in the Old Testament,' which contain a solemn promise of obedience on the part of the Israelites. For, with manifest reference to this solemn vow of obedience to God, the wickedness of the Jews is, in several places of the Old Testament, denoted by "lying;" every violation of God's commands having been a breach of their promise and covenant, and so a lie.

You have seen in the above passage, how, under the form of those cavils and objections, which he knew would be brought forward, the apostle exposes the perverseness and corruption of the human heart. And you find it here declared, that from the very methods in which it pleases the Most High to bring good out of evil, men actually take occasion to judge and condemn God, and to harden themselves in wickedness, under the pretence of doing evil that good may come!'

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It appears, moreover, from the eighth verse, that the same impious doctrine was slanderously imputed to the apostles; for the words, whose damnation is just, may be understood either with reference to those who themselves avowed, or to those who slanderously imputed to the apostles, the ungodly resolution of doing evil that good might come. • Take these words one way,' says Bishop Sanderson, and the slanderer may read his doom in them; here he may find his wages and his por

9 See Ex. xiv. 5—8; xxiv. 3-7; Deut. v. 27; xxvi. 17. I See Isa. xxx. 9; lix. 13, &c.

tion; the meed and the reward of his slander. Take them in the other sense, with reference to the resolution itself of doing evil that good may come, and they teach us that no colourable pretext whatever can excuse those who presume to do evil; but that still the evil which they do is damnable, and that it is but just with God to render to them according to their deeds.'

SECTION VIII.

CHAP. III. ver. 9-20.

THE SCRIPTURES DECLARE THAT THE JEWS, AS WELL AS

THE GENTILES, ARE ALL UNDER SIN; SO THAT NO FLESH IS JUSTIFIED BY THE DEEDS OF THE LAW.

In the last section I endeavoured to illustrate the first eight verses of the chapter, by showing that we ought to consider them in the light of a dialogue, in which the apostle puts and answers the objections which, as he was well aware, would be urged by the Jews on reading the declaration contained at the close of the second chapter; viz. that he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh" but that "he is a Jew, which is one inwardly;" and that "circumcision is that of the

heart in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

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St. Paul had said, in the course of the above dialogue, that the Jews possessed much advantage every way," and "chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." The apostle now supposes his opponent to revert to that declaration, and to say, What then? are we better than they? that is: Possessing those advantages of which you have been speaking, and having been preferred to be God's peculiar people, are we in a better estate as to justification by our works, than the Gentiles? No, in no wise, answers the apostle : for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. According to the interpretation given in the margin, the apostle says that he had before charged it, both upon Jews and Gentiles, that they were all under sin. But to this charge, or indictment, as preferred in the first two chapters, the Jews pleaded not guilty;' and therefore, besides the evidence already brought against them from notorious facts, and the nature of the case, he now proceeds to establish the charge by many clear testimonies out of the Old Testament. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their 1 προῃτιασάμεθα.

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throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.*

Of the several verses here quoted by the apostle, those at the commencement are taken from the former part of the fourteenth Psalm, and the rest are found in other parts of the Psalms, and in Isaiah. But all the verses here adduced by St. Paul are inserted in our prayer-book translation of the fourteenth Psalm. That translation of the Psalms follows chiefly the Septuagint or Greek version; and it seems that there are some copies of the Septuagint which introduce all these verses into the fourteenth Psalm. Their introduction into the above Psalm is limited, however, to some copies only of the Greek version; and their insertion may admit of the following simple explanation. In the passage of the Epistle to the Romans which is now before us, the other verses quoted from the Old Testament immediately follow the words cited from the beginning of the fourteenth Psalm; and it is probable, therefore, that they were introduced from this epistle into the body of the above Psalm by some transcribers of the Septuagint version.

It deserves to be remarked, that our apostle 2 Ver. 10-18: See Ps. v. x. xiv. xxxvi. liii. cxl; Isa. lix. 7, 8.

employs different methods when speaking, respectively, of the Jews and of the Gentiles. In describing the latter, he uses the greatest plainness of speech, as well knowing that they did not pride themselves on sanctity of conduct, but were quite conscious that the things laid to their charge were true. But, in speaking of the former, St. Paul first describes their character under quotations from their own sacred writings: that so, in the ancient manners of the nation, his brethren might, as in a glass, clearly see the deformity of their own generation, and thus be the better prepared for a direct appeal to their hearts and consciences.

The above quotations were, of themselves, admirably suited to convince the Jews that they were as unable to justify themselves before God as the Gentiles were. For if, even in the days of David and Isaiah, such was a faithful representation of the Jewish people, it would plainly follow, that, in all other generations, the acceptance and holiness of any among them must have arisen from some other cause than their national covenant and their external privileges. But still it was possible that the Jews, with whom the apostle was arguing, might choose to regard these accusations and reproofs as applying not to themselves, but to other nations. St. Paul, therefore, follows up these quotations by a remark which, while it is suited to silence all such objections, forms a powerful conclusion to that line of argument which begins at