The Sacred Diary, Section 32
SECT. XXXII. Of Mortification, and the daily Exerciſing our ſelves therein.
DAily exerciſe your ſelves in the work of Mortification of Sin. As the Poets write of that many-headed-Monſter Hydra, that Hercules encounter'd with; that ſtill the more Heads he cut off, the more did repullulate, and ſpring up in their rooms: So we ſhall find it true of that uncouth monſter of Sin that is bred in our Natures, the more Corruptions and Temptations we vanquiſh and ſubdue, the more will multiply upon us ſtill, and re-inforce their Aſſaults. It will be every Days-work, and all our Lives-work to mortifie all our Sins. We muſt take all our Spiritual Enemies that we can light on, and give Quarter to none that we take in Battel, putting them all to the Sword; as God commanded Saul to deſtroy All the Amalekites. And ſo careful ought every Chriſtian to be, to rid the Field of All, that he muſt ſtand armed in the Field, after he hath beaten and vanquiſhed all that appeared, and prepare for ſuch as are undiſcovered. As David, that endeavoured not only to ſubdue all his known Sins, and to be kept from preſumptuous Sins, but prayed alſo to be cleanſed from his ſecret Sins: Not from thoſe which he cheriſhed knowingly (for of this ſort he had none) but which he had not yet diſcovered in himſelf, or not underſtood to be Errours. Labour ye by the power of Grace, to charge through and through the whole body of Sin, that ye may caſt down not only the Actings, but the very Imaginations, and every high thing that exalts it ſelf againſt the Knowledg of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the Obedience of Chriſt. Leave no Member unmortified, no Sin unſubdued, even when the reliques and remains of Sin be not wholly grubbed up.
Let every Chriſtian every day endeavour to mortifie all his Corruptions. By endeavouring to do it, ye ſhall obtain thus much, that though Corruption doth grow in your Nature, yet it ſhall not overflow in your Nature. A quick-ſpringing Well, that hath Water continually bubling and riſing up in it, yet being continually laded out, and emptied ſtill as faſt as it fills, the Current of it though it be not kept dry, yet it ſhall be kept ſhallow, and not ſuffered to ſwell above the Banks. So it is with our Nature; it is a Well that hath a quick Spring, there is filthy Water that ever bubbles out of it, but let us ever be pumping at it, and lading it out, now ſome, and then ſome, that as faſt as it fills, we may empty it; this will be a means to keep it ſhallow, though we cannot keep it dry, that it ſhall with no great danger ſwell above the Banks. St Paul's Leſſon is plain, Rom. 6.12. Let not Sin reign in your mortal Bodies: Though Sin remain there, yet let it not reign there, at leaſt not reign like a King, though it reign like a Tyrant, that we ſhould be obedient to the Luſts of it. There if it will be, let it be like a Gibeonite to an Iſraelite, a Drudg, a Slave; not a Sarah, but an Hagar; a Servant, not a Miſtreſs; let not Sin loſe ground in one place, and gain in another. Mortifie your earthly Members, Col. 3.5. or Affections. Draw mortifying Vertue daily from the Death of Chriſt, and that will have its influence upon the whole Old Man within you, although perhaps ye employ it more eſpecially againſt ſome particular members of the body of Sin: As when Chriſt curſed the Fig-tree, in more ſpecial reference to the Branches that bear no Fruit, the whole Tree immediately withered. This mortifying Vertue will not only tame, and bring under all Sin in you, that it cannot domineer and rage as formerly it did, but it will receive its mortal Wound, languiſh and conſume away more and more, Nullis medicabilis herbis, as being paſt all recovery; and haſten not only to a Diſſolution, but alſo as it were to a total Annihilation.