1 A. W. Thorold.
Not Ashamed of the Gospel.
Literature.
Abbott (L.), Signs of Promise, 218.
Aglionby (F. K.), The Better Choice, 86.
Alford (H.), Quebec Chapel Sermons, ii. 176.
Arnold (T.), Sermons, ii. 54.
Brandt (J. L.), Soul Saving, 237.
Broughton (L. G.), Salvation and the Old Theology, 45.
Brown (J. B.), The Divine Life in Man, 70, 96, 127.
Dudden (F. Homes), Christ and Christ's Religion, 187.
Dykes (J. 0.), The Gospel according to St. Paul, 1.
Fairweather (D.), Bound in the Spirit, 251.
Farrar (F. W.), Truths to Live By, 334.
Goodman (J. H.), The Lordship of Christ, 112.
Gore (C), The Epistle to the Romans, i. 57.
Greenhougb (J. G.), The Mind of Christ in Paul, 97.
Henderson (A.), The Measure of a Man, 43.
Home (C. S.), in The Old Faith and the New Theology, 149.
Lambert (J. C), The Omnipotent Cross, 40.
Liddon (H. P.), University Sermons, ii. 242.
Little (J.), Tlie Day-Spring, 9.
Macgregor (W. M.), Some of God's Ministries, 180.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions of Holy Scriphire : Komans, 30.
Marten (C. H.), Plain Bible Addresses, 11.
Matheson (G.), Messages of Hope, 222.
Pierce (W.), in Sermons by Welshmen in English Pulpits, 247.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, vii. 217.
Punshon (W. M.), Sermons, ii. 1.
Walters (C. E.), The Deserted Christ, 33.
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„ (T. K.), The Christ Within, 68. Christian World Pulpit, xxxiii. 376 (Tymms) ; xlviii. 73 (Abbott) ; lxxv.
92 (Parr).
=3*
Not Ashamed of the Gospel.
I am notashamed of the gospel : for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. — Rom. i. 16.
St. Paul is led to use this expression by an association of ideas which it s easy to trace. He is writing to a church, founded by other hands than his, founded, it would seem, some years before, bu; by no apostle or apostolic man. As befits an Apostle, he yearn? to visit this church that he may impart to it some spiritual gift. He has desired to visit it long ere now ; but again and again he has been hindered. He still hopes some day to carry out this purpose. For he has in his keeping a truth, which, as he beleves, belongs by right to every human being, although as yet only a few members of the great human family have claimed it as their own. He, for his part, is, in his own words, a debtor until all rights are satisfied ; and his creditors comprise the world. "lama debtor," he exclaims, " both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the philosophers and the unintelligent." Therefore he must do what he may do, always and everywhere. Therefore he will add, " As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Eome also."
In Eome also ! It might seem as if a word had escaped him which, even for an Apostle, had some magic power. For here, suddenly, his thought takes a new direction and a wider range. In Eome also ! The little, half-organized Church disappears from view, and before the imagination of St. Paul there rises — indistinct, no doubt, but oppressively vast — the imperial form of the mistress of the world. And this vision of Eome, thus for the moment present io the Apostle's mind, produces in it a momentary recoil ; so that, like a man whose onward course has been sharply checked, he falls baik to consider the resources at his disposal. He falls back upon '.limself , upon the faith that is in him, upon the Author and Object; of that faith. There is a moment's pause, and then
236 NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSFEL
he writes, " I am not ashamed." If he were speakhg he might almost seem to falter in his tone: "I am not ashaned of the gospel of Christ."
TJHis restrained expression, "I am not ashamsd," is the stronger for its very moderation. It witnesses tc the fixed purpose of his heart and attitude of his mind, whilst it suggests that he was well aware of all the temptations in Eone to being ashamed of it there.
The text forms the transition from the introducton to the theme of the Epistle. That theme is the Gospel, the pover of God to the salvation of every one that believes. Its power lies, not alone / in the pure ethical truths it makes known, nor in the system of / rewards and punishments with which its sanctions arc enforced, / but in the (dvva/xtg = dynamic) power of God's clemency, righteous- ness, and holiness, .as revealed in, and made effectual tlrough, the \ Gospel. In the Gospel is embodied at once Ithe Divine message) \ and ^he_£iyine elficigncy ■ wkich-saves everyone that Relieves — whatever his rank or race, kindred or relation.
XI. What is this Gospel of which St. Paul says he is not hamed ?
II. Why should he be ashamed of it ?
III. Why is he not ashamed of it ?
What is the Gospel?
1. If any of us, upon a certain morning in the spring of the year 58 a.d., had walked down the long street that led from the city of Corinth to the harbour of Lechseum, we might have witnessed a scene which looked common enough at the time to the loungers on the quays, but is full of interest now to us who understand all that it means. Beside one of the wharves a ship is lying, just on the point of sailing for Italy. The sailors are bustling about in obedience to the captain's orders, while the passengers are taking leave of their friends upon che shore. Of the various groups which are gathered there we have to do with only one. The central figure is a middle-a^ed woman, evidently one of the intending passengers. Around her are