The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 309

the one true God. What a contrast to the helpless idols of heatheniillil ! How beautiful to think that God is a Spirit who is everywhere present, who knows all our circmm- stances, and to whom we can always draw near in the assurance that he beare us and le able o.nd willing to help ue I What a contrast to the unknown god of even the' best forms of heathenism, to the unconscious and unsympathetic Brahm, the god of Hindu- ism I I heard a missionary to the Red Indians, speaking in Dr. Storrs' church in Brooklyn, mention how the chief of an old Indian tribe, seven thousand in number, had come seven times in fifteen months a distance of a hundred and fifty miles to a mission station, to ask that a missionary might be sent to tell them of "the white man's God." How beautiful to them that sit in darkness is the glad tidings of the true God, the loving and merciful Father in heaven! 2. Think what the gospel ~ us about the human soul. The gospel does not permit us to regard man as one of the beasts that perish, as he is under so many of the heathen religions. Some of these have no idea of the existence of a soul at all; but in the best of them the soul is either annihilated at death, or transferred to some other creature, or absorbed into the uni- versal being as a drop into the ocean. The gospel, on the other band, teaches that man was made in the image of God; that he has an immortal destiny ; and that, when he had destroyed his own present happiness and future prospects by his own sin, so great value did God place upon him, so great love did his heavenly Father cherish for him, that he sent his own beloved Son to live and die for man's salvation. The gospel which proclaims the greatness, the majesty, the holiness, the glory of God, proclaims al.so the dignity and the immortality of man. II. 'fim GOSPEL 18 BEAUTIFUL IN THE INFLUENCE IT EXEBCI8E8. This we might. expect Crom the beauty and grandeur of the truths it teaches. '!'here is nothing very elevating about the worship of an idol of wood or stone. There is nothing very inspir- ing in the thought that life must end at the grave, or that I shall be absorbed into the universe. It may be very poetic to sing, as Shelley did of his departed friend Keat&- "He is made one with Nature. There is heard His voice in all her musio, from the moan Of thunder to the song of night's sweet bird. He is a presence to be felt and known In darkness and in light, in herb and stone; Spreading it.self where'er that Power may move Which has withdrawn his being to its own." But such a thought would bring little comfort to the bereaved parent or sorrowing widow; and how very slight would be its influence upon character and life, compared with the thought that I am a responsible being, that I must appear before the judg- ment-seat of Christ, and that my life as an immortal being hereafter will be determined largely by my life as an individual now I As a matter of fact, the gospel of Jesus Christ has exercised an elevating, purifying, beautifying influence wherever it.a power has been felt. '1.'ake, for instance, the treatment of woman. Mohammedanism and heathenism haTe both kept woman in humilio.tion and degradation. By keeping her in seclusion, they ho.ve at once injured her own moral and spirituo.l being, and deprived the community of the healthful influence which good women can exercise. Christianity has raised woman to respect and honour; it has promoted her own personal happiness; and it has enabled her to exercise a mighty power for good in the familJ:, and in society at large. Mohammedanism and heathenism are tha props of slavery. lt was Christian missions that first o.roused the Christian conscience on this subject. Sir Willinm. Hunter, one of the most distinguished scholars and statesman of our day, speaking at tho great :Missiono.ry Conference in London, J uue, 1888, said, "I recognize in missionary work a great expio.tion for the wrong whioh the white man has done to the dark man in tht1 pnst; and I recognize also I\ pledge of nationnl right-doing in future. During the pa.st century missionaries have marched in the van of all our noblest national movements. When the time came for the grant wrong of slavery to be redressed, it Wl\8 the mission- ary voice which fir~t stirred u_p the na~ion against Jhe sla~ t~de.. T~at voice is now awakening the nnt1onal oonso1onoe ngnmst the terrible enl which 1B being done by our liquor tmffio amon~ the dnrkor nnd loss civili1.oc~ races." ~ow l?u~~ the ~ristis.n public of mighty ~ngland stand mockly by, while slavery s ohaiu 18 still olllll.king, IUIJ 308 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [ou. x. 1-21,