The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin

Secondly, In its assaulting the soul, contending for Rule and Sovereignty over it.

The first is expressed by the Apostle, Rom. 7. 23. I find, saith he, another Law, [Greek or Hebrew], rebelling against the Law of my mind. There are, it seems, two Laws in us, the Law of the flesh, or of sin; and the Law of the mind, or of grace. But contrary Laws cannot both obtain Sovereign power over the same person, at the same time. The sovereign power in Believers, is in the hand of the Law of grace; so the Apostle declares, verse 22. I delight in the Law of God in the inward man. Obedience unto this Law is performed with delight and complacency in the inward man, because its authority is lawful and good. So more expressly▪ chap. 6. 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the Law but under grace. Now to war against the Law that hath a just Sovereignty, is to rebel; and so [Greek or Hebrew] signifies; it is to rebel, and •ught to have been so translated, rebelling against the Law of my mind. And this rebellion consists in a stubborn obstinate ⟨p. 71⟩opposition unto the commands and directions of the Law of grace. Doth the Law of the mind command any thing as duty? doth it severely rise up against any thing that is evil? When the lusting of the Law of sin rises up to this degree, it contends against obedience with all its might, the effect whereof, as the Apostle tells us, is the doing of that which we would not, and the not doing of that which we would, verse 15, 16. And we may gather a notable instance of the power of sin in this its rebellion from this place. The Law of grace prevails upon the Will, so that it would do that which is good. To will is present with me, ver. 18. When I would do good, ver. 19. And again, ver. 21. And I would not do evil, ver. 19. 20. And it prevails upon the understanding, so that it approves or disapproves according to the dictates of the Law of grace. Ver. 16. I consent unto the Law that it is good; and verse 15. The Judgment always lies on the side of grace. It prevails also on the affections, ver. 22. I delight in the Law of God in the inward man. Now if this be so, that grace hath the Sovereign power in the Understanding, Will, and Affections, whence is it that it doth not always prevail, that we do not always do that which we would, and abstain from that which we would not? Is it not strange that a man should not do that which he chooseth, willeth, liketh, delighteth in?