These "tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Not the body, therefore, but the deeds of the body, the corruptions of our heart, are to be mortified through the Spirit.

1. The Spirit assists us in this work by testifying of Christ to the soul. Every time that faith is favoured with a fresh view of Christ, all grace is in exercise; faith looks and rejoices; love delights in the blessed object; hope abounds at the thoughts of future enjoyment; patience brings up the rear, in waiting till the change come; humility and meekness sink the soul into less than nothing, at the thoughts of a rebel being made heir to the inheritance of the saints in light. "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,” Eph. iv. 22-24.

2. By helping our infirmities in prayer, God promises to subdue our iniquities: "He will turn again; he will have compassion upon us; he will sub

due our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," Micah vii. 19. In this way the Spirit helped Jabez: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested," 1 Chron. iv. 10. In this way Paul prevailed against his thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet him.

3. The deeds of the body are mortified by our attending to, and delighting our souls in, the influences and operations of the Holy Spirit. When we follow after righteousness, peace, charity, meekness, patience, and faith, setting our minds upon them, and delighting our souls in these things, the old man gets neglected, and withers. "This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh," Gal. v. 16.

4. By leading us to love and to delight ourselves in reading and meditating

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on the word of God. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper, Psalm i. 1-3. Here we are informed that this delightful work is intended to keep our leaf green, and to make us fruitful, like a tree that brings forth its fruit in due season.

5. The Spirit assists us in mortifying the deeds of the body by his quickening influences upon us, which keep up a keen appetite for spiritual food; such souls thirst for the living God, and long for the courts of the Lord's house; saying, "When shall I come and appear before God?" And such have their promise: "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God: they shall be fat and flourishing, they shall bring forth

fruit in old age, to shew that the Lord is upright." A keen appetite and a heavenly banquet employ all the powers of the soul: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." And, when Christ's fruits are so sweet and delightful to our taste, the devil cannot vend his wares the old man, with his deceitful lusts, is rather despised and blown upon, than relished. This sorrowful meat is set before us when the better sort is withheld, when there is a famine and a compulsive fast. "Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days," Luke v. 34, 35. When these mournful days come, which are but too often, then Satan shews us all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, and the imaginary happiness of his children, who war after the flesh. These are the days for sour grout, and for filling the belly with the east wind. But Satan never tells us who is to pay the reckon

ing, nor informs us about an eternal fast, and begging water in hell, when the Lamb and his wife will be bathing in endless pleasures in heaven.

6. The Spirit helps us in mortifying the deeds of the body by exciting us to follow hard after Christ, and by encouraging us to cleave to him with full purpose of heart; to labour hard in order to our abiding sensibly in him, in his favour, in the light of his countenance, in the peace of him, and in the love of him; in the joy of the Lord, and in communion and fellowship with him; and by constant visits to him, and abounding in the work of him: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned," John xv. 5, 6. This is the most sure way to abound in fruitfulness; the more we commune with the Saviour the more we savour of his good ointments, and the more we are equipped against Satan and his wiles. When, on