life we derive from Adam; and then, being dead and buried with Christ, we shall, by the glory of the Father, be raised up from the dead, and walk in newness of life. It is in this sense literally true," that he that loses his life shall save it; for the life that ye now live is death: but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

16." Whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 20. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21. What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

vii. 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 who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."

The moral law is the law here spoken of, to which we cannot be dead, since that is not abrogated, if we retain the life that is common to all mankind. But if being quickened by the grace of God, through the ministry of His word, we have passed from death unto life, then the law, which is but a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, we are delivered from; "that being dead wherein we were held," "even the body of sin." Now the

body of sin is our mortal body; the putting off of which frees from sin: and those that be dead are freed from sin, and consequently from misery. This argument of St. Paul's denies a miserable eternity.

5. "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death: 6. But now we are delivered from the law, (that being dead wherein we were held), that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. 8. But sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coneupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.”

Where there is no possibility of obedience, there can be no law. Without the law sin was dead. Where there is no sin, there can be no misery.

9. "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 12. Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, just, and good. 13. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me, by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. 23. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into

captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25. I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I, myself, serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin."

The apostle, in this chapter, distinguished be tween the law in his mind, whereby he is born again to immortality, and the law in his members working death in him, and claims for himself a superiority through Jesus Christ our Lord; and infers that although he delights in the law of God, after the inward man, yet it is only through Christ that he can be delivered from the body of this death.

Now he derives this death from the commandmenɩ; and asks, is that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But the commandment is given that I might know the sinfulness of sin. Here then we see the foundation on which death rests, that came by the commandments, and to which it comes in aid; and when the commandment is ineffectual, stops the progress of sin: for he that is dead is freed from sin. Were death Eternal Misery, no part of this reasoning could be maintained: for, as the commandment brings death, then that which is holy, just, and good, would cause Eternal Misery, which is impossible; and instead of stopping the progress of sin, when it hath obtained complete possession, death would immortalize sin; because, before death, sin might be overcome, but not afterwards; therefore, death must make it immortal. And how then can the commandent, which is holy, just, and true, perpetuate the existence of sin, which it was ordained to suppress?

The apostle, in the 8th chapter of Romans, expressly asserts, that the carnal mind cannot be subject to the law of God; because it is enmity against him: "so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Now it is easy to understand, why death should come upon those who cannot please God; and it is a most important doctrine to learn, since by it only can we be awakened to hunger and thirst after immortality; for "they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." But why those who cannot please God should be eternally punished because they do not, no one can satisfactorily explain; for to say it is because they reject the state that is offered, is to say God causes an Eternal Misery, because man has refused to be happy; which must be a very insufficient reason.

From the 9th to the 14th verses he declares, that it is only by the Spirit we can live; that the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelling in us, then He shall also quicken our mortal bodies, but then only; therefore, the mortal bodies of all the rest of mankind he will not quicken; yet the body is considered necessary to punishment, therefore an eternal punishment is to be borne in a mortal body: for it cannot be said here that to quicken only means to give happiness, as it is said that death means to deprive of it, for it is your mortal bodies; therefore, if they are not quickened they remain mortal. Now will it be said a body is necessary to be happy in, and not to be miserable in? then the spirit must be the principle of sin, and the body of holiness; because that on which a thing depends must be essential

to it. Now our happiness depends on God's quickening our mortal bodies by His Spirit, and our existence in misery must depend on His leaving us without bodies.

In the 13th verse it is said, "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die," which, I should consider, might be paraphrased thus:-if ye live after the flesh ye shall cease to live; because to live and to die must be understood here to be correlative terms-the one affirming what the other denies; therefore it would make the apostle say, if you continue to be happy you shall cease to be so; which is a sense no one can defend, yet a plain consequence of understanding by death loss of happiness.

viii. 1. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. 5. For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. 6. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7. Because the carnul mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can be. 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if