Now he follows up the thought. Conscious of the superficial repulsiveness of the metaphor--quite as repulsive in itself to the Pharisee as to the Englishman--he as it were apologizes for it; not the less carefully, in his noble considerateness, because so many of his first readers were actually slaves. He does not _lightly_ go for his picture of our Master's hold of us to the market of Corinth, or of Rome, where men and women were sold and bought to belong as absolutely to their buyers as cattle, or as furniture. Yet he _does_ go there, to shake slow perceptions into consciousness, and bring the will face to face with the claim of God. So he proceeds: [Sidenote: Ver. 19.] =I speak humanly,= I use the terms of this utterly _not-divine_ bond of man to man, to illustrate man's glorious bond to God, =because of the weakness of your flesh,= because your yet imperfect state enfeebles your spiritual perception, and demands a harsh paradox to direct and fix it. =For=--here is what he means by "_humanly_"--=just as you surrendered your limbs,[101]= your functions and faculties in human life, =slaves to your (τῇ) impurity and to your (τῇ) lawlessness, unto that (τὴν) lawlessness,= so that the bad principle did indeed come out in bad practice, =so now,= with as little reserve of liberty, =surrender your limbs slaves to righteousness,= to God's Righteousness, to your justifying God, =unto sanctification=--so that the surrender shall come out in your Master's sovereign separation of His purchased property from sin. He has appealed to the moral reason of the regenerate soul. Now he speaks straight to the will. You are, with infinite rightfulness, the bondmen of your God. You see your deed of purchase; it is the other side of your warrant of emancipation. Take it, and write your own unworthy names with joy upon it, consenting and assenting to your Owner's perfect rights. And then live out your life, keeping the autograph of your own surrender before your eyes. Live, suffer, conquer, labour, serve, as men who have themselves walked to their Master's door, and presented the ear to the awl which pins it to the doorway, each in his turn saying, "I will not go out free."[102] To such an act of the soul the Apostle calls these saints, whether they had done the like before or no. They were to sum up the perpetual fact, then and there, into a definite and critical act (παραστήσατε, aorist) of thankful will. And he calls us to do the same to-day. By the grace of God, it shall be done. With eyes open, and fixed upon the face of the Master who claims us, and with hands placed helpless and willing within His hands, we will, we do, present ourselves bondservants to Him; for discipline, for servitude, for all His will.