Faith is the eye of the soul. However brilliant the starry heavens may be, sight is essential to the knowledge and enjoyment of its beauties. So of Jesus: none can behold him, but the spiritually enlightened. Faith in the principle, and faith in its exercise, are essential requisites to the participation and enjoyment of those luxuries which form the heavenly banquet, at which Jesus himself presides. That homage paid to the spacious starry firmament, by students of the science, is obviously improper, because it is creature worship; but the saints (without distinction) have in Jesus a more powerful incentive to praise; for whatever he is, they are joint heirs thereto; and their adoration is accepted by him as grateful incense.

Oh, the blessedness of covenant union, and one-ness with Jesus! In consequence of their everlasting union, redemption, regeneration, and all the blessings flowing from the personal work and vicarious sacrifice of Jesus, all he is, they are. No wonder, therefore, that their adored Lord should evince so peculiar an interest in his chosen ones. Much of their disquietude doubtless arises from unbelief. Worldly cares; the weighty concerns of a family; and endless anxieties as to the future, distract the christian's mind, and divert it from its legitimate source of contemplation and comfort. For a small moment Jesus withdraws himself. It is then winter in the soul. At length he draws aside the curtain, and clears the horizon; and peeps through the clouds of night, and animates the doubting soul, inspiring it with cheerful hope. Faith in the principle ever abides, but its reality is not always alike apparent. For want of the exercises of this grace in seasons of affliction, which are necessary for him to endure, he sees the rod, and discerns not the wise and gracious hand which administers the correction. Hence, he becomes peevish and fretful under the yoke. It is essential to the enjoyment of peace, that the most implicit confidence should be reposed in our heavenly Father and our friend. Do we want daily supplies for the body? "Consider the fowls of the air," and let us beg for grace to imitate their example. Is it necessary to be clad with suitable apparel, befitting our station in life? "Behold the lilies of the field ;" and may we be enabled to emulate their noble pattern. And, above all, do we want to discover more of the exalted glories of the Lamb; to enjoy more of his love, in the rich communications of his grace; and to experience all the delightful and heavenly breezes of the Holy Ghost, to expand our sails, and waft us nearer heaven? Oh, that we may long for,-yea, that we may be more fervent in our supplications for the exercises of faith, to be looking only to Jesus, and living solely on him for all our need.

After the dark shadows of the night of our earthly pilgrimage is over, Jesus will again appear, without a cloud, at the resurrection morn; not as a despised Nazarene, but robed in ineffable and all effulgent grandeur, and the dignity of august majesty; when, "every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced and nailed him to the tree." Jesus, who once declared himself to be "the resurrection and

the life," will then gloriously dawn upon his chosen bride, when the wicked shall be driven away in their wickedness to endure the righteous sentence, " depart, ye cursed ;" and the righteous shall enter into life eternal, to live and reign with Jesus, through the countless ages of eternity, never more to sin or sorrow! Even so, dearest

Lord Jesus.

Dec. 6, 1834.

AMOR VERITATIS.

ON THE MORTIFICATION, OR CRUCIFIXION OF SIN IN

BELIEVERS.

"They that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."-Gal. v. 24:

THE crucifixion of the flesh, with the affections and lusts, is the effect of regeneration by the Holy Ghost, and of union to, and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

In considering the portion of scripture now before us, we will shew-first, what is not intended respecting the mortification and crucifixion of sin :-and, secondly, what is implied in it.

1st. The crucifixion of the flesh does not imply the total abolition of sin in believers, or the destruction of its very being and existence in them for the present. Sanctified, or regenerated souls, so put off their corruptions with their bodies at death; this will be the effect of the believer's departure from time to his future glorification, not his present sanctification; entire freedom from sin does not exist in the most mortified believer in the world: hence the apostle, after twenty years' experience declared, "Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." Rom. vii. 17.: and Ezra, the penman of the 119th Psalm, saith, at the 113th verse, “I hate vain thoughts;" which clearly shews that he had vain, or sinful thoughts, but which, as a partaker of the grace of God, he hated. And Solomon saith, "there is no man that sinneth not,” and that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." 1 Kings viii. 46. Eccles. vii. 20. Moreover, the apostle Paul speaking of believers, in Gal. v. 17, saith, "the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." And notwithstanding its crucifixion in believers, it still may in respect of single acts, captivate and surprise them, as David complains of in Psalm lxv. 3. " iniquities prevail against me;" and Paul saith, "I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members;" Rom. vii. 23. Thus there are " two armies" in the believer, flesh and spirit, or grace and sin, as in the Shulamite, Solomon's Song vi. 13.

The crucifixion of sin doth not consist in the mere suppression of the acts of sin only; for sin may reign over the souls of men, whilst it does not break forth into their lives in gross and open actions;

read 2 Pet. ii. 20. Matt. xii. 43-45. xxiii. 27, 28., from which you may learn, that reformation, or being "washed" from the outward acts of sin, is no regeneration from the love and dominion of sin, but leaves our "swinish" nature unsubdued; and that the devil, as an "unclean spirit," may willingly go out of a person, or persuade him to reform himself in order to make him a hypocrite, which only renders him the more abominable in the sight of God, who abhors deception: thus he becomes a "whited sepulchre, which indeed appears beautiful outward" unto men, but within full of hypocrisy and iniquity. "Morality in the heathens," as Tertullian well observes, "only hid their vices, but could not subdue them." Many a man shews a white and fair hand, who yet has a very foul and black heart, which his actions testify.

The crucifixion of sin doth not consist in the severe castigations of the body, and penancing it by stripes, fasting, and tiresome pilgrimages. This may pass for mortification among the blind papists, but the lusts of the flesh are not subdued by this rigour. Christians, indeed, are bound not to indulge or pamper the body, which is the instrument of sin; nor are we to think the spiritual corruptions of the soul feel those stripes which are inflicted upon the body-" which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and (feigned) humility, and neglecting of the body; and are the commandments and doctrines of men,” (and not of God) "and are to perish with the using," as will all who put their trust in them, Col. ii. 23. It is not the vanity of superstition, but by "the power of the Holy Spirit," (Rom xv. 19.) whereby the dominion of sin is overcome, or a hatred to it, and a denial and loathing of self on account of it is produced in the believer; indeed it is by the grace and strength of Christ communicated by the Holy Ghost, (2 Cor. xii. 9. John xvi. 14.) and particularly faith in his blood, which gives the mortal wound to the love and practice of sin, and removes the guilt of it from the conscience; as it is written, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from (the love, dominion, and guilt of) all sin," 1 John i. 7. "Purifying their hearts by faith," in the person, work, and grace of Christ, by the Holy Ghost the glorifier of Jesus, Acts xv. 9. "The blood of Christ" (doth"purge (the) conscience from (the) dead works" (of sin and selfrighteousness) "to serve the living God," ("in newness of spirit") Heb. ix. 14.

2. We proceed to shew, positively, what is implied in, and wherein consists the mortification and crucifixion of sin, or the flesh.

1st. The mortification of sin implies, the regeneration of the soul by the Holy Ghost, (John iii. 7, 8.) and the continuation of his sacred influences, (John xiv. 16.) without whose assistance, all our endeavours will be fruitless; of this work it might be said, as it was in another case, "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord," Zech. iv. 6. The apostle shews how mortification of sin is performed, Rom. viii. 13. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." The duty is the

believer's, but the power whereby he performs it is God's. The Spirit alone is successful in mortifying the lusts that war in our members, Gal. v. 17. "He will subdue our iniquities," Micah vii. 19. This does not exclude, but implies our endeavours; for it is the believer, through the Spirit, who mortifies the deeds of the body; but the endeavours of the believer will not be effectual without the Spirit's aid and assistance.

2. It necessarily implies the soul's implantation into Christ, or union and communion with him, without which it is impossible that any one corruption should be mortified; "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh :" the attempts of all others are vain and ineffectual; “when we were in the flesh," saith the apostle, “the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death," Rom. vii. 5. All external methods and means of mor tifying sin are ineffectual; but when the believer hath been enabled to aet faith upon the death of Christ, as the atonement for his sins, (Rom. v. 11.) then he loathes himself in the dust before God, viewing his sins as the cause of all the suffering and agony which divine justice inflicted on Christ on his behalf, in order to save him from a deserved hell, (Zech. xiii. 7. iii. 2.); and thus the believer is brought to abhor himself, as "vile," and his "own righteousness" as "dung," (Job xl. 4. Phil. iii. 7-9.), and to hate or mortify sin, because, opposed to the spotless purity of God, Isa. vi. 5. Hab. i. 13.), whose eternal hatred to sin is seen in his holy law, (Rom. vii. 12. 1 John iii. 4.), which curses for the smallest offence, (Gal. iii. 10. James ii. 10.) and in the torments of hell, (Luke xvi. 24.), and also in the crucifixion of his dear Son for the sin of his chosen people, (Isa. liii. 10, 11.) Moreover, he considers the tendency of sin is to grieve the Spirit, (Eph. iv. 30.), and to bring guilt upon his conscience, and thus to produce the loss of communion with his covenant God, (Ps. li. 1, 4, 12.), and probably a disgrace upon his christian character, (2 Sam. xii. 14. 1 Tim. v. 14.); in short, he regards sin as an implacable enemy to God and man, (Rom. viii. 7. iii. 16.) the plague of his (the believer's) soul, (1 Kings viii. 38. Matt. xv. 18-20.), the destroyer of his comfort, (Matt. xxvi. 25.), the companion, delight, and produce of the devil, (Jude 4. Gen. iii. 13. John viii. 44. I John iii. 8.), the source of all evil in time and eternity, and a foe against whom he need constantly to watch and pray, (Matt. xxvi. 41.), and with pleasure anticipates the period of complete and eternal deliverance from such a monster!! Ps. lv. 6—8. 2 Cor. v. 1-9. Rev. vii. 13-17.

3. The crucifixion of sin necessarily implies "the subversion of its dominion" in the soul; a mortified sin cannot be a reigning one, Rom. vi. 12-14. Two things constitute the dominion of sin, namely, the fulness of its power, and the soul's subjection to it. The fulness of its power arises from the suitableness it hath, and the pleasure it gives to the corrupt heart of man; it seems to be necessary as a right hand, and pleasant as a right eye, Matt. v. 29., but

46

the mortified, or "new heart," (Ezek. xxxvi. 26.) is dead to all pleasures and profits of sin; it hath no delight nor pleasure in it; it becomes its burden and daily complaint; we that are in this tabernacle (of the flesh) do groan, being burdened," 2 Cor. v. 4. Mortification of sin supposes the illumination of the mind and conviction of the conscience by a knowledge of the spirituality of the law of God, (Rom. vii. 7.), by reason whereof sin cannot entirely deceive and blind the mind, or ensnare the will and affections, as it was wont to do, and consequently its dominion over the regenerate soul is lost for ever, as it is written, "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid," Rom. vi. 14, 15.

66

4. The crucifixion of the flesh, or "our old man, the body of sin" (Rom. vi. 6.) implies, "a growth in grace," (2 Pet. iii. 18.) and consequently in an increased hatred to its very nature, and a constant resisting unto blood, striving against sin" in the soul," lest it should break forth into action, (Rom. vi. 6, 12. Heb. xii. 4.) The death of the cross was a slow and lingering death, and the crucified person grew weaker and weaker every hour, (Mark xv. 44. John xix. 32, 33.); so it is in the mortification of sin, for as the believer "groweth in grace, and the knowledge of (and communion with) Jesus Christ," he is able to understand, and to adopt the exhortation of Paul, "Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God," 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. and vii. 1. And believers are exhorted and required to put off the old man with its deeds," such as "anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, lying, and filthy communication" out of their mouths. They are also exhorted to "mortify their members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry;" and having "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him," they are, "as the elect of God, holy and beloved, to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing and forgiving one another, and above all things to put on charity (or love) which is the bond of perfectness," and to "let the peace of God rule in their hearts, to the which they are called in one body, and to be thankful. And also to let the word of Christ dwell in them in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in their hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever they do in word or deed, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him," Col. iii. 5—17.