[1.] By a hatred of sin. Where God doth change a soul, he breedeth a disposition in it in some sort like himself. Those sympa- thies and antipathies that God hath, the soul hath. Now God is a holy God, he cannot endure sin ; so it is with a holy heart. AVhat have I to do with sinners ? saith God ; and. What have I to do with sin ? saith the soul. The displacency is keen and strong ; they have a nature put into them like God's, and therefore hate what he hateth. It is said, Ps. xcvii. 10, ' Ye that love the Lord, hate evil' In what measure we love God, we hate what is contrary to God. In grace there is a love to the chiefest good, and a hatred of the chiefest evil ;
238 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XVI.
the one, as well as the other, is natural to the saints. Let us- never talk of love to God, except there be a zeal to reform what he hateth. It is true we have a mixed nature, there is the divine nature and the carnal nature ; a believer is partaker of both flesh and spirit ; there will be slips and failings, but the prevailing part of the soul abhorreih sin. It is the evil which we hate, and though a child of God falleth into sin, yet he cannot rest in it. A fountain may be troubled, but it will work itself clean again. The needle in the compass may be joggled, but it rests not till it turns to the pole. A neat man may be dirtied, but he cannot endure any filthiness should lie on his clothes. Impure men are in their own element; if they abstain from sin, their unholy nature likes it, they forbear it, but do not abhor it ; as Phaltiel forsook Michal only tor fear of David's displeasure. Sinful affections continue in their full force and strength when the act is suspended.
[2.] By an act of duty and conformity to God's will and nature : Eph. iv. 24, ' That ye put on the new man, which is after God created in righteousness and true holiness,' oaLOTTjrt t7)9 a\e9eia<i. There is a counterfeit holiness and true holiness ; the true holiness is such a holiness as God's is, answerable in quality, though not in equality. Now what is God's holiness ? Such an attribute by which he loveth himself above all things, and all other things as they do more or less 23artake of his nature. So when we are holy in truth, we love God out of a principle of the new nature. God is lovely, not only for his benefits, but for his essence, as he is diligihiUs natura ; it is eminently in him what is in us in a weaker degree. So there will be a delight in the saints, because of the resemblance they bear to God : Ps. xvi. 3, ' To the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.' Certainly they have cause to question their holi- ness to whom good company is a prison and a burden ; they have not such dispositions as God hath. So they delight in duties as they ex- hibit much of God, and they delight in the practice and growth of holiness, as it maketh them more like God. Thus, christians, should you strive to come up to the divine pattern more and more. You will think a child incapable of learning, when the longer he hath been at the writing-school the more he swerveth from the copy ; and certainly that holiness that doth not grow up into a greater likeness and resem- blance of God is to be suspected. Thus must you look to come in a holy state.
2. With holy and prepared affections. You should remember you have to do with the holy God : Josh. xxiv. 19, ' Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God.' Do you know what it is to worship him ? Kash entering upon the worship of God is not without sin ; and to come reeking from your sins into God's presence, it is but as Cain's approach from blood to sacrifice. Before worship there must be a special purging. When Joseph came before Pharaoh, he changed his garments and shaved himself When the children of Israel came to hear the law, they were sanctified, and washed their clothes, Exod. xix. 14. Under the law, there was a laver stood near the altar, and they were to wash before sacrifice ; therefore David saith, Ps. xxvi. 6. ' I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine altar, 0 Lord.' So James iv. 8, ' Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh
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to you ; cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.' These washings were frequent among the heathens before they went to worship ; so there must be a special purgation and exoneration, and disburdening of the soul of those sins which we have committed.
3. We must converse with him in a holy manner : Lev. x. 3, ' I will be sanctified in all that draw nigh unto me.' God will be sancti- fied upon us, or by us; here we are to sanctify him in our hearts, with special reverence and holiness of mind. Those that served before the heathen gods were clothed in white, an emblem of purity and inno- cency ; and our communion with God in heaven is thus expressed, Eev. iii. 4, ' They shall walk with me in white.' So should we here, as much as we can, walk with God in white, with heavenly pure souls, put up holy prayers in a holy manner, and in the time of worship be at the greatest distance and elongation from sin. Many men, out of a natural conscience, will be devout in time of duty. You would be ashamed if a holy man should know what thoughts you have in time of worship, and darest thou conceive them in the presence of a holy God ? What odious creatures should we be if our thoughts were as audible, and as liable to public notice, as our words ! Alas ! God knoweth thoughts as well as words ; all your carnal, unclean, vain thoughts are known to him ; therefore take heed, how will your holy Father brook this ?