Before I come to the observations I must clear up the latter part of the text, ' Thy word is truth.' Why is this added ? I answer — Either by way of explication, or by way of argument and reason.
1. By way of explication. Christ would pray intelligibly ; some might ask, as Pilate did, ' What is truth ? ' John xviii. 38. Christ answereth, ' Thy word is truth.' The word is the authentic and public record of the church ; the truth whereby we are sanctified is nowhere else to be found ; all pretended truths are hereby to be examined.
2. Or else by way of argument and reason why Christ would have them to be sanctified by the truth, that they might have a saving ex- perience of the power of it, and so the better preach it to others ; then we know the truth of the word, when it sanctifieth.
This premised, I come to the point —
Doct. That God sanctifieth by his truth. I shall open the point in these propositions.
1. God's way of working is by light; and in infusing grace he be- ginneth with the understanding. He dealeth with man as a rational creature ; and therefore not only teacheth, but draweth and sanctifieth the heart by enlightening the mind. As the rising of the sun doth not only dispel darkness but mists and vapours, so doth a saving light not only dispel ignorance but lusts. This way is spiritual life begun : Eph. V. 14, ' Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.' A man would have thought the apostle should rather have said, And Christ, shall give thee life, than ' give thee light.' It is the apostle's word ; airo^doaeL croi, he shall shine upon thee, rather than ^ci)'iroii]creL, he shall'quicken thee. But light is enough ; the power of grace breaketh in upon, the soul by the light of the gospel ; as it is said of the natural life, John i. 4, ' In him was life, and the life was the light of men.' Reason and understanding are the fountain of life to men, so is spiritual reason and spiritual understanding to the soul. If the mind of a man were once spiritual, enlightened, and possessed of the ways of God, the heart cou?d not utterly reject them.
VeR. 17.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 419
There is a notional illumination, that, like a winter sun, shineth hut warmeth not, leaveth no comfort and profit upon the heart. But a spiritual light is always effectual ; for though the will and the judg- ment are distinct faculties, and the will is averse as the understanding is blind, yet God doth never soundly and thoroughly convince the judg- ment, but he moveth and inclineth the will. If we know things as we ought to know, 'as the truth is in Jesus,' Eph. iv. 21, the heart must needs close with the ways of God ; for the will of man is not brutish, but reasonable, and acteth reasonably. Answerably to the discovery of good or ill in the understanding, there is a prosecution or aversation in the will. Therefore a thorough conviction of judg- ment must be the ground of grace in the heart ; for God worketh in us, not only by a powerful and real efficacy, but agreeably to an intel- ligent nature, by teaching, persuading, counselling : nothing can be wrought in this moral way unless light and knowledge go before.
2. It must be a true, and not a false light. Truth sanctifieth, and error defileth : Titus i. 1, ' According to the acknowledgment of the truth that is after godliness.' Eight thoughts of God and his ways preserve an awe in the heart, which both restraineth and reneweth. Ta 6p6a Soryfiara irepl Qeou Xeyofxeva ajM^et rrjv ^^v^W^ saith Chrysos- tom. It is truth that cleanseth the heart ; error leaveth a stain and defilement. The understanding and the will are like the head and stomach ; a corrupt heart blindeth the mind, and a blind mind cor- rupts the heart ; they mutually vitiate one another : as in a ruinous house, the upper room being uncovered, lets down the rain to founder the supporters below, and the rottenness of the supporters below weakeneth all above. Erroneous persons are generally represented in scripture as vain and sensual : Jude 8, ' These filthy dreamers defile the flesh.' First there is dreaming, and then defilement ; error maketh way for looseness, and a vain mind for vile affections. Partly by God's just judgment : some opinions seem to be remote, and lie far enough from practice, yet the persons that profess them are gener- ally loose. Nay, some errors seem to encourage strictness, as doctrines concerning the power of nature, and the merit of good actions ; but we find it is otherwise. Duty is best pressed upon God's terms : Phil, ii. 12, 13, ' Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.' By the judgment of God, such are of loosest life. God will have his glory kept unstained. Idolatry is expressed by whoredom ; bodily un- cleanness ends in spiritual : ^ Hosea iv. 12, 13, ' My people ask coun- sel of their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them ; for the spirit of whoredoms have caused them to err, and they go a-whoring from under their God. ' They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks, and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good. Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredoms, and your spouses shall commit adultery.' So Kom.i. 23, 24, ' They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and