OUR Strength lies in the Immaterial part of us affifted by the Grace of God, which is the fecret and ineffable Communication of the holy Spirit to the Spirit of a Man which is in him; to enable it to refift and overcome all the Allurements and Temptations of the fenfitive Soul; and recover its native right of Dominion over all the Faculties of the inferior Man. This purely fpiritual Part of us may be enticed and Allured, but never overcome by Force; for it is a noble Principle, whose Ruin must proceed from itself; it can lie under no Compulfion or Abfolute Conftraint from any thing without it, but from that only which is Almighty. As there is nothing more Feeble than the Mind of Man, when it refigns itself up to irregular Paffion and Appetite; fo there is nothing in Nature fo Strong and invincible, whenever it is truly and steadily refolved to be fo: When by divine Affiftance it exerts itself to the utmoft, the World and the Flesh are not able to Cope with it, nor the Devil to stand before it.

IN a mere ftate of corrupt Nature indeed, this Godlike Part of us is without a fufficient Power of Direction and Government; it is fo overcome and obftructed, that of itfelf it is utterly unable to restrain any one irregular Inclination or Appetite in the fenfitive Soul, or Body: To which tho' it be effentialy United,

yet

yet it cannot diffuse its own native Inclinations, and Defires thro' the unweildy Mafs; which fets up a great Variety of Lufts and Appetites of its own in direct Oppofition to it; fo that it cannot when Unaffifted, commendably and effectualy exert itself to the Performance of any Virtue or Goodness in Thought, Word, or Deed. This made the fecret Influence of the Spirit of God upon our Spirit neceffary for us; that the fame Breath of God which firft gave it Being, might supply it with new Life and Vigour: Stirring up its original Inclinations. and Tendencies; awakening and reviving thofe native Defires of Virtue and Holiness, which lay dormant and unactive under the Ruins of human Nature; and this is the Beginning of a Christian Life. When by God's Preventing Grace the Spirit is rouzed out of its Lethargy, then comes on the Struggle; the Principles of Reafon and Grace, against the corrupt Appetites and Propenfions of Nature. If it cherishes and encourages these First Motions of the Holy Spirit, and holds out refolutely and with firm Perfeverance, it gains Ground every Day; and

goes on gradualy from Strength to Strength: Till at laft, like a glorious Monarch restored and confirmed, it rules the rebel Affections and Paffions of the fenfitive Soul, and the Appetites of the Body, with a Rod of Iron, and fways them all with its Nod. It may then approve or reject; suppress or excite; check or encourage all our Inclinations at will; it mav

4

Still

Still the raging and swelling of our Paffions, and fay to each of them, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further; and in fhort nothing fhall be tranfacted in the little World without its Permiffion or Command.

OUR Weakness lies in the Senfitive Soul, the immediate Seat of all our Paffions and Affections; which as it refults from the Conjunction of the Pure Spirit and Body, is follicited on both fides, and muft incline to one or the other: If it join with the Spirit, it will itself become fpiritualized in all its Tendencies; but as it more or less inclines to the Flesh, fo far it becomes carnal and degenerate. Now because all the Motions and Affections of this inferior Soul are more immediately converfant with the Objects of our bodily Appetites; and more ftrongly importuned by their conftant and intimate Prefence; they are in their own Nature apt to close with these, and Dwell upon them: And it is not without great Difficulty and Refolution that they can be weaned and drawn off from them; fo as to be chiefly imployed upon the invifible Things of another World, and fuch Things here as have a more immediate Relation to them. For this Reafon both the Inferior Soul and Body go under the Denomination of Flesh; and accordingly of this it is faid, that the Flesh lufteth against the fpirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other.

THESE

THESE are the two Enemies which must engage; Implacable irreconcilable Enemies, ever fince the Fall; and the fhort fierce Combat is for Eternity. The fecret Influences of the Holy Spirit of God come into the Affiftance of the purely Spiritual Part of us; the Devil on the other fide is a conftant Auxiliary to the Flesh; the ftruggle is for no less than Life or Death everlasting; and the one or the other must obtain a compleat Victory.

воок

BOOK III.

A SUMMARY.

of

The NATURAL ORDER,

and

WHOLE PROCEDURE

of

The INTELLEC T.

CHAP. I.

The Mind at Firft a Tabula Rafa.

THE

HAT Maxim of the Logicians is to be taken for a fure and fundamental Truth, Nihil eft in Intellectu quod non fuit prius in fenfu; the true Meaning of which is, that the Ideas of Senfe are the First Foundation on which we raise our whole Superftructure of Knowledge; and that all the Discoveries we can make in things Temporal and Spiritual, together with the most Refined and Abstracted Notions of them in the Mind of Man, take their Rise originaly from Senfation.

AT our Birth the Imagination is intirely a Tabula Rafa or perfect Blank, without any Materials either for a Simple View or any Other Operation