The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 427

there is not wat.ohfulne..qs, there will be coMtimt frlotlon between them. Now, this le a menRce to the peace of the Ohurcb; and Paul has here to guard against it. 'l'hore le a great danger in the indulgenoo of scorn. A weak brother, if "roasted" and ridiculed by t.he stronger, may be made a burden to himself, and hie personal poaco be saoriflcod on the altar of his neighbour's criticism. Hence in this passago Paul argues: 1, Thero should be a.s little controversy as possibl,e within tM Ohurcl,,, Tho weak brother is to be received, but not to doubtful disputations. He is not to be involved in profitless disputes. The Church is wise which discourages debates between brethren, 2, TMre shoold be m11tual respect for conscientious diffef'ffl,CB qf opinion.. If each man is fully persuaded in his own mind, as Paul declares he ought to be, then let tho weak brother admit that his less scrupulous brother hM reached his opinion before God, and that God is the only competent Judge of his conduct, while the strong brother is to give the 'llre&k one credit for similar conscientiousness. It is a great matter gained if eeoh lays his brother's case before the Lord, and prays and hopes that God will enable him to stand. It is a great thing gained when we are able to see guilt in contemptuous judgment. 1 ill. b. THE RISEN SAVIOUR EA.OH 01-TE MUST REOOGNlZE THE LORD OF BIS OONBOIENOB. (Vers. 7-9.) To Jesus, onr risen Saviour, and to him alone, are we responsible,and so let us live, and die unto him. Now, it is important for us to appreciate the purpose of Christ's death and resurrection. It was no less than this, to secure universal dominion over man both here and hereafter. "The Redeemer's dominion over men is .forcibly declared to have been .the end of his ministry on earth. The apostle's words are very express and emphatic. To thils end that signifies, in language as strong as could be used to not.e desi,,,"11, that the purpose of the Passion was the attainment of universal dominion over the hnman ra.ce in time and in eternity. To this end, and no other; for this purpose, and nothing short of it; with this design, embracing and consummating &11 other designs. But we must view it under two aspects-it was a purpose aimed at before the death; in the Resurrection it was a purpose reached. He died that he might have the dominion; he lived that he might exercise it." 2 . Now, of this mighty realm of the risen Christ, the dead constitute the vast majority. " What, in comparison of the uncounted hosts, numbered only by the Infinite Mind, are the few hundreds of millions that any moment are called tM U-oing, It is in the realm of the shades that we con- template our great family in its vastest dimensions, as it has from the first generation been gaining on the numbeI'l! of the living, and swelling onwards to the stupendous whole bonnd up in the federal headship of the first and second Adam.'' 3 Now, in all this vast domain, there is bot one rightful Lord of the conscience ; there may be other lords with dominion, and they may be many; but in the realm of conscience there is only one Lord, and he is the risen Saviour I' IV. Tms LoBDSHIP OF JESUS LEADS DIRECTLY TO THE CHRISTI.AN IDEA OF LIFE AB A Lil"E UNTO oua LoBD. (Ver. 8.) We cannot live unto ourselves, even if we tried. We cannot coop up our life so as that it should 1:i&ve no relations to any ~ut ourselves. We must live to inftuence others; we ought to live for the glory of our nsen Lord. In the Christian idea of life " nothing is indifferent, nothing self-willed; all is consecrated to Heaven. The scruples of the weak rise from the fear of God, and are, therefore, to be considered ea.cred ; the freedom of the strong rises from the dedication to the Lord, and is therefore equally sacred. Life, with its energies and purposes, is one prolonged aot of ~tioi::_ Death, with its silent endurance and great transition, is a consecration too."• _AS!, another has faithfully put it," _AS!, he always exists, BB a Christian, in and by his M88ter, so he always exists for his Master. He~. in the.reality of the. matter, no dissociated and independent interest. Not only m preachmg and teaching, and bearing a.rticulate witness to Jesus Christ, does he, if his life is true to its idea and its secret, 'live not unt.o himself;' not with aims which terminate for one moment in his • See Bobertaon'e 11ennon on the" Guilt or Judging-Contemptuousness," in hie' Human JI.ace a.nd other SermoDB,' No. xv. 1 • Pope'e • KiDgdom of Chriet,' p. 184. Ibid., p. 141. • 8e(; Sa.urin'e lll!nnon on "The Empire or Jeens ChriRt in the Ohnrch," in tom. viii. p, 84, el.c. • &,t: the fine fragmem bJ Mr. Hull of K!Dg'1 Lynn on "The Ohriatian Idea of Lt&.• . aer-.· ii. p. 7&.  olt, xr·v.1-28.J THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 4,25