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Spirit of Christ, had his eyes veiled, and rested satisfied with the external mask of righteousness. He therefore says, he was without the law, because, though he saw it with his eyes, he was not affected with a serious sense of the judgment of the Lord the eyes of hypocrites are so covered with a veil, that they do not see the extent of the precept which prohibits us from coveting. But when the commandment came-He speaks of the commandment coming, when it began to be truly understood; for it then called forth sin, as it were, from the dead, and disclosed to Paul the fountain of wickedness issuing from the inmost recesses of his heart, and at the same time killing him. Paul, we should never forget, is here speaking of the intoxicating confidence in which hypocrites rest, when they flatter themselves, and wink at their own vices.

I found to be-Two things are here stated: that the commandment shows us the way of life in the righteousness of God, and was given that we might, by observing the law of the Lord, obtain everlasting life, if not prevented by our own wickedness. But since none of us obey the law, but rather rush headlong with all our powers and combined exertions to follow that very course of life, from which we are recalled by its precepts, it necessarily brings only death, and this distinction must be made between the nature of the law and our own vice. The deadly wound, therefore, inflicted upon us by the law is evidently accidental, as if an incurable disease should be increased in violence by a salutary remedy. I acknowledge the accident is inseparable from the law, on which account it is called (2 Cor. iii. 7) "the ministration of death," when compared with the gospel; but we ought to have it fixed in our minds, that the law does not injure us by its own nature, but

our corruption excites and calls forth the denunciation of its curse.

Deceived me-' -The whole life of man, it must be granted, wanders from rectitude, and is full of errors, provided the will of God should be concealed from us, and no part of the doctrine of divine truth shine forth for our instruction. Nay, we cannot escape error, until the way of right living is pointed out to us by the law. Paul justly says, we are deceived, when sin is detected by the law; because we then begin at last to be sensible of our error, when the Lord has brought conviction to the mind by the loud voice of conscience.. We are said to be deceived, because the law opens our understanding, and makes us clearly acquainted with our great departure from a proper course of life, and sinners, who went on securely before, become wearied and displeased with themselves, since they know assuredly, when the foul and squalid nature and character of sin have been placed before them in the glass of the law, that their mad career of evil and unhallowed conduct was hurrying them on to the yawning jaws of death. He again impresses upon his readers the word occasion, with a view to convince us that the law does not bring forth death of itself, but from some other adventitious cause.

Wherefore the law is holy-Paul uses the two words, law and commandment, for the purpose of giving force and energy; and he means the law, and every precept it enjoins, is holy, and on this account must be reverenced with the greatest honour; just, and therefore no unrighteousness must be laid to its charge; good, and therefore pure, and free from every vice and every stain. He thus defends the law from every charge and accusation brought against it, so that none dare attack the commandment and

its requisitions, as containing any principle contrary to goodness, to righteousness, and to holiness.

13 Was then that 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 that which is good-He has vindicated the law, in his former remarks, from all calumnies, in such a manner, that it continues doubtful whether it be the real cause of death. Nay, the human mind is greatly perplexed by considering how it is consistent for us to state that nothing but destruction arises from the striking and singular favour of God. Paul, in answering this objection, denies death to have been caused by the law, though sin, taking occasion by the commandment, introduced death. This answer contradicts not, though it may appear to do so, his former observation, that he had found the commandment, which was ordained to life, to be unto death. Paul, in the former passage, meant, that our depravity, by abusing the law, was the cause of our destruction, in direct opposition to the nature of the commandment; and, in this verse, he denies the law to be the material cause of death, which ought not to be laid to the charge of commandments that are just and good. The apostle speaks more fully of the law, (2 Cor. iii. 7,) and calls it the ministration of death, as frequently occurs in controversy, for he is not there considering the nature of the law, but the false opinion of his adversaries. Nay, sin, &c.-I pass over the remarks of others, and adopt this reading in the following sense: Sin, before its detection by the law, is, in some

measure justified; but, on being revealed by occasion of the law, is denominated sin; and its wickedness, and, if I may be allowed the expression, sinfulness, then appears greater, because it perverts and changes the goodness of the law to our destruction.” For sin must be of a very destructive character, which makes the demands of the law, that are in their own nature in every respect useful and beneficial, to become injurious. The law must detect the atrocity of sin, for this would never have been acknowledged, had it not burst forth with vast and dreadful enormity of excess, that spreads ruin and devastation in all directions, with greater violence, by changing the life, which the law is calculated to bestow, into all the horrors and agonies of death. In this case, therefore, all ground for excuse is completely removed."

14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not for what I would, that I do not; but what I hate, that do I. 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 dwelleth in me.

For we know that the law He now begins to institute a more near comparison between the law and human nature, that it may be understood more clearly whence vice, which makes us subject to death, springs. He then proposes the example of a regenerate man, and in this case the law of the Lord so contends with the remains of the flesh, that the spirit willingly yields it obedience. But in the beginning, as we have said, he proposes a plain and simple comparison between nature and the law. Since there is no

greater disagreement in any thing pertaining to man than between the flesh and spirit; the law is spiritual, man carnal, What agreement then has the nature of man with the law? The same that light has with darkness. Paul, by calling the law spiritual, not only means that it requires the more intellectual affections of the heart, according to some commentators, but, by way of antithesis, opposes it to the word carnal. The former class of interpreters explain the law is spiritual, in the following manner : "It not only binds the feet and hands, with respect to external works, but the affections of the heart are enjoined to obey it, and the sincere fear of God is exacted by its requisitions. The antithesis, let it be remembered, is still kept up between the flesh and spirit. The context also will make it sufficiently plain; and it has, in some measure, been before proved, that the flesh includes whatever men bring with them from the womb. Flesh means the character which man has from his birth, and while he retains his natural disposition; because, as vice clings to all his thoughts, inclinations, and actions, so grossness and earthliness distinguish all his wisdom, and all the breathings of his soul. The spirit, on the contrary, is called the renewing of our corrupt nature, by which the Fountain of all love transforms us into his own image. This manner of speaking is adopted, because the gift of the Spirit is that newness of life which is formed anew in us. The per

fection of the doctrine of the law is therefore opposed to the depraved nature of man; and this passage means, "The law requires a certain heavenly and angelic righteousness, wherein no spot appears, and nothing is required to add to its cleanness; but I, a carnal man, have no power but what consists in manifesting opposition to its commands." It is waste of time to refute the opinion of Origen, which