dignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil. But, as he immediately subjoins, glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good. There is, moreover, a peculiarity in the construction of the whole passage, such as the attentive reader of scripture will often have occasion to remark, by which a peculiar prominence or distinction is given to those blessed and consoling truths on which the apostle would have the believer chiefly dwell. Not only, as you have seen, does he avoid any express mention of eternal death, but he begins and ends the sentence with speaking of the gracious promises of God; and he assigns, as it were, a subordinate place to the terrors of his wrath. He tells us, indeed, that indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, are reserved for every soul of man that doeth evil; but this awful declaration is preceded by the assurance that, to them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honour and immortality, God will render eternal life; and it is followed by the promise of glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good. In all this, the apostle seems emphatically to remind us, that judgment is God's "strange work," and that mercy is first and last in his counsels for the children of men.

1

The representation contained in the above pas. sage of the opposite characters of those who "serve God," and those who "serve him not," is pecu2

1 See Isa. xxviii. 21.

2 Mal. iii. 18.

liarly forcible and just. The servants of God are they, who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honour and immortality; being persons who, under all the trials, and amidst all the changes of life, manifest a patient submission and an entire unreserved obedience to the will of God. But of others it is said, that they are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness; in other words, that they invariably evince a murmuring and rebellious spirit; a spirit which quarrels with the dispensations, and practically renounces the authority of God.

It remains only that I direct your attention to the words of the eleventh verse; For there is no respect of persons with God. If you examine the passages of scripture where God is said to be no respecter of persons, you will find that this character is ascribed to him, not directly as he is creator, but rather as he is ruler and judge, and the dispenser of rewards and punishments. His giving to his creatures more or less; his placing them here or there, when he calls them into being, is according to his own sovereign pleasure; and what is here called respect of persons, does not bear upon this exercise of his sovereign power. But in his behaviour towards his creatures, consequent, so to speak, on their behaviour towards him, he represents himself as acting by the plainest rules of justice and equity; and in making this declaration, therefore, concerning God, as judge,

3

that he is no respecter of persons, the apostle shews the Jews their folly in expecting favour, at the last judgment, only because they had Abraham for their father, and were themselves members of God's visible church. And do you not feel, my Christian brethren, as you dwell upon these words, that they utter a voice of solemn warning to all who are living in the full light of the gospel dispensation? For if it be true that God is no respecter of persuns, what remaineth for those who are content to be Christians in name only and in profession, and not in deed and in truth? If it be true that God is no respecter of persons, what remaineth for those who, though enjoying all the privileges of the gospel dispensation, and surrounded by the daily and hourly mercies of God, are actually found to despise the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth them to repentance?

3 Jortin's Sermons.

SECTION V.

CHAP. II. VER. 12-16.

THE LAW WRITTEN IN MEN'S HEARTS; AND THE VOICE OF

CONSCIENCE.

THE portion of the epistle which formed the subject of the last section, concluded with the declaration that "there is no respect of persons with God." And now the apostle proceeds to shew, from the beginning of the twelfth to the end of the sixteenth verse, that God will fully display this impartiality of administration in the great day of universal judgment. For as many, he says, as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law; in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. I have here taken the twelfth verse in immediate connexion with the sixteenth; and the same construction of the passage is followed in our authorized version, where the three intermediate verses are marked as forming a parenthesis, and as bearing, therefore, only indirectly, in the way of explanation, upon the main argument. For not the hearers of the law

1 Ver. 12 and 16.

are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.2

In order that you may enter into the full spirit of the above passage, it is necessary, (and this is a remark which I shall frequently have occasion to repeat as we proceed with the epistle,) that you should view it in connexion with the general scope of the context. The apostle is shewing that the judgment of God is according to truth, and that there is no respect of persons with him. Now, in answer to this representation of the impartiality of God's distributive justice, the Jews might be disposed to plead that surely the divine justice would not lay hold on them, seeing that God had vouchsafed to them the privilege of the law, by which they looked not to be condemned, but justified. And the Gentiles might plead that, inasmuch as they wanted the written law, they were not liable to condemnation. But what says the apostle ? As many as have sinned without law, (i. e. without the Mosaic law,) shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law; in the day when God shall

2 Ver. 13-15..

3 Ver. 2 and 11.