The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 405

enj,,ined mRny kindly and beneficent 11cts, these positive precepts filling up the outline thunJen>,.-l. forth f:om the mount. The Saviour educed from the lawyer the statement thRt the Mos11ic LRw clearly enunciated the one principle underlying every regulation of i:,-..:iru c,mduct. "Thou she.It lo,e t.hv neighbour as thyseJr." God has committed to e:ich man sp..-.:ial\y the care of himself, to preserve and develop his various faculties. Ano. just ai: no sane man voluntarily injures himself, so must he guard against damaging the well-hemg of his fello~. Cynicism, greed, tyranny, cannot survive the entrance of this _humanizing agent, love, which evokes compassion, benevolence, philanthropy, as set torth so beautifully in 1 ,Cor. xiii. .Adultery, murder, ooveteoueness, in all degrees of desire and behaviour, imply that men are careless of another's happiness if they can secure some additional gratification for themselves. II. Co:r-.""TB.AST LOVE AS A MOTIVE WITH A SENSE OF DUTY. The only answer to the question, "Why should altruism be a regulating principle in my life?" is that fu.,d has made us "members one of another; " that he has implanted in our nature, t0gether with the instinct of self-preservation, certain affections towards others ; that God's intention is thus plainly indicated in our constitution; and that experience shows that to make self the sole factor in our consideration is to rend the ties of society, and ultimately to ruin our own welfare and enjoyment. Congregation, not segregation, is the law of human life. Nevertheless, even this conviction, "I ought to pay respect to my neighbonr's interests &nd needs," may stop far short.of that proper care for others which the perfect law expects. The house of duty is a dark temple if unlit by the Shechinah of love. Obligation may lead some citizens to pay the taxes claimed; it ne,er suggests willing offers of further help to the body politic to which they belong. Duty draws rigid lines, examines each article of a bond for fear of excess. Love delights in all extra occasions of service. Duty is cool and calculating; love rises to boiling pit-eh, and its energy longs for work, like the pressure of steam. Duty moves with measured tread; love runs upon its errands, takes pleasure in obedience, whereas duty is glad when the bnsiness is ar...complished. The law of obligation is a huge skeleton; love clothes it with flesh &nd sinew, endues it with life and beauty. ill THE STRENGTH WHICH JESUS CHRIST HAS GIVEN TO THE LAW OF LOVE. He has furnished a unique example of love in his incarnate condescension, in his words and deeds of grace, helping and healing men, and like a good Shepherd yielding up his own life to save his flock. His miracle of love sheds love abroad-love to God and man, in the hearts of his disciples. Gratitude to Christ fills the soul with generous emotio11. A spark of Divine generosity is sufficient to kindle the inflammable material .in the hn.man heart, diffusing light and warmth. Christ has emphasized the worth of humanity. He came to redeem not a particula.r race or sect, but men. He despised none, taught the salvability of all except wilful rejecters. How can we treat contemp- tuously the " brother for whom Christ died "? Under the dark skin of the negro. under the barbarous superstition of the .African, under the stolid impassiveness of the Chinaman, under the rags of the English beggar, love discerns a possible regenerated member of the Christian family, a child of God, a jewel in the Saviour's crown. Obrist has exalted self-sacrifice into a heroism that charms the beholder, as he realizes the true glory of a.n intelligent will, tha.t wins life by losing it, and imparts instead of egoistio ha.ppiness a Divine blessedness.-8. R. .A. V ers. 11-14.-The approach of d,a;y. Sin has· been defined as "an act or state incomistent with the relations" in which we stand. To act as our position demands is to act rightly. The apostle appeals to Christians as reasonable individuals desiring to beha.ve as befits their condition. Incongruities excite ridicule, as when the sailor walks on land u if he had to steady himself against the tossing of his ship. 'Who has not dreamed of being found in daylight in the street attired in the garments of sleep, a.nd felt the peculiar sha.me of such an incident? How different the decorations that look well enough by gaslight appear when the scene is surveyed in sun~hine I the tinsel and gaudy brilliancy clisgu.11t a healthy eye. L .A c~ITICAL Bl!ASO!i. '11.e day'break is at lu:vruJ,, when the labourer should be found at w<Jrk, the soldier engaged in copflict, and the traveller eta.rte<l on hie journey. Night is the time in which G'hriBtianity has to etrug0e for existence, its adherents sometimes 1orced to resort to obllcurity for fear of peri!Ccution. Christ's doparturo was the scttlog oJI, xm.1-14.J THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 403