has the help of a living spirit which is also God's gracious gift. Thus two parts of every child that is born come from God, and only the third part, its flesh, from its parents. Now it is impossible that God should create either an evil soul or a dead spirit—all God's works are perfect—and therefore in the creation of every child, however unsatisfactory its flesh may be, its soul and spirit are perfect; and therefore the child is fit for heaven, since to get there it would have to leave its only imperfect part, the flesh, behind. These theories say that little children are born in sin and therefore fit for Hell: but God says that "of such is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mark 10,14). He cannot mean that Heaven is for those who are "by nature depraved in soul and dead in trespasses and sins"!

N.B. 1. It is well in passing to notice that the Bible attributes to the flesh sins which we would put down to the soul.36 It is therefore impossible not to have wrong desires; but Jas. 1,14-15 states quite plainly that it is not the presence of wrong desires that kills a man but the yielding to them. Rom. 7,8-11 makes an identical statement, and both together state that the soul is born with a living spirit, which only dies after the commission of deliberate sin, thus agreeing with Ezek. 18, and 1 Tim. 2,14. It cannot be too often emphasised that temptation is not sin—Christ had temptation but not sin—and that temptation does not kill, but only sin.

N.B. 2. 2 Cor. 5,1-11; 7,1 show how important is purity of the flesh; for, when once anything wrong has entered the brain or the members, it is there for as long as the flesh lasts, and can be handed on to one's children. Heredity is indeed a dread physical fact when once sin has entered the flesh. We may inherit father's desire for drink or Aunt Mary's proneness to bad temper as well as mother's levelheadedness or Uncle Tom's courage! And with the solicitations of our fallen flesh the soul will have to strive, as did Eve, with those of Satan.

It was for this reason that, once sin had entered Adam's flesh, God decided that nothing less than its destruction and the provision of new and perfect flesh in the Resurrection would meet the case. The Christian can by the power of God be kept free from fleshly sin, but he cannot be immune from fleshly temptation, till the day when the hour of groaning is