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I can say no more on the co-identity of meaning; but does it follow, from that fact, that, in the latter part of the chapter, St. Paul does not mean to describe the state of an enlightened Christian? Yes, it most certainly follows; for, if we revert to that same fifth verse, we shall find the exact time marked in which the state therein described had existed. "When we were in the flesh," he says, "the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death." Consequently, all St. Paul had written from the commencement of the 7th, to the end of the 24th verse (inasmuch as it is a mere descant on the position in the 5th verse), belongs to the carnal, and not to the spiritual state; to the condition of those who, in the fullest sense, are under the law (the "law in their members warring against the law of their mind, and bringing them into captivity to the law of sin which is in their members"), but by no means to the condition of those "whom the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath made free from the law of sin and death."

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If the force of the expression, "in the flesh" (verse 5th), could be doubted, its meaning is settled by what is said in the next chapter: (viii. 8) They that are in the flesh cannot please God; but ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwell in you; but if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Still, however, we must understand these strong positions so as to preserve the strict consistency of St. Paul's deeply digested discourse. The state

described in the 5th verse of the seventh chapter, as that of" being in the flesh," implies not a willing, but an unwilling subjugation. It is, therefore, as much superior to the state of moral insensibility as it is inferior to that of moral strength and liberty. The law of God is recognised, and its excellence is felt. The commandment irritates the moral diseases which it has detected; yet still it is esteemed and delighted in by the rational faculty, although evil propensities and habits are, every now and then, gaining a practical ascendency. But there is, at the same time, a progress marked in the description, which implies a growing aptitude for moral disenthralment, and manifests the sincerity of a servant of God, though not possessing the liberty of his children.

The passage, therefore, is not only an exquisite elucidation of the subserviency of the legal economy to that of the Gospel, and of the manner in which not only the ceremonial, but the moral law, was a schoolmaster, to bring those who had been under it to Him who was to give deliverance to the captives it is, besides this, an exemplification of that intermediate state which lies, in the nature of things, between the state of sin and the state of grace. The requisites of moral happiness were understood, in part, by enlightened Pagans; but, beyond comparison, more clearly apprehended by upright Jews. Still, the utmost which could be attained (except by extraordinary vouchsafement from above), was moral knowledge, rather than moral power. It is plain, at the same time, that moral knowledge was most wisely provided for, in

the first instance; and that it was necessary to leave time for its operation, before the means of moral power should be afforded. For, who would have valued the proffered communication of Divine grace from a "fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness," if the depth of man's moral disease had not been previously and sensibly demonstrated, by a lengthened trial of universal frailty and proclivity, and of the inefficiency, not only of all merely moral means discovered by the light of reason, but even revealed from heaven, to loose the fetters of corruption, and to establish a well-founded peace of conscience?

What was thus necessary in the great moral economy of the world, is no less necessary to the eventual happiness of every individual who has not been successfully brought up in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Wherever sin has gained ascendency, and reduced its victim to a willing servitude, there must be a discovery of the thraldom, a sense of the misery, a groaning under the intolerable yoke; else, that Gospel of Christ, which is "the power of God unto salvation," will neither be esteemed nor resorted to. Paul's impressive picture of the internal conflict is, therefore, nothing else than a representation of what every practical Christian, who is brought to true religion by what divines used to call "the way of repentance," must more or less experience.

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It, therefore, suited the comprehensiveness of St. Paul's doctrinal scheme, that this stage in the Christian course, through which such multitudes were to pass, should be vividly and accurately

delineated; and, no doubt, his own experience had taught not only the substance, but the detail, of this description. It is impossible to say what he might have felt in his mind, even before he went to Damascus; but the interval between our Lord's appearance to him on the way, and the visit of Ananias, (for which, however, he was prepared by the dawning consolation of a Divine. vision), could have been no other than a season of mental conflict, inasmuch as, during that time, "he neither ate nor drank."

I think I have sufficiently occupied you with this particular topic. I have dwelt upon it, not because I thought it was at all needful for you; but because I wished to communicate to you my precise view of this strangely disputed subject. I certainly do not wonder that theologists of the Calvinistic school should overlook the connexion between the fifth verse of the seventh chapter, and the moral struggle afterwards described; because to discover niceties of argument is the property not of fettered, but of free, thought. What, however, really does surprise me, is, that the exclamation in the twenty-fourth verse," Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" could be ascribed to any informed Christian; for although, in an hour of depression, a sincere Christian might be led to ask himself, in what manner or by what means he could be extricated from his mental conflicts, he could not but know that there was only one deliverer; and St. Paul, especially, must have had that Divine assurance in his recollection-" My grace is sufficient for

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thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Was it possible, that he to whom this was said should ever afterwards ask, "Who shall deliver me?" And ought not this single inconsistency for ever to dispel the fancy that St. Paul in this passage was speaking of himself, or indeed of any other rational Christian?

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