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FLESH
AND
SPIRIT,
&C.
[SERM.
IV.
state of
trial,
in
order
to
future
rewards and punish-
ments
?
And may
lie
not
forbid
your spirit
to
.comply
with these inclinations
of
nature
and the
flesh,
as
a test
of
your obedience
to
God your Maker
?
Is it
not proper
there
should
be some difficulties to
conquer
in,
such
a
probationary state?
And
if
the
God
who
made
you, has
actually
appointed
the
matter
of
your probation or
trial,
to
be
a
conflict
of
the spirit
with
flesh
and
blood,
has he
not
a
right
to
;make this
appointment?
And does
not
your
own
reason and conscience
tell
you,
that
you de
serve
his
anger and'severe punishment,
if
you
abandon
yourself
to all the
wild
motions
and extravagancies
of
bodily
appetite,
which
be
requires
you to
resist
and
subdue?
Bethink
yourselves,
O
sinners,
how you will
answer
it
to
God
another
day;
that
when
he
has
given you
a
soul, a spirit,
a
conscience
to fight
against
fleshly
lusts,
you
should nourish
arid
indulge them
hourly?
When
he
has offered his
grace
to
change
your
corrupt
natures,
and
has
sent
his
only
Son,
and
his
eternal
Spirit
to
pur-
chase
pardon
for past
sins,
and to make
new
creatures
of
you
;
when he has
taught
you
your
duty,
and
offers
divine
aids to
fulfil
it;
when he
both
entreats
you
as
a
friend,
and
commands
you as
a God,
to resist these
lusts
of
the
flesh
effectually,
and
be for
ever
holy
and
happy
:
that
you
should neglect the
laws
and
the mercies
.
of
a
great and
condescending God, and
still
run riot
in
the
pursuit of
forbidden
passions
and pleasure? Can
your
hearts
endure,
or
your
hands
be
strong
in
the
day
that
the
God
of
vengeance
shall
appear
in
flaming
fire,
to
make
enquiry into
such rebellion
?
Can
you be
so
stu-
pid
as to
hope,
that
the
poor pretences
of
flesh
and
nature,
will
screen you
from
just
and
almighty
indig-
nation
?
Awake,
awake, O
mistaken creatures, and
let
the
man within
you
resume
its
place, and reason and con-
science do
their
office.
Awake from this vain
and dan-
gerous dream,
this
fatal
security, and
wilful blindness.
Rouse the
powers
of
your
souls to arm, and fight in
opposition
to the sinful
flesh; arise and
bestir yourselves
ere
the time
of
trial
be
ended, and
the decisive
sentence
of
an
of
ended
God,
Gloom
you to miseries
that
have no
end,