' Thou hast kept my word,' a little strength and a good heart will do it. Thou idle servant, that which thou countest little is a talent, it is a gift fit for the great King of heaven and earth, it will carry thee far, if thou hast not a deceitful heart; if thou hast an upright heart, God giveth thee strength, that thou mayest purify thyself, as he is pure. But wherefore serves grace ?
If the Lord have given grace, he will not have thee idle, but this grace frees the will, that thou must go about the work with success. Therefore, I beseech you, that ye be not deluded by this, so making one truth oppose another. When the Son visits with grace, thou art free ; wherefore comes the Son ? To make thee free. Thou hast thy will bound up, thou couldest not afiect* the ways of God ; the Son of God hath freed this will, and now requires that thou shouldst use it, to purify thyself as he is pure ; 60 for that point it is clear.
Now for this, that a man should purify himself, what need I bring manv arguments ; if the first will not do it, nothing will do it ; if thou doest not, thou art lost, there is no hope.
1. This must be done ; and then, 2. It may be done. Therefore God gives his Spirit and grace, that though the work comes originally from him, ' For except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it,' Ps. cxxvii. 1, yet if a man say, I will do nothing except the Lord build the house, let him build it if he will have it built. No; the Lord will have it built, but thou must be a workman. ' The foundation of God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth who are his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity,' 2 Tim. ii. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure ; the Lord knoweth who shall believe in him. There is a privy seal put to this, ' the Lord knoweth who are his ; ' but there is never a seal, but this purging that is for letters patent that be open; this is not a close rule, but thou mayest view and read it thyself; * and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.' There is the broad seal, whereby I may know that I am one of the number, that I shall appear in glory when Christ appears. Therefore if a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared for every good work,
Mark how a man works actively and passively. He is ' prepared and sanctified for the master's use,' but is he a mere patient? No; he must purge himself from these things. So there must be an active and passive working. When the Lord hath done the first work, the Lord looks thou shouldst put thine hand to, and be doing ; but I say, there is no hope if I do not take pains, and therefore I must of necessity purify myself. All the matter is now, seeing it cannot be avoided, it must be done, and is facible.
* That is, ' ctoose.' — G.
512 THE PATTERN OF PURITY.
How may it be clone ?
Besolve on the thinij, that it must be done, and then I will give directions how to do it. The examples of the world are like a stream that carries a man clean out of the way of purity ; but seeing there is no way but that I must, through good report and bad report, what must I do then ?
1. Remember ire come to do service to a Father; that is, for encourage- ment. God did of his own free accord, not for any goodness in us, cast his love on us ; he hath adopted thee for his son ; he puts thee about his work ; he will spare thee, as a man spareth his own son. This is thy case, thou art not like a mercenary servant, that is only to earn his wages ; thou hast it by inheritance, because thou art a son, and the Lord looketh for filial, and no servile service of thee. If a servant doth not his work, the master puts him ofl", and takes a better ; but God doth not stand with thee on the strict observance of the law, as if he were to reckon with thee for wages, the Lord requires that thou do thy best, and the Lord will spare thee. Go truly and painfully* about thy work with the strength God hath given thee ; the Lord will spare thee, and will not turn thee off, and take another, but will deal with thee as with his son ; he takes it in good part when thou doest thy best : that is for thy encouragement. The keeping of God's word, as he will accept, may be done with a little strength : then how shall I do ?
(1.) First, Go to the fountain ; let the cock run. What is the fountain of all cleanness ? The blood of Christ ; as Kev. i. 5, ' Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood.' There is the first thing, begin with faith. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that must wash me from sin. Thou must not go like a moral man, to labour by multitude of acta to get a new habit ; but thou must work from another principle : all this cleansing must come from the blood of Jesus Christ. And how may I apply this ? By faith. So thou must go every morning, and present thy soul before the Lord, and look on him crucified, and say. Lord, thou didst shed thy blood to cleanse my soul from the spots of sin ; have faith, rinse f thy soul, as it were, in the blood of this immaculate Lamb ; apply the blood of Jesus Christ not only for justification to free thee from the guilt of sin, but let faith work, as it may be applied for sanctification, to wash away the spots and pollutions of sin. This is certainly the most effectual means that can be imagined. Go to the well-head ; look to that main and principal beginning, like a Christian, and not like a moral man ; that though thou art polluted and defiled, yet the blood of the Lord Jesus will purge thee from all sin, spot as well as guilt, as we see written, Heb. ix. 13, 14 ; ' For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit ofi'ered himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God.' Mark that. You talk of a purgatory : there is the purgatory. That true purgatory is the fountain that is laid open for the house of Judah to wash in : serving not only for expiation of thy sin, that it shall not be laid to thy charge, but it serves to purge thy conscience from dead works to serve the living God. It is as eflectual for sanctification, being applied by faith, as it is for justification.