one, the free gift came UPON ALL MEN unto justification of life; is it not written, as with a sunbeam, that, according to the everlasting purpose of God, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus was designed for ALL, that they might be justified? And if ALL, then, be not partakers of this redemption, why is this, but because as the Scriptures everywhere declare, there are multitudes, in every age, who "put from them" the mercies of redeeming love, and "judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life?" Why is it that ALL do not partake of this redemption, but because there are multitudes, in every age, who “treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath," and who, denying the Lord that bought them, bring upon themselves swift destruction?"** Viewing the passage before us, therefore, as amply illustrating the scriptural truth, that Christ died for ALL, and being well persuaded that if we perish, it is because we are continually frustrating, by our disobedience, the design of that mysterious sacrifice, I would desire to adopt the following admirable paraphrase by bishop Hall,+ and to say; As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, which is Christ Jesus, the free gift of grace and righteousness came upon

1 Acts xiii. 46.

32 Pet. ii. 1.

66

2 Chap. ii. 5.

* See Note 25.

4 Bishop Hall in loc.

all men, IF ONLY THEY BELIEVE, unto that full justification, which shall be to their everlasting life! For as by the disobedience of one man, all the many sons of Adam3 were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, which is Christ, shall all His many faithful ones be made righteous.'

And now it is that, in closing his powerful argument on justification by faith, St. Paul meets an objection which might possibly be urged in behalf of the law. If we are made righteous only by the righteousness of Christ, to what end,' it might be asked, was the law given by Moses?' Moreover the law entered, says the apostle in reply, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.6

St. Paul here tells his opponents, that the law of Moses was given, not that we should seek to be justified by it, but, in the first place, that sin might abound, or be known to be, as it is immeasurably sinful; and secondly, that grace might superabound, or appear much more conspicuous, in pardoning and subduing sin.

1. The law entered, that the offence might abound; and in like manner, he tells the Galatian converts, that the "law was added because of transgressions;" that is, to declare the evil and

the guilt of sin. It was in the strict and solemn requirements of the moral law that men beheld, as in a glass, the real malignity of those sins which were committed against so express a declaration of the divine will. And even the ceremonial law, as considered apart from Christ, multiplied duties, and consequently transgressions; as none perfectly kept that law, and numbers constantly violated it. So that, in every sense, the law entered, that the offence might abound, and that it might for ever put to shame those who boast of their knowledge of the truth and of the law of God, seeing that such knowledge, unassisted by divine grace, only serves to aggravate the enormity of sin.7*

2. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; or, as the original might be literally rendered, grace did super-abound, flowing, like the waters of the deluge, far above the summits of the highest mountains of man's guilt and depravity. So that all who come to Christ, "weary and heavy laden," with their sins, may now know assuredly that, whatever those sins may be, there is mercy with God, more than sufficient to countervail them; seeing that Christ's righteousness is more powerful to save, than Adam's sin to condemn ! And this truth is illustrated and confirmed, in the last verse, by the striking representation of sin

7 Scott in loc.

8 ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν.

*See Note 26.
9 Matt. xi. 28.

and grace, as two rival kings, desiring to have mankind under their dominion; that as sin hath REIGNED unto death, even so might grace REIGN through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Observe here, again, how St. Paul delights to enlarge on the subject of redeeming love, and to speak rather of mercy than of judgment. Of sin, he says briefly, in the first clause, that it hath reigned unto death. But when he comes to the other clause, he expatiates on the theme which was always so near his heart, telling us that grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. The same remark applies to other parts of the passage now before us; and if I direct your attention to them, it is because I am persuaded that the more you enter into the spirit of the language of the Bible, the more you will feel and acknowledge that love surpassing thought is the attribute which shines most conspicuously in every page of the Scriptures of truth. At the fifteenth verse, St. Paul, having briefly declared that through the offence of one many are dead, emphatically adds, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. At the seventeenth verse, he tells us first, in a few words, that by one man's offence death reigned by one; and then, enlarging upon the delightful theme of divine grace, much more, he says, they

which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. And I would observe, in conclusion, that while the name of Adam is mentioned only in one verse, the name of Jesus is found in three different verses of the passage; 1 as if the apostle desired to point out, again and again, the remedy which has been graciously provided for all who, feeling and lamenting the evil and desert of sin, have "fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us" in the gospel!

ARGUMENT FOR A LIFE OF HOLINESS, FROM THE CONSIDERATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.

In the argument concerning justification by faith, which has formed the chief subject of the last three chapters, St. Paul has been magnifying the freeness of God's grace, in the redemption of sinners by the death of Christ, plainly showing that the works and deserts of men had not any part in procuring this mighty benefit. But he was quite aware that, when he thus enlarged upon 1 Comp. ver. 15. 17, 21.

2 Heb. vi. 18.