(2.) The word is considerable as an instrument which God maketh use of to cleanse the heart of man. It will not be amiss a little to show the instrumentality of the word to this blessed end and purpose. It is the glass that discovereth sin, and the water that washeth ■ it away. (1.) It is the glass Avherein to see our corruption. The first step to the cure is a knowledge of the disease ; it is a glass wherein to see our natural face : James i. 23, ' For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding -his natural face in a glass,' &c. In the word we see God's image and our own. It is the
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copy of God's holiness, and tlie representation of our natural faces, Piom. vii. 9. "What fond conceits have we of our own spiritual beauty ! but there we may see the leprous spots that are upon us. (2.) It sets us a- work to see it purged ; it is the water to wash it out. The word of command presseth the duty ; it is indispensably required. What doth every command sound in our ears but ' Wash you, make you clean.' ? This is indispensably required : 1 John iii. 3, ' And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure \ and Heb. xii. 14, ' Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' Some things God may dispense with, but this is never dispensed with. Many things are ornamental that are not absolutely necessary, as wealth, riches : ' Wisdom with an inheritance is good ; ' so learning. Many have gone to heaven that were never learned, but never any without holiness. (3.) The word of promise encourageth it : 2 Cor. vii. 1, ' Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthine.'-s of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God ; ' and 2 Peter i. 4, ' Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.' God might have required it upon the account of his sovereignty, we being his crea- tures, especially this being the perfection of our natures, and rather a privilege than a burden ; but God would not rule us with a rod of iron, but deal with rational creatures rationally, by promises and threatenings. On the one side he telleth us of a pit without a bottom : on the other, of blessed and glorious promises, things ' which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard of, neither have entered into the heart of man to conceive.' Therefore the word hath a notable instrumentality that way.
(3.) The doctrine of the scripture holds out the remedy and means of cleansing — Christ's blood ; which is not only an argument or motive to move us to it. So it is urged 1 Peter i. 8, ' Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable,' &c. It presseth holiness upon this argument. Why ? God hath been at great cost to bring it about, therefore we must not content ourselves with some smooth morality, which might have been whether Christ had been, j'ea or nay. Again, the word pro- pounds it as a purchase, whereby grace is procured for us ; so it is said, 1 John i. 7, He hath purchased the Spirit to bless us, and turn us from our sins. And it exciteth faith to apply and improve this remedy, and so conveyeth the power of God into the soul : Acts xv. 9, ' Purifying their hearts by faith.'
2. The manner how the word is applied and made use of, ' If he take heed thereunto according to thy word.' This implieth a studying of the word, and the tendency and importance of it, which is necessary if the young man would have benefit by it. David calleth the statutes of God the men of his counsel. Young men that are taken with other books, if they neglect the word of God — that book that should do the cure upon the heart and mind — they are, with all their knowledge, miserable : Ps. i. 2, ' His delight is in the law of the Lord ; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.' If men would grow wise to salvation, and get any skill in the practice of godliness, they must be
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much in this blessed book of God, Avliicli is given us for direction : 1 John ii. 14, ' I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong-, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.' It is not a slight acquaintance with the word that will make a young man so successful as to defeat the temptations of Satan, and be too hard for his own lust; it is not a little notional irradiation, but to have the word dwell in j-ou, and abide in you richly. The way to destroy ill weeds is to plant good herbs that are contrary. We suck in carnal principles with our milk, and therefore we are said to 'speak lies from the womb.' A kind of a riddle; before we are able to speak, we speak lies — namely, as we are prone to error and all manner of carnal fancies by the natural temper and frame of our hearts, Isa. Iviii. 2 ; and therefore, from our very tender and infant-age we should be acquainted with the word of God : 2 Tim. iii. 15, ' And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures.' It may be children, by reading the word, get nothing but a little memorative knowledge, but yet it is good to plant the field of the memory ; in time they will soak into the judgment and conscience, and thence into the heart and affections.