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eavier responsibility

an Ipon those who 10152. 1 Trtue of this, the acent Forews vere rendered 130 207 de oud have been, and - ank [ zat ceeunt nore deeply quemmation: i though they CO uch "nese Scriptures kers feestal blessedness and zure Tust lave been ear prepondze you bat was endered over the evil

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Pig vas purred, seeing to be ufirmed by the mynitri arter is ment that there was a We will not re

Unge won ne whole. je prications which we have already made jestvic statement, to the object of vindinterprise, by sending the light anity abroad-or vindieatng more extensively than tion at home. But be is wrong to abstain from if good, lest evil should

come as it were to do that which is in itself evil, that good may come. Nor, however powerfully they may have operated in retarding the best of causes, is there any thing in the objections to which we there adverted, that ought to keep back our direct and immediate entrance upon the bidden field of "Go and teach all nations"-"Go and preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven."

verses.

6

The apostle we conceive to be still speaking in his own person, throughout the third and fourth It is to be remarked that some' in the original signifies a part of the whole, but not necessarily a small part of it. It may be a very great part and majority of the whole-as in that passage of the book of Hebrews, where it is said "some when they had heard did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses." The truth is, that, as far as we historically know of it, all did provoke God upon that occasion, save Joshua and Caleb, and those younger of the people who were still incapable of bearing arms. And in Timothy we read that some shall depart from the faith' though the apostle is there speaking of that overwhelming apostacy of the middle ages, which left so faint and feeble a remainder of light to Christendom for many centuries. And, in like manner, were they the greater number of the Jews, who were only so in the letter, and in the outward circumcision; and were not so in spirit, or in the circumcision of the heart. They were greatly the more considerable part who did not believe; and yet, in the face of this heavy deduction from the good actually rendered to the Jews, could the

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apostle still stand up in the vindication of those promises which God held forth to their ancestors; of a blessing upon those who should come after them letting us know, that, though they were the many who aggravated their own condemnation, and the few who by inheriting the privileges inherited a blessing, yet the truth of God here called the faith of God, was not unfulfilled—that whatever comes in the shape of promise or of prophecy from Him, will have its verification-that whatever be the deceitfulness of man, God will still retain the attribute given to Him by the apostle elsewhere, even that He cannot lie. So that, should it be questioned whether the family of Israel, in consequence of God's dealing with them, had an advantage over all the other families, it will be found in the holy and faithful men of the old dispensation, few as they were; and it will be found on the great day of manifestation, when all the reverses of Jewish history from the first calling forth of Abraham to their last glorious restoration shall have been accomplished—that He will be justified in every utterance He made respecting them, and that He will overcome when He is judged of it. 'God forbid' is in the original simply Let it not be.'

In the fifth verse the apostle again brings forward his objector, and puts into his mouth an argument. It is our unrighteousness, says he, which hath made room for God's righteousness in its place, which sets it off as it were, and renders it so worthy of acceptation; and, if this be the case, might it not be said that it is not righteous in God to

inflict wrath for that which hath redounded so much to the credit and the manifestation of His own attributes? This objection is brought forward in another form in the 7th verse. If God's truth have been rendered more illustrious by my lie, or by my sin, and so He has been the more glorified in consequence-why does He find fault with me, and punish me for sins which advance eventually His honour? Should not we rather sin that God's righteousness may be exalted, and do the instrumental evil that the ultimate good may come out of it? The apostle gives two distinct answers to these questions, after giving us a passing intimation in the 5th verse, that he is not speaking in his own person as an apostle when he brings forward these objections, but only speaking as a man whom he supposes to set himself against the whole of his argument; and tells us also in the 7th verse that the maxim of doing evil that good may come, which he here supposes to be pled by an unbelieving Jew, was also charged, but slanderously charged, upon Christians. The way in which he sets aside. the objection in the 5th verse is, that, if admitted, God would be deprived of His power of judging the world—and the objection in the 7th and 8th verses is set aside by the simple affirmation, that if there be any who would do evil that good may come, their condemnation is just.

Before urging these lessons any further, let us offer a paraphrase of these verses.

'What is the advantage then possessed by the Jew, it will be said, or what benefit is it to him that he is of the circumcision? We answer that

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is eaten that whatever of nan. So will retain die auch me mEnde apostle elsewhere, E. zamoc je. So that should it be Bestudet Vietter the family of Israel in eonseSINH SẼ VÌ ĐI VÀ em halan advan tare al the iter ambes, it will be found in the boy and amfilmen of the old dispensation, J & T Tere; and it will be found on the great day of manifestation when all the reverses A Jewish Estory from the first calling forth of Abraham to their last glorious restoration shall have been accomplished—that He will be justified in every utterance He made respecting them, and that He will overcome when He is judged of it. God forbid is in the original simply Let it not be."

In the fifth verse the apostle again brings forward his objector, and puts into his mouth an argument. It is our unrighteousness, says he, which hath made room for God's righteousness which sets it off as it were, and rend of acceptation; and, if this be the not be said that it is not rig