ROM. vi. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 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. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 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 right eousness? 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. 19 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ROM. vii. verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 23. How is this corruption of nature propagated? (a) The sufficient answer is that the moral health of the soul depends on its communion with God: (b) But on account of sin every infant's soul is judicially excluded from that fellowship, and hence the tendency to sin : GEN. v. 3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth : And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5 and all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. PSALM lviii. 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. JOB xiv. 4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. JOB XV. 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. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that woman, that he should be rightdwelleth in me. JOHN viii. 14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a ⚫eous? JOHN iii. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 24. In what sense may sin be the punishment of sin? In the way of judicial abandonment. Sin and more sin is the consequence: is the cause of the Spirit being withdrawn, ROM. i. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in them selves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers. 25. What distinction do the Romanists make between mortal and venial sins? JAMES ii. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 19 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. GAL. iii. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And that doeth them shall live in them. the law is not of faith: but, The man 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. concerning the sin against the Holy 26. What do the Scriptures teach Spirit? The following passages appear to teach that this sin consists in the malicious rejection of the blood of Christ, and of the testimony of the Holy Spirit; because He is immediately present in the heart of the sinner and His testimony and influence are directly and contemptuously rejected. · It is unpardonable, not because it transcends the merit of Christ, or that the state of the sinner transcends the renew ing power of the Holy Spirit, but because it consists in the final rejection of these, and because of this God has sovereignly staid His grace: MATT. xii. 31 Wherefore I say unto yoù, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaketh a word more sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." I JOHN V. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the Petitions that we desired of him. 16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. 17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. 18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. CHAPTER XVIII. THE DOCTRINE OF THE WILL AND OF HUMAN INABILITY. 3. When is a man said to be free doer of the work, this man shall be in willing? (a) When he wills in conformity with his prevailing dispositions or desires at the time, all things considered, in the view his understanding takes of the case: (b) A man, therefore, always is free in willing, and can never will otherwise than as free, because the volition, or executive action of the will is always determined by the man's subjective state of desire or aversion, and therefore is always free: 4. Do not the Scriptures, however, speak of man's being under the bondage of corruption, and his liberty as lost? (a) In every responsible action a man is free from the necessity of the case: (4) In the state of sinlessness, the will, conscience, desire, all the faculties of the soul, in fact, harmonize with the light of reason and the law of God. There is no conflict going on between the principle (pare) within and the law (pure) without, such enjoy liberty as the sons of God: 2 COR. iii. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. GAL. V. 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. JAMES i. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a blessed in his deed. JAMES ii. 12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. I PETER ii. 16. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 2 PETER ii. 19. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he 20 For if after they brought in bondage. have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (c) In the case of fallen men and angels it is the reverse, they are servants of sin: JOHN viii. 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 13. What is the distinction between liberty and ability? (a) Liberty consists in the power of the agent to will as he pleases, and in the fact that the volition is determined only by the character of the agent willing. Ability consists in the power of the agent to change his own subjective state, to make himself prefer what he does not prefer, and to act in a given case in opposition to the co-existing desires and preferences of his own heart: (b) Thus man is as truly free since the Fall as before it, because he wills as his evil heart pleases, but he has lost all ability to obey the law of God, because his evil heart is not subject to that law, neither can he change it: If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. ROM. ix. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, 18. Prove the fact of the inability. but of God that sheweth mercy. JER. xiii. JOHN vi. 43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, ex cept the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. JOHN vi. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come ́unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. JOHN XV. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can nothing. I COR. ii. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that 13 Which are freely given to us of God. things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural mind receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 20. How may it be proved from what the Scriptures say concerning human depravity, and the necessity of a divine influence in order to sal |