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The struggles of an enlightened,

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A. M. cir. 4062. A. D. cir. 58. An. Olymp. cir. CCIX. 2.

A.M. cir. 4062. made death unto me? God forbid. || might become God forbid. might become exceeding sinful. A. D. cir. 58. An. Olymp. But sin, that it might appear sin, 14 For, we know that the law is cir. CCIX. 2. A.U.C.cir.811. working death in me by that which spiritual: but I am carnal, sold A.U.C.cir.811. is good; that sin by the commandment under sin.

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a Ch. 3. 20. 2 Cor. 13. 7. Gal. 1. 13.

b 1 Kings 21. 20, 25. 2 Kings 17. 17. 1 Mac. 1. 15.

the moral law is not preached and enforced. Those who preach only the gospel to sinners, at best, only heal the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly. The law, therefore, is the grand instrument in the hands of a faithful minister, to alarm and awaken sinners: and he may safely shew, that every siuner is under the law, and consequently under the curse, who has not fled for refuge to the hope held out by the gospel for, in this sense also Jesus Christ is the END of the LAW for justification to them that believe.

Verse 14. For, we know that the law is spiritual] This is a general proposition, and probably, in the apostle's autograph, concluded the above sentence. The law is not to be considered as a system of external rites and ceremonies; nor even as a rule of moral action: it is a spiritual system; it reaches to the most hidden purposes, thoughts, dispositions, and desires of the heart and soul; and it reproves and condemns every thing, without hope of reprieve or pardon, that is contrary to eternal truth and rectitude. But I am carnal, sold under sin.] This was probably, in the apostle's letter, the beginning of a new paragraph. I believe it is agreed, on all hands, that the apostle is here demonstrating the insufficiency of the law, in opposition to the gospel. That by the former, is the knowledge; by the latter the cure of sin. Therefore, by I here he cannot mean himself, nor any Christian believer: if the contrary could be proved, the argument of the apostle would go to demonstrate the insufficiency of the gospel, as well as the law.

It is difficult to conceive how the opinion could have crept into the church, or prevailed there; that "the apostle speaks here of his regenerate state; and that what was, in such a state, true of himself, must be true of all others in the same state." This opinion has, most pitifully and most shamefully, not only lowered the standard of Christianity, but destroyed its influence, and disgraced its character. It requires but little knowledge of the spirit of the gospel, and of the scope of this Epistle; to see that the apostle is here either personating a Jew, under the law and without the gospel, or shewing what his own state was, when he was deeply convinced that by the deeds of the law no man could be justified; and had not as yet heard those blessed words, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, Acts ix. 17.

between himself or any Jew, while without Christ; and the law of God. Of the latter he says, it is spiritual; of the former, I am carnal, sold under sin. Of the carnal man, in opposition to the spiritual, never was a more complete or accurate description given. The expressions in the flesh, and after the flesh, in ver. 5. and in chap. viii. 5, 8, 9, &c. are of the same import with the word carnal, in this verse. To be in the flesh, or to be carnally minded, solely respect the unregenerate. While unregenerate, a man is in a state of death and enmity against God, chap. viii. 6-9. This is St. Paul's own account of a carnal man. The soul of such a man has no authority over the appetites of the body, and the lusts of the flesh reason has not the government of passion. The work of such a person, is to make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, chap. xiii. 14. Ie minds the things of the flesh, chap. viii. 5. He is at enmity with God. In all these things the spiritual man is the reverse; he lives in a state of friendship with God in Christ, and the Spirit of God dwells in him; his soul has dominion over the appetites of the body and the lusts of the flesh; his passions submit to the government of reason; and he, by the Spirit, mortifies the deeds of the flesh; he mindeth the things of the Spirit, chap. viii. 5. The scriptures, therefore, place these two characters in direct opposition to each other. Now, the apostle begins this passage by informing us that it is his carnal state that he is about to describe, in opposition to the spirituality of God's holy law, saying, But I am carnal.

Those who are of another opinion, maintain that, by the word carnal here, the apostle meant that corruption which dwelt in him after his conversion; but this opinion is founded on a very great mistake; for, although there may be after justification, the remains of the carnal mind, which will be less or more felt till the soul is completely sanctified; yet the man is never denominated from the inferior principle, which is under controul; but from the superior principle which habitually prevails. Whatever epithets are given to corrup tion or sin in Scripture, opposite epithets are given to grace or holiness. By these different epithets are the unregenerate and regenerate denominated. From all this it follows, that the epithet carnal, which is the characteristic designation of an unregenerate man, cannot be applied to St. Paul, after his conversion; nor, indeed, to any Christian in that

In this, and the following verses, he states the contrariety || state.

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serts the fact, that sin had a full and permanent dominion over him. Smith, on the carnal man's character.

I am carnal, sold under sin.] I have been the more particular in ascertaining the genuine sense of this verse, because it determines the general scope of the whole passage.

Verse 15. For, that which I do, I allow not, &c.] The first clause of this verse is a general assertion concerning the employment of the person in question, in the state which the apostle calls carnal, and sold under sin. The Greek word narepyasqual, which is here translated I do, means a work which the agent continues to perform, till it is finished, and is used by the apostle, Phil. ii. 12. to denote the continued employment of God's saints in his service to the end of their lives. WORK OUT your own salvation; the word here denotes an employment of a different kind; and therefore the man who now feels the galling dominion of sin, says, what I am continually labouring at, I allow not; bu wonx, I do not acknowledge to be right, just, holy, or profitable.

But the word carnal, though used by the apostle to signify a state of death and enmity against God, is not sufficient to denote all the evil of the state which he is describing; hence he adds, sold under sin. This is one of the strongest expressions which the Spirit of God uses in Scripture, to describe the full depravity of fallen man. It implies a willing slavery: Ahab had sold himself to work evil, 1 Kings xxi. 20. And of the Jews it is said, in their utmost depravity, Behold, for your iniquities, ye have sold yourselves, Isai. 1. 1. They forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen, and WERE SOLD to do mischief, 1 Maccab. i. 15. Now, if the word carnal, in its strongest sense, had been sufficiently significant of all he meant, why add to this charge, another expression still stronger? We must there- } fore understand the phrase sold under sin, as implying, that the soul was employed in the drudgery of sin; that it was sold over to this service, and had no power to disobey this tyrant, until it was redeemed by another. And if a man be actually sold to another, and he acquiesce in the deed; then he becomes the legal property of that other person. This state of bondage was well known to the Romans. The sale of slaves they saw daily, and could not misunderstand the emphatical sense of this expression. Sin is here represented as a person; and the apostle compares the dominion which sin has over the man in question, to that of a master over his legal slave. Universally through the Scriptures, man is said to be in a state of bondage to sin, until the Son of God make him free but in no part of the sacred writings is it ever said that the children of God are sold under sin. Christ came to deliver the lawful captive, and take away the prey from the mighty. Whom the Son maketh free, they are free indeed. Then, they yield not up their members as instruments of un-pressly tells us, ver. 22. is the inward man; the law of the righteousness unto sin; for sin shall not have the dominion mind, ver. 23. the mind, or rational faculty, ver. 25. for over them, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ he could find no other inward man, or law of the mind, but Jesus, has made them free from the law of sin and death, the rational faculty, in a person who was carnal, and sold chap. vi. 13, 14. and viii. 2. Anciently, when regular car- under sin. The other I, or principle, transgresses the lawy tels were not known, the captives became the slaves of their ver. 23. and does those things which the former principle victors, and by them were sold to any purchaser; their allows not. This principle he expressly tells us, ver. 18. is slavery was as complete and perpetual, as if the slave had the flesh, the law in the members, or sensual appetite, ver. 23. resigned his own liberty, and sold himself: the laws of the and he concludes in the last verse, that these two principles land secured him to his master; he could not redeem him- were opposite to each other; therefore, it is evident, that self, because he had nothing that was his own, and nothing those two principles, residing and counteracting each other could rescue him from that state, but a stipulated redemp-in the same person, are reason and lust; or sin that dwells in tion. The apostle speaks here, not of the manner in us. And it is very easy to distinguish these two I's, or prinwhich the person in question became a slave; he only as-ciples, in every part of this elegant description of iniquity,

But what I hate, that do I.] I am a slave, and under the absolute controul of my tyrannical master: I hate his service, but am obliged to work his will. Who, without blaspheming, can assert that the apostle is speaking this of a man in whom the Spirit of the Lord dwells? From ver. 7. to this one, the apostle, says Dr. Taylor, denotes the Jew in the flesh, by a single I; here, he divides that I into two I's, or figurative persons; representing two different and opposite principles which were in him. The one I, or principle, assents to the law that it is good; and wills and chuses what the other does not practise, ver. 16. This principle he ex

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domineering over the light and remonstrances of reason. For instance, ver. 17. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but SIN that dwelleth in me. The I, he speaks of here, is! opposed to in-dwelling or governing sin; and therefore plainly denotes the principle of reason, the inward man, or law of the mind: in which, I add, a measure of the light of the Spirit of God shines; in order to shew the sinfulness of sin. These two different principles he calls, one flesh, and the other spirit; Gal. v. 17. where he speaks of their contrariety in the same manner that he does here.

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Although prudent, and intelligent, and active, and seeing,
I perish: neither do I know what to do.

Sed quia mente minus validus, quam corpore toto
Quæ nocuere sequar; fugiam, quæ profore credam.
HOR. Ep. lib. i. E. 8. ver. 7.

More in my mind than body lie my pains:
What e're may hurt me, I with joy pursue;
What e're may do me good, with horror view.

Francis.

And we may give a probable reason why the apostle dwells Επει γαρ ὁ αμαρτανων ου θελει αμαρτάνειν, αλλα κατορθώσαι so long upon the struggle and opposition between these two Δηλον οτι, μεν θελει, ου ποιεί, και ο μη θελει, ποιεί, principles; it appears intended to answer a tacit but very obARRIAN. Epist. ii. 26. vious objection. The Jew might allege, "But the law is holy and spiritual; and I assent to it as good, as a right rule For truly he who sins, does not will sin, but wishes to of action, which ought to be observed; yea, I esteem it walk uprightly: yet it is manifest that what he wills he doth highly, I glory and rest in it, convinced of its truth and exnot and what he doth, he wills not. cellency. And, is not this enough to constitute the law a! sufficient principle of sanctification?" The apostle answers, "No; wickedness is consistent with a sense of truth. man may assent to the best rule of action, and yet still be under the dominion of lust and sin; from which nothing can deliver him but a principle and power proceeding from the fountain of life."

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The sentiment in this verse may be illustrated by quotations from the ancient heathens; many of whom felt themselves in precisely the same state, (and expressed it in nearly the same language,) which some most monstrously tell us, was the state of this heavenly apostle, when vindicating the claims of the gospel against those of the Jewish ritual! Thus OVID describes the conduct of a depraved man:—

αλλα νικώμαι κακοίς,

Και μανθάνω μεν μια τολμήσω κακα·
Θυμός δε κρείσσων των εμών βουλευμάτων
Οσπερ μεγίσων αίτιος κακών βροτοις.

EURIP. Med. v. 1077.

But I am overcome by sin,

And I well understand the evil which I presume to commit.
Passion, however, is more powerful than my reason;
Which is the cause of the greatest evils to mortal men.

Thus we find that enlightened heathens, both among the
Greeks and Romans, had that same kind of religious ex-
perience; which some suppose to be, not only the experience
of St. Paul in his best state; but to be even the standard of
Christian attainments! See more examples in Wetstein.
The whole spirit of the sentiment is well summed up and
OVID, Met. lib. vii. ver. 19. expressed by St. Chrysostom: Orav TWO ETIQUμWNEY, EITE
όταν τινος επιθυμωμεν,
κωλύωμεθα, αιρεται μάλλον της επιθυμίας η φλοξ
lust after any thing, which is afterwards prohibited, the flame
of this desire burns the more fiercely.

Sed trahit invitam nova vis, aliudque cupido;
Mens aliud suadet. Video meliora, proboque;
Deteriora sequor.

My reason this, my passion that persuades;
I see the right, and I approve it too;
Condemn the

and
wrong, yet the wrong pur suc.
indignum facinus! nunc ego et

Illam scelestam esse, et me miserum scntio:
Et tædet, et amore ardeo: et prudens et sciens,
Vivus, vidensque pereo: nec quid agam scio.

An unworthy act! and I am wretched.

TERENT. Eun. ver. 70.
Now I perceive that she is wicked,
I burn with love, and am vexed at it.

If we

Verse 16. If then I do that which I would not, &c.] Knowing that the law condemns it, and that, therefore, it must be evil. I consent unto the law; I shew by this circumstance, that I acknowledge the law to be good.

Verse 17. Now then it is no more I] It is not that I, which constitutes reason and conscience; but sin, corrupt and sensual inclinations, that dwelleth in me; that have the entire domination over my reason, darkening my understand

The struggles of an enlightened,

A. M. cir. 4062.

A. D. cir. 58.

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me; but how to perform that which not: but the evil which I would not,
that I do.

An. Olymp. is good, I find not.

cir. CCIX. 2. A.U.C.cir.811.

19 For, the good that I would, I do

20 Now, if I do that I would not, it

A.D. cir. 58.

A. M.cir.4062

An. Olymp. cir. CCIX. 2.

A.U.C.cir.811.

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ing, and perverting my judgment; for which there is condemnation in the law, but no cure. So we find here that there is a principle, in the unregenerate man, stronger than reason itself: a principle which is, properly speaking, not of the essence of the soul, but acts in it, as its Lord; or as a tyrant. This is in-bred, and in-dwelling sin, the seed of the serpent; by which the whole soul is darkened, confused, perverted, and excited to rebellion against God. Verse 18. For I know that in me, &c.] I have learned, by experience, that in an unregenerate man, there is no good. There is no principle by which the soul can be brought into the light; no principle by which it can be restored to purity: fleshly appetites alone prevail; and the brute runs away with

the man.

subjected; if subjected, it would cease to be sin; because sin
is in opposition to God; hence the apostle says, most cou.
clusively, it cannot be subjected; i. e. it must be destroyed,
or it will destroy the soul for ever.
When the apostle says,
to will is present with me, he shews that the will is on the
side of God and truth; so far, that it consents to the pro-
priety and necessity of obedience. There has been a strange
clamour raised up against this faculty of the soul, as if the
very essence of evil dwelt in it; whereas, the apostle shews,
throughout this chapter, that the will was regularly on God's
side, while every other faculty appears to have been in hos-
tility to him. The truth is, men have confounded the will
with the passions; and laid to the charge of the former
what properly belongs to the latter. The will is right, but
the passions are wrong. It discerns and approves, but is
without ability to perform: it has no power over sensual
appetites; in these the principle of rebellion dwells: it
nills evil, it wills good, but can only command through the
power of Divine grace: but this, the person in question, the
unregenerate man, has not received.

Verse 19. For the good that I would I do not] Here again is the most decisive proof that the will is on the side

For to will is present with me] Though the whole soul has suffered indescribably by the FALL, yet there are some faculties that appear to have suffered less than others; or rather have received larger measures of the supernatural light, because their concurrence with the Divine principle is so necessary to the salvation of the soul. Even the most unconcerned about spiritual things, have understanding, judg ment, reason, and will. And by means of these, we have seen even scoffers at Divine revelation, become very emi-of God and truth. nent in arts and sciences; some of our best metaphysicians, physicians, mathematicians, astronomers, chymists, &c. have been known, to their reproach be it spoken and published, to be without religion; nay, some of them have blasphemed it, by leaving God out of his own work, and ascribing to an idol-of their own, whom they they call nature, the operations of the wisdom, power and goodness, of the Most High. It is true that many of the most eminent in all the above branches of knowledge, have been conscientious believers in Divine revelation: but the case of the others proves, that fallen as man is, he yet possesses extraordinary powers; which are capable of very high cultivation and improvement. In short, the soul seems capable of any thing, but knowing, fearing, loving, and serving God. And it is not only incapable of itself, for any truly religious acts; but what shews its fall in the most indisputable manner, is, its enmity to sacred things. Let an unregenerate man pretend what he pleases, his conscience knows that he hates religion;||surdly called free will, as if will did not essentially imply his soul revolts against it; his carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. There is no reducing this fell principle to subjection; it is SIN, and sin is rebellion against God; therefore sin must be destroyed, not

But the evil which I would not] And here is equally decisive proof that the will is against, or opposed to evil. There is not a man in ten millions who will carefully watch the operations of this faculty, that will find it opposed to good, and obstinately attached to evil, as is generally sup posed. Nay, it is found almost uniformly on God's side, while the whole sensual system is against him. It is not the WILL that leads men astray; but the corrupt PASSIONS which oppose and oppress the will. It is truly astonishing into what endless mistakes men have fallen on this point, and what systems of divinity have been builded on these mistakes. The will, this almost only friend to God in the human soul, has been slandered as God's worst enemy: and even by those who had the seventh chapter to the Romans before their eyes! Nay, it has been considered so fell a foe to God and goodness, that it is bound in the adamantiue chains of a dire necessity, to do evil only; and the doctrine of will, (ab

what is free,) has been considered one of the most destruc tive heresies. Let such persons put themselves to school to their Bibles, and to common sense.

The plain state of the case is this; the soul is so complete

The struggles of an enlightened,

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is no more I that do it, but sin that would do good, evil is present with A.M. cir.4062. dwelleth in me.

21 I find then a law, that, when I

me.

b

A. D. cir. 58. An. Olymp. cir. CCIX. 2.

22 For I delight in the law of A.U.C.cir.811.

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Yet gave me in this dark estate
To see the good from ill;
And binding nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will.

POPE'S Universal Prayer.

Verse 20. It is no more I] My will is against it; my reason and conscience condemn it. But sin that dwelleth in me-The principle of sin, which has possessed itself of all my carnal appetites and passions, and thus subjects my reason and domineers over my soul. Thus, I am in perpetual contradiction to myself. Two principles are continually contending in me for the mastery; my reason, on which the light of God shines, to shew what is evil; and my passions, in which the principle of sin works, to bring forth fruit unto

This strange self-contradictory propensity led some of the ancient philosophers to imagine, that man has two souls, a good and a bad one; and it is on this principle, that Xenophon, in his life of Cyrus, causes Araspes, a Persian nobleman, to account for some misconduct of his, relative to

ly fallen, so, that it has no power to do good, till it receive that power from on high. But it has power to see good, to distinguish between that and evil; to acknowledge the excellence of this good, and to will it, from a conviction of that excellence; but farther it cannot go. Yet, in various cases, it is solicited, and consents to sin; and because it is will, that is, because it is a free principle, it must necessarily possess this power; and although it can do no good, unless it receive grace from God; yet it is impossible to force it to sin. Even Satan himself cannot do this; and before he can get it to sin, he must gain its consent. Thus, God in his endless mercy, has endued this faculty with a power in which, humanly speaking, resides the salvability of the soul; and without this, the soul must have eternally continued under the power of sin, or been saved as an inert, absolutely passive machine; which supposition would go as nearly to prove that it was as incapable of vice, as it were of virtue. "But does not this arguing destroy the doctrine of free grace?" No! it establishes that doctrine. 1. It is through the grace, the unmerited kindness of God, that the soul has such a faculty, and that it has not been extinguished by sin. 2. This will, though a free principle, as it respects its nill-Panthea, a beautiful female captive, whom Cyrus had ening of evil, and chusing good; yet, properly speaking, has no power by which it can subjugate the evil, or perform the good. We know that the eye has a power to discern objects, but without light, this power is perfectly useless; and no object can be discerned by it. So, of the person represented here by the apostle, it is said, to reill is present with me, ro yap θέλειν παράκειται μαι. To will is ever in readiness, it is ever at hand, it lies constantly before me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not; that is, the man is unregenerate; and he is seeking justification and holiness from the law. The law was never designed to give these; it gives the knowledge, not the cure, of sin; therefore, though he nills evil, and wills good; yet he can neither conquer the one, nor perform the other, till he receives the grace of Christ; till he seeks and finds redemption in his blood. Here then, the free agency of man is preserved, without which he could not be in a salvable state; and the honour of the grace of Christ is maintained, without which, there can be no actual salvation. There is a good sentiment on this subject in the following words of an eminent poet.

Thou great first CAUSE, least understood;
Who all my sense confined

To know but this, that thou art good;
And that myself am blind.

trusted to his care." O Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two souls; if I had but one soul, it could not, at the same time, pant after vice and virtue; wish and abhor the same thing. It is certain therefore, that we have two souls; when the good soul rules, I undertake noble and virtuous actions; but when the bad soul predominates, I am constrained to do evil. All I can say at present is, that I find my good soul, encouraged by thy presence, has got the better of my bad soul." See Spectator, Vol. VIII. No. 564. Thus, not only the ancients, but also many moderns have trifled and all will continue to do so, who do not acknowledge the scriptural account of the fall of man, and the lively comment upon that doctrine, contained in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

Verse 21. I find then a law] I am in such a condition and state of soul; under the power of such habits and sinful propensities, that when I would do good; when my will and reason are strongly bent on obedience to the law of God, and opposition to the principle of sin; evil is present with me, xanov mapanɛital, evil is at hand, it lies constantly before me. That, as the will to do good is constantly at hand, ver. 18. so the principle of rebellion exciting me to sin, is equally present; but as the one is only will, wish and desire, without power to do what is willed, to obtain what

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