,transcriber's ,note4 ,apparent typographical errors have been corrected4 ,inconsistent hyphenation has been retained4 ,small capitals have been rendered as full capitals1 while italics are indicated by underscores4 ,bold font1 in which the author's own translation of the ,epistle has been printed1 is indicated by equal signs4 ,these last signs also extend over ,greek or ,hebrew that the author has inserted in the translation1 and markers for footnotes to it4 ,sidenotes mark individual verses of the ,epistle4 ,these have been inserted in the text before the start of each verse4 ,a list of the ',expositor's ,bible' series has been shifted to the end of the book4 ,,the ,,expositor',s ,,bible ,,edited ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,w4 ,,robertson ,,nicoll1 ,m4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 ,editor of ,the ,expositor1 etc4 ,,the ,,epistle ,,of ,,st ,,paul ,,to ,,the ,,romans ,,by ,,handley ,c4 ,g4 ,,moule1 ,m4,a41 ,,principal ,,of ,,ridley ,,hall1 ,,cambridge ,,london ,,hodder ,,and ,,stoughton #bg1 ,,paternoster ,,row ,,mdcccxciv ,printed by ,hazell1 ,watson1 ,viney1 ,ld41 ,london and ,aylesbury4 ,,to ,,the ,,rev4 ,,robert ,,sinker1 ,d4,d41 ,,librarian ,,of ,,trinity ,,college1 ,,cambridge1 ,,my ,,friend ,,of ,,thirty-,,two ,,years1 ,,to ,,whose ,,kindness ,,and ,,knowledge ,i ,,am ,,deeply ,,and ,,increasingly ,,indebted1 ,,this ,,book ,,is ,,affectionately ,,inscribed4 ,h4 ,c4 ,g4 ,m4 ,hearing read1 as ,i do continually1 the ,epistles of the blessed ,paul 444 ,i delight in the enjoyment of his spiritual trumpet1 and my heart leaps up1 and my longings set me glowing1 as ,i recognize the voice so dear to me1 and seem to image the speaker all but present to me1 and to see him in discourse4 ,but ,i mourn and am distressed1 because all do not know this man as they should know him4444 ,it is from hence our myriad evils spring--from our ignorance of the ,scriptures4 ,hence grows this epidemic of our heresies2 hence our neglected lives1 hence our unfruitful toil4 ,,st ,,chrysostom1 ,preamble to ,homilies on the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,,preface ,he who attempts to expound the ,epistle to the ,romans1 when his sacred task is over1 is little disposed to speak about his ,commentary2 he is occupied rather with an ever deeper reverence and wonder over the ,text which he has been permitted to handle1 a ,text so full of a marvellous man1 above all so full of ,,god4 ,but it seems needful to say a few words about the style of the running ,translation of the ,epistle which will be found interwoven with this ,exposition4 ,the writer is aware that the translation is often rough and formless4 ,his apology is that it has been done with a view not to a connected reading but to the explanation of details4 ,a rough piece of rendering1 which would be a misrepresentation in a continuous version1 because it would be out of scale with the general style1 seems to be another matter when it only calls the reader's attention to a particular point presented for study at the moment4 ,again1 he is aware that his rendering of the ,greek article in many passages 7for example1 where he has ventured to explain it by our1 true1 etc47 is open to criticism4 ,but he intends no more in such places than a suggestion2 and he is conscious1 as he has said sometimes at the place1 that it is almost impossible to render the article as he has done in these cases without a certain exaggeration1 which must be discounted by the reader4 ,the use of the article in ,greek is one of the simplest and most assured things in grammar1 as to its main principles4 ,but as regards some details of the application of principle1 there is nothing in grammar which seems so easily to elude the line of law4 ,it is scarcely necessary to say that on questions of literary criticism which in no respect1 or at most remotely1 concern exposition1 this ,commentary says little or nothing4 ,it is well known to literary students of the ,epistle that some phenomena in the text1 from the close of ch4 xiv4 onwards1 have raised important and complex questions4 ,it has been asked whether the great ,doxology 7xvi4 #be-bg7 always stood where it now stands2 whether it should stand at the close of our ch4 xiv42 whether its style and wording allow us to regard it as contemporary with the ,epistle as a whole1 or whether they indicate that it was written later in ,st ,paul's course2 whether our fifteenth and sixteenth chapters1 while ,pauline1 are not out of place in an ,epistle to ,rome2 in particular1 whether the list of names in ch4 xvi4 is compatible with a ,roman destination4 ,these questions1 with one exception1 that which affects the list of names1 are not even touched upon in the present ,exposition4 ,the expositor1 personally convinced that the pages we know as the ,epistle to the ,romans are not only all genuine but all intimately coherent1 has not felt himself called to discuss1 in a devotional writing1 subjects more proper to the lecture-room and the study2 and which certainly would be out of place in the ministry of the pulpit4 ,meantime1 those who care to read a masterly debate on the literary problems in question may consult the recently published volume 7#ahic71 ,biblical ,studies1 by the late ,bishop ,lightfoot1 of ,durham4 ,that volume contains 7pp4 #bhg-cgd7 three critical ,essays 7#ahfi1 #ahga71 two by ,bishop ,lightfoot1 one by the late ,dr ,hort1 on ,the ,structure and ,destination of the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,the two illustrious friends1--,hort criticizing ,lightfoot1 ,lightfoot replying to ,hort1--examine the phenomena of ,rom4 xv4-xvi4 ,lightfoot advocates the theory that ,st ,paul1 some time after writing the ,epistle1 issued an abridged edition for wider circulation1 omitting the direction to ,rome1 closing the document with our ch4 xiv41 and then 7not before7 writing1 as a finale1 the great ,doxology4 ,hort holds to the practical entirety of the ,epistle as we have it1 and reasons at length for the contemporaneousness of xvi4 #be-bg with the rest4#a ,we may note here that both ,hort and ,lightfoot contend for the conciliatory aim of the ,roman ,epistle4 ,they regard the great passage about ,israel 7ix4-xi47 as in some sense the heart of the ,epistle1 and the doctrinal passages preceding this as all more or less meant to bear on the relations not only of the ,law and the ,gospel1 but of the ,jew and the ,gentile as members of the one ,christian ,church4 ,there is great value in this suggestion1 explained and illustrated as it is in the ,essays in question4 ,but the thought may easily be worked to excess4 ,it seems plain to the present writer that when the ,epistle is studied from within its deepest spiritual element1 it shews us the ,apostle fully mindful of the largest aspects of the life and work of the ,church1 but also1 and yet more1 occupied with the problem of the relation of the believing sinner to ,god4 ,the question of personal salvation was never1 by ,st ,paul1 forgotten in that of ,christian policy4 ,to return for a moment to this ,exposition1 or rather to its setting2 it may be doubted whether1 in imagining the dictation of the ,epistle to be begun and completed by ,st ,paul within one day we have not imagined a hard thing4 ,but at worst it is not an impossible thing1 if the ,apostle's utterance was as sustained as his thought4 ,it remains only to express the hope that these pages may serve in some degree to convey to their readers a new ,tolle1 ,lege for the divine ,text itself2 if only by suggesting to them sometimes the words of ,st ,augustine1 ,to ,paul ,i appeal from all interpreters of his writings4 ,,ridley ,,hall1 ,,cambridge1 ,,all ,,saints' ,,day1 #ahic4 #a ,see also ,westcott and ,hort's ,n4 ,t4 in the ,original ,greek1 vol4 #b1 ,appendix1 pp4 #aaj-aad 7ed4 #a74 ,,errata4 ,page #aac1 line #h1 for circumcision read uncircumcision4 ,page #bfc1 line #ae1 for read 4 ,forasmuch as this ,epistle is 444 a light and way unto the whole ,scripture1 ,i think it meet that every ,christian man not only know it1 by rote and without the book1 but also exercise himself therein evermore continually1 as with the daily bread of the soul4 ,no man verily can read it too oft1 or study it too well2 for the more it is studied1 the easier it is2 the more it is chewed1 the pleasanter it is2 and the more groundly it is searched1 the preciouser things are found in it1 so great treasure of spiritual things lieth hid therein4 ,w4 ,,tyndale1 after ,,luther4 ,towards the close of one of my nights of suffering1 at half-past four1 ,i asked my kind watcher 444 to read me a chapter of the ,word of ,god4 ,he proposed the eighth of the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,i assented1 but with the request that1 to secure the connexion of ideas1 he would go back to the sixth1 and even to the fifth4 ,we read in succession the four chapters1 v41 vi41 vii41 viii41 and ,i thought no more of sleep4444 ,then we read the ninth1 and the remaining passages1 to the end1 with an interest always equal and sustained2 and then the first four1 that nothing might be lost4 ,about two hours had passed4444 ,i cannot tell you how ,i was struck1 in thus reading the ,epistle as a whole1 with the seal of divinity1 of truth1 of holiness1 of love1 and of power1 which is impressed on every page1 on every word4 ,we felt1 my young friend and ,i1 444 that we were listening to a voice from heaven4 ,a4 ,,monod1 ,adieux1 ,v41 ,quelques ,mots sur la ,lecture de la ,bible4 ,,contents ,,page ,,chapter ,i ,,time1 ,,place1 ,,and ,,occasion #a ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,writer ,,and ,,his ,,readers #aj ,,romans i4 #a-g ,,chapter ,,iii ,,good ,,report ,,of ,,the ,,roman ,,church3 ,,paul ,,not ,,ashamed ,,of ,,the ,,gospel #bc ,,romans i4 #h-ag ,,chapter ,,iv ,,need ,,for ,,the ,,gospel3 ,,god',s ,,anger ,,and ,,man',s ,,sin #ch ,,romans i4 #ah-bc ,,chapter ,v ,,man ,,given ,,up ,,to ,,his ,,own ,,way3 ,,the ,,heathen #dh ,,romans i4 #bd-cb ,,chapter ,,vi ,,human ,,guilt ,,universal3 ,,he ,,approaches ,,the ,,conscience ,,of ,,the ,,jew #ef ,,romans ii4 #a-af ,,chapter ,,vii ,,jewish ,,responsibility ,,and ,,guilt #fg ,,romans ii4 #ag-bi ,,chapter ,,viii ,,jewish ,,claims3 ,,no ,,hope ,,in ,,human ,,merit #gh ,,romans iii4 #a-bj ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,one ,,way ,,of ,,divine ,,acceptance #ij ,,romans iii4 #ba-ca ,,detached ,,note #ajj ,,chapter ,x ,,abraham ,,and ,,david #ajc ,,romans iv4 #a-ab ,,detached ,,note #aae ,,chapter ,,xi ,,abraham 7ii47 #aag ,,romans iv4 #ac-be ,,chapter ,,xii ,,peace1 ,,love1 ,,and ,,joy ,,for ,,the ,,justified #abh ,,romans v4 #a-aa ,,detached ,,notes #adj ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,christ ,,and ,,adam #adc ,,romans v4 #ab-ba ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,justification ,,and ,,holiness #aef ,,romans vi4 #a-ac ,,chapter ,,xv ,,justification ,,and ,,holiness3 ,,illustrations ,,from ,,human ,,life #agj ,,romans vi4 #ad--vii4 #f ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,the ,,function ,,of ,,the ,,law ,,in ,,the ,,spiritual ,,life #ahg ,,romans vii4 #g-be ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,justified3 ,,their ,,life ,,by ,,the ,,holy ,,spirit #bjc ,,romans viii4 #a-aa ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,holiness ,,by ,,the ,,spirit1 ,,and ,,the ,,glories ,,that ,,shall ,,follow #bah ,,romans viii4 #ab-be ,,chapter ,,xix ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,prayer ,,in ,,the ,,saints3 ,,their ,,present ,,and ,,eternal ,,welfare ,,in ,,the ,,love ,,of ,,god #bca ,,romans viii4 #bf-ci ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,sorrowful ,,problem3 ,,jewish ,,unbelief2 ,,divine ,,sovereignty #bdd ,,romans ix4 #a-cc ,,detached ,,note #bfa ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,jewish ,,unbelief ,,and ,,gentile ,,faith3 ,,prophecy #bfd ,,romans x4 #a-ba ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,israel ,,however ,,not ,,forsaken #bhb ,,romans xi4 #a-aj ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,israel',s ,,fall ,,overruled1 ,,for ,,the ,,world',s ,,blessing1 ,,and ,,for ,,israel',s ,,mercy #bid ,,romans xi4 #aa-bd ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,the ,,restoration ,,of ,,israel ,,directly ,,foretold3 ,,all ,,is ,,of ,,and ,,for ,,god #cjg ,,romans xi4 #be-cf ,,chapter ,,xxv ,,christian ,,conduct ,,the ,,issue ,,of ,,christian ,,truth #cba ,,romans xii4 #a-h ,,chapter ,,xxvi ,,christian ,,duty3 ,,details ,,of ,,personal ,,conduct #ccf ,,romans xii4 #i-ba ,,chapter ,,xxvii ,,christian ,,duty2 ,,in ,,civil ,,life ,,and ,,otherwise3 ,,love #cdh ,,romans xiii4 #a-aj ,,chapter ,,xxviii ,,christian ,,duty ,,in ,,the ,,light ,,of ,,the ,,lord',s ,,return ,,and ,,in ,,the ,,power ,,of ,,his ,,presence #cfa ,,romans xiii4 #aa-ad ,,chapter ,,xxix ,,christian ,,duty3 ,,mutual ,,tenderness ,,and ,,tolerance3 ,,the ,,sacredness ,,of ,,example #cgd ,,romans xiv4 #a-bc ,,chapter ,,xxx ,,the ,,same ,,subject3 ,,the ,,lord',s ,,example3 ,,his ,,relation ,,to ,,us ,,all #cic ,,romans xv4 #a-ac ,,chapter ,,xxxi ,,roman ,,christianity3 ,,st ,,paul',s ,,commission3 ,,his ,,intended ,,itinerary3 ,,he ,,asks ,,for ,,prayer #djh ,,romans xv4 #ad-cc ,,chapter ,,xxxii ,a ,,commendation3 ,,greetings3 ,a ,,warning3 ,a ,,doxology #dba ,,romans xvi4 #a-bg ,,chapter ,i ,,time1 ,,place1 ,,and ,,occasion ,it is the month of ,february1 in the year of ,christ #eh4b ,in a room in the house of ,gaius1 a wealthy ,corinthian ,christian1 ,paul the ,apostle1 having at his side his amanuensis ,tertius1 addresses himself to write to the converts of the mission at ,rome4 ,the great world meanwhile is rolling on its way4 ,it is the fourth year of ,nero2 he is ,consul the third time1 with ,valerius ,messala for his colleague2 ,poppa has lately caught the unworthy ,prince in the net of her bad influence4 ,domitius ,corbulo has just resumed the war with ,parthia1 and prepares to penetrate the highlands of ,armenia4 ,within a few weeks1 in the full spring1 an ,egyptian impostor is about to inflame ,jerusalem with his ,messianic claim1 to lead four thousand fanatics into the desert1 and to return to the city with a host of thirty thousand men1 only to be totally routed by the legionaries of ,felix4 ,for himself1 the ,apostle is about to close his three months' stay at ,corinth2 he has heard of plots against his life1 and will in prudence decline the more direct route from ,cenchrea by sea1 striking northward for ,philippi1 and thence over the gan to ,troas4 ,jerusalem he must visit1 if possible before ,may is over1 for he has by him the ,greek collections to deliver to the poor converts of ,jerusalem4 ,then1 in the vista of his further movements1 he sees ,rome1 and thinks with a certain apprehension yet with longing hope about life and witness there4 ,a ,greek ,christian woman is about to visit the ,city1 ,phbe1 a ministrant of the mission at ,cenchrea4 ,he must commend her to the ,roman brethren2 and a deliberate ,letter to them is suggested by this personal need4 ,his thoughts have long gravitated to the ,city of the ,world4 ,not many months before1 at ,ephesus1 when he had purposed in the ,spirit to visit ,jerusalem1 he had said1 with an emphasis which his biographer remembered1 ,i must also see ,rome 7,acts xix4 #ba72 ,i must1 in the sense of a divine decree1 which had written this journey down in the plan of his life4 ,he was assured too1 by circumstantial and perhaps by supernatural signs1 that he had now no more place in these parts 7,rom4 xv4 #bc7--that is1 in the ,eastern ,roman world where hitherto all his labour had been spent4 ,the ,lord who in former days had shut ,paul up to a track which led him through ,asia ,minor to the gan1 and across the gan to ,europe 7,acts xvi471 now prepared to guide him1 though by paths which ,his servant knew not1 from ,eastern ,europe to ,western1 and before all things to the ,city4 ,amongst these providential preparations was a growing occupation of the ,apostle's thought with persons and interests in the ,christian circle there4 ,here1 as we have seen1 was ,phbe1 about to take ship for ,italy4 ,yonder1 in the great ,capital1 were now resident again the beloved and faithful ,aquila and ,prisca1 no longer excluded by the ,claudian edict1 and proving already1 we may fairly conclude1 the central influence in the mission1 whose first days perhaps dated from the ,pentecost itself1 when ,roman strangers 7,acts ii4 #aj7 saw and heard the wonders and the message of that hour4 ,at ,rome also lived other believers personally known to ,paul1 drawn by unrecorded circumstances to the ,centre of the world4 ,his well-beloved ,epnetus was there2 ,mary1 who had sometimes tried hard to help him2 ,andronicus1 and ,junias1 and ,herodion1 his relatives2 ,amplias and ,stachys1 men very dear to him2 ,urbanus1 who had worked for ,christ at his side2 ,rufus1 no common ,christian in his esteem1 and ,rufus' mother1 who had once watched over ,paul with a mother's love4 ,all these rise before him as he thinks of ,phbe1 and her arrival1 and the faces and the hands which at his appeal would welcome her in the ,lord1 under the holy freemasonry of primeval ,christian fellowship4 ,besides1 he has been hearing about the actual state of that all-important mission4 ,as all roads led to ,rome1 so all roads led from ,rome1 and there were ,christian travellers everywhere 7i4 #h7 who could tell him how the ,gospel fared among the metropolitan brethren4 ,as he heard of them1 so he prayed for them1 without ceasing 7i4 #i71 and made request too for himself1 now definitely and urgently1 that his way might be opened to visit them at last4 ,to pray for others1 if the prayer is prayer indeed1 and based to some extent on knowledge1 is a sure way to deepen our interest in them1 and our sympathetic insight into their hearts and conditions4 ,from the human side1 nothing more than these tidings and these prayers was needed to draw from ,st ,paul a written message to be placed in ,phbe's care4 ,from this same human side again1 when he once addressed himself to write1 there were circumstances of thought and action which would naturally give direction to his message4 ,he stood amidst circumstances most significant and suggestive in matters of ,christian truth4 ,quite recently his ,judaist rivals had invaded the congregations of ,galatia1 and had led the impulsive converts there to quit what seemed their firm grasp on the truth of ,justification by ,faith only4 ,to ,st ,paul this was no mere battle of abstract definitions1 nor again was it a matter of merely local importance4 ,the success of the alien teachers in ,galatia shewed him that the same specious mischiefs might win their way1 more or less quickly1 anywhere4 ,and what would such success mean8 ,it would mean the loss of the joy of the ,lord1 and the strength of that joy1 in the misguided ,churches4 ,justification by ,faith meant nothing less than ,christ all in all1 literally all in all1 for sinful man's pardon and acceptance4 ,it meant a profound simplicity of personal reliance altogether upon ,him before the fiery holiness of eternal ,law4 ,it meant a look out and up1 at once intense and unanxious1 from alike the virtues and the guilt of man1 to the mighty merits of the ,saviour4 ,it was precisely the foundation-fact of salvation1 which secured that the process should be1 from its beginning1 not humanitarian but divine4 ,to discredit that was not merely to disturb the order of a missionary community2 it was to hurt the vitals of the ,christian soul1 tinging with impure elements the mountain springs of the peace of ,god4 ,fresh as he was now from combating this evil in ,galatia1 ,st ,paul would be sure to have it in his thoughts when he turned to ,rome2 for there it was only too certain that his active adversaries would do their worst2 probably they were at work already4 ,then1 he had been just engaged also with the problems of ,christian life1 in the mission at ,corinth4 ,there the main trouble was less of creed than of conduct4 ,in the ,corinthian ,epistles we find no great traces of an energetic heretical propaganda1 but rather a bias in the converts towards a strange licence of temper and life4 ,perhaps this was even accentuated by a popular logical assent to the truth of ,justification taken alone1 isolated from other concurrent truths1 tempting the ,corinthian to dream that he might continue in sin that grace might abound4 ,if such were his state of spiritual thought1 he would encounter 7by his own fault7 a positive moral danger in the supernatural ,gifts which at ,corinth about that time seem to have appeared with quite abnormal power4 ,an antinomian theory1 in the presence of such exaltations1 would lead the man easily to the conception that he was too free and too rich in the supernatural order to be the servant of common duties1 and even of common morals4 ,thus the ,apostle's soul would be full of the need of expounding to its depths the vital harmony of the ,lord's work for the believer and the ,lord's work in him2 the co-ordination of a free acceptance with both the precept and the possibility of holiness4 ,he must shew once for all how the justified are bound to be pure and humble1 and how they can so be1 and what forms of practical dutifulness their life must take4 ,he must make it clear for ever that the ,ransom which releases also purchases2 that the ,lord's freeman is the ,lord's property2 that the ,death of the ,cross1 reckoned as the death of the justified sinner1 leads direct to his living union with the ,risen ,one1 including a union of will with will2 and that thus the ,christian life1 if true to itself1 must be a life of loyalty to every obligation1 every relation1 constituted in ,god's providence among men4 ,the ,christian who is not attentive to others1 even where their mere prejudices and mistakes are in question1 is a ,christian out of character4 ,so is the ,christian who is not a scrupulously loyal citizen1 recognizing civil order as the will of ,god4 ,so is the ,christian who in any respect claims to live as he pleases1 instead of as the bondservant of his ,redeemer should live4 ,another question had been pressing the ,apostle's mind1 and that for years1 but recently with a special weight4 ,it was the mystery of ,jewish unbelief4 ,who can estimate the pain and greatness of that mystery in the mind of ,st ,paul8 ,his own conversion1 while it taught him patience with his old associates1 must have filled him also with some eager hopes for them4 ,every deep and self-evidencing manifestation of ,god in a man's soul suggests to him naturally the thought of the glorious things possible in the souls of others4 ,why should not the leading ,pharisee1 now converted1 be the signal1 and the means1 of the conversion of the ,sanhedrin1 and of the people8 ,but the hard mystery of sin crossed such paths of expectation1 and more and more so as the years went on4 ,judaism outside the ,church was stubborn1 and energetically hostile4 ,and within the ,church1 sad and ominous fact1 it crept in underground1 and sprung up in an embittered opposition to the central truths4 ,what did all this mean8 ,where would it end8 ,had ,israel sinned1 collectively1 beyond pardon and repentance8 ,had ,god cast off ,his people8 ,these troublers of ,galatia1 these fiery rioters before the tribunal of ,gallio at ,corinth1 did their conduct mean that all was over for the race of ,abraham8 ,the question was agony to ,paul2 and he sought his ,lord's answer to it as a thing without which he could not live4 ,that answer was full in his soul when he meditated his ,letter to ,rome1 and thought of the ,judaists there1 and also of the loving ,jewish friends of his heart there who would read his message when it came4 ,thus we venture to describe the possible outward and inward conditions under which the ,epistle to the ,romans was conceived and written4 ,well do we recollect that our account is conjectural4 ,but the ,epistle in its wonderful fulness1 both of outline and of detail1 gives to such conjectures more than a shadow for basis4 ,we do not forget again that the ,epistle1 whatever the ,writer saw around him or felt within him1 was1 when produced1 infinitely more than the resultant of ,paul's mind and life2 it was1 and is1 an oracle of ,god1 a ,scripture1 a revelation of eternal facts and principles by which to live and die4 ,as such we approach it in this book2 not to analyse only or explain1 but to submit and to believe2 taking it as not only ,pauline but ,divine4 ,but then1 it is not the less therefore ,pauline4 ,and this means that both the thought and the circumstances of ,st ,paul are to be traced and felt in it as truly1 and as naturally1 as if we had before us the letter of an ,augustine1 or a ,luther1 or a ,pascal4 ,he who chose the writers of the ,holy ,scriptures1 many men scattered over many ages1 used them each in his surroundings and in his character1 yet so as to harmonize them all in the ,book which1 while many1 is one4 ,he used them with the sovereign skill of ,deity4 ,and that skilful use meant that ,he used their whole being1 which ,he had made1 and their whole circumstances1 which ,he had ordered4 ,they were indeed ,his amanuenses2 nay1 ,i fear not to say they were ,his pens4 ,but ,,he is such that ,he can manipulate as ,his facile implement no mere piece of mechanism1 which1 however subtle and powerful1 is mechanism still1 and can never truly cause anything2 ,,he can take a human personality1 made in ,his own image1 pregnant1 formative1 causative1 in all its living thought1 sensibility1 and will1 and can throw it freely upon its task of thinking and expression--and behold1 the product will be ,his2 ,his matter1 ,his thought1 ,his exposition1 ,his ,word1 living and abiding for ever4 99 99 99 99 99 ,thus we enter in spirit the ,corinthian citizen's house1 in the sunshine of the early ,greek spring1 and find our way invisible and unheard to where ,tertius sits with his reed-pen and strips of papyrus1 and where ,paul is prepared to give him1 word by word1 sentence by sentence1 this immortal message4 ,perhaps the corner of the room is heaped with hair-cloth from ,cilicia1 and the implements of the tent-maker4 ,but the ,apostle is now the guest of ,gaius1 a man whose means enable him to be the host of the whole ,church2 so we may rather think that for the time this manual toil is intermitted4 ,do we seem to see the form and face of him who is about to dictate8 ,the mist of time is in our eyes2 but we may credibly report that we find a small and much emaciated frame1 and a face remarkable for its arched brows and wide forehead1 and for the expressive mobility of the lips4#c ,we trace in looks1 in manner and tone of utterance1 and even in unconscious attitude and action1 tokens of a mind rich in every faculty1 a nature equally strong in energy and in sympathy1 made both to govern and to win1 to will and to love4 ,the man is great and wonderful1 a master soul1 subtle1 wise1 and strong4 ,yet he draws us with pathetic force to his heart1 as one who asks and will repay affection4 ,as we look on his face we think1 with awe and gladness1 that with those same thought-tired eyes 7and are they not also troubled with disease87 he has literally seen1 only twenty years ago1 so he will quietly assure us1 the risen and glorified ,,jesus4 ,his work during those twenty years1 his innumerable sufferings1 above all1 his spirit of perfect mental and moral sanity1 yet of supernatural peace and love1--all make his assurance absolutely trustworthy4 ,he is a transfigured man since that sight of ,jesus ,christ1 who now dwells in his heart by faith1 and uses him as the vehicle of ,his will and work4 ,and now listen4 ,the ,lord is speaking through ,his servant4 ,the scribe is busy with his pen1 as the message of ,christ is uttered through the soul and from the lips of ,paul4 #b ,see ,lewin1 ,fasti ,sacri1 #ahed1 etc4 #c ,see ,lewin1 ,life and ,epistles of ,st ,paul1 ii4 #daa1 for an engraving of a fine medallion1 shewing the heads of ,st ,paul and ,st ,peter4 ,the medal is referred to the close of the first century or the beginning of the second4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,writer ,,and ,,his ,,readers ,,romans i4 #a-g ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,paul1 a bondservant of ,jesus ,christ4 ,so the man opens his ,lord's message with his own name4 ,we may1 if we please1 leave it and pass on1 for to the letter-writer of that day it was as much a matter of course to prefix the personal name to the letter as it is to us to append it4 ,but then1 as now1 the name was not a mere word of routine2 certainly not in the communications of a religious leader4 ,it avowed responsibility2 it put in evidence a person4 ,in a letter of public destination it set the man in the light and glare of publicity1 as truly as when he spoke in the ,christian assembly1 or on the ,areopagus1 or from the steps of the castle at ,jerusalem4 ,it tells us here1 on the threshold1 that the messages we are about to read are given to us as truth through personality2 they come through the mental and spiritual being of this wonderful and most real man4 ,if we read his character aright in his letters1 we see in him a fineness and dignity of thought which would not make the publication of himself a light and easy thing4 ,but his sensibilities1 with all else he has1 have been given to ,christ 7who never either slights or spoils such gifts1 while ,he accepts them72 and if it will the better win attention to the ,lord that the servant should stand out conspicuously1 to point to ,him1 it shall be done4 ,for he is indeed ,jesus ,christ's bondservant2 not ,his ally merely1 or ,his subject1 or ,his friend4 ,recently1 writing to the ,galatian converts1 he has been vindicating the glorious liberty of the ,christian1 set free at once from the curse of the law and from the mastery of self4 ,but there too1 at the close 7vi4 #ag71 he has dwelt on his own sacred bondage2 the brand of his ,master1 ,jesus4 ,the liberty of the ,gospel is the silver side of the same shield whose side of gold is an unconditional vassalage to the liberating ,lord4 ,our freedom is in the ,lord alone2 and to be in the ,lord is to belong to ,him1 as wholly as a healthy hand belongs1 in its freedom1 to the physical centre of life and will4 ,to be a bondservant is terrible in the abstract4 ,to be ,jesus ,christ's bondservant is ,paradise1 in the concrete4 ,self-surrender1 taken alone1 is a plunge into a cold void4 ,when it is surrender to the ,son of ,god1 who loved me and gave ,himself for me 7,gal4 ii4 #bj71 it is the bright home-coming of the soul to the seat and sphere of life and power4 ,this bondservant of ,his now before us1 dictating1 is called to be an ,apostle4 ,such is his particular department of servitude in the great house4 ,it is a rare commission--to be a chosen witness of the ,resurrection1 a divinely authorized bearer of the holy ,name1 a first founder and guide of the universal ,church1 a legatus a latere of the ,lord ,himself4 ,yet the apostleship1 to ,st ,paul1 is but a species of the one genus1 bondservice4 ,to every man is his work1 given by the one sovereign will4 ,in a ,roman household one slave would water the garden1 another keep accounts1 another in the library would do skilled literary work2 yet all equally would be not their own1 but bought with a price4 ,so in the ,gospel1 then1 and now4 ,all functions of ,christians are alike expressions of the one will of ,him who has purchased1 and who calls4 ,meanwhile1 this bondservant-apostle1 because under authority1 carries authority4 ,his ,,master has spoken to him1 that he may speak4 ,he writes to the ,romans as man1 as friend1 but also as the vessel of choice1 to bear the ,name 7,acts ix4 #ae7 of ,jesus ,christ4 ,such is the sole essential work and purpose of his life4 ,he is separated to the ,gospel of ,god2 isolated from all other ruling aims to this4 ,in some respects he is the least isolated of men2 he is in contact all round with human life4 ,yet he is separated4 ,in ,christ1 and for ,christ1 he lives apart from even the worthiest personal ambitions4 ,richer than ever1 since he was in ,christ 7xvi4 #g71 in all that makes man's nature wealthy1 in power to know1 to will1 to love1 he uses all his riches always for this one thing1 to make men understand the ,gospel of ,god4 ,such isolation1 behind a thousand contacts1 is the ,lord's call for ,his true followers still4 ,the ,gospel3 word almost too familiar now1 till the thing is too little understood4 ,what is it8 ,in its native meaning1 its eternally proper meaning1 it is the divine ,good ,tidings4 ,it is the announcement of ,jesus ,christ1 ,son of ,god1 ,saviour of men1 in whom ,god and man meet with joy4 ,that announcement stands in living relation to a bright chain of precepts1 and also to the sacred darkness of convictions and warnings2 we shall see this amply illustrated in this ,epistle4 ,but neither precepts nor threatenings are properly the ,gospel4 ,the ,gospel saves from sin1 and enables for holy conduct4 ,but in itself it is the pure1 mere message of redeeming ,love4 ,it is the ,gospel of ,god2 that is1 as the neighbouring sentences shew it1 the ,gospel of the blessed ,,father4 ,its origin is in the ,father's love1 the eternal hill whence runs the eternal stream of the work of the ,son and the power of the ,spirit4 ,god loved the world2 ,the ,father sent the ,son4 ,the stream leads us up to the mount4 ,hereby perceive we the love of ,god4 ,in the ,gospel1 and in it alone1 we have that certainty1 ,god is ,love4 ,now he dilates a little in passing on this dear theme1 the ,gospel of ,god4 ,he whom it reveals as eternal ,love was true to ,himself in the preparation as in the event2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,he promised ,his ,gospel beforehand through ,his prophets in 7the7 holy ,scriptures4 ,the sunrise of ,christ was no abrupt1 insulated phenomenon1 unintelligible because out of relation4 ,since the world began 7,luke i4 #gj71 from the dawn of human history1 predictive word and manifold preparing work had gone before4 ,to think now only of the prediction1 more or less articulate1 and not of the preparation through general divine dealings with man--such had the prophecy been that1 as the pagan histories tell us1#d the whole ,east heaved with expectations of a ,judan world-rule about the time when1 as a fact1 ,jesus came4 ,he came1 alike to disappoint every merely popular hope and to satisfy at once the concrete details and the spiritual significance of the long forecast4 ,and ,he sent ,his messengers out to the world carrying as their text and their voucher that old and multifold literature which is yet one ,book2 those holy writings1 7our own ,old ,testament1 from end to end17 which were to them nothing less than the voice of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,they always put the ,lord1 in their preaching1 in contact with that prediction4 ,in this1 as in other things1 ,his glorious ,figure is unique4 ,there is no other personage in human history1 himself a moral miracle1 heralded by a verifiable foreshadowing in a complex literature of previous centuries4 ,the hope of ,israel was1 and is1 a thing sui generis4 ,other preparations for the ,coming were1 as it were1 sidelong and altogether by means of nature4 ,in the ,holy ,scriptures the supernatural led directly and in its own way to the supreme supernatural ,event2 the ,sacred ,way to the ,sanctuary4 ,what was the burthen of the vast prophecy1 with its converging elements8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,it was concerning ,his ,son1 ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,whatever the prophets themselves knew1 or did not know1 of the inmost import of their records and utterances1 the import was this4 ,the ,lord and the ,apostles do not commit us to believe that the old seers ever had a full conscious foresight1 or even that in all they wrote of ,him they knew that it was of ,him they wrote2 though they had insights above nature1 and knew it1 as when ,david in the ,spirit called ,him ,lord1 and ,abraham saw ,his day4 ,but they do amply commit us to believe1 if we are indeed their disciples1 that the whole revelation through ,israel did1 in a way quite of its own kind1 concern the ,son of ,god4 ,see this in such leading places as ,luke xxiv4 #be-bg2 ,john v4 #ci1 #df2 ,acts iii4 #ba-be1 x4 #dc1 xxviii4 #bc4 ,a ,mahometan in ,southern ,india1 not long ago1 was first drawn to faith in ,jesus ,christ by reading the genealogy with which ,st ,matthew begins his narrative4 ,such a procession1 he thought1 must lead up a mighty name2 and he approached with reverence the story of the ,nativity4 ,that genealogy is1 in a certain sense1 the prophecies in compendium4 ,its avenue is the miniature of theirs4 ,let us sometimes go back1 as it were1 and approach the ,lord again through the ranks of ,his holy foretellers1 to get a new impression of ,his majesty4 ,concerning ,his ,son4 ,around that radiant word1 full of light and heat1 the cold mists of many speculations have rolled themselves1 as man has tried to analyse a divine and boundless fact4 ,for ,st ,paul1 and for us1 the fact is everything1 for peace and life4 ,this ,jesus ,christ is true ,man2 that is certain4 ,he is also1 if we trust ,his life and word1 true ,son of ,god4 ,he is on the one hand personally distinct from ,him whom ,he calls ,father1 and whom ,he loves1 and who loves ,him with infinite love4 ,on the other hand ,he is so related to ,him that ,he fully possesses ,his ,nature1 while ,he has that ,nature wholly from ,him4 ,this is the teaching of ,gospels and ,epistles2 this is the ,catholic ,faith4 ,jesus ,christ is ,god1 is ,divine1 truly and fully4 ,he is implicitly called by the incommunicable ,name 7compare ,john xii4 #da with ,isa4 vi4 #g74 ,he is openly called ,god in ,his own presence on earth 7,john xx4 #bh74 ,but what is1 if possible1 even mere significant1 because deeper below the surface--,he is regarded as the eternally satisfying ,object of man's trust and love 7e4g4 ,phil4 iii4 #ba1 ,eph4 iii4 #ai74 ,yet ,jesus ,christ is always preached as related ,son-wise to ,another1 so truly that the mutual love of the ,two is freely adduced as type and motive for our love4 ,we can hardly make too much1 in thought and teaching1 of this ,divine ,sonship1 this ,filial ,godhead4 ,it is the very ,secret of ,god 7,col4 ii4 #b71 both as a light to guide our reason to the foot of the ,throne1 and as a power upon the heart4 ,he that hath the ,son hath the ,father2 ,he that hath seen ,me hath seen the ,father2 ,he hath translated us into the kingdom of the ,son of ,his ,love4 ,who was born of the seed of ,david1 according to the flesh4 ,so the ,new ,testament begins 7,matt4 i4 #a72 so it almost closes 7,rev4 xxii4 #f74 ,st ,paul1 in later years1 recalls the ,lord's human pedigree again 7#b ,tim4 ii4 #h73 ,remember that ,jesus ,christ1 of the seed of ,david1 is risen from the dead4 ,the old ,apostle in that last passage1 has entered the shadow of death2 he feels with one hand for the rock of history1 with the other for the pulse of eternal love4 ,here was the rock2 the ,lord of life was the ,child of history1 ,son and ,heir of a historical king1 and then1 as such1 the ,child of prophecy too4 ,and this1 against all surface appearances beforehand4 ,the ,davidic ground 7,isa4 liii4 #b7 had seemed to be dry as dust for generations1 when the ,root of endless life sprang up in it4 ,he was born of ,david's seed4 ,literally1 the ,greek may be rendered1 ,he became1 ,he came to be4 ,under either rendering we have the wonderful fact that ,he who in ,his higher ,nature eternally is1 above time and including it1 did in ,his other ,nature1 by the door of becoming1 enter time1 and thus indeed fill all things4 ,this ,he did1 and thus ,he is1 according to the flesh4 ,flesh is1 indeed1 but a part of ,manhood4 ,but a part can represent the whole2 and flesh is the part most antithetical to the ,divine ,nature1 with which here ,manhood is collocated and in a sense contrasted4 ,so it is again below1 ix4 #e4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,and now1 of this blessed ,son of ,david1 we hear further3--who was designated to be ,son of ,god2 literally1 defined as ,son of ,god betokened to be such by infallible proof4 ,never for an hour had he ceased to be1 in fact1 ,son of ,god4 ,to the man healed of birth-blindness ,he had said 7,john ix4 #ce71 ,dost thou believe on the ,son of ,god8 ,but there was an hour when ,he became openly and so to speak officially what ,he always is naturally2 somewhat as a born king is made king by coronation4 ,historical act then affirmed independent fact1 and as it were gathered it into a point for use4 ,this affirmation took place in power1 according to the ,spirit of ,holiness1 as a result of resurrection from the dead4 ,sown in weakness1 ,jesus was indeed raised in majestic1 tranquil power4 ,without an effort ,he stepped from out of the depth of death1 from under the load of sin4 ,it was no flickering life1 crucified but not quite killed1 creeping back in a convalescence mis-called resurrection2 it was the rising of the sun4 ,that it was indeed day-light1 and not day-dream1 was shown not only in ,his mastery of matter1 but in the transfiguration of ,his followers4 ,no moral change was ever at once more complete and more perfectly healthful than what ,his return wrought in that large and various group1 when they learnt to say1 ,we have seen the ,lord4 ,the man who wrote this ,epistle had seen ,him last of all 7#a ,cor4 xv4 #h74 ,that was indeed a sight in power1 and working a transfiguration4 ,so was the ,son of the ,father affirmed to be what ,he is2 so was ,he made to be1 for us ,his ,church1 the ,son1 in whom we are sons4 ,and all this was1 according to the ,spirit of holiness2 answerably to the foreshadowing and foretelling of that ,holy ,spirit who1 in the prophets1 testified of the sufferings destined for the ,christ1 and of the glories that should follow 7#a ,pet4 i4 #aa74 ,now lastly1 in the ,greek of the sentence1 as if pausing for a solemn entrance1 comes in the whole blessed ,name2 even ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,word by word the ,apostle dictates1 and the scribe obeys4 ,,jesus1 the human ,name2 ,,christ1 the mystic ,title2 ,,our ,,lord1 the term of royalty and loyalty which binds us to ,him1 and ,him to us4 ,let those four words be ours for ever4 ,if everything else falls in ruins from the memory1 let this remain1 the strength of our heart1 and our portion for ever4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,through whom1 the ,apostle's voice goes on1 we received grace and apostleship4 ,the ,son was the ,channel through which the ,father's choice and call took effect4 ,he grasped ,paul 7,phil4 iii4 #ab71 and1 joined him to ,himself1 and in ,himself to the ,father2 and now through that ,union the motions of the ,eternal will move ,paul4 ,they move him1 to give him grace and apostleship2 that is1 in effect1 grace for apostleship1 and apostleship as grace2 the boon of the ,lord's presence in him for the work1 and the ,lord's work as a spiritual boon4 ,he often thus links the word grace with his great mission2 for example1 in ,gal4 ii4 #i1 ,eph4 iii4 #b1 #h1 and perhaps ,phil4 i4 #g4 ,alike the enabling peace and power for service1 and then the service itself1 are to the ,christian a free1 loving1 beatifying gift4 ,unto obedience of faith among all the ,nations4 ,this obedience of faith is in fact faith in its aspect as submission4 ,what is faith8 ,it is personal trust1 personal self-entrustment to a person4 ,it gives up the case to the ,lord1 as the one only possible ,giver of pardon and of purity4 ,it is submission to the righteousness of ,god 7ch4 x4 #c74 ,blessed the man who so obeys1 stretching out arms empty and submissive to receive1 in the void between them1 ,jesus ,christ4 ,among all the ,nations1 all the ,gentiles4 ,the words read easy to us1 and pass perhaps half unnoticed1 as a phrase of routine4 ,not so to the ex-,pharisee who dictated them here4 ,a few years before he would have held it highly unlawful to keep company with1 or come unto1 one of another nation 7,acts x4 #bh74 ,now1 in ,christ1 it is as if he had almost forgotten that it had been so4 ,his whole heart1 in ,christ1 is blent in personal love with hearts belonging to many nations2 in spiritual affection he is ready for contact with all hearts4 ,and now he1 of all the ,apostles1 is the teacher who by life and word is to bring this glorious catholicity home for ever to all believing souls1 our own included4 ,it is ,st ,paul pre-eminently who has taught man1 as man1 in ,christ1 to love man2 who has made ,hebrew1 ,european1 ,hindoo1 ,chinese1 ,caffre1 ,esquimaux1 actually one in the conscious brotherhood of eternal life4 ,for ,his ,name's sake2 for the sake of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ revealed4 ,the ,name is the self-unfolded ,person1 known and understood4 ,paul had indeed come to know that ,name1 and to pass it on was now his very life4 ,he existed only to win for it more insight1 more adoration1 more love4 ,the ,name deserved that great soul's entire devotion4 ,does it not deserve our equally entire devotion now8 ,our lives shall be transfigured1 in their measure1 by taking for their motto also1 ,for ,his ,name's sake4 ,now he speaks direct of his ,roman friends4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,among whom1 among these multifarious ,nations1 you too are ,jesus ,christ's called ones2 men who belong to ,him1 because called by ,him4 ,and what is called8 ,compare the places where the word is used--or where its kindred words are used--in the ,epistles1 and you will find a certain holy speciality of meaning4 ,invited is no adequate paraphrase4 ,the called man is the man who has been invited and has come2 who has obeyed the eternal welcome2 to whom the voice of the ,lord has been effectual4 ,see the word in the opening paragraphs of #a ,corinthians4 ,there the ,gospel is heard1 externally1 by a host of indifferent or hostile hearts1 who think it folly1 or a stumbling block4 ,but among them are those who hear1 and understand1 and believe indeed4 ,to them ,christ is ,god's power1 and ,god's wisdom4 ,and they are the called4 ,in the ,gospels1 the words chosen and called are in antithesis2 the called are many1 the chosen few2 the external hearers are many1 the hearers inwardly are few4 ,in the ,epistles a developed use shews the change indicated here1 and it is consistently maintained4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,to all who in ,rome are ,god's beloved ones4 ,wonderful collocation1 wonderful possibility6 ,beloved ones of ,god1 as close to the eternal heart as it is possible to be1 because in the ,beloved2 that is one side4 ,in ,rome1 in the capital of universal paganism1 material power1 iron empire1 immeasurable worldliness1 flagrant and indescribable sin2 that is the other side4 ,i know where thou dwellest1 said the glorified ,saviour to much tried disciples at a later day2 even where ,satan has his throne 7,rev4 ii4 #ac74 ,that throne was conspicuously present in the ,rome of ,nero4 ,yet faith1 hope1 and love could breathe there1 when the ,lord called4 ,they could much more than breathe4 ,this whole ,epistle shows that a deep and developed faith1 a glorious hope1 and the mighty love of a holy life were matters of fact in men and women who every day of the year saw the world as it went by in forum and basilica1 in ,suburra and ,velabrum1 in slave-chambers and in the halls of pleasure where they had to serve or to meet company4 ,the atmosphere of heaven was carried down into that dark pool by the believing souls who were bidden to live there4 ,they lived the heavenly life in ,rome2 as the creature of the air in our stagnant waters weaves and fills its silver diving-bell1 and works and thrives in peace far down4 ,read some vivid picture of ,roman life1 and think of this4 ,see it as it is shown by ,tacitus1 ,suetonius1 ,juvenal1 ,martial2 or as modern hands1 ,becker's or ,farrar's1 have restored it from their materials4 ,what a deadly air for the regenerate soul--deadly not only in its vice1 but in its magnificence1 and in its thought6 ,but nothing is deadly to the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,the soul's regeneration means not only new ideas and likings1 but an eternal ,presence1 the indwelling of the ,life itself4 ,that ,life could live at ,rome2 and therefore ,god's beloved ones in ,rome could live there also1 while it was ,his will they should be there4 ,the argument comes a fortiori to ourselves4 7,his7 called holy ones2 they were called1 in the sense we have seen1 and now1 by that effectual ,voice1 drawing them into ,christ1 they were constituted holy ones1 saints4 ,what does that word mean8 ,whatever its etymology may be1#e its usage gives us the thought of dedication to ,god1 connexion with ,him1 separation to ,his service1 ,his will4 ,the saints are those who belong to ,him1 ,his personal property1 for ,his ends4 ,thus it is used habitually in the ,scriptures for all ,christians1 supposed to be true to their name4 ,not an inner circle1 but all1 bear the title4 ,it is not only a glorified aristocracy1 but the believing commonalty2 not the stars of the eternal sky but the flowers sown by the ,lord in the common field2 even in such a tract of that field as ,csar's household was 7,phil4 iv4 #bb74 ,habitually therefore the ,apostle gives the term saints to whole communities2 as if baptism always gave1 or sealed1 saintship4 ,in a sense it did1 and does4 ,but then1 this was1 and is1 on the assumption of the concurrence of possession with title4 ,the title left the individual still bound to examine himself1 whether he was in the faith 7#b ,cor4 xiii4 #e74 ,these happy residents at ,rome are now greeted and blessed in their ,father's and ,saviour's ,name2 ,grace to you and peace1 from ,god our ,father and the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,grace2 what is it8 ,two ideas lie there together2 favour and gratuity4 ,the grace of ,god is ,his favouring will and work for us1 and in us2 gratuitous1 utterly and to the end unearned4 ,put otherwise1 7and with the remembrance that ,his great gifts are but modes of ,himself1 are in fact ,himself in will and action17 grace is ,god for us1 grace is ,god in us1 sovereign1 willing1 kind4 ,peace2 what is it8 ,the holy repose within1 and so around1 which comes of the man's acceptance with ,god and abode in ,god2 an all is well in the heart1 and in the believer's contact with circumstances1 as he rests in his ,father and his ,redeemer4 ,peace1 perfect peace2 under the sense of demerit1 and amidst the crush of duties1 and on the crossing currents of human joy and sorrow1 and in the mystery of death2 because of the ,god of ,peace1 who has made peace for us through the ,cross of ,his ,son1 and is peace in us1 by the ,spirit which ,he hath given us4 #d ,percrebuerat ,oriente toto vetus et constans opinio1 esse in fatis ut eo tempore 7cir4 ,a4,d4 #gj7 profecti ,juda rerum potirentur4--,suetonius1 ,vesp41 c4 #d4 ,tacitus 7,hist41 v4 #ac7 says the same1 and that the hope was based on the antiqui sacerdotum libri4 #e ,the linguistic root seems to point directly not to separation 7as often said7 but to worship1 reverence4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,good ,,report ,,of ,,the ,,roman ,,church3 ,,paul ,,not ,,ashamed ,,of ,,the ,,gospel ,,romans i4 #h-ag ,he has blessed the ,roman ,christians in the name of the ,lord4 ,now he hastens to tell them how he blesses ,god for them1 and how full his heart is of them4 ,the ,gospel is warm all through with life and love2 this great message of doctrine and precept is poured from a fountain full of personal affection4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,now first ,i thank my ,god1 through ,jesus ,christ1 about you all4 ,it is his delight to give thanks for all the good he knows of in his brethren4 ,seven of his ,epistles open with such thanksgivings1 which at once convey the commendations which love rejoices to give1 wherever possible1 and trace all spiritual virtue straight to its ,source1 the ,lord4 ,nor only here to the ,lord1 but to my ,god2 a phrase used1 in the ,new ,testament1 only by ,st ,paul1 except that one utterance of ,,eli1 ,,eli1 by his dying ,saviour4 ,it is the expression of an indescribable appropriation and reverent intimacy4 ,the believer grudges his ,god to none2 he rejoices with great joy over every soul that finds its wealth in ,him4 ,but at the centre of all joy and love is this--my ,god2 ,christ ,jesus my ,lord2 who loved me and gave ,himself for me4 ,is it selfish8 ,nay1 it is the language of a personality where ,christ has dethroned self in ,his own favour1 but in which therefore reigns now the highest happiness1 the happiness which animates and maintains a self-forgetful love of all4 ,and this holy intimacy1 with its action in thanks and petition1 is all the while through ,jesus ,christ the ,mediator and ,brother4 ,the man knows ,god as my ,god1 and deals with ,him as such1 never out of that ,beloved ,,son who is equally ,one with the believer and with the ,father1 no alien medium1 but the living point of unity4 ,what moves his thanksgivings8 ,because your faith is spoken of1 more literally1 is carried as tidings1 over the whole world4 ,go where he will1 in ,asia1 in ,macedonia1 in ,achaia1 in ,illyricum1 he meets believing strangers from ,rome1 with spiritual news from the ,capital1 announcing1 with a glad solemnity1 that at the great ,centre of this world the things eternal are proving their power1 and that the ,roman mission is remarkable for its strength and simplicity of faith1 its humble reliance on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and loving allegiance to ,him4 ,such news1 wafted from point to point of that early ,christendom1 was frequent then2 we see another beautiful example of it where he tells the ,thessalonians 7#a ,thess4 i4 #h-aj7 how everywhere in his ,greek tour he found the news of their conversion running in advance of him1 to greet him at each arrival4 ,what special importance would such intelligence bear when it was good news from ,rome6 ,still in our day over the world of ,missions similar tidings travel4 ,only a few years ago the saints of ,indian ,tinnevelly heard of the distress of their brethren of ,african ,uganda1 and sent with loving eagerness to their necessity4 ,only last year 7#ahib7 an ,english visitor to the ,missions of ,labrador found the disciples of the ,moravian ,brethren there full of the wonders of grace manifested in those same ,african believers4 ,this constant good tidings from the ,city makes him the more glad because of its correspondence with his incessant thought1 prayer1 and yearning over them4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,for ,god is my record1 my witness1#f of this2 the ,god whom ,i serve1 at once1 so the ,greek 77 implies1 with adoration and obedience1 in my spirit1 in the ,gospel of ,his ,son4 ,the for gives the connexion we have just indicated2 he rejoices to hear of their faith1 for the ,lord knows how much they are in his prayers4 ,the divine ,witness is the more instinctively appealed to1 because these thoughts and prayers are for a mission-,church1 and the relations between ,st ,paul and his ,god are above all missionary relations4 ,he serves ,him in the ,gospel of ,his ,son the ,gospel of the ,god who is known and believed in ,his ,christ4 ,he serves ,him in the ,gospel2 that is1 in the propagation of it4 ,so he often means1 where he speaks of the ,gospel2 take for example ver4 #a above2 xv4 #af1 #ai below2 ,phil4 i4 #e1 #ab2 ii4 #bb4 ,he serves ,him1 in that great branch of ministry1 in his spirit with his whole love1 will1 and mind1 working in communion with his ,lord4 ,and now to this eternal ,friend and ,witness he appeals to seal his assurance of incessant intercessions for them2 how without ceasing1 as a habit constantly in action1 ,i make mention of you1 calling them up by name1 specifying before the ,father ,rome1 and ,aquila1 and ,andronicus1 and ,junias1 and ,persis1 and ,mary1 and the whole circle1 personally known or not1 in my prayers2 literally1 on occasion of my prayers2 whenever he found himself at prayer1 statedly or as it were casually remembering and beseeching4 ,the prayers of ,st ,paul are a study by themselves4 ,see his own accounts of them1 to the ,corinthians1 the ,ephesians1 the ,philippians1 the ,colossians1 the ,thessalonians1 and ,philemon4 ,observe their topic2 it is almost always the growth of grace in the saints1 to their ,master's glory4 ,observe now still more their manner2 the frequency1 the diligence1 the resolution which grapples1 wrestles1 with the difficulties of prayer1 so that in ,col4 ii4 #a he calls his prayer simply a great wrestling4 ,learn here how to deal with ,god for those for whom you work1 shepherd of souls1 messenger of the ,word1 ,christian man or woman who in any way are called to help other hearts in ,christ4 ,in this case his prayers have a very definite direction2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 he is requesting1 if somehow1 now at length1 my way shall be opened1 in the will of ,god1 to come to you4 ,it is a quite simple1 quite natural petition4 ,his inward harmony with the ,lord's will never excludes the formation and expression of such requests1 with the reverent if of submissive reserve4 ,the indifference of mystic pietism1 which at least discourages articulate contingent petitions1 is unknown to the ,apostles2 in everything1 with thanksgiving1 they make their requests known unto ,god4 ,and they find such expression harmonized1 in a holy experience1 with a profound rest within this will1 this sweet beloved will of ,god4 ,little did he here foresee how his way would be opened2 that it would lie through the tumult in the ,temple1 the prisons of ,jerusalem and ,csarea1 and the cyclone of the ,adrian sea4 ,he had in view a missionary journey to ,spain1 in which ,rome was to be taken by the way4 ,so ,god grants prayer1 but in ,his love ,makes ways and times ,his own4 ,his heart yearns for this ,roman visit4 ,we may almost render the ,greek of the next clause1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,for ,i am homesick for a sight of you2 he uses the word by which elsewhere he describes ,philippian ,epaphroditus' longing to be back at ,philippi 7,phil4 ii4 #bf71 and again his own longing to see the son of his heart1 ,timotheus 7#b ,tim4 i4 #d74 ,such is the ,gospel1 that its family affection throws the light of home on even unknown regions where dwell the brethren4 ,in this case the longing love however has a purpose most practical2 that ,i may impart to you some spiritual gift of grace1 with a view to your establishment4 ,the word rendered gift of grace 77 is used in some places 7see especially #a ,cor4 xii4 #d1 #i1 #bh1 #cj1 #ca7 with a certain special reference to the mysterious ,tongues1 ,interpretations1 and ,prophecies1 given in the primeval ,churches4 ,and we gather from the ,acts and the ,epistles that these grants were not ordinarily made where an ,apostle was not there to lay on his hands4 ,but it is not likely that this is the import of this present passage4 ,elsewhere in the ,epistle#g the word charisma is used with its largest and deepest reference2 ,god's gift of blessing in ,christ4 ,here then1 so we take it1 he means that he pines to convey to them1 as his ,lord's messenger1 some new development of spiritual light and joy2 to expound the ,way to them more perfectly2 to open up to them such fuller and deeper insights into the riches of ,christ that they1 better using their possession of the ,lord1 might as it were gain new possessions in ,him1 and might stand more boldly on the glorious certainties they held4 ,and this was to be done ministerially1 not magisterially4 ,for he goes on to say that the longed for visit would be his gain as well as theirs2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 that is1 with a view to my concurrent encouragement among you1 by our mutual faith1 yours and mine together4 ,shall we call this a sentence of fine tact2 beautifully conciliatory and endearing8 ,yes1 but it is also perfectly sincere4 ,true tact is only the skill of sympathetic love1 not the less genuine in its thought because that thought seeks to please and win4 ,he is glad to shew himself as his disciples' brotherly friend2 but then he first is such1 and enjoys the character1 and has continually found and felt his own soul made glad and strong by the witness to the ,lord which far less gifted believers bore1 as he and they talked together4 ,does not every true teacher know this in his own experience8 ,if we are not merely lecturers on ,christianity but witnesses for ,christ1 we know what it is to hail with deep thanksgivings the encouragement we have had from the lips of those who perhaps believed long after we did1 and have been far less advantaged outwardly than we have been4 ,we have known and blessed the encouragement carried to us by little believing children1 and young men in their first faith1 and poor old people on their comfortless beds1 ignorant in this world1 illuminated in the ,lord4 ,mutual faith1 the pregnant phrase of the ,apostle1 faith residing in each of both parties1 and owned by each to the other1 is a mighty power for ,christian encouragement still4#h ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,but ,i would not have you ignorant1 brethren4 ,this is a characteristic term of expression with him4#i ,he delights in confidence and information1 and not least about his own plans bearing on his friends4 ,that often ,i purposed 7or better1 in our ,english idiom1 have purposed7 to come to you1 7but ,i have been hindered up till now17 that ,i might have some fruit among you too1 as actually among the other ,nations4 ,he cannot help giving more and yet more intimation of his loving gravitation towards them2 nor yet of his gracious avarice for fruit1 result1 harvest and vintage for ,christ1 in the way of helping on ,romans1 as well as ,asiatics1 and ,macedonians1 and ,achaians1 to live a fuller life in ,him4 ,this1 we may infer from the whole ,epistle1 would be the chief kind of fruit in his view at ,rome2 but not this only4 ,for we shall see him at once go on to anticipate an evangelistic work at ,rome1 a speaking of the ,gospel message where there would be a temptation to be ashamed of it4 ,edification of believers may be his main aim4 ,but conversion of pagan souls to ,god cannot possibly be dissociated from it4 ,in passing we see1 with instruction1 that ,st ,paul made many plans which came to nothing2 he tells us this here without apology or misgiving4 ,he claims accordingly no such practical omniscience1 actual or possible1 as would make his resolutions and forecasts infallible4 ,tacitly1 at least1 he wrote ,if the ,lord will1 across them all1 unless indeed there came a case where1 as when he was guided out of ,asia to ,macedonia 7,acts xvi4 #f-aj71 direct intimation was given him1 abnormal1 supernatural1 quite ab extra1 that such and not such was to be his path4 ,but now1 he is not only homesick for ,rome1 with a yearning love2 he feels his obligation to ,rome1 with a wakeful conscience4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,alike to ,greeks and to ,barbarians1 to wise men and to unthinking1 ,i am in debt4 ,mankind is on his heart1 in the sorts and differences of its culture4 ,on the one hand were the ,greeks2 that is to say1 in the then popular meaning of the word1 the peoples possessed of what we now call classical civilization1 ,greek and ,roman2 an inner circle of these were the wise1 the literati1 the readers1 writers1 thinkers1 in the curriculum of those literatures and philosophies4 ,on the other hand were the ,barbarians1 the tongues and tribes outside the ,hellenic pale1 ,pisidian1 ,pamphylian1 ,galatian1 ,illyrian1 and we know not who besides2 and then1 among them1 or anywhere1 the unthinking1 the numberless masses whom the educated would despise or forget as utterly untrained in the schools1 unversed in the great topics of man and the world2 the people of the field1 the market1 and the kitchen4 ,to the ,apostle1 because to his ,lord1 all these were now impartially his claimants1 his creditors2 he owed them the ,gospel which had been trusted to him for them4 ,naturally1 his will might be repelled alike by the frown or smile of the ,greek1 and by the coarse earthliness of the ,barbarian4 ,but supernaturally1 in ,christ1 he loved both1 and scrupulously remembered his duty to both4 ,such is the true missionary spirit still1 in whatever region1 under whatever conditions4 ,the ,christian man1 and the ,christian ,church1 delivered from the world1 is yet its debtor4 ,woe is to him1 to it1 if that debt is not paid1 if that ,gospel is hidden in a napkin4 ,thus he is ready1 and more than ready1 to pay his debt to ,rome4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,so 7to render literally7 what relates to me is eager1 to you too1 to the men in ,rome1 to preach the ,gospel4 ,what relates to me2 there is an emphasis on me1 as if to say that the hindrance1 whatever it is1 is not in him1 but around him4 ,the doors have been shut1 but the man stands behind them1 in act to pass in when he may4 ,his eagerness is no light-heartedness1 no carelessness of when or where4 ,this wonderful missionary is too sensitive to facts and ideas1 too rich in imagination1 not to feel the peculiar1 nay the awful greatness1 of a summons to ,rome4 ,he understands culture too well not to feel its possible obstacles4 ,he has seen too much of both the real grandeur and the harsh force of the imperial power in its extension not to feel a genuine awe as he thinks of meeting that power at its gigantic ,centre4 ,there is that in him which fears ,rome4 ,but he is therefore the very man to go there1 for he understands the magnitude of the occasion1 and he will the more deeply retire upon his ,lord for peace and power4 ,thus with a pointed fitness he tells himself and his friends1 just here1 that he is not ashamed of the ,gospel4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,for ,i am not ashamed2 ,i am ready even for ,rome1 for this terrible ,rome4 ,i have a message which1 though ,rome looks as if she must despise it1 ,i know is not to be despised4 ,for ,i am not ashamed of the ,gospel2#aj for it is ,god's power to salvation1 for every one who believes1 alike for ,jew1 7first17 and for ,greek4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,for ,god's righteousness is in it unveiled1 from faith on to faith2 as it stands written1 ,but the just man on faith shall live4 ,these words give out the great theme of the ,epistle4 ,the ,epistle1 therefore1 is infinitely the best commentary on them1 as we follow out its argument and hear its message4 ,here it shall suffice us to note only a point or two1 and so pass on4 ,first1 we recollect that this ,gospel1 this ,glad ,tidings1 is1 in its essence1 ,jesus ,christ4 ,it is1 supremely1 ,he1 not it2 ,person1 not theory4 ,or rather1 it is authentic and eternal theory in vital and eternal connexion everywhere with a ,person4 ,as such it is truly power1 in a sense as profoundly natural as it is divine4 ,it is power1 not only in the cogency of perfect principle1 but in the energy of an eternal ,life1 an almighty ,will1 an infinite ,love4 ,then1 we observe that this message of power1 which is1 in its burthen1 the ,christ of ,god1 unfolds first1 at its foundation1 in its front1 the ,righteousness of ,god2 not first ,his ,love1 but ,his ,righteousness4 ,seven times elsewhere in the ,epistle comes this phrase#aa2 rich materials for ascertaining its meaning in the spiritual dialect of ,st ,paul4 ,out of these passages1 iii4 #bf gives us the key4 ,there the righteousness of ,god1 seen as it were in action1 ascertained by its effects1 is that which secures that ,he shall be just1 and the ,justifier of the man who belongs to faith in ,jesus4 ,it is that which makes wonderfully possible the mighty paradox that the ,holy ,one1 eternally truthful1 eternally rightful1 infinitely law-abiding in ,his jealousy for that ,law which is in fact ,his ,nature expressing itself in precept1 nevertheless can and does say to man1 in his guilt and forfeit1 ,i1 thy ,judge1 lawfully acquit thee1 lawfully accept thee1 lawfully embrace thee4 ,in such a context we need not fear to explain this great phrase1 in this its first occurrence1 to mean the ,acceptance accorded by the ,holy ,judge to sinful man4 ,thus it stands practically equivalent to--,god's way of justifying the ungodly1 ,his method for liberating ,his love while ,he magnifies ,his law4 ,in effect1 not as a translation but as an explanation1 ,god's ,righteousness is ,god's ,justification4 ,then again1 we note the emphasis and the repetition here of the thought of faith4 ,to every one that believeth2 ,from faith on to faith2 ,the just man on faith shall live4 ,here1 if anywhere1 we shall find ample commentary in the ,epistle4 ,only let us remember from the first that in the ,roman ,epistle1 as everywhere in the ,new ,testament1 we shall see faith used in its natural and human sense2 we shall find that it means personal reliance4 ,fides est fiducia1 ,faith is trust1 say the masters of ,reformation theology4 ,refellitur inanis hreticorum fiducia1 ,we refute the heretics' empty 'trust1' says the ,council of ,trent#ab against them2 but in vain4 ,faith is trust4 ,it is in this sense that our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 in the ,gospels1 invariably uses the word4 ,for this is its human sense1 its sense in the street and market2 and the ,lord1 the ,man of men1 uses the dialect of ,his race4 ,faith1 infinitely wonderful and mysterious from some points of view1 is the simplest thing in the world from others4 ,that sinners1 conscious of their guilt1 should be brought so to see their ,judge's heart as to take ,his word of peace to mean what it says1 is miracle4 ,but that they should trust ,his word1 having seen ,his heart1 is nature1 illuminated and led by grace1 but nature still4 ,the faith of ,jesus ,christ and the ,apostles is trust4 ,it is not a faculty for mystical intuitions4 ,it is our taking the ,trustworthy at ,his word4 ,it is the opening of a mendicant hand to receive the gold of ,heaven2 the opening of dying lips to receive the water of life4 ,it is that which makes a void place for ,jesus ,christ to fill1 that ,he may be man's ,merit1 man's ,peace1 and man's ,power4 ,hence the overwhelming prominence of faith in the ,gospel4 ,it is the correlative of the overwhelming1 the absolute1 prominence of ,jesus ,christ4 ,christ is all4 ,faith is man's acceptance of ,him as such4 ,justification by ,faith is not acceptance because faith is a valuable thing1 a merit1 a recommendation1 a virtue4#ac ,it is acceptance because of ,jesus ,christ1 whom man1 dropping all other hopes1 receives4 ,it is1 let us repeat it1 the sinner's empty hand and parted lips4 ,it has absolutely nothing to do with earning the gift of ,god1 the water and the bread of ,god2 it has all to do with taking it4 ,this we shall see open out before us as we proceed4 ,so the ,gospel unveils ,god's righteousness2 it draws the curtains from ,his glorious secret4 ,and as each fold is lifted1 the glad beholder looks on from faith to faith4 ,he finds that this reliance is to be his part2 first1 last1 midst1 and without end4 ,he takes ,jesus ,christ by faith2 he holds ,him by faith2 he uses ,him by faith2 he lives1 he dies1 in ,him by faith2 that is to say1 always by ,him1 by ,him received1 held1 used4 ,then lastly1 we mark the quotation from the ,prophet1 who1 for the ,apostle1 is the organ of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,what ,habakkuk wrote is1 for ,paul1 what ,god says1 ,god's ,word4 ,the ,prophet1 as we refer to his brief pages1 manifestly finds his occasion and his first significance in the then state of his country and his people4 ,if we please1 we may explain the words as a patriot's contribution to the politics of ,jerusalem1 and pass on4 ,but if so1 we pass on upon a road unknown to our ,lord and ,his ,apostles4 ,to ,him1 to them1 the prophecies had more in them than the ,prophets knew2 and ,habakkuk's appeal to ,judah to retain the ,lord ,jehovah among them in all ,his peace and power1 by trusting ,him1 is known by ,st ,paul to be for all time an oracle about the work of faith4 ,so he sees it in a message straight to the soul which asks how1 if ,christ is ,god's ,righteousness1 shall ,i1 a sinner1 win ,christ for me4 ,wouldst thou indeed be just with ,god1 right with ,him as ,judge1 accepted by the ,holy ,one8 ,take ,his ,son in the empty arms of mere trust1 and ,he is thine for this need1 and for all4 ,i am not ashamed of the ,gospel4 ,so the ,apostle affirms1 as he looks toward ,rome4 ,what is it about this ,gospel of ,god1 and of ,his ,son1 which gives occasion for such a word8 ,why do we find1 not here only1 but elsewhere in the ,new ,testament1 this contemplated possibility that the ,christian may be ashamed of his creed1 and of his ,lord8 ,whosoever shall be ashamed of ,me1 and of ,my words1 of him shall the ,son of ,man be ashamed 7,luke ix4 #bf72 ,be not thou ashamed of the testimony of our ,lord2 ,nevertheless1 ,i am not ashamed 7#b ,tim4 i4 #h1 #ab74 ,this is paradoxical1 as we come to think upon it4 ,there is much about the purity of the ,gospel which might occasion1 and does too often occasion1 an awe and dread of it1 seemingly reasonable4 ,there is much about its attendant mysteries which might seem to excuse an attitude1 however mistaken1 of reverent suspense4 ,but what is there about this revelation of the heart of ,eternal ,love1 this record of a ,life equally divine and human1 of a ,death as majestic as it is infinitely pathetic1 and then of a ,resurrection out of death1 to occasion shame8 ,why1 in view of this1 should man be shy to avow his faith1 and to let it be known that this is all in all to him1 his life1 his peace1 his strength1 his surpassing interest and occupation8 ,more than one analysis of the phenomenon1 which we all know to be fact1 may be suggested4 ,but for our part we believe that the true solution lies near the words sin1 pardon1 self-surrender4 ,the ,gospel reveals the eternal ,love1 but under conditions which remind man that he has done his worst to forfeit it4 ,it tells him of a peace and strength sublime and heavenly2 but it asks him1 in order to receive them1 to kneel down in the dust and take them1 unmerited1 for nothing4 ,and it reminds them that he1 thus delivered and endowed1 is by the same act the property of his ,deliverer2 that not only the highest benefit of his nature is secured by his giving himself over to ,god1 but the most inexorable obligation lies on him to do so4 ,he is not his own1 but bought with a price4 ,such views of the actual relation between man and ,god1 even when attended1 as they are in the ,gospel1 with such indications of man's true greatness as are found nowhere else1 are deeply repellent to the soul that has not yet seen itself and ,god in the light of truth4 ,and the human being who has got that sight1 and has submitted himself indeed1 yet1 the moment he looks outside the blessed shrine of his own union with his ,lord1 is tempted to be reticent about a creed which he knows once repelled and angered him4 ,well did ,paul remember his old hatred and contempt2 and he felt the temptations of that memory1 when he presented ,christ either to the ,pharisee or to the ,stoic1 and now particularly when he thought of bearing witness of ,him at ,rome 7,acts xxiii4 #aa71 imperial1 overwhelming ,rome4 ,but then he looked again from them to ,jesus ,christ1 and the temptation was beneath his feet1 and the ,gospel1 everywhere1 was upon his lips4 #f ,the word record in this sense came into ,english from ,old ,french4 7,skeat3 ,etymological ,dictionary47 #g ,see verses #ae1 #af1 #bc1 xi4 #bi4 xii4 #f is the only passage which at all looks the other way1 and that passage implies that the ,romans already possessed the wonder-working gifts4 #h ,the word comfort in the ,english ,version here1 as commonly elsewhere1 represents 1 1 which commonly denote not so much the consolation of grief as the encouragement which banishes depression4 #i xi4 #be2 #a ,cor4 x4 #a1 xii4 #a2 #b ,cor4 i4 #h2 #a ,thess4 iv4 #ac4 #aj ,the words of ,christ must be omitted from the text here4 #aa iii4 #e1 #ba1 #bb1 #bc1 #bf2 x4 #c twice4 #ab ,session ,,vi41 ch4 ix4 #ac ,see this admirably explained by ,hooker1 ,discourse of ,justification1 #ca4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,need ,,for ,,the ,,gospel3 ,,god',s ,,anger ,,and ,,man',s ,,sin ,,romans i4 #ah-bc ,we have as it were touched the heart of the ,apostle as he weighs the prospect of his ,roman visit1 and feels1 almost in one sensation1 the tender and powerful attraction1 the solemn duty1 and the strange solicitation to shrink from the deliverance of his message4 ,now his lifted forehead1 just lighted up by the radiant truth of ,righteousness by ,faith1 is shadowed suddenly4 ,he is not ashamed of the ,gospel2 he will speak it out1 if need be1 in the ,csar's own presence1 and in that of his brilliant and cynical court4 ,for there is a pressing1 an awful need that he should thus despise the shame4 ,the very conditions in human life which occasion an instinctive tendency to be reticent of the ,gospel1 are facts of dreadful urgency and peril4 ,man does not like to be exposed to himself1 and to be summoned to the faith and surrender claimed by ,christ4 ,but man1 whatever he likes or dislikes1 is a sinner1 exposed to the eyes of the ,all-,pure1 and lying helpless1 amidst all his dreams of pride1 beneath the wrath of ,god4 ,such is the logic of this stern sequel to the affirmation1 ,i am not ashamed4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,for ,god's wrath is revealed1 from heaven1 upon all godlessness and unrighteousness of men who in unrighteousness hold down the truth4 ,god's wrath is revealed2 ,revealed in the holy ,scriptures1 in every history1 by every ,prophet1 by every ,psalmist2 this perhaps is the main bearing of his thought4 ,but revealed also antecedently and concurrently in that mysterious1 inalienable conscience1 which is more truly part of man than his five senses4 ,conscience sees that there is an eternal difference between right and wrong1 and feels1 in the dark1 the relation of that difference to a law1 a ,lawgiver1 and a doom4 ,conscience is aware of a fiery light beyond the veil4 ,revelation meets its wistful gaze1 lifts the veil1 and affirms the fact of the wrath of ,god1 and of ,his judgment coming4 ,let us not shun that revelation4 ,it is not the ,gospel4 ,the ,gospel1 as we have seen1 is in itself one pure warm light of life and love4 ,but then it can never be fully understood until1 sooner or later1 we have seen something1 and believed something1 of the truth of the anger of the ,holy ,one4 ,from our idea of that anger let us utterly banish every thought of impatience1 of haste1 of what is arbitrary1 of what is in the faintest degree unjust1 inequitable4 ,it is the anger of ,him who never for a moment can be untrue to ,himself2 and ,he is ,love1 and is ,light4 ,but ,he is also1 so also says ,his ,word1 consuming ,fire 7,heb4 x4 #ca1 xii4 #bi72 and it is a fearful thing to fall into ,his hands4 ,nowhere and never is ,god not ,love1 as the ,maker and ,preserver of ,his creatures4 ,but nowhere also and never is ,he not ,fire1 as the judicial ,adversary of evil1 the ,antagonist of the will that chooses sin4 ,is there nothing in ,god to fear8 ,yea1 says ,his ,son 7,luke xii4 #e71 ,i say unto you1 fear ,him4 ,at the present time there is a deep and almost ubiquitous tendency to ignore the revelation of the wrath of ,god4 ,no doubt there have been times1 and quarters1 in the story of ,christianity1 when that revelation was thrown into disproportionate prominence1 and men shrank from ,christ 7so ,luther tells us he did in his youth7 as from ,one who was nothing if not the inexorable ,judge4 ,they saw ,him habitually as ,he is seen in the vast ,fresco of the ,sistine ,chapel1 a sort of ,jupiter ,tonans1 casting ,his foes for ever from ,his presence2 a ,being from whom1 not to whom1 the guilty soul must fly4 ,but the reaction from such thoughts1 at present upon us1 has swung to an extreme indeed1 until the tendency of the pulpit1 and of the exposition1 is to say practically that there is nothing in ,god to be afraid of2 that the words hope and love are enough to neutralize the most awful murmurs of conscience1 and to cancel the plainest warnings of the loving ,lord ,himself4 ,yet that ,lord1 as we ponder ,his words in all the four ,gospels1 so far from speaking such peace as this1 seems to reserve it to ,himself1 rather than to ,his messengers1 to utter the most formidable warnings4 ,and the earliest literature which follows the ,new ,testament shows that few of ,his sayings had sunk deeper into ,his disciples' souls than those which told them of the two ,ways and of the two ,ends4 ,let us go to ,him1 the all-benignant ,friend and ,teacher1 to learn the true attitude of thought towards ,him as the ,judge1 strong and patient1 but who will in no wise clear the guilty by unsaying ,his precepts and putting by ,his threats4 ,he assuredly will teach us1 in this matter1 no lessons of hard and narrow denunciation1 nor encourage us to sit in judgment on the souls and minds of our brethren4 ,but ,he will teach us to take deep and awful views for ourselves of both the pollution and also the guilt of sin4 ,he will constrain us to carry those views all through our personal theology1 and our personal anthropology too4 ,he will make it both a duty and a possibility for us1 in right measure1 in right manner1 tenderly1 humbly1 governed by ,his ,word1 to let others know what our convictions are about the ,ways and the ,ends4 ,and thus1 as well as otherwise1 ,he will make ,his ,gospel to be to us no mere luxury or ornament of thought and life1 as it were a decorous gilding upon essential worldliness and the ways of self4 ,he will unfold it as the soul's refuge and its home4 ,from ,himself as ,judge ,he will draw us in blessed flight to ,himself as ,propitiation and ,peace4 ,from ,thy wrath1 and from everlasting condemnation1 ,good ,lord--,thyself--deliver us4 ,this wrath1 holy1 passionless1 yet awfully personal1 is revealed1 from heaven4 ,that is to say it is revealed as coming from heaven1 when the righteous ,judge shall be revealed from heaven1 taking vengeance 7#b ,thess4 i4 #g1 #h74 ,in that pure upper world ,he sits whose wrath it is4 ,from that stainless sky of ,his presence its white lightnings will fall1 upon all godlessness and unrighteousness of men1 upon every kind of violation of conscience1 whether done against ,god or man2 upon godlessness1 which blasphemes1 denies1 or ignores the ,creator2 upon unrighteousness1 which wrests the claims whether of ,creator or of creature4 ,awful opposites to the two great ,commandments of the ,law6 ,the ,law must be utterly vindicated upon them at last4 ,conscience must be eternally verified at last1 against all the wretched suppressions of it that man has ever tried4 ,for the men in question hold down the truth in unrighteousness4 ,the rendering hold down is certified by both etymology and context2 the only possible other rendering1 hold fast1 is negatived by the connexion4 ,the thought given us is that man1 fallen from the harmony with ,god in which ,manhood was made1 but still keeping manhood1 and therefore conscience1 is never naturally ignorant of the difference between right and wrong1 never naturally1 innocently1 unaware that he is accountable4 ,on the other hand he is never fully willing1 of himself1 to do all he knows of right1 all he knows he ought1 all the demand of the righteous law above him4 ,in unrighteousness1 in a life which at best is not wholly and cordially with the will of ,god1 he holds down the truth1 silences the haunting fact that there is a claim he will not meet1 a will he ought to love1 but to which he prefers his own4 ,the majesty of eternal right1 always intimating the majesty of an eternal ,righteous ,one1 he thrusts below his consciousness1 or into a corner of it1 and keeps it there1 that he may follow his own way4 ,more or less1 it wrestles with him for its proper place4 ,and its even half-understood efforts may1 and often do1 exercise a deterrent force upon the energies of his self-will4 ,but they do not dislodge it2 he would rather have his way4 ,with a force sometimes deliberate1 sometimes impulsive1 sometimes habitual1 he holds down the unwelcome monitor4 ,deep is the moral responsibility incurred by such repression4 ,for man has always1 by the very state of the case1 within him and around him1 evidence for a personal righteous ,power with ,whom he has to do4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,because that which is known of ,god is manifest in them2 for ,god manifested 7or rather1 perhaps1 in our idiom1 has manifested7 it to them4 ,that which is known2 that is1 practically1 that which is knowable1 that which may be known4 ,there is that about the ,eternal which indeed neither is nor can be known1 with the knowledge of mental comprehension4 ,who can find out the ,almighty unto perfection8 ,all thoughtful ,christians are in this respect agnostics that they gaze on the bright ,ocean of ,deity1 and know that they do not know it in its fathomless but radiant depths1 nor can explore its expanse which has no shore4 ,they rest before absolute mystery with a repose as simple 7if possible more simple7 as that with which they contemplate the most familiar and intelligible event4 ,but this is not not to know ,him4 ,it leaves man quite as free to be sure that ,he is1 to be as certain that ,he is ,personal1 and is ,holy1 as man is certain of his own consciousness1 and conscience4 ,that there is ,personality behind phenomena1 and that this great ,personality is righteous1 ,st ,paul here affirms to be manifest1 disclosed1 visible1 in men4 ,it is a fact present1 however partially apprehended1 in human consciousness4 ,and more1 this consciousness is itself part of the fact2 indeed it is that part without which all others would be as nothing4 ,to man without conscience--really1 naturally1 innocently without conscience--and without ideas of causation1 the whole majesty of the ,universe might be unfolded with a fulness beyond all our present experience2 but it would say absolutely nothing of either ,personality or ,judgment4 ,it is by the world within that we are able in the least degree to apprehend the world without4 ,but having1 naturally and inalienably1 the world of personality and of conscience within us1 we are beings to whom ,god can manifest1 and has manifested1 the knowable about ,himself1 in ,his universe4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,for ,his things unseen1 ever since the creation of the universe1 are full in 7man's7 view1 presented to 7man's7 mind by ,his things made--,his everlasting power and ,godlikeness together--so as to leave them inexcusable4 ,since the ordered world was1 and since man was1 as its observer and also as its integral part1 there has been present to man's spirit--supposed true to its own creation--adequate testimony around him1 taken along with that within him1 to evince the reality of a supreme and persistent ,will1 intending order1 and thus intimating ,its own correspondence to conscience1 and expressing ,itself in things made of such manifold glory and wonder as to intimate the ,maker's majesty as well as righteousness4 ,what is ,that1 what is ,he1 to whom the splendours of the day and the night1 the wonders of the forest and the sea1 bear witness8 ,he is not only righteous ,judge but ,king eternal4 ,he is not only charged with my guidance2 ,he has rights illimitable over me4 ,i am wrong altogether if ,i am not in submissive harmony with ,him2 if ,i do not surrender1 and adore4 ,thus it has been1 according to ,st ,paul1 ever since the creation of the universe 7and of man in it74 ,and such everywhere is the ,theism of ,scripture4 ,it maintains1 or rather it states as certainty1 that man's knowledge of ,god began with his being as man4 ,to see the ,maker in ,his works is not1 according to the ,holy ,scriptures1 only the slow and difficult issue of a long evolution which led through far lower forms of thought1 the fetish1 the nature-power1 the tribal god1 the national god1 to the idea of a ,supreme4 ,scripture presents man as made in the image of the ,supreme1 and capable from the first of a true however faint apprehension of ,him4 ,it assures us that man's lower and distorted views of nature and of personal power behind it are degenerations1 perversions1 issues of a mysterious primeval dislocation of man from his harmony with ,god4 ,the believer in the holy ,scriptures1 in the sense in which our ,lord and the ,apostles believed in them1 will receive this view of the primeval history of ,theism as a true report of ,god's account of it4 ,remembering that it concerns an otherwise unknown moment of human spiritual history1 he will not be disturbed by alleged evidence against it from lower down the stream4 ,meanwhile he will note the fact that among the foremost students of ,nature in our time there are those who affirm the rightness of such an attitude4 ,it is not lightly that the ,duke of ,argyll writes words like these3-- ,i doubt 7to say the truth1 ,i disbelieve7 that we shall ever come to know by science anything more than we now know about the origin of man4 ,i believe we shall always have to rest on that magnificent and sublime outline which has been given us by the great ,prophet of the ,jews4#ad ,so man1 being what he is and seeing what he sees1 is without excuse3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,because1 knowing ,god1 they did not glorify ,him as ,god1 nor thank ,him1 but proved futile in their ways of thinking1 and their unintelligent heart was darkened4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,asserting themselves for wise they turned fools1 and transmuted the glory of the immortal ,god in a semblance of the likeness of mortal man1 and of things winged1 quadruped1 and reptile4 ,man1 placed by ,god in ,his universe1 and himself made in ,god's image1 naturally and inevitably knew ,god4 ,not necessarily in that inner sense of spiritual harmony and union which is 7,john xvii4 #c7 the life eternal2 but in the sense of a perception of ,his being and ,his character adequate1 at its faintest1 to make a moral claim4 ,but somehow--a somehow which has to do with a revolt of man's will from ,god to self--that claim was1 and is1 disliked4 ,out of that dislike has sprung1 in man's spiritual history1 a reserve towards ,god1 a tendency to question ,his purpose1 ,his character1 ,his existence2 or otherwise1 to degrade the conception of ,personality behind phenomena into forms from which the multifold monster of idolatry has sprung1 as if phenomena were due to personalities no better and no greater than could be imaged by man or by beast1 things of limit and of passion2 at their greatest terrible1 but not holy2 not ultimate2 not ,one4 ,man has spent on these unworthy ways of thinking a great deal of weak and dull reasoning and imbecile imagination1 but also some of the rarest and most splendid of the riches of his mind1 made in the image of ,god4 ,but all this thinking1 because conditioned by a wrong attitude of his being as a whole1 has had futile issues1 and has been in the truest sense unintelligent1 failing to see inferences aright and as a whole4 ,it has been a struggle in the dark2 yea1 a descent from the light into moral and mental folly4 ,was it not so1 is not so still8 ,if man is indeed made in the image of the living ,creator1 a moral personality1 and placed in the midst of the myriad world1 ,his shadow1 then whatever process of thought leads man away from ,him has somewhere in it a fallacy unspeakable1 and inexcusable4 ,it must mean that something in him which should be awake is dormant2 or1 yet worse1 that something in him which should be in faultless tune1 as the ,creator tempered it1 is all unstrung2 something that should be nobly free to love and to adore is being repressed1 held down4 ,then only does man fully think aright when he is aright4 ,then only is he aright when he1 made by and for the ,eternal ,holy ,one1 rests willingly in ,him1 and lives for ,him4 ,the fear of the ,lord is1 in the strictest fact1 the beginning of wisdom2 for it is that attitude of man without which the creature cannot answer the idea of the ,creator1 and therefore cannot truly follow out the law of its own being4 ,let him that glorieth1 glory in this1 that he understandeth and knoweth ,him 7,jer4 ix4 #bd7 who necessarily and eternally transcends our cognition and comprehension1 yet can be known1 can be touched1 clasped1 adored1 as personal1 eternal1 almighty1 holy ,love4 #ad ,geology and the ,deluge1 p4 #df 7,glasgow1 #ahhe74 ,,chapter ,v ,,man ,,given ,,up ,,to ,,his ,,own ,,way3 ,,the ,,heathen ,,romans i4 #bd-cb ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 ,wherefore ,god gave them up1 in the desires of their hearts1 to uncleanness1 so as to dishonour their bodies among themselves4 ,there is a dark sequence1 in the logic of facts1 between unworthy thoughts of ,god and the development of the basest forms of human wrong4 ,the fool hath said in his heart1 ,there is no ,god3--they are corrupt1 and have done abominable works 7,psal4 xiv4 #a74 ,and the folly which does not indeed deny ,god but degrades ,his ,idea1 always gives its sure contribution to such corruption4 ,it is so in the nature of the case4 ,the individual atheist1 or polytheist1 may conceivably be a virtuous person1 on the human standard2 but if he is so it is not because of his creed4 ,let his creed become a real formative power in human society1 and it will tend inevitably to moral disease and death4 ,is man indeed a moral personality1 made in the image of a holy and almighty ,maker8 ,then the vital air of his moral life must be fidelity1 correspondence1 to his ,god4 ,let man think of ,him as less than ,all1 and he will think of himself less worthily2 not less proudly perhaps1 but less worthily1 because not in his true and wonderful relation to the ,eternal ,good4 ,wrong in himself will tend surely to seem less awful1 and right less necessary and great4 ,and nothing1 literally nothing1 from any region higher than himself--himself already lowered in his own thought from his true idea--can ever come in to supply the blank where ,god should be1 but is not4 ,man may worship himself1 or may despise himself1 when he has ceased to glorify ,god and thank ,him2 but he cannot for one hour be what he was made to be1 the son of ,god in the universe of ,god4 ,to know ,god indeed is to be secured from self-worship1 and to be taught self-reverence2 and it is the only way to those two secrets in their pure fulness4 ,god gave them up4 ,so the ,scripture says elsewhere4 ,so ,i gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts 7,psal4 lxxxi4 #ab72 ,god turned1 and gave them up to worship the host of heaven 7,acts vii4 #db72 ,god gave them up to passions of degradation2 ,god gave them over to an abandoned mind2 7below1 verses #bf1 #bh74 ,it is a dire thought2 but the inmost conscience1 once awake1 affirms the righteousness of the thing4 ,from one point of view it is just the working out of a natural process1 in which sin is at once exposed and punished by its proper results1 without the slightest injection1 so to speak1 of any force beyond its own terrible gravitation towards the sinner's misery4 ,but from another point it is the personally allotted1 and personally inflicted1 retribution of ,him who hates iniquity with the antagonism of infinite ,personality4 ,he has so constituted natural process that wrong gravitates to wretchedness2 and ,he is in that process1 and above it1 always and for ever4 ,so ,he gave them up1 in their desires of their hearts2 ,he left them there where they had placed themselves1 in the fatal region of self-will1 self-indulgence2 unto uncleanness described now with terrible explicitness in its full outcome1 to dishonour their bodies the intended temples of the ,creator's presence1 among themselves1 or in themselves2 for the possible dishonour might be done either in a foul solitude1 or in a fouler society and mutuality3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,seeing that they perverted the truth of ,god1 the eternal fact of ,his glory and claim1 in their 77 lie1 so that it was travestied1 misrepresented1 lost1 in the falsehood of polytheism and idols2 and worshipped and served the creature rather than the ,creator1 who is blessed for ever4 ,amen4 ,he casts this strong ,doxology into the thick air of false worship and foul life1 as if to clear it with its holy reverberation4 ,for he is writing no mere discussion1 no lecture on the genesis and evolution of paganism4 ,it is the story of a vast rebellion1 told by one who1 once himself a rebel1 is now altogether and for ever the absolute vassal of the ,king whom he has seen in ,his beauty1 and whom it is his joy to bless1 and to claim blessing for ,him from ,his whole world for ever4 ,as if animated by the word of benediction1 he returns to denounce the abominable thing which ,god hateth with still more terrible explicitness4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bf4 ,for this reason1 because of their preference of the worse to the infinite ,good1 ,god gave them up to passions of degradation2 ,he handed them over1 self-bound1 to the helpless slavery of lust2 to passions1 eloquent word1 which indicates how the man who will have his own way is all the while a sufferer1 though by his own fault2 the victim of a mastery which he has conjured from the deep of sin4 ,shall we shun to read1 to render1 the words which follow8 ,we will not comment and expound4 ,may the presence of ,god in our hearts1 hearts otherwise as vulnerable as those of the old pagan sinners1 sweep from the springs of thought and will all horrible curiosity4 ,but if it does so it will leave us the more able1 in humility1 in tears1 in fear1 to hear the facts of this stern indictment4 ,it will bid us listen as those who are not sitting in judgment on paganism1 but standing beside the accused and sentenced1 to confess that we too share the fall1 and stand1 if we stand1 by grace alone4 ,aye1 and we shall remember that if an ,apostle thus tore the rags from the spots of the ,black ,death of ancient morals1 he would have been even less merciful1 if possible1 over the like symptoms lurking still in modern ,christendom1 and found sometimes upon its surface4 ,terrible1 indeed1 is the prosaic coolness with which vices now called unnameable are named and narrated in classical literature2 and we ask in vain for one of even the noblest of the pagan moralists who has spoken of such sins with anything like adequate horror4 ,such speech1 and such silence1 has been almost impossible since the ,gospel was felt in civilization4 ,paganism1 says ,dr ,f4 ,w4 ,farrar1 in a powerful passage1#ae with this paragraph of ,romans in his view1 is protected from complete exposure by the enormity of its own vices4 ,to shew the divine reformation wrought by ,christianity it must suffice that once for all the ,apostle of the ,gentiles seized heathenism by the hair1 and branded indelibly on her forehead the stigma of her shame4 ,yet the vices of the old time are not altogether an antiquarian's wonder4 ,now as truly as then man is awfully accessible to the worst solicitations the moment he trusts himself away from ,god4 ,and this needs indeed to be remembered in a stage of thought and of society whose cynicism1 and whose materialism1 show gloomy signs of likeness to those last days of the old degenerate world in which ,st ,paul looked round him1 and spoke out the things he saw4 ,for their females perverted the natural use to the unnatural4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bg4 ,so too the males1 leaving the natural use of the female1 burst out aflame in their craving towards one another1 males in males working out their unseemliness--and duly getting 77 in themselves that recompense of their error which was owed them4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bh4 ,and as they did not approve of keeping ,god in their moral knowledge1#af ,god gave them up to an abandoned mind1 a reprobate1 ,god-rejected1 mind2 meeting their disapprobation with ,his just and fatal reprobation 71 74 ,that mind1 taking the false premisses of the ,tempter1 and reasoning from them to establish the autocracy of self1 led with terrible certainty and success through evil thinking to evil doing2 to do the deeds which are not becoming1 to expose the being made for ,god1 in a naked and foul unseemliness1 to its friends and its foes2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bi4 filled full of all unrighteousness1 wickedness1 viciousness1 greed2 brimming with envy1 murder1 guile1 ill-nature2 whisperers1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cj4 defamers1 repulsive to ,god1 outragers1 prideful1 boastful1 inventors of evil1 disobedient to parents1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ca4 senseless1 faithless1 loveless1 truceless1 pitiless2 people who 77 morally aware of 77 ,god's ordinance1 that they who practise such things are worthy of death1 not only do them1 but assent and consent with those who practise them4 ,here is a terrible accusation of human life1 and of the human heart2 the more terrible because it is plainly meant to be1 in a certain sense1 inclusive1 universal4 ,we are not indeed compelled to think that the ,apostle charges every human being with sins against nature1 as if the whole earth were actually one vast ,city of the ,plain4 ,we need not take him to mean that every descendant of ,adam is actually an undutiful child1 or actually untrustworthy in a compact1 or even actually a boaster1 an 1 a pretentious claimant of praise or credit which he knows he does not deserve4 ,we may be sure that on the whole1 in this lurid passage1 charged less with condemnation than with lamentation1 and mourning1 and woe1 he is thinking mainly of the then state of heathen society in its worst developments4 ,yet we shall see1 as the ,epistle goes on1 that all the while he is thinking not only of the sins of some men1 but of the sin of man4 ,he describes with this tremendous particularity the variegated symptoms of one disease--the corruption of man's heart2 a disease everywhere present1 everywhere deadly2 limited in its manifestations by many circumstances and conditions1 outward or within the man1 but in itself quite unlimited in its dreadful possibilities4 ,what man is1 as fallen1 corrupted1 gone from ,god1 is shewn1 in the teaching of ,st ,paul1 by what bad men are4 ,do we rebel against the inference8 ,quite possibly we do4 ,almost for certain1 at one time or another1 we have done so4 ,we look round us on one estimable life and another1 which we cannot reasonably think of as regenerate1 if we take the strict ,scriptural tests of regeneration into account1 yet which asks and wins our respect1 our confidence1 it may be even our admiration2 and we say1 openly or tacitly1 consciously or unconsciously1 that that life stands clear outside this first chapter of ,romans4 ,well1 be it so in our thoughts2 and let nothing1 no nothing1 make us otherwise than ready to recognize and honour right doing wherever we see it1 alike in the saints of ,god and in those who deny ,his very ,being4 ,but just now let us withdraw from all such looks outward1 and calmly and in a silent hour look in4 ,do we1 do you1 do ,i1 stand outside this chapter8 ,are we definitely prepared to say that the heart which we carry in our breast1 whatever our friend's heart may be1 is such that under no change of circumstances could it1 being what it is1 conceivably develop the forms of evil branded in this passage8 ,ah1 who1 that knows himself1 does not know that there lies in him indefinitely more than he can know of possible evil8 ,who can understand his errors8 ,who has so encountered temptation in all its typical forms that he can say1 with even approximate truth1 that he knows his own strength1 and his own weakness1 exactly as they are8 ,it was not for nothing that the question was discussed of old1 whether there was any man who would always be virtuous if he were given the ring of ,gyges1 and the power to be invisible to all eyes4 ,nor was it lightly1 or as a piece of pious rhetoric1 that the saintliest of the chiefs of our ,reformation1 seeing a murderer carried off to die1 exclaimed that there went ,john ,bradford but for the grace of ,god4 ,it is just when a man is nearest ,god for himself that he sees what1 but for ,god1 he would be2 what1 taken apart from ,god1 he is1 potentially if not in act4 ,and it is in just such a mood that1 reading this paragraph of the great ,epistle1 he will smite upon his breast1 and say1 ,god1 be merciful to me the sinner 7,luke xviii4 #ac74 ,so doing he will be meeting the very purpose of the ,writer of this passage4 ,st ,paul is full of the message of peace1 holiness1 and the ,spirit4 ,he is intent and eager to bring his reader into sight and possession of the fulness of the eternal mercy1 revealed and secured in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 our ,sacrifice and ,life4 ,but for this very purpose he labours first to expose man to himself2 to awaken him to the fact that he is before everything else a sinner2 to reverse the ,tempter's spell1 and to let him see the fact of his guilt with open eyes4 ,the ,gospel1 some one has said1 can never be proved except to a bad conscience4 ,if bad means awakened1 the saying is profoundly true4 ,with a conscience sound asleep we may discuss ,christianity1 whether to condemn it1 or to applaud4 ,we may see in it an elevating programme for the race4 ,we may affirm1 a thousand times1 that from the creed that ,god became flesh there result boundless possibilities for ,humanity4 ,but the ,gospel1 the power of ,god unto salvation1 will hardly be seen in its own prevailing self-evidence1 as it is presented in this wonderful ,epistle1 till the student is first and with all else a penitent4 ,the man must know for himself something of sin as condemnable guilt1 and something of self as a thing in helpless yet responsible bondage1 before he can so see ,christ given for us1 and risen for us1 and seated at the right hand of ,god for us1 as to say1 ,there is now no condemnation2 ,who shall separate us from the love of ,god8 ,i know whom ,i have believed4 ,to the full sight of ,christ there needs a true sight of self1 that is to say1 of sin4 #ae ,darkness and ,dawn1 p4 #aab4 #af ,so we venture here to render 1 a knowledge deeper than that of merely logical conclusion4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,human ,,guilt ,,universal3 ,,he ,,approaches ,,the ,,conscience ,,of ,,the ,,jew ,,romans ii4 #a-af ,we have appealed1 for affirmation of ,st ,paul's tremendous exposure of human sin1 to a solemn and deliberate self-scrutiny1 asking the man who doubts the justice of the picture to give up for the present any instinctive wish to vindicate other men1 while he thinks a little while solely of himself4 ,but another and opposite class of mistake has to be reckoned with1 and precluded2 the tendency of man to a facile condemnation of others1 in favour of himself2 ,god1 ,i thank ,thee that ,i am not as other men are 7,luke xviii4 #aa74 ,it is now1 as it was of old1 only too possible to read1 or to hear1 the most searching and also the most sweeping condemnation of human sin1 and to feel a sort of fallacious moral sympathy with the sentence1 a phantom as it were of righteous indignation against the wrong and the doers of it1 and yet wholly to mistake the matter by thinking that the hearer is righteous though the world is wicked4 ,the man listens as if he were allowed a seat beside the ,judge's chair1 as if he were an esteemed assessor of the ,court1 and could listen with a grave yet untroubled approbation to the discourse preliminary to the sentence4 ,ah1 he is an assessor of the accused2 he is an accomplice of his fallen fellows2 he is a poor guilty man himself4 ,let him awake to himself1 and to his sin1 in time4 ,with such a reader or hearer in view ,st ,paul proceeds4 ,we need not suppose that he writes as if such states of mind were to be expected in the ,roman mission2 though it was quite possible that this might be the attitude of some who bore the ,christian name at ,rome4 ,more probably he speaks as it were in the presence of the ,christians to persons whom at any moment any of them might meet1 and particularly to that large element in religious life at ,rome1 the unconverted ,jews4 ,true1 they would not read the ,epistle2 but he could arm those who would read it against their cavils and refusals1 and show them how to reach the conscience even of the ,pharisee of the ,dispersion4 ,he could show them how to seek his soul1 by shaking him from his dream of sympathy with the ,judge who all the while was about to sentence him4 ,it is plain that throughout the passage now before us the ,apostle has the ,jew in view4 ,he does not name him for a long while4 ,he says many things which are as much for the ,gentile sinner as for him4 ,he dwells upon the universality of guilt as indicated by the universality of conscience2 a passage of awful import for every human soul1 quite apart from its place in the argument here4 ,but all the while he keeps in view the case of the self-constituted judge of other men1 the man who affects to be essentially better than they1 to be1 at least by comparison with them1 good friends with the law of ,god4 ,and the undertone of the whole passage is a warning to this man that his brighter light will prove his greater ruin if he does not use it2 nay1 that he has not used it1 and that so it is his ruin already1 the ruin of his claim to judge1 to stand exempt1 to have nothing to do with the criminal crowd at the bar4 ,all this points straight at the ,jewish conscience1 though the arrow is levelled from a covert4 ,if that conscience might but be reached6 ,he longs to reach it1 first for the unbeliever's own sake1 that he might be led through the narrow pass of self-condemnation into the glorious freedom of faith and love4 ,but also it was of first importance that the spiritual pride of the ,jews should be conquered1 or at least exposed1 for the sake of the mission-converts already won4 ,the first ,christians1 newly brought from paganism1 must have regarded ,jewish opinion with great attention and deference4 ,not only were their apostolic teachers ,jews1 and the ,scriptures of the ,prophets1 to which those teachers always pointed1 ,jewish2 but the weary ,roman world of late years had been disposed to own with more and more distinctness that if there were such a thing as a true voice from heaven to man it was to be heard among that unattractive yet impressive race which was seen everywhere1 and yet refused to be reckoned among the nations4 ,the ,gospels and the ,acts show us instances enough of educated ,romans drawn towards ,israel and the covenant2 and abundant parallels are given us by the secular historians and satirists4 ,the ,jews1 in the words of ,professor ,gwatkin1 were the recognized non-conformists of the ,roman world4 ,at this very time the ,emperor was the enamoured slave of a brilliant woman who was known to be proselyted to the ,jewish creed4 ,it was no slight trial to converts in their spiritual infancy to meet everywhere the question why the sages of ,jerusalem had slain this ,jewish ,prophet1 ,jesus1 and why everywhere the synagogues denounced ,his name and ,his disciples4 ,the true answer would be better understood if the bigot himself could be brought to say1 ,god1 be merciful to me the sinner4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,wherefore you are without excuse1 ,o man1 every man who judges2 when you judge the other party you pass judgment on yourself2 for you practise the same things1 you who judge4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,for#ag we know--this is a granted point between us--that ,god's judgment is truth-wise1 is a reality1 in awful earnest1 upon those who practise such things4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,now is this your calculation1 ,o man1 you who judge those who practise such things1 and do them yourself1 that you will escape ,god's judgment8 ,do you surmise that some by-way of privilege and indulgence will be kept open for you8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,or do you despise the wealth of ,his kindness1 and of ,his forbearance and longsuffering --despise it1 by mistaking it for mere indulgence1 or indifference-- knowing not that ,god's kind ways 7 7 lead you to repentance8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,no1 true to 77 your own hardness1 your own unrepentant heart1 you are hoarding for yourself a wrath which will be felt in the day of wrath1 the day of disclosure of the righteous judgment of ,god1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 who will requite each individual according to his works4 ,what will be that requital1 and its law8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,to those who1 on the line of 77 perseverance in good work1 seek1 as their point of gravitation1 glory1 and honour1 and immortality1 ,he will requite life eternal4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,but for those who side with 7 7 strife1 who take part with man1 with self1 with sin1 against the claims and grace of ,god1 and1 while they disobey the truth of conscience1 obey unrighteousness1 yielding the will to wrong1 there shall be wrath and fierce anger1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 trouble and bewilderment1 inflicted on every soul of man1 man working out what is evil1 alike ,jew--,jew first--and ,greek4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,but glory1 and honour1 and peace shall be for every one who works what is good1 alike for ,jew--,jew first--and ,greek4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,for there is no favouritism in ,god's court4 ,here he actually touches the ,jew4 ,he has named him twice1 and in both places recognizes that primacy which in the history of ,redemption is really his4 ,it is the primacy of the race chosen to be the organ of revelation and the birth-place of ,incarnate ,god4 ,it was given sovereignty1 not according to the works1 or to the numbers1 of the nation1 but according to unknown conditions in the mind of ,god4 ,it carried with it genuine and splendid advantages4 ,it even gave the individual righteous ,jew 7so surely the language of ver4 #aj implies7 a certain special welcome to his ,master's ,well done1 good and faithful2 not to the disadvantage1 in the least degree1 of the individual righteous ,greek1 but just such as may be illustrated in a circle of ardent and impartial friendship1 where1 in one instance or another1 kinship added to friendship makes attachment not more intimate but more interesting4 ,yes1 the ,jew has indeed his priority1 his primacy1 limited and qualified in many directions1 but real and permanent in its place2 this ,epistle 7see ch4 xi47 is the great ,charter of it in the ,christian ,scriptures4 ,but whatever the place of it is1 it has no place whatever in the question of the sinfulness of sin1 unless indeed to make guilt deeper where light has been greater4 ,the ,jew has a great historical position in the plan of ,god4 ,he has been accorded as it were an official nearness to ,god in the working out of the world's redemption4 ,but he is not one whit the less for this a poor sinner1 fallen and guilty4 ,he is not one moment for this to excuse1 but all the more to condemn1 himself4 ,he is the last person in the world to judge others4 ,wherever ,god has placed him in history1 he is to place himself1 in repentance and faith1 least and lowest at the foot of ,messiah's ,cross4 ,what was and is true of the chosen ,nation is now and for ever true1 by a deep moral parity1 of all communities and of all persons who are in any sense privileged1 advantaged by circumstance4 ,it is true1 solemnly and formidably true1 of the ,christian ,church1 and of the ,christian family1 and of the ,christian man4 ,later in this second chapter we shall be led to some reflections on ,church privilege4 ,let us reflect here1 if but in passing1 on the fact that privilege of other kinds must stand utterly aside when it is a question of man's sin4 ,have we no temptation to forget this8 ,probably we are not of the mind of the ,frenchman of the old rgime who thought that the ,almighty would hesitate before ,he condemned for ever a man of a marquis' condition4 ,but are we quite clear on the point that the ,eternal ,judge will admit no influences from other sides8 ,the member of so excellent1 so useful1 a family1 with many traces of the family character about him6 ,the relative of saints1 the companion of the good6 ,a mind so full of practical energy1 of literary grace and skill2 so capable of deep and subtle thought1 of generous words1 and even deeds2 so charming1 so entertaining1 so informing2 the man of culture1 the man of genius2--shall none of these things weigh in the balance1 and mingle some benignant favouritism with the question1 ,has he done the will of ,god8 ,nay1 there is no favouritism in ,gods court6 ,no one is acquitted there for his reputable connexions1 or for his possession of personal talents 7awful word in the light of its first use671 given him only that he might the better occupy for his ,lord4 ,these things have nothing to do with that dread thing1 the ,law1 which has everything to do with the accusation and the award4 ,before we pass to another section of the passage1 let us not forget the grave fact that here1 in these opening pages of this great ,treatise on gratuitous ,salvation1 this ,epistle which is about to unfold to us the divine paradox of the ,justification of the ,ungodly1 we find this overwhelming emphasis laid upon perseverance in good work4 ,true1 we are not to allow even it to confuse the grand simplicity of the ,gospel1 which is to be soon explained4 ,we are not to let ourselves think1 for example1 that ver4 #g depicts a man deliberately aiming through a life of merit at a quid pro quo at length in heaven2 so much glory1 honour1 and immortality for so living as it would be sin not to live4 ,st ,paul does not write to contradict the ,parable of the ,unprofitable ,servant 7,luke xvii471 any more than to negative beforehand his own reasoning in the fourth chapter below4 ,the case he contemplates is one only to be realized where man has cast himself1 without one plea of merit1 at the feet of mercy1 and then rises up to a walk and work of willing loyalty1 covetous of the ,well done1 good and faithful1 at its close1 not because he is ambitious for himself1 but because he is devoted to his ,god1 and to ,his will4 ,and ,st ,paul knows1 and in due time will tell us1 that for the loyalty that serves1 as well as for the repentance that first submits1 the man has to thank mercy1 and mercy only1 first1 midst1 and last3 ,it is not of him that willeth1 nor of him that runneth1 but of ,god that pitieth 7ix4 #af74 ,but then1 none the less1 he does lay this emphasis1 this indescribable stress1 upon the perseverance in good work1 as the actual march of the pilgrim who travels heavenward4 ,true to the genius of ,scripture1 that is to the mind of its ,inspirer in ,his utterances to man1 he isolates a main truth for the time1 and leaves us alone with it4 ,justification will come in order4 ,but1 that it may do precisely this1 that it may come in order and not out of it1 he bids us first consider right1 wrong1 judgment1 and retribution1 as if there were nothing else in the moral universe4 ,he leads us to the fact of the permanence of the results of the soul's actions4 ,he warns us that ,god is eternally in earnest when ,he promises and when ,he threatens2 that ,he will see to it that time leaves its retributive impress for ever on eternity4 ,the whole passage1 read by a soul awake to itself1 and to the holiness of the ,judge of men1 will contribute from its every sentence something to our conviction1 our repentance1 our dread of self1 our persuasion that somehow from the judgment we must fly to the ,judge4 ,but this is not to be unfolded yet4 ,it was1 ,i believe1 a precept of ,john ,wesley's to his evangelists1 in unfolding their message1 to speak first in general of the love of ,god to man2 then1 with all possible energy1 and so as to search conscience to its depths1 to preach the law of holiness2 and then1 and not till then1 to uplift the glories of the ,gospel of pardon1 and of life4 ,intentionally or not1 his directions follow the lines of the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,but the ,apostle has by no means done with the ,jew1 and his hopes of heaven by pedigree and by creed4 ,he recurs to the impartiality of that day1 the coming final crisis of human history1 ever present to his soul4 ,he dwells now almost wholly on the impartiality of its severity1 still bearing on the ,pharisee's dream that somehow the ,law will be his friend1 for ,abraham's and ,moses' sake4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,for all who sinned 7or1 in ,english idiom1 all who have sinned1 all who shall have sinned7 not law-wise1 even so1 not law-wise1 shall perish1 shall lose the soul2 and all who in 7or let us paraphrase1 under7 law have sinned1 by law shall be judged1 that is to say1 practically1 condemned1 found guilty4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,for not law's hearers are just in ,god's court2 nay1 law's doers shall be justified2 for law is never for a moment satisfied with applause1 with approbation2 it demands always and inexorably obedience4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,for whenever 7the7 ,nations1 ,nations not having law1 by nature--as distinct from express precept--do the things of the ,law1 when they act on the principles of it1 observing in any measure the eternal difference of right and wrong1 these men1 though not having law1 are to themselves law2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 shewing as they do 77--to one another1 in moral intercourse--the work of the ,law1 that which is1 as a fact1 its result where it is heard1 a sense of the dread claims of right1 written in their hearts1 present to the intuitions of their nature2 while their conscience1 their sense of violated right1 bears concurrent witness1 each conscience concurring with all2 and while1 between each other1 in the interchanges of thought and discourse1 their reasonings accuse1 or it may be defend1 their actions2 now in conversation1 now in treatise or philosophic dialogue4 ,and all this makes one vast phenomenon1 pregnant with lessons of accountability1 and ominous of a judgment coming2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 in the day when ,god shall judge the secret things of men1 even the secrets hid beneath the solemn robe of the formalist1 according to my ,gospel1#ah by means of ,jesus ,christ1 to whom the ,father hath committed all judgment1 as ,he is the ,son of ,man 7,john v4 #bg74 ,so he closes another solemn cadence with the blessed ,name4 ,it has its special weight and fitness here2 it was the name trampled by the ,pharisee1 yet the name of ,him who was to judge him in the great day4 ,the main import of the paragraph is plain4 ,it is1 to enforce the fact of the accountability of the ,jew and the ,greek alike1 from the point of view of ,law4 ,the ,jew1 who is primarily in the ,apostle's thought1 is reminded that his possession of the ,law1 that is to say of the one specially revealed code not only of ritual but far more of morals#ai1 is no recommendatory privilege1 but a sacred responsibility4 ,the ,gentile meanwhile is shewn1 in passing but with gravest purpose1 to be by no means exempted from accountability simply for his lack of a revealed preceptive code4 ,he possesses1 as man1 that moral consciousness without which the revealed code itself would be futile1 for it would correspond to nothing4 ,made in the image of ,god1 he has the mysterious sense which sees1 feels1 handles moral obligation4 ,he is aware of the fact of duty4 ,not living up to what he is thus aware of1 he is guilty4 ,implicitly1 all through the passage1 human failure is taught side by side with human responsibility4 ,such a clause as that of ver4 #ad1 when they do by nature the things of the law1 is certainly not to be pressed1 in such a context as this1 to be an assertion that pagan morality ever actually satisfies the holy tests of the eternal ,judge4 ,read in the whole connexion1 it only asserts that the pagan acts as a moral being2 that he knows what it is to obey1 and to resist1 the sense of duty4 ,this is not to say1 what we shall soon hear ,st ,paul so solemnly deny1 that there exists anywhere a man whose correspondence of life to moral law is such that his mouth needs not to be stopped1 and that he is not to take his place as one of a world guilty before ,god4 ,stern1 solemn1 merciful argument6 ,now from this side1 now from that1 it approaches the conscience of man1 made for ,god and fallen from ,god4 ,it strips the veil from his gross iniquities2 it lets in the sun of holiness upon his iniquities of the more religious type2 it speaks in his dull ears the words judgment1 day1 tribulation1 wrath1 bewilderment1 perishing4 ,but it does all this that man1 convicted1 may ask in earnest what he shall do with conscience and his ,judge1 and may discover with joy that his ,judge ,himself has found a ransom1 and stands ,himself in act to set him free4 #ag ,reading 4 #ah ,here1 perhaps1 for once1 the word is used in an extended and improper sense1 to denote the whole message connected with the ,glad ,tidings1 and so now the warning of judgment to come1 which gives to the ,glad ,tidings its sacred urgency4 #ai ,manifestly the ,law in this passage means not the ceremonial law of ,israel1 but the revealed moral law given to ,israel1 above all in the ,decalogue4 ,this appears from the language of ver4 #ae1 which would be meaningless if the reference were to special ordinances of worship4 ,the ,gentiles could not shew the work of that kind of law written in their hearts2 what they shewed was1 as we have explained1 a work related to the revealed claims of ,god and man on the will and life4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,jewish ,,responsibility ,,and ,,guilt ,,romans ii4 #ag-bi ,the ,jew1 first1 and also the ,greek2 this has been the burthen of the ,apostle's thought thus far upon the whole4 ,he has had the ,jew for some while in his chief thought1 but he has recurred again and again in passing to the ,gentile4 ,now he faces the ,pharisee explicitly and on open ground1 before he passes from this long exposure of human sin to the revelation of the glorious ,remedy4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,but if#bj you1 you emphatically1 the reader or hearer now in view1 you who perhaps have excused yourself from considering your own case by this last mention of the responsibility of the non-,jewish world2 if you bear the name of ,jew1 whether or no you possess the corresponding spiritual reality2 and repose yourself upon the ,law1 as if the possession of that awful revelation of duty was your protection1 not your sentence2 and glory in ,god1 as if ,he were your private property1 the decoration of your national position1 whereas the knowledge of ,him is given you in trust for the world2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 and know the ,will1 ,his ,will1 the ,will supreme2 and put the touchstone to things which differ1 like a casuist skilled in moral problems2 schooled out of the ,law1 under continuous training 7so the ,greek present participle bids us explain7 by principles and precepts which the ,law supplies2--,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 7if7 you are sure that you1 yourself1 whoever else1 are a leader of blind men1 a light of those who are in the dark1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 an educator of the thoughtless1 a teacher of beginners1 possessing1 in the ,law1 the outline1#ba the system1 of real knowledge and truth1#bb 7the outline indeed1 but not the power and life related to it73--if this is your estimate of your position and capacities1 ,i turn it upon yourself4 ,think1 and answer--,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,you therefore1 your neighbour's teacher1 do you not teach yourself8 ,you1 who proclaim1 ,thou shalt not steal1 do you steal8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,you1 who say1 ,thou shalt not commit adultery1 do you commit it8 ,you1 who abominate the idols1 affecting to loathe their very neighbourhood1 do you plunder temples1 entering the polluted precincts readily enough for purposes at least equally polluting8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,you who glory in the ,law1 as the palladium of your race1 do you1 by your violation of the ,law1 disgrace your#bc ,god8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 ,for the name of our ,god is1 because of you1 railed at among the heathen1 as it stands written1 in ,ezekiel's message 7xxxvi4 #bj7 to the ungodly ,israel of the ancient ,dispersion--a message true of the ,dispersion of the later day4 ,we need not overstrain the emphasis of the ,apostle's stern invective4 ,not every non-,christian ,jew of the first century1 certainly1 was an adulterer1 a thief1 a plunderer4 ,when a few years later 7,acts xxviii4 #ag7 ,st ,paul gathered round him the ,jews of ,rome1 and spent a long day in discussing the prophecies with them1 he appealed to them with a noble frankness which in some sense evidently expected a response in kind4 ,but it is certain that the ,jews of the ,roman ,dispersion bore a poor general character for truth and honour4 ,and anywise ,st ,paul knew well that there is a deeply natural connexion between unhallowed religious bigotry and that innermost failure of self-control which leaves man only too open to the worst temptations4 ,whatever feeds gross personal pride promotes a swift and deadly decay of moral fibre4 ,did this man pride himself on ,abraham's blood1 and his own ,rabbinic lore and skill1 and scorn both the ,gentile sinner and the 'am-hretz1 the people of the land1 the rank and file of his own race8 ,then he was the very man to be led helpless by the ,tempter4 ,as a fact1 there are maxims of the later ,rabbinism1 which represent beyond reasonable doubt the spirit if not the letter of the worst watchwords of the circumcision of ,st ,paul's time3 ,circumcision is equivalent to all the commandments of the ,law2 ,to live in ,palestine is equal to the ,commandments2 ,he that hath his abode in ,palestine is sure of life eternal4#bd ,the man who could even for an hour entertain such a creed was ready 7however deep below his consciousness the readiness lay7 for anything--under fitting circumstances of temptation4 ,so it is now1 very far beyond the limits of the ,jewish ,dispersion of our time4 ,now as then1 and for the ,christian outwardly as for the ,jew outwardly1 there is no surer path to spiritual degeneracy than spiritual pride4 ,what are the watchwords which have succeeded to those of the ,rabbinists who encountered ,st ,paul8 ,are they words1 or thoughts1 of self-applause because of the historic orthodoxy of your creed8 ,because of the ,scriptural purity of your theory of salvation8 ,because of the illustrious annals of your national ,church1 older than the nation which it has so largely welded and developed8 ,because of the patient courage1 under contempt and exclusion1 of the community which some call your denomination1 your sect1 but which is to you indeed your ,church8 ,because of your loyalty to order8 ,because of your loyalty to liberty8 ,take heed4 ,the best1 corrupted1 becomes inevitably the worst4 ,in religion1 there is only one altogether safe glorying4 ,it is when the man can say from the soul1 with open eyes1 and therefore with a deeply humbled heart1 ,god forbid that ,i should glory1 save in the cross of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 whereby the world is crucified unto me1 and ,i unto the world 7,gal4 vi4 #ad74 ,all other glorying is not good4 ,be thankful for every genuine privilege4 ,but for ,christ's sake1 and for your own soul's sake1 do not1 even in the inmost secret of your soul1 value yourself upon them4 ,it is disease1 it is disaster1 to do so4 ,and shall not we of the ,christian ,dispersion take home also what ,ezekiel and ,st ,paul say about the blasphemies1 the miserable railings at our ,god1 caused by the sins of those who bear ,his ,name8 ,who does not know that1 in every region of heathendom1 the missionary's plea for ,christ is always best listened to where the pagan1 or the ,mussulman1 has not before his eyes the ,christianity of treaty-ports1 and other places where ,european life is to be seen lived without restraint8 ,the stumbling-block may be the drunken sailor1 or the unchaste merchant1 or civilian1 or soldier1 or traveller4 ,or it may be just the man who1 belonging to a race reputed ,christian1 merely ignores the ,christian's holy ,book1 and ,day1 and ,house1 and avoids all semblance of fellowship with his countrymen who have come to live beside him that they may preach ,christ where ,he is not known4 ,or it may be the government1 reputed ,christian1 which1 amidst all its noble benefits to the vast races it holds in sway1 allows them to know1 to think1 at least to suspect1 that there are cases where it cares more for revenue than for righteousness4 ,in all these cases the ,christian ,dispersion gives occasion for railing at the ,christian's ,god3 and the reckoning will be a grave matter in that ,day4 ,but shall the ,christians of the ,christendom at home stand exempt from the charge8 ,ah let us who name the blessed ,name with even the least emphasis of faith and loyalty1 dwelling amongst the masses who only passively1 so to speak1 are ,christian1 who profess nothing1 though they are1 or are supposed to be1 baptized--let us1 amidst the world which understands not a little of what we ought to be1 and watches us so keenly1 and so legitimately--let us take home this message1 sent first to the old inconsistent ,israel4 ,do we1 professing godliness1 shew the mind of ,christ in our secular intercourse8 ,do we1 on the whole1 give the average world cause to expect that a ,christian1 as such1 is a man to trust in business1 in friendship8 ,is the conviction quietly forced upon them that a ,christian's temper1 and tongue1 are not as other men's8 ,that the ,christian minister habitually lives high above self-seeking8 ,that the ,christian tradesman faithfully remembers his customers' just interests1 and is true in all his dealings8 ,that the ,christian servant1 and the ,christian master1 are alike exceptionally mindful of each other's rights1 and facile about their own8 ,that the ,christian's time1 and his money1 are to a remarkable degree applied to the good of others1 for ,christ's sake8 ,this is what the members of the ,christian ,society1 in the inner sense of the word ,christian1 are expected to be in what we all understand by the world4 ,if they are so1 ,god be thanked4 ,if they are not so--who shall weigh the guilt8 ,who shall adequately estimate the dishonour so done to the blessed ,name8 ,and the ,day is coming4 ,but he has more to say about the position of the ,jew4 ,he would not even seem to forget the greatness of the ,god-given privilege of ,israel2 and he will use that privilege once more as a cry to conscience4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,for circumcision indeed profits you1 if you carry law into practice2 in that case circumcision is for you ,god's seal upon ,god's own promises to the true sons of ,abraham's blood and faith4 ,are you indeed a practiser of the holy ,code whose summary and essence is love to ,god and love to man8 ,can you look your ,lord in the face and say--not1 ,i have satisfied all ,thy demands2 pay me that ,thou owest1 but1 ,thou knowest that ,i love ,thee1 and therefore oh how ,i love ,thy law8 ,then you are indeed a child of the covenant1 through ,his grace2 and the seal of the covenant speaks to you the certainties of its blessing4 ,but if you are a transgressor of law1 your circumcision is turned uncircumcision2 the divine seal is to you nothing1 for you are not the rightful holder of the deed of covenant which it seals4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bf4 ,if therefore the uncircumcision1 the ,gentile world1 in some individual instance1 carefully keeps the ordinances of the ,law1 reverently remembers the love owed to ,god and to man1 shall not his uncircumcision1 the uncircumcision of the man supposed1 be counted as if circumcision8 ,shall he not be treated as a lawful recipient of covenant blessings even though the seal upon the document of promise is1 not at all by his fault1 missing8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bg4 ,and thus shall not this hereditary 7 7 uncircumcision1 this ,gentile born and bred1 fulfilling the law of love and duty1 judge you1 who by means of letter and circumcision are--law's transgressor1 using as you practically do use the terms1 the letter1 of the covenant1 and the rite which is its seal1 as means to violate its inmost import1 and claiming1 in the pride of privilege1 blessings promised only to self-forgetting love8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bh4 ,for not the 7,jew7 in the visible sphere is a ,jew2 nor is circumcision in the visible sphere1 in the flesh1 circumcision4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bi4 ,no1 but the ,jew in the hidden sphere2 and circumcision of heart1 in ,spirit1 not letter2 circumcision in the sense of a work on the soul1 wrought by ,god's ,spirit1 not in that of a legal claim supposed to rest upon a routine of prescribed observances4 ,his praise1 the praise of such a ,jew1 the ,jew in this hidden sense1 thus circumcised in heart1 does not come from men1 but does come from ,god4 ,men may1 and very likely will1 give him anything but praise2 they will not like him the better for his deep divergence from their standard1 and from their spirit4 ,but the ,lord knows him1 and loves him1 and prepares for him ,his own welcome2 ,well done1 good and faithful4 ,here is a passage far-reaching1 like the paragraphs which have gone before it4 ,its immediate bearing needs only brief comment1 certainly brief explanation4 ,we need do little more than wonder at the moral miracle of words like these written by one who1 a few years before1 was spending the whole energy of his mighty will upon the defence of ultra-,judaism4 ,the miracle resides not only in the vastness of the man's change of view1 but in the manner of it4 ,it is not only that he denounces ,pharisaism1 but he denounces it in a tone entirely free from its spirit1 which he might easily have carried into the opposite camp4 ,what he meets it with is the assertion of truths as pure and peaceable as they are eternal2 the truths of the supreme and ultimate importance of the right attitude of man's heart towards ,god1 and of the inexorable connexion between such an attitude and a life of unselfish love towards man4 ,here is one great instance of that large spiritual phenomenon1 the transfiguration of the first followers of the ,lord ,jesus from what they had been to what under ,his risen power they became4 ,we see in them men whose convictions and hopes have undergone an incalculable revolution2 yet it is a revolution which disorders nothing4 ,rather1 it has taken fanaticism for ever out of their thoughts and purposes4 ,it has softened their whole souls towards man1 as well as drawn them into an unimagined intimacy with ,god4 ,it has taught them to live above the world2 yet it has brought them into the most practical and affectionate relations with every claim upon them in the world around them4 ,your life is hid with ,christ in ,god2 ,honour all men2 ,he that loveth not1 knoweth not ,god4 ,but the significance of this particular passage is indeed far-reaching1 permanent1 universal4 ,as before1 so here1 the ,apostle warns us 7not only the ,jew of that distant day7 against the fatal but easy error of perverting privilege into pride1 forgetting that every gift of ,god is a talent with which the man is to trade for his ,lord1 and for his ,lord alone4 ,but also1 more explicitly here1 he warns us against that subtle tendency of man's heart to substitute1 in religion1 the outward for the inward1 the mechanical for the spiritual1 the symbol for the thing4 ,who can read this passage without reflections on the privileges1 and on the seals of membership1 of the ,christian ,church8 ,who may not take from it a warning not to put in the wrong place the sacred gifts1 as sacred as they can be1 because divine1 of ,order1 and of ,sacrament8 ,here is a great ,hebrew doctor dealing with that primary ,sacrament of the ,elder ,church of which such high and urgent things are said in the ,hebrew ,scriptures2 a rite of which even medieval theologians have asserted that it was the ,sacrament of the same grace as that which is the grace of ,baptism now4#be ,but when he has to consider the case of one who has received the physical ordinance apart from the right attitude of soul1 he speaks of the ordinance in terms which a hasty reader might think slighting4 ,he does not slight it4 ,he says it profits1 and he is going soon to say more to that purpose4 ,for him it is nothing less than ,god's own ,seal on ,god's own ,word1 assuring the individual1 as with a literal touch divine1 that all is true for him1 as he claims grace in humble faith4 ,but then he contemplates the case of one who1 by no contempt but by force of circumstance1 has never received the holy seal1 yet believes1 and loves1 and obeys4 ,and he lays it down that the ,lord of the ,covenant will honour that man's humble claim as surely as if he brought the covenant-document ready sealed in his hand4 ,not that even for him the seal1 if it may be had1 will be nothing2 it will assuredly be divine still1 and will be sought as ,god's own gift1 ,his seal ex post facto4 ,but the principle remains that the ritual seal and the spiritual reality are separable2 and that the greater thing1 the thing of absolute and ultimate necessity between the soul and ,god1 is the spiritual reality2 and that where that is present there ,god accepts4 ,it was the temptation of ,israel of old to put ,circumcision in the place of faith1 love1 and holiness1 instead of in its right place1 as the divine imperial seal upon the covenant of grace1 the covenant to be claimed and used by faith4 ,it is the temptation of some ,christians now to put the sacred order of the ,church1 and particularly its divine ,sacraments1 the holy ,bath and the holy ,meal1 in the place of spiritual regeneration1 and spiritual communion1 rather than in their right place as divine imperial seals on the covenant which guarantees both to faith4 ,for us1 as for our elder brethren1 this paragraph of the great argument is therefore altogether to the purpose4 ,faith is greater than water1 says even ,peter ,lombard1#bf the ,magister of the medieval ,schools4 ,so it is4 ,and the thought is in perfect unison with ,st ,paul's principle of reasoning here4 ,let it be ours to reverence1 to prize1 to use the ordinances of our ,master1 with a devotion such as we might seem sure we should feel if we saw ,him dip ,his hand in the ,font1 or stretch it out to break the ,bread1 and hallow it1 and give it1 at the ,table4 ,but let us be quite certain1 for our own souls' warning1 that it is true all the while--in the sense of this passage--that he is not a ,christian which is one outwardly1 neither is that ,baptism1 or ,communion1 which is outward2 but he is a ,christian which is one inwardly1 and ,baptism and ,communion are those of the heart1 in the ,spirit1 not in the letter4 ,sacred indeed are the ,god-given externals of ,christian order and ordinance4 ,but there are degrees of greatness in the world of sacred things4 ,and the moral work of ,god direct upon the soul of man is greater than ,his sacramental work done through man's body4 #bj ,there is no practical doubt that not de 7,behold7 is the right reading here4 #ba 3 we need not understand by this word a reference to mere formalism4 on the contrary regularly means shape expressive of underlying substance4 ,and means not shape but shaping4 ,he means that the ,pharisee really has1 in the ,law1 ,god's formed and formative model of knowledge and reality4 ,still1 #b ,tim4 iii4 #e justifies our also seeing here a side suggestion of the possibility of dissociating even the divine model from the corresponding power4 #bb 1 3--the adjective real in our rendering represents the ,greek definite article1 though with a slight exaggeration4 #bc 4 ,we represent the definite article here by your1 and just below by our2 not without hesitation1 as it somewhat exaggerates the definition4 #bd ,see ,a4 ,m',caul's ,old ,paths 7 71 p4 #bcj1 etc4 #be ,so ,bernard1 ,sermo in ,cn1 c4 #b4 #bf ,see ,sententi1 iv41 iv41 #c-g4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,jewish ,,claims3 ,,no ,,hope ,,in ,,human ,,merit ,,romans iii4 #a-bj ,as the ,apostle dictates1 there rises before his mind a figure often seen by his eyes1 the ,rabbinic disputant4 ,keen1 subtle1 unscrupulous1 at once eagerly in earnest yet ready to use any argument for victory1 how often that adversary had crossed his path1 in ,syria1 in ,asia ,minor1 in ,macedonia1 in ,achaia6 ,he is present now to his consciousness1 within the quiet house of ,gaius2 and his questions come thick and fast1 following on this urgent appeal to his1 alas1 almost impenetrable conscience4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,what then is the advantage of the ,jew8 ,or what is the profit of circumcision8 ,if some did not believe1 what of that8 ,will their faithlessness cancel ,god's good faith8 ,but if our righteousness sets off ,god's righteousness1 would ,god be unjust1 bringing ,his wrath to bear8 ,we group the questions together thus1 to make it the clearer that we do enter here1 at this opening of the third chapter1 upon a brief controversial dialogue2 perhaps the almost verbatim record of many a dialogue actually spoken4 ,the ,jew1 pressed hard with moral proofs of his responsibility1 must often have turned thus upon his pursuer1 or rather have tried thus to escape from him in the subtleties of a false appeal to the faithfulness of ,god4 ,and first he meets the ,apostle's stern assertion that circumcision without spiritual reality will not save4 ,he asks1 where then is the advantage of ,jewish descent8 ,what is the profit1 the good1 of circumcision8 ,it is a mode of reply not unknown in discussions on ,christian ordinances2 ,what then is the good of belonging to a historic ,church at all8 ,what do you give the divine ,sacraments to do8 ,the ,apostle answers his questioner at once2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,much1 in every way2 first1 because they were entrusted with the ,oracles of ,god4 ,first1 as if there were more to say in detail4 ,something1 at least1 of what is here left unsaid is said later1 ix4 #d1 #e1 where he recounts the long roll of ,israel's spiritual and historical splendours2 the adoption1 and the glory1 and the covenants1 and the law-giving1 and the worship1 and the promises1 and the ,fathers1 and the ,christ4 ,was it nothing to be bound up with things like these1 in a bond made at once of blood-relationship1 holy memories1 and magnificent hopes8 ,was it nothing to be exhorted to righteousness1 fidelity1 and love by finding the individual life thus surrounded8 ,but here he places first of even these wonderful treasures this1 that ,israel was entrusted with the ,oracles of ,god1 the ,utterances of ,god1 ,his unique ,message to man through ,his prophets1 in the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,yes1 here was something which gave to the ,jew an advantage without which the others would either have had no existence1 or no significance4 ,he was the trustee of ,revelation4 ,in his care was lodged the ,book by which man was to live and die2 through which he was to know immeasurably more about ,god and about himself than he could learn from all other informants put together4 ,he1 his people1 his ,church1 were the witness and keeper of ,holy ,writ4 ,and therefore to be born of ,israel1 and ritually entered into the covenant of ,israel1 was to be born into the light of revelation1 and committed to the care of the witnesses and keepers of the light4 ,to insist upon this immense privilege is altogether to ,st ,paul's purpose here4 ,for it is a privilege which evidently carries an awful responsibility with it4 ,what would be the guilt of the soul1 and of the ,community1 to whom those ,oracles were--not given as property1 but entrusted--and who did not do the things they said8 ,again the message passes on to the ,israel of the ,christian ,church4 ,what advantage hath the ,christian8 ,what profit is there of ,baptism8 ,much1 in every way2 first1 because to the ,church is entrusted the light of revelation4 ,to be born in it1 to be baptized in it1 is to be born into the sunshine of revelation1 and laid on the heart and care of the ,community which witnesses to the genuineness of its ,oracles and sees to their preservation and their spread4 ,great is the talent4 ,great is the accountability4 ,but the ,rabbinist goes on4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for if some did not believe1 what of that8 ,will their faithlessness cancel ,god's good faith8 ,these ,oracles of ,god promise interminable glories to ,israel1 to ,israel as a community1 a body4 ,shall not that promise hold good for the whole mass1 though some 7bold euphemism for the faithless multitudes67 have rejected the ,promiser8 ,will not the unbelieving ,jew1 after all1 find his way to life eternal for his company's sake1 for his part and lot in the covenant community8 ,will ,god's faith1 ,his good faith1 ,his plighted word1 be reduced to empty sounds by the bad ,israelite's sin8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,away with the thought1#bg the ,apostle answers4 ,any thing is more possible than that ,god should lie4 ,nay 771 let ,god prove true1 and every man prove liar2 as it stands written 7,psal4 li4 #d71 ,that ,thou mightest be justified in ,thy words1 and mightest overcome when ,thou impleadest4#bh ,he quotes the ,psalmist in that deep utterance of self-accusation1 where he takes part against himself1 and finds himself guilty without one plea1 and1 in the loyalty of the regenerate and now awakened soul1 is jealous to vindicate the justice of his condemning ,god4 ,the whole ,scripture contains no more impassioned1 yet no more profound and deliberate1 utterance of the eternal truth that ,god is always in the right or ,he would be no ,god at all2 that it is better1 and more reasonable1 to doubt anything than to doubt ,his righteousness1 whatever cloud surrounds it1 and whatever lightning bursts the cloud4 ,but again the caviller1 intent not on ,god's glory but on his own position1 takes up the word4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,but if our unrighteousness exhibits1 sets off1 ,god's righteousness1 if our sin gives occasion to grace to abound1 if our guilt lets the generosity of ,god's ,way of ,acceptance stand out the more wonderful by contrast--what shall we say8 ,would ,god be unjust1 bringing ,his 77 wrath to bear on us1 when our pardon would illustrate ,his free grace8 ,would ,he be unjust8 ,would ,he not be unjust8 ,we struggle1 in our paraphrase1 to bring out the bearing1 as it seems to us1 of a passage of almost equal grammatical difficulty and argumentative subtlety4 ,the ,apostle seems to be in a strait between the wish to represent the caviller's thought1 and the dread of one really irreverent word4 ,he throws the man's last question into a form which1 grammatically1 expects a no when the drift of the thought would lead us up to a shocking yes4#bi ,and then at once he passes to his answer4 ,i speak as man1 man-wise2 as if this question of balanced rights and wrongs were one between man and man1 not between man and eternal ,god4 ,such talk1 even for argument's sake1 is impossible for the regenerate soul except under urgent protest4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,away with the thought that ,he would not be righteous1 in ,his punishment of any given sin4 ,since how shall ,god judge the world8 ,how1 on such conditions1 shall we repose on the ultimate fact that ,he is the universal ,,judge8 ,if ,he could not1 righteously1 punish a deliberate sin because pardon1 under certain conditions1 illustrates ,his glory1 then ,he could not punish any sin at all4 ,but ,he is the ,judge2 ,he does bring wrath to bear6 ,now he takes up the caviller on his own ground1 and goes all lengths upon it1 and then flies with abhorrence from it4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,for if ,god's truth1 in the matter of my lie1 has abounded1 has come more amply out1 to ,his glory1 why am ,i too#cj called to judgment as a sinner8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,and why not say1 as the slander against us goes1 and as some assert that we do say1 ,let us do the ill that the good may come8 ,so they assert of us4 ,but their doom is just1--the doom of those who would utter such a maxim1 finding shelter for a lie under the throne of ,god4 ,no doubt he speaks from a bitter and frequent experience when he takes this particular case1 and with a solemn irony claims exemption for himself from the liar's sentence of death4 ,it is plain that the charge of untruth was1 for some reason or another1 often thrown at ,st ,paul2 we see this in the marked urgency with which1 from time to time1 he asserts his truthfulness2 ,the things which ,i say1 behold1 before ,god ,i lie not 7,gal4 i4 #bj72 ,i speak the truth in ,christ and lie not 7below1 ix4 #a74 ,perhaps the manifold sympathies of his heart gave innocent occasion sometimes for the charge4 ,the man who could be all things to all men 7#a ,cor4 ix4 #bb71 taking with a genuine insight their point of view1 and saying things which shewed that he took it1 would be very likely to be set down by narrower minds as untruthful4 ,and the very boldness of his teaching might give further occasion1 equally innocent2 as he asserted at different times1 with equal emphasis1 opposite sides of truth4 ,but these somewhat subtle excuses for false witness against this great master of holy sincerity would not be necessary where genuine malice was at work4 ,no man is so truthful that he cannot be charged with falsehood2 and no charge is so likely to injure even where it only feigns to strike4 ,and of course the mighty paradox of ,justification lent itself easily to the distortions1 as well as to the contradictions1 of sinners4 ,let us do evil that good may come no doubt represented the report which prejudice and bigotry would regularly carry away and spread after every discourse1 and every argument1 about free ,forgiveness4 ,it is so still3 ,if this is true1 we may live as we like2 if this is true1 then the worst sinner makes the best saint4 ,things like this have been current sayings since ,luther1 since ,whitefield1 and till now4 ,later in the ,epistle we shall see the unwilling evidence which such distortions bear to the nature of the maligned doctrine2 but here the allusion is too passing to bring this out4 ,whose doom is just4 ,what a witness is this to the inalienable truthfulness of the ,gospel6 ,this brief stern utterance absolutely repudiates all apology for means by end2 all seeking of even the good of men by the way of saying the thing that is not4 ,deep and strong1 almost from the first1 has been the temptation to the ,christian man to think otherwise1 until we find whole systems of casuistry developed whose aim seems to be to go as near the edge of untruthfulness as possible1 if not beyond it1 in religion4 ,but the ,new ,testament sweeps the entire idea of the pious fraud away1 with this short thunder-peal1 ,their doom is just4 ,it will hear of no holiness that leaves out truthfulness2 no word1 no deed1 no habit1 that even with the purest purpose belies the ,god of reality and veracity4 ,if we read aright ,acts xxiv4 #bj1 #ba1 with ,acts xxiii4 #f1 we see ,st ,paul himself once1 under urgent pressure of circumstances1 betrayed into an equivocation1 and then1 publicly and soon1 expressing his regret of conscience4 ,i am a ,pharisee1 and a ,pharisee's son2 about the hope and resurrection of the dead ,i am called in question4 ,true1 true in fact1 but not the whole truth1 not the unreserved account of his attitude towards the ,pharisee4 ,therefore1 a week later1 he confesses1 does he not8 that in this one thing there was evil in him1 while he stood before the council4 ,happy the ,christian1 happy indeed the ,christian public man1 immersed in management and discussion1 whose memory is as clear about truth-telling1 and whose conscience is as sensitive6 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,what then8 are we superior8#ca ,say not so at all 774 ,thus now he proceeds1 taking the word finally from his supposed antagonist4 ,who are the we and with whom are we compared8 ,the drift of the argument admits of two replies to this question4 ,we may be we ,jews2 as if ,paul placed himself in instinctive sympathy1 by the side of the compatriot whose cavils he has just combated1 and gathered up here into a final assertion all he has said before of the 7at least7 equal guilt of the ,jew beside the ,greek4 ,or we may be we ,christians1 taken for the moment as men apart from ,christ2 it may be a repudiation of the thought that he has been speaking from a pedestal1 or from a tribunal4 ,as if he said1 ,do not think that ,i1 or my friends in ,christ1 would say to the world1 ,jewish or ,gentile1 that we are holier than you4 ,no2 we speak not from the bench1 but from the bar4 ,apart from ,him who is our peace and life1 we are 'in the same condemnation4' ,it is exactly because we are in it that we turn and say to you1 ',do not ye fear ,god8' ,on the whole1 this latter reference seems the truer to the thought and spirit of the whole context4 ,for we have already charged ,jews and ,greeks1 all of them1 with being under sin2 with being brought under sin1 as the ,greek 7 7 bids us more exactly render1 giving us the thought that the race has fallen from a good estate into an evil2 self-involved in an awful superincumbent ruin4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,as it stands written1 that there is not even one man righteous2 there is not a man who understands1 not a man who seeks his 77 ,god4 ,all have left the road2 they have turned worthless together4 ,there is not a man who does what is good1 there is not1 even so many as one4 ,a grave set open is their throat1 exhaling the stench of polluted words2 with their tongues they have deceived2 asps' venom is under their lips#cb2 7men7 whose mouth is brimming with curse and bitterness4 ,swift are their feet to shed blood2 ruin and misery for their victims are in their ways2 and the way of peace they never knew4 ,there is no such thing as fear of ,god before their eyes4 ,here is a tesselation of ,old ,testament oracles4 ,the fragments1 hard and dark1 come from divers quarries2 from the ,psalms 7v4 #i1 x4 #g1 xiv4 #a-c1 xxxvi4 #a1 cxl4 #c71 from the ,proverbs 7i4 #af71 from ,isaiah 7lix4 #g74 ,all in the first instance depict and denounce classes of sins and sinners in ,israelite society2 and we may wonder at first sight how their evidence convicts all men everywhere1 and in all time1 of condemnable and fatal sin4 ,but we need not only1 in submission1 own that somehow it must be so1 for it stands written here2 we may see1 in part1 how it is so4 ,these special charges against certain sorts of human lives stand in the same ,book which levels the general charge against the human heart 7,jerem4 xvii4 #i71 that it is deceitful above all things1 hopelessly diseased1 and incapable of knowing all its own corruption4 ,the crudest surface phenomena of sin are thus never isolated from the dire underlying epidemic of the race of man4 ,the actual evil of men shews the potential evil of man4 ,the tiger-strokes of open wickedness shew the tiger-nature1 which is always present1 even where its possessor least suspects it4 ,circumstances infinitely vary1 and among them those internal circumstances which we call special tastes and dispositions4 ,but everywhere amidst them all is the human heart1 made upright in its creation1 self-wrecked into moral wrongness when it turned itself from ,god4 ,that it is turned from ,him1 not to ,him1 appears when its direction is tested by the collision between ,his claim and its will4 ,and in this aversion from the ,holy ,one1 who claims the whole heart1 there lies at least the potency of all unrighteousness4 ,long after this1 as his glorious rest drew near1 ,st ,paul wrote again of the human heart1 to his true son ,titus 7iii4 #c74 ,he reminds him of the wonder of that saving grace which he so fully unfolds in this ,epistle2 how1 not according to our works1 the ,god who loveth man had saved ,titus1 and saved ,paul4 ,and what had he saved them from8 ,from a state in which they were disobedient1 deceived1 the slaves of divers lusts and pleasures1 living in malice and envy1 hateful1 hating one another4 ,what1 the loyal and laborious ,titus1 the chaste1 the upright1 the unutterably earnest ,paul8 ,is not the picture greatly1 lamentably exaggerated1 a burst of religious rhetoric8 ,adolphe ,monod#cc tells us that he once thought it must be so2 he felt himself quite unable to submit to the awful witness4 ,but years moved1 and he saw deeper into himself1 seeing deeper into the holiness of ,god2 and the truthfulness of that passage grew upon him4 ,not that its difficulties all vanished1 but its truthfulness shone out2 and sure ,i am1 he said from his death-bed1 that when this veil of flesh shall fall ,i shall recognize in that passage the truest portrait ever painted of my own natural heart4 ,robert ,browning1 in a poem of terrible moral interest and power1#cd confesses that1 amidst a thousand doubts and difficulties1 his mind was anchored to faith in ,christianity by the fact of its doctrine of ,sin3 ,i still1 to suppose it true1 for my part ,see reasons and reasons2 this1 to begin2 ',tis the faith that launched point blank her dart ,at the head of a lie2 taught ,original ,sin1 ,the ,corruption of ,man's ,heart4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,now we know that whatever things the ,law says1 it speaks them to those in the ,law1 those within its range1 its dominion2 that every mouth may be stopped1 and all the world may prove guilty with regard to ,god4 ,the ,law2 that is to say1 here1 the ,old ,testament ,revelation4 ,this not only contains the ,mosaic and ,prophetic moral code1 but has it for one grand pervading object1 in all its parts1 to prepare man for ,christ by exposing him to himself1 in his shame and need4 ,it shews him in a thousand ways that he cannot serve the ,lord 7,josh4 xxiv4 #ai71 on purpose that in that same ,lord he may take refuge from both his guilt and his impotency4 ,and this it does for those in the ,law2 that is to say here1 primarily1 for the ,race1 the ,church1 whom it surrounded with its light of holy fire1 and whom in this passage the ,apostle has in his first thoughts4 ,yet they1 surely1 are not alone upon his mind4 ,we have seen already how the ,law is1 after all1 only the more full and direct enunciation of law2 so that the ,gentile as well as the ,jew has to do with the light1 and with the responsibility1 of a knowledge of the will of ,god4 ,while the chain of stern quotations we have just handled lies heaviest on ,israel1 it yet binds the world4 ,it shuts every mouth4 ,it drags ,,man in guilty before ,god4 ,that every mouth may be stopped4 ,oh solemn silence1 when at last it comes6 ,the harsh or muffled voices of self-defence1 of self-assertion1 are hushed at length4 ,the man1 like one of old1 when he saw his righteous self in the light of ,god1 lays his hand on his mouth 7,job xl4 #d74 ,he leaves speech to ,god1 and learns at last to listen4 ,what shall he hear8 ,an eternal repudiation8 ,an objurgation1 and then a final and exterminating anathema8 ,no1 something far other1 and better1 and more wonderful4 ,but there must first be silence on man's part1 if it is to be heard4 ,hear--and your souls shall live4 ,so the great argument pauses1 gathered up into an utterance which at once concentrates what has gone before1 and prepares us for a glorious sequel4 ,shut thy mouth1 ,o man1 and listen now3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,because by means of works of law there shall be justified no flesh in ,his presence2 for by means of law comes--moral knowledge 77 of sin4 #bg 3 literally1 ,be it not2 ,may it not be4 ,perhaps nothing so well represents the energy of the ,greek as the ,god forbid of the ,authorized ,version4 #bh 3 we may render this 7as in #a ,cor4 vi4 #a7 ,when ,thou goest to law4 ,the ,hebrew is1 literally1 ,when ,thou judgest2 and the ,septuagint ,greek1 used here by ,st ,paul1 probably represents this1 though by a slight paraphrase4 #bi 2 where logically it would rather be 4--,just above1 we explain ,god's righteousness to mean1 as commonly in the ,epistle1 ,god's way of acceptance1 ,his reckoning ,his ,righteousness to the sinner4 #cj 3 he speaks as claiming1 on the caviller's principles1 equal indulgence for himself4 #ca 3 ,do we make excuse for ourselves8 is a rendering for which there are clearer precedents in the use of the verb4 ,but the context seems to us to advocate the above rendering1 which is quite possible grammatically4 #cb 3 again the ,greek 7as in verse #i7 gives the thought of motion to a position under4 ,the human aspic is depicted as bringing its venom up to its mouth1 ready there for the stroke of its fangs4 #cc ,adieux1 #a4 #cd ,gold ,hair1 a ,legend of ,pornic4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,one ,,way ,,of ,,divine ,,acceptance ,,romans iii4 #ba-ca ,so then there is silence upon earth1 that man may hear the still1 small voice1 the sound of stillness 7#a ,kings xix4 #ab71ce from the heavens4 ,the ,law has spoken1 with its heart-shaking thunder4 ,it has driven in upon the soul of man1 from many sides1 that one fact--guilt2 the eternity of the claim of righteousness1 the absoluteness of the holy ,will of ,god1 and1 in contrast1 the failure of man1 of the race1 to meet that claim and do that will4 ,it has told man1 in effect1 that he is depraved1#cf that is to say1 morally distorted4 ,he is totally depraved1 that is1 the distortion has affected his whole being1 so that he can supply on his own part no adequate recovering power which shall restore him to harmony with ,god4 ,and the ,law has nothing more to say to him1 except that this condition is not only deplorable1 but guilty1 accountable1 condemnable2 and that his own conscience is the concurrent witness that it is so4 ,he is a sinner4 ,to be a sinner is before all things to be a transgressor of law4 ,it is other things besides4 ,it is to be morally diseased1 and in need of surgery and medicine4 ,it is to be morally unhappy1 and an object of compassion4 ,but first of all it is to be morally guilty1 and in urgent need of justification1 of a reversal of sentence1 of satisfactory settlement with the offended--and eternal--,law of ,god4 ,that ,law1 having spoken its inexorable conditions1 and having announced the just sentence of death1 stands stern and silent beside the now silent offender4 ,it has no commission to relieve his fears1 to allay his grief1 to pay his debts4 ,its awful1 merciful business is to say ,thou shalt not sin1 and ,the wages of sin is death4 ,it summons conscience to attention1 and tells it in its now hearing ear far more than it had realized before of the horror and the doom of sin2 and then it leaves conscience to take up the message and alarm the whole inner world with the certainty of guilt and judgment4 ,so the man lies speechless before the terribly reticent ,law4 ,is it a merely abstract picture8 ,or do our hearts1 the writer's and the reader's1 bear any witness to its living truthfulness8 ,god knoweth1 these things are no curiosities of the past4 ,we are not studying an interesting phase of early ,christian thought4 ,we are reading a living record of the experiences of innumerable lives which are lived on earth this day4 ,there is such a thing indeed in our time1 at this hour1 as conviction of sin4 ,there is such a thing now as a human soul1 struck dumb amidst its apologies1 its doubts1 its denials1 by the speech and then the silence of the ,law of ,god4 ,there is such a thing at this hour as a real man1 strong and sound in thought1 healthy in every faculty1 used to look facts of daily life in the face1 yet broken down in the indescribable conviction that he is a poor1 guilty1 lost sinner1 and that his overwhelming need is--not now1 not just now--the solution of problems of being1 but the assurance that his sin is forgiven4 ,he must be justified1 or he dies4 ,the ,god of the ,law must somehow say ,he has no quarrel with him1 or he dies a death which he sees1 as by an intuition peculiar to conviction of sin1 to be in its proper nature a death without hope1 without end4 ,is this somehow possible8 ,listen1 guilty and silent soul1 to a sound which is audible now4 ,in the turmoil of either secular indifference or blind self-justification you could not hear it2 at best you heard a meaningless murmur4 ,but listen now2 it is articulate1 and it speaks to you4 ,the earthquake1 the wind1 the fire1 have passed2 and you are indeed awake4 ,now comes the sound of stillness in its turn4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,but now1 apart from ,law1 ,god's righteousness stands displayed1 attested by the ,law and the ,prophets2 but 77--though attested by them1 in the ,scriptures which all along1 in word and in type1 promise better things to come1 and above all a ,blessed ,one to come--,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 7it is7 ,god's righteousness1 through faith in ,jesus ,christ1 prepared for all and bestowed upon all who believe in ,him4 ,for there is no distinction2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 for all have sinned1 and fall short of the glory of ,god1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 being justified#cg gift-wise1 gratuitously1 by ,his grace1 through the redemption1 the ransom-rescue1 which is in ,christ ,jesus4 ,yes1 it resides always in ,him1 the ,lord of saving ,merit1 and so is to be found in ,him alone2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 whom ,god presented#ch1 put forward1 as ,propitiation1#ci through faith in ,his blood1#dj ,his blood of death1 of sacrifice1 of the altar2 so as to demonstrate1 to explain1 to clear up1 ,his righteousness1 ,his way of acceptance and its method4 ,the ,father presented the ,son so as to shew that ,his grace meant no real connivance1 no indulgence without a lawful reason4 ,he presented ,him because of ,his passing-by of sins done before2 because the fact asked explanation that1 while ,he proclaimed ,his ,law1 and had not yet revealed ,his ,gospel1 ,he did nevertheless bear with sinners1 reprieving them1 condoning them1 in the forbearance of ,god1 in the ages when ,he was seen to hold back#da ,his wrath1 but did not yet disclose the reason why4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bf4 ,it was with a view1 he says again1 to this demonstration 7 7 of ,his righteousness in the present period1 the season1 the 1 of the manifested ,gospel2 that ,he may be1 in our view1 as well as in divine fact1 at once just1 true to ,his eternal ,law1 and ,justifier of him who belongs to 7 7 faith in ,jesus4 ,this is the voice from heaven1 audible when the sinner's mouth is shut1 while his ears are opened by the touch of ,god4 ,without that spiritual introduction to them1 very likely they will seem either a fact in the history of religious thought1 interesting in the study of development1 but no more2 or a series of assertions corresponding to unreal needs1 and in themselves full of disputable points4 ,read them in the hour of conviction of sin2 in other words1 bring to them your whole being1 stirred from above to its moral depths1 and you will not take them either indifferently1 or with opposition4 ,as the key meets the lock they will meet your exceeding need4 ,every sentence1 every link of reasoning1 every affirmation of fact1 will be precious to you beyond all words4 ,and you will never fully understand them except in such hours1 or in the life which has such hours amongst its indelible memories4 ,listen over again1 in this sacred silence1 thus broken by the pleasant voice of the ,mighty ,one4 ,but now2 the happy now of present fact1 of waking certainty4 ,it is no day-dream4 ,look1 and see2 touch1 and feel4 ,turn the blessed page again2 1 ,it stands written4 ,there is indeed a ,righteousness of ,god1 a settled way of mercy which is as holy as it is benignant1 an acceptance as good in eternal ,law as in eternal ,love4 ,it is attested by the ,law and the ,prophets2 countless lines of prediction and foreshadowing meet upon it1 to negative for ever the fear of illusion1 of delusion4 ,here is no fortuitous concourse1 but the long-laid plan of ,god4 ,behold its procuring ,cause1 magnificent1 tender1 divine1 human1 spiritual1 historic4 ,it is the beloved ,son of the ,father2 no antagonist power from a region alien to the blessed ,law and its ,giver4 ,the ,law-,giver is the ,christ-,giver2 ,,he has set ,him forth1 ,,he has provided in ,him an expiation which--does not persuade ,him to have mercy1 for ,he is eternal ,love already1 but liberates ,his love along the line of a wonderfully satisfied ,holiness1 and explains that liberation 7to the contrite7 so as supremely to win their worship and their love to the ,father and the ,son4 ,behold the ,christ of ,god2 behold the blood of ,christ4 ,in the ,gospel1 ,he is everywhere1 it is everywhere2 but what is your delight to find ,him1 and it1 here upon the threshold of your life of blessing8 ,looking upon the ,crucified1 while you still lay your hand upon your mouth1 till it is removed that you may bless ,his ,name1 you understand the joy with which1 age after age1 men have spoken of a ,death which is their life1 of a ,cross which is their crown and glory4 ,you are in no mood1 here and now1 to disparage the doctrine of the ,atoning ,blood2 to place it in the background of your ,christianity2 to obscure the ,cross behind even the roofs of ,bethlehem4 ,you cannot now think well of any ,gospel that does not say1 ,first of all1 ,christ died for our sins1 according to the ,scriptures 7#a ,cor4 xv4 #c74 ,you are a sinner1 and you know it2 guilty before ,god2 and for you as such the ,propitiation governs your whole view of man1 of ,god1 of life1 of heaven4 ,for you1 however it may be for others1 ,redemption cannot be named1 or thought of1 apart from its first precious element1 remission of sins1 justification of the guilty4 ,it is steeped in ideas of ,propitiation2 it is red and glorious with the ,redeemer's blood1 without which it could not have been4 ,the all-blessed ,god1 with all ,his attributes1 ,his character1 is by you seen evermore as just1 yet the ,justifier of him that believeth in ,jesus4 ,he shines on you through the ,word1 and in your heart's experience1 in many another astonishing aspect4 ,but all those others are qualified for you by this1 that ,he is the ,god of a holy ,justification2 that ,he is the ,god who has accepted you1 the guilty one1 in ,christ4 ,all your thoughts of ,him are formed and followed out at the foot of the ,cross4 ,golgotha is the observatory from which you count and watch the lights of the moving heaven of ,his ,being1 ,his ,truth1 ,his ,love4 ,how precious to you now are the words which once1 perhaps1 were worse than insipid1 ,faith1 ,justification1 the ,righteousness of ,god6 ,in the discovery of your necessity1 and of ,christ as the all-in-all to meet it1 you see with little need of exposition the place and power of ,faith4 ,it means1 you see it now1 simply your reception of ,christ4 ,it is your contact with ,him1 your embrace of ,him4 ,it is not virtue2 it is absolutely remote from merit4 ,but it is necessary2 as necessary as the hand that takes the alms1 or as the mouth that eats the unbought meal4 ,the meaning of ,justification is now to you no riddle of the schools4 ,like all the great words of scriptural theology it carries with it in divine things the meaning it bears in common things1 only for a new and noble application2 you see this with joy1 by the insight of awakened conscience4 ,he who justifies you does exactly what the word always imports4 ,he does not educate you1 or inspire you1 up to acceptability4 ,he pronounces you acceptable1 satisfactory1 at peace with ,law4 ,and this ,he does for ,another's sake2 on account of the ,merit of ,another1 who has so done and suffered as to win an eternal welcome for ,himself and everything that is ,his1 and therefore for all who are found in ,him1 and therefore for you who have fled into ,him1 believing4 ,so you receive with joy and wonder the ,righteousness of ,god1 ,his way to bid you1 so deeply guilty in yourself1 welcome without fear to your ,judge4 ,you are righteous1 that is to say1 satisfactory to the inexorable ,law4 ,how8 ,because you are transfigured into a moral perfectness such as could constitute a claim8 ,no1 but because ,jesus ,christ died1 and you1 receiving ,him1 are found in ,him4 ,there is no difference4 ,once1 perhaps1 you resented that word1 if you paused to note it4 ,now you take all its import home4 ,whatever otherwise your difference may be from the most disgraceful and notorious breakers of the ,law of ,god1 you know now that there is none in this respect--that you are as hopelessly1 whether or not as distantly1 remote as they are from the glory of ,god4 ,his moral glory1 the inexorable perfectness of ,his ,character1 with its inherent demand that you must perfectly correspond to ,him in order so to be at peace with ,him--you are indeed short of this4 ,the harlot1 the liar1 the murderer1 are short of it2 but so are you4 ,perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine1 and you on the crest of an ,alp2 but you are as little able to touch the stars as they4 ,so you thankfully give yourself up1 side by side with them1 if they will but come too1 to be carried to the height of divine acceptance1 by the gift of ,god1 justified gift-wise by ,his grace4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bg4 ,where then is our 77 boasting8 ,it is shut out4 ,by means of what law8 ,of works8 ,no1 but by means of faith's law1 the institute1 the ordinance1 which lays it upon us not to deserve1 but to confide4 ,and who can analyse or describe the joy and rest of the soul from which at last is shut out the foul inflation of a religious boast8 ,we have praised ourselves1 we have valued ourselves1 on one thing or another supposed to make us worthy of the ,eternal4 ,we may perhaps have had some specious pretexts for doing so2 or we may have boasted 7such boastings are not unknown7 of nothing better than being a little less ungodly1 or a little more manly1 than some one else4 ,but this is over now for ever1 in principle2 and we lay its practice under our ,redeemer's feet to be destroyed4 ,and great is the rest and gladness of sitting down at ,his feet1 while the door is shut and the key is turned upon our self-applause4 ,there is no holiness without that exclusion2 and there is no happiness where holiness is not4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bh4 ,for we reckon1#db we conclude1 we gather up our facts and reasons thus1 that man is justified#dc by faith1 apart from1 irrespective of1 works of law4 ,in other words1 the meriting cause lies wholly in ,christ1 and wholly outside the man's conduct4 ,we have seen1 implicitly1 in the passage above1 verses #aj-ah1 what is meant here by works of ,law1 or by works of the ,law4 ,the thought is not of ritual prescription1 but of moral rule4 ,the law-breakers of verses #aj-ah are men who commit violent deeds1 and speak foul words1 and fail to do what is good4 ,the law-keeper1 by consequence1 is the man whose conduct in such respects is right1 negatively and positively4 ,and the works of the law are such deeds accordingly4 ,so here we conclude that the justification of fallen man takes place1 as to the merit which procures it1 irrespective of his well-doing4 ,it is respective only of ,christ1 as to merit2 it has to do only1 as to personal reception1 with the acceptance of the meriting ,christ1 that is to say with faith in ,him4 ,then come1 like a short coda following a full musical cadence1 two brief questions and their answers1 spoken almost as if again a ,rabbinist were in discussion4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bi4 ,is ,god the ,jews' ,god only8 ,not of the ,nations too8 ,yes1 of the ,nations too2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cj4 assuming 77 that ,god is one1 the same ,person in both cases2 who will justify ,circumcision on the principle of faith1 and ,uncircumcision by means of faith4 ,he takes the fact1 now ascertained1 that faith1 still faith1 that is to say ,christ received1 is the condition to justification for all mankind2 and he reasons back to the fact 7so amply attested by the ,law and the ,prophets1 from ,genesis onwards7 that the true ,god is equally the ,god of all4 ,probably the deep inference is suggested that the fence of privilege drawn for ages round ,israel was meant ultimately for the whole world's blessing1 and not to hold ,israel in a selfish isolation4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ca4 ,we cancel ,law1 then1 by this faith of ours 7 78 ,we open the door1 then1 to moral licence8 ,we abolish code and precept1 then1 when we ask not for conduct1 but for faith8 ,away with the thought2 nay1 we establish ,law2 we go the very way to give a new sacredness to its every command1 and to disclose a new power for the fulfilment of them all4 ,but how this is1 and is to be1 the later argument is to shew4 ,,detached ,,note ,,to ,,romans ,,iii4 ,it would be a deeply interesting work to collect and exhibit together examples of the conveyance of great spiritual blessing1 in memorable lives1 through the perusal of the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,augustine's final crisis 7see below1 on xiii4 #ad7 would be one such example4 ,as specimens of what must be a multitude we quote two cases1 in each of which one verse in this third chapter of the ,epistle proved the means of the divine message in a life of historical interest4 ,padre ,paolo ,sarpi 7#aeeb-afbc71 ,councillor and ,theologian to the ,venetian ,republic1 and historian of the ,council of ,trent1 was one of the many eminent men of his day who never broke with the ,roman ,church1 yet had genuine spiritual sympathies with the ,reformation4 ,the record of his last hours is affecting and instructive1 and shews him reposing his hope with great simplicity on the divine message of this chapter1 though the report makes him quote it inexactly4 ,night being come1 and want of spirits increasing upon him1 he caused another reading of the ,passion written by ,saint ,john4 ,he spake of his own misery1 and of the trust and confidence which he had in the blood of ,christ4 ,he repeated very often those words1 ,quem proposuit ,deus ,mediatorem per fidem in sanguine suo1 ',whom ,god hath set forth to be a ,mediator through faith in ,his blood4' ,in which he seemed to receive an extreme consolation4 ,he repeated 7though with much faintness7 divers places of ,saint ,paul4 ,he protested that of his part he had nothing to present ,god with but miseries and sins1 yet nevertheless he desired to be drowned in the abyss of the divine mercy2 with so much submission on one side1 and yet so much cheerfulness on the other side1 that he drew tears from all that were present4#dd ,it was through the third chapter of the ,romans that heavenly light first came to the terribly troubled soul of ,william ,cowper1 at ,st ,albans1 in #agfd4 ,some have said that ,cowper's religion was to blame for his melancholy4 ,the case was far different4 ,the first tremendous attack occurred at a time when1 by his own clear account1 he was quite without serious religion2 it had nothing whatever to do with either ,christian doctrine or ,christian practice4 ,the recovery from it came with his first sight1 in ,scripture1 of the divine mercy in our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,his own account of this crisis is as follows3#de ,but the happy period which was to afford me a clear opening of the free mercy of ,god in ,christ ,jesus1 was now arrived4 ,i flung myself into a chair near the window1 and1 seeing a ,bible there1 ventured once more to apply to it for comfort and instruction4 ,the first verse ,i saw was the #beth of the #crd of ,romans2 ',whom ,god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in ,his blood1 to declare ,his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past1 through the forbearance of ,god4' ,immediately ,i received strength to believe it1 and the full beams of the ,sun of ,righteousness shone upon me4 ,i saw the sufficiency of the atonement ,he had made1 my pardon sealed in ,his blood1 and all the fulness and completeness of ,his justification4 ,unless the ,almighty arm had been under me1 ,i think ,i should have died with gratitude and joy4 ,i could only look up to heaven in silent fear1 overwhelmed with love and wonder4 ,but the work of the ,holy ,ghost is best described in ,his own words2 it is 'joy unspeakable and full of glory4' #ce #a ,kings xix4 #ab4 #cf ,depravatus3 twisted1 wrenched from the straight line4 #cg 3 the present participle indicates rather the permanent principle of justification than its actual procedure1 which is1 in each case1 a divine sentence of acceptance1 an act1 an event1 single and apart4 ,see on ch4 v4 #a4 #ch 3 it is possible to render1 ,whom ,god designed1 in ,his eternal counsel of redemption4 ,but the context just below emphasizes the thought of declaration1 manifestation1 explanation of the hidden ,treasure4 ,this seems to decide for the other rendering4 #ci 3 elsewhere in ,scripture ,greek this word means the ,mercy ,seat1 the golden lid of the ,ark1 above which the ,shechinah shone and on which the blood of atonement was sprinkled4 ,here is indeed a manifest and noble type of ,christ4 ,but on the other hand the word gets that meaning only indirectly4 ,its native meaning is rather a price of expiation4 ,and a somewhat sudden insertion here of the imagery of the ,mercy ,seat seems unlikely1 in the absence of all other allusion to the ,high ,priestly function of our ,lord4 #dj ,we may punctuate1 through faith1 in ,his blood2 as if to say ,he is ,propitiation in 7in virtue of7 ,his blood2 we get the benefit through faith4 ,but this rendering seems to us the less likely1 as the less simple4 ,the construction1 faith in 1 is fully verified by ,mark i4 #ae2 believe in the ,gospel4 #da 3 we think that the word here is a pregnant expression for the time when ,god forebore4 #db ,reading not 4 #dc 3 the present infinitive1 as in ver4 #be1 puts before us the permanence of the principle on which is based the definite act4 #dd ,the ,life of ,father ,paul the ,venetian1 translated out of ,italian3 ,london1 #afgf4 #de ,memoir of the ,early ,life of ,william ,cowper1 written by ,himself4 ,,chapter ,x ,,abraham ,,and ,,david ,,romans iv4 #a-ab ,the ,jewish disputant is present still to the ,apostle's thought4 ,it could not be otherwise in this argument4 ,no question was more pressing on the ,jewish mind than that of ,acceptance2 thus far1 truly1 the teaching and discipline of the ,old ,testament had not been in vain4 ,and ,st ,paul had not only1 in his ,christian ,apostleship1 debated that problem countless times with ,rabbinic combatants2 he had been himself a ,rabbi1 and knew by experience alike the misgivings of the ,rabbinist's conscience1 and the subterfuges of his reasoning4 ,so now there rises before him the great name of ,abraham1 as a familiar watchword of the controversy of ,acceptance4 ,he has been contending for an absolutely inclusive verdict of guilty against man1 against every man4 ,he has been shutting with all his might the doors of thought against human boasting1 against the least claim of man to have merited his acceptance4 ,can he carry this principle into quite impartial issues8 ,can he1 a ,jew in presence of ,jews1 apply it without apology1 without reserve1 to the ,friend of ,god himself8 ,what will he say to that majestic ,example of man8 ,his name itself sounds like a claim to almost worship4 ,as he moves across the scene of ,genesis1 we--even we ,gentiles--rise up as it were in reverent homage1 honouring this figure at once so real and so near to the ideal2 marked by innumerable lines of individuality1 totally unlike the composed picture of legend or poem1 yet walking with ,god ,himself in a personal intercourse so habitual1 so tranquil1 so congenial4 ,is this a name to becloud with the assertion that here1 as everywhere1 acceptance was hopeless but for the clemency of ,god1 gift-wise1 without deeds of law8 ,was not at least ,abraham accepted because he was morally worthy of acceptance8 ,and if ,abraham1 then surely1 in abstract possibility1 others also4 ,there must be a group of men1 small or large1 there is at least one man1 who can boast of his peace with ,god4 ,on the other hand1 if with ,abraham it was not thus1 then the inference is easy to all other men4 ,who but he is called the ,friend 7#b ,chron4 xx4 #g1 ,isai4 xli4 #h78 ,moses himself1 the almost deified ,lawgiver1 is but the ,servant1 trusted1 intimate1 honoured in a sublime degree by his eternal ,master4 ,but he is never called the ,friend4 ,that peculiar title seems to preclude altogether the question of a legal acceptance4 ,who thinks of his friend as one whose relation to him needs to be good in law at all8 ,the friend stands as it were behind law1 or above it1 in respect of his fellow4 ,he holds a relation implying personal sympathies1 identity of interests1 contact of thought and will1 not an anxious previous settlement of claims1 and remission of liabilities4 ,if then the ,friend of the ,eternal ,judge proves1 nevertheless1 to have needed ,justification1 and to have received it by the channel not of his personal worth but of the grace of ,god1 there will be little hesitation about other men's need1 and the way by which alone other men shall find it met4 ,in approaching this great example1 for such it will prove to be1 ,st ,paul is about to illustrate all the main points of his inspired argument4 ,by the way1 by implication1 he gives us the all-important fact that even an ,abraham1 even the ,friend1 did need justification somehow4 ,such is the eternal ,holy ,one that no man can walk by ,his side and live1 no1 not in the path of inmost friendship1 without an acceptance before ,his face as ,he is ,judge4 ,then again1 such is ,he1 that even an ,abraham found this acceptance1 as a matter of fact1 not by merit but by faith2 not by presenting himself1 but by renouncing himself1 and taking ,god for all2 by pleading not1 ,i am worthy1 but1 ,thou art faithful4 ,it is to be shewn that ,abraham's justification was such that it gave him not the least ground for self-applause2 it was not in the least degree based on merit4 ,it was of grace1 not of debt4 ,a promise of sovereign kindness1 connected with the redemption of himself1 and of the world1 was made to him4 ,he was not morally worthy of such a promise1 if only because he was not morally perfect4 ,and he was1 humanly speaking1 physically incapable of it4 ,but ,god offered ,himself freely to ,abraham1 in ,his promise2 and ,abraham opened the empty arms of personal reliance to receive the unearned gift4 ,had he stayed first to earn it he would have shut it out2 he would have closed his arms4 ,rightly renouncing himself1 because seeing and trusting his gracious ,god1 the sight of whose holy glory annihilates the idea of man's claims1 he opened his arms1 and the ,god of peace filled the void4 ,the man received his ,god's approval1 because he interposed nothing of his own to intercept it4 ,from one point of view1 the all-important view-point here1 it mattered not what ,abraham's conduct had been4 ,as a fact1 he was already devout when the incident of ,gen4 xv4 occurred4 ,but he was also actually a sinner2 that is made quite plain by ,gen4 xii41 the very chapter of the ,call4 ,and potentially1 according to ,scripture1 he was a great sinner2 for he was an instance of the human heart4 ,but this1 while it constituted ,abraham's urgent need of acceptance1 was not in the least a barrier to his acceptance1 when he turned from himself1 in the great crisis of absolute faith1 and accepted ,god in ,his promise4 ,the principle of the acceptance of the ,friend was identically that which underlies the acceptance of the most flagrant transgressor4 ,as ,st ,paul will soon remind us1 ,david in the guilt of his murderous adultery1 and ,abraham in the grave walk of his worshipping obedience1 stand upon the same level here4 ,actually or potentially1 each is a great sinner4 ,each turns from himself1 unworthy1 to ,god in ,his promise4 ,and the promise is his1 not because his hand is full of merit1 but because it is empty of himself4 ,it is true that ,abraham's justification1 unlike ,david's1 is not explicitly connected in the narrative with a moral crisis of his soul4 ,he is not depicted1 in ,gen4 xv41 as a conscious penitent1 flying from justice to the ,judge4 ,but is there not a deep suggestion that something not unlike this did then pass over him1 and through him8 ,that short assertion1 that he trusted the ,,lord1 and ,he counted it to him for righteousness1 is an anomaly in the story1 if it has not a spiritual depth hidden in it4 ,why1 just then and there1 should we be told this about his acceptance with ,god8 ,is it not because the vastness of the promise had made the man see in contrast the absolute failure of a corresponding merit in himself8 ,job 7xlii4 #a-f7 was brought to self-despairing penitence not by the fires of the ,law but by the glories of ,creation4 ,was not ,abraham brought to the same consciousness1 whatever form it may have taken in his character and period1 by the greater glories of the ,promise8 ,surely it was there and then that he learnt that secret of self-rejection in favour of ,god which is the other side of all true faith1 and which came out long years afterwards1 in its mighty issues of work1 when he laid ,isaac on the altar4#df ,it is true1 again1 that ,abraham's faith1 his justifying reliance1 is not connected in the narrative with any articulate expectation of an atoning ,sacrifice4 ,but here first we dare to say1 even at the risk of that formidable charge1 an antique and obsolete theory of the ,patriarchal creed1 that probably ,abraham knew much more about the ,coming ,one than a modern critique will commonly allow4 ,he rejoiced to see ,my day2 and he saw it1 and was glad 7,john viii4 #ef74 ,and further1 the faith which justifies1 though what it touches in fact is the blessed ,propitiation1 or rather ,god in the ,propitiation1 does not always imply an articulate knowledge of the whole reason of the hope4 ,it assuredly implies a true submission to all that the believer knows of the revelation of that reason4 ,but he may 7by circumstances7 know very little of it1 and yet be a believer4 ,the saint who prayed 7,psal4 cxliii4 #b7 ,enter not into judgment with ,thy servant1 ,o ,lord1 for in ,thy sight shall no man living be justified1 cast himself upon a ,god who1 being absolutely holy1 yet can somehow1 just as ,he is1 justify the sinner4 ,perhaps he knew much of the reason of ,atonement1 as it lies in ,god's mind1 and as it is explained1 as it is demonstrated1 in the ,cross4 ,but perhaps he did not4 ,what he did was to cast himself up to the full light he had1 without one plea1 upon his ,judge1 as a man awfully conscious of his need1 and trusting only in a sovereign mercy1 which must also be a righteous1 a law-honouring mercy1 because it is the mercy of the ,righteous ,lord4 ,let us not be mistaken1 meanwhile1 as if such words meant that a definite creed of the ,atoning ,work is not possible1 or is not precious4 ,this ,epistle will help us to such a creed1 and so will ,galatians1 and ,hebrews1 and ,isaiah1 and ,leviticus1 and the whole ,scripture4 ,prophets and kings desired to see the things we see1 and did not see them 7,luke x4 #bd74 ,but that is no reason why we should not adore the mercy that has unveiled to us the ,cross and the blessed ,lamb4 ,but it is time to come to the ,apostle's words as they stand4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,what then shall we say that ,abraham has found--has found1 the perfect tense of abiding and always significant fact--has found1 in his great discovery of divine peace--our forefather1 according to the flesh8 ,according to the flesh2 that is to say1 7having regard to the prevailing moral use of the word flesh in this ,epistle17 in respect of self1 in the region of his own works and merits4#dg ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,for if ,abraham was justified as a result of works1 he has a boast2 he has a right to self-applause4 ,yes1 such is the principle indicated here2 if man merits1 man is entitled to self-applause4 ,may we not say1 in passing1 that the common instinctive sense of the moral discord of self-applause1 above all in spiritual things1 is one among many witnesses to the truth of our justification by faith only8 ,but ,st ,paul goes on2 ,ah1 but not towards ,god2 not when even an ,abraham looks ,,him in the face1 and sees himself in that ,light4 ,as if to say1 ,if he earned justification1 he might have boasted rightly2 but 'rightful boasting1' when man sees ,god1 is a thing unthinkable2 therefore his justification was given1 not earned4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for what says the ,scripture1 the passage1 the great text 7,gen4 xv4 #f78 ,now ,abraham believed#dh ,god1 and it was reckoned to him as righteousness4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,now to the man who works1 his 77 reward1 his earned requital1#di is not reckoned grace-wise1 as a gift of generosity1 but debt-wise2 it is to the man who does not work1 but believes1 confides1 in ,him who justifies the ungodly one1 that his faith is reckoned as righteousness4 ,the ungodly one2 as if to bring out by an extreme case the glory of the wonderful paradox4 ,the ungodly1 the 1 is undoubtedly a word intense and dark2 it means not the sinner only1 but the open1 defiant sinner4 ,every human heart is capable of such sinfulness1 for the heart is deceitful above all things4 ,in this respect1 as we have seen1 in the potential respect1 even an ,abraham is a great sinner4 ,but there are indeed sinners and sinners1 in the experiences of life2 and ,st ,paul is ready now with a conspicuous example of the justification of one who was truly1 at one miserable period1 by his own fault1 an ungodly one4 ,thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the ,lord to blaspheme 7#b ,sam4 xii4 #ad74 ,he had done so indeed4 ,the faithful photography of the ,scriptures shews us ,david1 the chosen1 the faithful1 the man of spiritual experiences1 acting out his lustful look in adultery1 and half covering his adultery with the most base of constructive murders1 and then1 for long months1 refusing to repent4 ,yet was ,david justified3 ,i have sinned against the ,lord2 ,the ,lord also hath put away thy sin4 ,he turned from his awfully ruined self to ,god1 and at once he received remission4 ,then1 and to the last1 he was chastised4 ,but then and there he was unreservedly justified1 and with a justification which made him sing a loud beatitude4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,just as ,david too speaks his felicitation 7 7 of the man 7and it was himself7 to whom ,god reckons righteousness irrespective of works1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,happy they whose iniquities have been remitted1 and whose sins have been covered2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 happy the man to whom the ,lord will not reckon sin 7,psal4 xxxii4 #a1 #b74 ,wonderful words1 in the context of the experience out of which they spring6 ,a human soul which has greatly transgressed1 and which knows it well1 and knows too that to the end it will suffer a sore discipline because of it1 for example and humiliation1 nevertheless knows its pardon1 and knows it as a happiness indescribable4 ,the iniquity has been lifted2 the sin has been covered1 has been struck out of the book of reckoning1 written by the ,judge4 ,the penitent will never forgive himself2 in this very ,psalm he tears from his sin all the covering woven by his own heart4 ,but his ,god has given him remission1 has reckoned him as one who has not sinned1 so far as access to ,him and peace with ,him are in question4 ,and so his song of shame and penitence begins with a beatitude1 and ends with a cry of joy4 ,we pause to note the exposition implied here of the phrase1 to reckon righteousness4 ,it is to treat the man as one whose account is clear4 ,happy the man to whom the ,lord will not reckon sin4 ,in the phrase itself1 to reckon righteousness1 7as in its ,latin equivalent1 to impute righteousness17 the question1 what clears the account1 is not answered4 ,suppose the impossible case of a record kept absolutely clear by the man's own sinless goodness2 then the reckoned1 the imputed1 righteousness would mean the ,law's contentment with him on his own merits4 ,but the context of human sin fixes the actual reference to an imputation which means that the awfully defective record is treated1 for a divinely valid reason1 as if it were1 what it is not1 good4 ,the man is at peace with his ,judge1 though he has sinned1 because the ,judge has joined him to ,himself1 and taken up his liability1 and answered for it to ,his own ,law4 ,the man is dealt with as righteous1 being a sinner1 for his glorious ,redeemer's sake4 ,it is pardon1 but more than pardon4 ,it is no mere indulgent dismissal2 it is a welcome as of the worthy to the embrace of the ,holy ,one4 ,such is the ,justification of ,god4 ,we shall need to remember it through the whole course of the ,epistle4 ,to make ,justification a mere synonym for ,pardon is always inadequate4 ,justification is the contemplation and treatment of the penitent sinner1 found in ,christ1 as righteous1 as satisfactory to the ,law1 not merely as one whom the ,law lets go4 ,is this a fiction8 ,not at all4 ,it is vitally linked to two great spiritual facts4 ,one is1 that the sinner's ,friend has ,himself dealt1 in the sinner's interests1 with the ,law1 honouring its holy claim to the uttermost under the human conditions which ,he freely undertook4 ,the other is that he has mysteriously1 but really1 joined the sinner to ,himself1 in faith1 by the ,spirit2 joined him to ,himself as limb1 as branch1 as bride4 ,christ and ,his disciples are really ,one in the order of spiritual life4 ,and so the community between ,him and them is real1 the community of their debt on the one side1 of ,his merit on the other4 ,now again comes up the question1 never far distant in ,st ,paul's thought1 and in his life1 what these facts of ,justification have to do with ,gentile sinners4 ,here is ,david blessing ,god for his unmerited acceptance1 an acceptance by the way wholly unconnected with the ritual of the altar4 ,here above all is ,abraham1 justified in consequence of faith4 ,but ,david was a child of the covenant of circumcision4 ,and ,abraham was the father of that covenant4 ,do not their justifications speak only to those who stand1 with them1 inside that charmed circle8 ,was not ,abraham justified by faith plus circumcision8 ,did not the faith act only because he was already one of the privileged8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,this felicitation therefore1 this cry of ,happy are the freely justified1 is it upon the circumcision1 or upon the uncircumcision8 ,for we say that to ,abraham1 with an emphasis#ej on ,abraham1 his faith was reckoned as righteousness4 ,the question1 he means1 is legitimate1 for ,abraham is not at first sight a case in point for the justification of the outside world1 the non-privileged races of man4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,but consider3 ,how then was it reckoned8 ,to ,abraham in circumcision or in uncircumcision8 ,not in circumcision1 but in uncircumcision2 fourteen years at least had to pass before the covenant rite came in4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,and he received the sign of circumcision1 7with a stress upon sign1 as if to say that the thing1 the reality signed1 was his already17 as a seal on the righteousness of the faith that was in his circumcision1 a seal on the acceptance which he received1 antecedent to all formal privilege1 in that bare hand of faith4 ,and all this was so1 and was recorded so1 with a purpose of far-reaching significance3 that he might be father1 exemplar1 representative1 of all who believe notwithstanding uncircumcision1#ea that to them righteousness should be reckoned2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 and father of circumcision1 exemplar and representative within its circle also1 for those who do not merely belong to circumcision1 but for those#eb who also step in the track of the uncircumcision-faith of our father ,abraham4 ,so privilege had nothing to do with acceptance1 except to countersign the grant of a grace absolutely free4 ,the ,seal did nothing whatever to make the ,covenant4 ,it only verified the fact1 and guaranteed the bona fides of the ,giver4 ,as the ,christian ,sacraments are1 so was the ,patriarchal ,sacrament2 it was a sure testimony and effectual sign of ,god's grace and good will4#ec ,but the grace and the good will come not through the ,sacrament as through a medium1 but straight from ,god to the man who took ,god at ,his word4 ,the means whereby he received1 the mouth with which he fed upon the celestial food1 was faith4#ed ,the rite came not between the man and his accepting ,lord1 but as it were was present at the side to assure him with a physical concurrent fact that all was true4 ,nothing between was the law of the great transaction2 nothing1 not even a ,god-given ordinance2 nothing but the empty arms receiving the ,lord ,himself2--and empty arms indeed put nothing between4 ,,detached ,,note ,,to ,,chapter ,x ,the following is extracted from the ,commentary on this ,epistle in ,the ,cambridge ,bible 7p4 #bfa74 ,what shall we say to the verbal discrepancy between ,st ,paul's explicit teaching that 'a man is justified by faith without works1' and ,st ,james' equally explicit teaching that 'by works a man is justified1 and not by faith only'8 ,with only the ,new ,testament before us1 it is hard not to assume that the one ,apostle has in view some distortion of the doctrine of the other4 ,but the fact 7see ,lightfoot's ,galatians1 detached note to ch4 iii47 that ,abraham's faith was a staple ,rabbinic text alters the case1 by making it perfectly possible that ,st ,james 7writing to members of the ,jewish ,dispersion7 had not ,apostolic but ,rabbinic teaching in view4 ,and the line such teaching took is indicated by ,jas4 ii4 #ai1 where an example is given of the faith in question2 and that example is concerned wholly with the grand point of strictly ,jewish orthodoxy--,,god ,,is ,,one4444 ,the persons addressed were thus those whose idea of faith was not trustful acceptance1 a belief of the heart1 but orthodox adherence1 a belief of the head4 ,and ,st ,james took these persons strictly on their own ground1 and assumed1 for his argument1 their own very faulty account of faith to be correct4 ,he would thus be proving the point1 equally dear to ,st ,paul1 that mere theoretic orthodoxy1 apart from effects on the will1 is valueless4 ,he would not1 in the remotest degree1 be disputing the ,pauline doctrine that the guilty soul is put into a position of acceptance with the ,,father only by vital connexion with the ,,son1 and that this connexion is effectuated1 absolutely and alone1 not by personal merit1 but by trustful acceptance of the ,propitiation and its all-sufficient vicarious merit4 ,from such trustful acceptance 'works' 7in the profoundest sense7 will inevitably follow2 not as antecedents but as consequents of justification4 ,and thus 444 'it is faith alone which justifies2 but the faith which justifies can never be alone4' #df ,on ,st ,james' use of that great incident1 see detached note1 p4 #aae4 #dg ,we see much reason1 however1 in the explanation which connects with 7or 7 3 our father according to the flesh1 our natural progenitor4 #dh ,in the ,greek1 stands first in the clause1 and is thus emphatic4 #di ,not that always gives the thought of earning as a right4 ,it may mean merely result1 issue1 however realized4 ,see e4g4 #b ,john #h4 ,but the context here decides the reference4 #ej ,by the position of the name in the ,greek sentence4 #ea 3 as if passing through its seeming obstacle4 #eb ,so the ,greek precisely4 ,but practically the words for those may be omitted here4 #ec ,see ,article xxv4 #ed ,see ,article xxviii4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,abraham 7ii7 ,,romans iv4 #ac-be ,again we approach the name of ,abraham1 ,friend of ,god1 ,father of the ,faithful4 ,we have seen him justified by faith1 personally accepted because turning altogether to the sovereign ,promiser4 ,we see him now in some of the glorious issues of that acceptance2 ,heir of the world1 ,father of many nations4 ,and here too all is of grace1 all comes through faith4 ,not works not merit1 not ancestral and ritual privilege1 secured to ,abraham the mighty ,promise2 it was his because he1 pleading absolutely nothing of personal worthiness1 and supported by no guarantees of ordinance believed ,god4 ,we see him as he steps out from his tent under that glorious canopy1 that ,syrian night of stars4 ,we look up with him to the mighty depths1 and receive their impression upon our eyes4 ,behold the innumerable points and clouds of light6 ,who can count the half-visible rays which make white the heavens1 gleaming behind1 beyond1 the thousands of more numerable luminaries8 ,the lonely old man who stands gazing there1 perhaps side by side with his divine ,friend manifested in human form1 is told to try to count4 ,and then he hears the promise1 ,so shall thy seed be4 ,it was then and there that he received justification by faith4 ,it was then and there also that1 by faith1 as a man uncovenanted1 unworthy1 but called upon to take what ,god gave1 he received the promise that he should be heir of the world4 ,it was an unequalled paradox--unless indeed we place beside it the scene when1 eighteen centuries later1 in the same land1 a descendant of ,abraham's1 a ,syrian ,craftsman1 speaking as a religious ,leader to ,his followers1 told them 7,matt4 xiii4 #cg1 #ch7 that the field was the world1 and ,he the ,master of the field4 ,heir of the world6 ,did this mean1 of the universe itself8 ,perhaps it did1 for ,,christ was to be the ,claimant of the promise in due time2 and under ,his feet all things1 literally all1 are set already in right1 and shall be hereafter set in fact4 ,but the more limited1 and probably in this place the fitter1 reference is vast enough2 a reference to the world of earth1 and of man upon it4 ,in his seed1 that childless senior was to be ,king of ,men1 ,monarch of the continents and oceans4 ,to him1 in his seed1 the utmost parts of the earth were given for his possession4 ,not his little clan only1 encamped on the dark fields around him1 nor even the direct descendants only of his body1 however numerous1 but all nations1 all kindreds of the earth1 were to call him blessed1 and to be blessed in him1 as their patriarchal ,chief1 their ,head in covenant with ,god4 ,we see not yet all things fulfilled of this astonishing grant and guarantee4 ,we shall not do so1 till vast promised developments of the ways of ,god have come to sight4 ,but we do see already steps taken towards that issue1 steps long1 majestic1 never to be retraced4 ,we see at this hour in literally every region of the human world the messengers--an always more numerous army--of the ,name of the ,son of ,david1 the ,son of ,abraham4 ,they are working everywhere2 and everywhere1 notwithstanding innumerable difficulties1 they are winning the world for the great ,heir of the ,promise4 ,through paths they know not these missionaries have gone out2 paths hewn by the historical providence of ,god1 and by ,his eternal life in the ,church1 and in the soul4 ,when the world has seemed shut1 by war1 by policy1 by habit1 by geography1 it has opened1 that they may enter2 till we see ,japan throwing back its castle-doors1 and inner ,africa not only discovered but become a household word for the sake of its missions1 of its martyrdoms1 of the resolve of its native chiefs to abolish slavery even in its domestic form4#ee ,no secular conscious programme has had to do with this4 ,causes entirely beyond the reach of human combination have been1 as a fact1 combined2 the world has been opened to the ,abrahamic message just as the ,church has been inspired anew to enter in1 and has been awakened to a deeper understanding of her glorious mission4 ,for here too is the finger of ,god2 not only in the history of the world1 but in the life of the ,church and of the ,christian4 ,for a long century now1 in the most living centres of ,christendom1 there has been waking and rising a mighty revived consciousness of the glory of the ,gospel of the ,cross1 and of the ,spirit2 of the grace of ,christ1 and also of ,his claim4 ,and at this hour1 after many a gloomy forecast of unbelieving and apprehensive thought1 there are more men and women ready to go to the ends of the earth with the message of the ,son of ,abraham1 than in all time before4 ,contrast these issues1 even these--leaving out of sight the mighty future--with the starry night when the wandering ,friend of ,god was asked to believe the incredible1 and was justified by faith1 and was invested through faith with the world's crown4 ,is not ,god indeed in the fulfilment8 ,was ,he not indeed in the promise8 ,we are ourselves a part of the fulfilment2 we1 one of the many ,nations of whom the great ,solitary was then made the ,father4 ,let us bear our witness1 and set to our seal4 ,in doing so1 we attest and illustrate the work1 the ever blessed work1 of faith4 ,that man's reliance1 at that great midnight-hour1 merited nothing1 but received everything4 ,he took in the first place acceptance with ,god1 and then with it1 as it were folded and embedded in it1 he took riches inexhaustible of privilege and blessing2 above all1 the blessing of being made a blessing4 ,so now1 in view of that hour of ,promise1 and of these ages of fulfilment1 we see our own path of peace in its divine simplicity4 ,we read1 as if written on the heavens in stars1 the words1 ,justified by ,faith4 ,and we understand already1 what the ,epistle will soon amply unfold to us1 how for us1 as for ,abraham1 blessings untold of other orders lie treasured in the grant of our acceptance4 ,not for him only1 but for us also1 believing4 ,let us turn again to the text4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,for not through law came the promise to ,abraham1 or to his seed1 of his being the world's heir1 but through faith's righteousness2 through the acceptance received by uncovenanted1 unprivileged faith4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,for if those who belong to law inherit ,abraham's promise1 faith is ipso facto void1 and the promise is ipso facto annulled4#ef ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,for wrath is what the ,law works out2 it is only#eg where law is not that transgression is not either4 ,as much as to say1 that to suspend eternal blessing1 the blessing which in its nature can deal only with ideal conditions1 upon man's obedience to law1 is to bar fatally the hope of a fulfilment4 ,why8 ,not because the ,law is not holy2 not because disobedience is not guilty2 as if man were ever1 for a moment1 mechanically compelled to disobey4 ,but because as a fact man is a fallen being1 however he became so1 and whatever is his guilt as such4 ,he is fallen1 and has no true self-restoring power4 ,if then he is to be blessed1 the work must begin in spite of himself4 ,it must come from without1 it must come unearned1 it must be of grace1 through faith4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,therefore it is on 7literally1 out of7 faith1 in order to be grace-wise1 to make secure the promise1 to all the seed1 not only to that which belongs to the ,law1 but to that which belongs to the faith of ,abraham1 to the seed whose claim is no less and no more than ,abraham's faith2 who is father of all us1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 as it stands written1 7,gen4 xvii4 #e71 ,father of many ,nations#eh have ,i appointed thee--in the sight of the ,god whom he believed1 who vivifies the dead1 and calls1 addresses1 deals with1 things not-being as being4 ,in the sight of ,god2 as if to say1 that it matters little what ,abraham is for us all in the sight of man1 in the sight and estimate of the ,pharisee4 ,the ,eternal ,justifier and ,promiser dealt with ,abraham1 and in him with the world1 before the birth of that ,law which the ,pharisee has perverted into his rampart of privilege and isolation4 ,he took care that the mighty transaction should take place not actually only1 but significantly1 in the open field and beneath the boundless cope of stars4 ,it was to affect not one tribe1 but all the nations4 ,it was to secure blessings which were not to be demanded by the privileged1 but taken by the needy4 ,and so the great representative ,believer was called to believe before ,law1 before legal ,sacrament1 and under every personal circumstance of humiliation and discouragement4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,who1 past hope1 on hope1 believed2 stepping from the dead hope of nature to the bare hope of the promise1 so that he became father of many ,nations2 according to what stands spoken1 ,so shall thy seed be4#ei ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,and1 because he failed not#fj in his 77 faith1 he did not notice his own body1 already turned to death1 near 77 a century old as he now was1 and the death-state of the womb of ,sarah4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,no1 on the promise of ,god--he did not waver by his unbelief1#fa but received strength#fb by his 77 faith1 giving glory to ,god1 the glory of dealing with ,him as being what ,he is1 ,almighty and ,all-true1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 and fully persuaded that what ,he has promised ,he is able actually to do4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,wherefore actually 77 it was reckoned to him as righteousness4 ,not because such a giving to ,god the glory which is only ,his eternal due was morally meritorious1 in the least degree4 ,if it were so1 ,abraham would have whereof to glory4 ,the wherefore is concerned with the whole record1 the whole transaction4 ,here was a man who took the right way to receive sovereign blessing4 ,he interposed nothing between the ,promiser and himself4 ,he treated the ,promiser as what ,he is1 all-sufficient and all-faithful4 ,he opened his empty hand in that persuasion1 and so1 because the hand was empty1 the blessing was laid upon its palm4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,now it was not written only on his account1 that it was reckoned to him1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 but also on account of us1 to whom it is sure 77 to be reckoned1 in the fixed intention of the divine ,justifier1 as each successive applicant comes to receive2 believing as we do on the ,raiser-up of ,jesus our ,lord from the dead2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 who was delivered up on account of our transgressions1 and was raised up on account of our justification4 ,here the great argument moves to a pause1 to the cadence of a glorious rest4 ,more and more1 as we have pursued it1 it has disengaged itself from the obstructions of the opponent1 and advanced with a larger motion into a positive and rejoicing assertion of the joys and wealth of the believing4 ,we have left far behind the pertinacious cavils which ask1 now whether there is any hope for man outside legalism1 now whether within legalism there can be any danger even for deliberate unholiness1 and again whether the ,gospel of gratuitous acceptance does not cancel the law of duty4 ,we have left the ,pharisee for ,abraham1 and have stood beside him to look and listen4 ,he1 in the simplicity of a soul which has seen itself and seen the ,lord1 and so has not one word1 one thought1 about personal privilege1 claim1 or even fitness1 receives a perfect acceptance in the hand of faith1 and finds that the acceptance carries with it a promise of unimaginable power and blessing4 ,and now from ,abraham the ,apostle turns to us1 us all1 us also4 ,his thoughts are no longer upon adversaries and objections1 but on the company of the faithful1 on those who are one with ,abraham1 and with each other1 in their happy willingness to come1 without a dream of merit1 and take from ,god ,his mighty peace in the name of ,christ4 ,he finds himself not in synagogue or in school1 disputing1 but in the believing assembly1 teaching1 unfolding in peace the wealth of grace4 ,he speaks to congratulate1 to adore4 ,let us join him there in spirit1 and sit down with ,aquila and ,priscilla1 with ,nereus1 and ,nymphas1 and ,persis1 and in our turn remember that it was written for us also4 ,quite surely1 and with a fulness of blessing which we can never find out in its perfection1 to us also faith is sure to be reckoned1 1 as righteousness1 believing as we do1 1 on the ,raiser-up of ,jesus our ,lord1 ours also1 from the dead4 ,to us1 as to them1 the ,father presents ,himself as the ,raiser-up of the ,son4 ,he is known by us in that act4 ,it gives us ,his own warrant for a boundless trust in ,his character1 ,his purposes1 ,his unreserved intention to accept the sinner who comes to ,his feet in the name of ,his ,crucified and ,risen ,son4 ,he bids us--not forget that ,he is the ,judge1 who cannot for a moment connive4 ,but ,he bids us believe1 ,he bids us see1 that ,he1 being the ,judge1 and also the ,law-,giver1 has dealt with ,his own ,law1 in a way that satisfies it1 that satisfies ,,himself4 ,he bids us thus understand that ,he now is sure to justify1 to accept1 to find not guilty1 to find righteous1 satisfactory1 the sinner who believes4 ,he comes to us1 ,he1 this eternal ,father of our ,lord1 to assure us1 in the ,resurrection1 that ,he has sought1 and has found1 a ,ransom2 that ,he has not been prevailed upon to have mercy1 a mercy behind which there may therefore lurk a gloomy reserve1 but has ,himself set forth the beloved ,propitiation1 and then accepted ,him 7not it1 but ,him7 with the acceptance of not ,his word only but ,his deed4 ,he is the ,god of ,peace4 ,how do we know it8 ,we thought ,he was the ,god of the tribunal1 and the doom4 ,yes2 but ,he has brought the great ,shepherd from the dead1 in the blood of the everlasting ,covenant 7,heb4 xiii4 #bj74 ,then1 ,o eternal ,father of our ,lord1 we will believe ,thee2 we will believe in ,thee2 we will1 we do1 in the very letter of the words ,thou didst bid ,thy messenger write down here1 believe upon ,thee1 1 as in a deep repose4 ,truly1 in this glorious respect1 though ,thou art consuming ,fire1 there is nothing in ,thee to dread4 ,who was delivered up because of our transgressions4 ,so dealt the ,father with the ,son1 who gave ,himself4 ,it pleased the ,lord to bruise ,him2 ,he spared not ,his own ,son4 ,because of our transgressions2 to meet the fact that we had gone astray4 ,what1 was that fact thus to be met8 ,was our self-will1 our pride1 our falsehood1 our impurity1 our indifference to ,god1 our resistance to ,god1 to be thus met8 ,was it to be met at all1 and not rather left utterly alone to its own horrible issues8 ,was it eternally necessary that1 if met1 it must be met thus1 by nothing less than the delivering up of ,jesus our ,lord8 ,it was even so4 ,assuredly if a milder expedient would have met our guilt1 the ,,father would not have delivered up the ,,son4 ,the ,cross was nothing if not an absolute sine qu non4 ,there is that in sin1 and in ,god1 which made it eternally necessary that--if man was to be justified--the ,son of ,god must not only live but die1 and not only die but die thus1 delivered up1 given over to be done to death1 as those who do great sin are done4 ,deep in the heart of the divine doctrine of ,atonement lies this element of it1 the because of our transgressions2 the exigency of ,golgotha1 due to our sins4 ,the remission1 the acquittal1 the acceptance1 was not a matter for the verbal fiat of divine autocracy4 ,it was a matter not between ,god and creation1 which to ,him is a little thing1 but between ,god and ,his ,law1 that is to say1 ,himself1 as ,he is eternal ,judge4 ,and this1 to the ,eternal1 is not a little thing4 ,so the solution called for no little thing1 but for the ,atoning ,death1 for the laying by the ,father on the ,son of the iniquities of us all1 that we might open our arms and receive from the ,father the merits of the ,son4 ,and was raised up because of our justification2 because our acceptance had been won1 by ,his deliverance up4 ,such is the simplest explanation of the grammar1 and of the import4 ,the ,lord's ,resurrection appears as1 so to speak1 the mighty sequel1 and also the demonstration1 warrant1 proclamation1 of ,his acceptance as the ,propitiation1 and therefore of our acceptance in ,him4 ,for indeed it was our justification1 when ,he paid our penalty4 ,true1 the acceptance does not accrue to the individual till he believes1 and so receives4 ,the gift is not put into the hand till it is open1 and empty4 ,but the gift has been bought ready for the recipient long before he kneels to receive it4 ,it was his1 in provision1 from the moment of the purchase2 and the glorious ,purchaser came up from the depths where ,he had gone down to buy1 holding aloft in ,his sacred hands the golden ,gift1 ours because ,his for us4 ,a little while before he wrote to ,rome1 ,st ,paul had written to ,corinth1 and the same truth was in his soul then1 though it came out only passingly1 while with infinite impressiveness4 ,if ,christ is not risen1 idle is your faith2 you are yet in your sins 7#a ,cor4 xv4 #ag74 ,that is to say1 so the context irrefragably shews1 you are yet in the guilt of your sins2 you are still unjustified4 ,in your sins cannot possibly there refer to the moral condition of the converts2 for as a matter of fact1 which no doctrine could negative1 the ,corinthians were changed men4 ,in your sins refers therefore to guilt1 to law1 to acceptance4 ,and it bids them look to the ,atonement as the objective sine qu non for that1 and to the ,resurrection as the one possible1 and the only necessary1 warrant to faith that the ,atonement had secured its end4 ,who was delivered up2 who was raised up4 ,when8 ,about twenty-five years before ,paul sat dictating this sentence in the house of ,gaius4 ,there were at that moment about three hundred known living people1 at least 7#a ,cor4 xv4 #f71 who had seen the ,risen ,one with open eyes1 and heard ,him with conscious ears4 ,from one point of view1 all was eternal1 spiritual1 invisible4 ,from another point of view our salvation was as concrete1 as historical1 as much a thing of place and date1 as the battle of ,actium1 or the death of ,socrates4 ,and what was done1 remains done4 ,can length of years on ,god ,himself exact1 ,and make that fiction which was once a fact8 #ee ,in ,uganda1 #ahic4 #ef ,we attempt thus to represent the perfects1 1 4 #eg ,read not 4 #eh ,it is impossible to convey in ,english the point of the word here1 with its faint reference to the ,gentiles 7in the sense common in later ,judaism71 spiritually naturalized among ,abraham's descendants4 #ei ,observe the characteristically fragmentary quotation1 which assumes the reader's knowledge of the context--the context of the stars4 ,compare ,heb4 vi4 #ad1 which similarly quotes ,gen4 xxii4 #af1 #ag4 #fj 3--we attempt to convey the thought1 given by the aorist1 that he then and there was not weak4 #fa ,we render this clause as literally as possible4 ,it is as if he would have written ,on the promise of ,god he relied1 but changed the expression to one more ample and more forcible4 ,his unbelief3 4 ,not that ,abraham had unbelief actually1 but he had it potentially2 he might have disbelieved4 ,in that sense unbelief was his4 #fb 3 the thought is of strength summoned at a crisis4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,peace1 ,,love1 ,,and ,,joy ,,for ,,the ,,justified ,,romans v4 #a-aa ,we reached a pause in the ,apostle's thought with the close of the last paragraph4 ,we may reverently imagine1 as in spirit we listen to his dictation1 that a pause comes also in his work2 that he is silent1 and ,tertius puts down the pen1 and they spend their hearts awhile on worshipping recollection and realization4 ,the ,lord delivered up2 ,his people justified2 the ,lord risen again1 alive for evermore--here was matter for love1 joy1 and wonder4 ,but the ,letter must proceed1 and the argument has its fullest and most wonderful developments yet to come4 ,it has now already expounded the tremendous need of justifying mercy1 for every soul of man4 ,it has shewn how faith1 always and only1 is the way to appropriate that mercy--the way of ,god's will1 and manifestly also in its own nature the way of deepest fitness4 ,we have been allowed to see faith in illustrative action1 in ,abraham1 who by faith1 absolutely1 without the least advantage of traditional privilege1 received justification1 with the vast concurrent blessings which it carried4 ,lastly we have heard ,st ,paul dictate to ,tertius1 for the ,romans and for us1 those summarizing words 7iv4 #be7 in which we now have ,god's own certificate of the triumphant efficacy of that ,atoning ,work1 which sustains the ,promise in order that the ,promise may sustain us believing4 ,we are now to approach the glorious theme of the ,life of the ,justified4 ,this is to be seen not only as a state whose basis is the reconciliation of the ,law1 and whose gate and walls are the covenant ,promise4 ,it is to appear as a state warmed with eternal ,love2 irradiated with the prospect of glory4 ,in it the man1 knit up with ,christ his ,head1 his ,bridegroom1 his all1 yields himself with joy to the ,god who has received him4 ,in the living power of the heavenly ,spirit1 who perpetually delivers him from himself1 he obeys1 prays1 works1 and suffers1 in a liberty which is only not yet that of heaven1 and in which he is maintained to the end by ,him who has planned his full personal salvation from eternity to eternity4 ,it has been the temptation of ,christians sometimes to regard the truth and exposition of ,justification as if there were a certain hardness and as it were dryness about it2 as if it were a topic rather for the schools than for life4 ,if excuses have ever been given for such a view1 they must come from other quarters than the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,christian teachers1 of many periods1 may have discussed ,justification as coldly as if they were writing a law-book4 ,or again they may have examined it as if it were a truth terminating in itself1 the ,omega as well as the ,alpha of salvation2 and then it has been misrepresented1 of course4 ,for the ,apostle certainly does not discuss it drily2 he lays deep indeed the foundations of ,law and ,atonement1 but he does it in the manner of a man who is not drawing the plan of a refuge1 but calling his reader from the tempest into what is not only a refuge but a home4 ,and again he does not discuss it in isolation4 ,he spends his fullest1 largest1 and most loving expositions on its intense and vital connexion with concurrent truths4 ,he is about now to take us1 through a noble vestibule1 into the sanctuary of the life of the accepted1 the life of union1 of surrender1 of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,justified therefore on terms of faith1#fc we have peace#fd towards our 77 ,god1 we possess in regard of ,him the quietness and assurance of acceptance1 through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 thus delivered up1 and raised up1 for us2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 through whom we have actually 77 found#fe our 77 introduction1 our free admission1 by our 77 faith1 into this grace1 this unearned acceptance for ,another's sake1 in which we stand1 instead of falling ruined1 sentenced1 at the tribunal4 ,and we exult1 not with the sinful boasting#ff of the legalist1 but in hope 7literally1 on hope1 ' 1 as reposing on the promised prospect7 of the glory of our 77 ,god1 the light of the heavenly vision and fruition of our ,justifier1 and the splendour of an eternal service of ,him in that fruition4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,nor only so1 but we exult too in our tribulations1 with a better fortitude than the ,stoic's artificial serenity1 knowing that the tribulation works out1 develops1 patient persistency1#fg as it occasions proof after proof of the power of ,god in our weakness1 and thus generates the habit of reliance2 and then 77 the patient persistency develops proof1 brings out in experience1 as a proved fact1 that through ,christ we are not what we were2 and then the proof develops hope1 solid and definite expectation of continuing grace and final glory1 and1 in particular1 of the ,lord's ,return2 and the hope does not shame1 does not disappoint2 it is a hope sure and steadfast1 for it is the hope of those who now know that they are objects of eternal ,love2 because the love of our 77 ,god has been poured out in our hearts2 ,his love to us has been as it were diffused through our consciousness1 poured out in a glad experience as rain from the cloud1 as floods from the rising spring1#fh through the ,holy ,spirit that was given to us4 ,here first is mentioned explicitly1 in the ,apostle's argument1 7we do not reckon ch4 i4 #d as in the argument17 the blessed ,spirit1 the ,lord the ,holy ,ghost4 ,hitherto the occasion for the mention has hardly arisen4 ,the considerations have been mainly upon the personal guilt of the sinner1 and the objective fact of the ,atonement1 and the exercise of faith1 of trust in ,god1 as a genuine personal act of man4 ,with a definite purpose1 we may reverently think1 the discussion of faith has been kept thus far clear of the thought of anything lying behind faith1 of any grace giving faith4 ,for whether or no faith is the gift of ,god1 it is most certainly the act of man2 none should assert this more decidedly than those who hold 7as we do7 that ,eph4 ii4 #hfi does teach that where saving faith is1 it is there because ,god has given it4 ,but how does ,he give it8 ,not1 surely1 by implanting a new faculty1 but by so opening the soul to ,god in ,christ that the divine magnet effectually draws the man to a willing repose upon such a ,god4 ,but the man does this1 as an act1 himself4 ,he trusts ,god as genuinely1 as personally1 as much with his own faculty of trust1 as he trusts a man whom he sees to be quite trustworthy and precisely fit to meet an imperative need4 ,thus it is often the work of the evangelist and the teacher to insist upon the duty rather than the grace of faith2 to bid men rather thank ,god for faith when they have believed than wait for the sense of an afflatus before believing4 ,and is this not what ,st ,paul does here8 ,at this point of his argument1 and not before1 he reminds the believer that his possession of peace1 of happiness1 of hope1 has been attained and realized not1 ultimately1 of himself but through the working of the ,eternal ,spirit4 ,the insight into mercy1 into a propitiation provided by divine love1 and so into the holy secret of the divine love itself1 has been given him by the ,holy ,ghost1 who has taken of the things of ,christ1 and shewn them to him1 and secretly handled his heart so that the fact of the love of ,god is a part of experience at last4 ,the man has been told of his great need1 and of the sure and open refuge1 and has stepped through its peaceful gate in the act of trusting the message and the will of ,god4 ,now he is asked to look round1 to look back1 and bless the hand which1 when he was outside in the naked field of death1 opened his eyes to see1 and guided his will to choose4 ,what a retrospect it is6 ,let us trace it from the first words of this paragraph again4 ,first1 here is the sure fact of our acceptance1 and the reason of it1 and the method4 ,therefore2 let not that word be forgotten4 ,our ,justification is no arbitrary matter1 whose causelessness suggests an illusion1 or a precarious peace4 ,therefore2 it rests upon an antecedent1 in the logical chain of divine facts4 ,we have read that antecedent1 ch4 iv4 #be2 ,jesus our ,lord was given up because of our transgressions1 and was raised up because of our justification4 ,we assented to that fact2 we have accepted ,him1 only and altogether1 in this work of ,his4 ,therefore we are justified1 1#gj placed by an act of divine ,love1 working in the line of divine ,law1 among those whom the ,judge accepts1 that ,he may embrace them as ,father4 ,then1 in this possession of the peace of our acceptance1 thus led in 771 through the gate of the promise1 with the footstep of faith1 we find inside our ,refuge far more than merely safety4 ,we look up from within the blessed walls1 sprinkled with atoning blood1 and we see above them the hope of glory1 invisible outside4 ,and we turn to our present life within them 7for all our life is to be lived within that broad sanctuary now71 and we find resources provided there for a present as well as a prospective joy4 ,we address ourselves to the discipline of the place2 for it has its discipline2 the refuge is home1 but it is also school2 and we find1 when we begin to try it1 that the discipline is full of joy4 ,it brings out into a joyful consciousness the power we now have1 in ,him who has accepted us1 in ,him who is our ,acceptance1 to suffer and to serve in love4 ,our life has become a life not of peace only but of the hope which animates peace1 and makes it flow as a river4 ,from hour to hour we enjoy the never-disappointing hope of grace for grace1 new grace for the next new need2 and beyond it1 and above it1 the certainties of the hope of glory4 ,to drop our metaphor of the sanctuary for that of the pilgrimage1 we find ourselves upon a pathway1 steep and rocky1 but always mounting into purer air1 and so as to shew us nobler prospects2 and at the summit--the pathway will be continued1 and transfigured1 into the golden street of the ,city2 the same track1 but within the gate of heaven4 ,into all this the ,holy ,ghost has led us4 ,he has been at the heart of the whole internal process4 ,he made the thunder of the ,law articulate to our conscience4 ,he gave us faith by manifesting ,christ4 ,and1 in ,christ1 ,he has poured out in our hearts the love of ,god4 ,for now the ,apostle takes up that word1 the ,love of ,god1 and holds it to our sight1 and we see in its pure glory no vague abstraction1 but the face1 and the work1 of ,jesus ,christ4 ,such is the context into which we now advance4 ,he is reasoning on2 ,for ,christ1 when we still were weak4 ,he has set justification before us in its majestic lawfulness4 ,but he has now to expand its mighty love1 of which the ,holy ,ghost has made us conscious in our hearts4 ,we are to see in the ,atonement not only a guarantee that we have a valid title to a just acceptance4 ,we are to see in it the love of the ,father and the ,son1 so that not our security only but our bliss may be full4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,for ,christ1 we still being weak1 7gentle euphemism for our utter impotence1 our guilty inability to meet the sinless claim of the ,law of ,god17 in season1 in the fulness of time1 when the ages of precept and of failure had done their work1 and man had learnt something to purpose of the lesson of self-despair1 for the ungodly--died4 ,for the ungodly1 1 concerning them1 with reference to them1 that is to say1 in this context of saving mercy1 in their interests1 for their rescue1#ga as their propitiation4 ,the ungodly1 or1 more literally still1 without the article1 ungodly ones2 a designation general and inclusive for those for whom ,he died4 ,above 7iv4 #e7 we saw the word used with a certain limitation1 as of the worst among the sinful4 ,but here1 surely1 with a solemn paradox1 it covers the whole field of the ,fall4 ,the ungodly here are not the flagrant and disreputable only2 they are all who are not in harmony with ,god2 the potential as well as the actual doers of grievous sin4 ,for them ,christ died2 not lived1 let us remember1 but died4 ,it was a question not of example1 nor of suasion1 nor even of utterances of divine compassion4 ,it was a question of law and guilt2 and it was to be met only by the death-sentence and the death-fact2 such death as ,,he died of whom1 a little while before1 this same ,correspondent had written to the converts of ,galatia 7iii4 #ac72 ,christ bought us out from the curse of the ,law1 when ,he became a curse for us4 ,all the untold emphasis of the sentence1 and of the thought1 lies here upon those last words1 upon each and all of them1 for ungodly ones--,he died1 --4 ,the sequel shews this to us2 he proceeds3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,for scarcely1 with difficulty1 and in rare instances1 for a just man will one die2 scarcely1 he will not say never1 for for the good man1 the man answering in some measure the ideal of gracious and not only of legal goodness1#gb perhaps someone actually ventures to die4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,but ,god commends1 as by a glorious contrast 771 ,his love1 ,his as above all current human love1 ,his own love1 1 towards us1 because while we were still sinners1 and as such repulsive to the ,holy ,one1 ,christ for us did die4 ,we are not to read this passage as if it were a statistical assertion as to the facts of human love and its possible sacrifices4 ,the moral argument will not be affected if we are able1 as we shall be1 to adduce cases where unregenerate man has given even his life to save the life of one1 or of many1 to whom he is not emotionally or naturally attracted4 ,all that is necessary to ,st ,paul's tender plea for the love of ,god is the certain fact that the cases of death even on behalf of one who morally deserves a great sacrifice are relatively very1 very few4 ,the thought of merit is the ruling thought in the connexion4 ,he labours to bring out the sovereign ,lovingkindness1 which went even to the length and depth of death1 by reminding us that1 whatever moved it1 it was not moved1 even in the lowest imaginable degree1 by any merit1 no1 nor by any congruity1 in us4 ,and yet we were sought1 and saved4 ,he who planned the salvation1 and provided it1 was the eternal ,lawgiver and ,judge4 ,he who loved us is ,himself eternal ,right1 to whom all our wrong is unutterably repellent4 ,what then is ,he as ,love1 who1 being also ,right1 stays not till ,he has given ,his ,son to the death of the ,atonement8 ,so we have indeed a warrant to believe the love of ,god 7#a ,john iv4 #af74 ,yes1 to believe it4 ,we look within us1 and it is incredible4 ,if we have really seen ourselves1 we have seen ground for a sorrowful conviction that ,he who is eternal ,right must view us with aversion4 ,but if we have really seen ,christ1 we have seen ground for--not feeling at all1 it may be1 at this moment1 but--believing that ,god is ,love1 and loves us4 ,what is it to believe ,him8 ,it is to take ,him at ,his word2 to act altogether not upon our internal consciousness but upon ,his warrant4 ,we look at the ,cross1 or rather1 we look at the crucified ,lord ,jesus in ,his ,resurrection2 we read at ,his feet these words of ,his ,apostle2 and we go away to take ,god at ,his assurance that we1 unlovely1 are beloved4 ,my child1 said a dying ,french saint1 as she gave a last embrace to her daughter1 ,i have loved you because of what you are2 my heavenly ,father1 to whom ,i go1 has loved me malgr moi4 ,and how does the divine reasoning now advance8 ,from glory to glory2 from acceptance by the ,holy ,one1 who is ,love1 to present and endless preservation in ,his ,beloved ,one4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,therefore much more1 justified now in ,his blood1 as it were in its laver of ablution1 or again within its circle of sprinkling as it marks the precincts of our inviolable sanctuary1 we shall be kept safe through ,him1 who now lives to administer the blessings of ,his death1 from the wrath1 the wrath of ,god1 in its present imminence over the head of the unreconciled1 and in its final fall in that day4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,for if1 being enemies1 with no initial love to ,him who is ,love1 nay1 when we were hostile to ,his claims1 and as such subject to the hostility of ,his ,law1 we were reconciled to our 77 ,god#gc through the death of ,his ,son1 7,god coming to judicial peace with us1 and we brought to submissive peace with ,him17 much more1 being reconciled1 we shall be kept safe in ,his life1 in the life of the ,risen ,one who now lives for us1 and in us1 and we in ,him4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,nor only so1 but we shall be kept exulting too in our 77 ,god through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 through whom now we have received#gd this 77 reconciliation4 ,here1 by anticipation1 he indicates already the mighty issues of the act of ,justification1 in our life of ,union with the ,lord who died for us1 and lived again4 ,in the sixth chapter this will be more fully unfolded2 but he cannot altogether reserve it so long4 ,as he has advanced from the law-aspect of our acceptance to its love-aspect1 so now with this latter he gives us at once the life-aspect1 our vital incorporation with our ,redeemer1 our part and lot in ,his resurrection-life4 ,nowhere in this whole ,epistle is that subject expounded so fully as in the later ,epistles1 ,colossians and ,ephesians2 the ,inspirer led ,his servant all over that region then1 in his ,roman prison1 but not now4 ,but ,he had brought him into the region from the first1 and we see it here present to his thought1 though not in the foreground of his discourse4 ,kept safe in ,his life2 not by ,his life1 but in ,his life4 ,we are livingly knit to ,him the ,living ,one4 ,from one point of view we are accused men1 at the bar1 wonderfully transformed1 by the ,judge's provision1 into welcomed and honoured friends of the ,law and the ,lawgiver4 ,from another point of view we are dead men1 in the grave1 wonderfully vivified1 and put into a spiritual connexion with the mighty life of our ,lifegiving ,redeemer4 ,the aspects are perfectly distinct4 ,they belong to different orders of thought4 ,yet they are in the closest and most genuine relation4 ,the ,justifying ,sacrifice procures the possibility of our regeneration into the ,life of ,christ4 ,our union by faith with the ,lord who died and lives brings us into actual part and lot in ,his justifying merits4 ,and our part and lot in those merits1 our acceptance in the ,beloved1 assures us again of the permanence of the mighty ,love which will maintain us in our part and lot in ,his life4 ,this is the view of the matter which is before us here4 ,thus the ,apostle meets our need on every side4 ,he shews us the holy ,law satisfied for us4 ,he shews us the eternal ,love liberated upon us4 ,he shews us the ,lord's own ,life clasped around us1 imparted to us2 our life is hid in ,god with ,christ1 who is our ,life 7,col4 iii4 #c1 #d74 ,shall we not exult in ,god through ,him8 ,and now we are to learn something of that great ,covenant-,headship1 in which we and ,he are one4 ,,detached ,,notes ,,to ,,chapter ,,xii ,i 1 ,we have peace3 1 ,let us have peace4 ,which did ,st ,paul write8 ,on the whole1 after long thought upon the evidence1 we decide for the former reading4 ,the documentary witness is strong for the latter4 ,for those who place the great ,uncial manuscripts in the place of practical decision1 has a clear verdict in its favour4 ,but the other class of copies1 the ,cursive1 later on the whole than the ,uncials1 but probably often representing correction rather than corruption1 are greatly in favour of 4 ,the evidence of ancient ,versions1 and of quotations by early ,christian writers1 inclines on the whole for 4 ,but in the study of a reading the argument and context of course claim attention2 for most surely the original reading1 whatever it was1 was pertinent4 ,now here the question of pertinence seems to us to lead to a decided verdict for 4 ,the ,apostle is engaged here altogether with assertion1 instruction2 exhortation is to come later4 ,through this whole paragraph he does nothing but assert facts and principles4 ,is it to be believed that he begins it with a disjointed exhortation8 ,in itself the exhortation would bear a meaning perfectly intelligible4 ,let us have peace would mean ,let us enjoy peace4 ,so 1 ,heb4 xii4 #bh1 means1 practically1 ,let us use grace4 ,neither exhortation would mean that we do not yet possess1 in respect of the ,lord's gift1 peace and grace respectively4 ,but1 we repeat it1 the context here seems decisive against the presence here of any exhortation4 ,we want1 logically1 assertion4 ,the interchange of and in manuscripts is1 as a fact1 frequent4 ,see the case carefully considered1 and decided for 1 in ,dr ,scrivener's ,introduction to the ,criticism of the ,n4 ,t41 p4 #fbe4 ,,ii 1 4 ,it is sometimes held that these words denote reconciliation in the sense of man's laying aside his distrust1 reluctance1 resistance towards ,god1 not of ,god's laying aside ,his holy displeasure against man2 and that for this latter idea1 that of persuading an offended superior to grant peace1 we should need the words 7which we have ,matt4 v4 #bd1 and in the ,lxx4 in e4g4 #a ,sam4 xxix4 #d1 where the ,english has1 ,wherewith should he reconcile himself to his master87 and 7which does not occur in the ,n4 ,t474 ,but 7and its verb7 is as a fact used in the ,greek of the ,apocrypha in connexions where the thought is just that of the clemency of a king1 induced to pardon4 ,see e4g4 #b ,macc4 v4 #bj1 where the ,english ,version reads1 the great ,lord being reconciled 7 7 the temple was set up4 ,so #b ,macc4 i4 #e1 where we have the prayer 7,english ,version71 ,god be at one with you1 4 ,thus no elaborate distinction can safely be drawn between the two sets of compounds4 ,and there is no place in the ,n4 ,t4 where the meaning1 conciliation of an offended party1 would not well suit 1 etc4 ,the present passage 7,rom4 v4 #aj1 #aa7 would be practically meaningless otherwise4 ,the whole thought is of the divine mercy1 providing a way for accepting grace4 ,to receive is a phrase which1 by its very form as well as its connexion1 points to the thought not of reluctance overcome but mercy found4 ,the word atonement 7,a4,v41 ver4 #aa7 needs remark4 ,it seems certain that its derivation is at-one-ment 7,see ,skeat1 ,etymol4 ,dict41 s4v471 though an etymological connexion with ver-shnen1 7,dutch1 ver-zoenen7 has been maintained 7see ,hofmeyr1 ,the ,blessed ,life1 p4 #be74 ,but as ,trench remarks1 7,synonyms of the ,n4 ,t41 s4v4 17 the usage of ,english has now long attached the idea of propitiation 77 to the word atonement2 which should therefore be avoided as a rendering for 4 #fc 3 out of faith4 ,the phrase has often met us in the ,greek before4 ,it calls for various renderings in various contexts2 that given above seems best to paraphrase it here4 #fd ,see detached note1 p4 #adj1 for an account of the various reading here1 1 ,let us have peace4 #fe 3 we have had1 we have got4 #ff 1 3 see above ii4 #bc1 iii4 #bg1 iv4 #b4 #fg is more than patience4 ,by usage it implies patience in action2 perseverance4 #fh ,it is quite possible1 of course1 to explain 1 grammatically1 to mean our love to ,god4 ,and some1 more mystically1 explain it of ,god's faculty of love conveyed to us that we1 with it1 may love ,him4 ,but the following context1 especially ver4 #h1 is clearly against such expositions4 ,verses #f-aa are in fact an explanation of the thought of ver4 #e4 #fi ,the writer ventures to refer to his ,commentary on ,ephesians in ,the ,cambridge ,bible4 #gj ,observe the aorist form of the participle4 #ga is literally over1 and in itself imports simply concern with2 as when we say that a man is busy over an important matter2 as it were stooping over it1 attending to it4 ,its special references depend altogether upon context and usage4 ,in itself it neither teaches nor denies the doctrine of a vicarious and substitutionary work2 is the preposition which guarantees as true that great aspect of the ,lord's death4 ,but of course amply allows for such an application of its meaning1 where the context suggests the idea4 #gb ,we incline more than formerly1 though still with some doubt1 to see a rising climax here1 as indicated in the paraphrase1 from to 4 #gc ,on the meaning of see detached note1 p4 #ada4 #gd 3 but the ,english perfect best represents the idea4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,christ ,,and ,,adam ,,romans v4 #ab-ba ,we approach a paragraph of the ,epistle pregnant with mystery4 ,it leads us back to ,primal ,man1 to the ,adam of the first brief pages of the ,scripture record1 to his encounter with the suggestion to follow himself rather than his ,maker1 to his sin1 and then to the results of that sin in his race4 ,we shall find those results given in terms which certainly we should not have devised a priori4 ,we shall find the ,apostle teaching1 or rather stating1 for he writes as to those who know1 that mankind inherits from primal ,man1 tried and fallen1 not only taint but guilt1 not only moral hurt but legal fault4 ,this is a thing heard in the darkness4 ,it has been said that ,holy ,scripture is not a sun1 but a lamp4 ,the words may be grievously misused1 by undue emphasis on the negative clause2 but they convey a sure truth1 used aright4 ,nowhere does the divine ,book undertake to tell us all about everything it contains4 ,it undertakes to tell us truth1 and to tell it from ,god4 ,it undertakes to give us pure light1 yea1 to bring life and immortality out into the light1 7#b ,tim4 i4 #aj74 ,but it reminds us that we know in part1 and that even prophecy1 even the inspired message1 is in part 7#a ,cor4 xiii4 #i74 ,it illuminates immensely much1 but it leaves yet more to be seen hereafter4 ,it does not yet kindle the whole firmament and the whole landscape like an oriental sun4 ,it sheds its glory upon our ,guide1 and upon our path4 ,a passage like this calls for such recollections4 ,it tells us1 with the voice of the ,apostle's ,lord1 great facts about our own race1 and its relations to its primeval ,head1 such that every individual man has a profound moral and also judicial nexus with the first ,man4 ,it does not tell us how those inscrutable but solid facts fit into the whole plan of ,god's creative wisdom and moral government4 ,the lamp shines there1 upon the edges of a deep ravine beside the road2 it does not shine sunlike over the whole mountain-land4 ,as with other mysteries which will meet us later1 so with this2 we approach it as those who know in part1 and who know that the apostolic ,prophet1 by no defect of inspiration1 but by the limits of the case1 prophesies in part4 ,thus with awful reverence1 with godly fear1 and free from the wish to explain away1 yet without anxiety lest ,god should be proved unrighteous1 we listen as ,paul dictates1 and receive his witness about our fall and our guilt in that mysterious ,first ,father4 ,we remember also another fact of this case4 ,this paragraph deals only incidentally with ,adam2 its main theme is ,christ4 ,adam is the illustration2 ,christ is the subject4 ,we are to be shewn in ,adam1 by contrast1 some of the unsearchable riches of ,christ4 ,so that our main attention is called not to the brief outline of the mystery of the ,fall1 but to the assertions of the related splendour of the ,redemption4 ,st ,paul is drawing again to a close1 a cadence4 ,he is about to conclude his exposition of the ,way of ,acceptance1 and to pass to its junction with the ,way of ,holiness4 ,and he shews us here last1 in the matter of ,justification1 this fragment from the bottoms of the mountains--the union of the justified with their redeeming ,lord as race with ,head2 the nexus in that respect between them and ,him which makes ,his righteous act of such infinite value to them4 ,in the previous paragraph1 as we have seen1 he has gravitated toward the deeper regions of the blessed subject2 he has indicated our connexion with the ,lord's ,life as well as with ,his ,merit4 ,now1 recurring to the thought of the ,merit1 he still tends to the depths of truth1 and ,christ our ,righteousness is lifted before our eyes from those pure depths as not the ,propitiation only1 but the ,propitiation who is also our ,covenant-,head1 our ,second ,adam1 holding ,his mighty merits for a new race1 bound up with ,himself in the bond of a real unity4 ,he prophesies in part1 meanwhile1 even in respect of this element of his message4 ,as we saw just above1 the fullest explanations of our union with the ,lord ,christ in ,his life were reserved by ,st ,paul's ,master for other ,letters than this4 ,in the present passage we have not1 what probably we should have had if the ,epistle had been written five years later1 a definite statement of the connexion between our ,union with ,christ in ,his covenant and our ,union with ,him in ,his life2 a connexion deep1 necessary1 significant4 ,it is not quite absent from this passage1 if we read verses #ag1 #ah1 aright2 but it is not prominent4 ,the main thought is of merit1 righteousness1 acceptance2 of covenant1 of law4 ,as we have said1 this paragraph is the climax of the ,epistle to the ,romans as to its doctrine of our peace with ,god through the merits of ,his ,son4 ,it is enough for the purpose of that subject that it should indicate1 and only indicate1 the doctrine that ,his ,son is also our ,life1 our indwelling ,cause and ,spring of purity and power4 ,recollecting thus the scope and the connexion of the passage1 let us listen to its wording4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,on this account1 on account of the aspects of our justification and reconciliation through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ which he has just presented1 it is#ge just as through one man sin entered into the world1 the world of man1 and1 through sin1 death1 and so to all men death travelled1 1 penetrated1 pervaded1 inasmuch as all sinned2 the ,race sinning in its ,head1 the ,nature in its representative ,bearer4 ,the facts of human life and death shew that sin did thus pervade the race1 as to liability1 and as to penalty3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,for until law came sin was in the world2 it was present all along1 in the ages previous to the great ,legislation4 ,but sin is not imputed1 is not put down as debt for penalty1 where law does not exist1 where in no sense is there statute to be obeyed or broken1 whether that statute takes articulate expression or not4#gf ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,but death became king 771 from ,adam down to ,moses1 even over those who did not sin on the model of the transgression of ,adam--who is 7in the present tense of the plan of ,god7 pattern of the ,coming ,one4 ,he argues from the fact of death1 and from its universality1 which implies a universality of liability1 of guilt4 ,according to the ,scriptures1 death is essentially penal in the case of man1 who was created not to die but to live4 ,how that purpose would have been fulfilled if the image of ,god had not sinned against ,him1 we do not know4 ,we need not think that the fulfilment would have violated any natural process2 higher processes might have governed the case1 in perfect harmony with the surroundings of terrestrial life1 till perhaps that life was transfigured1 as by a necessary development1 into the celestial and immortal4 ,but however1 the record does connect1 for man1 the fact of death with the fact of sin1 offence1 transgression4 ,and the fact of death is universal1 and so has been from the first4 ,and thus it includes generations most remote from the knowledge of a revealed code4 ,and it includes individuals most incapable of a conscious act of transgression such as ,adam's was2 it includes the heathen1 and the infant1 and the imbecile4 ,therefore wherever there is human nature1 since ,adam fell1 there is sin1 in its form of guilt4 ,and therefore1 in some sense which perhaps only the supreme ,theologian ,himself fully knows1 but which we can follow a little way1 all men offended in the ,first ,man--so favourably conditioned1 so gently tested4 ,the guilt contracted by him is possessed also by them4 ,and thus is he the pattern of the ,coming ,one4 ,for now the glorious ,coming ,one1 the ,seed of the ,woman1 the blessed ,lord of the ,promise1 rises on the view1 in ,his likeness and in ,his contrast4 ,writing to ,corinth from ,macedonia1 about a year before1 ,st ,paul had called him 7#a ,cor4 xv4 #de1 #dg7 the ,second ,adam1 the ,second ,man2 and had drawn in outline the parallel he here elaborates4 ,in ,adam all die2 even so in ,christ all shall be made alive4 ,it was a thought which he had learned in ,judaism1#gg but which his ,master had affirmed to him in ,christianity2 and noble indeed and far-reaching is its use of it in this exposition of the sinner's hope4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,but not as the transgression1 so the gracious gift 774 ,for if1 by the transgression of the one1 the many1 the many affected by it1 died1 much rather did the grace of ,god4 ,his benignant action1 and the gift1 the grant of our acceptance1 in the grace of the one ,man1 ,jesus ,christ1 7in ,his grace1 because involved in ,his benignant action1 in ,his redeeming work7 abound unto the many whom it1 whom ,he1 affected4 ,we observe here some of the phrases in detail4 ,the ,one2 the ,one ,man3--the one1 in each case1 is related to the many involved1 in bane or in blessing respectively4 ,the ,one ,man3--so the ,second ,adam is designated1 not the ,first4 ,as to the ,first1 it goes unsaid that he is man4 ,as to the ,second1 it is infinitely wonderful1 and of eternal import1 that ,he1 as truly1 as completely1 is one with us1 is ,man of men4 ,much rather did the grace1 and the gift1 abound3--the thought given here is that while the dread sequel of the ,fall was solemnly permitted1 as good in law1 the sequel of the divine counter-work was gladly sped by the ,lord's willing love1 and was carried to a glorious overflow1 to an altogether unmerited effect1 in the present and eternal blessing of the justified4 ,the many1 twice mentioned in this verse1 are the whole company which1 in each case1 stands related to the respective ,representative4 ,it is the whole race in the case of the ,fall2 it is the many brethren of the ,second ,adam in the case of the ,reconciliation4 ,the question is not of numerical comparison between the two1 but of the numerousness of each host in relation to the oneness of its covenant ,head4 ,what the numerousness of the many brethren will be we know--and we do not know2 for it will be a great multitude1 which no one can number4 ,but that is not in the question here4 ,the emphasis1 the much rather1 the abundance1 lies not on the compared numbers1 but on the amplitude of the blessing which overflows upon the many from the justifying work of the ,one4 ,he proceeds1 developing the thought4 ,from the act of each ,representative1 from ,adam's ,fall and ,christ's ,atonement1 there issued results of dominion1 of royalty4 ,but what was the contrast of the cases6 ,in the ,fall1 the sin of the ,one brought upon the many judgment1 sentence1 and the reign of death over them4 ,in the ,atonement1 the righteousness of the ,one brought upon the many an abundance1 an overflow1 a generous largeness and love of acceptance1 and the power of life eternal1 and a prerogative of royal rule over sin and death2 the emancipated captives treading upon their tyrants' necks4 ,we follow out the ,apostle's wording3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,and not as through the one who sinned1 who fell1 so is the gift2 our acceptance in our ,second ,head does not follow the law of mere and strict retribution which appears in our fall in our first ,head4 7,for1 he adds in emphatic parenthesis1 the judgment did issue1 from one transgression1#gh in condemnation1 in sentence of death2 but the gracious gift issued1 from many transgressions1--not indeed as if earned by them1 as if caused by them1 but as occasioned by them2 for this wonderful process of mercy found in our sins1 as well as in our ,fall1 a reason for the ,cross--in a deed of justification47#gi ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,for if in one transgression1#hj in it1 as the effect is involved in its cause1 death came to reign 77 through the one offender1#ha much rather those who are receiving1 in their successive cases and generations1 that 77 abundance of the grace just spoken of 7ver4 #ae3 1 71 and of the free gift of righteousness1 of acceptance1 shall1 in life1 life eternal1 begun now1 to end never1 reign over their former tyrants through the ,one1 their glorious ,one1 ,jesus ,christ4 ,and now he sums up the whole in one comprehensive inference and affirmation4 ,the ,one1 the many2 the ,one1 the all2 the whole mercy for the all due to the one work of the ,one2--such is the ground-thought all along4 ,it is illustrated by the one and the many of the ,fall1 but still so as to throw the real weight of every word not upon the ,fall but upon the ,acceptance4 ,here1 as throughout this paragraph1 we should greatly mistake if we thought that the illustration and the object illustrated were to be pressed1 detail by detail1 into one mould4 ,to cite an instance to the contrary1 we are certainly not to take him to mean that because ,adam's many are not only fallen in him1 but actually guilty1 therefore ,christ's many are not only accepted in ,him1 but actually and personally meritorious of acceptance4 ,the whole ,epistle negatives that thought4 ,nor again are we to think1 as we ponder ver4 #ah1 that because the condemnation was to all men in the sense of their being not only condemnable but actually condemned1 therefore the justification of life was to all men in the sense that all mankind are actually justified4 ,here again the whole ,epistle1 and the whole message of ,st ,paul about our acceptance1 are on the other side4 ,the provision is for the genus1 for man2 but the possession is for men--who believe4#hb ,no2 these great details in the parallel need our reverent caution1 lest we think peace where there is1 and can be1 none4 ,the force of the parallel lies in the broader and deeper factors of the two matters4 ,it lies in the mysterious phenomenon of covenant headship1 as affecting both our ,fall and our ,acceptance2 in the power upon the many1 in each case1 of the deed of the ,one2 and then in the magnificent fulness and positiveness of result in the case of our salvation4 ,in our ,fall1 sin merely worked itself out into doom and death4 ,in our ,acceptance1 the ,judge's award is positively crowned and as it were loaded with gifts and treasures4 ,it brings with it1 in ways not described here1 but amply shewn in other ,scriptures1 a living union with a ,head who is our life1 and in whom we possess already the powers of heavenly being in their essence4 ,it brings with it not only the approval of the ,law1 but accession to a throne4 ,the justified sinner is a king already1 in his ,head1 over the power of sin1 over the fear of death4 ,and he is on his way to a royalty in the eternal future which shall make him great indeed1 great in his ,lord4 ,the absolute dependence of our justification upon the ,atoning ,act of our ,head1 and the relation of our ,head to us accordingly as our ,centre and our ,root of blessing1 this is the main message of the passage we are tracing4 ,the mystery of our congenital guilt is there1 though it is only incidentally there4 ,and after all what is that mystery8 ,it is assuredly a fact4 ,the statement of this paragraph1 that the many were constituted sinners by the disobedience of the one1 what is it8 ,it is the ,scripture expression1 and in some guarded sense the ,scripture explanation1 of a consciousness deep as the awakened soul of man2 that ,i1 a member of this homogeneous race1 made in ,god's image1 not only have sinned1 but have been a sinful being from my first personal beginning2 and that ,i ought not to be so1 and ought never to have been so4 ,it is my calamity1 but it is also my accusation4 ,this ,i cannot explain2 but this ,i know4 ,and to know this1 with a knowledge that is not merely speculative but moral1 is to be shut up unto ,christ1 in a self-despair which can go nowhere else than to ,him for acceptance1 for peace1 for holiness1 for power4 ,let us translate1 as they stand1 the closing sentences before us3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,accordingly therefore1 as through one transgression there came a result to all men1 to condemnation1 to sentence of death1 so through one deed of righteousness#hc there came a result to all men1 7to all in the sense we have indicated1 so that whoever of mankind receives the acceptance owes it always and wholly to the ,act of ,christ17 to justification of life1 to an acceptance which not only bids the guilty not die1 but opens to the accepted the secret1 in ,him who is their ,sacrifice1 of powers which live in ,him for them as ,he is their ,life4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,for as1 by the disobedience of the one man1 the many1 the many of that case1 were constituted sinners1 constituted guilty of the fall of their nature from ,god1 so that their being sinful is not only their calamity but their sin1 so too by the obedience of the ,one1 not according to their works1 that is1 to their conduct1 past1 present1 or to come1 but by the obedience of the ,one1 the many1 ,his many brethren1 ,his ,father's children through faith in ,him1 shall be1 as each comes to ,him in all time1 and then by the final open proclamation of eternity1 constituted righteous1 qualified for the acceptance of the holy ,judge4 99 99 99 99 99 ,before he closes this page of his message1 and turns the next1 he has as it were a parenthetic word to say1 indicating a theme to be discussed more largely later4 ,it is the function of the ,law1 the moral place of the preceptive ,fiat1 in view of this wonderful ,acceptance of the guilty4 ,he has suggested the question already1 iii4 #ca2 he will treat some aspects of it more fully later4 ,but it is urgent here to enquire at least this1 ,was ,law a mere anomaly1 impossible to put into relation with justifying grace8 ,might it have been as well out of the way1 never heard of in the human world8 ,no1 ,god forbid4 ,one deep purpose of acceptance was to glorify the ,law1 making the preceptive ,will of ,god as dear to the justified as it is terrible to the guilty4 ,but now1 besides this1 it has a function antecedent as well as consequent to justification4 ,applied as positive precept to the human will in the ,fall1 what does it do8 ,it does not create sinfulness2 ,god forbid4 ,not ,god's will but the creature's will did that4 ,but it occasions sin's declaration of war4 ,it brings out the latent rebellion of the will4 ,it forces the disease to the surface--merciful force1 for it shews the sick man his danger1 and it gives point to his ,physician's words of warning and of hope4 ,it reveals to the criminal his guilt2 as it is sometimes found that information of a statutory human penalty awakens a malefactor's conscience in the midst of a half-unconscious course of crime4 ,and so it brings out to the opening eyes of the soul the wonder of the remedy in ,christ4 ,he sees the ,law2 he sees himself2 and now at last it becomes a profound reality to him to see the ,cross4 ,he believes1 adores1 and loves4 ,the merit of his ,lord covers his demerit1 as the waters the sea4 ,and he passes from the dread but salutary view of the reign of sin over him1 in a death he cannot fathom1 to submit to the reign of grace1 in life1 in death1 for ever4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,now law came sideways in2 law in its largest sense1 as it affects the fallen1 but with a special reference1 doubtless1 to its articulation at ,sinai4 ,it came in sideways1 as to its relation to our acceptance2 as a thing which should indirectly promote it1 by not causing but occasioning the blessing2 that the transgression might abound1 that sin1 that sins1 in the most inclusive sense1 might develop the latent evil1 and as it were expose it to the work of grace4 ,but where the sin multiplied1 in the place1 the region1 of fallen humanity1 there did superabound the grace2 with that mighty overflow of the bright ocean of love which we have watched already4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,that just as our 77 sin came to reign in our 77 death1 our penal death1 so too might the grace come to reign1 having its glorious way against our foes and over us1 through righteousness1 through the justifying work1 to life eternal1 which here we have1 and which hereafter will receive us into itself1 through ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the last words of ,mr ,honest were1 ,grace reigns4 ,so he left the world4 ,let us walk with the same watchword through the world1 till we too1 crossing that ,jordan1 lean with a final simplicity of faith upon the obedience of the ,one4 #ge ,it will be seen that we assume1 between and 1 some such implied thought as the case stands4 ,we think it may be thus grammatically2 and that even if a less simple explanation of the construction is adopted1 such an insertion gives the import of the whole passage aright4 #gf ,it will be seen that the rapid steps of thought lead1 in this one verse1 from one meaning of the word law to another4 ,he means that there was sin before the ,code of the ,decalogue1 but not therefore before ,god had1 in some degree1 expressed ,his royal will1 and man had broken it4 #gg ,see ,schttgen1 ,hor ,hebraic1 on #a ,cor4 xv4 #de4 ,he quotes from the ,rabbis3 ,as the ,first ,adam was one1 was first1 1 in sin1 so ,messiah shall be the last1 1 for the utter taking away of sins4 #gh ,so we interpret 1 in the light of the just below4 #gi 3 the form of the word indicates not a process1 or a principle1 but an act4 ,apparently1 by context1 it may mean either a moral act of righteousness 7see ,rev4 xix4 #h1 and perhaps below1 ver4 #ah71 or a legal act and deed of acceptance4 ,the parallel with pleads here for the latter4 #hj ,we adopt the reading 4 ,the other1 1 amounts to the same import1 but without the pregnant force of the word in4 #ha ,we supply this word1 and not transgression1 because of the parallel just below1 the ,one1 ,jesus ,christ4 #hb ,as to the universality of the offer1 it is interesting and important to find ,calvin thus writing1 on ver4 #ah3--;,communem omnium gratiam fecit1 quia omnibus exposita est1 non quod ad omnes extendatur re ipsa4 ,nam etsi passus est ,christus pro peccatis totius mundi1 atque omnibus indifferenter ,dei benignitate offertur1 non tamen omnes apprehendunt4 ,the ,lord1 thus says the great ,french expositor1 suffered for the sins of the whole world1 and is offered impartially to all in the kindness of ,god4 #hc 3 see note above1 p4 #aej4 ,it seems to us almost equally possible to explain this word here 7as in our translation7 of the ,lord's ,atoning ,act1 satisfying the ,law for us1 and of the ,accepting ,act and ,deed of the ,father1 declaring ,him accepted1 and us in ,him4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,justification ,,and ,,holiness ,,romans vi4 #a-ac ,in a certain sense1 ,st ,paul has done now with the exposition of ,justification4 ,he has brought us on1 from his denunciation of human sin1 and his detection of the futility of mere privilege1 to propitiation1 to faith1 to acceptance1 to love1 joy1 and hope1 and finally to our mysterious but real connexion in all this blessing with ,him who won our peace4 ,from this point onwards we shall find many mentions of our acceptance1 and of its ,cause2 we shall come to some memorable mentions very soon4 ,but we shall not hear the holy subject itself any more treated and expounded4 ,it will underlie the following discussions everywhere2 it will as it were surround them1 as with a sanctuary wall4 ,but we shall now think less directly of the foundations than of the superstructure1 for which the foundation was laid4 ,we shall be less occupied with the fortifications of our holy city than with the resources they contain1 and with the life which is to be lived1 on those resources1 within the walls4 ,everything will cohere4 ,but the transition will be marked1 and will call for our deepest1 and let us add1 our most reverent and supplicating thought4 ,we need not1 then1 be holy1 if such is your programme of acceptance4 ,such was the objection1 bewildered or deliberate1 which ,st ,paul heard in his soul at this pause in his dictation2 he had doubtless often heard it with his ears4 ,here was a wonderful provision for the free and full acceptance of the ungodly by the eternal ,judge4 ,it was explained and stated so as to leave no room for human virtue as a commendatory merit4 ,faith itself was no commendatory virtue4 ,it was not a work1 but the antithesis to works4 ,its power was not in itself but in its ,object4 ,it was itself only the void which received the obedience of the ,one as the sole meriting cause of peace with ,god4 ,then--may we not live on in sin1 and yet be in ,his favour now1 and in ,his heaven hereafter8 ,let us recollect1 as we pass on1 one important lesson of these recorded objections to the great first message of ,st ,paul4 ,they tell us1 incidentally1 how explicit and unreserved his delivery of the message had been1 and how ,justification by ,faith1 by faith only1 meant what was said1 when it was said by him4 ,christian thinkers1 of more schools than one1 and at many periods1 have hesitated not a little over that point4 ,the medieval theologian mingled his thoughts of ,justification with those of ,regeneration1 and taught our acceptance accordingly on lines impossible to lay true along those of ,st ,paul4 ,in later days1 the meaning of faith has been sometimes beclouded1 till it has seemed1 through the haze1 to be only an indistinct summary-word for ,christian consistency1 for exemplary conduct1 for good works4 ,now supposing either of these lines of teaching1 or anything like them1 to be the message of ,st ,paul1 his ,gospel1 as he preached it2 one result may be reasonably inferred--that we should not have had ,rom4 vi4 #a worded as it is4 ,whatever objections were encountered by a ,gospel of acceptance expounded on such lines1 7and no doubt it would have encountered many1 if it called sinful men to holiness17 it would not have encountered this objection1 that it seemed to allow men to be unholy4 ,what such a ,gospel would seem to do would be to accentuate in all its parts the urgency of obedience in order to acceptance2 the vital importance on the one hand of an internal change in our nature 7through sacramental operation1 according to many72 and then on the other hand the practice of ,christian virtues1 with the hope1 in consequence1 of acceptance1 more or less complete1 in heaven4 ,whether the objector1 the enquirer1 was dull1 or whether he was subtle1 it could not have occurred to him to say1 ,you are preaching a ,gospel of licence2 ,i may1 if you are right1 live as ,i please1 only drawing a little deeper on the fund of gratuitous acceptance as ,i go on4 ,but just this was the animus1 and such were very nearly the words1 of those who either hated ,st ,paul's message as unorthodox1 or wanted an excuse for the sin they loved1 and found it in quotations from ,st ,paul4 ,then ,st ,paul must have meant by faith what faith ought to mean1 simple trust4 ,and he must have meant by justification without works1 what those words ought to mean1 acceptance irrespective of our recommendatory conduct4 ,such a ,gospel was no doubt liable to be mistaken and misrepresented1 and in just the way we are now observing4 ,but it was also1 and it is so still1 the only ,gospel which is the power of ,god unto salvation--to the fully awakened conscience1 to the soul that sees itself1 and asks for ,god indeed4 ,this undesigned witness to the meaning of the ,pauline doctrine of ,justification by ,faith only will appear still more strongly when we come to the ,apostle's answer to his questioners4 ,he meets them not at all by modifications of his assertions4 ,he has not a word to say about additional and corrective conditions precedent to our peace with ,god4 ,he makes no impossible hint that ,justification means the making of us good1 or that ,faith is a short title for ,christian practice4 ,no2 there is no reason for such assertions either in the nature of words1 or in the whole cast of the argument through which he has led us4 ,what does he do8 ,he takes this great truth of our acceptance in ,christ our ,merit1 and puts it unreserved1 unrelieved1 unspoiled1 in contact with other truth1 of coordinate1 nay1 of superior greatness1 for it is the truth to which ,justification leads us1 as way to end4 ,he places our acceptance through ,christ ,atoning in organic connexion with our life in ,christ ,risen4 ,he indicates1 as a truth evident to the conscience1 that as the thought of our share in the ,lord's ,merit is inseparable from union with the meriting ,person1 so the thought of this union is inseparable from that of a spiritual harmony1 a common life1 in which the accepted sinner finds both a direction and a power in his ,head4 ,justification has indeed set him free from the condemning claim of sin1 from guilt4 ,he is as if he had died the ,death of sacrifice1 oblation1 and satisfaction2 as if he had passed through the ,lama ,sabachthani1 and had poured out his soul for sin4 ,so he is dead to sin1 in the sense in which his ,lord and ,representative died to it2 the atoning death has killed sin's claim on him for judgment4 ,as having so died1 in ,christ1 he is justified from sin4 ,but then1 because he thus died in ,christ1 he is in ,christ still1 in respect also of resurrection4 ,he is justified1 not that he may go away1 but that in ,his ,justifier he may live1 with the powers of that holy and eternal life with which the ,justifier rose again4 ,the two truths are concentrated as it were into one1 by their equal relation to the same ,person1 the ,lord4 ,the previous argument has made us intensely conscious that ,justification1 while a definite transaction in law1 is not a mere transaction2 it lives and glows with the truth of connexion with a ,person4 ,that ,person is the ,bearer for us of all ,merit4 ,but ,he is also1 and equally1 the ,bearer for us of new ,life2 in which the sharers of ,his ,merit share1 for they are in ,him4 ,so that1 while the ,way of ,justification can be isolated for study1 as it has been in this ,epistle1 the justified man cannot be isolated from ,christ1 who is his life4 ,and thus he can never ultimately be considered apart from his possession1 in ,christ1 of a new possibility1 a new power1 a new and glorious call to living holiness4 ,in the simplest and most practical terms the ,apostle sets it before us that our justification is not an end in itself1 but a means to an end4 ,we are accepted that we may be possessed1 and possessed after the manner not of a mechanical article1 but of an organic limb4#hd ,we have received the reconciliation that we may now walk1 not away from ,god1 as if released from a prison1 but with ,god1 as ,his children in ,his ,son4 ,because we are justified1 we are to be holy1 separated from sin1 separated to ,god2 not as a mere indication that our faith is real1 and that therefore we are legally safe1 but because we were justified for this very purpose1 that we might be holy4 ,to return to a simile we have employed already1 the grapes upon a vine are not merely a living token that the tree is a vine1 and is alive2 they are the product for which the vine exists4 ,it is a thing not to be thought of that the sinner should accept justification--and live to himself4 ,it is a moral contradiction of the very deepest kind1 and cannot be entertained without betraying an initial error in the man's whole spiritual creed4 ,and further1 there is not only this profound connexion of purpose between acceptance and holiness4 ,there is a connexion of endowment and capacity4 ,justification has done for the justified a twofold work1 both limbs of which are all important for the man who asks1 ,how can ,i walk and please ,god8 ,first1 it has decisively broken the claim of sin upon him as guilt4 ,he stands clear of that exhausting and enfeebling load4 ,the pilgrim's burthen has fallen from his back1 at the foot of the ,lord's ,cross1 into the ,lord's ,grave4 ,he has peace with ,god1 not in emotion1 but in covenant1 through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,he has an unreserved introduction into a ,father's loving and welcoming presence1 every day and hour1 in the ,merit of his ,head4 ,but then also ,justification has been to him as it were the signal of his union with ,christ in new life2 this we have noted already4 ,not only therefore does it give him1 as indeed it does1 an eternal occasion for a gratitude which1 as he feels it1 makes duty joy1 and labour rest4 ,it gives him a new power with which to live the grateful life2 a power residing not in ,justification itself1 but in what it opens up4 ,it is the gate through which he passes to the fountain2 it is the wall which ramparts the fountain1 the roof which shields him as he drinks4 ,the fountain is his justifying ,lord's exalted ,life1 ,his risen ,life1 poured into the man's being by the ,spirit who makes ,head and member one4 ,and it is as justified that he has access to the fountain1 and drinks as deep as he will of its life1 its power1 its purity4 ,in the contemporary passage1 #a ,cor4 vi4 #ag1 ,st ,paul had already written 7in a connexion unspeakably practical71 ,he that is joined unto the ,lord is one spirit4 ,it is a sentence which might stand as a heading to the passage we now come to render4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,what shall we say then8 ,shall we cling to 71 7 the sin that the grace may multiply1 the grace of the acceptance of the guilty8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,away with the thought6 ,we1 the very men who#he died to that 77 sin1--when our ,representative1 in whom we have believed1 died for us to it1 died to meet and break its claim--how shall we any longer live1 have congenial being and action1 in it1 as in an air we like to breathe8 ,it is a moral impossibility that the man so freed from this thing's tyrannic claim to slay him should wish for anything else than severance from it in all respects4 ,or ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 do you not know that we all1 when baptized#hf into ,jesus ,christ1 when the sacred water sealed to us our faith-received contact with ,him and interest in ,him1 were baptized into ,his ,death1 baptized as coming into union with ,him as1 above all1 the ,crucified1 the ,atoning8 ,do you forget that your covenant-,head1 of whose covenant of peace your baptism was the divine physical token1 is nothing to you if not your ,saviour who died1 and who died because of this very sin with which your thought now parleys2 died because only so could ,he break its legal bond upon you1 in order to break its moral bond8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,we were entombed therefore with ,him by means of our 77 baptism1 as it symbolized and sealed the work of faith1 into ,his 77 ,death2 it certified our interest in that vicarious death1 even to its climax in the grave which1 as it were1 swallowed up the ,victim2 that just as ,christ rose from the dead by means of the glory of the ,father1 as that death issued for ,him in a new and endless life1 not by accident1 but because the ,character of ,god1 the splendour 77 of ,his love1 truth1 and power1 secured the issue1 so we too should begin to walk 77 in newness of life1 should step forth in a power altogether new1 in our union still with ,him4 ,all possible emphasis lies upon those words1 newness of life4 ,they bring out what has been indicated already 7v4 #ag1 #ah71 the truth that the ,lord has won us not only remission of a death-penalty1 not only even an extension of existence under happier circumstances1 and in a more grateful and hopeful spirit--but a new and wonderful life-power4 ,the sinner has fled to the ,crucified1 that he may not die4 ,he is now not only amnestied but accepted4 ,he is not only accepted but incorporated into his ,lord1 as one with ,him in interest4 ,he is not only incorporated as to interest1 but1 because ,his ,lord1 being ,crucified1 is also ,risen1 he is incorporated into ,him as ,life4 ,the ,last ,adam1 like the ,first1 transmits not only legal but vital effects to ,his member4 ,in ,christ the man has1 in a sense as perfectly practical as it is inscrutable1 new life1 new power1 as the ,holy ,ghost applies to his inmost being the presence and virtues of his ,head4 ,in ,him he lives1 by ,him he moves4 ,to men innumerable the discovery of this ancient truth1 or the fuller apprehension of it1 has been indeed like a beginning of new life4 ,they have been long and painfully aware1 perhaps1 that their strife with evil was a serious failure on the whole1 and their deliverance from its power lamentably partial4 ,and they could not always command as they would the emotional energies of gratitude1 the warm consciousness of affection4 ,then it was seen1 or seen more fully1 that the ,scriptures set forth this great mystery1 this powerful fact2 our union with our ,head1 by the ,spirit1 for life1 for victory and deliverance1 for dominion over sin1 for willing service4 ,and the hands are lifted up1 and the knees confirmed1 as the man uses the now open secret--,christ in him1 and he in ,christ--for the real walk of life4 ,but let us listen to ,st ,paul again4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,for if we became vitally connected 771 ,he with us and we with ,him1 by the likeness of ,his ,death1 by the baptismal plunge1 symbol and seal of our faith-union with the ,buried ,sacrifice1 why 771 we shall be vitally connected with ,him by the likeness also of ,his ,resurrection1 by the baptismal emergence1 symbol and seal of our faith-union with the ,risen ,lord1 and so with ,his risen power4#hg ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,this knowing1 that our old man1 our old state1 as out of ,christ and under ,adam's headship1 under guilt and in moral bondage1 was crucified with ,christ1 was as it were nailed to ,his atoning ,cross1 where ,he represented us4 ,in other words1 ,he on the ,cross1 our ,head and ,sacrifice1 so dealt with our fallen state for us1 that the body of sin1 this our body viewed as sin's stronghold1 medium1 vehicle1 might be cancelled1 might be in abeyance1 put down1 deposed1 so as to be no more the fatal door to admit temptation to a powerless soul within4 ,cancelled is a strong word4 ,let us lay hold upon its strength1 and remember that it gives us not a dream1 but a fact1 to be found true in ,christ4 ,let us not turn its fact into fallacy1 by forgetting that1 whatever cancel means1 it does not mean that grace lifts us out of the body2 that we are no longer to keep under the body1 and bring it into subjection1 in the name of ,jesus4 ,alas for us1 if any promise1 any truth1 is allowed to cancel the call to watch and pray1 and to think that in no sense is there still a foe within4 ,but all the rather let us grasp1 and use1 the glorious positive in its place and time1 which is everywhere and every day4 ,let us recollect1 let us confess our faith1 that thus it is with us1 through ,him who loved us4 ,he died for us for this very end1 that our body of sin might be wonderfully in abeyance1 as to the power of temptation upon the soul4 ,yes1 as ,st ,paul proceeds1 that henceforth we should not do bondservice to sin2 that from now onwards1 from our acceptance in ,him1 from our realization of our union with ,him1 we should say to temptation a no that carries with it the power of the inward presence of the ,risen ,lord4 ,yes1 for ,he has won that power for us in our ,justification through ,his ,death4 ,he died for us1 and we in ,him1 as to sin's claim1 as to our guilt2 and ,he thus died1 as we have seen1 on purpose that we might be not only legally accepted1 but vitally united to ,him4 ,such is the connexion of the following clause1 strangely rendered in the ,english ,version1 and often therefore misapplied1 but whose literal wording is1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,for he who died1 he who has died1 has been justified from his 77 sin2 stands justified from it1 stands free from its guilt4 ,the thought is of the atoning ,death1 in which the believer is interested as if it were his own4 ,and the implied thought is that1 as that death is fact accomplished1 as our old man was so effectually crucified with ,christ1 therefore we may1 we must1 claim the spiritual freedom and power in the ,risen ,one which the ,slain ,one secured for us when ,he bore our guilt4 ,this possession is also a glorious prospect1 for it is permanent with the eternity of ,his ,life4 ,it not only is1 but shall be4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,now if we died with ,christ1 we believe1 we rest upon ,his word and work for it1 that we shall also live with ,him1#hh that we shall share not only now but for all the future the powers of ,his risen life4 ,for ,,he lives for ever--and we are in ,him6 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,knowing that ,christ1 risen from the dead1 no longer dies1 no death is in ,his future now2 death over ,him has no more dominion1 its claim on ,him is for ever gone4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,for as to ,his dying 7 71 it was as to our 77 sin ,he died2 it was to deal with our sin's claim2 and ,he has dealt with it indeed1 so that ,his death is once1 1 once for ever2 but as to ,his living 7 71 it is as to ,god ,he lives2 it is in relation to ,his ,father's acceptance1 it is as welcomed to ,his ,father's throne for us1 as the ,slain ,one ,risen4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,even so must you too reckon yourselves1 with the sure calculation that ,his work for you1 ,his life for you1 is infinitely valid1 to be dead indeed to your 77 sin1 dead in ,his atoning death1 dead to the guilt exhausted by that death1 but living to your 77 ,god1 in ,christ ,jesus2#hi welcomed by your eternal ,father1 in your union with ,his ,son1 and in that union filled with a new and blessed life from your ,head1 to be spent in the ,father's smile1 on the ,father's service4 ,let us too1 like the ,apostle and the ,roman ,christians1 reckon this wonderful reckoning2 counting upon these bright mysteries as upon imperishable facts4 ,all is bound up not with the tides or waves of our emotions1 but with the living rock of our union with our ,lord4 ,in ,christ ,jesus3--that great phrase1 here first explicitly used in the connexion1 includes all else in its embrace4 ,union with the slain and risen ,christ1 in faith1 by the ,spirit--here is our inexhaustible secret1 for peace with ,god1 for life to ,god1 now and in the eternal day4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,therefore do not let sin reign#ij in your mortal body1 mortal1 because not yet fully emancipated1 though your ,lord has cancelled for you its character as the body of sin1 the seat and vehicle of conquering temptation4 ,do not let sin reign there1 so that you should obey the lusts of it1#ia of the body4 ,observe the implied instruction4 ,the body1 cancelled as the body of sin1 still has its lusts1 its desires2 or rather desires are still occasioned by it to the man1 desires which potentially1 if not actually1 are desires away from ,god4 ,and the man1 justified through the ,lord's death and united to the ,lord's life1 is not therefore to mistake a laissez-faire for faith4 ,he is to use his divine possessions1 with a real energy of will4 ,it is for him1 in a sense most practical1 to see that his wealth is put to use1 that his wonderful freedom is realized in act and habit4 ,cancelled does not mean annihilated4 ,the body exists1 and sin exists1 and desires exist4 ,it is for you1 ,o man in ,christ1 to say to the enemy1 defeated yet present1 ,thou shalt not reign2 ,i veto thee in the name of my ,king4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,and do not present#ib your limbs1 your bodies in the detail of their faculties1 as implements 77 of unrighteousness1 to sin1 to sin regarded as the holder and employer of the implements4 ,but present#ic yourselves1 your whole being1 centre and circle1 to ,god1 as men living after death1 in ,his ,son's risen life1 and your limbs1 hand1 foot1 and head1 with all their faculties1 as implements of righteousness for ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,o blissful self-surrender6 ,the idea of it1 sometimes cloudy1 sometimes radiant1 has floated before the human soul in every age of history4 ,the spiritual fact that the creature1 as such1 can never find its true centre in itself1 but only in the ,creator1 has expressed itself in many various forms of aspiration and endeavour1 now nearly touching the glorious truth of the matter1 now wandering into cravings after a blank loss of personality1 or however an eternal coma of absorption into an ,infinite practically impersonal2 or again1 affecting a submission which terminates in itself1 an islam1 a self-surrender into whose void no blessing falls from the ,god who receives it4 ,far different is the self-presentation of the ,gospel4 ,it is done in the fulness of personal consciousness and choice4 ,it is done with revealed reasons of infinite truth and beauty to warrant its rightness4 ,and it is a placing of the surrendered self into ,hands which will both foster its true development as only its ,maker can1 as ,he fills it with ,his presence1 and will use it1 in the bliss of an eternal serviceableness1 for ,his beloved will4 #hd ,not that the imagery of the limb appears here1 explicitly4 ,but it does appear below1 xii4 #e1 and in the contemporary passage #a ,cor4 vi4 #ae2 and more fully in the ,epistles of the ,first ,captivity4 #he 3 the paraphrase is perhaps a slight exaggeration of the force of the pronoun4 #hf 3 we give a paraphrase1 not a translation1 to shew the meaning practically4 #hg ,we thus paraphrase a difficult sentence4 ,it seems to us that the must refer to the baptismal rite4 ,if so1 our paraphrase as a whole will be justified4--,as to the plunge and emergence1 we would only say1 without entering further on an agitated question1 that it seems to us clear that baptism was at first1 theoretically1 an entire immersion1 but that1 also primevally1 the theory was allowed to be modified in practice2 the pouring of water in such cases representing the ideal immersion4 ,as early as the ,teaching of the ,twelve ,apostles1 cent4 i4 7ch4 vii471 there are signs of this4 #hh ,more literally1 perhaps1 shall also come to life with ,him4 ,if we read this aright1 it points to the prospect future at the moment of the atoning ,death1 when1 ideally1 we died4 ,it does not therefore mean1 practically1 that we do not live with ,him now1 as we certainly do 7see just below1 ver4 #aa74 ,but it is as if to say1 we believe that our share in ,his risen ,life surely follows1 now and always1 our share in ,his atoning ,death4 #hi ,the words are to be omitted from the text4 #ij 3 possibly the present imperative may imply1 do not go on letting it reign4 #ia ,omit from the text4 #ib 3 we may perhaps explain this present imperative also to mean do not go on so doing4 #ic 3 the aorist certainly implies a critical resolve1 a decision of surrender4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,justification ,,and ,,holiness3 ,,illustrations ,,from ,,human ,,life ,,romans vi4 #ad--vii4 #f ,at the point we have now reached1 the ,apostle's thought pauses for a moment1 to resume4#id ,he has brought us to self-surrender4 ,we have seen the sacred obligations of our divine and wonderful liberty4 ,we have had the miserable question1 ,shall we cling to sin8 answered by an explanation of the rightness and the bliss of giving over our accepted persons1 in the fullest liberty of will1 to ,god1 in ,christ4 ,now he pauses1 to illustrate and enforce4 ,and two human relations present themselves for the purpose2 the one to shew the absoluteness of the surrender1 the other its living results4 ,the first is ,slavery1 the second is ,wedlock4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,for sin shall not have dominion over you2 sin shall not put in its claim upon you1 the claim which the ,lord has met in your ,justification2 for you are not brought#ie under law1 but under grace4 ,the whole previous argument explains this sentence4 ,he refers to our acceptance4 ,he goes back to the justification of the guilty1 without the deeds of law1 by the act of free grace2 and briefly restates it thus1 that he may take up afresh the position that this glorious liberation means not licence but divine order4 ,sin shall be no more your tyrant-creditor1 holding up the broken law in evidence that it has right to lead you off to a pestilential prison1 and to death4 ,your dying ,saviour has met your creditor in full for you1 and in ,him you have entire discharge in that eternal court where the terrible plea once stood against you4 ,your dealings as debtors are now not with the enemy who cried for your death1 but with the ,friend who has bought you out of his power4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,what then8 are we to sin1 because we are not brought under law1 but under grace8 ,shall our life be a life of licence1 because we are thus wonderfully free8 ,the question assuredly is one which1 like that of ver4 #a1 and like those suggested in iii4 #h1 #ca1 had often been asked of ,st ,paul1 by the bitter opponent1 or by the false follower4 ,and again it illustrates and defines1 by the direction of its error1 the line of truth from which it flew off4 ,it helps to do what we remarked above1#if to assure us that when ,st ,paul taught ,justification by faith1 without deeds of law1 he meant what he said1 without reserve2 he taught that great side of truth wholly1 and without a compromise4 ,he called the sinner1 just as he was1 and waiting not to rid his soul of one dark blot1 to receive at once1 and without fee1 the acceptance of ,god for ,another's blessed sake4 ,bitter must have been the moral pain of seeing1 from the first1 this holy freedom distorted into an unhallowed leave to sin4#ig ,but he will not meet it by an impatient compromise1 or untimely confusion4 ,it shall be answered by a fresh collocation2 the liberty shall be seen in its relation to the ,liberator2 and behold1 the perfect freedom is a perfect service1 willing but absolute1 a slavery joyfully accepted1 with open eyes and open heart1 and then lived out as the most real of obligations by a being who has entirely seen that he is not his own4 ,away with the thought4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,do you not know that the party to whom you present1 surrender1 yourselves bondservants1 slaves1 so as to obey him1--bondservants you are1 not the less for the freewill of the surrender1 of the party whom you obey2 no longer merely contractors with him1 who may bargain1 or retire1 but his bondservants out and out2 whether of sin1 to death1 or of obedience1 to righteousness8 7,as if their assent 77 to ,christ1 their ,amen to ,his terms of peace1 acceptance1 righteousness1 were personified2 they were now the bondsmen of this their own act and deed1 which had put them1 as it were1 into ,christ's hands for all things47 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,now 77 thanks be to our 77 ,god1 that you were bondmen of sin1 in legal claim1 and under moral sway2 yes1 every one of you was this1 whatever forms the bondage took upon its surface2 but you obeyed from the heart the mould of teaching to which you were handed over4#ih ,they had been sin's slaves4 ,verbally1 not really1 he thanks ,god for that fact of the past4 ,really1 not verbally1 he thanks ,god for the pastness of the fact1 and for the bright contrast to it in the regenerated present4 ,they had now been handed over1 by their ,lord's transaction about them1 to another ownership1 and they had accepted the transfer1 from the heart4 ,it was done by ,another for them1 but they had said their humble1 thankful fiat as ,he did it4 ,and what was the new ownership thus accepted8 ,we shall find soon 7ver4 #bb71 as we might expect1 that it is the mastery of ,god4 ,but the bold1 vivid introductory imagery has already called it 7ver4 #af7 the slavery of ,obedience4 ,just below 7vers4 #ai1 #bj7 it is the slavery of ,righteousness1 that is1 if we read the word aright in its whole context1 of the ,righteousness of ,god1 ,his acceptance of the sinner as ,his own in ,christ4 ,and here1 in a phrase most unlikely of all1 whose personification strikes life into the most abstract aspects of the message of the grace of ,god1 the believer is one who has been transferred to the possession of a mould of ,teaching4 ,the apostolic ,doctrine1 the mighty ,message1 the living ,creed of life1 the ,teaching of the acceptance of the guilty for the sake of ,him who was their ,sacrifice1 and is now their ,peace and ,life--this truth has1 as it were1 grasped them as its vassals1 to form them1 to mould them1 for its issues4 ,it is indeed their tenet4 ,it holds them2 a thought far different from what is too often meant when we say of a doctrine that we hold it4 ,justification by their ,lord's merit1 union with their ,lord's life2 this was a doctrine1 reasoned1 ordered1 verified4 ,but it was a doctrine warm and tenacious with the love of the ,father and of the ,son4 ,and it had laid hold of them with a mastery which swayed thought1 affection1 and will2 ruling their whole view of self and of ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,now 771 liberated from your 77 sin1 you were enslaved to the ,righteousness of ,god4#ii ,here is the point of the argument4 ,it is a point of steel1 for all is fact2 but the steel is steeped in love1 and carries life and joy into the heart it penetrates4 ,they are not for one moment their own4 ,their acceptance has magnificently emancipated them from their tyrant-enemy4 ,but it has absolutely bound them to their ,friend and ,king4 ,their glad consent to be accepted has carried with it a consent to belong4 ,and if that consent was at the moment rather implied than explicit1 virtual rather than articulately conscious1 they have now only to understand their blessed slavery better to give the more joyful thanksgivings to ,him who has thus claimed them altogether as ,his own4 ,the ,apostle's aim in this whole passage is to awaken them1 with the strong1 tender touch of his holy reasoning1 to articulate their position to themselves4 ,they have trusted ,christ1 and are in ,him4 ,then1 they have entrusted themselves altogether to ,him4 ,then1 they have1 in effect1 surrendered4 ,they have consented to be ,his property4 ,they are the bondservants1 they are the slaves1#ajj of ,his ,truth1 that is1 of ,him robed and revealed in ,his ,truth1 and shining through it on them in the glory at once of ,his grace and of ,his claim4 ,nothing less than such an obligation is the fact for them4 ,let them feel1 let them weigh1 and then let them embrace1 the chain which after all will only prove their pledge of rest and freedom4 ,what ,st ,paul thus did for our elder brethren at ,rome1 let him do for us of this later time4 ,for us1 who read this page1 all the facts are true in ,christ to-day4 ,to-day let us define and affirm their issues to ourselves1 and recollect our holy bondage1 and realize it1 and live it out with joy4 ,now he follows up the thought4 ,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 it2 not the less carefully1 in his noble considerateness1 because so many of his first readers were actually slaves4 ,he does not lightly go for his picture of our ,master's hold of us to the market of ,corinth1 or of ,rome1 where men and women were sold and bought to belong as absolutely to their buyers as cattle1 or as furniture4 ,yet he does go there1 to shake slow perceptions into consciousness1 and bring the will face to face with the claim of ,god4 ,so he proceeds3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,i speak humanly1 ,i use the terms of this utterly not-divine bond of man to man1 to illustrate man's glorious bond to ,god1 because of the weakness of your flesh1 because your yet imperfect state enfeebles your spiritual perception1 and demands a harsh paradox to direct and fix it4 ,for--here is what he means by humanly--just as you surrendered your limbs1#aja your functions and faculties in human life1 slaves to your 77 impurity and to your 77 lawlessness1 unto that 77 lawlessness1 so that the bad principle did indeed come out in bad practice1 so now1 with as little reserve of liberty1 surrender your limbs slaves to righteousness1 to ,god's ,righteousness1 to your justifying ,god1 unto sanctification--so that the surrender shall come out in your ,master's sovereign separation of ,his purchased property from sin4 ,he has appealed to the moral reason of the regenerate soul4 ,now he speaks straight to the will4 ,you are1 with infinite rightfulness1 the bondmen of your ,god4 ,you see your deed of purchase2 it is the other side of your warrant of emancipation4 ,take it1 and write your own unworthy names with joy upon it1 consenting and assenting to your ,owner's perfect rights4 ,and then live out your life1 keeping the autograph of your own surrender before your eyes4 ,live1 suffer1 conquer1 labour1 serve1 as men who have themselves walked to their ,master's door1 and presented the ear to the awl which pins it to the doorway1 each in his turn saying1 ,i will not go out free4#ajb ,to such an act of the soul the ,apostle calls these saints1 whether they had done the like before or no4 ,they were to sum up the perpetual fact1 then and there1 into a definite and critical act 71 aorist7 of thankful will4 ,and he calls us to do the same to-day4 ,by the grace of ,god1 it shall be done4 ,with eyes open1 and fixed upon the face of the ,master who claims us1 and with hands placed helpless and willing within ,his hands1 we will1 we do1 present ourselves bondservants to ,him2 for discipline1 for servitude1 for all ,his will4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,for when you were slaves of your 77 sin1 you were freemen as to righteousness1 ,god's ,righteousness 7 74 ,it had nothing to do with you1 whether to give you peace or to receive your tribute of love and loyalty in reply4 ,practically1 ,christ was not your ,atonement1 and so not your ,master2 you stood1 in a dismal independence1 outside ,his claims4 ,to you1 your lips were your own2 your time was your own2 your will was your own4 ,you belonged to self2 that is to say1 you were the slaves of your sin4 ,will you go back8 ,will the word freedom 7he plays with it1 as it were1 to prove them7 make you wish yourselves back where you were before you had endorsed by faith your purchase by the blood of ,christ8 ,nay1 for what was that freedom1 seen in its results1 its results upon yourselves8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,what fruit1 therefore1 7the therefore of the logic of facts17 used you to have then1 in those old days1 from things over which you are ashamed now8 ,ashamed indeed2 for the end1 the issue1 as the fruit is the tree's end1 the end of those things is--death2 perdition of all true life1 here and hereafter too4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,but now1 in the blessed actual state of your case1 as by faith you have entered into ,christ1 into ,his work and into ,his life1 now liberated from sin and enslaved to ,god1 you have your fruit1 you possess indeed1 at last1 the true issues of being for which you were made1 all contributing to sanctification1 to that separation to ,god's will in practice which is the development of your separation to that will in critical fact1 when you met your ,redeemer in self-renouncing faith4 ,yes1 this fruit you have indeed2 and as its end1 as that for which it is produced1 to which it always and for ever tends1 you have life eternal4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,for the pay of sin1 sin's military stipend 771 punctually given to the being which has joined its war against the will of ,god1 is death2 but the free gift of ,god is life eternal1 in ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 99 99 99 99 99 ,is life worth living8 ,yes1 infinitely well worth1 for the living man who has surrendered to the ,lord that bought him4 ,outside that ennobling captivity1 that invigorating while most genuine bondservice1 the life of man is at best complicated and tired with a bewildered quest1 and gives results at best abortive1 matched with the ideal purposes of such a being4 ,we present ourselves to ,god1 for ,his ends1 as implements1 vassals1 willing bondmen2 and lo1 our own end is attained4 ,our life has settled1 after its long friction1 into gear4 ,our root1 after hopeless explorations in the dust1 has struck at last the stratum where the immortal water makes all things live1 and grow1 and put forth fruit for heaven4 ,the heart1 once dissipated between itself and the world1 is now united to the will1 to the love1 of ,god2 and understands itself1 and the world1 as never before2 and is able to deny self and to serve others in a new and surprising freedom4 ,the man1 made willing to be nothing but the tool and bondman of ,god1 has his fruit at last2 bears the true product of his now re-created being1 pleasant to the ,master's eye1 and fostered by ,his air and sun4 ,and this fruit issues1 as acts issue in habit1 in the glad experience of a life really sanctified1 really separated in ever deeper inward reality1 to a holy will4 ,and the end of the whole glad possession1 is life eternal4 ,those great words here signify1 surely1 the coming bliss of the sons of the resurrection1 when at last in their whole perfected being they will live all through1 with a joy and energy as inexhaustible as its ,fountain1 and unencumbered at last and for ever by the conditions of our mortality4 ,to that vast future1 vast in its scope yet all concentrated round the fact that we shall be like ,,him1 for we shall see ,,him as ,,he is1 the ,apostle here looks onward4 ,he will say more of it1 and more largely1 later1 in the eighth chapter4 ,but as with other themes so with this he preludes with a few glorious chords the great strain soon to come4 ,he takes the ,lord's slave by the hand1 amidst his present tasks and burthens1 7dear tasks and burthens1 because the ,master's1 but still full of the conditions of earth17 and he points upward--not to a coming manumission in glory2 the man would be dismayed to foresee that2 he wants to serve for ever2--but to a scene of service in which the last remainders of hindrance to its action will be gone1 and a perfected being will for ever1 perfectly1 be not its own1 and so will perfectly live in ,god4 ,and this1 so he says to his fellow-servant1 to you and to me1 is the gift of ,god2 a grant as free1 as generous1 as ever ,king gave vassal here below4 ,and it is to be enjoyed as such1 by a being which1 living wholly for ,him1 will freely and purely exult to live wholly on ,him1 in the heavenly places4 ,yet surely the bearing of the sentences is not wholly upon heaven4 ,life eternal1 so to be developed hereafter that ,scripture speaks of it often as if it began hereafter1 really begins here1 and develops here1 and is already more abundant 7,john x4 #aj7 here4 ,it is1 as to its secret and also its experience1 to know and to enjoy ,god1 to be possessed by ,him1 and used for all ,his will4 ,in this respect it is the end1 the issue and the goal1 now and perpetually1 of the surrender of the soul4 ,the ,master meets that attitude with more and yet more of ,himself1 known1 enjoyed1 possessed1 possessing4 ,and so ,he gives1 evermore gives1 out of ,his sovereign bounty1 life eternal to the bondservant who has embraced the fact that he is nothing1 and has nothing1 outside his ,master4 ,not at the outset of the regenerate life only1 and not only when it issues into the heavenly ocean1 but all along the course1 the life eternal is still the free gift of ,god4 ,let us now1 to-day1 to-morrow1 and always1 open the lips of surrendering and obedient faith1 and drink it in1 abundantly1 and yet more abundantly4 ,and let us use it for the ,giver4 ,we are already1 here on earth1 at its very springs2 so the ,apostle reminds us4 ,for it is in ,jesus ,christ our ,lord2 and we1 believing1 are in ,him1 saved in ,his life4 ,it is in ,him2 nay1 it is ,he4 ,i am the ,life2 ,he that hath the ,son1 hath the life4 ,abiding in ,christ1 we live because ,he liveth4 ,it is not to be attained2 it is given1 it is our own4 ,in ,christ1 it is given1 in its divine fulness1 as to covenant provision1 here1 now1 from the first1 to every ,christian4 ,in ,christ1 it is supplied1 as to its fulness and fitness for each arising need1 as the ,christian asks1 receives1 and uses for his ,lord4 ,so from1 or rather in1 our holy bondservice the ,apostle has brought us to our inexhaustible life1 and its resources for willing holiness4 ,but he has more to say in explaining the beloved theme4 ,he turns from slave to wife1 from surrender to bridal1 from the purchase to the vow1 from the results of a holy bondage to the offspring of a heavenly union4 ,hear him as he proceeds3 ,sidenote3 ,ch4 vii4 ,ver4 #a4 ,or do you not know1 brethren1 7for ,i am talking 77 to those acquainted with law1 whether ,mosaic or ,gentile17 that the law has claim on the man1 the party 77 in any given case1 for his whole lifetime8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,for the woman with a husband 77 is to her living husband bound by law1 stands all along bound 77 to him4 ,his life1 under normal conditions1 is his adequate claim4 ,prove him living1 and you prove her his4 ,but if the husband should have died1 she stands ipso facto cancelled#ajc 77 from the husband's law1 the marriage law as he could bring it to bear against her4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,so1 therefore1 while the husband lives1 she will earn adulteress for her name1 if she weds another 71 a second7 husband4 ,but if the husband should have died1 she is free from the law in question1 so as to be no adulteress1 if wedded to another1 a second1 husband4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,accordingly1 my brethren1 you too1 as a mystic bride1 collectively and individually1#ajd were done to death as to the ,law1 so slain that its capital claim upon you is met and done1 by means of the ,body of the ,christ 7 71 by the doing to death of ,his sacred ,body for you1 on ,his atoning ,cross1 to satisfy for you the aggrieved ,law2 in order to your wedding ,another1 a second ,party 771 ,him who rose from the dead2 that we might bear fruit for ,god2 we1 ,paul and his converts1 in one happy fellowship1 which he delights thus to remember and indicate by the way4 ,the parable is stated and explained with a clearness which leaves us at first the more surprised that in the application the illustration should be reversed4 ,in the illustration1 the husband dies1 the woman lives1 and weds again4 ,in the application1 the ,law does not die1 but we1 its unfaithful bride1 are done to death to it1 and then1 strange sequel1 are wedded to the ,risen ,christ4 ,we are taken by ,him to be one spirit with ,him 7#a ,cor4 vi4 #ag74 ,we are made one in all ,his interests and wealth1 and fruitful of a progeny of holy deeds in this vital union4 ,shall we call all this a simile confused8 ,not if we recognize the deliberate and explicit carefulness of the whole passage4 ,st ,paul1 we may be sure1 was quite as quick as we are to see the inverted imagery4 ,but he is dealing with a subject which would be distorted by a mechanical correspondence in the treatment4 ,the ,law cannot die1 for it is the preceptive will of ,god4 ,its claim is1 in its own awful forum domesticum1 like the injured ,roman husband1 to sentence its own unfaithful wife to death4 ,and so it does2 so it has done4 ,but behold1 its ,maker and ,master steps upon the scene4 ,he surrounds the guilty one with ,himself1 takes her whole burthen on ,himself1 and meets and exhausts her doom4 ,he dies4 ,he lives again1 after death1 because of death2 and the ,law acclaims ,his resurrection as infinitely just4 ,he rises1 clasping in ,his arms her for whom ,he died1 and who thus died in ,him1 and now rises in ,him4 ,out of ,his sovereign love1 while the ,law attests the sure contract1 and rejoices as the ,bridegroom's ,friend1 ,he claims her--herself1 yet in ,him another--for ,his blessed ,bride4 ,all is love1 as if we walked through the lily-gardens of the holy ,song1 and heard the call of the turtle in the vernal woods1 and saw the ,king and ,his ,beloved rest and rejoice in one another4 ,all is law1 as if we were admitted to watch some process of ,roman matrimonial contract1 stern and grave1 in which every right is scrupulously considered1 and every claim elaborately secured1 without a smile1 without an embrace1 before the magisterial chair4 ,the ,church1 the soul1 is married to her ,lord1 who has died for her1 and in whom now she lives4 ,the transaction is infinitely happy4 ,and it is absolutely right4 ,all the old terrifying claims are amply and for ever met4 ,and now the mighty1 tender claims which take their place instantly and of course begin to bind the ,bride4 ,the ,law has given her away--not to herself1 but to the ,risen ,lord4 ,for this1 let us remember1 is the point and bearing of the passage4 ,it puts before us1 with its imagery at once so grave and so benignant1 not only the mystic ,bridal1 but the ,bridal as it is concerned with holiness4 ,the ,apostle's object is altogether this4 ,from one side and from another he reminds us that we belong4 ,he has shewn us our redeemed selves in their blessed bondservice2 free from sin1 enslaved to ,god4 ,he now shews us to ourselves in our divine wedlock2 married to ,another1 bound to the law of the heavenly ,husband2 clasped to ,his heart1 but also to ,his rights1 without which the very joy of marriage would be only sin4 ,from either parable the inference is direct1 powerful1 and1 when we have once seen the face of the ,,master and of the ,,husband1 unutterably magnetic on the will4 ,you are set free1 into a liberty as supreme and as happy as possible4 ,you are appropriated1 into a possession1 and into a union1 more close and absolute than language can set forth4 ,you are wedded to ,one who has and holds from this time forward4 ,and the sacred bond is to be prolific of results4 ,a life of willing and loving obedience1 in the power of the risen ,bridegroom's life1 is to have as it were for its progeny the fair circle of active graces1 love1 joy1 peace1 longsuffering1 gentleness1 goodness1 fidelity1 meekness1 self-control4 ,alas1 in the time of the old abolished wedlock there was result1 there was progeny4 ,but that was the fruit not of the union but of its violation4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,for when we were in the flesh1 in our unregenerate days1 when our rebel self1#aje the antithesis of the ,spirit1 ruled and denoted us1 7a state1 he implies1 in which we all were once1 whatever our outward differences were17 the passions1 the strong but reasonless impulses1 of our sins1 which passions were by means of the ,law1 occasioned by the fact of its just but unloved claim1 fretting the self-life into action1 worked actively in our limbs1 in our bodily life in its varied faculties and senses1 so as to bear fruit for death4 ,we wandered1 restive1 from our bridegroom1 the ,law1 to ,sin1 our paramour4 ,and behold1 a manifold result of evil deeds and habits1 born as it were into bondage in the house of ,death4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,but now1 now as the wonderful case stands in the grace of ,god1 we are 7it is the aorist1 but our ,english fairly represents it7 abrogated from the ,law1 divorced from our first injured ,partner1 nay1 slain 7in our crucified ,head7 in satisfaction of its righteous claim1 as having died 7#ajf7 with regard to that in which we were held captive1 even the ,law and its violated bond1 so that we do bondservice in the ,spirit's newness1 and not in the ,letter's oldness4 ,thus he comes back1 through the imagery of wedlock1 to that other parable of slavery which has become so precious to his heart4 ,so that we do bondservice1 so that we live a slave-life2 4 ,it is as if he must break in on the heavenly ,marriage itself with that brand and bond1 not to disturb the joy of the ,bridegroom and the ,bride1 but to clasp to the ,bride's heart the vital fact that she is not her own2 that fact so blissful1 but so powerful also and so practical that it is worth anything to bring it home4 ,it is to be no dragging and dishonouring bondage1 in which the poor toiler looks wistfully out for the sinking sun and the extended shadows4 ,it is to be not in the ,letter's oldness2 no longer on the old principle of the dread and unrelieved ,thou shalt1 cut with a pen of legal iron upon the stones of ,sinai2 bearing no provision of enabling power1 but all possible provision of doom for the disloyal4 ,it is to be in the ,spirit's newness2 on the new1 wonderful principle1 new in its full manifestation and application in ,christ1 of the ,holy ,ghost's empowering presence4#ajg ,in that light and strength the new relations are discovered1 accepted1 and fulfilled4 ,joined by the ,spirit to the ,lord ,christ1 so as to have full benefit of ,his justifying merit2 filled by the ,spirit with the ,lord ,christ1 so as to derive freely and always the blessed virtues of ,his life2 the willing bondservant finds in his absolute obligations an inward liberty ever new1 fresh as the dawn1 pregnant as the spring4 ,and the worshipping ,bride finds in the holy call to keep her only unto ,,him who has died for her life1 nothing but a perpetual surprise of love and gladness1 new every morning1 as the ,spirit shews her the heart and the riches of her ,lord4 ,thus closes1 in effect1 the ,apostle's reasoned exposition of the self-surrender of the justified4 ,happy the man who can respond to it all with the ,amen of a life which1 reposing on the ,righteousness of ,god1 answers ever to ,his ,will with the loyal gladness found in the newness of the ,spirit4 ,it is perfect freedom to understand1 in experience1 the bondage and the bridal of the saints4 #id ,it will be observed that we place the paragraph after ver4 #ac1 not1 as many editions of the ,epistle do1 after ver4 #ad4 ,it seems to us clear that ver4 #ad has a closer connexion with the following than with the previous context4 ,it looks back1 not precisely to ver4 #ac1 but to the general recent argument1 that it may then look definitely forward1 over new ground4 #ie 1 3 the accusative case gives the preposition properly the meaning of motion underwards4 ,but this must not be pressed too far4 #if p4 #aeg4 #ig ,luther's ,esto peccator1 et pecca fortiter1 has been often quoted as if that great saint meant to argue licence from ,justification by faith4 ,god forbid4 ,the words occur in a counsel to ,melanchthon1 whose anxious conscience doubted whether it were not a sin to communicate in one ,kind1 even where the true ,rite in both ,kinds could not be had4 ,it was ,luther's glowing paradox1 to drive a manifestly morbid and weakening scrupulousness from his friend's mind4 ,see ,julius ,hare's ,vindication of ,luther1 pp4 #agh1 etc4 #ih ,so undoubtedly the ,greek must be rendered4 #ii ,see above1 p4 #agc4 #ajj ,we do not forget that many ,christians feel a strong repugnance to the use of this word1 steeped as it is in associations of degradation and wrong4 ,for ourselves1 we would yield to this feeling so far as habitually to prefer the word of milder sound1 bondservant4 ,but surely in this passage the ,apostle on purpose so accentuates the thought of our bondservice that its fullest and sternest designation is in place4 ,and1 if in any degree we gather the thought of other hearts from our own1 there are times and connexions in which the fulness of the joy of service demands that designation in order to its adequate realization4 #aja 3 what the body is in such passages as xii4 #a that the limbs are in detail4 #ajb ,exod4 xxi4 #e1 #f2 ,deut4 xv4 #af1 #ag4 #ajc ,we render the bold phrase literally4 #ajd ,see #a ,cor4 vi4 #ag4 #aje ,no word1 for practical purposes1 answers better than self 7as popularly used in ,christian parlance7 to the idea represented by ,st ,paul's use of the word in moral connexions4 #ajf ,so read1 not 4 ,the textual evidence supports 1 and the evidence of the context is all for it4 ,he has elaborately avoided1 in applying his illustration1 the thought that the ,law can die4 ,we die1 in ,christ1 in judicial satisfaction of its most righteous claim4 ,it lives with us1 it guides us1 with the authority of ,god4 ,but it is now our monitor1 not our avenger of blood4 #ajg ,such passages as this and its companion1 #b ,cor4 iii4 #d-h1 have no reference1 however remote1 to the letter and spirit of ,holy ,scripture4 ,they contrast ,sinai and ,pentecost4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,the ,,function ,,of ,,the ,,law ,,in ,,the ,,spiritual ,,life ,,romans vii4 #g-be ,the ,apostle has led us a long way in his great argument2 through sin1 propitiation1 faith1 union1 surrender1 to that wonderful and excellent mystery1 the bridal oneness of ,christ and the ,church1 of ,christ and the believer4 ,he has yet to unfold the secrets and glories of the experience of a life lived in the power of that ,spirit of whose newness he has just spoken4 ,but his last parable has brought him straight to a question which has repeatedly been indicated and deferred4 ,he has told us that the ,law of ,god was at first1 ideally1 our mystic husband1 and that we were unfaithful in our wedded life1 and that the injured lord sentenced to death his guilty spouse1 and that the sentence was carried out--but carried out in ,christ4 ,thus a death-divorce took place between us1 the justified1 and the ,law1 regarded as the violated party in the covenant--,do this and live4 ,is this ancient husband then a party whom we are now to suspect1 and to defy8 ,our wedlock with him brought us little joy4 ,alas1 its main experience was that we sinned4 ,at best1 if we did right1 7in any deep sense of right17 we did it against the grain2 while we did wrong1 7in the deep sense of wrong1 difference from the will of ,god17 with a feeling of nature and gravitation4 ,was not our old lord to blame8 ,was there not something wrong about the ,law8 ,did not the ,law misrepresent ,god's will8 ,was it not1 after all1 ,sin itself in disguise1 though it charged us with the horrible guilt of a course of adultery with ,sin8 ,we cannot doubt that the statement and the treatment of this question here are in effect a record of personal experience4 ,the paragraph which it originates1 this long last passage of i41 bears every trace of such experience4 ,hitherto1 in the main1 he has dealt with you and us2 now he speaks only as ,i1 only of me1 and of mine4 ,and the whole dialect of the passage1 so to say1 falls in with this use of pronouns4 ,we overhear the colloquies1 the altercations1 of will with conscience1 of will with will1 almost of self with self1 carried on in a region which only self-consciousness can penetrate1 and which only the subject of it all can thus describe4 ,yes1 the person ,paul is here1 analysing and reporting upon himself2 drawing the veil from his own inmost life1 with a hand firm because surrendered to the will of ,god1 who bids him1 for the ,church's sake1 expose himself to view4 ,nothing in literature1 no ,confessions of an ,augustine1 no ,grace ,abounding of a ,bunyan1 is more intensely individual4 ,yet on the other hand nothing is more universal in its searching application4 ,for the man who thus writes is the chosen vessel of the ,lord who has perfectly adjusted not his words only but his being1 his experience1 his conflicts and deliverances1 to be manifestations of universal spiritual facts4 ,we need hardly say that this profound paragraph has been discussed and interpreted most variously4 ,it has been held by some to be only ,st ,paul's intense way of presenting that great phenomenon1 wide as fallen humanity--human will colliding with human conscience1 so that no man does all he knows4 ,passages from every quarter of literature1 of all ages1 of all races1 have been heaped around it1 to prove1 7what is indeed so profoundly significant a fact1 largely confirmatory of the ,christian doctrine of ,original ,sin1#ajh7 that universal man is haunted by undone duties2 and this passage is placed as it were in the midst1 as the fullest possible confession of that fact1 in the name of humanity1 by an ideal individual4 ,but surely it needs only an attentive reading of the passage1 as a part of the ,epistle to the ,romans1 as a part of the teaching of ,st ,paul1 to feel the extreme inadequacy of such an account4 ,on the one hand the long groaning confession is no artificial embodiment of a universal fact2 it is the cry of a human soul1 if ever there was a personal cry4 ,on the other hand the passage betrays a kind of conflict far deeper and more mysterious than merely that of ,i ought with ,i will not4 ,it is a conflict of ,i will with ,i will not2 of ,i hate with ,i do4 ,and in the later stages of the confession we find the subject of the conflict avowing a wonderful sympathy with the ,law of ,god2 recording not merely an avowal that right is right1 but a consciousness that ,god's precept is delectable4 ,all this leads us to a spiritual region unknown to ,euripides1 and ,horace1 and even ,epictetus4 ,again it has been held that the passage records the experiences of a half-regenerate soul2 struggling on its way from darkness to light1 stumbling across a border-zone between the power of ,satan and the kingdom of ,god2 deeply convinced of sin1 but battling with it in the old impossible way after all1 meeting self with self1 or1 otherwise1 the devil with the man4 ,but here again the passage seems to refuse the exposition1 as we read all its elements4 ,it is no experience of a half-renewed life to take delight with the law of ,god after the inner man4 ,it is utterly unlawful for a half-regenerate soul to describe itself as so beset by sin that it is not ,i1 but sin that dwelleth in me4 ,no more dangerous form of thought about itself could be adopted by a soul not fully acquainted with ,god4 ,again1 and quite on the other hand1 it has been held that our passage lays it down that a stern but on the whole disappointing conflict with internal evil is the lot of the true ,christian1 in his fullest life1 now1 always1 and to the end2 that the regenerate and believing man is1 if indeed awake to spiritual realities1 to feel at every step1 ,o wretched man that ,i am2 ,what ,i hate1 that ,i do2 and to expect deliverance from such a consciousness only when he attains his final heavenly rest with ,christ4 ,here again extreme difficulties attend the exposition2 not from within the passage1 but from around it4 ,it is literally encircled with truths of liberty1 in a servitude which is perfect freedom2 with truths of power and joy1 in a life which is by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,it is quite incongruous with such surroundings that it should be thought to describe a spiritual experience dominant and characteristic in the ,christian life4 ,what shall we say then8 ,is there yet another line of exegesis which will better satisfy the facts of both the passage and its context8 ,we think there is one1 which at once is distinctive in itself1 and combines elements of truth indicated by the others which we have outlined4 ,for those others have each an element of truth1 if we read aright4 ,the passage has a reference to the universal conflict of conscience and will4 ,it does say some things quite appropriate to the man who is awake to his bondage but has not yet found his ,redeemer4 ,and there is1 we dare to say1 a sense in which it may be held that the picture is true for the whole course of ,christian life here on earth2 for there is never an hour of that life when the man who says he has no sin does not deceive himself 7#a ,joh4 i4 #h74 ,and if that sin be but simple defect1 a falling short of the glory of ,god2 nay1 if it be only that mysterious tendency which1 felt or not1 hourly needs a divine counteraction2 still1 the man has sin1 and must long for a final emancipation1 with a longing which carries in it at least a latent groan4 ,so we begin by recognizing that ,paul1 the personal ,paul1 speaking here to all of us1 as in some solemn testimony hour1 takes us first to his earliest deep convictions of right and wrong1 when1 apparently after a previous complacency with himself1 he woke to see--but not to welcome--the absoluteness of ,god's will4 ,he glided along a smooth stream of moral and mental culture and reputation till he struck the rock of ,thou shalt not covet1 ,thou shalt not desire1 ,thou must not have self-will4 ,then1 as from a grave1 which was however only an ambush1 sin sprang up2 a conscious force of opposition to the claim of ,god's will as against the will of ,paul2 and his dream of religious satisfaction died4 ,till we close ver4 #aa1 certainly1 we are in the midst of the unregenerate state4 ,the tenses are past2 the narrative is explicit4 ,he made a discovery of law which was as death after life to his then religious experience4 ,he has nothing to say of counter-facts in his soul4 ,it was conviction1 with only rebellion as its issue4 ,then we find ourselves1 we hardly know how1 in a range of confessions of a different order4 ,there is a continuity4 ,the ,law is there1 and sin is there1 and a profound moral conflict4 ,but there are now counter-facts4 ,the man1 the ,ego1 now wills not1 nay1 hates1 what he practises4 ,he wills what ,god prescribes1 though he does it not4 ,his sinful deeds are1 in a certain sense1 in this respect1 not his own4 ,he actually delights1 rejoices1 with the ,law of ,god4 ,yet there is a sense in which he is sold1 enslaved1 captured1 in the wrong direction4 ,here1 as we have admitted1 there is much which is appropriate to the not yet regenerate state1 where however the man is awakening morally1 to good purpose1 under the hand of ,god4 ,but the passage as a whole refuses to be satisfied thus1 as we have seen4 ,he who can truly speak thus of an inmost sympathy1 a sympathy of delight1 with the most holy ,law of ,god1 is no half-,christian2 certainly not in ,st ,paul's view of things4 ,but now observe one great negative phenomenon of the passage4 ,we read words about this regenerate sinner's moral being and faculties2 about his inner man1 his mind1 the law of his mind2 about himself1 as distinguished from the sin which haunts him4 ,but we read not one clear word about that eternal ,,spirit1 whose glorious presence we have seen 7vii4 #f71 characterizing the ,gospel1 and of whom we are soon to hear in such magnificent amplitude4 ,once only is ,he even distantly indicated2 the ,law is spiritual 7ver4 #ad74 ,but that is no comfort1 no deliverance4 ,the ,spirit is indeed in the ,law2 but ,he must be also in the man1 if there is to be effectual response1 and harmony1 and joy4 ,no1 we look in vain through the passage for one hint that the man1 that ,paul1 is contemplated in it as filled by faith with the ,holy ,ghost for his war with indwelling sin working through his embodied conditions4 ,but he was regenerate1 you say4 ,and if so1 he was an instance of the ,spirit's work1 a receiver of the ,spirit's presence4 ,it is so2 not without the ,spirit1 working in him1 could he delight in the law of ,god1 and with his true self serve the law of ,god4 ,but does this necessarily mean that he1 as a conscious agent1 was fully using his eternal ,guest as his power and victory8 ,we are not merely discussing a literary passage4 ,we are pondering an oracle of ,god about man4 ,so we turn full upon the reader--and upon ourselves--and ask the question1 whether the heart cannot help to expound this hard paragraph4 ,christian man1 by grace1--that is to say1 by the ,holy ,spirit of ,god1--you have believed1 and live4 ,you are a limb of ,christ1 who is your life4 ,but you are a sinner still2 always1 actually1 in defect1 and in tendency2 always1 potentially1 in ways terribly positive4 ,for whatever the presence of the ,spirit in you has done1 it has not so altered you that1 if ,he should go1 you would not instantly revert to the type of unholiness4 ,now1 how do you meet temptation from without8 ,how do you deal with the dread fact of guilty imbecility within8 ,do you1 if ,i may put it so1 use regenerate faculty in unregenerate fashion1 meeting the enemy practically alone1 with only high resolves1 and moral scorn of wrong1 and assiduous processes of discipline on body or mind8 ,god forbid we should call these things evil4 ,they are good4 ,but they are the accidents1 not the essence1 of the secret2 the wall1 not the well1 of power and triumph4 ,it is the ,lord ,himself dwelling in you who is your victory2 and that victory is to be realized by a conscious and decisive appeal to ,him4 ,through ,him you shall do valiantly2 for ,he it is that shall tread down your enemies 7,psal4 lx4 #ab74 ,and is not this verified in your experience8 ,when1 in your regenerate state1 you use the true regenerate way1 is there not a better record to be given8 ,when1 realizing that the true principle is indeed a ,person1 you less resolve1 less struggle1 and more appeal and confide--is not sin's reign broken1 and is not your foot1 even yours1 because you are in conscious union with the ,conqueror1 placed effectually on all the power of the enemy8 ,we are aware of the objection ready to be made1 and by devout and reverent men4 ,it will be said that the ,indwelling ,spirit works always through the being in whom ,he dwells2 and that so we are not to think of ,him as a separable ,ally1 but just to act ourselves1 leaving it to ,him to act through us4 ,well1 we are willing to state the matter almost exactly in those last words1 as theory4 ,but the subject is too deep--and too practical--for neat logical consistency4 ,he does indeed work in us1 and through us4 ,but then--it is ,,he4 ,and to the hard pressed soul there is an unspeakable reality and power in thinking of ,him as a separable1 let us say simply a personal1 ,ally1 who is also ,commander1 ,lord1 ,life-,giver2 and in calling ,him definitely in4 ,so we read this passage again1 and note this absolute and eloquent silence in it about the ,holy ,ghost4 ,and we dare1 in that view1 to interpret it as ,st ,paul's confession1 not of a long past experience1 not of an imagined experience1 but of his own normal experience always--when he acts out of character as a regenerate man4 ,he fails1 he reverts1 when1 being a sinner by nature still1 and in the body still1 he meets the ,law1 and meets temptation1 in any strength short of the definitely sought power of the ,holy ,ghost1 making ,christ all to him for peace and victory4 ,and he implies1 surely1 that this failure is not a bare hypothesis1 but that he knows what it is4 ,it is not that ,god is not sufficient4 ,he is so1 always1 now1 for ever4 ,but the man does not always adequately use ,god2 as he ought to do1 as he might do1 as he will ever rise up afresh to do4 ,and when he does not1 the resultant failure--though it be but a thought of vanity1 a flush of unexpressed anger1 a microscopic flaw in the practice of truthfulness1 an unhallowed imagination darting in a moment through the soul--is to him sorrow1 burthen1 shame4 ,it tells him that the flesh is present still1 present at least in its elements1 though ,god can keep them out of combination4 ,it tells him that1 though immensely blest1 and knowing now exactly where to seek1 and to find1 a constant practical deliverance 7oh joy unspeakable671 he is still in the body1 and that its conditions are still of death4 ,and so he looks with great desire for its redemption4 ,the present of grace is good1 beyond all his hopes of old4 ,but the future of glory is far better4 ,thus the man at once serves the ,law of ,god1 as its willing bondman 71 ver4 #be71 in the life of grace1 and submits himself1 with reverence and shame1 to its convictions1 when1 if but for an hour1 or a moment1 he reverts to the life of the flesh4 ,let us take the passage up now for a nearly continuous translation4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,what shall we say then1 in face of the thought of our death-divorce1 in ,christ1 from the ,law's condemning power4 ,is the ,law sin8 ,are they only two phases of one evil8 ,away with the thought6 ,but--here is the connexion of the two--,i should not have known1 recognized1 understood1 sin but by means of law4 ,for coveting1 for example1 ,i should not have known1 should not have recognized as sin1 if the ,law had not been saying1 ,thou shalt not covet4#aji ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,but sin1 making a fulcrum of the commandment1#aaj produced1 effected1 in me all coveting1 every various application of the principle4 ,for1 law apart1 sin is dead--in the sense of lack of conscious action4 ,it needs a holy ,will1 more or less revealed1 to occasion its collision4 ,given no holy will1 known or surmised1 and it is dead as rebellion1 though not as pollution4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,but ,i1 the person in whom it lay buried1 was all alive 771 conscious and content1 law apart1 once on a time 7strange ancient memory in that biography674 ,but when the commandment came to my conscience and my will1 sin rose to life again1 7again2 so it was no new creation after all7 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 and ,i--died2 ,i found myself legally doomed to death1 morally without life-power1 and bereft of the self-satisfaction that seemed my vital breath4 ,and the commandment that was life-wards1 prescribing nothing but perfect right1 the straight line to life eternal1 proved 77 for me deathwards4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,for sin1 making a fulcrum of the commandment1 deceived me1 into thinking fatally wrong of ,god and of myself1 and through it killed me1 discovered me to myself as legally and morally a dead man4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,so that the ,law1 indeed 771 is holy1 and the commandment1 the special precept which was my actual death-blow1 holy1 and just1 and good4 7,he says1 the ,law1 indeed 771 with the implied antithesis that sin1 on the other hand1 is the opposite2 the whole fault of his misery beneath the ,law lies with sin47 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,the good thing then1 this good ,law1 has it to me#aaa become death8 ,away with the thought6 ,nay1 but sin did so become that it might come out as sin1 working out death for me by means of the good ,law --that sin might prove overwhelmingly sinful1 through the commandment1 which at once called it up1 and1 by awful contrast1 exposed its nature4 ,observe1 he does not say merely that sin thus appeared unutterably evil4 ,more boldly1 in this sentence of mighty paradoxes1 he says that it became such4 ,as it were1 it developed its character into its fullest action1 when it thus used the eternal ,will to set creature against ,creator4 ,yet even this was overruled2 all happened thus in order1 so that the very virulence of the plague might effectually demand the glorious ,remedy4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,for we know1 we men with our conscience1 we ,christians with our ,lord's light1 that the ,law1 this ,law which sin so foully abused1 is spiritual1 the expression of the eternal ,holiness1 framed by the sure guidance of the ,holy ,spirit2 but then ,i1 ,i ,paul1 taken as a sinner1 viewed apart from ,christ1 am fleshly1 a child of self1 sold to be under sin2 yes1 not only when1 in ,adam1 my nature sold itself at first1 but still and always1 just so far as ,i am considered apart from ,christ1 and just so far as1 in practice1 ,i live apart from ,christ1 reverting1 if but for a minute1 to my self-life4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,for the work ,i work out1 ,i do not know1 ,i do not recognize2 ,i am lost amidst its distorted conditions2 for it is not what ,i will that ,i practise 771 but it is what ,i hate that ,i do 774 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,but if what ,i do is what ,i do not will1 ,i assent to the ,law that it1 the ,law1 is good2 ,i shew my moral sympathy with the precept by the endorsement given it by my will1 in the sense of my earnest moral preference4#aab ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,but now1 in this state of facts1 it is no longer ,i who work out the work1 but the indweller in me--,sin4 ,he implies by no longer that once it was otherwise2 once the central choice was for self1 now1 in the regenerate life1 even in its conflicts1 yea1 even in its failures1 it is for ,god4 ,a mysterious other self is latent still1 and asserts itself in awful reality when the true man1 the man as regenerate1 ceases to watch and to pray4 ,and in this sense he dares to say it is no more ,i4 ,it is a sense the very opposite to the dream of self-excuse2 for though the ,ego as regenerate does not do the deed1 it has1 by its sleep1 or by its confidence1 betrayed the soul to the true doer4 ,and thus he passes naturally into the following confessions1 in which we read at once the consciousness of a state which ought not to be1 though it is1 and also the conviction that it is a state out of character with himself1 with his personality as redeemed and new-created4 ,into such a confession there creeps no lying thought that he is delivered to do these abominations 7,jer4 vii4 #aj72 that it is fate2 that he cannot help it4 ,nor is the miserable dream present here that evil is but a phase of good1 and that these conflicts are only discordant melodies struggling to a cadence where they will accord4 ,it is a groan of shame and pain1 from a man who could not be thus tortured if he were not born again4 ,yet it is also an avowal1--as if to assure himself that deliverance is intended1 and is at hand1--that the treacherous tyrant he has let into the place of power is an alien to him as he is a man regenerate4 ,not for excuse1 but to clear his thought1 and direct his hope1 he says this to himself1 and to us1 in his dark hour4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,for ,i know that there dwells not in me1 that is1 in my flesh1 good2 in my personal life1 so long1 and so far1 as it reverts to self as its working centre1 all is evil1 for nothing is as ,god would have it be4 ,and that flesh1 that self-life1 is ever there1 latent if not patent2 present in such a sense that it is ready for instant reappearance1 from within1 if any moral power less than that of the ,lord ,himself is in command4 ,for the willing lies at my hand2 but the working out what is right1 does not4#aac ,the willing 7 71 as throughout this passage1 means not the ultimate fiat of the man's soul1 deciding his action1 but his earnest moral approbation1 moral sympathy1 the convictions of the enlightened being4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,for not what ,i will1 even good1 do ,i2 but what ,i do not will1 even evil1 that ,i practise4#aad ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,now if what ,i do is what ,i do not will1 no longer1 as once1 do ,i work it out1 but the indweller in me1 ,sin4 ,again his purpose is not excuse1 but deliverance4 ,no deadly antinomianism is here1 such as has withered innumerable lives1 where the thought has been admitted that sin may be in the man1 and yet the man may not sin4 ,his thought is1 as all along1 that it is his own shame that thus it is2 yet that the evil is1 ultimately1 a thing alien to his true character1 and that therefore he is right to call the lawful ,king and ,victor in upon it4 ,and now comes up again the solemn problem of the ,law4 ,that stern1 sacred1 monitor is looking on all the while1 and saying all the while the things which first woke sin from its living grave in the old complacent experience1 and then1 in the regenerate state1 provoked sin to its utmost treachery1 and most fierce invasions4 ,and the man hears the voice1 and in his new-created character he loves it4 ,but he has reverted1 ever so little1 to his old attitude1 to the self-life1 and so there is also rebellion in him when that voice says ,thou shalt4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,so ,i find the ,law--he would have said1 ,i find it my monitor1 honoured1 aye and loved1 but not my helper2 but he breaks the sentence up in the stress of this intense confession2 so ,i find the ,law--for me1 me with a will to do the right1--that for me the evil lies at hand4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,for ,i have glad sympathy with 77 the ,law of ,god2 what ,he prescribes ,i endorse with delight as good1 as regards the inner man1 that is1 my world of conscious insight and affection#aae in the new life2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 but ,i see 7as if ,i were a watcher from without7 a rival 77 law1 another and contradictory precept1 serve thyself1 in my limbs1 in my world of sense and active faculty1 at war with the law of my mind1 the ,law of ,god1 adopted by my now enlightened thinking-power as its sacred code1 and seeking to make me captive in that war#aaf to the law of sin1 the law which is in my limbs4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 ,unhappy man am ,i4 ,who will rescue me out of the body of this death1#aag out of a life conditioned by this mortal body1 which in the ,fall became sin's especial vehicle1 directly or indirectly1 and which is not yet 7vii4 #bc7 actually redeemed8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,thanks be to ,god1#aah who giveth that deliverance1 in covenant and in measure now1 fully and in eternal actuality hereafter1 through ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,so then1 to sum the whole phenomenon of the conflict up1 leaving aside for the moment this glorious hope of the issue1 ,i1 myself1 with the mind indeed do bondservice to the law of ,god1 but with the flesh1 with the life of self1 wherever and whenever ,i revert that way1 ,i do bondservice to the law of sin4 99 99 99 99 99 ,do we close the passage with a sigh1 and almost with a groan8 ,do we sigh over the intricacy of the thought1 the depth and subtlety of the reasoning1 the almost fatigue of fixing and of grasping the facts below the terms will1 and mind1 and inner man1 and flesh1 and ,i8 ,do we groan over the consciousness that no analysis of our spiritual failures can console us for the fact of them1 and that the ,apostle seems in his last sentences to relegate our consolations to the future1 while it is in the present that we fail1 and in the present that we long with all our souls to do1 as well as to approve1 the will of ,god8 ,let us be patient1 and also let us think again4 ,let us find a solemn and sanctifying peace in the patience which meekly accepts the mystery that we must needs wait yet for the redemption of our body2 that the conditions of this corruptible must yet for a season give ambushes and vantages to temptation1 which will be all annihilated hereafter4 ,but let us also think again4 ,if we went at all aright in our remarks previous to this passage1 there are glorious possibilities for the present hour readable between the lines of ,st ,paul's unutterably deep confession4 ,we have seen in conflict the ,christian man1 regenerate1 yet taken1 in a practical sense1 apart from his ,regenerator4 ,we have seen him really fight1 though he really fails4 ,we have seen him unwittingly1 but guiltily1 betray his position to the foe1 by occupying it as it were alone4 ,we have seen also1 nevertheless1 that he is not his foe's ally but his antagonist4 ,listen2 he is calling for his ,,king4 ,that cry will not be in vain4 ,the ,king will take a double line of action in response4 ,while his soldier-bondservant is yet in the body1 the body of this death1 ,he will throw ,,himself into the narrow hold1 and wonderfully turn the tide within it1 and around it4 ,and hereafter1 ,he will demolish it4 ,rather1 ,he will transfigure it1 into the counterpart--even as it were into the part--of ,his own ,body of glory2 and the man shall rest1 and serve1 and reign for ever1 with a being homogeneous all through in its likeness to the ,lord4 #ajh ,see ,j4 ,b4 ,mozley's ,lectures1 etc41 ix1 x4 #aji ,exod4 xx4 #ag4--,observe here that great fact of ,christian doctrine2 that desire1 bias1 gravitation away from ,god's will1 is sin1 whether carried into act or not4 ,is not ,st ,paul here recalling some quite special spiritual incident8 #aaj 4 #aaa is slightly emphatic2 as if to say1 at least in my case4 #aab ,for this meaning of see the closely parallel passage1 the almost sketch or embryo of this paragraph1 ,gal4 v4 #ag4 #aac ,read not 1 but simply 4 #aad ,again and 1 as in ver4 #af4 #aae ,in itself1 the phrase is neutral4 ,by usage it attaches itself to ideas of regeneration4 ,see #b ,cor4 iv4 #af1 ,eph4 iii4 #af4 #aaf 3 ,making me prisoner of war4 ,observe the present tense1 which indicates not necessarily the full success of the strategy1 but its aim4 #aag ,the ,greek equally allows the rendering out of this body of death4 #aah ,read 4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,justified3 ,,their ,,life ,,by ,,the ,,holy ,,spirit ,,romans viii4 #a-aa ,the sequence of the eighth chapter of the ,epistle on the seventh is a study always interesting and fruitful4 ,no one can read the two chapters over without feeling the strong connexion between them1 a connexion at once of contrast and of complement4 ,great indeed is the contrast between the paragraphs vii4 #g-be and the eighth chapter4 ,the stern analysis of the one1 unrelieved save by the fragment of thanksgiving at its close1 7and even this is followed at once by a re-statement of the mysterious dualism17 is to the revelations and triumphs of the other as an almost starless night1 stifling and electric1 to the splendour of a midsummer morning with a yet more glorious morrow for its future4 ,and there is complement as well as contrast4 ,the day is related to the night1 which has prepared us for it1 as hunger prepares for food4 ,precisely what was absent from the former passage is supplied richly in the latter4 ,there the ,name of the ,holy ,spirit1 the ,lord1 the ,life-,giver1 was unheard4 ,here the fact and power of the ,holy ,spirit are present everywhere1 so present that there is no other portion of the whole ,scripture1 unless we except the ,redeemer's own ,paschal ,discourse1 which presents us with so great a wealth of revelation on this all-precious theme4 ,and here we find the secret that is to stint the strife which we have just witnessed1 and which in our own souls we know so well4 ,here is the way how to walk and to please ,god 7#a ,thess4 iv4 #a71 in our justified life4 ,here is the way how1 not to be as it were the victims of the body1 and the slaves of the flesh1 but to do to death the body's practices in a continuous exercise of inward power1 and to walk after the ,spirit4 ,here is the resource on which we may be for ever joyfully paying the debt of such a walk2 giving our redeeming ,lord ,his due1 the value of ,his purchase1 even our willing1 loving surrender1 in the all-sufficient strength of the ,holy ,ghost given unto us4 ,noteworthy indeed is the manner of the introduction of this glorious truth4 ,it appears not without preparation and intimation2 we have heard already of the ,holy ,ghost in the ,christian's life1 v4 #e1 vii4 #f4 ,the heavenly water has been seen and heard in its flow2 as in a limestone country the traveller may see and hear1 through fissures in the fields1 the buried but living floods4 ,but here the truth of the ,spirit1 like those floods1 finding at last their exit at some rough cliff's base1 pours itself into the light1 and animates all the scene4 ,in such an order and manner of treatment there is a spiritual and also a practical lesson4 ,we are surely reminded1 as to the experiences of the ,christian life1 that in a certain sense we possess the ,holy ,ghost1 yea1 in ,his fulness1 from the first hour of our possession of ,christ4 ,we are reminded also that it is at least possible on the other hand that we may need so to realize and to use our covenant possession1 after sad experiments in other directions1 that life shall be thenceforth a new experience of liberty and holy joy4 ,we are reminded meanwhile that such a new departure1 when it occurs1 is new rather from our side than from the ,lord's4 ,the water was running all the while below the rocks4 ,insight and faith1 given by ,his grace1 have not called it from above1 but as it were from within1 liberating what was there4 ,the practical lesson of this is important for the ,christian teacher and pastor4 ,on the one hand1 let him make very much in his instructions1 public and private1 of the revelation of the ,spirit4 ,let him leave no room1 so far as he can do it1 for doubt or oblivion in his friends' minds about the absolute necessity of the fulness of the presence and power of the ,holy ,one1 if life is to be indeed ,christian4 ,let him describe as boldly and fully as the ,word describes it what life may be1 must be1 where that sacred fulness dwells2 how assured1 how happy within1 how serviceable around1 how pure1 free1 and strong1 how heavenly1 how practical1 how humble4 ,let him urge any who have yet to learn it to learn all this in their own experience1 claiming on their knees the mighty gift of ,god4 ,on the other hand1 let him be careful not to overdraw his theory1 and to prescribe too rigidly the methods of experience4 ,not all believers fail in the first hours of their faith to realize1 and to use1 the fulness of what the ,covenant gives them4 ,and where that realization comes later than our first sight of ,christ1 as with so many of us it does come1 not always is the experience and action the same4 ,to one it is a crisis of memorable consciousness1 a private ,pentecost4 ,another wakes up as from sleep to find the unsuspected treasure at his hand--hid from him till then by nothing thicker than shadows4 ,and another is aware that somehow1 he knows not how1 he has come to use the ,presence and ,power as a while ago he did not2 he has passed a frontier--but he knows not when4 ,in all these cases1 meanwhile1 the man had1 in one great respect1 possessed the great gift all along4 ,in covenant1 in ,christ1 it was his4 ,as he stepped by penitent faith into the ,lord1 he trod on ground which1 wonderful to say1 was all his own4 ,and beneath it ran1 that moment1 the ,river of the water of life4 ,only1 he had to discover1 to draw1 and to apply4 ,again1 the relation we have just indicated between our possession of ,christ and our possession of the ,holy ,ghost is a matter of the utmost moment1 spiritual and practical1 presented prominently in this passage4 ,all along1 as we read the passage1 we find linked inextricably together the truths of the ,spirit and of the ,son4 ,the law of the ,spirit of life is bound up with ,christ ,jesus4 ,the ,son of ,god was sent1 to take our flesh1 to die as our ,sin-,offering1 that we might walk according to the ,spirit4 ,the ,spirit of ,god is the ,spirit of ,christ4 ,the presence of the ,spirit of ,christ is such that1 where ,he dwells1 ,christ is in you4 ,here we read at once a caution1 and a truth of the richest positive blessing4 ,we are warned to remember that there is no separable ,gospel of the ,spirit4 ,not for a moment are we to advance1 as it were1 from the ,lord ,jesus ,christ to a higher or deeper region1 ruled by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,all the reasons1 methods1 and issues of the work of the ,holy ,ghost are eternally and organically connected with the ,son of ,god4 ,we have ,him at all because ,christ died4 ,we have life because ,he has joined us to ,christ living4 ,our experimental proof of ,his fulness is that ,christ to us is all4 ,and we are to be on the guard against any exposition of ,his work and glory which shall for one moment leave out those facts4 ,but not only are we to be on our guard2 we are to rejoice in the thought that the mighty1 the endless1 work of the ,spirit is all done always upon that sacred ,field1 ,christ ,jesus4 ,and every day we are to draw upon the indwelling ,giver of ,life to do for us ,his own1 ,his characteristic1 work2 to shew us our ,king in ,his beauty1 and to fill our springs of thought and will with ,him4 ,to return to the connexion of the two great chapters4 ,we have seen how close and pregnant it is2 the contrast and the complement4 ,but it is also true1 surely1 that the eighth chapter is not merely and only the counterpart to the seventh4 ,rather the eighth1 though the seventh applies to it a special motive1 is also a review of the whole previous argument of the ,epistle1 or rather the crown on the whole previous structure4 ,it begins with a deep re-assertion of our ,justification2 a point unnoticed in vii4 #g-be4 ,it does this using an inferential particle1 therefore1 --to which1 surely1 nothing in the just preceding verses is related4 ,and then it unfolds not only the present acceptance and present liberty of the saints1 but also their amazing future of glory1 already indicated1 especially in ch4 v4 #b4 ,and its closing strains are full of the great first wonder1 our ,acceptance4 ,them ,he justified2 ,it is ,god that justifieth4 ,so we forbear to take ch4 viii4 as simply the successor and counterpart of ch4 vii4 ,it is this1 in some great respects4 ,but it is more2 it is the meeting point of all the great truths of grace which we have studied1 their meeting point in the sea of holiness and glory4#aai ,as we approach the first paragraph of the chapter1 we ask ourselves what is its message on the whole1 its true envoi4 ,it is1 our possession of the ,holy ,spirit of ,god1 for purposes of holy loyalty and holy liberty4 ,the foundation of that fact is once more indicated1 in the brief assertion of our full ,justification in ,christ1 and of ,his propitiatory ,sacrifice 7ver4 #c74 ,then from those words1 in ,christ1 he opens this ample revelation of our possession1 in our union with ,christ1 of the ,spirit who1 having joined us to ,him1 now liberates us in ,him1 not from condemnation only but from sin's dominion4 ,if we are indeed in ,christ1 the ,spirit is in us1 dwelling in us1 and we are in the ,spirit4 ,and so1 possessed and filled by the blessed ,power1 we indeed have power to walk and to obey4 ,nothing is mechanical1 automatic2 we are fully persons still2 ,he who annexes and possesses our personality does not for a moment violate it4 ,but then1 ,he does possess it2 and the ,christian1 so possessing and so possessed1 is not only bound but enabled1 in humble but practical reality1 in a liberty otherwise unknown1 to fulfil the just demand of the ,law1 to please ,god1 in a life lived not to self but to ,him4 ,thus1 as we shall see in detail as we proceed1 the ,apostle1 while he still firmly keeps his hand1 so to speak1 on ,justification1 is occupied fully now with its issue1 ,holiness4 ,and this issue he explains as not merely a matter of grateful feeling1 the outcome of the loyalty supposed to be natural to the pardoned4 ,he gives it as a matter of divine power1 secured to them under the ,covenant of their acceptance4 ,shall we not enter on our expository study full of holy expectation1 and with unspeakable desires awake1 to receive all things which in that ,covenant are ours8 ,shall we not remember1 over every sentence1 that in it ,christ speaks by ,paul1 and speaks to us8 ,for us also1 as for our spiritual ancestors1 all this is true4 ,it shall be true in us also1 as it was in them4 ,we shall be humbled as well as gladdened2 and thus our gladness will be sounder4 ,we shall find that whatever be our walk according to the ,spirit1 and our veritable dominion over sin1 we shall still have the practices of the body with which to deal--of the body which still is dead because of sin1 mortal1 not yet redeemed4 ,we shall be practically reminded1 even by the most joyous exhortations1 that possession and personal condition are one thing in covenant1 and another in realization2 that we must watch1 pray1 examine self1 and deny it1 if we would be what we are4 ,yet all this is but the salutary accessory to the blessed main burthen of every line4 ,we are accepted in the ,lord4 ,in the ,lord we have the ,eternal ,spirit for our inward ,possessor4 ,let us arise1 and walk humbly1 but also in gladness1 with our ,god4 ,st ,paul speaks again1 perhaps after a silence1 and ,tertius writes down for the first time the now immortal and beloved words4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,so no adverse sentence is there now1 in view of this great fact of our redemption1 for those in ,christ ,jesus4#abj ,in ,christ ,jesus--mysterious union1 blessed fact1 wrought by the ,spirit who linked us sinners to the ,lord4#aba ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,for the law of the ,spirit of the life which is in ,christ ,jesus#abb freed me1 the man of the conflict just described1 from the law of sin and of death4 ,the law1 the preceptive will1 which legislates the covenant of blessing for all who are in ,christ1 has set him free4 ,by a strange1 pregnant paradox1 so we take it1 the ,gospel--the message which carries with it acceptance1 and also holiness1 by faith--is here called a law4 ,for while it is free grace to us it is also immovable ordinance with ,god4 ,the amnesty is ,his edict4 ,it is by heavenly statute that sinners1 believing1 possess the ,holy ,spirit in possessing ,christ4 ,and here1 with a sublime abruptness and directness1 that great gift of the ,covenant1 the ,spirit1 for which the ,covenant gift of ,justification was given1 is put forward as the ,covenant's characteristic and crown4 ,it is for the moment as if this were all--that in ,christ ,jesus we1 ,i1 are under the fiat which assures to us the fulness of the ,spirit4 ,and this law1 unlike the stern letter of ,sinai1 has actually freed me4 ,it has endowed me not only with place but with power1 in which to live emancipated from a rival law1 the law of sin and of death4 ,and what is that rival law8 ,we dare to say1 it is the preceptive will of ,sinai2 ,do this1 and thou shalt live4 ,this is a hard saying2 for in itself that very ,law has been recently vindicated as holy1 and just1 and good1 and spiritual4 ,and only a few lines above in the ,epistle we have heard of a law of sin which is served by the flesh4 ,and we should unhesitatingly explain this law to be identical with that but for the next verse here1 a still nearer context1 in which the law is unmistakably the divine moral ,code1 considered however as impotent4 ,must not this and that be the same8 ,and to call that sacred ,code the ,law of sin and of death is not to say that it is sinful and deathful4 ,it need only mean1 and we think it does mean1 that it is sin's occasion1 and death's warrant1 by the unrelieved collision of its holiness with fallen man's will4 ,it must command2 he1 being what he is1 must rebel4 ,he rebels2 it must condemn4 ,then comes his ,lord to die for him1 and to rise again2 and the ,spirit comes1 to unite him to his ,lord4 ,and now1 from the ,law as provoking the helpless1 guilty will1 and as claiming the sinner's penal death--behold the man is freed4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for--7the process is now explained at large7 the impossible of the ,law--what it could not do1 for this was not its function1 even to enable us sinners to keep its precept from the soul--,god1 when ,he sent ,his own ,son in likeness of flesh of sin1 ,incarnate1 in our identical nature1 under all those conditions of earthly life which for us are sin's vehicles and occasions1 and as ,sin-,offering1#abc expiatory and reconciling1 sentenced sin in the flesh2 not pardoned it1 observe1 but sentenced it4 ,he ordered it to execution2 ,he killed its claim and its power for all who are in ,christ4 ,and this1 in the flesh1 making man's earthly conditions the scene of sin's defeat1 for our everlasting encouragement in our life in the flesh4 ,and what was the aim and issue8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,that the righteous demand 77 of the ,law might be fulfilled in us1 us who walk not flesh-wise1 but ,spirit-wise2 that we1 accepted in ,christ1 and using the ,spirit's power in the daily walk of circumstance and experience1 might be liberated from the life of self-will1 and meet the will of ,god with simplicity and joy4 ,such1 and nothing less or else1 was the ,law's righteous demand2 an obedience not only universal but also cordial4 ,for its first requirement1 ,thou shalt have no other ,god1 meant1 in the spiritual heart of it1 the dethronement of self from its central place1 and the session there of the ,lord4 ,but this could never be while there was a reckoning still unsettled between the man and ,god4 ,friction there must be while ,god's ,law remained not only violated but unsatisfied1 unatoned4#abd ,and so it necessarily remained1 till the sole adequate ,person1 one with ,god1 one with man1 stepped into the gap2 our ,peace1 our ,righteousness1 and also by the ,holy ,ghost our ,life4 ,at rest because of ,his sacrifice1 at work by the power of ,his ,spirit1 we are now free to love1 and divinely enabled to walk in love4 ,meanwhile the dream of an unsinning perfectness1 such as could make a meritorious claim1 is not so much negatived as precluded1 put far out of the question4 ,for the central truth of the new position is that ,,the ,,lord has fully dealt1 for us1 with the ,law's claim that man shall deserve acceptance4 ,boasting is inexorably excluded1 to the last1 from this new kind of law-fulfilling life4 ,for the fulfilment which means legal satisfaction is for ever taken out of our hands by ,christ1 and only that humble fulfilment is ours which means a restful1 unanxious1 reverent1 unreserved loyalty in practice4 ,to this now our mind1 our cast and gravitation of soul1 is brought1 in the life of acceptance1 and in the power of the ,spirit4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,for they who are flesh-wise1 the unchanged children of the self-life1 think1 mind1 have moral affinity and converse with1 the things of the flesh2 but they who are ,spirit-wise1 think the things of the ,spirit1 ,his love1 joy1 peace1 and all that holy fruit4 ,their liberated and ,spirit-bearing life now goes that way1 in its true bias4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,for the mind1 the moral affinity1 of the flesh1 of the self-life1 is death2 it involves the ruin of the soul1 in condemnation1 and in separation from ,god2 but the mind of the ,spirit1 the affinity given to the believer by the indwelling ,holy ,one1 is life and peace2 it implies union with ,christ1 our life and our acceptance2 it is the state of soul in which ,he is realized4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,because--this absolute antagonism of the two minds is such because--the mind of the flesh is personal hostility 77 towards ,god2 for to ,god's ,law it is not subject4 ,for indeed it cannot be subject to it2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 those#abe who are in flesh1 surrendered to the life of self as their law1 cannot please ,god1#abf cannot meet the wish 77 of ,him whose loving but absolute claim is to be ,lord of the whole man4 ,they cannot3 it is a moral impossibility4 ,the ,law of ,god is1 ,thou shalt love ,me with all thy heart1 and thy neighbour as thyself2 the mind of the flesh is1 ,i will love my self and its will first and most4 ,let this be disguised as it may1 even from the man himself2 it is always the same thing in its essence4 ,it may mean a defiant choice of open evil4 ,it may mean a subtle and almost evanescent preference of literature1 or art1 or work1 or home1 to ,god's will as such4 ,it is in either case the mind of the flesh1 a thing which cannot be refined and educated into holiness1 but must be surrendered at discretion1 as its eternal enemy4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,but you 7there is a glad emphasis on you7 are not in flesh1 but in ,spirit1 surrendered to the indwelling ,presence as your law and secret1 on the assumption that 73 he suggests not weary misgivings but a true examination7 ,god's ,spirit dwells in you2 has ,his home in your hearts1 humbly welcomed into a continuous residence4 ,but if any one has not ,christ's ,spirit1 7who is the ,spirit as of the ,father so of the ,son1 sent by the ,son1 to reveal and to impart ,him17 that man is not ,his4 ,he may bear his ,lord's name1 he may be externally a ,christian1 he may enjoy the divine ,sacraments of union2 but he has not the ,thing4 ,the ,spirit1 evidenced by ,his holy fruit1 is no ,indweller there2 and the ,spirit is our vital ,bond with ,christ4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,but if ,christ is1 thus by the ,spirit1 in you1 dwelling by faith in the hearts which the ,spirit has strengthened to receive ,christ 7,eph4 iii4 #af1 #ag7--true 771 the body is dead1 because of sin1 the primeval sentence still holds its way there2 the body is deathful still1 it is the body of the ,fall2 but the ,spirit#abg is life1 ,he is in that body1 your secret of power and peace eternal1 because of righteousness1 because of the merit of your ,lord1 in which you are accepted1 and which has won for you this wonderful ,spirit-life4 ,then even for the body there is assured a glorious future1 organically one with this living present4 ,let us listen as he goes on3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,but if the ,spirit of ,him who raised ,jesus1 the slain ,man1 from the dead1 dwells in you1 ,he who raised from the dead ,christ ,jesus1 the ,man so revealed and glorified as the ,anointed ,saviour1 shall also bring to life your mortal bodies1 because of 7 #abh7 ,his ,spirit1 dwelling in you4 ,that frail temple1 once so much defiled1 and so defiling1 is now precious to the ,father because it is the habitation of the ,spirit of ,his ,son4 ,nor only so2 that same ,spirit1 who1 by uniting us to ,christ1 made actual our redemption1 shall surely1 in ways to us unknown1 carry the process to its glorious crown1 and be somehow the ,efficient ,cause of the redemption of our body4 ,wonderful is this deep characteristic of the ,scripture2 its ,gospel for the body4 ,in ,christ1 the body is seen to be something far different from the mere clog1 or prison1 or chrysalis1 of the soul4 ,it is its destined implement1 may we not say its mighty wings in prospect1 for the life of glory4 ,as invaded by sin1 it must needs pass through either death or1 at the ,lord's ,return1 an equivalent transfiguration4 ,but as created in ,god's plan of ,human ,nature it is for ever congenial to the soul1 nay1 it is necessary to the soul's full action4 ,and whatever be the mysterious mode 7it is absolutely hidden from us as yet7 of the event of ,resurrection1 this we know1 if only from this ,oracle1 that the glory of the immortal body will have profound relations with the work of ,god in the sanctified soul4 ,no mere material sequences will bring it about4 ,it will be because of the ,spirit2 and because of the ,spirit dwelling in you1 as your power for holiness in ,christ4#abi ,so the ,christian reads the account of his present spiritual wealth1 and of his coming completed life1 his perfect consummation and bliss in the eternal glory4 ,let him take it home1 with most humble but quite decisive assurance1 as he looks again1 and believes again1 on his redeeming ,lord4 ,for him1 in his inexpressible need1 ,god has gone about to provide so great salvation4 ,he has accepted his person in ,his ,son who died for him4 ,he has not only forgiven him through that great ,sacrifice1 but in it ,he has condemned1 sentenced to chains and death1 his sin1 which is now a doomed thing1 beneath his feet1 in ,christ4 ,and ,he has given to him1 as personal and perpetual ,indweller1 to be claimed1 hailed1 and used by humble faith1 ,his own ,eternal ,spirit1 the ,spirit of ,his ,son1 the ,blessed ,one who1 dwelling infinitely in the ,head1 comes to dwell fully in the members1 and make ,head and members wonderfully one4 ,now then let him give himself up with joy1 thanksgiving1 and expectation1 to the fulfilling of the righteous demand of ,god's ,law1 walking ,spirit-wise1 with steps moving ever away from self and towards the will of ,god4 ,let him meet the world1 the devil1 and that mysterious flesh1 7all ever in potential presence17 with no less a ,name than that of the ,father1 and the ,son1 and the ,holy ,ghost4 ,let him stand up not as a defeated and disappointed combatant1 maimed1 half-blinded1 half-persuaded to succumb1 but as one who treads upon all the power of the enemy1 in ,christ1 by the indwelling ,spirit4 ,and let him reverence his mortal body1 even while he keeps it in subjection1 and while he willingly tires it1 or gives it to suffer1 for his ,lord4 ,for it is the temple of the ,spirit4 ,it is the casket of the hope of glory4 #aai ,in this surpassing chapter the several streams of the preceding arguments meet and flow in one 'river of the water of life1 clear as crystal1 proceeding out of the throne of ,god and of the ,lamb1' until it seems to lose itself in the ocean of a blissful eternity4--,david ,brown1 ,d4,d41 ,the ,epistle to the ,romans1 in ,handbooks for ,bible ,classes4 #abj ,there can be no reasonable doubt that the words who walk not after the flesh1 but after the ,spirit1 should be omitted4 ,they are probably a gloss from ver4 #d2 inserted 7perhaps first as a side-note7 by scribes who failed to appreciate the profound simplicity of the ,apostle's dictum4 #aba ,we thus indicate the thought given by the otherwise difficult ,for of ver4 #b4 ,that for cannot mean to imply that there is no condemnation because the ,spirit has enabled us to be holy2 this would stultify the whole argument of chapters iii4-v4 ,what1 in that context1 it must imply is the complex fact 7#a7 that we are in ,christ--where there is no condemnation1 and 7#b7 that we are there by the ,holy ,spirit1 who brought us to saving faith4 ,now we are to learn 7#c7 what that ,spirit has done also for us in giving us union with ,christ4 #abb 4 ,in the ,greek of the ,n4 ,t4 it is possible so to interpret4 ,classical ,greek would require 4 4 ,the rendering1 however1 the law of the ,spirit of life1 in ,christ ,jesus1 7making the last three words govern the whole previous thought17 is amply admissible4 #abc 3 the phrase is stamped with a sacrificial speciality by the ,greek of the ,o4 ,t4 ,see e4g4 ,levit4 xvi4 #c1 #e1 #f1 #i1 #aa1 #ae1 #af1 #be1 #bg4 ,and cp4 ,heb4 x4 #h4 #abd ,the way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked4 ,prov4 xxi4 #h ,r4,v4 #abe ,we do not translate the 4 ,it seems to be best represented in ,english by connecting the clause only by position with what goes before4 #abf ,the ,greek lays a solemn emphasis by position on 4 #abg ,we refer the word here1 as throughout the passage1 to the ,holy ,ghost4 ,no other interpretation seems either consistent with the whole context1 or adequate to its grandeur4 #abh ,we read thus1 not 7by means of1 by the agency of1 ,his ,spirit74 ,the two readings have each strong support1 but we think the balance of evidence is for the accusative not the genitive4 ,happily the exegetical difference is not serious4 ,the accusative gives indeed a meaning which may well include that given by the genitive1 while it includes other ideas also4 #abi ,we are aware that ver4 #aa has been sometimes interpreted of present blessings for the body2 as if the fulness of the ,holy ,ghost was to effect a quasi-glorification of the body's condition now2 exempting it from illness1 and at least retarding its decay4 ,but this seems untenable4 ,if the words point this way at all1 ought they not to mean a literal exemption from death altogether8 ,but this manifestly was not in the ,apostle's mind1 if we take his writings as a whole4 ,that spiritual blessings may1 and often do1 act wonderfully in the life of the body1 is most true4 ,but that is not the truth of this verse4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,holiness ,,by ,,the ,,spirit1 ,,and ,,the ,,glories ,,that ,,shall ,,follow ,,romans viii4 #ab-be ,now the ,apostle goes on to develop these noble premisses into conclusions4 ,how true to himself1 and to his ,inspirer1 is the line he follows6 ,first come the most practical possible of reminders of duty2 then1 and in profound connexion1 the inmost experiences of the regenerate soul in both its joy and its sorrow1 and the most radiant and far-reaching prospects of glory to come4 ,we listen still1 always remembering that this letter from ,corinth to ,rome is to reach us too1 by way of the ,city4 ,he who moved ,his servant to send it to ,aquila and ,herodion had us too in mind1 and has now carried out ,his purpose4 ,it is open in our hands for our faith1 love1 hope1 life to-day4 ,st ,paul begins with ,holiness viewed as ,duty1 as ,debt4 ,he has led us through our vast treasury of privilege and possession4 ,what are we to do with it8 ,shall we treat it as a museum1 in which we may occasionally observe the mysteries of ,new ,nature1 and with more or less learning discourse upon them8 ,shall we treat it as the unwatchful ,king#acj of old treated his splendid stores1 making them his personal boast1 and so betraying them to the very power which one day was to make them all its spoil8 ,no1 we are to live upon our ,lord's magnificent bounty--to ,his glory1 and in ,his will4 ,we are rich2 but it is for ,him4 ,we have ,his talents2 and those talents1 in respect of ,his grace1 as distinct from ,his gifts1 are not one1 nor five1 nor ten1 but ten thousand--for they are ,jesus ,christ4 ,but we have them all for ,him4 ,we are free from the law of sin and of death2 but we are in perpetual and delightful debt to ,him who has freed us4 ,and our debt is--to walk with ,him4 ,so1 brethren1 we are debtors4 ,thus our new paragraph begins4 ,for a moment he turns to say what we owe no debt to2 even the flesh1 the self-life4 ,but it is plain that his main purpose is positive1 not negative4 ,he implies in the whole rich context that we are debtors to the ,spirit1 to the ,lord1 to walk ,spirit-wise4 ,what a salutary thought it is6 ,too often in the ,christian ,church the great word ,holiness has been practically banished to a supposed almost inaccessible background1 to the steeps of a spiritual ambition1 to a region where a few might with difficulty climb in the quest1 men and women who had leisure to be good1 or who perhaps had exceptional instincts for piety4 ,god be thanked1 ,he has at all times kept many consciences alive to the illusion of such a notion2 and in our own day1 more and more1 ,his mercy brings it home to ,his children that this is ,his will1 even the sanctification--not of some of them1 but of all4 ,far and wide we are reviving to see1 as the fathers of our faith saw before us1 that whatever else holiness is1 it is a sacred and binding debt4 ,it is not an ambition2 it is a duty4 ,we are bound1 every one of us who names the name of ,christ1 to be holy1 to be separate from evil1 to walk by the ,spirit4 ,alas for the misery of indebtedness1 when funds fall short6 ,whether the unhappy debtor examines his affairs1 or guiltily ignores their condition1 he is--if his conscience is not dead--a haunted man4 ,but when an honourable indebtedness concurs with ample means1 then one of the moral pleasures of life is the punctual scrutiny and discharge4 ,he hath it by him2 and it is his happiness1 as it is assuredly his duty1 not to say to his neighbour1 ,go and come again1 and to-morrow ,i will give 7,prov4 iii4 #bh74 ,christian brother1 partaker of ,christ1 and of the ,spirit1 we also owe1 to ,him who owns4 ,but it is an indebtedness of the happy type4 ,once we owed1 and there was worse than nothing in the purse4 ,now we owe1 and we have ,christ in us1 by the ,holy ,ghost1 wherewithal to pay4 ,the eternal ,neighbour comes to us1 with no frowning look1 and shews us ,his holy demand2 to live to-day a life of truth1 of purity1 of confession of ,his ,name1 of unselfish serviceableness1 of glad forgiveness1 of unbroken patience1 of practical sympathy1 of the love which seeks not her own4 ,what shall we say8 ,that it is a beautiful ideal1 which we should like to realize1 and may yet some day seriously attempt8 ,that it is admirable1 but impossible8 ,nay2 we are debtors4 ,and ,he who claims has first immeasurably given4 ,we have ,his ,son for our acceptance and our life4 ,his very ,spirit is in us4 ,are not these good resources for a genuine solvency8 ,say not1 ,go and come again2 ,i will pay ,thee--to-morrow4 ,thou hast it by thee6 ,holiness is beauty4 ,but it is first duty1 practical and present1 in ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,so then1 brethren1 debtors are we--not to the flesh1 with a view to living flesh-wise2 but to the ,spirit--who is now both our law and our power--with a view to living ,spirit-wise4 ,for if you are living flesh-wise1 you are on the way 77 to die4 ,but if by the ,spirit you are doing to death#aca the practices1 the stratagems1 the machinations1 of the body1 you will live4 ,ah1 the body is still there1 and is still a seat and vehicle of temptation4 ,it is for the ,lord1 and the ,lord is for it 7#a ,cor4 vi4 #ac74 ,it is the temple of the ,spirit4 ,our call is 7#a ,cor4 vi4 #bj7 to glorify ,god in it4 ,but all this1 from our point of view1 passes from realization into mere theory1 wofully gainsaid by experience1 when we let our acceptance in ,christ1 and our possession in ,him of the ,almighty ,spirit1 pass out of use into mere phrase4 ,say what some men will1 we are never for an hour here below exempt from elements and conditions of evil residing not merely around us but within us4 ,there is no stage of life when we can dispense with the power of the ,holy ,ghost as our victory and deliverance from the machinations of the body4 ,and the body is no separate and as it were minor personality4 ,if the man's body machinates1 it is the man who is the sinner4 ,but then1 thanks be to ,god1 this fact is not the real burthen of the words here4 ,what ,st ,paul has to say is that the man who has the indwelling ,spirit has with him1 in him1 a divine and all-effectual ,counter-,agent to the subtlest of his foes4 ,let him do what we saw him above 7vii4 #g-be7 neglecting to do4 ,let him with conscious purpose1 and firm recollection of his wonderful position and possession 7so easily forgotten671 call up the eternal ,power which is indeed not himself1 though in himself4 ,let him do this with habitual recollection and simplicity4 ,and he shall be more than conqueror where he was so miserably defeated4 ,his path shall be as of one who walks over foes who threatened1 but who fell1 and who die at his feet4 ,it shall be less a struggle than a march1 over a battlefield indeed1 yet a field of victory so continuous that it shall be as peace4 ,if by the ,spirit you are doing them to death4 ,mark well the words4 ,he says nothing here of things often thought to be of the essence of spiritual remedies2 nothing of will-worship1 and humility1 and unsparing treatment of the body 7,col4 ii4 #bc72 nothing even of fast and prayer4 ,sacred and precious is self-discipline1 the watchful care that act and habit are true to that temperance which is a vital ingredient in the ,spirit's fruit 7,gal4 v4 #bb1 #bc74 ,it is the ,lord's own voice 7,matt4 xxvi4 #da7 which bids us always watch and pray2 praying in the ,holy ,ghost 7,jude #bj74 ,yes1 but these true exercises of the believing soul are after all only as the covering fence around that central secret--our use by faith of the presence and power of the ,holy ,ghost given unto us4 ,the ,christian who neglects to watch and pray will most surely find that he knows not how to use this his great strength1 for he will be losing realization of his oneness with his ,lord4 ,but then the man who actually1 and in the depth of his being1 is doing to death the practices of the body1 is doing so1 immediately1 not by discipline1 nor by direct effort1 but by the believing use of the ,spirit4 ,filled with ,him1 he treads upon the power of the enemy4 ,and that fulness is according to surrendering faith4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,for as many as are led by ,god's ,spirit1 these are ,god's sons2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 for you did not receive a spirit of slavery1 to take you back again 77 to fear2 no1 you received a ,spirit of adoption to sonship1 in which ,spirit1 surrendered to ,his holy power1 we cry1 with no bated1 hesitating breath1 ,abba1 our 77 ,father4 ,his argument runs thus2 ,if you would live indeed1 you must do sin to death by the ,spirit4 ,and this means1 in another aspect1 that you must yield yourselves to be led along by the ,spirit1 with that leading which is sure to conduct you always away from self and into the will of ,god4 ,you must welcome the ,indweller to have ,his holy way with your springs of thought and will4 ,so1 and only so1 will you truly answer the idea1 the description1 'sons of ,god'--that glorious term1 never to be satisfied by the relation of mere creaturehood1 or by that of merely exterior sanctification1 mere membership in a community of men1 though it be the ,visible ,church itself4 ,but if you so meet sin by the ,spirit1 if you are so led by the ,spirit1 you do shew yourselves nothing less than ,god's own sons4 ,he has called you to nothing lower than sonship2 to vital connexion with a divine ,father's life1 and to the eternal embraces of ,his love4 ,for when ,he gave and you received the ,spirit1 the ,holy ,spirit of promise1 who reveals ,christ and joins you to ,him1 what did that ,spirit do1 in ,his heavenly operation8 ,did ,he lead you back to the old position1 in which you shrunk from ,god1 as from a ,master who bound you against your will8 ,no1 ,he shewed you that in the ,only ,son you are nothing less than sons1 welcomed into the inmost home of eternal life and love4 ,you found yourselves indescribably near the ,father's heart1 because accepted1 and new-created1 in ,his ,own ,beloved4 ,and so you learnt the happy1 confident call of the child1 ',father1 ,o ,father2 ,our ,father1 ,abba4'#acb ,so it was1 and so it is4 ,the living member of ,christ is nothing less than the dear child of ,god4 ,he is other things besides2 he is disciple1 follower1 bondservant4 ,he never ceases to be bondservant1 though here he is expressly told that he has received no spirit of slavery4 ,so far as slavery means service forced against the will1 he has done with this1 in ,christ4 ,but so far as it means service rendered by one who is his master's absolute property1 he has entered into its depths1 for ever4 ,yet all this is exterior as it were to that inmost fact1 that he is--in a sense ultimate1 and which alone really fulfils the word--the child1 the son1 of ,god4 ,he is dearer than he can know to his ,father4 ,he is more welcome than he can ever realize to take his ,father at ,his word1 and lean upon ,his heart1 and tell ,him all4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,the ,spirit itself bears witness with our spirit1 that we are ,god's children1 born children1 4 ,the ,holy ,one1 on ,his part1 makes the once cold1 reluctant1 apprehensive heart know and believe the love of ,god4 ,he sheds abroad ,god's love in it4 ,he brings home to consciousness and insight the sober certainty of the promises of the ,word2 that ,word through which1 above all other means1 ,he speaks4 ,he shews to the man the things of ,christ1 the ,beloved1 in whom he has the adoption and the regeneration2 making him see1 as souls see1 what a paternal welcome there must be for those who are in ,,him4 ,and then1 on the other part1 the believer meets ,spirit with spirit4 ,he responds to the revealed paternal smile with not merely a subject's loyalty but a son's deep love2 deep1 reverent1 tender1 genuine love4 ,doubtless thou art ,his own child1 says the ,spirit4 ,doubtless ,he is my ,father1 says our wondering1 believing1 seeing spirit in response4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,but if children1 then also heirs2 ,god's heirs1 ,christ's co-heirs1 possessors in prospect of our ,father's heaven 7towards which the whole argument now gravitates71 in union of interest and life with our ,firstborn ,brother1 in whom lies our right4 ,from one hand a gift1 infinitely merciful and surprising1 that unseen bliss will be from another the lawful portion of the lawful child1 one with the ,beloved of the ,father4 ,such heirs we are1 if indeed we share ,his sufferings1 those deep but hallowed pains which will surely come to us as we live in and for ,him in a fallen world1 that we may also share ,his glory1 for which that path of sorrow is1 not indeed the meriting1 but the capacitating1 preparation4 ,amidst the truths of life and love1 of the ,son1 of the ,spirit1 of the ,father1 he thus throws in the truth of pain4 ,let us not forget it4 ,in one form or another1 it is for all the children4 ,not all are martyrs1 not all are exiles or captives1 not all are called as a fact to meet open insults in a defiant world of paganism or unbelief4 ,many are still so called1 as many were at first1 and as many will be to the end2 for the world is no more now than it ever was in love with ,god1 and with ,his children as such4 ,but even for those whose path is--not by themselves but the ,lord--most protected1 there must be suffering1 somehow1 sooner1 later1 in this present life1 if they are really living the life of the ,spirit1 the life of the child of ,god1 paying the debt of daily holiness1 even in its humblest and gentlest forms4 ,we must observe1 by the way1 that it is to such sufferings1 and not to sorrows in general1 that the reference lies here4 ,the ,lord's heart is open for all the griefs of ,his people1 and ,he can use them all for their blessing and for ,his ends4 ,but the suffering with ,him must imply a pain due to our union4 ,it must be involved in our being ,his members1 used by the ,head for ,his work4 ,it must be the hurt of ,his hand or foot in subserving ,his sovereign thought4 ,what will the bliss be of the corresponding sequel6 ,that we may share ,his glory2 not merely1 be glorified1 but share ,his glory2 a splendour of life1 joy1 and power whose eternal law and soul will be1 union with ,him who died for us and rose again4 ,now towards that prospect ,st ,paul's whole thought sets1 as the waters set towards the moon1 and the mention of that glory1 after suffering1 draws him to a sight of the mighty plurity of the glory4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,for ,i reckon1 ,i calculate--word of sublimest prose1 more moving here than any poetry1 because it bids us handle the hope of glory as a fact--that not worthy of mention are the sufferings of the present season 71 not 2 he thinks of time not in its length but in its limit71 in view of the glory about to be unveiled upon us 7 71 unveiled1 and then heaped upon us1 in its golden fulness4#acc ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,for--he is going to give us a deep reason for his calculation2 wonderfully characteristic of the ,gospel4 ,it is that the final glory of the saints will be a crisis of mysterious blessing for the whole created ,universe4#acd ,in ways absolutely unknown1 certainly as regards anything said in this passage1 but none the less divinely fit and sure1 the ultimate and eternal manifestation of ,christ ,mystical1 the ,perfect ,head with ,his perfected members1 will be the occasion1 and in some sense too the cause1 the mediating cause1 of the emancipation of ,nature1 in its heights and depths1 from the cancer of decay1 and its entrance on an endless on of indissoluble life and splendour4 ,doubtless that goal shall be reached through long processes and intense crises of strife and death4 ,nature1 like the saint1 may need to pass to glory through a tomb4 ,but the issue will indeed be glory1 when ,he who is the ,head at once of ,nature1#ace of the heavenly nations1 and of redeemed man1 shall bid the vast periods of conflict and dissolution cease1 in the hour of eternal purpose1 and shall manifestly be what ,he is to the mighty total4 ,with such a prospect natural philosophy has nothing to do4 ,its own laws of observation and tabulation forbid it to make a single affirmation of what the ,universe shall be1 or shall not be1 under new and unknown conditions4 ,revelation1 with no arbitrary voice1 but as the authorized while reserved messenger of ,,the ,,maker1 and standing by the open ,grave of the ,resurrection1 announces that there are to be profoundly new conditions1 and that they bear a relation inscrutable but necessary to the coming glorification of ,christ and ,his ,church4 ,and what we now see and feel as the imperfections and shocks and seeming failures of the ,universe1 so we learn from this voice1 a voice so quiet yet so triumphant1 are only as it were the throes of birth1 in which ,nature1 impersonal indeed but so to speak animated by the thinking of the intelligent orders who are a part of her universal being1 preludes her wonderful future4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,for the longing outlook of the creation is expecting--the unveiling of the sons of ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,for to vanity1 to evil1 to failure and decay1 the creation was subjected not willingly1 but because of ,him who made it subject2 its ,lord and ,sustainer1 who in ,his inscrutable but holy will bade physical evil correspond to the moral evil of ,his conscious fallen creatures1 angels or men4 ,so that there is a deeper connexion than we can yet analyse between sin1 the primal and central evil1 and everything that is really wreck or pain4 ,but this subjection1 under ,his fiat1 was ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 in hope1 because the creation itself shall be liberated from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of ,god1 the freedom brought in for it by their eternal liberation from the last relics of the ,fall4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,for we know1 by observation of natural evil1 in the light of the promises1 that the whole creation is uttering a common groan of burthen and yearning1 and suffering a common birth-pang1 even till now1 when the ,gospel has heralded the coming glory4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,nor only so1 but even the actual possessors of the firstfruits of the ,spirit1 possessors of that presence of the ,holy ,one in them now1 which is the sure pledge of ,his eternal fulness yet to come1 even we ourselves1 richly blest as we are in our wonderful ,spirit-life1 yet in ourselves are groaning1 burthened still with mortal conditions pregnant of temptation1 lying not around us only but deep within 7 71 expecting adoption1 full instatement into the fruition of the sonship which already is ours1 even the redemption of our body4 ,from the coming glories of the ,universe he returns1 in the consciousness of an inspired but human heart1 to the present discipline and burthen of the ,christian4 ,let us observe the noble candour of the words2 this groan interposed in the midst of such a song of the ,spirit and of glory4 ,he has no ambition to pose as the possessor of an impossible experience4 ,he is more than conqueror2 but he is conscious of his foes4 ,the ,holy ,ghost is in him2 he does the body's practices victoriously to death by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,but the body is there1 as the seat and vehicle of manifold temptation4 ,and though there is a joy in victory which can sometimes make even the presence of temptation seem all joy 7,jas i4 #b71 he knows that something far better is yet to come4 ,his longing is not merely for a personal victory1 but for an eternally unhindered service4 ,that will not fully be his till his whole being is actually1 as well as in covenant1 redeemed4 ,that will not be till not the spirit only but the body is delivered from the last dark traces of the ,fall1 in the resurrection hour4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 ,for it is as to our 77 hope that we were saved4 ,when the ,lord laid hold of us we were indeed saved1#acf but with a salvation which was only in part actual4 ,its total was not to be realized till the whole being was in actual salvation4 ,such salvation 7see below1 xiii4 #aa7 was coincident in prospect with the ,hope1 that blessed ,hope1#acg the ,lord's ,return and the resurrection glory4 ,so1 to paraphrase this clause1 ,it was in the sense of the ,hope that we were saved4#ach ,but a hope in sight is not a hope2 for1 what a man sees1 why does he hope for8 ,hope1 in that case1 has1 in its nature1 expired in possession4 ,and our full salvation is a hope2 it is bound up with a ,promise not yet fulfilled2 therefore1 in its nature1 it is still unseen1 still unattained4 ,but then1 it is certain2 it is infinitely valid2 it is worth any waiting for4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,but if1 for what we do not see1 we do hope1 looking on good grounds for the sunrise in the dark east1 with patience we expect it4 ,with patience1 literally through patience1 ' 4 ,the patience is as it were the means1 the secret1 of the waiting2 patience1 that noble word of the ,new ,testament vocabulary1 the saint's active submission1 submissive action1 beneath the will of ,god4 ,it is no nerveless1 motionless prostration2 it is the going on and upward1 step by step1 as the man waits upon the ,lord1 and walks1 and does not faint4 #acj #b ,kings xx4 #ab1 #ac4 #aca 3 observe the present tense1 the process is a continuing one4 #acb ,the ,aramaic ,abba1 used by our ,lord in ,his hour of darkness1 had probably become an almost personal ,name to the believers4 #acc ,with this verse on his lips1 unfinished1 ,calvin died1 #aefd4 #acd ,we cannot think that the of this passage refers only1 as some would have it1 to humanity 7as ,mark xvi4 #ae1 ,col4 i4 #bc74 ,the is a something which was subjected involuntarily1 and so1 surely1 not guiltily4 ,this could not be said of humanity4 #ace ,see ,col4 i4 #ae1 #af4 ,the ,lord's ,headship of ,creation1 explicitly revealed there1 is seen as it were only just below the surface here4 #acf ,see the perfect participle1 1 ,eph4 ii4 #e1 #h4 #acg ,is ever used in the ,n4 ,t4 in any other connexion than this8 #ach ,luther's rendering is good as a paraphrase1 ,wir sind wohl selig1 doch in der ,hoffnung4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,prayer ,,in ,,the ,,saints3 ,,their ,,present ,,and ,,eternal ,,welfare ,,in ,,the ,,love ,,of ,,god ,,romans viii4 #bf-ci ,in the last paragraph the music of this glorious didactic prophecy passed1 in some solemn phrases1 into the minor mood4 ,if we share ,his sufferings2 ,the sufferings of this present season2 ,we groan within ourselves2 ,in the sense of our hope we were saved4 ,all is well4 ,the deep harmony of the ,christian's full experience1 if it is full downwards as well as upwards1 demands sometimes such tones2 and they are all music1 for they all express a life in ,christ1 lived by the power of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,but now the strain is to ascend again into its largest and most triumphant manner4 ,we are now to hear how our salvation1 though its ultimate issues are still things of hope1 is itself a thing of eternity--from everlasting to everlasting4 ,we are to be made sure that all things are working now1 in concurrent action1 for the believer's good2 and that his justification is sure2 and that his glory is so certain that its future is1 from his ,lord's point of sight1 present2 and that nothing1 absolutely nothing1 shall separate him from the eternal ,love4 ,but first comes one most deep and tender word1 the last of its kind in the long argument1 about the presence and power of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,the ,apostle has the groan of the ,christian still in his ear1 in his heart2 in fact1 it is his own4 ,and he has just pointed himself and his fellow believers to the coming glory1 as to a wonderful antidote2 a prospect which is at once great in itself and unspeakably suggestive of the greatness given to the most suffering and tempted saint by his union with his ,lord4 ,as if to say to the pilgrim1 in his moment of distress1 ,remember1 you are more to ,god than you can possibly know2 ,he has made you such1 in ,christ1 that universal ,nature is concerned in the prospect of your glory4 ,but now1 as if nothing must suffice but what is directly divine1 he bids him remember also the presence in him of the ,eternal ,spirit1 as his mighty but tenderest indwelling ,friend4 ,even as that blessed ,hope1 so1 likewise also1 this blessed present ,person1 is the weak one's power4 ,,he takes the man in his bewilderment1 when troubles from without press him1 and fears from within make him groan1 and he is in sore need1 yet at a loss for the right cry4 ,and ,he moves in the tired soul1 and breathes ,himself into its thought1 and ,his mysterious groan of divine yearning mingles with our groan of burthen1 and the man's longings go out above all things not towards rest but towards ,god and ,his will4 ,so the ,christian's innermost and ruling desire is both fixed and animated by the blessed ,indweller1 and he seeks what the ,lord will love to grant1 even ,himself and whatever shall please ,him4 ,the man prays aright1 as to the essence of the prayer1 because 7what a divine miracle is put before us in the words67 the ,holy ,ghost1 immanent in him1 prays through him4 ,thus we venture1 in advance1 to explain the sentences which now follow4 ,it is true that ,st ,paul does not explicitly say that the ,spirit makes intercession in us1 as well as for us4 ,but must it not be so8 ,for where is ,he1 from the point of view of ,christian life1 but in us8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bf4 ,then1 in the same way1 the ,spirit also--as well as the hope--helps1 as with a clasping1 supporting hand 771 our weakness1#aci our shortness and bewilderment of insight1 our feebleness of faith4 ,for what we should pray for as we ought1 we do not know2 but the ,spirit ,itself interposes to intercede 77 for us1 with groanings unutterable2 but 7whatever be the utterance or no utterance7 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bg4 the ,searcher of our 77 hearts knows what is the mind1 the purport1 of the ,spirit2 because ,god-wise1#adj with divine insight and sympathy1 the ,spirit with the ,father1 ,he intercedes for saints4 ,did ,he not so intercede for ,paul1 and in him1 fourteen years before these words were written1 when 7#b ,cor4 xii4 #g-aj7 the man thrice asked that the thorn might be removed1 and the ,master gave him a better blessing1 the victorious overshadowing power8 ,did ,he not so intercede for ,monnica1 and in her1 when she sought with prayers and tears to keep her rebellious ,augustine by her1 and the ,lord let him fly from her side--to ,italy1 to ,ambrose1 and so to conversion8#ada ,but the strain rises now1 finally and fully1 into the rest and triumph of faith4 ,we know not what we should pray for as we ought2 and the blessed ,spirit meets this deep need in ,his own way4 ,and this1 with all else that we have in ,christ1 reminds us of a somewhat that we know indeed2 namely1 that all things1 favourable or not in themselves1 concur in blessing for the saints4 ,and then he looks backward 7or rather1 upward7 into eternity1 and sees the throne1 and the ,king with ,his sovereign will1 and the lines of perfect and infallible plan and provision which stretch from that ,centre to infinity4 ,these saints1 who are they8 ,from one view-point1 they are simply sinners who have seen themselves1 and fled for refuge to the one possible hope2 a hope set before every soul that cares to win it4 ,from another view-point1 that of the eternal ,mind and ,order1 they are those whom1 for reasons infinitely wise and just1 but wholly hidden in ,himself1 the ,lord has chosen to be ,his own for ever1 so that ,his choice takes effect in their conversion1 their acceptance1 their spiritual transformation1 and their glory4 ,there1 as regards this great passage1 the thought rests and ceases--in the glorification of the saints4 ,what their ,glorifier will do with them1 and through them1 thus glorified1 is another matter4 ,assuredly ,he will make use of them in ,his eternal kingdom4 ,the ,church1 made most blessed for ever1 is yet beatified1 ultimately1 not for itself but for its ,head1 and for ,his ,father4 ,it is to be1 in its final perfectness1 an habitation of ,god1 in the ,spirit 7,eph4 ii4 #bb74 ,is ,he not so to possess it that the ,universe shall see ,him in it1 in a manner and degree now unknown and unimaginable8 ,is not the endless service of the elect to be such that all orders of being shall through them behold and adore the glory of the ,christ of ,god8 ,for ever they will be what they here become1 the bondservants of their ,redeeming ,lord1 ,his ,bride1 ,his vehicle of power and blessing2 having of their own nothing1 in ,him all1 and all for ,him4 ,no self-full exaltations await them in the place of light2 or the whole history of sin would begin over again1 in a new on4 ,no celestial ,pharisaism will be their spirit2 a look downward upon less blessed regions of existence1 as from a sanctuary of their own4 ,who can tell what ministries of boundless love will be the expression of their life of inexpressible and inexhaustible joy8 ,always1 like ,gabriel1 in the presence1 will they not always also1 like him1 be sent 7,luke i4 #ai7 on the messages of their glorious ,head1 in whom at length1 in the divine event1 all things shall be gathered together8 ,but this is not the thought of the passage now in our hands4 ,here1 as we have said1 the thought terminates in the final glorification of the saints of ,god1 as the immediate goal of the process of their redemption4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bh4 ,but we know that for those who love ,god all things work together for good1 even for those who1 purpose-wise1 are ,his called ones4 ,we know it1 with the cognition of faith2 that is to say1 because ,he1 absolutely trustworthy1 guarantees it by ,his character1 and by ,his word4 ,deep1 nay insoluble is the mystery1 from every other point of view4 ,the lovers of the ,lord are indeed unable to explain1 to themselves or others1 how this concurrence of all things works out its infallible issues in them4 ,and the observer from outside cannot understand their certainty that it is so4 ,but the fact is there1 given and assured1 not by speculation upon events1 but by personal knowledge of an ,eternal ,person4 ,love ,god1 and thou shalt know4#adb ,they love ,god1 with a love perfectly unartificial1 the genuine affection of human hearts1 hearts not the less human because divinely new-created1 regenerated from above4 ,their immediate consciousness is just this2 we love ,him4 ,not1 we have read the book of life2 we have had a glimpse of the eternal purpose in itself2 we have heard our names recited in a roll of the chosen2 but1 we love ,him4 ,we have found in ,him the eternal ,love4 ,in ,him we have peace1 purity1 and that deep1 final satisfaction1 that view of the ,king in ,his beauty1 which is the summum bonum of the creature4 ,it was our fault that we saw it no sooner1 that we loved ,him no sooner4 ,it is the duty of every soul that ,he has made to reflect upon its need of ,him1 and upon the fact that it owes it to ,him to love ,him in ,his holy beauty of eternal ,love4 ,if we could not it was because we would not4 ,if you cannot it is because1 somehow and somewhere1 you will not2 will not put yourselves without reserve in the way of the sight4 ,oh taste and see that the ,lord is good2 oh love the eternal ,love4 ,but those who thus simply and genuinely love ,god are also1 on the other side1 purpose-wise1 ,his called ones2 called1 in the sense which we have found above 7p4 #ai7 to be consistently traceable in the ,epistles2 not merely invited1 but brought in2 not evangelized only1 but converted4 ,in each case of the happy company1 the man1 the woman1 came to ,christ1 came to love ,god with the freest possible coming of the will1 the heart4 ,yet each1 having come1 had the ,lord to thank for the coming4 ,the human personality had traced its orbit of will and deed1 as truly as when it willed to sin and to rebel4 ,but lo1 in ways past our finding out1 its free track lay along a previous track of the purpose of the ,eternal2 its free ,i will was the precise and fore-ordered correspondence to ,his ,thou shalt4 ,it was the act of man2 it was the grace of ,god4 ,can we get below such a statement1 or above it8 ,if we are right in our reading of the whole teaching of ,scripture on the sovereignty of ,god1 our thoughts upon it1 practically1 must sink down1 and must rest1 just here4 ,the doctrine of the ,choice of ,god1 in its sacred mystery1 refuses--so we humbly think--to be explained away so as to mean in effect little but the choice of man4 ,but then the doctrine is a lamp1 not a sun4 ,it is presented to us everywhere1 and not least in this ,epistle1 as a truth not meant to explain everything1 but to enforce this thing--that the man who as a fact loves the eternal ,love has to thank not himself but that ,love that his eyes1 guiltily shut1 were effectually opened4 ,not one link in the chain of actual ,redemption is of our forging--or the whole would indeed be fragile4 ,it is of ,him that we1 in this great matter1 will as we ought to will4 ,i ought to have loved ,god always4 ,it is of ,his mere mercy that ,i love ,him now4 ,with this lesson of uttermost humiliation the truth of the heavenly ,choice1 and its effectual ,call1 brings us also that of an encouragement altogether divine4 ,such a purpose is no fluctuating thing1 shifting with the currents of time4 ,such a call to such an embrace means a tenacity1 as well as a welcome1 worthy of ,god4 ,who shall separate us8 ,neither shall any pluck them out of ,my ,father's hand4 ,and this is the motive of the words in this wonderful context1 where everything is made to bear on the safety of the children of ,god1 in the midst of all imaginable dangers4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bi4 ,for whom ,he knew beforehand1 with a foreknowledge which1 in this argument1 can mean nothing short of foredecision#adc--no mere foreknowledge of what they would do1 but rather of what ,he would do for them--those ,he also set apart beforehand1 for conformation1 deep and genuine1 a resemblance due to kindred being1#add to the image1 the manifested ,countenance1 of ,his ,son1 that ,he might be ,firstborn amongst many brethren1 surrounded by the circling host of kindred faces1 congenial beings1 ,his ,father's children by their union with ,himself4 ,so1 as ever in the ,scriptures1 mystery bears full on character4 ,the man is saved that he may be holy4 ,his predestination#ade is not merely not to perish1 but to be made like ,christ1 in a spiritual transformation1 coming out in the moral features of the family of heaven4 ,and all bears ultimately on the glory of ,christ4 ,the gathered saints are an organism1 a family1 before the ,father2 and their vital ,centre is the ,beloved ,son1 who sees in their true sonship the fruit of the travail of ,his soul4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cj4 ,but those whom ,he thus set apart beforehand1 ,he also called1 effectually drew so as truly and freely to choose ,christ2 and those whom ,he thus called to ,christ1 ,he also justified in ,christ1 in that great way of propitiation and faith of which the ,epistle has so largely spoken2 but#adf those whom ,he thus justified1 ,he also glorified4 ,glorified3 it is a marvellous past tense4 ,it reminds us that in this passage we are placed1 as it were1 upon the mountain of the ,throne2 our finite thought is allowed to speak for once 7however little it understands it7 the language of eternity1 to utter the facts as the ,eternal sees them4 ,to ,him1 the pilgrim is already in the immortal ,country2 the bondservant is already at his day's end1 receiving ,his ,master's ,well done1 good and faithful4 ,he to whom time is not as it is to us thus sees ,his purposes complete1 always and for ever4 ,we see through ,his sight1 in hearing ,his word about it4 ,so for us1 in wonderful paradox1 our glorification is presented1 as truly as our call1 in terms of accomplished fact4 99 99 99 99 99 ,here1 in a certain sense1 the long golden chain of the doctrine of the ,epistle ends--in the hand of the ,king who thus crowns the sinners whose redemption1 faith1 acceptance1 and holiness1 ,he had1 in the ,heaven of ,his own ,being1 fore-willed and fore-ordered1 before the world began1 above all time4 ,what remains of the chapter is the application of the doctrine4 ,but what an application6 ,the ,apostle brings his converts out into the open field of trial1 and bids them use his doctrine there4 ,are they thus dear to the ,father in the ,son8 ,is their every need thus met8 ,is their guilt cancelled in ,christ's mighty merit8 ,is their existence filled with ,christ's eternal ,spirit8 ,is sin thus cast beneath their feet1 and is such a heaven opened above their heads8 ,then what have they to fear1 before man1 or before ,god8 ,what power in the universe1 of whatever order of being1 can really hurt them8 ,for what can separate them from their portion in their glorified ,lord1 and in ,his ,father's love in ,him8 ,again we listen1 with ,tertius1 as the voice goes on3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ca4 ,what therefore shall we say in view of these things8 ,if ,god is for us1 who is against us8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cb4 ,,he#adg who did not spare ,his own true 77 ,son1 but for us all handed ,him over to that awful expiatory1 propitiatory1 darkness and death1 so that ,,he was pleased to bruise ,him1 to put ,him to grief 7,isai4 liii4 #aj71 all for ,his own great glory1 but1 no whit the less1 all for our pure blessing2 how 7wonderful how67 shall ,he not also with ,him1 because all is included and involved in ,him who is the ,father's ,all1 give us also freely all things 7 1 the all things that are78 ,and do we want to be sure that ,he will not1 after all1 find a flaw in our claim1 and cast us in ,his court8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cc4 ,who will lodge a charge against ,god's chosen ones8 ,will ,god--who justifies them8#adh ,who will condemn them1 if the charge is lodged8 ,will ,christ--who died1 nay rather who rose1 who is on the right hand of ,god1 who is actually 77 interceding for us8 7,observe this one mention in the whole ,epistle of ,his ,ascension1 and ,his action for us above1 as ,he is1 by the fact of ,his ,session on the ,throne1 our sure ,channel of eternal blessing1 unworthy that we are47 ,do we need assurance1 amidst the sufferings of this present time1 that through them always the invincible hands of ,christ clasp us1 with untired love8 ,we look upon the covenant of our acceptance and life in ,him who died for us1 and who lives both for and in us1 and we meet the fiercest buffet of these waves in peace4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ce4 ,who shall sunder us from the love of ,christ8 ,there rise before him1 as he asks1 like so many angry personalities1#adi the outward woes of the pilgrimage4 ,tribulation8 or ,perplexity8 or ,persecution8 or ,famine8 or ,nakedness8 or ,peril8 or ,sword8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cf4 ,as it stands written1 in that deep song of anguish and faith 7,psal4 xliv47 in which the elder ,church1 one with us in deep continuity1 tells her story of affliction1 ,for ,thy sake we are done to death all the day long2 we have been reckoned1 estimated1 as sheep of slaughter4 ,even so4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cg4 ,but in these things1 all of them1 we more than conquer2 not only do we tread upon our foes2 we spoil them1 we find them occasions of glorious gain1#aej through ,him who loved us4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ch4 ,for ,i am sure that neither death1 nor life1 life with its natural allurements or its bewildering toils1 nor angels1 nor principalities1 nor powers1#aea whatever ,orders of being unfriendly to ,christ and ,his saints the vast ,unseen contains1 nor present things1 nor things to come1 in all the boundless field of circumstance and contingency1 nor height1 nor depth1 in the illimitable sphere of space1 nor any other creature1 no thing1 no being1 under the ,uncreated ,one1 shall be able to sunder us1 us with an emphasis upon the word and thought 7 71 from the love of ,god1 which is in ,christ ,jesus our ,lord--from the eternal embrace wherein the ,father embosoms the ,son1 and1 in the ,son1 all who are one with ,him4 ,so once more the divine music rolls itself out into the blessed ,name4 ,we have heard the previous cadences as they came in their order2 ,jesus our ,lord1 who was delivered because of our offences1 and was raised again because of our justification 7iv4 #be72 ,that grace might reign1 through ,jesus ,christ our ,lord 7v4 #ba72 ,the gift of ,god is eternal life1 in ,jesus ,christ our ,lord 7vi4 #bc72 ,i thank ,god1 through ,jesus ,christ our ,lord 7vii4 #be74 ,like the theme of a fugue it has sounded on1 deep and high2 still1 always1 our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 who is all things1 and in all1 and for all1 to ,his happy believing members4 ,and now all is gathered up into this4 ,our ,righteousness1 and ,sanctification1 and ,redemption 7#a ,cor4 i4 #cc71 the golden burthens of the third chapter1 and the sixth1 and the eighth1 are all1 in their living ultimate essence1 ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,,he makes every truth1 every doctrine of peace and holiness1 every sure premiss and indissoluble inference1 to be life as well as light4 ,,he is pardon1 and sanctity1 and heaven4 ,here1 finally1 the ,eternal ,love is seen not as it were diffused into infinity1 but gathered up wholly and for ever in ,him4 ,therefore to be in ,him is to be in ,it4 ,it is to be within the clasp which surrounds the ,beloved of the ,father4 99 99 99 99 99 ,some years ago we remember reading this passage1 this close of the eighth chapter1 under moving circumstances4 ,on a cloudless ,january night1 late arrived in ,rome1 we stood in the ,coliseum1 a party of friends from ,england4 ,orion1 the giant with the sword1 glimmered like a spectre1 the spectre of persecution1 above the huge precinct2 for the full moon1 high in the heavens1 overpowered the stars4 ,by its light we read from a little ,testament these words1 written so long ago to be read in that same ,city2 written by the man whose dust now sleeps at ,tre ,fontane1 where the executioner dismissed him to be with ,christ2 written to men and women some of whom at least1 in all human likelihood1 suffered in that same ,amphitheatre1 raised only twenty-two years after ,paul wrote to the ,romans1 and soon made the scene of countless martyrdoms4 ,do you want a relic8 said a ,pope to some eager visitor4 ,gather dust from the ,coliseum2 it is all the martyrs4 ,we recited the words of the ,epistle1 and gave thanks to ,him who had there triumphed in ,his saints over life and death1 over beasts1 and men1 and demons4 ,then we thought of the inmost factors in that great victory2 ,truth and ,life4 ,they knew whom they had believed--their ,sacrifice1 their ,head1 their ,king4 ,he whom they had believed lived in them1 and they in ,him1 by the ,holy ,ghost given to them4 ,then we thought of ourselves1 in our circumstances so totally different on the surface1 yet carrying the same needs in their depths4 ,are we too to overcome1 in the things present of our modern world1 and in face of the things to come yet upon the earth8 ,are we to be more than conquerors1 winning blessing out of all things1 and really living in our own generation 7,acts xiii4 #cf7 as the bondmen of ,christ and the sons of ,god8 ,then for us also the absolute necessities are--the same ,truth1 and the same ,life4 ,and they are ours1 thanks be to the ,name of our salvation4 ,time hath no more dominion over them1 because death hath no more dominion over ,him4 ,for us too ,jesus died4 ,in us too1 by the ,holy ,ghost1 ,he lives4 #aci ,read 4 #adj ,so we venture to render 4 #ada ,confessiones1 v4 #h4 #adb ,see a noble poem by ,james ,montgomery1 ,the ,lot of the ,righteous4 #adc ,see e4g4 xi4 #b2 ,acts ii4 #bc2 #a ,pet4 i4 #b1 #bj4 #add 3 is likeness not by accident but of essence4 ,the ,greek here is literally1 conformed ones of the image1 etc42 as if their similitude made them part of that which they resembled4 #ade ,let us banish from the idea of predestination all thought of a mechanical pagan destiny1 and use it of the sure purpose of the living and loving ,god4 #adf 3 the but of logic4 ,he is proving the security of the prospect of glory4 #adg 3 the particle deeply underlines the pronoun4 #adh 3 we adopt the interrogative rendering of all the clauses here4 ,it is equally good as grammar1 and far more congenial to the glowing context4 #adi ,observe the of the question1 not 4 #aej ,cp4 #a ,cor4 iii4 #bb3 ,all things are yours1 whether life or death4 #aea ,strong documentary evidence favours the transference of powers to a place after things to come4 ,but surely rhythm1 and the affinity of words1 look the other way4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,sorrowful ,,problem3 ,,jewish ,,unbelief2 ,,divine ,,sovereignty ,,romans ix4 #a-cc ,we may well think that again there was silence awhile in that ,corinthian chamber1 when ,tertius had duly inscribed the last words we have studied4 ,a silence in heaven follows1 in the ,apocalypse 7viii4 #a71 the vision of the white hosts of the redeemed1 gathered at last1 in their eternal jubilation1 before the throne and the ,lamb4 ,a silence in the soul is the fittest immediate sequel to such a revelation of grace and glory as has passed before us here4 ,and did not the man whose work it was to utter it1 and whose personal experience was as it were the informing soul of the whole argument of the ,epistle from the first1 and not least in this last sacred pan of faith1 keep silence when he had done1 hushed and tired by this exceeding weight of grace and glory8 ,but he has a great deal more to say to the ,romans1 and in due time the pen obeys the voice again4 ,what will the next theme be8 ,it will be a pathetic and significant contrast to the last2 a lament1 a discussion1 an instruction1 and then a prophecy1 about not himself and his happy fellow-saints1 but poor self-blinded unbelieving ,israel4 ,the occurrence of that subject exactly here is true to the inmost nature of the ,gospel4 ,the ,apostle has just been counting up the wealth of salvation1 and claiming it all1 as present and eternal property1 for himself and his brethren in the ,lord4 ,justifying ,righteousness1 ,liberty from ,sin in ,christ1 the ,indwelling ,spirit1 electing ,love1 coming and certain ,glory1 all have been recounted1 and asserted1 and embraced4 ,is it selfish1 this great joy of possession and prospect8 ,let those say so who see these things only from outside4 ,make proof of what they are in their interior1 enter into them1 learn yourself what it is to have peace with ,god1 to receive the ,spirit1 to expect the eternal glory2 and you will find that nothing is so sure to expand the heart towards other men as the personal reception into it of the ,truth and ,life of ,god in ,christ4 ,it is possible to hold a true creed--and to be spiritually hard and selfish4 ,but is it possible so to be when not only the creed is held1 but the ,lord of it1 its ,heart and ,life1 is received with wonder and great joy8 ,the man whose certainties1 whose riches1 whose freedom1 are all consciously in ,him1 cannot but love his neighbour1 and long that he too should come into the secret of the ,lord4 ,so ,st ,paul1 just at this point of the ,epistle1 turns with a peculiar intensity of grief and yearning towards the ,israel which he had once led1 and now had left1 because they would not come with him to ,christ4 ,his natural and his spiritual sympathies all alike go out to this self-afflicting people1 so privileged1 so divinely loved1 and now so blind4 ,oh that he could offer any sacrifice that would bring them reconciled1 humbled1 happy1 to the feet of the true ,christ6 ,oh that they might see the fallacy of their own way of salvation1 and submit to the way of ,christ1 taking ,his yoke1 and finding rest to their souls6 ,why do they not do it8 ,why does not the light which convinced him shine on them8 ,why should not the whole ,sanhedrin say1 ,lord1 what wouldst ,thou have us to do8 ,why does not the fair beauty of the ,son of ,god make them too count all things but loss for ,him8 ,why do not the voices of the ,prophets prove to them1 as they do now to ,paul1 absolutely convincing of the historical as well as spiritual claims of the ,man of ,calvary8 ,has the promise failed8 ,has ,god done with the race to which ,he guaranteed such a perpetuity of blessing8 ,no1 that cannot be4 ,he looks again1 and he sees in the whole past a long warning that1 while an outer circle of benefits might affect the nation1 the inner circle1 the light and life of ,god indeed1 embraced a remnant only2 even from the day when ,isaac and not ,ishmael was made heir of ,abraham4 ,and then he ponders the impenetrable mystery of the relation of the ,infinite ,will to human wills2 he remembers how1 in a way whose full reasons are unknowable1 7but they are good1 for they are in ,god17 the ,infinite ,will has to do with our willing2 genuine and responsible though our willing is4 ,and before that opaque veil he rests4 ,he knows that only righteousness and love is behind it2 but he knows that it is a veil1 and that in front of it man's thought must cease and be silent4 ,sin is altogether man's fault4 ,but when man turns from sin it is all ,god's mercy1 free1 special1 distinguishing4 ,be silent1 and trust ,him1 ,o man whom ,he has made4 ,remember1 ,he has made thee4 ,it is not only that ,he is greater than thou1 or stronger2 but ,he has made thee4 ,be reasonably willing to trust1 out of sight1 the reasons of thy ,,maker4 ,then he turns again with new regrets and yearnings to the thought of that wonderful ,gospel which was meant for ,israel and for the world1 but which ,israel rejected1 and now would fain check on its way to the world4 ,lastly1 he recalls the future1 still full of eternal promises for the chosen race1 and through them full of blessing for the world2 till he rises at length from perplexity and anguish1 and the wreck of once eager expectations1 into that great ,doxology in which he blesses the ,eternal ,sovereign for the very mystery of ,his ways1 and adores ,him because ,he is ,his own eternal ,end4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,truth ,i speak in ,christ1 speaking as the member of the ,all-,truthful2 ,i do not lie1 my conscience1 in the ,holy ,ghost1 informed and governed by ,him1 bearing me concurrent witness--the soul within affirming to itself the word spoken without to others--,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 that ,i have great grief1 and my heart has incessant pain1 yes1 the heart in which 7v4 #e7 the ,spirit has poured out ,god's love and joy2 there is room for both experiences in its human depths4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for ,i was wishing1 ,i myself1 to be anathema from ,christ1 to be devoted to eternal separation from ,him2 awful dream of uttermost sacrifice1 made impossible only because it would mean self-robbery from the ,lord who had bought him2 a spiritual suicide by sin--for the sake of my brethren1 my kinsmen flesh-wise4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,for they are 7 7 ,israelites1 bearers of the glorious theocratic name1 sons of the ,prince with ,god 7,gen4 xxxii4 #bh72 theirs is the adoption1 the call to be ,jehovah's own filial race1 ,his son1 ,his firstborn 7,exod4 iv4 #bb7 of the peoples2 and the glory1 the ,shechinah of the ,eternal ,presence1 sacramentally seen in ,tabernacle and ,temple1 spiritually spread over the race2 and the ,covenants1 with ,abraham1 and ,isaac1 and ,levi1 and ,moses1 and ,aaron1 and ,phinehas1 and ,david2 and the ,legislation1 the holy ,moral ,code1 and the ,ritual1 with its divinely ordered symbolism1 that vast ,parable of ,christ1 and the ,promises1 of the pleasant land1 and the perpetual favour1 and the coming ,lord2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 theirs are the ,fathers1 patriarchs1 and priests1 and kings2 and out of them1 as to what is flesh-wise1 is the ,christ1--,he who is over all things1 ,god1 blessed to all eternity4 ,amen4#aeb ,it is indeed a splendid roll of honours1 recited over this race separate among the nations1 a race which to-day as much as ever remains the enigma of history1 to be solved only by ,revelation4 ,the ,jews1 your ,majesty1 was the reply of ,frederick the ,great's old believing courtier1 when asked with a smile for the credentials of the ,bible2 the short answer silenced the ,encyclopdist ,king4 ,it is indeed a riddle1 made of indissoluble facts1 this people everywhere dispersed1 yet everywhere individual2 scribes of a ,book which has profoundly influenced mankind1 and which is recognized by the most various races as an august and lawful claimant to be divine1 yet themselves1 in so many aspects1 provincial to the heart2 historians of their own glories1 but at least equally of their own unworthiness and disgrace2 transmitters of predictions which may be slighted1 but can never1 as a whole1 be explained away1 yet obstinate deniers of the majestic fulfilment in the ,lord of ,christendom2 human in every fault and imperfection1 yet so concerned in bringing to man the message of the ,divine that ,jesus ,himself said of them 7,john iv4 #bb71 ,salvation comes from the ,jews4 ,on this wonderful race this its most illustrious member 7after his ,lord7 here fixes his eyes1 full of tears4 ,he sees their glories pass before him--and then realizes the spiritual squalor and misery of their rejection of the ,christ of ,god4 ,he groans1 and in real agony asks how it can be4 ,one thing only cannot be2 the promises have not failed2 there has been no failure in the ,promiser4 ,what may seem such is rather man's misreading of the promise4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,but it is not as though the word of ,god has been thrown out 771 that word whose divine honour was dearer to him than even that of his people4 ,for not all who come from ,israel constitute ,israel2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 nor1 because they are seed of ,abraham1 are they all his children1 in the sense of family life and rights2 but ,in ,isaac shall a seed be called thee 7,gen4 xxi4 #ab72 ,isaac1 and not any son of thy body begotten1 is father of those whom thou shalt claim as thy covenant-race4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,that is to say1 not the children of his 77 flesh are the children of his 77 ,god2 no1 the children of the promise1 indicated and limited by its developed terms1 are reckoned as seed4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,for of the promise this was the word 7,gen4 xviii4 #aj1 #ad71 ,according to this time ,i will come1 and ,sarah1 she and not any spouse of thine2 no ,hagar1 no ,keturah1 but ,sarah1 shall have a son4 ,and the law of limitations did not stop there1 but contracted yet again the stream of even physical filiation3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,nor only so1 but ,rebecca too--being with child1 with twin children1 of one husband--no problem of complex parentage1 as with ,abraham1 occurring here--even of ,isaac our father1 just named as the selected heir--,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 7for it was while they were not yet born1 while they had not yet shewn any conduct 7 7 good or bad1 that the choice-wise purpose of ,god might remain1 sole and sovereign1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 not based on works1 but wholly on the ,caller7--it was said to her 7,gen4 xxv4 #bc71 ,the greater shall be bondman to the less4 ,as it stands written1 in the prophet's message a millennium later1 ,jacob ,i loved1 but ,esau ,i hated1#aec ,i repudiated him as heir4 ,so the limit has run always along with the promise4 ,ishmael is ,abraham's son1 yet not his son4 ,esau is ,isaac's son1 yet not his son4 ,and though we trace in ,ishmael and in ,esau1 as they grow1 characteristics which may seem to explain the limitation1 this will not really do4 ,for the chosen one in each case has his conspicuous unfavourable characteristics too4 ,and the whole tone of the record 7not to speak of this its apostolic interpretation7 looks towards mystery1 not explanation4 ,esau's profanity was the concurrent occasion1 not the cause1 of the choice of ,jacob4 ,the reason of the choice lay in the depths of ,god1 that ,world dark with excess of bright4 ,all is well there1 but not the less all is unknown4 ,so we are led up to the shut door of the sanctuary of ,god's ,choice4 ,touch it2 it is adamantine1 and it is fast locked4 ,no blind ,destiny has turned the key1 and lost it4 ,no inaccessible ,tyrant sits within1 playing to himself both sides of a game of fate1 and indifferent to the cry of the soul4 ,the ,key-,bearer1 whose ,name is engraved on the portal1 is ,he that liveth1 and was dead1 and is alive for evermore 7,rev4 i4 #ah74 ,and if you listen you will hear words within1 like the soft deep voice of many waters1 yet of an eternal ,heart2 ,i am that ,i am2 ,i will that ,i will2 trust ,me4 ,but the door is locked2 and the ,voice is mystery4 ,ah1 what agonies have been felt in human souls1 as men have looked at that gate1 and pondered the unknown interior6 ,the ,eternal knows1 with infinite kindness and sympathy1 the pain unspeakable which can beset the creature when it wrestles with ,his ,eternity1 and tries to clasp it with both hands1 and to say that that is all6 ,we do not find in ,scripture1 surely1 anything like an anathema for that awful sense of the unknown which can gather on the soul drawn--irresistibly as it sometimes seems to be--into the problems of the ,choice of ,god1 and oppressed as with the weight of all the seas upon it1 by the very questions stated presently here by the ,apostle4 ,the ,lord knoweth1 not only ,his will1 but our heart1 in these matters4 ,and where ,he entirely declines to explain 7surely because we are not yet of age to understand ,him if ,he did7 ,he yet shews us ,,jesus1 and bids us meet the silence of the mystery with the silence of a personal trust in the personal ,character revealed in ,him4 ,in something of such stillness shall we approach the paragraph now to follow8 ,shall we listen1 not to explain away1 not even over much to explain1 but to submit1 with a submission which is not a suppressed resentment but an entire reliance8 ,we shall find that the whole matter1 in its practical aspect1 has a voice articulate enough for the soul which sees ,christ1 and believes on ,him4 ,it says to that soul1 ,who maketh thee to differ8 ,who hath fashioned thee to honour8 ,why art thou not now1 as once1 guiltily rejecting ,christ1 or1 what is the same1 postponing ,him8 ,thank ,,him who has 'compelled thee1' yet without violation of thyself1 'to come in4' ,see in thy choice of ,him ,his mercy on thee4 ,and now1 fall at ,his feet1 to bless ,him1 to serve ,him1 and to trust ,him4 ,think ill of thyself4 ,think reverently of others4 ,and remember 7the ,infinite1 who has chosen thee1 says it71 ,he willeth not the death of a sinner1 ,he loved the world1 ,he bids thee to tell it that ,he loves it1 to tell it that ,he is ,love4 ,now we listen4 ,with a look which speaks awe1 but not misgiving1 disclosing past tempests of doubt1 but now a rest of faith1 the ,apostle dictates again3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,what therefore shall we say8 ,is there injustice at ,god's bar 7 78 ,away with the thought4 ,the thing is1 in the deepest sense1 unthinkable4 ,god1 the ,god of ,revelation1 the ,god of ,christ1 is a ,being who1 if unjust--ceases to be1 denies ,himself4 ,but the thought that ,his reasons for some given action should be1 at least to us now1 absolute mystery1 ,he being the ,infinite ,personality1 is not unthinkable at all4 ,and in such a case it is not unreasonable1 but the deepest reason1 to ask for no more than ,his articulate guarantee1 so to speak1 that the mystery is fact2 that ,he is conscious of it1 alive to it 7speaking humanly72 and that ,he avows it as ,his will4 ,for when ,,god1 the ,god of ,christ1 bids us take ,his will for it1 it is a different thing from an attempt1 however powerful1 to frighten us into silence4 ,it is a reminder ,,who ,he is who speaks2 the ,being who is kindred to us1 who is in relations with us1 who loved us1 but who also has absolutely made us1 and cannot 7because we are sheer products of ,his will7 make us so much ,his equals as to tell us all4 ,so the ,apostle proceeds with a for whose bearing we have thus already indicated3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,for to ,moses he says 7,exod4 xxxiv4 #ai71 in the dark sanctuary of ,sinai1 ,i shall pity whomsoever ,i do pity1 and compassionate whomsoever ,i do compassionate2 ,my account of ,my saving action shall stop there4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,it appears 77 therefore that it1 the ultimate account of salvation1 is not of 7as the effect is of the first cause7 the willer1 nor of the runner1 the carrier of willing into work1 but of the ,pitier--,god4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,for the ,scripture#aed says 7,exod4 x4 #af7 to ,pharaoh1 that large example of defiant human sin1 real and guilty1 but also1 concurrently1 of the sovereign ,choice which sentenced him to go his own way1 and used him as a beacon at its end1 ,for this very purpose ,i raised thee up1 made thee stand1 even beneath the ,plagues1 that ,i might display in thee ,my power1 and that ,my ,name1 as of the just ,god who strikes down the proud1 might be told far and wide 77 in all the earth4 ,pharaoh's was a case of concurrent phenomena4 ,a man was there on the one hand1 willingly1 deliberately1 and most guiltily1 battling with right1 and rightly bringing ruin on his own head1 wholly of himself4 ,god was there on the other hand1 making that man a monument not of grace but of judgment4 ,and that side1 that line1 is isolated here1 and treated as if it were all4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,it appears then that whom ,he pleases1 ,he pities1 and whom ,he pleases1 ,he hardens1 in that sense in which ,he hardened ,pharaoh's heart1 made it stiff 771 made it heavy 771 made it harsh 77--by sentencing it to have its own way4 ,yes1#aee thus it appears4 ,and beyond that inference we can take no step of thought but this--that the ,subject of that mysterious will1 ,,he who thus pleases1 and pities1 and hardens1 is no other than the ,god of ,jesus ,christ4 ,,he may be1 not only submitted to1 but trusted1 in that unknowable sovereignty of ,his will4 ,yet listen to the question which speaks out the problem of all hearts3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,you will say to me therefore1 ,why does ,he still1 after such an avowal of ,his sovereignty1 softening this heart1 hardening that1 why does ,he still find fault8 ,ah why8 ,for ,his act of will who has withstood8 7,nay1 you have withstood ,his will1 and so have ,i4 ,not one word of the argument has contradicted the primary fact of our will1 nor therefore our responsibility4 ,but this he does not bring in here47 ,nay rather1 rather than take such an attitude of narrow and helpless logic1 think deeper2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,nay rather1 ,o man1 ,o mere human being 7 71 you--who are you1 who are answering back to your 77 ,god8 ,shall the thing formed say to its ,former1 ,why did you make me like this8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,has not the potter authority over his 77 clay1 out of the same kneaded mass to make this vessel for honour but that for dishonour8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,but if ,god1 being pleased to demonstrate ,his 77 wrath1 and to evidence what ,he can do--what will ,st ,paul go on to say8 ,that the ,eternal1 being thus pleased1 created responsible beings on purpose to destroy them1 gave them personality1 and then compelled them to transgress8 ,no1 he does not say so4 ,the sternly simple illustration1 in itself one of the least relieved utterances in the whole ,scripture--that dread ,potter and his kneaded ,clay6--gives way1 in its application1 to a statement of the work of ,god on man full of significance in its variation4 ,here are indeed the vessels still2 and the vessels for honour are such because of mercy1 and ,his own hand has prepared them for glory4 ,and there are the vessels for dishonour1 and in a sense of awful mystery they are such because of wrath4 ,but the wrath of the ,holy ,one can fall only upon demerit2 so these vessels have merited ,his displeasure of themselves4 ,and they are prepared for ruin2 but where is any mention of ,his hand preparing them8 ,and meanwhile ,he bears them in much longsuffering4 ,the mystery is there1 impenetrable as ever1 when we try to pierce behind ,his will4 ,but on every side it is limited and qualified by facts which witness to the compassions of the ,infinite ,sovereign even in ,his judgments1 and remind us that sin is altogether of the creature4 ,so we take up the words where we dropped them above3 ,what if ,he bore1 7the tense throws us forward into eternity1 to look back thence on ,his ways in time17 in much longsuffering1 vessels of wrath1 adjusted for ruin8 ,and acted otherwise with others1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 that ,he might evidence the wealth of ,his glory1 the resources of ,his inmost ,character1 poured upon vessels of pity1 which ,he prepared in advance for glory1 by the processes of justifying and hallowing grace-- ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 whom in fact 77 ,he called1 effectually1 in their conversion1 even us1 not only from the ,jews1 but also from the ,gentiles8 ,for while the lineal ,israel1 with its privilege and its apparent failure1 is here first in view1 there lies behind it the phenomenon of the ,israel of ,god1 the heaven-born heirs of the ,fathers1 a race not of blood but of the ,spirit4 ,the great ,promise1 all the while1 had set towards that ,israel as its final scope2 and now he gives proof from the ,prophets that this intention was at least half revealed all along the line of revelation4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,as actually 77 in our 77 ,hosea 7ii4 #bc1 ,heb41 #be7 in the book we know as such1 ,he says1 ,i will call what was not ,my people1 ,my people2 and the not-beloved one1 beloved4#aef ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bf4 ,and 7another ,hosean oracle1#aeg in line with the first7 it shall be1 in the place where it was said to them1 ,not ,my people are ye1 there they shall be called sons of the living ,god4 ,in both places the first incidence of the words is on the restoration of the ,ten ,tribes to covenant blessings4 ,but the ,apostle1 in the ,spirit1 sees an ultimate and satisfying reference to a vaster application of the same principle2 the bringing of the rebelling and banished ones of all mankind into covenant and blessing4 ,meanwhile the ,prophets who foretell that great ingathering indicate with equal solemnity the spiritual failure of all but a fraction of the lineal heirs of promise4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bg4 ,but ,isaiah cries over#aeh ,israel1 ,if the number of the sons of ,israel should be as the sand of the sea1 the remnant only shall be saved2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bh4 for as one who completes and cuts short will the ,lord do ,his work 71 7 upon the earth4#aei ,here again is a first and second incidence of the prophecy4 ,in every stage of the history of ,sin and ,redemption the ,apostle1 in the ,spirit1 sees an embryo of the great ,development4 ,so1 in the wofully limited numbers of the ,exiles who returned from the old captivity he sees an embodied prophecy of the fewness of the sons of ,israel who shall return from the exile of incredulity to their true ,messiah4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bi4 ,and as ,isaiah 7i4 #i7 has foretold 771 so it is2 ,unless the ,lord of ,hosts 71 7 had left us a seed1#afj like ,sodom we had become1 and to ,gomorrah we had been resembled4 ,such was the mystery of the facts1 alike in the older and in the later story of ,israel4 ,a remnant1 still a remnant1 not the masses1 entered upon an inheritance of such ample provision1 and so sincerely offered4 ,and behind this lay the insoluble shadow within which is concealed the relation of the ,infinite ,will to the wills of men4 ,but also1 in front of the phenomenon1 concealed by no shadow save that which is cast by human sin1 the ,apostle sees and records the reasons1 as they reside in the human will1 of this salvation of a remnant4 ,the promises of ,god1 all along1 and supremely now in ,christ1 had been conditioned 7it was in the nature of spiritual things that it should be so7 by submission to ,his way of fulfilment4 ,the golden gift was there1 in the most generous of hands1 stretched out to give4 ,but it could be put only into a recipient hand open and empty4 ,it could be taken only by submissive and self-forgetting faith4 ,and man1 in his fall1 had twisted his will out of gear for such an action4 ,was it wonderful that1 by his own fault1 he failed to receive8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cj4 ,what therefore shall we say8#afa ,why1 that the ,gentiles1 though they did not 7 7 pursue righteousness1 though no ,oracle had set them on the track of a true divine acceptance and salvation1 achieved righteousness1 grasped it when once revealed1 but#afb the righteousness that results on faith2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ca4 but ,israel1 pursuing a law of righteousness1 aiming at what is1 for fallen man1 the impossible goal1 a perfect meeting of the ,law's one principle of acceptance1 ,this do and thou shalt live1 did not attain that law#afc2 that is to say1 practically1 as we now review their story of vain efforts in the line of self1 did not attain the acceptance to which that law was to be the avenue4 ,the ,pharisee as such1 the ,pharisee ,saul of ,tarsus for example1 neither had peace with ,god1 nor dared to think he had1 in the depth of his soul4 ,he knew enough of the divine ideal to be hopelessly uneasy about his realization of it4 ,he could say1 stiffly enough1 ,god1 ,i thank ,thee 7,luke xviii4 #aa1 #ad72 but he went down to his house unhappy1 unsatisfied1 unjustified4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cb4 ,on what account8 ,because it was not of faith1 but as of works#afd2 in the unquiet dream that man must1 and could1 work up the score of merit to a valid claim4 ,they stumbled#afe on the ,stone of their 77 stumbling2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cc4 as it stands written 7,isai4 viii4 #ad1 xxviii4 #af71 in a passage where the great perpetual ,promise is in view1 and where the blind people are seen rejecting it as their foothold in favour of policy1 or of formalism1 ,behold1 ,i place in ,sion1 in the very centre of light and privilege1 a ,stone of stumbling1 and a ,rock of upsetting2 and he who#aff confides in ,him1 7or1 perhaps1 in it17 he who rests on it1 on ,him 7' 71 shall not be put to shame4 ,one great ,rabbi at least1 ,rashi1 of the twelfth century1 bears witness to the mind of the ,jewish ,church upon the significance of that mystic ,rock4 ,behold1 so runs his interpretation1 ,i have established a ,king1 ,messiah1 who shall be in ,zion a stone of proving4 ,was ever prophecy more profoundly verified in event8 ,not for the lineal ,israel only1 but for ,man1 the ,king ,messiah is1 as ever1 the ,stone of either stumbling or foundation4 ,he is1 as ever1 a ,sign spoken against4 ,he is1 as ever1 the ,rock of ,ages1 where the believing sinner hides1 and rests1 and builds1 ,below the storm-mark of the sky1 ,above the flood-mark of the deep4 ,have we known what it is to stumble over ,him8 ,we will not have this ,man to reign over us2 ,we were never in bondage to any man2 who is ,he that ,he should set us free8 ,and are we now lifted by a ,hand of omnipotent kindness to a place deep in ,his clefts1 safe on ,his summit1 knowing nothing for the peace of conscience1 the satisfaction of thought1 the liberation of the will1 the abolition of death1 but ,jesus ,christ1 and ,him crucified8 ,then let us think with always humbled sympathy of those who1 for whatever reason1 still forsake their own mercy 7,jonah ii4 #h74 ,and let us inform them where we are1 and how we are here1 and that the ground is good4 ,and for ourselves1 that we may do this the better1 let us often read again the simple1 strong assurance which closes this chapter of mysteries2 ,he who confides in ,him shall not be put to shame2 shall not be disappointed2 shall not in the vivid phrase of the ,hebrew itself1 make haste4 ,no1 we shall not make haste4 ,from that safe ,place no hurried retreat shall ever need to be beaten4 ,that ,fortress cannot be stormed2 it cannot be surprised2 it cannot crumble4 ,for ,,it is ,,he2 the ,son1 the ,lamb1 of ,god2 the sinner's everlasting ,righteousness1 the believer's unfailing ,source of peace1 of purity1 and of power4 ,,detached ,,note ,,to ,,ix4 #e4 ,the following is transcribed1 with a few modifications1 from the writer's ,commentary on the ,epistle in ,the ,cambridge ,bible3 ,who is over all1 ,god blessed for ever4 ,the ,greek may1 with more or less facility1 be translated 7#a7 as in ,a4,v42 or 7#b7 'who is ,god over all1' etc42 or 7#c7 'blessed for ever be ,he who is ,god over all' 7i4e41 the ,eternal ,father74444 ,if we adopt 7#c7 we take the ,apostle to be led1 by the mention of the ,incarnation1 to utter a sudden and solemn doxology to the ,god who gave that crowning mercy4 ,in favour of this it is urged 7by some entirely orthodox commentators1 as ,h4 ,a4 ,w4 ,meyer7 that ,st ,paul nowhere else styles the ,lord simply ',god1' but rather 'the ,son of ,god1' etc4 ,by this they do not mean to detract from the ,lord's ,deity2 but they maintain that ,st ,paul always so states that ,deity1 under divine guidance1 as to mark the ',subordination of the ,son'--that ,subordination which is not a difference of ,nature1 ,power1 or ,eternity1 but of ,order2 just such as is marked by the simple but profound words ,,father and ,,son4 ,but on the other hand there is ,tit4 ii4 #ac1 where the ,greek is 7at least7 perfectly capable of the rendering1 'our great ,god and ,saviour1 ,jesus ,christ4' ,there is ,acts xx4 #bh1 where the evidence is very strong for the reading1 retained by the ,r4,v4 7text71 'the ,church of ,god1 which ,he purchased with ,his own blood4' ,and if ,st ,john is to be taken to report words exactly1 in his narrative of the ,resurrection1 in an incident whose point is deeply connected with verbal precision1 we have one of the first ,apostles1 within eight days of the ,resurrection1 addressing the ,risen ,lord 7,john xx4 #bh7 as 'my ,god4' 7,we call attention to this as against the contention that only the latest developments of inspiration1 represented in e4g4 ,st ,john's ,preamble to his ,gospel1 shew us ,christ called explicitly ,god47 ,if 444 it is divinely true that 'the ,,word ,,is ,,god1' it is surely far from wonderful if here and there1 in peculiar connexions1 ,st ,paul should so speak of ,christ1 even though guided to keep another phase of the truth habitually in view4 ,now1 beyond all fair question1 the ,greek here is quite naturally rendered as in the ,a4,v42 had it not been for historical controversy1 probably1 no other rendering would have been suggested4 ,and lastly1 and what is important1 the context far rather suggests a lament 7over the fall of ,israel7 than an ascription of praise4 ,and what is most significant of all1 it pointedly suggests some explicit allusion to the super-human ,nature of ,christ1 by the words 'according to the flesh4' ,but if there is such an allusion1 then it must lie in the words1 'over all1 ,god4' ,it may be interesting to add the following note from ,franz ,delitzsch 7,brief an die ,rmer in das ,hebrische bersetzt und aus ,talmud und ,midrasch erlutert1 ,leipzig1 #ahgj1 p4 #hi73 ,christus1 nach dem ,fleisch1 welcher ist ,gott ber alles1 hochgelobet in ,ewigkeit4 ,deshalb nmlich weil er ,gott und ,mensch in ,einer ,person ist4 ,er ist der andere ,david 7 71 und ist ,jahve unsere ,gerechtigkeit 7 ,jer4 xxiii4 #f74 ,auch der ,midrasch ,mischle zu ,spr4 xix4 #ba zhlt neben unter den ,messiasnamen auf1 und auch anderwrts bezeugen ,talmud und ,midrasch1 dass der ,messias heisst2 denn ',gott war in ,christo und vershnte die ,welt mit ihm selber4' ,paulus sagt im ,grunde nichts anderes als was ,jesaia ix4 #e1 wo die ,zunz'sche ,bibelbersetzung1 der exegetischen ,wahrheit die ,ehre gebend1 bersetzt3 ',man nennt seinen ,namen3 ,wunder1 ,berather1 starker ,gott1 ewiger ,vater1 ,frst des ,friedens4' ,der ,messias ist und heisst und 1 also obwohl nicht 1 doch 77 4 ,delitzsch renders the close of ix4 #e thus3 #aeb ,for this rendering1 rather than the alternative1 ,blessed for ever be the ,god who is over all1 see the reasons offered below1 p4 #bfa4 #aec ,mal4 i4 #b1 #c4--;,it is plain that hatred in such a connexion 7and cp4 ,matt4 vi4 #bd1 ,luke xiv4 #bf7 need mean no more than relative repudiation4 ,no personal animosity is in question1 but a decisive rejection of a rival claim4 ,see ,grimm's ,n4 ,t4 ,lexicon 7,thayer71 s4v4 4 #aed ,observe the vital personality of the phrase2 the ,scripture speaks4 ,cp4 ,gal4 iii4 #h for perhaps the strongest example of the kind4 #aee ,cp4 ,psal4 lxxxi4 #ab1 and above1 i4 #bd1 #bf4 #aef ,in the ,hebrew1 literally1 ,i will pity the not-pitied one 7feminine1 of the idealized people or church2 so in the ,greek here1 74 ,divine pity is more than akin to divine love4 #aeg i4 #aj 7,hebrew1 ii4 #a74 #aeh 3 with the thought of a lament over the ruined ones4 ,the preposition appears here in its original and literal meaning4 #aei ,isa4 x4 #bb1 #bc3 perhaps with an insertion of the phrase1 the number of1 from ,hos4 i4 #aj4 ,as to wording1 he quotes freely from the ,hebrew1 more nearly from the ,lxx4 ,but the substance is identical as compared with both4 ,following considerable documentary evidence1 we omit here the ,greek words represented by in righteousness2 because a short work4 #afj ,the equivalent of the ,lxx4 for the very small remnant 77 of the ,hebrew4 #afa ,for the seventh and last time he uses this characteristic phrase4 #afb 3 in slightly suggested contrast to the ideal of the ,jew1 a merited acceptance4 #afc ,omit here the word 4 #afd ,omit 4 #afe ,omit 4 #aff ,omit 4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,jewish ,,unbelief ,,and ,,gentile ,,faith3 ,,prophecy ,,romans x4 #a-ba ,the problem of ,israel is still upon the ,apostle's soul4 ,he has explored here and there the conditions of the fact that his brethren1 as a mass1 have rejected ,jesus4 ,he has delivered his heart of its loving human groan over the fact4 ,he has reminded himself1 and then his readers1 that the fact however involves no failure of the purpose and promise of ,god2 for ,god from the first had indicated limitations within the apparent scope of the ,abrahamic ,promise4 ,he has looked in the face1 once for all1 the mystery of the relation between ,god's efficient will and the will of the creature1 finding a refuge1 under the moral strain of that mystery1 not away from it but as it were behind it1 in the recollection of the infinite trustworthiness1 as well as eternal rights1 of man's ,,maker4 ,then he has recurred to the underlying main theme of the whole ,epistle1 the acceptance of the sinner in ,god's own one way2 and we have seen how1 from ,israel's own point of view1 ,israel has stumbled and fallen just by his own fault4 ,israel would not rest upon the ,stone of stumbling2 he would collide with it4 ,divine sovereignty here or there--the heart of ,jewish man1 in its responsible personality1 and wholly of itself1 rebelled against a man-humbling salvation4 ,and so all its religiousness1 its earnestness1 its intensity1 went for nothing in the quest for peace and purity4 ,they stumbled--a real striking of real wayward feet--at the ,stumbling ,stone2 which all the while lay ready to be their basis and repose4 ,he cannot leave the subject1 with its sadness1 its lessons1 and its hope4 ,he must say more of his love and longing for ,israel2 and also more about this aspect of ,israel's fall--this collision of man's will with the ,lord's ,way of ,peace4 ,and he will unfold the deep witness of the prophecies to the nature of that ,way1 and to the reluctance of the ,jewish heart to accept it4 ,moses shall come in with the ,law1 and ,isaiah with the ,scriptures of the ,prophets2 and we shall see how their ,inspirer1 all along from the first1 indicated what should surely happen when a salvation altogether divine should be presented to hearts filled with themselves4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,brethren1 he begins1 the deliberate desire 77 of my heart1 whatever discouragements may oppose it1#afg and my petition unto ,god for them1#afh is salvationwards4 ,he is inevitably moved to this by the pathetic sight of their earnestness1 misguided indeed1 guiltily misguided1 utterly inadequate to constitute for them even a phantom of merit2 yet1 to the eyes that watch it1 a different thing from indifference or hypocrisy4 ,he cannot see their real struggles1 and not long that they may reach the shore4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,for ,i bear them witness1 the witness of one who once was the type of the class1 that they have zeal of ,god1 an honest jealousy for ,his ,name1 ,his ,word1 ,his ,worship1 only not in the line of spiritual knowledge 7' 74 ,they have not seen all ,he is1 all ,his ,word means1 all ,his worship implies4 ,they are sure1 and rightly sure1 of many things about ,him2 but they have not seen ,,him4 ,and so they have not abhorred themselves 7,job xli4 #e1 #f74 ,and thus they are not1 in their own conviction1 shut up to a salvation which must be altogether of ,him2 which is no contract with ,him1 but eternal bounty from ,him4 ,solemn and heart-moving scene6 ,there are now1 and were then1 those who would have surveyed it1 and come away with the comfortable reflection that so much earnestness would surely somehow work itself right at last2 nay1 that it was already sufficiently good in itself to secure these honest zealots a place in some comprehensive heaven4 ,if ever such thoughts had excuse1 surely it was here4 ,the zeal was quite sincere4 ,it was ready to suffer1 as well as to strike4 ,the zealot was not afraid of a world in arms4 ,and he felt himself on fire not for evil1 but for ,god1 for the ,god of ,abraham1 of ,moses1 of the ,prophets1 of the ,promise4 ,would not this do8 ,would not the lamentable rejection of ,jesus which attended it be condoned as a tremendous but mere accident1 while the zeal of ,god remained as the substance1 the essence1 of the spiritual state of the zealot8 ,surely a very large allowance would be made2 to put it at the lowest terms4 ,yet such was not the view of ,st ,paul1 himself once the most honest and disinterested ,jewish zealot in the world4 ,he had seen ,,the ,,lord4 ,and so he had seen himself4 ,the deadly mixture of motive which may underlie what nevertheless we may have to call an honest hatred of the ,gospel had been shewn to him in the white light of ,christ4 ,in that light he had seen--what it alone can fully shew--the condemnableness of all sin1 and the hopelessness of self-salvation4 ,from himself he reasons1 and rightly1 to his brethren4 ,he knows1 with a solemn sympathy1 how much they are in earnest4 ,but his sympathy conceals no false liberalism2 it is not cheaply generous of the claims of ,god4 ,he does not think that because they are in earnest they are saved4 ,their earnestness drives his heart to a deeper prayer for their salvation4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for knowing not the righteousness of our 77 ,god1 ,his way of being just1 yet the ,justifier1 and seeking to set up their own righteousness1 to construct for themselves a claim which should stand in judgment1 they did not submit to the righteousness of our 77 ,god1 when it appeared before them1 embodied in the ,lord our ,righteousness4 ,they aspired to acceptance4 ,god bade them submit to it4 ,in their view1 it was a matter of attainment2 an ascent to a difficult height1 where the climber might exult in his success4 ,as ,he presented it1 it was a matter of surrender1 as when a patient1 given over1 places himself helpless in a master-healer's hands1 for a recovery which is to be due to those hands alone1 and to be celebrated only to their praise4#afi ,alas for such ignorance in these earnest souls2 for such a failure in ,israel to strike the true line of knowledge6 ,for it was a guilty failure4 ,the ,law had been indicating all the while that their ,dispensation was not its own end1 but one vast complex means to shut man up to a ,redeemer who was at once to satisfy every type1 and every oracle1 and to supply the impossible of the ,law 7viii4 #c71 by giving ,himself to be the believer's vicarious ,merit4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,for the ,law's end1 its ,goal1 its ,final ,cause in the plan of redemption1 is--,christ1 unto righteousness1 to effect and secure this wonderful acceptance1 for every one who believes4 ,yes1 ,he is no arbitrary sequel to the ,law2 ,he stands organically related to it4 ,and to this the ,law itself is witness1 both by presenting an inexorable and condemning standard as its only possible code of acceptance1 and by mysteriously pointing the soul away from that code1 in its quest for mercy1 to something altogether different1 at once accessible and divine4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,for ,moses writes down 77 thus the righteousness got from the ,law1 ,the man who does#agj them1 shall live in it#aga 7,levit4 xviii4 #e72 it is a matter of personal action and personal meriting alone4 ,thus the code1 feasible and beneficent indeed on the plane of national and social life1 which is its lower field of action1 is necessarily fatal to fallen man when the question lies between his conscience and the eternal ,judge4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,but the righteousness got from faith1 the acceptance received by surrendering trust1 thus speaks 7,deut4 xxx4 #ab-ad7--;in ,moses' words indeed1 7and this is one main point in the reasoning1 that he is witness17 yet as it were with a personal voice of its own1 deep and tender2 ,say not in thy heart1 ,who shall ascend to the heaven8 that is1 to bring down ,christ1 by human efforts1 by a climbing merit2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 or1 ,who shall descend into the abyss8 that is1 to bring up ,christ from the dead1 as if ,his victorious ,sacrifice needed your supplement in order to its resurrection-triumph4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,but what does it say8 ,near thee is the utterance1 the explicit account of the ,lord's willingness to bless the soul which casts itself on ,him1#agb in thy mouth1 to recite it1 and in thy heart1 to welcome it4 ,and this message is the utterance of faith1 the creed of acceptance by faith alone1 which we proclaim2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 that if you shall confess in your mouth ,jesus as ,lord1#agc as divine ,king and ,master1 and shall believe in your heart that ,god raised ,him from the dead1 owning in the soul the glory of the ,resurrection1 as revealing and sealing the triumph of the ,atonement1 you shall be saved4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,for with the heart faith is exercised1 unto righteousness1 with acceptance for its resultant2 while 77 with the mouth confession is made1 unto salvation1 with present deliverance and final glory for its resultant1 the moral sequel of a life which owns its ,lord as all in all4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,for the ,scripture says 7,isai4 xxviii4 #af71 ,everyone who believes on ,him shall not be ashamed1#agd shall never be disappointed2 shall be kept1 through faith1 unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time 7#a ,pet4 i4 #e74 ,we have traversed here a tract pregnant of questions and mystery4 ,we have to remember here also1 as in previous places1 that the ,scripture is not a sun1 but a lamp4 ,much1 very much1 which this passage suggests as problem finds in its words no answer4 ,this citation from ,deuteronomy1 with its vision of ascents and descents1 its thoughts of the heaven and the abyss1 what did it mean when aged ,moses spoke it in the plains of ,moab8 ,what did it mean to him8 ,did he see1 did he feel1 ,messiah in every clause8 ,had he conscious foreviews1 then and there1 of what was to be done ages later beyond that stern ridge of hills1 westward of the narrow stream8 ,did he knowingly testify beforehand that ,god was to be born ,man at ,bethlehem1 and to die ,man at ,jerusalem8 ,we do not know2 we cannot possibly know1 until the eternal day finds ,moses and ourselves together in the ,city of ,god1 and we better understand the mysterious ,word1 at last1 in that great light4 ,if our ,master's utterances are to be taken as final1 it is quite certain that ,moses wrote of ,him 7,john v4 #df74 ,but it is not certain that he always knew he was so writing when he so wrote2 nor is it certain how far his consciousness went when it was most awake that way4 ,in the passage here cited by ,st ,paul the great ,prophet may have been aware only of a reference of his words to the seen1 the temporal1 the national1 to the blessings of loyalty to ,israel's ,god-given polity1 and of a return to it after times of revolt and decline4 ,but then1 ,st ,paul neither affirms this nor denies it4 ,as if on purpose1 he almost drops the personality of ,moses out of sight1 and personifies ,justification as the speaker4 ,his concern is less with the ,prophet than with his ,inspirer1 the ultimate ,author behind the immediate author4 ,and his own prophet-insight is guided to see that in the thought of that ,author1 as ,he wielded ,moses' mind and diction at ,his will1 ,,christ was the inmost purport of the words4 ,we may ask again what are the laws by which the ,apostle modifies here the ,prophet's phrases4 ,who shall descend into the abyss8 ,the ,hebrew reads1 ,who shall go over 7or on7 the sea8 ,the ,septuagint reads1 ,who shall go to the other side of the sea8 ,here too we know in part4 ,assuredly the change of terms was neither unconsciously made1 nor arbitrarily2 and it was made for readers who could challenge it1 if so it seemed to them to be done4 ,but we should need to know the whole relation of the ,one inspiring ,master to the minds of both ,his ,prophet and ,his ,apostle to answer the question completely4 ,however1 we can see that ,prophet and ,apostle both have in their thought here the antithesis of depth to height2 that the sea is1 to ,moses here1 the antithesis to the sky1 not to the land2 and that ,st ,paul intensifies the imagery in its true direction accordingly when he writes1 into the abyss4 ,again1 he finds ,justification by ,faith in the ,prophet's oracle about the subjective nearness of the utterance of mercy4 ,once more we own our ignorance of the conscious purport of the words1 as ,moses' words4 ,we shall quite decline1 if we are reverently cautious1 to say that for certain ,moses was not aware of such an inmost reference in what he said2 it is very much easier to assert than to know what the limitations of the consciousness of the ,prophets were4 ,but here also we rest in the fact that behind both ,moses and ,paul1 in their free and mighty personalities1 stood their one ,lord1 building ,his ,scripture slowly into its manifold oneness through them both4 ,he was in the thought and word of ,moses2 and meantime already to ,him the thought and word of ,paul was present1 and was in ,his plan4 ,and the earlier utterance had this at least to do with the later1 that it drew the mind of the pondering and worshipping ,israel to the idea of a contact with ,god in ,his ,promises which was not external and mechanical but deep within the individual himself1 and manifested in the individual's free and living avowal of it4 ,as we quit the passage1 let us mark and cherish its insistence upon confession1 confession with the mouth that ,jesus is ,lord4 ,this specially he connects with salvation1 with the believer's preservation to eternal glory4 ,faith is unto righteousness2 confession is unto salvation4 ,why is this8 ,is faith after all not enough for our union with the ,lord1 and for our safety in ,him8 ,must we bring in something else1 to be a more or less meritorious makeweight in the scale8 ,if this is what he means1 he is gainsaying the whole argument of the ,epistle on its main theme4 ,no2 it is eternally true that we are justified1 that we are accepted1 that we are incorporated1 that we are kept1 through faith only2 that is1 that ,christ is all for all things in our salvation1 and our part and work in the matter is to receive and hold ,him in an empty hand4 ,but then this empty hand1 holding ,him1 receives life and power from ,him4 ,the man is vivified by his ,rescuer4 ,he is rescued that he may live1 and that he may serve as living4 ,he cannot truly serve without loyalty to his ,lord4 ,he cannot be truly loyal while he hides his relation to ,him4 ,in some articulate way he must confess ,him2 or he is not treading the path where the ,shepherd walks before the sheep4 ,the confession with the mouth here in view is1 surely1 nothing less than the believer's open loyalty to ,christ4 ,it is no mere recitation of even the sacred catholic ,creed2 which may be recited as by an automaton4 ,it is the witness of the whole man to ,christ1 as his own discovered ,life and ,lord4 ,and thus it means in effect the path of faithfulness along which the ,saviour actually leads to glory those who are justified by faith4 ,that no slackened emphasis on faith is to be felt here is clear from ver4 #aa4 ,there1 in the summary and close of the passage1 nothing but faith is named2 whosoever believeth on ,him4 ,it is as if he would correct even the slightest disquieting surmise that our repose upon the ,lord has to be secured by something other than ,himself1 through some means more complex than taking ,him at ,his word4 ,here1 as much as anywhere in the ,epistle1 this is the message2 from faith to faith4 ,the confession with the mouth is not a different something added to this faith2 it is its issue1 its manifestation1 its embodiment4 ,i believed2 therefore have ,i spoken 7,psal4 cxvi4 #aj74 ,this recurrence to his great theme gives the ,apostle's thought a direction once again towards the truth of the world-wide scope of the ,gospel of ,acceptance4 ,in the midst of this philo-judean section of the ,epistle1 on his way to say glorious things about abiding mercy and coming blessing for the ,jews1 he must pause again to assert the equal welcome of the ,greeks to the ,righteousness of ,god1 and the foreshadow of this welcome in the ,prophets4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,for there is no distinction between ,jew and ,greek 7wonderful antithesis to the no distinction of iii4 #bc674 ,for the same ,lord is ,lord of all1 wealthy to all who call upon ,him1 who invoke ,him1 who appeal to ,him1 in the name of ,his own mercies in ,his redeeming ,son4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,for we have the prophecies with us here again4 ,joel1 in a passage 7ii4 #cb7 full of ,messiah1 the passage with which the ,spirit of ,pentecost filled ,peter's lips1 speaks thus without a limit2 ,every one1 whoever shall call upon the ,lord's ,name1 shall be saved4 ,as he cites the words1 and the thought rises upon him of this immense welcome to the sinful world1 he feels afresh all the need of the heathen1 and all the cruel narrowness of the ,pharisaism which would shut them out from such an amplitude of blessing4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,how then can#age they call on ,him on whom they never#agf believed8 ,but how can they believe on ,him whom they never heard8 ,but how can they hear ,him apart from a proclaimer8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,but how can they proclaim unless they are sent1 unless the ,church which holds the sacred light sends her messengers out into the darkness8 ,and in this again the ,prophets are with the ,christian ,apostle1 and against the loveless ,judaist3 ,as it stands written 7,isai4 lii4 #g71 ,how fair the feet of the gospellers of peace1 of the gospellers of good6#agg ,here1 as an incident in this profound discussion1 is given for ever to the ,church of ,christ one of the most distinct and stringent of her missionary marching-orders4 ,let us recollect this1 and lay it on our own souls1 forgetting awhile1 for we may1 the problem of ,israel and the exclusiveness of ancient ,pharisaism4 ,what is there here for us8 ,what motive facts are here1 ready to energize and direct the will of the ,christian1 and of the ,church1 in the matter of the gospelling of the world8 ,we take note first of what is written last1 the moral beauty and glory of the enterprise4 ,how fair the feet6 ,from the view-point of heaven there is nothing on the earth more lovely than the bearing of the name of ,jesus ,christ into the needing world1 when the bearer is one who loves and knows4 ,the work may have1 and probably will have1 very little of the rainbow of romance about it4 ,it will often lead the worker into the most uncouth and forbidding circumstances4 ,it will often demand of him the patient expenditure of days and months upon humiliating and circuitous preparations2 as he learns a barbarous unwritten tongue1 or a tongue ancient and elaborate1 in a stifling climate2 or finds that he must build his own hut1 and dress his own food1 if he is to live at all among the ,gentiles4 ,it may lay on him the exquisite--and prosaic--trial of finding the tribes around him entirely unaware of their need of his message2 unconscious of sin1 of guilt1 of holiness1 of ,god4 ,nay1 they may not only not care for his message2 they may suspect or deride his motives1 and roundly tell him that he is a political spy1 or an adventurer come to make his private gains1 or a barbarian tired of his own ,thule and irresistibly attracted to the region of the sun4 ,he will often be tempted to think the journey too great for him1 and long to let his tired and heavy feet rest for ever4 ,but his ,lord is saying of him1 all the while1 ,how fair the feet6 ,he is doing a work whose inmost conditions even now are full of moral glory1 and whose eternal issues1 perhaps where he thinks there has been most failure1 shall be1 by grace1 worthy of the ,king in ,his beauty4 ,it is the continuation of what the ,king ,himself began to do 7,acts i4 #a71 when ,he was ,his own first ,missionary to a world which needed ,him immeasurably1 yet did not know ,him when ,he came4 ,then1 this paragraph asserts the necessity of the missionary's work still more urgently than its beauty4 ,true1 it suggests many questions 7what great ,scripture does not do so87 which we cannot answer yet at all3--,why has ,he left the ,gentiles thus8 ,why is so much1 for their salvation1 suspended 7in our view7 upon the too precarious and too lingering diligence of the ,church8 ,what will the ,king say at last to those who never could1 by the ,church's fault1 even hear the blessed ,name1 that they might believe in ,it1 and call upon ,it8 ,,he knoweth the whole answer to such questions2 not we4 ,yet here meanwhile stands out this thing revealed 7,deut4 xxix4 #bi74 ,in the ,lord's normal order1 which is for certain the order of eternal spiritual right and love1 however little we can see all the conditions of the case1 man is to be saved through a personal calling upon ,his ,name4 ,and for that calling there is need of personal believing4 ,and for that believing there is need of personal hearing4 ,and in order to that hearing1 ,god does not speak in articulate thunder from the sky1 nor send visible angels up and down the earth1 but bids ,his ,church1 ,his children1 go and tell4 ,nothing can be stronger and surer than the practical logic of this passage4 ,the need of the world1 it says to us1 is not only amelioration1 elevation1 evolution4 ,it is salvation4 ,it is pardon1 acceptance1 holiness1 and heaven4 ,it is ,god2 it is ,christ4 ,and that need is to be met not by subtle expansions of polity and society4 ,no unconscious cerebration of the human race will regenerate fallen man4 ,nor will his awful wound be healed by any drawing on the shadowy resources of a post-mortal hope4 ,the work is to be done now1 in the ,name of ,jesus ,christ1 and by ,his ,name4 ,and ,his ,name1 in order to be known1 has to be announced and explained4 ,and that work is to be done by those who already know it1 or it will not be done at all4 ,there is none other ,name4 ,there is no other method of evangelization4 ,why is not that ,name already at least externally known and reverenced in every place of human dwelling8 ,it would have been so1 for a long time now1 if the ,church of ,christ had followed better the precept and also the example of ,st ,paul4 ,had the apostolic missions been sustained more adequately throughout ,christian history1 and had the apostolic ,gospel been better maintained in the ,church in all the energy of its divine simplicity and fulness1 the globe would have been covered--not indeed in a hurry1 yet ages ago now--with the knowledge of ,jesus ,christ as ,fact1 as ,truth1 as ,life4 ,we are told even now by some of the best informed advocates of missionary enterprise that if ,protestant ,christendom 7to speak of it alone7 were really to respond to the missionary call1 and send its messengers out not by tens but by thousands 7no chimerical number71 it would be soberly possible within thirty years so to distribute the message that no given inhabited spot should be1 at furthest1 one day's walk from a centre of evangelization4 ,this programme is not fanaticism1 surely4 ,it is a proposal for possible action1 too long deferred1 in the line of ,st ,paul's precept and example4 ,it is not meant to discredit any present form of well-considered operation4 ,and it does not for a moment ignore the futility of all enterprise where the sovereign power of the ,eternal ,spirit is not present4 ,nor does it forget the permanent call to the ,church to sustain amply the pastoral work at home1 in the flock of ,god which is among us 7#a ,pet4 v4 #b74 ,but it sees and emphasizes the fact that the ,lord has laid it upon ,his ,church to be ,his messenger to the whole world1 and to be in holy earnest about it1 and that the work1 as to its human side1 is quite feasible to a ,church awake4 ,stir up1 we beseech ,thee1 ,o ,lord1 the wills of ,thy faithful people1 to both the glory and the necessity of this labour of labours for ,thee1 that they1 plenteously bringing forth the fruit of it1 may of ,thee be plenteously rewarded1 in ,thy divine use of their obedience1 for the salvation of the world4 ,but the great ,missionary anticipates an objection from facts to his burning plea for the rightness of an unrestrained evangelism4 ,the proclamation might be universal2 but were not the results partial8 ,here a little1 and there a little2 was not this the story of missionary results even when a ,paul1 a ,barnabas1 a ,peter1 was the missionary8 ,everywhere some faith2 but everywhere more hostility1 and still more indifference6 ,could this1 after all1 be the main track of the divine purposes--these often ineffectual excursions of the fair feet of the messengers of an eternal peace8 ,ah1 that objection must have offered no mere logical difficulty to ,st ,paul2 it must have pierced his heart4 ,for while ,his ,master was his first motive1 his fellow-men themselves were his second4 ,he loved their souls2 he longed to see them blessed in ,christ1 saved in ,him from the death that cannot die1 filled in ,him with life indeed 7 1 #a ,tim4 vi4 #ai74 ,the man who shed tears over his converts as he warned them 7,acts xx4 #ca7 had tears also1 we may be sure1 for those who would not be converted2 nay1 we know he had3 ,i tell you1 even weeping 7 71 that they are the enemies of the ,cross of ,christ 7,phil4 iii4 #ah74 ,but here too he leans back on the solemn comfort1 the answer from within a veil1--that ,prophecy had taken account of this beforehand4 ,moses1 and ,isaiah1 and ,david1 had foretold on the one hand a universal message of good1 but on the other hand a sorrowfully limited response from man1 and notably from ,israel4 ,so he proceeds3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,but not all obeyed#agh the good tidings1 when the word reached them2 for--we were prepared for such a mystery1 such a grief--for ,isaiah says 7liii4 #a71 in his great ,oracle of the ,crucified1 ,lord1 who believed our hearing 771 the message they heard of us1 about ,one on whom were laid the iniquities of us all8 ,and as he dictates that word hearing1 it emphasizes to him the fact that not mystic intuitions born out of the depths of man are the means of revelation1 but articulate messages given from the depths of ,god1 and spoken by men to men4 ,and he throws the thought into a brief sentence1 such as would lie in a footnote in a modern book3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,so we gather 77 that faith comes from hearing2 but the hearing comes through ,christ's#agi utterance 772 the messenger has it because it was first given to him by the ,master who proclaimed ,,himself the ,way1 ,truth1 ,life1 ,light1 ,bread1 ,shepherd1 ,ransom1 ,lord4 ,all is revelation1 not reverie2 utterance1 not insight4 ,then the swift thought turns1 and returns again4 ,the prophecies have foretold an evangelical utterance to the whole human world4 ,not only in explicit prediction do they do so1 but in the mystic glory of their more remote allusions4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,but ,i say1 ,did they not hear8 ,was this failure of belief due to a limitation of the messenger's range in the plan of ,god8 ,nay1 rather1 ,unto all the earth went out their tone1 and to the ends of man's world 7 7 their utterances 7,psal4 xix4 #d74 ,the words are the voice of that ,psalm where the glories of the visible heavens are collocated with the glories of the ,word of ,god4 ,the ,apostle hears more than ,nature in the ,sunrise ,hymn of ,david2 he hears grace and the ,gospel in the deep harmony which carries the immortal melody along4 ,the ,god who meant the skies1 with their silent voices1 to preach a ,creator not to one race but to all1 meant also ,his ,word to have no narrower scope1 preaching a ,redeemer4 ,yes1 and there were articulate predictions that it should be so1 as well as starry parables2 predictions too that shewed the prospect not only of a world evangelized1 but of an ,israel put to shame by the faith of pagans4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,but ,i say 7his rapid phrase meets with an anticipating answer the cavil yet unspoken7 did not ,israel know8 ,had they no distinct forewarning of what we see to-day8 ,first comes ,moses1 saying1#ahj in his prophetic ,song1 sung at the foot of ,pisgah 7,deut4 xxxii4 #ba71 ,i--the ',i' is emphatic2 the ,person is ,,the ,,lord1 and the action shall be nothing less than ,his--,i will take a no-nation to#aha move your jealousy2 to move your anger ,i will take a nation non-intelligent2 a race not only not informed by a previous revelation1 but not trained by thought upon it to an insight into new truth4 ,and what ,moses indicates1 ,isaiah1 standing later in the history1 indignantly explains3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,but ,isaiah dares anything 771 and says 7lxv4 #a71 ,i was found by those who sought not ,me2 manifest ,i became to those who consulted not ,me4#ahb ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,but as to ,israel he says1 in the words next in order in the place 7lxv4 #b71 ,all the day long ,i spread my hands open1 to beckon and to embrace1 towards a people disobeying and contradicting4 99 99 99 99 99 ,so the servant brings his sorrows for consolation to--may we write the words in reverence8--the sorrows of his ,master4 ,he mourns over an ,athens1 an ,ephesus1 and above all over a ,jerusalem1 that will not come to the ,son of ,god1 that they might have life 7,john v4 #dj74 ,and his grief is not only inevitable2 it is profoundly right1 wise1 holy4 ,but he need not bear it unrelieved4 ,he grasps the ,scripture which tells him that his ,,lord has called those who would not come1 and opened the eternal arms for an embrace--to be met only with a contradiction4 ,he weeps1 but it is as on the breast of ,jesus as ,he wept over the ,city4 ,and in the double certainty that the ,lord has felt such grief1 and that ,he is ,,the ,,lord1 he yields1 he rests1 he is still4 ,the ,king of the ,ages 7#a ,tim4 i4 #ag7 and the ,man of ,sorrows are ,one4 ,to know ,him is to be at peace even under the griefs of the mystery of sin4 #afg ,we thus attempt to convey the force of 4 #afh ,so read2 not for ,israel4 #afi ,cp4 #a ,pet4 i4 #b2 444 2 an obedience which means the decisive submission of the sinner to the ,saviour's method of mercy4 #agj 3 the aorist sums up acts into a single idea of action4 #aga 3 in the righteousness2 such seems to be the true reading4 ,to live in a righteousness is to live as it were surrounded1 guaranteed1 by it4 #agb ,observe that the context in ,deut4 xxx4 is full of the thought that rebels and law-breakers shall be welcome back when they come penitent to their ,god1 without one plea1 but taking ,him at ,his word4 #agc ,or1 with an alternative reading1 that ,jesus is ,lord4 #agd ,see above1 ix4 #cc4 #age ,throughout these questions we read the verbs in the conjunctive4 #agf ,we thus represent1 with hesitation1 the aorist tense4 #agg ,no doubt the immediate reference of ,isai4 lii4 #g is to good news for ,zion rather than from her to the world4 ,but the context is full not only of ,messiah but 7ver4 #ae7 of many nations4 #agh ,the aorist gathers up the history of evangelization into a point of thought4 #agi ,read 1 probably4 #ahj ,so we paraphrase 7not 7 4 #aha ,so we attempt to give the force of ' 1 4 #ahb is emphatic in both clauses4 is used of the consultation of an oracle4 ,our translation thus seems better than the more secondary explanation1 who sought not to do ,my will4 ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,israel ,,however ,,not ,,forsaken ,,romans xi4 #a-aj ,a people disobeying and contradicting4 ,so the ,lord of ,israel1 through the prophet1 had described the nation4 ,let us remember as we pass on what a large feature in the prophecies1 and indeed in the whole ,old ,testament1 such accusations and exposures are4 ,from ,moses to ,malachi1 in histories1 and songs1 and instructions1 we find everywhere this tone of stern truth-telling1 this unsparing detection and description of ,israelite sin4 ,and we reflect that every one of these utterances1 humanly speaking1 was the voice of an ,israelite2 and that whatever reception it met with at the moment--it was sometimes a scornful or angry reception1 oftener a reverent one--it was ultimately treasured1 venerated1 almost worshipped1 by the ,church of this same rebuked and humiliated ,israel4 ,we ask ourselves what this has to say about the true origin of these utterances1 and the true nature of the environment into which they fell4 ,do they not bear witness to the supernatural in both8 ,it was not human nature which1 in a race quite as prone1 at least1 as any other1 to assert itself1 produced these intense and persistent rebukes from within1 and secured for them a profound and lasting veneration4 ,the ,hebrew ,scriptures1 in this as in other things1 are a literature which mere man1 mere ,israelite man1 could not have written if he would1 and would not have written if he could4#ahc ,somehow1 the ,prophets not only spoke with an authority more than human1 but they were known to speak with it4 ,there was a national consciousness of divine privilege2 and it was inextricably bound up with a national conviction that the ,lord of the privileges had an eternal right to reprove ,his privileged ones1 and that ,he had1 as a fact1 ,his accredited messengers of reproof1 whose voice was not theirs but ,his2 not the mere outcry of patriotic zealots but the ,oracle of ,god4 ,yea1 an awful privilege was involved in the reception of such reproofs3 ,you only have ,i known2 therefore will ,i punish you 7,amos iii4 #b74 ,but this is a recollection by the way4 ,st ,paul1 so we saw in our last study1 has quoted ,isaiah's stern message1 only now to stay his troubled heart on the fact that the unbelief of ,israel in his day was1 if we may dare to put it so1 no surprise to the ,lord1 and therefore no shock to the servant's faith4 ,but is he to stop there1 and sit down1 and say1 ,this must be so8 ,no2 there is more to follow1 in this discourse on ,israel and ,god4 ,he has good words1 and comfortable words 7,zech4 i4 #ac71 after the woes of the last two chapters1 and after those earlier passages of the ,epistle where the ,jew is seen only in his hypocrisy1 and rebellion1 and pride4 ,he has to speak of a faithful ,remnant1 now as always present1 who make as it were the golden unbroken link between the nation and the promises4 ,and then he has to lift the curtain1 at least a corner of the curtain1 from the future1 and to indicate how there lies waiting there a mighty blessing for ,israel1 and through ,israel for the world4 ,even now the mysterious ,people was serving a spiritual purpose in their very unbelief2 they were occasioning a vast transition of blessing to the ,gentiles1 by their own refusal of blessing4 ,and hereafter they were to serve a purpose of still more illustrious mercy4 ,they were yet1 in their multitudes1 to return to their rejected ,christ4 ,and their return was to be used as the means of a crisis of blessing for the world4 ,we seem to see the look and hear the voice of the ,apostle1 once the mighty ,rabbi1 the persecuting patriot1 as he begins now to dictate again4 ,his eyes brighten1 and his brow clears1 and a happier emphasis comes into his utterance1 as he sets himself to speak of his people's good1 and to remind his ,gentile brethren how1 in ,god's plan of redemption1 all their blessing1 all they know of salvation1 all they possess of life eternal1 has come to them through ,israel4 ,israel is the ,stem1 drawing truth and life from the unfathomable soil of the covenant of promise4 ,they are the grafted ,branches1 rich in every blessing--because they are the mystical seed of ,abraham1 in ,christ4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,i say therefore1 ,did ,god ever thrust#ahd away ,his people8 ,away with the thought6 ,for ,i am an ,israelite1 of ,abraham's seed1 ,benjamin's tribe2 full member of the theocratic race 771 and of its first royal and always loyal tribe2 in my own person1 therefore1 ,i am an instance of ,israel still in covenant4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,god never#ahd thrust away ,his people1 whom ,he foreknew with the foreknowledge of eternal choice and purpose4#ahe ,that foreknowledge was not according to their works1 or according to their power2 and so it holds its sovereign way across and above their long unworthiness4 ,or do you not know1 in ,elijah1 in his story1 in the pages marked with his name1 what the ,scripture says8 ,how he intercedes before ,god1 on ,god's own behalf1 against ,israel1 saying 7#a ,kings xix4 #aj71 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,lord1 ,thy prophets they killed1 and ,thy altars they dug up2 and ,i was left solitary1 and they seek my life8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,but what says the oracular answer 7 7 to him8 ,i have left for ,myself seven thousand men1 men who 77 bowed never knee to ,baal 7#a ,kings xix4 #ah74 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,so therefore at the present season also there proves to be 77 a remnant1 a leaving 771 left by the ,lord for ,himself1 on the principle of 77 election of grace2 their persons and their number following a choice and gift whose reasons lie in ,god alone4 ,and then follows one of those characteristic foot-notes of which we saw an instance above 7x4 #ag73 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,but if by grace1 no longer of works2 no longer1 in the sense of a logical succession and exclusion2 since the grace proves 771 on the other principle1 no longer grace4 ,but if of works1 it is no longer grace2 since the work is no longer work4#ahf ,that is to say1 when once the grace-principle is admitted1 as it is here assumed to be1 the work of the man who is its subject is no longer work in the sense which makes an antithesis to grace2 it is no longer so much toil done in order to so much pay to be given4 ,in other words1 the two supposed principles of the divine ,choice are in their nature mutually exclusive4 ,admit the one as the condition of the election1 and the other ceases2 you cannot combine them into an amalgam4 ,if the election is of grace1 no meritorious antecedent to it is possible in the subject of it4 ,if it is according to meritorious antecedent1 no sovereign freedom is possible in the divine action1 such freedom as to bring the saved man1 the saved remnant1 to an adoring confession of unspeakable and mysterious mercy4 ,this is the point1 here in this passing foot-note1 as in the longer kindred statements above 7ch4 ix471 of the emphasized allusion to choice and grace4 ,he writes thus that he may bring the believer1 ,gentile or ,jew1 to his knees1 in humiliation1 wonder1 gratitude1 and trust4 ,why did ,i1 the self-ruined wanderer1 the self-hardened rebel1 come to the ,shepherd who sought me1 surrender my sword to the ,king who reclaimed me8 ,did ,i reason myself into harmony with ,him8 ,did ,i lift myself1 hopelessly maimed1 into ,his arms8 ,no2 it was the gift of ,god1 first1 last1 and in the midst4 ,and if so1 it was the choice of ,god4 ,that point of light is surrounded by a cloud-world of mystery1 though within those surrounding clouds there lurks1 as to ,god1 only rightness and love4 ,but the point of light is there1 immovable1 for all the clouds2 where fallen man chooses ,god1 it is thanks to ,god who has chosen fallen man4 ,where a race is not thrust away1 it is because ,god foreknew4 ,where some thousands of members of that race1 while others fall away1 are found faithful to ,god1 it is because ,he has left them for ,himself on the principle of choice of grace4 ,where1 amidst a widespread rejection of ,god's ,son ,incarnate1 a ,saul of ,tarsus1 an ,aquila1 a ,barnabas1 behold in ,him their ,redeemer1 their ,king1 their ,life1 their ,all1 it is on that same principle4 ,let the man thus beholding and believing give the whole thanks for his salvation in the quarter where it is all due4 ,let him not confuse one truth by another4 ,let not this truth disturb for a moment his certainty of personal moral freedom1 and of its responsibility4 ,let it not for a moment turn him into a fatalist4 ,but let him abase himself1 and give thanks1 and humbly trust ,him who has thus laid hold of him for blessing4 ,as he does so1 in simplicity1 not speculating but worshipping1 he will need no subtle logic to assure him that he is to pray1 and to work1 without reserve1 for the salvation of all men4 ,it will be more than enough for him that ,his ,,sovereign bids him do it1 and tells him that it is according to ,his heart4 ,to return a little on our steps1 in the matter of the ,apostle's doctrine of the divine ,choice3 the reference in this paragraph to the seven thousand faithful in ,elijah's day suggests a special reflection4 ,to us1 it seems to say distinctly that the election intended all along by ,st ,paul cannot possibly be explained adequately by making it either an election 7to whatever benefits7 of mere masses of men1 as for instance of a nation1 considered apart from its individuals2 or an election merely to privilege1 to opportunity1 which may or may not be used by the receiver4 ,as regards national election1 it is undoubtedly present and even prominent in the passage1 and in this whole section of the ,epistle4 ,for ourselves1 we incline to see it quite simply in ver4 #b above2 ,his people1 whom ,he foreknew4 ,we read there1 what we find so often in the ,old ,testament1 a sovereign choice of a nation to stand in special relation to ,god2 of a nation taken1 so to speak1 in the abstract1 viewed not as the mere total of so many individuals1 but as a quasi-personality4 ,but we maintain that the idea of election takes another line when we come to the seven thousand4 ,here we are thrown at once on the thought of individual experiences1 and the ultimate secret of them1 found only in the divine ,will affecting the individual4 ,the seven thousand had no aggregate life1 so to speak4 ,they formed1 as the seven thousand1 no organism or quasi-personality4 ,they were left not as a mass1 but as units2 so isolated1 so little grouped together1 that even ,elijah did not know of their existence4 ,they were just so many individual men1 each one of whom found power1 by faith1 to stand personally firm against the ,baalism of that dark time1 with the same individual faith which in later days1 against other terrors1 and other solicitations1 upheld a ,polycarp1 an ,athanasius1 a ,huss1 a ,luther1 a ,tyndale1 a ,de ,seso1 a ,st ,cyran4 ,and the ,apostle quotes them as an instance and illustration of the ,lord's way and will with the believing of all time4 ,in their case1 then1 he both passes as it were through national election to individual election1 as a permanent spiritual mystery2 and he shews that he means by this an election not only to opportunity but to holiness4 ,the ,lord's leaving them for ,himself lay behind their not bowing their knees to ,baal4 ,each resolute confessor was individually enabled1 by a sovereign and special grace4 ,he was a true human personality1 freely acting1 freely choosing not to yield in that terrible storm4 ,but behind his freedom was the higher freedom of the ,will of ,god1 saving him from himself that he might be free to confess and suffer4 ,to our mind1 no part of the ,epistle more clearly than this passage affirms this individual aspect of the great mystery4 ,ah1 it is a mystery indeed2 we have owned this at every step4 ,and it is never for a moment to be treated therefore as if we knew all about it4 ,and it is never therefore to be used to confuse the believer's thought about other sides of truth4 ,but it is there1 as a truth among truths2 to be received with abasement by the creature before the ,creator1 and with humble hope by the simple believer4 ,he goes on with his argument1 taking up the thread broken by the foot-note upon grace and works3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,what therefore8 ,what ,israel1 the nation1 the character1 seeks after1 righteousness in the court of ,god1 this it lighted not upon 7 71#ahg as one who seeks a buried treasure in the wrong field lights not upon it2 but the election1 the chosen ones1 the seven thousand of the ,gospel era1 did light upon it4 ,but the rest were hardened1 7not as if ,god had created their hardness1 or injected it2 but ,he gave it to be its own penalty27 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 as it stands written 7,isai4 xxix4 #aj1 and ,deut4 xxix4 #dahh71 ,god gave them a spirit of slumber1 eyes not to see1 and ears not to hear1 even to this day4 ,a persistent 7unto this day7 unbelief was the sin of ,israel in the ,prophets' times1 and it was the same in those of the ,apostles4 ,and the condition was the same2 ,god gave sin to be its own way of retribution4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,and ,david says 7,psal4 lxix4 #bb71 in a ,psalm full of ,messiah1 and of the awful retribution justly ordained to come on ,his impenitent enemies1 ,let their table turn into a trap1 and into toils 771 and into a stumbling-block1 and into a requital to them2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 darkened be their eyes1 not to see1 and their back ever bow ,thou together4 ,the words are awful1 in their connexion here1 and in themselves1 and as a specimen of a class4 ,their purpose here is to enforce the thought that there is such a thing as positive divine action in the self-ruin of the impenitent2 a fiat from the throne which gives a coma to the soul1 and beclouds its eyes1 and turns its blessings into a curse4 ,not one word implies the thought that ,he who so acts meets a soul tending upwards and turns it downward2 that ,he ignores or rejects even the faintest enquiry after ,himself2 that ,he is ,author of one particle of the sin of man4 ,but we do learn that the adversaries of ,god and ,christ may be1 and1 where the ,eternal so sees it good1 are1 sentenced to go their own way1 even to its issues in destruction4 ,the context of every citation here1 as it stands in the ,old ,testament1 shews abundantly that those so sentenced are no helpless victims of an adverse fate1 but sinners of their own will1 in a sense most definite and personal4 ,only1 a sentence of judgment is concerned also in the case2 ,fill ye up then the measure 7,matt4 xxiii4 #cb74 ,but then also in themselves1 and as a specimen of a class1 the words are a dark shadow in the ,scripture sky4 ,it is only by the way that we can note this here1 but it must not be quite omitted in our study4 ,this sixty-ninth ,psalm is a leading instance of the several ,psalms where the ,prophet appears calling for the sternest retribution on his enemies4 ,what thoughtful heart has not felt the painful mystery so presented8 ,read in the hush of secret devotion1 or sung perhaps to some majestic chant beneath the minster-roof1 they still tend to affront the soul with the question1 ,can this possibly be after the mind of ,christ8 ,and there rises before us the form of ,one who is in the act of ,crucifixion1 and who just then articulates the prayer1 ,father1 forgive them2 for they know not what they do4 ,can these imprecations have ,,his sanction8 ,can ,,he pass them1 endorse them1 as ,his ,word8 ,the question is full of pressing pain4 ,and no answer can be given1 surely1 which shall relieve all that pain2 certainly nothing which shall turn the clouds of such passages into rays of the sun4 ,they are clouds2 but let us be sure that they belong to the cloud-land which gathers round the ,throne1 and which only conceals1 not wrecks1 its luminous and immovable righteousness and love4 ,let us remark1 for one point1 that this same dark ,psalm is1 by the witness of the ,apostles1 as taught by their ,master1 a ,psalm full of ,messiah4 ,it was undoubtedly claimed as ,his own mystic utterance by ,,the ,,lamb of the ,passion4 ,,he speaks in these dread words who also says1 in the same utterance 7ver4 #i71 ,the zeal of ,thine house hath eaten me up4 ,so the ,lord ,jesus did endorse this ,psalm4 ,he more than endorsed it2 ,he adopted it as ,his own4 ,let this remind us further that the utterer of these denunciations1 even the first and non-mystical utterer1--,david1 let us say1--appears in the ,psalm not merely as a private person crying out about his violated personal rights1 but as an ally and vassal of ,god1 one whose life and cause is identified with ,his4 ,just in proportion as this is so1 the violation of his life and peace1 by enemies described as quite consciously and deliberately malicious1 is a violation of the whole sanctuary of divine righteousness4 ,if so1 is it incredible that even the darkest words of such a ,psalm are to be read as a true echo from the depths of man to the ,voice which announces indignation and wrath1 tribulation and anguish1 to every soul of man that doeth evil8 ,perhaps even the most watchful assertor of the divine character of ,scripture is not bound to assert that no human frailty in the least moved the spirit of a ,david when he1 in the sphere of his own personality1 thought and said these things4 ,but we have no right to assert1 as a known or necessary thing1 that it was so4 ,and we have right to say that in themselves these utterances are but a sternly true response to the avenging indignation of the ,holy ,one4 ,in any case1 do not let us talk with a loose facility about their incompatibility with the spirit of the ,new ,testament4 ,from one side1 the ,new ,testament is an even sterner ,book than the ,old2 as it must be of course1 when it brings sin and holiness out into the light of the ,cross of ,christ4 ,it is in the ,new ,testament that1 the souls of saints at rest are heard saying 7,rev4 vi4 #aj71 ,how long1 ,o ,lord1 holy and true1 dost ,thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth8 ,it is in the ,new ,testament that an ,apostle writes 7#b ,thess4 i4 #f71 ,it is a righteous thing with ,god to recompense tribulation to them which trouble you4 ,it is the ,lord of the ,new ,testament1 the ,offerer of the ,prayer of the ,cross1 who said 7,matt4 xxiii4 #cb-ce7 ,fill ye up the measure of your fathers4 ,i send unto you prophets1 and wise men1 and scribes1 and some of them ye shall kill and crucify2 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth4 ,his eyes must have rested1 often and again1 upon the denunciations of the ,psalms4 ,he saw in them that which struck no real discord1 in the ultimate spiritual depth1 with ,his own blessed compassions4 ,let us not resent what ,he has countersigned4 ,it is ,his1 not ours1 to know all the conditions of those mysterious outbursts from the ,psalmists' consciousness4 ,it is ours to recognize in them the intensest expression of what rebellious evil merits1 and will find1 as its reward4 ,but we have digressed from what is the proper matter before us4 ,here1 in the ,epistle1 the sixty-ninth ,psalm is cited only to affirm with the authority of ,scripture the mystery of ,god's action in sentencing the impenitent adversaries of ,his ,christ to more blindness and more ruin4 ,through this dark and narrow door the ,apostle is about to lead us now into a large room of hope and blessing1 and to unveil to us a wonderful future for the now disgraced and seemingly rejected ,israel4 #ahc ,i borrow the phrase from the late ,prof4 ,h4 ,rogers' ,supernatural ,origin of the ,bible inferred from ,itself1 a book of masterly thinking and reasoning4 #ahd ,we attempt to express the aorist thus1 with hesitation4 #ahe ,see above1 p4 #bcg4 #ahf ,this last sentence1 ,but if of works1 etc41 is only doubtfully supported by documents4 ,but it bears1 to our mind1 strong internal marks of genuineness4 ,it is at once too difficult1 and too deeply related to the context1 to look like the insertion of a scribe4 #ahg ,the aorists sum up the manifold history4 #ahh ,such a combination of citations is a significant witness to the ,apostle's view of the ,o4 ,t4 as1 from its divine side1 one ,book everywhere4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,israel',s ,,fall ,,overruled1 ,,for ,,the ,,world',s ,,blessing1 ,,and ,,for ,,israel',s ,,mercy ,,romans xi4 #aa-bd ,the ,apostle has been led a few steps backwards in the last previous verses4 ,his face has been turned once more toward the dark region of the prophetic sky1 to see how the sin of ,christ-rejecting souls is met and punished by the dreadful gift of slumber1 and apathy1 and the transmutation of blessings to snares4 ,but now1 decisively1 he looks sunward4 ,he points our eyes1 with his own1 to the morning light of grace and promise4 ,we are to see what ,israel's fall has had to do with the world's hope and with life in ,christ1 and then what blessings await ,israel himself1 and again the world through him4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,i say1 therefore1 7the phrase resumes the point of view to which the same words above 7ver4 #a7 led us17 did they stumble that they might fall8 ,did their national rejection of an unwelcome because unworldly ,messiah take place1 in the divine permission1 with the positive divine purpose that it should bring on a final rejection of the nation1 its banishment out of its place in the history of redemption8 ,away with the thought6 ,but their partial fall#ahi is the occasion of ,god's salvation 7 7 for the ,gentiles1 with a view to move them1 the ,jews1 to jealousy1 to awake them to a sight of what ,christ is1 and of what their privilege in ,him might yet be1 by the sight of ,his work and glory in once pagan lives4 ,observe here the divine benignity which lurks even under the edges of the cloud of judgment4 ,and observe too1 thus close to the passage which has put before us the mysterious side of divine action on human wills1 the daylight simplicity of this side of that action2 the loving skill with which the world's blessing is meant by the ,god of grace to act1 exactly in the line of human feeling1 upon the will of ,israel4 ,but would that the ,gentiles had borne more in heart that last short sentence of ,st ,paul's1 through these long centuries since the ,apostles fell asleep6 ,it is one of the most marked1 as it is one of the saddest1 phenomena in the history of the ,church that for ages1 almost from the days of ,st ,john himself1 we look in vain either for any appreciable ,jewish element in ,christendom1 or for any extended effort on the part of ,christendom to win ,jewish hearts to ,christ by a wise and loving evangelization4 ,with only relatively insignificant exceptions this was the abiding state of things till well within the eighteenth century1 when the ,german ,pietists began to call the attention of believing ,christians to the spiritual needs and prophetic hopes of ,israel1 and to remind them that the ,jews were not only a beacon of judgment1 or only the most impressive and awful illustration of the fulfilment of prophecy1 but the bearers of yet unfulfilled predictions of mercy for themselves and for the world4 ,meanwhile1 all through the ,middle ,age1 and through generations of preceding and following time also1 ,christendom did little for ,israel but retaliate1 reproach1 and tyrannize4 ,it was so of old in ,england2 witness the fires of ,york4 ,it is so to this day in ,russia1 and where the ,judenhetze inflames innumerable hearts in ,central ,europe4 ,no doubt there is more than one side to the persistent phenomenon4 ,there is a side of mystery2 the permissive sentence of the ,eternal has to do with the long affliction1 however caused1 of the people which once uttered the fatal cry1 ,his blood be on us1 and on our children 7,matt4 xxvii4 #be74 ,and the wrong-doings of ,jews1 beyond a doubt1 have often made a dark occasion for a ,jew-hatred1 on a larger or narrower scale4 ,but all this leaves unaltered1 from the point of view of the ,gospel1 the sin of ,christendom in its tremendous failure to seek1 in love1 the good of erring ,israel4 ,it leaves as black as ever the guilt of every fierce retaliation upon ,jews by so-called ,christians1 of every slanderous belief about ,jewish creed or life1 of every unjust anti-,jewish law ever passed by ,christian king or senate4 ,it leaves an undiminished responsibility upon the ,church of ,christ1 not only for the flagrant wrong of having too often animated and directed the civil power in its oppressions of ,israel1 and not only for having so awfully neglected to seek the evangelization of ,israel by direct appeals for the true ,messiah1 and by an open setting forth of ,his glory1 but for the deeper and more subtle wrong1 persistently inflicted from age to age1 in a most guilty unconsciousness--the wrong of having failed to manifest ,christ to ,israel through the living holiness of ,christendom4 ,here1 surely1 is the very point of the ,apostle's thought in the sentence before us3 ,salvation to the ,gentiles1 to move the ,jews to jealousy4 ,in his inspired idea1 ,gentile ,christendom1 in ,christ1 was to be so pure1 so beneficent1 so happy1 finding manifestly in its ,messianic ,lord such resources for both peace of conscience and a life of noble love1 love above all directed towards opponents and traducers1 that ,israel1 looking on1 with eyes however purblind with prejudice1 should soon see a moral glory in the ,church's face impossible to be hid1 and be drawn as by a moral magnet to the ,church's hope4 ,is it the fault of ,god 7may ,he pardon the formal question1 if it lacks reverence71 or the fault of man1 man carrying the ,christian name1 that facts have been so wofully otherwise in the course of history8 ,it is the fault1 the grievous fault1 of us ,christians4 ,the narrow prejudice1 the iniquitous law1 the rigid application of exaggerated ecclesiastical principle1 all these things have been man's perversion of the divine idea1 to be confessed and deplored in a deep and interminable repentance4 ,may the mercy of ,god awaken ,gentile ,christendom1 in a manner and degree as yet unknown1 to remember this our indefeasible debt to this people everywhere present with us1 everywhere distinct from us2--the debt of a life1 personal and ecclesiastical1 so manifestly pure and loving in our ,lord the ,christ as to move them to the jealousy which shall claim ,him again for their own4 ,then we shall indeed be hastening the day of full and final blessing1 both for themselves and for the world4 ,to that bright coming day the ,apostle points us now1 more directly than ever3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,but if their partial fall#aij be the world's wealth1 and their lessening 771 their reduction1 7a reduction in one aspect to a race of scattered exiles1 in another to a mere remnant of ,israelites indeed17 be the ,gentiles' wealth1 the occasion by which the unsearchable wealth of ,messiah 7,eph4 iii4 #h7 has been as it were forced into ,gentile receptacles1 how much more their fulness1 the filling of the dry channel with its ample ideal stream1 the change from a believing remnant1 fragments of a fragmentary people1 to a believing nation1 reanimated and reunited8 ,what blessings for the world1 for the ,gentiles1 may not come through the vehicle of such an ,israel8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,but#aia to you ,i speak1 the ,gentiles#aib to you1 because if ,i reach the ,jews1 in the way ,i mean1 it must be through you4 ,so far indeed as ,i1 distinctively ,i 771 am the ,gentiles' ,apostle1 ,i glorify my ministry as such2 ,i rejoice1 ,pharisee that ,i once was1 to be devoted as no other ,apostle is to a ministry for those whom ,i once thought of as of outcasts in religion4 ,but ,i speak as your own ,apostle1 and to you1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 if perchance ,i may move the jealousy of my flesh and blood1#aic and may save some from amongst them1 by letting them as it were overhear what are the blessings of you ,gentile ,christians1 and how it is the ,lord's purpose to use those blessings as a magnet to wandering ,israel4#aid ,his hope is that1 through the ,roman congregation1 this glorious open secret will come out1 as they meet their ,jewish neighbours and talk with them4 ,so would one here1 another there1 in the streets and lanes of the ,city1 be drawn to the feet of ,jesus1 under the constraint of that jealousy which means little else than the human longing to understand what is evidently the great joy of another's heart2 a jealousy on which often grace can fall1 and use it as the vehicle of divine light and life4 ,he says only1 some of them2 as he does in the sister ,epistle2 #a ,cor4 ix4 #bb4aie ,he recognizes it as his present task1 indicated alike by circumstance and revelation1 to be not the glad ingatherer of vast multitudes to ,christ1 but the patient winner of scattered sheep4 ,yet let us observe that none the less he spends his whole soul upon that winning1 and takes no excuse from a glorious future to slacken a single effort in the difficult present4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,for if the throwing away of them1 their downfall as the ,church of ,god1 was the world's reconciliation1 the instrumental or occasioning cause of the direct proclamation to the pagan peoples of the ,atonement of the ,cross1 what will their reception be1 but life from the dead8 ,that is to say1 the great event of ,israel's return to ,god in ,christ1 and ,his to ,israel1 will be the signal and the means of a vast rise of spiritual life in the ,universal ,church1 and of an unexampled ingathering of regenerate souls from the world4 ,when ,israel1 as a ,church1 fell1 the fall worked good for the world merely by driving1 as it were1 the apostolic preachers out from the ,synagogue1 to which they so much longed to cling4 ,the ,jews did anything but aid the work4 ,yet even so they were made an occasion for world-wide good4 ,when they are received again1 as this ,scripture so definitely affirms that they shall be received1 the case will be grandly different4 ,as before1 they will be occasions4 ,a national and ecclesiastical return of ,israel to ,christ will of course give occasion over the whole world for a vastly quickened attention to ,christianity1 and for an appeal for the world's faith in the facts and claims of ,christianity1 as bold and loud as that of ,pentecost4 ,but more than this2 ,israel will now be not only occasion but agent4 ,the ,jews1 ubiquitous1 cosmopolitan1 yet invincibly national1 coming back in living loyalty to the ,son of ,david1 the ,son of ,god1 will be a positive power in evangelization such as the ,church has never yet felt4 ,whatever the actual facts shall prove to be in the matter of their return to the ,land of ,promise#aif 7and who can watch without deep reflection the nation-less land and the land-less nation87 no prediction obliges us to think that the ,jews will be withdrawn from the wide world by a national resettlement in their ,land4 ,a nation is not a ,dispersion merely because it has individual citizens widely dispersed2 if it has a true national centre1 it is a people at home1 a people with a home4 ,whether as a central mass in ,syria1 or as also a presence everywhere in the human world1 ,israel will thus be ready1 once restored to ,god in ,christ1 to be a more than natural evangelizing power4 ,let this be remembered in every enterprise for the spiritual good of the great ,dispersion now4 ,through such efforts ,god is already approaching ,his hour of blessing1 long expected4 ,let that fact animate and give a glad patience to ,his workers1 on whose work ,he surely begins in our day to cast ,his smile of growing blessing4 ,now the argument takes a new direction4 ,the restoration thus indicated1 thus foretold1 is not only sure to be infinitely beneficial4 ,it is also to be looked for and expected as a thing lying so to speak in the line of spiritual fitness1 true to the order of ,god's plan4 ,in ,his will1 when ,he went about to create and develop ,his ,church1 ,israel sprung from the dry ground as the sacred ,olive1 rich with the sap of truth and grace1 full of branch and leaf4 ,from the tents of ,abraham onward1 the world's true spiritual light and life was there4 ,there1 not elsewhere1 was revelation1 and ,god-given ordinance1 and the covenants1 and the glory4 ,there1 not elsewhere1 the ,christ of ,god1 for whom all things waited1 towards whom all the lines of man's life and history converged1 was to appear4 ,thus1 in a certain profound sense1 all true salvation must be not only of ,israel 7,john iv4 #bd7 but through him4 ,union with ,christ was union with ,abraham4 ,to become a ,christian1 that is to say1 one of ,messiah's men1 was to become1 mystically1 an ,israelite4 ,from this point of view the ,gentile's union with the ,saviour1 though not in the least less genuine and divine than the ,jew's1 was1 so to speak1 less normal4 ,and thus nothing could be more spiritually normal than the ,jew's recovery to his old relation to ,god1 from which he had violently dislocated himself4 ,these thoughts the ,apostle now presses on the ,romans1 as a new motive and guide to their hopes1 prayers1 and work4 7,do we gather from the length and fulness of the argument that already it was difficult to bring ,gentiles to think aright of the chosen people in their fall and rebellion87 ,he reminds them of the inalienable consecration of ,israel to special divine purposes4 ,he points them to the ancient ,olive1 and boldly tells them that they are1 themselves1 only a graft of a wild stock1 inserted into the noble tree4 ,not that he thinks of the ,jew as a superior being4 ,but the ,church of ,israel was the original of the ,church4 ,so the restoration of ,israel to ,christ1 and to the ,church1 is a recovery of normal life1 not a first and abnormal grant of life4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,but if the first-fruit was holy1 holy is the kneaded lump too4 ,abraham was as it were the ,lord's ,first-fruits of mankind1 in the field of ,his ,church4 ,abraham's seed are as it were the mass kneaded from that first-fruits2 made of it4 ,was the first-fruits holy1 in the sense of consecration to ,god's redeeming purpose8 ,then that which is made of it must somehow still be a consecrated thing1 even though put aside as if common for awhile4 ,and if the root was holy1 holy are the branches too2 the lineal heirs of ,abraham are still1 ideally1 potentially1 consecrated to ,him who separated ,abraham to ,himself1 and moved him to his great self-separation4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,but if some of the branches 7how tender is the euphemism of the some67 were broken off1 while you1 wild-olive as you were1 were grafted in among them1 in their place of life and growth1 and became a sharer of the root and of the ,olive's fatness1-- ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 do not boast over the torn-off branches4 ,but if you do boast over them--not you carry the root1 but the root carries you4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,you will say then1 ,the branches were broken off--that ,i might be grafted in4 ,good3 true--and untrue3 because of their unbelief they were broken off1 while you because of your faith stand4 ,they were no better beings than you1 in themselves4 ,but neither are you better than they1 in yourself4 ,they and you alike are1 personally1 mere subjects of redeeming mercy2 owing all to ,christ2 possessing all only as accepting ,christ4 ,where is your boasting1 then8 ,do not be high-minded1 but fear1 fear yourself1 your sin1 your enemy4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,for if ,god did not spare the natural branches1 take care lest ,he spare not you either4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,see therefore ,god's goodness and sternness4 ,on those who fell1 came ,his sternness 71 not 72 but on you1 ,his goodness1 if you abide by that 77 goodness1 with the adherence and response of faith2 since you too will be cut out otherwise4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,and they too1 if they do not abide by their 77 unbelief1 shall be grafted in2 for ,god is able to graft them in again4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 ,for if you from the naturally wild olive were cut out1 and non-naturally 7 7 were grafted into the ,garden-,olive1 how much more shall those1 the branches naturally1 be grafted into their own ,olive6 ,here are more topics than one which call for reverent notice and study4 #a4 ,the imagery of the ,olive1 with its root1 stem1 and branches4 ,the ,olive1 rich and useful1 long-lived1 and evergreen1 stands1 as a nature-parable of spiritual life1 beside the ,vine1 the ,palm1 and the ,cedar1 in the ,garden of ,god4 ,sometimes it pictures the individual saint1 living and fruitful in union with his ,lord 7,psal4 lii4 #h74 ,sometimes it sets before us the fertile organism of the ,church1 as here1 where the ,olive is the great ,church ,universal in its long life before and after the historical coming of ,christ2 the life which in a certain sense began with the ,call of ,abraham1 and was only magnificently developed by the ,incarnation and ,passion4 ,its ,root1 in this respect1 is the great ,father of ,faith4 ,its ,stem is the ,church of the ,old ,testament1 which coincided1 in the matter of external privilege1 with the nation of ,israel1 and to which at least the immense majority of true believers in the elder time belonged4 ,its ,branches 7by a slight and easy modification of the image7 are its individual members1 whether ,jewish or ,gentile4 ,the ,master of the ,tree1 arriving on the scene in the ,gospel age1 comes as it were to prune ,his ,olive1 and to graft4 ,the ,jewish branch1 if he is what he seems1 if he believes indeed and not only by hypothesis1 abides in the ,tree4 ,otherwise1 he is--from the divine point of view--broken off4 ,the ,gentile1 believing1 is grafted in1 and becomes a true part of the living organism2 as genuinely and vitally one with ,abraham in life and blessing as his ,hebrew brother4 ,but the fact of the ,hebrew race in root and stem rules still so far as to make the re-ingrafting of a ,hebrew branch1 repenting1 more natural 7not more possible1 or more beneficial1 but more natural7 than the first ingrafting of a ,gentile branch4 ,the whole ,tree is for ever ,abrahamic1 ,israelite1 in stock and growth2 though all mankind has place now in its forest of branches4 #b4 ,the imagery of ,grafting4 ,here is an instance of partial1 while truthful1 use of a natural process in ,scripture parable4 ,in our gardens and orchards it is the wild stock which receives1 in grafting1 the good branch2 a fact which lends itself to many fertile illustrations4 ,here1 on the contrary1 the wild branch is inserted into the good stock4 ,but the olive-yard yields to the ,apostle all the imagery he really needs4 ,he has before him1 ready to hand1 the ,tree of the ,church2 all that he wants is an illustration of communication and union of life by artificial insertion4 ,and this he finds in the olive-dresser's art1 which shews him how a vegetable fragment1 apart and alien1 can by human design be made to grow into the life of the tree1 as if a native of the root4 #c4 ,the teaching of the passage as to the ,place of ,israel in the divine ,plan of life for the world4 ,we have remarked on this already1 but it calls for reiterated notice and recollection4 ,at sundry times1 and in divers manners1 and through many and divers races and civilizations1 ,god has dealt with man1 and is dealing with him1 in the training and development of his life and nature4 ,but in the matter of man's spiritual salvation1 in the gift to him1 in his ,fall1 of the life eternal1 ,god has dealt with man1 practically1 through one race1 ,israel4 ,let it never be forgotten that the sundry times and divers manners of the apostolic ,epistle 7,heb4 i4 #a7 are all referred to the prophets2 they are the times and manners of the ,old ,testament revelation4 ,and when at length the same ,eternal ,voice spoke to man in the ,son 7 71 that ,son came of ,israel1 took hold of ,abraham's seed 7,heb4 ii4 #af71 and ,himself bore definite witness that salvation is from the ,jews 7,john iv4 #bd74 ,amidst the unknown manifoldness of the work of ,god for man1 and in man1 this is single and simple--that in one racial line only runs the stream of authentic and supernatural revelation2 in the line of this mysteriously chosen ,israel4 ,from this point of view1 the great ,husbandman has planted not a forest but a ,tree2 and the innumerable trees of the forest can get the sap of ,eden only as their branches are grafted by ,his hand into ,his one ,tree1 by the faith which unites them to ,him who is the ,root below the root1 the ,root of ,david1 and of ,abraham4 #d4 ,the appeal to the new-grafted branch to abide by the goodness of ,god4 ,we have listened1 as ,st ,paul has dictated to his scribe1 to many a deep word about a divine and sovereign power on man2 about man's absolute debt to ,god for the fact that he believes and lives4 ,yet here1 with equal decision1 we have man thrown back on the thought of his responsibility1 of the contingency in a certain sense of his safety on his fidelity4#aig ,if you are true to mercy1 mercy will be true to you2 otherwise you too will be broken off4 ,here1 as in our study of earlier passages1 let us be willing to go all along with ,scripture in the seeming inconsistency of its absolute promises and its contingent cautions4 ,let us1 like it1 go to both extremes2 then we shall be as near1 probably1 as our finite thought can be at present to the whole truth as it moves1 a perfect sphere1 in ,god4 ,is the ,christian worn and wearied with his experience of his own pollution1 instability1 and helplessness8 ,let him embrace1 without a misgiving1 the whole of that promise1 ,my sheep shall never perish4 ,has he drifted into a vain confidence1 not in ,christ1 but in privilege1 in experience1 in apparent religious prosperity8 ,has he caught himself in the act of saying1 even in a whisper1 ,god1 ,i thank ,thee that ,i am not as other men are8 ,then let him listen in time to the warning voice1 ,be not high-minded1 but fear2 ,take heed lest ,he spare not thee4 ,and let him put no pillow of theory between the sharpness of that warning and his soul4 ,penitent1 self-despairing1 resting in ,christ alone1 let him abide by the goodness of ,god4 #ahi 3 so we venture to render the word here1 where its compound form gets a special point from its neighbourhood to the simple verb 774 #aij 3 see above p4 #bid4 #aia ,read not 4 ,it is the but of a slight pause and resumption4 #aib ,the converts of the ,roman ,mission were surely ,gentiles for the most part4 ,see further below1 ver4 #be4 #aic 3 we venture to write flesh and blood as the nearest equivalent in our parlance to the vigorous ,greek1 my flesh4 #aid ,it will be seen that we punctuate the ,greek here as follows3 7' 1 7 4 ,the thought of his glory in his ministry is surely parenthetical2 thrown in to remind them that his plea for ,israel means no change of heart towards his ,gentile converts1 or any wavering in the certainty that in ,christ they are as completely the people of ,god as ,israel is4 ,the main line of the sentence runs past this parenthesis3 ,to you ,gentiles ,i speak1 in the hope of moving the jealousy of the ,jews4 #aie ,cp4 too #b ,cor4 iii4 #ad-af with this whole passage4 #aif ,this chapter is silent on that great matter4 #aig ,to our safety our sedulity is required4 ,hooker1 ,sermon on the ,perpetuity of ,faith in the ,elect 7at the close of the sermon74 ,see the whole sermon1 with its temperate and well-balanced assertion of the power of grace4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,the ,,restoration ,,of ,,israel ,,directly ,,foretold3 ,,all ,,is ,,of ,,and ,,for ,,god ,,romans xi4 #be-cf ,thus far ,st ,paul has rather reasoned than predicted4 ,he has shewn his ,gentile friends the naturalness1 so to speak1 of a restoration of ,israel to ,christ1 and the manifest certainty that such a restoration will bring blessing to the world4 ,now he advances to the direct assertion1 made with a ,prophet's full authority1 that so it shall be4 ,how much rather shall they be grafted into their own ,olive8 ,the question implies the assertion2 nothing remains but to open it in full4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,for ,i would not have you ignorant1 brethren1 of this mystery1 this fact in ,god's purposes1 impossible to be known without revelation1#aih but luminous when revealed2 7that you may not be wise in your own esteem1 valuing yourselves on an insight which is all the while only a partial glimpse72 that failure of perception 771 in a measure1 in the case of many1 not all1 of the nation1 has come upon ,israel1 and will continue until the fulness#aii of the ,gentiles shall come in1 until ,gentile conversion shall be in some sense a flowing tide4 ,sidenote3 ,ver #bf4 ,and so all ,israel1 ,israel as a mass1 no longer as by scattered units1 shall be saved1 coming to the feet of ,him in whom alone is man's salvation from judgment and from sin2 as it stands written 7,psal4 xiv4 #g1 ,isai4 lix4 #bj1 with ,isai4 xxvii4 #i71 ,there shall come from ,sion the ,deliverer2 ,he shall turn away all impiety 77 from ,jacob2 ,sidenote3 ,ver #bg4 and such they shall find the covenant ,i shall have granted1#bjj such shall prove to be ,my promise and provision1 'ordered and sure1' when ,i shall take away their sins1 in the day of ,my pardoning and restoring return to them4 ,this is a memorable passage4 ,it is in the first place one of the most definitely predictive of all the prophetic utterances of the ,epistles4 ,apart from all problems of explanation in detail1 it gives us this as its message on the whole2 that there lies hidden in the future1 for the race of ,israel1 a critical period of overwhelming blessing4 ,if anything is revealed as fixed in the eternal plan1 which1 never violating the creature's will yet is not subject to it1 it is this4 ,we have heard the ,apostle speak fully1 and without compromise1 of the sin of ,israel2 the hardened or paralysed spiritual perception1 the refusal to submit to pure grace1 the restless quest for a valid self-righteousness1 the deep exclusive arrogance4 ,and thus the promise of coming mercy1 such as shall surprise the world1 sounds all the more sovereign and magnificent4 ,it shall come2 so says ,christ's prophet ,paul4 ,not because of historical antecedents1 or in the light of general principles1 but because of the revelation of the ,spirit1 he speaks of that wonderful future as if it were in full view from the present2 ,all ,israel shall be saved4 ,we read no date prefixed4 ,as far as this chapter is concerned1 years and days are as if they were not4 ,on the whole1 surely1 a large range of process is in his view2 he cannot expect to see fulfilled within a narrow season the accomplishment of all the preliminaries to the great event4 ,but he says nothing about this4 ,all we gather is that he sees in the future a great progress of ,gentile ,christianity2 a great impression to be made by this on the mind of ,israel2 a vast and comparatively sudden awakening of ,israel1 by the grace of ,god1 however brought to bear2 the salvation of ,israel in ,christ on a national scale2 the receiving of them again2 and life from the dead as the result--life from the dead to the world at large4 ,however late or soon1 with whatever attendant events1 divine or human1 thus it shall be4 ,the spiritual failure of perception in part shall vanish4 ,the ,deliverer shall turn away ungodliness from ,jacob4 ,all ,israel shall be saved4 ,believest thou the ,prophets8 ,the question1 asked of ,agrippa by ,st ,paul1 comes to us from this prediction of his own4 ,lord1 we believe4 ,our ,master knows that for us in our day it is not easy4 ,the bad air of materialism1 and the profound and stolid fatalism which it involves1 is thick around us4 ,and one symptom of its malign influence is the growing tendency in the ,church to limit1 to minimize1 to explain if possible away1 from the ,scriptures1 the properly and distinctively superhuman1 whether of work or word4 ,men bearing the ,christian name1 and bearing it often with loyal and reverent intention1 seem to think far otherwise than their ,lord thought about this very element of prediction in the holy ,book1 and would have us believe that it is no great thing to grasp1 and to contend for4 ,but as for us1 we desire in all things to be of the opinion of ,him who is the eternal ,truth and ,light1 and who took our nature1 expressly1 as to one great purpose1 in order to unfold to us articulately ,his opinion4 ,he lived and died in the light and power of predictive ,scripture4 ,he predicted4 ,he rose again to commission ,his ,apostles1 as the ,spirit should teach them1 to see things to come 7,john xvi4 #ac74 ,to us1 this oracle of ,his chosen ,vessel gives us articles of faith and hope4 ,we do not understand1 but we believe1 because here it is written1 that after these days of the prevalence of unbelief1 after all these questions1 loud or half articulate1 angry or agonizing1 ,where is the promise8 the world shall see a spiritual miracle on a scale unknown before4 ,all ,israel shall be saved4 ,even so1 ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 the ,deliverer4 ,fill us with the patience of this hope1 for ,thy chosen race1 and for the world4 ,it is almost a pain to turn from this conspectus of the passage to a discussion of some of its details4 ,but it is necessary2 and for our purpose it need be only brief4 ,whatever the result may be1 it will leave untouched the grandeur of the central promise4 #a4 ,until the fulness of the ,gentiles come in4 ,does this mean that the stream of ,gentile conversions shall have flowed and ceased1 before the great blessing comes to ,israel8 ,certainly the ,greek may carry this meaning2 perhaps1 taken quite apart1 it carries it more easily than any other4 ,but it has this difficulty1 that it would assign to the salvation of ,israel no influence of blessing upon the ,gentile world4 ,now ver4 #ab has implied that the fulness of ,israel is to be the more-than-wealth of the world1 of the ,gentiles4 ,and ver4 #ae has implied1 if we have read it aright1 that it is to be to the world as life from the dead4 ,this leads us to explain the phrase here to refer not to the close of the ingathering of the ,gentile children of ,god1 but to a time when that process shall be1 so to speak1 running high4#bja ,that time of great and manifest grace shall be the occasion to ,israel of the shock1 as it were1 of blessing2 and from ,israel's blessing shall date an unmeasured further access of divine good for the world4 ,as we pass1 let us observe the light thrown by these sentences on the duty of the ,church in evangelizing the ,gentiles for the ,jews1 as well as the ,jews for the ,gentiles4 ,both holy enterprises have a destined effect outside themselves4 ,the evangelist of ,africa1 ,india1 ,china1 is working for the hour of the salvation of all ,israel4 ,the evangelist of the ,hebrew ,dispersion is preparing ,israel for that hour of final blessing when the saved nation shall1 in the hand of ,god1 kindle the world with holy life4 #b4 ,all ,israel shall be saved4 ,it has been held by some interpreters that this points to the ,israel of ,god1 the spiritual sons of ,abraham4 ,if so1 it would be fairly paraphrased as a promise that when the ,gentile conversions are complete1 and the spiritual failure of perception gone from the ,jewish heart1 the family of faith shall be complete4 ,but surely it puts violence on words1 and on thought1 to explain ,israel in this whole passage mystically4 ,interpretation becomes an arbitrary work if we may suddenly do so here1 where the antithesis of ,israel and the ,gentiles is the very theme of the message4 ,no2 we have here the nation1 chosen once to a mysterious speciality in the spiritual history of man1 chosen with a choice never cancelled1 however abeyant4 ,a blessing is in view for the nation2 a blessing spiritual1 divine1 all of grace1 quite individual in its action on each member of the nation1 but national in the scale of its results4 ,we are not obliged to press the word all to a rigid literality4 ,nor are we obliged to limit the crisis of blessing to anything like a moment of time4 ,but we may surely gather that the numbers blessed will be at least the vast majority1 and that the work will not be chronic but critical4 ,a transition1 relatively swift and wonderful1 shall shew the world a nation penitent1 faithful1 holy1 given to ,god4 #c4 ,the quotations from ,psalms and ,prophets 7verses #bf1 #bg7 offer more questions than one4 ,they are closely interlaced1 and they are not literal quotations4 ,out of ,sion takes the place of for ,zion4 ,he shall turn away ungodliness from ,jacob takes the place of ,for them that turn from transgression in ,jacob4 ,this is the covenant takes the place of ,this is ,his blessing4 ,and there are other minute points of variation4 ,yet we reverently trace in the originals and the citations1 which all alike are the work of prophetic organs of the ,spirit1 the great ruling thought1 identical in both1 that the ,deliverer belongs primarily to ,zion1 and has in store primarily a blessing for her people4 ,are we1 with some devout interpreters1 to explain the words1 ,the ,deliverer shall come out of ,sion1 as predicting a personal and visible return of the ,ascended ,jesus to the literal ,zion1 in order to the salvation of ,israel1 and an outgoing of ,him from thence to the ,dispersion1 or the world1 in millennial glory8 ,we deliberately forbear1 in this exposition1 to discuss in detail the great controversy thus indicated4 ,we leave here on one side some questions1 eagerly and earnestly asked4 ,will ,israel return to the ,land as ,christian or as anti-,christian8 ,will the immediate power for their conversion be the visible ,return of the ,lord1 or will it be an effusion of ,his ,spirit1 by which1 spiritually1 ,he shall visit and bless8 ,what will be the attendant works and wonders of the time8 ,all we do now is to express the conviction that the prophetic quotations here cannot be held to predict unmistakably a visible and local ,return4 ,if we read them aright1 their import is satisfied by a paraphrase somewhat thus3 ,it stands predicted that to ,zion1 that is1 to ,israel1 belongs the ,deliverer of man1 and that for ,israel ,he is to do ,his work1 whenever finally it is done1 with a speciality of grace and glory4 ,thus explained1 the shall come of ver4 #bf is the abstract future of divine purpose4 ,in the eternal plan1 the ,redeemer was1 when ,he first came to earth1 to come to1 for1 and from ,zion4 ,and ,his saving work was to be on lines1 and for issues1 for ever characterized by that fact4 ,assuredly the ,lord ,jesus ,christ is1 personally1 literally1 visibly1 and to ,his people's eternal joy1 coming again2 this same ,jesus1 in like manner 7,acts i4 #aa74 ,and as the ages unfold themselves1 assuredly the insight of the believing ,church into the fulness and1 if we may say so1 manifoldness of that great prospect grows4 ,but it still seems to us that a deep and reverent caution is called for before we attempt to treat of any detail of that prospect1 as regards time1 season1 mode1 as if we quite knew4 ,across all lines of interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy--to name one problem only--it lies as an unsolved riddle how all the saints of all ages are equally bidden to watch1 as those who know not what hour their ,lord shall come4 ,but let us oftener and oftener1 however we may differ in detail1 recite to one another the glorious essence of our hope4 ,to them that look for ,him will ,he appear the second time1 without sin1 unto salvation2 ,we shall meet the ,lord in the air2 ,so shall we be ever with the ,lord 7,heb4 ix4 #bh1 #a ,thess4 iv4 #ag74 ,we shall never quite understand the chronology and process of unfulfilled prophecy1 till then4 ,now briefly and in summary the ,apostle concludes this ,epistle within the ,epistle2 this oracle about ,israel4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bh4 ,as regards the ,gospel1 from the point of view of the evangelization of the world apart from ,judaism1 that gospelling which was1 as it were1 precipitated by the rebellion of ,israel1 they are enemies1 on account of you1 permitted1 for your sakes1 in a certain sense1 to take a hostile attitude towards the ,lord and ,his ,christ1 and to be treated accordingly2 but as regards the election1 from the point of view of the divine choice1 they are beloved1 on account of the ,fathers2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bi4 for irrevocable#bjb are the gifts and the call of our 77 ,god4 ,the gifts of unmerited choice1 of a love uncaused by the goodness of its object1 but coming from the depth of the ,eternal2 the call which not only invites the creature1 but effects the end of the invitation#bjc2 these are things which in their nature are not variable with the variations of man and of time4 ,the nation so gifted and called1 not according to its works1 is for ever the unalterable object of the eternal affection4 ,may we not extend the reference of a sentence so absolute in its oracular brevity1 and take it to speak the secret of an indefectible mercy not only to nation1 but to individual8 ,here as elsewhere we shall need to remember the rule which bids us1 in the heights and depths of all truth1 go to both extremes4 ,here as elsewhere we must be reverently careful how we apply the oracle1 and to whom4 ,but does not the oracle say this1 that where the eternal ,love has1 without merit1 in divine speciality1 settled upon a person1 there1 not arbitrarily but by a law1 which we cannot explain but which we can believe1 it abides for ever8 ,still1 this is a reflection to be made only in passing here4 ,the immediate matter is a chosen people1 not a chosen soul2 and so he proceeds3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cj4 ,for as once you obeyed not our 77 ,god1 but now1 in the actual state of things1 in ,his grace1 found mercy1 on occasion of their disobedience2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ca4 so they too now obeyed not1 on occasion of your mercy1 in mysterious connexion with the compassion which1 in your pagan darkness1 revealed salvation to you1#bjd that they too may find mercy4 ,yes1 even their disobedience1 in the mystery of grace1 was permitted in order to their ultimate blessing2 it was to be overruled to that self-discovery which lies deep in all true repentance1 and springs up towards life eternal in the saving confidence of self-despair4 ,the pagan 7ch4 i47 was brought to self-discovery as a rebel against ,god indicated in nature2 the ,jew 7ch4 ii47 as a rebel against ,god revealed in ,christ4 ,this latter1 if such a comparison is possible1 was the more difficult and as it were advanced work in the divine plan4 ,it took place1 or rather it is taking and shall take place1 later in order1 and nearer to the final and universal triumph of redemption4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cb4 ,for ,god shut them all 7 7 up into disobedience1 that ,he might have mercy upon them all4 ,with a fiat of judicial permission ,he let the ,gentile develop his resistance to right into unnatural outrage4 ,he let the ,jew develop his into the desperate rejection of his own glorious ,messiah4 ,but ,he gave the fiat not as a ,god who did not care1 a mere supreme ,law1 a ,power sitting unconcerned above the scene of sin4 ,he let the disease burst into the plague-spot in order that the guilty victim might ask at last for ,his remedy1 and might receive it as mere and most astonishing mercy4 ,let us not misuse the passage by reading into it a vain hope of an indiscriminate actual salvation1 at the last1 of all individuals of the race2 a predestinarian hope for which ,scripture not only gives no valid evidence1 but utters against it what at least sound like the most urgent and unequivocal of its warnings4 ,the context here1 as we saw in another connexion just now1 has to do rather with masses than with persons2 with ,gentiles and ,jews in their common characteristics rather than taken as individuals4 ,yet let us draw from the words1 with reverent boldness1 a warrant to our faith wholly to trust the ,eternal to be1 even in the least fathomable of ,his dealings1 true to ,himself1 true to eternal ,love1 whatever be the action ,he shall take4 ,here the ,apostle's voice1 as we seem to listen to it1 pauses for a moment1 as he passes into unspoken thoughts of awe and faith4 ,he has now given out his prophetic burthen1 telling us ,gentiles how great has been the sin of ,israel1 but how great also is ,israel's privilege1 and how sure his coming mercy4 ,and behind this grand special revelation there still rise on his soul those yet more majestic forms of truth which he has led us to look upon before2 the ,righteousness of ,god1 the justifying grace1 the believing soul's dominion over sin1 the fulness of the ,spirit1 the coming glory of the saints1 the emancipated ,universe1 the eternal ,love4 ,what remains1 after this mighty process of spiritual discoveries1 but to adore8 ,listen1 as he speaks again1 and again the pen moves upon the paper3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cc4 ,oh depth of wealth of ,god's wisdom and knowledge too6 ,how past all searching are ,his judgments1 and past all tracking are ,his ways6 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cd4 ,for who ever knew the ,lord's mind8 ,or who ever proved ,his counsellor8#bje ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ce4 ,or who ever first gave to ,him1 and requital shall be made to the giver 778 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cf4 ,because out of ,him1 and through ,him1 and unto ,him1 are all things#bjf3 to ,him be the glory1 unto the ages4 ,amen4 ,even so1 ,amen4 ,we also prostrate our being1 with the ,apostle1 with the ,roman saints1 with the whole ,church1 with all the company of heaven1 and give ourselves to that action of pure worship in which the creature1 sinking lowest in his own eyes1 yea out of his own sight altogether1 rises highest into the light of his ,maker4 ,what a moment this is1 what an occasion1 for such an approach to ,him who is the infinite and personal ,fountain of being1 and of redemption6 ,we have been led from reason to reason1 from doctrine to doctrine1 from one link to another in a golden chain of redeeming mercies4 ,we have had the dream of human merit expelled from the heart with arrows of light2 and the pure glory of a grace most absolute1 most merciful1 has come in upon us in its place4 ,all along we have been reminded1 as it were in fragments and radiant glimpses1 that these doctrines1 these truths1 are no mere principles in the abstract1 but expressions of the will and of the love of a ,person2 that fact full of eternal life1 but all too easily forgotten by the human mind1 when its study of religion is carried away1 if but for an hour1 from the foot of the ,cross1 and of the ,throne4 ,but now all these lines converge upwards to their ,origin4 ,by the ,cross they reach the ,throne4 ,through the ,work of the ,,son--,one with the ,,father1 for of the ,son too it is written 7,col4 i4 #af7 that all things are through ,him1 and unto ,him--through ,his ,work1 and in it1 we come to the ,father's ,wisdom and ,knowledge1 which drew the plan of blessing1 and as it were calculated and furnished all its means4 ,we touch that point where the creature gravitates to its final rest1 the vision of the ,glory of ,god4 ,we repose1 with a profound and rejoicing silence1 before the fact of mysteries too bright for our vision4 ,after all the revelations of the ,apostle we own with him in faith1 with an acquiescence deep as our being1 the fact that there is no searching1 no tracking out1 the final secrets of the ways of ,god4 ,it becomes to us wonderfully sufficient1 in the light of ,christ1 to know that the ,lord1 the ,lord ,god1 merciful and gracious1 is also ,sovereign1 ,ultimate1 ,his own eternal ,satisfaction2 that it is infinitely fit and blessed that1 as ,his ,will is the true efficient cause of all things1 and ,his ,presence their secret of continuance1 so ,he is ,himself their final ,cause1 their ,end1 their ,goal2 they fulfil their idea1 they find their bliss1 in being altogether ,his2 all things are ,,unto ,,him4 ,to whom be the glory1 unto the ages4 ,amen4 ,the advancing ages1 1 the infinite developments of the eternal life1 what do we know about them8 ,almost nothing1 except the greatest fact of all2 that in them for ever the redeemed creature will glorify not itself but the ,creator2 finding an endless and ever fuller youth1 an inexhaustible motive1 a rest impossible to break1 a life in which indeed they cannot die any more1 in surrendering always all its blissful wealth of being to the will and use of the ,,blessed ,,one4 ,in these ages we already are1 in ,christ4 ,we shall indeed grow for ever with their eternal growth1 in ,him1 to the glory of the grace of ,god4 ,but let us not forget that we are already in their course1 as regards that life of ours which is hid with ,christ in ,god4 ,with that recollection1 let us give ourselves often1 and as by the second nature of grace1 to adoration4 ,not necessarily to frequent long abstractions of our time from the active services of life2 we need only read on into the coming passages of the ,epistle to be reminded that we are hallowed1 in our ,lord1 to a life of unselfish contact with all the needs around us4 ,but let that life have for its interior1 for its animation1 the spirit of worship4 ,taking by faith our all from ,god1 let us inwardly always give it back to ,him1 as those who not only own with the simplest gratitude that ,he has redeemed us from condemnation and from sin1 but who have seen with an adoring intuition that we and our all are of the all things which1 being of ,him1 and by ,him1 are also wholly unto ,him1 by an absolute right1 by the ultimate law of our being1 as we are the creatures of the eternal ,love4 #aih ,such is the normal meaning of in the ,n4 ,t4 ,it is a thing which in itself may or may not be what we mean by mysterious4 ,but it is a thing which mere observation and reasoning cannot priori arrive at2 ,god must disclose it4 #aii is the practical realization of an ideal4 #bjj ,so we paraphrase ' 4 #bja ,the aorist may rather gather up the great ingathering into one thought than mark a narrow crisis in it4 #bjb 3 literally1 unrepented-of1 and so1 admitting no repentance1 1 change of mind4 ,this is fairly represented by irrevocable4 #bjc ,see above1 p4 #ai4 #bjd ,it is possible to render here3 they did not obey your mercy2 i4e41 they refused submission to that ,gospel in which you found embodied the mercy of ,god4 ,but the balance of thoughts and sentences is in favour of the rendering above4 #bje ,he quotes nearly verbatim from ,isai4 xl4 #ac4 ,cp4 ,jerem4 xxiii4 #ah4 #bjf 3 the ,greek gives us at once the items and the sum of the all4 ,,chapter ,,xxv ,,christian ,,conduct ,,the ,,issue ,,of ,,christian ,,truth ,,romans xii4 #a-h ,again we may conjecture a pause1 a long pause and deliberate1 in the work of ,paul and ,tertius4 ,we have reached the end1 generally speaking1 of the dogmatic and so to speak oracular contents of the ,epistle4 ,we have listened to the great argument of ,righteousness1 ,sanctification1 and final ,redemption4 ,we have followed the exposition of the mysterious unbelief and the destined restoration of the chosen nation2 a theme which we can see1 as we look back on the perspective of the whole ,epistle1 to have a deep and suggestive connexion with what went before it2 for the experience of ,israel1 in relation to the sovereign will and grace of ,god1 is full of light thrown upon the experience of the soul4 ,now in order comes the bright sequel of this mighty antecedent1 this complex but harmonious mass of spiritual facts and historical illustrations of the will and ways of the ,eternal4 ,the voice of ,st ,paul is heard again2 and he comes full upon the ,lord's message of duty1 conduct1 character4 ,as out of some cleft in the face of the rocky hills rolls the full pure stream born in their depths1 and runs under the sun and sky through green meadows and beside the thirsty homes of men1 so here from the inmost mysteries of grace comes the message of all-comprehensive holy duty4 ,the ,christian1 filled with the knowledge of an eternal love1 is told how not to dream1 but to serve1 with all the mercies of ,god for his motive4 ,this is indeed in the manner of the ,new ,testament2 this vital sequence of duty and doctrine2 the divine ,truths first1 and then and therefore the blessed ,life4 ,to take only ,st ,paul's writings1 the ,ephesian and ,colossian ,epistles are each1 practically1 bisected by a line which has eternal facts before it and present duties1 done in the light and power of them1 after it4 ,but the whole ,book of ,god1 in its texture all over1 shews the same phenomenon4 ,someone has remarked with homely force that in the ,bible everywhere1 if only we dig deep enough1 we find ,do right at the bottom4 ,and we may add that everywhere also we have only to dig one degree deeper to find that the precept is rooted in eternal underlying facts of divine truth and love4 ,scripture1 that is to say1 its ,lord and ,author1 does not give us the terrible gift of a precept isolated and in a vacuum4 ,it supports its commandments on a base of cogent motive2 and it fills the man who is to keep them with the power of a living ,presence in him2 this we have seen at large in the pages of the ,epistle already traversed4 ,but then1 on the other hand1 the ,lord of ,scripture does not leave the motive and the ,presence without the articulate precept4 ,rather1 because they are supplied and assured to the believer1 it spreads out all the more amply and minutely a moral directory before his eyes4 ,it tells him1 as a man who now rests on ,god and loves ,him1 and in whom ,god dwells1 not only in general that he is to walk and please ,god but in particular how to do it 7#a ,thess4 iv4 #a74 ,it takes his life in detail1 and applies the will of the ,lord to it4 ,it speaks to him in explicit terms about moral purity1 in the name of the ,holy ,one2 about patience and kindness1 in the name of redeeming ,love2 about family duties1 in the name of the ,father and of the ,son2 about civic duties1 in the name of the ,king ,eternal4 ,and the whole outline and all the details thus become to the believer things not only of duty but of possibility1 of hope1 of the strong interest given by the thought that thus and thus the beloved ,master would have us use ,his divine gift of life4 ,nothing is more wonderfully free1 from one point of view1 than love and spiritual power4 ,but if the love is indeed given by ,god and directed towards ,him in ,christ1 the man who loves cannot possibly wish to be his own law1 and to spend his soul's power upon his own ideas or preferences4 ,his joy and his conscious aim must be to do1 in detail1 the will of the ,lord who is now so dear to him2 and therefore1 in detail1 to know it4 ,let us take deep note of this characteristic of ,scripture1 its minuteness of precept1 in connexion with its revelation of spiritual blessing4 ,if in any sense we are called to be teachers of others1 let us carry out the example4 ,richard ,cecil1 wise and pregnant counsellor in ,christ1 says that if he had to choose between preaching precepts and preaching privileges1 he would preach privileges2 because the privileges of the true ,gospel tend in their nature to suggest and stimulate right action1 while the precepts taken alone do not reveal the wealth of divine life and power4 ,but ,cecil1 like his great contemporaries of the ,evangelical ,revival1 constantly and diligently preached as a fact both privilege and precept2 opening with energetic hands the revealed fulness of ,christ1 and then and therefore teaching them which had believed through grace not only the idea of duty1 but its details4 ,thomas ,scott1 at ,olney1 devoted his week-night lecture in the parish church1 almost exclusively1 to instructions in daily ,christian life4 ,assuming that his hearers knew ,christ in personal reality1 he told them how to be ,christians in the home1 in the shop1 in the farm2 how to be consistent with their regenerate life as parents1 children1 servants1 masters1 neighbours1 subjects4 ,there have been times1 perhaps1 when such didactic preaching has been too little used in the ,church4 ,but the men who1 under ,god1 in the last century and the early years of this century1 revived the message of ,christ ,crucified and ,risen as all in all for our salvation1 were eminently diligent in teaching ,christian morals4 ,at the present day1 in many quarters of our ,christendom1 there is a remarkable revival of the desire to apply saving truth to common life1 and to keep the ,christian always mindful that he not only has heaven in prospect1 but is to travel to it1 every step1 in the path of practical and watchful holiness4 ,this is a sign of divine mercy in the ,church4 ,this is profoundly ,scriptural4 ,meanwhile1 ,god forbid that such teaching how to live should ever be given1 by parent1 pastor1 schoolmaster1 friend1 where it does not first pass through the teacher's own soul into his own life4 ,alas for us if we shew ever so convincingly1 and even ever so winningly1 the bond between salvation and holiness1 and do not walk accurately 7,eph4 v4 #ae7 ourselves1 in the details of our walk4 ,as we actually approach the rules of holiness now before us1 let us once more recollect what we have seen all along in the ,epistle1 that holiness is the aim and issue of the entire ,gospel4 ,it is indeed an evidence of life1 infinitely weighty in the enquiry whether a man knows ,god indeed and is on the way to ,his heaven4 ,but it is much more2 it is the expression of life2 it is the form and action in which life is intended to come out4 ,in our orchards 7to use again a parable we have used already7 the golden apples are evidences of the tree's species1 and of its life4 ,but a wooden label could tell us the species1 and leaves can tell the life4 ,the fruit is more than label or leaf2 it is the thing for which the tree is there4 ,we who believe are chosen and ordained to bring forth fruit 7,john xv4 #af71 fruit much and lasting4 ,the eternal ,master walks in ,his garden for the very purpose of seeing if the trees bear4 ,and the fruit ,he looks for is no visionary thing2 it is a life of holy serviceableness to ,him and to our fellows1 in ,his ,name4 ,but now we draw near again and listen3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,i exhort you therefore1 brethren1 by means of the compassions of ,god2 using as my logic and my fulcrum this depth of riches we have explored2 this wonderful ,redemption1 with its sovereignty1 its mercy1 its acceptance1 its holiness1 its glory2 this overruling of even sin and rebellion1 in ,gentile and in ,jew1 into occasions for salvation2 these compassionate indications in the nearer and the eternal future of golden days yet to come2--,i exhort you therefore to present1 to give over1 your bodies as a sacrifice1 an altar-offering1 living1 holy1 well-pleasing1 unto ,god2 for this 77 is your rational devotion 774 ,that is to say1 it is the devotion1 the cultus1 the worship-service1 which is done by the reason1 the mind1 the thought and will1 of the man who has found ,god in ,christ4 ,the ,greek term1 latreia1 is tinged with associations of ritual and temple2 but it is taken here1 and qualified by its adjective1 on purpose to be lifted1 as in paradox1 into the region of the soul4 ,the robes and incense of the visible sanctuary are here out of sight2 the individual believer is at once priest1 sacrifice1 and altar2 he immolates himself to the ,lord1--living1 yet no longer to himself4 ,but observe the pregnant collocation here of the body with the reason4 ,give over your bodies2 not now your spirit1 your intelligence1 your sentiments1 your aspirations1 but your bodies1 to your ,lord4 ,is this an anti-climax8 ,have we retreated from the higher to the lower1 in coming from the contemplation of sovereign grace and the eternal glory to that of the physical frame of man8 ,no more than the ,lord ,jesus did1 when ,he walked down from the hill of ,transfiguration to the crowd below1 and to the sins and miseries it presented4 ,he came from the scene of glory to serve men in its abiding inner light4 ,and even ,he1 in the days of ,his flesh1 served men1 ordinarily1 only through ,his sacred body2 walking to them with ,his feet2 touching them with ,his hands2 meeting their eyes with ,his2 speaking with ,his lips the words that were spirit and life4 ,as with ,him so with us4 ,it is only through the body1 practically1 that we can serve our generation by the will of ,god4 ,not without the body but through it the spirit must tell on the embodied spirits around us4 ,we look1 we speak1 we hear1 we write1 we nurse1 we travel1 by means of these material servants of the will1 our living limbs4 ,without the body1 where should we be1 as to other men8 ,and therefore1 without the surrender of the body1 where are we1 as to other men1 from the point of view of the will of ,god8 ,so there is a true sense in which1 while the surrender of the will is all important and primary from one point of view1 the surrender of the body1 the giving over of the body1 to be the implement of ,god's will in us1 is all-important1 is crucial1 from another4 ,for many a ,christian life it is the most needful of all things to remember this2 it is the oblivion1 or the mere half-recollection1 of this which keeps that life an almost neutral thing as to witness and service for the ,lord4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,and do not grow#bjg conformed to this world1 this on 771 the course and state of things in this scene of sin and death2 do not play the worldling1 assuming a guise 77 which in itself is fleeting1 and which for you1 members of ,christ1 must also be hollow2 but grow transfigured1 living out a lasting and genuine change of tone and conduct1 in which the figure 77 is only the congenial expression of the essence#bjh--;by the renewal of your mind1 by using as an implement in the holy process that divine light which has cleared your intelligence of the mists of self-love1 and taught you to see as with new eyes the splendour of the will of ,god2 so as that you test1 discerning as by a spiritual touchstone1 what is the will of ,god1 the good1 and acceptable1 and perfect 7will74 ,such was to be the method1 and such the issue1 in this development of the surrendered life4 ,all is divine in origin and secret4 ,the eternal compassions1 and the sovereign work of the renewing and illuminating ,spirit1 are supposed before the believer can move one step4 ,on the other hand the believer1 in the full conscious action of his renewed intelligence1 is to ponder the call to seek transfiguration in a life of unworldly love1 and to attain it in detail by using the new insight of a regenerated heart4 ,he is to look1 with the eyes of the soul1 straight through every mist of self-will to the now beloved ,will of ,god1 as his deliberate choice1 seen to be welcome1 seen to be perfect1 not because all is understood1 but because the man is joyfully surrendered to the all-trusted ,master4 ,thus he is to move along the path of an ever brightening transfiguration2 at once open-eyed1 and in the dark2 seeing the ,lord1 and so with a sure instinct gravitating to ,his will1 yet content to let the mists of the unknown always hang over the next step but one4 ,it is a process1 not a crisis2 grow transfigured4 ,the origin of the process1 the liberation of the movement1 is1 at least in idea1 as critical as possible2 ,give over your bodies4 ,that precept is conveyed1 in its ,greek form 71 aorist71 so as to suggest precisely the thought of a critical surrender4 ,the ,roman ,christian1 and his ,english younger brother1 are called here1 as they were above 7vi4 #ac1 #ai71 to a transaction with the ,lord quite definite1 whether or no the like has taken place before1 or shall be done again4 ,they are called1 as if once for all1 to look their ,lord in the face1 and to clasp ,his gifts in their hands1 and then to put themselves and ,his gifts altogether into ,his hands1 for perpetual use and service4 ,so1 from the side of his conscious experience1 the ,christian is called to a hallowing of himself decisive1 crucial1 instantaneous4 ,but its outcome is to be a perpetual progression1 a growth1 not so much into grace as in it 7#b ,pet4 iii4 #ah71 in which the surrender in purpose becomes a long series of deepening surrenders in habit and action1 and a larger discovery of self1 and of the ,lord1 and of ,his will1 takes effect in the shining of the transfigured life more and more1 unto the perfect day 7,prov4 iv4 #ah74 ,let us not distort this truth of progression1 and its correlative truth of the ,christian's abiding imperfection4 ,let us not profane it into an excuse for a life which at the best is stationary1 and must almost certainly be retrograde1 because not intent upon a genuine advance4 ,let us not withhold our bodies from the sacred surrender here enjoined upon us1 and yet expect to realize somehow1 at some vague date1 a transfiguration1 by the renewal of our mind4 ,we shall be indeed disappointed of that hope4 ,but let us be at once stimulated and sobered by the spiritual facts4 ,as we are yielded to the ,lord1 in sober reality1 we are in ,his mercy liberated for growth4 ,but the growth is to come1 among other ways1 by the diligent application of the renewal of our mind to the details of ,his blessed ,will4 ,and it will come1 in its true development1 only in the line of holy humbleness4 ,to exalt oneself1 even in the spiritual life1 is not to grow2 it is to wither4 ,so the ,apostle goes on3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for ,i say1 through the grace that has been given me1 the grace of power for apostolic admonition1 to every one who is among you1 not to be high-minded beyond what his mind should be1 but to be minded toward sober-mindedness1 as to each ,god distributed faith's measure4 ,that is to say1 let the individual never1 in himself1 forget his brethren1 and the mutual relation of each to all in ,christ4 ,let him never make himself the centre1 or think of his personal salvation as if it could really be taken alone4 ,the ,lord1 the sovereign ,giver of faith1 the ,almighty ,bringer of souls into acceptance and union with ,christ by faith1 has given thy faith to thee1 and thy brother's faith to him2 and why8 ,that the individual gifts1 the bounty of the ,one ,giver1 might join the individuals not only to the ,giver but to one another1 as recipients of riches many yet one1 and which are to be spent in service one yet many4 ,the ,one ,lord distributes the one faith-power into many hearts1 measuring it out to each1 so that the many1 individually believing in the ,one1 may not collide and contend1 but lovingly cooperate in a manifold service1 the issue of their like precious faith 7#b ,pet4 i4 #b7 conditioned by the variety of their lives4 ,so comes in that pregnant parable of the ,body1 found only in the writings of ,st ,paul1 and in four only of his ,epistles1 but so stated there as to take a place for ever in the foreground of ,christian truth4 ,we have it here in the ,romans1 and in larger detail in the contemporary #a ,corinthians 7xii4 #ab-bg74 ,we have it finally and fully in the later ,epistolary ,group1 of the first ,roman ,captivity--in ,ephesians and ,colossians4 ,there the supreme point in the whole picture1 the glorious ,,head1 and ,his relation to the ,limb and to the ,body1 comes out in all its greatness1 while in these earlier passages it appears only incidentally4#bji ,but each presentation1 the earlier and the later1 is alike true to its purpose4 ,when ,st ,paul wrote to the ,asiatics1 he was in presence of errors which beclouded the living splendour of the ,head4 ,when he wrote to the ,romans1 he was concerned rather with the interdependence of the limbs1 in the practice of ,christian social life4 ,we have spoken of the parable of the ,body4 ,but is the word parable adequate8 ,what if earth be but the shadow of heaven8 ,what if our physical frame1 the soul's house and vehicle1 be only the feebler counterpart of that great ,organism in which the exalted ,christ unites and animates ,his saints8 ,that union is no mere aggregation1 no mere alliance of so many men under the presidency of an invisible ,leader4 ,it is a thing of life4 ,each to the living ,head1 and so each to all ,his members1 we are joined in that wonderful connexion with a tenacity1 and with a relation1 genuine1 strong1 and close as the eternal life can make it4 ,the living1 breathing man1 multifold yet one1 is but the reflection1 as it were1 of ,christ ,mystical1 the true ,body with its heavenly ,head4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,for just as in one body we have many limbs1 but all the limbs have not the same function1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 so we1 the many1 are one body in ,christ1 in our personal union with ,him1 but in detail 7 71 limbs of one another1 coherent and related not as neighbours merely but as complementary parts in the whole4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,but having endowments 77--according to the grace that was given to us--differing1 be it prophecy1 inspired utterance1 a power from above1 yet mysteriously conditioned 7#a ,cor4 xiv4 #cb7 by the judgment and will of the utterer1 let it follow the proportion of the man's faith1 let it be true to his entire dependence on the revealed ,christ1 not left at the mercy of his mere emotions1 or as it were played upon by alien unseen powers2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 be it active service 771 let the man be in his service1 wholly given to it1 not turning aside to covet his brother's more mystic gift2 be it the teacher1 let him likewise be in his teaching1 whole-hearted in his allotted work1 free from ambitious outlooks from it2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 be it the exhorter1 let him be in his exhortation2 the distributer of his means1 for ,god1 with open-handedness2 the superintendent1 of ,church1 or of home1 with earnestness2 the pitier1 7large and unofficial designation67 with gladness1 doubling his gifts and works of mercy by the hallowed brightness of a heart set free from the aims of self1 and therefore wholly at the service of the needing4 ,this paragraph of eight verses lies here before us1 full all along of that deep characteristic of ,gospel life1 surrender for service4 ,the call is to a profoundly passive inward attitude1 with an express view to a richly active outward usefulness4 ,possessed1 and knowing it1 of the compassions of ,god1 the man is asked to give himself over to ,eternal ,love for purposes of unworldly and unambitious employment in the path chosen for him1 whatever it may be4 ,in this respect above all others he is to be not conformed to this world--that is1 he is to make not himself but his ,lord his pleasure and ambition4 ,by the renewal of his mind he is to view the ,will of ,god from a point inaccessible to the unregenerate1 to the unjustified1 to the man not emancipated in ,christ from the tyranny of sin4 ,he is to see in it his inexhaustible interest1 his line of quest and hope1 his ultimate and satisfying aim2 because of the practical identity of the ,will and the infinitely good and blessed ,bearer of it4 ,and this more than surrender of his faculties1 this happy and reposeful consecration of them1 is to shew its reality in one way above all others first2 in a humble estimate of self as compared with brother ,christians1 and a watchful willingness to do--not another's work1 but the duty that lies next4 ,this relative aspect of the life of self-surrender is the burthen of this great paragraph of duty4 ,in the following passage we shall find precepts more in detail2 but here we have what is to govern all along the whole stream of the obedient life4 ,the man rich in ,christ is reverently to remember others1 and ,god's will in them1 and for them4 ,he is to avoid the subtle temptation to intrude beyond the ,master's allotted work for him4 ,he is to be slow to think1 ,i am richly qualified1 and could do this thing1 and that1 and the other1 better than the man who does it now4 ,his chastened spiritual instinct will rather go to criticize himself1 to watch for the least deficiency in his own doing of the task which at least to-day is his4 ,he will give himself wholly to this1 be it more or less attractive to him in itself4 ,for he works as one who has not to contrive a life as full of success and influence as he can imagine1 but to accept a life assigned by the ,lord who has first given to him ,himself4 ,the passage itself amply implies that he is to use actively and honestly his renewed intelligence4 ,he is to look circumstances and conditions in the face1 remembering that in one way or another the will of ,god is expressed in them4 ,he is to seek to understand not his duties only but his personal equipments for them1 natural as well as spiritual4 ,but he is to do this as one whose mind is renewed by his living contact and union with his redeeming ,king1 and who has really laid his faculties at the feet of an absolute ,master1 who is the ,lord of order as well as of power4 ,what peace1 energy1 and dignity comes into a life which is consciously and deliberately thus surrendered6 ,the highest range of duties1 as man counts highest1 is thus disburthened both of its heavy anxieties and of its temptations to a ruinous self-importance4 ,and the lowest range1 as man counts lowest1 is filled with the quiet greatness born of the presence and will of ,god4 ,in the memoirs of ,mme de la ,mothe ,guyon much is said of her faithful maid-servant1 who was imprisoned along with her 7in a separate chamber7 in the ,bastille1 and there died1 about the year #agjj4 ,this pious woman1 deeply taught in the things of the ,spirit1 and gifted with an understanding far above the common1 appears never for an hour to have coveted a more ambitious department than that which ,god assigned her in ,his obedience4 ,she desired to be what ,god would have her be1 and to be nothing more1 and nothing less4 ,she included time and place1 as well as disposition and action4 ,she had not a doubt that ,god1 who had given remarkable powers to ,mme ,guyon1 had called her to the great work in which she was employed4 ,but knowing that her beloved mistress could not go alone1 but must constantly have some female attendant1 she had the conviction1 equally distinct1 that she was called to be her maid-servant4#baj ,a great part of the surface of ,christian society would be transfigured if its depth was more fully penetrated with that spirit4 ,and it is to that spirit that the ,apostle here definitely calls us1 each and every one1 not as with a counsel of perfection for the few1 but as the will of ,god for all who have found out what is meant by ,his compassions1 and have caught even a glimpse of ,his ,will as good1 and acceptable1 and perfect4 ,i would not have the restless will ,that hurries to and fro1 ,seeking for some great thing to do ,or secret thing to know2 ,i would be treated as a child1 ,and guided where ,i go4 #bjg ,the ,greek imperative is present1 and indicates a process4 #bjh ,see ,trench1 ,n4 ,t4 ,synonyms1 s4v4 1 for the pregnant difference of the two nouns which are the distinctive elements here of the two verbs4 #bji ,see #a ,cor4 xii4 #ba3 ,can the head say to the feet1 etc48 #baj ,upham3 ,life1 etc41 of ,mme de la ,m4 ,guyon1 ch4 ,i4 ,,chapter ,,xxvi ,,christian ,,duty3 ,,details ,,of ,,personal ,,conduct ,,romans xii4 #i-ba ,st ,paul has set before us the life of surrender1 of the giving-over of faculty to ,god1 in one great preliminary aspect4 ,the fair ideal 7meant always for a watchful and hopeful realization7 has been held aloft4 ,it is a life whose motive is the ,lord's compassions2 whose law of freedom is ,his will2 whose inmost aim is1 without envy or interference towards our fellow-servants1 to finish the work ,he hath given us to do4 ,now into this noble outline are to be poured the details of personal conduct which1 in any and every line and field1 are to make the characteristics of the ,christian4 ,as we listen again1 we will again remember that the words are levelled not at a few but at all who are in ,christ4 ,the beings indicated here are not the chosen names of a ,church ,calendar1 nor are they the passionless inhabitants of a ,utopia4 ,they are all who1 in ,rome of old1 in ,england now1 have peace with ,god through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 have the ,spirit of ,god dwelling in them1 and are living out this wonderful but most practical life in the straight line of their ,father's will4 ,as if he could not heap the golden words too thickly together1 ,st ,paul dictates here with even unusual abruptness and terseness of expression4 ,he leaves syntax very much alone2 gives us noun and adjective1 and lets them speak for themselves4 ,we will venture to render as nearly verbatim as possible4 ,the ,english will inevitably seem more rough and crude than the ,greek1 but the impression given will be truer on the whole to the original than a fuller rendering would be4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,your 77 love1 unaffected4 ,abominating the ill1 wedded to#baa the good4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,for your brotherly-kindness1 full of mutual home-affection 774 ,for your honour1 your code of precedence1 deferring to one another4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,for your earnestness1#bab not slothful4 ,for the ,spirit1 as regards your possession and use of the divine ,indweller1 glowing4#bac ,for the ,lord1 bond-serving4#bad ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,for your hope1 that is to say1 as to the hope of the ,lord's ,return1 rejoicing4 ,for your affliction1 enduring4 ,for your prayer1 persevering4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,for the wants of the saints1 for the poverty of fellow-,christians1 communicating2 sharing 771 a yet nobler thing than the mere giving which may ignore the sacred fellowship of the provider and the receiver4 ,hospitality#bae--prosecuting 77 as with a studious cultivation4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,bless those who persecute#baf you2 bless1 and do not curse4 ,this was a solemnly appropriate precept1 for the community over which1 eight years later1 the first great ,persecution was to break in blood1 and fire1 and vapour of smoke4 ,and no doubt there was abundant present occasion for it1 even while the scene was comparatively tranquil4 ,every modern mission-field can illustrate the possibilities of a persecution which may be altogether private1 or which at most may touch only a narrow neighbourhood2 which may never reach the point of technical outrage1 yet may apply a truly fiery trial to the faithful convert4 ,even in circles of our decorous ,english society is no such thing known as the persecution of a life not conformed to this world1 though the assault or torture may take forms almost invisible and impalpable1 except to the sensibilities of the object of it8 ,for all such cases1 as well as for the confessor on the rack1 and the martyr in the fire1 this precept holds expressly2 ,bless1 do not curse4 ,in ,christ find possible the impossible2 let the resentment of nature die1 at ,his feet1 in the breath of ,his love4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,to rejoice with the rejoicing1 and to weep with the weeping2 holy duties of the surrendered life1 too easily forgotten4 ,alas1 there is such a phenomenon1 not altogether rare1 as a life whose self-surrender1 in some main aspects1 cannot be doubted1 but which utterly fails in sympathy4 ,a certain spiritual exaltation is allowed actually to harden1 or at least to seem to harden1 the consecrated heart2 and the man who perhaps witnesses for ,god with a prophet's ardour is yet not one to whom the mourner would go for tears and prayer in his bereavement1 or the child for a perfectly human smile in its play4 ,but this is not as the ,lord would have it be4 ,if indeed the ,christian has given his body over1 it is that his eyes1 and lips1 and hands1 may be ready to give loving tokens of fellowship in sorrow1 and 7what is less obvious7 in gladness too1 to the human hearts around him4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,feeling#bag the same thing towards one another2 animated by a happy identity of sympathy and brotherhood4 ,not haughty in feeling1#bah but full of lowly sympathies#bai2 accessible1 in an unaffected fellowship1 to the poor1 the social inferior1 the weak and the defeated1 and again to the smallest and homeliest interests of all4 ,it was the ,lord's example2 the little child1 the wistful parent1 the widow with her mites1 the poor fallen woman of the street1 could lead away 77 ,his blessed sympathies with a touch1 while ,he responded with an unbroken majesty of gracious power1 but with a kindness for which condescension seems a word far too cold and distant4 ,do not get to be wise in your own opinion2 be ready always to learn2 dread the attitude of mind1 too possible even for the man of earnest spiritual purpose1 which assumes that you have nothing to learn and everything to teach2 which makes it easy to criticize and to discredit2 and which can prove an altogether repellent thing to the observer from outside1 who is trying to estimate the ,gospel by its adherent and advocate4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,requiting no one evil for evil2 safe from the spirit of retaliation1 in your surrender to ,him who when ,he was reviled1 reviled not again2 when ,he suffered1 threatened not4 ,taking forethought for good in the sight of all men2 not letting habits1 talk1 expenses1 drift into inconsistency2 watching with open and considerate eyes against what others may fairly think to be unchristian in you4 ,here is no counsel of cowardice1 no recommendation of slavery to a public opinion which may be altogether wrong4 ,it is a precept of loyal jealousy for the heavenly ,master's honour4 ,his servant is to be nobly indifferent to the world's thought and word where he is sure that ,god and the world antagonize4 ,but he is to be sensitively attentive to the world's observation where the world1 more or less acquainted with the ,christian precept or principle1 and more or less conscious of its truth and right1 is watching1 maliciously or it may be wistfully1 to see if it governs the ,christian's practice4 ,in view of this the man will never be content even with the satisfaction of his own conscience2 he will set himself not only to do right1 but to be seen to do it4 ,he will not only be true to a monetary trust1 for example2 he will take care that the proofs of his fidelity shall be open4 ,he will not only mean well towards others2 he will take care that his manner and bearing1 his dealings and intercourse1 shall unmistakably breathe the ,christian air4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,if possible1 as regards your side1 7the your is as emphatic as possible in position and in meaning17 living at peace with all men2 yes1 even in pagan and hostile ,rome4 ,a peculiarly ,christian principle speaks here4 ,the men who had given over their bodies a living sacrifice might think1 imaginably1 that their duty was to court the world's enmity1 to tilt as it were against its spears1 as if the one supreme call was to collide1 to fall1 and to be glorified4 ,but this would be fanaticism2 and the ,gospel is never fanatical1 for it is the law of love4 ,the surrendered ,christian is not1 as such1 an aspirant for even a martyr's fame1 but the servant of ,god and man4 ,if martyrdom crosses his path1 it is met as duty2 but he does not court it as clat4 ,and what is true of martyrdom is of course true of every lower and milder form of the conflict of the ,church1 and of the ,christian1 in the world4 ,nothing more nobly evidences the divine origin of the ,gospel than this essential precept2 as far as it lies with you1 live peaceably with all men4 ,such wise and kind forbearance and neighbourliness would never have been bound up with the belief of supernatural powers and hopes1 if those powers and hopes had been the mere issue of human exaltation1 of natural enthusiasm4 ,the supernatural of the ,gospel leads to nothing but rectitude and considerateness1 in short to nothing but love1 between man and man4 ,and why8 ,because it is indeed divine2 it is the message and gift of the living ,son of ,god1 in all the truth and majesty of ,his rightfulness4 ,all too early in the history of the ,church the crown of martyrdom became an object of enthusiastic ambition4 ,but that was not because of the teaching of the ,crucified1 nor of ,his suffering ,apostles4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,not avenging yourselves1 beloved2 no1 give place to the wrath2 let the angry opponent1 the dread persecutor1 have his way1 so far as your resistance or retaliation is concerned4 ,beloved1 let us love 7#a ,john iv4 #g72 with that strong and conquering love which wins by suffering4 ,and do not fear lest eternal justice should go by default2 there is ,one who will take care of that matter2 you may leave it with ,him4 ,for it stands written 7,deut4 xxxii4 #ce71 ,to ,me belongs vengeance2 ,i will recompense1 saith the ,lord4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,but if#bbj 7and again he quotes the older ,scriptures1 finding in the ,proverbs 7xxv4 #ba1 #bb7 the same oracular authority as in the ,pentateuch71 but if thy enemy is hungry1 give him food2 if he is thirsty1 give him drink2 for so doing thou wilt heap coals of fire on his head2 taking the best way to the only vengeance which a saint can wish1 namely1 your enemy's conviction of his wrong1 the rising of a burning shame in his soul1 and the melting of his spirit in the fire of love4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,be not thou conquered by the evil1 but conquer1 in the good1 the evil4 ,in the good2 as if surrounded by it1#bba moving invulnerable1 in its magic circle1 through the contradiction of sinners1 the provoking of all men4 ,the thought is just that of ,psal4 xxxi4 #ah1 #ai3 ,how great is ,thy goodness1 which ,thou hast laid up for them that fear ,thee1 which ,thou hast wrought for them that trust in ,thee before the sons of men6 ,thou shalt hide them in the secret of ,thy presence from the pride of man2 ,thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues4 ,the good of this sentence of ,st ,paul's is no vague and abstract thing2 it is the gift of ,god 7vi4 #bh72 it is the life eternal found and possessed in union with ,christ1 our ,righteousness1 our ,sanctification1 our ,redemption4 ,practically1#bbb it is not ,it but ,he4 ,the ,roman convert who should find it more than possible to meet his enemy with love1 to do him positive good in his need1 with a conquering simplicity of intention1 was to do so not so much by an internal conflict between his better self and his worse1 as by the living power of ,christ received in his whole being2 by abiding in ,him4 ,it is so now1 and for ever4 ,the open secret of divine peace and love is what it was2 as necessary1 as versatile1 as victorious4 ,and its path of victory is as straight and as sure as of old4 ,and the precept to tread that path1 daily and hourly1 if occasion calls1 is still as divinely binding as it ever was for the ,christian1 if indeed he has embraced the mercies of ,god1 and is looking to his ,lord to be evermore transfigured1 by the renewing of his mind4 99 99 99 99 99 ,as we review this rich field of the flowers1 and of the gold1 of holiness1 this now completed paragraph of epigrammatic precepts1 some leading and pervading principles emerge4 ,we see first that the sanctity of the ,gospel is no hushed and cloistered indifferentism4 ,it is a thing intended for the open field of human life2 to be lived out before the sons of men4 ,a strong positive element is in it4 ,the saint is to abominate the evil2 not only to deprecate it1 and deplore4 ,he is to be energetically in earnest4 ,he is to glow with the ,spirit1 and to rejoice in the hope of glory4 ,he is to take practical1 provident pains to live not only aright1 but manifestly aright1 in ways which all men can recognize4 ,again1 his life is to be essentially social4 ,he is contemplated as one who meets other lives at every turn1 and he is never to forget or neglect his relation to them4 ,particularly in the ,christian ,society1 he is to cherish the family affection of the ,gospel2 to defer to fellow ,christians in a generous humility2 to share his means with the poor among them2 to welcome the strangers of them to his house4 ,he is to think it a sacred duty to enter into the joys and the sorrows round him4 ,he is to keep his sympathies open for despised people1 and for little matters4 ,then again1 and most prominently after all1 he is to be ready to suffer1 and to meet suffering with a spirit far greater than that of only resignation4 ,he is to bless his persecutor2 he is to serve his enemy in ways most practical and active2 he is to conquer him for ,christ1 in the power of a divine communion4 ,thus1 meanwhile1 the life1 so positive1 so active in its effects1 is to be essentially all the while a passive1 bearing1 enduring1 life4 ,its strength is to spring not from the energies of nature1 which may or may not be vigorous in the man1 but from an internal surrender to the claim and government of his ,lord4 ,he has presented himself to ,god 7vi4 #ac72 he has presented his body1 a living sacrifice 7xii4 #a74 ,he has recognized1 with a penitent wonder and joy1 that he is but the limb of a ,body1 and that his ,head is the ,lord4 ,his thought is now not for his personal rights1 his individual exaltation1 but for the glory of his ,head1 for the fulfilment of the thought of his ,head1 and for the health and wealth of the ,body1 as the great vehicle in the world of the gracious will of the ,head4 ,it is among the chief and deepest of the characteristics of ,christian ethics1 this passive root below a rich growth and harvest of activity4 ,all through the ,new ,testament we find it expressed or suggested4 ,the first ,beatitude uttered by the ,lord 7,matt4 v4 #c7 is given to the poor1 the mendicant 771 in spirit4 ,the last 7,john xx4 #bi7 is for the believer1 who trusts without seeing4 ,the radiant portrait of holy ,love 7#a ,cor4 xiii47 produces its effect1 full of indescribable life as well as beauty1 by the combination of almost none but negative touches2 the total abstinence of the loving soul from impatience1 from envy1 from self-display1 from self-seeking1 from brooding over wrong1 from even the faintest pleasure in evil1 from the tendency to think ill of others4 ,everywhere the ,gospel bids the ,christian take sides against himself4 ,he is to stand ready to forego even his surest rights1 if only he is hurt by so doing2 while on the other hand he is watchful to respect even the least obvious rights of others1 yea1 to consider their weaknesses1 and their prejudices1 to the furthest just limit4 ,he is not to resist evil2 in the sense of never fighting for self as self4 ,he is rather to suffer himself to be defrauded 7#a ,cor4 vi4 #g7 than to bring discredit on his ,lord in however due a course of law4 ,the straits and humiliations of his earthly lot1 if such things are the will of ,god for him1 are not to be materials for his discontent1 or occasions for his envy1 or for his secular ambition4 ,they are to be his opportunities for inward triumph2 the theme of a song of the ,lord1 in which he is to sing of strength perfected in weakness1 of a power not his own overshadowing him 7#b ,cor4 xii4 #i1 #aj74 ,such is the passivity of the saints1 deep beneath their serviceable activity4 ,the two are in vital connexion4 ,the root is not the accident but the proper antecedent of the product4 ,for the secret and unostentatious surrender of the will1 in its ,christian sense1 is no mere evacuation1 leaving the house swept but empty2 it is the reception of the ,lord of life into the open castle of the ,city of ,mansoul4 ,it is the placing in ,his hands of all that the walls contain4 ,and placed in ,his hands1 the castle1 and the city1 will shew at once1 and continually more and more1 that not only order but life has taken possession4 ,the surrender of the ,moslem is1 in its theory1 a mere submission4 ,the surrender of the ,gospel is a reception also2 and thus its nature is to come out in the fruit of the ,spirit4 ,once more1 let us not forget that the ,apostle lays his main emphasis here rather on being than on doing4 ,nothing is said of great spiritual enterprises2 everything has to do with the personal conduct of the men who1 if such enterprises are done1 must do them4 ,this too is characteristic of the ,new ,testament4 ,very rarely do the ,apostles say anything about their converts' duty1 for instance1 to carry the message of ,christ around them in evangelistic aggression4 ,such aggression was assuredly attempted1 and in numberless ways1 by the primeval ,christians1 from those who were scattered abroad 7,acts viii4 #d7 after the death of ,stephen onwards4 ,the ,philippians 7ii4 #ae1 #af7 shone as lights in the world1 holding out the word of life4 ,the ,ephesians 7v4 #ac7 penetrated the surrounding darkness1 being themselves light in the ,lord4 ,the ,thessalonians 7#a1 i4 #h7 made their witness felt in ,macedonia1 and ,achaia1 and in every place4 ,the ,romans1 encouraged by ,st ,paul's presence and sufferings1 were bold to speak the word without fear 7,phil4 i4 #ad74 ,st ,john 7#c ,ep4 #g7 alludes to missionaries who1 for the ,name's sake1 went forth1 taking nothing of the ,gentiles4 ,yet is it not plain that1 when the ,apostles thought of the life and zeal of their converts1 their first care1 by far1 was that they should be wholly conformed to the will of ,god in personal and social matters8 ,this was the indispensable condition to their being1 as a community1 what they must be if they were to prove true witnesses and propagandists for their ,lord4 ,god forbid that we should draw from this phenomenon one inference1 however faint1 to thwart or discredit the missionary zeal now in our day rising like a fresh1 pure tide in the believing ,church4 ,may our ,master continually animate ,his servants in the ,church at home to seek the lost around them1 to recall the lapsed with the voice of truth and love4 ,may ,he multiply a hundredfold the scattered host of ,his witnesses in the uttermost parts of the earth1 through the dwelling-places of those eight hundred millions who are still pagan1 not to speak of the lesser yet vast multitudes of misbelievers1 ,mahometan and ,jewish4 ,but neither in missionary enterprise1 nor in any sort of activity for ,god and man1 is this deep suggestion of the ,epistles to be forgotten4 ,what the ,christian does is even more important than what he says4 ,what he is is the all-important antecedent to what he does4 ,he is nothing yet as he ought to be if1 amidst even innumerable efforts and aggressions1 he has not presented his body a living sacrifice for his ,lord's purposes1 not his own2 if he has not learnt1 in his ,lord1 an unaffected love1 a holy family affection1 a sympathy with griefs and joys around him1 a humble esteem of himself1 and the blessed art of giving way to wrath1 and of overcoming evil in the good of the presence of the ,lord4 #baa ,see the context of #a ,cor4 vi4 #ag for an apology for this paraphrase of 4 #bab ,in business gives perhaps too special a direction to the thought1 as we use the word business now4 ,not that that special direction would not have a noble truth in it1 rightly understood4 #bac ,literally boiling1 as a caldron on the fire4 #bad ,this reading1 1 as against 1 appears to be certainly right4--,our rendering is bold2 for undoubtedly serving the ,lord meets the ,greek grammar more simply4 ,but the datives are hitherto so clearly datives of relation that we think this also must be so explained4 ,we can only apologize for the crude compound bond-serving by the wish to represent the full force of 4 #bae 3 we may paraphrase the article by your hospitality1 or even ,christian hospitality4 ,but this would exaggerate the impression it represented4 #baf 3 it seems certain that this word was suggested by the just before1 widely different as the references are4 ,but how shall ,english convey this echo8 #bag 3 the word thinking does not quite rightly represent the ,greek4 is not to think1 in the sense of articulate reflection1 but to have a mental and moral disposition1 of whatever kind4 ,a popular use of the word to feel fairly represents this4 #bah ,lit41 not 'minding1' affecting1 high things4 ,we paraphrase1 to retain the word feeling for 4 #bai ,lit41 being led away with the humble 7things74 ,some paraphrase is necessary here4 #bbj ,read1 ' 4 #bba ,we are aware that not seldom in the ,n4 ,t4 represents the ,hebrew 7of 7 in its familiar instrumental meaning1 without any definite trace of local imagery4 ,but where the more literal rendering has an obvious fitness it is best to retain it4 ,thus we render here by by not in4 #bbb ,though the of the ,greek is certainly neuter1 by its balance with 4 ,,chapter ,,xxvii ,,christian ,,duty2 ,,in ,,civil ,,life ,,and ,,otherwise3 ,,love ,,romans xiii4 #a-aj ,a new topic now emerges1 distinct1 yet in close and natural connexion4 ,we have been listening to precepts for personal and social life1 all rooted in that inmost characteristic of ,christian morals1 self-surrender1 self-submission to ,god4 ,loyalty to others in the ,lord has been the theme4 ,in the circles of home1 of friendship1 of the ,church2 in the open field of intercourse with men in general1 whose personal enmity or religious persecution was so likely to cross the path--in all these regions the ,christian was to act on the principle of supernatural submission1 as the sure way to spiritual victory4 ,the same principle is now carried into his relations with the ,state4 ,as a ,christian1 he does not cease to be a citizen1 to be a subject4 ,his deliverance from the death-sentence of the ,law of ,god only binds him1 in his ,lord's name1 to a loyal fidelity to human statute2 limited only by the case where such statute may really contradict the supreme divine law4 ,the disciple of ,christ1 as such1 while his whole being has received an emancipation unknown elsewhere1 is to be the faithful subject of the ,emperor1 the orderly inhabitant of his quarter in the ,city1 the punctual taxpayer1 the ready giver of not a servile yet a genuine deference to the representatives and ministers of human authority4 ,this is he to do for reasons both general and special4 ,in general1 it is his ,christian duty rather to submit than otherwise1 where conscience toward ,god is not in the question4 ,not weakly1 but meekly1 he is to yield rather than resist in all his intercourse1 purely personal1 with men2 and therefore with the officials of order1 as men4 ,but in particular also1 he is to understand that civil order is not only a desirable thing1 but divine2 it is the will of ,god for the social ,race made in ,his ,image4 ,in the abstract1 this is absolutely so2 civil order is a ,god-given law1 as truly as the most explicit precepts of the ,decalogue1 in whose ,second ,table it is so plainly implied all along4 ,and in the concrete1 the civil order under which the ,christian finds himself to be is to be regarded as a real instance of this great principle4 ,it is quite sure to be imperfect1 because it is necessarily mediated through human minds and wills4 ,very possibly it may be gravely distorted1 into a system seriously oppressive of the individual life4 ,as a fact1 the supreme magistrate for the ,roman ,christians in the year #eh was a dissolute young man1 intoxicated by the discovery that he might do almost entirely as he pleased with the lives around him2 by no defect however in the idea and purpose of ,roman law1 but by fault of the degenerate world of the day4 ,yet civil authority1 even with a ,nero at its head1 was still in principle a thing divine4 ,and the ,christian's attitude to it was to be always that of a willingness1 a purpose1 to obey2 an absence of the resistance whose motive lies in self-assertion4 ,most assuredly his attitude was not to be that of the revolutionist1 who looks upon the ,state as a sort of belligerent power1 against which he1 alone or in company1 openly or in the dark1 is free to carry on a campaign4 ,under even heavy pressure the ,christian is still to remember that civil government is1 in its principle1 of ,god4 ,he is to reverence the ,institution in its idea4 ,he is to regard its actual officers1 whatever their personal faults1 as so far dignified by the ,institution that their governing work is to be considered always first in the light of the ,institution4 ,the most imperfect1 even the most erring1 administration of civil order is still a thing to be respected before it is criticized4 ,in its principle1 it is a terror not to good works1 but to the evil4 ,it hardly needs elaborate remark to shew that such a precept1 little as it may accord with many popular political cries of our time1 means anything in the ,christian but a political servility1 or an indifference on his part to political wrong in the actual course of government4 ,the religion which invites every man to stand face to face with ,god in ,christ1 to go straight to the ,eternal1 knowing no intermediary but ,his ,son1 and no ultimate authority but ,his ,scripture1 for the certainties of the soul1 for peace of conscience1 for dominion over evil in himself and in the world1 and for more than deliverance from the fear of death1 is no friend to the tyrants of mankind4 ,we have seen how1 by enthroning ,christ in the heart1 it inculcates a noble inward submissiveness4 ,but from another point of view it equally1 and mightily1 develops the noblest sort of individualism4 ,it lifts man to a sublime independence of his surroundings1 by joining him direct to ,god in ,christ1 by making him the ,friend of ,god4 ,no wonder then that1 in the course of history1 ,christianity1 that is to say the ,christianity of the ,apostles1 of the ,scriptures1 has been the invincible ally of personal conscience and political liberty1 the liberty which is the opposite alike of licence and of tyranny4 ,it is ,christianity which has taught men calmly to die1 in face of a persecuting ,empire1 or of whatever other giant human force1 rather than do wrong at its bidding4 ,it is ,christianity which has lifted innumerable souls to stand upright in solitary protest for truth and against falsehood1 when every form of governmental authority has been against them4 ,it was the student of ,st ,paul who1 alone before the great ,diet1 uttering no denunciation1 temperate and respectful in his whole bearing1 was yet found immovable by ,pope and ,emperor3 ,i can not otherwise2 so help me ,god4 ,we may be sure that if the world shuts the ,bible it will only the sooner revert1 under whatever type of government1 to essential despotism1 whether it be the despotism of the master1 or that of the man4 ,the individual indeed will wither4 ,the ,autocrat will find no purely independent spirits in his path4 ,and what then shall call itself1 however loudly1 ,liberty1 ,fraternity1 ,equality1 will be found at last1 where the ,bible is unknown1 to be the remorseless despot of the personality1 and of the home4 ,it is ,christianity which has peacefully and securely freed the slave1 and has restored woman to her true place by the side of man4 ,but then1 ,christianity has done all this in a way of its own4 ,it has never flattered the oppressed1 nor inflamed them4 ,it has told impartial truth to them1 and to their oppressors4 ,one of the least hopeful phenomena of present political life is the adulation 7it cannot be called by another name7 too frequently offered to the working classes by their leaders1 or by those who ask their suffrages4 ,a flattery as gross as any ever accepted by complacent monarchs is almost all that is now heard about themselves by the new master-section of the ,state4 ,this is not ,christianity1 but its parody4 ,the ,gospel tells uncompromising truth to the rich1 but also to the poor4 ,even in the presence of pagan slavery it laid the law of duty on the slave1 as well as on his master4 ,it bade the slave consider his obligations rather than his rights2 while it said the same1 precisely1 and more at length1 and more urgently1 to his lord4 ,so it at once avoided revolution and sowed the living seed of immense1 and salutary1 and ever-developing reforms4 ,the doctrine of spiritual equality1 and spiritual connexion1 secured in ,christ1 came into the world as the guarantee for the whole social and political system of the truest ultimate political liberty4 ,for it equally chastened and developed the individual1 in relation to the life around him4 ,serious questions for practical casuistry may be raised1 of course1 from this passage4 ,is resistance to a cruel despotism never permissible to the ,christian8 ,in a time of revolution1 when power wrestles with power1 which power is the ,christian to regard as ordained of ,god8 ,it may be sufficient to reply to the former question that1 almost self-evidently1 the absolute principles of a passage like this take for granted some balance and modification by concurrent principles4 ,read without any such reserve1 ,st ,paul leaves here no alternative1 under any circumstances1 to submission4 ,but he certainly did not mean to say that the ,christian must submit to an imperial order to sacrifice to the ,roman gods4 ,it seems to follow that the letter of the precept does not pronounce it inconceivable that a ,christian1 under circumstances which leave his action unselfish1 truthful1 the issue not of impatience but of conviction1 might be justified in positive resistance2 such resistance as was offered to oppression by the ,huguenots of the ,cevennes1 and by the ,alpine ,vaudois before them4 ,but history adds its witness to the warnings of ,st ,paul1 and of his ,master1 that almost inevitably it goes ill in the highest respects with saints who take the sword1 and that the purest victories for freedom are won by those who endure grief1 suffering wrongfully1 while they witness for right and ,christ before their oppressors4 ,the ,protestant pastors of ,southern ,france won a nobler victory than any won by ,jean ,cavalier in the field of battle when1 at the risk of their lives1 they met in the woods to draw up a solemn document of loyalty to ,louis ,,xv42 informing him that their injunction to their flocks always was1 and always would be1 ,fear ,god1 honour the ,king4 ,meanwhile ,godet1 in some admirable notes on this passage1 remarks that it leaves the ,christian not only not bound to aid an oppressive government by active co-operation1 but amply free to witness aloud against its wrong2 and that his submissive but firm conduct is itself a homage to the inviolability of authority4 ,experience proves that it is in this way all tyrannies have been morally broken1 and all true progress in the history of humanity effected4 ,what the servant of ,god should do with his allegiance at a revolutionary crisis is a grave question for any whom it may unhappily concern4 ,thomas ,scott1 in a useful note on our passage1 remarks that perhaps nothing involves greater difficulties1 in very many instances1 than to ascertain to whom the authority justly belongs4444 ,submission in all things lawful to 'the existing authorities' is our duty at all times and in all cases2 though in civil convulsions 444 there may frequently be a difficulty in determining which are 'the existing authorities4' ,in such cases the ,christian1 says ,godet1 will submit to the new power as soon as the resistance of the old shall have ceased4 ,in the actual state of matters he will recognize the manifestation of ,god's will1 and will take no part in any reactionary plot4 ,as regards the problem of forms or types of government1 it seems clear that the ,apostle lays no bond of conscience on the ,christian4 ,both in the ,old ,testament and in the ,new a just monarchy appears to be the ideal4 ,but our ,epistle says that there is no power but of ,god4 ,in ,st ,paul's time the ,roman ,empire was in theory1 as much as ever1 a republic1 and in fact a personal monarchy4 ,in this question1 as in so many others of the outward framework of human life1 the ,gospel is liberal in its applications1 while it is1 in the noblest sense1 conservative in principle4 ,we close our preparatory comments1 and proceed to the text1 with the general recollection that in this brief paragraph we see and touch as it were the corner-stone of civil order4 ,one side of the angle is the indefeasible duty1 for the ,christian citizen1 of reverence for law1 of remembrance of the religious aspect of even secular government4 ,the other side is the memento to the ruler1 to the authority1 that ,god throws ,his shield over the claims of the ,state only because authority was instituted not for selfish but for social ends1 so that it belies itself if it is not used for the good of man4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,let every soul1 every person1 who has presented his body a living sacrifice1 be submissive to the ruling authorities2 manifestly1 from the context1 the authorities of the ,state4 ,for there is no authority except by ,god#bbc2 but the existing authorities have been appointed by ,god4 ,that is1 the imperium of the ,king ,eternal is absolutely reserved2 an authority not sanctioned by ,him is nothing2 man is no independent source of power and law4 ,but then1 it has pleased ,god so to order human life and history1 that ,his will in this matter is expressed1 from time to time1 in and through the actual constitution of the state4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,so that the opponent of the authority withstands the ordinance of ,god1 not merely that of man2 but the withstanders will on themselves bring sentence of judgment2 not only the human crime of treason1 but the charge1 in the court of ,god1 of rebellion against ,his will4 ,this is founded on the idea of law and order1 which means by its nature the restraint of public mischief and the promotion1 or at least protection1 of public good4 ,authority1 even under its worst distortions1 still so far keeps that aim that no human civic power1 as a fact1 punishes good as good1 and rewards evil as evil2 and thus for the common run of lives the worst settled authority is infinitely better than real anarchy4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for rulers1 as a class 7 71 are not a terror to the good deed1 but to the evil2 such is always the fact in principle1 and such1 taking human life as a whole1 is the tendency1 even at the worst1 in practice1 where the authority in any degree deserves its name4 ,now do you wish not to be afraid of the authority8 do what is good1 and you shall have praise from it2 the praise1 at least1 of being unmolested and protected4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,for ,god's agent 77 he is to you1 for what is good2 through his function ,god1 in providence1 carries out ,his purposes of order4 ,but if you are doing what is evil1 be afraid2 for not for nothing 771 not without warrant1 nor without purpose1 does he wear his 77 sword1 symbol of the ultimate power of life and death2 for ,god's agent is he1 an avenger1 unto wrath1 for the practiser of the evil4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,wherefore1 because ,god is in the matter1 it is a necessity to submit1 not only because of the wrath1 the ruler's wrath in the case supposed1 but because of the conscience too2 because you know1 as a ,christian1 that ,god speaks through the state and through its minister1 and that anarchy is therefore disloyalty to ,him4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,for on this account too you pay taxes2 the same commission which gives the state the right to restrain and punish gives it the right to demand subsidy from its members1 in order to its operations2 for ,god's ministers are they1 ,his 1 a word so frequently used in sacerdotal connexions that it well may suggest them here2 as if the civil ruler were1 in his province1 an almost religious instrument of divine order2 ,god's ministers1 to this very end persevering in their task2 working on in the toils of administration1 for the execution1 consciously or not1 of the divine plan of social peace4 ,this is a noble point of view1 alike for governed and for governors1 from which to consider the prosaic problems and necessities of public finance4 ,thus understood1 the tax is paid not with a cold and compulsory assent to a mechanical exaction1 but as an act in the line of the plan of ,god4 ,and the tax is devised and demanded1 not merely as an expedient to adjust a budget1 but as a thing which ,god's law can sanction1 in the interests of ,god's social plan4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,discharge therefore to all men1 to all men in authority1 primarily1 but not only1 their dues2 the tax1 to whom you owe the tax1 on person and property2 the toll1 to whom the toll1 on merchandise2 the fear1 to whom the fear1 as to the ordained punisher of wrong2 the honour1 to whom the honour1 as to the rightful claimant in general of loyal deference4 ,such were the political principles of the new ,faith1 of the mysterious ,society1 which was so soon to perplex the ,roman statesman1 as well as to supply convenient victims to the ,roman despot4 ,a ,nero was shortly to burn ,christians in his gardens as a substitute for lamps1 on the charge that they were guilty of secret and horrible orgies4 ,later1 a ,trajan1 grave and anxious1 was to order their execution as members of a secret community dangerous to imperial order4 ,but here is a private missive sent to this people by their leader1 reminding them of their principles1 and prescribing their line of action4 ,he puts them in immediate spiritual contact1 every man and woman of them1 with the ,eternal ,sovereign1 and so he inspires them with the strongest possible independence1 as regards the fear of man4 ,he bids them know1 for a certainty1 that the ,almighty ,one regards them1 each and all1 as accepted in ,his ,beloved1 and fills them with ,his great ,presence1 and promises them a coming heaven from which no earthly power or terror can for a moment shut them out4 ,but in the same message1 and in the same ,name1 he commands them to pay their taxes to the pagan ,state1 and to do so1 not with the contemptuous indifference of the fanatic1 who thinks that human life in its temporal order is ,god-forsaken1 but in the spirit of cordial loyalty and ungrudging deference1 as to an authority representing in its sphere none other than their ,lord and ,father4 ,it has been suggested that the first serious antagonism of the state towards these mysterious ,christians was occasioned by the inevitable interference of the claims of ,christ with the stern and rigid order of the ,roman ,family4 ,a power which could assert the right1 the duty1 of a son to reject his father's religious worship was taken to be a power which meant the destruction of all social order as such2 a nihilism indeed4 ,this was a tremendous misunderstanding to encounter4 ,how was it to be met8 ,not by tumultuary resistance1 not even by passionate protests and invectives4 ,the answer was to be that of love1 practical and loyal1 to ,god and man1 in life and1 when occasion came1 in death4#bbd ,upon the line of that path lay at least the possibility of martyrdom1 with its lions and its funeral piles2 but the end of it was the peaceful vindication of the glory of ,god and of the ,name of ,jesus1 and the achievement of the best security for the liberties of man4 ,congenially then the ,apostle closes these precepts of civil order with the universal command to love4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,owe nothing to anyone2 avoid absolutely the social disloyalty of debt2 pay every creditor in full1 with watchful care2 except the loving one another4 ,love is to be a perpetual and inexhaustible debt1 not as if repudiated or neglected1 but as always due and always paying2 a debt1 not as a forgotten account is owing to the seller1 but as interest on capital is continuously owing to the lender4 ,and this1 not only because of the fair beauty of love1 but because of the legal duty of it3 ,for the lover of his fellow 7 1 the other man1 be he who he may1 with whom the man has to do7 has fulfilled the law1 the law of the ,second ,table1 the code of man's duty to man1 which is in question here4 ,he has fulfilled it2 as having at once entered1 in principle and will1 into its whole requirement2 so that all he now needs is not a better attitude but developed information4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,for the1 ,thou shalt not commit adultery1 ,thou shalt not murder1 ,thou shalt not steal1 ,thou shalt not bear false witness1#bbe ,thou shalt not covet1 and whatever other commandment there is1 all is summed up in this utterance1 ,thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself 7,lev4 xix4 #ah74 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,love works the neighbour no ill2 therefore love is the ,law's fulfilment4 ,is it a mere negative precept then8 ,is the life of love to be only an abstinence from doing harm1 which may shun thefts1 but may also shun personal sacrifices8 ,is it a cold and inoperative harmlessness1 which leaves all things as they are8 ,we see the answer in part in those words1 as thyself4 ,man loves himself1 7in the sense of nature1 not of sin17 with a love which instinctively avoids indeed what is repulsive and noxious1 but does so because it positively likes and desires the opposite4 ,the man who loves his neighbour as himself will be as considerate of his neighbour's feelings as of his own1 in respect of abstinence from injury and annoyance4 ,but he will be more2 he will be actively desirous of his neighbour's good4 ,working him no evil1 he will reckon it as much evil to be indifferent to his positive true interests as he would reckon it unnatural to be apathetic about his own4 ,working him no evil1 as one who loves him as himself1 he will care1 and seek1 to work him good4 ,love1 says ,leibnitz1 in reference to the great controversy on ,pure ,love agitated by ,fnelon and ,bossuet1 is that which finds its felicity in another's good4#bbf ,such an agent can never terminate its action in a mere cautious abstinence from wrong4 ,the true divine commentary on this brief paragraph is the nearly contemporary passage written by the same author1 #a ,cor4 xiii4 ,there1 as we saw above1 the description of the sacred thing1 love1 like that of the heavenly state in the ,revelation1 is given largely in negatives4 ,yet who fails to feel the wonderful positive of the effect8 ,that is no merely negative innocence which is greater than mysteries1 and knowledge1 and the use of an angel tongue2 greater than self-inflicted poverty1 and the endurance of the martyr's flame2 chief grace below1 and all in all above4 ,its blessed negatives are but a form of unselfish action4 ,it forgets itself1 and remembers others1 and refrains from the least needless wounding of them1 not because it wants merely to live and let live1 but because it loves them1 finding its felicity in their good4 ,it has been said that love is holiness1 spelt short4 ,thoughtfully interpreted and applied1 the saying is true4 ,the holy man in human life is the man who1 with the ,scriptures open before him as his informant and his guide1 while the ,lord ,christ dwells in his heart by faith as his ,reason and his ,power1 forgets himself in a work for others which is kept at once gentle1 wise1 and persistent to the end1 by the love which1 whatever else it does1 knows how to sympathize and to serve4 #bbc ,read not 4 #bbd ,to believe1 to suffer1 and to love1 was the primitive taste 7,milner74 #bbe ,this clause is perhaps to be omitted here4 #bbf ,see ,card4 ,bausset1 ,vie de ,fnelon1 ii4 #cge4 ,leibnitz1 in a letter to ,t4 ,burnet1 quotes the words from a work of his own2 ,amare est felicitate alterius delectari4 ,,chapter ,,xxviii ,,christian ,,duty ,,in ,,the ,,light ,,of ,,the ,,lord',s ,,return ,,and ,,in ,,the ,,power ,,of ,,his ,,presence ,,romans xiii4 #aa-ad ,the great teacher has led us long upon the path of duty1 in its patient details1 all summed up in the duty and joy of love4 ,we have heard him explaining to his disciples how to live as members together of the ,body of ,christ1 and as members also of human society at large1 and as citizens of the state4 ,we have been busy latterly with thoughts of taxes1 and tolls1 and private debts1 and the obligation of scrupulous rightfulness in all such things4 ,everything has had relation to the seen and the temporal4 ,the teaching has not strayed into a land of dreams1 nor into a desert and a cell2 it has had at least as much to do with the market1 and the shop1 and the secular official1 as if the writer had been a moralist whose horizon was altogether of this life1 and who for the future was without hope4 ,yet all the while the teacher and the taught were penetrated and vivified by a certainty of the future perfectly supernatural1 and commanding the wonder and glad response of their whole being4 ,they carried about with them the promise of their ,risen ,master that ,he would personally return again in heavenly glory1 to their infinite joy1 gathering them for ever around ,him in immortality1 bringing heaven with ,him1 and transfiguring them into ,his own celestial ,image4 ,across all possible complications and obstacles of the human world around them they beheld that blissful hope 7,tit4 ii4 #ac74 ,the smoke of ,rome could not becloud it1 nor her noise drown the music of its promise1 nor her splendour of possessions make its golden vista less beautiful and less entrancing to their souls4#bbg ,their ,lord1 once crucified1 but now alive for evermore1 was greater than the world2 greater in ,his calm triumphant authority over man and nature1 greater in the wonder and joy of ,himself1 ,his ,person and ,his ,salvation4 ,it was enough that ,he had said ,he would come again1 and that it would be to their eternal happiness4 ,he had promised2 therefore it would surely be4 ,how the promise would take place1 and when1 was a secondary question4 ,some things were revealed and certain1 as to the manner2 ,this same ,jesus1 in like manner as ye saw ,him going into heaven 7,acts i4 #aa74 ,but vastly more was unrevealed and even unconjectured4 ,as to the time1 ,his words had left them1 as they still leave us1 suspended in a reverent sense of mystery1 between intimations which seem almost equally to promise both speed and delay4 ,watch therefore1 for ye know not when the ,master of the house cometh 7,mark xiii4 #ce72 ,after a long time the ,lord of the servants cometh1 and reckoneth with them 7,matt4 xxv4 #ai74 ,the ,apostle himself follows his ,redeemer's example in the matter4 ,here and there he seems to indicate an ,advent at the doors1 as when he speaks of us who are alive and remain 7#a ,thess4 iv4 #ae74 ,but again1 in this very ,epistle1 in his discourse on the future of ,israel1 he appears to contemplate great developments of time and event yet to come2 and very definitely1 for his own part1 in many places1 he records his expectation of death1 not of a death-less transfiguration at the ,coming4 ,many at least among his converts looked with an eagerness which was sometimes restless and unwholesome1 as at ,thessalonica1 for the coming ,king2 and it may have been thus with some of the ,roman saints4 ,but ,st ,paul at once warned the ,thessalonians of their mistake2 and certainly this ,epistle suggests no such upheaval of expectation at ,rome4 ,our work in these pages is not to discuss the times and the seasons which now1 as much as then1 lie in the ,father's power 7,acts i4 #g74 ,it is rather to call attention to the fact that in all ages of the ,church this mysterious but definite ,promise has1 with a silent force1 made itself as it were present and contemporary to the believing and watching soul4 ,how at last it shall be seen that ,i come quickly and1 ,the day of ,christ is not at hand 7,rev4 xxii4 #ab1 #bj1 #b ,thess4 ii4 #b71 were both divinely and harmoniously truthful1 it does not yet fully appear4 ,but it is certain that both are so2 and that in every generation of the now long time the ,hope1 as if it were at the doors indeed1 has been calculated for mighty effects on the ,christian's will and work4 ,so we come to this great ,advent oracle1 to read it for our own age4 ,now first let us remember its wonderful illustration of that phenomenon which we have remarked already1 the concurrence in ,christianity of a faith full of eternity1 with a life full of common duty4 ,here is a community of men called to live under an almost opened heaven2 almost to see1 as they look around them1 the descending ,lord of glory coming to bring in the eternal day1 making ,himself present in this visible scene with the voice of the archangel and the trump of ,god1 waking ,his buried saints from the dust1 calling the living and the risen to meet ,him in the air4 ,how can they adjust such an expectation to the demands of the daily round8 ,will they not fly from the ,city to the solitude1 to the hill-tops and forests of the ,apennines1 to wait with awful joy the great lightning-flash of glory8 ,not so4 ,they somehow1 while looking for the ,saviour from the heavens 7,phil4 iii4 #bj71 attend to their service and their business1 pay their debts and their taxes1 offer sympathy to their neighbours in their human sadnesses and joys1 and yield honest loyalty to the magistrate and the ,prince4 ,they are the most stable of all elements in the civic life of the hour1 if the powers that be would but understand them2 while yet1 all the while1 they are the only people in the ,city whose home1 consciously1 is the eternal heavens4 ,what can explain the paradox8 ,nothing but the ,fact1 the ,person1 the ,character of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,it is not an enthusiasm1 however powerful1 which governs them1 but a ,person4 ,and ,,he is at once the ,lord of immortality and the ,ruler of every detail of ,his servant's life4 ,,he is no author of fanaticism1 but the divine-human ,king of truth and order4 ,to know ,him is to find the secret alike of a life eternal and of a patient faithfulness in the life that now is4 ,what was true of ,him is true for evermore4 ,his servant now1 in this restless close of the nineteenth age1 is to find in ,him this wonderful double secret still4 ,he is to be1 in ,christ1 by the very nature of his faith1 the most practical and the most willing of the servants of his fellow-men1 in their mortal as well as immortal interests2 while also disengaged internally from a bondage to the seen and temporal by his mysterious union with the ,son of ,god1 and by his firm expectation of ,his ,return4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,and this1 this law of love and duty1 let us remember1 let us follow1 knowing the season1 the occasion1 the growing crisis 772 that it is already the hour for our awaking out of sleep1 the sleep of moral inattention1 as if the eternal ,master were not near4 ,for nearer now is our salvation1 in that last glorious sense of the word salvation which means the immortal issue of the whole saving process1 nearer now than when we believed1 and so by faith entered on our union with the ,saviour4 7,see how he delights to associate himself with his disciples in the blessed unity of remembered conversion2 when we believed47 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,the night1 with its murky silence1 its poring dark1 the night of trial1 of temptation1 of the absence of our ,christ1 is far spent1#bbh but the day has drawn near2 it has been a long night1 but that means a near dawn2 the everlasting sunrise of the longed-for ,parousia1 with its glory1 gladness1 and unveiling4 ,let us put off therefore1 as if they were a foul and entangling night-robe1 the works of the darkness1 the habits and acts of the moral night1 things which we can throw off in the ,name of ,christ2 but let us put on the weapons of the light1 arming ourselves1 for defence1 and for holy aggression on the realm of evil1 with faith1 love1 and the heavenly hope4 ,so to the ,thessalonians five years before 7#a1 v4 #h71 and to the ,ephesians four years later 7vi4 #aa-ag71 he wrote of the holy ,panoply1 rapidly sketching it in the one place1 giving the rich finished picture in the other2 suggesting to the saints always the thought of a warfare first and mainly defensive1 and then aggressive with the drawn sword1 and indicating as their true armour not their reason1 their emotions1 or their will1 taken in themselves1 but the eternal facts of their revealed salvation in ,christ1 grasped and used by faith4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,as by day1 for it is already dawn1 in the ,lord1 let us walk#bbi decorously1 becomingly1 as we are the hallowed soldiers of our ,leader2 let our life not only be right in fact2 let it shew to all men the open decorum of truth1 purity1 peace1 and love2 not in revels and drunken bouts2 not in chamberings1 the sins of the secret couch1 and profligacies1 not--to name evils which cling often to the otherwise reputable ,christian--in strife and envy1 things which are pollutions1 in the sight of the ,holy ,one1 as real as lust itself4 ,no2 put on1 clothe and arm yourselves with1 the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 ,himself the living sum and true meaning of all that can arm the soul2 and for the flesh take no forethought lust-ward4 ,as if1 in euphemism1 he would say1 ,take all possible forethought against the life of self 771 with its lustful1 self-wilful gravitation away from ,god4 ,and let that forethought be1 to arm yourselves1 as if never armed before1 with ,christ4 ,how solemnly explicit he is1 how plain-spoken1 about the temptations of the ,roman ,christian's life6 ,the men who were capable of the appeals and revelations of the first eight chapters yet needed to be told not to drink to intoxication1 not to go near the house of ill-fame1 not to quarrel1 not to grudge4 ,but every modern missionary in heathendom will tell us that the like stern plainness is needed now among the new-converted faithful4 ,and is it not needed among those who have professed the ,pauline faith much longer1 in the congregations of our older ,christendom8 ,it remains for our time1 as truly as ever1 a fact of religious life--this necessity to press it home upon the religious1 as the religious1 that they are called to a practical and detailed holiness2 and that they are never to ignore the possibility of even the worst falls4 ,so mysteriously can the subtle flesh1 in the believing receiver of the ,gospel1 becloud or distort the holy import of the thing received4 ,so fatally easy is it to corrupt the best into the worst1 using the very depth and richness of spiritual truth as if it could be a substitute for patient practice1 instead of its mighty stimulus4 ,but glorious is the method illustrated here for triumphant resistance to that tendency4 ,what is it8 ,it is not to retreat from spiritual principle upon a cold naturalistic programme of activity and probity4 ,it is to penetrate through the spiritual principle to the ,crucified and ,living ,lord who is its heart and power2 it is to bury self in ,him1 and to arm the will with ,him4 ,it is to look for ,him as ,coming1 but also1 and yet more urgently1 to use ,him as ,present4 ,in the great ,roman ,epic1 on the verge of the decisive conflict1 the goddess-mother laid the invulnerable panoply at the feet of her neas2 and the astonished ,champion straightway1 first pondering every part of the heaven-sent armament1 then put it on1 and was prepared4 ,as it were at our feet is laid ,,the ,,lord ,,jesus ,,christ1 in all ,he is1 in all ,he has done1 in ,his indissoluble union with us in it all1 as we are one with ,him by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,it is for us to see in ,him our power and victory1 and to put ,him on1 in a personal act which1 while all by grace1 is yet in itself our own4 ,and how is this done8 ,it is by the committal of the keeping of our souls unto ,him 7#a ,pet4 iv4 #ai71 not vaguely1 but definitely and with purpose1 in view of each and every temptation4 ,it is by living our life in the flesh by faith in the ,son of ,god 7,gal4 ii4 #bj72 that is to say1 in effect1 by perpetually making use of the ,crucified and ,living ,saviour1 ,one with us by the ,holy ,spirit2 by using ,him as our living ,deliverer1 our ,peace and ,power1 amidst all that the dark hosts of evil can do against us4 ,oh wonderful and all-adequate secret2 ,christ1 which is the ,secret of ,god 7,col4 ii4 #b76 ,oh divine simplicity of its depth2 ,heaven's easy1 artless1 unencumber'd plan6 ,not that its ease means our indolence4 ,no2 if we would indeed arm ourselves with the ,lord ,jesus ,christ we must awake and be astir to know whom we have trusted 7#b ,tim4 i4 #ab74 ,we must explore ,his ,word about ,himself4 ,we must ponder it1 above all in the prayer which converses with ,him over ,his promises1 till they live to us in ,his light4 ,we must watch and pray1 that we may be alert to employ our armament4 ,the ,christian who steps out into life light-heartedly1 thinking superficially of his weakness1 and of his foes1 is only too likely also to think of his ,lord superficially1 and to find of even this heavenly armour that he cannot go with it1 for he hath not proved it 7#a ,sam4 xvii4 #ci74 ,but all this leaves absolutely untouched the divine simplicity of the matter4 ,it leaves it wonderfully true that the decisive1 the satisfying1 the thorough1 moral victory and deliverance comes to the ,christian man not by trampling about with his own resolves1 but by committing himself to his ,saviour and ,keeper1 who has conquered him1 that now ,he may conquer his strong ,enemy for him4 ,heaven's unencumbered plan of victory and triumph1 against the devil1 the world1 and the flesh1 is no day-dream of romance4 ,it lives1 it works in the most open hour of the common world of sin and sorrow4 ,we have seen this putting on of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ victoriously successful where the most fierce1 or the most subtle1 forms of temptation were to be dealt with4 ,we have seen it preserving1 with beautiful persistency1 a life-long sufferer from the terrible solicitations of pain1 and of still less endurable helplessness--every limb fixed literally immovable by paralysis on the ill-furnished bed2 we have seen the man cheerful1 restful1 always ready for wise word and sympathetic thought1 and affirming that his ,lord1 present to his soul1 was infinitely enough to keep him4 ,we have seen the overwhelmed toiler for ,god1 while every step through the day was clogged by thronging duties1 such duties as most wear and drain the spirit1 yet maintained in an equable cheerfulness and as it were inward leisure by this same always adequate secret1 the ,lord ,jesus ,christ put on4 ,we have known the missionary who had1 in sober earnest1 hazarded his life for the blessed ,name1 yet ready to bear quiet witness to the repose and readiness to be found in meeting disappointment1 solitude1 danger1 not so much by a stern resistance as by the use1 then and there1 confidingly1 and in surrender1 of the ,crucified and ,living ,lord4 ,shall we dare to add1 with the humiliated avowal that only a too partial proof has been made of this glorious open ,secret1 that we know by experiment that the weakest of the servants of our ,king1 putting on ,,him1 find victory and deliverance1 where there was defeat before8 ,let us1 writer and reader1 address ourselves afresh in practice to this wonderful secret4 ,let us1 as if we had never done it before1 put on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4#bcj ,vain is our interpretation of the holy ,word1 which not only abideth1 but liveth for ever 7#a ,pet4 i4 #bc71 if it does not somehow come home4 ,for that ,word was written on purpose to come home2 to touch and move the conscience and the will1 in the realities of our inmost1 and also of our most outward1 life4 ,never for one moment do we stand as merely interested students and spectators1 outside the field of temptation4 ,never for one moment therefore can we dispense with the great ,secret of victory and safety4 ,full in face of the realities of sin--of ,roman sin1 in ,nero's days2 but let us just now forget ,rome and ,nero2 they were only dark accidents of a darker essence--,st ,paul here writes down1 across them all1 these words1 this spell1 this ,name2 ,put ye on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,take first a steady look1 he seems to say1 at your sore need1 in the light of ,god2 but then1 at once1 look off1 look here4 ,here is the more than ,antithesis to it all4 ,here is that by which you can be more than conqueror4 ,take your iniquities at the worst2 this can subdue them4 ,take your surroundings at the worst2 this can emancipate you from their power4 ,it is the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and the putting on of ,him4 ,let us remember1 as if it were a new thing1 that ,he1 the ,christ of ,prophets1 ,evangelists1 and ,apostles1 is a ,fact4 ,sure as the existence now of ,his universal ,church1 as the observance of the historic ,sacrament of ,his ,death1 as the impossibility of ,galilean or ,pharisaic imagination having composed1 instead of photographed1 the portrait of the ,incarnate ,son1 the ,immaculate ,lamb2 sure as is the glad verification in ten thousand blessed lives to-day of all1 of all1 that the ,christ of ,scripture undertakes to be to the soul that will take ,him at ,his own terms--so sure1 across all oldest and all newest doubts1 across all gnosis and all agnosia1 lies the present ,fact of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,then let us remember that it is a fact that man1 in the mercy of ,god1 can put ,him on4 ,he is not far off4 ,he presents ,himself to our touch1 our possession4 ,he says to us1 ,come to ,me4 ,he unveils ,himself as literal partaker of our nature2 as our ,sacrifice2 our ,righteousness1 through faith in ,his blood2 as the ,head and ,life-spring1 in an indescribable union1 of a deep calm tide of life spiritual and eternal1 ready to circulate through our being4 ,he invites ,himself to make ,his abode with us 7,john xiv4 #bc72 yea more1 ,i will come in to him2 ,i will dwell in his heart by faith 7,rev4 iii4 #bj2 ,eph4 iii4 #ag74 ,in that ungovernable heart of ours1 that interminably self-deceptive heart 7,jerem4 xvii4 #i71 ,he engages to reside1 to be permanent ,occupant1 the ,master always at home4 ,he is prepared thus to take1 with regard to our will1 a place of power nearer than all circumstances1 and deep in the midst of all possible inward traitors2 to keep ,his eye on their plots1 ,his foot1 not ours1 upon their necks4 ,yes1 ,he invites us thus to embrace ,him into a full contact2 to put ,him on4 ,may we not say of ,him what the great ,poet says of ,duty1 and glorify the verse by a yet nobler application8-- ,thou who art victory and law ,when empty terrors overawe1 ,from vain temptations dost set free1 ,and calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity6 ,yes1 we can put ,him on as our ,panoply of ,light4 ,we can put ,him on as ,,the ,,lord1 surrendering ourselves to ,his absolute while most benignant sovereignty and will1 deep secret of repose4 ,we can put ,him on as ,,jesus1 clasping the truth that ,he1 our ,human ,brother1 yet ,divine1 saves ,his people from their sins 7,matt4 i4 #ba74 ,we can put ,him on as ,,christ1 our ,head1 anointed without measure by the ,eternal ,spirit1 and now sending of that same ,spirit into ,his happy members1 so that we are indeed one with ,him1 and receive into our whole being the resources of ,his life4 ,such is the armour and the arms4 ,st ,jerome1 commenting on a kindred passage 7,eph4 vi4 #ac71 says that it most clearly results that by 'the weapons of ,god' the ,lord our ,saviour is to be understood4 ,we may recollect that this text is memorable in connexion with the ,conversion of ,st ,augustine4 ,in his ,confessions 7viii4 #ab7 he records how1 in the garden at ,milan1 at a time of great moral conflict1 he was strangely attracted by a voice1 perhaps the cry of children playing3 ,take and read1 take and read4 ,he fetched and opened again a copy of the ,epistles 7codicem ,apostoli71 which he had lately laid down4 ,i read in silence the first place on which my eyes fell2 ',not in revelling and drunkenness1 not in chambering and wantonness1 not in strife and envying2 but put ye on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts4' ,i neither cared1 nor needed1 to read further4 ,at the close of the sentence1 as if a ray of certainty were poured into my heart1 the clouds of hesitation fled at once4 ,his will was in the will of ,god4 ,alas1 there falls one shadow over that fair scene4 ,in the belief of ,augustine's time1 to decide fully for ,christ meant1 or very nearly meant1 so to accept the ascetic idea as to renounce the ,christian home4 ,but the ,lord read ,his servant's heart aright through the error1 and filled it with ,his peace4 ,to us1 in a surrounding religious light far clearer1 in many things1 than that which shone even upon ,ambrose and ,augustine2 to us who quite recognize that in the paths of homeliest duty and commonest temptation lies the line along which the blessed power of the ,saviour may best overshadow ,his disciple2 the ,spirit's voice shall say of this same text1 ,take and read1 take and read4 ,we will put on1 never to put off4 ,then we shall step out upon the old path in a strength new1 and to be renewed for ever1 armed against evil1 armed for the will of ,god1 with ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 #bbg ,omitte mirari beat ,fumum et opes strepitumque ,rom4 7,horace47 #bbh 3 literally1 made progress4 ,the aorist may refer to the event of the ,first ,advent1 when our eternal ,sun was heralded by ,himself the ,morning ,star4 ,but perhaps it is best represented by the ,english perfect1 as in the ,a4,v4 and above4 #bbi 3 perhaps the aorist suggests a new outset in the walk4 #bcj ,from this point to the close of the chapter the writer has used1 with modifications1 passages from a ,sermon 7,no4 iii47 in his volume entitled ,christ is ,all4 ,,chapter ,,xxix ,,christian ,,duty3 ,,mutual ,,tenderness ,,and ,,tolerance3 ,,the ,,sacredness ,,of ,,example ,,romans xiv4 #a-bc ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,but him who is weak--we might almost render1 him who suffers from weakness 7 71 in his 77 faith 7in the sense here not of creed1 a meaning of rare in ,st ,paul1 but of reliance on his ,lord2 reliance not only for justification but1 in this case1 for holy liberty71 welcome into fellowship--not for criticisms of his scruples1 of his 1 the anxious internal debates of conscience4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,one man believes1 has faith1 issuing in a conviction of liberty1 in such a mode and degree as to eat all kinds of food2 but the man in weakness eats vegetables only2 an extreme case1 but doubtless not uncommon1 where a convert1 tired out by his own scruples between food and food1 cut the knot by rejecting flesh-meat altogether4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,the eater--let him not despise the non-eater#bca2 while the non-eater--let him not judge the eater2 for our 77 ,god welcomed him to fellowship1 when he came to the feet of ,his ,son for acceptance4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,you--who are you1 thus judging ,another's domestic 778 ,to his own ,lord1 his own ,master1 he stands1 in approval1--or1 if that must be1 falls1 under displeasure2 but he shall be upheld in approval2 for able is that 77 ,lord#bcb to set him so1 to bid him stand1 under ,his sanctioning smile4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,one man distinguishes 77 day above day2 while another distinguishes every day2 a phrase paradoxical but intelligible2 it describes the thought of the man who1 less anxious than his neighbour about stated holy-days1 still aims not to level down but to level up his use of time2 to count every day holy1 equally dedicated to the will and work of ,god4 ,let each be quite assured in his own mind2 using the thinking-power 77 given him by his ,master1 let him reverently work the question out1 and then live up to his ascertained convictions1 while 7this is intimated by the emphatic his own mind7 he respects the convictions of his neighbour4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,the man who 'minds' 7 7 the day1 the holy-day in question1 in any given instance1 to the ,lord he 'minds' it2 and the man who 'minds' not the day1 to the ,lord he does not 'mind' it#bcc2 both parties1 as ,christians1 in their convictions and their practice1 stand related and responsible1 directly and primarily1 to the ,lord2 that fact must always govern and qualify their mutual judgments4 ,and#bcd the eater1 the man who takes food indifferently without scruple1 to the ,lord he eats1 for he gives thanks at his meal to ,god2 and the non-eater1 to the ,lord he does not eat the scrupled food1 and gives thanks to ,god for that of which his conscience allows him to partake4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the connexion of the paragraph just traversed with what went before it is suggestive and instructive4 ,there is a close connexion between the two2 it is marked expressly by the but 77 of ver4 #a1 a link strangely missed in the ,authorized ,version4 ,the but indicates a difference of thought1 however slight1 between the two passages4 ,and the difference1 as we read it1 is this4 ,the close of the thirteenth chapter has gone all in the direction of ,christian wakefulness1 decision1 and the battle-field of conquering faith4 ,the ,roman convert1 roused by its trumpet-strain1 will be eager to be up and doing1 against the enemy and for his ,lord1 armed from head to foot with ,christ4 ,he will bend his whole purpose upon a life of open and active holiness4 ,he will be filled with a new sense at once of the seriousness and of the liberty of the ,gospel4 ,but then--some weak brother will cross his path4 ,it will be some recent convert1 perhaps from ,judaism itself1 perhaps an ex-pagan1 but influenced by the ,jewish ideas so prevalent at the time in many ,roman circles4 ,this ,christian1 not untrustful1 at least in theory1 of the ,lord alone for pardon and acceptance1 is however quite full of scruples which1 to the man fully armed with ,christ1 may seem1 and do seem1 lamentably morbid1 really serious mistakes and hindrances4 ,the weak brother spends much time in studying the traditional rules of fast and feast1 and the code of permitted food4 ,he is sure that the ,god who has accepted him will hide ,his face from him if he lets the new moon pass like a common day2 or if the ,sabbath is not kept by the rule1 not of ,scripture1 but of the ,rabbis4 ,every social meal gives him painful and frequent occasion for troubling himself1 and others2 he takes refuge perhaps in an anxious vegetarianism1 in despair of otherwise keeping undefiled4 ,and inevitably such scruples do not terminate in themselves4 ,they infect the man's whole tone of thinking and action4 ,he questions and discusses everything1 with himself1 if not with others4 ,he is on the way to let his view of acceptance in ,christ grow fainter and more confused4 ,he walks1 he lives2 but he moves like a man chained1 and in a prison4 ,such a case as this would be a sore temptation to the strong ,christian4 ,he would be greatly inclined1 of himself1 first to make a vigorous protest1 and then1 if the difficulty proved obstinate1 to think hard thoughts of his narrow-minded friend2 to doubt his right to the ,christian name at all2 to reproach him1 or 7worst of all7 to satirize him4 ,meanwhile the weak ,christian would have his harsh thoughts too4 ,he would not1 by any means for certain1 shew as much meekness as weakness4 ,he would let his neighbour see1 in one way or other1 that he thought him little better than a worldling1 who made ,christ an excuse for personal self-indulgence4 ,how does the ,apostle meet the trying case1 which must have crossed his own path so often1 and sometimes in the form of a bitter opposition from those who were suffering from weakness in their faith8 ,it is quite plain that his own convictions lay with the strong1 so far as principle was concerned4 ,he knew that nothing was unclean 7ver4 #ad74 ,he knew that the ,lord was not grieved1 but pleased1 by the temperate and thankful use1 untroubled by morbid fears1 of ,his natural bounties4 ,he knew that the ,jewish festival-system had found its goal and end in the perpetual let us keep the feast 7#a ,cor4 v4 #c7 of the true believer's happy and hallowed life4#bce ,and accordingly he does1 in passing1 rebuke the weak for their harsh criticisms 77 of the strong4 ,but then1 he throws all the more weight1 the main weight1 on his rebukes and warnings to the strong4 ,their principle might be right on this great detail4 ,but this left untouched the yet more stringent overruling principle1 to walk in love2 to take part against themselves2 to live in this matter1 as in everything else1 for others4 ,they were not to be at all ashamed of their special principles4 ,but they were to be deeply ashamed of one hour's unloving conduct4 ,they were to be quietly convinced1 in respect of private judgment4 ,they were to be more than tolerant--they were to be loving--in respect of common life in the ,lord4 ,their strength in ,christ was never to be ungentle2 never to be used like a giant4 ,it was to be shewn1 first and most1 by patience4 ,it was to take the form of the calm1 strong readiness to understand another's point of view4 ,it was to appear as reverence for another's conscience1 even when the conscience went astray for want of better light4 ,let us take this apostolic principle out into modern religious life4 ,there are times when we shall be specially bound to put it carefully in relation to other principles1 of course4 ,when ,st ,paul1 some months earlier1 wrote to ,galatia1 and had to deal with an error which darkened the whole truth of the sinner's way to ,god as it lies straight through ,christ1 he did not say1 ,let every man be quite assured in his own mind4 ,he said 7i4 #h71 ,if an angel from heaven preach any other ,gospel1 which is not another1 let him be anathema4 ,the question there was1 ,is ,christ all1 or is ,he not8 ,is faith all1 or is it not1 for our laying hold of ,him8 ,even in ,galatia1 he warned the converts of the miserable and fatal mistake of biting and devouring one another 7v4 #ae74 ,but he adjured them not to wreck their peace with ,god upon a fundamental error4 ,here1 at ,rome1 the question was different2 it was secondary4 ,it concerned certain details of ,christian practice4 ,was an outworn and exaggerated ceremonialism a part of the will of ,god1 in the justified believer's life8 ,it was not so1 as a fact4 ,yet it was a matter on which the ,lord1 by ,his ,apostle1 rather counselled than commanded4 ,it was not of the foundation4 ,and the always overruling law for the discussion was--the tolerance born of love4 ,let us in our day remember this1 whether our inmost sympathies are with the strong or with the weak4 ,in ,jesus ,christ1 it is possible to realize the ideal of this paragraph even in our divided ,christendom4 ,it is possible to be convinced1 yet sympathetic4 ,it is possible to see the ,lord for ourselves with glorious clearness1 yet to understand the practical difficulties felt by others1 and to love1 and to respect1 where there are even great divergences4 ,no man works more for a final spiritual consensus than he who1 in ,christ1 so lives4 ,incidentally meantime1 the ,apostle1 in this passage which so curbs the strong1 lets fall maxims which for ever protect all that is good and true in that well-worn and often misused phrase1 the right of private judgment4 ,no spiritual despot1 no claimant to be the autocratic director of a conscience1 could have written those words1 ,let every man be quite certain in his own mind2 ,who art thou that judgest ,another's domestic8 ,such sentences assert not the right so much as the duty1 for the individual ,christian1 of a reverent thinking for himself4 ,they maintain a true and noble individualism4 ,and there is a special need just now in the ,church to remember1 in its place1 the value of ,christian individualism4 ,the idea of the community1 the society1 is just now so vastly prevalent 7doubtless not without the providence of ,god7 in human life1 and also in the ,church1 that an assertion of the individual1 which was once disproportionate1 is now often necessary1 lest the social idea in its turn should be exaggerated into a dangerous mistake4 ,coherence1 mutuality1 the truth of the ,body and the ,members2 all this1 in its place1 is not only important but divine4 ,the individual must inevitably lose where individualism is his whole idea4 ,but it is ill for the community1 above all for the ,church1 where in the total the individual tends really to be merged and lost4 ,alas for the ,church where the ,church tries to take the individual's place in the knowledge of ,god1 in the love of ,christ1 in the power of the ,spirit4 ,the religious ,community must indeed inevitably lose where religious communism is its whole idea4 ,it can be perfectly strong only where individual consciences are tender1 and enlightened2 where individual souls personally know ,god in ,christ2 where individual wills are ready1 if the ,lord call1 to stand alone for known truth even against the religious ,society2--if there also the individualism is not self-will1 but ,christian personal responsibility2 if the man thinks for himself on his knees2 if he reverences the individualism of others1 and the relations of each to all4 ,the individualism of ,rom4 xiv41 asserted in an argument full of the deepest secrets of cohesion1 is the holy and healthful thing it is because it is ,christian4 ,it is developed not by the assertion of self1 but by individual communion with ,christ4 ,now he goes on to further and still fuller statements in the same direction3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,for none of us to himself lives1 and none of us to himself dies4 ,how1 and wherefore8 ,is it merely that we live lives always1 necessarily1 related to one another8 ,he has this in his heart indeed4 ,but he reaches it through the greater1 deeper1 antecedent truth of our relation to the ,lord4 ,the ,christian is related to his brother-,christian through ,christ1 not to ,christ through his brother1 or through the common ,organism in which the brethren are each other's limbs4 ,to the ,lord1 with absolute directness1 with a perfect and wonderful immediateness1 each individual ,christian is first related4 ,his life and his death are to others1 but through ,him4 ,,the ,,master',s claim is eternally first2 for it is based direct upon the redeeming work in which ,he bought us for ,himself4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,for whether we live1 to the ,lord we live2 and whether we be dead 771 to the ,lord we are dead2 in the state of the departed1 as before1 relation stands4 ,alike therefore whether 7 7 we be dead1 or whether we live1 the ,lord's we are2 ,his property1 bound first and in everything to ,his possession4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,for to this end ,christ both died and lived again1#bcf that ,he might become ,lord 71 not 7 of us both dead and living4 ,here is the profound truth seen already in earlier passages in the ,epistle4 ,we have had it reasoned out1 above all in the sixth chapter1 in its revelation of the way of ,holiness1 that our only possible right relations with the ,lord are clasped and governed by the fact that to ,him we rightly and everlastingly belong4 ,there1 however1 the thought was more of our surrender under ,his rights4 ,here it is of the mighty antecedent fact1 under which our most absolute surrender is nothing more than the recognition of ,his indefeasible claim4 ,what the ,apostle says here1 in this wonderful passage of mingled doctrine and duty1 is that1 whether or no we are owning our vassalage to ,christ1 we are nothing if not de jure ,his vassals4 ,he has not only rescued us1 but so rescued us as to buy us for ,his own4 ,we may be true to the fact in our internal attitude2 we may be oblivious of it2 but we cannot get away from it4 ,it looks us every hour in the face1 whether we respond or not4 ,it will still look us in the face through the endless life to come4 ,for manifestly it is this objective aspect of our belonging which is here in point4 ,st ,paul is not reasoning with the weak and the strong from their experience1 from their conscious loyalty to the ,lord4 ,rather1 he is calling them to a new realization of what such loyalty should be4 ,it is in order to this that he reminds them of the eternal claim of the ,lord1 made good in ,his ,death and ,resurrection2 ,his claim to be so their ,master1 individually and altogether1 that every thought about one other was to be governed by that claim of ,his on them all4 ,the ,lord must always interpose1 with a right inalienable4 ,each ,christian is annexed1 by all the laws of ,heaven1 to ,him4 ,so each must--not make but realize that annexation1 in every thought about neighbour and about brother4 ,the passage invites us meantime to further remark1 in another direction4 ,it is one of those utterances which1 luminous with light given by their context1 shine also with a light of their own1 giving us revelations independent of the surrounding matter4 ,here one such revelation appears2 it affects our knowledge of the ,intermediate ,state4 ,the ,apostle1#bcg four times over in this short paragraph1 makes mention of death1 and of the dead4 ,no one of us dieth to himself2 ,whether we die1 we die unto the ,lord2 ,whether we die1 we are the ,lord's2 ,that ,he might be ,lord of the dead4 ,and this last sentence1 with its mention not of the dying but of the dead1 reminds us that the reference in them all is to the ,christian's relation to his ,lord1 not only in the hour of death1 but in the state after death4 ,it is not only that ,jesus ,christ1 as the slain ,one risen1 is absolute ,disposer of the time and manner of our dying4 ,it is not only that when our death comes we are to accept it as an opportunity for the glorifying of ,god 7,john xxi4 #ai2 ,phil4 i4 #bj7 in the sight and in the memory of those who know of it4 ,it is that when we have passed through death1 and come out upon the other side1 ,when we enter yonder regions1 ,when we touch the sacred shore1 our relation to the slain ,one risen1 to ,him who1 as such1 hath the keys of ,hades and of death 7,rev4 i4 #ah71 is perfectly continuous and the same4 ,he is our absolute ,master1 there as well as here4 ,and we1 by consequence and correlation1 are vassals1 servants1 bondservants to ,him1 there as well as here4 ,here is a truth which1 we cannot but think1 richly repays the ,christian's repeated remembrance and reflection2 and that not only in the way of asserting the eternal rights of our blessed ,redeemer over us1 but in the way of shedding light1 and peace1 and the sense of reality and expectation1 on both the prospect of our own passage into eternity and the thoughts we entertain of the present life of our holy beloved ones who have entered into it before us4 ,everything is precious which really assists the soul in such thoughts1 and at the same time keeps it fully and practically alive to the realities of faith1 patience1 and obedience here below1 here in the present hour4 ,while the indulgence of unauthorized imagination in that direction is almost always enervating and disturbing to the present action of ,scriptural faith1 the least help to a solid realization and anticipation1 supplied by the ,word that cannot lie1 is in its nature both hallowing and strengthening4 ,such a help we have assuredly here4 ,he who died and rose again is at this hour1 in holy might and right1 the ,lord of the blessed dead4 ,then1 the blessed dead are vassals and servants of ,him who died and rose again4 ,and all our thought of them1 as they are now1 at this hour1 in those heavenly habitations1 where the souls of them that sleep in the ,lord ,jesus enjoy perpetual rest and felicity1#bch gains indefinitely in life1 in reality1 in strength and glory1 as we see them1 through this narrow but bright door in heaven 7,rev4 v4 #a71 not resting only but serving also before their ,lord1 who has bought them for ,his use1 and who holds them in ,his use quite as truly now as when we had the joy of their presence with us1 and ,he was seen by us living and working in them and through them here4 ,true it is that the leading and essential character of their present state is rest1 as that of their resurrection state will be action4 ,but the two states overflow into each other4 ,in one glorious passage the ,apostle describes the resurrection bliss as also rest 7#b ,thess4 i4 #g74 ,and here we have it indicated that the heavenly intermediate rest is also service4 ,what the precise nature of that service is we cannot tell4 ,our knowledge of that life is small4 ,most certainly1 in vain our fancy strives to paint its blessedness1 both of repose and of occupation4 ,this is part of our normal and ,god-chosen lot here1 which is to walk by faith1 not by sight 7#b ,cor4 v4 #g71 1 not by ,object seen1 not by objects seen4 ,but blessed is the spiritual assistance in such a walk as we recollect1 step by step1 as we draw nearer to that happy assembly above1 that1 whatever be the manner and exercise of their holy life1 it is life indeed2 power1 not weakness2 service1 not inaction4 ,he who died and revived is ,lord1 not of us only1 but of them4 ,but from this excursion into the sacred ,unseen we must return4 ,st ,paul is intent now upon the believer's walk of loving large-heartedness in this life1 not the next4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,but you--why do you judge your brother8 7he takes up the verb1 1 used in his former appeal to the weak1 ver4 #c74 ,or you too 7he turns to the strong2 see again ver4 #c7--why do you despise your brother8 ,for we shall stand1 all of us1 on one level1 whatever were our mutual sentiments on earth1 whatever claim we made here to sit as judges on our brethren1 before the tribunal 77 of our 77 ,god4#bci ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,for it stands written 7,isai4 xlv4 #bc71 ,as ,i live1 saith the ,lord1 sure it is as ,my eternal ,being1 that to ,me1 not to another1 shall bend every knee2 and every tongue shall confess1 shall ascribe all sovereignty1 to ,god1 not to the creature4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,so then each of us1 about himself1 not about the faults or errors of his brother1 shall give account to ,god4 ,we have here1 as in #b ,cor4 v4 #aj1 and again1 under other imagery1 in #a ,cor4 iii4 #aa-ae1 a glimpse of that heart-searching prospect for the ,christian1 his summons hereafter1 as a ,christian1 to the tribunal of his ,lord4 ,in all the three passages1 and now particularly in this1 the language1 though it lends itself freely to the universal ,assize1 is limited by context1 as to its direct purport1 to the ,master's scrutiny of ,his own servants as such4 ,the question to be tried and decided 7speaking after the manner of men7 at ,his tribunal1 in this reference1 is not that of glory or perdition2 the persons of the examined are accepted2 the enquiry is in the domestic court of the ,palace1 so to speak2 it regards the award of the ,king as to the issues and value of ,his accepted servants' labour and conduct1 as ,his representatives1 in their mortal life4 ,the ,lord of the servants cometh1 and reckoneth with them 7,matt4 xxv4 #ai74 ,they have been justified by faith4 ,they have been united to their glorious ,head4 ,they shall be saved 7#a ,cor4 iii4 #ae71 whatever be the fate of their work4 ,but what will their ,lord say of their work8 ,what have they done for ,him1 in labour1 in witness1 and above all in character8 ,he will tell them what ,he thinks4 ,he will be infinitely kind2 but ,he will not flatter4 ,and somehow1 surely1--it doth not yet appear how1 but somehow--eternity1 even the eternity of salvation1 will bear the impress of that award1 the impress of the past of service1 estimated by the ,king4 ,what shall the harvest be8 ,and all this shall take place 7this is the special emphasis of the prospect here7 with a solemn individuality of enquiry4 ,every one of us--for himself--shall give account4 ,we reflected1 a little above1 on the true place ofindividualism in the life of grace4 ,we see here that there will indeed be a place for it in the experiences of eternity4 ,the scrutiny of the tribunal will concern not the ,society1 the ,organism1 the total1 but the member1 the man4 ,each will stand in a solemn solitude there1 before his divine ,examiner4 ,what he was1 as the ,lord's member1 that will be the question4 ,what he shall be1 as such1 in the functions of the endless state1 that will be the result4 ,let us not be troubled over that prospect with the trouble of the worldling1 as if we did not know ,him who will scrutinize us1 and did not love ,him4 ,around the thought of ,his tribunal1 in that aspect1 there are cast no exterminating terrors4 ,but it is a prospect fit to make grave and full of purpose the life which yet is hid with ,christ in ,god1 and which is life indeed through grace4 ,it is a deep reminder that the beloved ,saviour is also1 and in no figure of speech1 but in an eternal earnest1 ,,the ,,master too4 ,we would not have ,him not to be this4 ,he would not be all ,he is to us as ,saviour1 were ,he not this also1 and for ever4 ,st ,paul hastens to further appeals1 after this solemn forecast4 ,and now all his stress is laid on the duty of the strong to use their strength not for self-assertion1 not for even spiritual selfishness1 but all for ,christ1 all for others1 all in love4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,no more therefore let us judge one another2 but judge1 decide1 this rather--not to set stumblingblock for our 77 brother1 or trap4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,i know--he instances his own experience and principle--and am sure1 in the ,lord ,jesus1 as one who is in union and communion with ,him1 seeing truth and life from that view-point1 that nothing1 nothing of the sort in question1 no food1 no time1 is unclean of itself2 literally1 by means of itself1 by any inherent mischief2 only1 to the man who counts anything unclean1 to him it is unclean4 ,and therefore you1 because you are not his conscience1 must not tamper with his conscience4 ,it is1 in this case1 mistaken2 mistaken to his own loss1 and to the loss of the ,church4 ,yes1 but what it wants is not your compulsion1 but the ,lord's light4 ,if you can do so1 bring that light to bear1 in a testimony made impressive by holy love and unselfish considerateness4 ,but dare not1 for ,christ's sake1 compel a conscience4 ,for conscience means the man's best actual sight of the law of right and wrong4 ,it may be a dim and distorted sight2 but it is his best at this moment4 ,he cannot violate it without sin1 nor can you bid him do so without yourself sinning4 ,conscience may not always see aright4 ,but to transgress conscience is always wrong4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,for#bdj--the word takes up the argument at large1 rather than the last detail of it--if for food's sake your brother suffers pain1 the pain of a moral struggle between his present convictions and your commanding example1 you have given up walking 7 7 love-wise4 ,do not1 with your food1 7there is a searching point in the your1 touching to the quick the deep selfishness of the action17 work his ruin for whom ,christ died4 ,such sentences are too intensely and tenderly in earnest to be called sarcastic2 otherwise1 how fine and keen an edge they carry6 ,for food's sake6 ,with your food6 ,the man is shaken out of the sleep of what seemed an assertion of liberty1 but was after all much rather a dull indulgence of--that is1 a mere slavery to--himself4 ,i like this meat2 ,i like this drink2 ,i don't like the worry of these scruples2 they interrupt me1 they annoy me4 ,unhappy man6 ,it is better to be the slave of scruples1 than of self4 ,in order to allow yourself another dish--you would slight an anxious friend's conscience1 and1 so far as your conduct is concerned1 push him to a violation of it4 ,but that means1 a push on the slope which leans towards spiritual ruin4 ,the way to perdition is paved with violated consciences4 ,the ,lord may counteract your action1 and save your injured brother from himself--and you4 ,but your action is1 none the less1 calculated for his perdition4 ,and all the while this soul1 for which1 in comparison with your dull and narrow liberty1 you care so little1 was so much cared for by the ,lord that ,he--died for it4 ,oh consecrating thought1 attached now1 for ever1 for the ,christian1 to every human soul which he can influence3 ,for whom ,christ died6 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,do not therefore let your good1 your glorious creed of holy liberty in ,christ1 be railed at1 as only a thinly veiled self-indulgence after all2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 for the kingdom of our 77 ,god is not feeding 77 and drinking2 ,he does not claim a throne in your soul1 and in your ,society1 merely to enlarge your bill of fare1 to make it your sacred privilege1 as an end in itself1 to take what you please at table2 but righteousness1 surely here1 in the ,roman ,epistle1 the righteousness of our divine acceptance1 and peace1 the peace of perfect relations with ,him in ,christ1 and joy in the ,holy ,spirit1 the pure strong gladness of the justified1 as in their sanctuary of salvation they drink the living water1 and rejoice always in the ,lord4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,for he who in this way#bda lives as bondservant to ,christ1 spending his spiritual talents not for himself but for his ,master1 is pleasing to his 77 ,god1 and is genuine to his fellow-men 7 74 ,yes1 he stands the test 77 of their keen scrutiny4 ,they can soon detect the counterfeit under spiritual assertions which really assert self4 ,but their conscience affirms the genuineness of a life of unselfish and happy holiness2 that life reverbs no hollowness4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,accordingly therefore let us pursue the interests of peace1 and the interests of an edification which is mutual2 the building up 77 which looks beyond the man to his brother1 to his brethren1 and tempers by that look even his plans for his own spiritual life4 ,again he returns to the sorrowful grotesque of preferring personal comforts1 and even the assertion of the principle of personal liberty1 to the good of others4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,do not for food's sake be undoing 77 the work of our ,god4 ,all things are pure2 he doubtless quotes a watchword often heard2 and it was truth itself in the abstract1 but capable of becoming a fatal fallacy in practice2 but anything is bad to the man who is brought by a stumblingblock to eat it4#bdb ,yes1 this is bad 774 ,what is good 77 in contrast8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,good it is not to eat flesh1 and not to drink wine 7a word for our time and its conditions71 and not to do anything in which your brother is stumbled1 or entrapped1 or weakened4 ,yes1 this is ,christian liberty2 a liberation from the strong and subtle law of self2 a freedom to live for others1 independent of their evil1 but the servant of their souls4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,you--the faith you have1#bdc have it by yourself1 in the presence of your ,god4 ,you have believed2 you are therefore in ,christ2 in ,christ you are therefore free1 by faith1 from the preparatory restrictions of the past4 ,yes2 but all this is not given you for personal display1 but for divine communion4 ,its right issue is in a holy intimacy with your ,god1 as in the confidence of your acceptance you know ,him as your ,father1 nothing between4 ,but as regards human intercourse1 you are emancipated not that you may disturb the neighbours with shouts of freedom and acts of licence1 but that you may be at leisure to serve them in love4 ,happy the man who does not judge himself1 who does not1 in effect1 decide against his own soul1 in that which he approves1 1 pronounces satisfactory to conscience4 ,unhappy he who says to himself1 ,this is lawful1 when the verdict is all the while purchased by self-love1 or otherwise by the fear of man1 and the soul knows in its depths that the thing is not as it should be4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,and the man who is doubtful1 whose conscience is not really satisfied between the right and wrong of the matter1 if he does eat1 stands condemned1 in the court of his own heart1 and of his aggrieved ,lord's opinion1 because it was not the result of faith2 the action had not1 for its basis1 the holy conviction of the liberty of the justified4 ,now anything which is not the result of faith1 is sin2 that is to say1 manifestly1 anything in such a case as this2 any indulgence1 any obedience to example1 which the man1 in a state of inward ambiguity1 decides for on a principle other than that of his union with ,christ by faith4 ,thus the ,apostle of ,justification1 and of the ,holy ,spirit1 is the ,apostle of ,conscience too4 ,he is as urgent upon the awful sacredness of our sense of right and wrong1 as upon the offer and the security1 in ,christ1 of peace with ,god1 and the holy ,indwelling1 and the hope of glory4 ,let our steps reverently follow his1 as we walk with ,god1 and with men4 ,let us rejoice in ,christ ,jesus1 with a joy which is in the ,holy ,ghost4 ,let us reverence duty1 let us reverence conscience1 in our own life1 and also in the lives around us4 #bca 7not 7 3 the gives non-eating as not merely a fact1 but a condition1 about the man4 #bcb ,read 4 #bcc ,probably the negative limb of ver4 #f4 is only an explanatory gloss1 not the words of the ,apostle4 #bcd ,read 4 #bce ,there seems to be a broad and intelligible difference between the ,sabbath-keeping of the ,jewish law and the ,sabbath-keeping of man2 the enjoyment and holy use of the primeval ,rest for man and beast4 ,we take it that that duty and privilege is not in question here at all4 ,the weak ,christian was the anxious scholar of the ,rabbis1 not the man simply loyal to the ,decalogue4 #bcf ,read 4 #bcg ,we transcribe here a few paragraphs from the closing pages of our book ,life in ,christ and for ,christ4 #bch ,visitation of the ,sick 7,prayer for a ,sick ,child74 #bci ,so read1 not 4 ,it is significant meantime1 as a testimony to the ,apostle's view of his ,master's ,nature1 that in #b ,cor4 v4 #aj1 a perfectly parallel passage1 he writes1 we must all appear before the tribunal of ,christ4 #bdj ,probably read not 4 #bda ,read not 4 ,possibly the pronoun refers to the ,holy ,spirit 77 just mentioned4 #bdb ,lit41 who eats by means of a stumblingblock2 the example1 with its weight of public opinion1 being the means of overriding his conscience4 #bdc ,probably read 1 4 ,,chapter ,,xxx ,,the ,,same ,,subject3 ,,the ,,lord',s ,,example3 ,,his ,,relation ,,to ,,us ,,all ,,romans xv4 #a-ac ,the large and searching treatment which the ,apostle has already given to the right use of ,christian ,liberty1 is yet not enough4 ,he must pursue the same theme further2 above all1 that he may put it into more explicit contact with the ,lord ,himself4 ,we gather without doubt that the state of the ,roman ,mission1 as it was reported to ,st ,paul1 gave special occasion for such fulness of discussion4 ,it is more than likely1 as we have seen from the first1 that the bulk of the disciples were ex-pagans2 probably of very various nationalities1 many of them ,orientals1 and as such not more favourable to distinctive ,jewish claims and tenets4 ,it is also likely that they found amongst them1 or beside them1 many ,christian ,jews1 or ,christian ,jewish proselytes1 of a type more or less pronounced in their own direction2 the school whose less worthy members supplied the men to whom ,st ,paul1 a few years later1 writing from ,rome to ,philippi1 refers as preaching ,christ of envy and strife 7,phil4 i4 #ae74 ,the temptation of a religious 7as of a secular7 majority is always to tyrannize1 more or less1 in matters of thought and practice4 ,a dominant school1 in any age or region1 too easily comes to talk and act as if all decided expression on the other side were an instance of intolerance1 while yet it allows itself in sufficiently severe and censorious courses of its own4 ,at ,rome1 very probably1 this mischief was in action4 ,the strong1 with whose principle1 in its true form1 ,st ,paul agreed1 were disposed to domineer in spirit over the weak1 because the weak were comparatively the few4 ,thus they were guilty of a double fault2 they were presenting a miserable parody of holy liberty1 and they were acting off the line of that unselfish fairness which is essential in the ,gospel character4 ,for the sake not only of the peace of the great ,mission ,church1 but of the honour of the ,truth1 and of the ,lord1 the ,apostle therefore dwells on mutual duties1 and returns to them again and again after apparent conclusions of his discourse4 ,let us listen as he now reverts to the subject1 to set it more fully than ever in the light of ,christ4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,but 7it is the but of resumption1 and of new material7 we are bound1 we the able1 7perhaps a sort of soubriquet for themselves among the school of liberty1 the capables7--to bear the weaknesses of the unable1 7again1 possibly1 a soubriquet1 and in this case an unkindly one1 for a school17 and not to please ourselves4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 ,each one of us1 let him please not himself but his neighbour1 as regards what is good1 with a view to edification4 ,please2 1 4 ,the word is one often soiled with ignoble use1 in classical literature2 it tends to mean the pleasing which fawns and flatters2 the complaisance of the parasite4 ,but it is lifted by ,christian usage to a noble level4 ,the cowardly and interested element drops out of it2 the thought of willingness to do anything to please remains2 only limited by the law of right1 and aimed only at the other's good4 ,thus purified1 it is used elsewhere of that holy complaisance in which the grateful disciple aims to meet half way the wishes of his ,,lord 7see ,col4 i4 #aj74 ,here1 it is the unselfish and watchful aim to meet half way1 if possible1 the thought and feeling of a fellow-disciple1 to conciliate by sympathetic attentions1 to be considerate in the smallest matters of opinion and conduct2 a genuine exercise of inward liberty4#bdd ,there is a gulph of difference between interested timidity and disinterested considerateness4 ,in flight from the former1 the ardent ,christian sometimes breaks the rule of the latter4 ,st ,paul is at his hand to warn him not to forget the great law of love4 ,and ,,the ,,lord is at his hand too1 with ,his own supreme ,example4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,for even our 77 ,christ did not please ,himself2 but1 as it stands written 7,psal4 lxix4 #i71 ,the reproaches of those who reproached ,thee1 fell upon ,me4 ,it is the first mention in the ,epistle of the ,lord's ,example4 ,his ,person we have seen1 and the ,atoning ,work1 and the ,resurrection ,power1 and the great ,return4 ,the holy ,example can never take the place of any one of these facts of life eternal4 ,but when they are secure1 then the reverent study of the ,example is not only in place2 it is of urgent and immeasurable importance4 ,he did not please ,himself4 ,not ,my will1 but ,thine1 be done4 ,perhaps the thought of the ,apostle is dwelling on the very hour when those words were spoken1 from beneath the olives of the ,garden1 and out of a depth of inward conflict and surrender which it hath not entered into the heart of man--except the heart of the ,man of men ,himself--to conceive4 ,then indeed ,he did not please ,himself4 ,from pain as pain1 from grief as grief1 all sentient existence naturally1 necessarily1 shrinks2 it pleases itself in escape or in relief4 ,the infinitely refined sentient ,existence of the ,son of ,man was no exception to this law of universal nature2 and now ,he was called to such pain1 to such grief1 as never before met upon one head4 ,we read the record of ,gethsemane1 and its sacred horror is always new2 the disciple passes in thought out of the ,garden even to the cruel tribunal of the ,priest with a sense of relief2 his ,lord has risen from the unfathomable to the fathomable depth of ,his woes--till ,he goes down again1 at noon next day1 upon the ,cross4 ,he pleased not ,himself4 ,he who soon after1 on the shore of the quiet water1 said to ,peter1 in view of his glorious and ,god-glorifying end1 ,they shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not--along a path from which all thy manhood shall shrink--,he too1 as to ,his ,human sensibility1 would not go to ,his own unknown agonies4 ,but then1 blessed be ,his ,name1 ,he would go to them1 from that other side1 the side of the infinite harmony of ,his purpose with the purpose of ,his ,father1 in ,his immeasurable desire of ,his ,father's glory4 ,so ,he drank that cup1 which shall never now pass on to ,his people4 ,and then ,he went forth into the house of ,caiaphas1 to be reproached1 during some six or seven terrible hours1 by men who1 professing zeal for ,god1 were all the while blaspheming ,him by every act and word of malice and untruth against ,his ,son2 and from ,caiaphas ,he went to ,pilate1 and to ,herod1 and to the ,cross1 bearing that reproach4 ,i'm not anxious to die easy1 when ,he died hard6 ,so said1 not long ago1 in a ,london attic1 lying crippled and comfortless1 a little disciple of the ,man of ,sorrows4 ,he had seen the ,lord1 in a strangely unlikely conversion1 and had found a way of serving ,him2 it was to drop written fragments of ,his ,word from the window on to the pavement below4 ,and for this silent mission he would have no liberty if he were moved1 in his last weeks1 to a comfortable ,home4 ,so he would rather serve his beloved ,redeemer thus1 pleasing not himself1 than be soothed in body1 and gladdened by surrounding kindness1 but with less fellowship of ,his sufferings4 ,illustrious confessor--sure to be remembered when the ,lord of the servants cometh6 ,and with what an a fortiori does his simple answer to a kindly visitor's offer bring home to us 7for it is for us as much as for the ,romans7 this appeal of the ,apostle's6 ,we are called in these words not necessarily to any agony of body or spirit2 not necessarily even to an act of severe moral courage2 only to patience1 largeness of heart1 brotherly love4 ,shall we not answer ,amen from the soul8 ,shall not even one thought of the fellowship of ,his sufferings annihilate in us the miserable self-pleasing which shews itself in religious bitterness1 in the refusal to attend and to understand1 in a censoriousness which has nothing to do with firmness1 in a personal attitude exactly opposite to love8 ,he has cited ,psalm lxix4 as a ,scripture which1 with all the solemn problems gathered round its dark minatory paragraph1 yet lives and moves with ,christ1 the ,christ of love4 ,and now--not to confirm his application of the ,psalm1 for he takes that for granted--but to affirm the positive ,christian use of the ,old ,scriptures as a whole1 he goes on to speak at large of the things fore-written4 ,he does so with the special thought that the ,old ,testament is full of truth in point for the ,roman ,church just now2 full of the bright1 and uniting1 hope of glory2 full of examples as well as precepts for patience1 that is to say1 holy perseverance under trial2 full finally of the ,lord's equally gracious relation to the ,nations and to ,israel4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 ,for all the things fore-written1 written in the ,scriptures of the elder time1 in the age that both preceded the ,gospel and prepared for it1 for our instruction were written--with an emphasis upon our--that through the patience and through the encouragement of the ,scriptures we might hold our 77 hope1 the hope sure and steadfast of glorification in the glory of our conquering ,lord4 ,that is to say1 the true ,author behind the authors of that mysterious ,book watched1 guided1 effected its construction1 from end to end1 with the purpose full in ,his view of instructing for all time the developed ,church of ,christ4 ,and in particular1 ,he adjusted thus the ,old ,testament records and precepts of patience1 the patience which suffers and is strong1 suffers and goes forward1#bde and of encouragement1 1 the word which is more than consolation1 while it includes it2 for it means the voice of positive and enlivening appeal4 ,rich indeed are ,pentateuch1 and ,prophets1 and ,hagiographa1 alike in commands to persevere and be of good courage1 and in examples of men who were made brave and patient by the power of ,god in them1 as they took ,him at ,his word4 ,and all this1 says the ,apostle1 was on purpose1 on ,god's purpose4 ,that multifarious ,book is indeed in this sense one4 ,not only is it1 in its ,author's intention1 full of ,christ2 in the same intention it is full of ,him for us4 ,immortal indeed is its preciousness1 if this was ,,his design4 ,confidently may we explore its pages1 looking in them first for ,christ1 then for ourselves1 in our need of peace1 and strength1 and hope4 ,let us add one word1 in view of the anxious controversy of our day1 within the ,church1 over the structure and nature of those divine ,scriptures1 as the ,christian ,fathers love to call them4 ,the use of the ,holy ,book in the spirit of this verse1 the persistent searching of it for the preceptive mind of ,god in it1 with the belief that it was written for our instruction1 will be the surest and deepest means to give us perseverance and encouragement about the ,book itself4 ,the more we really know the ,bible1 at first hand1 before ,god1 with the knowledge both of acquaintance and reverent sympathy1 the more shall we be able with intelligent spiritual conviction1 to persist and be of good cheer in the conviction that it is indeed not of man1 7though through man17 but of ,god4 ,the more shall we use it as the ,lord and the ,apostles used it1 as being not only of ,god1 but of ,god for us2 ,his ,word1 and for us4 ,the more shall we make it our divine daily ,manual for a life of patient and cheerful sympathies1 holy fidelity1 and that blessed ,hope--which draws nearer now than when we believed4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,but may the ,god of the patience and the encouragement1 ,he who is ,author and ,giver of the graces unfolded in ,his ,word1 ,he without whom even that ,word is but a sound without significance in the soul1 grant you1 in ,his own sovereign way of acting on and in human wills and affections1 to be of one mind mutually 7 71 according to ,christ ,jesus2 ,christwise1 in ,his steps1 in ,his temper1 under ,his precepts2 having towards one another1 not necessarily an identity of opinion on all details1 but a community of sympathetic kindness4 ,no comment here is better than this same ,writer's later words1 from ,rome 7,phil4 ii4 #b-e72 ,be of one mind2 having the same love2 nothing by strife1 or vainglory2 esteeming others better than yourselves2 looking on the things of others2 with the same mind which was also in ,christ ,jesus1 when ,he humbled ,himself for us4 ,and all this1 not only for the comfort of the community1 but for the glory of ,god3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 that unanimously1 with one mouth1 you may glorify the ,god and ,father of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ2 turning from the sorrowful friction worked by self-will when it intrudes into the things of heaven1 to an antidote1 holy and effectual1 found in adoring ,him who is equally near to all ,his true people1 in ,his ,son4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,wherefore welcome one another into fellowship1 even as our 77 ,christ welcomed you1#bdf all the individuals of your company1 and all the groups of it1 to our 77 ,god's glory4 ,these last words may mean either that the ,lord's welcome of you glorified ,his ,father's grace2 or that that grace will be glorified by the holy victory of love over prejudice among the ,roman saints4 ,perhaps this latter explanation is to be preferred1 as it echoes and enforces the last words of the previous verse4 ,but why should not both references reside in the one phrase1 where the actions of the ,lord and ,his disciples are seen in their deep harmony8 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,for#bdg ,i say that ,christ stands constituted#bdh ,servant 77 of the ,circumcision1 ,minister of divine blessings to ,israel1 on behalf of ,god's truth1 so as to ratify in act the promises belonging to the ,fathers1 so as to secure and vindicate their fulfilment1 by ,his coming as ,son of ,david1 ,son of ,abraham2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 but 7a but which1 by its slight correction1 reminds the ,jew that the ,promise1 given wholly through him1 was not given wholly for him7 so that the ,nations1 on mercy's behalf1 should glorify ,god1 blessing and adoring ,him on account of a salvation which1 in their case1 was less of truth than of mercy1 because it was less explicitly and immediately of covenant2 as it stands written 7,psal4 xviii4 #di71 ,for this ,i will confess to ,thee1 will own ,thee1 among the ,nations1 and will strike the harp 77 to ,thy ,name2 ,messiah confessing ,his ,eternal ,father's glory in the midst of ,his redeemed ,gentile subjects1 who sing their lower part with ,him4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,and again it1 the ,scripture1 says1 7,deut4 xxxii4 #dc71 ,be jubilant1 ,nations1 with ,his people4#bdi ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,and again 7,psal4 cxvii4 #a71 ,praise the ,lord1 all the ,nations1 and let all the peoples praise ,him again 774 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,and again ,isaiah says 7xi4 #aj71 ,there shall come 7literally1 shall be7 the ,root of ,jesse1 and ,he who rises up--rises1 in the present tense of the divine decree--to rule 7the7 ,nations2 on ,him 7the7 ,nations shall hope2 with the hope which is in fact faith1 looking from the sure present to the promised future4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,now may the ,god of that hope1 1 the ,hope just cited from the ,prophet1 the expectation of all blessing1 up to its crown and flower in glory1 on the basis of ,messiah's work1 fill you with all joy and peace in your 77 believing1 so that you may overflow in that 77 hope1 in the ,holy ,spirit's power2 in ,his power1 clasped as it were within ,his divine embrace1 and thus energized to look upward1 heavenward1 away from embittering and dividing temptations to the unifying as well as beatifying prospect of your ,lord's ,return4 99 99 99 99 99 ,he closes here his long1 wise1 tender appeal and counsel about the unhappy divisions of the ,roman ,mission4 ,he has led his readers as it were all round the subject4 ,with the utmost tact1 and also candour1 he has given them his own mind1 in the ,lord1 on the matter in dispute4 ,he has pointed out to the party of scruple and restriction the fallacy of claiming the function of ,christ1 and asserting a divine rule where ,he has not imposed one4 ,he has addressed the strong1 7with whom he agrees in a certain sense17 at much greater length1 reminding them of the moral error of making more of any given application of their principle than of the law of love in which the principle was rooted4 ,he has brought both parties to the feet of ,jesus ,christ as absolute ,master4 ,he has led them to gaze on ,him as their blessed ,example1 in ,his infinite self-oblivion for the cause of ,god1 and of love4 ,he has poured out before them the prophecies1 which tell at once the ,christian ,judaist and the ex-pagan convert that in the eternal purpose ,christ was given equally to both1 in the line of truth1 in the line of mercy4 ,now lastly he clasps them impartially to his own heart in this precious and pregnant benediction1 beseeching for both sides1 and for all their individuals1 a wonderful fulness of those blessings in which most speedily and most surely the spirit of their strife would expire4 ,let that prayer be granted1 in its pure depth and height1 and how could the weak brother look with quite his old anxiety on the problems suggested by the dishes at a meal1 and by the dates of the ,rabbinic ,calendar8 ,and how could the capable bear any longer to lose his joy in ,god by an assertion1 full of self1 of his own insight and liberty8 ,profoundly happy and at rest in their ,lord1 whom they embraced by faith as their ,righteousness and ,life1 and whom they anticipated in hope as their coming ,glory2 filled through their whole consciousness1 by the indwelling ,spirit1 with a new insight into ,,christ2 they would fall into each other's embrace1 in ,him4 ,they would be much more ready1 when they met1 to speak concerning the ,king than to begin a new stage of their not very elevating discussion4 ,how many a ,church controversy1 now as then1 would die of inanition1 leaving room for a living truth1 if the disputants could only gravitate1 as to their always most beloved theme1 to the praises and glories of their redeeming ,,lord ,himself6 ,it is at ,his feet1 and in ,his arms1 that we best understand both ,his truth1 and the thoughts1 rightful or mistaken1 of our brethren4 99 99 99 99 99 ,meanwhile1 let us take this benedictory prayer1 as we may take it1 from its instructive context1 and carry it out with us into all the contexts of life4 ,what the ,apostle prayed for the ,romans1 in view of their controversies1 he prays for us1 as for them1 in view of everything4 ,let us stand back and look at the picture4 ,here--conveyed in this strong petition--is ,st ,paul's idea of the true ,christian's true life1 and the true life of the true ,church4 ,what are the elements1 and what is the result8 ,it is a life lived in direct contact with ,god4 ,now the ,god of hope fill you4 ,he remits them here 7as above1 ver4 #e7 from even himself to the ,living ,god4 ,in a sense1 he sends them even from the things fore-written1 to the ,living ,god2 not in the least to disparage the ,scriptures1 but because the great function of the divine ,word1 as of the divine ,ordinances1 is to guide the soul into an immediate intercourse with the ,lord ,god in ,his ,son1 and to secure it therein4 ,god is to deal direct with the ,romans4 ,he is to manipulate1 ,he is to fill1 their being4 ,it is a life not starved or straitened1 but full4 ,the ,god of hope fill you4 ,the disciple1 and the ,church1 is not to live as if grace were like a stream in the year of drought1 now settled into an almost stagnant deep1 then struggling with difficulty over the stones of the shallow4 ,the man1 and the ,society1 are to live and work in tranquil but moving strength1 rich in the fruits of their ,lord's poverty 7#b ,cor4 viii4 #i72 filled out of ,his fulness2 never1 spiritually1 at a loss for ,him2 never1 practically1 having to do or bear except in ,his large and gracious power4 ,it is a life bright and beautiful2 filled with all joy and peace4 ,it is to shew a surface fair with the reflected sky of ,christ1 ,christ present1 ,christ to come4 ,a sacred while open happiness and a pure internal repose is to be there1 born of ,his presence1 in which is fulness of joy1 and of the sure prospect of ,his ,return1 bringing with it pleasures for evermore4 ,like that mysterious ether of which the natural philosopher tells us1 this joy1 this peace1 found and maintained in the ,lord1 is to pervade all the contents of the ,christian life1 its moving masses of duty or trial1 its interspaces of rest or silence2 not always demonstrative but always underlying1 and always a living power4 ,it is a life of faith2 all joy and peace in your believing4 ,that is to say1 it is a life dependent for its all upon a ,person and ,his promises4 ,its glad certainty of peace with ,god1 of the possession of ,his ,righteousness1 is by means not of sensations and experiences1 but of believing2 it comes1 and stays1 by taking ,christ at ,his word4 ,its power over temptation1 its victory and triumph against the devil1 the world1 and the flesh1 is by the same means4 ,the man1 the ,church1 takes the ,lord at ,his word2--,i am with you always2 ,through ,me thou shalt do valiantly2--and faith1 that is to say1 ,christ trusted in practice1 is more than conqueror4 ,it is a life overflowing with the heavenly hope2 that ye may abound in the hope4 ,sure of the past1 and of the present1 it is--what out of ,christ no life can be--sure of the future4 ,the golden age1 for this happy life1 is in front1 and is no ,utopia4 ,now is our salvation nearer2 ,we look for that blissful 77 hope1 the appearing of our great ,god and ,saviour2 ,them which sleep in ,him ,god will bring with ,him2 ,we shall be caught up together with them2 we shall ever be with the ,lord2 ,they shall see ,his face2 thine eyes shall see the ,king in ,his beauty4 ,and all this it is as a life lived in the power of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,not by enthusiasm1 not by any stimulus which self applies to self2 not by resources for gladness and permanence found in independent reason or affection2 but by the almighty1 all-tender power of the ,comforter4 ,the ,lord1 the ,life-,giver1 giving life by bringing us to the ,son of ,god1 and uniting us to ,him1 is the ,giver and strong ,sustainer of the faith1 and so of the peace1 the joy1 the hope1 of this blessed life4 ,now it was not written for their sakes only1 but for us also1 in our circumstances of personal and of common experience4 ,large and pregnant is the application of this one utterance to the problems perpetually raised by the divided state of organization1 and of opinion1 in modern ,christendom4 ,it gives us one secret1 above and below all others1 as the sure panacea1 if it may but be allowed to work1 for this multifarious malady which all who think deplore4 ,that secret is the secret of the ,lord1 which is with them that fear ,him 7,psal4 xxv4 #ad74 ,it is a fuller life in the individual1 and so in the community1 of the peace and joy of believing2 a larger abundance of that blessed hope1 given by that power for which numberless hearts are learning to thirst with a new intensity1 the power of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,it was in that direction above all that the ,apostle gazed as he yearned for the unity1 not only spiritual but practical1 of the ,roman saints4 ,this great master of order1 this man made for government1 alive with all his large wisdom to the sacred importance1 in its true place1 of the external mechanism of ,christianity1 yet makes no mention of it here1 nay1 scarcely gives one allusion to it in the whole ,epistle4 ,the word ,church is not heard till the final chapter2 and then it is used only1 or almost only1 of the scattered mission-stations1 or even mission-groups1 in their individuality4 ,the ordered ,ministry only twice1 and in the most passing manner1 comes into the long discourse2 in the words 7xii4 #f-h7 about prophecy1 ministration1 teaching1 exhortation1 leadership2 and in the mention 7xvi4 #a7 of ,phbe's relation to the ,cenchrean ,church4 ,he is addressing the saints of that great ,city which was afterwards1 in the tract of time1 to develop into even terrific exaggerations the idea of ,church ,order4 ,but he has practically nothing to say to them about unification and cohesion beyond this appeal to hold fast together by drawing nearer each and all to the ,lord1 and so filling each one his soul and life with ,him4 ,our modern problems must be met with attention1 with firmness1 with practical purpose1 with due regard to history1 and with submission to revealed truth4 ,but if they are to be solved indeed they must be met outside the spirit of self1 and in the communion of the ,christian with ,christ1 by the power of the ,spirit of ,god4 #bdd ,observe that ,st ,paul utterly repudiates the thought of pleasing 77 where it means a servile and really compromising deference to human opinion 7,gal4 i4 #aj74 #bde ,the noble word 1 as we have remarked already1 is rarely if ever merely passive in ,new ,testament usage4 #bdf ,so read1 not 4 ,the point of the mention here of you is manifest4 #bdg ,reading not 1 and omitting just afterwards4 #bdh 1 the perfect4 ,but perhaps read 4 #bdi ,in the received ,hebrew ,text the word 1 with1 is absent1 and the rendering may be1 in paraphrase1 either1 ,ye ,nations1 congratulate ,his people1 or ,rejoice ye ,nations1 who are ,his people4 ,either the great ,rabbi-,apostle read 1 or he gave the essence of the ,mosaic words1 not their form1 7using the ,lxx4 rendering as his form17 to convey the thought of the loving sympathy1 before ,god1 of ,israel and the ,nations4 ,,chapter ,,xxxi ,,roman ,,christianity3 ,,st ,,paul',s ,,commission3 ,,his ,,intended ,,itinerary3 ,,he ,,asks ,,for ,,prayer ,,romans xv4 #ad-cc ,the ,epistle hastens to its close4 ,as to its instructions1 doctrinal or moral1 they are now practically written4 ,the ,way of ,salvation lies extended1 in its radiant outline1 before the ,romans1 and ourselves4 ,the ,way of ,obedience1 in some of its main tracks1 has been drawn firmly on the field of life4 ,little remains but the ,missionary's last words about persons and plans1 and then the great task is done4 ,he will say a warm1 gracious word about the spiritual state of the ,roman believers4 ,he will justify1 with a noble courtesy1 his own authoritative attitude as their counsellor4 ,he will talk a little of his hoped for and now seemingly approaching visit1 and matters in connexion with it4 ,he will greet the individuals whom he knows1 and commend the bearer of the ,letter1 and add last messages from his friends4 ,then ,phbe may receive her charge1 and go on her way4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,but ,i am sure1 my brethren1 quite on my own part 7 71 about you1 that you are1 yourselves1 irrespective of my influence1 brimming with goodness1 with high ,christian qualities in general1 filled with all knowledge1 competent in fact 77 to admonish one another4 ,is this flattery1 interested and insincere8 ,is it weakness1 easily persuaded into a false optimism8 ,surely not2 for the speaker here is the man who has spoken straight to the souls of these same people about sin1 and judgment1 and holiness2 about the holiness of these everyday charities which some of them 7so he has said plainly enough7 had been violating4 ,but a truly great heart always loves to praise where it can1 and1 discerningly1 to think and say the best4 ,he who is ,truth itself said of ,his imperfect1 ,his disappointing followers1 as ,he spoke of them in their hearing to ,his ,father1 ,they have kept ,thy word2 ,i am glorified in them 7,john xvii4 #f1 #aj74 ,so here his ,servant does not indeed give the ,romans a formal certificate of perfection1 but he does rejoice to know1 and to say1 that their community is ,christian in a high degree1 and that in a certain sense they have not needed information about ,justification by ,faith1 nor about principles of love and liberty in their intercourse4 ,in essence1 all has been in their cognizance already2 an assurance which could not have been entertained in regard of every ,mission1 certainly4 ,he has written not as to children1 giving them an alphabet1 but as to men1 developing facts into science4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,but with a certain boldness 77 ,i have written#bej to you1 here and there1#bea just as reminding you2 because of the grace1 the free gift of his commission and of the equipment for it1 given me by our 77 ,god1 given in order to ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 my being ,christ ,jesus' minister sent to the ,nations1 doing priest-work with the ,gospel of ,god1 that the oblation of the ,nations1 the oblation which is in fact the ,nations self-laid upon the spiritual altar1 may be acceptable1 consecrated in the ,holy ,spirit4 ,it is a startling and splendid passage of metaphor4 ,here once1 in all the range of his writings 7unless we except the few and affecting words of ,phil4 ii4 #ag71 the ,apostle presents himself to his converts as a sacrificial ministrant1 a priest in the sense which usage 7not etymology7 has so long stamped on that ,english word as its more special sense4 ,never do the great ,founders of the ,church1 and never does ,he who is its ,foundation1 use the term 1 sacrificing1 mediating1 priest1 as a term to designate the ,christian minister in any of his orders2 never1 if this passage is not to be reckoned in1 with its 1 its priest-work1 as we have ventured to translate the ,greek4 ,in the distinctively sacerdotal ,epistle1 the ,hebrews1 the word comes indeed into the foreground4 ,but there it is absorbed into ,,the ,,lord4 ,it is appropriated altogether to ,him in ,his self-sacrificial ,work once done1 and in ,his heavenly ,work now always doing1 the work of mediatorial impartation1 from ,his throne1#beb of the blessings which ,his great ,offering won4 ,one other ,christian application of the sacrificial title we have in the ,epistles3 ,ye are a holy priesthood1 a royal priesthood 7#a ,pet4 ii4 #e1 #i74 ,but who are ye8 ,not the consecrated pastorate1 but the consecrated ,christian company altogether4 ,and what are the altar-sacrifices of that company8 ,sacrifices spiritual2 the praises of ,him who called them into ,his wonderful light 7#a ,pet4 ii4 #e1 #i74 ,in the ,christian ,church1 the pre-,levitical ideal of the old ,israel reappears in its sacred reality4 ,he who offered to the ,church of ,moses 7,exod4 xix4 #f7 to be one great priesthood1 a kingdom of priests1 and a holy nation1 found ,his favoured nation unready for the privilege1 and so ,levi representatively took the place alone4 ,but now1 in ,his new ,israel1 as all are sons in the ,son1 so all are priests in the ,priest4 ,and the sacred ,ministry of that ,israel1 the ,ministry which is ,his own divine institution1 the gift 7,eph4 iv4 #aa7 of the ascended ,lord to ,his ,church1 is never once designated1 as such1 by the term which would have marked it as the analogue to ,levi1 or to ,aaron4 ,is this passage in any degree an exception8 ,no2 for it contains its own full inner evidence of its metaphorical cast4 ,the priest-working here has regard1 we find1 not to a ritual1 but to the ,gospel4 ,the oblation is--the ,nations4 ,the hallowing ,element1 shed as it were upon the victims1 is the ,holy ,ghost4 ,not in a material temple1 and serving at no tangible altar1 the ,apostle brings his multitudinous converts as his holocaust to the ,lord4 ,the ,spirit1 at his preaching and on their believing1 descends upon them2 and they lay themselves a living sacrifice where the fire of love shall consume them1 to ,his glory4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,i have therefore my 7read 7 right to exultation1 in ,christ ,jesus1 as ,his member and implement1 as to what regards ,god2 not in any respect as regards myself1 apart from ,him4 ,and then he proceeds as if about to say1 in evidence of that assertion1 that he always declines to intrude on a brother ,apostle's ground1 and to claim as his own experience what was in the least degree another's2 but that indeed through him1 in sovereign grace1 ,god has done great things1 far and wide4 ,this he expresses thus1 in energetic compressions of diction3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,for ,i will not dare to talk at all of things which ,christ did not work out through me1 7there is an emphasis on me17 to effect obedience of 7the7 ,nations to ,his ,gospel1 by word and deed1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 in power of signs and wonders1 in power of ,god's ,spirit2 a reference1 strangely impressive by its very passingness1 to the exercise of miracle-working gifts by the writer4 ,this man1 so strong in thought1 so practical in counsel1 so extremely unlikely to have been under an illusion about a large factor in his adult and intensely conscious experience1 speaks direct from himself of his wonder-works4 ,and the allusion1 thus dropped by the way and left behind1 is itself an evidence to the perfect mental balance of the witness2 this was no enthusiast1 intoxicated with ambitious spiritual visions1 but a man put in trust with a mysterious yet sober treasure4 ,so that from ,jerusalem1 and round about it 7,acts xxvi4 #bj71 as far as the ,illyrian region1 the highland seabord which looks across the ,adriatic to the long eastern side of ,italy1 ,i have fulfilled the ,gospel of ,christ1 carried it practically everywhere1 satisfied the idea of so distributing it that it shall be accessible everywhere to the native races4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,but this ,i have done with this ambition1 to preach the ,gospel not where ,christ was already named1 that ,i might not build on another man's foundation2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 but to act on the divine word1 as it stands written 7,isai4 lii4 #ae71 ,they to whom no news was carried about ,him1 shall see2 and those who have not heard1 shall understand4 ,here was an ambition as far-sighted as it was noble4 ,would that the principle of it could have been better remembered in the history of ,christendom1 and not least in our own age2 a wasteful over-lapping of effort on effort1 system on system1 would not need now to be so much deplored4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,thus as a fact 77 ,i was hindered for the most part--hindrances were the rule1 signals of opportunity the exception--in coming to you2 you1 whose ,city is no untrodden ground to messengers of ,christ1 and therefore not the ground which had a first claim on me4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,but now1 as no longer having place in these regions1 eastern ,roman ,europe yielding him no longer an unattempted and accessible district to enter1 and having a home-sick feeling 73 see above1 i4 #aa7 for coming to you1 these many years ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bd4 whenever ,i may be journeying to ,spain1 ,i will come to you#bec4 ,for ,i hope1 on my journey through1 to see the sight of you 71 as if the view of so important a ,church would be a spectacle indeed71 and by you#bed to be escorted there1 if first ,i may have my fill of you1 however imperfectly 7 74 ,as always1 in the fine courtesy of pastoral love1 he says more1 and thinks more1 of his own expected gain of refreshment and encouragement from them1 than even of what he may have to impart to them4 ,so he had thought1 and so spoken1 in his opening page 7i4 #aa1 #ab72 it is the same heart throughout4 ,how little did he realize the line and details of the destined fulfilment of that home-sick feeling6 ,he was indeed to see ,rome1 and for no passing sight of the scene4 ,for two long years of sorrows and joys1 restraints and wonderful occasions1 innumerable colloquies1 and the writing of great ,scriptures1 he was to dwell in his own hired lodgings there4 ,but he did not see what lay between4 ,for ,st ,paul ordinarily1 as always for us1 it was true that we know not what awaits us4 ,for us1 as for him1 it is better to walk with ,god in the dark1 than to go alone in the light4 ,did he ultimately visit ,spain8 ,we shall never know until perhaps we are permitted to ask him hereafter4 ,it is not at all impossible that1 released from his ,roman prison1 he first went westward and then--as at some time he certainly did--travelled to the ,levant4 ,but no tradition1 however faint1 connects ,st ,paul with the great ,peninsula which glories in her legend of ,st ,james4 ,is it irrelevant to remember that in his ,gospel he has notably visited ,spain in later ages8 ,it was the ,gospel of ,st ,paul1 the simple grandeur of his exposition of ,justification by ,faith1 which in the sixteenth century laid hold on multitudes of the noblest of ,spanish hearts1 till it seemed as if not ,germany1 not ,england1 bid fairer to become again a land of truth in the light4 ,the terrible ,inquisition utterly crushed the springing harvest1 at ,valladolid1 at ,seville1 and in that ghastly ,quemadero at ,madrid1 which1 five-and-twenty years ago1 was excavated by accident1 to reveal its deep strata of ashes1 and charred bones1 and all the dbris of the ,autos4 ,but now again1 in the mercy of ,god1 and in happier hours1 the ,new ,testament is read in the towns of ,spain1 and in her highland villages1 and churches are gathering around the holy light1 spiritual descendants of the true1 the primeval1 ,church of ,rome4 ,may the ,god of hope fill them with all peace and joy in believing4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,but now ,i am journeying to ,jerusalem1 the journey whose course we know so well from ,acts xx41 xxi41 ministering to the saints1 serving the poor converts of the holy ,city as the collector and conveyer of alms for their necessities4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bf4 ,for ,macedonia and ,achaia1 the northern and southern ,provinces of ,roman ,greece1 finely personified in this vivid passage1 thought good to make something of a 77 communication1 a certain gift to be shared among the recipients1 for the poor of the saints who live at ,jerusalem2 the place where poverty seemed specially1 for whatever reason1 to beset the converts4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bg4 ,for they thought good6 yes2 but there is a different side to the matter4 ,macedonia and ,achaia are generous friends1 but they have an obligation too3 ,and debtors they are to them1 to these poor people of the old ,city4 ,for if in their spiritual things the ,nations shared1 they1 these ,nations1 are in debt1 as a fact1 717 in things carnal1 things belonging to our life in the flesh1 to minister to them2 1 to do them public and religious service4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bh4 ,when ,i have finished this then1 and sealed this fruit to them1 put them into ratified ownership of this proceed 77 of ,christian love1 ,i will come away by your road 7' 7 to ,spain4 7,he means1 if the ,lord will2 it is instructive to note that even ,st ,paul does not make it a duty1 with an almost superstitious iteration1 always to say so74 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bi4 ,now ,i know that1 coming to you1 in the fulness of ,christ's benediction#bee ,i shall come4 ,he will come with his ,lord's benediction on him1 as ,his messenger to the ,roman disciples2 ,christ will send him charged with heavenly messages1 and attended with ,his own prospering presence4 ,and this will be in fulness2 with a rich overflow of saving truth1 and heavenly power1 and blissful fellowship4 ,here he pauses1 to ask them for that boon of which he is so covetous--intercessory prayer4 ,he has been speaking with a kind and even sprightly pleasantry 7there is no irreverence in the recognition7 of those ,personages1 ,macedonia and ,achaia1 and their gift1 which is also their debt4 ,he has spoken also of what we know from elsewhere 7#a ,cor4 xvi4 #a-d7 to have been his own scrupulous purpose not only to collect the alms but to see them punctually delivered1 above all suspicion of misuse4 ,he has talked with cheerful confidence of the road by ,rome to ,spain4 ,but now he realizes what the visit to ,jerusalem involves for himself4 ,he has tasted in many places1 and at many times1 the bitter hatred felt for him in unbelieving ,israel2 a hatred the more bitter1 probably1 the more his astonishing activity and influence were felt in region after region4 ,now he is going to the central focus of the enmity2 to the ,city of the ,sanhedrin1 and of the ,zealots4 ,and ,st ,paul is no ,stoic1 indifferent to fear1 lifted in an unnatural exaltation above circumstances1 though he is ready to walk through them in the power of ,christ4 ,his heart anticipates the experiences of outrage and revilings1 and the possible breaking up of all his missionary plans4 ,he thinks too of prejudice within the ,church1 as well as of hatred from without2 he is not at all sure that his cherished collection will not be coldly received1 or even rejected1 by the ,judaists of the mother-church2 whom yet he must and will call saints4 ,so he tells all to the ,romans1 with a generous and winning confidence in their sympathy1 and begs their prayers1 and above all sets them praying that he may not be disappointed of his longed-for visit to them4 ,all was granted4 ,he was welcomed by the ,church4 ,he was delivered from the fanatics1 by the strong arm of the ,empire4 ,he did reach ,rome1 and he had holy joy there4 ,only1 the ,lord took ,his own way1 a way they knew not1 to answer ,paul and his friends4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cj4 ,but ,i appeal to you1 brethren1--the but carries an implication that something lay in the way of the happy prospect just mentioned1--by our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and by the love of the ,spirit1 by that holy family affection inspired by the ,holy ,one into the hearts which ,he has regenerated1#bef to wrestle along with me in your prayers on my behalf to our 77 ,god2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ca4 that ,i may be rescued from those who disobey the ,gospel in ,judea1 and that my ministration#beg which takes me to ,jerusalem 7 7 may prove acceptable to the saints1 may be taken by the ,christians there without prejudice1 and in love2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cb4 that ,i may with joy come to you1 through the will of ,god1#beh and may share refreshing rest with you1 the rest of holy fellowship where the tension of discussion and opposition is intermitted1 and the two parties perfectly understand one another in their ,lord4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #cc4 ,but the ,god of our 77 peace be with you all4 ,yes1 so be it1 whether or no the longed-for joy and refreshing rest is granted in ,his providence to the ,apostle4 ,with his beloved ,romans1 anywise1 let there be peace2 peace in their community1 and in their souls2 peace with ,god1 and peace in ,him4 ,and so it will be1 whether their human friend is or is not permitted1 to see them1 if only the ,eternal ,friend is there4 ,there is a deep and attractive tenderness1 as we have seen above1 in this paragraph1 where the writer's heart tells the readers quite freely of its personal misgivings and longings4 ,one of the most pathetic1 sometimes one of the most beautiful1 phenomena of human life is the strong man in his weak hour1 or rather in his feeling hour1 when he is glad of the support of those who may be so much his weaker4 ,there is a sort of strength which prides itself upon never shewing such symptoms2 to which it is a point of honour to act and speak always as if the man were self-contained and self-sufficient4 ,but this is a narrow type of strength1 not a great one4 ,the strong man truly great is not afraid1 in season1 to let himself go2 he is well able to recover4 ,an underlying power leaves him at leisure to shew upon the surface very much of what he feels4 ,the largeness of his insight puts him into manifold contact with others1 and keeps him open to their sympathies1 however humble and inadequate these sympathies may be4 ,the ,lord ,himself1 mighty to save1 cared more than we can fully know for human fellow-feeling4 ,will ye also go away8 ,ye are they that have continued with ,me in ,my temptations2 ,tarry ye here1 and watch with ,me2 ,lovest thou ,me8 ,no false spiritual pride suggests it to ,st ,paul to conceal his anxieties from the ,romans4 ,it is a temptation sometimes to those who have been called to help and strengthen other men1 to affect for themselves a strength which perhaps they do not quite feel4 ,it is well meant4 ,the man is afraid that if he owns to a burthen he may seem to belie the ,gospel of perfect peace2 that if he even lets it be suspected that he is not always in the ideal ,christian frame1 his warmest exhortations and testimonies may lose their power4 ,but at all possible hazards let him1 about such things as about all others1 tell the truth4 ,it is a sacred duty in itself2 the heavenly ,gospel has no corner in it for the manuvres of spiritual prevarication4 ,and he will find assuredly that truthfulness1 transparent candour1 will not really discount his witness to the promises of his ,lord4 ,it may humiliate him1 but it will not discredit ,jesus ,christ4 ,it will indicate the imperfection of the recipient1 but not any defect in the thing received4 ,and the fact that the witness has been found quite candid against himself1 where there is occasion1 will give a double weight to his every direct testimony to the possibility of a life lived in the hourly peace of ,god4 ,it is no part of our ,christian duty to feel doubts and fears6 ,and the more we act upon our ,lord's promises as they stand1 the more we shall rejoice to find that misgivings tend to vanish where once they were always thickening upon us4 ,only1 it is our duty always to be transparently honest4 ,however1 we must not treat this theme here too much as if ,st ,paul had given us an unmistakable text for it4 ,his words now before us express no carking care about his intended visit to ,jerusalem4 ,they only indicate a deep sense of the gravity of the prospect1 and of its dangers4 ,and we know from elsewhere 7see especially ,acts xxi4 #ac7 that that sense did sometimes amount to an agony of feeling1 in the course of the very journey which he now contemplates4 ,and we see him here quite without the wish to conceal his heart in the matter4 ,in closing we note1 for our learning1 his example as he is a man who craves to be prayed for4 ,prayer1 that great mystery1 that blessed fact and power1 was indeed vital to ,st ,paul4 ,he is always praying himself2 he is always asking other people to pray for him4 ,he has seen ,jesus ,christ our ,lord2 he is his ,lord's inspired ,minister and ,delegate2 he has been caught up into the third heaven2 he has had a thousand proofs that all things1 infallibly1 work together for his good4 ,but he is left by this as certain as ever1 with a persuasion as simple as a child's1 and also as deep as his own life-worn spirit1 that it is immensely well worth his while to secure the intercessory prayers of those who know the way to ,god in ,christ4 #bej 3 the epistolary aorist4 #bea as regards part of his instructions and cautions4 ,he probably refers particularly to the discussions of ch4 xiv4 #a--xv4 #ac4 #beb ,he is seen in the ,epistle not before the throne1 standing1 but on the throne1 seated4 #bec ,these words have weak documentary support4 ,but surely the ellipsis left by their absence is difficult to accept1 even in ,st ,paul's free style4 #bed ,or perhaps from you1 ' 4 #bee ,omitting the words 4 #bef ,so we explain1 rather than take the reference to be to the ,holy ,spirit's love for us4 ,in this context1 surely1 this latter would be less in point4 #beg 3 another possible reading is 1 gift-bearing4 #beh ,perhaps read1 through the will of the ,lord ,jesus4 ,,chapter ,,xxxii ,a ,,commendation3 ,,greetings3 ,a ,,warning3 ,a ,,doxology ,,romans xvi4 #a-bg ,once more1 with a reverent licence of thought1 we may imagine ourselves to be watching in detail the scene in the house of ,gaius4 ,hour upon hour has passed over ,paul and his scribe as the wonderful ,message has developed itself1 at once and everywhere the word of man and the ,word of ,god4 ,they began at morning1 and the themes of sin1 and righteousness1 and glory1 of the present and the future of ,israel1 of the duties of the ,christian life1 of the special problems of the ,roman ,mission1 have carried the hours along to noon1 to afternoon4 ,now1 to the watcher from the westward lattice1 ,slow sinks1 more lovely ere his race be run1 ,along ,morea's hills the setting sun2 ,not1 as in northern climes1 obscurely bright1 ,but one unclouded blaze of living light4 ,the ,apostle1 pacing the chamber1 as men are wont to do when they use the pens of others1 is aware that his message is at an end1 as to doctrine and counsel4 ,but before he bids his willing and wondering secretary rest from his labours1 he has to discharge his own heart of the personal thoughts and affections which have lain ready in it all the while1 and which his last words about his coming visit to the ,city have brought up in all their life and warmth4 ,and now ,paul and ,tertius are no longer alone2 other brethren have found their way to the chamber--,timotheus1 ,lucius1 ,jason1 ,sosipater2 ,gaius himself2 ,quartus2 and no less a neighbour than ,erastus1 ,treasurer of ,corinth4 ,a page of personal messages is yet to be dictated1 from ,st ,paul1 and from his friends4 ,now first he must not forget the pious woman who is--so we surely may assume--to take charge of this inestimable packet1 and to deliver it at ,rome4 ,we know nothing of ,phbe but from this brief mention4 ,we cannot perhaps be formally certain that she is here described as a female ,church-official1 a deaconess in a sense of that word familiar in later developments of ,church-order--a woman set apart by the laying-on of hands1 appointed to enquire into and relieve temporal distress1 and to be the teacher of female enquirers in the mission4 ,but there is at least a great likelihood that something like this was her position2 for she was not merely an active ,christian1 she was a ministrant of the ,church4 ,and she was certainly1 as a person1 worthy of reliance and of loving commendatory praise1 now that some cause--absolutely unknown to us2 perhaps nothing more unusual than a change of residence1 obliged by private circumstances--took her from ,achaia to ,italy4 ,she had been a devoted and it would seem particularly a brave#bei friend of converts in trouble1 and of ,st ,paul himself4 ,perhaps in the course of her visits to the desolate she had fought difficult battles of protest1 where she found harshness and oppression4 ,perhaps she had pleaded the forgotten cause of the poor1 with a woman's courage1 before some neglectful richer brother4 ,then ,rome itself1 as he sees ,phbe reaching it1 rises--as yet only in fancy2 it was still unknown to him--upon his mind4 ,and there1 moving up and down in that strange and almost awful world1 he sees one by one the members of a large group of his personal ,christian friends1 and his beloved ,aquila and ,prisca are most visible of all4 ,these must be individually saluted4 ,what the nature of these friendships was we know in some instances1 for we are told here4 ,but why the persons were at ,rome1 in the place which ,paul himself had never reached1 we do not know1 nor ever shall4 ,many students of the ,epistle1 it is well known1 find a serious difficulty in this list of friends so placed--the persons so familiar1 the place so strange2 and they would have us look on this sixteenth chapter as a fragment from some other ,letter1 pieced in here by mistake2 or what not4 ,but no ancient copy of the ,epistle gives us1 by its condition1 any real ground for such conjectures4 ,and all that we have to do to realize possibilities in the actual features of the case1 is to assume that many at least of this large ,roman group1 as surely ,aquila and ,prisca1#bfj had recently migrated from the ,levant to ,rome2 a migration as common and almost as easy then as is the modern influx of foreign denizens to ,london4 ,bishop ,lightfoot1 in an ,excursus in his edition of the ,philippian ,epistle1#bfa has given us reason to think that not a few of the ,romans named here by ,st ,paul were members of that ,household of ,csar of which in later days he speaks to the ,philippians 7iv4 #bb7 as containing its saints1 saints who send special greetings to the ,macedonian brethren4 ,the ,domus ,csaris included the whole of the ,imperial household1 the meanest slaves1 as well as the most powerful courtiers2 all persons in the ,emperor's service1 whether slaves or freemen1 in ,italy and even in the provinces4 ,the literature of sepulchral inscriptions at ,rome is peculiarly rich in allusions to members of the ,household4 ,and it is from this quarter1 particularly from discoveries in it made early in the last century1 that ,lightfoot gets good reasons for thinking that in ,phil4 iv4 #bb we may1 quite possibly1 be reading a greeting from ,rome sent by the very persons 7speaking roundly7 who are here greeted in the ,epistle to ,rome4 ,a place of burial on the ,appian ,way1 devoted to the ashes of ,imperial freedmen and slaves1 and other similar receptacles1 all to be dated with practical certainty about the middle period of the first century1 yield the following names3 ,amplias1 ,urbanus1 ,stachys1 ,apelles1 ,tryphna1 ,tryphosa1 ,rufus1 ,hermes1 ,hermas1 ,philologus1 ,julius1 ,nereis2 a name which might have denoted the sister 7see ver4 #ae7 of a man ,nereus4 ,of course such facts must be used with due reserve in inference4 ,but they make it abundantly clear that1 in ,lightfoot's words1 the names and allusions at the close of the ,roman ,epistle are in keeping with the circumstances of the metropolis in ,st ,paul's day4 ,they help us to a perfectly truthlike theory4 ,we have only to suppose that among ,st ,paul's converts and friends in ,asia and ,eastern ,europe many either belonged already to the ubiquitous ,household1 or entered it after conversion1 as purchased slaves or otherwise2 and that some time before our ,epistle was written there was a large draft from the provincial to the metropolitan department2 and that thus1 when ,st ,paul thought of personal ,christian friends at ,rome1 he would happen to think1 mainly1 of saints of ,csar's ,household4 ,such a theory would also1 by the way1 help to explain the emphasis with which just these saints sent their greeting1 later1 to ,philippi4 ,many of them might have lived in ,macedonia1 and particularly in the colonia of ,philippi1 before the time of their supposed transference to ,rome4 ,we may add1 from ,lightfoot's discussion1 a word about the households1 or people--of ,aristobulus and ,narcissus--mentioned in the greetings before us4 ,it seems at least likely that the ,aristobulus of the ,epistle was a grandson of ,herod the ,great1 and brother of ,agrippa of ,judea2 a prince who lived and died at ,rome4 ,at his death it would be no improbable thing that his household should pass by legacy to the ,emperor1 while they would still1 as a sort of clan1 keep their old master's name4 ,aristobulus' servants1 probably many of them ,jews 7,herodion1 ,st ,paul's kinsman1 may have been a retainer of this ,herod71 would thus now be a part of the ,household of ,csar1 and the ,christians among them would be a group of the ,household saints4 ,as to the ,narcissus of the ,epistle1 he may well have been the all-powerful freedman of ,claudius1 put to death early in ,nero's time4 ,on his death1 his great familia would become1 by confiscation1 part of the ,household2 and its ,christian members would be thought of by ,st ,paul as among the ,household saints4 ,thus it is at least possible that the holy lives which here pass in such rapid file before us were lived not only in ,rome1 but in a connexion more or less close with the service and business of the ,court of ,nero4 ,so freely does grace make light of circumstance4 ,now it is time to come from our preliminaries to the text4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #a4 ,but--the word may mark the movement of thought from his own delay in reaching them to ,phbe's immediate coming--,i commend to you ,phbe1 our sister1 7this ,christian woman bore1 without change1 and without reproach1 the name of the ,moon-,goddess of the ,greeks17 being a ministrant 77 of the ,church which is in ,cenchre1 the gan port of ,corinth2 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #b4 that you may welcome her1 in the ,lord1 as a fellow-member of ,his ,body1 in a way worthy of the saints1 with all the respect and the affection of the ,gospel1 and that you may stand by her 7 7 in any matter in which she may need you1 stranger as she will be at ,rome4 ,for she on her part 77 has proved#bfb a stand-by 7almost a champion1 one who stands up for others1 7 of many1 aye1 and of me among them4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #c4 ,greet ,prisca#bfc and ,aquila 771 my co-workers in ,christ ,jesus2 the friends ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #d4 who 77 for my life's sake submitted their own throat to the knife 7it was at some stern crisis otherwise utterly unknown to us1 but well known in heaven72 to whom not only ,i give thanks1 but also all the ,churches of the ,nations2 for they saved the man whom the ,lord consecrated to the service of the ,gentile world4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #e4 ,and the ,church at their house greet with them2 that is1 the ,christians of their neighbourhood1 who used ,aquila's great room as their house of prayer2 the embryo of our parish or district ,church4 ,this provision of a place of worship was an old usage of this holy pair1 whom ,st ,paul's almost reverent affection presents to us in such a living individuality4 ,they had gathered a domestic ,church at ,corinth1 not many months before 7#a ,cor4 xvi4 #ai74 ,and earlier still1 at ,ephesus 7,acts xviii4 #bf71 they wielded such a ,christian influence that they must have been a central point of influence and gathering there also4 ,in ,prisca1 or ,priscilla1 as it has been remarked1#bfd we have an example of what a married woman may do1 for the general service of the ,church1 in conjunction with home-duties1 just as ,phbe is the type of the unmarried servant of the ,church1 or deaconess4 ,greet ,epntus1 my beloved1 who is the firstfruits of ,asia1#bfe that is of the ,ephesian ,province1 unto ,christ2 doubtless one who owed his soul to ,st ,paul in that three years' missionary pastorate at ,ephesus1 and who was now bound to him by the indescribable tie which makes the converter and converted one4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #f4 ,greet ,mary--a ,jewess probably1 ,miriam or ,maria1--for she 77 toiled hard for you#bff2 when and how we cannot know4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #g4 ,greet ,andronicus and ,junias1 ,junianus1 my kinsmen1 and my fellow-captives in ,christ's war 772 a loving and mindful reference to the human relationships which so freely1 but not lightly1 he had sacrificed for ,christ1 and to some persecution-battle 7was it at ,philippi87 when these good men had shared his prison2 men who 77 are distinguished among the apostles2 either as being themselves1 in a secondary sense1 devoted apostles1 ,christ's missionary delegates1 though not of the ,apostolate proper1 or as being honoured above the common1 for their toil and their character1 by the ,apostolic ,brotherhood2 who also before me came to be1 as they are1 in ,christ4#bfg ,not improbably these two early converts helped to goad 7,acts xxvi4 #ad7 the conscience of their still persecuting ,kinsman1 and to prepare the way of ,christ in his heart4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #h4 ,greet ,amplias1 ,ampliatus1 my beloved in the ,lord2 surely a personal convert of his own4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #i4 ,greet ,urbanus1 my co-worker in ,christ1 and ,stachys--another masculine name--my beloved4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aj4 ,greet ,apelles1 that 77 tested man in ,christ2 the ,lord knows1 not we1 the tests he stood4 ,greet those who belong to ,aristobulus' people4#bfh ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #aa4 ,greet ,herodion1 my kinsman4 ,greet those who belong to ,narcissus' people1 those who are in the ,lord4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ab4 ,greet ,tryphna and ,tryphosa1 7almost certainly1 by the type of their names1 female slaves17 who toil in the ,lord1 perhaps as servants of the ,church1 so far as earthly service would allow them4 ,greet ,persis1 the beloved woman1 7with faultless delicacy he does not here say my beloved1 as he had said of the ,christian men mentioned just above17 for she 77 toiled hard in the ,lord2 perhaps at some time when ,st ,paul had watched her in a former and more ,eastern home4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ac4 ,greet ,rufus--just possibly the ,rufus of ,mar4 xv4 #ba1 brother of ,alexander1 and son of ,cross-carrying ,simon2 the family was evidently known to ,st ,mark1 and we have good cause to think that ,st ,mark wrote primarily for ,roman readers--,rufus1 the chosen man in the ,lord1 a saint of the lite2 and his mother--and mine6 ,this nameless woman had done a mother's part1 somehow and somewhere1 to the motherless ,missionary1 and her lovingkindness stands recorded now ,in either ,book of ,life1 here and above4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ad4 ,greet ,asyncrtus1 ,phlegon1 ,hermas1 ,patrbas1 ,hermes1 and the brethren who are with them2 dwellers perhaps in some isolated and distant quarter of ,rome1 a little ,church by themselves4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ae4 ,greet ,philologus and ,julia1 ,nereus and his sister1 and all the saints who are with them1 in their assembly4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #af4 ,greet one another with a sacred kiss2 the ,oriental pledge of friendship1 and of respect4 ,all 7read 7 the ,churches of ,christ greet you2 ,corinth1 ,cenchre1 with all the saints in the whole of ,achaia 7#b ,cor4 i4 #a74 99 99 99 99 99 ,the roll of names is over1 with its music1 that subtle characteristic of such recitations of human personalities1 and with its moving charm for the heart due almost equally to our glimpses of information about one here and one there and to our total ignorance about others2 an ignorance of everything about them but that they were at ,rome1 and that they were in ,christ4 ,we seem1 by an effort of imagination1 to see1 as through a bright cloud1 the faces of the company1 and to catch the far-off voices2 but the dream dissolves in wrecks2 we do not know them1 we do not know their distant world4 ,but we do know ,,him in whom they were1 and are2 and that they have been with ,him1 which is far better1 for now so long a time of rest and glory4 ,some no doubt by deaths of terror and wonder1 by the fire1 by the horrible wild-beasts1 departed to be with ,him2 some went1 perhaps1 with a dismissal as gentle as love and stillness could make it4 ,but however1 they were the ,lord's2 they are with the ,lord4 ,and we1 in ,him1 ,are tending upward too1 ,as fast as time can move4 ,so we watch this unknown yet well-beloved company1 with a sense of fellowship and expectation impossible out of ,christ4 ,this page is no mere relic of the past2 it is a list of friendships to be made hereafter1 and to be possessed for ever1 in the endless life where personality indeed shall be eternal1 but where also the union of personalities1 in ,christ1 shall be beyond our utmost present thought4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but the ,apostle cannot close with these messages of love4 ,he remembers another and anxious need1 a serious spiritual peril in the ,roman community4 ,he has not even alluded to it before1 but it must be handled1 however briefly1 now3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ag4 ,but ,i appeal to you1 brethren1 to watch the persons who make the divisions and the stumbling-blocks you know of1 alien to the teaching which you learnt 7there is an emphasis on you1 as if to difference the true-hearted converts from these troublers72--and do turn away from them2 go1 and keep1 out of their way2 wise counsel for a peaceable but effectual resistance4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ah4 ,for such people are not bondservants of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 but they are bondservants of their own belly4 ,they talk much of a mystic freedom2 and free indeed they are from the accepted dominion of the ,redeemer--but all the more they are enslaved to themselves2 and by their 77 pious language and their specious pleas they quite beguile 77 the hearts of the simple1 the unsuspicious4 ,and they may perhaps have special hopes of beguiling you1 because of your well-known readiness to submit1 with the submission of faith1 to sublime truths2 a noble character1 but calling inevitably for the safeguards of intelligent caution3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ai4 ,for your obedience1 the obedience of faith1 shewn when the ,gospel reached you1 was carried by report to all men1 and so to these beguilers1 who hope now to entice your faith astray4 ,as regards you1 therefore1 looking only at your personal condition1 ,i rejoice4 ,only ,i wish you to be wise as to what is good1 but uncontaminated 7by defiling knowledge7 as to what is evil4 ,he would not have their holy readiness to believe distorted into an unhallowed and falsely tolerant curiosity4 ,he would have their faith not only submissive but spiritually intelligent 772 then they would be alive to the risks of a counterfeited and illusory ,gospel4 ,they would feel1 as with an educated ,christian instinct1 where decisively to hold back1 where to refuse attention to unwholesome teaching4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bj4 ,but the ,god of our 77 peace will crush ,satan down beneath your feet speedily4 ,this spiritual mischief1 writhing itself1 like the serpent of ,paradise1 into your happy precincts1 is nothing less than a stratagem of the great ,enemy's own2 a movement of his mysterious personal antagonism to your ,lord1 and to you ,his people4 ,but the ,enemy's ,conqueror1 working in you1 will make the struggle short and decisive4 ,meet the inroad in the name of ,him who has made peace for you1 and works peace in you1 and it will soon be over4#bfi ,the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ be 7or may we not render is87 with you4 ,what precisely was the mischief1 who precisely were the dangerous teachers1 spoken of here so abruptly and so urgently by ,st ,paul8 ,it is easier to ask the question than to answer it4 ,some expositors have sought a solution in the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters1 and have found in an extreme school of theoretical liberty these men of pious language and specious pleas4 ,but to us this seems impossible4 ,almost explicitly1 in those chapters1 he identifies himself in principle with the capable2 certainly there is not a whisper of horror as regards their principle1 and nothing but a friendly while unreserved reproof for the uncharity of their practice4 ,here he has in his mind men whose purposes and whose teachings are nothing but evil2 who are to be--not indeed persecuted but--avoided2 not met in conference1 but solemnly refused a further hearing4 ,in our view1 the case was one of embryo ,gnosticism4 ,the ,romans1 so we take it1 were troubled by teachers who used the language of ,christianity1 saying much of ,redemption1 and of ,emancipation1 and something of ,christ1 and of the ,spirit2 but all the while they meant a thing totally different from the ,gospel of the ,cross4 ,they meant by redemption and freedom1 the liberation of spirit from matter4 ,they meant by ,christ and the ,spirit1 mere links in a chain of phantom beings1 supposed to span the gulf between the ,absolute ,unknowable ,existence and the finite ,world4 ,and their morality too often tended to the tenet that as matter was hopelessly evil1 and spirit the unfortunate prisoner in matter1 the material body had nothing to do with its unwilling1 and pure1 ,inhabitant3 let the body go its own evil way1 and work out its base desires4 ,our sketch is taken from developed ,gnosticism1 such as it is known to have been a generation or two later than ,st ,paul4 ,but it is more than likely that such errors were present1 in essence1 all through the ,apostolic age4 ,and it is easy to see how they could from the first disguise themselves in the special terminology of the ,gospel of liberty and of the ,spirit4 ,such things may look to us1 after eighteen hundred years1 only like fossils of the old rocks4 ,they are indeed fossil specimens--but of existing species4 ,the atmosphere of the ,christian world is still infected1 from time to time--perhaps more now than a few generations ago1 whatever that fact may mean--with unwholesome subtleties1 in which the purest forms of truth are indescribably manipulated into the deadliest related error2 a mischief sure to betray itself1 however1 7where the man tempted to parley with it is at once wakeful and humble17 by some fatal flaw of pride1 or of untruthfulness1 or of an uncleanness however subtle4 ,and for the believer so tempted1 under common circumstances1 there is still1 as of old1 no counsel more weighty than ,st ,paul's counsel here4 ,if he would deal with such snares in the right way1 he must turn away from them4 ,he must turn away to the ,christ of history4 ,he must occupy himself anew with the primeval ,gospel of pardon1 holiness1 and heaven4 99 99 99 99 99 ,is the ,letter to be closed here at last8 ,not quite yet2 not until one and then another of the gathered circle has committed his greetings to it4 ,and first comes up the dear ,timotheus1 the man nearest of all to the strong heart of the ,apostle4 ,we seem to see him alive before us1 so much has ,st ,paul1 in one ,epistle and another1 but above all in his dying ,letter to ,timotheus himself1 contributed to a portrait4 ,he is many years younger than his leader and ,christian father4 ,his face1 full of thought1 feeling1 and devotion1 is rather earnest than strong4 ,but it has the strength of patience1 and of absolute sincerity1 and of rest in ,christ4 ,timotheus repays the affection of ,paul with unwavering fidelity4 ,and he will be true to the end to his ,lord and ,redeemer1 through whatever tears and agonies of sensibility4 ,then ,lucius will speak1 perhaps the ,cyrenian of ,antioch 7,acts xiii4 #a72 and ,jason1 perhaps the convert of ,thessalonica 7,acts xvii4 #e72 and ,sosipater1 perhaps the ,berean ,sopater of ,acts xx4 #d2 three blood-relations of the ,apostle1 who was not left utterly alone of human affinities1 though he had laid them all at his ,master's feet4 ,then the faithful ,tertius claims the well-earned privilege of writing one sentence for himself4 ,and ,gaius modestly requests his salutation1 and ,erastus1 the man of civic dignity and large affairs4 ,he has found no discord between the tenure of a great secular office and the life of ,christ2 but to-day he is just a brother with brethren1 named side by side with the ,quartus whose only title is that beautiful one1 the brother1 our fellow in the family of ,god4 ,so the gathered friends speak each in his turn to the ,christians of the ,city2 we listen as the names are given3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #ba4 ,there greets you ,timotheus my fellow-worker1 and ,lucius1 and ,jason1 and ,sosipatrus1 my kinsmen4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bb4 ,there greets you ,i1 ,tertius1 who wrote the ,epistle in the ,lord2 he had been simply ,paul's conscious pen1 but also he had willingly drawn the strokes as being one with ,christ1 and as working in ,his cause4 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bc4 ,there greets you ,gaius1 host of me and of the whole ,church2 universal welcomer to his door of all who love his beloved ,lord1 and now particularly of all at ,corinth who need his ,lord's ,apostle4 ,there greets you ,erastus1 the ,treasurer of the ,city1 and ,quartus 7,kouartos71 the brother4#bgj 99 99 99 99 99 ,here1 as we seem to discern the scene1 there is indeed a pause1 and what might look like an end4 ,tertius lays down the pen4 ,the circle of friends breaks up1 and ,paul is left alone--alone with his unseen ,lord1 and with that long1 silent ,letter2 his own1 yet not his own4 ,he takes it in his hands1 to read1 to ponder1 to believe1 to call up again the ,roman converts so dear1 so far away1 and to commit them again for faith1 and for life1 to ,christ and to ,his ,father4 ,he sees them beset by the encircling masses of pagan idolatry and vice1 and by the embittered ,judaism which meets them at every turn4 ,he sees them hindered by their own mutual prejudices and mistakes1 for they are sinners still4 ,lastly1 he sees them approached by this serpentine delusion of an unhallowed mysticism1 which would substitute the thought of matter for that of sin1 and reverie for faith1 and an unknowable ,somewhat1 inaccessible to the finite1 for the ,god and ,father of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,and then he sees this astonishing ,,gospel1 whose glorious outline and argument he has been caused to draw1 as it was never drawn before1 on those papyrus pages2 the ,truth of ,god1 not of man2 veiled so long1 promised so long1 known at last2 the ,gospel which displays the sinner's peace1 the believer's life1 the radiant boundless future of the saints1 and1 in all and above all1 the eternal ,love of the ,father and the ,son4 ,in this ,gospel1 his ,gospel1 he sees manifested afresh his ,,god4 ,and he adores ,him afresh1 and commits to ,him afresh these dear ones of the ,roman ,mission4 ,he must give them one word more1 to express his overrunning heart4 ,he must speak to them of ,,him who is ,almighty for them against the complex might of evil4 ,he must speak of that ,gospel in whose lines the almighty grace will run4 ,it is the ,gospel of ,paul1 but also and first the proclamation made by ,jesus ,christ of ,himself as our ,salvation4 ,it is the ,secret hushed throughout the long ons of the past1 but now spoken out indeed2 the ,message which the ,lord of ,ages1 choosing ,his hour aright1 now imperially commands to be announced to the ,nations1 that they may submit to it and live4 ,it is the vast ,fulfilment of those mysterious ,scriptures which are now the credentials1 and the watchword1 of its preachers4 ,it is the supreme expression of the sole and eternal ,wisdom2 clear to the intellect of the heaven-taught child2 more unfathomable1 even to the heavenly watchers1 than ,creation itself4 ,to the ,god of this ,gospel he must now entrust the ,romans1 in the glowing words in which he worships ,,him through the ,son in whom ,he is seen and praised4 ,to this ,god--while the very language is broken by its own force--he must give glory everlasting1 for ,his ,gospel1 and for ,himself4 ,he takes the papers1 and the pen4 ,with dim eyes1 and in large1 laborious letters1#bga and forgetting at the close1 in the intensity of his soul1 to make perfect the grammatical connexion1 he inscribes1 in the twilight1 this most wonderful of ,doxologies4 ,let us watch him to its close1 and then in silence leave him before his ,lord1 and ours3 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #be4 ,but to ,him who is able to establish you1 according to my ,gospel1 and the proclamation of1 made by1 ,jesus ,christ1 true to 77 7the7 unveiling of 7the7 ,secret hushed in silence during ages of times1 ,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bf4 but manifested now1 and through 7the7 prophetic ,scriptures1 according to the edict of the ,god of ,ages1 for faith's obedience1 published among all the ,nations--,sidenote3 ,ver4 #bg4 to ,god ,only ,wise1 through ,jesus ,christ--to whom be the glory unto the ages of the ages4 ,amen4 #bei ,see on below4 #bfj ,see #a ,cor4 xvi4 #ai4 #bfa ,pp4 #aga-agh 7eighth edition74 #bfb ,lit41 did prove3 it is the epistolary aorist4 #bfc ,read not 4 #bfd ,by the late ,dean ,howson1 in ,smith's ,bible ,dictionary4 #bfe ,so certainly read1 not 4 #bff ,reading 4 #bfg ,the perfect1 1 1 imports the permanence of their blessed position1 up to the date4 #bfh ,see above1 p4 #dbe1 on this allusion1 and on ,herodion1 and on ,narcissus' people4 #bfi ,in our short ,commentary on the ,epistle in ,the ,cambridge ,bible we advocate a rather different view of these verses in detail4 ,but the main reference seems to us to be what it then seemed4 #bgj ,ver4 #bd is probably to be omitted1 as an insertion after date4 #bga ,gal4 vi4 #aa3 ,see with what great letters ,i have written to you1 in autograph6 ,it has been remarked that this great ,doxology bears a literary likeness to other passages which he probably wrote with his own hand4 ,printed by ,hasell1 ,watson ,viney1 ,ld41 ,london and ,aylesbury4 ,,works ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author4 ,outlines of ,christian ,doctrine4 #bs4 #f;d4 7in the ,theological ,educator ,series74 ,veni ,creator3 ,thoughts on the ,holy ,spirit4 #es4 ,to ,my ,younger ,brethren3 ,chapters on ,pastoral ,life4 #es4 ,life in ,christ and for ,christ4 #as4 ,thoughts on ,christian ,sanctity4 #as4 ,thoughts on ,union with ,christ4 #as4 ,thoughts on ,spiritual ,life4 #as4 ,thoughts on ,secret ,prayer4 #as4 ,at the ,holy ,communion3 ,helps to ,preparation and ,communion4 #as4 ,prayers for the ,home4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,jesus and the ,resurrection3 ,expository ,chapters on ,john xx41 xxi4 #bs4 ,charles ,simeon4 7,series of ,english ,leaders of ,religion47 #bs4 #f;d4 ,christ is ,all3 ,sermons4 7,series of ,preachers of the ,age47 #bs4 #f;d4 ,commentaries on the ,romans 7#cs4 #f;d472 ,ephesians 7#bs4 #f;d472 ,philippians 7#bs4 #f;d472 ,colossians and ,philemon 7#bs4 #f;d472 in ,the ,cambridge ,bible for ,schools and ,colleges4 ,also short ,tracts on ,the ,new ,birth1 ,justifying ,righteousness1 ,the ,cleansing ,blood1 ,the ,cup of the ,covenant1 ,spiritual ,fulness1 ,heart ,purity1 ,the ,christian and the ,world1 ,the ,christian's ,victory over ,sin1 ,the ,ministry of ,women1 etc4 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author ,second ,edition4 ,crown #hvo1 cloth1 #es4 ,,to ,,my ,,younger ,,brethren3 ,chapters on ,pastoral ,life and ,work4 ,,contents3--,the ,secret ,walk with ,god--,secret ,study of the ,holy ,scriptures--,the ,daily ,walk with others--,pastor in ,parish--,the ,clergyman and the ,prayer ,book--,preaching4 ,practical1 sensible1 and devout4--,glasgow ,herald4 ,this is a valuable work1 thoughtful and practical in a high degree4--,christian4 ,we can cordially recommend his work to the younger clergy as the work of one who1 from the nature of his position1 has had unusual opportunities of observing their needs1 their weaknesses1 and their difficulties1 and who brings to bear upon his observations a spirit of piety and earnestness and a keen good sense which makes them worthy of the closest attention4--,church ,quarterly ,review4 ,fifth ,thousand4 ,crown #hvo1 cloth1 #es4 ,,veni ,,creator3 ,thoughts on the ,person and ,work of the ,holy ,spirit of ,promise4 ,mr4 ,handley ,moule places the theological student under another debt of gratitude by the publication of a new work on the ,holy ,spirit4444 ,in it we discover a firm grasp of ,divine truth1 marked expository skill1 a deeply spiritual and reverent manner of approaching the subject4 ,it is impossible to read this book without rising with a clearer appreciation of the nature and extent of the ,holy ,spirit's operations as set out in the words of our ,lord and ,his apostles4--,record4 ,clear1 thoughtful1 and devout4444 ,in every page we feel ourselves under the guidance of a competent theologian1 of one who knows the best that has been written on the subject1 and who brings an independent mind to its study4 ,the book is as remarkable for warmth of feeling as it is for clearness and depth of thought1 and we are persuaded it will be widely read--at least1 it deserves to be4--,aberdeen ,free ,press4 ,a most valuable and thoughtful work4--,ecclesiastical ,chronicle4 ,to the clergy generally1 and to all engaged in expounding or preaching the ,word1 this work will prove highly useful and suggestive1 supplying many original and beautiful thoughts4--,church ,advocate4 ,we heartily commend these reverent1 wise1 and well-considered chapters on a profoundly transcendent theme4--,christian4 ,it presents us with a clearly arranged consensus of the principal passages in the ,new ,testament1 expounds them with ripe ,christian wisdom1 and applies them with force and skill which it is difficult to resist4 ,this is a book which every ,christian worker ought to read1 mark1 learn1 and inwardly digest4--,baptist ,magazine4 ,thirteenth ,thousand4 #abmo1 cloth1 red edges1 #as4 ,,life ,,in ,,christ ,,and ,,for ,,christ4 ,the persuasive eloquence of these thoughtful pages will ensure for the book a ready welcome4--,record4 ,the first four chapters of this little work bear a common title1 ',life in ,christ1 and ,christ in ,life4' ,they are the cream of the work1 and are as valuable as anything we have ever seen from the pen of ,mr4 ,moule4--,rock4 ,tenth ,thousand 7with full ,indices74 ,fcap4 #hvo1 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,outlines ,,of ,,christian ,,doctrine4 ,one of the ,volumes of the ,,theological ,,educator4 ,mr4 ,moule has attempted a very difficult task1 and has at least succeeded in condensing an immense mass of information into a small compass4 ,it is perhaps superfluous to say that his work is characterised by great reverence from the first page to the last4 ,at every point the reader feels that he is reading a statement of a theology which is the life of the writer4 ,in the more strictly theological part the summary is1 as a rule1 arranged and expressed excellently4--,guardian4 ,marked throughout by the most careful and critical knowledge of ,scripture1 more particularly of the ,new ,testament1 and the most patient weighing and comparison of parallel texts4444 ,it forms an admirable introduction to the subject1 and seems in intellectual power to even surpass any other of ,mr4 ,moule's published writings4--,record4 ,the ,author disclaims originality or exhaustiveness1 but the work shows a certain originality of the expository skill with which the familiar doctrine is made clear1 and it is so concisely written that a divinity student who had mastered its contents might be fairly well considered able to pass the examination for ,orders4 ,it is an admirable text-book1 and enhances the value of the series in which it appears4--,scotsman4 ,we have read parts of it again and again1 and it has been difficult for us to bring ourselves down to any reasonable dimensions in reviewing it1 for it is emphatically a multum in parvo1 and it is not every day we are so pleased and satisfied with a volume4--,rock4 ,,london3 ,,hodder ,,stoughton1 #bg1 ,,paternoster ,,row4 ,,the ,,expositor',s ,,bible4 ,crown #hvo1 cloth1 price #gs4 #f;d4 each vol4 ,,first ,,series1 #ahhg-h4 ,colossians4 ,by ,a4 ,,maclaren1 ,d4,d4 ,st4 ,mark4 ,by ,very ,rev4 the ,dean of ,armagh4 ,genesis4 ,by ,prof4 ,,marcus ,,dods1 ,d4,d4 #a ,samuel4 ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,g4 ,,blaikie1 ,d4,d4 #b ,samuel4 ,by the ,same ,author4 ,hebrews4 ,by ,principal ,t4 ,c4 ,,edwards1 ,d4,d4 ,,second ,,series1 #ahhh-i4 ,galatians4 ,by ,prof4 ,g4 ,g4 ,,findlay1 ,b4,a4 ,the ,pastoral ,epistles4 ,by ,rev4 ,a4 ,,plummer1 ,d4,d4 ,isaiah ,i4-,,xxxix4 ,by ,g4 ,a4 ,,smith1 ,m4,a4 ,vol4 ,i ,the ,book of ,revelation4 ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,,milligan1 ,d4,d4 #a ,corinthians4 ,by ,prof4 ,,marcus ,,dods1 ,d4,d4 ,the ,epistles of ,st4 ,john4 ,by ,rt4 ,rev4 ,w4 ,,alexander1 ,d4,d4 ,,third ,,series1 #ahhi-ij4 ,judges and ,ruth4 ,by ,rev4 ,r4 ,a4 ,,watson1 ,d4,d4 ,jeremiah4 ,by ,rev4 ,c4 ,j4 ,,ball1 ,m4,a4 ,isaiah ,,xl4-,,lxvi4 ,by ,g4 ,a4 ,,smith1 ,m4,a4 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,st4 ,matthew4 ,by ,rev4 ,j4 ,,monro ,,gibson1 ,d4,d4 ,exodus4 ,by ,very ,rev4 the ,dean of ,armagh4 ,st4 ,luke4 ,by ,rev4 ,h4 ,,burton1 ,b4,a4 ,,fourth ,,series1 #ahij-a4 ,ecclesiastes4 ,by ,rev4 ,,samuel ,,cox1 ,d4,d4 ,st4 ,james and ,st4 ,jude4 ,by ,rev4 ,a4 ,,plummer1 ,d4,d4 ,proverbs4 ,by ,rev4 ,r4 ,f4 ,,horton1 ,m4,a4 ,leviticus4 ,by ,rev4 ,s4 ,h4 ,,kellogg1 ,d4,d4 ,the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john4 ,by ,prof4 ,m4 ,,dods1 ,d4,d4 ,vol4 ,i4 ,the ,acts of the ,apostles4 ,by ,prof4 ,,stokes1 ,d4,d4 ,vol4 ,i4 ,,fifth ,,series1 #ahia-b4 ,the ,psalms4 ,by ,a4 ,,maclaren1 ,d4,d4 ,vol4 ,i4 #a and #b ,thessalonians4 ,by ,,jas4 ,,denney1 ,b4,d4 ,the ,book of ,job4 ,by ,r4 ,a4 ,,watson1 ,d4,d4 ,ephesians4 ,by ,prof4 ,g4 ,g4 ,,findlay1 ,b4,a4 ,the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john4 ,by ,prof4 ,m4 ,,dods1 ,d4,d4 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,the ,acts of the ,apostles4 ,by ,prof4 ,,stokes1 ,d4,d4 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,,sixth ,,series1 #ahib-c4 ,philippians4 ,by ,principal ,,rainy1 ,d4,d4 #a ,kings4 ,by ,ven4 ,archdeacon ,,farrar1 ,d4,d4 ,joshua4 ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,g4 ,,blaikie1 ,d4,d4 ,ezra1 ,nehemiah1 ,esther4 ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,f4 ,,adeney1 ,m4,a4 ,the ,psalms4 ,by ,a4 ,,maclaren1 ,d4,d4 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,the ,epistles of ,st4 ,peter4 ,by ,prof4 ,,rawson ,,lumby1 ,d4,d4 ,,seventh ,,series1 #ahic-d4 ,romans4 ,by ,,handley ,c4 ,g4 ,,moule1 ,m4,a4 #b ,kings4 ,by ,ven4 ,archdeacon ,,farrar1 ,d4,d4 #a ,chronicles4 ,by ,rev4 ,prof4 ,,bennett1 ,m4,a4 #b ,corinthians4 ,by ,,james ,,denney1 ,b4,d4 ,numbers4 ,by ,r4 ,a4 ,,watson1 ,d4,d4 ,the ,psalms4 ,by ,a4 ,,maclaren1 ,d4,d4 ,vol4 ,,iii4