(2.) The holiness of God is the infinite, absolute perfection and rectitude of his nature, as the eternal original cause and pattern of truth, uprightness, and rectitude in all. And this holiness doth God exert, as in all he doth, naturally and necessarily, so particularly in his laAv; which is therefore good, holy, and perfect, because it repre- sents the holiness of God, which is impressed on it. God might not have made any creature nor given a law, which are free acts of his will; but on supposition he would do so, it was absolutely necessary from his own nature that this law of his should be holy. And, therefore, whatever is contrary unto or different from the law of God is so unto and from the holiness of God himself Hence it follows, —
(3.) That this defilement and pollution of sin is that pravity, dis- order, and shameful crookedness that is in it, luith respect unto the holiness of God as expressed in the hiiu.
Sin is either original or actual. Original sin is the habitual incon- formity of our natures unto the holiness of God expressed in the law of creation. Actual sin is our inconformity to God and his holiness expressed in the particular commands of the law. The nature of all sin, therefore, consists in its enmity, its inconformity to the rule.
428 THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK IV.
Now, this rule, whicli is the law, may be considered two ways, which give a twofold respect, or inseparable consequent or adjunct, unto every sin: — j.
[1.] As it expresseth the authority of God in its precepts and sanction. Hence guilt inseparably follows every sin, which is the respect it induceth on the sinner unto the law, upon the account of the authority of the Lawgiver. The act of sin passeth away, but this guilt abideth on the person, and must do so, until the law be satis- fied, and the sinner thereon absolved. This naturally produceth fear, which is the first expression of a sense of guilt. So Adam ex- pressed it upon his sin : " I heard thy voice, and I was afraid," Gen. iii. 10
[2.] The law may be considered as it expresseth the holiness of God and his truth ; which it was necessary, from the nature of God, that it should do. Hence there is in sin a peculiar inconformity to the holiness of God ; which is the " macula," the " spot," " stain," and " filth" of it; which are inseparable from it whilst God is holy, unless it be purged and done away, as we shall show. And this is insepar- ably attended with shame ; which is the expression of a sense of this filth of sin. So Adam upon his sin had his eyes open to see his nakedness, and was filled with shame. This is the order of these things : — God, who is the object of our obedience and sin, is consi- dered as the supreme lawgiver. On his law he hath impressed his authority and his holiness. Sin, with respect unto his authority, is attended with guilt; and this, in the conscience of the sinner, pro- duceth fear : as it respects the holiness of God, it is attended with filth or uncleanness; and this produceth shame. And the ultimate effects of it are, on the first account, " poena sensus;" on the other, " poena damni." This, therefore, is the spot, the stain, the pollution of sin, whicli is purged in our sanctification, — the perverse disorder and shameful crookedness that is in sin with respect unto the holiness of God.
And herein there is a real filthiness, hut spiritual, which is com- pared with and opposed unto things materially and carnally so. " Not that which goeth into a man," meat of any sort, "defileth him," saith oiu" Saviour, " but that which cometh out of the heart," — that is, spiritually, with respect unto God, his law and holiness. And as men are taught the guilt of sin by their own fear, which is the in- separable adjunct of it, so are they taught the filth of sin by their own shame, which unavoidably attends it. To instruct us herein is one end of the law and the gospel; for in the renovation of the law, which was added to the promise " because of transgressions," Gal. iii. 19, and in the institutions annexed unto it, God designed to in- struct us farther in them both, with the ways whereby we may be
CHAP. IV.] WITH ITS PURIFICATION. 429
freed from them. In the doctrine of the law, with the sanction and cnrse of it, and the institution of sacrifices to make atonement for sin, God declared the nature of guilt and its remedy. By the same law, and by the institution of sundry ordinances for purification and cleansing, as also by determining sundry ceremonial defilements, he makes known the nature of this filth and its remedy. To what end were so many meats and drinks, so many diseases and natural dis- tempers, so many external fortuitous accidents, as touching the dead, and the like, made religiously unclean by the law? It was to no other but to teach us the nature of the spiritual defilement of sin. And to the same end, together with a demonstration of the relief and remedy thereof, were the ordinances of purification instituted; which, as they were outward and carnal, purged those uncleann esses, as they also were outward and carnal, made so by the law. But in- ternal and spiritual things were taught and prefigured hereby, yea, wrought and effected, by virtue of their typical relation to Christ, as the apostle teacheth: Heb. ix. 13, 14, " If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sar?ctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" And hence the whole work of sanctification is expressed by " opening a fountain for sin and for uncleanness;" that is, the purg- ing of them away, Zech. xiii. 1. So is it in the gospel, where the blood of Christ is said to " purge" our sins with respect to guilt, and to "wash" our souls with respect to filth. Yea, so inseparable is this filth from sin, and shame from filth, that wherever abides a sense of sin, there is a sense of this filth with shame. The very heathen, who had only the workings of their minds and consciences for their guide, were never able to quit themselves from a sense of this pollution of sin ; and thence proceeded all those ways of lustration, purgation, and cleansing, by washings, sacrifices, and mysterious ceremonious observances, which they had invented. It remains, therefore, only that we inquire a little into the reasons and causes why this pravity of sin and discrepancy from the holiness of God is such a defilement of our natures, and so inseparably attended with shame; for without the consideration hereof we can never understand the true nature of sanctification and holiness. And it will, also, then yet farther appear how openly they betray their prodigious ignorance of these things who pretend that all grace consists in the practice of moral virtues. And we may to this purpose observe, —