Religion & morality > Human nature in its fourfold state

66 Corruption of the Will. State II.
woman, young or old, to be verified by the testimonies of
the scriptures of truth, and the testimony of their own
consciencies; namely, that whether they be professors or
profane, whatever they be, seeing they are not bom again,
they are heart enemies to God, to the Son of God, to the
Spirit of God, and to the law of God. Hear this, ye care¬
less souls, that live at ease in your natural state.
1st, Ye are enemies to God in your minds, Col. i. 21.
Ye are not as yet reconciled to him, the natural enmity is
not as yet slain, though perhaps it lies hid, and ye do not
perceive it. (1.) Ye are enemies to the very being of God,
Psal. xiv. 1. “ The fool hath said in his heart, There is no
God.” The proud man would that none were above him¬
self ; the rebel, that there was no king; and the unre¬
newed man, who is a mass of pride and rebellion, that
there were no God. He saith it in his heart, he wisheth
it were so, though he be ashamed and afraid to speak it
out. And that all natural men are such fools, appears
from the apostle’s quoting a part of this psalm, “ That
every mouth may be stopped,” Rom. iii. 10, 11, 12, 19.
I own indeed, that while the natural man looks on God
as the Creator and Preserver of the world, because he
loves his own self, therefore his heart riseth not against
the being of his benefactor: But this enmity will quickly
appear, when he looks oh God as the Rector and Judge of
the world; binding him under the pain of the curse, to
exact holiness, and girding him with the cords of death,
because of sin. Listen in this case to the voice of the
heart, and thou wilt find it to be, No God. (2.) Ye are
enemies to the nature of God, Job xxi. 14. “ They say
unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the know¬
ledge of thy ways.” Men set up to themselves an idol of
their own fancy instead of God, and then fall down and
worship it. They love him no other way, than Jacob lov¬
ed Leah, while he took her for Rachel. Every natural
man is an enemy to God, as he is revealed in his word.
An infinitely holy, just, powerful, and true being, is not
the God whom he loves, but the God whom he loaths. In
effect, men naturally are haters of God, Rom. i. 30. And
if they could, they certainly would make him another than
what he is. For, consider it is a certain truth, that what¬
soever is in God, is God; and therefore, his attributes or