of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their women, forgetting the modesty of their sex, did change the natural use into that which is against nature;

27 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 receiving in themselves in the utter debasement of their nature-that recompence of their folly which

was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to

σε Το

20; Jer. x. 14; xiii. 25), and to worship them is, by the apostle, emphatically called, changing the truth of God into a lie, inasmuch as they have no truth, substance, or efficacy whatsoever, and to trust in them is to dream and dote upon mere nothinga lamentable and criminal folly, of which it could scarcely be credited that man, with all his boasted faculties, could be guilty, were not the humiliating fact so fully attested by the records and monuments of heathen superstition, both ancient and modern, and (oh! shame that it may be added) by the debasing practices of a large sect of professing Christians. admire and worship," says Barrow, "to place our choice affections upon, to afford lowly submission unto, to rest our hope and confidence in any other but Him who alone truly so far excels us, is most unjust and injurious to God, to whom, as to the author of our being, and of all our good received since our birth, we do owe all that our minds can yield of reverence-all that our hearts can hold of affection-all that our tongues can utter of praise-all that our utmost might can perform of service; to bestow those acts of homage upon any other being, is to debase and derogate from their worth, and to withdraw them, in great measure, from him, so withholding his due, for we cannot together serve divers masters." The apostle, apparently for relief to his feelings, shocked at the odious spectacle of heathen superstition, lifts his heart in devout adoration to him who alone is to be worshipped-the everblessed God.

On the monstrous absurdity of idolworship, see Isaiah xliv. 6-20; and Psalm

CXV.

66

Verse 28.-We read within a few verses (23-28) that as the idolatry of the Gentiles developed itself in more revolting forms, first, changing the glory of the eternal God into the image of a corruptible creature; second, worshipping the creature rather than the ever-blessed Creator; third, not liking to retain God in their knowledge -hating to think of the Holy One, to whom they owed their being, and the blessings they abused; so God gave them over to uncleanness-gave them over to utterly vile affections-gave them over to a reprobate mind; the debasement and hardening of their hearts keeping pace, in its gradations, with the progressive wickedness of their practice. We are not, from the expressions, God gave them over to uncleanness," &c., to imagine that God causes any man to sin, for we are assured, in other passages of Scripture, that "He hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he turn from his way, and live" (Ezek. xviii. 32; xxxiii. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 9); that "He tempteth no man to sin," that is, doth not draw any into sin (James i. 13); he has, however, so constituted the nature of man, that one sin is punished with another vicious acts with depraved habits, these with a hard heart, and this with obstinate impenitence and perseverance in sin, and thus a reprobate mind is a judgment corrupted by lust, vice has abused the man's reason, and if God let him alone in his course, he is given over to believe a lie, to call evil good and good evil; he is desperately undone through the wickedness that is in him. "God," says Barrow, "may be said to give them over to a reprobate mind whom, in justice, he permits to fall into such a con

do those things which are not meet-not suitable to a rational nature.

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity;

30 Whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents; 31 Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without na

dition, although he do no otherwise concur therein, than by not affording, or by withdrawing his special direction and assistance -leaving them, without check, to follow the sway of their own tempers, the bent of their corrupt wills, the violence of their unruly passions and appetites-letting them fall into the manifold snares of false opinion, evil custom, and contagious example, which the world sets before them (the world that by its fair promises and pleasing flatteries enticeth to sin, or by its angry frowns discourageth from goodness)-permitting the devil without control to delude and seduce them by his wiles, as is clearly represented in the eighty-first Psalm, where God says that he had signally declared his pleasure to the Israelites, and by promise of great benefits invited them to observe it, and then adds 'But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me, so I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.' It is not in man to direct his steps, to govern his passions-we continually need God's instruction to guide us-God's hand to uphold us-God's care to guard us when our own weak hearts betray uswhen the world would frown or smile us into sin, when the devil thrusts us towards it, thus to be destitute of God's grace, thus to be left to ourselves, is the most horrible judgment that can be."

Verse 31.-"Without natural affection." He alludes to the shocking practice of destroying their children, which prevailed, and was even authorized by law, among the most eminent nations of antiquity,

tural affection, implacable, unmerciful;

32 Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death, yet not only themselves do these things, but, deeper depravity! have pleasure in others that do them.

CHAP. II.

1 WHEREFORE, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever

and still prevails amongst the heathen (Psalm cvi. 37, 38).

Verse 32.-"Not only do these things, but have pleasure in others who do them." Men are often hurried on by the violence of passion to criminal excesses, for which, in their calmer moments, they bitterly condemn themselves; but to take pleasure in the contemplation of others' wickedness implies a cool preference of vice, which can only exist in a heart that is utterly depraved. The sketch of Gentile depravity here drawn, dreadful as it appears, is in no point overcharged, it is amply verified by the pagan writers of antiquity; nay, notwithstanding the vast improvements which have taken place through the influence of the Gospel in the laws, institutions, and manners of Christendom, if the apostle, after the lapse of so many ages, were now again to paint the morals of the world, leaving out those whose hearts have been renewed by the power of the Holy Ghost, there is but too much reason to fear that he could not abate many lines in the dark shading of the picture, especially if we consider how much the heinousness of their guilt is aggravated in the case of those who have had the obligations of virtue and the baseness of vice, the beauty of holiness and the deformity of sin so clearly set before them, as they are in the Book of God.

CHAP II.

Having shown the lost and hopeless condition of the heathen world by a statement to which every Jew would yield a willing assent, the apostle now addresses

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thou art that judgest; for wherein thou judgest thy fellow-man, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

2 But we know that the judgment of God is not biassed by partiality, but—accord

himself to the more delicate and difficult task of humbling the pride of the Jew, and making him feel his own need of a mediator, by showing that, in the sight of God, he was as guilty as the Gentile, and had as little reason to expect to be justified on the ground of his own merit.

Verse 1.-"Wherefore," i.e., since all who commit such things are worthy of death-"thou who judgest thy fellowman, whosoever thou art, however high thy pretensions to divine favour, leavest thyself without excuse, seeing that thou art thyself guilty of the same wickedness as thou condemnest in others, and we know that the judgment of God is not biassed by partiality, but is in strict accordance with truth and justice." It may be our duty to censure the misdeeds of others, with a view to discountenance vice, and to guard the innocent against the contagion of evil example; but a feeling of our own demerit should repress all arrogance and self-conceit-should keep us from judging uncharitably and condemning with rigour, where judgment belongs only unto God; lest we establish a fatal precedent against ourselves, for "with what judgment we judge we shall be judged." Although the Jews are not named here, it was for them especially that the rebuke of the apostle was designed; for while they regarded the uncircumcised as unclean, and incapable of salvation, and could not endure that they should be admitted to an equal position with themselves in the divine favour, they held that all Israelites have a portion in the world to come. See note on verse 17.

"Thou that judgest doest the same things." This can only be understood of the Jew nationally, for the same guilt did not attach to every individual; but as a nation they were as depraved and wicked as the Gentiles. See after, verses 21-24; Matt. xii. 34.

ing to truth against them which do such things.

3 And thinkest thou this, O man, who judgest them that do such things, and thyself doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4 Or despisest thou the riches

Verse 4.-"Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance," &c. St. Paul sometimes appears to labour for language to convey his exalted conception of God's perfections, and employs the word "riches" to heighten our notion of their greatness (ch. ix. 23; xi. 33; Eph. i. 7, 18; ii. 4; iii. 8, 16; Col. i. 27).

Upon this passage Taylor enlarges thus "The first great instrument that God chooses to bring us to him is temporal favour, and the encouragement of gracious promises; and though he is provoked every day, yet he forbears to punish, and when he does begin to strike, takes his hand off, and gives us truce and respite; and still waits and long puts off his final destroying anger, using all means to force us to repentance. We can understand the riches of the divine goodness best, by considering that the very design of our birth, and education in the Christian religion, is that we may recover of, and cure our follies by the antidote of repentance, which is preached to us as a doctrine, and propounded as a favour; which was put into a law, and purchased for us at a great expense; which God does not more command to us as a duty than he gives us as a blessing; for now that we shall not perish for our first follies, but be admitted to new conditions of acceptance, this was such a blessing, so great riches of the divine goodness, that as it was taught to no religion but the Christian, revealed by no lawgiver but Christ, so it was a favour greater than God gave to the angels that sinned; for though God was rich in the effusions of his goodness to them, yet they were not admitted to the condition of second thoughts-Christ never shed one drop of blood for them-his goodness did not lead them to repentance- it is the greatest and the dearest blessing that ever God gave to men, that they might be admitted to repent, and that this repentance might be effectual to the great purposes of felicity and salvation-to obtain it, God

of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God is leading thee to repentance?

was fain to pour forth all the riches of his goodness-it cost our dearest Lord the price of his dearest blood-it is the precious issue of Christ's prayers in heaven, and of all his labours, his sorrows, and his sufferings upon earth-he hath anointed us kings and priests in the royal priesthood of Christianity-hath given his Holy Spirit to be our guide, his angels to be our protection, his creatures for our food and raiment— he hath delivered us from the hands of Satan-hath conquered death for us; taken away the sting, and made it medicinalhath proclaimed us heirs of heaven, coheirs of the eternal Jesus; and if, after all this, we despise the commandment of our Lord, and defer and neglect our repentance, what shame is great enough—what miseries sharp enough-what hell painful enough for such horrid ingratitude? But God seldom leaves us thus; if his goodness do not make us thankful, and we become worse for his mercy, yet, to demonstrate that God is good indeed, he continues his mercies still to us, but in another form; he is merciful in punishing, and delivers us to the teaching of the divine judgments, and there begins the second part of God's method, intimated in the word 'forbearance;' when the decrees of the divine judgments are gone out, he either wholly suspends the execution of them, which is reprieve, or when he has struck once or twice he takes off his hand, and even in judgment remembers mercy. But God's mercy cannot be made a patron for any man's impiety-the purpose of it is to bring us to repentance; although he suffers long, he does not let us alone; he forbears to destroy but not to punish, and all punishments which do not destroy are intended to save us; but if God cease to strike, because we will not mend, we are sealed up to ruin and reprobation for ever -the Physician has given us over-let us not fall into the condition of Babylon. 'We healed her,' said the prophet, but she would not be cured; let us abandon her' that is her doom-let her enjoy her sins and all the fruits of sin, laid up in treasures of wrath, against the day of vengeance and retribution."

5 But thou, by thine obduracy and thine impenitent heart, art treasuring up for thyself wrath to be experienced in the day of wrath, when the righ

Verse 5.-"Thou art treasuring up for thyself wrath." "As there are treasures of good things, and the Lord hath crowns and sceptres in store for his saints and servants, and coronets for martyrs, and phials full of prayers, and a register of sighs and penitential groans, so hath he a treasure of wrath and fury, of scourges and scorpions; and then shall be produced the shame of lust, and the malice of envy, and the groans of the oppressed, and the persecutions of the saints, and the cares of covetousness, and the troubles of ambition, and the rage of anger, and the restlessness of unlawful desires."-Taylor. (See Deut. xxxii. 34, 35.) The momentous truths presented to us in this and the following verses, and reiterated in every part of the New Testament, if duly considered, could scarcely fail to awaken even the most thoughtless to the danger of deferring the work of repentance. God has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; the most secret wickedness of every heart shall then be revealed, and men be dealt with according to their works, regard being had to the privileges and opportunities of knowing their duty which each enjoyed. It is not by sudden impressions and sensible excitement, nor by forming states of mind and feeling, once for all, that we can hope to obtain the reward of immortality and glory, but, as we are here assured, by patient continuance in well-doing- by religious actions done in the fear and through the grace of God-by the steadfast and conscientious discharge of all our social duties-by humility and self-denial, truth and justice and charity; in short, by living righteously, soberly, and godly; adding virtue to virtue; reducing feelings and purposes to acts, and repeating acts until they grow into habits, and habits until they be confirmed, and still confirming them until they be consummate in a holy perseverance. If it be asked, How does all this accord with the great doctrine of St. Paul, that men are justified freely by God's grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? a full and satis

teous judgment of God shall be revealed;

6 And he will render to every man according to his deeds:

7 To them that by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life;

8 But unto them that are contentious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath shall be rendered:

9 Tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soul of

factory answer will be afforded in the progress of this epistle; let it suffice at present to say, that although the salvation of such as shall be saved is of God in Christ-although Christ only took us out of our state of wrath and condemnation, and by his indwelling Spirit hath given us our power to will, and our strength to perform; and God the Father, for Christ's sake, and through his intercession, pardoneth our infirmities, forgiveth our trespasses; and whoever shall be saved, shall be saved through Him, and as a member of Him; yet they who have thus been saved shall be judged at the last day, according to their works. Such is the uniform declaration of God's holy word; without faith, indeed, we cannot please God, or do works acceptable to Him, yet not by our faith shall we be judged, but by our works. But we must not think of our works as separate from Christ-they are Christ's works in us, and for his sake the Father looks upon them and upon us with love-a love which they deserve not in themselves, but wherewith he beholds them as wrought in and through his onlybegotten Son (Prov. xxiv. 12; Jer. xxxii. 19; Matt. xvi. 27; xxv. 14–29; Rev. ii. 10; xx. 12).

Verse 7.-"Eternal life." The language of the apostle is elliptical, but the words to be supplied are obvious; to those who with patient trust fulfil their duty, God will render eternal life, which is eternal hap

piness; but to those who return enmity for love-who perversely resist the solicitations of the Spirit of truth, indignation and wrath shall be rendered as their portion -indignation appalling in its outburst, and wrath terrible in its continuance (Matt. xxv. 46).

Verses 9 to 12.-We see by these verses, that, in the general judgment, every man will be dealt with according to the light he had, not according to that which he had not; that to whom much has been given, of him will much be required; and as they who have been blest with clearer revelations of God's will shall be the first to receive their reward, if they shall have duly discharged their trust to the glory of God, so, on the other hand, if they shall have abused their privileges, and neglected their duty, they shall be the first to experience the severity of God's anger, and that bitter anguish which is the inevitable attendant upon sin. When it is not against the revealed law that men have sinned, it is not by the high standard of the revealed law that they shall be tried, but by the standard of that law which is written in the hearts of all men, and their own consciences will anticipate the sentence of the judge (Luke xii. 47, 48).

Verse 16.-Not only St. Paul, but also the prophets of the Old Testament, and the evangelists and apostles of the New, and our Lord himself, declare that the final