Then again, have you ever thought what a fine type of men the Romans were? No wonder Paul wanted to go to Rome. Even if all the stories about their heroes are myths, which I do not believe, the fact that they had such myths shows the high type of character of the race. Cincinnatus, who eft his farm to be dictator, beat the enemy and was back at his farm) again in 16 days. Quintus Curtius' leaped into the chasm in the Forum, in answer to an augur who; had said it would never close till "the most precious thing in Rome! had hoon cast into it and Curtius! mid, "The most precious thing in Rome is the devotion of its citizens and in he leaped. Cesar! How great was that answer of his to; his boatman, who was flagging in his rowing, through fear of the storm. "Man, thou carriest Cesar and all his fortunes." Then there are the martyrs, who in after ages! died for Christ's sake. What a grand people! What impudence of us to talk of the Romans as} degenerate! What martyrs they has produced! Which of us has suffered a single twinge for the Lord's sake? Paul was 10 doubt well *ell aware of the stuff that was in them. No wonder a live man like Paul wanted to see Rome.
What do we, as Christians, learn from all this? First, that Paul accepted Rome and all the good that was in her. He certainly does not take St. John's absolutely pessimistic view of her that we read in the Book of Revelations. We read no diatribe against the amphitheatre or circus,.or against slavery, or the social evil and such like sectional evils in the body politic or body: features in the life of the empire, but he saw first all the splendid; and good things in Rome—the fibre: of her manhood; her governing capacity; the peace she gave to hitherto distracted world; her justice, to which he had no hesitation in appealing and which stood between him and his being murdered by his own countrymen. Paul saw all these, and coveted them for the Gospel. He was out to bring the whole world to God; to make the kingdom of heaven far wider than the great Empire. It is no part of Christianity to depreciate the good things in human nature, nor to assert that the whole method of life of non-Christian nations needs remodelling and turning upside down. No; we talk of Christian civilization as if a nation must have railways and telephones if it is to be Christian at all. But it is not 20. If there is such a thing as Christian civilization, it consists in loving God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves, in doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.