prison; it forges every chain; it erects every gibbet; it made strong the bars of hell; it is horrible. Not a sigh, or groan, or wail is heard on earth or in hell, but that sin is the cause of it. In the wretchedness of man on earth, in the screams of the damned in hell, above all in the cross of Christ, let men learn the evil of sin. Look at that mysterious sufferer in Gethsemane! Why is he in such agony? He is bearing sin for others. What must sin not be, when it required so amazing humiliation and suffering in the holy Jesus to redeem us from it?

12. The law of God is of excellent use in many ways. Nor is its value in shewing us how wicked and guilty we are one of the lest important of its uses, v. 20. Calvin: "Without the law reproving us, we in a manner sleep in our sins; and though we are not ignorant that we do evil, we yet suppress as much as we can the knowledge of evil offered to us, at least we obliterate it by quickly forgetting it." T. Adam: "Keep your thoughts close to this idea of the divine law; establish it with the apostle, as the sacred, invariable rule by which you are to be tried; and then ask yourself, what part of your life has been answerable to it." The law is still a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ. Those converts to Christ, who have but a slight law-work on their hearts, are apt to take but a feeble hold on the Redeemer; while those, who are soundly troubled in their consciences, at least see the need of just such a salvation as is provided in the gospel.

13. If poor sinners, saved by grace, can, after long study and prayer, get a comparatively good insight into the doctrines of gratuitous justification, such as is revealed in this epistle, and in this chapter, what a glorious doctrine must it be in the eyes of angels, who never sinned, and especially in the esteem of the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, vs. 18, 19, 21. See Doctrinal and Practical Remarks on Rom. 5: I-II. Diodati : "Christ's righteousness consisteth in his full and perfect obedience unto God his Father in fulfilling the law. Now Saint Paul saith here, that all this righteousness is imputed unto us, and we thereby are perfectly righteous before God, as if we ourselves had wholly fulfilled the law." T. Adam: "Paul takes occasion to plead for such a remedy as is suited to the urgency of our case; declares the nature of it as plainly as words can do, and tells us precisely both what it is, and what it is not; that it is only and altogether the grace of God, and the gift by grace, the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to the glory of God, from the bowels of his mercy, and to the utter exclusion of all other pretensions, human merit or qualification." If a perfectly gratuitous justification is not taught in this epistle, there are

no words left whereby such a doctrine may be taught. There is but one sense, in which the righteousness, by which we are justified before God, is our own; and that is, it is imputed to us, or set down to our account, to all the ends and purposes of perfect pardon and complete acceptance with God. Otherwise it is wholly and entirely the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Christ, Rom. 3: 21, 22; 10: 3; 2 Cor. 5: 21; 2 Pet. 1: 11. Chalmers: "God now is not only merciful to forgive-he is faithful and just to forgive. He will not draw upon the surety, and upon the debtor both. He will have a full reckoning with guilt; but he will not have more than a full reckoning by exacting both a penalty and a propitiation and the man who trusts to the propitiation, may be very sure that the penalty will never reach him. The destroying angel, on finding him marked with the blood of Christ, will pass him by." Glory be to God for such heavenly doctrine. As the scarlet thread made Rahab safe in the midst of the convulsions of Jericho, so the precious blood of Christ and his infinite righteousness will give boldness to the redeemed when all nature shall be dissolving.

14. Every right view of scripture doctrine, of God's glory, or man's feebleness, of human wickedness or of man's recovery by Christ Jesus, teaches us a lesson of humility. Nor is it possible for us to be too lowly before God. If we ever rise, it must be by sinking. If we are ever exalted, it must be by humbling ourselves. Our place is in the dust. Our great error is in our loftiness. Oh for self-emptiness. The best man on earth is the humblest man on earth. The most exalted creature before the blazing throne above is the one that makes the most profound obeisance of all his nature in the presence of his Maker. Come down, ye mountains of pride. Be abased all ye lofty thoughts that exalt yourselves against God. Scott: "Let us learn habitually to look upon ourselves and the whole human race as lying in the ruins of the fall; sinners by nature and practice, exposed to condemnation, and no more able to save our own souls from hell, than to rescue our bodies from the grave. Instead of perplexing ourselves about the awfully deep and incomprehensible, but most righteous dispensation of God, in permitting the entrance of sin and death; let us learn to adore his grace for providing so adequate a remedy for that awful catastrophe, which we are sure was consistent with all his glorious perfections." Such a course as this would prove that we were already taught of God, and had found the way of life. God's judgments are indeed terrible; but his mercies endure for ever. True, clouds and darkness are round about him, but righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. If we were but as humble as our state

and character require, we should avoid all the serious mistakes of men, and make delightful progress in the knowledge of God and in conformity to the will of God. If any man would be wise, let

him become a fool that he may be wise.

15. If such is the sad and fallen condition of our whole race, as we have seen it to be, vs. 12-19, how zealous should be our endeavors, how faithful our instructions, and how fervent our prayers in behalf of our sinful offspring. Monica said she travailed in birth more for the soul than for the body of her son, Augustine. It is sad to see our loved ones in the snare of the devil. But it is glorious to see Christ rescuing the captives, and opening the prison to them that are bound. He is able to bind the strong man and spoil his goods. Scott: "As our children have evidently, through us, received a sinful, suffering and dying nature from the first Adam; we should be stirred up, even by their pains and sorrows in helpless infancy, to seek for them the blessings of the second Adam's righteousness and salvation." And our prayers should be full of ardor. "Elijah's prayer brought down fire from heaven, because being fervent it carried fire up to heaven." In nothing is there a greater deficiency in our day than in the matter of prayer.

16. The way of salvation is by the Redeemer's blood and righteousness, and by them alone, Out of Christ God is a consuming fire. We cannot be saved by any finite power or merit. Brown: "There is no inheriting eternal life until first we be covered with a righteousness, seeing we are altogether unclean and unholy of ourselves; and as grace certainly carries us to heaven, so grace certainly provides the means, and the way how to win it, and finds out a way how poor sinners shall become righteous saints." That is just what we need, just what we should accept. It is offered to us by the Lord-offered without money and without price. The air we breathe is not more free than the grace of the gospel. O sinful man! does not that quite suit your case? And will you not at once close in with the overtures of mercy? Chalmers: "Jesus Christ our Lord by his death bore the punishment that you should have borne. He by his obedience won a righteousness, the reckoning and the reward of which are transferred unto you; and you, by giving credit to the good news, are deemed by God as having accepted all these benefits, and will be dealt with accordingly. You cannot trust too simply to the Saviour. You cannot place too strong a reliance on his death as your discharge." Oh come to Jesus Christ and be saved.

17. There is great danger that many will lose their souls by idle questions, and false reasonings, and deceitful hopes respecting their case. In our day men have learned fearfully to sin by cavil

ling at almost every thing declared even in the gospel. Some say, How can these things be? And while men are disputing, life passes away, and they find themselves in the fixedness of an eternal state, but without the needful preparation. Wardlaw: "Whatever may be the amount of curse arising directly from your relation to the first sinner, O do not allow any speculations on a subject so full of mystery, to draw away your thoughts from the consideration of your actual guilt. Do not think hardly of God on account of his dealings towards you, and towards the race. Be assured he is the Judge of all the earth; and has done and can do only that which is right. While he visits transgressions with punitive vengeance, think how he has visited sinners in tender mercy. He delighteth in mercy.' If his dealings by the first Adam manifest his righteousness, his dealings by the second Adam reveal the everlasting riches of his love. I must do as my Bible does. There I find all men spoken of, and spoken to, as children of wrath till they turn unto God by Jesus Christ. Even those who have experienced the renewing power of grace are spoken of as having been so previously. The way of escape is set before men. Ample and immediate encouragement is held out to them to come to God for pardon and full salvation, through the overflowing abundance of his grace in Christ Jesus. The righteousness of Christ is infinitely more than a counterbalance to Adam's sin and to their own. Grace reigns through this righteousness." Will you, O will you be saved? When shall it once be?

CHAPTER VI.

VERSES 1-11.

THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF GRATUITOUS JUSTIFICATION DOES NOT LEAD TO LICENTIOUSNESS, BUT TO HOLINESS.

WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection :

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

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

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

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

1.

WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? The apostle, having established the necessity of a gratuitous salvation, having shown how we obtain it by the righteousness of Christ, having evinced that Abraham himself was thus saved, having illustrated the method of our recovery by the method of our ruin, and having declared how grace is glorious in proportion to the dreadfulness of the apostasy, from which Jesus Christ saves us, he informally, not dramatically, refers to a specious objection, likely to be made by the opposers, or by the ill-informed, who might say, What shall we say then? as if one should say: Your doctrine is new to me. I am startled by it.