sistent. We
are urged to be "dead unto sin, but alive unto God;" that is, to
be in a state of moral perfection which turns a deaf and
invincible front to all the influences of evil, but is open and
joyfully sensitive to every thing good and holy. Paul also wrote,
in his letter to the Philippians, that he had "not yet attained
unto the resurrection," but was striving to attain unto it; that
is, he had not yet reached, but was striving to reach, that lofty
state of holiness and peace invulnerable to sin, which no change
can injure, with which the event of bodily dissolution cannot
interfere, because its elements faith, truth, justice, and love
are the immutable principles of everlasting life.

3. In confirmation of this conclusion, an argument amounting to
certainty is afforded by the way in which the disobedience of Adam
and its consequences, and the obedience of Christ and its
consequences, are spoken of together; by the way in which a sort
of antithetical parallel is drawn between the result of Adam's
fall and the result of Christ's mission. "As by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, so much more shall all receive the gift of God by one
man, Jesus Christ, and reign unto eternal life." This means, as
the writer himself afterwards explains, that "as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners" and suffered the consequences
of sin, figuratively expressed by the word "death," "so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous" and enjoy the
consequences of righteousness, figuratively expressed by the word
"life." Give the principal terms in this passage their literal
force, and no meaning which is not absolutely incompatible with
the plainest truths can be drawn from it. Surely literal death had
come equally and fully upon all men everywhere; literal life could
do no more. But render the idea in this way, the blessedness
offered to men in the revelation of grace made by Jesus outweighs
the wretchedness brought upon them through the sin introduced by
Adam, and the sense is satisfactory. That which Adam is
represented as having lost, that, the apostle affirms, Christ
restored; that which Adam is said to have incurred, that Christ is
said to have removed. But Christ did not restore to man a physical
immortality on the earth: therefore that is not what Adam
forfeited; but he lost peace of conscience and trust in the Divine
favor. Furthermore, Christ did not free