Which show the work of the law written in their
hearts,
&c.] Though the Gentiles had not the law in form, written on
tables, or in a book, yet they had "the work", the matter, the
sum and substance of it in their minds; as appears by the
practices of many of them, in their external conversation. The
moral law, in its purity and perfection, was written on the heart
of Adam in his first creation; was sadly obliterated by his sin
and fall; upon several accounts, and to answer various purposes,
a system of laws was written on tables of stone for the use of
the Israelites; and in regeneration the law is reinscribed on the
hearts of God's people; and even among the Gentiles, and in their
hearts, there are some remains of the old law and light of
nature, which as by their outward conduct appears, so by the
inward motions of their minds,
their conscience also bearing witness;
for, as the Jews say F18 (wb
hdyem Mda lv wtmvn) , "the soul of a man witnesses in
him"; for, or against him:
and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
one
another;
and this the Heathens themselves acknowledge, when they
``(tameion dikasthrion kai krithrion thv suneidhsewv) , "the conclave, tribunal and judgment of conscience"; and which they call (dikasthn dikaiotaton) , "the most righteous judge": whose judgment reason receives, and gives its suffrage to, whether worthy of approbation or reproof; when it reads in the memory as if written on a table the things that are done, and then beholding the law as an exemplar, pronounces itself either worthy of honour or dishonour.''