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. 2. 11. Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. They are enemies to the soul, that is, to our selves. Sometimes as an Enemy to the Spirit that is in us, The flesh lusteth or fighteth against the Spirit, Gal. 5. 17. 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 consequent of its work 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 Law-giver, God as holy, God as the Author of the Gospel, a way of salvation by Grace, and not by works, 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, unspiritual, weary, wandering? It is because of its enmity to God, whom 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 great, save only with the King of Israel, 1 Kings 22. 31. It is neither great nor small, but God himself, the King of Israel, that sin sets it self against. There lies the secret formal reason of all its opposition to good, even ⟨p. 41⟩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 lye 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. 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 indeed God is not there; Sin turns away to seek out its proper Enemy, even God himself elsewhere.
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. 2. 11. Abstain from fleshly lusts, which warr against the soul. They are enemies to the soul, that is, to our selves. Sometimes as an Enemy to the Spirit that is in us, The flesh lusteth or fighteth against the Spirit, Gal. 5. 17. 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 consequent of its work 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 Law-giver, God as holy, God as the Author of the Gospel, a way of salvation by Grace, and not by works, 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, unspiritual, weary, wandring? It is because of its enmity to God, whom 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 great, save only with the King of Israel, 1 Kings 22. 31. It is neither great nor small, but God himself, the King of Israel, that sin sets it self against. There lyes the secret formal reason of all its opposition to good, even ⟨p. 41⟩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 lye against it from the Law of Sin will be very weak, easie and gentle. Or as the Assyrians because of his shew of a King, assaulted Jehosaphat, but when they found that it was not Ahab, they turned back from pursuing of him. Because there is a shew and appearance of the Worship of God, sin may make head against it at first, but when the duty cryes out in the heart, that indeed God is not there; Sin turns away to seek out its proper Enemy, even God himself elsewhere.
