work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death; and of the lusts of the flesh, Rom. xiii. 14.  Gal. v. 16, 24; and the lusts of sin, Rom. vi. 12.  So we hear of the desires of the flesh and of the mind, Eph. ii. 3; and of affections and lusts, Gal. v. 24.  And the old man is said to be corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts, Eph. iv. 22; all which lusts and affections are as so many members of this body of sin, and of this old man.  And, further, there is herein a considerable power, force, and efficacy, which this old man hath in us, to carry us away, and, as it were, command or constrain us, as by a forcible law.  Hence we read of the law of sin and death, Rom. viii. 2, which only the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ doth make us free from.”  It is also called a “law in our members warring against the law of our mind,” Rom. vii. 23, “and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our members.”  So it is said, “to lust against the Spirit, and to war,” Gal. v. 17.  All which point out the strength, activity, and dominion of sin in the soul, so that it is as the husband over the wife, Rom. vii. 1; yea, it hath a domineering and constraining power, where its horns are not held in by grace.  And as its power is great, so its nature is wicked and malicious; for it is pure “enmity against God,” Rom. viii. 7; so that it neither is nor can be reconciled, and therefore must be put off and abolished, Eph. ii. 15; killed and crucified, Rom. vi. 6.  Now herein lieth the work of a believer, to be killing, mortifying, and crucifying this enemy, or rather enmity; and delivering himself from under this bondage and slavery, that he may be Christ’s free man, and that through the Spirit, Rom. viii. 13.

Now, if it be asked, How shall a believer make use of Christ, to the end this old man may be gotten crucified? or, how should a believer mortify this old man, and the lusts thereof, through Christ, or by the Spirit of Jesus?  We shall propose those things, which may help to clear this: 

1.  The believer should have his eye on this old man as his arch-enemy, as a deadly cut-throat lying within his bosom.  It is an enemy lodging within him, in his soul, mind, heart, and affections, so that there is no part free; and therefore is acquaint with all the motions of the soul, and is always opposing and hindering every thing that is good.  It is an enemy that will never be reconciled to God, and therefore will not be reconciled with the believer as such; for it is called enmity itself, and so it is always actively seeking to promove the ruin of the soul, what by prompting, inclining, moving, and forcibly drawing or driving, sometimes with violence and rage, to evil; what by with standing, resisting, opposing, counter-working, and contradicting what is good; so that the believer cannot get that done which he would do, and is made to do that which he would not.  Therefore this being such an enemy, and so dangerous an enemy, so constant and implacable an enemy, so active