upon this subject concerning the defilement of sin, how, if it be so, believers can be united unto Jesus Christ, or be members of that mystical body whereof he is the head, or obtain fellowship with him; for whereas he is absolutely pure, holy, and perfect, how can he have union or communion with them who are in any thing defiled? There is no fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness, no communion between light and darkness, and what can there be between Christ and those that are defiled with sin? and because he is "holy, harmless, and undefiled," he is said to be "separate from sinners.'

Many things must be returned unto this objection, all concurring to take away the seeming difficulty that is in it; as,—

1. It must be granted that where men are wholly under the power of their original defilement, they neither have nor can have either union or communion with Christ. With respect unto such persons the rules before mentioned are universally true and certain. There is no more communion between them and Jesus Christ than is between light and darkness, as the apostle speaks expressly, 1 John i. 6. Whatever profession they may make of his name, whatever expectations they may unduly raise from him in their own minds, he will say unto them at the last day, "Depart from me, I never knew you." No person, therefore, whatever, who hath not been made partaker of the washing of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy Ghost, can possibly have any union with Christ. I do not speak this as though our purifying were in order of time and nature antecedent unto our union with Christ, for indeed it is an effect thereof; but it is such an effect as immediately and inseparably accompanieth it, so that where the one is not, there is not the other. The act whereby he unites us unto himself is the same with that whereby he cleanseth our natures.

not.

2. Whatever our defilements are or may be, he is not defiled by them. They adhere only unto a capable subject, which Christ is He was capable to have the guilt of our sins imputed to him, but not the filth of one sin adhering to him. A member of a body may have a putrefied sore; the head may be troubled at it and grieved with it, yet is not defiled by it. Wherefore, where there is a radical, original cleansing by the Spirit of regeneration and holiness, whereby any one is meet for union and communion with Christ, however he may be affected with our partial pollutions, he is not defiled by them. He is able ovμrañar, "compati, condolere;" he suffers with us in his compassion;-but he is not liable ouμoλúvoda, to be defiled with us or for us. The visible mystical body of Christ may be defiled by corrupt members, Heb. xii. 15; but the mystical body cannot be so, much less the head.

3. The design of Christ, when he takes believers into union with himself, is to purge and cleanse them absolutely and perfectly; and therefore the present remainders of some defilements are not absolutely inconsistent with that union. "He gave himself for the church, 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," Eph. v. 25-27. This he aims at, and this he will, in his own way and in his own time, perfectly accomplish. But it is not done at once; it is a progressive work, that hath many degrees. God did never sanctify any soul at once, unless by death. The body must die by reason of sin. Every believer is truly and really sanctified at once, but none is perfectly sanctified at once. It is not, therefore, necessary unto union that we should be completely sanctified, though it is that we should be truly sanctified. Complete sanctification is a necessary effect of union in its proper time and season. See John xv. 1–5.

4. Where the work of sanctification and spiritual cleansing is really begun in any, there the whole person is, and is thence denominated, holy. As, therefore, Christ the head is holy, so are all the members holy according to their measure; for although there may be defilements adhering unto their actions, yet their persons are sanctified: so that no unholy person hath any communion with Christ, no member of his body is unholy,—that is, absolutely so, in such a state as thence to be denominated unholy.

5. Our union with Christ is immediately in and by the new creature in us, by the divine nature which is from the Spirit of holiness, and is pure and holy. Hereunto and hereby doth the Lord Christ communicate himself unto our souls and consciences, and hereby have we all our intercourse with him. Other adherences that have any defilement in them, and consequently are opposite unto this union, he daily worketh out by virtue hereof, Rom. viii. 10. The whole body of Christ, therefore, and all that belongs unto it, is holy, though those who are members of this body are in themselves ofttimes polluted, but not in any thing which belongs to their union. The apostle describeth the twofold nature or principle that is in believers, the new nature by grace and the old of sin, as a double person, Rom. vii. 19, 20; and it is the former, the renewed (and not the latter, which he calls "I" also, but corrects as it were that expression, calling it "sin which dwelleth in him"), that is the subject of the union with Christ, the other being to be destroyed.

6. Where the means of purification are duly used, no defilement ensues, on any sin that believers fall into, which doth or can totally obstruct communion with God in Christ, according to the tenor of

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the covenant. There were many things under the Old Testament that did typically and legally defile men that were liable unto them; but for all of them were provided typical and legal purifications, which sanctified them as to the purifying of the flesh. Now, no man was absolutely cut off or separated from the people of God for his being so defiled; but he that, being defiled, did not take care that he might be purified according to the law, he was to be cut off from among the people. It is in like manner in things spiritual and evangelical. There are many sins whereby believers are defiled; but there is a way of cleansing still open unto them. And it is not merely the incidence of a defilement, but the neglect of purification, that is inconsistent with their state and interest in Christ. The rule of communion with God, and consequently of union with Christ, in its exercise, is expressed by David, Ps. xix. 12, 13, “Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret sins. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." The design of the psalmist is, to be preserved in such a state and condition as wherein he may be upright before God. To be upright before God is that which God requireth of us in the covenant, that we may be accepted with him and enjoy the promises thereof, Gen. xvii. 1. He that is so will be free from that great transgression, or that abundance of sin which is inconsistent with the covenant love and favour of God. And hereunto three things are required:-(1.) A constant, humble acknowledgment of sin: "Who can understand his errors?" (2.) Daily cleansing from those defilements which the least and most secret sins are accompanied withal: "Cleanse thou me from secret sins." And, -(3.) A preservation from "presumptuous sins," or wilful sins committed with a high hand. Where these things are, there a man is upright, and hath the covenant-ground of his communion with God; and whilst believers are preserved within these bounds, though they are defiled by sin, yet is there not any thing therein inconsistent with their union with Christ.

7. Our blessed Head is not only pure and holy, but he is also gracious and merciful, and will not presently cut off a member of his body because it is sick or hath a sore upon it. He is himself passed through his course of temptations, and is now above the reach of them all. Doth he, therefore, reject and despise those that are tempted, that labour and suffer under their temptations? It is quite otherwise, so that, on the account of his own present state, his compassions do exceedingly abound towards all his that are tempted. It is no otherwise with him as to their sins and defilements. These he himself was absolutely free from in all his temptations and suffer

ings, but we are not; and he is so far from casting us away on that account, while we endeavour after purification, as that it draweth out his compassions towards us. In brief, he doth not unite us to himself because we are perfect, but that in his own way and time he may make us so; not because we are clean, but that he may cleanse us: for it is the blood of Jesus Christ, with whom we have fellowship, that cleanseth us from all our sins.

Lastly, To wind up this discourse, there is hence sufficiently evidenced a comprehensive difference between a spiritual life unto God by evangelical holiness, and a life of moral virtue, though pretended unto God also. Unto the first, the original and continual purification of our nature and persons by the Spirit of God and blood of Christ is indispensably required. Where this work is not, there neither is nor can be any thing of that holiness which the gospel prescribes, and which we inquire after. Unless the purification and cleansing of sin belong necessarily unto the holiness of the new covenant, all that God hath taught us concerning it in the Old Testament and the New, by his institution of legal purifying ordinances; by his promises to wash, purify, and cleanse us; by his precepts to get ourselves cleansed by the means of our purification, namely, his Spirit and the blood of Christ; by his instructions and directions of us to make use of those means of our cleansing; by his declarations that believers are so washed and cleansed from all the defilements of their sins, are things fanatical, enthusiastic notions, and unintelligible dreams. Until men can rise up to a confidence enabling them to own such horrible blasphemies, I desire to know whether these things are required unto their morality? If they shall say they are so, they give us a new notion of morality, never yet heard of in the world; and we must expect until they have farther cleared it, there being little or no signification in the great swelling words of vanity which have hitherto been lavished about it. But if they do not belong thereunto, as it is most certain the most improved moralists, that are only so, whether in notion or practice, have no regard unto them, then is their life of moral virtue (were it as real in them as it is with notorious vanity pretended) cast out from all consideration in a serious disquisition after evangelical holiness. And what hath been spoken may suffice to give us some light into the nature of this first act of our sanctification by the Spirit, which consists in the cleansing of our souls and consciences from the pollutions of sin, both original and actual.

CHAPTER VI.

THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS.

Differences in the acts of sanctification as to order-The manner of the communication of holiness by the Spirit-The rule and measure whereof is the revealed will of God, as the rule of its acceptance is the covenant of grace— The nature of holiness as inward-Righteousness habitual and actual—False notions of holiness removed-The nature of a spiritual habit-Applied unto holiness, with its rules and limitations-Proved and confirmed-Illustrated and practically improved―The properties of holiness as a spiritual habit declared-1. Spiritual dispositions unto suitable acts; how expressed in the Scripture; with their effects-Contrary dispositions unto sin and holiness how consistent-2. Power; the nature thereof; or what power is required in believers unto holy obedience; with its properties and effects in readiness and facility-Objections thereunto answered, and an inquiry on these principles after true holiness in ourselves directed-Gospel grace distinct from morality, and all other habits of the mind; proved by many arguments, especially its relation unto the mediation of Christ-The principal difference between evangelical holiness and all other habits of the mind, proved by the manner and way of its communication from the person of Christ as the head of the church, and the peculiar efficiency of the Spirit therein-Moral honesty not gospel holiness.

THE distinction we make between the acts of the Holy Ghost in the work of sanctification concerneth more the order of teaching and instruction than any order of precedency that is between the acts themselves; for that which we have passed through concerning the cleansing of our natures and persons doth not, in order of time, go before those other acts which leave a real and positive effect upon the soul, which we now enter upon the description of, nor absolutely in order of nature: yea, much of the means whereby the Holy Ghost purifieth us consisteth in this other work of his which now lies before us; only we thus distinguish them and cast them into this order, as the Scripture also doth, for the guidance of our understanding in them, and furtherance of our apprehension of them.

We, therefore, now proceed unto that part of the work of the Holy Spirit whereby he communicates the great, permanent, positive effect of holiness unto the souls of believers, and whereby he guides and assists them in all the acts, works, and duties of holiness whatever; without which what we do is not so, nor doth any way belong thereunto. And this part of his work we shall reduce unto two heads, which we shall first propose, and afterward clear and vindicate.

And our first assertion is, That in the sanctification of believers,