spect unto their native countries, and alliances therein, but so as to make them only the way and matter for the advancement of the interest of this new society. And this sort of men being nourished from their very first entrance into the conduct of the society, unto hopes and expectations of wealth, honour, power, interest in the disposal of all public affairs of mankind and the regulation of the consciences of men, it is no wonder if with the utmost of their arts and industry, they endeavour to set up and preserve this image which they have erected, from whence they expect all the advantage which they do design. But hereof I may treat more fully, when I come to speak of the image of jealousy itself.

10. From these generals, I shall proceed unto more particular instances; and those for the most part in important principles of religion, wherein Christian faith and practice are most concerned. And I shall begin with that which is of signal advantage unto the framers of these images, as the other also are in their degree; for by this craft they have their livelihood and wealth, and most pernicious to the souls of other men. It is a principle of truth, and that such as wherein the whole course of Christian obedience is concerned, that there is a spiritual defilement in sin.

This the Scripture everywhere declares, répresenting the very nature of it by spiritual uncleanness. And this uncleanness is its contrariety unto the holiness of the divine nature, as represented unto us in the law. This defilement is in all men equally by nature; all are alike born in sin, and the pollution of it; 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' And it is in all personally, in various degrees; some are more polluted with actual sins than others, but all are so in their degree and measure. This pollution of sin must be purged and taken away before our entrance into heaven; for no unclean thing shall enter into the kingdom of God. Sin must be destroyed in its nature, practice, power, and defects, or we are not saved from it. This purification of sin is wrought in us initially and gradually in this life, and accomplished in death, when the spirits of just men are made perfect. In a compliance with this work of God's grace towards them, whereby they purify themselves, consists one principal part of the obedience of believers in this world,

and of the exercise of their faith. The principal, internal, immediate, efficient cause of this purification of sins, is the blood of Christ; the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God, cleanseth us from all our sins;' 1 John i. 7. 'The blood of Jesus purgeth our consciences from dead works;' Heb. ix. 14. He washeth us in his own blood;' Rev. i. 5. And there is an external helping cause thereof, which is trials and afflictions, made effectual by the word, and accomplished in death.

But this way of purging sins by the blood of Christ is mysterious: there is no discerning of its glory but by spiritual light, no experience of its power, but by faith. Hence it is despised and neglected by the most that yet outwardly profess the doctrine of the gospel. Men generally think there are a thousand better ways for the purging of sin, than this by the blood of Christ, which they cannot understand; see Micah vi. 6, 7. It is mysterious in the application of it unto the souls and consciences of believers by the Holy Ghost; it is so in the spring of its efficacy, which is the oblation of it, for a propitiation, and in its relation unto the new covenant, which first it establisheth, and then makes effectual unto this end. The work of it is gradual and imperceptible unto any thing but the eyes of faith, and diligent spiritual experience.

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Again, it is so ordered by divine wisdom, as strictly to require, to begin, excite, and encourage, the utmost diligence of believers in a compliance with its efficacy unto the same end. What Christ did for us, he did without us, without our aid or concurrence. As God made us without ourselves, so Christ redeemed us; but what he doth in us, he doth also by us; what he works in a way of grace, we work in a way of duty and our duty herein consists as in the continual exercise of all gracious habits, renewing, changing, and transforming the soul into the likeness of Christ (for he who hopes to see him, purifieth himself as he is pure), só also in universal, permanent, uninterrupted mortification unto the end, whereof we shall speak afterward. This also renders the work both mysterious and difficult. The improvement of afflictions unto the same end, is a principal part of the wisdom of faith; without which they can be of no spiritual use unto the souls of men.

men.

This notion of the defilement of sin, and that of the necessity of its purification, were retained in the church of Rome; for they could not be lost, without not only a rejec tion of the Scripture, but the stifling of natural conceptions about them, which are indelibly fixed in the consciences of But spiritual light into the glory of the thing itself, or the mystical purification of sin, with an experience of the power and efficacy of the blood of Christ, as applied unto the consciences of believers unto that end, by the Holy Ghost, were lost amongst them. In vain shall we seek for any thing of this nature, either in their doctrine or their practice. Wherefore having lost the substance of this truth, and all experience of its power, to retain the use of its name, they have made sundry little images of it, creeping things, whereunto they ascribe the power of purging sin; such as holy water, pilgrimages, disciplines, masses, and various commutations. But they quickly found by experience, that these things would neither purify the heart, nor pacify the consciences of sinners, any more than the blood of bulls and of goats could do it under the law; yea, any more than the lustrations and expiations of sin amongst the heathen could effect it. Wherefore they have at length formed a more stated and specious image of it, to serve all the turns of convinced sinners; and this is a purgatory after this life; that is, a subterraneous place, and various means where, and whereby, the souls of men are purged from all their sins, and made meet for heaven, when the Lord Christ thinks meet to send for them, or the pope judges it fit to send them to him. Hereunto, let them pretend what they please, the people under their conduct do trust a thousand times more for the purging of their sins, than unto the blood of Christ: but it is only a cursed image of the virtue of it, set up to draw off the minds of poor sinners from seeking an interest in a participation of the efficacy of that blood for that end, which is to be obtained by faith alone; Rom. iii. 25. Only they have placed this image behind the curtain of mortality, that the cheat of it might not be discovered; none, who find themselves deceived by it, can come back to complain or warn others to take care of themselves; and it was in an especial manner suited unto their delusion, who lived in pleasures, or in the pursuit of unjust gain, without exercise

of afflictions in this world. From these two sorts of persons, by this engine they raised a revenue unto themselves, beyond that of kings or princes; for all the endowments of their religious houses and societies, were but commutations for the abatement of the fire of this purgatory. But whereas in itself it was a rotten post that could not stand or subsist, they were forced to prop it with many other imaginations; for unto this end to secure work for this purgatory, they coined the distinction of sin into mortal and venial; not as unto their end, with respect unto faith and repentance, nor as unto the degrees of sin with respect unto the aggravations, but as unto the nature of them; some of them being such, namely, those that are venial, as were capable of a purging expiation after this life, though men die without any repentance of them. And when this was done, they have cast almost all the sins that can be named under this order; and hereon this image is become an engine to disappoint the whole doctrine of the gospel, and to precipitate secure sinners into eternal ruin. And to strengthen this deceiving security, they have added another invention of a certain storehouse of ecclesiastical merits, the keys whereof are committed to the pope, to make application of them as he sees good unto the ease and relief of them that are in this purgatory. For whereas many of their church and communion have, as they say, done more good works than were needful for their salvation (which they have received upon a due balance of commutative justice), the surplusage is committed to the pope, to commute with it for the punishment of their sins, who are sent into purgatory to suffer for them; than which they could have found out no engine more powerful, to evacuate the efficacy of the blood of Christ, both as offered and as sprinkled, and therewith the doctrine of the gospel concerning faith and repentance. Moreover, to give it farther countenance (as one lie must be thatched with another, or it will quickly rain through), they have fancied a separation to be made between guilt and punishment, so as that when the guilt is fully remitted and pardoned, yet there may punishment remain on the account. of sin. For this is the case of them in purgatory; their sins are pardoned, so as that the guilt of them shall not bind them over to eternal damnation, though the wages of sin

is death,' yet they must be variously punished for the sins that are forgiven. But as this is contradictory in itself, it being utterly impossible there should be any punishment properly so called, but where there is guilt as the cause of it, so it is highly injurious both to the grace of God and blood of Christ, in procuring and giving out such a lame pardon of sins, as should leave room for punishment next to that which is eternal. These are some of the rotten props which they have fixed on the minds of persons credulous and superstitious, terrified with guilt and darkness, to support this tottering deformed image, set up in the room of the efficacy of the blood of Christ, to purge the souls and consciences of believers from sin. But that whereby it is principally established and kept up, is the darkness, ignorance, guilt, fear, terror of conscience, accompanied with a love of sin, that the most among them are subject and obnoxious unto, being disquieted, perplexed, and tormented with these things, and utterly ignorant of the true and only way of their removal and deliverance from them, they greedily embrace this sorry provision for their present ease and relief, being accommodated unto the utmost that human or diabolical craft can extend unto, to abate their fear, ease their torments, and to give security unto their superstitious minds. And hereby it is become to be the life and soul of their religion, diffusing itself into all the parts and concerns of it, more trusted unto than either God, or Christ, or the gospel.

Spiritual light and experience, with the consequents of them in peace with God, will safeguard the minds of believers from bowing down to this horrid image, though the acknowledgments of its divinity should be imposed on them with craft and force, otherwise it will not be done; for without this, there will a strong inclination and disposition, arising from a mixture of superstitious fear and love of sin, possess the minds of men to close with this pretended relief and satisfaction. The foundation of our preservation herein lies in spiritual light, or an ability of mind, from supernatural illumination, to discern the beauty, glory, and efficacy of the purging of our sins by the blood of Christ; when the glory of the wisdom and grace of God, of the love and grace of Christ, of the power of the Holy Ghost herein, is made manifest unto us, we shall despise all the paintings of this