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 '400 ROMANCE LANGUAGES ROMANS The subtleties of Jansenius, bishop of Ypres, annoyed the church in the 17th and 18th cen- turies, his followers, after his example, employ- ing the authority of Augustine to countenance doctrines decidedly Calvinistic. The French church especially was harassed by these doc- trinal disputes. They prevailed throughout the early part of the 18th century, and pre- pared the way for the triumph of infidelity in the revolution. In the present century there is a manifest reaction. The church of France, after much persecution, is intimately united with the see of Peter. In the German empire since 1870 a serious conflict has arisen with the civil power; but now (1875) a compro- mise seems likely to be made. (See GERMA- NY ; also ITALY, SPAIN, and SWITZERLAND.) ROMANCE LANGUAGES, also called Romanic languages, tongues developed from Latin through admixture of Germanic, Celtic, and other idioms. They are Provencal, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Wallachian or Rouman, and perhaps also Romansh. These languages are not direct descendants of the classic Latin, for when the Germanic races settled in the Romance countries Latin was spoken only by the clergy, and in the 6th cen- tury Boethius and Cassiodorus were the only lay writers who still made use of it. Though Latin proper ceased to be a living tongue about the beginning of the 6th century, the lingua rustica, or vulgar Latin, the speech of the populace of the Italian peninsula, continued to be spoken both at home and in the Latin- ized countries, and came to be designated as the lingua Romano, or Roman language. (See ITALIC RACES AND LANGUAGES, and LATIN LAN- GUAGE AND LITERATURE.) Raynouard has at- tempted to show that this lingua Romana was the same as the Provencal of southern France, and that French, Italian, and the other Ro- mance languages were its daughters, and not its sisters. This theory was at once assailed and has since been refuted, with different lines of research and argument, by French as well as English and German scholars. See Sir G. Cornewall Lewis's "Essay on the Origin and Formation of the Romance Languages" (2d ed., London, 1862); Max Mailer's "Lectures on the Science of Language" (1st series, Lon- don, 1861); and the separate articles on the languages in this Cyclopaedia. ROMANIA. See ROUMELIA. ROMAN LAW. See CIVIL LAW. ROMANO, Ginllo. See GIULIO ROMANO. ROMANOFF. See RUSSIA. ROMANS, Epistle to the, one of the canonical books of the New Testament. The epistle was written by the apostle Paul, according to the opinion of most critics, in A. D. 58, during his abode at Corinth, where he stayed about three months after making a journey through Macedonia and Achaia. Paul despatched the letter by a Cenchrean woman who was travel- ling to Rome, and sent greetings from an inhab- itant of Corinth. Many modern commenta- tors suppose that the debates mentioned in ch. xiv. and xv. called forth the epistle. Its special bearings are particularly manifest in ch. xiii. to xvi., in which Paul shows to both Jews and gentiles the glory of Christianity as being the only true religion, and especially endeavors to confirm the faith of the converts from Juda- ism. As to its contents, the epistle consists of two chief divisions, one of which is argumen- tative, the other hortatory. In the former, the apostle, after an introduction (i. 1-16) express- ing his desire to see the saints at Rome, sets forth the gospel plan of salvation. The gospel is a power unto salvation to every one who be' lieves, both Jew and gentile ; it is needed by all, for none, not even the Jew by his law, are justified before God (i. 1 6 to iii. 20). It is only faith in Christ which works justification, even as Abraham and David were justified by faith (iii. 21 to iv. 25). Those who are justified have peace with God, and rejoice ; for through Christ, the reconciler, a new life has begun for mankind (ch. v.). But with reconciliation ho- liness must be connected, not under law, but under grace (vi., vii.). The spirit of life in Christ overcomes sin and the flesh, and all earth- ly sufferings, through hope; the believer lives already here below in security (viii.). The apostle then deplores the rejection of Jews, but finds some consolation in the assurance that it will not be final (ix. to xi.). In the second or hortatory part the apostle enjoins various du- ties (xii.), in particular duties to magistrates (xiii.). He urges mutual forbearance (xiv.), and especially admonishes the strong to bear with the weak (xv.), and concludes with va- rious salutations and directions (xvi.). The authenticity of the epistle has rarely been im- pugned, though Bruno Baur has denied the genuineness of the last two chapters, and Sem- ler, David Schultz, Weisse, and Ewald have maintained that ch. xvi. did not originally form a part of the epistle. Weisse and Ewald consider it a fragment of an epistle addressed to the Ephesians. Renan has supposed that the epistle was written originally as a circu- lar letter, four copies being made with dif- ferent endings, and sent to the churches in Rome, Ephesus, and Thessalonica, and to some church not known. Lightfoot maintains that it was first written to Rome, but afterward altered by Paul in the address and salutations, and sent out generally. The literature on this epistle is very copious, and is detailed in De Wette's Einleitung in das Neue Testament (8th ed., Berlin, 1869), and in the American edition of Lange's commentary. It is treated in the general commentaries of Estius and Cornelius a Lapide, written from the Roman Catholic standpoint, and of Calvin, Bengel, Olshausen, De Wette, Meyer, Alford, Wordsworth, and Ewald; and in special works by Reiche (Got- tingen, 1833-'4), Hodge (Philadelphia, 1835; enlarged ed., 1864), Fritzsche (Leipsic, 1836- '43), Riickert (2d ed., 1839), Turner (New York, 1853), Tholuck- (5th ed., Halle, 1855),