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Here the apostle starts an objection which some licentious persons might be ready to make: "If we are not under the law which condemns sin, but under the covenant of grace, which allows the pardon and promises the forgiveness of sin, why may we not then go on in sin, and continue in sin forbidden by the law, secing we are not under the law?" The apostle rejects such a suggestion with his usual note of detestation, God forbid. From hence we may learn, That it as an high abuse of the covenant of grace, to suppose or imagine that it countenances any licentiousness, or allows any liberty to sin. The design of the new covenant is to recover from sin, not to encourage any to continue in sin. Learn, 2. That such doctrine and inferences are to be abhorred, which from the grace of God, in mitigating the law, would infer an utter abrogation of the law, denying that it hath a directive regulating power over a believer. True, we are delivered from the curse and condemnatory sentence of the law, from the severity and rigorous exactions of the law: but to refuse obedience to the law, under pretence of christian liberty; to sin because we are not under the law, but under grace; is a turning the grace of God into wantonness, and to use our christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh.

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.

Two things are here intimated by the apostle: 1. That all men really are and ought to be reputed servants to that master whose works they do, and whose commands they obey: Whom ye obey, his servants ye are. Learn thence, That we may infallibly know whose servants we are, and what master we serve, Christ or Satan, by examining and enquiring whose commands they are which we execute and obey. 2. The apostle intimates, that every person or servant shall receive a reward suitable to the master he serves, and proportionable to the work he does. If Satan be our master, sin is our work, and death our wages: if we be the servants of God, obedience is our work, and eternal life will be our reward; there is a reward for the righteous, and wages for the workers of iniquity. The devil's drudges shall have full pay, but no content; the wages of sin is death; there's

VOL. II.

pay, such as it is, woeful pay, a black penny! God's servants, though they do not work for wages, yet they shall not work for nothing: Verily there is a reward for the righteous: A reward of mercy, not of merit; a reward of grace, not of debt; and accordingly the apostle says here, His servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. But why doth he not say, of obedience unto life, as well as of sin unto death? then the antithesis had been more plain and full. Answer, Because though sin be the cause of death, yet obedience is not the cause of life, but only the way to it. Via ad regnum, non causa regnandi.

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.

We must not understand these words, as if the apostle had blessed God because they were once slaves to sin and Satan; but thanks God that the time of that bondage was past and over. As if he had said,

46

God be thanked, that though formerly ye were the servants of sin, yet since your conversion you are become obedient to the the heart that form of doctrine, or, (accordprecepts of christianity, having obeyed from ing to the original,) being cast into the mould of that doctrine, which was delivered to you." Learn hence, That to be turned from the service of sin to the sincere obedience of the gospel, is a mercy that we can never be sufficiently sensible of, and bless God for. God be thanked, that although ye were the servants of sin, ye are no longer so. Learn, 2. That the doctrine of the gospel has a divine efficacy attending and accompanying it on the hearts of believers; it has a transforming power to change and fashion men's minds into the likeness of it, as the mould doth the metal that is cast into it. The doctrine of the gospel is the mould, and the heart is the metal, which, when melted and cast into the mould, receives its form and figure. O happy they; who having all their days sat under the dispensation of the gospel, are able at last to say, We are transformed and changed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteous

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ness. 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 holi

ness.

Our apostle goes on to put the Romans in mind of their past state by nature, and of their present state by grace; they were once the servants of sin, but now free from sin, and made by Christ servants of righttousness. All believers are made free by Christ for service, not one freed from serving; to be free to serve, is infinitely better than to be free from service; such as

are by Christ freed from sinful servitude, are best fitted for and most obliged to spiritual service. Learn hence, That such as are recovered from sin to God, should show the reality of their change, by being as zealous in the ways of holiness, as before they were earnest in the ways of sin. Shall we not do as much for God, as for sin and Satan? Is not he a better master, his work better service, and his wages a better reward? Lord, shall we not with as much zeal and vigour serve thee, as ever we served our lusts, those imperious exactors of our time and strength? O, had we the faculties and powers of angels, yet would our service for thee fall infinitely short of our obligations to thee. Observe next, How the apostle doth not barely urge the necessity of serving Christ in our regenerate state, but does enforce the proportion which our service now ought to bear to the disservice formerly done in our carnal state; As ye have yielded your members servants to iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness. Observe, lastly, The great dignotion and gracious condescension of Christ, that he should accept those members of ours as instruments of his service, which have been employed in the devil's service. "O blessed Jesus! wilt thou come into that vile heart of mine, which was once the seat of Satan, where he has ruled, and every unclean lust been harboured? O holy Spirit! shall that body be thy temple to dwell in now, which has been so often defiled with lust and vomit heretofore? Shall that tongue ever praise him in heaven, which has blasphemed him by oaths and horrid imprecations here on

earth? One would have expected that Christ should rather have said, " Vile wretch! Satan has had the use and service of thy body, and all its members, from thy childhood and youth unto this day; thy will has been his throne, thy memory his storehouse, and all thy members his tools and instruments to sin against me; thou didst indeed dedicate all these to my service and glory in thy baptism, but thou hast employed all these in Satan's service for many years past. However, if now thou art willing to yield those very members unto righteousness and to holiness, which formerly were servants unto uncleanness, I will both accept them, and reward thee

for them."

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

now.

That is, you were free de facto, not de jure; when you were sin's servants, you were void of righteousness, that had no part of your service then; therefore sin should not have one jot of your service As righteousness had no part of your service in your carnal state, so there is no reason why sin should have any service from you in your gracious state. Learn, that such sinners as are now become servants to God, ought to be as free from sin as before they were free from righteousness: it will evidently appear so, if we consider the great and good Master which we serve, the nature of our present work, and certainty and transcendency of our future reward, the obligations we lie under as creatures, as new creatures, by the law of creation, by the favour of redemption, by the promises and hopes of glorification; all this should engage us to the love and practice of universal holiness.

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

Here the apostle puts them in mind of the several mischiefs and inconveniences which did attend their former vicious course of life; namely, unprofitableness: What fruit had you? Dishonourableness: whereof ye are now ashamed. Perniciousness: the end of those things is death. Behold the complexion of sin's face in this glass; it being for the time past unprofitable, for the time present

shameful, for the time to come deadly: most men consult their profit, their honour, their pleasure, their safety, but sin disappoints us in them all. Observe, 1. The unprofitableness of sin for time past: What fruit had ye then? Are ye any thing the better for it? Verily, not at all; there is no solid benefit, no real profit to be got by sin; those sins which we think to be advantageous to us, when all accounts are cast up, will be found to be quite otherwise; all the gain of sin will turn to loss at last. Observe, 2. The dishonourableness and disparagement which sin brings along with it at present: Whereof ye are now ashamed. Learn thence, That sin is really matter of shame and blushing, rendering us odious to God, infamous to others, loathsome to ourselves; it is a dishonour to our natures, a reproach to our reason and understanding; it doth therefore debase and degrade us, because it pollutes and defiles us, and is a reproach which we voluntarily bring upon ourselves. Observe, 3. The perniciousness of sin, or the fatal consequence of it. The end of those things is death; natural, spiritual, and eternal. The latter is principally meant, which consists in lively apprehensions of the happiness invaluable which they have lost, and in a quick sense of the pains intolerable which they lie under, and this accompanied with despair of all future relief. Now when misery and despair meet together, they make a man completely miserable. Good God! make sinners, all sinners, thoroughly sensible of the manifest inconveniences of a wicked life; that it brings no present profit or advantage to them, that it will not bear reflection, but causeth shame, and that it is fatal in its event and issue! O then, let no profit tempt us, no pleasure entice us, no power embolden us, no privacy encourage us, to enter into any sinful way, or adventure upon any wicked work; for what fruit can we expect to have of those things whereof we are now ashamed, the end of which 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.

As the former verse represented to us the manifold inconveniences of a wicked life, so this verse acquaints us with the manifest advantages of a holy and religious course

of life; and this first, as to the present benefit and advantage of it, Ye have your fruit unto holiness. 2dly, In respect of the future reward of it, And the end everlasting life. Here observe, 1. The description which the apostle makes of the change from a state of sin to a state of holiness: Ye are made free from sin, and become the servants of God; intimating, that a state of sin is a state of servitude and slavery; and indeed it is the vilest and hardest slavery in the world, it being the slavery of the soul, which is the best and noblest part of ourselves; 'tis the subjection of our reason to our sensual appetites and brutish passions; which is as uncomely a sight as to see beggars ride on horse. back, and princes walk on foot. Farther, 'tis a voluntary slavery; the sinner chooseth his servitude, and willingly puts his neck under this yoke. Again, the sinner makes himself a slave to his own servants, to those who were born to be subject to him, I mean his own appetites and passions, choosing rather a life of sense, and to gratify his lusts, than to obey his reason. Observe, 2. The present benefit of an holy and religious life: Ye have your fruit unto holiness. What fruit? Ans. Inward peace and contentment of mind at present, length of days, health and prosperity in this world, solid joy and comfort at the hour of death, a good name and reputation among men after death; and it derives a blessing upon our posterity which we leave behind us. Observe, 3. The future reward and recompence of an holy life in the world to come : The end everlasting life. By which the apostle expresses both the happiness of our future state, and the ways and means by which we are prepared and made meet to be partakers of it. 1. The happiness of our future state is expressed by the name of everlasting life, which imports both the excellency of this state, it is a state of life; and the eternity, or endless duration of it, it is a state of everlasting life. 2. The way and means by which we are prepared and made meet to be partakers of this happiness; and that is, by the constant and sincere endeavours of a holy and good life: holiness in this life is the certain way, yea, the only way, to happiness in the life to come. This appears from the will of God, who has connected the end and the means together; from the justice of God, who will reward every man according to his work; and from the indecency and unsuitableness of the contrary. Without

meetness and fitness for heaven, there could be no happiness in heaven; heaven would not be a paradise, but a purgatory; not a place of happiness, but of the greatest uneasiness, to a wicked man: therefore let us have our present fruit unto holiness, that our end may be everlasting life.

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

The apostle having all along throughout this chapter exhorted us to die daily unto sin, and to live unto God, concludes with a motive drawn from the different rewards and punishments in another world: eternal death will be the punishment of sin and sinners, and eternal life the reward of holiness and holy persons. Observe, 1. The punishment of sin and sinners; The wages of sin is death. Where note, The offence committed, sin; the punishment inflicted, death; the justice and proportion between the sin and the punishment, it is a stipend or wages, a metaphor taken from soldiers, who at the end of their service receive their pay and stipend. Learn hence, That death is the punishment of sin, is finis operis, though not operantis; the end of the work,

though not the end of the worker. Question,

What death is that which is the punishment of sin? Ans. Both temporal and eternal: the former consists in the separation of the soul from the body, the latter in an everlasting separation of soul and body from the presence of God, and in an imprisonment with devils and damned spirits to all eternity. Quest. What sin is that which is punished with death? Ans. Consider sin in its demerit and desert, and so death is the punishment of every sin; consider it in its issue and event, and so it is the punishment only of that sin which is aggravated with impenitency: all sins are venial with respect to the mercy of God, and the repentance of a sinner; but the wages of every sin that reigns in us, and is not forsaken by us, is eternal death. Observe, 2. The reward promised to holiness, and ensured to holy persons: The gift of God is eternal life. Here note, The happiness of holy persons: 1. In the Lord or Master whom they serve, God or Christ Jesus. 2. Happy in the reward of their services, eternal life. 3. Happy in the manner of their reward, it is a free gift, not wages; a metaphor taken from kings, who bestow upon such soldiers as have

signalized themselves, over and above their stipend, coronets and laurels, as badges of their favour; unto which our apostle alJudes, calling eternal life a donative, a freely dispensed favour: which may be considered in our eternal destination thereunto before all time; in our conversion and sanctification in time, which we may call the embryo of eternal life; and in our coronation and glorification, when at the end of time full possession of eternal life shall be given to us. In all which instances heaven appears to be a free gift, not procured by any merit of ours, but by the mediation of Christ our Lord: The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

CHAP. VII.

The apostle having, in the foregoing chapter, declared how believers are freed from the power and dominion of sin, he proceeds in this chapter to declare, that they also are freed from the yoke of the Mosaic law, that being dead to them, and they to it; and the apostle's argument runs thus: Dead men are not held under the law, but they are freed and delivered from it. But as many as truly believe in Christ are dead to the law, and are therefore freed and delivered from it; that is, from the rigorous exactions of the law, and from the curse and malediction of the law: not from the guidance and direction of it, as a rule of life.

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?

As if the apostle had said, "You Jews, who study the law, and are well acquainted with it, cannot but know that the law of God hath power over a man, to require of him exact, perfect, and perpetual obedience, and to accuse, condemn, and bind him over to the curse, for the least breach and violation of it; and all this as long as he liveth under the law, and is not freed from the malediction of it by faith in Christ." Learn hence, 1. That the law of God, in the force and strength of it, and as considered in itself, is a very hard lord and master, exacting perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to its commands, and binding sinners over to the curse for the least transgression and violation of it. Learn, 2. That Jesus Christ has freed all believers from the rigour of the law, from the curse of the law, from the irritation of the law; that is, from the power which is in the law, to stir them up to sin through the corruption of their own hearts and natures.

Blessed be God! we are by Christ freed from and dead to the law, as a covenant of life; but we are under it, and may we all our days sit under the shadow of it with great delight, as an eternal rule of holy living.

2 For the woman which hath an 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 the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, 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. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that should be married to anoye ther, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Here the apostle doth exemplify and illustrate the foregoing assertion, namely, that believers are freed from the law, by a similitude taken from the law of marriage. As death freeth husband and wife from the law which bound them to each other, and empowereth the survivor to marry to another person; in like manner the death of Christ was the death of the law, as a covenant of works, holding us under the bond of the curse of it; and so his dying gave us a manumission freedom from that bond, and a capacity of espousal unto Christ; that so living in conjugal affection and obedience to him, we may be made fruitful by his Spirit, doing such things as are agreeable to the will of God, and tending to the glory of God. Ye are dead to the law by the body of Christ; that is, through the offering up of Christ's body upon the cross. Learn hence, 1. That he that is under the law, is as strictly bound to the rigour and curse of the law, as a married woman is bound to her husband during his life. Learn, 2. That one great end of Christ's death was to purchase our freedom from the law, that we might be capable of being espoused to himself. For whilst we were under the curse of the law, we were not in a capacity of being married unto Christ. He or she that is a slave to another, is not

capable to be disposed of in marriage until made free. In like manner we were in bondage to the law, as well as in slavery unto sin and Satan; but Christ has bought out our liberty, and thereby put us into a capacity of being espoused unto himself. Behold what manner of love the Redeemer has showed unto us, that we should be called his spouse, and he our husband! He loved us, but not for any advantage he could have by us; for we had nothing but sin and shame to present him with. Nay, blood, before he could be united to us. he must purchase us, and that with his own O incomparable love! O fervent desires! Learn, 3. That though believers are free from the rigour and curse of the law by the death of Christ, yet have they not an undoubted liberty, but are still under- government, under an head and guide. As a wife is under the government of her husband, so are believers under the guidance and government of Jesus Christ, who in a special Spirit; and their being said to be dead to manner guideth them by his word and the law, signifies no more than the law's not having dominion over them, in regard of the curse and condemnation of it.

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. 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.

As if the apostle had said, "When we lived under the dispensation of the law, and were married to the law, we brought forth fruit suitable to that state and condition. But now being freed from the law, and married unto Christ, it is meet and right, equal and fit, that we should bring forth fruit answerable to our more excellent state and condition; that now with new hearts and lives by the Spirit of we serve God Christ, according to the law of grace, and not carnally, in the bondage and terror of the old law, called here," the oldness of the letter." Learn hence, 1. That all sincere and serious christians, who are dead to the law, and espoused unto Christ, ought to bring forth fruit unto God, suitable to their noble estate and most honourable condition. Freedom and deliverance from

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