prayer.

And the true prayer of the Spirit--the prayer which is according to
God--is described (ver. 27) {315} as 'on behalf of saints[17]'--on
behalf of a separated and consecrated body. It follows, that is to
say, the lines of Christ's own prayer--'I pray not for the world, but
for those whom thou hast given me.' It is through the sanctified life
that the divine influences are to spread over the world: and by praying
for the consecrated body we are praying that that life may be exhibited
more and more perfectly amongst men so as to strike their consciences
and move them to conversion; that through our good works which they now
behold they may glorify God in the day when they themselves are
visited. The New Testament method of praying for the world is thus in
great part indirect. But the direct method is also enjoined. We are
also to pray directly 'for all men[18].'

iv.

There is, I think, no point on which St. Paul has been more
misrepresented than on his teaching about predestination. He teaches
plainly that it is God's purpose to 'have mercy upon all': that He
'willeth that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the
{316} truth[19].' But He works towards this universal end through a
method of selected human instruments--through an elect body. Such an
elect body had been the Jewish nation--selected, we cannot tell why,
but very possibly in part because of its capacity for coherence and
toughness, coupled with a singular aptitude for simple religious
ideas--qualities which in themselves of course were the gift of God.
This nation might have expanded, as was intended, into a catholic
church. But, as it refused to correspond with its vocation in this
respect, in fact the catholic Church appears in history as taking its
place, even while it was developed out of it--an elect body gathered
out of 'every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.' The
election of this catholic body to be the heirs of salvation and to bear
the name of God in the world was, it would have been held, a
self-evident fact. St. Paul reasons not up to this fact but from it.
He uses the admitted fact to strengthen its individual members under
stress of trial. They must bear earthly troubles because they form the
appointed discipline for the individuals who form the select body. Let
men but love God, and then all outward things {317} whatsoever work
together for good for them. The fact that they love God is the