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ancestors; but it fulfilled, no less, the prophecies concerning the Gentiles; prophecies of which his Scriptures are full.

Let them, therefore, receive one another: and not be less forbearing towards their fellow creatures, than God had been to his undutiful children. Let that spirit be cherished among them, which is the proper spirit of the Gospel, but which cannot exist where jealousies prevail.

13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

The habitual frame of a Christian's mind should be a state of joy and peace. St. Paul implies this here: concluding his exhortations by this prayer. Let nothing interfere, none of those jealousies or enmities which arise out of disputes and disagreements, to hinder your possessing that state of mind which belongs to you as Christians, to hinder your being filled with joy and peace in believing, and abounding in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Believing, is being a Christian: having received the truth as it is in Christ Jesus." And the effect of such faith, we see, should be joy and peace. If so, there must be something in Christian faith to produce these feelings.

There must be, first, some cause of joy. Doubtless there is so. Deliverance is a cause of joy.

Let

a parent who had been alarmed by the rumour of a son's death, receive the assurance of his safety. There is joy. Let two friends who had been engaged in a murderous battle, meet each other in safety and in

victory. There would be joy. Let there be deliverance from shipwreck, recovery from a dangerous sickness: these are occasions of joy.

And the Gospel is cause of joy to believers, because it offers such deliverance: because it tells of danger removed, of calamity averted: because it gives tidings of blessings bestowed, which the heart of man could never have imagined. It relieves from the wrath of God, and brings assurance of his favour.

The Philippian jailor, as described in Acts xvi., tasted, we may believe, this joy: when affrighted by a new and sudden danger, and sensibly convinced of the majesty which he had offended, the irresistible power which he had provoked, he heard the words of unlooked-for mercy: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house." We are told, that " he rejoiced, believing in God." He was filled with joy through the power of the Holy Ghost. So that it is not without reason that St. Paul expects this to be a feeling which is to have place in the Christian's mind, and earnestly entreats the disciples to harbour nothing which would disturb it in their bosom.

He speaks, however, not of joy alone, but of peace also, as the effect of believing.

This feeling of the mind is of a different character from joy. It is of a more gentle, calm, and enduring nature. One may be represented as a temporary, transient, or occasional emotion: the other as permanent and habitual. We may find an example in the case of David, when, after long expectation

and many difficulties, he saw himself at length securely seated on the throne of Israel. (2 Sam. vii. 18.) "Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord, and said; Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a long while to come." This describes to us that inward satisfaction which a man enjoys, when, looking on what is past and on what is yet before him, he sees ground of comfort and reason for hope, and his mind is in peace. Though not so strong an emotion as that of joy, it is a lasting and more tranquil feeling, more suited to the condition of our ruined nature, even when that ruin has been repaired. And therefore St. Paul puts it not first, but second, in his sentence: as if implying that it is that state into which the mind should settle and subside: a state of mind produced by the presence of comfort, and the absence of fear. It is the Christian's privilege to abound in this consolation; to be encouraged by the hope set before him; and so to possess a peace which can flow from no other source. These are thoughts which the Spirit suggests, thoughts maintained in the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost, which soothe the cares which might otherwise perplex, compose the fears which might otherwise disturb, relieve the trials which belong to our fallen state, and spread a healing balm over the woes to which all the sons of Adam are alike subject, but against which the Christian alone has secured a remedy.

If anything can give peace to a being so frail and corrupt as man, it must be this. He is reconciled to God and can look up to Him as a gracious Father, under whose foresight whatever is needful to his temporal welfare shall be provided, and on whom he may confidently depend for the final salvation of his soul. This is ground of present peace: while, for the future, he may abound in hope of the eternal rest which remaineth for the people of God."

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Well may he sit before God like David, and ask in grateful wonder, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my father's house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?"

There are grounds, therefore, for the prayer, that the God of hope may fill the Christian with all joy and peace in believing. How happy would it be, if this were the joy of which the world thought first, and this the peace which were most earnestly and commonly desired! Joy that would not disappoint, and peace that has a sure foundation!

LECTURE XLII.

PAUL EXPLAINS HIS PURPOSE CONCERNING A VISIT TO ROME.

ROMANS XV. 14-24.

14. And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

grace

Thus modestly does the apostle speak of himself and his authority. Divine had its proper effect upon him. It did not diminish his humility. He would not boast of himself beyond his measure. Still less would he disparage the regularly appointed teachers of the Roman church. These he would rather exalt than lower in the esteem of their people. He writes, therefore, as being persuaded that they also were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Still as being ordained to a special mission, to be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, he had been pleading their cause with the Jewish brethren, that they might not look on them with suspicion, but treat them as having access with themselves by one Spirit unto the Father."

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And in this respect he had authority. Though he would not boast of his authority or put it forward, though he would not injure the credit of their ordinary teachers; he was not one of them, and had higher claims to their attention. The Gentiles were now, for the first time, offered to God's acceptance; they who had before been reckoned as unclean, and unfit for his service, were now to be presented as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." And Paul was the high-priest, through whose hands the offering might be made. This gave him his authority; and it was well attested.

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15. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,

16. That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up

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