Jonathan Edwards Selected Shor
hearts towards Christ, as appears by their cruel treatment of him, in his last sufferings!
4. They are mortal enemies to God; i.e. They have that enmity in their hearts, that strikes at the life of God. A man may be no friend to another, and may have an ill spirit towards him; and yet not be his mortal enemy: his enmity will be satisfied with something short of the death of the person. But it is not so with natural men, with respect to God: they are mortal enemies. Their imbecility is no argument that this is not the tendency of the principle.
Natural men are enemies to the dominion of God; and their nature shows their good-will to dethrone him if they could! Yea, they are enemies to the being of God, and would be glad if there was no God. And therefore it necessarily follows, that they would cause that there should he none, if they could. Psal. xiv. 1. "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." This implies, not only an aptness to question the being of God; but, that he inclines it should be so. His heart says, i.e. his inclination says. The words in the original are, "The fool hath said in his heart, No God." That is, I would have none, I do not desire any, I wish there was none; that would suit my inclination best. Let the world be emptied of a God, he stands in my way. And hence he is an atheist in his heart.
The viper's poison is deadly poison; and when he bites he seeks the precious life. And men are in this respect a generation of vipers. Their poison, which is enmity against God, seeks the life of God. Matt. iii. 7. "O generation of vipers." Psal. lviii. 3, 4. "The wicked are estranged from the womb—Their poison is like the poison of a serpent." Deut. xxxii. 32, 33. "For their vine is the vine of Sodom, and