divine, a particle of the divinity, or commu-S ER M.
nication of the divine nature; and which Lu- XXII.
cretius meant by his fourth ingredient of the
foul, his fomething, he knew not what, which
he called the animam ipfius animæ: And in the
language of the New Testament, it is usually
expreft by the word Tμa or fpirit, as parti-
cularly in 1 Cor. ii. 11. What man knows the
things of a man, fave the fpirit of man that
is in him: And it is the more remarkable,
because here there is a comparison made be-
tween ours and the fpirit of God in the for-
mer verfe.

Laftly, by the foul in that text of St. Paul's is meant that middle part of us, which includes our imagination, and is the feat of all our paffions and affections; which is expreft here by Yun the Soul: And for this the Greeks had many names of contempt, they calledit ἀλογία unreafonableners; ἐπιθυμία concupifcence; ἵππος the horfe; τὸ Θηρείον the wild beast and brutal part of the man,

So that now we may fee very diftinctly what is meant by the flesh in my text, (i. e.) the body with all its natural. appetites; and the lower foul with all its variety of paffions and affections; and by the spirit, that immortal immaterial part of us, which is the immediate feat of our understanding.

It will be only neceffary to remark farther here, that though the fpirit of man is more immediately intended in this text; yet we may likewise understand the spirit of God as

K 4

far

!

SER M. far as it works in concurrence with our spirit, XXII, and affifts it against the oppofition given it by the lower and corrupted part of the man.

II. To confider in what inftances they are contrary one to another, and the nature of their oppofition. And first, in general they are contrary in this; that the fpirit is in itself and undefiled in its own nature, as little pure liable to moral as natural corruption; and can be no otherwife polluted, than by thofe ftains which are derived upon it by its union, and clofe conjunction with the lower foul and body: It may be fo overcome by the force of bodily appetites, and borne down by the violence of our finful paflions and affections by giving way to them, that it can no way exert itfelf: So that there fhall not be one virtuous inclination left in the whole man: And then he may properly be faid to be corrupted in his very mind and confcience. And again, when by any fecret impulfe of the fpirit of God the mind is rouzed, recovers itself again, fo as to bear down all the vitious inclinations of the inferior man, that they become obedient to its motions; that it can fway them which way it will; then he is faid to be renewed in the Spirit of bis mind: So that my meaning is, that there is a spiritual principle within us, that muft, and will ever acknowledge virtue and goodness, and will it too; infomuch that the wickedeft man living would be good and virtuous, if it might be had for a with: Nay,

even the Devil himself would be an Angel SER M. of light again.

Now that there is fuch an indelible character of goodness, and innate tendency towards it, imprinted upon the spirit of man; which though it may be defaced and obfcured, yet can never be totally obliterated; fuch a portion of heavenly fire, which though it may be buried under a mighty heap of afhes, yet can never be wholly extinguished. This I fay seems to be the fenfe of moft of those divine epithets, given to the fuperior part of man by the Philofophers; though they took it only for a diftinct quality. Among others they gave to the rational foul one was, that it was als without paffion, and therefore not fubject to tranfgrefs; which in all likelihood gave occafion to that mistake of the Stoicks apathy, which opinion was true, if applied only to the purely fpiritual part. And Plato fays, this rational part of us, like the top of Olympus, enjoys a perpetual ferenity; and looks down upon the rational part, beholding all the forms of its paffion and affections, like clouds, and winds, and thunder in the lower region.

And the learned Dr. Willis, in that excellent chapter, where he compares the foul of man with that of brutes, fpeaking to this very purpose hath these words; non ita tamen accipi debet, quafi anima rationalis utpote immaterialis; proindèque, analns habita a quolibet appulfu boni vel mali, fuccuffa turbulentis cupiditatibus, aut averfationum affectibus obnoxia fuerit; koc enim

tura

XXII.

SER M. turæ ejus incorporea, quin & dignitati, fuXXII. perque aliis potentiis prærogativa repugnat.

Befides the fcripture feems to be very exprefs in this; our Saviour fays, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And this notion runs through the whole 7th of the Romans, where the law of the mind is fupposed to be very good, even in thofe corrupt and unregenerate perfons he is there defcribing; and oppofes it to the law of fin in their members. And at the 16th verfe, he fuppofes a man may da that that he would not, (i, e.) that in the committing this fin, the inferior man acts in plain contradiction to the purely fpiritual part of him; and therefore it follows, it is no more I that do it, (i. e.) the purely spiritual part, but fin that dwells in me, (i. e.) the vitious inclinations of the lower man. For I know that in me dwelleth no good thing: And he explains himself, (i. e.) in my flesh. So that he all along fuppofes a fpiritual principle within us, pure in its fentiments, in the midst of all bodily pollutions; the miftaking of which, and imagining that St. Paul meant that of the whole man, which he applies only to one part of him, gave occasion to that damnable herefy of the Gnofticks, who fancied that a fpiritual perfon was no more polluted by his fins than gold is by being rolled in the dirt: And likewife to that fatal error fo near of kin to it, of our diffenting brethren; who imagine St. Paul fpeaks here in the perfon of a regenerate man;

which I shall have occafion to fpeak of before S ER M. I have done with this subject. XXII.

II. But 2dly, as this is in itself pure, fo the lower man compofed of the body and fenfitive foul, is the immediate feat of all our corrup tion, and is totally polluted and defiled in all its faculties; there is not by nature one regular motion in our whole frame; and all the inclinations and tendencies of it are fo ftubborn and inflexible to good, and under fo little command, that without the motions and concurrence of God's preventing grace, we are not able fo much as to think one good thought; much less to put any good purpofe in execution: And now, because the nature of the pure mind is fuch, that it can never be brought to approve those corrupt and wicked appetites and inclinations; therefore, there is perpetual war and eternal contradiction between them, There can never be any league or truce, they are implacable enemies; and there is fuch innate inveteracy between them, that they can never come to any terms of compofition; and nothing can put an end to the ftrife, but the abfolute intire conqueft of one or the other,

Here is the true caufe and ground of that civil war within us; this fpark of divinity which lay buried under the ruins of the fall, is first blown up by the fame spirit that breathed into us the breath of life; then are all endea vours used to stifle and fupprefs, and, if it were poffible, utterly to extinguish it. As the fpirit prevails, fo, for a while, the refiftance of the

inferior