“2. The second principle which to this purpose I shall propose is this:— Without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience, there is no mortification of any one perplexing lust to be obtained. The other was to the person; this to the thing itself. I shall a little explain this position. A man finds any lust to bring him into the condition formerly described; it is powerful, strong, tumultuating, leads captive, vexes, disquiets, takes away peace; he is not able to bear it; wherefore he sets himself against it, prays against it, groans under it, sighs to be delivered:…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call to Worship August 11, 2024
“2. It is the work of faith, the peculiar work of faith. Now, if there be a work to be done that will be effected by one only instrument, it is the greatest madness for any to attempt the doing of it that hath not that instrument. Now, it is faith that purifies the heart, Acts 15:9; or, as Peter speaks, we ‘purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit,’ 1 Pet. 1:22; and without it, it will not be done. What hath been spoken I suppose is sufficient to make good my first general rule:— Be sure to get an interest…
Call to Worship August 4, 2024
“(2.) This duty being a thing good in itself, in its proper place, a duty evidencing sincerity, bringing home peace to the conscience; a man finding himself really engaged in it, his mind and heart set against this or that sin, with purpose and resolution to have no more to do with it,—he is ready to conclude that his state and condition is good, and so to delude his own soul. For,— [1.] When his conscience hath been made sick with sin, and he could find no rest, when he should go to the great Physician of souls, and get…
Call to Worship July 28, 2024
“This is that I aim at: unless a man be regenerate, unless he be a believer, all attempts that he can make for mortification, be they never so specious and promising,—all means he can use, let him follow them with never so much diligence, earnestness, watchfulness, and intention of mind and spirit,—are to no purpose. In vain shall he use many remedies; he shall not be healed. Yea, there are sundry desperate evils attending an endeavour in convinced persons, that are no more but so, to perform this duty:— (1.) The mind and soul is taken up about that which is…
Call to Worship July 21, 2024
“I say, then, mortification is not the present business of unregenerate men. God calls them not to it as yet; conversion is their work,—the conversion of the whole soul,—not the mortification of this or that particular lust. You would laugh at a man that you should see setting up a great fabric, and never take any care for a foundation; especially if you should see him so foolish as that, having a thousand experiences that what he built one day fell down another, he would yet continue in the same course. So it is with convinced persons; though they plainly…
Order of Worship July 14, 2024
“I have proved that it is the Spirit alone that can mortify sin; he is promised to do it, and all other means without him are empty and vain. How shall he, then, mortify sin that hath not the Spirit? A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit. Now, how is he attained? It is the Spirit of Christ: and as the apostle says, ‘If we have not the Spirit of Christ, we are none of his,’ Rom. 8:9; so, if we are Christ’s, have an interest in him, we have…
Call to Worship July 7, 2024
“II. The ways and means whereby a soul may proceed to the mortification of any particular lust and sin, which Satan takes advantage by to disquiet and weaken him, come next under consideration. Now, there are some general considerations to be premised, concerning some principles and foundations of this work, without which no man in the world, be he never so much raised by convictions, and resolved for the mortification of any sin, can attain thereunto. General rules and principles, without which no sin will be ever mortified, are these:— 1. Unless a man be a believer,—that is, one that is truly ingrafted unto Christ,—he can…
Call to Worship June 30, 2024
“Now, whilst the soul is in this condition, whilst it is thus dealing, it is certainly uppermost; sin is under the sword and dying. (3.) In success. Frequent success against any lust is another part and evidence of mortification. By success I understand not a mere disappointment of sin, that it be not brought forth nor accomplished, but a victory over it, and pursuit of it to a complete conquest. For instance, when the heart finds sin at any time at work, seducing, forming imaginations to make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, it instantly apprehends sin,…
Call to Worship June 23, 2024
“(2.) In constant fighting and contending against sin. To be able always to be laying load on sin is no small degree of mortification. When sin is strong and vigorous, the soul is scarce able to make any head against it; it sighs, and groans, and mourns, and is troubled, as David speaks of himself, but seldom has sin in the pursuit. David complains that his sin had ‘taken fast hold upon him, that he could not look up,’ Ps. 40:12. How little, then, was he able to fight against it! Now, sundry things are required unto and comprised in this fighting against sin:—…
Call to Worship June 16, 2024
“I say, then, that the first thing in mortification is the weakening of this habit, that it shall not impel and tumultuate as formerly; that it shall not entice and draw aside; that it shall not disquiet and perplex the killing of its life, vigour, promptness, and readiness to be stirring. This is called ‘crucifying the flesh with the lusts thereof,’ Gal. 5:24; that is, taking away its blood and spirits that give it strength and power,—the wasting of the body of death ‘day by day,’ 2 Cor. 4:16. As a man nailed to the cross; he first struggles, and…