A DISCOURSE On the Great D U T Y of MORTIFICATION. Romans VIII. 13. If ye live after the Flefh , ye /hall die '. But if ye through the Spirit do mortijie the deeds of t!J' Body, ye fhallltve. 749 I N thcfe words, y;irhout any Preface o~ account of their Coherence, are, Firft, A Prom1fe; the r,reateft Prom1f~ that God ~an ~ake, or the Scripture propound, or we embrace, Ye /halllwe: thaE 1s, F_trjf, ye !hall live a I. life of Grace and Comfort here; And Secondly, Ye fhan ltve a life of Immor~ tality and eternal Glory hereafter. Secondly, We have the Co~dition upon which this L!fc bo!h of Grace and Glo- If. ry is propounded; If ye morrifie .the deeds of the Body, fl9rntA.1~n, the word fignifies to kill or put to death, If you kdl the duds of the .body, ye /haa livC: The Life of Sin and the Li fe of Grace and ~lory are utterly inconfifrent and repugnant, you muft live upon the Death of Sm. Now here we have the Object of this Mortification, what it is they mu.ft put I; to Death, and that is the deeds of the Body. By the Body we muft here underftand the fame th:1t the Apoftle fpeaks of in _the beginning of the Vcrfc. If ye li11e ;efter the Flejh: fldh and B~dy are but eqUivalent terms, both of them figni - fying one and the fame corruption of Nature. Indeed the proper Seat of Sin is the Soul, and they are the deeds of the Soul that we muft chiefly mortifie ; the deeds of the Body are finful but at the fecond hand, as they are fwayed and exerted by a finful Soul; yet the Script ure doth frequently call this Corruption Flefh, the Body, the Members; oppofi.ng it to the Spirit, to the Mind, Rom, 7· 23. I foe Another Law in my Members warriwg againft the Law of my Mind. And this it doth · Fi;ft, To denote the degradi_ng m~lignity that there is in Sin, it cloth un1 • fpirit and unfoul a Man. A Smner IS called a carnal Man, a Man made up of Sin h.zrha nothing but a lump of dull Flelh, kneaded. together without Spirit.~ wirh- dtgt.a.ii~g out Lite. And therefore tlk Apoftle doth not bid them mortific tbe deeds of their ~"~tgmly Souls, becaufc wicked Men atl-as though they had no Souls, or at leaft not fo no- 'n n. ble a Sou l. S~eortdly, It calls Sin the deeds of tht Body, to denote what it is that Sin tends to; it is only to pleafe, to pamper the Body, the fcnfual, fordid and bafe r s· 2 ' d part of Man. The Soul of a wicked Man acts for 1~0 higher an ~nd than the Soul o:~ ~:~h~ of a Beafr doth; the Soul of a l3eaft acts not for It felf, but Is m:1de a drud<rc Plt:a(inJ!.I)/ and underling to the Body ; it fc rves only to carry the Body to :1nd fro to ils tbe BodJ. pafturc, and to make it rcli fh its food and foader. T11Us truly it is with the Souls of wicked Men, they ad not for themfelves, but are only the !3odies Caterers. th1t feck out and Jay in provijion for the Flejh, to fi1Jji/ the lt'.fts rhereoJ; Ram. 13• I+· Thirdly, Sins are caHed the deeds of the Body, becaufc though the Soul be the ch ief 3 • feat of their a boa~, yet the Body is the great ini~r~m~nt of their aCl:ing? Rom. 6. 19. ..As ye hm.Js yeided your members [erJants to •mquuy, [o now yield your members J~n.~ants unto righreoufi1rfi. Indeed there ar_e fome refined Si os that hold little communion with the Body, and partake but httle of that grofs Carnality :1nd Corpulency
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