hat, 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