which yet they thought curable by moral Habits but they never saw it as sin nor in its deadly damning Nature Nay nor did ever any common work of the Spirit give such a discovery of it as is necessary to the mortification of it the Hypocrite sees no more of it than what he thinks some common work sufficient to cure Hence it is that all such as advance Nature are depressers of Grace and that such as extenuate original Corruption make no great business of Conversion And e contra hence it is also that we find not a Hypocrite in all the Scripture complaining of this original Corruption as we find Paul and David doing Rom. 7 and Psalm 51. Now in order to this sight of Sin 1. Thou must be much in the study and observation of thine own heart and of the secret motions of sin there they are strangers to their own hearts who may not find every sin there even such as they never heard named or as the gracious heart complies with such Duties as may be it never heard to be such so does the corrupt heart encline to such sins as are not to be named or upon the mention of every sin there 's some inward stirring to it especially if it be plausibly spoke of 2. Study the spirituality of the Law there thou mayst see the holiness of God which will not admit of the Ieast motion to Sin and there also thou mayst read thine own Impurity and sinful Impotency 3. Seek the Spirits light it 's the Spirits work to discover Sin let it be thy Souls desire that he would open some door or window and let thee see more inward greater and greater Abominations and what is doing in the secret Chambers of the Imagery of thy heart and when thou hast discovered the depths of Sin and the exceeding sinfulness of in-dwelling sin sit down and bewail thy felf and mourn over it And alas two months will not sufficiently bewail it Judg. 11.37 Thy seventy or fourscore years are too few for thee to go up and down the Mountains with thy Companions Now godly sorrows break the heart of Sin tears that are squeezed and wrung from a man and that come only from some inward Compunction and pricking of the heart may fortifie and feed Sin but when they are the juice of a broken heart or flow from a contrite heart that is melted down by the heavenly warmth of Divine love they stifle and extinguish Sin Sin can dwell with fear and horror for these are the native fruits and products of it and when Sin shall be perfected in Hell so shall these but it cannot bear with godly sorrow nor can this sorrow tolerate it or it strikes at the root and fundamental evil of Sin 2. Cherish Grace in the heart the two inward principles of Grace and Sin work upon one another as Fire and Water Sin is like a strong malignant humour in the Body Now the way to expel it is to corroborate and help Nature in its operations as the New man grows up he wears off the Old out of doors Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and be cloathed with humility love long-suffering mercy and brotherly-kindness and pride anger wrath malice will vanish away See Col. 3.5 6 7 8 10 12 13 as Light comes in Darkness goes out Bend a crooked stick streight and its crookedness is gone Grace and Sin are alway acting against other and no Conflict can be long in equal terms either Grace or indwelling Sin is upon the growing hand Vivification and Mortification the two parts of Sanctification do advance equally 3. Observe and trace every Sin and run it up to the heart from whence it had its rise then drag your heart before the Lord and cry Lord here 's the Atheist the Unbeliever the Murmurer the injurious person here 's the Rebel and the disobedient person The poor Believer even many times would tear his heart in pieces and is ready to say Except I had a better heart I would I had none had I only drunk Poison I might be pitied but when the poison of Asps is in my Nature I deserve to be abhorred did I hide the Lords Enemy in my house only I were a Traytor to him much more when I hide and nourish Sin in my heart Bring the body of death before Gods Tribunal and cry for Judgment against it and say Lord here 's thine and mine Enemy life for life and blood for blood 4. If thou wouldst mortifie Original Sin thou must be sure to mortifie Self for selfishness is the soul of Sin This is the great Idol that all others truckle under Mans first sin was self-exaltation and self-satisfaction and that depravation of our Nature which is the punishment of this first Sin does mostly appear in our self-willing self-loving self-seeking self-pleasing The Natural man beholds himself apprehends some excellency in himself believes himself loves himself pleases himself designs himself and that as his last end wherein he rests Hence the first step of our recovery to God is self denying self-abasing self-loathing self-annihilating and the lower self be the weaker is the body of Sin the more a man is emptied of self and dead to self the more he is filled with the fulness of God and alive to God When Christ is all and Grace is all the Old-man and indwelling Sin are at the lower ebb when self is nothing and Christ is all the mans light and life All to the Judgment heart and affections all the mans wisdom all his righteousness all his sanctification all his redemption and all his strength this stabs Sin at the heart Arminians and Jesuits no wonder they oppose the doctrine of Original Sin for their principles as they are the very issue of the body of Sin so they feed and cherish it Self-exaltation has begot their Tenets and they honour and advance Self as their Father 5. As Self is the soul of this body of Sin so Pride Worldliness and Voluptuousness are the chief members of it the lust of the eye and of the flesh and the pride of life are as it were the head and heart of the body of Sin a wound in these is deadly mortifie these radical lusts and you mortifie the body of Sin knock down pride and you dash out the brains of Sin Bring the flesh under a due subjection unto the Spirit so that it bear no sway nor act any thing against the Government and interest of Christ in the Soul and you wound the heart and stop the breath of this Body of Sin This leads us to a second Branch of the Text viz. To mortifie your most prevailing lusts your Idol-sins which your Condition Calling or circumstances do often expose you to And O what a hard task is this considering what the power of Sin is in some as I have formerly shewn what interest it has got in them in their judgment their heart and affections that it often engages them in
the Lord less jealous now than he was Does his clearer coming under the most kindly and condescending Relations any way abate it Nay they rather heighten it though they may occasion some change in his way of resenting injuries and expressing his displeasure Jer. 2.14 The Lord deals with his people now in a more Son-like way he chastizes them as much or of tner than formerly but not in that manner he will keep up his Soveraignty even when he is owning thy Soul hee 'l have thee know that he must be thy Lord and thou must worship him Psalm 45.11 so shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord c. He will not have his kindliest Relations diminish his Honour nor wear out our inward awe and fear lest an unsuitable frame or any unholy motion of heart should provoke his jealous Eye It 's a remarkable word Deut. 28.58 He will have his people fear this glorious and fearful Name The Lord thy God may be you think Thy God a sweet name and a kindly ay but he glories in it and so mayest thou and yet ought to be also a fearful Name And truly a Conscientious care to prevent the very first stirrings of sin in the heart is the most genuine fruit and the most satisfying evidence of this fear and of our Covenant-state Other things may influence and incline us to oppose sin in its further proceedings as on the other hand an awful Impression upon the heart of God as God and as our God is of great efficacy to keep out sinful Imaginations It will make the soul not only tremble at yielding to such a sin as Joseph was solicited to but even shrink at the first touch of the smallest temptation and this leads to another direction 3. Indeavour to keep thy heart in a holy tender heavenly and lively frame What 's the reason that temptations and suggestions from Satan do at the first excite some sinful motions in the heart the fundamental reason is our remaining Corruption that they work upon But the nearest reason is an ill frame when Satan finds us as dry tinder he strikes fire and every part catches and kindles 1. Then maintain a tender frame and this will make thee feeling and sensible of every inordinate motion of the heart It will grate upon the Conscience and thou wilt be loath by these to grieve the spirit as well as by consenting to or acting of them to quench or resist the Spirit for as the eye is hurt by the smallest dust or smoaks and if it were aware would shut it self against them so is it with a tender Conscience and if any dust has got into the eye it is not at ease till it has wept it out or till it be wipt out so is it also with the man who has true tenderness of heart 2. Maintain a lively Spiritual frame let thy heart be always bending and working towards God stir up holy thoughts and affections and let thy soul be filled with these and there will be no room for sin to get in do you not find that sometimes when the heart is strongly caâ—â—ed out to God that sinful Imaginations dare scarce present themselves for as we use to say that liveliness in duties is the way to prevent wandring thoughts in them and that Birds will not light upon burning Sacrifices so it 's in this case But when the heart is dead and cold and empty and idle then Satan and indwelling sin take their opportunity and fill it and busie it he comes and warms it and kindles fire in it when therefore any thing is offered to thy eye or thy ear or thy taste or thy thought that may excite any inordinacy in thy heart or in the least measure raise thy Corruption to stir antidote thy heart and prepossess it with some gracious Acts. Let the understanding the heart the affections the memory yea thy senses and outward man be filled with the fulness of God then shall sin be some way out of doors you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh yea there shall be no room to the lustings of the flesh If thy soul be exercised in holy meditations and affections and thy hand be much in heavenly work if thou converse in heaven and live near God and dwell on High were the soul always upon the wing and flying heaven-ward and were God every way thy all Satan durst not offer to force thee in the presence of thy Lord and Husband Satan shall not have such access to thee and this poor world and its gilded nothings should not work upon thee and if the body of death should stir you might with the more ease at least beat it down When the Soul is as it were in Gods presence alway Satan will not venture so to force it as it were Esth 7.8 Yea the body of sin it self would shrink into a corner when the virtue received from the Loadstone is worn off the needle wavers hither and thither but when new touched it bends steadily Northward So it 's with the soul that 's under fresh influences and that is near God But 2. How shall we do with these first motions of sin how shall we deal with them in their first attempts upon us Ans 1. If any sin begin to stir in thy imagination or mind look well it get not into thy heart or affections for that will instantly weaken thy Judgment 2. If thou would keep thine own Vineyard well pluck up every weed as soon as it appears else it will quickly be overgrown as soon as thou feels sin stir let thy heart recoil and start back with abhorrence indeed sin is so often stirring that thou may possibly weary to be always watching and warring with it and the heart does so easily and naturally move that way that it may possibly be a pain to thee to oppose it Therefore thou must be armed with a great deal of resolution not to hear the pleadings of the flesh nor to parley with a temptation and know that when ever sin stirs in thee thou art under an actual temptation to more sin 3. Protest and bear witness against every motion of sin in thee enter thy dissent from it And though this cannot absolve thee in the Court of strict-Justice yet the Court of Grace shall acquit thee This was Paul's Gospel-plea Rom. 7.15 19. and from this he infers ver 17 and also ver 20 Now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me What thou dost not own and dost not consent unto God will not charge upon thee so as to condemn thee even as what thou hast consented to if thou hast retracted it by repentance he will not bring it in in judgment against thee I do not mean as if there were no need of repentance for these for thou cannot sincerely protest against them if thy heart be not penitent for them It 's one of the loose Doctrines of the
channel if it will not run in a contrary way and by this means thou shalt also mortifie them If thou find thy heart inclining to passion at others turn it to an holy indignation against sin If inclined to sorrow upon any worldly account endeavour to turn it into sorrow for sin or for the afflictions and sufferings of the people of God let these have their due and thou wilt not have many tears to spare for other things If thy heart be inclining to exceed in frolick mirth indeavour to get thy mirth and joy to run into another channel to turn it into holy joy in God in Christ in his goodness to thee and to his people Indeed there may be much deceit in this that thou had need to guard against for as a good disposition sometimes passes for a sanctified nature so does these for sanctified acts and affections and as the former when advantaged with grace goes far so these high affections when tinctured with grace pass for high spiritual motions of the soul many under affliction mistake their carnal sorrow for Spiritual sorrow and others mistake their natural and occasional cheerfulness for Spiritual joy and the reason is because they judg of these acts only by the objects which they thought last upon as for instance May be one under great sorrow intermingles with other things some thoughts of sin and then he thinks his sorrow to be godly sorrow or when in a cheerful frame or in some good mood as you call it he intermingles some thoughts of God of Christ of Heaven and then it passes for heavenly joy Nothing is more ordinary than this A pregnant instance we may have of it in the publick prayers of our formalists who having by Organs and Musical Instruments excited in themselves some natural affections put to may be some thoughts of God and of the joys of Heaven and thus these motions of their hearts that are excited by meer natural causes and their own endeavours pass current for high sublime raised affections and this is all the holiness and heaven too of some But here lies the deceit men look only to the Immediate casual object of their acts and not at all to the principle of them nay nor to the object that did at first excite these acts viz some outward loss or some outward good I mean ordinarily When therefore you would turn natural or worldly sorrow into Spiritual and so with joy you must look well that there be a change not of the object only but in the very nature of the acts or affections for the object alone is not enough to specifie an action a meer change of the object will not render a natural affection or passion Spiritual There may be much natural Carnal joy in a spiritual and supernatural object as Heb. 6.4 even as there may be a spiritual joy when the immediate object is natural and so of other affections If you Object the difficulty of this and ask What advantage one has by following this direction I Answ 1. You have the advantage of being diverted from sinful objects and from inordinate motions towards lawful outward objects 2. You have this advantage that when the affections are lively they move with a greater facility towards spiritual objects though indeed this contributes nothing to their spirituality sin and grace they are seated in the same powers and faculties of the soul and when sin commands the more lively these powers and faculties be the more are the actings of sin advantaged and so it is also when grace is uppermost whether in the understanding or the will or the affections As on the other hand when the natural vigour of the soul especially of the affections is gone or any way obstructed the actings of grace in them are not so sensible and seem low and faint hence many aged persons and others are apt to conclude hardly against themselves at least to apprehend a decay of grace when there is none Therefore when you find any of these vigorous and fresh let grace set them on work and if there be any particular affection more lively and stirring than another heavenly wisdom directs us to see that that be well employed and if it be in the hand or possession of sin to redeem and rescue it unto its proper use whatever principle or object did first move excite or draw it forth the powers of the soul and all their operations are capable of good or evil as they are used as a strong Castle or sharp sword may be well or ill used yea suppose an usurping enemy helped to fortifie the Castle or sharpen the sword if they can be taken from him they may be used to the more advantage against him Now 2dly I told you that by the Spirit in the Text was especially to be understood the holy Spirit by whose special assistance Sin is mortified in the Believer If ye through the Spirit c. set about this with the Spirits aid and in a compliance with the methods of the Spirit which imports 1. Our own impotency Never think to mortifie any sin in thy own strength how small a temptation will overturn us when we stand upon our own legs and how strong temptations and inward lustings are we helped to withstand and mortifie when we engage the Spirits assistance 2. It imports the ineffectualness of meer rational or moral Considerations Motives and Means to mortifie sin the Consideration of the turpitude and infamy of sin of its debasing our Nature of that distraction and disorder that inordinate passions and affections breed in the Soul the weakness and transitoriness of the Creature comforts the impossibility to recover our loss by inordinate grief c. These may restrain or refine sin or change the Channel it runs in but can never mortifie it Nay nor 3. Will any means of Gods appointment do it without the Spirit neither meditation of Death nor Judgment nor of the death and sufferings of Christ Nor will Prayer or Word Promises or Threatnings or Sacraments or Afflictions if separated from the Spirits influences and assistances This is so sadly verified every day that I need not prove it They that want the Spirit cannot mortifie one sin and they that improve not an indwelling Spirit cannot by other means mortifie sin If any object That sin doth grieve and vex and quench the Spirit and provoke him to withdraw how then doth the Spirit mortifie sin in us I answer It 's true that even the sins of the godly do grieve and some way quench the Spirit But what sins are these or how do men quench the Spirit It 's by their opposing the Spirits sanctifying and mortifying operations I grant this may be done by opposing his witnessing and comforting Work but mostly the former which is the chief work of the Spirit 2. The godly do never so grieve the Spirit as to provoke him altogether to leave them Psalm 51.11 There remain some motions and assistances of
he threshes us that our husk may go off Zech. 13.9 Isa 31.15 48.15 1 Cor. 3.13 Materially all afflictions belong to the Covenant of Works but by the Cross of Christ they are transferred to the New Covenant they are thereby made healthful as the Tree that Moses cast into the waters took away their bitterness which some think was a type of this Afflictions are bitter and men murmure at them as the Israelites at the bitter waters but the Cross of Christ makes them wholsom waters they are like Salt to the Sacrifices Levit. 2.13 They consume mens excrementitious and corrupting humours we are apt to taint and corrupt to settle on our Lees therefore we are emptied from vessel to vessel Roots of bitterness spring up that defile Heb. 12.15 so Afflictions like Salt pierce and macerate a Man and we must be macerated ere we come to Heaven and what is Mortification but the quashing and macerating of the Irascible and concupiscible faculties of the Soul More particularly 1. Afflictions are witnesses of Gods displeasure against sin yea they are sensible demonstrations of the bitterness of sin for God would have us lay all at sins door Jer. 2.19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee know therefore and see c. how Gods anger at sin and the felt evil of it sets the Soul against it 2. They dissolve that wretched union between our corruptions within and tempting Objects without us such an Union is this that they never present themselves to our corrupted faculties but they excite and draw out some sinful Act we never let out our hearts upon the Creatures but we are corrupted by them we cannot think of filthy Lucre or sensual Pleasures but they defile us Now the Cross crucifies us to the World and it to us Gal. 6.14 Many take the Cross there metanymically for what we bear the heart now is not so inclin'd to commit Lewdness with them as Rebukes from the Lord makes a mans beauty to consume away like a Moth Psalm 39.11 so it takes off in the mans eyes that beauty and desirableness in the Creature that drew forth inordinate desires and it does enervate the strength and vigour of the affections that used to stir at the first seeing or hearing of any thing that was desirable 3. Afflictions open a door to the Word and lays the Soul open to its smitings and woundings for when God speaks in mens prosperity they hear not Now he does not spurn at reproofs of sin but is content to have it exposed 4. Afflictions quicken the actings of Grace of Faith of love submission hope c. and these do secretly wound and work out sin It is an ill sign when there is no notable acting of some Grace at least or when Affliction is gone off and no sin wounded or slain when we are consumed with Affliction and no sin consumed Jer. 6.10 when the work is over and done and we purged from no sin and made partaker of none of the holiness of God Heb. 12.10 Tremble at the thoughts of this O dreadful to be burned up with the fire of affliction and sin not touched to be wounded and sin whole to be broken with affliction and not a bone of the body of death broken it 's sin it 's your corruptions that the holy Lord aims and levels his strokes at But foolish we interpose and venture our Souls to rescue and save sin for which of it's evil Offices is it that you will make war with God and die for sin It 's for some Sheba that God besiegeth thee and batters thy wall as Joab did the City Abel 2 Sam. 20.15 deliver him up cut off his head and he will retire ver 21.22 Now all this is the Spirits work hence called a spirit of judgment and of burning Isa 4.4 By Afflictions the Spirit judges condemns and executes sin and helps us to judg and condemn and destroy it When God has taken his Spirit from Saul he runs to Endor in his straits Some are consumed some pine away some are hardned when the Spirit is not at work And finally it 's by Faith that the efficacy of afflictions is let into the Soul for it sees them coming from God and that according to his Word and it sees what they aim at and sometimes can look upon Gods chastning as his proper dealing with sons Heb. 12.7 We come now to the Application Vse 1. For Tryal the Scripture tells us there are but two sorts of Men two Principles two Ends two Ways and two eternal states of Men And it does also plainly tell us to which of these we belong we need go no further than the Text to the same purpose is that Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh c. If you think Marks be tedious and that some have too much multiplyed them here 's a short Tryal And were men but serious in applying this they might easily divine what shall be their eternal state But here lies the difficulties There are so many Counterfeits of Mortification and by the power of Self-love some are so passionately carried forth against some Sins as contrary to and inconsistent with their happiness And on the other hand where sin is routed yet it keeps some broken feattered Forces on foot and where it 's mortified it 's not nullified That it 's not easie to satifie the sincere Soul nor to undeceive the pretender only Sin sometimes goes out when it is not cast out it 's often asleep when it 's not dead it often retires when it 's not defeated Or if in some particular it be resisted it is either gratified some other way or it reinforces its self and then prevails Yea how many Professors keep up a green and flourishing profession that know not what Mortification means and it may be are clean in their own eyes yet are not purged from their sins And I doubt not also but that for some time there may be some encrease of true fruits where there is no growth downward no advance in Mortification Indeed it will be hard for any long time to keep up a green Profession when the root is withering or when a man is going back in the secret part of Religion If the roots of sin be lively and strong it will be hard to keep it under-ground Now in short There be these things which speak out the strength and liveliness of sin in a Man 1. When a man makes a mock of sin and thus bids a defiance to the Almighty and says Aha to his Trumpets 2. When a man has much pleasure in sin and sins with greediness Ephes 4.19 and does evil with both hands earnestly Mica 7.3 when a man seeks to extract all the pleasure that is in sin and would suck out the heart of it 3. When a man solicites his own heart to sin Prov. 1.12 13 and 7.18 and complains as it were of his slackness in it he is not surprized nor overtaken but devises iniquity Mic.
ere they slay sin What severities have some used to themselves to save their sins What vast sums have some given to redeem the life of their sins This hath enriched the Popish and Prelatick Clergy more than ever their own or the Benefactors Piety or Zeal have done 2. There be some that seem to be grieved with the power of sin that are daily poring upon their sins but never are able to come out of them that are much in complaining of the power of sin but never able to mortifie sin Now here I shall shew 1. What it is that ordinarily hinders the mortification of sin 2. How it comes that convinced Souls that are often complaining of sin yet take up short of Mortification For the former let us consider 1. The frame and corrupt Habit of the mind of Man There 's in it Ignorance Atheism Inconsiderateness and Unbelief First There 's Ignorance the god of this world hath blinded men and then he makes them grind in his Mill. Sinners see no Enemy to fight with they see no harm in sin they feel no sting or poison in it and instead of crucifying it are apt to say Why what evil hath it done for sin is marvellously tame where it 's kindly used It 's Satans policy to teach men to call evil good and so to advance it and to call good evil and so to persecute it thus we see him carry on the mortification of Holiness 2. There 's Atheism whether there be any speculative Athesm I enter not upon I am apt to think that if there be a head-Atheism it proceeds from heart-Atheism But certain it is that when men have blotted out all sense of God upon their mind sense of sin must needs be gone too no doubt it 's from the prevalency of Atheism in these days that some have denied any real difference between good and evil did men live under the impressions of an infinitely holy just soveraign Majesty they durst not so affront his Law and Authority nor maintain his Enemies which he would have slain 3. There is Inconsiderateness Sinners do not count the cost and charges of sin they see not the hook the poison that is in it consider not what bitterness it will be in the latter end when they shall mourn at the last c. Prov. 5.12 Many suffer more for it even in this life than the godly does for holiness but the latter end of it is another thing Now what men have in Oblivion they consider not or look upon at a great distance To the godly man Judgment and Eternity are near therefore he deals with sin as he would do if he heard the last Trumpet or saw the great white Throne set and the Ancient of days sitting upon it c. 4. There 's Unbelief did men believe what evil were in sin what it is in its Nature and Effects and Consequents their hearts would rise with indignation against it they would seek to extinguish their lusts and passions as men do fire when it breaks out in their houses Now the remainders of these are in the Regenerate 2. There is the engagedness of the heart and affections to sin the heart is the chief seat and strength of sin There 's a heart-union between a Sinner and his Idols such as resembles that between a Man and his Wife hence mens Idols are called their Lovers and the back-sliding of Professors is called Adultery and Whoredom hence instead of killing their lusts they love them and cherish them as their own flesh To mortifie sin were to mortifie themselves Will a man slay the wife of his Bosom the desire of his Eyes or thrust through his intimate Friend Sin is as meat and drink to them they drink it as the Ox does water It 's as Air to breathe in it 's as spirits and blood to them Kill me says the Sinner and restrain me from this or that when we speak against sin men take it as if we spake against themselves when we cry out against sin it 's to them as if we were reproaching them where the eyes are full of sin a man cannot cease to sin much less when the heart is full of it love does strongly unite the heart to it there 's a League a Covenant of friendship between the heart and sin Now sin may in a sort keep true to the man for a time viz. while it is conceiving and growing but when it is perfected it brings forth death When one as Ephraim is joyned to Idols there is little hope of him 3. There is the strength of sin our Natures are leavened with sin not coloured with it But sin is like blood and spirits as is said and as we grow up sin encreases and grows up till at length we be wholly inslaved to it Sin is a great King Pride and Covetousness and Sensuality are its three great Princes each of them have millions of slaves How many Kings and Princes are but Lacqueys to the lust of the Eye or the Flesh or to the pride of Life The greatest Conquerors of the World have been in bondage to these such as affected the utmost soveraignty over men have been absolute slaves to their lusts O the violence of mens lusts and passions It 's a hard task to vanquish those usurping Tyrants especially where they have had long possession such are too hard for a man to mortifie the more strength and the longer possession any sin has had the more difficulty to overcome it 4. This proceeds from the deceitfulness of sin and Satan he often paints Sin in the colour of Virtue and it escapes free and he blackens Holiness and we strike at it and seek to mortifie it Or sometimes when we are angry at sin it sneaks away and couches in some corner and when our anger is over and the strength of the Conviction which bred it worn off sin comes forth again and its peace is made there 's no more of it yea such is the deceitfulness of sin that it can advance it self by the want of tempting-Objects as well as by the abounding of them Hence as the richer and higher some grow Pride and Avarice grows So the poorer and the more despised some grow the more Pride as appears in Achitophels case and Covetousness encrease So Lust oft-times grows most where there be fewest temptations to blow it up It takes life upon the withdrawing of the Object as the blasting or absence of mens Idols often encreases their Idolatry with the memory of them the want of the Object does feed Lust more than the having of it as appears in Ammons waxing lean day by day for love of his sister and aftewards how did he hate her O the depths of Satan and the cunning of Sin how many policies does it use to preserve it self it promises so fair and smiles so upon a man that he cannot find in his heart to slay it 5. That which also hinders the mortification of it is the
after the Apostle has armed the Christian for his Conflict Ephes 6. He adds ver 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance Set-times for Prayer are as necessary as constant Set-meals of meat for the Body How often I determine not the fewest we find is twice a day Morning and Evening Daniel prayed thrice a day yet it is not right when we limit our selves to times were it seven times aday We find Daniel Chap. 9.1 2 setting himself to pray as if his three times a-day had been nothing There are special Occasions that call for more fervent praying as our Lord conflicting in the Garden and being in an Agony prayed thrice and prayed yet more fervently Now this is a special season when attached by any Corruption we should sound an Alarm to Prayer and let every Prayer be as an Arrow shot against Sin and never think thou prays to any purpose but when thou wounds some Corruption O but blunt Prayers will never draw blood of sin nor will sleepy prayers hurt sin therefore thou must watch unto Prayer and must awake thy gift and thy grace and thy tongue too as the Psalmist does in praising Psalm 51.8 for that may further the fervour of the Spirit and some have judged meer mental Prayer in some cases to be a quenching of the holy Spirit of God It 's true that sometimes a poor Believer when buffetted by Satan and in an Agony through the power and violence of some Corruption cannot put his troubled thoughts into words when yet his unexpressible sighs and groans may make the old man groan as a deadly wounded Man Look to this inveterated Diseases strong Corruptions will not go out without much praying 2. You can mortifie no Corruption without exercising Faith much less your strongest Corruptions for you must not think first to mortifie Sin and then believe you must be in Christ and be a Believer before you can mortifie one Sin Nature prompts men to pray in every exigence but praying without believing will not do but no Corruptions can stand before Faith it can remove Mountains it can bring down strong-holds it can put to flight Armies of Aliens of lusts it can quench the greatest Combustions in the Soul kindled by Satans fiery Darts hence says the Apostle Above all things take unto you the shield of faith Ephes 6.16 The Lord lends Faith his power so to speak This is our victory whereby we overcome the world even our faith 1 John 5.4 Now what this World is see 1 John 2.16 For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye c. Now how does Faith assist against these Answ 1. Faith giveth a true judgment of them and values all things aright when others are cheated by their corrupted Senses 2. By Faith we see into Eternity and what will be the fruit of gratifying our lusts what will be the reward of Sin A carnal Heart that had seen Dives at his sumptuous Table and in his gorgeous Apparel and Lazarus at the Gate and the dogs licking his sores would have blessed the one and saved himself from the other But Faith at first sight can see the one in Heaven and the other in Hell Psal 73.17 18. 3. By Faith we see that the best things of this World cannot further our Happiness nor the worst things of the World hinder it that worldly Honours and Pleasures are not all a-kin to everlasting Honour and Joy 4. By Faith we see that the design of Temptations is to deprive us of our Happiness and that Satan and the World who work upon our corrupt passions and minister fewel to our lusts have no good will to us even when they are courting us 5. Faith does not only assent to what God and Christ and Heaven and Holiness are but it makes proof and gets experimental discoveries of these and this makes a man despise the painted Beauty and sweetness of the Creatures the sight of Christs matchless Beauty and Excellency all a mans Idols are divorced When we see the Sun with our own eyes we believe the Moon is not the most glorious light it looks but like a clod in the Firmament many can speak contemptibly of the honours and riches and pleasures of the World who are not mortified to them but with all their might pursue them nor indeed will you ever be able by all the rational discoveries of the vanity of these to mortifie inordinate love to and delight in them till you taste and see something that 's better and this taste and sight Evangelical Faith can only afford No experiences of the Worlds vanity no Contemplations of an Immortal state can do it for Sense will still object Where can you do better and meer Contemplations breed only Notions this brings in the substance of things into the Soul Heb. 11.1 6. Faith does more especially contribute to the mortification of our Corruptions by its ingaging the assistance of Divine Power It 's on this account that there is a sort of Omnipotency attributed to Faith You do not doubt but the Lord Jesus is able to help against your strongest Corruptions But how shall we have his help I Answer You need not say Who shall ascend to heaven and bring him down c Rom. 10.6 7. This thou mayst do by Faith But how does Faith do it Answ 1. Faith does it as it is an assent to the Promises The Promises hold forth the power of Christ for subduing of Sin 2 Pet. 1.3 compared with Rom. 6.14 Now we are interested in these Promises by believing Heb. 4.2 when we believe that it â—â—â—ll be as he has said this some count a Phanatical point But is it phantastick or phanatick to rest upon an honest Mans word much lesser sure this gives more glory to God than all our endeavours to mortifie Sin yet takes not men off other subordinate means but puts them upon the use of them especially upon Prayer That it may be as he has said Rom. 6.14 Man fell at first by taking Satans word before the Lords And it were our wisdom in all Insinuations of the like nature to suspect the hand of Satan Now Faith does not only assent to the truth of the Promises of strength to overcome Sin but it rests and relies upon them all Grace comes through the Promises And indeed the first recumbency of Faith is a great and proper act of it and as they are blessed who have no assurance of their interest in the Promises and yet can resolutely rely on it for as those that seek the Lord are bidden to rejoice Psal 105.3 though they have not yet found him because of the Promise Isa 45.19 So may those encourage themselves in the hope of success against Sin who rest upon Gods Word though they have not yet obtained the victory for the Lord taketh pleasure in them that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 The recumbency
more especially sometimes Temptations seize upon our Judgments and sometimes upon our Affections unawares and when they have tainted the Affections they have easie access to the Mind and need to be carefully watched Look to the first springs of Sin when we are asleep the Enemy is sowing tares and they quickly grow up Temptations do often suddenly assault and the thoughts and motions of the Heart are nimble they are swift and instantaneous a spark of fire does no sooner kindle Powder than a Temptation does excite some inordinate motion of the Heart If all the doors and windows of the Soul be not kept close there will be fiery dants flung in and some sparks of temptations will take fire and thou can never shut doors and windows so close but when thou hast done all thou hast need to watch Satan can espy a passage into thy heart that thou didst not think of he has a party and thou hast an Enemy within thee that will let him in If thou be asleep it may be indeed thy severity to indwelling sin will irritate it and provoke it to mutiny and so occasion greater confusion in thy Soul but dread not this nor ever look for good from thy indulgence and tenderness to thy corrupt lusts or affections their war is better than their peace suspect that inward quiet that comes from any favour to sin or connivance at it The Apostle tells us Rom. 7.8 That sin took occasion by the Commandment c. One great hinderance of Mortification is that sin is thought not so noisom as it is but when the Commandment comes when the Word beats down that conceit by exacting thorough Obedience upon the highest peril and laying bonds on the very thoughts this inrages Corruption and it grows more unruly It is not the proper effect of the Law to stir up sin more than the impetuous ' running of water is the proper effect of a Bank of Earth which was made to dam it up nor is it the proper effect of diligent endeavours for mortifying all inward motions to excite them and make them more tumultuous Sometimes strict watching of sin makes it more cunning sometimes it provokes an eruption of it and then the poor Believer is apt to think his case worse than before But was it worse with Paul Rom. 7 than formerly Indeed it 's hard to keep Corruption in close Prison and to marr all communication between Satan and it to suffer none to go out or come in But Watchfuln ss will do much thoughts will be stirring and affections will be stirring therefore it were our wisdom to ask them whence they come and whither they go if from Satan or from the flesh if from Heaven or from the Spirit and arrest what have an evil aspect or tendency or favour and do Justice upon them what are dubious keep them Prisoners till thou has further examined them for Satans messengers oft-times come disguised and with Christs Word in their mouths and the motions of sin are often mistaken for spiritual motions as the Porters stood continually at the door of the Temple to keep out the unclean of all sorts so must you do with all that defile or is like to defile if you be holy Temples to God to dwell in Yet for all that I have said of them a Believer must not be too much in examining of them so as to be taken off more profitable work nor indeed can we ever keep account of them they are so innumerable should we ever be pursuing and tracing them there should be room for no Duty else And finally because as they come suddenly so often they fly as swiftly away Now under this Head I would commend unto you a careful search into and intimate acquaintance with thy own heart that thou may know where thou art weakest and what advantages Satan has against thee What sin does most intirely beset thee which is the soft place of thy Soul which Satans darts do with most ease enter into What corrupt passions and affections are most easily kindled in thee And where thou sees the greatest danger keep the strongest watch and do not only keep at distance from such occasions and temptations as may most likely draw out thy Corruptions but keep thy very thoughts at the greatest distance from these suffer not thy self to think of them except it be to reproach them or to provoke greater abhorrence of them and this also must be prudentially managed 2. Endeavour to keep your hearts under a deep sense of the sinfulness of Sin even of these first motions a Natural man is not troubled for the sin of these or for the disconformity of them to any Law though he may for outward actings of sin because Natures light does not discover the sinfulness of them though it may be he may be angry at them as they molest him or tend to something that he abhors and here lies one difference between the truly godly and others yet we must grant that oft-times the godly think but too meanly of these and do not apprehend so much ill in them as there is and hence guard not sufficiently against them nor yet do sufficiently bewail them may be you are easily satisfied with your Repentance for these and think general confessions and complaints sufficient Do you use to make an Errand to God to confess these and to beg a particular pardon for them Peter makes a Peradventure of the forgiveness of Simon Magus's thought Acts 8.22 True that â—â—s a more deliberate approved thought but an exercised Soul will many times make a peradventure to it self of the forgiveness of a more imperfect and rejected Thought I would not grieve such but for others let me ask you Do you not know that God is a Jealous God Jealousie amongst men importeth an aptness to suspect an Jnjury a Husband viz. is jealous when he is apt to suspect his Wifes want of love or loyalty to him upon small circumstances without evident ground so to do and withall it imports indignation against the smallest ground of suspition this it cannot endure viz. Any thing that looks like the inclination of the heart to another says Joshua You cannot serve the Lord for he is a holy God Chap. 24. ver 19. It 's true He hath manifested this especially in the matters of his Worship and Institutions according to his threatning annexed to the second Commandment as in the instance of Aaron's two Sons and Vzza and the Bethshemites c. But may we not think that God is as jealous of the heart as of any thing and that he will take notice of every motion of it and will resent every disloyal glance of the thoughts though it come not the length of a purpose nay nor any deliberation in order to a purpose or resolution Is there not more sin in many sudden-passing thoughts though rejected than in Vzza's hasty catching hold of the Ark or in the Bethshemites looking into it or is
times that for lesser sins there is a pardon in course and that there needs no repentance and if thou hast wilfully betrayed thy self into such occasions as drew forth these acts of sin these first stirrings of Corruption thy subsequent dissent and crushing them will not serve without more particular and solemn repentance I mean therefore such motions of sin as are excited by the suddenness and subtilty of temptations and such as are the natural and necessary effects of the body of sin and the hourly breathings of it If thou with tears protest against them God will not charge them on thee yet finally every dissent from or dislike of them will not discharge from the sin of them some may dislike them for their tendency and others as they are troublesome But I mean a dislike of them for themselves and protesting against them as provoking God and polluting the soul 4. Ejaculatory prayer as it s called is a notable expedient for crushing the first motions of sin we formerly commended secret prayer for the mortification of predominant lusts But its impossible one can have opportunity for solemn addresses to God every time they find Corruption stirring in them these sudden motions of sin must have some speedier cure they may be opposed and smuthered by sudden ejaculations and desires sent up to heaven which no straitnedness as to time place or business need to hinder They may be in a prisoner before his Judg in a Courtier when he is standing before his Prince Neh. 2.4 This way of praying is more especially necessary 1. When thou hast no opportunity of retiring in secret so that thou needs not say thou wants time or place though I fear some does without necessity restrain private prayer under the pretext of this 2. When there is a good motion started in thy heart that it may be cherished that a good purpose may be kept in the heart for ever 3. Upon every change of thy Company and upon lesser change of what business thou art about when thou goes out and comes in when thou comes from Company to Solitariness e contra when thou visits thy friend reproves or advises him yea when ever thou opens thy mouth in Company or ever thou resolve on or promise any thing though it seem small and nothing disputable many such occasions might be instanced But 4. That which is to our purpose is when any spark of a temptation comes in when Habitual Corruption begins to stir when any corrupt affection does in the least begin to take fire this is a good way to quench it This the godly man finds true in frequent experience but if this doth not then get into thy secret Chamber this is an honest errand to the throne of Grace cast thy self down at his feet and tell him That if he will trample upon thee let him do it thou will lay thy hand upon thy mouth but let not thine enemy and mine oppress me and tread me under Lord I would not sin against thee but thou seest how I am oppressed O undertake for me Lord I rather dye at thy foot than live as Satan and my corrupt heart would have me Worm Jacob that prevailed with him did not wrestle upon an honester account than this is If thus thou betake thy self to him thy bow shall abide in strength and thou shalt find him to be strong and mighty in Battel Psal 24.7 8. In the secret of his tabernacle in his Pavilion shall he hide thee and set thee as upon a rock Psal 27.5 O do not yield to Satan nor to indwelling-sin for it may be ere you rise off your knees you shall have help to allude to 1 Sam. 11.9 I am sure he is faithful who has promised c. and never any that took his appointed method that were overcome by a temptation 1 Pet. 5.7 5. Take the method prescribed in the Text You cannot rightly mortifie sin in its rise or after some progress you cannot mortifie Original sin nor your predominant lusts nay nor the first motions of sin but through the spirit If you walk in the Spirit you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5.16 Sin shall never conceive nor bring forth Now in the beginning I told you that by the Spirit we may understand the graces of the Spirit by the acting of which mortificaon is carried on But 2. And more especially The Holy Spirit by whose immediate efficacy sin is mortified for the former I did commend the cherishing of grace in the heart in order to the mortification of Original sin and habitual lusts and did also mention it as necessary to the mortification of predominant lusts That one should indeavour to grow especially in and to cherish that grace which is most directly opposite to that sin If it be pride set thy self especially to study humility if worldliness heavenly mindedness if passion study meekness look what sin is most advantaged by your natural temper for ordinarily that is the predominant and set your self especially against that else it will marr the lustre of any grace or excellency that may be in thee and it will keep thee a dwarf in Religion all thy days and like Reuben thou shalt never excel indeed a little grace when any way advantaged by education or the natural disposition will go far and this makes it hard to judg of the comparative degree at least of other mens graces and oft-times makes men mis-judg themselves or think too highly of themselves But when grace is to roll against wind and tide both it had need to be strong when Original corruption is so and so advantaged in any of its particular members But as to our present purpose when any Corruption begins to stir in you if you would through the Spirit in this sense mortifie it put thy heart instantly upon the acting of that grace which is most opposite thereunto So the Psalmist At what time I 'm affraid I 'le trust in thee correct carnal fear by hope and holy confidence in God If inordinate worldly sorrow be stirring labour to beat out of thy heart some spark of spiritual joy If thy wants or losses begin to afflict thee indeavour to unlock the Cabinet where thy Jewels and treasure lies come study and behold an All-sufficient God and an All in all Christ See if thou misses House or Land Son or Daughter Brother or Sister here If thy heart be inclined to run out in carnal frolick mirth let deep and serious reflections on the sufferings of Christ without which a sinful thought could not have been pardoned on a dying hour and the last trumpet and followng judgment give check to it If pride begin to stir go and abase thy self thus sin shall be a loser by every attempt it makes 2. If thou cannot come this length if thy heart and affections will run out so and so then indeavour to alter the objects of them turn the stream a little aside into another
119.9 and 107.20 John 15.3 and 17.17 Heb. 4.12 Render them not powerless to your Souls by letting the Impressions that the Spirit has made by them wear out Has the Lord by his Word and Spirit discovered sin to you fix your thoughts upon it and pry more and more into the sinfulness of it Muse upon it till your heart be hot within you and till your heart be fired with anger indignation and zeal against it and when the Word makes your heart burn within you blow upon the Coal that it die not out again you must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit sometimes wounds the Soul for sin and makes some word like an Arrow pierce the heart but Sinners pluck it out again and lick their wound whole again and thus sin is whole again sin puts the Soul between the stroke and it whereas when the Spirit by the Word smites we should expose sin to it and be content to have it not only discovered but beaten and left dead upon the place be content to find the Word as a two-edged sword and love those best in whose mouth is the sharpest sword and hold up thy sins to its strokes when they are found out Be content that the Word be as a Corrosive-plaister to thee and keep it close upon the sore place O how many have their judgments enlightned by the Spirit in Ordinances but they imprison Light imprison Truths and suffer not the power of them to reach their hearts and affections True some find also the heart shaken and troubled for sin and resolutions raised against it yet it is not mortified all miscarryes and why Truly because in some these have no root and for others that are truly godly they yet take not pains enough with their own heart to maintain what the Spirit by the Word has wrought in them they labour not to drive the Nail to the head and to keep the Bow in bent Slothfulness is a slighting of the Spirit and provokes him to withdraw and when the Sun is gone light and heat is quickly gone When the Spirit does by any Ordinance animate you against sin and fix it upon your heart to seek the death of any sin give it no reprieval for an hour give not Satan time to tempt thee nor sin time to prepare some charm to entice thee again let not these things that use to choak the Word deface and obliterate spiritual Impressions if when the Spirit by the Word has heated your affections you immerse your self in your business this like frosty Air will soon cool you if you do unwarily meddle with it it will quickly take off your edg and they are the most dangerous colds that come after great heats hence many not only abate their zeal against sin but sin is advantaged by this means the heart like the earth which in Winter is thawed by the Sun at Noon freezes the harder the next Night 6. Observe and comply with the Spirits motions and methods when under affliction which is a special season of the Spirits teaching and working afflictions use to be the Seal to Gods Instruction Job 33.16 Seals give weight and authority to Writings the Spirit now sets Instructions home Therefore consider what sin thou hast most need to mortifie and what the Lord does especially aim at in afflicting thee and in order to this observe what his Spirit did charge most upon thee before affliction came and mark how the Lord follows affliction the Spirit uses to bear in some sin more especially and to make a mans Conscience deal impartially with him hear what that says especially after Prayer and when the Spirit by afflictions does humble thee and cause heaviness in thee 1 Pet. 1.5 let not sin raise up it self for thou canst never rise again but upon its ruins and when the spirits work tends to the stirring up of Grace in all thy acting of Grace have an eye upon the sin that has most indangered thee and comply with the spirit especially when thou art moved to the acting of that Grace that is most contrary to thy strongest Corruption It 's a token of a sanctified affliction when thy sin is discovered in its sinfulness when there is fixed purposes of heart raised against it and when there is some notable acting of the Grace that is most opposite to it excited And now when the lot is fallen upon it do not spare it do not think to roll it to shore and save it alive do with it as the Jews did with Paul Act. 21.28 They laid hands on him crying out Men of Israel help This is the man that teacheth the people against the law and hath polluted this holy place Labour to fix your thoughts and purposes and affections you now have and afterwards be often asking thy soul what is become of them and deal with sin as then you wished you had never done I shall in the next place answer some Objections against what has been delivered And 1. May be some see nothing in themselves that need to be mortified they can say as the Pharisee Luk. 18.11 yea can bless God that they are free not only from such gross things as the Pharisee mentions but even from such abominable thoughts and motions of heart and from such horrid temptations and suggestions as some complain of Answ 1. Was it any better with the Pharisee for his foolish opinion of himself but would thou see thy self as in a glass See Rev. 3.17 Look thou be not like a standing Pool that has more mud and dirt at the bottom than the raging Sea and indeed sin is never more stirring than when it seems asleep or moves smoothly thou art not yet come the young mans length Mark 10. who may be has outdone thee in every thing yet saw there was something lacking and indeed besides faith in Christ there was mortification to the world wanting 2. How came thou by this freedom from sin and so much inward quiet thou must be in League with Hell sure I am the holiest Christians make sad complaints of sin within and temptations without and seldom want some excercise but it seems you let sin live and sin lets you live 3. It 's a token that sin has never been irritated much less slain we know thou art not pure by nature more than others nor can education purge out sin though it may qualifie it and we know that it cannot be mortified with much ado such an interest has it got in the soul But here it is the Commandment has never come in its spirituality and power to thee till then Paul troubled himself as little with sin as thou dost sin prevails in the heart yet is not grievous because there 's nothing in thee that is contrary to it to oppose it It 's but a short way that a natural Conscience goes it charges no man with Original corruption nor with the first motions of sin that the body of sin breaths out every moment
the whole whereas the restraining of any Sin does not weaken the body of sin for when it 's only restrained what the body of sin loses one way it gains another way Try then Art thou universally advantaged against every Sin 2. Is thy mind will and affections dead to that Sin mortifying sin is a metaphorical expression and this death that it implies is not only nor principally the ceasing of the acts of Sin but especially a deadness in the Soul as to Sin 1. In the Mind and Judgment Sin has lost the mans good opinion of it 2. In the will and affections he cannot think nor hear of it without abhorrency where Sin is only restrained a man can yet with pleasure roll it in his Mind the inclination to it is not broken many a man likes and loves the Sin which he does not the mortified man hates the evil which he does 3. Thou mayst know by what went before and by what follows 1. Did thou come easily by this power over Sin It 's true there is often difficulty in restraining Sin but what means did thou use to compass this and overcome the difficulty Was it by Prayer and Fasting and after much wrestling with God and by the blood of the Lamb that thou overcame Or was it by other means or by the meer force of an obstinate resolution thou took up 2. After the mortification of any Sin there 's a new Song ordinarily put in the mans mouth and the Soul is not only some way eased but is filled with Joy There is some Joy that flows natively from the mortification of Sin and there 's more that follows by way of reward as for a Natural man if he have any Joy upon restraining the acts of Sin it is but a spark of his own kindling or it results meerly from the nature of the thing the travel and labour the man is at in suppressing Sin does more than counter-balance that and is but the scant fruit of the testimony of his natural Conscience it will not bear him out to challenge Death and the Grave it heartens not a man against them some such may die securely but never one I think died triumphantly Mens delusions may suspend the horror of Hell from them for a while when a-dying but it 's some true Faith true Holiness true Mortification that fills the Soul with joy unspeakable 5. Sins that are only restrained do ordinarily break forth again and that with more force than before as waters bound up that do fortifie themselves and then carry all down before them but a Sin that is mortified as it rarely recovers so if it do yet it is so broke that it is but half an act But here may come in two other Cases 1. What is to be thought of the case of such as relapse into Sin 2. What 's to be thought of the case of such as after some serious Essays to mortifie feel their Corruptions more lively than before For the first That a godly man may commit an act of that Sin which is in some measure mortified is past all doubt else it were impossible he could sin at all for the first sanctifying saving work of the Spirit does strike at the root of every Sin and so begins the mortification of every Sin but this doth not nullifie or wholly extinguish Sin No Believer is absolutely secured from any particular act of Sin pro hic nunc except from the great Transgression 2. When one is in the state of Grace as after their particular Repentance for some particular Sin he is fallen into so after special endeavour yea and success too in mortifying that Sin he is not absolutely secured from every act of it for the future for though a mans Pardon as it imports a freedom from eternal Condemnation be perfect yet neither is Repentance nor Mortification perfect Now to clear this Let us consider 1. The gracious encouragements God hath given to such Jer. 3.1 Isa 55.7 compare with ver 3. His Covenant does not secure against every Relapse but it secures the multiplication of pardon Jer. 3.14 19 23. Hos 14.4 Back-sliding supposes some former recovery Mark there the ground of what 's promised I 'le love them freely the falling into such Relapses is the highest provocation to God and a Sin against most love and Recovery from such is the notable effect and Signal discovery of the greatness and freeness of Gods Love Consisider 2. That the mortification of such a particular Sin gives a man a greater advantage against that Sin and puts at some greater distance than from other Sins yet this advantage against this and distance from it is only gradually more than against or from other Sins and so makes the return of it not so probable or easie and if it return do aggravate it but not impossible more than the return of any other Sin especially when we consider that that Sin which by the first sanctifying work of the Spirit was in a special manner opposed and mortified may yet recover And 3. The advantage that the most holy man has over the most mortified Corruption is of the same kind but for degrees much below the advantage that Adam in Innocency had over every Sin and so is not able to secure it self the strongest Grace cannot preserve it self from the most mortified Corruption Hence the Believer must watch and pray and depend for asstance against it else he should more easily fall into it than Adam did into sin It 's true there are Promises ascertaining the Believers preservation from the dominion of Sin and his final Conquest over Sin whereas Adam in Innocency had no promise of the like nature but there is no word I know of in the Bible that ascertains the Believers preservation from every act of that Corruption which through the Spirit he has particularly mortified 4. There wants not Examples of the Saints relapsing into Sins as Sampson Judg. 16.1 4 Abrahams twice denying his Wife the Disciples twice contending for Supremacy Jehoshaphats instance is remarkable 2 Chron. 18.1 2 31 32 19.2 yet ch 20. v. 35 he Relapses Not to instance several things related of Peter These Examples though they do not answer in every circumstance to the case proposed yet by plain consequence they confirm our Position For if a Believer may act contrarily to that grace which is strongest in him and may be overtaken with that Sin or an act of that Corruption which is weakest and that over and over again as was Abraham and Peter then there is no degree of Mortification that secures him from repeating an act of that lust that is mortified If any say that though Mortification do it not yet true Repentance does it I answer If true Repentance does it it 's either from the nature of Repentance or some special promise of Grace made to the Penitent Not the former For 1. The nature of Mortification should rather secure from it 2. If true Repentance
us to an Answer to that great Question How it comes that the godly are so strangely intangled in sin after so many Promises to God and purposes against Sin They decree the death of Sin but it is not established Here the matter lies they take not in the Spirit 's assistance in their promises and purposes nor in their endeavours to answer their promises there 's some tang of self-sufficiency that marrs all such vain brags as Peters are Cords that are easily broken and his opinion of self-ability discovered it self by his supposition Though all men should deny thee He might well have said Lord I would deny thee though all men should But he speaks as if there were some peculiar Ability in him to resist Temptations and his purpose was like Sampson's green wit hs such suppositions are hazardous and suspicious though useful if managed with humility It 's a great mysterie says one to purpose so as yet to believe we can do nothing and also to believe that Christs strength is as effectual for mortifying such a lust as if it were our own And I add 3. To endeavour as industriously as if we could do all alone and indeed it 's through ignorance or neglect in all these that our purposes miscarry Pride hinders the first Unbelief the second and Sloth the third There are other reasons also therefore let me ask you 2dly Do you think that Purposes or Promises yea or Vows can break the inclination to sin of themselves or break the cursed union that 's between the heart and Sin They are ordinarily the effects of strong Convictions which do alway disingage the heart and affections to sin and when these are not loosed from Sin no bonds will be strong enough I have formerly shewn you that Convictions may make a man purpose yea and pray also against Sin when the heart and affections may secretly dissent and desire that God should not hear and if the affections seem at any time to conspire with an enlightned Judgment against Sin yet they are exceeding mutable and unfixed and when they are low or rather byassed the other way no wonder our purposes be ineffectual 3. They sometimes miscarry by reason of some sinistrous ends may be you are ashamed of your passions or you are affraid your corruptions should make some eruption to your disgrace and infamy or you intend to bottom your hopes upon the grave of such a lust or you design freedom from such an impetuous lust rather for your own ease and quiet than out of love to holiness or hatred to sin And some resolve and engage against sin only to shift and for the time put by a present challenge for what is done without any more of it or to be an excuse for letting a good frame of spirit go or at least to ease the mind as if ingaging were performing But it may be some have such experience of the treachery of their hearts that having purposed so often and yet failed they think it in vain for them to take up new resolutions yea having broken their promises that they made to abstain from such a sin they think it better to promise no more and come under no more engagements against sin Answ 1. It is not Arbitrary to us to bind our selves against sin we are obliged to fortifie our selves against it as strongly as we can and to fortifie our resolutions by promises to and Covenants with God against sin And sure such as do not so are more easily prevailed against and are sooner intangled If many Cords bind you not the one of a simple resolution will not but may be two or three will when one will not If you purpose to mortifie sin be sincere why will you not corroborate it but here appears the treachery of our hearts we will certainly sin think we And since it must be we indeavour that it be as little trouble to us as may be that our sin may want those aggravations which make it biting and stinging to our Consciences Finally I doubt the Lord letteth the man fall that will not engage because his refusal saith as much as he trusted not God for his assistance to perform or keep his engagements But is not sin after special engagements against it more heinous than if there had been none Answ 1. He is more accessary to his own sin in not using all Gods ways for preventing it and he sins more unexcusably in omitting that which was in his power to do as on the other hand the man that performs his engagements to God is more acceptable to him than he that simply forbears sin inasmuch as it manifests a greater abhorrence of sin and manifests a regard to a double Command viz. of abstinence from such a sin and of keeping our promise or vow to God the simple forbearance of sin is a compliance with a single Command and doth not manifest so much of the mans aversion to sin If any ask then how shall we purpose and ingage against sin so as we may be disintangled of it and effectually get it mortified Answ 1. Be sure you be sincere in them 2. Be sure your affections concur with your judgment else they will intangle you yet 3. See that you be also deliberate and that your resolutions and engagements against such a lust be not only from the present heat of affections 4. Strive to keep such a frame as you had when you engaged that awe of God and that hatred of sin you then had and be often thinking on your engagements humbling your selves for the least breaches of them 5. Take in the Spirit 's assistance in your purposes and endeavours 6. If one engagement bind not strongly enough we must renew and multiply them If one knot hold not says one we must cast more that we may never want some bond over our head And whereas our breaches aggravate our sin we must bring the aggravations together with the rest of our sins to Jesus Christ for pardon and maintain our peace says he rather by repeated acts of Faith and Repentance and by often washing our selves from the filth of these sins than by pleading no breach at all and see that you suffer not the guilt of the smallest breach to lye for any while unrepented of lest it make way for more and greater breaches Thus you see how a poor creature may keep up his hope of eternal life and assurance of interest in God when he is under convictions of many breaches with God and great short-coming in mortification I add another Consideration to this know that our engagements against sin do not tye us to be altogether without sin though the holy law of God doth such purposes and engagements were foolish and impossible but they oblige us honestly and sincerely to wrestle with and oppose sin we cannot oblige our selves to overcome it but to use the means which are in our power against it and to leave nothing unessayed that we think
man puts some restraint on Satan he takes away the power he had to lead the man Captive does as it were cancel his Commission Satan cannot come and go as he did he was wont to come as a man to his own house Now he comes as a thief or a robber he cannot set such a lust on fire nor blow up such a Corruption nor send on such an Errand nor employ the mans Eye or Ear or Tongue or Hand or Foot as he did he must have Christs leave Now 2. He spoils Satan of his goods the members of the body and the faculties of the Soul Satan made a purchase of them in Paradise there they were marred and spoiled and unfitted for Gods use and fit only for Satans First Christ recovers them to the right owner he first makes them meet for him and then restores them to him he retrieves the Mind from ignorance errour and diabolick light sets the Will at liberty from lusts breaks the refractoriness of it and makes it sweetly yield in the day of his power Psalm 110.3 and so all within and without are now yielded as weapons of righteousness unto holiness 3. He takes away his Armour that wherein Satan trusted Satan though he had secured his interest in the Soul by customary sinning which had strengthned the habit of sin and hardned the heart in it and made the man bold in sin Christ comes as a Prince and makes the man tremble he gives repentance and breaks the stone in the heart May be 2. Satan had corrupted mans judgment and fortified his interest with carnal reason when the true light comes the man sees himself a fool Or may be 3. He has strongly engaged the affections in sin and trusted to that Christ disintangles them Or may be 4. He had fitted them with suitable temptations for as there is a malignant influence and energy in all Satans temptations so he uses to chuse out suitable temptations from pleasure perhaps riches or honour Christ imbitters these and debases them they lose their operation And now having destroyed the power of sin he destroys Satans reign in the Soul for all the title Satan has to Sinners is by means of sin which is his feed Christ had done all this meritoriously upon the Cross as a publick person in the Elects stead according to the promise in the Text there he judged and cast out Satan John 12.31 He was formerly judged and cast out of Heaven but becoming head of sinful men he is again judged and dethroned by Jesus Christ see this at length Col. 2.13 14 15 He spoiled principalities and powers in Greek stript them Hence Isa 53.68 He shall divide the spoil he made a shew of them openly an allusion unto Conquerors who for a Trophy use to hang up the Armour and Ensigns of their conquered Enemies so that Satan was out-witted in putting Judas on betraying and the Jews on crucifying him triumphing over them in it he led Captivity captive and as Conquerors used to bind their Captives to their Chariots and lead them in Triumph so did he on the Cross and by virtue of this Conquest the Elect are preserved and kept alive and also kept from sinning irremedilesly or unto death before their Conversion and in due time are actually rescued from Satan and set against him Now we come to the second thing observable viz. That this enmity to God is not all removed at once Satans head is not bruised at first either in his person or in his seed he that has decreed the enmity between the godly and the wicked hath also decreed the enmity between Grace and sin what is of Christ and what is of Satan in the same Soul there 's something in the man who is in Christ whereby Satan has access to trouble and molest the Soul he makes the poor Believer go halting and makes all his spiritual motions uneasie and ungrateful were it not for this had not Satan some part within us we might laugh at his assaults and were it not for this the World could not defile us 1 John 1.15 It 's true Satan invaded man and prevailed when he had no part within him but he has now further advantages against us we cannot hold him out though we would as man might then have done he has some within to open the gates to him he has a party still in Arms for him within us a whole body of sin that has many members and these all under the law of sin and stir when ever Satan will Rom. 7.23 24 And O how fierce are the assaults of this body of sin It made Peter swear against Christ It made Asa rage against the Prophet It made fierce dissention between Paul and Barnabas and there 's no reconciling this enmity Rom. 8.2 7 it will not and cannot be sufficient c. The old man may be slain and mortified but will never yield Observ 3. That all who side with Christ must resolve to maintain enmity and war against Satan and that party that Satan has in them From the day that one is born again there 's a war begun there 's two parties in the man and there 's nothing the one does but the other opposes so that neither good nor evil can be done with full consent or with the whole Soul If Satans side carry it Christs party dissents and protests and bears witness against it If any good be set about the old man shall either make the work to cease or else some way marr it Satan shall have his soul fingers on every Duty all who lay claim to Christ are bound to maintain this war and hold up this enmity and think it a mercy that God will let you call the better part in you you your self and the worst part but your flesh Rom. 7.25 So then with the mind I my self serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin Obs 4. That Satan and indwelling sin are limited and bounded the guilt of sin shall not outlaw the Believer if the Serpent sting you yet your wound shall not be deadly Satan may leave his marks upon you and indeed were it not for him who was lifted up after the manner of the brazen Serpent every bite of this Serpent were mortal this remaining inward enmity will be working and Satan will be sneaking about your heels and seeking to intangle your affections which are as the feet of the Soul but he can come no higher than your heel he may darken your light indeed but it 's by corrupting your affections and when he has done all he cannot extinguish Divine Light Indwelling sin may raise Sedition and cause much opposition and disturbance to Christs Kingdom within but it shall not be able to dissolve his Government Obs 5. That all who side with Christ and maintain this enmity against Satan and his seed shall in the event be victorious Christ in them shall bruise Satans head for we must not think to hold
open rebellion against God to maintain it yea some to wish that there were no God and no Law to oppose it What vigorous resistance do some make to all those means that God uses to discover and destroy Sin Sin has strong Holds in the mans heart every mans Idols are fortified with Walls and Bulwarks in his bosom and O what ado is there to storm them for the Old man is watchful and cannot be surprized hardness of heart is the Armour of Hell wherewith sinners beat back the strokes of word and Providences they will give up any thing ere they will give up their Idol-sin they 'l cry out of any thing ere they ever name Sin they will be beaten to powder ere they be beat from Sin Hence that 's the doom of many they are joyned to Idols let them alone be it unto you even as you will you will not forsake Sin let it bear you company for ever Are there not some here who never gave a harsh word nor an angry look to their Idols who never spent half an hour in this warfare with Sin the strong-man reigns in them and he keeps watch and ward and guards every pass and none go out or come in without his leave every Moral or Religious action every thought and word pays Custom Toll and Tribute to him Now 1. I shall shew you what are the prejudices the Soul sustains by every predominant lust 2. What are the advantages that come by mortifying these Sins 3. I shall shew by what means such Sins may be mortified For the first If you be under the prevalency of any Sin you will never be free of fear and doubts you make the issue of your war with Sin doubtful It 's but rare that one under the prevalency of any Corruption can take any comfort in that word or the like Rom. 16.20 And the God of peace c. you fight but dubio morte What the Apostle saith of not advancing in godliness 2 Pet. 1.9 We may say of such as do not vigorously carry on the mortification of every Sin He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins It 's sad when any Sin is so far re-inforced that a man forgets how bitter once it was to him and how he was graciously delivered from it and can see little difference between his unregenerate and regenerate state Sin puts out a mans eyes and stops a mans ears that he cannot see the Land that is afar off nor can he hear the voyce of joy and gladness Psalm 51.8 Such a man can see no more through the Promises than if they were stone-walls any prevailing Sin clips the wings of Faith that when it 's sent out it returns not with one Olive-leaf in its mouth Scarch and see if it be not some prevailing Sin some carnal interest incroaching upon Christs interest in your Soul that sills you with fears It 's the nature of Sin to breed fear and trouble and the Lords Evangelick Justice requires that ye should taste of the bitterness of sin and of the fruit of your doings Should he speak comfortably to you when not only your warfare is not accomplished but you are in league with some Enemy of his Nay he will write bitter things against you if you will not do justice upon your Idols they shall cost you dear if when the lot is fallen upon them you refuse to cast them over-board you may row hard but you shall never come to shore the wind shall encrease and the sea shall work and be tempestuous Where is the man or woman amongst you that is not under some rebuke from the Lord let them stand forth Is there no gall nor wormwood in your Cup are there no broken bones amongst you nor teeth with Gravel-stones Are none of the arrows of his Quiver entred into your Reins Are there none whose Soul is filled with trouble and removed far from peace and are feeding upon affliction and misery Do you not know how to father your Afflictions how long shall it be ere you will avenge your selves upon your Idols ere you will pluck out the Dart that wounds you and that keeps you bleeding Will you not do justice upon the Achan that troubles Israel Come to God and bring with you words and say I have sinned what shall I do unto thee c I can make no amends but I 'le be avenged on my Idols for my two Eyes and two hands and for all the trouble they have caused to me You will say 1. Are not some under the prevalenty of some sin and yet have more freedom from fears and doubts than some that are more mortified than they I Answer Some mens peace is their plague at least their punishment and the solicitous fears of some are their mercy and help to keep them awake it 's better to be in a Fever than in a Lethargy 2. There is some peace and comfort that flows from the death of sin and the encrease of holiness by way of natural reluctancy and emergency and there 's some trouble that flows from sin by the same natural necessity sure the more of the former the more peace and the more of the latter the more trouble and if the wicked be as the troubled Sea sure the more that sin work the more trouble there will be 2. There is some inward peace that follows Mortification by way of Reward over and above what naturally follows from it as that which comes by the Testimony of the Spirit c. and the more that sin be mortified ordinarily the more of this the more you walk according to the law of the New Creature the more peace shall be upon you so that there is some trouble that is the punishment of unmortified sin over and above what it naturally breeds and ordinarily the more lively that any sin be the more trouble and sorrow in the Soul and the more of Hell here except the Conscience be seared or the Soul be smitten with stupidity as a greater plague Indeed as sometimes Gods comforts do not keep peace with our measure of Mortification but sometimes exceeds it so sometimes one that is not habitually so much under sin as another may yet have more inward trouble 2. Is the greatness of outward trouble an argument of the strength of sin or the liveliness of any lust Do not we see that the most mortified are often most afflicted I answer It 's hard taking the measure of ones Mortification and to judg how anothers heart stands affected to this or that One may be in great measure dead to pleasures or worldliness in the gross sense and yet alive to some near Relations and one may be dead to the dearest Friend and yet alive to some spiritual lust may be spiritual pride in gifts or graces c. Or if the man be dead to these yet may he be too much alive to spiritual comforts