[2.] Compare it with life spiritual ; this is like it but difTereth from it ; it is a blessed and perfect life. First, it is a blessed life, free from all miseries ; all tears are wiped from our eyes, and sorrow and pain shall be no more ; we shall always be before the throne of God, and behold the glory of Christ, and live in the company of saints and angels ; but the spiritual life doth not exempt us from miseries, rather it exposeth us to tliem. To outward troubles it doth : 2 Tim. iii. 12, ' Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution.' And as to inward troubles, we are not freed from all doubts of God's love ; though the wounds are cured, the scars remain ; Absalom when pardoned, was not to see the king's face. Secondly, it is a perfect life. There is a perfect freedom, not only from misery, but from sin. There is no spot or wrinkle on the face of the glorified saints, Eph. v. 27. Here the spiritual life is clogged with so many infirmities and corruptions, that the comfort of it is little perceived ; as a child in infancy, for all his reason, knoweth little of the delights of a man.
Here we only get so much grace as will keep us alive, in the midst of defects and failings, and have much ado to mortify and master corruption ; but then it is nullified and quite abolished, that we shall never be in danger of sinning again. Oh, think then of this blessed estate ! believe it, for God hath revealed it ; hope for it, because Christ hath promised it ; and if you submit to the discipline of the Spirit, you shall be sure to find it,. Christ, when he went to heaven, sent the Spirit to lead us thither where he is ; and the great preparation he worketh in us, to make us capable of this blessed estate, is by mortifying the deeds of the body ; the sooner that is done, the more meet and ready you are.
Use. Let all this that hath been spoken, quicken you to mortification. Many things are required of us but the blessing of all cometh from the Spirit. The two great means we have already handled ; but now- some more.
90 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XX.
1. The heart must thorou,f;hly be possessed of the evil of sIq ; we think it no great matter, and so give way to it, and pass it over as a matter of nought. Oh, let it not seem a light thing to you ; do not dandle it, or indulge it, or stroke it with a gentle censure ; it is the creature's disobedience and rebellion against the absolute and universal sovereign : 1 John iii 4, ' He that committeth sin, transgresseth also the law ; for sin is a transgression of the law.' It is a depreciation and contempt of God's authority : 2 Sam. xii. 9, ' Wherefore hast tliou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight ? ' It is the deformity of the noblest creature upon earth, Rom. iii. 24. We have sinned, and are come short of the glory of God. A stain so deep, that nothing could wash it away but the blood of Christ, Heb. ix. 14 ; a flood that drowned a world of sinners, but did not wash away their sin : 2 Pet ii. 5, Bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.' Hell itself can never end and purge it out ; therefore it hath no end. God loathed the creature for sin, and nothing else but sin ; his own people, Deut. xxxii. 19, 'he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.' God doth not make little reckoning of sin ; he doth not overlook it ; why should we ?
2. Watchfulness not only against less acts, but lusts ; not only lusts, but tendencies ; especially an ill habit of soul, — pride, worldliness, or sensuality : Mark. iii. 37, ' What I say unto you, — I say unto all, watch.'
3. With watching must go prayer: Mat. xxvi. 41, 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation ; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' For God is our preserver ; we watch, that we may not be careless ; and we pray, that we may not be self-confident.
4. Keep up heart government : Prov. xxv. 28, ' He that ruleth not his spirit is like a city whose wall is broken down,' a thoroughfare for temptations, open to every comer. Unbridled passions and affections will soon betray us to evil, if anger, envy, grief, fear, be not under restraints. As in a town that is broken down and without walls, the inhabitants may go and come at pleasure, night and day ; there is nothing to hinder, no gates, no bars, friend or foe ; there is nothing to hinder egress or regress ; so it is with an ungoverned soul.
5. Live always as in the sight of God : 1 John iii. 6 ; Eph. v. 11, ' He that doth evil, hath not seen God.' Job sxxi. 4, ' Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps ? ' A serious sight of God is a great check and awe to sin; 'Will he force the queen before my face?' Shall we sin, when God looketh on ?