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1 78 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
conquered ; which was the only kind of enemy that the famous warrior complained of of old. It is in vain for a man to have any expecta- tion of rest from his lust but by its death ; of absolute freedom but by his own. Some, in the tumultuating of their coiTuptions, seek for quietness by labouring to satisfy them, "making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," as the apostle speaks, Rom. xiii. 14. This is to aslake fire by wood and oil. As all the fuel in the world, all the fabric of the creation that is combustible, being cast into the fire, will not at all satisfy it, but increase it; so is it with satisfaction given to sin by sinning, — it doth but inflame and increase. If a man will part with some of his goods unto an enemy, it may satisfy him ; but enmity will have all, and is not one whit the more satisfied than if he had received nothing at all, — like the lean cattle that were never the less hungry for having devoured the fat. You cannot bargain with the fire to take but so much of your houses ; ye have no way but to quench it. It is in this case as it is in the contest between a wise man and a fool : Prov. xxix. 9, " Whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest." Whatever frame or temper he be in, his importunate folly makes him troublesome. It is so with this indwelling sin : whether it violently tumultuate, as it will do on provocations and temptations, it will be outrageous in the soul ; or whether it seem to be pleased and contented, to be satisfied, all is one, there is no peace, no rest to be had with it or by it. Had it, then, been of any other nature, some other way might have been fixed on ; but seeing it con- sists in enmity, all the relief the soul hath must He in its ruin.
Secondly, It is not only said to be "enmity," but it is said to be " enmity against God." It hath chosen a great enemy indeed. It is in sundry places proposed as our enemy: 1 Pet. ii. 11, " Abstam from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" they ai-e enemies to the soul, that is, to oiu'selves. Sometimes as an enemy to the Spirit that is in us: "The flesh lusteth" or fighteth "against the Spirit, Gal. v. 1 7. It fights against the Spirit, or the spiritual principle that is in us, to conquer it; it fights against our souls, to destroy them. It hath special ends and designs against our souls, and against the principle of grace that is in us; but its proper formal object is God: it is "enmity against God." It is its work to oppose grace ; it is a con- sequent of its Avork to oppose our souls, which follows upon what it doth more than what it intends; but its nature and formal design is to oppose God, — God as the lawgiver, God as holy, God as the author of the gospel, a way of salvation by grace, and not by works, — this is the direct object of the law of sin. Why doth it oppose duty, so that the good we would do we do not, either as to matter or manner? Why doth it render the soul carnal, indisposed, unbelieving, unspi- litual, weary, wandering? It is because of its enmity to God, whom
INDWELLING SIN ENMITY AGAINST GOD. 1 79
the soul aims to have communion withal in duty. It hath, as it were, that command from Satan which the Assyrians had from their king : " Fight neither with small nor gi'eat, save only with the king of Israel," 1 Kings xxii. 31. It is neither great nor small, but God himself, the King of Israel, that sin sets itself against. There lies the secret formal reason of all its opposition to good, — even because it relates unto God. May a road, a trade, a way of duties be set up, where communion with God is not aimed at, but only the duty it- self, as is the manner of men in most of their superstitious worship, the opposition that will lie against it from the law of sin will be very weak, easy, and gentle. Or, as the Assyrians, because of his show of a king, assaulted Jehoshaphat, but when they found that it was not Ahab, they turned back from pursuing of him ; so because there is a show and appearance of the worship of God, sin may make head against it at first, but when the duty cries out in the heart that in- deed God is not there, sin turns away to seek out its proper enemy, even God himself, elsewhere. And hence do many poor creatures spend their days in dismal, tiring superstitions, without any great reluctancy from within, when others cannot be suffered freely to Avatch with Christ in a spiritual manner one hour. And it is no wonder that men fight with carnal weapons for their superstitious worship without, when they have no fighting against it within; for God is not in it, and the law of sin makes not opposition to any duty, but to God in every duty. This is our state and condition: — All the op- position that ariseth in us unto any thing that is spiritually good, whether it be from darkness in the mind, or aversation in the will, or sloth in the affections, all the secret arguings and reasonings that are in the soul in pursuit of them, the direct object of them is God himself The enmity lies against him; which consideration surely should influence us to a perpetual, constant watchfulness over our- selves.