being undetected is a great means of its power; or as traitors in a civil
CHAPTER 17.
The strength of sin shown from its resistance to the power of the law.
THE measure of the strength of any person or defended city may be assessed by the opposition they can endure without being overcome. If we hear of a city that has endured a long siege without being taken, whose walls have endured great assaults and are not demolished, then we conclude it strong, if not impregnable, though we have never seen it.
This is the power of indwelling sin. It is able to hold out, and not only to live, but also to maintain its dominion, against all opposition.
I shall mention only the opposition that is made to it by the law, which is often great, always fruitless; all its assaults are resisted, and it is not overthrown. The law opposes sin, and its power; as, -
1. It reveals it. Sin in the soul is like a hidden fever in the body, - its being undetected is a great means of its power; or as traitors in a civil state, - whilst they lie hid, they vigorously carry on their design. Most men know nothing of this sickness, the death of their souls. Though they have been taught the principles of it, they know nothing of its power. They know it not so as to deal with it as their mortal enemy; as a man cannot be said to know that he has a hectic fever, if he loves his life, and does nothing to stop its progress.
So the law reveals this enemy; it convinces the soul that there is such a traitor in its bosom: Romans 7:7, "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, you shall not covet." "I had not known it;" that is, fully, clearly. Conscience will be troubled about it; but a man cannot thus know it clearly. It gives a man such a sight of it as the blind man had in the gospel on the first touch of his eyes: "He saw men like trees walking," - obscurely. But when the law comes, it gives the soul a distinct sight of this indwelling sin. Again, "I had not known it;" that is, the depth of it the habitual inclination of my