more especially sometimes Temptations seize upon our Judgments and sometimes upon our Affections unawares and when they have tainted the Affections they have easie access to the Mind and need to be carefully watched Look to the first springs of Sin when we are asleep the Enemy is sowing tares and they quickly grow up Temptations do often suddenly assault and the thoughts and motions of the Heart are nimble they are swift and instantaneous a spark of fire does no sooner kindle Powder than a Temptation does excite some inordinate motion of the Heart If all the doors and windows of the Soul be not kept close there will be fiery dants flung in and some sparks of temptations will take fire and thou can never shut doors and windows so close but when thou hast done all thou hast need to watch Satan can espy a passage into thy heart that thou didst not think of he has a party and thou hast an Enemy within thee that will let him in If thou be asleep it may be indeed thy severity to indwelling sin will irritate it and provoke it to mutiny and so occasion greater confusion in thy Soul but dread not this nor ever look for good from thy indulgence and tenderness to thy corrupt lusts or affections their war is better than their peace suspect that inward quiet that comes from any favour to sin or connivance at it The Apostle tells us Rom. 7.8 That sin took occasion by the Commandment c. One great hinderance of Mortification is that sin is thought not so noisom as it is but when the Commandment comes when the Word beats down that conceit by exacting thorough Obedience upon the highest peril and laying bonds on the very thoughts this inrages Corruption and it grows more unruly It is not the proper effect of the Law to stir up sin more than the impetuous ' running of water is the proper effect of a Bank of Earth which was made to dam it up nor is it the proper effect of diligent endeavours for mortifying all inward motions to excite them and make them more tumultuous Sometimes strict watching of sin makes it more cunning sometimes it provokes an eruption of it and then the poor Believer is apt to think his case worse than before But was it worse with Paul Rom. 7 than formerly Indeed it 's hard to keep Corruption in close Prison and to marr all communication between Satan and it to suffer none to go out or come in But Watchfuln ss will do much thoughts will be stirring and affections will be stirring therefore it were our wisdom to ask them whence they come and whither they go if from Satan or from the flesh if from Heaven or from the Spirit and arrest what have an evil aspect or tendency or favour and do Justice upon them what are dubious keep them Prisoners till thou has further examined them for Satans messengers oft-times come disguised and with Christs Word in their mouths and the motions of sin are often mistaken for spiritual motions as the Porters stood continually at the door of the Temple to keep out the unclean of all sorts so must you do with all that defile or is like to defile if you be holy Temples to God to dwell in Yet for all that I have said of them a Believer must not be too much in examining of them so as to be taken off more profitable work nor indeed can we ever keep account of them they are so innumerable should we ever be pursuing and tracing them there should be room for no Duty else And finally because as they come suddenly so often they fly as swiftly away Now under this Head I would commend unto you a careful search into and intimate acquaintance with thy own heart that thou may know where thou art weakest and what advantages Satan has against thee What sin does most intirely beset thee which is the soft place of thy Soul which Satans darts do with most ease enter into What corrupt passions and affections are most easily kindled in thee And where thou sees the greatest danger keep the strongest watch and do not only keep at distance from such occasions and temptations as may most likely draw out thy Corruptions but keep thy very thoughts at the greatest distance from these suffer not thy self to think of them except it be to reproach them or to provoke greater abhorrence of them and this also must be prudentially managed 2. Endeavour to keep your hearts under a deep sense of the sinfulness of Sin even of these first motions a Natural man is not troubled for the sin of these or for the disconformity of them to any Law though he may for outward actings of sin because Natures light does not discover the sinfulness of them though it may be he may be angry at them as they molest him or tend to something that he abhors and here lies one difference between the truly godly and others yet we must grant that oft-times the godly think but too meanly of these and do not apprehend so much ill in them as there is and hence guard not sufficiently against them nor yet do sufficiently bewail them may be you are easily satisfied with your Repentance for these and think general confessions and complaints sufficient Do you use to make an Errand to God to confess these and to beg a particular pardon for them Peter makes a Peradventure of the forgiveness of Simon Magus's thought Acts 8.22 True that â—â—s a more deliberate approved thought but an exercised Soul will many times make a peradventure to it self of the forgiveness of a more imperfect and rejected Thought I would not grieve such but for others let me ask you Do you not know that God is a Jealous God Jealousie amongst men importeth an aptness to suspect an Jnjury a Husband viz. is jealous when he is apt to suspect his Wifes want of love or loyalty to him upon small circumstances without evident ground so to do and withall it imports indignation against the smallest ground of suspition this it cannot endure viz. Any thing that looks like the inclination of the heart to another says Joshua You cannot serve the Lord for he is a holy God Chap. 24. ver 19. It 's true He hath manifested this especially in the matters of his Worship and Institutions according to his threatning annexed to the second Commandment as in the instance of Aaron's two Sons and Vzza and the Bethshemites c. But may we not think that God is as jealous of the heart as of any thing and that he will take notice of every motion of it and will resent every disloyal glance of the thoughts though it come not the length of a purpose nay nor any deliberation in order to a purpose or resolution Is there not more sin in many sudden-passing thoughts though rejected than in Vzza's hasty catching hold of the Ark or in the Bethshemites looking into it or is
BELIEVERS Mortification Of SIN by the SPIRIT OR GOSPEL-HOLINESS Advanced by the Power of the Holy Ghost on the hearts of the Faithful Whereunto is added the Authors Three last Sermons on Gen. 3.15 By the Learned and Pious Mr. Alexander Carmichael formerly of Scotland and late Preacher of the Gospel in London Published by his own Copy LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings-Arms in the Poultrey 1677. To the Christian Reader especially the Godly and Reverend Allies and Acquaintance of Mr. C. deceased Dear Sirs T This little Posthume left very fairly Transcribed yet not intended for the Press humbly begs your Patronage shall I say or rather perusal When our Friends are gone down to the Chambers of Darkness we are then apt highly to value their Pictures when we cannot enjoy their Persons And why then may not these Papers find grace in your Eyes for in them you will find worthy Mr. C's very Picture drawn to the life Here Sirs you have the genuine off-spring of those two great burning shining Lights of yours Knox and Gillaspy exactly Lim'd out by his own Pencil Sic occulos sic ille manus sic ora ferebat Whoever intimately knew the Original will easily conclude these to be the Copy the real Transcript both of his Brain and Life the most Lovely pourtrait both of judicious Learning and mortified Conversation As to the Work it needs neither Bush nor Paint Let it be but seriously perus'd by a person really vers'd in that great and Heavenly though now horribly neglected Work of Mortification and it will certainly be priz'd at no little Rate As to the truly Worthy Author himself It had been impossible for me so far to have curb'd in my Zeal as not to have attempted at least a display of those many and great Excellencies which with so much modesty and humility he endeavour'd to conceal from the World but that his dying breath fixt a Lock upon my lips and utterly denied me the liberty of being but just in his Commendation Only this he left as his grand Depositum with me to be faithfully declared by me That he died with very great peace of Conscience with full satisfaction of Soul in those wayes of God wherein he had walked and wherein he died in particular That God as a gracious Father had abundantly made good to him that faithful Promise Matth. 19.29 Mark 10.30 Thus for him that 's gone before As for that flesh of his flesh and the fruit of his Loins as for that Ruth and Gershom that he hath left behind him I question not but so long as the Saints among you continue to bear your old Name Philadelphia so the old Puritans of England have us'd to stile you you will not you cannot forget to shew kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake No more but the Psalmists prayer for every one of the faithful Brethren in the whole Church and Nation Psalm 122. 6 to the end with his Amen Amen Who is Your real Brother and Companion in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ Tho. Lye ROM VIII 13. If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live HEre is Life and Death laid down before you If ye walk after the flesh ye shall die a dreadful word spoke even to those who are in Christ and to whom there is no Condemnation who yet need to be warned of their danger Conditional-threatnings may be mustered to them without bringing them back to a spirit of bondage and the Lord works on their fear as well as on their love and will have them keep one eye on Hell and another on Heaven or rather he 'l sometimes have them look behind them that at the sight of Hell and Wrath they may flye the faster to the Hope that 's set before them do not deceive your selves with an opinion of your Priviledges Well then What must we do that we may be saved the words of the Text tells you where mark that the Apostle is speaking to such as are in Christ If ye ask what an unrenewed man should do to be saved the Scripture Answers Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Act. 16. 1 Joh. 3.23 Get into Christ But if ye ask What the man that is in Christ shall do the Text tells you which takes in or rather supposes holy walking or walking after the Spirit for as light comes in darkness goes out so that Mortification is one part of the Condition upon which we attain the possession of eternal Life though it be by faith by our first believing that we acquire a right to it Now in the words we have 1. The Act enjoyned Mortifie 2. The Object about which it is conversant 3. The way or the means by which this is to be effected through the Spirit 4. The Promise annexed Ye shall live 5. The Conditionality of the Promise If c. For the first What it is we shall after shew only now the Original word signifies to slay to pursue to Death Sin is not at once slain itgets a deaths-stroke by the first saving-work of grace it never recovers that but yet it dies but lingringly therefore called a Crucifixion and it s a great part of the Christians work to follow it to death to be driving nails into it and keep it bleeding till it expire For the second Let us observe the various Scripture-expressions as 1. Flesh so frequently in this Chapter this sometimes signifies the state of the natural man he that is in the flesh cannot please God so John 3.6 Sometimes the remainder of sin in the Regenerate Gal. 5.16 And so we read of the works of the flesh Gal. 5.19 these are the deeds of the flesh 2. Sin is spoke of as a body as in the Text sometimes called a body of sin Rom. 6.6 Sometimes the body of this death Rom. 7.24 It 's a Body not a Phantasm we are to conflict with it 's not to beat the air we are called to its weight is not found because it is in its place in its Element Now this Body hath various Members these we are to mortifie Col. 3.5 The stump of sin cannot be got out but we must be daily mutilating it and cutting off its members the stump we cannot pluck up the body and mass of in-dwelling sin we cannot discern nor reach but its deeds and workings we feel And albeit Gods faving-work upon the Soul wherein we are passive does wound and weaken the Body sin yet any work of grace wherein we are active does immediately only strike at the members of sin and at the deeds of it therefore says the Text If c. mortifie the deeds of the body 3. Sin is called a Man an old Man to hold forth the strength and cunning of it and its interest in the soul and body of a man It 's not a dead Carcass nor is it seated only in the outward members of a man Now we read of the deeds of this old man
unseparable from all corrupt inclinations and lusts which proceeds from the impossibility to satisfie them It 's upon the account of this lust especially that the man that is defective in Mortification is troubled partly also in respect of the guilt of sin For the second The more success in Mortification and the livelier Grace be the more feeling has the Soul of every stirring of sin and the more pain it is to the new Creature and indeed the more that sin be struck at the more it struggles the Old man has a strong heart and is loath to die and our lusts being as a right-hand cannot be cut off without pain but that which is painful to the Old man is a pleasure to the New It 's the strength of remaining sin that afflicts the New man The more the Soul be delivered from sin the more it thinks it thinks it self a captive and the fuller freedom it breathes after Rom. 7.24 the remainder of sin in the midst of his highest comforts are worse than Water amongst Wine so that the poor Believer needs a Banner even when he is taken into the Banquetting-house Song 2.4 How pitifully does the poor Spouse speak Song 6.13 in the beginning of the ver Return return O Shulamite return return that we may look upon thee see her Answer What will you see in the Shulamite as it were the company of two Armies Alas What will you see in me but War and Bloud and Rebellion when the poor Christian thinks he has cut off one head of sin there starts up another or more the more you make it your work to mortifie sin the more discoveries you shall have of sin and the more ye will lie in wait to discover it the more of the Spirits light shall you have to see sin That which is but a shadow to others is a Body to Paul it was once otherwise with Paul Rom. 7.9 He was as whole and sound as any man he was as little troubled with sin as the Pharisees of our time who with disdainful pride scoff at the humble bemoanings and self-abasing confessions of serious Christians and will not admit that Paul Rom. 7 speaks of himself as Regenerated I wonder what such think of their own Liturgie which frequently teaches them to call themselves miserable sinners at which the Quakers were wont as foolishly to Triumph as now they do at us for the like humble acknowledgments of sin 4. When the reflecting upon and remembring of former lusts and Idols do excite our affections or is accompanied with delight or does provoke new desires Ezek 23.19 she multiplyed her whoredomes in calling to Remembrance the days of her youth or as it is ver 21 The lewdness of her youth this is an acting over of sin It 's sad when we cannot look upon the Picture nay nor read or hear the name of our Idol-lusts but we bow down our head and our affection is kindled or some corrupt passion stirs where sin is mortified every remembrance of it revives our sorrow for it it 's like a new stroke upon an old wound especially after the Soul has been held over Hell for it and may be under much outward trouble also for it s indeed some unmortified sin that ordinarily brings on desertion and trouble Isa 57.17 when the Moon an Emblem of this World is under our feet Rev. 12.1 there can be no eclipse of the Sun and no storms The Lord may for his own holy ends exercise the most mortified Christian but it s ordinarily some root of bitterness springing up that he strikes at And O what a Sea of temporary wrath does our indulgence to some sin expose us too yet how hard is it to bring us to lay all at the door of a beloved lust it were easie to cure most mens inward troubles were they but faithful to themselves 5. When one is not constantly underfelt-need of Christ not only to save from the guilt but the power of sin The man that labours in Mortification he is hourly calling on his Aid he cannot live without Christ sin is sin indeed to him and Christ is Christ indeed to him he cannot exalt Christ enough nor magnifie the grace of God enough he sees it 's no little help he needs and that no common aid will serve his turn I do much question if such as oppose the doctrine of special Grace ever knew what Mortification was he speaks with another spirit than the Pharisee when he thanks God that he is not like other men Luk. 18.9 10. You see the Free-willers as you vulgarly call them for such were the Pharisees in Christs time owned the necessity of some Divine Assistance how warmly doth Paul speak Rom. 7.25 as he had with much feeling bemoaned himself Ver. 24. He seems to want words to exalt God and stops as it were in the middle his thoughts are over-matched thus praise waits or is silent for God it is silent to other things and it waits to be employed about him Psal 65.1 The Believer is often put to a Non-plus in crying up the grace of God and wants words to express its greatness yea to answer the elevation of the thoughts the heart indites a song of praise but he cannot tune it The Apostle is stopt as it were through admiration which is Silentium intellectus for when the mind can rise no higher it falls admiring hence some say God is most exalted with fewest words The experience of the supplies of Grace for overcoming sin is one of those mercies that uses to provoke the Soul to cry out Exalt thy self O Lord worthy art thou to receive Blessing and Honour c. But thou art above all Blessing Praise Others make no great matter of this 6. When a mans heart is pierced through with sorrows when his Idols are blasted and smitten when in the time of trouble fear and sorrow sill the heart when our Idols are fallen or when our lusts out-live their Objects As suppose a mans Estate be decayed or his dear Friends be dead before inordinate love to them be decayed or dead we are apt to sit down upon the graves as it were of our buried Idols and cry out Ah my Lord Ah my Comfort Ah my Hope But how does a mortified man carry in reference to the lawful things of this World Answer 1. With a great indifferency If he live if he be rich if full if he abound it 's well and if he die if he be poor or empty it 's also well If David be on the Throne it 's well he can then also pen Songs of praise If he be at home in his house in the Sanctuary it 's well if banished and chased from the house of God it 's well Hezekiah is Victorious the Assyrians are slain it 's well Isaiah prophecieth that his Treasures shall be spoiled and his Children carried captive this is good too Our blessed Lord is the same when the people sing Hosanna and when
I do not say that the Lord would have the Believer content to lie under the impressions of wrath much less content to be damned but he would have the man lie at his feet under chese and bear witness to his holy Justice when under outward or inward troubles Now the more spiritual mens sins be and the more refined these lusts are they are the more provoking 2. As the sins of Believers are in some respect more exceeding sinful than the sins of others so the more grace one have his sin is proportionably aggravated Moses suffers more for a word than many others for deeds 3. As afflictions are Covenant-mercies and fruits of fatherly affections to all the children of God so the more dutiful any child of God be the greater may his Corrections be when he does fault and so God is most gracious to him yet the more a man tolerate any sin if he be not more afflicted than others there 's at least more anger in his afflictions which is the soul and spirit of afflictions or the more spiritual are his punishments Finally The reason why some eminently godly are under many outward afflictions may be because they have some time or other may be dishonoured God by some publick sin whether before or after conversion and as they are provoking to God and scandalous to others so he manifests greater severity on such this is plain in Davids case so that it 's still some unmortified sin that brings on trouble A second prejudice that comes by the prevalency of any Corruption it keeps the Soul lean and low and makes it a Cripple in Duties it not only mar◠Confidence and Chearfulness in Duties but diligence and activity also for these may be separated yea it insensibly hardens the heart What a fearful security and stupidity brought on sin upon David Where was Davids tenderness now when he can plot Vriahs death it's as sickness to the Soul for sin is the Souls disease that does enervate its strength and make it languish What is said of whoredom and wine is true of every sin they take away the heart yea and the hand too the man as he is like a silly Dove without heart he cannot behave himself a right in Gods presence so he cannot speed at Gods work for he works cum laesis facultalibus his foul hands blackens holy Duties his fingers drop much sin upon them the old man leaves the print of his heels upon them O what is it that keeps you out of Heaven at least from seeing it afar off it's some sin that besets you and hinders your motion Heaven-ward how few paces have you advanced for these many days Heb. 12.1 2 Whence is it that you see not so much as the top of the Towers of the new Jerusalem How come many that did begin after you yet to get before you some weight presses you down some corrupt affection like a long-garment entangles you or you stumble and fall often in the way It is not so much external Duties as the secret exercise of Mortification that keeps grace lively and when this is neglected and any sin prevails Grace withers and often the Lord blasts a mans gifts also or if gifts be intire they are left for a share as Eccles 2.9 It was Solomons snare that when he was pursuing vanity My wisdom remained with me says he It is the Curse of many this day and that which hardens them in their ill way that their Gifts and Learning rémain with them 3. Think what loss of Communion with God you sustain by your Idol or your unmortified corruption Sampsons Delilah cost him his two Eyes his Liberty and at length his Life But the departing of the Spirit of the Lord was the saddest of all by letting the king of your lusts live as Saul did Agag you hazard your Crown of Glory at least you have little of Heaven upon Earth Tell me Christian when was you last in Heaven it may be not for many days and know you not what keeps you out It 's a sad word Ezek. 14.5 They are all estranged from me through their idols Isa 59.2 Your iniquities have separated betwixt you and God and your sins have hid his face from you yea and often-times prevailing-sin does blot out the impression and sometimes the remembrance of that solacing sweetness that the Soul had in his Company begets some satisfaction in this dreadful state of distance from God thy Idols of Jealousie separate thee from thy chief Friend by this means thou wears out thy intimacy if not thy Acquaintance may be thou makest not a visit to Heaven in many days and if the Lord at any time come to thee thou art not at leisure but busied entertaining thy Idols Ah! have you no sense of these things I need not tell you what 's the mournful moan and ruful complaint of many Souls Ah! it was well with me till such a time O how many good days had I what a Heaven upon Earth had I what Communion with God in Prayer in the Lords Supper and other Ordinances till I did begin to dally with such an Idol till such a Corruption began to get power of me but since thou intermitted the vigorous exercise of Mortification where are thy Trophies and Triumphs where are thy Bethels thy Penuels thy Eben-ezers And it 's well for thee if ever thou recover this Distance from God and indisposition to Duty grows more in one day than thou canst make up or wear out in many I doubt if ever Davids bones were as sound as before if ever he had such Joy and gladness in Gods Company in the Sanctuary or elsewhere as before or that ever God appeared to Solomon as he had done twice before his fall I doubt the holy Lord deals with many of his people in this life as he did with the Levites Ezek 14.44 who had gone astray from him after their Idols they were to be keepers of the charge of the House for the service thereof as keeping the Gates and slaying the Sacrifices but they shall bear their iniquity and they shall not come near unto me to do the office of a Priest unto me nor come near to any of my holy things in the most holy place c. See ver 11.12 13 14 He will not put thee out of doors yet may never let thee come where thou hast been and never set thee so high on this side of Eternity 4. Any Idol or unmortified lust will clip the wings of Prayer and intercept the return of it Isa 59.1 2 The Lords hand is not shortned nor his ear heavy c. But c. Ezek. 14.3 4 and 20 31 As I live saith the Lord I will not be enquired c. Psalm 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me the man that has his Idols set up in his heart he grieves the Spirit who helps our infirmities in Prayer c. if he has any pleasure
the Spirit which if hearkned to and improved may recover the Soul again and bring back more plentiful and greater assistances of the Spirit First then beware of marring the Spirits work 2. Learn to comply and actively to co-operate with the Spirit in all the methods and ways whereby he destroys sin 3. When sin is not allowed the Spirit is not grieved so as to withdraw or suspend his operations For the first Resist not the Spirit else the bonds of your sins shall be made strong Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty 2 Cor. 3.16 This is not a Liberty of speech only or mainly he works out our freedom and Adoption but when he is resisted or opposed he brings under bondage to fear for both these Rom. 8.15 16 are the effects of the same holy Spirit and brings Adoption under debate again Jer. 3.19 1. O do not counter-act nor counter-work the Spirit when he discovers sin do not you shut your eyes or wink hard to hold out his light some will not know Sin because they have no mind to leave it much less to mortifie it they put out the Candle that they may sin the more freely such Ignorance does highly aggravate guilt how many defend their ignorance of Truths and Duties Errours and Sins against the Spirit of God and thus for some base lust sell Truth and Holiness which are glorious Beams of God and at the highest rate and peril make a Conquest of Errour or Sin which are the excrements of the Devil and of Hell Oh to what a height of sin in this particular have many arrived at who instead of complying with what Light and Convictions the Spirit does minister to them will have the Spirit comply with their darkness their Sins and their Errours when men study the Scripture to seek a cover for them or get to themselves Teachers after their own lusts after the manner of Achab as ordinarily great men especially do their Ministers and Chaplains Thus men would make the Spirit of God of their own mind and to approve Sin some are angry at the Light as it mars their carnal Mirth and as it opens the eyes of others to think of them what they would not be thought How many also do with the Spirit within as they do with the Spirit in his Ministers and as the Jews did with Jeremy Ch. 44 They seek Light but are determined in their mind only they would have the Spirit to serve their turn 2. Do not not oppose the Spirit when drawing the heart off Sin when engaging and raising purposes in the heart against Sin or when arming the passions against it as many do who thereby render outward helps for Mortification and also the inward workings of the Spirit powerless and ineffectual and thus when God would heal them they discover their iniquity as Ephraim and as those do who not only call evil good c. but draw iniquity like Cart-ropes who the more they are striven with the more they stretch themselves forth to sin this is ordinary with the unregenerate But 2dly Do not grieve the Spirit this is more common to the godly Now you grieve the Spirit 1. When you covet his Comforts more than his sanctifying Operations and his killing of sin in you It 's worse to be under the power of Sin than to be under terrours for sin 2. We grieve the Spirit by every act of sin by the least indulgence to sin the very first motions of sin they are lustings against the Spirit and the further they proceed the more they grieve the Spirit If they be delighted in or consented to which is the conception of sin much more if they be brought forth and amongst sins the more spiritual any sins be the more it grieves the holy Spirit as leaving upon the Soul the character and resemblance of the contrary evil Spirit As for instance Pride and the more spiritual Pride be and the more excellent the object of it be the more provoking it is though indeed in some respect sensual pleasures and bodily sins may be said to grieve the Spirit more in as much as they not only defile his Temple but also polute the Soul which should be the inner Temple and therefore kept more holy with sensual affections which alienates the Soul from the Lord and which also weaken the Soul Hos 4.11 Hence see the opposition Ephes 5.18 Jude 19 and which are a real service and proper tribute to the flesh whereas we are debtors only to the Spirit Rom. 8.12 and it cannot but exceedingly grieve the Spirit when we pay our liveliest affections as tribute to his great Enemy in us For the 2d Direction mentioned viz. Compliance and Co-operation with the Spirit You must not think that the Spirit will mortifie sin when you are asleep or without your own endeavours much less when you are actually indulging and giving scope to it If ye through the Spirit do mortifie c. But ere I press this more particularly let me exhort you to endeavour as much as in you lies to keep your Souls in such a frame as is fit for the holy Spirit to work upon an humble meek and ductile frame of spirit the best frame will not enable to mortifie any sin but when the Lord finds the Soul in a good frame he works suitably upon it Psalm 27.14 but when there 's nothing to work upon or when the heart is like clamp Tinder either heavenly sparks are withheld or they die out And when the Spirit does his part then be true to yours when thou art conflicting with sin and the Spirit comes in and takes thy part against it happy thou if thou can improve it But Oh sin not away such blessed assistance may be thou sinds not much of it at first for he uses to try us with a little ere he trust us with much and as we refuse or close in with his first offers so does he deny or afford us further assistance he gives a little to make way for more Now the prejudiced Soul discerning that such a motion is levelled at its beloved lust which is its life and foreseeing the difficulty and pain of Mortification does reject the motion and refuse this assistance Even as some wretches says one mar their conceptions to prevent the pain and inconveniencies of Child-bearing But O do not hold out these Messengers nor murther these Births of the Spirit that would assist thee in the killing and mortifying of thy sin Oh hide not and plead not for thine Enemy when the Spirit comes to avenge thee on it for all the injuries it has done thee go not forth against it in thy own strength nor yet refuse to follow him when he gives the Alarm or the Signal for Battel hastily buckle on thy Armour and thou shalt prevail but if any Temptation meet thee all alone thou art weak as water or hadst thou been as strong as Sampson if thy locks be shaven and
least think they can resist and overcome many sins and yet do not why do they put off Repentance and Mortification with express purposes some other time to repent and mortifie sin and why do they when under outward trouble or inward terrors cry out O that I had known this 2. They will not so much as try whether they can mortifie sin or not 3. The natural man does not only freely and willingly but chearfully fulfil the lusts of the flesh without regard to or sense of his Impotency to do otherwise or any necessity he is under saving what he lays upon himself they could not do it more freely supposing there were no power above them determining evenâ—◠〈…〉 could not do it more chearfully no◠〈…〉 supposing it were the true happiness 〈…〉 though deceitful will tell us so viz. 〈…〉 is not from any compulsion to sin nor 〈…〉 ability to do the contrary that we sin 〈…〉 a willingness and satisfaction in so doing and thus they do willingly consent to the want of the Spirits assistance that 's necessary to the mortification of sin And 4. They are even willing that there be insuperable difficulties in their way that they cannot mortifie sins they are so in love with their lusts that they are content to have their ear bored and to be servants to them for ever they love to have it so Jer. 5.31 and are grieved when their crazy bodies cannot serve their sinful Ambitious Covetous Vindictive souls yea it may be they are glad that they have this pretence of impotency to plead for themselves and it being so universal they think their plea will be the more relievant But 5. That which may stop every mouth is this You do not what you may do for the mortification of sin sure I am If you cannot get the better of a vain proud light heart you may yet restrain your tongue and rectifie your garbs But O when poor Ministers cannot prevail with you for Christs sake to cut off the superfluities of your own or others hair and to forsake sinful and foolish fashions which any may do with much ease how shall we prevail with you to cut off a right hand to abandon what is as dear to you as your life and what cleaves closer to you than a girdle does to the loyns of a man or the soul does to the body In a word how much might you have done to the mortification of such or such a lust that you have neglected so that this pretence of Impotency is but a froward Objection of the flesh for as an excellent man saith the Spirit is ever before-hand with us preventing us with some knowledg and some ability which if we joyn with the Spirit is ready to increase and carry us further If the Lord concur to those works to which he does not previously move the heart how much more to those works which he excites and is the first mover The holy Lord follows the worst of men a great way but they will have none of him so that the Question Whether God will condemn the man that did his utmost ought to be out of doors for no man out of Christ ever did all that he could by common assistance of the Spirit But is not the godly man heartily willing to be rid of sin when yet he cannot Answ As the unrenewed will is Christs greatest enemy and Satans greatest strength so indeed much of the strength of Grace lies in the renewed will and in the new man It 's Christs greatest friend and sins greatest enemy Rom. 7.17 23 The heart may be willing when the flesh is weak And when there is some defect and short-coming in the executive powers of the soul our diligence in duty and actual opposition to sin seldom or never answer the desires of a willing mind or of an inlarged heart Yet 1. Know that there is some willingness were the will perfectly set against sin a man should be perfectly holy Paul Rom. 7 speaks only of his renewed will or his will in so far as renewed for its certain his will was in part for evil else he could not have done it true there was force as it were on the renewed will therefore he pleads Not guilty in some fense but this was by the unrenewed will in part though more especially by the inferior soul 2. The believer if he quench not the Spirit yet is often grieving him and so provokes him to suspend his assistance And I judg we may say This the holy Spirit rarely or never does but after some unkind usage 3. None of them are destitute of all assistance against sin and they are culpable in so far as they improve not these and in as far as they do not conscientiously shun all provocations to sin and use all Gods appointed means and methods with which the spirit uses to concur and whereby he conveys supplies of grace and strength to the soul If any ask how this necessary assistance of the Spirit may be obtained I Answ 1. Negatively Do not resist the Spirit 2. Quench not the Spirit 3. Grieve not the Spirit 2. Positively 1. You must be convinced of your utter impotency to mortifie any sin 2. You must highly prize the Spirit 's assistance and thirst and hunger for it as a child for bread to nourish him 3. You must pray for the Spirit Luk. 1.13 Your heavenly Father will give the Spirit c. See how the Disciples were busied Act. 1.14 Prayer brings down the Spirit and the more of this Spirit the more prayer Or the Lord will have such as have none of the Spirit yet to seek him by prayer Ezek. 36.27 compared with v. 37. Indeed there is no promise that God will give his sanctifying Spirit to every unrenewed man that asks him that of Luk. 11.13 concerns only children and a further measure of the Spirit But if thou hast any thing of the Spirit the way to get more is by believing-prayer I say by believing-prayer compare Act. 1.4 with 8.14 See also Isa 40.30 31. though thou find not much of this yet believe the promise and wait O it 's not known what advantage there is in believing promises Joh. 11.20 There is some present strength that accompanies this and more that certainly follows it 4. Improve what measure of the Spirit you have were it but on the account of that general promise Matt. 25.21 and Prov. 1.23 Turn ye at my reproof and behold I 'le pour out my spirit upon you be content that the Spirit should not only dwell in you but influence and act you Walk after the spirit that what Paul says of Christ you may say of the Spirit Gal. 2.20 and of Grace 1 Cor. 15.10 Think it no bondage but true liberty to be led by the Spirit happy they who are ever in such a frame as are fit for the Spirit to operate upon Indeed it requires careful attention to observe and much humility and self-denyal to
spued sin his seed into our first Parents and they have transmitted it to all their posterity Now those who are begot again by Jesus Christ they have his seed in them Grace or the Divine Nature is called the seed of God 1 Joh. 3.9 Not exclusively of Christ this is that which makes us like Christ and to represent him as a Child does the Parent hence called Christ formed in us even as sin makes one resemble Satan 1 Joh. 3.8 and may be called Satans seed some speak ignorantly as if there were the material seed of the Devil in men which may be they fetch from the Turks Alcoran which says that there 's a drop of black blood in the middle of every ones heart which they call the seed of the Devil and which they say the Angels having opened up Mahomet when a child washed out of him Nor is their notion much unlike that of the Cartesians about their glandula pinealis in Cerebro from the motion whereof proceeds all inordinate desires But 2. The godly have a party without to conflict with from the whole observe 1. Some thing supposed viz. that sin having entred the world all men are on Satans seed and in enmity with God till this promise take effect on them 2. That Satans interest is not at once destroyed nor are the elect at once perfectly saved Satan has a party still in the world yea he hath some part in every man here None can say as Christ Joh. 14.30 The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me he is at perfect variance with Satan Satan could get nothing in him to fasten his temptations upon he has some party and some footing in the godly man his seed is not at once purged out but is still stirring and conflicting and counteracting Christ and his interest in the soul It 's so ordered by the holy Majesty of God Satan begot this enmity and God in his holy providence suffers it to remain in part Now for the 1st It is supposed that there 's nothing in men but enmity to Christ and a heart working against him There was nothing else in Adam when this promise began to take effect on him and there 's nothing else now in sinners when it begins to be fulfilled on them this is the nature of sin and the best notion we can have of it enmity to God and to Christ and to his Image It 's contrary to him It 's an enemy to his being and makes the sinner wish God were not Psal 14.1 And it 's pleasing to him to think May be there is none this enmity in the abstract is in every natural mans mind Rom. 8.7 much more in the heart and affections and all the members of the body are imployed as weapons to fight against him Men hate him not indeed as Creator or Preserver c. but as Holy and Righteous as a Lawgiver and Judg and this is for no wrong on his part but they have wronged him and would be rid of him this was manifest in Adam And O that this notion of sin were more fixed in our hearts it must be in every true penitent In Hell there 's no repentance because there 's nothing but enmity to God there in heaven there 's none because there 's nothing but Amity here there is something of both in the godly indeed in the natural man there 's only enmity Now Rom. 6.12 13 14. Lev. 26.40 41 the penitent bewails that he has walked contrary to God there 's nothing at all that befriends God in the natural man he is wholly for Satan there 's no spark of pure light within for the mind and Conscience are engaged against God and conspire with Satan the foundation of whose Kingdom is laid in darkness may be the natural man trembles at a sight of the Devil as being in a sort a creature of another world and being represented as an enemy to Mankind But is it not apparent how much sinners conspire with him in his enmity and contrariety to God some there be that Covenant with him some expresly some virtually in many places of the world he is familiarly convers'd with yea and worshipped and did not evil spirits frequently and familiarly haunt houses in times of Popery and seem'd to do good offices unto them and were called by the vulgar Faries Brownyes by some Familiars good Neighbours and how well affected many are yet to Satan appears by their application to him or his instruments in case of lost or stoln goods or the like doubtful cases But what a secret power and interest has he with thousands where he is not so discreetly owned how many do merrily dance when he pipes to them how many willing loving slaves has he his power with them is manifest by their acting such prodigious wickedness sometimes at which even corrupt humane nature in others is made to tremble Others he deals more gently with and puts them not on such hard service they are at peace with him and for a while he keeps peace with them they trouble not him and he troubles not them he has a claim to them partly by his own request partly by their own consent one way or other and partly by the Lords holy and righteous giving them up to him as a just punishent of mans first breaking with him taking himself to Satan And not only has he a claim to them but he has possession of all out of Christ and one would think that this were enough to waken sinners may be some of them at some times take up some dislike of their state but yet are easily reconciled to it again or make some little breach or fall at some odds with the Prince of this world but soon reconcile themselves again Now when this promise comes to take effect on any soul the Lord comes and casts out Satan and he seizes on the soul this is called his apprehending it Phil. 3.12 Satan is loth to lose the sinner But Jesus Christ that is stronger than he casts him out and he must bring down and demolish strong holds ere this be done 2 Cor. 10.4 5 6. and put forth that power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Satan pulls and Christs draws and the Father draws Satan and the sinner joyn all their strength together he does with sinners as the Turks do with their Galley-slaves that make them serve against their friends and such as would set them free Only here 's the difference these do it by constraint but sinners do heartily joyn issue with Satan and resist Christ as if he were about to hurt them Now at length Satan is cast out and the sinner yields 2 Chron. 30.8 Rom. 6.12 13. Both places allude to such as are besieged or assaulted hence Conversion is called a turning from Satan unto God Act. 26.21 Colos 1.14 2 Tim. 2.25 26. See the manner of Christs Conquering fouls Luk. 11.21 Matt. 12.29 1. He binds the strong