said to be Almighty Verse 18. and therefore able to perform and in Verse 17. he is stiled Jehovah or the Lord that changeth not Secondly In regard of the great things promised or the contents of the promises of which you heard before Unto which two great Dignities and Prerogatives more are to be added out of Verse 16. That God hath promised to set his Sanctuary in us and to make us his Temple according to Levit. 26.11 And secondly to make us his Garden Eden or Paradise in that he hath promised to walk in us A third remarkable thing is the extent of these promises That they are made not onely to the Males but the Females also Verse 18. and the last thing not to be passed over without due observation and regard is the condition of the promises upon which they were made Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you which is the sum of Pauls injunction and charge here in our Text. Thus of the Interest it self these promises the persons interested are as you see the Corinthian Saints and all such as were converted to God believed in his Son and were baptised and washed through him inwardly as well as outwardly For the promise is made to you and your children and to all that are afar of even as many as the Lord our God shall call For the third the kinde measure or degree of Interest which these persons have it is not for the most part actual possession and sense or feeling grounded thereupon but a true claim and title thereunto and a suitable hope so far as they do or intend to observe the conditions of the promises Rom. 8.24,25 2 Cor. 5.7 Phil 3.12 Not as though I had already attained Heb. 11.13 before alleadged Thus of the ground-work now of the Apostles superstructure Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh c. From which words we may in the general learn these three things First That the promises of God are not onely a foundation of our Faith Hope and Comfort but are or should be a ground-work of our obedience and a most effectual incentive or motive unto duty as Ephes 6.2 Honor thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandment with promise Secondly That in Gods promises which are conditional as all these are we must not onely have an eye upon what is promised but a sharp regard also upon what is required The condition as well as the donation of the promises must be heeded regarded and observed Thirdly Whereas this charge here tends unto and ends in the work of Sanctification let us take notice That the great exigence and requiring of the promises at our hands is the carrying on and finishing of the great holy and most necessary work of our Sanctication 1 Thes 4.4 For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification It is that whereunto we were elected Ephes 1.4 and called 1 Thes 4.7 But to come to a more particular consideration of the condition which is the main thing insisted upon in this Text in it we have a twofold Christian duty and both of the greatest importance injoyned unto us and charged upon us the first in these words Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit The second in these Perfecting holiness in the fear of God Of which we shall crave leave to speak in this order First by way of Analysis and Exposition Secondly by way of Doctrine Proposition and thirdly by way of Transposition to our selves or of Use and Application All which shall be grounded upon clear and evident testimony of Scripture For the first of these injunctions or charges laid upon us in it are four things to be opened the first is the evil which is to be removed All filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit the second is the persons from whom it is to be separated Our selves the third is by what kinde of act By cleansing the same out and the fourth is the persons that are to be engaged in this work Let us The evil to be removed is not the evil of punishment for sin but the evil of sin the root and spring of all our misery it is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquinament or pollution By which word we are not onely to understand the open sin but the false holiness also which is not prescribed by the Lord but chosen and set up by men All which is not onely filthy in the concrete but filthiness in the Abstract Isai 64.6 But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do fade like a Leafe and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away This filthiness is here set forth by a distribution of it into its species according to a twofold subject The filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit Where we may observe First That there is not onely a pollution of the flesh to be found such as lying swearing cursing gluttony drunkenness fornication whoredom coveteousness theft murder and such like gross and manifest sins are but a filthiness of the spirit also whereby the Devils are denominated unclean spirits such as high-flying thoughts serpentine wisdom hypocrisie and seeming holiness pride and arrogancy self-love self-seeking strife and debate factiousness wrath revenge malice cruelty mischievousness persecution and heart-heart-murder spiritual whoredom and the like Secondly take notice from hence That man consisting not onely of a body which is flesh but of an immortal spirit is since the fall subject to sins of both kindes which the Devils themselves are not till by Grace they be wholly washed away In this evil to be removed we are also to attend the measure and degree in which it is to be removed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all filthiness for as Solomon speaketh Eccles 10.1 Dead flies cause the Apothecaries ointment to send forth a stinking savor so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor Thus of the evil to be removed the persons from whom we are to remove it are not our Brethren onely but our selves in the first place Matth. 7.5 Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam that is in thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy Brothers eye For every one of us must give an account of himself unto God Rom. 14.12 The act to be imployed in this removal of the evil is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us cleanse or purifie our selves whereof the legal washings purifications and cleansings were a type So that a bare confession of our sins a bewailment of them a loathing of them and a purpose to leave them though these be good steps and degrees towards this act and duty yet they all fall short of what is here required and proposed of the true and industrious Saints 1 John
aforetime they were written for our instruction 1. Then by way of Information it is consequent from hence That as nothing is so offensive and contrary to God and his Divine Nature as sin is so there is no greater bar and obstruction then iniquity and unrighteousness is to keep us from the benefit of all his promises 1 Sam. 2.30 Isa 59.23 2. That in this point some of our Modern writers in Europe are much degenerated from the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles 3. That what Paul speaketh Rom. 7.14,15,16 is to be understood onely of Babes in Christ Secondly this Doctrine serves to confute many common errors and mistakes and first that opinion or assertion That sin cannot be wholly subdued in the Saints by the Grace and Truth of Christ while they live in the Mortal Body for if that cannot be attained the design of the Father who gave his Son that he might destroy the workmanship of the Devil 1 John 3.8 is disappointed and Christs love towards men is made of none effect who loved us and gave himself for us that he might sanctifie and wash us with the washing of water by the Word and present us unto himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrincle or any such thing Ephes 5.24,25,26,27 Yea the condition of the promises being impossible to be performed should be unjust and the promises made of none effect but whereas many places in the Old Testament are brought to plead for the continuance in sin as 1 King 8.46 Prov. 20.9 Eccle. 7.20 To those we may answer with the words of the Apostle Heb. 7.19 That the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh unto God And for the Scriptures alleadged out of the New Testament that of Rom. 7.24,25 cannot be understood of Pauls present estate for the second Verse of Chapter eight contradicts it as doth also 1 Cor. 4.4 2 Cor. 5.16,17 Phil. 4.13 but must onely be understood as was said before of the Babes and Yonglings in Christ so must that also be understood Gal. 5.17 and that 1 John 1.8 as is evident if it be compared with Verse the thirteenth and fourteenth of the second Chapter or with Verse third of the third Chapter and with Verse the seventeenth of the fourth Chapter lastly That of Jam. 3.2 can in reason be no more understood of him and his Fellow-Apostles where he saith That in many things we offend all then that which he speaks plurally also Verse 9. Therewith bless we God even the Father to wit with the tongue and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God Secondly This giveth a check to their Error who say That in death when we put off the Body of Clay all sin shall be put off and mortified and not before For first it is by the Spirit that the deeds of the body or flesh must be mortified and not the sinful deeds of the spirit by the flesh Rom. 8.13 Secondly If the natural death healed all sins none would die in their sins as our Saviour threatens that the unbelieving Jews should do John 8.21,24 Lastly We are commanded to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit and this is to be done in our life time and not to be done in our days of our death And by this opinion Corporal death should effect more then the Spirit of Grace could do all our life long in the final mortification of our sins Thirdly This may confute them who affirm That Christ came to take away the guilt of our sins by his death and suffering before the act or corruption is taken away for the cause must be taken away before the effect as we said before and proved out of Isai 1.16,17,18 Jere. 33.8 to which you may adde Chap. 31 32 33 34. Acts 26.18 Heb. 10.14 For through the Blood of his Cross in due time he taketh away the guilt of sins repented of left and put away yet the Spirit of Grace which is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant must first sanctifie us and cleanse us therefrom Heb. 9.14 also Chap. 10.29 13.20,21 Revel 7.14 Fourthly This may stop the mouths of them which say we do not read That ever any man yet was cleansed wholly from sin to which we Reply That if this were not men themselves and not the Grace of God were in default but there is an Israel who are of a clean heart Psal 73.1 Who are crucified to the world and the world to them Gal. 6.14,15,16 In whose Spirit there is no guile and consequently no sin for all sin is deceitful so Psal 32.2 Ephes 4.22 Yea John saw a numberless number of those Rev. 7.9,10,14 So also Revel 14.4 These are the Israel of which we read Num. 23.21 and Zeph. 3.14,15 Lastly It meets with that distinction more common then commendable that though sin must not reign in us yet it must remain in us while we are here For first as long as it remains in us it will oppose the work of God and get the victory at times if not with our will yet against our will Secondly If all filthiness of flesh and spirit must be purged out of us how can it remain do the spots or filth remain in clothes when they are cleansed there from did not Christ come to sanctifie and wash us that he might present us without spot or wrincle or any such thing unto himself Surely this and other distinctions that plead for the necessary continuance of sin in us cannot come from above but since they hinder the work of the Lord must needs originally come from Hell and the Devil though some persons otherwise zealous and vertuously minded have at unawares received and used the same without considering the hurt and mischief that followeth thereupon See Jere. 50.20 In those days and in that time saith 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 spare them which are left Mic. 7.19 Sheweth how God will deal with the sins and iniquities of his people as he did with the Egyptians he will first subdue and then drown them Also Zeph. 3.13 he promises That the remnant of Israel shall not utter iniquity nor speak lies And Mal. 3.3 That Christ shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto him an offering in righteousness But thus much of the Use of Confutation now by way of Correction This Proposition or Doctrine serves to reprove four sorts of men among others First Those who have cleansed themselves from many outward sins of the flesh but are not purified from the sins of the spirit as spiritual pride wrath uncharitable censuring envy and the like Prov. 30.12 There is a generation that is pure in their own