A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE ΤΟ THE ROMANS. BY THE REV. ROBERT ANDERSON, PERPETUAL CURATE OF TRINITY CHAPEL, BRIGHTON; AND CHAP- THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD TEIGNMOUTH. LONDON: J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY; AND SOLD BY LODER, AND BY TAYLOR, NORTH STREET, AND BY 1833. 5. PREFACE. THE following Work contains the expository part of a Series of Afternoon Lectures, which were delivered in Trinity Chapel, Brighton, during the past, and part of the present year. In some previous Discourses, I had been calling the attention of my flock to the several leading doctrines of the gospel; and I felt that, under the Divine blessing, it might conduce to our edification, if we proceeded to take a more connected and systematic view of these great truths. I proposed, therefore, that we should enter upon the consideration of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans; and, in my introductory discourse, I expressed my persuasion that the more difficult passages in this important Epistle would be best illustrated by being thus considered, not as detached and insulated portions of Scripture, but in immediate connexion with the general scope and bearing of the apostle's argument.1 1 I also took occasion to mention, in my opening discourse, that I was the more desirous to fix upon the epistle to the Romans as It was with these views that I entered upon a series of Lectures, which occupied our attention for nearly eighteen months; and, during the progress of their delivery, some instances occurred in which it pleased God to make them profitable for instruction, and for consolation. But there are comparatively few of my congregation who have accompanied me through the whole of the series; and several persons, upon leaving Brighton, have expressed a wish that they might possess the Exposition in a complete form. I have been led, therefore, amidst numerous and pressing avocations, to reduce it into a shape adapted for publication; and, by restricting myself, almost exclusively, to the expository part of the Lectures, I have been enabled to bring the substance of them within the compass of a small, unpretending volume, while, at the same time, I have endeavoured to retain the simple style and language in which they were delivered from the pulpit. The table of contents, which I have prefixed to the Exposition, forms an analysis of the Epistle. the subject of our meditations, because, in a recent instance, I had been permitted to witness the remarkable manner in which the simple exposition of this very Epistle had led, through Divine grace, to a heartfelt conviction of sin, and a joyful reception of the truth as it is in Jesus! But were I asked to describe its subject matter in a few words, I would say that, in the larger portion of the first three chapters, St. Paul. guards against Pharisaic self-righteousness, by shewing that all are under sin; that, from the latter part of the third to the end of the eighth chapter, he guards against the Antinomian heresy, by shewing how the doctrine of justification by faith is inseparably connected with holiness of life; that, in the ninth and two following chapters, he shews that the remedy, which has been in mercy provided for a sinful world, is of universal application; and that, in the last five chapters, he brings these truths home to the hearts of all believers, amidst all the various duties and relations of life, in the noblest strain of practical exhortation. I will now say a few words respecting the manner in which, in humble dependence upon Divine aid, I have endeavoured, in this as in other instances, to provide for the instruction of the flock committed to my charge. Ever since my first entrance upon the duties of the Christian ministry, my attention has been repeatedly drawn to the admirable manner in which the Church of England combines that study of the sacred word, which she recommends to all her children, with a reverential attention to catholic consent, or to that which has been believed IN ALL PLACES, |