320 POWERS AND CONTESTS OF FLESH AND SPIRIT. carnal, the body, or the members, with much freedom and fre- quency. St. Peter speaks of walking after the, flesh; 2 Pet. U. 20. of alluring men by the lusts of, the flesh; 2 Pet. ii. 12. of fleshly lusts that war against the soul; 1 Pet. ii. 11. St Paul bids us mortify the deeds ofthebody ; Rom. viii. 12. and he calla the principleof sin the bodyof death; Rom. vii. 24 'He speaks of sin reigning in our mortal bodies; Rom. vi. 12. He places the sinful principles, which he calls the law of sin, in our very mem- bers ; Rom. vii. 23. And particular sins he calls our members; Col. iii. 5. And in correspondence with him the apostle.James speaks of lusts that war in our members; Jamesiv. 1. And John andJude make mention of the lusts of theflesh, and garments spotted with the flesh. And there are fewwords more frequent on St. Paul's tongue than the word flesh, when he would signify sin; the mortification whereof he calls crucifying the flesh, with its affections and lusts; Gal. v. 24. He names adultery, form- ation, idolatry, hatred, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelhngs, and such like, the works of the flesh ; Gal. v. 19. Persons in a sinful state are said to be in the Ash; Rom. viii. 8, 9. A course of sinning is called sowing to the flesh, living after the flesh, mind- ing the things of the flesh, walking after the flesh, fulfilling the desires and lusts of the flesh, in several parts of his epistles. Butin sanctified and unsanctified persons, sin, in the judg- ment of St. Paul, lies very muchin the flesh, as to the springs, principles and occasions of it. See Rom. vii. 5. compared with the 1äh and 25th verses. InRom. vii: 5. St. Paulspeaks concern- ing the natural and unregenerate state : When we were in the flesh, that is, all flesh, no spirit, that is, no spiritual life, then the motions of sin didworkin our members, to bring forthfruit unto death. And when he speaks concerning himself in a regenerate state, at the end of that chapter he describes sin still as having Its occasion and cause much seated in the flesh. Seeverses 18, and 25. I know that in me, that is, in myflesh, dwelleth no good thing; I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind. With my mind I serve the law of God, but withmy flesh the law of sin. So that, considering himself either in a na- tural or in a regenerate state, still he supposes the great occasion of sinful actions to proceed from the flesh. I confess that in some places of the New Testament, and perhaps in several of these which I havenow cited, the word flesh may be used something figuratively, to signify all the principles of sin that are in human nature, whether they immediately reside in the mind, or in the body, as the subject; but the figure itself seems to be borrowed from this very sentiment, that the flesh, with its affections and appetites towards fleshly objects,is the chief spring and occasion of sin. I might add also, that there are some other places of scrip-
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