71 / 514
SER:H.
Iv.
P.LTSH- JO7D
SP/RIT,
&C.
Ga
of
the
mind, as well as
the lust
of
the
flesh,
Eph.
There
is
a
sinful
curiosity
of
the
mind;
such
was
part of
the
temptation
of
Eve,
a
desire to
know evil
as well
as
(food
;
there
is
spiritual
.
malice
and
envy
against
God
and
his
saints
;
there
is
a spiritual pride of intellectual
endowments,
&c.
and
some
of
these
are found too much
in
true
christians,
as well as
in
unbelievers; yet it must
be
acknowledged from
;
constant
observation,
that
the
lusts
of
the
flesh
are much more
frequent,
more
numer-
ous,
and
more
powerful
in
the
greatest
part of
men
;
and it
is
manifest
that
-acts
of
religion and
holiness,
and
exercises
of
grace, begin more
frequently in
the inward
inclination
of
the
spirit, distinguished
from
the
flesh,
as
sin
more
frequently
begins
in,
and
from the
flesh
itself,
either
in
the
outward or
inward
parts and
powers
of
it.
Surely
if
our
souls were sanctified
by
divine grace,
but
so
much
as
many
are
in
this world, and
had
no
flesh
about
them,
they would
not
sin
so
much
as
they do.
When
we
are engaged
in
the exercise
of
grace,
or per-
formance
of
spiritual
duties, such
as
meditation, prayer,
delighting
in
God, rejoicing
in
Christ Jesus,
we
should
not
be so
soon
weary
of
it,
nor
so
immediately
called
away from
it
by
the mere vanity or wandering
of
our
minds,
if
we
had
no fleshly
objects
about us,
no
out-
ward
senses,
no inward
treasures
of
fancy, no
appetites
of
the body
to
start up
and
mingle with
our
religion,
to
clog
us
in
our sacred
work, to
make
us grow
weary
un-
der
it,
and draw
us
from
it.
How often must
a
saint
say,
"
My soul
is
sincerely set
against
every
sin,
and
I
fear to
offend him whom
my
soul
loveth;
with
my
mind
I
serve the
law
of
God, and
I
watch
against
every
rising
iniquity: But
my
outward
senses,
or the inward
fer-
ments
of
fleshly appetite"
or
passion,
surprize
me before:
I
am
aware and
defile my soul. Sometimes my
spirit
wrestles
bird
with
flesh
and
blood
;
I
summon
all
the
powers
of
reason and scripture, conscience and christi-
anity;
I
make
a firm
stand
for a season,
and
maintain a
brave and
painful resistance
;
but
the restless
and perpe-
tual assaults
of
fancy
or
passion,
at
last
overpower
the,
.
feeble spirit,
and I
sinfully
submit and yield
to
the
fret-
ful
or
the
luxurious humours
of
the
body; and
thus the
brutal
powers overcome the mind,
and I
am led
away,
captive
to
sin,
If
I
had
not
an
eye,
I
had
not
been.