76

Sect. 13.

Chriftians are not the Servants of Sin;

SECT. XIII.

The Apostle takes this Opportunity of urging on the Chriftians at Rome, that Holiness, to which they were fo ftrongly obliged by the Gospel. Rom. VI. 15, to the End.

ROMANS VI. 15.

ROMANS VI. 15.

AT then? Shall

W we fin, because we

are not under the Law, but

under Grace? God forbid.

HAVE just been reminding you, Chriftians, I of your great Privileges; that you are now Rom.VI. 15. under a Difpenfation of the most glorious Grace in the Gospel, and not under the Restraints, nor under the Terrors, of the Mofaick Law. And what then are we to infer? Shall we take Encouragement from thence to offend him, to whose distinguishing Goodness we are so much obliged, and fin fecurely and prefumptuously, because we are not under the Law, but under the Grace of the Gofpel? GOD forbid! The Inference would be fo odious, and fo dangerous, that tho' I difclaimed it before, (Ver. 1.) I cannot too frequently guard you against it. And fhould you allow yourfelves to argue thus, it would fufficiently prove, that you do not belong to Chrift; however you may glory in a pre16 tended external Relation. Know ye not, that to whomsoever ye prefent yourselves [as] Servants, actually to obey his Commands, bis Servants you are? Not his, whofe Name you may bear without practically acknowledging his Authority, but his, whom you in Fact obey. Least of all can you divide yourfelves between two contrary Mafters, but muft either be intirely the Servants of Sin, which you know by a certain Confequence leads to eternal Death, or intirely the Servants of GOD, by a Courfe of refolute and perfevering Obedience; which, notwithstanding your former Failures, will fecurely lead to Righteousness and But Thanks be to GOD, that whereas were once the Servants of Sin, this is to be fpok- that ye were the Servants en of as a Bondage past and gone; and that of Sin; but ye have

17 Life.

you

ye

bave

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves vants ye are to whom ye Servants to obey, his Serobey; whether of Sin unto Death, or of Obedience unto Righteousness?

17 But GOD be thanked,

obeyed

77

But, being free from Sin, are the Servants of Righteousness: obeyed from the Heart that have now obeyed, not in Profeffion alone, but Sect. 13. Form of Doctrine which from the Heart, the Model of Doctrine into which

was delivered you.

Rom. VI. 17.

ye were delivered, as into a Mold (a); that your
whole Temper and Life might be formed and
fashioned into an amiable and glorious Corref-
pondence with it. And therefore being thus 18
made free from Sin, ye are become the Servants
of Righteoufnefs, and are at once enabled, and
obliged to lead a Life of true Piety and exem-
plary Goodness.

As ye

I fpeak as a Man, and upon the common Prin- 19
ciple of human Equity and Juftice, as well as
with a Reference to civil Customs, with which
you Romans are fo familiarly acquainted. And
I reafon thus with you, because of the Weakness
of your Flesh, because of thofe Infirmities and
Temptations arifing from it; against which I would
endeavour to fortify you by every Confideration,
that may render you victorious over it.
have (b) in Time paft, while ignorant of the
Gofpel, and many of you the Slaves of Heathen
Vice and Idolatry, prefented your Members Ser-
vants to Uncleanness, and to other Kinds of Ini-
quity, into which that Debauchery too naturally
leads; fo let it now be your Care to prefent your
Members Servants of Righteousness, in order to the
Practice of univerfal Holiness.

And it is very fit, that this fhould be your 20
intire Employment; for when ye were Servants of
Sin, you were free from Righteousness, you never
did any fingle Action that was truly good, and
on the whole acceptable to God, because none
was performed from fuch Principles, as could in-

'title

(a) Model of Doctrine, &c. is ov rapedwonle Tutor didaxns.] That luros may properly be rendered Model, fee Note on Rom. v. 14. and add to the Inftances there given Elfner's Note on this Place; and fee Dr. Sykes of Chriftianity, pag. 178.-Mr. Locke thinks 'tis an elegant Mes taphor, to reprefent the Delivery of a Servant over from one Mafter to another, and that the Gospel, expreffed by the Form of found Words, is the Mafter fucceeding to the Law. But it seems more probable, that it may allude to melted Metal being formed by the Mold, into which it is poured; and it finely exprefles that Pliancy of Temper with Respect to the Gofpel, which conftitutes fo lovely a Part of the true Chriftian's Character.

(b) As ye have. It is in the Original wore yap: But yap is here most evidently an Expletive, as in Greek it often is. It is of fome Moment to obferve this; and I think it had been better, if our Tranflators had more frequently attended to it.

(c) Eternal

78

Rom. VI. 20.

For the Wages of Sin is Death; the Gift of GOD, eternal Life.

you

Sect. 13. title it to his compleat Approbation. Now furely
you
fhould be as ready to obey Righteousness, as
you have been to obey Sin, and fhew as much
Zeal in the beft, as you have done in the worst
21 of Causes. To engage you therefore to this,
confider, what Fruit or Advantage did you then
derive from thofe Things, of the very Remem-
brance of which you are now heartily afhamed;
which you would not be, if you had indeed ob-
tained any folid Advantage by them; whereas
this is far from being the Cafe, for the certain
22 End of thofe Things [is] Death. But remember,
have now what is most honourable and moft
advantageous in your View; for being fet free
from Sin, and engaged to GOD as his Servants and
Property, you have your Fruit unto Holiness, in
which you find a prefent, and moft folid Advan-
tage; and the End you have in View is nothing
less than eternal Life: Such is the infinite Dif-
ference, and fo advantageous the Exchange you
have made. For eternal Death [is] the proper
Wages and Defert of Sin, and is all the Gain,
which its wretched Slave will have to fhew from
the Hand of his tyrannical Mafter in the
great Day of future Account (c): But eternal Life
[is,] not as in the former Inftance, the justly de-
served Retribution of the Action, but the Gift of
a gracious and bountiful GOD in Chrift Jefus our
Lord, to whom we are to afcribe it, that any of
our Services are accepted, and much more that
they are recompenfed with a Munificence worthy
the Lord of all.

23

21 What Fruit had ye thenin those Things whereof ye are now afhamed? For the End of thofe Things is Death.

22 But now being made free from Sin, and become Servants to GOD, ye have your Fruit unto Holiness, and the End everlasting Life.

23 For the Wages of Sin is Death: But the Gift of GOD is eternal Life, thro' Jefus Chrift our Lord.

(c) Eternal Death-in the great Day of future Account.] I fee no imaginable Reason to believe, as fome late Writers have intimated, in their Paraphrafe on this Verfe, that Death here fignifies being caft out of Existence. See Chap. ii. 12. Note (i). If this could be inferred with Relation to wicked Heathens from the Places before us, it might alfo, contrary to the Opinion of these Authors, be concluded to be the Cafe of wicked Chriftians from Chap viii. 13. The Truth is, that to die, fignifies to fall under the Capital Sentence of the Divine Law; and 'tis well known, that being caft into the everburning Lake is in this View called Death. Rev. xxi. 8.

IMPROVE

Reflections on the Wages of Sin, and the Fruits of Righteousness.

BEING

IMPROVEMENT.

on's

79

EING fet at Liberty from the condemning Sentence of God's Sect. 13. Law, let us charge our Souls, by all the Ties of Gratitude, that we do not turn his Grace into Wantonnefs; or deceive ourselves with Ver. 15, vain Words in a Matter of infinite Importance. We cannot be at the fame Time the Servants of GOD, and the Servants of Sin; and certainly Ver. 17. our Understandings must be darkened to Infatuation, if we can long doubt whofe Service we should prefer. The Work of Righteousness is Peace, the Effect of it Quietness and Affurance for ever; (Ifai. xxxii. 17.) but Death Ver. 23, is the Wages of Sin, and it fhall be repayed to all that go on in it. And Oh what, and how terrible a Death! To be caft into the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone, which is the fecond Death. How merciful are all the repeated Admonitions which warn us to flee from it! Let us all judge, that it is already too long that we have yielded ourselves the Ver. 18, 19. Servants of Sin: Too long that our Members, made for the Service of their Creator, devoted perhaps with great Solemnity to our Redeemer, have been abused and proftituted as the Inftruments of Unrighteousness. Ver. 22. Surely it is too much Time that we have already spent, too much Vi-gour that we have already exerted, in fo bafe a Servitude. For the future let us act, as thofe who are made free from Sin.

Ver. 22..

And to animate us to it, let us often reflect, how unfruitful the Ver. 21. Works of Darkness have been found; in what Shame they have already ended; in what Shame and everlasting Contempt they muft end, if they be finally pursued. And let us daily direct our Eye to that everlasting Life; that crowns the happy Profpect of those who have their Fruit unto Holiness. Bleffed Effect of ferving GOD now, to ferve and enjoy him for ever! To enjoy, thro' eternal Ages, the Pleasures of a Nature throughly fanctified, and the Sight and Favour of that God, who is the original Source and Pattern of Sanctification! 'Tis the glorious Mark, at which we are aiming. Let us pursue it fteadily and refolutely; yet always remembring, that it is the Gift of GOD, and never prefuming to think of fo glorious a Remuneration, as the Wages of any Duty we can perform. Alas! The Imperfections of our beft Services daily forfeit the Bleffings of Time: How impoffible then is it, that the Since-rity of them, amidst fo many Frailties and Defects, fhould purchase.theGlories of Eternity!

Ver. 23,

SEC T..

80

Sect. 14.

Rom. VII. I.

The Apoftle enters upon his Defign of taking off the believing
Jews from their fond Attachment to the Mofaick Law, now
they were, in a fpiritual Senfe, married to Chrift by the
Gospel. Rom. VII. 1,---6.

I

ROMANS VII. 1.

HAVE been endeavouring to direct your Regards to the Gofpel, and to Chrift as there exhibited, in Order to your Juftification and Salvation. Now you may perhaps be ready to object, that you, who are Jews, will certainly be out of the Way of obtaining thofe Privileges, if you fhould neglect the Mofaick Law, the Divine Authority of which none can reasonably queftion. But know ye not Brethren, (for I am now Speaking to thofe, that are fuppofed to be familiarly acquainted with the Contents of that Law, for which they are fo zealous ;) that, on the Principles which the Law itfelf lays down, it ruleth over a Man, only fo long as it liveth (a): Its Dominion over particular Perfons can, at the utmoft, laft no longer, than till it is itself abrogated; for that is as it were its Death, fince the Divine Authority going along with it was the very Life and Soul of the Law. Suppofe that to ceafe, and the Letter of the Precept is but a dead Corpfe, and with Refpect to its Obligation

t

as

T

(a) So long as it liveth: ep ooor xpovov .] It would be contrary to the Apoftie's Delign, to fuppofe the Senfe of this to be, as our Tranflation renders it, as long as he, that is, the Man in Question liveth; for he profeffedly endeavours to prove, that they had out-lived their Obligations to the Law. Elfner would connect appare with ros, and render it, the Law and Authority of the Hufband continues in Force, as long as he, that is, the IIufband liveth, and produces Authorities to prove that xupEvw is often applied to the obliging Force of a Law,or that matrimonial Customs are fometimes called Laws. (Obferv. Vol. ii. pag. 31.) But this, if it avoid, as he pleads, one Tautology, certainly occafions another, for the 2d Verfe plainly expreffes this Senfe; and it would require a Tranfpofition not to be allowed without more apparent Reason. Our Rendering is more natural, and fuits the Connection with the following Verfes in which the Law is reprefented as the first Husband, whofe Deceafe leaves them free to be married to Chrift. (b) If