and strivings against Sin. The Apostle here is like a weak man, wrestling under a heavy burden; and at length, being like to faint under the pressure, cries out, O wretched creature that I am! who shall deliver me? who shall rid me of this heavy burden that is like to crush me? or like a champion, who having striven a long time, is at last like to be overwhelmed by his adversary, unless he be helped ; and so he cries, Oh, how am I tired and wearied! who shall deliver me, or obtain the victory for me.

2. He shows his earnest desire of deliverance: "Who shall deliver?" And this Apostle speaks, not as being ignorant of Him who should deliver him, nor yet as doubting or despairing of deliverance; but hereby he signifies his earnest desire of it. It is, as it were, the voice of one panting and breathing to be delivered; and withal, he hints his utter inability to deliver himself.

3. He shows what it is he would be delivered from, viz.: "the body of this death." Some understand the words, as if the Apostle had desired to be delivered from his conflict with sin, by his bodily death. But I choose rather to understand them of the lump and mass of sin, that in part abides in believers, while they are in this life. The body of this death-or this body of death is the carnal unrenewed part in believers. It is the Old Man, or the remains of sin in them. Now, this remainder of sin in believers is called a body, and a body of death. It is called a body (1.) to show the reality of it. Sin, considered absolutely, or as it remains in believers, is not a chimera or mere imagination of men's brains. That there is such an abominable thing as Sin, God knows, the saints know, the devil knows, and wicked men, who now deride it, shall know at last to their cost. It is not a slight superficial thing; but it is a body of considerable magnitude. Meanwhile ye are not to look upon it as if it were a bodily substance, or a creature of God; neither are ye to look upon it as a mere privation of good; but as that which has likewise somewhat positively evil in it. (2.) It is called a body, for it has all the dimensions of a body. It is high, "grown up unto the heavens," as Ezra ob

serves.

Oh the malignant nature of sin that dares approach so near the dwelling-place of the Most High; yea, and to come within it, as it did when it seized upon the angels that fell. It is deep, for it goes down to hell. It cast the angels down from the highest heavens to the lowest hell. It is long and broad, for it goes to the end of the world, and the whole world over. (3.) It is called a body, because it hath many members. "Mortify, then, your members, which are lusts upon earth." The corrupt heart has diverse lusts and pleasures. The seed of everything evil lurks in it, and is ready to spring up upon every temptation.

But then it is called a body of death. (1.) Because it is noisome and filthy. A holy God cannot endure it. "He cannot look on it " but with abhorrence. Holy angels and holy men cannot bear it. Nothing is so vile, loathsome and nauseous to them as Sin. It is like a vile rotten carcass, that has polluted the air of this world, so that all die who breathe in it. (2.) Because it is a deadly sin: As the sons of the prophets said to the Man of God, "There is death in the pot," so may we say of Sin, there is death in it. Death is said to have "entered by Sin;" and Sin when it is finished, is said to "bring forth death;" this latter being, as it were, the child of the former. (3.) It tends and binds over to death. It is the cause of temporal death, or the dissolution of the frame of our nature for although the original constitution of human nature was such, that man was not absolutely immortal, yet it is not probable he should actually have died without Sin as the meritorious cause thereof. And then it tends to eternal death. The regenerate, indeed, are not actually liable unto it, though there be remains of Sin in them; but they deserve it: for Sin is in whomsoever it is; and as such it deserves death. Hence the Apostle, when asserting the privileges of believers, says not, that there is nothing condemnable in them, but that "there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus."

The general doctrine evolved in this sermon, to which so much space has been given because it

is characteristic of a school, is that "the regenerate groan under remaining corruption in them, and earnestly desire a complete deliverance from it." This thought is dwelt upon in various aspects, until the final conclusion is reached:

THE END OF THE CONFLICT.

In the last place, there is a difference also in the continuance of the battle. The renewed man continues the struggle till he obtains the victory. It is not a war for a day or two about the time of a Communion, when the arrows of the Word are flying thick about his ears; but it is a war kept up till death; whereas in an unrenewed man, the cause of the war being the clamors of natural conscience, it comes to an end upon the proclamation of false peace to his soul.-Sermon on the True Christian's Burden.

Another characteristic sermon of Thomas Boston is that upon "Jacob wrestling with the Angel." After narrating the recorded history of this transaction, the preacher proceeds to moralize upon it:

JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL.

First. We must consider what the man said who wrestled with Jacob, "Let me go, for the day breaketh." And here several things may be inquired into: particularly (1st) who was he that wrestled with Jacob.Ans. That it was one in the form of a man, all parties seem to agree. But then, who was he that assumed this form, there are different opinions among interpreters, both Jewish and Christians. I am of opinion that it was God that wrestled with him, having assumed the shape and form of a man for that purpose. And what satisfies me therein is, that Jacob not only solicits him for his blessing, but expressly calls him God, saying, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." I suppose, likewise, that it was the Second Person-God