thou wilt be perfect, (saith Christ to that legalist) go and sell all that thou hast, and come and follow me, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." And,

In case that you meet with sufferings, look upon all your sufferings as part of Christ's purchase for you. Your sufferings are your servants; for all things are yours; for you are Christ's, who is the head of the covenant.

And in case that you are under any spiritual desertion, then praise God for his love to Jesus, when you cannot praise God for his love to you. A true gospel spirit will praise God the Father for his love to Christ his Son, when he cannot praise God for his love to himself, because he wants

assurance.

Again, if you would yet walk up unto this condition of the gospel, whereunto now ye are come, then whatsoever you do, be sure that you do it upon gospel principles: principles of love, principles of thankfulness, principles of ingenuousness; principles are the springs of actions. If your principles be evangelical, your actions will be evangelical; if your principles be legal, your actions will be legal. Stock, therefore, and store yourselves with gospel principles: principles of love, principles of thankfulness, and principles of ingenuousness; doing all in the name of Jesus, this Mediator of the covenant.

And when you have wrought and done all, rest upon Jesus this Mediator, as if you had done nothing. Yea, repent work and do, as if you had no such Mediator; I say, Work, and pray, and read, and meditate, and confer, and repent, as if had no Mediator for to rest upon, but only your works; and yet rest upon this your Mediator, as if you had done no work at all. Thus do, and thus shall you comply and comport with your gospel state.

you

Which that you may do, consider this is that you are now called unto; you are now come to Jesus, not to Moses; you are now come to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. Why then, as in the time of the Old Testament they had recourse unto Moses, so now in the times of the New Testament ye are in all things to have recourse unto Jesus. What saith Jesus to this business? Here is worship. What saith Jesus to it? Here is an ordinance. What saith Jesus to it?

Here is an officer of the church. What saith Jesus to it? This is suitable unto the state that now ye are come unto. And thus shall all your convictions, graces, and your duties be refined; you shall have much in a little room. A legal work may be great for the bulk, yet be but little; a gospel work though but little, hath a great deal in it, for it is refined.

And thus also shall you have the wedding garment on. For pray what is the wedding garment but a gospel disposition, suitable to a gospel dispensation? this is the wedding garment. Not faith, nor repentance, nor this, nor that particular grace, but a gospel disposition, suitable to a gospel dispensation, is the wedding garment; and thus you shall be clothed with it.

Thus also your only shall stand in its proper place; for mark where the apostle places your only: "Only (saith he) let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel ;" there stands a christian's only, upon a conversation becoming the gospel.

Thus also shall you please the Father: The more that you come to Jesus the Mediator, whom the Father hath appointed; and the more your conversation suits thereunto, the more you please the Father. You can never please the Father more than in coming to the Son.

Now therefore, as ever you do desire that you may please the Father;

As you do desire that your only may be found in a right and proper place;

As you do desire that you may be found having the wedding garment on;

As you do desire that all your convictions, graces, duties, may be more refined, and so preserved and kept;

As you do desire to be found doing according to the state whereunto you are called; so let it be your work and business to stand clear from Moses, and to stand upon clear gospel ground, and to come off fully unto Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. For, saith this doctrine, in these gospel times, we are not come unto Moses, the mediator of the Old Testament or of the old covenant, but unto Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. And so I have done with this third Observation. There is a fourth thing yet behind

which concerns the "blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel."

SERMON VI.

THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING.

And to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."-HEB. xii. 24.

When I made entrance into these words, I took up four observations from them, and having gone through three of them, I now come unto the fourth; which more largely runs thus,

Observation IV. That it is a very great privilege which in these gospel times we are partakers of: To come unto the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. For the clearing and prosecuting whereof,

First, I shall shew you what this sprinkling of blood is, what are the grounds and use of this sprinkling.

Secondly, That this blood of sprinkling is a speaking blood, and speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Thirdly, That we are now come unto this blood of sprinkling.

Fourthly, What are the privileges of coming to this blood of sprinkling, and of being sprinkled with this blood of sprinkling. And then,

Fifthly, What we must do that we may get our hearts sprinkled with this blood of sprinkling.

First, If you ask what this blood of sprinkling is?

I answer, That it is no other than the blood of Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant; called the blood of sprinkling, because it was, and is, the thing specified in all the sprinklings of water and blood in the Old Testament. In the days of the Old Testament, it was their way and manner then to mix water and blood together, and to sprinkle it upon persons and things; which was a pattern and type of this blood of Jesus, as you read from the 13th verse unto the 24th of the ixth of Hebrews. When our Lord and Saviour Christ died upon the cross, there came water and blood out of his side, saith John. And if you look into 1 John v.,

you shall see that John, his beloved disciple, insists much upon it, verse 6: "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood." Again, "This is he, even Jesus Christ, that came by water and blood;" which blood of sprinkling is the blood of Jesus, saith Peter expressly in his 1st Epistle i. 2: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." So that plainly then, and briefly, this blood of sprinkling is the blood of Jesus. Called the blood of sprinkling in reference unto those types and ceremonies of sprinkling blood, in the time of the Old Testament.

For our better understanding whereof I shall labour to shew you briefly, what were the grounds and reasons of their sprinkling blood in the times of the Old Testament, and how that is applicable to the blood of Jesus.

If you look therefore into the Old Testament you shall find that they sprinkled blood upon a fourfold account.

To confirm and ratify the covenant between God and them. To make an atonement for their sin.

For the sanctification and purification of their persons and things.

And, for the preservation of their persons.

Accordingly, therefore, saith the apostle, Heb. ix. 19, the book was sprinkled; so in Exod. xxiv. 7, the meaning of it is given: "And he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people; and they said, All that the Lord hath said we will do, and be obedient: and Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant." And the ixth of Hebrews tells us that he sprinkled the blood itself. And why so? But to shew thus much, that it is the blood of Jesus that doth ratify and confirm the covenant now made between God and us; as at large in that ixth of Hebrews.

Then, also, in those times of the old testament they sprinkled blood to make an atonement for the sins of the people, as you have it in Lev. iv. 6, 20: "And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary." mercy-seat and the altar were sprinkled; the reason is given at the 20th verse: "And he shall do with the bullock as he

The

did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this; and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them." And why so? But to shew that it is the blood of Jesus whereby we have atonement, as in Rom. v. 11.

Again, In the times of the old testament they did sprinkle blood for the purification of men's persons, and of things, as you have it in Lev. xiv. 7, " And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean." And why so? But to shew that it is the blood of Jesus that doth cleanse us from all iniquity, as in 1 John i.

Then in those times they did sprinkle men's persons for preservation from the destroying angel: when the destroying angel came to destroy the Egyptians, the posts of the Israelites were sprinkled that they might be preserved. And why? But to shew that it is by the blood of Jesus that we are preserved from the destroyer. In the 1st verse of Jude's epistle it is said, "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ;" or preserved by Jesus Christ: and "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," saith the apostle to the Corinthians. So that thus now you see, briefly, what were the grounds and reasons of their sprinkling blood in the times of the old testament, and how all this is applicable to the blood of Jesus.

And if you look wishly into the Scripture, and compare things with things, you shall find that Moses in the times of the old testament did divide the blood of the covenant, part whereof was sprinkled upon the altar, poured down at the foot of the altar, to oblige God to the covenant; and part of it was sprinkled upon the people, to confirm their souls in the certainty of the covenant, and to oblige them to observe and keep covenant with God. So with the blood of Christ. And therefore when our Lord and Saviour Christ speaks at the Lord's supper, he saith, "This cup is the new testament in my blood, shed for many, for the remission of sins." The first part of the words " This cup is the new testament in my blood;" hath regard to us, shewing that our souls are to be confirmed in this, that we are in covenant with God. The second part of the words "shed for many, for the remission