196 SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V, [SeR. III.
2. We profess the most holy faith ; tliis obh'geth us also, whether we look to the laws of God, which are the rule of our duty, or the promises of God, which are the charter of our hopes.
[1.] The laws of God, which measure out our duty to us : Ps. c.^i.K. 140, ' Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.' It is ])ure in itself, as being the copy of God's holiness. There is no dead fly in this box of pure ointment, nothing but what tendeth to cleanse the heart of man from all that is base and filthy ; and it maketh us pure : Ps. cxix. 9, ' Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way ? By taking heed thereunto according to thy word.' It is not direct, or order, but cleanse. The youngest are defiled already, and if they will believe and obey the word, there is hope of their cure.
[2.] The promises, which are the charter of our hopes.
(1.) The thing itself, which is promised as our great happiness, en- forceth it ; and what is that but to see God as he is, and be like him ? And ' He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as Christ is pure,' 1 John iii. 3. The reason is, because if we count it as a happiness to see God, and be like him, we will desire it and endeavour it. Now nothing can be propounded to us as the object of our eternal delight and satisfaction but what is the object of our present desires and endeavours. If we do not desire it now, and endeavour it now, how can we look upon it as our blessedness hereafter ? For satisfaction is the fulfilling of our desires, the rest of our motion. The offer of a Turkish paradise may breed a brutish spirit in us, but to look for a pure estate should make us pure and clean.
(2.) Parity of heart and life is necessary to the obtaining of it. Our interest is suspended upon the performance of this condition. The comfortable vision of God in the life to come doth only belong to the clean and pure : Mat. v, 8, * Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' No unclean thing can enter into the new' Jerusalem ; that is no place for goats or swine. Therefore, unless we get this cleanness of heart, we shall not be admitted into God's blessed presence.
(3.) This fitteth us for it. There is an aptitudinal as well as a con- ditional right. As it is a condition indispensably required, so also the preparation dispositively fitting us for this state: Col. i. 12, 'Which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' The riper we grow for heaven, the more pure and holy we are, and the more without sin.
[3.] Because of our present communion with God and service of God.
(1.) Our present communion with God in j)rayer or other duties requires it. Surely they that are so frequent and familiar with a holy God should be a clean and holy people : 1 Tim. ii. 8, ' I will that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands;' James iv. 8, 'Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you ; cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.' In the Lord's supper : John xiii. 8, ' Jesus answered him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me.' So in general, in our whole commerce with God : 1 John i. 7, ' But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.'
VeR. 3.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 197
(2.) So our present service of God requires it. None but tlie pure and clean are fitted to do God service in the world : 2 Tim. ii. 21, ' If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, prepared unto every good work.' * From these,' that is, from youthful lusts ; he is more useful for Christ, and an instrument better fitted for his glory.
III. The special impurity that is in such sins, so that holiness must be forsaken, or else these vices so opposite to holiness. What special impurity is there in those sins ?
1. They defile the body, and are contrary to the dignity of the body, as it is a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost, or an instru- ment to be used for the glory of God : 1 Cor, vi. 18, ' Flee fornication : every sin that a man doeth is without the body ; but he that committetli fornication sinneth against his own body.' Most other sins are against God or our neighbour, but sins of uncleanness are in a special manner against one's self, a debasing or defiling the body, a polluting of that which is consecrated to God to serve him : 1 Thes. iv. 3, 4, ' For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication ; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour.' Sanctification is there taken for chastity. A man's vessel is his body ; for the Hebrews call any instru- ment of use a vessel. Now the keeping it in honour is to preserve it for God's use, and not to prostitute it to our base lusts. Well, then, if cleanness and purity be so necessary to christians, a sin of so foul a nature must not be slighted, it dishonoureth and polluteth the body.