trHhe EPHES1ANS. Flefo our Saviour Chri!l: continues it; and in 'john 3· 6. giving the tealon, why ~-, that ~very Man muft he born again, or he cannot enter into the Kingdom of ~ Heaven he tells them, becaufe every Man by his fir!l: Birth is nothing but Flelli, that is, 'nothing but Corruption, nothing but Sin, That which is bor11 of the Flejb, is Flejli; therefore of .neceffity Men mull: be ~orn agam. And the Apo!l:ks after Chri!l: did ufe it, and the New Te!l:ament m the Ept!l:les commonly ufeth tt, and putteth it for Corruption. But now to give you the Reafons of this Appellation, in a word or two : Firf1; It is called Flefo, in di!l:inl.lion from, and in oppofition to Spirit. The Jews did call things Flelli, that were not Spmt. Hence therefore now, if it were a fub!l:antial Spirit, that Flelh was dJ~tngutllied from, look what kind of Spirit that any thing was .d•fferenced f~om, m that fence we are to underfhnd FJelli in di!l:inCl:ion from tt. I !hall gJVe you but one Inftance, tho I could gtve you a great many: You know, that God is a Spirit, and that Jefus Chrifi ~ad in his Perfon both a Humane and a Dtvme Nature : the Dtvme Nature, that s cal– led Spirit; and the Humane Nature, that's called Fle01. There is a Multitude of Infiances for it: It is the Spirit that quic/zneth, the Flejb profteth nothing: That is, it is his Godhead putteth all the Influence into his Humanity; if he had been Man alone, it would not have done it : He was put to death in the Fle!h, and quickned in the Spirit. But the mofi exprefs place is, in Rom. 1. 3, 4· he faith, He came of the Seed of Abraham, according to the Flej!J: But he was raifed by the Spirit of Ho/i,efl, that is, by his Godhea~. Man h.imlelfhath a Spirit in him, his Soul; hence therefore hts Body IS, m oppofitlon to the Soul, called Flelli, 2 Cor. 7· I. Let us cleanfe our felves from all 'Pollution of Flefo, (that is, of bodily Lufis,) and uf Spirit, (that is, of the Soul, which the Soul exercileth without dependance upon the Body.) So in 'Pfol. 79· 2. The Bodies of the Saints, are called, the Flefo uf the Sai11ts. Yea, the very Gofpel it felf, becaufe it bath a Spiritualnefs in it, is called Spirit, and the Law is called Fle!h : The Gofpel, in 2 Cor. 3· 8. is called, the Minijlration ofthe Spirit. And, Gal. 3· 3· Did you begin in the Spirit, and will JOil end in the Flejb? Or will you be perfeC1ed in tbe Flejb i' That is, by adding the Law to the Gofpel, which was the thing they endeavoured. Now then the word [ Flejb J being flill ufed in oppo• fition to, and in difiinction from Spirit, whether taken in a fubfiantial fence, or otherwife hence, becau(~ that the new Creature,which is begot by the Holy-Ghoft; is called Spirit, That which ff born ofthe Spirit, ff Spirit; Hence therefore the con– trary Q!Jality, that corrupt Nature, that lu!l:eth again!l: this Spirit, and is oppo– fite unto it, is called Flejb: And as that Spirit is the Bundle of all Graces; fo this Flclb is the Bundle of Folly, tha.t is bound up in the Heart of Man, a whole Bundle of it, a Mafs of Corruption. The Law, faith Pa1d, is fpiritual, bnt I am car11al, Rom. '7. 14. All Corruption oppofitc to the Law, is called Carnality or Flelli, becaufe the holy Law is fpiritual. But fecondly ; There is another Reafon, why it is called Flelb, and that is : Becaufe this corrupt Nature of ours doth confine us to things fle!hly, as to our ObjeQ~; that is, that all the Powers and Faculties of Soul and Body !hall only mind the things oftheFlelb, (but I do not mean things o( the Body, when l fay fo,) whereas Spirit, the new Creature; it hatb for its Objetl: all fort of lpiri– tual things. I do found this upon Rom, 5· 9· Saith he there, They that arc after the Flejb, do mind the things of the Flefb ; but they that a1·e after the-Spirit; do mind the things of the Spirit. It is a Saying in Pi)ilofophy, and it is a true one, that FaCilitates dijlingu;mtur per aC111s & objeC1a, all natural Faculties are di!l:inguillied by their ObjeCl:s: So is Flelli and Spirit, Grace and Corruption. And becaufe corrupt Nature bath the .things of the Flelb for its ObjeCl:, hence it is called Fle!h; and becaufe that there are fpiritual tbi.ngs, which are the Object of Grace and Holinefs, which are fpiritual things, hence that is called a Spirit. Now, my Brethren, let me tell you, that by the things of the Fle!h, is not meant orly tpings of the Body, or belonging to the Body, or the Objetl: ofbodi– ly Lufts, but all outward things whatfoever, all Creature-Comforts; yea, I may fay, all Creatures, take God and Chrill: out of them, and they are all the things ,.;f
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