Chapter LXI: Preface: To the Reader (1)

I have in this sermon applied my thoughts toward these three things: 1. The soul-ensnaring error of the greatest part of men, who choose to themselves such a way to the kingdom of heaven as is broad, and smooth, and easy, and but little or nothing at all displeasing to flesh and blood, like him that tumbled down upon the grass and said, _Utinam hoc esset laborare_. 2. The grumbling and unwillingness which appeareth in very many, when they should submit to that reformation of the church which is according to the mind of Jesus Christ, like them that said to the seers, “See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things,” Isa. xxx, 10; and again, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” Psal. ii. 3. 3. The sad and desolate condition of the kingdom of Scotland, then calling for our prayers and tears, and saying, “Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (bitter): for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me,” Ruth i. 20. We were “pressed out of measure, above strength,” and “had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us,” 2 Cor. i. 8-10. Our brethren also “helping together by prayer for us,” that for the mercy bestowed on us by means of the prayers of many, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. “The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock: and let the God of my salvation be exalted,” Psal. xviii, 46; He is our God; and we will prepare for him an habitation; our father’s God, and we will exalt him, Exod. xv. 2; “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory,” Psal. lxxii. 18, 19. Scotland shall yet be “a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God,” Isa. lxii. 3; and shall be called Hephzi-bah and Beulah. Only let us remember our evil ways, and be confounded, and never open our mouth any more because of our shame, when the Lord our God is pacified towards us. Now are both kingdoms put to a trial, whether their humiliations be filial, and whether then can mourn for sin more than for judgment. And let us now hear what the Spirit speaketh to the churches, and not turn again to folly New provocations, or the old unrepented, will create new ones; therefore “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto us.”

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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 “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, 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 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 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 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 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 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.