In the previous chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, Paul, having taken a review of the mercies of God in human redemption by Christ, and of the calling of the Jews and Gentiles;—in the twelfth chapter he beseeches the brethren “to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is their reasonable service” (ver. 1); and at the end of the thirteenth chapter he exhorts them to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof” (ver. 14); while the intermediate verses contain a remarkably concise epitome of the character and duties of the members of the Christian Church. I have endeavoured to draw the character of Christianity as I find it in the New Testament. No place is made for lukewarmness, indifference, or formality. Every one receiving the inestimable blessing of faith in Christ is naturally expected to embrace it; to prize it as the “pearl of great price”; the greatest of all treasures; and to be wrapped up in its excellence, counting all other things as valueless and unworthy of attention in comparison with it. And the new creature is to grow up out of the new faith, stripped of all that is old and sinful, and clothed with all that is just and true and godly. To flee from the “wrath to come,” and take refuge in the ark or fold of Christ, is a work of the deepest seriousness, and the joy of feeling that you have attained that shelter and security is depicted in the New and Old Testaments as of the liveliest kind. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say rejoice” (Phil. iv. 4). “Whom having not seen ye love; in whom though now ye see Him not, yet, believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. i. 8), and this in the midst of grievous persecutions. “And thou shalt _rejoice in the Lord_, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel” (Isa. xli. 16). “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isa. lxi. 10). “I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab. iii. 18). “Rejoice evermore” (1 Thess. v. 16). “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” (Rom. viii. 1): born again of the Spirit: believing in Christ: our sins borne by Him on the tree: “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus making us free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. viii. 2), should we not rejoice with grateful hearts, and through Jesus offer “the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name”? (Heb. xiii. 15.)