Mortification

An old tradition in the Reformed tradition is called “mortification.” A book by Randall C. Gleason, John Calvin and John Owen on Mortification, A Comparative Study in Reformed Spirituality, is published by Peter Lang, New York, 1995. Both Calvin and Owen believed that sanctification includes mortification by which sin is destroyed. It never is achieved entirely but can happen by the work of the Holy Spirit. For Calvin the practice of mortification includes: 1. Self-denial. This includes self-renunciation and love of others. The mind has to be submitted and subjected to the Holy Spirit. 2. Bearing the cross. Following Christ in humiliation, suffering and persecution. The cross is experienced by discipline, chastisement, and persecution. 3. Meditation on the future life. Awakened to the miserable condition of earthly life, developing a proper estimation of this present life, and longing for the eternal life to come. The goal is to be in prayerful attentiveness to God all the time.