Insietou on o.ll a.Jong), tho.t we o.re bonnd, o.e even all these prew,nt trialH, fa~ frr,m Obrietlo.ns, in our present lives, to live, not ha.rming ne, work together f,,r gr,rA to lh~m ufter the flesh, but after the Spirit. th11t love God, being called acc•,r<ling tr, his Ver. 13.-lf we do not, then (notwith- purpose. elo.nulng our redemption) we must needs Vera. 29, 30.-Yee, called accordincr to dle-yeo., die the deuth beyond the grave his pnrpose; here is a farther QTrnm~I of (whatever it mo.y be), which is the doom of hopeful assurance. For his havfn.., r,alled sin; bnt if we do, then we shall live-yea, us to be C_hristians at all,_ an,l justified as live o.t lo.et (as the sequel shows to be through faith, shows that 1t wa.a his etern.-.1 implied) in the eteruo.l life of Christ with purpose in so calling ll.'!, to cr,nform us to God. the image of his Son, that he might be th'l Vers.14-17.-For the Spirit you received Firstborn_ among many b~ethreu ; and that when yon became Ohrietians was one of so we, bemg thns made his bnthren, mi,,.bt soneliip; our habitual earnest cry of "Abba, inherit with him. In short, hi.a haviu"' pre- Father," expresses our feeling of it; the ordained us to our present state of sal ;ation Spirit still witnesses with our spirit that we carries with it his preordaining ns also t,, are God's children; and eonship implies its end and purpose, which i.a glory. heirship-heirehip with Christ, through our Vere. 31-34.-If God be thus for us, who union with whom we feel ourselves to be can be against us? He who ha.3 already sons ; and, if we have to share in his given ~ his own Son for us all will surely sufferings now, this only unites us the more grant us all. And, if God has chosen us, to him, and fits us the more for our i.nher1- who shall arraign us? God himstlf, who to.nce of eternal life with him. already justifies ns? No. Christ, who Ver. 18.-For what of all these present died, rose again, ascended to the right hand sufferings, these present drawbacks to the of God, and now intercedes for us? Xo. full triumph of· the ,rv•vµ.a (wi;s in you, And against them what other power can these present evidences that the rr&µ.a 11•1tpb11 poBBibly prevail? still clings to you ? They are nothing to Vere. 35-37.-Certainly not these present the destined glory; they e.re not worth con- trials and calamities, however severe ; though sideration in comparison with it. "we are killed all day long, and are ap- Vers.19-22.-And, after all, these present pointed as sheep for the slaughter." Through drawbaoks e.re but our inevitable share in Christ, who so loved ns e.s to share them. we the condition of imperfection under which e.re conquerors all the more by means of them. llll creation, o.e we see it now, is labouring. Vere. 38, 39.-For I o.m per,uaded that The whole world presents to us the picture no powers or circumstances whatever. ex- of o.n idelll not realized, but ever yearned ternal to ourselves, will ever separate us for. All we ean say about it is that it bo.s from the love of God which is in Christ pleased God to subject it for a time to Jesus our Lord, or consequently bar our vlluity and the bondage of corruption, but attainment of our final inberibmce. so as to leave hope 11live. Ver. 23.-And we too, while in this Additional Note on tier. 29, seq. mortal body, must needs she.re in this universal groa.nini; but, ha.ving already The view given above of St. Panl':t the firetfruits of the Spirit-the earnest intention ll.Ild meaning is by no means already of o. diviner life-we especially meant as ignoring the essentinl mystery of yeo.rn all the more for deliver11nce, and predestin11tion, however regarded. Diriue expect it hopefully. omnipotence combined with omnisdeuce Vere. 24, 25.-When we entered on our on the one hand, 11nd humsn free-will on stnte of salvation 11s Christio.ns, it was in the other, seem indeed to human re,\son to hope; our essenti11l condition became then be incompatible ideas; yet we are compelled one of hope, whioh is incompatible with to entertain both-the one ou the ground, present o.ttainment of our hope ; we must, not only of Sl:ll'ipturo.l leaching, but also of therefore, needs endure o.nd woit, bearing our conception of the Di viue Being; the other these present tri11ls. on the grouud, not ouly of our conception of Vera. 26, 27.-And if our tria.ls are greo.t, Divina justice, but nlso of our owu irr'-'- o.nd we know not ourselves who.t reliof to si~tiblo consciousne,-s, 11nd of ser1ptur.u pray for, wo hnve the comfort of believing teuching too. Such difficulty of rec'oncilia- tho.t the Holy Spirit intercedes for us within tion between two 11ppal\'utly ne(.'(':;,,_s.:u~· ido'as ourselves by inspiring 1111 those unutteroble is not peculiar to theology; philosophy ha:t yearnings, whioh ho thnt se11rchoth the it too; 11nd there are necessitarkms o.moug hel\rt !mows the me11ning of, 11nd will 11nswer philosopb,,re, M w,•11 us pre.lestiuarians 11ooorcling to tho mind of the Spirit who among theolo~i,rns, eqtrnlly coulmdictiug inspired them. ml\n's irl'l'sistiblo t"\.1HSC"iou$nt.l$S 1..,f hnving YOl'. 28.-Wo know, too, th11t nil things, the power of ohok<J. \r(I c.w only ~g,.1nl 216 TB.E EPISTLE) or PAt1L TO TilE ROMANS. [oa. Vnt. 1-89.
the rontlicting ('('Inceptions 88 partial nppre- vorsiea on tho subjoot. It la important to hensi,,ns of a grc>at truth whieh a.s a whole obsorve bow St. Paul, though he distlnotly is bey0nd us. The apparent rontl'Rdi<'tion be- intimates both conceptions (ns be must tween them mav be due t-0 the fa.iJure of finito needs do as a preacher of God's truth in beings t-0 romi;rehend infinity. They have all its aspects), and though his allusions to been rompared to two parallel straight lines, predestination hnvo been made a main 'l'l"h1~. A<'<'.'Ording to geometrical definition, support of Calvinistic views, never really ran never meet., and yet, aooording to the propounds a theory. When he alludes to ln~her mathematical theory, meet in in- the subject, it ie with a practionl purpose: tlnit'I": or we ma,,- take the illustration of and when (as in this ohapter) he speaks of an &'ymptote, which from a finite point of God's predestination of believers to glory, vie..- csn never possiblv t.ouch a cur,,-e, and his purpose is to encourage them to persevere yet, in analytical geometry, is found to cross in holiness on the ground of their assurance it at an infinite distance. For the practical of God's eternal purpose concerning them, purposes of life both i.lens may be enter- the essential human conditions being all tained; and it is only human attempts to a.long supposed to be fulfilled (see also reconcile them in theory, or to esc:i.pe the note on Heb. vi. 16-20, in 'Pulpit Com- difficulty by denying free-will altogether, mentary'). that have given rise to the endless oontro-