, that no sinner can believe but he
that repents,(288) not because repentance is required as a preparation to
give a man a warrant and right to believe,--I know no ground of faith but
our necessity, and the Lord's promise and command unto us,--but because no
soul can truly fly into Jesus Christ to escape sin's guilt, but he that
desires to be delivered from sin itself; and therefore the most part of
you fancy a faith which you have not, because there is no possibility that
men will come out of themselves, till they be pressed out by discovered
sin and misery within. Your woulds and wishes after Christ and salvation,
that many of you have, are not the real exercises of your soul's flying
unto him for salvation. If ye did indeed turn into Jesus Christ, your
hearts would turn the back upon sin, and these sins ye seek remission of.
Now, all the desire that many men have of Christ, is this,--I would fain
have his salvation, if I might keep my sin; I would gladly be delivered
from the guilt of sin, if he would let me keep still the sin. But will
Christ make any such bargain?

If this blood only wash from sin, O how many lie in their sins, and wallow
in their filthiness! "There is a generation pure in their own eyes, and
yet are not washed from their filthiness," Prov. xxx. 12. O that ye
believed this! If ye be not now washed, eternity shall find you unclean,
and woe to the soul that enters eternity with all the pollution of its
sins: can such a soul enter into the high and holy place, the clean city?
No, certainly; it must be without among the dogs and swine, it must be
kept in darkness for ever. It is, then, of great importance that ye be
washen from your filthiness. Now, I ask you, is it so or not? Are ye made
clean and washen from the guilt of your sins? Every one of you almost will
say so and think so; and yet says the scripture, "There is a generation
pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed." Is there a generation
such? Is there any such? Oh! then, think it is possible you may be
mistaken in the opinion of your own cleanness. Do any conceive themselves
pardoned, and yet are not so? Think it is possible you may have deceived
yourselves, especially since ye have never examined it. But are there so
many so, a whole generation,--the most part of men? Then, as you love your
souls, try, for it is certain that the most part of you must be deceived.
Is there a generation in the visible church not washen, and yet every one