John Preston, a 17th Century English pastor wrote a book on mortification and humiliation. I am currently editing that book as I can take time. The book was published in 1635

Sin’s Overthrow

Or,

A Godly And Learned Treatise

Of

Mortification:

Wherein

is excellently handled; first, the general

Doctrine Of Mortification:

and then particularly to mortify

Fornication,

Uncleanness,

Evil Concupiscence,

Inordinate Affection,

And Coveteousness

All being the substance of several sermons upon colossians 3. 5

mortify therefore your members

Delivered

by that late faithful preacher and worthy instrument of God’s glory, John Preston, Dr. in Divinty, Chaplin in ordinary to His Majesty, master of Emmanuel College and Cambridge, and sometimes preacher in Lincoln’s Inne.

Third edition, corrected and enlarged

London

Imprinted by Felix Kingston for Andrew crooke and R to be sold by Daniel Frere at his shop without Aldergate 1635

Below is the first passage in the book. Comments are in italics and footnotes. The text is normal or Roman type.

The Doctrine Of Mortification

Colossians 3. 5

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

He here sets out the a principle which will be repeated and developed through-out this work:

Romans 8:5–8 (ESV) 

⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

This is a principle of the spiritual life which is developed in any number of ways though out the Bible. For instance, Jesus explains:

Matthew 6:21 (ESV) 

²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Thus, this way of living can be understood in either direction. To live according to the Spirit is to set my mind of spiritual or heavenly things. That should be my treasure. Or, where my treasure is, that will be the focus of my attention, my heart.

And so, in Colossians 3, Paul gives various arguments to encourage us to set our mind on heavenly things and is doing, we will put our sin to death:

This chapter contains divers [various] exhortations unto heavenly mindedness, by which the apostle labors to dissuade the Colossians from corruptible things, on to things not corruptible, but everlasting; not earthly, but heavenly; in the which the life of a Christian, and true holiness stands.

In the first verse he begins with an exhortation to seek heavenly things; if you are risen with Christ, seek those things that are above; That is, if you be risen with Christ^[1], and dead on to the fashions of men, then there is an alteration and change in your souls wrought by which you are brought to affect [desire] that which is heavenly, and basely to esteem [to consider of little value] earthly things: therefore if you be risen; that is, if this heavenly life, and disposition, and change be in you, then let the same appear by your heavenly mindedness; That is by seeking of heavenly things.

If do have life in union with Christ, if you have been raised from death with him,^[2] then your life should be focused upon him. Here is a thing to understand about the spiritual life: A baby when born should breath. A doctor may give the baby a slap on his body to encourage him to take in a breath to let out a cry. We have entered into a new manner of life. We often have this expectation that the God will just do something ineffable to us and cause us to simply be different. This can be explained in various, but it may go by such argument as “let go and let God.” 

As apparent as that may seem to some, it is not the way God works in us. Rather than simply just bring us along passively, he works on us the way a doctor may work upon a newborn. He seeks to bring us to breathe. This is no one time act. It is a matter to which we must be constantly stirred. He tells us to fix our mind and then show how this is done.

Here, God gives us encouragement: Do you know God, then seek God? Have you been raised with Christ, then seek him above.

And the second verse he joins another exhortation grounded on the first, to be wise and to understand them; Set your affection on the things above: that is let them be specially minded of you, let all your faculties^[3] be filled with the knowledge of spiritual things; and this is so joined with the former, that there can be no seeking without knowing; for how can a man seek that which he knows not? 

And if you have no knowledge of heaven and heavenly things, how can you desire them? Seeing where there is no desire, there is no seeking: and therefore, if you would seek heavenly things, as Christ, and grace, and salvation, then know them first.

Afterwards and the third verse he goes on, and refers this exhortation with divers [various] arguments; first, because you are dead: that is, seeing you’re dead onto earthly things, therefore strive not now to be earthly minded. Secondly, your life is hid with Christ: that is, your happiness is not seen with the eye of the body by looking on these earthly things, but your happiness and joy is by faith beholding Christ^[4], therefore set your heart and eye on him where your life is; That is, you look for a perfection of glory with Christ, which you cannot have by earthly minded things: therefore be heavenly minded.

In the fourth verse, the apostle answers on to a demand: for they might thus object, You tell us that we shall have a perfection of glory, and that it is hid with Christ, but when should we have it? That is, when shall it be made manifest unto us? Onto this the apostle answers When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. And hereupon he grounds another exhortation in the verse I have read: as if he should say, seeing you expect such a perfection of glory to be revealed unto you at Christ’s second coming, then it stands you up on to set upon your corruptions, to kill, and to slay them that seek to deprive you of that glory^[5].

Mortify therefore your earthly members; That is, slay every foul affection, inordinate desire of earthly things, rid your hearts of them by flaying of them; And although it may seem a hard work, yet fight still, or else you show never attain onto that life you hope for: so that the first general point hence, is this:

Doctrine One

That the height of glory, which we expect by Christ, should cause every man to mortify sin.

---

^[1] To seek heavenly things is the aim and it should be the aim of those who have been joined to the live of Christ.  It is not the seeking heavenly things which matters in and of itself. It is rather a way of living which should be characteristic of those joined in the life of Christ.

^[2] Romans 6:5–11 (ESV) 

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

^[3] The fashion for describing our “psychology” (if you will) has changed over time. Preston uses a model know as “faculty psychology”. It can be described or set out in different ways, primarily one’s thoughts, desires, will, memory, perception. We know will likely refer to such as different functions of the nervous system. These “faculties” could “be explained simply by referring to their active powers.” (https://dictionary.apa.org/faculty-psychologya)

^[4] Beholding Christ by faith will be dealt with in this work. This is not a full explanation, but it may help to begin this work. Faith is a faculty which we use in our dealing with another person. Someone says something good to you, you must believe to receive that thing. If you disbelieve, you cannot receive the good. Even something as simple as a compliment must be exchanged and received in this way. The good of God is offered to you in and by Christ. You receive this by faith. You then lay hold of Christ by faith. 

^[5] Mortifying sin, putting it to death, and laying hold of Christ are two sides of the same event.