The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 259

be<:-au~e C1f righteouimess. But the ju~t.ified and AAnctified spirit within man le not g..1in~ to be perpetually chained t-0 a dying body. The Spirit of God, who has effected the vital change within, is t.he Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dend. 'l'lrnt re,urrection of our Lord is the pledge of our bodily resurrection. God ie not going to lein-e his work half-cone. Having raised our dead hearts out of the grove of trespass and of sin, he is not going t.o leave us i11 a state of physical mortality, The Head having been raised, the members shall be also "resurrected." The cemeteries shall not be left as trophies of the king of terrors. They shall be despoiled of their prey by the quickening power of the Divine Spiril God means to save his people out and out, oody as well as soul. Thus our gospel is that of the Resurrection. The tree of life in. the midst C1f Pa.radise r~"'&ined shall prove victorious over our mortality, and we shall have conferred upon us in body as well as soul an immortality like our Master's. .. No longer must the mourners weep, Nor call departed Christians dee.d For death is hallowed into sleep, And every grave becomes a bed. Now once more F.den's door Open st.a.nds to mortal eyes ; For Christ hath risen, and man shall rise I Now at le.st, .All things pe.st, Hope and joy and peace begin; For Christ hath won, and man shall win I It is not erile, rest on high ; It is not sadness, peace from strife; To fB.11 asleep is not to die ; To dwell with Christ is better life. Where our banner leads us We may safely go; Where our Chief precedes us, We may face the foe. His right arm is o'er us, He will guide us through; Christ bath gone before us; Christiane I follow you I " (John Mason Nee.le.) B.M.E. Vera. 12-17.-71ze Spirit of adoption,, In the previons section we have found "Paradise restored," through the Spirit destroying sin and thereby death within us, first in the soul and then in the body. But this experience of spiritual-mindedness is realized on the line of God's adopting love. The emancipating Spirit is the Spirit of adoption. Let m1 notice the rt.ages as here presented by the apostle. L OUR OBLIGATION IS NOW TO THE SPIRIT, AND NOT TO THE FLESH, (Vere. 12, 13.) The Spirit of Christ has freed 1lll from every condemnation ; he has secured a measure of sanctification, and death is defeated in soul and will be in body, Such a work carries clearly obliO'ation with it. We are his debtors. We realize accordingly: 1. That we are ,-..ot ~ to li'De after the fte,h. 'l'o do BO would only be to court death. It would be to return to our vomit, like the filthy dog; it would be to wallow once more in the mire, like the once-washed swine. 2. Weare bound to mortify the deeds of the body, ana ,olive. Mortification of fleshly desires and lusts is the great duty the Christian owes to the Spirit who condescends to dwell within him. It is a painful process, but passes into a painless one. When we earnestly set about it, it abundantly rewards us. And we find that mortification of the deeds of the body is the very secret of life. It la thus evident that the struggle of the latter part of the seventh chapter is also found in the eighth. Christian progress, aB we have seen, is through antagonizing our sinful desires and tendencies, and BO largely dischargicg our obligation to the pure Spirit who conde- !ICends to dwell within us (cf, Shed.d's 'Commentary,' in loc.). U. 'SolllSBll' IS BE4LIZED lll 'fflill BVIIHlSBIOli TQ WB 6l'IIUT, (Ver. H.) Goel'• OH, vm. 1-80.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 257