Verse 14." When the Gentiles, who have not a revealed law, prompted by nature, perform the duties which the law prescribes, they, not having a revealed law, are a law unto themselves." "Nature," says Bishop Butler, "is here put by way of distinction from revelation, and denotes that natural disposition to kindness and compassion, and to do what is of good report that part of the nature of man which with very little reflection and, of course, leads him to society, and by means of which he naturally acts a just and good part in it, unless other passions or interest lead him astray. But since other passions and regards to private interest, which lead us astray, are themselves equally natural, the former, good and just as they are, can no more be a law to us than the latter. But there is a superior principle of reflection or conscience in every man, which distinguishes between the internal principles of his heart, as well as his external actions, which passes judgment upon himself and them, pronounces determinately some actions to be, in themselves, good, right, just -others to be, in themselves, evil, wrong, unjust-which, without being consultedwithout being advised with, magisterially exerts itself, and approves or condemns him, the doer of them, accordingly, and which, if not forcibly stopped, naturally and always, of course, goes on to anticipate a higher and more effectual sentence, which shall hereafter second and confirm its own. is by this faculty, natural to man, that he is a moral agent-that he is a law to himself; by this faculty, not to be considered merely as a principle in his heart, which

It

13 (For not the mere hearers of the law are righteous in the sight of God, but the doers of the law shall be justified;

14 For when the Gentiles, who have not a revealed law, prompted by nature, perform the duties which the law pre

is to have some influence as well as others, but considered as a faculty in kind, and in nature supreme over all others, and which bears its own authority for being so-that principle by which we survey, and either approve or disapprove our own heart, temper, and actions, is not only to be considered as what is, in its turn, to have some influence (which may be said of every passion-of the lowest appetites), but likewise as being superior, as from its very nature claiming superiority over all others, insomuch that you cannot form a notion of this faculty, conscience, without including judgment, direction, superintendency-this is a constituent part of the idea, that is, of the faculty itself; had it strength, as it has right-had it power, as it has manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world. This faculty was placed within us to be our proper governor-to direct and regulate all under-principles, passions, and motives of action-this is its right and office-thus sacred is its authority-and how often soever men violate, and rebelliously refuse to submit to it, for the sake of supposed interest, or to gratify passion, this makes no alteration as to the natural right and office of conscience; hence, exclusive of revelation, man cannot be considered as a creature left by his Maker to act at random, and live at large, up to the extent of his natural power, as passion, humour, wilfulness happen to carry him— which is the condition brute creatures are in-but from his make, constitution, or nature, he is, in the strictest sense, a law to himself he has the rule of right within, what is wanting is only that he honestly attend to it. Let any plain, honest man, before he engages in any course of action, ask himself, 'Is this I am going about right, or is it wrong?—is it good, or is it evil?' I do not, in the least, doubt but that this question would be answered agreeably to truth and virtue, by almost any fair man, in almost any circumstances—

scribes, they, not having a revealed law, are a law unto themselves.

15 For they show that the work of the law-the distinction of right and wrong—is written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to it, and their

for a man to judge that to be the equitable, the just, the moderate, the right part for him to act, which he would see to be hard, unjust, oppressive in another, this is plain vice, and can proceed only from great unfairness of mind. Your obligation to obey this law of conscience is, its being the law of your nature-that your conscience approves of, and attests to such a course of action, is itself alone an obligation-conscience does not only offer to show us the way we should walk in, but it likewise carries its own authority with it, that it is our natural guide-the guide assigned us by the author of our nature.'

Verse 15." Their reasonings amongst each other accusing them, or else pleading in their defence." Although the dictates of conscience are too often unheeded, and her admonitions stifled by selfishness, or drowned in the tumult of passion, yet our sense of this sacred monitor's authority is evinced with abundant clearness in the judgments which we pass on the conduct of others, and in the jealousy with which we defend ourselves against their reproaches the dullest soul can condemn the wrong which itself has felt, and would gladly find excuse for its own violations of duty-every being, therefore, endowed with this faculty of conscience, is under the government of law and amenable to future judgment.

Verse 17.-"Thou callest thyself a Jew, and restest in the law." The Jews supposed that man has sufficient power and freedom of will to determine himself to virtue and goodness-to perform all righteousness-that he only needs some law as the matter or object about which to exercise this power-that the law delivered from Mount Sinai (although it was as a dead letter merely without them) was a sufficient dispensation from God for advancing them to perfection and blessedness; that the

reasonings amongst each other accusing them, or else pleading in their defence.)

17 Behold, thou callest thyself a Jew, and restest in the law-as a proof of God's favour -and makest thy boast of God;

18 And knowest his will,

scope and end of it was nothing but to afford them several ways and means of merit, and that all Israelites have a portion in the world to come by virtue of the law, which was given to enrich them with good works, to augment their merits, and so to establish the foundation of life and blessedness amongst them. They also depended much on their descent from Abraham, and on the covenant of circumcision, as giving them a title to the favour of God, alleging that since the Israelites are signed with the holy seal in their flesh, they are thereby acknowledged for the sons of God; while they who are not sealed with this mark in their flesh, are not sons of God, but children of uncleanness. But St. Paul reminds them that the blessings promised in the covenant of circumcision, and in the law of Moses, were conditional, and belonged only to those who faithfully kept that covenant, and fulfilled the law; that the carnal ordinance of circumcision was symbolical of moral purity, and implied that "the heart and all the members being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, they should in all things be obedient to God's blessed will." (The reader will find a learned and interesting account of the opinions on these points prevalent among the Jews, in Smith's "Select Discourses"-Discourse on Legal and on Evangelical Righteousness, chaps. ii. and iii.) The apostle does not deny the great privileges the Jews possessed, as the chosen people of God, the depositories of his law, and instructed in his true nature and worship, but simply inquires whether the light that had been imparted to them had produced its proper fruit of superior holiness in their lives, without which it would only aggravate their condemnation; and concludes by alleging, that the same reproach might be addressed to the Jews of his time as had been uttered by the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel against their contemporaries, of having, by their

and bringest to the test things which differ, being instructed out of the law;

19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light to them that are in darkness,

20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes,—of the simple and ignorant and that thou hast the form of knowledge and of the truth delineated in the law.

21 Thou, therefore, that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?-dost thou profane holy things?

23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking that law dishonourest thou God?

wickedness, caused the holy name of Jehovah to be dishonored among the Gentiles; and intimates, that far from being entitled to boast over the Gentiles, the latter might rise in judgment against them, and condemn them, as our blessed Lord had alleged that the men of Tyre and of Nineveh would condemn the generation that had rejected Him.

Verses 19, 20.-The Gentiles being without the light of revelation were called by the Jews, "the blind"- "the nations that were sitting in darkness" (Isaiah ix. 2; xlii. 6, 7; Luke i. 79; Eph. v. 8). "The babes" probably are the proselytes to the Jewish law, whom they accounted as infants newly-born.

Verses 21 to 24.- Josephús, not many

24 For the name of God is blasphemed thro' your means among the Gentiles, so that to you may be applied the reproach uttered by the prophets against the Jews of their day, as it is written (Is.lii.5; Eze. xxxvi. 20). 25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law; but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become virtually uncircumci

sion.

26 If, therefore, the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

27 And shall not he that is in the natural state of uncircumcision, if he fulfil the law, judge thee, who, notwithstanding that thou possessest the letter of the law and the rite of circumcision, art a transgressor of the law?

28 For he is not a Jew-in the true meaning of the term

years after St. Paul, thus addresses his countrymen-"These crimes which men commonly conceal-thefts, I mean, and circumventions and adulteries - ye consider in no wise disreputable, but, on the contrary, vie with each other in the perpetration of open robbery and murder, and strike out for yourselves new and strange ways of wickedness; nay, the very temple has been made a receptacle for all your enormities, and that holy place, which even the Romans venerated afar off, has been polluted by the hands of its own children."-Jew. War, b. v., c. ix., § 4. (Isai. lii. 5; Ezek xxxvi. 20; 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14; Neh. v. 9.)

Verses 28, 29.-"Our spirit must be pure as our hand, the heart as regular as the action, our purpose must be sanctified,

who is such only in outward appearance; neither is that the circumcision approved of God, which is only outward and apparent in the flesh:

29 But he is a Jew-and will of God be acknowledged as such

-who is such inwardly in his heart, and the circumcision approved of God is that of the heart, in spirit, not in the mere letter of the commandment; such a man shall have praise not merely of men, but of God, who seeth the heart.

and our thoughts holy-we must love our neighbour as well as relieve him; therefore, the prophets, foretelling the kingdom of the Gospel-the state of this religion, call it a writing the laws of God in our hearts. We are all heirs of the same inheritance, but now we are not to be accounted God's people for the outward conformity to the law, but for the inward consent and obedience to those purities which were secretly signified by the types of Moses. We are not judged by the outward act, but by the mind and intention, though the act must follow in all instances where we can, and where they are required."-Taylor. Substituting "baptism" for "circumcision," and "Christian" for “Jew,” Christians may apply, with profit to themselves, the admonition here given by the apostle to the Jews (Deut. x. 16; xxx. 6; Jer. iv. 4; Col. ii. 11, 12; 1 Pet. iii. 21; Phil. iii. 3). The last words of the chapter-" whose praise is not of men but of God"-seem to convey an allusion to the name of Judah, which signifies "praise" (Gen. xxix. 35; xlix. 8).

CHAP. III.

As the statement just made by the apostle might be considered disparaging and offensive by the Jews (who were persuaded that every Israelite, marked with the seal of circumcision, was certain of a portion in the world to come), he hastens to allay their prejudices, by affirming that the Jews, nevertheless, were highly favoured beyond all other nations, in virtue of the covenant of circumcision; and first,

CHAP. III.

1 WHAT, then, is the privilege of the Jew? or what the advantage of circumcision?

2 Much every way; for in the first place it is a noble privilege that to them (the Jews) were committed the oracles of God.

3 For what if some have been unfaithful, shall their unfaithfulness cause the faithfulness of God to cease?-cause him to fail in the fulfilment of his promises to them that trust

in the list of their advantages, he places their noble privilege of being the depositories of the oracles of God-the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. The two questions of verse 1 correspond to the statements in chap. ii. 28, that to be a Jew externally, or to bear the outward mark of circumcision, is not sufficient for acceptance with God; these two questions being in effect the same, a single answer suffices for both. Verses 1 and 2 may be paraphrased thus: "But if the pure in heart only shall be accepted of God, and if they be equally accepted, whether they be Gentiles or Jews, circumcised or uncircumcised, what, it may be asked, is the privilege of the Jew? or what the advantage attending circumcision? To this I reply, that the Jews enjoy various and great privileges; for, in the first place, it is a noble privilege that to them were committed the oracles of God." He enlarges further on their privileges in chap. ix. 4; here, instead of pursuing the subject, he stops to consider certain objections which might be made to his statement. The reflection will naturally arise in every Christian mind, if the apostle thought so highly of this privilege of the Jews, how precious, then, are the privileges of those who, in addition to the Jewish scriptures, possess the clearer light of the Gospel! and how deeply criminal are they who endeavour to hinder its free circulation! The fact that this treasure of divine truth had been neglected or abused by some, did not, in Paul's judgment, render it the less a blessing to those who were willing

Verses 3, 4.-"For what if some have been unfaithful" he deals tenderly with his countrymen, speaking of the defection of the greater part of the nation as if it were only the disobedience of some few, in the hope, perhaps, of yet winning many of them to embrace the offer of salvation"shall their unfaithfulness cause God to fail in the performance of his promises to those who trust in him and obey him? No; God forbid !" If God's promises be not fulfilled, it is only because men have forfeited them by disobedience, so that to him must be ascribed the honour of being righteous, and to us the shame of departing from truth. When David was visited with heavy punishment for his crimes, far from impeaching the truth of God's promises, or charging him with unfaithfulness, he, with deep self-abasement, confessed, in the words quoted by the apostle, that his sin was justly punished, and thus served more clearly to illustrate the righteousness of God-" and mightest prevail when thou art judged." God is judged whenever the truth of his word or the goodness of his providence is distrusted, as well as when the justice of his dealings is called in question, and he is ever the victor when the creature enters into such a controversy with him.

6 No; God forbid! for then how shall God judge the world?

7 For if the truth of God hath been more abundantly manifested, by means of my lie, unto his glory, why am yet, notwithstanding that, judged as a sinner?

8 Nay, rather, why should we not (as is slanderously reported of us, and as some allege that we say) do evil, that good may ensue? whose condemnation (whoever they be that hold such a principle) is just.

Verses 5 to 8 May be paraphrased thus-"But if, as the psalmist states, our unrighteousness serves to commend the righteousness of God-serves to render it more conspicuous and more admirable_ what shall we say? is God to be accounted unrighteous when he putteth forth his anger against that which conduceth to his praise? (I speak after the manner of men, who, if the issues of an action be such as they desire, care not to visit the agent with punishment for his evil motives.) No; God forbid for in that case how should God judge the world? If, because our wickedness has given occasion for a more glorious manifestation of the divine perfections, it were unjust in God to visit that wickedness with punishment, this absurd conclusion would follow, that God could not judge the world, sin would have entire impunity, and the functions of the judge be completely suspended-for if by means of my lie-my unfaithfulness--the truth-the faithfulness-of God has been displayed more abundantly, to the praise of the glory of his grace (and we know that God, who maketh the wrath of man to praise him, will always overrule the designs of the wicked, and make them conducive to his own glory), why should I yet be condemned as a sinner? Nay, on this ground we might build not only a plea for exemption from judgment, but an argument for the commission of sin, and say, 'Let us do evil that God may be more abundantly glorified, and so good may ensue from our wicked conduct;' this is a principle which we, the preachers of the

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