ROM. i. 14. “l am
debtor both to the Greeks, and barbarians; both to the wise,
and the unwise.”
PAUL was a teacher from the supreme conception which
he had of the obligation of those who had special gifts of
power or grace entrusted to them of God to use those gifts
and employ that grace for the benefit of others. He had
the knowledge most necessary of all to personal welfare.
And he had it not merely to rejoice in it, but that he might
impart to others who were still destitute of it. He had
also eminent gifts and experiences of grace for the pro-
clamation of the truth, and he felt that these laid him
under proportionate obligations. There are some lessons
which follow.
I. What reason the poor and the weak always have to
bless God for the Gospel. It reverses as far as its power
extends the ordinary tendency of the human will, under
which the feeble are the prey of the strong, and those
without resource are depressed and oppressed.
II. What a beautiful civilization it is which the Gospel
contemplates as its result in the world—a civilization, the
key of which is in this doctrine that weakness confers
right, and power simply imposes obligation.
III. The test of the progress of Christian civilization in
the world is, how far do the Church and society recognise
their obligations to the weakest and the poorest.
IV. Here is the practical test of our individual Christian
experience—”How much have I of the feeling of Paul
toward those around me?”
R. S. Storrs, D.D.