breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse; Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imagi nations, and their foolish heart was darkened, ver. 20, 21. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, iii. 11. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself, Prov. xviii. 2. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women come, and set them on fire for it is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them, will shew them no favour, Isa. xxvii. 11. For my people is foolish, they have not known me they are sottish children, and they have none understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge, Jer. iv. 22. And Jesus said, Are also yet without understanding? Matt. xv. 16. ye way The highways lie waste, the faring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man, İsa. liii. 8. e Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 2 Tim. iii. 3. VER. 32. Οἵτινες τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιγνόντες, (ὅτι οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντες ἄξιοι θανάτου εἰσὶν,) οὐ μόνον αὐτὰ ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνευδοκοῦσι τοῖς πράσσουσι. Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are bworthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. a For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, ver. 18. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful: but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, ver. 21. Therefore A. D. 60. thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things: For we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou Or despisest thou the riches of his shalt escape the judgment of God? goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Rom. ii. 1-5. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 21-23. b What fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death, Rom. vi. 21. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death, Deut. xvii. 6. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, xxi. 22. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man : and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, 2 Sam. xii. 5-7. And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the LORD God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted, 1 Kings ii. 26. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? Heb. x. 29. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy, Rev. xvi. 6. CHAP. II. VER. 1. Διὸ ἀναπολόγητος εἶ, ὦ ἄνθρωπε πᾶς ὁ κρίνων· ἐν ᾧ γὰρ κρίνεις τὸν ἕτερον, σεαυτὸν κατακρίνεις· τὰ γὰρ αὐτὰ πράσσεις ὁ κρί b A. D. 60. LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and 1 delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, 2 Sam. xii. 5-7. But unto the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother: thou slanderest thine own mother's son, Psal. 1. 16-20. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be wit Therefore a thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judg-nesses unto yourselves, that ye are est doest the same things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? the children of them which killed the prophets, Matt. xxiii. 29-31. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant; Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow, Luke xix. 22. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst, John viii. 7-9. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother. and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge, James iv. 11. < Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not un-without sin among you, let him first circumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision, dost transgress the law? ver. 26, 27. What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 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, Rom. iii. 9-12. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man: and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die : And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing; and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the VER. 2. Οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι τὸ κρίμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐπὶ τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσε GOVTAG. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. 534 A. D. 60. ROM. II. 2. a But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ver. 5. God forbid; Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man), iii. 4, 5. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid, ix. 14. That be far from thee, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Gen. xviii. 25. Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just? Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? And to princes, Ye are ungodly? How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands, Job xxxiv. 17 -19. For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter For into judgment with God, 23. thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne But the judging right, Psal. ix. 4. LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness, 7, 8. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright, xi. 5-7. Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens ; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast, xxxvi. 5, 6. Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh, to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people | A. D. 60. with his truth, xcvi. 13. The LORD ing destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day, 2 Thess. i. 510. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest, Rev. xv. 3, 4. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, because thou hast judged thus, xvi. 5. For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which | did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and bath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand, xix. 2. VER. 3. Λογίζῃ δὲ τοῦτο, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ὁ κρίνων τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντας, καὶ ποιῶν αὐτὰ, ὅτι σὺ ἐκφεύξῃ τὸ κρίμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ; And a thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? a Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? ver. 22. Shall they escape by iniquity? In thine anger cast down the people, O God, Psal. lvi. 7. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished; but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered, Prov. xi. 21. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished, xvi. 5. But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper ? shall be escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant and be delivered? Ez. xvii. 15. Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, A. D. 60. he hath given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape, 18. Ye serpents, ye generations of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Matt. xxiii. 33. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape, 1 Thess. v. 3. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, Heb. ii. 3. Šee that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, xii. 25. VER. 4. Η τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς, καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας καταφρονεῖς, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει ; Or a despisest thou the briches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? a What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Rom. vi. 1. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid, 15. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it, Psal. x. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil, Eccl. viii. 11. And come, and stand before me, in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Jer. vii. 10. Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged and every vision faileth? Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel: but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision, Ez. xii. 22, 23. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming: And A. D. 60. ROM. 11. 4. shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, Matt. xxiv. 48, 49. Know ing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 2 Pet. iii. 3. A. D. 60. world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, 1 Tim. vi. 17. Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, Tit. iii. 6. C bAnd that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels c Whom God hath set forth to be a of mercy, which he had afore prepared propitiation through faith in his blood, unto glory, Rom. ix. 23. For there to declare his righteousness for the is no difference between the Jew and remission of sins that are past, the Greek for the same Lord over through the forbearance of God, Rom. all is rich unto all that call upon him, iii. 25. What if God, willing to shew x. 12. O the depth of the riches both his wrath, and to make his power of the wisdom and knowledge of God! known, endured with much long-sufhow unsearchable are his judgments, fering the vessels of wrath fitted to and his ways past finding out! xi. 33. destruction, ix. 22. And the LORD For thou, LORD, art good, and ready passed by before him and proclaimed, to forgive; and plenteous in mercy the LORD, the LORD God, merciful unto all them that call upon thee, and gracious, longsuffering, and abunPsal. lxxxvi. 5. O LORD, how mani- dant in goodness and truth, Exod. fold are thy works! in wisdom hast xxxiv. 6. The LORD is long-suffering, thou made them all; the earth is full and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity of thy riches, civ. 24. In whom we and transgression, and by no means have redemption through his blood, clearing the guilty, visiting the inithe forgiveness of sins, according to quity of the fathers upon the children the riches of his grace, Eph. i. 7. The unto the third and fourth generation, eyes of your understanding being en- Numb. xiv. 18. But he, being full of lightened; that ye may know what is compassion, forgave their iniquity, and the hope of his calling, and what the destroyed them not: yea, many a time riches of the glory of his inheritance turned he his anger away, and did in the saints, 18. But God, who is not stir up all his wrath, Psal. lxxviii. rich in mercy, for his great love 38. But thou, O LORD, art a God full of wherewith he loved us, ii. 4. That compassion and gracious, long-sufferin the ages to come he might shewing, and plenteous in mercy and truth, the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, 7. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, iii. 8. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, 16. But my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus, Phil. iv. 19. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is, Christ in you, the hope of glory, Col. i. 27. That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, ii. 2. Charge them that are rich in this lxxxvi. 15. I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them, Isa. Ixiii. 7-10. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him |