ath given of man, even the choicest thing in man, the very wisdom of
a natural man, it is not subject to God's law, and it cannot be better,
neither can it be subject. Resolution, industry, vows, and covenants will
not effect this, till the Most High break and bow the heart. And not only
has this enmity against the old law of commandments an antipathy at them,
as crossing our lust, but even against the new and living law of the
Spirit of life in Christ.

Here is your misery, you can neither be subject to the law as commanding
to obey it, or threatening for disobedience to it, nor to the gospel as
promising to believe and receive it. The law commands, but your law
countermands within; the law threatens and sentences you with
condemnation, but you have some self-pleasing delusion and dream in your
heads, and bless yourselves in your own hearts, even though ye walk in the
imagination of your hearts, contrary to the law, Deut. xxix. It is strange
that you do not fore-apprehend and fear hell! But it is this delusion
possesses the heart, "you shall not die:" it was the first act of enmity,
not only the transgression of the command, hut unbelief of the truth of
the curse: and that which first encouraged man to sin, encourages you all
to lie into it, and continue in it,--a fancy of escaping wrath. This noise
fills the heart; Satan whispers in the ear, Go on, you shall not die. Thus
it appears, that the natural mind cannot be subject to the law of God, no
persuasion, no instruction, can enforce this belief of your damnable
condition upon you.

But then, when the enmity is beaten out of this fort, and a soul is really
convinced of its desperate and lost estate, when the heart is brought down
to subjection, to take with that dreadful sentence; yet there is another
tower of enmity in the heart, that can keep out against the weapons of the
gospel, such as Paul mentions, Rom. x. 3. Being ignorant of the
righteousness of God, they went about to establish their own, and could
not submit to the righteousness of God. There is a natural pride and
stiffness of heart, that we cannot endure but to have something in
ourselves to rest on, and take pleasure into: and when a soul sees
nothing, it rather vexes and torments itself as grieving because it hath
no ornament or covering of its own, nor rejoiceth and delighteth in that
righteousness of God revealed in Christ. O the difficulty to bow down so
low, as to put on another's righteousness over