do one thing, and the other the other. But if so, one of
them must be in the right, and the other in the wrong. Now, St.
Paul says, when these two fall out with each other, the spirit is in
the right, and the flesh in the wrong. And therefore, the secret of
life is, to walk in the spirit, and so not to fulfil the lusts of
the flesh.

But if so, it must be worth our while to find out which is flesh,
and which is spirit in us, that we may know the foolish part of us
from the wise. What the flesh is, we may see by looking at a dumb
beast, which is all flesh, and has no immortal soul. It may be very
cunning, brave, curiously formed, beautiful, but one thing you will
always see, that a beast does what it likes, and only what it likes.
And this is the mark of the flesh, that it does what it likes. It
is selfish, and self-indulgent, cares for nothing but itself, and
what it can get for itself.

True, you may raise a dumb beast above that, by taming and training
it. You may teach a horse or dog to do what it does _not_ like, and
give it a sense of duty, and as it were awaken a soul in it. That
is very wonderful, that we should be able to do so. It is a sign
that man is made in God's likeness. But I cannot stay to speak of
that now. I say our flesh, our animal nature, is selfish and self-
indulgent. I do not say, therefore, that it is bad: God forbid.
God made our bodies and brains, as well as our souls; and God makes
nothing bad. It is blasphemous to say that he does. No, our bodies
as bodies are good; the flesh as flesh is good, when it is in its
right place; and its right place is to be servant, not master. We
are not to walk after the flesh, says St. Paul: but the flesh is to
walk after the spirit--in English, our bodies are to obey our
spirits, our souls. For man has something higher than body in him.
He has a spirit in him; and it is just having this spirit which
makes him a man. For this spirit cares about higher things than
mere gain and comfort. It can feel pity and mercy, love and
generosity, justice and honour; and when a man not only feels them,
but obeys them, then he is a true man--a Christian man: but, on the
other hand, if a man does not; if he be a man in whom there is no
mercy or pity, no generosity, no benevolence, no justice or honour;
who cares for nothing and no one but himself, and filling his own
stomach and his own pulse, and pleasing his own brute appetites in
some way, what sho