Remark IV. In this description of the principles of sin and holiness, as seated in our flesh, or in our spirit, we may see the nature of the christian warfare; that much of it consists in a fight of the spirit with flesh and blood. Little do some christians consider how much of religion lies in watching over their appetites and senses, and setting a guard upon the sinful tendencies of the flesh; little do they think how much of their piety and their holy peace depends on keeping down this flesh, and subduing it to the best service of the soul. There may be some persons, who under pretence of serving God in the spirit, and the more exalted and refined notions and practices of christianity, give a loose to the flesh, in eating, and, drinking, and dressing, and all the luxuries of life. But can these christians imagine, that when they pamper and indulge that wherein sin is chiefly seated, their spirits should long maintain their purity and heavenly-mindedness? St. Paul was of another mind; 1 Cor. ix. 27. _I keep under my body_, says he; I fight with my flesh which is my great enemy, υπωπιαζω και δουλαγωγω, I subdue it, and bear it down, as with heavy blows, I keep it under as a slave, lest _when I have preached to others, I myself should become a cast-away_; lest, when I have preached to others the doctrines of mortifying the flesh, and of walking according to the spirit, I should indulge such fleshly sins as would prove my eternal ruin. Let not any man imagine, that I am here teaching the Romish penances, and monkish severities; there is no necessity of sack-cloth and beggary, scourging and starving, in order to keep the body fit for the duties of religion. Surely there is a medium between the self-indulgence of some lazy and carnal christians, and the superstitious forms of mortifying the flesh, practised in the popish church; and if, under a pretence of sublime spirituality, we let the fleshly appetites get the mastery of us, the prosperity, and even the safety of the soul, will be in extreme hazard; for St. Peter and St. Paul agree well in this doctrine, that _fleshly lusts war against the soul_; 1 Pet. ii. 11.