[3.] It is he who worketh faith in us, whereby we are actually ' interested in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ. By faith We receive Christ himself, and by faith do we receive all the benefits
414 THE FILTH OF SIN PUllGED [BOOK IV.
of his mediation, — that is, as they are tendered unto us in the pro- mises of God. He is our propitiation through faith in his blood as offered; and he is our sanctificatiou tlirough faith in his blood as sprinkled. And particular acting of faith on the blood of Christ for the cleansing of the soul from sin is required of us. A renewed conscience is sensible of a pollution in every sin, and is not freed from the shame of it without a particular application unto the blood of Christ. It comes by faith to the fountain set open for sin and uncleanness, as the sick man to the pool of healing waters, and wait- eth for a season to be cleansed in it. So David, on the defilement he had contracted by his great sins, addresseth himself unto God with that prayer, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow," Ps. li. 7. He alludeth unto the jDurging of the leprous persons, the ordinance whereof is insti- tuted, Lev. xiv. 2-7, or to that more general institution for the purifi- cation of all legal uncleanness by the water of separation, made of the ashes of the red heifer, Num. xix. 4-6, which oui- apostle hath re- spect unto, Heb. ix. 13, 14; for both these purifications were made by the sprinkling of blood or water with hyssop. It is plain, I say, that he alludeth unto these institutions; but it is as plain they are not the things which he intendeth : for there was not in the law any purging by hyssop for persons guilty of such sins as he lay under; and therefore he professeth, in the close of the psalm, that " sacrifice and burnt-offering God would not accept" in his case, Ps. li. 16. It was, therefore, that which was signified by those institutions which he made his application unto, — namely, really to the blood of Christ, by which he might be "justified from all things, from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses," Acts xiii. 39 ; and so likewise purified. In like manner do all believers make an actual application unto the blood of Christ for the purging away of their sins ; which until it is done they have a " conscience of sins," — that is, condemn- ing them for sin, and filling them with shame and fear, Heb. x. 1-3. And this actual application by faith unto the blood of Christ for cleansing, the mystery whereof is scorned by many as a thing fana- tical and unintelligible, consists in these four things: — \st. A spii'i- tual view and due consideration of the blood of Christ in his sacrifice, as proposed in the promises of the gospel for our cleansing and puri- fication. " Look unto me," saitli he, " and be ye saved," Isa. xlv. 22 ; which respects the whole work of our salvation, and all the means thereof. Our way of coming unto our interest therein is by looking to him, — namely, as he is proposed unto us in the promise of the gospel : for as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, so was he in his sacrifice on the cross lifted up, John iii. 14; and so in the gospel is he represented unto us, Gal. iii. 1. And the means
CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHPtlST. 445
whereby they were healed in the wilderness was by looking unto the serpent that was lifted up. Herein, then, doth faith, first act itself, by a spiritual view and due consideration of the blood of Christ, as proposed unto us in the gospel for the only means of our purification ; and the more we abide in this contemplation, the more effectual will our success be in our application thereto. 2dly. Faith actually relieth on his blood for the real effecting of that great work and end for which it is proposed unto us; for God sets him forth as to be a propitiation through faith in his blood as offered, Rom. iii. 25, so to be our sanctification through faith in his blood as sprinkled. And the establishing of this especial faith in our souls is that which the apostle aims at in his excellent reasoning, Heb. ix. 13, 14; and his conclusion unto that purpose is so evident, that he encourageth us thereon to draw nigh in the full assurance of faith, chap. x. 22. odly. Faith worketh herein \>y fervent prayer, as it doth in its whole address unto God with respect unto his promises; because for all these things God will be sought unto by the house of Israel. By this means the soul brings itself nigh unto its own mercy. And this we are directed unto, Heb. iv. 15, 16. Mhly. An acquiescency in the truth and faithfulness of God for cleansing by the blood of Christ, whence we are freed from discouraging, perplexing shame, and have boldness in the presence of God.