The notion of depth, as a quality, attributed alike to God's riches, and wisdom, and knowledge, is first expanded in the next couplet

How inscrutable are his judgments;

And untraceable his ways!

Riches, wisdom, and knowledge are then, in a fine epanodos, enlarged upon in the inverted order; first, knowledge

For who hath known the mind of the Lord?

Secondly, wisdom

Or who hath been his counsellor ?

Thirdly, riches

Or who hath first given unto him,
And it shall be repaid him again?

Let now the most skilfully executed cento from the heathen classics be compared with this finished scriptural Mosaic of St. Paul, the former, however imposing at first view, will, on closer inspection, infallibly betray its patchwork jointing and incongruous materials; while the latter, like the beauties of creation, not only bears the microscopic glance, but the more minutely it is examined the more fully its exquisite organization is disclosed. The fathers also often quote and combine Scripture; let their complex quotations be contrasted with those of the apostle; the result may be readily anticipated." I cannot entirely acquiesce in the foregoing criticism (ingenious though it be) of this able scholar and excellent divine. The burst of praise with which the apostle so appropriately closes his survey of God's amazing wisdom and goodness, is not a Mosaic, formed by the elaborate dovetailing of fragments of Scripture, but the warm outpouring of a heart filled with grateful admiration and love. From his childhood, St. Paul had been familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, and his mind was thoroughly imbued with their spirit; his reflections would naturally borrow a tinge from the fountain of which he had drunk so deeply; and when, as in the present instance, warmed with the contemplation of a grand and glorious subject, he would give utterance to his feelings of devotion, his thoughts and language would, without effort and of course, be assimilated to the style and sentiments of the prophets; it is to this cause, surely, and not to any studied or elaborate adaptation of selected fragments, that the resemblances are to be ascribed, which Bishop Jebb has traced with so much ability.

CHAP. XII.

Verse 2.-evapeoTov. Compare Eph. v. 8-10.

Verse 3.—δια της χάριτος. By this expression he means the grace which qualified him for the becoming discharge of his apostolic duty. Compare δι' ου ελαβομεν χαριν και αποστολην (chap. i. 5) ; δια την χαριν την δοθεισαν μοι ὑπο του Θεου εις το είναι με λειτουργον Ιησου Χριστου (chap. xv. 15); και γνοντες την χαριν την δοθεισαν μοι, &c. (Gal. ii. 9). μετρον πιστεως. The measure of faith was also the measure of the extraordinary gifts bestowed for the edification of the church—rov yap xapioμatos altiový tσTIS—“ for faith is the cause of these gifts," says Chrysostom; and they were given—κaтa to Tηs Tlσtews μeтpov—“ according to the measure of their faith," says Theodoret (Eph. iv. 7).

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Verse 5.—ɩ πоλλo, "the many," "the multitude of believers collectively" (compare chap. v. 15, 19; 1 Cor. x. 17).

ó de κaľ čɩs, “but individually." A similar expression is found in 3 Maec. v. 34—ὁ καθ ̓ εις δε των φίλων σκυθρωπως ὑπεκρεων, &c.—and in Mark xiv. 19, and John viii. 9—ɩs kaľ éis (compare Rev. xxi. 21). Mr. Alford adopts the reading To de κaľ čɩs, “but as regards individuals,” as better supported by MSS. This irregular form of speech (Lucian calls it solecism) was probably derived from the LXX.

Verse 6.—In delivering his precepts, the apostle has studied brevity to a remarkable degree; his sentences, in consequence, abound in ellipses, but the words to be supplied are, for the most part, readily suggested by the context. Thus, after προφητειαν here, supply τις εχει προφητευετω.

Κατα την αναλογιαν της πιστεως. The interpretation of this phrase given by the ancient expositors, and generally adopted by scholars, makes it nearly equivalent to ὡς ὁ θεος εμερισεν μετρον πιστεως (verse 3)—“Let him that is endowed with the gift of prophecy, prophesy according to the proportion of the gift or ability bestowed on him, and not pretend to more than he has received." Chrysostom, Ecumenius, and Theophylact, as quoted by Whitby, say––ει γαρ και χαρις εστι τοσούτον μεντοι επιρρει όσον αν ευρη σκευος πιστεως αυτη προσενεχθεν—“ For though it is a gift of grace, it yet flows in, just in proportion as it finds a vessel of faith prepared to receive it." Some, however, take the words of the text to mean, "let his teaching correspond with the fundamental truths of the Gospel, and by the plain words of Scripture let him expound the less plain, so that

the

the superstructure may agree with the foundation, and what he preaches with what is already received." This, no doubt, is a valuable rule, and not to be neglected in the interpretation of Scripture; but this technical meaning of the "analogy of faith" did not come into use until long after age of the apostle, who, it may be inferred from the context, especially when compared with 1 Cor. xiv., employs the phrase, not in this sense, but as a caution against any unbecoming exercise of the spiritual gifts which were then vouchsafed for the edification and extension of the church. On the benefit resulting from this subdivision of labour in the primitive church, Doctor Chalmers thus expresses himself" In the time of the apostles, the work of the Christian ministry was broken into manifold departments, and we then beheld the goodly spectacle of a well-going church, having its business conducted and carried forward by a well-stocked agency. The tendency now is in an opposite direction-to abridge and economize, and thus mutilate and impair the original machinery of a Christian church.” Bishop Horsley, and others, have remarked that 1 Cor. xii. 8-10 reckons nine distinct gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of the extraordinary kind, and that verse 28 enumerates just as many ecclesiastical offices, and that the gifts and the offices taken in their order seem to correspond; they are as

up

As all inferior offices are included in superior, so the higher and rarer gifts contain the lower and more common. If we compare with the above the gifts enumerated in the text, it will be apparent, that a far more ample measure of those extraordinary endowments had been dealt to the Corinthian church than had yet been imparted to the Christians at Rome. The obvious cause of the difference, and, as it seems to us, the only one that

can, with any probability, be assigned, is that the apostles alone were empowered to communicate those gifts, and that none of them had yet visited Rome, whereas St. Paul, at least, if none else, had been, for a long time, at Corinth, before the date of his epistle to that church. A like enumeration of ecclesiastical offices, so far as relates to gifts of instruction, occurs in Eph. iv. 11—“ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers"-where evangelists are set before pastors and teachers, probably because they had a wider charge, and were commissioned to bear the Gospel message to those who had not yet heard the glad tidings of salvation. Their office seems to be designated in our text by the term diakovia; but St. Paul makes no mention of apostles here, because hitherto there had been no apostle at Rome.

Verse 7.-After the datives in this verse, we must supply μevetw, or σπουδαιος εστω, or some such words.

Verse 8.-μeradidova, in the New Testament, usually signifies, "to bestow of one's own (see chap. i. 11; Eph. iv. 28; 1 Thess. ii. 8; Luke iii. 11; also in LXX., Job. xxxi. 17; Prov. xi. 26).

aλorηs here, doubtless, has its ordinary meaning, "singleness of heart,” an honest desire to serve God faithfully; this, of course, implies cheerfulness and liberality on the part of the giver (see Eph. vi. 5; Col. iii. 22).

ὁ προϊσταμενος, εν σπουδή, scil., προΐστασθω. This precept, coming between that of bestowing of one's goods to the public stock, and that of visiting the afflicted, probably relates to the duty of superintending the distribution of the church's alms. It was for this duty the deacons were appointed (Acts vi. 1-4), and it is obvious that the satisfactory performance of it would require much diligence, so difficult is it to still the querulous spirit of the poor. If the office extended to the care of strangers, as it probably did, the word #poïσraμevos would be all the more applicable; thus Phoebe, the deaconess, is called TроσтаTIS, 66 a succourer" (chap. xvi. 2), and in classic Greek, πроïσтavαι means to protect and succour suppliant strangers ;" thus Euripides, Heraclidæ, verse 307—

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“ δι τοσησδ' οικουμένης Ελληνιδος γης, τωνδε προϋστησαν μονοι.”

And again, verse 1037

66 τοιούτων ξενων

προύστητε.”

According to Theophylact-προΐστασθαι εστι το βοηθειν και δια ρημάτων

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και δια του σώματος αυτου τῳ βοηθειας δεομένῳ — the meaning of προϊστ τασθαι is to succour by speech, and even by personal exertion the man who is in need of succour."

Verse 9.—ἡ αγαπη ανυπόκριτος, scil., εστω. αποστυγουντες denotes intense aversion ; κολλωμενοι, firm adhesion. After the participles and adjectives in this and the next four verses, the imperative, εστε, must be supplied; this form of expression was perhaps adopted as best suited to express an habitual frame of mind-a settled disposition; it is a form of frequent occurrence in the LXX. (see Gen. i. 6; iv. 17; xv. 13; xxvi. 35; xxxi. 40; xxxix. 22, 23). Compare Heb. xiii. 5—apıλapyvpos å τροπος, αρκούμενοι τοις παρουσιν. The resemblance to our text is remarkable, and has been noticed by Dr. C. Wordsworth, as affording additional weight to the received opinion, that St. Paul was the author of the epistle to the Hebrews.

Verse 10.—τη τιμη αλληλους προηγουμενοι. This is equivalent to the precept, αλληλους ηγούμενοι υπερέχοντας εαυτων (Phil. ii. 3); the expression is well illustrated by the following extract from an ancient canon, Concil. Antiochen., can. 9 :—τους καθ ̓ ἑκαστην επαρχιαν επισκοπους ειδεναι χρη τον εν τη μητροπολει προεστωτα επισκοπον και την φροντιδα αναδεχεσθαι πασης της επαρχίας, δια το εν τη μητροπολει πανταχόθεν συντρεχειν παντας τους τα πραγματα έχοντας, ὅθεν εδοξε και τῇ τιμῇ προηγείσθαι αυτον [t. i. 595, ed. Harduin, A.D. 341]. “ The bishops in every province ought to know that the bishop who presides in the metropolis of the province takes on him also the care of the entire province, for that all who have business to settle, flock from every side to the metropolis; wherefore, it has been determined to give him precedence also in honour."

Verse 11.—The reading, τω καιρω δουλευοντες, although adopted by Griesbach, is scarcely worthy of consideration on any ground; it is in fact contradictory to verse 2—μη συσχηματίζεσθαι τω αιωνι τουτω (see Col. iii. 23, 24).

Verse 16.- το αυτο εις αλληλους φρονουντες, “ be united amongst each other in sentiments and affections.” Compare 2 Cor. xiii. 11—το αυτο φρονειτε, ειρηνευετε, και ὁ θεος αγαπης και ειρηνης εσται μεθ' υμων—and Phil. ii. 2—πληρωσατε μου την χαραν ίνα το αυτο φρονητε, την αυτην αγαπην έχοντες συμψυχοι, το ἑν φρονουντες—where το αυτο φρονητε is explained by what follows (see below, chap. xv. 5).

Verse 19 αλλα δοτε τοπον τῇ οργῇ. The following is Chrysostom's