The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 9-11, Treatise 2 · Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV.
Of the five last things a gracious heart doth in purifying its self from sin. Fiftly, It's willing to endure any difficulty that it may get power against sin. Sixthly, It especially labors against its chief and master sin. Seventhly, He acts his Faith upon the blood of Jesus Christ. Eightly, He is restless till somthing be done. Ninthly, In all this contention of the heart about sin it doth get something.
A Fift thing that a gracious heart doth in purifying its self, is this, It's willing to endure any difficulty so be it that it may get any power against his sin, he is willing to suffer any thing as well as to do: If God will be pleased that the performance of Holy Duties shal not do it, and Ordinances shall not do it; if the Lord will be pleased to take that course, to lay his hand of afflictions upon them, to bring the fiery tryal, yet if that may be but to purge me, as in Isa. 27. This is all the fruit thereof to purge away their sin, speaking of great afflictions that should be upon the Church; Oh let once a gracious heart find this, and how willing is such a one to be afflicted? Yea, the main thing that doth quiet the hearts of the Saints in their afflictions is this, Oh, I hope that the Lord intends no other but this fruit to purge away my sin, and if this be Gods intention let him do with me what he will; we know fire doth purge away dross from Mettal when other things cannot do it; and God sees that I have a vile wretched heart, and I must have afflictions to purge away my sin: The will of the Lord be done, and I account all my losses made up, if the loss of the deerest thing I have in the World may but help me with power against such a corruption.
Indeed this is the way that the Saints have to make up what they have lost in the Creature; God plucks away a child, or any thing that is dear, a carnal heart thinks it's impossible to have such a loss made up, Oh but if God will but sanctifie this affliction to take away my sin, I shall account it as great a good as I had before. So do I suffer pain, and am troubled, and have greater afflictions than others; if God by this takes away my sin, I am willing to suffer any thing: as you know, you that have some stains in your linnen cloathes, so that they look yellow, you are willing in frosty nights to lay them abroad, and the frosty nights that they are abroad in, that makes them look white: and so it may be with many of your souls, you have so defiled your souls with sin, that it's not a little dirt, that may be soon wip'd away, that is upon you, but the filth of sin hath stained your hearts, and the Lord he laies you out a frosting that he might clense you; and so when you have such a principle as you are willing to endure any thing in the world for your clensing; this is a purifying your selves. And then not only afflictions from Gods hands, but from mens hands too; if God should use wicked men to afflict thee never so much, they are but as Gods wisps, and it may be to scowr his people withal, and so to take away their sin, still they are base and vile, and as soon as God hath done with them to scowr his people, he will throw the wisp upon the dunghil.
The Sixt thing that he doth in purifying himself is this, He doth labor as against all sins, yet especially against his chief and Master sin, the sin of his complexion and constitution, against that which he finds the most sutable to his corrupt Nature, that it is that he labors to clense himself of more than any: there's many people will labor to clense themselves from gross sins that they shall be disgraced by, that every body takes notice of to their dishonor, but there is some one special bosom sin it may be that they think they could not part withal; now one that hath this Hope that sees one sin more than another suitable to Nature, he doth lay the chief strength that he hath against that sin, against this darling sin, knowing that if he can but purge out that, the other noisom humors will follow upon that; as there may be some ill humor in the body, if that may be but purged out, other humors that are attendant upon that, they will be soon purged out; but many that go to work like unskilful Physitians, they go to purge out the humor that is the effect of the disease, but they purge not out the humor that is the cause of the disease: So unskilful Christians, they look at humors, at sins that are the effect of such a corruption, but they never look at the sin that is the cause of that corruption.
Seventhly, In the next place, Such a one doth purifie himself, not only by doing thus, but he must be sure if he do it in a Christian way that there must be this added, or else all these will be but Legal, except he doth together with these, endeavor to act his Faith upon the Blood of Jesus Christ, and look upon the application of the Blood of Jesus Christ to his soul, as that which doth put an efficacy and life to all the other.
You will say, Can a man apply the blood of Jesus Christ to his soul before he hath purified himself? he must first purifie himself, and then apply it.
Not so: A man may lawfully without any presumption, apply the blood of Jesus Christ to his soul though he be never so vile, if he doth apply it to that end, as well to take away the filth of sin, as the guilt of sin, if thou canst but apply it so; and this a true Christian doth, not only because the blood of Christ wil make peace between God and him, and that the blood of Christ hath in it a vertue to clense from sin, but likewise because it's the blood of Christ that gives an efficacy to all other means, and all other Ordinances, and so he goes about to purifie himself. What's the reason that many of you that have sought to clense your selves, have been troubled for your sins? you have been upon your sick beds, and there you have cryed out bitterly for your sins, and there you have resolved against them, and you have spoken from your hearts then, yet nothing hath come upon it; but you rest in your own endeavors, and look not upon the blood of Christ as that which must give efficacy to all your endeavors and resolutions, you must do that: He that hath this Hope doth purifie himself.
Eightly, The next is this: That in all this, such a soul is restless till somthing be done, and he will never be at quiet till somthing be done, he hath made use of these means, Well, I have done this a long time saith one, and I find nothing come of it, but he will never lissen to such a temptation, but goes on continually working, and resolves he will not neglect any thing. Oh, but it may be I shall carry the corruption to my grave, the striving of my heart against it to my grave: that's the resolution of a gracious heart, though the body is weary and the flesh, yet it goes on pursuing this enemy of it, and nothing can give rest to it; it's not what I have in the world, and what comforts I have in my family; nothing can give rest to the heart, but the clensing it from sin. I have b…n abroad in company, and defiled my self by such a sin, and made my self the more unfit for communion with God, and therefore nothing that I have can content my soul till I have gotten my soul in some measure clensed: Now when the ground of your ease and quiet is from your purifying, that's ease and quiet indeed.
Ninthly and lastly, In all this contention of the heart about sin, it doth get somthing: You will lay, I have labored and gotten nothing; do not wrong the Grace of God, let these things be done, and certainly the soul will get way against sin; it may be not just in that particular, but in somthing or other, either one grace or other active and stirring: A Physitian may clense the body of a great many filthy humors, and yet the Patient not feel it presently, but he may feel his body in a worse condition than he was before he was medled withal; he comes to the Physitian, and saith, Oh Sir, that which you gave me hath done me more hurt than good: Why? how did it work, saith he? It wrought thus and thus: Oh do not trouble your self, for do you think that I can ger away al these ill humors at once? before, all the ill humors lay still, and so it did not pain you, and was more dangerous then; but now some comes to be taken away, and all the other is stirred, and so that's the reason that you find your selves worse than you were before: So it is with the soul that is thus seeking to purifie its self, Perhaps while it is laboring, such a one saith I never found my self worse in all my life, never more wandering, more deadness, more corruptions stirring; the truth is, this is but the stirrings of the humor, and there is a great deal of Hope that there is somthing purged away, for so the text saith, he that hath this Hope, doth not desire only to purifie himself, and wish, and pray that he might purifie himself, but he doth purifie himself; there is an actual purifying, for certainly God will not be wanting to a heart that goes upon this work in this way: And thus you have had the working of the heart in purifying of its self.
But yet the chief thing is behind, That he doth it by this Hope of his; whereas others, the main thing that hardens them in their sin, it is their Hopes, they hope that they shall be saved when they die, and that God loves them, and therefore they are secure in their evil and sinful way: the Hopes of the wicked is the very thing that doth make them more secure in their evil waies, and the Hopes of Gods mercies that the Saints have, that's the thing whereby they come to purge out corruption; yea, to purifie themselves as Jesus Christ is pure.