392 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
(2.) They say, " It takes away that strong curb aud bridle which ought to be kept in the mouth of the flesh, to keep it from running headlong into sin and folly, — namely, the fear of hell and punish- ment, which alone hath an influence upon it to bring it to subjec- tion and under obedience."
But now, if there be nothing in the world that is of use for the mortification and crucifying of the flesh and the lusts thereof but it receives improvement by this doctrine, this crimination must of ne- cessity vanish into nothing.
(1.) Then, it tells us that the flesh and all the deeds thereof are to be crucified and slain, God having ordained good works for us to walk in; that for the works of the flesh, the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience; and if any say, "Let us con- tinue in sin, because we are not under the law, or the condemning power of it for sin, but under grace," it cries out, "God forbid!" Rom. vi. li, 15, and saith, this is argument enough and proof suf- ficient that sin shall not have dominion over us, " because we are not under the law, but under grace." It tells you, also, that there is a twofold fear of hell and punishment of sin ; — first. Of anxiety and doubtfulness in respect of the end; secondly, Of care and diligence that respecteth the means.
And for the first, it saith that this is the portion of very many of the saints of God, of some all their days. Though they are so, yet they know not tliat they ax'e so; and therefore are under anxious and doubtful fears of hell and punishment, notwithstanding that they are in the arms of their Father, from. Avhence, indeed, they shall not be cast down ; — as a man bound with chains on the top of a tower cannot but fear, and yet he cannot fall. He cannot fall, because he is fast bound with strong chains; he cannot but fear, because he cannot ac- tually and clearly consider oftentimes the means of his preservation.
And for the latter, a fear of the ways and means leading to punish- ment, as such, that continues upon all the saints of God in this life; neither is there any thing in this doctrine that is suited to a removal thereof. And this, it says, is more, much more of use for the morti- fication of the flesh than the former.
(2.) It says that the great and principal means of mortification of the flesh is not fear of hell and punishment, but the Spirit of Christ, as the apostle tells us, Rom. viii. 1 3, " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." It is the Spirit of Christ alone that is able to do this great Avork. We know what bond- age and religious drudgery some have put themselves unto upon this account, and yet could never in their lives attain to the mortification of any one sin. It is the Spirit of Christ alone that hath sovereign power in our souls of killing and making alive. As no man quick- eneth his own soul, so no man upon any consideration whatsoever, or
X.] THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE DOCTRINK 393
by the power of any threatenings of the law, can kill his own sin. There was never any one sin truly mortified by the law or the threatening of it. All that the law can do of itself is but to en- tangle sin, and thereby to irritate and provoke it, like a bull in a net, or a beast led to the slaughter. It is the Spirit of Christ in the gospel that cuts its throat and destroys it. Now, this doctrine was never in the least charged with denying the Spirit of God to be- lievers; which whilst it doth grant and maintain in a way of opposi- tion to that late opinion which advanceth itself against it, it main- tains the mortification of the flesh and the lusts thereof upon the only true and unshaken foundation.
(3.) It tells you that the great means whereby the Spirit of Christ worketh the m^ortification of the flesh and the lusts thereof is the application of the cross of Christ, and his death and love therein, unto the soul, and says that those vain endeavours which some promote and encourage for the mortification of sin, consisting, for the most part, in slavish, bodily exercises, are to be bewailed with tears of blood as abominations that seduce poor souls from the cross of Christ ; for it says this work is only truly and in an accept- able manner performed when we are " planted into the likeness of the death of Christ, having our old man crucified with him, and the body of sin destroyed," Rom. vi. 5, 6, and thereupon by faith "reckon- ing ourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God," verse 11. It is done only by " knowing the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, and being made conformable to his death," Phil. iii. ] 0. " By the cross of Christ is the world crucified unto us, and we unto the world," Gal. vi. 1 4 The Spirit brings home the power of the cross of Christ to the soul for the accomplishing of this work, and without it it will not be done. Moreover, it says that, by the way of motive to this duty, there is nothing comes with that efficacy upon the soul as the love of Christ in his death; as the apostle assures us, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, " For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." Now, it was never laid to the charge of this doctrine that it took off from the virtue of the death and cross of Christ, but rather, on the contrary, though falsely, that it ascribed too much thereunto; so that, these importune ex- ceptions notwithstanding, the doctrine in hand doth not only main- tain its own inuocency as to any tendency unto looseness, but also manifestly declareth its own usefulness to all ends and purposes of gospel obedience whatsoever: for, —