SERMON IT. 47 In some instances this is so evident, that all men see and believe it. How often does the haughty, the peevish, or the choleric temper of the parent appear in the. son or the daughter beyond all contradiction? And often, when we see- a drunken or a wanton sinner, we cry, He isthe express copy of his father, he borrows his vices as well as his features, and seems to be his per- fectimage." And though it is not so evident in allmen, that they borrow the seeds of iniquity from their predecessors, yet there is proof enough from the wordof God, that we are conceivedin sin, and - shapen in iniquity that man 'echo is born of a woman is nei- ther clean nor righteous. Who can bring clean thing out of an unclean? It is impossible; for that which is born of theflesh is flesh; Psalm li. 5. Job xv. 14. John iii. 6. Irregular tendencies towards lawful delights, and strong propensities towards unlawful ones, a neglect of God, andaversion toall thatis holy or heavenly, with an inclination towards fleshly and sinful objects, are con- veyed to us all, even from our first parents. Sinful Adam begat his sons in his own likeness; Gen. v. 3. and therefore sin is describedby flesh, because it came from the father of our flesh. III. Another reason why sin is called flesh, is because the chief springs of sin lie most in our fleshly natures ; all the while we continuehere in this world, theoccasions of sin lie much in our body, in our blood, in our natural constitution, in this mortal frame and contexture; fancy and passion, in all their wild irregulari- ties, are much influenced by the flesh and blood. Our bodily senses, our natural appetites, are continually tempting us away from our duty, and leading or enticing us to the commission of sin ; or, at least, immediately fallingin with temptation : insomuch that sin is said to work in our member's¡ Rom. vii. 5. to reign in our mortal body; vi. 12. Sinful actions are called the deeds of the body' viii. 13. Our sins are called our members, COI. hi. 5. 1Ylortjy by the spirit the deeds of the body, saith the apostle in one place ; mortifyyourmembers which are 'Upon the earth, saithhe in the other place; in both which he means the mortification of sin. He borrows words from the human body to describe sin. Here let it be noted, that we do not suppose that mere flesh and blood, distinct from the soul, are capable of sin, properly speaking, or can become guilty in a proper sense; for these are but merematter, and, separate from the mind, cannotbe under a moral law, any more than brute creatures: Therefore we say, sin is not formally in the body of man, but it is occasionally there; because the senses and appetites, the parts and powers of the body become very often an unhappy occasion of sin to the soul ; and upon this account the apostle often describes sin by the word flesh. Iproceed now to the second thing proposed, and that is, to
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