to provoke their Lusts as soon as ever their Penances are over but that they take all the care they can when they see them in earnest in Religion to instruct them in the Doctrine of the Gospel That though they are great sinners and have so and so transgressed the Commands of God and a very particular Confession of Sin enjoyned them if not to their Spiritual Guide as was done to John the Baptist yet at least to their God is very useful and I think necessary as searching the Wound is in order to a Cure and especially a sense of the sinfulness of their corrupt Nature and there may be many particular Directions necessary for many particular Cases yet I say they are to be instructed That though they have so and so transgressed the Commands of God yet they must not think they can make amends to God for what they have done amiss or come to do the Will of God in their own strength or ever come up to a full perfect unerring Obedience in this Life But that they must seriously consider the Redemption that Christ hath wrought for them by the sacrifice of himself and that their only course is to believe the satisfaction of Christ for sinners and so to give up themselves to Christ to be his servants and pray to Christ and to God in Christ for his Spirit to enable them to leave off all Sin and exercise themselves unto Godliness in all the parts and instances thereof And that whilest they do faithfully endeavour to leave every Sin and to get every good habit and disposition of Honesty Sobriety Purity Justice Charity and Godliness in the Strength of God they are accepted of God through the Death and Intercessions of Christ This Spirit of Faith and Love which are in Christ Jesus Ephes 6.23 2 Tim. 1.13 can only set them free from the Law of Sin and Death It is worthy of an excellent Pen to express these things more at large but I hope I have in some satisfactory manner signified the Necessity of this Course to be taken with Men since the Apostle makes so much of it in his seventh Chapter to the Romans what ill effect the Law hath upon convicted sinners when they seek a Remedy from it only under their Convictions And that the Discourse of the Apostle Rom. 7. When the law came c. is plainly meant of the Moral Law which is perpetual and everlasting binding the Conscience of every Man and Woman in the World and not only the Ceremonial Law which I acknowledge the Jews much boasted in and sought Justification by the observation of were very easie to be demonstrated So far I had written as the end of this Use when a worthy Friend of mine to whom I communicated my Papers for his censure of them advised me to evidence this Assertion That the Discourse of the Apostle in Rom. 7. When the law came c. is plainly meant of the Moral Law which I am loth here to fall upon the proof of because I would not willingly interrupt my proceeding to the Uses which I am yet to make of the foregoing Discourse and therefore shall cast it into an Appendix at the Conclusion In the third place I address my self to the Deists of the Age we live in Use III By way of Conviction We have indeed a great many Atheists and more perhaps than ever were in any Age the Lord be merciful to us But there are a sort of better natured and more civil Persons that abhor Atheism as contrary to the Light of Nature and the Interest of all Government and Civil Society itself For that there can be no trust in any Man where there is no obligation upon Conscience but every Man is left to act as he judgeth it convenient to his present interest I say there is a sort of Men that acknowledge a God and Providence and the reality of Moral Good and Evil Just and Unjust but they suspend their Belief of the Gospel and they are apt to applaud themselves and think themselves in a very good condition if they live honestly and vertuously and depend upon God's Providence for protection in the way of Vertue and conclude it shall all go well with them hereafter But how far are these removed from the strict observation of the workings of their own Hearts which we find in this 7th and 8th Chapters to the Romans They ought not only to acknowledge the Law of Nature which no question they find some of them at least written in their Hearts according to what the Apostle Paul writes in Rom. 2.14 15. But they ought to find how hard it is to keep the Law how this Law convinceth them of Sin and then when they think to amend their ways and to do good how they are plunged by it into more Sin and the more strict they are upon themselves and the more rigidly they deal with themselves towards mortification of any Extravagancy the more they shall find their Lusts enraged or perhaps fall into another extreme Vice For I question not but it might be demonstrated by an able Pen That all seeking to mortifie Lusts by the Law only commanding and condemning will in the end make the better side the worse and though Men may be as it were alive without the Law and enjoy themselves very pleasantly yes when they come strictly to call themselves to account for their Actions Intentions Rules Conduct and Management of themselves as under the Law of God and seek in earnest to reform themselves by the Law they shall raise such a Confusion Combustion and Fermentation as shall make them almost distracted and desperate The Law â—s the most rigid School-master that ever the World had it lasheth Men with Scorpions it kills them with a thousand Deaths it makes them weary of their Lives No wonder then at the Exclamation Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death And after this close Press they have been in which will make them swear even drops of Blood they shall never attain to any true rest till they come to say I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. I pity much these ingenious civil and half-vertuous Gentlemen that think they have made great Attainments in Religion by coming to acknowledge That there is a God and Athenian-like are still inquiring after some innocent new Discoveries in Nature or the Politicks c. But they little think of their rumbling into Hell for want of going further on in Religion For if Christ came from Heaven to satisfie the Law and to make a new and living Way to God in his own Blood he will not suffer himself to be so neglected by the Gentile secure Deist as not to be so much as inquired after how and which way he is to be a Saviour that they must see they have offended the Law and are condemned by the Law and have no Refuge but in him
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
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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
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
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
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
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
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.