that can be attained in this life, but to " purify themselves even as God is pureV]
Amongst Israel of old, the great mass of the popu- lation had never been infected with the leprosy at all : but that is not the case with us: the leprosy of sin has infected every human being: and there are now but two classes, under the one or the other of which we must all be arranged. We will therefore address ourselves,
1. To those who are yet infected with the leprosy —
[What was done at the time of pronouncing the lepers clean, is the very thing which must be done to make you clean. You must be sprinkled with the blood and Spirit of Christ, even of " Him who died for you and rose again." This is necessary; nor can any human being be saved without it : and it shall be effectual; so that no human being shall ever perish, provided he apply to his soul this divinely appointed remedy: " The blood of Jesus Christ shall cleanse him from all sin1;" and the Spirit of Christ shall " cleanse him from all his filthiness and un cleanness"1." The priests of old could not heal the leper, but only declare him healed: but our High-Priest can heal us. Only cry to him, as the lepers did in the days of his flesh, " Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" and God himself shall acknowledge and pronounce you clean. The hyssop is even now at hand, wherewith you may sprinkle your own souls. Use it now by faith, and you shall experience with David both its incipient and progressive efficacy : " Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow11." But sprinkle not yourselves once or twice only, but "seven times;" then shall you be "washed thoroughly from your iniquity, and be cleansed from your sin0."]
2. To those who have been cleansed from it — [Your state is beautifully represented by that of the healed
leper. You are not yet admitted to your home, where your more perfect brethren enjoy without any intermission their Father's smiles : but you are brought into the camp ; you are acknowledged as clean, notwithstanding your remaining im- perfections : and there is yet only a single week before you will be brought into the full " Hberty of the children of God." True, the intervening time must be spent in humiliating and painful exercises : but those exercises are all preparing you for the richer enjoyment of the promised bliss: "they are ren- dering you meet for the inheritance of the saints in light p."
k 1 John in. 3. ' 1 John i. 7. m Ezek. xxxvi. 25.
n Ps. li. 7. °Ps.li. 2. p Col. i. 12.
131, J TIIE CLEANSING OF THE LEPEBL. (>:l~)
Look forward then to the happiness that awaits you: and carefully attend to every thing that God has enjoined; lest, when the appointed time shall arrive, you shall be found to have neglected the duties of the present moment. Labour then to the uttermost to get rid of sin: " Wash ye, make you clean V As for the deep-rooted evils that spring up within you from time to time, if they cannot be eradicated, let them be shaved off the very moment that they appear. And let the time now appropriated to mortification and self-denial, be sweetened by the anticipation of that blessed hour, when you shall enter into the joy of your Lord, and rest for ever in the bosom of your God.]
i Isai. i. 1G.