Sentence:  Thanks to the long, slow, patient years of constant small strengthenings of the spirit, in triumphs achieved over fleshly greeds and brutal instincts, the flesh now yields obedience, doubtful, irregular, and strange, almost questioning obedience at first, but none the less change has come, and the beginning of the <WSD>spiritman's</WSD> control over the carnal man is established. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  In some Christian belief systems, one's innermost spiritual entity (i.e. the "heart"), as contrasted with the more outer soulish and physical aspects of one's being.