The doctrine and practice of mortification wherein is discovered the matter, manner, and means thereof, together with the blessed event that comes by it : necesary for every Christian to know and practice, that will live comfortably, and die peaceably / by Thomas Wolfall ...

CAP. XVII. Certaine signes of a dying man.

2 I Come now to shew unto you certaine signes of a dying man, whereby you may see whether that you be in such a case, yea or no; it would be in vaine to shew you signes of a dead man, for as much as there is no perfection of death of sinne in our soules; as there is no per∣fection of grace, so neither is there (as we have formerly shewed) perfection of morti∣fication;* 1.1 onely as hath beene shewed we are daily a dying, but not fully dead.

1. A man is said to be a dy∣ing man when his stomacke failes, when he hath no appe∣tite to his foode; when wee have no stomacke to sinne, no

apetite after it, when wee feele no such sweetnesse in it as we have done, when we esteeme the profits and plea∣sures of finne as an empty ves∣sell; in one word, when all of them are bitter unto us, and tastlesse in respect of what they have beene to us before time:* 1.2 as old Barzillai said to David, can thy servant taste what Teate or what I drinke; can I heare any more the voyce of singing men or singing wo∣men,* 1.3 &c. Let mee turne backe that I may dye, &c. Just thus it is when a man feele•• his af∣fection off from his sinne, that he can neither relish their sweernes, nor be allured with their pleasant songs, to bee drawne backe unto them: a∣gaine, it is a good evidence that sinne is a dying, and de∣clining in him, I deny not but time may weare out our appetite unto some sins as an

old man, that hath beene gi∣ven in his youth to lust and voluptuousnesse, may leave them, but yet he liveth still in some other sinne which is equivalent, and as dangerous to his soule; yea, and when his naturall apetite is taken away, ye•• his sinfull appe••ite may remaine, so that when a man wants strength to sinne, yet may he have a minde to sinne, and wish that he were young againe that he might sinne. Whereas, were sinne mortified, these sinfull affecti∣ons would ••ye sooner then our naturall.

2. A man is then a dying man when he is a burden to himselfe, whereas hee is not able to beare his owne weight; when you see a man hardly able to goe on his legges, you say that unlesse he doe recover againe he is not like to con∣tinue long; so say I, inregard of

sinne, then when you see a man that feeles and findes sin to be such a burden, as hee is not able to beare, but groanes under the burden of it; that assuredly then sinne is a dying;* 1.4 well may sinne mak us groane and buckle under it, when it makes the whole creation groane; nay, that which is so heavie a burden, as the Lord that made heaven and earth, and beares them up by his owne power, and never complaines of the burden of them, Complaines of this, behold I am pressed downe un∣der you,* 1.5 as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves: you there∣fore that feele your sinnes to be no burden, but can carry your sinnes away with you as easily as Sampson carried the gates of Gaza upon his shoul∣ders;* 1.6 it is an argumēt that you are Sampson-like in your sin••, sinne doth abide in you in its

full strength, if some man shall say, I hope I shall doe well then, for I finde sinne a heavie burden; but I would aske him this question then, whether doe you finde sinne a burden in regard of it selfe, or in regard of some circum∣stance that doth depend upon it; as namely, the wrath of God, or the shame and disgrace that you may have among men by it: if that sinne be the burden, then your case is good, if not, then may you suspect your selves to be unsound; as suppose a man that hath a cer∣taine quantity of spunge on his backe, which he carrieth lightly away, but now this man travelleth all a sore rai∣ny day which doth so fill the spunge with water, that his burden that was light before, now becomes intolerable; so it is in this case, it is not the weight of sinne that troubles

them, they carry it roundly away; but now that which troubles them, is those show∣ers of wrath from Heaven, and that shame and contempt that they receive from men, that makes them to cry out as Kain did, my punishment i•• greater then I can beare, wher as the penalty that is annexed unto sinne, were the sinne re∣moved moved off to a mortified man it would seeme light and little,

3. A man may then be said to be a dying man when as his disease prevailes upon him, so as he hath lesse power to resist it, every day then other: so likewise when that sinne decayeth and doth languish away in us, and grace doth so prevaile and get the upper hand, as that corruption and sinne is not able to stand a∣gainst it, as it hath done; the understanding is so farre con∣vinced

by the cleare light that shines into it, that it is not able to stand nor shift any lon∣ger, but it is beaten off from all those false reasonings,* 1.7 se∣cret turnings, and cunning equivocations, so as a man dares not any longer rest on it; the will is also fairely perswaded, and will resist the holy Ghost no longer, but yeelds up the hould unto Christ, and saith, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done.

Hence commeth a generall mortification of the affections and lusts;* 1.8 by affections under∣stand those inordinate affecti∣ons which beare sway in the hearts of men; as immode∣rate anger, griefe, also pride, unnaturall affections; and by lusts, all insatiable desires af∣ter the things of this life, they are now all crucified, so as they will yeeld no more blind obedience, either to sinne or

Sathan, so as grace hath drawn the strength of the soule unto it, and cutteth off that where∣in the great strength of cor∣ruption lay.

It is reported Cyrus find∣ing the City of Babylon im∣pregnable, and almost impossi∣ble to be taken by land, by reason of a great wall that did compasse it on the one side, and finding the river Ephrates to hemme it in on the other side, caused his souldiers to cut the river into many channels, and to divert it an∣other way, and so surprized the City, and subdued it; just thus it is when we shall divert those noble faculties of the soul another way; namely from taking part with sin, to take part with God, it will not then be hard to mortifie and subdue our corruptions; if it shall be said, then how com∣meth it to passe then that

men after that they be grown Christians that they fall into such sinnes: I answer, it is not because sinne is stronger but either by reason of their sloth∣fulnesse or spirituall pride, or else by violence of something which may befall them while they resting, carelesse, and se∣cure are supprized and over∣taken, which howsoever there be neither want of strength, nor weaknes of Grace; yet for want of watchfulnesse this may befall a good man, as it did David and Peter; yet let me adde this one thing, that is, that this in the event turnes to a greater good, and for the time to come, to make us more carefull to gird our armour about us, and more watchfull that we sinne no more; the burnt childe (as it is in the Proverbe) dreads the fire: so will a Christian that hath been once scorched by such a temp∣tation.

Notes

• * 1.1

  1 Cor. 13.
• * 1.2

  2 Sam. 19.35.
• * 1.3

  vers. 37.
• * 1.4

  Rom. 8.23.
• * 1.5

  Amos 2.13.
• * 1.6

  Judg: 16.3.
• * 1.7

  Prox. 3.5.
• * 1.8

  Gal. 5.24.