106 SERMONS upon Serm.XVI 2. By may of Confirmation. In the Explication I fhall [hew you, r. What is meant by Beth. 2. What by livirgafter the flefh. 3. What is the death threatned. 2. By way of Confirmation. r. That this threatning is every wayconf[tent with the Wifdom, and Goodnefs of God. Secondly, The certainty of its being accomplifhed and fulfilled. Firfi by way of Explication. r. What is meant by flefh. 1. The flefh is fometimes taken for the natural bodily fubfiance, that corporeal mats we carry about us : fo'tis laid, No man ever hated his ownflefh, but nourifheth it, and cherifheth it, Eph. 5. 29. The body is a part of us, and deferveth due care, that it might be an holy Temple for the Spirit to dwell in, and fanâifie, and make ufe of it for God. 2. For corruption of nature, which inclineth us wholly to things grateful to the body and bodily life, with the negleá of God, and our precious immortal fouls, John 3. 6. That which is born of flefh, is flefh : Now flefh in this latter fente is taken, 1. Largely. 2. Striilly. Firfl, Largely, For the whole dunghil of Corruption, in whatever faculty it is feat- ed, in the Underfanding,Will, or rational Appetite; fo Gal. 5. 17. The fíefh lnfieth againfb the fpirit; that is, corrupt nature. 2. Stritily, Or in a limited fente, for the corruption of the fenfual Appetite, r John 2. 16. All that is in the worldis either the lull of the IRA the lofa of the eye, or pride of life. Senfuality is expre[fed by the luit of the flefh 5 and Eph. 2. 3, Fulfilling the wills of the flefh, and of themind. As'tistaken more generally for natural corruption, both h Will, Mind, and Affeûions ; fo more particularly for the diforder of the fenfual Ap- petite, which carrieth us to Meats, Drinks, Riches, Pléafures, Honours ; therefore there are two Branches, sertit <azm7ñs Ca, gas,ÿTdrBsaruïrr, Flefh mutt not be confined to this lat- ter fenfe, but taken in the latitude of the former ; we read of ttòratca fis versos, The wit dom of the flefh, Rom. 8. 7. and of a fiefhyi mind, Col. 2. 18. Manis a corrupt carnal creature in all his faculties of the foul, even)thole which are more noble, the Under - (landing and Will; and when the Apolle reckoneth up the works of the flefh, Gal. 5.19. He doth not only reckon up Fornication, and Adultery, Uncleannefs,Wantonnef, which belong to the fenfual Appetite ; but Idolatry, and Heretic, which are the fruits of blind and corrupt Reafon; and Witchcraft, Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife,Sedition, Envyings, Murther, which belong to the depraved Will ; we mutt take flefh then in the large Il feule. Secondly, What it is to live after the il l& Living doth not note one tingle aetion, but the trade, courte, and ltrainof our converfations; they are laid to live after the flefh, where the flefh is their principle, their work, and their fcope. t. Where it is thegoverningprinciple, or that fpring which lets all the Wheels a going. Once it was thus with us all ; we were wholly ailed by the inclinations and defares of the flefh, and did nothing but what the flefh moved us unto, and therefore natural men are laid ta be in the urn, Rom. 8. 8. and after the fi fh, v. 5. and to ferve divers lefts and pleafureo, Tit. 3. 3. But when our cure is wrought, we are ailed by another price1. ple, the fpirit or new nature, Rom. 8. 1. and Gal. 5. 16. Not that the old principle is quite abolifl:ed, 'sis in us Rill, Gal. 5. 17. Tie fl flr lufieth again. fi the fpirit, and the (pi- rit lofieth againft the fi fh. And 'tis in us notas dead, but as working and operative, and there is a mixture of the refpeftive influence and efficacy of thefe two principles in eve - ryaQion ; yea, in fome allions a prevalency of the one above the other : The worfer part in a particular confliâ may get the upper hand; yet there is a fenui le difference between the people of God and others; the better principle is habitual and confiant, and in predominancy, and doth not only check and thwart the other, but overcome it; and theintereti of the flefh decreafeth, and that of the fpirit prevaileth, and keepeth the carnal part iá,fubjeition; but when the flefh is the chiefeli principle that beareth rule in our hearts, and we are ailed and guided by it in our courte of life, we live after the fieth. a. Their
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