320 / 652
31O
TUE
POWERS AND CONTESTS AP BLESH AND
SPIRIT.
swered
;
and
that
is
drawn from the words
of
our.
Sa-
Viour
;
Mark
vii.
21, 23.
For
from within,
out of
the
heart
of
men,
proceed
evil
thoughts, adulteries, fornica-
tions, murders,
&c.
All
these
evil
things
.
come from
withini and
defile
the man.
Now
some
person
may
say,
it
is
evident,
that
by
the
heart
he did
not
m
can
that
in-
ward
bowel
so
called,
but
the soul itself;
because, ac-
cording
to
the vulgar philosophy,
and
common
sentiments
of
the Jews, the soul
of
man
had
its
chief
residence
in
the heart
;
and upon
this
account
they
attributed
to the
heart
the several affections
and
inward
operations
of
the
soul,
whether they
were sinful
or holy;
and
in
this
sense
our
Saviour
may
be
supposed
to
attribute
to
the
soul,
OF
spirit
in
man,
all
these
wickednesses.
But
it
is
easy to solve this difficulty
two
ways.
1.
That
neither
the philosophy
of
the Jews,
nor
the
common language which
our
Saviour
used, did make
any
nice
distinction
in
those principles
of
human actions,
what
share the
spirit
had
in
them and what the
flesh
;
but
they
used the
word heart,
for
all
those inward
powers
of
the
man whence outward actions proceeded
;
and
this
because the
springs and
motions
of
the
blood and
life,
ás
well
as
the ferments
of
several
passions, were
found
there
:
So
that
our Saviour, using the
common
language
of
the
people, does
by
no means exclude
the
inward
ferments
of
the
flesh
from
their
share
in these
sinful
actions; but rather
includes
them in
the
word
heart.
'2.
If
we
could
suppose
the word
heart
in this
place
to
signify
merely the soul
or
spirit,
yet
it
would
by
no means
exclude
the inward ferments
of
the
flesh
from being the
first
springs
and
occasions
of
many
of
these sinful prac-
tices
;
for they
do
not
become sins
till
the soul has con-
sented
to
them; nor
can they
break forth into outward
acts without
the
command,
or,
at
least,
the sinful
com-,
pliance
of
the
soul.
Thus
all
those
actions
that
may
justly
be
called
evil
and
wicked, such as
Christ
here
mentions, proceed
from
the
soul,
so
far
as
they
are
truly
and
properly
sinful
;
and yet
the first
secret
occasions
and
incentives
of
many
of
them may
spring
very much
from the powers
of
the
flesh.
Now
as
I
have made
it
to
appear
in
some good mea-
sure,
that
the springs
and principles
of
sin lie very
much
in
our
fleshly
natures,
from the
frequent
expressions
of