While Wll arll united to the first Adam by ordinary gemraUon, we get united, tlJ the second Adam by regeneration. Tho first union is iuvoluntary; we cannot determir.e who our parents shall be. But union to Christ partakes or a voluntary character. When tho Spirit is received and regenerates us, he makes WI willing in the day of his power. Freedom of the will he.s its place in the relation into which we enter towards the second Adam. We rne.y reject the union or close with it. Hence the whole race Is not necessarily embraced in Christ's vicarious work, simply because the whole race will not be. All will not come to Jesus that they mav have life (,John v. 40). 2. Jesus proposes to quench the fire, not only qf original sin, but also of actual sin, in tho~ who receive Ms grace. This is the apostolic idea in this passage. The arran"'ement might have been to checkmate merely the original sin; that is, to put the ra~ upon e.s good e. platform as our first parent occupied before the Fall. Christ's obedience might thus he.ve been the mere equivalent for Adam's disobedience. But the free gift of justification through Christ embraces our actual sins as well as our original sin. Grace is thWI seen to abound. All sin in which we have been involved get3 cancelled and put away through the obedience of our Representative. And: 3. Jesus propose8 not only to counteract the sin, but also to secure a reign of grace unto eternal, life. The abounding grace of the second Adam rai8es its recipients into an eternal life in the favour and society of God. Thua is it that the representative principle provides the most magnificent compensation for all that it entails through onr first parent's fall. If we by faith are united to the second Adam, then we get the benefit of his obedience; his endure.nee of the penalty we deserved is accepted as ours; his perfect obedience to the requirements of the Divine Law is imputed to us; and his gracious Spirit come:; to abide within us. 'l'he result is the.t the grace so a.bounds as to overmaster the sin and to raise us into that fellowship with God which is life eternal The second Adam thus more the.n redeems us from our relation to the first Adam. IIL THE ADMINISTRATION OF GRACE THROUGH JESUS CBJIJ.ST llliKES Alll'LE COll- PENBATION FOR ALL APPARENT ANOMALIES IN THE PREVIOUS COVENANT. Now, one of t)le facts referred to by the apostle in this passage is, on the admission of almost all the commentators, the death of infants in consequence of their relation to Adam. It may, of course, be said that these infants were in the loins of Adam when he sinned, as Levi was in the loins of Abraham when he paid tithes to Melchizedek. Still, the fe.te of infants would seem an anomaly in the government of Gud. if they are to receive no compensation through relation to the second Adam. But if it is scriptural to believe the.t all infants who die because of their relation to the first Adam inherit everlasting life because of their relation to the second Adam, then all harshness disappears and the anomaly is overborne. Now, this is, as we believe, the proper doctrine. .All who dio iu infancy are, through the all-a.bounding grace of the second Adam, saved. We need he.ve no fears for them, wherever they have passed a.way. Their suffering unto death is a cheap price to pay for exemption from the temptations of the present world; aud each of them in the glory will accept the painful passa~e to it as, after all, a. merciful arrangement, seeing that glory lay beyond it.-R. M. E.
EXPOSITION. hnmo.n raoe before God (eh. v. 12-21), the OHAPTER VI. necessary more.I results of a true apprehen- Ver. ]-eh, viii. 89.-(7) Moral results to sion of the dootrine are trentcd in this sec- true believers of the revelation to them of the tion of the Epi.sUe. And first i.e shown rigltteowmess of God. 'fhe rigllteousness of from ye.rious points of view- God having been onnounced os roveo.led in Var. I-oh. vii. 6.-(a) Tlw obligalio11 °" tbo gospel (oh. i. 17), Het forth ns nvnilnble beli~vm of holiMSS of we. The dttbjc•ct is for o.11 roonkind (oh. iii. 21-81), shown to led up to by meeting c,;d<lin supposed be in aocorda.nce with the tenohing of the erroneous oonalusions from whot has been Old 'fosta.mont (eh. iv. 1-25), viewed with se.id in the precediug chnptor. It might rognr,I to the feelings and hopes of boliovers be sni1l th~t, if where siu nboundcJ gmco (oh. v. 1-11) llDd to tho position of the did wuoh 1uol'll abouud-if iu tho ob..'liicuce 156 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [oil, vt.1-28.