVe cannot overtake God, but we should never cease to follow him. We have a high pattern, that we might not be content with any low measures of grace. When you are asking, it is good to be thinking of your pattern, that you may enlarge your spiritual desires. Lord, wash me thoroughly ; Lord, make me holy, as thou art holy ; I forget the things that are behind ; it is no- thing that I have already.
Use 1. Information. It informeth us : —
1. How greatly they sin that deride men for their holiness, which is the express image of the glorious God. God is glorious in holiness ; therefore they that despise holiness, they despise God himself. ' Holy brethren' should no more be a disgrace than 'holy Father;' ' That is your scorn which is the divine glory, one of the chiefest excellences in the Godhead. You hate God more than you do the saints ; holiness in them shineth with a faint lustre.