LETTER XV. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES,. To the son of my vows. BELOVED! "the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of thy progenitors, even to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills;" and they shall rest upon the head of my son, and" upon the crown of the head of him that is separated from his brethren." But say you, "Who shall ascend into this hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place?" Even "he that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully;" he "in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord." A pure heart is a heart purified by faith; for it is with the heart that man believes unto righteousness. Clean hands are hands clean from bribes, and from dishonest gain, and from holding lies; and hands that are liberal to the poor of the flock: "Give alms of such things as ye have, and behold all things are clean unto you." Such despise the heretic and hypocrite, but they will honour the faithful of the Lord's household. But the utmost bounds of these everlasting hills are hard to describe; for who can describe the bounds or borders of the heavenly country! However, souls that have hope in their end shall come to the borders of it. This the scriptures witness: "Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy [the last enemy is death]. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border," Jer. xxxi. 15-17. But I must pull in, or else I shall be carried I know not where. I shall now, 15. Treat of mortification of sin by the Spirit. For, 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," Rom. viii. 13. There is a great deal of mortification among the superstitious papists, pharisees, and legal workmongers; but it all stands for nothing, because it is not done through the Spirit; and "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Besides, whipping, thumping the breast, walking bare-footed, fasting in Lent, abstaining from animal food, and confining themselves to fish, are human inventions; for "that which goes into a man defiles him not." And fasting is left to our own option; the Son of man came eating and drinking. It is not the the lawful use, but the abuse, of temporal mercies, which the scriptures condemn. Besides, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, are expressly called doctrines of devils, 1 Tim. iv. 1—3. This work of mortifying the deeds of the body is called by different names in scripture. Our Lord calls it self-denial: "He that cometh after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. It is called putting off; "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man.' It is called a crucifying: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." And it is likewise called mortifying the flesh: "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, and lie not one against another; seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds," Col. iii. Here we have a description of the old man, and of the limbs or members of him; and a most formidable monster he is. Now there can be no putting this old man off, but by putting the new man on. Without the law of God in the mind there can be no war against the law in the members, and of course no daily cross. Where there is a renewed self that follows Christ in the regeneration, there will be a denying sinful self that hinders us in the way. The Holy Spirit raises up a new man in us, and then helps us to mortify the old man, that the new man may keep the throne: "Sin shall not have dominion; grace shall reign." Every attempt to mortify sin without the Spirit and grace of God, is like the Ethiopian changing his skin, or the leopard his spots. Satan is not divided against himself. No superstitious modes of mortification, which are invented by Satan, will ever hurt his reign, or destroy his kingdom. Whipping may wound the back, going bare-foot may cripple the feet, and thumping the breast may make it sore. This is not only "neglecting the body," (Col. ii. 23,) but abusing it; for the old man is still untouched, and of course unhurt. Such mortification is wickedness; for no man should hate his own flesh, but nourish and cherish it, Ephes. v. 29. The body is the workmanship of God, but sin is The body was very good till man let sin into it. They punish the poor body, but shew lenity to the old man: not. ૧ |