"another law, rebelling against the law of my mind." There are, it
a similitude most lively, expressing the lustings of the law of sin, continually bubbling up in the heart, with foolish, and filthy imaginations and desires. This, then, is the first thing in the opposition that this enmity makes to God, in its general inclination, it "lusts."
Secondly, There is its particular way of contending, - it fights; that is, it acts with violence, as men do in war. First, it lusts, stirring inordinate thoughts in the mind, desires in the appetite and the affections, proposing them to the will. But it rests not there, it cannot rest; it urges its proposals with strength, and vigour, fighting to obtain its purpose. Would it merely present things to the soul, and immediately acquiesce in the judgement of the mind, that the thing is evil, against God and his will, and not farther to be insisted on, much sin might be prevented that is now produced; but it rests not here, - it proceeds to carry on its design with earnestness. By this means wicked men "inflame themselves," Isaiah 57:5. They are self-inflamers, as the word signifies, to sin; every spark of sin is cherished until it grows into a flame: and so it will do in others, where it is so cherished.
Now, this fighting of sin consists in two things: -
1. In its rebellion against grace, or the law of the mind.
2. In its assaulting the soul, contending for sovereignty over it.
1. The first is expressed by the apostle, Romans 7:23: "I find," says he, "another law, 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 to this law is performed with delighty 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 you are not under the law, but under grace." Now, to war against the law that has a just sovereignty is