OBSERVATIONS. standard, that shall reign over the Gentiles, then shall the nations seek for him, and refort to him, as it is in the original. See Acts ii. XV. Such as come to Chrift aright, as they come from felt neceffity, feeing them felves loft and undone otherways, fo they come with a perfuafion, that there is help and fafety for them in Chrift, and in none elfe; and they come with a refolution to reft upon Chrift for life and falvation, and from him alone do they expect it: In bim Jhall the Gentiles truft. VERSE 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope thro' the power of the Holy Ghost. THE apostle being now closing his difcourfe unto them, ends with a word of prayer, thereby fhewing how defirous he was to have it going well with them, and what they fhould be mainly minding and ftudying; they were taken with debates and ftrife about matters of finall moment, he would have them minding more neceffary debates, even thefe things in which the kingdom of God did confift, fuch as peace, joy, faith and hope; for all thefe he prayeth, and for thefe wafted together in an excellent manner: So then, 1. he prayeth to God, whom he takes up under a notion fuitable to the defires he was to put up, The God of hope; the God who is the author of this grace of hope. 2. He prayeth for, (1.) joy; (2.) peace; (3.) faith; (4) hope. 3. He prayeth for these tempered together in a notable manner; for joy and peace in believing, and refting on Chrift; and then, as a fweet fruit and effect of this, for hope; that ye may abound in hope. 4. He prayeth for no fcanty portion of thefe: Fill you with all joy, and abound in hope. 5. He prayeth for them in a right method and manner, thro' the power of the Holy Ghoft, whereby all thefe are wrought. I. Minifters as they would be careful to prefs duties upon people, with all fericutnefs, fo, confidering how it is God only who must give the increase, they should roll the ftrefs of the bufineis over on God, and by prayer and fupplication wreftle with him for virtue and influence, for the working of thefe things in people; for after all his exhortation and large difcourfe, tending to difcover truth, and point out duty, he clofeth his fermon with a prayer: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy. II. The prayers of the ministers of God, in public, ought to be fuitable to the people's prefent cafe and condition, and not fixed fet forms; for the apoftle is here praying for peace and joy in believing, as being moft profitable and neceffary for them in that exigence, when they were taken up with jarrs and debates, which occafioned fadnets in their walk with God, and fo bemifted them as to their hope; and this is different from the former prayer, uttered, ver. 5. The God of hope, fill you with all peace and joy in believing, &c. III. In our addreffes to God, as we ought to have fenfible apprehenfions of our wants, and of the neceffity we ftand in of thefe particulars we are to seek, that thereby our defires may be fharpened, fo fhould we have fuitable apprehenfions of God, as able and willing to grant what we defire, that thereby our faith in prayer may be ftrengthened; for the apoftle being to pray for the increase of their hope, takes up God in a fuitable manner, as the author, fountain and only worker of hope: The God of hope fill you, &c. IV. As the Lord is the only object of a foul's hope and truft, Jer. xvii. 7. and 1. 7. Joel iii. 16. Acts xxiv. 15. fo is he the only worker of that hope, in a foul, which is lively, 1 Pet. i. 3. and is the anchor of the foul, Heb. vi. 19. whereby it lays hold on eternal life, Tit. iii. 7. and is a helmet to the foul, 1 Theff. v. 8. he is the God of bope, hope, upon this account. See Pet. i. 3. 2 Theff. ii. 16. Pfal. cxix. 49. V. However poor, ignorant, bruti people, think it an eafy thing to believe, and a matter which they will easily accomplish with their own ftrength; yet it is one of thofe good and perfect gifts that com eth down from above, from the Father of lights, and is wrought in the foul of a poor convinced and telf-condemned finner only by the hand of God: Fill you with all joy and peace in believing. See Heb. xii. 2. Eph. ii. 8. Phil. i. 29. VI. Tho' carnal wretches, becaufe of their profperity in a world, may cheer up, their fpirits in a carnal manner, and win to fome carnal joy upon that account, and proclaim reft to themfelves, and hypocrites may have fome fudden flashes that will not last, Job xx. 5. yet it is only true believers, who have gripped to Chrift, according to the tenor of the covenant, that win to folid, fpiritual, heavenly joy: it is joy in believing. fulness of joy, and communicateth the fame X. Tho' finners may blefs themfelves in their own ways, and cry peace when the Lord alloweth none, and may have a confcience plagued with deadnefs and the fpirit of a deep fleep; yet true and found peace of confcience is proper only to berevers, and none knoweth what it means but fuch as have embraced the offer of a Mediator: Fill you with peace in believing, XI. Tho' believers be reconciled to God, and put into a state of peace and friendfhip with him, having their iniquities pardoned, upon their clofing a bargain with Christ and believing; yet they may be long without the fweet fenfe of this favour and good-will of God, and may wrestle long with difquietnefs of confcience, till God, of his free grace and love, fpeak peace, and VII. This fpiritual foul rejoicing is on-fend a calm into the foul: this peace is a ly wrought in a foul by God; it is only the work of his hand, who can difcover the riches of grace and of glory unto a believer, and clear up his intereft in Chrift, and the certainty of his happy condition: The God of hope fill you with all joy, See Pial. li. 8. Ifa. Ixi. 3. Gal. v. 22. diftinct favour from faith, and cometh after it, when and in what measure the God of peace thinketh meet: Fill you with all! joy and peace in believing. Sce Phil. iv. 9. Theff. v. 23. Heb. xiii. 20. 21. VIII. Tho' only true believers are made partakers of this everlafting joy, and ftrangers meddle not therewith; yet it is not common to all believers at all times; it is a fupervenient fpecial gift of God beftowed on whom, of believers, and at what time, it feemeth good in the Lord's eyes: ---Fill you with all joy in believing: He prayeth for this joy befides faith, and joy in believing; for true faith layeth a ground for joy. IX. As the Lord is not ftraitened in his bowels towards his own people, but lets out his favours liberally and largely; fo doth he allow his people who have fled to Christ for refuge, ftrong confolation and XII. Among other graces which the Lord beftoweth upon his people, as helpful in their journey towards the crown, hope is one, whereby the foul of a poor believer is kept up from finking, through temptation and other difcouragements, by a well grounded expectation of a happy outgate, and of life and immortality at length: That your hope may abound. See 1 Cor. xiii. 13. 2 Cor. iii. 12. Lam. iii. 21. XIII. The Lord has thought fit fo to difpenfe with his children, that tho' he bestow upon them the feeds and habits of all graces at once, yet he actuateth and bloweth upon them by the fouth-wind of his Spirit, and maketh them increafe and grow to what meafure he thinketh fit, in fome to a greater, in others to a leffer mea measure; and the greater the measure be, the better for the believer: here there is mention made of hope abounding, That your hope may abound. XIV. Believers, thro' God's goodnefs, may win to fuch a degree of hope, as will lift them up above difficulties and feeming improbabilitics that ly in their way, and fettle their foul in the midst of difcouragements, hufhing all doubts and perplexing thoughts: the apoftle's praying that their hope might abound, fays, that fuch a thing may be attained. See Rom. iv. 13. XVI. The way how God works thefe graces in the fouls of his own people, is, by the operation of his bleffed Spirit; and this is the order of God's works in and about his children, the Father is the principal caufe, working all by and thro' the Spirit; therefore he addeth, Through the power of the Holy Ghoft. WOW followeth the conclufion of the NOW whole epiftle. In that part thereof which is contained in this chapter, he fpeaketh to thefe three things, 1. Anent his writing to them in fuch a manner, to verse 22. 2. Anent his coming and making a vifit to them, to verfe 30. 3. He feteth thein on work to wrestle with God in his behalf. It might have been cbjected, What need you have wrote fuch a large epistle to us, and inveighed fo fore against us? thought ye we had no knowledge of God at all? In anfwering to this, he first pro XV. The infinitely wife God hath. fo linked the graces, which he bestoweth up-feffeth he had not fuch low thoughts of on his children, and fo ordered them, that them; he knew there were many among! whoever would win to the lively exercife them whose faith was spoken of throughof any of them, muft follow the method out all the world, Rom. v. 8. and fo he which God hath made in their concatena- had not fuch thoughts of them; and theretion: Thus we fee here, that faith goes fore he fays, I myself am perfuaded of you, before peace and joy, and peace and joy brethren, 1. that ye also are full of goodin believing goeth before the abounding nefs; I know certainly, brethren, (fuch a of hope: That your hope might abound. See warm and hearty compellation he ufeth, Eph. i. 13. 14. the more to infinuate upon them,) that ye are of a gentle nature and difpofition, meek and tender, and have the grace of God amongst you. 2. Filled with all knowledge; I look not upon you as a com pany of ignorant people, but as fuch as have win to much more knowledge of God and his truths than others; yea, fo much as, 3. You are able alfo to admonilh one another; you are able to become doctors, and to give brotherly admonitions and inftructions to one another. 2dly, He giveth the true grounds of his freedom and boldness in writing to them: For all this, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in fome fort; I have not spared to tell my mind unto you fomewhat freely, 1. because I would put you in mind; tho' you have much knowledge, yet you have nced to be put in mind of truths, and of your duty. 2. Because of the grace that is given to me of God; I am put into a holy charge of the miniftry; God of his free grace hath called me, firft out of nature, and next to be a minifter of the gospel for XVII. Such a hard and difficult thing is it to get grace wrought in the foni of a miferable finner, and fuch oppofition is made thereto by the deceitful heart, and Satan, that no lefs will do the work than the mighty power of God: Through the power of the Holy Ghoft. VERSES 14. 15. And I myself also am perfuaded of you, my brethren, that ye alf are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able alfo to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you, in fome fort, as putas puting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God. him; and this grace of being an apostle is given to me of God, and I must be true to my truft, and mind the duty lying upon me by my office. From verfe 14. OBSERVE, I. Oftentimes fuch as have any measure of knowledge, are fo puffed up therewith, that they can hardly endure to be freely dealt with by any, and are ready to imagine, that fuch as deal freely with them have low and bafe thoughts of them, and do not esteem them according to their worth and deferving: fo did the Romans here imagine of Paul, which conftrained him to make apology for his freedom in fpeaking to them: I myself am perfuaded am perfuaded of you, my brethren. II. When people entertain prejudices at minifters, and imagine with themfelves that they undervalue them below their worth, and the good which they have, they readily caft at free exhortations, and thefe pre judices mar their profiting by the miniftry and labours of thefe fervants of God: therefore doth the apoftle labour to root out thefe prejudices out of their hearts, left thereby they fhould be kept from drinking in the truths delivered by him. III. Minifters ought to ufe all means poffible, to keep up a good understanding betwixt them and the people they are fet over, and to remove mistakes, and any conceited grounds of prejudices that are between them, left the fruit of their miniftry be marred, and the good of fouls hindred; after the example of the apostle here, who, to remove the imagined ground of a mistake, tells them, that he was perfuaded of their goodnefs and knowledge: I myself am perfuaded of you, &c. IV. It is ufetul fometimes to threap good upon people, providing it be done fo berly, prudently, and not in a flattering way, fpeaking nothing but truth, and, withal, doing it feasonably, when the doing thereof will no foler pride nor conceit in people, but will make way, and open a door for receiving of wholefome admonitions and profitable directions; as the apoftle doth here threap good upon thefe Romans, to the end his freedom in speaking to them might be the better welcomed, and lefs exception might be made against it: And I myself am perfuaded of you, &c. V. It is a commendable thing to fee people of a gentle, meek, calm difpofition, ready to take well with admonitions and inftructions, and not to fpurn and ftorm at reproofs and directions, and ready alfo to condefcend to the helping forward of others in the courfe of godliness; I am perfuaded that you are full of goodness, and fo will take well with my admonitions and inftructions, and will be helpful to others, and fo give proof of God's grace in you. VI. So it is commendable in people to be growing in the knowledge of Chrift under the miniftry of the gospel, and to be fo far advanced therein, as to be able to give leffons and inftructions to one another; this is the other thing he commendeth them for, that they were filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. From verfe 15. OBSERVE, I. It becometh the meffengers of our Lord Jefus Chrift, to be delivering their meffage with confidence, and to be ufing boldnefs and freedom of fpeech in exhorting and reproving people; they should do it with all authority, Tit. ii. 15. as their Master Chrift Jefus did, Mark i. 22. Matth. vii. 29. with all boldnefs, Acts ix. 27. 29. xiv. 3. xviii. 6. and xix. 8. knowing whofe ambaffadors they are, what commands they are under, Ifa. lviii. 1. what hazard both themfelves, Jer. i. 17. and the people, Ezek. iii. 18. 19. are in, if freedom and boldnefs be not ufed: I have written the more boldly. II. Freedom and boldnefs in uttering the mind of God unto people, whether by way of inftruction or reproof, may confift very well with love and eftimation of fuch with whom that boldness is used: I am per perfuaded, fays he, you are filled with all knowledge, &c. and yet he addeth, Nevertheless, I have written the more boldly unto you. boldly, because of the grace that was given to him of God. III. The ableft and beft inftructed Chriflians have oftentimes need of a word of awakening, to reuze them up, and to bring even these truths which they have known formerly into their mind, that they may be rightly improven; therefore he fays, I have written the more boldly unto you, as putting you in mind. See 2 John 5. IV. The ableft Chriftian that is, ought to bear well with freedom at the hands of the faithful fervants of Chrift, and to hear fuch truths oftentimes inculcated which they have known formerly, knowing how ready they are to let precious truths ly buried under afhes, and either forget them altogether, or lay them by as useless, and not improve them aright: therefore to mitigate them, he tells them, that his freedom and boldness was to put them in mind; as you in mind. V. The ferias putting ration and fresh viewing of a call, which minifters have of God to go about the duties of their calling, will sharpen their zeal, and make them ufe boldness and freedom in rebuking fin, and firing up to duty, knowing it is he who is their mafter, and to whom they must be accountable, and in whofe name and authority they come forth: that which made the apoftle write the more boldly unto them, was his call he had to that employment of God; because, fays he, of the grace that is given to me of God. VI. Would people confider how mininifters are put to that employment by the Lord, and muft carry themselves therein as they will be anfwerable to the great God of heaven and earth, and muft therefore be faithful and free with people, and declare the whole counfel of God, they would not florm fo much at minifters free dom and boldness in delivering to them the mind of God: the apoftle tells them this to lenify them, that he wrote the more VII. As it is a high and honourable employment to be carriers of the meffage of the new covenant of grace, and to be ambaffadors for Chrift to woo a bride to him; fo it is conferred on none for any merit or good deferving in them, but freely of God's free love and grace; and it becometh all employed therein, to be keeping mean thoughts of themfelves, and high and honcurable thoughts of the office, and of God's free grace in putting them thereinto; therefore when he is fpeaking of the office wherein God had put him, he fays, The grace that is given to me of God. VERSE 16. That I should be the minister of Jefus Chrift to the Gentiles, ministring the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being fanctified by the Holy Ghoft. His argument, was taken from his calling wherein God hed put him, he amplifieth and explaineth further, to verfe 22. and firft in this verse he explaineth what that grace was which God had given to him, by an allegory, borrowing fome fpeeches from the Levitical law, faying, That I should be the minister of Jefus Chrift; this is the work he was called to, to be a public minifter and officer unto Jefus Chrift: to the Gentiles; for the use and benefit of the Gentiles, to convert them unto Chrift: ministring the gospel of God; that is, playing the part of a priest about the gofpel, exercifing myself therein, and giving myfelf thereunto, as being all my work; and that to this end, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be accepted; that I might get the Gentiles offered up as a facrifice to God, and made willing to give up themfelves unto Chrift, by the preaching of the gofpel, and accepted of. God as a facrifice well-pleafing to him. But how? Being fanctified (as all facrifices behoved to be washen and cleansed,) by the |