[3.] The sad consequence of letting sin alone. When sin is not mortified, it groweth outrageous, and never ceaseth acting till it hath exposed us to shame before God, men, and angels; or hardeneth us in a carnal, careless course. Lusts let alone end in gross sins, and gi'oss sins in a casting off all religion. Love of pleasures let alone, will end in drunkenness and uncleanness ; envy, in murder and violence. Judas allowed his covetousness, and that brought him to betray his master ; Gehazi was first blasted with covetousness, then with asking a bribe to God's dishonour, then with leprosy, and so became a shame and burden to himself; Ananias and Sapphira were taken off by a sudden judg- ment. The devil loveth by lust to draw us into sin ; and by sin to .shame ; and by shame to horror and despair. Sin is no tame thing. But do the people of God run into such notable excesses and disorders ? Yes, when they let sin alone, and discontinue the exercise of mortifica- tion ; witness David, that run into lust and blood ; and Peter into curses and execrations; Solomon into sensuality and idolatry. Old sins long laid asleep may awaken again, and hurry us strangely into mischief and inconvenience.
3. In regard of grace received.
[1.] The grace of justification. Eeliance upon the"righteousness of Christ for justification doth not shut out the work of mortification, but conduceth much towards it ; it doth not exclude it, for the justified must be mortified ; it pleadeth for it, ' Grace teacheth us to deny ungodliness,' Tit. ii. 11. That sin may be mortified and put to death for Christ's sake, Christ was crucified and put to death for our sakes. God doth not require it in point of sovereignty, but pleadeth with us upon terms of grace. Grace hath denied us nothing, it hath given us Christ and all things with him, and shall we stick at our lusts ? Grace thought nothing too good for us, not the blood of Christ, nor the favour of God, nor the joys of heaven ; and shall we count anything too dear to part with, for grace's sake ? Mortification is an unpleasing task ;
C4 _ SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XVIII.
but grace commands and calls for it, and that with such powerful oratory a.s cannot lie withstood.
[2.] In regard of the grace of sanctification : — To exercise it, preserve it, and increase it.
(1.) That we may exercise it to that end for which it was given to us. It was given to us to avoid sin : 1 John iii. 9, ' Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remainetli in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God ; ' and 1 John v. 18, ' We know that whosoever is born of God, sinneth not ; but he that is begotten of God, keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not.' There is a seed and principle within us, to curb and restrain sin too, and keep us from falling into the power of the devil, or being brought back into our old bondage. This other principle was set up in us, on purpose to excite us unto what is good, so also to abate the power of sin ; as the way to destroy weeds is to plant the ground with good seed ; and it is given us as a bridle actually to restrain the exorbitances, and hold it in, when it flieth out. Now this grace of God will be in vain, unless it be used to such purpose ; and one of God's most precious gifts would lie idle ; therefore we should act it, or walk in the sjiirit, that we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
(2.) Preserve it in power and vigour. For the life of grace dependeth very much upon the dying of sin ; as health and strength in the body Cometh on as the disease abateth : 1 Pet. ii. 24, ' That we being dead unto sin, might be alive unto righteousness.' But as the life of sin increaseth, grace languisheth and withereth, and is ready to die, Rev. iii. 2. The flesh and the spirit are contrary, and always are encroaching upon one another ; and there is this advantage on the flesh's side, that it is a native, not a foreigner. Home-bred plants, which the soil yieldeth naturally without any tillage, as nettles, will sooner preserve them- selves, and get ground upon better plants, because the earth bringeth them forth of its own accord ; or as water heated, the cold h natural to it, and will prevail against the heat, unless it be driven out by a constant fire. Whether the prevalency of sin doth weaken grace effective or meritorie, by its malignant influence, or as deserving such a punishment from God, I will not now dispute ; but weaken it, it doth ; that is clear by experience ; for though grace be planted in us by God, it is not settled in such an indivisible point, as that it cannot be more or less ; there is a remission of degrees : Mat. xxiv. 12, ' The love of many shall wax cold.' Faith may grow sick and weak ; there are soul- distempers as well as bodily ; and then a man is altogether unfit for action, and performeth duties in a very heartless and uncomfortable fashion ; therefore still we must be mortifying sin.