S Of Seif- Denial. SE R M. Nor have we power over the firft motions of L our InftinEts, any more than over their being. It is their nature to operate in fitggefting to the mind, what is agreeable to them, and fo far we are no more voluntary 2ccountablc agents, than in animi actions and motions, which have no dependance at all upon our own choice. Can it enter into any ones mind, that the uneafy fen - fations of hunger and thirft, with the fìmhle defire of meat and drink common to all ani- mals, and preventing any thought or delibera- tion, that thefe are fins ? The perfe ìly inno- cent .7efus, altogether free from every kind and degree of moral evil, had them as other men have ; the' fometimes 'tis certain the defire, but not without a voluntary indulgence, grows to a criminal excefs ; which is the vice of in- temperance. The fame mutt be faid concern- ing other natural appetites and paflions, the firft motions whereof are not faulty, tho' they may be the occafions of, or temptations to fin, when they are not duly regulated and reftrained, which is the province of reafon and confcience. But Secondly, It is exceeding plain, that felf- denial imports our abfolute refufal to comply with any motion or fuggeftion in our minds, from whatever quarter it fprings, fo far as to do
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