Now, if we, being in Christ, died also with and in him, we have reason to believe, that we have no less part in his resurrection and life also; so as we both do and shall live with him.

VI. 9. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Knowing therefore, that Christ, being raised from the dead, and triumphing over death in that his Resurrection, yieldeth not to death any more; nor suffereth death, thus by him vanquished, to have any more power over him.

VI. 10. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

For, in that he died, he died but once for the destroying of sin; but, in that he liveth, he liveth with God for ever, a life immortal and glorious.

VI. 11. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Likewise, ye, that are regenerate, must make account that ye are, by the virtue of his death, dead unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath raised us up to the life of new obedience, by the power of his Resurrection. VI. 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Let not sin therefore, which is thus dead in you, or at least hath received his death's wound, rule and reign, as a tyrant, in these mortal bodies of yours, so as that ye should obey it in the lusts and sinful motions thereof.

VI. 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Neither do ye yield over the members of your bodies, and the faculties of your souls, as instruments and weapons of unrighteousness, to serve under the command of sin: but yield up yourselves wholly to the service of God, as those, that are, for this purpose, raised up from the dead; and let all the parts and faculties of your bodies and souls, be employed as weapons, to fight, under the command of God, for righteousness. VI. 14. For ye are not under the law, but under grace. For, ye are not under the condemning power of the Law; but, under the grace and mercy of God, accepting you in Christ.

VI. 15. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

What then? shall we therefore take liberty to sin, because the Law hath no power to condemn us for sin, and we are assured of grace and mercy from God? God forbid.

VI. 16. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Know ye not, that there is such a contrariety betwixt God and sin, that ye cannot possibly serve both. Certainly, every man must obey that master whom he serves; whether it be sin, which will pay him with death; or, whether righteousness, which will pay his obedience with life and glory.

VI. 17. But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

But for you, God be thanked, that, howsoever ye were once the servants of sin; yet now, ye are freed from that bondage, and have willingly obeyed from the heart that doctrine of the Gospel, which was delivered unto you.

VI. 18. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Being then set free from the servitude of sin, ye became the voluntary and cheerful servants of righteousness.

VI. 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

I use this familiar similitude of service and freedom, because I would descend to your weak capacity; that, by these secular and civil things, ye might understand the spiritual: let me therefore exhort you, that, as ye have yielded over your bodies and souls to be servants to uncleanness and all kind of iniquity, from one degree thereof to another; even so now, that ye would contrarily yield over those your souls and bodies, to be the servants of righteousness, that ye may be wholly purged from your corruptions, and consecrated to the service of God. VI. 20. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

For, when ye were the servants of sin, ye had nothing to do with righteousness; neither had that any tie over you to hold you in, within any compass of obedience.

VI. 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Then ye ran wild and loose, according to your own vain and sinful lusts; but now, when ye look back upon that lawless condition, bethink yourselves what fruit or benefit ye found in those ways of wickedness, whereof ye are now ashamed: alas! what good was to be hoped for from them, whose end is nothing but death and damnation?

VI. 22. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

But now, contrarily, being set free from the service of sin, and being admitted to be the servants of God, ye have abundance of contentment hereby; and this estate yields you the most comfortable and sweet fruit of holiness here, and of eternal life hereafter.

VI. 23. For the wages of sin is death; but the Gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now, therefore, compare the issue of both these services together; and ye shall easily see which Master to serve and obey the wages, that sin shall pay you in the end, is death, both of body and soul; but the gift, that God bestows upon his followers, is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

:

VII. 1. Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man, as long as he liveth?

That ye may therefore fully understand in what terms ye stand with the Law, I shall make use of that similitude of the husband and wife, which is most plain and familiar. Know ye not therefore, brethren, for I speak to those Jewish Christians that do well know the Law, that the Mosaical Law hath dominion over any man, that is subject unto it, so long as the said Law is in force?

VII. 2. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

Take the instance of a husband and wife: let the husband be the Law; let us converts to Christianity be the wife: so then, the woman, which hath a husband, is bound by the Law to live with her husband, and to be subject unto him, so long as he liveth; but if her husband be once dead, she is loosed from any further bond to her husband, or observance of him. VII. 3. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, &c.

If then, while her husband is alive, she takes her own liberty, to forsake her husband's bed, and to marry with another man, &c.

VII. 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Even so it is with you, my brethren: while the Law lived, and stood in his full force and vigour, ye were bound to hold you close unto it, and to observe it with all care and due respects; but now, that the Mosaical Law is dead to you, and you to it, by that all-sufficient sacrifice which Christ offered up in his flesh for us, ye are now discharged from the Law, and are free to be married to another, even to Christ, the Son

of God, who is raised from the dead, that we should, upon our happy marriage with him, bring forth fruit unto God.

VII. 5. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

For which better fruit, we have both more occasion and better helps, then we formerly had; for, while we were carnal and under the power of the Law, the motions of our sinful and corrupt nature took occasion by the Law, to stir us unto evil; and accordingly drew from us those effects, which did justly procure our eternal death.

VII. 6. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

But now, we are delivered from that miserable servitude and hard exaction, and woeful curse of the Law; that rigorous and cruel bondage, under which we were held, being expired; that we should lead a new life, with our husband Christ Jesus, and should serve him in that sanctity and real obedience, which is wrought by the Spirit of Renovation in us, and not in the outward and fashionable knowledge of the Law, without any true change of the heart.

VII. 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 shall we say then? If there be a kind of necessity, to be delivered from the Law; and the motions of sin working in us, by the Law bring forth fruit unto death; it should seem, that the Law is sin, and that it is not only unprofitable, but exceeding mischievous and pernicious to the soul: Nay, God forbid we should so think: the Law doth not cause sin, but it descries it, and shews the heinousness of it; for I had not known or observed lust to be a sin, if the Law had not said, Thou shalt not covet: some gross outward actions might be easily discernible to be foul and sinful; but, for this secret concupiscence of the heart, I could not have discovered it to be that, which it is, sin, had it not been for the light of God's Law.

VII. 8. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

Indeed the Law was given, for the forbiddance and restraint of sin, and ought to have that use in us; but, through our corruption, it falls out contrarily, that the Law, shewing and inhibiting sin and not giving power to avoid and restrain it, gives occasion to our impetuous desires and lusts, so much more eagerly to pursue forbidden pleasures: for had not the

Law strictly restrained us from the yieldance unto sin, sin had not had such force to put itself upon us.

VII. 9. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Take me, if you please, for an example: for I, before I enquired carefully into the Law, lived in a free and careless security, making no difference of my actions; but, when once I came to take notice of the Commandment, which restrained and forbad my sinful lusts and affections, now my corruptions began to gather head, and, as it were, seemed to receive a new life and vigour: so as I, by the force of them, fell into a spiritual death, and lay under that miserable estate.

VII. 10. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

And so that Commandment, which was ordained to be a rule of life, and, if I could have kept it, a means of life also, I found to be unto me, through my own corruption, an occasion of death. So also verse 11.

VII. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

Was then the Law, which is good, turned evil, and, in its own nature deadly unto me? God forbid: the fault is not in the Law, but in my own depravedness; for sin, that it might appear every way like itself, harmful and deadly, wrought death in me, by occasion of that Law, which is in itself good and holy so as hereupon, that sin, which, in the time of my security, seemed not worthy of any note, appeared to be exceedingly foul and sinful.

VII. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For the Law, we know, is a heavenly, spiritual, and divine thing, and therefore is not of a hurtful and killing nature; but I am an earthly, carnal, and sinful creature, as of myself; altogether given up to the power of sin, and, as it were, sold under it to a hard and cruel servitude.

VII. 15. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

And, even now, in the state of my regeneration, I am divided in myself; for that which I do, as being overcome with the force of my corruptions, I allow not, as renewed: for, that good which I would do, upon the good motions of God's Spirit in me, that I do not; but that, which, in my spiritual and regenerated part I hate, that, through the sway of my carnal affections, I do.

VII. 16, If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.