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4 
 
LECTURES 
 
 DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 Ti«i/Tct ovrM?. — Acts, c. xvii. V. 11. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH; 
 
 AND T. CADELL, STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 M.DCCC. XXXVIII. 
 
PIKNTKD BY BA I.LANTY.V B A.VD COMPANY, PAUL'S WURK, EDINBURGH. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is, in the Christian world, on all hands al- 
 lowed, that the epistle of the apostle Paul to the 
 Romans contains a perfect and inestimable account 
 of the gospel dispensation. Yet, is that epistle, in 
 its most important parts, often greatly misunderstood 
 and misrepresented. The chief causes of this are, 
 inadvertence to the immediate and precise design of 
 the apostle, in writing the epistle, inattention to the 
 erroneous expectations of the generality of the Jews, 
 in regard to the character of the expected Messiah, 
 and to their prejudices, in respect to the nature of 
 his kingdom, misconception of the real nature of the 
 objections urged, by that blinded people, against the 
 gospel, and of the replies of the apostle, a conse- 
 quent misapprehension of the most important words 
 and terms used by the apostle, and the assigning to 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 those words and terms a meaning very different 
 from that, which he intended. 
 
 The following Lectures are the result of a close 
 and constant study of the epistle, during many years, 
 and have heen composed, not for any particular con- 
 gregation, hut for the general use of the Christian 
 public. The author is fully conscious, that, divest- 
 ing himself of all manner of prepossession and undue 
 bias, he has endeavoured to ascertain, and to give, 
 the true meaning of the apostle, by the most careful, 
 persevering, and candid, critical examination of his 
 words, in the language, in which he wrote. He has, 
 of course, attentively and diligently perused the 
 most approved critics, commentators, and other 
 writers, on the epistle ; and, while he has seen the 
 clearest and most convincing reasons for deviating 
 from the opinions of some authors of name and 
 weight, he has the satisfaction to think, that, on all 
 essential points, he agrees with the most learned, 
 able, and candid, writers on the epistle, ancient and 
 modern, that the Christian Church has produced. 
 He has the testimony of his heart, that his motive, 
 in composing and publishing the Lectures, is, the 
 good of the Christian public ; whose present edifica- 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 tion, sanctification, and comfort, and whose eternal 
 salvation, felicity, and glory, he fervently prays, and 
 humbly hopes they may, by the divine blessing, pro- 
 mote. He chooses to omit prefixing his name to the 
 Lectures ; — a circumstance, which, if they possess in- 
 trinsic merit, ought not to affect their usefulness ; 
 and he most humbly and respectfully dedicates them 
 to all sincere, candid, and intelligent, Christians, of 
 whatever denomination. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 ROMANS, 1. 1-17. 
 
 The inscription of this inestimable epistle is, not 
 merely what custom rendered that part of a letter, — 
 a form of salutation and compliment. It is more. 
 The apostle consecrates it to the purposes of edifica- 
 tion. It is a prayer, breathing fervent devotion and 
 love. We find, in the inscription, the once superci- 
 lious Pharisee, — the once determined enemy and 
 persecutor of Christ and his disciples, — ^now readily 
 and openly declaring himself, the devoted bondman 
 of his divine Lord. In this he furnishes a bright 
 example of profound humility, to all, who through the 
 mercy of God, may be arrested, in a rash career of 
 opposition to his will, and brought to see their error, 
 folly, and sin ; and, richly endowed, as he was, with 
 transcendent natural talents, as well as with the su- 
 pernatural gifts and powers of tjb Holy Spirit, he 
 affords an example of the same cardinal virtue to all 
 Christians, however excellent, and especially to the 
 ministers of the gospel, however eminently qualified. 
 
8 LECTURE I. 
 
 But, although this eminent man gloried in being 
 the humble bondman of Christ, it was, in all respects, 
 proper and necessary for him, in this inscription, to 
 announce himself, by his proper designation, — " as 
 called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of 
 God." While he was yet breathing threatenings and 
 slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, Christ 
 himself appeared to him, in a manner too effectual, 
 to allow him any longer to doubt, that he was blindly 
 fighting against God. He was divinely apprized, 
 that he was chosen, to be a messenger, to bear the 
 happy tidings of the salvation of God to men, and 
 especially to the Gentile world. He received his 
 knowledge of the gospel, by immediate revelation, 
 from its divine author ; and he was, not only himself 
 plentifully endowed, with the gifts and powers of the 
 Holy Spirit, but was also enabled to confer them on 
 others. These gifts and powers were his credentials, 
 — the unquestionable signs of his being indeed an 
 apostle. Justly, then, may we expect, to find, in his 
 recorded discourses, and in his own epistles, a full 
 and clear account of the nature of the gospel. 
 
 But, it ought to be particularly observed, that the 
 history, discourses, and epistles of this apostle, have, 
 in the judgment of every well informed Christian, 
 always afforded t|^ clearest evidence of the truth of 
 the gospel. To the candid and close study of these, 
 therefore, it is the wisdom and the duty of those, 
 who may entertain doubts of the truth of the gospel. 
 
LECTURE I. 9 
 
 to have recourse. If they do so, the result cannot 
 fail to be satisfactory. The history, which we have 
 of this apostle, as well as his own epistles, are un- 
 questionably genuine ; and there is, between them, 
 a wonderful, yet manifestly undesigned, coincidence. 
 The miracles, which he performed, were very nume- 
 rous, diversified, and matter of public notoriety. In 
 his epistles, he refers and appeals to them, as being 
 so ; and, had they not been really performed, his refer- 
 ences and appeals, instead of promoting his views, 
 could not fail to be the subject of ridicule. His gTcat 
 success every where in making converts, not only 
 among the lower orders, but sometimes also among the 
 intelligent and learned, can be accounted for, only on 
 the supposition of the reality of his miracles, and the 
 truth of what he taught. In a word, the history of 
 this eminent man, and his own epistles, possess such 
 genuine characteristics of truth and reality, that the 
 candid and attentive perusal of them, cannot fail to 
 produce a conviction, that the gospel is indeed from 
 God. 
 
 The gospel is here alluded to, in terms very appro- 
 priate and emphatical. The tidings, which it has 
 brought, are great and joyful. It has proclaimed 
 peace on earth, and good will to the children of men, 
 as well as glory to God, in thdPhighest. In this 
 happy dispensation, God, the Father of mercies, is 
 reconciling to himself the world, not imputing to them 
 their trespasses; and the apostle and his fellow- 
 
10 LECTURE I. 
 
 ambassadors were commissioned and commanded to 
 declare and to testify to all the Gentiles, that their 
 heavenly Father, from whom they had long been 
 estranged and alienated, not only permitted but be- 
 seeched them, to be reconciled to him, and that the 
 fruit of reconciliation will be eternal life, glory, 
 honour, and peace. 
 
 This gospel, the apostle observes, is *' concerning 
 the Son of God our Lord, Jesus Christ." The Son 
 of God was the great agent, in effecting the reconci- 
 liation. He became *' the propitiation for our sins," 
 — " for the sins of the whole world." — Though " he 
 knew no sin," he was " made sin," — a sin-offering, 
 — " for us, that we might be made the righteousness 
 of God, in him." By his obedience unto death, he 
 has purchased for us life and immortality. This, 
 especially to us Gentiles, " who were dead in tres- 
 passes and sins," and who " were without hope, and 
 without God, in the world," is gospel indeed. These 
 are, indeed, great and joyful tidings, and worthy of 
 the God of love, who sent them to us. 
 
 The epistle is addressed, " to all that be in Rome, 
 beloved of God, called to be saints." In these words, 
 the apostle clearly means, all those, in Rome, who be- 
 lieved, that God the Father had raised his son Jesus 
 Christ from the diad, and who had received him, as 
 their Lord. All such he permitted to regard them- 
 selves, as the objects of the love of God, — called and 
 consecrated as his people, in the new covenant of the 
 
LECTURE I. 11 
 
 gospel, — the covenant of grace. For them, he prayed 
 for " grace and peace, from God, our Father and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 We have now considered the direct part of the in- 
 scription of this epistle. There are other things in 
 it, parenthetically introduced, which demand our 
 attention. The apostle observes, that " God had 
 promised" the dispensation of the gospel " afore, by 
 his prophets, in the Holy Scriptures." The effect, 
 produced by the predictions, relative to this dispensa- 
 tion, in the Holy Scriptures, was very powerful. At 
 the time of our Lord's appearance, the expectation of 
 his advent and reign was intense. The twelve tribes 
 of Israel, intently serving God, day and night, san- 
 guinely hoped, and eagerly desired, to see this, their 
 fondest hope, speedily realized. 
 
 The apostle also observes, that our Lord was 
 descended " from David, according to the flesh, and 
 declared to be the Son of God, with power, accord- 
 ing to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from 
 the dead." The public records of the Jews, kept as 
 they were, with the most religious care, made it clear 
 and unquestionable, that our Lord sprung from David ; 
 and accordingly this was never questioned. The 
 miracles, performed by our Lord, were very numerous, 
 diversified, and great, and, although absurdly, as well 
 as wickedly, ascribed, by his enemies, to the co-ope- 
 ration of evil spirits, were never denied to be real ; 
 and these miracles, accompanied as they were, by 
 
12 LECTURE I. 
 
 doctrines evidently divine, and enforced by matchless 
 eloquence, were highly calculated to convince men, 
 that Jesus was the expected Messiah, the Son of 
 God. These proofs, accordingly, did fully convince 
 the apostles and many others, of this important truth. 
 But, it is the resurrection of our Lord, from the dead, 
 that the apostle adduces, as the leading, irresistible, 
 and triumphant, proof, that Jesus was indeed the Son 
 of God. For his resurrection was, in itself, a stupen- 
 dous miracle ; and it was, besides, the fulfilment of 
 a prophecy ; — the Holy Spirit had, in the Scriptures, 
 predicted, that it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise 
 again, from the dead. 
 
 In relation to" the gospel dispensation, God the 
 Father gave to his Son all power and authority, and, 
 as the Father sent the Son, so the Son sent his 
 apostles, to invite and to entreat all nations, without 
 distinction, to embrace the gospel ; and the invita- 
 tion was grounded on the redemption, that was in 
 Christ, the divine, universal, mediator, between God 
 and men, who gave himself a ransom for all. Here, 
 accordingly, the great apostle of the Gentiles assures 
 the Christians at Rome, that they too were of those 
 Gentiles, w^ho were invited, and received, by Christ, 
 as fellow-citizens with the saints, and to be of the 
 household of God. "By whom we have i*eceived grace 
 and apostleship, for obedience to the faith, among all 
 nations, for his name ; among whom are ye also 
 called of Jesus Christ." This was edifying and 
 
LECTURE I. 13 
 
 cheering, indeed, to those Gentile Christians, who had 
 so recently heen delivered froin the power of dark- 
 ness, made meet to be partakers of the saints, in light, 
 and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son,* 
 who, in their heathen state, had, by the ancient 
 people of God, always been classed with the most 
 notorious and odious sinners, who, by that blinded 
 people, were still contemned, hated, and shunned, 
 and who, indeed, in their heathen state, and in 
 respect to the covenant, enjoyed by his peculiar 
 people, had always been regarded, by God himself, 
 as strangers and foreigners ; and it is equally edify- 
 ing, and equally cheering to every Christianized 
 people, whose forefathers were once blinded Gentiles, 
 dead in trespasses and sins, without hope, and with- 
 out God, in the world. 
 
 Thus, in the inscription itself of this epistle, we 
 have a brief summary of the gospel, — a summary, 
 not only valuable in itself, but also well calculated to 
 guide and assist us, in the proper explication of the 
 whole epistle. 
 
 The words, in which the apostle commences his 
 discourse, on the important subjects, contained, in 
 the epistle, are solemn, devout, and impressive. 
 " First I thank my God, through Jesus Christ for 
 you all, that your faith is spoken of, throughout the 
 whole world." Deeply sensible of the unspeakable 
 value of the salvation, of which the Christians, at 
 * Col. i. 13. 
 
14 LECTURE I. 
 
 Rome, had become the heirs, the apostle gives fer- 
 vent thanks to God, on their account ; and this he 
 does, in the manner, in which all Christians, ought, 
 for every good, and especially, for every Christian 
 blessing, to praise God, — " through Christ." But, 
 there was another consideration, of the most power- 
 ful nature, which made his heart glow with grati- 
 tude. Their conversion to the gospel was well 
 known, and spoken of throughout the whole empire, 
 — the whole known world ; and, in this, he clearly 
 saw, in progress, the fulfilment of that prophecy, 
 which announced, that the day should come, when 
 the whole earth would be full of the knowledge of 
 the Lord. He clearly perceived, in it, the vigorous 
 shooting of that grain of seed, most diminutive 
 though it was, which, once committed to the ground, 
 was destined ultimately to become the greatest of all 
 herbs. 
 
 The gospel must have found its way, to Rome, at 
 a very early period. On the memorable day of Pen- 
 tecost, when the gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit 
 were imparted to the disciples of Christ, there were at 
 Jerusalem from every nation under heaven devout 
 Jews, who had gone thither, doubtless for reUgious pur- 
 poses. Many of these, upon miraculously hearing, each 
 in his own language, the wonderful works of God, 
 were converted to Christ, among whom, in all proba- 
 bility, there were some of those " strangers of Rome, 
 — Jews and proselytes," — who were present, that, on 
 
LECTURE I. 15 
 
 their return, must have brought their new religion 
 along with them. From this period, to the time, 
 in which the apostle wrote this epistle, there had 
 elapsed twenty-five years ; and from the time of the 
 apostle's conversion, to the same period, twenty. 
 Now, to the Christians at Rome, the capital of the 
 world, it might have been matter of wonder, — per- 
 haps of dissatisfaction, — that that apostle, the spe- 
 cial purpose of whose mission was to open the eyes of 
 the Gentiles, and to confer upon them the unspeak- 
 able riches of Christ, should not, during all that time, 
 have visited them ; while his apostolic labours were 
 so extensively and so successfully bestowed on other 
 Gentile churches. Some apology, then, — at the least, 
 some explanation of this, — was now to be expected ; 
 and, accordingly, the apostle does, in the fullest and 
 kindest manner, apologize. " For God is my wit- 
 ness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the gospel of 
 his son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you 
 always, in my prayers, making request, if by any 
 means, now at length, I might have a prosperous 
 journey, by the will of God, to come to you." 
 
 Having, thus, kindly and solemnly assured this 
 church, that they were ever present in his mind, and 
 that he was, without ceasing, earnestly praying to 
 God, that it might be his will to enable him to visit 
 them, the apostle mentions the purpose, for which 
 he wished to visit them. " For I long to see you, 
 that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift. 
 
16 LECTURE I. 
 
 to the end you may be established." It does not 
 appear, that they had hitherto been visited by an 
 apostle ; and, on this account, they might but sparingly 
 have enjoyed the gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit ; 
 and it is very evident, that the possession of those 
 gifts and powers, in abundance, would be highly cal- 
 culated to confirm them, in their faith. 
 
 The natural and genuine fruit of true, and firm, 
 Christian faith is comfort, — " the peace of God, that 
 passeth all understanding," — " joy unspeakable and 
 full of glory." Accordingly, the apostle here adds, 
 that confirmation in the faith of the gospel and com- 
 fort are virtually the same. " That is, that I may 
 be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith, 
 both of you and me." That kind of faith, which 
 enabled this apostle, as well as others, in the apos- 
 tolic age, to impart the gifts and powers, of the Holy 
 Spirit, would be the effectual and happy means of 
 comforting this church, as well as of confirming their 
 general faith ; and this would be a cause of great 
 comfort also to the apostle. The comfort of either 
 party, like their faith, would be mutual. 
 
 But here it ought to be observed, that the miracu- 
 lous gifts and powers, which were enjoyed, by the 
 Gentile churches, in the apostolic age, were also 
 intended to confirm and to comfort all the Gentile 
 churches, in all future ages. The possession of those 
 gifts and powers were, to the original Gentile churches, 
 the sign and seal of their adoption, as the people 
 
LECTURE I. 17 
 
 of God, in the present state, and the earnest of eter- 
 nal life, in the state to come. Now, they were our 
 representatives ; and the sign, seal, and earnest, with 
 which they were blessed, were divinely intended to 
 serve as such, to all future Gentile Christians. This 
 became very evident even to the Jewish Christian 
 Church, at Jerusalem, strongly prejudiced, though 
 they were, against the gracious purpose of God, in 
 respect to the Gentiles. When the apostle Peter 
 informed them, that the gifts and powers of the Holy 
 Spirit were, by his ministry, conferred on the Gen- 
 tile Centurion, Cornelius, and on his Gentile family 
 and friends, " they glorified God, saying. Then 
 hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance 
 unto life." Thus, then, is matter of the greatest 
 gratitude to every one of us, Christianized Gentiles, 
 who trusts in the Lord Jesus, and serves him in sin- 
 cerity. 
 
 We here find the apostle anxious to assure the 
 Roman Christians, that his love and concern for 
 them was no new thing. " Now I would not have 
 you ignorant, brethren, that often times I purposed 
 to come unto you, but was let hitherto." The cause 
 of the detention he explains towards the end of the 
 epistle. " So have I strived to preach the gospel, 
 not where Christ was named; lest I should build 
 on another man's foundation ; but as it is written,* 
 To whom he was not spoken of they shall see ; and 
 
 * Isaiah, Hi. 15. 
 B 
 
18 LECTURE I. 
 
 they that have not heard shall understand. For which 
 cause also I have been much hindered, from coming to 
 you."* This explanation could not fail to have been 
 entirely satisfactory to this church. Again, too, he 
 declares the purpose, for which he so earnestly desired 
 to visit them. It was, " that he might have some 
 fruit among them, also, even as among other Gen- 
 tiles ;" and, by this fruit, he must have meant, not 
 merely the confirmation and comfort, but also, the 
 increase of the church, by the conversion of as many 
 as possible of both Jews and Gentiles. For, we know, 
 that, when at length, he did get to Rome, he lost no 
 time, in commencing to preach the gospel to the un- 
 converted j and, though of the blinded Jews, to whom, 
 as usual, he first addressed himself, he gained not 
 many, it is probable, that, in making Gentile con- 
 verts, he was more successful. 
 
 The apostle was authorized and commanded, by 
 his divine Lord, to preach his gospel, both to the 
 Greeks, together with those to whom their language, 
 civilisation, and refinement, extended, and to those 
 nations, who had not attained to their state of civili- 
 sation, — to those, who addicted themselves to philo- 
 sophy, science, and literature, as well as to the illi- 
 terate multitude. " I am a debtor, both to the 
 Greeks, and to the barbarians, — ^both to the wise, 
 and to the unwise." To execute this important 
 work, they were no mean qualifications, that were 
 
 * Ch. XV. 20-22. 
 
LECTURE I. 19 
 
 necessary ; but, if necessary, the Apostle possessed 
 them. Besides " the signs of an apostle," — ^miracu- 
 lous gifts and powers, — with a powerful understand- 
 ing, there was united, in him, a knowledge of the 
 leaminof and literature of the Gentiles. This is 
 very e\ident from his own epistles, and from his his- 
 tory ; and were there no other proofs of the ability 
 and discretion, with which he made use of his ta- 
 lents and acquirements, his discourse before the phi- 
 losophers, in the Areopagus, at Athens, and that 
 before King Agrippa, at Cesarea, would of them- 
 selves be sufficient. Where shall we find either argu- 
 ments more convincing, or eloquence more powerful ? 
 Thus, qualified, then, by gifts and powers, both 
 natural and supernatural, and, thus, authorized and 
 commanded, "he was ready, as much as in him lay, 
 to preach the gospel, to them, that were at Rome 
 also ;'* — at Rome, the great seat of empire, philo- 
 sophy, science, and literature. 
 
 In that mighty metropolis, the intelligent and 
 learned, though well aware, that, in the prevailing 
 idolatry and superstition, there was nothing, but 
 error and fable, countenanced them ; because they 
 were the religion of their country, and of their an- 
 cestors ; the rulers favoured and supported them, as 
 an engine of state ; and the priesthood punctually 
 and solemnly observed their rites and ordinances, 
 from motives of interest. In introducing the gospel, 
 then, — a religion subversive of all idolatry and 
 
^0 LECTURE I. 
 
 superstition,— into this city, the opposition of the 
 rulers, and of the priesthood, was to be expected ; 
 and the philosophers and other learned men would 
 narrowly examine into its claims, as a religion from 
 heaven ; and any thing in it, either false or absurd, 
 they could not fail to expose to ridicule and scorn. 
 But, " the apostle was not ashamed of the gospel of 
 Christ ;" and for this he gives reasons of the most 
 powerful nature. It is a dispensation great and 
 glorious. "It is the power of God unto salvation, 
 to every one that believeth, — to the Jew, first, and 
 also to the Gentile." Our omnipotent Creator, and 
 heavenly Father, has graciously ordained, that, in 
 consequence of the obedience unto death of his o^ti 
 Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that doom, which our 
 original common-parent brought upon himself, and 
 entailed on his posterity, should be reversed, and 
 life and immortality be brought to light. This is a 
 dispensation worthy of God, and too great and glo- 
 rious, for words adequately to express ; and it is 
 with much propriety, it is termed " the power of 
 God unto salvation." Nor can the conditions of 
 appropriating the benefits of this dispensation be 
 regarded othermse than as most free and gracious. 
 To Jew and Gentile, — that is to all men, — when the 
 light of the gospel shone on them, it was declared, 
 that whoever should believe, that Jesus was the 
 Messiah, the Son of God, and should receive him as 
 such, would be saved. 
 
LECTURE I. 21 
 
 But, in order to final salvation, we must ever bear 
 in mind, that it is necessary for us to do and to en- 
 dure the will of God. To enable us to do so, the 
 gospel furnishes the most suitable means, and the 
 most powerful motives. It reveals and affirms, that 
 God is love, — that his own Son is the propitiation 
 for our sins, — that the Son has loved us, and washed 
 us, from our sins, in his own blood, and made us 
 kings and priests unto God, — that eternal life, glory, 
 honour, and peace, will be the reward of all, who 
 persevere in well-doing, — that the blood of Christ 
 cleanseth, from all sin, — that there is joy in heaven 
 over one sinner, who reforms, — that the wages of a 
 course of sin is death, — that when the ungodly and 
 wicked, either refuse, or abuse, the benefits of the 
 gospel, they reject the counsel of God, against them- 
 selves, and account themselves unworthy of eternal 
 life, — that, in a manner suitable to the freedom of 
 the human will, the Spirit of God influences the 
 heart and mind of every sincere Christian. This 
 also is the power of God unto salvation ; for, thus, 
 " God worketh in us to will and to do, of his gra- 
 cious pleasure," and enables us "to work out our 
 own salvation." 
 
 The free and gracious nature of the salvation, 
 which the gospel brings, is here further explained. 
 " For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, 
 fi'om faith to faith." To his ancient peculiar people, 
 Israel, the Lord gave a severe schoolmaster, whose 
 
22 LECTURE I. 
 
 discipline, he intended, should ultimately lead them 
 to Christ. By his servant Moses, he gave them a 
 law ; and whoever observed that law perfectly, in 
 every point, would establish his right to life and sal- 
 vation. But, alas ! the commandment, which w^as 
 ordained unto life, was, through the frailty of man, 
 found to be imto death. The law armed sin, with a 
 mortal power, and, in effect, became, to every indi- 
 vidual, a ministration of death. — But, when, by the 
 law of Moses, there could, thus, be no righteousness, 
 or justification, and consequently no salvation, God, 
 in his infinite mercy, revealed to all men, and espe- 
 cially to his ancient people, Israel, his own right- 
 eousness, or manner of justification. In the glorious 
 dispensation of the gospel, " eternal life" is given to 
 man, as " the gift of Ood, through Jesus Christ, 
 our Lord, who died for our sins, and rose again, for 
 our justification." — The appropriation of this right- 
 eousness, and salvation, of God is, " from faith to 
 faith," — wholly and purely by faith. " If, " saith 
 the apostle in another part of this epistle, — " If 
 thou shalt confess, with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
 and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised 
 him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For, with 
 the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and, with 
 the mouth, confession is made unto salvation." 
 
 For the instruction of all Christians, but especi- 
 ally for that of the Jemsh converts, whose prejudices, 
 in favour of the law, as the means of establishing a 
 
LECTURE I. 03 
 
 right to eternal life, it was very difficult to remove, 
 the apostle here briefly notices, that the method of 
 justification, and of obtaining eternal life, purely by 
 faith, was intimated by the prophets, whose authority 
 they themselves acknowledged. " As it is written, 
 the just by faith shall live." 
 
 Having asserted, that the gospel " was the power 
 of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth ; 
 — to the Jew, first, and also to the Gentile," the 
 apostle proceeds to show the extreme need, which 
 Jew and Gentile had of this salvation. But this 
 must form the subject of other discourses. Let us 
 now conclude this discourse, by reflecting on our 
 gTeat obligation to God, for bringing ourselves to 
 the knowledge of his salvation, and for placing that 
 salvation within our reach. How shall we, once be- 
 nighted, wandering, and estranged Gentiles, suffi- 
 ciently praise God, who has called us, " out of dark- 
 ness, into his marvellous light," — " who hath deliver- 
 ed us from the power of darkness, and hath trans- 
 lated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom 
 we have redemption, through his blood, even the 
 forgiveness of our sins." * How shall we sufficiently 
 bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 for bringing us from a state of having no hope, 
 beyond this transitory existence, to the prospect of 
 eternal life, happiness, and glory ! How shall we 
 sufficiently express our gratitude to God our hea- 
 * Col. i. 13. 
 
24 LECTURE I. 
 
 venly Father, who, by his Son, has broken down the 
 middle wall of partition, which during a period so 
 long and so dreary, separated us from the ancient 
 chosen people, and who no longer regards us as 
 strangers and foreigners, but as fellow-citizens with 
 the saints, and of his own household ! What man- 
 ner of love is this, which constrains God, our Father, 
 to regard us, as his sons and daughters, — as heirs of 
 himself, and as joint-heirs, with Jesus Christ, our 
 Lord ! Let us give expression to our gTatitude, in 
 the solemn Avords, which the apostle himself used, 
 while his mind and heart were occupied with the 
 contemplation of those glorious things. "Now unto 
 the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise 
 God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen."* 
 But, when we, thus, offer to God, our Father, the 
 sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, how can we 
 refrain from adoring the gracious, divine, Mediator, 
 by whose intervention, our unspeakable blessings have 
 been secured to us ! " Unto him that loved us, and 
 washed us, from our sins, in his own blood, and made 
 us kings and priests unto God, his Father, — to him 
 be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." t 
 
 I Tim. i. 17. t Rev. i. 5. 
 
[ 25 ] 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 ROMANS, I. 18-32. 
 
 In the former part of this chapter, the apostle de- 
 clares, that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ; 
 because, to Jew and Gentile, it is " the power of 
 God unto salvation ;" and because it reveals, that 
 this salvation is bestowed on men, in the most fi'ee 
 and gracious manner possible. In the remaining 
 part of the chapter, he gives a clear, though melan- 
 choly, demonstration of the great and urgent need, 
 in which the Gentile world stood, of this salvation. 
 
 '* For the wrath of God is revealed, from heaven, 
 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." 
 By the finger of Him, who formed the human heart, 
 there is written, on its tablets, a law, which con- 
 demns moral evil, and which fills the guilty with the 
 apprehension of punishment, and convinces men, 
 that they, who commit crimes, deserve to die. '* No 
 douhtr said the barbarous people of Melita, upon 
 seeing the viper fastening on the hand of the apos- 
 tle, " this man is a murderer, whom, though he 
 hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to 
 
26 LECTURE II. 
 
 live." But, these dictates of the human heart, clear 
 and intelligible though they be, are not what the 
 apostle means, when he denounces, the wrath of 
 God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of 
 men ; it is evident he means the punishment, with 
 which the ungodly and wicked are to be visited, at 
 the final judgment, as revealed in the gospel. The 
 apostle makes the same declaration more explicitly 
 and fully, in the second chapter, in which he says, 
 that " indignation and wrath," will be the portion 
 of " every soul of man, that doeth evil, in the day, 
 when God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus 
 Christ, according to his gospel." Here, it deserves 
 our serious attention that, in Scripture language, 
 " wrath," signi^es punishment, and that " the wrath 
 of God," being a Hebraism, expressive of the highest 
 degree, means punishment of the most signal and 
 fearful nature. 
 
 While the representation, given in the remaining 
 part of this chapter, respects the Gentile world col- 
 lectively, it is clear, that the apostle has, in his eye, 
 especially the Gentile philosophers and other learned 
 men. He has prepared us for this, in saying, that, 
 in preaching the gospel, he was a debtor " to the 
 wise" as well as " to the unwise." And, indeed, in 
 pointing at the philosophers and other learned men, 
 in particular, he acted wisely and justly. They pro- 
 fessed to be the lights of the world ; and, in showing, 
 that the light, which was in them, was nothing but 
 
LECTURE II. 27 
 
 darkness, the apostle proved, that the prevailino- 
 darkness was great indeed. In proving, not only 
 that the illiterate and ignorant were, in regard to true 
 religion, blind and corrupt, but also that the philo- 
 sophers and other learned men favoured and sanc- 
 tioned their blindness and corruption, he clearly de- 
 monstrates the unspeakable need, in which all de- 
 scriptions of men, in the Gentile world stood, of such 
 a salvation, as the gospel reveals. 
 
 The apostle proceeds to bring forward his heavy 
 charges, against the Gentiles, and especially against 
 their philosophers, and other learned men. They 
 " held the truth, in unrighteousness ;" — they un- 
 righteously suppressed and withheld, from the illite- 
 rate and ignorant multitude, who blindly devoted 
 themselves to their idols and other fictitious divinities, 
 their knowledge of the nature of the one, supreme, 
 spiritual, and intelligent, Creator and Governor of 
 the Universe. " For," saith the apostle, *' that which 
 may be known of God is manifest among them." It 
 is beyond all doubt, — for their own writings bear 
 ample testimony to it, — that the heathen philoso- 
 phers and other learned men, not only knew, that 
 the popular notions, in regard to religion, were alto- 
 gether false, but also, that many of them entertained 
 correct views of the nature of the glorious God. But, 
 they wanted the integrity, courage, and piety, to un- 
 deceive the blinded people. 
 
 The apostle shows, how the thinking and intelli- 
 
28 LECTURE II. ^ 
 
 gent attained to the knowledge of the true God. He 
 affirms, that *' God," himself, " had showed it to 
 them." In the view of the incorrupted and unso- 
 phisticated mind, the evidence, which we possess, of 
 the nature and glorious attributes of God, is clear 
 and irresistible. It derives itself from an infallible 
 source, — ^from consciousness, experience, and the tes- 
 timony of our senses. — In constructing a house, — a 
 ship, — a time-piece, — or any such thing, — ^we find, 
 within us, a living, intelligent, and invisible, agent, 
 that forms an useful end, or purpose, and that devises 
 a deliberate plan, and adopts means, or a series of 
 means, to accomplish this end. Now, when we look 
 around us, in the world, and attentively examine the 
 two great kingdoms of organized matter, from the 
 gigantic elephant, and the hugest inhabitant of the 
 ocean, to the most diminutive insect, that creeps on 
 the ground, and the animalcules that so densely 
 people each drop of water, and that are visible only 
 by optical assistance, — from the towering and ma- 
 jestic oak, to the smallest herb, on which we tread, 
 in the field, — we find, that there is not one of the 
 countless millions of individuals, which constitute 
 those kingdoms, that bears not, in its structure, the 
 clearest marks of a definite purpose, and of the most 
 marvellous intelligence, wisdom, and power, in the 
 choice and use of the means adopted, to compass 
 that purpose. — Those great kingdoms, besides, are 
 arranged into classes, kinds, species, and varieties ; 
 
LECTURE II. --29 
 
 and the individuals of each order possess a peculiar 
 structure, and are furnished, with peculiar organs, 
 admirably suited to the elements, in which they re- 
 spectively exist, to the functions, which they have to 
 perform, andrto the mode of their subsistence — To 
 what cause, then, shall we ascribe such an effect ? 
 Must we not ascribe similar effects to similar causes ? 
 Does not our reason compel us, to assign the crea- 
 tion of those innumerable organized things, which 
 exist in the world, to a living, though invisible, agent, 
 of infinite intelligence, wisdom, and power? Does 
 not our reason compel us to assign to the matchless, 
 as well as innumerable, works of nature, an Al- 
 mighty and glorious workman ? 
 
 To prevent uncertainty and deception, human ar- 
 tificers of celebrity stamp their works, with their 
 names. In the works of nature, as those now under 
 our consideration are usually termed, this would be 
 altogether superfluous. All of them bear the Divine 
 impress, in their matchless perfection, in design, me- 
 chanism, and execution, — in various inimitable spe- 
 cialities, — in their superlative fitness, for the pur- 
 poses of their creation, — and countless numbers of 
 them, also, in their inconceivable magnitude, and 
 indescribable beauty, sublimity, and glory. 
 
 These observations are pre-eminently true of those 
 glorious works, — the luminaries of heaven, — which 
 regulate and measure times and seasons, in this our 
 world. The celestial chronometer is, not onlv in- 
 
30 LECTURE 11. s 
 
 comparable, in magnitude and splendour, but is also 
 constructed on a principle, which has hitherto re- 
 mained, and will probably for ever remain a profound 
 secret to man, — the principle of perpetual motion, — 
 and with the power of rectifying and 4*egulating it- 
 self. In all ages, and in all nations, those glorious 
 luminaries have, in a language, which the attentive 
 and thinking well understood, proclaimed, that a su- 
 preme, omnipotent. Being, of unsearchable know- 
 ledge and wisdom, and of exuberant goodness, 
 created, and constantly governs, them. 
 
 The relation, which the various kingdoms and 
 works of nature, in this world, bear to each other, 
 their mutual dependence, — the relation in which all 
 of them stand to the globe, and to the system, of 
 which it forms a part, — and the dependence of all 
 things on the globe, and on the system of the uni- 
 verse, — indicate unity of design, in their creation, 
 and prove, that the universe, with all that it con- 
 tains, owes its being, order, and continuance, to One 
 great and glorious Creator and Ruler. 
 
 These reflections, then, clearly show the truth of 
 the words of the apostle, when, he says, that " the 
 invisible things of God, fi'om the creation of the 
 world, are clearly seen, — being understood, by the 
 things, that are made, — even his eternal power and 
 Godhead." 
 
 The charges, which the apostle brings against 
 the Gentile world, and especially against their phi- 
 
LECTURE II. 31 
 
 losophers and other learned men, are very heavy, as 
 well as very true. " They knew God," yet " they 
 glorified him not as God ; neither were they thank- 
 ful, but became vain in their imaginations ; and 
 their inconsiderate heart was darkened. Professing 
 themselves to be wise, they became fools. They 
 changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an 
 image made like to corruptible man, and birds, and 
 four-footed beasts, and creeping things." — " They 
 changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped 
 and served the creature, in preference to the 
 Creator, who is ever to be blessed. Amen !" It is, 
 accordingly, with much truth and justice, that the 
 apostle affirms of the Gentiles, that they were with- 
 out excuse. 
 
 The ingratitude of the Gentile world towards God, 
 in return for his benefits, equalled their wilful blind- 
 ness, in regard to his glorious perfections, and was 
 equally inexcusable. If a child, who is insensible 
 of the anxious care, the protection, the fondness, the 
 bounty, and the indulgence, of an earthly father, be 
 justly deemed undutiful and unnatural, and if, when 
 he abuses such benefits, and despises and dishonours 
 the father, who bestows them, he be justly deemed a 
 monster, how much more imdutiful is man, when he 
 is insensible of the unwearied care, and exuberant 
 goodness, of that heavenly Father, to whom he owes 
 his being, and all the enjoyments of that being ! — 
 how much more monstrous is it in man, to neglect. 
 
32 LECTURE II. 
 
 despise, and dishonour, the beneficent Author of all 
 his blessings ! 
 
 In the passage, which now occupies our attention, 
 the apostle plainly teaches, that the goodness, as 
 well as the other attributes of God, have, from the 
 foundation of the world, been manifest, from his 
 works. For the word, which we have rendered 
 " Godhead,'* signifies the dominion and providence 
 of God, in which his goodness is clearly seen ; and, 
 with this correspond the words of the apostle to the 
 people of Lystra, to whom he declared, that, in no 
 nation, " does God leave himself without witness, in 
 that he does good, and gives us rain fii-om heaven, 
 and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts, with food 
 and gladness."* 
 
 But such ingratitude and ungodliness, in rational, 
 accountable, beings, like man, God, in his just moral 
 government of the world, could not leave unpunished. 
 Though he purposed mercy, in the end, towards the 
 Gentile world, he saw it fit, that they should, for a 
 long and dreary period, be delivered over to their 
 own wilful blindness, and corruptions, and to the 
 degradation and misery, which ever accompany such 
 blindness and corruption. The Gentile world, learn- 
 ed and unlearned, amazingly dishonoured the glori- 
 ous God ; and he, in punishment, suficred them, as 
 amazingly, to degrade themselves, — delivering them 
 over to their own depraved passions, and corrupted 
 • Acts, xiv. 17. 
 
LECTURE ir. 33 
 
 morals. We will not here grieve the spirit of the 
 Christian, by particularizing some of the guilty and 
 degrading practices, which the apostle mentions, as 
 prevalent, in the Gentile world ; — we must refer him 
 to the painful and humiliating description of the 
 apostle himself, — observing only, that with his ac- 
 count of those practices, that of all profane authors 
 fully agrees. But the general list of the sins, pre- 
 valent among the Gentiles must not be omitted. 
 " Because they did not like to retain God, in their 
 knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, 
 to do those things, which are not convenient," — that 
 is, those things, which are very sinful, — " being filled 
 with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, 
 covetousness, maliciousness, — full of envy, murder, 
 debate, deceit, malignity, — whisperers, backbiters, 
 haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors 
 of evil things, disobedient to parents, without under- 
 standing, covenant breakers, without natural affec- 
 tion, implacable, unmerciful." It is worthy of re- 
 mark, that in the language of the apostle this cata- 
 logue of sins is an alliterated one, — a forcible manner 
 of speech, by which he would convey to us his deep 
 sense, both of their greatness, and of their multi- 
 plicity ; and this remark, it may also be observed, 
 explains the unconnected order in which those sins 
 are mentioned, in our language. 
 
 Let us not forget, that the spiritual blindness, and 
 the moral depravity, of the Gentile world, were a 
 
 c 
 
^4 LECTURE II. 
 
 wilful blindness and depravity. " The work of the 
 law was ^Titten in their hearts ;" and, thus, con- 
 science, when, at any time, listened to, declared to 
 them, that they were not fit to live. But instead of 
 listening to the dictates of conscience, and of obeying 
 its voice, they not only themselves sinned, as here 
 described, but also readily and gladly encouraged 
 others, in their sins. " Who knowing the judgment 
 of God, — that they, which commit such things, are 
 worthy of death, not only do the same, but have 
 pleasure in them, that do them." This, then, was 
 the highest pitch of impiety and of moral corruption, 
 and the deepest aggravation of guilt, and justified 
 their righteous Creator, in the severity of the punish- 
 ment, to which he consigned them. 
 
 If it be asked, in what sense, we are to understand 
 the Gentiles to have been given over to a reprobate 
 mind, and to their own corrupted ways, it may briefly 
 be replied, that it was, by withholding from them all 
 those great and precious privileges and blessings, 
 which God granted to his peculiar people, Israel. 
 
 In considering the description, which the apostle 
 here gives of the religious and moral state of the 
 Gentile world, it is necessary, that we should bear 
 in mind ; that the description refers to them, in a 
 collective sense, and to the character, w^hich, in 
 that sense, belonged to them, and not to individual 
 character. For,- in this chapter, it is the professed 
 design of the apostle, to show, that the Gentile 
 
LECTURE II. 35 
 
 world, collectively considered, stood in the most 
 urgent need of the salvation that is in Christ, and 
 which is revealed in the gospel; and it is but too 
 evident, that, in the accomplishment of that design, 
 he has fully succeeded. A due sense of this will 
 prevent us from falling into very serious mistakes, 
 in forming an estimate of the character of many in- 
 dividuals, among the Gentiles, whose virtues compel 
 and deserve our admiration. 
 
 The portion of the epistle, which we have now con- 
 sidered, is full of the most important instruction to 
 the Christian Church, in every place, and in every 
 age. In divine revelation, it is assumed, that we 
 closely and reverently attend to the religion of reason 
 and nature. Yet, it is but too evident, that in no part 
 of the Christian Church, do either the people give 
 due attention to this fundamental religion, or the 
 pastors sufficiently inculcate a sense of its great im- 
 portance. To the intelligent and reflecting Christian, 
 this must appear the more wonderful, when, on the 
 one hand, the noble thoughts and sentiments, and the 
 ardent devotion, which the contemplation of the 
 works of nature raised and cherished, in the breasts 
 of those good and pious men, of whom the Scriptures 
 of the Old Testament make so ample and honourable 
 mention, are considered, and, on the other, the vari- 
 ous and great discoveries, which, since their time, 
 have been made, in the sciences, which have the 
 material creation for their object, and.v especially, in 
 
36 LECTURE II. 
 
 that, which relates to the solar and universal systems. 
 And, on a superficial view of the subject, it will 
 appear still more wonderful, that, among men of 
 science, and even among those, who are conversant 
 with the sublime miracles of the magnitudes, motions, 
 and laws, of the heavenly bodies, there should be 
 some, who either affect to entertain, or, in reality, do 
 entertain, sceptical, if not atheistical, views, relative 
 to the existence and attributes of that intelligent, 
 omnipotent, and glorious God, who called into exist- 
 ence the universe, and who, by his wise and good 
 providence has, ever since its creation, continued to 
 govern it. 
 
 But, the well-informed and considerate Christian 
 can neither be influenced, by the doubts of the sceptic, 
 or by the incredulity of the atheist, nor be at a loss 
 to know the cause from which they proceed. He well 
 knows, that the general cause is that, which so exten- 
 sively and so fatally prevailed among even intelligent 
 and learned men, in the ancient Gentile world, and 
 which the apostle assigns in the passage, which we have 
 now considered. As " they liked not to retain God, 
 in their knowledge," so now, it is to be feared, there 
 are many of the same description, who care not to 
 maintain, in their minds, a due sense of the existence, 
 attributes, and providence of God, — many, who have 
 eyes, with many optical instruments, well fitted to aid 
 those eyes, and who, notwithstanding, will not per- 
 ceive. Though the book of nature, and that part of 
 
LECTURE II. 37 
 
 it especially, which treats of the heavenly bodies, de- 
 clares the existence, government, goodness, and glory 
 of God, in a language most clear, most eloquent, and 
 most universal, there are many readers of that book, 
 who pay attention merely to the structure, terms, and 
 words of the language, — who are mere minute gram- 
 marians, or curious philologists, or who, at most, study 
 only those chapters of it, which relate only to the 
 interests of this transitory state, while they utterly 
 neglect those unspeakably important and sublime 
 parts, which lead the mind to a future and more 
 glorious state of existence, and to the ineffable genius, 
 wisdom, and intelligence, of its glorious author, — 
 while they bestow not perhaps a thought on the 
 author, nor make an allusion to his name, more than 
 if the work had not had an author at all. Neither 
 can there be gratitude in the breasts of such persons 
 towards the beneficent author of their being and 
 happiness ; for, where there is no acknowledgment 
 of God, how should there be gratitude towards him ? 
 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass the master 
 of the crib ; but they neither know nor consider ! 
 
 We would here enter a caution against the influ- 
 ence, which philosophers and other learned men, of 
 great name, who are of the description just men- 
 tioned, unhappily have over many of their fellow- 
 men. Little do the thoughtless, the gay, the sensual, 
 and the selfish, who, for obvious reasons, are ready 
 to follow such blind guides, consider, that there can- 
 
38 LECTURE II. 
 
 not exist greater weakness, or stupidity, than is to be 
 found, in such persons ; at least, in regard to reli- 
 gion. For surely there is greater imbecility, in the 
 incapacity to be convinced of the gi*eat principles of 
 religion, under that strong light of evidence, which 
 has convinced men of the soundest minds, and 
 greatest talent, science, and learning, that ever 
 appeared in the world, and which, from its own 
 nature, is irresistible, than, from bad education, un- 
 warily to receive, as true, the grossest fables of 
 superstition. The modern atheist, as well as the 
 ancient idolatrous philosopher, while he professes to 
 be wise, may, in the appropriate language of the 
 apostle, assuredly be called a fool. 
 
 Let the peasant, or the artisan, gratefully consider, 
 that he is, in this world, on every hand, surrounded 
 with the same kind of evidence of the being, glorious 
 attributes, and gracious providence, of God, that the 
 most scientific and learned man possesses. The proof, 
 strong though it be, is but cumulative. The man of 
 science and learning, indeed, ft'om his more extensive 
 acquaintance with natm'e, sees proofs, without end, 
 multiplying before him. Yet proofs, of the same 
 nature, invite, on every side, the attention, of every 
 man of plain understanding, who will open his eyes 
 on them. For, there is not a plant, — there is not an 
 animal, — around us, whose organization and mode of 
 existence do not afford a clear proof of the being, and 
 providence of God. And where is that rational man, 
 
LECTURE II. 39 
 
 who, when, by day, he takes a deliberate and contem- 
 plative view of this world with its furniture and gar- 
 niture, or, by night, of the glories of the heavens, 
 does not, from his soul, find himself constrained to 
 say, "Great, manifold, and marvellous, are thy works, 
 Lord God Almighty, in wisdom hast thou made 
 them all ! Thou art wonderful in counsel, and excel- 
 lent in working ! All thy works praise thee ! " 
 
 It particularly becomes us here to observe, that 
 we, — the Christian Church, — owe the most fervent 
 gratitude to the Father of lights, for calling us, by 
 his gospel, to the knowledge of himself. In his owii 
 time, he had mercy on a blinded, estranged world. 
 Having, during many ages, selected for himself a 
 people, to preserve religion from utter extinction, and 
 to prepare the world for the reception of a glorious 
 deliverer, and a most gracious and universal dispen- 
 sation, he, in a manner manifestly supernatural and 
 miraculous, communicated the knowledge of himself 
 and of his will and purposes to that people ; and, in 
 the fulness of time, and in a manner as clearly super- 
 natural and miraculous, that deliverer, first person- 
 ally, and then by his apostles and gospel, communi- 
 cated to the world the knowledge of the living and 
 true God, with a clearness and fulness, that render 
 us unspeakably more inexcusable than the idolatrous 
 Gentiles, if we form not a due acquaintance, with his 
 glorious character, and if we are not thankful. 
 
 We cannot but render our readv assent to the 
 
iO LECTURE II. 
 
 declaration of the apostle, that the Gentiles, and 
 especially their learned men, were without excuse, in 
 worshipping and serving the creature, in preference 
 to the adorable Creator and only God of the uni- 
 verse ; and we cannot help accounting the ancient 
 people of God, enlightened and highly favoured, as 
 they were, incomparably more inexcusable, in so often 
 and so greatly, forsaking the rock of their salvation, 
 and in falling into idolatry, with its attendant abo- 
 minations. But, while we entertain these sentiments, 
 in regard to them, we should err exceedingly, were 
 we to suppose, that the Christian Church is not 
 chargeable with sins of an idolatrous nature, and, 
 therefore, still more inexcusable than either, of them. 
 For, not to say any thing of the use of images, in 
 some parts of the Christian Church, it is to the con- 
 siderate Christian manifest, that there is in it much 
 virtual idolatry. If, for a god, we set up, in our 
 imaginations, a being invested with attributes, differ- 
 ent from those of that God, whom our Lord Jesus 
 Christ has revealed to us, in his gospel, how can we 
 be regarded otherwise than as idolaters? If, from 
 the prejudices of education, a blind attachment to 
 human creeds, and the neglect of a candid and dili- 
 gent examination of the divine oracles, we worship, 
 for our god, a being partial, unrighteous, unmerciful, 
 and cruel, ought we not, with our incomparably 
 superior advantages, in justice, to be accounted more 
 inexcusable idolaters than the worshippers of Moloch? 
 
LECTURE II. 41 
 
 If, contrary to the express and uniform testimony of 
 the divine oracles, we bring om*selves to believe, that 
 pm*ity of heart and sanctity of life are not necessary 
 to the acceptable worship of the being, whom we 
 call our god, how can we, in justice, escape being 
 accounted idolatrous, and exceedingly more inexcus- 
 able, than were the worshippers of the various unholy 
 gods of the Gentiles ? And, if, from blind prejudice, 
 passion, or interest, the ministers of the gospel rivet 
 on their people the chains of such an odious and 
 destructive superstition, how exceedingly more guilty 
 and inexcusable are they than were the Gentile 
 learned men, who unrighteously withheld, from a 
 blinded and idolatrous people, the knowledge of the 
 true God? 
 
 Under all dispensations, it clearly appears to be 
 the way of God, more or less, according to circum- 
 stances, to deliver over his rational and accountable 
 creatures, when they abuse their light and advan- 
 tages, to their own wilful blindness and corruptions ; 
 and, thus, are easily accounted for all the errors, 
 superstitions, and corruptions, that prevail in the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 May, then, the living and true God, the Father of 
 lights, of his great mercy, grant, that every one, who 
 professes to worship him, may be deeply convinced 
 of the good and the necessity of forming a just and 
 clear view of his character ! And, to obtain such a 
 view, may every Christian, and especially every 
 
V2 LECTURE II. 
 
 Christian teacher, diligently and devoutly read the 
 book of nature, but still more diligently and devoutly 
 the book of divine revelation; — carefully guarding 
 against that, which has, in all ages of the world, 
 proved so destructive, and which, accordingly, is so 
 expressly forbidden, by him, who justly claims, to be 
 our sole teacher, in religious truth, — a blind defer- 
 ence to human authority and to human systems of 
 religion ! May every Christian, not only pray, but 
 likewise use his endeavour, that those countless mul- 
 titudes, who still remain, in the Gentile state, with- 
 out hope, and without God in the world, and who 
 are sunk in the degradation of idolatry, superstition, 
 and corruption, may be brought to the knowledge of 
 the living and true God and of Jesus Christ, the 
 Saviour, and to the rich privileges, and glorious 
 prospects of the gospel ! 
 
[ 43 ] 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 ROMANS, II. 
 
 In the first chapter of this epistle, the apostle clearly 
 demonstrates, that the Gentile world stood in the 
 greatest need of the salvation, that is in Christ. In 
 this chapter he proves, that the Jews had equal, if 
 not greater, need of that salvation, and prepares to 
 vindicate the divine procedure, in the reception of 
 the Gentiles, into the church, on the terms, proposed 
 in the gospel, and to remove the strong and invete- 
 rate prejudices, which the Jews entertained against 
 their reception. 
 
 All history, sacred and profane, testifies, that the 
 Jews had, at this period, abandoned themselves to all 
 manner of vice, crime, and impiety. Yet, to con- 
 vince them of their need of the salvation, that is in 
 Christ, was exceedingly difficult. Ever since they 
 became a nation, they had enjoyed peculiar privileges 
 of inestimable value. Theirs was the adoption ; 
 theirs was the glory ; theirs were the covenants, the 
 giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, 
 the fathers ; and from them was to come the long 
 
44 LECTURE III. 
 
 and earnestly expected Messiah. On these privileges, 
 and not on genuine piety and moral worth, they 
 rested their claim and hopes of acceptance with 
 God. 
 
 Before proceeding further, in this discourse, it 
 must be observed, that, in a manner analogous to 
 that, which he adopts, in the first chapter, the apostle, 
 in this one, addresses himself to the Jews, and espe- 
 cially to their teachers and guides — the scribes, 
 Pharisees, priests, and other persons, professing to 
 possess more than ordinary information, — as possess- 
 ing the character, which belonged to them generally. 
 We should greatly err, were we to suppose, that, 
 among the ancient people of God, there was not an 
 individual, to whom the character, here described, 
 was not applicable. It was sufficient for his purpose, 
 to show, that the general state of the nation required 
 the salvation, which he preached ; and at any thing 
 beyond this, accordingly, he does not aim. 
 
 The manner, in which the apostle addresses the 
 Jews is characteristic, at once, of his talent and of 
 his great tenderness towards them. To convince 
 them of their sins, and to excite in them an abhor- 
 rence for them, he well knew, that there could not 
 be a more effectual way, than to point out those sins, 
 in the Gentiles, for whom they had a deep aversion. 
 Accordingly, it was immediately after depicting the 
 character of the Gentiles, that he proceeds to draw 
 that of the Jews ; and, to give as little offence to 
 
LECTURE III. 4,5 
 
 them as possible, in proceeding with this ungrateful 
 task, he, at first, refrains from naming them. "There- 
 fore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou 
 art, that judgest ; for, wherein thou judgest another, 
 thou condemnest thyself-, for thou, that judgest, dost 
 the same things." 
 
 The generality of the Jews, indeed, were able to 
 shut their eyes against the powerful light of the ar- 
 guments of which the apostle makes use, in this in- 
 valuable chapter, and to harden their hearts against 
 the strong influence of the sentiments, which it con- 
 tains. But, notwithstanding, there is no unprejudiced 
 mind, which must not see, nor is there a pure and 
 well regulated heart, which must not feel, that there 
 is neither an assertion, nor a sentiment, in it, which 
 does not fully accord with the clearest dictates of 
 reason, and the purest sentiments of religion. This 
 is exemplified, in the next verse. There he assumes 
 it, as a religious axiom, and declares to the " man," 
 — the unnamed Jew, — that God, the just ruler of the 
 universe, must, in his government over mankind, his 
 rational and accountable creatures, under any cir- 
 cumstances punish those, who practise the sins, to 
 which he alludes. " But, we are sure, that the 
 judgment of God is according to truth against them, 
 who commit such things." 
 
 Vain and presumptuous, then, it would be, in any 
 man, but especially vain and presumptuous, it would 
 be, in a man, possessing great and peculiar spiritual 
 
46 LECTURE III. 
 
 advantages, calculated, not only to guide him, in his 
 own conduct, but also to form a correct judgment of 
 the conduct of others, less favourably situated, — yet 
 committing the same sins, for which he condemns 
 them, — to expect that he should escape the retribu- 
 tive operation of the fundamental maxim of the divine 
 moral government ; vain and presumptuous, accord- 
 ingly, it was in the Jew, who judged and condemned 
 the Gentile, for the same sins, which he himself com- 
 mitted, to expect, that he should escape condemna- 
 tion and punishment. " And thinkest thou this, O 
 man, that judgest them, which do such things, and 
 dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment 
 of God?" 
 
 The " man," — the Jew, — who was so signally the 
 object of the peculiar regard of God, instead of 
 making a suitable improvement of his advantages, 
 greatly abused them. Blindly presuming, as already 
 observed, on his great privileges, he brought him- 
 self to think, that, however wicked his life might be, 
 these alone were sufficient to secure to him the 
 divine favour, with all its happy effects ; and the 
 false and evil principles, thus entertained, he fully 
 and unscrupulously reduced to practice. Yet, his 
 God and heavenly Father exercised great patience 
 and long forbearance towards him ; — on the unfruit- 
 ful tree all manner of attention and pains, and every 
 advantage in culture, were bestowed ; — ^but to no 
 purpose. The blinded Jew would neither see, that 
 
LECTURE III. 1-7 
 
 his great and peculiar advantages, — far from secu- 
 ring to him impunity in transgression, — were divinely 
 intended to correct whatever was wrong and evil, in 
 his heart and life, and to serve as motives to the 
 practice of whatever is holy, just, and good, nor per- 
 ceive, that the abuse of them would, in the day of 
 final account and retribution, incur an aggravated 
 punishment. " Or, despisest thou the riches of his 
 goodness and forbearance, and long-sufiering ; not 
 knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to 
 repentance. But, after thy hardness and impenitent 
 heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath, against the 
 day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judg- 
 ment of God, who will render to every man accord- 
 ing to his deeds." 
 
 The time of retribution will be, that " day, when," 
 according to the gospel of this apostle, and accord- 
 ing to the uniform doctrine of the other inspired 
 apostles, and of our Lord himself, " God shall judge 
 the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." 
 
 Relative to the final retribution, the apostle here 
 introduces parenthetically some particulars of un- 
 speakable importance. " To them, who, by patient 
 continuance, in well doing, seek for glory, honour, 
 and immortality," God will award " eternal life ; 
 but, unto them that are contentious, and do not obey 
 the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and 
 wrath," — severe and condign punishment. 
 
 It was necessary, that the Jew, who presumptu- 
 
48 LECTURE III. 
 
 ously and blindly imagined, that his present privileges 
 and spiritual relation to God, independently of merit, 
 secm-ed to him eternally the divine favom', should be 
 expressly and solemnly informed, that final retribu- 
 tion will take place, with the strictest impartiality. 
 It was necessary to assure him, that, while no other 
 denomination of the workers of iniquity, in the world, 
 can finally escape with impunity, his punishment 
 must, from the abuse of his great advantages, be 
 peculiarly signal ; but, that, while all other men, 
 who have led a good and pious life, will be rew^arded, 
 God, in his kindness and faithfulness, will signally 
 reward the good and pious Jew. *' Tribulation and 
 anguish" shall come upon " every soul of man that 
 doeth evil, — of the Jew first, and also of the Gen- 
 tile. But glory honour and peace" shall be awarded 
 " to every man that worketh good, — to the Jew, first, 
 and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of 
 persons with God." 
 
 The apostle, proceeding in his solemn declarations 
 to the Jews, relative to final retribution, affirms, that 
 *' as many as have sinned without law^ shall also 
 perish without law, and" that " as many, as have 
 sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law." Here 
 a critical remark is necessary. The word " law," 
 both in scriptural and classical use, has a variety of 
 meanings. In scriptural use, it sometimes signifies 
 a part, and sometimes the whole, of the Scriptures of 
 the Old Testament j in some places a part, in others. 
 
LECTURE III. 49 
 
 the whole, of the Jewish dispensation ; and, occasion- 
 ally, it means any dispensation of revealed religion. 
 Hence, the sense, which it bears, must often be ascer- 
 tained by the scope of the passage, in which it is 
 used. In the passage before us, accordingly, it must 
 be taken in the last mentioned sense ; — it sisnifies 
 any dispensation of revealed religion. What the 
 apostle, then, teaches here is this ; — that the wicked 
 and ungodly, who have not had the benefit of a dis- 
 pensation of revealed religion, cannot escape final 
 destruction ; and that those of that description, who 
 have had that advantage, such as the Jews, will be 
 condemned by the light and laws of that dispensation, 
 and will, accordingly, also finally perish. 
 
 The apostle's style of writing, concise and rapid, 
 as it frequently is, is often elliptical ; and sentences, 
 accordingly, sometimes occur, connected, in sense, 
 not with the words immediately preceding those sen- 
 tences, but with others, in the context. A little 
 above, in this passage, he affirms, that, while the 
 wicked Jew shall be visited with condign and signal 
 punishment, glory, honour, and peace, shall be the 
 reward of every Gentile, who worketh good. It is 
 to this important declaration, that the words, which 
 follow, refer. " For not the hearers of the law are 
 just before God, but the doers of the law shall be 
 justified. For, when the Gentiles, which have not 
 a law, do by nature the things," — the moral, more 
 important things, — " of the law, these, having not 
 
 D 
 
50 LECTURE III. 
 
 the law, are a law unto themselves." But how 
 should the Gentiles do, hy nature, the things of the 
 law, or be a law to themselves ? The apostle ex- 
 plains this. " They show the worK of the law, written 
 in their hearts ; their conscience also bearing wit- 
 ness, and their thoughts the mean-while," — ^rather, 
 as in the original, their discussions among themselves 
 ^-" accusing, or else excusing them." It is evident, 
 that the finger of God has A\Titten a law on the tab- 
 lets of their hearts ; conscience, when listened to, 
 acts as a divine monitor within them ; and the dis- 
 cussions which they have among themselves, relative 
 to vice and virtue, teach them the evil and turpi- 
 tude of the one, and the good and excellency of the 
 other. 
 
 The apostle, now, lays aside all reserve, addresses 
 the Jew directly, and by name, and, having made 
 his preparations, makes the most irresistible attack 
 on the strongholds of his prejudices. While, the 
 sequel, like the former part, of the chapter, consists 
 of didactic, authoritative, declarations, it, at the 
 same time, constitutes the most powerful possible 
 vindication of the divine estimate of human conduct, 
 and of the divine final retribution ; and, as the 
 whole passage is as clear and intelligible, as it is 
 powerful, it is better, not to interrupt it, by any un- 
 necessary observations. " Behold, thou art called 
 a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast 
 of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the 
 
LECTURE III. .51 
 
 things, that are more excellent, — being instructed 
 out of the law, — and art confident, that thou thyself 
 art a guide of the blind, a light of them, which are 
 in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher 
 of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of 
 the truth," — the knowledge of what good moral con- 
 duct is, — " in the law. — Thou, then, which teachest 
 another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou, that 
 preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal ? 
 Thou, that sayest, a man should not commit adul- 
 tery, dost thou commit adultery ? Thou, that 
 abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrileges ? Thou, 
 that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking 
 of the law, dishonourest thou God ? For the name 
 of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, through 
 you, as it is written. Circumcision indeed profiteth, 
 if thou keep the law ; but, if thou be a breaker of 
 the law, thy circumcision," — great as the privileges 
 are, of which it is the sign and seal, — " is made un- 
 circumcision. If, then, the uncircumcision keep the 
 righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumci- 
 sion be counted for circumcision ? And shall not 
 uncircumcision, which is by nature, that fulfilleth the 
 law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision," 
 — who, notwithstanding the advantage of the law 
 and of circumcision, — " dost transgress the law ? 
 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly ; neither 
 is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. 
 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and cir- 
 
52 LECTURE III. 
 
 cumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not 
 in the letter," — not a ritual circumcision, — *' whose 
 praise is not of men, but of God." 
 
 Thus, in this chapter, the apostle clearly proves, 
 that the unbelieving Jews were, as he, in the next 
 chapter, terms it, " under sin ;" and the implied 
 and just inference is, that they stood in the greatest 
 need of the salvation of God, in the dispensation of 
 the gospel. He declares, that) in the moral government 
 of the world, there is, with God, no respect of per- 
 sons ; and, from this, it follows, that God is not 
 unjust, but, on the contrary, good and gracious, in 
 conferring on the Gentiles the benefits of the gospel, 
 and just, in depri\ing the Jews of those peculiar 
 spiritual advantages, which they had so long enjoyed, 
 and so greatly abused. 
 
 On the things contained in this chapter various 
 reflections, of unspeakable importance, to those who 
 are placed under the dispensation of the gospel, may 
 be made. In those things, our attention is drawn 
 to that most important of all considerations, — the 
 universal judgment. This is a subject, which re- 
 quires no strained efforts of eloquence, to make it 
 impressive. No words can make it more impressive 
 than do the simple words of the divine oracles. 
 According to the gospel preached, by the apostle, 
 and which he received by immediate revelation, 
 there will be a day, in which the secrets of all men 
 will be judged. *' God has appointed a day, in 
 
LECTURE III. 5S 
 
 which he will judge the world in righteousness, by 
 that man, whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath 
 given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised 
 him from the dead."* In that solemn day, re- 
 tribution will take place, with perfect impartia- 
 lity. God, the judge of all the earth, is no 
 respecter of persons. He, who worshippeth him, 
 and worketh righteousness, whatever may be his na- 
 tion, is accepted by him, and will, in the day of final 
 retribution, be put in possession of eternal life and 
 happiness ; but, every individual, who,- — either mis- 
 improving the advantages of divine revelation, or 
 habitually acting against the dictates of that law, 
 which, under all dispensations, is written on the 
 tablets of every human heart, and in opposition to 
 reason, and to the knowledge of right and wrong, 
 subsisting more or less among all denominations of 
 mankind, — ^has been a worker of iniquity, " shall be 
 punished, with everlasting destruction, from the pre- 
 sence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.'* 
 Inevitable, signal, punishment, will be inflicted on 
 every habitual sinner, whether Christian, Jew, or 
 Gentile ; but, eternal life, honour, and happiness, 
 will be the inestimable and glorious reward of every 
 individual, who leads a pious and good life, of what- 
 ever denomination of mankind he may be. 
 
 When we, then, seriously consider the unspeakably 
 important doctrine of the final universal judgment, 
 
 • Acts, xvii. 31. 
 
54 LECTURE III. 
 
 we cannot fail to be sensible of the wisdom and ne- 
 cessity of working out our own salvation, with all 
 care, diligence, and perseverance. What would not 
 the wicked and ungodly, in the day of final account 
 and retribution, give, that they might not hear the 
 unutterably terrible sentence, — " Depart from me, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
 devil and his angels !'* * What would the pious and 
 righteous, then, take, in exchange, for the eternal 
 life, glory, honour, and peace, which will be confirmed 
 to them, by the inefiably joyful sentence, " Come, 
 ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, pre- 
 pared for you, from the foundation of the world !"t 
 The penitent sinner, who sincerely renounces his 
 sins, and who earnestly endeavours to do the will of 
 God, has, in the doctrine of final retribution, as the 
 apostle here states it, no real cause, either of despair, 
 or of despondency. The general principles of the 
 divine moral government must be expressed, in ge- 
 neral terms, which do not afifect the declarations of 
 Scripture, relative to specialities, in that government. 
 If, in this chapter, the apostle teaches, that, in the 
 day of final retribution, " God will render to every 
 man, according to his deeds," he also declares, that 
 the goodness of God is designed, and calculated, 
 to bring the sinner to repentance ; and another 
 inspired apostle solemnly attests the truth of his 
 declaration, when he says, that we ought to account 
 
 * Matt. XXV. 34. f Matt. xxv. 41. 
 
LECTURE III. 55 
 
 the long-suffering of God to be intended for our sal- 
 vation. Though it be true, that God will judge the 
 world, in righteousness, it is equally true, that, to- 
 wards the proper objects, his justice will be accom- 
 panied with mercy and grace. It is equally true, 
 that Christ came, to call, not the righteous, but 
 sinners, to repentance. It is equally true and faith- 
 ful, that " Jesus Christ came into the world, to save 
 sinners," and that " his blood cleanseth from all 
 sin." It is equally true, that there is joy in heaven 
 over one sinner, who repents. This, then, is full 
 of encouragement to every penitent sinner, and ren- 
 ders the impenitent transgressor altogether without 
 excuse. 
 
 They, who are but superficially acquainted with 
 this epistle, — and they are not a few, — may find it 
 difficult to reconcile to the doctrine, that, in the day 
 of final retribution, we shall be, either rewarded, or 
 punished, according to our works, the doctrine of 
 our justification freely by the grace of God, or by 
 faith, without works, as taught in this epistle. The 
 difficulty will vanish, by a close and candid exami- 
 nation of the nature of that justification. But, as 
 this examination will occur, in the sequel of these 
 discourses, it may here suffice to observe, that the 
 justification, which the apostle teaches, in this 
 epistle, is a justification, which takes place in this 
 our Christian state of probation, and which will, 
 either, from the good use, that we make of it, end 
 
56 LECTURE III. 
 
 in eternal life, or, from our abuse of it, terminate 
 in an aggravated and signal punishment. 
 
 The manner, in which the apostle speaks, in this 
 chapter, of final retribution, in reference to the Gen- 
 tile world, cannot fail to make the heart of every 
 benevolent Christian glow with gratitude and praise 
 to the righteous and gracious Judge of all the earth. 
 However differently human systems of theology, and 
 the prejudices, peculiar to sects and parties, may 
 bring many to think, it is evidently a legitimate in- 
 ference from the words cf the inspired apostle, that 
 countless numbers of the Gentiles will come to the 
 enjoyment of eternal life, glory, honour, and peace. 
 Great, indeed, and deplorable have, in all ages, been 
 the moral corruptions and impieties of the Gentile 
 world, collectively considered ; but it is undeniable, — 
 for it is matter of history and experience, — that valu- 
 able and bright virtues have greatly adorned many 
 individuals among them ; and it were a great error, 
 to think that virtues equally valuable and bright 
 have not adorned millions of them, whose lives are 
 now known only to the Omniscient. In the day, in 
 which each individual of the human race shall re- 
 ceive according to his deeds, the righteous Judge will 
 doubtless make allowance for those disadvantages, 
 occasioned by the general dispensation, under which 
 the Gentiles have been placed ; and the great power 
 of the prejudices, arising from false and bad educa- 
 tion, and from a general evil example, cannot, in 
 
LECTURE III. 57 
 
 that day, fail to be considered, to the advanta;Te of 
 those, who have, in some measure, resisted that power. 
 We know, that, as all the race of mankind return to 
 their kindred dust, in consequence of the transgres- 
 sion of their first common parent, Adam, so also shall 
 they all be recalled to life, in virtue of the obedience 
 unto death of the second Adam, our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Who, then, shall say, that a mere restora- 
 tion to life will be the only benefit, which the Gen- 
 tiles will receive, at the hands of the Saviour of the 
 world ? Who shall say, that millions of the Gentiles 
 would not most gratefully and joyfully have accepted 
 the pri\ileges and benefits, now possessed by his 
 church, had they had the offer of them ? Who shall 
 say, that forgiveness will not be granted to countless 
 numbers of the Gentiles, who may have repented of 
 their sins, for the sake of that Divine Mediator, be- 
 tween God and men, w^ho gave himself a ransom for 
 all ? — That the apostle should discourse more fully 
 and particularly of the salvation of devout and vir- 
 tuous Gentiles, was not to be expected, when it is 
 considered, that it w^as the great business of his life 
 to reclaim the Gentiles from their errors and sins, 
 and to bring them to embrace the gospel. If, after 
 the brief statement of the doctrine, here given, the 
 prejudiced Jew asked, " What advantage, then, hath 
 the Jew ? Or what profit is there of circumcision ?" 
 had the apostle discoursed more fully and explicitly, 
 on the point, might there not be a danger, that the 
 
58 LECTURE HI. 
 
 unreasonable Gentile would ask, " What advantage, 
 then, has the Christian ? Or what profit is there in 
 baptism ?" 
 
 In this chapter, the apostle, in the most eloquent 
 and impressive manner, shows to the unbelieving, 
 disobedient Jew, and, by the clearest analogy and 
 implication, to the disobedient Christian, the great 
 responsibility, arising from the possession of the 
 spiritual advantages of a special covenant relation 
 with God, and the condemnation, which, in the day 
 of final retribution, will be occasioned to those, who 
 abuse those advantages, from being merely, in pro- 
 fession, what the uninstructed, yet obedient Gentiles, 
 in many instances, are, by practice. In making 
 choice of Israel, to be his peculiar people, God de- 
 signed, that, by their improvement of the special 
 favour granted to them, they should be the means of 
 making his name to be known and glorified in all 
 the earth. But, they served not, as they ought, this 
 important purpose. Through their impiety and 
 wickedness, the glorious name of the living and true 
 God was blasphemed, among the Gentiles ; and it 
 was chiefly by the signal punishment of his people, 
 that the attention of the world was drawn to him. 
 Thus, alas ! in a great and striking measure, it is 
 also with the Christian Church. What nation is 
 there on the earth, to whom Christians have not been 
 known, chiefly by their injustice, their cruelties, their 
 oppressions, their impurities, and their impieties; 
 
LECTURE III. 59 
 
 and what nation, however barbarous, is there, whom 
 intercourse with us has not rendered more corrupt 
 and miserable, and thus alienated still further, from 
 the knowledge and service of the living and true 
 God ? But, not with impunity. For do not many 
 events, which happen in the christianized world, in- 
 dicate temporal, merited, punishment, and exemplify 
 future aggravated retribution, for this great abuse of 
 the advantages of the glorious dispensation, under 
 which we live ? 
 
 In addressing the Jew, the apostle, as already ob- 
 served, has especially in his eye the more learned, 
 yet prejudiced and disobedient, Jew, who professed 
 to enlighten and to guide others ; and he openly and 
 severely exposes the preposterous and absurd, as well 
 as sinful, conduct of that Jew, and, with his conduct, 
 that of every one, of a similar character and profes- 
 sion, in our Israel. The implied exhortation to 
 Christian pastors is but too necessary and too mani- 
 fest. Is it not evident, that we are chargeable, either 
 with strong prejudices, or with wilful errors, when it 
 is considered, that, of the numberless and widely dif- 
 fering creeds, which we respectively profess and teach, 
 we almost never, in any degree, change that one, in 
 which we have been educated ? And is it not thus 
 evident, that, in many respects, we must mislead 
 those, whom we imdertake to instruct and guide ? Is 
 it not evident, that, in too many instances, our light 
 does not shine before men ? Is it not but too true, 
 
60 LECTURE 111. 
 
 that, imperfect, as we all of us are, we have, on due 
 reflection, great cause to ejaculate, " Who is suffi- 
 cient for these things ?" Perfect, O God, Father of 
 our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, thy 
 strength, in our weakness I 
 
: ^1 ] 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ROMANS, III. 
 
 In the preceding chapter, the apostle assures the 
 unhelieving Jews, and especially those of them who 
 taught and led others, that they were inexcusable and 
 self-condemned, in committing those very sins, which 
 they reprobated in the Gentiles ; — that the Jews, by 
 impenitently abusing the exuberant, special, goodness 
 of God, towards them, incurred very great guilt and 
 condemnation ; — that, in the day of final retribution, 
 each individual of the human race, whether Jew or 
 Gentile, shall be either rewarded, or punished, accord- 
 ing to his works, with perfect impartiality ; — that 
 circumcision, — the seal of the covenant, subsisting 
 between God and the Jews, — was of advantage only 
 to those of them, who obeyed the law ; — that, to the 
 Gentile, obedience to the law, divinely impressed on 
 his heart, secured the ultimate benefits intended by 
 a special covenant; — that the Gentile, who obeyed the 
 law of nature, condemned the transgressor of the 
 revealed law ; — that he was not truly a Jew, who was 
 such only outwardly, nor circumcision that, which 
 
62 LECTURE IV. 
 
 was merely external ; but that he was really a Jew, 
 — the object of the special regard of God, — who was 
 one internally, and who sought the praise of God, in 
 preference to the praise of men, and the true circum- 
 cision, that which is in the heart and spirit. 
 
 These doctrines were in direct opposition to the 
 views of the unbelieving Jew, who, for acceptance 
 with God, arrogantly and presumptuously relied 
 chiefly, if not entirely, on the privileges of the divine 
 covenant. With wonder, therefore, and indignation, 
 the Jew puts to the apostle this question ; " What 
 advantage, then, has the Jew ? Or • what profit is 
 there of circumcision ? " The apostle replies ; "Much 
 every way ; and chiefly because unto them were com- 
 mitted the oracles of God." Thus, the apostle denies 
 not, that the Jew possessed great advantages, — ac- 
 knowledged advantages, indeed, which, in the sequel 
 of the epistle, he himself enumerates and describes. 
 But, the chief advantage, which the Jew possessed, 
 the apostle declared to be, the possession of the oracles 
 of God. This manifestly was an invaluable treasure, 
 — a privilege and benefit inestimable ; — and it is not 
 without a special and evident design, that the apostle 
 here mentions that privilege and benefit. In those 
 oracles, the Messiah was promised and described ; 
 in those oracles it was predicted, that the Messiah 
 should be rejected, by the Jews, and should, by their 
 hands, suffer and die ; but that he should rise again 
 from the dead ; in those oracles, it was foretold, that, 
 
LECTURE IV. 68 
 
 for their great and innumerable sins, but especially 
 for the enormous •crime, of embruing their hands in 
 the blood of the Messiah, the Jews should be rejected, 
 from being the people of God, and that, in their 
 place, another nation should be received as his 
 people. Accordingly, to the prophecies, contained 
 in the divine oracles, the apostle, in his endeavours 
 to convert the Jews, constantly drew their attention ; 
 and one instance, among many, of this we have, in 
 the discourse, which, on his arrival at Rome, he 
 addressed to those very Jews, whom he now has 
 immediately in his eye. To mention, then, the 
 advantage, which the Jews had, in being intrusted 
 with the oracles of God, virtually was, to put them 
 in mind of their wilful and inexcusable blindness, in 
 rejecting the gospel, and of the prophecies, contained 
 in those oracles, relative to their rejection from the 
 kingdom of God, with the direful consequences of 
 that rejection, and to the reception, into that king- 
 dom, in their place of another and a better nation ; 
 and this the Jew would, at once, perceive. Hence, 
 the next question and objection, which the apostle 
 puts into the mouth of the unbelieving Jew ; — a 
 question and objection, which, no doubt, the apostle 
 had actually and frequently heard from him. 
 
 " What if some have not believed ? Shall their 
 unbelief make the faith," or faithfulness, — " of Gqd 
 of none effect ?" Shall God, by depriving the Jews 
 of their peculiar privileges, and by rejecting them, 
 
64 LECTURE IV. 
 
 as you teach he will, fail to fulfil his promise, — the 
 promise made, by God, to Abrahstm, and recorded 
 in the divine oracles, that he would be a God to 
 that patriarch, and to his posterity, hy an everlast- 
 ing covenant f The apostle solemnly denies the 
 charge ; " God forbid ! Yea, let God be true, but 
 every man a liar." Let us account all men false, 
 rather than imagine, that God is unfaithful. If 
 God seems to fail, in fulfilling his promise, it was 
 because it was given conditionally, and because the 
 conditions have not been observed ; " as it is writ- 
 ten, that thou mightest be justified, in thy sayings, 
 and mightest overcome, when thou art judged."* 
 Or, that thou mightest be just, in what thou hast 
 spoken, and clear in thy judging. What God " had 
 spoken" was, the promise given to David ; " Thy 
 house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever ;" 
 and the " judging" meant was, the announcement 
 made to David, on account of his great sin, in the 
 matter of Uriah ; " The sword shall never depart out 
 of thy house." The penitent king confessed his 
 great guilt, and declared, that neither the justice, nor 
 the faithfulness, of God, could be impeached, though 
 his threatenings should be executed. Thus, neither 
 the justice, nor the faithfulness, of God could be im- 
 peached, for visiting the Jews with severe punish- 
 ment, — even with along rejection and all its miseries ; 
 and of this the Jew ought to have been sensible. 
 ♦ Ps. li. 4. 
 
LECTURE IV. 65 
 
 The next two questions put, by the apostle, into 
 the mouth of the unbelieving Jew, with all the ex- 
 pressiveness and force of antithesis, are occasioned 
 by the terms of the last answer, relative to the 
 divine justice and veracity, and may be regarded as 
 an amplification of the last question. " But, if our 
 imrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, 
 what shall we say ? Is God unrighteous, who in- 
 flicteth wrath ? — I speak as a man." If the charge 
 of wickedness, which you bring against us, be well 
 founded, will not the faithfulness and goodness of 
 God, be more illustriously manifested, in refrain- 
 ing from rejecting and punishing us ? For will not 
 his faithfulness, in continuing us, as his people, and 
 thus fulfilling his promise, notwithstandmg our 
 wickedness, be thus more gloriously displayed ? Will 
 not our punishment be even unjust ? And shall we, 
 indeed, come to the conclusion, that God, in reject- 
 ing and punishing us, is really unjust ? Here the 
 impiety of the supposition makes the apostle pause, 
 to remind us, that he is stating the objections of an 
 unbelie\ing Jew. But, deferring to the sequel of the 
 epistle the vindication of the divine procedure, in 
 rejecting the unbelieving Jews, and in receiving, in 
 their place, the believing Gentiles, to the undevout 
 supposition of the Jew, in imagining God unjust, he 
 now^ only makes this short, but solemn and empha- 
 tical answer ; " God forbid ! For, then, how shall 
 God judge the world ?" That God, the present 
 
 E 
 
66 LECTURE IV. 
 
 and final, supreme, Judge of all mankind, is an un- 
 just judge, is an idea not only unspeakably awful, but 
 altogether contrary to the dictates both of reason 
 and revelation. 
 
 *' For," continues the unbelieving Jew, '* if the 
 truth of God hath more abounded, through my lie, 
 unto his glory, why yet am I judged as a sinner ?'* 
 If the faithfulness of God in fulfilling his promise, 
 be more illustriously manifested, and if his glory be 
 greatly promoted, by my unbelief and wickedness, 
 why should I be condemned and punished ? Why 
 should punishment follow a result so glorious ? This 
 reasoning is so clearly false and pernicious, that, in- 
 stead of exposing the error and evil of it directly, the 
 apostle merely bids the Jew, to follow it out to its 
 necessary conclusion, — a conclusion, which would 
 establish a general maxim, of a nature the most 
 wicked and pernicious. " And not rather," that is, 
 and why not at once say, " Let us do evil that good 
 may come." 
 
 Here, the apostle takes occasion bitterly to com- 
 plain, that he himself, if not all the apostles, were 
 charged, — doubtless by the unbelieving Jews, — with 
 teaching doctrines, which favoured the maxim now 
 reprobated. The unbelieving Jews, it is very pro- 
 bable, misrepresented the doctrine of free justifica- 
 tion, by faith, as resolvable into that maxim. In the 
 remaining part of the epistle, we shall see, how ut- 
 terly devoid of truth the charge was. At present, 
 
LECTURE IV. 67 
 
 the apostle contents himself, with merely declaring, 
 that they, who could bring forward a charge so false 
 and wicked, should incur a condemnation and pun- 
 ishment justly deserved. 
 
 " What then ;'* — continues the unbelieving Jew, — 
 " Are we better ?" Do we, Jews, excel the Gentiles ? 
 For, that we do excel them, you seem to have admit- 
 ted, in saying, that, in every way, we have greatly the 
 advantage over them. "By no means ;" replies the 
 apostle ; "for we have before proved both Jews and 
 Gentiles, that they are all under sin." Your advan- 
 tage consists in your great and distinguishing privi- 
 leges. But, these privileges, instead of making you, 
 in a spiritual sense, to excel, have, from your great 
 abuse of them, occasioned in you aggravated guilt. 
 
 The heavy charge, which the apostle brings 
 against the Jews was no new one. He proceeds to 
 show, from the divine oracles,' that, many ages past, 
 they had established their character for the greatest 
 impiety and wickedness. "As it is written ; there 
 is none righteous ; no, not one. There is none that 
 understandeth ; there is none, that seeketh after God. 
 They are all gone out of the way ; they are all become 
 unprofitable ; there is none, that doeth good j no, 
 not one." * " Their throat is an open sepulchre ; with 
 their tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of 
 asps is under their lips;"t " whose mouth is full of 
 cursing and bitterness, "t " Their feet are swift, to 
 
 * Psa. xiv. 1-3. t r**a. V. 9 ; cxl. ;3. t Psa. x. 7. 
 
68 LECTURE IV. 
 
 shed blood ; destruction and misery are in their 
 ways ; and the way of peace they have not known."* 
 " There is no fear of God before their eyes."t 
 
 This, indeed, is a sad description of the ancient 
 state of the Jews ; and, if any thing could have low- 
 ered the lofty pretensions of the generation of that 
 people, whom the apostle addressed, — if any thing 
 could have removed their prejudices, convinced them 
 of their depravity, and shown them their need of the 
 dispensation of the gospel, this description was well 
 calculated to do it. For, it was manifestly extreme 
 arrogance and blindness, in them, to think, that what 
 was, thus, divinely asserted and recorded of their 
 fathers, might not, with equal truth and justice, be 
 affirmed of themselves. ,To remove all ground of 
 confidence from the unbelieving Jew, and to deprive 
 him of every shadow of excuse, the apostle reminds 
 him, that, in this description, the people of God, 
 Israel, and not another people, were meant. " Now, 
 we know, that what things the law," — the Scripture, 
 — " saith, it saith to them, who are under the law," 
 — to the Jews ; — '* so that every mouth is stopped 
 and all the world," — Jews as well as Gentiles, — 
 " become guilty before God." Because, " by works 
 of law, there shall no flesh," — no man, whether Jew, 
 or Gentile, — '' be justified in his sight. For, by 
 law is the knowledge of sin." 
 
 The apostle is now prepared to declare the gra- 
 
 * Isa. lix. 7, 8. t Psa. xxxvi. 1. 
 
LECTURE IV. 69 
 
 cious and glorious way of justification and acceptance, 
 which God himself has devised, and opened up, for 
 sinful, guilty, man ; and though, to the well-informed 
 and candid Christian, there is, in the words, in 
 which the apostle describes that way, neither obscu- 
 rity nor uncertainty, it is, to the less informed, very 
 important, to be reminded, that it is evident, the 
 apostle is chiefly addressing the unbelieving Jew, 
 whose prejudices, in favour of the law of Moses, 
 were so deeply and inveterately rooted. That the 
 apostle, though not exclusively, is yet, in this para- 
 graph, especially addressing the unbelieving Jew, 
 is evident, not . only from the general scope of the 
 subject, but also, and particularly, from his affirm- 
 ing, that the passages, now cited from the Scriptures, 
 were evidently addressed to the Jews, and from the 
 questions put a little below ; " Is he the God of the 
 Jews only ? Is he not also of the Gentiles ?'* The 
 poor, blinded. Gentile, once convinced, that Jesus is 
 the Son of God, and that the gospel is of divine ori- 
 gin, and divinely attested, will, by the light of that 
 gospel, clearly see his sinful and lost state, and will, 
 at once, and with all gratitude, accept the terms of 
 justification and salvation proposed. But, not so the 
 Jew. It is with the greatest difficulty, if at all, that 
 he can be brought to believe, that God himself can 
 either alter, or improve, his own dispensations. 
 
 It is also of importance to the less informed reader, 
 to be reminded, that, in this passage, *' law " means, 
 
70 LECTURE IV. 
 
 not merely the Mosaic ceremonial law, as distin- 
 guished from the moral law, but divine law in general, 
 whether written on tables of stone, or on the tablets 
 of the human heart, but especially, and in its full 
 extent, the Mosaic law, or dispensation. " But now 
 the righteousness," or justification, " of God, with- 
 out the law, is manifested ; being witnessed by the 
 law and the prophets," — ^by the Scriptures of the 
 Old Testament, — " even the righteousness," or jus- 
 tification, *' of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, unto 
 all, and upon all," — to all Jews and all Gentiles, — 
 *' that believe ; for there is no difference. For all," 
 — Jews and Gentiles, — " have sinned and come short 
 of the glory of God," — ^have failed, in establishing a 
 right to the approbation of God, and to that eternal 
 life and glory, which are the fruits of his approba- 
 tion ; " being justified freely by his grace," — purely 
 and wholly by the spontaneous, and undeserved, 
 mercy, love, and goodness of God, — " through the 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 
 
 Having just mentioned, that the divine method of 
 justification, revealed in the gospel, receives evidence 
 and confirmation from the Scriptures of the Old 
 Testament, the apostle naturally proceeds to inti- 
 mate, that the mercy-seat of the ancient dispensation 
 was typical of Christ. The mercy-seat, or throne, 
 with its attendant cherubim, made of pure gold, sur- 
 mounted the ark of the covenant. On this mercy- 
 throne rested the symbol of the special presence of 
 
LECTURE IV. 71 
 
 Jehovah. From this throne, the living and true 
 God made his will known to his people. From this 
 throne the people received divine counsel, to guide 
 them. From this throne the Lord declared the sin 
 and evil of transgressing his commandments. From 
 this throne he revealed his great love to all that 
 obeyed him. From this throne he gave all penitent 
 transgressors the fullest assurance of mercy and grace. 
 To this throne were directed the prayers, the vows, 
 and the praises, of the people. And, as a farther 
 illustration of the words of the apostle, it must be 
 observed, that, when the High Priest appeared be- 
 fore the mercy-seat, it was not without blood. A 
 victim was sacrificed, on the occasion. The mercy- 
 seat, or throne, then, was, under the Mosaic dispen- 
 sation, a type ; and Christ, under the dispensation 
 of the gospel, is the anti-type. *' Him God fore- 
 ordained, to be a mercy-seat, through faith, by his 
 blood ; to declare," — to manifest, — " his righteous- 
 ness," or justification, " for," — in relation to, — " sins 
 that are past, through the forbearance of God; — to 
 manifest, at this time," — that is, under the dispensa- 
 tion of the gospel, — " his righteousness,'* or justifica- 
 tion; — " that he might be just," or gracious, — " and 
 the justifier of him that belie veth in Jesus." 
 
 Now, when we consider that Christ is God mani- 
 fested in human nature, — that it is by him alone we 
 become acquainted with the Father, — that it is by 
 him alone the gracious purposes of God, towards us, 
 
72 LECTURE IV. 
 
 are revealed, — that he alone has brought life and 
 immortality to light, — that, by him alone, the peni- 
 tent sinner learns the way of forgiveness and of re- 
 conciliation, — that it is, by him alone, we are un- 
 erringly taught our duties, — and that, in the shedding 
 of his blood, a perfect, acceptable, and final, sacrifice, 
 was offered for us, — we must, at once, see the pro- 
 priety of the metaphorical language of the apostle, in 
 this place. 
 
 " Where is boasting, then ?" Is there in the Jew, 
 with all his advantages, as a member of the church 
 of God, nothing of which he may boast, — nothing of 
 which he may glory ? — No j nothing. All boasting, 
 — all glorying, — " is excluded. By what law?" By 
 what method ? " of works ?" " Nay ; but by the 
 law," — by the method, — " of faith. Therefore, we 
 conclude, that a man," — that a Jew, — " is justified 
 by faith, without the deeds of the law." 
 
 " Is he the God of the Jews only ? Is he not also 
 of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also ; seeing 
 God is one, who will justify the circumcision," — the 
 Jews,—" by faith, and the uncircumcision," — the 
 Gentiles, — " through faith. Do we, then, make law 
 void," — do we abolish all law, — all manner of divine 
 special dispensation, — " through faith? God forbid ! 
 Yea ; we establish law." We establish " the law of 
 the spirit of life in Christ Jesus ;" — we establish the 
 law, or dispensation, of the gospel, with all its re» 
 quirements. 
 
LECTURE IV. 73 
 
 It is of the greatest importance, that we should 
 well understand the nature of the justification, of 
 which the apostle here discourses ; and, to do so, we 
 must steadily keep in view, that it is the Jew, strongly 
 prejudiced, as he was, in favour of his own method 
 of justification, he especially addresses. At Mount 
 Sinai, the Jew received that law hy the perfect 
 observance of which, in all its parts, he was to be 
 justified, and to have eternal life, and, for the breach 
 of the least requirement of which, he was to be 
 condemned, and to perish ; and, thus, the law became 
 the ministration of death ; — the commandment, which 
 was ordained unto life, was, from the frailty of man, 
 even in his most strenuous endeavours to observe it, 
 found to be unto death. But, notwithstanding, it 
 served an ultimate purpose of unspeakable import- 
 ance. It became a schoolmaster, who by his rigor- 
 ous discipline, and mortal severity, prepared those, 
 who were under him, and who, escaping the strong 
 infatuation, which possessed the many, chose not to 
 cower and perish, under the rod, for Christ and the 
 justification of his gospel. 
 
 Christ, in virtue of his obedience unto death, and 
 by the appointment of the Father, purchased for 
 mankind a restoration from that death, which the 
 disobedience of our first, common, parent, Adam, 
 brought upon himself, and which, by the divine de- 
 cree, was entailed on all his posterity. Thus, Christ 
 effected for mankind " justification," as the apostle, 
 
74 LECTURE IV. 
 
 in the sequel, calls it, " of life." Those, to whom 
 the gospel was originally addressed, whether Jews, 
 or Gentiles, fully established their right to that jus- 
 tification, by receiving Jesus, as the promised Mes- 
 siah, or Son of God, and by believing in their hearts, 
 that God did, indeed, raise him from the dead ; and 
 it is by the same profession and belief that all men, 
 whether Jews, or Gentiles, in all ages, when, from 
 their original state, they embrace the gospel, acquire 
 the same glorious right. " If thou shalt confess, 
 with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe, in 
 thine heart, that God raised him from the dead, thou 
 shalt be saved. For, with the heart, man believeth 
 unto righteousness," or justification, *' and, with the 
 mouth, confession is made unto salvation." * 
 
 Either Jews, or Gentiles, once brought within the 
 pale of the Christian Church, their posterity, in all 
 succeeding generations, continue in the enjojanent of 
 justification, and of all other Christian privileges, 
 while they continue in the profession of their fathers ; 
 as the posterity of Abraham, in their successive gene- 
 rations, continued to enjoy the privileges of their 
 peculiar covenant, in virtue of their descent and pro- 
 fession. 
 
 In virtue of their justification. Christians enjoy 
 other spiritual privileges, of a nature the most valu- 
 able and honourable. By it, they are a chosen gene- 
 ration, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
 
 * Rom. X. 9, 10. 
 
LECTURE IV. 75 
 
 people. The glorious Creator and God of the uni- 
 verse is their heavenly Father ; and they are his 
 children ; — they are heirs of God, and joint heirs with 
 Christ. And from these privileges, it is evident, 
 innumerable, inestimable, benefits must accrue. 
 
 From the portion of the epistle now considered, it 
 clearly appears that the justification of the Christian 
 is, on the part of God, purely and wholly free, and, 
 on the part of man, entirely independent of any 
 works, and of any merit. In amplification, however, 
 of the joyful subject, the words of the apostle, in his 
 epistle to the Ephesians, may with profit be added. 
 " By grace ye are saved, through faith ; and that 
 not of yourselves ; — it is the gift of God. Not of 
 works, lest any man should boast. For we are his 
 workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good 
 works, which God hath before ordained, that we 
 should walk in them." * 
 
 That the Christian has no merit from the Jaith, by 
 which he enjoys the grace, in which he stands, is very 
 evident, from the very nature of the case. When a 
 ■sovereign grants to a criminal, condemned to die, a 
 pardon, his life, and all his former privileges, as a 
 subject, what merit has the criminal, in believing 
 that those joyful things are granted to him? Or, 
 what merit has a nobleman, whose ancestors, after a 
 long and just forfeiture, were, by an act of grace, on 
 the part of the sovereign, happily restored to their 
 • Eph. ii. 8, 9, 10. 
 
76 LECTURE IV. 
 
 original state, in believing that he is born to his high 
 rank, great privileges, and extensive possessions, and 
 has an unquestionable legal right to the enjoyment 
 of them ? It is very evident, that neither the one nor 
 the other has any merit in his belief. And if they 
 have not, what merit has the Christian, in believingy 
 that he is justified freely, by the grace of God, 
 through the redemption, that is in Christ, and has 
 a full and clear right to all the other inestimable 
 privileges, and blessings, which accompany his justi- 
 fication ? 
 
 Here, we ought not to omit observing, that the 
 justification, of which the apostle here treats, is also 
 frequently and very appropriately denominated, by 
 him, a salvation ; and it must be most carefully 
 remembered, that the justification here announced is 
 not that final justification of the righteous, which 
 will take place, in the day of judgment, but a justifi- 
 cation, which we enjoy in our present state of proba- 
 tion, in this world, and which, not only will not secure 
 to us eternal salvation, but will even aggravate our 
 guilt, and will cause our punishment to be more 
 signal, if we do not work out our salvation, 'by per- 
 severance in well-doing, and especially if we lead a 
 life positively bad — Our final justification, and the 
 consequent salvation, it is expressly and clearly de- 
 clared to us, will depend on our works, or the course 
 of our lives. In the preceding part of this chapter, 
 we are distinctly and solemnly informed, that, in the 
 
LECTURE IV, 77 
 
 day when God shall judge the secrets of men, it is 
 they, who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek 
 for glory, honour, and immortality, that shall enjoy 
 eternal life ; while they, who are contentious, and do 
 not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall 
 be the objects of indignation and MTath. " We 
 must," saith the apostle to the Corinthians, " all 
 appear before the judgment- seat of Christ, that every 
 one may receive the things done in the body, whether 
 it be good or bad."* Our Lord himself assures 
 us, that it is not they, who merely profess to honour 
 him, however great either their privilege, or their 
 gifts, may be, that shall enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven, but they, who do the will of God ; and he 
 even specifies some of the works, which are to be re- 
 warded with an entrance into the kingdom prepared 
 for the righteous. It is of the justification, which 
 ends in this eternal salvation, that the apostle James 
 speaks in his epistle, and not of the justification, of 
 which the apostle here treats. Inattention to this 
 distinction, and to the limited nature of the justifica- 
 tion, of which the latter treats, has been the cause of 
 much confusion of ideas, on the subject, of much 
 unchristian disputation, and of effects of the most 
 injurious nature, on the lives of Christians. 
 
 'We now enjoy that justification, which alone is 
 compatible with our state of probation ; and it is 
 unquestionably a justification of unspeakable value. 
 
 • 2 Cor. V. 10. 
 
78 LECrUKE IV. 
 
 To the believing Jew, it is a consideration the most 
 joyful, and, in the highest degree calculated to kindle 
 his gratitude and adoration, that he is not now, as 
 his fathers were, under the law of sin and death, but 
 under the law of the spirit of life ; and that he has 
 received, not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but 
 the spirit of adoption, whereby he cries, Abba, 
 Father ! And when we, believing Gentiles, reflect on 
 our deliverance from the deplorable state of aliena- 
 tion, ignorance, and despair, in which our ancestors 
 lived, on our reconciliation to God, our heavenly 
 Father, on our free justification, before him, through 
 the redemption that is in his Son, on our adoption as 
 the children of God, and on our prospects of a 
 future glorious life and immortality, we cannot but 
 see and feel, that we are under the strongest obliga- 
 tions to offer unto God, our Saviour, the sacrifice of 
 praise, thanksgiving, and adoration continually. 
 
 Finally ; it merits our particular attention, that the 
 apostle declares, that the chief privilege, enjoyed by 
 the ancient people of God, was the possession of the 
 divine oracles, — the Holy Scriptures. For, if that 
 was their chief privilege, we, in possessing, not only 
 those oracles, but also those additional oracles, in 
 which life and immortality, and the whole scheme of 
 the dispensation of grace are revealed, must have a 
 treasure inestimable. Let us be careful duly to ap- 
 preciate the divine oracles. Let us beware of giving 
 the preference to the traditions of men. Let us ever 
 
LECTURE IV. 79 
 
 remember, that, in every thing essential, they are 
 clear and perfect. Let us cherish a deep sense of 
 their efficiency, to make us wise unto salvation. If 
 human writings, — the dictates of the human mind, 
 — effect such wonderful things as we know they do ; 
 — if they so greatly enlighten and improve our minds, 
 and so powerfully and beneficially affect our hearts ; — 
 if, by the light and guidance of merely human writ- 
 ings, mankind are so greatly benefited, in civil go- 
 vernment, and in the arts and sciences ; — if, with the 
 aid of those writings, we so confidently and surely 
 traverse the wide and trackless ocean, and so safely 
 arrive at the desired haven; -^if, by those writings the 
 secret systems and great glories of the heavens are so 
 marvellously disclosed to us ; — if the power and bene- 
 ficial effects of human writings be such, what limit 
 can we assign to the power and efficiency of the 
 divine oracles, — to the Scriptures, or writings, which 
 have been dictated by the Spirit of God, when duly 
 studied, and reduced to practice ? Is it not reason- 
 able to believe, that the divine oracles, when we open 
 our minds to the truths, which they contain, and our 
 hearts to their influence, are perfectly able to secure 
 both our social and individual happiness, in our pre- 
 sent state ? 
 
 Is it not reasonable to believe, that if we make a 
 due use of the divine knowledge, which they contain, 
 we shall be unerringly guided over the ocean of life, 
 and be safely conducted to that joyful haven, which 
 
80 LECTURE IV. 
 
 all so eagerly desire to reach ? Is it not reasonable 
 to believe, that, if we are well versed in the sublime 
 science, which they so unerringly teach, the mysteries 
 and glories of heaven will be i ifallibly revealed to us, 
 to that extent, to which it is now good for man to 
 know them ? It is evident, that the neglect, and con- 
 sequent ignorance, of human writings, would un- 
 avoidably lead to universal barbarism, confusion, and 
 misery, of the most deplorable nature ; and, if these 
 would be the effects of such neglect, is it not reason- 
 able to think, — is it not certain — that effects un- 
 speakably more deplorable would inevitably follow, 
 from the neglect, and consequent ignorance, of those 
 divine writings, which contain the oracles of God ? 
 
[ 81 ] 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 ROMANS, IV. 
 
 In this chapter the apostle proceeds in his demonstra- 
 tion of justification freely by the grace of God, by 
 faith. His design is, to convince, and to win the 
 unbelieving Jews, to confirm, in their faith, those of 
 that nation, who had embraced the gospel, and, in 
 doing so, to instruct, and to encourage, the believing 
 Gentiles. The argument and illustration, which he 
 uses, are powerfully and admirably fitted to accom- 
 plish his purpose. In the context, he had asserted, 
 that the gospel method of justification had " excluded 
 boasting," or glorying ; but, in the preceding part of 
 the epistle, to the questions of the Jew, " What ad- 
 vantage then hath the Jew .^ Or, what profit is there 
 of circumcision ? " he replied, " Much every way." 
 Circumcision profiteth, if thou keep the law. This 
 prepares us for the question, or objection, to the 
 gospel method of justification, with which this chap- 
 ter commences ; — an objection evidently purporting 
 to be made by an unbelieving Jew, which, it is very 
 probable the apostle had often heard, from the im- 
 
82 LECTURE V. 
 
 believing Jews, and which, in the depths of their 
 prejudices, that blinded people imagined to be unan- 
 swerable. 
 
 " What shall we say, then, that Abraham, our 
 father, as pertaining to the flesh, has found ?" Or, 
 as in the original, " What, then, do we say Abraham 
 our father obtained, by the flesh ?" Did he not obey 
 the commandment of God, in his observance of the 
 rite of circumcision? Did he not, besides, in all 
 respects, yield the obedience, which that rite bound 
 him to render ? And, if he did, was not this merito- 
 rious, and a ground of glorying before God ? " For, 
 if Abraham was justified by works he hath whereof 
 to boast," or glory. " Nay," replies the apostle, 
 " not before God," — not in the estimation of God. 
 " For what saith the Scripture ? Abraham believed 
 God; and it was counted to him for righteousness," 
 or justification. Thus Abraham was justified simply 
 and purely by faith ; and, as we read a little farther 
 on, " justification is of faith j that it might be by 
 grace," or unmerited favour. Now, the apostle 
 afiirms, that justification by works is founded on a 
 principle entirely different from that of faith and 
 grace. " To him that worketh is the reward not 
 reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that 
 worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the 
 ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." 
 
 Here, let us observe how comprehensively and ad- 
 mirably the mention, which the apostle makes of the 
 
LECTURE V. 83 
 
 justification of the "ungodly," illustrates his subject. 
 For, the term has a reference both to Abraham, who, 
 before he left his native country, was an idolater, 
 and to the unbelieving Gentiles, who, before their 
 conversion, were so entirely devoted to their idols. 
 Both parties, when received into covenant with God, 
 were placed in the very same circumstances ; and the 
 objection of the unbelieving Jew, against the recep- 
 tion of the Gentiles, into the Church of God, with- 
 out receiving the rite of circumcision, and without 
 obedience to the ceremonial law, was altogether un- 
 reasonable and unjust. 
 
 In illustration and confirmation of the doctrine of 
 justification by grace, through faith, as taught in this 
 passage, let it be observed, that, in a subsequent part 
 of the epistle the apostle again states it, in terms sub- 
 stantially the same. Speaking of the reception of the 
 believing Jews, into the covenant of the gospel, he 
 says, " If it be of grace, then is it no more of works ; 
 otherwise grace is no more grace;" — grace has 
 changed its nature, and is misnamed. *' But, if it 
 be of works, then, is it no more of grace ; otherwise 
 work is no more work ;" — work is essentially difierent 
 and wrongly termed. 
 
 The apostle further illustrates and confirms the 
 doctrine of justification freely by the grace of God, 
 through faith, by a quotation from the writings of the 
 inspired royal Psalmist, the type and father of the 
 promised and expected Messiah, — an authority, by 
 
84 LECTURE V. 
 
 which the deepest prejudices only could have pre- 
 vented the unbelieving Jew from being convinced. 
 By what method, indeed, can he, who has trans- 
 gressed the law of God, be justified, but by the free 
 grace, or unmerited favour, of God ? There is evi- 
 dently none. But happy is the man, who knows, 
 that his gracious Creator is ready to forgive the 
 chief of penitent, returning, sinners, and to regard 
 him as justified, and who relies on the grace of God, 
 who thus justifies. " Even as David also describeth 
 the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth 
 righteousness, without works ; saying, blessed are 
 they, whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins 
 are covered. Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord 
 will not impute sin." * 
 
 Here, the attentive reader will observe, that impu- 
 tation of righteousness, forgiveness of iniquities, 
 covering of sins, and not to impute sin, are equivalent 
 and convertible terms, and that both separatively 
 and collectively they mean justification, freely by 
 grace. 
 
 The apostle now demonstrates, that the great and 
 happy privilege of the forgiveness of sins, or justifi- 
 cation freely by grace, is, in the divine dispensations, 
 not confined to the Jews only, but extended also to 
 the Gentiles, from the state and time, in which 
 Abraham was justified. " Cometh this blessedness 
 on the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumci- 
 
 • Psal. xxxii. 1, 2, 
 
LECTURE V. 85 
 
 sion also ? For we say, that faith was reckoned to 
 Abraham for righteousness. How, then, was it 
 reckoned ? When he was in circumcision, or in un- 
 circumcision ? " Not in circumcision, but in uncir- 
 cumcision. It was not until several years after his 
 justification, that " he received the sign of cir- 
 cumcision, a seal of the righteousness," or justification, 
 "of the faith, which he had, yet being uncircum- 
 cised." And he received neither the sign, nor the 
 thing signified, merely on his own account, but " that 
 he might be the father," and exemplar, " of all them 
 that believe, though they be not circumcised ; that 
 righteousness might be imputed to them also ; — even 
 a father of the circumcision, not only to them, 
 who are of the circumcision, but also to them who 
 walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, 
 which he had, being yet uncircumcised." 
 
 The mention here made of the spiritual paternity 
 divinely conferred on Abraham, and of the blessings 
 divinely destined for his spiritual posterity, leads the 
 apostle to the next observation. " For the promise, 
 that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abra- 
 ham, or to his seed, through the law, but through 
 the righteousness of faith." Neither the promise, 
 that Abraham should be the father of many nations, 
 nor the promise, that in him, aU the families of the 
 earth should be blessed, was made on account of 
 obedience to the law, but by justification by faith, or 
 by grace. Justification by works, and the restriction 
 of it to those, who were under the law, the apostle 
 
86 LECTURE V. 
 
 observes, would have destroyed the effects of faith, 
 and would have annulled the promises. " For, if 
 they, which are of the law, be heirs, faith is made 
 void, and the promise made of none effect." He 
 shows, that this would be a morally necessary conse- 
 quence ; " because the law worketh wrath," or death. 
 How the law worketh wrath, or is found to be unto 
 death, is fully shown in the sequel, and will form the 
 subject of another discourse. But " where there is 
 no law," — as in justification by faith, — " there is no 
 transgression, and, accordingly, neither condemna- 
 tion, nor punishment." Therefore it is of faith, — 
 *' the inheritance or blessings, conferred on Abraham, 
 and on his spiritual posterity," is of faith, — " that it 
 might be by grace ; to the end the promise might 
 be sure to all the seed ; — not to that only, which is 
 of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of 
 Abraham, who is the father of us," — believing Jews 
 and Gentiles, — " all ; as it is written, I have made 
 thee a father of many nations." 
 
 Here the apostle draws our attention to the great 
 strength of Abraham's faith, in the power and faith- 
 fulness of God, by reminding us of those physical 
 circumstances, in which that patriarch and Sarah 
 stood, and which, in themselves, were greatly calcu- 
 lated to weaken his faith. When he believed, he 
 was constituted " the father of us all, before him," — 
 in the purpose of him, — " whom he believed, even 
 God, who [Iquickeneth the dead, and calleth those 
 things, which be not, as though they were \ who, 
 
LECTURE V. 87 
 
 against hope, believed in hope, that he might be- 
 come the father of many nations ; according to that, 
 which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And not 
 being weak in faith, he considered not his own body 
 now dead, when he was an hundred years old, neither 
 yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered 
 not, at the promise of God, through unbelief ; but 
 was strong in faith, giving," — by his firm faith, — 
 " glory to God ; and, being fully persuaded, that, 
 what he had promised he was able to perform." 
 Then, the apostle emphatically adds ; — " therefore 
 it was imputed to him for righteousness." 
 
 The apostle concludes his observations relative to 
 Abraham, with an invaluable and most forcible 
 practical application of the subject. " Now, it was 
 not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed 
 to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, 
 if we believe," — rather who do believe, — "on him that 
 raised up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, who was 
 delivered for our offences, and was raised again for 
 our justification." 
 
 In discoursing on the subject, of which the apostle 
 Paul here treats, it is evidently necessary to show, 
 that his doctrine, on this important point, is recon- 
 cilable with that of the apostle James. For, to 
 those, who are but imperfectly acquainted with the 
 writings of those apostles, their words may seem ir- 
 reconcilable. An attentive and candid perusal, then, 
 of these apostles will clearly show, that the justifica- 
 
88 LECTURE V 
 
 tion, of which the apostle Paul treats in this epistle, 
 is a justification, which we enjoy, in this life, simply 
 and purely in consequence of our Christian belief 
 and profession. The effects of this justification are 
 these. As members of the church of God, we are 
 delivered from that ancient dispensation of inflexible 
 and uncompromising law, to the least transgression 
 of which was annexed the penalty of death, and 
 which, accordingly, though ordained unto life, was 
 eventually found to be a ministration of death ; and 
 we enjoy a dispensation of mercy and grace. We, 
 Gentile Christians are saved from that deplorable 
 state of spiritual distance and alienation, in which 
 our fathers were. We are the children of God, — 
 heirs of God, and joint heirs, with Jesus Christ, our 
 Lord ; and we have the glorious prospect of a 
 triumphant resurrection from the dead, and of eter- 
 nal life and unspeakable happiness. 
 
 But, though we possess these great and invaluable 
 privileges, the apostle clearly teaches, that, being in 
 this world in a state of probation, we may, by sin 
 and impenitence, reject the counsel of God against 
 ourselves, render our privileges of no avail, receive 
 the grace of God in vain, and come short of the 
 glorious rest promised to us, and prepared for us ; 
 either as disobedient profligate, and unnatural, chil- 
 dren^render it sadly necessary for a great wealthy, 
 and affectionate, father to deprive them of the rich 
 inheritance, destined for them, or as wicked and re- 
 
LECTURE V. 89 
 
 bellious noblemen are deprived of those honours and 
 privileges, which their sovereign had conferred on 
 their fathers and had destined for themselves, and 
 draw down on their own heads the extreme punish- 
 ment of the law. 
 
 That we enjoy justification in this state, and that 
 the terms, on which we are justified, are those, which 
 have now been stated is evident from the concluding 
 words of the passage before us, in which the apostle 
 says, that righteousness will be imputed to us, who 
 believe on him that raised our Lord from the dead ; 
 — words which are clearly equivalent to a passage 
 in the sequel,* in which the apostle more directly 
 and fully declares, that, if we confess with our 
 mouth the Lord Jesus, and if we believe in our 
 hearts, that God hath raised him from the dead, 
 we shall be saved ; for, that, thus, we believe unto 
 righteousness, or justification, and make confession 
 unto salvation ; and, independently of the knowledge, 
 which we have on the subject, either from other parts 
 of the writings of this apostle, or from the writings 
 of other inspired men, it is evident from this epistle, 
 that, in consequence of our Christian belief and pro- 
 fession, we do indeed enjoy the inestimable privileges 
 now stated ; but, yet, that those privileges we may 
 abuse, and render ineffectual, in the end. 
 
 Now, the justification, of which the apostle James 
 treats, is evidently different from that, which is 
 
 • Ch. X. 9, 10. 
 
90 LECTURE V. 
 
 taught in this epistle. For, fi'om the grounds of the 
 latter, works are entirely and expressly excluded ; 
 and the apostle James as expressly affirms, that 
 Abraham was justified by works, when he offered 
 Isaac his son, on the altar ; or, what was equivalent, 
 when, in obedience to the divine command, he had 
 resolutely prepared to sacrifice that dearest of all 
 victims ; and, consequently, that we, his children, 
 also, are justified in the same way. The one is pri- 
 mary and fundamental, and forms the ground of the 
 great privileges and glorious prospects, which we 
 enjoy, in our present state ; the other, though dif- 
 ferent, is yet a justification, which accrues from this 
 one, which is inseparable from it, and which, indepen- 
 dently of it, could never have existed. Or, the jus- 
 tification taught by the apostle James may be regard- 
 ed as our present, primary, free, justification, in an 
 advanced stage, and confirmed, and rendered effec- 
 tual and final, by our making that faith, in conse- 
 quence of which we possess it, " perfect by works." 
 For the apostle, having said, that Abraham was jus- 
 tified by works, when he offered up Isaac, on the 
 altar, adds, " And the Scripture was fulfilled, which 
 saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to 
 him for righteousness ; and he was called the friend 
 of God. Ye see, then, that hy works a man is jus- 
 tified, and not by faith only" * 
 
 Although, as has been already observed it is, in 
 
 * Ch. il. 21, &c. 
 
LECTURE V. 91 
 
 the portion of the epistle now considered, the chief 
 design of the apostle, to obviate the objections, and 
 to remove the prejudices, of the unbelieving Jews, 
 against the gospel, and to confirm those of that na- 
 tion who had embraced it, in just and clear views of 
 it, the passage is, notwithstanding highly calculated 
 to instruct, to confirm, and to sanctify, us believing 
 Gentiles, the children of Abraham, according to the 
 divine promise. The gospel, or what was equivalent to 
 it, we know, was preached to Abraham ; and we also 
 know, that what is recorded of Abraham was written, 
 not on his account only, but also for our benefit. 
 
 Let us, then, attentively consider the analogy, 
 which the case of Abraham bears to our own. The 
 Lord made, to that eminent patriarch, great and pre- 
 cious promises, which were to be fulfilled, at a future, 
 and partly at a remote, period ; and he firmly and 
 devoutly believed, that God would, in due time, 
 infallibly fulfil his promises. Addicted, from his 
 education and from the example of his kindred, 
 though it must be admitted he, in the earlier part of 
 his life, was, to idolatrous practices, he had, not- 
 withstanding, evidently been a careful and devout 
 observer of the omnipotence of God, as displayed in 
 creation and providence, and had, as evidently, made 
 edifying and pious reflections on the history of the 
 past dispensations of God towards mankind ; and, 
 accordingly, when he received a promise from God, 
 
92 LECTURE V. 
 
 that he should have a son, by Sarah, and that his 
 posterity should be countless, as the stars of heaven 
 and as the sand which is on the sea-shore, although, 
 in regard to the prospect of having an offspring, both 
 himself and Sarah were dead, he readily and firmly 
 believed, that the promise would be fulfilled. 
 
 The Lord was pleased with the faith of the patri- 
 arch J he accounted it to him for righteousness ; and, 
 in due time, he gave him, by Sarah, a son ; — but an 
 only son. Now, mark the sequel! This son, — 
 this only son, — ^by whom alone he expected the ful- 
 filment of the divine promise, that his posterity should 
 be countless, the Lord mysteriously and marvellously 
 commanded to be offered to himself, as a sacrifice ; 
 — an act of obedience the difiiculty and painfulness 
 of which, though evident to every one, can ade- 
 quately be estimated, only by the fond father of an 
 only child, for whom is destined the greatest and 
 most glorious inheritance, which can, in this world, 
 be enjoyed, by whom his own fame and honour are 
 to be perpetuated, to the end of time, and by whom, 
 it is justly expected, the world will be greatly bene- 
 fited. Yet, even this sacrifice the patriarch hesitated 
 not to offer. He knew, that he, who had conferred 
 the gift, had a right to recall it \ and he was, be- 
 sides, convinced, that the omnipotent Creator was 
 able to restore him from the dead ; from whom, in a 
 manner, the son, in deriving his being from himself 
 
LECTURE V. 93 
 
 and Sarah, notwithstanding, the greatest physical im- 
 probabilities, was at first received. 
 
 An act of obedience so unparalleled could not fail to 
 be followed by a declaration of the divine approbation ; 
 nor did it. The covenant, which had previously been 
 made with this excellent father of believers was, now, 
 with an inestimable addition to it, renewed, and, in 
 the most solemn manner, that can be imagined, rati- 
 fied. " The angel of the Lord called unto Abraham 
 out of heaven, the second time, and said. By myself 
 I have sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast 
 done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine 
 only son, that, in blessing, I will bless thee, and, in 
 multiplying, I will multiply thy seed, as the stars of 
 the heaven, and as the sand, which is upon the sea 
 shore ; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his ene- 
 mies ; and, in thy seed shall all the nations of the 
 earth be blessed ; because thou hast obeyed my 
 voice."* 
 
 But, although the resolution to sacrifice Isaac, and 
 the preparation for offering that beloved victim, were 
 the most signal and memorable acts of obedience, in 
 the life of Abraham they were not the only ones. He 
 experienced various other trials, both domestic and 
 external, in which the same trust, in the divine power 
 and faithfulness, and the same devout regard and 
 submission to the divine authority, characterised his 
 conduct. His whole life, indeed, since he was called 
 * Gen. ch. xxii. v. 15 — 18. 
 
94 LECTURE V. 
 
 from his idolatrous native land, was an undeviating 
 course of obedience to the will of God. 
 
 The analogy, then, or rather the resemblance, 
 which our state bears to that of Abraham is this. 
 The Lord made to him great and glorious promises. 
 He believed God; his faith was imputed to him for 
 righteousness ; and the promises were solemnly re- 
 peated and ratified. We, on testimony manifestly 
 divine, believe, that God raised up Jesus, his own 
 son, from the dead, and openly acknowledge the son, 
 as our Lord ; and, in virtue of our belief and pro- 
 fession, righteousness is imputed to us; — we are 
 accounted justified ; — for Jesus, the Son of God, was 
 delivered, for our offences, and was raised again, for 
 our justification. The effects of our justification are, 
 that we are now the children of God, — ^heirs of God, 
 and joint heirs with Christ, and that we have the 
 promise and prospect of a glorious resurrection from 
 the dead, and of life, immortality, and eternal hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Now, let us consider the firm foundation on which 
 our faith stands. We have the bright example of 
 our father Abraham, in believing the divine pro- 
 mises. But, in reference to his faith, we have what 
 is still more edifying and important ; — we have the 
 knowledge of the fulfilment of the promises, which 
 were made to him. For, we are eyewitnesses of the 
 fact, that both the natural and the spiritual children 
 of the illustrious father and exemplar of believers are 
 
LECTURE V. 95 
 
 ^ountless as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that 
 is on the sea-shore ; and we know, that, in his off- 
 spring, Jesus Christ, our Lord, all the nations of the 
 earth, either ab*eady are, or, in process of time, are 
 to be, blessed. In these things, then, we have mani- 
 festly still stronger grounds for our faith than had 
 Abraham for his. For he, when first he believed, 
 had for the foundation of his faith, only the promise ; 
 and he afterwards saw the promise fulfilled, only in 
 part ; but we see it, if not finally and entirely, at 
 least, in a marvellous and inestimable degree now ful- 
 filled. We have the clearest and strongest proofs, 
 that, in fulfilling his promises, the Lord is neither 
 unfaithful nor remiss. We see, that no lapse, either 
 of years, or of ages, can affect either his power or his 
 faithfulness, in fulfilling his promises. We see, that, 
 with him a thousand years are as one day, and one 
 day as a thousand years. 
 
 Let us, the promised spiritual children of Abra- 
 ham adore God, our heavenly Father, for loving and 
 blessing us, in a manner so unexampled and marvel- 
 lous, as to deliver his own Son to the ignominious 
 death of the cross, for our sins, and for raising him 
 up again from the dead for our justification. If, in 
 the distant prospect of our day and state, our illus- 
 trious father Abraham rejoiced, well may we rejoice, 
 in the actual possession of them. Let the divine 
 faithfulness and goodness, in the fulfilment of the 
 promise made to our father Abraham be the fre- 
 
96 LECTURE V. 
 
 quent subject of our meditations ; and let the mani- 
 fold and strong proofs, which we have of the resur- 
 rection of our Lord from the dead be the frequent 
 subject of our most attentive consideration. For, in 
 his resurrection, followed, as it was, by the miracu- 
 lous endowments of the Holy Spirit, we have, not 
 only a proof and seal of our justification and accept- 
 ance with God, but also an example of our own 
 future resurrection, and a pledge of immortality, and 
 of eternal happiness and glory. 
 
 But, let us walk in the steps of our spiritual fa- 
 ther, not only in his faith, but also in his obedience 
 and submission to the divine will. His was a state 
 of probation ; and so is ours. His faith was made 
 perfect by works ; let ours be the same. Our trials, 
 like his, may sometimes be severe and mysterious ; 
 but, from his, as well as from other examples in- 
 numerable, recorded in the divine oracles, we know, 
 that, from the severest trials, God will provide a 
 way of deliverance, that we may be able to bear them. 
 Great and glorious, indeed, was the reward of the 
 trust and obedience of Abraham ; and unspeakably 
 great and glorious also will be that of ours. Our 
 present trials, if we pass through them, with trust 
 and obedience, will assuredly work for us a far more 
 exceeding, and eternal weight of glory ! 
 
 Unhappy are they, in the present state, and fear- 
 ful are their prospects, in relation to the state to 
 come, who either abuse, or neglect, the privileges, 
 
LECTURE V. 97 
 
 which they possess, in consequence of their Christian 
 belief and profession ! It had been better for them, 
 that they had never possessed their advantages. But, 
 it should never be forgotten, that, to the penitent, 
 returning, sinner, however enormous and heinous 
 his sins may have been, the doctrine of justification 
 freely by grace, through faith, is full of encourage- 
 ment, consolation, peace, and joy ! If the wicked 
 and ungodly does indeed forsake his ways, and, if he 
 turns to the Lord, he shall, at the hands of a gra- 
 cious and faithful God, experience the blessedness of 
 the man, whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose 
 sins are covered. 
 
C 98 ] 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 ROMANS, V. 
 
 Having, in the preceding part of this epistle, proved 
 that both Gentiles and Jews had become exceedingly 
 wicked and ungodly, — having declared, that it was 
 not possible, they should be justified, before God, by 
 works, but, on the contrary, that they deserved sig- 
 nal punishment, — having affirmed, that, in the dis- 
 pensation of the gospel, both Jews and Gentiles are 
 justified freely by the grace, or unmerited goodness, 
 of God, — and having illustrated this method of justi- 
 fication, by a reference to the memorable case of 
 Abraham, — -the apostle here proceeds to give an 
 ample and most cheering view of the nature and con- 
 sequences of our justification, by the grace of God, 
 through the redemption, that is in Christ. 
 
 That we may fully and profitably understand the 
 apostle, we must bear in mind, that, in the words, 
 which immediately follow, he addresses those, who 
 had recently been converted to Christ, from their 
 Gentile state, — that he addresses them collectively, 
 and as actuated by true Christian principles, and 
 
LECTURE VI. 99 
 
 leading lives suitable to their profession, — and 
 that those original believers represented the whole 
 Christian church, through all future ages, to whom, 
 accordingly, as well as to them, those words are also 
 clearly applicable. It likewise ought to be observed, 
 that the apostle here regards himself, and speaks of 
 himself, as a member of the Gentile Christian church ; 
 — evidently because, by the new covenant, all dis- 
 tinction between Jews and Gentiles is abolished, and 
 because he was divinely appointed to be the special 
 apostle of the Gentiles. 
 
 In the sequel of the epistle, the apostle declares, 
 that whosoever confesseth with his mouth the Lord 
 Jesus, and believeth in his heart, that God raised 
 him from the dead, shall be saved, and adds, that, 
 mth the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, 
 or justification, and that, with the mouth, confession 
 is made unto salvation. By this belief, then, and 
 profession, — a profession, it must ever be remember- 
 ed, which implies obedience to our Lord, — the first 
 converts to the gospel obtained, and, by this belief 
 and profession, all succeeding generations, in the 
 Christian Church, continue to enjoy, justification be- 
 fore God. 
 
 Of our justification, thus, obtained, the conse- 
 quences are inestimable. *' Being justified by faith 
 we have peace with God." In our Gentile state, we 
 renounced our God and heavenly Father, and were 
 enemies to him, in our minds, by wicked works. We 
 
100 LECTURE vr. 
 
 were aliens from the commonwealth and invaluable 
 privileges of his people. We were spiritually far off 
 from God, and were justly the children, or objects, of 
 wrath. But now, in virtue of our belief and profes- 
 sion, we are reconciled to God, have peace with him, 
 and are the objects of his love. We are a chosen 
 generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pe- 
 culiar people ; and this is " through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." It was he, who reconciled us to God. 
 It was he, who, by his own blood, brought us nigh 
 to our heavenly Father. It was " by him, that we 
 obtained access into the grace, in which we stand ;" 
 and we ought ever to be mindful, that it was by him 
 alone, and exclusively of all merit on our part, we 
 became the objects of that inestimable and marvel- 
 lous grace, or divine favour. 
 
 The foundation of our faith is so solid and im- 
 movable, that, when we duly estimate the strength 
 of it, entertain just views of the terms of our justifi- 
 cation, and render due obedience to our divine Lord, 
 it is neither with apprehension, nor with doubt, that 
 we look forward to a future state. It is far other- 
 wise ; "we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." 
 We rejoice in the full expectation of that eternal life, 
 glory, honour, and peace, which the Son of God has 
 purchased for us, and revealed in his gospel. 
 
 It is not merely in the season of health, strength, 
 and prosperity, that these our Christian principles 
 enable us to rejoice. When they have their due and 
 
LECTURE Vr. 101 
 
 intended influence on us, they enable us, in this our 
 state of probation, to rejoice, in the hope of glory, 
 not only under the pressure of mental and bodily 
 sufferings, but even in death itself. The Christian 
 not only knows, that his present sorrows and suffer- 
 ings must be but of comparatively short duration, but 
 also, that it is for the most gracious ends, that his 
 heavenly Father permits him to be subjected to them. 
 He practically remembers, that our light affliction, 
 transitory as it is, worketh for us a far more exceed- 
 ing and eternal weight of glory. *' Not only so," — 
 continues the apostle, — " but we rejoice in tribula- 
 tions ; knowing, that tribulation worketh patience, 
 and patience experience," — evidence, rather, of being 
 what we should be, — " and experience hope." 
 
 Now, in the Christian converts of the apostolic 
 age, this hope, or expectation, was neither ground- 
 less nor vain ; and however confidently they might 
 have entertained it, they could have had no cause to 
 be ashamed of it. Those converts, whether Gentiles, 
 or Jews, received the promised miraculous gifts and 
 powers of the Holy Spirit, as the unquestionable sign 
 and seal of their being, the one received, and the 
 other confirmed, as the people of God, of their right 
 to the invaluable privileges connected with that high 
 relation, and of their being the objects of the '-special 
 love of God their heavenly Father. " Hope maketh 
 not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed abroad 
 in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, which is given 
 
102 LECTURE VI. 
 
 US." As in other similar places, the language here 
 used, it may be observed, is metaphorical. The 
 miraculous gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit are 
 represented as having been poured into the hearts, 
 or minds, of the believers j and, along with those 
 gifts and powers, a sense of the love of God towards 
 those, who had received them. But it is of the great- 
 est importance, that we should remember, that those 
 original converts received the gifts and powers of the 
 Holy Spirit, not only as the seal of their own Chris- 
 tian privileges, but also as that of the privileges of 
 all succeeding generations, in the church ; and, ac- 
 cordingly, although those gifts and powers, which 
 constituted that seal, were soon withdrawn, they 
 clearly prove our right to the privileges of the people 
 of God, and as clearly show, that we are the objects 
 of his love. Those converts were but the first fruits ; 
 and if the first fruits were, in that manner, so mani- 
 festly consecrated to God, and so unquestionably 
 proved to be the objects of his love, so also assuredly 
 is the mass. 
 
 But the miraculous gifts and powers, with which 
 the original converts to the gospel were endowed not 
 only constituted a sign and seal of their right to the 
 privileges of the covenant of grace, and of their being 
 the oljjects of the special love of God ; they also 
 made them fully and infallibly acquainted with the 
 great doctrines of the gospel, which, to all, who know 
 and believe them, so clearly evince the matchless, 
 
LECTURE VI. 103 
 
 marvellous, love of God to man. These doctrines, 
 accordingly, the apostle now brings forward to de- 
 monstrate the love of God towards us. " For, when 
 we were yet," — in our Gentile state, — " without 
 strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." 
 
 This manifestation of the love of God, the apostle 
 declares, is unexampled among men. Among them, 
 a man will not die for the benefit of a wicked man ; 
 and if, by a great effort of generosity and magnani- 
 mity, one dies for a good man, it is a thing, which 
 rarely happens, and which, when it does, excites the 
 wonder of the world. But, in contrast with this, the 
 love of God, in giving up his own Son to an igno- 
 minious death, for a wicked and ungodly world, rises 
 marvellously before our eyes ; and our ineffably gra- 
 cious God would have us fix our deepest attention 
 on the unparalleled transaction. " For scarcely for 
 a righteous man will one die." " Scarcely," ob- 
 serves the apostle. <* For," — adds he, — " peradven- 
 ture for a good man some would even dare to die. 
 But God commendeth his love towards us, in that 
 while we were yet," — in our Gentile state, — " sin- 
 ners," — great and notorious sinners, — " Christ died 
 for us." 
 
 The resurrection of our Lord from the dead clearly 
 demonstrated, that God, our heavenly Father, has 
 accepted his obedience to death, as a propitiatory 
 sacrifice for our sins ; and, as already observed, we 
 appropriate the benefits of this sacrifice, — we are 
 
104 LECTURE VL 
 
 justified before God, — in virtue of our belief in the 
 resurrection of the Son of God, and by devoting our- 
 selves to the service of his Son, as our own rightful 
 Lord. The apostle here emphatically reminds us, 
 that we enjoy this justification " now,^^ — in our pre- 
 sent state ; and he justly argues, that strong and 
 clear as the proofs are, which we have of our justifi- 
 cation, we have, in this our present justification, a 
 stronger proof and pledge of our deliverance from 
 future punishment, and of our being appointed to 
 obtain eternal salvation. " Much more, then, being 
 now justified by his blood, we shall, through him, 
 be saved from wrath." The strength and certainty 
 of this pledge he further demonstrates, by showing, 
 that from our being brought from our Gentile state 
 of alienation and hostility, at the great and marvel- 
 lous price of the death of the Son of God, to a con- 
 dition of acceptance and peace with God, it follows, 
 as a necessary consequence, that we shall be eternally 
 saved, by the life of his Son, who is now invested 
 with full authority and power, to give eternal life, to 
 whom he will. " For, if, when we were enemies ^ 
 we were reconciled to God, by the death of his Sony 
 much more being reconciled^ we shall be saved by 
 his lifer 
 
 But, in addition to our inestimable state of present 
 justification, and of confident and well-founded ex- 
 pectation of eternal life, glory, honour, and peace, 
 the apostle reminds us, that there is still another 
 
LECTURE VI. 105 
 
 very high privilege, which now belongs to us. The 
 Jews, in virtue of the special covenant, in which 
 they stood, could glory in God, as, in a peculiar 
 sense, their own God ; and here the apostle affirms, 
 that we. Gentile Christians, also, who, in our ori- 
 ginal state, were far from having any such preten- 
 sions, may now glory in God, as our own God, and 
 that it is by Jesus Christ, our Lord, we have obtain- 
 ed this happy privilege. " And not only so, but 
 we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 by whom we have now obtained the reconciliation." 
 
 Thus, we have, in some measure, considered the 
 inexpressibly cheering account, which the apostle 
 here gives us of the nature and effects of our justifi- 
 cation, by grace, through the redemption that is in 
 Christ. We now proceed to take a view of the mar- 
 vellous extent of those effects. 
 
 The extent of the divine grace, and of the salva- 
 tion, that is in Christ, the apostle reveals to us, by 
 declaring, that Adam was a type of Christ. He 
 affirms, that as, in consequence of the transgression 
 of Adam, all mankind die, so, in virtue of the obe- 
 dience of our Lord Jesus Christ all mankind shall 
 be restored to life. " In reference to this,* as by 
 one man sin entered into the world, and death, by 
 sin, and so death passed upon all men, through him, 
 by whom all sinned," [so the gift of life shall be 
 
 * It is, thus, the best critics render these words from the original. 
 
106 LECTURE VI. 
 
 bestowed upon all men, through him, by whom all 
 men obtain justification of life.]* 
 
 We cannot reasonably doubt, that the apostle knew, 
 by immediate divine revelation, that it is in conse- 
 quence of the original transgression of Adam, that 
 all his posterity die ; yet here he deems it proper to 
 argue, that it is manifest, it must necessarily be so ; 
 and he founds his argument on the universal morta- 
 lity, which prevailed from Adam to Moses, in whose 
 time the law, — the ministration of death, — came. 
 " For, until the law, sin was in the world ; but sin 
 is not imputed," — ^not so imputed as to bring death 
 upon the sinner, — " when there is no law," — no spe- 
 cific law, with the punishment of death annexed to 
 the violation of it. " Nevertheless death reigned 
 from Adam to Moses," — a period in which no such 
 law existed, — " even over them, that had not sinned, 
 after the similitude of the transgression of Adam," — 
 who had not sinned, by disobeying a commandment 
 having annexed to the breach of it the punishment 
 of death. It, therefore, necessarily follows, that it is 
 in consequence of the original transgression of Adam, 
 that all mankind die. 
 
 Adam, then, the apostle affirms, was a type, or 
 " figure, of him, that was to come." He was a type 
 of him in this ; — that the transgression of Adam is 
 so imputed to all his posterity, that, in consequence 
 
 * The ellipsis, plainly, must be, thus, supplied. 
 
LECTURE VI. 107 
 
 of that transgression, they all die, and that the 
 righteousness, or ohedience unto death, of Christ is 
 so imputed to all mankind, that, in consequence of 
 that obedience, they shall all be restored to life. But, 
 he very fully and forcibly teaches, that Adam is a 
 type of Christ, only in the manner ^ not in the extent, 
 of what he occasioned to mankind ; — that the ana- 
 logy consists in the modey not in the measure. 
 *' But not as the offence so is the free gift. For, 
 if, through the offence of one, the many died, much 
 more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which 
 is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto the 
 many." By Adam, we lose life ; and our dust re- 
 turns to its kindred element ; and, in this, we do 
 but forfeit a gift, to the possession of which we had 
 no original right, and which our Creator might, in 
 any event, have either continued with us, or, at any 
 time, have, without injustice, withdrawn. But by 
 Christ, we not only have the life, which, by Adam, 
 we forfeited and lost, restored, but our restored life 
 will be eternal, and ineffably happy and glorious. 
 
 There is another most important respect, in which 
 we are here taught the analogy does not subsist be- 
 tween what Adam has occasioned to us and what 
 Christ has effected for us ; and this discrepancy, 
 also, is highly illustrative of the exuberance of the 
 divine grace. One transgression only, — one act of 
 sin only, — ^became the cause of condemnation to 
 Adam, and to all his posterity ; but the gift of divine 
 
108 LECTURE VI. 
 
 grace, by Christ, not only saves us from the effects 
 of the transgression of Adam, but also justifies us 
 from sins in number indefinite. " And not, as by one 
 that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was 
 for one (offence) to condemnation ; but the free gift 
 is of many offences unto justification." How this 
 takes place, also, the apostle here shows. " For, if, 
 by one man's offence, death reigned, by one, much 
 more they, which receive abundance of grace, and of 
 the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life, by one, 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 Having, thus, shown the important points of dis- 
 crepancy, in the analogy there is between the effects 
 of the transgression of Adam and the obedience of 
 Christ, and how greatly that discrepancy displays the 
 exubef ance of the grace of God, the apostle concludes, 
 with a general, but clear and forcible, inference, rela- 
 tive to the general analogy; — an inference, to which 
 any one, who may find difficulty in understanding, 
 either the words, or the argument, of the passage, 
 would do well to attend ; because that inference, or 
 general conclusion, entirely and manifestly removes 
 any obscurity, in which, it may be supposed, the 
 passage is involved. " Wherefore, as by the offence 
 of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, 
 even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift 
 came upon all men unto justification of life." These 
 are the effects of what Adam and Christ have respec- 
 tively caused to all mankind ; and, how they respec- 
 
LECTURE VI. 109 
 
 lively caused these effects, we are next infonned. 
 
 " For, as by one man's disobedience the many," 
 
 that is, all men, — ** were made sinners," — or re- 
 garded and treated as sinners, — " so, by the obedi- 
 ence of one, shall the many," — or all men, — " be 
 made righteous," — or regarded and treated as such. 
 
 From the time of Adam to that of Moses, — a 
 period during which no specific law, having annexed 
 to the violation of it the punishment of death, existed, 
 death, as the apostle has observed, reigned, univer- 
 sally over mankind ; and hence he proves, that, dur- 
 ing that period, all men died, not for their own sins, 
 but on account of the transgression of Adam. But 
 this could not be said of the reign of death from 
 Moses to Christ. In the time of Moses, law, — a law 
 similar to that, under which Adam was originally 
 placed, — was introduced ; — a law, with the punish- 
 ment of death annexed to the violation of it ; — an- 
 nexed to the least breach of any of its precepts. That 
 law said; " Do this and live;" and " Cursed is 
 every one, who continueth not in all things, which 
 are written in the book of the law, to do them." 
 From human infirmity and sinfulness, therefore, and 
 from the consequent moral impossibility of perfect 
 obedience to its requirements, that law became the 
 ministration of death ; and, under it, men became 
 liable to death for their own personal transgressions 
 of the law. 
 
 Now, here the apostle informs us of the end, for 
 
110 LECTURE VI. 
 
 which the law was again introduced. " The law en- 
 tered, that the offence might abound." But, from 
 these words, it assuredly cannot for a moment be 
 supposed, that, by the introduction of law, it was the 
 purpose of a Holy God to cause the increase of sin, 
 in those, who were subjected to that law. It was for 
 the very opposite, and a most gracious, end, that it 
 was introduced. It was introduced to demonstrate 
 the exceeding sinfulness, great prevalence, and de- 
 structive nature, of sin. It was constituted a school- 
 master to prepare, men, by its strictness and mortal 
 severity, for Christ, for grace, and for holiness. Ac- 
 cordingly, we have from the apostle the following 
 unspeakably consolatory and precious declaration. 
 " But where sin abounded grace did much more 
 abound; that, as sin hath reigned unto death, even 
 so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto 
 eternal life, by Jesus Christ, our Lord." 
 
 In this passage, relative to the introduction of law, 
 it may be observed, the apostle especially and evi- 
 dently addresses the Jewish Christians ; while it is 
 as evident, that he intended, it should also edify all 
 Gentile Christians ; — a purpose, which it is most 
 powerfully and clearly calculated to serve. 
 
 The portion of the epistle, which we have now 
 considered, leads us to some reflections the most im- 
 portant and the most joyful, that can occupy the 
 mind of man. We, Gentile Christians, who trust in 
 the Lord Jesus, and obey him, — we, whose fathers, 
 
LECTURE VI. Ill 
 
 by wilful ignorance, and , by all manner of impiety 
 and wickedness, had rendered themselves the objects 
 of the just displeasure of God, and of punishment, — 
 are now in a state of peace with God ; — in a state of 
 peace with the omnipotent God, who called the uni- 
 verse into existence, and by whose wise and good 
 providence it is, in all its parts, constantly governed ! 
 We are adopted into his family ! He is our father ; 
 and we are his sons and daughters! We are heirs of 
 God, and joint-heirs with his own now glorified Son ! 
 What true Christian can reflect on this without joy 
 unspeakable ! But glory eternal be to God, the Fa- 
 ther of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not merely on 
 account of the privileges and blessings, which we 
 710W enjoy, — great and invaluable, unquestionably, as 
 they are, — that we have reason to rejoice ! Our great, 
 special, cause of joy is, the expectation of future and 
 eternal glory, honour, and peace, in the presence 
 and company of Jesus Christ our Lord ! 
 
 The circumstances, which the apostle here men- 
 tions, relative to our salvation, gloriously display to 
 our view the marvellous love of God towards us. 
 For, whether we consider the inestimable sacrifice, 
 which was offered, to effect our salvation, or reflect 
 on the wicked, alienated, and ungodly, state, in which 
 we were, when that sacrifice was offered for us, we 
 see the strongest reason to praise and adore God, 
 our heavenly Father, with all our heart and mind ! 
 
 How shall we sufficiently praise God, when we 
 
112 LECTURE VI. 
 
 consider, that our faith in our present justification 
 and reconciliation is not blind credulity, but, on the 
 contrary, a confidence, which rests on the solid foun- 
 dation of those faithfully recorded miraculous and 
 infallible attestations, which were divinely conferred 
 on our fathers, in the Christian Church, and, with 
 them, virtually on ourselves, their children ! How 
 shall we sufficiently adore our ineffably gracious God, 
 when we think on the proof and pledge, which every 
 good and pious Christian holds of future deliverance 
 from that awful doom, to which, for the disobedience 
 of our first common parents, we are all subjected, and 
 of restoration to eternal life and felicity ! — a proof 
 and pledge to the strength of which we should all 
 direct our closest and most earnest attention ! For, 
 as the apostle observes, if our justification and recon- 
 ciliation were effected, when we were in a state of 
 such enmity and hostility, and, if this was accom- 
 plished by such mournful means, as the death of the 
 Son of God, it is most evident, that, now that we 
 enjoy that happy state, we may look forward to our 
 final salvation and eternal happiness with more than 
 the confidence, with which any other event, that has 
 not yet taken place, may be expected. 
 
 The observations of the apostle relative to Adam, 
 as a type of Christ, lead to reflections of unspeakable 
 interest and importance. Why our first common 
 father was put in a state, which eventually brought 
 all the sufferings of this life, and finally death, not 
 
LECTURE VI. 113 
 
 only on himself!, but also on all his posterity, is a dis- 
 pensation, which must, in our present state, ever 
 remain a mystery. But, mysterious as the dispensa- 
 tion manifestly is, we ought to remember, that other 
 appointments in the divine Providence, by which pos- 
 terity, through many successive generations, often 
 suffer, in this world, for the misdeeds of their ances- 
 tors, are analogous to it. For an explanation, then, 
 of the ways of God, in both, we must await that state, 
 in which we shall know even as we are known. It 
 would be both unreasonable and impious in the thing 
 formed to say to Him who formed it, " Why hast thou 
 made me thus ? " Sufficient it is for us, to know, that 
 we are now in a state of probation, preparatory to 
 another, in which, what we shall experience will 
 depend on our own present conduct ; — that the suffer- 
 ings of this state, light and transitory as compara- 
 tively they are, work for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory ; — and that, like the apostle, 
 who well understood our present advantages, we may 
 regard even death itself as a privilege. 
 
 Finally ; what tongue can express, what imagina- 
 tion can conceive, the greatness of the interest and 
 importance, which belong to the effect of the obedi- 
 ence to death of Christ, the second Adam ; — which 
 belong to that dispensation, by which the countless 
 millions of mankind, who either rest in their graves, 
 or are entombed in the ocean, or have had their 
 bodies consigned to destruction, in any other way, — 
 
 H 
 
114 LECTURE VI. 
 
 by which the countless millions of the human race, 
 who are yet to be bom and to die, — shall hear his 
 voice, and, by a glorious resurrection, be restored to 
 life and rendered immortal ? Who can truly say, — 
 who can justly think, — that our holy religion, of 
 which this is the grand, fundamental, doctrine, is 
 calculated to beget in us gloom and despondency? 
 Who shall say, that the resurrection to be effected, 
 and the life to be conferred, by our divine Lord, are 
 not a just object of our most earnest and ardent 
 desire ? Can mortal man, who now is so anxiously 
 careful to preserve, and to prolong, his life, be deemed 
 either consistent, or rational, if he do not rejoice at 
 the prospect of a restoration, from death, to a glori- 
 ous life and immortality ? Can he be said to act 
 rationally and wisely, who does not now use every 
 possible endeavour to attain the resurrection of the 
 just ? Does not a manifest infatuation possess all, 
 who now pursue a course of wickedness and impiety, 
 and who, in consequence of such a cause, must, after 
 their resurrection, again forfeit their lives, and be 
 punished with everlasting destruction from the pre- 
 sence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power ? 
 
[ 115 ] 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 ROMANS, VI. 
 
 It was fully to be expected, that, in the clear and 
 comprehensive view, given, in this epistle, of the dis- 
 pensation of the gospel, the apostle would very care- 
 fully and distinctly point out the essential, and very 
 prominent, part of it, which is formed, by sanctifi' 
 cation. But, besides this, he had specific reasons 
 for doing so. The Gentile members of this, as well 
 as of all other churches, recently converted, as they 
 were, had still to be freed from many deeply-rooted, 
 and hurtful, prejudices, and more effectually to lay 
 aside their former inveterate evil habits. They were 
 constantly exposed, not only to the dangerous ex- 
 ample and seductions of a grossly sinful and wicked 
 world, but even to the importunities, the ridicule, 
 and the persecutions, of their unbelieving friends and 
 relatives. As we learn, in a former part of this 
 epistle, the enemies of the apostle misrepresented his 
 doctrines, as having an immoral tendency. These 
 reasons, then, rendered it imperative on him, to 
 inculcate on the Gentile converts, whom he here 
 
116 LECTURE VII. 
 
 addresses, the necessity of a good, pure, and pious, life, 
 the attainment of final salvation and eternal life. 
 
 But, the immediate occasion of the passage, which 
 follows, was the words, which the apostle had just 
 written. " The law entered, that sin might abound. 
 But, where sin abounded grace did much more 
 abound." A mere glance at these words might give 
 occasion to the question, which he next puts in the 
 mouth of the unbelieving Gentiles. " What shall we 
 say, then ? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may 
 abound?" For do not your words imply that we 
 may ? In another part of the epistle, the Apostle 
 fully explains the purpose, for which the law entered, 
 and clearly shows how far that purpose is from giving 
 any countenance to any manner of sin. Waving, 
 therefore, for the present, any further observations 
 on that point, he merely, in a brief but emphatic 
 manner, answers the question of the Gentile convert, 
 in the negative. " God forbid!" 
 
 The apostle proceeds to declare and to illustrate 
 the principles of the Christian, relative to sanctifica- 
 tion, and earnestly to enforce the practical efiects of 
 those principles. As completely as the dead have 
 ceased from the active ways of the living, so com- 
 pletely he affirms does the Christian, by his principles 
 and profession, cease, from sinning. " How shall we 
 that are dead to sin live any longer therein ?" 
 
 Here the apostle makes use of the death and resur- 
 rection of our Lord Jesus Christ, as an illustration 
 
LECTURE VII. 117 
 
 of his subject ; and the illustration is very felicitous 
 and highly instructive ; because those glorious events, 
 on which all the hopes and prospects of the Christian 
 wholly depend, ought ever to be present in his mind ; 
 and because they are highly calculated to represent 
 the present state of the Christian, in reference to 
 sanctification. It must, however, be remembered, 
 that in the following passage, the use, which the 
 apostle makes of the death and resurrection of our 
 Lord is merely metaphorical. He is there neither 
 proving the reality of those facts, nor pointing out 
 their consequences ; but, assuming the truth and im- 
 portance of these, he merely illustrates, by them, the 
 present moral state of the Christian. If this be not 
 duly attended to, we must suppose, that he blends 
 the literal with the metaphorical sense ; and, thus, 
 we shall fail to perceive the full force and beauty of 
 the passage. 
 
 In order to perceive the full force of this passage, 
 we must carefully remember, that, in speaking of 
 righteousness and sin, the language of the apostle is 
 highly figurative. In speaking of these he uses, what 
 grammarians call aprosopopceia; — bespeaks of them 
 as persons, — as masters, to whom men stand in the 
 relation of bondmen. This manner of speech is 
 always lively and forcible, and, in the apostolic age, 
 when the state of human bondage was very preva- 
 lent, and when also it was very customary, not only 
 to personify, but even to deify, the virtues and vices, 
 
118 LECTURE VII. 
 
 it was peculiarly appropriate and forcible. Here, 
 too, we must carefully, observe, that, in this, as in 
 many other passages, the apostle speaks of the 
 Christian church, or community, not as, in its faith 
 and practice, it actually is, but as it is, by its pro- 
 fession, privileges, and obligations. Nor are we to 
 forget, that the apostle, as usual, kindly ranks him- 
 self among the Gentile Christians. 
 
 Having made these necessary preliminary obser- 
 vations, let us now hear the apostle. — First, then, we 
 find, that he simply states the fact, that there is a 
 death, to which their profession and principles have 
 subjected all Christians, and also a resurrection, to 
 which, in the same manner, they have all come ; — 
 that is, that in a figurative sense, they have been 
 subjected to the death of Christ, and that, in a 
 similar sense, they have come to his resurrection. 
 
 " Know ye not, that as many of us as have been 
 baptized unto Christ," — that all, who profess to be 
 the disciples of Christ, — " have been baptized unto 
 his death? Therefore, by baptism," — the seal of 
 our privileges and obligations, and the symbol of our 
 profession, — "we have been buried with him unto 
 death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead, 
 by the glory," or power, "of the Father, even so we 
 also should walk in a new life. For, since we have 
 been partakers of the likeness, or nature, of his death, 
 we shall also be of that of his resurrection." 
 
 Having, thus, affirmed, that there is a death and 
 
LECTURE VII. 119 
 
 a resurrection to which we have come, he proceeds 
 to show the nature of that death and resurrection. 
 " Knowing, that our old man," — the old Gentile, sin- 
 ful, character, — " was crucified with him, that the 
 body of sin," — that the sinful person, — " might be 
 destroyed, that henceforth we might not be in bond- 
 age to Sin. For he who," — in this sense, — " has 
 died, has been freed from Sin," — saved from the de- 
 structive wages of Sin. " Since, then, we have died 
 with Christ, we believe, that we shall also live with 
 him." We believe, that we shall ever and irrever- 
 sibly live with him. " Knowing, that Christ, being 
 raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no 
 more dominion over him. For, in that he died, he 
 died unto sin," or for sin, " once ; but, in that he 
 liveth he liveth unto God," — holily, gloriously, and 
 eternally. " Thus, also, reckon ye yourselves to be 
 dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 Thus, has the apostle illustrated how utterly 
 foreign to the principles, obligations, and profession, 
 of the Christian, sin is, and how congenial to these 
 is a perfect and uninterrupted course of righteous- 
 ness, by a reference to the death and resurrection of 
 our Lord ; and every sincere Christian will not only 
 be sensible, that the reference is a just and happy 
 illustration, but will also feel it to be a very strong 
 motive to deter him from sin, and constrain him to 
 lead a good life. The apostle, then, proceeds to 
 
120 LECTURE Vir. 
 
 illustrate the same thing, hy reference to the custom 
 of bondage and manumission prevalent in his time, 
 and familiar to those to whom he writes ; while he 
 warns them against a relapse into their former sin- 
 ful life, and exhorts and encourages them to a per- 
 fect conformity to the will of God, and, for this pur- 
 pose, exhibits the powerful motives of the awful 
 punishment, which awaits sinners, and the great and 
 glorious reward, which is in reserve for the righte- 
 ous. " Let not sin, therefore, reign in," or over, 
 " your mortal body, that ye should obey it in," or 
 by, " the lusts thereof." 
 
 Here the apostle points out to his Christian 
 brethren the great and special encouragement, which 
 they had, wholly to renounce sin, and to devote them- 
 selves to righteousness, in their immunity from the 
 ministration of death, — the Mosaic law, — and in 
 their enjoyment of the ministration of life, — the gra- 
 cious dispensation of the gospel. " For sin shall not 
 have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the 
 law, but under grace." You are not placed under 
 that law, which said, " Do this, and live ;" and, 
 *' Cursed is every one, that continueth not in all 
 things^ which are written in the book of the law, to 
 do them." You are not under the mortal dominion 
 of that master, the least breach of whose laws in- 
 evitably subjects those, who bear his yoke, to death, 
 but under the mild and merciful dispensation of 
 grace, which renders your sincere and persevering 
 
LECTURE VII. 121 
 
 endeavours to obey acceptable; — under the easy yoke 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has procured for you free 
 justification of life, and who, notwithstanding involun- 
 tary lapses, and manifold infirmities and imperfec- 
 tions, will, for your future patient continuance in well- 
 doing, finally award to you the crown of eternal life. 
 The question, which the apostle now puts in the 
 mouth of the Roman converts, and the answer and 
 explanation, to which it gives rise, are of infinite 
 importance. " What, then ? Shall we sin because 
 we are not under law, but under grace?" Is it not 
 implied, that we may? " God forbid!" Although 
 we are delivered from the law of sin and death, 
 which forgives not the least breach of any of its re- 
 quirements, and though we are placed under a dis- 
 pensation of grace, by which we have obtained a 
 right to a glorious life and immortality, still " we 
 are not without law, but under law to Christ." We 
 are still under the strongest obligations to yield obe- 
 dience to the divine will and precepts; and we are 
 expressly and solemnly assured, that, "if we live 
 after the flesh we shall die." This is uniformly the 
 doctrine of the apostle in all his recorded discourses, 
 and in all his own writings; and here he clearly 
 teaches it, by an apt and familiar illustration. 
 *' Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves 
 bondmen to obey, his bondmen ye are, to whom ye 
 obey, whether of Sin, unto death, or of Obedience, 
 unto righteousness," and its consequent salvation? 
 
122 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Here the apostle most thankfully allows, that the 
 Roman converts had practically shown, that they 
 well understood his doctrine. " But God be thanked, 
 that although ye were the bondmen of sin, ye have 
 obeyed, from the heart, that form of doctrine which 
 was delivered unto you ; " — you readily took the 
 impression of the type of doctrine, with which ye 
 were stamped. Those converts had, not only heartily 
 believed in the forgiveness of their past sins, through 
 the redemption, that is in Christ, but also in the 
 necessity of earnestly and diligently working out their 
 salvation, by a future good life ; and we learn, that 
 their principles were reduced to practice. 
 
 But, although the faith and practice of the Roman 
 converts, thus, merited the commendation of the 
 apostle, he deemed it not unnecessary here to warn 
 and guard them all against any misapprehension, 
 and consequent abuse, of the dispensation of grace, 
 which they enjoyed ; and, no doubt, there were, 
 among them, individuals, who greatly required to be 
 reminded of the strong obligations, by which their 
 principles and profession bound them to renounce all 
 manner of sin, and to lead an uniformly good and 
 holy life. " Being made free from sin, ye became 
 the bondmen of righteousness." 
 
 Here the apostle interrupts his discourse, to inform 
 those Gentile believers, why he made use of the illus- 
 tration, which he here adopts. " I speak after the 
 manner of men ; because of the infirmity of your 
 
LECTURE VII. 123 
 
 flesh ;" — I now take my illustration from human cus- 
 toms, with which you are familiar ; because, being 
 so recently converted, and consequently imperfect in 
 your apprehension of spiritual things, and being still 
 in danger of yielding to the strong temptations, with 
 which you are constantly, on every hand, beset, and 
 of relapsing into your former sinful habits, such an 
 illustration is both necessary and suitable. 
 
 Having, thus, given the reason of his illustration, 
 and apologized for the use of it, he proceeds, in the 
 same metaphorical strain, with the contrast between 
 their present state, principles, and profession, and 
 their Gentile condition, and authoritatively and so- 
 lemnly to declare the respective unspeakably impor- 
 tant consequences of those conditions. " For, as ye 
 yielded your members," — your mental faculties, as 
 well as your bodily members and organs, — *' in bon- 
 dage to Uncleanness and to Iniquity, unto iniquity," 
 — that is, to work iniquity, — " even so now yield," — 
 or, you have now yielded, — " your members, in bon- 
 dage, to righteousness, unto holiness," — that is, to 
 labour in holiness. 
 
 Here, the apostle emphatically affirms, that, in 
 representing those believers as, in their former state, 
 bondmen to sin, and yielding their members servile 
 instruments of impurity and iniquity, he neither mis- 
 represents, nor exaggerates things. " For, when ye 
 were the bondmen of sin, ye were freed-men from 
 
124 LECTURE VII. 
 
 righteousness ;" — devoting yourselves to sin, you had 
 wholly renounced the service of righteousness. 
 
 Pertinent and forcible is the question, which the 
 apostle here abruptly puts ; and unspeakably instruc- 
 tive and important is the answer, which, sparing as 
 it were, the feelings of those Gentile converts, he 
 makes to his own question. " What fruit had ye 
 then from those things, whereof ye are now ashamed ?'* 
 What proAdsion were you, by the practice of those 
 things, making for your future good and happiness ? 
 None. On the contrary, " the end," or reward, 
 " of those things is death ;" — that is, to those, who 
 continue in the practice of them. But greatly, joy- 
 fully, and gloriously, different does he represent the 
 consequences to be of their newly acquired Christian 
 privileges, and of their changed hearts and lives. 
 " But now being set free from sin, and become bond- 
 men to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and 
 the end everlasting life." 
 
 In the same metaphorical language, the apostle 
 concludes his illustration, with the most solemnly in- 
 structive, and unspeakably important, declaration, 
 that " the wages of sin," — that is, the wages given 
 by sin, — " is death ; but," that " the gift of God is 
 eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'* 
 
 This invaluable passage of Scripture, then,- at 
 first, and more immediately addressed to the primi- 
 tive Gentile Christians, in Rome, has remained, and 
 
LECTURE VII. 125 
 
 will ever remain, to all the Gentile christianized 
 world, a most eloquent and powerful exhortation to 
 sanctification. The prejudices of education, a blind 
 attachment to the tenets of sect, and to human sys- 
 tems of theology, a veneration of human authorities, 
 and famed names, and the thraldom of the pas- 
 sions and appetites, may bring, and indeed often do 
 bring, men to believe, that a continuance in the prac- 
 tice of those sins, which may have obtained domi- 
 nion over them, is consistent with the final attain- 
 ment of eternal life, and even that, thus, the grace of 
 God will be rendered more illustrious. But assur- 
 edly there can be nothing more delusive, and nothing- 
 more contrary to this, and to all other parts of the 
 oracles of God, than this belief. What can be more 
 unlike life than death ? Clearly nothing. But this 
 is the entire dissimilarity, which, as we have seen, 
 the inspired apostle declares to subsist between a 
 life of sin and that, which, when duly actuated by 
 his principles, the Christian leads. Both the newly 
 converted Gentile Christian, and he, who has been 
 bom a Gentile Christian, though, in their past life, 
 they may have been the chief of sinners, will, on be- 
 coming penitent and reformed, assuredly find, that 
 however much sin may have abounded, grace will 
 much more abound. When, on his return, and while 
 yet at a distance, his Father will run to the sinner, 
 embrace him, and confer on him every mark of pater- 
 nal love and honour. But, on the heart and mind 
 
126 LECTURE VIL 
 
 of every one, who bears the name of Christian, let 
 the awful truth, here declared by the inspired apostle, 
 be deeply and indelibly engraven, that the wages, 
 which he, who continues the slave of sin, shall finally 
 receive, will be death ! 
 
 Misery and disgrace are the wages, which count- 
 less numbers of the slaves of sin, within the pale of 
 the Christian church, have, in all ages, received, in 
 this world ! How many, indeed, have the victims 
 been, whom the cruel bondage of sin brought not 
 only to misery and shame, but to an untimely 
 grave ! How many a child, dear to his doting pa- 
 rents, as their own souls, has, by vicious and profli- 
 gate courses, instead of fulfilling their fond expecta- 
 tions, brought both himself and them to sorrow, 
 shame and sufifering ! How many have been the 
 parents, who, by wicked and profligate lives, have 
 not only brought ruin and disgrace on themselves, 
 but likewise entailed shame and suffering on their 
 guiltless progeny ! What countless numbers have 
 there been, who, by the gratification of their sinful 
 lusts, reaped from it, not true enjojuient, but grief 
 and ruin ! What countless numbers have there been, 
 who, by unrighteous deeds, have attained, not the 
 o-ood and happiness blindly expected, but grief, 
 misery, and infamy ! What countless numbers have 
 there been, who, even after the unrighteous attain- 
 ment of wealth and distinction, have, in the midst of 
 outward splendour and worldly prosperity, experienced 
 
LECTURE VII. 127 
 
 the painful and perpetual scourge of an accusing con- 
 science ! What countless numbers have there been, 
 who, by vice and crime, have either suffered an early 
 and ignominious death, or dragged out a life of 
 wretchedness and infamy, less tolerable than death 
 itseK! 
 
 Such are the bitter and baneful fruits, which the 
 slaves of Sin reap, — such are the woful wages, which 
 they receive, — in this world. What, then, have they 
 to expect, — what are the wages, which they shall 
 receive, — in the state to come ? The Spirit of God 
 expressly informs us. They are death ! From the 
 doom, indeed, which the transgression of our origi- 
 nal common father has brought on all mankind, they 
 too shall, in consequence of the ransom paid by Christ, 
 be delivered. They, who, in this state have done 
 evil, as well as they, who have done good, shall hear 
 the voice of the Son of God, and shall arise from the 
 dust. But for what purpose do the slaves of sin 
 come again to life ? It is for the unutterably awful 
 purpose of condemnation and signal punishment, 
 never to be reversed ! They shall, we are assured, 
 be punished with everlasting destruction, from the 
 presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his 
 power ! 
 
 How powerfully, then, ought these solemn and 
 unspeakably momentous considerations to urge us 
 utterly, and for ever, to reject from our mortal bodies 
 the tyrannical yoke of sin ! How effectually ought 
 
128 LECTURE VII. 
 
 they to deter us from yielding our members instru- 
 ments of unrighteousness to sin ! 
 
 But, we not only have these motives to deter us 
 from submitting ourselves to the yoke of sin ; we have 
 also the greatest encouragement, and the strongest 
 motives, that can be conceived, to constrain us to 
 yield ourselves servants unto God, and our members 
 instruments of righteousness to Him. We are not 
 under the law, but under grace. We are not, like 
 the ancient people of God, required to establish a 
 right to life and immortality, by an absolutely sinless 
 obedience to an exceedingly comprehensive and un- 
 compromising law. What, from our weakness, nei- 
 ther this, nor any such law, could ever have enabled 
 us to do, a God of love has done for us. A God of 
 love has placed us under a dispensation, by which 
 eternal life is bestowed on us, as a gift ; and, that 
 we may not forfeit this gift, of which we are heirs, — 
 that we may finally secure it, — we are required to be 
 bondmen to God and to have our fruit unto holiness. 
 
 God our heavenly Father, then bestows on us, as 
 a gift, eternal life ! He bestows on us, a gift, which, 
 when possessed and enjoyed during the longest pe- 
 riod of time, of which we can form any conception, 
 is still but new ! It is eternal ! But this gift will 
 be, not merely life, — not merely a restoration to 
 being, vitality, consciousness, and sensation. It will 
 be a life of glory, honour, and peace, — glory, honour, 
 and peace, worthy of the great and glorious giver, — 
 
LECTURE VII. 1-29 
 
 worthy of that omnipotent Being, who called the 
 universe into existence, and by whose gracious, and 
 unsearchably wise Providence, it is sustained and 
 governed ! Who, then, that has any title to the name 
 of a rational being, — who, that is not utterly blinded 
 and infatuated, — would not yield himself to God, 
 and his members instruments of righteousness to 
 him, finally to secure the ineffably valuable and glo- 
 rious gift of eternal life ? 
 
 When, at any time, our thoughts are occupied in 
 the contemplation of that eternal life, of which we 
 have become heirs, we must remember, that this gift, 
 as the apostle here reminds us, is " through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." In relation to us, indeed, it is 
 truly the gift of God ; but the Son of God, our gra- 
 cious Saviour, gave himself a ransom for us. A most 
 encouraging consideration ! For, it enables us to 
 reason, thus : — " He that spared not his own Son, but 
 delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with 
 him also freely give us all things ? " 
 
[ rjo ] 
 
 LECTURE Vlir. 
 
 ROMANS VII. & Viri. 1—4. 
 
 Having, in the portion of the epistle immediately 
 preceding, urged on the believing Gentiles the neces- 
 sity of sanctification, the apostle now proceeds to 
 address the Jewish converts, and teaches them, that 
 they too must bring forth fruit unto God, live after 
 the spirit, be spiritually minded, cherish the spirit of 
 Christ, wholly renounce sin, earnestly lead a life of 
 righteousness, and patiently endure the trials of this 
 state of probation. In doing this, the apostle, also, 
 reminds the Jewish Christian brethren, that the 
 Mosaic law, — the ministration of death, — was wholly 
 abrogated, and very fully and forcibly demonstrates, 
 that, through human frailty and sinfulness, that law 
 was utterly inefficient to enable those, who were 
 placed under it, to establish a right to eternal life. 
 
 As in the preceding, so also in the following, pas- 
 sage the language of the apostle, the reader must be 
 aware, is highly metaphorical. The Mosaic law, the 
 church, and sin, are personified. The law is repre- 
 sented as a husband, to whom the Church, under the 
 
LECTURE VIII. 131 
 
 divine sanction, was solemnly espoused, all the days 
 of the life of that husband. On the resurrection of 
 Christ the husband died, and the matrimonial con- 
 nexion was, accordingly, dissolved ; and, under the 
 same sanction, a new and inseparable connexion was 
 formed by the Church with another husband, — Christ. 
 Sin is represented as a living, subtle, and destruc- 
 tive, agent. 
 
 " Know ye not, brethren,— for I speak to them, 
 that know the law," — I speak to the Jewish Chris- 
 tians, — *' how that the law," — the Mosaic law, — 
 '* hath dominion over a man, as long as it liveth ?" 
 These words are elliptical ; and the ellipsis may be 
 supplied, and the affirmation of the Apostle connected 
 with what follows, thus ; *' The law hath dominion 
 over a man, as long as it liveth," or is in force ; but 
 no longer ; and its authority over those, who are 
 placed under it, may aptly be illustrated, by the 
 union, which subsists between husband and wife. 
 This connexion is sacred and inviolable ; yet the 
 death of either party dissolves it ; and the surviving 
 party may lawfully be married to another. *' For, 
 the woman, who has an husband, is bound, by the 
 law, to her husband ; but, if the husband be dead, 
 she is loosed from the law of her husband. So, then, 
 if, while the husband liveth, she be married to an- 
 other man, she shall be called an adulteress. But, if 
 her husband be dead, she is free from that law ; 
 
132 LECTURE VIH. 
 
 SO that she is no adulteress, though she be married 
 to another. Thus, my brethren, ye also are become 
 dead to the law," — or, the law has died to you, — 
 *' that ye should be married to another, even to him, 
 who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring 
 forth fruit to God." 
 
 But, was it not marvellous and paradoxical, that 
 the Church should produce fruit to God, by a total 
 and final separation from the law ; — from that hus- 
 band, to whom God himself had so solemnly united 
 her ? On a superficial \dew, indeed, it had that 
 appearance ; but a closer inspection, and a due atten- 
 tion to the divine dispensations and purposes, soon 
 and clearly prove, not only, that the separation is not 
 inconsistent with sanctification, but, on the contrary, 
 that it is exceedingly calculated to promote it ; — nay, 
 that, by the imion of the Church with the Law, Sin 
 had acquired an irresistible and destructive power 
 and prevalence, which previously it had not. This 
 is what the apostle next proceeds to show. " For, 
 when we were in the flesh," — when we were under 
 the Law, — " the motions of sin, which were by the 
 Law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit 
 unto death." He, then, shows how greatly and how 
 happily different the consequences are of the union, 
 which the Church has formed with Christ. " But, 
 now, we are delivered from the Law, that being dead 
 wherein we were held ; so that we serve in newness 
 
LECTURE Vlir. 133 
 
 of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the Letter ;*» 
 — so that we serve our new Lord Jesus Christ, — 
 " for the Lord is the Spirit,"* — and not our old 
 master, the Law, — denominated also the " letter." 
 
 Here follows a digression, in which the apostle 
 fully and forcibly proves, not only the utter ineffi- 
 ciency of the law, as the means of justification, and 
 of eternal life, on account of human frailty and sin- 
 fulness, but even, that, from the same cause, it be- 
 came the occasion of the assumption, by Sin, of a 
 character exceedingly more heinous, and of irresisti- 
 ble, mortal, strength. He had just affirmed, it was, 
 by the Law, that the motions of Sin wrought in the 
 members of those, who were subjected to it, to bring 
 forth fruit unto death ; and, then, he very appropri- 
 ately puts in the mouth of the Jewish, judaizing, 
 Christians, who, some, from involuntary weakness of 
 faith, and more, from wilful pertinacity, in their pre- 
 judices, would not allow, that the law of Moses was 
 abrogated, as the means of attaining justification of 
 life, this question ; — " What, then, do we say ? Is 
 ' the law sin ?" For, do not your words imply, that 
 it is a sinful dispensation ? The apostle solemnly 
 denies the implication, and proceeds clearly and 
 cogently to prove, that, far from being of a sinful 
 nature, it was by it, that sin was pointed out, and 
 exposed, that, accordingly, the law was holy, just, 
 and good, and, that it was not the cause, but merely 
 
 * 2 Cor. iii. 17. 
 
134 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the unavoidable occasion, of sin. " God forbid," 
 that we should say, the law is sin. " Nay, I had not 
 known sin," — I had not known sin, in the full extent 
 of its sinfulness, and in its mortal nature, — " but by 
 the law," — but by that law, which detects it, in all 
 its heinousness, and to the transgression of which is 
 annexed the penalty of death. " For, I had not 
 known lust," or covetousness, — I had not known the 
 heinous and destructive nature of this sin, — " except 
 the law had said. Thou shalt not covet ;" and he, 
 who covets, shall die. " But sin assuming strength, 
 by the law, wrought in me all manner of concupis- 
 cence," or covetousness ; " For, without law," — with- 
 out a law condemning the transgressor to death, — 
 " sin i^ dead ;" — it has no mortal power. " For, 
 where there is no law," — no law, having annexed to 
 the transgression of it the penalty of death, — " there 
 is no sin," — ^no mortal sin. " For, /, — that is, any 
 descendant of Abraham, — " was formerly alive ;" — I 
 lived, until the law, which had annexed to the least 
 breach of it the penalty of death, was given at Mount 
 Sinai ; — " but when the commandment came, sin* 
 revived," — I was unable to obey, — " and I died ;" — 
 I became obnoxious to death. " And the command- 
 ment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto 
 death. For, sin, acquiring strength, by the commt 
 ment, deceived me," — as the serpent deceived Eve, 
 — " and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, 
 and the commandment holy, and just, and good." 
 
LECTURE Vlir. 135 
 
 But, the Jewish, judaizing, Christian here starts 
 another objection. The apostle had said, that they, 
 who were subjected to the Mosaic law, " found the 
 commandment to be unto death." Hence this objec- 
 tion ; — " Has, then, that, which is good, become 
 death to me ? '* For, do not you virtually say so ? 
 " By no means. But, sin'* — hath become death to 
 me, — " that it might appear sin, working death in 
 me, by that which is good; that sin, by the com- 
 mandment, might become exceeding sinful," — that, 
 by the extent and spirituality of the commandment, 
 and by the destructive consequences of the breach of 
 it, sin might be clearly shown to be, what it really 
 is, most sinful. 
 
 Here the apostle proceeds still further to show the 
 excellency and spirituality of the law, but, at the 
 same time, its inefficiency, for the purposes of sanc- 
 tiiication, by a vivid and affecting description of the 
 workings of the heart and mind of a man, who is 
 placed under it. " For we know, that the law is 
 spiritual ; but I," — the Jew under the law, — " am 
 carnal, sold under sin," — enslaved by my sinful pas- 
 sions and appetites. " For, that, which I do I approve 
 not ; for what I would," — what my reason, instructed 
 and directed, by the law, dictates, — " that do I not ; 
 but what I hate," — what my reason, enlightened by 
 the law, condemns, — " that I do. If, then, I do that, 
 which I would not, I consent unto the law, that it is 
 good. Now, then, it is no more I," — it is not I, in 
 
136 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the rational, and nobler, sense, — " that do it, but 
 sin, that dwelleth in me" — my sinful appetites and 
 passions, which have obtained dominion over me» 
 " For I know, that good dwelleth not in me, that 
 is, in my flesh," — in my animal, sensual, nature. 
 *' For, to will is present with me," — my reason 
 readily perceives and recommends, what is good ; — 
 " but how to perform that, which is good I find 
 not ; " — to do, what is good I am unable. " For, 
 the good, that I would," — the good, which my rea- 
 son, instructed and guided, by the law, dictates, — 
 " I do not ; but the evil, which I would not" — 
 which my reason condemns, — " that I do. Now, if 
 I do that I would not, it is no more I," — the rational 
 man, — the man, in the better sense, — " that do it, 
 but sin, that dwelleth in me," — my sinful appetites 
 and passions, which have vanquished my reason and 
 enslaved me. *' I find then a law," — I perceive in 
 myself a principle, — " that, when I would do good, 
 evil is present with me. For, I delight in the law 
 of God, after the inward man," — ^my reason wholly 
 approves the law of God, and dictates perfect and 
 cheerful obedience to it. " But, I see another law," 
 — another principle, — " in my members," — in my 
 animal nature, — " warring against the law of my 
 mind," — contending against myreason, — "and bring- 
 ing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my 
 members," — overcoming me, and enslaving me, to the 
 sinful appetites and passions of my animal nature. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 137 
 
 Such was the struggle between the reason and the 
 animal principle of a Jew, while under the law, and 
 such was the inefficiency of the law, as the means of 
 sanctification, and of attaining life. Finding himself, 
 then, enslaved by sin, and seeing before him inevi- 
 table death, in the anguish of his spirit, and, in the 
 depth of despair, he exclaims ; — " O wretched man, 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this 
 death ! '* Who, or what, shall save me from this en- 
 slaved mortal body ? To these impassioned words, 
 and before the Jew had quite finished his discourse, 
 the apostle makes this joyful answer ; — " The grace * 
 of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'* But the 
 Jew continues and ends his discourse, with this 
 general conclusion ; — *' So, then, I myself," — I the 
 same person, — " with the mind," or reason, — " serve 
 the law of God ; but, with the flesh," — with the ap- 
 petites and passions, — " the law of sin." 
 
 The epistle of this Apostle to the Galatian churches, 
 in which there were some, who inculcated the neces- 
 sity of yielding an unreserved obedience to the Mosaic 
 law, still further illustrates, what he here writes con- 
 cerning the abrogation of that law, and of the estab- 
 lishment of the covenant of grace. " Wherefore, then, 
 serveth the law?" For what purpose was it added? 
 " It was added because of transgressions," — to show 
 the exceedingly sinful, and inevitably destructive, 
 nature of sin, — " till the seed," — Christ, — " should 
 
 * Thn?, many good critics read these words. 
 
138 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 come, to whom the promise was made." — " If there 
 had been a law given, which could have given life, 
 verily righteousness should have been by the law. 
 But, the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that 
 the promise, by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given 
 to them, that believe. But, before faith came, we 
 were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which 
 should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law 
 was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that 
 we might be justified by faith. But, after that faith 
 is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For, 
 ye are all the children of God, by faith in Christ 
 Jesus. For, as many of you, as have been baptized 
 into Christ, have put on Christ." * 
 
 But, the attentive reader will bear in mind, that 
 the digression of the apostle, in the portion of the 
 epistle immediately under our consideration, relative 
 to the intrinsic excellency, but eventual inefficiency, 
 of the law is hut a digression, and that what imme- 
 diately follows is an inference, not from the digTes- 
 sion, but from the words, which precede it. Thus ; 
 " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead 
 to the law, by the body of Christ, that ye should be 
 married to another, even to him, who is raised from 
 the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 
 For, when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, 
 which were by the law, did work in our members, 
 to bring forth fruit unto death. But, now, we are 
 
 * Gal. iii., 19 and 21-27. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 139 
 
 delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we 
 were held ; that we should serve in newness of spirit, 
 and not in the oldness of the letter." — " There is, 
 therefore, now, no condemnation to them, which are 
 in Christ," — to them, who are the professed disciples 
 and subjects of Christ, — " and who walk, not after 
 the flesh," — who lead not a sinful life, — " but after 
 the spirit," — according to the dictates of reason 
 enlightened by revelation. " For, the law of the 
 spirit of life in Christ Jesus," — that is, the dispensa- 
 tion of the gospel, — " hath made me," — the Jewish, 
 and consequently the Gentile, Christian, — "free 
 from the law of sin and death ;" — from that law, 
 which, though, in itself, holy, just, and good, event- 
 ually gave life, and a power, inevitably mortal, to 
 sin. " For, what the law could not do, in that it 
 was weak, through the flesh, God sending his own 
 Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin," — a 
 sacrifice for sin, — " condemned sin in the flesh," — 
 destroyed the mortal power of sin, by his obedience 
 to the death of the cross, — " that the righteousness 
 of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after 
 the flesh, but after the spirit ;" — that we, who lead a 
 good and pious life, might attain that justification 
 and eternal life, to attain which the law was ordained, 
 but which, from our frailty and sinfulness, it was 
 unable to effect. 
 
 Inexpressibly precious, then, was the deliverance 
 effected for those Jews, who believed in the Son of 
 
140 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 God, in being freed from the law of sin and death, 
 and in being placed under " the law of the spirit of 
 life," and wonderful the blindness and infatuation of 
 the great body of that highly favoured nation, who, 
 from the first refused, and who still continue to refuse, 
 to submit to that inestimable, and long promised, 
 covenant, by which the former sins of those, who do 
 submit to it, and observe its conditions, are remem- 
 bered no more ; — to that covenant, by which God 
 has become their God, and they his people; — to 
 a dispensation, which was introduced so manifestly, 
 and so marvellously, by the power of God! Oh! 
 may that joyful day hasten, when, as divinely pre- 
 dicted, that thick vail, which has so long, and so 
 deplorably, covered the minds of the ancient people 
 of God, shall be removed, when they shall believe, 
 that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, 
 and when they shall experience, that the gifts and 
 calling of God are irreversible. 
 
 How unspeakably great is the debt of gratitude 
 and praise, which we, my Gentile fellow-christians, 
 owe to God, who has brought us, whose fathers were 
 without hope, and without God, in the world, into a 
 spiritual covenant relation to himself! It had been 
 a precious privilege and great blessing, to have been 
 received among his people, even when they were 
 under the severe discipline of the Mosaic law. For, 
 even then, they possessed the divine oracles, and the 
 promises and types of good and great tilings to come ; 
 
LECTURE Vlir. 141 
 
 and they, who made a suitable use of them, we have 
 reason to believe, shall, through him, by whom grace 
 and truth came, be, in the end, savingly benefited, 
 by them. But, eternally adored be God! he has, 
 not only brought us into a spiritual relation to him- 
 self, but into a spiritual relation, under a covenant, 
 whose privileges are so great and precious, and whose 
 benefits are so inestimable, and so glorious ! Many 
 prophets, righteous men, and kings, even under the 
 ancient covenant, ardently desired to hear, and to 
 see, the spiritual things, which we now hear and see ; 
 but to them the wisdom of God judged it fit, to deny 
 that privilege and blessing. 
 
 Let us, my Christian brethren, particularly bear 
 in mind, the strong obligations, under which we lie, 
 to " bring forth fruit unto God," and to " live after 
 the spirit." Let us, as the people of God, bear in 
 mind, that our freedom from the ministration of 
 death is a motive, which urges us, to observe the 
 divine commandments more earnestly and carefully 
 than did even the awful sanctions of that ministra- 
 tion. God, our heavenly Father, sent his Son into 
 the world, that, having assumed our nature, he 
 might, on the ignominious cross, die, as a sacrifice, for 
 our sins, that there might be no condemnation for us, 
 that the mortal power of sin might be destroyed, 
 that we might receive justification of life, and that 
 we might be put in a state, in which we should have 
 the most ample and effectual means of working out 
 
142 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 an eternal and ineffably glorious salvation. These 
 things are conferred upon us not for our own right- 
 eousness, but freely by the grace of God ; and my 
 Christian brethren, if they are, do they not form the 
 strongest possible motive to constrain us, to " bring 
 forth fruit to God," and to live after the dictates of 
 the Holy Spirit, as recorded in the divine oracles ? 
 
 Let every one, who bears the name of Christian 
 ever practically remember the fearful and inevitable 
 consequences of " living, not after the spirit, but 
 after the flesh." These consequences will necessarily 
 come under our consideration, in discoursing on the 
 words of the apostle, which immediately follow. Yet 
 here let it be generally observed, that the neglect of 
 so great, so free, and so glorious a salvation, as that, 
 which the law of the spirit of life has placed within 
 our reach, will assuredly and justly be followed by a 
 correspondingly great and signal punishment. Surely 
 it is a sin peculiarly great, and worthy of condemna- 
 tion, to hate the marvellous light of the gospel, and 
 to abuse it ! Surely the Son of God cannot be tram- 
 pled under foot with impunity ! Surely the blood of 
 the covenant, by which we have been consecrated, to 
 be the people of God, cannot be despised, without 
 the Divine displeasure ! Surely the gracious Spirit 
 of God, by whose ministry we are brought to the 
 enjoyment of our great and precious Christian -privi- 
 leges and prospects cannot be contemned, without 
 drawing do^n on all, who do contemn them, the 
 
LECTURE VIII. 143 
 
 most severe and signal effect of the Divine justice ! — 
 In this our state of probation, indeed, the most emi- 
 nent Christian must be encompassed with many 
 sinful infirmities and imperfections ; and there is 
 none, who, from either the force of temptation, or 
 the deceitfulness of sin, may not occasionally and 
 most lamentably transgress, — nay, long proceed in a 
 course of transgression ; and, when contrition, and a 
 steady and permanent reformation, come, the blood 
 of Christ, " who is the propitiation for our sins," 
 will cleanse them from all unrighteousness, and ren- 
 der them spotless before God. But, under any dis- 
 pensation, however lenient and merciful, the wages 
 of a continued course of sin must be death. Even 
 under the ministration of grace, the justice of God 
 makes it necessary, that the persevering impenitent 
 transgressor " should be punished, with everlasting 
 destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from 
 the glory of his power." 
 
 We have, in this discourse, considered the contest, 
 which was carried on between the reason and the 
 appetites and passions of one, who was placed under 
 the law of Moses, and we have also considered the 
 happy deliverance obtained by him, in coming to the 
 enjoyment of the dispensation of grace. Now, is 
 there not, it may be asked, stiU a struggle between 
 these principles, under the dispensation of the gospel ? 
 Undoubtedly there is. This same apostle, in writing 
 to the Galatian churches, affirms, that there is such 
 
144 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 a struggle. " I say, then, walk in the spirit," — obey 
 the dictates of your divinely instructed reason, — " and 
 by no means fulfil the lust of the flesh ; " — carefully 
 guard against any sinful gratification of your appe- 
 tites and passions. " For the flesh lusteth against 
 the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh j and these 
 are contrary, the one to the other; so that ye cannot 
 do the things that ye would. But if ye be led by the 
 spirit, ye are not under the law." * With this Apostle 
 the Apostle Peter clearly agrees; for he, too, addresses 
 this earnest and affectionate exhortation to all 
 Christians ; — " Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as 
 strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, 
 which war against the soul.t" But, although every 
 Christian must experience such a contest between 
 the two opposite principles of his nature, how incom- 
 parably greater are the advantages, under which he 
 maintains the struggle, than those which the Jew, 
 who was placed under the law, possessed The Jew 
 carried on the contest under a law, which visited the 
 least transgression of its greatly multiplied and varied 
 requirements with death ; and the result was accord- 
 ingly fatal. But, the Christian receives, as a gift, 
 that justification and life, which the Jew, under the 
 law, was required to mn, by his own weak and un- 
 availing efforts. The one, through human frailty, 
 was slain, by the very weapon which was given to 
 him, to conquer ; the other is clad in a celestial 
 
 * Gal. V. 16. t 1 Pet. ii. 11. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 145 
 
 panoply, which, if he do not willingly submit to the 
 enemy and to death, ensures to him a glorious and 
 eternal victory.* 
 
 * Of the struggle, for the mastery, between the mental and the ani- 
 mal man, the reflecting men among the Gentiles themselves, imaided 
 by revelation, have zdways been sensible; and they have well de- 
 scribed it. 
 
 " My reason this, my passion that, persuades. 
 
 I see the right, and I approve it too, 
 
 Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue." 
 
 Ovid. Metartis vii. 17. 
 
 " More in my mind than body lie my pains ; — 
 Whate'er may hurt me, T with joy pursue ; 
 Whate'er may do me good, with horror view." 
 
 Hor. JEpist. i. 8, 3, &c. 
 
 " For, since the transgressor would not transgress, but do what is 
 right, it is evident, that, what he wills, he does not, and that, what he 
 wills not, he does." — Arrian, Epict. ii. 26. 
 
[ 146 ] 
 
 LECTURE IX, 
 
 PART I. 
 
 ROMANS, VIII. 5—17. 
 
 In a preceding part of the epistle, the apostle incul- 
 cates on all Gentile Christians the necessity of sanc- 
 tification. In the portion, which we are now to con- 
 sider, he addresses himself chiefly, hut not exclusively, 
 to the Jewish converts, for the same purpose. He 
 had heen falsely accused of recommending the practice 
 of evil, that good might come of it. He knew, that 
 the sensual and the ignorant would turn the grace of 
 God into an occasion of the commission of the most 
 enormous sins, and say, that we may continue in sin, 
 that grace may abound. From another apostle, too, 
 we find, that the unlearned and unstable had misre- 
 presented and perverted the doctrines of Scripture, 
 and especially those of this apostl3, to their own 
 destruction. From motives, then, the most powerful, 
 that can be addressed to the mind of man, he incul- 
 cates on his Jewish, Christian brethren, and, with 
 them, on all other Christians, the necessity of a holy. 
 
LECTURE IX. 147 
 
 good, and pious, life, in order to the attainment of 
 final salvation and eternal life. 
 
 In the context the apostle declares, that " there is 
 now no condemnation to them, who are in Christ 
 Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
 Spirit ;" and whoever possesses a competent know- 
 ledge of the expressive and copious language, in which 
 the apostle wTites, will, on perusing his own words, 
 quickly and clearly perceive, that the words, " who 
 walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," may 
 be rendered, ifthej walk, not after the flesh, but after 
 the Spirit, and, therefore, that they express a condition 
 of deliverance from condemnation, or punishment. 
 
 But, that "living, not after the flesh, but after the 
 Spirit," is made a condition of our deliverance from 
 condemnation, and of our attainment of eternal life 
 is made known to us, not merely by either implica- 
 tion, or inference, but by direct, plain, full, and most 
 impressive doctrine. " For," — continues the apostle, 
 — " the law of the spii'it of life, in Christ Jesus, hath 
 made me free from the law of sin and death. For, 
 what the law could not do, in that it was weak, 
 through the flesh, God, sending his own Son, in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin, 
 in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might 
 be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but 
 after the Spirit." " In us, who walk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit," — I say ; — for to walk, 
 thus, is an express condition of final justification, and 
 
148 LECTURE IX. 
 
 of the attainment of eternal life. " For, they, that 
 are after the flesh," — they, who lead a sensual, wicked, 
 life, — " do mind the things of the flesh," — do set 
 their hearts on the things of this world, and are bent 
 merely on the gratification of their lusts and passions ; 
 — *' but they, that are after the Spirit," — they, who, 
 in accordance with the dictates of reason, enlighten- 
 ed and influenced by the Holy Spirit, lead a pious, 
 pure, and good, life, — " the things of the Spirit," — 
 the things, which are revealed and enjoined, by the 
 gospel. Now, these two different modes of life pro- 
 duce the most opposite effects. The result of the one 
 is unspeakably disastrous and deplorable ; and the 
 fruit of the other is ineffably precious and happy. 
 " For to be carnally minded is, death j but, to be 
 spiritually minded is, life and peace." 
 
 Here, the Apostle shows, how it is, that they, who 
 live after the flesh, must incur the signal punishment, 
 now mentioned. " The carnal mind is enmity against 
 God j" and this enmity is caused, by that disobedience 
 to the will and commandments of God, which is re- 
 quired in the new, as well as in the old, covenant." 
 " For, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of 
 God ; neither indeed can be ; " and he, who is a 
 transgressor of the divine precepts, must, from a moral 
 necessity, hate their good and glorious author. *' So, 
 then, they, who are in the flesh," — or, " who live after 
 the flesh," — " cannot please God," but, on the con- 
 trary, greatly displease him, and, unless it be pre- 
 
LECTURE IX. 149 
 
 vented, by penitence and reformation, inevitably 
 incur the appointed, condign, punishment, — death ! 
 
 These awful considerations were greatly calculated 
 to fill the minds of the Roman Christians with much 
 concern. It was, therefore, necessary to encourage 
 them ; and this the apostle could justly do. For, in 
 the sequel, we find him declaring his conviction, that 
 they were, " full of goodness,'* and, " filled with all 
 knowledge ;"* and here he says, *' But ye are not in 
 the flesh, but in the spirit, ?/^" — or, as those, who are 
 most accurately acquainted with the original, explain 
 the word — " since the Spirit of God dwells in you." 
 
 Fully and perfectly to understand this passage, it 
 is necessary to attend to the following general con- 
 siderations. The apostles and other evangelists, as 
 well as the ancient prophets, received the doctrines 
 of the gospel, by immediate revelation and inspira- 
 tion, from God. The Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments, accordingly, having been written by those 
 inspired men, contain the dictates of the Holy Spirit, 
 and are the divinely appointed, fit, and powerful, 
 instrument, or means, by which the Spirit of God 
 operates on the human heart and mind. When, 
 therefore, those doctrines were originally and orally 
 addressed to men, the Holy Spirit was at work, on 
 their hearts and minds ; and likewise, when the dic- 
 tates of the Holy Spirit, contained in the divine 
 oracles, are now, either read, or heard, by men, it is 
 
 * Romans, xv. 14. 
 
150 LECTURE IX. 
 
 evident, that the Holy Spirit operates on them. But, 
 a man, whether the doctrines of the gospel be, for 
 the first time, addressed to him, or whether, being a 
 professed Christian, he may have long read, or heard 
 them, being a rational, moral, and accountable, crea- 
 ture, placed here, in a state of probation, is left at 
 libertv, either to receive and cherish the influences 
 of the Holy Spirit, and savingly to benefit, by those 
 influences, or to resist, abuse, and banish them. 
 When he does receive and cherish them, and is 
 actuated by them, they fail not to produce in him 
 those heavenly principles and dispositions, which are 
 essential to the character of the true Christian, and 
 which were so gloriously exemplified in our divine 
 Lord. But, when he does not receive and cherish them, 
 those principles and dispositions are wanting ; and in 
 their place, there is what is greatly the reverse. Hence, 
 in this passage, having " the Spirit of God dwelling 
 in us," — being " led by the Spirit of God," — "having 
 the Spirit of Christ," — and " Christ being in us," — 
 are convertible phrases, and, in sense, the same, and, 
 the cause being put for the effect, signify our possessing 
 those principles and dispositions. 
 
 Due attention, then, to these things enables us 
 usefully to understand the words of the apostle, in 
 this passage, relative to the Holy Spirit. "But ye 
 are not in the flesh, but in the spirit ; since the spirit 
 of God dwells in you ; " — since, by producing, in you, 
 the proper fruits, it is manifest, that you are actuated, 
 
LECTURE IX. 151 
 
 by the dictates and influences of the Spirit of God. 
 This declaration was exceedingly encouraging to the 
 church of Christ, in Rome. But, this church had 
 now become numerous ; and, from the words of the 
 apostle, which here follow, we may justly infer, and, 
 indeed, we are, in the sequel, plainly informed, that 
 some of its members required to be addressed differ- 
 ently. Those members, accordingly, he must have 
 had in his eye, when he added, " But, if any man 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ; " — 
 if any man do not, by the proper effects, show, that 
 he is actuated, by the dictates and influences of the 
 Spirit of Christ, or of God, that man does not ef- 
 fectually and savingly belong to Christ. 
 
 It was to those, as it is to all. Christians, of infinite 
 importance, that they should be able clearly and tho- 
 roughly to know, when the Spirit of God did dwell 
 in them, and when they had not that Spirit. The 
 apostle, accordingly, furnishes them with an infalli- 
 ble criterion, to enable them to ascertain their true 
 state. " If Christ be in you, the body is dead, because 
 of," — or in respect to, — " sin ; but the spirit is life, 
 because of," — or in regard to, — " righteousness." 
 That is, if the Spirit of God, or of Christ, dwell, 
 or if the character of Christ be found, in you, you 
 mortify sin in your members, you have crucified the 
 flesh, with the affections and lusts, you use every 
 means and every endeavour to abstain from all 
 manner of sin, and, renouncing all ungodliness and 
 
152 LECTURE IX. 
 
 worldly lusts, you maintain a good, holy, and pious, 
 life, you produce those genuine fruits of the Spirit, — 
 love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
 fidelity, meekness, temperance. If these heavenly 
 principles and dispositions actuate you, and if these 
 virtues show themselves, in your conduct, your spirit, 
 or inward man, has acquired life and strength ; and 
 the issue will he eternal life. " For," continues the 
 apostle, " if the spirit of him, who raised up Christ, 
 from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ, 
 from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal hodies, 
 by his Spirit," or on account of his Spirit, — " that 
 dwelleth in you." 
 
 Lest any one should, for a moment, inconsiderately 
 suppose, that, from these words, it may be inferred, 
 that the pious and good only are to be raised from 
 the dead, let it be remembered that the object, which 
 the apostle has here in view, is their edification and 
 encouragement. That there will be a resurrection 
 of the wicked also can admit of, neither question, 
 nor doubt. For, our divine Lord himself, as well as 
 this and all the other inspired writers of the gospel, 
 declares to us, as clearly as words can convey any 
 information, that there will be a resurrection of the 
 unjust, as well as of the just ; but, alas ! for a purpose 
 very different. 
 
 Here, the apostle, in an inference, deduced from 
 the doctrines and arguments, contained in the con- 
 text, addresses to all the members of this church, 
 
LECTURE IX. 153 
 
 whether Jewish, or Gentile, converts, and, with them, 
 to all Christians, of every age, a most solemn and 
 impressive exhortation ; enforcing attention to it, 
 by the strongest motives, that can be applied to the 
 human heart and mind. " Therefore, brethren, we 
 are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh ; " 
 but, — as the critics, supplying the ellipsis, add, — to 
 the Spirit, to live after the Spirit. " For, if ye live 
 after the flesh, ye shall die ; " — you shall, after your 
 resurrection, in the day of final account, be punished 
 with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the 
 Lord, and from the glory of his power. " But, if 
 ye, through the Spirit," — if, obeying the dictates, 
 and cherishing the influences, of the Spirit, — "ye 
 mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live ; " — 
 you shall, after the resurrection, enjoy eternal life, 
 honour, and peace. 
 
 In the remaining part of the passage, now under 
 our consideration, the apostlcj in language, which, 
 for eloquence and power, never was surpassed, con- 
 tinues his description of the present inestimable pri- 
 vileges, and of the future glorious prospects, of the 
 Christian, and of the dispositions of mind and heart, 
 by which he ought ever to be actuated. " For, as 
 many as are led," or actuated, " by the Spirit of 
 God, are the sons of God." In terms of the covenant 
 of grace, they are, in the present state, the children 
 of God ; but, in the highest sense, they are, as our 
 Lord observes, the children of God, because they 
 
154 LECTURE IX. 
 
 are the children, or destined subjects, of a glorious 
 resurrection and eternal life. 
 
 On what the apostle next affirms every truly 
 Christian mind must ever dwell, with the greatest 
 delight ; and happy were it for that large portion of 
 the Christian community, which consists of those, 
 who are constitutionally desponding, of those, who 
 labour under errors, arising, either from early and 
 deep-rooted prejudices, or from a blind attachment 
 to human systems of theology, and of those, who give 
 the preference to present, sinful, evanescent, grati- 
 fications, over the solid and lasting, tranquillity and 
 joy, which arise from a well-founded sense of being 
 an object of the love of our heavenly Father, did they 
 practically feel the force of the affirmation. *' For, 
 ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to 
 fear ; " — ye have not again, as under the law, received 
 the spirit, by which, through the fear of death, ye 
 were all your lifetime subject to bondage ; — *' but ye 
 have received the spirit of adoption, whereby w6 cry, 
 Abba, Father ! " — in full confidence, that we are the 
 children of a glorious resurrection. " The Spirit 
 itself beareth witness with," or to, " our spirit, that 
 we are the children of God." The miraculous gifts 
 of the Holy Spirit were the seal of the present adop- 
 tion of those early Christians, as the children of 
 God, and an infallible pledge of their future resur- 
 rection and eternal salvation. To them, this testi- 
 mony, seal, and pledge, was of unspeakable value ; 
 
LECTURE IX. 155 
 
 but of no less value is it to succeeding generations 
 of Christians. For, that seal and pledge was bestowed 
 on those primitive Christians, not merely on their 
 own account, but on that of the universal church, of 
 which they were the first fruits and representatives. 
 
 Here our attention is emphatically called to the 
 effects of our being the children of God. *' If child- 
 ren, then, heirs, — heirs of God and joint-heirs with 
 Christ ;" — not only now standing in a close, happy, 
 and honourable, relation to God, our heavenly Father, 
 but destined, also, to be eternally the objects of his 
 love arrd benefits, in his glorious presence ; — not only 
 now possessing the high honour of being the brethren 
 of Jesus, the Son of God, and Lord of glory, but 
 ordamed, also, to be partakers of his felicity and 
 glory, through the endless ages of eternity! Who 
 can adequately appreciate such felicity and glory ? 
 
 A deep and constant sense of our present spiritual 
 relation to God, our heavenly Father, and to his 
 glorious Son, our elder brother, and of the future 
 prospects, which, in virtue of this relation, are opened 
 up to us, is of the last importance ; and the want of 
 it is, in the highest degree, injurious. For, it is 
 manifest, that a due, and constant, sense of that rela- 
 tion is exceedingly calculated to enable, and to con- 
 strain, us to yield a ready, constant, and cheerful, 
 obedience to the divine will ; and it is equally evi- 
 dent, that the want of it must ever produce, either 
 despondency, or reckless disobedience. How deplor- 
 
156 LECTURE IX. 
 
 able, then, is the want of this sense, in the Chris- 
 tian ; and how unspeakably desirable is it, that the 
 sense of it should be cherished, by him ! The child 
 of a great, powerful, and earthly monarch, who, either 
 from ignorance, or from some unfortunate prejudice, 
 or from the misrepresentations of bad instructors and 
 evil counsellors, becomes distrustful of his father, 
 and who, from his distrust, is cold and remiss, in his 
 obedience, is surely an object of pity ; and, if from 
 these causes, his misconception of the character of 
 the father be so great, as to induce him to remove 
 himself to the greatest possible distance from the 
 paternal presence, — to make him renounce his pre- 
 sent happiness, and all his future prospects, — to 
 abandon himself to a course of life, incompatible with 
 the enjoyment of the advantages and honours, to 
 which he was born, — to bring him voluntarily to 
 surrender his birthright, — he is manifestly an object 
 of still greater commiseration. But, an incompara- 
 bly more deplorable spectacle, unquestionably, is a 
 child of God, who, from similar causes, loses the 
 benefit of his present invaluable privileges, and that 
 future ineffably great and glorious inheritance, to 
 which he was born ! How attentively and constantly, 
 then, ought we to meditate on the nature of the 
 spiritual relation, which we bear to God, our hea- 
 venly Father, and to his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 under the dispensation of the gospel, and how care- 
 fully and strenuously should we endeavour practi- 
 
LECTURE IX. 157 
 
 cally to appreciate that high relation ! With what 
 gratitude, love, and joy, should every child of God, 
 who " is ever with him," contemplate his riches, 
 honours, and prospects ; and how unspeakably impor- 
 tant is it, that every child, who, quitting the paternal 
 home has, in a strange and distant country, aban- 
 doned himself to a disgraceful and suffering bondage, 
 should consider, that, if he repent and return, the 
 Father wiU receive him, with open arms, and joy- 
 fully restore him to all the great privileges, honours, 
 and happiness, which, by his departure and estrange- 
 ment, he has voluntarily and foolishly abandoned ! 
 
C 158 ] 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 ROMANS, VIII. 17—39. 
 
 It might very naturally be expected, that, in this 
 inestimable epistle, in which the leading doctrines 
 of the gospel are prominently brought to view, the 
 apostle would make some practical observations on 
 our present state of probation and suffering, as that 
 state stands connected with the future life of felicity 
 and glory. This, accordingly, he fails not to do ; 
 and the place and manner, in which he introduces 
 his observations, have ever excited the admiration 
 of those, who have read the epistle, with critical 
 attention, as exceedingly appropriate and edifying. 
 It is not until he has given us the richest, brightest, 
 and most cheering view of our invaluable Christian 
 privileges, blessings, and honours, that the apostle 
 reminds us, that, notwithstanding these, we are still 
 in a state of probation, and consequently of suffering 
 and affliction, and that it is by the exercise- of patience 
 and hope, under our sufferings and sorrows, our 
 
LECTURE IX. 159 
 
 future life will be for ever secured, and our happiness 
 and glory eternally consummated. 
 
 '* If children, then heirs, -^-heirs of God, and joint 
 heirs with Christ ; if," or since, " we suffer with 
 him, that we may be also glorified together." Here 
 the apostle exhibits the motives, — the inexpressibly 
 powerful motives, — which we have to patience and 
 hope. We are reminded, that Christ suifered, and 
 that, because he suffered, he was glorified. " The 
 author and finisher of our faith, for the joy that was 
 set before him, endured the cross, despising the 
 shame, and is set do^vn at the right hand of the 
 throne of God ; " and we are assured, that, if like 
 the Roman and other Christians, we patiently, de- 
 voutly, and perseveringly, suffer, either for our faith 
 in the Son of God and for our obedience to his gospel, 
 or under those sufferings and afflictions, which are 
 common to man, we shall also reign, and be eternally 
 glorified, with him. 
 
 The transcendently happy and glorious nature of 
 the future life, for which the righteous are destined, 
 the apostle here urges, as another motive to patience, 
 under suficrings and afflictions. " For, I reckon, 
 that the sufiferings of this present time- are not worthy 
 to be compared with the glory, which shall be re- 
 vealed in us." It is divinely and graciously ap- 
 pointed, that familiarity with sufferings and afflic- 
 tions should increase our power of endurance ; a 
 merciful Providence generally mingles some palliative 
 
160 LECTURE IX. 
 
 in the bitter cup of pain, or grief; and, by the very 
 law of our nature, neither bodily pain, nor mental 
 suffering, can exceed a certain degree of intensity, 
 without terminating, at once, in that, which puts a 
 period for ever to all earthly misery. But, under 
 any circumstances, however trying, or painful, as 
 Christians, we have the justest reason to account 
 our present sufferings not worthy to be put in the 
 balance against the glory, which awaits us. " Our 
 present light and transient affliction worketh for us 
 a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." * 
 Who can form an adequate conception of the 
 happy and glorious state of those, who shall, in the 
 day of the Lord, have been found meet for that 
 state ? These, our bodies, which are here consigned 
 to their kindred dust, *' in corruption, dishonour, 
 and weakness," shall, by the voice of the Son of 
 God, be triumphantly raised, in " incorruption, glory, 
 honour," and immortality, fashioned like the body 
 of our divine Lord himself, our elder brother, and 
 fellow-heir, who has become the first-fruits from the 
 dead ! Who can fully appreciate, — who can imagine, 
 — the joy that will glow in the bosoms of those, who, 
 from the sleep of death, shall open their eyes on the 
 mild and benign light of the countenance of the Son of 
 God, — the Sun of Righteousness? Who can conceive 
 the joy, which will fill the hearts of those, who shall 
 hear the sentence, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 
 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 
LECTURE IX. 161 
 
 inherit the kingdom, prepared for you, from the 
 foundation of the world?"* Who can adequately 
 conceive the tranquillity and happiness, that will 
 arise from a full and settled sense of a perfect and 
 permanent immunity from the numberless evils, 
 which now embitter our existence ? Who can rea- 
 sonably limit his estimate of the good and felicity, 
 which will be conferred on the children of God, 
 who, as their heavenly Father, has given so invalu- 
 able a ransom, for their salvation, and whose good- 
 ness fills the whole earth ? What human imagina- 
 tion can set bounds to the glory, that will be confer- 
 red on the objects of the love of Him, the evidence 
 of whose power so marvellously and gloriously fills 
 the universe ? What mind can conceive the value 
 of an eternity of the felicity and glory of the child- 
 ren of God ? " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
 neither have entered into the heart of man, the 
 things, which thou, O God, hast prepared for them 
 that love thee, and wait on thee !"t 
 
 The eternal glory and felicity, then, which are in 
 reserve, for the church of Christ, after the present 
 state of probation, is exceedingly calculated to make 
 every member of it, who thoroughly understands his 
 privileges and advantages, and who is making the 
 intended use of them, to look forward, with an eager 
 and anxious desire, to the enjoyment of that felicity 
 and glory ; and the apostle, accordingly, here ob- 
 
 * Mat. XXV. 34. f Isa. Ixiv. 4 j and 1 Cor. ii. 9. 
 
 L 
 
16^2 LECTURE IX. 
 
 serves, that it is so. " For the earnest expectation," 
 — the ardent aspiration, — " of the creature," — that 
 is, of the church, which, in Scripture language, is a 
 creature, or creation, by God, in Christ, " waiteth 
 for the manifestation of the sons of God ; " — waiteth 
 for the resurrection, and that eternal life, happiness, 
 and glory, which will follow it. 
 
 But, co-operating with the motive, arising from 
 the confident expectation of a resurrection to immor- 
 tality, and to eternal happiness and glory, there is 
 another most powerful cause of our eager and anxi- 
 ous desire of coming to the actual possession and 
 enjovment of the glorious rest, which awaits the peo- 
 ple of God. In this state, great as our privileges, 
 and glorious as our prospects, are, we, notwithstand- 
 ing, suifer and die ; and this we do, in consequence 
 of the transgression of our first common ancestor, 
 Adam. Were it not so, our present state would not 
 he, what the inscrutable wisdom of God has seen fit 
 it should be, — a state of probation, — a state, as the 
 words of the passage imply, of physical bondage. 
 Now, however much it may be our duty, and how- 
 ever patiently and resignedly we may endeavour, to 
 endure our present sorrows and sufferings ; yet na- 
 ture itself compels, and the God of nature forbids us 
 not, earnestly and ardently to cherish the desire of a 
 deliverance from them ; and, combined, as this natu- 
 ral and lawful desire is, with the confident expecta- 
 tion, not merely of deliverance, from the sorrows and 
 
LECTURE IX. 163 
 
 sufferings of this state, but also of the positive en- 
 joyment of eternal life, happiness and honour, it ac- 
 quires a force exceedingly powerful. " For the crea- 
 ture," — the church of God, created in Christ, — 
 " was subjected to vanity," — to sorrow, suffering, 
 and death, — " not willingly," — not on account of its 
 own sins, — " but by reason of him," — of God, — 
 " who subjected the same, in hope, because the crea- 
 ture itself," — or, in the expectation, that this crea- 
 ture, — the church, — " shall also be delivered from 
 the bondage of corruption," — from the strong fetters 
 of the grave, — *' into the glorious liberty of the child- 
 ren of God," by a triumphant resurrection, to a 
 blissful and glorious immortality. 
 
 The christian church, at Rome, was, in its own mea- 
 sure, a suffering church ; and, accordingly, it required 
 consolation and encouragement. That consolation 
 and encouragement the great and glorious prospects, 
 now considered, were, in the highest degree, calculated 
 to administer. Yet, with much propriety and force, 
 the apostle adds this consideration also j — that, 
 though the church suffered, it suffered only in com- 
 mon with all other churches of Christ. He reminds 
 them, that, from the day of their conversion, to that, 
 in which he was, in this epistle, addressing them, 
 the christian church every where experienced the 
 sharpest and severest trials and sufferings. " For, 
 we know, that the whole creation," — the whole 
 
164 LECTURE IX. 
 
 church, — " groaneth and travaileth in pain together 
 until now." 
 
 This, accordingly, was the language of the apostle, 
 not only to this, hut to all the other churches, of 
 Christ. Every where he taught, that, " it is through 
 much tribulation, we must enter into the kingdom of 
 God." His words have been but too clearly veri- 
 fied, by the history of all generations of the church, 
 since his time ; and, however reasonably we may 
 expect, that, in future periods, there will be great 
 improvement, in the state of the church, yet may 
 we, with equal reason, believe, that, fi'om number- 
 less causes, physical and moral, that state will, in all 
 ages, be, more or less, a suffering one. But, blessed 
 be the God of all consolation ! we know, that, though 
 we now suffer, we suffer for our good, and that, in 
 the christian warfare, a celestial panoply is given 
 us, which, if we wear it, and duly use it, will enable 
 us to come out of the hardest and most terrific 
 struggles, gloriously victorious ! A cheering consi- 
 deration, indeed, to all, who sustain the combat, with 
 firmness, vigilance, and constancy ! And happy he, 
 too, who, arrested in a course of sin, by the divine 
 paternal chastisements, comes to himself, puts on 
 him this panoply, and resumes the combat. For, he, 
 too, if he do not again cast it off, will be sure of 
 victory ! 
 
 It was, to the Roman christians, in their trials, 
 
LECTURE IX. 165 
 
 consolatory, to be assured, that their heavenly Fa- 
 ther had not singled them out for suffering, and that 
 they suffered only, as all their fellow-christians every 
 where suffered. But, there was another still more 
 consolatory consideration, of which he reminds them. 
 He reminds them, that even the apostles and other 
 evangelists also suffered. It might, on a cursory 
 \dew, be expected, that, although other members of 
 the church of Christ should be exposed to sufferings, 
 these ambassadors of God, at least, who were so highly 
 and gloriously endowed with miraculous gifts and pow- 
 ers, as credentials of their divine mission, should have 
 been exempted from suffering. But, it was not so. 
 It was the Divine will, that they, too, should suffer ; 
 and that their sufferings should be peculiarly and 
 signally great. This was a dispensation wise and 
 gracious. For, thus, not only did they themselves 
 win the glorious crown of eternal life, but also clear- 
 ly demonstrated to all the Church, and to all the 
 world, the sincerity and firmness of their faith, in 
 the doctrines, which they taught, and their assured 
 expectation of that crown, and so became bright ex- 
 amples of patient and triumphant suffering, not only 
 to the primitive christians, but to the universal 
 Church of Christ, in all its generations. The rea- 
 son, then, is obvious, for which the apostle reminds 
 the christians, in Rome, of the sufferings of himself 
 and fellow-ambassadors, from Christ. " And not 
 only they," — not only the general creation of God, 
 
166 LECTURE IX. 
 
 in Christ, — " but ourselves also," — we apostles and 
 other evangelists ^Iso, — " who have received the 
 first-fruits of the Spirit," — who were first endowed 
 with the miraculous gifts and powers of the Holy 
 Spirit, and were ordained to impart them to others, 
 — " even we ourselves groan within ourselves, wait- 
 ing for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our 
 body," — the resurrection of our bodies, from the 
 dead, and the eternal life, bliss, and glory, that will 
 follow. 
 
 Great and inestimable as our present christian 
 privileges and blessings are, we must ever practically 
 bear in mind, that this world is not our rest ; — that 
 the present is a state, not of fruition, but essentially 
 and necessarily of expectation ; — and that, from the 
 very nature of the case, it is clearly necessary, that 
 we should wait for the objects of our expectation, 
 with patience. The words of the apostle, in reference 
 to this, condensed and elliptical, as they are, may be, 
 thus, extended, supplied, and connected. " We our- 
 selves groan, within ourselves, waiting for the adop- 
 tion, — the redemption of our body ;" — waitings — 
 expecting, — I say \ — " for we are saved by hope ;" 
 — that is, — the efiect being put for the cause, — by the 
 faith, from which our hope, or expectation, arises. 
 " But, hope that is seen" — what is already possessed 
 and enjoyed, — is not hope. " For, what a man seeth," 
 or already hath, '* why doth he yet hope for," or 
 expect, it ? '* But, if we hope for what we see not. 
 
LECTURE IX. 167 
 
 then, do we, with patience, wait for it." It is the 
 will of Him, who " has subjected us to vanity," in 
 this state, that we should endure that vanity patient- 
 ly ; and, if the pressure of the trials of our present 
 state, together with our confident expectation of eter- 
 nal life and happiness, in the future state, is calcu- 
 lated to make us eagerly long for the glorious liberty 
 of the children of God, surely gratitude to Him, who 
 has made us heirs of that life and happiness should 
 powerfully constrain us to be patient, under our 
 present trials and suiFerings, however severe they 
 may be. 
 
 Reminded, as we here are, that " we are saved by 
 hope," it cannot, to the sincere and intelligent chris- 
 tian, be otherwise than pleasing and instructive, to 
 contemplate the strong foundation, on which his 
 expectation of eternal life and happiness rests. No 
 evidence could have been stronger than that, which 
 the apostle himself had, that a happy and glorious 
 immortality awaited him. Being, in the midst of a 
 career of the most strenuous and bloody opposition 
 to the gospel, the subject of a miraculous conversion 
 to it,— being himself endowed with miraculous gifts 
 and powers, which he daily exercised, — being divinely 
 enabled to impart, in the greatest abundance, those 
 gifts and powers to others, — having received the 
 doctrines of the gospel, by immediate, divine, revela- 
 tion, — and having himself seen the Lord Jesus, after 
 his resurrection, and knowing, that he was the first- 
 
168 LECTURE IX. 
 
 fruits of the general resurrection, — it was not possi- 
 ble, that he should not believe in the future resurrec- 
 tion and eternal life, revealed in the gospel, as firmly 
 as he believed in his own existence. But, it was not 
 of the hope, that was in the apostle himself alone, 
 that those things form a firm foundation. His 
 recorded conversion and life will for ever stand as 
 one strong and immovable pillar, to support the 
 faith and hope of all christians, in all ages. 
 
 But, although the conversion and life of the apostle 
 form, indeed, one firm and imperishable pillar of the 
 faith and hope of the christian, it is but one pillar, 
 among many, equally strong, immovable, and inde- 
 structible. The miracles, which our Lord, who is 
 our hope and life, performed, the doctrines, which 
 he taught, and the life, which he led, demonstrated, 
 and those sacred writings, in which they are faith- 
 fully recorded, will for ever continue to demonstrate, 
 that he was the divinely predicted, and long expected, 
 Messiah, the Son of God, and that he had, indeed, 
 the words of eternal life. By a simple act of his will, 
 — by a word, — he healed all manner of sickness and 
 disease. He restored sight to the blind, hearing to 
 the deaf, and speech to the dumb. He cleansed the 
 lepers, and made the cripple perfect. He restored 
 the lunatic to soundness of mind, and the possessed 
 with evil demons to liberty and tranquillity. He 
 created, without the natural means, and instanta- 
 neously, food for thousands. He raised the dead to 
 
LECTURE IX. 169 
 
 life. He walked upon the sea ; and, at his com- 
 mand, the storms were lulled, and the raging sea 
 became calm. He knew the most secret actions 
 and thoughts of men. He foretold future events, 
 expressly and minutely. His miracles were with- 
 out number, and were done with all manner of 
 publicity, and, although, with the most manifest 
 absurdity, as weU as with unpardonable malignity, 
 pronounced, by the Jewish authorities, to have been 
 performed with the co-operation of the chief of evil 
 spirits, were never denied to be, indeed, miracles. 
 All his miracles were, in themselves, of a nature 
 the most beneficent and substantial ; and they were 
 performed, to serve as evidence of things, compared 
 with which, in importance, all other things sink 
 into nothing. The doctrines of Jesus are joyfully 
 and marvellously suited to the wants and desires 
 of mortal and despairing man. To his system of 
 morality no other system of ethics can at all be com- 
 pared. His manner of communicating instruction 
 is, in the highest degree, eloquent and powerful, and 
 inimitably engaging j and his instructions are ren- 
 dered still more effectual, by his own perfect and 
 glorious example. 
 
 The miraculous gifts and powers, which our Lord 
 himself possessed, he imparted to his apostles and 
 other disciples ; and those apostles also the same to 
 others ; all of whom exercised their gifts and powers, 
 on occasions innumerable, and, like their Divine 
 
lyO LECTURE IX. 
 
 Master, in a manner the most public and unquestion- 
 able, and for ends the most beneficent and impor- 
 tant, that can be imagined. 
 
 But, clear and convincing as the evidence of the 
 truth of the gospel, arising from the miracles, to 
 which we have alluded, is, the main pillar of our 
 christian faith and hope manifestly is the glorious 
 event of the resurrection of our Lord himself, from 
 the dead, a fact, as might justly be expected, proved, 
 by evidence as clear and convincing as could have 
 established the truth of any past, remote, event. 
 
 There is no intelligent man, who attentively and 
 candidly reads the gospel history, who must not per- 
 ceive, that it bears, in itself, the clearest and most 
 convincing evidence of the truth of all that it relates. 
 That it relates what is real and true is manifest, not 
 merely from those things, to which we have now 
 alluded, but also from qualities, which characterise 
 the history itself. It is distinguished, by an inimit- 
 able artlessness, that belongs only to reality and 
 truth. With all honesty, the evangelists record their 
 own early prejudices and errors, their own infirmities, 
 and their own sins. There is manifestly no conceal- 
 ment, no suppression, no misrepresentation. The 
 precepts and doctrines recorded are, in themselves, 
 manifestly, not merely such as must have had a holy 
 and heavenly origin, but were also, as to the occasion 
 of teaching them, connected with facts, which mus 
 have been both real and miraculous. The prejudices. 
 
LECTURE IX. 171 
 
 the passions, the vices, and the crimes, which the 
 evangelists ascribe to the Jews, whether rulers, or 
 people, have all the characteristics of truth, and are 
 in perfect accordance with the account given of them 
 by all other historians. The most searching exami- 
 nation finds the various parts of the gospel history 
 clearly and strikingly consistent ; and in the histo- 
 rical and epistolary portions of the New Testament, 
 the intelligent and attentive reader meets with num- 
 berless coincidences, manifestly undesigned, and, 
 therefore, wonderfully corroborative both of the truth 
 of what the history relates, and of the authenticity of 
 the sacred epistles. 
 
 The account, which we have of the resurrection of 
 our Lord is, in an especial and wonderful manner, 
 calculated to convince us of the reality of that most 
 important of all events, and consequently of the reality 
 and truth of whatever is contained in the gospel his- 
 tory. Were any thing wanting to establish, in our 
 minds, a conviction of that event, it would be fur- 
 nished, by the ridiculous, as well as manifestly false, 
 account, which, with matchless, yet providential, 
 effrontery, the wicked and infatuated Jewish autho- 
 rities ordered to be propagated, among the people, 
 of the absence of the body of our Lord, from the 
 tomb. 
 
 It must not be overlooked, that the evidence of the 
 truth of the gospel is greatly and manifestly con- 
 firmed, by that of the truth and divine origin of the 
 
172 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Mosaic dispensation. The one dispensation is the 
 continuation and completion of the other ; and the 
 clear and unquestionable characteristics, possessed, 
 by the former, of being a divine, miraculous, dispen- 
 sation are a most powerful corroboration of the 
 divine, miraculous, origin of the latter. 
 
 While, therefore, the nature of evidence remains, 
 — that is, w^hile the mind of man and the present 
 course of nature exist, — the evidence of the truth 
 of the gospel, will, on examination, bring conviction 
 to the bosom of every rational, intelligent, and honest 
 juan ; and, thus, the christian " has an anchor of his 
 soul," which no tempest can, either break, or move, 
 cast, *' within the vail" of heaven, whither his gracious 
 and glorious fore-runner, the Lord Jesus Christ, has 
 already entered ; — a strong consolation, indeed, 
 amidst the afflictions and sufferings of this state of 
 probation. 
 
 Here, the apostle proceeds to remind us of another 
 powerful motive, which we have, to make us patiently 
 endure the ills of this, our state of trial, and trust in 
 the good will of God towards us ; and that motive 
 is the intercession, or assistance and influences, of 
 the Holy Spirit, which are graciously granted us, to 
 help our infirmities, to supply our imperfections, and 
 especially to give effect to our prayers. " Likewise 
 the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. For, we know 
 not," — that is, in many cases, — " we know not what 
 we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit 
 
LECTURE IX. 173 
 
 itself," or that Spirit, — " maketh intercsssion for us, 
 with unutterable," or silent, "groanings; and he, 
 that searcheth the hearts, knoweth," or approveth, 
 " what is the mind," or desire, " of the Spirit, be- 
 cause he maketh intercession for the saints, accord- 
 ing to the will of God." But, although, in all our 
 trials, of whatever nature, we may justly expect the 
 aids and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the well in- 
 formed and considerate christian will ever remember, 
 that the Holy Scriptures are the dictates, of the Spirit, 
 and that it is by means of those dictates, chiefly, that 
 the Spirit fortifies and sanctifies the heart, and en- 
 lightens the mind, of man; and, accordingly, while 
 his constant, earnest, and fervent, prayers ascend to 
 the throne of grace, he will also, in all his sufferings, 
 difficulties, and fears, ever have recourse to those dic- 
 tates, as the divinely appointed means of obtaining 
 light, strength, and consolation. 
 
 Since trials and sufferings constitute the element, 
 in which it is divinely appointed, that we should live 
 in this world, and work out our salvation, and since, 
 not only christians of ordinary, spiritual, attainments, 
 but even the best, are often visited, with trials and 
 sufferings, in their most intense and afflictive form, it 
 was necessary that the apostle should here clearly 
 and strongly state, that all the dispensations of Divine 
 Providence, afflictive as well as joyful, co-operate, for 
 the ultimate benefit of the christian. " And we 
 know, that all things work together, for good, to them 
 
174 LECTURE IX. 
 
 that love God ;" that is, to those, whom God loves ; 
 for " we love him ; because he first loved us." 
 
 Now, here the apostle demonstrates how necessarily 
 all things must work together, for good, to christians; 
 — and the judicious reader will perceive, that he 
 means christians, who are practically influenced, hy 
 the principles of the gospel. " They are called, ac- 
 cording to the purpose of God. For, whom he did 
 fore-know," or previously love, " he also did predesti- 
 nate to he conformed to the image of his Son," — that 
 is, in the attainment of a glorious resurrection and 
 eternal life, — " that he might be the first-born, among 
 many brethren." Having, thus, stated the gracious 
 purpose of God, and the glorious result of that pur- 
 pose, he shows the links which connect the purpose 
 with the accomplishment. " Moreover, whom he 
 did predestinate, them he also called," — he invited 
 and received, as members of his church, — " and 
 whom he called, them he also justified ; and whom 
 he justified, them he also glorified ;" — them he 
 glorified, in bestowing on them the miraculous gifts 
 and powers of the Holy Spirit, as the seal of their 
 present inestimable privileges, and as the earnest of 
 a future, triumphant, resurrection, and of eternal 
 life, glory, honour, and peace. It was, indeed, in the 
 nature of things, necessary, that those miraculous 
 gifts and powers, originally bestowed on the church, 
 should constitute a seal, equally sure, of the present 
 privileges, and an earnest equally certain, of the 
 
LECTURE IX. 175 
 
 eternal life and glory, of all members of the church, 
 in all future ages, who reject not the gracious coun- 
 sel of God, against themselves, and neglect not the 
 great and glorious salvation of the gospel. 
 
 In the passage, which here follows, the reasoning 
 of the apostle is so triumphantly just, and so clear, 
 cogent, and convincing, and there are, in his words, 
 so eloquent and so powerful an expression of chris- 
 tian faith, fortitude, and firmness of purpose,, that 
 any comment upon them would be injudicious and 
 injurious. Let us, therefore, hear the apostle him- 
 self. *' What shall we, then, say to these things ? 
 If God be for us, who can be against us ? He, that 
 spared not his own Son, but delivered him up, for us 
 all, how shall he not, with him, also freely give us 
 all things ? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of 
 God's elect ? Is it God, that justifieth ? Who is he 
 that condemneth? Is it Christ, that died, — yea rather 
 that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of 
 God, who also maketh intercession for us ? Who 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ ;" — separate 
 us from being the objects of the love of Christ, by 
 causing us, either to apostatize, or to lead a life un- 
 suitable to our christian principles and profession? — 
 " Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or fa- 
 mine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is 
 written ; For thy sake, we are killed all the day long ; 
 we are accounted, as sheep, for the slaughter. Nay, 
 in all these things, we are more than conquerors. 
 
176 LECTURE IX. 
 
 through him that loved us. For, I am persuaded, 
 that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principa- 
 lities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
 come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of God, 
 which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord ;" — from being 
 the objects of the love of God, which is through 
 Christ Jesus, our Lord ! ! 
 
 Finally ; due attention to the things, which form 
 the subject of this discourse, clearly demonstrates, 
 how greatly they err, who think, that the christian 
 religion necessarily begets, in the heart and mind, 
 melancholy and gloom. If the prevalence of virtue 
 and piety constitute the chief happiness of mankind, 
 and if vice, crimes, and the various other forms of 
 sin, be the chief causes of human misery, is it pos- 
 sible that melancholy and gloom should arise from 
 that system of religion, which, in its native purity, 
 is, above all other systems, best calculated to pro- 
 mote virtue and piety, and to prevent all manner of 
 sin and ungodliness ? If the wicked and ungodly, 
 when roused to a sense of their guilt and danger, 
 would give the whole world, did they possess it, to 
 be reconciled to a justly offended God, to be saved 
 from condign punishment, can gloom and melancholy 
 arise from that system of religion, which declares, 
 that the Son of God came to call, not the righteous, 
 but sinners, to repentance and salvation, — that his 
 blood cleanseth from all sin, — and that, however 
 
LECTURE IX. 177 
 
 great the past transgressions of the sinner may have 
 been, there will, when he is truly reformed, and is 
 sincerely endeavouring to live after the Spirit, be no 
 condemnation for him, and which establishes, in the 
 heart, the peace of God, that passeth all understand- 
 ing- ? If sorrow and sufferino^ be essential to our state 
 of probation, can sadness and gloom arise from that 
 religion, which alone satisfactorily accounts for that 
 state, and which alone can effectually fortify us under 
 our sufferings, and truly console us in our afflic- 
 tions ? If the physical attributes, and tne stupendous 
 and boundless works, of the great Creator and God 
 of the universe be calculated to inspire us with the 
 deepest awe, if not with dread, can sadness and gloom 
 be caused by that religion, which assures us, that 
 that Creator is a God of mercy, grace, and love, and 
 that he is our heavenly Father, and we his adopted 
 children, and joint-heirs with his own Son, the Lord 
 from heaven ? If the christian, when he has used 
 his best endeavours to serve his God, has cause to 
 lament, that the accomplishment comes sadly short 
 of the purpose, and if, from various infirmities and 
 perplexing circumstances, he often knows not how 
 to pray, as he ought, can it cause gloom and sadness, 
 that he has the Son of God, as his all-prevailing in- 
 tercessor constantly at the right hand of the Father, 
 and that the Holy Spirit so qualifies his supplica- 
 tions, as to render them acceptable and effectual ? If, 
 without the christian religion, mortal man is, through 
 
 M 
 
178 LECTURE IX. 
 
 fear of death, all his life-time, subject to bondage, 
 can it beget gloom and sadness, in him, that, by the 
 dispensation of the gospel, death is abolish ed^ and 
 life and immortality brought to light ? In a word, 
 can gloom and melancholy be inspired, by that dis- 
 pensation of religion, by which the christian has now 
 the assurance and earnest, not only of a restoration 
 from death, but also of the enjoyment of eternal life, 
 glory, honour, and peace ? It surely is not ! On the 
 contrary, it is, in the highest degree calculated to 
 inspire him with " joy unspeakable and full of glory !" 
 It is in the worker of iniquity alone that it is calcu- 
 lated to beget sadness and gloom ; — and not sadness 
 and gloom only, but well-founded terror ! 
 
 If his views of the gospel unfortunately beget melan- 
 choly and gloom, in the sincere and obedient christian, 
 it is because those views are erroneous, and not be- 
 cause that gracious dispensation is, in itself, calcu- 
 lated to produce the unhappy effect. It is, therefore, 
 the wisdom and the duty of aU, who feel oppressed, 
 with sadness and gloom, from their views of the 
 christian religion, to lay aside all human systems of 
 religion, to divest themselves of their preconceived 
 opinions, however long formed, or dearly cherished, 
 and however numerous and celebrated those may be 
 who profess them, to have recourse to the di^dne 
 oracles themselves, — the only perfectly pure source 
 of Christianity, — and search them, with all candour, 
 with an unreserved determination to embrace what- 
 
LECTURE IX. 179 
 
 ever they reveal, and with earnest prayer to the 
 Father of lights, to open their understanding, and 
 to deliver them from all their prejudices and errors. 
 If they do so, they cannot fail, in whatever is essen- 
 tial to salvation, to have their prejudices removed, 
 and their errors corrected. For, the leading doc- 
 trines of the gospel are clear and intelligible to every 
 man of ordinary capacity and candour, who can read 
 the Holy Scriptures ; and, as to words or passages, 
 which may seem to contradict those doctrines, com- 
 mon sense will ever dictate, that their true meaning 
 is misunderstood, and that they must be taken in a 
 sense conformable with the great, fundamental, doc- 
 trines of that glorious dispensation, which is divinely 
 declared to be a marvellous light ! 
 
C 180 ] 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 ROMANS, IX. 
 
 By direct divine revelation, as well as by the pre- 
 dictions of our Lord, the apostle well knew the im- 
 pending fate of the city of Jerusalem, and of the 
 Jewish nation. He knew, with certainty, that the 
 time was near, when the *' enemies" of that city 
 " should cast a trench about it, and compass it 
 round, and keep it in, on every side, and should lay 
 it even with the ground, and its children within it, 
 and should not leave one stone upon another ; be- 
 cause it knew not the time of its visitation."* He 
 knew, with certainty, that "the daughter of Zion 
 should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the 
 times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled." He knew, 
 with equal certainty, that the time was nigh, when 
 " there should be great distress in the land of Judea, 
 when they should fall, by the edge of the sword, and 
 should be led away captive unto all nations,"! among 
 whom they should, during a long series of ages, not 
 only be deprived of the peculiar and inestimable privi- 
 
 * Luke, xix. 43. f Luke, xxi. 23-24. 
 
LECTURE X. 181 
 
 leges and high honours, which they ever enjoyed, but 
 also endure unexampled degradation and sufferings. 
 This sad fate of the people of God it was now neces- 
 sary for the apostle to announce ; that he might take 
 an opportunity of vindicating the divine justice, and 
 of establishing the divine veracity, in the dispensa- 
 tion ; and, while he powerfully and clearly vindicates, 
 he, with the deepest and most generous sympathy, 
 laments, that dispensation. "I say the truth, in 
 Christ ; I lie not ; my conscience also bearing me 
 witness, in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heavi- 
 ness and continual sorrow, in my heart. For, I could 
 wish that myself were accursed from Christ," — were 
 deprived of my christian privileges, — *' for my breth- 
 ren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are 
 Israelites," — a people enjoying a special and most 
 precious covenant, with God, — "to whom pertain- 
 eth the adoption," — as children, — " and the glory," 
 — the miraculous and gracious, divine, presence, — 
 " and the covenants," — the covenants relative to 
 things spiritual and temporal, — *' and the giving of 
 the law, and the service of God, and the promises," 
 — the promises, not only of great blessings in the 
 land of Canaan, but of incomparably greater bless- 
 ings in the kingdom of the Messiah ; — " whose are 
 the fathers," — those eminent patriarchs, who shed so 
 great a lustre over the whole nation, — *' and of whom, 
 as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, 
 God blessed for ever, — Amen ! " 
 
182 LECTURE X. 
 
 Here, the apostle guards against the supposition, 
 that his sorrow proceeded from the belief, that God 
 had failed in implementing the terms of his covenant, 
 and in fulfilling the promises, which he made to the 
 patriarchs, relative to their posterity. God said to 
 Abraham, " I will establish my covenant between me 
 and thee, and thy seed after thee, for an everlasting 
 covenant ; to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed, 
 after thee ; " * and the same promise, in a similar 
 covenant, the Lord made also to Jacob, or Israel, 
 when he said, ** I am the Lord God of Abraham, 
 thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land, whereon 
 thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed ; and 
 thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth ; and thou 
 shalt spread abroad, to the east and to the west, and 
 to the north and to the south." t From the procedure 
 of God in the original formation of his peculiar people, 
 as well as from express and special prophecies, the 
 apostle proves, that the rejection of the great body 
 of the Jews is consistent with the faithfulness of God, 
 in regard to his covenant, and with his veracity, re- 
 lative to his promises. " Not as though the word 
 of God hath taken none effect. For, they are not 
 all Israel, who are of Israel." There is now, under 
 the gospel dispensation another Israel, — an " Israel 
 of God," — a spiritual community, consisting of those 
 Gentiles as well as Jews, who have received Jesus, as 
 the Son of God, and have submitted to his rightful 
 * Gen. xvii. 7, 8. t Gen. xxviii. 13, &c. 
 
LECTURE X. 183 
 
 and easy yoke ; while the great body of the Jews, by 
 rejecting his yoke, have excluded themselves from 
 that community. 
 
 The Jews gloried exceedingly, in their descent 
 from Abraham ; and they vainly believed, that, be- 
 cause they were his posterity, it was not possible, 
 that God should reject them. Here, the apostle 
 undeceives them, and proves, from' the Scriptures, 
 that the divine promises, relative to the posterity of 
 Abraham, might be fulfilled, by limiting the fulfil- 
 ment of them, to any part of his descendants, whom 
 God might choose. " Neither, because they are the 
 seed of Abraham are they all children.''^ Ishmael 
 was the son of Abraham ; and this eminent patriarch 
 would gladly have seen the divine promise fulfilled 
 in him. But, that accorded not with the purpose 
 of God ; the declaration of God to the patriarch 
 was, " In Isaac shall thy seed be called." The 
 divine procedure, in this case, then, illustrates and 
 vindicates the present rejection of some, and the re- 
 ception of others, of the posterity of Abraham ; and 
 the apostle, accordingly, adds, " That is, they which 
 are the children of the flesh, these are not the children 
 of God ; but, the children of the promise are counted 
 for the seed." Isaac was born to Abraham, in ful- 
 filment of the promise, and by the mighty power and 
 special grace, of God ; as here implied, when the 
 apostle says, " For this is the word of promise. At 
 this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son j" 
 
184^ LECTURE X. 
 
 and it is in a similar manner, that those, who have 
 received the Messiah, whether Jev»^s, or Gentiles, 
 have, now, under the gospel dispensation, become 
 the children of Abraham and of God. 
 
 But, here, the prejudiced and captious Jew might 
 object, that the case of Ishmael neither illustrated 
 nor justified the dispensation, now in question ; be- 
 cause that son, though the elder, was born of a bond- 
 woman, and, therefore, justly set aside. To obviate 
 this objection, the apostle further cites, from the 
 divine oracles, the case of Esau and Jacob ; — a case, 
 on which no ingenuity could raise any valid objec- 
 tion. Both of them were the sons of Isaac, in whom 
 the seed was to be called. They were born of the 
 same mother, and twin-brothers. Yet, in deviation 
 from the privileges, in those days, ordinarily attached 
 to primogeniture, Esau, the first-born, was deprived 
 of the privileges of the divine covenant and promises ; 
 and they were conferred on Jacob, though the younger. 
 " And not only this," observes the apostle, " but when 
 Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our 
 father Isaac," — " it was said unto her. The elder 
 shall serve the younger." That is, " Two nations 
 are in thy womb ; and two manner of people shall 
 be separated from thy bowels ; and the one people 
 shall be stronger than the other people ; and the elder 
 shall serve the younger.* As it is written," continues 
 the apostle, " Jacob h^ve I loved ; but Esau have I 
 • Gen. xxT. 23c 
 
LECTURE X. 185 
 
 hated ; " that is, I gave the preference to Jacob over 
 Esau, though his brother, and his elder brother. 
 
 Here, possibly the Jew might say, that Jacob was 
 chosen, and Esau rejected, for the profaneness of this 
 brother. But, against this objection, also, the apostle 
 guards, when he observes, *' For, the children being 
 not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that 
 the purpose of God, according to election, might 
 stand, not of works, but of him, that calleth, it was 
 said unto her. The elder shall serve the younger ; " 
 — a declaration, which, in its original fulness, ex- 
 pressly refers, not merely to the destiny of those 
 brothers themselves, but also to that of their pos- 
 terity. Thus, from those divine oracles, which he 
 himself professed so firmly to believe, and so pro- 
 foundly to respect, it is demonstrated to the Jew, 
 that God, consistently and conformably with his 
 former dispensations towards his peculiar people, 
 might now deprive those of them, whom he pleased, 
 of the special and great privileges of his church, 
 and, in his absolute sovereignty, and of his pure 
 grace, might confer those privileges on those of that 
 people, whom he chose. ^J 
 
 " What shall we say, then ? Is there unrighteous- 
 ness with God ?" You seem to teach, that there is. 
 For, are there not partiality and injustice in this, 
 that, while he rejects the great body of the people, 
 and when, as you yourself teach, " all have sinned 
 
186 LECTURE X. 
 
 and come short of the glory of God," he should make 
 the rest of that people the objects of such mercy and 
 grace, merely for their faith in Jesus, as the promised 
 Messiah ? This objection, no doubt, the unbelieving 
 Jews had often urged. But, most unreasonably, and 
 with the worst possible grace, was it urged, by a 
 people, whose very existence and name, in the world, 
 are an everlasting monument of the unmerited mercy 
 and grace of God ; — an evident truth, of which the 
 recollection even of one most important event, in their 
 history, might have convinced them. This event was 
 their universal defection from Jehovah, the living 
 and true God, who, with power so marvellous, and 
 with goodness and favour so unparalleled, had deliv- 
 ered them, from their sufferings, in " the house of 
 bondage," and their making to themselves an idol- 
 o'od, — the image of a four-footed beast, — in manifest 
 contempt of that divine law, which, so recently, and 
 under sanctions so solemn and awful, forbade and 
 denounced that capital sin. On that critical and 
 memorable occasion, although they had rendered 
 themselves obnoxious to the most signal punishment, 
 and although, indeed, the Lord did threaten them 
 with utter destruction, on the intercession of Moses, 
 the illustrious type of the Messiah, he, with an excep- 
 tion comparatively very small, forgave them, and again 
 received them into his favour ; and, emphatically 
 intimating, that their restoration was from pure 
 
LECTURE X. 187 
 
 mercy and grace, *' He said to Moses, I will have 
 mercy, on whom I will have mercy, and I will have 
 compassion, on whom I will have compassion." 
 
 The objection of the Jew, let it be observed, is 
 started immediately after the apostle cites the case 
 of Jacob and Esau, in illustration of the sovereignty 
 and freeness, with which God dispenses peculiar, 
 spiritual, privileges, to any people. The objection, 
 then, being so triumphantly and so clearly refuted, 
 the apostle proceeds to draw, from that case, an infer- 
 ence, in illustration and vindication of the divine 
 mercy and grace, in receiving into the gospel cove- 
 nant those, who had believed in Jesus, as the Son of 
 God. " So, then, it is not of him, that willeth, nor 
 of him, that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." 
 Isaac willed, that Esau and his posterity should 
 possess the special privileges of the divine covenant, 
 and, in obedience to the paternal command, Esau 
 ran to procure venison, that he might obtain those 
 privileges. But, God saw it fit, that it should be 
 otherwise. Of his pure grace, he conferred them on 
 Jacob and his posterity ; and thus it is, in the gospel 
 dispensation ; eternal life, together with those means, 
 which we possess, of working out our salvation, is the 
 gift of God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord ; — they 
 come not, either of the will, or of the works, of man, 
 " but of God, that showeth mercy." 
 
 Having, thus, vindicated the divine procedure, in 
 the great^mercy and grace, so freely granted to those 
 
188 LECTURE X. 
 
 of the Jews, who believed in the Messiah, the apostle 
 proceeds to vindicate the divine justice, in the rejec- 
 tion and punishment of those of them, who refused 
 and rejected his rightful and salutary yoke. The 
 unbelieving Jews perseveringly closed their eyes, and 
 obstinately steeled their hearts, against the clearest 
 and most convincing evidence, that Jesus was the 
 Son of God. Miracles the most unquestionable, in 
 their nature, — ^miracles the most beneficent, in their 
 immediate effects, — miracles the most important ima- 
 ginable, in their remote consequences, — miracles 
 acknowledged, by themselves, to be, indeed, miracles, 
 — they could, and did, ascribe to the power and co- 
 operation of demons. In this wilful blindness of 
 mind, and great obduracy of heart, the apostle vir- 
 tually afiirms, they resembled Pharaoh and his people, 
 and that, although they had hitherto experienced the 
 forbearance of God, this forbearance would soon 
 terminate, in punishment, not only destructive to 
 themselves, but calculated, also, to strike, with awe, 
 all nations of the world, in all time to come. " For 
 the Scripture saith to Pharaoh, Even for this same 
 purpose have I raised thee up •" that is. Even for this 
 purpose have I hitherto spared thee and thy people, 
 from becoming the victims of the plagues, with which 
 I have visited the land ; — " that I might show my 
 power in thee, and that my name might be declared, 
 throughout all the earth j" that is, by their finals 
 signal, punishment. 
 
LECTURE X. 189 
 
 Here, then, the apostle repeats his inference, from 
 the case of Jacob and Esau, and adds to it another 
 conclusion, deduced from the instance of Pharaoh, 
 in evident reference to the divine procedure towards 
 those of the Jews, whom, on account of their wilful 
 and obstinate unbelief, " God had hardened." 
 *' Therefore, hath he mercy, on whom he will have 
 mercy j and, whom he will, he hardeneth." 
 
 Against this procedure, the unbelieving Jews 
 started a bold and impious objection, to which the 
 apostle makes a most appropriate, satisfactory, and 
 impressive, answer ; " Thou wilt say, then, unto me. 
 Why doth he yet find fault ? For, who has resisted 
 his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou, that 
 repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say, 
 to him, that formed it. Why hast thou made me, 
 thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of 
 the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour, and 
 another unto dishonour ?" 
 
 In this passage, the unbelieving Jews, on the sup- 
 position, that the doctrine of the apostle were true, 
 charges God, with being wilfully the author of their 
 blindness and obduracy. But, the charge is false 
 and unjust. The manner, in which God hardens 
 impenitent sinners, is only, by his great and long 
 forbearance, even while they abuse all those means, 
 which are calculated and uitended to briner them to 
 repentance and salvation. This was the manner, in 
 which Pharaoh and his people were hardened ; and 
 
190 LECTURE X. 
 
 it is, accordingly, written, that they hardened them- 
 selves. This, also, was the manner, in which the 
 unbelieving Jews hardened themselves ; and, there- 
 fore, the apostle, in a preceding part of the epistle, 
 says to them ; — " Despisest thou the riches of his 
 goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering ; not 
 considering, that the goodness of God leadeth thee 
 to repentance ; but, after thy hardness, and impeni- 
 tent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath, against 
 the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous 
 judgment of God ? " * 
 
 In the passage immediately under our considera- 
 tion, the apostle illustrates and vindicates the divine 
 procedure, towards the unbelieving Jews, by an al- 
 lusion to the words of the Lord, by the prophets ; — 
 an allusion, which, because those words refer to a 
 subject substantially the very same, was, in itself, 
 highly calculated to convince the unbelieving Jews 
 of the divine justice, in their rejection, and punish- 
 ment ; and, since it is of great importance, that we, 
 too, should fully understand the words of the apostle, 
 no apology shall be offered for citing here those of 
 the prophets, at length. Isaiah speaks, thus ; " Woe 
 unto him that striveth with his Maker ! Let the 
 potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall 
 the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What mak- 
 est thou? Or thy work. He hath no hands ?"t 
 And Jeremiah, thus ; " The word, which came to 
 
 * Rom. ii. 4, 5. f Is. xlv. 9 
 
LECTURE X. 191 
 
 Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down 
 to the potter's house ; and there I will cause thee to 
 hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's 
 house ; and, behold, he wrought a work on the 
 wheels ; and the vessel, that he made of clay was 
 marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it 
 again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter 
 to make it. Then, the word of the Lord came to 
 me, saying, O, house of Israel, cannot I do with you, 
 as this potter ? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay 
 is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O 
 house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak, con- 
 cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to 
 pluck up and to pull down, and to destroy it, if that 
 nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from 
 their evil, I will repent of the evil, that I thought to 
 do unto them ; and, at what instant I shall speak, 
 concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to 
 build and to plant it, if it do evil, in my sight, that 
 it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, 
 wherewith I said I would benefit them."* 
 
 On nations, as well as on individuals, God, in his 
 absolute sovereignty, confers those means of religion, 
 which, in his unsearchable wisdom, he sees meet ; 
 and, in the day, in which he shaU judge the world 
 in righteousness, he will require of them an improve- 
 ment proportionate, — and only proportionate, — to 
 those means. Of the particular dispensation of 
 
 • Jer. xviii. 1-10. 
 
192 LECTURE X. 
 
 religion, therefore, under which men are placed, they 
 have no just cause to complain ; and, when any 
 people enjoy a dispensation peculiarly and manifestly 
 favourahle, discontent with it, is unreasonable, un- 
 grateful, and impious. Hence, the solemn charge of 
 ingratitude and impiety, with which the apostle, in 
 the words, which follow, brings against " the man ;" 
 that is, the collective body of the unbelieving Jews, 
 whom the " man" here represents ; and hence, too, 
 his unanswerable vindication of the di\ine proce- 
 dure, in the impending rejection and. punishment of 
 that people. Their table had become to them a 
 snare. They had abused, — they had long abused, — 
 they had often enormously abused, — their peculiar 
 and great privileges, as the church and chosen peo- 
 ple of God. Was it not, therefore, reasonable, — was 
 it not just, — was it not necessary, — that God should, 
 at last, visit a people so incorrigibly wicked and im- 
 penitent, with the most severe and signal punish- 
 ment ? Was not their rejection and punishment 
 especially reasonable, just, and necessary, when that 
 rejection and punishment were to be the happy occa- 
 sion, not only of the retention, as the people of God, 
 — and that with privileges and prospects incompa- 
 rably better than they formerly enjoyed, — of those of 
 the Jews, who should receive the Messiah, but, also, 
 of accomplishing the divine purpose of throwing 
 open the doors of mercy and grace to the Gentile 
 world, and of introducing that glorious dispensation. 
 
LECTURE X. 193 
 
 by which they are all ultimately to be received into the 
 church of God ? " What, if God, willing to show his 
 wrath, and to make his power known, endured, with 
 much long-suffering, the vessels of wrath, fitted for 
 destruction ; and that he might make known the 
 riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he 
 had afore prepared unto glory ; even us, whom he 
 hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the 
 Gentiles ? " 
 
 Here, the apostle proceeds to prove, what he has 
 asserted, from the prophets. The purposed calling 
 of the Gentiles, to be the people of God, and their 
 destined adoption, as his children, he demonstrates, 
 from what tlie Lord had declared, by the prophet 
 Hosea; " As he saith, also, in Osee, I will call 
 them my people, which were not my people, and her 
 beloved, which was not beloved ; * and it shall come 
 to pass, that, in the place, where it was said unto 
 them. Ye are not my people, there shall they be 
 called, the children of the living God." t 
 
 As the words of the apostle imply, that, on account 
 of their enormous wickedness, especially in rejecting 
 and cutting off the Messiah, the Jews, — "a remnant," 
 or small portion, excepted, — were soon to be deprived 
 of their peculiarity and great privileges, as the people 
 of God, and to be visited with the most signal and 
 awful punishment, and as they were entirely incredu- 
 lous, in regard to this momentous truth, the apostle 
 
 • Ch. ii. 23. t Ch. i. 10. 
 
 N 
 
194 LECTURE X. 
 
 proves to them, from the words of the Lord, by the pro- 
 phet Isaiah, that such a dispensation was no new thing, 
 but, on the contrary, exemplified in their past history. 
 " Esaias, also, crieth, concerning Israel, Though the 
 number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the 
 sea, a remnant," — that is, only a remnant, — " shall 
 be saved. For he will finish the work, and cut it short 
 in righteousness. Because a short work wiU the 
 Lord make upon the earth ; * and as Esaias said 
 before, " Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a 
 seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like 
 unto Gomorrha.t" 
 
 From what he has now advanced, the apostle de- 
 duces, as an inference, the grand doctrine, which he, 
 so copiously, powerfully, and successfully, labours to 
 establish, throughout the epistle ; and we shall more 
 fully feel the force of the terms, of which he makes 
 use, by observing, that they are agonistic. *' What, 
 then, do we say ?" It is this ; — " that the Gentiles, 
 which followed not after," — or who pursued not, — 
 " righteousness," or justification, " have attained 
 righteousness, even the righteousness, which is of 
 faith -," — justification of life, freely by the grace of 
 God, through faith in Jesus Christ, as the Messiah, 
 or Son of God. " But Israel, which followed after," 
 or pursued, " a law," or method, *' of righteousness," 
 or justification, " hath not attained a law," or method, 
 *♦ of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because " the 
 
 • Ch. X. 22. f Ch. i. 9. 
 
LECTURE X. 195 
 
 pursuit was "not by faith, but as it were by works 
 of law. For," in the pursuit, or race, " they stumbled 
 at a stone of stumbling ; " — they took offence at the 
 character and doctrine of the Messiah. "As it is 
 written. Behold, I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling, 
 a rock of offence ; but, whosoever believeth in him 
 shall not be ashamed."* The event will justify his 
 trust, and fulfil his expectations. 
 
 Unspeakably great, then, is the cause of gratitude 
 to God, which we. Gentile christians, have, that we 
 have obtained justification of life, that we obtained 
 it, when we sought it not, that we obtained it, when 
 we had no idea of any such dispensation, that we 
 obtained it, when we were aliens from the common- 
 wealth of his people, dead in trespasses and sins, 
 without hope, and without God in the world, that 
 we obtained it of the spontaneous, free, and pure, 
 grace of God ! Unspeakably great, too, is our cause 
 of gratitude to our merciful and gracious God, that 
 we have obtained it, by means so simple and advan- 
 tageous, as faith in Jesus, as the Messiah, or Son of 
 God! 
 
 How fervently, and how constantly, should we 
 praise and bless God, that he now calls us, Gentile 
 christians, his people, who once were not his people, 
 that he calls the Gentile christian church, who once 
 was not beloved, now beloved, and espoused to him- 
 self, and that, in these regions, in which it was said 
 
 * Isaiah, viii. 14, and xxviii. 16. 
 
196 LECTURE X. 
 
 to us, ye are not my people, we are now called the 
 children of the living God ! How careful should we 
 be, to entertain a just, deep, and constant, sense of 
 our inestimable privileges, as the people, church, 
 and children, of God ! How ardently should we 
 love God, our Father, who has so graciously brought 
 us into a relation to himself, so near and so glo- 
 rious ! How deep and fervent also, should our gra- 
 titude and love be to our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 whose gracious instrumentality we have obtained 
 our adoption and all our privileges ! How consola- 
 tory, how joyful, the consideration, that we are not 
 only permitted, but even encouraged and enjoined 
 to regard, and to approach, the gTeat and glorious 
 Creator of heaven and earth, not merely as the ab- 
 solute monarch, of whose government we are the sub- 
 jects, but as our gracious Father, who, by the mar- 
 vellous means, which he has used to bring us into the 
 relation of children, has given the clearest expres- 
 sion, and the strongest proof, of his love to us, that 
 we can imagine ! How unspeakably joyful the consi- 
 deration, that, in virtue of being the children of God, 
 we are the children, also, of the resurrection, and, 
 thus, destined for the glorious liberty of the children 
 of God, through eternity ! With what care and 
 constancy should we cherish those qualities of the 
 heart and mind, and maintain that life, which become 
 our high relation and ^character, as the children of 
 
LECTURE X. 197 
 
 God, and which are suitable to our ineffably glorious 
 prospects! 
 
 It is exceedingly to be deplored, that " the un- 
 learned," of whom there are many, should so utterly 
 misunderstand, what is taught, in this passage, as to 
 fancy, that the inspired Apostle treats, in it, of the 
 eternal salvation and reprobation of individual per- 
 sons, by the absolute decree of God, and that the 
 minds of so many should, accordingly, be occupied 
 with views so false, and so unworthy of the perfec- 
 tions of our gracious God and Father, and their 
 hearts filled with impressions so much, and so un- 
 avoidably, calculated to make them, either unwar- 
 rantably to regard themselves, as the unconditional, 
 although perhaps unworthy, favourites of heaven, or, 
 in despair, to look upon themselves, as marked out 
 to be inevitably the victims of eternal perdition. It 
 is equally to be deplored, that many should so need- 
 lessly, and so contrary to the express and solemn in- 
 junction of the Apostle, mix up, with the subject 
 here treated, the philosophical question of human 
 liberty ; — a question so much calculated, not to in- 
 struct, but to perplex and bewilder the human mind. 
 
 Whoever gives due attention to the reasonings and 
 illustrations of the apostle must soon be convinced, 
 that " the election of grace," of which he speaks, is 
 an election, which every one, who " confesseth with 
 his mouth the Lord Jesus and belie veth, in his heart, 
 
198 LECTURE X. 
 
 that God hath raised him from the dead, has already 
 attained, and, in virtue of which, if he earnestly and 
 diligently work out his salvation, he shall ultimately 
 obtain, and eternally enjoy, the crown of life. That 
 any one, then, who, thus, professes and believes is, in 
 that sense, himself among the elect is matter, neither 
 of uncertainty, nor of doubt, but of fervent and un- 
 ceasing praise to God his Father, and of joy un- 
 speakable and full of glory, and the strongest possible 
 motive to urge him, to " make his calling and elec- 
 tion sure," by the diligent and unwearied practice of 
 whatever is holy, just, and good. 
 
 Finally ; there is no Gentile christian, who feels 
 as he ought to feel, that will not sympathize with the 
 apostle, in his sorrow, for his kinsmen, the Jews ; 
 for their blindness and unbelief, and for those suffer- 
 ings, with which he foresaw they were to be visited, 
 which, we know, they have, ever since his day, en- 
 dured, and which, we have reason to believe, they 
 are yet long to endure. Their state will necessarily 
 come more fully under our consideration, in another 
 discourse. Here, therefore, we will only observe, 
 that a people, w^ho once stood in a spiritual relation 
 to God, so high and so honourable, who possessed 
 the divine favour, in a manner so distinguished, who 
 are destined yet to be received into more than their 
 pristine favour and honour, and " from w-hom, as 
 concerning the flesh," came he, who has loved us, 
 
LECTURE X. 199 
 
 and washed us, from our sins, in his own blood, and 
 made us kings and priests unto God, his Father, in- 
 stead of being, as they but too often are, the objects 
 of our contempt, hatred, and persecution, should ex- 
 cite our compassion, win our aflfection, and expe- 
 rience, at our hands, all manner of justice and bene- 
 ficence I 
 
[ 200 ] 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 
 ROMANS, X. 
 
 The great and unwearied zeal, and the unexampled 
 efforts, of the apostle, in converting the Gentiles to 
 the gospel, brought upon him the hottest displeasure 
 of his kinsmen, the Jews, who, for that zeal and those 
 efforts, regarded him as actuated by deep malice 
 against his nation. Hence, in the context, we find 
 him, with the greatest solemnity, declaring his great 
 and constant sorrow, for the miseries, which they 
 were bringing on themselves ; and here, again, he 
 tells his christian brethren, both Jewish and Gentile, 
 and virtually all those unbelieving Jews, who might 
 peruse the epistle, that it was his most earnest desire, 
 and his most fervent prayer, that all his nation might 
 embrace and enjoy the salvation, now effected by 
 God, and revealed, in the gospel. " Brethren, my 
 heart's desire and prayer to God, for Israel, is, that 
 they might be saved." 
 
 So far was this eminent apostle and excellent man 
 from harbouring malice against his nation, that he 
 readily and openly acknowledged whatever good 
 
LECTURE XL 201 
 
 thing he saw, in their character. " For I bear them 
 record, that they have a zeal of God," — a great and 
 ardent zeal, in religion, — "but .not according to 
 knowledge." That they did, indeed, possess this 
 misguided zeal, the apostle well knew. For, both 
 before and after he wrote this epistle, he experienced 
 the effects of it, in their severest form. 
 
 The apostle having, thus, readily and gladly borne 
 testimony to the great zeal of his unbelieving kins- 
 men, he proceeds to show, how entirely that zeal 
 was misplaced. " For, they, being ignorant of the 
 righteousness," or justification, " of God, and going 
 about to establish their own righteousness, have not 
 submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." 
 Their minds were so exclusively occupied, by the vain 
 expectation of a mighty temporal Messiah, and of a 
 great earthly empire, under him, their hearts were 
 so exceedingly influenced, by worldly motives and 
 passions, and their prejudices, in favour of the Mosaic 
 ritual law, in all its exclusiveness, and its fancied 
 perpetuity, were so obstinate, that no evidence, how- 
 ever clear and convincing, whether afforded by their 
 own prophets, or by the most numerous, multifarious, 
 and unquestionable, miracles, could induce them to 
 submit to that most merciful and gracious method of 
 justification and salvation, which a God of love had 
 now devised, for the benefit of all men whether Jews, 
 or Gentiles. 
 
 Here, the apostle reminds his christian brethren. 
 
202 LECTURE XI. 
 
 and points out to all men, what the design of the 
 Mosaic law was. " For Christ is the end," or scope, 
 " of the law, for righteousness," or justification, " to 
 every one, that believeth." Or, as he tells the Ga- 
 latians, " The law was a schoolmaster, to bring us 
 unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But, 
 after that faith is come, we are no longer under a 
 schoolmaster. For, ye are all the children of God, 
 by faith in Christ Jesus." * 
 
 It was necessary, that a method of justification, 
 dificrent from the Mosaic law, should be devised for 
 frail man. " For, Moses describeth the righteous- 
 ness," or justification, " which is of the law, that the 
 man, which doeth these things, shall live by them." 
 Now, that law being, in its demands absolute and 
 imcompromising, and the obedience, which it re- 
 quired, universal and perfect, it was morally im- 
 posible, that it should be an effectual method of 
 justification to any one of the frail race of Adam. 
 This the apostle more fully shows, in his epistle to 
 the Galatians, in which he wi'ites, thus ; " For, as 
 many as are of the works of the law are under the 
 curse. For it is written. Cursed is every man, that 
 continueth not in all things^ which are written 
 in the book of the law, to do them. But, that 
 no man is justified, by the law, in the sight of 
 God, is evident. For, The just shall live by faith ; 
 and the law is not of faith ; but the man, that 
 
 • Chap. iii. 24—26. 
 
LECTURE XI. 203 
 
 doeth them," — that is, the works of the law, — 
 *' shall live in them."* The law, though ordained 
 unto life, was, through human frailty, found to be 
 unto death. 
 
 In bright and joyful contrast, then, with that law, 
 which was, thus, " the ministration of death," the 
 apostle puts " the ministration of life," — the gracious 
 and glorious dispensation of the gospel ; and, when, 
 in the contrast, he makes use of the words of Moses, 
 it is necessary to observe, that he adopts them, not 
 to prove, but, in the way of accommodation, to illus- 
 trate, how exceedingly intelligible the nature of the 
 gospel is, and how very attainable the benefits are, 
 which it offers. *' But, the righteousness, which is 
 of faith, speaketh in this wise ; Say not, in thine 
 heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is, to 
 bring Christ down from above." For, he has already 
 come down from heaven, bearing credentials, the 
 most unquestionable, of his mission from God. 
 *' Or, Who shall descend into the deep ; That is, to 
 bring up Christ again, from the dead." For, he has 
 already risen from the dead ; — an event, of which 
 there is evidence, as clear and infallible as any evi- 
 dence, proving the certainty of any past event, can 
 be ; — an event, too, which most clearly establishes the 
 joyful fact, that the obedience of the Son of God to 
 death has been accepted, by the Father, as a full and 
 final sacrifice, for our sins, and that, by that ines- 
 
 • Chap. iii. 10—12. 
 
204 LECTURE XI. 
 
 timable sacrifice, justification of life has been effect- 
 ed for us. " But, What saith it ? The word," or 
 thing, " is nigh thee, — even in thy mouth, and in 
 thy heart ; — that is the word of faith, which we 
 preach ; — that, if thou shalt confess, with thy mouth, 
 the Lord Jesus," — if thou openly and publicly de- 
 clare, that you receive Jesus, as your rightful Lord, 
 — " and shalt believe, in thine heart, that God hath 
 raised him from the dead," — the grand event, on 
 which depend all the benefits of the gospel, — *' thou 
 shalt be saved j" — you have, in virtue of your pro- 
 fession and belief, already obtained justification of 
 life ; and, if you diligently and perseveringly work 
 out your salvation, you shall, in the end, infallibly 
 attain eternal life, glory, honour, and peace. " For, 
 with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, 
 and, with the mouth, confession is made unto salva- 
 tion." Such were the merciful and gracious terms, 
 on which the original converts to the gospel obtained 
 justification, and the glorious prospects of eternal 
 life ; and such, accordingly, are the terms, on which 
 we, their descendants, retain them. 
 
 The truth of this new, and promised, method of 
 justification the apostle here proves, from the passage 
 already cited, in the context from the prophet 
 Isaiah* relative to the chief corner-stone, which has 
 been laid, in the spiritual Zion. " For, the Scripture 
 saith, Whosoever believeth in him shall not be asham- 
 
 * Ch. xxvi. 16. 
 
LECTURE XL 20.5 
 
 ed." The expectations of him, who believes in 
 Christ, and who, influenced by ]cds belief, obeys him, 
 will not be disappointed; — those expectations will 
 infallibly be fulfilled. Nor is the divine impartiality, 
 in this method of justification, either less certain, or 
 less conspicuous, than the divine mercy and grace. 
 There is no respect of persons with God. " Who- 
 soever believeth in Christ shall not be ashamed. For, 
 there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. 
 For, the same Lord, over all, is rich unto all, that 
 call upon him." This property of impartiality and 
 universality, in the dispensation of the. gospel, is an 
 inestimable and glorious one, and, however contrary 
 to the views and wishes of the Jews, was, neverthe- 
 less, clearly predicted, by their own prophets. For, 
 Joel, in his joyful and sublime prophecy, relative to 
 the commencement of the gospel dispensation, de- 
 clares, that " whosoever shall call on the name of 
 the Lord shall be saved ;" — a passage, it may be ob- 
 served, in which the calling on the name of the Lord 
 Jesus, is regarded by the apostle as virtually the 
 same with calling, as it is expressed in the original, 
 on the name of Jehovah. 
 
 Since, then," the gracious dispensation of the gos- 
 pel was designed for the Gentiles, as well as for the 
 Jews, — since " the Son of God came to proclaim 
 peace to those, who were far off, as well as to those, 
 who were nigh," — since the glad tidings were to be 
 
206 LECTURE XI. 
 
 announced to all other men, as well as to the Jews, — 
 since all the ends of .the earth were to see the salva- 
 tion of God, — it was, as the apostle observes, neces- 
 sary that messengers, divinely qualified and com- 
 missioned, should be sent, to announce those tidings, 
 and to impart the knowledge of that salvation, to all 
 men. But, the attentive reader will observe, that the 
 words, in which the apostle points out the necessity 
 of this, imply an apology ; — an apology for the Jewish 
 messengers of the gospel, and especially for himself, 
 evidently directed chiefly to the unbelieving Jews, 
 but partly, also, to the Jewish, judaizing, christians. 
 The falsely zealous, and unjustly jealous, unbelieving 
 Jews were, in the highest degree, incensed against 
 the apostle, for teaching, that the wall of partition, 
 which had so long stood between themselves and the 
 Gentiles, was broken down; that, simply by faith in 
 the Messiah, whom the Jews had crucified and slain, 
 the Gentiles, without reserve, had obtained a full 
 right to all the privileges, greatly enhanced, of the 
 Jews, as the people of God ; and that that people 
 were, for their unbelief, about to be stripped of all 
 their privileges, and rejected. That infatuated people, 
 accordingly, every where, and by all the means in 
 their power, calumniated, persecuted, and punished, 
 the apostles and other evangelists, and, above all, 
 this eminently gifted, and most laborious and suc- 
 cessful, apostle, who was specially appointed to open 
 
LECTURE XI. 207 
 
 the eyes of the blinded Gentiles, and to bring them 
 into the way of salvation, and used every possible 
 effort to frustrate their ministry. 
 
 But, the apology of the apostle, as observed, was 
 intended, not only for the unbelieving Jews, into 
 whose hands this epistle might come, but, also, for 
 another and very numerous class, — the Jewish, 
 judaizing, christians. The admission of the Gentiles 
 into the Church of God, without the observance of 
 any part of the Mosaic, ritual, law, merely by faith 
 in the Messiah, was wholly at variance with their 
 deepest and most cherished prejudices ; and it was, 
 accordingly, not without the most decided dislike, 
 they saw the apostles and evangelists receiving the 
 Gentiles into the church of God, on such terms. His 
 apology is in these terms ; — " How, then, shall they 
 call on him, in whom they have not believed? And 
 how shall they believe on him, of whom they have 
 not heard? And how shall they hear, without a 
 preacher ? And how shall they preach, except they 
 be sent ?" — sent to proclaim to all men, " Glory to 
 God, in the highest, peace on earth, and good will 
 to the children of men," — to declare the glorious vic- 
 tory, won, for mankind, by the Son of God, over 
 death and the grave, — to re veal, the life and immor- 
 tality, purchased and brought to light, by him, — to 
 announce, to perishing man, tidings so precious and 
 joyful, that the very dust, which covered the feet of 
 the messengers, who conveyed them, appeared grace- 
 
208 LECTURE XI. 
 
 ful to the eye, and delightful to the heart ; — " as it 
 is written, How beautiful are the feet of them, that 
 preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of 
 good things."* 
 
 " But," said the unbelieving Jew, " they," the 
 Gentiles, — " have not all obeyed the gospel ;" and, 
 since they have not, is it not evident, that, in truth, 
 God is not the author of the dispensation, which you 
 and your fellow-labourers are endeavouring to estab- 
 lish, and that neither you nor they have, in reality, 
 a divine commission. For, had you, indeed, been 
 sent from God, with a commission of importance so 
 immense, and with tidings so precious, would not all 
 men have immediately believed, and joyfully embrac- 
 ed, the gospel, when it came to their knowledge? 
 The justness of this reasoning the apostle denies. 
 That men should turn a deaf ear to the joyful tidings 
 and salutary instructions of the messengers of God, 
 he shows, was a thing, neither unexampled nor un- 
 known, among the Jews themselves. '* For," — com- 
 plaining of this very thing, the prophet, — " Isaiah 
 saith, Lord, who hath believed our report ?" Thus, 
 for this objection of the Jew, there were no grounds 
 whatever. 
 
 From the words of Isaiah, now cited, the apostle 
 takes an opportunity of still further showing the ne- 
 cessity of sending apostles and evangelists, to convey 
 the knowledge of the gospel to all nations. *' So, 
 
 * Isaiah, lii. 7 
 
LECTURE XL 209 
 
 then, faith cometh, by hearing, and hearing by the 
 word of God." The word, or gospel, of God, must 
 be brought to the knowledge of men, by messengers 
 duly qualified, and clearly authorized. It is their 
 testimony, that produces faith. 
 
 " But," continues the apostle, " have they not 
 heard?" Have not the apostles and evangelists 
 communicated the knowledge of the gospel to the 
 Gentiles ? Is it, from their negligence and want of 
 exertion, that the reception of the gospel has been 
 partial only, among the Gentiles ? " Have they not 
 heard ? Yes verily ; their sound went into all the 
 earth ; — their words unto the end of the world." As 
 the luminaries of heaven, according to the observa- 
 tion of the devout, royal, psalmist, proclaim the being 
 and glorious perfections of God, to all nations of the 
 world ; * so the voice of the heralds of the gospel, and 
 especially of this apostle, had already sounded in all 
 parts of the known world. 
 
 " But," adds the apostle, " did not Israel know ?" 
 Has not the knowledge of the gospel been communi- 
 cated to the Jews ? Is the unbelief of the generality 
 of them to be ascribed to unfaithfulness and negli- 
 gence, in those, who have been commissioned to 
 impart the knowledge of the gospel ? It is not so. 
 " First, Moses," — that is, the Lord, by Moses, — 
 " saith," to Israel, " I will provoke you to jealousy, 
 by them, that are no people ; — by a foolish nation, 
 
 * Ps. xix. 4, 
 
 o 
 
210 LECTURE XI. 
 
 I will anger you/' * This prediction was now clearly 
 fulfilled. Not only was the gospel preached directly 
 to the Jews themselves ; their attention to it was, 
 also, still further roused, — ^nay, their jealousy was, 
 in the highest degree, excited, by every where wit- 
 nessing the great and constant exertions of the 
 apostles, in communicating the knowledge of the 
 gospel, and in extending the privileges of the com- 
 monwealth of the people of God, to the Gentile 
 world, without either distinction or reserve, and 
 without any condition, but faith in the divine mis- 
 sion of the crucified, but risen, Messiah, and sub- 
 mission to him, as their rightful divine Lord. 
 
 The knowledge of the gospel, then, was fully and 
 universally communicated to both Jews and Gentiles. 
 This was a clear, undeniable, fact ; and, if the gospel 
 was hitherto only partially embraced, by either of 
 them, this was but what was predicted, and, as the 
 apostle further observes, predicted, with peculiar 
 clearness, by the prophet Issiah. *' But Isaias is 
 very bold," or very plain, " and saith, I was found 
 of them," — of the Gentiles, — " that sought me not ; 
 I was made manifest to them, that asked not after me. 
 But to Israel he saith, all day long, I have stretched 
 forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying 
 people."t 
 
 The method, which the God and Father of man- 
 kind has devised, for their justification, and which is 
 
 * Deut. xxxii. 21. f Isa. Ixv. 1, 2. 
 
LECTURE XI. 211 
 
 here described, is, in the highest degree, calculated 
 to excite our profoundest admiration. In the mar- 
 vellous grace, freeness, and simplicity, by which it is 
 distinguished, and in being designed for the whole 
 human family, and universally suited to their spi- 
 ritual requirements, it most clearly bears the charac- 
 ters of its divine original. Who, then, can ade- 
 quately express the gratitude, which we, once blinded, 
 alienated, and perishing. Gentiles, owe to God, for 
 sending to us the heralds of the gospel, to open our 
 eyes, to turn us from darkness to light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God, that we might receive for- 
 giveness of sins, and inheritance among them, that 
 are sanctified, by faith, that is in Christ ? Who can 
 estimate the gratitude, which we owe to our heavenly 
 Father, in his being found of us, who sought him 
 not, — in his manifesting himself to us, who asked not 
 after him,- — in being brought to the knowledge of 
 Christ crucified, — crucified for our sins, and risen 
 again for our justification, — and in being put into 
 the way of salvation, eternal life, and happiness ? 
 Great and precious, unquestionably, were the privi- 
 leges and blessings, possessed by our fathers, in the 
 church of God, under the Mosaic dispensation ; but, 
 incomparably greater and more precious, manifestly, 
 are the privileges and blessings, which we now enjoy, 
 under the dispensation of grace and truth. Are we 
 not, therefore, bound to praise and bless God, not 
 only for finding ourselves in his church, but, also, 
 
212 LECTURE XL 
 
 and especially, for bringing us into existence, in it, 
 when its privileges and blessings have become so un- 
 speakably great and glorious? Do not such privi- 
 leges and blessings clearly lay us under the strongest 
 possible obligations to serve the Lord Jesus, who 
 bought us, with his own blood, and procured for us 
 our inheritance, and, thus, to work out our ineffably 
 great and glorious salvation ? What words can 
 sufficiently express the infatuation of those, who now 
 neglect so great salvation ? Who can conceive the 
 greatness of the evil, in which, either the abuse, or 
 the neglect, of it, will justly terminate ? 
 
 In the passage, now under our consideration, we 
 clearly see the true foundation, and the legitimate 
 terms, of christian communion. Every one, who 
 confesses, with his mouth, the Lord Jesus, and 
 believes, in his heart, that God has raised him, from 
 the dead, we clearly ought to regard and receive, as 
 a brother, in Christ. For, the inspired apostle de- 
 clares, that he, who, thus, believes and professes, 
 shall be saved. The inspired deacon, Philip, di- 
 rected, doubtless, by the Holy Spirit, baptized the 
 Ethiopian nobleman, — thus, admitting him as a true 
 member of the church of Christ, — immediately on 
 his declaring his belief, that Jesus was the Son of 
 God, or Messiah. The apostle John, speaking, un- 
 questionably, by the same unerring Spirit, declares, 
 that " whoever believeth, that Jesus is the Christ," 
 or Messiah, " is born of God ;" and who can justly 
 
LECTURE XL 213 
 
 doubt, that he, who is born of God, ought to be 
 regarded and received, as a true member of the 
 church of Christ ? Nay, our Lord himself evidently 
 received, as his disciples, those, who believed, that 
 he was the Messiah, or Son of God, and who openly 
 professed this belief. 
 
 If this belief and profession, then, are the founda- 
 tion, and if these are the terms, which the divine 
 oracles declare to be the true foundation, and the 
 legitimate terms, of christian communion, what man, 
 or what body of men, have a scriptural right, — that 
 is, any right at all, — to require of their fellow- 
 christians, to subscribe and profess any other creed, 
 or articles of belief, in order to secure any privilege 
 whatever, either spiritual, or civil ? However spe- 
 cious the arguments, in favour of it, may be, to insist 
 on this, is manifestly to be wise beyond what is writ- 
 ten ; and the world has had a long experience, that 
 to be, thus, wise, is to be most foolishly and inju- 
 riously wise. For, what are the causes of the reli- 
 gious errors, which, in every age, prevail, in the 
 Christian world? Assuredly those errors are not 
 caused by any obscurity, or uncertainty, in the 
 divine oracles. For, the passage now before us, as 
 well as all other parts of Scripture, expressly and 
 most emphatically declares, that nothing can be more 
 clear and intelligible, than are the doctrines, the 
 knowledge of which is essential to our salvation. 
 The passions, the prejudices, and the ignorcince, of 
 
214 LECTURE XI. 
 
 men, are the real causes of their religious errors. Sub- 
 scription to creeds, or articles of faith, beyond the 
 belief and profession, which the apostle here declares, 
 to be sufficient for our salvation, and which, conse- 
 quently, are the only articles of belief and profession, 
 that ought to be required of any Christian, evidently 
 have the most injurious effects on the interpreters 
 and stewards of the mysteries of God, and conse- 
 quently and unavoidably on those, whom they teach. 
 Whoever carefully and candidly considers the state 
 of the Christian world, whether present or past, must 
 clearly see, that, with few exceptions, they, whose 
 temporal interests are connected with the profession 
 of a particular creed, however erroneous, continue 
 to teach, in conformity with that creed. Some, deaf 
 to the voice, both of reason, and of conscience, refrain 
 from carefully and candidly canvassing their creed, 
 lest they may discover, in it, things, the renunciation 
 of which, would militate against their temporal in- 
 terests. Many, actuated by a hot and headlong zeal 
 for the creed and cause of their own sect, search the 
 Scriptures, indeed, diligently, but not, with humility, 
 caution, and candour, to bring the articles of their 
 belief to the test of what those infallible oracles truly 
 contain, but to gather materials to prop up their own 
 peculiar tenets. That zeal, accordingly, will be 
 without knowledge ; for they cannot, because they 
 will not, see the truth. Others, from a weak and 
 superstitious dread, and forgetting, that truth ever 
 
LECTURE XL 215 
 
 invites investigation, do not venture to call in ques- 
 tion the truth of any part whatever of the creed in 
 the profession of which they have been brought up ; 
 and they are not a few, who, either from ignorance, 
 or from incapacity, or from both, are incapable of 
 detecting the sophistry and fallacy of the arguments, 
 that support their peculiar tenets, however erroneous. 
 If, then, the brief and plain articles of belief and 
 profession, here declared, by the apostle to be the 
 articles, the belief and profession of which are essen- 
 tial to salvation, — articles, to which no Christian, of 
 any denomination, could, for a moment, hesitate to 
 assent, — were the only articles, required of the 
 ministers of the gospel to subscribe, the causes, which 
 now so generally blind their minds, and warp their 
 judgments, and which, so unhappily, make the Chris- 
 tian world a field of bitter, and alas ! but too often 
 bloody, contention, would manifestly be removed. 
 On various points of religion, keen and warm dis- 
 cussions would, even in that case, undoubtedly, often 
 arise ; but, acknowledged fraternity would chris- 
 tianize those discussions ; freedom of enquiry, sound 
 and patient criticism, and the irresistible power of 
 unfettered truth, would make them short, in their 
 duration, and often beneficial, in their consequences ; 
 and, thus, would peace reign, within the walls of 
 Zion, and prosperity, within her palaces. 
 
 In the Jews, we have a very clear, and very edify- 
 ing, example of the nature, and of the deplorable 
 
216 LECTURE XI. 
 
 eflFects, of religious zeal, without knowledge. Infa- 
 tuated and infuriated, by this zeal, they, with wicked 
 hands, put to a cruel and ignominious death the 
 prince of life, the Son of Godj they used every 
 effort to frustrate the grace, and to overturn the 
 kingdom, of God ; and they persecuted, and, in 
 many instances, slew those, whom God had sent to 
 themselves, and to the world, with the words of eter- 
 nal life. Blinded and hardened, by this zeal, they 
 have, in the face of the clearest evidence of their 
 error, now for many ages, remained in the most 
 obstinate, and most marvellous, unbelief. Nor do 
 they yet show any symptom, that their unbelief and 
 obduracy will not continue, for many ages still to 
 come. The punishment of this ignorant, but wilful, 
 zeal, in that devoted people, has corresponded with 
 the malignity of its nature, and with the evil of its 
 effects. Who knows not the unexampled miseries, 
 with which they were visited, soon after the com- 
 mencement of the Christian era ; and what well 
 informed person is unacquainted with much of the 
 innumerable and great sufferings, which they have 
 endured, ever since that period ? 
 
 But,- alas ! it is not in the Jews alone, we have an 
 exemplification of the nature and fatal effects of 
 religious zeal, without knowledge. Has it not, also, 
 been clearly and extensively exemplified in the 
 Church of Christ ? Has it not even there, in times 
 and ways, without number, caused rancour, and bitter 
 
LECTURE XI. ^217 
 
 contentions, and tumults, and persecutions, and tor- 
 tures, and the most cruel and awful deaths ? Nay, 
 however modified and mitigated, does it not exist, in 
 all Christian communities, to this day ? For, what 
 Christian community will not readily see and confess, 
 that it exists in all other communities, who differ, in 
 belief and profession, from themselves ? Nor can it 
 ever be otherwise, until the universal church adopt 
 that foundation, and those terms, of christian fellow- 
 ship, which the Holy Spirit dictates, in the passage 
 now before us, and until Christians become practi- 
 cally sensible, that, in the dispensation of the gospel, 
 the angels of God have proclaimed peace on earth 
 and good will to men, that the kingdom of God is 
 righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, 
 that the greatest of the Christian virtues is love, that 
 this virtue is the bond of perfectness, and that, with- 
 out it, we are nothing. 
 
 Finally ; let it be ever deeply imprinted on the mind 
 of every Christian, that " faith cometh by hearing ;" 
 — that it came to our fathers, in the church, by hear- 
 ing the words o^ the inspired heralds of the gospel ; 
 — and that it is, by hearing, or reading, the oracles, 
 which they penned, as the instrument, in the hand of 
 the Holy Spirit, and by that means alone, we can be 
 truly instructed in the faith, that is in Christ, and 
 made wise unto salvation. 
 
[ 218 ] 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 ROMANS, XL 
 
 The subject of this passage, which is the Conclusion 
 of the doctrinal and argumentative part of the epistle, 
 is, in the highest degree, important and sublime. It 
 throws additional and clear light on the nature of 
 the calling, election, justification, and salvation, which 
 the apostle treats, in the preceding part of the epistle ; 
 and it gives a most interesting account of the past 
 dispensations of God towards his church and the 
 Gentiles, respectively, and of his purposes, in regard 
 to them, in time to come. 
 
 The apostle had already, in the plainest, yet most 
 feeling and brotherly, manner, assured the Jews of 
 their impending rejection from the kingdom of God, 
 for their unbelief, and of the reception, in their place, 
 of all the Gentiles, who should believe in the Mes- 
 siah. Thence arises a most important question, 
 which the apostle starts and answers, manifestly with 
 the immediate design of winning the good will and 
 respect of the Gentile part of the christian church 
 towards his misguided and abased kinsmen, the Jews. 
 " I say, then, has God cast away his people ?" Has 
 
LECTURE Xir. 219 
 
 God, universally, finally, and irreversibly, rejected 
 his people, Israel? " God forbid," the apostle re- 
 plies. This would be an unutterably calamitous and 
 deplorable dispensation ; and the apostle justly adds, 
 that no one could have a stronger motive to depre- 
 cate it than himself, coming, as he did, in pure 
 descent from the great father of the nation, and that 
 through a family, who had never been guilty of open 
 defection from God. " For," saith the apostle, *' I 
 also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the 
 tribe of Benjamin. God," continues he, " hath not 
 cast away his people, which he foreknew." God has 
 not universally, finally, and irreversibly, rejected his 
 people Israel, who, ever since they had a being, were 
 the objects of his constant, unexampled, and marvel- 
 lous love, protection, care, and bounty. 
 
 Here, the apostle proceeds to show, that the rejec- 
 tion of the Jews was not universal and unreserved. 
 From the impending, general, rejection, and signal 
 calamities of the Jews, God was graciously to save 
 that portion of them, who, convinced by the power, 
 and listening to the voice, of God, had received Jesus, 
 as the Messiah. With great and manifest propriety, 
 the apostle points out a parallel dispensation, in the 
 past history of the nation. In the days of the prophet 
 Elijah, the people of Israel had become extremely im- 
 pious and wicked. The Lord had expressly informed 
 that prophet, that a foreign power, their own kings, 
 and even the prophet, who was about to succeed 
 
220 LECTURE XII. 
 
 himself, were all to be instrumental in a general 
 and signal punishment of the nation. Yet, the Lord 
 also informed Elijah, that a small portion of the 
 people, who, in the midst of the general defection, 
 had kept their allegiance, were to be protected and 
 saved. " Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of 
 Elias? how he maketh intercession to God agfainst 
 Israel, saying, Lord they have killed thy prophets, 
 and digged down thine altars ; and I am left alone, 
 and they seek my life. But, what saith the answer 
 of God unto him ? I have reserved to myself seven 
 thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the 
 image of Baal." Here, we find it plainly implied, 
 that the Lord had reserved to himself the seven 
 thousand men, because they had not bowed the knee 
 to Baal. But, since God sees it fit, that the pious 
 and good should often be involved, in the temporal 
 calamities, which the wicked draw down upon them- 
 selves, and since the " remnant," though they had 
 not declined to idolatry, had, no doubt, in many 
 other ways, ofifended, their reservation might well be 
 regarded as an election of grace. Accordingly, the 
 apostle adds ; — " Even so, then, at this present time, 
 there is a remnant according to the election of grace." 
 — Thus, then, the rejection of the Jews was not uni- 
 versal, and unreserved. That portion of them, who 
 received the Messiah, were retained in the Church 
 of God ; and this retention was manifestly from the 
 grace, or unmerited goodness, of God. 
 
LECTURE XIL 221 
 
 Here, the apostle takes occasion, parenthetically, 
 yet most emphatically, to remind the Jewish Chris- 
 tians of what, in some degree, they were ever apt to 
 forget, that all their christian privileges and bless- 
 ings were, in no measure, derived from the observ- 
 ance of any part of the Mosaic law, but purely from 
 the grace, or unmerited goodness, of God. " If by 
 grace," he observes, '* then is it no more of works ; 
 otherwise grace is no more grace ;"— it has changed 
 its nature. " But, if it be of works, then, is it no 
 more grace ; otherwise work is no more work ;" — its 
 character is altered. 
 
 " What then ?" How stands the case, in regard 
 to the great body of the nation ? It stands, thus ; — 
 "Israel hath not obtained that, which he seeketh 
 for ', but the election hath obtained it ; and the rest 
 are blinded." Nor is this a new thing. As they 
 were, in former ages, so now they are, blind to the 
 hand, and deaf to the voice, of God. " According 
 as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of 
 slumber, eyes, that they should not see, and ears, 
 that they should not hear, unto this day."* As in 
 past ages, so now the very greatness of the divine 
 benefits and blessings, — the very exuberance of the 
 divine goodness, — the very glory of the light, which 
 has shone on them, — have become the occasion of 
 their obduracy, blindness, and punishment. " And 
 David saith, let their table be made a snare, and a 
 
 * Isa. xxix. 10. 
 
222 LECTURE XII. 
 
 trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense to 
 them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may 
 not see, and bow down their back always."* 
 
 But, let no one suppose, that, either from the 
 passages now cited, or from the divine dispensations, 
 it may be inferred, that God actually wills and 
 ordains, that his goodness should, in any instance, 
 become a stumbling-block to men. In the nervous 
 language of prophecy, the Lord is figuratively said 
 to ordain, what, for the wise and just purposes of his 
 moral government, he, in reality, only permits. It 
 is plainly to prevent error, on this point, as well as 
 to show the ulterior purposes of God, in regard to 
 the unbelieving Jews, that the apostle starts this 
 question ; — " I say, then, have they stumbled, that 
 they should fall?" Has the stumbling-block been 
 thrown in their way, that they might fall over it? 
 *' God forbid!" This, indeed, would be a supposi- 
 tion awfully derogatory to the divine character. The 
 case is the very reverse. For, in bringing the Gen- 
 tiles into the kingdom of the Messiah, in the place 
 of the Jews, one great purpose, which the Lord had, 
 was, that these, seeing themselves deprived of their 
 great and long enjoyed privileges, and those put in 
 manifest, rich, and glorious, possession of them, they, 
 also, might be roused and induced to embrace the 
 salvation of God. " But, through their fall," saith 
 the apostle, '* salvation is come unto the Gentiles, 
 
 * Ps. Ixix. 22, 23. 
 
LECTURE XIL 223 
 
 for to provoke them to jealousy." But, we must 
 carefully beware of supposing, that this was the 
 chief, primary, motive, from which God called the 
 Gentile world to his kingdom. For, that gracious 
 and glorious dispensation was ordained before it was 
 declared to Abraham, that, in his oiFspring all the 
 nations of the earth should be blessed. 
 
 Thus, then, the rejection of the Jews, a remnant 
 only excepted, became the occasion of conferring 
 great and glorious benefits on the Gentile world ; 
 and, if it has, what may not be expected to accrue 
 from the happy event of their future, full, reception 
 again into the kingdom of God. " If the fall of them 
 be the riches of the world, and the diminishing," or 
 remnant, " of them, the riches of the Gentiles, how 
 much more their fulness ? For, if the casting away 
 of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall 
 
 the receiving of them be, but life from the dead ?" 
 
 but an event ineffably great and glorious. 
 
 In this passage, relative to the benefits derived, by 
 the Gentile world, from the rejection of the Jews, 
 the apostle has, with much sacred skill, introduced 
 a parenthesis, in which, while he glories in being 
 chosen, as a fit vessel, to convey the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ to the Gentiles, and declares, that, 
 in teaching them, he is also actuated, by the strongest 
 desire to convert to Christ as many as possible of his 
 erring and unhappy, unbelieving kinsmen, he is like- 
 wise manifestly endeavouring, with the greatest ear- 
 
224 LECTURE XII. 
 
 nestness to secure to them the good will and respect 
 of the Gentile christian church. " For, I speak to 
 you, Gentiles, in as much as I am the apostle of the 
 Gentiles ; — I magnify mine office ; — if, by any means, 
 I may provoke to emulation them, which are my 
 flesh, and might save some of them." 
 
 The apostle, now, in metaphorical language, the 
 most appropriate and impressive, proceeds to show 
 the light, in which we. Gentile christians, ought to 
 view the rejected Jews, to reveal the future purposes 
 of God, in regard to them, and to teach us the esti- 
 mate, which we ought to form of our own reception 
 and establishment, as members of the church of 
 God ; and, in discoursing on these things, the apostle 
 speaks so clearly and so copiously, that his words 
 require but little explanation. " If," saith he, " the 
 first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy." If the 
 " remnant" of the Jews, who have already received 
 the Messiah, consecrated, unquestionably, and sealed, 
 as they are, by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, be holy, 
 and most evidently members of the church of God, 
 such also will be the whole body of that people, when 
 they shall turn to the Lord. " And, if the branches 
 be broken off, and thou," Gentile christian, " being 
 a wild-olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and, 
 with them, partakest of the root and fatness of the 
 olive-tree," — Abraham, the other patriarchs, and the 
 church of Israel generally, being that olive-tree, — 
 *' boast not against the branches. But, if thou boast, 
 
LECTURE XII. ^25 
 
 thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou 
 wilt say, then, the branches were broken off, that I 
 might be graffed in. Well ; because of unbelief they 
 were broken off; and thou standest by faith. Be 
 not high-minded ; but fear. For, if God spared not 
 the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare 
 not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and seve- 
 rity of God ; — on them which fell, severity ; but 
 towards thee, goodness ; if thou continue in his good- 
 ness ; otherwise thou, also, shalt be cut off. And 
 they, also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be 
 graffed in. For, God is able to ^raff them in again. 
 For, if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree, which is 
 wild, by nature, and wert graffed, contrary to nature, 
 into a good olive-tree, how much more shall these, 
 which be the natural branches, be graffed into their 
 own olive-tree ? For, I would not, brethren, that ye 
 should be ignorant of this mystery ; lest ye should be 
 wise, in your own conceits ; that blindness, in part, 
 is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gen- 
 tiles be come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved." 
 All Israel shall be admitted into the kingdom of 
 God, and be put into the way of salvation and eter- 
 nal life. Convinced, at length, by the faithful his- 
 tory left by the evangelists of the great, beneficent, 
 manifold, and undeniable, miracles of our Lord and 
 his apostles, — especially by that greatest and most 
 important of all miracles, the resurrection from the 
 dead of the Messiah himself, — convinced, at length, 
 
 p 
 
226 LECTURE XII. 
 
 by the fulfilment of the prophecies, contained in the 
 Scriptures, which are received and venerated, by 
 themselves, relative to the Messiah and his kingdom, 
 and by the accomplishment of the predictions of the 
 apostle himself, relative to the destinies, both of 
 themselves, and of the Gentiles, — roused, at length, 
 and " provoked to jealousy," by witnessing a believ- 
 ing world received into the kingdom of God, from 
 which they themselves had, for so many ages, been 
 excluded, — they will renounce their prejudices, — the 
 veil, which, in reading Moses, had covered their 
 minds, will be removed, — and they will penitently, 
 joyfully, and universally, receive Jesus, as their Mes- 
 siah, Saviour, and King ; and, thus, will be accom- 
 plished a prophecy, relative to the whole nation, 
 of a future period of great and unparalleled pros- 
 perity and happiness. "As it is written, there shall 
 come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away 
 ungodliness from Jacob. For, this is my covenant 
 unto them, when I shall take away their sins."* 
 
 What follows is an amplification of 'this prophetic 
 passage ; — a passage, which cannot fail to delight 
 the heart, and elevate the mind, of every one, who 
 possesses a truly christian heart and mind. " As 
 concerning the gospel, they have become enemies, 
 for your sake ; but as touching the election, they 
 
 * Isaiah, lis. 20. This quotation must be taken in connexion -with 
 the sequel of this passage, from Isaiah, which extends to the next 
 chapter, and which is full of the most delightful richness and subli- 
 mity. 
 
LECTURE XII. 2^7 
 
 are beloved, for the fathers' sake." As regards 
 the gospel, they have become enemies, by their 
 temporary rejection from the kingdom of God ; — 
 a rejection, whose immediate purpose is your recep- 
 tion into that kingdom; — but, as regards the ori- 
 ginal election of their nation to be the peculiar 
 people of God, they are, in the divine purpose, still 
 beloved, on account of the covenant, made with 
 Abraham and the other patriarchs. " For, the gifts 
 and calling of God are without repentance." The 
 Lord established his covenant between himself and 
 Abraham, and the seed of Abraham, after him, in 
 their generations ; for an everlasting covenant ; to 
 be a God unto him, and to his seed after him.* 
 That covenant, therefore, with its manifold and in- 
 estimable privileges will ever remain inviolate ; and 
 the call of that faithful and eminent patriarch and 
 of his posterity, to be the people of God, is, by the 
 divine decree, irrevocable. " For, as ye, in times 
 past, have not believed God, yet have now obtained 
 mercy, through their unbelief, even so have these 
 also now not believed, that through your mercy, they 
 also may obtain mercy." For, as you Gentiles, in 
 past ages, obeyed not God, and were, accordingly, 
 strangers and foreigners, from the commonwealth of 
 his people, but are now brought to the enjoyment of 
 the inestimable privileges of his kingdom, on the oc- 
 casion of the present, temporary, unbelief and diso- 
 
 " Gen. xvii. 7. 
 
2S8 LECTURE XH. 
 
 bedience of Israel, so also have they now disbelieved 
 and disobeyed, that being provoked to jealousy, by 
 the great and glorious privileges, which you, as the 
 people of God, enjoy, they, too, at a future, joyful, 
 period, turning to the Lord, may again be received 
 into the kingdom of God, and come to the full en- 
 joyment of its privileges. " For God hath shut 
 them all up together in unbelief, that he might have 
 mercy on all." The Gentiles, and Israel, the people 
 of God, having, the one after the other, revolted 
 from God, their heavenly Father, and having utterly 
 corrupted their ways, he, for their wilful blindness 
 and deep corruption, in his inscrutable wisdom, left 
 them both, successively, to their own ways, and ex- 
 cluded them from the great and special privileges 
 of the covenant, enjoyed by his peculiar people ; — 
 not finally, indeed, but that, having undergone severe 
 and long discipline, both might, in his great and 
 marvellous goodness, be, in due time, received into 
 his gracious covenant, and glorious kingdom, under 
 the Messiah. 
 
 Elevated, in his mind, by the contemplation of 
 the wisdom, the vastness, and the sublimity, of the 
 dispensations of God towards man, and, glowing, in 
 his heart, with gratitude and devotion, for the in- 
 effable mercy and grace of the Father of lights, the 
 inspired apostle concludes this prophetic passage, 
 with an impassioned and most appropriate exclama- 
 tion J — an exclamation, it may be observed, in which 
 
LECTURE XII- 229 
 
 there is evidently conveyed a very serious, yet very 
 gentle, rebuke to his unbelieving kinsmen, for their 
 overweening conceit of their knowledge of the divine 
 counsels, for rejecting and thwarting the divine dis- 
 pensation of justification freely by grace, and for en- 
 deavouring to establish their own scheme of justifica- 
 tion, by works and merit. " O the depth of the 
 riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
 How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways 
 past finding out ! For, who hath known the mind 
 of the Lord ? Or, who hath been his counsellor ? 
 Or, who hath first given to him, and it shall be re- 
 compensed unto him again? For, of him, and through 
 him, and to him, are all things ; — to whom be glory 
 for ever ; Amen !" 
 
 From this concluding passage, then, of the doc- 
 trinal and argumentative part of the epistle there 
 arise some most interesting and important reflections. 
 It clearly appears from it, that the calling, election, 
 justification, mercy, and salvation, which are taught, 
 both in this passage, and in the preceding parts of 
 the epistle, are privileges, which are conferred on us, 
 as members of the church, or kingdom, of God, in this 
 world, and which belong to all professing chris- 
 tians. It is evident, that those several privileges 
 are inseparably connected^ and imply each other. 
 It is evident, that, in the language of the apostle» 
 and in reference to this state, to find mercy is, to be 
 justified and saved, and that, in this passage, the 
 
230 LECTURE XII. 
 
 apostle informs us, the time is coming, when all Is- 
 rael shall be thus saved, and shall, consequently, all 
 enjoy the privileges, which have already been con- 
 ferred on the election of grace, and when the God of 
 love will have mercy on all the Gentiles, as well as 
 on all his ancient people. It is evident, that, in re- 
 ference to the dispensation of the gospel, those, who 
 are said to be called, according to the purpose of 
 God, are called in that general, collective, sense, in 
 which the Lord called aU the posterity of Abraham, 
 by Isaac, to the enjoyment of the covenant, made 
 with that patriarch j — a covenant, which the apostle 
 here declares to be irrevocable and unchangeable, 
 when he says, that " the gifts and calling of God are 
 without repentance." 
 
 But, from innumerable other parts of Scripture, 
 and from this portion itself, it is clear, that individual 
 christians still have it in their power, either to im- 
 prove their privileges, for the ends of eternal life, or 
 to abuse them, to their aggravated condemnation, 
 and more signal punishment. Each of us must work 
 out our salvation, by perseverance in well-doing. For, 
 how can we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ? 
 Each of us must make his calling and election sure, 
 by adding to his faith christian dispositions and vir- 
 tues. If these dispositions and virtues be clearly and 
 plentifully found in us, he, whose faithfulness reacheth 
 unto the clouds, will assuredly grant us a full en- 
 trance into his everlasting kingdom ; but, if they be 
 
LECTURE XIL 231 
 
 not, we shall be excluded j and he, who thinks, that 
 any present privileges, or profession, can finally avail 
 him, without these qualifications, will find himself 
 fatally and deplorably deceived. 
 
 In this passage, the apostle styles the extension of 
 the gospel dispensation to the Gentiles, " the riches 
 of the Gentiles," or " the riches of the world -" and 
 if that, which is fitted to make mankind happy and 
 eminent may be called riches, justly may the posses- 
 sion of the privileges and blessings of that dispensa- 
 tion be so denominated. What riches can be greater, 
 more durable, or more glorious, than deliverance 
 from Gentile ignorance, superstition, atheism, and 
 despair, to the knowledge of the living and true God, 
 to a state of justification, before him, and of adoption 
 among his children, to sanctity of life, to a pure and 
 rational worship, to a place and share in the king- 
 dom of God, and to a full and well-founded expecta- 
 tion of eternal life, glory, honour, and peace. 
 
 By direct revelation, the inspired apostle, in this 
 passage, expressly informs us, that the time will come, 
 when all the Gentile world shall come into the church 
 and kingdom of God ; and, next to the actual enjoy- 
 ment of the privileges of that kingdom, and the 
 certain prospect of eternal life, nothing surely can be 
 more pleasing to the true christian than the contem- 
 plation of that ineffably great, glorious, and sublime, 
 event, by which the countless millions of the human 
 race shall be received into the kingdom of God, under 
 
232 LECTURE XII. 
 
 his own Son, and by which they, and probably many 
 thousands of their successive generations, shall enjoy 
 the present inestimable privileges and blessings of 
 that kingdom, and the assured prospect of life and 
 immortality ! It is with reason that the evangelical 
 prophet Isaiah, also, speaks of this event in the most 
 beautiful and sublime strain. " It shall come to pass, 
 in the last days, that the mountain of the house of 
 the Lord shall be established on the top of the moun- 
 tains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all 
 nations shall flow into it ; and many people shall go, 
 and say. Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain 
 of the Lord, — to the house of the God of Jacob ; and 
 he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his 
 paths. For, out of Zion shall go forth the law, and 
 the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."* " Behold 
 my servant, whom I uphold, — mine elect, in whom 
 my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him ; 
 he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." — 
 " He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have 
 set judgment in the earth ; and the isles shall wait 
 for his law." — " I, the Lord, have called thee, in 
 righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will 
 keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, 
 — for a light of the Gentiles ; — to open the blind 
 eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and 
 them, that sit in darkness, out of the prison house."t 
 From the dictates of the Holy Spirit, the apostle, 
 
 • Is. ii. 2, 3. t Is. xlii. 1, 4, 6, 7. 
 
LECTURE XII- 233 
 
 as we have seen, also, reveals to us this mystery ; — 
 that, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come 
 into the church of Christ, all Israel will turn to the 
 Lord, and be saved ; and, to us, Gentile christians, 
 the contemplation of that glorious event, likewise, 
 ought to be equally pleasing. The apostle uses the 
 strongest possible arguments, to win our good will 
 and respect to his unbelieving kinsmen ; and how, 
 indeed, can any true Gentile christian forget, that, 
 as concerning the flesh, he, who is our hope and our 
 life, is of that royal priesthood ; — that it is into the 
 stock, to which they once belonged, and to which 
 they shall yet belong, we are ingrafted ; — that it is 
 from that stock we derive our life ; and that, severed 
 from it, we should quickly wither and die. 
 
 But alas ! the Gentile christian church has, in all 
 ages and places, greatly disregarded the arguments 
 of the apostle, or rather the dictates of the Holy 
 Spirit, relative to its duty towards the blinded and 
 deluded house of Israel. Forgetting, that, although, 
 for the present, excluded from the church of God, 
 and deprived of its privileges, they are, in respect to 
 their original election, and for the father's sake, be- 
 loved of God, instead of showing them, as we ought, 
 favour and respect, we have, in ignorance and blind- 
 ness, scarcely less marvellous and lamentable than 
 their own, despised, hated, oppressed, and, in count- 
 less instances, unjustly and barbarously slain them ; 
 while, in doing so, we have thought, that wc were 
 
234 LECTURE XII, 
 
 performing an acceptable service to God ! We have 
 acted, thus, too, not less unwisely, in regard to our 
 own temporal interests, than irreligiously, in respect 
 to the will of God. For, among all nations, when 
 promoted to offices of power and honour, they have 
 ever proved themselves, in no ordinary degree, faith- 
 ful, efficient, and worthy of their trust. If their cha- 
 racter he now debased, that chiefly proceeds from 
 our injustice and oppression. Did we treat them 
 with justice, humanity, and respect, and grant them 
 the full enjoyment of all civil privileges, and of entire 
 religious toleration, we should not only do, what is, 
 in itself, right, and agreeable to the divine will, but, 
 also, what, notwithstanding their deeply-rooted and 
 unhappy prejudices, would quickly and greatly im- 
 . prove their general character. 
 
 The delusion, under which many labour, in sup- 
 posing, that, in excluding the ancient people of God, 
 from equal civil privileges, and in withholding fi'om 
 them religious liberty, we are but fulfilling the divine 
 predictions and purposes, in regard to them, and, 
 therefore, performing a religious duty, is a delusion 
 of the most dangerous nature. Their offended God, 
 indeed, permits, but commands not, their sufferings. 
 So far is he from commanding men to injure them, 
 that he has ever visited those nations, who have 
 oppressed them, with the most signal punishments ; 
 and, accordingly, may not the evils, both religious 
 and temporal, with which the Divine Providence has 
 
LECTURE XIL 235 
 
 permitted the christian world to be visited, since 
 Israel were deprived of their peculiarity and privi- 
 leges, have been a just punishment, inflicted on that 
 world, for its injustice, oppression, and cruelty to- 
 wards the unhappy, but not forsaken house, of Is- 
 rael ? 
 
 Finally ; we Gentile christians ought to contem- 
 plate " the severity of God," in cutting off his ancient 
 people, with the profoundest awe, and his " good- 
 ness," in ingrafting ourselves, with the deepest gra- 
 titude. It was for their unbelief, that they were 
 broken off; and we stand by faith. It was by faith, 
 that we, at first, became the objects of the divine 
 goodness ; and it is by faith we shall continue to be 
 the objects of that goodness. But, if we continue 
 not in the faith, we cannot continue the objects of 
 his goodness ; for, in that case, we, too, shall be cut 
 off. This is the express and solemn declaration of 
 the inspired apostle ; and alas ! the event has but 
 too clearly verified his prediction. The Gentile 
 christian church, with a very limited exception, has, 
 for many ages, departed from the simplicity and 
 purity of the faith, which was once delivered to the 
 saints, and which is stiU deposited in the divine 
 oracles ; and, accordingly, not the least, that church, 
 to which the apostle addressed this invaluable epistle, 
 and which has so extensively, so greatly, and so de- 
 plorably, influenced the christian world ; and, in that 
 state, the generality of them do still continue. For 
 
236 LECTURE XII. 
 
 doctrines they have received the commandments of 
 men, and have turned to fahles. The decrees of the 
 councils of fallible men, and the dogmas of human 
 authority, have almost wholly superseded and frus- 
 trated the infallible written word of God. Pure 
 christian worship is smothered under that monstrous 
 form of human observances, which a blind and bane- 
 ful policy induced the church to adopt ; and, thus, 
 the Gentile christian church, though not actually, 
 may, in an extensive sense, be regarded, as virtually 
 *' cut off." Many G.entile christian communities, 
 because they loved not the truth, and, from evil deeds, 
 preferred darkness to light, have had their lamps, 
 which once burned gloriously, removed out of their 
 places ; and a profound and melancholy darkness 
 has long brooded over them. 
 
 But, deplorable as this state of things is, the re- 
 flecting christian will acquiesce in it, w^][ knowing, 
 that God, who brings good out of evil, will ultimately 
 convert it into a motive, in his church, vigilantly and 
 permanently to guard against the causes, which have 
 produced it. In the good providence of God, the 
 light of literature and science, civilisation, and eman- 
 cipation from spiritual and civil despotism, which 
 have already done so much good, will, as they ad- 
 vance, gradually allow the truths of the divine oracles 
 to assume their natural, irresistible, power, and will 
 ultimately enable them to obtain a permanent and 
 glorious triumph. This is, not only an expectation, 
 
LECTURE XII. 237 
 
 which is evidently reasonable, in itself, but is also a 
 prospect, clearly and firmly founded on the express 
 declaration of the inspired apostle. For, as we learn 
 from him, when the fulness of the Gentiles and all 
 Israel shall have been converted to Christ, then shall 
 the state of the universal church be " life from the 
 dead." Then, shall be fulfilled, what the prophets 
 have, in such glowing and sublime, metaphorical 
 language, foretold. The sun of righteousness shall 
 arise, with healing in his wings,* and shall perma- 
 nently shine, on a christian world with unclouded 
 glory. " The wolf shall lie down with the lamb, and 
 the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf 
 and the young lion and the fatling together ; and a 
 little child shall lead them ; and the cow and the 
 bear shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down 
 together ; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox ; 
 and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the 
 asp ; and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
 cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt, nor destroy, 
 in all my holy mountain. For, the earth shall be 
 full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover 
 the sea,"t 
 
 • Mai. iv. 2. t Isa. xi. 6—9, 
 
[ 238 ] 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 ROMANS, XII. 
 
 Having, in the preceding part of this inestimable 
 epistle, comprehensively and clearly described the 
 gracious and glorious scheme of the gospel dispensa- 
 tion, the apostle, in his usual manner, now proceeds 
 to give the church at Rome, and, with them, to the 
 universal church of Christ, in all ages, many most 
 important exhortations, interspersed with various 
 practical observations, for their guidance, in the 
 christian life. Having fully and clearly shown them, 
 that they had obtained justification of life, not by 
 their own works, or merit, but freely by the grace of 
 God, that they had been elected, to be the people of 
 God, that they had become heirs of God and joint- 
 heirs with Christ, and that, after a triumphant re- 
 surrection from the grave, they were destined to the 
 enjoyment of glory, honour, and immortality, by 
 these motives, he urges and exhorts them to devote 
 themselves to the service of God. " I beseech you, 
 therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 
 present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, accept- 
 
LECTURE XIII. 239 
 
 able, unto God, which is your reasonable service." 
 To the Gentile, as well as to the Jewish, christians, 
 to both of whom the offering of propitiatory sacri- 
 fices was familiar, the metaphorical language, in 
 which the exhortation is expressed, was very intelli- 
 gible. Nor can it be otherwise to any one, who is 
 acquainted with the Mosaic ritual, as recorded in 
 the Scriptures. Christ, the lamb of God, that taketh 
 away the sin of the world, has, " by one offering," — 
 by his obedience unto death, as a sacrifice for our 
 sins, — " perfected for ever them that are sanctified,"* 
 and has put an end for ever to all other sacrifices, 
 which were but types of him ; and the only sacrifice 
 now required of any christian is, to offer himself to 
 God, a living, holy, sacrifice j — a sacrifice, the offer- 
 ing of which reason, as well as revelation, clearly dic- 
 tates, and fully sanctions. 
 
 " Be not," continues the apostle, " conformed to 
 this world, but be ye transformed, by the renewing 
 of your minds, that ye may prove," — that, having, 
 with all attention, examined the mind of the Spirit, 
 in regard to your duties, you may exhibit, in your 
 lives, — " the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will 
 of God." There is no obscurity, or uncertainty, in 
 this exhortation ; yet it may, with propriety and ad- 
 vantage, be further illustrated and enforced, by pa- 
 rallel passages, from the other writings of this apos- 
 tle. " Put off," saith he to the Ephesian chris- 
 
 * Heb. X. 14. 
 
240 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 tians," concerning the former conversation," or life, 
 "the old man," — the old Gentile character, — "which 
 is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts ; and be 
 renewed in the spirit of your mind ; and that ye put 
 on the new man," — the christian character, — which, 
 after God, "is created in righteousness and true ho- 
 liness."* And again ; "Be ye not partakers with 
 them," — with the Gentile world, in its sinful prac- 
 tices, — " For ye were formerly," — that is, in the Gen- 
 tile state, — " darkness ; but now are ye light, in the 
 Lord. Walk as the children of light. For, the 
 fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, and righteous- 
 ness and truth ; — ^proving what is acceptable unto 
 the Lord ; and have no fellowship with the unfi'uit- 
 ful works of darkness ; but rather reprove them."t 
 " Ye have put off," — saith the apostle to the Colos- 
 sian church, — " the old man, with his deeds, and have 
 put on the new man, which is renewed, in know- 
 ledge, after the image of him, that created him."1: 
 
 The next exhortation of the apostle relates to the 
 exercise of those miraculous, spiritual, gifts and 
 powers, with which many christians were endowed, 
 in the infancy of the church. For, such an exhorta- 
 tion, surprising as it may seem, there was need. For, 
 as we may justly infer from this passage, and as we 
 leani from the first epistle of this apostle to the 
 Corinthians, there was occasionally some confusion 
 in the exercise of those gifts and powers ; and, in 
 
 • Heb. iv. 22-24. f Heb. v. 7, 11. f Col. iii. 9-10. 
 
LECTURE XIII. 241 
 
 some, the possession of them generated some degree, 
 at least, of pride, and, in others, envy ; according to 
 the estimation, in which the kind of spiritual en- 
 dowments, which they respectively possessed, were 
 held. The apostle, then, who himself was, in the 
 most eminent degree endowed with the gifts and 
 powers of the Holy Spirit, in virtue of his apostolic 
 authority, speaks thus ; — " I say, through the grace 
 given to me," — in virtue of the apostolic commission, 
 with which a gracious God has intrusted me, — " to 
 every man that is among you, not to think of himself 
 more highly than he ought to think ; but to think 
 soberly," or justly ; " according as God hath dealt to 
 every man the measure of faith. For, as we have 
 many members, in one body, and all miembers 
 have not the same office, so we, being many, are 
 one body, in Christ, and every one members one 
 of another. Having, then, gifts differing, accor- 
 ding to the grace, that is given to us, whether 
 prophecy, let us prophecy, according to the pro- 
 portion," or measure, " of faith ;" — adding nothing 
 from ourselves, and withholding nothing of what is 
 revealed to us ; — " or ministry," — the office of an 
 evangelist, — " let us wait on our ministering ; or he 
 that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on 
 exhortation ; he that giveth," — or distributes the 
 funds of the church, — " let him do it with simpli- 
 city," — with honesty and impartiality ; — " he that 
 ruleth, with diligence ; he that showeth mercy,"—- 
 
 Q 
 
24*2 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 whose office it is to relieve the sick, the distressed 
 and the stranger, — " with cheerfulness." 
 
 To the same effect, and more fully, this apostle writes 
 to the Corinthians. Having reminded them, that the 
 peculiar gifts of every individual christian proceeded 
 from the same divine source, and were conferred for 
 the benefit of the collective body of the church, he, 
 very appropriately, illustrates and enforces his doc- 
 trine, thus, — " As the body is one, and hath many 
 members, and all the members of that one body, 
 being many, are one body, so also is Christ." " For 
 the body is not one member but many. If the foot 
 shall say. Because I am not the hand, I am not of 
 the body, is it, therefore, not of the body ? And, if 
 the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not 
 of the body, is it, therefore, not of the body? If 
 the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? 
 If the whole body were hearing, where were the 
 smelling? But, now, hath God set the members, 
 every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased 
 him. And, if they were all one member, where were 
 the body. But, now, are they many members, yet 
 but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, 
 I have no need of thee. Nor again, the head to the 
 feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those 
 members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, 
 are necessary. And those members of the body, 
 which we think to be less honourable, upon these we 
 bestow more abundant honour J and our uncomely parts 
 
LECTURE XIII. 243 
 
 have more abundant comeliness. For, our comely 
 parts have no need. But, God hath tempered the 
 body together, having given more abundant honour 
 to that part, which lacked ; that there should be no 
 schism in the body ; but that the members should 
 have the same care, one for another. And, whether 
 one member suffer, all the members suffer with it ; 
 or, one member be honoured all the members rejoice 
 with it. Now, ye are the body of Christ, and mem- 
 bers, in particular."* 
 
 Having, thus, exhorted those, whom the Holy 
 Spirit had endowed with miraculous gifts and powers, 
 for the confirmation and edification of the church, 
 he proceeds to inculcate, on all of them, those duties, 
 which are incumbent on every one, who names the 
 name of Christ. His precepts manifestly bear the 
 stamp of their divine original ; and, in a discourse 
 of this nature, it were injudicious and improper to 
 disturb their sententious brevity and force, by any 
 lengthened comment. *' Let love be without dissi- 
 mulation ;"— not in word, but in deed; *' abhor that 
 which is evil ; cleave to that which is good. Be 
 kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly 
 love ;" — with love not merely arising from the ties 
 of a common humanity, but kindled, likewise, by a 
 sense of an additional, new, relationship, the closest, 
 the most endearing, and the most exalted. " In 
 honour, preferring one another. Not slothful in 
 
 • 1 Cor. xii. 12, 14—27. 
 
244 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 business ; fervent in spirit ; serving the Lord. Re- 
 joicing in hope ;" — in the hope of a glorious re- 
 surrection, and of eternal life and bliss ; — patient in 
 tribulation ; continuing instant in prayer. Distribut- 
 ing to the necessities of the saints," — or fellow-chris- 
 tians ; " given to hospitality. Bless them, which 
 persecute you ; bless, and curse not. Rejoice with 
 them, that do rejoice ; and weep with them that 
 weep. Be of the same mind towards one another ;" 
 earnestly exercising that beneficence towards others, 
 that you would experience, from them. *' Mind not 
 high things ; but condescend to men of low estate ;" 
 affect not the greatness and pre-eminence of your su- 
 periors ; and show condescension to your inferiors ; 
 and, in your intercourse with them, accommodate 
 yourselves to their humble condition. " Be not wise 
 in your own conceits ;" — guard against entertaining 
 any overweening opinion of your own wisdom, as, of 
 itself, sufficient. " Recompense to no man evil for 
 evil. Provide things honest," or morally becoming, 
 *' in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much 
 as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly 
 beloved, avenge not yourselves ; but rather give place 
 to wrath ;" — refer your cause to the judgment of 
 God. " For, it is written, vengeance is minej I will 
 repay, saith the Lord.* If, therefore your enemy hun- 
 ger, feed him ; if he thirst give him drink ; for, in so 
 doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." It 
 
 • Deut. xxxii. 35. 
 
LECTURE XIII. 215 
 
 is thus, that you are most likely to disarm him of 
 his hostility, and to win his good will. "Be not 
 overcome of evil ;" — let not the provocations, or suf- 
 ferings, which you endure, instigate you to evil, in 
 causing you to have recourse to retaliation ; — " but 
 overcome evil with good." 
 
 Obedience to these, and to similar divine precepts, 
 inculcated, by the inspired apostle, is the only infal- 
 lible evidence of the prevalence of pure and undefiled 
 religion, in any community ; and it is, when the heart 
 of any individual christian is thoroughly influenced, 
 and his life steadily guided, by them, and then only 
 he can safely conclude, that he is in the way of eter- 
 nal life. Unspeakably happy would it be for the 
 christian church, in its temporal, as well as eternal, 
 condition, were all men thoroughly and constantly 
 actuated by the divine principles, and guided by the 
 divine maxims, here taught. Then, indeed, might 
 they, with reason, rejoice in the hope of glory ; and, 
 then, also, would those sorrows, unavoidably incident 
 to the present state of probation, be exceedingly 
 alleviated. But, alas ! it is not so, with the church ! 
 It is far otherwise! It becomes every individual 
 christian, then, to cherish every true christian prin- 
 ciple, to cultivate every christian disposition, to 
 yield unreserved obedience to the divine precepts of 
 the gospel, that he may work out his own salvation, 
 and that, so far as depends on him, true religion 
 may increase, and to be constant in prayer, for a 
 
246 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 more prosperous state of the christian world ; — for 
 that promised period, when the wilderness shall be 
 glad, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom, as the 
 rose.* 
 
 It is by earnestly and diligently cherishing and 
 cultivating the heavenly affections, which are here 
 so pressingly recommended, and by yielding mire- 
 served and persevering obedience to the divine pre- 
 cepts, which are here so strongly inculcated, that we 
 shall present ourselves to God a living sacrifice, holy, 
 and acceptable ; and who can sufficiently estimate 
 the force of the motives, which we have to do so? 
 Who can duly value " the mercies of God," bestowed 
 on us, by which the apostle urges us to offer this 
 sacrifice ? If we have been delivered, from heathen 
 darkness, to the marvellous light of the gospel ; — if 
 we are no longer, as our Gentile fathers were, 
 strangers and foreigners from the commonwealth of 
 the people of God, but fellow-citizens with the saints, 
 and of the household of God ; — if we have been 
 brought from a state of being without God in the 
 world, and of having no hope, beyond the limits of 
 this short and suffering life, to the knowledge of the 
 living and true God, and to the assured prospect of 
 life and immortality ; — if this be love, not that we 
 loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his only- 
 begotten Son, to be the propitiation for our sins ; — 
 if we were redeemed, not with corruptible silver and 
 
 * Isa. XXXV. 1. 
 
LECTURE XIII. 247 
 
 gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God, 
 
 as of a lamb, without blemish, and without spot ; 
 
 if we, thus, obtained justification of life, freely by the 
 grace of God ; — if God be our father, and we his 
 children ; — if, in this state, all things, whether joy- 
 ful or afflictive, work together, for our ultimate and 
 eternal good and happiness ; — if the peace of God, 
 that passeth all understanding, and joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory, now belong to us, as a clear chris- 
 tian privilege ; — if these things be so, — and who, that 
 is versed in the divine oracles knows not, well, that 
 they are, — then, have we, in those " mercies of God," 
 motives, — the strongest possible motives,— to present 
 ourselves to God, a living sacrifice, holy and accept- 
 able, by carefully and constantly cultivating those 
 heavenly dispositions, and by earnestly, diligently, 
 and perseveringly, obeying those divine precepts. 
 
 It is of the greatest importance, that we should be 
 impressed with a firm belief, that the sacrifice here 
 mentioned by the apostle, is indeed acceptable to 
 God. For, it is evident, that the more we are im- 
 pressed with a sense of this, the more readily, cheer- 
 fully, and acceptably, shall we offer it ; and who shall 
 offer himself a holy sacrifice to God, that does not 
 believe, that the sacrifice will be accepted ? Where 
 is the motive to present it a holy sacrifice ? 
 
 In virtue of our christian profession, we all offer 
 ourselves a living sacrifice to God ; and it is neces- 
 sary, that we should take the utmost care, that the 
 
248 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 sacrifice may have those qualities, which render it 
 acceptable. If it be, indeed, a holy sacrifice, it can- 
 not fail to be accepted ; but, if it be not holy, it will 
 as certainly be rejected. The sacrifice not only 
 must be without external blemish, but it must also be 
 fi'ee from internal unsoundness ; and we must ever 
 remember, that he, to whom the sacrifice is offered, 
 is a perfect and unerring judge of its real qualities. 
 The most secret recesses of the heart, as well as our 
 most public deeds, are perfectly known to him. 
 " For, the word of God," — that is, God himself, 
 considered in his omniscience and omnipotence, — 
 is " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two- 
 edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder 
 of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and 
 is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 Neither is there any creature, that is not manifest in 
 his sight ; but all things are naked and opened unto 
 the eyes of him, with whom we have to do."* 
 
 In the passage, which we have now been consider- 
 ing, the apostle, as we have seen, exhorts this 
 church, in regard to the exercise of the miraculous 
 gifts and powers, with which its teachers and rulers 
 were divinely endowed. Why, it may be asked, by 
 the unreflecting, have those supernatural gifts and 
 powers been withdrawn from the church ; and why, 
 especially, are they withheld from the teachers of the 
 gospel ? These questions may easily be answered, in 
 
 • Heb. iv. 12. 
 
LECTURE XIII. 
 
 a very satisfactory manner. The great design o. » . 
 miracles, of our Lord was, that they might undeni- 
 ably attest his divine mission, his being the expected 
 Messiah, and the truth of his doctrines. The pur- 
 pose, which the miraculous gifts and powers, with 
 which the apostles and other evangelists were en- 
 dowed, was similar ; — they were the signs, or cre- 
 dentials, of their apostleship. The spiritual gifts 
 and powers, which existed in the christian church, 
 in the apostolic age, were the seal and earnest of 
 their adoption, as the people of God, and of their 
 having become heirs of eternal life ; and those gifts 
 and powers, be it ever remembered, were the seal 
 and earnest of the adoption and inheritance, not only 
 of them, but also of the universal church of Christ, 
 in all future ages. By means of those miraculous 
 endowments, the great and glorious dispensation of 
 the gospel soon obtained a firm and permanent foot- 
 ing in the world ; and, when the end was accom- 
 plished, God, who does nothing in vain, withdrew 
 the means. 
 
 It was, indeed, impossible, that the miraculous 
 gifts and powers, which so abundantly existed, in the 
 church, in the apostolic age, should continue to exist 
 in it. As a miracle is a deviation from the settled, 
 regular, course of nature, or a suspension of its laws, 
 it is evident, that either perpetuity, or frequency, 
 in miracles, would overturn those laws, and would 
 destroy the very nature, and, consequently, frus- 
 
248 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 sacvj the design, of miracles. It is, indeed, quite 
 clear, that a perpetual miracle is a contradiction in 
 terms. 
 
 In the cessation and absence, then, of the prime- 
 val miraculous gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit, 
 in the church of Christ, we have no just cause of 
 murmuring. On the contrary, we have the greatest 
 reason to admire the wisdom of God, in ordering 
 things, as they are, and to bless and adore him, for 
 the inestimable spiritual advantages, which we enjoy. 
 In the authentic history, which we have, in the 
 written oracles of God, of the miracles, that accom- 
 panied the first establishment of the gospel dispen- 
 sation, we have the clearest and most convincing 
 proofs, that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God, 
 and the Saviour of the world, and that all his 
 recorded doctrines are true. Of the divine mission 
 of the apostles and other evangelists, and of the 
 divine origin of what they taught and committed to 
 writing, we have, from the same source, proofs 
 equally clear and convincing ; and, on the seals of 
 adoption, and on the earnest of the inheritance of 
 eternal life, granted to our fathers, in the church, we 
 their children, or successors, are fully warranted to 
 rely, with confidence equally strong with that, which 
 fortified and cheered their breasts. 
 
 It were well, that we ever carefully bore in mind, 
 how incomparably more valuable and important, in 
 the judgment of the inspired apostle, who himself 
 
LECTURE XIII. 
 
 was so richly endowed with supernatural gifts . . 
 powers, the ordinary christian virtues are than even 
 the greatest measures of such powers. " Though," 
 said he, "I speak with the tongues of men and of 
 angels, and have not charity, I am hecome as sound- 
 ing brass, or a tinkling cymbal ; and though I have 
 the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, 
 and all knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so 
 that I could remove mountains, and have not charity 
 I am nothing."* Were the christian world duly 
 impressed with a sense of these things, the number 
 of deceivers and deceived, by fancied divine revela- 
 tions and miraculous powers, would, exceedingly to 
 the advantage of the church, be greatly diminished. 
 The stated ministers of religion cannot, with rea- 
 son, complain of any want of means, either of inform- 
 ing themselves, or of instructing their flocks, in 
 saving knowledge. It is, indeed, true, that, if the 
 inspired apostles and evangelists could not boast of 
 the possession, either of the means, or of the know- 
 ledge, of salvation, as of themselves, stiU less can we, 
 the ordinary, uninspired, ministers of the gospel, 
 boast of any such thing. But, blessed be our gra- 
 cious God ! we have, what is fully sufficient for this 
 infinitely important purpose, in the divine written 
 oracles, which contain all the treasures of heavenly 
 wisdom and knowledge. " All scripture is given by 
 inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. 
 
24i^ LECTURE Xlll. 
 
 siirproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
 ness ; that the man of God," — that is, the minister 
 of religion, — " may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
 unto all good works."* From this invaluable and 
 inexhaustible mine, and from this alone, must " the 
 man of God " draw the means of salvation and eter- 
 nal life, for himself and for those, who are com- 
 mitted to his charge. The divine oracles he must 
 examine and study closely and constantly ; and he 
 must examine and study them in those languages, 
 which the Holy Spirit has used and honoured as the 
 depositaries of " the words of eternal life." For, in 
 those languages they possess a perfection and an 
 unction, which can be wholly transferred to no other 
 language. He must examine and study the Holy 
 Scriptures, in all sincerity, and with all candour, and 
 carefully avoid perverting their meaning either to 
 serve his own worldly interests, or to favour the 
 views of any church, sect, or party. As a faithful 
 steward of the revealed mysteries of God, his chief 
 and constant aim and care must be, to know and to 
 declare the truth as it is in Jesus, and to promote 
 order, peace, and pure and undefiled religion. All 
 his talents, and all his acquirements, he must directly 
 and indirectly consecrate to the service of the divine, 
 chief, shepherd, who, if he do so, will most amply 
 reward him. 
 
 • 2 Tim. iii. IG, 17. 
 
[ 253 ] 
 
 LECTUHE XIV. 
 
 ROMANS, XIII. 1—7. 
 
 Important considerations rendered the exhortation 
 of th^ apostle, in this passage, relative to obedience 
 to civil government, necessary. The christians were 
 calumniated, as hostile to the emperor, and to the 
 laws. The Jews could never thoroughly bring them- 
 selves to think, they could justly, even in a civil sense, 
 be, in any country, in subjection to the Gentile 
 powers. Although, when invested with authority, 
 and placed in stations of important trust, individuals 
 of that nation discharged the duties of their office, in 
 the most faithful and efficient manner, yet, as sub- 
 jects of foreign powers, they were, about this period, 
 exceedingly prone to seditious practices, and, in fact, 
 had, not long before the date of this epistle, for such 
 practices, been, by an imperial edict, banished, in a 
 body, from Rome. The Jewish converts to Christi- 
 anity might still have retained views and feelings, 
 relative to Gentile civil government, which had such 
 inveterate possession of them ; and the Gentile part 
 of the church, likewise, might have been in danger 
 
254 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 of adopting those views and feelings. The less in- 
 formed, in the church, might not have been wholly 
 free from that general and fondly cherished notion, 
 that the kingdom of the Messiah was to be a temporal 
 one ; and such persons might have been in danger of 
 being misled, even by the very titles given, in the 
 Holy Scriptures, to the Messiah, as the great and 
 glorious head of the church, and by the sublime figu- 
 rative description, contained in those oracles, of his 
 reign, and be induced to think, that they owed allegi- 
 ance of any kind only to him. These considerations 
 manifestly rendered it necessary, that the apostle 
 should give to the church at Rome the exhortation, 
 which he here gives. " Let every soul be subject to 
 the higher powers." 
 
 The all- wise and good providence of God extends 
 to all the nations of the earth ; and he rules over 
 them, in that manner, which is suitable to their 
 rational and accountable nature, and to the circum- 
 stances, in which they are respectively placed. The 
 dictates of reason clearly lead us to this conclusion ; 
 and the divine oracles, although they declare, that, 
 in punishment for its wilful blindness to the existence 
 and glorious attributes of the living and true God, 
 he has, by withholding from the Gentile world those 
 special religious privileges, which he has seen fit to 
 grant to others, delivered them over to their own 
 blindness, and consequent great, moral, depravity, 
 everywhere expressly teach, that, in his ordinary pro- 
 
LECTURE XIV. 255 
 
 vidence, he ever rules over all the nations of mankind. 
 Those oracles are, not only careful to remind us, that 
 it is the God of all the earth, who graciously gives to 
 all its inhabitants fruitful seasons, and fills their 
 hearts with food and gladness, and watches over all 
 that concerns them, but, also, expressly declare, that 
 the privation, experienced, by the Gentile world, of 
 those special spiritual privileges, with which the 
 church of God is blessed, are intended for their moral 
 discipline, and for qualifying them, also, for being, 
 at a future happy period, universally put in possession 
 of those privileges. 
 
 Since, then, both reason and revelation agree in 
 declaring, that the omnipotent, all-wise, and good, 
 providence of God embraces all the nations of the 
 earth, it necessarily and clearly follows, that the civil 
 authorities and powers, by which human communi- 
 ties are governed constitute a part of that providence ; 
 and, accordingly, when we duly consider this, we are 
 quite prepared for the declaration, which the apostle 
 adds to the exhortation to the christian, even when 
 he is a subject of a heathen power. " For, there is 
 no power but from God. The powers, that be, are 
 ordained of God." The authority, with which the 
 civil magistrate is invested, and the power, which he 
 possesses, are derived from God, and are sanctioned 
 by him. 
 
 In considering the exhortation of the apostle, it is 
 necessary, that we should clearly understand its pre- 
 
'256 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 cise nature and extent. It is quite evident, that, in 
 his exhortation, he refers, not to any particular form 
 of civil government, hut to the source and nature of 
 civil authority and power, in general, and to those 
 laws, which, under any form of government, are en- 
 acted, for the prevention of crime, vice, violence, and 
 injustice, for the punishment of those, who commit 
 such things, and for the encouragement of the virtu- 
 ous, the good, and the peaceahle. The apostle in- 
 culcates on the christian, that, as a christian, his 
 principles and profession are so far from freeing him 
 from his obligation to obedience to the civil laws of 
 the community, in which he lives, — even when that 
 community is not christian, — that, on the contrary, 
 they bind him still more to obedience to those laws, 
 But, it is equally evident, that neither this exhorta- 
 tion of the apostle, nor any other part of the sacred 
 volume, either deprives the christian of any civil 
 right, that belongs to his fellow-subjects, or prevents 
 him from asserting, when that is necessary, any of 
 his civil rights. Nay, it is certain and clear, that 
 the christian, like the rest of his fellow-citizens, is, 
 not only permitted, but even placed under a strong 
 moral obligation, to use his influence, to have defec- 
 tive laws improved, and bad and unwise ones abo- 
 lished. Here, too, it must be added, that it is very 
 evident, the apostle has, in his exhortation, no refer- 
 ence to spiritual dominion. This dominion clearly 
 and unquestionably belongs only to God ; and, if it 
 
LECTURE XIV. 5257 
 
 be true, that the minister of religion has, in virtue of 
 his office, no right to the assumption and exercise of 
 civil power, and, if it be true, — and who can deny 
 it ? — that the possession and exercise of that power, 
 by the minister of religion, have been greatly abused, 
 and have been exceedingly injurious to mankind, it 
 is equally true, that the civil magistrate has no right 
 to the assumption of spiritual dominion over the sub- 
 ject, and that whenever it has been assumed and ex- 
 ercised, by him, the power has been, neither less 
 abused, nor less injurious, than it has been, in the 
 converse case. For, both cases are, in their nature, 
 virtually the same, and, accordingly, in their effects, 
 equally injurious. 
 
 Having exhorted all the members of the church 
 in Rome, and, with them, all other christians, to 
 yield obedience to the civil authorities, although those 
 authorities were heathen, and having affirmed, that 
 the source of civil power is divine, he points out the 
 very powerful motives, both spiritual and temporal, 
 there are, to urge every christian, to be obedient to 
 those authorities. " Whoever, therefore, resisteth 
 the power, resisteth the ordinance of God ; and they, 
 that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation," 
 or punishment. " For, rulers are not a terror to 
 good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou, then, not 
 be afraid of the power ? Do that, which is good, and 
 thou shalt have praise," or a reward, " of the same. 
 For, he is the minister of God for good to thee. 
 
 R 
 
258 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 But, if thou doest that, which is evil, be afraid. For, 
 he beareth not the sword in vain. For, he is the 
 minister of good, to execute wrath," or punishment, 
 " on him that doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must needs 
 be subject, not only for wrath," — not only to avoid 
 present punishment, — "but also for conscience sake." 
 This passage, of itself, fully and clearly shows, 
 that civil authorities and powers have the divine 
 sanction, and that christians have the most powerful 
 motives, both spiritual and temporal, to render obe- 
 dience to those authorities. But, to the serious and 
 well-disposed christian it will not be displeasing, to 
 be reminded, how this apostle speaks, and how an- 
 other inspired apostle discourses, in other passages, 
 on the same important subject. Our apostle writes 
 to Titus, who had the spiritual charge of christian 
 churches, that, in regard to the civil authorities, 
 were situated similarly to the church at Rome, thus ; 
 " Put them in mind to be subject to principalities 
 and powers ; to obey magistrates ; to be ready to 
 every good work ; to speak evil of no man ; to be no 
 brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness to all 
 men;"* and to Timothy, under similar circumstances, 
 he writes ; — " I exhort, that, first of all, supplica- 
 tions and prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, 
 be made for all men ; — for kings, and for all that are 
 in authority ; that we may lead a quiet and peace- 
 able life, in all godliness and honesty. For, this is 
 
 * Titus, iii. 1, 2. 
 
LECTURE XIV. S59 
 
 good and acceptable, in the sight of God, our savi- 
 our, who will have all men to be saved, and to come 
 to the knowledge of the truth." * The apostle Peter, 
 in perfect accordance, in all respects, with the other, 
 writes to all christians, in whatever country they 
 may be, in these plain and impressive terms. " Sub- 
 mit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the 
 Lord's sake ; whether it be to the king, as supreme, 
 or unto governors, as to them, who are sent by him, 
 for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise 
 of," or for rewarding, " them, that do well.'*t 
 
 Since, then, from the very nature of human society, 
 there must, in all communities, be civil authorities 
 and powers, to maintain order, to dispense justice, 
 and to enforce the laws, and since, likewise, there 
 must, in all communities, be an order of men appoint- 
 ed, and duly trained, to protect them from external 
 violence and aggression, it necessarily follows, that 
 the state must make a suitable pecuniary provision, 
 for the maintenance of those, who discharge those 
 duties ; and, to this maintenance, it is evident, indi- 
 vidual members of communities must contribute their 
 share. In this passage, accordingly, the apostle de- 
 clares, that the levying of tribute and custom, for the 
 maintenance of the authorities and powers of states, 
 has the same divine sanction, which those authorities 
 and powers themselves have, and that the function- 
 aries, who are appointed to receive that tribute and 
 
 * 1 Tim. ii, 1—4. t 1 Pet. ii. 13-14. 
 
260 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 custom, are the servants, not merely of the state, but 
 of God himself. " For this cause, pay ye tribute 
 also. For, they are God's ministers, attending con- 
 tinually upon this very thing. Render, therefore, to 
 all their dues ; — tribute, to whom tribute is due ; — 
 custom, to whom custom ; fear, to whom fear ; hon- 
 our, to whom honour." 
 
 It may, with propriety, be here observed, that all 
 evasions, by individual members of any community, 
 of the tribute, or custom, imposed by the laws of the 
 state, are as unavailing, and even injurious, as they 
 are unlawful, and contrary to the divine will and ap- 
 pointment. For, it is evident, that evasions of the 
 laws of the revenue, from the deficiencies, which they 
 create, and from the necessity, which they occasion 
 of multiplying the number of those, who are appoint- 
 ed to realize it, unavoidably occasion an increase in 
 the amount levied from individual members of the 
 community. Nor should we forget, that, in refer- 
 ence to this subject, our Lord himself has command- 
 ed, that we should render unto Caesar, that which is 
 Caesar's ; — that we should pay to the civil magistrate 
 that tribute, which is his due. 
 
 The apostle well knew, that this epistle would, 
 very probably, or rather certainly, be perused by the 
 civil authorities ; and we cannot sufficiently admu'e 
 the manner, in which he points out to them, also, the 
 important duties of their office. Those authorities 
 were too full of the pride of office to receive from any 
 
LECTURE XIV. 26l 
 
 teacher of the yet comparatively small, and despised, 
 sect of the christians, any instruction, or exhortation, 
 addressed to them directly. His instruction and 
 exhortation, therefore, the apostle gives, in the most 
 inoffensive, yet legitimate, and accordingly most effec- 
 tual, way possible. For, he shows the civil magis- 
 trate his duties, and inculcates on him the faithful 
 and just discharge of them, only by siding with him, 
 and by pointing out to the governed their duties, and 
 showing them the very strong obligations, which 
 bound them to obey the civil authorities and powers. 
 
 From an attentive perusal, too, of this epistle, we 
 must see, that, in reminding the civil magistrate of 
 his duties, the apostle, who always writes very com- 
 prehensively, indirectly, but strongly, claims from 
 him protection and encouragement for the christians, 
 as men, whose religion is true and divine, calculated, 
 in the highest degree, to promote the best interests 
 of any community, and worthy of being eagerly and 
 joyfully embraced, by all mankind. 
 
 The doctrine of the apostle, in this passage, is 
 exceedingly calculated to raise those, who, in any 
 community, are invested with civil authority, or 
 power, very high, in the estimation of all its mem- 
 bers. In preventing anarchy and confusion, in pro- 
 tecting the weak and defenceless, from violence, in 
 preventing fraud and injustice, in punishing the 
 guilty and the disorderly, in establishing and main- 
 taining order, in asserting the rights of the fatherless. 
 
26^2 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 the widow, and the helpless, in dispensing justice, 
 with impartiality, to all, in encouraging and re- 
 warding the meritorious, they have the high honour 
 of co-operating with God himself, the supreme Author 
 of all order and good. Besides, the consideration, 
 that they derive their authority and power from the 
 glorious ruler of the universe is well fitted to enable 
 and to urge them to discharge their respective duties, 
 with courage, firmness, diligence, and impartiality ; 
 and, when they do so, it cannot fail to secure to them, 
 in the present life, the inestimable possession of an 
 approving conscience, and in the state to come, a 
 rich, glorious, and eternal reward. 
 
 But, if, when they discharge the duties of their 
 office faithfully and rightly, those, whom the divine 
 providence has invested with authority and power, 
 so greatly promote the good and the happiness of 
 communities, if their office is so honourable, and if 
 they are so richly rewarded, assuredly, on the con- 
 trary, there cannot, in any community, exist a greater 
 evil than corrupt authorities, and tyrannical and op- 
 pressive powers ; nor is there any denomination of 
 men, against whom the divine displeasure and signal 
 punishment are so frequently, or so awfully, denoun- 
 ced. In any christian community, therefore, it is 
 the right, the wisdom, and the duty, of its members 
 to use every legitimate means, to make those, whom 
 the divine providence has invested with authority and 
 power, to answer the ends, for which they are "^ " 
 
LECTURE XIV. 263 
 
 pointed; — to make them, indeed, the ministers of 
 God to their fellow-men, not for evil, but for good. 
 Nor is there in the doctrine of the apostle, in this 
 passage, any thing, that divests the members of any 
 community of this right, or any thing in his exhor- 
 tation, that dissuades them from the most diligent 
 and strenuous exercise of it. 
 
 But, although the word of God permits, or rather 
 sanctions, the right, which the members of commu- 
 nities have, of being ruled, only by authorities and 
 powers, that answer their end, and although the his- 
 tory of all nations does but too clearly show the un- 
 utterable evils, which have been caused, by despotic 
 power, and the necessity, accordingly, of subjecting 
 the exercise of all political authority and power to 
 the restraints of wise and salutary laws, the chris- 
 tian must ever bear in mind the evil effects of poli- 
 tical contentions and party-spirit on the heart and 
 mind, and that, however earnestly and firmly he may 
 think it necessary to assert, or to defend, his political 
 liberty and rights, he must ever be careful to assert 
 and defend them with moderation, forbearance, and 
 charity. Here, we have no continuing city ; we look 
 for one to come ! Our hearts and minds must be 
 chiefly occupied, not with the concerns of this transi- 
 tory world, but with the acquisition of that glorious 
 and eternal liberty, which awaits the children of God, 
 in the state to come ! 
 
[ 264 ] 
 
 LECTURE XV. 
 
 ROMANS, XIII. 8—14. 
 
 In the context, the apostle has exhorted christians,^ 
 to " render to all their dues ;" and, preparatory to 
 another injunction of vital importance, he here, in 
 substance, repeats that exhortation. " Owe no man 
 any thing; but to love one another;" — words, which 
 evidently mean this ; — let your love to each other be 
 so great, fervent, and constant, that, in this respect, 
 every one of you may be continually making his bro- 
 ther a debtor. 
 
 To enforce his exhortation, the apostle declares 
 the perfect moral efficiency of mutual love, among 
 christians. " For he, that loveth another, hath ful- 
 filled the law." He then, proceeds to show, how per- 
 fect mutual love, among christians, would secure 
 perfect obedience to all the divine precepts, which 
 relate to our conduct towards them. All these pre- 
 cepts, he observes, are virtually comprehended in 
 that great fundamental commandment, which enjoins 
 us to love oui' neighbour, as ourselves. " For this" — 
 these commandments, — ** Thou shalt not commit 
 
LECTURE XV. 26.5 
 
 adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, 
 thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not 
 covet, and, if there be any other commandment," — 
 all other commandments, relative to our duty to- 
 wards^ our neighbour, — " are briefly comprehended 
 in this saying. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, as 
 thyself." 
 
 " Love," continues the apostle, " worketh no ill to 
 his neighbour." He, who loves his neighbour, as 
 himself, will not commit any evil deed whatever 
 against him. Adultery, and all its kindred sins, 
 however speciously it may, sometimes, seem other- 
 wise, proceed, not from genuine love, or good will, 
 but from the grossest selfishness ; and he, who truly 
 loves his neighbour cannot commit sins, which bring 
 on the victims a train of such great evils, temporal 
 and eternal, as naturally follows them ; and who 
 needs to be informed, that murder, lawless violence, 
 cruelty, and oppression, that theft and all manner of 
 dishonesty, that false testimony, and every kind of 
 falsehood and calumny, that covetousness, avarice, 
 envy, and rapacity, that, indeed, all manner of con- 
 duct, which constitutes' a breach of any divine moral 
 precept, relative to our neighbour, is wholly incon- 
 sistent with love towards him ? " Therefore," adds 
 the apostle, " love is the fulfilling of the law." 
 When we love our neighbour, as ourselves, it irre- 
 sistibly constrains us to obey those divine command- 
 
266 LECTURE XV. 
 
 ments, which forbid us to do that, which is in any 
 respect, injurious to him. 
 
 The obedience, to which the apostle here refers, 
 we may observe, is of a negative nature. He affirms, 
 that, if we love our neighbour, as ourselves, our love 
 will restrain us from doing to him any manner of 
 evil. But, undoubtedly, there must be more than 
 this implied in the affirmation. His words must, also, 
 imply, that, if we, indeed, love our neighbour as our- 
 selves, our love will constrain us to do to them all 
 the positive good, that may be in our power ; — that 
 it will constrain us to feed the hungry, to clothe the 
 naked, to remove, or alleviate, the distress of the 
 suffering, to minister, as effectually as we can, to all 
 the wants, whether spiritual or temporal, of our 
 neighbour, and, as much as possible, to promote his 
 happiness. 
 
 If any one put the question of the Scribe, — " But 
 who is my neighbour ?" — he has the answer, given 
 to that question, by an infallible authority. Our 
 divine Lord, in the incomparably beautiful, and 
 thoroughly convincing, allegory of the good Samari- 
 tan, shows, that, any man of any nation, however 
 hostile to us, is, in a moral sense, our neighbour. 
 
 The motives, which we have, to cherish, in our 
 hearts, love towards our neighbour, are exceedingly 
 powerful. While to cherish malice towards him, is 
 to foster, in our bosoms, a viper, whose stings we 
 
LECTURE XV. 267 
 
 must ourselves ever endure, benevolence towards him 
 begets, in our hearts and minds a calm, tranquillity, 
 and self-approbation, which forms a great and essen- 
 tial part of our present happiness, secures to us the 
 approbation of God, our heavenly Father, and brings 
 us into the closest spiritual union with him. " For 
 love is of God ; and every one, that loveth is bom of 
 God." * " God is love ; and he that dwelleth in love, 
 dwelleth in God, and God in him.'*t Nor is it in 
 this state only that love constitutes human happi- 
 ness ; we know, that it will do so in that, which is 
 to come. For, different from all other christian 
 virtues, it will " never fail." 
 
 Let not the christian ever forget the necessity of 
 cherishing, in his heart, love towards his neighbour, 
 or how unavailing all other acquirements and quali- 
 fications are, without it. Without love, we are as- 
 sured, not all the numerous gifts and powers, that 
 distinguished the apostles and other evangelists them- 
 selves, could, in any degree, avail us. " Though," 
 said the great and highly gifted apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles, " I speak with the tongues of men and of an- 
 gels, and have not love, I am become as sounding 
 brass, or a tinkling cymbal 5 and though I have the 
 gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all 
 knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I 
 could remove mountains, and have not love, I am 
 nothing ; and though I bestow all my goods to feed 
 
 * I John iv. 7. t 1 John iv. 1 6. 
 
268 LECTURE XV. 
 
 the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, 
 and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."* 
 
 But, if it be, thus, necessary for the christian to 
 be mindful of the necessity of loving his neighbour, 
 as himself, and of the evil effects of not loving him, 
 still more necessary, if possible, is it that he should 
 be mindful of the evil consequences of positive hatred 
 towards him. Whoever bears malice against his 
 brother, we are assured, derives no benefit from the 
 glorious light of the gospel. For " he that saith, he 
 is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in dark- 
 ness even until now,"t " and walketh in darkness, 
 and knoweth not whither he goeth ; because that 
 darkness hath blinded his eyes."1i Neither does he 
 observe the great cardinal commandment of loving 
 God. " For, if a man say, I love God, and hateth 
 his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his 
 brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, 
 whom he hath not seen ?" § Nor, if he change not, 
 can he reasonably expect any thing, but final, signal, 
 punishment. For " he that loveth not his brother 
 abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is 
 a murderer ; and we know, that no murderer hath 
 eternal life abiding in him."|| 
 
 Since, then, the efifects of loving our neighbour 
 are so exceedingly great and beneficial, and the con- 
 sequences of not loving, and especially of positively 
 
 • 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 3. j I John, ii. 9. t 1 John, ii. 11. 
 
 § 1 John, iv. 20. || 1 John, 14, 15. 
 
LECTURE XV. 269 
 
 hating, him, are so fearfully injurious, it is evident, 
 that we should know, and diligently use, the means 
 of cultivating, in our hearts, love towards him, and 
 of rooting out of our bosoms, all malice against him. 
 Here, however, we can .advert to those means but 
 very briefly. It is of one blood that God created all 
 men, to dwell on the face of the earth ; and, thus, the 
 human race constitute one general family, — great, 
 indeed, and numerous, — but still one and the same. 
 Besides this general, but powerful consideration, the 
 christian has another, and still more powerful, cause, 
 the due contemplation of which is exceedingly calcu- 
 lated to kindle, in his bosom, the love of his neigh- 
 bour. God so marvellously loved us as to give up 
 his only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, as a 
 ransom for all, — to be the propitiation for our sins, 
 and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole 
 world, — that, death being abolished, we might have 
 justification of life, freely by his grace, — that we 
 might become heirs of eternal life. Who, then, can 
 measure, — who can conceive, — the love, which this 
 is calculated to beget in our hearts towards God, our 
 unspeakably gracious heavenly Father ? But, if we 
 have, thus, so powerful a cause to love the Father, 
 who has begotten us again to prospects too inefikbly 
 great and glorious, does not that cause, also, con- 
 strain us to love all those, whom our common Father 
 has begotten to the same prospects, and whom he has, 
 thus, made our spiritual brethren j — brethren, in a 
 
T/O LECTURE XV. 
 
 sense incomparably higher and more important than 
 that, in which we are constituted such, by our natural 
 common origin, and our consanguinity? Are we not 
 taught of God, by his marvellous love towards us, to 
 love one another ? 
 
 There is still another similar circumstance, the 
 consideration of which is equally powerful to kindle, 
 in our bosoms, mutual love. That circumstance is 
 our spiritual relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 to one another, in him. He is our divine spiritual 
 head, and we constitute the individual members of 
 his body ; and what could more powerfully constrain 
 us to mutual love and beneficence than the consider- 
 a,tion of this close union with the Son of God, and 
 with one another ? 
 
 It is of unspeakable importance, that we should be 
 sensible of the necessity of cherishing in our hearts 
 •mutual love, and of knowing and using the means of 
 kindling it in us. For, although its prevalence 
 among christians be of the most vital consequence, 
 there is nothing more true, or, to the intelligent ob- 
 server, more manifest, than that, not only, from the 
 moral evils, which abound in christian communities, 
 but also from the defective knowledge of many of 
 the divine grace and impartiality towards mankind, 
 so clearly revealed, in the Holy Scriptures, and the 
 deplorable divisions, which interest and ignorance 
 create, there exists, alas ! among professing chris- 
 tians but little mutual love. 
 
LECTURE XV. 271 
 
 Having, now, exhorted the church at Rome, re- 
 lative to various important duties, the apostle still 
 farther enforces his exhortation, by reminding them 
 of the shortness of the time, that was to bring them 
 to the possession of the eternal life and happiness, 
 which they had in prospect. The state of the Ro- 
 man christians, while yet Gentiles, was a state of 
 spiritual insensibility, or sleep, and, from inveterate 
 habit, some of them, even yet, were apt to slumber ; 
 and to this infirmity we have a clear allusion, in the 
 apostolic exhortation. " And that knowing the time, 
 that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For, 
 now is our salvation, nearer, than when v/e believed." 
 
 The state of religious ignorance and moral cor- 
 ruption, in which the Gentile world lay, before the 
 Sun of Righteousness arose on it, is, in the language 
 of Scripture, aptly called darkness ; and, with equal 
 propriety, the christian state, which restores us to 
 the knowledge of true religion, and to sanctification, 
 is denominated light. Hence it follows, that even in 
 the christian state, in proportion to our remaining 
 ignorance, or corruption, we may be truly said, to 
 be yet in darkness. Besides, since, in the midst of 
 the greatest degree of light, which we can now en- 
 joy, we still know only in part, it is evident, that it 
 is only in our future state, we can be said to enjoy 
 the full and perfect light of day ; and, that we may 
 be sensible of the full force of the words of the apos- 
 tle, in this passage, we should not only attend to this, 
 
272 LECTURE XV. 
 
 but also observe, that he appears to compare our pre- 
 sent state of probation, in which our sky is so often 
 clouded, gloomy, lowering, and stormy, and in which 
 exist so many fears, and uncertainties, and dangers, 
 and sufferings, and deaths, to the night, and our 
 future state of salvation, glory, and felicity, to the 
 day. *' Now is our salvation nearer, than when we 
 believed. The night is far spent ; the day is at 
 
 hand." 
 
 Oh ! that we were all inclined, qualified, and able, 
 to hail, with joy, the approaching day of salvation, 
 eternal life, and glory ! When, in this world, after 
 a night of darkness, storm, and terror, the morning 
 star, in placid brightness and beauty, announces the 
 certain and near approach of day, our hearts glow, 
 with hope and delight, and, when the mighty orb of 
 the sun, in majesty and glory, arises, to shed his 
 flood of heavenly light, on our earth, and to confer 
 his manifold benefits on its inhabitants, we are in- 
 spired with joy much greater. But, with incompa- 
 rably better hope, and greater delight, does the 
 breast of the true christian glow, at the appearance 
 of the day-star, which now ushers in the eternal day 
 of salvation j and with infinitely greater joy will his 
 bosom be filled, when that day itself, in splendour 
 ineffable, shall burst upon his view j — that day, in 
 which the glory of God himself shall shine upon him, 
 never more to set, and constitute his happiness. 
 
 Alas! that, notwithstanding the manifold and 
 
LECTURE XV. 273 
 
 most express assurances of the divine oracles, there 
 should be so many, who, from a disbelief, that God 
 does, indeed, will, that they themselves should inherit 
 eternal life, are unable to hail, with any measure of 
 joy, the approaching day of salvation ! Alas ! that 
 the minds and hearts of so many thousands, engross- 
 ed by the things of this transitory world, should be 
 so entirely diverted from so great salvation ! Alas ! 
 that such multitudes should prefer the sinful plea- 
 sures of this uncertain and evanescent life to the un- 
 speakably greater and eternal felicity, which the 
 rapidly approaching day of salvation brings to every 
 faithful and obedient christian ! Alas ! that, in 
 christian communities, there should be some, either 
 so ignorant, — nay wilfully ignorant, — or so blinded 
 by their prejudices, or the love of their siiis, as to 
 disbelieve, that any such salvation is to come, at all ! 
 Alas! that so many millions of our fellow-men 
 should, from the want of true philanthropy, in pro- 
 fessing christians, from the little value that chris- 
 tians put upon their own religious advantages, from 
 their consequent remissness, in extending the know- 
 ledge of the salvation of God to those, who yet sit in 
 darkness, from the unwise, and therefore ineffectual, 
 means too often adopted, when they have endeavour- 
 ed to extend that knowledge, and from the preju- 
 dices, which the irreligious and immoral lives of pro- 
 fessing christians themselves create in the minds of 
 those of the Gentiles, with whom they mix ;^alas ! 
 
274 LECTURE XV. 
 
 that, from these and other similar causes, so many 
 millions of our fellow men, should, after the lapse of 
 so many ages of the gospel dispensation, be still 
 wholly ignorant of the great, glorious, and joyful sal- 
 vation of God, by Jesus Christ, our Lord ! 
 
 In a spiritual and moral sense, christians, while 
 yet in this state, " are the children of the light, and 
 the children of the day," " and not," as our heathen 
 fathers were, " of the night, nor of darkness ;" and 
 we are, therefore, earnestly and constantly exhorted 
 to " walk," or live, " as the children of light." In 
 this passage, accordingly, in which the apostle, to 
 render his exhortation as inoffensive as possible, and 
 because he was the special apostle of the Gentiles, 
 ranks himself, as a member of the Gentile christian 
 church, we find him admonishing the Roman chris- 
 tians, thus ; " Let us, therefore, cast off the works 
 of darkness ; and let us put on the armour," or gar- 
 ments, " of light. Let us walk decently, as in the 
 day ; — not in chambering and wantonness ; — not in 
 strife and hatred. But, put ye on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ." Let the same mind and affections be in 
 you, that were in your divine Lord ; and follow that 
 perfect and bright example of moral purity, which 
 he has left you, to imitate. " Make not provision 
 for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Let not 
 your hearts be set on the acquisition of wealth, for 
 the purpose of consuming it on your sinful lusts. 
 Thus, also, does the apostle exhort the Thessalo- 
 
LECTURE XV. -875 
 
 nians, and, with them, all other christians. " Ye 
 are all the children of light, and the children of the 
 day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. 
 Therefore, let us not sleep," that is, sin, " as others *' 
 — as do the Gentiles ; " but, let us watch and be 
 sober ;" — let us lead a vigilant life of piety and 
 sanctity. *' For they, that sleep, sleep in the night; 
 and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. 
 But, let us, who are of the day be sober ; putting 
 on the breast-plate of faith and love, and for an hel- 
 met the hope of salvation. For, God hath not ap- 
 pointed us to wrath," or punishment, " but to obtain 
 salvation, by our Lord Jesus Christ." * 
 
 » Rom. V. 3—9. 
 
C 276 ] 
 
 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 ROMANS, XIV. XV. 1—13. 
 
 In bringing men to the light of the gospel, and in im- 
 parting to them its benefits, the all- wise God ever acts 
 towards them as rational and accountable creatures. 
 In the commencement of that dispensation, it was 
 evidently necessary, that it should be clearly proved 
 to every unbiassed mind, that that dispensation was, 
 indeed, from God, by the evidence of unquestionable 
 miracles. But, even at that early period, no mira- 
 culous, or physical, force operated immediately on 
 the minds of men, to compel them, either to believe, 
 or to assent. Their belief and acceptance of the 
 gospel were the eficct of incontrovertible evidence, 
 and strong motives ; — the only means suitable to 
 rational and accountable beings, in a state of proba- 
 tion. When we duly consider this, we cannot rea- 
 sonably wonder, that, even in apostolic times, from 
 former habits and opinions, the faith of many con- 
 verts should be defective, and that their minds should 
 still retain many prejudices and errors. 
 
 It was especially to be expected, that the Jews, 
 
LECTURE XVI. 277 
 
 whose rites and customs, were of divine origin, 
 should, even after their conversion, still retain strong 
 prejudices, in favour of those rites and customs, 
 although they were to be for ever abolished, by that 
 divine dispensation ; and, in the portion of the 
 epistle, which we are now to consider, accordingly, 
 we find ample proofs of the existence of those preju- 
 dices, in the Jewish converts to the gospel, who 
 must have formed a large proportion of the church 
 at Rome. 
 
 The circumstances of the Gentile converts were 
 different. Their former religion was so utterly un- 
 reasonable and false, and so grossly corrupting, that 
 the truths of revelation easily proved them to be so. 
 The objects of their former superstition were spec- 
 tres so monstrously chimerical, that the glorious 
 light of the gospel banished them out of their minds, 
 as soon as it was admitted. But, the very facility, 
 with which the Gentile convert renounced his own 
 superstition and errors made him less tolerant of the 
 remaining prejudices and imperfections of the Jewish 
 believer in Christ ; and, in many instances, while 
 the Jewish christian regarded his Gentile brother, 
 in the Lord, as acting profanely, in wholly disregard- 
 ing the Mosaic ritual, the Gentile often looked on 
 the Jewish believer, as a bigot, for still clinging to 
 positive and temporary customs, which were divinely 
 destined to terminate in the commencement of the 
 dispensation of the gospel. 
 
278 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 These differences in the views and feelings of the 
 members of the church at Rome, if allowed to re- 
 main, would necessarily be followed by very evil con- 
 sequences ; and they, therefore, urgently required 
 that apostolic admonition and correction, which we 
 here amply find, in their most instructive and in- 
 teresting form. " Him, that is weak in the faith, 
 receive ye ; but not to doubtful disputations." Re- 
 ceive your christian brother, though deficient in his 
 faith, as truly a brother, in the Lord ; and harass 
 him not, with disputes about things unimportant. 
 " For one," — the Gentile convert, — " believeth, that 
 he may eat all things ; another," — the Jewish chris- 
 tian, — " who is weak, eateth herbs," only. Daniel, 
 while living in the heathen city, Babylon, abstained 
 from the use of all kinds of flesh, and ate only vege- 
 table food ; to avoid pollution ; and Josephus informs 
 us, that certain priests, sent by Felix, as prisoners, 
 to Rome, did the same ; and for the same reason. 
 This was the manner of living, which the christian 
 Jews, here mentioned, who had not yet fully under- 
 stood their christian liberty, adopted; while the 
 Gentile christian, who had been taught, that no 
 such abstinence was required, by the gospel, used, 
 without scruple, all kinds of good animal food. 
 He, then, who thus freely used animal food, despised 
 him, who abstained from it, as a bigot ; and, on the 
 other hand, he, who abstained, regarded him, who 
 did noti as a polluted man, with whom he could 
 
LECTURE XVr. 279 
 
 conscientiously hold no free, religious, intercourse. 
 Here, therefore, the apostle interposes his authority, 
 and exhorts both parties to refrain from such un- 
 hrotherly and unchristian dispositions. " Let not 
 him, that eateth, despise him, that eateth not ; and 
 let not him, who eateth not, judge," or condemn, 
 *' him, that eateth." 
 
 The apostle grounded his exhortation, to the 
 Jewish christian to refrain from such unfavour- 
 able opinions, and from harbouring such an uncha- 
 ritable disposition towards his Gentile christian 
 brother, on the strongest possible reason. " *For," 
 saith the apostle, " God hath received him." The 
 Gentiles, who believed in Christ, as the Son of God, 
 received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as the sign and 
 seal of their reception into the church, and their 
 adoption, as the children of God, as well as the 
 Jews, who received him, as their Messiah ; and 
 there could, therefore, be no reasonable doubt, that 
 the one, as well as the other, became real members 
 of the church and household of God. Since, then, 
 the Gentile christian had, thus, become the acknow- 
 ledged servant of God, or Christ, the Jewish believer 
 had evidently no right to pass any unfavourable 
 judgment on him. " Who art thou," adds the 
 apostle, " that judgest another man's servant ? To 
 his own master he standeth, or falleth." But, the 
 Jewish christian is not only, informed, that he was 
 
280 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 blamable, in cherishing an uncharitable disposition 
 towards his Gentile brother, but is, also, authoritatively 
 told, that, notwithstanding the free and indiscrimi- 
 nate use, which that brother made of the food, which 
 was so offensive to him, God, his heavenly master, 
 would certainly own him, as a true and faithful ser- 
 vant. '* Yea ; he shall be holden up ; for God is 
 able to make him stand," — there being no real cause 
 of rejection found in him. 
 
 In another point, too, the Jewish differed from the 
 Gentile christian. " One man," — the Jewish be- 
 liever, — " esteemeth one day," — as sacred, — " above 
 another J another," — the Gentile convert, — " esteem- 
 eth every day alike. Let every man," — continues 
 the apostle, — " be fully persuaded, in his own mind." 
 Let every one be convinced, in his own mind, of the 
 necessity, or the reverse, of making such a distinc- 
 tion, in days ; and let him act according to his con- 
 viction. This, the apostle observes, would meet with 
 the divine approbation ; and he shows how it would 
 do so. "He, that regardeth the day, regardeth it 
 unto the Lord ;" — in the belief, that the Lord still 
 requires the distinction ; — *' and he, that regardeth 
 not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it j" — 
 convinced, that the Lord has set him free from the 
 obligation of making any distinction, in days. So 
 also, " He, that eateth," all kinds of good food indis- 
 criminately, " eateth to the Lord ; for he giveth 
 
LECTURE XVI. 281 
 
 God thanks," for his free bounty ; " and he, that 
 eateth not," animal food, " to the Lord, he"'eateth 
 not, yet giveth God thanks," even for the simple, but 
 sufficient, fare, of which he makes use. 
 
 To these particulars, the apostle adds other gene- 
 ral, and most cogent, reasons, which ought to make 
 all professing Christians to refrain from passing 
 mutual harsh judgments, and from harbouring an 
 uncharitable disposition towards one another. "For," 
 saith he, " none of us liveth to himself; and no man 
 dieth to himself. For, whether we live, we live to 
 the Lord ; and, whether we die, we die to the Lord. 
 Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. 
 For, to this end Christ both died, and rose, and 
 revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead 
 and living." Thus, the absolute sovereignty of 
 Christ over us, in whatever state we may be, not 
 only forms a motive, for us to devote ourselves un- 
 reservedly to his service, but is, also, a cause, to 
 make us refrain from arrogating to ourselves the right 
 to pass any unfavourable judgment on another. 
 
 But, there is still another motive, in itself, of un- 
 speakable force, to make all christians refrain, both 
 from passing harsh judgments on each other, and 
 from regarding one another with contempt ; and the 
 apostle fails not to make use of it. " But, why dost 
 thou judge thy brother ? Or, why dost thou set at 
 nought thy brother ? For, we shall all stand before 
 the judgment seat of Christ. For, it is written, As 
 
282 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me ; 
 and every tongue shall confess to God.* So, then, 
 every one of us shall give account of himself to God." 
 Were christians duly impressed with this most solemn 
 consideration, instead of indulging, as alas ! they but 
 too often do, in uncharitable judgments, and severe 
 censures, against their christian fellow-servants, and 
 in mutual contempt, they would, with all seriousness, 
 care, and diligence, attend to their own hearts and 
 lives, that they might be prepared to render their 
 final account to their supreme, divine, Lord and 
 judge, with advantage. 
 
 The apostle, now, proceeds to show, that although, 
 by the gospel, all legal, positive, distinctions, in food, 
 are abolished, it was clearly the duty of the Gentile 
 christian to refrain from unnecessarily using those 
 articles of food, which, in the use of them, were cal- 
 culated to injure his Jewish fellow-christian. For, 
 while the Gentile christian used, without scruple, 
 those articles of food, which the Jewish brother still 
 regarded as unclean, and divinely forbidden, this 
 brother was either alienated, in his heart, from his 
 fellow-christian, or induced, against his conscience, 
 to follow his example, or tempted wholly to renounce 
 the gospel. " Let us not, therefore, judge one 
 another, any more, but judge," or purpose, " this 
 rather ; that no man put a stumbling-block, or an 
 occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know, and 
 
 * Isa. xlv. 23. 
 
LECTURE XVI. 283 
 
 am persuaded, by the Lord Jesus," — by immediate 
 revelation from Christ, — " that there is nothing," — 
 no kind of food, — " unclean, in itself, but, to him, 
 that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is 
 unclean ;" since, if he use it, he must do so, with a 
 disapproving conscience. " But, if thy brother be 
 grieved," or injured, " with thy meat, now walkest 
 thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, 
 for whom Christ died ;" either by inducing him to 
 eat against his conscience, or by causing him alto- 
 gether to renounce the gospel. 
 
 " Let not, then," continues the apostle, " your 
 good be evil spoken of;" by any denomination of 
 men ; from any indiscretion, or want of self-denial, 
 on your part, or from any deficiency, in tenderness, 
 towards your brethren, in Christ. " For, the king- 
 dom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, 
 and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost." The king- 
 dom of God essentially consists not in the use of 
 meat and drink, but in the practice of whatever is 
 holy, just, and good, in mutual peace, among its sub- 
 jects, and in the joy arising from the gifts and bene- 
 fits imparted by the Holy Spirit. " For, he that, in 
 these things, serveth Christ, is acceptable to God, 
 and approved of men. Let us, therefore, follow the 
 things, which make for peace, and things, where- 
 with one may edify another. For meat destroy not 
 the work of God." " For, we are his workm^anship. 
 
284 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works."* " All 
 things," — all kinds of food, in themselves good, " are 
 pure y but, it is evil for that man, who eateth with 
 offence. It is good, neither to eat flesh, nor to drink 
 wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother is offended, 
 or is made weak. Thou hast faith," — thou hast a 
 belief, that the gospel makes no distinction, in the 
 use of different kinds of food. " Have it to thy- 
 self;" — have it, as it regards thyself. — " Happy is 
 he, that condemneth not himself, in that, which he 
 allow eth." Happy is he, who, though convinced, 
 that all distinctions of food are, now, abolished, yet 
 uses not his liberty, to the injury of his fellow-chris- 
 tian. " But, he, that doubteth is condemned, if he 
 eat ; because he eateth not of faith. For, whatever 
 is not of faith is sin." Whatever a man does, with 
 the belief, that it is wrong, is sin. " We, then, who 
 are strong," — who are well and fully instructed, in 
 our christian liberty, — " ought to bear the infirmi- 
 ties of the weak," — of the less informed ; by refrain- 
 ing, in this, and similar cases, from using our liberty, 
 and, thus, charitably indulging them, — " and not to 
 please ourselves," by using it. " Let every one of 
 us," in things of this natm'e, " please his neighbour, 
 for his good, to edification." 
 
 Here, the apostle enforces his exhortation, by 
 drawing their attention to the perfect, bright, and 
 
 * Eph. u. 10. 
 
LECTURE XVr. 285 
 
 persuasive, example, of the Lord Jesus himself. As 
 typified by David, the king, and prophetically de- 
 scribed, in his lays, our Lord, not only exercised self- 
 denial and patience, and forbearance towards men, 
 in their weaknesses and prejudices, but endured the 
 greatest, although unmerited, reproaches, in doing 
 the will of God, and in promoting the best, and 
 eternal, interests of men. " For, even Christ,'* saith 
 he, "pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The 
 reproaches of them, that reproached thee, fell on me." 
 Then, the apostle embraces the opportunity, to re- 
 mind the Roman brethren, especially the Gentile 
 part of them, of the important design and use of the 
 Holy Scriptures. *' For, whatsoever things were 
 written, aforetime, were written for our learning, that 
 we, through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures, 
 might have hope." And to this he adds a prayer to 
 God, which, if sincerely, fervently, and frequently, 
 put up, by all christians, for themselves and others, 
 could not fail to make the christian church, in 
 unanimity and good will, very different from what it is. 
 " Now, the God of patience and consolation," — the 
 God, who exercises such wonderful patience towards 
 us, and who is the author of all consolation, — " give 
 you to be likeminded, one toward another," — grant 
 you unanimity and mutual benevolence, — " accord- 
 ing to Christ Jesus ;" — in conformity to the will and 
 example of Christ, our Lord. " That ye may, with 
 
286 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 one mind and one mouth, glorify God, even the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Once more, the apostle repeats his earnest exhorta- 
 tion to both the Jewish and Gentile members of this 
 church, to maintain unanimity, and to cherish mutu- 
 al love, from the consideration, that God, through 
 Christ, had manifestly received both of them, without 
 distinction, into the inheritance of the glory, prepar- 
 ed for his people, in the state to come. " Wherefore, 
 receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to 
 the glory of God." On the one hand, to raise the 
 Jewish part of the church, in the esteem of the Gen- 
 tile members, and to urge them to the unanimity and 
 mutual love, which he inculcates, the apostle empha- 
 tically reminds these, that our Lord was primarily and 
 specially sent to the Jews, to establish the truth and 
 faithfulness of God, by the fulfilment of the promises, 
 made to the patriarchs of that highly favoured peo- 
 ple, relative to the Messiah and the great blessings 
 of his kingdom. " Now, I say, that Jesus Christ 
 was a minister of the circumcision," or Jews, " on 
 account of the truth of God, to confirm the promises, 
 made unto the Fathers." On the other hand, to re- 
 move all manner of prejudice, from the minds of the 
 Jewish believers, against their Gentile brethren, and 
 to win their good will towards them, he affirms, that 
 the design of the mission of the Messiah was to ex- 
 tend to the Gentiles, also, the great benefits of his 
 
LECTURE XVI. 287 
 
 kingdom, and, thus, to give them, likewise, cause to 
 hless G od, for those benefits ; and he proves his affir- 
 mation, in the manner most of all calculated to pro- 
 duce conviction in the mind of a candid Jew, — by 
 showing, how clearly the extension of the benefits of 
 the kingdom of the Messiah to the Gentiles is pre- 
 dicted in the Scriptures. " And that the Gentiles 
 might glorify God, for his mercy ; as it is written, 
 For this cause I will confess to thee," or praise thee, 
 " among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.* 
 And again he," — that is, the inspired royal psalmist, 
 — " saith. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. t 
 And again, praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles ; and 
 laud him, all ye people, t And again, Isaias saith, 
 there shall be a root of Jesse, and he, that shall rise, 
 to reign over the Gentiles ; in him shall the Gentiles 
 trust. § Now," ejaculates the apostle, " the God of 
 hope fill you, with all joy and peace, in believing, 
 that ye may abound in hope, through the power of 
 the Holy Ghost !" 
 
 The portion of the epistle, which we have now con- 
 sidered, is full of instruction and use, in all parts and 
 periods of the christian church. In the clearest 
 manner, it shows, that those distinctions, which some 
 christians still make, in the use of food, are wholly 
 unwarranted, by the divine oracles ; and, in this, it 
 entirely agrees with what we read in other parts of 
 
 * Psalm, xviii. 49. f Psalm, Ixiv. 4. J Psalm, cxvii. 1. 
 
 § Isaiah, xi. 10, 
 
288 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 the writings of this inspired apostle of the Gentiles. 
 But, at the same time, it as clearly shows us, that 
 towards those of our christian brethren, whose faith 
 is, thus, imperfect we are bound to conduct ourselves, 
 not only without any alienation of heart or mind, 
 but with all manner of forbearance and tenderness. 
 
 This portion, too, instructs us, as to the merits of 
 the question of the distinction of days, still observed, 
 in the christian church, and as to the manner, in 
 which christians ought to conduct themselves to- 
 wards their fellow-christians, whose opinions, on the 
 subject, differ from their own. Omitting, as unim- 
 portant, the distinction, made between one day and 
 any other, we will now advert only to that, which is 
 made, in the observance of the Sabbath-day. In this 
 passage, the apostle does not affirm, that the obser- 
 vance of the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of ces- 
 sation from all manner of labour, and secular em- 
 ployment, is binding on the christian church -, and 
 his other writings lead us to no other conclusion, 
 than that the observance of it is not required of them. 
 He remonstrates with the Gentile christian churches 
 of the province of Galatia, who, at the instigation of 
 the judaizing teachers, were in imminent danger of 
 being brought under the yoke of the Mosaic ritual, 
 in these words. " Ye observe days, and months, 
 and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have 
 bestowed on you labour in vain." * And, in similar 
 
 • Gal. iv. 10, 11. 
 
LECTURE XVI. 289 
 
 words, he admonishes the Colossians, who, from the 
 same cause, were in the same danger. *' Let no man 
 judge you, in meat, or drink, or in respect of an holy- 
 day, or of the new-moon, or of the Sabbath-days, 
 which are a shadow of things to come. But, the 
 body is of Christ." * In the gospel history we find, 
 that, from the beginning, the Sabbath day was not 
 observed, in any of the Gentile christian Churches; 
 and, it is evident, that this could not have happened, 
 without the approbation, or rather the express ap- 
 pointment, of the inspired apostles. Nor is it pos- 
 sible reasonably to conceive, that, if the observance 
 of the Jewish Sabbath be still binding on the chris- 
 tian church, we should, among the innumerable ex- 
 hortations and injunctions, on all other christian 
 duties, which, in the gospel Scripture, are addressed 
 to the churches, find no exhortation whatever, rela- 
 tive to this duty alone. 
 
 The Sabbath of the Mosaic dispensation was a 
 positive, temporary, institution, which, although ne- 
 cessary to that dispensation, was, when it came to an 
 end, by the same authority, that ordained it, discon- 
 tinued ; — an event, for which our Lord prepared 
 those, who heard him, when he represented the insti- 
 tution of the Sabbath, in the same light, with that of 
 the show-bread, in the temple, and declared that he 
 himself was Lord of the Sabbath ; — thus, clearly in- 
 timating, that he possessed authority to make, what 
 • Col. ii. 16—17. 
 
 T 
 
290 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 good use of it, he might please, and even wholly to 
 abrogate it. 
 
 Since, under the gospel dispensation, it is, from 
 the state of the world, and the constitution of human 
 society, impossible strictly and literally to observe 
 the Mosaic Sabbath, or day of entire cessation from 
 labour and secular employment, it is evidently of the 
 greatest importance, that all christians should be 
 rightly informed, on the subject ; because, with the 
 belief, that the observance of the Sabbath is binding 
 on the christian church, the conscience of those, who 
 observe it imperfectly, — and this must be the case of 
 all, who now observe it, however earnestly, — cannot 
 fail to be, in some measure, troubled and hurt ; and, 
 with that belief, the conscience of those, who wholly 
 neglect the observance of it, must be greatly defiled. 
 " For whatever is not of faith is sin." 
 
 In the time of the apostles, we find, that the Gen- 
 tile churches assembled, on the first day of the week, 
 for the purpose of social worship, and, doubtless, 
 also, in commemoration of the resurrection of our 
 Lord, on that day ; and, for this custom they must 
 have had apostolic authority. From that, until the 
 present, period, we know, that this day has been ob- 
 served, for the same purposes, throughout the chris- 
 tian churches. It is, therefore, clearly the duty of 
 all christians to observe the Lord's day, with all 
 possible attention and care, for those important pur- 
 poses. Although the Mosaic Sabbath, or day of 
 
LECTURE XVI. -^91 
 
 entire cessation from our temporal cares and employ- 
 ments be, in cases innumerable, now, impracticable, 
 it is unquestionably wise, and profitable, and neces- 
 sary, that the Lord's day should be, as much as pos- 
 sible, occupied in religious exercises, both public and 
 private, by every one, who is able to be so engaged. 
 The observance of this day, and the due performance 
 of the duties proper to it, are necessary, not only to 
 a flourishing state, but even to the very existence, of 
 religion, and, consequently, to the best interests of 
 mankind, whether spiritual, or temporal ; while the 
 neglect of it is powerfully and unavoidably produc- 
 tive of irreligion, and all manner of moral corruption, 
 and, therefore, of present misery, and eternal perdi- 
 tion, to man. 
 
 To those, who, from defective knowledge, or from 
 prejudice, believe, that the observance of the Mosaic 
 Sabbath-day, in all its strictness, is binding on the 
 christian church we must show all manner of indul- 
 gence and charity ; by avoiding, as much as possible, 
 in word and deed, whatever might offend them, or 
 .prove a snare to their consciences. Otherwise, we 
 disobey the apostolic exhortation, here given us. 
 
 On the broad foundation, laid by the apostle, in 
 this epistle, of confessing, with the mouth, the Lord 
 Jesus, and of believing, with the heart, that God 
 raised him from the dead, let us receive every man, 
 as truly a christian brother ; and let us neither ha- 
 rass, nor offend, him, by bitter and angry disputes, 
 
292 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 about things of subordinate consideration. If, in 
 other things, however important, he clearly appears 
 to us to err, and, if we would use successful, and the 
 only legitimate, means of reclaiming him, it is, by 
 forbearance, by meekness of wisdom, and in charity, 
 we must endeavour to do so. To his own master, he 
 stands, or falls. Let us be chiefly concerned for the 
 account, which we must, before the judgment-seat of 
 Christ, render for ourselves. 
 
 Finally ; to account for the indulgent strain, in 
 which the apostle writes to the Roman christians, 
 relative to those of them, who, in conformity to the 
 Mosaic ritual, still made a distinction between meats 
 and days, and the severe vituperation, with which 
 he addresses the christians of Galatia, we must ob- 
 serve, that these were Gentile converts, who were in 
 imminent danger of being made to believe, that they 
 must still obtain justification of life, not simply by 
 the redemption, that^is in Christ, but, also, by the 
 observance of the Mosaic ritual, and by receiving the 
 distinctive rite of circumcision, which, as the apostle 
 assured them, bound them to obey the whole law, in 
 all its uncompromising demands, and mortal rigour, 
 and that the weak brethren, in the church, in Rome, 
 were Jewish christians, who, though still deficient, 
 in their faith, rested their hopes of salvation and 
 eternal life, on the obedience of Christ to death. 
 
[ 293 ] 
 
 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 ROMANS, XV. 14—33. 
 
 In the church of Christ, in Rome, it would appear, 
 there were well qualified and able teachers, whose 
 instructions and labours were crowned with general 
 success. " I myself, also," saith the apostle, " am 
 persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye yourselves, 
 also, are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, 
 able to admonish one another." But, this epistle 
 containing, as it does, a most comprehensive view of 
 the doctrines of the gospel, and many most important 
 exhortations, relative to the christian life, and coming 
 to that church with apostolic authority, was, in the 
 highest degree, calculated to give still greater effect 
 to the doctrine and exhortations of those teachers, to 
 strengthen their hands, and to remove the prejudices 
 of the weaker, and correct the errors of the less 
 teachable, among them. 
 
 Thus, this epistle was calculated, not to give of- 
 fence to the members of this church, whether Jews, 
 or Gentiles, but greatly to kindle their gratitude to 
 the eminent, and inspired writer of it. But, the 
 
294. LECTURE XVII. 
 
 apostle deemed it fit, to apologize, for the fireedom, 
 which he used, in writing to them ; and, in doing so, 
 his apology was such, that it could not fail to be sus- 
 tained. In the commission, which this apostle had 
 divinely received, he was commanded, first, to ad- 
 dress the Jews ; but, in that commission, he was 
 chiefly and especially appointed to open the eyes* of 
 the blinded Gentiles, to bring them to Christ, and 
 on them, particularly, to bestow his labour. " Never- 
 theless, brethren, I have wTitten the more boldly unto 
 you, in some sort," — that is, in reference to some of 
 you, — in regard to the Gentile part of you, — " as 
 putting you in mind ; because of the grace," — be- 
 cause of the apostolic office, — graciously " given to 
 me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus 
 Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, 
 that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, 
 being sanctified, by the Holy Ghost." The apostle 
 was appointed to minister, in the great, christian, 
 spiritual, temple j the offering, which he was to pre- 
 sent, was the body of Gentile believers in Christ, and 
 this offering, — this body, — in being presented, was 
 manifestly consecrated, and rendered acceptable to 
 God, by the gifts and powers, with which the Holy 
 Spirit endowed it. And it is of the greatest import- 
 ance, that it should be fuUy understood, and always 
 borne in mind, that those miraculous, spiritual, gifts 
 and powers, which, thus, consecrated the first fruits, 
 consecrates, also, the mass. In the apostolic age, 
 
LECTURE XVII. 295 
 
 they, who believed, that Jesus was the Son of God, 
 and made open profession of their belief, received 
 those gifts -and powers, and were, thus, consecrated 
 and sealed, to be the people of God, and heirs of 
 eternal life. But, they received them, not merely for 
 themselves, but, likewise, as the representatives of all, 
 who should have the same belief and profession, in 
 future ages, when, as we experience, it should seem 
 good to the divine wisdom to withdraw them. 
 
 The apostle proceeds to show, that he had not been 
 appointed an apostle, in vain. He declares, that, in 
 bringing the Gentiles to Christ, the most signal suc- 
 cess had crowned his exertions, and that the mighty 
 hand of God manifestly and marvellously co-operated 
 with him. " I have, then, wherewith I may glory, 
 through Jesus Christ, in those things, which pertain 
 to God ;" and my glorying is not, without just cause. 
 I do not, with impious boldness, lay claim to success, 
 with which my labours have not been attended. "For, 
 I will not dare to speak of those things, which Christ 
 hath not wrought by me." I will speak only of those 
 things, which he has actually and manifestly done by 
 me ; — " to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and 
 deed ; through mighty signs and wonders, by the 
 power of the Spirit of God. So that, from Jeru- 
 salem, round about, unto lUyricum, I have fully 
 preached the Gospel of Christ." Now, the conside- 
 ration of the great and universal success, which at- 
 tended the labours of the apostle, — the fact, that, in 
 
296 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 so many other parts of the empire, as well as in Rome, 
 great multitudes had embraced the gospel, and that 
 their conversion was eiFected, by the conviction pro- 
 duced, by the miraculous gifts and powers, with 
 which this great apostle was endowed, — was power- 
 fully calculated to make the doctrines and exhoi»ta- 
 tions, contained in this epistle, to have their due 
 effect on this church ; and that it might produce 
 that effect, was evidently the reason 6f his mention- 
 ing the fact, and, the causes, of his great success, in 
 bringing the Gentiles to Christ. 
 
 In the beginning of the epistle, the apostle solemn- 
 ly and affectionately assures this church, that he had 
 long and anxiously wished to visit them ; and, here, 
 he informs them of the cause, which had hitherto 
 detained him. The cheering and life-giving light 
 of the Sun of Righteousness had already, and for a 
 considerable time, shone on the city of Rome ; while 
 many other populous and important cities and re- 
 gions of the empire still remained in darkness and 
 death ; and to these cities and regions, the apostle, 
 for the most obvious and weighty reasons, directed 
 his steps, to convey to them the glad tidings and 
 knowledge of salvation, by the Son of God. The 
 time, which this necessarily occupied, had hitherto 
 detained him, and was, to this church, a very valid 
 apology, for the delay. " So have I strived to preach 
 the gospel, not where Christ was named; lest I 
 should build on another man's foundation. But, as 
 
LECTURE XVII. 297 
 
 it is written, To whom I was not spoken of, they 
 shall see ; and they, that have not heard, shall un- 
 derstand.* For which cause, I have been much 
 hindered," or, from this cause, chiefly, I have been 
 detained, " from coming to you." 
 
 Having, thus, made a very sufficient apology to 
 this church, for the delay, in visiting them, the 
 apostle proceeds to tell them, that it was his inten- 
 tion, to see them soon ; and, in words, which require 
 no explanation, to inform them of the plan, which 
 he had formed, for his journey. " But, now, having 
 no more place, in these parts, and, having a great 
 desire, these many years, to come unto you, whenso- 
 ever I take my journey to Spain, I will come to you. 
 For, I trust to see you, in my journey, and to be 
 brought on my way thitherward, by you ; if, first, I 
 be somewhat filled, with your company. But, now, 
 I go unto Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints. 
 For, it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia 
 to make a certain contribution, for the poor saints, 
 which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them, 
 verily ; and their debtors they are. For, if the Gen- 
 tiles have been made partakers of their spiritual 
 things, their duty is, also to minister unto them, in 
 carnal things. When, therefore, I have performed 
 this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come, 
 by you, into Spain. And I am sure, that when I 
 come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the 
 • Is. lii. 15. 
 
298 LECTURE XVlI. 
 
 blessing of the gospel of Christ ;" — fully endowed, 
 with the gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit, which 
 accompany the preaching of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 In every city, the Holy Spirit intimated to the 
 apostle, that, in preaching the gospel, bonds and 
 afflictions awaited him ; and he had, already, but 
 too ample experience of the hostility of the Jews, and 
 especially of those at Jerusalem, to himself and to 
 the great cause, in which he was engaged, not to fear 
 the effects of that hostility, on the occasion of his 
 intended visit to that city. He, therefore, now, im- 
 plored the most earnest prayers of this church, to 
 God, that he might be delivered from the hands of 
 his unbelieving countrymen, in Judea. " Now, I 
 beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's 
 sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive 
 together with me, in your prayers, to God, for me ; 
 that I may be delivered from them that do not 
 believe, in Judea ; and that my service, which I have 
 for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints ; that I 
 may come unto you, with joy, by the will of God, and 
 may, with you, be refreshed. Now, the God of peace 
 be with you, all ! Amen ! " 
 
 In this portion of the epistle, some important, 
 practical considerations present themselves to our 
 attention. We learn, from it, that the teachers of 
 the gospel should not fail, to bestow due praise on 
 those, who, for their christian virtues, and their 
 attainments, in christian knowledge, deserve it. It 
 
LECTURE XVII. <29[) 
 
 suggests to us, that we are bound to praise and bless 
 God, for raising up, in his church, so efficient and 
 successful an instrument, as the apostle was, to brino- 
 us, formerly benighted and lost Gentiles, to the mar- 
 vellous light of the gospel, and to the way of eternal 
 life. It reminds us, that we ought fervently to bless 
 God, for sanctifying and sealing, as his people, the 
 first believers in Christ, and, with them, ourselves, 
 by the clear and unquestionable gifts of the Holy 
 Spirit. It teaches us the justice, and the duty, of 
 showing kindness and liberality, in temporal things, 
 to those, who minister to us, in spiritual things. It 
 directs our thoughts to the evil nature and effects of 
 blind prejudices, in religion, and warns us against 
 harbouring them. On this occasion, however, we 
 shall give our chief attention to the consideration of 
 the clear and convincing evidence of the truth and 
 divine origin of our holy religion, derived from the 
 miraculous gifts and powers, with which the great 
 apostle of the Gentiles was endowed, from his own 
 personal qualities, and from the greatness, and sue 
 cess, of his labours, in the gospel. 
 
 In the outset, then, it must be observed, that the 
 history and the epistles, which record the super- 
 natural powers, with which the apostle was endowed, 
 and the miracles, which he performed, are undeni- 
 ably authentic. That is, they have unquestionably 
 been written, by those persons, to. whom they are 
 ascribed, and on the occasions, on which they pur- 
 
300 LECTURE XVII 
 
 port to have been written. They possess every inter- 
 nal characteristic, and all the external evidence, of 
 authenticity, which they could have possessed. The 
 authenticity of no other writings, transmitted to us 
 from antiquity, is established by evidence so clear and 
 strong as that is, which establishes the canon of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 The conversion itself of this apostle was attended, 
 by the most strikingly miraculous circumstances. 
 In Cyprus, Elymas, the sorcerer, was, by his means, 
 instantaneously and miraculously, struck blind. At 
 Lystra, a man cripple, from his birth, was instanta- 
 neously and miraculously restored, by him, to perfect 
 soundness ; and so clear and striking was this miracle, 
 that, had not the apostle himself prevented it, the 
 priest of Jupiter, with the people, would have offered 
 a sacrifice to him, in the belief, that, in his person, 
 a god had appeared on earth. At Philippi, he 
 exorcised a damsel, possessed by a spirit of divina- 
 tion ; and, in that city, while imprisoned, under cir- 
 cumstances of the strongest security, and of the 
 strictest vigilance, by divine, and evidently mira- 
 culous, interposition, the earth shook, his fetters 
 dropped off, and the doors of his prison were thrown 
 open. At Ephesus, by imposition of his hands, 
 spiritual, or miraculous, gifts and powers were im- 
 parted to the converts to Christ ; and they spoke, in 
 languages, with which, until then, they had been 
 wholly unacquainted, and prophesied. In that city. 
 
LECTURE XVII. 301 
 
 too, it is further recorded, "God wrought special 
 miracles, by his hands ; so that, from his body, were 
 brought unto the sick handkerchiefs and aprons ; 
 and the diseases departed from them, and the evil 
 spirits went out of them ;" and evil spirits, them- 
 selves, bore testimony to his supernatural power and 
 divine mission. At Troas, Eutychus, who was taken 
 up dead, was, by the apostle, restored to life. In 
 Melita, to the utter astonishment of those, who 
 looked on, but, in accordance to the prediction of 
 our Lord, the venomous viper fell harmless from his 
 hand, and they concluded, that he must be a god. 
 
 It was, in a divine vision, that the apostle was 
 invited and directed to pass over to Europe, to 
 preach the gospel. At Corinth, he was, in a vision, 
 encouraged to persevere in the w ork of the ministry 
 of the gospel. At Jerusalem, he was, in a miraculous 
 trance, or vision, divinely commanded to quit that 
 city, and to proceed, on his mission, to the Gentiles. 
 Afterwards, too, while confined in the castle, in that 
 city, the Lord stood by him, to assure him, that he 
 should bear witness of him, at Rome, also ; and, 
 while on his perilous voyage thither, the angel of the 
 Lord stood by him, to assure him of safety. 
 
 This brief account of the spiritual powers and 
 miracles of the apostle is derived from the sacred 
 historian. He himself, in his epistles, relates another 
 most interesting and glorious, divine, vision, which 
 was granted to him ; and, in them, he informs us of 
 
30^2 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 other spiritual, divine, communications, made to liim. 
 And, here; it may be observed, that, although any- 
 one may assert, that he has had supernatural visions, 
 whether he has really had them, or not, the credi- 
 bility of the divine visions, with which the apostle 
 was favoured, is firmly established, by" the manifold 
 clear and undeniable miracles, which he performed. 
 In his epistles, besides, the apostle has many direct 
 affirmations, relative to the supernatural, spiritual, 
 gifts and powers, with which he himself was endowed, 
 and which he imparted to others, and to the mani- 
 fold miracles, which he wrought. For, example, be- 
 sides his affirmation, in this epistle, relative to those 
 gifts and powers, in one epistle, he reminds the 
 Corinthians, that the gospel came to them, not in 
 word only, but in demonstration of the spirit, and of 
 power, — by the uncontrovertible evidence of spiritual 
 gifts and powers, and of miracles, — and, in another, 
 that the signs, or proofs, of his apostleship, or divine 
 mission, were amply afforded them, in the manifold 
 mighty works, which he so clearly, and during so 
 long a space of time, performed among them. His 
 allusions to the supernatural gifts, with which he him- 
 self was endowed, and which he imparted to others, 
 and to the miracles, which he performed, are with- 
 out number. 
 
 Now, the affirmations and allusions of the apostle, 
 in his letters, relative to his gifts and miracles, clearly 
 prove, that he really possessed those gifts, and that 
 
LECTURE XVIL 303 
 
 he had really performed those miracles. For, Avere 
 he not endowed with those gifts, and had he not 
 wrought those miracles, to have made either affirma- 
 tions, or allusions, relative to them, instead of con- 
 firming those, to whom his epistles were written, in 
 the faith of the gospel, would inevitably have incurred 
 their ridicule and contempt. 
 
 The apostle was not himself deceived, in regard 
 to the great cause, in which he was engaged. All 
 that we learn, concerning this most distinguished 
 man, in the sacred history, and all that he himself 
 has written, in his epistles, clearly show, that he pos- 
 sessed a most powerful understanding, and talents of 
 the first order. From imbecility, therefore, he could 
 not have believed those things, which he taught, if 
 they had not been true, or those, which he affirmed, 
 unless they had been real. Nor could a blind en- 
 thusiasm, or fanaticism, have deceived him. It is, 
 by prejudices, or prepossessions, that the passions are 
 excited, which drive enthusiasts and fanatics to those 
 extravagant and frantic errors, aiid to those enormi- 
 ties of conduct, which characterise them. But, on 
 his conversion to Christ, the apostle became engaged, 
 in establishing and propagating a faith, which for- 
 merly he used all his influence and efforts utterly to 
 destroy. Whatever degree, therefore, of inconside- 
 rate and impetuous zeal may have existed in the 
 apostle before his conversion, — and unquestionably 
 that degree was not small, — it only proves, that the 
 
304 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 change in his mind and life must have been produ- 
 ced, by a signal, divine, interposition. It is, besides, 
 altogether evident, that no degree of enthusiasm, or 
 fanaticism, — that, indeed, nothing short of a total, 
 physical, aberration of mind, — could have made the 
 apostle to believe, either that he himself possessed 
 those spiritual gifts, with which himself, in his epis- 
 tles, affirms, he was endowed, and which sacred his- 
 tory ascribes to him, or that he had performed all 
 those miracles, which, from Jerusalem, round about, 
 to lUyricum, he is said to have wrought, if he did 
 not really possess those gifts, and if he had not actu- 
 ally performed those miracles. But, supposing, that 
 he himself might have been, deceived, it was not 
 possible, that any delusion, in him, could, also, have 
 so deluded the churches, which he converted and 
 formed, in all that most extensive territory, as to 
 cause them to believe in the reality of those gifts and 
 miracles, if they were not real, — nay, clearly and 
 undeniably real ; — that is, if the gospel were not 
 true, and a divine revelation. 
 
 No man would have engaged, in such labours, as 
 those of the apostle, without a motive, — without, in- 
 deed, a very strong motive. What, then, could have 
 been the motive, that actuated him ? It was not 
 the desire of honour, or of fame. The rulers and 
 other great men, and the generality of his country- 
 men, the Jews, hated and despised Christ, and his 
 gospel ; and the Gentiles, especially the great and 
 
LECTURE XVII. 305 
 
 the learned, among them, regarded and treated the 
 gospel, as foolishness. Neither among the Jews, 
 therefore, nor among the Gentiles, could the apostle 
 expect to acquire honour, or fame, by propagating 
 the gospel. It could not have been the desire of 
 affluence, that urged him. Because, for the sake of 
 Christ, and his gospel, he wilhngly and cheerfully 
 suffered the loss of all things. It was not, in pur- 
 suit of ease, or of any other personal gratification. 
 For, in his apostolic labours, instead of securing 
 these temporal advantages, so great and so constant 
 were his dangers, hardships, and sufferings, that 
 were he not supported, by the glorious prospects of 
 eternal life and happiness, in a future state, he would 
 have been, of all men, the most miserable. For the 
 purity, integrity, disinterestedness, dangers, hard- 
 ships, and sufferings, of his life, he constantly ap- 
 peals to the churches, in his own epistles ; and, it is 
 evident, that no such appeals would have been made, 
 unless there were real grounds for them. No other 
 motive, therefore, could the apostle have had, for 
 preaching and propagating the gospel, than the truth 
 of it, and the reality of his own divine mission, for 
 that purpose. 
 
 The spiritual gifts, with which the apostle was 
 endowed, and the miracles of every kind, which he 
 performed, were, in their nature, all unequivocal, 
 clear, and undeniable. Accordingly, the unbeliev- 
 ing Gentiles absurdly ascribed them to the power of 
 
306 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 magic, and the unbelieving Jews, wickedly, to that 
 of demons. The immediate effects, too, of the mira- 
 cles, wrought by the apostle, like those of the mighty 
 works, performed by all his fellow-apostles, and by 
 our Lord himself, were, in every case, most benefi- 
 cent, in their nature ; and the eternal ends, to which 
 his gifts and miracles were subservient, are great and 
 important, beyond conception ; — a consideration, in 
 the highest degree, calculated to confirm us, in the 
 belief, that those gifts and miracles were real, and 
 that the power, from which they proceeded was 
 divine. 
 
 The miracles performed, by the apostle, besides, 
 were not wrought, either under any circumstances of 
 concealment, or obscurity, or among a people, who, 
 from barbarism and ignorance, were unable to dis- 
 tinguish between miracles and the ordinary opera- 
 tions of nature. They were performed openly, before 
 the world. They were wrought publicly, in the light 
 of day, in the most populous and celebrated cities, in 
 the world, — inviting, and doubtless incurring, the 
 scrutiny of men of science and learning, who were 
 well able to judge of their claim to reality, and who, 
 had they been false, easily could, and readily would, 
 have exposed the imposture. 
 
 If, then, we consider the mighty obstacles, which 
 the apostle had to surmount, and the very great and 
 numberless difficulties, which he had to encounter, 
 in converting the Gentiles to the faith of the gospel, — 
 
LECTURE XVir. -307 
 
 if we duly reflect on the power of the civil authori- 
 ties, ever ready to be used, in defence and support 
 of the religion of the state, however false, or cor- 
 rupt, — on the zealous and unscrupulous aid, which 
 an interested and crafty priesthood lends to that 
 power, in preventing any change, in the prevailing 
 system of superstition, and especially in preserving 
 that system from destruction, — and on the blind and 
 bloody fanaticism, with which the infuriated multi- 
 tude defend any system of superstition, however mon- 
 strous, in which they may have been brought up, 
 when it is attacked, — and if, in making these re- 
 flections, we also consider the great and wonderful 
 success, which crowned the labours of the apostle, in 
 bringing so great numbers of men, of every descrip- 
 tion, from Gentile darkness, to the glorious light of 
 the gospel, — we can come to no other conclusion 
 than this ; — that the great apostle of the Gentiles 
 did, in reality, possess the miraculous gifts and 
 powers, and did, indeed, work those miracles, which 
 are, in the Scriptures, ascribed to him ; and that a 
 deep and thorough conviction of this, was the cause 
 of the conversion of those, whom he brought to the 
 faith of the gospel. 
 
 In the estimation of the most competent judges, 
 the argument arising from the spiritual endowments, 
 miracles, and life, of this apostle, appears so clear, 
 strong, and convincing, that, of itself alone, it forms 
 au irresistible proof of the truth, and divine origin 
 
308 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 of the gospel ; * and, if it do, how much more power- 
 ful and convincing is it, when considered, in con- 
 nexion with the evidence aiforded, by the miracles, 
 doctrine, and life, of our Lord himself, and of his 
 other apostles and evangelists, and as forming a part 
 of the grand, general, dispensation of revealed reli- 
 gion, which, in its origin, progress, and completion, 
 has so manifestly been the effect of divine, miracu- 
 lous, interposition. 
 
 What a cheering consideration, then, is it, and 
 what cause of unceasing thankfulness to God, not 
 only that we have the firmest possible foundation for 
 our faith, in the truth and reality of our holy reli- 
 gion, as that religion is contained in the divine ora- 
 cles, but that, if we live to the Lord Jesus, we have 
 the most rational and solid grounds for our expecta- 
 tion of eternal life, glory, honom', and peace ! 
 
 * See the most able and admirable letter of George Lord Lyttle- 
 ton, to Gilbert West, Esquire, in which his Lordship shows, that the 
 conversion, miracles, and life of the apostle Paul, do, of themselves 
 alone, sufficiently and clearly demonstrate the truth of the Christian 
 reliffion. 
 
[ 309 '-] 
 
 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 ROMANS, XVI. 
 
 Having finished his epistle, with the usual signature 
 and benediction, with his own hand, the apostle, pro- 
 bably at short intervals of time, added to it two post- 
 scripts, and finally a most solemn doxology to God ; 
 and these we are now about to consider. 
 
 In his apostolical journeys and ministrations, the 
 apostle became, either ofiicially connected, or well 
 acquainted, with a number of christians, who, when 
 this epistle was written, were at Rome. To these 
 christians, then, he now sends his salutations ; — 
 salutations, which are manifestly the expression of 
 the most ardent christian love, and of the sincerest, 
 most disinterested, and most exalted, love and friend- 
 ship, which are well fitted to convince us, that this 
 truly illustrious apostle, and good man, felt the power 
 of the doctrines, which he taught, and cherished and 
 carefully cultivated those heavenly afifections, which 
 he so strongly and constantly recommended to others, 
 and which, therefore, invite and deserve the deep 
 attention of every christian. 
 
310 LECTURE XVIU. 
 
 ** I commend unto you Phebe, our sister, which is 
 a servant of the church, which is at Cenchrea." This 
 Phebe, who, as we arc led to infer from the word, by 
 which her office is designated in the original, and 
 from the character here given of her, was a person, 
 who discharged the duties of a deaconess, in the 
 church at Cenchrea; — duties, it is probable, which 
 were partly spiritual and partly secular, and which 
 peculiar circumstances, then, rendered necessary. 
 " That," continues the apostle, " ye receive her in 
 the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her, 
 in whatsoever business she hath need of you. For 
 she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself 
 also." Thus, Phebe is recommended, by the apostle, 
 as a true christian sister, and a person of great and 
 general beneficence, to the Roman christians, who 
 are requested to succour her, in transacting the busi- 
 ness, which brought her to Rome, and which appears 
 to have been of a secular nature. Thus, too, we are 
 here reminded, that a due portion of our time, atten- 
 tion, and labour, is divinely permitted to be given to 
 our temporal aifairs ; and we are enjoined to give to 
 good and beneficent christian strangers a cordial and 
 becoming reception, and, in particular, to use our 
 best services, in promoting their temporal interests. 
 
 Aquila was a Jew, a native of Pontus, who, with 
 all other Jews, was, by an edict of the Emperor Clau- 
 dius, banished from Rome, and came, accompanied 
 by his wife, Priscilla, or Prisca, to Corinth. Here 
 
LECTURE XVIII. 311 
 
 the apostle found Aquila and Priscilla, who appear 
 to have already embraced the gospel ; and the apostle, 
 for important reasons, which he gives in other epistles, 
 wrought with them, to earn his daily bread, in the 
 occupation of tent-making. For, the apostle, like 
 many other persons of liberal education and higher 
 prospects, in those times, had learned a handicraft. 
 From the additional instructions, given by Aquila 
 and Priscilla to Apollos, — himself a man mighty in 
 the scriptures, — they were evidently well versed in 
 the doctrines of the gospel ; and they greatly aided 
 the apostle, in the ministry of the word of life.* We 
 find, they were afterwards with the apostle, at Ephe- 
 sus ; and here we learn, they had returned to Rome. 
 The apostle himself further informs us, that, on one 
 occasion, on which his life was in the most imminent 
 danger, these worthy persons generously and magna- 
 nimously saved it, at the risk of losing their own. 
 This, therefore, not only laid himself under the 
 strongest obligations of gratitude to them, but like- 
 wise the whole Gentile christian world, and was 
 worthy, not only of the warmest and most marked 
 acknowledgement in this epistle, but also of having 
 a place in the sacred volume, to excite the admira- 
 tion and imitation of future generations. "Greet 
 Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ, who 
 have, for my life, laid down their own necks ; unto 
 whom, not only I give thanks, but also all the 
 
 * Acts, xviii. 2, 3, 
 
312 LECTURE XVIIL 
 
 churches of the Gentiles." This salutation was 
 greatly and most deservedly calculated to raise Aquila 
 and Priscilla in the estimation of the Roman chris- 
 tians ; and that end, doubtless, the apostle intended 
 it should serve. 
 
 Of the family, also, or domestics, of Aquila and 
 Priscilla some, if not all, had been converted to 
 Christ ; and to these, likewise, the apostle, designat- 
 ing them, " the church, that was in their house,'* 
 sends his salutations. 
 
 " Salute," continues the apostle, " my beloved ' 
 Epenetus, who is the first-fruits of Achaia* to Christ." 
 Of this expression of love and esteem this distin- 
 guished christian was, in the highest degree, worthy. 
 To have been the first person in this extensive pro- 
 vince, to renounce the ingenious, accommodating, 
 splendid, and attractive, religion, during so many 
 ages, established, in that celebrated region, as else- 
 where, and, thus, to declare it to be, but a cunningly 
 devised, and most corrupting, fable, to have incurred 
 the displeasure, reproach, and ridicule, not only of 
 his countrymen, but of his nearest relatives, and 
 dearest friends, to have, perhaps, sacrificed great 
 worldly interests, and many temporal gratifications, 
 to have embraced a religion so new and uncommon, 
 and so subversive of that of his country, and, there- 
 fore, so dangerous to his own personal safety, to have 
 
 * Or " of Asia," as many read. I'ut, in that case, too, the same 
 observations are fully applicable. 
 
LECTURE XVIir. 313 
 
 listened only to the voice of reason, truth, and con- 
 viction, and obeyed that voice alone, and to have led 
 the way, in the glorious, but perilous, cause of the 
 gospel, most clearly shows, that Epenetus was a man 
 worthy not only of the apostolic salutation, but also 
 of the notice, which he has obtained, in the sacred 
 record, and of being, thus for ever an object of admi- 
 ration to all the christian world. 
 
 The apostle desires his salutation to " Mary ; " 
 and she, too, deserved, not only that mark of esteem, 
 from him, but, also, the grateful remembrance of the 
 whole Gentile, christian, world. For, here, we learn, 
 that she laboured much, for the benefit of the apostle, 
 and his fellow-labourers, in the gospel. 
 
 He salutes " Andronicus and Jtmia," whom he 
 mentions, as his " kinsmen ;" to remind them and 
 his other christian kinsmen, that, although he had, 
 in this epistle, spoken of his kinsmen, the Jews, in 
 general, in terms of severity, it was from no ill-will, 
 but from love and necessity. He, further, observes, 
 that Andronicus and Junia were, on some occasion, 
 not specified, his fellow-prisoners ; — =a fact, which 
 redounded greatly to their praise. And, for this, 
 and, doubtless, for their excellent christian qualities, 
 " they were of note among the apostles." Nor could 
 the apostle, in great humility and kindness, omit 
 adding, that " they were in Christ before himself;" 
 — that is, while, in blind and headlong zeal, he was 
 
314.' LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 persecuting the Lord from heaven, and making havoc 
 of his church. 
 
 Besides these excellent christians, the apostle 
 salutes many more ; either coupling their names with 
 some endearing, or honourable, epithet, or adding 
 some expression of commendation, especially to the 
 names of those, who assisted in the ministry of the 
 gospel. " Greet Amplias, my beloved, in the Lord. 
 Salute Urbane, our helper, in Christ, and Stachys, 
 my beloved. Salute Apelles, approved in the Lord." 
 Apelles, we may hence justly infer, had clearly shown 
 the sincerity and firmness of his faith, and his other 
 excellent Christian qualities, under circumstances, 
 which put those qualities greatly to the test. *' Sa- 
 lute them, which are of Aristobulus' household. 
 Salute Herodian, my kinsman. Greet them, that be 
 of the household of Narcissus, which are in the 
 Lord. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour 
 in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which la- 
 boured much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen, * 
 
 * The word, in the original, is, elect, which, in reference, both to 
 men and things, often means excellent, in their nature, or kind. 
 Thus ; we read of the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered 
 seven hundred elect, or chosen, men. Judges xx. 15. In the wilder- 
 ness, the wrath of God came upon Israel, and slew the fattest of them, 
 and smote down the elect, or chosen, men of them. Psa. Ixxviii. 31. 
 The children of Heth desired Abraham to bury his dead, in the elect, 
 or choice, of their sepulchres. Gen. xx. 15. The children of Israel 
 were commanded to bring to the Lord, in the place which he should 
 select for his name, " their elect, or choice, vows," or gifts. Deut. 
 xii. 1 1 . The king of Assyria came to the sides of Lebanon to cut 
 down the tall cedars thereof, and the elect, or choice, fir- trees thereof. 
 
LECTURE XVIII. 315 
 
 in the Lord ;" — that is, a man of excellent and shi- 
 ning christian qualities ; — " and his mother and 
 mine." The mother of Rufus, in her kindness to 
 the apostle, acted towards him, also, the part of a 
 mother. " Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, 
 Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren, which are with 
 them. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his 
 sister, and Olympas, and aU the saints," or chris- 
 tians, " which are with them." 
 
 These salutations and commendations were highly- 
 calculated to encourage, in the Lord, those to whom 
 they were sent, and to induce them to persevere in 
 every thing becoming their christian profession ; 
 and, coming, from an apostle, who knew them, and 
 who w^as endowed with so much discernment, both 
 spiritual and natural, the commendations must have 
 been well deserved, and justly due. The example 
 of the apostle, then, teaches all christian pastors to 
 encourage those of their flocks, who are eminent for 
 their christian w orks and virtues, by special atten- 
 tion, and affectionate praises. 
 
 *' Salute," continues the apostle, '* one another, 
 with an holy kiss." This manner of salutation was, 
 in those times, customary ; and, here, we find it 
 
 2 Kings xix. 23. The good kine, seen by Pharaoh, in his dream, are 
 termed elect, or " fat-fleshed." Gen. xli. 2. And the good ears of 
 com, seen by him, are also denominated elect, or " rank." V. 5. 
 This is the language of the Septuagint version, and throws light on 
 several passages of the New Testament, in which the word, elect, is 
 used, and which, from inattention to the true meaning of that word, is 
 not unfrequently misunderstood. 
 
316 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 sanctioned, in the christian church, by the apostle, 
 who enjoins it to be observed, in all sanctity, as well 
 as with all kindness. But, in all probability, his sanc- 
 tion was given, only because it was an expression of 
 friendship and kindness, then, in general use ; and 
 we cannot, therefore, infer the obligation of the ob- 
 servance of it, in christian communities, whose cus- 
 tom is different. The chief object, perhaps, though 
 but implied, which the apostle had in view, in the 
 injunction, was, still further, to inculcate unmingled 
 mutual brotherly kindness and love between the 
 Jewish and Gentile members of this church. 
 
 " The churches of Christ salute you." The small- 
 ness of the number of those, who, in the apostolic 
 age, believed, and who, in obedience to their con- 
 viction, dared, in the midst of an unbelieving world, 
 to profess their belief, was, itself, a great cause of 
 discouragement to them. This expression, then, of 
 brotherly kindness and respect, from the churches 
 of Christ, in Achaia, converted, as they had been, 
 by the ministry of the apostle himself, and greatly 
 abounding in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to a church, 
 that, hitherto, had not had the benefit of the perso- 
 nal ministry of an apostle, and, probably, not so 
 plentifully possessing those gifts, must have been pe- 
 culiarly encouraging, gratifying, and useful ; as it 
 virtually was a public and solemn acknowledgment 
 of them, as true brethren, in Christ. 
 
 But, the apostle knew, that, in this, as well as in 
 
LECTURE XVUI. ol? 
 
 the other Gentile churches, there were Judaizing 
 teachers, whose doctrines tended, either wholly to 
 overturn, or, at least, greatly to corrupt, the doctrines 
 of the gospel, to create dissensions and divisions 
 among them, and, thus, to endanger the faith, prac- 
 tice, and salvation of the weak and unwary. Against 
 these teachers, then, the apostle, here, earnestly and 
 solemnly warns this church, and exhorts them to shun 
 them. " Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them, 
 which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the 
 doctrine, which ye have learned ; and avoid them." 
 He, then, doubtless from a thorough knowledge of 
 the principles and conduct of those deceivers, tells 
 the church the unholy motives, which actuated them, 
 and the base and hypocritical means, of which they 
 made use, to accomplish their evil purposes. " For, 
 they, that are such, serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 but their own belly, and, by good words and fair 
 speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple." The 
 judaizing teachers, by flattering words and specious 
 arguments, confirmed those, whom they deceived, in 
 their prejudices, in favour of the necessity of the ob- 
 servance of the Mosaic law, in order to salvation, 
 and, perhaps, countenanced, in them, laxity of morals. 
 This necessarily led to a separation in worship, and 
 to a choice of teachers, who, it would appear, 
 greedily, cunningly, and busily, turned prejudice, 
 error, dissension, and evil, to unhallowed gain. 
 This exhortation, however, was given, not because 
 
318- LECTURE XVHI. 
 
 this church was peculiarly conspicuous, for being 
 deficient and disorderly. For, with much satisfac- 
 tion, the apostle had, in this epistle, already express- 
 ed his conviction, that they were filled with all know_ 
 ledge and goodness, and able to admonish one ano- 
 ther ; and here again, with equal satisfaction, he af- 
 firms, that their conversion and obedience to the 
 gospel was a fact universally known. It was for their 
 very excellency, and from a desire of confirming 
 them, in their faith and good conduct, and of pre- 
 serving them, by his apostolic authority and exhor- 
 tation, from an evil, from which he knew, all the 
 Gentile churches stood in danger, and from which, 
 it would appear, even this church had not wholly 
 escaped. *' For, your obedience is come abroad unto 
 all men. I am glad, therefore, in your behalf. But, 
 yet, I would have you wise unto that, which is good, 
 and simple concerning evil." 
 
 Here, the apostle consoles this church, with the 
 near prospect of deliverance, from the trial, danger, 
 and evil, which arose from judaizing teachers, in the 
 church, and from the severe and constant persecu- 
 tions of the Jews, in general. The time foretold by 
 our Lord himself, and prophetically known to the 
 apostle, when the polity of the Jewish nation should 
 be for ever destroyed, and when that nation should 
 no longer possess any power, or authority to injure 
 the church of Christ, or to prevent its growth, was 
 now at hand. " The God of peace shall bruise 
 
LECTURE XVIIL 819 
 
 Satan," that is, the adversary, " under your feet 
 shortly." 
 
 To attest the authenticity of this postscript, — to 
 certify, that it, as well as the rest of the epistle, was, 
 indeed, from himself, — the apostle subjoins, and 
 writes, with his own hand, the sign of authenticity, 
 in all his epistles, — the usual solemn and impressive 
 benediction. " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 be with you. Amen." 
 
 In the first postscript, the apostle sends the salu- 
 tations of the churches of Achaia to this church, — 
 an expression and pledge of paternal love, which 
 could not fail greatly to gratify them, and to encour- 
 age them, in the Lord. In a second postscript he 
 sends them the salutations of eminent and excellent 
 individuals, which, also, were much calculated to 
 have the same happy effect. *' Timotheus, my work- 
 fellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my 
 kinsmen, salute you." These salutations are a vir- 
 tual and full declaration of agreement, with the apos- 
 tle, in whatever he writes in the epistle, and, coming 
 from a fellow-labourer, who was so eminently endow- 
 ed, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and from other 
 Jewish christian brethren of merited celebrity, in 
 the general church, they could not fail greatly to add 
 to the authority of the doctrines of the apostle, and 
 to the force of his exhortations, to the members of 
 this church, whether Jews, or Gentiles. Nor could 
 the salutations, which follow, fail to have a very be- 
 
320 LECTURE XVIIL 
 
 neficial effect, on this church. " I, Tertius, who 
 wrote this epistle," — who wrote this epistle, from the 
 dictation of the apostle, — " salute you, in the Lord. 
 Gaius, mine host, and of the whole church ;" — that 
 is, Gaius, with whom I lodge, a man of general be- 
 neficence to the church, — " saluteth you. Erastus, 
 the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quar- 
 tus, a brother." These, it may justly be inferred, 
 were persons of wealth, intelligence, education, and 
 distinction ; and, since from various powerful and 
 fatal, worldly, causes, there had been, hitherto, 
 among the Gentiles, but comparatively few such con- 
 verted to Christ, it could not fail to be highly grati- 
 fying and encouraging to this church, that every 
 where there were some ; — some, who, having more 
 worldly good than others, either to endanger, or 
 perhaps to lose, and who, from their eminent station, 
 and extensive influence, in society, were in peculiar 
 danger, from the vigilance and power of the civil 
 authorities, the jealous guardians of the established 
 superstition, clearly showed, that they accounted all 
 things but loss, in comparison with the knowledge 
 of Christ crucified, and the salvation, which he has 
 effected. 
 
 To this postscript, also, the apostle appends the 
 usual attestation of authenticity. " The grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen ! " 
 
 These postscripts, and the whole of this invaluable 
 epistle, the apostle concludes, with a most solemn 
 
LECTURE XVIII. 321 
 
 and ardently devout doxology to God. " Now, to 
 him, that is of power to establish you according- to 
 my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, ac- 
 cording to the revelation of the mystery, which was 
 kept secret, since the world began, but now is made 
 manifest, and, by the scriptures of the prophets, ac- 
 cording to the commandment of the everlasting God, 
 made known to all nations, for the obedience of faith ; 
 — to God only wise be glory, through Jesus Christ, 
 for ever. Amen ! " Even in this doxology, we see, 
 the apostle could not refrain from reminding this 
 church, once more, of the unspeakably precious doc- 
 trines, contained in this epistle. Once more, he calls 
 their attention to " his gospel;" — to the joyful tid- 
 ings, which he was divinely sent and accredited to 
 communicate to the world. Once more, he brings 
 to their view " the preaching," or doctrine, " of 
 Christ ; " — the doctrine, that he was the Son of God, 
 and that he died for our sins, and rose again for our 
 justification; — thus abolishing death, and bringing 
 to the clearest light life and immortality. Once 
 more, he reminds them of the revelation of the mys- 
 tery, which, in past ages, was not made known to 
 the sons of men, as it is now revealed, — that mystery, 
 which is now made manifest, by the fulfilment of the 
 prophetic scriptures, as well as by " the demonstra- 
 tion of the spirit ;" — that inestimable and glorious 
 mystery, which reveals to us, that the Gentiles are 
 now invited and received into the church and king- 
 
 X 
 
3^2 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 dom of God, and made heirs of eternal life, not by 
 submitting- to the yoke of the Mosaic law, but simply 
 and purely by faith in Christ, and free justification, 
 by the grace, or great and unmerited goodness, of 
 God. Once more, he declares to them, that this in- 
 effably precious mystery is, by the commandment of 
 the eternal God, made known to all nations ; — made 
 known to them, that they might believe and obey 
 what it reveals, and, thus, finally come to the posses- 
 sion and enjoyment of eternal life, glory, honour, and 
 peace. 
 
 How fervently and unceasingly thankful, then, 
 ought we, whose Gentile fathers were wholly igno- 
 rant of this mystery, to be, that we have it revealed 
 to us, that, instead of worshipping, as they did, stocks 
 and stones, and of being, as they were, without hope, 
 and without God, in the world, we are brought to 
 the knowledge of the living and true God, and of 
 Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, and to the well- 
 founded prospect of a glorious life and immortality, 
 that we are not, as they were, strangers and foreign- 
 ers to the commonwealth of the people of God, but 
 fellow-citizens with the saints, and members of his 
 household, that we are delivered from the power of 
 Satan, by whom they were held in degrading bon- 
 dage, and brought to the glorious kingdom and ser- 
 vice of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and that, 
 instead of groping in the thick spiritual darkness, in 
 which they were involved, we behold the marvellous 
 
LECTURE XVIII. 323 
 
 and joyful light of the Sun of Righteousness ! How 
 careful ought we to be, that, from evil deeds, we may 
 not love darkness more than the light, which now so 
 gloriously shines ! How anxious ought we to be, not 
 to neglect the great salvation, that is so fully within 
 our reach ! How can we escape a fearful retribution, 
 if we either despise, or neglect it? How careful 
 ought we to be, lest, having a divine promise of en- 
 tering into the rest of the people of God, we may 
 not, from sin and unbelief, come short of that rest ! 
 What can we expect but condign punishment, if we 
 hide in the earth the talents, committed to our 
 charge ? How industriously ought we to make a 
 suitable use of those talents ; that we may obtain the 
 rich and glorious reward of our diligence ! How per- 
 severingly and ardently ought we to press towards 
 the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God, 
 in Christ, — the crown of life and righteousness ! We 
 have, not only every motive, but every encourage- 
 ment, to embrace the salvation of God, and to work 
 out that salvation, for ourselves. By the command- 
 ment of God himself, it is brought to all nations, 
 that they may accept and obey it ; and any indivi- 
 dual, of any nation, to whom the great and glorious 
 mystery of godliness is made known, is, not only 
 permitted, but invited, entreated, and commanded, 
 to accept it, that, in rendering obedience to its re- 
 quirements, he may receive the present and eternal 
 benefit of it. For, Christ gave himself a ransom for 
 
324 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 all ; and God would have all men, through him, to 
 be saved. — Then, to God our Father, who hath loved 
 us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and 
 good hope, through grace, and who is able to estab- 
 lish us, in every good word and work ; — to him, that 
 is able to keep us from falling, and to present us 
 faultless before the presence of his glory, with ex- 
 ceeding joy ; — to the only wise God, our Saviour, be 
 glory and majesty, dominion, and power, through 
 Jesus Christ, our Lord, both now and for ever. 
 Amen ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY nALLANTYNE ANU CO., PAUL'S WORK, EDINBURGH. 
 
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