Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part · Sermon 43
A Good Christian walks in the light.
1 John 1.6, 7, Verses.
If we say that we have fell…wship with him, and walk in darknesse, we lye, and do not the truth.
If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sinne.
IT hath alwayes been the work of Satan to dim the light of true Religion; for he being darkness himself, labours to have all others dark and black like him.
Hence it was, that Light no sooner appeared in the world, but his labour was to extinguish it. The Christian name was no sooner given at Antioch, but he cast scandals and calumnies upon it.Act. 8.22. His work it was that this sect was everywhere spoken against. His work that the Professors were scandalized for Bl…sph…mers, Troublers of Citie…, Troublers of the world: Acts 6. Acts 16. Acts 17.And afterward stiled by the Jews in contempt Nazari…es; by Julian, Galilaeans; by Ʋlpian, Impostors; by Demetrian, Pests.
All this while Satan roared as a Lion, but finding that violence was not the way to work his ends; he chang'd his course, and takes that of the Serpent; what by cruelty he could not suppress, he studies by subtilty to stain. His policy now was to infuse an opinion into mens heads, that a man may live as he please, and yet be Christian good enough. This damnable conception was hatched betime; for in Saint Johns time there were the Nicolaitans, Rev. 2.15. Iren. l. 1. c. 23, 24, 25.from whom arose those impure beasts the Gnostiques. Simon Magus was the wicked Author of this School: Basilides and Carpocrates followed; at last the matter came to this passe, that among them, the determination was, per fidem & charitat…m salvari, that bare Faith, and such impious charity as they used would save. Reliqua indifferentia cum sint, secundum opinionem hominum, quaedam quidem bona, quaedam mala vocari: cum nihil naturâ malum sit. That other things were ind…fferent, some good, some bad, according to mens opinions; when by nature nothing was evil. Certainly the Ranters of this age are their off-spring. This gave occasion to Saint Augustine to conceive,Aug. de fide & operibus, c. 14. that one reason that moved Saint John to write this Epistle, was than he might beat down that perverse and pernicious opinion of some, who said that faith without works would suffice to salvation. The chief of whom, saith he, was Simon Magus. And would to God; this impiety had been buried with those damned Hereticks, or rather Demoniacks, that it might never more have been brought to light again; sure then we should not have seen in this dotage of the world, such swarms of Apostates, Atheists, Blasphemers, high-fl…wn men, Quakers,Aug. Jud. 4. Rev. 3.2. qui Christianum nomen ad …udici…m habent, non ad remedium; who have turned the Grace of God into wantonness, having a Name that they live, when they are indeed dead.
The Church of God is compared to a Kingdom, in which there be filii regis & filii regni; S…ns of the King who succeed and are like their Father; or Sons of the Kingdom, who submit indeed,Psal. 18.45. but as strange children do dissemble with their King. So in the Church, there be filii regis, true children of the King of heaven, born to be heirs of an eternal inheritance. And filii regni who make a shew of obedience, but are indeed dissemblers, whose portion is the Kingdom of darkness. It were happy for these men, could they learn in time to submit to the Laws of the Kingdom; for not every one that cries Lord, Lord, shall be an heir of the crown. Mat. 7.21. Rom. 2.28.He is not a Jew which is one ou…ward, but he is a Jew, which is one within. Now, that the difference may be apparent betwixt these, and it may be evidently discerned, who are the Kings true sons, and who only sons of the Kingdom: Saint John in these verses sets down these Notes of both.
1. The first Note of those who are in the kingdom, is, thar They say they have fellowship with God: that they are of the family, of the house, of the Society of Saints.
2. The next note is, that in manners and conversation they are far from it; They walk in darkness. Their words and works are so far asunder, that they lye, and do not the truth. Those are the two Notes belonging to those who are the Sons of the Kingdom.
One Note there is, which belongs to those who are true Sons of the King, viz. They walk in the light: upon which there follows two remarkable favours, First an honour, then a Benefit.
1. An Honour, that they are admitted to the Communion of Saints; They shall have fellowship one with another.
2. A Benefit one of the greatest that may be; Remission. The blood of Jesus Christ clenseth them from all sin.
1. If we say we have fellowship with him; Qui supponit, ponit. He that supposeth, takes for granted that some such thing there may be. Possible then it is, that there may be such men, who walk in darkness, and yet will not stick to say, that they have fellowship and society with God. And indeed too many there are, who say it. For it hath been an evil which hath always too much troubled the Church, bad no less then good, dissemblers as well as true Believers; nay those especially have boasted of their Society with God and his Son;Joh. 8.33. Revel. 3.9. We are of God, we are the children of Abraham, we are Jews, when yet they are of the Synagogue of Satan.
Vertue is in it self amiable, vice odious. Whence the most wicked would yet seem to be a good man; for should he appear in his own ugly shape, every man would fly from him. The very locusts that came out of the bottomless pit, yet appeared like hansom creatures; they had the faces of men, and hair of women; Revel. 9.7.they would be taken for pieces of beauty, when yet they were dangerous Beasts, Scorpions in the tail, Lions in their teeth. It is one of Machiavels Maxims, that, Whether vertue it self be sought for, is not material; yet the appearance is necessary, without which men shall never compass their end. And this Politique of their hellish Master his Scholars have followed, taking upon them to be what they are not. A Wolf to be a Lamb in a woollen coat;Mat. 7.15. Zach. 13.4. 2 Cor. 11.14. and a Lyar to be a Prophet in a rough garment; an Oppressor to be a Saint, and a Devil to be Angel of light; One that hath nothing to do with the society of Christ, yet to be in it, and of it, that he may deceive. Let but his Dixit, his word be taken for it, and affirm he will that he is a cheif of the company. Well then that you be not couzened with such a Lye, and such a Lyar, from his Tongue look to his feet, and find you shall that he walks in darkness. That's the first Note.
1. He walks in darkness.
What darkness Saint John means, is not hard to guess: viz. Ignorance, love and practice of sin, with Impenitence.
1. As Christ raiseth his Kingdom by light, so doth Satan advance his by this darkness.Gen. 1.3. In the first Creations God began at the Light: Fiat Lux: and in the second Creation he doth the like; opens the eyes, heart, understanding of those, whose salvation he will promote. Satan on the contrary is careful first to blind his Captives, to deal by them as the Philistims by Sampson, Judg. 16.27.pull out their eyes that they should not know sin to be a work of darkness, nor the wages thereof to be the blackness of darkness. For this would stay their walk, and cause them to turn back their feet. Take heed then of ignorance.
2. And much more beware of the effects of ignorance, the love, the practice of sin, and irrepentance;Rom. 2.5. for an impenitent heart heaps up wrath against the day of wrath. To this pitch whosoever arrives, out of doubt he is the man that walks in darkness.
Zanchy observes rightly upon these words,Zanch. in loc. that there is a great difference betwixt esse in tenebris, and ambulare in tenebris, to be in, and to walk in darkness. In darkness the best man is: For no man knows what he should, nor no man knows what he would. But a good man will labour to see what he knows not, and to turn back when he discovers his error: Whereas a bad man still walks on his way, as the blind blunders in the dark, presuming that no harm shall happen to him. To walk in the Hebrew Dialect is a common expression, whether in the way of vice or vertue, and it signifies a perpetual and constant motion, such as is in a walk for pleasure, or a way for progression. Heed then must be taken, that though we step into the darkness of wickedness, yet we neither make it our walk, or our way, neither take delight in it, nor proceed, nor labour about it. For this is a Note of one who hath no fellowship with God. This our Apostle teacheth in plain terms; if we say we have fellowship with him, and yet walk in darkness,
2. We lye, and do not the truth.
We lie in our profession; we do not the Truth in our Manners; There is a doing of the Truth, as well as talking of it; and that man whose life doth not answer to his profession, is but a lying Christian. Which when some of the enemies of the Gospel beheld, in derision they said, Aut hoc non est Evangelium, aut hi non sunt Christiani, either this is not the Gospel in which is taught so much goodness, or these are no Christians, in whom there is no good at all. You see now, what comes of walking in darkness, in affected and wilful ignorance, in wilful and obstinate rebellion; it thrusts a man out of the Communion of Saints and convinceth him of a grand lye.
There is not so great Lyar, as a profane Christian; for he lyes to God, he lyes to Christ, he lyes to man, and he lyes to himself.
1. To God he lyes first; for he promised him, when he became his, to forsake all works of darkness, when yet he walks in them: He cals himself Gods child, when he carrieth the image of Satan, as if it were possible for God to beget children to another image.
2. He lyes to Christ; for Christi nomen induere, &c. to put on Christs name, and not to walk in the way of Christ,Cyprian. de zelo. what is it else quàm praevaricatio divini n…m…nis, then to preva…icate, and abuse the Divine Name! In effect, he gives out this false testimo…y against Christ, that there is no power in his death, no vertue in his resurrection, no renewing grace of power to sanctifie those who are his. The lye of the tongue is nothing so dangerous as that of the life. For let the walk be as it will, where the feet wander after impiety, there is a real abrenunciation of the Faith.
3. He lyes to man; for man seeing his outward Communion in the Word and Sacraments, in charity takes him for a friend, a Brother, one of the society of Saints, when all the while he is but the Devil in Samuels mantle, or like the apparition of a spirit: have but patience, and I will open to you the resemblance. First, these spirits for a time assume bodies; they seem to eat, to drink, to speak, to do what other men do, but they are not nourished nor thrive by it. So these fair-faced Christians do all the actions of the most sincere; they eat with us at the Lords Table, and drink with us in the same Cup: They talk of the Words of God, they hear, they pray, they read, they preach, but yet they are not nourished, or are ere a whit the better for it; because all's done in shew, nothing in Truth. Again the motion of that body assumed by a Spirit is not Natural, or from an inward essential principle; The Spirit assists it, informs it not: Such are all the motions of those who are the spectra or puppets of religion. Their eyes are made to rowl, their heads hang down, their lips are made to wag, their breasts to shake, and sigh; and sometimes fear, and sometimes praise, and sometimes policy, and sometimes philosophy, but most often gain, assist, and do the work; when none of these worldly respects give any impulse or assistance, the motion is at an end. For this is another property of assumed bodies, that the Spirits which take them, lay them down at pleasure: so is it also in these counterfeits, they are never religious long, but inconstant and fickle; to day an Anabaptist, the next a shaker. Lastly, what actions soever the spirits perform in these borrowed out-sides, they are only fictions; Such are the actions of these hypocrites, appearances only: An apparence of a fast, a mask of devotion, an Act of prayer, a Scene of Alms, ad Plaudite usque vivunt; they present the interlude till the Plaudite, and that b…ing given, the hangings are taken down, and the play is done. Say now, whether such white Angels be not great lyars to men.
4. To themselves, as the end will shew; they lye abominably; fo… they say no harm shall happen to them; they promise to themselves life and happiness however they live; general Grace shall save all, when yet their doom is extant, Depart from me all ye that work iniquity; for I know you not.
Truth is but only one, and simple without doubling, but falshood is full of folds: Of true Christians there are but one kind; men who are re & nomine Orthodoxi, Orthodox in name and life; and it is to be wish'd, as there is but one Christ, so also there were but one kind of Christians. But besides those hypocrites I now named, there be other profane people, whom we need not stick to call apparent lyars; for these we know walk in darkness; in this black book are the names of all those who live dissolute lives; fornicators, drunkards, proud, blasphemers, all those, qui ad palatum applicant religionem, who make their belly their God. Phil. 3.19.Those who live dissolutely, and boast of, and glory in their shame, shall have their names enrolled in the head of this book; and those shall be registred in the foot of it, who take up their Christianity upon the stock of their fore-Fathers, as they do their land; suck it in with their first milk, & never inquire farther into the power and force of it. Would to God there were not just reason for me to make this partition: I had rather to have said, you had been all one, all true, all sincere, all upright men, nor hypocrite, nor profane Esau amongst us. But I have done it, to make the Good cautelous; the prophane fearful; which are the two uses of this point.
1. First, since there be so many, who profess Communion with the Saints, and yet walk in the dark, it behoves Christians to be wary and circumspect, lest they be not circumvented, lest they take a vizard for a man, and a Wolf in sheeps clothing for a sheep.2 Kings 2.15. Jehu's question is fit to be propounded to such as Jehu was, before we give him the right hand of fellowship, Is thy heart upright? Mat. 24.5.and that he give some manifest of this, before we admit him to our society. For there be many, who will come in Christs name and deceive many. It is not good to wrong any man upon a groundless suspition, neither is it wisdom to wrong our selves by over-easie credulity. The same Spirit that saith charity believeth all things; saith also, that a fool believeth all things; 1 Cor. 13.7. Prov. 14.15.and charity is not foolish; as not prone to be suspicious, so not lightly credulous; that then many lyars and hypocrites may be of this fellowship, 'tis a good caution, That we be not easie of belief, and give credence to every spirit.1 John 4.1.
Secondly, And as we ought to be circumspect and wary, that we be not deceived by others; so we ought to be as careful, that we be not deceived by our selves: For there is no flattery so dangerous, as is that of a mans own heart, which is apt to perswade, that a Christians life need not be so pure, so strict, so severe as is call'd for. Hence there be who live profane and unholy lives, and yet take upon them to be good Christians; this is that spiritual whoredom so much complained of by the Prophets, causing a divorce betwixt God and his people: For as the case is of her who hath play'd the Harlot, that for it is put from her husband with shame; such is his, who follows his own corrupt heart, and walks in darkness; his union with God is quite broken off, so long as he remains such, he hath no fellowship with him.
Satan hath two Arms with which he wrestles with man, and labours to overthrow him; despair & presumption; and if he cannot thrust him down to hell with despair of Mercy, he will labour to mount him to a higher fall by presumption on Mercy. Talk with such a presumptuous soul, and he will be ready to boast, that he is secure of Heaven, that he is a partaker of the Divine Nature, one of the Members of the Holy Society; when indeed this is but infidelis fiducia, a confident boldness, not grounded upon Faith, but Arrogance; for can a man have f…llowship with God who is light, and still walk in darkness?
Do but hearken to the voyce of Nature among the Philosophers; among them, they were accounted the best men, who did what they said; for the rest, that foreign, they taught Philosophy as far as their words might be taken. Such was Aristippus, who for his wording only of Philosophy, and practising the Court-manners, was usually stiled Canis Regius, the Court-dog. Again, in Nature there is nothing feigned, nothing counterfeit, but every thing is what it seems to be; we know the Nightingale by her Tune, the Crow by his Throat, the Lyon by his Roaring, the Fox by his Barking; so a man may with no great labour know a counterfeit Christian from a true, by his life, and by his works; let his words be never so smooth, if his works correspond not to his words, there can be no congruity; for as in Musick there is the best Harmony; when there is a right proportion observed betwixt the upper and the lower strings; so also in our Christianity there is the best Musick made, when our manners answer to our profession, and our words keep time and tune with both.
Hence our Saviour often condemns these out-side Christians; at prayer, he will not that they be tedious, and babble; at fasting, Matth. 6.that they be sowre-faced, and look like leven; at almes, not vain-glorious, as were the Pharisees: Matth. 5.But that they be zealous and fervent, peaceable, poor in spirit, humble, meek, patient, hunger af…er righteousness, suffer pe…secution, be merciful, be perfect, as their Father in Heaven is perfect. Let all them then please themselves, they I mean, who boast of their communion with God and Christ, yet divorce Religion, and a holy life: For upon a second thought they will find an impossibility in it, that they lye, they do not the truth, so long as they walk in darkness. The true Note of a ch…ld of God is,
3. To walk in the light, as he is the light.
As, notes to us a similitude, not an equality, as in other places, Be perfect, Matth. 5.as your Father in Heaven is perfect: Be merciful, as your Father in Heaven is merciful; the meaning is, that though we cannot equal his perfection, his mercy, yet we endeavour in some measure to represent it, to imitate it; So hereof Light, though it is not possible to attain to that light and purity which is in him, yet we take his light for our example, and walk in light, as he is in the light.
There be Sicuts for this in other luminous bodies, but they are not perfect. A Sicut for this in the Sunne, but that light suffers an eclipse. A Sicut for this in jewels and gemmes that receive light into the whole body, but they also have their terrene parts which darken them. Another Sicut for it in rotten wood, fish-bones and skins, but this is meerly outward, some glisning and shining rather than properly light; so Hypocrites shine. But our patterne is more perfect, it is God himself, in whom there is no eclipse, no dark part, no appearance; and to him it is, that we must, so far as we can, labour to be like. And the more we resemble him, the more
2. We walk. Walking is a progressive motion; in goodnesse then there is no standing still, no giving over. In our walk of Christianity, the motion must be continual and constant; we are bound to grow and increase, to go on from vertue to vertue, and so long to continue in this course, till we attaine all possible perfection. But of this before.
3. In the Light. And this our progresse must be in the Light. There is the Light of Knowledge, The Light of Faith, The Light of good works. And in these we walk, when we know what to do, and do what we know: when in that vocation and condition of life to which God hath call'd us, we labour to exptesse our inward light of Faith by good works to the glory of God, and edification of our neighbour. In a word, then we walk in the Light, when our soul is enlightned with Knowledge and Faith, our life is glorious by sanctity and purity.
Ephes. 5.8.Give me leave to put you in mind of that which Saint Paul inculcates to the Ephesians, Ye were darknesse, but you are now children of the light, walk therefore as children of the light. And that you be not to seek in your walk, I shall teach it out of the same Apostle, who in the same place prescribes you these three stations;
Verse 10, 11.1. That you prove that which is good and acceptable to the Lord.
2. That you have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknesse.
3. That you do reprove them.
First, He that will walk in the light, must know the light by which he will walk, for a false may seduce him. To the Law then and the Prophets such a man must go, and learn what light God hath hangd forth therein; there he shall finde what's good, what's acceptable, what pleaseth, what displeaseth. You see then whence to fetch your test, and by it be sure not to make a superficial trial, but foreign, make a full search and experiment, and you never shall be mistaken, but be sure to know what work will please him, what he will accept.
2. Which I am sure is a holy and good life; this he expects, this he will accept, which will be much help'd on, when a man hath no commerce, nothing at all to do with the unfruitful works of darknesse. A quality to be learned from the Light also, whose property it is to joyne it self, and to commingle its beams with the most impure things; and yet partakes not with their impurity. So also it cannot be avoided, but the sons of light in their walk will meet with the impurest men, for else they must go out of the world, but in their way they may not be defiled and foul'd with them,1 Cor. 5.3, 10. they may not communicate with the works of darknesse, from which they shall reap no fruit, except that of death and darknesse, the same that Adam did for eating of the forbidden fruit.
3. Lastly, light detects and brings into open view the fowlest, the basest things, and by detection brings an odium, an hatred upon them. And it behoves a Christian to walk in that light, which will detect any action, and show of what nature it is; which if it appear to be foul, he will reprove and condemne it, and labour to make the doer asham'd. Which is done two wayes.
1. Either by words, as Lot did the Sodomites; O my friends, do not so wickedly. Thus Christ commands, If thy brother sinne against thee, go and tell him his fault betwixt thee and him alone.
2. Or else by deeds, by a spotlesse life, and a holy conversation, which is of the two the most effectual. For every one, who walks in the light,Gen. 19.7. Matth. 18.15. doth convince wicked men in their consciences, and shame them in their ungodly courses. So walk then in the light of holinesse and purity, that vvhen a drunkard sees thee live a sober life, and when a wanton beholds thee to walk chastely, he may be suffic…ently convicted, that his riotous and leud course is not good.
Now the high favour and honour that will ensue upon this walking, may not be forgotten; 'tis not long since I insisted at large upon it; howsoever it will not be amisse to rub up your memory a little about it, because our Apostle comes over it again. Your honour is, that if ye walk in the light,
4. Ye have fellowship one with another.
There will follow upon it a mutual fellowship, a firme league and society; A Society with us, us the Apostles, and the Church of true Saints, and consequently a Society with God and Christ, which he mentioned before Verse 3. Similitude of manners as it is a strange motive to beget love and friendship, so also it is a fast bond and tye to continue it. Like will best agree with its like, good men with good, bad with bad. Hence good men are called the friends of God, wicked men his enemyes.John 15.14. Rom. 5.10. Continue then in holinesse, goodnesse and light, and ye shall be his friends; But if you fall once from this, and walk in darknesse, he estemes you not any of his company, his Society, you are his enemyes. Neither can the Church esteme you of her company, for she is Holy, and all that are truly hers are holy ones, a holy Priesthood. Ne impii vanè de societate Dei, Exod. 19.6.& de Ecclesiae amicitia sibi plaudunt. Wicked men do in vaine boast of their fellowship with God, of their friendship with the Church.
Behold then you black Swans, the Dignity, the Honour, the high calling to which you are called, and walk worthy of it. You were far off, Ephes. 2.but now you are brought near; you were strangers, but now are made of the houshold; you were enemies, but now you are reconciled; you were dark, but now are made light; you were aliens, but now are made fellow-Citizens with the Saints. A new honour calls upon you to be new men, a new condition, new deportment and behaviour. One kinde of life becomes a common man, and another him that is enobled: any him who lives in obscurity and darknesse: but a man reserved and circumspect, that man walks in the light and eyes of all. You are called to honour, you are raised to great dignity, to be friends, to have fellowship with God and Christ, and with his Saints; take care then your life be answerable to your state and condition, and be an evidence to your self, and to the world, that you set a price upon this fellowship. How you can prove that you are of this corporation, is not visible to me, except it be by your walking in the light, and therefore walk worthy of it.
Good counsel, perhaps you will say; but who is able to hear and follow it? Not to wander, not to slip and fall, and foul our selves, is an higher perfection than our nature can attain to. Being men, and carrying this flesh about us, the corruption of which is so well known, and walking in this world, the wayes whereof are so dark and dangerous, we cannot choose but erre and mistake, be the light never so resplendent. And to confesse the truth in multis omnes, the best of us one while or other follow a false light; and if any man say to the contrary, our Apostle in the very next verse tels him, not that he is proud, and wants humility, but that he is a lyar and hath no truth in him.
Our estate then needs some Scripture that may help us in our walke, and comfort us when in the dark we fall. For if our society with God be broken off, when we cease to walk in the light, our case, God help us, is very lamentable. Behold then a text that offereth Grace, 'tis the comfortablest close that ever ended verse. Call for this light, hunger and thirst after the splendor of it, walk along in the way; by it feele an unfeined desire to put away that very work of darknesse in which sometimes you are involved, and your falls, your failings will not break the knot of amity; a pardon then is purchased and sealed for all with the Sonne of Gods own blood. So saith Saint John here,
5. The blood of Jesus Christ his Sonne cleanseth us from all sinne.
This is the summe of the Gospel, the Anchor of our hope. Every word drops like an honey-comb, and were it not that I had fully pressed out this Nectar in my Exposition of the former Articles, I would not touch it so lightly. However I shall present you with these tasts of it.
1. The foreign, the Laver, or Purgation, Blood.
2. The Person, whose blood it is, Jesus Christ.
3. That which gives it vertue and force to purge, 'tis the blood of Jesus Christ, his, that is, Gods Sonne.
4. The power and vertue it self, It cleanseth.
5. That on which the vertue is operative, Sinne.
6. The extent of this vertue, It cleanseth from all sinne, Original, and Actual.
1. Sin is a foul thing, a staine, a running sore, a Leprosie; conceive what loathsome thing you will, that is filthy in your eye; that and much fouler is sin in Gods. It stains the infant in his mothers womb, and fouls every man after in his way of life. Now to wash off this filth, God hath provided a Lavor; but not of water, nor of Fullers sope, but that which passeth all other Lavers whatsoever, a Laver of blood. Not the blood of Bulls or Goats poured forth in their legal sacrifices. No nor the blood of the first-born neither; for this was not available for the sin of the soul.Mich. 6.7. And if not these, then sure not other Lavers of an inferiour degree; not the legal and often purifications of the Pharisees,Estius in loc. nor the frequent Baths and Lotions of the Judaizing Ebionites, (whom 'tis not improbable, Saint John aimes at in this place) nor the sorrow of the Socinians, nor the naked faith of the Gnosticks, no nor the Indulgences of Rome are ever able to purge this uncleannesse. It must be the blood of Jesus Christ.Heb. 9.14. Col. 1.14. This alone can purge the conscience from dead works. This alone can cleanse the soul from sins. In him we have redemption by his blood, viz. remission of sin. In him, then by no other, redemption we have, that is, remission of sin, which was not effected by a gracious manumission, as when a master frees his slave; nor by a commutation, as when one prisoner of War is set free for another;1 Sam. 30.18. nor yet by force of armes, as when David freed his captives from the Amalekites; but it was by laying down a sufficient price, a price of blood, by the effusion of which in justice he paid our debt, for it was the blood of
2. Jesus Christ his Sonne.
In which words first our Apostle gives a blow to three Heresies at once; of the Manichees, who denyed the truth of his humane nature; Blood he had,Estius in loc. and then he must be perfect man. Of the Ebionites, who denied him to be God; that cannot be true, for he was the Son of God, saith our Apostle. And of the Nestorians, who divided his person; that may not be; for it is the blo…d of Jesus Christ his Son, his Son and Jesus Christ are but one person.
But then secondly, it is not without great reason that the Apostle addes his Son to Jesus Christ. For this universal purging vertue belongs not to it, because it is blood, nor because it is the blood of man; that conceit is heathenish, Sanguine placastis ventos & virgine caesâ. The true reason is,Virgil. because it is the blood of the Sonne of God, this gave it a transcendent power, and made it a sufficient price. The Sonne of God; foreign, is our Redeemer. This work required that he be God, that he might conquer death; and man, that he might die. As God, a property he had in, and undertook the work to redeem his creatures: And as man he, became our kinsman in the flesh,Goel. Job 19.25. and undertook the work to redeeme his brethren. Not the Deity, not the humanity alone could performe this great work of Redemption, but only the Sonne of God. His humanity was the instrument, his Divinity the principal Agent in this great work of our cleansing. Whence the Apostle excellently, God hath purchased the Church with his own blood.Acts 20.28. It was not the blood of the Sonne of Mary, but that blood which hypostatically was united in his person, that made it a Catholique purge. For such is the vertue of this blood, that it
3. Cleanseth. foreign.
There is in sin Macula & reatus. More than a spot there was, there was a guilt; A spot, and soyl, that makes us loathsome in Gods eye; and a guilt that subjects us to punishment; water may do one, wash off the spot, but blood only can do the other, remove the punishment; that then our cleansing might be perfect, our persons nor loathsome,John 19.34. nor guilty when we should be call'd to the Bar, He shed out of his side both water and blood; water to wash away the spots, and blood to satisfie the guilt and punishment.
And the power of this cleansing blood is not only operative upon what is past, but powerful and effectual upon him who is cleansed by it, through his whole life. For it is not only said to cleanse in that sense, as if it took away the guilt of our former sins, but it purgeth the will from all affection and love to sin, conferring at the same time a true conversion of the heart, a love of righteousnesse, and the practice of vertue. For it brings with it a Communion with God in the Light of Faith, and a society with Christ for our justification and sanctification.
4. It cleanseth us.
But that no man be too presumptuous upon the purging power of this blood, and vaunt that he is cleansed by it, when he is not; The Apostle tells us here, that it cleanseth us. Us who have fellowship with God and Christ, us who walk in the light; as for those who have no society with God, those who walk in darknesse, these are not like to have any benefit by it, nor remission, nor purgation. These are mercies that belong to the society of Saints, these it will purge from
5. All sinne.
For as for that sin against the Holy Ghost, which is never to be cleansed, those who are of this Society shall never be fouled with it. Into all other they may and do fall; yet so often as they are sensible of their filth, and bemoan themselves for it, and flie penitently to this Lavor, it is at hand ready prepared for them to cleanse them from all sin. From all sin original, and actual; from that of the womb, from that of the way; from the errour, from the slip, from the fall; I go farther, from the vomit, from the wallow after the fall.
Find me now if you can such another Bath, any that will cleanse from sin, any that from all sin, to all persons, at all times; this hath, doth, and will do it: Our Apostle speaks in the present Tense; it is not emundavit, nor emundabit, Zanch. in loc.but emundat; it is alwayes present to those who are of the Communion, and doth cleanse Men, Women, Children, Masters, Servants, Kings, Subjects from every kind of offence: David from blood-guiltiness; Peter from Apostasie; Mary from seven deadly sins; Paul from persecution of the Saints; what foule penitent sinner can you name, who hath not had his purging from it?
The APPLICATION.
First then, we shall do well to take notice of our own pollution, and what we are without Christs blood. A sinners case, how gloriously soever he or she glisters in the eyes of men, being in Gods eye, but as the case of a foul diseased person; and we thereby so taught to conceive of sins, as of foule spots without, or as of such excrements and ill humours within, which pass from us by purging,1 Cor. 7.1. inquimanenta spiritus & carnis, pollutions which defile both flesh and spirit; and unless they be purged away, there is no entring into the heavenly Hierusalem; Rev. 21.27.for into that holy City, no unclean thing shall enter.
Secondly, Next, that you who are of this fellowship, do not think too highly of your selves, even you have your spots and bad humours still; though you walk in the light, yet you have your Defects, your Eclipses; even you a… so have need of the blood of Christ to cleanse you: The Apostle tells us in the next words, That if any man think he hath no sin, he deceives himself. Being a sinner then, he needs the common receit to purge him, viz. the blood of Christ, no less than he who is foulest.
Thirdly, Yet here is a wholsome Bath for a timerous trembling conscience, which when it finds about it an unclean thing, is presently quite cast down, utterly disheartned, as if fot these blains and blotches the man should for ever be cast out of Gods eye: Raise up thy spirit, O thou dejected soul; it was for thy sake that Christ shed his blood, it was for thee he made a Lavor of it; peccatum non nocet, si non placet; the sin that foules thee, and pleaseth not, shall not hurt thee;Isa. 1.18. though it be a scarlet sin, yet upon thy conversion, it shall be as white as wool; though it be a crimson offence, twice dyed, dyed in the wool, and dyed in the cloth, it shall be as white as snow.
Fourthly, But the greater sort by far are in the other extream, who are nothing timerous; so far from that, that they are dissolutely wicked; they never care how many bloches and biles they contract; the blood of Christ they presume is able to purge all; and so indeed it is; but whether it will cleanse any stains of a presumptuous sinner, may be well doubted. Read over this Text, and mark it well, and you shall find, that it is thus written, It cleanseth us; Ʋs, and who are those? I but now told you, those, whose study it is, to walk in the light; those, who are careful to retain their fellowship with Christ. These are the men, who have his blood applied to them for the…r Justification; his Name was called Jesus, because he shall save his people from their sins. Matth. 1.21.Now his people they alone are, which walk as they have him for an Example. Whereas, if men be destitute of faith,Ephes. 5.1. and walk in the darkness of ignorance; be destitute of holiness, and walk in the foule wayes of sin, the blood of Christ will not profit for their remission, for their cleansing.
The Lord in his whole Book hath not spoken one syllable that can be wrested for hope of pardon to an impenitent, presumptuous sinner; to the repentant, to him th…t comes in, laments for, and forsakes his sin, there be store of comfortable Texts; he is often in these, and the like cordial promises; When a wicked man shall turn from his wickedness, Ezek. 18. Prov. 28.23.and do that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive: He that co…fesseth, and forsakes his sin, shall find mercy; and as it fol…owes in this Chapte…, If we confess our sins, Ver. 9.God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. But where is it written,Ver. 9. where to be found upon Record, that men living in their sin, shall find mercy, pardon, forgiveness? where that such an one as goeth on still in his wickedness, Psal. 68.21.shall save his soul alive?
It is then the divinity of the Father of divinations, that the blood of Christ will cleanse men, though they presume obstinately and wilfully to foule themselves. Our Saviour teacheth another Lesson, Behold thou art made whole, sin no more; Behold you are washed; John 8.10.upon which Saint Paul thus comments, You are washed, you are cleansed, you are sanctified, you are purified; defile not then your selves with Drunkenness, with Fornication, 1 Cor. 6.11.with Adultery, &c. Return not to your vomit, 2 Pet. 2.22.wallow not again in the Mire.
So Christ, which hath washed you with his blood of the Cross, will by vertue of the same blood yet farther cleanse you;Tit. 2.14. and having purified you a peculiar people to himself, will at his second coming take you to himself, that where he is, you may be also; seated with him in a Throne of glory, John 14.3.and live with him for evermore. Amen.