2. Both serve to those that are influenced by them as a guiding and inciting principle. The flesh to those that are ' after the flesh,' and the spirit to those that are 'after the spirit:' Rom. viii. 5. The flesh guideth and prompteth us to those things which are good for the animal life, for things of sense are known easily, and known by all. Carnal nature needeth no instructor, no spur ; it doth pollute and corrupt u» in all sensual and earthly things ; but spiritual and heavenly things are ont of its reach : 2 Pet. i.~9, and it inclines as well as guideth ; for the things that we see, and feel, and taste, easily stir our affections, ' Demas hath forsaken us, having loved the present world.' Yea, 'tis hard to restrain them, and it is not done without some violence : Gal. v. 24, ' They that are in Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof ; ' that the spirit or new nature doth both guide and incline is clear by those expressions : Heb. viii. 10, ' I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.'
3. That those who are under the prevalency of the one principle cannot wholly obey and follow the other is clear ; for those two are contrary : Gal. v. 17, ' The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
VeR. 1.] SERMONS UPON ROM.VNS VIII. 393
against the flesh;' and contraries cannot subsist together in an intense degree. They are contrary in their nature, contrary in their tendency and aim, contrary in their rule: Gal. vi. 16. The one carrieth us to God and heaven, the other to something pleasing to present sense ; the one is fed with the world, the other with heaven. They are contrary in their assisting powers, Satan and the Spirit of God ; the good part is for God ; and the flesh, which is the rebelling principle, is on the devil's side : 1 John iv. 4. Satan by the lusts of the flesh taketh men ' captive at his will and pleasure : ' 2 Tim. ii. 26, * That they may recover them- selves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will and pleasure ;' but the Spirit of God is assisted by the author of it, the Holy Ghost: Eph. iii. 16, 'Strengthened by the Spirit with might in the inner man. ' They are irritated by the spirit or the flesh, presenting difi'erent objects, of sense and faith. The flesh hath this ad- vantage, that its objects are near at hand, ready to be enjoyed ; but the objects of faith are to come — lie in an unseen world, only they are greater in themselves, and faith helpeth to look upon them as sure enough : Heb. xi. 1.
4. That every christian hath these two principles in himself ; the one by nature, is called flesh ; the other by grace, is called spirit. God's best children have flesh in them. Paul distinguisheth in the former chapter betwixt ' flesh' and ' spirit,' ' the law of the members,' and ' the law of the mind : ' Eom. vii, 18, 23, as two opposite principles inclining several ways.
5. Though both be in the children of God, yet the spirit is in pre- dominancy ; for the acts of the flesh are disowned : ' not I, but sin that dwelleth in me ;' and a man's estate is determined by the reign of sin, and grace in a man converted to God. The spirit, or renewed part, is superior, and governeth the will, or whole man, and the flesh is inferior, and by striving seeketh to become superior, and draws the will to itself ; so that the heart of a renewed man is like a kingdom divided. — Grace is in the throne, but the flesh is the rebel which disturbeth and much weakeneth its sovereignty and empire. It must needs be so, other- wise there would be no distinction between nature and grace. A man is denominated from what is predominant in him, and hath the chiefest power over his heart : if it be the flesh, he is carnal ; if the spirit, he is regenerate, or a new creature ; if his heart be set to seek, serve, please and glorify God, and doth prefer Christ before all the world : Phil, iii. 8. Then he hath not only a spirit contrary to the flesh and the world, but a spirit prevailing above the flesh and the world : 1 Cor. ii, 12, for ' We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God.' Then the government of the soul is in the hands of grace.
6. The prevalency of the principle is known, not only by the bent and habit of our wills, but our settled course of life. By our walk, for it is said in the text, ' They that walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.' A man is not known by an act or two, but by the tenor of his life. Those that make corrupt inclination their ordinary guide and rule, and the satisfaction thereof their common trade, they are carnal and in the flesh, and so cannot please God : Eom. viii. 5 ; but those whose Vjusiness it is to serve, please and glorify God, and their end to enjoy him, and by whom this is diligently and uniformly pursued, they