tice,

IV. That purity is sincerity and uprightness (James iv. 8), "Purify your
hearts, ye double minded." Hypocrisy is filthiness and abominable to God.
He then is a sincere man, that hath any honesty of heart toward God. When
his actions are not right, his heart doth not approve them, Rom. vii. When
he cannot come up to his duty, his desire comes before performance. A
sincere man hath a respect to all God's commandments.

V. The pure man is still purifying himself "even as God is pure." As he
who hath called him is holy, so he is holy in all manner of conversation.
He never thinks he is clean enough, and so he aspires after greater
purity, and is named a saint, rather from his aim and endeavour, than from
his attainment. He cries, unclean, unclean, am I, and holy, holy, Lord
God, art thou. He hath taken up his lodging near the opened fountain, and
dwells there, never to remove thence, till he have his robes clean and
white in the blood of the Lamb. No unclean thing can enter into heaven,
and he is trimming himself against that day, and setting apart all
superfluity of naughtiness, and filthiness, and still all his
righteousness is as menstruous rags. He is cleansing his house, every day
casting out something, searching out all the corners of it, lest the
unclean thing, and the Babylonish garment be hid. His pattern is to walk
even as Christ walked, 1 John ii. 6.

Now faith and a good conscience have influence on this purifying the
heart. I. Because faith lays hold upon the cleansing virtue of Christ's
blood. It applies Jesus Christ who came by water and blood, and his blood
purges the conscience from dead works, to serve the living God. The blood
that was offered up by the eternal Spirit, of how great virtue must it be
when applied to the heart and conscience, Heb. ix. 14. No wonder it makes
that like wool which was formerly like scarlet. Now faith in Jesus Christ
applies that blood. It is the very hand that sprinkles it. Faith takes up
house beside the opened fountain, and dwells there. Faith takes Jesus for
sanctification as well as justification, 1 Cor. i. 30. Faith looks upon a
judicial union with Christ crucified, and sees his perfect offering once
offered to sanctify all, and therefore makes continual applications with
David, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall
be whiter than the snow." II. Faith purifies the heart, because it lays
hold on the promises, and makes use of the word, 2