from a misinterpretation of obscure and doubtful texts, there is still so much evil to be apprehended from such misinterpretation, and charity has suffered so grievously in the controversies to which it has given rise, that I know not in what way the Church can be served more usefully, than by freeing from uncertainty and from error, the interpretation of those passages of the Divine Word that are most liable to be misunderstood, to the end "that all who confess the faith of Christ, agreeing in the truth of God's Holy Word, may live in unity and godly love." It is in the hope of contributing, although it be but in a very small degree, to an end so desirable, that the following pages have been committed to the press. In preparing them, I have relied chiefly on the light afforded by the apostle himself to guide me to a correct interpretation of his words. In many cases, where his language seems obscure, either a careful examination of the adjoining context will suffice for its elucidation, or else, in other passages of his writings, the same or analogous expressions will be found, divested of obscurity, so as to suggest their meaning where it appears doubtful. Next to the writings of the apostle himself, the LXX. version of the Old Testament furnishes the surest key to the peculiaritics of his style; we have abundant reason to believe that it was his favourite manual; his numerous citations of Scripture are drawn, almost exclusively, from its pages, and his mind was so deeply imbued with it, that it has, in many instances, evidently imparted its colouring to his language and style. While regarding these as the safest guides to a right interpretation of the apostle's language, I have not neglected to avail myself of such other illustrations of it as I have been able to derive from the Greek classics. In seeking assistance from the labours of others, I have had recourse, not so much to the works of professed commentators, as to those of our standard divines; especially to the great luminaries of the seventeenth century-to Smith, to Barrow and to Taylor; and also, although not to the same extent, to Hooker, and Bishop Butler. To Archbishop Whately's "Essays on some of the Difficulties in the Writings of St. Paul," I am indebted for several useful suggestions, and particularly for some valuable remarks on the doctrine of imputed righteousness, and on the doctrine of election. In the passages quoted from Smith, I have occasionally taken the

liberty to abridge, and otherwise to modify the author's remarks, but without altering their import. I have used a like freedom, but more sparingly, with most of the others whom I have quoted. Numerous as are the minute variations in the MSS. of the epistle, it is wonderful how little they affect its substantial meaning; chapter vii. 6, 25, are, I believe, the only passages in which I have thought it necessary to depart from the received text; in the former, because it is destitute of MS. authority, and scarcely consistent with fact; in the latter, because a slight transposition of a few words removes an apparent incongruity, and exhibits a clear connection in what were otherwise disjointed.

The translation which I have given is, for the most part, identical with our authorized version; but in some places, for the sake of stricter accuracy, or of greater clearness, I have ventured to depart from that justly revered model. The changes thus introduced are not very numerous, and, I hope, carry in themselves, or in the notes which follow them, a sufficient justification. The diversity of opinion concerning the meaning of some passages of this epistle is such, that whatever view one takes of them must be maintained in opposition to the authority of distinguished names. In my exposition of those passages, I have not deemed it advisable to divert the reader's attention from the course of the apostle's argument, by turning aside to controvert the opinions of others; it seemed better to consign all discussions of a controversial character, whether relating to the interpretation of doubtful texts, or to doctrines founded thereon, and also all questions of verbal criticism, to an Appendix. I have there assigned the reasons on which my interpretation of most of the difficult passages of the epistle is founded, and considered such other interpretations of them as seemed most deserving of notice.

I need scarcely observe, that in the reasonings employed in such discussions, it were, in most cases, idle to expect the force of demonstration; it is no small triumph when they leave on the mind a conviction amounting to moral certainty; but even arguments which fail to establish decisively the conclusion in support of which they are adduced, may yet increase its probability to such a degree, as materially to abridge controversy, and lessen the sources of dispute, and

thus may be of essential service to the cause of charity and truth. If the following pages prove, in any degree, serviceable to that holy cause, they will so far have fulfilled the wishes of the Author, and not have been written in vain.

INTRODUCTION.

ST. Paul's Epistle to the Romans was written at Corinth, towards the close of his second visit to that city (chap. xv. 25), that is, according to the most probable calculations of sacred chronology, in the beginning of the fifty-eighth year of the Christian era, which was the fourth of the reign of Nero, and twenty-four years after the ascension of our Lord. In the course of those four and twenty years, the missionaries of the Gospel had borne their divine message through a great part of the Roman empire, and even to places beyond its limits, preaching at first exclusively to their countrymen, the Jews; it was only by express direction from heaven that they addressed themselves to the Gentiles, whose claim to be admitted to the privileges of the Gospel were, by most of the Jewish converts, regarded as incomplete, unless to baptism they added the rite of circumcision, and observance of the law of Moses (Acts xv. 1-5). Even after the Council of Jerusalem had, by a formal decree, decided that the Gentile converts should not be compelled to submit to the yoke of the ceremonial law, there were multitudes of Judaizing brethren who, so rooted are the prejudices which a system of ceremonies is apt to engender, would not hold communion with any that refused to conform to their cherished rites.

This question, concerning the duty of conforming to the requirements of the Jewish law, was, for many years, the most fruitful source of dissension in the infant church; other controversies might, for a season, disturb the harmony of some of its branches, but the efforts of the

Judaizing party to establish their system, stimulated by national prejudice and national pride, long continued to trouble every part of it. Of that restless party, St. Paul was the chief antagonist: charged with a special mission to the Gentiles, he everywhere asserted with ardour their exemption from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and did not hesitate publicly to rebuke even a brother apostle, whose infirmity of purpose, and weak compliance with Jewish prejudice, tended to cast discredit on the liberty of the Gospel (Gal. ii. 11–14). This Epistle to the Romans appears to have been written with a view to support the same great cause of Christian liberty; maintaining that the uncircumcised Gentiles stood on a level with the Jews, as regarded the privileges of the Gospel, and their rank in the divine favour, Gentile and Jew alike being justified, not by the works of the law, but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The immediate occasion of writing it was this-St. Paul had long desired, in his capacity of apostle of the Gentiles, to visit Rome, that, by the miraculous power peculiar to his office, he might confirm the faith of those who had believed through grace, might there also have some fruit of his labours among the Gentiles, and might proclaim, amongst the most ambitious and proudest of the earth, how much more powerfully the beneficent influences of the Gospel promote the happiness of man, than the conquests and pomp which the world is so prone to admire (chap. i. 9-16). But he had been prevented from gratifying this desire, by more urgent claims on his services from those who had never heard the message of salvation; it was not until he had fulfilled his mission among the latter, by preaching and establishing churches in all the districts he visited, that he felt at liberty to carry out his long-cherished purpose of visiting the brethren at Rome, and by way of preparation for his arrival among them, he introduces himself in this epistle. In the course of it, he enters into a more complete and systematic exposition of the nature of the Gospel than is to be found in any other of his writings; partly, no doubt, in consideration of the greatness of the city, but chiefly, as I conceive, because the church at Rome had not yet been visited by any of the apostles, and therefore had the greater need of full instruction; moreover, St. Paul was well aware that whatever he wrote for the edification of the Christians at Rome, a place to which