soon as he desired, to explain the causes of his delay; and, in the mean time, to address to them such teaching and exhortation as their case required. That such is the tone of his Epistle throughout, must be recognized by every attentive reader. I adduce but two passages in illustration of the remark.

After a declaration of his divinely commissioned Apostleship, St. Paul proceeds to address the Christians at Rome. "For I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey, by the will of God, to come to you; for I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, how that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, as among other Gentiles."* It is all the language of a spiritual father, who feels that those to whom he writes have no other father, and that he has a duty toward them of oversight and ministration; who would convince those to whom he is thus related that he has not willingly neglected them; that he longed to see them, and that he constantly remembered them in his prayers. He purposed oftentimes to go to them, he longed to see them,-he desired both to

*Rom. i. 8-14..

impart and to receive spiritual gifts. It is incredible that St. Paul should have written in this strain if St. Peter had been Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ.

Similar in its tone and purport to this introduction is St. Paul's language toward the close of the Epistle. "But as it is written to whom he was not spoken of they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand. From which cause also I have been much hindered in coming to you; but now, having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain I will come to you, for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints; when therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come unto you by Spain. And I am sure that when I come unto you I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Now, I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen."

Here the Apostle declares that he has had a great desire these many years to go to Rome, but had been many ways hindered. But now he trusts to see them on his in his purposed visit to Spain. He ex

way,

presses the hope that after he shall have some time enjoyed their company, they (some of them, we may suppose) will accompany him on his way thither. He repeats the assurance that he will visit them on his way to Spain; he feels sure that he will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. He asks their prayers that he may be delivered from his enemies in Judea, and reach them, and be refreshed by them. What is this but the courteous Christian language of one who feels that he has alike duties and prerogatives among those to whom he writes, and expects the welcome and the attention which is appropriate from those by whom they are recognized?

Such was the relation of St. Paul to the infant Church of Rome. As Rome was mistress of the nations, and the radiating center of influence and power throughout the world, St. Paul could not but see how supremely important to the future interests of the church it was that the Church of Rome should be rightly constituted; that it should hold fast to the truth as it is in Jesus; and should exhibit holiness, consistency, and zeal. Hence, in the midst of his overwhelming labors, which had long hindered his earnest desire to visit the church at Rome, he addressed to them his most elaborate Epistle. He wished to mould that church to such a form and animate it with such a spirit as that its commanding influence should be exerted in behalf of the pure Gospel of Christ, unmixed with Pagan or Jewish With the then condition of the Church of Rome, with its practical holiness of zeal, he seems to have been entirely satisfied. He thanks God that their faith is spoken of throughout the world. He

errors.

not only wishes to impart unto them some spiritual gift, but he expects to be comforted by their mutual faith. Even his painstaking confutation of Judaizing errors seems to be made with no special reference to the peculiar prevalence of such errors at Rome, but rather in view of their general dissemination among Jewish converts, and for purposes of warning and instruction. It will be interesting to examine what were the great truths which St. Paul was so earnest in impressing upon the Church of Rome, just as it was assuming an organized existence, in order that the pure and unchangeable Gospel of Christ might, through all the world and all the ages, radiate from that central seat its clear and steady light. Let us briefly examine the purport of the Epistle.

II. It treats of many topics, but its main argument is not difficult to be discerned. The points which he most wishes to impress and the errors which he is most anxious to confute are clear enough.

He opens the Epistle with salutations and blessings. He then proceeds to show what was the condition of mankind, and begins with the pagan world. It is a dark, awful, but unexaggerated picture which he draws of the pagan character, the justice of which must have been abundantly evident to the Christian residents at Rome. That such wickedness cannot escape the justice of God, is his first conclusion. Then he turns to the Jews. He warns them not to boast because of their superior privileges over the Gentiles. Their circumcision cannot save them if they obey not the law. But they neither do nor can keep the law. What follows? "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." Of what use was

the law then if it could not be kept? His answer is, "By the law is the knowledge of sin." When sin is both known and felt, then there is preparation for salvation.

From this point, toward the conclusion of the third chapter, opens his grand argumentation, chiefly with the Jew, and yet incidentally sometimes, and always by implication, with the Gentile. THE great point and argument of the Epistle is this: Neither the Gentile by observing the law of his natural conscience, nor the Jew by observing the divine law, can obtain salvation. They can only attain to the knowledge that it is unattainable, and that they are lost.

But for the salvation of the lost, Christ Jesus is revealed. Because all have sinned he assumed the sins of all, and died to atone for all. God accepts the atonement, and pardons all who by believing can receive the Holy Ghost, and become holy. The Gentile and the Jew alike may believe and live. The Jew is taught that all the sacrifices of the law, which atoned for ceremonial sins, for the temporal punishment of some violations of the moral law, were intended to point his faith to the one great sacrifice, which was to come and has come, Christ, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.

Now it results from this statement that man cannot be saved by works of any kind. It was just because he could not be, that Christ came and laid down his life. Now that he has come and presented that which was a substitute for impossible obedience, it is of course still impossible that the still impossible obedience should secure salvation. No means remains but to accept the salvation which Christ has wrought.

To accept it is to believe. To be