unprovided for, are doing the missionary work according to the commandment.'

If, in our eagerness to make these impressions, we have seemed to forget or undervalue the efforts that have been made to supply our country with the gospel, we assure our readers the case is far different. A quarter of a century ago we took our station on the outpost-the "far west❞—of the land. We have stood by the banks of the Father of Waters, until from the ne plus ultra it has become the nation's central artery. Then the wide-spread state in which we have resided was physically and morally a wilderness, beautiful indeed as the garden of God, but still a wilderness, without a single minister of our order. We have greeted to this teeming field many a servant of God, whom the dear Christian brethren of the older states sent out to preach the everlasting gospel. We have seen the same state, from being an appendage to an ecclesiastical body in another, grow into three Presbyterian synods and three Congregational associations, besides the various other denominations: and we have known that for this growth, this delightful increase of religious privileges, we are indebted mainly, under God, to the kind, and we will say generous, hearts of Christians in New England and some of the neighboring states. And we have felt, too, the blessedness of him that receives, when the wife and little ones of the missionary, as well as himself, have drawn large additions to the family wardrobe, just in time of need, from the package which Christian sympathy had filled beyond the mountains. Nor while we breathe on earth, nor while we sing in heaven, do we expect to lose the grateful and delightful emotions which have swelled our bosom, as we have seen the wilderness bud and begin to bloom. And our prayers have gone up, and will yet ascend to the throne of mercy, for

1 Mrs. H. E. Beecher Stowe has given a sketch, called, we believe, "The Classmates, or which is the Liberal Man?” which has drawn tears not of sympathy merely, but realization, from many a missionary and many a missionary's wife. The scene of the sick wife, and the husband at her work,-it is all fact, simple fact.

blessings rich and full on the benevolent hearts which have remembered us in our feebleness. But, while the contributions of secular Christians in New England have far exceeded, perhaps, any other portion of the modern church, we are persuaded that a more correct estimate of duty may be formed by comparison with those who, as the sent, are fellow-laborers and copartners with the senders. And in reference to them and their field, we would adopt the language of the apostle : "For I mean not that other men be eased and ye burdened : but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality."

To conclude. When the church of Jesus Christ shall "remember them that are in bonds as bound with them," shall share in the wants as well as sympathise in the sorrows of the missionary, according to the meaning of these words, then the philosophy of missions will be fully understood; and the land-the world-will be converted to God.

Amen.

ARTICLE V.

EXPOSITION OF ROMANS 7: 7-24.

Translated from Olshausen's Commentary.

BEFORE We take up in detail this remarkable passage, so important both in a speculative and practical point of view, some general questions demand our consideration, on the answer to which, the meaning given to the whole passage must, in a great measure, depend. Does Paul here speak in his own person or not? and is he describing the experience of a regenerate or an unregenerate person?

In regard to the first question, it is evident that Paul could

not possibly have made use of the first person in this description, had there been absolutely no analogy between the state he was describing and his own; had he designed to represent himself as an exception to his remarks. On the other hand, it is equally clear that he cannot intend to speak of himself only, since his aim is to instruct his readers relative to their own wants. Rather is it true that in his experiences those of the mass of men are to be found reflected. We must express

the matter by saying that Paul does indeed speak of himself; but only of himself as a sharer in human nature, as a man; not of his individual, personal experience.

Little is gained, however, by this result, unless we can determine to what period of his life the apostle refers. This question falls in with the other highly important one, whether he is describing the state of a renewed or of an unrenewed person. The verses 7-13 relate, according to the opinion of all interpreters, to the period before regeneration, as is sufficiently indicated by the use of the aorist. But whether verses 14-24 are likewise to be applied to the state before regeneration, is very doubtful, as Paul here changes to the present; and the aorist is not resumed until chapter 8: 2. The question is indeed a difficult one, for, in the first place, it relates entirely to internal goings-on, which cannot be rightly understood without analogous experiences, and a clear-sighted consciousness; and in the second place, the influence of false tendencies in doctrine has confused the inquiry. Pelagian blindness to moral relations, as well as Donatistic rigor, find it easy to assert that there can be no reference to a renewed state, otherwise there would be no mention of sin. Lax moralists or hypocrites, on the other hand, found it convenient to assert that Paul was describing the state of the regenerate; among whom they, notwithstanding their moral corruption, fondly classed themselves.

Besides these opposite false directions, the most pious and learned members of the church have understood this passage differently, according as they were accustomed to estimate more or less human depravity, and thence to judge differently

of the effects of the new birth. It cannot, therefore, surprise us to find the names of Origen, Chrysostom and Theodoret among those who refer the passage to a state prior to regeneration; since the oriental church always inclined to Pelagianism. Even Augustine was at first found on this side; but the further development of his system led him to adopt the opposite view-that, namely, which makes Paul describe the state of the regenerate. He was followed, not merely by the most distinguished theologians of the middle ages, Anselm and Thomas Aquinas, but by the reformers, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and Beza. Only since Spener, Francke, Bengel, Gottfried Arnold, and Zinzendorf, has there been a return to the interpretation which makes Paul speak of the state before regeneration, and this interpretation is adopted by Stier, Tholuck and Ruckert.

These theologians, however, admit, with justice, that there is an element of truth in the Augustinian view. For there are moments in the life of the believer in which he must adopt the language here used by Paul. Moreover, the plastic power of the gospel penetrates only by degrees the different tendencies of the inner life, so that similar developments manifest themselves through the believer's whole course; and this leads to the thought that both views may find a point of coincidence in one higher than either. And it might safely be presumed that men like Augustine and the Reformers would not go wholly astray in the interpretation of so remarkable a passage. A further development of the connection will perhaps enable us to discover how such different interpretations have arisen, as well as to determine what is the element of truth, and what of error, in each.

In the first place, it is obvious that the apostle designs to give a complete picture of the successive steps of development in the Christian life, from its beginning to its perfection. In vs. 7-9, he sets out from a point where man lives wholly without law, and concludes, in the eighth chapter, with the glorification of the body. Here the question arises, How many steps are distinctly marked in this process? Indisputa

bly four. First, a state without law, in which sin is dead; secondly, a life under the law, in which sin is alive, and reigns; thirdly, a state in which, through the strength of Christ, the spirit rules, and sin is kept under; and lastly, the state of entire freedom from sin, through the glorification of the body. If, therefore, we choose to understand regeneration as including the first motions of grace in the soul, the whole description may be applied to the regenerate; since even in its earliest stage, the attention is directed to the law, through grace. It is assuredly, however, more correct and consonant with Scripture to call that process only a new birth, in which, after the sense of need has been awakened, spiritual strength is so infused into the soul by Christ, that a new man begins to exist, and henceforth exercises supreme sway in the soul. Consistently with this explanation, the state under the law cannot coexist with the new birth; and it thence follows that since v. 24 expresses the need of redemption, and v. 25 the experience of it, the whole passage (14-24) refers to a state prior to regeneration, and describes the conflict in the breast of a convicted sinner.

The fact that Paul in this section makes use of the present, while in the preceding and following context he employs the aorist, suggests the thought, that he does not intend to consider this state of conflict, as one quite separate and distinct from that of the new birth. There is likewise in the description itself (14-24) a visible progress in the battle with sin; the better I gains the ascendency, and the delight in God's law gradually increases. In a far higher degree is this the case, as expressed in verse 25, after the experience of the redemptive power of Christ; where the renewed man is described as mostly victorious over sin. But the contest continues even after regeneration; and it is evident from express declarations of Scripture, (compare 1 John 2: 1,) that the new man does not always come off victorious; that he has seasons of being assaulted and tempted, yea, most bitterly assaulted. The same truth is confirmed by what is revealed respecting the lives of the apostles, and by the experience of