view, be thought to express, by the term dixaooúvn, the practice by which God was to be served, rather than the essential principle in which his government consisted. But any such supposition is excluded in a following verse (vi. 18); where it is said, ἐλευθερωθέντες δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐδουλώθητε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ. Here, therefore, δικαιοσύνη is not merely the practice of what is right, but it is the very principle of rectitude, strictly opposed to the principle of sin; and, as it were, God's vicegerent, by which he exercises his dominion in the enfranchised mind and heart.

I would further observe, that if we connect this 18th verse with the words immediately preceding, we shall be satisfied that the enfranchisement here spoken of, is essentially the xágopa on which the Apostle had been dwelling. In the 16th verse, he introduces an expression not used before, izazoǹ eis dinalooúvny. Eis in this place, as indeed throughout these two chapters (I am not aware of an exception), means in order to. What, therefore, this obedience is, which precedes dizaiorun, we might be at some loss to discover, if St. Paul had not himself fixed its meaning by declaring twice, with marked significancy (Rom. i. 5; xvi. 26), that the Gospel was made known to all nations, εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως.

Now, this ὑπακοὴ πίστεως, in its primary exercise, could be nothing else than the cordial reception of the Gospel, as the δύναμις Θεοῦ εἰς σωτηρίαν. For thus St. Paul forthwith explains the "obedience" of which he had spoken, by thanking God that the Roman Christians had obeyed from the heart the τύπος διδαχῆς εἰς ὃν, says he, παρεδόθητε. Dr. Doddridge

may

thinks there be an allusion here to melted metal poured into a mould; and if so, the Apostle, doubtless, had in view the assimilating provision explained in the first eleven verses of this same sixth chapter.. But, be that as it may (which, however, I should think highly probable), the Apostle attributes to that " obeying from the heart," the effect described in the words already quoted, ἐλεθευρωθέντες δὲ ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας, ἐδουλώθητετῇ δικαιοσύνῃ.

In these words, then, we have the sense of both the leading terms in the preceding discourse incontestably determined. Sin, which had entered into the world by Adam, had brought mankind universally into the most degrading bondage; but, every one who cordially received the Gospel, and availed himself of its aids, emerged from the bondage of ἁμαρτία, and passed into the discipline of δικαιοσύνη. As, therefore, in St. Paul's view, man's subjection to the deadly dominion of sin through the agάTμ of Adam, constituted the essence of his misery; so his liberation from that dominion, and his being brought into the service of righteousness, was to form the foundation of his happiness. In exactly tracing St. Paul's reasoning from the 12th verse of the fifth chapter, to the 18th verse of the sixth chapter, we find it uniformly tending to such a result. And when, at length, this very result is expressly and simply stated as effected through the ὑπακοὴ πίστεως, and as substantiating the vital purpose of the Gospel, we cannot doubt our being in complete possession of the Apostle's doctrinal scheme. And if this conclusion could be made more certain, it would be confirmed by those cor

responding words of our Lord, which contain the spirit of St. Paul's entire discourse, as o τὴν ἁμαρτίαν δοῦλος ἐστὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. ἐὰν ὁ υἱὸς ὑμᾶς ἐλευθέρωση ὄντως ἐλευθεροι ἔσεσθε.

I have confined myself to certain. leading verses in the passage I have referred to (although every one of its successive sentences bears upon the same great subject, and is deserving of the deepest attention), because, to have entered further into the exposition of St. Paul's profound observations, and wonderfully significant expressions, would have carried me far beyond the limits of any thing that could be called a letter, or, indeed, that I at present should be equal to.

457

LETTER TO MRS. HANNAH MORE, ON MR SOUTHEY'S LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY.

MY DEAR MADAM,

Bellevue, Delgany, 2d Oct. 1820.

I TRUST I need not assure you, that my long omission of writing has not proceeded from any diminution of affection, or from any want (latterly) of the sincerest solicitude; of late, especially, we have thought, inquired, and often talked about you. Our common friend, Mr. Ogilvie, being here for some days, brought you still more frequently into conversation, as Mr. Jebb had also contributed to do just before. From both we heard, with deep concern, of your late painful and alarming illnesses; but we had some little comfort from being also told that the severity of the last attack had in some measure subsided.

Still, I should not have thought of taxing your attention or strength with a letter, had I not learned, through my young friend, Richard Steele, that you have some wish to know what estimate I make of Southey's "Life of Wesley."

When that work was announced, I felt much more than curiosity: I could not hope that Mr. Southey would prove an adequate biographer. To make one such, it would be necessary to have all

John Wesley's piety and none of his weaknesses. But I had met several passages in the Quarterly Review relative to John Wesley, written, undoubtedly, by Mr. Southey, which expressed more kindly feelings toward John Wesley, and more enlarged views of his religious character and conduct, than I had found, at least, in any other recent instance. I hoped, therefore, that John Wesley would, in some respects, be fairly represented. I feared, however, that many things respecting him would be clumsily managed; both because they might be, in themselves, not a little unmanageable; and also, because Mr. Southey's acquaintance with the phenomena of the religious world could hardly be such as to qualify him for making those discriminations which the case might, in justice, require; or those allowances of which, in Christian candour, it might admit.

These anticipations have, on the whole, been pretty much realised. The work is, in great measure, what I expected. In some particulars it has given me more pain than I had reckoned upon; but I think it has given me more pleasure in some others.

I am, in the first place, glad that such a work is in existence. It was desirable that John Wesley should have his proportioned place in the records of his country; that he should be as conspicuous on the tablet of English history as he had been in real life, during more than one half of the eighteenth century. No party panegyrist, no obscure life-writer, could have effected this object. The season, also, for such a service, was quickly