4. We should go away the more holy from worship. You have been with a holy God ; what of his holiness do you carry away in your hearts ? They that have looked on the sun go away with a glaring in their eyes, and they seem to see the sun in all that they look upon. You should carry away the enlighteuings of worship along with you. When Moses came from God, his face shone ; he had been conversing with the God of glory, and he went away with some rays of glory in his face. We should not be as the beasts in Noah's ark, to go in un- clean and come out unclean. • God's people are most full of indignation against sin when they come from God : Exod. xxxii. 19, when Moses had talked with God in the mount, at his return, seeing them sacrifice to the calf, he brake the tables. The more communion we have with God, the more shall we hate what is contrary to God. When Isaiah saw God in his glory, he began to loathe himself: Isa. vi. 5, ' Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, and mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.' And those who have effectually conversed with God in meditation and prayer, they come away from him with a perfect hatred of sin ; for a sight of God worketh an abomination of what is contrary to him. In a shop of perfumes you carry away the scent in your clothes. You wonder that a man should come away cold from the fire ; and it is as great a wonder to come away from the holy God with vile affections. Here you come to make experiments whether God be a holy one, yea or no, whether he be originally, effectually holy. The Syrians, that were strangers to God's dispensations, could speak of him only by hearsay : ' We have heard that the God of Israel is a merciful God ;' but the Israelites, that were acquainted with him, could speak of him by experience ; we know it. As a man that hath
300 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XVII.
never been acquainted with tlie use of fire may say, I liave heard tliat tlie fire will warm ; hut he that hath been at the fire, he knows and feels it ; so others can only discourse notionally of God's holiness. In duty we come lo him for real experiences : Lord, we know that thou art a holy God.
SERMON XVII.
And noio I am no more in ilie icorld, hut these are in the loorld, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those lohom thou hast given me, that they may he one, as we are. — John XVII. 11.
Thirdly, The matter of the prayer, for perseverance in grace.
' Keep through thine own name.' — ^Ev to. ovoiiaTi gov Trjp7)(Tov avTov<i ; it may "be rendered ' in thy name,' or ' by thy name,' or ' for thy name's sake ;' ev, as H among the Hebrews, may be thus rendered, 'by thy name,' Heb. xi. 2. 'Ev Tavrr], 'by which the elders obtained a good report.' ' For thy name,' Eph. iv. 32, ' As God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you ;' 0eo? ev XptaTM. So Eom. xvi. 2, ' Receive her in the Lord,' iv Kvplw ; that is, for the Lord's sake. (1.) If it be ' in thy name,' then the meaning is, in the knowledge of thy truth ; for by the name of God is meant anything by which he is made known. The doctrine of the gospel in this chapter is called, ' his name,' ver. 6 ; ' I have manifested thy name to them ;' meaning the whole doctrine of godliness. So Christ prayeth, ' Keep them in thy name ; ' that is, in the constant profession of the truth ; let them not be cheated out of it by Satan, nor affrighted out of it by persecutions ; but let them con- stantly hold it forth, defend and propagate it to the world. (2.) ' By thy name;' so God's name is himself, and himself is his name. So Exod. xxiii. 21, ' My name is in him ;' that is, he is of the same essence and glory wdth me. So ' by thy name,' is by thy self, thy power, mercy, goodness, truth, Sia t??? ai}? /SoTjOela^ — Chrysostom ; by thy gracious assistance. (3.) ' For thy name's sake,' to show forth thy mercy, truth, faithfulness. These expositions may be compounded — Keep them in thy truth, or the worship and profession of thy name, by thy power, for thy name's sake, to discover thy mercy and truth ; thy mercy, in taking them into a state of grace ; thy truth, in preserving them in the state of grace. The points are two : —
1. That the perseverance of the saints, or their conservation in the state of grace, is sure and certain.
2. That we are kept in the state of grace by God's name, by his power, for his glory.
Doct. 1. That the perseverance of the saints, or their conservation in a state of grace, is sure and certain.