Spirit, if we do not trust entirely in the blood of Christ for pardon and acceptance. In the consecrating of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, almost the same services were performed as at the purification of the leper : the blood was to be put on their ears, thumbs, and toes, and then, together with the oil, to be sprinkled on their bodies and their garments1". The same idea was suggested by the sprinkling of blood mixed with water in the preparatory part of the leper's purification11: and it was also intimated by the effusion of blood and water from our Saviour's side, when he was pierced by the spear0. St. John, who alone records that remarkable fact, lays great stress upon it in his first epistle, reminding us that " he came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood p." Doubtless these things were designed to teach us, that God has united the pardoning virtue of Christ's blood, with the sanctifying operations of his Spirit ; and that " what he has joined together, no man should presume to put asunder."]
3. Orderly —
[It is by no means an indifferent matter what order we observe in applying the blood and Spirit of Christ to our souls, or, in other words, whether we seek justification or sanctification in the first place. It is true, that, in speaking of them, our words need not always be placed with accuracy and precision ; for even St. Paul himself, when speaking to the Corinthians, says, " Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our Godq." But it is highly necessary that we should have clear and determinate ideas on the subject. The order relative to the leper was, that the oil should be put (on the ear, thumb, and toe) " upon the blood of the trespass-offering1, :" and to prevent our imagining this to mean only that it should be applied in addition to the blood, it is added afterwards, that the oil must " be put upon the place of the blood of the trespass-offering s." Surely this was not so minutely ordered for nought : it plainly shews us that the blood of Christ must he first applied for our justifica- tion ; and that then the Spirit will be given for our sanctifica- tion. And this is the more carefully to be observed, because it is the very reverse of what men, of themselves, are disposed to do. We are apt to seek sanctification first ; and then to make our proficiency in it the ground (in part at least) of our justifica- tion : but we must come to God as sinners to be "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus4;" and, being united thus by faith to Christ as the living
m Exod. xxix. 20, 21. n ver. 5 — 7. ° John xix. 34, 35.
P 1 John v. 6. il Cor. vi. 11. » ver. 17.
s ver. 28. l Rom. iii. 24.