Doctrine 4: The Great Design of Opening This Fountain Is for Sin and Uncleanness

DOCTRINE IV. The great design of Opening this fountain to Gods People, is for Sin, and for Uncleanness.

This is directly expressed in our Text. There are three things mainly included in this Doctrine: namely,

1. That it was the sin and uncleanness of man, that gave the occasion for the opening of this Fountain.

2. That the great usefulness of this Fountain, is for the taking away of the sin and uncleanness that man has contracted.

3. That where this Fountain is savingly applied, it shall take away the sin and uncleanness of the People of God. These then may be briefly, and yet distinctly taken into consideration.

1. That it was sin and uncleanness of man, that gave the occasion for the Opening of this Fountain. We must here distinguish between a cause and an occasion. They go too far, who assign a causality in sin to the coming of Christ in the Flesh, and his working out of Salvation for us: for though, as will anon be considered, if it had not been for this, he had not so come, yet there cannot properly be assigned any causality in this to such an effect: and they who so think, do not rightly consider the order and causes of Gods Works of Efficiency. They that ascribe a causality to it, reckon it to be an impulsive cause, or a motive on the mind of God to send his Son into the world on this Errand; but that it cannot be, because the will of God is the supreme cause of his purposing the works of Efficiency. And as the Glory of his Grace was the last end of his purpose of Election, so the fall of man into sin, and under misery by sin, was a purposed Medium to it, and so could not possibly be a Medium to that purpose. However in the contrivance of the Media, there was an allwise concatenation of one with another, and so the sin and uncleanness of man gave occasion for the Coming of Christ. And we may take this short [illegible] of it.

1. That God purposed from Eternity to exalt the glory of his Grace, in some lasting monuments of it. If we would take a right account of any of Gods works, we must begin at the [illegible] or design of them. We are to conceive of God as an Infinitely Wise Agent, and therefore to have some worthy end in all that he does: and according to this we are to conceive of the wisdom appearing in the means that he uses to bring this end about. Now God has declared or manifested himself to us in divers glorious attributes or perfections, by which he will make himself known; two whereof were his Grace, and his Mercy, which are often used promiscuously for one and the same in the Gospel, when they are referred to the great design under our present consideration, though there is a divers notion which we are to entertain of them; Grace being God inclined freely to bestow his favor upon a Creature that deserves it not; Mercy supposing the Subject to be in misery, is God inclined to succour it in that misery. Grace may exert itself in a subject that is not in misery; yes, all that God does for any of his Creatures is free; hence that challenge (Romans 11:35): Who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed him again. Mercy is restrained to a miserable subject; and that mercy also is a fruit of Grace, because it is free, for the Creatures infelicity cannot make it to deserve the Succour afforded it. Now God would have some lasting monuments of these perfections of his, which should for ever be mirrors in which it should be read, how gloriously gracious and merciful he is. The Apostle therefore reduces the great contrivance of mans Salvation to this (Ephesians 1:6): To the praise of the glory of his Grace. His people are therefore said to be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory (Jeremiah 13:11).

2. In the order of the means to this end, there was nothing wherein God designed the exaltation of this Grace and Mercy, equally with that of Christ in respect of his Redemption and Salvation. He that designs an end, must choose and use means for the bringing of it about; and many times there is an order of many means for the accomplishment of that which is intended; and in this order there is a subordination of them one to another, in their serving to the design of them: and this is very manifest in the wonderful counsel of God, for the exaltation of the glory of his Grace and Mercy. Now, as the way in which God chose to glorify these perfections of his, was by the Redemption and Salvation of man, in and by which man was to be made the monument of them; so he appointed Jesus Christ to be the Redeemer and Savior, in which he had a regard to Christs Mediatorial Glory. Christ therefore tells us (John 5:22, 23): The Father judges no man, but has committed all Judgment to the Son; that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. The person of Christ, considered as God and man, was a great Medium in this affair; and for that reason he is called a Mediator, or a middle person (1 Timothy 2:5): There is one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. God therefore constituted him to be such a person, that so in and through him, this rich Grace of his might shine forth to all eternity; and for that reason we are said to be chosen in him for this end (Ephesians 1:4, with 6): According as he has chosen us in him, &c. To the praise of the glory of his Grace. And that wherein this Glory was to be illustrated was in the Redemption which he was to work out, by which our Salvation was to be procured, and the conferring of this purchased Salvation upon us by him; hence that (verse 7): In whom we have Redemption through his blood. And indeed, in nothing could the Grace of God so illustriously appear, as in the appointing of his own Son to be a Redeemer for man, when his case was reduced to that exigence, that in no other way he could be Saved (John 3:16): God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son. Romans 5:6: When we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

3. That way might be made for this, there must be a subject for it to work upon, which needed this Redemption and Salvation. A Redeemer, and Redeemed are Correlates, and one cannot be without the other: this is a Relative Title, and therefore if there had been nothing to Redeem, Christ could never have born that Title on him. Redemption supposes a forfeiture, or captivity, which the subject which is to partake in it, is fallen under, and from where his necessity of being redeemed does arise, in that he is by this means to be restored from it. It is true, there are other ways among men, by which such an one may be delivered, namely either by a free setting him at liberty without any satisfaction made, by the bounty of the Creditor, or by a forcible recovery of him out of the hands of those that hold him; but this is one way, and the only one in the case before us; namely by the laying down of an indented price, or by an exchange of persons, to both of which the case in hand is referred (1 Corinthians 6:20). You are bought with a price (1 Timothy 2:6). Who gave himself a ransom for us (Galatians 3:13). Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Hence God appointing of Christ to be a Redeemer, had a respect to man's falling into such a condition as made him to stand in need of one; which necessity was another Medium for the manifestation of this grace and mercy.

4. That which was to enhance this mercy was the forlorn state of the subject, and his helplessness out of it, in any other way. The more there is of grace and mercy in it, the more are these Attributes glorified by it: hence every circumstance in this affair belongs to the Media. The more of unworthiness there is in the subject, the greater is the grace afforded to it; and this grace also holds proportion with the greatness of the kindness itself that is done by it. The more miserable the subject is, the more astonishing is that mercy which succors it; and the more ample deliverance it affords, the greater is its praise: and that which gives a peculiar lustre to both of these is when the subject is brought into such a strait, that there is but one door at which its help can come in; when there is no other possible way of relief, and then that affords it. We are therefore acquainted how all these circumstances centered in the case before us: how miserable we were become, how unworthy we had rendered ourselves (who indeed never had any meritorious worthiness in us) may be read in the word of God. And that our condition was helpless, if Christ had not stepped in for our succor, is there also witnessed to; we are told (Acts 4:12), Neither is there Salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be Saved. And we have that remark (Isaiah 59:16), He saw that there was no man, and he wondered there was no intercessor, therefore his arm brought salvation to him, &c. This therefore is given as a great commendation of Christ (Psalm 72:12), He shall deliver the poor, and him that has no helper. And God himself mentions this as a memorable thing (Ezekiel 16:5, 6), None eye pitied you, and when I passed by you and saw you polluted in your blood, I said to you, live.

5. Way was made to this by that sin and uncleanness that man had contracted to himself. It is certain, that the abounding of sin, made the way for the abounding of this grace (Romans 5:20). Man indeed, had he kept his primitive integrity, would have been a subject of God's grace; every thing that he received from God would have been a free favor: but grace is wonderfully enlarged in and by the Salvation which is provided for and afforded to fallen and sinful man. And as to mercy, in the strict sense of it, man was not a subject nextly capable of it, till sin had made him so; he was not miserable, nor was there any distress upon him which called for succor and compassion. It was sin that hurled him into all his inconveniencies, and those mischiefs that now lie upon him, and have him in pursuit. We are therefore acquainted how this came about (Romans 5:12), By one man sin came into the world, and death by sin. And now, when man is brought into such a state, he is a subject fit for grace and mercy to work upon, and erect to themselves trophies of honor and glory, in doing for him, by raising him out of that forlorn condition, and bestowing upon him the contrary blessedness. Not as if this miserable estate which man has by his own folly brought himself into, laid any obligation upon God to work for him in this way, for it indeed exposed him to his just indignation: but only that it laid open an Object that needed it, and upon which, if he saw meet, he might exert those Attributes of his to the highest, and thereby bring to himself a Tribute of everlasting praise. When therefore Paul had mentioned how notable a subject he had been of this, he could not but shut up the discourse of it with that Doxology (1 Timothy 1:17), Now to the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory, for ever and ever, Amen.

6. There were divers steps to this, all of which were ordered by the holy counsel of God. Every thing that bears the consideration of a Medium to this great end, must needs be acknowledged to God's fore-appointment; for all things fall out according to the counsel of his will: and though he is not in any respect to be accounted the author of sin, yet he is the Supreme Orderer of it, and that according to his permissive will. Now there were such steps as these, all of which made way for the introduction of this grace and mercy of his.

1. The creating of man Upright. That God did so create him, we are told (Ecclesiastes 7:29), God made man upright. Adam was created in a state of integrity, which consisted in the rectitude of his nature, by virtue of the Co-created principle of Holiness and Righteousness which was put into it, and was called God's own Image after which man was made (Genesis 1:26), &c. And if he had not been thus made, he could not have been capable of the following transactions that were between God and him: for to require that of a Creature which it was never in a capacity of complying withal, had been unworthy of God's infinite wisdom, and altogether inconsistent with that Justice which God laid the foundation for, in the nature and state that he created man in.

2. The Covenant of Works, and the sanctions of it. That there was such a Covenant plighted with man, the Word of God gives us sufficient intimations of: and as it was requisite that man should be a cause by counsel of his own actions, or else he could not have been treated with in the way of a Covenant which supposes a mutual stipulation between the persons covenanting; so the works required of him in that Covenant could not have been performed by him according to the tenor of it, without the moral rectitude of his nature, which we have taken notice of. Now in this Covenant there are considerable the sanctions of it, but for which man could not have been happy or miserable according to it, and his carriage of himself towards it. God therefore, besides a rule which he gave to man directing him how he might serve him aright, annexed a promise of life in case of obedience full and perfect, and threatened him with death if he should transgress the precept; which is intimated in that (Genesis 2:17), In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die; and thus man, under the first Covenant, stood a probationer for life or death according as he should behave himself.

3. The permission of him to fall. That man did eventually fall from his rule and happiness is a thing very notorious. That this fall was a foil on which God drew the lines and laid the colors of his grace and mercy is no less observable in the Word of God: hence that (Romans 5:20–21), The Law entered that sin might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin has reigned to death, even so might grace reign through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that God had a respect to this in appointing Christ to be a Redeemer and Savior is not to be doubted, inasmuch as this was the very thing from which he was to redeem and save us: this therefore is said to commend that grace (Romans 5:8), God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God therefore must needs have a foresight of this apostasy, because the assignation of Christ to his mediatorial offices had a respect to it; and that man had not fallen but by divine permission is certain: for [illegible] could have kept him from it, without offering force to his free will, as he did the glorious angels that keep their station, as he does the perfected saints in glory, and as he does true believers in this life from final apostasy; and this permission must needs flow from his will, because he is the supreme Governor of all creatures, and all their actions, according to his holy pleasure. Hence, though God does not approve of, but hates sin, yet he saw it good, for a higher end, that there should be sin by his permission.

4. The miserable estate to which he is reduced by the fall, by virtue of the curse of the Law. If man had retained his uprightness, he had never been miserable, and so had not stood in need of mercy, but all miseries are contained in that curse which man is under by reason of sin and uncleanness: and they are no other than what he must righteously suffer, if there be no way of delivery from them; inasmuch as he has procured them to himself by his sin (Jeremiah 2:17). Now this misery was a proper result of the threatening conditionally menaced in the first Covenant, which the man brought himself under, by transgressing of the Law which was so guarded.

7. Hence, if man had not by his sin and uncleanness involved himself in that misery, there had been no occasion for this fountain's being prepared and opened. There was no Mediator in the first Covenant, neither needed there any: God and man were in amity, and this friendship had been confirmed between them upon man's entire conformity to the will of God, and been sealed up to him, upon his eating of the tree of life, which was a sacrament of it. But now when the Covenant was violated, man was exposed, the curse was fallen upon him, he was a man of death, there was an opportunity for God's showing himself merciful and gracious; and for the display of it, to send forth his Son to be a Savior; and for that end to cause all fullness to dwell in him, that might derive from him to the undone creature, as from a fountain. And this serves to give us some light into the stupendous mystery of the providence of God, in suffering of poor man to fall upon the Law, and break himself in pieces; but for which the glorious things of Christ had never been heard of in the world.

2. That the great usefulness of this fountain is to take away the sin and uncleanness which man had contracted. It is certain that Christ is a fountain of all saving good to sinful man, as has been already observed: but the Spirit of God does point us here to some peculiar benefit, that it was designed for, and for that reason do require our particular consideration of. Here then we may enquire;

1. What we are here to understand by sin, and uncleanness?

2. In what respect sin and uncleanness may be said to be taken away?

3. What is the usefulness of this fountain for such an end?

Of these in order.

1. What are we here to understand by sin and uncleanness?

A. There are some who take these two words to be synonymical, and to intend one and the same thing; only allowing an emphasis in the ingemination of things, they suppose them to include all sorts and degrees of sin. Some, by sin understand those errors, or ordinary transgressions which men live in the commission of; and by uncleanness the more enormous and conscience-wasting sins which they defile themselves withal: some again, by sin understand actual sin; and by uncleanness original sin, which is the root of defilement in man, and makes all the actions which he does polluted. But there is yet another sense which is more generally entertained, and seems more appositely to belong to the meaning of the text, and recommends to us the excellent virtue of this fountain, and its extensive usefulness, namely that by sin we are to understand the guilt, and by uncleanness the defilement that is contracted by sin. There are two woeful properties of sin, recorded in the Word of God, in which the misery of sinful man is comprehended.

There is a guilt that is contracted by it; which is properly a respect that it bears to the Covenant of Works, or the sanction which was added to the law which God at first gave to man, expressed in (Genesis 2:17): "In the day you eatest thereof you shall surely die," expounded in (Ezekiel 18:4): "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." This word is therefore used for the punishment of sin, or rather for the guilt by which the man lies obnoxious to punishment (Genesis 4:7): "If you do not well sin lies at the door." Leviticus 20:20: "They shall bear their sin." And in the Levitical Law it is often used for the sacrifice that was offered for sin, for the expiation of the guilt of it (Leviticus 4:20, 24), and frequently elsewhere.

There is also a defilement which the sin leaves behind it upon the man: and that in respect both of original and actual sin. Original sin is the very pollution of our nature, which makes us unclean things: and hence it is allegorically and emphatically set forth by the condition of a new-born infant, in Ezekiel 16 begin. And every actual sin leaves a spot, a stain, a filthiness behind it upon the man that commits it (Ezekiel 20:43): "You shall remember your ways and all your doings, wherein you have been defiled." And this arises from the moral respect which sin bears to the law of God, which is a holy law, and men are said to be holy when they observe it; and for this reason sin is said to be an abominable thing (Jeremiah 44:4).

2. In what respect this sin and uncleanness may be said to be taken away?

This will be evident from the former; for in what respect sin and uncleanness cleaves to the man, in the same it must be removed. There is therefore a double taking away of sin, answerable to the twofold mischief which it does the man, by its adhesion to him: the former is by justification, the latter by sanctification. And these are two great and comprehensive benefits which the Gospel tells us do derive from Christ to us. These were in the old Mosaic Law represented, the one by the sacrifices of atonement, in which the blood of the offering was made use of; hence that (Hebrews 9:22): "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission." The other by the many washings and purifications that men were appointed to make use of. And some think these two were emblematized in the blood and water which issued from the body of Christ when he was pierced: here then,

Sin is taken away by justification, when the atonement being accepted for the sinner, he is pardoned, and his guilt removed. As long as the law makes its demands of the sinner personally, so long his sin lies upon him, and he is guilty; but when this pardon is bestowed, he ceases legally to be a sinner, that is, he is not a guilty one, because he is discharged from the sentence that was out against him: his sin is in that regard as if it had never been. We read in (Jeremiah 50:20): "In those days, and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon," etc. And this is done by God's accepting of an atonement, when he says as (Job 33:24): "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom."

Sin is taken away by sanctification, when God, by his Spirit, applies his grace to the soul, by which he mortifies sin, and cleanses it of the defilement which cleaves to it. This is called the purging away of iniquity (Isaiah 27:9): "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged." And the purifying of our hearts (Acts 15:9). And we are allusively told how it is done (Ezekiel 36:25): "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness." And this is nextly applied to original sin, by the mortification whereof we are sanctified, and as sin decreases, so grace increases, which is our purity.

3. What is the usefulness of this fountain for such an end?

There are two things to be considered in the Lord Jesus Christ as a fountain, or a treasury in whom they are laid up, which do suitably and sufficiently answer these two occasions of sinful men, namely his merit, and his grace: I shall give some general glances at each of these.

There is an infinite merit fountained in Christ, for the taking away the guilt of sin, and the justification of the sinner. We observed that this guilt is an obligation lying upon the sinner by reason of the threatening, to suffer the penalty menaced by the Law. The removal of this guilt, with respect to the sinner himself, can be only by a free pardon; for he has nothing of his own to make compensation to the Law withal. But the removal of it with reference to the Covenant of Works, and the established rule of relative justice in it, must be by justification. God, as a Judge, must either justify or condemn him, upon his trial: and yet, in justifying him, he must also pardon him. These two are inconsistent in the procedure of human judges, but they are inseparable in God's process upon believers. It is called justifying the ungodly (Romans 4:5). But the ungodliness must be forgiven to the person freely, and so justification is an act of grace (Romans 3:24): being justified freely by his grace. And yet it must be upon a satisfaction and merit, else the Law cannot be answered in it, nor the justice of God consist with his grace, and it must so do (verse 26): that God may be just, and the justifier of him that believes. In this justification there are two things, namely the pardon of sin, and the declaring the person righteous; for which there must be found the Law answered in both parties; the threatening must be satisfied for, which is to be done by a bearing of the whole penalty denounced against the sinner for sin; and the condition of the promise of life must be complied with, which is by perfect obedience to the whole Law. That this may be done for the sinner by a surety, the Gospel assures us; and that Christ was a surety on this account, we are there informed (Hebrews 7:22): Jesus was made a surety of a better Covenant. And this is also implied in that (2 Corinthians 5:21): he has made him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God through him. And those several expressions amount to as much (Isaiah 53:4, 5, 6): he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; he was wounded for our transgressions, &c. Now Christ, by the redemption that he wrought out, laid in an infinite treasure of righteousness for this end, and on this account it is called the righteousness of God (Philippians 3:9; Romans 3:21), and everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24). The satisfaction and merit of it is sufficient to expiate the guilt of all sins (1 John 5:7): the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. There is a boundless ocean of virtue in him, so that he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to him (Hebrews 7:25).

There is an incomprehensible fullness of grace in Christ, which he is able to communicate to us for our sanctification. Not only had he in him an unmeasurable fullness of grace; and hence he is said to be full of grace (John 1:14), to have a universal fullness in him (Colossians 1:19): it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Not only to have grace poured forth on his lips (Psalm 45:2), but to be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows (verse 7). Yes, we are told that God gives not the Spirit by measure to him (John 3:34). But he received it as a fountain or storehouse, that he might communicate it; hence that (John 1:16): of his fullness we all receive, and grace for grace. For this reason he is said to be made sanctification to us (1 Corinthians 1:30). There is no grace that we can want, but there is enough of it with him to bestow upon us, and furnish us therewith for new obedience, that we may be so enabled to glorify God in our lives. Nor is there any duty that he calls us to, so hard but that he can supply us with abundant ability to discharge it, and carry us through it to his glory. Paul could be confident of this (Philippians 4:13): I can do all things through Christ strengthening of me. It is the work of his Spirit to convey this grace from him to us (John 16:14): he shall receive of mine, and show it to you. And he who is privileged with this indwelling Spirit needs not be discouraged at anything which God lays in his way as duty, but may confide in this, that Christ can and will be with him, and carry him through victoriously, over all that would obstruct him in it. And this is the ground upon which he bids his people, though weak in themselves, not to be afraid (Isaiah 41:14): fear not you worm Jacob, and the men of Israel, I will help you says the Lord, and your Redeemer. His grace has a cleansing virtue in it; and though we are at present sanctified but in part, yet this is not through any defect in his virtue, but because he will carry the work on in his, gradually, for holy ends, and that he may teach them the experience of the spiritual warfare, while they abide in [illegible]. Yet he who carries it on by degrees, will give us the experience of the fullness of it, when he shall have purged away all our iniquities, and made us entire and spotless, which we are assured is the design to which his redemption leads (Ephesians 5:25, 26, 27): Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify, &c. and present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

That where this fountain is savingly applied, it shall take away the sin and uncleanness of the people of God. This shall be the certain and unfailing operation of it. If ever the virtue of Christ's redemption be communicated to any of the children of men, it shall certainly have this operation upon them; it is an inseparable quality of the fountain. This proposition may be laid open in the following conclusions.

That the great errand on which Christ was sent into the world, was to take away the sins of his people. We have before observed that it was our sin that gave the occasion for the opening of this fountain, and why did Christ take an occasion from there to appear in the state of a Redeemer, but that he might remove it? Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). It was not to reconcile God to sin, but to reconcile sinners to God (2 Corinthians 5:19). God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself; which reconciliation could be made in no other way, but by the removal of that which had made the distance, which was nothing else but sin (Isaiah 59:2). Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. It was because sin had made the world a hospital, that Christ was sent into it to come as a healer, a physician, and so he compares himself, in Matthew 9:13.

That the whole business of his humiliation was to enable him thus to do. Christ was not only to be the physician, but the physic too; all the sanative virtue by which souls whom sin had deadly wounded, might be cured, must proceed from him: there must therefore be such a virtue in him; and there must be an infinite fullness of it, that it might extend to all sin, and completely heal sinners of it. He must be able to save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). And for this he must be a divine person, clothed with a human nature, and in that nature he must accomplish all that which was necessary for the fitting of him to this great work. Now this he did in his state of humiliation; the application of this belongs especially to his exalted state (Acts 5:31). Him has God exalted, &c. to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins; but he laid in for it in his humbled state, which was therefore introductory to the other, as we are told in Philippians 2:7, 8, 9. In this he made the atonement, without which guilt could never have been removed; hitherto belongs that (2 Corinthians 5:21). He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God through him, in this his blood was made cleansing blood, for the purifying us from all our iniquities, according to 1 John 1:7. The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin.

That the reason of this was, because there were some that needed it, whom God purposed to make partakers in the benefits of it. As, if man's sin had not brought him to that exigency, that without such a fountain he must have perished for ever, Christ had not come; so, if God had not resolved to impart the efficacy of it to some such necessitous ones, he would never have been at the charge of providing it. God did not only intend the provision and exhibition of this fountain, that so if any would come to, and make use of it, they might be saved from their sins by it; if that had been all, Christ had died in vain; for it is certain that none of fallen men would ever of their own accord come to him: that is true of all, till Christ draws them (John 5:40). You will not come to me that you may have life: the natural man loves his sin, and delights to wallow in the mire of his uncleanness; but God chose some from eternity to be made the monuments of his rich grace, in taking away all their iniquities; and he provided Christ for this end; and therefore all such as he designed this for, shall come to Christ (John 6:37). All that the Father has given me, shall come to me; they shall be cleansed, and washed and healed.

That they may partake in this benefit, there must be a saving application of the virtue of it to them. These waters quench the thirst of the soul, by being drank of; they wash off the guilt and filth which cleaves to the soul, by being washed with them; they heal the mortal diseases which sin had infected us withal, by the influence of the sanative virtue of them on the soul. It is not enough that they have all these good qualities in them: the Gospel therefore acquaints us with an application consequent upon the redemption wrought out by Christ, whereby he becomes ours, and we are saved by him; and hereupon life is restrained to our having of Christ (1 John 5:12). He that has the Son, has life, and he that has not the Son, has not life.

It is savingly applied to those only who come to him by saving faith in him for it. Faith is the uniting grace by which we are made one with Christ, and receive him to be our own for all the ends of his Mediatorship. This therefore is the great Gospel condition on which Christ is offered to be made ours, and we are given to understand, that if thus we do not receive him, we shall not partake in his saving mercies (Mark 16:16). He that believes shall be saved, and he that believes not shall be damned. And as faith comes to Christ, so it draws the waters out of this fountain, it fetches in supplies from Christ continually (Hebrews 10:38). The just shall live by his faith.

God himself is the Author of this faith in order to our participation in these benefits. Faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). God by his Spirit puts this grace into us, and enables us to exert it, and that which he aims at in this, is to bring us to Christ by it, and so give us a title to these living waters, that they may be ours, and we may challenge a property in them, and make use of them for all our occasions continually.

Hence all that do thus come to him shall receive this virtue from him. Whoever is united to Christ, the fountain of life, shall live by him: Where God gives faith, he gives all that is connected in the promise with it. All saving good is firmly promised to believing; God therefore on our believing, pardons our sin, the guilt of it passes off, our persons are freed from condemnation: and he sanctifies our hearts, by laying a foundation of holiness in us, which though imperfect at present, and mixed with defilement, yet shall in due time aim at entire holiness, without spot or blemish: Hence we have that title put upon believing (Hebrews 10:39). We are of them that believe, to the saving of the soul.

USE. 1. This may serve to commend Christ to the sinful children of men, as a desirable object. And surely, there is nothing that can more set him forth as a suitable and necessary one, than this consideration. In nothing could he have been more accommodable to the condition of fallen man, for his relief. Let then the contemplation of this draw your eyes and your hearts after him, and render him in your esteem most precious and desirable. And to this end consider.

1. You are all by nature under the guilt and defilement of sin. This is the state of all mankind: and indeed, if we look upon sin in its relations, it will infer this. As it relates to the Covenant of Works, and the sanctions of that, so it involves guilt; sin is the transgression of the law, and that law has ordained death to be the wages of every transgression of it (Romans 6:23): "The wages of sin is death." And by virtue of this ordination, the sinner is held a fast prisoner of the law, obnoxious to destruction. And if we look upon sin as it relates to the sanctity or purity of the law of God, so it pollutes the man, stains him with uncleanness. Now there is none of you but besides the imputation of the guilt of the first transgression, have a corrupt fountain of original sin in you, and innumerable actual pollutions, which you have made yourselves odious withal: hence that (Proverbs 20:9), "Who can say I have made mine heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"

2. Your misery is inconceivably great while you are under the dominion of these. Indeed all man's misery began upon his sinning: and there are two springs from where all this infelicity flows, namely guilt and filthiness, nor can it be taken off but by the removal of these. And one would think the greatness of your misery, should rouse you up to seek a deliverance from it: and you may know that it is incomparably great by viewing the effects of it, which are;

1. By sin you are exposed to the whole curse of the law. And that is of the very nature of guilt that attends upon sin, before it is pardoned; for guilt is nothing else but the binding of the curse upon the sinner: and did you but know, or would you but look over and ponder upon the contents of the curse, as it is recorded in the word of God, it would certainly fill you with terrors. It is contracted in a narrow word, death, but if that word be spread abroad, and all the contents of it laid open to view, they will fill a prodigious roll, such as that described in (Zechariah 5:2, 3). All the evils of loss and sense which the sinner can undergo, belong to it; all the sorrows that can betide either the body or the soul, are engrossed in it; all the punishments in this life, and in another world, relate to it: it has its inc[illegible]ations in time and the consummation of it is reserved for an amazing eternity. This is your portion because of sin; for all the wrath of God abides on you (John 3:36).

2. By sin you are become vain and [illegible]profitable: and this arises from the uncleanness that adheres to it. For such a creature as man, to live and be in vain, is an inexpressible misery; hence that complaint (Psalm 89:47), "Therefore have you made all men in vain?" It is acknowledged on all hands that man's formal happiness consists in eupraxy or well doing; it was therefore his great privilege that he was made at first every way fitted for it (Ecclesiastes 7:29). God made man upright. David observes that in keeping the commands of God there is a great reward (Psalm 19:11). To glori[illegible] God is a happy employment; but sin has stripped you of this power, and left you utterly unable for it (Romans 3:23): "All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God." And this has brought the title of vain upon man, because by it he has lost the end that he was directed to, and made for; and thus sin has put you below the most brutish of brute creatures, who do all in their station and capacity glorify God: and were you not most stupid, you could not but bitterly bewail this infelicity of yours.

3. There is no rem[illegible]dying of your misery but by removing of these from you. The man must of necessity be unhappy, so long as there is a sentence of death out against him, pronounced by the mouth of a holy and just God, and he goes every moment in danger of the execution of it upon him, and the power of the whole creation cannot rescue him from it; and so it is with every unregenerate one (Isaiah 57:21): "There is no peace to the wicked, says my God." Nor can the sinner serve to the noble end of his being, so long as he is altogether unclean, and has nothing on him but wounds, and ulcers, and putrefying sores; while he is a slave to impure lusts, he must needs endure a wretched bondage, and may well cry out as he in (Romans 7:24): "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?"

4. This relief is to be had no where else. You may go through the world, and try every thing in it, and whatever other help you may possibly find in it, yet in this great case, and only distressing exigence, it can afford you none at all. There is no second being that can take away either the guilt or the filth of sin: the whole world will not make a price equivalent for the buying off the sentence that is upon you, and afford you redemption, this is clearly intimated in (Psalm 49:6, 7). And the reason is given, verse 8: "For their redemption is precious, and it ceases for ever." All your legal courses, will not take away the stain and defilement that is upon you by reason of sin; what says God to them (Jeremiah 2:22): "Though you wash you with nitre, and take you much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord God."

5. This fountain will answer both these ends completely. The virtue of it extends here; and it must needs so do, because God's infinite wisdom provided it on purpose for this design, and he cannot fail of his end. David had contracted horrible guilt, and polluted himself by his great sin, yet he presumes of being clean from both, if God will but apply this to him (Psalm 51:7): "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than the snow." The effectual application of this will take away sin so thoroughly, as if it had never been, for we are told in (Numbers 23:21): "God has seen no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel."

6. And it stands open to you for this end, and you are invited to come to it for this purpose God lays before [◊] the matter of conviction of your great guilt and contamination, to make you see your absolute need of this fountain; and that this conviction may not drive you to discouraging distress, he bids you come to it, and apply yourselves to obtain the virtue of it, and tells you what wonders it shall do for you upon this account (Isaiah 1:16, with 18): "Wash you, make you clean, &c. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Bless God for this discovery, and neglect not to make this use of it, if you love the life of your souls.

USE. 2. We have here a rule by which we may try whether we have a true interest in this fountain. And it very highly concerns every one to put himself upon this trial; for consider;

1. If you have no title to it, your condition is very fearful. That sin and uncleanness under the efficacy whereof every unregenerate man abides, is certainly destructive to him: either it must be taken away, or it will work your eternal ruin. This is implied, when God invites them to repentance under that encouragement (Ezekiel 18:30): "So iniquity shall not be your ruin." If this fountain had not been prepared and opened, we had all perished without hope: and though there is a good hope set before all such as are pointed to it, and bidden to make use of it, yet if you do not comply with this offer, and receive Christ according to the tenor of it, you will miss of the benefit, and be undone for all. Christ expressly told them in (John 8:24), "If you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins." And I am sure, that man who dies in his sins is undone to all eternity.

2. If you think you have a title, and are deceived in it, your case is [◊] to desperate. Of all men, there are none th[illegible] stand in greater hazard of unavoidable ruin than such as nourish themselves with a good opinion of their safe estate, when it is far otherwise. This fosters in them a carnal confidence, which makes them to neglect that great duty, of giving all diligence to make their calling and election sure, which is required in (2 Peter 1:10). This stifles all the convictions that are offered in the Word and Ordinances, and they fly over their heads, as things which they reckon themselves unconcerned in: and this is the reason why Publicans and Harlots [◊] receive the calls of the Gospel than such as these, because these think that work is over already. And that there will be such self-deceivers we are assured (Luke 13:26, 27): "Then shall you begin to say, we have eaten, and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets: but he shall say, I tell you I know you not, from where you are, &c."

3. If indeed you have a title to Christ, the knowledge of it will afford you much consolation. And indeed, what comfort can be comparable to that of one who knows his name to be written in heaven (Luke 10:20)? That man who is in such a case, is happy indeed, beyond all danger of being ever miserable. Surely then, he who knows this to be his condition, cannot but rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. And for your help in this enquiry; observe;

1. If this fountain be yours, you have come to it by a living faith. It is offered to us in the promise, and we receive it by believing. No unbeliever can lay any claim to it, but every true believer can. If you have received Christ, you have believed in him, and if you have believed in him, you are the children of God, and heirs of the springs of salvation (John 1:12): "As many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name." Coming to him, and believing on him are equivalent terms in the Gospel.

2. If you have come to him by faith aright; there are the things that have attended your so coming, and you must search for them:

1. Have you been acquainted with the proper end and usefulness of this fountain? True faith is distinguished from false, mainly by the end of it. All that pretend to come to Christ have something that moves them, and which they propose to get by coming; but that which true faith looks after is life; others possibly have thought they did come to him, but it was only as one who, they hoped, would save them from Hell: but if you have come rightly to him, it was to have your sin and uncleanness done away; and then it was your hearty cry (Hosea 14:3), "Take away all iniquity."

2. Have you then felt your need of this fountain for this end? It is apprehended want that drives sinners to Christ; and that which has been their distressing trouble, will be the discovery of what they went to him for. [◊] you have gone to him to take away your sin and uncleanness, that has been your burden, and you have been made to say, as he (Psalm 38:4), "Mine iniquities are gone over mine head; as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me." And you have therefore valued this fountain for the virtue of it.

3. What are the fruits of your coming? Doubtless that is a great truth which God has recorded of himself (Isaiah 45:19): "I said not to the seed of Jacob, seek you me in vain." If you have come in faith, it has had some success. It may be you value all success according as you experience, comforts and assurances coming in upon your seeking to God, and if you want them, you fear that you have come in vain; but this is a mistake in your search. You came to have your sin purged, and if there be any thing of that done, you are so far answered. Are you then more beaten off from your own righteousness, and made more to depend upon that of Christ alone? Is sin more vile and hateful to you, and do you more loathe yourselves for it? If it be thus, then you have your end so far advanced, and be thankful.

USE 3. Let this serve to direct sinners in their right coming to Christ, if they would have him be a fountain of saving good to them. Herein only will Christ really profit us, if we may obtain salvation by him; and there is a so coming to him, if we would have grounded hopes of obtaining this benefit from him. And it is to be feared that many deceive themselves about this, who pretend to a great respect for Christ, and talk much of their trusting in him; but were never rightly informed about him, and that for which he was manifested to us. Would you then come, and speed, and be happy in your coming to him, take these directions.

1. Take heed to your selves, what you come to him for. If you mistake here, you will put a cheat upon your own souls. Christ indeed is a fountain, but of what? What was he opened for? That is it which you are encouraged by; and your ends must be the same with his, if you would not be disappointed. Hypocrites pretend much, but they ever impose upon themselves in this regard. If you come to Christ for credit, and ease, and prosperity in this world, you will find your selves mistaken; he has assured you that you shall meet with trouble and reproach, and many trials in his service (John 16, last verse). In this world you shall have tribulation; his kingdom is not of this world. If you come to him only to have your sin pardoned, and not purged away, you will miss of your aim; for though he must apply a pardon to you, if ever you obtain it, yet his justification and sanctification are inseparable; and if you seek not the destruction as well as the remission of your sins, you will find your selves disappointed. Be sure then to come for the purging away of your sins; that being pardoned, you may serve him in newness of life.

2. Come with an insatiable desire after the obtaining this of him. Labor to affect your hearts with the burden and bitterness of sin, and come as those that are weary and heavy laden by it (Matthew 11:28). God directs to such a sense in order to saving good (Jeremiah 2:19): Know and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the Lord your God. Resolve that you can never be well till this virtue derive from him to you, and let your cries be accordingly earnest, importunate, undeniable. Resolve that you will follow him indefatigably, that you will never let him alone, nor give him any rest till he has savingly applied the waters of this fountain to you.

3. Come with a firm persuasion of his suitableness and sufficiency. You have seen that there is no such virtue to be found in all the world's waters, now believe that he can do it for you; come as the leper did (Matthew 8:2): If you will, you can make me clean. Look then upon him in his person, in his offices, and in the great work of redemption, that was wrought out by him, and see how every way fit and able he is for this work; and let this make you fixedly to resolve that you will go no whither else, but that you will wait upon him, till he shall give you the experience of his love to you in this regard.

USE 4. For exhortation to the children of God, who are already made partakers of an interest in this fountain; in two particulars.

1. Acknowledge the rich grace of God to you, in that he has not only opened this fountain before you, but in you. The former indeed is a great favor, and so to be confessed by all that partake in it; those that have it are highly advantaged, had they but an heart to make a right improvement of it; and if they do not so, they will bring great guilt upon themselves by their contempt. How great a kindness then is this that you share in? And do you endeavour to entertain it with suitable resentments: and there are among others, these two considerations which will greatly help you in your gratitude.

1. Had not God thus done for you, you had perished in your sins. You were under the efficacy of sin and uncleanness in your natural estate, and that held you under guilt and defilement, and these would have wrought out your certain destruction, if they had not been remedied. There must be a fountain for this, else it could never have been taken away, a fountain of blood for the removal of your guilt, and a fountain of grace for the purging away of your pollution. None else but Christ could possibly be such a fountain to you; there is an infinite value and virtue requisite to be found in that which can do this for you, which no merely created being could ever attain to. If this fountain had not been revealed to you, you could not have partaken in the saving virtue of it, because it is applied by faith: they that live out of the reach of the Gospel dispensation, die without knowledge; and if it had not been opened in you, you had still died in your sins; there are multitudes that do so who have heard of it with the hearing of the ear, because they have not cordially embraced it: if he had not savingly applied it to you, you had refused it as well as others, for you had as great a natural malignity in you against it as any in the world.

2. What are you better than others who are not thus favoured? The difference that is put between you and them is very great, but who has made it? When he brought this grace of his to you, you were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). When he offered it to you, you regarded it not, but bade him to depart from you; you sought it not of him, but he sought you up that he might bestow it upon you; you gave him all the resistance that an heart full of enmity could do. It was almighty power that brought you to it, yes, possibly you more dishonoured God, by peculiar wickedness, and scandalous provocations, before such time as he thus appeared to you, than a great many have done, whom he yet has not so favoured. Can you then sufficiently celebrate his praise?

2. Be sure to make continual use of it. You will always stand in need of it, and it ever stands open for you to repair to, and there is a double usefulness which it serves to.

1. Repair constantly to it for renewed pardon. It was not sufficient that you did so apply to it in your first conversion; for, though it was then applied to you for the justification of your persons, yet.

You sin daily. Though lust be mortified as to the dominion of it, yet it is not abolished in you, but has its daily breakings out: there is a contrary part in you, that is ever and anon bringing you into captivity. We are told, in (Ecclesiastes 7:20), there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not; and the reason of it is, because there is a flesh in us that is always lusting against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17).

Every sin offers matter of provocation to God. It is a transgression of his holy law; it is an abominable thing to him (Jeremiah 44:4). It is that which he cannot endure (Habakkuk 1:13). And though he knows our frame, and will not be always contending with us, or break out in his severity for every frailty of ours; yet there is occasion offered him for his anger, and we must confess with him (Psalm 130:3), "If you Lord, should mark iniquities; Oh Lord, who should stand?"

Hence it calls on you to seek of him forgiveness. And this is at least, one main reason, why we are daily and on all occasions to renew that petition (Matthew 6:12), "Forgive us our debts." And hence how often have we David asking pardon of God, though he was in a state of justification?

Here only can you obtain it. You must come to the fountain for it. Whenever God's ancient people fell into any sin, there was a sacrifice presently to be offered for atonement, in order to its being forgiven: and if we sin, we must go to this Advocate, and make use of him as our Propitiation (1 John 2:1-2).

Address him continually for the washing of sanctification. They that are sanctified, must be sanctified again; they were so for whom the Apostle prays (1 Thessalonians 5:23), "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly," &c. There is yet a body of death in you, a fountain of uncleanness: and there are the eruptions of it in your actions, which defile you, and you want washing.

Come here by the repentance of faith, [illegible] in every notable defilement. Are you [illegible] with any temptation which draws [illegible] the mire? Let this drive you to the fountain for cleansing: and this must be by the renewal of repentance: thus did David (Psalm 51:7). And this is the only way to purify yourselves, which is the care of every believer (1 John 3:3), "He that has this hope in him, purifies himself, as he is pure."

Wash in it daily for your daily pollution. There is a defilement that cleaves to every thing we do: when we are never so careful to ourselves, sin in us will pollute our best services. Paul complains (Romans 7:21), "I find a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me." This therefore should bring you to Christ continually for cleansing.

Be evermore fetching from hence all the grace you need to perfect you in holiness. Let the sense of remaining corruption, put you upon the exercise of renewed and progressive sanctification; for which you must repair to this fountain of grace, and apply the promises by which you partake in it, to this end, according to (2 Corinthians 7:1), "Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And never cease from the pursuit of this work, till sin be no more in you, and grace be arrived at its full degree of perfection.