Besides, there is no notion of sin and. holiness whereof beUevers have a more sensible, spiritual experience; for although they may not or do not comprehend the metaphysical notion or nature of this pollution and defilement of sin, yet they are sensible of the effects it produceth in their minds and consciences. They find tJuit in sin which is attended with shame and self-abhorrency, and requires deep abasement of soul. They discern in it, or in themselves on the ac- count of it, an unsuitableness unto the holiness of God, and an unfit- ness thereon for communion with him. Nothing do they more earnestly labour after in their prayers and supplications than a cleansing from it by the blood of Christ, nor are any promises more precious unto them than those which express their purification and purging from it ; for these are they which, next unto their interest in the atonement made by the sacrifice of Christ, give them boldness in their approaches unto God. So our apostle fully expresseth it, Heb. X. 19-22: " Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God ; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
426 THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEEEIN IT CONSISTS, [bOOK IV.
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water/' The foundation of all our confidence in our access unto God, the right and title we have to approach unto him, is laid in the blood of Christ, the sacrifice he offered, the atonement he made, and the remission of sins which he obtained thereby: which effect of it he declares, verse 19, ''Having boldness by the blood of Jesus." The way of our access is by pleading an interest in his death and suffer- ing, whereby an admission and acceptance is consecrated for us: Verse 20, " By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated." And our encouragement to make use of this foundation and to engage in this way is taken from his discharge of the office of a high priest in our behalf: " Having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near."
But besides all this, when we come to an actual address unto God, that we may make use of the boldness given us in the full assurance of faith, it is moreover required that " our hearts be sprinkled, and our bodies washed;" — that is, that our whole persons be purified from the defilement of sin by the sanctification of the Spirit. And this experience of believers we can not only oppose unto and plead against the stupidity of such persons by whom these things are de- rided, but conclude from it that those who are unacquainted with it, in some degree of sincerity, are wholly uninterested in that evangeli- cal holiness which we inquire after. We need not, therefore, farther labour in the confirmation of that concerning which the testimonies of Scripture are so multiplied, and whereof we have such undoubted experience.
Secondly, The nature of this defilement of sin must be inquired into. 1. By some it is reckoned unto guilt; for whereas the in- separable effects of guilt are shame and fear, whereby it immedi- ately evidenced itself in our first parents, and shame, in joarticular, is from this filth of sin, it may be esteemed an adjunct thereof. Hence sin was said to be " purged by sacrifices" when its guilt was expiated ; and Christ is said to " purge our sins by himself," — that is, when he offered himself a sacrifice for us, Heb. i. 8. And therefore it is granted, that so far as the filth of sin was taken away, not by actual purification, but by legal expiation, it is sin with its guilt that was intended. But the Scripture, as we have showed, intendeth more hereby, even such an internal, inherent defilement as is taken away by real actual sanctification, and no otherwise. 2. There are some especial sins which have a 'peculiar pollution and defilement attending them, and which thereon are usually called " uncleanness" in a peculiar manner. The ground hereof is in that of the apostle, 1 Cor. vi, 18: "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against
CHAP. IV.] WITH ITS PURIFICATION. 427
his own body." All sins of that nature have a peculiar defilement and filth accompanying them. And holiness is sometimes mentioned in an opposition unto this especial pollution, 1 Thess. iv. 3. But yet this is not that which we inquire after, although it be included in it as one especial kind of it. That which we now consider always insepar- ably attends every sin as sin, as an adjunct or effect of it. It is the uncleanness of all sin, and not the sin of uncleanness, which we in- tend ; and for the discovery of its proper nature we may observe, —
(1.) That the pollution of sin is that property of it whereby it is directly opposed unto the holiness of God, and which God expresseth his holiness to be contrary unto. Hence he is said to be " of purer eyes than to behold evil, or to look on iniquity," Hab. i. 13. It is a thing vile and loathsome unto the eyes of his holiness, Ps. v. 4-6. So, speaking concerning it, he useth that pathetical dehortation, " Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate," Jer. xliv. 4. And with respect unto his own holiness it is that he sets it forth by the names of all things which are vile, filthy, loathsome, offensive, — every thing that is abominable. It is so to him, as he is infinitely pure and holy in his own nature. And that consideration which in- generates shame and self-abhorrency on the account of the defilement of sin is taken peculiarly from the holiness of God. Hence it is that persons are so often said to " blush," to be " ashamed," to be " filled with confusion of face," to be " vile," to be " abased in their own sight," under a sense and apprehension of this filth of sin.