to what is good. The former instance showed its constant readiness to
nothing so atheistic or execrable, but, if it is presented to the soul in a way of temptation, there is that in this law of sin which is ready to answer it before it is decried by grace. And this is the first thing in this lusting of the law of sin, - it consists in its habitual tendency to evil, manifesting itself by the involuntary movings of the soul to sin, and its readiness, without consideration, to join in all temptations.
2. Its lusting consists in its pressing after what is evil, and opposition to what is good. The former instance showed its constant readiness to this work; this now deals with the work itself. It is not only ready, but for the most part always engaged. "It lusts," says the Holy Ghost. It does so continually. It stirs in the soul by one act or other constantly, almost as the spirits in the blood, or the blood in the veins. This the apostle calls its tempting: James 1:14, "Every man is tempted by his own lust." Now, what is it to be tempted? It is to have that presented to a man's consideration which, if he obeys it, it is evil, it is sin to him. This is sin's trade: - "It lusts." It is raising up in the heart, and proposing to the mind and affections, what is evil; trying, whether the soul will follow its suggestions, or how far it will carry them on, even if it does not wholly prevail. Now, when such a temptation comes from outside, it is to the soul an indifferent thing, neither good nor evil, unless it is consented to; but the very proposal from within, it being the soul's own act, is its sin. And this is the work of the law of sin, - it is continually proposing innumerable forms of evil, in every kind that the nature of man is capable of. Something or other, inordinate, unspiritual, unanswerable to the rule, it presents to the soul. And this power of sin to beget ideas of evil in the heart the apostle may refer to, 1 Thessalonians 5:22, "Keep yourselves from every idea of sin in the heart;" for the word there used does not anywhere signify outward appearance: neither is it the appearance of evil, but an evil idea that is intended. This lusting of sin is what the prophet expresses in wicked men, in whom its law is predominant: Isaiah 57:20,
"The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt;"