Chapter VI
Five cautions more to prevent such misjudgings.
3. A THIRD caution to prevent misjudging : If a man will not be mistaken in judging his growth in mortification comparatively with, others or with him
self, he must consider his occasions and opportunities to draw him out. Thus, a man when he had more corruption, yet less occasions and provoca tions to sin, may have corruption less stirring in him than when he is more grown up in grace, if his temptations were then greater. The same tree
standing in the shade, where also the rain comes not to it, when transplanted where both sun and rain fall upon it, may be more fruitful than formerly. David, when under afflictions in the wilderness, and wanting opportunities, how strict was he, and
< kept himself from his iniquity
! Ps. xviii. 23. But when he came to the delicacies of a kingdom, though he was grown up more and more in grace, yet how did he fall ! As to aggravate the sin of not growing more, the proportion of means every one hath had is to be consi dered ; and for one who hath had much means to grow much, for him is less than one who hath less means : so in the stirring or declining of sin, op portunities and occasions are also to be considered ; as if a man be trans
planted out of a full condition into an empty, if then many of his lusts do not stir so much as before, no wonder. Even as if a man when cast into a sweat by reason of multitude of clothes, it is no marvel if, when clothes are taken off, he sweat less.
4. A fourth thing to be considered, to keep us from mistakes herein, is, that he whose spirit is naturally active, his lusts, though weaker than an other man s whose spirit is slower, may be yet more quick and apt to break forth more than his. Peter was of a bold spirit, and so spake often rashly, and vented corruption more than the other disciples, insomuch as he once provoked Christ to call him Satan, not that he had less grace, but a more active spirit. Yea, he might have more grace, and less of corruption stirred in him, only a more forward natural spirit, that was apt to put itself forth. As an angry man, whose spirit is quick, may soon be stirred, and in the for wardness of his spirit to action, give a man a blow, when one given to malice will scarce give you an ill word, whose lusts of revenge yet burn inwardly more. Gunpowder will take and fall into a blaze sooner than lime, yet lime hath more innate heat, and burns more within ; some have speedier vent. Those two brethren, John and James, sons of thunder, as Christ calls them, how soon was their choler up
! They had quick and hot spirits, as Christ
tells them, Ye know not what spirit ye are of, Luke ix. 55.
5. Fifthly, if we would judge aright what measure of true mortification
is in us, we must not take into the reckoning wiiat restraining grace doth in
us, but observe that apart, and cast that up in a sum by itself. For this you must know, that even in the regenerate, all their abstinence from sins is not from mere mortification, but restraining grace continues even after rege-
YOL. III. 2 I
498 THE TRIAL OP A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [PART II.
neration to contribute to it, and so make mortification seem the greater. It was not merely and only mortification of the lust of anger that made Moses
so meek ; for at another time, when he was left, what a chafe was he in, when he called them all rebels, and said in a heat that he must fetch water out of the rock for them ! It was his temper and disposition of nature
helped to make him so eminent in ruling that passion above any other, that he is said to be
* the meekest man on earth. It was not simply, merely mortification that made that great apostle, Paul, so eminently chaste j but
over and besides what mortification helped him in it, he had a peculiar
gift, as he calls it, 1 Cor. vii. 7 ; he speaks of it as of a gift, not a grace, such
as might be in reprobates. For, says he there,
every one hath his proper
gift. So it was not mere mortification that made Luther never troubled with covetousness, but the freeness and generousness of his spirit that helped him in it.
Now, if all these would have cast up what grace and mortification they had attained to, they must have reckoned restraining grace by itself, (which may be observed by what our virtues were before conversion,) which though now sanctified, that is, helping forward sanctification, and making the ab
stinence easier, yet is not to be reckoned true sanctification. As goldsmiths mingle in all the silver they work some other metals to make it more malle
able, so are those common graces mingled with true in this life, where sanc
tification is imperfect, which do help them and eke them out. Grace set in a good nature seems a great deal more, and goes further than in a bad. Wine that is of itself somewhat pleasant, a little sugar will make it sweeter
to the taste than a great deal of sugar will do sour wine. Therefore let
every one consider what natural ingenuity, and modesty, and education did
in him before conversion ; and let him know that, now he hath true grace, these help him still, and stand him in stead as much as ever, although he hath a further new principle of grace in him beyond these. Grace in this
life, and whilst imperfect, takes not away such common gifts, but sanctifieth and useth them, as the reasonable soul doth a quick fancy or memory, which
are sensitive faculties, and do make his ability to abstain from such and such
sins more easy. Indeed all such gifts will be swallowed up in glory. And
therefore many who have less grace, yet seem in many carriages more morti
fied than those who have more grace, they will be less impatient in a cross, less stirred and provoked with an injury. A man who hath been less helped by restraining grace before conversion, and had his lusts more outrageous, if he hath them now under, it is a sign he hath much more mortification in him than one who was naturally civil. And I appeal to every godly man s
conscience, it is not only simply mortification that makes him always to ab
stain from sins, but shame, modesty, terrors of conscience strike in at a pinch, when strength of mortification had failed him else ; and many accidental
things, ordered by God s providence, hinder and keep God s people from sin
ning. And as David was fain to make use of Goliah s sword, and take in discontented persons that had not the same ends that he had, to strengthen himself against Saul ; so is grace fain to take in fleshly dislikes and discon
tents against sin, to help it in a pinch, till it hath got the victory. For
instance, it was not Judah s grace so much kept him from killing Joseph, for then he would not have consented to sell him, but nature wrought in him, and made him abhor the killing him : Is it not our brother, and our flesh? and what profit is it to kill him
1 ? Gen. xxxvii. 26. So God prevented David in his murdering NabaTs family by an external means, whenas his
grace else had not kept him from revenging himself causelessly upon his
CHAP. VI.] THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 499
family, for they were in no fault ; Ins grace alone had not done it, for his passion was up, and he in a rage, and fully resolved to do it. But God used another means, and sent Abigail submissively to meet him ; and her lowly submission and elegant oration won him, and cooled him : though this David acknowledged God s hand in it, and was glad he was so kept, as a godly man will, and hath cause, when he is hindered of his purpose in sin
( I rejoice that Christ is preached, though out of envy, so if sin be abstained from, though by any means; yet God did rather by this means restrain him than by his fear of God, or the grace in his heart ; but God kept him by her coming, 1 Sam. xxv. 34. For in very deed, says David, as the Lord liveth, which hath kept me back from hurt ing thee, except thou hadst hasted and met me, surely there had not been left a man unto Nabal. So shame moved Judah. Fear of being destroyed moved Jacob to reprove the sin of his sons, and is all the argument he useth, Gen. xxxiv. 30. So that in an evening, when thou castest up thy abstin ences of that day, think not how much thou hast abstained from sin or denied
^ As he says, Phil. i. 18,
ning.
thyself, but how much out of hatred of it, and the spirit of mortification, how much of that there is in thy abstinence, and accordingly measure thy growth in it.
6. Sixthly, another false rule is, when men judge of their mortification, and the measure of it, by their present listlessness of the heart to sin : which though it be true, that where true mortification is there is a listlessness and a deadness, and so much mortification, so much deadness, Kom. vi. 2,
i How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein ? and indeed, to live in it is to take pleasure in it ; but yet this you must know, there are many things which in a godly man may add to his deadness to sin besides true
mortification, and so make it seem greater than it is in truth ; and therefore
it may be a false rule to judge by, if it be not warily considered and dis
tinguished. Sickness breeds a listlessness; when we are sick, our lusts are sick together with us ; and as we gather strength, they gather up their crumbs again
: Job xxxiii. 19, 20, then his soul abhors dainty food. Sup pose he be a glutton, old age brings a listlessness: Eccles. xii. 1, When the evil days come, wherein a man says he hath no pleasure in them ; as Barzillai had no taste in Ms Mieat, by reason of old age. So when our expec tations or desires are crossed, or are like to be, and we begin to fail of those main props of the comfort of our lives, we are apt to have a listlessness to
all other pleasures ; when some one thing that was a sauce to all the rest is
gone, or like to go, we then have no stomach to all the rest, and we are weary of living, as David was when Absalom was gone
: Would I had died for thee ! Some great cross coming may, like thunder, sour all our joys and delights, and make them stale to us, and as dead drink to the stomach. Terror of conscience may, like an eclipse, overspread our spirits, and then all
things lose thenbeauty and lustre, as things in the dark use to do ; as Job
says of himself in his desertion, that his soul had no more sweetness in all comforts than in the white of an egg. For such occasions as these do draw the intention another way, and do take the mind up about God s
wrath, or the afflictions we are in, so as it cannot run out to sin ; and inten
tion, you know, is the cause of all pleasure. As therefore, when by study the spirits are drawn up to the head, a man s stomach decays to that meat he most loved, so when terrors drink up the spirits, as Job speaks; but when that heat is over, and intention dismissed, a man recovers his stomach
: and so do men their appetites to sin, when they come forth of terrors. And this will help you to find out the true reason why that young Chris-
again
500 THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [PART II.
tians are often more dead to all pleasures of sin than those who are grown up,
or than themselves are when grown up. They are often then altogether dead
to all mirth and other contentments, and yet they are not more mortified
than afterwards, for then legal humiliation adds to their deadness. And be
sides that first deadly blow which Christ gave their lusts then in part, the law
also and the bitterness of sin did lay that part of their lusts which remained
unkilled in a swoon, that one would think all were dead. Sin revived, saith
Paul, and I died, Kom. vii. 9. He speaks of that time when he lay hum
bled for sin, during which time, we read in the Acts, he fasted. He had no
mind to meat nor drink ; for three days he forgot all. And again, as then
they are usually so taken up about pardon of sin, and the obtaining thereof,
that all the spirits retire to the heart to relieve it, and to encourage it to
seek out for pardon, and so sin is left in a swoon, and it seems quite dead ; but by degrees men come out of that swoon, and sin revives, and then men
think they decay in mortification. Again, young Christians sometimes, and
others afterwards, for some honeymoons of their lives, are entertained with
raptures and ravishments, joy unspeakable and glorious, and then they seem
in a manner wholly dead to sin, and walk so; but as the others are in a
swoon, so they are in an ecstasy; but when they are out of it, then sin comes
to itself again. Those joys, whilst they last, make a man s actual present deadness to sin seem more than habitually and radically it is indeed. As a man that hath tasted some sweet thing, whilst the impression upon his palate
lasteth he hath no relish of meat, so whilst the impressions of spiritual joy; but when their mouths are washed once, and their sense of that sweetness
gone, they find their wonted relish of them. Thus spiritual joys do, for the
time they are upon the heart, much Baiter the taste ; but yet much of that
alteration is adventitious and not wholly radical, or altering the sinful faculty
itself; though it doth add much that way, yet not so much as they seem to
do at that present, the sense of that sweetness is fresh in his heart.
Now therefore, to give a help or two to difference what is real and true
mortification from this seeming listlessness and deadness to it :
(1.) First, true mortification makes a man not only listless to sin, but to
have a quick hatred against it, a hatred aiming at the destruction of it; but
false listlessness takes but the heart off it, doth not set it against it. How
often are these yoked together in Ps. cxix., I hate sin, and every false way, with this, Thy law do I love ! The heart being quickened with love to God and to his law, is carried out against sin, and not only taken off from it to
have no mind to it, but to have a mind against it to destroy it. There is the
same difference between mortification and listlessness that there is between true
patience and senselessness. Senselessness is a dull, stupid bearing of pains, but patience is joined with a quick sense of them, which ariseth from strength
of spirits, that, being quick and vigorous, are the more sensible of pain or
pleasure ; so true mortification is joined with an active hatred that flies out
against sin, which comes from liveliness of affection to the contrary.
(2.) Secondly, true mortification is joined with activeness and life in the
contrary duties : Rom. vi. 1 1, Reckon yourselves dead unto sin, and alive unto
God. That false listlessness is but a dead palsy that doth take these mem
bers of sin, but true mortification is with a new life, a resurrection, strength
ening a man to walk so much the more nimbly in the ways of God, Rom. vi.
4, 5. Young Christians, and such as have a false listlessness and deadness,
you shall find them complain that their mortification is more than vivifica-
tion ; they will find they are more dead to the world than quickened to God.
True mortification doth not dull the spirits, but sets them at liberty, as purg-
CHAP. VI.] THE TKIAL OF A CHRISTIANAS GROWTH. 501
ing the humours out doth. It makes the body more light and nimble ; whereas false listlessness causeth a deadness, a dulness to everything else. Those false causes of listlessness contract the mind, as a bladder that is clung, and dried, and hung up in the srnoke/ as David compared his condition in
terrors of conscience ; but mortification empties it of the sin, and fills it with
grace, so as the mind is as full and wide as before, only filled with grace now
instead of sin.
7. Seventhly, a man is not to judge of his growth in mortification simply by the keenness of his affection against sin, though that is good and blessed, but by his strength against it. As there is a fond love, which is not so
strong and solid, which will not do so much for one, or hold, if it come to
the trial and be put to it, that yet hath a more seeming edge in it ; so there
Is a keenness of hatred that hath not so much strength. A man that is
angry seems to have more keenness of affection against him he falls out with, and in his rage vows never to be reconciled, and could eat him up ; whenas
yet a malicious man hates more strongly. So do young Christians their sins,
having lately felt the bitterness of them ; and then many other inconveni
ences, besides the contrariety of them to God, do egg on and provoke their
spirits against them j but like as a sharp knife that is weak, the edge is soon turned and blunted, so in a temptation, they are for all their edge soon over come. For all those concurring inconveniences and apprehensions of their hurt by them makes their spleen indeed greater, but it adds not to their
strength and courage to resist them ; like a stomachful boy, that cries he
cannot have the victory, yet is weak, and easily laid on his back ; his stomach
is more than his strength. The hurt that conies by sin to us at first lately
felt, helps to sharpen the edge, but adds no metal, and so our weapons are
beaten to our heads again when we use them. What an edge of spirit had
Peter raised up against denying Christ ! He would die rather ; he spake then as he thought, and he would have died in the quarrel, for he drew his
sword, but afterwards he wanted strength to his stomach ; how easily was he
overcome, being yet but weak in grace
! Therefore judge of your growth herein by your strength to resist. Hence the Apostle prays, they may have
strength in the inward man, Eph. iii. 16 ; and in chap. vi. 13, he speaks of
ability to stand in the evil day. Although this let me add, that every man
should keep up his heart in this continual keenness and edge of spirit against
sin, and whet his heart against it ; for that will cause a man to use his
strength the more against it, and to put it forth. A man that keeps his
heart in a revengeful, vexed, spleenful spirit against sin, he will easier cut
: and though if a Christian want metal, though he hath an edge, he may be foiled ; yet when edge and metal both meet, a man walks above his lusts. If either be wanting, a man may be foiled.
through a temptation
THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH [PART III.