2 Cor. vii. 1. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all pithiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
CHRISTIANITY, if viewed aright, is a remedy suited to the necessities of fallen man. Man has lost both the favour and the image of God: and the Gospel restores him to both : to his favour first, and after- wards to his image. The promise made to Adam in Paradise, that '' the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head," was given without any prepara- tion of heart on Adam's part, yea, altogether unso- licited and unsought. It was, in fact, not given to Adam personally ; but was rather a part of the judg- ment denounced against the serpent that had be- guiled him^ Thus, in the passage before us, the promises in the close of the preceding chapter are given freely to the sons of men : and the sanctifica- tion that follows it, is to be the fruit and effect of the promises apprehended by them, and applied to their souls.
To put this matter in a clear light, we shall shew,
I. The nature and extent of the sanctification re- quired of us —
Sanctification is not a mere removal of evil from the soul, but a positive renovation of the whole man. It is set forth in our text as,
1. The mortification of all sin— [As man consists of two parts, flesh and spirit, so sin resides in both, and defiles both : and is therefore distinguished into fleshly and spiritual filthiness ; the former assimih\ting us to the beasts, and the latter to that great enemy of God and man, the devil: as our Lord has said, " Ye are of your father the devil; and the lusts of your father ye will do^" By " the filthiness of the flesh," we understand, all those sins which take their rise from, and are acted by, the body; as uncleanness, intemperance, sloth. By *' the filthiness of the
a Gen. iii. 14, 15. b John viii. 44.