This uncleanness as it is habitual, respecting our natural defile- ment, is equal in and unto every one that is born into the world ; we are by nature all alike polluted, and that to the utmost of what our nature is capable. But with respect unto actual sins it is not
432 THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, V/HEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK IV.
so; for in them it hath various degrees and aggravations, even as many as sin itself hath: — 1. The greater the sin is from its nature or cii-cumstances, the greater is the defilement wherewith it is at- tended. Hence there is no sin expressed under such terms of filthi- ness and abhorrence as idolatry, which is the greatest of sins. See Ezek. xvi. 36, 37. Or, 2. There is an aggravation of it when the whole 2^erson is defiled, as it is in the case of fornication, before in- stanced in. 3. It is heightened by a continuance in sin, whereby an addition is made to its pollution every day, and which is called " wallowing in the mire," 2 Pet. ii. 22.
I have in this whole discourse but touched upon this considera- tion of sin, which the Scripture so frequently mentions and inculcates ; for as all the first institutions of divine worship recorded therein had some respect hereunto, so the last rejection of obstinate sinners mentioned in it is, "He which is filthy," or unclean, "let him be filthy still," Rev. xxii. 11. Neither is there any notion of sin, whereby God would convey an apprehension of its nature and an abhorrency there- of unto our minds and consciences, so frequently insisted on as is this of its 'pollution. And in order to our use of it unto the discovery of the nature of holiness, we may yet observe these three [five?] things : —
1. Where this uncleanness abideth unpurged, there neither is nor can be any true holiness at all, Eph. iv. 22-2'l; for it is universally opposed unto it, — it is our unholiness. Where, therefore, it is abso- lute, and purified in no measure or degree, there is no work of sanc- tification, no holiness so much as begun ; for in the purging hereof it makes its entrance upon the soul, and its effect therein is the first beginning of holiness in us. I acknowledge that it is not in any at once absolutely and perfectly taken away in this world ; for the work of purging it is a continued act, commensurate unto the whole work of our sanctification : and, therefore, they who are truly sanctified and holy are yet deef)ly sensible of the remainder of it in themselves, do greatly bewail it, and earnestly endeavour after the removal of it. But there is an initial, real, sincere, and (as to all the faculties of the soul) universal purging of it, which belongs to the nature and essence of holiness, begun and carried on, though not absolutely per- fected, in this life. And men who pretend unto a grace and holiness that should consist in moral virtue only, without a sui3})osition of and respect unto the purification of this pollution of sin, do but deceive their own souls and others, so far as any are forsaken of God to give credit unto them The virtues of men not purged from the unclean- ness of their natures are an abomination to the Lord, Tit. i 15.
2. Unless this uncleanness of sin be purged and washed away, we can never come unto the enjoyment of God: "Nothing that
CHAP. IV.] WITH ITS PURIFICATION. 433
defiletli shall in any wise enter into the new Jerusalem," Kev. xxi. 27. To suppose that an unpurified sinner can be brought unto the blessed enjoyment of God, is to overthrow both the law and the gospel, and to say that Christ died in vain. It is, therefore, of the same importance with the everlasting salvation of our souls to have them purged from sin.
3. We are not able of ourselves, without the especial aid, assist- ance, and operation of the Spirit of God, in any measure or degree to free ourselves from this pollution, neither that which is natural and habitual nor that which is actual. It is true, it is frequently prescribed unto us as our duty, — we are commanded to " wash our- selves," to " cleanse ourselves from sin," to " purge ourselves" from all our iniquities, and the like, frequently; but to suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect. Our duty is our duty, constituted unalterably by the law of God, whether we have power to perform it or no, seeing we had so at our first obligation by and unto the law, which God is not obliged to bend unto a conformity to our warpings, nor to suit unto our sin- ful weaknesses. Whatever, therefore, God worketh in us in a way of grace, he prescribeth unto us in a way of duty, and that because although he do it in us, yet he also doth it by us, so as that the same work is an act of his Spirit and of our wills as acted thereby. Of ourselves, therefore, we are not able, by any endeavours of our own, nor ways of our own finding out, to cleanse ourselves from the defilement of sin. " If I be wicked," saith Job, " why then labour I in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall make me to be abhorred," chap. ix. 29-31. There may be w^ays and means used whereby an appearance of washing and cleans- ing may be made ; but when things come to be tried in the sight of God, all will be found filthy and unclean. In vain, saith the prophet, shalt thou take to thyself soap and much nitre, thou shalt not be purged, Jer. ii. 22. The most probable means of cleansing, and the most effectual in our judgment, however multiplied, shall fail in this case. Some speak much of " washing away their sins by the tears of repentance;" but repentance as prescribed in the Scrip- ture is of another nature, and assigned unto another end. And for men's tears in this matter, they are but " soap and nitre," which, howsoever multiplied, will not produce the effect intended ; and there- fore doth God, in places of Scripture innumerable, take this to himself as the immediate effect of his Spirit and grace, — namely, to " cleanse us from our sins and our iniquities."