the Flesh shall not only not be a clog to the Spirit but it shall be a meet-help it shall not only be dead as to Sin but it shall be quickned up into the Service of the Spirit the Flesh of the Saints in their mortal Body before they have died and past through the Grave shall be brought by the indwelling of the Spirit to an usefulness in the Service of God * Piscator in Polc Certurn est hic non agi de Resurrectione Corporâ—m Calvin Non de ultima Resurrectione hic loquitur sed de continua Spiritus Operatione qua Reliquias Carnis paulatim mortificans Coelestem Vitam in whis instaurat ibid. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body while it is mortal it may die and must die By the spirit that dwelleth in you which I take to be an Expression signifying our present State here after Conversion and not a Glorified Estate in Heaven for though the Saints in Heaven shall not be void of the Spirit of God there as we may conceive yet I take it this Phrase by his spirit which dwelleth in you signifies the State of this Life and that whilst we live here and have the Spirit of God and of Christ dwelling in us Our mortal Bodies which are yet only wortalia and not Mortua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be quickned into the service of our Spirit which was the design of God in his Creating Man before thâ— rebellion of the Flesh happened and our Spirits led by the Spirit of God So then we shall Eat and Drink to the Glory of God we shall Marry in the Lord 1 Cor. 7.39 Servants shall serve their Master as serving the Lord Christ Col. 3.24 And so I might instance in all the particular actions relating to the Body and the Animal Life If they are Musical they will not endure wanton Songs their very Musick shall be Innocent which is now so much devoted to the Devil to Bacchus and Veaus and Mars the Heathen Deities Therefore brethren we are debtors Verse 12 Now the Apostle comes to make some Application or practical Reflections upon this mysterious and sinewy Discourse we are debtors You see we are all obliged and that greatly we are not our own Men all Men are Debrors engaged one way or another Verse 13 But what are we Christians Debtors to not to the flesh to live after the flesh For if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live The Spirit of God and of Christ dwells in every Saint and we are to make use of the Assistances of the Spirit dwelling in us to mortifie the Deeds and Affections of the Body so far as the Body was engaged in Sin and captivated â—o the Law of Sin Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts and therefore no Doubt also in his deeds Col. 3.9 For as many as are led by the spirit of God Verse 14 they are the sous of God The Apostle still grows in his Sence as the Rule is in Oratory Cresâ—at Oratio The Apostle had before affirmed that if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and then he tells us That where the Spirit of Christ is the Body is dead because of Sin or as to the matter of Sin and the Spirit is alive as to the matter of Righteousness and that the very mortal Body shall be quickened as I take it in this Life to the Service of the Spirit that is of our natural Spirit and Conscience not excluding but highly including the Spirit of God And now that we shall find our whole selves Debtors or owing ourselves not to the flesh any longer than it must be to the Spirit and in this 14 Verse That we are led by the Spirit go ten under the conduct of it that we are safe indeed unless we wickedly depart from such a Guide And now he takes one step further that by that time we are come thus far we are gotten under a Spirit of Adoption And here I take it the Apostle hath much done with the Discourse of Holiness and Sanctification as brought about by the Gospel and so proceeds to other priviledges which a Saint enjoys and arrives at which I am willing to prosecute to the end of this Chapter for it is a rich Mine and a most luscious Discourse The Lord grant that I may beable to proceed in it more than Notionally and Speculatively that I may have the true enjoyment of these Discourses by being able to apply every thing to my own Soul for my comfort and elevation of Heart in the wayes of God as having a particular Interest and Concern in these Mysteries But before I go any further on in the following Verses I must endeavour to perform my Promise of giving what I find in Hammend Pole and Marlorat considerable and different from my apprehensions here signified upon the 10 and 11 Verses But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you Verse 9 Now if any man have not the Spirit of God he is none of his Paraphrase But ye Christians under the Gospel if ye have any of that Spiritual Divine Temper Dr. Hammond upon the 9 Ver. hath these words which Christ came to infuse by his Doctrine and Example are thereby engaged to all manner of sincere inward Purity to mortify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and if you do not so you live not according to the Gospel and if not so ye may know that you are not Christians Christ will not own you for his however ye have received the Faith and are admitted into the Number And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life Verse 10 because of righteousness Paraphrase But if ye be Christians indeed translated and raised above the pretensions of the Jew to the purity of the Gospel of Christ and your Lives be answerable thereto then though being Sinners the punishment of Sin that is Death befall you and so your bodies dye and return to Dust which is the punishment of Sin yet your Souls shall live for ever an happy and a blessed Life as the reward of your return to Christ in the sincerity of a new and righteous Life to which the Evangelical Justification belongs But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you Verse 11 he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the spirit that dwelleth in you Paraphrase And then even for your dead Bodies they shall not finally perish neither they shall be sure to be raised again for the Spirit of God by which ye are to be guided and led is that Divine Omnipotent Spirit that
Sufferings and teacheth us not only to call them but account them light it teacheth us to live by Faith and Hope it teacheth us lastly fully to acquiesce in the holy Will good Will and Favour of God as unconquerable and invulnerable and makes us to tryumph in God and in our Lord Jesus as inseparable from his Love by all that can befal us here and so makes us the glory of Christ here by bearing and doing all for him which must needs end in being glorified with him in the Heavens The Words which I thought fit to transcribe out of Dr. Hammond's Commentary upon this Subject you may find at the Letter d on the seventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans I had not known sin Dr. Hammond Rom. 7.7 It is an ordinary figure saith the Doctor to speak of other Men in the first Person but most frequently in blaming or noting any fault in others for then by the putting it in this disguise fastning it on one's own person it is more likely to be well taken by them to whom it belongs So saith St. Chrysostom of this Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he mentions things that are any way grievous or likely to be ill taken he doth it in his own person And St. Hierem on Daniel Peccata populi enumerat Persona sua quod Apostolum in Epistola ad Romanoâ— facere legimus Confessing the Sins of the People be doth it in his own person which we read practiced by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans that is most probably in this place Thus the same Apostle 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful to me but all things are not expedient that is those things which are by you look'd on as indifferent if they be yielded to may be very hurtful in you And 1 Cor. 13.2 If I have all Faith and have not Charity that is if you want Charity to your other Gifts So Gal. 2.18 If what I have destroyed I build the same again I make myself a transgressor that is whosever doth so or whensoever ye do so it must needs be a fault in you Thus Rom. 3.7 If the truth of God hath more abounded by my lie unto his glory why am I also judged as a sinner Which words are certainly the personating of an impious Objector which speaks or disputes thus not of the Apostle himself And the same Scheme or Fashion of Speech or Writing is very frequent among all Authors Secondly By the severals affirmed in this Chapter which cannot belong to St. Paul it appears that St. Paul did not speak these things of himself For that Paul was at the writing of this a reformed regenerate person there is no doubt but if we compare the severals which are here mentioned with the parts of a regenerate Man's Character given by the same Apostle in other places we shall find them quite contrary Here in the eighth Verse he saith That sin had wrought in him all manner of concupiscence whereas of the regenerate Man it is affirmed Gal. 5.24 they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Here in the ninth Verse it is said sin revived and I died whereas of the regenerate Man it is said Chap. 6.2 How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Here in the fourteenth Verse it is said I am carnal whereas of the regenerate Man it is affirmed Chap. 8.1 that he walketh not after the flesh but after the spirit Here again in that fourteenth Verse 't is said I am sold under sin whereas of the regenerate 't is affirmed Chap. 6.18 that be becomes free from sin and becomes the se vant of righteousness Here Verse 20. Sin dwelleth in me and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accomplisheth worketh that which I will not like not with my mind and conscience And so 't is said Ver. 23 24. That the law of the members carries him into captivity to the law of sin and who shall deliver him from this body of death And so that he is under the power of the law of sin and death that he obeys the law of sin Ver. 25. Whereas Chap. 8.2 of the regenerate 't is affirmed That the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from the law of sin and death Nothing can be more contrary and irreconcilable to a regenerate state in these so many particulars than what is here affirmed of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I he person here represented And indeed unless sinning against Conscience be the only way of alleviating and not aggravating sin it is impossible that the doing that ill he would not the not doing the good he would Ver. 19 20. can be deemed a fit Ingredient in the Character of a regenerate Man 'T is certain this was in the Person of Meâ—ea made by the Heathens the highest pitch of Villany to see and like that which was good and to do the direct contrary and therefore cannot in any reason be thought to be the Apostle's description of a regenerate Man a good Christian I add much less of himself And now methinks these Lines that I have quoted and transcribed out of Dr. Hammond are so grave learn'd and wise that I look upon what I have written as trifliâ—g in comparison with them which in two or three Pages contain in a manner the substance of all that I have written Yet I am not utterly discouraged from making it publick because that may please and convince one that may not have the same influence on another And what I have written I hope I have done in the fear of God and with true zeal for the good of Souls and there is certainly an Use of various ways of Expressing and Arguing for the Information of various Capacities I come now therefore to my promised Work of going through the several Verses of the eighth Chapter for that in that Chapter what follows in several Verses is a mighty confirmation of what hath been delivered and a great improvement of the Discourse by several gradations shewing how the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus sers a Man still more and more at liberty from the Law of Sin and Death and leads him up to his high places as Habakkuk's phrase is Hab. 3.9 The Lord God is my strength and be will make my feet like hind's feet and he will make me to walk upon my high places Proverbs 15.24 The way of life is above to the wise to deliver from hell beneath And indeed till a Man be enlightned in the Gospel and lifted up by the Spirit of God as it were to walk over other Mens heads he is as nothing in the World 1 Cor. 2.19 The spiritual man judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man For they that are after the flesh Rom. 8.5 do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit The Apostle
having as I have above declared setled the Doctrin of Justification by Faith and ended the Discourse in tryumph at the end of the fifth Chapter and proceeded in the sixth Chapter to shew at large how Holiness and Sanctification also necessarily and effectually follows upon the hearty embracing the Doctrine of the Gospel thereby they are baptized into the Death of Christ and profess themselves dead to Sin and are actually set free from Sin and become the Servants of Righteousness and yield themselves unto God and their Members Instruments of Righteousness unto God Ver. 13 14. and have their Fruit unto Holiness Verse 22. He as in a Parenthesis in the seventh Chapter gives you a Parable of a Man endeavouring to be holy by the Law but is utterly defeated of his design and instead of attaining Holiness thereby loseth all his comfort and hope and is plung'd into a far worse condition as to Holiness than he was in before and being brought into a state of desperation thereby betakes himself to Christ then in the very nick of time revealed to him and by betaking himself to Christ is set at liberty from Condemnation and Desperation and also from the Law of Sin and Death which he acknowledged himself before to be led into captivity unto after a fierce Battel betwixt the Law of the Members and the Law of the Mind and so finds by blessed experience that he is one of them in whom the Righteousness of the Law is now fulfilled which Righteousness by the Law could never have been effected accomplished and fulfilled The Righteousness of the Law can never be fulfilled in any mortal Man but by the Grace of the Gospel received that is a Man can never become holy but by Faith Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Gal. 5.6.6.15 Faith working by Love to the keeping the Commandments of God is the new Creature Compare those two places in Gal. Such Men as have this Faith they walk not after the Flesh any longer but after the Spirit For they that are after the flesh Verse 5 do mind the things of the flesh but they that This Particle for is a causal Particle and shews the Reason of the Assertion going before The Assertion before in the fourth Verse is this The righteousness of the law is or that it might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Now this is proved to be so because they that are after the Flesh do â—ind the things of the Flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Therefore they who are after the Spirit do truly attain unto the Holiness and Righteousness of the Law which is a Spiritual and an Holy Law because their whole Mind is set upon spiritual things or the things of the Spirit but for carnal Men or Men that are after the flesh their whole mind is upon fleshly or carnal things and accordingly as Mens minds are set if they have undertaken a feasible thing such will their attainments be They that are after the Flesh as all those are that are under the Law Rom. 7.5 When we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law did work do mind the things of the Flesh * Cogitant desiderant curant sapiunt they savour and relish and give their mind to nothing but †Carnalia bona mundana honores opes c. Corpores Voluptates vel opera Carnis ad quae Concupiscencia Carnalis inclinat ut peccata omnia fleshly things they cannot freely lift up their Heart to God and heavenly or spiritual things but true Saints of God that have received the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus have embraced Gospel-Principles with a Spirit of Faith and Love and so walk after the Spirit their mind is wholly or at least chiefly ser upon the things of the Spirit which I take in other words to signifie Matters of Religion And therefore since their minds are wholly set upon them no wonder they make great attainments in them so as to have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in them For to be carnally minded is death Verse 6 but to be spiritually minded is life and peace For a Man to be carnally minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the carnal mind or carnal mindedness or to be wholly set upon carnal things is a stare of Spiritual Death and will end if continued in in Eternal Death There can be no life in Religion where the mind is carnal and his tendency is altogether towards and his relish is only of carnal things But to be spiritually minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole tendency of a Man indued with the Spirit and that hath heartily embraced Gospel-Principles is towards heavenly life and living unto God and as he hath a lively activity for God so his comforts accordingly grow upon him to be spiritually minded is not only full of life and activity for God but full of peace and comfort ordinarily Great peace have they that keep thy law and nothing shall offend them Psalm 119.165 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God Verse 7 neither indeed can be It is no wonder that the carnal mind should have no activity for God and so consequently no peace whilest it is enmity against God yea neither is subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Why what is this carnal mind Here I must make a grand Enquiry that we may find out if it so please God what this carnal mind is for if we know not the Subject spoken of we can never well understand what that is which is predicated or affirmed and asserted of it at least not the manner how it is affirmed of it For non entis nulla sunt attributa and non esse non apparere idem est What then is meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but an accident or attrioute We may know what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is best by knowing what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Now in Verse 27 of this Chapter it is said God that searcheth the Hearts knoweth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is the Mind of the Spirit when it maketh Intercessions for us within us and doubtless there the meaning is what the Spirit would have So here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is what the Flesh would have the relish savour or tendency of the Flesh What is this that is here called Flesh which hath in it such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a tendency such a relish such a savour as neither is nor can be subject to the Law of God Till this Question be well answered till this Enquiry be prudently and satisfactorily made I despair of ever giving a right Paraphrase or Interpretation of this Verse or any of the like nature Caro saith Vorstius
that is wholly addicted to and commanded by the lusts or desires of their flesh I take it to be all one with that Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that are after the flesh only there may be this little difference that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the state and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies conversation as walking after the flesh or according to the motions and dictates of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piscator and Beza say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so then or therefore but others sav 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it must be translated Now they that are in the flesh cannot please God and therefore the righteousness of the Law is not fulfilled in them This I take to be the most genuine Interpretation And this Verse is confessed to be the Conclusion of the whole Argumentation of the Verses foregoing But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be the spirit of God dwell in you Now the Apostle hath done with the Argumentation beginning from the first Verse which Argumentation I take to be directed against the state of the Man under convictions in the seventh Chapter And so speaks to his converted Romans Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit with this caution If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you For every Man that hath received the Gospel sincerely and betaken himself to Christ and his Righteousness from the Condemnations and accidental Irritations of the Law hath the Spirit of God dwelling in him for the Gospel is the Ministration of the Spirit which the Law is not Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you Received ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Verse 9 This Expression you see is doubled and therefore needs the greater consideration and serious reflection of every Man upon himself to know his state by I cannot here stay to make discovery how a Man may come to know whether he hath the Spirit of God and of Christ which is much or all one and it is the less necessary for me to do it because the Apostle himself in several Verses following makes the discovery himself by several high and glorious effects of the Spirit 's inhabitation And if Christ be in you that is by his Spirit the body is dead because of sin Verse 10 but the spirit is life because of righteousness I fancy or apprehend this to be the meaning of these dark Expressions for which I shall seriously consult Expositors Dr. Hammond Pole and Marlorate and give any thing that I find in them which I think considerable But I presume first here to give my own thoughts for which I beg the Reader 's pardon If Christ be in you by his Spirit the body is dead because of sin that is your Flesh and Body by which you were heretofore strongly impelled and as it were forced on to the commission of all sorts of sin is dead * Piscator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod ad peccâ—tion scuratione peccati ne scilicet possit amplius nos impellere ad petulanter peccandum as to sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of sin propter or secundum where I imagine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have the force of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this I am sure is less straining than to use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Piscator and Beza do and our English Translators in the eighth Verse So then they c. Tho' Pole tells us from another Author Tolet that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I take it is never so used But to make good this Exposition see how the sence seems to force it If Christ be in you the body is dead because of or as to sin That is the Flesh in its Lusts is mortified I am sure this is true Divinity But the spirit is life in the abstract or alive in the concrete that it may answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dead in the Antithesis in the words that is Whereas when you were without the Spirit of Christ the Flesh and the Body was alive and regnant and the Law of the Members warred against the Law of the Mind or Spirit and had the better of it and brought you into captivity to the Law of Sin which Law of Sin was in the Members in the Flesh and Body Now this Body this rampant Flesh unbridled Lust which had cast off the Bridle of the Spirit and the Law of the Mind and Conscience which ought to have ruled the Flesh this Body is dead not simply but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Body is dead in the matter of Sin so that you need not obey Sin in the lustings of the Body though the Body hath its desires still of eating and drinking c. yet it hath not those strong impetuous irregular desires that it had but is dead in a great measure because of Sin or as to Sin But the * Significat spiritum hominis tum ob Antithesin Corporis Spiritus tum extollat v. seq Animam five rationalem partem gratia Christi renovatam Estius ex Oecumen Cass spirit is life or greatly alive because of righteousness or as to the matter of Righteousness Now the Law of the Mind prevails over the Law of the Members you are alive to God and Righteousness and Holiness But if the spirit of him that is God the Father that raised up Christ from the dead Verse 11 dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your morted bâ—dies by his spirit that dwelleth in you Here I confess I have a peculiar Notion which I have been hammering at these thirty Years but I will assure thee Reader that it is honest and will lead thee into no dangerous Errour and therefore consider it If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you That is in your mortal Body in which the Apostle forbids that Sin should reign Rom. 6.12 I say this mortal Body shall not only be dead as to the matter of Sin which is affirmed in the 10th Verse and is a great attainment by the Spirit of Christ's dwelling in us The World is well altered with such a Man that whereas his Flesh did rule and lead him captive to the Law of Sin now this Flesh and this mortal Body of his should be dead as to the matter of Sin this I say is a great attainment and a blessed alteration from his former state But this is not all no the chiefest thing is yet behind
raised Christ's dead body out of the Grave and if ye be guided by that animated and quickned by that live a pious and holy life there is no doubt but God will raise your mortal Bodies out of the Graves also by the power of the same Spirit that raised Christ's As for Pole's Synopsis I have read over all that he saith upon these Verses and you see what I have gotten out of him from Piscator Calvin Estius and others towards my sence and as he hath all the sences of divers Authors so in it you have this of Dr. Hammond Now for Marlorat I find the same Quotation out of Calvin that Pole hath upon these words Vivificabit Mortalia Corpora vestra He shall also quicken your mortal Bodies Mortalia Corpora vocat quiequid adbuc restat in nobis Morti obuoxium ut mos est illi usitatus crassiorem nostri partem hoc nomine appellare ut jam saepe dictum est Vnde colligimus non de ultima Resurrectione quae momento fiet haberi Sermonem sed de continua Spiritus operatione qua reliquias Carnis paulatim mortificans coelestem Vitam in nobis instaurat In English thus St. Paul calls that our mortal Bodies whatsoever yet remains in us liable to death as it is an usual Custom with him to call our grosser part by that name as I have often already said Whence we gather that he doth not here speak of the last Resurrection which shall be done in a moment by the Spirit of Christ and of God but of the continual Operation of the Spirit in us whereby mortifying by little and little the relicks and remainders of the Flesh he doth renew and establish an heavenly Life in us And so I have done with the 10 11 12 13 Verses For as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God Verse 14 I am now past the discourse of Sanctification by Faith as brought about by Gospel-Principles and impossible to be effected by the Law or attained unto by a legal Spirit or frame of Heart and I come to some other high Priviledges which a Man Sanctified attains unto The first is he is led by the spirit of God and so secondly is one of the Sons of God I shall hasten now with as much brevity as I can to the end of this Chapter And such a one is not only a Son but is in a very fair way to understand and to have the boldness of a Son in the presence of God For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again to fear Verse 15 This Expression seems to have an eye and respect to the Old-Testament Dispensation we in the Dispensation of the Gospel have not received the Spirit of Bondage again as they did under the Law who though they were truly and really under the Covenant of Grace yet their Dispensation looked much like Law and accordingly their Spirits were low and legal and they were more like Servants than Sons as you have it professedly and at large discoursed in Gal. 4.1 2 3. to the end of the 7th Verse Verse 15 And Gal. 3.22 23 24. Ye have received the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father Ye Romans have received the Spirit by which same Spirit we Christians of all Nations cry Abba Father for the Saints drink all into one Spirit according to that Article of our Creed the Communion of Saints The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits Verse 16 That we are the Children of God There are two Spirits spoken of in one Verse the Spirit itself that is the Spirit of God bâ—areth witness with our Spirits that is with our Consciences being enlightned by the Spirit of God and renewed thereby and restored to its empire over the Flesh by which renovation we are made the Children of God that we are the Children of God First we must be the Children of God and then the Spirit of God can and will bear witness to this Truth that so it is unless our Consciences can bear this Testimony the Spirit will not cannot bear such a Testimony because it is a Spirit of Truth And if children Verse 17 then heirs See how the Priviledge rises all Children among Men are not Heirs but all God's Children are Heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs or Co-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together See what little reason we have to be asraid of Suffering if we suffer for a good Cause and with a good Conscience Phil. 1.29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but to suffer for his name It is an additional Gift to that of Faith to suffer for the Name of Christ to bear the Cross is the way to the Crown but we are apt to have dastardly and cowardly Thoughts and Spirits St. Paul was quite of another mind as he shews in the next Verse For I reckon Verse 18 that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us This is the third Priviledge that a Sanctified Man hath viz. Courage in the midst of all sorts of suffering for Christ and that upon this account namely the inconceiveable Glory which he is to receive which will be so great when it comes that the whole groaning World waits with earnest expectation to see the blessed Time when the Saints shall receive this Glory and what Comfort should the Saints themselves then take in the Expectation of it and what Patience should they excercise in the mean time For the earnest expectation of the creature Verse 19 waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God this with the 20 21 22 I shall not meddle with as containing no doubt a great Mystery which good and learned Men are divided about and which I confess I do not understand but thus much is evident that there is a wonderfull Glory to come for the Saints and that this life is a suffering life but so ordered for the Saints that they have great cause of Patience nay Joy and Glorying in all their Tribulations seeing the whole suffering and groaning World is contented under their sufferings meerly with the Expectation they have and Participation that they shall have of the Saints Glory for it is said Verse 21. That the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God This is a groaning time There are three sorts of Groans 1st That of the whole Creation 2dly That of the Saints Verse 23. 3dly The Spirit of God also maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered The First sort of Groans I have passed over with a Confession of my Ignorance only that we see the sad effects of sin in which the brute Creatures suffer The Second sort of Groans we may and ought to understand And
conclude that not only all these things mentioned but all other things whatsoever do work together for good to them that love God The whole Creation groans for their Deliverance they Groan within themselves for their glorious State and the Spirit helps them in their Groanings and to further Groanings in Prayer beyond all Words and Expressions even to meanings which God knows and God alone and they shall all be answered in full Returns not a Sigh or a Groan lost sent out from them that love God from them that are effectually called according to his purpose For I question not but all things are done according to purpose which lies hid as I may humbly say in the breast of God According to the purpose of Eternal Ages as the Phrase is Eph. 3.11 Which he made or purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then it follows as it were occasionally from this Expression called according to his purpose Ver. 29. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son Verse 29 that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whem he called Verse 30 them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified The Purpose of God is so strongly made that it goes thorough and thorough with the whole train of Successive glorious Effects and this demonstrates a Wonderful Co-operation for good to those that love God to those that are called according to his Purpose Onely I must here honestly offer my Apprehensions in this most profound-Matter for I would deal honestly with all the World and especially with the Church of God And my chief Observation upon this Golden Chain as it is well called is this That the first Link of the Chain which is fastened to the Mercy-seat and all the World can never loose it thence is fore-knowledge whom he did fore-know which I humbly conceive is meant of God's fore-sight * Quos praescivit nempe tales per ductum Gratiae suae consensum liberae Voluntatis futuros bene victuros vel Gratiae oblatae assensuros vel credituros in fide perseveraturos Sic exponunt Chrysost Theodoret. Hieronymus c. Pole in loc The English is this Whom he did fore-know viz. that they would be such through the conduct of Grace and the consent of their own Free-will as would live well assent to Grace offered would believe and persevere in Faith what Men would do placed under such and such circumstances and thereupon did predestinate call justifie and glorifie in his eternal and irrefragable Purpose And so I dismiss the great Subject of these two Verses only I shall remark upon the 29th Verse Whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren That though Men have a true liberty of will in their choice of and adhering unto Christ yet God did not leave the whole issue and success of things to the liberty of Men but fore-seeing what Men would do purposed and decreed to do more for them infinitely than they could themselves do in carrying on the work of Grace in them so that Christ should not be an Head without a Body and a First-born without Brethren but the First-born amongst many Brethren And this fore-knowledge of God what Men would do in believing and returning to God is as easie for us to conceive of as it is how God should foresee that Adam would certainly fall when it was in his power to have stood and yet this certain fore-knowledge of God must be allowed in a matter perfectly free for ought that we know or else the purpose of sending Christ as a Saviour which was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could never have been made by the All-wise Jehovah What shall we say then Verse 31 if God be for us who can be against us As much as to say The whole matter of our salvation is a certain well-laid inexpugnable thing if we are but once brought over to God if we are once well convinced of sin by the Law and see our need of Christ if Christ become precious to us and our only deliverer if we are by him freed from the Curse and Condemnation of the Law and have the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus setting us free from the Law of Sin and Death if we have the impossible thing of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wrought in us that is if we are enabled to walk after the Spirit and no longer after the Flesh if we have been taught to mortifie the Deeds of the Body and so come to be led by the Spirit to call God Father by a Spirit of Adoption are content to suffer with Christ to long for his presence and groan after it we need not question but all things shall work together for our good we shall find ourselves effectually called and therefore elected Make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 We have no other way to know our Election but by our Calling and then and not till then can we take comfort in the Doctrine of Election namely when we may have ground to hope that the golden Chain hath fastened upon us and if so what can harm us if God be for us who can be against us unless they can be too hard for God Now from hence the Apostle runs on with a clear and triumphant Argumentation Verse 32. He that spared not his own Son Verse 32 but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things This is the clearest Argument in the World we have no reason to doubt of the good will of God for our final salvation and therefore present happiness for he that gives us the greatest gift he could give will never deny us the small matters of the World if they be good for us This Argument is like that of our Saviour's He that gave us Life will give us Food he that gave us Body will give us Rayment a majori ad minus Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect It is God that justifies Verse 33 And if we be interested in election by effectual calling who shall lay any thing to our charge in judgment when he that is to be our judge and whose approbation alone justifies will justifie us Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died and so took off our condemnation Verse 34 by suffering the penalty of out sin and he that died is not dead yea rather that is risen again who is ever at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The Spirit in us and for us here on Earth and Christ for us in Heaven What abundant Consolation is here He that died for us on Earth to free us from Death and Hell is ascended to Heaven and there maketh intercession for us
death would be a death unto righteousness unto which you were raised and this death must never be So it follows For in that he died Verse 10 he died unto sin once The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semel duntaxat only once or once for all he dieth no more but in that he liveth or whatsoever he liveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he liveth unto God his whole life is consecrated to God and so must yours be and you are no further Christians than you thus do So it follows Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin Verse 11 but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I know no difficulty in the words but that they may easily be understood by what hath been spoken before only I observe in the words Likewise reckon your selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the great thing that we have to do is to keep the account clear to consider what is the consequence of our Christian Profession if we be wise and pertinent and serious therein we must count it our indispensible Duty to shew a true conformity to the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ by our being as crucified dead and buried to all sin and alive unto God in all that we live I shall only give a parallel place both for matter and form unto the tenth Verse with this difference that one place speaks of our Saviour the other of St. Paul but each express a Crucifixion Death and Resurrection or living unto God and so pass to the twelfth Verse In the tenth Verse of this Chapter it is thus expressed in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The parallel place is Gal. 2.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am crucified with Christ yet I live no longer I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live or what I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God The other is Christ died to sin once but now what he liveth he liveth unto God Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body Verse 12 The Apostle having hitherto shewn doctrinally the absurdity of that Question in the first Verse Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound from our professed state of Death to Sin declared in Baptism and from our necessary conformity to Christ comes in this Verse as partly in the eleventh to make the Application by way of Exhortation Likewise reckon ye also yourselves And here let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body Here I take the word body not to be the same with the word body in the sixth Verse Our old man was crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed for there body is called the body of sin but in this Verse sin and body are distinguished one from the other as two different things and separable one from the other whereas in that phrase the body of sin sin cannot be separated from the body for take away sin from the body of sin and there will be no body left for the body of sin is made up of sin in all its variety but we may at least in conception separate sin from our mortal body for the same body in Adam that after he had sinned became mortal was actually without sin before he had sinned therefore it may at least be conceived without sin whereas the body of sin cannot be conceived without sin But this Criticism will more visibly appear if you observe the words of the Text in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is being exactly interpreted to be read thus Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey sin it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the lusts of the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An English Reader cannot make the distinction which is very apparent in the Greek For he is apt to take it thus Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it that is sin in the lusts thereof that is in the lusts of sin but it is not so but quite otherwise in the Greek in the lusts thereof that is of the body I shall endeavour to explain the matter thus for it is not a meer Nicety but the Observation or Criticism carries a great deal of useful sence in it We are all of us here in this World in a mortal body Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth saith St. Poul 2 Cor. 12.2 I say we are all in a mortal body and this body of ours hath several appetites or designs as eating and drinking c. these designs are called lustings or lusts according to the old English Now the Apostle's advice is that sin reign not in our mortal bodies In the body of sin which is to be destroyed and crucified with Christ there is nothing else but sin reigning sin this therefore must be destroyed but it is no duty but a great sin for us to destroy and kill our mortal body we must nourish it and cherish it in a moderate way only we must have a care that sin reign not in these mortal bodies so as to obey sin in gratifying to excess the innocent lustings or desires of our body The thirteenth Verse illustrates and strengthens this sence that I have given of the twelfth Neither yield ye your members that is the limbs of your mortal body Verse 13 your hands and feet your eyes and ears and tongue Instruments Margin Arms or Weapons of unrighteousness unto sin In this Verse are two Captains Kings Generals or Masters God and Sin You must not yield your members or limbs as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin If by the members here were meant the members of the body of sin it were no good sence to say yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin for how can it be that the members of the body should not yield to the use and service of the body which is only unrighteousness in the body of sin But by our members here is understood the limbs and members of our natural or mortal body Now I shall recite the whole Verse Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin Verse 13 do not obey sin in gratifying the desires of the body but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead that is from death in sin and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God Use your bodies and every limb and faculty of them to the glory of God whose you are and whom you ought to glorifie with your bodies and spirits which are his For sin shall not have dominion over you Above Verse twelve Verse 14 he had exhorted and cautioned them that sin might not have dominion over them Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body Here he either promises or at least foretells them that it shall not reign for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
highly approve but the quite contrary He certainly did not only condemn himself but was worthy to be condemned by all that observed it and heard or read him to make such a Description of himself But to speak more closely to the words this is a plain Description of a Man if not maliciously wicked yet at least impotently so and the very Character which Medea the Witch gives of herself in the Poet Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor I see better things and approve of them but I follow worse things Dolus an Virtus quis in hoste requirat What odds is there if an Enemy does us a mischief by Stratagem or by Valour So what odds is it whether a Man does wickedness of choice or because he cannot well or easily help it whilst the Devil himself cannot force us to sin of whatsoever a Man is overcome of the same is he brought under bondage 2 Pet. 2.19 If a Man does the thing that is wicked frequently and omits the good that he should do frequently and usually let him pretend necessity or that he could not help it or indeed let him say what he will in his excuse if he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the words that can be used to express the doing of a thing and declares he can do no otherwise but omit good and do that which is evil he is a sinner a carnal person a fleshly person or what can be more expressive sold under sin If then I do that which I would not Verse 16 I consent unto the law And what if he do consent unto the Law that it is good Will this make amends for the constant breach of it Is it not an high aggravation of such a one's wickedness Now then Verse 17 it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me If this should be spoken as an Excuse for the Sin committed that it is not the Sinner's Action but Sin 's Action it would be the most absurd Excuse that ever was offered For what is Sin in any Man is it a Person or Agent or rather a vicious Quality of the Person The latter no doubt See if any one will be content with this Excuse in a matter of Theft or Slander or Wounds to say 'T is not I that stole but my thievish Temper 't is not I that struck you but my angry Passion 't was not I that railed at you or spoke evil falsly of you but my intemperate and malicious Tongue this is a Tale to tell a Child but not to be believed by a Man or admitted for an Excuse in a Court of Justice It is thy angry Person that strikes 't is thy lustful Heart that commits lewdness 't is thy covetous Heart that steals and defrauds 't is thy prophane Heart that blasphemes It will be imputed to thy whole Man what thou dost with thy Hand or Tongue or any Member of thy Body Sin will not be called to account as a Person but the Person for the Sin And therefore to make a little sence of the Excuse here it can only be this That a Man under conviction of Sin may say indeed that he doth not sin with all his heart that he hath a Conscience within him that checks him in and for what he doth But yet if Conscience cannot restrain him from doing evil nor command him to do the good that he should that renitency of Conscience will not excuse him before God but he shall be condemned as a Criminal at last for all his Commissions and Omissions if he doth not get beyond this state of Conviction to a state of Conversion and the renitency and reluctancy of his Conscience will be so far from excusing him that it will be the highest aggravation towards his condemnation For I know Verse 18 that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Here is another poor Excuse that the Man under legal convictions and not St. Paul converted makes use of to quiet his Conscience or to plead for him with the World whilst he lives in the practice of Sin and in the omission of his Duty I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing I am fleshly and in the flesh and alas in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing and how can I do otherwise than sin the Flesh and the Body is not properly the seat of Religion though after a Man is regenerate it is influenced by religious Principles and brought into good order and into the service of the Spirit as I shall have occasion to shew in the Exposition of the next Chapter but in a state of unregeneracy which I take to be the state of the Man in this Chapter it runs a Man headlong into all impiety and wickedness for it has not on its Bridle And accordingly he confesses further in the end of the Verse For to will is present with me but to perform that which is good I find not Verse 18 To will is present with me this will can only be accounted a Velleity as the Schools speak a wishing and a woulding he would fain do this good and avoid that evil but is perfectly impotent as to the matter of practice and what is this will good for which can bring nothing to effect For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that do I. Ver. 19 20. Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me This is no more than what was said before and 't is an usual way with the Apostle to repeat to keep things fresh in memory that had been discoursed and an illustration of what had been said in the 18th Verse I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me Verse 21 Now the Apostle comes to sum up the Evidence and to put the Matter to an issue And the sum of the Evidence is this I find then a Law The Man that was in the flesh Verse 5. and under the Law 's convictions Verse 9. deceived and slain Verse 11. under the workings of all manner of Concupiscence Verse 8. he finds himself not only under the Law of God in a way of Conviction and Condemnation but under a Law of Sin I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me For I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members Ver. 22 23 The inward Man was his Conscience which had some kind of complacency in the Law of God as a just and an holy thing For God keeps that Hold or Garrison in every Man's Breast that is not quite profligate and past all sence of good and evil which yet is very hard for any Man perfectly to attain unto much less for the Man in this Chapter whom all Intepreters will allow to be under strong sore and quick Convictions from the
Law of God But to what purpose was this small delight in the Law of God which had no influence upon Practice or the mortification of his Flesh for he plainly acknowledges that he saw another Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind Verse 23 The Law of his Mind was a Rule in his Conscience that he ought to do all good and to avoid and eschew all evil But the Question is Which Law prevails Why he tells us plainly and why should we not believe him And bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members The two Laws indeed did both war but the Law of Sin was the conqueror And of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought under bondage 2 Pet. 2.19 And then being captivated no wonder he crys out in the 24th Verse Verse 24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or this Body of Death Now when the Law hath perfectly left him for dead in a spiritual sence a condemned Wretch strugling for life by the help of the Holy Law which yet could afford him no comfort nor help here we must imagine as I conceive that God in wonderful Mercy made a discovery of Christ and Grace to him the Law was his School-master to bring him to Christ Now Christ is precious to him as the only Saviour that was before utterly lost and undone in himself and as to all hopes from the Law Now I suppose this Verse is that which hath misled all those Interpreters and good Christians that mistook this Chapter as if St. Paul had spoken it of himself after conversion The Expression indeed is admirable and truly Evangelical but I take it as I said before as a new discovery made to him under his Bondage and Captivity under Sin by which he might attain unto true deliverance from the guilt and power of Sin I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse 25 Not a word of Christ before in all this struggle and agony wherein the personation is made of one under Convictions and Condemnations and Irritations unto Sin accidentally from the Law till the Man is utterly undone and crys out for deliverance I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse 25 So then with my mind I my self serve the law of God but with my flesh the law of sin This I take to be added in the close of this Chapter as the summa totalis or the Epitome of all the foregoing Discourse But yet even in it though there is one little word added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I my self because the Mind is indeed more principally a Man's self than his Flesh or Body is yet it is to me very insignificant to prove what Men would have for as long as the Law of the Members prevails against the Law of the Mind and brings the Man into captivity to the Law of Sin What is that Service of God with his Mind worth 'T is the predominant Party in the Man that denominates him spiritual or carnal and indeed he allows the Denomination quae sumitur a Majori in the fourteenth Verse I am carnal and I am a person sold under sin And so I dismiss the seventh Chapter and hasten out of this cold shivering Water as I called it above into the other hot Bath of the eighth Chapter which will more evidently and demonstratively clear the sence and importance of the seventh and was given us as I said above as another surety for the seventh that the seeming ill sence of that might have no evil influence upon us nor give any disparagement to our noble Gospel-Religion But I shall take along with me as Ariadnes thread that Expression which was put into the dying and otherwise despairing Man's mouth in the 23th Verse of the seventh Chapter when he had said gaspingly O miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And from that Expression I take my rise to begin to explain the first Verse of the eighth Chapter ROMANS Chap. VIII THere is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Verse 1 Now I see by this last discovery made to me when I was even giving up all for lost that to avoid condemnation which the Law inflicted and could not otherwise chuse but thunder out against a sinner we must all betake ourselves to Christ so the Illative therefore may well convert this eighth Chapter with that Expression in Verse 25. of the foregoing Chapter Therefore if you will flee from condemnation you must flee to Christ for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Why who are they that are in Christ Jesus It follows who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Ay they are the Men indeed and none but they free from condemnation The Man in the seventh Chapter was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carnal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the flesh Verse 5. and therefore was followed with condemnation but they that are in Christ Jesus walk after the Spirit their state is altered and therefore no wonder they are freed from their Desperations But the second Verse makes all clear For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Verse 2 hath made me free from the law of sin and death There are several things very observable in this Verse 1. Here is the personation continued in the first person I and me hath set me free as much as to say I that before was a captive to Sin under the Law of Sin and Death am set free 2. Here is a quite different Law never before mentioned viz. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus 3. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus sets the person free that was captive under the Law of Sin and Death Now let it be allowed Disputandi Causa that the word or person I all along the seventh Chapter was St. Paul yet sure they will not deny that me which is but the Accusative Case of I is St. Paul also Let all then depend upon this word And then it will plainly appear that Ego non sum Ego The I in the seventh Chapter though spoken of the same person is not spoken of the same person in the same state here In the seventh Chapter he is led into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death In this Chapter the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath set him free from the Law of Sin and Death Therefore the Man in the seventh Chapter that was led into captivity to the Law of Sin Verse 23. needed the Gospel which is here called the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus to set him at liberty from this Law of Sin Therefore he was before only a miserable Man under the convictions and condemnations of the Law and not converted which was the
thing to be proved But yet the Apostle goes on and gives a more full account of this matter which leaves the thing without all pretence of doubt as I conceive Ver. 3 4. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh Verse 3 God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did i.e. and for sin condemned sin in the flesh The Explication of this Verse alone clears the whole matter as I judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. What was the impossible thing which the Law could not do Why to justifie or sanctifie a sinner How came it impossible to the Law to effect either of these Why not from any weakness in itself it would have justified innocent Man with good authority But it cannot justifie a sinner that is impossible for then the Law of God would cease to be holy it would have sanctified innocent Man that is have led him on from one kind of holy action to another and made him conversant in and ready at doing the whole Will of God But when it meets with a sinner through the sin which reigns in his flesh it not only condemns him but irritates and provokes Lust till Sin by the Commandment appear in its colours appear Sin and become out of measure sinful as we have at large discoursed this matter in the foregoing Chapter This argues no weakness in the Law that it cannot justifie or sanctifie a sinner for it is weak only through the flesh So that any Man that doth not betake himself to Christ and the Gospel but is only under Convictions from the Law must needs be in such a condition as the seventh Chapter describes But now God in infinite Mercy since the Law under which Man was created was utterly disabled from justifying much more from sanctifying fallen Man sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by so sending him did that for us which the Law could not do and for sin or as it is in the Margin by a Sin-offering condemned sin in the flesh that is expiated our sins and shewed us a way how we might effectually subdue our lusts or to give you the Paraphrase of the Verse in Dr. Hammond's own words they are these For when through the fleshly desires of Men carrying them headlong into all Sin in despight of the Prohibitions of the Law Chap. 7.14 the Law of Moses was by this means weak and unable to reform and amend Mens Lives then most seasonably God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh that is in a mortal body which was like sinful flesh and differed nothing from it save only in innocence and that on purpose that he might be a Sacrifice for Sin and by laying our Sins on him shewed a great Example of his Wrath against all carnal Sins by punishing Sin in his flesh that so Men might be perswaded by Love or wrought on by Terrors to forsake their sinful Courses By this means Sin itself is condemned in our flesh that is destroyed as to its guilt and power which before by the Law had condemned us That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh Verse 4 but after the Spirit By this means namely the sending Christ to die and giving us the Gospel which discovers to us his Death and Resurrection and the ends of them we are perswaded the Spirit working together with it in the Preaching of it to betake ourselves to Christ for Pardon and Salvation and for Strength against every Lust of the Flesh and being truly converted by and to the Faith of the Gospel the Righteousness of the Law comes to be fulfilled in us and we are enabled through the Grace of God to do the substance of all that which the Moral Law requires and our Failings are hid by the Intercessions of Christ and we are truly said to walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And now see if there be not a vast alteration of states from the Man in the seventh of the Romans and the same I in the eighth the one is legal and under the Power of Sin led captive by the Law of Sin the other is set at liberty by the Gospel from the Law of Sin and Death that is that Sin which necessarily ends in Death For the wages of sin is death and this is done by the Law of the Spirit of Life which is only in Christ Jesus and conveyed by his Gospel into the minds of Men. 'T is the new Law the Law of the Spirit so the Gospel is called We are Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter that is the Law killeth but the Spirit that is the Gospel giveth Life 2 Cor. 3.6 The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life John 6. â—â— Tâ—erefore the Gospel coming in power is called the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and it is also called the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 I have now done with the argumentative Part as hoping that the Cause is won which yet whether it be or no I must leave to the serious and candid Reader to determine for himself only I shall desire of any that is unsatisfied to give as fair an Account of his contrary Opinion and Perswasion as I have here done by insisting upon the several Verses of the 7th Chaper especially and let him see if he can make sence of every thing as I have done and not only argue against the whole together by some little Arguments that he may imagine to himself to have some strength in them I have not that I know balked or avoid d any thing in the whole Chapter that looks like an Argument for the Opinion which I contradict And that I may not be alone is this Discourse I thought it convenient to subjoyn out of Dr. Hammond's Commentary what were his Sentiments upon the Subject debated which after I have transcribed I shall willingly follow the Apostle's Discourse throughout the whole eighth Chapter For that therein as I humbly conceive the Apostle pursues the Mystery of the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus till he makes it evident that this new Law otherwise truly called Gospel and the Ministration of the Spirit carries a Man on not only to a freedom from the Law of Sin and Death or the bondage and power of Corruption but carries him through the whole course of mortification of Sin and vivification even of our natural Flesh bringing it on to the service of the Spirit the Spirit of our Mind or the Law of the Mind and indeed into a rejoycing in the Conduct of the Spirit of God it brings us on to a Spirit of Adoption praying to God with holy Boldness as a Father It carries us on through the heaviest
est Vitiositas nativa seu peccatum Originis a quo nihil boni cogitari praestari potest and this Mr. Pole in his Synopsis leaves for the meaning of it Now this I cannot acquiesce in as a full description of the Subject Flesh here spoken of there is something of the truth in it but it is not satisfactory That it cannot be meant of sinful flesh or a principle or root in us that unavoidably carries sin in it or produceth sin seems apparent to me from the Expression of the Apostle in the latter end of this Verse The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be The Apostle makes a great assertion That the carnal mind is enmity against God then he gives a reason Because it is not subject to the Law of God and then follows this reason with an high proof or aggravation which makes the reason very full and evident That it is not only actually not subject but incapable of becoming subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither indeed can be Now to me it would be no wonder no high discovery at all to say That a sinful nature cannot be subject to the holy Law for every body knows that that which hath sin necessarily in it cannot be subject to that which is holy for there is a perfect contradiction in one to the other But now if there be such a thing which by nature is indifferent to sin or not to sin but by accidental circumstances becomes sinful and whil'st it is under those accidents and circumstances cannot but be a sinning Principle and productive of variety of sins to assert concerning his that whil'st under these circumstances it cannot be subject to the Law of God This may be a great discovery and worth our best and strictest notice and observation Now such a thing I take the flesh and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be in this Discourse of the Apostle's We know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flesh and spirit are the two contradistinct and constituent parts of Man Tee spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Matth. 26.41 Sometimes there are three parts made of a Man Body Soul and Spirit Corpus Arima which make Animals and Spirit which make a Man which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 5.23 Now there was a time when Flesh and Spirit did sweetly agree in the Service of God and the Flesh was without sin But since Adam fell there was a sad divorce made between the Flesh and the Spirit of a Man and every sinner and unregenerate person adheres to his fleshly part with the neglect of the Soul and Spirit or Mind and Conscience and is led by the inclinations and tendencies of the Flesh and so the Flesh in them is deserted of its Guide the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it hath lost its Bridle and now the Flesh gives the denomination to a carnal Man Nay the Flesh that is as destitute of its Guide which ought to be the Spirit of a Man enlightned and assisted by the Spirit of God is called by the name of a sinning Principle and partly in the Saints themselves for that none of them is perfect So you have it Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary the one to another so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Now Men that are wholly unregenerate are wholly under the command of their fleshly inclinations and they follow the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which the Flesh dictates and commands and this is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be that is whil'st they remain carnal till they have received the Gospel they are in the flesh and walk after the flesh Nay there is a further piece of mystery in this matter that whereas the Flesh according to the order of Nature and institution of God in our first Creation ought to be influenced and guided and ruled by the Spirit in carnal Men the Flesh influenceth and infecteth their very Mind and Conscience which is the only Fort and Garrison that God holdeth in a wicked Man Therefore we hear of a fleshly Mind Col. 2.18 And there even their Minds and Consciences are defiled Tit. 1.15 So that the sence of this seventh Verse seems now somewhat clear to me wherein the Apostle proves what he had asserted in the sixth That to be carnally minded is death namely because it is enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be And therefore what wonder is it that it brings on a spiritual Death whereas on the contrary to be spiritually minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Life and Peace When a Man hath entertained the Gospel and therewithal received the Spirit of God into his Heart he is alive to God and full of Peace and Joy I might add one thing more which may possibly elucidate this matter and that is this The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tendency and strong bent of the Flesh or the Flesh itself deserted of the Spirit of a Man and of God is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be because the Flesh is not the immediate Subject of Religion any more than a Brute is the brute Animals are not under any Rule of Religion the Body is but the Soul's Jumentum its inferiour Associate it is not capable of seeing any Beauty or goodness in Religion but when the Mind is convinced and brought over to God the Flesh may and will joyn with the Soul its ancient Friend and Guide even in all its faculties and appetites so long as it is well watcht and guided and prudently provided for accordingly the Apostle adviseth his good holy sanctified Believers Rom. 6.12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body or flesh that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye should obey it that is Sin in the lusts or desires of it that is the mortal Body as I have discoursed at large in the sixth Chapter The Paraphrase therefore of this Verse is this The carnal Mind or rather the tendency and humor or mind of the Flesh deserted of the conduct of the Spirit hath set up an interest against God Thence we have it in Greek Latin and English 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virtutem aspernantes and unbridled Lusts Effraenes cupiditates and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rebus sic stantibus till the Bridle Fraenum that it hath lost be super-induced It is like a mad Horse snuffing up the Wind and taking its Course whither it pleaseth and lusteth So then Verse 8 they that are in the flesh cannot please God No wonder then that they that are in the flesh cannot please God This Inference will be easily admitted They that are in the flesh
Could ever things be made more sure and firm for the strong consolation of those that love God Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Who shall make Christ cease to love us Verse 35 that hath done and still is doing all this for us Shall tribulation or distress c. No Christ will rather love us the better for all these Or who shall make us cease to love Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Yes a wicked Will may an evil Heart of Unbelief may make us to depart from the living God for these things Heb. 3.12 But there is no reason why they should Trust in God and they shall not thou may'st walk upon the Waves as upon a smooth Pavement of firm Ground if thou give not way to thy Diffidence if thou do every puff of Wind shall lay thee upon thy Back and thou shalt sink to the bottom unless thou cry out Lord help me or I perish A Sigh a Groan shall be heard Though any one of all those things may look dreadsully upon thee Famine Nakedness Sword For these things few follow Christ We must look for one or all sometime or other and be prepared in our Mind for them or we cannot be Christ's Disciples Verse 36. As it is written for thy sake are we killed all the day long Verse 36 we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter This is the fair account a Saint should take of his state and circumstances as a Christian and by the grace of God not shrink at the appearance But what follows upon the views of Faith in the face of all these appearances ghastly enough to the flesh Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us Verse 37 We are so far from being appalled and conquered by the appearance of these things that we do more than conquer them and keep them from terrisying of us for we can rejoyce and glory in them Rom. 5.3 But then it is through him that hath loved us For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers Verse 38 nor things present nor things to come Nor heighth nor depth nor anyother creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God Verse 39 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These two Verses are only a most admirable enumeration of all kinds of things that can have any efficacy upon us towards breaking the relation of a Saint to God and his interest in his favour which is foreign to my design of brevity to insist upon there being no matter of difficulty or obscurity in them And so here I make an end of my Explication of these three Chapters and after I have made some useful Reflections upon what I have said I shall take my leave of the Reader The first Use that I shall make of this foregoing Explication of these three Chapters is this That here we may see the Excellency of the Christian Religion Use I Of Information what an holy and comfortable Institution it is it is no way satisfied with any Professor of it till it brings him to sincere and universal Piety he must walk after the Spirit and be led by the Spirit or he is no sincere Professor of the Christian Religion he either doth not understand the Christian Religion or is very false and hypocritical that doth not by the Spirit dwelling in him make it his business to mortifie all the deeds of the Body Rom. 8.13 nor is he in the way to Life And then for the Comforts of Religion though I doubt not but many well inclined and I hope truly religious People have their doubts and fears of their good Estate to God-ward yet I think that ordinarily the sadness of truly religious People proceeds chiefly from their own neglect of their watch and for that they are to little acquainted with themselves and their state for a truly godly Man nath abundant matter of Joy lying fairly before him to take comfort and rejoyce in and therefore it is made a great Duty by the Apostle to rejoyce in the Lord always Phil. 4.4 And Christians live far below themselves when they live a drooping and a sad life indeed no other person in the World hath any true cause of joy which yet every Saint hath and in this Chapter is expressed the greatest Assurance and richest Joy that you can find in all the Writings in the World it far exceeds the Stoick's Apathy and the Epicure's Tranquillity and ariseth to a Joy unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.8 and that upon a good ground and bottom no less than that of being utterly divorced from all evil and united in affection and practice to all that is good upon the firm promise of acceptance with God at present through the Death and Intercessions of his only begotten Son and of Assistance from Heaven to do the whole Will of God acceptably and of Eternal Life after Death And this ground of Comfort and Establishment every good Man and Woman hath though they do not as they might and ought make the discovery of it to themselves My second Use of the foregoing Discourse Use II Exhortation shall be by way of humble Address to the Preachers and Ministers of the Word That in their Sermons and particular Dealings or Treating with Persons whose Consciences are somewhat awakened to a sence of Sin and Guilt and to take some care of their Souls they be very wary how they send Men to the Law by bidding and charging them only to reform their Lives and amend their Ways and leave their wicked Courses 'T is very true it is their duty so to do but you see in the seventh of the Romans throughout what an ill effect this Advice or this Undertaking alone without Christ had upon the sinner it only killed him so much the more and set all his Lusts a raging and in an uproar Fain he would do good but evil was present with him And wicked sin deceitful sin wrought death in him by that which was holy just and good which made sin appear to be malignant to an Hyperbole And while he was making his greatest Struggle and War against Sin only by vertue of the Law 's prohibition of Sin the Law of the Members made a more brisk resistance and conquered him and brought him into captivity to the Law of Sin The Holiness and Threatnings of the Law may be of excellent use to terrifie them but the Holiness of the Law alone will never teach them and perswade them to be holy I humbly advise all the faithful Ministers of Christ that design the salvation of Souls that they do not only charge Men that come to them for advice to leave their wickedness and to be good and religious though this be good and necessary advice much less as the foolish Papists do to impose such and such Penances which is the high way
Ephes 6.10 11 12. And for this end you have a Suit of Spiritual Armour the Armour of God on the Right-hand and on the left from Head to Foot and ye shall be made more than Conquerors through him that hath loved you to the Death of the Cross Rejoyce in the Lord always and again I say rejoyce Read the eighth Chapter to the Romans and take Courage and Everlasting Consolation All things are made sure for your good and interest Be but faithful to God and never fear his Grace to you Sing your Triumphant Songs the Song of Moses and the Lamb both Law and Gospel shall comfort you If God be for us who can be against us He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things We are the circumcision that worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 I will lead you to one rich Walk where you may expatiate and deliciate your holy Souls For I speak here to none but those that are sanctified and effectually called It is Gal. 3.1 2 3 to the 7th inclusive Now I say that the heir as long as he is a child differeth nothing from a servant though he be lord of all but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father even so we when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world but when the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons Under the times and dispensations of the Old Testament till the coming of Christ in the flesh the People of God even the true Saints of God were like Children though great Heirs kept at School bred up at a distance from their Father's House in a state of darkness fear and bondage knew little of their Priviledges and Inheritance tho' they were saved by Faith and had the Gospel preached to them in an obscure way yet it lookt all like Law till Christ the Eternal Son of God was made of a Woman and made under the Law they also were as it were under the Law But now in the days of the Gospel especially since the Ascension of Christ and his Mission of the Spirit the Dispensation is quite altered and they are like Heirs called home to the possession of their Inheritance to live like those that are Lords of all Now they are endued with a Spirit of Adoption by which they come to know themselves Sons and Daughters unto God Almighty Verse 6. And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Abba Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek for Father That is Father in all Languages to Saints of all Nations Verse 8. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ. In the days of the Gospel heavenly things are brought down to us in the greatest plainness so that a truly holy Soul may converse and treat with them with great freedom Ephes 2.5 6. In two Verses you have three of the greatest Priviledges expressed that the mind of Man can possibly conceive We are said there to be quickned together with Christ to be raised up together and made sit together in heavenly places with him Can there be a nearer approach of an Heir to his heavenly Inheritance Col. 2.20 If therefore ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances Col. 3.1 If ye be therefore risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right-hand of God Verse 3. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God We must live as those that live in Heaven with Christ Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in heaven 1 Cor. 3.3 Are ye not carnal and walk as men Saints should not live like other Men no not like Men You are Sons and Heirs and have liberty to call God Father Our Lord hath taught us to begin our Prayers to God with this rich and high Appellation of Our Father Endeavour therefore but to live like Children of God and you may with holy boldness call God Father and if you can look up to God as your Father you highly dishonour him and disparage yourselves to doubt or fear of what may betide you from Men or Devils all your life long Therefore I say it to all the Saints of God and I humbly beg of God that I may ever attend the Exhortation Endeavour to walk worthy of God unto all pleasing keep your Watch strictly over your Hearts and Ways and go on your Way rejoycing through Thick and Thin through Fire and Water through Troops and Armies of Men and Devils the World is conquered for you Devils and Principalities are triumphed over your own innate and inbred Lusts shall not be too strong for you if you still by the Spirit faithfully endeavour to mortifie the Deeds of the Body Heaven stands open to you Mansions are prepared Angels are ready for your safe Convoy Die you must but Death hath lost its Sting and there is no greater Friend than Death itself next to a Holy Life for Death is also Yours and that is the Porter that lets you into your Resting-place The Law cannot condemn you and the Gospel will save you AN APPENDIX THat the assertion of the Apostle in Rom. 7.9 When the commandment came sin reviv'd and I died is plainly meant of the Moral Law I shall now endeavour to make appear For this I reckon there are several proofs in this 7th Chapter to the Romans First if we consider to whom this Epistle was written it was to the Romans who were certainly as much Gentiles as Jews and more Rom. 11.13 The Apostle tells them I speak to you Gentiles forasmuch as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles I magnifie mine office Now to these he saith Rom. 7.4 Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him that is raised from the dead c. How could they become dead to the Law that were never alive to it or to whom the Law was never alive For the Law was never alive to them except the Moral Law written in the Heart They were never under the Ceremonial Law but under the Moral Law they were born Rom. 2.14 For the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves Verse 15. Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts c. The Ceremonial Law was not written in the Heart of Man Therefore here by Law viz. in the
forth this Mystery How the Law through the corruption of our Nature is accidentally a great provoker to and stirrer up of Sin which I express thus When any Man goes on in his natural Course and lives the common Life of Men in his worldly Occasions and worldly Delights he may go on very smoothly and be all alive I was alive without the law once and well pleased with his Condition especially if the World smiles upon him before he begins to think of another Life and another World and a Day of Judgment when he shall be called to account for all the Irregularities and for all his Talents of Parts and Strength and Wealth and Opportunities of Glorifying God in the World But when he begins seriously to think and consider that he is a sinner that he is under a Law to God in every thing that he doth and speaks and thinks that he must give an Account for every thing that he enjoys or hath the use of and begins to be sensible that he is guilty of many Sins by way of omission and commission and that every Sin deserves Hell lays him under Wrath and an Eternal Curse then here comes the Law in its Convictions chargeth him with Guilt in one Action and another and above all with a Corrupt Nature that is the Scource and Fountain of every Irregularity and Transgression and bids him observe well and do all things that are written and recorded as his Duty and tells him he is damn'd if he do not and tells him he is under a Sentence of Condemnation for every Sin he hath committed for this is the proper Office of the Law to every sinner for it is not to be avoided but that it should be the Duty of every rational Creature Man or Angel to do his Creator's Will and to avoid the doing of every thing that is contrary thereunto and when he hath offended he falls under his Maker's displeasure But this Men do not think upon till Conscience begins to work And this I take to be the Law 's coming to a Man When the commandment came saith the Apostle Verse 9 Verse 9. sin revived and I died I was alive without the law once but when First a Man finds himself lost undone condemned and the Law strictly as a Law having no Pardon nor Mercy nor Hope in it for a poor sinner occasions all his Lusts for which it condemns him to rise up in rebellion against that Law which only forbids and condemns Sin but shews no way to get from under the guilt or power of it A Coward they say when made desperate grows many times very valiant And this is all the way I can conceive of how that the Law that is holy and just and good can work in a Man all manner of Concupiscence It first discovers these to be in the Soul condemns the Soul for them makes him desperate under the Conviction and by occasion enrageth Lust and indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated occasion signifies impetus aggressio materia occasio opportunitas and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies proficiscor cum impeta quodam an impetuous violent Attempt which is here made by a sinner upon occasion of the Conviction which the Law as doing its proper Office works upon the Conscience So that you see how the Law as an Husband certainly produceth Sin in a sinful Man not directly but accidentally it works all manner of Concupiscence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it doth it effectually though accidentally and occasionally for without the Law saith the Apostle Sin is dead but the Law quickens it not only in its appearing Guilt but in its filthy Life-vigour and Predominancy I was alive without the Law once but as soon as ever the Law came Sin revived and I died I was not only dead in Law but alive in Sin Then it follows Verse 10. And the commandment which was ordained to life Verse 10 I found to be unto death The words are in the Greek thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Commandment unto Life the same was found to me or by me to death The Holy Law of God which was our Natural Husband in an Estate of Innocency and would have conducted us in all good ways to the pleasing of God and perhaps after some time of probation which the good Angels had would have fixed us in a state of Eternal Life and Blessedness as they are now fixed without any need of pardon This Commandment which in the Ordination of God was intended unto Life and could be intended by him to no other purpose and therefore our Translators add these words was ordained in a smaller Character this Commandment ordained unto Life I found to be unto Death that Law which would have saved innocent Adam killed me a sinful Son of Adam It killed me two several ways it discovered me to be under a Sentence of Death already and it enraged my Lusts and wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence and now every Lust enlivened was a new Death so that the Law killed me a thousand times over Verse 11. The Apostle repeating much the same words that he had spoken in Verse 8. as 't is his usual course in all his Argumentations to inculcate Verse 11 For sin taking occasion by tâ—â— commandment deceived me and by it slew me What greater deceit could there possibly be put upon a Man than to bring Death upon him by that which was professedly by the great God of Heaven ordained to be put unto Life What greater deceit than to make a Man a thousand times more a sinner than ever he would have been else by that which is holy just and good and the very transcript of the Holiness of God And yet this cheat Sin puts upon every Man by the Law when a Man struggles with the Law alone being under conviction of â—in from it it must needs be a killing deceit that Sin puts upon a Man in such a case and the Law deservedly called a Killing Letter and a Ministration of Death and Condemnation 2 Cor. 3.6 7 9. Wherefore the Law is holy Ver. 12 13. and the commandment holy and just and good Was that then which is good made death to me God forbid See here the accuteness of the Apostle Paul and his great curiosity and niceness and subtilty in distinguishing If I may so express my self concerning an Author which I acknowledge with all sincerity to be divinely inspired But yet there is so much of the Man appears innocently in his Writings as it may be truly said his Writings do redolere or sapere genium scribentis And perhaps it may be said so of divers of the Penmen of Holy Writ Isaiah the Courtier Amos the Herdsman and Daniel the Statesman c. without any dishonour offered to the Divine Spirit that yet held the Pen of the Amanuenses I say observe here our Doctor subtilis in his distinguishing He
had said Verse 10. The commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death Now here Verse 13. he utterly avoids with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that that which was good that is without all doubt the same Commandment which he says Verse 12. was holy and just and good was made death to him The words in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon these two the Apostle distinguisheth with a God forbid that they should be the same Therefore we had need you see to be very curious in observing the words of Scripture But the meaning of the distinction or that which the Apostle designs to assert and what to avoid I take to be this The Law was by the perversness of our sinful Nature abusing an Holy Law an occasion of Death But the Apostle abhors to say that that good law is or was death 't was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't was found to be so in event by accident but was not so in itself for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Verb Substantive and not a Verb Passive the Verb Substantive predicates in esse the Verb Passive in fieri ab extra So much for the niceness of the Distinction Let us now go on with the 13th Verse which will further confirm what I have written Was that then which is good made death to me or became it death to me Verse 13 Was it death to me God forbid But sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good became or was made death to me This ugly thing called Sin was made or became death The good Law was not made death to me But sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good That sin by the commandment might become out of measure sinful Verse 13 Here in this Verse the Apostle shews his great Subtilty and Acuteness again yea in my mind a Poetical strain of fancy carrying on a Prosopopaeia by which he gives Sin which we all know in the true Philosophical account of it is nothing but a disorderly Action or omission of a Duty or an irregular Affection yet I say he gives Sin a person as if it were a subtle mischievous contriving thing for so the words run It was not the good Law that was made death but Sin was made death or became death Sin I say that it might appear Sin that is that it might appear to be what it was that it might indeed look like it self a most mischievous thing indeed How doth that appear Why it works death in me by that which is good To bring good out of evil is the work of God but to bring evil and the greatest evil out of the greatest good is the work of the Devil or rather the work of Sin that mischievous thing that first made Devils and then made Hell Sin that it might appear Sin the Apostle hath no worse word or name to call Sin by or else it should have had some other dreadful Epithet Now that the Apostle was in such an holy rage against it then it follows with a new Invective in the end of the 13th Verse That sin by the commandment might become out of measure sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin hyperbolically sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that you see all that the Apostle is angry with is only Sin but withal it is as apparent that Sin shews all this mischievousness and maliciousness and destructiveness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by occasion of the Law or Commandment which if it had not come to the Man's conscience that is here spoken of whosoever he be this Lyon Sin had lain couchant and as it were dormant that is fast asleep in comparison if the rage and superlative hyperbolical roaring Madness that the Laws put it into I come now to the 14th Verse For we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin Verse 14 For we know he appeals to the sentiments of all Christians and might do of all Men as he does in the second Chapter wherein he sets forth at large That the Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law that is by the dictates of Nature approve of the Law as a holy Rule which they are obliged to obey which shews the work of the law written in their hearts Ver. 14 15 of that Chapter For we know that the Law is spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is spiritual in its Original dictated by the Spirit of God spiritual in its Conduct it guides the Spirit of a Man to the prosecution of all worthy heavenly and spiritual things that suit the Spirit of a Man feeds it nourishes it strengthens it comforts it as much as sensible and fleshly things do the Body and Senses of a Man The law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin and that is the reason that the Law and I can no better agree but as sinful hyperbolically sinful sin is enraged at the presence and convictions and condemnations of the Law so I to be sure that am the sinner sold under sin that am a carnal person and in the flesh Ver. 6. When we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death must needs be mightily discomposed inflamed and desperate in sinning at the coming of the Law with its commands without giving strength to obey with its charges and threatnings without any hope of pardon For what the Apostle had figuratively and as it were poetically affixed to Sin giving it a Person doth properly fall upon the Sinner if Sin be said by the Apostle to become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of measure sinful by the Law How much more true is it of the Sinner and shall this Sinner be St. Paul and that after Conversion God forbid What carnal and sold under sin and out of measure sinful When the very Heathens are by the same Apostle affirmed by Nature to do the things contained in the Law no doubt by some special assistances of the Spirit keeping them from these mischievous though accidental effects of the Law whereby it is said in this Chapter to enrage Lust For that which I do Verse 15 I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that I do A goodly description of the Apostle Paul who says Happy is that man which condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth and as it might be said in the thing which he alloweth not I know it is spoken in another case viz. in the matter of indifferent things making an ill use of his liberty Rom. 14.20 But how unhappy was St. Paul himself then in this seventh of Romans that did not only what he allowed not but what he hated and could not do what he did allow and