are to be conceived as two Queen-Regents to one of which every Man and Woman in the World is a Subject and all their Limbs Senses and Faculties of their Bodies and Souls are made Servants to do their Work Now the Work which Uncleanness or Iniquity enjoyns is Iniquity the Work which Righteousness enjoyns is Holiness Therefore says the Apostle with great accuracy as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity the Queen or Tyrant rather unto iniquity the Work or rather Drudgery of Uncleanness and Iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness the Queen-Regent in and of your Souls unto holiness the Work of Righteousness This is all I can observe in the difference of to and unto For when ye were the servants of sin Verse 20 ye were free from or free to righteousness That is Righteousness had no command over you What fruit had ye then of those things whereof ye are now ashamed Verse 21 The Apostle now having as it were done with the Description of their Relations of Servants and Mistresses Queen and Subject Services and Works he concludes the Chapter and the whole Discourse with an Account of the Wages paid by each Mistress each Queen to their several Servants What fruit had ye then of these things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of these things is death That is of those things or services which ye performed or perpetrated to that tyrant sin But now being made free from sin Verse 22 and become the servants of righteousness ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death Verse 23 but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In this Verse the Apostle makes a manifest distinction betwixt the reward of Sin and the reward of Righteousness and Holiness The reward of Sin is in the nature of a due Debt as a Soldier 's Wages are a due Debt Death Temporal Spiritual and Eternal are the bitter Fruit and due Merit of Sin but Eternal Life though it be due to Saints by promise yet not by any desert of theirs it is the free gracious gift of God he gave us a Saviour to redeem us he gave us the Doctrine of the Gospel Faith and Repentance are the gifts of God and every Grace in us is not only gratum faciens but gratis data that which makes us acceptable but freely given us through Jesus Christ our Lord. And now having gone through the Chapter I think fit to re-capitulate a little and make a few Reflections upon what hath been said and so come to the main Chapter And now that we have seen the Doctrine of Universal Holiness so recommended unto us by our very Profession of being Christians that by our Baptism and necessary conformity to Christ in his Death and Burial and Resurection we are perfectly obliged to become dead to every Sin and alive to every Holy Action and Opportunity of bringing Glory to God when we are exhorted to reckon our selves dead unto Sin and alive unto God when we are charged that Sin must not reign in our mortal Body and assured that it shall not for this very reason because we are not under the Law but under Grace and at last told in plain terms that if it be eventually otherwise with us that if we do obey Sin we are the Servants of Sin and that unto Death besides all the rest that follows wherein we are particularly directed not only how to imploy our Minds and Affections but every Member of our Bodies in the Service of God being again and again said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made Freemen from Sin and entered intirely into the Service of Righteousness If I say after all this it may be truly said of the same persons that they are sold under Sin and carnal persons that they do in a general way things that they hate which Slaves indeed do and cannot do otherwise that they cannot find the way or obtain so much of themselves after all the change of state which they have past under as to perform that which is good I despair of understanding the meaning of any words that I shall ever hereafter meet with But yet I do not doubt to make it appear to any unprejudiced Reader in explaining the next Chapter that these Expressions are not spoken of the same Persons that are spoken to in this fixth Chapter which I here dismiss ROMANS Chap. VII KNow ye not Brethren for I speak to them that know the law how that the law hath dominion over a man so long as he liveth or so long as he liveth that is the Law liveth Verse 1 or as Dr. Hammond saith the Law of Man hath power or force as long as he liveth For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband Verse 2 so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband So then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man Verse 3 she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man In these three Verses you have the common Case stated betwixt an Husband and Wife to which the Apostle by and by by way of similitude doth accommodate the State and and Case of every true converted Christian the Wife is to keep herself intirely for her husband so long as he liveth but if her Husband be dead she is free to marry whom she pleaseth Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law That is Verse 4 the Law is become dead to you by the Body of Christ So saith Dr. Hammond upon the place at the first Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You are put to death to the Law must be interpreted as a figurative Speech the Law is put to death to you The Soul of every Christian is the Wife the Law was her first Husband Christ is the second Husband While the Law was alive it had the power over the Soul as over a Wife but the Law being put to death that is in its Condemning Power by the Suffering of Christ and the Satisfaction that he made to it by enduring the Penalty of it for every Believer every Man is free from the Power of the Law that chuseth to betake himself to Christ as an Husband and to take him for his Lord and Saviour The Verse at large is thus Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ Verse 4 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 Apostle would not say the Law is dead to you for that had been an invidious Expression amongst the Jews at Rome to say that the Law was dead and therefore he
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
I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness c. What he fight a good fight that could not lift up an hand Whenever he would do good evil was present with him The good that he would do he did not and the evil he would not do that he did A stout Soldier He fight a good fight that was taken prisoner and carried captive to the Law of Sin He finish his course that could not move a step nor stand upon his Legs How to perform that which is good I find not Is this he that did preach warn and teach every Man in all Wisdom and labour so hard at his Work striving according to the working that worketh in me mightily 1 Col. last And so Ephes 3.7 Whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace given unto me according to the effectual working of his power or his powerful working the same with that in the Colossians and so in Ephes 1.19 That you may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places Sixthly This seventh to the Romans Reas VI if it should be allowed in the sence mentioned seems to take off all worthy Aspirings after degrees in Grace and all religious joyful Gratulations and Thanksgivings to God for Grace already received If we must be still Captives to and sold under Sin to what purpose is it to endeavour after any high Attainments in any much less in all the Graces of the Spirit to be adding one Grace unto another and one degree of Grace unto another They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts How shall we hope to be able to say with good Hezekiah upon a Death-bed Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Isa 38.2 3. And Lastly The taking the seventh to the Romans that is to say Reas VII the latter part of it from the fourteenth Verse to the end to be spoken by St. Paul as concerning himself after conversion casts a disparagement upon the whole Gospel dispirits and enervates the Power and Efficacy of it which yet is stiled the Ministration of the Spirit We all know the Gospel to be the last of the Revelations of God to the World even by the Son himself and his Apostles endued with the Holy Ghost in a visible and admirable manner The Gospel is called the Kingdom of Heaven because in it Heaven is brought down upon Earth as well as we directed by it to get to Heaven We are come in the Gospel to mount Sion and to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel Heb. 12.22 23 24. The Church of God in the Gospel is compared to an Heir at Age come to the Possession of his Estate The Church before to an Heir in his Non-age Gal. 4. Now in the Days of the Gospel it is promised that the feeble shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angel of the Lord before them Zach. 12.6 What shall St. Paul then the chiefest of the Apostles be as a Babe as Carnal sold under Sin shall St. Paul pray for his Colossians that they might be strengthened with all might according to the glorious power of God Col. 1.11 and for his Ephesians that God would grant according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with mighty by his spirit in the inner man and have no strength himself Ephes 3.16 and not be able to find how to perform that which is good He can do all manner of evil which he would not but the good which he would fain do he cannot do and the reason is because the Spiritual Apostle is grown Carnal sold under Sin and led away into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death Methinks 't is impossible that ever these words should be spoken of St. Paul as of himself for there was never as I conceive a more vigorous active successful Person or engaged in higher Work and Service Therefore I shall here break off my Epistle to the Reader and after having given him a short Analysis of the foregoing part of the Epistle with that of the sixth seventh and eighth Chapter shall betake my self to the Work which I have undertaken that is to shew by Paraphrasing the sixth seventh and eighth Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans That this cannot be the meaning of the seventh Chapter which is by many thought to be so the sixth and eighth rightly expounded will cast a great light upon the seventh inclosed betwixt them according to that Maxim Opposita Juxta se posita magis elucescunt The sixth and eighth Chapters seem to me like two Guardians or Watchers set to defend us from the dangerous misunderstanding of the seventh or to give thee another Comparison which hath fallen upon my fancy they seem to be like two hot Baths and the seventh like a cold Well fed from another Spring and the Source it self of it is in the same Chapter fully accounted for The ANALYSIS I Find then after the Apostle hath made a most stately Address consisting of fifteen Verses to that learned and faithful Church he spends the other seventeen Verses of the first Chapter in convincing the Gentiles of their sinfulness The whole second Chapter in convincing the Jews of theirs In the third he shews That the Jews though they had many Priviledges above the Gentiles yet were indeed no better than they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 3.9 Verse 20. He sheweth That neither of them can be justified by the Law and that they both must be justified by Faith Ver. 30. In the fourth Chapter he proves Justification by Faith by Abraham's Example and David's Description of the Blessedness of a Man any Man In the fifth Chapter he institutes a Comparison betwixt the hurt done to Mankind by the first Adam and the benefit to Mankind by the second Adam and heighthens the benefit unspeakably beyond the loss That as sin hath reigned unto death so grace reigns by righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord And so concludes the Discourse of Justification by Faith In the sixth Chapter the Apostle comes to a new Subject which takes up that and the seventh and a good part of the eighth Chapter viz. that of Sanctification and shews that that is as
buried together with Christ or baptized to his Death that so we may live that regenerate new Life answerable to Christ's Resurrection which consists in a Course of all Sanctity a constant Christian Walk all our days This is enough for Explication Now the Argumentation of the Apostle seems to lye here A Christian by his Profession is not only dead to Sin but he is buried too and risen to a new Life and therefore 't is absurd and monstrous to see him live in any Sin as terrible monstrous absurd and intolerable as it were for us that have buried our Friends with all proper Solemnities to see them again come to our Houses and haunt us from Room to Room and appear to us where-ever we go or abide this were enough to frighten us out of our Life Even so monstrous and horrible a thing would it seem to us if we had the sence of spiritual things as we have of natural to see any Man that professeth himself a Christian to live in any known Sin But what an Age do we live in and how absurd I had almost said is this Doctrine now How strangely sounding in our Ears Where the Professor that endeavoars to live as one dead and buried unto Sin looks rather like a Spectre or Ghost than a Man that proclaims his Sin as Sodom But let us leave the Age and return to the Apostle and to the Rule For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death Verse 5 we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection Excellent Reason still and well recommended to our very fincy where the Apostle drop another Nemplior in his Allegorical Argumentation We have not only been buried in and raised our of the Water of Baptism which is a transiend way of being conformed to the death of Christ but we have been planted together with him in the likeness of his death which insinuates a permanent way of estating us in this Mortification and Vivification wherein we are to simbolize with or be made like unto Christ in a death unto Sin and a life unto Righteousness and under these Figures the reason of the thing is still illustrated and conâ—inued that it is our Duty by our Christian Profession to become utter strangers to all sin and very conversant in all the parts and exercises of an holy Life for it would be a strange thing that we should be only dead and buried with Christ and not live with him for so our Christian Religion and Profession would bring us to nothing we should only become dead and not live and then Religion doth nothing for us Therefore if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the I keness of his Besurrection which he brings in with as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is more emphaâ—ical than the word also and yet that is all that is put for it in the Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone signifies also but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a Discretive places more weight in that part of the sentence with which it is conjoined and is much of kin with the Expletive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Copulative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that it is much as if it had been thus said For if we have been planted together with Christ in the likeness of his Death we shall then most certainly or much rather be in the likeness of his Resurrection But the Apostle hath not yet done with the Allegory but bestows new fresh and fragrant Flowers upon our crucified Lord Verse 6. Knowing this that our old man is or was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crucified with him Verse 6 that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin This is a matter of knowledge if we know any thing of the mystery and meaning of the Gospel that when Christ was crucified and died for our sins he did not only die as a sacrifice for sin which was one principal end of his death but he did then seal the truth of the Gospel with his Blood the New Testament came to bear by the death of the Testator and there is this signification eminently in his death That whosoever should afterwards pretend to a benefit by his death which was chiefly for the expiation of sin should count himself indispensibly obliged never to indulge or allow himself in any sin which was the death of his Saviour as all sin was Let him that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Cor. 5.14 1â— For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead They must reckon themselves as dying with Christ to sin when he died for sin Verse 15. And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again Which is a plain parallel Scripture to that before us In this Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man was crucified with him I connot conceive how this our our old man that is out corrupt nature or humane nature as corrupt can be said properly to be crucified with Christ when he died any otherwise than by signification except it be by way of influence as his death confirmed the Gospel and the Gospel perswades and assists us to holiness as I have explained it Our old man that is those corrupt Affections and Inclinations which we had in us before conversion were crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed which is much the same with with our old Man's being crucified for our old Man was consistent of a Body with all its Limbs and Members that belong to a Body and this must now be destroyed to the intent that we should not henceforth serve sin For he that is dead is freed from sin Verse 7 The Apostle loves the figurative way of Argumentation which indeed is very acceptable and pleasant If a Man be dead he is justly freed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whatsoever old Master he had Before we were converted to Christ we lived in sin and served sin as a Master but when we are joined to Christ by Repentance and Faith we are crucified dead and buried as to sin sin can claim no right to our service and we profess in Baptism to be baptized into this death and by our conformity to Christ to have been crucified dead and buried with him Now if we be dead with Christ Verse 8 we believe that we shall also live with him because we are also planted with him in the likeness of his Resurrection Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead Verse 9 dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him So if you be raised with Christ as you are representatively or significatively in Baptisin therefore as you have died unto sin so you must die no more for the next
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
seems to turn his Speech into a figurative Expression as I have noted above out of Doctor Hammond and chuseth rather to say Ye are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ crucified for else there would have been no similitude in this Case for the Matter to which the Apostle doth assimulate the Case of every true Christian was to that of a Wife who was once bound to an Husband but by the death of her Husband became free to be married to another the word ye therefore answers to the Wife therefore when he says ye are dead to the Law the meaning is the Law is dead to you for else he would not speak of the death of the Husband but of the death of the Wife And accordingly the Apostle continues the Allegory in the next two Verses For when we were in the flesh Verse 5 the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring ferth fruit unto death But now we are delivered from the law Verse 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are cancelled to the Law signifieth saith Dr. Hammond the Law is cancelled to us that being dead wherein we were held that is the Law which was our first Husband being dead wherein we were held or to which we were obliged as a Wife to a Husband during his life that we should serve in newness of spirit that is according to a free ingenious Gospel-Principle of Love and not in the oldness of the Letter that is according to the severity and rigour of the Law written in Tables of Stone which was our old and first Husband So that in this Antapodosis or Reddition which is here made by way of Similitude to the Case of an Husband and Wife I take it we have these several Propositions clearly expressed or strongly inferrible 1. The Law is a Man's first Husband 2. The Law is every Man's Husband that is his Soul's Husband till he betake himself to Christ by Faith for there is no middle State every Man is either under the Law or under Grace 3. The Law is a rigid and severe Husband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 6. Wherein we were held Gal. 3.23 24. Before Faith came we were kept under the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law had set a guard upon us shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed shut up as it were in Prison in Salva Custodia Verse 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ and a severe Schoolmaster 4. That whilst we are under the Law and before we betake ourselves to Christ by Faith we can do nothing but Sin Verse 5. For 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 Whilst we are under the Law we are in the Flesh wholly carnal and then the motions of Sin did work and nothing but they and did bring forth Fruit unto Death This is the Issue of our Wedlock whilst we sinners have no other Husband but only the Law 5. That the Law was in very good earnest since killed as to the condemning power of it for all Mankind by the Body of Christ crucified 6. That every Man in the World where the Gospel is preached is declared to be free from the condemnation of the Law upon condition that he betake himself to Christ as an Husband and a Lord. And this I take to be the greatest thing in the Gospel 7. That till a Man repent and believe this Gospel and be joyned to the Lord Christ as one Spirit with him he can never bring forth fruit unto God Verse 4. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law or rather the Law is dead to you by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him that is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God This is the Fruit of the New Wedlock and without this change of State there can be no such Fruit. All these severally I take to be included in the Apostle's Similitude and so I come to the seventh Verse wherein the Apostle answers a terrible Objection which seems to arise rationally against what he had said What shall we say then Verse 7 is the law sin God forbid The Objection rises naturally thus You have said above That when we were in the Flesh the Motions of Sin which were by the Law did so work as to bring forth Fruit unto Death and that we need to be delivered from the Law even by the death of it as an Husband that so we may serve God with a new Spirit and bring forth Fruit to God Why what a strange kind of thing do you make the Law to be Quod efficit tale est magis tale That which is the cause of any thing and brings it forth into being is much more such a thing as that is which is produced and effected by it What shall we say then is the Law Sin or a sinful thing or the direct cause of Sin This Question or Objection the Apostle answers with an abhorrence Verse 7 God forbid and then gives a very substantial reason for it Nay I had not known sin but by the law for I had not known lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet So that it is as much as if the Apostle had said 't is true if this bringing forth Fruit unto Death had been the natural and kindly Effect of the Law as a Cause it would be so it could no be freed from this aspersion of being a very sinful thing nay Sin itself in the abstract If innocent Man and the Law meeting together the natural product of the Law should be Sin the Law would indeed deserve the name of sinful and of sin but it is not the univocal natural kindly Product of the Law upon a Man but the accidental Effect of the Law upon a Sinner But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence The Law is so far from deserving the name of sin or sinful saith the Apostle that I had not known sin but by the law for I had not known lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet The natural Effect of the Law is first to forbid Sin and to command all that is holy just and good and in the next place to discover Sin to convince and condemn the sinner which is quite contrary to the promoting encouraging and producing Sin Well then having removed Sin far enough away from being the natural Effect of the Law he comes to shew how the Law did occasionally and accidentally produce Sin But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence Verse 8 for without the law sin was dead or is dead there is neither of them no Verb substantive in the Original And here I think it a very fit occasion to set
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
doing good Actions therefore the other part of the Antithesis must speak of doing ill Actions by bringing forth Fruit unto Death for Contrariorum Contrariae sunt Rationes Again Verse 8. Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence 't is one thing to work it and another to discover it so it follows for without the law sin is dead that is or seems to be dead as to energy not as to discovery or being made to appear or becoming alive in its guilt only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But let this 8th Verse and the 9th and 10th following be taken in this sence For making the guilt of sin to revive Yet what shall we say to the 11th Verse For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me First this Phrase taking occasion by the commandment Arrepta occasione inflammandi per legen vetantem concupiscentiam Vatablus in Pol. Versu 8vo Multi interpretes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exponunt occasionem putantque idem dici quod vulgari proverbio intimur in Vetitum Grotius in Pol. So that this taking occasion by the Commandment is by these Interpreters understood of taking an advantage towards new Commissions 2. Again Deceived me How can sin that is indwelling sin or sinful Inclinations be said to deceive but as it had a kind of malicious Design by a Prosopopaeia here to draw the sinning person farther into actual Commissions by which also it slew him not only by charging the Guilts that had past for that is the work of the Law to kill that way by way of charge and not the work of sin or sinful Inclination called Concupiscence sin doth not charge home sin upon the Conscience but Concupiscence here called sin promotes further Commisions seduxit me i. e. in suas partes me dolose traxit ab errare me fecit longius me abduxit a via justitiae ad peccandum me pellexit c. Menochius Estius Beza in Pol. But methinks the 13 Verse plainly makes it appear that sin takes a great advantage towards strengthening and promoting itself in the Sinner or sinful Person by the Law according to the Prosipopaea wherein the Apostle makes sin an Agent and as it were a Person Was that then which is good that is the Law made death to me God forbid But sin that it might appear sin and shew itself in its Colours working death in me by that which is good that sin itself by the commandment might become out of measure sinful I would fain know what tolerable sence can be made of these words but that they must afford a plain proof of what I have been contending for 'T is true 't is sence to say that sin by the Commandment appears to be sin because it is forbidden by the Commandment and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 3.4 Every sin is a transgression of the law And it is sence to say that sin brings us to death by that which is good that is the Law forbidding it but how will this plain honest sence bear all the heighth and heat and smartness of the Apostle's arguing in this Verse 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 Sin appears to be sin by the Commandment but how doth it appear out of measure sinful How doth this But come in But sin that it might appear sin namely for this Reason for that it works death in me by that which is good I say how doth this But come in 'T will not bear a Discretive to say only that the Law threatens with Death a Man that doth such and such things and he sinning or transgressing falls under this penalty this is no wonder at all How doth sin appear out of measure sinful by this How doth sin shew such extraordinary Venome in this That it lays a Man under the penalty of the plain Law But now if sin that is indwelling-sin or Concupiscence hath such a mischevious devilish nature in it that it doth not only lay us under the penalty of Death but will therefore sin because sin is forbidden and will therefore break the Law because it forbids sin and take its very rise and occasion to all manner of Wickedness and work in us all manner of Concupiscence from that which is holy just and good this shews sin and that by the Commandment to be a thing out of measure sinful this sets forth sin in its true Colours and shews it to be sin indeed a thing that cannot be decyphered by any worse Name than it hath already Sin that it might appear sin c. and out of measure sinful FINIS BOOKS Printed for John Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhil THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ c. By William Bates D. D. The Changeableness of this World with respect to Nations Families and particular Persons With a practical Application thereof to the various Conditions of this Mortal Life By Timothy Rogers M. A. A Mirror for Atheists being some Passages of the Life and Death of the Right Honourable John Earl of Rochester written by his own Direction on his Death-bed By Gilbert Burnet Lord Bishop of Sarum An End of Doctrinal Controversies which have lately troubled the Churches By Richard Baxter The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits fully evinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts Voices c. proving the Immortality of Souls By Richard Baxter The Protestant Religion truly stated and justified By the late Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter prepared some time before his Death Whereunto is added some Account of the learned Author By Mr. Daniel William and Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Christian's Converse with God or the Insufficiency of Humane Friendship and the Improvements of Solitude in Converse with God with some of the Author's Breathings after him By Richard Baxter Recommended to the Reader 's serious Thoughts when at the House of Mourning and in Retirement By Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Mourner's Memorial in two Sermons on the Death of the truly pious Mrs. Susanna Soame With some account of her Life and Death By Timothy Wright and Robert Fleming The whole Works of Isaac Ambrose Fol.
sinning more than ever whereas the Man that having been stung with the law terrified in his conscience with the thunderings and lightnings of Mount Sinai hath heard of Christ and grace mercy and pardon on him and rich assistance from him to do all that is well-pleasing to God and hath thereupon fled to Christ and put himself under the conduct of grace to be led by the spirit and to walk in the spirit he is not under the dominion of sin he sees no reason to commit iniquity but infinite reason to the contrary he feels the influence of all the Apostle's arguments he is dead to sin he hath been buried in baptism and risen with Christ in that ordinance he looks upon his old Man as crucified with Christ he would have the body of sin utterly destroyed he will serve sin no longer but as Christ ever lives to God so would he he resolves in the strength of God sin shall not reign in his mortal body but he will yield up all his limbs and members and senses and faculties of body and soul unto God Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace I think I have spoken or written that which may suffice for this Subject in this place if I should enlarge further upon it here I shall prevent my self in what I am to speak again in the seventh Chapter What then shall we continue in sin because we are not under the law but under grace Verse 15 God forbid Here we may refresh our selves a little to observe the folly of Men in their foolish arguings they will draw poison out of an antidote that which is the greatest enemy in the world to sin shall be made the patron of sin even the grace of God they will turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and receive not only the grace of God in vain but to wicked purposes this the Apostle therefore rejects with a great abhorrence God forbid and though he had in the first Verse treated the same persons after his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a train of Insinuations and gentle yet powerful Arguments which I have largely paraphrased on yet now when he meets with the same perverse humour the second time he corrects it with a severe and tart check and threatning withal Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey Verse 16 his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness As much as if he had said If all the Arguments I have used hitherto will not prevail with you to become holy then take only this one more He to whom ye yield your obedience his servants ye are and he will pay you your wages If ye yield your obedience to sin ye are the servants of sin and the wages of sin is death whether the servants of sin unto death or the servants of obedience unto righteousness The Apostle would not dandle them any longer nor dally as it were with pleasing insinuations but tell them whereto they must trust if they would not follow the conduct of the Spirit and go the way that grace led them But yet in the next Verse as if this tender Father that was always so full of bowels had been a little too sharp and severe in his Reprimand Verse 16. in 17. he falls to comforting them again with a God be thanked on their behalf But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin Verse 17 but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which ye were delivered That is God be thanked that though ye were the servants of sin once yet now ye have obeyed c. For it is no matter of thanksgiving to God by it self that they were the servants of sin but the supply of the Ellipsis is very obvious Though they had been so yet now they had obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine This is the proper matter of thanksgiving that they had obeyed from the heart supple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they had submitted so entirely and from the heart to the Doctrine of the Gospel as if they had suffered themselves to be melted down by it and cast into the form or mould of the Doctrine of the Gospel as so much Lead or Gold cast into a Mould Metaphora est a Typis vel Auri-fabrorum vel Typographorum saith Pool in Loc. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Verse 18 Ye were the servants of sin but have now obeyed c. being then made free from sin by dying to it For he that is dead is freed from sin Verse 7. Ye became the servants of righteousness Every Man in the World is in the Apostle's language and sence either free from sin and the servant of righteousness or free from righteousness as the Phrase is Verse 20. and the servant of sin I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh Verse 19 for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants of righteousness unto holiness The Apostle in this Verse doubles and trebles what he had said that so they might be sure and not fail to take it in and by such Metaphors of Service and Liberty as were easie to be understood these were such things as they might understand and that practically and experimentally too in their own Hearts and Practice A good Argument is never too often urged till it be answered or admitted a good Lesson is never too often repeated till it be learnt and indeed the Apostle seems to be willing to sum up what he had said throughout the Chapter because he was to take leave of the Subject As ye have therefore yielded your members Instruments it was Ver. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness What is the difference here betwixt to and unto to iniquity unto iniquity to righteousness unto holiness Why the Apostle is very nice and curious and critical many times in his Expressions And the Holy Ghost is pleased often to condescend in the Scripture to observe the Rules of Elegancy and Exactness which Men delight in I could give in my little Observation many Inslances of this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.3 not to be made appear in our Translation may be one Another may be that of the Order observed in the 22 Parts of the 119th Psalm that every Octonary shall begin with the same Letter and every Part begin with the Letter of the Alphabet next succeeding in order to that which went before The like is to be observed in the third Chapter of the Lamentations so here in this Verse Rom. 6.19 to and unto twice applied Iniquity and Righteousness
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