He expresses his deep sorrow for the general rejection of Jesus by the Jews, and their consequent rejection by God. God's designs however, are not frustrated. The Gentiles are taken in their stead, and the proceeding is no more arbitrary than it must be in all the privileges bestowed by God. But these privileges are not final. The Christian may abuse and forfeit them as well as the Jew, and a like fate awaits him if he does. Which things being so, he exhorts all who name the name of Christ to depart from iniquity, to practise every virtue, and abstain from every sin. In conclusion, he says: "I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil; and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet."

Paul's Epistle to the Romans has been from the first, the grand arena of controversy. It is probable that it is to this that Peter refers, when he speaks of Paul's having written things hard to be understood, and which were wrested by the unstable and unlearned to their own destruction. It has been quoted to prove the natural inability of man to do the will of God. But in no part of the Scripture is this power so clearly and unequivocally stated. "Those who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law." "God bestows glory, honor, and peace on those who do well, on the Jew first, and also on the Gentile." It has been made to teach the doctrine of

personal, arbitrary election. But no where is it more categorically declared, that "there is no respect of persons with God;" and even the Christians, who were elected to have the blessings of the Gospel, might finally be cast off as were the Jews. "Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God, on them which fell severity, but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." And because, according to this Epistle, the heathen was to be admitted into the Christian church, upon his belief in Christ, without the ceremonial law, the monstrous doctrine has been advanced, that the only ground of salvation is faith in Christ, and the imputation of his righteousness without regard to personal conduct, when no words can possibly be plainer than those of this Epistle, that God will render unto every man according to his deeds. The view we have just taken of the Epistle shows us, that so far from being taught, those doctrines are not so much as alluded to by Paul in the whole course of it. We see at the foundation, the same great truths which run through the New Testament, varied, illustrated and adapted to the condition of those whom he sought to instruct and to edify.

Lecture XVII.

THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS.

1 COR. 3: 11.-For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

THE Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, which are the subject of this lecture, differ from the two we have already considered, in being almost wholly practical, whereas they were mainly doctrinal in their character. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans was written to a community which he had never seen, and is therefore a general discourse on the doctrines and duties of the Gospel. The Epistle to the Hebrews is an especial argument directed to the converted Jews of that period, but especially those of Judea. The Epistles to the Corinthians are a portion of a correspondence, the two first letters of which are lost, one of the Corinthians to Paul, and one of Paul to the Corinthians. Being all of a practical nature they are more intelligible than the other Epistles, and want nothing for a full understanding of them but an acquaintance with the circumstances of both correspondents. The obscurity

which arises from the want of this knowledge is common to this correspondence, and any other of the same antiquity. Take up a series of family letters, which chance throws in your way, dating a century back, and however well you may suppose yourselves acquainted with the circumstances under which they were written, you will find many allusions to persons and circumstances, to events and states of the times which you find it impossible to comprehend. Precisely so is it, with the Epistles of Paul. There are allusions in them to things of which we can have no definite idea, because they belonged to the time, and with it forever passed away. He admonishes the Corinthians, for instance, concerning the conduct of their public assemblies, and gives directions as to the exercise of spiritual gifts. As nothing of the kind exists in our days, it is possible for us to form only the most dim conjectures as to the meaning of those passages which refer to them. But it is of little consequence to us whether we understand the admonition or not, for no part of our faith or conduct is to be regulated by it.

The

But there is an ambiguity in one of these Epistles, which has been more serious in its effects. Corinthians had abused the Lord's Supper to purposes of intemperance and excess-they had celebrated it in a disorderly and unworthy manner-unworthily, as he says. Not that the persons were

unworthy to partake of it; this he does not intimate, though many of them at this time would be considered far from being exemplary Christians; but he complains that they celebrated it in an unworthy man

ner.

This single misinterpretation has in the Protestant church almost desolated the rite itself. Fenced with such an awful commination, the sacrament has degenerated from an affectionate commemoration of Christ, into a perilous snare for men's souls, the terror of the timid, and the horror of the conscientious. Corinth was a city of Greece, of great antiquity, opulence and distinction. It is thought to have been founded about the time of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and early became as much distinguished for its commercial enterprise and wealth, as Sparta was for its arms, and Athens for its literature. Its situation in the midst of Greece, on an isthmus between two extensive bays, made it, as far as commerce was concerned, first the metropolis of Greece, and then a mart of trade between Western Europe, and Asia and Africa. The navigation of those ages being carried on in small vessels, without the aid of the mariner's compass, could not venture far from land, and it was found more safe to transport merchandise across the isthmus and through the city of Corinth, than to tempt the dangerous sea between the Peloponnesus and the island of Crete, where Paul