Year: 1879

sANCTIFICATIoN IN THE TIUTH-sKRMoN BY


REV. DIR. ARMITAGE.


DR.. Armitage took his text from John, xviii, IT.
"Sanctify them in thy truth thy word is truth %
Christ. said he. had never before shown the pro-
found depth Of His love to His disciples He did
the last night that He with them. and in the
last prayer which He offered for them. He was
about to leave them orphans in a wicked world. So
many lilies among thorns. frail sheepfold encom-
passed with ravening wolves Every petition in His
dying prayer for them is stamped with pre-eminent
weight and WORTH and is revelation Of the hid
den warmth and secret emotion of His heart toward
them 1t is key to His very lfe The shadows OF the
gloomy garden and the chill of death were already
falling upon Him when He threw open the solemn
temple of His soul and allowed the little band
OF orphans to gaze upon the mighty thoughts and
feelings which were struggling there in their inter-
est The precise nature of the blessing for which He
prays on behalf of His people is that of sancthca-
ton. The sienifcaton OF the word 'sanctify" is
sublime and suggests such perfect God-likeness
that 1t makes all other words seem weak and poor
1t means literally. to separate for Godto set apart
and consecrate to Him. 1t is this foundation
thought which justhes the use of the
word in its application to Christ. When He says, 81
sanctify Myself" we are startled II we confne the
sense or the word to moral cleansing; for He was
without sin. He uses IL in no such arbitrary and
inferior sense. but In its true. deep and spiritual
and mission. He devoted His whole being, the over
flow OF His heart His will. His intellect. His honor
his ufspOS1tlOns his WnOle Delng TO WORK; ana
Just as He laid Himself on the divine altar, so Ho
prays that may be devoted to God in perfect
secration.


The answer to this prayer will bring our whole
nature under the power of Christian culture, and
will work a harmonious development In our
Christian character. The want of proper discrim-
nation here runs Christian men into all sorts OF
sidedncss in their growth-one training his intellect
in religion till he becomes all intellect, another his
conscience till he Is oil conscience and another his
heart till he is all feeling. But full conservation
makes these even and equal in proper combination.
All truth does not sanctfy. 1t may expand our
mental powers. it may soften manners apd refine
our tastes but 1t cannot hallow us to God. Wtmay
main strangers to sanctifying truth while culti
vatc all that is seemly in beautiful in phioso
ply, profound In science and lively in magnetism
Only one form of truth consecrates to God, and in
addressing the Father Jesus denominates 1t Thy
truth. The Word of God is not bundle Of moral
axioms; not we'll reasoned argument but a per.
sonal voice Of authority to which your moulded con-
victions respond. Its sympathy preoccupies your
affections. 1t tells you nothing in the abstract All
its truth is in the iow of life The warmth Of
reality, the conscious presence. the self-evdencng
power OF God's truth is something wonderful. and
no man tell the halowed satisfaction which an
anxious soul feels when weary of controversy and
tossed about with doubt he retire alone with
God. and pressing his Bible to his heart pray
with Jesus, saying. Lord sanctify mo in thy truth;
thy word is truth"