The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-19

| honeycomb the foundation of the new so- cfety. This leads the apostle to utter his strong exhortation. Believers are cited to the example of a suffering Christ, and to the will of God. In kindly irony they are reminded that if the Gen tiles ever had any claim upon them. they have more than dissolved themselves from that claim in the portion of their lives al- ready given to sin. Finally, the ap- motive to sobriety. watchfulness, and prayerfulness.
 The Teachers Lantern. Paul holds a mirror before the heathen world. in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. The reflection Is revolt ing, but undeniably true.
 Pauls picture can be matched by one made up by quotations from the heathen classics.
 The unchaste spirit and life of the old heather world is further proven by the ruins exhumed at Pompeii and elsewhere Sensuality frescoed itself upon the walls, and limned itself in marble and bronze.
 Lasciviousness. lusts. excess of wine. revelings, banquetings, and abominable
 
 of a much-vaunted old-world civilization. The visitor is shown the vomitorium ad- joining the banquet-hall in Nero's palace Here a slave would tickle the throat of the guest until. having disgorged himself he could return to the pleasures of the table.
 Against such abominations Christians were to enter that most effective of pro- 1ta -A~ ~rA A>-
 The expression, They think it strange that ye run not with then1," suggests the current and natural misconceptions of the Christian life. analogies to which present themselves in some mission-felds today.
 The paragraph closes with an exhorta- ton to conserve the Christian character, and especially the chief attribute of 1t, in spite of, and for the sake of, the desper- ately unfavorable social environment.
 Some comments upon the paragraph are here gathered from several sources:
 Arm yourselves: With a resolution such as animated him to suffer all the evils to which you may be exposed in the body. and particularly to suffer death. if called by God to do so for your religion. For this will be armer-proof against all your eHeIuleS. 6uHtTcu-tcdScu. tience in suffering and avoidance of sin are in direct relation to each other. .. Times past suffice: Gentle way of saying they had spent too long time in sin. :. Think it strange: It is strange to a car nal man to see the child of God disdain the pleasures of sin--he' knows not the higher and purer pleasures that the Chris tian is called to. Give account: The great court-day shall call them to ac- count for all these riots and reproaches of the godly. !. Them that are dead: | Past generations. Live according | to God: Live a life with God, such as God | lives, divine, as contrasred with according | to men in the flesh; that is,. a life such as men live in the flesh. End at l hand: In a few years after Peter wrote this epistle. Jerusalem was destroyed by | the Romans. To this destruction which was literally then at hand. the apostle may allude: The end of the temple, the end of the Levitical priesthood. the end of the whole Jewish economy was at hand. l.. Watch: Not intoxicated with world ly pleasures. Temperance promotes wake | fulness Drink makes drowsy and drows- mess prevents prayer. Unto prayer: Be ye discreet and sober, that ye may be apt to prayers. Fervent charity: | A loving disposition leads us to pass by | the faults of others. Cover sins: As God with his love covers my sins. so must cover the sins of my neighbor.