Now, there is nothing without or beyond the Deity but matter; therefore, matter is the centre and source of all evil, of all vice." One of the consequences they drew from this hypothesis was, that since All evil resulted from matter, the depravity of mankind arose from the pollution derived to the human soul, from its connexion with the material body which it inhabits; and, therefore, the only means by which the mind could purify itself from the defilement, and liberate itself from the bondage imposed upon it by the body, was to emaciate and humble the body by frequent fasting, and to invigorate the mind to overcome and subdue it by retirement and contemplation.
The New Testament, though it does not recognise this principle of the Oriental Philosophy, "that evil originates from matter," yet coincides with it in strenuously asserting that the corruption of the human mind is derived from its connexion with the human body.
To prove this proposition, I shall show that Paul calls all crimes the works of the flesh." "Now, the works of the flesh are manifest, (says he, Gal.v.

19,) which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, rivalries, wrath, disputes, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like." He also describes the conflict between the flesh and the spirit, or mind, in these terms:-- "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good, for to will is present with me, but to perform that which is good, I find not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of my sin in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who will deliver me from the body of this death ?" (or this body of death.) And he goes on to observe, "That I, the same man, with my mind serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin."-- Rom.

vii.