Lectures Upon Psalm 51, Part 8 · Lecture 121
Lecture CXXI. On Psalme 51.7. Iune 23. 1629.
WE have already heard, that in this petition of David that God would purge and wash him from his sinnes (which is the first part of this Verse) two things are to be observed. 1. The matter, the thing that he desired to be purged and washed with; that is to say, the bloud of Christ; which was represented and signified by all that water and bloud that was used under the Law for the purifying of them that were legally uncleane. 2. The manner how he desired to be purged and cleansed with it, Purge me with hysop, saith he. The former of these two points we finished the last day; and now it followeth that we proceed unto the latter of them.
And that we may the better receive the instruction that the Holy Ghost intendeth to teach us in it,Nota. wee must call to mind that (which wee heard in the opening of the words) the hysop had no other use in the purging of them that were legally uncleane, but onelyonly to sprinkle the bloud of the sacrifices, and of the water of expiation upon them. In which respect scarlet wooll also was used with the hysop to take up the more of the bloud and water which by the bunch of hysop was to bee sprinkled upon them. Moses tooke the blood of calves and of goats (saith the Apostle, Hebrewes 9.19.) with water, and scarlet wooll and hysop, and sprinkled both the booke and all the people. And by this sacramentall rite of sprinkling the bloud and water upon the people, with a bunch of hysop, the Lords meaning was, to apply the bloud of the covenant particularly unto them, and to teach them sensibly, that it did belong unto them. This appeareth by the words that Moses used to the people, when he sprinkled the bloud of their sacrifices upon them. Behold (saith he Exod. 24.8.) the bloud of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you. As if he had said, the covenant is made with you, this bloud whereby the Lords covenant is ratified belongeth to you. So that Davids meaning here is to beg this of God, that he would sprinkle the bloud of Christ upon him, and (as with a bunch of hysop) apply it particularly unto him, assure him it was shed for him, and so purge him from his sins by it. This was the onelyonly way by which he hoped to receive benefit by the bloud of Christ, and whereby hee looked to obtaine comfortable assurance of the pardon of his sins, if the Lord would please (as with a bunch of hysope) to sprinkle the bloud of that sacrifice upon his heart. The Doctrine then that we are to receive from hence for our instruction, is this.
Doct. 27That no man can receive comfort by the bloud of Christ, till it be sprinkled upon his heart, and applyed to him by the spirit of God, till God by his spirit do assure him that it is his, that it was shed for him.
Two branches there bee of the Doctrine you see. 1. No man can receive comfort by the bloud of Christ, but hee that hath it sprinkled upon his heart, and applyed unto him. 2. None but the Lord himselfe by his holy spirit can apply and sprinkle the bloud of Christ upon the heart of any man, and assure him that it doth belong to him.
Branch 1For the first branch of the Doctrine, I will give you three sorts and degrees of proofes.
First. That the Lord in his word ascribeth the vertue and benefit that Gods people have by the bloud of Christ, to the sprinkling of it upon them. As it was in the type that David here alludeth too; the Leper could not bee cleansed by the bloud of his sacrifice, till it was sprinkled upon him, Levit. 14.7. nor hee that had touched a dead body, by the water of expiation, till it was sprinkled upon him, Num. 19.18, 19. So speaketh the Scripture likewise of the bloud of Christ, which was signified by those types, it ascribeth the vertue of it, and the benefit Gods people receive by it to the sprinkling of it upon them. I will not trouble you with many proofes, I will give you two only out of the old Testament, and two out of the new. The Prophet fore-telling, Esa. 52.15. the benefit that the Gentiles aswell as the Iewes, should receive by Christ, saith he, should sprinkle many nations. As though he had said, he should by his Gospel apply himselfe and his merits unto them, and perswade them, that they aswell as the Iewes, had interest in them. And I will sprinkle cleane water upon you (Eze. 36.25. that is, I will by my spirit apply unto you the bloud of my son) and you shall be cleane from all your filthines, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. Then we shall be cleane from all our filthinesse, when this bloud is once sprinkled upon us, and not before. And in the new Testament the Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 1.2. that we are elected to be saved through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience, and through the sprinkling of the blood of Iesus Christ. As if hee had said, None are elected unto glory, but they must come to it this way, they must bee sanctified by the spirit of God, and made obedient to the will of God in all things, and they must bee justified by the blood of Christ from all their sinnes. And this our justification is thus expressed by the Apostle, it is said to consist in the sprinkling of the bloud of Iesus Christ, in the applying of it unto our selves, and making it our owne. And the bloud of Christ, which is said to speake better things then the bloud of Abel, that is, to plead and cry for mercy unto God for us, is called by the Apostle, Heb. 12.24. the bloud of sprinkling; that is, that bloud which is sprinkled and applyed to us. It is the purging of us with hysope you see, the sprinkling and applying of the bloud of Christ to our owne hearts, that yeeldeth us all the comfort that we have by it.
Secondly. Christ and his bloud are oft compared in Scripture to such things, as though they bee profitable and necessary, yet can doe us no good, unlesse they bee applyed; as to a garment that must bee put on, Rom. 13.14. to a healing and soveraigne salve, Esa. 53.5. that must be laid to the very part that is sore; to meat and drinke, Iohn 6.53. that must be eaten and digested unto every part before it can nourish us.
Thirdly and lastly. This is the maine thing that the Lord aimeth at, both in his word and sacraments to apply Christ particularly unto his people. As this was the forme of Gods covenant with Abraham, and all his seed, all the faithfull, Genes. 17.7. I am thy God, and the God of thy seed. So hath he commanded his servants in the ministery of his Gospel, to make particular application of Christ and his merits, to his people. Speake to the heart of Ierusalem (saith the Lord to his servants, Esa. 40.2.) and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. And so our Saviour chargeth the Apostles, Mark. 16.15. to preach th… Gospel to every creature, to every man that he should send them unto. And what is it to preach the Gospel unto a man, but to say unto him as the Angels did unto the shepheards. Luke. 2.11. VntoUnto you is borne this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord? And as for both the Sacraments, the chiefe use they were ordained for, is to apply Christ particularly to every worthy receiver, and to assure him of his owne speciall interest hee hath in all his merits. Thus speaketh the Apostle of baptisme, Galat. 3.27. As many of you as have beene baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Thus speaketh he also of the Lords supper, 1 Cor. 10.16. The cup of blessing which we blesse, is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ? As if he had said, Is it not the making of it our owne?
Thus you have seene the first branch of the Doctrine confirmed to you that no man can receive comfort by the bloud of Christ, but he that hath it sprinkled upon his heart, and applyed unto him.
The second branch of it,Branch 2 that none but the Lord himselfe can thus apply and sprinkle the bloud of Christ upon the heart of any man, is also evident by the holy Scripture, I will say unto them (saith the Lord, Hos. 2.23.) thou art my people, and they shall say unto me, thou art my God. When God shall once by his spirit say unto any soule of ours, thou art mine, one of my people, of my redeemed ones, when hee shall (as with a bunch of hysop) sprinkle the bloud of his son upon our heart, and say to any of us as he did to his people, Zac. 9.11. it is the bloud of thy covenant, of the covenant which I have made with thee, then shall wee have sound comfort in it, and bee able with confidence to say to him againe, thou art my God, and to cry to him, as poore weake Thomas the Apostle did, Iob. 20.28. My Lord and my God, & till then we shall never be able to do it The spirit it selfe (saith the Apostle, Rom. 8.16.) heareth witnesse with our spirit, that we are the children of God. As if he had said, Though our owne spirit and conscience be never so confident in this point, that wee are Gods children, and Christ by his bloud hath made our peace with God; this is to no purpose, till Gods sanctifying spirit be in us, and doth beare witnesse with our owne spirit in this point, and assure us that Christ is ours, we can never have sound comfort in him. It is the spirit that beareth witnesse (saith the Apostle, 1 Ioh 5.6.) because the spirit is truth. As if he had said, no witnesse is infallible, or any thing worth in this case, but the spirit of God. And in this respect, is the spirit of God called the comforter, Ioh. 14.26. He could never be our comforter, if he did not thus beare witnes with our spirits, that we are Gods children, that Christ is ours, that his bloud was shed for us.
The reasons and grounds of the Doctrine are two, according to the two severall branches of it.
First.Reason 1. If you aske me, Why can Christs bloud doe us no good, unlesse it be sprinkled upon our hearts, and applyed to us? I answer, Because reason and experience teacheth us, that as the propriety a man hath in any good thing, doth much increase his comfort in it. (And to this the holy Ghost alludeth Pro. 5.15. Drinke waters out of thine owne cistern, and running waters out of thine owne well, and 2 Thess. 3.12. Let them worke with quietnesse, and eat their owne bread. A little of a mans own, is a great deale sweeter to him, then a great deale that is another mans, though he have some use of it) so it is a great vexation and increase of misery to a man many times to see others enjoy a benefit, which themselves have as much need of, and can have no part in it. And the greater they know the benefit to be, the more are they vexed in this case. Thus is it with a rebell that knoweth a pardon is granted to a great number that were every whit as unworthy of it, as deep in the rebellion as himselfe, and yet he can have no benefit by it. And with a poore man that seeth a great dole given, and multitudes releived by it, and he can get nothing. So is it certainly in this case, the more any man knoweth of Christ, and of the all sufficiency of that redemption that he hath made by his blood, the greater must his torment and horror needs be when he shall find that he hath no part in it. When (like Tantalus) he shall see there is water of life before him, which others drinke of, & quench their deadly thirst by and he can get none of it himselfe. This is that which the Apostle saith increaseth the torments of the devils themselves Iames. 7.19. The devils also beleeve and tremble. They know Christ full well to bee an all-sufficient Saviour. I know thee who thou art saith he, Mar. 1.24.) even the holy one of God. But they tremble so much the more for that, because they know withall, that they neither have, nor ever shall have any part in him.
Reason 2.Secondly. If you aske me, Why can none but God himselfe by his holy spirit sprinkle this bloud of his son upon our hearts? I answer, Because there is in every one of us an evill heart of unbeliefe, as the Apostle calleth it, Heb. 13.1…. and (though in our peace, and jolity, wee thinke it is nothing to beleeve in Christ, it is as easie by faith to feed upon his body and bloud in the Sacrament, as it is to take and feed upon the bread and wine) when our conscience shall bee once awakened, we shall find our hearts not so strongly inclined to any sin as infidelity, utterly unable to apply to our selves the bloud of Christ, or to beleeve that God should ever love us so dearely, as to give his son to dye for us. Wee will bee apt then to flye from God, as Adam did, when his eyes were opened, Gen. 3.8. And therefore the Apostle telleth us, Ephe. 1.19. it is a worke of the exceeding greatnes of Gods power, that any man is able to beleeve this.
Let us now make some use of this Doctrine unto our selves, 1. For instruction, 2. For exhortation. 3. For comfort.
Vse 1.First. This Doctrine teacheth us how to judge of popery, that it is not onelyonly a false and antichristian Doctrine that directly opposeth Christ, and that in the most fundamentall point of his holy religion, in the Doctrine of justification, but that it is also a Doctrine of desperation, and such as depriveth them that beleeve it, of all true comfort in the hou…e of death, and time of distresse. In which respect the holy Ghost hath most fitly resembled the teachers of it, by those Locusts mentioned, Rev. 9.5.10. 1. They had faces like men, and their Doctrine in shew hath no terror in it. 2. They have the haire of women, their Doctrine hath many inticements to allure men to the liking of them, and to provoke unto spirituall lust and fornication. 3. They have crownes of gold upon their heads, they prevaile much, and have great reverence and authority where they come. But 4. they have tailes like unto scorpions, and they have stings in their tailes, saith the holy Ghost, their Doctrine is such as will certainly in the end torment the conscience of them that receive it intolerably. They can never have sound peace and comfort in their conscience, that do beleeve it. Their torment was (saith the text, ver. 5.) as the torment of a scorpion when he stingeth a man…, so intolerable as men shall seeke death, and shall not find it, shall desire to dye, and death shall fly… from them. Marke but foure Doctrines which they teach, and this will be evident unto you. 1. Their Doctrine of justification, that a man must be justified in Gods sight, by a righteousnesse inherent in himselfe, and by his good workes; a broken reed (God knoweth) for a weary and fainting soule to rest upon. 2, Their Doctrine of purgatory, that when men dye there is a fire prepared for them in purgatory, that their soules must goe to, and remaine in, no man knoweth how many hundred yeares, which fire is no lesse painful & intolerable, then the fire of hell is. 3. Their Doctrine of doubting, that no man can be in this life, certain that he is in the state of grace, hope well he may, but sure he can never be that his sins are so forgiven that they shal never be laid to his charge againe, he must be in doubt continually; nay it is sin and blasphemy (say they) for any man to say he is certain of his salvation. 4. Lastly. Their Doctrine of saving & justifying faith, that it is nothing but a perswasion of the mind that whatsoever God hath revealed, is undoubtedly true (which we have learned out of the Apostle, is in the devils themselves) That speciall faith that applyeth Christ and his merits particularly to every beleever, that hath in it an affiance of the heart, & a resting upon Christ for a mans owne salvation; this bloud of sprinkling that you have now heard of, that they disdaine, and scoffe at, and persecute as vaine presumption. Alas, how can these poore wretches that receive these teachers, that beleeve these Doctrines, have any comfort in death? How can they chuse but be then in intolerable terrour and torment of conscience? certainly many Papists are so, and all would bee, were it not that they are made drunke with a wine of spirituall fornication, which the whoore of Babylon hath made them to drink of, as the spirit of God in Rev. 17.…. hath fore-told it should be. And who would wonder to see senslesnesse and stupidity in a drunken man?
O therefore (beloved) 1. Pity your friends and kinsmen that are seduced by these wretched teachers,Applic. & do what you can to reclame them. 2. Consider how small cause there is, that we have so long enjoyed & professed the Gospel, which is the only way of peace, as Zachary calleth it, Lu. 1.79. And of which the Lord hath so oft spoken by his spirit to our hearts, as he did, Esa. 28.12, This is the rest wherwith y… m…y cause the w…ary to rest, & this is the refreshing. As if he had said, this is the Doctrine wherin the weariest & faintest, and most afflicted soule may find rest and refreshing. How small cause is there (I say) that wee should now grow weary of the Gospel, & entertaine thoughts with those rebels, Num. 14.4. of returning into that Egypt againe, that house of bondage, Exod. 13.3. where no true rest or comfort is to be found for the conscience. Nay consider 3. how just cause of feare we have, lest the Lord, because we have lost our first love to him, & his blessed Gospel, will remove our candlesticke, & deprive us of it, as he threatneth Ephesus, Rev. 2.4, 5. And take heed we grow not weary of him, as he chargeth Israel, Esa. 43.22. and loath his Gospel, lest he loath us, and grow weary of us, and spew us out, as he threatneth the Laodiceaus, that had lost their zeale Rev. 3.16. And let us take heed of doting upon antichrist, his altars, and his images, & his apish ceremonies, or any part of his damnable doctrines, left the Lord let antichrist enter, and prevaile againe in this land, that we may know by wofull experience the difference of his service, & the service of Christ, the difference betweene popery and the Gospell; as the Lord threatned his people. 2. Chr. 1….8.
The second use that this Doctrine serveth unto,Vse 2. is to exhort us that seeing none can have comfort in the blood of Christ, till it be sprinkled upon him. and applyed to him, till the spirit of God have made him to know, it belongeth unto him, that therfore every one of us would labour to find that it is so with himselfe, that we would give no rest to our selves, till wee find we have our part in this blood of sprinkling, till the spirit of God have applyed it unto us, & assured us that it, & all the vertue, and merit of it belongeth unto us, O beloved. 1. Content not thy selfe to know that God loveth thee so far, as he giveth thee life and health, he letteth thee live in peace, and wealth, and credit here, alas hee loved Cain and Dives, and many more that now fry in hell so far; but labour to know that he loved thee so farre, as that he gave his sonne to dye for thee, let no fruit of Gods love so satisfie thee but that. In this, was manifested the love of God towards us (saith the Apostle, 1 Ioh 4, 9, 10.) because that God sent his only begotten son into the world, that wee might live through him, herein is love. No fruit of Gods love is worth the having, is worth the speaking of, in comparison of this. Neither content thy selfe to know this in generall that God so loved the world that he gave his Sonne to redeeme all that can beleeve in him, but labour to know in particular that which Paul knew, Gal. 2.20. that he loved thee and gave himselfe for thee. 3. Neither content thy selfe to thinke and hope well that Christ died for thee, Go not by thinking in this case, but make this sure to thy heart upon good grounds, Give diligence to make thy calling and election sure, saith the Apostle, 2 Pet. 1.10. Neither 4 content thy selfe to say carelesly, though not yet sure of this, I hope I shall be before I die, I hope God will purge mee with hysope one day, and sprinkle this bloud of his Son upon my heart, but labour speedily and without delay to get this assurance and cry with the Church unto God, Psal. 90.14. O satisfie us early with thy mercy: that wee may rejoyce and be glad all our daies.
But to inforce this so necessary an exhortation both upon my selfe and you. I will 1 give you some Motives to perswade you to seeke this assurance. 2 I will give you some signes whereby you may discerne whether you have yet obtained it or no. 3 I will shew the meanes that must be used, for the attaining to it.
And for Motives I will give you but two; the one taken from the possibility of attaining in this life to this assurance; and the other from the necessity and benefit of it.
Motive 1For the first, Know this (beloved) that though 1 It be a very difficult thing to get this assurance and few attaine to it; 2 They that have attained to it cannot have it all times, nor when they do enjoy it can have it in perfection, but with some mixture of doubting and unbeleefe (as I shall shew you when I come to the use of comfort) yet may the poorest and weakest Christian attaine to it in some measure, if he be not wanting to himselfe, if he will use the meanes and do what in him lieth to obtaine it. See two proofes of this.
First, We have Gods expresse promise for this that all the faithfull shall attaine unto this assurance, Esa. 60.16. Thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy redeemer.
Secondly, We have the experience of Gods people in all ages for it. Iob had this particular assurance that Christ was his. I know (saith he, Iob 19.25.) that my Redeemener liveth; And so had David, Psal. 6.1. O God thou art my God. Yea he had it even then, when he was most strongly assaulted with a tentation of infidelity, Ps. 22.1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me. And so had Paul, He loved me (saith he, Gal. 2.20.) and gave himselfe for me. And 1 Tim. 1.15. He knew certainly that he was one of those sinners, Christ came to save, yea a chiefe one amongst them. And though these were rare persons indeed and had a gr… ter measure of faith and so of this particular assurance (haply) then any of us, yet is the faith of the meanest of us the same in nature with theirs, we have obtained the like precious faith with the best of them as the Apostle teacheth us, 2 Pet. 1.1. we have the same spirit of faith with them saith the Apostle, 2 Cor. 4.13. But least we might think that none but some rare persons have ever attained to this assurance, the Apostle speaking in the name of all the faithfull saith, 1 Ioh. 3.14 Wee know that we are translated from death to life, and 5.19. We know that we are of God. And the Prophet maketh this the profession of all the faithfull, Esa. 45.24. Surely shall one say (one as well as another even all the seed of Israel as he expresseth himselfe, ver. 25.) in the Lord have I righteousnesse, the righteousnesse of the Lord Iesus belongeth unto me, I have it, it is mine own. Yea this is the profession of the whole Church the mother of us all, Cant. 2.16. My well-beloved is mine and I am his. And this is the first Motive. If the popish conceit were true (and we are all by nature in this and sundry other points rank Papists) that we may hope well that Christ died for us and we shall be saved, but sure of it we cannot be, it is presumption for any man to say he is certaine of his justification, then were we not to be blamed for neglecting to get this assurance; but seeing it may be had, how can we be excused that make so light account of it.
Secondly,Motive 2 Consider the great and unspeakable necessity and benefit of it. See this in three points.
First, This and this only, will free thy heart from all those changes and armies of f…ares that are wont to torment it. What assurance hath the yongest & strongest of us that we shall live till to morrow? For what is our life? (saith the Apostle, Iam. 4.14) …t is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vani…eth away. And if we be without this assurance when death commeth, how full of terrour must our hearts then needs be? Whereas if we were once sure that Christ is ours, this would quiet our heart from this and all other feares. So soone as Christ was come into the shi…, Mar 6.51 the winde ceased presently and there was a calme. Get Christ once into thine heart, and it will be quiet. For what need we feare any thing if we be once assured of Gods favour in Christ. The Lord is my light and my salvation (saith David, Ps. 27.1.) whom shall I feare? The destroying Angel might smite none in any house where the bloud of the paschall lamb was sprinkled, Exod. 12.23. Come not neare any man (saith the Lord to the destroyer, Ezek 9.6) upon whom is the marke. If once this bloud be sprinkled upon us, if this mark be upon us we need feare no destroying angell. We may be cast down but destroyed we cannot be, as the Apostle speaketh, 2 Cor. 4.9. Whereas (on the other side) though we be of the number of those that Christ shed his bloud for, and so God hath decreed never to lay our sins to our charge; yet till we know so much, till the spirit of God have sprinkled Christs bloud upon our hearts, we can never be freed from the accusations and terrours of a guilty conscience. Our hearts must be sprinkled from an evill conscience, saith the Apostle, Heb. …0.32. Nothing will free us from an evill and guilty conscience, but onelyonly the sprinkling of Christs bloud upon it.
Secondly, This and this only is able to make our hearts lightsome and comfortable in every estate when we know our selves to be in Gods favour through Christ. For 1 this giveth assurance we shall not want any thing that shall be good for us. He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all: (saith the Apostle, Rom. 8.32.) how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 2 This will give a sweet rellish to every comfort of our life. They did eat and were filled (say the holy Levites in their thanksgiving, Neh. 9.25.) and became …at, and deligh…ed themselves in the great goodnesse. So David professeth, Psal. 4.8. when he had seene the light of Gods countenance and rejoyced in it, I will both lay me downe in peace and sleepe, saith he; this would make his sleepe sweet unto him. Yea 3 this will make the bitterest afflictions sweet unto a man. Son be of good comfort (saith our Saviour, Mat. 9.…. to the poore man that was sicke of a cold palsy, a most heavie and uncomfortable sicknesse) thy sins are forgiven thee. On the other side what true sweetnesse can that man find in any pleasure or wealth that doubteth of Gods love in Christ, when his conscience being awakned by God (as that may fall out in the midst of his greatest jollity as it did with Baltasar, Dan. 5 5.) shall tell him thou maist be a vessell of Gods wrath and damned when thou diest for all this.
Thirdly and lastly, This and this only will give a man boldnesse and liberty of spirit in prayer and every service he doth unto God; and make it acceptable unto God. Neither Aaron nor his sons could be consecrated nor made fit to serve God in the priest-hood, till the bloud of their sacrifice was sprinkled upon them, Exod. 39.21. And the Apostle telleth us, Heb. 10.22. we can never draw neere to God with a true heart, till our hearts be sprinkled from an evill conscience.