in that book, as well as in the volume of prophecy. Besides, God prepared a body for Christ, which he might offer up; and his offering of himself was in obedience to his Father's will. "I delight to do thy will, O God." By our Lord's expressing himself to his Father in that manner, the apostle informs the believing Hebrews, "that he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second;" that is, he taketh away the first priesthood, that he may establish his own as the second. He evidently shows that the former appointment of God's will respecting the typical sacrifices is to be no longer in force, that he may establish the second, or the last mentioned will respecting the new dispensation of the covenant, and the sacrifice which he came to offer for sinful men. It was the will of God, of God essentially considered, in the Person of the Father, that his eternal Son should stand in the place of elect sinners, and give complete satisfaction for their sins. On this great object the heart of the whole glorious Trinity was set from all eternity. Accordingly, Christ not only revealed but fulfilled this will, in his obedience unto death. Now, in our text we are told, that it is by this will, as fulfilled by Jesus Christ, that believing sinners are sanctified. "By the which will we are sanctified;" as if the apostle had said, it is in consequence of this will and appointment of God, as fulfilled by Christ, that we who believe are sanctified; that we are sanctified not ceremonially, as the Israelites were by the typical sacrifices under the law, which could only sanctify to the purifying of the flesh; but effectually and substantially, in our actual deliverance from the power and pollution of sin, and our separation to the service and enjoyment of the blessed God. The apostle adds, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. "As the sacrifice of Christ's human nature, of which his body was the visible part, was once offered, so it is on account of it, and by virtue derived from it, that any sinners of mankind are sanctified.

In discoursing from the words before us, it is, through

Divine aid, proposed, I. To speak in general of the sanctification of believers; II. Of habitual; III. Of actual sanctification; IV. Of the difference between it and justification; and lastly, Of the ends and uses of it.

I. First, then, I am to speak in general of the sanctification of believers.

And here, in the 1st place, to sanctify has in Scripture various significations. It signifies to acknowledge that to be holy which was holy before. Thus, to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, is to acknowledge him to be infinitely holy, and to celebrate with all our heart the praises of his holiness. It is to pray as Christ taught his disciples, that his name may be hallowed. It also signifies, to separate any person or thing to a holy use, Exod. xiii. 2. and John x. 36. 66 'Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest?" &c. The Father sanctified, that is, he set him apart, and ordained him to the offices of Mediator. In this sense it is true also of the saints. They are separated from the world that lieth in wickedness. It signfies to dedicate to God and his service. Thus the altar, temple, priests, and sacred utensils, were sanctified; that is, were dedicated to God and his worship. In a similar manner, the elect are sanctified; they are dedicated to God; they are a peculiar treasure to God, above all people: He hath chosen them to be his peculiar treasure; a treasure, as the original word imports, which he impressed with his seal; his excellent possession, which he claims as his own, and which he glories in. It also signifies to make one a saint, or a holy person; to transform him from the power and pollution of sin into the pure and spotless image of the second Adam; to cleanse him from spiritual impurity, and make him holy in heart and in life. Thus the apostle Paul understands it, when he prays for the Thessalonians, that the very God of peace may sanctify them wholly, 1 Thess. v. 23.

2d, The Author of sanctification is God alone. “That they may know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them,"

Ezek. xx. 12. Nothing can be the source of created holiness but that which is uncreated. The sinner himself cannot be the author of it: he can indeed pollute, but he cannot purify himself. The law commands us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and to make to ourselves a new or a clean heart; but the law is the rule of our duty, and not the measure of our ability. To sanctify a sinner is the work of God, and is a greater work than to create a world. It is the work of a whole Trinity of Divine Persons. As all the Persons of the glorious Trinity were jointly engaged in making man a living creature, so they jointly concur in making him a new creature. This is effected by God the Father, Jude 1., by God the Son, Eph. v. 26., and by God the Holy Spirit. Hence we read of the sanctification of the Spirit, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Although, in the economy of grace, sanctification is more immediately ascribed to the Holy Spirit, yet this is not to be so understood as if the Spirit were more immediately concerned in it than the Father and the Son. The powerful influence by which believing sinners are sanctified is common to all the Persons in the Godhead, and is exerted by each of them equally. The one does not accomplish this work by the other, as an instrument. As the Spirit follows the Son in their order of subsistence, so he follows him in the order of operation. As sanctification, therefore, follows upon the righteousness and blood of the Son, so it is, by special appropriation, attributed to the operation of the Spirit, as the Spirit of the Son.

3d, As to the subjects of sanctification, they who are sanctified are elect sinners. This inestimable blessing belongs to them and to none else. "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth," 2 Thess. ii. 13. And in another place, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy," &c. Others put a new face on the old man, and assume the appearance of being

sanctified; but the objects of everlasting love are the only persons that put on the new man. Should one ask, What it is in the elect that is sanctified? I answer, It is the whole man, including all the faculties of the soul, and all the members of the body; or, as our apostle expresses it, the whole spirit, and soul, and body, 1 Thess. v. 23. By the spirit we are here to understand the mind, that leading faculty in man, and by the soul, the affections and sensitive appetites. By the body is meant the receptacle of the spirit and soul. The soul in all its faculties is the subject of sanctification. They were all polluted with sin, and are all renewed after the image of the second Adam, in righteousness and true holiness. Gracious habits are infused and advanced, and the power and pollution of indwelling sin are gradually removed. The understanding is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him who created it, and is "filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." The will, that imperious faculty, receives a new bent or propensity to holiness. Although no punishments were threatened for sin, and no rewards of grace promised to such as are holy, the sanctified will would be averse from sin, however pleasant and profitable, and be inclined to universal holiness. The affections are also sanctified. They were formerly unholy, but now are holy; formerly disordered and tumultuous, but now are orderly, and calmly resigned to the government of the blessed Spirit. The memory and conscience, too, partake of the saving change. The body is rendered a temple for the Holy Spirit, and the members of it are sanctified in respect of use. They are no more instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but instruments of righteousness unto holiness. Thus the whole man is the subject of sanctification. As in union with the first Adam, the old man possessed every faculty and member, so, when united to the second Adam, the new man in his turn possesses the whole. "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the

coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thess. v. 23. Though, however, every part be sanctified, yet no part is perfectly sanctified in this world. There is no spiritual grace implanted without having corruption in the same faculty struggling against it, Gal. v. 17.

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4th, Sanctification is both a privilege and a duty.-It is a privilege, as graciously promised in the Gospel. will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them," Ezek. xxxvi. 27. It is a duty, as required in the law. "Make you a new heart, and a new spirit: purify your hearts, ye double-minded." It is a privilege, for it is purchased for us, given to us, and wrought in us by the sanctifying Spirit. As a duty, we study it, and attain to higher degrees of it. We daily receive it out of the fulness of Christ, by faith in his death, resurrection, and promise. As a privilege, it comprehends all the graces of the Spirit, as so many gracious habits implanted in the soul, and ability for the present exercise of them: and indeed, without fresh supplies communicated from the fulness of Christ, the Head of sanctifying influences, no habits of grace, however strong, can be excited to the smallest degree of exercise. As a duty, sanctification includes the exercise of spiritual graces, in the performance of all our duties.

5th, The causes of sanctification are various.-The impulsive cause of it is the sovereign grace, or good pleasure of God, Phil. ii. 13.; Tit. iii. 5. The blessing of sanctification is of more value than all the treasures and kingdoms of the world, and yet it is freely bestowed. God sanctifies none because of any previous good qualities in them, for before it they have none; but merely from his sovereign grace. Nay, he often overlooks persons of the sweetest natural tempers, and bestows sanctifying grace on the most rugged and stubborn. O the freeness of his sovereign grace! As the sun diffuses natural light without reward, so the light of grace is bestowed on the chief of sinners freely, without any cause in them. And that the glory of sovereign grace may the more illustri

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