solve the doubt and refers the reason that sin is not destroyed wholly in every believer to the good pleasure of God but the Hypothesis of free-will and sufficient-grace will never do it 2. Let the feeling of the reliques of sin further self-denial and humility and hide pride from thine eyes 2 Cor. 12.7 Let them provoke the lively exercised and train thee up in prayer ver 8 For this I besought the Lord c. and in dependance ver 9 My grace is sufficient for thee c. Admire the freeness of his grace and the greatness of his power in carrying a poor weak Creature to heaven which is more wonderful than the carrying of a small burning Candle through the tempestuous and blustering air 3. See the ugliness and the treachery of the old man and the misery that Christ came to deliver from If you credit not what the word says of it see it in your selves see the enmity that is in your nature to God If you see not evil enough in one lust look on more had you only seen this at your first Conversion you might have forgot the sin and miisery the Lord has delivered you from 4. Let this provoke compassion to such as are in bondage to sin and meekness to such as through weakness fall and are intangled with sin Gal. 6.1 Tit. 3.2.5 Let this confirm you also in the doctrine of Justification by free-grace all natural men go about to establish their own righteousness and in the renewed man there 's often some Inclination to it and some neglect of Christs righteousness this inclination may rise when other lusts are almost buried It troubled Mr. Knox when he was near to die yet was quickly overcome even when we have most need of it And hence our confidence grows as inherent righteousness grows O what then would we have done were there no sin in us nothing to necessitate us to flie to Christs righteousness if as it is there 's some inclination either to set up our own alone or in conjunction with Christ's The Lord will have his people looking both on their Justification and sanctification every day as new gifts and that song to be daily in our mouths Psal 103.1 3. Lastly Be longing for the coming of Christ and for thy full redemption welcome him for this final deliverance from sin Let this commend heaven to you and make it heaven indeed Mr. Carmichael's Three last Sermons GEN. III. 15. I 'le put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel THE poor mans head was now upon the block and lo here 's the first intimation of Relief Sin and misery was now got into the World and mankind was now in a hopeless and helpless condition and here 's the first break of day and dawning of Deliverance and the first discovery of Compassion grace and tender mercy of God to Sinners In the words we have 1. A Promise of deliverance wrapt up in a Threatning against the Serpent 2. A hint of the manner of mans deliverance and of the Serpents Ruin For the Explication of the words 1. They are directed to the Serpent by which is to be chiefly understood Satan called the old Serpent the Devil for though some part of the Threatning belong to the Instrument he used ver 14 yet it 's plain from comparing the Text with Rom. 5.11 12 13 16.20 1 John 3.8 Rev. 20.2 3 that Satan is mostly meant It cannot be conceived how 〈…〉 â—â—eature should have been capable of such a Plot against the glory of God and the happiness of Man nor how it should have managed it with speech and so much seeming-Reason Some say That God indued the Serpent with Reason and Speech for that season but that is no small reflection on God indeed being used by Satan as the Instrument it is involved in the Curse and is become hateful to man there is an enmity between man and it and the sight of it ought to quicken our enmity against Satan yet every one of them have nor their head bruised and but very few of mankind have their heel bruised by that Creature so that we must not understand it literally By the Woman is not meant Evah only or one individual hence some infer that there 's a bitterer enmity between Satan and the Woman than between him and men that Sex being the weakest and most subject to fears and suspitions and so the apter to conceive hatred By the seed of the woman is to be understood 1 and especially Jesus Christ in the same sense that he is called the seed of Abraham of David Sometimes seed is taken collectively for a Multitude sometimes for a single or particular person Gal. 3.16 To Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not and to seeds as of many but of one and to thy seed which is Christ It was Christ then that was mainly meant by seed in the promise to Abraham Gen. 12.1 2 3 18.18 22.18 which places are explicatory of this seed in the Text and a confinement of this Promise to the Family of Abraham Here he is called the seed of the woman It 's like with some respect to his taking flesh only of a woman Isa 7.14 Yet here 2. We must also take in Christ's select Seed Heb. 2.13 compare with Rom. 16.20 For they are parties in this quarrel and enmity they have their heel bruised and they bruise Satans head Rom. 16.20 And seeing all that 's here said of the womans seed agreeth to all the Elect why should we not think them included in this seed yet in a different sense the enmity and victory are perfect in Christ not in us It 's remarkable that when the Promise is made concerning the seed the believing Parents are included hence Gen. 22.17 I will multiply thy seed Heb. 6.14 I will bless thee and multiply thee even so when the promise is made to the believing Parent the believing seed are included Hence Gen. 12.3 In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed Acts 3.25 the Apostle expounds it In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed the enmity then is not only between Christ personal and the Devil but also between Christ mystical c. And the victory over Satan is promised not only to Christ personally considered but to Believers who are his seed yet in a secondary sense only Rom. 16.20 By the Serpents seed are meant the Reprobate World for so they are called Matth. 3.7 Matth. 23.33 Generation of vipers John 8.44 Ye are of your father the devil Acts 13.10 Child of the devil 1. Joh. 3.8 He that committeth sin is of the devil and to them agree what is spoke of the Serpents seed viz. their enmity and opposition to the godly as far as in them lyeth By the Serpents head is meant his craft and power his cunning he had contrived
conquest over principalities powers Ephes 1.19 20 so that our impotency can be no excuse to us Faith gives the Soul the greatest resemblance of Divine Omnipotency 2. Take that word Rom. 8.1 You feel and know that there are many things condemnable in you yea enough to condemn millions of Men or Angels But O the mysterious depths of Free-grace that should divide and separate between Condemnable Condemnation Indeed the more Conscience one makes of mortifying sin the more sense and assurance of their Absolution and Indempnity If sin be prevailing it 's hard to maintain the sense of this yet in some cases one may as when the Soul is under a deep afflicting sense of prevailing-sin and solicitously striving against it Psal 65.3 Iniquities prevail against me c. You may yield to the Antecedent and deny the Consequence yea you make the prevailing of sin an Argument in prayer for Pardon Psalm 25.11 Those same Iniquities that set Justice a-work Gen. 6.5 He can make an Argument for mercy Gen. 8.21 Indeed if one keep up any perswasion of their freedom from Condemnation it 's a great doubt if they can keep up the comfort of this perswasion too for these are often separated David has his Absolution 2 Sam. 12.13 yet does he afterward beg the comfort and joy of it or at least a closer Application of it 3. Know that oft-times Satan and Corruptions stir most where they have least possession and real power and also that they make most ado when they are nearest to be cast out But if you enquire why the holy Lord does suffer sin to prevail so much over some of his own I answer The Captain of our salvation knows how to bring his followers to Glory and he knows that it 's better for some to be kept sighting even though often foiled than to be Triumphing The rising of some is their falling and the falling of others is their rising Success is sometimes worse to carry under than a Defeat Pride and Self-righteousness often get up upon our Trophies over sin and for this end sometimes the Lord suffers some sin to prevail If he see a Soul enclining to establish its own righteousness Ezek. 33.13 If he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity Pride often rises upon the ruins of other lusts but thus the Lord suffers not the foot of Pride to get up he keeps the Soul under a deep impression of its exceeding sinfulness and vileness indeed it is a trial to Faith when the Soul sees nothing in it self and yet can believe and then is Faith purest when others reckon upon themselves as the worst of Sinners David reckons himself as a beast Psal 73 And he not only mourns for sin as a man but he roars as it were like a pained beast Psal 32.3 He seems fitter for a Wilderness to cry out than for a secret Chamber to weep in at other times he can water his couch in the night now he roars all the day-long at other times his moisbure is dried now his bones the pillars of his house shake and wax old 2. Thus the Lord lets the Soul see its need of constant supplies of Grace and so keeps it in a closer dependence on himself were we always victorious we should not know so well our own insufficiency nor the sufficiency of Grace Some are kept Cripples because they would either run away from him or neglect him It 's evident that we are oftnest with God when we have most need of him how often does necessity prompt us to Duty more than love or conscience of Duty hence we pray seven times when we praise once 3. The Lord often punishes his people by this letting them know the difference between Christs yoke and sins 4. He manifests his power in their final Conquest after so many foils On this account Paul glories in his infirmities 2 Cor. 12.9 10 thus also he manifests the riches of his Grace The Conversion of the Soul from sin to God is a wonder of Free-grace but the Conversion of some is a greater wonder Mortification of sin in any Soul is a marvellous work of the Spirit but more marvellous in some where sin was deeper rooted and more fortified and where the name of lusts was begun even so the salvation of the most mortified Soul is a new wonder of Free-grace but the salvation of some Souls is a supereminent act of superabounding-grace the High-praises of God shall be in all their mouths but the songs of some shall rise higher than others were not the holiest so much in admiring how themselves were saved it might be an astonishment to them to see may be some in Heaven whom in their thoughts they have sometimes reprobated how much sin do some bring to Heavens-door with them At Heavens-gate is the grave and burying-place of many strong Corruptions Death which is the wages of sin is made the grave of sin And what the Red-sea was to the Egyptians these Corruptions that keep poor Souls in bondage and that still pursue them they shall see no more the certainty of your final Conquest Is it not good news from a far Countrey that the Captain of your salvation stands ingaged for you and it is more his concern than yours that you be victorious And O what Hosanna's shall be sung to him when he shall ride in Triumph through the streets of the new Jerusalem that is above with his triumphing followers each having a Crown on their head and Harp in their hand his Conquest is a pledg of yours John 16. You are often thinking that some day you will fall by the hand c. You have had as good aid engaged to save you as Christ had Ephes 1.19 20 and you being so nearly united to him he reckons not his Conquest compleat as long as you are in a Militant state If you be fighting the good fight Christ is upon his way to relieve and fetch you off victorious Know you not that he has said I will that they be where I am he knew his Trust and that it was the Fathers will and well it is for us it depends not on ours Vse 2. What we have said does speak sadly to such as either neglect this great Duty on which the Text lays so much stress or who think to mortifie sin by meer moral means or considerations For the first sort 1. There be some that instead of mortifying sin cherish and feed it and make provision for it that are in league with it that have common Friends and common Foes with it yea to some it 's as themselves It 's as a right-hand c. yea it 's their life wound their lusts and their heart dies speak to such of Mortification and you may as easily and more perswade them to stab or at least to lance themselves Hence men have found out so many counterfeits of Mortification they will rather kill thousands of Rams and Bullocks yea their sons and daughters
I do not say that the Lord would have the Believer content to lie under the impressions of wrath much less content to be damned but he would have the man lie at his feet under chese and bear witness to his holy Justice when under outward or inward troubles Now the more spiritual mens sins be and the more refined these lusts are they are the more provoking 2. As the sins of Believers are in some respect more exceeding sinful than the sins of others so the more grace one have his sin is proportionably aggravated Moses suffers more for a word than many others for deeds 3. As afflictions are Covenant-mercies and fruits of fatherly affections to all the children of God so the more dutiful any child of God be the greater may his Corrections be when he does fault and so God is most gracious to him yet the more a man tolerate any sin if he be not more afflicted than others there 's at least more anger in his afflictions which is the soul and spirit of afflictions or the more spiritual are his punishments Finally The reason why some eminently godly are under many outward afflictions may be because they have some time or other may be dishonoured God by some publick sin whether before or after conversion and as they are provoking to God and scandalous to others so he manifests greater severity on such this is plain in Davids case so that it 's still some unmortified sin that brings on trouble A second prejudice that comes by the prevalency of any Corruption it keeps the Soul lean and low and makes it a Cripple in Duties it not only mar◠Confidence and Chearfulness in Duties but diligence and activity also for these may be separated yea it insensibly hardens the heart What a fearful security and stupidity brought on sin upon David Where was Davids tenderness now when he can plot Vriahs death it's as sickness to the Soul for sin is the Souls disease that does enervate its strength and make it languish What is said of whoredom and wine is true of every sin they take away the heart yea and the hand too the man as he is like a silly Dove without heart he cannot behave himself a right in Gods presence so he cannot speed at Gods work for he works cum laesis facultalibus his foul hands blackens holy Duties his fingers drop much sin upon them the old man leaves the print of his heels upon them O what is it that keeps you out of Heaven at least from seeing it afar off it's some sin that besets you and hinders your motion Heaven-ward how few paces have you advanced for these many days Heb. 12.1 2 Whence is it that you see not so much as the top of the Towers of the new Jerusalem How come many that did begin after you yet to get before you some weight presses you down some corrupt affection like a long-garment entangles you or you stumble and fall often in the way It is not so much external Duties as the secret exercise of Mortification that keeps grace lively and when this is neglected and any sin prevails Grace withers and often the Lord blasts a mans gifts also or if gifts be intire they are left for a share as Eccles 2.9 It was Solomons snare that when he was pursuing vanity My wisdom remained with me says he It is the Curse of many this day and that which hardens them in their ill way that their Gifts and Learning rémain with them 3. Think what loss of Communion with God you sustain by your Idol or your unmortified corruption Sampsons Delilah cost him his two Eyes his Liberty and at length his Life But the departing of the Spirit of the Lord was the saddest of all by letting the king of your lusts live as Saul did Agag you hazard your Crown of Glory at least you have little of Heaven upon Earth Tell me Christian when was you last in Heaven it may be not for many days and know you not what keeps you out It 's a sad word Ezek. 14.5 They are all estranged from me through their idols Isa 59.2 Your iniquities have separated betwixt you and God and your sins have hid his face from you yea and often-times prevailing-sin does blot out the impression and sometimes the remembrance of that solacing sweetness that the Soul had in his Company begets some satisfaction in this dreadful state of distance from God thy Idols of Jealousie separate thee from thy chief Friend by this means thou wears out thy intimacy if not thy Acquaintance may be thou makest not a visit to Heaven in many days and if the Lord at any time come to thee thou art not at leisure but busied entertaining thy Idols Ah! have you no sense of these things I need not tell you what 's the mournful moan and ruful complaint of many Souls Ah! it was well with me till such a time O how many good days had I what a Heaven upon Earth had I what Communion with God in Prayer in the Lords Supper and other Ordinances till I did begin to dally with such an Idol till such a Corruption began to get power of me but since thou intermitted the vigorous exercise of Mortification where are thy Trophies and Triumphs where are thy Bethels thy Penuels thy Eben-ezers And it 's well for thee if ever thou recover this Distance from God and indisposition to Duty grows more in one day than thou canst make up or wear out in many I doubt if ever Davids bones were as sound as before if ever he had such Joy and gladness in Gods Company in the Sanctuary or elsewhere as before or that ever God appeared to Solomon as he had done twice before his fall I doubt the holy Lord deals with many of his people in this life as he did with the Levites Ezek 14.44 who had gone astray from him after their Idols they were to be keepers of the charge of the House for the service thereof as keeping the Gates and slaying the Sacrifices but they shall bear their iniquity and they shall not come near unto me to do the office of a Priest unto me nor come near to any of my holy things in the most holy place c. See ver 11.12 13 14 He will not put thee out of doors yet may never let thee come where thou hast been and never set thee so high on this side of Eternity 4. Any Idol or unmortified lust will clip the wings of Prayer and intercept the return of it Isa 59.1 2 The Lords hand is not shortned nor his ear heavy c. But c. Ezek. 14.3 4 and 20 31 As I live saith the Lord I will not be enquired c. Psalm 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me the man that has his Idols set up in his heart he grieves the Spirit who helps our infirmities in Prayer c. if he has any pleasure
to help will mortifie it And therefore a believer may plead he has not broke his engagements notwithstanding many infirmities and many stirrings of a Corruption yea even when there is some visible out-breaking of it seeing we do not nor cannot absolutely oblige our selves as to the event he may even in this case say in an Evangelick sense that he has not broken with God Psal 44.17 his Conscience bearing him witness that he dealt not falsly with him And that he bound himself to nothing but what he intended to perform and what he had actually endeavoured in some measure to perform and when he is overcome by sin he yields not consents not approves not delights not in it But dissents protests and crys out as a chast woman when forced and is made more watchful and more fearful to be overtaken again every time he gets up and knowing the treachery of his heart dreads it as one recovering from a dangerous disease dreads the return of it when he had rather dye than return again to it when his heart bleeds for the abuse of Gods Grace In this case thou mayest maintain thy peace and there 's ground of hope that Grace shall in the end be victorious over thee I speak to such as are ready to dispond if others will needs abuse it upon their peril be it Shall I sin and break with God and repent and engage a-new and again break and again engage shall I defile my self and wash and again defile and wash If this be not to cast my self out of Covenant with God and abuse his grace what is it can this consist with begun-mortification But knowest thou not that every sin against God yea against thy Covenant with God does not dissolve the Covenant Jer. 3.1 4 12 13 14 19 23. See 1 Joh. 2.1 2. It answers thy case fully his mercy is not narrower than ours which should extend beyond seventy-seven times he heals backslidings more than so many times The last Case I shall speak to is that of such as are in doubt about their condition because they find not mortification growing but the strength of sin is much the same it was long ago Answ Some are sinfully curious in enquiring after the measure of their progress in holiness and mortification that they may glory in it but for a man to search out his own glory is not glory Prov. 25.27 And sometimes to prevent this the Lord hides the advantages they have over sin from some of his people he draws a vail over their graces and attainments and discovers the strength of their sin that he may necessitate them to make more use of Christ both for righteousness and sanctification And indeed according to the usual chance of war there are so many turns and vicissitudes in the success that sin and grace have against each other that one can hardly judg of the measure of his mortification for he that is victorious one day yea one hour is led captive the next I did formerly give some discoveries of short-comings in mortification Now if thou would know thy progress in it 1. How stands thy heart affected to the things of the world that feed sin within are they lower in thy esteem the weak Disciples were contending for precedency the night their Master was taken from their head yet after we find even the Apostle born out of time counting that and all things loss c. Phil. 3.7 Knowest thou better how to part with them canst thou distinguish between complaining of God and complaining to him for want of them Angry Jonas evidenced little mortification 2. How carry you in reference to others or to the society you are in Flattery Contention or Envy the ordinary diseases of unmortified souls bewray want of mortification or great short-coming in it 3. How carry you in reference to temptations especially when they come in time of duties does the heart rise recoyl is it frighted at them or is it easily set on fire at least brought to treating-terms 4. How carriest thou in reference to reproofs a mortified man will bear well with them whether they be well managed or not Asa bewrayed much want of mortification it argues strong corruption when a reproof wakens it and occasions more sin But take some marks of further proficiency in mortification 1. Hast thou a fixed resolution to seek thy hearts ease rest and satisfaction in God alone and that in the heaviest and most calamitous time Heb. 3.18 Is thy expectation purely from him and if thou hast a competence or may be abundance of the good things of this world yet are all thy springs in him and when thou wantest canst thou take Gods bill of exchange and believe that all will be answered either here or in the land where holiness and glory dwell 2. Dost thou put thy mouth in the dust when under Gods rod dost thou adore the wisdom of God in chusing such a rod for thee does private afflictions melt thee or break thee Impatience argues a great degree of Impenitency and unmortifiedness If the liveliness of sin be thy grief thou wilt be content that he should rid thee of it and make thee partaker of his holiness any way he will canst thou submit to desertions I mean so as to keep up thy love to God and thy purpose to call on him night and day and in the morning to prevent him with thy prayer Psal 88. 22.1 2. Can you wait the Lords time can you after the greatest earnestness in prayer make a reference to his good pleasure does the case of the Church of God afflict thee more than thy private case or canst thou not sit down quiet with thy personal accommodations when thy conscience tells thee that thou art accessary to the common calamities of others as David 3. Canst thou retrench thy self in what God allows thee when the using of thy liberty is like to be a stumbling to the weak 1 Cor. 8. Rom. 15. 4. Are spiritual pollutions as loathsome to thee as bodily sins or rather is thy greatest care to keep thy heart pure O but those who cannot overcome the bordering-Towns or Castles of a Land are sar from overcoming the whole Land I shall shut up all with some uses that we should make of these remainders of sin in us which by our utmost diligence we cannot fully mortifie 1. When thou observes the strength even of the broken forces of sin which thou would earnestly expel and yet art not able thou must needs see cause to ascribe the begun destruction of sin and conquest over it not to thy own ability or free-will but to the grace of God and indeed if every man have sufficient power to cast down sin from its dominion and to give it a deadly wound it is strange that no man should have power totally to destroy it or to kill it out-right for he that may do the greater may do the less The Hypothesis of effectual grace does easily
of any Thought or Imagination is discovered or as soon as the least influence of any tempting Object upon the mind or heart or affections is perceived it should be checkt and some Act of the contrary grace excited and put forth And indeed it is comparatively easie to conquer the first motions of Sin and were we making conscience of this we should prevent much labour and sorrow a little spark is soon quenched yet may it burn a City It 's storied of Archimedes That he framed such Engines as could pull the strongest Oak up by the root and that with the wind of his Mouth he could set them on work Truly Satan hath such Engines in mens hearts and there 's need humbly to recognize our Debt to Divine Grace upon every advantage even against the faintest motions of sin and to beware of Pride which can rise and get up upon every Mole-hill O were we under right impressions of the exceeding sinfulness of sin our hearts would start back at the first appearance of it or were we living near God and in a holy heavenly frame we would abhor every hellish suggestion James 4 compare 7 with 8 ver If you be afar off you will begin to parley with Satan and by degrees he prevails and by frequent viewing of sin tenderness wears off and hardness comes on and the conscience is defiled which when kept pure smites a man for every sin There 's need of watchful diligence for this piece of Mortification is a laborious work sin is so active and stirring continually and we naturally idolize our ease and when we give up our selves to it we become as Cities without walls But O how many deliverances from sin does the watchful Christian Observe And how many stones of Remembrance does he set up and how much sweet communion with God has he in this hourly resistance and mortification of sin In the next place let us speak to Mortification as passively considered and I shall shew you to what we must be mortified In general we must be mortified to Self the Apostle speaks of his being crucified to the world Gal. 6.14 but it 's only to the World as it feeds and maintains Self man has fallen from God to himself so that Self is now the god of this world and selfishness is the life of sin it runs like blood Spirit through every sin Now Self is either Natural Moral or Religious we must be dead to all 1. For natural Self we must be mortified to it and 1. To all natural Abilities and Accomplishments to Strength Strength is the glory of Behemoth and is subdued by Age the Rose and the Lilly has more Beauty than thou Bloud is a borrow'd good it s the Parents glory not thine we must be mortified to Strength Beauty and Bloud and honourable Birth yea to life it self this was eminent in Paul To be mortified to Life is to have Life for Christs mortification to life is our victory in suffering-times Rev. 12.11 Love of life is the life of sin when it is not loved in God 2. To the Mammon and to the Pleasures of the World Paul saith not only as Samuel Whose Ox c 1 Sam. 12.3 but I have coveted no mans silver or gold or apparel Acts 20.33 and Lev. 26.36 Deut. 38.65 What is Courage when he can make the shaking of a Leaf bring on fear and terror and fainting there 's a secret Confidence men have in Riches which is the life of Covetousness Job purges himself of this Chap. 31.24 25 If I have made gold my hope or have said to fine gold thou art my Confidncee or have rejoyced because my wealth was great A poor man that wants bread may be he is not tempted nor troubled with vexing desires of shipfuls of Gold hunger and want being his door-Enemy and lies between him and the hope of great Riches and yet there are often delightful Speculations and tumbling-waves and floods of wishes for such Riches so that the heart is not mortified to the love of Bread nor of Riches either Indeed the desire of Food and Raiment is natural and lawful but it 's the unmeasurable the doubtings anxious diseased desire that must be mortified the feverish man calls for drink but it 's not so much the man as the disease that desires it for it helps not the man but the disease 2. There must be deadness to Pleasures Voluptuousness is the most lively lust in some the flesh is the master in most men the wretched Soul must serve and lacquey it must plot and contrive to satisfie it must think and will and love as it pleases and in most men it yiedls a willling subjection to sinful flesh and is pleased when it can please the flesh What disorder has sin made some groan under it others cherish it O the delicacy and softness of some some make a god of their Belly others of their Beauty and bestow their cost and labour upon a piece of painted Clay Is this to mortifie the flesh will such endure burning quick or sawing asunder Many stumble and fall here Luke 14 I cannot come the mortified is dead to all his senses to the pleasure of seeing hearing tasting smelling touching he has his Eye under Authority Job 31 unmortified looks speak an unmortified heart he can in the vigour of youth say as Barzillai 2 Sam. 19.35 Can I taste what I eat or hear the voice of singing men or women he is dead to Sporting Jesting Laughing Eccles 2.2 Penitent Solomon says its mad But were not Solomon before that and David mortified men Answer It 's true they were but though in the mortified man sinful habits and principles are broken and weakned and reduced confined and contracted as it were into Corners into langushing inclinations and though Original corruption be impaired yet the old man is put off but by degrees and the Lord withdrawing and some strong temptation assaulting this broken and dying principle may put forth strong acts of sin which gives some reprieval yea a sort of resurrection to Original sin in the man So that David and Sololomon for a while seem not to be the same men they were and this tells us that Mortification is not a days nor a years work 3. This part of Mortification takes in deadness to a mans friends to his Countrey to his Fathers house to a House Lands or Estate of our own Our Countrey may be cannot bear us nor our words Father and Mother may forsake us Isa 49.15 Friends yea all our friends yea our inward bosom friends may not only forsake but abhor us Job 19.19 2 Tim. 4.16 Then eease from man there must be a ceasing also from and deadness to outward peace and tranquility to days safety and nights rest to Horses and Chariots to trading by Sea or Land to fair and well-furnish'd Houses to rich populous and stately Cities for the Day of the Lord may be and has been upon these and the hand of
unseparable from all corrupt inclinations and lusts which proceeds from the impossibility to satisfie them It 's upon the account of this lust especially that the man that is defective in Mortification is troubled partly also in respect of the guilt of sin For the second The more success in Mortification and the livelier Grace be the more feeling has the Soul of every stirring of sin and the more pain it is to the new Creature and indeed the more that sin be struck at the more it struggles the Old man has a strong heart and is loath to die and our lusts being as a right-hand cannot be cut off without pain but that which is painful to the Old man is a pleasure to the New It 's the strength of remaining sin that afflicts the New man The more the Soul be delivered from sin the more it thinks it thinks it self a captive and the fuller freedom it breathes after Rom. 7.24 the remainder of sin in the midst of his highest comforts are worse than Water amongst Wine so that the poor Believer needs a Banner even when he is taken into the Banquetting-house Song 2.4 How pitifully does the poor Spouse speak Song 6.13 in the beginning of the ver Return return O Shulamite return return that we may look upon thee see her Answer What will you see in the Shulamite as it were the company of two Armies Alas What will you see in me but War and Bloud and Rebellion when the poor Christian thinks he has cut off one head of sin there starts up another or more the more you make it your work to mortifie sin the more discoveries you shall have of sin and the more ye will lie in wait to discover it the more of the Spirits light shall you have to see sin That which is but a shadow to others is a Body to Paul it was once otherwise with Paul Rom. 7.9 He was as whole and sound as any man he was as little troubled with sin as the Pharisees of our time who with disdainful pride scoff at the humble bemoanings and self-abasing confessions of serious Christians and will not admit that Paul Rom. 7 speaks of himself as Regenerated I wonder what such think of their own Liturgie which frequently teaches them to call themselves miserable sinners at which the Quakers were wont as foolishly to Triumph as now they do at us for the like humble acknowledgments of sin 4. When the reflecting upon and remembring of former lusts and Idols do excite our affections or is accompanied with delight or does provoke new desires Ezek 23.19 she multiplyed her whoredomes in calling to Remembrance the days of her youth or as it is ver 21 The lewdness of her youth this is an acting over of sin It 's sad when we cannot look upon the Picture nay nor read or hear the name of our Idol-lusts but we bow down our head and our affection is kindled or some corrupt passion stirs where sin is mortified every remembrance of it revives our sorrow for it it 's like a new stroke upon an old wound especially after the Soul has been held over Hell for it and may be under much outward trouble also for it s indeed some unmortified sin that ordinarily brings on desertion and trouble Isa 57.17 when the Moon an Emblem of this World is under our feet Rev. 12.1 there can be no eclipse of the Sun and no storms The Lord may for his own holy ends exercise the most mortified Christian but it s ordinarily some root of bitterness springing up that he strikes at And O what a Sea of temporary wrath does our indulgence to some sin expose us too yet how hard is it to bring us to lay all at the door of a beloved lust it were easie to cure most mens inward troubles were they but faithful to themselves 5. When one is not constantly underfelt-need of Christ not only to save from the guilt but the power of sin The man that labours in Mortification he is hourly calling on his Aid he cannot live without Christ sin is sin indeed to him and Christ is Christ indeed to him he cannot exalt Christ enough nor magnifie the grace of God enough he sees it 's no little help he needs and that no common aid will serve his turn I do much question if such as oppose the doctrine of special Grace ever knew what Mortification was he speaks with another spirit than the Pharisee when he thanks God that he is not like other men Luk. 18.9 10. You see the Free-willers as you vulgarly call them for such were the Pharisees in Christs time owned the necessity of some Divine Assistance how warmly doth Paul speak Rom. 7.25 as he had with much feeling bemoaned himself Ver. 24. He seems to want words to exalt God and stops as it were in the middle his thoughts are over-matched thus praise waits or is silent for God it is silent to other things and it waits to be employed about him Psal 65.1 The Believer is often put to a Non-plus in crying up the grace of God and wants words to express its greatness yea to answer the elevation of the thoughts the heart indites a song of praise but he cannot tune it The Apostle is stopt as it were through admiration which is Silentium intellectus for when the mind can rise no higher it falls admiring hence some say God is most exalted with fewest words The experience of the supplies of Grace for overcoming sin is one of those mercies that uses to provoke the Soul to cry out Exalt thy self O Lord worthy art thou to receive Blessing and Honour c. But thou art above all Blessing Praise Others make no great matter of this 6. When a mans heart is pierced through with sorrows when his Idols are blasted and smitten when in the time of trouble fear and sorrow sill the heart when our Idols are fallen or when our lusts out-live their Objects As suppose a mans Estate be decayed or his dear Friends be dead before inordinate love to them be decayed or dead we are apt to sit down upon the graves as it were of our buried Idols and cry out Ah my Lord Ah my Comfort Ah my Hope But how does a mortified man carry in reference to the lawful things of this World Answer 1. With a great indifferency If he live if he be rich if full if he abound it 's well and if he die if he be poor or empty it 's also well If David be on the Throne it 's well he can then also pen Songs of praise If he be at home in his house in the Sanctuary it 's well if banished and chased from the house of God it 's well Hezekiah is Victorious the Assyrians are slain it 's well Isaiah prophecieth that his Treasures shall be spoiled and his Children carried captive this is good too Our blessed Lord is the same when the people sing Hosanna and when
in approaching to God yet he has no pleasure in God he comes not to him as his exceeding Joy though may be he cannot pass evening and morning without saluting him in a formal complementing way in such a manner as men use to many they care not for and indeed many know no other use of their prayers than of their formal Salutes and Complements viz. to keep fair terms with such as they care little for yet are not willing to disoblige Is it any wonder that God regard not such prayers any unmortified sin shuts Heaven and lays an Arrest upon the profit of thy Duties there 's no profitable trading between the Soul and Heaven there 's no profiting by Means or Ordinances if thou would lose the Arrest mortifie thy sin give up thy Idol cast over board thy Jonah's If thou hast any suit depending before the Throne of Grace if in the mean while thou offend God or grieve his Spirit thou art like to lose thy cause who will provoke the Judg when his cause is before him Hence that word Deut. 23.9 When thou goest forth against thine Enemies then keep thee from every wicked thing When a man has some special dependance on God and has some special expectation from him it 's unseasonable then to provoke him to Jealousie 5. Think what thou wouldst do in a dying day how will you look upon your Idols What will you do in the day of Visitation where will you hide your glory How would you look upon a Temptation or upon the tempting Objects of your darling lusts all your sweet morsels and stollen waters will then be bitter but the more sweetly any sin went down the bitterer will it be when it comes up again may be your Idols and you were pleasant in your lives but they are sad Company in the valley of Death Can the Camel go through the Needles-eye nay if there were no more to hinder but the bunch upon his back he could not Can you go through the strait gate if there were no more but one unmortified lust you cannot Can you think to leap into Heaven warm and smoaking with sin as many times you come to speak with God when the last word you spoke was with your Idol Can you sing that sweet triumphant Song O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.55 For lo here sin that is the sting of death and the victory of the Grave sticks in thee when others shall be singing Hallelujah and harping with Harps Death is no dark shade to the Son of Righte ousness having lightned it by his passing through it thou shalt be little better than the Hypocrite whom fearfulness surprizeth c. If the Master knock when thou art either asleep or wasting his goods or eating and drinking with the drunken thou will be afraid to go down and open he must break open the gates if he get in O what sad work will any living lust make when thou comes to die Let us now mention a few advantages you shall have by the mortification of sin especially your most potent sin 1. The mortification of your most predominant lust will be a great evidence to you of your sincerity Psalm 18.23 I was also upright before him c. When any lust is strong or when any Idol has a great interest in the Soul the heart is as 't were divided and then cannot know whether Christs interest or its prevails and bears most sway in the Soul but where there is no competition the case is clear when one can say If any thing interfere with Christ it 's this If any thing render my case suspicious or intrench upon Sincerity it 's this Corruption this Idol But sure I am this is so far under that it cannot disprove my integrity when the Lord tryes his peoples sincerity he uses to hit their sore to prove them in their Idols indeed when he intends to discover their weakness he puts them to tryal in the grace they excel most in as Peter in his Courage Moses in his Meekness if thou can deny thy self in this if thou can offer up thy Isaac hereby thou mayst know thou fears God and that thou loves God Now the knowledg of this fills the Soul with exceeding Joy 2 Cor. 1.12 O the sweet Calm it brings in it 's better felt than can be told whereas the prevalency of any Corruption deprives you both of the Testimony of the Spirit of God and of your own spirit 2. If thou can mortifie thy predominant lust thou may with the more ease mortifie other Corruptions Commonly all a mans lusts are made subservient to some one though indeed sometimes they thwart as pride and covetousness pride and sensuality or covetousness and sensuality if you can kill that the greatest difficulty in Mortification is over if you can take the strong City all the Villages and Countrey about will be subject to you If Goliah be slain the Philistins will fly may be you complain of many things and innumerable evils compass you about but see if some one unmortified Corruption do not maintain them all and you cannot conquer these till you have subdued that which sets these on work and which feeds and recruits them this would ease you of many evils you complain of the cutting off one member of sin will weaken the Body of sin they are so united that it will make all the other members of sin to languish and does help on to a through Conquest 3. Consider that there is more real satisfaction in mortifying lusts than in making provision for them or in fulfilling them There 's more true pleasure in crossing and pinching our flesh than in gratifying it were there any true pleasure in sin Hell would not be Hell for the more sin the more Joy you cannot satisfie one lust if you would do your utmost and make your self never so absolute a slave to it you think if you had your hearts desire you would be at rest you much mistake they had it Psalm 78.29 but yet they were not estranged from their lusts ver 30. How many a man in the fulness of his sufficiency is yet in pain for more Job 20.22 O but the mortification of that sin makes a Jubiles in the Soul Who are they that sing Triumphs here and set up Trophies of Victory and divide the spoils when others are living under troubles without and within and have their Soul removed far from peace who shall wear Crowns on their heads in Heaven and Palms in their hands and have High-praises in their mouths but they who turn the Battel to the Gate who have overcome their Enemies Would you be able to sing a Triumph even when drawing your last breath See what 's the Tune what 's the matter and the ground of Pauls Song 2 Tim. 4.8 and with what a Transport of Spirit he sings it as on the other hand it tells us that it 's faint or
unsuccesful warring with sin that makes men unmeet to die He goes in at the Gates of Heaven with flying Colours and has an abundant Entrance ministred unto him how much more will it make a man joy in Tribulation It 's some unmortified Corruption that makes the Cross heavy that makes a man uneasie under affliction or suffering O what Dust will a lively lust raise what confusion and combustion in the Soul When the hand of God falls heavy upon a Man while he is dandling some Idol or pursuing some carnal Interest the man is out of measure amazed every unmortified Corruption makes even the thoughts and apprehensions of trouble full of horrour and no wonder for it 's fearful when God comes to take vengeance on mens inventions even when he forgives their iniquity It 's true in such cases when the Lords people are meeting with trouble from men for his sake he makes not his quarrel visible he often scourges their Conscience when he does not visibly contend with them and one lash from his hand is sorer than Pauls 39 from the Jews indeed he sometimes suspends his quarrel when he does not bury it And sometimes Adversaries wrath does as it were mitigate his Deut. 32.27 Now a mortified man cannot be moved by any thing If there be no lust alive no trouble or affliction can come wrong In the next place let me offer you some Directions how to carry on the mortification of prevailing Corruption And first in general Get a clear sight of your sin or else you cannot level your strokes at it aright be content that God should by his Word and Spirit light upon your Idol and wound it And if any man will tell you of sin your Enemy count him thy Friend say as Saul to the Ziphites when they told him where David was Blessed are you of the Lord for you have had compassion on me 1 Sam. 23.20 21 that which you can least endure a Reproof for is your Master-sin as likewise that which you are most partial in seek most to cover or excuse which you wish were no sin and are readiest to pardon your self for or else are most sorrowful when it cannot be dispensed with Matth. 19.21 22 that sin which rises and goes to bed with you which haunts you when alone or in Company when in your shops and in your Closets which you are at the greatest toil for which you do or suffer most for that is the sin that like the man of sin 2 Thess 2.8 exalts it self O look to Heaven and see what work it made there how sin cast so many Angels out of their first habitations and thrust them into chains those evil Spirits that now solicite thee to sin are dreadful Examples of the mischief of sin it 's a wonder they have a face to tempt to sin it 's as if Murtherers hung up in Chains should solicite Men to murther Look to Paradise and see what desolation it made there it had almost in a moment ruined the whole Creation Look to Golgotha or Mount Calvary or the Garden and see what sad work it made there Look into Hell and hear what a howling it has raised there Alas we paint it and then play with it as Children do with painted Lions And when thou has seen it then thou cryes out O the exceeding sinfulness of sin and of my sin And let one sin set thee in quest of more but never think thou sees all thy sins nor all the evil that is in any one sin O comply with the Spirit and do not defeat his firk Work which is Conviction and when thou has seen thy sore hold thy finger upon it and cry to him who is the soveraign Physician of Souls to make incision there cut off this hand or foot that gangrenes yet keep not both thy eyes upon it lest it should overwhelm thee with horrour 2. Get your hearts broken for Sin your hearts are as fallow-ground you cannot pluck up your thorns they must be plowed up you must rub and reinse your Souls seven times in the waters of Marah in tears of godly sorrow ere thy Leprosie die but see thy tears bathe not sin instead of drowning it and beware thy throws go not off when thou art even about to be delivered from it it 's a token of the strength of sin the Soul is at a low ebb when trouble for sin is gone when sin has made its peace again Some mens troubles do not kill sin but only break some bone of it which when healed again is stronger than before therefore when thou has got a Nail fastned into the Temples of the old man or into the heart of the body of death drive it to the head when the Spirit brings home any word and smites Sin follow home the blow and endeavour to maintain the warmness of that word and the power of it upon thy Spirit till thy Soul be drench'd with tears of Contrition till thy heart be melted and the dross go away 3. If thou would mortifie Sin thy heart must be filled with distaste of it thy sorrow must be attended with hatred and this seeks the life of Sin this will make a man defile the covering of his graven-Images of Silver and the Ornament of his molten-Images of Gold nothing less will serve thee than the death of thy Sin thou wilt pursue it in thy self and others as Haman's hatred sought Mordecai's life yea and the life of all the Jews for his sake Hide not thy Idols as Rachel sate upon hers search thy heart and thy way that thou may find all out and what thou canst not find pray the Lord may find for thee Psal 39.34 leave no Corruption which Satan may fit and brood upon These things must needs be previous to Mortification Now more particularly for the means of carrying on this great business of Mortification 1. Prayer especially private Prayer is of singular use I mention only this at present not being solicitous of Method I say private Prayer for your secret Sins and particular Corruptions may shelter and shroud and hide themselves from all your prayers in publick or in fellowship with others and alas many who are others mouths to God have enough to do to mortifie pride and vanity and selfishness in praying with others let it be by their prayers to get other Corruptions mortified or to get pride and selfishness in other things mortified Prayer and Lusts or Corruptions are like Moses and the Amalekites when Moses hands are up Israel prevails when they fall down the Amalekites prevail so is it in this case It was Pauls Relief 2 Cor. 12.7 8 when Satan was working on the remainder of some Coruption For this I besought the Lord thrice and he was helped It may be sense of some prevailing Corruption has sent you to your Closet and put you upon your knees and you have found Relief and then you have lest off praying and your Corruption has prevailed again Hence
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
of the Soul upon his Word ingageth both the honour of his Mercy and his Fidelity 2. And so does also effectually engage his Power it 's by this power through Faith that we are kept from what would hinder our Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Divine Power strengthens Faith and by Faith we derive Divine Power by faith Christ dwells in the heart Ephes 3.17 And now we have one in us stronger than he that is in the world who takes his Armour from him c. that is taketh those things from him wherewith he fortified himself and secured Sin Satan sometimes serves himself of mens Wisdom Reason Thoughts Affections these Christ brings into captivity to his own obedience our members which were the weapons of sin are made instruments of righteousness unto holiness Riches and Gifts which were fewel and provision for lusts are consecrated to Christ Would you then have greater advantage against the old man of sin sit not down complaining of your impotency and the strength of Sin and your hard circumstances but by Faith strengthen your Union with Christ and make his strength yours Finally It is by Faith that you must make use of all your other spiritual Armour that word Eph. 6.16 Above all taking the shield of Faith c. seems not only to give Faith the preheminence but to point out the universal usefulness of it for securing and right using all the other parts of our Armour 1. As for Truth if you take it as relating to the Mind for soundness of Doctrine this is a fruit of faith Acts 24.14 If you take it for Sincerity it 's believing which makes God near and sets him before us that advances this Gen. 17.1 So 2. For Righteousness if you take it for the righteousness of Christ which as a breast-plate secures the Heart and Conscience Rom. 8.33 If the heart be found a wound elsewhere may be healed if the Conscience be whole we may bear other infirmities Now it's Faiths work to improve this or if we take it for Inherent-righteousness that is a fruit of Faith 3. Whatever Furniture the Gospel prepares for us it is of no use without Faith Nor 4. Can the sword of the Spirit be weilded without it 5. The Helmet of salvation which is Hope as is plain 1 Thess 5.8 the Grace that secures our head from Errour or which keeps our head above water that we faint not that supports Faith its work is to look for the fulfilling of the Promise which Faith believes 6. Prayer must needs take it in hence we see why our Conflict with Sin and the World is called the fight of faith 1 Tim. 6.12 3. Be much in the meditation of the sufferings and Death of Christ and of your own approaching dissolution and of what follows on the back of that For the first of these Peter presses Holiness from thence 1 Pet. 1.18 20. But let us consider Christ first as a Pattern he made it his work to destroy Sin though he had none in himself all his Offices struck at Sin and you are none of Christs if you study not conformity to him in this It 's true the Prince of this world had no part in him yet was he molested with his Temptations and when it s so with thee think with thy self What would the Lord Jesus Christ have said in this case 2. Look on suffering Christ as meriting and procuring his peoples final Conquest over all their Enemies We may in this case apply that Rev. 12.11 They overcame by the blood of the Lamb his blood by Faith applyed to the Soul is like a Refiners fire and Fullers Sope. It 's the only Purgatory for taking away Sin Satan has carryed most of the World from the law of Nature into Paganism and others from the Law of Christ into Antichristianism and in both these Apostate states Satan has endeavoured to substitute something in the room of what God had appointed for purging away Sin and under both he seems more zealous against Sin than God and would seem to out-do Gods way if God appoint Beasts to be slain and offered up he will have their Children to pass through the fire and now once offering up of Christ must not serve it must be done every day So for purging out of Sin Satan had among the Heathen his Lotions and Lustrations and has now his Sprinklings and Whippings and to compleat all has made men hope that what these do not Purgatory-fire will do And truly Sin may say Aha to these as Satan does to these Exorcisms But indeed Satans diligence and industry in taking men off the true way of purging away Sin viz. by the blood of Christ and substituting Mockmeans in its room may tell us what weight the Lord lays upon this way Now how by Faith we come to find the efficacy of this blood I have already shewn 3. The sufferings of Christ may further Mortification by way of Argument and here we must take in the greatness of his sufferings the hand our sins had in them and the love that moved him to engage and go through with all Oh would not you burn the Spear that pierced him how would you look upon the Sword that slew your dearest Friend See how Paul argues 2 Cor. 5.14 15 The love of Christ constrains us for we thus judg That if one died for all then were all dead that we should henceforth no more live to our selves And Peter on the same ground presseth Mortification 1 Pet. 4.1 2 For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh c. Had you been witness to his wrestlings in the Garden Had you heard these words out of his own mouth If it be possible let this Cup pass c. Had you seen his drops of blood Had you known the trouble of his Soul when upon the sight of his sufferings he knew not well what to say to speak with Reverence John 12.27 Had you seen him Nailed and heard him crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Would you not have vowed a Revenge on Sin Could you have loved and hugged the Soldier and been sond on the Spear that pierced him Thou art the Man and thy beloved Lust is the Spear And will you act this Soldiers part over again Your other sins are as the Nails but this is as the Spear that made a great wound in his Side and went nearer his Heart and who shall save thee if thou crucifie him afresh Who shall comfort thee if thou grieve his Spirit by thy indulgence to sin 2. I mentioned the serious Meditation of your own death as a Mean to help on Mortification It were good for us we were oftner among the Tombs and laying our selves in our graves the Rich mans skul is not gilded there nor has the delicate persons any better colour or smell nor has the proud man any precedency there their dust and skuls and dead bones are not distinguishable yet what 's the
out then call them in and examine them as Elisha did to Gehazi be sure your hearts will be such as your thoughts you cannot have a serious heart if vain thoughts lodg within you Jer. 4.14 3. Fly the society of such as are sick of that disease thou dreads most and which thou art aptest to be infected with It is not good fighting against the Devil says one in the midst of his own Camp Mens bold venturing on this has often brought them off wounded It 's hard to keep up a due abhorrence of sin that we daily see and hear some ill savour at least will stick to us if it bring you not to a compliance yet it abates your zeal against it therefore shun such Employments Occasions and Company as may draw forth thy Corruption It was Peters snare to be in the High-priests Hall and Judas's that he carried the Bug. It 's hard for Powder and Flax to be near Fire and not kindle The 5th Direction Improve Afflictions for the mortification of thy sin by these the Lord takes away sin and makes us partakers of his holiness the finer any Vessel be and the more used the oftner it's scoured and the more it be rubbed the cleaner it is Lev. 6.28 and 11.33 The earthen pots when they were fouled by boiling of the Sacrifices they were to be broken in pieces but the brazen pots were to be reinsed with Water and scoured and cleaned the oftner you are on the fire the cleaner should you be Now when God is wounding your Pride your Covetousness your Sensuality take the advantage of slaying these lusts when he makes thy right-hand or Eye to ake then pluck it out c. Canst thou love the World when it pinches and straitens and desames and reproaches thee Canst thou love thy flesh when pain and grief have taken up their dwelling in it and when it 's such a trouble to thee Will you not now cry out upon all as vanity and vexation when your sense and your Experience tells you so when you feel the bitter fruits of sin you have now great advantage against your sin and to help on the mortification of it when sense and Experience disparage and decry it and your very flesh is convinced of the folly of flesh-pleasing O that you would take this advantage and use this World as it does or will use you and use your sins as they do or will use you There be indeed some unmortified men who when they suffer by sin and by the World will speak hardly enough of them but their friendship which is rooted in their Nature is soon made up again But should it not heighten your Enmity with them the Lord makes your sin buffet and abuse and rend and wound you that by the pain and smart and sorrow it breeds he may maintain and encrease your enmity and excite diligent endeavours to destroy it he had rather that sin should pain you here than torment you in Hell and he would have sins stroke to fall upon it self as sin killed it self in killing Christ so he would have it in his people Let your afflictions let the death of your Creature-comforts be the death of sin If it turn your very breath into groans let these groans be against sin if it turn your Joy into mourning your Songs into sighs and cries and tears let all these be against sin and so your Life and your Light and your Comfort shall rise out of the ruins of your sin O let sin gain nothing by the hurt it does you If it has brought a cross upon thy Person or Family take it and crucifie it upon this Cross else thou losest the benefit of it if thus thou dealest with it it 's a happy Cross and thou hast fellowship with Christ in his Cross on which sin suffered Many have been convinced of the ill of Sin that have fought but faintly with it till it has wounded them And now let me a little enquire if this has been the fruit of your personal or Family-afflictions or of the sore astonishing Judgments of God upon this place You have seen many Houses and Streets burnt down in fewer days than they were hundreds of yeares in building You have seen Riches that were many years in gathering scattered or may be in a few hours consumed and the Lord knows how many have lost their Souls and forfeited eternal happiness to build and furnish and gather that which a few moments pulled down scattered and consumed and yet when you have but a little intermission and breathing-time are you not as eagerly at it again You have seen or heard of what desolations God did make and what a Cry was almost in every House not the cry of Egypt not the first-born only but as a man emptieth a Dish and turneth it upside down so did God with many Families and many Houses Have the dismal Looks and Out-cries of these days mortified you to carnal Mirth Have you learned Righteousness Have you made your dwellings Bethels You have seen or heard of but a few years ago many as delicate Persons as your selves whose Carcasses were carried out in Dung-carts and thrown into pits heaps upon heaps and will you yet please and pamper such Carcasses Will you gather and patch up as it were their rags to adorn your Bodies with Ah! the ashes of London and the dust of those dead Bodies shall be witnesses against the present Inhabitants Does your Houses your Tables your Apparel speak any growth of Mortification the highest Turret or Pyramid is but a poor childish Memorial Is there a Memento written upon each of these But alas what then means your ceiled and well-furnished Houses while the House of God lies waste What means your strange Apparel and sumptuous Tables while may be there be few Backs or Bellies of Christs Disciples that are blessing you Have you not fallen into Old London's sins sooner than men took up the Old Worlds sins Noah did indeed for once border upon the sin that God had buried in the Waters And are not many Professors more guilty in reviving sins that God has burnt up to speak so Ah! Will you break through not only Armies of Ordinances but Armies of Judgments Will you in your pride of heart and in your practice also say the Bricks are fallen and we will build with hewen stone the Sycamores are cut down but we will exchange them into Cedars Will you say we will have better Houses and finer Cloaths If you have forgotten what your Eyes have seen and your Ears have heard come and behold yet the works of the Lord and see what desolation he is now making amongst others Not only London but other places that were like the Vinetrees amongst the Trees of the Forest God has given them to the fire for fewel Ezek. 12.20 He hath made Lebanon to open its doors to the fire to devour the Cedars that are fallen and the Fir-tree howls also yea the Oaks
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
he be displeased with the acts and stirrings of sin yet not with the root of them If he can restrain the acts he could let the body of sin dwell contentedly in him But it 's far otherwise with the godly for as sin opposes every gracious act so Grace opposes every known sin yea and does secretly though not so sensibly resist every sin whether known to us to be such or not Grace in the heart feels that to be sin and contrary to its nature which knowledg in the head does not discern to be sin the Law written in the Heart goes farther than what 's in the Head as eating of what one has antipathy against will cause trouble though the man knows not of it but more if he does 4. As the Natural man is not uniform in opposing all sins so he is not even as to all times he seldom or never pursues sin but when God or his Conscience are pursuing him and he is never so eager in his opposition to sin but he will admit of a treaty with it and is easily induced to grant a cessation of Arms he is content to hear what can be offered to reconcile such a thing to the Law of God and for shewing the consistency of it with peace of Conscience here and with the hope of glory at least with his interest and honour in this World the new man is deaf to any motion of a parley and stands out to the last and fights upon his knees and is sometimes overcome but never treats nor yields the Natural man opposes sin as a flowing Tide does a Vessel going down a River but straightway the Tide turns and helps the Vessel But the Conflict in the renewed man is like that between fire and water there 's no yielding nor cessation of Arms till the one be overcome nay not then True the Believer often intermits vigorous opposition to sin and may lose more ground in an hour than he can regain in many days yet Grace never gives over entring its dissent and protestations nor intermits all opposition to sin even when its worsted 5. The unrenewed man never strives lawfully against sin he goes forth against it in his own strength not in the name and strength of the Lord 1 Sam. 17.45 46 He seeks not to engage the Spirits assistance he considers or knows little the strength of spiritual Adversaries and hence is easily overcome 6. In Natural men the conflict is between the Conscience and the depraved Will or corrupt Passions which is like a foreign War but in the renewed it 's like an Intestine War as one calls it the renewed Conscience against the unrenewed the renewed Will and Affections against the unrenewed There 's a Will and a Will-not in a Believer hence the Notion of a double person Rom. 7.15 19 20 there 's no such division in others they may do what Conscience approves not but cannot say that they would not the godly hate the evil they do and love the good they do not whereas the Natural man does hate the good the spirituality of it he does and loves the evil which he does not and may be dare not do In Natural men there 's some sparks of light in the Conscience but there 's no sanctified light in it the Will and Affections are totally corrupted so that there 's nothing in them as a principle to set them against themselves but in the renewed man there 's flesh and spirit in every faculty so that the fight is more close and in every gracious and in every sinful work they both put forth themselves and as the flesh weakens the acts of the Spirit so the opposition the Spirit makes weakens the acts of sin in the Believer for division weakens and so a Believer never sins with all his heart as other men do the renewed part never gives over all resistance And it 's upon this account 1. That the sins of Believers are not so great as the sins of others It 's true Gods electing Love Redemption and Regeneration lay special Bonds upon the Believer which highly heightens sin and adds many degrees of guiltiness to it But if we look to the principle of sin and whence it immediately proceeds the unregenerate mans sin is greatest for it is with all his heart there 's not a bit of the man that be-friends Christ there 's nothing in such of you that holds with him As for what opposition the Conscience makes it is not with your will if there be any made at all it 's grievous but no pleasure to you so that you seek out shifts and means either to stifle it or bribe it or bring it over to be for that which the will and affections are for Some think the Believers sins are more heinous because against more Light indeed this were a good Argument if the Mind were the only principle of our actions and not the will or elective faculty But let none abuse this for truly sin is so dreadful in both that it 's not easie to tell in whom its worse Hence 2. We see the reason why the Believer hath not so much pleasure in Sin as others have having two parties in him whatever pleases the one displeases the other the natural man having but one is more pleas'd at heart with sinful objects the opposition the Conscience makes hinders not but that he deliberately chuse and delightfully act it and obstinately persist in it The Believer is sometimes tasting of the forbidden fruit but Grace marreth the result of it and the more he finds he is pleased with it the worse he is pleased with himself 7. The Natural mans opposition does not any way break the power of Sin nor does continue till the man get up again if he fall he lies still whereas the Spirit in the Believer ceases not to strive till he be got to his feet again Sin was painful to him in the going down but it s more bitter in his belly and he resteth not till he hath vomited it up again the Conscience will cease to strive but grace never yea the godly man often rises by his falling he grows more humble and watchful and dependent the grief which sin breeds consumes the Sin that bred it Whereas the natural man when he overcomes he is overcome he grows proud and conceited the seeming mortification of one Sin does vivifie or give life and strength to another 8. The Natural mans opposition tends only to restrain or keep in Sin not to mortifie it if Sin will be quiet and peaceable he can let it live the Believer seeks the death of it the extirpation and abolition of it If you ask how we shall know when a Sin is mortified and when restrained only or what 's the difference between restraining and mortifying a Corruption Answer 1. When any Corruption is mortified one is thereby advantaged against all other Corruptions for the killing of one member or any branch of Original Sin does weaken
at first Conversion do it not why should it do so afterward Not the 2d Let that Promise be produced what ever Promise that I know of can be produced will plead as much against a Believers falling into any Sin which at his first Conversion he did truly repent of But to prevent Abuses of what 's said Let me admonish you 1. That there are some Sins which Paul calls dead works Heb. 6.1 Peter calls them mens old sins viz. which they had lived in before Conversion Ephes 2.1 9 and the pollution of the world 2 Pet. 2.19 in these the whole World wallowed before Christ's Coming A Relapse into these he speaks of as dangerous Ephes 2.2 19 20 21. Much debate there was about this of old and many utterly refused to re-admit such into their Communion as in times of Persecution did comply with Idolaters and returned to Idolatry which was the chief of these old Sins that Peter mentions 1 Ep. 4.3 And I doubt not but in the debate that arose thereupon there were extreams on both hands those that fell upon the one hand were many and by their multitude helped to carry the decision of the Question in their favour and the promiscuous re-admission of such tended to the Corruption of the Church ever after yet on the other hand I dare not deny but a godly man may be intangled again in some act of these old sins through the force of some great or sudden temptation Yet I must add that it is a rare case the fixed bounds how far and how often God doth not determinately set in his Word I think the Lord does not ordinarily suffer his people to fall again and again into those gross acts of Sin though we cannot say but they may be overtaken with Passion Pride inordinate love to the World which though no less sinful in their own nature yet in their inward actings are not so scandalous nor such occasions to others to blaspheme Nor can we deny but that there may be and will be some lustings towards the gross actings of these old sins But the acting over of them I think rare A man may fall into some other heinous sin of another nature with more ease for mortification of a particular lust does in an especial manner advantage a man against the return of that though it weaken the whole man of sin yet it weakens that particular lust in special Hence there is often a change of the godly mans greatest Corruption and he gets some special advantage against that which sometime did most prevail and another lust comes in its room which shews the strength of the body of sin yet disproves not the truth of the mortification of the former prevailing lust For the 2d Case mentioned viz. of those who after some serious endeavours to mortifie Sin find their Corruptions more lively than formerly In answer to this Case 1. If Corruptions break forth more than formerly it 's the same with the former Case and thy safest course is not to stand disputing thy state before that but to study acquaintance with the depths of Sin in thee and in the humble broken-hearted sense thereof to fly unto Jesus Christ for pardon and for grace to sanctifie thy Soul and to mortifie Sin If they be only more stirring inwardly than before and so seem more strong it is a Case commonly incident to such of the people of God as before their regeneration were careful to walk blamelesly and were morally educated and such as were formal in Religion And 1. This may proceed from the malice of Satan who when his interest in the Soul was not brangled made no great noise Now as the Dog is put to the Door he howls to be in again so he blows the Trumpet to an insurrection and intestine war in the Soul and if it were possible would have possession again or have the Soul back into bondage again and this the holy Lord suffers to manifest the strength of his Grace and that he may having brought forth the strength of indwelling sin have occasion with more observation to discomfit them As sometimes Rulers in policy let some discontented party break out on purpose to ruine them more effectually 2. It may be thy inward Corruption is not stronger than it was but spiritual light and gracious tenderness may be growing the Spirit now may be opening up the depths of thy Corruption And this the Lord usually does by degrees as he dealt with Ezekiel in a like case Chap. 8.6 7 9 12 13 15. where mark that they had put a wall between God and them he is shewed greater and greater Abominations so the secret Chambers of Sin are opened up and thou sees that which makes thee tremble and abhor thy self more than ever for the first saving-Conviction does not convince to the utmost the first saving-light shines not into every Corner or at least not so brightly that the man can dive into all the mystery of Sin within but leaves room for after-discoveries such Complaints as Pauls Rom. 7.24 are rather the fruit of growing-discoveries of Sin and growing Mortification than of the growing power of Sin Bless the Lord for such discoveries for they are necessary to the mortification of Sin 3. It may be thou wast going about to establish thine own righteousness and the Lord sees it meet to fright away such thoughts by suffering Satan to rake up the Dunghil of thy Corruptions when thou art aiming at such a measure of holiness and freedom from Sin in the strength of thy own endeavours and with a secret neglect of the imputed Righteousness of Christ and when thou will not make use of that till thou hast overcome such a Corruption and will not maintain thy Justification without such a measure of Sanctification and Mortification I think not strange if God should let open the sluce of thy Corruption to constrain thee to hold by the righteousness of Christ for Justification and also on his Spirit for the mortifying of thy Corruptions and to live by faith in Christ both for Righteousness and Sanctification or Holiness and to seek neither of these nor any part of them any other way for it may be if thou be not proud of thy Righteousness to thy own sense yet thou may think too much of thy own strength indeed the one is rarely or never really separated from the other for wheresoever a man thinks he has one of these he seeks the other also Hence there are none erroneous in the point of Free-will and Grace but they err also in the doctrine of Justification e contra Isa 45.24 and lay too much stress on the strength at least of the sincerity of thy purposes and endeavours against Sin These can no more secure thee against Sin than a single thred can hold a Ship at Anchor in a storm the Lord will teach thee the necessity of this Method in the Text by the Spirit to mortifie Sin And this leads
he personates a servant to them and ordinarily employs them in such work as is suitable to their corrupted nature and takes such ways with them as are pleasing to the flesh so that there needeth no force to keep them in servitude they are so well-pleased with their Lord that his fetters are as Gold-chains to them yea some of them are so far transformed into the spirit and image of the Devil as to commit such prodigious acts of wickedness that one would think humane Nature corrupted as it is should tremble at it and in nothing has this appeared more than in the prosecution of this Enmity in those horrid and diabolical methods and arts of violence and cruelty that have almost in all Ages been invented and used against the godly and as for that Dread men commonly have at his appearance it is known how easily they are familiarized yea he has taught men to call evil Spirits Familiars good Neighbours c. And how many are in express Covenant with him There 's no man can deny this but with the same breath he denies Christ the Scriptures and experience it is credibly reported of 17 Popes one after another And in most if not all places of the World he has been and in many yet is visibly worshipped and hath a Neighbourhood or rather a visible Kingdom among them 2. Against whom and what is this enmity of Satan and his seed levelled I Answer Primarily against God he is an Adversary to God and holiness and so to Jesus Christ as God and also as man because he had so much of God in him more than any man and to the Saints because of their relation to God and Christ his enmity to God appears in his whole design and business more particularly in his blasphemous injections into the minds of poor Creatures and in his using the tongues of some that he possesses to blaspheme God and indeed his enticing of men to war against Heaven with their tongues in cursing and blasphemous Oaths where there is neither profit nor pleasure to allure them is a sufficient evidence both of the Devils and of mans enmity to God 2. This is levelled against Jesus Christ how early stirred he up persecution against him as soon as he was born and did all he could against him and such enmity has he to his Name and to the very shadow of Christianity that he will admit none unto a strict consederacy with him till they have renounced Christ and the sign of their dedication to him And Oh what an astonishing meditation is it to think that Spirits once so holy and wise should have fallen into such deeps of sin or risen into such a height of indignation against infinite holiness and goodness that now their only scope and delight should be to dishonour God and to mar his work in the World and his Image in man And what an astonishing witness is this of the patience of God! we wonder he bears so long with men that are Vessels of wrath who are but like grass on the house-tops whereas he has suffered Satan for several thousand years to range and tyrannize up and down the World and yet this mars not the lustre and beauty of Gods wise Government of the World 3. This Enmity is also levelled against the followers of Christ all the actings of evil spirits in the World have a tendency to mens hurt whatever friendship they may pretend and it is not any outward concern of mens that they especially intend to ruin and are at pain and labour to undo It is the great and eternal Concern of their immortal Souls that they level at they envy them that happiness which they are out of hope of or their hatred to God and Christ is heightned from their passing by them when they chose and redeemed some of lost men Now as the Lord designs his peoples good by all the seeming contrary dealings with them so does the Devil by his contrary methods intend to hurt them whether he tempt or forbear to tempt whether he solicite Peter to hinder Christs sufferings or prompts Judas to further them when he seems asleep and when he rages there 's as much enmity in his peace as in his war If he keep truce with such as are explicitely or implicitely in Covenant with him it 's but for a while Now this Enmity is chiefly against the Church or Churches where he can get a true visible Church Rev. 12.13 It 's with the Woman where we see also that Gods special preservation of his Church and disappointing or frustrating hellish designs against a Church does greatly gall Satan and exasperate him against them when the Dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth he persecuted the woman c. And ver 17 The Dragon was wrath with the woman the earth having helped her sometimes God makes carnal men helpful to his Church and restrains their Enmity Why the Woman had done him no wrong was only escaped and this diabolick disposition we may clearly see in his seed there 's nothing pains some so much as that they cannot do mischief to the people of God Do we not see some acted with fury and unsatiable cruelty against the people of God without the least provocation beyond what men express in other cases and beyond what mens natural enmity to Truth and Holiness does ordinarily carry them even such fury as discovers some violent excitement from Hell and carries a lively resemblance of the Devil Now ver 17. We see also that when Satan cannot find a visible pure constituted Church then he bends his malice against single Professors that keep themselves pure from the corruption of the place they live in they are there called the womans seed he went to make war with the remnant of her seed The description of these are worth our observing ver 17 they are such as keep the Commandments of God that is meant in opposition to those whose Religion lies most in obedience to Customs Traditions and Commandments of men whereby they make void the Institutions and Commands of God 2. They are such as have the Testimony of Jesus that is that bear Testimony to him in all his Offices in opposition to those who by their Ceremonies Humane satisfactions and self-righteousness deny Christ to be come in the flesh and also to those who deny or incroach upon any of his Offices These two contain much of the distinguishing Characters of the true Church and true members of Jesus Christ from the false 3. As for the Nature and properties of this Enmity between the two seeds 1. It 's for no private particular quarrels Oh what a bitter Antipathy do men manifest even to those from whom they never received any personal injury their own hearts must tell them that it can be from nothing but the appearance of the Image of God in them their pretending to hate their Hypocrisie is vain For 1. Under this pretence Christ and the godly
Col. 3.9 Lye not one to another seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds these are the same with the deeds of the Body 3. By the Spirit is here understood first and mainly the Holy Ghost by whose immediate Efficiency this work is effected yet 2. May be taken in also the graces of the Spirit by the acting of which this work is carried on Now from the words I shall take occasion to speak to these particulars in short 1. What Mortification is 2. What 's the Object and extent of it 3. The necessity of it 4. What is the work of the Spirit in it 5. I shall apply the whole For the first It 's necessary in the first place to shew you some bastard-kinds of Mortification whereby ye may know what it is not The first is A Philosophick mortification to such things as are seen by the light of Nature to be empty and unsatisfactory for Reason may go far here hence some of the old Philosophers seemed to contemn Riches and to be above trouble for outward changes as Diogenes c. Yet they were either but Dissemblers as Seneca who writes against Avarice and tells us That Nature was satisfied with water for Drink and with a house of Turf yet he was a Covetous man So was Cicero an aspiring man for as much as he writes against Pride not by the Spirit and the Cross of Christ but from meer moral Considerations as that of the old Pagans revived again by some who call themselves Christians who taught men to moderate their inordinate desires and passions by the precepts and habits of moral Virtue This especially flourished among the old Family of Philosophers called Stoicks who pretended to be without all passions which said they were not incident to wise men If they met with any extraordinary mischance they thought a wise man might step out at any door he would into their imaginary heaven and happiness Hence Cato who was the Worlds-Wonder for his Wisdom stabbed himself and his Servants finding him bound up his wound which when they were gone he teared open again yet not expiring soon enough he was forced to use some other violence to himself So Seneca and others Now this way of Mortification all who deny the necessity of special Grace as Pelagians Arminians Quakers must needs fall into for whatever different names they give to any word principle or power yet if common to every man it 's still but Nature which is capable of improvement and indeed how far common Reason may be improved to the regulating of a mans passions is plain from the manifold instances of old and late Moralists to the shame of many called Christians Yet plain it is that they did but keep under their lusts and not mortifie them and that by their depressing one lust they did but exalt another as those who died for their Countrey and forfook all for meer love of Learning But what avails it says one to be dead to a bit of Clay and alive to Vain-glory which is indeed the life of Sin and of the Old-Man Pride especially did grow upon the ruines of other lusts so that their seeming Self-denial and Motification was really but Self-magnifying Yea to that height of Pride did some of them grow up that Lucretius and Seneca endeavoured by Argument to exalt their virtuous men above their gods in as much as these were necessarily good But men were such voluntarily and by choice and whoever now they be who would lessen â—â—â—â—tural pravity and misery and who oppose the imputed Righteousness of Christ and Justification by Faith whatever their seeming mortification and moral endowments be they must needs fall into the same Condemnation for ignorance of these grand Truths was the root that the Pagan Arrogance grew upon as for that inward Tranquility that followed the moderation of their passions it was but a Lye 2. A second Bastard-way of Mortification is that of the Papists it stands in some outward severities as lying on the Earth whipping themselves going bare-footed with Ropes about their waists begging living in Cells Hermitages Vows of Poverty and single life They suppose says Luther That when they enter their Cells that they are crucified to the World when indeed they are crucified to Christ and Christ to them Pride and Self-righteousness being thereby quickned We may as well sacrifice our lives as shed a drop of blood in such a way as Baals Priests did which had the same ground and bottom that Popish-whippings and Penances have But what Pride Epicurism and monstrous lusts have been and are cherished under these pretences I need not tell you We grant That to keep the body in subjection is a part and a means of further mortification But this is not to be done by rigour and cruelty But by the sparing-use of outward Comforts and refusing to gratifie the inordinate desires of the flesh Some such severities as going naked c. some Quakers have also espoused but this is not through the Spirit to mortifie c. These means of mens devising do but cherish Self-righteousness and Pride Satan is not so easie as to be beaten or buffeted out were he to preach he would preach such Doctrine as this and prescribe such Methods witness some Pagans who in these have out-gone Papists A 3d false way of Mortification is that of the Antinomians who place it in the want or suppressing of all challenges of inward sense and trouble for sin these they cry down as Legal and the ground of this is another no less Error viz. That what is sin in others is none in them suppose even gross outward wickedness But our Lord came to redeem Sinners not sin He justifies our persons not our sins this were the way to vivifie sin and to mortify holiness Sure David knew not then what mortification meant Psal 51.3 But I will not rake into the ashes of this I hope buried Error The 4th false way of Mortification is that which lies in refraining from ourward impieties whereas the first motions of sin if not consented to are pleaded not to be sin Thus Papists and Quakers for these last have espoused this among other Popish Errours and if they fall not into gross impieties they blasphemously father them upon the holy Spirit But are not the first motions the deeds of the body do they not flow from some evil principle or habit in the Soul if they do they are to be mortified if you say we mortifie them when we consent not to them I answer Mortification imports more even the extirpation and as much as may be the supression of them for their very being in the Soul is irksome to the godly man the new creature cannot bear them Rom. 7.24 25 and were it not for Christ we should be condemned for them Chap. 8.1 They foolishly tell us that these motions are from Satan James tells us they are from a mans own lust Chap. 1.14 Our Lord says They
are from the evil treasure of the heart Luke 6.45 so that they are plainly the deeds of the Body But hence we see what friends these people are to inward holiness and that the perfection they boast of is but a Cheat even suppose they were altogether free of outward acts of sin which yet they are too blind and credulous that believe it A 5th false way of Mortification is the laying sin asleep Now a sleeping man looks as if he were dead so does sin till upon some occasion it be awaken'd yea and it grows thus stronger than before Saul one would think had now overcome his wicked malice when he cryes out My son David thou art more righteous than I but it grew upon him and soon broke forth with more violence It may be that for want of opportunity of a temptation or provocation thou mayst think thy corruption mortify'd when its only like waters bound up or like fire under the ashes A 6th false way is the letting of sin die alone or of its self as youthful lusts vanity prodigality revenge c. Either sin kills thee or thou must kill it but when it dies alone it 's an evidence that it has undone thee and now like a victorious Champion it dies in peace on its bed and is not vanquished by thee O Sinner shall thine Enemy die in peace wilt thou not pursue it to death and be avenged on it for thy two eyes for thy two hands c. for all the miseries sorrows and woes that it has wrought thee This is a sort of natural and necessary mortification arising from impotency to sin and to fulfil the lusts of the flesh Children have no passions for Treasures Houses and Lands c. yet that is not mortification there is a living seed of sin there There is as much Fire virtually in every bit of flint as would burn a City and there 's as much sin in seed in every Infant as would set on fire the World So in the aged all the actings of the man are blunted that which Barzillai says of himself may be in the letter of it truly said of some that have not mortified the deeds of the body 2 Sam. 19.35 There may be some deadness of actual lusts yet Original sin lives as the root of the Tree is fresh when leaves and fruit fail in the Winter yea it may be when the stock above ground may be either cut or rotted for the Soul is the chief seat of sin and it never waxes old Hence Sins that are more special are often ripest in old age so that the conversion of an old person is harder and rarer and for bodily sins if the case be altered it 's from no change upon the soul yea nor is sin gone out of the body but as Flint or Steel have Fire virtually in them even when beaten into dust though you cannot now strike it out of them So there is sin in the very dust of Sinners for they go to their grave with their bones full of it and that not only in respect of the guilt thereof 7. There 's another sort of counterfeit Mortification which is more occasional and transient The sight of a dying dear Friend or an occasion of some great loss by Sea or Land the sudden fall of some great man the burning of a stately House or City the pain and sickness the miserable and ignominous end of some Sinner suppose some unclean wretch these often excite abhorrence of sin some contempt of the World how many unmortified souls can on such occasions talk of the vanity of the World and the mischief of sin And such may even die with these or the like words in their mouth O what is man he is like water spilt upon the ground O this vain vexatious World I would not live again for a Kings Crown Sore trials especially of long continuance breed a weariness of the World and a sort of carelesness of worldly concerns which is often mistaken for Mortification Sometimes this transient mortification comes from some common Convictions from some awaking work which is ordinarily accompanied with some restraining-grace Judas can now despise his thirty pieces of Silver when the smell of Hell comes up into a mans nostrils it will make him throw away his Idols When Achan is to be stoned he thinks not much of his wedg of Gold when under Convictions Sin often couches and contracts its self and when these are over it dilates its self None of these occasions are fit seasons for men to make a Judgment of their mortification So much for the counterfeits of Mortification Amongst which I might have reckoned that which naturally arises from mens Complexion by reason whereof some are more meek temperate chaste than others which when set off by Wit and Learning looks very like Mortification Come we now then to shew what it is having seen what it is not Mortification may be either actively or passively considered considered actively it is a work of the Spirit whereby the Soul strives not only to beat down the motions and stirrings of every sin but endeavours to destroy the body of it and to slay it in the root thereof which in some measure every Believer does effect Mortification passively considered lies in a deadness of the whole Man in order to things forbidden and in some sense also to things lawful the Soul is taken off from sinful Objects and from inordinate appetite of lawful Objects Now to speak to it in both these Considerations Mortification actively considered it lies not in unconstant uneven and flashy fits of indignation and opposition against some sin as some take vengeance upon some sins and spare their prime lust as Saul did the King of the Amalekites but it 's a constant and daily warring of the Soul against great and small especially against our Idol-lusts wherein the man not only endeavours to destroy the love of sin and delight in it but the very being of it And this leads us to the second thing proposed the consideration of the object of Mortification actively considered And this is first and chiefly the sin of our Nature Paul calls it a Body of Death Rom. 7.24 It was this that Paul had most in his Eye it was this that laid him low it was the sight of Original Sin especially that first slew him Ver. 9. And after all his Attainments it 's this that keeps him humble and O how blind are they that see not this Body and no man that sees it but will say of any sin Am I a Dog to commit this It will keep a man upon his Watch-Tower and help to maintain a holy fear and diffidence of self and dependance on Grace It it right convictions of this that advances the Souls esteem of Christ of his redemption and of free grace yea of the all-sufficiency of grace O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me as if he had said If ever grace or strength