constrained to believe that they were divine'; and the effects of these impressions have been holy and glorious: We should set a guard therefore on our hearts and our tongues, lest we cast a reproach and scandal on such sacred appearances, which the Spirit of God will hereafter acknowledge to have been his own work.

2. Let not humble christians, who walk with God according to the ordinary methods of his grace, be discouraged, though they have never found this extraordinary witness of the Spirit, nor tasted of these peculiar favours. Value the evident marks and characters of the children of God, wrought in your hearts, more than ecstacies of joy and pleasure. Value mortification to sin more than raptures; for mortification is a certain sign that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and that we are heirs of life ; Rom. viii. 13. If you by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh you shall live. Heaven is the place of complete joy; heaven is the state where sight and sense shall be exercised; but we are here ordained to live by faith; 2 Cor. v. 7. We may have the assisting presence of the Spirit of adoption, and by that Spirit may say unto God, Abba, Father, without the extraordinary witnessing of that good Spirit.

3. Dare not believe any sudden raptures to proceed from this extraordinary testimony of the Holy Spirit, unless you find some considerable measure of those sanctifying effects of them which I have described; I have granted that in particular seasons of trial when the natural spirits sink and fail, and temptations are exceeding strong, God may give this immediate testimony, on purpose to bear up the soul from sinking; yet we should not dare to trust such sort of vehement impressions, and pronounce them divine, if we neither find any of the plain scriptural marks of the children of God upon us, before or after these impressions. There is great danger of depending upon such raptures, if they leave no evident and lasting effects of sanctification behind them. Where the Spirit shines with such a divine light, he will warm the heart with uncommon love, and the soul must be conscious of some such rational evidence of adoption, such a love to God in the heart, as will effectually prove that God has first loved us. Perhaps this is one reason why some christians fall under so many doubts and fears, because they live more upon their inward sensations of joy, their transports of pleasure in religion, which they call the extraordinary witness of the Spirit, than they do upon the characters of the children of God, which should be written in their hearts, and by which they should endeavour to search out and to evidence their interest in the favour of God.

4. Let every believer walk humbly before God, in all the

paths of holiness. Take heed lest at any time you resist the blessed Spirit, in his sanctifying influences, lest he withdraw your comforts of every kind. Be not deceived, for the Spirit of God will not be trifled with. If you sow to the flesh, after you have received any witnessings of the Spirit, you may expect to reap desertions, sorrow, pains, and long mourning. Keep a conscience tender, and afraid of every sin; grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption; Eph. iv. 30.

5. Wait on God in all his holy ordinances, and wait for the manifestations of his love. It is in a regular attendance on the public and private duties of religion, that we may hope to meet with the witnessing Spirit; there the principles of grace are wont to be awakened, and called forth into lively exercise; and where your love to God your Father, and to Jesus your Saviour, is excited, and your souls exert themselves as becomes the children of God, you have most reason to expect the presence of the Holy Spirit, to bear witness to your adoption, and to your interests in his love. He will never bestow consolations of an ordinary or extraordinary kind, where there is a wilful neglect of the duties he has prescribed. Frequent the services of his holy temple; the out goings of God our King are in his sanctuary. His power and glory, his grace and kindness are made visible in his house, There has he promised his own presence; and where his pre sence is, he often brings with him the witnessing Spirit,

AN ESSAY

On the Powers and Contests of Flesh and Spirit.

IT is agreed by all the more sober and thinking part of the world, that man is a compounded creature; and it is made evident from this plain and easy observation, viz. that he puts forth hourly such different kinds of action, as one simple being could never perform. Flesh and spirit are the two ingredients that go to the composition; yet they keep their own natures still distinct, unmingled, and unconfounded. By the flesh we eat, drink, walk, and sleep, and are a-kin to brute animals: by the spirit we think, know, and chuse, and hold kindred with angels. It appears to every careful observer, that each of these parts of the man have their particular and distinct natures, qualities, and operations.

The flesh, or body, includes in it the limbs, blood, and breath, with all the grosser and finer materials, solid or fluid; that make up the animal; it has many inward ferments and appetites of its own; it has several visible, as well as hidden motions; and it receives various impressions, made by outward objects of sense, which are proper to itself, and in which the spirit has no share. On the other hand, the soul or spirit includes the understanding and will, which are its chief powers: It has its thoughts and conceptions, its judgments and reasonings, its acts. of choice, aversion, and desire, in great variety; which are peculiarly its own, and belong not to the flesh.

But while we dwell in this present world, there is such a near and special union between soul and body, that there are very few operations or affections of the mind, which do not receive a sensible turn or influence from the qualities and ferments, the impressions, powers, and passions, of flesh and blood.

Sometimes these animal motions attend or follow the acts or exercises of the mind, and yet even then they increase them in many cases: So when the soul is ashamed, the blood flushes in the face, and the shame is doubled; when the spirit is angry, the cheeks kindle, or grow pale, and the inward wrath burns fiercer. So in a fit of fear, the blood retires, the flesh trembles, the natural spirits flutter, or sink into faintness, and the soul is more terrified and overwhelmed. At other times these inward ferments of the juices of the body are entirely beforehand with the soul; those motions or impressions of the flesh, and sense, and animal

nature, may first awaken, and then maintain the anger, or fear, or love, or other affections of the mind.

Thus most of the actions of man in this present state are of a mixed nature, wherein both flesh and spirit concur, and each perform their several parts; though in such a manner, that, in many cases, it is hard to say how far the flesh and how far the spirit have their distinct shares of influence. Yet there is one excellent and unfailing rule to judge of this matter, if we could but always apply it right; and that is, whatsoever knowledge, consent, or choice, is in any action, belongs to the mind; and what implies mere matter, shape, or proper motion, must be attributed to the body.

These appetites and affections of human nature, which are the mingled operations of flesh and spirit, are either lawful, sacred, or sinful; and they are properly and formally so called, partly according to the different objects of them, and partly according to their various degrees, or some other circumstances of time or place, that may attend them; as will be made evident by such instances as these: Thus it will appear that the same action or passion may be determined to be lawful, sacred, or sinful, if it be exercised toward different objects, or in different degrees. Thus it is lawful to be hungry and thirsty, and to desire proper food, bread and wine; and to desire, with faith and holy affections, to eat the bread and drink the wine at the Lord's-supper is a sacred action. But to covet that meat or drink, that bread, or that wine, which belongs to another man, is sinful; for it is a violation of the tenth command, and becomes a transgression. So to fear the great God, or to love him, is a sacred affection. To fear a robber or a roaring lion, or to love my house, or my servant, are very lawful affections: But if my love or my fear of any creature exceeds my fear or my love of God my Creator, it becomes hereby sinful. It is lawful, or rather it is religious and holy, to be angry, to hate, and to be ashamed, when sin is the object of these passions; but to be ashamed of virtue and religion, where I am called to profess them, or to hate my neighbour, or even mine enemy, or to be angry without a cause, or above a proper degree, are all criminal passions, and render a man guilty before God.

The mere motions and ferments of flesh and blood, or whatsoever share mere animal nature has in these actions or affections of the man, can have no moral good or evil in them, considered apart from the soul; nor are they properly called lawful or sinful in themselves; for they are the pure operations of brutal matter, till the soul or the will indulges them, or approves them," commands them, or complies with them. Yet if the objects of these fleshly motions be forbidden by the laws of God, or if the degree be excessive, or the time or place unlawful, then these motoins and ferments of the flesh may be called sinful; not formally

in themselves, but occasionally; because the soul so often complies with them, and becomes guilty; and thus these operations of the flesh are sad occasions of sin.

Now in this present fallen state, wherein all the children of Adam are found, these sinful motions and ferments, appetites, and passions abound in our flesh and blood; partly as we derive too much of them from our sinful parents, and partly as we have too much encouraged and strengthened them ourselves, by frequent practice and indulgence. It is evident also, that the greatest part of the actions of our lives are ready to be influenced by appetite or affection; and it is plain, that the outward senses of the body, or the inward ferments, motions, and impressions of flesh and blood have so large a share in them, that they are called the deeds of the body, the desires, lusts, and affections of the flesh, in many places of scripture; thence it comes to pass that our flesh becomes the chief cause and occasion of sin to the soul.

Now though it be difficult, as I have hinted, in many particular actions, to determine precisely how far the influence of the flesh reaches, and how far it is the act of the mind or spirit, yet it is of great use in the christian life to search into these matters, in order to find how far our actions are criminal and guilty, that we may abase our souls before God, and take shame to ourselves so far as we are culpable; and on the other hand, that from a melancholy or superstitious mistake, we may not charge ourselves with more guilt than God charges us with, or lay heavier loads upon our own consciences than the divine law lays upon us.

We shall find these enquiries also of excellent use to lead us to proper methods for the mortification of sin, and to shew us the justice and wisdom of divine conduct, and the holiness and beauty of the providence of God, in appointing our present state of trial, in order to a future judgment.

I. The first thing I shall discourse on here, is the unhappy influence that our flesh or animal nature, has to tempt us to sin. And then II. I shall shew what powers the soul is furnished with to resist the sinful motions of the flesh, and to maintain the sacred warfare.

This is the proposition therefore that I shall first lay down in my discourse; viz. That the principles, springs, and occasions of our sinful actions lie very much in the flesh; and these have a fatal and unhappy influence to lead the soul or spirit into sin. I shall make this evident from the word of God, especially from the writings of the blessed apostles; and shall confirm it by many common observations and an easy train of reasoning.

When those sacred writers have occasion to describe sin, in its principles or operations, they use the words flesh, fleshly, or