HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-17.-.The position of the Law u11uler the New Testament. The apostle is here continuing his discussion of the immoral suggestion to which he alluded in the previous chapter (ver. 15), "What then? shall we sia, becanse we are not under the Law, bnt under grace?" L THE REJ.A.TIOl!i OP THE LAW TO THE CHBISTUN, 1. The Ohristi,an's union with (Jhri,st involves hu fr«dom from the Law. (1) From the Law as condemning him. "Ye are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ" (ver. 4). The Christian, by faith in Jesus Christ, becomes a. participator in his death. "Who is he that con- demneth ? It is Christ that died ; " " There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." (2) From the Law as a motive-power. "But now we are delivered from the Law, having died to that wherein we were held [Revised Version]; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldnees of the letter" (ver. 6). The Authorized Version is here misleading when it translates," t~at being dead wherein we were held." 'l'he apostle does not speak of the Law ae being ciead, but of Chrietians u being dead to the Law. The Law is not dead, but we are dead to it. We have a higher and a better life. 2. But this union with Ghrist and fre,r,.,d,omfrom the Law do m>t i;mpl,y that he i, free to commit sin. '!'be principles of tbe Law remain, though the power of it is gone, so far as justification or condemnation c,f the Christian i8 ooncemed. The Law was powerless to give life. 'l'hrough the sinfulneu of our nature it brought forth fruit unto death (ver. 6), But our very fr~o111 froxn tlle :t.,aw ia ui it,,elf- roaeon for holy liviD,1, Chiist h11plp.nte lp I.\B a 1!819' on. vu.1-25.] THE EPISTLE 011' PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 193
prinoiple. We now "serve in newness of epirit." Professor Croekery (' Plymouth Brethreniem ') dee.le with this eubject very fully in e. chapter on '"l'he Law as a Rale of Life." "1f Old Testament saints," he says, "could be under the Law and yet not under curse, beco.use they were under the prornise--that le, under the covenant of grace -why ehould not New Testo.ment saints, ee.ved by grace, be under Law likewise, as a. ~ule of life, without being overtaken by the curse? What difference was there between David's sin and Pater's sin, in relation to the Law? If David was bound to keep the ten commandments, including the seventh, are not New Testament saints similarly bound? Does not James settle this point when he says, 'He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also Do not kill' (Jas. ii. 11), and says this, too, to Christians? The passage [eh. vi. 14] means, 'Ye are not under the Law as a condition of mlvation, but under a system of free grace.' 11 The Law still remains as the rule of life, the standard of obedience. St. Paul himself says in this same chapter, "With the mind I myself serve the Law of God" (ver. 25). .And our Lord himself said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil n (Matt. v. 17). IT. THE RELATION OF THE LAW TO THE BINNER. 1. The Law reveals to him the depths and power of his own sinfulness. After the apostle has shown how, in the unregenerate nature, "the motions of sins, which were by the Law, did work in 0111" members to bring forth fruit unto death," he asks, "What shall we say then? Is the Law sin?" (ver. 7). That is to say-ls the Law therefore in itself sinful? does it encourage sin? Far from it, he says. "Nay, I had not known sin,_but by the Law." That is-I had not known the force or power of Bin but by the law. "Sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful 11 (ver. 13). Some would condemn the Bible because it describes sin, and pictures some of its best characters as fidling into sins of gross desciiption. But this, so far from being e. defect of the Bible, is at once an evidence of ita truthfulness, and an element in its purifying power upon humanity. 'l'he Bible doei not describe sin to make 118 love it, but to turn us from it. So it is with the Law of God. It may awaken in our minds suggestions of sins that we would not otherwise have thought of (vers. 7, ..8)," but conscience at once recognizes that this is due, not to the Law itself, but to the sinfulness of our nature. 2. The Law remains as the standard of right life. "'fhe Law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (ver. 12); "The Law is spiritual" (ver. 14). Here is the answer to those who regard the Law as abrogated. The Law is still binding as the rule of life, the standard of morality. It therefore condemns the Binner, Thus still it becomes our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ.-C. H. L Vera. 18-25.-The inward CO'll,ftia of the <Jhristian hearl. Two forces a.re for ever struggling for the soul of man. Goethe, the German poet, has immortalized that for us in his great drama of • Faust,' where Mephistopheles, the prince of evil, tempts e. human being too successfully infr> the paths of destruotion. Milton bas immortalized it for us in his great epic, 'Paradise Lost.• But these great poems are, after all, but echoes of the story of the Fall as told us in the Bible. These words of St. Paul a.re another echo of that story of the Fall. They might have been spoken by any of 1lll. What folly to discuss the doctrine of huma.n depravity as the result of the Fall, when every man oarries the proof of it in his own breast I Thank God, there is a Pamdi.se Regained as well as a Paro.dise Lost. There is a power of good as well as of evil working on the human heart. There is II e. power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness," and-something more than ho who used those famous words meant by them-there is the personal power of a personal Saviour, coming down into this sinful world, and trying to lift men up again from their fallen and lost condition, by the power of his cross, by the power of his Divine love and mercy, by, the power of his resurrection, by the power of his Spirit working upon their hearts. I. A DEBmE AND A. DELIGHT. St. Paul speaks of himself as having a desire/or what is good. 11 When I would do good" (ver. 21), that is, "when I want to do good," 11 when I wish to do what is right." That in itself is a step on the upward path. But you might have a desire for what is right., and yet not be a Christian. Paul ha,l some- thing more than this desire for what Wl\li right; M had a delight in it. "I delight i.u B0.11.ANII. 0 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [OH, v11. 1-25,