necessarily dependant and consequent upon Faith and Grace as Justification it self is In the seventh Chapter after the Apostle had setled the matter of Sanctification in the sixth as indispensibly necessary and naturally flowing from the Doctrine of Grace and Justification by Faith he is pleased according to the Wisdom given to him to bring in an Instance of an Ineffectual Attempt towards Sanctification by a Man under Convictions from the Law as he had before shewn at large the folly of the Jews and Judaizing Christians in seeking Justification by the Law and indeed he words the matter in a way of personation in his own person whereupon several have mistaken the Apostle's design thinking that he spake all those things of himself after he was converted and in an estate of Regeneration whereas it is very clear to me and indeed I find to many learned and godly Men that the Apostle is only in his own Person personating a Man that is not truly converted but strugling with his Corruptions in his own strength being terrified by the Law which only convinceth of Sin and is a ministration of Condemnation and so no wonder that he is so overcome and brought into Bondage as he acknowledgeth himself to be in that Chapter But this I speak here but precariously till I shall afterwards have made it to appear In the eighth Chapter the Apostle after he had set forth the convinced Person in such a struggle with his Corruptions in his own Strength the Law affording him neither Strength nor Hope after he had set him forth as overcome and captivated and brought into desperation he gives him a glimpse of Christ gives him a Plank after his Shipwreck and in the very latter end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth Chapter brings him off clear from those Rocks and Shelves upon which he had been in utmost danger of perishing Which is all I shall say by way of Introduction and Analysis Sanctification by Faith VINDICATED IN A DISCOURSE ON THE Seventh Chapter of the Epistle OF St. PAVL to the ROMANS c. ROMANS Chap. VI. WHat shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid Verse 1 The Apostle had in the former Chapter made it his Design from the twelfth Verse to the end to shew that though the World had suffered much by the first Adam by whom Sin came into the World yet through the Grace of God the World that is especially those of it that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness Verse 17. receive far more advantage by the second Adam than ever they had lost by the first Verse 18. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all men unto justification of life Verse 20. Moreover the law entred that the offence might abound but where sin abounded grace did much more abound Verse 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord And with these words in triumph concludes his Discourse of Justification by Faith and Grace Upon which the Apostle starts a thought that might enter into the heart of a foolish person What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound This the Apostle answers with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6.2 God forbid We have three such Questions together within the compass of six Verses in the third Chapter of this Epistle which the Apostle rejects with an abhorrency Rom. 3.3 What if some did not believe shall their unbelief make the faith or faithfulness of God without effect God forbid Verse 5. If our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God what shall we say then Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance God forbid Verse 7. If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory why yet am I also judged as a sinner A foolish way of freeing himself from judgment Nay it seems the People were so used in the Apostle's days to these Paralogisms and foolish Ratiocinations that they presumed to affix them even upon the Apostles themselves Verse 8. And not as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say Let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just To return therefore to our sixth Chapter Verse 1 Verse 1. What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound Since God hath made Grace to abound much more than Sin where-ever Sin hath abounded shall we resolve to continue in Sin that so God may continue to make his Gâ—â—â—e to abound towards us God forbid saith the Apostle God may for once having made Man a free Agent though holy as nothing else could come out of God's hand after his voluntary Defection and wicked Rebellion give him a Saviour and send us a second Adam the Lord from Heaven that should do us infinitely more good than ever the first earthly Adam d d us hurt but if we abuse his Grace and turn it into Wantonness the Grace will cease and only prove a greater aggravation of our Sin and Judgment But let us follow the Apostle's argumentation How shall we Verse 2 that are dead to sin live any longer therein This second Question strikes the first Question dead and is a full Answer to it How can Men that are dead to any thing live any longer in it or unto that to which they are dead It is a perfect contradiction to their being dead to it to live in it This is a Paraphrase and Comment enough for the second Verse Know ye not Verse 3 that so many as were or are baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death This is a full Argument again by way of Question for the proof of the Assertion uttered by way of Question in the second Verse viz. That all Saints as such are dead to sin for that when they were baptized into Christ they were baptized into his Death and so are by profession dead to Sin This is more fully exprest in the next Verse Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death Verse 4 that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life Here iâ— a plain Allusion made to the ancient way of Baptizing which was by dipping under Water called here burying and rising or being raised up I shall give this Explication in the Words of Dr. Hammond upon the Text the third and fourth Verses 'T is a thing saith he that every Christian knows that the Innersion in Baptism refers to the Death of Christ the putting the Person baptized into the Water denotes and proclaims the Death and Burial of Christ and signifies our undertaking in Baptism that we will give over all the Sins of our former Lives which is our being
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
forth this Mystery How the Law through the corruption of our Nature is accidentally a great provoker to and stirrer up of Sin which I express thus When any Man goes on in his natural Course and lives the common Life of Men in his worldly Occasions and worldly Delights he may go on very smoothly and be all alive I was alive without the law once and well pleased with his Condition especially if the World smiles upon him before he begins to think of another Life and another World and a Day of Judgment when he shall be called to account for all the Irregularities and for all his Talents of Parts and Strength and Wealth and Opportunities of Glorifying God in the World But when he begins seriously to think and consider that he is a sinner that he is under a Law to God in every thing that he doth and speaks and thinks that he must give an Account for every thing that he enjoys or hath the use of and begins to be sensible that he is guilty of many Sins by way of omission and commission and that every Sin deserves Hell lays him under Wrath and an Eternal Curse then here comes the Law in its Convictions chargeth him with Guilt in one Action and another and above all with a Corrupt Nature that is the Scource and Fountain of every Irregularity and Transgression and bids him observe well and do all things that are written and recorded as his Duty and tells him he is damn'd if he do not and tells him he is under a Sentence of Condemnation for every Sin he hath committed for this is the proper Office of the Law to every sinner for it is not to be avoided but that it should be the Duty of every rational Creature Man or Angel to do his Creator's Will and to avoid the doing of every thing that is contrary thereunto and when he hath offended he falls under his Maker's displeasure But this Men do not think upon till Conscience begins to work And this I take to be the Law 's coming to a Man When the commandment came saith the Apostle Verse 9 Verse 9. sin revived and I died I was alive without the law once but when First a Man finds himself lost undone condemned and the Law strictly as a Law having no Pardon nor Mercy nor Hope in it for a poor sinner occasions all his Lusts for which it condemns him to rise up in rebellion against that Law which only forbids and condemns Sin but shews no way to get from under the guilt or power of it A Coward they say when made desperate grows many times very valiant And this is all the way I can conceive of how that the Law that is holy and just and good can work in a Man all manner of Concupiscence It first discovers these to be in the Soul condemns the Soul for them makes him desperate under the Conviction and by occasion enrageth Lust and indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated occasion signifies impetus aggressio materia occasio opportunitas and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies proficiscor cum impeta quodam an impetuous violent Attempt which is here made by a sinner upon occasion of the Conviction which the Law as doing its proper Office works upon the Conscience So that you see how the Law as an Husband certainly produceth Sin in a sinful Man not directly but accidentally it works all manner of Concupiscence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it doth it effectually though accidentally and occasionally for without the Law saith the Apostle Sin is dead but the Law quickens it not only in its appearing Guilt but in its filthy Life-vigour and Predominancy I was alive without the Law once but as soon as ever the Law came Sin revived and I died I was not only dead in Law but alive in Sin Then it follows Verse 10. And the commandment which was ordained to life Verse 10 I found to be unto death The words are in the Greek thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Commandment unto Life the same was found to me or by me to death The Holy Law of God which was our Natural Husband in an Estate of Innocency and would have conducted us in all good ways to the pleasing of God and perhaps after some time of probation which the good Angels had would have fixed us in a state of Eternal Life and Blessedness as they are now fixed without any need of pardon This Commandment which in the Ordination of God was intended unto Life and could be intended by him to no other purpose and therefore our Translators add these words was ordained in a smaller Character this Commandment ordained unto Life I found to be unto Death that Law which would have saved innocent Adam killed me a sinful Son of Adam It killed me two several ways it discovered me to be under a Sentence of Death already and it enraged my Lusts and wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence and now every Lust enlivened was a new Death so that the Law killed me a thousand times over Verse 11. The Apostle repeating much the same words that he had spoken in Verse 8. as 't is his usual course in all his Argumentations to inculcate Verse 11 For sin taking occasion by tâ—â— commandment deceived me and by it slew me What greater deceit could there possibly be put upon a Man than to bring Death upon him by that which was professedly by the great God of Heaven ordained to be put unto Life What greater deceit than to make a Man a thousand times more a sinner than ever he would have been else by that which is holy just and good and the very transcript of the Holiness of God And yet this cheat Sin puts upon every Man by the Law when a Man struggles with the Law alone being under conviction of â—in from it it must needs be a killing deceit that Sin puts upon a Man in such a case and the Law deservedly called a Killing Letter and a Ministration of Death and Condemnation 2 Cor. 3.6 7 9. Wherefore the Law is holy Ver. 12 13. and the commandment holy and just and good Was that then which is good made death to me God forbid See here the accuteness of the Apostle Paul and his great curiosity and niceness and subtilty in distinguishing If I may so express my self concerning an Author which I acknowledge with all sincerity to be divinely inspired But yet there is so much of the Man appears innocently in his Writings as it may be truly said his Writings do redolere or sapere genium scribentis And perhaps it may be said so of divers of the Penmen of Holy Writ Isaiah the Courtier Amos the Herdsman and Daniel the Statesman c. without any dishonour offered to the Divine Spirit that yet held the Pen of the Amanuenses I say observe here our Doctor subtilis in his distinguishing He
having as I have above declared setled the Doctrin of Justification by Faith and ended the Discourse in tryumph at the end of the fifth Chapter and proceeded in the sixth Chapter to shew at large how Holiness and Sanctification also necessarily and effectually follows upon the hearty embracing the Doctrine of the Gospel thereby they are baptized into the Death of Christ and profess themselves dead to Sin and are actually set free from Sin and become the Servants of Righteousness and yield themselves unto God and their Members Instruments of Righteousness unto God Ver. 13 14. and have their Fruit unto Holiness Verse 22. He as in a Parenthesis in the seventh Chapter gives you a Parable of a Man endeavouring to be holy by the Law but is utterly defeated of his design and instead of attaining Holiness thereby loseth all his comfort and hope and is plung'd into a far worse condition as to Holiness than he was in before and being brought into a state of desperation thereby betakes himself to Christ then in the very nick of time revealed to him and by betaking himself to Christ is set at liberty from Condemnation and Desperation and also from the Law of Sin and Death which he acknowledged himself before to be led into captivity unto after a fierce Battel betwixt the Law of the Members and the Law of the Mind and so finds by blessed experience that he is one of them in whom the Righteousness of the Law is now fulfilled which Righteousness by the Law could never have been effected accomplished and fulfilled The Righteousness of the Law can never be fulfilled in any mortal Man but by the Grace of the Gospel received that is a Man can never become holy but by Faith Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Gal. 5.6.6.15 Faith working by Love to the keeping the Commandments of God is the new Creature Compare those two places in Gal. Such Men as have this Faith they walk not after the Flesh any longer but after the Spirit For they that are after the flesh Verse 5 do mind the things of the flesh but they that This Particle for is a causal Particle and shews the Reason of the Assertion going before The Assertion before in the fourth Verse is this The righteousness of the law is or that it might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Now this is proved to be so because they that are after the Flesh do â—ind the things of the Flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Therefore they who are after the Spirit do truly attain unto the Holiness and Righteousness of the Law which is a Spiritual and an Holy Law because their whole Mind is set upon spiritual things or the things of the Spirit but for carnal Men or Men that are after the flesh their whole mind is upon fleshly or carnal things and accordingly as Mens minds are set if they have undertaken a feasible thing such will their attainments be They that are after the Flesh as all those are that are under the Law Rom. 7.5 When we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law did work do mind the things of the Flesh * Cogitant desiderant curant sapiunt they savour and relish and give their mind to nothing but †Carnalia bona mundana honores opes c. Corpores Voluptates vel opera Carnis ad quae Concupiscencia Carnalis inclinat ut peccata omnia fleshly things they cannot freely lift up their Heart to God and heavenly or spiritual things but true Saints of God that have received the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus have embraced Gospel-Principles with a Spirit of Faith and Love and so walk after the Spirit their mind is wholly or at least chiefly ser upon the things of the Spirit which I take in other words to signifie Matters of Religion And therefore since their minds are wholly set upon them no wonder they make great attainments in them so as to have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in them For to be carnally minded is death Verse 6 but to be spiritually minded is life and peace For a Man to be carnally minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the carnal mind or carnal mindedness or to be wholly set upon carnal things is a stare of Spiritual Death and will end if continued in in Eternal Death There can be no life in Religion where the mind is carnal and his tendency is altogether towards and his relish is only of carnal things But to be spiritually minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole tendency of a Man indued with the Spirit and that hath heartily embraced Gospel-Principles is towards heavenly life and living unto God and as he hath a lively activity for God so his comforts accordingly grow upon him to be spiritually minded is not only full of life and activity for God but full of peace and comfort ordinarily Great peace have they that keep thy law and nothing shall offend them Psalm 119.165 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God Verse 7 neither indeed can be It is no wonder that the carnal mind should have no activity for God and so consequently no peace whilest it is enmity against God yea neither is subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Why what is this carnal mind Here I must make a grand Enquiry that we may find out if it so please God what this carnal mind is for if we know not the Subject spoken of we can never well understand what that is which is predicated or affirmed and asserted of it at least not the manner how it is affirmed of it For non entis nulla sunt attributa and non esse non apparere idem est What then is meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but an accident or attrioute We may know what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is best by knowing what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Now in Verse 27 of this Chapter it is said God that searcheth the Hearts knoweth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is the Mind of the Spirit when it maketh Intercessions for us within us and doubtless there the meaning is what the Spirit would have So here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is what the Flesh would have the relish savour or tendency of the Flesh What is this that is here called Flesh which hath in it such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a tendency such a relish such a savour as neither is nor can be subject to the Law of God Till this Question be well answered till this Enquiry be prudently and satisfactorily made I despair of ever giving a right Paraphrase or Interpretation of this Verse or any of the like nature Caro saith Vorstius
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
†Luke 6.44 That the Tree is known by its own Fruit A Rule that is very applicable to our present Case and may shew that it cannot be a good Exposition that brings forth Consequences which are evil and pernicious but ought to be condemn'd as contrary to the Purity of God the Design of Christ the Work of Grace and the Doctrin of the Gospel Nevertheless I deny not that some learned and good Men have been of opinion that St. Paul here discourses of himself after conversion But then they tell us that the Evil he complains of was only the motion of concupiscence to which he did not consent much less did he reduce it to practice Or else they say he meant it not of great or wilful Sins but only of smaller Offences or Infirmities which in this Life are incident to the Regenerate And it is true that if they have a right notion of Infirmities by softning the Interpretation in this manner they have avoided the Consequences on which I have already reflected But through unwariness or inadvertency they have done violence to the words of the Apostle by that Exposition For from his words it is plain that whosoever was here spoken of his Condition was very miserable Not only an inclination to Sin but actual and known Sin had taken possession of him and dwelt in him which intimates to us that it was become habitual and govern'd * Vid. Praestant viâ— Epist p. 399. Ed. Amstel 1684. him as his Lord. It had effectually wrought in him and prevailing against him had brought him into Captivity Vers 23. It had put him under its own Power and Law and so deeply engaged him in Slavery that he could do no more than wish for Freedom To will was present with him but how to perform that which was good he knew not Vers 18. A thing that cannot well be imagin'd of that excellent Person who invited the Corinthians †1 Cor. 11.1 to be Followers of him as he was of Christ and who profess'd * Phil. 4.13 that he was able to do all things through Christ that strengthned him I think we had much better be ignorant of his Meaning than deprave it by an Interpretation that is injurious to Him and destructive of Holiness But neither is that necessary as will appear in the following Discourse By the way it may be noted in general that there are several Difficulties in this Apostle's Writings that we should not find insuperable if with a due application of mind we would enquire into their Nature and Original For example It may be consider'd that some of these Difficulties proceed from his Language for however that be Greek and therefore may be thought on that account not less intelligible than any other part of the New Testament Yet sometimes he uses words in such a way or signification as differs from the construction which they commonly receive in the Books of other Writers And if we may believe a great Judge in such things he retains something in his style of the genius of a Cilician and of an Hebrew of Hebrews and Scholar of Gamaliel * Nec miremur in Apostelo si utatur ejus linguae consuetudine in qua natus est nuâ—ritus Hieron Ep. ad Algasiam qu. 10. vid. pl. ibid. And this may suggest to us at least thus much that to gain an acquaintance with his Phrase on which our understanding of his sence depends we ought with great care to peruse his Epistles and compare them together Which may be of more use to us for that purpose than a rigorous examination of his Expressions by the modes of speaking that have obtain'd amongst other Authors that are purely Greek Other Difficulties proceed from hence that as St. Irenaeus long since observ'd †Hyperbaâ—is frequenter utitur Apostolus â—ren advers Haeâ—es l. 3. c. 7. p. 248. the Apostle hath many Hyperbata His great depth of Thought his abundance of Matter and vehemence in expressing it his vigour and vivacity of Spirit and the quickness of his Conceptions occasion'd sometimes large Digressions and sometimes sudden and unusual Transitions And if we pass by these things without notice or regard we shall often be left in the dark and take that to be a continued Discourse about the same Subject which relates to different Matters But what is most to my purpose is that the Apostle sometimes transfers things by a Figure * 1 Cor. â— 6 from their proper Subjects For instance as he tells us †2 Cor. â—2 2 he knew a man in the body that was caught up to the third heaven and seems to speak of another what was meant of himself so he sometimes seems to speak of himself what is meant of another particularly where he says * Rom. 3.7 If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory why yet am I also judged as a sinner In which words he represents either a Jew or Heathen making that exception imitating herein the example of the Prophets of whom Clemens Alexandrinus observes †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Aâ—x Strom. l. 3. p. 442. that amongst the Revelations which they receiv'd from God they relate the popular Talk against them and propose it by way of Question And I may add that unless we distinguish what they thus propose from the Answers which they give it instead of penetrating into their sence we shall confound it Yet must we not expect to meet with Objections and Solutions in their Writings produc'd with such formality as they are by the Schoolmen To find them in some places requires a diligent and an attentive Reader but his Pains will be recompens'd by the Light which a nice and critical observation of them gives to the Holy Scripture Having this Key to the Apostle's meaning it remains that we consider in the next place Who is the wretched Man he speaks of that was Sold under Sin and led Captive by it c. And upon a due enquiry I doubt not but we may discover him from those Marks and Lineaments by which he is describ'd For as our Lord determin'd whose the Coin was which was shew'd him and to whom it should be rendred from its Image and Superscription Thus from the Character itself which is before us we may gather to whom it ought to be assign'd It may not be attributed to St. Paul himself as I have shew'd already and it will be more manifest in in the ensuing Treatise Nor to any Sincere Christian for he that is so is Dead to Sin and a Servant of Righteousness * Rom. 6.2 18. It belongs therefore to the unregenerate Man labouring under Convictions whose person the Apostle here sustains Otherwise I know not how to reconcile those Passages which are laid together by Origen * Origen in Ep. ad Rom. c. 7. for the confirmation of this Exposition For not to mention them all this Expression
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
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
that is wholly addicted to and commanded by the lusts or desires of their flesh I take it to be all one with that Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that are after the flesh only there may be this little difference that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the state and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies conversation as walking after the flesh or according to the motions and dictates of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piscator and Beza say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so then or therefore but others sav 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it must be translated Now they that are in the flesh cannot please God and therefore the righteousness of the Law is not fulfilled in them This I take to be the most genuine Interpretation And this Verse is confessed to be the Conclusion of the whole Argumentation of the Verses foregoing But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be the spirit of God dwell in you Now the Apostle hath done with the Argumentation beginning from the first Verse which Argumentation I take to be directed against the state of the Man under convictions in the seventh Chapter And so speaks to his converted Romans Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit with this caution If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you For every Man that hath received the Gospel sincerely and betaken himself to Christ and his Righteousness from the Condemnations and accidental Irritations of the Law hath the Spirit of God dwelling in him for the Gospel is the Ministration of the Spirit which the Law is not Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you Received ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Verse 9 This Expression you see is doubled and therefore needs the greater consideration and serious reflection of every Man upon himself to know his state by I cannot here stay to make discovery how a Man may come to know whether he hath the Spirit of God and of Christ which is much or all one and it is the less necessary for me to do it because the Apostle himself in several Verses following makes the discovery himself by several high and glorious effects of the Spirit 's inhabitation And if Christ be in you that is by his Spirit the body is dead because of sin Verse 10 but the spirit is life because of righteousness I fancy or apprehend this to be the meaning of these dark Expressions for which I shall seriously consult Expositors Dr. Hammond Pole and Marlorate and give any thing that I find in them which I think considerable But I presume first here to give my own thoughts for which I beg the Reader 's pardon If Christ be in you by his Spirit the body is dead because of sin that is your Flesh and Body by which you were heretofore strongly impelled and as it were forced on to the commission of all sorts of sin is dead * Piscator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod ad peccâ—tion scuratione peccati ne scilicet possit amplius nos impellere ad petulanter peccandum as to sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of sin propter or secundum where I imagine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have the force of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this I am sure is less straining than to use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Piscator and Beza do and our English Translators in the eighth Verse So then they c. Tho' Pole tells us from another Author Tolet that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I take it is never so used But to make good this Exposition see how the sence seems to force it If Christ be in you the body is dead because of or as to sin That is the Flesh in its Lusts is mortified I am sure this is true Divinity But the spirit is life in the abstract or alive in the concrete that it may answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dead in the Antithesis in the words that is Whereas when you were without the Spirit of Christ the Flesh and the Body was alive and regnant and the Law of the Members warred against the Law of the Mind or Spirit and had the better of it and brought you into captivity to the Law of Sin which Law of Sin was in the Members in the Flesh and Body Now this Body this rampant Flesh unbridled Lust which had cast off the Bridle of the Spirit and the Law of the Mind and Conscience which ought to have ruled the Flesh this Body is dead not simply but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Body is dead in the matter of Sin so that you need not obey Sin in the lustings of the Body though the Body hath its desires still of eating and drinking c. yet it hath not those strong impetuous irregular desires that it had but is dead in a great measure because of Sin or as to Sin But the * Significat spiritum hominis tum ob Antithesin Corporis Spiritus tum extollat v. seq Animam five rationalem partem gratia Christi renovatam Estius ex Oecumen Cass spirit is life or greatly alive because of righteousness or as to the matter of Righteousness Now the Law of the Mind prevails over the Law of the Members you are alive to God and Righteousness and Holiness But if the spirit of him that is God the Father that raised up Christ from the dead Verse 11 dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your morted bâ—dies by his spirit that dwelleth in you Here I confess I have a peculiar Notion which I have been hammering at these thirty Years but I will assure thee Reader that it is honest and will lead thee into no dangerous Errour and therefore consider it If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you That is in your mortal Body in which the Apostle forbids that Sin should reign Rom. 6.12 I say this mortal Body shall not only be dead as to the matter of Sin which is affirmed in the 10th Verse and is a great attainment by the Spirit of Christ's dwelling in us The World is well altered with such a Man that whereas his Flesh did rule and lead him captive to the Law of Sin now this Flesh and this mortal Body of his should be dead as to the matter of Sin this I say is a great attainment and a blessed alteration from his former state But this is not all no the chiefest thing is yet behind
2d Chapter must be meant the Moral Law and this was all they could ever be alive or become dead to 'T is true the Jews might be said to become dead to the Ceremonial Law too by the Body of Christ crucified But this was as nothing to the Romans or mecr Gentiles To leave then this Argument from the persons to whom he wrote being Gentiles and to speak only to the nature of the thing in Rom. 7.5 It is said For when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the law did work c. What motions of sins can we suppose to be wrought by the Ceremonial or Judicial Law more than as they commanded Duties but gave no strength to perform which is the cause why the Moral Law wrought the same Effect Doth there appear any peculiar reason for this Effect from either of these Laws which is not found in the Moral Law Or if there do how doth this affect the Romans that were never under them Again Verse 7. What shall we say then is the law sin God forbid 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 What Law saith this Why it is the Tenth Commandment of the Moral Law Therefore it is the Moral Law that is the first Husband spoken of Again Verse 8. But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence For without the law sin is dead Can all this be colourably said of the Ceremonial Law and not rather of the Moral Law As it forbids all Sin and commands all Duty and gives neither Strength nor Pardon Whereas the Ceremonial Law doth not command so much and yet gives some intimations of Pardon by the Sacrifices which it enjoys Verse 12. Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good I question whether this can be Scripturally and Theologically spoken of the Ceremonial Law which in a Sence is said not to be good Ezek. 20.25 Wherefore I gave them statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live Dedi eis praecepta non bona id est Praecepta Ceremonialia saith Pole in Loc. Verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual This is truly said of the Moral Law but it said of the Ceremonial Law that it was a carnal commandment Heb. 7.16 and Heb. 9 10. It is called carnal ordinances Rites or Ceremonies Again Verse 9. of Rom. 7. For I was alive without the law once Let us suppose for the present that the Apostle speaks properly in his own Name When was ever the Apostle alive without the Ceremonial or Moral Law who was bred up at the strictest rate under them both as a Pharisee The meaning therefore is he was alive without the Law that is before the Law came with its pressing Convictions and what shall we imagine that these Convictions were What That the Ceremonial Law came with its Convictions That he had neglected so many Washings and Sacrifices c. Who ever understood it so Is it not rather understood by all that the Moral Law came in upon his Conscience as a spiritual and Holy Law and the very Transcript of the Holiness of God and charged him with that as Sin which he never understood to be Sin before as he instanceth in Lust and Coveting and so made him appear guilty before the Holy God so as he could never hope to be accepted with God without Pardon and a Saviour And what other Law could this be which should be said to come thus but the Moral Law That which was ordained to be Life to Adam he found to be Death to him being once indeed and so often broken by his first Parents and by himself So by all these Texts out of the chief Chapter which I have in the foregoing Discourse been explaining I apprehend it is evident That the Apostle speaks chiefly if not only of the Moral Law Therefore the Moral Law was their Husband which 〈…〉 sake and to be married to another even Christ in order to Justification 〈…〉 we and all Men in the World for there is par ratio a like and 〈…〉 us If any shall doubt of the Evidence here given I queâ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 by those several other places where the Apostle mannages the 〈…〉 the Subject of Justification by Faith A Second APPENDIX ANother of my worthy Friends to whom I communicated my Manuscript for his judgment of it questioned whether it could be made to appear that the Law did so much as accidentally enrage Lust and occasion greater sinning in those that seek to be justified by the Law and was inclined to think that the Law did only aggravate the guilt of any Sin and so wound the Conscience and that this should be all the meaning of those words When the commandment came sin revived and I died and the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death Rom. 7.9 10. But I am still of opinion that there is and must needs be a farther sence in the words and that when a Man seeks to be justified by the Law which is a Distemper very incident to Humane Nature under divers shapes and forms and the most subtile and unaccountable Disease of Mankind the Law instead of justifying which it can by no means effect doth not only aggravate Sin and kill a Man as a Ministration of Condemnation but doth though accidentally yet certainly work in us all manner of Concupiscence and doth bring forth new Fruit unto Death as well as discover the old for which I think there are several very considerable Proofs in this seventh Chapter to the Romans and I shall take them as they lye in order Verse 5. 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 When we were in the flesh that is in a state of Unregeneracy and so under the Law had not betaken ourselves to Christ for an Husband the motions of sin did work This methinks cannot be understood of Past-sins that we were then convinced of them by the Law but they are Motions or Inclinations towards sinning so the Expression is continued they did work in ordine ad to bring forth fruit unto death That is towards new Commissions and these Motions of Sin are said to be by the Law How can this be interpreted of laying on guilt or charging us with guilt for Sins already committed So accordingly the Antithesis in the next Verse seems to carry it Verse 6. But now we are delivered from the law that did thus produce and not only discover Sin that being dead wherein we were held that is the Law that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter or as it is in Verse 4. That we should bring forth fruit unto God This part of the Antithesis speaks clearly of
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.