i^ 5:i 5:1^ i:^. .^^^ i:^. "=^2- 
 
 OF THK 
 AT 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 x> o ::v ^■%. T I c* :v o !•"• 
 
 SAMUEL AGNE\V, 
 
 OF P H n. A I)K 1. PHI A, PA. 
 
 
 I Case, Division.. ^^.|; 
 
 I ^^^''^f^ Sect,, i^^/^^f 
 
 il 
 
 fiooh' 
 
 ^c^ 
 
 
THE 
 
 EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 ANALYSED, 
 
 FROM A 
 
 DEVELOPEMENT OF THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ROMAN CHURCH, 
 
 BY WHICH IT WAS OCCASIONED. 
 
 BY JOHN^JONES, 
 
 There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that 
 shall not be known. Matt. x. 26. 
 
 K«< T*)v Toy 'Kv^iou vifx.uv fjLax^oOviAtxv, crwrfiPioi'V vysiaGs' >cx9us 
 XXI xya'TTioTos v^^uv a^EA^oy IlxvXos, xarx mv xvtm Msktxv <ro- 
 (flixv, sy^x-^iv v(*.ir us Kxt iv <Kxarxts rxis sttito^xis KxKuv ev xv- 
 vois vs^i Tovruv, ev o<j £$■< JvuvojjTa rtvx, x 0/ a//.a9sis' y.xi xf-n^ix-Toi 
 T^i^Kovaiv, us KXi rxs Xoinixs y§x(pxs, ir^os rm i^ixv xvtujv xttcu- 
 Ttsixv. 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16. 
 
 HALIFAX: 
 
 PRINTED BY HOLDEN AND DOWSON; 
 rOR J. JOIiJSSON, No. 72, ST. PAUL'S CHUKGH-YARD, LONDO.V. 
 
 1801, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 T 
 
 M. HIS small Volume vco' ^^ /^^'^ intended to be « continucUiou 
 of two other Volumes which the author has already laid before the 
 public. But he has since thought it adviseable to render it inde- 
 pendent of that Work. For this reason it became necessary to 
 prefix to this Analysis of the Epistle to the Jtomans a brief view 
 of the principal circumstances which occasioned its publication, 
 HCf however^ deemed it expedient to refer occasionally to the prat* 
 ceding volumes. But the reader is exempted from the absolute 
 necessity of purchasing than^ though he would find, it is hopedf 
 some satisfaction in consulting the passages to which references 
 are made. 
 
 In quoting the words of the Apostle, the Analyser someti7nes 
 gives an entirely new translation^ though more generally he has 
 adopted the version of the late illustrious and ever memorable, 
 scholar and Patriot, Gilbert Wakefield. That version^ 
 howeveTf he has taken the liberty to change,- wherever the original 
 Mj in his opinion, mistaken, or inadequately expressed. 
 
 In explaining this obscure Epistle, the author, it will be secny 
 Aas made little or no vse of the labours of other critics and conii- 
 fnentators. Tliis omission requires an apology ; as it may seem 
 inconsistent with that humble, teachable, and candid spirit (essen- 
 titil to the enquirer after religious truthj, which is ever prone to 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 look around for the assistance of other s^ and dreads relying on 
 its own exertions. His object, it should be observed, is sini' 
 ply to lay before the public the result of his ovjn enquiries. This 
 he wished to 'do with all possible brevity ; and this end could not 
 he ansivered, if he stopped to cite useless authorities, to approve, 
 or to controvert, the explanations already given l^y learned men. 
 Tlie practice of loading the page with citations and references often 
 serves to display rather the learning of the <-rUir, than to promote 
 the benefit of the reader. The truly learned seldom need such refe- 
 rences, and the previously uninformed have not the means nor the 
 ability of profiting by them. Passages, in ancient authors, how- 
 ever, containing the evidences of facts, ought alivays to be pro- 
 duced ivith fidelity ; and in all that is requisite to this purpose the 
 present writer, he trusts, is not materially deficient. Jn examiri' 
 inf^ the evangelical records, it has been his habit to enquire, as 
 though no other person had ever enquired before him, and with 
 the same freedom and independence he now communicates his 
 thoughts to the world. 
 
 The attempts that hate hitherto been made to explain the Scrip- 
 tures appear to him very defective. The efforts of classical 
 divines to elucidate obscure terms and phrases by parallel passa- 
 ges, collected from Greek and Roman authors, are connncndable^ 
 and in part successful. But the writers of the New Testament 
 •were not guided by the rules of classic composition. The situation 
 in ivhich they xvere placed alone contains the causes of their pe- 
 culiar > phraseologies. The new views which the gospel unfolded 
 to their understandings, and the new direction it impressed on 
 their conduct, obliged them often to corhicct peculiar significations 
 with their terms, and to form them in combinations unexampled. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Besides this, the Apostles had no opportunities nor inclination to 
 study the sources of attic elegance. They were men engaged in 
 the pursuit of an important end, to the accomplishment of ivhich 
 every mo7nerU of their time, and every faculty of their minds were 
 devoted. The letters, xvhich tliey respectively addressed to the 
 Churches, contain not abstract or speculative matters, hut respect 
 matta's of practical importance and actual occurrence. They 
 were called forth l>y the peculiar and local circumstances of the 
 several societies to which they were sent. Tlie dezelopement of 
 those circumstances, and a comparative vieiv of them ivith the 
 Apostolic imtings, must consequently be the only rational and 
 effectual way of elucidating whatever is obscure, and ascertain' 
 ing wl utever is doubtful in tfiem. This is the main object, to 
 ivhich the labours of this writer in analysing the epistles will be 
 directed. It is an object, it will be allowed, new, arduous 
 and iinportant ; and, if executed in a manner adequate to its 
 merits the execution will, on one hand, establish the genuineness 
 and truth of the Apostolic writings, and demonstrate* on the other, 
 the falsehood of those creeds of human inveittion, by which the 
 divine lustre of the Gospel has been tarnished, and its effica- 
 cious influence counteracted. 
 
TH£ 
 
 CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 INTRODUCED INTO 
 
 ROME. 
 
 L 
 
 .N the following attempt to analyse the Epistles 
 of Paul, and those of the other Apostles, I shall consider 
 them, what they really are, as letters, and, like all com- 
 positions of this kind, turning entirely upon the pecu- 
 liar circumstances of the individual people to whom 
 they were addressed. The object, then, which at pre- 
 sent, I propose to accomplish, is, in the first place, to 
 give a brief developement of the leading events which 
 distinguished the Roman Church, and of the opinions and 
 practices of those who took the lead in it ; and secondly, 
 to examine, in relation to the facts thus developed, the 
 language of Paul in the celebrated but obscure Epistle 
 which he wrote to that society. 
 
 It is a remarkable phenomenon in the history of the 
 Christian religion, that no account has been transmit- 
 ted to posterity by what means, and at what time it 
 was first introduced into the metropolis of the empire ; 
 and how wfis laid the foundation of a church, which 
 in all ages made so conspicuous, though melancholy 
 a figure amoijg the other churches of Christendom. 
 And this phdiomenon seems to have led a modern 
 writer, much respected for his learning and talents, and 
 still more so for his integrity, to question the genuine- 
 ness of the letter which our Apostle sent to the Roman 
 converts. 
 
 VOL. III. A 
 
a THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 If we duly reflect upon the unrivalled wisdom and 
 beiievolence which were displayed in the character of 
 our Lord ; if we properly consider the stupendous 
 works which he performed, and his open and public 
 manner of performing them, we may well infer that 
 in no place however distant, that indeed had any in- 
 tercourse with Judea, could he long remain unobserv- 
 ed and unknown. The glad tidings which he pro- 
 claimed as the Messenger of heaven, the wonders 
 which he exhibited in attestation of his claims, and the 
 conformity of those claims with the expectation of 
 mankind, must, without delay, have excited universal 
 attention, and proved the means of conveying his fame 
 not only to Rome, betwixt which and Judea was 
 maintained a constant and direct communication, but 
 to the remotest regions of the Roman empire. What 
 we may thus fairly infer from reflection upon the cha- 
 racter and miracles of Jesus, is attested to a certain 
 extent by the authentic historians of his life. Mat- 
 thew informs us, that, when he began to heal diseases, 
 his fame went throughout all Syria, Chap. iv. 24 ; 
 and Luke adds, that it spread over the whole surround- 
 ing region, iv. 14. 
 
 The above inference, corroborated by the evange- 
 lical records, cannot but dispose us to regard as by no 
 means improbable the substance of the following nar- 
 rative written by a person, who professed to have 
 been in Rome at the time when the fame of Christ 
 had reached that city. *' In the midst of these thoughts 
 and difficulties, a certain report commencing with the 
 spring season, under the reign of Tiberius Caesar, irh. 
 sensibly prevailed in every place, and pervaded the 
 world as being truly the message of God, apd unable 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. id 
 
 to retain in silence and secrecy the Divine Will. 
 Every where it grew greater and stronger ; saying, that 
 a certain man in Judea, making his first appearance in 
 the spring, announced to the Jews the kingdom of the 
 eternal God, of which he affirmed every one that led a 
 virtuous life might partake : and in order to prove 
 that he proclaimed this blessing by divine inspiration, 
 he wrought many surprising signs and wonders by his 
 command alone, having received this power from God, 
 For he caused the deaf to hear, and the blind to see ; 
 the lame he [enabled to walk, and the cripple to stand 
 erect ; he healed every disease, and banislied all demons. 
 Scaly lepers recovered their sound state by only look- 
 ing upon him at a distance. Even the dead, which 
 were brought to him, he raised to life ; and there was 
 nothing which he was not able to do. And, as the time 
 advanced, the report of him was confirmed by rauh- 
 titudes that had come from that country ; so that it 
 was no longer a report, but a real fact. And meetings 
 were now held in different places for the sake of en- 
 quiring who the person, that had thus appeared, might 
 be, and what he intended to proclaim." Clem. Hom. 
 i. 4. 
 
 Now the snread of the fame of Jesus in the capital, as 
 here related, and the reception of his religion by multi- 
 tudes of Jews and of Gentiles, together with the com- 
 motions necessarily excited by the dispute respecting 
 him, were, it is contended, the circumstances ,which 
 occasioned the banishment of the Jewish and Egyptian 
 nations from Italy by order of the Government. The 
 testimonies of Josephus, Philo, Suetonius, and Tacitus, 
 I will here first produce ; and then endeavour to prove 
 
IV THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 the truth of tliis assertion. The account which Jose- 
 phus gives of their expulsion is as follows : 
 
 *' A Jew resided there (in Rome), who, having 
 been accused of transgressing the laws, fled from his 
 country to avoid the punishment which threatened hira. 
 In every respect he was a wicked man. During his 
 residence at Rome, he professed to unfold the wisdom 
 of the Mosaic laws, in conjunction with three other 
 men, who in every view resembled himself. With 
 these associated Fulvia, a woman of rank, that had be- 
 come a convert to the Jewish religion, and whom they 
 prevailed upon to send, for the temple of Jerusalem, 
 presents of purple and gold. These they received 
 and appropriated to their own use ; which indeed was 
 their motive at first in making the request. Tiberius, 
 when informed of this by Saturninus, the husband of 
 the unjustly accused Fulvia, commanded all the Jews 
 to be expelled from the city. The men to the number 
 of four thousand, were forced into the army, by order 
 of the Senate, and sent to the island of Sardinia : but 
 the greater part of them, determined to preserve their 
 laws inviolate, refused to serve as soldiers. These 
 were put to death. And thus, because of the wicked- 
 ness of four men, the Jews were driven from the 
 city. * 
 
 *Hv avj)^ lov^Mios, (pvyxs //.ev T»jr a-vroo, axrvtyo^ix ri 'nx^x^xaias 
 vo[/,iiJv KXt csii rifj.u^^ixs rrjs ett xvrois, •novnqos oe as rx itxvTx. xxi 
 Ss TOTE EV TE Pw/xr) S/a/Tw/xEvoj nT^otTBitoitiTo [/.sv i^nysiaOxt 0-0(^1x1 
 vofA-uiv r-Mv Muvcrtus, 'n^oavof/](TX[/.cvos ri r^iis a)id^xs its rx -rrxi/Tx 
 n/jtoioTPO.TTo-Js. rovron s']Ti(poir-/iaxa-xv 4>oyX/3^av rriv sv x^tuf^xri yv- 
 vxiKuv, x-ai voixtiJLOis 'Ti^oaBKnXvdvixv rois lov^xiKOts, 7rsi&ov<n 'noqtpv- 
 pay V.XI vpvaiov sts to ev Is^oaojKvi/.ois n^ov dixTTsi^-^xaBxi. KXt Kx- 
 |3&vTES, eirt y^^itxs rots oiy.iiots ayxXu{/.xaiv xvtx 'ttoiowtxi, «<p ot^s^ 
 Kxi TO "Wf WTO* 7] aiTfiku iTT^xaarsro. h»( Ti^s^ioSj ottioj'ni/.xiyii yti^ 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. V 
 
 The following is the narrative of Tacitus respecting 
 the same event : "In the same year was brouglit before 
 the Senate, a motion for abolishing the Egyptian and 
 Jewish rites : and it was decreed that four thousand of 
 that slavish race, who were infected with that super- 
 stition, should be conveyed into the island of Sardi- 
 nia, there to have their robberies restrained : where, 
 if they perished through the severity of the climate, 
 the loss would not be great ; and that the rest of them 
 should leave Italy, unless within an appointed time 
 they should have relinquished their profane rites."* 
 
 With this accords, in the m.ain, the relation given 
 by Suetonius. " Foreign rites, the Egyptian and the 
 Jewish, Tiberius suppressed, and compelled those who 
 were fettered with that superstition to burn their 
 sacred vestments and utensils. The Jewish youths he 
 distributed, under the pretence of a military oath, into 
 provinces of a severe climate ; while the remainder of 
 that nation, with others oi similar professioii, he re- 
 moved from the city under the penalty of perpetual 
 slavery, unless they had obeyed. "t 
 
 irsos avTov OiXos ajv ^tjtgov^vivos ttti ^ovX^iacs avv^ evuTK'n-'^ti t^s 
 yuvtumot, x.s^vjei wav to lovoccmcv Trjy Pwjutjs otTreXx'j&yiva.i. o; de 
 iiVxToi Tir^xuKryf^iXiovs avQ^wjswv e^ «uT4.v T^atroXoyriaaiiirts stte/x- 
 •^av Hi ^at^ooj mv vnaov. itXei^ovs dt iy.oXa.axv /xn QcXovrxs $'pxt- 
 jtv£0"9a/, oioc (pvXaKVv ruv 'tkxt^iojv vo^jiuv. y.xi oi /j.sv oicx. kmkixv ria-~ 
 (roc^!»v oiv^^Mv O.x-jv.oiiro t>jj ttoXcUs. Ant. Jud. Lib.xviii. Cap. 3, ,5. 
 
 * Actum et de Sacris yEgyptiis Judaicisque pellendis. Factunlque 
 patrum consultum, ut quatuor millia libertini generis, ea supcrstitione 
 infecta, in insulam Sardinlam veherentur, coerccndis illic latrociniis, et 
 si gravitate cceli interiissent, vile damnum : caeteri ccderent Italia, nisi 
 certam ante diem, profanos ritus exuissent. An. ii. 85. 
 
 t Externas ceremonias ^gyptios Judaicosque ritus compescuit, co^ 
 aciis qui supcrstitione ca tenebantur, religiosas vestes cum instrument* 
 
Vl THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 • The incident here recorded, Dion Cassius has 
 passed over in silence : but it is thus noticed by Philo. 
 *• All nations, though prejudiced against the Jews, 
 have been careful not to abolish the Jewish rites ; 
 and the same caution was preserved in the reign o£ 
 Tiberius : though indeed the Jews in Italy have been 
 distressed by the machinations of Sejanus. For after 
 his death the emperor became, and that immediately, 
 sensible that the accusations, alleged against the Jews 
 in Italy, were lying calumnies, the mere inventions of i 
 Sejanus ; who was eager to devour a nation that alone, 
 er chiefly would, he knew, be likely to oppose his im- 
 pious designs and measures. And to the constituted 
 authorities in every place, he (Tiberius) sent orders 
 not to molest in their several cities the men of that na- 
 tion, excepting the guilty alone (who were very few), 
 and not to suppress any of their institutions, but, on 
 the contrary, to regard as a trust committed to their 
 care, both the people themselves, as possessing peace- 
 able dispositions, and their laws, whish like oil brace 
 them with stability of character."* 
 
 omni coraburere j Judiorum juventutem, per speciem sacramenti, in 
 proviiicias gravioris ccell distribuit ; reliquos gentis ejusdem, et similia 
 sectantes urbe summovit, jub poena pprpetuae servitutis, nisi obtemper- 
 assent. In vitaTiberii. 36. 
 
 * Tot yccfi mv 0/ nravTat^ov ttxitts, n kxi ^vo'si oiikuvto nrqas lov- 
 ^<xio'Js Qvx. Ev/xEvwj, tvXxpws itypv itti KacQaci^i<rti nvos ruv lo'JSaciy.uf 
 ya^Lbiv •rtqoaoi.-^a.(T6xt. kxi i^Ti Ti^f^iou ixsvroi rov avrov t^ottov, moci' 
 TO* rnv svlraXix Tfix^XTUvn&tvTuv iviKX I,y)ixv!>s io-ivtu^it rrtv fTr/Sscr/v. 
 tyvu yx^, (vOcui cyvcu, (jutx t»v ex£;vo'J ri'kivrviy, hrt rx nxTriyoevStv- 
 T« Twy w>c»)xoTwv r*)v Pw/xniw Iot/^a/a.'v, il/Eyotir •ntrxv o<«/3oAa/, 'n'KxC' 
 [t'XTx 2))4ayo'j to i^ws avx^xcrxt Oe^ovtoj. otrto ri ^ovoy n ixxKi^a 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. Vii 
 
 The first thing necessary to be remarked, is, that the 
 narratives of the above historians refer to one and the 
 same event. Had the Jewish and the Egyptian riies 
 been suppressed, and those nations expelled from Italy, 
 at two different times in the reign of Tiberius, some one 
 of these writers would have intimated it. But no such 
 intimation is given either by Josephus, or Tacitus, or 
 Suetonius. Besides this, if you compare their rela- 
 tions, you will instantly perceive that they are descrip- 
 tive of facts, the identity of which is proved by 
 their peculiarity. The distress of the Jews in Italy, 
 tvhich Philo takes notice of, must therefore be tht 
 temporary suppression of their institutions, and their 
 expulsion from Rome, as is recorded by the three 
 other authors. And even this writer could not with 
 propriety have alluded to the molestation of his coun- 
 trymen, on one occasion, if they had been molested at 
 different times, and on different occasions* This point 
 being settled, let us take a general view of the time, in 
 which the expulsion of the Jews took place. 
 
 From Josephus we may infer that it occurred about 
 the period of our Lord's crucifixion, and previously 
 to the removal of Pilote from the government of 
 Judea. With this inference Philo who flourished in 
 
 alto To» E9vot;y, us oi»k mi nrairxs m^a^iX'Tris ry)s tWElsAe^a;^, atXA.' 
 ttit (A010VS Tovs otirtovs (oXiyot Ss »jo-«v) Ktw<rixi Ss /itn^Er rttif it, tSwr, 
 «XXa KOLt irx^xnurct^rinyiv «x*'i», revsrs awJ^ar us ti^nrnxovs vxs 
 (^•jffiis, xat T« V01/.HXX us a^£i^{»tT« irgoff ivr»^itatf» vol. ii. p. jSj' 
 
Vlii mi CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 those days concurs; since by ascribing the distress of the 
 Jews to the influence of Sejanus, he brings it down to 
 the time in which that minister had reached the zenith 
 of his power, and which was soon followed by the for- 
 feiture of his life. The conspiracy of Sejanus was 
 detected, and he himself put to death at the end of the 
 seventeenth, or in the beginning of the eighteenth 
 year of Tiberius ; and the distress which he brought 
 upon the Jews in Italy, might have happened a year or 
 two sooner, i. e. a year or two after the crucifixion of 
 our Lord.^ From the place which Tacitus has assign- 
 ed to the narrative in his Annals, we might infer in- 
 deed, that the disturbance herei spoken of, happened 
 so early as the death of Germanicus, which occurred in 
 the eighteenth year of our Lord's age. But if any re- 
 gard be due to the authority of Phllo and Josephus, this 
 inference can by no means be admitted : andVe shall 
 presently see, that the Roman historian had an adequate 
 motive to ntisrepresent the true date of the affair. 
 
 Having premised these remarks, I proceed to prove, 
 that the men molested in consequence of the accusa- 
 tions of Sejanns, and in behalf of whom, after his 
 death, Tiberius issued an edict to the pra;fects of the 
 provinces, were principally Jewish converts to the 
 Christian religion. The proofs which I shall adduce 
 in support of this proposition, are the following — 
 The testimonies of TertuUian, of Orosius, and Euse- 
 bins — Passages in the Apostolic writings, and in the 
 
 * I follow the chronology of Dr. Priestley, who has concluded, from 
 very probable reasons, that our Saviour was crucified in the latter end 
 of the very year in which his ministry commenced. See his Greek 
 Harmony, p. 45. Some farther light, I presume, is thrown upon 
 this subject, inVol. ii. of the Developemcnt, p 143, 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. IX 
 
 Antiquities of Josephus — Inferences drawn from Dion 
 Cassius, and Seneca — Subjects of dispute connected 
 with the expulsion in question — And, lastly, passa- 
 ges in the writings oi certain Jews. 
 
 I. Tertullian, Eusebius, and Orosius plainly suppose 
 that the men, v.'hom Philo calls ^ews, and whom he 
 could call by no other name, since the Christian v/as not 
 yet in existence, were the professors of Christianity. 
 
 I here subjoin their words on the subject, adopting 
 the version of Dr. Lardner. " Tiberius," asserts 
 Tertullian, " in whose time the Christian religion had 
 its rise, having received from Palestine, in Syria, an 
 account of such things as manifested our Saviour's 
 divinity, proposed to the Senate, and giving his own 
 vote as first in his favour, that he should be placed 
 among the Gods. The Senate refused, because he 
 had himself declined that honour. Nevertheless, the 
 emperor persisted in his own opinion ; and ordered 
 that, if any accused the Christians, they should be pu- 
 nished." Apol. Cap. 5, or Lard. Vol. vii. p, 232. 
 
 Eusebius, treading in the footsteps of Tertullian, 
 writes to this effect : " When the wonderful resurrec- 
 tion of our Saviour and his ascension to heaven were 
 in the mouths of all men, it being an ancient custom 
 for the governors of provinces to write to the emperor, 
 and give him an account of new and remarkable oc- 
 currences, that he might not be ignorant of any thing ; 
 our Saviour's resurrection being much talked of 
 throughout all Palestine, Pilate informed the empeiorof 
 it, as likewise of his miracles, which he had heard of ; 
 and that being raised up after he had been put to death. 
 
X THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 he was already believed by many to be a God. Aiid 
 it is said, that Tiberius referred the matter to the Se- 
 nate; but that they refused their consent, under a 
 pretence, that it had not been approved of by them ; 
 there being an ancient law that no one should be dei- 
 fied among the Romans, without an order of the Se- 
 nate ; but indeed because the saving and divine doc- 
 trine of the Gospel needed not to be confirmed by hu- 
 man judgment and authority. However, Tiberius 
 persisted in his former sentiment, and allowed not any 
 thing to be done that was prejudicial to the doctrine oi 
 Christ." His. Eccles. Lib. ii. Cap. 2. 
 
 Orofilus following, in one respect, the authority of 
 Tertttllian, and in another, the narrative of Philo, 
 writes to this purpose. " Tiberius proposed to the 
 Senate, that Christ should be made a God, with his 
 own vote in his favour. The Senate moved with in- 
 di<Tnation that it had not been, as was usual, proposed 
 for them to determine respecting the reception of his 
 religion, rejected his deification ; and decreed that tlie 
 Christians, by an edict, should be banished from the 
 city ; especially as Seja,nus, the Praefect of Tiberius, 
 most obstinately resisted the reception of his faith." 
 Aput. Lard. Vol. vii. p. 24^. 
 
 Now, Do not these passages clearly relate to the very 
 persons, whom Philo represents as first molested at the 
 instigation of Sejanus, and afterwards protected by 
 the emperor Tiberius ? The authors of them, there- 
 fore, understood that the suffereis were the followers 
 of Jesus. 
 
 IL In suoport of this opinion, I adduce, in the se- 
 cond place, passages from the Apostolic writing?. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xi 
 
 One of the chief accusations, wlach Sejanus alleged 
 against the Jews, seems to have been this, that they 
 were enemies to the State, and that they entertained 
 the wish of raising to universal empire a person of 
 their own nation. This charge was unhappily too 
 much countenanced by the mistaken notion, which the 
 first converts, among the Jew.s, cherished respecting 
 the Messiah's kingdom. Supposing it would be tem- 
 poral in its nature, and boundless in its extent, the 
 Jewish believers in Rome were led to give anu undue 
 opposition to the measares of the existing government. 
 Their error and misconduct in this respect demanded 
 the admonition of Apostolic authority ; and if Ti- 
 berius, after having discovered that the representations 
 of Sejanus, weie, in the main, but the aspersions of a 
 malignant adversary, dispatched, as Philo attests, to the 
 governors, an edict to protect, in their respective pro- 
 vinces, those of the Jews who were peaceable and vir- 
 tuous, but to punish the guilty few ; and if farther, 
 those Jews, as Tertullian and others after him under- 
 stood, were in reality Christians, we might reasonably 
 expect that, in the letters addressed to some of the 
 Churches, the Apostles should by all means recom- 
 mend to the converts, to pay becoming obedience and 
 deference to the magistrates, and at, the same time 
 remind them, that, if innocent and obedient they had 
 nothing to fear, but on the contrary had to hope pro- 
 tection and praise, from the civil powers, while signal 
 punishment awaited the refractory and the evil doer. 
 And in this expectation we shall not be disappointed. 
 Hear, in the first place, the words of Paul to the Chris- 
 tians in Rome; " Let every soul submit itself to 
 powers in authority : for as there is no power but from 
 
Xn THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 God, these powers are appointed by God. M^hosoever, 
 therefore, setteth itself against the power, opposeth 
 the appointment of God ; and such opposers will 
 bring punishment upon themselves. For these rulers 
 are not a terror to the good, but to evil doers. 
 Dost thou wish then not to be afraid of their power ? 
 Do what is right, and thou wilt be praised by it : for 
 it is God's minister for thy good. But if thou 
 DO EVIL, BE AFRAID ; because this power carrieth 
 not the sword in vain : for it is the minister of God 
 executing punishment upon every one that do- 
 ETH EVIL." Rom. xiii. i — 4. 
 
 Head next the following exhortation addressed by 
 the Apostle Peter, to the Jews that were dispersed in 
 Gentile countries. " Beloved, I exhort you, as so- 
 journers and pilgrims, keep yourselves from those 
 fleshly lusts that war against the soul ; having your 
 course of life blameless among the Gentiles, that, 
 y/herein men (before they yet enquire) speak against 
 you as evil doers, they may glorify God for the good 
 works which, after a day of enquiry, they have seen 
 with their eyes. Submit yourselves, therefore, to every 
 appointment of man for the Lord's sake ; to the king 
 as supreme; to governors as commissioned 
 
 BY him, for the punishment OF EVIL DOERS» 
 and the praise of them that do WELL." 
 
 1 Pet, ii. 11 — 15. 
 
 The Jewish like the Egyptian Gnostics, practised 
 the arts of magic, and indulged in all those excesses of 
 vice, which disgraced not only their profession as 
 Christians, but their nature as men. They were thcre- 
 tgre, the guilty few whom the magistrates had in charge 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xiii 
 
 w punish. And these magistrates, instead of praying 
 tor them in the meek spirit of Christian benevolence, 
 they in return opposed, cursed and vilified. Hence 
 Paul, having, in the beginning of his first epistle to Ti- 
 mothy, noticed the Gnostic teachers, presently gives him 
 this advice : " Now, then, I advise first of all, that sup- 
 plications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be 
 made for all men ; for kings and all in high stations, 
 that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all ve- 
 neration and respect." ii. i. In the preceding chapter 
 he thus, I conceive, partly alludes to the edict of Ti- 
 berius, which was levelled not against the righteous 
 but the guilty. " No law lieth against righ- 
 teous MEN, but against lawless and ungovernable, 
 ungodly and sinful men, unholy and impure ; mur- 
 derers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, murderers 
 of others, whoremongers, men of unnatural lusts, en- 
 slavers of mankind, deceivers, false swearers, and 
 whatever else is contrary to the wholesome doctrine of 
 that glorious Gospel ot the Holy God, with which I 
 am entrusted." i Tim. i. g — 12. 
 
 , We meet with a similar allusion in his epistle to the 
 Galatians. " Now the works of the flesh are manifest . 
 they are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lascivious- 
 ness, image-worship, magic, enmities, strifes, rivalries, 
 passions, quarrels, separations, sects, envyings, mur- 
 ders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like : con- 
 cerning which I tell you before hand, as indeed I told 
 you heretofore, that the doers of such things shall not 
 inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spi- 
 rit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, good- 
 ness, faith, meekness, temperance : against such 
 THINGS as TH£S£ THERE 16 NO LAW." Gal. V. 
 
Xiv THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 jg — 34. The assertion, that no law existed in forc« 
 against the fruit of the Spirit, which is peace, love, &g. 
 implies that a \di\v did exist against those who were 
 guilty of adultery, magic, murder, and of the other 
 above-mentioned crimes. The language of Paul in this 
 and the preceding paragraph accords precisely with 
 that of Philo, who, in explicit terms, asserts that the 
 imperial edict was intended to pfotect such of the 
 Jews as were peaceable and virtuous, and to punish 
 only the wicked.' The wicked, meant, were such 
 as disturbed the public peace, and practised the arts of 
 marric, among the devotees of which the Gnostic teach- 
 ers, without exception, claimed a distinguished rank. 
 A-ccording to the author of the Recognitions, the guilty 
 whom the governors of the* provinces had orders to 
 punish were Simon Magus and his associates, who, 
 we shall presently sec. were the first teachers of Gnos- 
 ticism. Tl>e following are the words of that writer. 
 He puts them in the mouth of Cornelius mentioned 
 in Acts, Chap. x. •' CiEsar hath ordered that ma- 
 leficent men should be sought out and punished in the 
 city of Rome and throughout the provinces ; of these 
 a great number have already been destroyed. I will 
 therefore divulge, by the medium of friend^, that I 
 am come to take this magician (Simon) ; that I was 
 sent by Cajsar for this purpose, in order that he also 
 with others his associates might be punished." * 
 
 * See Recog. Lib. x. 55, or Vol. ii. p. 248, of the Developemcnt, 
 where the original is quoted. The assertion of this unknown author is 
 thus confirmed by Dion Cassius : — Omnes alios, tarn astrologos, quam 
 magos, aut alio quovis modo divinantes, peregrinos necavit : Gives, 
 quotquot etiamnum neglecto priore edicto, quo prohibitus fuerat usus 
 harum artium omnibus, qui in urbe essent, tractare hujusmodi res dc- 
 fcrrentur, extorres egit. Lib. Ivii. 16. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xv 
 
 This paragraph, be it remarked, like the above passages 
 of the Apostles Paul and Peter, refers clearly to the 
 edict of Tiberius mentioned by Philo ; and hence, like 
 them, derives its true explanation. If, therefore, 
 these references be admitted, it follows, that not only 
 Tertullian and other ecclesiastical writers after him, 
 but that the Apostles themselves, and the unknown 
 author of the Clementine Homilies, understood the Jews, 
 at first molested, and afterwards protected by the em- 
 peror, to be converts to the Christian religion. 
 
 But to this it may be objected, that the operation 
 of such an edict, if ever issued, must have expired 
 with the imperial author ; and, therefore, could not be 
 alluded to in writings published under a succeeding 
 prince. To this objection I answer, that the edict in 
 question was by its nature such as could not formally 
 be repealed, its declared object being to protect the 
 peaceable, and to punish only the guilty ; and as it 
 could not be repealed, the magistrates were bound to 
 act upon its authority under the succeeding emperors : 
 that it continued to produce, with other salutary pro- 
 visions, as Philo informs us, the happiest effects for 
 two years after the death of Tiberius : that, when the 
 madness of Caligula violated it in the indiscriminate 
 persecution of the Jews, Claudius, at the solicitation 
 of Agrippa, virtually restored it to its original force, 
 by sending a similar edict to the governors of the pro- 
 vinces ; and that the apostolic epistles were published, 
 while this last edict yet operated in favour of the Jew- 
 ish nation. The edict of Claudius, to which I allude, 
 is recorded by the Jewish historian, and i& in part as 
 follows. *' I, therefore, think it proper that the Jews 
 under us, i'n all the world, should without opposition 
 
XVI THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 retain their paternal customs : and upon that people, X 
 enjoin to use, with more moderation, this my clemency 
 in their behalf, and not bring into contempt the super-, 
 stitions of other nations, but adhere to their own 
 laws. It is my wish that the governors of cities, of 
 colonics, and municipal towns, both within and with- 
 out Italy — that, also Princes and men in power should 
 by their ministers transcribe this mandate, and have 
 it so posted up, as to be easily read from the ground."* 
 
 A few remarks are necessary to place the cause and 
 the design of this edict in its true light.' 
 
 The resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the progress 
 of his religion, divided the Jewish nation into two 
 parties. The support given to his claims on the part of 
 his friends, and the opposition made to them by his 
 enemies, excited violent commotions, not only in 
 Judea, but even in Rome and in all the provinces. 
 The commotions which were raised in the metropolis, 
 Suetonius expressly ascribes to the instigation of 
 Christ, and it was to allay the contentions, which from 
 the same cause prevailed in Egypt and in other parts 
 of the empire, that Claudius issued this and a preced- 
 ing edict related by Josephus. • 
 
 * KaXuis ovv a%£jv xxt lov^tztov^ rovs ev 'jrxvri tw tp viiJicus k.o&i/,!o 
 r« iia,rei» e^i Kvs'ntx.uXvTus (pvXxtrcritv, ots text xvrots *)du vvv nrx^- 
 ayyE^Xw /xoy TxvTv) rn tpiXxv'^^WTrtx sirniKi^B^ov y^^yt<T^at, y.xi [j.yi 
 
 C)vXxa<rnv' royro {a-ov to S/aray/** rovs a^yovrxs ruv nioXiuvy kxi 
 TiuXojyiiuv y.xi (jLOvvty-iviMv, ruv iv r-n IrxKix >cxi ty.ros, ^xuiXfis te 
 xxi ^vvx^xs Sftx Twv i^iuv Trpa-^vjrwv tyy^X'^xaSxi (iovXoixxi, bx./.bi~ 
 
 ^£VOV T£ E^E'V, OVK iXxTTOV l5/X.£f WV T^lXX-OVTa, o9sV i^ tTHTfiOOV Jta- 
 
 Xwj ava;yv(i'c0»v«' '^•Jvxrai. Jud. Ant. Lib. xJk. Cap. 5, 3. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xvii 
 
 The Saviour of the world commissioned his Apostles 
 to go and preach the Gospel to all nations. This 
 commission, perilous and impracticable as it might 
 appear to human views, they faithfully executed, in 
 spite of danger, labour, pain and persecution. They 
 announced to all the Gentiles a new and celestial king- 
 dom, in the privileges of which they might partake, 
 without distinction, if they renounced their vices, aban- 
 doned the profane rites and execrable divinities to 
 which they had hitherto been devoted, and worshipped 
 the only true God, the Holy and Benevolent Creator 
 of the universe. Against the efforts, which the Apos- 
 tolic teachers made to destroy the Pagan religion, the 
 following clause of the above edict seems to have 
 been principally levelled : " Upon that people I enjoin 
 to use with more moderation this my clemency, and 
 not to bring into contempt the superstitions of other 
 nations, but adhere to their own laws." 
 
 The supporters of Paganism, exasperated by an at- 
 tempt, which, by exposing their fraud and mysteries, 
 threatened to deprive them of the rewards of iniquity, 
 opposed the preachers of t^e new faith with double vio- 
 lence, and sought in return to strip them and the na- 
 tion to which they belonged, of the privileges which 
 they had hitherto enjoyed in peace and -security under 
 the Roman government. This disposition in the de- 
 fenders of the Gentile superstitions, directed indiscri- 
 minately against the Jews, it was the chief object of 
 
 * See some observations of Dr. Lardner upon this edict of Clau- 
 dius, Vol. i. p. 179, i8o. It seems to have escaped him, that it had 
 any beneficial influence on the Jewish Christians and their cause. 
 
 VOL. III. B 
 
XVm THE CHRISTIAN RELIQION 
 
 this edict to repress. *' I think it proper that the Jews 
 Tinder us, in all the world, should without opposition 
 retain their paternal customs.''- 
 
 From this statement, if just, It follows that, while 
 the Jews, without any regard to their difference of re- 
 ligious sentiments, were included in the Claudian 
 edict, those among them, who supported the claims of 
 Jesus, were principally concerned in, and mostly be- 
 nefited by its operation. 
 
 But let us return again to the edict of Tiberius. We 
 meet not only with allusions to it in the Apostolic writ- 
 ings, but also with one singular instance of the benefit 
 it conferred upon the Christians and their cause. Insti- 
 gated by his minister, the emperor molested the Jewish 
 believers in the imperial city. This molestation served 
 as a signal to those of their enemies, in distant parts, who 
 had hitherto been restrained from persecuting them by 
 the fear of punishment. Accordingly we thus read: 
 '• And at that time there was a great persecution of the 
 Church, which was at Jerusalem : and they were all 
 scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and 
 Samaria, except the Apostles." Acts. viii. i. 
 
 The emperor however, finding the accusations of 
 Sejanus to be the effects of ambition and malice, be- 
 came, immediately after his execution, the friend of 
 the people whom he had lately banished, and dis- 
 patched to all the governors of the provinces an edict 
 in their behalf. We might, therefore, expect that the 
 persecution, which thus broke out in all its fury, 
 should suddenly be suspended, and that the infant 
 trhurch, which was thrown to the ground by the vi®- 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xix 
 
 lence of the storm, should again appear augmenting 
 its foundations, erecting its scattered pillars, and re- 
 flecting to our views the sunshine of tranquillity and 
 peace. And we find our expectation realised by the 
 following narrative. " Then had the churches rest 
 throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and 
 were edified ; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and 
 in the comfort of the holy spirit, were multiplied " 
 Acts ix. 3J. 
 
 Philo assures us. Vol. ii. 546, that, in consequence 
 of this edict and of other provisions which the emperor 
 made to secure the public tranquillity, profound peace 
 and happiness" reigned in all parts of the empire. It 
 followed therefore, that the churches in Judea, Gali- 
 lee, and Samaria must have shared in the general feli- 
 city and harmony, and reaped, from the wise measures 
 of the emperor, the advantages here stated by the sacred 
 writer.* 
 
 * Dr. Lardner supposed (Vol. i, ^1^ 98.) that the Jews lost sight 
 of their hatred towards the Christians, by the dark distress which was 
 spread around them by Caligula, in attempting to put his statue in the 
 temple of Jerusalem. And this he g^ssigns as the cause of the repose 
 which the churches enjoyed. The matter is examined, Vol. i. 166 — 
 171. In addition to what is said above and in the place referred to upon 
 the subject, I will shew that the repose in question took place some 
 years before the mad attempt of that Tyrant. The following is a pas- 
 sage in Acts xi. 27, 28. " And In these days came prophets from 
 Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named 
 Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be a great famine 
 through the whole habitable, country : Which also came to pass in 
 the days of Claudius Caesar." Now, the assertion that the famine did 
 come to pass in the days of Claudius, manifestly implies, that the pre- 
 diction of it was not in his days, but in the days of his predecessor, i. e. 
 in the last year of Caligula, the very year when occurred the event, to 
 vhich Laidner ascribes the rest of the churches. Now if you carry 
 your eye back from the coming of Agabus to Antioch, till you coire 
 
 B 2 
 
XX THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 The edictof Tiberius, be it here by the way remark- 
 ed, furnishes a criterion, by which we may ascertain 
 the true date of the martyrdom of Stephen, of the con- 
 version of Paul, and the repose of the churches. Philo, 
 whose language is very emphatic, attests that Tibe- 
 rius issued his edict immediately after the execution of 
 Sejanus, which is assigned to the latter end of the 
 seventeenth year of that emperor's reign. The above 
 three events, therefore, which appear to have succeed- 
 ed each other after short intervals must have happened, 
 so early as the thirty-third of our Lord's age, that is, 
 within four years after the commencement of his, mi- 
 nistry. Hence it is demonstrable, that the period of 
 his preaching did not continue as long as is generally 
 supposed, but that it comes much nearer the time con- 
 tended for by Dr. Priestley. See his Greek Harmony, 
 p. 4c. Hence too, most events in the history of the 
 Apostles seem to have occurred, in proportion, more 
 early than the periods to which they are refeiTed by ec- 
 
 to the place where the cessation of persecution is related, Chap, ix. 31, 
 the interval will appear to comprise six or seven years. For in tlie 
 mean time the Apostle "Pcttr visits all quarters, ix. 32 ; goes to Lydda, 
 and stays there, till all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw him, and 
 turned to the Lord, 45, After this he tarries many days in Joppa, 43, 
 whence he returns to Jerusalem, and apparently makes some stay there 
 before Agabus yet leaves that city. We may measure the above inter- 
 val also by the history of the Apostle Paul. On the suspension of per- 
 secution he goes to Tarsus, establishes the Gospel in Cilicia and in 
 Syria. He then returns to Antioch, and spends a whole year in that 
 city, Chap. ix. 26, before Agabus comes down from Jerusalem. These 
 movements according to Tillemont occupies a period of six years, See 
 his Eccl. His. Vol. i. p. 165. If then, we take 6 from 40, which was 
 the last of Caligula, and the year in which he attempted to erect his 
 statue in the temple of Jerusalem, there remains 34 for the year in 
 rvhich the churches ceased to be persecuted : consequently the effect 
 preceded the cause, which Lardner assigned, by six years. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. XXI 
 
 clesiasticardironologers.* This in particular is the case 
 with respect to the Epistles of Paul, the latest of which 
 seems to me, not to have exceeded the year 53. And, 
 indeed, the allusions we meet with in these epistles to 
 the impartial and equitable conduct of the civil rulers, 
 imply that they were published when those rulers yet 
 conformed to the edicts above noticed. 
 
 III. That the Jewish people molested in Rome, were 
 the professors of the Gospel is a fact, which receives, 
 in the third place, some corroboration from two passa- 
 ges of Seneca and Dion Cassius. 
 
 In epistle 108, the former writes. " The season of 
 my youth had fallen in the reign of Tiberius Caesar. 
 At that time the rites of a foreign superstition became 
 agitated : and amidst its subjects lay a controversy 
 about abstaining from certain animals. "t 
 
 * I cannot help illustrating this assertion by one instance. Claudius, 
 it is well known, expelled the Jews and Christians from Rome. Oro- 
 sius thinks that this event occurred in the ninth year of this emperor's 
 reign. Some modem writers date it two or three years later. In this, 
 however, they are not justified. Dion Cassius and Suetonius, who 
 alone have recorded this matter, give it a much earlier date, the former 
 actually referring it to the first year of Claudius. Let us then fix upon 
 a middle period, and say that the event happened in the seventh year of 
 that emperor. This was in the year 47 of our Lord. . In the same year, 
 or in the beginning of the next, then came to pass, an incident 
 which Luke has thus recorded: " And (Paul) found a certain Jew 
 named Aquila, recently come from Pontus [mqoa-ipMrws, nuperrime, very 
 lately), because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from 
 Rome." Acts xviii. 2. But the arrival of our Apostle in this place 
 happened in 53 according to our ecclesiastical writers, that is, six years 
 later than the event actually took place. 
 
 + InTiberii Cssaris prihcipatum Juventee tempus inciderat : alienige- 
 narum sacra movebantur ; sed inter argumenta superstitionis ponebatui 
 t^uorundam animalium abstinentia. 
 
 a 3 
 
XXII THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 Critics agree, that, by the foreign superstition oJ 
 which Seneca here speaks, he intends the Jewish re- 
 ligion, and that the controversy about the use of ani- 
 mal food broke out at the time in which Tiberius 
 banished the Jews from Italy. May it not then be 
 fairly inferred, that it originated in the introduction of 
 the Gospel into the metropolis ; since we are assured 
 on good authority (See Acts xv. 20. and p. 143 of this 
 Analysis) that a dispute of this kind arose at Rome, 
 and in every other place where it was first preached. 
 Vol. i. p. 179 — 190. 
 
 The latter of the above mentioned authors has in 
 his life of Claudius a passage to the following effect. 
 " The Jews who a second time flocked to the city in 
 such numbers, as rendered it difficult to exclude them 
 without disturbance, the emperor did not indeed ex- 
 pel ; but he commanded such of them as conformed in 
 their conduct to their paternal law, not to assemble ; 
 and he dissolved the societies which returned under 
 Caius."* 
 
 The term societies {irai^etati) here used by this histo- 
 Tian, denotes the assemblies of Jewish and Egyptian 
 converts, in opposition to the other Jews above men- 
 tioned, whose conduct conformed to their paternal law. 
 Of this position the following fact is a proof. The 
 very same word is applied by Pliny, though a latin 
 
 uiv, TCI ^« ^» Trxr^iu! vo(j.u /3/w %^w/w.Evoff skeXeuo-e (j.in crvvx^^ot^iaQcei, 
 rccs TE irxiptixs tua'ioi.y^iKTct.s vtto rov Txiov ^aXvat, In Vita 
 Claudii6. The difference between this paragraph and the account 
 given by Suetonius is reconciled in Vol. i. p. 203. 
 
 ) 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xxiii 
 
 writer, to designate the societies of Christians ;* a cir- 
 cumstance which shews that it was not casually em- 
 ployed on a particular occasion, but chosen as the 
 name, which had for some time been appropriated to 
 the congregations of believers. 
 
 These societies are said to have returned, or, as the 
 clause might be rendered, to have restored themselves 
 under Caius. If then they returned under Caius (Ca- 
 ligula), they must have consisted partly of those Jews 
 and Egyptians, who had been banished in the preced- 
 ing, i. e, the reign of Tiberius. See Vol. i. p. 191 
 — 204. 
 
 IV. Some subjects of dispute connected with the 
 expulsion of the Jews and Egyptians, afford additional 
 proof of the position that they were the disciples of 
 Jesus. 
 
 The Pagans, believing in the existence of an inferior 
 race of Gods, called demons, which were said to ap- 
 pear sometimes in the shape of men, and at other times 
 to enter into and dwell in human bodies, concluded, 
 as soon as they became thoroughly convinced of Jiis 
 miracles and resurrection, that our Lord was one of 
 those beings. This notion,which however absurd, was 
 obviously dictated by the genius of paganism, even 
 his enemies tenaciously embraced. They had recourse 
 to it, we shall presently see, in order to undermine 
 the sanctions of his religion ; and in opposition to it, 
 
 * Secundum mandata tua, writes he to Trajan, HETyERiAs esse 
 vetaeram. How this name was borrowed from the Egyptian assemblies 
 and applied to the societies of Christians, is explained in Vol. i. p. 193 
 — 196. 
 
XXIV THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 I have already shewn, the Apostles strenuously main- 
 tained that the Christ, instead of being a demon resid- 
 ing in Jesus, was the man Jesus himself, whom God 
 had endued with miraculous powers, and whom he 
 raised from the dead. In illusjtration of this assertion 
 accept the following instances. The philosopher Ame- 
 lius, a disciple of Plotinus, and a friend of the bitterest 
 enemy of our faith, declares in explicit terms, that 
 our Lord was a divine being clothed in human flesh.* 
 The historian Suetonius, who flourished soon after the 
 days of the Apostles, gives him the name of a demon 
 (Chrestus) ; and he evidently supposes him. though 
 separated for many years from the person of Jesus, to 
 be still in existence, instigating the Jews to tumult 
 and rebellion. But the following instance, recorded 
 by the evangelist Luke, is particularly worthy of our 
 attention. When the Apostle Paul preached the re- 
 surrection of Jesus to the Athenian philosophers, some 
 of them inferred that the preacher was the setter forth 
 of a strange God, or the publisher of a new demon.\ See 
 Acts xvii. 18. 
 
 * See Vol. ii. p. 474, where his own words are quoted and explain- 
 ed. The language of Suetonius is, Judaeos assidue tumultuantes 
 
 IMPU LSORE Chresto, ex urbe expulit. The obvious intimation 
 of this passage that Christ was at this time in being, impelling the Jew's 
 to be incessantly tumultuous, has led some men to suppose that a differ- 
 ent person is meant from our Saviour ; and others, that the Roman 
 historian had no knowledge of his having been long since put to 
 death. Both suppositions are equally absurd and remote from the 
 truth. 
 
 + SeeVol.il. p. 516- — 519, where this passage is explained. By 
 the statement there given, my reader, if he will take the trouble to 
 consult it, will perhaps find himself instructed. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. XXV 
 
 Now let us suppose the report of our Lord's miracles, 
 death, and insurrection, to be conveyed to the metro- 
 polis, and there become the subject of general credit. 
 Whom might we expect that the learned and inquisi- 
 tive of that city thought him to be ? And in what man*- 
 ner may we suppose that they spoke of his death ? 
 From his miraculous endowments, and from his supe- 
 riority to corruption, which was deemed the leading 
 feature in the character of a God, they drew, it is na- 
 tural to imagine, the same inference which the Athe- 
 nian philosophers understood to be inculcated by the 
 Apostle ; namely, that he was a strange god, or a ntw 
 ianon. And the representation given of his death, we 
 might farther conjecture, was that a great demon lately 
 had expired in Judea. What we might thus expect to be 
 dictated by the Pagan superstition, corresponds in the 
 case of the wise men of Rome with the fact. Thaumas 
 an Egyptian pilot, Plutarch informs us, brought a re- 
 port to Rome, that a demon, whom he called the great 
 Pan, had lately died. " This report," continues the same 
 author, "was propagated throughout'^eme ; so that 
 Tiberiii;,; Cajsar sent for Thaumas : and thus he gavQ 
 credit td the report. In consequence of this, Tiberi- 
 us made enquiries and sought information respecting 
 this Pan. But the Philologers, who in'great numbers 
 surrounded him, conjectured that he was the son of 
 Mercury and Penelope. And Philip had some wit- 
 nesses present who had heard these things from the 
 aged .^milianus."* 
 
 * Oia. Je moKKui xvQ^uTruv woc^ovruv, Tctyv rov Xoyov fv Pui/.y) <rx£- 
 ^oi.<j9rivxr jtasj rov ©ocvj^xv yevstrOai (/.iTOiTTtfjiTTTOv vtto Tij3t^iov K.a.io'oc- 
 gos* ovTu ^s vi^ivo'xt tw Xoyu Tov T</3£f/ov, u?i ^ix'7Tvv0an<T9aci x«« 
 ^■ntity Tiiqi rou Tl»yoi' tiKx^dv ^i rovs (fiKoXoyovs av^vovs orras, Toy 
 
XKVl THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 Now the coincidence of this story, \yhich Thaumas 
 brought from the east, with the time and place of 
 Christ's death, and especially its con-espondence with 
 the representation, which the genius of heathenism 
 would give of a person sustaining, the character, and 
 dying in the circumstances of Jesus, render it, in my 
 apprehension, impossible that the demon here intend- 
 ed could be any other than the Saviour of the world, 
 who about that time had suffered on the cross. But 
 what must remove the doubt of every candid reader, 
 2S the consideration, that the rhetorician jE?nilianuSt 
 fiom whom Philip received the story, is known to 
 have been a convert to the new faith.* A Christian, 
 speaking of a demon or god that had just expired, could 
 mean no other than the founder of the Christian reli- 
 gion**. 
 
 This paragraph of Plutarch furnishes the reader with 
 three very singular and very important particulars. 
 We learn from it, first, that Tiberius believed the 
 death of Jesus to be the death of some supernatural 
 being. As he thought him to be a God, there can be 
 no improbability in the fact, attested by Tertullianand 
 other ecclesiastical writers, that he gave his suffrage 
 for his deification by the Senate. We learn, secondly, 
 
 i^ T.eiJ^ov KXi U'ovtho'iTris yeysvinixsvat. 'O //".ev ovv 4>;A;7r7rof si^s xact 
 ruiv TTX^vruv syiovs, AiiJ.iXitxvov rov ys^ovros xx.y>y.oorxs. Plut. Dc 
 Defec. Orac. p. 419. The passage is quoted more at large, and trans- 
 latcdin Vol. i. p. 247—253. 
 
 » See Lardner, Vol. vii p. 461, in which place is quoted the para- 
 graph, whence Warburton drew this just conclusion. The conversion- 
 of that rhetorician to the Christian religion, is probably the circum- 
 stance intended when, in the first book of his Mctamm-phosis, ApuleiuS 
 represents him as changed by magic into a ram. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. XXVU 
 
 that the emperor made enquiries and sought ivformatxon 
 respecting him. If so, it is surely natural to conclude, 
 that he sought this Information, among other sources, 
 from an authority which was most competent to in- 
 form, and the least likely to deceive him. His Procu- 
 rator, therefore, who was a spectator, and an actor in 
 the tragedy of our Lord's death, must have been soli- 
 cited to send the emperor an official account, if I may 
 so say, of the actions and suflering of Jesus. And 
 thus is also rendered probable an attestation of Jusiin 
 Martyr, and of TertuUian,* That in the Archives, of 
 the state lay deposited an authentic statement^ sent by Pi- 
 late himself to the emperor, of the miracles and resurrec- 
 tion 'of the innocent person whom he had sentenced to die. 
 We are informed, thirdly, that the philologers, ( i. e. 
 the Egyptian, Chaldean, and Persian devotees of as- 
 
 * These two reputable writers, in the apologies which they respec- 
 tively addressed to the Roman people, assert, with the fullest confi- 
 dence, the existence of such documents sent by Pilate to the emperor. 
 And It appears to me Incredible, that they should in so confident and 
 open a manner, refer the emperors, the Senate, and people of Rome 
 to state-papers in their d^vn possession, unless they were fully assured 
 that such papers existed. Dr, Lardner, Vol. ii, p. 235, observes. 
 " It was customary for governors of provinces to send to the emperor 
 an account of remarkable transactions in the places where they pre- 
 sided. So thought the learned Euseblus, as we have seen. And Pliny's 
 letters to Trajan, still extant, are a proof of it, Philb speaks of the acts or 
 Memoirs of Alexandria, sent to Caligula, which the emperor read 
 with more eagerness and satisfaction than any thing else." What was 
 thus customary to be done by the governors of the provinces in ordinary 
 cases, could not have been omitted by the governor of Judea, in a case 
 so extraordinary as that of Jesus Christ. Besides, Pilate must have 
 been very sensible, that the fame of his miracles, of his condemnation, 
 and of his having risen from the dead, would soon reach the ear of the 
 emperor ; and that, if he neglected to conform to the usual practice, 
 he should be summoned to do it by an imperial mandate. 
 
XXVUl THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 trology and magic) who surrounded the emperor in 
 great numbers, concurred with him in opinion that 
 Jesus was a supernatural being, and represented him 
 as being Pan the son of Mercury and Penelope. They 
 called him Pan, (all) in allusion, perhaps to the uni- 
 versal empire, which the expected Messiah, it was 
 supposed, would assume : while, under the description 
 •• Son of Mercury and Penelope," they inculcated his 
 divine message to mankind, and the extraordinary vir- 
 tues of his character; the former being deemed the 
 Messenger of Jupiter, and the latter a rare example 
 of chastity and purity. 
 
 The following is a paragraph translated from Tacitus. 
 •• Quintilianus brought before the Fathers a motion 
 respecting a book of the Sibyl, which Caninius Gallus 
 had demanded to be received among the other books 
 of the same prophetess. After a division had been 
 made upon the subject, Caesar sent a letter, in which 
 he reflected with moderation on the tribune, as being 
 a youth unacquainted with the ancient custom. But 
 he severely censured Gallus ; because, a veteran in 
 the study of ceremonies, he without adequate autho- 
 rity, and before he had taken the opinion of his Col- 
 league, brought before a thin Senate a prophetic 
 poem, which had not been, as was usual, read and 
 examined by the ch^ef priests, &c.'* 
 
 * Relatum inde ad Patres a Quintiliano tribuno plebei de libro 
 Sibyllae, quern Caninius Gallus recipi inter ca;teros ejusdem vatis, 
 et ea de re senatus consultum postulaverat : Quo per discessionem 
 facto, misit litteras Csesar, m^dice triburtum increpans, ignarum 
 antiqui moris ob juventam : Gallo exprobrabat, quod sclentiae et 
 cseremoniarum vetus, incerto auctore, ante sententiam collegii, nor>, 
 ut assolct, lecto per nr.agistros aestimatoque oanplne, apud infrequen- 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xxix 
 
 The incident, which Tacitus has here recorded, is 
 thus related by Dion Cassius : " And a certain oracle 
 as if of the Sibyl, which did not indeed refer to the age 
 of the city, but was sung at this time, greatly agitated 
 the people : After thnce three hundred years, civil war 
 will destroy the Ro?fianS' But Tiberius reprobated these 
 verses of the Sibyl : and he examined all the books 
 containing predictions, and some he rejected a$ of no 
 value, but others of them he approved."* 
 
 Now, I propose by probable arguments to shew, 
 that the predictions, which, if we follow the authority 
 of the Roman historian,t Tiberius, after the death of 
 
 tem senatnm egisset. Simul commonefecit, quia multa vana sub no- 
 mine celebri vulgabantur, sanxisse Augustum, qaem intra diem ad 
 prstorem urbanum deferrentur, neque habere privatim liceret : quod 
 2 majoribus quoque decretum erat post exustum sociali bello capito- 
 lium, &c. An. vi. I2- 
 
 * Aoywv T£ Ti us axi 'Zi^vXXziov, aXKus jmev ov^tv ru) Tr,s 'rroy^eue 
 
 j.'.r tAtyt yaf on, 
 
 T^is Se T^tyttoo'iuv itt^trBX\o(A.tvuv mxvruv, 
 PufAXiws B(A.^vXos oXst <^xarts, x "Lv&xqira x^^otrj^i). 
 
 'O ov» Ti^i^ios Tayra te rx iiin us \i\^y\ ovt« ^/EiSjcXr, v.xi rx /Si*- 
 >.ix Ttxvrx rx \KXvriix rivx e^ovrx i'^terKt-^xro, xot/ tx //.iv us ovS't- 
 vas x^ix x-ffCK^iv!, rx^f sv£}c^tvE. In VitaTiberii,- Lib. Ivii. 18. 
 
 + According to Tacitus this eKamlnation of the Sibylline book, oc- 
 curred somewhat before the death of Tiberius. But Dion connects it 
 with a prodigy, that foreboded the death of Germanicus many years ear-. 
 lier. But this is evidently an error, or what is more probable, a wilful 
 misrepresentation. This historian, it is well known, often connects ia 
 the same detail occurrences which, in point of fact, were separated by 
 long intervals. The following is a caution given the reader by an 
 annotator. Sspe hoc oportet lectorem Diouis obtervare, junctim ab 
 illo narrari, quae minime codera tempore vlcc code m anno gesta $u»:. 
 
XXX THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 Sejanus, examined and prohibited from being received 
 among those of the Sibyl, weie at least in part the for- ' 
 geries of some Christian converts in Rome'; and that the 
 oracle specified by the Greek writer was either entirely 
 forged, or if previously extant, appropriated by the 
 same men, to corroborate an erroneous sentiment then 
 prevalent among the Christians. 
 
 From Tacitus, it is manifest, tliat the emperor not 
 only prevented the reception of the above oracles 
 among those already ascribed to the Sibyl, but prohi- 
 bited th& use of them by private individuals. Now we 
 find from a passage of Justin Martyr, that a prohibition 
 was actually in force against the oracles forged by 
 some of the primitive Christians, whether imputed to 
 the Sibyl, to Hystaspes, or some of the Jewish pro- 
 phets. The passage in part is as follows : " From an 
 instigation of the demons death is pronounced against 
 those who peruse the books of Hystaspes, or of the 
 Sibyl, qr of the prophets."* Now, if this writer un- 
 
 Vol. ii. p. 859. This remark is applicable to many cases that might 
 be pointed out, as well as to the incident under consideration. If we ex- 
 amine the context, it will appear that the alarm, which the people of 
 Rome felt on account of the above oracle must have been on an occa- 
 sion different from that which was excited by the prodigies preceding 
 the death of Germanicus, though the two events bear such resemblance 
 to each other as to be associated in the memory, and from that associa- 
 tion to succeed each other on the page. It is observable, farther, that 
 Tacitus seems to have in his mind the very oracle which Dion mentions 
 in givin^ the above account of the Sibylline book. Hence he speaks 
 of the city being burned by civil war sociali hello, which is a translation 
 of Efx^v^oy $-ao-<s in the Greek oracle ; though it be certain, that the 
 conflagration of the capltol, to ^hich he alludes, was not occasioned by 
 » civil war. 
 
 * The passage more at large, is as follows : Opera autem malorum 
 daemonum mortis supplicium adversus librorum Hystaspis, aut Sibylte, 
 aut Prophetarum lectores constitutum : ut per timorem homines abster- 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. XX\i 
 
 derstood that the forged prophecies, tc which he 
 alludes, had wholly, or in part, been brought before 
 the Senate, and there condemned and prohibited by 
 Tiberius himself, could he with any propriety produce 
 any of them in an Apology, which he addressed to that 
 assembly in subsequent times ? This is not to be ex- 
 pected. Accordingly not a single verse is to be found 
 in his greater Apology ; while the Sibylline and other 
 spurious verses are pouz'ed forth very abundantly in his 
 Exkoriation to ike Greeks. 
 
 That the oracle, specified by Dion Cassius, was 
 either forged by some Christian converts in Rome ; 
 or, if previously extant, appropriated by the same men, 
 to corroborate an erroneous sentiment prevalent among 
 the first Christians, is a fact which appears to be pro- 
 bable from the following consideration. Nero, it is 
 well known, set fire to the city, charged the Chris- 
 tians as the authors, aud exposed them, for their sup- 
 posed guilt, to the most cruel tortures. This horrible 
 act, which from its enormity would have been little 
 credited, had it not come from a respectable adversary, 
 is easily accounted for, on the supposition that the 
 oracle in question was a Christian forgery. The first 
 converts, in general, regarded Rome as the grand seat 
 of that power of darkness, which oppo'sed the king- 
 dom of light ; and believing that all such power would^ 
 ~ in the end, be utterly destroyed, fondly concluded that 
 the proud mistress of the world would undergo the 
 fate, which the holy city so signally experienced.* 
 
 reant quo minus scrlpta ea legentes rerum bonarum notltiam percipiant ; 
 Sibi autem servos eos detineaat ; quod quiilem ad effectum perducerc 
 ijequiverunt. Apo!. i. Cap. 59, 
 
 * This opinion is alluded to in the PInlopatris o\ Luctan. The vic- 
 torious arms of Trajan in the east furnished the vit of that writer wiili 
 
XXXU THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 This is the sentiment which the oracle under 
 consideration inculcates : nor could Nero be ignorant 
 that such a notion was cherished by perhaps the ma- 
 jority of the Christians in Rome, and that by some of 
 them aprophecy, inculcating the conflagrationof the ca- 
 pital, was forged and circulated under the high autho- 
 rity of the Sibyl. The tyrant naturally availed himself 
 of these circumstances, as affording a fair opportunity 
 of indulging in security the most unparalleled malice, 
 cruelty, and revenge. The city he set on fire in va- 
 rious quarters, and pointed to the Christians as the 
 perpetrators of the horrid deed. The accusation, he 
 knew, would appear plausible, as their sentiments re- 
 specting its approaching conflagration were notorious. 
 And what is very remarkable, we are assured, on the 
 authority of Dion Cassius, that he sung this very oracle 
 on the occasion^ as though he held out to the enraged 
 populace, that this was an act by which they endea- 
 voured to fulfil their own prediction. t 
 
 a fair opportunity for exposing it to ridicule and contempt. A belief, 
 that not only Rome, but the whole empire would be destroyed by the 
 element of fire, was transmitted through many ages in the Christian 
 Church. Lactantius with great elegance and animation describes the 
 approaching dissolution, and refers to the books of the Sibyls and of 
 Hystaspes as predicting the same event. Sibyllze tamen aperte interitu- 
 ram esse Roraam loquuntur. — Hystaspes quoque admirabile somnium, 
 sub intcrpretatione vaticinantis pueri ad memoriam posteris tradidit, 
 sublatum iri ex orbe impejrium nomenque Romanum." Lib. vii. Cap. 
 15. This charming writer refers, it is probable, among other predic« 
 tions, to that oracle which Dion Cassius has recorded. 
 
 + In addition to the above proof that the oracle in question, if not 
 fabricated, was in use among the first Christians, be it remarked, that it 
 still exists, though somewhat changed, among those which under the 
 name of the Sibyl, were produced in after days, as predictive of the 
 destruction of Rome. In its present state it is as follows : 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. XXxiij 
 
 V. There remain lastly to be considered, in support 
 of my proposition, one or two passages which occur 
 in the writings of certain Jews. 
 
 Before I produce these, it is necessary to explain 
 the circumstances which brought upon the Jewish 
 nation the hatred of Sejanus. That wicked man, elated 
 with the influence which he acquired over Tiberius, 
 and the ascendency which on that account he obtain- 
 ed in the Senate, became inspired with the vain hope 
 of dethroning the emperor, and usurping the reins of 
 government. As a step preparatory to his arriving at 
 this elevation, he procured the erection of his statues 
 in places of resort, and in temples, to which the idola- 
 trous populace and the cringing nobles of Rome were 
 invited to pay religious homage. And, in order to 
 habituate the subjects of the empire to associate his 
 name and character with the Supreme Power, he caused 
 his image to wave, together with that of the emperor, in 
 the front of the Roman legions. The Jews in Rome,' 
 apprehensive of his ambition, and cherishing a deep 
 rooted aversion to every species of idolatry, instead of 
 bowing in prostrate adulation before his images, spurn- 
 ed at them with contempt and indignation. And this 
 is the circumstance which Philo appears to have in 
 
 nXr)^WO-£(S \'JK0i2xVT0CS, OT«V (70/ OV(T^O^0i "n^v 
 
 Moi^x, (jixCp(j.evy], teov oyvo/>ia rnKvic-jjaxax, &c. 
 'E^a.i y.a.t Pu.'[j.x ^v/jir,. 
 
 Rome, in Greek, consists of letters wliich denote the number 948. To 
 this Dion alludes, when he says of the above prediction, that it did not 
 refer to the then age of the city. At the completion of that period, 
 Rome it seems -was to become Rtime, meaning desolated. 
 VOL. III. C 
 
XXXlV THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 View, when he says, that the Jewish people in Italy 
 opposed his impious designs and measures. The laud- 
 able opposition, of course, filled the vile conspirator 
 with resentment ; and in order to be revenged, he had 
 recourse to the arts of falsehood and misrepresentation. 
 The crimes of which, says Josephus, four men only 
 were guilty, he extended indiscriminately to the whole 
 nation ; and stigmatised them as enemies to the person 
 and government of Gaesar. Tiberius gave credit to his 
 representations ; and the consequence was the expul- 
 sion of the Jews and Egyptians from Italy. 
 
 The scene however takes a sudden change. The 
 views of the traitor are unfolded to the emperor ; and, 
 at the moment he fancied himself ascending to the 
 throne, he was hurled into the Tiber. The cruel and 
 jealous mind of Tiberius was not to be satiated with 
 the destruction of the conspirator. Every Senator, 
 whom fear or interest had rendered obsequious to him, 
 V\ hile yet a favourite, shared in his fate : and, since the 
 friendship of Sejanus was a crime in all, excepting in 
 the emperor himself, which could be expiated only 
 with death, the aversion which the Jews shewed to his 
 person, and the opposition they made to his measures^ 
 could not fail to restore them to the imperial favour. 
 Accordingly the tyrant suddenly became the friend 
 of the people, whom a little before he hated and perse- 
 cuted ; ana, in order to protect them from further vio- 
 lence, and to repair in some measure the injustice done 
 them, he published an edict for their protection. 
 
 The Jews were the only people in Rome, who, while 
 yet in the zenith of his power, had the courage to re- 
 sist the measures of Sejanus ; and the resistance mus^ 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. XXXV 
 
 have reflected upon them the highest honour, and 
 placed in an enviable light their independence and 
 love of freedom. To deprive the Jewish people of 
 the credit due to them in this respect, Tacitus, who 
 was their bitterest enemy, and who, as Tertullian re- 
 marks, is loquacious of falsehoods beyond any other 
 historian, refers the suppression of their rites and their 
 banishment from Italy to a period in the reign of Tibe- 
 rius, when his minister had no political existence. 
 He -connects the event with the death of Germanicus, 
 which was in the eighteenth year of our Lord's age, 
 and the third of the government of Tiberius, The 
 cause, which induced the Roman historian to ascribe it 
 to that particular time, is easily pointed out. Whis- 
 ton has remarked, that Tacitus had carefully perus- 
 ed the works of Josephus, and that in his narrative 
 of the Jews he has followed the authority of their great 
 historian, excepting when his prejudices led him to 
 sacrifice the faith of history to the fictions of Pagan 
 malice. The remark appears to me unquestionably 
 just ; and the following circumstance is a corroboration 
 of it. Josephus, having obliquely noticed the mur- 
 der of Germanicus by Piso, successively relates the 
 tumults which happened in Judea, between Pilate and 
 the people, his testimony concerning Christ, the seduc- 
 tion of Paulina in Rome, and the expulsion of the 
 Jews from Italy. And this is precisely the order in 
 which Tacitus has narrated the same events. Having 
 mentioned the death of Germanicus, and the honour 
 paid to his memory, he adds (An. Lib. ii. 84.) that 
 in the same year the Senate passed a decree, to restrain 
 the impurities of certain women of quality, and to ex- 
 
 C a 
 
XXXVl THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 pel the Jews. The brief and transient manner, in 
 which Josephus touches upon the affairs of the Ro- 
 mans, led him to pass over without noticing the long 
 period of time, which intervened from the death of 
 the above mentioned Prince to the commotions in 
 Judea ; nor was the exact date of a foreign incident, 
 collater-ally noticed, to be expected from a person who 
 professedly wrote a history of the Jews. Tacitus, 
 however, follows his footsteps, and avails himself ot 
 his authority as a mean to mislead his readers. Beit 
 here remarked, that into an error, similar to what Ta- 
 citus has committed trom design, Dion Cassius has 
 fallen from carelessness or indifference ; since he re- 
 cords in the first year of the reign of Claudius, an 
 expulsion of the Jews, which undoubtedly happened 
 many years later, and which some suppose to have 
 taken place so late even as the twelfth year of that 
 emperor. See Dion Cassius. Lib. Ivii. 16. 
 
 In the tenth century flourished a Jew,* who assum- 
 ed the name of Josephus, and imposed upon the world 
 his own productions as the genuine works of the 
 Jewish historian. The motives which prompted him 
 to this bold and gross imposition, it is not difficult to 
 discern. He well knew that the celebrated historian 
 of the Jews, was in reality a historian of the Jewish 
 Christians ; that, under the paternal name of Judaism, 
 he supported the infant religion of Jesus ; that in his 
 Antiquities, and in his answer to Apion, he takes a part 
 in the dispute which, on the first diffusion of the new 
 faith, broke out between the Jews and the Pagans ; 
 
 * The age, cliaractcr, and writings of this impostor are considered by 
 Br. Lardner in Vol. vii. p. 162 — i8j. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. XXXVU 
 
 that in Ins Jewish JVars, he gives a character of the 
 first converts, in which he opposes his testimony to the 
 various calumnies laid to their charge by their enemies ; 
 that he relates the destruction of Jerusalem, as the ful- 
 filment of a prediction of that event, and exculpates 
 Jesus and his followers from being the authors of that 
 catastrophe, by tracing the causes of the war to their 
 internal and external foes. See Vol. ii. of the Deve- 
 lopement, p. loi — 107. 
 
 These things Josippon (for that was his name) tvell 
 knew : and in consequence he published the original 
 works of Josephus, modified conformably to his own 
 sinister purposes, and stripped of the passages in fa- 
 vour of Christ and his cause, with others of a contrary 
 complexion inserted in the room.* The following 
 
 * The statement, given above, of the object which Josippon had ii> 
 view, will account for the following observation of Gagnier: "All 
 Jewish writers, whether commentators, or historians, or philologers, 
 continually alledge the work, of Josippon, and quote authorities and tes- 
 timonies from it, as an authentic and fundamental book. — As for the 
 Greek Josephus, they have little regard for him, or rather none at all > 
 but declaim against him as a lying historian, full of falsehoods and flatte- 
 ries. But their Josippon they extol and magnify as true, and almost 
 divine." Apud Lard. Vol. vii. p. 163. I will justify the truth of 
 this remark by a paragraph taken from Isaac Abrabaniely a Jewish 
 commentator upon Daniel. " When Josephus writes, we do not re- 
 ceive his testimony, because he has many things misrepresented. — When 
 he saw something unusual in the words of the prophets, he changed and 
 perverted them : nor did he give houour to the words of the prophets, 
 whereby he ought to praise God, and firmly adhere to the truth. 
 But he despised the word of God : why then should we give credit to 
 his words ?" See the Epistle of Christopher Arnold, No. xiii. annexed to 
 the second volume of Josephus' works, Haver. Edition. From this ex- 
 tract, it is evident, that the rabbins of former times considered Josephus 
 as a convert to the Christian religion. For by the truth they under. 
 
 C 3 
 
XXXVIU rtiZ CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 paragraph, which appears to have been substituted for 
 the testimony borne to our Lord, is worthy of our at- 
 tention. *' In those days died the sacred Augustus 
 Caesar: And after him reigned Tiberius Cassar. And 
 Tiberius was a wicked and impious man. And he sent 
 Pilate commander of the Army to Jerusalem, who 
 brought there with his forces an image in the likeness 
 of Tiberius Caesar. And he demanded to bring in the 
 image. The people rose up and prev'^ented him from 
 entering with it into the city ; because, said the 
 people to him, an image of man shall not come into the 
 city of holiness. And Pilate, commander of the army, 
 was highly incensed with the people of Judea. And 
 many of the men of the city of Jerusalem he caused to 
 perish by the sword : and many also of his own soldiers 
 fell prostrate in dead bodies on the ground : because in 
 the days of Tiberius Caesar, were perpetrated many 
 impious crimes, not in Judea only : even in Rome, 
 
 stood the Jewish religion in opposition to the Gospel. Thus the. 
 authors of the Mw-^nc speak, when they allude to the Apostacy of their 
 countrymen from Judaism. " The wisdom of the masters will be 
 slighted, and all who will strive to avoid transgression will be contemned, 
 and great will be the falling away from the truth — Veritatis magnus 
 erit defectus." On the contrary, the Christian writers meant the Chris- 
 tian in contradistinction to the Jewish religion. ThusTheodoret, near- 
 ly the end of his commentaries on the book of Daniel, attests that Jose- 
 phus, though he did not proclaim his belief in Christ, was unable to 
 conceal the truth — t»v ocXnQsiixv K^iimtv ovx. xvi^oixsvos' Chrysostom 
 characterises him as a witness of the divine truth msst deserving ofcredity 
 a^iovpi'^s (/.x^rvs rris vs^t Zbov <!cXY>Qctacs. Josephus published a 
 comment upon the above mentioned prophet, and he pointed, it seems, 
 to Jesus as the object in whom they were accomplished. To this pub- 
 lication the two commentators, Theodoret and Abrabaniel, probably 
 refer, when they assert, the one, that Josephus was unable to conceal, 
 Ihe other, that he apostatized from the truth. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME, xxxix 
 
 the city of royalty, many impious crimes were per- 
 petrated." 
 
 Now the word [iiahalutK] which I have rendered zw/>z'- 
 tus crimes, signifies properly follies ; and hence it was 
 sometimes used to denote the senseless and impure prac- 
 tices of idolatry and fornication, two names often syno- 
 nimousin the Jewish writings, because of the impurities 
 which always accompanied the Pagan rites. As the wri- 
 ter employs the term in connection with the effigy of 
 Tiberius, it is clear that the crimes which he represents 
 as perpetrated about this time in Judea, were of the 
 latter kind. And we can easily discern what founda- 
 tion he had for this charge. The people in general, 
 in order to account ior our Lord's miracles, supposed 
 that he was inhabited by an angel : and even Thomas 
 together with the other disciples, when they saw him 
 risen from the dead, had at the time recourse to the 
 supposition, that he was a superior being of this de- 
 scription. The Jewish heretics steadfastly adhered to 
 the same hypothesis ; and not only believed him to be 
 a divine being, but, in imitation of the Pagans, who 
 feasted in honour of their gods, celebrated his divinity 
 by a solemn festival.* This practice, and the sensuali- 
 
 * The stupendous works which our Lord performed, disposed the 
 majority of the Jews around him, to consider him as a superior being. 
 The common people supposed he was one of the prophets risen from the 
 dead ; i. e. that he was animated by one of their souls, raised long since 
 to the rank of an angel, by its separation from a corrupt and mortal 
 body. Mark has recorded an incident (See Vol. ii. p. 461.} from 
 which may be inferred that, in the opinion of some who were with him, 
 while yet engaged in his ministry, a celestial spirit within the man Jesus, 
 and not Jesus himself, constituted the Christ. Even the disciples had 
 recourse to the same notion, when they first saw him risen from the 
 dead, Vol. ii. p. 447 — 454. Of this general disposition to regard hi«i 
 
xl THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 ties with which it was attended, constituted the impi- 
 ous crimes that Josippon had in view : and long before 
 him, similar insinuations were thrown out by the au- 
 thors of the Mishna, who speak of their synagogues as 
 turned into brothel houses, the land of Judea as laid 
 waste, and the wisdom of the rabbins held in contempt. 
 Lard Vol. vii. p. 144. 
 
 But^farther, the author asserts that crimes, similar to 
 those in Judea, were perpetrated also in Rome. The as- 
 sertion we have already seen, is not without some 
 foundation. When the miracles and resurrection of 
 Christ were believed, beyond doubt, in the imperial 
 city, even the philologers around the person of the 
 Prince inculcated that he was a demon or god descend- 
 ed from heaven ; and Tiberius himself proposed to 
 consecrate him by an act of the Senate, as one of the 
 tutelar divinities of the empire. From the subsequent 
 analysis too we shall perceive, that multitudes in the 
 Roman church regarded him in the same light, and 
 that upon altars, erected by Pagan superstition, they 
 offered incense to his praise. 
 
 In the above passage, moreover, it is insinuated that 
 ■the attempt of Pilate to profane the holy city, by the 
 introduction of images, originated in the impious 
 crimes said to have been perpetrated in Judea and in 
 Rome. This insinuation, I maintain, is founded in 
 truth. The sycophants of power prompted Tiberius 
 
 as ati angel, demon, or an inferior god, the Saviour was very sensible. 
 In order therefore to correct so absurd and dangerous a notion, he usu- 
 ally designated himself by terms, which signify that he was one of the 
 human race, that, though endowed with divine power and wisdom, he 
 possessed only the nature and constitution of man. See Vol. ii, p. 34-^ 
 41- 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xli 
 
 to assume divine honours in opposition to the deified 
 Jesus. See Vol. i. p. 177. And though he had the 
 good sense to dechne the competition, it is not impro- 
 bable that, at the instigation of Sejanus, he em- 
 powered Pilate to deposit within ihe walls of Jerusa- 
 lem the effigies of himself and his favourite. The 
 fact is attested by the true Josephus : and it is observ- 
 able that, after briefly mentioning another tumult be- 
 tween Pilate and the people, he has inserted his testi- 
 mony concerning Christ ; holding out, by that inser- 
 tion, the close relation which subsisted between the 
 illustrious subject of his attestation and the foregoing 
 narrative — a i elation, which, though well known to 
 every reader in early times, has entirely been over- 
 looked by modern critics. 
 
 • In a tract of the Talmud, we meet with the following 
 passage fabricated by rabbinicdl malice : " When king 
 Jannaeus slew the rabbins, R.Joshua, son of Perachiah, 
 and Jesus fled to Alexandria in Egypt — Therefore Je- 
 sus having left his master, devoted himself to the ma- 
 gical arts in Egypt. When he had acquired these 
 arts, and hid them within his skin, he returned to 
 Judea."* 
 
 Here our Lord is represented as fleeing, ^vhen grown 
 up to manhood, into Egypt, in company with his Pre- 
 ceptor Perachiah, meaning John the Baptist. See Vol. 
 ii. p. 312. The cause of his flight was the anger ot 
 king Jannaeus, who had put some of the rabbins to 
 death. The origin of this fiction is now discernible. 
 
 * See Vol. ii. p. 311— 319, where the passage is quoted more at 
 large from Wagenseil's Refutation o^Toldcs Jaihu, or Lard. VoL vii. 
 P- 149- 
 
Xfii THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 By Jann^eus is Intended Sejanus, who in the summit 
 ot his power governed the whole empire by his influ- 
 ence over Tiberius, and who caused many of the Jews 
 to be destroyed, and the rest to be banished from Italy. 
 This explanation must be true, because no other person, 
 invested with regal authority, persecuted that people 
 in the time of our Saviour, iiesides, the similarity of 
 the two names points directly to the minister of Tibe- 
 rius.* 
 
 * The part wFisch Pilate, as related In tPi€ four Gospels, took in the 
 condemnation of our Lord, is ascribed in a Jewish Tract (Toldos Jes- 
 chu), containing a malicious account of his birth and his actions, to a 
 O'uecn, said to be the wife oi Jannaus. Pilate, like other ofBcers of the 
 &tate, must have been in a great degree under the influence oi Sejanus, 
 •who perhaps was the mean of appointing him to the government of Ju- 
 dea. This circuvnstance may have given rise to the fiction, which 
 represents him as the wife of Jannxm, i.e. as an old woman under the 
 absolute controul of the minister who appointed him. I shall here pro- 
 duce a few passages from that Tract, as they corroborate an important 
 conclusion already insisted upon, and reflect the fair features of truth, 
 though delineated in the dark colours of falsehood. Pilate, though te 
 pacify the Jews he abandoned the meek sufferer to crucifixion, yet 
 pronounced him innocent, and wished him to be released as a person 
 falsely accused. On his conduct, in this respect, is founded the follow- 
 ing representaJion : " And the Queen turning to the wise men (mcan- 
 ino the chief priests who urged his death), said, how can ye presume to 
 affirm that this man is an enchanter ? Have I not seen him with my own 
 c^'cs, performing miracles like a son of God ? And the wise men an- 
 swered and said. Let it not enter the mind of the Queen to utter such 
 things : for most certainly he is an enchanter. But the Queen said to 
 the wise men. Depart from my sight, nor ever again allege before mc 
 such accusations." ApudWagen. p. ii. 
 
 From the following paragraph we may gather, that the governor, 
 hearing of Jesus'^s resurrection and ascension, examined the matter, and 
 CTave credit to the representation of the disciples ; that he maintained 
 the truth of it before the chief priests, and demanded of them, if Jesus 
 was' not actually risen,' to go and find out the body. " About the 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xliii 
 
 '^ The persons in Rome, who fabricated the Gnostic 
 system, as we shall presently see, were principally 
 natives of Egypt, and, like all the Egyptian philolo- 
 gers, devoted to the arts of magic. On the expulsion 
 of the Jews and Egyptians from Italy, some of these 
 magicians, it is natural to suppose, retired to Alexan- 
 dria. Of these favourable circumstances the rabbins 
 
 middle of the night the disciples came to the sepulchre, and there sitting 
 down bitterly wept over him. Judas, seeing these things, conreyed 
 away the body and hid it in his own garden. On the following c'-iy, 
 the disciples again came to the sepulchre, and as they were weeping, 
 Judas said to them, Why do ye weep ? Search and see the buried man. 
 And when they examined and found him not, the impious band ex- 
 claimed. He is not in the sepulchre, but is ascended to heaven : for 
 this, while he was yet alive, he foretold of himself, and interpreted as 
 if declared of himself this saying. Since he will receive me Selah. Of 
 t-hese things the Queen is informed ; and she summons before her the 
 wise men of Israel, and says to them, What have you done to that 
 man, whom you asserted to be an enchanter and a seducer of the peo- 
 ple ? They answered, we have buried him conformably to our law. 
 Then commands she, bring the body here before me. They depart, 
 and seek it in the sepulchre, but could not find it. They agaij^retum 
 to the Queen, and say, we know not who hath stolen him from the se- 
 pulchre. The Queen answering, says. He is a son' of God, and 
 hath ascended to his father in heaven. The wise men reply, Admit not 
 such thoughts into your mind, he was truly a magician : and the wise 
 men gave proof to their testimonies that he was the natural son of an 
 unclean woman. Then rejoined the Queen, why should I thus trifle 
 with you. Bring the body here before me, and T will pronounce you 
 innocent ; but if not, none of you shall be left unpunished. They all 
 ar>swer in these words, Give us tim.e, that we may know the event of 
 jhis business. And she allows them the space of three days : and the 
 wise and godly men departed from the Queen, mourning with a sorrow- 
 ful heart, and ignorant what could be done." In the mean time Judas 
 discovers to them the body concealed in his garden. " Then assemble 
 together the wise men of Israel, and the body, fastened to the tail of a 
 horse, they dragged before the Queen : and they say, Behold the man, 
 ©f whom thou hast affirmed, tlwt he has a^cepded to heaven. And 
 
xliv THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 availed themselves, as affording a specious way oi ac- 
 counting for miracles, the reality of which none in 
 those ages dared to deny. For one of the fugitive de- 
 votees w^ho pretended to teach his religion, they substi- 
 tuted the holy founder ; and they would lead the rea- 
 der to conclude, that the benevolent Jesus was of the 
 same class with Cerinthus and Simon Magus, who, 
 having studied the science of magic in Egypt, return- 
 ed to their own country, and there reduced it to 
 practice. How general must have been the belief, 
 how irresistible the evidence of the mighty works 
 ascribed to our Lord, that his enemies, in order to ex- 
 plain them away, were compelled to fabricate a fiction 
 so inadequate, a falsehood so flagrant and notorious. 
 
 I have now finished the evidences, which I had to 
 
 when the Queen saw him, she was suffused with shame, and knew not 
 what to reply, p. 19. 20. 
 
 The folly and malice of this representaion is sufficiently apparent. 
 Nevertheless, the momentous facts, related at the close of the evangelical 
 records, are in it clearly recognised; and they hence receive the unwil-: 
 lin<^ testimony of malignant enemies. If the truth of them had not been 
 too notorious and too well attested to be contradicted with effect, the 
 fabricators, who had every information upon the subject, would never 
 have had recourse to such a fiction, in order to undermine them. From 
 the above extracts, it appears manifest, that Pilate had instituted a strict 
 enquiry into the fact of our Lord's resurrection ; that he became hence 
 satisfied of its truth ; that he maintained it in opposition to the chief 
 priests, and that the testimony which he had borne to it covered them 
 with grief and confusion. This view of the governor's conduct not only 
 accords with the fact attested by Justin and Tcrtullian, that Pilate sent 
 10 his sovereign an account of the miracles and resurrection of Jesusi 
 but implies the truth of their attestation. Perceiving that he was risen 
 and ascended into heaven ; Pilate, it seems, concluded that he was a son 
 cf God; meaning, according to the interpretation of a heathen, that be 
 was a divine king. TSberlus, having received indubitable assurance of 
 thai e\ent, dicw from it, we have seen, a similar conclusion. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. , xK' 
 
 produce in support ot the proposition that the Jews, of 
 whose banishment the above historians give an account, 
 were chiefly converts to the Christian religion. These 
 evidences, it is hoped, are upon the whole satisfactory, 
 but if any doubt remain upon the subject, the follow- 
 ing Analysis will remove it. I proceed to the inferen- 
 ces which may be drawn from the above enquiry. 
 
 First, Josephus, who asserts the innocence of the 
 sufferers in general, and ascribes their hardships to the 
 •wickedness of four leading men ; and also Philo, who 
 not only defends them from the accusations of Sejanus, 
 but passes a high encomium upon their character, are, 
 in this instance proved to be Ch^i'stian Apolo- 
 gists. And this prepares us to regard them as per- 
 forming the same honourable office, which most assu- 
 redly they do perform, in other parts of their immortal 
 writings. 
 
 Secondly, Josephus being a Christian, and a Chris- 
 tian too in the latter part of his life, by no means dis- 
 guised, can no longer be denied to have been the author 
 of the paragraph respecting Jesus Christ in his 
 Antiquities. The place of its insertion, which critics 
 from superficial views have urged as betraying the spu- 
 riousness, now manifestly proclaims the authenticity of 
 the passage. The author well knew that the distur- 
 bance in Rome was owing to the introduction of the 
 new faith, and to the wickedness of four men that 
 pretended to teach it. To the narrative of tin's, he 
 wisely prefixed a concise, but just and compreherjsive, 
 description of the illustrious founder; manifesting 
 thereby to his readers, generally disposed to consider 
 
>lvi THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 him as a devotee of magic, that Jesus sustained a cha- 
 racter very opposite to those magicians, who, though 
 pretending to be teachers of his religion, were yet 
 Vv'icked in every respect. 
 
 Thirdly, It is hence proved beyond contiadiction, 
 that Christian societies existed in Rome soon after the 
 resurrection of Jesus. Of the manner in which those 
 societies were iormed, a statement is given by the writer 
 of tlie Clementine Homilies ; and the preceding investi- 
 gation irr.piies that that statement is correct and true. A 
 rumour \^as introduced into the city, that a man in Ju- 
 dea was delegated to reveal the Will of God; and that in 
 . support of his delegation he had received power to heal 
 all manner of diseases among the people. This rumour 
 prevailed more and more, till by the concurrent testimo- 
 nies of persons coming from that country, and by official 
 documents which the governor himself, after the resur- 
 rection of the innocent sufferer, had sent to the empe- 
 ror, it was established into a real fact. The Jews in 
 the metropolis, regarding the prophet of Nazareth, not 
 with the prejudiced eyes of his countrymen, who dis- 
 honoured him on account of his mean appearance, but 
 with the admiration due to a Divine Messenger so 
 distinguished for power, wisdom, and benevolence, 
 submitted in general to his claims as the expected 
 Messiah. But it must not be forgotten that, being yet 
 tminstructed by the Apostles in the nature and object 
 of the Christian doctrine, they continued to retain, with 
 fond hope and tenacious confidence, those ideas of it 
 which Jewish prejudices had taught them to entertain. 
 And hence the first church of Christians, in the capital 
 of the empire, differed little from a synagogue oT Jews. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. xlvii 
 
 Fourthly, The Jew and his three associates, whom 
 Josephus stigmatises as wicked in every respect, were 
 pretended teachers of the Gospel, which our historian, 
 and even our Lord and his Apostles, considered as the 
 philosophy of the religion of Moses, brought fully to 
 Jight, removed from its corruptions, and purified from 
 its grosser parts. And we shall presently see those 
 men addressed, under this character, by the great Apos- 
 tle of the Gentiles, who exposes their false pretensions, 
 and holds them up to the converts in Rome, as ene- 
 mies of the Gospel which they affected to preach. 
 Their sentiments and vices will, in truth, appear to 
 comprehend the chief circumstances, which called 
 forth the Epistle addressed to the Roman church. 
 
 All the early Christian writers agree that the person, 
 who first corrupted the Christian Doctrine, was Simon 
 Magus, whose age and character are ascertained in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, Chap. viii. In the Homilies 
 ascribed to Clement of Rome, he is said to have been 
 a disciple of John the Baptist (see Vol. ii. p. 292, 
 where the passage is quoted) ; and this assertion throws 
 much light upon some parts of the four Gospels. Dur- 
 ing the life time of our Lord, he practised magic in 
 Alexandria, where he taught, among other disciples, CV- 
 rintkus, a Jew ; whom, a though pretended convert, the 
 beloved disciple stiled the first born of Satan. From 
 thence, we have sotne reason to believe (Vol. ii. p. 246 — 
 250.) Simon withdrew to Rome, accompanied perhaps 
 by that disciple; and it appears to me not improbable, 
 that this last is the very Jew whom Josephus reprobates 
 as^the chief author of the disturbance in that city. This 
 supposftion accounts for a fact, which will appear ccr- 
 
xlviii THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 tain from the Analysis ; namely, that thejewish here- 
 tics, whom Paul opposes in the Roman church, were 
 Cerinihians. It discloses, too, the reason which induced 
 the Jewish historian to subjoin to his narrative of the 
 tumult In Rome, a paragraph respecting the Samaritan 
 impostor. That this last had soiric connection with 
 the persecution which broke out in the metropolis, 
 may also be inSerred from the writer of the Acts, who 
 has led his readers to associate that persecution with 
 the name oi Simon Magas. 
 
 The three persons connected with the wicked Jew 
 in teaching the new faith, were the priests of Isis, 
 whom Josephus stigmatises as concerned in the seduc- 
 tion of Paulina. The Egyptian and other philologers, 
 whom the emperor consulted respecting Christ, and 
 who pronounced him to be Pan, the son of Mercury 
 and Penelope, must have been in name not only con- 
 verts to the Christian doctrine, but teachers of it. 
 The pretended conversion of the Egyptian priests ac- 
 counts for the conversion of the Egyptians, and for 
 their being expelled from Italy in conjunction with the 
 Jewish believers. Those impostors of course imported 
 the Egyptian superstition, with its impure rites, into 
 the Church of Christ : and hence we may expect, that 
 that superstition and its attendant impurities should be 
 noticed by our Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Simon and his foljowers in contradistinction to the 
 Catholic believers, whose meekness of wisdom pre- 
 cluded the boast ot superior knowledge, arrogated the 
 proud name of Gnostics. Of the opinions, which 
 they incorporated with the Christian religion, a well 
 attested account is given by many of the fathers. These 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. ilix 
 
 ©pinions are specified in Vol. ii. p. 250 — 270, and 
 they will be detailed as occasion calls for them in the 
 sequel. 
 
 The first Gnostics were in reality Jewish and Gen- 
 tile Epicureans.^ They accordingly denied the exist- 
 ence of a God, of a providence, and of a future state. 
 They maintained that there existed no foundation, in 
 the nature and circumstances of man, for any distinc- 
 tion between virtue and vice. Entertaining these pro- 
 phane and pernicious sentiments, they abandoned them- 
 selves to the pursuit of pleasure, however gross^ as the 
 only rule of conduct, and to the attainment of it, as 
 the true end of life. 
 
 These profligate and incorrigible men, observing the 
 tendency of the new faith, to reform and enlighten 
 mankind, and thus to preclude the gains of dishonesty ; 
 perceiving too, that an open resistance, however vio- 
 
 * The real sentiments of Simon and his associates are stated in the 
 Recognitions ascribed to Clement of Rome. In the dispute which he 
 is represented as holding with Peter, he openly maintains that the soul 
 dies with the body, and that the body remains dead for ever. Lib. iii. 41. 
 These tenets the impostors disguised, when they affected to teach the 
 Christian religion. See Vol. ii. 255, 256. The circumstance of the 
 first Gnostic teachers being really Epicureans, furnished the adversa- 
 ries of the Gospel with an opportunity for stigmatizing the followers of 
 Jesus Christ, as though they were the followers of Epicurus. Lucian, 
 Plutarch, and Maximus Tyrius have been guilty of this insidious mis- 
 representation. See Vol. ii. 271 — 282. The rabbins had recourse to 
 the same artifice. R. Lipmannus, who flourished about the end of 
 the fourteenth century, opens his Carmen Memoriale, in the following 
 manner. Ecquid respondebo Epicureo, (i. e. Christiano) qui adventat 
 ad perdendum et destruendum legem sacrosanctam fidelium, atque 
 Dei unitatem cum superbiloquentia impugnat ? Wagen. Ignea Tela 
 Satanae. p. 107. 
 
 VOL. IJI. I) 
 
I THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 lent, was ineffectual to restrain its progress, planned a 
 subtle system, which under the appearance of friend- 
 ship for the illustrious founder, was calculated first to 
 corrupt the truth, and then to counteract the efficacy of 
 his religion. Their first object was to destroy, the fun- 
 damental belief of a Supreme Creator, and of an over- 
 ruling Providence. In order to answer this end, they 
 trod in the footsteps of Epicurus. Instead of openly 
 maintaining that the works of nature have no intelli- 
 gent author, they represented this author, in opposi- 
 tion to the Apostles, as an inferior divinity, evil in 
 his nature, malevolent in his temper, delighting in the 
 misery not in the happiness of his creatures, and 
 binding them to the obedience of unnecessary and ar- 
 bitrary laws. Above the creator they represented a 
 being of supreme power, wisdom, and goodness, who 
 led a life of impenetrable and indolent security, uncon- 
 cerned for human affairs, and known to none but them- 
 selves. To this unknown God, held forth by the de- 
 ceivers, Paul opposes the Benevolent Father of the 
 Universe ; and we shall perceive that to the malicious 
 representations, which they gave of him, we are in- 
 debted for the many beautiful and amiable descriptions 
 of the Divine Character and Benignity, with which the 
 Apostolic epistles abound. 
 
 The true gospel declares that its founder is the son of 
 God, and that the object of his mission was under the 
 divine wisdom to reveal, and under the divine power 
 to accomplish, a Plan which might rescue mankind 
 from sin and death, and raise them to everlasting glory 
 and felicity. In opposition to this, the deceivers taught 
 that Christ was not the son of the Creator, but a God 
 superior to him; and that the end of his mission was not 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. h 
 
 to co-operate with the designs of the Creator, but to 
 destroy his works, and to deliver the human race from 
 the bondage of his arbitrary laws. See Vol. ii. p. 301, 
 418. Iren. p. 95. Theod. Hser. Fab. Lib. i. 2. 
 
 The impostors, having proceeded thus far, contrived, 
 in the next place, means to undermine the great doc- 
 trine of a future state and of a righteous retribution, 
 which the gospel brought to light ; and which, they 
 perceived, proved a divinely efficacious power in re- 
 forming the vices oi men. In order to answer this end, 
 they had recourse to methods which differed according 
 to their different views and situations. The Gentile 
 Gnostics inculcated that salvation was to be attained 
 not by good works, but by grace. This was the doc- 
 trine of the heresiarch Simon, who, as Theodoret in- 
 forms us, taught that the prophets were the ministers 
 of (evil) angels. " Therefore he encouraged those, who 
 believed in him, not to attend to them, nor dread the 
 threatenings of the laws, but to practise without re- 
 straint whatever they wished. For it is not l?y good 
 works, but by grace they can attain salvation." In con- 
 sequence of this encouragement, his followers, adds 
 the same author, abandoned themselves to the most 
 abominable indulgences.* On the other hand, the 
 Jewish Gnostics adhered to those rices and ceremonies 
 
 * Toyy ^£ Tfotp-nTa.f: ruiv ayytXwv vfrov^yovs yeyivYiaQai. rovs ^e us 
 uvTov 'Ki'^ivovrxs cKtXtvai ixyi nrqocTtysiv tKcivois, (/.not (p^irrny ruv 
 ■vo/^wv T«y otiTiiy^xs, (xiXct 'nr^a,rrtiv us tXtvOi^ovs ottrt^ av e^iXria-ojaiv. 
 ov yup ^"* ir^et^iuy xyaQuv txKKa dta yrx^iros Ttv^ta-Oact rrts a-corn- 
 eta,s' ov te /(jx^iv oi rris rovTov <Tv^A.f^oqioi,s nractratv £ToX(ji.uy otaBXymtv, 
 •Axi yt-ocyyixyixis s^^uvto TTXvro^wjrxis, t^uriKX rivx kxi ayuyt[j,x 
 lxyivavuiJ!.!voi, xoct rat, xKKix, hex rijs yorirtixs icix 'Jis St/» mi T/ovTfr 
 tjhvrnoix. Hasr. Fab. Lib. i. 1. 
 
 D 2 
 
lii THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 in habits of predilection for which they had been edu- 
 cated, and which they dignified with the title works 
 of the law, and not to an efficacious belief in the divine 
 mission of Jesus, as the ground of acceptance with 
 God ; while the Gentile and the Jewish concurred in 
 representing such a belief as ill founded. 
 
 By the works of the law, then, which the Apostle 
 Paul so often mentions, we are to understand, not as 
 is generally supposed, virtuous actions or moral duties, 
 but those ceremonial performances, or ritual observances^ 
 upon which certain Jewish zealots from the school of 
 the Pharisees insisted, as the medium of salvation, in 
 opposition to an influential belief, called faith, in a 
 future life, confirmed by the resurrection of Jesus. 
 This distinction is of great importance to be attended 
 to ; and the intelligent reader will doubtless be glad to 
 see it justified by adequate proofs. 
 
 1. That what the Judaizing teachers of the Gospel' 
 called the works of the law, or the righteousness of the 
 law, and what the Apostle Paul in conformity to them 
 so calls, meant merely rites and ceremonies, and not 
 ihe works of morality, is manifest, first, because 
 those very men, while they boasted in their privileges 
 and practices as Jews, denied the obligations of vir- 
 tue, resisted the necessity of repentance and reforma- 
 tion, reduced immorality into a system, and even glori- 
 ed in the commission of the most criminal deeds. The 
 following passage, in which Theodoret speaks of the 
 Carpocrutians, answers precisely to the followers of 
 Cennthus and Nicolaus ; *' These men use magic, and 
 employ the names of demons : and to such a pitch of 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. liii 
 
 madness are they advanced, that they conceal not their 
 lewdness, but reduce it to a regular system. For, says 
 Carpocrates, some things are deemed evil, and others 
 good, from opinion, and not from truth. While I am 
 on this subject, I shall not pass in silence over the le- 
 gislative sanctions which they give to their impurities. 
 They admit the transmigrations (of the soul), but not 
 upon the principle on which it was taught by Pythagoras. 
 For he said, that souls which have sinned are sent into 
 bodies to be duly punished and purified. But these 
 say, that the cause of their being embodied is directly 
 opposite to that assigned by Pythagoras. For human 
 souls, affirm they, are sent into bodies, in order to 
 practise all manner of impurities ; that, therefore, 
 those souls, which fulfil this end, on being once im- 
 mersed in a body, do not need a second immersion ; 
 but that those, which have sinned in a small degree, 
 must be sent twice, thrice, or oftentimes, until they 
 have completed all sorts of baseness." Hser. Fab. Lib. 
 i. 5. Improbable and shocking as is this representa- 
 tion, it is justified by what the Apostles themselves 
 have indirectly said of the Judaizing teachers. The 
 very men, who pleaded the works of the law in their 
 justification with God, Paul holds forth in his Epistle 
 to the Romans, as guilty of stealing, adultery and sa- 
 crilege. Consult the following passages, and you will 
 see the evil practices, to which they were devoted, 
 more fully enumerated. 1 Cor. vi. 9. lo. Gal. v. 19, 
 20, 21. 1 Tim. i. 10. Tit. i. lo — 15. The Apostles 
 Peter, Jude and John have drawn their character in 
 colours equally black and odious. Is it then to be 
 supposed that men, who in principle confounded the 
 distinctions of virtue and vice, and in practice aban- 
 
liv TKE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 ddned themselves, without compunction and without 
 restraint, to every species of immorality ; and who, as 
 the Apostle Paul writes of them, gloried in their shame, 
 i. e. boasted in those evil deeds, which ought to have 
 covered them with confusion and remorse — is it to be 
 supposed, that persons of this description, when they 
 preached the works of the law, meant by that phrase, 
 the moral virtues 9 The supposition is inadmissible and 
 even absurd. By the works of the law, thereiore, in 
 which. they boasted, must be understood the rites and 
 ceremonies of the law, of which they were tenacious, 
 and which their vices disposed them to substitute for 
 the exercise of true piety, benevolence, and temper- 
 ance. 
 
 2. That the works of "the law signified merely the 
 rites of the law, may also be gathered from the fol- 
 lowing consideration. The Apostle Paul, in opposi- 
 tion to those impostors, who preached the works of the 
 law as the way to be saved, sometimes specifies the rite 
 of circumcision as the leading article of those works ; 
 and hence shews from the context, that the dispute be- 
 tween him and his adversaries turned upon some in- 
 stitutions peculiar to the law of Moses, and not upon 
 the general principles of virtue. See Rom. iv. i — 9. 
 Gal. iii. 9 — 17. 
 
 3. 'The question, which '!/as agitated between the 
 Pharisaical teachers of the gospel and the Apostles, 
 as related in Acts xv. 1 — 12, farther demonstrates, 
 that by the works of the law was intended simply the 
 performance of those rites which were comprehended 
 in the Levitical Code. The former insisted against the 
 latter, that the Gentiles, in order to be saved, ought to 
 
INIRODUCED INTO ROME. Iv 
 
 submit to the ceremony of circumcision ; and of this 
 submission, and not of moral virtue, they speak as being 
 the mezn oi Aeeping the /azv, ver. 5. 
 
 4. The term, vrhich the Apostle Paul opposes to 
 the phrase works of the laiv, serves, moreover, to as- 
 certain its precise signification. In the controversy 
 which he had with the Zealots respecting the salva- 
 tion of the Gentiles, he maintained that they are to be 
 saved not by works, but by favour, that is, by the favour 
 of a kind exemption from burdcnsoine ceremonies. For 
 this reason, the evil doers, whose doctrine the Apostles 
 controverted, were sometimes stiled TraTris-EyKorej- lixr^v 
 sqycjv vofxou behevers through the works of the law ; while 
 in contradistinction to them, the catholic converts are 
 described as wsTTifsyxoTss- §i« rajr j^a^iToj believers through 
 the favour. See Vol. ii. p. -505, 522. See also Rom. 
 zi. 6. 
 
 5. In the last place, from one particular passacre 
 in the writings of Paul, we may perceive with the 
 utmost clearness and certainty the true nature 
 of those works, in which the false brethren made 
 their own righteousness to consist, and which they 
 pleaded as the ground of their confidence with God> 
 In his letter to the Philippians he thus writes : " Be- 
 ware of those dogs ; beware of their wicked practices ; 
 beware of their biting you. For we are the true cir- 
 eumcision, who pay a religious service to God in the 
 mind, and boast in Christ Jesus, and have no confi- 
 dence in the flesh. Though indeed I have room for 
 confidence in the flesh : for, if any one may presume 
 to have confidence in the flesh, I still more : I was 
 circumcised on the eighth day, oftheraceof Israel, 
 
Ivi THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew from Hebrews ; 
 with respect to the law, a Pharisee ; with respect to 
 my zeal, a persecutor of the Church ; according to the 
 righteousness of the law, blameless. But these things 
 which were gain, I count but loss in respect to Christ- 
 Nay indeed I count all things but loss, in respect of 
 the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
 Lord." Phil. iii. 2 — 9. Here we see enumerated those 
 privileges in which the deceivers confided, and on 
 which they founded their hope of salvation. From the 
 possession of them they held themselves righteous in the 
 eye of the law ; while in a moral view they resembled 
 dogs, which were prompted by fury to bite men, and by 
 hunger to devour the grossest filth. See 2 Peter ii. 22. 
 Rev. xxii. 15. 
 
 In opposition to those rites which, under the pompous 
 title *' works of the law," the Jews performed, and to 
 the supposed privileges which they possessed above 
 other nations, the Apostolic teachers inculcated, as the 
 medium of Salvation, the principle oi faith in Jesus ; 
 meaning by the term, not the inefficaciousbelief of any 
 set of doctrines, much less the belief of those creeds, 
 which the wickedness of men hath blended with the 
 word of God, hnt the exercise of refined piety and bene- 
 volence, arising jrom a firm belief in a future state, 
 illustrated and confirmed by the resurrection of Christ. 
 The truth of this assertion is attested by various passa- 
 ges that might be produced ; and, indeed the uniform 
 tenor of the Apostolic writings confirms and illustrates 
 it. It may be useful, before we proceed to the exami- 
 nation of those writings, to establish the justice of 
 the above distinction, by noticing a few of the more 
 ^ striking passages in the New Testament, which de- 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. IvU 
 
 monstrate that a virtuous conduct and a holy life consti- 
 tute the only foundation, on which we can erect the 
 hope of divine pardon and acceptance. 
 
 i.The Saviour, foreseeing that certain men, pretend- 
 ing to be his followers, would discard the obligations 
 of virtue, and insist on external rites, superior know- 
 ledge, distinguished privileges, certain spiritual seed 
 implanted in them, or some secret bias of nature in 
 their behalf, inculcated with a wisdom worthy of the 
 teacher of divine truth, and of the messenger of hea- 
 ven, that his disciples are known only by the fruits 
 of righteousness. Mat. vii. 15 ; that the works, which 
 men now perform, constitute the standard by which 
 they ^lall hereafter be judged, Mat. xvi. 27 ; that 
 none will be acknowledged as his brethren, but such as 
 do, (and not merely profess), the will of his Heavenly 
 Father, Mat. xii. 50; that the exercise of the social 
 principle in the various relations of life, to the exclu- 
 sion of all other claims, will entitle the professors of 
 his Gospel to the approbation of their final judge, 
 Mat. XXV. 34 — 46 ; that God is then only glorified 
 when they bring forth good fruit ; and then only will 
 their Divine Master reward them as his disciples, when 
 they are distinguished by brotherly love. See Vol. ii, 
 P-7' 57^ 58. 409' 4^0. 543' 544- 
 
 2. To the ritual observances, insisted upon by thS 
 Pharisaical teachers, the Apostles opposed faith in 
 Jesus : and this faith, they at the time explained to 
 mean a rule of conduct, a principle in the hand of 
 God that reformed the manners, and purified the heart. 
 Acts XV. 9. And it is worthy of observation, that the 
 faith, which they urged in opposition to what the- 
 
Iviii THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION" 
 
 Zealots stiled the works of the law, is, in the Aposie- 
 
 lie decree sent to the churches, described solely by its 
 
 effects ; and represented as coiisistiivg altogether in 
 
 abstaining Lorn Pagan impurities, and in keeping the 
 
 golden rule of doing to others what, in a change of 
 
 circumstances, they wished others should do to them„ 
 ver. 29. 
 
 3. Paul, admonishing the Philippians to be on their 
 guard against the false pretensions of their deceivers, 
 holds forth, in opposition to the righteousness of the 
 law which they pleaded, the righteousness which is by 
 
 J^aiih in Christ, and the power of his resurrection, Phil, 
 iii. 9. and of this power and this righteousness, he pre- 
 sently subjoins the following beautiful delineation : 
 *' Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, what- 
 soever things are venerable, whatsoever things arc 
 just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
 lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there 
 be any virtue, it there be any praise, reason on these 
 things : the things, which ye learned, and received and 
 heard, and saw in me, practise those things." iv. 8 — 9. 
 As though he had said : '^ Meditr.tc and dispute not 
 upon Jewish tales.; and commandinents of men who have 
 turned Jrom the truth. Tit. i. ^14^ nor n^^on fables 
 .which afford disputations rather than improvement in 
 godliness, 1 Tim. i. 5, but upon such things, as I 
 here describe to you ; and imitate those virtues which 
 vou have witnessed in my behaviour, and not those 
 vices which are exhibited in the character of your 
 deceivers." 
 
 4. If, from the law of association of ideas, as ex- 
 plained by those immortal sons of science and virtue, 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME, llK 
 
 Hartley and Priestley, we analyse certain phrases, 
 wlijch occur in the epistles, the authors will appear 
 to have been in the habit of inculcating good works, 
 in contradistinction to the pretensions of the Zealots, 
 as the primary end which the Gospel had in view, 
 and as the only way of rect)mmending men to the 
 friendship of their Maker. An instance illustrative 
 of my meaning is contained in the following passage. 
 " The favour (the Gospel) of God, which bringeth 
 salvation to all men, hath appeared unto us ; teaching 
 us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live 
 chastely, and righteously, and piously in this present 
 world; gladly entertaining the happy expectation of 
 the glorious appearance of the Great God and of our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, to de- 
 liver us from iniquity, and to purify for himself a pe- 
 culiar people, zealous (not of some fancied privileges, or 
 of certain rites) of good zvorks. Tit. ii. ii — i^. 
 
 ^. The Apostolic teachers, though they lay great 
 stress on faith, yet represent it as subordinate to bene- 
 volence. From its tendency and efficacy to promote 
 charity it derives, according to them, its whole value. 
 They assured their brethren, that if a firm belief in 
 the Gospel had not its due effect on their temper and 
 conduct, it will eventually prove of no avail to them. 
 They go even so far as to speak of that very faith, 
 which they preached, in terms of degradation, and 
 almost of contempt, when it became considered by some 
 as having any value in itself, or detached from the 
 cultivation of superior virtue. Sec i Cor. xiii. Jam. 
 ii. 17 — 26 
 
 6. Finally, the Apostle Paul declares in solemn, re- 
 peated and unequivocal language, that the works 
 
Ix THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 / 
 
 which men perform, and not the principles they affect 
 to believe, or the privileges in which they pride, form 
 the standard, by which they shall be tried in the great 
 day of final retribution. See in particular Rom ii. 
 1 — 12. 2 Cor. V. 10. 1 John iii. 7. 
 
 It has been asserted above, that the Jewish and Gen- 
 tile Gnostics concurred in representing the hope of 
 a new life, taught by the founder and the first preach- 
 ers of Christianity, as ill founded. They held forth, 
 I mean, a principle calculated to undermine that hope : 
 and this principle they made the basis of the Gospel 
 which they opposed to the Apostolic Gospel. 
 
 The Gospel of the impostors the Apostle Paul thus 
 notices in express terms : " I wonder," writes he to 
 the Galatians, " that ye have so soon transferred your- 
 selves from Christ who called you with favour, to 
 ANOTHER Gospel; which indeed is no Gospel, 
 but (the fiction) of men who throw you into confusion, 
 (bi Tagaff(TovT£s ^p(,ar, see Vol. ii. p. ^og), and wish to 
 subvert the Gospel of Christ." i. 6, 7. Here the ve- 
 nerable author declares in unequivocal language, that 
 the deceivers inculcated, under the name of the Gospel 
 of Christ, a fiction, of which the object was to under- 
 mine it. The fundamental articles, contained in their 
 pretended Gospel, were the following, that Christ did 
 not actually submit to death ; that the design of his 
 mission was not to deliver m.en from sin ; that he was 
 not the son of the Creator of the world ; that he acted 
 not in unison with his Will; and that the glory was 
 due to a Supreme God which they affected to reveal. 
 Against these impudent ilotions the several clauses of 
 the verse, preceding the above, are levelled : " Favour 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. Ixi 
 
 be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself (to die) on ac- 
 count of our sins, that he might (by revealing the fu- 
 ture rewards of virtue) deliver us from the wickedness 
 of the present world, according to the will of God and 
 our Father : To him be the glory for ever and ever." 
 
 The impostors, being Epicureans, maintained tbat 
 the soul, as it was not a principle distinct from the 
 body, perished with it on its dissolution by death. 
 Hence they concluded that there could be no life to 
 come, in which virtue should be rewarded and vice pu- 
 nished. The conclusion, however plausible, the Apos- 
 tolic teachers obviated, by erecting the hope of a future 
 state, not, as had hitherto been usually done, upon the 
 supposed immortal nature of the human soul, but upon 
 the future resurrection of the dead, proclaimed by the 
 founder of their religion, and illustrated by his own 
 resurrection. This animating assurance, expressed in 
 clear terms, and established, not tipon opinion, but 
 upon a matter of fact, the anti-apostolic teachers en- 
 deavoured to subvert by the following argument : 
 " The Christ, who appeared risen from the dead, was 
 a divine, immortal being :* his resurrection therefore, 
 
 * Sometimes they maintained that Christ was a God dwelling in 
 the man Jesus, See Vol. ii. p. 260 — 264, 465,' 466, 473, 474, 496, 
 497. While they affected to embrace the former, the latter they at the 
 same time cursed, blasphemed, or excommunicated. To this fact Paul 
 has the following pointed allusion, " No man speaking by the spirit of 
 Godcalleth Jc^us accursed" 1 Cor. xii. 2. To this he also refers, when 
 at the close ofthe letter he writes : " If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, let him be anathema (excommunicated)," As though he had 
 said : " If any one among you pretend to embrace the Christ as a di- 
 vine being resident in Jesus, and yet excommunicate Jesus himself, let 
 that person, and not Jesus, be excommunicated." On the same subject 
 John has recorded ihese remarkable words : " Who is the lyar, but he 
 
ixii THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 can be no solid pledge of the resurrection of be- 
 ings, such as men are, wrought of materials that are 
 corruptible and subject by nature to the stroke of 
 death." From this statement it appears, then; that the 
 doctrine of the Messiah's divinity, which the advocates 
 of the trinitarian faith urge as essential to the Christi- 
 an religion, constitutes the very article which the bit- 
 
 tliat denieth Jesus to be the Christ ? this 13 the antichrist, who denieth 
 the Father and the son," i. e. denieth the Father to be Benevolent and 
 Supreme, and Christ to be the son of the Universal Father, t Epis. ii.22. 
 
 At other times, the impostors taught that Christ personated the nnan 
 Jesus, and that he was a God in the mere form, without the substance 
 of a human being. Vol. ii. 267. Those, who held this opinion, are 
 thus stigmatised by the Apostle John : " Many false teachers are come 
 into the world. By this we know the spirit of God : every spirit 
 which alloweth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, (i. e. had a 
 ical human body) is of God : but every spirit which allo-*cth not that 
 Jesus Christ came in the flesh, is not of God : and this is that spirit of 
 antichrist, of whose coming ye have heard." 1 Epis. iv. 1 — 4. Agree- 
 ably to the following Epicurean maxim, Tangi, nisi corpus, nulla patcst 
 res, they maintained that our Lord when he rose from the dead, as being 
 without a real body, was incapable of being touched or handled. To this 
 notion the same Apostle plainly alludes in the beginning of this epistle ; 
 «' Th,!i, which was in the beginning, which we have heari;, 
 which we have beholden with our eyes, which we have inspected, and 
 OUR HAN us have HANDLED — that, concerning the Logos of lifg 
 declare we unto you." 
 
 Because they taught that Christ was a man in appearance, and not la 
 reality, and therefore, like a spectre or phantom, could be an object of 
 sight only, they were called 'Ot Aoyiovvrts or Ao)iriract Doceta, or, as the 
 term might be rendered in our language, Seemers. This appropriate term 
 was first given them by the Apostle Paul, as we may learn from the fol- 
 lowing passage : " I went up to Jerusalem by revelation ; and gave to 
 them (i. e. to the Chrisrian Society at large) a general account of the 
 gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but to the Seemers 
 T0I2 AOKOTSi AN exact and minute detail of it, 
 to shew them that I run not, nor have run [us xevov at a vain thing) at a 
 phantom." Gal. ii. a. 
 
INTRODUCED INTO ROME. Ixiii 
 
 terest enemies of it used, in opposition to Christ and 
 his Apostles, for undermining the hope of a future 
 state and rendering ineffectual the motives, hence af- 
 forded, to the eradication of vice and the practice of 
 virtue. The method, to which the Apostles had re- 
 course for exposing the above subterfuge of the de- 
 ceivers, is a matter of supreme importance to the Chris- 
 tian Cause, and well deserves the attention of every 
 rational enquirer. They insisted, against their false 
 brethren, that Jesus ts the Christ; meaning, that the 
 man Jesus, and not a divinity within him, was the Sa- 
 viour whom they preached. This the Apostle Paul de- 
 clares, on one occasion, to be the foundation of the true 
 Gospel ; and the doctrines which the impostors erected 
 upon his supposed divinity, he represents as being no- 
 thing else than zuood, hay, stubble, which one day shall 
 be consumed by the purifying ordeal of truth. See 
 1 Cor. ii. 1 1. In (he fifteenth chapter of this epistle, the 
 author directly meets the above argument of the de- 
 ceivers ; and he refutes it by repeatedly holding forth 
 the humanity oi the Saviour ; inculcating hence that, 
 as he was merely a human being, as he possessed only 
 the nature and constitution of man, his resurrection 
 was a proof and a pattern of the resurrection of man- 
 kind. 
 
 That this is a true statement of the dispute be- 
 tween the Apostles and their false brethren, is a fact 
 which will receive the fullest proof from the analytical 
 view whith I propose to take of the Apostolic letters. 
 For this reason I shall here add nothing farther in con- 
 
Ixlv THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, &C. 
 
 firmation of it, but conclude with observing, that the 
 association of the Jew, whom Josephus mentions, 
 with the priests of Isis, in teaching the new faith, 
 marks the progress of Paul's ideas in the epistle which 
 he addressed to the Roman converts, and divides it 
 into three general branches. The first of these com- 
 prehends his reasonings against those Jews, who en- 
 deavoured to incorporate with the Gospel the Jewish 
 rites, and extends to the close of chapter four ; the 
 second the arguments, which he advances in opposition 
 to those Egyptians who blended with it the Egyptian 
 superstition, aud which terminates with the. eleventh 
 chapter; the third, extending thence to the end, is 
 merely preceptive, and occupied in enumerating jmd 
 recommending those virtues and duties, which, as 
 Christians, they were under peculiar obligations to 
 cultivate and to practise. 
 
THE 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 ANALYSED. 
 
 >®-^(!>«= 
 
 JL AUL begins his Epistle to the Roman converts 
 with reminding them that he was an Apostle.* This he 
 does, in order to impress more deeply the sentiments 
 which he was going to deliver, and to bear down by 
 the weight of his authority the false notions of his op- 
 ponents. He, however, modestly insinuates that he 
 did not possess that dignity as a matter of right, but had 
 received it as a favour from Jesus Christ. " From 
 whom I received the favour of an Apostleship, that all 
 the Gentiles might believe in hfs name." ver. 6. The 
 persons who first taught the Gnostic heresy, so far 
 from acknowledging their subordination to our Lord, 
 pretended to be equal, if not superior, to him in power 
 
 * The Pharisaical teachers, who opposed the Apostle Paul, rejected 
 his authority, and seem even to have denied that he was called to be an 
 Apostle. The authority of his apostolic commission, he here indirectly 
 asserts. In opposition to his vilifiers he maintains that he was not 
 only called of God to be an Apostle, but also separated or pre-ordained 
 unto this divine Gospel; see Acts ix. 14. also Gal. i. where he vin- 
 dicates himself in a more direct manner from the cliargc of acting 
 without the authority of God. 
 
 vol.. III. A 
 
2 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 and wisdom. But our author, though called to be 
 an Apostle, sets out with declaring himself a Servatit 
 of Jesus Christ ; and he insinuates that all should be- 
 lieve in his name, and not in the name of any self-com- 
 missioned teacher, as the medium of salvation. SimoUr 
 Magus and his first followers, we have seen, claimed 
 this honourable character, in opposition to the Son of 
 God,* Vol. ii. p. 402 ; and though the Apostles were 
 very particular in holding forth their subordination to 
 Jesus, yet the first converts, for a while, erroneously 
 regarded them as principals in the new faith. Vol, ii. 
 p. 470, 471. See also 1 Cor. i. 12. 
 
 The Gospel, as preached by the anti-apostolic teachers, 
 if indeed it deserved that name, consisted of falsehoods 
 and fictions, which had no other object in view than to 
 gratify the selfish passions of its authors. In reference 
 to that Gospel of men, as it might be stiled, Paul here 
 calls that which he preached, a Gospel of God ; that is, 
 a Gospel, which originated with God, and not with 
 men ; which contains an information the most joyful to 
 mankind, and is designed to raise them to a participation 
 of the divine nature. The enemies of Christianity, 
 on one hand, argued against its divine origin, on account 
 of the novelty of its doctrines and the recentness of 
 
 * Our Lord commanded his disciples to regard him as their sole 
 Master, and to present their petitions to God in his name alone, as the 
 only true medium of addressing the Father, to the exclusion of all those 
 who affected to oppose or rival him. Who those impostors were, wc 
 have already seen from Irensus, Lib. iii. Cap. 2. Ignatius in his epistles 
 has frequent allusions to those men who, though classed among the fol- 
 lowers of Christ, pretended to be equal to him. See Epist ad Trail. 
 Cap. vii. viii. ix. where he maintains that there is but one Christ, that to 
 him alone, as to one temple, we should come ; that he proceeded from 
 the Father, and not from Sige, and that they regarded him as their solr 
 Master. 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. 3 
 
 its appearance, while the Gnostics, on the other, reject- 
 ed those predictions of the Jewish prophets, which 
 proved the divine mission of Jesus. Against these op- 
 posite extremes of error, the language of our Apostle 
 seems to have been levelled, when he declares that the 
 Gospel had before been proclaimed by the inspired pen- 
 men: *' Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to 
 be an Apostle, separated for the Gospel of God, 
 which he had aforetime proclaimed by his prophets. '* 
 He subjoins, however, that it was proclaimed in the holy 
 Scriptures, that is, in the Jewish Scriptures ; intimating 
 that those predictions oi the coming Messiah, delivered 
 by the pagan oracles, proceeded not from divine inspi- 
 ration, but were the forgeries of men unworthy of cre- 
 dit. + The deceivers maintained, that Christ was an An- 
 gel, M.on, or God, and not a human being, and that 
 consequently he could not have derived his extraction 
 from David. In opposition to these notions, the writer 
 represents him as being the Son of God, and as having 
 
 * The ancient commentators understood the Apostle as levelling his 
 language againsr these objections. Thus Theophylact explains his 
 words, ETTEiS'/j us )cas(vov S(£|3«XXov to Kv^vyfjiac, dsiKwariv xvro 'n^eo'l^'j- 
 TE^ov ov nxi EXArjvwv, nxi ev '7r^o(p'nrxts 'n^o^ixjq<x.(poi>.i)iov. Chrysostom 
 is the original author of this remark. See his comment in loco. Theo- 
 doret explains the paragraph in a similar manner. " Paul, first of all, 
 " shews the antiquity of the Gospel, lest any of the unwise should reject 
 " it as new." 
 
 + Theodoret seems to have fully comprehended our author in thi» 
 place. His comment is as follows, YlKn^-ns yx^ fi nixXxix S;a9»jKi9 ta'v 
 tti^i Ky^/of TT^o^^Tio'Ewv TO ^E u.yixi$ ovvt wn'Kus TiOttya xKKx it^urov 
 /AEV ais y.xi T'j^y itxXxixv '^itxv ot^s y^x(pyiv etrx •nxax't xvoa^tvuv rr,v 
 aWorqtxv. The Old Testament abounds with predictions respecting the 
 Lord: nor has he annexed HOLY in a vain sense ; for, Jir^t, he knew the 
 Old Scripture to be divine^ excluding, moreover, all other writings ks 
 foreign. 
 
 A 2 
 
4 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I, 
 
 sprung from that patriarch, ♦' Concerning his Son Jesus 
 Christ our Lord, who was of the seed of David ac- 
 cording to the flesh." ver. 3. 
 
 The divine power with which our Lord was endued, 
 the benevolent purposes for which he wrought his 
 miracles, together with the testimony of God himself, 
 declaring him at his baptism to be his beloved son, prove 
 in the estimation of sober, reason, the justice of his 
 claims to that character. But what confirmed it with 
 still greater certainty, and removed all doubt that he is 
 the Messenger of Heaven, was his resurrection from the 
 dead. This fact, though the grand basis of the christian 
 faith, the Gnostic impostors denied. Paul here urges the 
 truth of it; and his words imply that, Jesus being raised 
 by the divine power, and not by virtue of his own, 
 was not, what they maintained, a God but a Son of 
 God ; " Confirmed * to be a son of God in power, by his 
 resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of ho- 
 liness." 4. He rose, according to the spirit of holiness, or 
 the Holy Spirit ; because the Holy Spirit restored him to 
 life, and enabled his Apostles to work miracles in cor- 
 roboration of his having really risen from the grave and 
 ascended to heaven. See Vol. ii. p. 446, 464, 465. 
 By the phrase spirit of holiness, our author means God 
 himself, who is a pure and spiritual Being. He uses the 
 abstract ior the concrete, seemingly to place in a stronger 
 light the holiness of Jehovah, and thus to guard the 
 
 * The original of conjinned'is o^ia^svros, which Chrysostom explains, 
 by «7rooE;^0EyToj, a.'nopxvOivTos, and Theophylact after him, by/Ss/Sau- 
 a'0EVToy, n^iStvros, for adds the latter, og'oj sf/v »J x^o-zf. The Apostle 
 then, it seems, asserts that the resurrection of Jesus by a solid, and as it 
 were, a judicial evidence, confirmed the predictions of the prophets, and 
 places on a sure foundation the inference drawn from his mirat les, that 
 he is the Son of God. 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. 5 
 
 converts against the impious sentiments of those, who, 
 through ignorance or depravity, blasphemed him as evil 
 and impure. Between such men as these, and the virtu- 
 ous professors of Christianity, he thus distinguishes in 
 the following salutation : " To all that are in Rome, be- 
 loved of God, and called holy men, to you be favour 
 and peace from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 6. Which may be paraphrased in this manner : 
 " All among you, whether Jews or Gentiles, who, in- 
 stead of vilifying God as a wicked, love him as a good 
 Being — All who, professing the gofpel, culcivate in 
 confequence holiness or moral purity, I salute; to 
 those that answer this description, I announce the Iree 
 gift of eternal life, peace with God, and the privilege 
 of addressing him as your Father." 
 
 Paul next assures the converts, that though he was 
 not personally known to them, yet he so rejoiced in 
 their conversion, as to make it the subject oi his daily 
 thanksgiving to God through Jesus Christ ; teaching 
 them by this, that the Supreme Being, so far from 
 meriting the unamiable reprefentation given of him by 
 some, was entitled to their gratitude andpraife * ; tha^ 
 Jesus Christ was the only way of addressing him, and 
 that we should have the welfare of others so much at 
 heart, as to be thankful to the Great Giver for what- 
 ever good befals them. " In the first place, I give 
 thanks to God, through Jefus Christ, on account of 
 
 * The deceivers, representing the Creator of the world as heing evil, 
 consistently enough maintained that he was not an object deserving of gra- 
 titude and supplication. Hence Ignatius, in his epistle to the Smyrnaans, 
 says of them, Evy(^oc^t'^iois x.xi v^oahv^ris ais^yoiirxi. They abstain 
 from thanksgiving and from prayer. For this reason, Paul presently 
 charges them, in common with the Pagan philosophers, with being a«- 
 thankful to GoA, ver. 21. 
 
6 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 you all." The cause, which thus called forth his 
 thatiksgiving, is worthy of our notice. The introduc- 
 tion of Christianity into Rome, the conversion of the 
 Jews and Egyptians, without the interference df the 
 Apostles, together with the subsequent dispersion of 
 the new converts, were events so remarkable as to be- 
 come necelfarily a matter of notoriety and conversation 
 in every quarter of the globe. Accordingly our Au- 
 thor subjoins, that your faith is proclaimed 
 IN ALL THE WORLD, 8- After this he insinuates, in 
 opposition to those, who rested on ceremonial obser- 
 vances as the means of pleasing God, that from the 
 Gospel revealed by his Son, he learnt to serve his Ma- 
 ker in the Spirit, that is, in the exercise of moral virtue, 
 in the cultivation of rational piety and benevolence. 
 " To whom my mind payeth its religious service in 
 the Gospel of his Son." 9. 
 
 The superiority which Rome, being the metropolis 
 of a vast empire, and the residence of a splendid court, 
 sustained over other cities; the extraordinary events 
 there produced by the prevalence of Christianity, and 
 the calamities brought upon its professors by the wick- 
 edness of a few leading individuals, were circum- 
 stances which demanded, if possible, the immediate 
 presence of our great Apostle. His long delay, oc- 
 casioned by his engagements in the East, furnished his 
 opponents with a specious handle for accusing him 
 of being unconcerned for the interest of the Roman 
 converts, and deterred from visiting that city by the 
 fear of shame or ot persecution. This impression, our 
 Apostle must have been very anxious to efface, and he 
 alTerts, in the most solemn manner, that he cherished at 
 all times, a heart-felt remembrance of them before 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. 7 
 
 God, and wished for an opportunity of coming to see 
 them : " For God is my witness, how I make mention 
 of you without ceasing in my prayers ; requesting that 
 I may, by some means, at length, through the will of 
 God, enjoy an opportunity of coming to you," 9, 
 
 10. He had an earnest desire, adds he, to visit the 
 converts in Rome, not indeed that he might derive 
 any honour or advantage from them, but to share with 
 them the miraculous gifts imparted to him, and thus 
 confirm them in the faith and practice of the Gospel. 
 
 11, 12. Being anxious to do away the false accusa- 
 tion that he refrained from going thither from a want 
 of concern for their welfare, or from a dread of perse- 
 cution, he repeats the purpose which he frequently 
 formed of coming to sow among them the seeds of the 
 Gospel. " And I wish you to know, brethren, that 
 I have been hindered hitherto, when I had often pur- 
 posed to come unto you, that I might reap some fruit 
 among you, also, as among other Gentiles," 13. 
 While he apprised his readers that he had been very 
 successful in disseminating Christianity among the 
 Gentiles, he wished them to confider him as rather 
 receiving than conferring obligations, as more the 
 debtor than the creditor of those who received the faith, 
 and for this reason he was ready, as much as it lay in 
 him, to preach the Gospel to them in Rome. 
 
 In no place were fortune, birth, and learning, held 
 in such high estimation, or the want of them deemed 
 so disgraceful, as in that opulent and corrupt metro- 
 polis : hence the tide of reproach and contempt, which 
 overwhelmed the first followers of a poor, obscure, and 
 illiterate Master, rolled no where so high as on the 
 banks of the Tyber. To the more aggravated trials and 
 
8 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 ignominy, which awaited our author at Rome, and 
 which were perhaps alleged by his adversaries as the 
 cause of his delay in going thither, he next alludes : 
 " For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ ; for 
 it is a power of God unto salvation to every one that 
 believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 
 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from 
 faith to faith ; as it is written, the just shall live by 
 faith ; for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 
 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 
 who hold the truth in unrighteousness," 16 — 19. 
 
 The Apostle intending, in opposition to the Phari- 
 saical teachers, to insist on faith as the ground work 
 of salvation, very properly shews what idea he annexed 
 to that term. Accordingly he informs the new con- 
 verts, that the Gospel of Christ, when become the sub- 
 ject of faith, is a power of God, that is, a divine 
 or extraordinarily efHcacious principle, regenerating 
 the dispositions, and reforming the lives of those who 
 embrace it ; thus saving them from the debasing influ- 
 ence of sin in this world, and from its penal conse- 
 quences in that which is to come. In reference to 
 those men, who were unwilling indiscriminately to 
 extend to the Gentiles, the privileges of the Gospel, 
 unless they conformed to the letter of the Mosaic law, 
 he intimates that every Greek, as well as Jew, who che- 
 rished a practical faith in the Gospel, might share in 
 its blessings: " Because it is a divine power for the 
 salvation of every one that believeth it, to the Jew 
 first, and also to the Greek." In support of the as- 
 sertion, that an efficacious belief in the divine mission 
 of Christ, and not the observance of ceremonies, was 
 the way to be saved, he quotes one of those prophets 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. 9 
 
 that were rejected by the Jewish Gnostics, Hab. ii. 4. 
 " As it is zvritten, the just shall live by faith :" * By 
 
 * The apostle, it will soon appear, has a reference in this place to 
 those of the Jewish converts, who, in common with other Gnostics, re- 
 jected the inspiration of the prophets. This reference will enable us to 
 ascertain the precise meaning of the obscure clause, Thertin is the right- 
 eousness, of God revealed from faith to faith. It may be paraphrased thus : 
 " The scheme of redemption was at first partly revealed in the prophetic 
 writings, and afterwards more fully revealed in the Gospel. Conse- 
 quently the former being a proper object of our faith, should lead us to 
 the exercise of a firm and rational faith in Jesus, who, conformably to the 
 prediction of the prophets, brought life and immortality to light." Si- 
 milar to this is the interpretation of Theodoret, and Clement of Alex- 
 andria. The former thus explains the words : As/ yx^ iririvaxt rois 
 •j;qo!prir»is, y.xt ^i lytcivuv sis rvv rou ivxyytXiov iris'iv Tro^oyyiQyivxi. 
 From faith to faith — For it is ft to believe the prophets, and by them to be 
 conducted to the belief of the Gospel. The following are the words of the 
 latter, A/K.a:/o<rj;v»i ©fov ev xvnj xixoy.siXvjrrsrxi zx Ttirsus sis Trifiv, 
 TMV CK TT^o^uTEiaf BIS vjxyyiKtoy Tsrs>iSi!t)fj.sv/iv, Strom. Lib. ii. Cap. 
 6. p. 444- The forgiveness of God is revealed from faith to faith, being 
 the same faith which is perfeRcd from prophecy to the Gospel. The words 
 of our Apostle, if considered in reference to those Judaizing zealots, who 
 pleaded for rites and ceremonies as the means of justification, may easily 
 admit of the interpretation given them hy Locke. " The righteousness 
 of which God is the author, and which he accepts in the way of his own 
 appointment, is revealed from faith to faith ; i.e. to be all through, 
 from one end to the other, founded in faith." As they refer the origin 
 of the Christian faith to the Jewish prophets, and thus assert, in opposi- 
 tion to those M'ho rejected them, their divine inspiration, and the pro- 
 priety of extending thence our belief to the Gospel, they well accord 
 with the explanation of Taylor, when he says : " The salvation, God 
 has provided in the Gospel, is from faith to faith, or wholly of faith on 
 our part, byway of progress and improvement, from the first faith to a 
 still higher degree ; signifying the advances that we ought to make in this 
 grand principle of our religion," which is the interpretation also of Cle- 
 ment, Strom. Lib. i. p. 644. Lastly, as our author had an eye to those 
 unbelievers, who objected to the Gospel as being new, and till then un- 
 heard of, we may thus paraphrase the words with Mr. Wakefield: 
 *' Non est figmentum inauditum haec fides quam inculcamus. i-igcs et 
 prophetce jam diu earn virtutem discipulis suis praclegerunt," Syl. Crit. 
 Pars. Quar. Sec. 185. 
 
10 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 which he intimates, that those only shall be saved, who 
 sgek salvation by faith, and who in consequence are 
 just, holy, and virtuous, and not those who adhere to 
 forms and ceremonies, while they neglect the great 
 principles of justice and purity. The Jew, with his 
 Egyptian associates, who, as Josephus informs us, were 
 wicked in every respect, denied that there existed, in the 
 nature of things, any grounds for a distinction between 
 virtue and vice, and consequently that there is any pro- 
 prietv in ai proving and rewarding the one, or m censur- 
 ing and punishing the other. In contradiction, seeming- 
 ly, to this dangerous doctrine, the Apostle holds up the 
 author of nature, as extendingthrough the mediumof re- 
 velation, his forgiving mercy towards the righteous, and 
 denouncing severe punishment against all ungodly and^ 
 unrighteous men, ver. 17, 18. The persons above men- 
 tioned, while they affected to believe and to teach the 
 Christian doctrine, proved the unhappy means of retard- 
 ing its progress. They corrupted the native purity of 
 Christianity, and thus precluded it^ divine influence, 
 while their vices laid the foundation of those calumnies 
 which the enemies oi Jesus indiscriminately extended 
 to his followers.* This ieature in the character of 
 
 * It is worthy of remark, that the Apostle very sagaciously direcicd 
 the wicked men, whom he had in view, to a passage in the Jewish writ, 
 ings, very descriptive of the flagrant vices which distinguished them. 
 The Jew and his associates were addicted to wine, prided in their superi- 
 or wisdom, appropriated to themselves things that did not belong to 
 them, acknowledged the existence, and worshipped the images of inferi- 
 or divinities. Josephus too assures us, that the former left his own coun- 
 try to avoid the punishment due to his guilt. Read now a part of the 
 passage which our author brought to the recollection of that man. " Be- 
 hold ! his soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just shall 
 Ihe by his faith : Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a 
 proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. 14 
 
 those men developed the pertinence and justice of the 
 following verse : " And severe punishment is denoun- 
 ced from heaven, against all ungodly and unrighteous 
 men ; who hinder the truth by their wick- 
 edness.* Those philologers, it is true, might not 
 have been acquainted with those oracles of God, con- 
 tained in the Jewish scriptures, which teach us that 
 Jehovah ruleth in the heavens, that he is the righteous 
 Lord loving righteousness; yet they were inexcusable, 
 as the volume of nature, in which are written in legible 
 characters the divine perfections, was open to the 
 
 and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, 
 and heapeth unto hiin all people. — Woe to him that increaseth that 
 which is not his : and how long ? 4 — 5, 6. What profiteth the graven 
 image, that the maker thereof hath grSven it ; the molten image and 
 teachers of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, or make 
 him dumb idols," ver. 18. The crimes of which the impostors were guilty 
 awakened the jealousy of the government ; and we are informed by the 
 Jewish historian, that the misconduct of those few brought great distress 
 upon all the Jews and Egyptians in Rome. To their guilt in this re- 
 spect, the language of the prophet was singularly appropriate : " Shall 
 they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex 
 thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them ? Because thou hast 
 spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee : 
 because of men's blood, for the violence of the land, of the city, and 
 of all that dwell therein." Paul appears, from the pertinence of this 
 citation, to have been so well versed in the Jewish Scriptures, as to fix 
 his mind at the spur of the moment, on whatever passage best suited 
 his purpose. Instead of provoking the anger of those bad men, by hold- 
 ing before them a picture of their vices, drawn with his own hand, 
 he gently and imperceptibly presents them with a mirror, in which they 
 might clearly discern the peculiar features of their character. 
 
 * Epiphanius, it should be observed, rightly enough considers these 
 words of Paul, as referring to the first Gnostic teachers, whose false- 
 hoods and vices had brought disgrace on the Christian name, and by 
 that means retarded its progress in the world. See how he applies them 
 -to the followers of Basilides. Hasr. xxiv. p. 71, and to those of Ni- 
 colaus. Hicr. xxv. p. 81. 
 
12 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 Pagan as well as to the Jew. This is what our author 
 next asserts : and in order to moderate the undue pride 
 of the latter in supposing that the disciples of Moses 
 alone had any knowledge of the true God, and to 
 point out the unjustifiable perversion of the former in 
 not making a proper use of that information which his 
 reason gave him, the Apostle subjoins ; " Because tha' 
 which may be known of God, is manifest among them, 
 for God liath displayed it unto them ; for the invisible 
 properties of him, even his eternal power and divini- 
 ty,* are become visible from the structure of the 
 world, being discerned (by the understanding) in the 
 things that are made, so that they are without excuse," 
 iq, 20: which simply means this; " The existence 
 and attributes of the Deity, though undiscernible to 
 sense, are recognised by reason in the formation and 
 
 * The power which Jehovah displayed, in delivering his chosen 
 people from Egypt, however signal, was yet transient ; and the belief 
 of its having been really exerted died away, in respect to many, with the 
 a^e of Moses. Paul was now addressing men who were acquainted with 
 those events, but who probably affected to disbelieve their truth. In 
 allusion, I conceive, to that miraculous interposition of God, whicli 
 was no longer visible, he asserts that the power of the Creator, manifest- 
 ed in the heavens, is eternal, and incapable, as in the other case, of being 
 disputed. The term '^io?, God, from which, Seot^s-, divinity, is taken, 
 implies in itself the idea of goodness, being synonimous with ot.yx^os, 
 which is a contraction of ayavSaoj (Vol. ii. p. 189.) This analogy led 
 Philo tosaysome where, hzos aycyMoryiros cti ovoij.x, God is the name 
 of goodness. The term .Sforrs, divinity, thus here used by the Apostle, 
 is very appropriate, as his object was to inculcate on men, who hated and 
 vilified God, that \\vi goodness is visible from his works. Hence we may 
 see the force of Cyril's reasoning, Catech'vi. p. 52. when he thus says 
 of the Gnostics. 'Erokfxvcrcx,)) nTniv ovroi Sfo S'EOTijTay, (/.ixv Myxb-nv, 
 yxt (J1.1XV Kocyiriv ; it) ttoMws a^Xi-\' iocs \ si ^Eorm, 'jracvrus xoci xya,9z. 
 e< o£ oyjc ocyocGvi, Ti xixXitrai ^eorrts ; &c. 
 
Chap, I.] ANALYSED. 11 
 
 .in angements of the universe.."* This reflection of 
 the Deity from his works, Paul expresses under the 
 figure of a mirror which reflects to the eye, and thus 
 renders visible, the image of an object that is itself 
 unseen. The wicked Jew, who though a nominal 
 convert adhered to the rites of the law, united with the 
 Egyptian philologers in preaching, or rather in pervert- 
 ing, the new religion. Now this circumstance will ac- 
 count for the abrupt transition which may be here dis- 
 cerned in the ideas of our author. After assertingr, in 
 opposition to some Judaizing zealots, that faith was 
 the means of salvation, and that the Gentiles as well as 
 the Jews were included in its scheme, he passes over 
 to certain men, notorious for their vices, who had no 
 knowledge of God but from the light of nature, and 
 who united with their new belief the practice of ido- 
 latry. By an easy association, he was hence led to 
 animadvert on those Egyptian philosophers who first 
 founded, and on those who in after ages supported, 
 the pagan superstition ; " Because that when they knew 
 
 + Aristotle, in his book De Mundo, speaks of the author of the world 
 in a stile unusually grand and beautiful. A clause of this much resem- 
 bles what is here said by our Apostle, riaan Svnrrj (pvaii ('^eos) yevo- 
 fAi*QS x^Bu^inros, a.'n' avruiv ruv e^yxv ^eu^nrxt, p. 43. Glasgow Edi- 
 tion. Read Maclaurin's Account of Newton's Discoveries, Chap. ix. 6. 
 Very similar to the above is the following passage of Athenagoras in 
 his Legation, p. 23. Oxford Edition, Toy Se x<J!o ruv i^yujv o\}/£< twv 
 tco'/iXuv vout T» <pon)ioij.ivx, xtqo;, xt^^^os, yr,s. This passage is very 
 much corrupted j but if you read 'Stihu* for a^r/Xwy, or, as some propose, 
 insert the negative ovyi ; and if, farther, rx (pxivoi^evx be changed into 
 To» (pxt)io[j!.£tov, the whole will convey this simple meaning. TAou wilt 
 see tits (supreme intelligent God) from his works, which are not (like hint' 
 self) invisible, perceiving him (by thy understanding) displaying himself 
 . in the air, heaven, earth. The passage is differently mended by Mr. 
 Wakefield, but his emendations appear to mc too violent. Silva Cri- 
 tira, Pars. Quar. Sec. 18,5. 
 
J4 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thank- 
 ful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their 
 foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to 
 be wise, they became fools ; and changed the glory of 
 the incorruptible God, into an image made like to 
 corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed 
 beasts and creeping things," 21 — 24. 
 
 This passage implies, or rather asserts, that, while 
 the men here mentioned were convinced, there existed 
 a supreme intelligent Being, who created all things and 
 alone justly claimed their homage, gratitude and praise, 
 yet, in defiance of their conviction, and in direct oppo- 
 sition to their better judgment, they transferred to idols, 
 in the form of created things, that religious reverence 
 which they knew to be due to God alone. This impli- 
 cation is well deserving oi our attention. In order to 
 unfold its justice, it is necessary to deviate a little from 
 the subject. In vol. ii. p. 120. it is affirmed that the 
 fabulous accounts transmitted to posterity, respecting 
 the calamities inflicted upon Egypt by Typho in his 
 quarrels with Isis and Osiris, are founded in those 
 plagues which Jehovah brought on that country by his 
 servant Moses. In support of this assertion, the truth 
 of which I hope fully to demonstrate in my future re~ 
 searches, some evidence has already been offered ; and 
 if admitted to be just, it will obviously follow that the 
 Egyptian theology was fabricated in opposition to the 
 system of Moses. This conclusion I shall here at- 
 tempt to confirm by a passage or two from Sanchonia- 
 than. This writer, a Phoenician supposed to have flou- 
 rished about the times of the Trojan War, composed 
 a history of the theology of that people. A fragment 
 of his works now lost, is happily preserved by Eusebi- 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. ig 
 
 US in his Evangelical Preparation. From the stile and 
 matter of this ancient production, if properly examin- 
 ed we may infer that the account of the creation, given 
 by the Phoenician and Egyptian philologers, was not 
 only levelled against the Mosaic history,* but was co- 
 pied from the Jewish records, and perverted in a man- 
 ner the most likely to bring those records into neglect 
 and discredit. I select the following passage as a spe- 
 cimen of the whole. " With these, was one Eliun 
 called Hypsistus, and a woman named Beruth. Of 
 them were born Epigseus, whom they after^vards called 
 Uranus. From him the firmament above us received 
 
 * The account which the Phoenician theologists give of the world, 
 and the creation of man, appears to me evidently levelled against the 
 history of Moses, and to have no other object in view than to undermine 
 the truth of it. It is in part as follows, " The theology of the Phceni- 
 cians (relates Sanchoniathon) supposes the principle of all thino^s to be 
 air, dark and windy, or the breath of dark air, and a turbid gloomy 
 chaos. When the wind became enamoured of its own principles, and 
 mixed with them, their union was called desire. This was the creating 
 principle of all things ; but it did not recognise the thing created by it. 
 From the union of wind and creation, proceeded Mol/i, which some call 
 llus, (mud) and others the putrifaction of watery mixture. From this 
 proceeded every seed of creation and the production of all things. 
 There were some animals, which had no sensation, but out of which 
 were produced intelligent beings — These intelligent beings awoke at a 
 clap of thunder ; alarmed at the sound they began to move, male and 
 female, both on land and in the sea," Prjcpar. "Evan. Lib. i. Cap. lo. 
 This narrative is so ridieulous, that the authors of it, whoever they were, 
 could not have been serious. The beginning, it must be allowed, bears 
 some resemblance to what is said in the first xerses of Genesis : and 
 this, with other references which it has to the history of Moses, seems 
 to me sufficiently to prove that it is levelled against the system of that 
 historian. — His grand object was to inculcate, that all things have been 
 created by a divine Intelligence, distinct from the works of nature. 
 Tlie design of those physiologists, on the contrary, was to fix the atten- 
 tion of men on the senseless properties of matter, as the sole and priiftary 
 cause of all things. 
 
l6 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I, 
 
 its name. This person had also a sister of the same 
 parents, called Gf, from whom, on account of her great 
 beauty, the earth was so called. Hypsistus, the father, 
 being destroyed by wild beasts, was deified, and his 
 children offered him religious honours. Uranus having 
 assumed the government of his father, married his 
 sister Ge, and by her begat Ilus, Kronus, Betulus, 
 Dagon, and Atlas. — Kronus having a son called Sadi- 
 dus, pierced him with his own sword, being prompted 
 by jealousy to deprive him of life : in like manner he 
 beheaded his own daughter, so that all the Gods be- 
 came shocked at his disposition. Uranus after this, 
 being in banishment, sent his daughter Astarte with 
 her sisters Rhea and Dione, to take off Kronus by stra- 
 tagem ; but Kronus seized them, and, though his own 
 sisters, made them his wives. On knowing this, 
 Uranus dispatched against him Himarmene and Hora. 
 But these again Kronus appropriated and detained in 
 his family. — Kronus had by Astarte seven daughters, 
 called Titanides, and by Rhea, seven sons, the youngest 
 of whom was consecrated at his birth."* Now if you 
 narrowly examine this fictitious narrative, it will appear 
 susceptible of the following interpretation. Eliun 
 seems to be a corruption of Elohim, the Hebrew name 
 of God. Conformably to this, he was also called //yjft- 
 
 * Kara rovrws ytverat rts EXiovv Ktx.KovixEvos 'T-vl/zj-or, y.xi QriXtix 
 XtyoiJ.m B*)^oii9, o< x.a< xaTwKoyy in^t 'Bv(o'kov, e^ (^v yivvxrixi E'JTi- 
 yeios ri A'jTo^Swv, ov v^t^ov enxXtcrixv Ov^ccvov. OJs aw' ayroy k«/ to 
 t-Trff fii^a-s so'X^'ov, o/' VTrsfl^oXiov rov kxXXovs ovoiJ.x^ziy of^avov. ysv- 
 vxTui di rovru a^EA^jj sjt tuv iT^oiifriyi.Evu.'v, ri atxi cxX^9>j r*i, y.xt 
 oitx TO xaXXoy aw' avms, (pna-iv, etcxXcaacv rvv c/xwvy/AOV yw- '0 ^e 
 rovTuv •nccrin^ 6 T-v^^s-or m avfxlooXns ^n^iuv n'KvjryiToi.s xipis^uQvi, ct> 
 xxi yj^ocs xaii Bvaixs oi 'rrcxiSis tnXiaxv. irx^xXot^u)! ^s q Ov^xvos t*)» 
 rov mxr^os x^yvjv, xyirxt ir^os ya/y.ov r-/iv x^O.(^yiv T^v, y.xt vontTxi 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. I7 
 
 systus {y-^isos) the Most High. This last is said to have 
 been th.e parent of Uranus, (heaven) and Ge, (eartli) ; 
 which means that, as Moses "has recorded. The Most 
 High created heaven and earth. Again, Uranus is re- 
 presented to having married his sister Ge, and by her to 
 have begotten Kronus, Betulus, IIus, and Dagon , that 
 is, by the united influences of the sun and of the earth, 
 were at first generated time, stone, mire, corn. Time, 
 according to the ancient philosophers,* had no exis- 
 tence before the heavens were formed. Kronus having 
 slain his son, and married his sister Astarte (Moon) 
 signifies, that whatever time brings forth is also des- 
 
 Tfcttliacs, IXav y.a.i K^ovov, xas/ B'nrii'Kov, Aaywn os t^i erirov xxt At- 
 XacvTx. — K^ovos oe ijon e^wv 2«S'<^oy, t^ico ocvrov ffiS^^w S/£j^f*jcr«To, 
 5< vTrovoixs avTov t<Ty(riKcoi, koci rns ■v}/y^»r, awro^ei^ rov mxt^os yf 
 vofAivoSf Efff j)(7e». usx'JTus Kxt ^vyxr^os i^/ar T»jy XE^aX^v aWETE/Asy, 
 wf£ mocvTxs fx.nts'n'K'io^^xi ^iovs rris K.^ovqv yvuixris. j^j>ovov ^t it^oi- 
 oyros O'jqxvos £v (pvyn irvyyrxvu}/, ^vyxrt^x xvrov irxpSeyov fy.iG ere^uv 
 MVTYis aSsAipwy ^vo, Pixs x.xi A;w»nf, ooXui rov K^ovov xnXciv vTSomtf/.' 
 itw xi KXi iXuv K^ovoy Kov^i^ixs yxf/itrxs a^tX^xi ovaxs etto/*)- 
 (Txro. yvovs ^s Ov^xvps iViT^xTtvn ttxrx Toy Kf ovou E//x«ffAEV»!y xa< 
 'P.^xv [Jit6 ETE^wy (T'jf^fjiX^uv, KXI rxvrxs i^oiY.ucoaaiA,tyoi K^ovor, Ttx^ 
 lavru Kxrtayiv. K^oyw §£ tycvovro enro A^a^rvis ^vyartqt! ivra 
 TiTxyi^ES yi A^TEjW./^£f, xa/ makiv ru avru yivovrai caro Peas 'T^aiots 
 tTTTX, in yEwraTof «/Aa r-n yivtasi cc^tc^uOn, Prsepar. Evan. Lib. 1. 
 Cap. 10. p. 36,37. 
 
 * This was the opinion of Philo. X§ovor ovx nv V^o 
 xO(T/xoy aKka. vi aw avroj ysyov^v vt /w-st avrov. ETTcion yx^ 
 ^la^nixx rns rov xo<T(ji,ou xivnaecos ej-iv b p(,govof, 'Trqorsqx rou xi- 
 vovixsvou xfunais oux. av yevoiro, aXXa avayxajov avrriv ft C^s- 
 pQv f] a(^a auvifacaQai' avxyaxiov a§« x.xi rov y^^povov ian7^iKx rov 
 KOfffAOV yeyovivxit fi vewTcgov Exejvov, Vol. i. p. 6. 
 
 VOL. Ill 
 
l8 ^PISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 troyed by it, and that the moon, while its motion 
 marks out the present, serves by its revolutions to 
 measure the past. Finally, the seven sons and daugh- 
 ters, Time had by Astarte and Dione, mean those 
 seven days and nights which, as Moses relates, suc- 
 ceeded each other at the creation. The last of these 
 was sanctified by the Deity, having now rested tVoni 
 his labour : And this is what we are to understand by 
 the last or youngest s6n being consecrated at his birth. 
 
 Let us now see what light the above passage, thus in- 
 terpreted, throws on the words of our Apostle. *' They 
 are," says he, " without excuse, because that, when 
 they knew God, they glorified him not as God." In 
 respect to the first authors of idolatry, the assertion is 
 evidently just. They were inexcusable, inasmuch as 
 they wantonly turned into fable facts, w^hich they knew 
 to be true, and the truth of which they could not with 
 effect deny. They knew God, not only from his works, 
 but also from the records of his servant Moses ; and yet 
 such was their depravity, that they wilfully ridiculed 
 and blasphemed him. Their hatred of Jehovah is easi- 
 ly accounted for. The calamities, which he inflicted on 
 the Egyptians, naturally led them to consider him as a 
 malevolent Being. Of the shocking manner, in which 
 they vilified the Creator of the world, we have a speci- 
 men in the above paragrapb, " The Most High, being 
 destroyed by wild beasts, was deified by his children, 
 who performed in honour of him oblations and sacri- 
 fices." The malicious spirit which dictated this repre- 
 sentation, did not die away with the original authors in 
 Egypt, but was kept alive and perpetuated by those 
 rites, which the magicians instituted after the departure 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED, I9 
 
 of the Israelites. Even in the times of ouf Lord, the 
 envy and malice, which the Egyptians cherished a- 
 gainst the Jews, induced them to hate and vilify the God 
 of their fathers, and oppose to him a Being pretended 
 to be superior in power and goodness. So deeply root- 
 ed was their aversion of him that the Christian doctrine 
 could not extirpate it from the breasts of its professors. 
 So far was this from being the case, that the Egyptians- 
 Gnostics imported into the Church of Christ the most 
 unworthy notions of God. To the blasphemous man- 
 ner in which they arraigned his perfections, the lan- 
 guage of Paul, in this and other places, is directly and 
 pointedly opposed. " Who changed the truth of God 
 into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature 
 more than the Creator, who is to be blessed for every* 
 which means, *' God ought not to be blasphemed and 
 hated, but praised and loved." Those who, when they 
 knew God,, refused to glorify him and to be thankful, 
 our Apostle represents in verse 30 as haters of God. 
 From these he distinguishes the faithful disciples by 
 saluting them as beloved of God, 7. The Jewish legis- 
 lator, relating the creation and fall of man, holds u|^ 
 the serpent to eternal execration, ^s the primary cause 
 which deprived the human race of paradisiacal felicity. 
 This imputation, and the aversion which on that ac- 
 count it excited in the founders of the Jewish nation, 
 seem to have induced the Pagan priests to become its 
 advocates. Representing that animal as the symbol of 
 divine wisdom, they enjoined the worship of it in oppo- 
 sition to that of Jehovah. That the Phoenicians as well 
 as the Egyptians, adored the serpent, is a fact attested 
 
 B 2 
 
20 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I, 
 
 by Sanchoniathon,* who enumerates the peculiar qua- 
 lities which entitle it to that honour. To the folly 
 and baseness of the Pagans, in transferring to a reptile 
 the properties and prerogative of Godj Paul thus ob- 
 viously adverts — " Who changed the glory of the 
 incorruptible God into an image made like to — creep- 
 ing things.'' 23. 
 
 As the divinities, which the Pagans worshipped, 
 were mere abstract ideas or physical operations^ invested 
 "With the figures of living beings, and the qualities of 
 moral agents, they are properly and significantly said 
 in the Jewish writings to be vanities and lies,\ terms 
 
 * Tmv ^tv (jyy Toy ApocxovTor <pu(Tni Kxt ruv o^fa'v ocvtos- i^e^sia-fTtv 
 o TocavraSf kxi ^et »yToy xv^n <t>oiV(X£j jca/ Aiyvirnoi. Praep. Evan. 
 Lib. i. p, 40. Whoever attentively reads what the Phoenician wiitei 
 has added in the sequel concerning the serpent, must I think, conclude 
 that it is levelled against the account which the Jewish lawgiver 
 gives of that animal. Be it here observed, that the first deification of 
 the serpent originated not with the Phtcnicians, but with the Egyp- 
 tians ; since Taautus, said to have firs* deified it, belonged to the latter. 
 Hence it is to be inferred that the theology of these two people flowed 
 from the same source. This being 77^o«?i, one of the earliest and most 
 renowned of the Egyptian Magi. 
 
 + " What it is to become vain in the Scripture language," says Locke, 
 *' one may see in these words, And they followed vanity and became vain, 
 and went after the Heathen, and inade to themselves molten images, and 
 xoorshipped all the host ofheavm, and served Baal, 2 Kings xvii. 15, i6- 
 And accordingly the forsaking of idolatry, and the worship of false gods 
 is called by St. Paul, turning from vanity to the living Cod, Acts xiv. 
 15. Let me add the following instance from Jeremiah xvi. 19. " The 
 Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say. 
 Surely our Fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there 
 is no profit." For lies and vanity the LXX. have ■^iv^v cwuXx, lying 
 idols. Some of the ancient Christians consider the commandment, Thoit 
 shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain^ as if it enjoined not 
 10 transfer to an idol, or a false and vain god, the name of the true God, 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. 21 
 
 which imply, that they had no correspondence among 
 real objects, no foundation in truth, no existence but 
 in the imagination of vain and lying men. Conform- 
 ably to this representation, the authors of idolatry are 
 here accused of changing the truth of God into a LiEt 
 
 Whatever ideas the first idolaters connected with the 
 fabulous representations of their gods, and of nature, 
 their systems became, in process of time, necessarily 
 involved in endless uncertainties, obscurity, and con- 
 fusion. The internal signification, which constituted 
 their philosophy, while it served to exercise the inge- 
 nuity of the learned, and to display their superiority 
 over the vulgar, who were taught to acquiesce in the 
 literal sense, proved the prolific parent of pride and 
 
 TertuI, p. 98, &c. With the violation of this precept Paul here 
 charges the idolaters, when he says, "They changed the truth of God 
 into a lie," that is. They exchanged the true God for a lying god, the 
 nbstract being used, as is customary with our author, for the concrete. 
 The great Poet, when speaking of the fallen angels as the authors of ido- 
 latry, thus alludes to this passage of Paul ; 
 
 Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve 
 
 Got them new names, till wandering o'er the earth, 
 
 Through God's high suff 'ranee for the trial of man, 
 
 ^y falsities and lies, the greatest part 
 
 Of mankind they corrupted to forsake 
 
 God their Creator, and the invisible 
 
 Glory of him that made them to transform 
 
 Oft to the image of a brute, adorned 
 
 With gay religions full of pomp and gold, 
 
 And Devils to adore for Deities. B. I, 364, 373. 
 
 Vor/alsitics, Milton either wrote, or ought to have written vanities ; 
 because this epithet is usually joined with lies in the Scripture to cha- 
 racterise the heathen idols, and btcdiuss Jahities and lies con^'cy the same 
 itfea without a iiadow of distinction, and are therefore tautologous. 
 
 B 3 
 
22 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 vanity, no less than of vice and impiety. Hence the 
 justice of Paul's remark, " They became vain in their 
 reasonings, and their foolish heart was darkened." 21.* 
 
 The circumstance oi polytheism being opposed to 
 the Jewish theology, furnishes a sure clue to ascertain 
 the design which its authors had in its fabrication. 
 This was to lead men from the knowledge and imita- 
 tion of the true God, and by consequence to preclude 
 the cultivation of those divine, social, and personal vir- 
 tues, which his law enjoins ; and, on the other hand, to 
 give a free scope to the opposite vices therein prohi- 
 bited. + In order to make sure of this base end, the 
 
 * That the heathen philosophy had a tendency to produce pride, 
 vanity, and even impiety, might fairly be inferred fi^om its very naturci 
 But this is directly asserted by the wisest and best of all the pagan philo- 
 sophers, who on this account abstained from the study of it. " Socrates 
 did not," writes the historian of his life, "discourse, as most others do, 
 concerning the nature of all things ; examining how the universe, as it 
 is called by the Sophists, came into being, and by what inevitable laws the 
 celestial bodies are regulated. He even demonstrated that those, who 
 deliberate about such things, become foolish," AkKa, xott rovs (p^ovrt^cy- 
 txs tet, roiocvroe, (/.u^xtyovrocs ntiBiiy-wiy. Xen. M«mor, Lib. Cap. i. 
 1 J . The words, which Plato in bis Dialogue concerning the Soul 
 puts into the mouth of the Athenian Sage, verify in his own case what 
 Paul affirms to be true respecting the Philosophers in general. Eyw « 
 y.xi m^ort^ov aa^us ■n'ni'^ocii.nv, ws y£ sixavru xxi rois aXXois t^oxovy^ 
 vTf avrris TVS ctki-^sus cvToj cr^oS^ce. srvpku^r.v, o^fE wTriuoc^oi xxt 
 Taf6' a TT^orov w/a^jv h^bvxi, Euseb. Praep. Evan. p. 26. What Lac- 
 tantius with great elegance says of the Pagan philosophers, well agrees 
 with theabove language of Paul. Superstitionibus vanis pertinaciterin- 
 harentes, obdurant se contra manifestam veritatem, non tarn de suis 
 Tcligionibus quas prave asserunt benemeriti quam de se male, qui cum 
 habeant iter rectum, devios sequuntur amfractus ; planum dcserunt, ut 
 per praecipitium labantur ; lucem relinquunt, ut in tenebris casci ac debi- 
 iesjaceant, p. 6. 
 
 + Euscbius asserts, with no less confidence than truth, that men at first 
 were led to worship false gods from the love of pleasure^ which they 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. QQ 
 
 authors of idolatry held up to the people as objects of 
 divine honour, those among men and animals which 
 were most distinguished by violence, cruelty, lust and 
 rapine.* Nor was this all. In order to familiarize 
 
 made the great end of life, and to which they therefore sacrificed as to a 
 God ; and that in consequence of this, they became necessarily involved 
 in all kinds of wretchedness and depravity. His own words in part arc- 
 the following ; T^wttj S' ovv to ttuvtuv xv^qui'it'jjv yotos, ws av Sta* 
 •jToiyn) TTix-^a Kxi ^xM'TrxTXTif) 'H^ovi) Qcu, (/.x'k'Kov Xe aicry^^'j) y.xt 
 axoXass"*) ^xiy-ovi xasTasSsS'ovA&'y^Evovf, Prjep. Evan. Lib. vii. Chap. ii. 
 p. 300. In proof that the object of the first idolaters was to corrupt the 
 morals of mankind, and thus to turn the public depravity to their own 
 interests, accept the following fact, which admits of no solution on any 
 other supposition. The ancient Phenician women were taught, that the 
 most acceptable way of worshipping the Gods was to prostitute them- 
 selves before aheir idols, and give their gains to them, that is, to their 
 priests. This fact is thus attested by Athanasius ; rwaivAs yovv t* n^uXois 
 T»s 4>o<v<x»f trxXxi tr^ottixSil^ovTo, ocTtx^yoiAitxi rots £)ce( ^sois Ixvraiv 
 rY)v Toy (TUfAxros xvruv [Ji.ia9x^vixv vo[Ai^ov(Txi t>) vo^vhx tov 3'eovi 
 iavruv i\xir)cccrOxi, xxi tis tvixmir/.v xyeiv xvr-nv ^ix rovruiv. Con- 
 tra Gentesfol. 21. Hence it happened that every temple, consecrated 
 to idolatry, was made the theatre of the grossest impurities. Hence too 
 Octavius asks, Ubi autem magis a sacerdotibus, quam inter aras et delu- 
 bra conducuntur stupra, tractantur lenocinia, adulteria meditantur .** 
 Frequentius denique in aedituorum cellulis, quam in ipsis lupananbus 
 flagrans libido defuBgitur : Min. Fel. p. 237. The same thing is attest- 
 ed by Tertulllan, p. 15. That enormities of this kind were practised 
 in all the Pagan temples, is a fact recorded by some of the heathen writ- 
 ers. Quo non prostat fsmma templo ? is a question which Juvenal puts 
 with great indignation. See also Suetonius in Tiberio, Cap 44. 
 
 * Philo thus speaks of the animals adored by the Egyptians. TuvfA.iv 
 yx§ 1TX§ Atyuvrtois ov^e ij.ti/.V7ia^9at xxKov. ht (^uoc a7,oyxKXi -Ujf jj/AS^a 
 /X0V3V, aXXce, xxi ^n^ix rx xy^iurxrx •na^xynoy^xcrtv tii ^tuv Ti{x.xf, 
 ti e-^XTOV T4JV y.xrM criXyiyyii' y^iq<Txiuv (/.i)t Xeovrx, tvv^^cnv dz rov eyX' 
 (cciov y.^QKo^ii'Kov, xi^ove^uv ^e (XT/vov xxi t»v Aiyvvrixv t(3tv. Kaei 
 rxvrx ofwvT£$- yiiivu^ivx )cxi r^otpns Xf8<«y tX"^"^^' "*' '"''s' lowdvv 
 ttithti'^x, x.xt 'ne^irrufA.xruy f/(,(T», to&oXx rt xxi xvO^uttoi^o^x, kxi 
 voaois xXurx vxyTotxis, kxi ovft-ovon Qxvxru ru xxrx <f!va-tv, x\?,x %xi 
 3-*iuJ 7ro>.?.x>iis ^ix^Oii^a-jLiyx v^ocr^viove-tv, ot vi^t^ot Ta«vr/A!fa h*« 
 
£4 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. I. 
 
 their deluded followers with moral turpitude, they 
 blended with the narratives, which they gave of their 
 divinities, and with the rites which they offered them, 
 ideas so impure, and practices so impious, as could not 
 fail to extinguish, in the initiated, every virtuous prin- 
 ciple and every moral feeling The Pagan superstition, 
 after it had been imported into Greece, and thence 
 transmitted into Rome, still retained the same perni- 
 cious character and tendency. During the most splen- 
 did periods of Grecian and Roman refinement, it con- 
 tinued, under the plea of being necessary to govern the 
 people, " to be the grand engine of political tyranny 
 and popular delusion, and to bar all access to the en- 
 trance of truth and freedom, purity and simplicity." 
 for this reason, the introduction oi idolatry is repre- 
 sented, in the Jewish writings,* as the sole fountain 
 
 acriBiXiTiTa, x^i o< ^.oyty.ot rx aXoyx' kxi a (jvyycvuxv i^ovris ir^os 
 ro Seiov, TiK /xvjSe «v ^-nqcTi ri(Ti a-vyx^tSorsf oi x^yatns x.xi ^eo-tto- 
 «•«< T« vTrfixox nxi dovXx, De Vita Contem. Vol. ii. p. 472. With 
 respect to the tnen, whom the heaithens deified and worshipped, they were 
 distinguished by crimes the most atrocious, by dispositions the most cruel, 
 and passions the most impure. Kence the above noble author with jus- 
 tice remarks, Vol. ii. p. 193. 'O /xEy/s-ov xv sr/j Tty.(A.r,giov t»j ett^ttoX- 
 al^ovaxs xartliitxs av^^uiruv, ^tovs voi^i^ovrui), ois 01/.Q101 "jton rxi 
 <pv(Tiis aiTtv^xiyr' xv ytvtcrQxt. The greatest proof of t/ie prevailing im- 
 piety of 7nen in acknozvkdging such Gods is, that they would ever depre- 
 cate a likeness to them in tempers and character. 
 
 * " The devising of idols," says the author of Wisdom " was the be- 
 ginning of fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life," 
 Chap. xiv. 12. read the whole chapter. Octavius, speaking of the Pa- 
 gan vices, says very justly to Cascilius : Hec de vestrorum deorum disci- 
 plina descendunt. p. 29 x. — Deos colitis incest os; merito igitur incestum 
 penes vos saspc deprehenditur, semper admittitur, p. 305. Permit me 
 here to remark, that the author of the Recognitions ascribes the origin of 
 idolatry to the same cause which is pointed out above ; namely, to the 
 base passions of those in early times, who opposed and corrupted the 
 lawof Moses, Lib. iv. 13. 
 
Chap. I.] ANALYSED. 2$ 
 
 of all those immoralities, which like a foul torrent 
 overwhelmed mankind. Our author traces the vices 
 of the heathen world to the same source ; and he gives 
 a long catalogue of those impurities, which it had en- 
 tailed on its votaries. *' For this cause God gave them 
 up to vile affections ; for even their women did change 
 the natural use into that which is against nature. And 
 likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the 
 women, burned in their lust one toward another, men 
 with men working that which is unseemly, and receiv- 
 ing in themselves that recompence of their error, 
 which is meet. And even as they did not like to re- 
 tain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to 
 a reprobate mind, (.o do those things which are not con- 
 venient : Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, 
 boasters, inventers of evil things, disobedient to ja- 
 rents, without understanding, covenant breakers, with- 
 out natural affection, implacable unmerciful." 26 — 31. 
 
 From Josephus we learn that the Jew, whom he 
 stigmatises as wicked in every respect, associated with 
 the priests of Isis. This, it may be presumed, was the 
 case with other Jews at Rome, that favoured the 
 Gnostic system. Though they had better means of 
 knowing the will of God than their associates, they did 
 not act worthy of that knowledge, but disgraced them- 
 selves with the same crimes. To persons of this de- 
 scription our Apostle appears to refer, when he thus 
 finishes the above picture : " Who knowing the righ- 
 teous judgment of God, that they who do such things 
 are deserving of death, not only commit them, but 
 also conspire with those that commit the same things.* 
 
 * The clause, Ov ij.ovov awx 'nonvjiv, a.\\x y.zt (Twiv^onovcTif 
 rois TT^xTaovdiY, implies thv those men in the Christian church, whom 
 
S6 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap, II. 
 
 CHAP. II. Pai^I next apostrophises one of these men in the fol- 
 lowing manner. " Therefore thou art inexcusable, O ! 
 man, whosoever thou art that judgest : for wherein thou 
 judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou 
 that judgest doest the same things." The Pharisaical 
 teachers, even after their conversion to Christianity, 
 were weaker wicked enough to imagine, that because 
 they performed thelites of the law, and descended from 
 Abraham, they should not incur the judgment f God, 
 though they practised those things which they con- 
 demned in others. This pernicious notion our Apostle 
 exposes ; and he asserts that the judgment, which God 
 forms, is not regulated by any external consideration, 
 but by the moral qualities of the character, and is there- 
 fore strictly conformable to truth or justice; so that 
 none even of his chosen people shall escape his anger, 
 if they commit those things which he ^disapproves in 
 the Gentiles, *' But %ve are sure that the judgment 
 of God is according to truth* against them who prac- 
 tise such things. And thinkest thou this, Oman, that 
 judgest them which do such things and doest the same, 
 
 Paul here addressed, had a connection with some of the Pagan philoso- 
 phers, whose manners they imitated, and whose conduct they defended 
 and applauded. To the sentence which Tiberius passed upon the lead- 
 ers of them, Paul may refer when he says, that they were deserving of 
 death ; and he insinuates that they stood condemned, not only before a 
 human tribunal, but by the righteous judgment of God himself. 
 
 * Michaelis, in his introduction to the New Testament, Vol. i. p. 
 130. has shewn that the clause xar a\-n%sta.v, which has been the sub- 
 ject of much dispute, is i Talmvdical expression frequently used in the 
 Rabbinical schools. This, though admitted to be true, is not sufficient 
 to explain the phrase. In order to ascertain the precise meaning, which 
 the Apostle annexed to the word, it is necessary to consider what was the 
 error against which it is levelled. And this was, that the j iidgment of God 
 was regulated by a regard to the external circumstances, or outward ap- 
 pearance of the persons judged, and not to their inward and moral quali- 
 
Chap. II.} ANALYSED. 27 
 
 that thou shalt escape the judgment of God ?" 9, 3. The 
 character which the heretics gave of God, was that of a 
 hard man, reaping where he hath not sown, and gather- 
 ing where he hath not strawed, see Vol. ii. p, 49. In 
 opposition to this malicious representation, Paul here 
 describes him to this Jew, under the figure of a Master 
 rick in goodness, liberally giving of his goods to his 
 servants, and exercising patience and long-suffering 
 towards them, in order that they mi^ht have time and 
 opportunity to improve their talents. " Or despisest 
 thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance, and 
 long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God 
 leadeth thee to repentance ?" 4. And here he insinu- 
 ates to the zealots, that though they received the Gos-. 
 pel in name, they were at heart unbelievers, as its 
 divine influence did not soften their tempers and lead 
 them to repentance. On this account, so far from ob- 
 taining the favour, they more abundantly heaped up 
 for themselves the wrath of God. " But after thy 
 hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thy- 
 self wrath unto the day of wrath, and revelation of the 
 righteous judgment of God." ^. In the next place, 
 
 fications. Truth in this place, therefore, is synonimous with strict equity 
 or the principle of virtue. Hence in verse 8, the writer opposes the 
 same term to aSima iniquity. See the learned Hammond, who explains 
 it in the same manner, and instances oSikov //.a/Awva the unjust mam- 
 mon, as opposed to the true riches. Theodoret explains x-ar aXr^suxv 
 by Kara Sf/av -^vipov according to a divine decision, in opposition to 
 the judgments of men, which are often partial and corrupt. This leads 
 Hie to observe, that this ingenious commentator, with Chrysostom and 
 others, conjectures, with much probability, that the Jew here addressed 
 was a ruler, and of course concerned in the administration of jas- 
 ticc. The language of Paul then came home to his own bosom, and 
 gently reminded him of the contrast there subsisted between his judicial 
 decisions, and those of God. 
 
£8 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. 11. 
 
 our author lays down before his readers the standard, 
 agreeably to which the Supreme Judge will, in the day 
 of trial, dispense rewards and punishments to men ; 
 The actions which they perform, and not what his op- 
 ponents maintained, some supposed privileges as the 
 children oi Abraham, or their observance of the cere- 
 monial law, constituted this criterion, " Who will ren- 
 der to every man according ^c his deeds." This reward, 
 which God will bestow, he states to be eternal life; 
 and those only he represents as entitled to it, who do 
 good, not indeed those who do good occasionally, or 
 shrink from the performance of it when attended by 
 any evil, but who are uniform in the practice of it, and 
 ^re. patient under whatever inconveniencies it may en- 
 tail upon them. " To them, who by patient continu- 
 ance in well doing, seek for glory, honour and incor- 
 ruption, eternal life." Observe here, that the views 
 of the rational Christian are directed to a glory and 
 honour ihdidiXQ incorruptible. Of this our Apostle re- 
 minds the converts, in order to guard them against a 
 capital error of the false teachers, who, expecting to 
 share in the privileges of a temporal dominion under 
 the Messiah, sought for a glory and honour that were 
 by their own nature liable to corruption. 
 
 The impostors rejected the true Gospel, as being in Its 
 divine purity by no means adapted to gratify their sinis- 
 ter views; they therefore blended with it falsehoods, 
 congenial to their wishes. And these they endeavoured 
 to propagate, notby calm persuasion, not by a peaceable 
 and sober appeal to the understanding, of their hearers, 
 but by violence, strife and clamour. Upon these fea- 
 tures in their character, the Apostle here touches ; and, 
 on account of their guilt in these respects, classes 
 
Chap. II.] ANALYSED. ^ 29 
 
 them with those workers of evil, on whom the divine 
 displeasure will in the end heavily fall. " But unto 
 them that are contentious,* and do not obey the truth, 
 (do not live in obedience to the true Gospel) but obey 
 unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and 
 anguish upon every soul of man that, doeth evil, of the 
 Jew first, and also of the Gentile." 8, 9. The writer, 
 being anxious to impress upon the minds of his readers a 
 conviction that God is a benevolent Being, and that he 
 takes more pleasure in rewarding the virtuous than in 
 punishing the guilty, repeats in substance what he had 
 ^ilready asserted in a preceding verse : " But glory 
 honour and peace to every man that worketh good, to 
 the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For there is no 
 respect of persons with God." 10, n. 
 
 The author having alleged that the Almighty will 
 reward or punish the Pagan as well as the Jew, pro- 
 ceeds, in order to justify th^ divine administration, to 
 remark, that though the former had not, like the latter, a 
 knowledge of right and wrong in conduct, from the will 
 of God revealed in his law, nevertheless they were not 
 destitute of a Moral Sense ; since that love of virtue and 
 hatred of vice, which it was the object of the law to work, 
 were inscribed, as it were, by the hand of nature, on 
 the tablets of their hearts, and approved and disapprov- 
 ed by the voice of conscience." " For as many as have 
 sinned without the Jaw, shall also without the law be 
 destroyed : And as many as have sinned under the law, 
 
 * By Tois £| s^eOiiics the author means i^iriy.ois, men, who though 
 pretended converts, violently and clamorously opposed the true Gospel. 
 He thus describes the same persons, Phil. i. 16. 'O, /aev e£ s^t^smcs tov 
 Xf/foy v.ctra.'yytK'Kovcnv Iv^ a-ytus. These contentious men do not preach 
 Christ tvitk pure views. 
 
3» EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. II, 
 
 shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the 
 law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall 
 be justified with him. For when the Gentiles, which 
 have not the law, do by nature the things contained in 
 the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto 
 themselves : Which shew the work of the law written 
 in their hearts ; their conscience also bearing witness, 
 and their thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing 
 one another." 12 — 16. The Gnostic teachers* denied 
 that nature and reason dictated any distinction between 
 virtue and vice, and that the injunctions which the 
 Mosaic law imposed on the desires of men had any 
 foundation excepting in the arbitrary decrees of a ma- 
 levolent Being. The fundamental principles of virtue, 
 which they thus endeavoured to undermine, in order 
 to give a free scope to their own passions, and to rescue 
 their deluded followers from the restraints of con- 
 science, are here enforced in emphatic language by oui' 
 great Apostle. He adds, that the dictates of natural con- 
 science and unaided reason will be sanctioned on a day 
 of final retribution revealed in the Gospel. *' In that 
 day, when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus 
 
 * Est quidam sermo apud Graecorum phllosophos yehemens valde,qui 
 elicit in vita hominum, re ipsa nequc bonum esse aliquid, neque nil' 
 lum ; sed quae videntur hominibus, usu et consuetudine praesentis vitas, 
 hfcc aut mala dicunt autbona, Recog. Lib, x. 5. On these v?ords Co- 
 telerius observes ; Archelaum, Cyrenaicos, Theodorum aOcov et Pyr- 
 rhonios, quorum insaniam secuti sunt postea Gnostici. That this was 
 the opinion of Simon Magus and Carpocrates, is what we have already 
 seen, Vol. ii. p. 49, 253. On this pernicious doctrine, is grounded 
 that apophthegm of Hieioclcs, related by Agelllus, vi^ovn nXos, iro^- 
 vns ^oyiA-o,' ovk. £$■< tro^yna. ovSo/, Tio^v-ns Soy/xa. Which, if I under- 
 stand it rightly, means this, That pleasure is the chief good, is the sen- 
 timent of a harlot i that fornication is no crime, is the sentiment of a 
 harlot. 
 
Chap. II.] ANALYSED. 3I 
 
 Christ." The Christian law excels all human laws 
 chiefly in this, that while the latter recognize only such 
 actions as are visible, accurately defined and attested, 
 the former takes cognizance also of those works that 
 are done in secret, and even meditated in the heart. The 
 anti-apostolic teachers, immoral as they were, felt se» 
 cure, if they eluded the vigilance, or baffled the power of 
 the civil Magistrate. Here they were admonished that, 
 however they might by their secrecy escape human pu- 
 nishment, they shall not escape the punishment of God, 
 because he will judge the secrets of men. 
 
 As they denied the obligations of virtue, and reject- 
 ed the doctrine of a future judgment, they taught a 
 Gospel quite different from that oi Jesus Christ, 
 preached by the Apostle Paul. He therefore holds 
 up his Gospel, on this occasion, in opposition seem- 
 ingly to that of the impostors : " When God will judge 
 the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to 
 MY Gospel." 
 
 The principles of morality, founded in the nature 
 and circumstances of man, are more clearly taught, 
 and more powerfully enforced in the law of Moses. 
 Of this Paul reminds the judaizing Zealot, who, though 
 a boaster of his Jewish privileges, joined with men 
 that derided the commandments of God : " Behold 
 thou callest thyself a Jew, and reposest in the law, 
 and gloriest in God, and approvest the things more ex- 
 cellent, (than those taught by unaided reason) having 
 learned thera from the law." 17, 18. The Jewish no 
 less than the Egyptian Gnostics prided in their su- 
 perior knowledge, and arrogated to themselves lofty 
 titles ; while they described, in terms expressive of ig- 
 norance and meanness, the humble and sincere follow- 
 
3* EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. II, 
 
 crs of Jesus. Our Apostle, in order more clearly to 
 condemn the wicked Jew on his own principles, thus 
 continues his address in that stile of arrogance and 
 boasting which he appears to have used respecting 
 himself and his brethren : "Thoutakest upon thyself to 
 be a guide of the blind, a light to them that are in dark- 
 ness, an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of babes. ' 
 By the blind, them that are in darkness, the ignorant 
 and babes, we are then to understand the body of the 
 Apostolic converts, who in general were poor, obscure, 
 and illiterate. For these the deceivers proposed them- 
 selves to be guides and a light, to be instructors and 
 teachers. But though the Jew, here accosted, pretend- 
 ed to be superior to others, and qualified to teach them 
 the exc. llent things of the law, yet he neglected to 
 teach himself in tlie most important points of it. He 
 violated the plainest principles of chastity and decency, 
 was guilty of stealing, and defrauding the temple of 
 Jerusalem of the rich presents given by Paulina, though 
 perhaps he affected to abhor the Pagan idols, and en- 
 deavoured, and that in many instances with success, 
 to throw them down at Rome. These characteristic 
 crimes Paul brings to his charge, and thus convicts 
 him as it were from his own mouth. " Dost thou, 
 who teachest another, neglect to teach thyself ? Dost 
 thou, who preachest against stealing, steal thyself? 
 Dost thou, who forbiddest adultery, commit adultery ? 
 Dost thou abhor idols, and yet profanely rob the tem- 
 ple?" 21, 22. 
 
 The conduct of these men in seducing Paulina, bore 
 much resemblance to that of David in respect to the 
 wife of Uriah. The object, which both parties had in 
 view, was the same. It was effected in each instance, 
 
Chap. II.] ANALYSED. 33 
 
 by arttul and clandestine means. The deed, which Da- 
 vid committed, gave great occasion, to the enemies of the 
 Lord to blaspheme. The consequence of the deed, in 
 the commission of which the wicked Jew concurred, 
 was very similar. This crime, with the others, of 
 which he and his associates were guilty, furnished the 
 Gentiles with a pretext for vilifying the God of Israel, 
 andaccusing indiscriminately all, who believed in Je- 
 sus, of similar enormities. These striking coincidences 
 brought to the mind of Paul the story of David, while 
 now addressing that man. With great skill and gentle- 
 ness he leads him to reflect upon, and confess his own 
 guilt, by directing his attention to one that was crimi- 
 nal in the same way, and whose crime produced the 
 same bad~ effects. " Dost thou glory in the law, and by 
 the transgression of the law dishonour God ? For the 
 name of God is evil spoken of through you among the 
 Gentiles, a-^ it is written." They are the words of 
 Nathan addressed to the Royal Offender, on the occa- 
 sion above alluded to. See II Sam. xii. 14. Paul 
 then thus continues his address to the judaizing Zea- 
 lots : '• For truly circumcision is of use, if thou per- 
 form the law ; but if thou be a transgressor of the law, 
 thy circumcision is no better than uncircumcision. 
 If, therefore, the uncircumcised man keep the righte- 
 ous precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be 
 regarded as circumcision ? And will not he that is born 
 to uncircumcision, if he fulfil the law, condemn thee, 
 who hast a written rule of circumcision, and yet trans- 
 gressest the law ? For he is not a Jew who is one out- 
 wardly ; neither is that circumcision which is outward 
 in the flesh ; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly ; and 
 that is circumcision which is a circumcision of the heart 
 in the figurative, not in the literal sense : whose praise 
 
 c 
 
34 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 is not from men, but from God." 25 — 29. The plain 
 and rational meaning, which our author liere enforces, 
 is opposed to an opinion maintained by the Pharisaical 
 teachers, that the rite of circumcision with otLer forms 
 ftf the law, constituted the grounds of acceptance with 
 God ; and that consequently no Gentile, though a con- 
 vert to the Gospel, if he continued uncircumcised, had 
 any title to a share in its blessings. The assertion, that 
 he is not a Jew who is so only in outward appearance ; 
 and that circumcision, if literally practised, inftead oi 
 being considered as a symbol of reformation in the 
 heart, confers no advantage, led our author to put in 
 the mouth of his opponents the following objections- 
 CHAP. III." What, then, is the advantage of the Jews ? and what 
 the benefit of circumcision I" To these he replies, 
 ** Much every way, and chiefly, because the oracles of 
 God were confirmed unto them by proof." 1, 2. "J his 
 reply contains two propositions : one, that the oracles 
 of God w^re communicated to the Jews; tiic oiher, that 
 the truth or divinity of those oracles was confirmed 
 by adequate proof. The object which Paul had in en- 
 forcing these propositions will be seen, if you look 
 back to Vol. I. p. 272, where it is fhewn that the phi- 
 lologers, among whom ranked the men addressed in 
 the preceding chapter, forged certain predictions, 
 which they ascribed to the Sii>yi, respecting Jesus 
 Christ. The forgery inftigated Tiberius to examine 
 into the merits of the Sibylline oraclds, some of which, 
 we are told, he caused to be burned*. This necessa- 
 
 * Justin Martyr, in his greater Apology, connects the Sibyriine 
 6tAtlt6 with the prophetic writings j and asserts that certain men, im- 
 jjelled by evil demons, prohibited the use of them under the penalty of 
 <ieath. The following are his own words; K«t« ^e t»v ^ixvXwv Sasi- 
 ;*(jva;y Sav^TOf u§iv9n ycxrot rut r»t S<^vXX»js v run wf o<p^T«» /3«/3- 
 
Chap. III. J ANALYSED. 35 
 
 rily gaVe rise to a curious and important question, 
 which has often been agitated, whether the pretended 
 prophets of the heathens were in reality ever inspired 
 by the Spirit of God respecting the expected Messiah> 
 or any other subject of his revealed will ? To this ques- 
 tion the Great Apostle of the Gentiles refers, and he 
 virtually decides it in the negative. " To them (that is, 
 to the Jews,) the oracles of God were entrusted," or, 
 ** to them the oracles of God were confirme4 by proof." 
 Which, it appears to me, is to this purpose ; " Though 
 the learned among the heathens, and even some pre- 
 tended believers in the Gospel, deny the Jewish writr 
 ings to be the effect of divine interposition, yet the 
 oracles of Moses and the predictions of the prophets 
 most assuredly proceeded from the inspiration of God, 
 who iritriisted them to the Jewish nation, as a sacred 
 deposit of his Will, stamped with evidences of au- 
 thenticity which demand the assent of every candid en- 
 quirer. But no such trust has ever been committed to 
 any of the Pagan teachers. Those prophecies there- 
 fore, ascribed to the Sibyl, respecting the Messiah, or 
 
 Xovs xvxyivojcry.ovTuv, Chap. lix. He refers no doubt to the measures 
 adopted on this occasion by Tiberius. And this reference is a clear proof 
 of Justin's knowledge, that the first specimen of the Christian oracles, 
 ascribed to the Sibyl, was the fabrication of the Gnostic teachers in 
 Rome. It also serves to account for a remarkable difference subsist- 
 ing between the Apology and his Exhortation to the Greeks. In a book 
 addressed to the Emperor and Senate, common decency, if no regard to 
 truth, must have restrained him from citing oracles, the forgery of which, 
 a few years before had been publicly detected, and the authors signally 
 punished, But he felt no such restraints in addressing a people, who in 
 general must have been strangers to those facts. Accordingly, Justin 
 Martyr cites none of the Sibylline oracles in either of the two Apo* 
 kqks; whereas, in his address to the Greeks, h? pours them forth, with 
 other forged verses, in great abundance. 
 
 e 2 
 
36 EPIStLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. 111. 
 
 the future destination of mankind, are the oracles not 
 of God, but of men, as they bear those evident marks 
 of imposture which render them unworthy of an 
 honest and rational belief." 
 
 The reason, by which the impostors affected to justi- 
 fy themselves in fabricating false oracles, seems to lave 
 been this, that the Gentile unbelievers would not ac- 
 knowledge the sacred penmen of Judea to have been 
 divinely inspired. The invalidity of this excuse, Paul 
 proceeds to expose. " For what, if some were not 
 convinced, shall their unbelief destroy the credibility 
 of God ? ' Which is as though he had said : " Admit- 
 ting that some men, through prejudice and ignorance, 
 discredit the true oracles, does that justify you in iram- 
 iiig false ones, better adapted to their conception ? Or 
 are the promises of God contained in the Jewish scrip- 
 tures rendered ineffectual, or unworthy of credit, be- 
 cause they are, and will be for a time, disbelieved by 
 false and wicked men ?" These queries he answers, 
 " By no means ; rather let God be true, and every man 
 a liar" 4; that is, " Every man who denies the truth 
 of God, or who puts what is false into His mouth, 
 ought rather than God to be charged with falsehood." 
 He then gives him a very good reason, why he should 
 not tell a falsehood, even under the specious pretext of 
 promoting the truth. " That thou mightest be justifi- 
 ed in thy words, and prevail when thou art called to an 
 account." * The oracles, which those deceivers had 
 
 * The guilt which David incurred respecting the wife of Uriah, he 
 thus confesses, Ps. li. 4. Against tkee the only one have 1 sinned, and 
 done this evil in thy sight. The man whom the Apostle now addresses 
 committed a similar crime ; and the similarity seems to have been the 
 circumstance, which by association directed the writer to the above pas- 
 sage of the Psalmist. His advice to the impostors is to confess the truth) 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. 37 
 
 fabricated concerning Christ, and the veil under which 
 they affected to conceal the meanness and obscurity of 
 his birth, by representing him as supernaturally con- 
 ceived, contributed at first, we may reasonably suppose, 
 to promote the Gospel in Rome and in the provinces. 
 The plausible end, thus answered by their falsehoods, 
 the authors, naturally enough, produced in apology for 
 their guilt. Accordingly the Apostle represents the 
 person, whom he is addressing, as replying. " If the 
 truth of God (the true Gospel of God) prevailed 
 by ray falsehood unto his glory, why am I then 
 condemned as a sinner?" 7. Their conduct, not- 
 withstanding this plea, was highly criminal : and 
 they signally received the punifhment due to their 
 crimes; some of them being put to > death, whilst the 
 rest were banished from the country. The sufferings, 
 which they thus underwent, their virtuous opponents 
 could not fail to consider, and exhibit, as a sure sign 
 of God's anger at their guilt. Paul with much 
 address leads the apologising impostor to notice the 
 penalty, which he and his associates incurred, in this 
 light. " But what shall we say, If our unrighteous- 
 ness recommend the righteousness of God, (the Gospel 
 of God)is not God unjust for inflicting punishment?" 5. 
 That our author might not be misunderstood as to the 
 punishment which he had in view, he inserts the clause, 
 
 and to avoid the use of words characterised by duplicity and fraud ; since 
 those very words, when properly interpreted, criminated their base au- 
 thors. Hence the meaning of Paul when he says, T/iat thou migktcst be 
 justified by thy words, that is, Thou shah be tried by thy own words : if 
 true, thou shalt be acquitted; but if false, condemned. The Apostle 
 here seems to assert, what Jesus himself declared to those Pharisees, 
 who, he foresaw, would favour the Gnostic impostuie ; namely, that 
 they would be tried and condemned, upon no other principles th;in tbf-ir 
 own. See Vol. ii. p. 538. 
 
3? EPISTLE TO THE 9.OMANS [Chap. JIL 
 
 j£»r «v9§fii>z:ov Xeyci', I /peak in rcfpect to (the punishment 
 injiicud by J a, man, namely Tiberins, 
 
 That it is lawful to tell faisehpod for promoting truth, 
 or more generally, to do evil that good may come, was 
 a principle interwoven with all the systems of policy 
 arid religion which obtained in the heathen world. The 
 priest delivered his doctrines in words of studied ambi- 
 guity, to which he attached a signification very different 
 from the popular sense. The legislator and the magistrate 
 sought to govern the people by inculcating the doctrine 
 of a future state, which in their hearts they disbelieved. 
 Even the philosopher, who boasted in the love and in- 
 vestigation of truth, had his hottric and Exoteric writ- 
 ings, or books penned with such artful duplicity, as to 
 contain an internal meaning opposite to their obvious 
 and literal interpretation. And it may be asserted, 
 without fear of contradiction, that no individual aniong 
 the Pagans, however distinguiflied in other respects, 
 rose so high in moral refinement as to express his dis- 
 approbation of a maxim so dangerous and dishonour- 
 able. From the school of human wisdom, the first 
 Gnostics *■ imported it with other corrupt lessons into 
 
 * Hence Tertullian says witli justice oF the false teachers, that there 
 was nothing of which they were ^o careful, as to conceal from the mul- 
 titude the meaning of the doctrines which they preached : Nihil magis 
 curant quam cccultare quod praedicant, p. 250. The Pagan priests 
 guarded their mysteries or internal doctrines with equal care from the 
 popular eye. Their maxim was that of Porphyry, 
 
 or that of the Latin poet, 
 
 Odi profanum volgus et arceo. 
 
 Some of the Pagan writers had the frankness to confess, that they taught 
 falsehoods to the people; and they attempted to justify this under the 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. 39 
 
 the Church of Christ, and attempted to justify its 
 adoption by the useful purposes which it answered. 
 The Apostle represents the impostor before him, as 
 proposing a question in his defence upon the above 
 principle, " Is not God unjust for inflicting punish- 
 ment ?" To which he returns an answer truly glorious, 
 and highly characteristic of a religion originating in 
 the wisdom of heaven. " By no means : for then 
 how fhall God judge the world?" The purport of 
 which is this : " Since the Almighty condemns the arts 
 of deception, which men of the world use in support 
 of their systems, he will necessarily condemn the same 
 in you, whatever may be your pretext for employing 
 them. To suppose that he will punish fraud and du- 
 plicity in one case, and not in another, however 
 plausible may be their object, is dishonourable to the 
 character, and inconsistent with the equity of God. 
 He does not, he cannot approve in the supporters of the 
 Gospel, what he condemns in the world." The Apostle 
 next subjoins, " Say not, (as some maliciously affirm 
 that we say) we should do evil that good may come." 8. 
 Paul, with the virtuous followers of Jesus in general, 
 could not but approve of the sentence, which Tiberi- 
 us pronounced on the seducers of Paulina, and oi the 
 edict which he published to punish those who by a 
 
 plea of ittility. Scaevola, the Roman PontifF, boldly maintained 
 that it was expedient to deceive the state in matters of religion ; and 
 Varro before him, as we are informed by Augustin, has declared thac 
 there are many things which, though true, are not expedient for the 
 people to know ; and many things, though false, it is yet useful for them 
 to deem true. The heathen philosophers readily adopted, and openly 
 acted upon this pernicious principle. For their guilt in thus humouring, 
 instead of correcting, the prejudices and false notions of the people, the\ 
 are severely reprehended by some of the later fathers. 
 
4© EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap, 111, 
 
 similar behaviour disturbed the public peace in the 
 provinces. To the equity of these measures, our au- 
 thor thus bears his unequivocal testimony, their 
 
 CONDEMNATION IS JUST. 
 
 His Jewish readers, Paul was well aware, would be 
 shocked and offended at expressing his approbation of 
 measures, the severity of which had been heavily felt^ 
 by their own nation ; and though they might allow that 
 many of the Egyptians deserved their fate, yet the hard- 
 ships, which thejews underwent, they must have deem- 
 ed unjust. In order to justify his approbation, he 
 represents them thus retorting, " What then ? We 
 are belter than they." — " Allowing that the Egyptian 
 priests, who have been put to death, and the magicians 
 who were banished, underwent a just punishment, this 
 does not justify the sufferings to which we Jews have 
 been exposed, as we are free from their vices, and enjoy 
 privileges above others." This objection, supposed 
 to be urged by the judaizing teachers, Paul silences by 
 reminding them, that he had already shewn the Jews, no 
 less than the Gentiles, to be guilty of the grossest im- 
 itioralities. " By no means (are we better than others) ; 
 lor we have brought the charge of guilt against all> 
 both Jews and Gentiles." He refers to the first chap- 
 ter of this Epistle, where he charges the wicked Jew 
 and his associates with all the vices which debased the 
 Pagan idolaters. That they might the more deeply feel 
 the justice of this accusation, he places before the eyes 
 of those men passages in the prophetic writings, which 
 were most descriptive of their vices, and which from 
 their appropriation, might appear to have a prospective 
 view to themselves : "As it is written : there is none 
 righteous (neither Jew nor Gentile) no not one ; there 
 
Chap. Ill,] ANALYSED. 4» 
 
 is none that hath understanding, there is none that di. 
 ligently seeketh God. They have all turned aside ; 
 they are altogether become unprofitable ; there is none 
 that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open 
 sepulchre ; they have deceived with their tongues ; 
 poison of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of 
 cursing and bitterness ; their feet are swift to shed 
 blood ; straitness and distress are in their ways, and 
 the way of peace have they not known. There is no 
 fear of God before their eyes." lo — 19. 
 
 These passages are selected by the Apostle, as des- 
 criptive of the character which the Zealots sustained, 
 and not, as some erroneously suppose, of what man- 
 kind in general then were. Of those, whether Jews 
 or Egyptians, who first taught the Gnostic system, it 
 might be said with truth, none was righteous, all were 
 unprofitable. Though some of them might pretend to 
 unfold the wisdom of the Mosaic law, they were with- 
 out understanding. Being worshippers of the serpent, 
 and making it the object of their imitation, they deceiv- 
 ed with their tongues, and had the poison of asps under 
 their lips. As they were exposed, on one hand, by the 
 faithful believer, and punished on the other, by the 
 Roman government, their mouth "was full of cursing 
 and bitterness. Finally, Being actuated by a sangui- 
 nary and vindictive temper, they swiftly directed their 
 feet to the shedding of blood-; and as they vilified the 
 Creator of the world, the fear of him was not before 
 their eyes.* r 
 
 * If we duly examine these citations, in connection with the men to 
 •whom they were immediately applied, we cannot avoid being strack 
 with the pertinence of their application, and with the skill, meekness 
 and candour of the writer. The Gnostics pretended to have found out 
 
4* EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 Lest the Jewish converts should flatter themselves, 
 that this description was more appropriate to their Gen- 
 tile brethren than to themselves, the Apostle informs 
 
 2 Supreme God hitherto unkno-wn. Their object, however, by this pre- 
 tension, was to undermine the belief, and to obliterate the reverence 
 ■which were generally cherished by the Jews, at least, for the Creator of 
 the world, and artfully to introduce and establish the atheistic notions of 
 Epicurus, whose foUc'crs in reality they were, see Vol. ii. p. 252 — 
 £58. This feature induced the Apostle to direct their attention to Psal, 
 xiv ; where it is said, ihatmenof this description in their hearts beheved 
 not in God ; that, being workers of abomination, they did not really 
 seek, much less reveal, the unknown Deity ; that, as they were corrupt 
 and debased by impurities, they were without understanding to compre- 
 hend him. Our Apostle next quotes a passage descriptive of them, as the 
 authors of falsehoods, which they propagated with cpcn mouth, without 
 disguise, shame, or compunction ; as the advocates of the serpent, 
 whose venom they had imbibed (Vol. ii. p. 539 ;) as men putting on 
 the appearance of friendship and gentleness, in order to deceive and de- 
 vour; see also pages 545, 546. This is taken from Psalm the fifth. 
 There is one thing in this place to be observed, which reflects great 
 honour on the temper and feelings of the Apostle Paul. The Psalmist 
 having said of his enemies, (meaning probably those in the court of 
 Saul,) " There is no faithfulness in their mouth, their inward part is 
 very wickedness, their throat is an open sepulchre, they flatter with 
 their tongue," then adds, Destroy thou them, God; let them fall by their 
 own counsels .* cast the.m out in the multitude of their transgressions, for 
 they have rebelled against thee. Now this last verse was very character- 
 istic of the Jewish Gnostics, who, educated in the Egyptian school, 
 apostatised, both in principle and in conduct, from the law of Moses, 
 and who, in consequence, blasphemed Jehovah as an inferior and evii 
 Being, Vol. ii. p- 353, 356, yet our amiable author declined to cite 
 it. His reason doubtless was, that it breathes a spirit repugnant both 
 to the temper of Christianity, and to the character of its founder. This 
 is one of those latent instances, which prove when unfolded, that the 
 great Apostle of the Gentiles was actuated by feelings the most oppo- 
 site to those, which necessarily would have influenced him, had he 
 been either an enthusiast or an impostor. Finally, In order to describe 
 the turbulent and vexatious temper, which marked the deceivers, toge- 
 ther with the misery and destruction which they brought upon their de- 
 laded, but innocent followers, the Apostle borrows the language of 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. 43 
 
 them, that it included the Jews as well as the Gentiles. 
 «' Now we know that the words of the law are spoken 
 10 them who are under the law, so that every mouth 
 must be stopped, and all the world be subject to the 
 judgment of God," 19. The anti-apostolic teachers, 
 though grossly immoral, yet supposed that, because 
 they ranked among the chosen people of God, and 
 kept the rites of the law, or, to use their own language, 
 performed the works of the law, they should obtain 
 salvation. This dangerous notion Paul next refutes 
 in direct and decisive terms. " By the works of the 
 law no man will be accepted in his sight : for by the 
 law is the knowledge of sin." In opposition to it, he 
 inculcates faith in Christ, without ceremonial obser- 
 vances, as the means of acceptance with God. 
 
 *' But now the righteousness of God without the 
 law is manifest unto all, * being attested by the law 
 
 Isaiah, where he ascribes similar qualities to men of his own time, Chap. 
 lix. 7, 8. Before I close this note, permit ine to illustrate the address 
 which Paul here displays, by an example taken from the history of John 
 the Baptist. When the Priests and the Levites put to him the ques- 
 tion, " Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent 
 us ? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make 
 
 STRAIT THE WAY O'F THE LORD, AS SAID THE PROPHET 
 
 IsAiAS." Now the men, to whom this reply was made, ranked 
 among the Pharisaical teachers, whose characteristic it was, that ihcy per- 
 verted that very way which they professed to teach. And this is what 
 the Evangelist meant to convey, when with apparent abruptness he 
 remarks. And thcy^ luhicJi were sent, were of the Pharisees, John, Chap. 
 i. 23, 24. 
 
 ♦ The clause us Tsu.trtx.s, or ett* nrxvrus, is thought by some 
 to be superfluous. For this reason, Mr. Wakefield deems one of them 
 an interpolation. But it appears to me that s.-s- Travratr has a reference 
 to 9r£(p«v£^a'Ta/ in the preceding verse : and the meaning of the writer 
 is, that the righteousness of God is displayed unto (^!f, and extended 
 
44 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 and the prophets, even the righteousness oi" God, 
 which is, by faith in Jesus Christ, upon all that be- 
 lieve (for there is no distinction, for all have sinned 
 and come short of the glory of God), being freely ac- 
 quitted by his favour, through that purificatiop which 
 is in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set forth a mercy- 
 seat through faith in his blood, to display his righte- 
 ousness for the remission ot sins that are past, for the 
 display, through extraordinary forbearance,* of his 
 righteousness in the present time, so that he is himself 
 just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." 
 21 — 27. 
 
 This passage must appear to every reader very ob- 
 scure and involved. But a few observations will, 
 1 trust, render it plain and simple. In the first place, 
 it is to be observed, that our author stiles the terms of 
 salvation, proposed in the Gospel, in opposition to 
 those rites and ceremonies urged by the false teachers, 
 the righteousness of God :\ which implies that the Al- 
 mighty, having promised eternal life to his servants of 
 old, now displayed his justice in the fulfilment of it, 
 
 * The clause sv uvo-^-n rov Ssov, I have rendered through extraordivary 
 forbearance. vSo Mr. Wakefield renders owxixis ^lov a divi?!e or e.\- 
 traordinaiy power, Chap. i. 16. This idiom of the Hebrew tongue is . 
 illustrated by a variety of examples in Wilson's Grammar, p. 102. 
 The persons described in Genesis, Chap. vi. 2. as so7is of God, mean 
 j)mhMy giants, or men distinguished by longevity and other corporeal 
 qualities. 
 
 + Our author, in Chap. i. 17. calls the Gospel, or the hope of par- 
 don and immortality which it unfolds, by the same name. He there 
 refers to the prophetic writings as containing the promise of these 
 blessings. Hence Ambrose, in his comment on the place, writes, Jus- 
 titia Dei est, quia, quod promisit, dedit. Similar to this is the expla- 
 nation given also by Locke. 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. 45 
 
 by the mission of his Son Jesus Christ. That this was 
 the meaning of our author may be inferred from the 
 declaration, that the righteousness of God is attested hy 
 the law and the prophets, that is, the Gospel of God, or 
 the mercy of God therein contained, being predicted in 
 the Jewish Scriptures, is confirmed by the testimony 
 thence alleged in its support. 
 
 The Gnostic teachers enjoined on their disciples 
 schemes of purification numerous and various, as were 
 the individuals of which they were composed.* Those 
 purifications consisted of some species of ablution 
 or baptism, or in the use of some mystic phrases, or 
 in the belief of a religious creed opposed to the Apos- 
 tolic faith, see Vol. ii. p. 564. One article of this 
 creed was, that the divinity dwelling in Jesus, and 
 not Jesus himself, constituted the Christ. This was a 
 mere subtertuge for undermining the great doctrines 
 of the Saviour's death and subsequent resurrection, as 
 the basis of a new life to mankind, and also for avoid- 
 ing the disgrace of acknowledging a crucified Lord. 
 The Apostolic teachers too, enjoined the necessity of 
 purification. But they meant merely that expurgation 
 of the character from vicious habits, that ablution of 
 the heart from all former impurities, which the new 
 views and sublime motives, unfolded in the Gospel, 
 were calculated to effect.* This truly rational purifi- 
 
 * 0<Toi ravr-ns r-ns yvui/.-ns /xv^xyw/oi, Toaxvrcci ccnoXvr^ua-its. 
 They are the words of Irenccus. p. 88. 
 
 + The term xTroX-jr^ucris, which in our translation is rendered Re- 
 demption, signifies, in a literal sense, the washing of the body, in a me- 
 taphorical, the purifying of the mind. Hence it was applied to denote 
 a deliverance from the penal consequences, or the bondage, of sin by re- 
 pentance and reformation. The term came in vogue, though in 3. very 
 
\6 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 cation Paul here inculcates on the Roman converts, 
 in contradistinction to that practised by their deceivers. 
 
 different signification, among the Jewish Gnostics, b reference to ^\•hom 
 Paul always uses it : and he generally means by it, the cleansing of the 
 heart, in consequence of a practical faith in Jesus, from those impuri- 
 ties which debased the impostors. In proof of this assertion, permit 
 me to produce a few examples. Speaking of those who boasted in 
 their supposed prerogatives, he thus writes, i Cor. Chap, i, 29. " Of 
 u-hom ye are in Christ Jesus — righteousness, holiness, and purification ; 
 ■which last term is happily explained by a parallel word in Chap. vi. 11. 
 " Know ye not, that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? 
 l)o not deceive yourselves: neither fornicators, nor worshippers of 
 images, nor adulterers, nor impure abusers of themselves, nor thieves, 
 nor extortioners, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor rapacious, shall inhe- 
 rit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But ye 
 HAVE WASHEN V o tj R SE L V ft s, but yc are becomc holy, but ye 
 are inade righteous, by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit 
 of our God." Here you will observe the three terms, purification, holi- 
 ness and righteousness, in the first instance, are paralleled, in the second, 
 by the three verbs, ye have washen yourselves, ye are become holy, ye are 
 ■made righteous. The purification of the true Christian, therefore, waS 
 the washing of himself from all iniquities, in the pure fountain of di- 
 vine truth opened by Jesus Christ. Again, Ephes. Chap. i. 7. the 
 same Apostle writes, " In whom we have the purification, through his 
 blood or death''' He then inserts a clause in explanation of M'hat he 
 meant by this, *' The ^«wma/of our sins." The purification theft 
 attained by the blood of Jesus, figuratively speaking, is the washing 
 away, or, wiihout a figure, the setting aside of sins. He uses the tern^ 
 again,. Col. i. 14. and annexes to it the same explanatory clause. But, 
 ?s the washing away of sin is the only means of being delivered from its 
 domineering influence, or penal effect, «7roAvT^t'cr;j came hence to 
 signify deliverance : and as sin, in the estimation of a Jew, was tht 
 cause of all evil, natural and moral, it is often applied to denote eOTawa- 
 patioii from any Species of evil. Instances, where it is thus used, occur, 
 Luke xxi. 28. Rom. viii. 2-3. Ephes. iv. 3b. Heb. xi. 35. The term, 
 I have observed, came in vogue among the Gnostics. The meaning, 
 which some of them annexed to it, bears a close affinity to the signifi- 
 cation, which it has in the writings of the Apostle Paul, namely, re- 
 pentance and reformation. Now the grounds of these were the new 
 views displayed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Such views 
 respecting the character and government of God, attd the final desti- 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. 47 
 
 " Being pardoned freely, through his favour, by that 
 purification which is in Christ Jesus," 24. Here he 
 leads them to inler, that the purification recommended 
 by the Apostolic authority, consisted in embracing the 
 man Jesus as the Christ, and in cultivating those vir- 
 tues which he prescribed and exemplified. Observe, the 
 Apostle, in order to direct his language the more point- 
 edly against those, who separated between Jesus and 
 the Christ, makes the iormer prominent and emphatic 
 by putting it the last. For the same reason, in verse 
 36, he mentions Jesus alone, as the object of faith to 
 that believer who is accepted with God. See Vol. ii. 
 p. 260 — 264. 
 
 The impostors, having denied the humanity of the 
 Saviour, denied in consequence the reality of his suffer- 
 ing and restoration again to life. To the former of 
 these events, our author next invites the attention of 
 his readers. The righteousness and mercy of God he 
 represents as set forth by faith in his blood, that is, in 
 his death.* By which he signifies that the crucifixion 
 
 nation of mankind, emanated from the divine wisdom in the person of 
 Jesus, or from the Holy Spirit effused through him on the Apostles. 
 Hence, seemingly, the Gnostics employed the term to signify IVisdatn, 
 intelligence, or the Holy Spirit, called also the Saperiour Mother. And 
 this they considered as the foundation ol purijication, or deliverance. See 
 Iren. p. 88. note 3. 
 
 * The Apostle uses the term blood in preference to that of death, be- 
 cause it is more comprehensive. The Egyptian Gnostics denied that 
 Christ, as being a God in the mere form of a man, had any fcs/i and 
 blood, (John i. Epis. iv. 2.) The contrary of this our author inculcates, 
 and he insinuates, that he not only possessed flesh and blood, but that 
 he really shed his blood on the cross. Wherever therefore Paul speaks 
 of the blood of Jesus, we are to understand him, as maintaining the 
 real humanity and suffering of the Messiah, in opposition to those im» 
 
48 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 of Jesus, being an event previously requisite to his 
 resurrection, should be regarded as the only solid 
 foundation of a rational faith in that future state of 
 retribution, which, when realized, shall rectify the 
 present disorders under the divine government, and if 
 anticipated, iurnish motives the most powerful to re- 
 pentance and reformation. The anti-apostolic teachers 
 naturally enough insisted on the cruel and ignominious 
 death, to which Jesus submitted, and which, accord- 
 ing to his own declaration, was enjoined upon him by 
 his Father's command, (John, Chap, x. iS.xiv. 31.) as 
 a striking proof of that cruelty and injustice, ascribed 
 by them to the Creator. To preclude this specious 
 argument, Paul exhibits his expiration on the cross» 
 however unjust and disgraceful in the sight of men, 
 under the figure of a thro..e, on which the Almighty 
 is seated, arrayed in mercy^ and dispensing the hope 
 of immortality and the pardon of their sins to all true 
 believers ; "Whom God hath set forth to be A Mer- 
 CY-SEAT,* through faith in his death." 
 
 posters who rejected these notions. See Acts xxi. 28. with the expla- 
 nation, Vol. ii. p. 558. It has been observed, that the Saviour him- 
 self, anticipating the fictions of the deceivers, appointed the bread and 
 the wine, at his last supper, to be the visible symbols of his body and 
 his death. Vol. ii. p. 428. 
 
 * See Taylors excellent note on this place, where he shews that 
 I>«5-»5/ov, which our translators render propitiation, ought to have 
 been translated mercy-seat, as it is done in all other places. He then 
 presently adds ; " Nor can I conceive what the end and use of it (of 
 the mercy-scat) could be, unless it was to denote, that from thence the 
 mercy of God was dispensed to the people, and that he took his stand- 
 ing, as it were, upon that, in all his transactions with them, to shew 
 that mercy and goodness were his Throne, the ground and basis of that 
 intercourse which he held with the children of Israel ; and that all their 
 services, prayers, and devotions were to have respect to that, or to God, 
 as seated upon a Throne of Mercy. 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. 49 
 
 The suffering of the Messiah was not only foretold 
 by the prophets, but also presignified by certain rites 
 and iacrifices instituted by Moses. This circumstance 
 amongst others induced the men, who denied the rea- 
 lity of that event, to reject the law and the prophets, 
 and refer them to a God different from the author of 
 the Gospel. In reference, seemingly, to this false no- 
 tion, Paul mentions the Mercy-seat or cover of the 
 Ark of the covenant, which was the appointed symbol 
 of the divine clemency, as bearing a symbolical and 
 prophetic reference to the death of Jesus ; an event that 
 exhibits, in the clearest light, the tender regard and 
 compassion which God cherishes towards his human 
 offspring. " Whom God hath set forth a Mercy-seat 
 through faith in his death, to display his righteousness 
 for the remission of sins that are past, for the display, 
 through extraordinary forbearance, of his righteous- 
 ness in the present time." Which may be thus para- 
 phrased : " The Almighty appointed in former ages a 
 Mercy-seat to be erected as a demonstration, that he 
 was merciful and ready to forgive the sins of his peo- 
 ple. This being a type or figure of that compassion, 
 which he had displayed towards the human race in the 
 gift of his Son, received its real and complete significa- 
 tion in his death on the cross ; which", having laid the 
 surest foundation for the hope of a future life, affords 
 the most striking manifestation of the benevolence of 
 God. Those, therefore, who believe that Christ really 
 suffered, and assent to the fair inference thence to be 
 drawn, in connection with his resurrection, respecting 
 a new state of existence, and act under the influence 
 o£ this belief, shall, in the present time, receive the 
 
 VOL. III. D 
 
30 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 pardon of their sins, in the same manner as the Jews of 
 old were pardoned, when with influential faith they 
 looked to the symbol of the divine benignity upon 
 the Ark of the covenant." 
 
 The Gnostic teachers represented the God of the 
 Jews as being evil and unjust. Of the arguments by 
 which they endeavoured to substantiate this charge, and 
 of the reply that was made by the sincere believers, the 
 author of the spurious work, entitled The Recognitions, 
 presents us with a statement, which, if attended to, 
 throws much light on one part of the above obscure 
 passage. Simon, in order to prove that the Creator is 
 unjust, asserts two things: one, that "Many of those, 
 who act well, perish in misery, while they, who act im- 
 piously, finish a long life in happiness;"* the other, 
 that there is no future state of retribution : for " When 
 men die, the soul perishes equally with the body." 
 The first of these, Peter his illustrious opponent ad- 
 vances no less than Simon, and hence argues for the 
 necessity of a future retribution, in order to vindicate 
 the righteousness of God. Now, Paul insists on just 
 the converse of this proposition against those, who, in 
 the church of Rome, supported the Samaritan system. 
 
 * Et Simon ait : hoc utique est quod nos incredulos facit, quia multi 
 bene agcntes male percunt ; et rursum impie agentes longi temporis 
 cumbeatitudine vitam finiunt. — Simul et mortui fuerint, etiani anima 
 pariter extinguetur. Peter thus addresses his opponeiit : Audi, inquit, 
 nonnulli homines Deum blasphemantes, et omnem vitam suam in in- 
 justitia Voluptate ducentes, in lectulis suis defuncti sunt, consecuti fi- 
 nem vitas inter suos, et honorabilem sepulturam ; alii vero Deum co- 
 lentes, et cum omni justitia et sobrietate vitam suam in parsimonia 
 conservantes, pro justitije observantia in desertis interiere, ita ut ne 
 sepultura quidem haberentur digni. Ubi est ergo justitia Dei, si 
 anima immortalis non est ; quae vel si impie egerit, pcenas in futuro, 
 vcl si pie et juste, proeraia consequatur. Recog. Lib. iii. 40. 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. Qx 
 
 God, having set forth Jesus Christ as a Mercy-seat by 
 faith in his death, and thus displayed .^zj righteousness, 
 is hence said by him to be *' himself just and the jus- 
 tifier of him that believeth in Jesus." By which we 
 are to understand, that the death of Christ, connected 
 with his subsequent resurrection from the dead, havmg 
 established the certainty of a future state, in which 
 the Supreme Being will vindicate his apparently par- 
 tial administration of justice by a more adequate dis- 
 t ibution of rewards and punishments, proves him to 
 be merciful, just, and giod, and the dispenser of mer- 
 cy, justice, and goodness to the true believer ; and 
 therefore removes those plausible objections urged by 
 the bla'^phemers against his government and moral at- 
 tributes.* 
 
 * This conclusion of the Apostle throws much light, I conceive, upon 
 an otherwise obscure language, which Jesus once used in the near pros- 
 pect of his death and resurrection. John xvi, 8, 9. '* The com- 
 forter will come and convince the world of righteousness — because I go 
 to the Father." As if he had said ; " The effusion of the Holy Spirit 
 upon you, will, by confirming your testimony to my resurrection and 
 ascension, and by that means establishing the certainty of a future state, 
 convince the world that God is righteous — that he is not indifferent to the 
 virtues and vices of mankind, but, while he now notices them, will 
 hereafter reward the one and punish the other by a more complete ad- 
 ministration of justice. The term righteousness, here used by our Lord, 
 and in the text by the Apostle, is employed in the most comprehensive 
 signification, and denotes mercy, benignity, goodness, as well as the 
 principle of mere justice or equity. Instances often occur where it is 
 used in the same extensive acceptation, *' Except your righteousness ex- 
 ceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven," Mat. v. 20. *' But seek ye first the 
 kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall (over and 
 ■above) be added unto you," Mat. vi. 33. The adjective righteous, 
 (^ocaioj) also is very frequently applied to qualify a character that is 
 completely virtuous. See Prov. iv. 18. Mat. xiil. 43. The Apostle 
 Fetcr employs it on one occasion to express the broad and perfect virtue 
 P 2 
 
52 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 Among the many odious qualities which characteris- 
 ed the Gnostic teachers, one of the most conspicuous 
 was spiritual pride. Their aspiring temper prompted 
 them to exult in the iancied privileges which they en- 
 joyed ; in their scrupulous adherence to the rites of the 
 law, and in the favour of God exclusively confined to 
 themselves. Paul, in the next place, indirectly accuses 
 them of undue arrogance in these respects ; and by 
 way of inference from the preceding reasoning, shews 
 they had mistaken the only just ground of confidence 
 towards God, which was a practical iaith in the Chns- 
 tianDoctrine. " Where thenis your boasting ? It is 
 excluded. By what law (may it then be admitted) ?* 
 By the law of works ? No; by the law of faith. We 
 
 of Christ himself, Acts iii, 14. The Gnostic teachers, indeed, made a 
 distinction between justice and goodness : mistaking the proper end of 
 punishment they maintained that, if God was strictly just, he could not 
 be good. In this however they were opposed by the Catholic writers. 
 Clement Alexandrinus and Theodoret have written distinct chapters 
 on this subject. Pasd. Lib. i. Cap. 8. Hzer. Fab. Com. Lib. v. 16. 
 Cicero, though he considers justice as consisting in not injuring the 
 persons and properties of men in the social §tate, ascribes to it a lustre 
 beyond all the other virtues. Justitia, in qua virtutis splendor est 
 maximus. De Off. Lib. i. 7. From the exercise of this, he tells us, 
 Men received the appellation of good. It was for this reason, perhaps, 
 that candidates for offices in the state, had this name given them by their 
 clients. Omnes candidatos bonos viros dicimus ; Seneca, Epis. 7. The 
 young ruler, who in common with the Jews supposed the office of the 
 Messiah to be of a temporal nature, must liave necessarily regarded 
 Jesus as a candidate of this kind. And this, it maybe, was his chief 
 reason for stlling him good. Mat. xix. 16. 
 
 *The clause May it then be admitted is not in the original but impli- 
 ed. Some such expression is obviously necessary to make the sense 
 complete. Instances are to be met with in all authors, where the 
 context requires the insertion of a phrase conveying a signification 
 opposite to that which is before asserted. Thus, in Genesis viii. 
 7, we read " And he sent forth a raven which (did not return 
 l»ut) went for:h to and fro, until the waters dried up from offthe earth." 
 
Chap. III.] ANALYSED. - 53 
 
 infer, therefore, that man is justified by faith without 
 the works of the law," qj — 30, which is to the fol- 
 lowing effect ; " Pride not yourselves in ritual works, 
 because, so far from being adequate to produce re- 
 pentance and reformation, they co-exist with the gross- 
 est vices in the character of their votaries. The 
 most effectual mean to answer this end is a firm be- 
 lief in the divine mission of Jesus Chrift. For this 
 
 The clause Did not return is not in the original text. The writer, as 
 being very manifestly implied, left it to be supplied by the reader. It 
 is however expressed in the Septuagint version, and from thence adopt- 
 ed in Geddes's Translation. Again, " Circumcision is nothing, and un- 
 circumcision, but the observance of God's commandment," 1 Cor. vi i . 
 19. Here is alone of value, or some such expression, must be suppli- 
 ed. Accept, moreover, the following example from Virgil Geor. 
 Lib. i. 440. 
 
 Solem certissima signa sequuntur, 
 
 Et quas mane refert, et quie surgentibus astris. 
 
 It is plain, that a verb opposite in sense to rtfert (such as aufert) must 
 be supplied in the last clause before surgentibus astris. Permit me to 
 produce one instance more : the following are the words of Orestes, ad- 
 dressing the paternal Gods on his return home to avenge the death of 
 his &ther, 
 
 Soph. HKiii. yi, 72. 
 
 The verb xi:orst>^virs, in the first, is not applicable to the second line, 
 which requires the insertion of another verb, bearing an opposite sio-nifi- 
 cation. And here I cannot refrain from correcting a very glaring error, 
 which has crept mto the context in which the above lines stand. 
 
 AEATKOT' E%9fo<f, us ot'^qov, Xx^/.-^'ift tri. 
 
 The common reading is ^b'^o^kotx, which not only obscures the beauty 
 of the figure, but is scarcely susceptible of any meaning. 1 he allusion 
 to a star, after setting, again appearing above the horizon is beautiful, 
 t were easy to illustrate it by parallel cases. 
 D3 
 
54 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. III. 
 
 reason we infallibly conclude, that this is the true way 
 of securing the Divine approbation." The Pharisees 
 vainly supposed, that what constituted them the Chil- 
 dren of Abraham and the favourite people of God, 
 was the rite of circumcision enjoined on that Patriarch, 
 in token of the covenant made with him. To this 
 error the preacher of righteousness alludes ; and he sug- 
 gests the necessity of a change both in sentiments and in 
 cond;uct,to prevent their being cut off the stem of Abra- 
 ham, and others 'being engrafted in their room, Mat. iii. 
 q, lo. The prevalence of it, among those whom Je- 
 sus addressed, demanded, on one occasion in the course 
 of his ministry, his particular animadversion, in which 
 he assures them, that acting as Abraham had done alone 
 formed a jiist claim to the privilege of being his seed, 
 and of having God for their father, John chap. viii. 
 The Apostle Paul in this place enforces the same les- 
 son. Having shewn that the rite of circumcision did 
 not recommend them to God, he insinuates that all. 
 Gentiles as well as Jews, have a share in his favour, if 
 they receive and obey the Gospel. " Is he the God 
 of the Jews only ? Is he not also the God of the Gen- 
 tiles ? Nay, he is of the Gentiles also: Inasmuch as 
 God is One who will acquit by means of faith, the cir- 
 cumcised and the uncircumcised that believe."* 29, 30. 
 
 * The verse in the original should thus be punctuated. EirtiTtiq In 
 
 ■zr/yEwr. The phrase tx 'm<;ius is to be taken with xx.^e^v'ria.v, as well 
 as well with ttc^to/auv ; and the use of it is to express the Hebrew and 
 Gentile believer, in contradistinction to those who were not bel.ev- 
 ers. The article before "jr/rtwy, in the last clause, denotes Jhith 
 as the means of salvation, in opposition to the works of the law 
 insisted upon by the.Heretics. In construction it is to be connected 
 with S;Ka(a'(7f(. Observe, the Apostle here maintains the unity of God. 
 The Gnostics taught that the God of Israel was different from Him 
 
Chap. IV.] ANALYSED. 55 
 
 Seeing the necessity of ceremonial works thus su- CHAP. IV 
 perseded by the principle of faith, the Zealots were 
 ready to ask of what advantage did circumcision prove 
 to the Patriarch Abraham, upon whom it was first 
 enjoined. In reply to this question, iht Apostle 
 maintains that Abraham had no reason for boasting in 
 God on the score of works, inasmuch as righteousness 
 was imputed to him by trusting in the promise, 1 — 6 ; 
 that the blessedness, celebrated by the Royal Psalmist* 
 as belonging to those whose sins are forgiven, extends 
 no less to the uncircumcised than the circumcised be- 
 liever, since it was pronounced upon Abraham, while 
 he was yet in a state of unclrcumxision, 6 — 1 1 ; that he 
 received circumcision not as the condition of forgive- 
 ness, but as a sign that he was forgiven, and as a seal 
 that the same forgiveness would be conferred upon 
 every person exercising faith in the uncircumcised 
 state ; that he hence became the father of all true be- 
 
 who imparted the blessings of the Gospel to mankind. Paul on the 
 contrary asserts, that the God who saves the Gentile and the Jew is 
 One. 
 
 * The words of David, quoted by our Apostle, are the following. 
 " Happy they, whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose sins 
 blotted out ! Happy the man, unto whom the Lord will not impute 
 sin." Now our author understood these verses as declaring the happiness 
 of that man unto whom God imputed righteousness independent of, or 
 without works. But it does not appear that such a declaration is im- 
 plied in them. If, however, you turn to the thirty second Psalm, 
 whence they are taken, it will appear to have been composed in reference 
 to certain men who, though guilty in their hearts, rested in ceremonial 
 works as the means of being accepted of God. The Apostle, under- 
 standing this to be the general object which the royal author had in 
 view, very properly cites his authority, when now maintaining, in oppo- 
 sition to the Zealots, that a practical faith in the Gospel, and not ex- 
 ternal performances, opened the sure and solid way to the divine accep- 
 tance^ 
 
56 EPISTLE TO'THE ROMANS [Chap. IV. 
 
 lievers, and that those who practised tlie rite of circum- 
 cision, as well as they who did not practise it, inhe- 
 rited, through him as their father and pattern, the privi- 
 lege ol divine pardon, II — 12. The promulgation of 
 the law took place a long time after the promise was 
 made to Abraham, that he should be the heir of the 
 world. It could not, therefore, have been the condi- 
 tion upon which that promise was settled, nor the 
 mean by which it should be fulfilled ; and if those 
 under the law, those who practised and rested in cere- 
 monial observances, urged an exclusive claim to the 
 inheritance, they necessarily subverted the very basis 
 upon which the true title to it was founded, namely, 
 an influential faith that He who gave the promise 
 would also perform it. " For the promise that Abra- 
 ham should be heir of the world, was not made to him 
 or his race through the medium of the law, but 
 through the righteousness of faith. For if those under 
 the law are the (true) heirs, fa;th is rendered ineffec- 
 tual and the promise destroyed. Therefore, the pro- 
 mise is from faith (that the fulfilment might be deemed 
 not a debt but a favour ; see verse 4.) and be realized 
 to all the race of Abraham, not those under the law 
 only, but those also who imitate his faith who is fa- 
 ther to us all, in the sight of tliat God in whom he 
 trusted. Who raiseth the dead to life, and calleth the 
 things that are not as though they were." 14 — 17. 
 Observe here, that the writer speaks (f those nations 
 ^vhich were alienated from God by their sins, as being 
 dead\ and their restoration to his favour by the purify- 
 in o- influence of faith, he represents as their resurrection 
 to a new life. The object of the writer, in using such 
 strong and figurative language, was to prepare his read- 
 eis, for believing the future renovation of mankind 
 
Chap. IV.] ANALYSED. 57 
 
 after death by pointing their attention to an event ana- 
 logous to it, which, though improbable, was yet accora- 
 phshed by the Almighty. Paul also glances, it appears 
 to me, at the objection drawn, against the promise made 
 to the Jewish Patriarch, from the length of time which 
 had elapsed before its consummation ; and he removes it 
 by insinuating, that all things, however remote in futu- 
 rity with respect to man, are really present with God; 
 " Who calleth the things that are not, as though they 
 were," or, as the clause might be rendered, " Who 
 calleth those nations his own which aie not (yet) his 
 own.' The expression is thus modified in chap. xii. 
 25. See also 1 Cor. i. 28. 
 
 Our author in the next place, with the view of con- 
 firming the faith of the Roman converts in the great 
 doctrine of a future resurrection from the dead, holds 
 up for their encouragement and imitation the father of 
 the faithful ; and he leads them to infer that the raising 
 up of Isaac by the Almighty, conformably to his pro- 
 mise, from parents, that, figuratively speaking, were al- 
 ready dead, presignified, and by that means rendered 
 credible however contrary to antecedent probability, 
 the resurrection of Jesus : " For Abraham, at a time 
 when there was no hope, trusted in-the hope of being 
 father to many nations according to that declaration. 
 Thus will thy race be. And being weak (in body though) 
 not in faith, he (notwithstanding) regarded neither 
 his own body now become dead, he being an hun- 
 dred years old, nor the deadness of Sarah's womb. 
 He mistrustednot the promise of God through unbelief, 
 but (while his bodily strength was decaying) he grew 
 mighty in faith, ascribing the merit to God, (and not 
 to himself), being assured that what God promised he 
 is able also to perform. And therefore righteousness 
 
^8 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. V. 
 
 v/as imputed to him. But this was not written on his 
 account only, but on ours also, to whom the same 
 righteousness will be imputed for believing in Him 
 that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead ; Who deli- 
 I'ered him.self up for our sins and rose for our acquit- 
 tal." On this passage, I have only to notice, that the 
 Apostle invites the Roman converts to believe in Him 
 that raised Jesus, that is, in the God of Js:ael, and 
 not in any other, supposed to be greater and more per- 
 fect ; in Jesus whom the adversaries of the true Gos- 
 pel, though they affected to embrace the Christ with- 
 in him, rejected. This Jesus he stiles our Lord : By 
 which he intimates, that his divine authority is ac- 
 knowledged and his precepts obeyed by the Apostles, 
 and ought to be so by the believers in Rome. Be it 
 remarked, finally, that the Saviour voluntarily sub- 
 mitting to an ignominious death and rising again for 
 the salvation of mankind, is described under the fi- 
 gure of an advocate, who freely offers his service to 
 I persons arraigned at the bar of justice, and after rising 
 to plead their cause procures their acquittal.* 
 
 The Apostle, having demonstrated that faith in Jesus, 
 CHAP. V. and not ceremonial works, is the mean of deliver- 
 ing men from sin and its penal effects, proceeds in the 
 two following chapters to describe the fruits of that 
 
 * The following verse presents us with the same allusion. "Who 
 is it that condenineth ? Christ hath died, or rather is risen in our behalf. 
 Who is at the right hand of God and pleadeth for us ?" Rom. vi i i . 
 34. We meet with a similar figure at the end of the first Psalm : 
 " The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sirmers in the con- 
 gregation of the righteous." By which is intimated that the Supreme 
 Judge, whoknoweth the thoughts, will not suffer the sinful to stand up 
 in the day of trial and varnish their guilt with lying eloquence. 
 
Chap, v.] ANALYSED. 59 
 
 faith which he inculcates : and lest his reader should 
 mistake its nature, he represents it as an efficacious 
 principle, prompting its possessors joyfully to submit, 
 for the glorious reward placed before them, to the 
 severest afflictions, rescuing them from the dominion 
 of vice, and' consecrating them to the service of 
 God, — to the cultivation of extraordinary virtue and 
 holiness. 
 
 *' Being therefore acquitted by faith, we have peace 
 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ : through 
 whom we have also introduction by means of faith to 
 this favour in which we stand ; and we exult in the 
 
 hope of the gloiy of God.' " Being saved by the 
 
 reforming influence of faith, we are in friendship with 
 the Almighty through the man Jesus who is the Christ 
 and the Lord of all the true believers. By means of a 
 well founded belief in him and not of rites, we are intro- 
 duced-, as it were, to the immediate presence of the Dei- 
 ty, raised to the privilege of ranking among the disciples 
 of his Son, and oi enjoying, as his Apostles, those super- 
 natural endowments, which enable us to maintain our 
 ground against every adversary, and, even in seasons 
 of trial and hardship, to exult in the prospect of a glo- 
 rious recompence from God." The Gnostic teachers 
 refused to suffer persecution for supporting the inter- 
 ests of the Gospel which they had espoused, though 
 the duty of submitting to pain and every other personal 
 inconvenience was unequivocally enjoined by the pre- 
 cept and illustrated by the example of Christ himself: 
 And in order to preclude the suspicion of cowardice and 
 insincerity, they derided, as foolish, those who magna- 
 nimously complied with the injunction of their Master, 
 and arraigned them as the worshippers of a Being that 
 
Go 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. V. 
 
 delighted in the sufferings of his votaries.* Our author, 
 in allusion seemingly to such false representiitions, pro- 
 ceeds to justify the faithful believer for sustaining per- 
 secution in the cause of Christianity ; and he represents 
 them glorying in their distresses, in as much as they ge- 
 nerated those dispositions and habits of mind, which laid 
 the surest foundation for the hope of reward. '• And 
 •we exult in our hope of the glory of God. And not 
 only so, but we exult also in these afflictions ; knowing 
 that affliction produceth patience ; and patience, proof ; 
 and proof, hope." 3. The recompence to which they 
 looked forward, Paul has already declared (Chap. ii. 7.} 
 to be an incorruptible glory and honour, obtained after 
 a resurrection from the dead proved and illustrated by 
 
 * Ad tantam temeritatem progress! sunt quidam, ut ctiam martyres 
 spernant, et vituperent eos qui propter Domini confessionem occidun- 
 tur. Iren. p. 247. When the hand of persecution set fire to the 
 church of Christ, the impostors, like serpents, crawled forth, as from a 
 bush in flames, and darted their poisonous stings even into those inno- 
 cent sufferers who were scorched by the heat. This is the impressive 
 imao-e under which they are in one place described by Tertullian. 
 Quum iritur fides aestuat, ct Ecclesia exuritur de figura rubri, tunc 
 Gnostici erumpunt, tunc Valentiniani proserpunt, tunc omnes martyro- 
 rum refragatores ebuUiunt, callentes et ipsi offendere, figere, occidere. 
 p. 487. Every one, who suffered death rather than give up his faith, 
 was according to them guilty of suicide. $ov£a ^e' bivxi avrov IcivTCiv 
 •AObi a-jQivTviv, Tov S<a ^xvixTov oi/.oXoyna-»vrix. Clem. Alex. Vol, I, 
 p. 571, The author of Political Justice, it seems, has the very re- 
 spectable sanction of Simon Magus and his followers, when he says that 
 " martyrs are suicides by the very signification of the term," Vol. I. p. 
 140. This assertion however is paradoxical and very unworthy of a 
 rhilosophical writer. In strict propriety a swa'^'i? is one who, feeling 
 it a burden which he is not able to bear, puts an end to his own existence. 
 A martyr, on the contrary, is a person who, rejoicing in the gift of life, 
 vet prefers to be deprived of it rather than lose a reward, which his 
 faith assured him was better and more valuable than life, a,nd which with- 
 out that preference he could not attain. 
 
Chap. v.] ANALYSED. 6l 
 
 the resurrection of Jesus. Theanti-apostollc teachers, 
 as they denied the truth of these doctrines, insisted that 
 an expectation which had such a reward for its ob- 
 ject, so far from being thus triumphantly realized, 
 would end in shame and disappointment. The writer 
 asserts the contrary ; and he appeals to the spiritual 
 endowments imparted to the Apostles, as evidence of 
 that benevolence in God which ensured its realiza- 
 tion : •' And this hope will not disappoint us : for 
 the love of God hath been poured into our hearts by a 
 holy spirit that is given us." 5. 
 
 The enemies of the God of Israel had no pretext so 
 specious for blaspheming Him, as the injunction laid 
 upon his worshippers to suffer in the cause of their 
 Master.* The Apostle here, and in other passages of 
 
 * Tertullian furnishes us ^A'ith a specimen of their reasonin?^ on this 
 subject. Immo dementia, say they, pro Deo mori. Et quis me sal- 
 vum faciat, si is occidet, qui me salvum debebit ? p, 488. Incutiat, 
 writes he again at the bottom of page 492, adhuc scorpius hmmcidam 
 Deum ventilans, horrebo plane spurcum blasphemiae flatum de haeretico 
 ore fcetentem. In the Dialogue between Megethius a heretic and the 
 catholic Adamantius, the former argues, that the Christian Church 
 exposed to hatred and persecution, proved the Creator of the v/orld to 
 be a cruel Being, and pointed to another superiour Divinity, whom the 
 disciples of Christ claimed as their patron. Ex eo quod crebrisjacta- 
 mur persecutionlbus, et odio hominum laboramus, nonne luce clarius 
 estnos in alterius Dei potestate esse ac ditione, et a jurisdictione Dei 
 creationis alienos ? Origen's Works, Pars Secun. p. 963. Against 
 a-guments and representations, like these, v.-hich were made by the first 
 Gnostic teachers, as well by their followers in after da) s, the languac^e 
 of Paul is often directed : and whenever the train of his ideas occasions 
 him to speak of the sufferings to which Jesus and his faithful followers 
 submitted, he is sure to paint the character of their common Father in 
 the most amiable and engaging colours. Accept, in addition to that in the 
 text, the following example as one of many that might be produced, 
 " Favour be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord 
 Jtsus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! 
 
$2 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. V. 
 
 his writings, when speaking of the sacrifices to which 
 the faithful followers of Jesus submitted, takes great 
 pains to vindicate the Divine Being from the imputa- 
 tion of caprice and cruelty, by shewing the good end 
 to be obtained by such trials, and expressing in the 
 strongest terms His love towards the human race, ma- 
 nifested especially in the gift ct his own Son to die 
 for them, even at a time when they had rendered them- 
 selves odious to him by their wickedness. The love 
 of God hath been poured out into our hearts by a holy 
 spirit that is given us. For whilst we were yet with- 
 out strength,* Christ died at an appointed time for the 
 
 The Father of mercies and God of all comfort ; who giveth us comfort 
 in eveiy affliction, so that we are able to comfort others in all their 
 affliction, by that comfort wherewith we,* ourselves are comforted 
 by God : for as the sufferings of Christ are abundant in us, so doth 
 our comfort also abound through Christ. For if we be afflicted, it is 
 for your encouragement and salvation : 2 Cor. i. 2 — 7. What an 
 amiable picture is here drawn of Almighty God ! He is the author of 
 favour and peace. He stands to the believers, however afflicted, in 
 the relation of s. father. He merits the blessings (not the curses) of his 
 creatures. He is the father of mercies, a God of all comfort. He consoles 
 his children under their sufierings. If Christ suffered, it was that conso- 
 lation might hence flow to his followers. If the Apostles were afflicted, 
 the love of God turned their affliction to the salvation of those whom 
 thev had converted. And if the converts, in their turn, were visited 
 with persecutions, by being thus partakers in mutual sorrows, it was or- 
 dained they should share in one common comfort. Observe, finally, 
 that God is here stiled the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This the 
 blasphemers strenuously denied. According to them Christ was not the 
 Son cjf the Creator, but of a higher and more perfect Divinity who 
 sent him to destroy the works of the God of Israel. See Vol. ii. p- 391, 
 416 — 419. 
 
 * The clause ovrwy -niJ-ui aaOtvcjv seems to me to have been misplac- 
 ed. The original, as it came from the hand of the author, ran, I con- 
 ceived in this manner. 'H ayxir^ tod ^lov iKuzyi'Toii tv ruts xa^^ixis 
 r)lj.a}v ovruv aadivuv, ^ix mvivi/.aros xyio'j rov doosvTos -nixtv crt yx^ 
 Xgifoi axrx -AXi^ot vTitq xa-i^wv xirtQavt, The love of God is profusely 
 
Chap. V.J ANALYSED. g-t 
 
 ungodly. Now scarcely will any one die for a righte- 
 ous man, (though indeed, some possibly may venture to 
 die for a good man) but God displayetk his love for us, in 
 that Christ died for us, while we were yet sinners." 6, 
 7, 8. He then draws the inevitable inference, that since 
 the universal Father gave his Son for the benefit of man- 
 kind while yet enemies to him, He will of course, after 
 they are now become friends by a reforming faith in 
 the death of Jesus, save them from that wrath which 
 was the consequence of their former offences, and en- 
 able them to partake in the glory of that new life to 
 which he was raised, " Much more then, after we 
 have been now made righteous by his blood, shall we 
 be saved through him from (the coming) wrath. Forif 
 when we v/ere enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
 
 shedin our hearts, while zoe were yet weak, by a holy spirit given to us. For 
 Christ died, at an appointed time, for us being yet ungodly. Now niy 
 reason for thinking that Paul thus arranged his words is the followin-j-. 
 When, in the first number, he writes in our hearts, the Apostles upon 
 whom the Holy Spirit had descended on the day of pentccost, were 
 chiefly meant. Until that time they were weak, that is, though 
 the disciples of Christ, they neither sufficiently understood the nature of 
 his Gospel, nor had strength enough to sustain those trials to which it 
 exposed them. But when he adds, Christ died for vs being yet ungodly^ 
 or, as it is asserted in the subsequent clause, while_ roe were yet sihners, 
 he principally had in view the Jewish and Gentile believers, converted 
 to the faith after the death of their Master. The attributive ao-^EVi-'v, 
 then, meaning those who already believed but who were not strong in 
 their belief, cannot coalesce in the same member with ocfj-a^rcoKuv, 
 which signified men in their sinful or unconverted state. Besides it con- 
 veys, when inserted in the preceding sentence, a very pertinent significa- 
 tion, and accords with a form of speech very usual with the Apoilolic 
 writers. Thus Saul, having now received the Holy Spirit, is said to 
 have increased the more in strength, Acts ix. 22. In allusion to that 
 strength which the Spirit imparted, the author of this Epistle declares 
 It hel^eth our weaknesses, viii. 26. 
 
64 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. V, 
 
 the death of his Son, how much more after reconcili- 
 ation shall we be saved by his life." 9, 10. 
 
 Every inquirer however sceptical would, in the 
 present improved state of philosophy, believe in the 
 future resurrection of mankind, if he previously ad- 
 mitted the fact attested, in the Evangelical records, 
 that Christ rose from the dead. But this was an infe- 
 rence which, in former times, when the laws of the na- 
 tural world, and the moral attributes of God were 
 little understood, would not by any means be granted. 
 This consideration seems to have induced the Apostle, 
 when arguing that the faithful believers shall be raised to 
 gloiy conformably to the glorious resurrection of their 
 Master, to leave this ground, and to illustrate the con- 
 clusion by an argument less solid indeed, but better 
 adapted to impress his Jewish readers. An opinion, de- 
 rived from antiquity and perpetuated by tradition, pre- 
 vailed among that nation, that the race of man would 
 have been immortal on the earth, if the primogenitors 
 had preserved their Paradisaical innocence. From this 
 piece of Jewish mythology, as it might fitly be called, 
 the ingenuity of our author thus reasons : " So then, as 
 through one man sin came into the world, and death 
 through sin ; and thus death came upon all men, in as 
 much as all have sinned. For sin was ever in the 
 world before the law, though, while the law had no 
 exi.'^tence, it was not imputed. But death from Adam 
 to Moses reigned even over them that had not sinned 
 after the likeness of Adam's transgression who is a pat- 
 tern of him that was to come. But the kindiiess was 
 not like the sin, (for if, by the sin of One, the many died, 
 much more hath the favour of God, and the free gift 
 in the favour of one man Jesus Christ, abounded unto 
 
Chap, v.] ANALYSED. 6^5 
 
 the many) but the kindness (through Christ) is not (1 
 say) like the case of the one tnat sinned : for the 
 sin oi one ended in condemnation ; but the kindness 
 after many offences, in forgiveness. For it death 
 reigned through the sin of one man, much more will 
 they, who abundantly receive the gracious favour of 
 acquittal, reign in life through that one Jesus Christ." 
 12 — 18. Which reasoning may be thus stated in fewer 
 words. " The transgression of Adam introduced death 
 into the world, and all have died because all like him 
 have transgressed. On the contrary, Jesus Christ 
 brought life into the world : and as mankind share ia 
 the fate of the former, by participating after his ex- 
 ample in sin, so they shall unite with the latter in 
 the enjoyment of that glory, honour, and immortality 
 established by his death and resurrection. '* There is, 
 
 * It would contribute much to the elucidation of our author's ideas, if 
 we divested them of the sensible images under which they are conveyed. 
 The introduction of Sin by means of one man, and of death by means 
 ef Sin, is described in figures suggested by the garden, in which the per- 
 son referred to was placed. The transgression of Adam threw open, as 
 it were, the door of Paradise. Through this, Sin, which like a beast of 
 prey roved around seekmg admission, entered into the garden. Death 
 followed soon after in the same way, and seized as its own every indf- 
 vidual that was become subject to its Parent Sin. Death came upon all, 
 not because one, but because all have sinned. Hence we see how far our 
 author considered the transgression of Adam as accessary to the death of 
 his posterity. All met this fate, inasmuch as themselves have transgres- 
 sed after the example of the common parent. Jew there were who did 
 not follow this example : and it is these illustrious few that the Apostle 
 intended to except when he says, " Through the disobedience of one 
 man, the many became sinners." ig. Ajc^/jSwj, observes Theodo- 
 ret, tvTxv9cc kxi iiri too A§a/x xa/ aw/ rris y^oc^tros ro OOLLOI tc- 
 fls/jcE' y.xt yxq iv oaivois vj^'itkoijliv tivocs ic^nrrovs ruv (^BiCpvuv x^j.^ 
 ec^r7i(ji,xTuv yeyrivriijiiyovsy us Toy A^sX, KXi rov Kvw;i^, x.xt rov Nue, xa^ 
 Toy MeX^iare^cy^, xai rovs irxT^ix^y^xs, nxi (/.cv rot rovs sv vo^j^u ^i~ 
 i*Xxy.^xvrxs. AU, indeed, in some degree have sinned ; and therefore 
 
66 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. V. 
 
 however, in the argument of our author a force and 
 propriety which can be perceived only by consider- 
 ing his words in reference to the false teachers whom 
 he opposed. The train of his ideas had now fixed his 
 attention on the Serpent, the reputed parent of evil, 
 and author of man s moral declension. This was 
 opposed by the Gnostics to the God of Israel, whom 
 they arraigned as an inferior, weak and malevolent Be- 
 ing. In order to shew the converts, that the Serpent 
 was not that all good and powerful Divinity which its 
 advocates supposed it to be, Paul, with much address 
 and in a manner insensible, holds it out as the first 
 cause of sin and death ; and that he might vindicate 
 the Creator, he contrasts with these effects of the Ser- 
 pent, the consequences of the Divine love displayed 
 in the fiee gift of his Son. The contrast he more- 
 over heightens by observing that, to whatever extent 
 the contagions' influence of the seducer had spread it- 
 self, the benevolence of God will, through the medium 
 of Jesus Christ, abound, in much greater and more 
 diffusive degree, to the human race. The writer 
 throughout the whole of his argument, uses many ap- 
 parently superfluous words. For instance, instead of 
 simply saying Tke favour of God by Jesus Christ, he 
 thus loads the sentence, The favour of God and his free 
 
 all have died. But their sins, being defects arising from the im- 
 perfection of human nature, did not in the eyes of a merciful Judge ex- 
 pose them to the charge of guilt, or bring upon them the condemnation 
 which the many incurred by imitating the example of Adam. The early 
 descendants, we are told, sinned not after the likeness of the sin of their ' 
 primogenitor. The dissimilitude, however, consisted only in this. 
 He sinned, though an express command was given him not to sin ; but 
 they had no such prohibition. The former therefore was criminal, be- 
 cause he offended against his own knowledge. The latter were nor 
 guilty, though erjoneous; since they knew no better. 
 
Chap, v.] ANALYSED. 6^ 
 
 gift in the favour of the One man Jesus Christ. The 
 cause of this superfluity is to be found in the reference 
 which his language carries to the talse teachers. Favour 
 (x;!z§i>) was with them a current term ; but it signified 
 the divinity immediately descended from Bythos their 
 supreme God. Our author, on the contrary, gives the 
 converts to understand that the favour he meant 
 was that, which consisted in the divine mission of Je- 
 sus. " Thefavour of God — in the favour of Jejus Christ. 
 The favour, moreover, of which the impostors boasted, 
 was not a gift from God, but sef -possessed [ioiOKrr.ros as 
 they stiled their x*§'^ » see Iren. p 31.) In opposition 
 to their arrogance in this respect, Paul characterises 
 the Apostolic favour as the gilt o-f God ; and to render 
 more prominent the idea that the Gospel proceeded from 
 the unmerited kindness, he annexes another term des- 
 criptive of it as the gratuitous donation of God. The 
 impostors distinguished between Jesus and the Christ 
 resident in him. While they anathematised the former 
 as a mean man, they embraced the latter as a glorious 
 God. The absurd distinction led our Apostle on this 
 occasion to assert the humanity and the unity of the 
 
 Saviour. " In the favour of the one man Jesus 
 
 C, >> 
 HRISI. 
 
 His long and intricate argument he thus concludes. 
 •' The law entered, and sin abounded : but where sin 
 abounded, favour did much more abound; that as 
 sin reioriied in death, so also favour might reign through 
 righteousness unto eternal life, by means of Jesus 
 Christ -bur Lord," 20, 21. In this paragraph, and. 
 indeed i'>i the preceding ones, Law, Sin, Death and 
 Favour or the Christian Dispensation are personified, 
 
 K ?. 
 
68. EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. V. 
 
 and represented under the figure of moral agents. 
 The door of Paradise being thrown open by the hand 
 of Adam, Sin, like a wild beast from without, entered 
 the garden, usurped dominion over him and all his 
 progeny, and consigned them over to death his own 
 offspring. The Law too, seeing this usurpation and the 
 fate of the sufferers, comes in and apprises the human 
 race of their guilty and enslaved state. Having in- 
 formed, without liberating them, the Law served only 
 to strengthen the interests of Sin and Death vho, in 
 the true spirit of despotism, watched with more vigi- 
 lance and oppressed with greater cruelty, their subjects 
 now struggling to break their chains. The New Dis- 
 pensation, delegated for the purpose of subverting the 
 throne of the tyrants, receives however fresh accession, 
 of benignant lustre from the aggravated calamities 
 in which the unhappy captives were thus plunged. 
 Mercy, through the instrumentality of Jesus Christ, 
 passes upon them, when arraigned at the bar of Justice, 
 the sentence of pardon, rules over them in righteous- 
 ness, and rewards them with eternal life. Such is the 
 representation which the author gives of the nature and 
 tendency of the Christian Doctrine. The allegory is 
 continued throughout the following chapters : and we 
 must consider the language in this light, bei'fore we 
 can comprehend the meaning, much less feel t he beau- 
 ties of our author. 
 
 The assertion that, where Sin abounded, Favour did 
 more abound, however just in a philosophic; sense, 
 was liable to a gross abuse. The unreformed (profes- 
 sor would make it a pretext to justify his perseVerance 
 in guilt, while the enemy of the Gospel would I ^e ready 
 to charge its illustrious teacher with sanctioni ng evil 
 
 ) 
 
Chap. VI.] ANALYSED. 69 
 
 as the means of promoting good. Aware of these 
 consequences, he anticipates them by thus putting the 
 question : " What shall we say then ? Shall we con- 
 tinue in Sin that favour may abound ? By no means 5 CHAP. VI. 
 how shall we, who have died to Sin, any longer live 
 therein ? i, 2. The Apostolic converts, in order to 
 testify to the world that they rejected the creed of the 
 deceivers, acknowledged at their baptism the humani- 
 ty and death of the Messiah, and the obligations they 
 were under to obey the precepts of the Gospel, and 
 like the Founder to die, if necessary, in its support. 
 On this consideration, well known to the persons here 
 addressed, depend the propriety and force of the fol- 
 lowing language. " Do ye not know that as many of 
 us as were baptised unto Christ Jesus, were baptis- 
 ed unto his death? 3. See Vol. ii. p. 493, 494. 
 
 The Christian Church * is represented in the Apos- 
 tolic writings, under the figure of a human body of 
 
 * Our Lord, on one occasion, prays that he and his followers should 
 be all o»e, Johnxvii. 21. In Acts ii. 46. the believers are represented 
 as having me mind. The author of this Epistle prays that, with one 
 mind ■xa.A with one mouth, they may glorify God, Chap. xv. 6. In his 
 letter to the Colossians, he calls Christ the head of the body of the Churchy 
 i. 18. By virtue of the nutriment and vitality flowing from this head, he 
 •wishes them to grow up to the full stature of Christian manhood. Col. 
 ii. 10. He then presently adds : " Let no one deprive you of the prize 
 by a voluntary humility, and a worship of the Angels, intruding into 
 what he hath not seen, puffed up without cause by his fleshly mind, and 
 not keeping to the head, from which the whole body, supplied and nou- 
 rished through the connecting joints, thriveth with the increase of God." 
 18, 19. The impostors, from the affectation of superior knowledge re- 
 fused to acknowledge their subordination to Jesus Christ, or in the 
 language of this nervous writer, " Being puffed up without cause did 
 T\o\. keep to the head. Finally, in his Epistle to the C/n«Mza«i xii. 12, 
 V 3. he thus writes : " For as the body is one, and hath many member jj 
 
 E3 
 
70 EPISTLE TO THE ROMAN3 {Chap. VI. 
 
 which Christ was the head. Agreeably to this represen- 
 tation every member, on account of the union and sym- 
 pathy subsisting between all the paits of the corporeal 
 frame, shared in the qucdities and in the f^te of their 
 common chief. All aied m his death, and rose again in 
 his resurrection. Now this simple and expressive figure 
 enabled our author to paint in remarkable colours that 
 divine influence, which the New Faith was calculated 
 to produce in the lives and conduct of its votaries. 
 As Christ underwent crucifixion, so with him was 
 crucified that body of sin, with which each believer 
 was invested in his unconverted state. As Christ rose 
 from the dead, received from his Father a new and ce- 
 lestial body free from the grossness and pollution of 
 corruptible matter, so his faithful ioilowers, by virtue 
 of a firm belief in that fact, were required to lay aside 
 their former vices, and assume a new character, un- 
 stained with the contagion of Sin and adorned with 
 the celestial lustre of virtue. — " By this Baptism there- 
 fore we are buried wich him unto his death, that as 
 Ciinstwas raised by the glory (the glorious power) of 
 the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life. 
 For if we have been planted together with him in the 
 likeness of his death, we should (spring up also in the 
 likeness) of his resurrection : knowingthis, that uar old 
 man hath been crucified with him, that tb.e sinful body 
 should be destroyed and we no longer be slaves to sin." 
 « — 7. Those, who lived under the dominion of sin, 
 were doomed to die, death being the tribute exacted 
 from all his subjects as due to his authority. This 
 
 but all these members of this one body, which are many, are but one 
 body ; so too is Christ. For we 'were all baptised in one Spirit into one 
 iiody, whether Jews or Greeks, whether Slaves or Freemen} and all 
 received nouri&hment from one Spirit." 
 
Chap. VI.] ANALYSED. 7I 
 
 tribute the believer in Jesus by participating in his 
 death had now paid. Being thus emancipated from 
 the bondage, he was no longer bound or required to 
 engage in the service, or administer to the wishes^ of 
 that inexorable tyrant. On the contrary, it was his 
 interest as well as his dutv to employ his members and 
 talents in the cause of that Holy and Immortal Being, 
 whose interposition had rescued him, and under whose 
 banners he had now enlisted : " He that is dead is set 
 free from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we 
 are persuaded that we should also live v,'ith him : 
 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth 
 no more ; death hath no more dominion over him. 
 For when he died unto sin, he died once for all ; but 
 now he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon 
 ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto Sin, but alive 
 unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Let not 
 Sin therefore reign in your dead bodies, so as to obey 
 its lusts ; neither give up your members unto Sin for 
 instruments of unrighteousness ; but give yourselves 
 up unto God, as alive after being dead, and your mem- 
 bers also for instruments of righteousness, unto God. 
 Sin must not have dominion over you ; for ye are not 
 under the Law, but under Favour. What then ? shall 
 we Sin, because we are not under the Law, but under 
 Favour ? By nb means. Do ye not perceive that to 
 whomsoever ye yield obedience, ye are his slaves whom 
 ye obey, either of Sin unto death, or of obedience (to 
 the Gospel) unto deliverance." 7 — 17. 
 
 The falsehoods, which the impostors incorporated 
 with the Gospel, and the enormities to which the 
 converts had in consequence been betrayed, must have 
 induced the Apostles tp dispatch to the Roman church 
 
78 iriSTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VL 
 
 an authentic statement of the Christian Faith ; describ- 
 ing the fundamental doctrines it taught, and the moral 
 reformation which it was its object to produce. This 
 is what they seem to have done : and the happy event 
 was that the majority, at 'east, abandoned their false 
 guides, received the true Gospel and were reformed. 
 " But thanks be unto God, that ye were slaves of Sin, 
 but are become obedient from the heart unto a form of 
 doctrine unto which ye were transferred ; ' or more 
 conformably to the figure of the original, " Ye obeyed 
 irom the heart that mould of doctrine into which ye 
 have been cast. Into the formulary of faith, it seems, 
 sent by Apostolic authority, the Roman converts, like 
 fused metal, were poured. This gave thtm a new and 
 better form, and impressed them with a fairer image. 
 
 The enormities which the deceivers practised, 
 brought scandal upon the Christian name. The 
 crimes of its pretended vota les, however, were not 
 by any means to be ascribed to the Ap»stolic doctrine, 
 as was done by its undiscviminating enemies. This is 
 perhaps the circumstance v/hicu our author had in 
 view when he penned the following singular assertion. 
 ** But thanks be unto God that ye were the servants oj 
 Sin." As though he had said : " I exceedingly rejoice, 
 that in your late misconduct you were influenced by 
 false views, and tliat con:vequently the offences which 
 you have committed are in justice to be assigned to 
 the wickedness of your guides and your own mistaken 
 notions, and not to the Gospel itself, as the real cause. 
 — " But ye obeyed from the heart, — Ye have embraced 
 the Christian Faith, as defined by us, with sincere con- 
 viction of its divine origin, and yielded a cordial and 
 wnfeignpd obedience to its precepts ; so that ye are not 
 
Chap. VI.] ANALYSED. 73 
 
 like the deceivers who merely profess to embrace it, 
 in order the more effectually to answer their sinister 
 purposes." 
 
 The Gospel which the impostors taught, so far from 
 being instrumental in reforming the vices of its profes- 
 sors, was but a scheme artfully contrived to gratify, in 
 secrecy and security, the impure desires of its fabrica- 
 tors. Denying, as they did, that the principles of 
 morality had any foundation in reason, and maintain- 
 ing, that the commandments of the Mosaic Law pro- 
 ceeded from the caprice of a malevolent Being, they 
 reduced licentiousness into a system ;* which, while it 
 
 * As the Gnostic teachers denied all obligation to become virtuous, 
 and made the impulse of their senses the only rule of conduct, it is not 
 to be expected that they should regard their vices, hoyever flagrant, 
 with compunction, or attempt to throw over them a veil of secrecy. 
 So far was this from being the case that, as the Apostle Paul says of 
 them, (Phil.iii. 19.) they gloried in their shame. The same thing is 
 attested by Theodoret in the following words. Tuv Se aso-sXye/av avy- 
 if.xXv'TTTeiy ovx. »)is^o(Aivot aAA« NOMON T'/jji XKoXxo'tav 'notov[j.iiiot. 
 Hjer. Fab. Lib. i. 5. They have not the patience to conceal their lewdness , 
 hut make intemperance their LAW. And it is to their rejecting the just 
 sanctionsof divine and human laws, and their becoming in consequence 
 licentious and profligate, that the Apostle refers in the following clause, 
 
 na^£fija-«T£ ra /m.e>.»j v/xft)v ^ovXat th ANOMIA, zh xvofA,itxf. 
 
 Some critics, not knowing what the object v/as which our author had in 
 view, suppose that sis ocyoiAiocv, in the second clause, i? an iriterpolation. 
 This, howc.er, is by no means the case, as each bears a distinct and 
 pertinent signification ; the forme 1 denoting a lawless system opposed to 
 all legal institutions; the latter, that licentiousness and intemper- 
 ance which naturally resulted from their loose principles. 1 he testi- 
 mony given by Irenaeus, Epiphanius, and Theodoret, that tlie Gnostics 
 rejected the obligations of virtue, and maintained that the distinction, 
 jtiade between it and vice, is founded not in nature and reason, but in 
 the arbitrary decrees of men, is signally confirmed by Plotinus ; of whose 
 words I shall here give a translation. Speaking ol' the Gpostic doctrine, 
 that author thus writes : " This system arraigns the Lord pf Pro- 
 yidence, and Providence itself. It tluows dishonour wppji all sub- 
 
74 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VI. 
 
 possessed the form, aimed at destroying the sanctions of 
 all law human and divine. To their conduct under the 
 influence of this pernicious system, the Apo^ile, I con- 
 ceive alludes in the following sentence ; " Ye yielded 
 your members servants to impurity and to a lawless sys- 
 tem, so that ye are become licentious." But the Chris- 
 tian Doctrine, embraced in its native purity, induced 
 them to abandon their vicious practices, and to display, 
 under the banners of virtue, the same zeal which they 
 had hithertofore shewn in the service of Sin. 19. The 
 new converts, having their eyes now opened by the 
 Apostolic teachers, must have reflected with shame on 
 those immoralities in which they had formerly indulged, 
 and which had entailed not only disgrace on the Chris- 
 tian name, but expulsion and death upon many among 
 themselves. To this circumstance the following ques- 
 tion seems to bear a pointed reference. " What fruit 
 had ve from those things at that time, of which ye are 
 
 lunary laws, and upon virtue which has been found out from the remot* 
 est age, and holds even temperance in ridicule ; so that nothing here 
 (in this world) appears (to them) in its own nature to be honourable. 
 It also subverts sobriety, and that righteousness which is essential to 
 morals, which is attained by precept and discipline, and by means of 
 which in general man becomes good." En. Lib. ix. p. 2 13. or Priestley's 
 Early Opinions, Vol. i. p. 217; where the original is inserted. The 
 opinion that all difference between virtuous and vicious qualities in con- 
 duct, proceeded principally from the law given to Moses by an evil An- 
 gel, (see Iren. p. 95.) is frequently combated by our Great Apostle : 
 He particularly refers to it in the following instance, where it is virtually 
 asserted, that the distinction subsisted previously to the promulgation of 
 the law ; and that the law only confirmed the dictates of reason, by point- 
 ing out the criminality and the dangerous consequences of Sin : for Sin 
 
 WAS EVtR IN THE WoRLU BEFORE THE LaW, THOUGH, 
 
 WHILE THE Law had no existence, it was not im- 
 puted; Chap. V. 13. 
 
Chap. VI.] ANALYSED. 75 
 
 now ashamed, for the end oi those things is death." 21. 
 He then bears his testimony to their reformation, and 
 places before them that eternal life winch awaits the 
 servants of God. " But now ye have been made free 
 from the service of Sin, and are become servants to 
 God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end 
 everlasting life. For the wages of Sin is death, but 
 the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." 22, 23. 
 
 The deceivers, in order to Induce those women of 
 rank and property, who were under the influence of 
 their sentiments, to abandon their families, and to 
 attach themselves with their effects to the seducers, 
 declaimed against the lawfulness of the rnarriage-state;* 
 
 * We meet in 2 Tim. iii. i — 7, a picture of these men drawn in 
 strong colours by the hand of our Apostle. " Of this kind," adds he, 
 *' are those who creep into families, and lead captive silly women, 
 laden with sins, led away with divers lust." In his letter to Titus, he 
 says, They overturn whole families, teaching what they ought not, for the 
 sake of dishonourable gains. Chap. ii. 11. In reference to these impos- 
 tors he enjoins upon Titus to teach " the young women to be orderly, 
 lovers of their husbands, lovers of their children, chaste, pure, keepers 
 at home, good, submitting themselves to their husbands, that the doc- 
 trine be not evil spoken of," Chap. ii. 4. That marriage is lawful he 
 decides in opposition to the deceivers, 1 Cor. vii ; and in Hebrews, 
 Chap. xiii. he declares it to be honourable in every respect. That 
 they taught the unlawfulness of this institution, in order the more 
 effectually to gratify their own lusts and avarice, is a fact which may be 
 inferred no less from the description given by the Apostles of their 
 character, than from the accounts of them transmitted by Irenaeus and 
 others. The following paragraph from Theodoret would alone be 
 sufficient to establish the truth of this fact. After asserting that they 
 made good and evil to consist not in the real nature of things, but in 
 opinion, he subjoins : " I shall not pass over the legislative sanction 
 which ihey give to their lewdness. They admit the transmigrations (of 
 the soul,) but not upon the principle it was taught by Pythagoras. For 
 he said, that souls which have sinned are sent into bodies, jo be dulv 
 
7^ EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VII. 
 
 And when the Gospel was first preached in Rome, 
 many ladies of fortune arjd quality appear to have be- 
 come the victims of their treachery. In the iiumber of 
 these were Vistilia and Hippia, who left their lawful 
 husbands and joined the intriguers when expelled from 
 the Metropolis. So prevalent, indeed, was the evil 
 become, that the governme-nt interposed, and sought to 
 restrain i) by the enaction of a severe law. The cor- 
 rection of it is the principal object of our author in the 
 CHAP. VII, followmg paragraph : " Know ye not, brethren, (for I 
 am speaking to men acquainted with the law,) that the 
 law hath power over tlie husband as long as he liveth ? 
 For the married woman is bound to her husband while 
 he liveth ; but if the husband die, she is at liberty from 
 the law ot her husband. So then she will be deemed 
 an adulteress, if she take another husband, while this 
 husband is alive : but at the death of this husband, she 
 is free from that law, so as to be no adulteress, though 
 she take another husband,' i — 4. Here our moralist, 
 after asserting the criminality oi those women who 
 marriedother men while their own husbands were alive, 
 maintains, in opposition to the impostors, the legality of 
 
 punished and purified. But these say, that the cause of their heing em- 
 bodied is directly opposite to that assigned by Pythagoras. For human 
 souls, affirm they, are sent into bodies, in order to practise all manner pf 
 lewdness ; that therefore those souls, which fulfil this end on being once 
 immersed in a body, do not need a second immersion ; but that those, 
 vhich have sinned in a small degree, must be sent twice, thrice, or 
 even oftentimes until they have completed all sorts of baseness." Haer. 
 Fab. Lib. i.5. We could scarcely credit the truth of this representa- 
 tion, were we not furnished by the Apostle Peter with an account of 
 them, still more shocking and odious, 2 Epis. Chap. ii. The deceivers 
 endeavoured to support their opinion of the unlawfulness of marriage, 
 by the authority of our Lord himself. This was a circumstance which 
 he foresaw : and he furnished the historian of his life with a fact to refute 
 it. See Vol. ii, p, 233, 234. 
 
Chap. VII.] ANALYSED. 
 
 / '. 
 
 marriage, and that even a widow might again enter into 
 that state, without incurring the guilt of adultery. 
 
 The above passage, being intended in a literal sense 
 against certain immoral professors in the Roman 
 Church, furnished the fertile and prompt imagination 
 of our Apostle, with an allegory respecting the law of 
 Moses and the people under its jurisdiction. " In 
 like manner, my brethren, ye also are dead to the I^w 
 through the body of Christ, so as to belong to another, 
 who was raised from the dead, that we might bring 
 forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, 
 the affections of Sin (made manifest) by the Law, work- 
 ed in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But 
 now we have been released from that Law by which we 
 were bound, so as to serve (God) in newness of Spirit, 
 not in the old letter." ^ — 7. 
 
 In this paragraph the Law is described under the 
 figure of a husband, whom age or some natural imbe- 
 cility had disqualified from being the father of a fami- 
 ly. The spouse united to him is the Jewish nation. 
 Her affections are alienated by the impotence of the 
 husband : being desirous to have children, she is seduc- 
 ed by the solicitations of Sin. A progeny in conse- 
 quence is conceived and brought up for death. It may 
 thus be paraphrased : " While married to the Law, you 
 formed an illicit connection with Sin. Seduced from 
 your lawful husband, who had ability neither to pre- 
 vent the disgrace, nor to remedy the consequence of 
 your infidelity, you brought forth offspring obnoxious 
 to death. The Almighty seeing you thus prostituted, 
 and being desirous that you should bring up children^ 
 for himself, enjoying his favour, and partaking of his 
 
/S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VII. 
 
 own immortal nature, sent his Son with power to sup- 
 ply the defect and inability of the Law. Dying, as it 
 were, in his fleath, you are separated from your for- 
 mer weak husband ; and rising again in his resurrec- 
 tion he has espoused \ ou to himself, in order to remedy 
 your adultery with Sin, and to bring up a divine and 
 immortal family." Which allegorical representation, 
 reduced to simple terms is to this effect. " The reli- 
 gion, which we Jews hitherto professed, did not furnish 
 al: the information we wanted respecting God and a 
 life to come. The motives it administered, therefore, 
 were not adequate to produce virtue in us, or to check 
 our bad passions. But its defects, in this respect, are 
 supplied by the Gospel, which by its superior advan- 
 tages, supersedes the necessity ot adhering to the letter 
 of tiie law. It is, therefore necessary, that a change 
 should take place in our tempers and conduct, corre- 
 spondent to what is undergone by the body of him, to 
 whom we are now united. As Christ died, so may our 
 evil inclinations be deadened : as he rose again to life, so 
 may we enter on a new life of piety and benevolence." 
 
 " What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God for- 
 bid. Nay 1 had not known sin but by the law : for I 
 hdd not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shall 
 not covet. But S)n taking occasion by the command- 
 nient, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. 
 For Without the law sin was dead. For I was alive 
 without the law once ;" but when the commandment 
 came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment 
 which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 
 For Sin, taking occasion fiomthe commandment, de- 
 ceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore the Law is 
 holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 
 
Chap. VII.] ANALYSED. ' ^'Q 
 
 Was then that which is good made death unto me ? 
 God forbid. But Sin, that it might appear sin, work- 
 ing death in me by that which is good, that sin by the 
 commandment might become exceeding sinful." 7-- 14. 
 
 The Apostle, speaking of the inability of the law to 
 restrain the evil inclinations of those whom it govern- 
 ed, was led by a natural transition to repel the charge 
 of severity and unreasonableness alleged against it by 
 the impostors. A passage from Clemens Alcxandrinus 
 affords us a specimen of their reasoning. " Covetous- 
 ness and concupiscence are implanted in the human 
 breast by the Creator of the world ; it is therefore ridi- 
 culous in him to restrain them by the commandment 
 Thou shall not covet the goods, nor the wife oj thy neigh- 
 bour, especially as such a restraint is not imposed upon 
 the desires of other animals."* This argument, and the 
 inference drawn from it that the law was evil and came 
 from an evil being, Paul answers in the above pai-ai^raph^ 
 by observing that the law, so far from being Sin, makes 
 known to us the sinful nature and the pernicious con- 
 
 * This is the substance of the nrgument which Epiphanes used in a 
 book composed concerning rigkteettsness. His own words, cited by Cle- 
 ment, are the ioUowing: V.v9iy us yiXoiov ti^yiyi.orosro-j)>o[j.oOirov ^■ny.ix, 
 to'jTo ecKOv^sov, Ovx. iiriOvfjiyia^is, tr^os to ysXsioTe^ov n'ntiv, Tuv Tr>o 
 irXyjiTio)!' Kvro! ya^ t>)v e7Ti9viA.txv ^ovs, us crvvi^ovcrcc-i rx r'ns yEvf- 
 ctus, Tavrnv apti^eta-Qxi xcXsvst, /jlv^svos avrvv iic<pihwf ^coov. Clem. 
 Alex. Strom, iv. p. 5 14. Theodoret, ir. his comment upon this place, 
 furnishes us with another specimen of the manner in which they ar- 
 raigned the Creator of the world. " Those," writes he, " who live in 
 indolence (meaning the Gnostic monks of Egypt) and are averse to the 
 painful toils of virtue, blame the Lord God for having given (Adam) the 
 commandment : For if, say th-^y, he knew not v/hat would come to 
 pass, how can he be God who is ignorant of the things to come. But 
 if, while he foresaw the transgression, he bid down the commandment, 
 he is himself the causa of its violation." 
 
So EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VII. 
 
 sequences of Sin, and that it was not our Maker, but 
 sin that hath wrought in iis all manner of concupiscence. 
 Much, indeed, is our author to be admired tor his 
 address on this occasion. In a happy union of sound 
 phihjsopliy and glowing imagery, he defends the law 
 and its heavenly Author from the imputation of sin and 
 death ; and by a train of reasoning, founded on the ac- 
 count which Moses gives of the seduction of our first 
 Part-nts by the Serpent, he traces these evils to the very 
 divinity which the deceivers idolized, as their real ori- 
 gin. " And the Lord planted a garden eastward in 
 Eden, and there be put the man whom he had formed. 
 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every 
 tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food : 
 The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and 
 the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord 
 Goi^ commanded the man ; saying. Of every tree of 
 the garden thou may est freely eat : But of the tree of 
 knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it : 
 for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely 
 die," Gen. li. 8 — 18. Now had not this command- 
 ment been given, Adam might have desired the fruit 
 of this tree and gratified his desire, without incurring 
 any moral guilt. Hence the Apostle, personating our 
 first parents, says of himself, " I had not known the 
 unawfulness of desire, unless the law had said, Thou 
 shalt not desire. 
 
 When the Serpent saw the commandment which 
 God gave Adam, he immediately sought to tempt him 
 to the violation of it. In order to effect his purpose, 
 he watched an opportunity of coming into the gar- 
 den, and thus accosted Eve in an unguarded hour; 
 
Chap. VII.] ANALYSED. 81 
 
 " Hath God indeed said, ye shall not eat of every tree 
 of the garden ? And the woman said unto the Ser- 
 pent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the gar- 
 den, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of 
 the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it lest ye 
 die. And the Serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not 
 surely die ; for God doth know, that in the day ye eat 
 thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ; and ye shall 
 be as Gods knowing good and evil," Chap. iii. 1 — j. 
 In reference, seemingly, to this paragraph, Paul adds ; 
 "Sin (another name of the Serpent) having gotten an 
 opportunity, produced in me by reason of the com- 
 raandment all manner of desire." 
 
 *' And when the woman saw that the tree was good 
 for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a 
 tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the 
 fruit thereof, and did eat and gave also unto her hus- 
 band with her, and he did eat." Conformably to this 
 account, our Apostle subjoins, " The commandment 
 of life became fatal to me : for Sin having taken an op- 
 portunity, seduced me by the commandment, and slew 
 me thereby." He then draws this inference, inopposi- 
 tion to the deceivers,* " Wherefore the law is holy, 
 
 * They made a distinction between justice and goodness. The God 
 of die Law, according to them, wasjW hut not good. The Apostle, 
 on the contrary, affirms that the law and the commandment were /io/y, 
 just, and good. The ancient Christian writers, be it here observed, 
 were very sensible that our author in this place opposed his language to 
 the sentiments of the Gnostics, l^ov, writes Theophylact, pxve^ure^x 
 ISla^x-iovtrcoVf xxi Mxviy(xiuv y.xi 'Zi[jt,'j))iixvui, y.xi 'Trxvruv ruv t»jv 
 mx'Kxixv ^ix^xXXovruv, rx fo/xara svi(p^x^jv. xyiov yx^ voi/.o'j x»j- 
 
 fVTTtl (TXpuS, XXI T55V S^ToXriV XJIXV, KXt ^tiCXIXV, KXt Xyx^riV , 
 
 Theodoret in the general analj-sis, which he gives of the Epistle to the 
 Romans, thus speaks in reference to the above passage. Ette/otj 
 es x«i lo-j^xio'js ri^it Xinv ayTc^ofMvov! r«y vo//.of, zxi rovs rci 
 VOL. III. F 
 
82 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VII. 
 
 and the commandment holy, and just, and good." 
 Divested of its allusion to the narrative of Moses, 
 the substance of Paul's argument is briefly this : " Re- 
 straint upon immoral desires.however just and proper, 
 is apt to render those desires more strong and importu- 
 nate. But the guilt of this is not to be imputed to the 
 prohibition, but to the stubborn nature of sinful habits, 
 'which become violent and clamorous when deprived 
 of their accustomed indulgences.'* 
 
 The thread of our author's subject led him next to 
 describe the force of bad habits, the imperious ascen- 
 dency they exercise over the mind, even when oppos- 
 ed by the dictates of the judgment, and to point out the 
 gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ as the only 
 jnean of emancipating us from their bondage. " For 
 we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, a 
 slave sold to sin." 14. Here Paul speaks of the Jews 
 in his own person ; and in allusion, as I conceive, to 
 the Patriarch Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, the 
 land of slavery, he represents them under the absolute 
 dominion of Sin, treating them with all the indignity 
 ■and oppression which their forefathers had literally ex- 
 perienced from Pharaoh and his officers. A slave 
 in antient times, and even in modern days when the 
 ripour of despotism is much softened by the prevalence 
 of humanity, was not, when commanded to do any 
 thing, informed what might be its design. The brutal 
 Master only issued his orders, without condescending 
 
 '!slccpy.iu)ios y-OLi BatAEvT^voy voaovvras', x«< (/.cvroi nxt Mccvi^xiovs Xixv 
 rovro'j axryiyo^ovvrodf KCiSacvi^ a^i^os tis ^-^ccrnyas irocvToOsv vno tto- 
 Xe/'/./o'v y.vKXov[A.svos, nxi rovrovs /3«XAe< kxkbivovs, kxi to r^oitaiov 
 »f*!0"/v' ovrcc$ ^itos aTTofoXoj kxi tuv xi^stikuv to r^^oy, kxi to-'v 
 lov^aiuy T»3y (paXxyytx S/« rvs ^itas natt'Kvai ^a^iros. 
 
Chap. VII.] ANALYSED. 83 
 
 to explain the object which he had in view in the exe- 
 cution. To this circumstance Jesus refers, in thus 
 addressing his disciples : " Henceforth I call you not 
 servants, for the servant (S ^avXos slave) knoweth not 
 what his Lord doeth ;" Johnxv. 15. As though he 
 had said, " A slave is not informed what his Master in- 
 tends by the work which he is commanded to perform." 
 Similar to this is the situation of a man who is under 
 the bondage of evil habits. He stops not to consult 
 his understanding, in respect to the consequence of 
 complying with the impulse of desire, but obeys it, as 
 a slave does an imperious task-master, without direct- 
 ing his attention beyond the object desired — a task- 
 master, whose will though odious, he is compelled to 
 execute, rather than his own. •' I do not know what 
 I do : for I do not perform what my own will sug- 
 gests ; but what I hate that I do."* 15. 
 
 * Every person who has duly attended to the operations of his own 
 mind, or observed them in others, must be sensible that a man of con- 
 firmed habits, be they good or bad, is governed solely by the influence 
 of those habits; and that, so far from consulting his understanding in each 
 point of conduct, he often acts in direct opposition to what he knows to 
 be its dictates. And yet Mr. Godwin, in his celebrated work Politi- 
 cal Justice, Vol. i. p. 62, could pen the following paragraph which, in 
 my opinion, betrays a childish inattention to the human mind, and to the 
 laws by which it is governed. " From this view of the subject we shall 
 easily be led to perceive, how little the fact of the variableness and in- 
 constancy of human conduct is incompatible with the principle here de- 
 livered, that the voluntary actions of men in all cases originate in their 
 opinipns. The persuasion that exists in the mind of the drunkard in 
 committing the first act of intoxication, that in so doing he complies 
 with the most cogent and irresistible reasons capable of being assigned 
 upon the subject, may be exceedingly temporary ; liut it is the clear and 
 unequivocal persuasion of /lis mind, at the moment that he determines upon 
 the action. The thoughts of the murderer will frequently be in a state 
 cf the most tempestuous fluctuation ; he may make and unmake hi?i di- 
 
 F 2 
 
84 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VII. 
 
 The Apostle, having through the ascendency of evil 
 habits, lost the government of his conduct, and being 
 obh'gcd, like a vassal, to comply with the dictates of 
 Sin now become his arbitrary Lord, infers that the 
 law, which apprised him of the approaching tyrant, 
 and warned him against the danger of being led by him 
 into captivity, must have been good ; and that the cri- 
 minality of his actions attached not to himself but to the 
 despot who had the power of commanding his obedi- 
 ence. " But if I do what my own will does not sug- 
 gest, I assent to the law that it is good. And it is no 
 longer I, then, who act thus, but Sin that resides with- 
 in me." 16, 17. Which allowing for the latitude of 
 the figure, conveys this simple signification: " The 
 natural disapprobation I feel for vice, proves the ex- 
 cellence of that divine law which forbids it ; and the 
 guilt of indulging vicious propensities, rests with those cir- 
 cumstances in our education which have generated them.^ 
 
 abolical purpose fifty times in an hour ; his mind may be torn a thousand 
 ways by terror and fury, malignity and remorse. But whenever hhrc' 
 solution is formed, it is formed upon the suggestions of the rational faculty ; 
 and when he ultimately works up his mind to the perpetration, he is then 
 most strongly impressed with the superior recommendations of the conduct lie 
 pursues." This representation, indeed, is palpably false. Even the 
 drunkard or the murderer, if interrogated and ingenuous, would pro- 
 nounce it to be so. They would acknowledge that the conduct, which 
 they respectively pursued, had no recommendations from reason ; that, 
 at the moment of indulgence, they were conscious of acting contrary to 
 their habitual sense of right and wrong ; that they were actuated only 
 by the impulse of appetite and of revenge ; that in the clamour of the 
 passions for gratification, the voice of conscience was drowned, and 
 the judgment, pointing to the pernicious consequences, overawed. 
 
 * This assertion, implied in the language of our Apostle, is thus dif- 
 ferently expressed by Dr. Paley : " If we are in so great a degree 
 passive under our habits, where, it is asked, is the exercise of virtue, the 
 guilt of vice, or any use of moral and religious knowledge ^ I answer, 
 
Chap. VII.] ANALYSED 85 
 
 The tenets, which the Eastern philosophers held re- 
 specting matter and the nature of the soul, are well 
 known to learned men. The lormer which composed 
 the human and all other bodies, was thought to be the 
 work of an inferior evil Being, and the source of all 
 evil natural and moral ; while the latter emanated 
 from the Deity as a ray of light from the sun, and pos- 
 sessed the same immortal nature, the same pure desires 
 with its great Original. When separated from the pa- 
 rent divinity, and confined in the body, it led a life of 
 captivity and imprisonment, from the infection of 
 which it sought to break loose, and to return upwards 
 to^the fountain of life. To these tenets, maintained by 
 some of the Gnostics,* our author next alludes, and 
 
 in the forming and contracting of these habits." The Principles of Ma- 
 ral Philosophy. Vol. i. p. 43. 
 
 * Simon Magus who, as it suited his purpose, supported or denied the 
 sentiments of the philosophers, adopts their language in the follow- 
 ing paragraph. Magnus sane labor est agnoscere eum hoiPiini in came 
 posito. Omnibus enim tenebris tetrius, et omni luto gravins est corpus 
 hoc quo circumdatur anima, Recog. Lib. ii. 58. The Marcionites 
 maintained that human nature as consisting of corrupt matter, the pro. 
 duction of an evil Being, was itself evil and corrupt, a doctrine which is 
 prevalent to this day atnongst the votaries of the orthodox faith. 'Oi 
 tcTTo Mx^Kiuvos (p'jtTtv y.xv.rtv EX T? IXifii Kxaris, %xi rov ^inatiov yivi- 
 /x£v*jv AviiAiov^yov, Strom. Lib. iii. Vol. ii. p. 515. 1 he heretic Her- 
 mogenes entertained the same sentiments. He however supposed that 
 matter, instead of being the production of an inferior Being, was co- 
 eternal with the Supreme Good Divinity. Speaking of evil, which, 
 as such could not have proceeded from pure goodness, he says ; Ex vitio 
 alicujus rei factum, ex materia esse sine dubio. Tertui. p. 234. This 
 was the opinion of Maximus Tyrius, who calls natural evil r-ns v\r;s 
 iTxQos; See his last Dissertation. The goddess /$M, according to Plu- 
 tarch, constituted the Material Principle. His zeal, for this divinity led 
 him, in opposition to the Gnostic philosophers, to represent it not as 
 Ijj its own nature evil, but, though intermediate and the common rcccp. 
 
 F 3 
 
86 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. Vll. 
 
 from them copies a convenient figure to express the 
 stubbornness of confirmed bad habits, their contrariety 
 to the principle of reason, and to the inclination of the 
 mind while yet uncorrupted by evil gratifications. 
 " For I know in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no 
 good thing : the desire indeed is with me, but the com- . 
 plete performance of what is good I find not. For 
 the good, which I wish, I do not ; but keep doing the 
 evil which I disapprove. But if I do what I disap- 
 prove, I no longer act thus myself, but Sin which 
 dwelleth in me : I find therefore this condition that 
 when my mind wisheth to do good, evil is close to 
 me." j8 — 21. 
 
 The soul or, as the Apostle stiles it, the inzoard man 
 jJroceeding from the Deity, accords with his law and 
 seeks to obey it ; but tkejlesh or carnal habits are inclin- 
 ed to the law of Sin. These opposite inclinations in 
 the two principles of which man is thought to be com- 
 posed, give rise to hostilities in the human frame similar 
 to those wars, which the two supposed authors of good 
 and evil wage against each other from their respective 
 dominions : the one wishing to bring mankind nearer 
 himself, and to raise them by successive improve- 
 ments to higher degrees of glory and felicity ; the other 
 endeavouring to chain them down to a system of mat- 
 ter, (the corrupt nature of which generates lusts and 
 evil habits, just as a dead body does putrefaction and 
 worms) and by that means holding them in eternal 
 
 tacle of the good and the bad principle, to be yet inclined to the former, 
 A/^i^o'v (^iv ov<rx %w^as k»c v'k-n ^svava-cc ^c ocsi v^os to BiXriov c^ 
 ixvns, De Iside Sec. liii. p. 133. Cclsus, though he was an Epicu- 
 rean, and believed the materiality of the human soul, adopted when con- 
 venient the language of the eastern sages. "^iJ^v {/.sv s^yov Seo-j, cr&.- 
 fA«Tos Jf »xx>j (p'jj-ts. Orig. Con. Cel. p. eo2. 
 
Chap. VI.] ANALYSED. 87 
 
 bondage to Sin and death. " For I delight in the law 
 of God, after the inw^|r man ; but perceive another 
 law in my members, nuking war against the law of my 
 mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law in my 
 members. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver 
 me from this deadly body ? The favour of God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." 22 — 25. 
 
 A reader is little able to understand the meaning, 
 much less can he relish the beauties of his author, un- 
 less his imagination be capable of tracing out those sen- 
 sible objects whence the writer has copied his allusions. 
 This observation holds in all compositions characterised 
 by sublimity, boldness, and energy, but in none more 
 than in the writings of Paul. The obscurity, which has 
 ever been felt in his letters, proceeds chiefly from an 
 inattention to the sources of his ideas and images. — 
 A variety of instances might be selected to justify the 
 truth 01 this remark. The pi eceding paragraph fur- 
 nishes one striking example where it is verified. Re- 
 present then to yourselves Sin, Misery, and Death, 
 and whatever else is bad in human nature, arrayed on 
 one hand under the banners of the evil principle, and 
 combating all that is rational, virtuous and divine on 
 the other, under the command of the Good. — Represent 
 farther, the Supreme Being standing with the Saviour at 
 his side upon the battlements of heaven, and looking on 
 the conflict below. — Imagine that, on seeing the battle 
 terminating in favour of the adversary, and mankind, 
 led away into captivity by the triumphant foe as the 
 prize of victory, He instantly dispatches his beloved 
 Son with power sufficient to defeat the fatal victor, and 
 to rescue the prisoners ; that this divine Messenger 
 appears, overthrows the hitherto victorious enemy, li_ 
 
88 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VII. 
 
 berates the captives, and sets them at liberty to return 
 from the kingdom of darkness, and ascend in triumph 
 to their Father in the heaven.* — Imagine these things, 
 and you will, it appears to me, have the very allusions 
 which filled the imagination of our divine penman. 
 He saw, as it were, before his eyes the awful cofiflict ; 
 and perceiving himself led away by the unrelenting foe 
 into everlasting bondage, he exclaims in the language 
 of despair, " Who can deliver me from this body of 
 death ?"t But no sooner did he put the question than 
 
 * The emancipation of the mind from contagious matter, its ascent 
 towards the Supreme Being, the arduousness of the way, the obstruc- 
 tions that press it downward along the steep declivity, the energy of 
 God drawing it to himself and prevailing over the obstacles in its pro- 
 gress, are sublimely described by Philo in the following passage, v/hich 
 as it is founded on the philosophy of the times, is not unlike this of our 
 
 Apostle. 'Otw Se i^iycnro rov iran^x, n-oct 'noifimv ruv av/AWxv- 
 
 Tuv o^xVf titi ocK^ov sv^xifxovKxs ts'Ci) TT^Oih-riXvQ'jis, ot'osv yaf avure^M 
 ^sov, TT^oj ov n rts TO T7IS ^v^vis oiM(^x Tiiyxs £(p0a)tE, (Aovvv tyj^sixSw 
 xxt s'xa-it' XI iji.tv yaf xvxvrsis o^ot x«/AaT»^o« kxi ^^x^tixi, i os Kxrx 
 "TF^xyovs (po^x, a-v^i^ov lyo'oc^x to tj^Xeov « xa6p^ov rx^/tix KXt qx^ti, 
 TloWx ^£ nxru ^ta^oijuevx, wv ov'Ssy o(peXos, oT«v ix. Tcuy xvrov ^vvx- 
 fji-tyuv atvaxf E/xacray rriv i^^v^vv o ^sos, oXkv) 'hvyxTun^x it^os ixvtoix 
 tTriaTTxa-xno. 
 
 + Tts /XE ^vcrcrxt sx Toy cuij^xxos rov SayaTOf rovfov, WJio will dc" 
 liver (oi rescue) me/rom the body of this death, that is, this moral death. 
 Our author alludes to the philosophic notion, that the body is, as it 
 vere, the grave of the soul, and that the emancipation of the soul from 
 the contagious influence of the body constitutes zV? resurrection. Thus 
 writes Plaio (in Cratulo, p. 400.) 2*?/w,a nyis (pxat to xvro sivxi (aru- 
 fj.x) rns •^vy(ris, us T£6«/>i./>t£»»j £v ru vvv vx^oyri. Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus has words deserving of notice, Mx^rv^coyrxi as kxi 01 ttxXxioi 
 ^coXoyot T£ x«/ (/.ayriis, us oix riyxs n^u^ixs » -^v^x tw <Tui/.xri 
 ffwi^avurxi, xxOxTTi^ ev axy^xri ri^xiirxi, Strom, iii. p. 518. 
 This writer understood, that the Apostle alludes on this occasion to 
 the above philosophic notion : for he presently adds, " The Soul of the 
 Philosopher greatly vilifies the body, and flees from it, and seeks to be 
 with itself : And with this somewhat accords the divine Apostle ; say- 
 jng, Who shall ddivcr me from the body of this death . See Vol . ii. p . 5 1 7. 
 
Chap. VII.] ANALYSED, 8^ 
 
 he discovered his deliverance effected, and by way of 
 reply was going to specify his gracious deliverer; 
 but the gratitude, which he felt for the primary author 
 of his emancipation, arrested his tongue and extorted 
 from it instantaneous accents of joy and thanksgiving, 
 •fc-" I Thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 As though he had said, " I give thanks to the Almigh- 
 ty for my deliverance ; it is accomplished by Christ 
 the man Jesus, and the Lord of the Apostles." The 
 whole representation reduced into simple language, 
 teaches this joyful lesson. " The principles of reason 
 and conscience, aided and sanctioned as they are by 
 the law of Moses, are unable to furnish motives suffi- 
 cient to withstand those temptations, to restrain those 
 propensities, to eradicate those inveterate habits, which, 
 resulting from the nature and constitution of man, ex- 
 .pose him to condemnation and to death : but the pros- 
 pect of a new life, unfolded in the Gospel, and estab- 
 lished by his death and resurrection, affords motives ade- 
 quate to the accomplishment of these desirable ends," 
 
 The Epistles of Paul being controversial, written, I 
 mean, with the view of exploding those false notions, 
 which the anti-apostolic teachers introduced into the 
 Christian Church ; the only way of ascertaining the 
 precise meaning of our author, in any disputed passage, 
 is to consider those of their tenets, to which he alludes, 
 and which it is his object to undermine. The Judaiz- 
 ^ng teachers then rested in the rites of the law, to the 
 neglect of moral duties as the means of pleasing God. 
 The Egyptianizing zealots, on the contrary, accused the 
 law of caprice and unreasonableness; maintained, thai 
 rnan is corrupt by nature, that he has no natural sense ol 
 right and wrong, that matter is essentially corrupt, thts 
 
e)0 EPISTLE' TO THE ROMAN'S [Chap. VII. 
 
 source of corruption and death to mankind, and the 
 production of an evil and inferior divinity. Now 
 these are the points, which our Apostle refutes in the 
 preceding obscure chapter. After asserting the legiti- 
 macy oi marriage, he inculcates that ritual observan- 
 ces, on account of their inefficacy, are superseded by 
 the Gospel. He next defends the law from the charges 
 brought against it by his adversaries ; and though he 
 allows that we work what is evil, yet the practice of 
 it, he inculcates, is not inherent in the human frame, 
 or an effect natural to, and necessarily springing from it, 
 but proceeds from a foreign cause, — from Sin, who un- 
 fortunately having gotten admission into the body, as 
 into a house, after it had been constructed by the band 
 of the Great Architect, there compels the passions, 
 and reason itself, to act in obedience to its arbitrary 
 and tyrannic injunctions. " But if I do that, to which 
 I am not inclined, I no longer act thus myself, but Sin 
 which dwelleth in me." "This," says Theophylact, 
 " is no fault of the flesh ; for if a thief get possession of 
 a palace, and dwell therein, it is not the fault of tlie 
 mansion. So, in the present instance, if Sin dwell in 
 our members, flesh is not, on that account, depraved; 
 for it is overruled by tyranny." That the human heart 
 in its original and pure state, is not, as the false teach- 
 ers inculcated, disposed to wickedness, but inclined 
 to whatever is honourable and good, is the lesson which 
 our author repeatedly inculcates when he says, " The 
 desire (to do good) is indeed with me," 18. The good / 
 wish I practise not, but practise the evil which I do not 
 xvish, 19. I delight in the law of the Lord God after 
 tlie inward man ; but perceive another law in my mem- 
 bers, making war against the law of my mind, and 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. gl 
 
 bringing me into captivity to the law of my members.'* 
 23. By the law of yny mind, he means, the approba- 
 tion of virtue and the disapprobation of vice planted by 
 nature, or generated by the circumstances of life, in the 
 human breast. Or more generally he signifies by it 
 the moral law of nature coeval with man, and written 
 by the Maker on the tablet of his heart. The exist- 
 ence of this law, which the impostors denied, and the 
 harmony of its dictates with the divine law promul- 
 gated by Moses, our author enforces in saying; " I de- 
 light in the law of God after the inner man ; I see 
 another la\v (the law of Sin) making war with the law 
 of 7fiy mind ; I accord with the law as being good, auix- 
 
 The Apostle then draws the following conclusion, 
 '' There is now therefore no condemnation to them 
 that are in Christ Jesus, to them that walk not 
 after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Observe how 
 this conclusion is intended to shut out the false teachers 
 and their followers. Though they embrace the Christ, 
 they rejected the man Jesus ; and, notwithstanding their 
 moiession, they stiW zval/ied after the Jlesk. The true be- 
 lievers, on the contrary, received the man Jesus as their 
 Saviour, and cultivated those virtues which he dis- 
 played in his conduct, and which he has prescribed in 
 his spiritual or divine law. To those, therefore, who 
 are thus in Christ Jesus, whose behaviour and dis- 
 positions conform to his holy injunctions, the forgive- 
 ness of past sins, peace with God, the hope of immor- 
 tality, belong. The Apostle, personating the body ot 
 the faithful disciples, adds ; " For the spiritual law of 
 life, which is in Christ Jesus, hath made me free 
 from the law of Sin and death." Which is to this ef- 
 
tf2 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap.Vlil, 
 
 feet, " That refined system of morality, sancLioned by 
 the well grounded hope of anew life, through the re_ 
 surrection of Jesus, has delivered us from the influence 
 of sinful habits, and saved us from that moral death 
 which is the penal effect of Sin." 
 
 The Christian law, inasmuch as it penetrates the in- 
 ermost recesses, reaches even the heart, and condemns 
 or acquits those under its jurisdiction, not from their 
 outward actions, but from the motives which gave 
 them birth, far surpasses all other laws in excellence 
 and efficacy. Of its superiority in these respects, our 
 author proceeds to remind the impostors, who meditat- 
 ed the most atrocious deeds, and executed them when- 
 ever secrecy rendered the execution secure and prac- 
 ticable. " For what the Law could not do, in that it 
 was weak through the flesh, God having sent his own 
 Son in the likeness of Sinful Flesh, condemned Sin of 
 sinning with the Flesh." 3. Here again Sin and Flesh 
 are personified. The latter receives the former into 
 her apartments. They, however, conduct their assigna- 
 tions with such secrecy, that the Law, or the legiti- 
 mate husband of Flesh, though convinced of their 
 guilt, had no means sufficient to arraign and punish 
 the offenders. The Law, we are told, was weak 
 through thejiesh. By which M'e are to understand, that, 
 through the imperfection of human discernment, it 
 could not recognize crimes that were only intended or 
 tneditated in the heart, nor punish, for want of clear 
 and positive evidence, such things as were done in 
 secret. This, neither the Law of Moses nor any 
 human law could effect. But, in order to supply its 
 inability, the Omniscient Creator, seeing Sin making 
 a private appointment with Flesh, invests his own Sou 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 93 
 
 with the dress and similitude of the former, and dis- 
 patches him to the very place where, under the covert 
 of darkness, the latter had agreed to meet him. Flesh 
 arrives, at the place appointed. The Son of God drops 
 his feigned appearance, and stands before her in the 
 figure of her real husband. Thus he detects their guilt, 
 exposes the odious character of Sin, and brings the 
 partner of his crimes to merited punishment. Divest 
 the paragraph of its personification, and you have this 
 simple meaning ; *' The Christian law, far surpassing 
 all other laws in extent and efficacy, pi'onounces a per- 
 son criminal, though his crimes may be unseen by man, 
 and though committed only in design. Extending its 
 cognizance into the bosoms of men beyond the reach 
 of human discernment, it decides upon their characters 
 from the motives and designs of their hearts, and thus 
 detects and punishes sins which pass undetected and 
 unpunished by other laws." 
 
 The Apostles appear, on some occasions, to speak 
 of the law of Moses and the predictions of the Pro- 
 phets under the figure of that great personage, in 
 whose advent and death they were fulfilled ; they con- 
 sider the Jewish system, I mean, as though it were a 
 human beings having*^ body and a soul, '^JiesO" and " spi- 
 rit." The figurative language, the symbolical maxims, 
 the external rites, the promises and threatenings, (all 
 of which in their primary application were of a tempo- 
 ral nature,) constituted the former ; while the moral 
 internal signification, annexed to its outward forms, 
 and the extension of its sanctions, metaphorically inter- 
 preted to a future state of being, analogous to the pre- 
 sent, compose the latter. Hence we may see the pro- 
 
94 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VIIL 
 
 priety and origin of the phrases ^r? ^g in the Jlesh, to 
 walk after thejlesk, to mind the things ofthejiesh, which 
 here and elsewheie occur. They signify the interpret- 
 ing of the Jewish Dispensation in a literal sense, the 
 indulging of carnal habits and desires, and the adher- 
 ing to those external rites of tlie law, which the depra* 
 vity of the Judaizing Zealots disposed them to substi- 
 tute for the cultivation of virtue and holiness. On 
 the contrary, to be in the Spirit, to walk after the Spirit ^ 
 to viind the things of the Spirit, mean the adoption of a 
 spiritual and metaphorical interpretation, together with 
 a reformation of manners and purity of heart, corres- 
 ponding in refinement to that interpretation. The 
 Sadducees or Jewish Epicureans, together with the 
 Cerinthians, who expected in the reign of the Messiah 
 a temporal kingdom, affixing to the sacred writings a 
 literal acceptation, maintained oi course that the Mo- 
 saic system gives no intimation of a future spiritual 
 state, and that its sanctions terminate on this side of 
 the grave. To this false representation, the language 
 of Christ and his followers stands opposed. i hey 
 must, indeed, have allowed, that the precept of the 
 law, and the declarations of the prophets, referred in 
 a primary sense to the present state of existence ; but 
 they insisted that those precepts and declarations have a 
 tralatitious reference to a future spiritual world; and 
 that this spiritual world, of which the law con- 
 tains, like vital sparks, latent intimations, (just as the 
 corporeal frame comprehends, though invisible to sense, 
 the spirit that animates it,) it was the object of the 
 Christian lawgiver to develope, and to establish by fresh 
 displays of heavenly wisdom, and by the miracle of his 
 own resurrection, the life and immortality, which he 
 brought to light in the Gospel, being no more than the 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 95 
 
 Jewish system, purified of its external gross forms, ex- 
 panded into light and carried to its consummation. 
 These general remarks will, I conceive, enable us 
 to comprehend the full force of the following verses. 
 •' That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled 
 in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit : 
 for they who are after the flesh, do mind the things of 
 the flesh ; but they after the spirit, the things of the 
 spirit. For the sentiment of the flesh is death, but that 
 of the spirit is life and peace." 4 — 7. Which may be 
 thus paraphrased : " That the principle of a future re- 
 tribution, inveloped in the law, might be unfolded 
 in the vi^ws, and exemplified in the character, of those 
 faithful disciples, who take the law to consist in a fi- 
 gurative or spiritual, and not in a literal or carnal sense. 
 For those, who adhere to the literal sense, mind only the 
 things of this carnal life ; whereas they, that adopt the 
 figurative interpretation, mind chiefly the things which 
 belong to the future spiritual life : since the senti- 
 ments of those, who support the ritual system, extend 
 not beyond death ; while those of the spiritual, look 
 forward to immortality and friendship with God." 
 
 The Zealots boasted in God, or prided in being the 
 favourites of heaven; and, though they contended for 
 the ordinances of the law, refused obedience to it as a 
 system calculated to produce piety and benevolence. 
 To these circumstances our author seems to refer in 
 the following verse, " The sentiments of the flesh 
 are at enmity with God : for they do not submit them- 
 selves to the law of God ; nor indeed can they ; so 
 that they of the flesh cannot please God." 7, 8. The 
 Gnostics, Irenasus informs us, thoug zealous for ex- 
 ternal rites, and devoted to impure pleasures, arrogated 
 
9^ EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VIII, 
 
 to themselves the title of spiritual, while they stigma- 
 tised the catholic believers as being ofthejlesk or car- 
 iial. It is perhaps to this fact that Paul alludes, -when 
 I;e thus addressed himself to the sincere Christians in 
 the Roman Church : *' But ye are not of the flesh, but 
 of the spirit, inasmuch as the spirit of God dwelleth in 
 you." Though diametrically opposite to Christ in dis- 
 positions and character, they nevertheless affected to 
 rank among his first and most favoured disciples.* The 
 pretension probably led our author to make this fine 
 declaration ; " But, if any one hath not the Spirit of 
 Christ, he doth not belong to Christ," 9. He then 
 lays down this admirable criterion, to ascertain whe- 
 
 * Ireneeus gives ihls account of their superior claims to tlie favour of 
 God. Tas ^E iay(Vi>ivias to cm^ixcc Tyis Ay(^oi[jt.iij6 -^v^xs uiAtivovs 
 Xtyovat <y£7ovcva/ t»v Xomuv' ^/o y.ai nrkztov rut a-XKuv 7)ya.'Tt%a^xt 
 tiiio rov A'/j/jt^oM^yow, (jlv) st^oros Ti\t xiriecy, ockKx mxq aiirov XoyiCp- 
 fA.ivov nvai rotavTxs. S'/o xxi tn ir^o^yirxs iraaatv ocvrovs, y.ai te^ei^, 
 XXI (2x<TiXeii, p. 33. To the false claims of the Impostors to be thus " 
 ranked with Prophets, Priests, and Kings, our author alludes, 1 Cor. 
 iv, 8. " t)o ye reign as kings without us ? I wish indeed ye did reigrt 
 (in the true sense of the term,) that we also might reign with you." 
 The Apostles, because they were poor, unlettered, and obscure, and be- 
 cause they endeavoured to repress the false aspiring views of the new 
 converts, were represented. It seems, by the anti-apostolic teachers, as 
 the cause of poverty, ignorance, and obscurity to those who followed 
 them. In reference to those high titles, which they arrogated to them- 
 selves, and those terms of reproach with which they stigmatised the faith- 
 ful disciples, the Apostle adopts the language which follows, *♦ We (the 
 Apostles) are Jbols for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ : we are 
 weak, hut ye are strong : ye are honourable, but we zts despised." 10. 
 Sec Tertul. p. 250, 281, 487. Iren. p. 32, at the top : where it appears 
 that they called the Catholic believers, insipientes, columbae, simplices, in- 
 Jantes, pueri, iiifirmi, crx^ynKoi, -^v^t-Mi, and the like : and, on the 
 contrarv, applied to themselves the epithets opposite to these. See also 
 p. 32, of this Analysis. Our Lord has often referred to this temper cf 
 the impostors, Vol. ii. p. 12, 331. 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 97 
 
 ther they were in reality the disciples of Jesus^ •• If 
 Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, and 
 the spirit is life because of righteousness," ii. Which 
 is to this purport—** If you be really his followers, 
 your former bad passions will be so subdued, as though 
 the body, which is supposed to be the source of moral 
 evil, and which is become mortal or obnoxious to 
 death in consequence of having sinned, had actually 
 died, and the spirit will become so pure and holy, as 
 though it had already been disengaged from the cor- 
 rupt influence of the flesh, and raised to that state of 
 spirituality and enlargement which hereafter awaits the 
 virtuous." This short sentence, be it remarked, carries 
 an allusion to the following tenets in the popular philo* 
 sophy of the times, that sin was the cause of death 
 to the human race ; that the matter, which composes 
 the body, is the origin of those vices which debase the 
 Soul ; that the vital principle is distinct from the cor- 
 poreal frame ; and, lastly, that the disengagement of 
 the soul from the body, so as to rise to a more exalted 
 sphere of enjoyment, constitutes what philosophers 
 called its new life or resurrection. See Vol. ii. p. 517, 
 
 The next point insisted upon is the resurrection of 
 Jesus : and he inculcates that all those, who are now 
 animated to virtue and holiness by the Divine Spirit, 
 will hereafter, like him, receive a new life from the 
 Almighty. ** Now, if the spirit of him, who raised 
 Jesus from the dead, dwelleth in you. He, who raised 
 up Christ from the dead, will also give life to your 
 mortal bodies through his spirit that dwelleth in 
 you^" ij. 
 
 VOL. III. G 
 
$8 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VIII. 
 
 The impostors pretended that themselves, being spi- 
 ritual, had the privilege oi'indulging in every immoral 
 practice, in every impure desire, while the Apostolic 
 believers were under the necessity, as being carnal, of 
 exercising self-denial and submitting to the painful toils 
 of virtue.* To this impudent pretension, it appears to 
 me, Paul, speaking of the true disciples, refers in the 
 next verse, " We are not then, brethren, debtors to 
 the flesh, to live after the flesh : for if ye live after the 
 flesh, ye will die; but if ye mortify the deeds of the 
 body by the spirit, ye will live." 12. 
 
 The God oi Israel according to the false teachers, 
 being cruel and evil, was an object of terror, not of 
 iove, to his creatures. The malevolence which ren- 
 dered him thus odious and terrible, they urged, ap- 
 peared from the unmerited sufferings imposed even 
 upon his own worshippers. In opposition to this re- 
 presentation, the writer again places before the Roman 
 converts the most engaging picture of the Almighty. 
 Those who return to Him from the slavery of Sin, he 
 adopts for his own sons, exercises towards them an af- 
 fection the most endearing, and makes them fellow- 
 heirs with the first born in his heavenly kingdom. 
 •' As many as are directed by the Spirit of God, these 
 are sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit 
 of bondage again unto fear; but ye have received the 
 spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father." 
 The Apostle, it is observable, joins with the Greek 
 the Hebrew name of father. The reason appears 
 
 * Ircnaeus gives the following account of them. A/a touto 
 w/xiV /1/.EV, o:/J \vj^i-x.ovs ovo(/.cic(^ov<Tiv, xxi ex xo(7/x.oy eivsci Ktyovffiv, 
 avxyM-XKxv rriv cyx^xTsixi nxi «ya9ny trqal^ir ccvrots Se wfiv/^ar;- 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 99 
 
 to be this. Abba is a term which an infant, unable yet 
 to speak, is capable of articulating, just as in our 
 language a child can say Papa, when it is scarcely in 
 his power to enunciate other significant sounds. By 
 this delightful image our amiable Apostle insinuates 
 to the Roman converts, that they were yet but babes in 
 the Gospel, and that the Supreme Being regards them, 
 even in this infantine state of virtue and knowledge, 
 with all that fond complacency, which swells the bo- 
 som and illumines the countenance of a tender parent, 
 when he hears his babe uttering, in broken accents, the 
 endeared name of father.* In proof of the assertion, 
 that the Almighty, exercising paternal affection, regards 
 •them as his own offspring, Paul appeals to the testimo- 
 ny of the Holy Spirit, which enabled the Apostles to 
 perform miracles and to speak with unknown tongues. 
 " The Spirit itself confirraeth our spirit (our spiritual 
 doctrine,) that we are sons of God," 16. Being then 
 sons of God, it follows by the rights of sonship, that 
 they are entitled to inherit the divine kingdom, in com- 
 munion with his first born ; but he insinuates that in or- 
 der to share in the glory of Christ's exaltation, it was 
 
 * A remark of Clemens Alexandrinus on the following words utter- 
 ed by our Lord, / thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 
 thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed 
 them unto babes, Luke x. 21, is worthy of being here noticed, as coin- 
 ciding precisely with the above observation : NrTr/oyy «/*«? ^/Jao-xa- 
 ?.of a.<no)iLxK'jit rovs ruv ev iio(T(AU <ro^wv iTriTri^siortfovs sis aMTveitnf 
 01 aoi^oi a(pxs vyo-JfA-tvot Ttrvtp'svrxf koci STri^oxran ayaXX/s^/ASvoy y.xi 
 ■Wt^iv^^xivoixBvof, oiovoi avvT^xvKii^uv rois iirt'niots, Pasd. Lib. 1. Cap. 
 6. p. 117. The teacher calls usfthe Catholic believers) babes, as being 
 better Jitted for salvation than the wise of this zvorld; who deeming them- 
 selves wise are swollen with pride; and he (Jesus) cries exulting and de- 
 lighted as if Lisp i>iG WITH THE BABES. 
 
 G 2 
 
XOO EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VIII. 
 
 necessary to imitate him in suffering for the cause which 
 he espoused. " But if children then heirs, heirs of God 
 and joint-heirs of Christ, if we suffer with him so as 
 to be glorified with him also, * j/. He then silences 
 the blasphemers by observing that the hardships, which 
 the followers of Jesus are required to undergo, will 
 hereafter be compensated by a glorious reward, in 
 comparison of which their present momentary trials 
 deserve no consideration. " And I look upon the 
 sufferings of the present state as of no consequence, 
 with respect to the glory that shall be displayed in 
 us." 18. 
 
 A belief derived from the prophets, prevailed not only 
 among the Jews, but among other nations,* that some 
 great Pi-ince would soon appear in the East, who, like 
 the sun in its meridian, ascending the throne of uni- 
 versal empire, would by the lustre of his benign coun- 
 tenance disperse the shades of superstition and error, 
 loosen the chains of slavery and oppression, and raise 
 the human race to freedom, virtue and happiness. In 
 consequence partly of this expectation, the Christian 
 Doctrine, on its first promulgation in Rome, was em- 
 braced by multitudes of Jews, Eg)'ptian3 and Greeks. 
 
 * This is attested by the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius. 
 The words of the former are the following : Pluribus persuasio inerat, 
 antiquis sacerdotum Uteris conlineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesce- 
 ret Oriens, profectique Judaea return potirentur. His. Lib. v. 13. The 
 narrative of the latter is much the same. Percrebuerat Oriente toto, an- 
 tiqua et constans opinio, ut eo tempore Juda:a profecti rerum potiren- 
 tur : Id de imperatore Romano quantum evcntu postea prasdictum pa- 
 tuit, Judaei ad se trahentes rebcllaruut ; Suet. Vespas. Cap. 4. A still 
 more decisive proof of the prevalence of this opinion is the Pollio of 
 Virgil, where the poet has, through the medium of the Sibylline or- 
 acles, copied not only some sentiments from the Jewish prophets, but 
 also traces of their language. 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 101 
 
 The dispute which it occasioned threw the city into 
 confusion. The emperor, mistaking for a while the 
 claims of the Messiah and the nature of his religion, 
 was filled with alarm ; and in order to check its pro- 
 gress he adopted every method, however cruel;, which 
 policy could suggest or power execute. Upon the con- 
 verts he exercised unusual severities. Such of the 
 Jewish youth as were capable of bearing arms, the 
 senate pressed into the military service, punished with 
 death those who had the magnanimity to refuse enlist- 
 ing, and banished the rest into islands, the severity of 
 whose climates was likely to prove fatal to their con- 
 stitution. Nor was this all : That he might suppress the 
 first appearance of sedition and keep the people, 
 anxious to throw off the yoke of slavery, in subjec- 
 tion to his controul, Tiberius augmented the military 
 forces in Italy, formed a camp at Rome, confined the 
 praetorian guards, and extended to the provinces 
 those salutary precautions which he exercised with 
 great vigilance in the capital.* 
 
 * These momentous facts are developed in Vol. i. p. 139 — 157. 
 They are attested in a surprising manner by a man, who professes to 
 have been in Rome when the fame of Jesus Christ was first announced 
 in that city. He writes to this effect ; Cum in talibus cogitationibus et 
 negotiis ego versarer ; sub imperio Tiberii Caesaris fama qusdam sen- 
 sim, a verna tempestate initio sumpto, passimque crevit, et revera bonus 
 Dei nuncius mundum peragravit, Dei voluntatem silere et tegere non 
 valens. Ubique igitur amplior et major fiebat referens, quod quidam 
 in Judaja, principio sumpto a vemo tempore, seterni Dei regnum Judsis 
 annunciat, quo fruiturum esse ex illis dicit eum qui vitam rectam eman- 
 datam ducet: quo autem credatur ipsum divinitatis plenum hasc loqni 
 ac inspirare, multa mirabilia signa et prodigia edit sola jussione, quasi 
 qui a Deo acceperit potestatem : surdos enim facit audire, ccecos videre, 
 pedibus debiles ambulare, claudos recta inccdere ; omnem morbum 
 depellit, omnem Daemonem fugat : sed et leprosi scabri, eo eminus tan- 
 
 G 3 
 
162 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VIII. 
 
 These events are recognised in the following passages 
 of the Apostle Paul, which from their hitherto impe- 
 netrable obscurity have baffled all the efforts of criti- 
 cism satisfactorily to explain. " The creation with 
 heart-felt desire, expects the appearance of the sons of 
 God (for the creation is subject to vanity, not of its 
 own accord, but because ot the subjector) in hope, 
 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from cor- 
 
 tum viso, sanati abeunt, moriui vero oblati suscitantur, nihilque est quod 
 facere nequeat. Atque quo plus temporis prsteribat eo major firmior- 
 que per complures advenientes existebat non amplius, inquam, fama sed 
 rei Veritas. Jam vero et ccetus per loca fiebant consultationis et delibe- 
 rationis causa quisnam est qui apparuisset, et quid vellet dicere, Clem. 
 Horn. i. Cap. 6. 
 
 In this curious paragraph then it is asserted, that in the reign of Ti- 
 berius a divine messenger appeared in the land of Judea ; that the fame 
 of him prevailed in every country, and soon overspread the whole 
 ^•orld ; that it reached the capital of the empire as a vague rumour, but 
 was established into a matter of fact by very many who thence arrived in 
 (he city, and that assemblies of people were held in order to enquire 
 who 'Jesus was, and what might be the object of his mission — assertions 
 these which exactly accord with the facts that have been inferred from 
 the writings of Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Philo, Orosius, Ter- 
 tuUian, Seneca, Dion Cassius, and Plutarch. This and other in- 
 stances, which might be adduced, shew that the book ascribed to 
 Clement of Rome, though undoubtedly spurious, is in many respects 
 more deserving of credit than is generally allowed. I shall here only 
 observe, that the author appears, from the representation which he gives 
 of Christ, not to have believed in his divinity. He stiles him only the 
 gccd 7iiasenger of God, and says that in proof of his divine mission he 
 performed signs and wonders, having received power from God to do 
 them,— 7ra§« '^iov nXv^us c^ov<ritx,». An orthodox writer would not 
 by any means have thus expressed himself. TertuUian inculcates, that 
 the miracles of Jesus proved the reality of his divinity ; and he repre- 
 sents Tiberius, when convinced that they were really performed, as 
 drawing the same inference. Tiberius ergo, cujus tempore nomen Chris- 
 tianum in seculum intravit, annunciata sibi ex Syria Palaestina, quae illic 
 veritatem istiiis divinitatis rcvebrant, detulitad senatum cum prerogativa 
 sufTragii sui, Apol. Cap. v. 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 1Q3 
 
 ruptible slavery into the glorious freedom of the chil- 
 dren of God." 19 — 22. Here it is implied, or rather 
 asserted, that the creation, the civilised part of man- 
 kind, earnestly expected the sons of God, or in other 
 words, the Messiah and /lis happy subjects, to make their 
 appearance ; that they cherished this expectation ift 
 hope of partaking in the blessings and privileges of 
 his government, but were prevented from attaining 
 this heart- felt desire by the Subjector, that i^,, the ex- 
 isting Power. The paragraph may thus be paraphrased. 
 *' The nations of the world, subjugated at present to a 
 vain, false, and debasing system of superstition and 
 despotism, cherish in their hearts, though they dare 
 not shew it in their words and actions, the fond hope 
 of being emancipated under the auspices of the expec- 
 ted Prince, and of sharing with his own subjects the 
 blessings of his kingdom." The expectation which 
 the creation cherished, and of which the Apostle here 
 speaks, was founded upon the erroneous notions uni- 
 versally prevalent in early times, that the looked-for 
 Redeemer would be literally a king, and that his 
 second appearance to establish a boundless and ever- 
 lasting kingdom, on the earth, was at hand. These no- 
 tions our author in the succeeding verses proceeds 
 to rectify. But a judicious regard to" the prejudices 
 of his readers obliged him to touch them, like painful 
 wounds, with a tender hand. '* For we know that the 
 whole creation groaneth and is in labour until now. 
 And not only (the creation), but we who have receiv- 
 ed the first fruits of the Spirit, even we (I say) groan 
 within ourselves, expecting our adoption to be a deli- 
 veranceof the body. ' Which is to this effect: "Not 
 only do the Jews and Gentiles indulge the mistaken 
 expectation of a corporeal emancipation, of anearrhly 
 
1©4 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Cliap.VllI. 
 
 deliverance under the Messiah ; but the Apostles them- 
 selves, to whom the Holy Spirit has been Communi- 
 cated in order to lead them into the truth—- into a 
 knowledge of the true nature of that redemption which 
 Christ confers upon his faithful followers — even the 
 Apostles, I say, have indulged the same fond but mis- 
 taken idea." Having made this remark, he intimates 
 that the salvation conferred by Jesus, does not respect 
 the present, but the future world, and is an object of 
 hope not of sense. " We are saved by hope ^ but it is 
 not hope when the thing hoped for is seen : for how 
 can 9 man hope for what he already seeth. . Since we 
 hope for what we do jiot see, let us wait with pati- 
 ence.'* 34, 2^, 
 
 ** And this spirit likewise helpeth our infirmities ; 
 for we know not, as we ought, what to pray for : but 
 the Spirit intercedeth for us with secret groans. And 
 he who searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind 
 of the spirit, that it maketh intercession for the Saints 
 according to (the views of) God." 26, 27. 
 
 In this most obscure passage, the Apostle describes 
 himself and his fellow Christians as weighed down by 
 the various calamities to which they were exposed by 
 their profession, under the figure of slaves fatigued 
 with labour and tortured by cruelty : — slaves, whom, 
 though oppressed, the unfeeling master, suffers not 
 to complain nor even to groan aloud. Thus situated, 
 they send, in order to be redressed, a petition to their 
 common Father, requesting him to interpose and ef- 
 fect their deliverance. This petition is entrusted to 
 the Holy Spirit, whose office, like those supposed in- 
 termediate angels employed between God and men, 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 105 
 
 was now to convey and spread before the throne oi 
 Mercy the prayers of the afflicted. The Spirit, per- 
 ceiving that the petition contains such requests as 
 little accorded wit^ the counsels of heaven, lays it 
 aside, and in a manner more conformable to the Di- 
 vine Wisdom, intercedes for the deliverance of the 
 holy suflferers. The paragraph, divested of its meta- 
 phor, and of the allusion it bears to the notion of in- 
 tercessory angels,* maintained by the Jews and pagans, 
 conveys the following simple signification. *' Th^ 
 Spirit, imparted to us the Apostles, supports us under 
 
 * The Pagans supposed there existed " a middle order of beings between 
 the Gods and men, interpreters of the wills of the Gods to men, and 
 ministering to their wants, carr)'ing the prayers and supplications of 
 mortals to heaven, and bringing down thence in return oracles and all 
 the other blessings of life.'" They arc the words of Plato, quoted by 
 Plutarch, De Iside, Sec. 26. Those demons from their office were 
 deemed mediatorial. In the number of these the Gnostics ranked the 
 Saviour, and for this reason stiled him C/irestus. Paul has a pointed 
 reference to this notion in the following verse, where he asserts the 
 mediatorship of Jesus to the exclusion of other demons, and affirms 
 him to be no other than a man : " There is one God, and one Mediator 
 between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. ii. 5, 
 To the office of Demons or angels employed, as was supposed, in 
 presenting the prayers of men before God, Peter also thus alludes, 
 when speaking of the impostors. " They serve the flesh with unclean 
 desires, and despise government, are bold, self-willed, and not afraid 
 to speak evil of dlgni£ie<: ; whereas angels, greater in might and power, 
 bring not a railing jiidgmciU o^aimt them before the Lord." 2 Peter ii. 10, 
 11. As though the writer had said, " 'The deceivers-, agreeably to 
 the edict of the emperor, being punished by the praefccts of the provinces 
 for the vices of which they are guilty, speak evil of those prsefects in 
 return j and through the medium of those intermediate demons, in the 
 existence of which they affect to believe, offer up to God their impreca- 
 tions against them. But such imprecations, those angels lay aside, as 
 being unfit to be presented to the throne of Mercy." Which, divested of 
 the allusion, only means that the prayers of the unrighteous offered, like 
 so many indictments to heaven, will not be heard. 
 
106 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VIII, 
 
 our trials, and has rectified those mistaken ideas which, 
 in common ^yith others, we chciishcd respecting the 
 character of the Messiah, and the nature of his king- 
 dom : while yet uninstructed by the Spirit, we knew 
 not what to pray for. But we are now taught to offer 
 such prayers as are conformable to the Divine Wis- 
 dom : and though the prejudice of our hearers in fa- 
 vour of temporal advantages, prevents us from express- 
 ing in plain terms the spiritual nature of those blessings 
 which we ask, yet God, who knoweth our hearts, and 
 heareth our most secret wishes and aspirations, under- 
 standeth the true import of those supplications pre- 
 sented to him in behalf of the faithful." 
 
 The Apostle in the next place, holds up the Deity as 
 an object of Love ; and he removes the cavils of those 
 who arraigned Him, by observing that the afflictions 
 of his servants, so far from being proofs of malevo- 
 lence, are but instruments in his hand to work out 
 their final good ; " And we know that all things work 
 to(Tether for good to them that love God," 28. The 
 writer after this, resumes the allegory, which he uses in 
 the seventh chapter, and in which he compares man- 
 kind under the influence of inveterate habits to chil- 
 dren torn by tyranny from their homes, and sold into 
 slavery in a distant land ; and the Supreme Being to a 
 tender father, who sends to invite them to return and 
 redeem them from their degraded state. Now a father 
 would faithfully remember those unhappy children 
 whom cruelty or fraud had forced away from his fami- 
 ly, and easily recognize them when, after being ran- 
 somed, they revisited their native soil. And this the 
 Universal Father is here represented as doing towards 
 his human offspring. Having a previous knowledge of 
 
Chap.'VlII.] ANALYSED. 107 
 
 them he recognizes such as are ransomecl, on their re- 
 turn home from the captivity of Sin. While they 
 were yet in remote bondage and unacquainted with his 
 kind design, he resolves to redeem them and bring them 
 back again to his household. As soon as they appear he 
 causes them to lay aside the sordid dress, the meagre 
 looks which they were compelled to wear in their state of 
 slavery, and invests them with all those ornaments and 
 privileges which one beloved child who, remaining at 
 home while his brethren were gone astray, had enjoyed 
 in the immediate presence of his affectionate Parent. 
 V And we know that all things work together for good to 
 them that love God, to them that are called (invited to 
 r'eturn) according to his purpose. For whom he fore- 
 knew, he also fore ordained to conform to the image 
 of his Son, that this Son might be the first born of 
 many brethren. And whom he fore-ordained, those he 
 also called ; and whom he called, those he also par- 
 doned ; and whom he pardoned, those he also glorifi- 
 ed," 28 — 31. The purport of which may be stated in 
 the following propositions : — The providence of God 
 governs the affairs of mankind, his wisdom has previ- 
 ously ordained whatever comes to pass : ev'en the suf- 
 ferings of his faithful servants are his .decrees, though 
 no indications of malevolence in him, since they are 
 adapted to promote their ultimate happiness : such is 
 his benignity, that he not only receives every return- 
 ing penitent into favour, but has, without any merit or 
 effort on the part of mankind, effected their emancipa- 
 tion ; and the scheme by which he emancipated them, 
 so far from being the result of sudden and capricious 
 partiality, was from the beginning preconcerted by his 
 wisdom, and made the object to which all the dispen- 
 
108 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. VIII. 
 
 sations of his providence directly tend : And, finally, 
 all those persons, however obscure and afflicted at pre- 
 sent, if they resemble Christ in the lustre of his moral 
 character, shall share hereafter in the glory of his per- 
 son, and in the privileges of his kingdom. 
 
 The converts in Rome, misled by mistaken views of 
 the new faith, and actuated by a deep hatred of tyran- 
 ny, and an ardent love of liberty, opposed, we have 
 seen (Vol, i. p. 157 — 161) the abuses of the Roman 
 Government, which was rendered very oppressive by 
 the wicked administration of Sejanus. The opposi- 
 tion, however just, brought upon thera the hatred of 
 that minister. In order to be revenged upon a people, 
 whom he at once hated and feared, he presented to 
 the Senate various heavy charges against them. The 
 crimes, of which a few comparatively were guilty, 
 he extended to the whole body of the Jewish and 
 Egyptian converts ; and he employed with success 
 his influence with Tiberius to have them disgraced and 
 punished. The opposition made to the followers of 
 Jesus by the government, and the accusations laid to 
 their charge, are facts to which our author adverts in 
 the following verse : *' What then shall we say to these 
 things ! if God be for us who can be against us ? 
 
 SHALL any bring ACCUSATION AGAINST THE 
 
 CHOSEN OF God ? God acquitteth them. Doth 
 ANY CONDEMN THEM? Christ hath died, or rather 
 he is risen ; and, standing at the right hand of God, 
 pleadeth in our behalf," 31 — 35, 
 
 Tiberius, in order to separate the converts from their 
 allegiance to the new Prince, under whose banners 
 they had lately enlisted, banished some into remote 
 
Chap. VIII.] ANALYSED. 109 
 
 islands ; while those who were of suitable age, he 
 forced into the military service. On these measures 
 the Apostle mUst have had his eye when he triumph- 
 antly put the question, Who shall separate us 
 FROM THE LOVE OF Christ. He then enumerates 
 the several hardships which they underwent in conse- 
 quence of those measures, and expresses his confi- 
 dence that the love of their Master will enable them to 
 triumph over their difficulties. " Shall tribulation, or 
 oppression, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, 
 or danger, or thes word ? Nay, in all these things we 
 are more than conquerors through him that loved us." 
 The Jewish youths, who refused entering into the army 
 at the instigation of the Senate, were put to death. 
 The greatest part determined, attests Josephus, to pre- 
 serve their laws inviolate, submitted to this fate ra- 
 ther than become soldiers. Jud. Antiq. Lib. xviii. 
 Cap. iii. p. 879. On this circumstance turns the 
 propriety of the following words, which the Apostle 
 has selected from Ps. xliv. 22. " for thy sake we 
 are KILLED ALL THE DAY LONG :" Which means, 
 ** We are destroyed, not because we are guilty of any, 
 crimes, but because of the attachment we shew to the 
 Almighty, and to the cause in which we are engaged — 
 We are not secretly assassinated by night, but butcher- 
 ed, like flocks of sheep, in the face of day ; and to this 
 merciless treatment we are exposed from morning to 
 evening." 
 
 While the undisguised enemies of the Gospel, on 
 ©ne hand, used open violence to withdraw the true 
 believers from the faith ; its pretended friends on the 
 other, employed opposite but more effectual means to 
 answer this end. In opposition to the man Jesus, the 
 endeared Lord of the Apostles, they preached a Christ 
 
no EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. Vlll. 
 
 descended from heaven, invested with pozifersdindprin-^ 
 cipalities, and accompanied with ^w^^/j) they affected, 
 moreover, to reveal an unknown divinity superior to 
 the God of Israel, whom they called by the name of 
 Byikos,^ or Bathos. By such fictions, these ene- 
 mies of the truth sought to undermine the Christian 
 cause. The Apostle next directs his attention to them, 
 as uniting with the advocates oi despotism and super- 
 stition in their endeavours to separate the true believers 
 from Christ. " For 1 am persuaded that neither death, 
 norhfe, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
 things present, nor things to come, nor/zf?^^/, (Hyp- 
 soma), nor depth, (Bathos), nor any other Being, will 
 be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord." 38, 39. 
 
 * The deceivers called their Supreme God Bythos, Iren. p. 7. In 
 the Excerpta of Clemens Alexartdrlnus he is stiled Bathos. H (jiyrj 
 (px<n, [xfim^ ovcrx tuv irxvTuv WfopAnjStvToiv i/iro rov BxOovs. This 
 Bythos, they represented as higher than the Creator of the world, tivj/o?- 
 XoTEPov T/ y.a.t p.iitpv rov Tov ov^xtov kxi '^%t x.xt irizvrcc rx tv xvtois 
 iTi'nofny.oros 'htov. In reference to this representation, the Apostle 
 here gives it the name of v\'u.'i*.x hcighth. That he adverts to the 
 Gnostic notions, and that the names used in this place are copied from 
 the Gnostic school, will appear very clear, if we duly attend to the ac- 
 counts given by Irenaeus and Epiphanius on this subject. The fables 
 and endlesi genealogies (1 Tim. i. 3.) which they invented, had no 
 other object than to seduce the converts from the Creator of the world. 
 The primary links in that chain of fictitious beings were BvQos, tiovs, 
 Aoyos, ^povno'is, 'Lo<pix, Avvx(j.ts, A^^ai, AyysXoi. See Epiphan. 
 p. 69. lf» then, this succession was fabricated in order to separate the 
 believers from the true God, the words of our author were very perti- 
 nent and significant, when he says : " I am persuaded, that neither 
 ANGELS, nor PRiNCiPALiriES, nor powers, nor Hyp soma, 
 nor Bathos, nor any other being can separate us from the love of 
 God." ■ 
 
Chap. IX.] ANALYSED 111 
 
 The chief pretence, which the Gnostics luid for at- 
 tempting to alienate the affection of his people from 
 the benevolent Creator of the universe, was the male- 
 volence imputed to him, and the sufferings of his vo- 
 taries. These sufferings they alleged, not without 
 plausibility, as a decisive proof of his cruelty. On 
 this occasion, and indeed in all other places, where 
 our illustrious teacher notices the persecution of the 
 Christians, he impresses his hearers in the strongest 
 terms with the benevolence of their maligned Father. 
 *' If God be for us, who is against us ? He, who spared 
 not his own Son, but gave him up for us all ; how will 
 he not also with him freely give us all things ?" 32 — 
 '• In all these things, we are more than conquerors 
 
 THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US." 37. " For I 
 
 am persuaded, that neither death nor life will be able 
 to separate us from the love of God in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord." Sec above, pages 61, 62. 
 
 The calamities, which their profession entailed on the 
 new converts, and the ignominy attached to the name 
 of Jesus, were the chief circumstances that deterred the 
 Jewish nation more generally irom embracing him as 
 the Messiah. Our Apostle, having his ideas now fixed 
 on these causes, passes over to the effect ; and, i^i a 
 language highly characteristic of the goodness and ten- 
 derness of his heart, expresses his deep-felt sorrow for 
 the perverseness of his countrymen in rejecting their 
 
 Saviour. *' I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, my 
 
 • ■ CHAP IX 
 conscience also bearing me testimony in the holy spirit, 
 
 that I have great grief and continual sorrow of heart (for 
 
 I too once gloried in being an anathema from Christ) 
 
 on account of my brethren, my kinsmen according to 
 
 the flesh." 1—4. The conduct of Paul, in extend- 
 
It2 EPreXLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. IX. 
 
 ing to the Gentile converts those privileges which the 
 Jews had hitherto enjoyed under the Mosaic Dispensa- 
 tion, and in defending that liberty with which Christ 
 hath made them free against the encroachments of the 
 Judaizing Zealots, brought upon him the accusation 
 of being an enemy to his own countrymen, and of con- 
 ferring upon others the rights which belonged only to 
 the chosen people of God. This charge he repels, 
 when he says ; 1 have great grief and continual sorrow on 
 account of my brethren^ )ny kins}nen according to thejlesh^* 
 The assertion that, so far from entertaining any hostile 
 vievvs towards them, he indulges the most tender re- 
 gard for their interests, our author introduces in a 
 very solemn manner. / speak the truth in Christ, fny 
 conscience also hearing fne testimony in the Holy Spirit. To 
 speak in Christ or in,the Holy Spitit, Is to assert a. thing 
 in tiie name of a legislator, the sanctions of whose 
 law extend to the inward thoughts. By this phrase he 
 insinuates that, in this and all other declarations, he 
 avoids the equivocation and duplicity of language 
 practised by the Gentile and Gnostic teachers ; that he 
 ever speaks the truth with the utmost sincerity and 
 fairness, and annexes to his words the very sense which 
 they obviously convey. 
 
 So infatuated and depraved were the Jewish unbe- 
 lievers, that they not only refused Christ to reign over 
 them, \i\xt anathematised ov cursed\i\m, and even glo- 
 ried in so doing. The Apostle, having himself been 
 once guilty of the same temerity, mentions this cir- 
 cumstance as a reason for not being severe in condemn- 
 ing them, but, on the contrary, for exercising towards 
 them sorrow and compassion : It is worthy of notice. 
 
Chap. IX.] ANALYSED. 113 
 
 that the writer employs, seemingly, the very words, 
 which the refractory used, in order to soften the glare 
 of their guilt by mixing with it the shades of his own, 
 '• I myself (as well as they) gloried in being an anathe- 
 ma from Christ, or gloriedin anathematising Christ,'* 
 
 From the days of Moses the Jews and Egyptians had 
 cherished towards each other the bitterest enmity. 
 This unfortunate Spirit, indulged even after they were 
 now become converts to the Gospel, disposed the lat- 
 ter to triumph in the severe treatment, which the for- 
 mer in those times generally experienced from the Ro- 
 mans, and in the loss of those privileges which be- 
 longed to them as the chosen people of God. This cir- 
 cumstance induced our author to defend the Jewish 
 nation against their Egyptian false brethren. He accor- 
 dingly asserts the reality of those prerogatives, which 
 distinguished them from other nations ; and character- 
 ises the Israelites as the people to whom they were ap- 
 propriated. " I have great grief and continual sorrow 
 of heart on account of my brethren, who are Israel- 
 ites ; WHOSE was the adoption of sons, and the glory, 
 and the covenants, and the religious service, and the 
 promises." 4. The high estimation in which Abraham 
 and Joseph were generally held for their acknowledged 
 wisdom, virtue, and antiquity, might have induced 
 the Egyptianizing Christians to deny that they ranked 
 among the founders of the Jewish nation ; represent- 
 ing the former a Chaldean, the latter an Egyptian. 
 They, too, denied that the Christ, being an j£on or 
 God, had a human body born in the line of David, 
 and that the Supreme Divinity was the God of 
 Israel, whom they blasphemed as an inferior evil Be- 
 
 VOL. III. H 
 
114 E?ISTLE TO THE ROMANS {Chap. IX. 
 
 img. Against these errors the Apostle continues the 
 defence of his countrymen. Whose are the ta- 
 
 TH£RS, AND OF WHOM IS ChrIST, ACCORDING 
 
 to the flesh, whose* is the god over allf 
 Blessed for ever more. Amen. 5. 
 
 * I render the text conformably to the conjecture of Schlichtingiu^, 
 who foro uv iitt TtavTuv Ssof, has proposed to read wv o £7r< Trxvrxv 
 S^£OJ. That this is the true reading is demonstrable from the following 
 considerations : i. This is a phrase which all ancient writers, Jewish 
 and Christian, uniformly appUed as descriptive of the Supreme God, 
 or of Him who is over all. See Wetstein on the place. 2. The senti- 
 ments of the men whom the Apostle had before him, prove this to be 
 the reading which originally came from his hand. They blasphemed 
 the God of Israel, and denied that he is the God over all. What could 
 have been more proper and necessary than to assert, in opposition to such 
 a doctrine, that the Most High God belonged to tlie Jewish people, and 
 that he was an object not of blasphemy but of praise ; and these are as- 
 sertions contained in the text thus corrected, M^Acse is Cod over allikssed 
 ever m^e. Amen. 3. Had the original stood, as it now does, the early- 
 fathers would have cited this clause in proof of the divinity of Christ ; 
 but neither Justin, I believe, nor Irenaeus, nor Tertullian, has quoted it 
 ■with this view, though they have seized with violence and avidity every 
 passage in the New Testament, which was capable with the least colour 
 of justice of being perverted to the support of that doctrine. That 
 omission, then, is a fair presumption, that the original in its present 
 state is not the true reading. 4. Finally, the most judicious of the or- 
 thodox critics became so sensible of the inversion of ut into ', wv, that 
 they have abandoned the latter as foreign and impertinent. Hear the 
 remarks of the learned Taylor. " Christ is God over all, as he is by the 
 Father appointed Lord, King, and Governor of all.— But what this part 
 of his character, in wlilch he is more nearly related to believing Gen- 
 tiles than to Infidel Jews, has to do with privileges belonging to the 
 latter, doth not seem to me very clear. Much less can I conceive, why 
 the Apostle in this particular enumeration of Jewish privileges, should 
 not mention their relation to God, as their God, m which they particu- 
 larly gloried (Chap. ii. 17.), and which was indeed the glory of all their 
 glories, being the first and grand article in tj-.e covenant with Abraham, 
 and which he fails not to insert among the singular privileges of Christi- 
 ans, (Chap. V. 1 1 .) when he is shewing that the subjects of their glory- 
 ing were not inferior to those of tlje ^tws. Hovr could he overlsjok the 
 
Chap. IX.] ANALYSED I15 
 
 The writer thus continues his animadversions in re- 
 ference to tiie Egyptianizing teachers. •' Not that by 
 any means the word of God hath failed : for all the pos- 
 terity of Israel are not true Israelites ; nor all Abraham's 
 offspring children of promise ; but, saiththe Scripture, 
 the posterity of Isaac shall be the children: that is, the 
 children of the flesh are not God's children ; but the 
 children of promise are counted his children. For this 
 was the word of promise ; according to this time will I 
 come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but 
 it was thus with Rebecca likewise, who had conceiv- 
 ed twins by our father Isaac. For, before their birth, 
 when they had done nothing either good or evil, that 
 God's purpose of choice (not from works but from the 
 will of him who calleth) might remain : it was said un- 
 to her, the elder will serve the younger ; as it is written : 
 Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall 
 we say then ? Is there unrighteousness with God ? By 
 no means ; for he saith unto Moses ; I will shew mercy 
 
 main Article in this list ? Or what if there should be a transposition of a 
 
 single letter in the text uv for wv ? This will remove every difficulty. 
 For then the text will run naturally enough thus, 'fin n vioOscrix k, i^v 
 01 TTxriqis Kxt(^ a)v Xf/foy to kxtx (Tu^kx, flv iirt nTxvruv Sfoy 
 £uXo7r)Tos lis rovs xiuvxs. Ajji-ni. In English thus, Wh o s e is the adop- 
 tion, &c. Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the 
 flesh is Christ, Whose is the God over all blessed for ever Amen. 
 Thus the grand privilege will be inserted to advantage, and stand at the 
 top of a lofty climax, rising from the fathers, to Christ, to God. We 
 have indeed no copy to justify this reading. But the foresaid considera- 
 tions seem to make it probable the article (0) might be very early trans- 
 posed. — As there are no accents in the ancient Manuscript a transcriber 
 might take {m) the Genitive Plural for the Participle of £//«.', and then 
 the article (0) which follows ought, agreeably to the Greek idiom, to 
 precede. This might occasion the transposition." Taylcfs Note on the 
 flacc, ■ ■' ■ 
 
 H 2 
 
Il6 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. IX, 
 
 unto whom I please, and pity to whom I please. So 
 then, to wish is nothing, to run is nothing, but to re- 
 ceive mercy from God. For the Scripture saith unt© 
 Pharaoh: For this very purpose I have raised thee up, 
 that I might shew my power in thee ; and that my 
 name might be declared through all the earth. So that 
 he hath mercy where he chooseth ; and hardeneth 
 ^s^here he chooseth," 6 — 25. 
 
 In order fully to comprehend the meaning of this 
 difficult and memorable passage, it is necessary to re- 
 call the circumstances which the writer had before hi^ 
 eyes. He is arguing, we have seen, with certain men, 
 who supported the superstition of the Egyptians, in 
 opposition to the Jewish system ; who pretended to 
 reveal and worship a God superior to the God of Israel, 
 whom they blasphemed as an evil Being. They insist- 
 ed too, it is probable, on the nullity of the promise 
 first made to Abraham, and afterwards repeated to Isaac 
 and Jacob, and in proof of this pointed to the degraded 
 and dispersed condition of his descendants. Now the 
 Apostle, in order to obviate the hasty conclusion thus 
 drawn from the infidelity and consequent degradation 
 of his countrymen, represents the promise as made to 
 those who were the seed of Abraham in a metaphorical, 
 not in a literal, sense. *' Not that, by any means, the 
 word of God hath failed, (the divine declaration hath 
 by no means been nullified in the present unbelief of 
 the Jews) : for all the posterity of Israel are not true 
 Israelites ; nor all Abraham's offspring children of 
 promise. But, saith the Scripture, The posterity 
 of Isaac shall be the children ; that is, the children 
 of the flesh are not God's children ; but the chil- 
 dren of the promise are counted his children," 6, 7, 8. 
 
Chap. IX.] ANAI.YSEB. I17 
 
 The circumstance, he next insinuates, of the promise 
 being unfulfilled, so far from proving its invalidity, 
 was presignified by the veiy late period of Sarah's life 
 and superannuated state, when she bore the child in 
 whose birth the promise was in part realized. ♦' For 
 this is the word of promise. According to tms time will 
 I come, and Sarah^-sjiall have a son." Esau and Jacob 
 were pronounced by the divine oracle, while yet un- 
 born, (Gen. XXV. 23.) to be the represdntatives of 
 two great nations, namely, of the Israelites, and the 
 Egyptians. As the two former had one father, so the 
 latter, however envious of each other, sustained the 
 same relation to God. Now, in order to allay the ani- 
 mosities of the Jewish and Egyptian converts, and to 
 awaken in their bosoms the sentiments of brotherly 
 Jove, the great teacher admonishes them of their de- 
 scent from a common Parent, " Rebecca also had con- 
 ceived BY ONE." The meekness and address of our 
 Apostle present us with a similar instance in Acts xvii. 
 27, where he reminds the philosophers of Athens, who 
 partook of the general hatred against the Jews, that all 
 the human race were the offspring of the same father, 
 Esau the elder brother forfeited his birth-right, and be- 
 came a servant to Jacob the younger. This represen- 
 tation, considered in reference to the people whom they 
 typified, signifies that the Egyptians, who flourished lit 
 power and opulence at a time when the Israelites la- 
 boured in a poor and enslaved condition, woujd sink 
 in obscurity and oppression ; while the peopli^, whom 
 they held in slavery, should rise to prosperity and emi- 
 nence under the auspices of Jehovah. *' As it is writ- 
 ten ; Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." That 
 « 3 
 
Itl EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. IX. 
 
 is to say ; '• The nation whom the former represents, 
 I have crowned with prosperity and happiness ; while 
 that, denoted by the latter, I have depressed in bondage 
 and misery." The circumstance of the two nations 
 having been thus pre-ordained by providence, and 
 presignified in the fate of their respective representa- 
 tives before they were yet in existence, was well adap- 
 ted to preclude the Egyptians, on one han 1, from boast- 
 ing in their superior antiquity, and the Jews, on the 
 other, from triumphing in their subsequent ascendency 
 over their unfeeling oppressors. And this was the 
 laudable object which Paul had in the following verse. 
 •' For, before their birth, when they had done no- 
 thing either good or evil, that God's purpose of choice 
 (not from works but from the will of him that calleth) 
 might remain ; it was said unto her, the elder shall 
 serve the younger." 
 
 The £gyptianizing teachers, though they might not 
 admit the justice of this representation, would not fail 
 to deduce from it an additional argument for that capri- 
 ciousness, and injustice, which they ascribed to the 
 God of Israel. The Apostle anticipates the impious in- 
 ference by putting the question, " What shall we say 
 then. Is there unrighteousness with God ? By no 
 means : for he saith unto Moses, I will have mercy on 
 whom I will have mercy ; and I will have compassion 
 on whom I will have compassion," 14, 1^. By this 
 Paul inculcates, in opposition to the blasphemers, that 
 mercy and compassion are the leading features in the 
 character of God ; andthat he exercises these attributes 
 towards his human offspring, not indeed according to 
 the narrow and partial views of any one individual or 
 nation, however wise and powerful, but according to 
 
Chap. IX.J ANALYSED. ViWfi 
 
 the dictates of his own unerring wisdom and boundless 
 love. He then ascribes the reward proposed in the 
 Gospel to the benignity of God, and not to any quali- 
 fications in the candidates which might merit his fa- 
 vour *' The prize then is not from him who runs, nor 
 feom hrm who has the will to run, but from God who 
 gives it in mercy," 16. This right of the Supreme 
 Being to confer favour on whomsoever he pleased, 
 Paul with great skill and delicacy, illustrates by an 
 example taken from the Mosaic history, which was at 
 once calculated to humble the pride of the Egyptian 
 impostors, and to evince the superiority of the God of 
 Israel over the fancied Supreme Divinity which they 
 affected to worship. ♦' For the Scripture salth unto 
 Pharaoh : For this very purpose have I raised thee up, 
 that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name 
 might be declared throughout all the earth : so that he 
 hath mercy where he chooseth, and hardeneth where 
 he chooseth." Observe that, while the writer so re- 
 peatedly represents the Almighty as exercising mercy ^ 
 he instances his severity only in hardening the heart of 
 Pharaoh, and not in destroying him : And he is care- 
 ful to state the design which God had in thus treating 
 ihe Egyptian monarch. This treatment did not pro- 
 ceed from cruelty, capriciousness, or ill-will towards 
 the sufferer ; but from a regard to the advantages, 
 which all mankind would derive hence in becoming 
 acquainted with the name and character of Jehovah. 
 •' That I might shew my power in thee, and that my 
 name might be declared throughout all the earth." 
 
 The assertion, that the Creator acts as it pleaseth him, 
 and that none can counteract the execution of his will, 
 furnished the blasphemers with another objection. 
 
18© EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. IX. 
 
 <• Why.doth he still find fault ? Who hath opposed his 
 will ?' These questions, being put with an insolence that 
 criminated the Divine conduct, and put too by men 
 who were disqualified by their ignorance and depravi- 
 ties from enquiring with candor and meekness into the 
 Reasonableness of God's dealings with mankind, the 
 Apostle, instead of answering, repels by holding up the 
 uncontroulable right which the Deity has to dispose of, 
 as it pleaseth him, the creatures of his hands. " Nay, 
 O ! man, but who art thou that disputest with God ? 
 shall the work say to the workman, Why didst thou 
 make me thus ? Hath not the potter such power over 
 the clay, as to make out of the same lump one vessel 
 for honoii^rable uses, and another for dishonourable ?" 
 20, 21. The promptitude and fertility of our Apostle's 
 imagination are here worthy of notice. His attention 
 was now for some time fixed upon that part of the Mo- 
 saic history, which represents the Israelites as compel- 
 led by the task-masters of Pharaoh to work in morter 
 and brick, Exod, i. 14. Hence he exhibits the Egyp- 
 tian oppressors in the humble image of earthen wares 
 wrought for menial purposes, and their destruction in 
 the Red Sea, under an allusion to the same vessels 
 dashed on the ground and broken to pieces, after the 
 purposes for wnich they were made had been answered : 
 while the Israelites, whom the Almighty delivered 
 out of Egypt, he likens to utensils richly decorated and 
 wrought for honourable uses. " What if God, wish- 
 ing to display his anger and to make known his power, 
 produced in much patience vessels of anger, fitted only 
 for destruction ; and (chose) to exhibit his rich and glo- 
 rious (ornaments) upon vessels of mercy, which he had 
 before prepared for glory, (for glorious purposes ?)"22, 
 23. Which question amounts to this effect : " What 
 
Chap. IX.] ANALYSED. 121 
 
 though the Sovereign Disposer of all things punished 
 with exemplary severity, a people, towards whom he had 
 exercised great forbearance, and whom their vices had 
 disqualified for the honour of his patronage and friend- 
 ship ; on the contrary, what if by a splendid display 
 of power he rescued the Jewish nation from bondage, 
 and conferred upon them the most honourable dis- 
 tinctions as his chosen people, Ought he, on these at- 
 counts to be charged with cruelty, caprice and parti- 
 ality ?" To prevent, however, the injurious conclusion, 
 that he regarded with partial fondness the descendants 
 •f Abraham to the exclusion of other nations, the 
 writer immediately subjoins, that the Gentiles as well 
 as the Jews are invited, and indeed pre-ordained t© 
 participate in the blessings of the Gospel : and this im- 
 portant point he corroborates by the authority of the 
 Jewish teachers : •' Whom he also called, even us, 
 not only from among the Jews, but from among the 
 Gentiles also. As he salth too in Hosea : I will call 
 that my people which was not my people ; and her 
 beloved who was not beloved. And, in the place 
 where it was said unto them. Ye are not my people : 
 there will they be called sons of the living God. But 
 Isaiah crieth out concerning Israel ; though the num- 
 ber of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, that 
 remnant only will be preserved. For a complete and 
 short account will the Lord make upon the earth. And 
 as Isaiah foretold : Unless the Lord of hosts had left 
 us a race, we should have become as Sodom, and have 
 keen like Gomorrah," 24 — 29. 
 
 The Gentiles, immoral as they previously had been, 
 received the faith on the sole condition of repentance 
 and amendment ; whereas the Jews sought to establisb 
 
133 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. X. 
 
 their own righteousness, or their exemption from the 
 penalty of Sin and claim to the divine acceptance, by 
 ceremonial works andnot the cultivation of virtue. Ac- 
 cordingly our author adds : •' What shall we say then ? 
 Truly, that the Gentiles who did not pursue rightc- 
 ©usness overtook righteousness, even righteousness 
 which is of faith : but that Israel, who pursued a law 
 Gif righteousness, did not reach a law of righteousness. 
 And why ? Because they sought it not by faith, but by 
 works of the law : for they stumbled against that stone, 
 as it is written : Behold ! I lay in Sion a stone to stum, 
 ble at, and to strike against, and none who trusteth in 
 it shall be disappointed," 31, 32, 33. 
 
 Anxious to repel the charge that he entertained 
 wishes unfriendly to his countrymen, Paul again ex- 
 presses his heart-felt desire for their salvation, and 
 candidly acknowledges that, in the opposition they 
 made to the Gospel, they were actuated by a zeal that 
 was laudable, though not tempered by knowledge : 
 CHAP. X. *' Brethren, the desire of my heart, and my prayer to 
 God in behalf of Israel, is indeed for their salvation ; 
 and I bear them testimony, that they have a zeal for 
 yeligion, but not according tp knowledge," 1, 2. One 
 principal reason, which induced the Jews to reject 
 the Messiahship of Jesus, was the circumstance that 
 the Apostles extended to other nations the blessings of 
 his Gospel, and substituted the cultivation of genuine 
 piety and universal benevolence in the room of cere- 
 monial oblations, as the means of acceptance with 
 God. To this cause of their perverseness our Apostle 
 adverts in the following verses : " I bear them testimo- 
 fiy, that they have a zeal for religion, but not accord- 
 ing to knov/ledge : for not knowing the righteousness 
 
Chap. X.] ANALYSED. 123 
 
 of God, and seeking to establish their own righteous, 
 ness, they have not subjected themselves to the righte. 
 ousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law so as 
 to justify every one believing in him," 3, 4. The righ-' 
 teousness of God means the Gospel, being the free gift of 
 God, and containing terms of salvation conformable to 
 the wisdom and goodness of God. See Chap, i. 17, iii. 
 22. where it is described by the same phrase. A 
 scheme of redemption, which required the eradication 
 of every vicious habit, and the mortification of every 
 impure desire, the Jewish people in general, it seems, 
 refused to accept, but obstinately rested, as the 
 grounds of justification, on external forms more fa« 
 vourable to their corrupt propensities. Paul here stile? 
 Christ THE EN D of the law ; meaning that the Doctrine 
 which Christ taught, is under the veil of figurative 
 language contained in the law, and is what constitutes 
 its main object, perfection, developement, or consumma^ 
 tion. Of this the Jewish zealots, confining their atten* 
 tion to the literal sense, were ignorant : and their ig- 
 norance in this respect induced our Apostle to say that 
 they had zeal, but not according to knowledge. Paul 
 indeed allows with great candor, that the ritual obser- 
 vances instituted by Moses might be rested upon, as a 
 solid ground of justification, if those rites answered! 
 their intended end, viz. if they preserved their votaries 
 from the immoralities of their Gentile neighbours, and 
 generated in theni purity of heart and manners. *' Now 
 Moses writeth of the justification by the law, that the 
 man who doeth these things shall live by them," j. 
 
 The great lawgiver of the Jews, foretelling^the bless- 
 ings which would await that nation, if they refrained 
 from the vices they had imbibed from intercourse with 
 
124 EPlSTtE TO THE ROMANS . [Chap. X. 
 
 the Pagans, and turn to the Lord with all their hearts, 
 adds : " This commandment which I command thee 
 this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 
 It is not in heaven, that thou .shouldest say, Who shall 
 ^o up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may 
 hear it and do it ? Neither is it beyond the sea, that 
 thou shouldest say. Who shall go over the sea for us, 
 and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it ? But 
 the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in 
 thy heart, that thou mayest do it," Deut, xxx. ii — 15. 
 This passage our author quotes in the following man- 
 »er. " But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh 
 ©n this wise, Say not in thine heart. Who shall ascend 
 into heaven ? that is, to bring Christ down from above : 
 Or, Who shall descend into the deep ? that is, to bring 
 up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it ? 
 The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy 
 heart ; that is, the word ot faith which we preach," 
 6, 7, 8. Christ and his Apostles, it has already bee« 
 remarked, appear to have considered the language of 
 Moses, while it carried an immediate reference to the 
 circumstances of the Jewish nation in his own times, 
 as susceptible of a secondary metaphorical applica- 
 tion to those who rejected the Gospel in after ages. 
 Hence Paul interprets the reformation, enjoined by the 
 Jewish lawgiver, as ultimately signifying that righte- 
 cusness, justification, or the cultivation of universal 
 virtue, produced by a faith in the divine mission of 
 Jesus. The commandment he also understands to 
 mean Christ, and the word to be the same with the 
 Christian Doctrine. The interpretation, which the 
 Apostolic teachers put upon the law of Moses, justi- 
 fied the writer in these substitutions. But his chief 
 reason for sp doing, was appartntly to render the lacK 
 
Chap. X.] ANALYSED. 12^ 
 
 guage of the Jewish lawgiver more appropriate to the 
 situation and character of the Zealots. Accordinjr to 
 them, the law and the prophets proceeded from two 
 different Gods, and consequently had no connection 
 with each other. This notion Paul undermines, hy 
 representing the Gospel as forming the internal and 
 vital part of the Mosaic System; and Christ as the 
 the ol?jeci or end in which all its ordinances and pro- 
 mises ultimately terminated. The deceivers taught, 
 that the supernatural being, descended on Jesus at 
 his baptism, separated from him when apprehended, 
 and flew up into heaven no more to return. They 
 also maintained, that the body of the man Jesus was 
 not raised from the dead. In reference to these false 
 and dangerous notions, our author, it appears to me, 
 thus interprets the words of the Jewish lawgiver : 
 *• Say not in thine heart. Who shall ascend into hea- 
 ven, that is, to bring down Christ from above ; or. 
 Who shall descend into the deep, to bring up Christ 
 again from the dead." In order to avoid the igno- 
 miny, which in those days attached to the Christian 
 profession, and the trials, to which the true believers 
 in consequence submitted, the Gnostics scrupled not 
 to deny Christ before men. While they affected to 
 believe in his divine mission, and to worship him as a 
 divine being ; they neither submitted to his authority 
 as their Lord, nor acknowledged him to be the same 
 with Jesus of Nazareth. These notions unfold the 
 propriety of the following clauses. " The word is 
 nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart ; that 
 is, the word of faith which we preach. For, if thou 
 confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe 
 from thy heart, that God raised him from the dead, 
 thou shalt be saved/' 8, 9. Observe, the Apostle ejc- 
 
126 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap.X. 
 
 horts the converts to heXiQVQ from their hearts.^--*'' For 
 with the heart a man believeth unto righteousness, and 
 with the mouth he confesseth unto salvation," lo. As 
 though he had said : " The fruits of righteousness which 
 render us acceptable to God, are produced only in him 
 who looks forward to a new life through the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus ; who embraces the Gospel from a sincere 
 conviction of its truth, and with a firm resolution to be 
 governed by its precepts : and he alone, who in defi- 
 ance of all temporal considerations openly confesses 
 Christ, will be saved from the evils which await the 
 children ot disobedience." In opposition to the Ju- 
 daizing Zealots, who maintained that God was not the 
 God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews, (see above 
 p. 54.) Paul adds : " For the Scripture saith. Whoso- 
 ever believeth in him 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." n, 12. 
 
 What justice and propriety must there appear in the 
 following quotation, when it is recollected that, in 
 consequence of the wide dispersion of the Jewish and 
 Egyptian converts from Rome, the light of the gospel, 
 like that of the sun in the firmament, was conveyed to 
 every quarter of the globe. " But I say have they not 
 heard? Yes verily ; their VOICE WENT FORTH IN- 
 TO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS INTO 
 THE EXTREMITIES OF THE WORLD.'"* 18. 
 
 * The subject, to which these words arc applied by the Psalmist 
 xbt. 4, shews that the passage is cited not as a prophecy^ but as a perti- 
 nent coincidence with the matter in question. T^is is an obscr\'ation 
 
Chap. XI.] ANALYSED. IBf 
 
 After Intimating, that the reception of the Gospel by 
 the Gentiles, and even by z foolish nation (meaning the 
 Ecryptlans, who, on account of their superstition and 
 vic«s, scarcely deserved to he ranked among rational 
 iieings) was but the fulfilment of ancient prophecies, 
 verses 19, 20, 21, Paul hastens to preclude an infe-' 
 rence, which a Gentile convert, not sufficiently influ- 
 enced by the meek spirit of his religion, might be dis- 
 posed to draw ; namely, that Jehovah had now aban- 
 doned forever his hitherto peculiar and chosen people : 
 ** I say, then, hath God rejected his own people ? By no CHAP- XL 
 means : for I also am an Israelite, of Abraham's seed, 
 of the tribe of Benjamin. God had not rejected his 
 own people whom he hath known so long. What ? 
 
 fRade by Theodoret. Tovro ^s "tt^o^v^ov ot< ov^ 01s rrr^n^rmus mi^t 
 KVTiijv tt^ytfAivoy tzBukzi/, aAX' wr u^iji.ott(i¥ Ivvxixcvo)/ rois ijaqovjiv 
 Tr^xyfAMViv. If w^ attend to the context in which the original verse 
 stands, wc shall perhaps discover the association which brought it to 
 the recollection of our author. " The heavens declare the glory of 
 God, and the firmament sheweth his handy-work. — ^Their line is J,one 
 out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world : ia 
 them hath he sent a tabernacle for the sun, which is a bridegroom com- 
 ing out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." 1 — 
 6, Now the sun is the most common image, under which all ancient 
 Christian writers describe the Saviour. As, therefore,the former diffuses 
 light and genial influence over the natural world, so the latter, when he 
 first rose above the horizon of human hope, spread over the moral the 
 light of celestial truth, and the peaceful fruits of righteousness. Ihc 
 Sun of righteousness, Gildas informs us, (see Vol. i. p. 277, where 
 the passage is quoted,) illumined the British isles in the days of Tiberi- 
 us. The Christian religion, it has there been shewn, was imported by 
 the Jewish converts, some of whom we may infer from Tacitus and 
 Suetonius were banished thither by that emperor. It reflected, too, the 
 same divine lustre upon other distant lands. The figure struck the bold 
 invagination of our Apostle ; and he imperceptibly suggests to his retdets 
 the beaiuy and propriety of tLe compaf ison. 
 
12^ EPISTLE TO tHE ROMANS [Chap. Xl. 
 
 know ye not what die Scripture saith concerning Elias ? 
 how he appeareth before God with respect to Israel ; 
 saying. Lord, they have killed thy teachers, and digged 
 do^vn thine altars ; so that I only am left, and they are 
 seeking my life." i — 5. Observe the beautiful lesson 
 of forbearance and patience, which is here delineated 
 in the conduct of our illustrious teacher. The Apos- 
 tles, like their Divine Master, were cruelly treated by 
 their countrymen, who, not content with persecuting, 
 sought by various ways to extirpate, this band of holy 
 men. And in what language does the writer speak of a 
 treatment so unfeeling and unmerited ? Does he, in 
 direct terms, place it before his readers, and describe 
 its atrocity in just though odious colours ? He hints 
 indeed at the hardships to which the virtuous followers 
 of Jesus were exposed from their brethren. But by 
 leading their attention from the unrelenting persecu- 
 tors of his own times, and fixing it on the like enemies 
 of truth and virtue in more ancient days, he endea- 
 vours, instead of aggravating, to soften as it were with 
 distant shades, the guilt of those who thirsted for his 
 blood. At the very time in which he penned this 
 paragraph, ruffians among his own nations were, he 
 was conscious, concerting means to deprive him of 
 existence : and all the complaint which the meek suf- 
 ferer makes, is in the language of Elias, They are 
 SEEKING MY LIFE. " But what," he goes on, " is 
 the divine answer to him ? I have left myself seven 
 thousand men, who have not bended a knee to Baal. 
 Accordingly at this present time also, there is a rem- 
 nant chosen out by favour : and if by favour, not then 
 
Chap. XI.] ANALYSED. 129 
 
 from works ; otherwise this were no longer a favour. 
 As on the contrary, if from works, it were not then a 
 favour ; otherwise these works would be no longer 
 what they are. How then ? What Israel is seeking 
 for, he hath not attained : the chosen few have attain- 
 ed, but the rest were blinded ; as it is written, God 
 hath given them a spirit of stupefaction, eyes without 
 sight, and ears that hear not, unto this day." 4 — g. 
 
 Numbers among the first enemies of the Gospel, be- 
 ing unable to check its progress by open violence, had 
 recourse to hypocrisy and treachery. They ranked in 
 the number of the new converts; and under the mask 
 of pretended friendship, endeavoured to entangle the 
 simple and unsuspecting in snares secretly laid for 
 them.* One of the modes of entrapping the believer, 
 
 * This trait in the character of those among the Jews who, under 
 the mask of pretended friendship, concealed dispositions hostile to his 
 followers and his cause, was anticipated by our Lord : and he thus cau- 
 tions his disciples against it. " Beware ye of the leaven of the Phari- 
 sees which is H Y p o c R I s Y : for there is nothing covered that shall not 
 be revealed ; neither hid that shall not be known." Luke xii. 2. See the 
 explanation of this verse given in Vol. ii. p. 545. To the snares laid 
 to entrap the Apostles, their Master probably alluded in the admonition, 
 " Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ; and one of them shall not 
 fall on the ground without your Father," Mat. x. 29." His meaning 
 seems to be, that they should not fall into those nets laid to catch them 
 without the notice of their Heavenly Father. In this light the words 
 are understood by Origen, who accordingly explains on the ground by 
 the phrase in the net. Philo, speaking of those among the Jews, who 
 concealed their enmity against the followers of Jesus under the veil of 
 affected friendship, uses the fallowing language : 0/ S's to 'noc^oi.v.iyLitfi- 
 lA.t)iov nxt KiXvTTyiKos iis sTs^ov ai^os K(Xx.ix; i/.sQx^[AO(7(X[jievoi, •jrin^txv 
 aXsKTov £TnTviotV(TCivTei, ■navy(Yi ^ixKocKovvrss, in^sij.xiori^xs (puvas 
 vvoK^KTEt I3x^vy.r)vi yiQos ^£/)cvy/L«.EVo;, xyvwv to(3o\uv r^oirov ir^ocro'xi' 
 vovTEy, aviaTAiy yfvo/AEvo* KctKuv ainoi, kxtoc ifoXiis fAvr,[/.iix r-ns 
 
 VOL. III. I 
 
23® EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XL 
 
 was to invite him to an entertainment, where he might 
 be tempted through intoxication to violate the laws of 
 sobriety and decency, and thus to furnish the adversa- 
 ry with crimes, which were eagerly seized and im- 
 puted without discrimination to all the faithful. This 
 diabolical conduct, I conceive, our Apostle here ob- 
 liquely notices ; and in an appropriate language bor- 
 rowed from David, he expresses his wish that the de- 
 ceivers might fall into the very snares which they laid 
 for the innocent, this being a recompence which they 
 justly deserved. " And David saith : Let their table 
 become a snare, and a net, and a stumbling block, and 
 a recompence unto them. Let their eyes be darkened 
 so as not to see, and do thou bend down their back al- 
 ways."* 9, 10. The last verse continues the allusion 
 contained in the preceding. It is to this effect : " Let 
 their eyes be so darkened as not to see the nets which 
 they spread, and in consequence become themselves 
 entangled in them : and let some weight, falling upon 
 their back, keep them down, and thus prevent them 
 from being disengaged." 
 
 The Jewish people, by rejecting their Messiah, had 
 actually brought themselves into a state of degradation 
 
 oiK-nrous.lTviJL(po^oi.s. Phil. Vol. ii. p. 459, A translation of this passage 
 is given in Vol. ii. p. 546. 
 
 * If you look to Psalm Ixix, whence this citation is taken, you will 
 perceive, that it is chiefly occupied in enumerating the reproaches 
 thrown upon the Psalmist by his enemies, and in offering up prayers to 
 God for destroying them. The hardships, which the Apostle experi- 
 enced from his enemies, were, I doubt not, less merited and more aggra- 
 vated. But the mild spirit of his religion, and the attractive example of 
 his forgiving Lord, prevented him from joining with the royal author in 
 petitions dictated by malice and revenge. 
 
Chap. XL] ANALYSED. 131 
 
 and punishment similar to what is above represented. 
 Their apostacy and subsequent disgrace occasioned an 
 undue exultation in many of the Gentile converts, 
 when they saw the privileges, in which their enemies 
 had hitherto boasted, now taken away and conteri'ed 
 upon themselves. For this reason our author emplovs 
 the remainder of this chapter, in checking that rising 
 spirit of pride and triumph which characterised the 
 Gnostic teachers, and in placing before their eyes 
 certain reasons for cherishing meekness and compas- 
 sion towards the Jews even in their present fallen and 
 suffering condition. 
 
 1. First, Paul intimates that they shall not always 
 remain in their present degraded state, but be again 
 raised, at some future period, to the rank which they 
 once occupied as the favourite people of God ; and that 
 their apostacy is ordained for the advantage of the 
 Gentiles. 1 1 — 16. 
 
 2. Abraham*, descending from a nation renowned 
 for its antiquity and skill in astronomy, was highly 
 venerated not only by the Jews but by other nations. 
 In similar veneration was held the Patriarch Joseph. 
 The people of Egypt, indeed, appear so .far to have 
 
 * The honour, generally connected with the nation from whom 
 Abraham descended, will appear upon reflection to be the circum-. 
 stance which induced Philo, who wrote in a country where the greatest 
 odium was cherished against the Jewish name, to distinguish his ances- 
 tors by the ancient title of Chaldeans. That Joseph received divine ho- 
 nours from the Egyptians, is a fact attested by Julius Firmicus (annexed 
 to Min. Fel. p. 253), and by Augustin De Civit. Dei, Lib. xviii. cap. 
 iv. See Spencer De Legibus Hebrasorum, Lib. iii. cap. viii. Sec. ii. , 
 where these with other authorities arc produced in proof of his 
 deification. ^ 
 
 I 2 
 
132 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XI. 
 
 carried their respect for his memory as to offer him 
 divine honours under the image of Apis. Of the 
 estimation in which these Jewish Patriarchs were held, 
 Paul here reminds the Gentile converts, of whom, it 
 is probable, the Egyptians formed the majority ; and 
 he grounds upon it an argument, though by no means 
 weighty in itself, well adapted to influence a people 
 actuated by local prejudices. " If the first fruits be 
 holy, so is the lump : and if the root be holy, so are 
 the branches." 16. Which may thus be paraphrased ; 
 " If you regard with peculiar esteem the founders of 
 the Jewish nation, if you consider them consecrated, 
 as it were, by the special favour of heaven, you should 
 cherish in some degree a similar sentiment towards their 
 descendants in modern days. 
 
 3. Paul farther dissuades the Gentile converts from 
 exulting in their present elevation, because the privi- 
 leo-es with which they were invested, they did not in- 
 herit as their right, but had received them through the 
 medium of the Jews. "And if some of the branches 
 Iiave been broken off; and thou, a wild olive, hast been 
 grafted on them, and become a partaker of the root 
 and fatness of the olive tree : boast not over these 
 branches. Though thou boast over them, thou bear=. 
 est not the root ; but the root thee." 17, 18. 
 
 4, Finally, in order to check the ungenerous and un- 
 christian triumph of the Gentile believers over the fall 
 of the Jews, the Apostle insinuates that they too were li- 
 able to be cut off in a similar manner, if they did not ex- 
 ercise a firm faith in the Gospel, and produce iri their 
 conduct the happy fruits of it. " Thou wilt say then, 
 The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted 
 on. Well : they were broken off for their want of 
 
Chap. XL] ANALYSED. 133 
 
 faith, and by thy faith thou standest. Be net high- 
 minded, bat afraid. For, if God spared not the natural 
 branches, (beware) lest he spare not thee. Behold 
 therefore the kindness and severity of God : to those 
 that fell severity ; but kindness to thee, if thou perse- 
 vere under that kindness ; otherwise thou also wilt be 
 cut off; as they too if thy persevere net in unbelief, 
 will be grafted on : for God is able to graft ihem on 
 again. For, if thou wert cut out of thy natural wild 
 olive, and hast been grafted against thy nature into a 
 good olive ; how much more may these natural 
 branches be grafted in their own olive ? "19 — 25. 
 
 A copious source of that pride, which distinguished 
 the Gnostic teachers, was their affected superior know* 
 ledge or better acquaintance with mystene^. In oppo- 
 sition to their arrogance in this respect, Paul holds out 
 the figure of the olive-tree into which they had been 
 engrafted, as a mystery more worthy of their attention 
 than any other ; since it had for its object the restrain- 
 ing of that self-conceit, that insolent temper which dis- 
 posed them to glory in the misfortunes of their adver- 
 saries. " For I wish you to understand, brethren, 
 THIS MYSTERY, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, 
 that blindness hath befallen part of Israel, until the 
 fulness of the Gentiles be come in ; and then all Israel 
 will be saved, as it is written : The deliverer will come 
 out of Sion,* and turn away ungodliness from Jacob." 
 
 * The writer in citing this passage differs a little both from the Hebrew 
 text and the Septuagint version. The former reads, The Redeemer shall 
 come INTO Zion; the latter, on account ^52'c«, (evexev 2/iiv). 
 Instead of these our author has substituted out of Sign. His rea- 
 son for so doing was, perhaps, the following : The false teachers main- 
 tained virtually that the Christ, as not being a descendant of David, did 
 not come out of Sion. This falsehood the Apostle meets : and he on- 
 
134 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XI. 
 
 25, 26. He then adds. ** So then as to the Gospel, 
 the Israelites are disliked for your sakes ; but, as to the 
 chosen of God, are beloved for their fathers' sakes," 
 28. From this representation, our Apostle was well 
 aware, the impostors would be likely to draw an argu- 
 ment in support oi the capriciousness and inclemency, 
 which they were eager to ascribe to the God of Israel. 
 The unjust inference Paul anticipates ; and he main- 
 tains that both the Jews and the Gentiles, though suc- 
 cessively disobedient, shall ultimately be included in 
 that mercy which is the darling attribute of an all- 
 poses to it the authority of a Jewish prophet, by deviating somewhat 
 from the language, though not from the spirit, of his prediction. To 
 the supposition that the Saviour did not rise from among the Jews, 
 Paul alludes, when he puts the following question to those in the Corin- 
 thian Church who blended the Egyptian festivals with the Eucharist, 
 (See Vol. i. p. 195-) Did the Logos of God come forth Jrom you P 1 Cor. 
 xiv. 36. Some among the first converts in Egypt traced his pedi- 
 gree to an Egyptian origin. The bishops of that country worshipped 
 Serapis, supposing him to be the same with Christ. Vol. i. p. 269. 
 Though Tiberius could not succeed in securing for him the honours of 
 the Pantheon, statues in testimony of his divinity were erected in Rome 
 and other places. The Gnostics ranked his effigy with those of Py- 
 thagoras, Plato and Aristotle, Iren. p. 102. To a statue erected to 
 his honour in the metropolis, Juvenal, I conceive, thus alludes, 
 
 Inter quas ausus habere. 
 
 Nescio quis titulos ^gyptius • 
 
 Cujus ad effigiem non tantum mejere fas est, 
 
 Lib. I. Sat. i. 130. 
 
 It was natural in a writer, who might know nothing of Jesus but 
 through the medium of Egyptian representations, to stile him ^gyp- 
 tius. The obscurity which hung over his extraction, and the contempt 
 Vk'hich the Satirist felt for his character, are pointedly expressed by the 
 phrase Nescio quis. That the founder of Christianity is the person here 
 intended, may however be doubted by my readers. But they must 
 deem it a corroborating circumstance that, in the subsequent lines, the 
 author, it is well known, alludes to the sufferings of his followers. 
 
Chap. XL] ANALYSED. 135 
 
 wise and benevolent Being, •• For the gifts and call'.g 
 of God are without repentance. 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 die mercy shewn 
 to you, they also may obtain mercy. For God hath 
 shut all alike under unbelief, that he may have mercy 
 upon all," 29, 33. He then exclaims in a strain cf glow- 
 ing eloquence and holy indignation, *' 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." 33. This, you will remark* 
 
 * The original term of depth is j3«9oy, a name which the Gnostics 
 applied to their supreme divinity. In allusion to this, Paul, it appears 
 to me, employs the word in this place : and he insinuates that the trea- 
 sures of wisdom and knowledge, which they ascribed to theirgod, really 
 exist in the Creator of the world. The early catholic writers frequently 
 use the word ^aSoj or /3y9oj, in ridicule of the absurd notion which the 
 Gnostics affixed to that term. Thus Irenaeus describes their tenets an 
 abyss of folly, $v9os rns avonxs. p. 3. Epiphanius calls their doc- 
 trine |3y9or ^ixvaT&'St?!;, p. 85. In another place he stiles it iSfflos- S'vao^- 
 fx.tacs, p. g6. The writer of the Revelation describes their fictions in 
 terms no less appropriate and forcible 0x9tx tov 'Zaracvcx. " And I 
 say unto you and the rest of them in Thyatira who hold not that doc- 
 trine, nor kriow the depths of Satan, as they call it." Rev. ii, 2^. Our 
 author uses the corresponding verb /3uS;^<y, in a manner equally perti- 
 nent, to characterise those men who plunged their followers in the same 
 iepth of ignorance and ruin, " They, who desire riches, fall into the 
 trial and snare of many hurtful lusts which sink vien deep in ruin and 
 destraction," 1 Tim. vi. 9. But it was more usual with the Apostle 
 Paul to undermine the notion of the Gnostic divinity, by connecting 
 those ideas which its votaries affixed to the term with the true God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus he calls his deep counsels, 
 roc Qct^ti TO'.' %iov, 1 Cor. ii. 10. and Ephes. iii. 18. he holds forth 
 the love of God in Christ under the names of 3«9oy and uvj/or, sub- 
 joining immediately, that this great Being has power beyond any othe r 
 to comply with our requests, and therefore that he alone is entitled to 
 surprajje. See above p. xi». 
 
13^ EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XI. 
 
 is obviously levelled against those false teachers, who 
 had the impiety to blaspheme the Supreme Being. 
 The words intimate that the measures of his providence, 
 which they arraigned, were beyond their faculties to 
 explore or their wisdom to comprehend. 
 
 The first, who introduced these injurious sentiments 
 of Jehovah into the Church of Christ, was the impostor 
 of Samaria. So appropriate to Simon and his follow- 
 ers is the description which one of the inspired pen- 
 men oi Judea had given of certain false prophets, who 
 would delude the people, that the Apostle directs their 
 attention to the context ; and he leads them with great 
 skill to recognise in it an accurate picture of their own 
 character. *' And I have seen folly in the prophets of 
 Samaria : they prophesied in Baal and caused my 
 people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets 
 of Jerusalem a filthy thing : they commit adultery and 
 walk in lies, they strengthen also the hands of evil 
 doers, that none doth return from his wickedness. — 
 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto 
 the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you ; 
 they make you vain : they speak a vision of their own 
 heart, and not out of tlie mouth of the Lord. They 
 say still unto them that despise me. The Lord hath 
 said, Ye shall have peace ; and they say unto every 
 one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart. 
 No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in 
 the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard 
 his word ? Who hath marked his word and heard it ?" 
 Jer. xxiii. 13 — 19. The last verse of which is thus 
 cited by our Apostle : " Who hath known the mind 
 of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor." 34. 
 The writer concludes with asserting that all things 
 
Chap. XII.] ANALYSED. 1 37 
 
 proceed from God, that by his energies all things are 
 conducted, and in him all things will ultimately ter- 
 minate ; and, therefore, to him, and not to the un- 
 known God of Simon Magus or any other pretended 
 divinity, our praise is ever due. *' For from him, and 
 by him, and to him are all things ; to whom be glory 
 for ever. Amen." 
 
 The Apostle, having at length finished the argumen- 
 tative part of his subject, proceeds to enjoin on the 
 Roman converts the cultivation of all the divine, so- 
 cial and personal virtues, as the genuine and indispen- 
 sible effects of that faith which, in opposition to the 
 Zealots, he. had been enforcing. His moral precepts 
 are various, concise and forcible : but what gives them 
 unrivalled beauty and propriety, is the circumstance 
 that the vices, against which they were directed, were 
 practised by numbers in the Roman Church, and espe- 
 cially by the Gnostic teachers. 
 
 In the first place, Paul endeavours, by an affection- 
 ate appeal to that attribute of God which the anti- 
 apostolic instructors called in question, to withdraw 
 their attention from unmeaning and useless ceremo- 
 nies, and to fix it upon purity of mind and body, as the 
 only ceremony which was rational in itself and accept- 
 able to the Deity : " I beseech you therefore, brethren, ^tt . _, ,,.- 
 .1 • 1 • 1 1 CHAP. XU, 
 
 by these compassionate kmdnesses, to present your bo- 
 dies for a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing unto God ; 
 that religious service of reason which ye owe." 1. 2. 
 He next cautions them against blending their Christian 
 principles with the philosophy, and accommodating 
 their behaviour to the manners, of the age ; errors to 
 which all the believers were necessarily prone, and 
 
138 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XlL 
 
 into which they v/ere still more likely to be betrayed 
 hy their false guides. *' And conform not to this 
 age, but put on a different form (consisting) in the 
 renovation of your mind, that ye may know (from 
 experience) what is that good, and acceptable, and per- 
 fect will ot God." Observe the important particulars 
 implied in this sentence. It inculcates that the true 
 Gospel required of its votaries a change, not merely of 
 the outward behaviour but also of the mind; that the 
 will of God, very differently from the representation 
 ■which the deceivers gave of it, was good, accept- 
 able and PERFECT, that is, good in itself, and such 
 3iS commanded the approbation of a person whose ra- 
 tional faculties were ripe or matured in knov^ledge and 
 virtue, though not indeed of him, whose understanding 
 was yet unenlightened, whose heart was still debased 
 by the impurities of sin. 
 
 His next admonition is levelled against that'pride^ 
 ©r undue estimation of their own qualifications, which 
 being derived from the Gnostics too generally infected 
 the Roman converts : and in order the more effectually 
 to suppress the arrogance of vain, though self-delegated 
 teachers, he reminds them of the divine commission 
 under which he spoke and acted. " For by the autho- 
 rity which hath been given unto me, I charge every 
 one among you not to think more highly than he ought 
 to think, but to think with sober-mindedness according 
 as God hath distributed to each a measure of faith. For 
 as we have many members in one body, but all these 
 members have not the same office ; so we, though 
 many, are but one body in Christ; and each of us 
 severally fellow-members thereof. And as we have dif- 
 ferent gifts according to the favpur shewn to us, if to 
 
Chap. XII.] ■ ANALYSED. 1 39 
 
 explain the Scriptures, let it be agreeable to tiie iaith ; 
 if a ministry, let us attend to this ministry ; let the 
 teacher attend to his teaching ; him that exhorteth to his 
 exhortation : let him that bestoweth, bestow liberally ; 
 him that ruleth, rule with diligence ; him that sheweth 
 mercy, shew it with chearfulness. Let your love be 
 without dissimulation; abhor evil, cleave to goodness. 
 Let your affection for each other be the affection oi a 
 brother." 3 — 10. 
 
 The impostors, if they led their followers to be at 
 all active, led them to be active in trifling or in per- 
 nicious things ; to be fervent in the indulgence of sen- 
 sual desires, or in the performance of external rites, 
 and not in the cultivation of those virtues, to which 
 the spiritual doctrine adopted by the Apostles was 
 subservient ; and to be servants of their own bellies, 
 and not of him whom, though acknowledged to be the 
 Christ, they rejected as their Lord. In reference to 
 these features in their character, it appears to me, the 
 following admonitions are delivered. " Be active in 
 what is of importance, fervid in the spirit (in the 
 spiritual doctrine), Serve the Loud." Afterthishe 
 exhorts them to rejoice not in any fancied privileges of 
 their own, but in the hope placed before them by the 
 Gospel ; patiently to submit to affliction on account of 
 the faith ; to practise charity and hospitality ; to exer- 
 cise meekness towards those, who curse and injurious- 
 ly treat them ; to sympathise with the distresses and 
 with the joys of others ; to cherish sentiments of 
 vmanimity and humility ; to abstain from vanity and 
 revenge ; and finally to pursue things that are honour- 
 able in the sight of all men — that are sanctioned as 
 laudable by universal approbation. 12 — 18. He then 
 
140 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XIII. 
 
 svibjoins, " As much as lieth in you, be at peace with 
 all men. Beloved, avenge not yourselves, but give 
 way to the wrathiul ; for it is written : Vengeance be- 
 longeth unto me ; I will repay, saith the Lord. There- 
 fore if thine enemy behungiy, give him food ; if he 
 be thirsty, give him drink , for by doing this, thou 
 mayest heap coals ot fire upon his lead. Be not 
 overcome cy evil, but overcome evil with good." 
 18—21. 
 
 The erroneous notions, which the first converts enter- 
 tained respecting the nature of the Messiah s kingdom, 
 as they were hence led improperly to interfere in the 
 affairs of the government, were the principal, if not the 
 only, source of the calamities that befel the Jews and 
 Egyptians in Rome. (Vol. i. p. 1^7 — 161.) Theene- 
 mies, on whose heads the sufferers sought, by way of 
 revenge, to heap coals of fire, and towards whom the 
 Apostle exhorts them to return good for evil, were 
 probably their persecutors, or those who concurred 
 with the Senate in effecting their punishment and ex- 
 pulsion. The train of our author's ideas, therefore, 
 led him in the next place to lay before the Church, some 
 wise and salutary admonitions, respecting the conduct 
 which each individual should pursue with regard to 
 the Roman government. " Let every soul submit 
 .HAP. XIII. itself to powers in authority : for as there is no power 
 but from God, these powers are appointed by God. 
 Whosoever, therefore, setteth himself against the 
 power, opposeth the appointment of God ; and such 
 opposers will bring punishment upon themselves. ' 
 The mistaken views of the refractory, and the late 
 measures adopted by the state, form the only clue 
 which can unfold the true intent of the preceding pa- 
 
Chap. XIII.] ANALYSED. 141 
 
 ragraph. It may be paraphrased in the following 
 words : " Conceiving the kingdom of the Messiah 
 alone to be of divine appointment, you oppose the es- 
 tablished government, disturb the public peace, and 
 Interrupt the administration of justice. But the sup- 
 position is as mistaken as it is pernicious, All power, 
 to whatever hands entrusted, is communicated by the 
 Disposer of human events for the purpose of doing 
 good ; and this end it shall, under his providence, 
 eventually accomplish. And though pride, ambition 
 and avarice, may abuse the authority invested in them 
 for the attainment of their respective objects, yet this 
 very abuse Infinite Wisdom will overrule, and in 
 the end render subservient to the introduction and esta- 
 blishment of that glorious liberty which awaits the 
 children of God. Resist not, therefore, by violence 
 or any other unlawful means, those who bear the sword 
 of justice ; but rather submit 10 their decisions, as in 
 effect the decisions of an all-wise and good Provi- 
 dence." Such is the signification of a passage pervert- 
 ed by policy and priestcraft into an engine which, for 
 many ages, irresistibly held mankind in oppression, 
 ignorance and superstition. 
 
 The governors of the provinces, conformably to the 
 imperial edict, protected the virtuous and peaceful be- 
 liever, but punished with rigour those impostors who 
 disturbed the public tranquillity, or were otherwise 
 guilty of fraud and plunder. This equitable conduct 
 of the government contributed greatly to the security 
 and edification of the yet infant church, (Vol. i. p. 
 166 — 170.J and forms the basis on which is ground- 
 ed the following just tribute of praise to the civil ma- 
 gistrates. *' These rulers are not a terror to the 
 
14a EPISILE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XIII. 
 
 GOOD, but TO EVIL DOERS. Dost thou wlsh then not 
 to be afraid of their power ? Do what is right, and 
 thou wilt be praised by it : for it is God's minister for 
 thy good. But, if thou do evil, be afraid; 
 because this power carrieth not the sword in vain :. 
 for it is the minister of God executing punishment 
 upon every one that doeth evil.* 3 — 4. 
 *' Wherefore," adds our author, " it is necessary that 
 ye submit yourselves not only because of punishment, 
 but even for conscience sake. And for the same 
 reason pay ye tribute also ; for they who attend to 
 
 * This is not the only place in which Paul, I conceive, alludes to 
 tlie edict of Tiberius, and to the equitable conduct pursued by the pre- 
 fects in punishing the guilty, while they left unmolested the peaceable, 
 and virtuous among the followers of Jesus. Speaking of the Cerin- 
 tJiians, or those \\Hho supported ritual observances and practised carnal 
 things, in opposition to the Apostolic teachers, who adopted the me- 
 taphorical interpretation of the law and inculcated faith in Jesus as the 
 mediumof moral purification, he thus addresses the Galatians ^ "Now 
 the works of the flesh are manifest : They are adultery, fornication, un- 
 cleanness, lasciviousness, image-worship, magic, enmities, strifes, rival- 
 ries, passions, quarrels, separations, divisions, envyings, murders, drun- 
 kenness, revellings, and such like : concerning which I tell you be- 
 forehand, as indeed I told you heretofore, that the doers of such things 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit (of 
 those who embrace the spiritual doctrine) is love, joy, peace, long-suf- 
 fering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: Against 
 
 SUCH THINGS AS THESE THERE IS NO LAW, Gal. V. 18 24. 
 
 To the same edict our author had perhaps an eye, when he thus writes 
 to Timothy i. 9. concerning those who taught other doctrines : "No 
 law lieth against a good man, but against lawless and ungovernable, 
 ungodly and sinful men, unholy and impure, murderers of fathers and 
 murderers of mothers, murderers of others, whoremongers , men of un- 
 natural lusts, enslavers of mankind, deceivers, false-swearers, and what- 
 ever else is contrary to the wholesome doctrine of that glorious gospel 
 of the holy God, with which I am entrusted." The author of the Re 
 cognitions asserts, in direct terms, that such a law was promulgated by 
 the emperor against the maleficent devotees of magic. See Vol. ii. p. 
 •47, 248, where the passage is quoted. That Tiberius did dispatch an 
 
Chap. XIII.] ANALYSED. 143 
 
 this business, are public servants of God. Render, 
 therefore, to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute 
 is due ; custom to whom custom ; reverenceto whom 
 reverence; honour to whom honour," 5, 6, 7. 
 
 The men, whose ill-behaviour excited the attentioa 
 and provoked the resentment of the government, were 
 (we have already seen, Anal. p. 32.) guilty of adulteiy, 
 of stealing, and of other similar atrocities, and conse- 
 quently entire strangers to that love of their neighbour, 
 which it is the grand end of the Christian Law to pro- 
 duce, and which being produced, the main object of 
 it is answered. Our Apostle, having informed the con- 
 verts in general how to act with respect to the civil 
 rulers, adverts to those among them whose miscon- 
 duct had betrayed them into error, and in reference to 
 the crimes laid to their charge delivers the following 
 beautiful admonition : " Owe no man any thing but 
 mutual love; for he, who loveth his neighbour, hath 
 fully performed the law : For these commandments. 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt do no 
 murder, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false 
 testimony. Thou shalt not covet, and every other 
 commandment is comprehended in this precept. Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. He who loveth, 
 worketh no ill to his neighbour : love, therefore, is 
 the fulfilling of the law." 8. 9, 10. 
 
 The impostors, it has been shewn, (Vol. i. p. 196, 
 gl2.) frequented nocturnal festivals, at which, after 
 
 edict of this kind to the provinces, whereby he commanded their re- 
 spective governors to protect the virtuous professors of the new faith, 
 and to punish only the guihy, is attested by Philo Vol. ii. p. 569 ; by 
 Tertullian, Apol. cap. 5 ; by Orosius, Lib. vii. cap. 4, and also by 
 Eusebius Ecdes. His. Lib. ii. cap, s. 
 
144 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. Xlll. 
 
 earing and drinking to excess, they abandoned them- 
 selves, under the covert of darkness, to licentious in- 
 dulgences with those women of rank and fortune, 
 whose ignorance or depravity rendered them the easy 
 prey of imposture. The peculiar garments which 
 they wore on those occasions, with other instruments 
 and utensils of superstition, Suetonius expressly in- 
 forms us, were all burnt at the command of the em- 
 peror.* These singular and horrid features, our author 
 here recognizes : and as the shades of Pagan supersti- 
 tion and vice were now drawing to a close, and the 
 light of Christian knowledge and virtue was already 
 dawning on the world, he exhorts the believers to avoid 
 the dark assemblies of their deceivers, and the deeds 
 which in secret they performed ; to hold their meet- 
 ings not in the night but in the day ; to assume a dress 
 and deportment suitable to those who walked in the 
 liglit ; and instead of associating with revellers, de- 
 bauchees, and such nightly marauders, to follow the 
 Lord Jesus ^ and clothe themselves with the innocence 
 and purity of his character : " Considering the season, 
 that it is now time to arise from sleep ; for our deliver- 
 ance is nearer than when we first believed. The night 
 is far spent, the day is at hand : let us lay aside, there- 
 fore, the works of darkness, and put upon us the gar- 
 ments of light. Let us go about decently, (in a decent 
 dress) not with revellerst and drunkards, not with 
 
 * The following are his own words : Extemas ceremonias, -^gyp- 
 tlos Judaicosque ritus compescuit, coactis, qui superstitione ea tene- 
 bantur, religiosas vestes cum instrumento omni 
 COMBURERE. Tib, cap. 36. 
 
 t It is usual with all writers, prosaic as well as poetical, to use the 
 nhstract Sqx <h.t concnte^ or to call the person, which is the subject, of 
 
Chap. XIII.] ANALYSED. I45 
 
 fornicators and the wanton, not with the litigious and 
 the malicious, but clothe yourselves with the Lord 
 Jesus Christ," 11,12,13. The men here alluded to, 
 planned in the light of day those projects of sensual gra- 
 tification and revenge, which the hours of darkness en- 
 abled tkem to accomplish. The Apostle enjoins upon 
 his Christian readers not to follow their example in this 
 respect, " Do not preconcert carnal schemes to gra- 
 tify your lusts." 
 
 From a passage of Seneca, (see Vol. i. p. 181.) it 
 has been inferred that, upon the introduction of the 
 Christian doctrine into Rome, a dispute arose respect- 
 ing the lawfulness of eating the flesh of certain animals. 
 
 discourse by the name oihlslezdingqi/alit}'. This mode of speech is 
 frequently adopted by the Apostle Paul. Thus in Chap. xii. 19, he 
 writes JoT£ tottov tjj o^yyj, Give place to the anger, i. e. the angry. 
 Again in the subsequent chapter, ver. 10. he says, the love (i. e. the man 
 who loves) worketh his neighbour no evil. Cicero, in a similar manner, 
 uses (De officiis Lib.i. Sec. 14.) beneficientia for /5e«?/!"f w. Ignatius in 
 his Epistle to the Trallians prettily says to them, " Not only I, but 
 the benevolence of Jesus, (i. e. the benevolent Jesus) exhorts you to 
 abstain from the foreign plant which is heresy," Cap. vi. On the same 
 principle Paul calls (Chap. i. ver. 1 8.) impious and unjust men ec(Tc(2ei» 
 y.xi acSiyctec amO^u'Treov ; and Chap. xiii. he characterises the civil ruler as 
 <^o^os xajtwv t^ycov, a terror of evil works, i, e. oi evil workers. Hence 
 it was that the Magistrate, who administered justice which is the end 
 of government, was often called rsXor. To thk use of the term 
 Paul, perhaps, alludes when he stiles Christ, who is the Supreme law- 
 giver in the Christian Church, riMs vojaov the end of thelaio, Rom. x. 
 4. Conformably to this practice we are, I conceive, to take revel- 
 lings, drunkenness, &c. as the abstract of revellers, drunkards, &c. 
 Accordingly I have thus rendered the text. See, if you please, 
 Clem. Alexan. Vol. i. p. 628, and Tertul. p. 327. %vhere the former 
 gives a good explanation of, and the latter makes a fine allusion to this 
 passage of our Apostle. 
 
 VOL. III. K 
 
1^6 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XIV^ 
 
 This dispute called forth the animadversion of our 
 CHAF.XIV. great Apostle. " Kindly receive the weak in faith, 
 not unto doubts and reasonings. For one scrupleth 
 not to eat any thing ; but another that is weak eateth 
 only herbs," 1,2. Having noticed this subject of 
 controversy, he invites the member that had the free- 
 dom from prejudice, and enlargement of mind to eat. 
 any thing clean, and him that had not such freedom 
 and enlargement, to practise mutual candor, to abstain 
 from that furious bigotry, that censorious temper, 
 which disposed them to pass upon each other the sen- 
 tence of condemnation. This liberal admonition, he 
 enforces by reminding the contending parties, that they 
 were the subjects of one and the same Master ; that they 
 were invested with no authority that qualified them to 
 pronounce upon their respective merits, but were alike 
 responsible for whatever they did, and whatever they 
 did not, to a common Lord. 3 — 13. 
 
 Every man, observes he, is to be governed by his 
 own conscience : and though the generous spirit of the 
 Gospel regards nothing in itself unholy, nothing unfit 
 for use, yet the person who indulges this freedom in 
 cases, which give pain and offence to a less enlightened 
 brother, cannot be influenced by the principle of 
 Christian benevolence. ** Therefore let us not judge 
 each other any more ; but do yc rather determine this, 
 not to put a stumbling block or a hinderance before your 
 brother. I know, and am satisfied that under the 
 Lord Jesus no meat is of itself unholy ; but to him 
 who thinketh any meat unholy, to him it is unholy. 
 Now if thy brother be made uneasy by thy meat, thou 
 no longer walkest according to love." 13 — 16, 
 
Chap. XIV.] ANALYSED. I47 
 
 Those of the Jewish converts, who embraced the 
 sentiments of Cerinthus^ eat without scruple of every 
 species of flesh, and even joined with the * Pagans in 
 those festivals which they celebrated in honour of their 
 gods. In this they acted consistently with the views en- 
 tertained by them respecting the kingdom of the Mes- 
 siah : for the happiness they expected to enjoy therein, 
 consisted not in the refined pleasures of knowledge, vir- 
 tue and benevolence, but in eating, drinking^ and other 
 sensual indulgences. This gross and pernicious mistake 
 the Apostle here rectifies. "Destroy not with thy meat 
 him for whom Christ died. Let not, then, our privi- 
 lege be an occasion of reproach. For thj kingdom of 
 Godis not meat and drink, but righteousness, andpeace, and 
 joy in a holy viind.\ For he, who serves Christ in these 
 things, is well pleasing to God and approved by men," 
 15 — 19. The Cerinthians, I have observed, partook 
 of those feasts which the heathens consecrated to their 
 divinities, or of those sacrifices which they offered to 
 idols. This appears to have been the latitude in the 
 use of food, which gave so much offence to the catho- 
 lic believers, or to use their own language, (for Paul 
 copied it from them) caused their weak brother to stum- 
 
 * The fathers are unanimous in their testimony to this fact, and their 
 testimony is corroborated by the writings of the Apostles ; tt^uKo^vrot, 
 x^iec(po§us ta-Qiovat are the words of Irenaeus, p. 30. Paul, we shall 
 see, . animadverts on the practice of the Gnostics in this respect, in his 
 first letter to the Corinthians. See Chap, viii. 
 
 t The propriety of these words will be felt wiui peculiar force, if 
 you consult a passage of Theodoret concerning the Cerinthians. Haer. 
 Fab. Lib. ii. 4. It is quoted at large in Vol. ii. p. 369, 370. There 
 it is shewn, that the Jews with whom our Lord discoursed, as recorded 
 John Chap. viii. were the followers of Cerinthus. 
 
 K 2 
 
liS EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XlV. 
 
 bk. And this is the reason why the Apostle calls upon 
 them to abstain from offending, by such indiscriminate 
 and suspicious indulgence, the tender consciences of 
 the more scrupulous converts : " So then let us strive 
 lor peace, and for the improvement of each other. 
 Pull not to pieces the workmanship of God because 
 of meat. All things indeed are pure : but it is bad 
 for that man who maketh others stumble by what he 
 eateth. It is better neither to eat flesh nor drink wine, 
 nor to do any thing else at which thy brother stum- 
 bleth," 19, 20, 22. But I have a conviction, might 
 reply the licentious, that I can thus eat and drink ^vith- 
 out incurring guilt. In answer to this the Apostle ob- 
 serves, that a man might safely do any thing, the prac- 
 tice of which in his own estimation was not criminal ; 
 but if deemed otherwise by the less enlightened, he 
 ought to confine the conviction and the practice to 
 God and to himself : " Hast thou faith? have it to 
 thyself in the presence of God. Happy is he who 
 condemneth not himself for his own practices." 22. 
 That man alone, adds our liberal author, is guilty of 
 sin, who gratifies himself contrary to the dictates of 
 his conscience." But he who doubteth is condemned, 
 if he eat, because it is not done with conviction ; for 
 whatever is done without a conviction (of its lawful- 
 ness) is sin," 23. 
 
 Paul, in the next place, reminds the more free in 
 their sentiments, that they were under obligation to 
 bear with the infirmities of their weaker brethren ; that 
 the object of all their desires should be whatever is 
 (Tood in itself, and whatever tends to mutual edi- 
 fication : and this obligation he enforces by the well 
 known examp'e of Christ, who in all instances sought 
 
Chap. XV.] ANALYSED. ^49 
 
 the gratification of others in preference to his own. 
 
 *• We therefore, who are able, ought to bear the in- CHAP. XV» 
 
 firmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 
 
 Let each of us then please his neighbour in what is 
 
 good for mutual improvement. For Christ, in like 
 
 manner, did not consider his own gratification, but as 
 
 it is written, the reproaches of them, that revile thee, 
 
 fell on me."* 
 
 The Jewish, no less than the Egyptian Gnostics, re- 
 jected their sacred writings, and those parts of them in 
 particular, which were interpreted as predicting the suf- 
 ferings and death of the Messiah, and enjoining upon his 
 followers the necessity of a meek submission to pain, 
 reproaches, and hardship, in the promotion of his cause. 
 The writer, having quoted a very pertinent passage 
 from those writings, takes this occasion to correct so 
 dangerous an error, and to hold them forth to public 
 view as written for their moral edification, or as afford- 
 ing to the disciples of him, in whose death they were 
 accomplished, examples ot persevering virtue, and 
 assurances of consolatory hope. " For whatsoever 
 things were aforetime written, were written for our 
 
 * It has been observed that the inhabitants of, Rome formed their 
 ideas of Christ from the character of those impostors, who pretended 
 JO believe in him and to teach his religion. Vol. ii. p. 96, 97. Thii 
 was very natural in men who had no previous knowledge of our Lord. 
 Hence they necessarily attached to his character all the odium and re^ 
 proach which his pretended followers but too well merited. Here then 
 was a memorable instance in which the holy Jesus was vilified through 
 the misconduct of his false disciples. Of this circumstance our Apostle 
 with great address and delicacy reminds them in the following words, 
 quotedfrom Ps. Ixix. 9 : The reproachfs of them, tk.\t 
 
 REVILE THEE, FELL Oy ME. 
 
 «• 3 
 
1,5* EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XV. 
 
 instruction ; that through the (encouragement to) per- 
 severance, and through the consolation (afforded) from 
 the Scriptures, we may retain the hope," that is, the 
 object of our hcJpe. 4, To this our benevolent author 
 subjoins the following fervent prayer in behalf of the 
 church : " Now the God of this (encouragement to) 
 perseverance and of this consolation, grant that ye 
 may cherish the same sentiments towards each other, 
 according to Christ Jesus ; so that with one mind and 
 with one mouth ye may glorify the God and Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." 5, 6. The haeretical teachers 
 maintained, that the Scriptures proceeded from a sub- 
 ordinate evil angel, and not from the Supreme God. 
 In opposition to this, Paul holds forth the Deity as 
 the God of those Scriptures : and he invests them 
 with those qualities of forbearance and consolation 
 which are tiie characteristics of a benevolent Beings 
 Again, they insisted that the author of the law or the 
 Creator of the \yorId, was different from the God and 
 Father of Christ, and that he was an object deserving of 
 blasphemy not of praise. To these notions the prayer of 
 our author stands opposed. That with one mind 
 
 AND ONE MOUTH YE MAY GLORIFY THE GoD 
 
 AND Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The 
 clause according to Christ Jesus is levelled against the 
 distinction which they made betweenChrist and the man 
 Jesus : and hence we see what were the fundamental 
 points, respecting which he wished the Roman Church 
 to maintain unanimity of sentiment. They were these, 
 that the author of the Jewish dispensation was no other 
 than the author of the Gospel ; that he it was, who 
 from motives of benevolence commissioned his Son to 
 save mankind, and therefore merits their praises and not 
 
Chap. XV.] ANALYSED. 151 
 
 their maledictions ; and finally, that he who really ex- 
 pired on the cross, and rose from the dead as the pledge 
 of the resurrection of all his virtuous followers to anew 
 and better existence, was himself the Messiah. 
 
 The followers of Cerinthus, of whom the Judaizing 
 Zealots at Rome appear to have chiefly consisted, 
 were tenacious of the rite of circumcision, and un- 
 willing to extend the blessings of the Gospel to the 
 Gentiles, unless they previously submitted to its ope- 
 ration. These he exhorts to relax in their zeal for a 
 circumcision which was now superseded, and to sub- 
 mit to a more real and divine circumcision, namely, 
 a circumcision of the heart, of which Jesus Christ was 
 the minister, and which was ^he mean of realizing the 
 promise made to the fathers. *' Wherefore kindly re- 
 ceive one another, as Christ also received you, to the 
 glory of God : (receive one another) I mean in that 
 real* and divine circumcision of which Jesus Christ 
 
 * The clause in the original is as follows, Ajya> h Ivia-ovf X^iro* 
 ^ixicovov yiyiy^a-daci •rnqtrof/.-ios lvt§ (xXviGnxs ^sov. Which literally 
 rendered is thus, / ifly that Jesas Christ became a minister of circttmcisisn 
 for the truth of God, i. e. minister for the true circumcision of God, or 
 for that circumcision which is true, real, and divine. The word a\n- 
 Qsix means not only truth in opposition xofolsehood, but also the reality 
 in opposition to its type or shadow. See Vol. ii. p. 206, 207, 208. 
 1 hus the circumcision of the body was deemed by our Apostle, as 
 but the shadow or symbol of the circumcision of the heart. For this 
 reason, the latter is called u'kn^iix, the true or real ciraimcision, in the 
 same manner as Christ is stiled (John i. 17.) the truth or reality ofvhe 
 Mosaic law, in contradistinction to its external forms by which he was 
 presignified. Be it here remarked that Philo, who wrote and acted as 
 the great ally of the Apostles, adopted the metaphorical signification 
 annexed by them to the term circumcision ; and that, in a short treatise 
 which he composed on the subject, he represents the circumcision 
 of the body as symbolical of the circumcision of the heart, His own 
 
1^2 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XV. 
 
 became the minister, to confirm the promises unto 
 the fathers." 7, 8. The prophets were authorised 
 to predict the conversion of the Gentiles on the con- 
 dition of amendment, and tlieir reception by the Di- 
 vine mercy, without submitting to those ordinances 
 which had separated them from the Israelites. " Of 
 which Jesus Christ became the minister to confirm the 
 promises unto the fathers ; and that the Gentiles were 
 to glorify God for his mercy ; as it is written : For 
 this cause I will acknowledge thee among the Gentiles, 
 and sing praise unto thy name. And again, the Scrip- 
 ture sai^h : Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And 
 again, Sing unto the Lord all ye Gentiles ; and praise 
 him all ye people. And again, Isaiah saith : Out of 
 Jesse will be the root, and he, who riseth up to rule the 
 Gentiles ; on whom the Gentiles \v\\l hope.' 8 — 13. 
 
 Having finished his admonitions to the Roman con- 
 verts, he delivers this petition in their behalf. " May 
 the God oi this hope fill you with all joy and peace in 
 believing, that ye may abound in the (Christian) hope, 
 through the power of the holy Spirit," 13. For the 
 freedom with which he spoke his sentiments, and his 
 delay in coming to see them, he makes the follow- 
 ing beautiful and interesting apology. " And I my- 
 
 V'ords ill part are, Eyw ^s crvi^'^oKov Yiyovuxi t-/>v irt^iro^Yiv — ri^oyuv 
 iKToiJLTjs set -/.xTxyoriTova-i T»!y oixvoixv. The circumstance M'hicli 
 renders the circumcision of the body a proper figure to typify that of the 
 heart, he describes to be, t»v wfof x.x^^ta.v b(/.oionirx rov "Trs^iT/xuSsn- 
 ros (jLiP'-jvs. This interpretation, he tells us, he had received from cer- 
 tain divine interpreters of the Mosaic law, (meaning the first preachers 
 of the Gospel) of whose persons and doctrine he yet, it seems probable, 
 had no knowledge but from report. Tayra [a.sv ovv sis ti,)<.oxs v>~9i yi/xi- 
 Ttpxs, Qi^^xio'KoyoviJLiyx ttx^x htaTiiatois avc^xo'tv, o< vx Muasws 
 ou mx^i^yxs ^iri^fAfinvaxi/. Vol. n. p. 211. 
 
Chap. XV.] ANALYSED. J53 
 
 self also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye 
 are even of yourselves full of goodness, filled with all 
 knowledge, able even to admonish one another. Ne- 
 vertheless, brethren, by way of reminding you, I 
 have written to you rather freely upon some points, 
 through the authority given to me by God, in making 
 me a public servant of Jesus Christ unto the Gentile?, 
 a ministering priest of this gospel of God ; that this 
 oblation ot the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified 
 by holiness of spirit. I have therefore cause of boast- 
 ing in Christ Jesus towards God. For I will only 
 piesume to speak of what Christ hath done by me 
 tor the conviction of the Gentiles by word and 
 deed, by mighty signs and wonders, by a powerful 
 display of God's Spirit. So that from Jerusalem round 
 about even to Illyrium, I have fully preached the Gos- 
 pel of Christ. So ambitious have I been to publish 
 the Gospel ! Not where the name of Christ had already 
 reached, lest I should build upon the foundation of 
 another ; but, as it is written. They who have not been 
 told of him shall see ; and they who have not heard 
 shall understand. Therefore, though I have often 
 been hindered from coming to you, yet now, as I have 
 no farther scope * in these parts, and have been de- 
 
 * Or as it might be rendered, / have no more room in these parts. 
 The Apostle describes his success in propagating Christianity in those 
 countries, under the figure of an architect occupying the ground ali 
 around with buildings : and he intimates that the Gospel of Christ, 
 like one grand edifice, overspread the whole land from Jerusalem and 
 around about even to Illyrium. There being no more room to lay a 
 new foundation, he was enabled at length to visit Rome and Spain. 
 And here be it remarked that the intentipn, which Paul now expresses 
 of going to this latter country, affords, notwithstanding what has been 
 said by some learned men to the contrary, (sec Lard. Vol. vi. p. 294) a 
 strong presumptive inference that he actually did go and there preach 
 
1^4 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XV. 
 
 sirous of coming to you these many years, I will come 
 to you whenever I go to Spain." i^ — 24. 
 
 The conveying of the Gospel to that remote and bar- 
 barous country would, he was well aware, be attended 
 with much difficulty, danger and expence. In order 
 to render this design practicable, it was expedient that 
 some persons in the Roman Church, acquainted with 
 those parts, and respected for their property and virtue, 
 should accompany him thither ; and that a contribution 
 should be made among the believers towards defraying 
 the expences of his journey. And with a view to sti- 
 mulate the rich * to contribute by pecuniary assis- 
 tance to the support of their poorer brethren, and to the 
 progress of the Gospel, he delicately sets before them 
 the example of the other Gentile churches, — *' I will 
 come to you whenever I go to Spain. For I hope to see 
 you on my passage, and to be conducted by you thi- 
 ther, when I have been furnished in part by you. But 
 now am I going to Jerusalem on a service to the saints : 
 for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make 
 
 the Gospel. This inference is much corroborated by the feet, that it was 
 actually promulgated in Spain not many years after the composition of 
 this epistle, as appears from a monumental inscription dedicated to Ne- 
 ro, for his attempt to extirpate the teachers of a new superstition. It is, 
 moreover, confirmed by the express testimony of Clement of Rome, 
 who in his epistle to the Corinthians (chap, v.) writes, that Paul taught 
 the whole world righteousness even as far as the limits of the west, 
 {{.Tit ri^[/.x T-ns ^vcTius) which could only mean Spain and Portugal. 
 This fact is also attested by Theodoret in his Commentary on Ps. cxvi ; 
 bv Cyril Catcch. xvii ; by Jerom in his Ecclesiastical writers, and by 
 many others. 
 
 * This observation has not escaped the discernment of Origen, who 
 in his comment on the place says, Subtiliter et verecunde dum laudat 
 Corinthios, hortatur Romanos. Facilius enim devotas mentes ad bene" 
 faciendum exemplis quam sermonibiis invitaatur. 
 
Chap. XV.] ANALYSED. 1^5 
 
 a contribution for the poor Saints in Jerusalem. And 
 it is well they have so pleased ; for they are indeed 
 debtors to those Jews : because if the Gentiles have 
 shared their spiritual gifts, they ought in return to mi- 
 nister unto them these carnal gifts. When, therefore, 
 I have finished this business, and set the seal to this 
 fruit of their liberality, I will pass through you to 
 Spain." 23 — 29. In compensation for the favours 
 which he iriight receive from them, he expresses his 
 confidence, that he should come to them in full pos- 
 session of those miraculous endowments which had 
 hitherto sanctioned his preaching. And he further 
 endeavours to interest the Roman converts in his 
 behalf, by joining him in prayer to God, that he 
 might be defended against those who sought to destroy 
 him, and his services prove acceptable to his preju- 
 diced and mistaken brethren. " And I know that 
 when I come to you, I shall come with the full 
 blessings of the Gospel of Christ. Now I beseech you, 
 brethren ! by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love 
 of the spirit, to strive together with me by prayers to 
 God in my behalf, that 1 may be delivered from the 
 unbelievers in Judea, and that this service of mine for 
 Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints ;* that I 
 
 * Even those of the Jews, whom the Apostles had converted to the 
 faith, still adhered to the external forms of the law with a fond con- 
 viction of their perpetuity. They were, therefore, inflamed with illi- 
 beral prejudices against our Apostle, when they found that he invited 
 the Gentiles to share in the blessings of the Gospel, without urging the 
 necessity of submitting to the rites of Moses, as the chief mean of ob- 
 taining the divine favour. Now the principal motive which, perhaps 
 induced our Apostle to engage in the service above alluded to, was to 
 assuage the unreasonable preposessions of his countrymen. He was too 
 well acquainted with the spirit of his religion, and the laws of the hu- 
 man mind, not to know that the most sure way to disarm the bigotry 
 
156 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XVI. 
 
 may come to you with joy by the will of God, and re- 
 fresh myself with you. Now the God of peace be with 
 you all. Amen." 29 — 33. 
 
 The Apostle, in the last place, salutes those of his 
 acquaintance among the believers. But these saluta- 
 tions are not to be regarded merely as expressions of 
 attachment to the persons specified, but also recom- 
 mendations of them, on account of their superior puri- 
 ty in principle and in conduct, to the notice and imi- 
 tation of the converts in general. Thus he intimates 
 in the recommendation of Pkabc, that women how- 
 ever poor, if honest, industrious, and useful, -are more 
 worthy ot reception among them, than those ladies of 
 
 rank and fortune who led a debased and useless life, 
 CHAP. XVI, 
 
 " I recommend unto you Phcebe our sister, a servant 
 
 of the Church at Cenchrca : that you may receive her 
 
 in the Lord, in a manner worthy of the saints, and 
 
 assist her in whatsoever business she may want your 
 
 help."' 1, 2. Thus also in his salutation of Priscilla 
 
 and Aquila, he calls upon the church to esteem and to 
 
 imitate those who by their sufferings and labours con- 
 
 tributed to the welfare of their brethren, and to the 
 
 promotion of their common cause. " Salute Priscilla 
 
 and Aquila, m.y fellow labourers in Christ Jesus, who 
 
 have laid down their necks for my life : unto whom 
 
 and conciliate the good will of his adversaries was to confer upon them 
 personal favours. There existed some danger, however, lest a contri- 
 bution offered by a person so obnoxious, should be rejected even bv 
 those among the believers that stood in need of relief. Hence it was 
 a matter of gicat solicitude with our benevolent Apostle, that his ser- 
 vice should be acceptable to them. Tovs tiyrpiAivo'js, writes Theodo- 
 ret, ayu-'itoc, f/.t) to yuaroi viKitavi Tnv y^^eixv, i. e. He struggled with 
 those who received (the ccntrihitiov), lest thdr hatred shovld prevail ever 
 their went. 
 
Chap. XVI.] ANALYSED. l^J 
 
 not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the 
 Gentiles." 3, 4. Knowing that they did not, like the 
 false teachers, distinguish between Jesus and the 
 Christ, but preached the faith in its full purity, he 
 salutes the little society in their family ; and hence in- 
 timates that the communication of religious instruc- 
 tion in their own house, was a practice laudable in it- 
 self, and worthy of being imitated by others : " Salute 
 likewise the church in their hous€." 
 
 Though the impostors professed Christ, they neither 
 acted nor suffered in his cause. In allusion to this 
 circumstance, which furnished the best criterion to 
 distinguish the false from the true professor, our author 
 characterises those, whom he salutes as brethren in 
 Christ, by an epithet expressive of their zeal and ac- 
 tivity in his service.* " Salute Priscilla and Aquila, 
 
 * The Apostle Paul appears disposed to disclaim all connection with 
 those, who had not the magnanimity, even in the face of danger, toil 
 and want, to employ their personal exertions in the propagation of the 
 new faith. His conduct in respect to John Mark is a remarkable in- 
 stance of this disposition. That disciple attended him in his first jour- 
 ney to preach the Gospel. But his timidity prevented him from taking a 
 conspicuous and active part in this new and perilous engagement. He 
 was, therefore, content with following his illustrious leader, adminis- 
 tering to his personal w;uits, or assisting him in the subordinate parts 
 of his duty. See Acts xiii. 5. In this however he had not the courage 
 to persevere, but, when be now became sensible of the trials which await- 
 ed them, and of the dangers by which they were surrounded, forsakes 
 his master and returns to Jerusalem. His desertion excited the indig- 
 nation of our magnanimous Apostle, and he disdains to take with him, 
 a second time, a man who had abandoned his post in the season of dan- 
 ger, and who, from the suggestions Oi fear and pusillanimity, declined ta 
 ■work for the promotion of their common cause. " Paul thought it 
 right not to take with him one, who had apostatised from them in Pam- 
 phylia, and who did not co-operate with them in the work. ^' Acts xv. 
 39. This was the ground of the dispute betv/een him and his friend 
 
J5^ EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Cllap. XVI. 
 
 my fellow labourers in Christ Jesu^— ^Salute Androni- 
 cus and Junia, my kirtsmen and my fellow prisoner'^, 
 who are of note among the Apostles, and professed Christ 
 before me — Salute Urbanus my fellow labourer in Christ 
 —Salute Apelles the approved in Christy' i. e* the sin- 
 cerity of whose faith was tried by sufferings. In 
 opposition, finally, to the deceivers who rejected 
 Christ as their Lord, he sends his salutation to those 
 among the Roman converts, who in an eminent man- 
 ner acknowledged him under that character, and who 
 in an eminent degree obeyed his precepts and followed 
 his example: •' Salute the family of Aristobulus; sa- 
 lute Herodian my kinsman ; salute those of the family 
 of Narcissus, that are in the Lord. Salute Try- 
 phena and Tryphosa, who are labouring in the Lord. 
 Salute the beloved Persis, who hath laboured much 
 IN THE Lord. Salute Rufus, the chosen in the 
 Lord." lo — 14. 
 
 Having finished these salutations he adds, •• Salute 
 each other with a holy kiss. Now I beseech you, bre- 
 thren, mark them that are making these divisions and 
 laying these stumbling-blocks, contrary to the doc- 
 trine which ye have learned : and avoid them. For 
 such men are not servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 but of iheirown belly ; and by fine words, and by fair 
 speeches, are deceiving the hearts of the simple. For 
 your obedience is come abroad unto all : I rejoice 
 therefore in you on this account, and wish you to be 
 wise unto goodness, and uncorrupt concerning evil : 
 and the God of peace will quickly trample Satan under 
 
 and companion Barnabas ; which dispute, however, was no more tlian 
 a temporary irritation, the only effect of which was that they took a 
 different route. 
 
Chap. XVI,] ANALYSED. 
 
 «55 
 
 your feet. The favour of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 with you. Amen." 16 — 21. 
 
 The early Christians in token of their mutual love, 
 adopted the custom of saluting each other upon parting 
 from their assemblies.* This custom well accorded 
 with the principles of the Gnostics, who seem to have 
 practised it in their nocturnal festivals as afFordinrr. 
 under the pretext of expressing their spirit of Christian 
 benevolence, an opportunity for gratifying their im- 
 pure desires. So prevalent was this practice become 
 in Rome, that it attracted the attention of the emperor 
 who, about the time in which he expelled the Christians, 
 published an edict to prohibit it.f This custom our 
 author was here naturally led to notice ; and against 
 the abuses, of which it was made the instrument, he 
 delivers the following admonition : Salute one 
 ANOTHER WITH A HOLY KISS: As though he had 
 said, •' Let your salutation of each other be the expres- 
 sion of pure and spiritual benevolence, and not the 
 dictate of gross and carnal desires." 
 
 * Thiscujtom was not peculiar to the Gnostics, but was generallf ' 
 practised by the Catholic believers, ^iXvuxti aXhriXovs ccaTtx^a^i^ot, 
 They are the words of Justin Martyr. See Hammond on the place. 
 
 "f- Ouotidiana oscula prohibuit edicto Suet. Tib. 34. Their prac- 
 tice of thus saluting each other, though prevalent in other places, pre- 
 v^ailed mostly in their religious banquets ; and this is the reason why 
 Suetonius connects the narrative of it with soUennibus ccenis. This also 
 Itdi. our afuthor, after delivering the above admonition to salute one 
 another with a holy kiss, to remark that the deceivers served not the 
 Lord Jesus but their own bellies, I do not, however mean to 
 affirm, tliat the custom originated with the Christians in Rome, or that 
 it was practised by them alone. The prevalence of it is ridiculed in 
 vtiy strongjnd descriptive terms by Martial, Lib. xi. 98. 
 
l6o EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XVI. 
 
 The train of the Apostle's Ideas being now fixed upon 
 those deceivers, who by their falsehoods occasioned 
 divisions in the bosom of the church, and thus fur- 
 nished the adversary with pretences for vilifying the 
 Christians and their cause, adverts to them in the fol- 
 lowing manner : " I beseech you, brethren, mark those 
 who make divisions and bring offences contrary to the 
 doctrine which ye have learned." It has frequently 
 been observed that, though they acknowledged the 
 Christ in the person of Jesus, they did not submit to 
 the latter as their Lord, or confess their obligation to 
 obey his precepts and imitate his example ; and in 
 truth the festivals instituted to celebrate his divinity, 
 thev frequented irom motives of sensuality. These 
 facts are plainly implied in the succeeding sentence. 
 For such men are not servants of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, but or their own 
 belly.* 
 
 Representing the Christ as a good demon descended 
 from heaven for the benefit of mankind, they changed 
 his official n?ivae. o{ Chris tus into Chrestus, an epithet 
 expressive of the benignity of his character, and 
 descriptive of those benevolent spirits supposed 
 
 * The assertion of our Apostle, that they did not serve the Lord Jesm, 
 is attested also by Irenaeus, who writes that they were unwilling to give 
 him the name of Lord. Ov^i Ku^/ov ovof/.cc^eiv avrov ^eXouc-i, p. g. In 
 p. 3 1 . this writer uses the very words which Paul employs in this place- 
 •O/ ^E Txis <ra^;'-oy v'Soya.is ^ovXevovrs^ rx (tx^kikcc rots ax^y.iKOis—^ 
 aito^t^oa^ixi Xeyovai. kxi 0/ /xev XtuQ^x rxs "Bi^xax-oiJ^evxs lit xvtuv 
 T'/)v ^i^xyrif TafTwv yvvxixxi ^ix(p9ei^ov(7i, &c. The Apostle speaking 
 of the same men in his letter to the Philippians (Chap. iii. 19) has these 
 very remarkable words, Whose God is their belly. By which he meant 
 that those festivals, in which they pretended to Celebrate the divinity of 
 their Christ, were in reality frequented to gratify their lusts. In thiS 
 sense their God was truly their belly. 
 
Chap. XVI.] ANALYSED. l6'l 
 
 to be employed under God in the service of the human 
 race. See Vol. i. p. 263, 264. Accordingly this ap- 
 pears to have been the title by which the enemies and 
 the friends of Christianity in Gentile countries at first 
 distinguished its illustrious founder.* The deceivers, 
 moreover, composed certain oracles which they as- 
 cribed to the Sibyl in respect to Jesus Christ. These 
 of course they called ?.oyta (logia], a name usually ap- 
 plied to express the dictates of divine inspiration. 
 
 * To this name of Christ signifying ^g-oo^/ or kind, Justin thus alludes^ 
 ^Oa-ov T£ E)t Toy xiXTijyo^ou/^svoy r,jji.'jjv ovo^mto! y^^ori^orxroi virx^^O' 
 f/,sv. Apol. i. p. 6. In the next page he for the same reason calls the 
 Christians ^^nrixvoi : and then he adds, to os ^^■n<rov (AicreiaOxi ov oi~ 
 Kxiov. To this signification TertuUian also alludes, when he thus 
 writes (Apolog. Cap. iii.) concerning the Christian name : De Suavi- 
 tate vel benignitate compositum, Oditur itaque in hominibus innocim 
 nomen innocuum. Eusebius refers to the same interpretation in stiiing 
 it 'TTxyrtiA.os xxi sv^o^os 'rr^os-nyj^tx. Hist. Eccles Lib. v. Cap. i. 
 Lactantius ascribes the change to tL'^ ignorance of the Greeks — Qui 
 propter ignorantium errorem, cum immutata litera Chrestum solent di- 
 cere, Lib. iv. Cap. 7. But Lactantius himself is to be charged with 
 ignorance, or rather with duplicity : for he could not but know, that an 
 alteration in the name, calculated to screen the person intended from un- 
 merited odium, or to express his character as a superior being, must 
 have originated with the real or at least the pretended friends of Christ. 
 His enemies, however, often applied to him the name thus altered. Sue- 
 tonius thus stiles him in the life of Claudius, Cap. 25. Lucian, in a 
 book entitled Philopatria, represents Critias asking Triephon, who pro- 
 fessed to be a Christian, Whether the affairs of the Scythians were record- 
 ed in heaven, and receiving for answer : "All nations are there recorded, 
 since Chrestus exists even among the Gentiles." nayras, ti rvypt ye 
 Xfnroy Koct £v i9vs(Ti. Vol. ii. p. 773. Julian the Apostate, in derision 
 of the Evangelist John, whom he supposes to have first taught the di. 
 vinity of Christ, calls him X^vt^os Idjxvms. See Vol. i. p. 269 — 273. 
 And, finally, Aristides, the sophist, in a passage known to refer to the 
 followers of Jesus (See Lard. Vol. viii. p. 85.), stigmatises them as 
 
 VOL. III. L 
 
l62 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XVl. 
 
 See Vol. i. p. 272. and p. 34 of this Analysis. The 
 simple supper, be it farther remarked, which our 
 Lord appointed in commemoration of his suffering 
 and death, the impostors perverted into a heathen feast, 
 which they affected to solemnize in remembrance ot 
 his divinity. This they stiled zuXoyia [eulogy), a name 
 which indicates the honour due to him as a supernatu- 
 ral being, in opposition to that obloquy, defamation 
 and contempt [{i'Kaa(p%(j.ix, Kxra^x, avaSspt-a) with which 
 his adversaries assailed him as the son of the Carpen- 
 ter and a native of Nazareth. Now these peculiar 
 and characteristic features in the Gnostic system the 
 Apostle Paul here recognises ; and he guards the con- 
 verts against them, as being means only of deceiving 
 the simple-minded. " For such men are not servants 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of their own belly : 
 And by their Chrestus, oracles, and ho- 
 norary FEAST* THEY DECEIVE THE HEARTS 
 
 * The original is thus, A<a rtjr j^^'/jfoXoy/aj kzi zvXoyia; i^ocnxrui- 
 a-i rocs iM^icts todi xxxkuv. Now the term •/^^•n^o'Koyta. is evidently 
 comjjosed of %f»ros' and Xoy/a ; and, what is remarkable, the Apostle 
 himself appears to have coined the term, and neither he has employed it 
 in any other place, nor any other writer after him. The word iv'Koyio.^ 
 however, is used by the fathers in the very sense which the first Gnos- 
 tics annexed to it. Sacra Cana vacatur ivhoyix. They are the words 
 of Suicerus; See his Lexicon. The Apostle Paul, maintaining, in op- 
 position to the deceivers, that the simple feast instituted by our Lord was 
 intended to be commemorative of the blood and of the body, that is, of 
 the mortal part, or of the death of Christ, and not of his being a divine or 
 immortal Being, employs the term in a signification nearly allied to this. 
 A/0, o^bX^oi (J1.0V xyxffnTOi, (pwyers xiro r-ns iioajXaXxr^ixs-'—^ro 
 V!or-/i^'ov TYis EYAOriAX o nXoyovij.tv, ov^i Kotyuvta Toy xifj.xros rov 
 X^ifov tr' ; To» a^Tov ov xXft'/^Ev, ovy^i tLOivwvix rov ero:[j.xros rev 
 
 Xf (cof iTi ; i. e. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, Jlee from idolatry' 
 
 that cvp of praise which we praise, is it not a partaking of the Blood cf 
 
Chap. XVI."j ANALYSED. 163 
 
 OF THE SIMPLE; (for your obedience is come abroad 
 unto all. I rejoice therefore in you : but I wish you 
 to be wise unto goodness and harmless unto evil) but 
 the God of peace will quickly bruise Satan under your 
 feet." 
 
 The object which they pretended to have before 
 them, in thus adopting the pernicious maxim of telling 
 falsehood to promote the truth, was to deceive Satan, a 
 phrase which, divested of its symbolical signification, 
 simply means, the leading men into a belief of the 
 Gospel, in consequence of evading by false repre- 
 sentations those unreasonable objections, which the 
 mistaken notions and the evil principles of the world 
 threw in the way of its progress. Now it is observ- 
 able, that if we pass over the words in the parenthesis, 
 and consider the subsequent in connection with the 
 preceding part of the sentence, this will appear to be 
 the pretence for their specious impostures, ♦' And 
 by their Chrestus, oracles, and honorary feast, they 
 deceive the hearts of the simple — but the God of peace 
 will quickly bruise Satan under your feet." As though 
 he had said : " These men propagate their falsehoods 
 under the pretext of deceiving Satan : but in reality 
 
 Christ ? The loaf which we breaks is it not a partaking of the^ony of 
 Christ ? Our Apostle, you will observe, intimates to his Corinthian 
 friends, that if they followed the example of the impostors in consider- 
 ing the Lord Jesus as one of the demons or gods, and accordingly cele- 
 brated his festival, as commemorative of him in this view, and not of his 
 suflFering, they were guilty oi idolatry. This idolatry he calls upon them 
 to avoid, by regarding the cup and the bread in the light in which they 
 were regarded by the Apostles ; namely, as symbolical of the deaths not 
 r^iikit divinity, of the person celebrated, See Vol, ii. p. 428. 
 
164 £PISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XVL 
 
 they deceive only those who, unlike themselves, pos- 
 sess innocent and guileless hearts. And as to Satan, 
 the great adversary that retards the Gpspel, the Al- 
 mighty, instead of injposing upon hjm by lies, or op- 
 posing him with violence and contention, will speedi- 
 ly bruise him under your feet ; and this he will do 
 by means consistent with gentleness, peace and truth." 
 
 Our Lord wishing to prevent his Apostles from 
 adopting the conduct pursued by the Gnostic teachers 
 in the propagation of their system (see Vol. ii. p. 21 — 
 30), among many other excellent directions, deliver- 
 ed to them the iollowing ; " Be ye wise as the serpent, 
 and harmless as the dove." This maxim, though dic- 
 tated in opposition to them, the deceivers perverted in- 
 to a justilication of their own falsehoods ; interpreting 
 it thus, and omifting the last clause : " As the Serpent 
 or Satan employed his wisdom to deceive the mother 
 of mankind, so may you, after his example, employ 
 the same mean to deceive the Serpent, and thus defeat 
 him with his own weapons."* In order to rectify this 
 wicked perversion of his Divine Master's precept, 
 Paul thus writes to his brethren, " I wish you to be 
 
 wise unto goodness, but unto evil to be harmless." 
 
 " My desire is, that the end you have in view should 
 
 * Ths perversion the Apostle Paul seeips to have had in view, when 
 bedctated the following sentence in respect to the deceivers. •' I fear 
 lest, as the Serpent dece'ved Eve by his craftiness, your mind should 
 be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ." 2 Cor. x'. 2. 
 The people in reference to whom he here speaks were the Ophitx, or 
 those Egyptian impostors, who taught that Christ was the same with 
 the Serpent. Sec Epiphanlus, p. 274. The language of Jesus addressed to 
 Nicodemus, and the above maxim gven to his disciples, they attempt- 
 ed to wrest into a confirmation of thi? doctrine. 
 
Chap. XVI.] ANALYSED. 165 
 
 ever be laudable, and that you should pursue it by me- 
 thods consistent with truth and virtue. It were better 
 that you possess no wisdom at all, than that you per- 
 vert it to sinister purposes. In all that is evil, there- 
 fore, shew yourselves as though you were entirely 
 destitute of sagacity and skill ; but in whatever is vir- 
 tuous and praise-worthy display all the knowledge 
 and all the prudence, which it is possible for man to 
 acquire." 
 
 A circumstance in this place presents itself, which 
 leads us to the men here stigmatised by the Apostle, 
 as the authors of the doctrine inculcating the miracu- 
 lous birth of our Lord. The plea, by which they at- 
 tempted to justify this and other ialsehoods propagated 
 respecting him, was to deceive the devil. Now it is 
 remarkable, that this very plea has been adopted by 
 the supporters of that doctrine in after ages. When 
 the objector to the truth of the tale asked, " If Mary 
 did really conceive, while she was yet a virgin and 
 unknown to Joseph, how came she at that very time 
 to be espoused to him, and by that means expose her- 
 self to an unjust suspicion?" The usual reply was : 
 " She was espoused in order to deceive the Devil. 
 For the Devil, having heard that a "viigin would be 
 with child, observed the virgins ; therefore, that the 
 deceiver might be deceived, Joseph espoused her 
 who was ever a virgin." This argument which was 
 borrowed, not as is supposed from Ignatius,* but from 
 
 * Quare non de simplice virgine, sed de desponsata concipitur ? — 
 Ut partus ejus cclaretur Dlabolo ; dum earn putat non de virgine, sed 
 de uxore gencratum. They are the words of Jerom. quoted from Ori- 
 
 I- 3 
 
i66 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XVI. 
 
 the first inventors of the story, contemptible as it now 
 is, had something like meaning in its original applica- 
 tion. For divested of its figure, the phrase to deceive 
 the devil meant the defeating of the principle of evil, 
 by removing those difficulties which it opposed to 
 the prevalence of the Gospel. But the mystic or 
 internal signification, being in process of time lost, 
 and the literal one only retained, the expression dege- 
 nerated into rank nonsense and absurdity. 
 
 The sentiments which Simon and his associates had 
 fabricated in Rome, were, in consequence of their ex- 
 pulsion disseminated over the provinces, and imported 
 as we shall see hereafter, into the churches established 
 by the Great Apostle of the Gentiles. This effect had 
 in some degree taken place before he penned this 
 epistle : and his apprehension of it, while now writing 
 the context, led him to warn the Roman Church against 
 the danger of giving them any farther countenance, and 
 
 gen, who borrowed the idea from the epistle of Ignatius to the Magne- 
 sians, Cap. xix. But every one of the epistles ascribed to that Apos- 
 tolic man, is in the judgment of the best critics much interpolated- 
 Ignatius, who received his doctrines from the Apostles, could not have 
 countenanced that of the miraculous conception. For the Apostles 
 were very far from disseminating such a falsehood. It could not, 
 therefore, have been supported by any honest man that professed with 
 truth to have been their disciple. — The plea of deceiving Satan, has 
 been copied not only by Origen, but by all the fathers after him. Ths 
 reply given to the above question, is that of Theophylact in his com- 
 mentaries on Matthew, p. 8. Specimens of their reasoning on this 
 subject are produced by Dr. Priestley in Im Early Opinions, Vol. iv. 
 p. 26 — 55. No candid person can peruse the passages there adduced, 
 without feeling the difficulties and embarrassment, which the doctrine 
 of the miraculous birth of Jesus has entailed upon the Christian reli- 
 gion ; and the liveliest pleasure in perceiving that the tale forms no part 
 of the word of God,> 
 
Chap. XVI.] ANALYSED, 167 
 
 thus, by their example, encouraging the reception of 
 those sentiments into other churches. " Avoid them : 
 for such men are not the servants of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, but of their own belly ; and by theifChrestus, 
 oracles and honorary feast, they deceive the hearts of the 
 simple. For your obedience is come abroad 
 UNTO ALL." As though he had written : "Expel 
 those men from the church, and disclaim all connection 
 with them as your brethren in Christ : for their doc- 
 trines being designed, under the specious appearance 
 of friendship tor the Christian cause, to bring it into 
 disgrace, are every where propagated ; and they prove 
 the unhappy instruments of seducing many well mean- 
 ing persons from the truth, and from that purity of mo- 
 rals which distinguishes its genuine professors." The 
 venerable author thus concludes his epistle. " Now 
 unto him who is able to establish you according to 
 this Gospel of Jesus Christ by me proclaimed, where- 
 in a mystery hath been revealed, which hath been kept 
 secret from the ages of old, but is now made plain by 
 the Scriptures of the Prophets, and published to all 
 the Gentiles, according to an appointment of the ever- 
 lasting God, for their obedience to the faith — to God 
 only wise be the glory through Jesus Christ for ever. 
 Amen." 
 
 This conclusion, you will observe, contains a sum- 
 mary view of the true Gospel, in contradistinction to 
 that which the deceivers taught. 1. He recommends 
 the believers to the God of Israel, who, having power 
 to establish them, and possessing all wisdom, is alone 
 the proper object of their religious veneration. " Now 
 unto him who hath power to enable you to stand firm 
 — to God only wise, be the glory for ever. Amen." 
 
l68 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS [Chap. XVI. 
 
 2. He intimates that the pretended Supreme God of 
 the Gnostics is so iar from deserving their religious 
 homage, that even Jesus Christ however justly revered, 
 ]oved and obeyed as the messenger of heaven, is by no 
 means to be viewed as an object of solemn praise, but 
 as the medium through whom all praise should be 
 ascribed to the only Almighty and Omniscient Jehovah. 
 — "To God only wise, through Jesus Christ 
 for ever. Amen." 
 
 3. In this conclusion, as in the beginning, Paul holds 
 forth to their attention, his own Gospel in opposition 
 to the doctrine which the anti-apostolic teachers incul- 
 cated : and his prayer is, that neither the specious arts 
 of these pretended friends, nor the violence of their 
 open enemies, might divert them from the belief of it. 
 He insinuates, moreover, that his Gospel was con- 
 formable to the preaching of his Lord and Master Je- 
 sus Christ. — " Unto him who hath the power to enable 
 you to stand firm according to my Gospel, a^d 
 
 THE PREACHING OF JeSUS ChRIST." 
 
 4. In vindication of the law and the prophets, which 
 the Gnostics rejected, Paul farther declares that the 
 doctrine which Jesus Christ proclaimed, was founded 
 on a mystic or internal signification, which he unfold- 
 ed or revealed, but which from ancient times lay 
 unobserved in those sacred oracles. — " Unto him 
 who hath power to enable you to stand firm accord- 
 ing to my Gospel and to the preaching of Jesus Christ, 
 according to ike developement of a mystery, which hath 
 been kept secret* from the ages of old, but is nozo clearly 
 disclosed through the prophetic Scriptures. 
 
 K.aT» a;7ro)taAti\]^/y //.vs'yi^tov yr^^ovois unoviots ai.(ri'yni/.iiio'j ' Ac- 
 cording to thtrtvdaiicn of the myitery which was ^ihhuifrojnthe 
 
Chap. XVI.] ANALYSED. 169 
 
 5. Finally, Our author leads the converts to con- 
 clude that the Almighty, so tar from confining his pa- 
 rental regard to a single people, included the whole 
 human race within his providential care ; that he had 
 from eternity decreed the nations should become obe- 
 dient to the faith, and thus participate with the Jews 
 in the privileges of his children ; and that this God 
 who, though hitherto unknown to the Gentiles, existed 
 from eternal ages, (and not the Samaritan unknown 
 God) was now made known to them by the Gospel : 
 " But now clearly disclosed through the prophetic 
 scriptures, ACCORDING to the appointment of 
 THE everlasting God, made (at length) known 
 to all the Gentiles unto an obedience to the faith." 
 
 -»«»«<-®-<-(S>->-e->e«fc— 
 
 I shall conclude with a few inferences, which the 
 view now taken of this celebrated epistle suggests. 
 By him, who admits the solidity of the ground on 
 which I have proceeded in the explanation of it, the 
 justice and importance of these inferences will readily 
 be acknowledged. They will, however, receive abun- 
 dant confirmation from the analytic review, which I 
 intend hereafter to take of the remaining epistles. 
 For this reason I purpose here to give only a brief and 
 
 «ges of old. The term Tiaiynixtva-j is very peculiar; and the use of it 
 no where else occurs, excepting in the Gnostic School, whence our au- 
 thor has copied it. Irenasus thus writes respecting their Aom, Atiovss 
 Tr,s 'TT^acyyis xvruv, bi (rs<riyyi(jisyoi kxi (avi yivucrKoiJi.e>oi. The word 
 had its origin in 2/y*?, (silence) or the fictitious divinity, which the 
 deceivers represent as being v/iih Bjt/ios from eternal ages: at these 
 eternal ages, or ^ons, our Apostle seems here togi ince by the use of 
 the phrase £v ^^ovon cciuviois. The evil Spirit which worked in these 
 sons of destruction, Paul elsewhere calls the /Eon of tfiis world. See 
 Ephes. ii, 2. 
 
fJQ EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 simple Statement of them, deferring their farther justi- 
 fication and enlargement, until I arrive at the conclu- 
 sion of the whole. 
 
 First, then, the Gospel which the Apostle Paul 
 preached, comprehended chiefly the three following 
 articles, the humanity, the real suffering, and 
 the RESURRECTION of the Christ. On ihs. Jirst of 
 these he insisted as essential to salvation, because it 
 followed, contrary to the position of his opponents, that 
 if the Christ was in reality a human being, and the same 
 wiih Jesus of Nazareth, he must have actually suffered: 
 On the second, because the death of Christ was previ- 
 ously requisite to establish the certainty of his resurrec- 
 •tion : On the third, because his resurrection from the 
 dead constitutes the only solid foundation on which 
 can be erected the hope of the future resurrection of 
 mankind, and consequently forms the only conside- 
 ration which, by exhibiting the prospect of a new life, 
 and the sublimity of a future judgment, furnishes ade- 
 quate motives to the eradication of vice and the culti- 
 vation of virtue. 
 
 Secondly, The doctrines, therefore, which teach 
 that Jesus was a supernatural being, and supernatural- 
 ly born ; that he descended from heaven to rescue the 
 human race from the sentence of eternal death, by pay- 
 ing to the Almighty an infinite satisfaction for their 
 sins ; that all mankind were doomed to endless misery, 
 for the venial offence of their progenitors ; that in the 
 transgression of Adam, they forfeited not only their 
 hope but their innocence, and became depraved even 
 before they incurred guilt, and criminal in being en- 
 dued with life ; that while a select happy few, contra- 
 
ANALYSED. I71 
 
 ry to their original inclinations, have been arbitrarily 
 fore-ordained to everlasting felicity, the bulk of men 
 are left for no guilt of their own to perish, or rather to 
 live in eternal torments ; and that some spiritual influ- 
 ence called grace, or faith in certain incomprehensible 
 propositions, and not the cultivation of virtue, qualifies 
 men for the kingdom of God — these doctrines, which 
 originated in the Jewish and Pagan superstitions, which 
 have since been incoxporated with the religion of Jesus 
 during the dark ages, and are believed as sacred truths 
 by the majority of Christians even in these times — 
 these, I say, so far from being comprehended in the 
 Apostolic doctrine, are contradicted in it : since they 
 are but branches, grown indeed in different forms and 
 transplanted into different soils, of that very system 
 which the Apostles themselves opposed. 
 
 The notion that Christ was apre-existent super-an- 
 gelic spirit dwelling in the body of Jesus — this notion 
 which was revived by Arius towards the beginning of 
 the fourth century, and which is now embraced by 
 many good and otherwise intelligent men called after 
 him Arians — is evidently the same with that which 
 Simon Magus and Cerinthus first introduced into the 
 Christian church ; namely, that the Christ was an y£o?i, 
 god, or angel which descended into t]ie man Jesus at his 
 birth or at his baptism. The impostors maintained, that 
 Christ was not the son of the Creator, but of a God 
 superior to him ; and that he came, not to co-operate 
 with Jehovah, but to rescue mankind from subjec- 
 tion to his controul, and from the influence of his arbi- 
 trary commandments. The assertions of our Lord 
 himself levelled against these opinions, that he was the 
 son of the Universal Father, that he came from him. 
 
172 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 and acted with his authority and assistance, and there- 
 fore in point of design was one with him, laid a founda- 
 tion for the second article in the trinitarian faith, that is, 
 for the notion which, in process of time, was adopted, 
 that Christ, instead of being greater than God, as the 
 first vouchers of his divinity supposed, was equal to 
 him ; and instead of being different from the Universal 
 Father as the offspring of a superior divinity, was the- 
 same in substance or essence with him as his own Son. 
 See Vol. ii. p. 391, 416 — 419. 
 
 From the supposition that the Creator was a malevo- 
 lent Being, it followed of course that he wished not the 
 happiness of his moral offspring, nor consented to their 
 deliverance from the sentence of eternal death, unless 
 an ample compensation were made ior their acquittal. 
 Hence the idea, so dishonourable to the Father of 
 the Universe, that he required the death of one 
 equal to himself as the only means of reconciling 
 him to his children. In opposition to the malevolence 
 which those enemies of the true Gospel imputed to 
 God, and upon which, in after times, was founded the 
 doctrine of Christ's atonement, the Apostle in this and 
 in all his other epistles represents him as the benevolent 
 Parent of mankind, exercising mercy towards the Gen- 
 tiles as well as Jews ; loving the world in such a man- 
 ner 3S to give his most beloved Son to die in their be- 
 half ; forgiving the most abandoned their sins, and pro- 
 claiming salvation 10 all without distinction on the 
 simple terms of repentance and reformation. 
 
 The Creator of the world being, according to the de- 
 ceivers, malevolent and depraved, it followed as an ob- 
 vious consequence, that his human offspring naturally 
 
ANALYSED, I73 
 
 partook of his malevolence and depravity. Hence the 
 pernicious tenet that man is wicked by nature — a tenet, 
 which, as it supposes, in the original frame and consti- 
 tution of the human mind, an irresistible bias to what- 
 ever is evil, furnishes at once a powerful incentive, 
 and a specious apology for crimes. Hence, too, rege- 
 neration, which properly interpreted signifies a tho- 
 rough eradication of bad dispositions and habits, or 3 
 complete reformation of manners, is construed to mean 
 a supernatural change effected by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 A notion, derived from whatever source, was trans- 
 mitted amon^ the Jews through successive generations, 
 that all disease, and even natural and moral death, w^ere 
 the effects of sin ; and that the forfeiture of his primi- 
 tive innocence by the founder of our race, had entailed 
 these evils upon all his progeny. This mythological no- 
 tion flowed with the current of Jewish and Pagan su- 
 perstitions into the sanctuary of the Christian Church ; 
 and upon the sandy sediment it there deposited, was 
 in after days founded the Calvinistic doctrine of 
 Original Sin, and of eternal death pronounced upon 
 mankind for the transgression of Adam. 
 
 That a few favourite persons are predestined to be 
 eternally happy, while the majority of the human race 
 are abandoned to everlasting misery, is also a doctrine 
 borrowed from the Jews, who vainly gloried in being 
 the elect or chosen people of God, while the other 
 nations of the earth were doomed to perish in ignorance 
 and vice. 
 
 In opposition to the Judaizing Zealots, who adhered 
 to ceremonial observances, as the mean of securing 
 the divine favour, Paul ^rciiched faith in Jesus ; mean- 
 
J74 ZPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 ing by the term the exercise of refined piety and be- 
 nevolence, arising from a firm belief in a future life, 
 illustrated and confirmed by the resurrection of Christ. 
 In process of time, however, it was forgotten or over- 
 looked, that the Apostle msisted on faith, in preference 
 to ritual- works, merely because it was a more effica- 
 cious principle of conduct ; and from this oversight the 
 word became to signify an implicit assent of the judg- 
 ment to creeds of human invention. Hence, to the dis- 
 honour of the Christian doctrine, faith thus applied, 
 has been made instrumental to exclude all claim to the 
 favour of God, resulting from the practice of virtue, 
 and blindly urged for ages as the only solid ground on 
 which a Christian could erect the hope of salvation. 
 
 Thirdly, The frequency with which the Apostles 
 mention the blood of Christ, the strong language in 
 which they describe his death, and the great efficacy 
 which they connect with it, owe their origin and 
 PROPRIETY to the Gnostic teachers, who denied the 
 reality of his body, ot his suffering, and of his subse- 
 quent resurrection; and who thereby rendered ineffec- 
 tual the powerful influence, which the belief of a fu- 
 ture state, thi'ough the medium of those facts, produced 
 in the lives and tempers of those who embraced them. 
 
 Fourthly, From the decomposition of this epistle, we 
 recop^nize at the bottom the existence of the facts, con- 
 tained in the first volume of the Developcment \ name- 
 ly, the introduction of the Christian doctrine into Rome, 
 the conversion of the Jews and Egyptians, the forma- 
 tion and prevalence of the Gnostic system, the crimes 
 of the impostors, the opposition they made to the go- 
 vernment, the accusations brought against ihe Christi- 
 
ANALYSED. J75 
 
 ans, and their expulsion from the city, &c. &c. To 
 these, frequent and clear allusions are discernible. The 
 epistle indeed is founded upon them, and hence it de- 
 rives its beauty, propriety, and explanation. 
 
 Fifthly, The views which the Zealots and impostors 
 cherished, and which the Apostle Paul opposed, de- 
 monstrate that he was himself governed by no such 
 views, i. e. was neither actuated by a blind zeal, nor by 
 a desire of wilfully imposing upon his followers. For 
 the doctrinal points which he maintained against his op- 
 ponents, the intrepid behaviour with which he sustained 
 false shame, labour and pain in support of the Gospel, 
 and the high virtues, which by his example as well as 
 his preaching he recommended to the converts, render 
 it impossible that he had the weakness to be himself 
 deceived, or the wickedness to deceive others. The 
 contrast, in which we here behold our great and vene- 
 rable Apostle, is indeed forcible and captivating; as it 
 serves to place in their true and native light, his mo- 
 ral and intellectual qualifications. The leading fea- 
 tures which, viewed in this point of observation, mark 
 his character, are divine wisdom, unbiased integrity ; 
 an inflexible adherence, in spite of scorn, reproach, 
 and persecution, to those principles which he knew to 
 be true ; a noble superiority to the false philosophy of 
 the times ; an utter contempt of such knowledge as did 
 not conduce to virtue; and, finally, a holy disdain of 
 the pernicious maxim, that it was lawful to propagate 
 falsehood, under the pretence of promoting truth, and 
 to blend with the pure word of God, which he Avas 
 commissioned to teach, the fictions of men, however 
 specious and flattering to his cause. Though taught 
 
jyS EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 in the school of the Pharisees, that rites and ceremo-, 
 nies formed essential parts of true religion, he now 
 insists upon their abolition as inadequate to effect the 
 ends of virtue ; and recommends to general reception 
 the belief of a new life through the death of Jesus, as 
 the only efficacious mean of producing repentance and 
 reformation. Though he once indulged the fond per- 
 suasion, that Jehovah was in a peculiar manner the 
 tutelar God of Israel, he now represents him, in oppo- 
 sition to the Zealots, as the Father of the whole human 
 race, exercising his parental regard to all the tribes of 
 men, as well as to the descendants of Abraham. i\gainst 
 the Jews he maintained that the Gentiles might share 
 in the blessings of the Gospel without submitting to the 
 ■works of the law, and on the sole condition of obeying 
 its moral precepts. Against the Gentile converts, on 
 the contrary, he asserted the former privileges of the 
 Jews, and urged the duty of respecting and pitying 
 them in their present state of degradation and apostacy. 
 
 To the Christian Church, he recommends the expul, 
 sion of those persons, however distinguished by rank 
 or pretended wisdom, who sought under the fair pro- 
 fession of the new faith only to gratify their love of 
 power, of riches, or of pleasure. In a bold and indig- 
 nant language he arraigns the impostors that affected 
 to be the instructors of others, while they neglected to 
 t.each themselves : And though he openly exposes their 
 artifices, rejects their falsehoods, and humbles their 
 pride, he on no occasion treats them with unnecessary 
 asperity, but endeavours rather to conciliate their fa- 
 
ANALYSED. 
 
 ^n 
 
 vour than incur their resentment. Averse to deline- 
 ate with his own hand, the character of the false 
 teachers, he selects, with great skill and delicacy, pas- 
 sages from the prophetic writings which, like mirrors, 
 reflected their true image to those whom they sought to 
 deceive. Such is the light in which the Apo^tle Paul 
 appears, when we contemplate him, in the course of 
 this epistle, opposing zealots and impostors. The com- 
 parison between him and his false brethren cannot 
 fail to heighten the native lustre of his character. Wc 
 behold him exerting his great and unclouded faculties 
 in the cause of mankind ; and assuming, in opposition 
 to enthusiasm, superstition and imposture, an attitude 
 at once mild, dignified, and commanding : And the 
 enthusiasm, superstition, and imposture, which he 
 thus counteracted, invest him in return with addi- 
 tional splendour ; and, like the dark clouds of the 
 morning, exhibit him to the distant beholder, adorned 
 in all the glories which the newly risen Sun of righte- 
 ousness had spread over the moral horizon. 
 
 Sixthly, No reader, who has perused the remain- 
 ing writings, which Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian in 
 ancient times, and which Voltaire, Paine, and others 
 in modern days, have published against the Christian 
 religion, needs to be informed, that the principal 
 objections urged against its divine original, are drawn 
 from the articles of the orthodox faith. The doctrines 
 of the divinity and miraculous birth of Christ, of the 
 atonement which he is said to have paid for the sins 
 of mankind, and the necessity of believing implicit- 
 ly opinions unsupported by reason — these with others 
 
 VOL. Ill, M 
 
1^"% EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 of the same stamp, which, as it has been justly observed, 
 have concealed the Ahnighty from the views of men, 
 and thrown the luminous orb of reason into shades, 
 supply the most formidable weapons, by which the 
 enemies of the Gospel have attempted to demolish the 
 fair edifice of the Christian hope ; and erect a temple 
 consecrated to infidelity, into which, as into an asy- 
 lum, mankind might flee from the restraints of con- 
 science and the obligations of moral virtue. But 
 from the view, which I have taken of this epistle, it 
 appears, and, from the view which I propose to take 
 of the other epistles, the more satisfactorily will appear, 
 that these doctrines, however essential to the ortho- 
 dox believer, form no part of the religion which was 
 taught by Christ and his Apostles. They, therefore, to- 
 gether with the conclusion erected upon them, tumble 
 to the grounds 
 
 Seventhly, The manner which the Gospel prevailed 
 in Rome, and the wonderful consequences which fol- 
 lowed its introduction and prevalence in that city^ 
 afford a new and additional evidence for the reality of 
 Christ's miracles. Immediately after his public appear- 
 ance his fame spread abroad, and, as soon as time 
 could carry it, reached the metropolis of the empire, 
 some thousands of miles distant from the theatre of his 
 mission. At first it was vaguely rumoured, that a person 
 appeared in Judea, proclaiming the kingdomof the eter- 
 nal God, and Ileal ing, in proof of his delegation, all man- 
 ner of diseases among the people. But this rumour 
 continually gained strength and credit; till, confirmed 
 by multitudes that arrived from that country, it was at 
 length universally regarded as a real fact. General at- 
 tention was now excited ; meetings Were held to en- 
 
ANALYSED. 379 
 
 ^uire who the messenger was, and what might be the 
 purport of his message. The Jews in that city looked up 
 to him as their promised Messiah ; the Egyptians;, not- 
 withstanding their national prejudices, could not deny^ 
 his divine commission, and submitting to his claims, 
 fondly traced his pedigree to the supreme god of their 
 country. The ardour of zeal, and the violence of 
 dispute, excited in the city tumultuous commotions ; 
 which, concurring with the crimes of imposture and the 
 misrepresentations of malice, occasioned the expul- 
 sion oi the contending parties. The philologers around 
 the person of the Prince, pronounced the object of 
 their curiosity to be ^ celestial being descended from 
 heaven for the benefit of mankind; and the. emperor 
 himself proposed to rank him among the tutelar divi- 
 nities of Rome, How are we to account for conse- 
 quences so remote, and for events so stupendous? It 
 is incumbent upon Infidelity to return a satisfactory 
 answer to the question. Jesus Christ did not come 
 recommended to the attention of mankind by supe- 
 rior eloquence and learning. He was not arrayed with 
 the splendour of wealth, nor supported by the autho- 
 rity of power. Considered in a personal and political 
 view, he sustained a character the reYers,e of this pic- 
 ture. He was the son of an obscure carpenter,, who 
 of course earned his bread by his daily labours. Such 
 appears to, have been his poverty, that he had nowhere 
 to lay hi5 head. So far from being educated in the 
 school of human wisdom, he astonished his country- 
 men, when they discovered that he was able to read. 
 The contempt, in which was held the place of his birth, 
 had entailed ignominy upon his name ; and so morti- 
 fying was the reflection of his having died the death of a 
 
 M 2 
 
i8o. EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 slave and a malefactor ; that even his own disciples, for 
 a while, gave up the flattering hope of his being the Re- 
 deemer of Israel. How then, I repeat, are we to account 
 for consequences so remote, for effects so stupendous, 
 produced by a person, humanly considered, so insigni- 
 ficant ? In nothing can we discern the adequate cause 
 bpt in the reality of his miracles. Upon the supposi- 
 tion, that he actually wrought the things ascribed to 
 him in the evangelical records, these consequences and 
 effects, so far from being surprising or improbable, 
 were matters of course. 
 
 Eighthly, The scheme, moreover, which the bitterest 
 enemies of the Gospel, on its first promulgation, plan- 
 ned for counteracting its effects, affords a strong pre- 
 sumptive argument for the truth of the mighty works 
 which the founder is said to have performed. Je- 
 sus Christ, by his discoveries, marked more clearly 
 the line of distinction, which reason Tiad faintly 
 drawn between- virtue and vice, and which the sys- 
 tem of Epicurus now prevalent, not only in Pagan 
 countries, but even in Judea, had a tendency to obli- 
 terate. By new and more powerful sanctions he also 
 invited mankind to pursue the former and to avoid the 
 latter. These sanctions he grounded on the sublime 
 doctrine of a future retribution, which he was delegated 
 to teach ; and the truth of his delegation, he authenti- 
 cated by many public miracles, and particularly by the 
 miracle of his resurrection. Simon Magus and his 
 disciples, who at first joined the declared adversaries 
 of the Christian cause, perceiving the efforts of open 
 violence to be ineffectual, concerted a plan admirably 
 adapted, under the mask of friendship, to undermine a 
 
ANALYSED. l8l 
 
 religion which, by enlightening and reforming man- 
 kind, threatened to defeat the views of priestcraft, am- 
 bition and sensuality. Borrowing two false maxims 
 from the Epicurean school, in which they had been edu- 
 cated, (namely, that the senses furnish no true criterion 
 of the reality of facts, and that the gods, though uninte- 
 rested in the affairs, sometimes appeared in the form 
 of men) they maintained, in countries where Jesus was 
 not personally known, and where therefore any false- 
 hood concerning him might be propagated with the 
 less danger of being refuted, that the Christ was not a 
 human being, but a God, or a demon, in the mere like- 
 ness of a human being ; whereas in Judea, Samaria, and 
 other adjacent regions, where his person, actions, and 
 the circumstances of his death were actually known 
 to the inhabitants, and remained fresh in their memo- 
 ries, they taught that this demon was incorporated with 
 the man Jesus during his ministry, but forsook him on 
 .his apprehension and death. Hence it followed, that 
 as Christ was not in reality a man, he did not in reality 
 suffer death ; and as he did not in reality suffer death, 
 he did not in reality rise from the dead ; and as he did 
 not in reality rise from the dead, there could be no re- 
 surrection of the dead. Thus the life and immortality, 
 which the Saviour brought to light in his Gospel, were 
 again veiled in impenetrable darkness to those who em- 
 braced this artful system ; and the sanctions, by which 
 the new faith enforced the cultivation of superior 
 virtue, deprived entirely of their force. Accordingly, 
 upon the lives of the impostors, the Christian doc- 
 trine, in which they affected to believe, had no moral 
 influence. On the contrary, they became, in a two- 
 fold degree, more the children of hell than they were 
 
1.82 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 before. Now the deceivers, it is contended, would never 
 have recourse to a fiction so wild and chimerical in it- 
 self, so remote from the dictates of common sense, so 
 opposite to the conviction of all who knew the person, 
 heard the discourses, and witnessed the actions of Jesus 
 — to this fiction, it is contended, they never would have 
 had recourse, in order to preclude the consequenceobvi- 
 ously and irresistibly drawn from his miracles, if they 
 could with the least plausibility and effect have denied 
 their reality. These miracles formed the foundation on 
 which was erected the edifi.ce of the Christian faith ; aixi 
 they must have known that, if the foundation were not 
 solid, the edifice itself would have fallen by the slight- 
 est attack ; nor can it be supposed, that a wicked and 
 able adversary would, in his attempt to take the citadel 
 ot our hope, have endeavoured to undermine its fortifi- 
 cations by absurd and impracticable wiles, had he not, 
 from experience and observation, found them to be 
 impregnable to an open and direct assault. Be theo 
 but satisfied of the existence and object of the antichri&» 
 tian system above described, and you must allow that, 
 what the folly and wickedness of men designed to be 
 the grave of the Christian religion, the wisdom and 
 power of God has converted into a monumsnt, on which 
 are inscribed, in legible characters, the mighty works 
 performed by its illustrious founder. 
 
 Ninthly, The Apostle Paul, in as much as in all his 
 epistles he opposes the Gnostic teachers, was un- 
 avoidably led, on some occasions, to use their term.s, 
 to borrow their images, and to copy their allusions. 
 Sometimes too, when he contradicts sentiments that 
 were false and unphilosophical, he, under terms and 
 
ANALY,SED. j83 
 
 . imager thus borrowed, conveyed to his readers senti- 
 anents, analogous indeed to those which he refuted, but 
 at the same time true and philosophical. This circum- 
 stance furnished the very men, whom he proscribe^, 
 with a plausible pretence for asserting, in places where 
 his authority was predominant, and where he was not 
 personally present, that Paul himself, in his letters, oc- 
 <:asionally confirmed their doctrines. Irensus (Lib. i. 
 Chap. xvi. xvii, xviii.) has recorded many specimens 
 of the manner in which they perverted the language of 
 Christ, of his Apostles, and of the prophets, into a 
 justification of the tenets which they taught. And his 
 testimony to this fact is thus remarkably corroborated 
 by the Apostle Peter, " Wherefore, beloved, under ' 
 this expectation, endeavour earnestly to be found by 
 him in peace without spot or blemish : and account 
 this patience of our Lord to be Salvation unto you ; as 
 our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom 
 given him, wrote unto you : as indeed in all his letters, 
 speaking in them upon this subject, which hath some 
 things hard to be understood, which things the 
 
 FOOLISH AND IXNSTABLE WREST, AS ALSO THE 
 
 OTHER Scriptures, to their own destruc- 
 tion." 2 Pet. iii. 14 — x-]. Now what the impostors did 
 through the wickedness and depravity of their hearts, 
 has, from a cause less guilty indeed, but by no means 
 honourable, been done by the supporters of orthodoxy 
 in every age. In imitation of those who first corrupted 
 the Christian religion, they actually appeal to the Great 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, in the defence of their cor- 
 rupt principles ; though his language is directly level- 
 led against them ; though the blaze of his eloquence 
 has in every quarter set them on fire, as constituting 
 
184 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS ANALYSED. 
 
 the wood, bay, stubble which the deceivers built upon 
 another foundation than the man Jesus ; and though 
 his olivine authority exorcised them for a while, as so 
 jnany demons, from the greater body of Christians. 
 
 Finally, The plan, upon which this epistle has been 
 analysed, furnishes, I conceive, two very strong argu- 
 ments in proof of its authenticity.. It derives its expla- 
 nation from circumstances and events which happened 
 in the earliest age of the Christian Church : and it con- 
 tains sentiments which could have come, neither from 
 the Gnostics, nor from the fathers, nor from any 
 other except an Apostolic teacher. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT, 
 
 LATELY PUBLISHED, BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 and sold by 
 
 Mt\ JOHNSON, No. 72, St. Paul's Church-yard, London, 
 
 TWO VOLUMES, ENTITLED, 
 
 A DEVELOPEMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 REMARKABLE EVENTS, 
 
 CALCULATED TO RESTORE THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN RELIGION TO ITS ORIGINAL PURITY, 
 
 and to repel the 
 OBJECTIONS OF UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 TKINTED ^Y HOLDEN AND DOWSOy, HALIFAX. 
 
BS2665 .J77 
 
 The Epistle of Paul to the Romans 
 
 Princeton Theological Semlnary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00067 4921