330 / 652
32a
THE
POWERS
AND
CONTESTS
OF
FLESH
ANIS
SPIRIT.
ing
grace,
above
the mere and
untaught
faculties
of
its
intelligent nature.
'Then,
4.
Since
this
body has
many
sinful
ferments and
irre-
gular appetites
in it,
conveyed down from the original
sinner, the
new
-made spirit
being
created
and
joined
to
the
flesh,
is
perpetually
impressed and allured by.these
motions,
passions, and
appetites of
the
flesh,
and
wil7
lingly complies
with
these
that
are combined
as well
as
those
that
are
innocent;
and thus the young
creature
contracts actual and personal
guilt, perhaps,
as
soon as
it
is
capable
of exerting
any
actions
with
understanding
;
and
such
as
are properly
human, and capable
of moral
differences.
Thus
the soul,is
defiled by
communion
with
the
flesh
;
and,
according
to the original
law
of
creation,
which is
called the covenant
of God
with Adam,
it partakes,
of
a
sinful
nature
from degenerate parents,
and
by
degrees
becomes an actual
sinner.
But
I
proceed
no
further
on this head, having deli
vered
my
sentiments
in
another
place more
at
large, in
the deep
and
difficult
controversy
of
original
sin
;
which
may
be
best
accounted
for
in
this
manner,
as
far as
my
judgment
reaches.
What
I
have
said
here
is
sufficient to spew
that,
in
the present state
of
human
nature,
the
flesh
is
the chief
cause
and
occasion
of
sin to
the
soul.
MEDITATIQN
I.
And
are
we
tempted
to
sin
so
often
by
our
fleshly
powers
?
Then
how
little should
we
reckon
ourselves
debtors
to
the flesh? How much mischief has
it
already
done
us?
And
how
much still have
we
reason
to fear
from its influences, as
long
as
we
continue to
dwell.
in
it?
Little do
you
think,
O
sinners;
little do
you think_
what an enemy
you caress, while you
pamper
the
flesh,
and
make provision to
fulfil
the
lusts
of it
:
it
is
a
foe
that
sits close
to
you,
and
is
a
partner of
your
very
na-
tures;
and thus
it
has a.
thousand opportunities
to
do
you mischief, when
other
adversaries are afar off:
It
has
done
you
already more injury than
the
:devil
and the
world
joined together;
for
in
all the pernicious and
secret
snares
which they have
laid for
your
souls, and
all
the open
attacks they have made upon
your
virtue, or