An Expofition of the epijlle -:------ ~ fomething elfe rather than in God ; or to the love of a Man's felf above Gop, ~ Now Men have theirConverfation in thefe; why? becaufethattheSoul ofMan being an empty Chao1 o~Defires, .(as I fatd at firfi) : As t~e Stomack cannot Jive unlefs it have fome nounfhment m tt; fo a Man cannot live unlefs fome Luil or other be fatisfied. In which ye walkgd ( fatth he, Col. 3· 7. ) whilfl ye liveq in them . he fpeaks ofLufis pll inly, as appears, veq.) All Creatures are converfant abou~ that which is their life, and they are confiant about that which is their life. As a Fifh, whole Element is the Water, if it be out ofthe Water it dies: Therefore we are faid to drink_in lniq11ity likg Water. And thefe Lufis, and the C1tisfying of;hem being a Man's life, he is faid to war after them: ( It is a mighty expreffion ) it; 2 Cor. 10. 3· Our Warfore (faith he) i1 not after the jlefh. He fpeaks in oppo!\tion to what carnal Men's warfare IS; they purfue after the fatisf.1CI:ion of their Lufis, as a matter oflife: as Men that in War do fight, pro arn & foci!, for their fupfifi– ance, for their lives; therefore they are called the L•11I that war in our Member1, 'jam. 4· 1. They are not only compared toa Law in the Mcmber1, as in Rom.7.23. but they are compared to the vtolence of War too; the Lujl1 (faithhe)that [war] ·in o11r Member~. And fo you have,J:he finfulncfs of thefe Lufis defcribed and what it is to have our ,Converfation in them. There is not an Aa which a ::arnal Man aoth, but it is to fatisfy fome Lufi or other. . All that I fhall more obferve is but this, That they are called Lu.Jli, in the plu– ral, there are variety ofthem ; they are faid to be diver1 L11}1I, Tit. 3· 6. they are not one, but many. And the reafon why they are many, is this; The Defires ofMan's Soul were once united in one Obj«ll, namely, in God: but He being gone, the Soul breaks into a thoufand Defires, and ma!>es every one of them its God. That which did unite, and begirt up all the Defires in one, that Center being gone, all thefe Beams are. fcattered : And look how many Objects there are .which may any way pleafe a Man, and in which he may have pleafure, the Soul being all for pleafure, and being it felf an unfatisfiable thing,(for it being made to be fill'd with God, it mufi needs be fo:) and becaufe one thing cannot fill it, it runs to another, and fo to another, and fo the Soul is fcattered into a thoufand feveral Lufis. And then again,. We are faid to walk.in our L11jil, in the plural, becaufe a Man pnnot always Jive in fatisfying one Lufi only, therefore in the interim thet;e mufi be other Lufis to entertain the Soul: for, the Soul is never idle, it can never want a moments pleafure Come way or other, it mufi have relief, or at leafiwife defiring and feeking after it: and fo what in one thing, and what in another, a Man walk– eth all his life in fame Lufi or other, and makes it a forrowfullife. And thus natu– ral Men have their Converfation ifl the l".fh ofthe f!efb. And fo much no.w .for thefe words. I, come to the next ; Fulflling the Wi!!J ofthe Flejb, a11d ofthe fr{ind. That which the Apofile had faid in the general before, here he fpeaks 0 f m..o.re particularly. He doth both further explain what it is to walk in the .Ll),{ts of,the Fl<ifh, it is to fulfil them, faith he, it is to aB: them (it's the mofr proper.word in Englifb that can be) to aCl: the wills ofthe f!e!h, and ofthe mind. As in our l{ual fpeech we fay, a Man at1eth biJ Spirit. · And then, fecondly, he divides thefe Lufis into two parts, The Lr,fil oft@ej(efh; or ofthe fenfual part; and, The Lufis of the Mind, that i.s, ofthe ;Unde,l'fia)lding and the Will. I !hall firfi open the Phr;fes. The firfi Phrafe I fhall ~ive you an account of_is;this,\[the Wi/{1J (.for i_q~ . ~~d.\n tlje Original fo the word IS, and fo you !hall find 1t m your.Margents.) It \S ~r\'l!fl that what he meaf!t by Lufi 1 in the general, in the words befo.re, he mqpe1,b.,rp~ fame thing by Wil!J here. The tr11th is, in a ilfill: fence, ,only,the lilfiingj ~,r)ct the mqtions ofthe Underfiandmg, and ofthe Wtll,th~): are 'Ill< ;.3.t./)Hf:"'t", t.he,y ar,e.fvt/!J; !>ut in the inferior part, in the fenfual part, th<il(\' (epfua~ AffeCl:I?ns,.of {\P.g~f..~JlH ~e like, they are but Lufis and•Deftres. And IY,~t , potwtthfrandtp,g t)le .qne,j1JP,U~ . ~
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