Part 12
3. Lastly, Lay down an honest purpose and resolution, in the faith of the grace and strength in Christ Jesus, offered and exhibited to you in the gospel, and provided in the covenant, to comply henceforth with the whole will of Christ declared to you in his word, without exception or reserve; to subject your souls wholly to the authority of his word, to comply with every duty therein made known to you, and
to fight against every sin there discovered to you. So shall you call him Lord, and he call you his servants, Acts 11:23; Psal. 119:112.
THE INSEPARABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN A SINNER'S HAVING PART WITH CHRIST, AND BEING WASHED BY
HIM: OR, THE MYSTERY OF SANCTIFICATION BY CHRIST, OPENED
Several sermons, preached at Ettrick, in the year 1728.
N. B. The first Sermon was preached immediately before the celebration of the Lord's Supper, August 18, 1728; and the others on some subsequent Lord's days.
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. - JOHN 13:8.
THESE words are Christ's answer to Peter refusing to let Christ wash his feet. No doubt it was a kind of modesty, reverence, and humility, that put Peter on this peremptory refusal of Christ's astonishing kind offer. But all is not gold that glitters. There is much of this bastard humility in the world, whereby people refuse Christ's offers, and put them away from them, with a very good grace, and great respect to the Lord Christ, as they think. Christ comes to sinners in the gospel, and offers to wash them from their pollution: But will they offer a foul defiled soul to God Almighty, the infinitely holy Saviour, to be washed by him? No; they think they know more of their own
sinfulness and unworthiness, and of Christ's greatness and holiness, than that comes to. And so they affront him, under a pretence of honouring him.
There are three characters of this false humility.
1. It condemns the generation of the righteous, who came all to Christ, at his command, to be washed by him, receiving it with admiration of his condescension. The other disciples, no doubt, were struck with amazement at Christ's coming to wash their feet: but true humility took Christ's will for law and right, and makes them silently yield themselves to the Lord. But Peter's behaviour condemns them, as rude and disrespectful, vers. 5, 6, "After that, he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
2. It keeps Christ at a distance, and so proceeds not from faith, but unbelief, ver. 6. No doubt, when Christ stretched out his hand to wash Peter's feet, he drew them in quickly to him; and shewed by his deeds, as well as his words, that he had no mind that Christ's fair hand should come on them. So folk, under a sense of sinfulness, may flee from Christ, while he follows them.
3. It argues a heart not duly humbled; and so it is but accursed pride under the vail of a shew of humility. (1.) Carnal wisdom and reason has the ascendant, and will not bow to divine revelation: vers. 7, 8, "Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou I knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Let the gospel of God's grace be delivered
never so plain, they will not give over measuring divine mysteries by their carnal reason. (2.) Insensibleness and self-conceit prevails. Peter doubtless thought either that his feet needed no washing, but that they might be borne with even in Christ's presence, as they were; or, if they did, he would wash them himself. So he is peremptory in his refusal. And this lies at bottom in that false humility: either they think they are not so very polluted, but that they may be borne with; or else, that they will wash themselves clean before they come to Christ.
In the text our Lord gives Peter a word that brings him down in a moment from all his heights, and makes him not only content, but earnest to be washed all over by Christ, without pretending to wipe off one spot off himself by himself: "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Ver. 9, Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." This word strikes Peter to the heart, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Q. d. Peter, no washing by me, no part with me to salvation. Washing by me, and part with me, you nor no man shall ever be able to separate in your cases. Have the one, have the other; want the one, and upon heaven's truth you want the other."
I think it is an insipid question here, why so severe a threatening for refusing so small a thing? For Christ says not, if I wash not thy feet, thou shalt have no part with me; but simply, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me," in the present time. Neither could it be drawn to the washing of the feet, if the questionists did not first suppose a change of the tense the Holy Ghost useth, which is not at least without necessity to be admitted. (Gr.) If I washed thee not, or, if I have not washed thee, thou hast no part with me. Q. d. Peter, if you
belong to me, I have done more for you, than to wash your feet with water; I have washed you with my blood: if you have taken that vastly costlier washing off my hand, why refuse you this? If I have not so washed you, you have no part with me; for none have part with me, but those whom I so wash."
The words then bear an inseparable connection betwixt two things in the case of sinners, standing and falling together. (1.) The washing of them by Christ, to wit, from their sins, Rev. 1:5. (2.) Their having part with him, partaking of his saving benefits, being joint heirs of heaven with him. Compare Deut. 14:27, "And the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him: for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee." The Scripture knows no part sinners can have of salvation or of heaven, but with Christ: Acts 4:12, "Neither is their salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." They that miss their part with Christ, there is but another side where their part will fall: Rev. 21:8, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Now, if a sinner either be not washed at all, or be washed only with the nitre and soap of his own faithless endeavours and reformation; if he be not washed by Christ; he has no part with him, he is none of his; he is in a state of death and destruction lying ready to be cast out as an abominable thing, into the unclean place, the stinking lake.
The relation betwixt these two, is, the former is a necessary consequent of the latter; and therefore is held forth as a necessary evidence of it. All that have saving part with Christ are washed by
him: therefore, if Christ hath not washed thee, thou hast no saving part with him.
The doctrine deducible from the words is as follows.
DOCTRINE A sinner's having any saving part with Christ, and his being washed by Christ, from his sin, are simply and absolutely inseparable.
In discoursing from this doctrine shortly at the time, I shall,
I. Consider a sinner's having part with Christ.
II. His being washed by Christ.
III. The inseparableness of the two.
IV. Improve the doctrine.
I. The first thing to be spoken to, is, A sinner's having part with Christ. And this we take in two things.
1. His being of Christ's mystical body, through union with him: 1 Cor. 12:12, 13, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." There are but two general corporations of mankind on earth, heaven, and hell: the corporation of the first and fallen Adam, who has diffused all manner of pollution and defilement over those that are his, not to be washed off by human art; and of this society we are all by nature members: the
corporation of the Second Adam, Christ, who cleanses and purifies all that are his, from that pollution and defilement; for the latter is raised out of the former. See the two, 1 John 5:19, "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." 2 Cor. 6:17, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." Now, if ye are not washed by Christ, ye belong not to the Second Adam's corporation; ye belong not to Christ.
2. The sinner's having communion with Christ in his saving benefits, partaking of them in fellowship with him: 1 John 1:3, "That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ." All salvation is in Christ; so that they who have part with him, are complete in him, Col. 2:9, 10. And salvation is in him exclusively to all other, Acts 4:12. Now, if ye are not washed by Christ, ye have no communion with him in his saving benefits, no part in his salvation, and so none in salvation at all. Christ has a righteousness fully answering the law's demands; it is so broad a white raiment, that it covers all his people, partaking with him in it, Rom. 3:22. But if he wash you not, ye have no part in it. He has taken out a new right to God, as his God, and all his people partake with him in it: Rom. 8:17, "And if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." John 20:17, "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God." But if Christ wash you not ye have no part, he is not your God.
II. The next thing to be spoken to, is, The sinner's being washed by Christ. This is inseparable from his having part with Christ, and is
the privilege of all, and only those who have part with him. Concerning this washing I offer these particulars.
1. There is a filthiness in sin, whereby the soul is polluted and defiled before the Lord. This is supposed in the washing from it: Ezek. 36:25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you." Sin does not only make the sinner guilty, but filthy and abominable. It is the abominable thing that God hates, Jer. 44:4. filth itself, Is. 4:4. This filthiness of sin lies in its contrariety to the holiness of God expressed in his law. Holiness is the glory of God, and the beauty of the soul, Exod. 15:11; sin the deformity and filthiness of it. Hence,
1st, It makes the sinner loathsome before God, that he cannot look on him, but with abhorrence; and with such abhorrence as one looks upon a thing he has a natural antipathy at, Zech. 11:8, "My soul loathed them." Hab. 1:13, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Psal. 5:4, "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee."
2dly, It fills the soul with shame before God. I mean not that holy shame that proceeds from a joint view of sin's loathsomeness, and God's pardoning grace in Christ; that is a fruit of the Spirit, Ezek. 16:60, 61, "I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed." But I mean a natural shame, whereby the sinner, obliged to fix his eyes on God's holiness, and seeing his own unlikeness to him, his countenance falls, he is damped, and filled with dread and horror, and therefore labours to make away out of his presence; as Adam did, Gen. 3:10, "I
heard thy voice," said he to the Lord, "in the garden: and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." Now, unwashed sinners are filthy all over.
(1.) Their nature is filthy, Psal. 14:3, "They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doth good, no not one." Sin has spread its defilement over all the faculties of their souls, and over all the members of their bodies: Tit. 1:15, "Unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Their very bodies, however perfumed and adorned, are filthy before God with spiritual filth cleaving to them, Heb. 10:22.
(2.) Their life and conversation is filthy, 2 Pet. 2:7. Their daily walk is a heaping new filth upon their already filthy souls. Their habitual filthiness produces still actual filthiness, as the poisoned spring sends forth poisonous streams, Psal. 14:1.
2. Christ has them all to wash who get part in him. Hence the redeemed church sings praises to him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, Rev. 1:5. They come to him in their pollution, and are washed by him; they come to him defiled all over, in the defilement of their nature, and of their life, that they may be washed; and coming to him by faith, it is done, Ezek. 16:8, 9; Rom. 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:17. How can it be otherwise? for they cannot wash themselves before they come. Is it possible for people to wash, before they come to the waters? or to bathe before they come into the laver?
3. All those who take part with him by faith, he washes with his blood from their sin, Heb. 12:24; Rev. 1:5. He offered himself a sacrifice to God for sin, and the blood of the slain sacrifice is sprinkled on the
sinners in him, for their cleansing: 1 John 1:7, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The stain of sin was so deep, that nothing else could wash it out: and had he not provided the laver of his own blood, Abraham, Paul, and all the saints now in glory, since they were once filthy, would have been filthy still, with Cain, Judas, and other filthy vessels of wrath.
There are two things in his blood, that make it to wash out this stain, as deep as it is.
1st, An infinite value and dignity; for it is the blood of an infinite person, the blood of God, Acts 20:28, the Son of God, 1 John 1:7, the Father's equal, the Most High.
2dly, An infinite efficacy, power, and energy; for the Spirit is in it, the infinite Spirit of holiness, John 6:53. with 63. The blood was given for atonement, because the life of the flesh, or the animal spirits, are in the blood, Lev. 17:11. And therefore it was to be sprinkled while it was yet warm with the spirits in it. Now, Christ's blood is always warm and fresh, with the spirits of life and holiness in it, Heb. 10:20; Rev. 3:1.
4. There is a twofold washing by the blood of Christ; one that makes clean in the eye of the law, leaving not the least mark of a spot on the soul; peculiar to the saints in heaven, Heb. 12:23. Another, making clean in the eye of the gospel, though not absolutely: John 15:3, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Cant. 4:7, "Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee." It is this last our text means only. Only observe, that they are not different kinds, but different degrees of the same washing by Christ's blood. It is the same laver of Christ's blood, that we are washed in before death to fit
us for communion with God here, and that same laver that we are washed in at death, to fit us for communion with God in heaven. Only that efficacy of Christ's blood now exerted on us in part, is put forth on us in full measure to the utter abolition of sin, Eph. 5:25, 26, 27; Rev. 7:14, 15.
5. As washing is properly the purging away of filthiness, spots, and stains from the object washed; so the washing from sin is formally and directly the sanctification of the sinner, Eph. 5:26; Tit. 3:5. So if Christ sanctify us not, we have no part in him. How beit, it supposes or implies more than that wherein it formally consists.
In all washing there are two things to be distinguished: the loosing of the filth sticking to the object; for if it do not stick, it cannot defile: and the removing of it being once loosed, which is the washing properly. Accordingly in washing a soul from sin, there are two things.
1st, The loosing of the filth of sin sticking to the soul. Sin sticks to our souls, as pitch or tar to a man's fingers: and there is no removing of it, till once it be loosed by an application of Christ's blood. Now, it is by guilt that it sticks to our soul, 1 Cor. 15:56. And that is done away in our justification; which must needs go before our sanctification, as the loosing of sticking filth, before the washing it away; as the Holy Ghost teacheth, Rom. 7:6, "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." Hence the apostle saith of the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 6:11, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
2dly, The removing and purging away the filth of sin, being once loosed: and the same blood that looses it, purgeth it away in sanctification, as the same water that looseth the filth, carries it away off the cloth; and so the pardoned sinner is made holy: Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Rev. 7:14, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." And this purging away of the filth of sin off the sinner, lies in three things.
(1.) The putting away of his former loathsomeness before God. The blood of Christ having come over the soul, it is now washed, and God can look on it with complacency, Rev. 1:5, 6. He calls her beloved, that was not beloved.
(2.) Making of the soul fair and clean before the Lord: Cant. 4:7, "Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee." The Spirit in the blood leaves his own image on the soul, and carries it all over the man, 2 Cor. 3:18; Tit. 1:14. Life, eternal life, is in that blood, and wherever it comes; and it goes over the whole man, seeds of life are left in the soul that shall never die out. The Spirit in the blood takes of the fulness of grace in Christ, and communicates to them grace for grace, John 1:16, so transforming them into his image.
(3.) Removing the legal shame out of the soul before God, and causing it, with child-like kindly blushes, to come before him, and press near him, crying, Abba, Father, with the boldness of faith in greater or lesser measure: Rom. 8:15, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Ezra 9:6, "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens."
6. Faith is the instrumental cause of this washing. Hence the apostle, Acts 15:9, speaks of "purifying the heart by faith." It lays hold upon, and applies the blood of Christ: Rom. 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins."
7. Lastly, Afflictions are the occasional causes of this washing: Is. 27:9, "By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin."
III. The next thing to be considered, is the inseparableness of the two. They are so,
1. In respect of their subject, which is necessarily one. He that has the one, has the other; and no man can have either of them singly. If thou hast part in Christ, thou art washed by him; if thou art washed by him, thou hast part with him.
2. In respect of time. That moment one gets part with Christ, he washes him from his sins. In order of nature indeed, part with Christ goes before washing, and justification before sanctification. But in respect of time they come together and at once. That they are so inseparable, appears,
1st, From the end and design of Christ's death, which cannot be frustrated. He died for that end, that sinners taking part with him by
faith, might be washed by him from their sins, Eph. 5:25, &c.; Tit. 2:14.
2dly, From the nature of the thing. There is a lively efficacy in Christ's blood to wash away sin: so that the soul come to Christ, and having part in him, must needs be washed; or that precious blood must be counted as dead water, that has lost its virtue, Heb. 10:20. Can a foul garment be laid in a pure running stream, and the washing of it not be begun the moment that it is laid in? And can an unholy soul be united by faith to Christ, and the washing of it not begun that moment by virtue from his blood?
USE I. Of trial. Ye may hereby know whether ye have any part with Christ or not, and consequently whether ye have a right to the Lord's table or not? Are ye washed by Christ from your sin, or not? If ye are unsanctified, unholy souls, yet living in the filth of your sins, I declare ye have no part with Christ; since where there is no true holiness, there is no true faith.
QUESTION. How may I know that I am washed by Christ?
MARK 1. If ye are washed by Christ, though ye are not washed perfectly, ye are washed universally: washed in every part, though not perfectly clean in any part: 2. Cor. 5:17. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are past away, behold all things are become new." Ye are washed from the gross pollutions of the outward man, from the reigning pollutions of the inner man: Psal. 24:3. 4, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." There is a new set in you for purity, darting to all the points of the
Christian compass, though you fall short of degrees in every point. That compass ye find, 1 John 3:3. "And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
2. Ye lay the stress of your acceptance with God, not upon your inherent cleanness, the effect of your washing; but on the blood of Christ, the cause of it: Philip. 3:3. "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Close hypocrites never fail to split on this rock. That, Matth. 5:3. "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," is set first, for it must be carried through all;" and ver. 8. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."
3. Your hearts are loosed from sin, though it cleaves to you. It lies not like mud in a pool, where there is nothing to wear it out; but like mud in a spring, where the spring-water tends to work it out. So ye will be groaning under the remains of your uncleanness, saying, with the Apostle, Rom. 7:24. "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" You will be content to see every spot, Psal. 139:23, 24, that it may be washed off; and really desirous to be made perfectly clean; as was the Apostle, Philip. 3:13, 14, "I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
USE 2. Of instruction and direction to unwashed souls yet lying in their blood. Sinners, will ye be made clean?
For MOTIVE: To be left lying in the filth of sin, is formally one half of the punishment of the damned, and virtually the whole of it. See the
form of Christ's giving up with a sinner, and dropping him for ever, Rev. 22:11. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still." There is the punishment of loss. And in that filth will be bred and fed the worm that never dies; out of it will arise the fire that is never quenched. And that is the punishment of sense.
Now, the DIRECTION is, If ye would be washed by Christ, get part with Christ. Say not, Will ever I get part with Christ being so unclean, not purified and meet for him? But no uncleanness of yours can hinder your getting part with Christ, if you will but take it. See the case of the Corinthians, 1. Cor. 6:11. "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." And ye shall rot and pine away in your filth, wash otherwise as well as ye will, if ye will not take it: Psal. 81:11, 12, "But my people would not hearken to my voice: and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels."
QUESTION. What access have I to get part with Christ? ANSWER. Christ and his salvation are a common good 1. John 4:14. "We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." Jude ver. 3. this salvation is called "the common salvation." I proclaim to every one to come and take their part with Christ, assuring them of welcome: Rev. 22:17. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come: And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
QUESTION. How may I be possessed of part with Christ? ANSWER. By faith, crediting the promise of the gospel, and accordingly trusting on Christ as your Saviour, for his whole salvation; for salvation from sin as well as from wrath; for that holiness and purity of heart and life, which are absolutely necessary to make you meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, as well as for that righteousness by which you can only be accepted in the sight of God, and by which alone you can have a sure and indefeasible title to heaven and glory.
Lastly, Let the saints consider, that the more part they have with Christ, the more they will be washed; and that faith is the only way to have part with Christ in all his saying benefits, and that it is a mean, of God's appointment, for washing and purification. Hence be exercising faith daily upon Christ, and particularly in the view of going to a communion table, in order to your being washed and sanctified; remembering, that unless Christ wash you, you can have no part with him.
THE MYSTERY OF SANCTIFICATION BY
CHRIST
Several sermons preached, at Ettrick, August 25, 1728, and subsequent Lord's days.
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. - JOHN 13:8
I ENTERED on these words last Lord's day, on occasion of the sacramental solemnity which was then celebrated among us; observed a doctrine, proposed a method, which was briefly prosecuted, and I made some practical improvement of the subject. But as this text opens a large field of discourse, and contains ample matter for directing faith and practice, I shall now endeavour to prosecute the design of the words more fully, in a series of discourses. For this end I observe the following doctrine, viz.
DOCTRINE. Such an inseparable connection there is between a sinner's having part with Christ, and being washed from his sins by Christ in a work of sanctification, that if a sinner is not washed from his sins by Christ, he has no part with Christ, while he is so.
Briefly, If a sinner is not washed from his sins by Christ, he has no part with Christ.
In handling this important subject, I shall consider,
I. What it is to be washed from our sins by Christ, viz. unto a cleanness in the eye of the gospel.
II. The unwashed or unsanctified sinner's having no part with Christ.
III. Conclude with some practical inferences.
I. I shall consider what it is to be washed from our sins by Christ, viz. unto a cleanness in the eye of the gospel. And upon this head, I shall shew,
1. What this washing supposeth.
2. Wherein it consists.
3. How it is done and brought about.
First, I shall shew what our being washed from our sins by Christ supposeth.
1. It supposeth in the sinner, a conviction of the filthiness of sin, and his loathsomeness by it. Hence the church says, Is. 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." They that never saw the vileness and abominable nature of sin, are not washed from it; Prov. 30:12, "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness." The man cries not only, with the criminal, Guilty, guilty; but, with the leper, Unclean, unclean. Sin is not only frightful, but hateful and loathsome to him, as the vilest filth. Now, if ye have not been convinced of the filthiness of sin, ye have no part with Christ.
1st, This conviction is got by looking into the glass of the law, representing the spotless holiness of God: Rom. 7:12, 13, 14, "The law
is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." The glaring beauty of God's holiness expressed in the law, striking the sinner, he sees himself filthy and loathsome before the holy God, as most unlike him.
2dly, It fixes an impression of shame on the sinner. He is ashamed of himself, of what he is, what he has done, and what he has neglected to do; as the publican did, Luke 18:13. who "standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." He is like a child, that having got a clean white frock on him, has fallen into the mire, and stands ashamed before his mother in that pickle.
2. It supposes a willingness to be made clean: Psal. 19:12, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." It is not easy to bring a sinner that length: Jer. 13:27, "Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?" Sin is so woven into our nature, and so strengthened by custom in sin, which is a second nature, that it is harder to make a sinner willing to be made clean, than to bring a swine away from the mire and dirt it loves to nestle and wallow in. But in the day of the washing of a sinner, he is made as willing to be washed as ever child ashamed of his nastying himself is. So if ye have not been made willing to be clean, ye have no part with Christ.
3. It supposes a conviction that we cannot wash ourselves clean, by any thing we can do or suffer: Rom. 7:24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" What mars the washing by Christ with many, is, that they think they can wash themselves clean enough by themselves. They see not how fast the filth of sin sticks to them, and so they think their praying, confessing, reforming, and tears, will do it. But hear what Job says, chap. 9:30, 31, "If I wash myself with snow-water, and make my hand never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me." This every soul that is sanctified is brought to. Therefore if ye have not been convinced, that ye cannot wash yourselves clean, by any thing ye can do, ye have no part with Christ.
4. It supposes a hearty consent of the soul to be washed by Christ. Christ washes none against their will: Jer. 13:27, "Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?" They that will needs lie still in their filthiness, shall lie and rot in it for ever for him: Rev. 22:11, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still." Hos. 4:17, "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." Christ makes all his elect willing to be holy, but he forces holiness on none. Therefore if ye have not given a hearty consent of your soul to be washed, ye have no part with Christ.
5. Lastly, It supposes a presenting of our defiled souls to Christ to be washed by him. This is the work of faith, by which the soul comes to the waters: Is. 55:1, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." The soul comes to Christ, as the leper to the priest to be cleansed: Psal. 51:7, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow." Compared with Lev. 14:6, "As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them, and the living bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water." It eyes him as a Saviour from the filth, as well as the guilt of sin; as a sanctifier of the unclean, as well as a justifier of the ungodly. Therefore, if ye have not presented your defiled souls to Christ, to be washed by him, ye have no part with Christ.
Secondly, I shall shew wherein our being washed from our sins by Christ consists. As washing in the general consists in removing filthiness, and making clean; so does the washing of a soul by Christ, lie in removing the filth of sin from off the sinner, and making him clean in likeness to God. Now,
1. Christ washeth sinners in the inner man: Psal. 45:13, "The King's daughter is all glorious within." Pharisaical washings reach the outer man only: but Christ's washing goes to the hidden man of the heart. Adam left us in the mire of sin, with a nature corrupt and filthy, the very reverse of the nature of God; all the faculties of our souls defiled, Tit. 1:15. But Christ washes our nature and faculties. And this lies in two things.
1st, Removing and washing off that filth of sin, that either clave to them from our birth, or has been added to them since: Tit. 3:5. "Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." We came into the world with such corruption cleaving to our nature and faculties, as not only disabled us for all good, but made us prone to all evil, and averse to all good. This is
strengthened and increased during the time one lives unregenerate. And the corruption of nature spreads itself, and takes many roots in the soul, in diverse particular lusts, Rom. 6:12. Now, Christ washing this filth off the soul,
(1.) Purgeth our whole nature and faculties, from that corruption, so far that it does not reign there: Rom. 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." The total blindness as to the receiving of the things of God, is purged out of the mind; that reiguing aversion to good, out of the will; and the reigning carnality, out of the affections. The natural corrupt bent of the heart is taken away, removed, and broken; the stony heart is taken away, and a heart of flesh is given, Ezek. 36:26.
(2.) He purgeth the soul from its old lusts, loosing them at the root: Gal. 5:24, "They that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." As in the deluge of waters coming over the earth, trees deeply rooted were washed away by the roots, and lay floating here and there, and so might give some disturbance to the ark: so Christ's efficacious blood coming over the soul, looses old lusts by the roots, though they are not quite taken away, but give disturbance to the believer. They are in him as a broken tooth, they hang at him as a leg out of joint.
2dly, It lies in introducing the beauty of habitual holiness into our souls, in conforming us to the image of Christ: Tit. 3:5, forecited. 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." As the vessel of brass or silver, being overlaid with nastiness, has nothing of its primitive lustre; yet
when it is washed and scoured, it recovers some-what of its former brightness: so the unwashed sinner has lost all his primitive spiritual glory: but Christ washing him in the day of grace, he recovers it somewhat; and the washing being perfected in glory, he will be brighter and more glorious than ever. Now, Christ introducing this into our soul,
(1.) Implants in us a new nature, which goes over all the faculties of the soul. It is a divine nature, 2 Pet. 1:4, as coming from God, and making the soul like God, John 3:6, "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit." Hence the man is a new creature; all his faculties are renewed, mind, will, and conscience: 2 Cor. 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away, behold, all things are become new." This nature has a bent and propensity to good, and an aversion to evil, and cannot lose it as long as it is in being: and it will be ever, for it is an immortal nature. Hence the combat, Gal. 5:17, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
(2.) This new nature hath in it the seeds of all saving graces: 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Compared with Deut. 30:6, "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." We have a swatch of them, Gal. 5:22, 23, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." And they are taken out of that fulness of grace that is in Christ the head, and communicated to the sinner as a member: John
1:16. "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." And thus they bear the image of Christ, that as he was meek, lowly, &c. so are they in a measure. And hereby they are enabled for all acts of holy obedience, as a principle of life gives power for motion.
This is the washing of the sinner in the inner man: and if ye are not so washed by Christ, ye have no part with him.
2. Christ washeth sinners in the outward man too: Psal. 45:13. "The King's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold." These two go together, the latter issuing from the former: Psal. 24:3. 4. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." James 4:8. "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." As the candle within shines through the lantern, so grace in the heart appears in the outward conversation: Matth. 6:22. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." As the corruption of nature reigning, vents itself in abominable works, Psal. 14:1; so the cleansing and purifying of our nature, vents itself in good works, Tit. 2:14. "Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works." "For as the tree is, so will the fruit be."
Now, Christ washing sinners in the outward man.
1st, Removes the filth that before clave to their life and conversation, Eph. 4:22. It is no more a vile conversation, nay, nor a vain conversation, 1 Peter 1:18; not a disorderly, but a well-ordered conversation, Psal. 50:23. They that go back to their former
conversation, whether in vanity or vileness, shew themselves but Satan's washed swine, not Christ's washed saints, 2. Pet 2:22. It reaches,
(1.) Their words, and purifies them from corrupt communication. If the heart be circumcised, so will the lips be too: James 1:26. "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." If grace rule in the heart, the tongue will not be allowed to go at random. The liberty that some take with their tongues in obscenity, lying, swearing, mocking and jesting at serious religion, &c. proclaims them to be unwashed by Christ. See Psal. 15.
(2.) It reaches the course of their actions, and purifies it: Heb. 9:14. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" It purifies their course from impiety against God, and injustice against man; teaching them to walk, as Tit. 2:12. "Soberly, righteously, and godly." Their hands are washed, as well as their hearts: and their feet are washed, that they go not in the way of sinners as before.
2dly, He beautifies them in their life and conversation: Cant. 7:1. "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter? the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a running workman." Compared with Eph. 6:15. "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." He makes them "shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation;" and helps them to a conversation becoming the gospel. And this also reaches,
(1.) Their words. Their tongue is made their glory whereby they glorify God. Instead of corrupt communication, they produce something for the use of edifying. Being translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, they learn the language of it.
(2.) The course of their works. They not only cease to do evil but learn to do well, Is. 1:16. 17. They become "zealous of good works," Tit. 2:14. As it is but half washing that takes away only the gross filth, but makes not clean: so it is but half Christianity, where people satisfy themselves with not doing evil, but set not themselves to do good.
Thirdly, I shall shew how our being washed from our sins by Christ is done and brought about. Christ washeth sinners, making use of several things to that blessed purpose.
First, Christ washeth sinners, using some things more immediately for that purpose towards them. And,
First, Christ washeth sinners with his blood, as the most immediate cause of their cleansing. Hence the church ascribes praise to Christ, "who loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood," Rev. 1:5. The blood of Christ hath that place in washing of defiled souls, that water hath in washing defiled bodies: so it is the holy water wherewith we are washed from our sins. Therefore it is called a fountain, and that not only to drink at, but to wash at: Zech. 13:1, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." Compared with 1 John 1:7, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin." This blood being applied to the soul polluted with sin, it effectually removes the filth of sin from the soul.
For understanding this, these things are to be noted.
1. The defilement or uncleanness sin leaves on the soul, is not a bodily and visible thing, as nastiness on our bodies or clothes, which may be taken away with hands: but it is a moral and spiritual uncleaness, viz., an unlikenness or contrariety to the holiness of God expressed in his law; so that the washing of a soul from it is the rendering of that soul like unto God in his imitable perfections, expressed in the ten commandments, which express his image unto us, that appeared perfectly in the man Christ, being and walking exactly in every point according to these ten commands, in all their spirituality and extent.
2. By the blood of Christ in this matter, is not meant simply the blood that ran out of his veins in his circumcision, the sufferings of his life, and crucifixion; but Christ himself sacrificed for us; which sacrifice was begun from the moment of his incarnation, was continued all his life long, was perfected on the cross and in the grave, and received its actual purifying efficacy in his resurrection, as a sacrifice fully offered, and accepted for the ends it was offered for: Tit. 2:14, "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. Rom. 4:23, "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." 1 Cor. 6:11, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Hence we owe our sanctification to the holiness of his nature, and the righteousness of
his life, as well as to his death; the former being as essentially requisite to make him an effectual sacrifice for us, as the latter; since no sacrifice could atone, but what was without natural and accidental blemish. But his blood is particularly named in the case,
1st, For that the life going away with the blood in all living creatures, and so in the man Christ, the shedding of his blood was the perfecting stroke in his sacrificing himself for us: so that we are said to be washed with his blood, as the prisoner is said to be delivered by his cautioner's paying the utmost farthing of his debt. See Rom. 1:17, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Compared with Rom. 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins."
2dly, For decency of expression, the term blood being most agreeable to the term washing, which relates to some liquid. Agreeable hereto was it, that after Christ being born holy, had lived holy, and died on the cross, his side was pierced, and there came forth blood and water fitted to wash: the Holy Ghost thereby teaching, that the washing or sanctifying of sinners was to proceed from Christ, in his holy birth, life, and death; thence was the spring of purifying virtue from sin.
3. As it is by applying water to the unclean thing, that it is washed: so it is by applying to our souls, Christ sacrificed for us, that we are sanctified and washed from sin. A man may stand at a river side bedaubed with mire and dirt, till he die; and yet be never a whit the cleaner if the water of that river, be not brought close upon him: so Christ, in the purifying virtue of his blood, may be within reach of the sinner's hand all his days, and yet he may die in his filth of sin, and
lie in it in hell for ever, if Christ and he never come close together in a spiritual union. The blood of sacrifices was first offered to God for atonement, and then it was sprinkled on persons or things for their purification: Heb. 9:19, "For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people." Compared with Exod. 24:5–8, "And Moses sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said, will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." The offering of the blood of Christ to God is over, near seventeen hundred years ago: but the sprinkling or application of it is still going on: Heb. 12:22, 24, "But ye are come—to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Where it is sprinkled, they are cleansed; where not, they lie still in their filth, having no more cleansing from sin by it, than if it had never been shed.
4. It is not every water that will wash clean; but there is a cleansing virtue in some water, that is not in other water. I am not to inquire into the cause of that difference; but into the cause of the cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ, whereby we are washed from sin, that is not in any other thing, though men have multiplied things for that end. If we inquire into the spring of the cleansing virtue that is in Christ sacrificed for us, and in no other things, we find these two.
1st, There is a real and proper merit of sinners' sanctification in him. By his sacrifice of himself he has merited at the hand of God the sanctification of us, and washing us from our sin: Eph. 5:25, 26, "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it: that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Christ as really merited our personal holiness, and every good work we do, at the hand of God, as he merited the pardon of atheism and blasphemy to us: so absurd is the merit of our works: Tit. 2:14, "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 1 Pet. 1:18, 19, "Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Now, there is no such merit in any thing else, that they should wash.
Hence Christ being applied to the soul, or his blood sprinkled on it, has a loosing efficacy, that the filth of sin is loosed from the soul it stuck close to before: even as the payment of the ransom applied to the captive, actually looses the bond of his captivity; so as a just judge can no more suffer him to be a captive, a prisoner. I shewed before, that it is guilt that is that bond. Wherefore, for persons to pretend part with Christ, while yet their filth of sin sticks as close to them, and they to it, as ever, is to blaspheme the justice of the Father, or the merit of the Son; as if either the one did receive the ransom, and yet not set the captive free; or else the other's merit was defective, and therefore ineffectual.
2dly, There is a fulness of the Spirit of holiness in him, or in his blood. Hence he is said, Rev. 3:1, to have "the seven Spirits of God."
Christ sacrificed for us, is the receptacle of the Spirit of sanctification, as the animal spirits are in the blood while fresh and warm, as Christ's blood always is: that is, Christ himself as sacrificed, Heb. 10:20. And that Spirit of sanctification is not in other things, not in Popish penances, not in the legal performances of prayers, tears, confessions, resolutions, &c. which many Protestants use for washing themselves. All these in this case are but dead water, congealed blood without spirits, that defile, but cannot wash.
Hence Christ being applied to, or his blood sprinkled on a soul, has a cleansing efficacy, removing the filth of sin, and cleansing and brightening the soul in likeness to God: 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Thus Christ speaking of that application of himself to sinners, as by eating and drinking, which are most close even to the incorporating the meat and drink with the feeder, John 6:53, 54, "Then Jesus said unto the Jews, Verily verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day;" gives this as the reason of the efficacy, ver. 63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." As filthy sores are washed and cleansed with spirituous liquors, filthy souls are washed and cleansed with the blood of Christ, full of the Spirit of holiness.
Wherefore to pretend to part with Christ, and yet still to live in your sins, without repentance, or reformation and amendment, is to blaspheme either the blood of Christ, or his Spirit; as if either there
were no Spirit of holiness in his blood, or else that that Spirit of holiness hath no efficacy to purge away the filth of sin, and make holy.
5. Washing off of filth and making clean, is according to the degree of the application of the water with its cleansing virtue. It is a very slight spot that will be quite washed off at the very first brush. There is virtue enough in the river, at once to wash clean a filthy object; but the washer applies it but by degrees, so that it may be long ere it be got perfectly clean: so there is virtue enough in Christ to wash all whom he washes at all, perfectly clean at once; but that virtue is applied but by degrees, 2 Cor. 3:18, forecited. Prov. 4:18, "The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
There is a threefold washing of sinners, according to a threefold application of Christ's blood to them.
1st, A begun washing by a begun application thereof. This is done in the work of conversion. Tit. 3:5, it is called the washing of regeneration. Here the soul that before all along was lying in wickedness together with the unclean world, being taken out from among them by effectual calling, and united to Christ by faith, and so having part with him, is washed from his filthiness, by an application of the blood of Christ, that never touched him before, but now streams over him in union with Christ: Ezek. 16:8, 9, "Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with
water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil."
Concerning the washing, the effect of this application, observe,
(1.) It is a washing all over; a washing of every part, though not quite clean in any part: 2 Cor. 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away, behold, all things are become new." Therefore it is called a new birth: Tit. 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." John 3:5, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." We do not say a child is born, when his head, or feet, or an arm are born; but when the whole child is brought forth. Some shew a head, that, with notions of the principles of religion in it, and a tongue to talk of them, seems to be washed; others shew feet, that, by going in the road of outward reformation, and some external duties, seem to be washed. But it is not the washing of regeneration; for it goes not all over them: they are new in some things, but they are just what they were in other things. Trace them to their walk in their employments and relations, to the entertainment given to the beloved lust, to the inner man, and set of their heart with respect to the purity of the holy law; and they are just the same with the world lying in wickedness. That is an evidence, that their washing is with their own nitre and soap, not with the blood of Christ.
(2.) It is a washing that puts one in a state of cleanness, bringing him out of a state of filthiness: John 13:10, "He that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." There is a
difference between one lying in a mire, and another that has defiled his feet; though both need washing, the latter needs but to wash his feet. Such is the case of the unregenerate and regenerate: Cant. 6:10, "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" When the dawning is come, it is true it is not broad day-light; but yet it is day, not night. The moon has her spots, yet she is not filthy, but fair.
(3.) That state of cleanness can never be lost, John 13:10, forecited. Many seem to be brought to a state of cleanness, but at length they turn apostates: that says, they were never out of the state of filthiness, and the church of God was but beguiled with them, when they took them for persons in a state of cleanness. They that are once washed, will never apostatize, nor go back again to wallow in the mire: 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us."
2dly, A continued and progressive washing, by a continued progressive application of Christ's blood to the soul. This is done and carried on all along from the first conversion of a sinner, until his death. Therefore though the elders were about the throne in white, yet there was a sea of glass before it, Rev. 4:4, 6. And the fountain stands opened for the house of David, as well as for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Zech. 13:1; for saints as well as for sinners. They that, deeming themselves once washed, find no need of washing more, proclaim themselves not washed by Christ, as do they who betake themselves for it to another laver. They that are come to Christ for washing, are still coming, 1 Pet. 2:4.
Two things make this continued washing necessary.
(1.) Continued imperfection in the washing of the soul during this life, Philip. 3:12. Believers are in no moment of time perfectly clean; in their most shining moments they are still but as the moon, not without their spots. So that they never want matter of exercise, in purging that they may arrive at a perfect purity: 1 John 3:3, "Every man that hath this hope in him, purifleth himself, even as he is pure."
(2.) New defilements contracted continually. Though they never lose the state of cleanness, yet they are always needing to wash their feet: John 13:10, "He that is washed, needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." An allusion to the priests in the temple service. They are all priests to God, and so washed: but while they go about, such is the defiled world they walk in, the remains of defilement in them, that in every thing they contract some spot: James 3:2, "For in many things we offend all." Their heart and life have so many remaining seeds of corruption, that they never want occasion to pluck up weeds.
Now, this continued washing is by the continued application of Christ's blood, and no other way: 1. John 1:7, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." For,
[1.] This is the way the saints have looked for it; as David, Psal. 51:2. "Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." Ver. 7, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." As the lepers could, by no art of their own, be so purified as to be admitted to society, but by the priests sprinkling them; so sinners, by no art or endeavours of their
own, can be purified so as to be admitted to fellowship with God, but by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon them. Therefore the sea of glass, which is the blood of Christ, stands before the throne, that whosoever would have communion with God, may wash there, and so be fitted for it.
[2.] There is no merit of holiness, nor fulness of the Spirit in any thing else. The doings and sufferings of saints are as free of merit, as those of sinners: Luke 17:10, "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Neither is there any thing of the Spirit in them, but so far as the blood of Christ is sprinkled on them, rendering them acceptable, Rev. 7:14; 2 Cor. 2:16. But in the blood of Christ there is a never-failing merit, a constant fulness of the Spirit, to which the soul may have continual recourse for washing, as to a fountain never dry.
3dly, A perfect washing, by a full application of the blood of Christ. And this takes place at death, Heb. 12:23—"To the spirits of just men, made perfect." Then believers washed in conversion, and who have been all along washed in the blood of Christ, are by the same means made quite clean and without spot: Eph. 5:25, 26, 27, "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it: that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish." This lies in two things.
(1.) The doing away the remains of sin wholly. The reigning power of sin being broken by the first application, it is gradually removed by
further application, and quite carried off by the full application at death. Not the least stain, nor mark of it, will then be left on the believing soul. But the filth of sin now carried off in part from the whole man, will then be wholly carried off from every part.
(2.) The perfecting of the image of God: 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." The several lineaments of it are indeed drawn now upon the believer, but mixed with corruption in every part: but then it shall be without mixture, every part getting the finishing stroke in that image, 1 Cor. 13:10. "But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." So shall they "shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever," Dan. 12:3. "The righteous shall shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father," Matth. 13:43.
Now, it is by a full application of the blood of Christ, that is, by a full participation of Christ crucified in his purifying virtue, that this washing is made: Rev. 7:14, 15, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." The cleansing virtue going out from him to the soul in some measure now, will then go out in full measure, as when a sluice is opened, and carries all away before it: 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Compared with 1 John 3:2, forecited. The soul putting off the body, unites more closely with
Christ than ever, and so partakes of his merit, and fulness of Spirit, to a pitch of perfection: Eph. 4:13, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ."
Secondly, Christ washeth sinners by his Spirit: Tit. 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 2 Thess. 2:13, "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." And the Spirit of Christ has that place in washing defiled souls, that the hand of the washer hath in washing the defiled body of another. The hand being the instrument of action with men, the Spirit of Christ is held forth under that notion, the whole work of the application of Christ's redemption to us being done by him: Acts 11:21, "And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord." Is. 53:1, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Matt. 12:28, "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Compared with Luke 11:20, "But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." So Christ washeth sinners with his blood, by his Spirit: John 3:5, "Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 1 John 5:8, "And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." This the apostle very plainly teacheth, 1 Cor. 6:11, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." So Christ's hand has never come on that soul for washing, which is destitute of the Spirit of Christ: