Thraldom of Sin
Charles Lamb. Romans 7:14-25 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.… I have seen a print after Correggio, in which three female figures are ministering to a man who sits foot bound at the root of a tree. Sensuality is soothing him. Evil Habit is nailing him to a branch, and Repentance at the same instant of time is applying a snake to his side. When I saw this I admired the wonderful skill of the painter. But when I went away I wept, because I thought of my own condition. Of that there is no hope that it should ever change. The waters have gone over me. But out of the black depths, could I be heard, I would cry out to all those who have set a foot in the perilous flood. Could the youth, to whom the flavour of his first wine is delicious as the opening scenes of life or the entering upon some newly-discovered paradise, look into my desolation, and be made to understand what a dreary thing it is when a man shall feel himself going down a precipice with open eyes and a passive will — to see his destruction and have no power to stop it, and yet to feel it all in a way emanating from himself! (Charles Lamb.) Parallel Verses KJV: For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. WEB: For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.