[4.] The Holy Ghost actually communicates the cleansing, puri- fying virtue of the blood of Christ unto our souls and consciences, whereby we are freed from shame, and have boldness towards God ; for the whole work of the application of the benefits of the mediation of Christ unto believers is his properly.
And these are the things which believers aim at and intend in all their fervent supplications for the purifying and cleansing of their souls by the sprinkling and washing of the blood of Christ, the faith and persuasion whereof give them peace and holy boldness in the presence of God, without which they can have nothing but shame and confusion of face in a sense of their own pollutions.
How the blood of Christ was the meritorious cause of our purifi- cation as it was offered, in that thereby he procured for us eternal redemption, with all that was conducing or needful thereunto, and how thereby he expiated our sins, belongs not unto this place to de- clare. Nor shall I insist upon the more mysterious way of commu- nicating cleansing virtue unto us from the blood of Christ, by virtue of our union with him. What hath been spoken may suffice to give a little insight into that influence which the blood of Christ hath into this first part of our sanctification and holiness. And as for those who affirm that it no otherwise cleanseth us from our sins, but only because we, believing his doctrine, confirmed by his deatli and
446 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [EOOK IV.
resurrection, do amend our lives, turning from sin unto righteousness and holiness, they renounce the mystery of the gospel, and all the proper efficacy of the blood of Christ.
III. Faith is the instrumental cause of our purification: "Puri- fying their hearts by faith," Acts xv. 9. The two unfailing evi- dences of sincere faith are, that within it purifieth the heart, and without it worketh by love. These are the touch-stones whereon faith may, yea, ought to be tried. We "purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit," 1 Pet. i. 22; that is, by believing, which is our original obedience unto the truth. And hereby are our souls purified. "Unbelievers" and "unclean" are the same, Tit. i. 15 ; for they have nothing in them whereby they might be instrumentally cleansed. And we are purified by faith ; because, — 1. Faith itself is the principal grace whereby our nature is restored unto the image of God, and so freed from our original defilement, Col. iii. 10; 1 John iii. 3. 2. It is by faith on our part whereby we receive the puri- fying virtue and influences of the blood of Christ ; whereof we have before discoursed. Faith is the grace whereby we constantly adhere and cleave unto Christ, Deut. iv. 4; Josh, xxiii. 8; Acts xi. 22. And if the woman who touched his garment in faith obtained vir- tue from him to heal her issue of blood, shall not those who cleave unto him continually derive virtue from him for the healing of their spiritual defilements? 8. It is by the working of faith principally whereby those lusts and corruptions which are defiling are mortified, subdued, and gradually wrought out of our minds. All actual de- filements spring from the remainders of defiling lusts, and their depraved workings in us, Heb. xii. 15; James i. 14. How faith worketh to the correcting and subduing of them, by deriving sup- plies of the Spirit and grace to that end from Jesus Christ, as being the means of our abiding in them, whereon alone those supplies do depend, John xv. 3-5, as also by the acting of all other graces which are contrary to the polluting lusts of the flesh and destructive of them, is usually declared, and we must not too far enlarge on these things. 4. Faith takes in all the motives which are proposed unto us to stir us up unto our utmost endeavours and diligence, in the use of all means and ways, for the preventing of the defilements of sin, and for the cleansing of our minds and consciences from the relics of dead works. And these motives, which are great and many, may be reduced unto two heads: — (1.) A participation of the excellent promises of God at the present. The consideration hereof brings a singular enforcement on the souls of believers to endeavour after universal purity and holiness, 2 Cor, vii. 1. And, (2.) The future en- joyment of God in glory, whereunto we cannot attain without being purified from sin, 1 John iii, 2, 3. Now, these motives, v/hich are the
CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST, 447
springs of our duty in this matter, are received and made efficacious by faith only.
IV. Purging from sin is likewise in the Scripture ascribed unto cifflictions of all sorts. Hence they are called God's "furnace/' and his "fining-pot/' Isa. xxxi. 9, xlviii. 10, whereby he taketh away the dross and filth of the vessels of his house. They are also called " fire" that trieth the ways and works of men, consuming their hay and stubble, and purifying their gold and silver, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. And this they do through an efficacy unto these ends communicated unto them in the design and by the Spirit of God ; for by and in the cross of Christ they were cut off from the curse of the first covenant, whereunto all evil and trouble did belong, and implanted into the covenant of grace. The tree of the cross being cast into the waters of affliction hath rendered them wholesome and medicinal. And as, the Lord Christ being the head of the covenant, all the afflictions and perse- cutions that befall his members are originally his, Isa. Ixiii. 9, Acts ix. 5, Col, i. 24 ; so they all tend to work us unto a conformity unto him in purity and holiness. And they work towards this blessed end of purifying the soul several ways; for, — 1. They have in them some tokens of God's displeasure against sin, which those who are exercised by them are led by the consideration of unto a fresh view of the vileness of it ; for although afflictions are an effect of love, yet it is of love mixed with care to obviate and prevent distempers. Whatever they are else, they are always chastisements ; and correc- tion respects faults. And it is our safest course, in every affliction, to lodge the adequate cause of it in our own deserts, as the woman did, 1 Kings xvii. 18; and as God directs, Ps. Ixxxix. 80-32, Lam. iii. 33. And this is one difference between his chastisements and those of the fathers of our flesh, that he doth it " not for his plea- sure," Heb. xii. 9, 10. Now, a view of sin under suffering makes men loathe and abhor themselves for it, and to be ashamed of it; and this is the first step towards our purifying of ourselves by any ways appointed for it. Self-pleasing in sin is the highest degree of our pollution ; and when we loathe ourselves for it, we are put into the way at least of seeking after a remedy. 2. Afflictions take off the beauty and allurements of all created good things and their com- forts, by which the affections are solicited to commit folly and lewd- ness with them; that is, to embrace and cleave unto them inordi- nately, whence many defilements do ensue, Gal. vi. 14. This God designs them for, even to wither all the flowerings of this world in the minds of men, by discovering their emptiness, vanity, and in- sufficiency to give relief This intercepts the disorderly intercourse which is apt to be between them and our affections, whereby our minds are polluted ; for there is a pollution attending the least inor-