ADM Io The MORTIFICATION CHAP. W. The !aft principle; ofthe ufefulnefs of mortification. The vigour and com- fort ofour fptritual lives depend on our mortification. In what fenfe. Not abfolutely and neceffärily; Pfal. lxxxviii. Heman's condition. Not as on the next and immediate caufe. As a means : by removing of the contrary. The defperate efefïs of any unmortty d loft : it weakens the foul, Pfal. xxxviii. 3, 8. fundy ways ; and darkens it. All graces im- proved by the mortificationofftn. The bell evidence offtncerity. H E Iafi principle I (hall infiff on, omitting firll, The neceffity of mortifi- ation unto life. And fecondly,The certainty of life upon mortification, is, II. %hat the life, vigour,,and comfort of ourfpiritual life depends much on our mortification offin. , S ngrh, and. comfort, and power, and peace, in our walking with God, are the thin of our delires.. Were any of us asked ferioufly, what it is that troubles us, we muff refer it toone of thefe heads ; either we want firengrh, or power, vi- gour, and life, in our obedience, in our walking with God; or we want peace, comfort, and confolation therein. Whatever it is that may befal a believer,that doth not belongto one of there twoheads, doth not deferve to be mentioned in the days ofour complaints. Now all there do much depend on a confiant courfeof mortification; concerning which obferve, 1. I-do not fay they proceed from it, as tho' they were neceffarily tied to it. A man may be carriedon in a confiant courfe of mortification all his days, and yet per- haps never enjoy agood day of peace and confolation. So it was with Heman, Pfal. lxxxviii. his life was a life of perpetual mortification, and walking with God, yet terrors and wounds were his portion all his days. Eut God tingled out Heman a choice friend, to make him an example to them that afterwards Ihould be in diflrefs. Can'ft thou complain if it be nootherwife with thee than it was with Heman, that eminent fervant of God ? and this fhall be his praife to the end of the world; God makes it his prerogative to (peak peace and confolation, Ifa. Ivüï 18, 19. I will do that work, Pays God: I will comfort him, v. 18. but how? by an immediate work of the new creation ; I create it, fays God. The ufe of means for the obtaining of peace, is ours.; the bellowingof it is God's prerogative: a. In the ways inffituted by God for to give us life, vigour, courage, and confo- lation, mortification is not one of the immediate caeles of it. They are the Privi- leges of our adoption made known to our fouls, that give us immediately thefe things. Ike Spirit bearing witnefi with our fpirits, that we are the children of God giving us a new name, and a white frone; adoption and juirification; that is, as to the Cede and knowledge of them, are the immediate cauces (in the hand of the Spirit) of there things. But this I fay. 3. In our ordinary walking with God, and in an ordinary courfe of his dealing withus, the vigour and comfort of our fpiritual lives, depends much on our morti- fication, not only as'a caufafine qua non, but as a thing that hash an effe&oaf influence thereinto. For (i.) This alone keeps fin from depriving us of the one and the other. Every unmortified fin will certainly do two things. [1.] Itwill weaken the foul, and deprive it of its vigour. [z.] It willdarken the foul and deprive it of its com- fort and peace. [1.] It weakens the four and deprives it of its ffrength. When David had for a while harboured an unnprtify'd lull in his heart, it broke all his bores, and left him
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