conciliation is the fruit of his death; "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ," and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit; that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. .2 Cor. v. 18, 19. " And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." Col. i. 20-22. Justification is the fruit of his death. "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. iii. 23. Peace is the fruit of his death. "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." Ephes. ii. 13, 14. Adoption is the fruit of his death. "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. iv. 4, 5. Sanctification is the fruit of his death. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water, by the word." Ephes. v. 25, 26. The heavenly inheritance is a fruit of his death. "And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament that, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." Heb. ix. 15. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD."

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From these texts of holy scripture, it appears undeniably, that all the blessings of salvation come to us as fruits of the Redeemer's death; and as his death was the price which he paid for them, it must conclusively follow, that they were all purchased for believers by his death.

2. But the inspired writers, while they teach this truth so fully, teach with equal plainness and fulness, that all the blessings of salvation are the fruits of free and sovereign grace. In the present discussion it is unnecessary to go into any laboured proof of this point; because it is freely and cordially admitted by our brethren, from whom we differ in our views of the atonement. Were proof required, it might, by an induction of particulars, be shown that each benefit of salvation is attributed to the free and abounding grace of God. "By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Ephes. ii. 8. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Tit. iii. 5-7.

Now, as the scriptures teach us that we are saved by the death of Christ, or that all the blessings of salvation were purchased by his blood; and teach us also that we are saved by free grace, or that all the blessings of salvation flow from unmerited mercy; if there be any difficulty in reconciling these two doctrines so fully and distinctly taught in the scriptures, the difficulty manifestly grows out of the revelation of an omniscient God. It is our duty in humble submission to his infalli ble teaching, to receive both truths, how irreconcilable soever they may appear to our feeble understandings. A little more light, and difficulties of this kind would vanish. What 2 C

mysterious doctrine of the Bible would be received by us, if it were not received till all difficulties at tached to it were removed? Who can fully explain.the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God, the doctrine of divine influence? Yet every Christian believes them.

But the scriptures contemplate no difficulty in regard to these two important truths; they consider them as perfectly consistent and harmonious: for they exhibit them in close connexion in the same verses; as will appear from a reference to the texts just quoted. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Here the blood of Christ is represented as the price of our redemption; and yet forgiveness is represented as flowing from the riches of divine grace. Again: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Here justification is attributed to the free grace of God; and at the same time it is attributed to the redemption of Christ, or to his blood, which is the price of our redemption. Again: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life." What is the meaning of this passage? Plainly this: As sin, the procuring cause of every evil, reigns in all the calamities brought on our guilty world, and extends its de-. structive ravages unto death; so grace, the original spring of our salvation, reigns, through the righteous ness of Christ, the procuring cause of every blessing, from the beginning to the consummation of salvation.

We cannot, my dear brother, but feel surprised that any should apprehend an inconsistency between the two propositions-that the righteousness of Christ is the procuring cause, and divine grace the original spring, of our salvation.

The scriptures, you know, set our works and the grace of God in opposition; and represent salvation by

works, and salvation by grace as being wholly incompatible. "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." Rom. xi. 6. But, while this opposition between grace and our works, as the procuring cause of salvation, is abundantly exhibited by the inspired writers, no where, not in a single passage, do they set the grace of God in opposition to the works or righteousness of Jesus Christ.

To the great Redeemer, the covenant of redemption was indeed a covenant of works. His obedience unto death was the very work the law demanded of him as our Surety; and consequently to Him the reward. was not of grace, but of debt; a reward secured by the promise of his Father to him, for the glorious services he had done in execution of his mediatorial office. At the close of life, when offering up his intercessory prayer for his church, HE could say,

Father, I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work thou gavest me to do:" and on the ground of his obedience utter that divine language, "Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." John xvii. 4. 24.

But to us the covenant is wholly of grace; inasmuch as it secures to us all the blessings of salvation, not on the footing of our own works, but on the footing of our Redeemer's righteousness. All is the fruit of grace. It was grace that planned our salvation. It was grace that chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. It was grace that accepted the mediation of Christ. It was grace that provided the Mediator in the person of God's own son. It was grace that revealed the wonderful plan of redemption. It is grace that offers salvation, and grace that applies it. It is

FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. EXPOSITION OF ROM. VII. 19-23. The writer of this expository essay, near forty years ago, after having had some acquaintance with the New Testament, both in the original language and in a translation, determined to read it carefully in the common English version; with a view to see if he could not get a better understanding of some parts of it than he then had, by giving a close attention to the scope and design of the inspired writers, in the several passages which at first sight might appear obscure And he takes leave, by the way, to recommend this practice to all who may see what he now writes.

In pursuing the plan that has been mentioned, the Epistle to the Romans came under review. The first part of the eighth chapter appeared to be very plain, and very important and precious. But at the 19th verse an obscure passage was observed to commence, and to extend to the 23d verse inclusive. It was not seen how the discussion here introduced was to be understood, when taken by itself; nor how it was naturally connected, either with the preceding or subsequent verses-In a word, it seemed to be a dark and detached passage. By meditating on the Apostle's language, however, it was soon perceived that to understand his scope, it was essential to ascertain clearly the meaning of the word creature; (xTIGI in the original) because it is on this word that the sense of the whole passage manifestly hinges. At length, after

some perplexity, the concluding part of the 23d verse, "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of OUR BODY," seemed to throw a gleam of light over the whole, by suggesting that the creature might mean the human body, or the material and animal part of man's nature. This led to a more exact and critical examination of these verses, first in the common version, and then in the original. The result was, a pretty strong persuasion that the thought which first occurred would furnish a key to the real meaning of the Apostle, in a paragraph which has generally been considered as difficult of explanation as any in his writings. This persuasion has since been strengthened, by finding it approved by a considerable number of the writer's friends; some of them skilled in Biblical criticism, and well versed in the Greek language. The interpretation of the passage, however, which the writer proposes, he has never found adopted or favoured, by any Biblical commentator that he has hitherto had an opportunity to consult.

As already intimated, it is essential to the exposition contemplated, that the original words, may, without perversion, be considered as a term used by the Apostle to desig nate the material and mortal part of human nature; or the body of man, as contradistinguished from his im material and immortal spirit. Kris, as well as the verb (xT) from which it is derived, is, it is well known, a word of various significations. Schleusner assigns to it, in the New Testament, five distinct, though related, meanings; and Parkhurst enumerates SIX. The commentators have taken a still wider range. The author, whoever he was, of the exposition of this passage which appears in what is called Henry's Commentary, supposes that by the creature, or Ticis, we are chiefly to understand, throughout this whole passage, the brutal and inanimate creation; and actually favours the monstrous supposition that all

brutes, if not all animals whatsoever, will be reanimated, immediately before the final judgment. Whitby thinks that by xTICIS we are to understand the Gentile world. Doddridge, in his paraphrase, renders it the whole creation, and in a note seems to think it especially refers to the whole unevangelized world. Scott understands by the creature "the whole visible creation." Macnight says, " in this passage signifies every human creature; and afterwards, in a note on the 22d verse, says a little more particularly, that we are to understand by it "mankind, in general, Jews as well as Gentiles." Pool's Synopsis gives, from various commentators, the following senses of this remarkable term; namely, angels, man in general, christians, the whole human race, especially the gentiles, the whole visible creation-Some of these senses, it will be observed, are the same as those adopted by commentators previously mentioned. On the whole, it appears that the learned men who have translated and commented on the passage under consideration, have thought themselves at full liberty to consider the word 27s as applicable to any created thing, or being, whatsoever; and that it was only necessary to consider, among created beings, which would best serve to explain the reasoning of the sacred penman in this place.

To consider Tis, then, as used by the apostle to denote the bodily frame of man, is only to take the same liberty that has been taken by commentators and criticks of the most distinguished name. But let us see if we cannot assign satisfactory reasons for giving this meaning to the term, in preference to every other.

1. This construction accords well, if not the best, with the strict and primitive meaning of the word xs, The verb xw, from which the noun is derived, not only signifies primarily to create out of nothing, (which as Parkhurst justly re

marks, is a sense purely Hellenistical) but also, and especially, to form or fashion out of pre-existent matter; or to frame a structure, from materials previously prepared. Hence it is used by our Apostle, 1 Cor. xi. 8, 9, in speaking of the formation both of man and woman. Now.woman we know was formed from, a part of the pre-existent frame of man: and it is expressly said, Gen. ii. 7, that the corporeal part of man was formed "out of the dust of the ground." From this pre-existent matter, or material previously prepared, his bodily form was fashioned, while his immortal spirit, we are told, was not so formed, but came immediately from his Creator-God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Kritis then, following the sense of the verb from which it is derived, as it does, not only by the general rules of derivation, but by the express showing of the Lexicons, applies, not we admit exclusively, but in one of its most strict and primitive senses, and in the most frequent usage of the sacred writers, to something that is formed out of pre-existent matter, or that undergoes a change from a preexistent or previous state. Hence it follows, that in giving it the construction for which we plead, we do not pervert the meaning of the term. On the contrary, we give it that meaning which is strict and primitive-And let it be observed, that this is a meaning from which it is made to depart, by most of the various renderings which, as we have seen, have been given it by others.

It may further be remarked, that the sentence past on man at his first apostacy was, "for dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return." That which had been formed out of preexistent matter, is here sentenced to return to its primitive state: And at the period of " the redemption of the body," spoken of in the conclusion of the passage before us, this dust shall again resume a bodily form; that is, be again created out of preexistent matter, or be formed into a

structure, out of materials already existing. Hence it appears that the sense of us, for which we plead, is peculiarly appropriate to the corporeal part of man's nature; since not once only, but twice, it will have been formed out of that which had a previous existence. It may perhaps be observed that in the 22d verse, where the Apostle extends his views to "the whole creation," as our translators render the words πασα η κτίσις, the construction we contend for cannot be maintained. In regard to this we remark, that we have admitted that the Hellenistick sense of x is sometimes to create out of nothing; and if we should suppose that the apostle here changes, or extends the meaning of Tiis, it would be easy to refer to numerous examples of a similar change, or extension of the meaning of terms, in the writings of St. Paul. But it is believed that we do not need the aid of this remark. It has been justly observed by criticks, that our translators have often, for some reason or other, "put the worse rendering in the text, and the better in the margin" and it is believed that they have done so here-The marginal reading is "every creature," and this is certainly more literal, as well as more accordant with the rendering of is which they had before given, than the words "the whole creation." It seems reasonable to believe, that although it be true in itself that the very "ground is cursed" in consequence of man's sin, and that there might be here some reference to this, yet the direct and special reference of the Apostle, when he speaks of "groaning and travailing in pain," is to the sufferings which are endured by mankind in general, and by many of the inferior animals, in conse quence of the first apostacy, and the subsequent abuse of them by man, as well as of their use for food-all of which have arisen out of the primitive apostacy. But it surely does not follow, because the inferior animals suffer in consequence of man's sin, that they will be reanimated and

rendered immortal at the resurrection of the just.. The glorious resurrection and reward of the saints, are altogether owing to their connexion with the Redeemer; but between him and the inferior animals no such connexion has ever existed. We admit, indeed, that there are difficulties in accounting for the sufferings of inferior animals; but the solution of these difficulties belongs not to the present discussion.

2. It is believed, as we have already hinted, that if we translate

is as is here proposed, we shall preserve a beautiful coherence between the passage under consideration, and the verses which precede and follow it, which must otherwise be in a great measure destroyed; and also give a unity and consistency to the several parts of the passage itself, which cannot in any other way be maintained. Let it be remarked that in the 15th verse the Apostle begins to speak of the adoption of believers, and represents, in what follows, that its full benefits are not to be received till "the redemption of the body"-the last words of the 23d verse; where the beginning and the end of what he says on this subject of adoption, are strikingly brought together. To this general topick, then, all the intermediate verses have some reference, either direct or remote. In the 16th and 17th verses the Apostle speaks of the high privileges of the "children of God," his adopted sons. In the 18th verse, he speaks of their sufferings in "this present time;" and then, agreeably to a method of writing often to be met with in his epistles, and particularly in this letter to the Romans, he goes into an explanatory digression relative to these sufferings, which he finishes by showing, as already observed, at the close of the 23d verse, that their complete termination is not to be expected, till the full benefits of adoption shall be received-till body and soul shall be glorified together, in the resurrection at the last day. Of this glorious consummation he then proceeds to