Fifthly, The crucifying of the flesh notes to us the believers' de- signed application- of all spiritual means and sanctified instruments for the destruction of it : There is nothing in this world which a gracious heart more vehemently desires and longs for than the death of sin and perfect deliverance from it, Rom. vii. 24. the sincerity of which desires doth accordingly manifest itself in the daily applica- tion of all God's remedies : such are daily watching against the occasions of sin, Job xxxi. 1. " I have made a covenant with mine " eyes ;" more than ordinary vigilancy over their special or proper sin, Psal. xviii. 23. " I kept myself from mine iniquity :" Earnest cries to heaven for preventing grace. Psal. xix. 13. " Keep back " thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have do- " minion over me :" Deep humblings of soul for sins past, which is an excellent preventive unto future sins, 2 Cor. ii. 11. " in that " ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness wrought it ?" Care to give no furtherance or advantage to the design of sin by making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof, as others do, Rom. xiii. 13, 14. Willingness to bear due reproofs for sin, Psal. cxli. 5. " Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness :" These, and such like means of mortification, regenerate souls are daily using and applying, in order to the death of sin. And so much of the first particular, what the mortification of sin, or cru- cifying of the flesh implies.
Secondly, In the next place we shall examine the reasons why this work of the Spirit is expressed under that trope, or figurative expression of crucifying the flesh. Now the ground and reason of the use of this expression, is the resemblance which the mortifica- tion of sin bears unto the death of the cross : And this appears in five particulars.
First, The death of the cross was a painful death, and the mor- tification of sin is a very painful work, Mat. xxv. 29- it is as the
374 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. XXVII-
cutting off our right hands, and plucking out our right eyes ; it will cost many thousand tears and groans, prayers, and strong cries to heaven, before one sin will be mortified. Upon the account of the difficulty of this work, and mainly upon this account, the scripture saith, " narrow is the way, and strait is the gate that " leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it," Mat. vii. 14. and that the righteous themselves are scarcely saved.
Secondly, The death of the cross was universally painful ; every member, every sense, every sinew, every nerve, was the seat and subject of tormenting pain. So it is in the mortification of sin ; it is not this or that particular member or act, but the whole body of sin that is to be destroyed, Rom. vi. 6. and accordingly the con- flict is in every faculty of the soul ; for the Spirit of God, by whose hand sin is mortified, doth not combat with this or that particular lust only, but with sin, as sin ; and for that reason with every sin, in every faculty of the soul. So that there are conflicts and anguish in every part.
Thirdly, The death of the cross was a slow, and lingering death; denying unto them that suffered it the favour of a quick dispatch ; just so it is in the death of sin : though the Spirit of God be mor- tifying it day by day, * yet this is a truth sealed by the sad ex- perience of all believers in the world, that sin is long a dying. And if we ask a reason of this dispensation of God, among others, this seems to be one ; corruptions in believers, like the Canaanites in the land of Israel, are left to prove and to exercise the people of God, to keep us watching and praying, mourning and believing ; yea, wondering and admiring at the riches of pardoning and pre- serving mercy all our days.
Fourthly, The death of the cross was a very opprobrious, or sliameful death ; they that died upon the cross were loaded with ignominy ; the crimes for which they died were exposed to the public view ; after this manner dieth sin, a very shameful and ignominious death. Every true believer draws up a charge against it in every prayer, aggravates and condemns it in every confession, bewails the evil of it with multitudes of tears and groans ; making sin as vile and odious as he can find words to express it, though not so vile as it is in its own nature. " O my God, (saith Ezra) I am ashamed, " and even blush to look up unto thee," Ezra ix. 6. So Daniel in his confession, Dan. ix. 7. " O Lord, righteousness belongeth " unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day." Nor
* Mortification of sin is not completed in one moment, but is a daily conflict. Sin languishes as soon as the work of mortification is begun ; in the progress of it sin wastes and pines away, and in the end, even at our death, it is destroyed. Otigen JBp. Rom.
SERM. XXVII, THE METHOD OF GRACE. 375
can it grieve any believer in the world, to accuse, condemn, and shame himself for sin, whilst he remembers and considers, that all that shame and confusion of face which he takes to himself goes to the vindication, glory and honour of his God. As David was content to be more vile still for God, so it pleaseth the heart of a Christian to magnify and advance the name and glory of God, by exposing his own shame, in humble and broken hearted confessions of sin.
F'vftlily, In a word, the death of the cross was not a natural, but a violent death : Such also is the death of sin : sin dies not of its own accord, as nature dieth in old men, in whom the balsamum radicale, or radical moisture is consumed : for if the Spirt of God did not kill it, it would live to eternity in the souls of men ; it is not the everlasting burnings, and all the wrath of God which lies upon the damned for ever, that can destroy sin. Sin, like a sala- mander, can live to eternity in the fire of God's wrath ; so that either it must die a violent death by the hand of the Spirit, or it never dieth at all. And thus you see, why the mortification of sin is tropically expressed by the crucifying of the flesh.
Thirdly, Why all that are in Christ must be so crucified, or mortified unto sin : And the necessity of this will appear divers ways.