death d. Nor can there be a doubt but that this will be the fruit and consequence of a carnal life. And shall this be thought an hard saying? Surely not: for such a sentence is only a repetition of what the person has before passed upon himself: he has practically said to God, " Depart from me ; I desire not the knowledge of thy ways6; I will be a god to myself f, and make myself happy in my own way." God replies to him, " Thou wouldest none of me ; and thou shalt have none of me; depart from me for evermore g." The very state in which they lived, was a state of spiritual death h ; no wonder therefore that it terminates in everlasting death.]
As a counterpoise to the apparent severity of this
truth, the Apostle adds, that,
II. A life of mortification and self-denial shall ter- minate in everlasting happiness —
To mortify our corrupt nature ought to be the continual aim of our lives —
[The " deeds of the body" are of the same import with " the flesh" in the preceding clause. Our corrupt nature is often represented as a body, because it has many parts or members whereby it acts1. This we should endeavour to mortify in its outward actings, and in its inmost motions. As it consists principally in making self our idol, we must watch against it, and labour to bring it into subjection, that God in all things may be glorified by us. If we search our own hearts, we shall see a continual proneness to self-seeking, self-pleasing, and self-dependence. But instead of gratifying this propensity, we should make God's will the rule, and his honour the end, of our actions. We must therefore main- tain a warfare against it, and resist it manfully, till it be subdued k.]
This however cannot be done effectually but by
the assistance of the Holy Spirit —
[We can walk after the flesh without any difficulty : it is natural to us, as it is to a stone to run down a precipice. But to mortify the flesh, is impossible to man : it can be effected only by the mighty working of that power, which raised Christ himself from the dead1: yea, the inclination, as well as the ability, to mortify it is the gift of God m. This however is no
d Rev. xx. 14. e Job xxi. 14, 15. f Ps. xii. 4.
g Compare Ps. lxxxi. 11. with Matt. xxv. 41. h ver. 6. 1 Rom. vii. 24. Col. ii. 11. k 1 Cor. ix. 27.
1 Eph. i. 19, 20. and 1 Pet. i. 22. with the text. "> Phil. ii. 13.