BAXTER'S POEMS. 99 These fleshly pleasures stand·in..competition: Know which thou choosest as thy best condition. Jf thou the everlasting sure ·reward, More than sin's fading pleasui·es dost regard; If God and thy salvation be the part, · Whose interest stands highest in thy heart; If thus his kingdom thou first seek ·and crave; Both it, and all things needful thou shalt have. Sinner. I fear I do not these thy terins fulfil; And have not truly a consenting will: Because so great averseness I still find To God and holiness upon my mind; Such deadness to believe, love, and repent, That there seems more of hatred than consent. Necessity and reason use a force Against my will and nature's bent and source. Jesus. No man can conquer and obtain salvation, But by resisting carnal inclination. Fleshly desires run with speedy course, And need not faith's or reason's help and force. Earthward you sink propensely as a clod ; But not so easily ascend to God. One motion 's downward; th' other 's all up-hill ; Against the bias of the carnal will. Too much of flesh remaineth in the best: Some enmity to good sticks in their breast: Something of hatred, e'en to God and grace, Contends with love, and troubleth your race. · In the most mortified, the flesh yet liveth, And constantly against the spirit striveth: You cannot hear, read, meditate, or pray, Or any thing that's good th~nk, do, or say;
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