J SIN in B E L I E V E R S. CHAP. VII. General rules, without which no duff will bet mortified. No mortification unlefs a man be a believer. Dangers'of attempting mortification offin by unregenerate Pet fans. The duty of unconverted Perfons, as to this bufinefs of mortification, confidered. The vanityof the Paps attempts, and rules for mortification thence difcovered. H E ways and means, whereby a foul may proceed to the mortification of any particular luft, and fin, which fatan takes advantage by, to dif- quiet andweaken him, comes next under confederation. Now there are fome general cpnfiderations to be premifed, concerning. fome principles and foundations of this work, without which no man in the world, be he never fo much raifed by convictions, and refolved for the mortifica- tion of any fin, can attain thereunto. General rules and principles, without which no fin will be ever mortified, are thefe. I. Unlefs a man be a believer, that is, one that is truly ingrafted intoChrift, he can never mortify any one fin ; I do not fay, unlefsheknow himfelf to befo, but un- lefs indeed he be fo. Mortification is the work of believers, Rom. viii. 13. Ifye through the fpirir, &c. Ye believers, to whom there is no condemnation, v. r. They alone are exhorted to it. Col. iii. 5. Mortify thereforeyour membersthat are upon the earth. Who fhould mor- tify? You who are rifen with Chrift, v. r. Whole life is hid with aril? in God, v. 3. Who flailappear with him in glory, v. 4. An unregenerateman may do fomething like it, buthe work it felt, fo as it may be acceptable with God, he can never perform: You know what a picture of it is drawn in fome of the Philofophers, Seneca, Tully, Epiíletus ;.what affefionate difcourfes they have ofcontemptof the world, and felf,.. of regulating and conquering all exorbitant affeftions and pallions. The lives ofmoil of them manifefted, that their maxims differed as much from true mortification, as the fun' painted on a fign poli, from the fun in the firmament, They had neither light nor heat. Their own Lucian futiciently manifelts what they all were. is no death of fin, without the death. of Chrift. You know what attempts tere are madeafter it, by the papifis, in their vows, penances, and fatisfaftions ; I dare lay ofthem (Imean as manyof them as all upon the principles of their Church, as they call it) what Paul lays of grad in point of Righteoufnefs, Rom. ix. 31, 31. they have followed after mortification, but they have not attained to it; wherefore? Be- taufe they feek it not byfaith but as it were by the works ofthe law. Tite fame is the fiate and condition ofall amongft our (elves, who in obedience to their coevi&ions, and awakened ccnfciences, do attempt a reliuquifbment of fin; they follow after ir, but they do not attain. it. It is true, it is, it will berequired of every perfon whatever, that hears the Law or gofpel preached, that he mortify fin; It is his duty, but it is not his immediate duty; It is his duty to do it, but to do it in God's way. If yourequire your fervant to pay fo much money for you in filch a place, but firft to go and take it up in another ; it is his duty topay the money appointed, and you will blame him ifhe do it not ; yet it was not his immediate duty; he was firft to take it up, according to your direction. So it is in this cafe ; fin is to be mortify'd, but fomething is to be done in the firft place to finable us thereunto. I have proved that it is the fpirit alone that can mortify fin; he is promifed to do it, and all other means without him are emptyand vain. How (hall he then mortify fin, that hath not the fpirit ? A. man may Baiter fee without eyes, fpeak without a tongue, than truly mortify one fin without the fpirit. Now how is he attained? It isthe fpirit of Chrift, and as the Apoftle fays, If we have not the fpirit ofClrr]3, we are' none of his, Rom. viii. 9. So, if we are Chrifl's, have an interni in him, we have the fpirit, and fo alone have power for mortification. 'This the Apoftledifcourfes at large, Rom. viii. v: 8. So that they that are in the fiefs coned pleafe God. It is the in- ference and concluhon he makes ofhis foregoingdilcourf,about our natural flate and condition, and the enmitywe have unto God and his law therein. If we are in the flëfi, if we have not the fpirit, we cannot do any thing that Iliould pleafe God. But F what
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