25. Chapter V.

Chapter V. The filth of sin is purged by the Spirit, and the blood of Christ.

Purification of the filth of sin is the first part of sanctification — How it is effected — The work of the Spirit in this — Efficacy of the blood of Christ to that purpose — The blood of his sacrifice is intended — How that blood cleanses sin — Application to it, and the application of it by the Spirit — What that application consists in — Faith is the instrumental cause of our purification, with the use of afflictions to the same purpose — Necessity of a due consideration of the pollution of sin — Considerations of the pollution and purification of sin practically improved — Various directions for a due application to the blood of Christ for cleansing — Various degrees of shamelessness in sinning — Directions for cleansing sin, continued — Thankfulness for the cleansing of sin, with other uses of the same consideration — Union with Christ, how it is consistent with the remainders of sin — From all that, the differences between evangelical holiness and the old nature are asserted.

Thirdly,875 The purging of the souls of those who believe, from the defilements of sin, is assigned in the Scripture to several causes of different kinds; for the Holy Spirit, the blood of Christ, faith, and afflictions, are all said to cleanse us from our sins; but this is in several ways, and with distinct kinds of efficacy. The Holy Spirit is said to do it as the principal efficient cause; the blood of Christ as the meritorious procuring cause; faith and affliction as the instrumental causes — the one kind is direct and internal, and the other is external and occasional.876

I. We are purged and purified from sin by the Spirit of God communicated to us. This has been previously confirmed in general by many testimonies of the holy Scriptures. And we may also gather from what has been said, what this work of his consists in; for —

1. Because the spring and fountain of all the pollution of sin lies in the depravation of the faculties of our natures, which ensued upon the loss of the image of God, He renews them again by his grace, Titus 3:5. Our lack of a due response to the holiness of God, as represented in the law and exemplified in our hearts originally, is a principal part and it is the universal cause of our whole pollution and defilement by sin. For when our eyes are opened to discern it, this is what at first fills us with shame and self-abhorrence, and what makes us so unacceptable, indeed, so loathsome to God. Who can rightly consider the vanity, darkness, and ignorance of his own mind, the perverseness and stubbornness of his own will, with the disorder, irregularity, and distemper of his own affections, with respect to spiritual and heavenly things — who is not ashamed of, who does not abhor himself? This is what has given our nature its leprosy, and defiled it throughout. And I will crave leave to say that the one who has no experience of spiritual shame and self-abhorrence on account of this nonconformity of his nature and of the faculties of his soul, to the holiness of God, is a great stranger to this whole work of sanctification. Who 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 do not profit, his aversion to spirituality in duty and to fixedness in communion with God, his proneness to things that are sensual and evil — all arising from the spiritual irregularity of divine purity and holiness — and yet is not aware of his own vileness and baseness, and often deeply affected with shame by it?

Now, this whole evil frame is cured by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost in rectifying and renovating our natures. He gives a new understanding, a new heart, new affections, renewing the whole soul into the image of God, Ephesians 4:23-24; Col 3.10.877 The way by which he does this has been so fully declared before in our opening of the doctrine of regeneration, that it does not need to be repeated here. Indeed, our original cleansing is in this, where mention is made of the "washing of regeneration," Titus 3:5. In regeneration, the image of God is restored to 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, and our affections, are renewed by the Holy Ghost. That is how far we are cleansed from our habitual spiritual pollution. If we would be cleansed from our sins — which it is so frequently promised that we will be cleansed, and so frequently prescribed as our duty to be cleansed, and without which we neither have nor can have anything of true holiness in us — we must labor after and endeavor 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, and of a constant readiness to obedience in our hearts, the purer we are, and the more cleansed we are from the pollution of sin. The old principle of a corrupted nature is unclean and defiling, shameful, and loathsome. But the new creature, with the principle878 of grace implanted in the whole soul by the Holy Ghost, is pure and purifying, clean and holy.

2. The Holy Ghost purifies and cleanses us by strengthening our souls by his grace, toward all holy duties and against all actual sins. It is by actual sins that our natural and habitual pollution is increased. Some make themselves base and vile as hell by this. 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 our duties of obedience and in opposition to sin, that he preserves the soul free from defilements, or pure and holy, according to the tenor of the new covenant — that is, in such a measure and to such a degree as universal sincerity requires. But it may yet be said that, "Indeed the Spirit makes us pure by this, and prevents many future defilements. Yet how is the soul freed from those sins it has contracted before this work upon it, or those sins which it may and does unavoidably fall into afterward? For just as there is no man who does good and does not sin, so there is none who is not more or less defiled with sin while he is in the body here in this world." The apostle answers this objection or inquiry in 1 John 1:7-9 : "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." But if sin is in us, we are defiled; and how will 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 cleanses 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 purges us from our sins, by a special application of it to our souls by the Holy Ghost. And there is no truth belonging to the mystery of the gospel which is more plainly and evidently asserted than this, as it has been made apparent in part before: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin," 1 John 1:7; "He has washed us from our sins in his own blood," Revelation 1:5; "The blood of Christ purges our conscience from dead works, that we may serve the living God," Hebrews 9:14; "He gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it," Ephesians 5:25-26; to "purify for himself a peculiar people," Titus 2:14. Besides, whatever is spoken in the whole Scripture concerning purifying the unclean, the leprous, and the defiled, by sacrifices or other instruments of the Old Testament, it is all instructive in, and directive to, the purifying nature of the blood of Christ, from which alone these institutions had their efficacy. Its virtue is promised under that notion, in Zec 13.1.879 And the faith and experience of all believers confirms this; for they are not imaginations of their own, but being built on the truth and promises of God, they yield tangible spiritual relief and refreshment for their souls. This is what they believe; this is what they pray for; and they find the fruits and effects of it in themselves. It may be that some of them do not; and maybe few comprehend distinctly the way by which, and the manner of how the blood of Christ, shed and offered long ago, should cleanse them from their sins now. But they believe the thing itself, as it is revealed; and they find a use for it in all their dealings with God. And I must say (let profane and ignorant persons, while they please, deride what they do not understand and are not able to disprove) that the Holy Spirit of God — which leads believers into all truth and enables them to pray according to the mind and will of God — guides them in and by the working and experience of faith, to pray for those things whose depths of mysteries they cannot comprehend. The one who studies well the things which he is taught by 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 by the Holy Ghost, helping them as a Spirit of supplication, two things are inexpressible:

First, the inward laboring and spiritual working of the sanctified heart and affections towards God; in these consist those "groanings that cannot be uttered," Romans 8:26. God alone sees, and knows, and understands, the fervent workings of the new creature when moved by the Holy Ghost in supplications; and so it is added in the next words, verse 27, "And he that searches the hearts knows what the meaning of the Spirit is,"880 — what it favors and inclines toward. 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 to him who is the Searcher of hearts, as he is that Searcher. He knows what the bent, frame, inclination, and acting of the inward man is in prayer, from the power of the Spirit; which even those in whom these are worked, do not fathom or reach the depth of. The Spirit does this in the subject of prayer: in the hearts and minds of believers. The effects of his operation in them are inexpressible.

Secondly, As to the object of prayer, or the things prayed for, the Spirit in and by the word so represents and exhibits the truth, reality, subsistence, power, and efficacy of spiritual, mysterious things, to the faith and affectations of believers, that they have a real and experiential sense of them. They mix faith with, and they are affected by, those things that are now made near, now realized by them, which they are perhaps not able to doctrinally and distinctly explain in their proper notions. And thus we often see men who are low and weak in their notional apprehension of things, who are yet led in their prayers into communion with God in the highest and holiest mysteries of his grace.

They experience the life and power of the things themselves in their own hearts and souls; and hereby their faith, love, affiance, and adherence to 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.

We will now briefly inquire into the way of this purification:

1. Therefore, the blood of Christ in this means the blood of his sacrifice, with its power, virtue, and efficacy. And the blood of a sacrifice fell under a double consideration:

(1.) As it was offered to 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 sacrifice881 was to be sprinkled around the altar, Leviticus 1:11. And in the great sacrifice of expiation,882 some of the blood of the bullock was to be sprinkled before the mercy-seat seven times, Leviticus 16:14. Our apostle fully expresses this in a great and signal instance:

Hebrews 9:19-20; Hebrews 9:22, "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 has enjoined unto you. … And almost all things are by the law purged with blood." From this, the blood of Christ — as it was the blood of his sacrifice — has these two effects and it falls under this double consideration:

(1.) As he offered himself to God by the eternal Spirit, 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 in Hebrews 9:12-14. And hence, with respect to our sanctification, it is called "The blood of sprinkling," Hebrews 12:24; for we have the "sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," 1 Peter 1:2.

2. The blood of Christ in his sacrifice is still always and continually in the same condition — it is of the same force and efficacy as it was in that hour in which it was shed. The blood of other sacrifices was always to be used immediately upon its effusion; for if it was cold and congealed, it was of no use to be offered or sprinkled. Blood was appointed to make atonement because the life or animal spirits were in it, Leviticus 17:11. 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 we have the phrase "new and living" 883 in Hebrews 10:20 — always living, and yet always newly slain.

Everyone, therefore, who at any time has a special actual interest in the blood of Christ as sacrificed, has as real a purification from the defilement of sin, as the one who stood by the priest and had blood or water sprinkled on him typically. 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, it was all done really and spiritually by that one sacrifice — that is, by the offering and sprinkling of the blood of Christ; and it abides to be done so continually. The substance of our apostle’s discourse in the ninth and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to this purpose. And they had various sorts of sacrifices in which the blood of those sacrifices was sprinkled to this end: they were propitiatory in their offering; such as —

(1.) There was the yowm,884 or continual burnt-offering of a lamb or kid for the whole congregation, morning and evening, whose blood was sprinkled as it was at other times. The habitual purification of the congregation was signified and carried on by this, so that they might be holy to the Lord, and cleansed from the daily incursions of secret and unknown sins.

(2.) On the Sabbath-day this daily sacrifice was doubled, morning and evening, denoting a particular and abounding communication of mercy and purging grace, through the administration of the instituted ordinances.

(3.) There was the great annual sacrifice at the feast of expiation,885 when by the sacrifice of the sin-offering and the scape-goat, the whole congregation was purged from all their known and great sins, and recovered to a state of legal holiness; and there were other stated sacrifices.

(4.) There were occasional sacrifices for everyone, as their condition required; for those who were clean one day, indeed, one hour, might by some miscarriage or surprise be unclean the next. But there was a way that was continually ready for any man’s purification, by his bringing his offering for that purpose.

Now, the blood of Christ must continually, and on all occasions, correspond to all of these, and accomplish spiritually what they legally effected, and typically represented. Our apostle asserts and proves this in Heb 9.9-14.886 Thereby, the gradual progression of our sanctification is habitually effected in us, as signified by the continual daily sacrifice. From there, special cleansing virtue is communicated to us by the ordinances of the gospel, as expressly affirmed in Eph 5.25-26;887 this is denoted by doubling the daily sacrifice on the Sabbath. By the blood of Christ, we are purged from all our sins whatsoever, great or small, as was typified in the great sacrifice on the day of expiation. We have continual recourse to him on all the occasions of our spiritual defilements whatsoever. So too, as to its purifying virtue, his blood corresponds to and accomplishes all legal institutions. It especially corresponds to the "ashes of the red heifer," Numbers 19:2-9, which was a standing ordinance by which everyone who was in any way defiled, might immediately be cleansed; and the one who would not make use of this, was to be cut off from the people, verse 20.

It is the same with respect to the blood of Christ in our spiritual defilements; this is why it is called "a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness," Zechariah 13:1. The one who neglects to make use of it will perish in his uncleanness, and do so eternally. To further clarify this whole matter, two things are to be inquired into:

(1.) How the blood of Christ thus cleanses us from our sins, or what it is that is done by it.

(2.) How we come to be made partakers of this benefit, or come to gain an interest in it.

(1.) As to the first, what was declared before must be observed: that the uncleanness we address is not physical or corporeal, but moral and spiritual only. It is the nonconformity of sin to the holiness of God, as represented in the law, for which 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 (by the will, law, and appointment of God), it does 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 will be as someone who is absolutely washed and purified before Him. See Isaiah 1:16-18; Psalms 51:7; Eph 5.25-27.888

[2.] It removes shame from the conscience, and it gives the soul boldness in the presence of God, Hebrews 10:19-22. When these things are done, then sin is purged, and our souls are cleansed.

(2.) It may be inquired how we are to apply ourselves to the blood of Christ for our purification, or how we may come to continually partake of its virtue as it is sprinkled for that purpose. Now, because what we do in this is worked in us by the Spirit of God, and my principal design is to declare his work in our sanctification, I will declare both his work and our duty in the following instances:

[1.] He is the one who reveals to us, and spiritually convinces us of the pollution of sin, and of our defilement by it. Indeed, something of this kind will be worked 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, because fear and shame are inseparable. But this sense alone will never guide us to the blood of Christ for cleansing. What is required of us, is such a sight and conviction of it, that it may fill us with self-abhorrence and abasement, that it may cause us to loathe ourselves for the abomination that is in it. And this is the work of the Holy Ghost, belonging to that particular conviction of sin which is from him alone, John 16:8.

I mean that self-abhorrence, shame, and humiliation we have with respect to the filth of sin, which is so often mentioned in the Scripture as a gracious duty; nothing is a higher aggravation of sin than for men to carry themselves with a carnal boldness toward God and in his worship, while they are unpurged from their defilements.889 In a sense of this shame, the publican stood far 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 to him. Without this preparation by which we come to know the plague of our own hearts, the infection of our leprosy, and the defilement of our souls, we will never appeal to the blood of Christ for cleansing in a due manner. Therefore, this is required of us as the first part of our duty, and it is the first work of the Holy Ghost in this purging.

[2.] The Holy Ghost proposes, declares, and presents to us the only true remedy, the only means of purification. "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet he could not heal you, nor cure you of your wound," Hosea 5:13. When men begin to discern their defilements, they are apt to think of many ways for their purging. It was declared before what false ways have been invented to this purpose. And everyone is ready to discover a way of his own; everyone will apply his own soap and his own nitre. Even though the only fountain for cleansing is near to us, we cannot see it until the Holy Ghost opens our eyes, as he opened the eyes of Hagar. It is the Spirit who shows it to us and leads us to it. This is an eminent part of his office and work. The principal end of His being sent, and consequently of his whole work, was to glorify the Son; just as the end and work of the Son was to glorify the Father. And the great way by which he glorifies Christ is by showing such things to us, John 16:14. Without his revealing, we can know nothing of Christ, nor of the things of Christ; for the Spirit is not sent in vain, to show us things that we can see by ourselves. And what is more shown of Christ, than his blood and its efficacy for purging our sins? We can therefore never discern it spiritually, and in a due manner, except by the Spirit. 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. There may be something like it in the workings of an awakened natural conscience, with some beams of outward gospel light falling on it; but there is nothing of the work of the Spirit in it. Therefore, secondly, we must endeavor after this if we intend to be cleansed by the blood of Christ.

[3.] The Spirit is the one who works faith in us, by which we actually gain an interest in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ. By faith we receive Christ himself, and by faith we receive all the benefits of his mediation — that is, as they are tendered to us in the promises of God. Christ 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 it is not freed from the shame of it without a particular appeal to the blood of Christ. The conscience comes by faith to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, just as the sick man came to the pool of healing waters and waited for a season to be cleansed in it.John 5:2-9 So David, upon the defilement he contracted by his great sins, addresses himself to God with this prayer, "Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean: wash me, and I will be whiter than snow," Psalms 51:7. He alludes to the purging of leprous persons, the ordinance of which is instituted in Leviticus 14:2-7; or to that more general institution for the purification of all legal uncleanness by the water of separation, made from the ashes of the red heifer, Numbers 19:4-6. This is what our apostle referred to in Hebrews 9:13-14; for both these purifications were made by the sprinkling of blood or water with hyssop. It is plain, I say, that he alludes to these institutions; but it is just as plain that they are not the things themselves which he intends. For there was nothing in the law to purge by hyssop, those persons who were guilty of such sins as David lay under. Therefore he professes at the close of the psalm, that "sacrifice and burnt-offering God would not accept" in his case, Psalms 51:16. It was therefore what was signified by those institutions which he appealed to — he really appealed 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 13:39; and likewise be purified. In like manner, all believers make an actual appeal to the blood of Christ for purging away their sins; until this is done, they have a "conscience of sins," — that is, a conscience condemning them for sin, and filling them with shame and fear, Heb 10.1-3.890 And this actual appeal by faith to the blood of Christ for cleansing, the mystery of which is scorned by many as a fanatical and unintelligible thing, 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 to me," he says, "and be saved," Isaiah 45:22. This respects the whole work of our salvation, and all the means of it. Our way of coming into our interest in this is by looking to him — namely, as he is proposed to us in the promise of the gospel: for just as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, so Christ was lifted up in his sacrifice on the cross, John 3:14; and so he is represented to us in the gospel, Gal 3.1.891 And the means by which they were healed in the wilderness was by looking to the serpent that was lifted up.

It is in this, then, that faith first acts: by a spiritual view and due consideration of the blood of Christ, as proposed to us in the gospel, for the only means of our purification. The more we abide in this contemplation, the more effectual our success will be in our appeal to it.

2dly. Faith actually relies on his blood for the real effecting of that great work and end for which it is proposed to us. For God sets forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood as offered, Rom 3.25,892 so as to be our sanctification through faith in his blood as sprinkled. Establishing this special faith in our souls is what the apostle aims at in his excellent reasoning in Heb 9.13-14.893 And his conclusion to that purpose is so evident, that he encourages us, upon that, to draw near in the full assurance of faith, Hebrews 10:22.

3dly. Faith works in this by fervent prayer, just as it does in its whole address to God with respect to his promises; because God will be sought out by the house of Israel for all these things. By this means, the soul brings itself near to its own mercy. And we are directed to do this in Heb 4.15-16.894

4thly. An acquiescence in the truth and faithfulness of God for cleansing us by the blood of Christ, from which we are freed from discouraging, perplexing shame, and have boldness in the presence of God.

[4.] The Holy Ghost actually communicates the cleansing, purifying virtue of the blood of Christ to our souls and consciences, whereby we are freed from shame and have boldness towards God. For the whole work of applying to believers the benefits of Christ’s mediation, is properly his.

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 of this gives them peace and holy boldness in the presence of God, without which they can have nothing but shame and humiliation in a sense of their own pollutions.

It does not belong here, to declare how the blood of Christ was the meritorious cause of our purification as it was offered — how he thereby procured for us eternal redemption, with all that was conducive or necessary for it, and how he thereby expiated our sins. Nor will I insist on the more mysterious way of communicating cleansing virtue to us from the blood of Christ, by virtue of our union with him. What has been said may suffice to give a little insight into that influence which the blood of Christ has in this first part of our sanctification and holiness. And as for those who assert that in no way does it cleanse us from our sins except that, by believing his teachings, confirmed by his death and resurrection, we amend our lives, turning from sin to righteousness and holiness — such persons 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 15:9. The two unfailing evidences of sincere faith are that it purifies the heart within, and it works by love without. These are the touchstones on which faith may (indeed, ought) to be tested. We "purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit," 1 Peter 1:22; that is, by believing, which is our original obedience to the truth. And hereby our souls are purified. "Unbelievers" and "unclean" are the same, Titus 1:15; for they have nothing in them by which they might be instrumentally cleansed. And we are purified by faith; because —

1. Faith itself is the principal grace by which our nature is restored to the image of God, and thus freed from our original defilement, Colossians 3:10; 1John 3.3.895

2. It is by faith on our part by which we receive the purifying virtue and influences of the blood of Christ; we have discussed this before. Faith is the grace by which we constantly adhere and cling to Christ, Deuteronomy 4:4; Joshua 23:8; Acts 11.23.896 If the woman who touched his garment in faith obtained virtue from him to heal her issue of blood,Matthew 9:20 f then will not those who cling to him continually derive virtue from him for healing their spiritual defilements?

3. It is principally the working of faith, by which those defiling lusts and corruptions are mortified, subdued, and gradually worked out of our minds. All actual defilements spring from the remainders of defiling lusts, and their depraved workings in us, Hebrews 12:15 and Jas 1.14.897 Faith works to correct and subdue them, (1) by deriving supplies of the Spirit and grace to that end, from Jesus Christ, as being the means of our abiding in them, and on which alone those supplies depend, John 15.3-5;898 and also (2) by the acting of all other graces which are contrary to the polluting lusts of the flesh, and destructive of them. How faith works in this way is commonly declared, and so we must not enlarge on these things too far.

4. Faith takes in all the motives which are proposed to us, to stir us up to our utmost endeavors and diligence in the use of all means and ways for preventing the defilements of sin, and for cleansing our minds and consciences from the relics of dead works. And these motives, which are great and many, may be reduced to two heads:

(1.) A participation in the excellent promises of God at the present. The consideration of this brings a singular enforcement on the souls of believers to endeavor after universal purity and holiness, 2 Corinthians 7:1. And, (2.) The future enjoyment of God in glory, to which we cannot attain without being purified from sin, 1 John 3:2-3.

Now, these motives, which are the springs of our duty in this matter, are received and made efficacious by faith alone.

IV. Purging from sin is likewise ascribed in the Scripture to afflictions of all sorts. Hence they are called God’s "furnace," and his "refining pot," Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 48:10; Proverbs 17:3. By afflictions he takes away the dross and filth of the vessels of his house. They are also called "fire" that tries the ways and works of men, consuming their hay and stubble, and purifying their gold and silver, 1 Corinthians 3:12-13. And they do this through an efficacy to these ends communicated to them in the design and by the Spirit of God. For, by and in the cross of Christ, men were cut off from the curse of the first covenant to which all evil and trouble belonged, and they were implanted into the covenant of grace. The tree of the cross being cast into the waters of affliction, it has rendered them wholesome and medicinal.899 The Lord Christ being the head of the covenant, all the afflictions and persecutions that befall his members are originally his, Isaiah 63:9, Acts 9:5, Col 1.24.900 In the same way, they all tend to work us toward conformity to him in purity and holiness. And they work towards this blessed end of purifying the soul in several ways; for —

1. They have in them some token of God’s displeasure against sin. Those who are exercised by afflictions, by considering them, are led to a fresh view of the vileness of sin. For although afflictions are an effect of love, yet it is of love mixed with care to obviate and prevent spiritual diseases. Whatever else they are, afflictions are always chastisements; and correction is in regard to faults. It is our safest course in every affliction, to lodge the adequate cause of it in our own deserving, as the woman did in 1Kng 17.18;901 and as God directs in Psalms 89:30-32, and Lam. 3.33.902 And this is one difference between his chastisements and those of our fleshly fathers: he does not do it "for his pleasure," Hebrews 12:9-10. Now a view of sin under suffering makes men loathe and abhor themselves for it, and ashamed of it. This is the first step towards purifying ourselves by any ways appointed for it. Self-pleasing is sin in the highest degree of our pollution; when we loathe ourselves for it, at least we are put on the way to seeking a remedy.

2. Afflictions take away the beauty, allurements, and comforts of all created good things which solicit the affections to commit folly and lewdness with them — to embrace and cling to them inordinately — from which many defilements ensue, Gal 6.14.903 God designs afflictions for this: to give relief from all the flowerings of this world in the minds of men, by revealing their emptiness, vanity, and insufficiency. This intercepts the disorderly intercourse which is apt to exist between them and our affections, by which our minds are polluted.

Pollution attends the least inordinate actings of our mind and affections towards objects that are either sinful in their own nature, or which may be rendered sinful by an excess in us towards them — for we are under the command to love the Lord our God with all our minds, souls, and strength, and to do that always.

3. Afflictions take away the edge and put a deadness on those affections by which the corrupt lusts of the mind and flesh act, which are the spring and cause of all our defilements. They curb those vigorous and brisk affections which were always ready-pressed into the service of lust, and which sometimes carried the soul into the pursuit of sin with madness and fury, like the horse into battle. There are no longer such prepared channels for the rot of concupiscence to empty itself into the conduct, nor such vehicles for the spirits of corrupted lusts and inclinations. I say, by afflictions, God brings upon the desires and affections of the soul, a kind of death to the world and its pleasures, which renders them unserviceable to the remainder of defiling lusts and corruptions. In some, this indeed endures only for a season — as when in sickness, wants, fears, distresses, losses, or sorrows, there may be a great appearance of mortification; yet, upon the least outward relief from these afflictions, the strength of sin and the vigor of carnal affections speedily revive. But with believers it is not so; rather, by all their chastisements they are really more and more delivered from the pollution of sin, and made partakers of God’s holiness.904

4. By afflictions, God excites, stirs up, and draws forth all the graces of the Spirit into a constant, diligent, and vigorous exercise; and in this, the work of cleansing the soul from the pollution of sin is carried on. A time of affliction is the special season for the particular exercise of all grace; for the soul can then in no other way support or relieve itself. For it is cut short or removed from other comforts and reliefs; every sweet thing is made bitter to it. It must therefore live not only by faith, and love, and delight in God, but in some sense upon them; for if support and comfort are not obtained in their exercise, then we can have none. Therefore, the afflicted soul finds it necessary to constantly abound in the exercise of grace, so that it may in any measure be able to support itself under its troubles or sufferings. Again, there is no other way by which a man may have a sanctified use of afflictions, or a good result from them, than by the assiduous exercise of grace. God calls for this; he designs it; and without it, afflictions have no other end than to make men miserable. They will either have no deliverance from them, or it will be such a deliverance that it will tend to their further misery and ruin. And so we have taken a view of the first part of our sanctification and holiness. I have more largely insisted on it, because the consideration of it is utterly neglected by those who frame for us a holiness that consists only in the practice of moral virtue. And it may be that what has been delivered will be looked at as fanatical and enthusiastic; yet there is no reason why this should be so, except that it is taken from Scripture. Nor does Scripture insist on any consideration of sin and sanctification so much as it does the pollution of the one, and its purifying by the other. For those to whom the words of the Holy Ghost are displeasing, we cannot give any satisfaction in these things. Yet I could easily demonstrate that they were well known to the ancient writers of the church; and as for the substance of them, they 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 review these things without some reflections upon ourselves, and some consideration of our concern in them. And from these, we may first view our own state and condition by nature. It is useful for all of us to look back into it; but it is necessary for those who are still under it, to be fully acquainted with their state and condition. In this state, we are wholly defiled, polluted, and in 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. Those who were legally unclean were separated from the congregation, and from all the pledges of God’s gracious presence, Num 5.2.905 It is virtually so with all those who are spiritually defiled under their natural and universal pollution: they are abhorred by God and separated from him, which the physical separation signified. The reason why so many laws, with such great severity and exactness, were given about cleansing a leprous person, and the judgement to be made on it, was only to declare the certainty of the judgement of God that no unclean person should approach him. Thus it is with all men by nature; whatever they do of themselves to be free of it, only hides and does not cleanse it. Adam cured neither his nakedness nor the shame of it by his fig-leaves. Some have no other covering for their natural filth than outward ornaments of the flesh, which increase it and indeed, proclaim it rather than hide it. The greatest filth in the world is covered with the greatest bravery. See Isa 3.16-24.906 Whatever we do of ourselves in response to our convictions, is a covering and not a cleansing. If we die in this condition — unwashed, uncleansed, unpurified — then it is utterly impossible for us to ever be admitted into the blessed presence of the holy God, Rev 21.27.907 Let no man deceive you then with vain words. It is not doing a few good works, it is not an outward profession of religion, that gives you access to God with boldness and joy. Shame will cover you when it is too late.

Unless you are washed from the pollutions of your nature, by the Spirit of God and in the blood of Christ, you will not inherit the kingdom of God, 1Cor 6.9-11.908 Indeed, you will be a horrid spectacle to saints and angels — yes, to yourselves, and to one another — when the shame of your nakedness is made to appear, Isa 66.24.909 Therefore, if you would not perish, and do so eternally; if you would not then perish as base, defiled creatures, abhorrent to all flesh, when your pride, your wealth, your beauty, your ornaments, and your duties will stand you in no stead — look in time for that only way of purifying and cleansing your souls which God has ordained. But if you love your defilements; if you are proud of your pollutions; if you satisfy yourselves with your outward ornaments — whether they are moral, of gifts, duties, profession, and conduct; or natural, of body, wealth, apparel, gold, and silver — there is no remedy. You must perish forever, being considered the basest and vilest part of the creation.

Seeing that this is the condition of all by nature, if anyone would now inquire and ask what they must do, what course they can take, to be cleansed according to the will of God, then in answer, I will endeavor to direct defiled sinners, by various steps and degrees, in the way to the cleansing fountain. There is a "fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness," Zechariah 13:1. But it happens with many, as the wise man says, that "The labor of the foolish wearies every one of them, because they do not know how to go to the city," Ecclesiastes 10:15. Men weary themselves and pine away under their pollutions, because they cannot find the way; they do not know how to go to the cleansing fountain. I will, therefore, direct them from first to last, according to the best skill I have:

1. Labor to be acquainted with sin’s pollution, to know it in its nature and effects. Although the Scripture so abounds in the assertion and declaration of it, as we have shown, and believers find a sense of it in their experience, yet men ordinarily take little notice of it. They are somewhat affected with the guilt of sin, but little or not at all with its filth. So that they can escape the righteousness of God, which they have provoked, they do not regard their incompatibility with his holiness, by which they are polluted. How few, indeed, inquire into the depravity of their natures, the vileness which has come upon them by the loss of the image of God, or concern themselves much in this! How few rightly consider that fomes 910 and filthy spring which continually bubbles up crooked, perverse, defiled imaginations in their hearts, and influences their affections toward the lewdness of depraved concupiscence! Who meditates on 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?

What appearances, what outsides of things, most men are satisfied with! 911 Indeed, how they please themselves in the shade of their own darkness and ignorance of these things, when their unacquaintedness with this pollution of sin is unavoidably ruinous to their souls! See the danger of it portrayed in Revelation 3:16-18! 912 Those who would be cleansed from it, must first know it. Even though we cannot rightly do so without some convincing light of the Spirit of God, yet there are duties required of us to obtain this light; such as —

(1.) To search the Scripture, and to seriously consider what it declares concerning the condition of our nature after the loss of the image of God. Does it not declare that our nature is shamefully naked, destitute of all beauty and attractiveness, wholly polluted and defiled? And what is said about that nature which is common to all, is also said about every one who partakes of it. Every one has "gone aside," every one has become "altogether filthy," or stinking, Psalms 53:3. This is the mirror in which every man ought to contemplate himself, and not in foolish, flattering reflections from his own proud imaginations. The one who will not learn from this, what his natural deformity is, will live polluted, and die accursed.

(2.) The one who has received the testimony of Scripture concerning his corrupted and polluted estate, if he will take the pains to test and examine himself by the reasons and causes that are assigned for it, he will have a further view of it. When men read, hear, or are instructed in what the Scripture teaches concerning the defilement of sin, and give some assent to what is said, but without examining their own state in particular, or bringing their own souls to that standard and measure, they will have very little advantage by it. Multitudes learn that they are polluted by nature, which they cannot doubt; yet they refuse to find any such thing in themselves. But when men bring their own souls to the mirror of the perfect law, and consider how it is with them in respect to that image of God in which they were first created, what manner of persons they ought to be with respect to the holiness of God, and what they actually are — how vain are their imaginations, how disorderly their affections, and how perverse all the actings of their minds. They will be ready to say with the leprous man, "Unclean, unclean!" There are but few who will take the pains to search their own wounds, because it is a matter of discomfort and trouble to their corrupt and carnal affections. Yet,

(3.) Prayer for light and direction in this, is required of all men 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. Some neglect doing it from spiritual sloth, and other deceitful imaginations. But the one who would ever be purged from his sins, must be bold, and dare to be wise in this, and in the use of the means prescribed before. 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 for the depravity and defilement in his nature. Without this, he will never make any great or useful discoveries. And yet, discerning this is the first evidence that a man has 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 2.14-15.913 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 about it. But the principal reason for their complaints was because it would not completely serve the end of their ambition. And so they knew nothing at all of the causes and nature of it with respect to God and our eternal condition. Nor is it discerned except by a supernatural light, proceeding immediately from the Spirit of God. If any men, therefore, have a heart or wisdom to know their own pollution by sin — without which they know nothing of themselves for 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 endeavor to be affected by it suitably enough to discover what they have made of it. And just 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 has read the Scriptures can be ignorant of how frequently God calls on men to be ashamed and confounded for the pollutions and uncleannesses of their sin. So it is expressed in answer to what God requires: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head," Ezra 9:6. And by another prophet: "We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God," Jeremiah 3:25. And there are many other such expressions of this affecting of the mind with respect to the pollution of sin. But we must observe that there is a twofold shame with respect to it:

(1.) The shame which is legal, or the product of a mere legal conviction of sin. Such was that shame in Adam immediately after his fall; and such is that shame which God so frequently calls open and profligate sinners to — a shame accompanied by dread and terror, and from which the sinner has no relief, unless it is 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 even though pardon and purification of sin give relief against all terrifying, discouraging effects of shame, it increases those effects which tend to genuine self-abasement and abhorrence.

453 And God still requires this to abide in us, as tending to advance his grace in our hearts. This is fully expressed by the prophet Ezekiel, chap. 16.60-63,

"I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed. And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the Lord: that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame — when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God."

There is a shame and humiliation for sin that is a consequent, indeed an effect of God’s renewing his covenant (having been pacified), and thereby giving the full pardon of sin. The apostle asks the Romans what fruit they had in those things of which they were now ashamed, Romans 6:21. Now, after the pardon of their sins, they were still ashamed in consideration of the filth and vileness of them. But what I intend here is shame in the first sense, its legal sense, antecedent to the first purification of our natures. This shame may be thought to be in all men, but it is plainly otherwise; men are not at all ashamed of their sins, and they manifest this in various degrees:

(1.) Many are senseless and stupid. No instruction, nothing that happens to them, will fix any real shame upon them. They may be ashamed of some particular facts, but for anything in their natures, they slight and despise it. If they can just preserve themselves from the known guilt of those sins which are punishable among men, then as to all other things, they are secure. This is the condition of most men living in sin in this world. They have no inward shame for anything between God and their souls, especially not for the depravity and defilement of their natures, no matter how often they hear the doctrine of it. They are concerned with what may outwardly happen to them that is shameful; but they have no concern for any internal pollutions between God and their souls.

(2.) Some have such a boldness and confidence in their condition, that it is well and pure enough: "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, yet are they not washed from their filthiness," Proverbs 30:12. 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 they are in no way "washed from their filthiness;" yet they please themselves that their condition is "pure in their own eyes;" and they do not have the least sense of any defilements. Such a generation were the Pharisees of old, who esteemed themselves to be as clean as their hands and cups that they continually washed, though within they were filled with all manner of defilements, Isaiah 65:4-5. And this generation is one that indeed despises all that is said about the pollution of sin and its purification, and derides it as enthusiastic, or an excessive metaphor not to be understood.

(3.) Others proceed further, and are so far from being shamed for what they are, or what they do, that they openly boast of it and glory in the most shameful sins that human nature can contract the guilt of. "They proclaim their sins," says 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 humiliate them here, will hereafter fill them with humiliation, Jeremiah 6:15; Jeremiah 8:12. Once sin gets this confidence in which it completes a conquest over the law, over the inbred light of nature, over the convictions of the Spirit, and in a sense, God himself, it is ripe for judgment. And yet there is a higher degree of shamelessness in sin; for —

(4.) Some do not content themselves with boasting in their own sins, but they also approve and delight in all those who surrender themselves to the same outrage in sinning as they do. The apostle describes this as the highest degree of shameless sinning: Romans 1:32, "Who knowing the judgment of God, that those who commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but approve of those who do them." When openly profligate sinners make societies for themselves, as it were, encouraging and approving of one another in their abominable courses, so that no company pleases them except those who have reached an impudence in sinning, then the greatest defiance is given to the holiness and righteousness of God.

Now, persons such as these will never seek after cleansing; for why should they, if they have no sense of spiritual pollution, nor the least touch of shame with respect to it? It is necessary, therefore, to the duty of purifying our souls, that we be affected with shame for the spiritual defilements which our nature is rolled in, under the loss of the image of God. And where this is not present, it will only be lost labor that is spent in inviting men to the cleansing fountain.

3. Let persons so affected, be fully satisfied that they can never cleanse or purify themselves by any endeavors that are merely their own, nor by any means of their own finding out. Men’s endeavors after purification have and always will be according to their convictions of the defilements of sin, Hos 5.13.914 Indeed, it is the duty of believers to purify themselves more and more in the exercise of all purifying graces, and in the use of all means appointed by God for that purpose, 2Cor 7.1;915 and their neglect of this duty is the highest disadvantage, Psa 38.5.916 But concerning men in the state of nature, whom we now treat, are in no way able to cleanse their natures or purge themselves. Only the one who can restore, repair, and renew their natures to the likeness of God, can cleanse them. But here many fall into mistakes. Because of their convictions, when men can no longer satisfy and please themselves in the pollution of sin, they set about, by vain attempts of their own, to "purify their souls," Hosea 5:13; Jeremiah 2:22; Job 9.30-31.917 They think that their own sorrow and repentance, and their tears of contrition, and that sorry amendment of life that they attain to, will do this work for them. But every special defiling act, and every renewed sense of it, requires a special act of duty to cleanse it! Though these things are good in themselves, more wisdom is required to rightly state their causes, respects, ends, and use than they are furnished with. Thus they are frequently abused and turned into an effectual means not only to keep men away from Christ, but also away from a due and acceptable performance of the very duties that are pretended to. For trusting to legal sorrow or repentance, or mere legal convictions, will infallibly keep the soul from reaching that evangelical repentance which alone God accepts. And resting in a mere reformation of life proves opposite to endeavors to renovate our natures. However these duties are performed, in whatever manner you please, they are utterly insufficient of themselves to cleanse our natural defilements. Nor until they are fully convinced of this, will anyone duly seek that which alone is effectual to this purpose. Therefore, let sinners hear and know (whether they believe it or not) that just as they are wholly defiled and polluted by nature with those abominations of sin which render them loathsome in the sight of God, so too they have no power by any endeavors or duties of their own, to cleanse themselves. Instead, by all they do to this end, they only further plunge themselves into the ditch, and increase their own defilements. And yet, all those duties are necessary, in their proper place and to their proper end.

4. It is, therefore, their duty to acquaint themselves with the only remedy in this case, the only means of cleansing, which God has 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 to the way of their cleansing. Just as this argues for His infinite love and care, so it argues for the great importance of the matter itself. One principal means which from the beginning Satan made use of to keep men in their apostasy from God, and to encourage them in this, was by supplying them with countless ways of purification, suited to the imaginations of their dark, unbelieving, and superstitious minds. In like manner, when Satan designed under the Papacy to draw men away from Christ and from the gospel, he did it principally by suggesting those present and future purgatories of sin that might comply with their lusts and ignorance. It is therefore of great importance, that we be acquainted with the only true and real way and means of this cleansing! And there are two considerations suited to excite the diligence of sinners in this inquiry: (1.) The weight that is laid on this matter by God himself. And (2.) The difficulty of obtaining an acquaintance with it. —

(1.) The weight, as can be observed in:

[1.] The legal institutions of old; anyone considering it will see the weight that God lays on this. No sacrifice had any respect to sin that there was not something specific in it for its cleansing; there were various ceremonious ordinances which had no other end than to purify from uncleannesses.

[2.] The promises of the Old Testament; among all those concerning the establishment of the new covenant and its grace (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; this further manifests the care that God has taken for our instruction in this.

[3.] The necessity of our purification; there is nothing more pressed upon us, nothing more frequently proposed to us in the gospel, than this and the only way to effect it.

Therefore, if instructions, promises, or precepts, or all of these concurring, may evidence the importance of a duty, then this is manifested: to partake in this duty. Those who prefer the guidance of carnal reason and vain tradition, above these heavenly directions, will 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 it is such a part, that those who esteem the wisdom of the world or carnal reason, esteem it "foolishness." It is not easily admitted or received, that we cannot be cleansed from our sins in any other way than by the sprinkling of that blood which was shed so long ago. Yet this, and no other way, is what the Scripture proposes to us. To fancy that there is any cleansing from sin except by the blood of Christ, is to overthrow the gospel. Persons are therefore obliged to inquire after this doctrine and come to the knowledge of it. They are to be satisfied with its truth, that this is the only way of cleansing sin, and that it is appointed and blessed by God himself — so that their minds may be exercised about it, and not rest on those vain medicines and remedies which (having nothing else to fix upon) their own hearts and others’ blind devotions would suggest to them.

5. But now the great inquiry is, How may a sinful, defiled soul come to have an interest in, or partake 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 to our souls and consciences), are proposed and exhibited to us in the promises of the covenant, 2Pet 1.4.918 All the instances produced before (which do not need to be recited), testify to this.

Ans. 2. The only way to be made a partaker of the good things presented in the promises, is by faith. So Abraham is said to have "received the promises" by faith, Hebrews 11:17; and we also, and even to receive Christ himself. Now, this is not from the promises being proposed to us, but from our believing what is proposed, as it is said of Abraham, Rom 4.19-21, 10.6-9.919 The whole use, benefit, and advantage of the promises absolutely depend on our mixing them with faith; as the apostle declares in Heb 4.2.920 Where they are "mixed with faith," they profit us — we really receive the thing promised. Where they are not mixed with faith, they are of no use, except to aggravate our sins and unbelief.

I know that the whole nature and work of faith is derided by some men; they say, "It is nothing but a strong fixing of the imagination upon what is said." However, we know that if a man promises us anything seriously and solemnly which is absolutely in his power to give, then we trust his word, or believe him, considering his wisdom, honesty, and ability. We know this is not merely fixing our imagination on it, but it is a real and useful confidence or trust. And because God has given us great and precious promises, and done that under several confirmations — especially that of his oath and covenant — if we really believe their accomplishment, and that it will be to us according to his word (on account of his veracity, divine power, righteousness, and holiness), then why would this be esteemed "a fanatical fixing of the imagination?" If it is so, then it was so in Abraham, our example, Romans 4:19-21. But this blasphemous figment, designed to overthrow the way of life and salvation by Jesus Christ, will be more fully examined elsewhere. God, as it was said, gives us great and precious promises, so that by them we might be made partakers of the divine nature. He requires us to receive these promises, and to mix them with faith — that is, to so trust and rest on his divine power and veracity (thereby ascribing the glory of these to him), as to believe that the things promised to us will be accomplished. By God’s appointment, this is the means by which we will really be 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 was ever in the world from its foundation. Therefore,

Ans. 3. This is the only way and means to obtain an interest in the cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ. God has given this power and efficacy to his blood, by the covenant. It is proposed and tendered to us in the promise of the gospel. Faith in that promise is what alone gives us an interest in it, makes us partakers of it, and renders it actually effectual to us, by which we are really cleansed from sin.

Ans. 4. There are two things which concur for the efficacy of faith to this purpose:

(1.) The excellence of the grace or duty itself. Despise the ignorance of those who tell you this is only a deceitful fixing of the imagination, for they do not know what they are saying. When men come to the real practice of this duty, they will find out what it is to discard all other ways and pretenses of cleansing; what it is to sincerely and really give to God the glory of his power, faithfulness, goodness, and grace, against all difficulties and oppositions; what it is to approve of the wisdom and love of God in discovering 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 of these things belong to the faith mentioned, nor can it be moved in a due manner without them. When you understand these things, you will not think it so strange that God should appoint this way of believing as the only means to interest us in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ.

(2.) Hereby, as has been shown, we are united to Christ, from whom alone is our cleansing. Anyone who declares another way, must make another gospel.

6. Faith, in this case, will act itself in and by fervent prayer. When David had brought himself by sin into that condition in which he stood in need of a new and universal purification, how earnest he was in his supplications that God would again "purge and cleanse him!" Psalms 51:2. 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 he is in this. And in this, and by this, Christ communicates the purging efficacy of his blood to us.

These things may in some measure suffice to direct and guide those who are still 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 to anyone; but these are the heads of those things which, in one degree or other, are worked in the souls of those whom Christ will and does cleanse from their sins.

Secondly, instruction may also be taken from this for those about whom our apostle says, "Such were some of you; but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; — they are freed from the general pollution of nature "by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Titus 3:5; —they 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 to this; such as,

1. Continual self-abasement in the remembrance of that woeful defiled state and condition from which they have been delivered. This consideration is one of those which principally influences the minds of believers to humility, and hides921 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 outdo others in pride and elation of mind, as they lag behind them in the advantages of birth and education. But this is considered a vile thing among men, even though it is only one potsherd of the earth boasting against another. Yet when believers consider what their vile and polluted state was with respect to God when he first regarded them, it will cause them to walk humbly in a deep sense of it, or I am sure it ought to do so.

God calls his people to self-abasement, not only from what they are, but from what they were, and from where they came. So he ordained this confession by the one who 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. It is of sovereign mercy that I am now in this state and condition of plenty and peace!" Deuteronomy 26:5. And in particular, God wonderfully binds on his people the sense of that defiled natural extraction of which we speak, Eze 16.3-5.922 When David, upon his great sin and his repentance, took all humbling and self-abasing considerations into account, he fixes on the head of them here: Psalms 51:5, "Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin my mother conceived me." His origin in natural defilement was what first influenced him to self-abasement. So too, our apostle frequently calls the saints to remember their former condition before they were purged, Ephesians 2:11-13; 1Cor 6.9-11;923 the minds of all true believers are greatly affected and greatly humbled by this. When they consider what their natural state and condition was — universally leprous and polluted — and what remainders of it still abide in them, it throws them to the ground, and causes them to put their mouths in the dust. From this 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 must deal, and to whom they approach, they are in no way able to express what low thoughts and apprehensions they have of themselves.

Even God himself teaches them to use figurative expressions by which to declare their own vileness by nature; these abound in the Scripture. It is true, all declarations of this in prayer and confession of sin are derided and scorned by some who seem to understand nothing of these things, indeed, to boast that they do not. Whatever is said to express, as they are able, the deep sense any believers have of their natural defilement with its remainder in them, their shame and self-abasement with respect to the holiness of God, is reputed either to be false and hypocritical, or to contain things for which men ought to be hanged. We have lived to see and hear of such prodigious impudence in proclaiming a senselessness of the holiness of God and of the vileness of sin! But when we have to deal with God, who puts no trust in his servants, and charges his angels with folly, what will we say? What lowliness becomes those "who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, and who are crushed before the moth!" Job 4:19

2. That initial deliverance which believers have from their original pollution of sin, is a matter and cause for everlasting thankfulness. When our Lord Jesus Christ cleansed the ten lepers, he manifests how much it was their duty to return to him with their thankful acknowledgement, though nine of them failed in this, Luke 17:17. And when of old, anyone was cleansed from carnal defilement, there was an offering enjoined to testify of his gratitude. And indeed, the consideration of this is what, in an eminent way, influences the minds of believers in all their grateful ascriptions of glory, honor, and praise to Jesus Christ. "To him," they say, "that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever," Revelation 1:5-6. 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 to do so. If we had not been washed in the blood of Christ, we would have lived and died in our pollutions, and lain under them to eternity; for the fire of hell will never purge the defilements of sin, and much less will the fictitious fire of purgatory cleanse any from them. How then we ought to prize, value, and admire both the virtue or efficacy of the blood of Christ, and the love from which it was given for us and applied to us! And because this valuation and admiration are acts of faith, the very work itself, and also of cleansing our souls, is carried on by them. For it is by the exercise of faith that we continually derive virtue from Christ to this purpose, as the woman did by touching his garment to stop 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 to the duty of thankfulness; for God is glorified when we are graciously sensible of the effects of his love and kindness towards us. Every grace then glorifies God and expresses 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 freed thereby 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 with the holiness of God, and consequently a universal defilement, but that, from its depravity and disorder, pollution attends every actual sin — whether internal of the heart and mind only, or external in the sin perpetrated. And that pollution is averse to holiness, and contrary to carrying on the work of sanctification in us. Believers (whose concern alone this is) may learn various things from this; such as —

1. How they ought to watch against sin and all its motions, however secret. All of them defile the conscience. It is evidence of a gracious soul, to be watchful against sin on this account. Convictions make men wary where these are prevalent, by continual representations of the danger and punishment of sin. And these are an acceptable motive to believers to abstain from it in all known instances. The consideration of the terror of the Lord, the use of the threatenings both of the law and of the gospel, declare this to be our duty. Nor let anyone say that this is servile fear. That designation is taken from the frame of our minds, and not from the object that is feared. When men so fear as to be discouraged by it, and inclined to relinquish God, duty, and hope, that fear is servile, whatever its object may be. And that fear which keeps us from sin, and excites the soul to cling more firmly to God, whatever its object may be, is not servile fear, but a holy fear, or a due reverence for God and his word. This is the most genuinely gracious fear of sin: when we dread its defilement, and its contrariety to the holiness of God. This dread is a natural fruit of faith and love. This consideration should always greatly possess our minds — and the truth is, if it does not, there is no assured preservative against sin. For an apprehension of the pollution with which sin is accompanied, together with thoughts of the holiness of God, and of the care and concern of the sanctifying Spirit, and of the blood of Christ, continually abiding in our minds — all efficaciously preserve us against sin. I think that for believers, there is no more forceful argument in the whole book of God for watchfulness against all sin, than the our apostle manages in 1Cor 3.16-17, 6.15-19.924 This argument is made with special respect to one kind of sin, but it may be proportionally extended to all. Moreover, where this apprehension is not found, where the soul has no regard for the defilement of sin, but only considers how it may shift the guilt of it, countless things will interpose themselves. These partly arise from the abuse of grace, partly from carnal hopes and foolish resolutions for after-times, in order to set the soul at liberty from that watchful diligence in universal obedience which is required of us. The truth is, I do not believe that anyone who is awed only with respect to the guilt of sin and its consequents, keeps up a firm integrity with regard to the 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, the soul is always kept on its best guard and defense.

2. How we ought to walk humbly before the Lord all our days. Notwithstanding our utmost watchfulness and diligence against sin, there is still "no man who lives and does not sin." 1Kng 8.46 Those who pretend to perfection here, manifest that they are utterly ignorant of God and of themselves, and despise the blood of Christ. And so, for the most part, they visibly and in the sight of men, confute their own pride and folly in such a pretension. To what purpose is it to hide ourselves from ourselves, when we have to deal with God? God knows, and our own souls know, that we are more or less 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.Isaiah 64:6 Of himself, man — every man — "drinks in iniquity like water." Job 15:16 Our own clothes are ready to defile us every day.Leviticus 11:32 Who can express the motions of lusts that are in the flesh: the irregular actings of affections in their inordinate responses 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;Genesis 6:5 with the vanity of our words, indeed, with a great mixture of corrupt communications?All of these are defiling, and they have defilements attending them. I confess, I do not know that my heart and soul abhor any eruption of the diabolical pride of men, like that by which men reproach and scoff at the deepest humiliations and self-abasements which poor sinners can attain to in their prayers, confessions, and supplications. Alas! that our nature should be capable of such contempt for the holiness of God, such ignorance of the infinite distance there is between Him and us — and be so senseless of our own vileness, the abominable filth and pollution that is in every sin — as not to tremble at despising 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," Habakkuk 2:4.

3. How we ought to continually endeavor after the wasting of sin in the root and principle of it.925 There is a root of sin in us, which springs up and defiles us. "Every man is tempted" (that is, chiefly and principally) "by his own lust, and seduced;" and then "when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin." James 1:14-15 It is "the flesh that lusts against the Spirit," Galatians 5:17 and which brings forth corrupted and corrupting, polluted and polluting fruits. This principle of sin — of aversion to God, of inclination to sensual and present things — however wounded, weakened, dethroned, and impaired it may be, it still abides in all believers. And it is the foundation, the spring, the root, the next cause of all sin in us, which tempts, entices, draws aside, conceives, and produces sin.926 And in all of us, this root has more or less strength, power, and activity, as it is more or less mortified by grace, and by the application of the virtue of the death of Christ to our souls. And according to its strength and power, so it abounds in bringing forth the defiled acts of sin. While this root retains any considerable power in us, it serves no purpose to merely watch against the eruptions of actual sins in the frames of our hearts, in the thoughts of our minds, or in our outward actions. If we would preserve ourselves from multiplying our defilements, if we would continually perfect the work of holiness in the fear of the Lord,2 Corinthians 7:1 it is this root that we must set ourselves against. The tree must be made good if we expect good fruit; and the evil root must be dug up, or else evil fruit will be produced; — that is, our main design should be to crucify and destroy the body of the sins of the flesh in us,927 the remainders of the flesh or indwelling sin, by those ways and means which will be declared afterward.

4. Hence, what is also made manifest is the necessity for continual applications to Jesus Christ for cleansing virtue from his Spirit, and the sprinkling of his blood on our consciences, in its efficacy to purge them from dead works. We defile ourselves every day; and if we do not go every day to the "fountain that is open for sin and for uncleanness," Zechariah 13:1 we will quickly become leprous all over. Our consciences will be filled with dead works, such that we will in no way be able to serve the living God unless these are purged out daily. How this is done has been declared at large before. When a soul, filled with self-abasement under a sense of its own defilements, applies to Christ by faith for cleansing, and it does so constantly and continually with a fervency matching its sense and convictions, then it is in its proper course and way. I am persuaded that no true believer in the world is a stranger to this duty; and the more anyone abounds in this, the more genuine his faith is evidenced to be, and the humbler his walk will be before the Lord. But after all that we have discussed on this subject concerning the defilement of sin, it may justly be inquired,

If this is so, how can believers be united to Jesus Christ, or be members of that mystical body of which he is the head, or obtain fellowship with him? Because he is absolutely pure, holy, and perfect, how can he have union or communion with those who are defiled in anything? There is no fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness, and no communion between light and darkness;2 Corinthians 6:14 so what can there be between Christ and those who are defiled with sin? And because he is "holy, harmless, and undefiled," he is said to be "separate from sinners." Hebrews 7:26

Many things must be replied to this objection, all concurring to take away the seeming difficulty in it; such as —

1. It must be granted that where men are wholly under the power of their original defilement, they neither have, nor can they have, union or communion with Christ. With respect to such persons, the rules mentioned before are universally true and certain. There is no more communion between them and Jesus Christ than there is between light and darkness, as the apostle expressly says in 1 John 1:6. Whatever profession they may make of his name, whatever expectations they may unduly raise from him in their own minds, he will say to them at the last day, "Depart from me, I never knew you." Therefore, no person whatsoever, who has not been made a partaker of the washing of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy Ghost, can possibly have any union with Christ. I do not say this as though our purifying were, in order of time and nature, antecedent to our union with Christ — for indeed it is an effect of this. But it is such an effect that it immediately and inseparably accompanies our union; so that where the one is not true, the other is not. The act by which he unites us to himself, is the same act by which he cleanses our natures.

2. Whatever our defilements are or may be, Christ is not defiled by them. They adhere only to a capable subject, which Christ is not. He was capable of having the guilt of our sins imputed to him, but he was not capable of having the filth of even one sin adhere to him. A member of a body may have a putrefied sore; the head may be troubled by it and grieved with it, and yet it is not defiled by it. This is why, where there is a radical, original cleansing by the Spirit of regeneration and holiness, by which anyone is made fit for union and communion with Christ, however the Spirit may be affected by our partial pollutions, he is not defiled by them. He is able to sympathize, "compati, condolere;" he suffers with us in his compassion;Hebrews 4:15 — but he is not liable to being defiled with us or for us. The visible body of Christ may be defiled by corrupt members, Heb 12.15;928 but the mystical body cannot be, 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," Ephesians 5:25-27. This is what he aims at, and this he will perfectly accomplish, in his own way and in his own time. But it is not done all at once; it is a progressive work that has many degrees. God never sanctified any soul at once, except 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. Therefore, it is not necessary to union that we should be completely sanctified, though it is necessary that we should be truly sanctified. Complete sanctification is a necessary effect of union in its proper time and season. See John 15.1-5.929

4. Where the work of sanctification and spiritual cleansing is really begun in a believer, the whole person is considered, and he is thereby designated holy. Therefore, because Christ the head is holy, so all his members are holy according to their measure; for even though there may be defilements adhering to their actions, yet their persons are sanctified: so that no unholy person has any communion with Christ, for no member of his body is unholy — that is, no member is absolutely in such a state as to thereby be designated 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 it is pure and holy. To this and by this new creature, the Lord Christ communicates himself to our souls and consciences, and hereby we have all our intercourse with him. Other adherences that have any defilement in them, and consequently are opposite to this union, he daily works out by virtue of this union, Rom 8.10.930 The whole body of Christ and all that belongs to it is therefore holy, though those who are members of this body are in themselves oftentimes polluted, but not in anything which belongs to their union. The apostle describes the twofold nature or principle that is in believers, the new nature by grace and the old nature of sin, as a double person, Rom 7.19-20.931 It is the former, the renewed, which is the subject of the union with Christ, and not the other, which is to be destroyed. The latter, the old nature, he also calls "I", but he corrects that expression, as it were, calling it "sin which dwells in me."

6. Where the means of purification are duly used, no defilement ensues from any sin that believers fall into, which does or can totally obstruct communion with God in Christ. This is according to the tenor of the covenant.932

There were many things under the Old Testament that typically and legally defiled men who were liable to them; but for all of them, typical and legal purifications were provided which sanctified them as to purifying the flesh. Now, no man was absolutely cut off or separated from the people of God for being so defiled; but being defiled, someone who did not take care to be purified according to the law, was to be cut off from among the people. It is the same way in spiritual and evangelical things. There are many sins by which believers are defiled; but there is a way to cleanse them that is still open to them. 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 in Psalms 19:12-13, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse you me from secret sins. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them have dominion over me: then will I be upright, and I will be innocent from the great transgression." The design of the psalmist is to be preserved in such a state and condition that he may be upright before God. To be upright before God is what God requires of us in the covenant, so that we may be accepted by him and enjoy the promises of it, Gen 17.1.933 He that is upright will be far from that great transgression, or that abundance of sin, which is inconsistent with the covenant love and favor of God. Three things are required for this:

(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 with: "Cleanse me from secret sins." And —

(3.) A preservation from "presumptuous sins," or willful sins committed with a high hand. Where these things are not found, a man is upright, and he has the covenant-ground of his communion with God. While believers are preserved within these bounds, though they are defiled by sin, there is nothing in this that is 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 quickly cut off a member of his body just because it is sick or has a sore upon it. He himself has passed through his course of temptations, and he is now above the reach of them all. Does he therefore reject and despise those who are yet tempted, and who labor and suffer under their temptations? It is quite otherwise; so that on account of his own present state, his compassions exceedingly abound towards all his who are tempted. It is no different with him as to their sins and defilements.

He himself was absolutely free from these in all his temptations and sufferings, but we are not; and he is so far from casting us away on that account, while we endeavor after purification, that it draws out his compassion towards us. In brief, he does not unite us to himself because we are perfect, but so that in his own way and time, he may make us perfect; not because we are clean, but so that he may cleanse us: for it is the blood of Jesus Christ, with whom we have fellowship, that cleanses us from all our sins.

8. Lastly, to wind up this discourse, there is sufficiently evidenced from this a comprehensive difference between a spiritual life to God by evangelical holiness, and a life of moral virtue, even if it is pretended to God also. For 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 done, there neither is, nor can there be, anything of that holiness which the gospel prescribes and which we inquire after. Unless the purification and cleansing of sin belong necessarily to the holiness of the new covenant, all that God has 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, by his Spirit and the blood of Christ; by his instruments and directions to 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 — all these would be things that are fanatical, enthusiastic notions, and unintelligible dreams. Until men can acquire a confidence enabling them to admit to such horrible blasphemies, I desire to know whether these things are required for their morality. If they say they are, then they give us a new notion of morality never yet heard of in the world. And we must expect this until they have further clarified it, because there is little or no meaning in the great swelling words of vanity which have been lavished about it up to this point. But if they do not belong to this — then their life of moral virtue is removed from all consideration in a serious discussion about evangelical holiness. If only that virtue were as real in them as, with notorious vanity, it is pretended to be.

What has been said may suffice to give us some light into the nature of this first act of our sanctification by the Spirit, which consists in cleansing our souls and consciences from the pollutions of sin, both original and actual.