this vessel have a good gale of wind and the other be becalmed and have only the strength of the marriners to put it forward by Poles and Oars you will not marvel if that which set out last and hath the longest way to go be first at the intended haven leaving the other behind basking and tossing in the waves possibly till she be foundred or wrackt through a great storm arising Use 3. Let this cause you to magnifie the Gospel the Doctrine of Christ because this tells you how you shall slay your worst most hurtful deadly and powerful enemies and lay them dead at your feet The Law that discovers sin Rom. 7.7 I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said thou shalt not covet The Law also denounceth a sore curse to them who walk after their lusts but the Law telleth us not of a remedy how we shall have help against them it is the Gospel that teacheth us to mortifie the deeds of sin through the spirit The meer light of nature saith of many sins they must be mortified but is at a stand as to this the only way for the mortification of them hence those great Moralists and wise Philosophers who speak much against many impieties and give divers rules good in their place for the getting rid of them yet are silent in this some of those wise men gave strange rules for the mortifying of lust as that of Crates famish thy self noting that it was not feasable and all their precepts are ineffectual for the real destroying any lust therefore the best of those men are noted to have lived under the dominion of some destroying corruption covetousness ambition envy or such like They write of one Democritus he put out his eyes because he could not look without lusting but did that mortifie his sin No though his eyes were out his corruption continued still within There are two great things only to be known by the Gospel the one is how we may have peace with God be accepted of him and justified in his sight the Gospel only holds forth justifying righteousness the other is this I am now upon how we may get our sins destroyed and so our hearts purified Vse 4. You may make use of this truth by way of tryal whether you have the spirit of Christ in you or no The greatest question in the world is whether you are in Christ Jesus the Answer to that is he that hath not the spirit of Christ as the Apostle saith is none of his but he that hath the spirit of Christ in him is in Christ And if you would know whether the spirit of Christ be in you this is one answer if it be in you it works in you it helps and assists you and that in mortifying your sins Have your sins deadly wounds is there any thing done really and considerably towards the ruining them If so then you have the spirit of Christ in you because this is to be done only through the spirit Vse 5. Adore the Lord and greatly praise him that he is pleased not only to acquaint us with the necessity of mortifying the deeds of sin but also to direct us how we shall do it and that in such a way as this through his own spirit God might have told us of the desert of our sins the danger of living in them and what would follow thereupon and so left us to pine away in them which had been a most woeful doleful case But behold the riches of his grace he shews us a way in the Gospel both for our attaining pardon of our transgressions and victory over all our corruptions It may be objected Alas what is this that we hear we must mortifie our sins through the spirit we may hear of this as many do and yet be far enough from being freed from the power of our sins I answer true no doubt many hear of this who yet continue to live after the flesh and so dye eternally having not one of all their lusts destroyed But then it is their own fault because they follow not the Counsel of God in his Word it is the love and goodness of a friend if be tell you a soveraign effectual remedy for any mortal Disease under which you labour though at length you dye thereof because you will not use the means he prescribes or directs you to So is it the grace of God that he declares to us how our sins may be killed and our souls saved though many hear thereof and yet dye in their sins because they take not the good counsel given them It may be again objected is the spirit at our command can we mortifie our sins through it if we will I answer Though the spirit be not at our command it is at our entreaty so be it we heartily seek it as we are directed which how it is will after be shewn So that this truth leaves all those utterly in excusable who still live in their sins after their hearing it and it will aggravate their condemnation in that though they heard from the Word of God how they should destroy their lusts they continued still enslaved by them and lived under the power of them all their dayes Yet is this Doctrine a great discovery of the grace of God to all men in general to whom the Gospel is published Especially doth this speak the grace of God to you who are in Christ for he hath already actually given you his spirit and all that he now requireth of you is that you improve it and make use of it as of a great and most Noble friend who is able and ready at all times upon all occasions to help you Know therefore the Lord your God is full of grace towards you He indeed calls you to great work to warring and fighting against your strong corruptions from which if he pleased he could easily suddenly altogether perfectly deliver you while here as he will hereafter This may seem hard and seem to speak some want of fatherly love and kindness but think not so seeing he hath given you an all sufficient helper fully answerable to the greatness of the work which he puts you upon Use 6. Let the sixth use be to convince all such of great error who think they can mortifie their sins of themselves or that any thing they can do can be effectual to the mortification thereof without the spirit It is one of the grand errors of the Antichristian party to think that their vows fastings penance c. can mortifie sin and they give themselves divers of them to severe courses and put others on to such and such things as effectual means to slay their lusts without looking after the spirit of Christ for it's assistance Wherein too too many who oppose Popery are too like to Papists as in other things for are there not many who hearing the absolute necessity of having their sins
exhortation Rom. 11.20 be not high minded but fear he adds v. 21 22. if God spared not the natural broaches take heed lest he spare not thee behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them that fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off As a Mother leading her little Child it goes towards the fire or water and though she hold it fast sure that it shall not fall in yet to make it careful she saith take heed if you fall into the fire you 'l be burn't if into the water you 'l be drowned so that we may not be secure and careless and self confident we have divers such If 's in Scripture spoken to Gods Children Thirdly True Believers may have and too oft have through compliance with the Flesh great falls though they live not after the Flesh they act much according to it therefore to cause them to maintain a continual sight against the Flesh and to keep at the farthest distance from it and to quicken them to repentance when they have turned aside therefore are they to be put in mind what an enemy the Flesh is even such that if they do live after it they shall dye eternally and so far as they act according to it they do dye spiritually For such reasons as these the Apostle speaks that Heb. 10.26 If we sin wilfully he faith not you but we if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment c. that is even for us if we so sin It may be objected is this a sit and proper argument to work upon true Believers to keep them from the wayes of the flesh or to bring them to repentance when they are seduced thereby should not such rather have other things Preached to them A. Other things should be Preached and that chiefly as the death of Christ love and grace of God c. but this also ye shall dye if c. all considerations are needful in this world to keep us awake God thought it a proper and fit argument to lay before Adam when he had no Flesh no corruption in him in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye why then is it not a proper and fit argument to be propounded to those who have much sin remaining in them though they being in Christ are not under that Covenant under which Adam was and cannot fall as he did yet is this argument rather more suitable to them than to Adam even the argument of death in this respect because they have much Flesh in them which both in it self deserves death and enclines them or moves them to walk in the wayes thereof sweet arguments may more take with the renewed part but this may more curb remaining Corruption and work upon the heart when in a fearless careless frame and if the soul be in never so good a frame to hear that they who live after the Flesh shall dye may stir it up to thankfulness that through and in Christ it is secure and the more thankful the more obedient shall we be to God If any say that grace most works upon them I answer the more any are drawn by Grace the less do they need to be driven by this truth yet even this truth minds us of and sets forth to us the grace of God in that but for it we had all lived after the flesh and there is love in this very truth that the Lord is thus pleased to warn us It may again be said but is this right to avoid or turn from the wayes of the Flash because they bring to death A. We are bound to believe all the word of God and it 's the nature of true faith to Believe all believing all things saith the Apostle that are written in the Law and the Prophets Acts 24.14 therefore all Scripture truth is to be Preached and whatever we do in faith from true faith is as so well done and acceptable to God as Noah's building an Ark because through faith he was moved with fear c. besides death implyes separation from God and this is very good it is love to God to avoid sin that by it we may not be separated from him Application Use 1. Whether do you or any of you live after the Flesh It is as great a question as whether you shall dye Be the more inquisitive each one as to himself because multitudes are strangely mistaken some seem as if they did live after the flesh yet really before God they do not 2 Cor 10.2 I beseech you that I may not be bold with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh the Apostles themselves seemed to some so to walk yet were they far from so walking On the other hand there are and that many more who make a shew as if they did not live after the flesh yet in truth after it do they live Thus men also mistake concerning themselves thinking that of themselves which is contrary to truth It 's like if the question were put in the general to any of you whether think you not there are some here present who live after the Flesh you would every one say if you should speak your thoughts yes some here do so live or I fear there are some whose life is such but let every one be ask'd as to his own particular probably he would say I do not or I hope I do not live after the Flesh I beseech you Brethren deceive not your selves for if you do thus live whether you think so or no of your selves you will find this true that ye shall dye I would be helpful to you in this enquiry for which purpose I shall briefly offer divers things to your serious thoughts to be made use of in self examination I say self examination for you know it 's not that God requires of you nor that which concerns you or not so much to try others as each one himself and her self 1. Whoever hath not had a great change in his heart a mighty turn he doth live after the Flesh however he may seem to live for all by nature are dead in their sins and the uncircumcision of their Flesh Col. 2.13 all naturally are born of Flesh and are Flesh having no good thing in them and if the tree be bad the fruit cannot but be bad also if any are dead in the Uncircumcision of their flesh it 's certain they live after it Secondly To live in the doing of any of the works of the Flesh though it be but in some one or two of them is to live after the Flesh Q. What are the works of the Flesh A. They are very many and they are all or most of them very manifest as the Apostle tells us Gal. 5.19 The
obedience to the Flesh to pass over those things it prohibits as it is to do what it moves you to Sixthly They live after the Flesh who are lively in sinning and that ordinarily all sin but all are not lively in sinning when any are alive in the doing of evil as in their element they sin with liveliness these are like to dye especially if they are lively in sinning and they use to be as without life lifeless in serving God they are lively in speaking idely vainly but dead hearted in all discourses about spiritual matters lively in reproaching revileing back-biting but dead hearted in reproving counselling exhorting according to rule lively in murmuring repining but dead hearted in praying to and praising God lively in hearkning to evil or vanity swift to hear what 's foolish and sinful but dead slow in hearing the things of God and of salvation ready to evil and backward to good works Tit. 1. last to every good work reprobate yea if a man be lively in worldly affairs outward businesses and as without life in spiritual services and this be a man's daily or ordinary temper he lives after the Flesh Seventhly They live after the flesh most assuredly who boast glory in the flesh or any works of the flesh Phil. 3 19. they glory in their shame they mind earthly things their end is destruction They glory in what they have got of the world thus much they have so and so rich they are so they thrive in their trade which is their shame considering that though they gain much outwardly they being worldly persons gain nothing spiritually while they are rich towards men they are poor towards God they thrive in their earthly but not in their heavenly trade or else because that they gain of the world is got unjustly by bribery by extortion oppression or some wayes of covetousness therefore it is their shame and they glorying be it in their words or thoughts with their mouth or their heart or both they do glory in their shame whoever glorieth in any sin or in any thing won or attained by sin as so glorying it is in his shame Some they glory in their excessive drinking other 's in their swearing others in their over reaching some in their lewdness and filthiness others in their persecuting others in their Idolatrous or superstitious wayes Gal. last 12.13 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the Flesh they constrain you to be circumcised only least they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the Law but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your Flesh When they had constrained others to be circumcised which was their great sin then they gloried in it How frequent is this for men to sin to cause others to sin to oppose good to hinder the work of God to further evil to do mischief and when they have done they glory in it Let all such expect death Eighthly They live after the Flesh who live after a fleshly rule there are divers rules the Flesh teacheth men to live according to viz their own will imagination or phansie the pleasing bodily senses custom example of men these with other are the rules that the flesh teacheth men to live by yea education it self though not very bad in it self or Conscience it self is a fleshly rule or any other thing if look'd to and followed without respect to the Word of God without consideration of or regard to the Divine Law If then any thing be your rule unless with an eye and insubordination to the will of God revealed in his Word you live after the flesh for that which gives you your copy is your Teacher Master that which gives you your rule is your Lord Gal. 6.16 Peace happiness is only for them who walk according to this rule that is the rule of Scripture of God in this Word Isa 8.20 If they speak not so if they live not according to the Word this law and testimony of God It is because there is no light in them the flesh reigns in them which is darkness in which there 's no true light at all Ninthly They live after the Flesh who do what they do though in it self good from carnal fleshly principles to a carnal fleshly end such as the principles are from which we act and such as the end is to which we live such is our life What are fleshly principles A. They are fear of Man or tear of God which is not accompanied with and rooted in love pride of heart love of money love of the praise of men if a man be acted by such like principles if he allow them then he lives after the Flesh Or if a man's end be fleshly his aim in what he doth be taken by the direction of the flesh as if it be meer self if outward good honour esteem with men worldly gain or barely to quiet Conscience if our design be for the attainment of such things and not to honour God and please him then though we abound in good duties religious performances yet are we livers after the Flesh before God as really as they who live in the most abominable Lusts of the Flesh For the flesh hath the command and government of our hearts if our principle and end in acting be of and from the flesh though the thing in it self considered which we do be contrary to the Flesh yet is it thereby served and pleased Tenthly They live after the flesh who upon choice live with those who are in the flesh according to the company a man chooseth such is his heart such his life though he do not all things which they do whom he makes his Companions yet in the general he lives after the same manner when was it that Nebuchadnezar accompanied with the beasts then when he was like them void of understanding A companion of Fools saith Solomon shall be deflroyed why because he is a Fool Prov. 13.20 and will be so more and more very sojourning with the ungodly Psal 120.5 in Mesech in the Tents of Kedar was as death to the Psalmist why because they and he lived a contrary life How can two walk together unless they are agreed Amos 3.3 that Italian Proverb hath truth in it tell me where thou goest that is what company thou keepest and I 'le tell thee what thou doest to be intimate as one saith with sinners is to intimate you are sinners Lastly Whoever lives not after the spirit doth live after the flesh Rom. 8.1 there 's no condemnation to them who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit there 's no middle between these two when any cease living after the flesh they begin to live after the spirit when any come from under the power and dominion of corruption they do come under the power and dominion of grace holiness and the spirit of God either therefore the spirit of grace rules
are the greatest enemies of all to thy sin and they are the best friends of all to thy soul therefore the more any one is a friend to thy sin the worse enemy he is to thy soul and the more any one is an enemy to thy sin the better friend he is to thy soul do thou so account be so perswaded this will help to the mortifying thy sin for it will keep thine ear open to reproof and make way for the sinking of wholsom words into thine heart whereas if thou thinkest he that hates thy sin hates thee which is too ordinary and he that flatters and humors thee in thy evil affections and so is a friend to them loves thee this will keep thy sin alive and nourish it greatly for it will cause thee to give ear to those things that will feed thy corruption Much more might have been said and more may be spoken afterward let thus much suffice at present Sermon 4. Q. 4. WHy is it a necessary duty to mortifie the deeds of the body A. It is most manifest that this is a necessary duty that there is an Absolute necessity lying upon us all and upon me and thee every one of you not only because it is commanded but it is necessary in it self and for our own good It is necessary that we may escape death for if we do not mortifie the deeds of the flesh we shall live after the flesh and so dye at last They say a Crocodile and a man seldom meet but one of them dyeth for it if the man kill not the Crocodile the Crocodile will kill the man This is true of every deed of the body of sin either a man must kill it or he will be killed by it kill or be killed is most true as to all sin The words I am upon teach this is necessary to life and that must be if it be necessary to the escaping death But to evince this by some particulars First Is it not necessary that a deadly disease be mortified you know it is it will mortifie if it be not mortified but sin is the disease of the soul and it 's deadly as the Apostle James saith when it 's finished it brings forth death and as the Apostle Paul saith it brings forth fruit unto death No disease whatever more deadly to the body than every unmortified deed of the flesh is to the soul a bodily disease hurts not the soul but an unmortified lust hurts soul and body with the greatest hurt is it not necessary then to be mortified or is it not necessary that a mettal enemy that 's near a man be slain if possible there being no other way to avoid death by his hands but to lay him dead at ones feet much more is it necessary to destroy our sins there being no other way to escape death by them or no way effectual without this and no enemy hurtful as our lusts unsubdued are It is indeed only sin unmortified that can do us any hurt real or abiding hurt the world could not mischief us Satan could not prejudice us were all our lusts laid dead as they should be therefore well said one of the Martyrs in a letter to his Wife be alwayes an enemy to the world and to the Devil but especially to your own flesh your own corruption But we lye open to the malice of all enemies if any sin be suffered to live in us a lust unmortified is as an open door to let Satan into our souls it gives him hold of us it is as dry tinder whereby we may presently be set on fire or as a Barrel of Gun-powder as I may say within us whereby he may come and blow us up If we mortifie our sins then do we mortifie the world and Satan in their power over us but if we do not then will the world be our Master and Satan will be Lord over us Secondly Is it not necessary that we love God and Christ and his Commandments and our own souls and one another but we love none of these unless we mortifie the deeds of the body we love not God because he hates those Deeds he is dishonored by them offended and provoked and his Spirit is grieved and quenched thereby Jam. 4.4 the friendship of the world is enmity to God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God so as to every deed of the flesh the friendship thereof is enmity to God whosoever therefore is a friend thereof is an enemy of God Nor do we love Christ because the deeds of the body put him to death and are quite contrary to the deeds which he did If ye love me saith Christ keep my Commandments and if we keep his Commandments we must needs break the Commandments of sin and so mortifie the deeds of the body Nor do we love the Commandments of God and Christ because all sinful deeds are directly opposite thereto and this is one of the Lords Commandments that we mortifie our sins yea every Commandment implyes this in that we can keep no Command truely heartily unless our lusts are mortified Nor do we love our own souls because all the deeds of the body war against it and are destructive to it to let sin live quietly in us is too plainly to hate our souls for it is to give entertainment to the enemy the worst enemy of them Prov. 29.24 he that is partner with a Thief hateth his own soul he heareth cursing and bewrayeth it not so doth he hate his own soul who hath this and that lust stirring in him and destroyeth it not Nor do we love or can we love one another in truth for true love only groweth in a pure heart hence it 's said 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently but no heart purity except the corruptions of the heart be slain Jam. 4.1 from whence come wars and fightings among you he meaneth quarrels strifes and contentions which are caused by want of love come they not saith he even of your lusts that war in your members Yes thence it 's sure they come there would be no wars nor fightings of any kind but for the lusts that are in men and whence is it that mens lusts do cause any such things but because they are not mortified Thirdly Let me ask is it not necessary that we hate our corruptions either we must hate them or we shall love them but we do not hate them in good earnest with a right hatred except we seek the mortification of them no hatred of sin is true and right which is not deadly which doth not carry us forth in endeavours to trample it dead under our feet to crucifie it and let out it's heart blood As when Cain hated his brother he kill'd him all heart hatred inclines a man to
drink in the comfort of it abundantly did I know it belongs to me but I fear whether I do truely mortifie my sin through the spirit or no. I answer the Apostle spake this by the Spirit which had never moved him so to speak had it not been a thing knowable it 's manifest this may be known and questionless they who have the help of the Spirit in mortifying their sin may if they have not have the testimony of it that they so do who helping his friend in any great work is unwilling he should know it A few things I shall propound over and above what you have heard that may be somewhat helpful to you in your knowing this First Is your eye much upon your sin is it much in your thoughts especially your chief iniquity have you many thoughts of that is your mind much exercised upon it Ps 51.3 my sin is ever before me When a man sights against an enemy he keeps him in his eye looks stedfastly on him so he that is bent upon the mortifying his sin hath his thoughts much on it not as some to be pleased therewith but so as to grieve for it to sigh because of it and to consider what he should do for the preventing and destroying it Secondly Doth the breaking forth of sin and your being at any time mastered hy it sadden your hearts as really and more than affliction sickness causeth sadness Neh. 2.2 Why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick so doth other affliction but nothing saddeneth one who is intent and heartily engaged in war so much as the prevailing of the enemy if that question should be put to a gracious person why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick nor in other great affliction he could oft answer it is because of my sin that hath prevailed against me though my body be not sick my soul which is worse alas that is sick through the prevalency of this or that iniquity The Apostle Paul upon occasion gives us a large relation concerning his exceeding great sufferings but saith not because of them but because of his sin O wretched man that I am Now can you say the breaking forth of worldliness troubles me more than the loss of the world the prevailing of pride grieveth me more than contempt and disgrace my neglecting to shew love and kindness to others afflicteth me as really as much and yet more than others not shewing love and kindness to me the discontentment of my Spirit lyeth heavier upon me than any worldly disappointment and the like this is a good demonstration that you mortifie your sin through the Spirit and the more if you can say the very stirring and moving of sin in you sadneth you heart though it do not outwardly shew it self and is known to none but God alone Thirdly The more sin is mortified in any are they the dearer to you or the more you perceive any are careful and watchful against sin doth your heart go forth the more in love and affection to them It may be the less this or that sin appeareth in another which is contrary to your temper humour or interest the more you may love him and yet be under the power of your sin but if your affection be drawn out to others according as you perceive them to be engaged against all their sin this speaks well and the sign is the clearer if you do in your hearts esteem and rejoyce in such who have got a greater conquest over their sin than you have yet attained to Fourthly It is a hopeful evidence if you have much tenderness towards such who are strugling and striving against their sin when you see them sometimes foiled thereby yet it appearing that they do wrestle against their sin your hearts are full of pitty towards them you have a tender respect to them and bear them upon your hearts before God When any are seen to be favourers of their sin and manifest that they nourish or countenance a lust then your hearts are offended and rise against them upon that account but for those who are enemies to their sin these you compassionate this speaks you know what it is to fight against sin and that the Spirit acts you therein Again it is a good mark if you have strong breathings after the motions of the Spirit if you long much for its moving in ordinances and that in order to the destroying your corruptions O that the holy mighty Spirit would move and work in this and the other duty that my sin may have some deadly blow thereby and it this be one principall thing you look at in all your duties and waiting on God in Ordinances that through the Spirit your iniquities may be mortified I shall now only give a short answer to three Objections and conclude this subject and shut up this Text. Obj. 1. Some sincere heart may object were my sin quite subdued I should not doubt but wo is me it liveth still Ans We read Heb. 11.17 Abraham offered Isaac yea it is there repeated he offered up his only begotten son yet his son lived still How so because in his will he did actually offer him at God's command and went a great way in offering him he took his son bound him and having built an Altar and laid on wood he laid his son thereon and took his knife in his hand and had gone farther had not God stopt him So if thy heart be indeed set against sin and they will thy purpose and resolution be utterly to slay thy sin and thou goest as far as ever thou canst therein though as yet it have life thy sin may be said to be mortified yea altogether so as to thy will thy desire and purpose Obj. 2. I have a long time laboured against this and that sin yet doth it oft get the mastery of me it hath much life much livelinesse and strength after years strugling against it had I the spirit helping me sure I should before this have gotten if not a perfect yet a greater victory over my sin Ans When an enemy prevails frequently greatly and holds out long very long it 's more honour to him that continues fighting against him when at last conquereth that his enemy and this gives good hope the spirit doth help thee that thou hast so long wrestled against thy corruption and yet holdest on thou faintest nor but maintainest the fight sighing crying out against it Obj. 3. But I see that some have got much more ground upon their sin and have it more under than I have though they began the fight a good while after me Ans It 's good to be lowly minded to think others better than thy self but perhaps their sin whom thou thinkest of may have more strength than thou knowest or though one fin be lesse in them than in thee another may be lesse in thee than in them or thou mayest have done much more against thy sin than they though it break forth more in thee yea thou mayest in a great degree have mortified thy sin and some who seem to have out gone thee in mortification have done nothing in it to purpose either because thy temptations are stronger or thy disadvantage greater through naturall weaknesse badnesse of constitution bodily distemper want of such education or some other cause Many a man whose sin never had one wound or stroke towards it's death never sined to appearance outwardly so much as Lot Noah David Jonah Peter and others in whom sin was truly mortified Some ground through it's natural quality or because more dunged or better watered may have it's weeds oft cut down and yet at times have more than another piece of ground which was never weeded at all The not knowing or not considering such things makes some go blessing themselves to Hell and others to go trembling to Heaven and causeth divers to become exceeding guilty by their self conceitednesse and proud censoâ—iousnesse However sincerity in this as in all things is that God accepts though the more it be done the better For a Conclusion of all Praise the Lord greatly ye upright in heart Rev. 5 8. We read The 24 Elders have every one of them Harps and Golden Viols full of Odours which are the Prayers of Saints teaching us that Saints are not only much in praying but much in praising also they have every one Harps and V. 9. they sung a new song Take you your Harps and sing a new song give great glory to God For what you may say for these five things First Bless God for Christ who hath obtained and as your Head received the Spirit for you Second Bless God for his Covenant wherein he hath promised his Spirit to you and your interest therein as also in Christs Third Bless God for the Gospell which teacheth you this use of the Spirit to mortifie your sins through it this excellent direction and only effectuall means for the destroying all your lusts Fourth Bless God that he hath given you his Spirit and that you do at least many times feel it helping you against your iniquities and that you have begun to destroy them through it Last Bless God for the promise of Life and that you have this Scripture evidence and certain assurance that you shall live