First, For the first, How meanly doth the Spirit of God speak of man, calling him flesh and blood I Man hath a heaven-born soul, which makes him akin to angels, yea, to the God of them, who is the Father of spirits ; but this is passed by in silence, as if God would not own that which is tainted with sin, and not the creature God at first made it ; or because the soul, though of such noble extraction, yet being so immersed in sensuality, deserves no other name than flesh, which part of man levels him with the beast, and is here intended to express the weakness and frailty of man's nature. It is the phrase which the Holy Ghost expresseth the weakness and impotency of a creature by; Isa. xxxi. 3 : ' They are men, and their horses are flesh,' that is, v/eak ; as on the contrary, when he would set out the power and strength of a thing, he opposeth it to flesh, 2 Cor. x. 3 : ' Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty;' and so in the text, not flesh and blood, but powers. As if he should say, Had you no other to fear but a weak sorry man, it were not worth the providing arms or ammunition ; bvit you have enemies that neither are flesh, nor are resisted with flesh. So that here we see what a weak creature man is, not only weaker than angels, as they are spirits, and he flesh, but in some sense beneath the beasts, as the flesh of man is frailer than the flesh of beasts ; therefore the Spirit of God compares man to the ' grass," which soon ' withers,' Isa. xl. 6 ; and his 'goodliness to the flower of the field.' Yea, he is called vanity, Psa. Ixii. D : 'Men of lovv^ degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie,' both alike vain ; only the rich and the great man, his vanity is covered with honour, wealth, &c., which are here called a lie, because they are not what they seem, and so worse than plain vanity, which is known to be so, and deceives not.
Use 1. Is man but frail flesh? Let this humble thee, O man, in all thy excellency ; flesh is but one remove from filth and corruption ; thy soul is the salt that keeps thee sweet, or else thou wouldst stink above ground. Is it thy beauty thou pridest in ? Flesh is grass, but beauty is the vanity of this vanity. This goodliness is like the flower, which lasts not so long as the grass, appears in its month, and is gone ; yea, like the beauty of the flower, which fades while the flower stands. How soon will time's plough make furrows in thy face ; yea, one fit of an ague so change thy countenance, as shall make thy doating lovers afraid to look on thee ? Is it strength ? Alas, it is an arm of flesh, which withers often in the stretching forth ; ere long thy blood, which is now warm, will freeze in thy veins ; thy spring crowned with May buds, will tread on De- cember's heel ; thy marrow dry in thy bones, thy sinews sin-ink, thy legs bow under the weight of thy body, thy eye-strings crack, thy tongue not able to call for help ; yea, thy heart with thy flesh shall fail ; and now thou, who art such a giant, take a turn if thou canst in thy chamber, yea, raise but thy head from thy pillow, if thou art able, or call back thy breath, which is making haste to be gone out of thy nostrils, never to return more ; and darest thou glory in that which so soon may be prostrate ?
Is it wisdom ? The same grave that covers thy body shall bury all that, (the wisdom of thy flesh I mean;) all thy thoughts shall perish, and goodly plots come to nothing. Indeed, if a Christian, thy thoughts as sUch shall ascend with thee, not one holy breathing of thy soul lost. Is it thy blood and birth? Whoever thou art, thou art base-born till born again ; the same blood runs in thy veins with the beggar in the street, Acts xvii. 26. All nations there we find made of the same blood : in two things all are alike ; we come in and go out of the world alike ; as one is not made of finer earth, so not resolved into pui'er dust.
Use 2. Secondly, Is man flesh? Trust not in man; ' ciu'sed be he that makes flesh his arm.' Not the mighty man ; robes may hide and garnish, they cannot change flesh: Psa. cxlvi., ' Put not your trust in princes;' alas! they cannot keep their crowns on their own heads, their heads on their own
KOT WITH FLESH AND IjLOOD. 87