naturall or violent death Christians you cannot be too jealous too suspicious of your selves in a matter of so great consequence as this Too credulous you may easily be too cautelous ye cannot And therefore if some sins be dead within you impannell a Jury call a Coroners enquest upon them in your own souls and make enquiry how they came by their death Whether they died a violent or a naturall death Search what wounds they have received and whether they were deadly wounds or no. Enquire what weapon it was that slew them whether the Sword of the Spirit that two edged Sword the Word of God What purposes what resolutions have been taken up and levelled against them What prayers and tears have been spent upon them If you find not these signes you may give in your verdict that they died a natural death which is no true Mortification in as much as it doth not carry the similitude of the death of Christ in this particular which was a violent death What to be done when some sins are dead alone Quest But here happily some may say In this case what shall wee do finding our sins to be dead alone in what way shall we now attain unto true Mortification Ans 1. To this I shall answer in a word 1. Bury them out of sight 1. If they be dead then bury them Bury them out of the sight of God and out of the sight of your consciences and that by suing forth the pardon of them in the Name of Christ never resting untill God hath been pleased to cast in a Quietus est into your bosomes assuring you that as they are dead to you so they are dead to him and shall never rise up in judgement against you If they be dead bestow your prayers upon them for the covering of them So doth David upon the sins of his youth which he desireth God not to remember Remember not the sins of my youth Psal 25.7 Bury them 2 2. Cast stones upon their graves And bury them as the use is to bury those whom we call Felones de se those who are their own executioners make away themselves Drive a stake through them and cast stones upon their graves Shew your detestation of them after they are dead If your sins be dead already so as you cannot take vengeance on them as you desire yet deal with them as the souldiers dealt with our Saviour John 19.32 33 34. who when they came and found that he was already dead and so had prevented their intentions in breaking of his legs according as the custome was they pierced his side and let out his heart blood to make him sure for reviving again Or as those enraged persecuters in the Marian dayes dealt with that man of God that renowned Confessour Martin Bucer who being long before dead and buried and so out of the reach of their malice they took up his bones and burnt them taking vengeance as they thought upon his Relicks After the like manner let aged sinners deal with their sins Are they dead by the course of nature and so have prevented your mortifying of them your breaking of their bones yet pierce the pericardium of your own souls pierce your own hearts by true and unfeigned repentance for them letting out the life blood of them working your hearts to an utter abhorrence and detestation of them making them sure for ever reviving again And take vengeance upon the relicks the remainders of them You are dead to such or such a sin as touching the outward act never rest till you be dead to it also as touching the inward affection till you have brought your hearts to this frame and temper that you cannot think of the sins of your youth without abhorrence and loathing of them and your selves for them Thus deal with those sins that are dead already 3. Fall upon those which are alive 3. As for those which are yet alive fall upon them speedily bringing them forth to execution There is no naturall man but hath some sin or other still ruling and reigning in him As in an aged sinner in whom many other sins are dead yet it may be covetousnesse liveth for that sin many times begins to live when many other sins begin to die or malice liveth and reigneth in him c. Now if you would be avenged of your sins execute the Survivour As in a treasonable conspiracy which is not detected till long after the plotting and acting of it the surviving traitour suffereth for all the rest So let it be here Your sins have conspired against you sought your ruine and destruction all your dayes This it may be hath been hid from you you have not been aware of it and so have walked upon the pits brink the brink of hell not fearing any thing and so let your sins alone But now arise for the Philistins are upon you Behold the traitours your lusts they are in your bosome Thereof happily some are dead but bring forth the Survivours let them suffer for the rest let not them also go in peace to their graves If covetousnesse or malice or any other sin be yet alive make sure it die a violent death This will onely minister comfort unto you that you are truely mortified persons truely dead unto sin when you are in this particular made conformable to Christ in his death when your sins die a voluntary but withall a violent death And what I say unto you The same counsell given to all let me speak it unto all All that hear me this day be they old or young let me speak unto you concerning your sins as Gideon once said to his son Jether concerning the two captivated Princes of Midian Zeba and Zalmunnah Judg. 8.20 Vp and slay them Or as Elijah to the men of Israel concerning the Idolatrous Priests and Prophets of Baal 1 King 18.40 Take them and let not one of them escape You can never have any true comfort or safety untill your sins have received their death's wound And therfore fall upon them and let them not die alone I remember what a true Christian Virago Acts and Monuments a good woman once wrote to that bloody Bonner Bishop of London concerning the Martyrs which he starved in prison that it would be more for his honour to bring them to the stake when they were fat and well liking then to starve them and let them die alone in the prison Let me apply this counsell of hers to my present purpose and tell every one that heareth me this day that it will be more for your honour and comfort to bring forth these true traitours your sins your lusts I mean to bring them to the stake to execution and put them to death then to let them pine and languish and be starved in the prisons of your bodies and so to die alone Herein is the honour and glory of a young man when he can subdue and mortifie
as they alienate the soul from God And therefore lay them aside This is the Condition of the Covenant on our parts for which this our blessed Mediatour as our surety hath undertaken viz. that we shall deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts c As ever we desire then to be made partakers of the benefit of this his Mediation see that we performe this Condition Non-performance of the Condition nullifies the Covenant The non-performance of this Condition will make the death of Christ to be of none-effect to us So long as a Rebell continues in actuall Rebellion against his Prince whatever Treaties or overtures of Reconciliation there have been it maketh them all voide rendring him uncapable of his Soveraignes grace and favour So long as a poor sinner standeth it out against God and will not be reconciled with him he cannot expect that God should be reconciled to him No Men must first be turned from the power of Sathan unto God before they can receive remission of sinnes Acts 26.18 See then that in this way we be all of us reconciled unto God that our hearts be reconciled to him so as not willingly to offend or provoke him but to love him and to cleave unto him with full purpose of heart desiring to walke before him in all well pleasing This is that as I said which this our Mediatour in order to our Reconciliation with God hath undertaken that we shall do Let not us offer that wrong to our Surety as to violate the Covenant for performance whereof he stands ingaged Thus be we reconciled unto God 2. And being thus Reconciled 2. Come unto God by and through this Mediator who is now Come we unto him Seeing then we have such an High-Priest let us come boldly to the throne of grace Hebrews 4.14 16. Seeing that we have such a Mediatour make use of his Mediation coming unto God by him Such a Mediator I say What can be required in a Mediatour that is not to be found in him 1. He is a faithfull Mediatour 1 A faithfull Mediatour Hee that sate upon the white horse Revelations 19.11 was called faithfull and true Such is Jesus Christ the righteous Judge and triumphant Conquerour in all his Relations A faithfull witnesse Revelations 1 5. and 3.14 A faithfull High-Priest Hebrews 2.17 And so a faithfull Mediator dealing faithfully betwixt both parties God and Man Being faithfull in things pertaining to God as the Apostle there hath it Hebrews 2.17 viz. in executing his will and satisfying his Justice And faithfull in things pertaining to men dealing effectually with his Father on their behalf not seeking himself This do false and faithlesse Mediatours sometimes being betrusted to intercede for others they speak one word for them and two for themselves seeking themselves in their Mediations But so did not so doth not this our Mediatour In this his Mediation emptying himselfe and laying aside his own interest he sought the good and benefit of his Elect. As Paul saith of himself that in his Ministeriall transactions amongst the Churches he sought not theirs but them 2 Corinthians 12.14 a true patterne for all the Ministers of the Gospel who are not to seek the goods but the good of the people committed to them So did the Lord Jesus In all his transactions as Mediator he seeketh not ours but us not any benefit to himselfe Papists whil'st they contend so eagerly for Christs meriting for himself they do therein seem not a little to disparage this work of his Mediatorship but our Reconciliation and salvation 2 A Mercifull Mediatour 2. And 2ly a Mercifull Mediatour So the Apostle putteth them together in the place forenamed Hebrews 2.17 A mercifull and faithfull High-Priest A mercifull and pitifull Mediatour One that having in his humane nature had experience of our Afflictions our Tentations is ready to succour those which are tempted One that is soon touched with the feeling of our infirmities Such a Mercifull Mediatour he shewed himselfe in the days of his flesh when he wept over Jerusalem upon which he had bestowed so much fruitlesse paines in attempting to gather the inhabitants thereof under the wings of his gracious government and mercifull protection Luk. 19.41 And such a Mediator he stil is having carried the same bowels to heaven with him A Mercifull Mediatour 3ly A potent and prevalent Mediatour 3 A potent and prevalent Mediatour Able to do much with his Father for his people With his Father Being gracious with him so he is This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased he can impetrate any thing at his hand Father I know that thou hearest me alwayes John 11.42 For his People He is able perfectly to save them which come unto God by him as the former Translation reads that Text Hebrews 7.25 To save them from the wrath of God to save them from their sinnes from the Guilt Terrour Power of them to supply all their wants to do for them above what they are able to ask or think A potent Mediatour able to performe what ever he hath undertaken whether for Man to God or for God to Man Thus hath the Lord herein laid help upon one that is Mighty as the Psalmist speaketh Psalme 89.19 putting this office of Mediatorship upon one that was able to go through with it A potent Mediatour being El Gibbor the mighty God Isa 9.6 4. And 4th a Perpetuall Mediatour 4 A perpetuall Mediatour This Man the Man Christ Jesus continueth ever Heb. 7.24 Ever a Mediatour And so continuing now he is able to save them to the uttermost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them ver 25. It is not with this our Mediator as with that Typicall Mediatour Joseph So long as he lived to intercede for his kindred it went well with them but when he was dead and there arose a new king which knew not Joseph then they went to wreck in their liberties estates lives It is otherwise with our Joseph our Jesus Hee liveth ever sitting continually at the right hand of God making Intercession for his people Hee is a permanent Mediator 5. And lastly a Present Mediator always at hand Absolom when he had a desire to be brought into his fathers presence his Mediator Joab was to seek and though sent for would not come at him 2 Sam. 14.29 It is not so with our Mediator the Lord Jesus he is ever at hand at the right hand of God so as they who would make use of him may know where to find him An Agent who lyeth Lidger in heaven ready to receive and present the suites the Petitions which his people shall at any time put into his hand So as by his means they may obtaine mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seasonable Succour sutable to their present necessities Now put all these together Such is this
entred those lists But there is a fatal yet Providential necessitie in it There must be Heresies 1 Cor. 11.16 such is Satan's malice and Man's corruption that in an ordinary way it cannot be expected that God's Field should be free from these tares And such is Gods just and wise dispensation to permit it to be so knowing how to extract good out of evill And seeing it must be so there is a like necessity incumbent upon the Ministers of God servants of that great Husbandman that they should have John 15.1 1 Cor. 3.9 an eye to them that they do not over-grow the good corn Upon this account it is that I have as occasion hath been offered underta-that work which our great Apostle the Dr. of the Gentiles reckons amongst those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those good works 2 Tim. 3.17 unto which the man of God should be throughly furnished Applying my self sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Reproof Engl. new Annot ver 16. viz. of Errors and false Doctrines which the Verse foregoing reckoneth as one of those four Cardinal uses for which the Scripture is profitable yet so as I have ever mainly intended those other Ministeriall services there mentioned of Doctrine Correction Instruction in Righteousnesse And to that end I have made choice of such portions of Scripture as I apprehended properly usefull for those purposes Among other I have singled out and now through a divine manuduction almost passed thorow this Chapter wherof the Text is a part with that fore-going Rom. 5. 6. The one of which professedly handles the Doctrine of Justification the other of Sanctification two main Pillars in the House of the Lord not unlike those in the Temple of Dagon Judg. 19.26 whereon the whole building stands The sum of the later of these you meet with in the Text held forth under a familiar but apt and elegant Metaphor serving as a vehiculum to convey this divine Mystery into the soul with greater both facility perspicuity In prosecuting of this Allegory I have endeavoured to follow it home to the head yet so as not willing to do what in like cases too often done viz. to overdo by extorting that from the Metaphor which it would not genuinely and naturally yeeld My service which I have herein desired to do to God and his Church as I wish it may so I hope it shall be accepted of the Saints and of You in speciall over whom God hath made me though most unworthy an Overseeer To his grace and blessing I coÌ„mend it and you resting Yours in the service of Christ desirous to be found faithful JOHN BRINSLEY Yarmouth Sept. 8. 1651. An Alphabetical Table of the chiefe Points handled in this TREATISE A AArons Rod blossoming miraculous p. 26 Adoption a benefit flowing from mysticall Insition 37. Agonies in the Christians death to sin both before conversion and after 111 The least Agony in true conversion 116. Apostates to be suspected their condition dangerous 55. 240. Why men are called upon to Arise from the Dead 158. Augmentation a benefit flowing from union with Christ 51. Augmentation an evidence of Mysticall Implantation 54. B BArren Christians no true Mysticall Branches 74 The same body shall be raised again 181. 182 Bodies glorified spirituall Bodies 184. Mysticall Branches Beleevers 15. C CAll of God not to be put off 121 Cessation from sin evidencing true Mortification 137 Christ Mysticall 33. Communion Mysticall betwixt Christ and the Beleever 35 Conformity of Christians to Christ in his Death 90 Conformity of Christians to Christ in his Resurrection 146 In the first act of Conversion man a meer Patient 28 Conversion more then a morall swasion 158 D BEleevers Dead unto sin three wayes 125. 127 Death of Christ a violent death 99 Death of Christ a painfull death 108 Death of Christ a lingring death 118 Death unto sin a dying a continued act 121 Death unto sin what 126 Death of Christ the cause of the Christians death unto sin 130 Death unto sin how evidenced 135 E ETernall life a spirituall life 184 Eternal life a glorious life 186 F FAith without works dead 73 Christ a Foundation how 82 Fructification a benefit issuing from union with Christ 68. 72 Gospel Fruits good works 70 Fruitfulness an evidence of Mysticall Implantation 75 Fruitfulnesse in good works why requisite 76 Directions for Fruitfulnesse 78 Fulnesse of Christ the beleevers 40 G. GOspel preached the meanes of Mysticall Insition 24 Grafting naturall and mysticall unlike in three particulars 18 Grafting naturall and mysticall alike in ten particulars 22 Growth a property of all mysticall branches 52 Growth in grace to be endeavoured after 57 Growth in grace the honour of Christ and glory of Christianity 59 Growth in the Christian continuall ibid. Doubts about spirituall growth cleered 60 Hinderances of spirituall growth six 63 Means of growth 67 I. THe Christian an immortall creature 175 Insition mysticall what 13 Insition mysticrll how tryed 24 Joseph's brethren coming to him a pattern of the Christians coming to Christ 47 Judas never given to Christ as the other Apostles 85 Justification a benefit flowing from union with Christ 36 L. THe Law a Grafting knife 23 The beleever living and dying with Christ 12 No spiritual life out of Christ 25 The Christians life a new life in four particulars 165 Life of the Regenerate a spiritual life 171 An immortal life 173 Life of Saints in heaven spirituall glorious eternall 184 186 Beleevers live the life of Christ 209 Life of Christ after his Resurrection a pattern for Christians to live by 236 Lusts being dead alone what to do to them 102 Reprieving of lusts dangerous 107 M. MOrtification resembleth the death of Christ in five particulars 91 Mortification counterfeit discovered 93 Mortification a voluntary act 97 Mortification a violent death 100 Mortification a painful work 110 Mortification a lingring death 118 Mortification how the beleevers work 133 Mortification twofold Habituall Actuall 134 Mortification in what way to be sought and endeavoured 140 N Name of Christ put upon Christians 33. Nourishment beleevers receive from Christ 11. Christ perfect Nourishment to the beleever 44. Nourishment how conveyed to the soul from Christ 45. Nourishment to be drawn from Christ 47 Nutrition a benefit flowing from Vnion with Christ 43. O OLd age the unfittest time for the work of Regeneration 219. Old age renders conversion difficult and suspicious 220. Repentance in Olde age difficult to man not to God 224. P Pelagian doctrine confuted 29 Beleevers planted together in Christ 3 Beleevers planted together with Christ 5. Plantation mystycall by way of Adhesion and Insition 6. Mysticall Implantation how effected 16. â—â—â—ll Implantation the work of free grace 31. 〈◊〉 spiritvall Pride 7 Q 〈…〉 a Quickning spirit 200 〈…〉 discerned 202 R CHrist Raised to the glory of God his father how 176. Beleevers raised to the glory of God Actively and Passively 177 Resurrection Corporall and Spiritual 146
true conversion in the heart of a regenerate person it causeth a reall separation of the soul from the body of sin Applic. False Mortification discovered Which discords to make some short Application as I go make many to be as yet strangers unto this blessed work It may be they have parted with some sins but they are not dead to sin No their souls are not separated from the body of sin Those sins which it may be they have left for fear or shame or some other sinister respects yet they have their hearts still Like a dear wife who carrieth her affectionate Husband's heart into the grave with her Illa habeat secum servétque sepulchro Thus do mens hearts oft-times cleave to their sins which in respect of actuall communion they are separated from They do not hate them nor yet any sin as sin For then they would hate all sinne A quatenùs ad omne c. He that hateth any sin as sin hateth all sin But so do not they No However it may be there is a kind of Antipathy in their natures by reason of their Constitution or Education against some sins yet there are others which are sweet and delightfull to them Now as for such they are not made conformable unto Christ in his death His death was a true death a separation of the soul from his body Secondly A Voluntary Death 2. Resemb A Voluntary Death Such was the Death of Jesus Christ He poured forth his soul unto death Isai 53.12 He gave himself for our sins Gal. 1.4 Laying down his life Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life John 10.17 No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my selfe verse 18. This he did in way of voluntary obedience unto his Father He was obedient unto the death c. Philip 2.8 What herein he did all the men and divels in the world could not have enforced him to His Death was a voluntary and spontaneous act And herein it was a pattern of true Mortification Such is true Mortification a voluntary act which is a voluntary and willing death Whatever Gods people do in way of duty to God they do it willingly Thy people shall come willingly in the day of thy power Psa 110.3 And as in all other actions and services so in this they are a willing people In Mortification a Christian dyeth unto sin is not put to death So much is imported in those phrases of Mortifying and Crucifying of sin If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Romans 8. They that are Christs hove crucified the flesh with the lusts and affections thereof Gal. 5.24 And so of putting off the old man That ye put off concerning the former Conversation the old man Ephes 4.22 All voluntary and spontaneous acts Such is true Mortification Not when sin dyeth of it selfe or is put to death accidentally by some other means but when the man himself puts it to death When a man putteth off the rags of the old Adam not when he is stripped of them In this resembling the death of Christ which was a voluntary death Applic. And if so Counterfeit Mortification discovered being inforced what a deal of Counterfeit Mortification will this one touchstone discover Many there are who seeme to have left their sinns but it is against their wills No thanks to them They are enforced to do what they do Enforced 1. It may be 1 By the sense of some temporal Inconvenience through the present sense of some temporall inconvenience they see attending upon them Thus the prodigall waster happily leaveth his riotous and luxurious courses of drinking and gaming How so Because he findeth them prejudiciall to his estate to his health 2. It may be they have a clamorous conscience 2. Through clamours of conscience which will not let them be quiet but continually dogs them And thereupon they are faine to let go their sins parting with them as a night-robber doth with his prey which he leaveth behind him because the dogs come with open mouth at him Upon this account it was that Judas was so willing to be rid of his thirty pieces of silver No thanks to him they were too hot for him to hold Thus do many men part with their sins as a sick man parts with his meat or Medicine which he would faine keepe but it maketh him sick and thereupon his stomack easeth it selfe of it 3. Happily they part with them not out of any dislike they have of them but for fear servile fear 3 Through fear of punishment Temporall from Man or God Fear of punishment Punishment Temporall or Eternall Temporall from Man or from God Of the former kind how many They abstaine from such and such evils but no thanks to them They dare do no otherwise The fear of man is upon them The penalty of the law deterrs them Of the latter not a few They see wrath is gone out against them from the Lord. Some temporall Judgment hangs over their heads like Dam ocles his sword threatning of them This maketh them to let go their sinns parting with them as the dog with his bone when the whip is over him This it was that made Ahab for a time act the part of a penitent Who that looketh upon him in that penitentiall garbe 1 King 21.17 cloathed with sack-cloth fasting and walking so demurely but would take him for a Mortified Convert But no thanks to him the Prophet had rung him such a peal as made both his ears to tingle He had denounced the judgements of God against him in such a terrible manner as made him for the time to put on that disguize Eternall Or haply the fear of eternal punishment is upon them Upon this account do men sometimes part with their sins Even as sea-men in a stress part with their goods which they cast over-board with their owne hands Not that they are out of love with them but because they love their lives better they see they must either part with them or perish with them Or like a Cut-purse who being apprehended by a Sergeant drops the purse which he hath cut or drawn not that he is weary of it but because he knoweth if that should be found about him it would hang him Even thus do many part with their sins when conscience being awakened they see hell gaping upon them It may be God's Serjeant Death in their apprehensions hath arrested them ready to carry them before the dreadfull Tribunall of a just and terrible God And they know that if such and such sins be found about them there is no way but eternall condemnation for them And hereupon they cast them away it may be seriously resolving never more to own them or to have any acquaintance with them Thus many seem to leave their sins All far from true Mortification to part with them who are yet
far from mortifying of them When men shall leave sin being enforced so to do through the sense of some present inconvenience or through the clamorousnesse of an accusing conscience or meerly through fear of punishment temporall or eternall this is but a counterfeit Mortification True Mortification must be a voluntary action not Involuntary nor yet Mixt. I call that a mixt action which is partly voluntary and partly involuntary As in that fore-named instance of the Seaman casting his goods over-board Mortification altogether voluntary which he doth partly with his will and partly against it This must be altogether voluntary Not but that there may be some reluctancy betwixt the flesh and spirit about this work Such a reluctancy we find in the humane nature of Christ about his naturall death When he saw that bitter cup coming towards him he passionately deprecates it in that thrice repeated Petition Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Mat. 26.39 yet was his death a true voluntary death So in the Christian's death unto sin there may be a reluctancy betwixt the flesh and the spirit Notwithstanding some reluctancy in the flesh and yet the action a voluntary action An action is said to be voluntary or involuntary according to the superiour faculties of the soul not the inferiour If the reasonable part be consenting the action may be called voluntary though there be some reluctancy in the sensitive appetite Thus in the Christian in whom there is nature and grace flesh and spirit an unregenerate and a regenerate part if the superiour and better part be willing and that will not a velleitas but a volitio not a wishing but a willing an advised deliberate will with full consent of the inward man now though there be some reluctancy in the flesh in the unregenerate part yet may this be said a true voluntary act And is our Mortification such Can we say with the blessed Apostle Rom. 7. ult that However with our flesh we serve the law of sin yet with our mind we serve the Law of God Delighting in it after the inward man ver 22. So that we are dead to sin according to the inward man the regenerate part If so now though we find a Law in our members rebelling against the Law of our minds yet be not discouraged this in God's acceptation shall go for true Mortification a true death unto sin In as much as it carrieth with it this resemblance of the death of Christ which was a voluntary death Thirdly 3. Resemb A violent Death The Death of Christ was a violent death though voluntary yet violent Violent because not naturall He did not die alone but was put to death So saith Saint Peter 1 Pet. 3.18 He was put to death in the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In course of nature Christ might have lived many a year upon the earth when he was crucified being then but about the three and thirtieth year of his age His death was a violent death He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter Isai 53.7 The materiall Temple did not fall down alone it was pulled down And so was the mysticall Temple of Christ's Body Destroy this Body John 2.19 And herein again was his death a true pattern of the Christian's Mortification his dying unto sin which is both voluntary and violent Voluntary in respect of the Person but violent in respect of the Sin Not when sin dieth alone but when it is put to death and that whilest it might yet live longer It is nothing to die to sin when sin dieth to us in us Herein lieth as I may say the life of this death herein is the truth of Mortification when a man as it were layeth violent hands upon his sins cutteth them off being yet in their flower strength vigour not when they die for age When he pulleth up these weeds not when they wither of themselves So much is insinuated in these fore-named expressions of mortifying of crucifying the flesh the body of sin c each importing a violent death Such is the death of sin in the Christian a violent death Another touchstone for Mortification Applic. And is it so Here then we have another touch-stone whereby we may discover a great deal of false and counterfeit mortification in the world Many have left their sins who have not mortified them No if their sins be dead they died a naturall death they died alone As for them they were so far from offering violence to their lusts from putting them to death that they would willingly have saved their lives if it had lyen in their power And being dead they follow them to their graves as they do their dear friends mourning and lamenting over them that they must part Thus doth the aged Adulterer part with his inordinate lust Rom. 4.19 being now gray-headed and his body dead as it is said of Abraham's he leaveth the tricks of his youth as he counts and calls them But no thanks to him they have left him His sin dieth according to the course of nature dieth for age And thus a man that was intemperate in his youth which yet is not ordinary sometimes he becometh sober and abstemious in his age But what is the cause of it why the reason inducing him to it is no other then that which old Barzillai gave unto David why he was not willing to follow the Court 2 Sam. 19.34 He was now grown old so as he could not discern betwixt good and evill he had no taste in that he eat or in that he drunk Upon the like ground the aged sinner leaveth his intemperance Time having snowed upon his head and plowed upon his forehead he cannot now find that sweetnesse that delight in his sin which formerly he did And upon this account they two part Sin dying to him not he to his sin Now here give me leave Applied to aged sinners I beseech you to make bold with every hoary head every wrinckled face that heareth me that looketh upon me this day and put you upon the triall a little whether you be truely dead to sin or no. It may be your sins the sins of your youth and you are parted but let me ask you the question Vpon what terms did ye part Whether did you forsake them or they you Which is it that standeth chargeable with this desertion Which was it that gave the bill of divorce to the other you to your lusts or your lusts to you Your sins are dead but what death died they A naturall or a violent death If the former that is no true Mortification For all this you may yet be alive to your sins though they be dead to you Hence is it that late repentance in an aged sinner is alwayes looked upon as suspicious and seldome found to be true because that sins then die alone without any violence offered to them Enquire how our sins died whether a
They that are Christs have crucified the flesh Now crucifying as I shewed you is a painfull death Elsewhere we finde it compared to a Plucking out the right eye a Cutting off the right hand Matth. 29.30 Such is the mortifying of the members of the Body of sin inordinate lusts some of which may be as near and dear to a man as his right eye or hand A painfull work Thus doth this death unto sin carry with it a likenesse to the death of Christ Attended with Agonies it is attended with agonies and soul-conflicts Agonies before conversion and after Before it Before Conversion Ordinarily this work is not wrought without some compunction of spirit some pricking of the heart so were the Jews affected at the hearing of Peter's Sermon Acts 2.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were pricked at their hearts They were inwardly touched and deeply affected with the apprehension of the hainousnesse of that sin of theirs in crucifying the Lord of life and of the wrath of God hanging over their heads for it In like manner the Jaylor in that known place Acts 16.30 What an agonie do we there find him in when he came trembling and fell down at the Apostles feet crying out Sirs what shall I do to be saved Such agonies the beginning of Conversion is ordinarily attended with True indeed it must be acknowledged Which are not alike in all that these Agonies are not alike in all whether for degree and measure or continuance of them yet in an ordinary way true and sound conversion is not without some of them As in the naturall birth so in this new birth all have not the like pains and throws yet none but are in some degree sensible of some of them some soul-conflicts some remorse of conscience for sin whereby the heart is pricked nay rent and broken So it is in true Repentance Rent your hearts and not your garments Joel 2.13 A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 viz. a heart broken and rent with a kindly apprehension of sin and of Gods just displeasure against it such agonies is the soul subject to in the beginning of Conversion And the like afterwards As in the naturall Agonies after Conversion so in this new birth there are after-pains after-throws The Christian though the main work be done though he be delivered of sin in respect of the guilt and reigning power of it yet he hath still some remainders of sinfull corruption left in him which draw many a groane many a sigh from his heart Wee also which have the first fruits of the Spirit saith the Apostle Rom. 8.23 even wee our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption c. We we beleevers which have the first fruits of the Spirit the first degree of Regeneration conferred upon us here as a pledg and assurance of the full crop of perfect Glorification hereafter even wee our selves groane within our selves That which the frame of heaven and earth do by a kind of secret sympathy and instinct we do out of a certain knowledge and well grounded judgement sighing and groaning under the burden of sin which lieth upon us earnestly desiring a full and finall deliverance with a fruition of that glorious inheritance which is entailed upon us in and by our Adoption Such are the groans of mortified Saints Saints dying unto sin like the groans of dying men whose souls being weary of their bodies earnestly desire a dissolution Thus do God's Saints groan within themselves or rather his Spirit within them earnestly desiring to be freed from the body of sin O wretched man that I am saith the Apostle who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Thus doth he crie out being wearied by continuall conflicts with the remainders of sinfull corruption that body of sin Rom. 6.6 as he calleth it ver 6. of the Chapter foregoing This he there calleth the body of death Corpus mortis i.e. Corpus mortiferum because it was as a death to him to be so infested with it like a living man tied to a dead threatning him with spirituall and eternall death And therefore he earnestly desireth to be freed from it accounting himselfe a wretched and unhappy man so long as he was in any degree so molested by it Thus doth this death unto sin carry with it a conformity to the death of Jesus Christ being as his was a dolorous and painfull death Applic. Which may serve us yet as another touch-stone to discover a great deal of counterfeit Mortification by Counterfeit Mortification discovered Many think they are dead unto sin who are in truth nothinglesse It may be sin is asleep in them It may be it is dead to them but they are not dead to it So much appeareth in that there were no pangs in this death It is a difference betwixt death and sleep There are pangs in the one not so in the other And the like difference there is betwixt a naturall and a violent death In the former when a man dieth according to the course of nature the light of life going out like a lamp when the oile is spent there is no great pain As David speaking of wicked men who sometimes live in pleasure and die with ease he saith they have no bands in their death Psal 73.4 But violent Deaths they have their bands and their pangs And so hath this spirituall death this death unto sin being as I showed you in the last resemblance a violent death it will not be without some pangs or other Sin hath a strong heart and so there will be pangs in this death Examine what Agonies we have felt for or about sin I beseech you bring it home to your selves you that suppose your selves to be thus dead unto sin Examine your own hearts what pangs were there in this death what agonies what soul-conflicts have you at any time felt what compunction of heart what affliction of spirit have you suffered for sin And that not only for the guilt of it That may and often is to be found in a Reprobate we see it in Judas When he had betrayed his Lord and Master what a compunction of spirit did the apprehension of the guilt of that sin work in him But for the power of it This it was that troubled Paul to find the body of sin so vigorous and active in him to find such a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin Rom. 7 23. And this it is that troubles the Christian Though the guilt of sin be taken away yet is he not wholly freed from the power of it Though it do not rule in him as a Prince yet it tyrannizeth over him oft-times carrying him contrary to the bent of his regenerate mind to the omitting of what he would do the committing of what he would not And this to him is
deadly wound and it begins to die It hath already lost much of that power and strength which it had And in this respect it may be said to be dead to him and he to it Even as a man that is in a consumption having lost his bodily strength and his radicall moisture being in great measure exhausted and spent such a one may be said to be a dead man dead whilest he liveth So though sin do still live in a regenerate person yet in as much as it is in a consumption the power and strength of it gone it may be said to be dead It lieth a dying Now we say of a man in that case a man that is drawing home that he is a dead man He hath begun to die 3. In respect of Assurance 3. In respect of Assurance Sin in a regenerate person having begun to die it shall certainly die it shall speedily die Certainly The wound which it hath received is incurable a deadly wound so as though it may live for a time yet it shall languish and decay more and more till it be utterly extinct which it shall be and that speedily The death of sin is not far off to such a one The story in the Gospel tels us of a certain Disciple who asked leave of his Master Christ that before such time as he followed him he might first go and bury his Father Mat. 8.21 Now here some move the question What was his Father dead that he would go bury him Most probably he was not onely he was very aged having one foot in the grave so as in course of nature he could not live long and in that regard he looketh upon him and speaketh of him as a dead man ready for the grave So is it with the body of sin in a regenerate person It is dying and cannot live long It is much infeebled already and by death which is not far off from any it shall utterly be extinguished and abolished Death separating the soul from the body shall separate sin from both He that is dead is freed from sin saith the Apostle ver 7. of this Chapter which is true as to the regenerate in a literall as well as a mysticall sense Thus you see the former of these Propositions briefly opened and cleared All that are Christs are dead to sin as he died for sin As briefly of the later Doct. 3. The Believer death to sin is from the death of Christ D. 3. This their death to sin is from the death of Christ for sin So much the Metaphor in the Text imports Believers are planted together with Christ in the likenesse of his death that is they are made conformable to Christ in his death and that by a vertue flowing from his death Thus the Graft dieth with the Stock it dieth in it and by it The death of the one is the cause of death in the other Thus is the believer said to be engrafted with Christ in the likenesse of his death he dieth with Christ and the death of Christ is the cause of that death in him This is that which the Apostle saith of himselfe Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world Paul was a mortified man dead to the world and dead to sin But how came he so to be why this he attributes to the Crosse of Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom or by which it may be referred to either The death of Christ the cause of this death It was the Crosse of Christ the Death of Jesus Christ which was the cause of this death in him And so is it in all other believers The Cause of it And that not only Not onely 1. Meritorious 1. The Meritorious Cause True so it is This is one of the benefits which Jesus Christ merited and purchased for his Elect by his death that they might die unto sin He bare our sins in his own body upon the tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousnesse 1 Pet. 2.24 Christ by his death merited for his people not only a deliverance from the guilt but also from the power of sin But not only so 2. Nor yet onely the Exemplsry 2. Exemplary Cause of it as Pelagians of old and Socinians at this day would have it True it is so also Christ was a pattern and example to the Christian as in his life so in his death He suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 He died for us leaving us an example that we should die to sin as he died for sin But this is not all 3. In the third place then 3. But also Efficient it is the Efficient Cause working this death in the believer by a secret vertue issuing from it Thus are Christians here said to be engrafted with Christ in the likenesse of his death Non tantùm imitatione Beza Gr. Annot in Text. sed virtute as Beza rightly not only by way of Imitation conforming themselves unto his death as the pattern of their Mortification but also by way of Efficacy being conformed thereunto by a vertue flowing from Christ and his death And so much the word in the Text as Beza notes upon it doth here insinuate which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. a word saith he of passive signification importing not barely a conformity Conformatione mortis ejus Beza but a conformation as he renders it not only a being like but being made like and that by a power and vertue out of themselves viz. the power and vertue of Christ and his death working an answerable death in them And so much that word used by the Apostle to the same purpose Phil. 3.10 implies Being made conformable unto his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conformis factus or configuratus not conforming my selfe viz. by way of Imitation but being made conformable viz. by a power out of my selfe the power and vertue of Christ's death And this is that which the Authour to the Hebrews plainely asserts Heb. 9.14 where he layeth down this as one of the fruits of Christ's death The blood of Jesus Christ purgeth our consciences from dead works to serve the living God Dead works So he calleth sinfull lusts not formally as if they had no life no activity in them but effectively because they are deadly works bringing death upon the sinner that liveth in them Now from these saith the Apostle the Blood of Christ cleanseth the conscience of the sinner and so it doth not only in respect of the guilt of sin in Justification but also the power of it in Sanctification from which it so freeth the sinner as that he may now serve the living God The former of these is done by the merit the later by the vertue of
truth of mortification Briefly It is an universall cessation arising from an inward Principle 1. An universal 1. Universall cessation not in respect of the Acts but the Kinds of sin He that is dead is feed from sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Sin not this sin or that sin but all sin no more living to the lusts of men any lusts So much is insinuated where Mortification is called a putting off of the body of sins Col. 2.11 Not a member of this body but the whole body Death is a supersedeas to all natural operations it runneth thorow the whole man and every part of it closing the ey deafning the ear binding the tongue the hand the foot c. Such is true mortification a through work running through the whole man and through the whole body of sin Through the whole man not only the outward man but the inward causing a cessation from sin not only in the outward Action but in the inward Affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Heathen Poet The dead man longs not Anacreon citat per Bezam in Rom. 6.7 Even so doth this spirituall death it puts an end to all the inordinate longings of the soul so as sinful affections do not finde that allowance which sometimes they did They which are Christs have crucified the flesh with the lusts and affections therof Gal. 5.24 viz the inward affections of the soul whether irascible or concupiscible as Grot. explains that place A mortified person ceaseth not only from practical but contemplative wickednesse He doth not regard iniquity in his heart as David speaketh of himself Psal 66.18 And as it runs through the whole man so through the whole Body of sin Not killing one sin and sparing another 1 Sam. 15.15 like Saul who made a Cull amongst the cattell sparing the fattest So indeed do some deal by their lusts mortifying some not others their fat pleasurable profitable sins these they will spare as serviceable to them So doth not the true mortified person He dealeth impartially setting himself against all sin secret sins as well as open small sins as well as great He doth not willingly spare any Where this work is partial it evidenceth it not to be right Dying to sin imports an universall Cessation from sin 2. Springing from an inward Principle 2. It springeth from an inward principle from an inward change in the heart This is the difference betwixt a man that is bound and a man that is dead Each ceaseth from motion but the one the dead man doth it from an inward principle he hath neither power nor will to move The other from outward restraint He would move but cannot Thus do wicked men sometimes cease from sin abstain from the outward Acts of sin but no thanks to them there are some restraints upon them In the mean time their will is the same that ever it was As it is with a theefe in the Prison being manacled and shackled now he ceaseth from robbing and pilfering but yet it may be he is as very a theef as ever he was The outward act is restrained but the inward disposition not changed But in a regenerate person there is an inward change from whence this cessation proceedeth This Practicall Mortification springs from an Habituall Mortification His heart is turned from and against all sin dead to it He doth not finde that taste that sweetnesse in sin which sometimes he did Nay he loatheth abhorreth it he hath a secret Antipathy against it against sin as sin And thereupon it is that he endeavours the Mortification of it As a man that killeth a snake not out of any particular quarrell which he hath against it but out of that generall enmity that is betwixt his nature and the whole brood of Serpents Gen. 3.15 Now bring we our supposed Mortification to these Touch-stones Is it so Vniversall springing from such an inward Principle in the soul Reaching to all sins proceeding from an inward change in the heart If so now conclude it we are in the number of those who are planted together with Christ in the likeness of his Death Otherwise our Cessation from sin being only partiall or occasionall this evidenceth it to bee no true Mortification This Triall being made now two sorts of persons come to be dealt with Such in whom this work is begun Such in whom it is wanting A word or two to Each Vse 2. For the former let them be taught whither to give the praise and glory of this work Application to mortified persons Let them glory in Christ viz. to Jesus Christ He it was that merited this benefit for them and he it is that effecteth it in them by letting out and sending forth the vertue of his death making it efficacious in them for the killing of the Body of sin This could we never have done of our selves If it be done If the work of Mortification be begun If there be an Habituall Mortification wrought in the soul this is the work of Jesus Christ a fruit and effect of his Death That is the Stock from whence this Mortifying vertue issued And therefore not unto our selves but unto him be the glory of the work Paul will glory in nothing but in the Crosse of Christ by which he was crucified to the world Gal. 6.14 Application to unregenerate persons who are Vse 3. For those which want it Let them be first Exhorted then Directed 1. Exhorted to seek after this blessed work 1 Exhorted to seek after this work never to give rest unto their souls untill they finde such an habituall Mortification wrought in them Arguments or Motives I shall need no other then those which I have hinted already If we be not thus dead with Christ we shall never live with him If wee be not thus Crucified mortified with him we shall never be glorified with him If wee be not thus ingrafted in the likenesse of his death we never shall be in the likenesse of his resurrection 2 Directed to go to the crosse of Christ 2. Directed how to attain what they desire in what way and by what means this blessed work may be both begun and carried on Go to the Crosse of Jesus Christ That is the Stock from whence must issue this mortifying vertue for the crucifying killing of sin It is not all our own Purposes Resolutions Promises Vowes Covenants Indeavours Vndertakings in our own strength that will effect the mortifying of sin No this is the work of a supernatural power a fruit and effect of the death of Jesus Christ And therefore whoever of us would have this work wrought in us let us have recourse to his Crosse his Death and that in a three-fold way By way of Meditation Application Imitation 1. By way of Meditation Seriously 1 By way of Meditation upon sad and deliberate thoughts consider and contemplate the Death of Jesus Christ how shamefull how painfull how bitter it was
the sins of his youth and that whilest they are vigorous and strong not when they are pined and starved with age or sicknesse Be not therefore over pitifull or mercifull to your sins lest you be cruell and mercilesse to your own souls As long as they live you cannot be in safety And therefore forthwith bring them forth sacrificing them to the Lord now they are fat and flourishing The fat and young beasts under the Law were fittest for sacrifice The younger and more flourishing your sins are the more acceptable will the oblation be True mortification of sin is one of those sacrifices of righteousnesse which the Prophet David speaketh of Psal 51.19 which the Lord will accept Herein the sin is the sacrifice and every Christian must be a Priest to slay this sacrifice Sacrifices under the Law must not die alone No more must it be in this Evangelicall Sacrifice Sins must not die alone It was a Leviticall Prohibition Deut. 14.21 The people must not eat any thing that died alone Such a Mortification where sins die alone shall never find acceptance with God I beseech you think upon this a little To reprieve lusts dangerous you that willingly reprieve your lusts spare them suffer them to live and rule and reign in you now hoping and resolving to take a course with them hereafter you will repent in your age How can you expect that God should ever accept of such a dead sacrifice that ever he should smell a sweet savour from such a Mortification such a Carion a sacrifice that died alone And therefore that you may find acceptance with him sacrifice your sins now now before they be a day older let them not live till to morrow for fear they should die alone or your selves die before them Now bring them forth in the sight and presence of God Arraign condemne crucifie mortifie them whilest they might yet live This is true Mortification when the body of sin dieth as Christ died a violent death 4. Resemb A painfull Death Such was the death of Christ Painfull to his body Rabbini aiunt Non fuit mos in Israele ut clavos figerent in pedibus aut manibus hominum qui lapidati aut suspensi fuissent Martinius in Symbolum Dolorous to his soul In the fourth place it is also a painfull death Such was the death of Jesus Christ a dolorous and painfull death Painfull in his body The Jewes and Romanes had many kinds of death Amongst all none more painfull then crucifying specially after the Roman manner where the malefactour was fastned alive to the Crosse his hands and feet being nailed thereunto and so bearing the whole bulk of his body distended after that manner Such was the death of Jesus Christ being put to death under a Roman Power he was crucified after the Roman manner a painfull death And as painfull so dolorous It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief saith the Prophet Isaiah Isai 53.10 As painfull to his body so dolorous to his soul attended with Agonies both antecedent and concomitant before it and in it Before it What an agony do we find him in in the Garden In the Garden Luke 22.44 Being in an agony saith the Text his sweat was it were great drops of blood Whether a bloody sweat or no cannot from thence certainly be concluded as Grotius notes it out of Theophylact and Euthimius The Text saith onely It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were drops of blood But however Sudor vix solet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grotius ad loc a strange and extraordinary kind of sweat it was arguing a vehement conflict of soul caused by a deep apprehension and sense of his Fathers wrath due unto sin and sinners whose Surety he then was And as before his death so in it Upon the Crosse As in the Garden so upon the Crosse There also Christ had his agonies his soul-conflicts These were those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those pains or pangs of death from which Saint Peter tels us Christ was loosed Acts 2.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word properly signifies the pains of a woman in travell Such were the pains of Jesus Christ in his death Gravissimi dolores quales esse solent mulierum in partu morientium Grotius ad Act. 2.44 which the Prophet calleth the travell of his soul Isai 53.11 like the pains of a woman dying in travell which the Psalmist calleth the pains of hell So he speaketh of himselfe being a Type of Christ Psal 116.3 The sorrowes of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me Not onely the sorrows or cords of death Kebli Maveth the Cables of death as our English word answers the Hebrew both in sound and sense but the pains of hell took hold upon him The one upon his body as malefactours who are pinioned with cords when they are led to execution Vide Diodat in Psal 18.5 or as dead bodies that lie bound in the grave as the story tels us of Lazarus John 11.44 The other upon his soul And such were the pains which took hold upon our blessed Saviour in his Passion which extorted from him that passionate expostulation My God my God Mat. 27.46 why hast thou forsaken me complaining of that which was more grievous to him then a thousand deaths his Fathers present dereliction withdrawing his wonted presence from him Such was the death of Jesus Christ A pattern of Mortification which is a painful work And herein again behold it a true pattern of the Christian's Mortification his death unto sin which is also a painfull death Mortification is a painfull work The very word imports no lesse To kill a man or mortifie a member will not be without pain And so much is insinuated in those other expressions which the Spirit of God maketh use of to set forth the nature of this work as where it is called a Circumcision Be circumcised to the Lord and take away the foreskin of your hearts saith the Prophet Jeremiah Jer. 4.4 By that allusive Periphrasis setting forth the nature of true Mortification which is a spiritual Circumcision a cutting off of the superfluitie of sinfull and inordinate lusts Now Circumcision was a painfull work specially to aged persons so the Shechemites found it of whom the story tels us Gen. 34.25 that being circumcised they were so soar the third day after as that they were not able to stir to defend themselves Such is the spirituall Circumcision a painfull work specially in aged confirmed sinners causing a soarnesse in the soul Elsewhere it is called a Suffering in the flesh So Saint Peter phraseth it 1 Pet. 4.1 Hee that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin Meaning thereby the Christians Mortification which is a suffering in the flesh an irksom and painfull work to flesh and blood And as a suffering in the flesh so a Crucifying of the flesh Gal. 5.24