CHAPTER VIII. ON THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN. § 1. WERE man what Adam was, what angels are, or what the spirits of the just will be, holiness would cost no pains, and require no labours. But during the present state, so much corruption works within, that the daily mortification of sin is essential to growth in grace. The Scriptures contain many impressive admonitions respecting this duty. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us." "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."b "Abhor that which is evil."c "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."d That inbred corruption, which is the fruitful parent of all man's actual transgressions, is described in the Bible as "the" old man.' "'e Not as something light and trifling, which attaches itself to man; but as that which is so incorporated with his fallen nature that it becomes as it were "the man." It is represented also as the body of sin, in which all sins are united, as all the members of man are in a human body.g Freed by divine grace from the "dominion" of sin, the Christian is not freed from its more open assaults, or secret guile. It is like an enemy defeated, and trodden under foot, yet not dead; still possessed of life, and only wanting an opportunity to rise again, and ready then to act with vigour. Or like an enemy nailed to a cross, that if not kept there till his strength is exhausted, and life expires, may live again, and be a worse enemy than ever. Hence the important admonitions, to mortify sin, to mortify the deeds of the body. The sense of the original word is, to kill, to destroy. It contains (a) Heb. xii. 1. (b) Rom. viii. 12, 13. (c) Rom. xii. 9. (g) Rom. vi. 17, 18. 146 SELF-ACQUAINTANCE NECESSARY therefore a direction, to aim at the utter destruction of sin. The Scriptures do not, however, represent this enemy as soon dead. Our old man is cricified. Crucifixion was a lingering death. So sin does not die at once. Long will it linger; perhaps seem dead, then show again that life is not gone; then seem expiring, yet not expire. To the cross must it still be fastened, and wound after wound be inflicted on it, and never should it be presumed to be quite dead, till it dies finally, and dies eternally. § 2. If you would live to God, you must mortify sin. Aim not merely at avoiding sin in your outward conduct, but seek and pray to kill the root of it in your heart. That you may do this, cherish self-acquaintance. Watch the motions of your own heart. If a stranger to yourself, sin cannot be mortified; however it may be checked in your outward conduct, it will reign and triumph in your heart. Pride will be filling you with self-conceit and self-importance. Self-love will promote covetousness, and make you indifferent to the miseries of others. It will pollute your motives, and when God's glory is the ostensible object, your own praise will be the true, though hidden, spring of action. When afflicted, you will be disposed to murmur. When others are more prosperous or applauded than you, instead of rejoicing in their happiness, you will be disposed to envy them. All this is the effect of sin that lies unmortified, and perhaps hidden, in the heart. Hence too you will be studying for this world, when you should be meditating on a better; and planning for earth, when you should be reaching after heaven. The natural effect of all this is a cold, heartless, barren form of religion, where the life, and soul, and vital heat are wanting. This cannot be avoided unless you mortify sin, nor can sin be mortified without self-acquaintance. To mortify sin, it is necessary that you have a deep impression of the evil of those innumerable sins, the sins of the heart. These are hidden from the eye of man. Human laws take no cognizance of them; but the great Searcher of hearts looks upon them with the same abhorrence, as that with which he looks on finished crimes. Sin in the seed, in the bud, the blade, or the ear, is in his sight equally hateful. For as it is "Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery, if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression; every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head." The sacred Scriptures represent those sins, which lie hidden in the heart, as incurring guilt and condemnation of the same description as the crimes to which they would lead. Thus the Judge of all declares, that a lustful thought cherished in the mind, incurs the guilt of adultery. "I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."b The indulgence of a resentful disposition, incurs the guilt of murder. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."i On the same principle, he who meditates a dishonest action, is, in God's esteem, a thief; he who lets his vain mind dwell with pleasure on scenes of revelry, debauchery, and intoxication, stands chargeable in his Maker's sight with all those crimes. And they whose thoughts are occupied with vanity, excess, and pleasure, are, in the sight of God, guilty of the crimes and follies they would commit, if their situation placed these things within their power. Would you therefore mortify sin, view it as exceeding sinful; and remember that a sinful disposition indulged, as to guilt, is equivalent to the guilt of committing the sin, to which that disposition would lead. O, what myriads of millions of crimes are thus committed in the chambers of the mind and heart, those scenes of iniquity! crimes, hidden from every human eye, beneath impenetrable shades, yet all of them glaring, with hideous horror, before the face of eternal Majesty, as clearly as in the blaze of day. §3. In mortifying sin, it is of unspeakable importance to observe, that sin be really mortified; not merely diverted to some other object, or permitted to flow in some new channel. It is to be apprehended, that the supposition that sin is mortified, when only diverted to a new object, is a frequent cause of ruinous deception. Thus, perhaps, the reigning sin of a man has been prodigality; he lays this sin aside, and ceases to be a spendthrift; but he takes up covetousness, and becomes * Owen. (h) Matt. v. 28. (i) 1 John iii. 5. 148 SIN MUST NOT BE DIVERTED TO NEW OBJECTS. a miser. Perhaps he has been covetous, he forsakes his avaricious ways, he is no longer the slave of avarice; he becomes liberal, but he becomes the slave of ostentation. Another has been a profligate, proud of his drunken feats; he forsakes profligacy, frequents the house of prayer, and leads a life of regularity; but he is now as proud of his fancied virtues. Another has been a leader in a tavern club; he forsakes his former haunts and associates, and professes religion; but knows no ease, and allows no quiet, unless he can be a leader in the Christian church. Who does not see, that in all these, and ten thousand such cases, sin is not mortified! Ruling iniquity still rules. The man is still its slave. The stream of iniquity is not lessened, but flows in another channel. Another fatal mistake on this subject, is that of supposing sin mortified, when it is merely forsaken through a change in our circumstances and situations. The flight of time produces many such changes. The faults and mischievous tricks of childhood give place to youthful lusts. These, in more advanced life, are in a degree forsaken for the sins of the age. Yet sin is not mortified; it is merely adapting itself to the situations of its servants. The system of delusion goes on even to the day of death, and many die beneath its dreadful influence. How often, when visiting persons on the confines of the grave, of whose conversion I had not the slightest hope, have I heard them profess, that they gave up the world; when the fact was, that they felt they could keep it no longer, and the world gave up them. Time changes man; but unless he be changed by a mightier than time, sin rules from the days of sprightly childhood to the last moments of feeble age. As you value your eternal welfare, guard against delusions, by which myriads are undone. If there be one bosom lust, that you would suffer to live, that one will kill your soul. If you have a true hatred for any sin, you will indulge hatred against every sin; and if you would willingly spare one, it shows you not sincere in the destruction of any. Should you aim at the destruction of every sin but one, in cherishing that one you would as truly trample under foot the authority of God, as if you cherished all; as truly defeat the end, as to yourself, of the Redeemer's death. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty WATCHFULNESS AGAINST BESETTING SINS. 149 of all." Remember the blood of Christ was shed as much to atone for the secret sins of your heart, as for the more open transgressions of your life. Only the blood of the Son of God can wash away the stain of your least offence against the Majesty on high; and shall any sin be small in your esteem, when for the least that precious blood was shed! If you are indeed his follower, you will spare no sin. Con § 4. To mortify sin, watch more especially against those sins to which your circumstances or age may peculiarly expose you. As the constitutions and situations of mankind vary, so do their sinful propensities. Hence the admonition, to lay aside the sin which doth so EASILY BESET US. sider what, in your unconverted state, were the sins to which your disposition most prompted you; and watch peculiarly against those sins. Some are peculiarly prone to pride, others to passion; some to sullenness and obstinacy, others to fiery resentment; some to envy, others to ambition and the love of glory, in other words, of worldly applause; others to love of worldly pleasure; some to strife, others to scandal and backbiting; some to heresies, others to drunkenness and lewdness; some to covetousness, others to prodigality; some to sloth, others, that are free from grosser crimes, to mere levity and folly. A cheerful disposition will be more liable to such sins as excessive levity, love of pleasure, and passion; a melancholy one to sullenness, to revenge, when brooding over imagined wrongs; to discontent, when destitute of desired advantages. Are you rich? you will be tempted to extravagance, and under the delusive idea of living conformably to your rank, will be tempted to squander in self-gratification or idle show, what would feed the hungry, clothe the naked, bring the blessing of multitudes ready to perish upon you, and if employed in diffusing divine knowledge, would spread it far and wide. Are you rich? you will, if professedly liberal, be tempted to confine your liberality within such narrow bounds, that your donations to relieve the miseries of man, or assist the cause of God, will be really pitiful, paltry things, compared with the widow's mite, or the poor man's penny. Are you rich? you will, if you have a family, be tempted to hoard so liberally for them, that you will probably, in the end, curse them with love to the world, with James ii. 10, 11. |