First, The subject of the proposition, they that are Christ's, viz. " * True Christians, real members of Christ ; such as truly belong " to Christ, such as have given themselves up to be governed by " him," and are indeed acted by his Spirit ; such, all such per- sons (for the indefinite is equipollent to an universal) all such, and none but such.
Secondly, The predicate ; " They have crucified the flesh, with " the affections and lusts." By flesh we are here to understand carnal concupiscence, the workings and motions of corrupt nature ; and by the affections we are to understand, not the natural, but the inordinate affections ; for Christ doth not abolish and destroy, but correct and regulate the affections of those that are in him : And by crucifying the flesh, we are not to understand the total extinc- tion or perfect subduing of corrupt nature, but only the deposing of corruption from its regency and dominion in the soul ; its domi- nion is taken away, though its life be prolonged for a season ; but yet, as death surely, though slowly, follows crucifixion, (the life of crucified persons gradually departing from them, with their blood) it is just so in the mortification of sin ; and therefore what the apostle in this place calls crucifying, he calls in Rom. viii. 13. mortifying. " If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify," Sumnsrs ; if ye put to death the deeds of the body : But he chuses, in this place, to call it crucifying, to shew not only the conformity there is betwixt the death of Christ and the death of sin, in respect of shame, pain, and lingering slowness ; but to denote also the prin- cipal means and instruments of mortification, viz. the death, or cross of Jesus Christ, in the virtue whereof believers do mortify the corruptions of their flesh ; the great arguments and persuasives to mortification being drawn from the sufferings of Christ for sin. In a word, he doth not say, They that believe Christ was crucified for sin, are Christ's ; but they, and they only, are his, who feel as well as profess the power and efficacy of the sufferings of Christ, in the mortification and subduing of their lusts and sinful affections, And so much, briefly, of the parts and sense of the words.
The observation followeth.
Doct. That a saving interest in Christ may be regularly and strongly inferred and concluded from the mortification of the fleshy with its affections and lusts.
This point is fully confirmed by those words of the apostle, Rom. vi. 5, 6, 7, 8. " For if we have been planted together in the " likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his re-
* Fere Christiani qui ad Christum pertitient, qui se ei dedere re.sendos. Pol. Synop,
370 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SEEM. XXVII
" surrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, " that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we " should not serve sin : for he that is dead is free from sin : Now " if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Mark the force of the apostle's reasoning; if we have been planted into the likeness of his death, viz. by the mortification of sin, which resembles, or hath a likeness to the kind and manner of Christ's death (as was noted above) then we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection ; and why so, but because the mortifica- tion of sin is an undoubted evidence of the union of such a soul with Christ, which is the very ground- work and principle of that blessed and glorious resurrection : And therefore he saith, ver. 11. " Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive " unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord f q. d. Reason thus with yourselves, these mortifying influences of the death of Christ are unquestionable presages of your future blessedness, God never taking this course with any but those who are in Christ, and are designed to be glorified with him. The death of your sin is as evidential as any thing in the world can be of your spiritual life for the present, and of your eternal life with God hereafter. Morti- fication is the fruit and evidence of your union, and that union is the firm ground- work and certain pledge of your glorification ; and so you ought to reckon or reason the case with yourselves, as the word Xoy/^eSi there signifies. Now for the stating and explica- ting of this point, I shall, in the doctrinal part, labour to open and confirm these five things,
1. What the mortification or crucifixion of sin imports.
2. Why this work of the Spirit is expressed by crucifying.
3. Why all that are in Christ must be so crucified or mortified unto sin.
4. What is the true evangelical principle of mortification.
5. How the mortification of sin evinces our interest in Christ. And then apply the whole.
First, What the mortification or crucifixion of sin imports.
And, for clearness sake, I shall speak to it both negatively and positively, shewing you what is not intended, and what is principally aimed at by the Spirit of God in this expression.
First, " The * crucifying of the flesh doth not imply the total " abolition of sin in believers, or the destruction of its very being " and existence in them for the present ; sanctified souls so put of!'
* Mortificari carnem non est earn ita pcrimi, ut nut prorsus non sit, out nulla prava in hnmiae desvi".ria ror'uuoicunty quod in corpora mortis hujus non contingit, &c. Estius in loc.
svnr. xxvii. the method op grace. 371
u their corruptions with their dead bodies at death :" This will be the effect of our future glorification, not of our present sanctifi- cation. Sin doth exist in the most mortified believer in the world, Rom. vh. 17. it still acteth and lusteth in the regenerate soul, Gal. v. 17. yea, notwithstanding its crucifixion in believers, it still , in respect of single acts, surprize and captivate them, Psal. lxv. 3. Rom. vii. 23. This, therefore, is not the intention of the Spirit of God in this expression.
Secondly, Nor doth the crucifixion of sin consist in the suppression of the external acts of sin only : for sin may reign over the souls of men, whilst it doth not break forth into their lives in gross and open actions, 2 Pet. iii. 20. Mat. xii. 43. Morality in the Hea- thens (as Tertullian well observes) did abscondcre, sed non abscin- dcre vitia, hide them, when it could not kill them : Many a man shews a white, and fair hand, who yet hath a very foul and black heart.