excuse for our subjection to the flesh, since the Holy Spirit shall be given to all that ask it at God's hands".]
The consequence of successfully combating the flesh shall be unspeakably blessed —
[If eternal death be the fruit of self-indulgence, eternal life shall be the fruit of self-denial. There is this difference indeed ; that whereas the former is the wages due to sin, the latter is the gift of God through Christ0. We may well wonder at this marvellous grace of God, who has annexed such glorious consequences to our poor and feeble endeavours. But he delighteth in mercy, and will not suffer us to exert ourselves in vain.]
By way of improvement we shall add a word,
1. Of reproof —
[Suppose it had been written, " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall go to heaven ,•" could the generality take any surer way to obtain the blessing, than that which they now pursue? And whence is it that, in direct opposition to the word of God, they can go on so confidently and so securely ? The reason is, that Satan suggests to them, as he did to our first parents, " Ye shall not surely die." But shall we believe Satan in opposition to God ? Did not the crediting of Satan ruin the whole world? and will it not eventually ruin us also? Be it known then that we have but this alternative, mortification, or damnation. Either sin must be our enemy, or God will. If therefore we would not perish for ever, let us immediately begin, in dependence on God's Spirit, to " mortify our earthly members p:" for it is an eternal truth, that, " if we live after the flesh, we shall die."]
2. Of caution —
[We are in great danger of mistaking the nature and extent of that mortification which is required of us in the text. We may be restrained from sin by the influence of education, as Joashq; or put away many sins, as Herod r; or set ourselves for a time against our besetting sin, as Judas under the terrors of a guilty conscience s ; (as a mariner may cast all his goods out of his ship to save the vessel, without any aversion to the goods themselves) or may exchange our sins, prodigality for avarice, sensuality for self-righteousness, or the love of vanity for sloth and indifference. But all this falls very far short of our duty : we must not be lopping off branches ; but must lay our axe to the root. The besetting
» Luke xi. 13. ° Rom. vi. 23. p Col. iii. 5.
(i 2 Chron. xxiv. 2. r Mark vi. 17, 20, 27. s Matt, xxvii. 3, 4.