all unrighteoulne f fe and ungodlinef . falfe talcs,and idle fltories;but come to the Scripture, doubts and queftions arife. Therefore, this í apt- ncffe of the minde to beleeve, is to bee confidered. This I take to bee the meaning of that, a Cor. 4.4. where it is faid, The god o(th world bath blinded the mindes of them which beleeve not : As if he had faid, The light of the Gofpell is cleare, you may as well Ifee the light of it, as you fee the light of the Sunne at noone -day, but the god of this world hath blinded your eyes, not by a privative extinétion oldie light, for that is more than the Divell can doe,but by a po; fative blindn'efl'e,a pofitive ignorance, that is, the Di - veil tels you fomething againfi ir, and that you be lecve : And that is our nature, we are more ready to beleeve the Divell than G o D. This may fèeme firange,yet Eve you know did ir,and that fin is rranf mitred to all our natures, wee arc ready to beleeve falfe fuggeflions againft the Truth, which weaken faith,rather than the fure Word of G o n. Laic of all,adde to all this the enmitie ofrhe under - flanding, which is more than all the refl. Rom.8. . The carnaliminders enmitie again fl G o D: that is,the underftanding is not onely vaine, ready to pitch on idle fpeculations,and not only blinde,ready to refill, and not only flow and backward to beleeve, but it is an enemie,and fights againf} the Truth; and the rea- fon is in thefe words: It is enmitie, and why ' It is not fubjea to the Lan' of God, neither indeed can be; and therefore, it is an enemie, that is, when the minde of a man lookes upon the exatoeffe, and flric` neffe of holineffe and purenci:fe that Cod rcquires,he doth not meane to be fubjed to it ; : and feeing hee will not be fubjcet' 43 SERM.II. Cor.4: S. The Enmi- tie of it. Rorn, 3, y.
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