1.
Whereas the spring and fountain of all the pollution of sin lies in
the depravation of the faculties of our natures, which ensued on the loss of
the image of God, he renews them
again by his grace, Tit. iii. 5. Our want of due answering unto the holiness
of God, as represented in the law, and exemplified in our hearts originally,
is a principal part and universal
cause of our whole pollution and defilement by sin; for when our eyes
are opened to discern it, this is that which in the first place filleth
us with shame and self-abhorrency, and that
which makes us so unacceptable, yea, so loathsome to God. Who is there who considereth
aright the vanity, darkness, and ignorance of his mind, the perverseness and
stubbornness of his will, with the disorder, irregularity, and distemper of
his affections, with respect unto things spiritual and heavenly, who is not
ashamed of, who doth not abhor himself? This is that which hath given our
nature its leprosy, and defiled it throughout. And I shall crave leave to
say, that he who hath no experience of spiritual shame and self-abhorrency,
upon the account of this inconformity of his nature and the faculties of his
soul unto the holiness of God, is a great stranger unto this whole work of
sanctification. Who is there that can recount the unsteadiness of his mind
in holy meditation, his low and unbecoming conceptions of God’s
excellencies, his proneness to foolish imaginations and vanities that profit
not, his aversion to spirituality in duty and fixedness in communion with
God, his proneness to things sensual and evil, all arising from the
spiritual irregularity of divine purity and holiness, is sensible of his own
vileness and baseness, and is ofttimes deeply
affected with shame thereon? Now, this whole evil frame is cured by the
effectual working of the Holy Ghost in the rectifying and renovation of our
natures. He giveth a new understanding, a new
heart, new affections, renewing the whole soul into the image of God, Eph. iv.
23, 24; Col. iii. 10. The way whereby he doth
this hath been before so fully declared, in our opening of the doctrine of
regeneration, that it need not be here repeated. Indeed, our original
cleansing is therein, where mention is made of the "washing of
regeneration," Tit. iii. 5. Therein is the image of God restored unto
our souls. But we consider the same work now as it is the cause of our
holiness. Look, then, how far our minds, our hearts, our affections, are
renewed by the Holy Ghost, so far are we cleansed from our spiritual
habitual pollution. Would we be cleansed from our sins, – that which is so
frequently promised that we shall be, and so frequently prescribed as our
duty to be, and without which we neither have not can have any thing of true
holiness in us, – we must labour after and endeavour to grow in this
renovation of our natures by the Holy Ghost. The more we have of saving
light in our minds, of heavenly love in our wills and affections, of a
constant readiness unto obedience in our hearts, the more pure are we, the
more cleansed from the pollution of sin. The old principle of corrupted
nature is unclean and defiling, shameful and loathsome; the new creature,
the principal of grace implanted in the whole soul by the Holy Ghost, is
pure and purifying, clean and holy.
2.
The
Holy Ghost doth purify and cleanse us by strengthening
our souls by his grace unto all holy duties and against all actual
sins. It is by actual sins that our natural and habitual pollution is
increased. Hereby some make themselves base and vile as hell. But this also
is prevented by the gracious actings of the
Spirit. Having given us a principle of purity and holiness, he so acts it in
duties of obedience and in opposition unto sin as that he preserves the soul
free from defilements, or pure and holy, according to the tenor of the new
covenant; that is, in such measure and to such a degree as universal
sincerity doth require. But it may be yet said that indeed hereby he makes
us pure, and prevents many future defilements, yet how is the soul freed
from those it hath contracted before this work upon it, or those which it
may and doth unavoidably afterward fall into; for as there is no man that
doeth good and sinneth not, so there is none who
is not more or less defiled with sin whilst he is in the body here in this
world? The apostle answereth this objection or
inquiry, 1 John i. 7-9, “If we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” But if sin be in
us we are defiled, and how shall we be cleansed? “God is just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But how may this
be done, by what means may it be accomplished?
“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
II.
It is, therefore, the blood of Christ,
in the second place, which is the meritorious
procuring, and so the effective cause, that immediately
purgeth us from our sins, by an especial
application of it unto our souls by the Holy Ghost. And there is not any
truth belonging unto the mystery of the gospel which is more plainly and
evidently asserted, as hath in part been made to appear before: “The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” 1 John i.
7; “He hath washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Rev. i.
5; “The blood of Christ purgeth our conscience
from dead works, that we may serve the living God,” Heb. ix. 14; “He
gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it,” Eph.
v. 25, 26; to “purify to himself a peculiar people,” Tit. ii. 14.
Besides, whatever is spoken in the whole Scripture concerning purifying the
unclean, the leprous, the defiled, by sacrifices or other instruments of the
Old Testament, it is all instructive in and directive unto the purifying
nature of the blood of Christ, from whence alone these institutions had
their efficacy; and the virtue of it is promised under that notion, Zech.
xiii. 1. And this the faith and experience of all believers doth confirm;
for they are no imaginations of their own, but what, being built on the
truth and promises of God, yield sensible [felt]
spiritual relief and refreshment unto their souls. This they believe, this
they pray for, and find the fruits and effects of it in themselves. It may
be some of them do not, it may be few of them do, comprehend distinctly the
way whereby and the manner how the blood of Christ, so long since shed and
offered, should cleanse them now from their sins; but the thing itself they
do believe as it is revealed, and find the use of it in all wherein they
have to do with God. And I must say (let profane and ignorant persons,
whilst they please, deride what they understand not, not are able to
disprove) that the Holy Spirit of God, which leadeth
believers in to all truth, and enableth them to
pray according to the mind and will of God, doth guide them, in and by the
working and experience of faith, to pray for those things the depths of
whose mysteries they cannot comprehend. And he who well studieth
the things which he is taught of the Spirit to ask of God, will find a door
opened to much spiritual wisdom and knowledge; for (let the world rage on)
in those prayers which believers are taught and enabled unto by the Holy
Ghost helping of them as a Spirit of supplication, there are two things
inexpressible: – First, the inward labouring and spiritual working of the
sanctified heart and affections towards God; wherein consist those “groanings
that cannot be uttered,” Rom. viii. 26. God alone sees, and knows, and
understands the fervent workings of the new creature, when acted by the Holy
Ghost in supplications; and so it is added in the next words, verse 27,
“And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth”
ti
to fronhma tou PneumatoV
,
“what is the meaning of the Spirit,” what it
favours and inclines unto. It is not any distinct or separate acting of the
Spirit by himself that is intended, but what and how he works in the hearts
of believers as he is a Spirit of grace and supplication; and this is known
only unto him who is the Searcher of hearts, and as he is so. And he knoweth
what is the bent, frame, inclination, and acting of the inward man in
prayer, from the power of the Spirit; which they themselves in whom they are
wrought do not fathom or reach the depth of. This he doth in the subject of
prayer, the hearts and minds of believers; the effects of his operation in
them are inexpressible. Secondly, As to the object of prayer, or things
prayed for, he doth in and by the word so represent and exhibit the truth,
reality, subsistence, power, and efficacy of spiritual, mysterious things,
unto the faith and affectations of believers, that they have a real and
experimental sense of, do mix faith with, and are affected by, those things
now made nigh, now realized unto them, which, it may be, they are not able
doctrinally and distinctly to explain in their proper notions. And thus do
we ofttimes see men low and weak in their
notional apprehension of things, yet in their prayers led into communion
with God in the highest and holiest mysteries of his grace, having an
experience of the life and power of the things themselves in their own
hearts and souls; and hereby do their faith, love, affiance, and adherence
unto God, act and exercise themselves. So it is with them in this matter of
the actual present purifying of the pollutions of sin by the blood of Jesus
Christ, the way whereof we shall now briefly inquire into: –
1.
Therefore,
by the blood of Christ herein in
intended the blood of his sacrifice,
with the power, virtue, and efficacy thereof. And
the blood of a sacrifice fell under a double consideration: – (1.) As it
was offered unto God to make atonement and reconciliation; (2.) As it was sprinkled
on other things for their purging and sanctification. Part of the blood in
every propitiatory sacrifice was still to be sprinkled round about the
altar, Lev. i. 11; and in the great sacrifice of
expiation, some of the blood of the bullock was to be sprinkled before the
mercy-seat seven times, chap. xvi. 14. This our apostle fully expresseth
in a great and signal instance: Heb. ix. 19, 20, 22, “When Moses had
spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the
blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and
sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the
testament which God hath enjoined unto you…..And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood.” Wherefore, the blood of Christ, as it was the
blood of his sacrifice, hath these two effects, and falls under this double
consideration: – (1.) As he offered
himself by the eternal Spirit unto God to make an
atonement for sin, and procure eternal redemption; (2.) As it is sprinkled
by the same Spirit on the consciences of believers, to purge them from dead
works, as Heb. ix. 12-14. And hence it is called,
with respect unto our sanctification, “The blood of sprinkling,” chap.
xii. 24; for we have the “sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,” 1 Pet. i.
2.
2.
The
blood of Christ in his sacrifice is still always and continually in the same
condition, of the same force and
efficacy, as it was in that hour wherein it was shed. The blood of other
sacrifices was always to be used immediately upon its effusion; for if it were
cold and congealed it was of no use to be offered or to be sprinkled. Blood
was appointed to make atonement, as the life or animal spirits were in it,
Lev. xvii. 11. But the blood of the sacrifice of Christ is always hot and
warm, having the same spirits of life and sanctification still moving in it.
Hence the zwsa kai prosfatoV,
Heb. x. 20, – always living, and yet always as newly slain. Every one,
therefore, who at any time hath an especial actual interest in the blood of
Christ, as sacrificed, hath as real a purification from the defilement of
sin as he had typically who stood by the priest and had blood or water
sprinkled on him; for the Holy Ghost diligently declares that whatever was
done legally, carnally, or typically, by any of the sacrifices of old at any
time, as to the expiation or purification of sin, that was all done really
and spiritually by that one sacrifice, – that is, the offering and
sprinkling of the blood of Christ, – and abideth
to be so done continually. To this purpose is the substance of our
apostle’s discourse in the ninth and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the
Hebrews. And they had various sorts of sacrifices, wherein to this end the
blood of them was sprinkled, they being propitiatory in their offering; as,
– (1.) There was the 
[tamiyd],
or continual burnt-offering
of a lamb or kid for the whole congregation, morning and evening, whose
blood was sprinkled as at other times. And hereby the habitual purification
of the congregation, that they might be holy to the Lord, and their
cleansing from the daily incursions of secret and unknown sins, was
signified and carried on. (2.) On the Sabbath-day this juge
sacrificium was doubled morning and evening,
denoting a peculiar and abounding communication of mercy and purging grace,
through the administration of instituted ordinances, on that day. (3.) There
was the great annual sacrifice at the feast of expiation, when, by the
sacrifice of the sin-offering and the scape-goat, the whole congregation
were purged from all their known and great sins, and recovered into a state
of legal holiness; and other stated sacrifices there were. (4.) There were
occasional sacrifices for every one, according as he found his condition to
require; for those who were clean one day, yea, one hour, might by some
miscarriage or surprisal be unclean the next. But
there was a way continually ready for any man’s purification, by his
bringing his offering unto that purpose. Now, the blood of Christ must
continually, and upon all occasions, answer unto all these, and accomplish
spiritually what they did legally effect and
typically represent. This our apostle asserts and
proves, Heb. ix. 9-14. Thereby is the gradual carrying on of our
sanctification habitually effected, which was signified by the continual
daily sacrifice. From thence is especial cleansing virtue communicated unto
us by the ordinances of the gospel, as is expressly affirmed, Eph. v. 25,
26, denoted by the doubling of the daily sacrifice on the Sabbath. By it we
are purged from all our sins whatever, great or small, as was typified in
the great sacrifice on the day of expiation. And unto him have we continual
recourse upon all occasions of our spiritual defilements whatever. So was
his blood, as to its purifying virtue, to answer and accomplish all legal
institutions. Especially it doth so that of the “ashes of the red
heifer,” Num. xix., which was a standing
ordinance, whereby every one who was any way defiled might immediately be
cleansed; and he who would not make application thereunto was to be cut off
from the people, verse 20. And it is no otherwise with respect unto the
blood of Christ in our spiritual defilements; thence it is called “a
fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness,” Zech. xiii. 1. And he who
neglects to make application thereunto shall perish in his uncleanness,
and that eternally.
Farther
to clear this whole matter, two things are to be inquired into: – (1.) How
the blood of Christ doth thus cleanse
us from our sins, or what it is that is done
thereby. (2.) How we come to be made partakers
of the benefit thereof, or come to be interested therein.
(1.) As to the first, it must be
observed, what hath been declared before, that the uncleanness
we treat of is not physical or corporeal, but moral
and spiritual only. It is the
inconformity of sin unto the holiness of God, as represented in the law,
whence it is loathsome to God, and attended with shame in us. Now, wherever
there is an interest obtained in the purifying virtue of the blood of
Christ, it doth (by the will, law, and appointment of God) do these two
things: – [1.] It takes away all loathsomeness in the sight of God, not
from sin in the abstract, but from the sinner, so that he shall be as one
absolutely washed and purified before him. See Isa.
i. 16-18; Ps. li. 7; Eph. v. 25-27. [2.] It taketh
away shame out of the conscience, and gives the soul boldness in the
presence of God, Heb. x. 19-22. When these things are done then is sin
purged, our souls are cleansed.
(
2.)
It may be inquired how we are to apply
ourselves unto the blood of Christ for our purification, or how we may come
continually to partake of the
virtue of it, as it is sprinkled unto that purpose. Now, because what we do
herein is wrought in us by the Spirit of God, my principal design being to
declare his work in our sanctification, I shall at once declare both his
work and our duty in the following instances: –
[1.]
It is he who discovereth unto us, and
spiritually convinceth us of, the pollution
of sin, and of our defilement thereby. Something, indeed, of this kind will be wrought by the power of natural conscience,
awakened and excited by ordinary outward means of conviction; for wherever
there is a sense of guilt, there will be some kind of sense of filth, as
fear and shame are inseparable. But this sense alone will never guide us to
the blood of Christ for cleansing. Such a sight and conviction of it as may
fill us with self-abhorrency and abasement, as
may cause us to loathe ourselves for the abomination that is in it, is
required of us; and this is the work of the Holy Ghost, belonging to that
peculiar conviction of sin which is from him alone, John xvi. 8. I mean that
self-abhorrency, shame, and confusion of face,
with respect unto the filth of sin, which is so often mentioned in the
Scripture as a gracious duty; as nothing is a higher aggravation of sin than
for men to carry themselves with a carnal boldness with God and in his
worship, whilst they are unpurged from their defilements. In a sense hereof
the publican stood afar off, as one ashamed and destitute of any confidence
for a nearer approach. So the holy men of old professed to God that they
blushed, and were ashamed to lift up their faces unto him. Without this
preparation, whereby we come to know the plague of our own hearts, the
infection of our leprosy, the defilement of our souls, we shall never make
application unto the blood of Christ for cleansing in a due manner. This,
therefore, in the first place, is required of us as the first part of our
duty and first work of the Holy Ghost herein.
1.
[2.] The Holy Ghost proposeth,
declareth, and presents unto us the only true
remedy, the only means of purification. “When Ephraim saw his
sickness, and
Judah
his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian,
and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal
you, not cure you of your wound,” Hos. V. 13.
When men begin to discern their defilements, they are apt to think of many
ways for their purging. What false ways have been invented to this purpose
hath been before declared. And every one is ready to find out a way of his
own; every one will apply his own soap and his own nitre. Though the only
fountain for cleansing be nigh unto us, yet we cannot see it until the Holy
Ghost open our eyes, as he did the eyes of Hagar; he it is who shows it unto
us and leads us unto it. This is an eminent part of his office and work. The
principal end of his sending, and consequently of his whole work, was to
glorify the Son; as the end and work of the Son was to glorify the Father.
And the great way whereby he glorifieth Christ
is by showing such things unto us, John xvi. 14. And without his discovery
we can know nothing of Christ, not of the things of Christ; for he is not
sent in vain, to show us the things that we can see of ourselves. And what
is more so of Christ than his blood, and its efficacy for the purging of our
sins? We never, therefore, discern it spiritually and in a due manner but by
him. To have a true spiritual sense of the defilement of sin, and a gracious
view of the cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ, is an eminent effect of
the Spirit of grace. Something like it there may be in the workings of an
awakened natural conscience, with some beams of outward gospel light falling
on it; but there is nothing in it of the work of the Spirit. This,
therefore, secondly, we must endeavour after, if we intend to be cleansed by
the blood of Christ.
2.
3.
[3.] It is he who worketh faith
in us, whereby we are actually interested in the purifying virtue of the
blood of Christ. By faith we receive Christ himself, and by faith do we
receive all the benefits of his mediation, – that is, as they are tendered
unto us in the promises of God. He is our propitiation through faith in his
blood as offered; and he is our sanctification through faith in his blood as
sprinkled. And particular acting of faith on the blood of Christ for the
cleansing of the soul from sin is required of us. A renewed conscience is
sensible of a pollution in every sin, and is not
freed from the shame of it without a particular application unto the blood
of Christ. It comes by faith to the fountain set open for sin and
uncleanness, as the sick man to the pool of healing waters, and waiteth
for a season to be cleansed in it. So David, on the defilement he had
contracted by his great sins, addresseth himself
unto God with that prayer, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow,” Ps. li. 7. He alludeth
unto the purging of leprous persons, the ordinance whereof is instituted,
Lev. xiv. 2-7, or to that more general institution for the purification of
all legal uncleanness by the water of separation, made of the ashes of the
red heifer, Num. xix. 4-6, which our apostle hath respect
unto, Heb. ix. 13, 14; for both these purifications were made by the
sprinkling of blood or water with hyssop. It is plain, I say, that he alludeth
unto these institutions; but it is as plain they are not the things which he
intendeth: for there was not in the law any
purging by hyssop for persons guilty of such sins as he lay under; and
therefore he professeth, in the close of the
psalm, that “sacrifice and burnt-offering God would not accept” in his
case, Ps. li. 16. It was, therefore, that which was signified by those
institutions which he made his application unto, – namely, really to the
blood of Christ, by which he might be “justified from all things, from
which he could not be justified by the law of
Moses,” Acts xiii. 39; and so likewise purified. In like manner do all
believers make an actual application unto the blood of Christ for the
purging away of their sins; which until it is done they have a “conscience
of sins,” – that is, condemning them for sin, and filling them with
shame and fear, Heb. x. 1-3.
4.
5.
And
this actual application by faith
unto the blood of Christ for cleansing,
the mystery whereof is scorned by many as a thing fanatical and
unintelligible, consists in these four things: – 1st.
A spiritual view and due
consideration of the blood of Christ in his sacrifice, as proposed in
the promises of the gospel for our cleansing and purification. “Look unto
me,” saith he, “and be ye saved,” Isa. xlv.
22; which respects the whole work of our salvation, and all the means
thereof. Our way of coming into our interest therein is by looking to him,
– namely, as he is proposed unto us in the promise of the gospel: for as
the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, so was he in his
sacrifice on the cross lifted up, John iii. 14; and so in the gospel is he
represented unto us, Gal. iii. 1. And the means whereby they were healed in
the wilderness was by looking unto the serpent that was lifted up. Herein,
then, doth faith first act itself, by a spiritual view and due consideration
of the blood of Christ, as proposed unto us in the gospel for the only means
of our purification; and the more we abide in this contemplation, the more
effectual will our success be in our application thereto. 2dly.
Faith actually relieth
on his blood for the real effecting of that great work and end for which it
is proposed unto us; for God sets him forth as to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood as offered, Rom. iii. 25, so
to be our sanctification through faith in his blood as sprinkled. And the
establishing of this especial faith in our souls is that which the apostle
aims at in his excellent reasoning, Heb. ix. 13, 14; and his conclusion unto
that purpose is so evident, that he encourageth
us thereon to draw nigh in the full assurance of faith, chap. x. 22. 3dly.
Faith worketh herein by fervent
prayer, as it doth in its whole address unto God with respect unto his
promises; because for all these things God will be sought unto by the house
of
Israel
. By this means the soul brings itself nigh unto
its own mercy. And this we are directed unto, Heb. iv.
15, 16. 4thly. An
acquiescency
in the truth and faithfulness of God for cleansing by the blood of Christ,
whence we are freed from discouraging, perplexing shame, and have boldness
in the presence of God.
6.
7. [4.] The Holy Ghost actually
communicates the cleansing, purifying virtue of the blood of Christ unto
our souls and consciences, whereby we are freed from shame, and have
boldness towards God; for the whole work of the application of the benefits
of the mediation of Christ unto believers is his properly.
8.
9. And
these are the things which believers aim at and intend in all their fervent
supplications for the purifying and cleansing of their souls by the
sprinkling and washing of the blood of Christ, the faith and persuasion
whereof give them peace and holy boldness in the presence of God, without
which they can have nothing but shame and confusion of face in a sense of
their own pollutions.
How the blood of Christ was the meritorious cause of our purification
as it was offered, in that thereby he procured for us eternal redemption,
with all that was conducing or needful thereunto, and how thereby he
expiated our sins, belongs not unto this place to declare. Nor shall I
insist upon the more mysterious way of communicating cleansing virtue unto
us from the blood of Christ, by virtue of our union with him. What hath been
spoken may suffice to give a little insight into that influence which the
blood of Christ hath into this first part of our sanctification and
holiness. And as for those who affirm that it no otherwise cleanseth us from
our sins, but only because we, believing his doctrine, confirmed by his
death and resurrection, do amend our lives, turning from sin unto
righteousness and holiness, they renounce the mystery of the gospel, and all
the proper efficacy of the blood of Christ.
III.
Faith is the instrumental
cause of our purification: “Purifying their hearts by faith,” Acts
xv. 9. The two unfailing evidences of sincere faith are,
that within it purifieth the heart, and without
it worketh by love. These are the touch-stones whereon faith may,
yea, ought to be tried. We “purify our souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit,” 1 Pet. i. 22; that is, by
believing, which is our original obedience unto the truth. And hereby are
our souls purified. “Unbelievers” and “unclean” are the same, Tit. i.
15; for they have nothing in them whereby they might be instrumentally
cleansed. And we are purified by faith; because, – 1. Faith itself is the principal
grace whereby our nature is restored unto the image of God, and so freed
from our original defilement, Col. iii. 10; 1 John iii. 3. 2. It is by faith
on our part whereby we receive the purifying virtue and influences of the
blood of Christ; whereof we have before discoursed. Faith is the grace
whereby we constantly adhere and cleave unto Christ, Deut. iv. 4; Josh.
xxiii. 8; Acts xi. 22. And if the woman who touched his garment in faith
obtained virtue from him to heal her issue of blood, shall not those who
cleave unto him continually derive virtue from him for the healing of their
spiritual defilements? 3. It is by the working of faith principally
whereby those lusts and corruptions which are defiling are mortified,
subdued, and gradually wrought out of our minds. All actual defilements
spring from the remainders of defiling lusts, and their depraved workings in
us, Heb. xii. 15; James i. 14. How faith worketh
to the correcting and subduing of them, by deriving supplies of the Spirit
and grace to that end from Jesus Christ, as being the means of our abiding
in them, whereon alone those supplies do depend, John xv. 3-5, as also by
the acting of all other graces which are contrary to the polluting lusts of
the flesh and destructive of them, is
usually declared, and we must not too far enlarge on these
things. 4. Faith takes in all the motives
which are proposed unto us to stir us up unto our utmost endeavours and
diligence, in the use of all means and ways, for the preventing of the
defilements of sin, and for the cleansing of our minds and consciences from
the relics of dead works. And these motives, which are great and many, may
be reduced unto two heads: – (1.) A participation of the excellent
promises of God at the present.
The consideration hereof brings a singular enforcement on the souls of
believers to endeavour after universal purity and holiness, 2 Cor. vii. 1.
And, (2.) The future enjoyment of
God in glory, whereunto we cannot attain without being purified from sin, 1
John iii. 2, 3. Now, these motives, which are the springs of our duty in
this matter, are received and made efficacious by faith only.
IV.
Purging from sin is likewise in the Scripture ascribed unto afflictions
of all sorts. Hence they are called God’s “furnace,” and his “fining
pot,” Isa. xxxi. 9, xlviii. 10, whereby he taketh
away the dross and filth of the vessels of his house. They are also called
“fire” that trieth the ways and works of
men, consuming their hay and stubble, and purifying their gold and silver, 1
Cor. iii. 12, 13. And this they do through an efficacy unto these ends
communicated unto them in the design and by the Spirit of God; for by and in
the cross of Christ they were cut off from the curse of the first covenant,
whereunto all evil and trouble did belong, and implanted into the covenant
of grace. The tree of the cross being cast into the waters of affliction
hath rendered them wholesome and medicinal. And as, the Lord Christ being
the head of the covenant, all the afflictions and persecutions that befall
his members are originally his, Isa. lxiii.
9, Acts ix. 5, Col. i. 24; so they all tend to
work us unto a conformity unto him in purity and
holiness. And they work towards this blessed end of purifying the soul
several ways; for, – 1. They have in them some token of God’s
displeasure against sin, which those who are exercised by them are led by
the consideration of unto a fresh view of the vileness of it; for although
afflictions are an effect of love, yet it is of love mixed with care to
obviate and prevent distempers. Whatever they are else,
they are always chastisements; and correction respects faults. And it is our
safest course, in every affliction, to lodge the adequate cause of it in our
own deserts, as the woman did, 1 Kings xvii. 18; and as God directs, Ps. lxxxix.
30-32, Lam. iii. 33. And this is one difference between his chastisements
and those of the fathers of our flesh, that he doth it “not for his
pleasure,” Heb. xii. 9, 10. Now, a view of sin under suffering makes men
loathe and abhor themselves for it, and to be ashamed of it; and this is the
first step towards our purifying of ourselves by any ways appointed for it.
Self-pleasing is sin in the highest degree of our pollution; and when we
loathe ourselves for it, we are put into the way at least of seeking after a
remedy. 2. Afflictions take off the beauty and allurements of all created
good things and their comforts, by which the affections are solicited to
commit folly and lewdness with them; that is, to embrace and cleave unto
them inordinately, whence many defilements do
ensue, Gal. vi. 14. This God designs them for, even to whither all the
flowerings of this world in the minds of men, by discovering their
emptiness, vanity, and insufficiency to give relief. This intercepts the
disorderly intercourse which is apt to be between them and our affections,
whereby our minds are polluted; for there is a pollution attending the least
inordinate actings of our mind and affections
towards objects either in their own nature sinful, or such as may be
rendered so by an excess in us towards them, whilst we are under the command
of loving the Lord our God with all our minds, souls, and strength, and that
always. ......
And
so have we taken a view of the first part of our sanctification and
holiness; which I have the more largely insisted on, because the
consideration of it is utterly neglected by them who frame us a holiness to
consist only in the practice of moral virtue. And I do not know but what
hath been delivered may be looked on as fanatical and enthusiastical;
yet is there no other reason why it should be so, but only because it is
taken from Scripture. Neither doth that so much insist on any consideration
of sin and sanctification, as this of the pollution of the one and the
purifying of it by the other. And to whom the words of the Holy Ghost are
displeasing, we cannot in these things give any satisfaction; and yet I
could easily demonstrate that they were well known to the ancient writers of
the church; and, for the substance of them, were discerned and discussed by
the schoolmen, in their manner. But where men hate the practice
of holiness, it is to no purpose to teach them the nature of it.
But
we may not pass over these things without some reflections upon ourselves,
and some consideration of our concernment in them. And, first, hence we may
take a view of our own state and condition by nature. It is useful for us
all to be looking back into it, and it is necessary for them who are under
it to be fully acquainted with it. Therein are we wholly defiled, polluted,
and every way unclean. There is a spiritual
leprosy spread all over our natures, which renders us loathsome to God,
and puts us in a state of separation from him. They who were legally unclean
were separated from the congregation, and therein from all the pledges of
God’s gracious presence, Num. v. 2. It is so virtually with all them who
are spiritually defiled, under that pollution which is natural and
universal; they are abhorred of God and separated from him, which was
signified thereby. And the reason why so many laws, with so great severity
and exactness, were given about the cleansing of a leprous person, and the
judgement to be made thereon, was only to declare the certainty of the
judgement of God, that no unclean
person should approach unto him. Thus is it with all by nature; and
whatever they do of themselves to be quit of it, it doth but hide and not
cleanse it. Adam cured neither his nakedness nor the shame of it by his
fig-leaves. Some have no other covering of their natural filth but outward
ornaments of the flesh; which increase it, and indeed rather proclaim it
than hide it. The greatest filth in the world is covered with the greatest
bravery. See Isa. iii. 16-24. Whatever we do
ourselves in answer unto our convictions is a covering, not a cleansing; and
if we die in this condition, unwashed, uncleansed, unpurified,
it is utterly impossible that ever we should be admitted into the blessed
presence of the holy God, Rev. xxi. 27. Let no man deceive you, then, with
vain words. It is not the doing of a few good works,
it is not an outward profession of religion, that will give you an access
with boldness and joy unto God. Shame will cover you when it will be too
late. Unless you are washed by the Spirit of God and in the blood of Christ
from the pollutions of your natures, you shall not inherit the kingdom
of
God, 1 Cor. vi. 9-11. Yea, you will be a horrid
spectacle unto saints and angels, yea, to yourselves, unto one another, when
the shame of your nakedness shall be made to appear, Isa.
lxvi. 24. If, therefore, you would not perish,
and that eternally; if you would not perish as base, defiled creatures, an
abhorring unto all flesh, then
when your pride, and your wealth, and your beauty, and your ornaments, and
your duties, will stand you in no stead, – look out betimes after that
only way of purifying and cleansing your souls which God hath ordained. But
if you love your defilements; if you are proud of your pollutions; if you
satisfy yourselves with your outward ornaments, whether moral,
of gifts, duties, profession, conversation, or natural,
of body, wealth, apparel, gold, and silver, – there is no remedy, you must
perish for ever, and that under the consideration of the basest and vilest
part of the creation.
Seeing
this is the condition of all by nature, if any one now shall inquire and ask
what they shall do, what course they shall take, that they may be cleansed
according to the will of God, in answer hereunto I shall endeavour to direct
defiled sinners, by sundry steps and degrees, in the way unto the cleansing
fountain. There is a “fountain set open for sin and for uncleanness,”
Zech. xiii. 1. But it falleth out with many, as
the wise man speaketh, “The labour of the
foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth
not how to go to the city,” Eccles. x. 15. Men weary themselves and pine
away under their pollutions, because they cannot find the way; they know not
how to go to the cleansing fountain. I shall, therefore, direct them from
first to last, according to the best skill I have: –
1. Labour after an acquaintance
with it, to know it in its nature and effects. Although the Scripture so
abounds in the assertion and declaration of it, as we have showed, and
believers find a sense of it in their experience, yet men in common take
little notice of it. Somewhat they are affected with the guilt of sin, but
little or not at all with its filth. So they can escape the righteousness of
God, which they have provoked, they regard not their unanswerableness unto
his holiness, whereby they are polluted. How few, indeed, do inquire into
the pravity of their natures, that vileness
which is come upon them by the loss of the image of God, or do take
themselves to be much concerned therein! How few do consider aright that fomes
and filthy spring which is continually bubbling up crooked, perverse,
defiled imaginations in their hearts, and influencing their affections unto
the lewdness of depraved concupiscence! Who meditates upon the holiness
of God in a due manner, so as to ponder what we ourselves ought to be,
how holy, how upright, how clean, if we intend to please him or enjoy him?
With what appearances, what outsides of things, are most men satisfied! yea,
how do they please themselves in the shades of their own darkness and
ignorance of these things, when yet an unacquaintedness
with this pollution of sin is unavoidably ruinous unto their souls! See the
danger of it, Rev. iii. 16-18. Those who would be cleansed from it must
first know it; and although we cannot do so aright without some convincing
light of the Spirit of God, yet are there duties required of us in order
thereunto; as, – (1.) To search the
Scripture, and to consider seriously what it declareth
concerning the condition of our nature after the loss of the image of God.
Doth it not declare that it is shamefully naked, destitute of all beauty and
comeliness, wholly polluted and defiled? And what is said of that nature
which is common unto all is said of every one who is partaker of it. Every
one is "gone aside," every one is become "altogether
filthy," or stinking, Ps. liii. 3. This is the glass wherein every man
ought to contemplate himself, and not in foolish, flattering reflections
from his own proud imaginations; and he that will not hence learn his
natural deformity shall live polluted and die accursed. (2.) He who hath
received the testimony of the Scripture concerning his corrupted and
polluted estate, if he will be at the pains to try and examine himself by
the reasons and causes that are assigned thereof, will have a
farther view of it. When men read, hear, or are instructed in what the
Scripture teacheth concerning the defilement of sin, and give some assent to
what is spoken, without an examination of their own state in particular, or
bringing their souls unto that standard and measure, they will have very
little advantage thereby. Multitudes learn that they are polluted by nature,
which they cannot gainsay; but yet really find no such thing in themselves.
But when men will bring their own souls to the glass of the perfect law, and
consider how it is with them in respect of that image of God wherein they
were at first created, what manner of persons they ought to be with respect
unto the holiness of God, and what they are, – how vain are their
imaginations, how disorderly are their affections, how perverse all the
actings of their minds, – they will be ready to say, with the leprous man,
"Unclean, unclean." But they are but few who will take the pains
to search their own wounds, it being a matter of smart and trouble to
corrupt and carnal affections. Yet, (3.) Prayer for light and
direction herein is required of all as a duty. For a man to know himself was
of old esteemed the highest attainment of human wisdom. Some men will not so
much as inquire into themselves, and some men dare not, and some neglect the
doing of it from spiritual sloth, and other deceitful imaginations; but he
that would ever be purged from his sins must thus far make bold with
himself, and dare to be thus far wise. And in the use of the means before
prescribed, considering his own darkness and the treacheries of his heart,
he is to pray fervently that God by his Spirit would guide and assist him in
his search after the pravity and defilement of his nature. Without this he
will never make any great or useful discoveries. And yet the discerning
hereof is the first evidence that a man hath received the least ray of
supernatural light. The light of a natural conscience will convince men of,
and reprove them for, actual sins as to their guilt, Rom. ii. 14, 15; but
the mere light of nature is dark and confused about its own confusion. Some
of the old philosophers discerned, in general, that our nature was
disordered, and complained thereof; but as the principal reason of their
complaints was because it would not throughout serve the end of their
ambition, so of the causes and nature of it, with respect unto God and our
eternal condition, they knew nothing of it at all. Nor is it discerned but
by a supernatural light, proceeding immediately from the Spirit of God. If
any, therefore, have a heart or wisdom to know their own pollution by sin,
– without which they know nothing of themselves unto any purpose, – let
them pray for that directing light of the Spirit of God, without which they
can never attain to any useful knowledge of it.
2. Those who would indeed be purged
from the pollution of sin must endeavour to be affected with it,
suitably to the discovery which they have made of it. And as the proper
effect of the guilt of sin is fear, so the proper effect of
the filth of sin is shame. No man who hath read the Scriptures
can be ignorant how frequently God calls on men to be ashamed and confounded
in themselves for the pollutions and uncleannesses of their sin. So is it
expressed in answer unto what he requires: "O my God, I am ashamed and
blush to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased
over our head," Ezra ix. 6. And by another prophet: "We lie down
in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the
LORD
our God," Jer. iii. 25. And many other such expressions are there of
this affection of the mind with respect unto the pollution of sin. But we
must observe that there is a twofold shame with respect unto it: – (1.)
That which is legal, or the product of a mere legal conviction of
sin. Such was that in Adam, immediately after his fall; and such is that
which God so frequently calls open and profligate sinners unto, – a shame
accompanied with dread and terror, and from which the sinner hath no relief,
unless in such sorry evasions as our first parents made use of. And, (2.)
There is a shame which is evangelical, arising from a mixed
apprehension of the vileness of sin and the riches of God's grace in the
pardon and purifying of it; for although this latter gives relief against
all terrifying, discouraging effects of shame, yet it increaseth those which
tend to genuine self-abasement and abhorrency. And this God still requires
to abide in us, as that which tends to the advancement of his grace in our
hearts. This is fully expressed by the prophet Ezekiel, chap. xvi. 60-63,
"I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I
will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then shalt thou remember
thy ways, and be ashamed. And I will establish my covenant with thee; and
thou shalt know that I am the LORD:
that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any
more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou
hast done, saith the Lord God." There is a shame and confusion of face
for sin that is a consequent, yea, an effect of God's renewing his covenant,
and thereby giving in the full pardon of sin, as being pacified. And the
apostle asks the Romans what fruit they had in those things whereof they
were now ashamed, chap. vi. 21. Now, after the pardon of them they were yet
ashamed, from the consideration of their filth and vileness. But it is a
shame in the first sense that I here intend, as antecedent unto the first
purification of our natures. This may be thought to be in all men; but it is
plainly otherwise, and men are not at all ashamed of their sins, which they
manifest in various degrees: for, –
1.)
Many are senseless and stupid. No instruction, nothing that
befalls them, will fix any real shame upon them. Of some particular
facts they may be ashamed, but for anything in their natures, they slight
and despise it. If they can but preserve themselves from the known guilt of
such sins as are punishable amongst men, as to all other things they are
secure. This is the condition of the generality of men living in sin in this
world. They have no inward shame for any thing between God and their souls,
especially not for the pravity and defilement of their natures, no, although
they hear the doctrine of it never so frequently. What may outwardly befall
them that is shameful, they are concerned in; but for their internal
pollutions between God and their souls, they know none.
(2.)
Some have such a boldness and confidence in their condition, as that
which is well and pure enough: "There is a generation that are pure in
their own eyes, yet are they not washed from their filthiness," Prov.
xxx. 12. Although they were never sprinkled with the pure water of the
covenant, or cleansed by the Holy Spirit; although their consciences were
never purged from dead works by the blood of Christ, nor their hearts
purified by faith, and so are no way "washed from their
filthiness;" yet do they please themselves in their condition as
"pure in their own eyes," and have not the least sense of any
defilements. Such a generation were the Pharisees of old, who esteemed
themselves as clean as their hands and cups, that they were continually
washing, though within they were filled with all manner of defilements, Isa.
lxv. 4, 5. And this generation is such as indeed despise all that is spoken
about the pollution of sin and its purification, and deride it as
enthusiastical, or a fulsome metaphor not to be understood.
(3.)
Others proceed farther, and are so far from taking shame to
themselves for what they are, or what they do, as that they openly boast
of and glory in the most shameful sins that human nature can contract
the guilt of. "They proclaim their sins," saith the prophet,
"like Sodom," where all the people consented together in the perpetration of
unnatural lusts. They are not at all ashamed, but glory in the things which,
because they do not here, will hereafter fill them with confusion of face,
Jer. vi. 15, viii. 12. And where once sin gets this confidence, wherein it
completes a conquest over the law, the inbred light of nature, the
convictions of the Spirit, and in a word God himself, then is it ripe for
judgment. And yet is there a higher degree of shamelessness in sin; for, –
(
4.)
Some content not themselves with boasting in their own sins, but also they approve
and delight in all those who give up themselves unto the like outrage
in sinning with themselves. This the apostle expresseth as the
highest degree of shameless sinning: Rom. i. 32, "Who knowing the
judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not
only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." When open
profligate sinners do, as it were, make themselves up into societies,
encouraging and approving one another in their abominable courses, so that
no company pleaseth them but such as have obtained an impudence in sinning,
then is the greatest defiance given unto the holiness and righteousness of
God.
Now, such as these will never seek after cleansing; for why should they do
so who are sensible of no spiritual pollution, nor have the least touch of
shame with respect thereunto? It is necessary, therefore, unto the duty of
purifying our souls that we be affected with shame for the spiritual
defilements which our nature, under the loss of the image of God, is even
rolled in; and where this is not, it will be but lost labour that is spent
in the invitation of men to the cleansing fountain.
3.
Let persons so affected be fully satisfied that they can never cleanse
or purify themselves by any endeavours that are merely their own, or by
any means of their own finding out. According unto men's convictions of the
defilements of sin, so have and always will their endeavours be after
purification, Hos. v. 13. And, indeed, it is the duty of believers to purify
themselves more and more, in the exercise of all purifying graces, and the
use of all means appointed of God for that purpose, 2 Cor. vii. 1; and their
neglect thereof is the highest disadvantage, Ps. xxxviii. 5. But men in the
state of nature, concerning whom we now treat, are no way able to cleanse
their natures or purge themselves. He only who can restore, repair, and
renew their natures unto the likeness of God, can cleanse them. But here
many fall into mistakes; for when, by reason of their convictions, they can
no longer satisfy and please themselves in the pollution of sin, they go
about by vain attempts of their own to "purify their souls," Hos.
v. 13; Jer. ii. 22; Job ix. 30, 31. Their own sorrow and repentance, and
tears of contrition, and that sorry amendment of life they can attain unto,
shall do this work for them; and every especial defiling act, or every
renewed sense of it, shall have an especial act of duty for its cleansing!
But though these things are good in themselves, yet there is required more
wisdom to the right stating of them, as to their causes, respects, ends, and
use, than they are furnished withal. Hence are they so frequently abused and
turned into an effectual means not only of keeping men off and at a distance
from Christ, but also from a due and acceptable performance of the very
duties themselves pretended unto: for legal sorrow or repentance, or mere
legal convictions, being trusted unto, will infallibly keep the soul from
coming up unto that evangelical repentance which alone God accepts; and mere
reformation of life rested in proves opposite to endeavours for the
renovation of our natures. But let these duties be performed, however,
in what manner you please, they are utterly insufficient of themselves to
cleanse our natural defilements; nor will any seek duly for that which alone
is effectual unto this purpose until they are fully convinced hereof. Let,
therefore, sinners hear and know, whether they will or will not believe it,
that as by nature they are wholly defiled and polluted with those
abominations of sin which render them loathsome in the sight of God, so they
have no power by any endeavours or duties of their own to cleanse
themselves; but by all they do to this end, they do but farther plunge
themselves into the ditch, and increase their own defilements. Yet are all
those duties necessary in their proper place and unto their proper end.
4.
It is, therefore, their duty to acquaint themselves with that
only remedy in this case, that only means of cleansing, which God
hath appointed, and which he makes effectual. One great end of the
revelation of the will of God, from the foundation of the world, of his
institutions and ordinances of worship, was, to direct the souls and
consciences of men in and unto the way of their cleansing; which as it
argues his infinite love and care, so the great importance of the matter
itself. And one principal means which Satan from the beginning made use of
to keep men in their apostacy from God, and to encourage them therein, was,
by supplying them with innumerable ways of purification, suited to the
imaginations of their dark, unbelieving, and superstitious minds. And in
like manner, when he designed to draw men off from Christ and the gospel
under the Papacy, he did it principally by the suggestion of such present
and future purgatories of sin as might comply with their lusts and
ignorance. Of so great importance is it, therefore, to be acquainted with
the only true and real way and means hereof! And there are two
considerations that are suited to excite the diligence of sinners in this
inquiry: (1.) The weight that is laid on this matter by God himself.
(2.) The difficulty of attaining an acquaintance with it. And, –
(1.) As hath been observed, any one by considering, [1.] The legal
institutions of old will see what weight God lays hereon. No sacrifice
had any respect unto sin but there was somewhat peculiar in it that was for
its cleansing; and there were sundry ceremonious ordinances which had no
other end but only to purify from uncleannesses. [2.] Among all the
promises of the Old Testament concerning the establishment of the new
covenant and the grace thereof, which are many and precious, there are none
more eminent than those which concern our cleansing from sin by the
administration of the Spirit, through the blood of Christ; some of them have
been mentioned before; – which also farther manifests the care that God
hath taken for our instruction herein. [3.] There is nothing more pressed on
us, nothing more frequently proposed unto us, in the gospel, than the
necessity of our purification, and the only way of effecting it. If,
therefore, either instructions, or promises, or precepts, or all concurring,
may evidence the importance of a duty, then is this manifested to partake
therein. And those who will prefer the guidance of carnal reason and vain
tradition before these heavenly directions shall live in their ignorance and
die in their sins. (2.) The difficulty of obtaining an acquaintance
with it is to be duly considered. It is a part of the "mystery of the
gospel," and such a part as is among those which the wisdom of the
world or carnal reason esteemeth "foolishness." It is not easily
admitted or received, that we can no otherwise be cleansed from our sins but
by the sprinkling of that blood which was shed so long ago; yet this and no
other way doth the Scripture propose unto us. To fancy that there is any
cleansing from sin but by the blood of Christ is to overthrow the gospel.
The doctrine hereof are persons, therefore, obliged to inquire after and
come to the knowledge of, that, being satisfied with its truth, and that
this is the only way of cleansing [from] sin, appointed and blessed by God
himself, their minds may be exercised about it, and so be taken off from
resting on those vain medicines and remedies, which (having nothing else to
fix upon) their own hearts and others' blind devotions would suggest unto
them.
5.
But now the great inquiry is, How a sinful, defiled soul may
come to have an interest in, or be partaker of, the purifying virtue and
efficacy of the blood of Christ? Ans. 1. The purifying virtue
and force of the blood of Christ, with the administration of the Spirit for
its application to make it effectual unto our souls and consciences, is
proposed and exhibited unto us in the promises of the covenant, 2 Pet. i. 4.
This all the instances (which need not be recited) before produced do
testify unto. 2. The only way to be made partaker of the good things
presented in the promises is by faith. So Abraham is said to have
"received the promises," Heb. xi. 17; and so are we also, and to
receive Christ himself. Now, this is not from their being proposed unto us,
but from our believing of that which is proposed, as it is expressed of
Abraham, Rom. iv. 19-21, x. 6-9. The whole use, benefit, and advantage of
the promises depend absolutely on our mixing them with faith; as the apostle
declares, Heb. iv. 2. Where they are "mixed with faith," there
they profit us – there we really receive the thing promised. Where they
are not so mixed, they are of no use, but to aggravate our sins and
unbelief. I know that by some men the whole nature and work of faith is
derided; they say, "It is nothing but a strong fixing of the
imagination upon what is said." However, we know that if a man
promise us any thing seriously and solemnly which is absolutely in his
power, we trust unto his word, or believe him, considering his wisdom,
honesty, and ability. This, we know, is not a mere fixing of the
imagination, but it is a real and useful confidence or trust. And whereas
God hath given unto us great and precious promises, and that under several
confirmations, especially that of his oath and covenant, if we do really
believe their accomplishment, and that it shall be unto us according to his
word, upon the account of his veracity, divine power, righteousness, and
holiness, why shall this be esteemed "a fanatical fixing of the
imagination?" If it be so, it was so in Abraham, our example, Rom. iv.
19-21. But this blasphemous figment, designed to the overthrow of the way of
life and salvation by Jesus Christ, shall be elsewhere more fully examined.
God, as was said, gives unto us great and precious promises, that by them we
might be made partakers of the divine nature. These promises he requireth us
to receive, and to mix them with faith, – that is, trusting to and resting
on his divine power and veracity, ascribing unto him thereby the glory of
them, to believe that the things promised unto us shall be accomplished;
which is the means, by God's appointment, whereby we shall be really made
partakers of them. Such was the faith of Abraham, so celebrated by our
apostle; and such was all the true and saving faith that ever was in the
world from the foundation of it. Wherefore, 3. This is the only way
and means to obtain an interest in the cleansing virtue of the blood
of Christ. God hath given this power and efficacy unto it by the covenant.
In the promise of the gospel it is proposed and tendered unto us. Faith in
that promise is that alone which gives us an interest in it, makes us
partakers of it, and renders it actually effectual unto us; whereby we are
really cleansed from sin. 4. There are two things which concur unto the efficacy
of faith to this purpose: – (1.) The excellency of the grace or
duty itself. Despise their ignorance who tell you this is but a deceitful
fixing of the imagination; for they know not what they say. When men come to
the real practice of this duty, they will find what it is to discard all
other ways and pretences of cleansing; what it is sincerely and really to
give unto God, against all difficulties and oppositions, the glory of his
power, faithfulness, goodness, and grace; what it is to approve of the
wisdom and love of God in finding out this way for us, and the infiniteness
of his grace in providing it when we were lost and under the curse, and to
be filled with a holy admiration of him on that account; – all which
belong unto the faith mentioned, neither is it nor can be acted in a due
manner without them. And when you understand these things, you will not
think it so strange that God should appoint this way of believing only as
the means to interest us in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ.
(2.) Hereby are we, as hath been shown, united unto Christ, from whom
alone is our cleansing. He that declares another way must make
another gospel.
6.
Faith, in this case, will act itself in and by fervent
prayer. When David had, by sin, brought himself into that condition
wherein he stood in need of a new universal purification, how earnest is he
in his supplications that God would again "purge and cleanse him!"
Ps. li. And when any soul is really coming over to the way of God for his
washing in the blood of Christ, he will not be more earnest and fervent in
any supplication than in this. And herein and hereby doth Christ communicate
of the purging efficacy of his blood unto us.
And
theses things may, in some measure, suffice for the direction and guidance
of those who are yet wholly under the pollution of corrupted nature,
how they may proceed to get themselves cleansed according to the mind of
God. Not that this order or method is prescribed unto any; only, these
are the heads of those things which, in one degree or other, are wrought in
the souls of them whom Christ will and doth cleanse from their sins.
Secondly,
Instruction, also, may be hence taken for them concerning whom our apostle
says, "Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God," 1 Cor. vi. 9-11; – such
as are freed from the general pollution of nature "by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit. iii. 5; –those, I
mean, who have been made partakers of that cleansing, purifying work of the
Holy Ghost which we have described. Several duties are incumbent on
them with respect hereunto; as, –
1.
Continual self-abasement, in the remembrance of that woful defiled
state and condition from whence they have been delivered. This consideration
is one of them which principally doth influence the minds of believers unto
humility, and hideth pride from them; for what should creatures of such a
base and defiled extraction have to boast of in themselves? It is usual, I
confess, for vile men of the most contemptible beginnings, when they are
greatly exalted in the world, to outgo others in pride and elation of mind,
as they are behind them in the advantages of birth and education. But this
is esteemed a vile thing amongst men, though it is but one potsherd of the
earth boasting itself against another. But when believers shall consider
what was their vile and polluted state with respect unto God, when first he
had regard unto them, it will cause them to walk humbly in a deep sense of
it, or I am sure it ought so to do. God calls his people to self-abasement,
not only from what they are, but from what they were and whence they came.
So he ordained that confession to be made by him that offered the
first-fruits of his fields and possessions, "A Syrian ready to perish
was my father;" or, "A Syrian" (that is, Laban) "was
ready to destroy my father, a poor, helpless man, that went from one country
to another for bread. How is it of sovereign mercy that I am now in this
state and condition of plenty and peace!" Deut. xxvi. 1-5. And, in
particular, God wonderfully binds upon them the sense of that defiled
natural extraction whereof we speak, Ezek. xvi. 3-5. And when David, upon
his great sin and his repentance, took in all humbling, self-abasing
considerations, here he fixeth the head of them: Ps. li. 5, "Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." His
original natural defilement was that which, in the first place, influenced
him unto self-abasement. So our apostle frequently calls the saints to a
remembrance of their former condition before they were purged, Eph. ii.
11-13; 1 Cor. vi. 9-11; and therewith are the minds of all true believers
greatly affected and greatly humbled. When they consider what was their
natural state and condition, – universally leprous and polluted, – with
what remainders of it do still abide, it casts them on the earth, and
causeth them to lay their mouths in the dust. Hence proceed their great and
deep humiliations of themselves, and confessions of their own vileness in
their prayers and supplications. Considering the holiness of God, with whom
they have to do, unto whom they do approach, they are no way able to express
what low thoughts and apprehensions they have of themselves. Even God
himself doth teach them to use figurative expressions whereby to declare
their own vileness by nature; which abound in the Scripture. It is true, all
declarations hereof, in prayer and confession of sin, are derided and
scorned by some, who seem to understand nothing of these things, yea, to
glory that they do not. Whatever is spoken to express, as they are able, the
deep sense any have of their natural defilement, with the remainder of it,
their shame and self-abasement with respect unto the holiness of God, is
reputed either as false and hypocritical, or that it containeth such things
as for which men ought to be hanged. Such prodigious impudence in
proclaiming a senselessness of the holiness of God and of the vileness of
sin have we lived to see and hear of! But when we have to deal with God, who
puts no trust in his servants, and chargeth his angels with folly, what
shall we say? What lowliness becomes them "who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust, and who are crushed before the moth!"
2.
That initial deliverance which believers have from their original
pollution of sin is a matter and cause of everlasting thankfulness. When
our Lord Jesus Christ cleansed the ten lepers, he manifests how much it was
their duty to return unto him with their thankful acknowledgement, though
nine of them failed therein, Luke xvii. 17. And when of old any one was
cleansed from a carnal defilement, there was an offering enjoined him, to
testify his gratitude. And, indeed, the consideration hereof is that which
in an eminent manner influenceth the minds of believers in all their
grateful ascriptions of glory, honour, and praise to Jesus Christ.
"Unto him," say they, "that loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever,"
Rev. i. 5, 6. And there are three things which concur to this duty: – (1.)
A due valuation of the causes and means of our purification, –
namely, the sprinkling of the blood of Christ in the sanctification
of the Spirit. As these alone have affected this great work, so they alone
were able so to do. Had we not been washed in the blood of Christ, we must
have lived and died in our pollutions, and have lain under them to eternity;
for the fire of hell will never purge the defilements of sin, much less will
the fictitious fire of purgatory cleanse any from them. How ought we then to
prize, value, and admire, both the virtue or efficacy of the blood of
Christ, and the love from whence it was given for us and is applied to us!
And because this valuation and admiration are acts of faith, the very work
itself, also, of cleansing our souls is carried on by them; for by the
exercise of faith do we continually derive virtue from Christ to this
purpose, as the woman did by touching of his garment for the stopping of her
issue of blood. (2.) Inward joy and satisfaction in our freedom from
that shame which deprived us of all boldness and confidence in God. This
internal joy belongs unto the duty of thankfulness; for therein is God
glorified when we are graciously sensible of the effects of his love and
kindness towards us. Every grace then glorifies God, and expresseth our
thankfulness for his love, when a soul finds itself really affected with a
sense of its being washed from all its loathsome defilements in the blood of
Christ, and, being thereby freed from discouraging, oppressing shame, to
have filial boldness in the presence of God. (3.) Acknowledgement in
a way of actual praise.
Again;
we have declared not only that there is in our natural frame and spiritual
constitution a discrepancy to the holiness of God, and consequently a
universal defilement, but that there is, from its pravity and disorder, a pollution
attending every actual sin, whether internal of the heart and
mind only, or external in sin perpetrated, averse to holiness, and
contrary to the carrying on of the work of sanctification in us. And sundry
things believers, whose concernment alone this is, may learn from hence
also; as –
1.
How they ought to watch against sin and all the motions of it, though
never so secret. They all of them defile the conscience. And it is an
evidence of a gracious soul, to be watchful against sin on this account.
Convictions will make men wary where they are prevalent, by continual
representations of the danger and punishment of sin; and these are an
allowable motive to believers themselves to abstain from it in all known
instances. The consideration of the terror of the Lord, the use of
threatenings both of the law and gospel, declare this to be our duty.
Neither let any say that this is servile fear; that denomination is taken
from the frame of our minds, and not from the object feared. When men so
fear as thereon to be discouraged, and to incline unto a relinquishment of
God, duty, and hope, that fear is servile, whatever be the object of it. And
that fear which keeps from sin, and excites the soul to cleave more firmly
to God, be the object of it what it will, is no servile fear, but a holy
fear or due reverence unto God and his word. But this is the most genuinely
gracious fear of sin, when we dread the defilement of it, and that
contrariety which is in it to the holiness of God. This is a natural fruit
of faith and love. And this consideration should always greatly possess our
minds; – and the truth is, if it do not so, there is no assured
preservative against sin; for together with an apprehension of that
spiritual pollution wherewith sin is accompanied, thoughts of the holiness
of God, of the care and concernment of the sanctifying Spirit, and of the
blood of Christ, will continually abide in our minds, which are all
efficaciously preservative against sin. I think that there is no more
forcible argument unto watchfulness against all sin, unto believers, in the
whole book of God, than that which is managed by our apostle, with especial
respect unto one kind of sin, but may in proportion be extended unto all, 1
Cor. iii. 16, 17, vi. 15-19. Moreover, where this is not, where the soul
hath no respect to the defilement of sin, but only considers how it may
shift with the guilt of it, innumerable things will interpose, partly
arising from the abuse of grace, partly from carnal hopes and foolish
resolutions for after-times, as will set it at liberty from that watchful
diligence in universal obedience which is required of us. The truth is, I do
not believe that any one that is awed only with respect to the guilt of sin
and its consequents doth keep up a firm integrity with regard to inward and
outward actings of his heart and life in all things. But where the fear of
the Lord and of sin is influenced by a deep apprehension of the holiness of
the one, and the pollution that inseparably attends the other, there is the
soul kept always upon its best guard and defence.
2.
How we ought to walk humbly before the Lord all our days. Not
withstanding our utmost watchfulness and diligence against sin, there is yet
"no man that liveth and sinneth not." Those who pretend unto a
perfection here, as they manifest themselves to be utterly ignorant of God
and themselves, and despise the blood of Christ, so for the most part they
are left visibly and in the sight of men to confute their own pride and
folly. But to what purpose is it to hide ourselves from ourselves, when we
have to do with God? God knows, and our own souls know, that more or less we
are defiled in all that we do. The best of our works and duties, brought
into the presence of the holiness of God, are but as filthy rags; and man,
even every man, of himself "drinketh in iniquity like water." Our
own clothes are ready to defile us every day. Who can express the motions of
lusts that are in the flesh; the irregular actings of affections, in their
inordinate risings up to their objects; the folly of the imaginations of our
hearts and minds, which, as far as they are not principled by grace, are
only evil, and that continually; with the vanity of our words, yea, with a
mixture of much corrupt communications; all which are defiling, and have
defilements attending of them? I confess I know not that my heart and soul
abhors any eruption of the diabolical pride of man like that whereby they
reproach and scoff at the deepest humiliations and self-abasements which
poor sinners can attain unto in their prayers, confessions, and
supplications. Alas! that our nature should be capable of such a contempt of
the holiness of God, such an ignorance of the infinite distance that is
between him and us, and be so senseless of our own vileness, and of the
abominable filth and pollution that is in every sin, as not to tremble at
the despising of the lowest abasements of poor sinners before the holy God!
"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the
just shall live by his faith," Hab. ii. 4.
3.
How we ought continually to endeavour after the wasting
of sin in the root and principle
of it. There is a root of sin in us, which springs up and defiles us.
"Every man is tempted" (that is, chiefly and principally) "of
his own lust, and seduced;" and then "when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin." It is "the flesh that lusteth against the
Spirit," and which bringeth forth corrupted and corrupting, polluted
and polluting fruits. This principle of sin, of aversion from God, of
inclination unto things sensual and present, however wounded, weakened,
dethroned, impaired, yet still abides in all believers; and it is the
foundation, the spring, the root, the next cause of all sin in us, which
tempts, enticeth, draws aside, conceives, and brings forth. And this hath in
us all more or less degrees of strength, power, and activity, according as
it is more or less mortified by grace and the application of the virtue of
the death of Christ unto our souls; and according to its strength and power,
so it abounds in bringing forth the defiled acts of sin. Whilst this retains
any considerable power in us, it is to no purpose to set ourselves merely to
watch against the eruptions of actual sins in the frames of our hearts, in
the thoughts of our minds, or outward actions. If we would preserve
ourselves from multiplying our defilements, if we would continually be
perfecting the work of holiness in the fear of the Lord, it is this we must
set ourselves against. The tree must be made good if we expect good fruit;
and the evil root must be digged up, or evil fruit will be brought forth; –
that is, our main design should be, to crucify and destroy the body of the
sins of the flesh that is in us, the remainders of the flesh or indwelling
sin, by the ways and means which shall afterward be declared.
4.
Hence also is manifest the necessity there is of continual applications
to Jesus Christ for cleansing virtue from his Spirit, and the
sprinkling of his blood on our consciences, in the efficacy of it, to purge
them from dead works. We defile ourselves every day, and if we go not every
day to the "fountain that is open for sin and for uncleanness," we
shall quickly be all over leprous. Our consciences will be filled with dead
works, so that we shall no way be able to serve the living God, unless they
are daily purged out. How this is done hath been at large before declared.
When a soul, filled with self-abasement under a sense of its own
defilements, applies itself unto Christ by faith for cleansing, and that
constantly and continually, with a fervency answering its sense and
convictions, it is in its way and proper course. I am persuaded no true
believer in the world is a stranger unto this duty; and the more any one
abounds therein, the more genuine is his faith evidenced to be, and the more
humble is his walk before the Lord.
But
it may justly be inquired, after all that we have discoursed upon this
subject concerning the defilement of sin, how, if it be so, believers
can be united unto Jesus Christ, or be members of that
mystical body whereof he is the head, or obtain fellowship with him;
for whereas he is absolutely pure, holy, and perfect, how can he have
union or communion with them who are in any thing defiled? There
is no fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness, no communion
between light and darkness, and what can there be between Christ and those
that are defiled with sin? and because he is "holy, harmless, and
undefiled," he is said to be "separate from sinners."
Many
things must be returned unto this objection, all concurring to take away the
seeming difficulty that is in it; as, –
1.
It must be granted that where men are wholly under the power of their
original defilement, they neither have nor can have either union or
communion with Christ. With respect unto such persons the rules before
mentioned are universally true and certain. There is no more communion
between them and Jesus Christ than is between light and darkness, as the
apostle speaks expressly, 1 John i. 6. Whatever profession they may make of
his name, whatever expectations they may unduly raise from him in their own
minds, he will say unto them at the last day, "Depart from me, I never
knew you." No person, therefore, whatever, who hath not been made
partaker of the washing of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy
Ghost, can possibly have any union with Christ. I do not speak this as
though our purifying were in order of time and nature antecedent unto our
union with Christ, for indeed it is an effect thereof; but it is such an
effect as immediately and inseparably accompanieth it, so that where the one
is not, there is not the other. The act whereby he unites us unto himself is
the same with that whereby he cleanseth our natures.
2.
Whatever our defilements are or may be, he is not defiled by
them. They adhere only unto a capable subject, which Christ is not. He was
capable to have the guilt of our sins imputed to him, but not the filth of
one sin adhering to him. A member of a body may have a putrefied sore; the
head may be troubled at it and grieved with it, yet is not defiled by it.
Wherefore, where there is a radical, original cleansing by the Spirit of
regeneration and holiness, whereby any one is meet for union and communion
with Christ, however he may be affected with our partial pollutions, he is
not defiled by them. He is able sumpaqhsai
,
"compati, condolere;" he suffers with us in his compassion; –
but he is not liable summolunesqai,
to be
defiled with us or for us. The visible mystical body of Christ may be
defiled by corrupt members, Heb. xii. 15; but the mystical body cannot be
so, much less the head.
3.
The design of Christ, when he takes believers into union with himself, is to
purge and cleanse them absolutely and perfectly; and therefore the
present remainders of some defilements are not absolutely inconsistent with
that union. "He gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it
to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish," Eph. v. 25-27.
This he aims at, and this he will, in his own way and in his own time,
perfectly accomplish. But it is not done at once; it is a progressive work,
that hath many degrees. God did never sanctify any soul at once, unless by
death. The body must die by reason of sin. Every believer is truly and
really sanctified at once, but none is perfectly sanctified at once. It is
not, therefore, necessary unto union that we should be completely
sanctified, though it is that we should be truly sanctified. Complete
sanctification is a necessary effect of union in its proper time and season.
See John xv. 1-5.
4.
Where the work of sanctification and spiritual cleansing is really begun
in any, there the whole person is, and is thence denominated, holy. As,
therefore, Christ the head is holy, so are all the members holy according to
their measure; for although there may be defilements adhering unto their
actions, yet their persons are sanctified: so that no unholy person hath any
communion with Christ, no member of his body is unholy, – that is,
absolutely so, in such a state as thence to be denominated unholy.
5.
Our union with Christ is immediately in and by the new creature in
us, by the divine nature which is from the Spirit of holiness, and is pure
and holy. Hereunto and hereby doth the Lord Christ communicate himself unto
our souls and consciences, and hereby have we all our intercourse with him.
Other adherences that have any defilement in them, and consequently are
opposite unto this union, he daily worketh out by virtue hereof, Rom. viii.
10. The whole body of Christ, therefore, and all that belongs unto it, is
holy, though those who are members of this body are in themselves oft-times
polluted, but not in anything which belongs to their union. The apostle
describeth the twofold nature or principle that is in believers, the new
nature by grace and the old of sin, as a double person, Rom. vii. 19, 20;
and it is the former, the renewed (and not the latter, which he calls
"I" also, but corrects as it were that expression, calling it
"sin which dwelleth in him"), that is the subject of the union
with Christ, the other being to be destroyed.
6.
Where the means of purification are duly used, no defilement ensues,
on any sin that believers fall into, which doth or can totally obstruct
communion with God in Christ, according to the tenor of the covenant. There
were many things under the Old Testament that did typically and legally
defile men that were liable unto them; but for all of them were provided
typical and legal purifications, which sanctified them as to the purifying
of the flesh. Now, no man was absolutely cut off or separated from the
people of God for being so defiled; but he that, being defiled, did not take
care that he might be purified according to the law, he was to be cut off
from among the people. It is in like manner in things spiritual and
evangelical. There are many sins whereby believers are defiled; but there is
a way of cleansing still open unto them. And it is not merely the incidence
of a defilement, but the neglect of purification, that is inconsistent with
their state and interest in Christ. The rule of communion with God, and
consequently of union with Christ, in its exercise, is expressed by David,
Ps. xix. 12, 13, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from
secret sins. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not
have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from
the great transgression." The design of psalmist is, to be preserved in
such a state and condition as wherein he may be upright before God. To be
upright before God is that which God requireth of us in the covenant, that
we may be accepted of him and enjoy the promises thereof, Gen. xvii. 1. He
that is so will be from that great transgression, or that abundance of sin
which is inconsistent with the covenant love and favour of God. And hereunto
three things are required: – (1.) A constant, humble acknowledgement of
sin: "Who can understand his errors?" (2.) Daily cleansing from
those defilements which the least and most secret sins are accompanied
withal: "Cleanse thou me from secret sins." And, – (3.) A
preservation from "presumptuous sins," or wilful sins committed
with a high hand. Where these things are, there a man is upright, and hath
the covenant-ground of his communion with God; and whilst believers are
preserved within these bounds, though they are defiled by sin, yet is there
not any thing therein inconsistent with their union with Christ.
7.
Our blessed Head is not only pure and holy, but he is also gracious
and merciful, and will not presently cut off a member of his body
because it is sick or hath a sore upon it. He is himself passed through his
course of temptations, and is now above the reach of them all. Doth he,
therefore, reject and despise those that are tempted, that labour and suffer
under their temptations? It is quite otherwise, so that, on the account of
his own present state, his compassions do exceedingly abound towards all his
that are tempted. It is no otherwise with him as to their sins and
defilements. These he himself was absolutely free from in all his
temptations and sufferings, but we are not; and he is so far from casting us
away on that account, while we endeavour after purification, as that it
draweth out his compassions towards us. In brief, he doth not unite us to
himself because we are perfect, but that in his own way and time he may make
us so; not because we are clean, but that he may cleanse us: for it is the
blood of Jesus Christ, with whom we have fellowship, that cleanseth us from
all our sins.
Lastly,
To wind up this discourse, there is hence sufficiently evidenced a
comprehensive difference between a spiritual life unto God by evangelical
holiness, and a life of moral virtue, though pretended unto God
also. Unto the first, the original and continual purification of our nature
and persons by the Spirit of God and blood of Christ is indispensably
required. Where this work is not, there neither is nor can be any thing of
that holiness which the gospel prescribes, and which we inquire after.
Unless the purification and cleansing of sin belong necessarily unto the
holiness of the new covenant, all that God hath taught us concerning it in
the Old Testament and the New, by his institution of legal purifying
ordinances; by his promises to wash, purify, and cleanse us; by his precepts
to get ourselves cleansed by the means of our purification, namely, his
Spirit and the blood of Christ; by his instruments and directions of us to
make use of those means of our cleansing; by his declarations that believers
are so washed and cleansed from all the defilements of their sins, – are
things fanatical, enthusiastic notions, and unintelligible dreams. Until men
can rise up to a confidence enabling them to own such horrible blasphemies,
I desire to know whether these things are required unto their morality? If
they shall say they are so, they give us a new notion of morality, never yet
heard of in the world; and we must expect until they have farther cleared
it, there being little or no signification in the great swelling words of
vanity which have hitherto been lavished about it. But if they do not belong
thereunto, – then is their life of moral virtue (were it as real in them
as it is with notorious vanity pretended) cast out from all consideration in
a serious disquisition after evangelical holiness. And what hath been spoken
may suffice to give us some light into the nature of this first act of our
sanctification by the Spirit, which consists in the cleansing of our souls
and consciences from the pollutions of sin, both original and actual.
