righteousness to sin, as well as life to death? Why does he not make righteousness the cause of life, as well as sin the cause of death? For then the antithesis would have been complete, whereas by this variation it is partly destroyed. But the apostle intended by this comparison to express a certain truth—that death is due to the demerits of men, and that life proceeds solely from the mercy of God. Lastly, these phrases denote rather the order of the Divine gifts, than the cause of them. In the accumulation of graces upon graces, God derives from the former a reason for adding the next, that he may not omit any thing necessary to the enrichment of his servants. And while he thus pursues his liberality, he would have us always to remember his gratuitous election, which is the source and original of all. For although he loves the gifts which he daily confers, as emanations from that fountain, yet it is our duty to adhere to that gratuitous acceptance, which alone can support our souls, and to connect the gifts of his Spirit, which he afterwards bestows on us, with the first cause, in such a manner as will not be derogatory to it. Footnote 1: Jer. xvii. 9. Footnote 2: Gen. vi. 5; viii. 21. Footnote 3: Psalm xciv. 11; xxxvi. 1. Footnote 4: Psalm xiv. 1-3. Rom. iii. 11. Footnote 5: Gen. vi. 3. Footnote 6: Gal. v. 19, &c. Footnote 7: 1 John v. 12. Footnote 8: Heb. xi. 6. Footnote 9: John v. 25. Footnote 10: Eph. ii. 4, 5. Footnote 11: Rom. iv. 17. Footnote 12: Job xli. 11. Footnote 13: Rom. xi. 35. Footnote 14: Ephes. ii. 10. Footnote 15: 2 Tim. i. 9. Footnote 16: Titus iii. 4, 5, 7. Footnote 17: Rom. xi. 6. Footnote 18: Matt. ix. 13. Footnote 19: Isaiah lix. 15, 16. Footnote 20: Hosea ii. 19, 23. Footnote 21: Rom. v. 6, 10. Col. i. 21. Footnote 22: 1 John iv. 10. Footnote 23: Hosea xiv. 4. Footnote 24: 1 Cor. vi. 11. Footnote 25: 1 Peter i. 2. Footnote 26: Phil. i. 29. Footnote 27: Hag. ii. 11-14. Footnote 28: Isaiah i. 13-16. Footnote 29: Deut. iv. 6. Psalm cxi. 10. Prov. i. 7; ix. 10. Footnote 30: Prov. xv. 8. Footnote 31: Gen. iv. 4. Footnote 32: Jer. v. 3. Footnote 33: Acts xv. 9. Footnote 34: Eccles. vii. 20. Footnote 35: Ezek. xviii. 24. Footnote 36: James ii. 10. Footnote 37: Rom. iv. 9. Footnote 38: Hab. ii. 4. Footnote 39: Rom. iv. 7. Footnote 40: 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. Footnote 41: Ephes. ii. 8, 9. Footnote 42: Lev. xviii. 5. Rom. x. 5. Footnote 43: Deut. xxvii. 26. Gal. iii. 10. Footnote 44: Gen. iii. Footnote 45: Phil. iii. 13, 14. Footnote 46: Luke xvii. 10. Footnote 47: 1 Cor. ix. Footnote 48: 1 Cor. ix. 12. Footnote 49: Luke xvii. 9. Footnote 50: Isaiah i. 12. Footnote 51: Isaiah lv. 2. Footnote 52: Psalm cxliii. 2. Footnote 53: Job x. 15. Footnote 54: Isaiah xlv. 25. Footnote 55: Isaiah lxi. 3. Footnote 56: