He had heard the chimes of
the bells on the high priest's robe as he moved to and fro before the
entrance to the holy of holies, and he had waited with breathless
silence for him to come forth giving evidence in his coming of the fact
that Israel could once more approach Jehovah. The text to him was
throbbing with holy memories and was full of significance.

Second: He received his instructions concerning these things of God,
not from men, for when he writes to the Galatians he says: "But I
certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11-12). And so,
since he is a heaven-taught man, we must listen while he speaks and
give heed to his entreaties.

I

_The context_. We shall not appreciate this striking text unless we
take into account its setting.

The first chapters of Romans present to us a black cloud indeed, for
when the first sentences are spoken we shudder because of their
intensity. We read in the twenty-fourth verse that God gave the people
_up_ to uncleanness; in the twenty-sixth verse that he gave them _up_
to vile affections, but in the twenty-eighth verse that he gave them
_over_ to a reprobate mind. With this awful condition of affairs we
start; and yet for fear that the man who counts himself a moralist
might read these verses and feel that they did not apply to him, Paul
writes in the third chapter and the twenty-second verse these words,
"Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto
all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference." But
when the cloud is the blackest the rays of light begin to appear, and
they are rays of light from heaven; looking on the one side at mystery
and catching a vision on the other side of grace, Paul exclaims, "I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).

The word mercy is of frequent occurrence in the Bible. "From
everlasting to everlasting is God's mercy," we read. This gives us
some idea of duration. "New every morning and fresh every evening are
his mercies." This reveals to us the fact that they are unchanging.
"He is a God of mercy." This is his character. "Let the wicked
forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and le