trusted in themselves that they were righteous”—­righteous on the ground of “the deeds of the law”—­“and despised others.”  His aim was to show that men receive forgiveness and salvation neither wholly nor in part on the ground of the supposed merit of their good works, but wholly through faith in Christ; as he elsewhere argues that “if it be by grace, then it is no more of works:  otherwise grace is no more grace.”  Rom. 11:6.  We know also, from the whole tenor of his writings, that he condemned as spurious that pretended faith which does not manifest itself in good works.  In this very epistle, where the question is not concerning the meritorious ground of justification, but concerning that character which God will accept, the apostle lays down the great principle:  “Unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil; of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:  for there is no respect of persons with God.”  Rom. 2:8-11.  If now we turn to the epistle of James, we find that the faith without works which he condemns as dead is one of mere empty notions—­an inoperative belief about Christ instead of that hearty trust in him which brings the heart and life into subjection to his authority.  In a word, Paul condemns, as dead, works without faith; James, faith without works.  The one rejects dead works (Heb. 9:14); the other, dead faith.  Between these two judgments there is no contradiction.  We have dwelt somewhat at large upon this example of alleged contradiction for the purpose of full illustration.  The same mode of reasoning might be applied to many other passages, where a knowledge of the writer’s design is essential to the true apprehension of his meaning.

Such being the importance of the scope, the question arises:  How shall it be ascertained?  Here mechanical rules will be of little avail.  The attentive and judicious reader will be able, in general, to gather it from the various indications given by the writer himself, or from the known circumstances in which he wrote, just as in the case of other writings.

Sometimes an author directly states his general end, or his design in writing a particular section of his work.  An example of the former kind is John 20:31:  “These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name;” of the latter kind, 1 Cor. 7:1:  “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me,” etc.; whence we learn that in this particular chapter the apostle’s design is to answer certain inquiries of the Corinthian Christians in regard to the relation of marriage.  More commonly the writer’s scope is indicated indirectly by various inferential remarks, as in the passage already quoted:  “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,” which is in fact a statement of the apostle’s design in the preceding argument.  See Horne’s Introduct., vol. 2, pp. 266, 267, where the author follows Morus, Hermeneutica, 1.2.2.