another mans servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth so may it be said of another mans service I have sometime thought why did not all the Apostles write something for publick common use or why have we not somewhat of the writing of them all who since like them yet what volumes have been written and preserved and brought down to us through the severall ages since their time No doubt more things were written by the Pen-men of Scripture than we have more Epistles by the Apostles than are come to us some of which it 's very like we would have judg'd mere usefull and should have preferred before some that we have Luke 1.1 For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us V. 3. It seemed good to me also though many yea because many had written be wrote too and that about the same things Had printing been found out in Christ's time or the Apostles dayes how much more of their sayings doings and writings might we have had But God's providence over-ruleth all things in infinite wisdome not to be fathomed by the short line of our reason or understanding How unsearchable are his wayes To say the truth as these Sermons were preached upon the desire of a Friend so are they published upon the serious request of severall backt with some remarkable passages of providence and by grave advice otherwise I had not any mind or thought in my mind to let them passe the Press than which even nothing farther from my thoughts when I preach't them As they were delivered in my constant course of preaching so neer as well could be come they here to you in a homely dresse Eccl. 11.6 In the morning fow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good So may it be said read one and read another Book for thou knowest not whether shall advantage thee either this or that or whether they shall be both alike gainfull or succesfull They say it 's an ill wind that blows no one any good I am not without hope those things printed may do some good as I have ground to believe when preached they did If they become beneficiall to any I shall account that alone a great reward and he that shall say contemptuously pâ—sh they had better never seen the light doth he not sâ—y withall better that good some may gain thereby had not been done but when the least good is done to the least Christ will not say so for he saith Verily he that gives a Cup of cold water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall not lose his reward so doth he love Disciples Christians it is his saying Feed my Lambs as well as feed my Sheep and he wiâ—l have him that hath but one talent to improve it That place hath many times given me great encouragement in my hard work 1 Cor. 1.26 27. c. For ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty nor many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to consound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen and things that are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence We read Luke 24.11 Their words seemed to them as idle tales because they believed them not Pray O therefore pray much for Faith lest these words of truth be but to you as idle tales and therewith mix all the truths of God The way to experience promâ—ses and the goodnesse of Scripture counsels is to believe them but he that believeth not shall feel in due time the certainty of all Scripture threatnings If every idle word spoken must be given an account of then sure every good and usefull word heard or read must be accounted for Hos 2.8 9. She did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oyl c. therefore will I return and take away my Corn and my Wine and will recover my Wool and my Flax c. Doth the Lord regard what use men put his Corn Wine Wool and Flax to and doth he not observe how men entertain and deal with his Words The good Lord deliver thee from that wosull yet prevailing frame of Spirit to be serious about trifles and triflng about serious things He in whom are all the Treasures of Wisdom make you wise to Salvation your own your everlasting Salvation from the worst death to the best life cause you to know savingly in this your day the things that concern your peace lest the night the dismal night come wherein they will wholly and for ever be hid from thine eyes Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life the fountain of light and life give you proportionably O that at least it might be so much to value life spiritual and eternal In a word my Pen already having run too far and beyond my purpose If thou art a careless sighty one O that thou wouldst sit down and ponder till thou feelest those words come home with power to thy heart Prov. 1.24.25 c. art thou one that mournest because of the prevalency of sin in thee remember the Spirit is a Spirit of love and power therefore ready and able to enable thee heartily seeking it to tread upon the nâ—ck of all thy sins as they did upon the necks of those Kings Josh 10 24. and to lead thee in the way everlasting till thou attainest to the full possession of that never ending Life of Glory If in reading thou findest thy heart stirred up to pray then lift up a request for him who is Thy hearty Soul-Friend S. M. Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye c. AS Moses told the people he had set life and death before them Deut. 30.19 upon the account whereof he there calls heaven and earth to record against them so are these two great things Death and Life set before us in the Scripture throughout especially in some places among which my Text is one what is the great question that all do or should put and labour to get answered Is it not this which of those two things shall we have shall we have Death or shall we have life to which grand enquiry the Apostle here from the Lord gives a short but full answer in two conditional propositions The first hath the force of a Divine threatning and is a plain Character of those who shall dye The other carrieth in it a sure promise from God and gives a certain note of such who shall live I begin with the first If
do why am I so heedless what mean I to shew any friendship to to hold correspondence with or at all to countenance the flesh that Traytor to the Majesty of heaven that deadly enemy to my soul doth not the Scripture say if I whatever I am live after the flesh I shall dye O that the Lord would make use of this word pray you that he would as he did of the Stone that David slung whereby he killed that Gyant Goliah our flesh corruption is as a mighty Gyant he that speaks the word is of no strength but if God set in with it it shall knock our flesh on the head and lay it dead as that stone little David slung run into the head of that Philistine and brought him down dead to the Ground so that David whom he defyed came and stood upon him and cut off his head In a word when ever the flesh calls you after it answer it with this whenever Satan tempts you to follow it let this be your reply so and so the Scripture saith And do you Parents Preach this to your Children you friends and companions tell one another of this when you see one another acting sinfully Children Friends Companions the Lord God by his Apostle hath spoken it If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Lastly See what cause you have to bless the Lord who once did live after the flesh but now do not O mercy rich mercy that God hath turn'd you from that way wherein had you still lived it would have carried you from God from Heaven into the bottomless pit that place a thousand times worse than Nebuchadnezar's fiery Furnace when heated seventimes hotter than it used to be while you live praise God for this that you live not after the flesh And let this bear up your spirits under all afflictions though you live a life of affliction now yet not a life of corruption though an afflicted life yet not that life that will end in endless death Sermon 3. I shall now fall upon the second part of the Text But if ye through the shirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live IN these words we have a Character and evident sign of those who shall live with a promise of life to them or this sentence hath three things contained in it 1. A necessary constant duty that is incumbent and lyes upon us all that is to mortifie the deeds of the body 2. The great means prescribed for our doing this and that 's through the spirit 3. The great advantage that cometh by so doing and that 's life ye shall live I intend to speak to these three things in three Doctrines distinctly the first whereof the Doctrine now to be discussed is this Doct. 1. That it is a necessary and constant duty incumbent or lying upon us all to mortifie that is to kill slay and destroy the deeds of the body In the management of this truth I am to shew First What 's meant by the body and why it is so called Secondly what 's meant by the deeds of the body and why they are so named Thirdly what is it to mortifie the deeds thereof and how is that to be done Fourthly why is this a necessary duty Fifthly why is it a constant duty Q. 1. What 's meant by the body and why is it so called A. Body here signifyeth the same thing with flesh in the foregoing part of the Text corrupt nature or the corruption of nature natural corruption that sin we all brought into the world with us in us which is called the body of the sins of the flesh Col. 2.11 in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in puting off the body of the sins of the flesh and this is that which is tearmed the body of Sin Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed where by our old man and the body of sin the same thing is understood our old man corrupt nature is the body of sin it 's altogether made up of sin it 's nothing else but sin this also is that the Apostle calleth the body of this death Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or as it may be read from this body of death But why is the corruption of nature called the body A. For the same reasons before given why it 's called the flesh and besides those corrupt nature may be called the body for these reasons following 1. The body hath many parts and members which being united make one body together and each of those members differ the one from the other in their proper nature and use Rom. 12.4 We have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so is the mystical body of Christ his Church and thus is it with the body of sin it hath divers parts and members and therefore may be called in that place to the Colossians even now cited the body of the Sins of the flesh There is pride hatred hypocrisie covetousness unbelief with many more all which are as members of the body of sin there is a kind of union between them they all together make one corrupt nature and each of them differeth in the proper nature thereof and in its working or acting as the hand is one thing and acts in one manner the foot another thing and acts in another manner the eye differeth from the ear and the ear from the eye so is it with the several parts of corrupt nature And it may be observed as some parts of the body are inward not ordinarily seen or easie to be seen others are outward without and manifest to all so some lusts are more secret and not so commonly or easily perceived as others are which daily shew themselves as also the being and subsistence or life of the body lyeth chiefly in those parts that are within as the Heart Liver Lungs which are more necessary to the body it's subsisting than the outward parts as hands legs so the body of sin hath its being principally in those sins that are more secret less obvious such as hypocrifie unbelief formality covetousness vanity of mind these are as the Heart Liver and Lungs of the body of sin it would no longer subsist were there nothing of such sins within us whereas the body of sin may and oft doth continue and that strong and lusty without some outward more manifest sins such as Drunkenness Adultery Swearing and such like Moreover a man hath all the members of his body from the womb though he doth not use some of them so soon as others the Child useth not its tongue and legs so soon as its eyes and ears though it be born with them all so we bring all lusts into the world with us though some shew themselves and are exerted much sooner than others as pride
it had been so in comparison of those stirrings of it which he found when the Law came to his conscience verse 9. When the Commandement came sin revived and I dyed and the commandement which was ordained to life I found to be unto Death to his own death the death of his former hope and comfort not the death of his sin and thus he saith it was with others before converted verse 5. When we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death the motions of sin which were by the Law i. e. which were begotten or drawn forth by the Law through our corruption Therefore they are Gospel Truths especially and no Truths without these that are an efficacious means for the mortifying of sin These are the weapons of our warfare as the Apostle calls them 2 Cor. 10.4 which are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds they are spiritual and so effectual through God to the subduing our carnal affections As the work of mortification is begun so it is carried on but it is begun in regeneration and that 's by the Gospel as we read we are begotten again by that 1 Cor. 4.15 In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel Therefore the Gospel and the truths thereof should principally be made use of The curse of the Law should be considered but if a man would get his sin indeed destroyed let him seek a spiritual understanding of and let him be much in meditating on the grace of the Gospel the doctrine of Christ Fourthly By the Spirit is understood the Holy Ghost the third Person in the Trinity thus it 's taken both before my Text ver 9 and 11. as also after my Text ver 14 15 and 16 c. and in this sense we are to take it in the words I am upon if ye through the Spirit through the Holy Ghost i. e. through the Spirit of God do mortifie the deeds of the body Yet this includes the three other acceptations of the word Spirit for whoever do mortifie any sin through the Holy Ghost they are engaged in the work with their whole souls their whole heart is in it and they do destroy the deeds of the flesh by acting and exercising grace and this they do through hearing considering and acting Faith on Gospel Truths as will be shewn afterward Q. 2. Why is this work of mortifying our sins to be done by the Spirit of God A. 1. Because it cannot possibly be done without the Spirit of God Whatever is done against sin without the Spirit gives it no deaths wound it only covers or somewhat curbeth sin but doth not at all destroy it Christ saith John 6.63 It 's the Spirit that giveth life or that quickneth so it 's the Spirit that mortifieth the Spirit quickneth the Soul and the Spirit mortifieth sin in the Soul A dead carkass shall as soon maintain a fight against and kill a powerful enemy as any man slay his sin any one lust without the Spirit of God As it is natural to our visible body to save it self and every member thereof so is it natural to the body of sin and every member of that to save it self and as it is natural to a Father to save his Child so to Satan to do his utmost to defend and preserve fin in us Therefore it cannot be that we should of our selves or by the help of any creature alone mortifie any lust could we without the Spirit of Christ destroy our sin then might we be in a great part our own Saviours He that knows not the necessity of the Spirits special assistance in this work is certainly a great stranger to the mortification of sin that is most true in this case Zech. 4.6 Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts It is too great a work too mighty and too honourable for any one of himself to get the victory over sin which is our strongest and our worst enemy Outward enemies cannot be destroyed without the help of God especially when many and potent much less can spiritual enemies which are the worst and strongest Psal 33.16 17. There is no King saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength an horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength So all Means Duties Ordinances Power and Ability of the Creature is vain weak and to no purpose to deliver and save a man from his sin unless the Spirit of the Lord put its hand to the work and by its might effect it Secondly As this cannot be done without the Spirit so may it be done by the Spirit what though our lusts are never so many It 's all one as we read with the Lord to save with many or with few so is it all one with him to destroy many or few what was that great Host of Senacherib which came against Jerusalem one Angel of the Lord destroyed it in one night we read of the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin every sin is exceeding deceitful besides how deceitful is the heart how deceitful is Satan how deceitful is the world which is one great reason why we cannot mortifie our evil affections of our selves we want not only strength but understanding also our Lusts seem dead while in truth they live they make us think we wound them when the blow falls quite beside we seem many times to do all we can against our sins when it s nothing so that sin seems least in us which is greatest and most hurtful Now the spirit of God is a spirit of wisdom therefore through it we may destroy our sin notwithstanding its deceitfulness though we oft are the spirit of God cannot be deceived What though our iniquities are never so mighty the spirit of God is Almighty Ps 74.15 thou driedst up mighty rivers yet dryed and dryed up though rivers though mighty rivers or as the word is rivers of strength what great things did the spirit of God do in the creation when it moved on the face of the waters such like things it can do and doth when it moveth powerfully in our hearts Psal 93.3 The floods have lifted up O Lord the floods have Dfted up their voice the floods lift up their waves what then who can still them can any man No they as the Psalmist speaks make the Marriners at their wits end they know not how to save themselves much less to quell and calm the floods when they do lift up their voice and their waves to the highest I but the Lord the Spirit of our God is able to command them silence as it there follows verse 4. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters yea
than the mighty waves of the Sea so is no man Darius found himself too weak to deal with the waves when they broke his bridge of boats though he had a hundred thousand men at his command and is but laught at for his attempting by shackles and stripes to tame the tempestuous waters but Christ by commanding the sea to silence shew'd and made manifest the power of God Thus when our lusts lift up their voice when our flesh lifteth up its waves as it were in our souls the Lord is more mighty we are too weak to grapple with them but the spirit of the Lord is mightier than the strongest motions and most mighty lustings of sin within us It is sometimes thought by some when they feel this or that lust stirring strongly and when they have laboured long against it without conquest over it can this lust be subdued can it ever be mortified and sure it is we are all too full of unbelief as to God's power However some imagine they believe it enough hence they said can God prepare a Table in the wilderness yea Moses himself notwithstanding all he had heard seen and experienced of the power of God yet once spake doubtingly concerning it Numb 11.21 22. for which God rebuked him v. 23. saying is the Lords hand waxed short and hence though the Prophet makes a full confession of Gods power Jer. 32.17 Ah Lord God behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm and there is nothing too hard for thee yet observe in the following verses he seems to speak too unbelievingly concerning God's power so and so saith he it is with us yet v. 25. thou hast said unto me O Lord God buy the field for money and take witnesses for the City is given into the hands of the Caldeans therefore v. 26.27 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah saying Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh is there any thing too hard for me As if the Lord had said thou say'st indeed there is nothing too hard for me but thou hast not so much faith of my power as thou oughtest to have thou hast too much doubting too much unbelief concerning my power it self But above all things a soul under a deep sense of the power of natural corruption is prone to doubt of Gods power as to the destruction thereof were there reason to doubt of the power of God in any thing there would be cause to question it in this if even any thing were too hard for the Lord this would to slay those lusts which grow in our corrupt nature the difficulty of destroying sin in us the Apostle intimates when he saith who shall deliver me from this body of death Wherefore this is needful to be declared and to be urged whatever our fins are the spirit of the Lord can mortifie them it can cause the body of sin and all the lusts thereof to wither and dye away as Christ did that fig tree which he cursed so that they should no more bring forth any fruit And the spirit of the Lord can so strengthen and assist us that though we be weak we shall be strong enough in its strength to lay dead every deed of sin 1 Cor. 1.27 God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings he can perfect praise There have been many who have had such like lusts as ours are who have been able through the spirit to tread them under their feet we read of seven Devils cast out of Mary Magdalen not that she was possess'd in her body but she was a notorious sinner she had mighty lusts whereby the Devils had great power in and over-her soul If I saith Christ by the spirit cast out Devils there are no Devils and so no lusts but may be cast out by the spirit so strong was Paul's envy and malice before his Conversion that Acts 26.11 he was exceeding mad against the Christians yet by the spirit he of mad was made sober those his lusts were destroyed and instead of being mad against Christ he became as besides himself for Christ 2 Cor. 5.13 whether we be besides our selves it is to God some accounted them because of their self denyal and fervency in Preaching the Word whereby they spent themselves as besides themselves what lusts had they 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. they were some of them for nicators Idolaters Adulterers Abusers of themselves with mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Extortioners the worst of sinners yet were they sanctified by the spirit of our God and if they were sanctified then their lusts were mortified through the spirit Therefore believe that your sins by the spirit may also be destroyed it is a good step towards the doing this to believe that through the spirit it may be done and the believing this is necessary Mat. 9.28 29. Believe ye that I am able to do this they said yea Lord then touched he their eyes saying according to your faith be it unto you i. e. according to their faith of Christ's ability so were their eyes opened Thirdly All whom the Lord hath chosen to salvation he hath elected them to this way through mortification of their sin by the spirit 1 Pet. 1.2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience through sanctification and therefore through mortification how by the spirit so 2 Thes 2.13 We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you Brethren beloved of God because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit but no more sanctification of our souls than there is mortification of our lusts Fourthly Jesus Christ dyed for this 1 Joh. 3.5 he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin to take them away that is not only in the guilt of them but in the power and life of them and it is of the latter he there speaks as the context shews v. 6. whosoever abideth in him sinneth not that is he hath his sins taken away by him and so he sinneth not as he did nor as others do not with his whole man not with delight c. and as Christ came and dyed for this that our sins might be mortified so that this might be done by the spirit in that it cannot be done without it and hence Christ speaks of sending the spirit after his Crucisixion Resurrection and Ascension to deal with men about their fins and why but in order to the subduing them and that because for this he dyed and also rose and ascended and interceeds that those whom he saves may have the spirit to help them in this work Fifthly God hath promised his spirit to his people for this Ezek. 36.27 I will put my spirit within you for what v. 29. I will save you from all your uncleannesses that is God will