he is now doing for us in heaven ? Is it reasonable that we should defeat the ends of all his love ? Ought we not rather to requite it to the utmost of our power ? Should we account any thing too much to do for him? Let all then confess the reasonableness of being devoted to Christ. Let every Christian exert himself more and more, disregarding ridicule and contempt1.]
i 1 Cor. xv. 58.
Rom. xiv. 10 — 12. We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
THERE is in the morality of the Gospel a sub- limity of which even the godly themselves have a very indistinct perception. We are apt to lay down broad principles of action, without taking into consi deration other principles which should influence us in the application of them. For instance ; where the calls of duty seem to interfere with each other, we are apt to lean to one side or the other with an exclusive preference, instead of studying how the two may be made to harmonize, in just order and mutual subor- dination. To most persons it would appear an un- questionable truth, that if one thing be right, its opposite must be wrong ; whereas, if an action be in itself indifferent, the doing or forbearing of it may be equally right, and equally acceptable to God. This was the case with regard to the eating of meats for- bidden by the Jewish law, and the observance of particular days which had been held sacred under the Mosaic dispensation. There was nothing morally good or evil in these enactments : they depended on the will of Him who had imposed them : and, when they were abrogated, they remained as purely matters of indifference, as if nothing had ever been enjoined respecting them. But the contending parties in the
524 ROMANS, XIV. 10—12. [l<Jl(j.
Church at Rome could not see this : those who had been educated in Jewish habits, not only maintained their own forms, but judged and condemned the Gentiles who rejected them : those, on the contrary, who knew that those ordinances were abrogated by the Christian dispensation, not only asserted their own liberty, but held in contempt the persons who were yet in bondage to their forms. Now, both of these parties acted right in complying with the dic- tates of their own conscience ; but wrong, in pre- suming to sit in judgment upon each other. To mark the true line of duty in this matter, was the Apostle's object in this part of his epistle. He shews, that, provided a man endeavoured in such matters to ap- prove himself to God, doing only what he really judged to be right, God accepted him ; and that, whilst we commend ourselves to the judgment of our God, we should also leave to his judgment those who differ from us ; assured, that in the last day he will dis- pense to all, not according to our narrow views, but according to what he knew to be the real disposition of their minds.
Leaving, for the present, the primary subject of the chapter, namely, candour in judging one another, I shall draw your attention to that which is here in- cidentally introduced ; namely, the certainty and awfulness of the future judgment.
I. Its certainty —
There shall be a day of future retribution —
[Reason itself might tell us this : for how else are the inequalities of the present state of things ever to be rectified ? At present, " all things come alike to all ;" or rather, the ungodly triumph, and the godly are oppressed. But can we suppose, that God will never recompense to his servants the troubles they sustain for his sake, or to their enemies the injuries they inflict? No: there shall be a time when God will deal with men in a way of perfect equity ; and he has fixed a day for " the revelation of his righteous judgment." To this the Scriptures bear ample testimony. They even declare, with great precision, the very mode in which the judgment shall be administered. They declare that Jesus Christ shall be the Judge; (for" the Father hath committed all