Chapter V: Part 5

Thence it comes to pass, that when christians have grown to a good degree of strength in faith, and great measures of holiness in this world, all the temptations that they meet with to turn them aside from the doctrines of Christ, _are esteemed but as straw and stubble_; they cannot move nor stir them from the faith that is in Jesus, because the evidence hath grown strong with years: and as they have attended long upon the ministration of this gospel, they have found more and more of this eternal life wrought in their hearts; they have got nearer to heaven, they have pressed on continually towards perfection, they have found sweet assurance of the pardon of sin in their conscience, and diviner sensations of the love of God communicated to them, and their own love both to God and man increasing; they have found their hearts more averse to all iniquity, they have felt themselves rising higher and higher above this world, as they have come nearer to the end of their days; and a holy contempt of this world has grown bolder: They take greater delight in God, and more gustful satisfaction in his worship, and in his company: Their zeal for his honour is warmer and stronger; they are perpetually employing themselves in contrivances for the glory of God among men. Thus in every part of this spiritual life the testimony increases, the evidence grows brighter, as eternal life advances in them.

In the last place: As it is a growing witness, so it is such an one as never can be utterly lost; and that character of it is derived from the very name, for it is _eternal life_. Where it is once wrought in the soul, it shall be everlasting, it shall never die. _The seed of God abides in those that are born of God_; 1 John iii. 9. _for they are born not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, even the word of God, which lives and abides forever_; 1 Pet. i. 23. His gospel, which is an _everlasting gospel_, continues that heavenly work in the soul, which that gospel did first begin. It may be darkened indeed, it may be hidden for a season; sometimes the violent temptations of the evil one, may, as it were stop the mouth of this divine witness; and sometimes, defiling lusts rising upon the face of the soul, may darken these evidences, but can never entirely blot them out. Eternal life must abide for ever, according to the name and nature of it. Though the evidence for a season may be obscure, and may seem to be silent through the power of iniquity, and the strength of temptation; yet this life will resume its activity, and discover itself, because its nature is eternal. It is Christ Jesus living in the soul by the power of his own Spirit; Christ Jesus, who is the eternal principle of life, and his Spirit, which is the eternal Spirit: and where he hath begun to dwell, he shall forever inhabit. This evidence shall continue to all eternity, and shall give many a sweet reflection to the saints in heaven. “I feel now (says every saint there) that this was a true gospel I trusted in, in the days of my flesh; and this religion was divine, for it hath raised me to these mansions of blessedness. I feel now it was a doctrine came down from heaven, and that Christ Jesus was not an imposter, but _the Son of God_ indeed, for he has brought me to his Father’s house by this doctrine; he has seated me upon his own throne, even as he is seated upon the throne of his Father: he hath made me an overcomer by believing this doctrine, even as he himself has overcome.” Eternal life itself, in the perfection of it in the future world, shall be a standing and everlasting evidence of the truth of the gospel.

I will now endeavour to draw some few inferences or remarks from the discourse, and then conclude.

1. The first remark is very obvious, how glorious is the gospel of our Lord! How preferable to all other religions! Those which men have invented, are not to come into competition with it; let none of them be named. Even that religion which God himself invented, the religion of the Jews, had not such honourable characters belonging to it, as this of our Saviour hath. Many expressions that are used in the epistles of St. Paul, to shew the superiority of the gospel above the law, are such as give it an infinite advantage and preference: As in point of glory, so in point of evidence too. One was _the letter_; the other is _the spirit_; one was _the ministration of condemnation_, the other of salvation; one _the ministration of death_, the other of life: and as life, spiritual or eternal life, is represented as the peculiar effect and prerogative of the gospel, so it carries more light of evidence with it to confirm its heavenly original; it brings the believing soul much nearer to heaven.

The Jewish religion instituted by Moses, although, by the accompanying power of the Spirit of God, _it wrought effectually_, in the hearts of those that sincerely received it, and changed their natures in a saving manner; yet the brightness and glory of this sort of evidence, that belonged to that religion was derived from the gospel, which was hidden under the types of it: Nor could it be supposed to have equal brightness or force with the gospel itself, when unveiled, and shining in open light; as I have shewn in the second discourse.

The Jews, when they had offered all their sacrifices for the hope of pardon of their sins, and looked as far as they could look through the smoke and shadows, to see the Messiah at a distance, could never have their consciences so sweetly released from fears, and the sense of guilt, as christians under the gospel, may enjoy through the blood of Christ: never had they so much communion with God in love, as since it is manifested by Christ Jesus, the Son of his love, that came _from his bosom_. Never were they raised so high above the world, nor could any of the Jews be so high refined in their hopes and joys, and exult in the view of heavenly glories, as a christian may be, and do, since the veil is withdrawn, and _life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel_: 2 Tim. i. 10. Never could they triumph overall the terrors of death, and the horror and darkness of the grave, as St. Paul the christian often does, and teaches his fellow-saints the same triumphal song; 1 Cor. xv. 54, &c. I grant that a single person or two like David, might now and then, by the spirit of rapture and prophecy, be borne far above that dispensation itself, and might have noble views and joys; but the whole church, under that state had but dark apprehensions of things above this life, and beyond death; their spiritual things were so much mingled and interwoven with a worldly dispensation, and their sanctuary itself called _a worldly sanctuary_. So much carnality entered into the scheme of their constitution, that they could not be raised so high above this world, and the things of this life, as christians under the gospel: they could never have such a sense of forgiving grace, nor so sweet a satisfaction in drawing near to God, as christians now have; nor were they so expressly commanded, nor could, nor did they so gloriously practise the duties of love and forgiveness to men, as the christian religion requires, and works in the hearts of sincere believers.

2d remark. You learn here an excellent rule for self-examination, whether you have true faith or no. If you have, it will be accompanied with this evidence: for this eternal life begun in the soul, does not merely prove that christianity is a true doctrine, but it proves also that the faith of that person is true, where this eternal life is begun. This is mentioned in the foregoing sermon, therefore I shall pass it over briefly. The apostle asserts this sufficiently, ver. 13. _These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life._ The duties of morality, both of the first and second table, will be written upon the heart, and will, in some degree, be practised in the life, where the gospel is written in the heart, and where christianity is wrought in its power in the soul. But, on the other hand, those who neglect the duties of the first table, or indulge themselves in a very careless performance of them; those who pass by the duties of the second table, and those relative engagements which they lie under to their neighbour by the law of God, can never have the evidence within themselves, neither of the truth of christianity, nor of the truth of their own faith: They may be heathens, they may be heroes, they may be philosophers, they may be any thing but christians.

3d remark. Learn the true method of confirming your souls in the christian faith: seek daily greater degrees of this divine life wrought in you. This advice is also hinted by the apostle John, in the 13th verse, _I have written these things to you_ concerning the witness of christianity, that consists in having _eternal life_ begun in you, not only that ye may know ye have it, but that ye may go on to _believe on the name of the Son of God_. We have need in our day to be well seasoned with arguments against the dangers of the times, and the temptations of the age in which, we dwell. Christianity begins to be a stumbling-block, and the doctrine of the gospel is called folly; it is reproached to a very great and shameful degree, in a nation, which in public professes christianity. When we therefore shall be attacked with arguments to baffle our faith, and when the _wind of false doctrine_ shall grow strong, and shall carry away many; how shall we be able to stand our ground, and hold fast our faith in Christ, if we have not this inward witness, the beginnings of eternal life? Therefore it is that so many christians waver and are led away, sometimes to this new doctrine, sometimes to another, because they feel so little of the efficacy and power of the gospel in their hearts, so very little of holiness and eternal life within them.

If you cannot argue for the gospel with learning, nor from experience, what will ye do in an hour of temptation? For the most part, christians are too little bred up to those methods of knowledge, whereby they might be capable of giving large, and rational, and satisfactory answers to those that may set themselves to oppose the truth and progress of the gospel. What will you do in the darkness of such a temptation, when those that are learned and ingenious shall attack your faith, and say, “Why do you believe in Jesus?” If you have this answer ready at hand, “I have found the efficacy and power of the gospel on my heart;” this will be sufficient to answer all their cavils. It was one way whereby christianity was confirmed in the hearts of the martyrs of old, and whereby they were enabled to bear up against all oppositions, because they found such a divine efficacy attending the gospel, such a new and heavenly life wrought in them, as enabled them to go through great hardships for the sake of Christ. But this leads me to,

4. The fourth remark, _viz._ If there be this inward evidence belonging to the gospel, and those that truly believe, then you have a strong encouragement to profess christianity under the greatest persecutions. It will bear you out, it carries its own evidence with it; christianity in the heart will give courage against temptation. _Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial_, says the apostle Peter, for in such a fiery trial the gospel hath secured thousands; therefore, says St. Paul, though I meet with reproaches wheresoever I go, _though bonds and imprisonments await me_, and death itself; Acts xx. 23. _yet I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ_; Rom. i. 16. _for it is the power of God to salvation, to every one that believeth_. Which is but the sense of my text in other words. Every one that believes it in truth, hath this evidence in _himself, even eternal life: Therefore I count not my life dear to me, &c._ for the gospel will bear me out in my profession of it, in my publication of it, and in my suffering for it. This is the way we shall learn _to resist unto blood_, and seal the truth of this gospel with our mortal lives, if we have the seal of this truth abiding in our souls.

5th remark. As from this doctrine you have strong encouragement to profess christianity, so you are here taught the best way to honour the gospel, and to propagate the christian religion in the world. Make this inward divine testimony appear to the world; let the eternal life that is wrought in your souls by this gospel, express itself in all your outward behaviour amongst men. Thus the primitive christians did, and it was their work to propagate the faith of Christ this way. The gentiles and unbelievers were _won by their conversation_; 1 Pet. iii. 1. Thus the apostles did, who were as so many captains and officers in the army of christians, going before the camp, and making war against all the idolatry of the heathens. They made that eternal life which was wrought in their souls, appear publicly, and discover itself unto men, and hereby the gospel gained victory and triumph wheresoever it went. When those who were ignorant of faith and its power, came into the assemblies of christians, and found the gospel to be a doctrine of such divine attendants, it convinced their consciences, and changed many of them into new creatures; they fell down, and confessed that _there is a God among the christians of a truth_. When they see _your conversation_, when they behold your faith, and holy fear, your zeal for God, your delight in his worship, your _gentleness_, your _meekness_, _kindness_, and _goodness_ toward your fellow-creatures, your desire of the salvation of men, and readiness to deny yourselves for their good; when the heathens know and behold this, they shall be won, says the apostle, by such a conversation as this is, to the belief of the same doctrine, and practice of the same duties.

O what unknown millions of arguments would support and adorn the doctrine of Christ, if every professor of it had this inward testimony working powerfully in the soul, and breaking forth in the life! How effectually would it silence the most impudent objectors! When they shall put that question to you, “_What do you more than others?_” You would make it appear in your lives, that the gospel is true and divine, by challenging all the philosophers, and all the priests and devotees of other religions, to shew such men and women as christians are; such husbands and wives, such parents and children, such masters and servants, such lovers of God and man. O how happy would it be for the christian name and interest in the world, if those who profess the gospel of Christ, could make a bold and universal challenge upon this head! Or when the deists shall insult and say to a believer, What is Jesus of Nazareth _more than another_ man, that you love and adore him so? Or in the language of the carnal Jews, _What is thy beloved more than another beloved_, that thou makest so much ado about him? The discovery of Christ reigning in the soul by his renewing grace, will be a sufficient evidence that he is the Son of God, that his character and his person are divine, and his mission is from above; that he is the _chiefest of ten thousand_, and _altogether lovely_.

It is worth while for us now to take a survey of ourselves, to look back upon our lives, and ask, “What testimonies have we given to the glory of this gospel, and to the truth of the religion of Christ? Have we not sometimes rather been scandals to christianity? Have not our practices been blots instead of evidences, and discouragements to the unbeliever, instead of allurements? Have we not sometimes laid _stumbling-blocks_ in the way of those that have had the look of an eye, and some tendency of heart towards it?” This will be an awakening thought, and painful to conscience in the review.

Have we not much reason to mourn that there are some among us _who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ_? Phil. iii. 17. I would have you, says the apostle, _be followers of me_, walk as I walk, _as you have me for an example_. I would have you walk as those who have eternal life begun in them, that you may be honours to the gospel. _But there are many who walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, they are enemies of the cross_, and dishonours to the gospel, instead of evidences of the truth of it; their _end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame_; whereas _our conversation is in heaven, whence we expect Jesus the Saviour_; 18, 19, 20. We who are here upon earth, and have believed the gospel of Christ, we should live as though we had part of ourselves in heaven already, our conversation should be so holy and divine. Eternal life begun in our hearts, should break out, and disclose itself, and shine bright among the persons we converse with. O! how much is the propagation of the gospel obstructed, how much the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ obscured, and how much the good of souls prevented and hindered by those that discover not this eternal life, this sacred witness, in the holiness of heart and practice! _But, beloved, we hope better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak_; Heb. vi. 9. and yet we must speak thus, with a sacred jealousy for the glory and evidence of this gospel, with a warm concern for the peace and welfare of your souls, and with holy zeal for the conversion of the unbelieving world to the faith of God our Saviour.

DIVINE HYMNS FOR SERMONS I, II, AND III.
_The Inward Witness to Christianity._

_Long Metre._

Questions and doubts be heard no more:
Let Christ and joy be all our theme;
His Spirit seals his gospel sure
To every soul that trusts his name.

Jesus, thy witness speaks within;
The mercy which thy words reveal,
Refines the heart from sense and sin,
And stamps its own celestial seal.

’Tis God’s inimitable hand
That moulds and forms the heart anew;
Blasphemers can no more withstand,
But bow and own thy doctrine true.

The guilty wretch that trusts thy blood
Finds peace and pardon at the cross;
The sinful soul averse to God,
Believes and loves his Maker’s laws.

Learning and wit may cease their strife
When miracles with glory shine;
The voice that calls the dead to life,
Must be almighty and divine.

_Common Metre._

Witness, ye saints, that Christ is true;
Tell how his name imparts
The life of grace and glory too:
Ye have it in your hearts.

The heav’nly building is begun
When ye receive the Lord;
His hands shall lay the crowning stone,
And well perform his word.

Your souls are form’d by wisdom’s rules,
Your joys and graces shine;
You need no learning of the schools,
To prove your faith divine.

Let heathens scoff, and Jews oppose,
Let Satan’s bolts be hurl’d;
There’s something wrought within you shews
That Jesus saves the world.

SERMON IV.
_Flesh and Spirit; or, the Principles of Sin and Holiness._
Rom. viii. 1.—Who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit.

When we use the words flesh and spirit, in their literal and proper sense, all men know what we mean by them: Flesh generally signifies the animal nature; that is, the body and blood, &c. and spirit means an intelligent nature that has understanding and will. When these are attributed to man, they are but other names to express those two distinct beings, the body and soul, that make up human nature. But these words are often in scripture used metaphorically, and that in various senses; yet the metaphor, as it stands in my text, hath such justness and propriety in it, that the sense of it is not very difficult to be traced, being happily and nearly derived from the proper and literal meaning. It is plain that St. Paul uses this expression of _walking after the flesh_, to signify a course of sin; and by _walking after the spirit_, he describes a course of holiness. This is the character of such as believe in Christ, and to whom belongs no condemnation, _that they walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit_; they live not in a course of sin, nor according to sinful principles, but follow the principles of holiness that are wrought in them.

Thus the word flesh signifies, and includes all the principles and springs of sin that are found in man, whether they have their immediate and distinct residence in the body or in the soul. The word spirit signifies and includes all the principles of holiness that are wrought in any person, whether immediately residing in soul or body. And among the many places of scripture where they are so used, those words of our Lord himself to Nicodemus, John iii. 6. seem to make this most evident: _What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit_; by which he means to assert, that what comes by natural generation tends towards sin, and what is derived from the operation of the Spirit of God leads to holiness. Or, more plainly thus: all the principles of sin spring from mere human nature, as derived from our parents, and are called flesh; and, on the contrary, all the principles of holiness spring from the Spirit of God, and are called spirit; and thence his argument derives the necessity of being _born again_, or born from above. In the first part of these two sentences, flesh and spirit are taken literally for the flesh of man, and the Spirit of God. In the latter end of the sentences, flesh and spirit must be taken figuratively, for the principles of sin, and the principles of holiness.

Now since the apostle frequently uses the terms flesh and spirit in the same sense which his Lord and Master put upon them, and talks often on this subject: I shall spend this discourse in shewing the grounds of this figure of speech in my text, and in giving a full explication and improvement of it in the following manner:

I. I shall offer some reasons why sin, and the principles of it, are represented by the flesh.—II. I shall likewise propose the reasons why the principles of holiness are expressed by the term spirit. And,—III. Draw some useful remarks from the whole.

_First_, Let me shew why sin is represented by flesh, so often in scripture; and I give these reasons for it:

I. Because fleshly or sensible objects, are the chief delight and aim of sinners. They pursue them, and they rejoice in them; and these lead away the soul from God to sin. It is the great business of sinners to _fulfil the lusts of the flesh, and make provision for it_. This is their character in St. Paul’s writings; to gratify the appetites of the body, to provide for the desires of their animal natures, eating and drinking, and luxury, and lusts of the flesh, are the cares of most unregenerate men. _The lust of the eye_, and the gaities of life, gold and silver, pomp and equipage, a fine house, a gay appearance in the world, gaudy cloathing and glittering ornaments of the body, great splendor in the eyes of men; these are the idols, the gods of sinners; and they are the temptations of the saints too. The things that relate to the flesh, and the enjoyments of this sensible and present life, are the objects of sinful appetites, or of lawful appetite in a sinful degree; and therefore sin is called flesh.

II. Sin is also called flesh, because it is communicated and propagated to us by the parents of our flesh. It is by our flesh that we are a-kin to Adam, the first great sinner, and derive a corrupted nature from him; from this original taint we derive iniquity, as a polluted stream from an unclean fountain; he is the father of a sinful posterity.

Our spirits indeed are formed immediately by God, and being united to these bodies that come from Adam by the laws of creation, we become the children of Adam, and so are partakers of his sinful nature. How this is done, we may learn from other discourses: it is enough here to say, that irregular humours, and motions, and ferments are transferred and propagated from the first man, even from the same blood of which are formed all the nations of men that dwell upon the face of the earth; Acts xvii. 26. These are transmitted down to us the wretched posterity. 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 is the express copy of his father, he borrows his vices as well as his features, and seems to be his perfect image.” And though it is not so evident in all men, that they borrow the seeds of iniquity from their predecessors, yet there is proof enough from the word of God, that we are _conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity_ that _man who is born of a woman_ is neither clean nor righteous. _Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?_ It is impossible; for _that which is born of the flesh 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, and aversion to all that is holy or heavenly, with an inclination towards fleshly and sinful objects, are conveyed to us all, even from our first parents. Sinful Adam begat his sons _in his own likeness_; Gen. v. 3. and therefore sin is described by 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 continue here in this world, the occasions 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 irregularities, 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 falling in with temptation: insomuch that _sin_ is said _to work in our members_; 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, Col. iii. 5. _Mortify by the spirit the deeds of the body_, saith the apostle in one place; _mortify your members which are upon the earth_, saith he 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 mere matter, and, separate from the mind, cannot be 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.

I proceed now to the second thing proposed, and that is, to shew the grounds of this metaphorical use of the word spirit: And there are the same sorts of reasons to be given why this word is used to represent the principles of holiness, as there are why flesh should signify the principles of sin.

I. Because the objects and aim of holy souls are chiefly spiritual, _viz._ God and heaven, invisible and eternal things. Spiritual objects are chief in their esteem, most in their thoughts, and in their desires, and have the first place in their designs and pursuits: As _they that are after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh_; so _they that are after the spirit_, mind _the things of the spirit_; Rom. viii. 5. A saint, who is _spiritually-minded_, aims at those things that are more a-kin to the nature of a spirit; he seeks the knowledge of the favour of God, who is the supreme of Spirits, the infinite and self-sufficient Spirit, in whose knowledge, and in whose love, all intelligent creatures find a full sufficiency of blessedness. He knows that all created spirits who are holy and happy, are made so by derivations from God’s all-sufficient holiness and happiness; and therefore he applies himself with zeal and vigour to all those spiritual exercises of meditation, faith and prayer, wherein God reveals himself and his mercy. The knowledge of God and his worship, of Christ and his gospel, of the Holy Spirit and his grace, is the chief desire of a holy soul. These are the objects of the pursuit of a spiritual man; he has devoted himself to God and things divine; upon account of which, a man is denominated holy, and therefore holiness is called spirit.

The holy man seeks the welfare of his own soul or spirit before that of his flesh; and while sinful men lay out their whole care and contrivance about the body, which must die, and grasp at the things of this life to make _provision for the flesh_, the saint is most concerned about his soul, which is an immortal spirit; he endeavours to rectify those disorders of it, which sin and the flesh have introduced, and is ever diligent to make provision for this soul of his in the spiritual and unseen world, because it must have a being there for ever. The holy man is most solicitous that his soul may be happy in an unknown hereafter, while the sinner seeks all his happiness here.

As the natural man neglects the two chief Spirits he has any concern with, that is, God and his own soul; so fleshly objects are his chief desire: But the spiritual man despises them all, in comparison of the unseen desirables of the spiritual world. The men of this world take pains to gratify their senses, and indulge every fleshly appetite among the entertainments of this present world; but those who are holy, mortify their sinful passions, and set their affections on things above; _Col._ iii. 1, &c. They look and aim at things that are unseen, that are eternal, while the men of this world look only at the things that are visible and temporal; 2 Cor. iv. 18. The sinful many, or multitude of sinners, say, Who will shew us any good? But they seek it only among corn, wine, and oil, &c. The saint prays to his God, _Lord, lift upon me the light of thy countenance; and_ this shall _put gladness into my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased_; Ps. iv. 6, 7. This is the first reason holiness is described by the word spirit.

II. Holiness is represented by the spirit, because it is communicated to us by God the Father of our spirits, even as sin is conveyed down to us by the parents of our flesh. It is wrought in us by his blessed Spirit, whose character it is to be holy. In Rom. viii. 13, 14. you see holiness described as receiving its very nature and operation in us from the Spirit of God. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God; and it is by the spirit we mortify the deeds of the flesh, or body, that so we may live. As they that are born of the flesh are flesh, so they that are born of the spirit are spirit: John. iii. 6. This is the language of our Lord Jesus Christ. They who have past through no renewing and reforming change of heart since their natural birth, they are still in a natural sinful state, and the principles of sin are prevalent in them: but they who have been thus changed and renewed by the blessed Spirit of God, have a new and spiritual natural principle and temper given to them, and are made holy. As by being born of man, we become the children of Adam, and gain a sinful nature; so by being born of God we become the sons of God, and gain a divine, a holy nature. We are born of God unto holiness, as we are born of flesh unto sin; 1 John iii. 9. _He that is born of God sinneth not_; that is, sin is not his nature and delight, nor his common and allowed practice. We are regenerated and new-created by the Spirit of God; Titus iii. 5. _Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but of his own mercy hath he saved us by regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit._

III. Another reason why the principle of holiness is called spirit, is because the chief springs of holiness, and of opposition to sin, are found in the soul or spiritual part, as the springs and occasions of sin are chiefly seated in the flesh.

This is true both in saints and sinners, for even in sinners that have no renewing grace, there is the light of nature, as well as the knowledge of scripture in our nation; there are the powers of reason and conscience; and these judge concerning _vice_ and _virtue_, that one is to be avoided, and the other practised; these inward and intellectual principles tell us, that sin is offensive to God our Maker; that it exposes us to his anger, and deserves terrible punishment; and by the exercise and influence of natural reason, added to the knowledge of scripture, and by the inward stings, and sharp reproofs of natural conscience, many an evil motion of the flesh is suppressed, many an inordinate appetite and passion subdued, and many a grosser sin prevented. Now though all this is not properly called holiness, till the nature itself be renewed, the love of sin broken, and the love of God wrought in the heart; yet it is evident that those principles which resist sin, and have any distant tendencies toward holiness, lie chiefly in the mind or spirit.

This is yet more evident in a saint, a man that is regenerated and sanctified by grace: For though in such a person, the body as well as the spirit, may be in part sanctified; that is some of its irregular appetites may be much weakened and subdued; yet still I cannot help supposing that the spirit, or soul, has a greater share of sanctification than the flesh in this life. It is in the soul that the love of God is wrought by the Holy Spirit; it is the soul that repents of past sins, and watches against temptation; it is the soul that believes the gospel, and trusts in our Lord Jesus Christ; it is the soul that by faith takes a distant prospect of heaven and hell, and converses with invisible things beyond the reach and power of flesh and sense: It is by the powers of the soul enlightened and renewed, that we come to see the value and excellency of religion, and spiritual things above temporal; and are inclined to chuse God for our only happiness, and Jesus Christ _as the way to the Father_. The understanding and will are faculties of the soul, and the flesh has no part in their operations. The soul of a believer seems to be the more proper, immediate, and receptive subject of the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God and this will appear by consulting the word of God, or the experiences of men.

The word of God leads us very naturally into this sentiment by its constant language. The apostle speaks indeed in one place of being _sanctified wholly_, and our _whole spirit, soul and body_, being preserved _blameless, &c._ 1 Thess. v. 23. But he much oftner expresses sanctification by the _renewing of the mind_; Rom. xii. 2. Renewing of the spirit of the mind; Eph. iv. 23. _Though the outward man_, or body, perish, _yet the inward man_, or spirit, _is renewed day by day_; 2 Cor. iv. 16. And the constant language of the scripture calling sin flesh, and holiness spirit, in the saint, intimates that there is more sin in the flesh, and more holiness in the spirit of one that is sanctified. Thus we read in St. Paul’s discourse from the 16th ver. of Romans vii. to the 25th, where you find him all along distinguishing the flesh and the mind. By one of them he complains in a variety of expressions, that he is led away to sin, while the other of them approves and pursues after holiness; and though the words flesh and spirit are often used for the principles of sin and holiness, yet it may be remarked, that he does not confine himself here to these terms, but uses also the words body and members, to represent sin; inward man and mind, when he points to the springs of holiness; which would lead one very naturally to believe that there is more sanctification in the mind or soul of a believer, and more of the occasions of sin remaining in his body or flesh.

We may find this also in a great measure from our own experience: We are tempted to many more sins by our various carnal appetites and senses, than by the mere inclinations that belong to the mind, which are purely intellectual. There are indeed the lusts or sinful desires of the mind, as well as _the lusts of the flesh_; Eph. ii. 2. There is a sinful curiosity of the mind; such was part of the temptation of Eve, a desire to know evil as well as good; there is a spiritual malice and envy against God and his saints: there is a spiritual pride of intellectual endowments, &c. and some of these are found too much in true christians, as well as in unbelievers; yet it must be acknowledged from constant observation, that the lusts of the flesh are much more frequent, more numerous, and more powerful in the greatest part of men; and it is manifest that acts of religion and holiness, and exercises of grace, begin more frequently in the inward inclination of the spirit, distinguished from the flesh, as sin more frequently begins in, and from the flesh itself, either in the outward or inward parts and powers of it.

Surely if our souls were sanctified by divine grace, but so much as many are in this world, and had no flesh about them, they would not sin so much as they do. When we are engaged in the exercise of grace, or performance of spiritual duties, such as meditation, prayer, delighting in God, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, we should not be so soon weary of it, nor so immediately called away from it by the mere vanity or wandering of our minds, if we had no fleshly objects about us, no outward senses, no inward treasures of fancy, no appetites of the body to start up and mingle with our religion, to clog us in our sacred work, to make us grow weary under it, and draw us from it. How often must a saint say, “My soul is sincerely set against every sin, and I fear to offend him whom my soul loveth; _with my mind I serve the law of God_, and I watch against every rising iniquity: But my outward senses, or the inward ferments of fleshly appetite or passion, surprize me before I am aware and defile my soul. Sometimes my spirit wrestles hard _with flesh and blood_; I summon all the powers of reason and scripture, conscience and christianity; I make a firm stand for a season, and maintain a brave and painful resistance; but the restless and perpetual assaults of fancy or passion, at last over-power the feeble spirit, and I sinfully submit and yield to the fretful or the luxurious humours of the body; and thus the brutal powers overcome the mind, and _I am led away captive to sin_. If I had not an eye, I had not been drawn away to the commission of this folly; if I had not an ear, I had not been tempted from God at such a season; if I had not such appetites or senses in exercise, I had been secured from many a snare; if I did not wear this flesh about me, which is so fond and tender of itself, and so impetuous and active in the pursuit of its own ease and satisfaction, I had not shrunk away at such a time from a dangerous duty; I had not been so fearful and cowardly at such a place in the profession of my faith, nor so often polluted my soul with sensualities, and made work for bitter repentance.”

Thus the experience of christians, and the language of scripture concur in this point, That the occasions of sin evidently lie most in the flesh: and a contradiction or opposition to sin, proceeds more from the spirit.

It is true indeed, and must be confessed, that the soul being but in part sanctified, too often complies with these _motions of sin which work in our members_; and the affections of the soul itself, being not perfectly holy, are too easily induced to indulge the desires and passions of the flesh; and thereby sin is committed and guilt contracted. _The law_ or principle, _of sin in the members_, leads the mind, too often, captive; Rom. vii. 23. Thus the soul is very culpable for want of perpetual resistance, and becomes guilty before God, by every such inordinate passion breaking forth, and by the satisfaction of every such sinful raging appetite; yet I must believe that the soul of a christian would not be guilty half so often, if the lusts of the body were not more active than the mere abstracted lusts of the mind are. _The spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit_; Gal. v. 17. That part which is chiefly sanctified, and that which is chiefly unsanctified, strike against each other; and it is true in a literal sense, as well as a figurative one, that a saint _with his mind serves the law of God_, but too often _with his flesh the law of sin_.

Thus I have given the chief reasons why the principles of sin are represented in scripture by flesh, and the springs of holiness by spirit.

[This sermon may be divided here.]

From this consideration of flesh and spirit, of holiness and sin, which are set forth in the word of God, and thus explained in the most free and intelligible method that I am capable of, I would derive some remarks for our information and practice.

Remark I. We may hence derive a rule of judgment concerning our own state, and find whether we have any principle of holiness in our hearts or no, or whether we are yet in the flesh, and in a state of sin. We may draw an easy answer to these questions, by making an inward enquiry into ourselves, according to the three descriptions of flesh and spirit.

_First_, What are our chief aims and desires? Are they bent to gratify the appetites of the flesh, and set upon sensual enjoyments? Or do we seek and pursue spiritual and eternal things, as our most valuable and lovely portion? What is our chief treasure? Where are our hearts and our hopes? Are they wandering amongst heaps of gold and silver, roving over fair and large estates, entertaining themselves with gay cloathing, honours, and vanities? Or are they pointing upwards, and directed towards God, the first and best of beings; and fixed on the blessedness of the spiritual world? Is our chief concern _to make provision for the flesh_ and this life, or to secure an inheritance for our souls among the incorruptible glories of the upper world? What is it that sits highest in our esteem, and awakens our warmest affections and brightest joys? Is it God or the creature, heaven or earth, things fleshly or invisible? Let conscience be faithful, and answer to such inquiries.

Again, let us ask ourselves, have we nothing within us but what was derived from nature and the flesh? or do we find ourselves enriched with divine graces by the influence of the Holy Spirit? Are we the same sort of creatures that we were born? or have we had a mighty change wrought in us, so that we can find in ourselves that we _are born again_, born of the spirit? Have we new love and new hatred, new designs and pursuits, new joys and sorrows? or are the affections of our souls the same that we brought into the world with us, and engaged chiefly about the affairs of this body, and this temporal life?

Let us enquire, in the third place, whether there be any opposition made by our spirits against fleshly passions and appetites? Let every one of us ask our souls, What inward conflict do I find in myself? Do I comply with all the sinful tendencies of fleshly nature, or do I maintain a continual resistance? Is there a combat, and, as it were, a duel within me, when temptations present themselves? or am I easily led away, and yield to sin naturally, without any reluctance? Do I find my flesh and spirit at war within me, when any sensual allurements appear? or do I yield up all my powers as _servants to sin_, and comply with the lusts of the flesh, with a hearty delight? Am I like a dead fish carried down with the stream of my appetites and passions, and make no pretences to oppose the vicious current? If, upon this enquiry, I find that the flesh is sovereign, and the spirit never opposes it, I may pronounce myself then to be in the flesh, in the most significant and complete manner: then I have nothing but flesh in me, and my soul is, as it were, carnalized, and deep immersed in the fleshly life.

I confess there may be some sort of opposition made to fleshly lusts, where there is no renewed nature, no saving grace, no true principle of holiness, such as is described by the spirit in my text. Many a youth resists his inclination to a drinking hour, or unclean iniquities, by the mere force of his education, by the awful regard he has to his parents, by a fear of injury to his health, or of public shame or scandal. Many a wicked man refuses to comply with his corrupt appetites, because he cannot bear the anguish of his own conscience, and the sharp reproaches of his reason and better judgment. And many a guilty passion is restrained, and suppressed, from a natural fear of the justice of God, and an everlasting hell, without any inward principle of real piety.

It is not every resistance therefore that we make and maintain against sin, can be a sufficient evidence that we are _new creatures_, unless we can say with St. Paul; Rom. vii. 22. _I delight in the law of God after the inward man_; that my soul not only approves, but takes pleasure in holiness; that sin is the object of my utter hatred, as well as my present resistance; and that not only as it promotes my own ruin, but as it brings dishonour to God: that my very heart and soul are set for God and religion, and it is a grief and daily burden to me, that there should be any such thing as _a law in my members warring against the law of my mind_; which makes the true christian cry out often, with bitterness of soul, _O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?_ Rom. vii. 24. Yet still it remains an incontestible truth, That where there is no resistance to the flesh, and the lusts thereof, there persons are not only in a state of sin, but in the strongest bonds of iniquity; they have brutified their human natures, and have made themselves _like the beasts that perish_; such was the character of the Ephesian Gentiles when the gospel came first among them; they were _alienated from the life of God_, and being past feeling, gave themselves up to work all uncleanness with greediness; Eph. iv. 18, 19.

Remark II. There may be some spirit in a person where there is much flesh; some holiness where there is much sin. For as none but saints in heaven are all spirit, and as the unregenerate are all flesh; so the saints here upon earth, are some flesh and some spirit, because they are sanctified but in part; they are in their way towards perfection, but they are not perfect: The spirit and the flesh conflict in them, _so that they cannot do the things which they would_. As they cannot serve God and practise holiness, with such constancy and zeal as they desire, because of the lusting of the flesh; so neither can they sink so far into sin, nor indulge evil courses so far as the flesh would lead them, if they had no strivings of the spirit to resist it, no principles of regeneration or holiness. They are led away indeed many times by sensual and fleshly allurements, but the chief objects of their pursuit are spiritual and heavenly; they have too many of the same vain affections and sinful desires, that were born of the flesh, remaining in them; but they have also new thoughts and hopes, new inclinations and appetites towards divine things, which could not be derived but from heaven, and prove them to be born of the spirit.

As unreasonable as it is therefore for any sincere christians to say, they are complete in holiness, or pretend to perfection in this life, because they find a work of grace in them: so it is equally unreasonable for them to charge themselves with being altogether carnal and unregenerate, because they find some of the lusts of the flesh warring in them. I would say, therefore, with compassion to such humble and doubting souls, while you are inhabitants in flesh, and your sanctification is imperfect, you will not have perfect peace, there will ever be some enemies within, for you to conflict with; and this inward war, this battle with flesh and blood, with self and sin, will by no means prove that ye are utterly unsanctified: No, it will rather give you some reasons to hope, that there may be a principle of holiness wrought in you, because you find a resistance against the flesh; especially if you experience also a zeal and hatred against every rising iniquity. The most holy soul in this life, can never prevent all the motions of irregular appetite: and the best of christians have much ado to curb and suppress some sinful affections which spring from this mortal body. The chiefest of saints had reason to complain that he was too often _led captive by the law of sin in his members_; Rom. vii. 23.