330 POWERS AND CONTESTS OF FLESH AND SPrRIT. original law ofcreation, andbecomes a part ofthe man, is much' as the breath, which is borrowed from the air, or the blood, _ which is made out of the food ofthemother. 2. Thence it follows, that the soul is not to be judged of, or considered, as a single separate being, but as inunionwith flesh and blood, as making up a compound creature ofthe human species. 3. Since in the very first moment of its being, by the old and general rules or laws of creation and'providence, it belongs to a human body, derived from Adam, it is esteemed as propagated by the parents, and it becomes hereby a son or a daughter of fallen man, and is naturally, by the law ofcreation, involved in the same circumstance of ruin, has no claim to preserving or se- curing grace, above the mere and untaught faculties of its intelli- gent nature. Then, 4. Since this body has many sinful ferments and irregu- lar 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 willingly complies with these that are criminal as well as _those that are innocent; and thus the young creature contracts actual and personal guilt, per- haps, as soon as it is capable of exerting any actions with under- standing ; and such as are properly human, and capable ofmoral differences. . 'Thus the soul is defiled by Communion with the flesh; and, according to the original law of creation, which is called the co- venant of God with Adam, it partakes of a sinful nature from de- generate parents, andby degrees becomes an actual sinner.-But I proceed no further on this head, having delivered my Senti- ments 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 saidhere - -is sufficient to chew that, in the present state of human nature, the flesh is the chiefcause and occasion of sin to the soul, Meditation -I.And are we tempted to sin so often by our fleshly powers ? Then how little should we reckon ourselves debtors to theflesh ¿ How much mischief has it already done us ? Andhow much still havewe reason to fear from its influences, as we continue to dwell in it ? Little do ye think, O sinners; little do ye think what an enemy you caress, while you pamper the flesh, and make provi- sion tofaul the lusts of it ; it is a foe that sits close to you, and is a partner of your very natures ; and thus it has a thousandop- portunities to do you mischief, when other adversaries are afar off: It has doneyou already more injury than the devil and the world joined together; for in all the pernicious and secret snares
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