2. The soul's welfare is of chief consideration. We must take heed that the soul be not either disfitted for duty or disposed for sin.
[1.] Disfitted for duty; when the soul cannot lift up itself to God and divine things, and findeth less aptitude for his service, you are inordinate : Luke xxi. 34, ' Let not your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness,' &c. The heart may be overcharged when the stomach is not. When we are warned of surfeiting and drunken- ness, we think of vomiting, staggering, reeling, faltering in speech or gait. 0 Christians ! you are guilty of it when the heart is over- charged, and driveth on heavily in holy things. When we are warned of adultery, we think only of defiling other men's wives, or scattering our lusts promiscuously, as the beasts do ; but alas ! we are guilty of it when the inordinate use of a lawful wife doth quench our vigour and alacrity in our heavenly calling ; si vinum ex apotheca tua, &c. — a man may drink too freely of his hogshead,
[2.] We must take care that the soul be not more disposed to sin. 'Divers lusts and pleasures' are fitly joined by the apostle, Titus iii. 3. If we do not watch over pleasures, the heart groweth more wanton and libidinous, the restraints of grace are weaker, and carnal motions more urgent and violent ; the ' heart is nourished,' &c., James v. 5, the enemy put in strength and heart, 1 Peter ii. 11.
Well, then, let us beware of sensuality ; other things defile a part, as covetousness the soul, but sensual lusts defile the soul and body too ; they leave guilt upon the soul and dishonour upon the body, while it is made a strainer for meats and drink, and a channel for lusts to run in. Other lusts seem to gratify the ambition of man and to exalt him, but these debase him, and turn him out among the beasts. To renounce pleasures is the first thing you must do if you mean to do
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anything in religion, otherwise you lie open to every temptation. The water of the sanctuary could not heal the miry places, Ezek. xlvii. 11 ; which is usually applied to sensual hearts. Pleasures bring a brawn and a deadness upon the conscience, and a cloud upon the understand- ing. Daniel, that had the high visions of God, lived by pulse. John the Baptist, that had the most eminent gospel dispensation, Mat, xi., fed upon locusts and wild honey. Among the heathens he was counted the most accomplished man that spent more oil in the lamp than wine in the bottle.i Certainly the baser a man is the more he affects car- nal delights : Eccles. vii. 4, * The heart of a fool is in the house of mirth.' That which wise men prefer is better than that which fools make choice of. Pleasures are the choice of fools ; wise men know them to be baits and snares, that, if they be not watched, they soon put us out of frame, . and unfit us for communion with God, Eccles. ii. 2. Once more, this sort of sins enslaveth, and by custom gaineth upon the heart more than others do, and bringeth us under a power which we cannot easily break, 1 Cor. vi. 12. Therefore use pleasures with care and caution, that when we take them they may not take us. God's people, I suppose, are not so easily tempted to adultery and drunkenness, but beware of gluttony ; ^ the throat is a slippery place, and instead of supplying nature we feed lust. Be not too much in the use of carnal delights, lest you suffer this distemper of spirit to take root. Dives fared de- liciously every day. There are times of abstinence, as well as liberal enjoyment in the creature. When our lives are but a diversion from one pleasure to another, nature groweth wanton and unsatisfied, and men live as if they were born to eat, drink, play, sport, and sleep, Luke xvii. 27. Lastly, take heed of soliciting lusts when you should quench them, Eom. xiii. 14.
Ohs. 4. The next thing that we may observe is, that sensual persons have not the Spirit. These two are contrary, * flesh and spirit,' Gal. V. 17 ; and they that cherish the one do necessarily banish the other, and as they enlarge the one they straiten the other. The Spirit is a free spirit, and sensual persons are very slaves ; the Spirit is a pure spirit, and they are unclean ; the Spirit is active, and they are gross and muddy, of a dull and and stupid nature ; the Spirit worketh intel- lectual and chaste delights, and they are altogether for base and dreggy pleasures : such a perfect contrariety is there between them. More distinctly take it thus : —
1. Sensual men have little of the enlightening of the Spirit ; their palate is better than their understanding : Eph. v. 18, ' Be not drunken with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit ;' where the fumes of wine and the motions of the Spirit are compared as things incompatible. In marshy countries we do not expect a clear air ; so sensual persons have seldom any clear and raised thoughts of God : men given to pleasures can taste meats and drinks, but not doctrines.