sities, before this unlawful and defective(11) inclination of our nature can be charged to our account; we must first cherish these lawless propensities (12), or evince (13) our voluntary obedience to them by our actions (14). But so great is the influence which this preponderance of the propensities for the objects and pleasures of sense has upon man (15), that it sometimes prevents him from approving and embracing the truth (16), and sometimes, in defiance of his better knowledge, hurries him into sin (17). And even those who, by the grace of God, have been delivered from the dominion of this innate depravity (18), are still subject to this defective inclination of our nature (19); they must carry on a constant warfare (20) lest they relapse under the dominion of this natural depravity. This conflict retards and renders difficult their progress in sanctification (21); and as the result is often so disastrous, frequently affixes many a stain to the piety of the best of men (22).

ILLUSTRATIONS.

I. Depravity; ἡ ἁμαρτια.-Rom. 5:12. 7:8 &c. 6:12. Man, as far as he is affected with this innate depravity, or as far as it is a fountain of sin in him [οικει εν αυτῳ ἡ ἁμαρτια Rom. 7: 17], is called σαρξ flesh. Thus in ch. 7:25, Paul says, τη σαρκι δουλευω νομῳ ἁμαρτιας “I follow the inclination of my (innate) depravity [σαρκι], in as far as I am affected by it." And in v. 18, ουκ οικει εν εμοι, τουτεστιν εν τη σαρκι μου, αγαθον in me, as far as I am σαρξ [flesh or depraved], dwelleth nothing good. Thus also in Matth. 26:41, Christ calls man σαρξ, ασθενης, in as far as he is flesh, i. e. weak to that which is good (Rom. 5: 6, ασθενης. ν. 8, ἁμαρτωλος)-weak in spirit πνευμα-weak in the inner man εν τῳ εσω ανθρωπον or νους (v. 7, 22, 23, 25); and on the contrary, inclined to evil, easily led astray εις πειρασμον ειςερχεται (James 1:4). But this sinful propensity itself, which is the source of sin (Gal. 5: 19), i. e. the ἁμαρτια, is called σαρξ 1 flesh; and hence those who obey these lusts are termed fleshly, σαρκικοι (Rom. 7: 14), or, which amounts to the same idea, οἱ κατα σαρκα οντες-οἱ εν σαρκι όντες they that are according to the flesh (Rom. 8: 5). As our innate depravity is primarily seated in the body, it is, though the mind is decidedly affected by it, called flesh or body, [σαρξ οι σωμα]; for these two words are interchanged with one another. Rom 8:13. comp. Gal. 5: 19, 24.

II. Rom. 7:15, 17, 19—21, 23, the law in my members wars against the law (or dictates) of my reason.

III. Rom. 7: 8, 9, when the law came, my depravity revived. See $55. Ill. 8.

IV. Rom. 8:7. 7:13.

V. Rom. 7:10, 12 &c, the commandment unto life is

good.

VI. Rom. 7:5, 8, without the law sin is dead.

VII. Rom. 7: 18, 23. 8: 7. Gal. 5: 17.

VIII. Gal. 5:16 &c, επιθυμια σαρκος the lust of the flesh. v. 24, ἡ σαρξ συν-ταις επιθυμίαις, the flesh with the lusts. Rom. 7:5, τα παθηματα των ἁμαρτιων the motions or desires of sin. 6:12. Ephes. 2: 3. 4: 22, ὁ παλαιος ανθρωπος ὁ φθειρομενος κατα τας επιθυμιας της άπατης, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful lusts. James 11:14.

IX. Many things have the appearance of being good, and yet, in truth, are inconsistent with the law of God. Such specious works of philanthropy and holiness are rejected by our Saviour, Matth. 5: 1,5; and by Paul, in 1 Cor. 13: 3, and though

I bestow away all my goods, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.

X. Rom. 6: 12, ὑπακουειν τῇ ἁμαρτιᾳ to obey (the solicitations of) sin. Gen. 4: 7, "Sin is lying in wait for you, and desires that you should obey her will; but rule thou over her."1 James 1: 15, ἡ επιθυμια συλλαβουσα τικτει ἁμαρτιαν when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin.

XI. The desires or motions of sin [primi motus, as they were called by the scholastic divines] which proceed from an evil and defective source (Rom. 7: 18, 13), are themselves sinful--παθηματα των ἁμαρτιων.

That tendency of our nature by which the performance of our duty is rendered so difficult, is defective or wrong, and must be regarded as such, although it is inherited by the descendants of Adam and is not the consequence of their own acts. For they were not thus created by the Author of our nature, but this depraved tendency is the consequence of the voluntary guilt of our first parents, in whom, previously to their fall, there was no such preponderant propensity for the objects and pleasures of sense.2

XII. Sins in thought are criminal.-Although our sinful desires may remain enclosed in the breast, they are still charged to man's account and render him deserving of punishment (επιθυμια produces death θανατος Rom. 7: 7, 8, 10). There are also other passages of the sacred volume in which internal feelings are declared sinful and deserving of punishment. Rom. 1: 28-32. Col. 3: 5, 6. Gal. 5: 19-21. Matth. 5: 22.

XIII. Gal. 5:17, 16, ποιειν-τελειν επιθυμιαν σαρκος to do-fulfil the lust of the flesh.

XIV. Rom. 6:13, 19, do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness to uncleanness and to iniquity. Ephes. 2: 3.

XV. Rom 7:14, 23, εγω ειμι πεπραμενος ύπο την ἁμαρτιαν-ὁ νομος εν τοις μελεσι μου αιχμαλωτίζει με τῳ νομῳ της ἁμαρτιας I am sold under sin-the law in my members brings me into captivity to the law of sin.

XVI. 1 Cor. 2: 14, ψυχικος ανθρωπος ου δέχεται τα του πνευματος του θεου “ man in his natural state does not believe in the gospel." See the explanation of this passage in the Dissertation on the influences of grace, § 3.

XVII. Rom. 7: 15, for I know not what I do for that which I would, I do not, but that which I hate, I do.

XVIII. Rom 6:14. 8:2: Gal. 5:16.

XIX. Gal. 5:17. Rom. 6:12, the flesh lusteth against the spirit.

XX. Rom. 8:13, mortify the deeds of the body, by the spirit. 6: 12 &c.

XXI. Phil. 3: 12, 13, ουχ ότι ηδη τετελειωμαι I am not already perfect.

XXII. Gal. 6: 1-5, ει δοκει τις (των πνευματικων) είναι τι, μηδεν ων, ἑαυτον φρεναπατᾳ if any one (of the spiritual) thinketh he is something, and is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 1 John 1: 7 &c. 2: 1, 12. See on these passages, the work on the Object of the Gospel and Epistles of John, where the passages 1 John 3: 6, 8 &c. 5:18, which appear to contradict the others, are explained. Prov. 20:9, who can say, I am clean from sin? Eccles. 7: 20, thus is there not a just man on earth that doeth (exclusively) good and sinneth not.

In 1 John 1:7 &c. 2:1, the expressions ἁμαρτάνειν and ἁμαρτια (to sin, and sin) refer to individual acts of transgression; but in 1 John 3: 6, 9. 5:18. 3:8, άμαρτιαν ποιειν, ἁμαρ

τανειν (to do acts of sin, to sin) signify a disorderly habit of life. The latter passages probably refer to the Gnostic morality of the Cerinthians, who believed that the soul would not have to account for the acts of licentiousness and prostitution committed by the body.1

Loeffler, in his Dissertations on the Doctrines of the church concerning the atonement, explains ἁμαρτάνειν in 1 John 2: 1, 2, as meaning a continuance in the unchristian state of sin; and therefore assumes that this Epistle was addressed to Jews who had not yet embraced Christianity. In opposition to this explanation see the Götting. Bibliothek, &c; the New Theol. Journal; and Flatt's Dissertations on the doctrine of the reconciliation of man to God.5 See also what is said in this last work on the explanation of Schmid, On the Christian religion as a science (p. 209), who makes ἁμαρτάνειν in 1 John 1: 1, 2, signify the sinful state of the Christians after they had embraced Christianity.

Effect of natural depravity on our state in the future world.

The fact that all mankind are indiscriminately subject to mortality as well as Adam was (§54), proves, that though mankind are not themselves to

[1 According to this view of the subject, which is ably supported in Storr's work, these disputed passages are divested of all difficulty, and may be translated thus: Whosoever abideth in him, liveth not in sin; whosoever liveth in sin, hath not seen him neither known him (1 John 3: 6). Whosoever is born of God doth not live in sin; for his seed (see 1 Pet. 1:23) remaineth in him; and he cannot live in sin because he is born of God (1 John 3: 9). We know that whosoever is born of God, liveth not in sin &c. ch. 5: 18. S.]