3. Therefore let us use means to persist in holiness, to increase in holiness, especially prayer, which is the breath which God hath ap- pointed to keep in tlie flame.
Again, For the persons once more : they were to preach the word ; as a preparative, he pra}eth for sanctification.
VeK. 17.] SERMOXS UPON JOHN XVII. 417
Observe, holiness is a good prepar ative to the ministry, and they are inwardly consecrated by the Spirit sanctifying them.
[1.] That they may have experience of the truth of the doctrine upon their own hearts. The apostles were to preach the truth to others ; now saith he, ' Sanctify them through thy truth.' ' I believed, and therefore have I spoken,' Ps. cxvi. 10. We speak best when we speak by experience. This is the right way of getting sermons by heart. We are God's witnesses ; now we should have sound experi- ence : 1 John i. 1 , ' That which was from the beginning, wdiich we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life ; that which we liave seen and heard, declare we unto you.' Ezekiel was first to eat the roll, Ezek. iii. 1-3 ; not only to see it, and to hear it, but to eat it. Ministers must first eat themselves, then feed others. We are not to speak by hearsay, to deliver God's message as a mere narration, but out of a deep impression on the heart. What cometh from the heart and from experience is quick and lively.
[2.] For the honour of God. Carnal ministers bring a reproach upon the ordinances : 1 Sam. ii. 17, ' The sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.' Who will take meat out of a leprous hand ?
[3.] To answer the types of the law. Aaron and his sons were sanctified for the Levitical priesthood, Exod. xxix. 4 ; to be washed with blood and oil, to be washed in the great laver, sprinkled with blood, anointed with oil, which denotes remission of sins, regeneration, the gifts of the Spirit : 1 John v. 8, ' There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood.' Every office should have a solemn consecration.
Use 1. Ministers should look to their inward call. They that are designed to serve God in a special manner must look after special purity. It breedeth atheism, when we do not live up to our doctrine. People will say they must say something for their living.
2. Let people look to their choice of ministers. There is a great deal of difference between an eloquent and an experienced pastor.
Secondly, We now come to the means or manner how Christ's I'e- quest is is to be accomplished, ' by thy truth,' ev rf] aXrjdeLa. It may be rendered in thy truth, or by thy truth, 'or through thy truth ; as ver. 19, e'y aXriOeia, without an article, ' that they may be sanctified through the truth ;' or, as in the margin, ' truly sanctified ; ' but we better render it ' by the truth ; ' there is an article rfi, not in truth, but in the truth ; and it is presently added, ' Thy word is truth.' So that it noteth not the kind of their sanctificatiou, but the instrument and means. Now these words ' by thy truth ' may be understood either of God's faithfulness or his revealed will, both which are called his truth. Of God's faithfulness, as ver. 11, rijprja-ov kv ovoixari gov ; so here, aylaaov iv tt} aXrjdela, as ' keep them by thy power : ' so sanc- tify them by, or according to thy truth and faithfulness. But this exposition, though ■ plausible, yet is not so proper, because it is pre- sently added, ' Thy word is truth,' By truth, then, is meant, not his faithfulness, but his revealed will. Now God hath revealed his will by the light of nature, or by the light of his word. That will of God which
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418 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeE. XXVI.
is revealed by the light of nature is called truth ; so the Gentiles are charged, Eom. i. 18, with ' holding the truth in unrighteousness,' to ryvcocTTov / ' that whicli may be known of God,' ver. 19, is called truth. How came tlie Gentiles by the truth, who are strangers to the cove- nant of promise ? The apostle answereth, much of God was known to them. But this truth that is here spoken of is the will of God made known in his word, or the knowledge of things necessary to sal- vation, concerning God and his worship, first delivered by the prophets, afterwards explained by Christ himself to the apostles, and by them consigned to the church. Now the truths delivered in the word may be referred to two heads — law and gospel. The distinction in Christ's time was law and prophets. In this place Christ chiefly intendeth the gospel ; the truth which they were sent to preach to others, Christ would have them to have an experience of it themselves. And it is notable that in many places of scripture the gospel is called the truth, not only in opposition to human writings, but also with respect to the law and other parts of scripture, because it is truth by way of eminency, as we call the plague the sickness, as being the chief of the kind.