The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 236

friends. Bo Paul found it in his experience. Bo did many a cbfld of G,xl. Martin Luther was sent to prison in the Wartburg, apparently a hea.vy blow t,} himself and hie friends, and the cause of the Reformation. But the love ofChrist wa.~ strr,nc,er than the castle walls. They could not keep Christ out. Luther was more th,m c~n- queror. He not only endured hie imprisonment, but while he wa.e a. prisoner he trans- lated the Scriptures into that great German version of his, a.nd wrote bP.,sides 110 me of his great commentaries. The walls of Bedford Jail could not separate John Bunyan from the love of Christ, and during his imprisonment for conscience' sake he wrote that matchless allegory, 'The Pilgrim's Progress.' Samuel Rutherford, a prisoner in Aberdeen Castle, wrote his beautiful 'Letters,' of which Richard Baxter sa.id that, after the Bible, such a book the world never sa.w. All of these were more than con- querors through him that loved them. Whatever trials we may meet with, there is the great certainty of the love of Christ. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (ver. 31). We may lose our earthly friends, but Jesus remains-the Friend that sticketh closer than a. brother. 3. The new year may be to some of 'IJ,8 a year of death. Philip Henry, father of :Matthew Henry the commentator, used frequently to pray this prayer, "Fit us to leave or to be left." Whatever uncertainty we may feel about the earthly lot that is in store for us, whether our days may be many or few, let us make sure that we are clinging to the cross of Jesus, and then we have a safety and a security which no trials can ever ahake. II. THE OERTAINTIEB OF A NEW YEAR. While there is much that is uncertain about each new year, there is much also that we may with confidence expect. 1. The new year will be a time of opportunities. This ·is as certain as that the sun will shine, and the see.sons come, and the ocean ebb and flow. Every day will bring to each of us its opportunities. Opportunities save souls. John Williams, a careless young man, was persuaded by a friend to go one sabba.th evening to a place of worship, and there he heard a sermon on the words, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? " That opportunity, availed of, saved his soul and led him to decide for Christ, and he became the famous missionary and martyr of Erro- mange.. Had he refused that invitation, rejected that opportunity, a similar oppor- tunity might never have returned. ~ortunities test character. Some one has said that" opportunities are importunities.' Every opportunity appeals to us. It appeals to us to avail ourselves of it, to show what side we are on, to make our choice for time and eternity. Abraham had his opportunity when the call came to him to leave his father's house, and he used it well. It showed him to be a man of faith, a man who would do God's bidding at any cost. Joseph, Joshua, Daniel-each of these had his opportunity, and well he used it. Herod had his opportunity, and seemed to be impressed by the preaching of John the Baptist, for "he did many things, and heard him gladly;" but when the critical and testing opportunity came of making his choice, of choosing good rather than evil, he lost it. So it was with Felix and .Agrippa. But let our life be dominated by the constraining influence of the love of Christ, and then the opportunities which the passing hours are sure to bring will only show more and more clearly that we are on the Lord's side. 2. The new year 111Ul be a time of d11tiea. It is well to begin the year with a high sense of our obligations and responsibilities. Duties are a certainty which every day brings with it. There are the duties of d:lily prayer and daily thanksgiving to God ; the duties of parents to their children, of employers to their servants, of all Christians to those who are around them. Here, again, let every duty be discharged in the spirit of love to Christ, and there will be no uncertainty about our faithfulness. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" -0.H.I. Vars. 1-5.-What the Law could not do. The perpetual conscience-cry that rings through all the stru!!:gles of oh. vii. is, "Condemnation I " But "to them that are in Christ Jesus"? "No condemnation now I" 'rhe heavens smile, the earth is glad. All things are made new. Buch is the opening note of this eighth cb(lpter; a sweet song of joy in ple.oe of the old ory of despair. And we have here following-God's work iu Ghrist; Christ's work iu us. I. Go»'s WOBK. IN CHBIBT, The great work referred to here is the practical con• 234 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [m1. vrn. 1-89.