A53715:272
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers
Of the mortification of sin in believers: the 1. Necessity, 2. Nature, and 3. Means of it. With a resolution of sundry cases of conscience thereunto belonging. By John Owen, D.D. a servant of Jesus Christ in the work of the Gospel.
London: printed for Nathanael Ponder, 1668
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. For the Mortification of any Distemper, so rooted in the Nature of a Man, unto all other Ways and Means already named or farther to be insisted on, there is one expedient peculiarly suited. This is that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 9.27. I keep under my Body, and bring it into subjection. The bringing of the very Body into subjection, is an Ordinance of God, tending to the Mortification of Sin. This gives check unto the Natural Root of the Distemper, and withers it by taking away its fatness of soil. Perhaps because the Papists (men ignorant of the Righteousness of Christ, the Work of his Spirit, and whole business in hand) have laid the whole weight and stress ⟨p. 124⟩of Mortification in voluntary Services and Penances; leading to the subjection of the Body, knowing indeed the true Nature neither of Sin nor Mortification, it may on the other side be a Temptation to some, to neglect some means of humiliation, which by God himself are owned and appointed. The bringing of the body into subjection in the case insisted on, by cutting short the Natural Appetite, by fasting, watching, and the like, is doubtless acceptable to God, so it be done with the ensuing limitations.
3. For the Mortification of any Distemper, so rooted in the Nature of a Man, unto all other Wayes and Means already named or farther to be insisted on, there is one expedient peculiarly suited. This is that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 9.27. I keep under my Body, and bring it into subjection. The bringing of the very Body into subjection, is an Ordinance of God, tending to the Mortification of Sin. This gives check unto the Natural Root of the Distemper, and withers it by taking away its fatness of soil. Perhaps because the Papists (men ignorant of the Righteousness of Christ, the Work of his Spirit, and whole business in hand) have layed the whole weight and stress ⟨p. 124⟩of Mortification in voluntary Services and Penances; leading to the subjection of the Body, knowing indeed the true Nature neither of Sin nor Mortification, it may on the other side be a Temptation to some, to neglect some means of humiliation, which by God himself are owned and appointed. The bringing of the body into subjection in the case insisted on, by cutting short the Natural Appetite, by fasting, watching, and the like, is doubtless acceptable to God, so it be done with the ensuing limitations.