SERMON V.

And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, as he is pure.—1 John iii. 3.

I come now to the application.

Use 1. To show the misery of those men that could never endure this purity of heart and life.

1. Do you count it a happiness to see God and be like him? If you do, why do you not desire it, and endeavour it now? Nothing can be the object of our eternal delight and satisfaction but what is the object of our present desires and endeavours. It is impossible that the soul can be satisfied with any delight and complacency in anything which formerly it was not desirous of. If you desire it not, God doth you no wrong to deny it you; he will not receive any into his blessed presence to whom it will be a burden. Satisfaction is the fulfilling of 480our desires and the rest of our motions. If you desire it, why do you shun God’s presence now, and no more endeavour to be like him? Answer this question which way you will, it will either cut off your future hopes, or else condemn your present practice as altogether unsuitable and inconsonant thereunto.

2. Are you in a posture to meet with God? Joseph washed himself when he was to come before Pharaoh; so did the Israelites when they came to God to hear the law. Pray what have you done to prepare for this solemn interview? Every one of you must shortly appear before God, and will you appear as a shame to your Redeemer? How will you then look him in the face with this proud, vain, carnal heart or worldly affections? Are you fit to go among the blessed spirits that are made perfect? Do I expect to tread Satan under my feet shortly, and shall I give him entertainment in my heart now? to have sin wholly subdued, and yet cherish it? to be a follower of the Lamb to all eternity, and now walk according to the course of this world? When you are wallowing in your filthiness, is this purifying yourselves as Christ is pure?

Use 2. To press us to endeavour after this purity. I must enforce it upon all sorts, young and old. First for the young: Ps. cxix. 9, ‘Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.’ He cloth not say direct and order, but ‘cleanse his way.’ We are from our birth polluted with sin. A child is not like a vessel that cometh out of the potter’s shop, indifferent for good or bad infusions; but the vessel is fusty already, hath a smatch of the old man, and must be cleansed. But then, secondly, for the old, because these are hastening into the other world apace, and therefore must hasten their preparations, and be more diligent in purifying their souls, being shortly to appear before the holy God: 2 Peter iii. 14, ‘Let us give diligence, that we may be found of him in peace, without spot and blame.’ I must press it upon persons of a public relation, as the apostle doth upon the officers of the church: 1 Tim. iii. 9, ‘Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.’ Soundness of religion is best retained there where there is not only a clear head but a pure heart, as we put precious liquors in a clean vessel which are apt to be corrupted in a foul one. And also upon all christians in a private station, for without purity of heart no man shall see God, which is the common felicity of all the saints. And therefore purity of heart and life is their common character and qualification: Ps. lxxiii. 1, ‘Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are of a clean heart.’ All are not Israel who are of Israel: the Israel of God are those that are clean of heart. So high and low, rich and poor. God cloth not respect men according to their outward condition, but their purity and cleanness of heart. The question is put, Ps. xxiv. 3, 4, ‘Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?’ And it is the most important question that can be put. And the answer is, ‘He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.’ Every one is not promiscuously admitted into heaven, and brought into his blessed presence, but only such as have clean hands and hearts. Sion hill is a figure both of the church and heaven.

But let me a little more closely show how everything in religion obligeth us to the purifying ourselves yet more and more.

1. With respect to the God, whom we serve in the Spirit, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

[1.] Our God is pure: Hab. i. 13, ‘He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity;’ that is, and let it go unpunished, however men please themselves in it. We should never think of him, but be ashamed of the inward remainders of corruption. The saints always express a deep abhorrency and sense of their own impurity when they have to do with God: Isa. vi. 5, ‘Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the Lord of hosts;’ Job xlii. 5, 6, ‘I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes.’ When God manifested himself in a way of grace, thus were the saints affected, and deservedly. God is the most holy, pure being, and the fountain of all purity and holiness; so pure, that in comparison of him the greatest purity of the creatures is but pollution: Job iv. 18, ‘Behold, he puts no trust in his servants, and his angels he chargeth with folly. How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay?’ Job xv. 15, 16, ‘Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints, and the heavens are not clean in his sight: how much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh in iniquity as water?’ The angels were never defiled with sin, yet because of the mutability of their nature, they are not clean in his sight. God cannot absolutely trust them. Oh, how much more should we confess ourselves to be vile and abhorred, who are actually defiled with sin, and do so often show what dregs and dross remain in our hearts! But though God be so good and holy in himself, yet may he dispense with the unholiness of others? No; this purity, as it implieth an exact holiness in God, and freedom from spot and defilement, so a hatred and aversion from all that is so; for none can have communion with this holy God unless they be pure and holy also: Ps. lxxiii. 1, ‘God is good to such as are of a clean heart;’ Ps. xviii. 26, ‘With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the upright thou wilt show thyself upright.’ Well, then, if God be most righteous, pure, and holy, and the angels cover their faces in his presence, and do proclaim him as only holy, and we at our best, since sin hath invaded our nature, have but a ragged, tattered holiness (Isa. lxiv. 6, ‘All our righteousnesses are but as filthy rags’,) it highly imports us to purify ourselves for the sight and fruition of this blessed, holy, and pure God.

[2.] Look to God incarnate, the second person in the Trinity, our Redeemer and Mediator, he also is pure and holy; and it doth more enforce this purifying ourselves as Christ is pure, so it is said in the text; whether you consider his person, or the design of his coming into the world. For his person: Heb. vii. 26, ‘Such a high priest be came us, who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners.’ This was he who is to bring us to God, and who was set up as a pat tern of holiness in our nature. He was pure and holy in his conception, birth, life, and death; as innocent and harmless as the new-born child, never tainted with the least sin; being more like God, and nearer to him, than any creature possibly can be; who chose not a monkish sequestration, but a free life of conversation with men, yet never was denied, and made partaker in their sins. And shall we be so unlike 482him as we are? Certainly if our hearts and lives be spotted with envy, malice, lust, ambition, affectation of greatness, and esteem in the world, and an excessive use of the pleasures thereof, to live a life so unlike to Christ is to contradict and defy our profession, and to be called christians to Christ’s dishonour; for his design in coming and dying was to cleanse, and purify, and sanctify us: Eph. v. 25-27, ‘Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish.’ The Lord Jesus, when he undertook the recovery of lapsed mankind, wanted not love to intend us the greatest benefit, nor wisdom to choose it. nor merit and worth to purchase it. But what did he in tend, choose, and purchase, but that he might sanctify and cleanse us? Herein he showed the fervency of his love, the wisdom of his choice, the value of his purchase. He saw that our great misery was that we were polluted and unclean by sin, and so made loathsome to God. Therefore, as the fervency of his love inclined him not to loath us, but to seek our good, so out of the infinite wisdom of his choice he did pitch upon the most proper and necessary benefit for us; and because of the value of his sufferings, he despaired not to get us made clean, and accordingly pursueth that work till it comes to its final perfection, and he at length takes us home to himself, as fully pure and perfect, without any spot or remnant of sinful defilement. Now this being Christ’s design, unless we would directly cross it, we are obliged to purify ourselves yet more and more.

[3.] If you look to God the Spirit, still the argument returneth upon you with the more force and efficacy; the Spirit is to make up the match between us and our Redeemer, and to bring us to Christ, as Christ to bring us to God. Now the Spirit is a holy Spirit: Eph. i. 13, ‘Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.’ The sanctifying of our natures, and the purifying the heart by grace is his great work. If you look into the scriptures, you shall find that the soul is purified by the Spirit and for the Spirit.

(1.) By the Spirit; and therefore he is called ‘the Spirit of sanctification,’ Rom. i. 4. And sanctification is called ‘the sanctification of the Spirit,’ 2 Thes. ii. 13, because he is the great agent sent into our hearts, to begin and promote this work. He converteth us as a Spirit of holiness; he quickeneth us as a Spirit of holiness; he comforteth and sealeth us, and marketh us out for God, as a Spirit of holiness; so that if we purify not ourselves, we obstruct and hinder his special work. Indeed, the main business of a christian is to obey his sanctifying motions: 1 Peter i. 22, ‘Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit.’ The Spirit is always counselling, directing, persuading us to purify ourselves by some notable truth or other; and as we yield to these motions, this work is carried on and prevaileth more and more.

(2.) As our souls are purified by the Spirit, so they are purified for the Spirit, that they may be made temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in; the place of his abode and residence must be kept pure and clean: 1 Cor. iii. 16, ‘Know ye not that ye are the temples of the Holy Ghost, 483and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in yon? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple yon are.’ The temple of old was consecrated to God, and there was his symbolical presence. Whoever did bring in any unclean thing, he did pollute it, and was to be punished. So it is a known truth, which none ought to be ignorant of, that the soul of a christian is God’s spiritual temple, wherein he manifests his spiritual presence; to defile it is to dishonour God, and contract a great guilt upon ourselves. Surely every dirty lodging is not fit for so noble a guest; he will not dwell in an impure, an unclean heart. Where he dwelleth, he must dwell commodiously and according to his own liking. Now this consideration should the rather prevail upon us, because the dwelling of the Spirit in our hearts is the earnest and pledge of our dwelling for ever with God, and beginneth that vision and fruition of God which is perfected in heaven: 2 Cor. i. 22, ‘Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit into our hearts.’ Thus with respect to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

2. With respect to the ordinances.

[1.] The word of God which is given to us to purify and cleanse us: Ps. cxix. 140, ‘Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.’ He that looketh upon an axe will soon see that this is an instrument made to cut; so upon the word; it is fitted to cleanse and purify the souls of men from their sinful spots and stains. The precepts require this purity, the promises and threats enforce it, and the Spirit blesseth this means as appointed and chosen by Christ. The precepts call upon us everywhere: Jer. iv. 14, ‘Wash thy heart from wickedness; how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee?’ and in many other places: ‘Wash you, make you clean,’ Isa. i. 4. The promises enforce it. There are promises of purity, and promises to purity. Promises of purity: Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26, ‘Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you: a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.’ And promises made to purity: Ps. cxix. 1, ‘Blessed are the undefiled in the way.’ The pure are blessed, and shall be blessed: 2 Cor. vii. 1, ‘Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’ The threatenings enforce it also, for the impure are cut off from this happiness: Rev. xxi. 27, ‘There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.’ The Holy Ghost blesseth this means: John xvii. 17, 19, ‘Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified through the truth.’ He doth not join the powerful operations of his Spirit with any other doctrine, that it may be known to be his word; he will honour and own it by the concomitant operation of his Spirit: Gal. iii. 2, ‘Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?’ Now they that profess to believe this word, and do accept of it for the cure and health of their souls, are highly obliged to purify themselves yet more and more.

[2.] Prayer; it is to a holy God we pray, and from whom we expect our answer. Now a holy God expects they should be a holy people 484that are thus familiar with him, and beginning the acquaintance which shall be perfected in heaven: 1 Tim. ii. 8, ‘Lifting up holy hands, without wrath or doubting;’ and Zeph. iii. 9, ‘I will turn to them a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord.’ None are fit to call upon God but those that have a pure lip; and therefore the apostle, when he speaketh of drawing nigh to God, presently speaketh of purifying, James iv. 8, showing that the greatest intimacy of converse is between the holy God and a holy people.

[3.] Baptism, which engageth us to purify ourselves, and assureth us also of the purifying virtue of the Lord’s grace; for if I do my part, God will on his part give grace, whereby your hearts may be purified and cleansed. It is the visible act by which we profess the acceptance of the gospel covenant; and it is but a nullity and an empty formality if this be not done. It signifieth the washing away of sin: Acts xxii. 16, ‘Arise and be baptized, for the washing away of thy sins;’ and in Titus iii. 5, ‘The washing of regeneration.’ It alludeth to baptism, wherein water is used, which by its nitrous quality doth purge and cleanse; and it is the rite used at your first dedication to God. Now the external application is nothing without the internal effect, or the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Unless the soul be purged and washed, what will the washing of the body do you good? 1 Peter iii. 21, baptism is called ‘the answer of a good conscience towards God.’ Carnal careless christians forget their baptismal covenant: 2 Peter i. 9, ‘He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.’ But few regard it; others renounce it, but these forget it. There was water sprinkled on their bodies, but the Spirit is not sprinkled on their souls-.

[4.] The Lord’s supper, which supposeth purity of heart in all that come to it, because in foro ecclesiae they must be baptized before they can communicate. Christ washed his disciples’ feet before he would admit them to his table, and flatly telleth Peter, John xiii. 8, ‘If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.’ As no part in Christ, so no part with him, no admittance to spiritual communion. Now, as it supposeth it in some degree, it promoteth and advanceth it to a further degree, as we remember Christ’s blood, ‘which cleanseth us from all sin,’ 1 John i. 7, and bind ourselves anew to purge out all sin, ‘and keep the feast not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.’ In this holy ordinance we partake more of the sanctifying Spirit, and are encouraged to pursue after holiness in a confidence of this blessing.

Thus much with respect to the ordinances.

3. With respect to graces, we must purify ourselves yet more and more. I will instance in the three great graces of faith, hope, and love.

[1.] Faith: Acts xv. 9, ‘Purifying our hearts by faith,’ partly as it is an assent to the truths of the gospel, for it is a strong assent which enliveneth all truths, and maketh them effectual. They work not unless they be mingled with faith in the hearing: 1 Thes. ii. 13, ‘The word of God which ye received of us, ye received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe.’ There are so many cleansing truths in 485the gospel, that if they be received and improved by faith, we cannot but set upon purifying. Partly as in the use of means. It dependeth on the blood of Christ for this sanctifying virtue, which was purchased thereby, John xvii. 19. And partly as it worketh by reflection, and so it is the same with love, Gal. v. 6. As it representeth our future hopes, so it is the same with hope in the text; but certain we are that if faith be in any considerable strength, it will produce purity and holiness.

[2.] Hope doth the like, as here. Hope is a desirous expectation; for can a man hope for that he careth not for? Hope for it as good, and fly from it as evil, it cannot be. If we hope for anything, it is a sign we love it and like it, and as much as we can would get it into our hands; so if we hope to see God, and be like him, if this be our blessed and satisfying hope, we will be purifying ourselves for the present, and resemble God as much as we can for the present; for it is a contradiction that a man should be afraid of his hopes, and keep at a distance from his hopes. No; but he will pursue after them, and hasten for them.

[3.] Love will set us a-purifying. Love to God begets hatred of sin: Ps. xcvii. 10, ‘Ye that love the Lord hate evil.’ The one is as natural to the new nature as the other; and the one is inferred out of the other. Now where there is a hatred of sin, there will be an extermination of it; not a scratching at the face, but a digging at the root of it; not a little faint resistance, but a striving to get rid of the being of it; or else a groaning under it as a sore burden: Rom. vii. 24, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ Therefore nothing puts us upon this perfecting holiness so much as love.

4. Our felicity and state of blessedness to which we are invited is pure and holy: 1 Peter i. 4, ‘An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, reserved for you in the heavens.’ And it is elsewhere called ‘the inheritance of the saints in light,’ Col. i. 12. It must needs be so, for it is nothing else but the Lord himself to be enjoyed to all eternity. Now holy men are only fit for holy things. These are the months of our purification, as Esther purified herself when she was to come into the presence of Ahasuerus, Esther ii. 9.

Secondly, Having given you reasons, let me now give you some directions about the nature of this purity that ye must seek after.

1. Let it be a universal purity, beginning at the heart, and flowing from thence into the conversation. It must begin at the heart. The prophet, to cure the brackishness of the waters, casts salt into the spring; and the scripture speaketh of a pure heart as the fountain of all godliness: 2 Tim. i. 5, ‘The end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and faith unfeigned.’ Now a pure heart is such a disposition or constitution of soul as consists in a hatred of sin and love to righteousness; and till this be in us, there is no purity. The operation of the Spirit beginneth at the soul, and from the soul it is derived to the outward man; for from the polluted fountain of the heart floweth all the pollution of life: Mat. xv. 19, 20, ‘Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man.’ 486Now as pollution began there, so doth purity also: Mat. xxiii. 26, ‘Thou blind pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.’ First purify the heart within, and then purity of life will follow of its own accord; yea, if we should be defiled where the constitution and settled disposition of the heart is for purity, you will sooner recover your state; as a living spring, when the waters are mudded and troubled, will work itself clean again. But, on the contrary, the apostle telleth us that ‘some who had escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, were again entangled and over come,’ 2 Peter ii. 20. The constitution of their hearts was not altered, but they lived in secret love with their sins, while they seemed for a while to avoid some grosser shameful acts. Therefore the temper of your souls must be altered, that you may not delight to wallow in this muddle like swine in the mire. But it may be a thing hateful to you to sin, not only contrary to your interest, but your very nature. But then the temper of the heart being changed, you must look to the operations of the thoughts, words, and actions: Prov. xv. 26, ‘The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord; but the words of the pure are pleasant words.’ There is a defect in both parts of the proverb, to be supplied from the former branch to the latter, and the latter branch from the former; thus as the thoughts of the wicked, so their words are abominable to the Lord; and as the words, so the thoughts of the godly are pure and acceptable. The words depend much on the thoughts, as the thoughts do on the constitution and frame of the heart. The tap runneth according to the liquor with which the vessel is filled. We are responsible to God for thoughts, therefore our hearts should be good and holy. So also for words; the impurity of the heart bewrayeth itself much in rottenness of speech. Therefore, as the heart must be pure, so must the tongue and lip. The prophet saith, Isa. vi. 5, ‘I am a man of polluted lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.’ Faultiness in this kind is very frequent, and not without difficulty avoided. Then for our actions, and first for sacred ones: 2 Tim. ii. 22, ‘Call on the Lord out of a pure heart;’ and Mal. i. 11, ‘They shall bring a pure offering.’ So for ordinary conversation: Prov. xxi. 8, ‘The work of the pure is right.’ A man that is pure must be pure throughout, that there be no blot upon him, or spot that is not as the spot of God’s children.

2. Let it be an increasing growing purity, that every day we may be more holy and undefiled: 2 Cor. iii. 18, ‘Changed into the image and likeness of Christ, from glory to glory.’ God having appointed us to be like his Son, fits us by degrees; and Christ by his Spirit is sanctifying and cleansing us more and more, that ‘there may be no spot and blemish in us,’ Eph. v. 27. And let us also be ‘perfecting holiness in the fear of God,’ 2 Cor. vii. 1. The more progress we have made, the more we are fitted to make a further progress, as having received more grace, and being more confirmed in a state of holiness. Sin is a deep stain that can hardly be gotten out. Ye have purified your souls to the obedience of the truth; and you must purify still, and persevere in this work, improving all advantages: be not satisfied with any low degree of purity.

Thirdly, About the means and helps: how shall we get this clean heart, and purify ourselves as Christ is pure? (1.) Consider what God hath done; (2.) What we must do.

1. What belongeth to God.

[1.] Certain it is that none can change his own heart: Job xiv. 4, ‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?’ There is no sound part in us to mend the rest. Our pollution is so universal, that there is no principle of operation left untainted; mind, will, affections, sensual appetite, all is corrupt, and the deepness of the pollution showeth it, as well as the universality. It is not a slight tincture, but a deep dye, like cloth dyed in the wool: Isa. i. 18, ‘Though your sins were as scarlet, ‘or like the spots of a leopard, Jer. xiii. 13; not spots accidental, but natural; not of an external adherency but engrained, belonging to the constitution. Therefore it is God must begin to purify the heart, as the principal efficient cause. He challengeth it as proper to himself: Ezek. xxxvi. 25, ‘I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean.’

[2.] What God doth he doth by Christ; he is the great remedy that God hath provided for healing and cleansing of mankind; his blood is the fountain opened for uncleanness, Zech. xiii. 1, with 1 John i. 7. And it is said, ‘He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,’ Rev. i. 5; and the saints are washed in the blood of the Lamb, Rev. vii. 14. More literally and plainly we have it, Titus ii. 14, where it is said, ‘He hath redeemed us from all iniquity.’ There was the price paid for the washing of our guilty and sinful souls, both for renewing and reconciling grace, that we may recover both the favour and image of God.

[3.] What Christ doth, he doth by the Spirit; and without the Spirit we can never cleanse and purify ourselves: 1 Cor. vi. 11, ‘And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God;’ and Titus iii. 5, 6, ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.’

[4.] What the Spirit doth he doth by the ordinances. There are certain ordinances and duties appointed by Christ for the purifying of our hearts, especially the word and sacraments: Eph. v. 26, ‘Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word.’ Well, then, if we would be made clean, we must go to God; but God without Christ will not look towards us, but being propitiated by him, he is willing to give us grace. God sendeth us to Christ, in whom alone he is well pleased; and Christ sendeth us to the Spirit, and his Spirit we hear of in the ordinances, which are solemnly appointed and blessed by Christ to this end: ‘Ye are clean through the word spoken to you,’ John xv. 3.

2. What we must do. It was Naaman’s error that he would be cleansed of his leprosy and. sit still, and Elisha must do all; but the prophet biddeth him go and wash; he must wash himself if he would be whole. Yea, in the general law for cleansing of the leper, after the 488sprinkling of the priest, the man was to wash himself, Lev. xiv. 6-8, to show that there is some work required on our part.

But what must we do? Certainly we are to make conscience of this work of purifying and cleansing and preparing ourselves for our great hopes; for it is we that repent, believe, strive, watch against sin, though still by the power of his grace.

In short, we must earnestly deal with God about it: ‘Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,’ Mat. viii. 2. You must depend upon the all-sufficiency of Christ’s merit and satisfaction, for the saints washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb.’ You must obey the Spirit’s sanctifying motions: Rom. viii. 13, ‘If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live; 1 Peter i. 22, ‘Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit,’ &c. You must lie at the pool. All that conscientiously use his ordinances, have some help for this holy work. It is you must keep the purifying graces, faith, hope, and love, in lively act and exercise; it is you must be careful to keep yourselves from the pollutions of the world, to prevent all sins of infirmity, and be sensible of them, and to mourn for them; and it is you must crucify the flesh more and more, check the pleasures of sin, by balancing them with your great hopes, and lament that the satisfying of the desires of the flesh have so sweet a relish. It is you must remember your baptismal vow. In short, you must get a greater hatred of sin, and a more universal care and study to please God in all things.