SERMON.
MALACHI iii. 2.
“But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap.”
If you ask, “Of whom speaketh the Prophet this, of himself or of some other man?” (Acts viii. 34)—it is answered, both by Christian and Jewish interpreters: The Prophet speaketh this of Christ, the Messenger of the covenant, then much longed and looked for by the people of God, as is manifest by the preceding verse. And as it was fit that Malachi, the last of the prophets, should shut up the Old Testament with clear promises of the coming of Christ (which you find in this and in the following chapter), so he takes the rather occasion from the corrupt and degenerate estate of the priests at that time (which he had mentioned in the former chapter) to hold forth unto the church the promised Messiah, who was to come unto them to purify the sons of Levi.
But if you ask again, Of what coming or appearing of Christ doth the Prophet speak this? whether of the first, or of the last, or of any other?—the answer of expositors is not so unanimous. Some understand the last coming of Christ, in the glory of his Father, and holy angels, to judge the quick and the dead. This cannot stand with ver. 34, “He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them,” &c.; but at the last judgment it will be too late for the sons of Levi to be purified and purged, or for Judah and Jerusalem to bring offerings unto the Lord, as in the days of old.
Others understand the first coming of Christ. And of these some understand his incarnation, or appearing in the flesh; others take the meaning to be of his coming into the temple of Jerusalem, to drive out the buyers and sellers (Matt. xxi. 10-12), at which time all the city was moved at his coming. This exposition hath better grounds than the other, because the coming of Christ (here spoken of) did not precede, but soon follow after the ministry of John Baptist, and therefore cannot be meant of our Saviour's incarnation, but rather of his appearing with power and authority in the temple. But this also falleth short, and neither expresseth the whole nor the principal part of what is meant in this text; for how can it be said that the prophecy which followeth, ver. 3, 4 (which is all of a piece with ver. 2), was fulfilled during Christ's appearing and sitting in the temple of Jerusalem? or how can it be conceived that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem were pleasant to the Lord at that time, when the Gentiles were not, and the Jews would not be brought in, to offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness? So that whether we understand by Judah and Jerusalem the Jewish church or the Christian, this thing could not be said to be accomplished while Christ was yet upon earth. And in like manner, whether we understand by the sons of Levi the priests and Levites of the Jews, or the ministers of the gospel, it cannot be said that Christ did, in the days of his flesh, purify the sons of Levi as gold and silver.
I deny not but the Lord Jesus did then begin to set about this work. But that [pg 7-003] which is more principally here intended, is Christ's coming and appearing in a spiritual, but yet most powerful and glorious manner, to erect his kingdom, and to gather and govern his churches, by the ministry of his apostles and other ministers, whom he sent forth after his ascension.
Of this coming he himself speaketh, Matt. xvi. 28, “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom;” Mark addeth, “with power” (Mark ix. 1). Neither was that all. He did not so come at that time as to put forth all his power, or to do his whole work. He hath at divers times come and manifested himself to his churches; and this present time is a time of the revelation of the Son of God, and a day of his coming. We look also for a more glorious coming of Jesus Christ before the end be: for “the Redeemer shall come to Sion” (Isa. lix. 20), “and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. xi. 26); and he shall destroy Antichrist “with the brightness of his coming,” 2 Thess. ii. 8; in which place the Apostle hath respect to Isa. xi. 4, where it is said of Christ, the rod of Jesse, “with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” There, withal, you have the church's tranquillity, the filling of the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, and the restoring of the dispersed Jews, as you may read in that chapter. Some have observed[1404] (which ought not to pass without observation) that the Chaldee Paraphrase had there added the word Romilus: “He shall slay the wicked Romilus;” whereupon they challenge Arias Montanus for leaving out that word to wipe off the reproach from the Pope. However, the Scriptures teach us, that the Lord Jesus will be revealed mightily, and will make bare his holy arm, as well in the confusion of Antichrist, as in the conversion of the Jews, before the last judgment and the end of all things.
By this time you may understand what is meant in the text by the day of Christ's coming, or εἰσοδου,—coming in, as the Septuagint read, meaning his coming, or entering into his temple, mentioned in the first verse; by which temple Jerome upon the place rightly understandeth the church, or spiritual temple.
When this temple is built, Christ cometh [pg 7-004] into it, to fill the house with the cloud of his glory, and to walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The same thing is meant by his appearing: “When he appeareth,” saith our translation; “When he shall be revealed,”; others read, “When he shall be seen,” or “in seeing of him.” The original word I find used to express more remarkable, divine, and glorious sights, as Gen. xvi. 13, “Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” xxii. 14, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” From this word had the prophets the name of seers, 1 Sam. ix. 9; and from the same word came the name of visions, 2 Chron. xxvi. 5, “Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God.”
Now, but what of all this? might some think. If Christ come, it is well,—he is the desire of all nations. O but when Christ thus cometh into his kingdom among men with power, and is seen appearing with some beams of his glory, “Who may abide, and who shall stand?” saith the text. How shall sinners stand before the Holy One? How shall dust and ashes have any fellowship with the God of glory? How shall our weak eyes behold the Sun of righteousness coming forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber? Did not Ezekiel fall upon his face at “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord”? Ezek. i. 28. Did not Isaiah cry out, “Woe is me, for I am undone,” “for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”? Isa. vi. 5.
But why is it so hard a thing to abide the day of Christ's coming, or to stand before him when he appeareth in his temple? If you ask of him, as Joshua did, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” (Josh. v. 13,) he will answer you, “Nay; but as a captain of the host of the Lord am I now come,” (ver. 14.) If you ask of him, as the elders of Bethlehem asked of Samuel (while they were trembling at his coming), “Comest thou peaceably?” He will answer you as Samuel did, “Peaceably.” What is there here, then, to trouble us? Doth he not come to save, and not to destroy? Yes, to save the spirit, but to destroy the flesh; he will have the heart-blood of sin, that the soul may live for ever. This is set forth by a double metaphor: one taken from the refiner's fire, which purifieth metals from the dross; the other, from the fuller's soap; others read the fuller's grass, or the fuller's herb. Some have thought it so hard to determine, [pg 7-005] that they have kept into the translation the very Hebrew word borith. Jerome tells us,[1405] that the fuller's herb which grew in the marsh places of Palestina, had the same virtue for washing and making white which nitre hath. Yet I suppose the fuller's soap hath more of that virtue in it than the herb could have. However it is certain that ברר,—borith, cometh from a word which signifieth to make clean, according to that, Mark ix. 3, “His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.”
But to whom will Christ thus reveal himself? And who are they whom he will refine from their dross, and wash from their filthiness? That we may know from the two following verses: He is not a refiner's fire to those that are “reprobate silver,” (Jer. vi. 30,) and can never be refined; neither is he as fuller's soap to those whose spot “is not the spot of his children” (Deut. xxxii. 5): nay, Christ doth not thus lose his labour, but he refineth and maketh clean the sons of Levi, also Judah and Jerusalem. This, I doubt not to aver, doth principally belong to the Jews, for to them pertain the promises (Rom. ix. 4), saith the Apostle, and the natural branches shall be graffed into their own olive-tree (xi. 24); but it belongeth also to us Gentiles, who are cut out of the wild olive-tree, and are graffed into the good olive-tree. God hath persuaded Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem; and so we are now the Judah and Jerusalem, and our ministers the sons of Levi. God's own church and people, even the best of them, have need of this refiner's fire and of this fuller's soap.
And so much for the scope, sense, and coherence of the text. The general doctrine which offereth itself to us from the words, is this:—
“The way of Christ, and fellowship with him, is very difficult and displeasing to our sinful nature, and is not so easy a matter as most men imagine.”
First of all, this doth clearly arise out of the text. As when the people said to Joshua, “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods,” (Josh. xxiv. 16,) Joshua answered, “Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God,” (ver. 19.) Just so doth the Prophet here answer the Jews, when [pg 7-006] they were very much desiring and longing for the Messiah, promising to themselves comfort, and peace, and prosperity, and the restoring of all things according to their heart's desire, if Christ were once come. Nay, saith the Prophet, not so: “Who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth?”
Secondly, Other scriptures do abundantly confirm it: The doctrine of Jesus Christ was such as made many of his disciples say, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” John vi. 60. And from that time many of them “went back, and walked no more with him.” A young man, a ruler, who came to him with great affection, was so cooled and discouraged at hearing of the cross, and selling of all he had, that he went away sad and sorrowful, Mark x. 21, 22. The apostles themselves having heard him say, that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” “they were exceedingly amazed [at this doctrine], saying, Who then can be saved?” Matt. xix. 24, 25. As for his life and actions, they were such that not only did the Gadarenes beseech him to depart out of their coasts (Matt. viii. 34), but his own friends and kinsfolks were about “to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself,” Mark iii. 21. His sufferings were such, that all his disciples did forsake him, and went away every man to his own home again. And what shall be the condition of those that will follow him? If we will indeed be his disciples, he hath forewarned us to sit down first, and count our cost, Luke xiv. 28. He hath told us, It will cost us no less than the bearing of the cross, the forsaking of all, yea, which is hardest of all, the denying of ourselves, John v. 26; ii. 33. We must even cease to be ourselves, and cannot be his, except we leave off to be our own, Matt. xvi. 24. And what shall the world think of us all this while? “Know ye not (saith James) that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God,” James iv. 4; “Let no man deceive himself (saith Paul). If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise,” 1 Cor. iii. 18. What do ye think now? Are not all these hard sayings for flesh and blood to hear? I might add much more of this kind.
Thirdly, Thus it must be, to set the higher value upon Christ, and upon the lot of God's children: “Will I offer burnt-offerings to the Lord my God (saith David) of that which doth cost me nothing”? 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. And shall our lines fall to us in pleasant places? or shall we have a goodly heritage which doth cost us nothing? How should the preciousness of the saint's portion be known, if we lose nothing that is dear to us to come by it? Phil. iii. 7, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ;” Matt. xiii. 44-46, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-man seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Jacob's family must give away all the strange gods, and all their ear-rings also (Gen. xxxv. 4), before they get leave to build an altar unto the Lord at Bethel; Abraham must get him out of his country, and from his kindred, if he will come unto the land which the Lord will show him; Moses must forsake the court of Egypt, if he will take him to the heritage of Jacob his father; the disciples must leave ships, nets, fathers, and all, if they will follow Christ. And as they who come in sight of the south pole lose sight of the north pole, so, when we follow Christ, we must resolve to forsake somewhat else, yea, even that which is dearest to us.
Fourthly, If it were not so, there should be no sure evidence of our closing in covenant with Christ; for then, and never till then, doth the soul give itself up to Christ to be his, and closeth with him in a covenant, when it renounceth all other lovers, that it may be his only. Shall a woman be married to a husband with the reservation of another lover, or upon condition that she shall ever stay in her father's house? So the soul cannot be married to Christ, except it not only renounce its bosom sins, lusts, and idols, but be content also to part with the most lawful creature-comforts for his sake: “Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house,” Psal. xlv. 10. The repudiating of creature-comforts, and a covenant with Christ, go hand in hand together, Isa. lv. 2, 3. Nahash would not make a covenant with the men of Jabesh-Gilead, [pg 7-008] unless they would pluck out their right eyes, intending (as Josephus gives the reason) to disable them from fighting or making war; for the buckler or shield did cover their left eye when they fought, so that they had been hard put to it, to fight without the right eye. This was a cruel mercy in him; but it is a merciful severity in Christ, that he will make no covenant with us, except the right eye of the old man of sin in us be put out.
O then, let us learn from all this how miserably many a poor soul is deluded, imagining, as the Jews did, that Christ shall even satisfy their carnal and earthly desires, and that the way of salvation is broad and easy enough. If the way of Christ be such as you have now heard, then surely they are far from it, who give loose reins to the flesh, as David did to Adonijah (1 Kings i. 6; Eccl. ii. 10); who have not displeased their flesh at any time, nor said, “Why hast thou done so?” who do not withhold their heart from any joy, and whatsoever their eyes desire, they keep it not from them; who are like the “wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure” (Jer. ii. 24), and like “the swift dromedary, traversing her ways” (ver. 23); who cannot endure to be enclosed into so narrow a lane as ministers describe the way to heaven to be. These are like fed oxen, which have room enough in the meadows, but they are appointed for slaughter, when the labouring oxen, which are kept under the yoke, shall be brought home to the stall and fed there. Was it not so with the rich man and Lazarus? Luke xvi. 25. Nay, and many of the children of God fall into this same error, of making the way of Christ broader and easier than ever Christ made it, and taking more liberty than ever he allowed; therefore mark ye well our Saviour's words: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” Matt. vii. 13, 14. There be but few that seek it, and yet fewer that find it, but fewest of all that enter in at it.
But how doth all this agree with Matt. xi. 30, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light;” and 1 John v. 3, “His commandments are not grievous.”
I answer, 1. That is spoken to poor [pg 7-009] souls that are labouring and heavy laden; a metaphor taken from beasts drawing a full cart,—which both labour in drawing, and are weary in bearing. But my text speaketh to those that are like undaunted heifers, and like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke. The same Christ is a sweet and meek Christ to some, but a sour and severe Christ to others.
2. Christ's yoke is easy in comparison of the yoke of the law, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.
3. As wisdom is easy to him that understandeth, so is Christ's yoke easy, and his burden light, to those that are well acquainted with it, and have good experience of it: “When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shall not stumble,” Prov. iv. 12: this is spoken of the way of wisdom. But he saith, “When thou goest,” not “when thou beginnest,” or “when thou enterest.” If thou art but once upon thy progress, going and running, thou shalt find the way still the easier, and still the sweeter.
4. Mark Christ's own words: It is a yoke, though an easy one, and a burden, though a light one: a yoke to the flesh, but easy to the spirit; a burden to the old man, but light to the new man. He poureth in wine and oil into our wounds: oil to cherish them, and wine to cleanse them. He can both plant us as trees of righteousness, and at the same time lay the axe to the root of the old tree: he will have mercy upon the sinner, but no mercy upon the sin; he will save the soul, but yet so as by fire.
And thus much, in general, of the difficulty and hardship of the way of Christ,—the great point held forth in this text; which I have the rather insisted upon, as a necessary foundation for those particulars which I am to speak of. Were this principle but rightly apprehended, it were easy to persuade you when we come to particulars.
Some Papists have alleged this text for their purgatory. Here is indeed a purgatory, and a fire of purgatory, and such a purgatory that we must needs go through it before we can come to heaven. But this purgatory is in this world, not in the world to come. The flesh must go through it, and not the soul separated: and it must purge us from mortal, not from venial sins; and by a spiritual, not a material fire.
I will now come to the particulars: Christ [pg 7-010] is to us as a refiner's fire, and as fuller's soap, three ways: in respect of, 1. Reformation; 2. Tribulation; 3. Mortification;—which make not three different senses, but three harmonious parts of one and the same sense.
I begin with reformation; concerning which I draw this doctrine from the text:—
“The right reformation of the church, which is according to the mind of Jesus Christ, is not without much molestation and displeasure to men's corrupt nature. It is a very purgatory upon earth: it is like the fire to drossy silver, and like fuller's soap to slovenly persons, who would rather keep the spots in their garments than take pains to wash them out.”[1406]
Look but upon one piece of the accomplishment of this prophecy, and by it judge of the rest. When Christ cometh to Jerusalem, “meek, and sitting upon an ass” (as the Prophet said), all the city is troubled at his coming, Matt. xxi. 5,10; when he had but cast out the buyers and sellers out of the temple, the priests and scribes begin to plot his death, Luke xix. 45, 47; nay, where Christ and the gospel cometh, there is a shaking of heaven and earth, Hag. ii. 6. The less wonder if I call reformation like a refiner's fire. The dross of a church is not purged away without this violence of fire.
This is the manner of reformation held forth in Scripture, and that in reference, 1. To magistrates and statesmen; 2. To ministers; 3. To a people reformed; 4. To a people not reformed.
In reference to magistrates and statesmen, reformation is a fire that purgeth away the dross: Isa. i. 25, “And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.” Here is the refiner's fire; and the Chaldee Paraphrase addeth the fuller's borith. Then followeth, ver. 26, “And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, The faithful city.” Interpreters note upon that place, that no effectual reformation can be looked for till rulers and magistrates be reformed; and that therefore the Lord promiseth to purge away the dross and tin of corrupt rulers and judges, and to give his people such judges and rulers as they had [pg 7-011] of old, Moses, Joshua, the judges, David, Solomon, and the like.
In reference to ministers the doctrine is most clear. The next words after my text tell you, that this refining fire is specially intended for purifying the sons of Levi. The same thing we have more largely, though more obscurely, in 1 Cor. iii. 12-15. I do not say that the Apostle there meaneth only of times of reformation, but this I say, that it holdeth true, and most manifestly, too, of times of reformation; and that this is not to be excluded, but to be taken in as a principal part of the Holy Ghost's intendment in that scripture.[1407] He is speaking of the ministers of the gospel and their ministry, supposing always that they build upon Christ, and hold to that true foundation. Upon this foundation some build gold, silver, precious stones; that is, such preaching of the word, such administration of the sacraments, such a church discipline, and such a life as is according to the word, and savoureth of Christ: others build wood, hay, stubble; whereby is meant whatsoever in their ministry is unprofitable, unedifying, vain, curious, unbeseeming the gospel; for the ministers of Christ must be purified, not only from heresy, idolatry, profaneness, and the like, but even from that which is frothy and unedifying, which savoureth not of God's Spirit, but of man's. Now, saith the Apostle, “Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.” The church shall not always be deluded and abused with vanities that cannot profit. A time of light and reformation discovereth the unprofitableness of those things wherewith men did formerly please and satisfy themselves. There is a fire which will prove every man's work, even an accurate trial and strict examination thereof, according to the rule of Christ; a narrow inquiry into, and exact discovery of every man's work (for so do our divines[1408] understand the fire there spoken of), whether this fiery trial be made by the searching and discovering light of the word in a time [pg 7-012] of reformation, or by afflictions, or in a man's own conscience at the hour of death. If by some or all of these trials, a minister's work be found to be what it ought to be, he shall receive a special reward and praise; but if he have built wood, hay, and stubble, he shall be like a man whose house is set on fire about his ears; that is, he shall suffer loss, and his work shall be burnt, yet himself shall escape, and get his life for a prey, “so as by fire;” that is, so that he can abide that trial and examination whereby God distinguisheth between sincere ones and hypocrites; or, so that he be found to have been otherwise a faithful minister, and to have built upon a right foundation.
In the third place, you shall find reformation to be a refining fire in reference to a people or church reformed: “He that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy,” saith the Prophet; “when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning,” Isa. iv. 3, 4. Where you may understand[1409] by the filth of the daughters of Zion, their former idolatries, and such like abominations against the first table (which the prophets call often by the name of filth and pollution); and by the blood of Jerusalem, the sins against the second table. These the Lord promiseth to purge away by the spirit of judgment; that is, by a spirit of reformation (according to that John xii. 31, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out”). Which spirit of reformation is also a spirit of burning; even as the Holy Ghost is elsewhere called fire (Matt. iii. 11), and did come down upon the apostles in the likeness of cloven tongues of fire (Acts ii. 3). The spirit of reformation may be the rather called the spirit of burning, because ordinarily reformation is not without tribulation (as we shall hear) and by the voice of the rod doth the Spirit speak to men's consciences. When the Lord hath thus washed away the filthy spots, and burnt away the filthy dross of his church, then (Isa. iv. 5) she becomes a glory or a praise in the earth; and the promise is, that “upon all the glory shall be a defence:” but, you see, she is not brought [pg 7-013] to that condition till she go through the refiner's fire. It is no easy matter to cast Satan out of a person,—how much less to cast his kingdom out of a land? Another place for the same purpose we find, Zech. xiii. 9: When two parts of the land are cut off, the remnant which escape, the third part which is “written to life in Jerusalem,” even they must be brought through the fire. “I will bring the third part through the fire (saith the Lord), and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried.” This is the fiery trial of affliction, but the fruit of it is a blessed reformation, to make the church as most pure refined gold: “They shall call on my name, and I will hear them;” that is, they shall no longer worship idols, but me only, and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness, which shall be accepted. And what more? “I will say It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” Behold, a reforming people and a covenanting people. But he that hath his fire in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem (Isa. xxxi. 9), doth first refine them and purify them. We are not reformed, in God's account, till the refining fire have purged away our dross; till we be refined as silver is refined, and tried as gold is tried.
Lastly, In reference to a people not reformed, hear what the Prophet saith: Jer. vi. 28-30, “They are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. The bellows are burnt, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.” The Chaldee Paraphrase expoundeth it of the prophets who laboured in vain, and spent their strength for nought, speaking to the people in the name of the Lord, to turn to the law and to the testimony; but they would not turn.
I might draw many uses from this doctrine; but I shall content myself with these few:—
First of all, it reproveth that contrary principle which carnal reason suggesteth: Reformation must not grieve, but please; it must not break nor bruise, but heal and bind up; it must be an acceptable thing, not displeasing; it must be “as the voice of harpers harping with their harps,” but not [pg 7-014] “as the voice of many waters,” or “as the voice of great thunders.” Thus would many heal the wound of the daughter of Zion slightly, and daub the wall with untempered mortar, and so far comply with the sinful humours and inclinations of men, as, in effect, to harden them in evil, and to strengthen their hands in their wickedness; or at least, if men be moralised, then to trouble them no farther. Saith not the Apostle, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ”? Gal. i. 10; and again, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” Rom. viii. 7. So that either we must have a reformation displeasing to God, or displeasing to men. It is not the right reformation which is not displeasing to a Tobiah, to a Sanballat, to a Demetrius, to the earthly-minded, to the self-seeking politicians, to the carnal and profane; it is but the old enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. iii. 15): nay, what if reformation be displeasing to good men, in so far as they are unregenerate, carnal, earthly, proud, unmortified (for “who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin,” Prov. xx. 9)? What if a Joshua envy Eldad and Medad (Num. xi. 27-29)? What if an Aaron and a Miriam speak against Moses (xii. 1, 2)? What if a religious Asa be wroth with the seer (2 Chron. xvi. 10)? What if a David will not alter his former judgment, though very erroneous, and will not (no, not after better information) have it thought that he was in an error (2 Sam. xix. 29)? What if a Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh when he is called (Jonah i. 3)? What if the disciples of Christ must be taught to be more humble (Mark ix. 33-35)? What if Peter must be reproved by Paul for his dissimulation (Gal. ii. 11)? What if Archippus must be admonished to attend better upon his ministry (Col. iv. 17)? What if Christ must tell the angels of the churches that he hath somewhat against them (Rev. ii., iii.)? If reformation displease both evil men, and, in some respect, good men, this makes it no worse than “a refiner's fire;” and so it must be, if it be according to the mind of Christ.
My second and chief application shall be unto you, my noble lords. If you be willing to admit such a reformation as is according to the mind of Christ, as is like the “refiner's fire” and “fuller's soap,” then, [pg 7-015] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (who will say, ere long, to every one of you, “Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward,” Luke xvi. 2), I recommend these three things unto you,—I mean, that you should make use of this “refiner's fire” in reference to three sorts of dross: 1. The dross of malignancy; 2. The dross of heresy and corruption in religion; 3. The dross of profaneness.
Touching the first of these, take the wise counsel of the wise man, Prov. xxv. 4, 5, “Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.” Remember, also, the fourth article of your solemn league and covenant, by which you have obliged yourselves, with your hands lifted up to the most high God, to endeavour the discovery, trial, and condign punishment of all such as have been, or shall be incendiaries, malignants, or evil instruments, by hindering the reformation of religion, dividing the king from his people, or one of the kingdoms from another, or making any faction or parties among the people contrary to this covenant. There was once a compliance between the nobles of Judah and the Samaritans, which I hope you do not read of without abominating the thing: You find it, Neh. vi. 17, 19, “In those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. Also (saith Nehemiah) they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him.” But you have also the error of a godly man set before you as a rock to be avoided, 2 Chron. xix. 2, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.” I am not to dwell upon this point: “I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say.”
In the second place, think of the extirpation of heresy and of unsound dangerous doctrine, such as now springeth up apace, and subverted the faith of many. There is no heretic nor false teacher which hath not some one fair pretext or another; but bring him once to be tried by this refining fire, he is found to be “like a potsherd covered with silver dross,” Prov. xxvi. 23. “What is the chaff to the wheat?” saith the Lord (Jur. xxiii. 28), and what is the dross to the silver? If this be the way of Christ [pg 7-016] which my text speaketh of, then, sure, that which now passeth under the name of “liberty of conscience” is not the way of Christ. Much hath been written of this question; for my part I shall, for the present, only offer this one argument: If liberty of conscience ought to be granted in matters of religion, it ought also to be granted in matters civil or military; but liberty of conscience ought not to be granted in matters civil or military, as is acknowledged, therefore neither ought it to be granted in matters of religion. Put the case: Now there be some well-meaning men, otherwise void of offence, who, from the erroneous persuasion of their consciences, think it utterly sinful, and contrary to the word of God, to take arms in the Parliament's service, or to contribute to this present war, or to obey any ordinance of the lords and commons, which tendeth to the resisting of the king's forces. Now compare this case with the case of a Socinian, Arminian, Antinomian, or the like: they both plead for liberty of conscience; they both say our conscience ought not to be compelled, and if we do against our conscience, we sin. I beseech you, how can you give liberty of conscience to the heretic, and yet refuse liberty of conscience to him that is the conscientious recusant in point of the war? I am sure there can be no answer given to this argument which will not be resolved into this principle: Men's consciences may be compelled for the good of the state, but not for the glory of God; we must not suffer the state to sink, but if religion sink we cannot help it. This is the plain English of it.
When I speak against liberty of conscience, it is far from my meaning to advise any rigorous or violent course against such as, being sound in the faith, and holy in life, and not of a turbulent or factious carriage, do differ in smaller matters from the common rule. “Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it” (Job. iii. 4), in which it shall be said that the children of God in Britain are enemies and persecutors of each other. He is no good Christian who will not say Amen to the prayer of Jesus Christ (John xvii. 21), that all who are his may be one in him. If this be heartily wished, let it be effectually endeavoured; and let those who will choose a dividing way rather than a uniting way bear the blame.
The third part of my application shall be to stir you up, right honourable, to a willing condescending to the settling of church-government, in such a manner, as that neither ignorant nor scandalous persons may be admitted to the holy table of the Lord. Let there be, in the house of God, fuller's soap, to take off those who are “spots in your feasts,” and a refining fire to take away the dross from the silver. Psal. cxix. 119, “Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross,” saith David. Take away, therefore, the wicked from before the King of glory, for they shall not stand before him who hateth “all workers of iniquity,” Psal. v. 5. You see God puts all profane ones in one category, and so should you. There is a like reason against seven, and against seventy scandals; or, if you please to make a catalogue of seven, you may, provided it be such as God himself makes in the fifth verse of this chapter, where seven sorts are reckoned forth, as some interpreters compute; but the last of the seven is general and comprehensive, καὶ τοὺς φοβουμένους με, as the Septuagint have it,—and those that fear not me,—those, saith one, who are called in the New Testament ἀσεβείς,—ungodly. Jerome noteth upon the place,[1410] that though men shall not be guilty of the aforementioned particulars, yet God makes this crime enough, that they are ungodly. Nay, I dare undertake to draw out of Erastus himself, the great adversary, a catalogue of seven sorts of persons to be kept off from the Lord's table, and such a catalogue as godly ministers can be content with. But of this elsewhere.
Most horribly hath the Lord's table been profaned formerly in this kingdom, by the admission of scandalous persons. God will wink at it no longer,—now is the opportunity of reformation. The Parliament of England, if any state in the world, oweth much to Jesus Christ; and he will take it very ill at your hands, if ye do him not right in this. I say do him right; for, alas! what is it to ministers? It were more for their ease, and for pleasing of the people, to admit all; but a necessity is laid upon us, that we dare not do it; and woe unto us if we do it. And for your part, should you not establish such a rule as may put a difference between the precious and the vile, the clean and the unclean, you shall in so [pg 7-018] far make the churches of Christ in a worse condition, and more disabled to keep themselves pure, than either they were of old under pagan emperors, or now are under popish princes, you shall also strengthen, instead of silencing, the objections both of Separatists[1411] and Socinians,[1412] who have, with more than a colour of advantage, opened their mouths wide against some reformed churches, for their not exercising of discipline against scandalous and profane persons, and particularly for not suspending them from the sacrament of the Lord's supper. Nay, which is yet more, if you should refuse that which I speak of, you shall come short of that which heathens themselves, in their way, did make conscience of, for they did interdict and keep off from their holy things all such as they esteemed profane and scandalous, whom therefore they called ἐναγεῖς, that is, accused or delated persons. In this manner was Alchibades excommunicate at Athens, and Virginia at Rome, the former recorded by Plutarch, the latter by Livius. I trust God shall never so far desert this Parliament as that, in this particular, pagan and popish princes, Separatists, Socinians and heathens shall rise up in judgment against you. I am persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation; and, namely, that you will not suffer the name and truth of God to be, through you, blasphemed and reproached.
Do ye not remember the sad sentence against Eli and his house, “Because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained [pg 7-019] them not,” 1 Sam. iii. 13. The Apostle tells us, that the judgment of God abideth not only on those that commit sin, but those also who consent with them, Rom. i. 32. Aquinas upon that place saith, We may consent to the sins of others two ways: 1. Directly, by counselling, approving, &c.; 2. Indirectly, by not hindering when we can. And so did Eli consent to the vileness of his sons, because, though he reproved them, he did not restrain them.
There is a law, Exod. xxi. 29, “But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.” It could be no excuse to say, I intended no such thing, and it is a grief of heart to me that such mischief is done. That which I aim at is this: The Directory which you have lately established saith, “The ignorant and the scandalous are not fit to receive this sacrament of the Lord's supper;” and therefore ministers are appointed to warn all such in the name of Christ, that they presume not to come to that holy table. It is now desired that this, which you have already acknowledged to be according to the word of God and nature of that holy ordinance, may be made effectual, and, for that end, that the power of discipline be added to the power of doctrine, otherwise you are guilty, in God's sight, of not restraining those that make themselves vile.
In the third and last place, I shall apply my doctrine to the sons of Levi, and that in a twofold consideration: 1. Actively; 2. Passively.
Actively, because, if we be like our Master, even followers of Jesus Christ, or partakers of his unction, then our ministry will have not only light, but fire in it,—we must be burning as well as shining lights (John v. 35), not only shining with the light of knowledge, and of the doctrine which is according to godliness, but burning also with zeal for reforming abuses, and purging of the church from the dross thereof. Which made Augustine[1413] to apply propologically to ministers, that which is said of the angels of heaven, Psal. civ. 4, “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire.” Satan [pg 7-020] hath many incendiaries against the kingdom of Christ. O that we were Christ's incendiaries against the kingdom of Satan! If we will indeed appear zealous for the Lord, let it not seem strange if the adversaries of reformation say of us, as they said of the apostles themselves, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also,” Acts xvii. 6. Yet it shall be no grief of heart to us afterward, but peace and joy unspeakable, that we have endeavoured to do our duty faithfully.
Passively also the application must be made, because the sons of Levi must, in the first place, go through this refining fire themselves, and they, most of all other men, have need to be, and must be, refined from their dross. I find in Scripture that these three things had a beginning among the priests and prophets: 1. Sin, error, and scandal, beginneth at them, Jer. l. 6, “Their shepherds have caused them to go astray;” xxiii. 15, “From the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.” 2. Judgment begins at them, Ezek. ix. 6, “Slay utterly old and young,—and begin at my sanctuary.” 3. The refining work of reformation beginneth, or ought to begin, at the purging and refining of the sons of Levi; so you have it in the next words after my text, and where Hezekiah beginneth his reformation at the sanctifying of the priests and Levites, 2 Chron. xxix. 4, 5, &c. But as it was then in Judah, it is now in England, some of the sons of Levi are more upright to sanctify themselves than others. The fire that I spake of before will prove every man and his work.
I am sorry I have occasion to add a third application. But come on, and I will show you greater things than these. What will you say, if any be found among the sons of Levi, that will neither be active nor passive in the establishing of the church-refining and sin-censuring government of Jesus Christ, but will needs appear upon the stage against it. This was done in a late sermon now come abroad, which hath given no small scandal and offence. I am confident every other godly minister will say, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth before I do the like.
I have done with that which the text holds forth concerning reformation. The second way how Christ is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, is in respect of tribulation, which either followeth or accompanieth [pg 7-021] his coming into his temple. Affliction is indeed a refining fire: Psal. lxvi. 10, “For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried;” ver. 12, “We went through fire and through water;” 1 Pet. i. 6, 7, “Ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise,” &c. Affliction is also the fuller's soap to purify and make white: Dan. xi. 35; xii. 10, “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried;” where the same word is used from which I said before the fuller's soap hath its name.
The doctrine shall be this: “Tribulation doth either accompany or follow after the work of reformation or purging of the house of God.” So it was when Christ himself came into his temple: Luke xii. 49, 51, “I am come to send fire on the earth. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division;”—so it was when the Apostles were sent forth into the world: Peter applieth to that time the words of Joel, “And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,” Acts ii. 19, 20. The meaning is, such tribulation shall follow the gospel, which shall be like the darkening of the great lights of the world, and, as it were, a putting of heaven and earth out of their course, so great a change and calamity shall come. The experience both of the ancient and now reformed churches doth also abundantly confirm this doctrine. Neither must we think that all the calamities of the church are now overpast. Who can be assured that that hour of greatest darkness, the killing of the witnesses, is past, and all that sad prophecy, Rev. xi., fulfilled? And if some be not much mistaken,[1414] it is told, Dan. xii. 1, that there shall be greater tribulation about the time of the Jews' conversion than any we have yet seen: “At that time,” saith the angel to Daniel, “there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”
I make haste to the uses; and, first, let [pg 7-022] me give unto God the glory of his truth. If we have been deceived, surely he hath not deceived us; for he hath given us plain warning in his word, and hath not kept up from us the worst things which ever have or ever shall come upon his church. And now when the sword of the Lord hath gotten a charge against these three covenanting and reforming kingdoms, is this any other than the word of the Lord, that when Christ cometh into his temple, “Who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap.”
And for the invasion of Scotland by such an enemy after a reformation, is it any new thing? May we not say, that which is hath been? Did not Sennacherib invade Judah after Hezekiah's reformation? 2 Chron. xxxii. 1. And though, after the reformation of Asa, and after the reformation of Jehoshaphat also (2 Chron. xiv. 9; xx. 1), the land had a short rest and a breathing time, yet not long after a foreign invasion followed both upon the one reformation and the other. Nay, look what is the worst thing which hath befallen to Scotland as yet;—as much, yea, worse, hath formerly befallen to the church and people of God toward whom the Lord had thoughts of peace, and not of evil,—to give them an expected end. I say it not for diminishing anything either from the sin or shame of Scotland; the Lord forbid:—we will bear the indignation of the Lord, because we have sinned against him; we will lay our hand upon our mouth, and accept the punishment of our iniquity; we will bear our shame for ever, because our Father hath spit in our face, our rock hath sold us, and our strength hath departed from us;—but I say it by way of answering him that reproacheth in the gates, and by way of pleading for the truth of God. Some have objected to our reproach, that when the Lord required the Israelites to appear before him in Jerusalem thrice a year, he promised that no man should invade their habitations in their absence, Exod. xxxiv. 23, 24; “which gracious providence of his, no doubt (says one[1415]), continues still protecting all such as are employed by his command;” yet it hath not been so with Scotland during the time of their armies being in England. I answer, besides that which hath been said [pg 7-023] already, even in this the word and work of God do well agree; and that Scripture ought not to be so applied to us, except the Canaanites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites of our time had been all cast out of our borders (we find this day too many of them lurking there, and waiting their opportunity); for the Septuagint, and many of the interpreters[1416] read that text thus: “For when I shall cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders, no man shall desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year:” and this is the true sense, read it as you will; for the promise is limited to the time of casting out the nations, and enlarging their borders (which came not to pass till the days of Solomon). It is certain that, from the time of making that promise, the people had not ever liberty and protection for keeping the three solemn feasts in the place of the sanctuary; as might be proved from divers foreign invasions and spoilings of that land for some years together; whereof we read in the book of the Judges. But I go on.
In the second place, let God have the glory of his just and righteous dealings. Let us say with Job, “I will leave my complaint upon myself,” [and say unto God,] “Show me wherefore thou contendest with me,” Job x. 1, 2. But, by all means, take heed you conceive not an ill opinion of the covenant and cause of God, or the reformation of religion, because of the tribulation which followeth thereupon. Say not it was a good old world when we burnt incense to the queen of heaven, “for then we were well and saw no evil.” “But (said the people to Jeremiah) since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine,” Jer. xliv. 18. To such I answer, in the words of Solomon, “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this,” Eccl. vii. 10. Was the people's coming out of Egypt the cause why their carcasses did [pg 7-024] fall in the wilderness? Or was it their murmuring and rebelling against the Lord which brought that wrath upon them? If thou wilt inquire wisely concerning this thing, read Zephaniah, chap. i. In the days of Isaiah, even in the days of Judah's best reformation, the Lord sent this message by the Prophet: “I will utterly consume all things from off the land,” Zeph. i. 2; “And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung,” ver. 17. What was the reason of it? It is plainly told them (and let us take it all home to ourselves), because, notwithstanding of that public reformation, there was a remnant of Baal in the land, and the Chemarims, and those who halt between two opinions; who swear by the Lord (or to the Lord, which is expounded of the taking of the covenant in Josiah's time), but they swear by Malcham also, ver. 4, 5. There are others who do not seek the Lord, nor inquire after him, and many that turn back from the Lord in a course of backsliding (ver. 6); others clothed with strange apparel (ver. 8); others, exercising violence and deceit (ver. 9); a number of atheists also, living among God's people (ver. 12). For these and the like causes doth the land mourn. It is not the covenant, but the broken covenant; it is not the reformation, but the want of a real and personal reformation, that hath drawn on the judgment. Blessed are they who shall keep their garments clean, and shall be able to say, “All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant,” Psal. xliv. 17.
Thirdly, Give God the glory of his wisdom. Many are now crying, “How long, Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?” Psal. lxxxix. 46. Your answer from God is, that the rod shall be indeed removed, and even cast into the fire in your stead, but when? It shall be “when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerusalem,” Isa. x. 12. If the judgment have not yet done all the work it was sent for, then “they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them” (Ezek. xv. 7), saith the Lord. God is a wise refiner, and will not take the silver out of the fire till the dross be purged away from it. He is a wise father who will [pg 7-025] not cast the rod of correction till it have driven away all that folly which is bound up in the hearts of his children: “Behold, therefore (saith the Lord) I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you,” Ezek. xxii. 19, 20. He speaks it to those who had escaped the captivity of Jehoiakim, and also the captivity of Jehoiachin, and thought they should be safe and secure in Jerusalem when their brethren were in Babylon: I will gather you, saith the Lord, even in the midst of Jerusalem, and when you think you are out of one furnace, you shall fall into another; and, if you will not be refined from your dross, you shall never come out of that furnace, but I will melt you there, and leave you there: which did so come to pass; for the residue that escaped to Egypt, and thought to shelter themselves there, as likewise those that remained in Jerusalem, and held out that siege with Zedekiah,—even all these did fall under the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence, till they were consumed, Jer. xxiv. 8, 10. Let those that are longest spared take heed they be not sorest smitten. Say not with Agag, “The bitterness of death is past.” The child chastised in the afternoon weeps as sore as the child chastised in the forenoon. Remember the Lord will not take away the judgment till he have performed his work, yea, his whole work, and that upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem itself. It is no light matter; the rod must be very heavy before our uncircumcised hearts can be humbled, and the furnace very hot before our dross depart from us. We have need of all the sore strokes which we mourn under, and if one less could do the turn, it would be spared, for the Lord doth not afflict willingly: we ourselves rive every stroke out of his hand.
But, in the fourth and last place, let us give God the glory of his mercy also; he means to do us good in our latter end. It is the hand of a father, not of an enemy: it is a refining, not a consuming fire. The poor mourners in Zion are ready to say, “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts” (Ezek. xxxvii. 11); we are like to lie in this fire and furnace for ever, because our dross is [pg 7-026] not departed from us; we are still an unhumbled, an unbroken, an unmortified generation; yea, many like Ahaz, in the time of affliction, trespassing yet more against the Lord, many thinking of going back again to Egypt. To such I have these two things to say for their comfort: First, There is a remnant which shall not only be delivered, but purified, and shall come forth as gold out of the fire. The third part shall be refined, and the Lord shall say, “It is my people,” Zech xiii. 9. And a most sweet promise there is after the saddest denunciation of judgment: Ezek. xiv. 22, 23, “Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters; behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their ways and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all the evil that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God;” Dan. xii. 10, “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” After the promise of delivering those that were carried away to Babylon, there is another promise added of that which was much better: Jer. xxiv. 7, “I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart;” Psal. cxxx. 8, “He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities;” Zeph. iii. 12, 13, “I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.” Let your souls now apply these and the like promises, and cry, Lord, remember thy promise, and let not a jot of thy good word fall to the ground. Secondly, As the promises of spiritual and eternal blessings, so the promises of peace and temporal deliverances are not legal, but even evangelical. If we be not refined and purged as we ought to be, that is a matter of humiliation to us, but it is also a matter of magnifying the riches of free mercy: Isa. xlviii. 9-11, “For my name's sake will I defer [pg 7-027] mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own name's sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it.” The Lord is there arguing with his people, to humble them, to convince them, and to cut off all matter of glorying from them; and among other things, lest they should glory in this, that whatever they were before, they became afterward as silver refined seven times in the furnace:[1417] Nay, saith the Lord, I have refined you in some sort, but not as silver, not so as that you are clean from your dross; but I have chosen you, and set my love upon you, even while you are in the furnace not yet refined; and I will deliver you, even for my own name's sake, that you may owe your deliverance for ever to free mercy, and not to your own repentance and amendment. A land is accepted, and a people's peace made with God, not by their repentance and humiliation, but by Christ believed on: Mic. v. 5, “This man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land.” There were sin-offerings and burnt-offerings appointed in the law for a national atonement (Lev. iv., xiii., xxi.; Num. xv. 25, 26) which did typify pardoning of national sins through the merit of Jesus Christ. We must improve the office of the Mediator, and the promise of free grace, in the behalf of God's people, as well as of our own souls, which, if it be indeed done, will not hinder, but further a great mourning and deep humiliation in the land. And so much of tribulation.
The third thing held forth in this text (of which I must be very short) is mortification. This also is a refining fire: Matt. iii. 11, “He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire;” Mark ix. 49, “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” He hath been before speaking of mortification, of the plucking out of the right eye, the cutting off the right hand, or the right foot, and now he presseth the same thing by a double allusion to the law,—there was a necessity both of fire and salt; the sacrifice was seasoned with salt (Lev. ii. 13), and the fire upon the altar was not to be put out, but every morning the wood was burnt upon it, and the burnt-offering [pg 7-028] laid upon it (Lev. vi. 12, 13). So if we will present ourselves as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God, we must be seasoned with the salt, and our corruptions burnt up with the fire of mortification.
The doctrine shall be this: “It is not enough to join in public reformation, yea, to suffer tribulation for the name of Christ, except we also endeavour mortification.” This mortification is a third step distinct from the other two, and without this the other two can make us but “almost Christians,” or, “not far from the kingdom of God.” In the parable of the sower and the seed, as we find it both in Matthew (chap. xiii.), Mark (chap, iv.), and Luke (chap, viii.), this method may be observed, That of the four sorts of ground, the second is better than the first, the third better than the second, but the fourth only is the good ground, which is fruitful, and getteth a blessing. Some men's hearts are like the highway, and the hardbeaten road, where every foul spirit, and every lust hath walked and conversed, their consciences, through the custom of sin, are, as it were, “seared with a hot iron;” in these the word takes no place, but all that they bear doth presently slip from them. Others receive the word with a present good affection and delight, but have no depth of earth; that is, neither having had a work of the law upon their consciences for deep humiliation, nor being rooted and grounded in love to the gospel, nor, peradventure, so much as grounded in the knowledge of the truth, nor having counted their cost, and solidly resolved for suffering; thereupon it comes to pass, when suffering times come, these wither away, and come to nothing. There is a third sort, who go a step farther; they have some root, and some more solid ground than the former, so that they can suffer many things, and not fall away because of persecution, yet they perish through want of mortification. One may suffer persecution for Christ, not being sore tried in that which is his idol lust, yet enduring great losses and crosses in other things: of such it is said, that “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful,” Mark iv. 19. Mark that, “the lusts of other things;” that is, whether it be the lust of the eyes, or the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life; and he speaks of the “entering in;” meaning of some strong [pg 7-029] tentation coming upon a man to catch him in that which is the great idol of his heart, and his beloved lust, whatever it be; such a tentation he never found before, and therefore thought the lust had been mortified, which was but lurking. Did not Judas suffer many things with Christ during the time of his public ministry? Did not Ananias and Sapphira suffer, for a season, with the apostles and church at Jerusalem? What was it then that lost them? They neither made defection from the profession of the truth, nor did they fall away because of persecution; but having shined in the light a sound profession, having also taken up the cross, and borne the reproach of Christ, they made shipwreck at last upon an unmortified lust.
I shall enlarge the doctrine no further, but touch upon some few uses, and so an end.
First, Let all and every one of us be convinced of the necessity of our further endeavouring after mortification. The best silver which cometh out of the earth hath dross in it, and therefore needeth the refiner's fire; and the whitest garment that is worn will touch some unclean thing or other, and therefore will need the fuller's soap. The best of God's children have the dross of their inherent corruptions to purge away; which made Paul say, “I keep under my body, and bring it unto subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway,” 1 Cor. ix. 27. It is a speech borrowed from reprobate silver which is not refined from dross, and so is the word used by the Septuagint, Isa. i. 22, τὸ ἀργύριον ἰμῶν ἀδόκιμον “Thy silver is become dross.” The Apostle therefore sets himself to the study of mortification, lest, saith he, when I have been refining and purifying others, I myself be found to be drossy silver. And as there is inherent dross, so there is adherent uncleanness in the best; and who can say that he hath kept his garments so clean that he is “unspotted of the world” (Isa. i. 27), or that he hath so separated himself from the pollutions of the world as that he hath touched no unclean thing: so that there is an universal necessity of making use both of the refiner's fire, and of the fuller's soap.
Secondly, Let us once become willing [pg 7-030] and contented, yea, desirous to be thoroughly mortified. A man's lusts and corruptions are indeed so strongly interested in himself, and his corruptions are his members, therefore, when we leave off sin, we are said to live no more “to ourselves,” 2 Cor. v. 15; and mortification is the greatest violence that can be done to nature, therefore it is called a cutting off of the chief members of the body (Mark ix. 43, 45, 47), a salting with salt, and a burning with fire (ver. 49), a circumcision (Col. ii. 11), a crucifying (Rom. vi. 6): so that nothing can be more difficult or displeasing, yea, a greater torment to flesh and blood. Yet now art thou willing, notwithstanding of all this, to take Christ on his own terms? to take him not only for righteousness and life, but to take him as a refiner's fire, and as fuller's soap? O that there were such a heart in thee! When Christ bids thee pluck out thy right eye, and cut off thy right hand, say not in thy heart, How shall I do without my right eye, and my right hand? Nay, thou shalt do well enough, thou shalt even enter into life without them, thou shalt be a gainer, and no loser. Say not thou, How shall I go through this refining fire? Fear not, thou shall lose nothing but thy dross. Thus get thy heart wrought to a willingness, and a condescending, in the point of mortification.
Lastly, If you say, But after all this, how shall I attain unto it? Put thyself in the hands of Jesus Christ, trust him with the work; if you mark the text here, and the verse that followeth, Christ is both the refiner, and the refiner's fire: thou shalt be refined by him, and thou shalt be refined in him. Thou deceivest thyself if thou thinkest to be refined any other way but by this refiner, and in this refiner's fire. The blood of Christ doth not only wash us from guilt, but purge our consciences “from dead works, to serve the living God,” Heb. ix. 14; “And they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.” Gal. v. 24. Here you may see the thing is feasible and attainable, and not only by an apostle or some extraordinary man, but by all that are Christ's. Being his, and in him, they are enabled, through his strength, to crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof.