sErtm. Iv.] FLESH AND SPIRIT, &C. 61 : common and allowed practice. : We are regenerated and new-created by the spirit of God ; Titus iii. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but of his Own mercy bath he saved us by regeneration, and renew- ingofthe Holy Ghost. Illdly. Another reason why the principle of holiness is called spirit, is because the chief springs of holiness, and of opposition to sin, are found in the soul or spi- ritual part, as the springs and occasions ofsin are chiefly seated in the flesh... This is true both in saints and sinners ; for even in sinners that have no renewing grace, there is the light of nature, as well as the knowledge of scripture in our nation; there are the powers of reason and conscience ; and these judge concerning vice and virtue, that one is to be avoided, and the other practised ; these inward and intellectual principles tell us, that sin is offensive to God our Maker ; that it exposes us to his anger, and deserves terrible punishment; and, by the exercise and influence of natural reason, added to the knowledge of scripture, and by the inward stings, and 'sharp reproofs of natural conscience, many an evil motion of the flesh is suppressed, many An inordinate appetite and passion subdued, and many a grosser sin prevented. Now, though all this is not properly called holiness, till the nature itself be renewed, the love of sin broken, and the love of God wrought in the heart ; yet it is evident that those principles which resist sin, and have any dis- tant tendencies toward holiness, lie chiefly in the mind or spirit. This is yet more evident in a saint, a man that is rege- nerated and sanctified by grace : For though in such a person, the body as well as the spirit, may be in part sanctified ; that is, some of its irregular appetites may be much weakened and subdued; yet still I cannot help supposing that the spirit, or soul, has a greater share of sanctification than the flesh in this life. Ít is in the soul that the love of God is wrought by the HolySpirit; it is the soul that repents of past sins, and watches against temptation; it is the soul that believes the gospel, and trusts in our Lord Jesus Christ ; it is the soul that by faith takes a distant prospect of heaven and hell, and converses with invisible things beyond the reach and
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