been reconned to God in the death of us for. 21 proportion to the greatest of themgasıl ve Suli place our entire comience a En as our cream. God. For if when we were enmity gas L be loved us, how much more now that we are recouried and his children-Rom. v. 14. still remains of the flesh, and enmity against God and his holy law in our minds, we ought to deny ourselves daily, and flee to him who can and will entirely deliver us from the body of this death.

And sure there are

V. 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

This is the result of what has been said. A man

rate and irreconcilable enmity against God. A consequence so monstrous totally destroys the force of the objection whence it is deduced. But if the objection be still pressed, if any one shall proudly demand who hath resisted his will, why hath he made me thus? the only proper answer is that of the Apostle, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"

Some, indeed, taking a different, and the most common view of this matter, deny the innate depravity of their nature, and in spite of all the Scriptures declare on this subject, persist in maintaining that they have not an inclination to evil, and are under no moral incapacity to do what is right. To such persons the same reply should be made as that of our Lord to the ignorant young man who asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." You cannot refuse to admit that You ought to love God with all

this is your duty.

your heart and soul, and strength, and in all things constantly to obey him. Have you done so? No! Then on your own principles you are justly condemned, for you say that you can do what is right, and yet you have not done it: If then you will not submit unconditionally, and without reserve, to be saved in the way which the gospel points out, in which you learn at once your malady and the remedy of which you stand in need, your blood will be upon your own head. “Now you

say, we see; therefore your sin remaineth." The whole, then, resolves itself into this, that all is according to the good pleasure of God. "Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt

tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Ye shall know them by their fruits." Every man, then, being by nature bad, must be made good before he can do good. In this and the two preceding verses we observe the strong, and expressive, and accumulated terms in which the Apostle describes the alienation of the natural man from God. 1st, He declares that they who walk after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh; 2d, that the minding of the flesh is death; 3d, that the carnal mind is enmity against God; 4th, that it is not subject to the law of God; 5th, that so great is the corruption of the carnal mind, that this is impossible.

From the passage before us, we learn how miserable the state of man is by nature, since even his wisdom and intelligence in his unconverted state is enmity against God, so that he cannot submit himself to his law. We learn, too, that the ability both to will and to do any thing good, must be from God. We should adore his compassion and mercy to us, if our natural enmity against him has been subdued, and we have been reconciled to God by the death of his Son. In proportion to the greatness of this compassion, we should place our entire confidence in Him as our covenant God. For if when we were enmity against him he loved us, how much more now that we are reconciled and his children.-Rom. v. 10. And since there are still remains of the flesh, and enmity against God and his holy law in our minds, we ought to deny ourselves daily, and flee to him who can and will entirely deliver us from the body of this death.

V. 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God,

This is the result of what has been said.

A man

must be born of the Spirit before he can even begin to serve God. How unscriptural and pernicious, then, is that system which teaches men to seek to please God by commencing a religious life, that God may be induced to co-operate with them in their further exertions. If the man who is not born again cannot please God, every act of the sinner before faith must be displeasing to God. An action may be materially good in itself; but unless it proceed from a right motive—the love of God, and be directed to a right end,—his glory, it cannot be acknowledged by God. Before a man's services can be acceptable, his person must be accepted, as it is said, "The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering." "Without faith it is impossible to please God." It is by faith we are united to Christ, and so reconciled to God; and till this union and reconciliation take place, there can be no communion with him. If, then, no man who is in the flesh, that is, in his natural or unconverted state, can please God, how dreadful is the situation of those who do not even profess to be renewed in the spirit of their mind. How many are there who discard the idea of regeneration. However specious may be the works of such persons in the eyes of men, they cannot please God; and not pleasing God, they must abide the condemnation that awaits all his enemies.

V. 9.—But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

In the preceding verses the Apostle had given a description of carnal and spiritual mindedness. Here he applies what he had said to those whom he was addressing. Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.As the flesh is here taken for the nature of man cor

rupted by sin, so to be in the flesh signifies to be in a state of natural corruption. On the other hand, to be in the spirit signifies to be in a state of grace or regeneration, John, iii. 6. Flesh is a principle that attaches to the earth, and the things of the earth; but the spirit of regeneration is as a light which, coming from heaven, elevates the mind to those things that are celestial. As to the understanding, the man in the flesh, or the carnal man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, but he who is in the spirit or spiritual, knows and approves the will of God, having "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God," "the eyes of his understanding being enlightened." The will of the carnal man is such that the imagination of his thoughts are only evil continually, but he who is spiritual has his conscience purged from dead works to serve the living God. The affections of him who is carnal are enmity against God, and in rebellion against his law; but the spiritual man delights in the law of God, and loves his commandments. The former considers the things of the world as his sovereign good; the latter seeks the things that are above at the right hand of God.

Not being in the flesh, but in the spirit, was the state of all in the church at Rome. All belonging

to it were, as far as man could judge, "saints," chap. i. 7, the regenerated children of God. The Apostle was persuaded that they were all "his brethren in Christ, "full of goodness," chap. xv. 14. It was meet for him to think this of them all, Phil. i. 7. They were not then in the corrupt state of nature, but in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, renewed by the Spirit of God. How different at that period was the