A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL March 6. 1673 4 BY William Lloyd D. D. Dean of Bangor and one of his Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary Published by His Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Andrew Clark for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Paul's MDCLXXIV A Lent-Sermon ROM VIII Ver. 13. If you walk after the flesh ye shall die but if you through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body you shall live IT was the Apostles design in most part of this Epistle both for his Converts at Rome to whom it was immediately written and for all other Christians that should come to read it in after times to draw them off from a carnal and sensual course of life to that which is most agreeable to our Christian profession In order to this he lays the foundation of his Discourse in a discovery of a two-fold principle in man that strongly enclines him the one way or the other he shews the certain tendency of both these ways the one exposing us to the just wrath and indignation of God which must end first or last in our ruine and destruction the other pleasing to God and beneficial to our selves full of inward peace and comfort in this life sure of endless joy and happiness in the future These two opposite principles in my Text so much spoken of in the beginning of this Chapter are the same which our Saviour formerly mentioned in that discourse St. John â— 6. where he shews what they are and whence they proceed There is a principle of Flesh as he calls it in every man that is born into this world it descends to us from the parents of our flesh in that taint of our nature which we call Original Sin and this addicts us to all Carnal and Sensual things but more strongly to those which are evil and forbidden There is also another principle in every Christian the Grace which we receive at our New Birth in Holy Baptism This our Saviour calls Spirit for 't is infus'd into us by the operation of the Spirit of God This inclines and inables those that will be led by it to those things which are spiritual and eternal The opposition between these two principles in us and the consequence of each to them that are led by it is thus described by the Apostle in my Text If ye c. That is in other words If you lead your life according to the Carnal Principle and be not chang'd and renew'd by the Spirit i. e. until you repent and be converted you are spiritually dead in this life and are to look for nothing but eternal death in the future But if the Spiritual Principle have power in you so as to subdue the irregular inclinations of the flesh you shall live i. e. being quicken'd and renew'd by the Spirit you shall have that spiritual life here which shall be consummated hereafter in life everlasting In the last words which are my subject at this time I shall consider these four particulars 1. What are here call'd the deeds of the flesh 2. How these are to be mortifi'd 3. How we are to do it by the Spirit 4. How thus doing we shall live All these parts I shall consider with a twofold respect To them that have spiritual life and to them that are destitute of it for those of both sorts have an interest in my Text and a capacity to receive benefit by it You that have Spiritual Life in you if you mortifie the deeds of the flesh you shall continue the life of Grace here and shall attain to the life of Glory hereafter And even you that are spiritually dead you are not so dead but that you also may live if you by the spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh you shall thereby come to the life of Grace here and so you also shall attain the life of Glory hereafter To proceed in the method which I have propounded I am first to consider what are the Deeds of the flesh And if the flesh be as is said our original Concupiscence then the deeds or actings of it must be actual sins So that look how many sorts of such sins are in the world so many sorts we may reckon of the Deeds of the flesh Our Apostle gives us a black Catalogue of them Gal. 5. 19. where he says The works of the flesh are manifest and they are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wraths Strifes Seditions Heresies Envying Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like which whoso does shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And lest our Apostle's calling them Works in that Text and Deeds in this should make any one think he means only outward actions and no other I must desire you to remember that God sees not as man sees nor judges as man judges Man can see no more but the outward action God looks chiefly if not only at the heart man can judge of no sin till he sees it acted with God it is acted as soon as it is conceiv'd When lust hath conceiv'd it brings forth sin and sin when it is finish'd brings forth death James 1. 15. 'T is conceiv'd as soon as ever it is thought of with consent as we proceed to delight in the speculation it ripens when we resolve to commit it then 't is finish'd for then the heart has done as much as it can do Though we never proceed to action 't is perfect sin I cannot say it is more sin if we do bring it to action Only then 't is the more dangerous and approaches more to habit for the purpose continues all the while we commit it and is confirmed by the pleasure we have in committing it Therefore 't is the great mercy of God when he restrains us when he hinders us when he takes away the power and opportunity from us that we cannot put an ill purpose in execution though we are nevertheless guilty of the sin having gone as far as we can go in it when it is fully resolv'd and purpos'd in the heart Mat 15. 19. says our Saviour Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witness Blasphemy They could not proceed out of the heart but that first they were in the heart And many sins may be in the heart that are never brought forth into action All the sins that I have mentioned may lie within in the heart and only those come abroad that see their occasion but whether outward or inward they are the works of the flesh they are the same sins whether purposed and committed or whether never committed but only purpos'd and determin'd in the heart These we are to mortifie says my Text To mortifie that is to kill them to put them to death or which is equivalent yea much better to keep them from ever coming to life This mortifying of sin is the proper work and business of Repentance now Repentance
run out into all manner of Licentiousness Some that have much valu'd Themselves by their Cloaths and taken a Pride to out do others that way becoming Quakers have put off that Pride and put on Spiritual Pride in the stead 'T is Lust governs them still though it has shifted it self it hath alter'd its Habit it hath quitted its Place and put on other Circumstances 't is no other than Satan that has cast out Satan However this sufficiently shows how possible it is for a Habit to be broken and left off and turn'd into the contrary Being sure then it is possible we are to see how this may be done to good purpose in the way of Mortification It may be done Morally as I intimated before So Heathens have done it and so the Spiritually Dead may do it Morally by attending to the Dictates of Natural Reason Common Reason will tell you what a weakness it is to give the Reins to your Lust to let your Beast carry you whither he pleases to run out of your Estate your Credit your Health in pursuit of an unsatisfying momentany Pleasure and will therefore tell you how unwise they are that give themselves to Drunkenness to Riot and Uncleanness Common Reason will tell you what a vain thing it is to Pride your selves in that which is not yours or in that which soon may be anothers for all things here are subject to Time and Chance Common Reason will tell you what a madness it is to run into a Needless Quarrel and then as the fashion is to stake all you have upon the issue of it to put it in the power of every worthless man to make you go to Cross and Pile with him for your Life Common Reason will tell you what a vexatious endless thing it is to set your heart upon uncertain Riches to live Poor that you may die Rich to wrong others and be never the better for 't your self but much the worse when all accounts are cast up These and many things more common Reason will tell you if you attentively heed it You may learn much from Reason and 't is well if you do that But let me tell you Reason will not do this business in my Text. It will not convince you of all Sins it cannot cope with all Lusts it corrects but few Habits and not any sufficiently for it does not purifie the Fountain it cleanses not the Heart it does not place it upon God the right Object it does not season it with Grace the right Principle without which all that you do otherwise is light and defective 't will not hold weight in the Scales of the Sanctuary of God This it is which the Apostle supposes in this Work saying If you through the Spirit mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh You must do it but not you you of your selves so you cannot but you through the Spirit so you may and so you ought to do it The Spirit in this Text is taken by Interpreters for either the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Man both these in their several ways and degrees have to do in the Work of Mortification First Actively onely the Spirit of God and that either outwardly by means or inwardly working on our Spirit Outwardly God has given us means of Mortification both to them in whom it succeeds and to them in whom it succeeds not Those Means are both his Word and his Works First Gods Word is generally propounded in Scripture where whoso reads and lists to observe cannot but see how God forbids and dissuades from all manner of Sin how he invites and exhorts us to Repentance and Newness of Life He cannot but see how God seconds his Commands with exceeding rich and precious Promises He cannot but see how his Prohibitions are prest with Threatnings of Judgments both in this Life and the future Of his Works We have an account of His Wonders of old in all the Historical Part of Scripture of the Mercies which he shewed to them that did Repent and of the Judgments which he executed upon hardened and impenitent Sinners We cannot but see in our own daily Experience the Works of Gods ordinary Providence both his Judgments and his Mercies in this Life We see daily enough to convince us if we please to observe that as the Psalmist says Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth even here in the Earth Nay if we collect from Experience we need go no farther than our selves We are forgetful and ungrateful if we observe not in our selves that God has been merciful to us that he has not taken us at advantage that he has spar'd us when he might have punish'd us and punish'd us Gently when he might have consumed us We cannot but see how he has forborn us and warn'd us how he has sometime come near and threatned us and as it were walk'd off to see what we would do We cannot but see what he has done to others before our Eyes how he has made quick work with them and cut them off in his wrath whilst we have been the Objects of his Patience and Long-suffering treated with all the Means and invited with great Opportunities for what end to bring us to Repentance If that be his end as we are certain it is where is the fault all this while that You have not yet mortify'd the Deeds of the Flesh O ye that are dead in Trespasses and Sins What is it because you are dead So some may conceive we being dead there is nothing for us to do yes there is much for you to do much that you may do so much that as you cannot but confess 't is your fault that you are spiritually dead so it is ten thousand times more your fault if you continue so For though you are so far dead that you cannot be rightly active you are to be more than meerly passive in the Work of Mortification I mean you are not Stocks and Stones you are not tied to a necessity of lying still Though you are so dead that you cannot help your selves you can do that which being done God will assuredly help you God will help you if you earnestly apply your selves unto him if you use those Means which he has prescribed if you bewail that which has so deaded and disabled you if you earnestly sue to him for his Grace to enable you and for his Mercy to spare you so long time that this Work may yet be brought to Perfection Prayer to God should have the first place if it has any in this matter and that it has St. Peter teaches in his Advice to Simon Magus Acts viii 22 23. Thou art says he in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity yet pray unto God if perhaps thy Wickedness may be forgiven thee Doubtless a wicked mans Prayer is abomination to the Lord while he resolves to continue such but we are as sure he
can never be otherwise without daily and earnest Prayer unto God But then Praying is not all ye must also do what ye can Ye can choose whether you will go to the House of Prayer at Prayer-time or whether you will sit at home or visit or walk the Fields at home you can choose whether you will pray or read a Book that may profit you or whether you will do that which may hurt or which cannot profit you You can choose whether you will give your mind to what you read or hear or whether you will divide it between Sleep and Talk and other matters You can if you please lay up what you learn you can think of it again in due time and so apply it that it may make some impression I do not say you can have Faith when you please but St. Paul says Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and you may hear it when you please and Gods Blessing is ready to go along with his Word it is your own fault if you do not partake of that Blessing If you are sick and a Physician comes to you and offers you that which he says and you believe will certainly cure you if you take his Physick and observe his Rules and so doing recover your Health it is he that has cur'd you you have not cur'd your self And yet thus much you have done towards it you have done all as he directed you you have been willingly passive which was more than he could compel you to be Now this is all that God requires in the Work of our Conversion He could compel us but he will not for he expects we should be willingly passive he would have us take his Physick and observe his Rules God expects we should apply our Hearts to Spiritual Knowledge with a full resolution to live accordingly God expects we should abstain from ill Diet that is from the satisfying of our Lusts which I have shown you upon a Moral Account we are able to abstain from if we please God expects we should be conversant in his Word and that we should observe him in his Works For his Word he expects you should read or hear it often and diligently that what you read or hear you should lay to heart so as to make some impression that you should heed it with the same concernment and with at least as much effect as you would do if your Lawyer should tell you of something which endanger'd your whole Estate or if your Physician should warn you of some Disease that if not prevented would shorten your Life Of his Works chiefly of his Judgments God expects you should be a diligent Observer First when you see others suffer for their sins which perhaps are also yours You cannot but know that God has made them Examples to you and therefore whatsoever his end may be towards them you have much cause to fear that unless you repent God will also make you perhaps you next an Example to others When any Judgment of God is fallen upon your self God expects you should consider whence it comes and wherefore 't is to take away your sin that you should mind this especially in Sickness which is the greatest Temporal Mercy in order to a Spiritual good the greatest God can show to any hardened and yet not incorrigible Sinner If ye neglect all these Methods and Means of Conversion what remains but a sad and fearful Account An Account that comes Slow but will be most Sure First for your Sin and then for your Impenitence and then for your neglect of the means of Repentance This last will make you quite inexcusable When you are in Hell whither you are going and must come without Repentance it will be another Hell to you to consider how possible it was for you by repenting in this Life to have prevented that misery which now you are for ever to endure and to have obtain'd that Bliss from which you are now separated for ever Whereas contrary wise if you lay hold on this Opportunity if you make use of these Means that use for which they were intended of God you will soon find a sensible Benefit in certain Effects which deserve more time then I have now to consider them First You will find the Means of Grace more effectual by degrees You will find a Lesson from hence make more impression upon your thoughts You will find both a softning and a strengthning of your Heart I dare promise you from God an encrease of the Means of Grace and perhaps a longer Life to profit by them Why not For God willeth not the Death of a Sinner but rather that he should be converted and live If longer Life therefore be needful to compleat your Conversion God will give it if not he will the sooner perfect your Conversion for he has declared in favour of such as you are that He will not quench the smoaking Flax nor break the bruised Reed until he has brought forth Iudgment to Victory till he has given you a full Conquest of your Sins But how Through his Spirit That is the inward Work of it which comes next to be considered God works outwardly as you have heard by giving us the Means of our Conversion God works inwardly by his Grace which gives efficacy to the Means or more properly he gives it to Us to a Sinner so humbled and so contrite as ye have heard for his own Promise for his own Mercy 's sake God gives that Grace which is the Life and Soul of Conversion And this being infus'd into our Spirits by the Spirit of God may cause that Doubt among Interpreters as ye have heard though it comes all to one whether our mortifying of Sin be by the Spirit of God or by our Spirit enlightened and enabled by his Spirit Sure enough the Agent or Efficient in our Conversion is the Spirit of God Our Spirit which is willingly Passive before and in our Conversion after this becomes Active it cooperates with the Spirit of God First in our Conversion 't is the work of Gods Spirit to mortifie our Lusts to break the power of them in our Hearts to set our captive and enthralled Affections at liberty 'T is the Work of God to change our Spirit or Rational Soul having thus broken the Bonds of Death wherein it was held to quicken it to give it Spiritual Life so to create in us as it were a New Heart and a New Spirit whence the Soul that repents is said to be a New Creature made as Adam was at first after the Image of God Both these Works of Gods Spirit St. Paul requires of us though our part in them be onely such as you have heard Ephes. iv 22 c. That we put off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and that we put on the New Man which after God is created in