MY purpose is now to speak something concerning the evil and sinfulness of sin, and therefore have made choice of these words. In this Chapter the Apostle Paul doth give us some account of the way and manner of his Conversion: Before I was converted (says he) I was alive without the Law, (ver. 9.) but when ⟨p. 2⟩the Commandment came, sin revived and I died; for without the Law sin was dead, and I was alive without the Law once. I thought my self a jolly man, I was very brisk and jolly; had good thoughts of my condition; I was alive without the Law once, but when the Commandment came, when the word of the Lord came in power unto my soul; for I had the Law, and the Commandment always with me: Concerning the Law, I was blameless, Phil. 3. 6. the letter of the Law was not absent from me: but when it pleased God to set on the Word of the Lord in power upon my soul; then, whereas I was alive before, now sin revived: sin that lay dead before, and was hid, now revived, and did appear to be sin; for that in the 9 Verse, and this in the 13, are the same: Vers. 9. Sin revived, and I died: but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me; in this 13 Verse. But how did sin revive, and appear? By the coming of the Law, by the coming of the Commandment, thereby it broke out the more, and so was discovered; as by the coming and shining of the Sun-beams upon the Dung-hill, the filth stinks the more; not that the Sun-beams are the cause, but the occasion thereof. And sin revived by the coming ⟨p. 3⟩of the Commandment, and appeared to be sin, appeared more to me in its own shape, and struck me dead with the apparition thereof; whereas before, sin was dead, and I alive, now sin alive, and I dead.
MY purpose is now to speak something concerning the evil and sinfulness of sin, and therefore have made choice of these words. In this Chapter the Apostle Paul doth give us some account of the way and manner of his Conversion: Before I was converted (sayes he) I was alive without the Law, (ver. 9.) but when ⟨p. 2⟩the Commandment came, sin revived and I died; for without the Law sin was dead, and I was alive without the Law once. I thought my self a jolly man, I was very brisk and jolly; had good thoughts of my condition; I was alive without the Law once, but when the Commandment came, when the word of the Lord came in power unto my soul; for I had the Law, and the Commandment always with me: Concerning the Law, I was blameless, Phil. 3. 6. the letter of the Law was not absent from me: but when it pleased God to set on the Word of the Lord in power upon my soul; then, whereas I was alive before, now sin revived: sin that lay dead before, and was hid, now revived, and did appear to be sin; for that in the 9 Verse, and this in the 13, are the same: Vers. 9. Sin revived, and I died: but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me; in this 13 Verse. But how did sin revive, and appear? By the coming of the Law, by the coming of the Commandment, thereby it broke out the more, and so was discovered; as by the coming and shining of the Sun-beams upon the Dung-hill, the filth stinks the more; not that the Sun-beams are the cause, but the occasion thereof. And sin revived by the coming ⟨p. 3⟩of the Commandment, and appeared to be sin, appeared more to me in its own shape, and struck me dead with the apparition thereof; whereas before, sin was dead, and I alive, now sin alive, and I dead.
