THE POWEñS AND CONTE STS OP FLESLI AND SPIEYT: 107 sin, in its principles or operations, they use the words flesh, fleshly, or carnal, the body, or the members, with much freedom and frequency. _St. Peter speaks of walk- . ing after the flesh; 2 Pet. ii..ia of alluring men by the lusts of the flesh, 2 Pet. ii. 18. of fleshly lusts that war against the soul ; 1 Pet. ii. 11: St. Paul bids us mortify the deeds of the body ; Rom: viii. 13. and he calls the principle of sin the body of death ; Rom. vii. 24. IIe speaks of sin reigning in our mortal bodies ; Rom. vi. 12. He places the sinful principles, which he calls the law of sin, in our very members ; Rom. vii. 23. And parti-, cular sins he calls our members; Col. iii. 5. And' in correspondence with him the apostle James speaks of lusts that war in our members James iv. 1. And John and Jude make mention of the lusts of the flesh, and garments spotted with the flesh. And there are few words more. frequent on St. Paul's tongue than the word flesh, when he would signify sin ; the mortification whereof he calls crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts.; Gal. v. 24. He names adultery, fornication; idolatry, hatred, envy, murder, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, the works of the flesh ; Gal. v. 19. Per- sons in a sinful state are said to be in the flesh ; viii. 8, 9. A course of sinning is called sowing to the flesh, living after the flesh, minding the things of the flesh; walking after the flesh, fulfilling the desires and lusts of the flesh, in several parts of his epistles. But in sanctified and unsanctified persons, sin, in the judgment of St. Paul, lies very much in the flesh, as tö the springs, principles and occasions of it. See Rom. .vii. 5, compared with the 18, and 25 verses. In Rom. vii. 5. St. Paul speaks concerning the natural' and unre- generate state : When we were in the flesh, that is, all flesh, no spirit, that is, no spiritual life, then the motions of sin did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death. And when he speaks concerning himself in .a regenerate state, at the endof that chapter he describes sin still as having its occasion and cause much seated in the flesh. See verses 18, and 25. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing ; I see another law in my members; warring,against the law of my mind. With my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin. So that considering himself either in a x2
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