V. 22.— let as draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us draw near.— We have seen that the Israelites drew near to God by the priests, and especially by the great high priest, who entered the holiest of all, the secret place of the Most High, on the great day of Atonement We are invited to draw near, through our great High Priest, who hath for us, as our surety and representative, entered into Heaven itself. Another Apostle says, “ Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Through him we cry Abba, Father.” Let us then draw near with a true heart. This is opposed to dissimulation or hypocrisy. It is illustrated by the Psalmist, “ If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me, but verily God hath heard me,” &c. In full assurance of faith, that is in the fullest confidence of acceptance in Christ. Faith is the substance or confidence of things hoped for. Chap. 11: The salvation of Christ is full and free, it is for the chief of sinners; and in the Gospel a foundation is laid for the most assured confidence of acceptance in Christ. It is well observed, by Archbishop Leighton, that the want of assurance of our salvation must proceed from one of two things; either that the atonement of Christ is insufficient to remove our guilt, or that we require some qualification which we fear we do not possess. The Scripture calls every sinner who hears the Gospel to trust in Christ, however aggravated his guilt. All who hear are invited to take of the water of life freely, to draw near with a true heart, not merely with our mouth, not merely with our lips to honor God, while we have removed our hearts far from Him, and our fear towards Him is taught by the precept of men, Isaiah 29:13; but drawing near with true hearts deeply feeling the reverence and love which we profess, and in the full assurance of faith. Having no confidence in ourselves, but the most unlimited confidence in Christ, the fullest assurance of our acceptance in the Beloved. On this passage a very unsound observation is made by one who, in many respects, possessed just and scriptural views. He says, “ This full assurance is not, as many conceive, an absolute certainty of a man’ s own particular salvation; for that is termed the full assurance of hope, chap. 6:11, and arises from faith and its fruits: but the full assurance of faith is the assurance of that truth which is testified and proposed in the Gospel to all hearers of it in common, to be believed by them unto their salvation, and is also termed the full assurance of understanding. Colossians 2:2." We have already observed, that the full assurance of faith and of hope may be distinguished, but cannot be separated. It is the testimony of God that by trusting in Christ we shall be saved, and in order to the full assurance of faith and of hope nothing more is necessary than our receiving that truth. To mingle faith with its fruits in regard to our hope of salvation is utterly unscriptural. We are indeed commanded to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith, to prove our own selves. Thus we are guarded against self-deception, against saying we have faith, against an empty profession of knowing God while in works we deny Him. Faith gives us the answer of a good conscience, it purge our hearts from an evil conscience, by convincing us of the perfection of the work of Christ. On the night on which he believe the jailer rejoiced in God with all his house. The eunuch, having heard the Gospel, went on his way rejoicing. The only fruit they had to look to was their having been baptized, their professing the glorious truth which they had received. Let us ever keep faith and its fruits in their proper place. Faith receives Christ, and in him eternal salvation; fruits prove the faithfulness of Him who saves His people from their sins, and gives them the witness in themselves, by the change produced in them by their receiving the love of the truth.— We are accepted in the Beloved, and whether we owed five hundred pence or fifty, our sins are all cast into the depths of the sea. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. There is an allusion here to the sprinkling under the law for the removal of ceremonial uncleanness; but such sprinkling only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; but the blood of sprinkling, chap. 12:24, removes guilt from the conscience and gives the believer confidence in approaching God.