“In a man spiritually dead, there is really a natural or
animal life, which though not active in that which is good, is doubly active in
that which is evil. The understanding
not apprehending the wisdom of God, looks upon it as foolishness (1 Corinthians
2:14), and yet, when it would find wisdom in the things of God, it so
transforms them by its mad presumption, and compels them, even against their
nature, to a conformity to the notions of its trifling presumptuous self-wisdom,
that while it impiously presumes to correct the wisdom of God, it transforms it
in a dreadful manner into downright folly."
"The will, not finding any thing in God where with it can take delight,
seeks it either in the creatures without God, or which is more abominable, in
the very perpetration of wickedness. The affections, shaking off the reins of
reason, rush on its full career. The
body, with all its members, is the throne of mad and furious lusts. And, the
whole man, being so averse from God, and infatuated with the fond love of
himself, sets himself up for an idol, makes his own advantage his supreme end,
his own pleasure his most infallible law."
"This is the life of the soul, which is dead while living (Timothy 5:6).”
Witsius, Herman. The Economy of the Covenants Between God
and Man. Vol. 1. Grand Rapdis: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010. 358-59. 2
vols. Print.
