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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>R O M A N S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XI.</FONT>
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<P>
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The apostle, having reconciled that great truth of the rejection of the
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Jews with the promise made unto the fathers, is, in this chapter,
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further labouring to mollify the harshness of it, and to reconcile it
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to the divine goodness in general. It might be said, "Hath God then
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cast away his people?" The apostles therefore sets himself, in this
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chapter, to make a reply to this objection, and that two ways:--
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I. He shows at large what the mercy is that is mixed with this wrath,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:1-32">ver. 1-32</A>.
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II. He infers thence the infinite wisdom and sovereignty of God, with
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the adoration of which he concludes this chapter and subject,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:33-36">ver. 33-36</A>.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The State of the Jews; The State of the Gentiles; The Gentiles Warned; The Future Conversion of the Jews.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 58.</TD></TR>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I
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also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, <I>of</I> the tribe of
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Benjamin.
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2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye
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not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession
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to God against Israel, saying,
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3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine
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altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
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4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to
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myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to <I>the
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image of</I> Baal.
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5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant
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according to the election of grace.
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6 And if by grace, then <I>is it</I> no more of works: otherwise
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grace is no more grace. But if <I>it be</I> of works, then is it no
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more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
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7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh
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for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
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8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit
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of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they
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should not hear;) unto this day.
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9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
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and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
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10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow
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down their back alway.
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11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God
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forbid: but <I>rather</I> through their fall salvation <I>is come</I> unto
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the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
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12 Now if the fall of them <I>be</I> the riches of the world, and
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the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more
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their fulness?
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13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of
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the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
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14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation <I>them which are</I>
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my flesh, and might save some of them.
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15 For if the casting away of them <I>be</I> the reconciling of the
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world, what <I>shall</I> the receiving <I>of them be,</I> but life from the
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dead?
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16 For if the firstfruit <I>be</I> holy, the lump <I>is</I> also <I>holy:</I>
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and if the root <I>be</I> holy, so <I>are</I> the branches.
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17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a
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wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them
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partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
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18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou
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bearest not the root, but the root thee.
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19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I
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might be graffed in.
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20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou
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standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear:
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21 For if God spared not the natural branches, <I>take heed</I> lest
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he also spare not thee.
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22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them
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which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue
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in <I>his</I> goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
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23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be
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graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
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24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by
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nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive
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tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural <I>branches,</I>
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be graffed into their own olive tree?
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25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of
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this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
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blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the
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Gentiles be come in.
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26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There
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shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away
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ungodliness from Jacob:
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27 For this <I>is</I> my covenant unto them, when I shall take away
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their sins.
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28 As concerning the gospel, <I>they are</I> enemies for your sakes:
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but as touching the election, <I>they are</I> beloved for the fathers'
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sakes.
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29 For the gifts and calling of God <I>are</I> without repentance.
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30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now
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obtained mercy through their unbelief:
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31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your
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mercy they also may obtain mercy.
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32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might
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have mercy upon all.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle proposes here a plausible objection, which might be urged
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against the divine conduct in casting off the Jewish nation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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"<I>Hath God cast away his people?</I> Is the rejection total and
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final? Are they all abandoned to wrath and ruin, and that eternal? Is
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the extent of the sentence so large as to be without reserve, or the
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continuance of it so long as to be without repeal? Will he have no more
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a peculiar people to himself?" In opposition to this, he shows that
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there was a great deal of goodness and mercy expressed along with this
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seeming severity, particularly he insists upon three things:--
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1. That, though some of the Jews were cast off, yet they were not all
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so.
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2. That, though the body of the Jews were cast off, yet the Gentiles
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were taken in. And,
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3. That, though the Jews were cast off at present, yet in God's due
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time they should be taken into his church again.</P>
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<P>
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I. The Jews, it is true, were many of them cast off, but not all. The
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supposition of this he introduces with a <I>God forbid.</I> He will by
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no means endure such a suggestions. God had made a distinction between
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some of them and others.</P>
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<P>
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1. There was a chosen remnant of believing Jews, that obtained
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righteousness and life by faith in Jesus Christ,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:1-7"><I>v.</I> 1-7</A>.
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These are said to be such as he <I>foreknew</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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that is, had thoughts of love to, before the world was; for whom he
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thus foreknew he did predestinate. her lies the ground of the
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difference. They are called the <I>election</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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that is, the elect, God's chosen ones, whom he calls the election,
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because that which first distinguished them from the dignified them
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above others was God's electing love. Believers are the
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<I>election,</I> all those and those only whom God hath chosen.
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Now,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) He shows that he himself was one of them: <I>For I also am an
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Israelite;</I> as if he had said, "Should I say that all the Jews are
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rejected, I should cut off my own claims, and see myself abandoned."
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Paul was a chosen vessel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:15">Acts ix. 15</A>),
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and yet he was of the <I>seed of Abraham,</I> and particularly of the
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tribe of Benjamin, the least and youngest of all the tribes of
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Israel.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) He suggests that as in Elias's time, so now, this chosen remnant
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was really more and greater than one would think it was, which
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intimates likewise that it is no new nor unusual thing for God's grace
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and favour to Israel to be limited and confined to a remnant of that
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people; for so it was in Elijah's time. The scripture saith it of
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Elias, <B><I>en Elia</I></B>--<I>in the story of Elias,</I> the great
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reformer of the Old Testament. Observe,
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[1.] His mistake concerning Israel; as if their apostasy in the days of
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Ahab was so general that he himself was the only faithful servant God
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had in the world. He refers to
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+19:14">1 Kings xix. 14</A>,
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where (it is here said) <I>he maketh intercession to God against
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Israel.</I> A strange kind of intercession: <B><I>entynchanei to Theo
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kata tou Israel</I></B>--<I>He deals with God against Israel;</I> so it
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may be read; so <B><I>entynchano</I></B> is translated,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+25:24">Acts xxv. 24</A>.
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The Jews <B><I>enetychon moi</I></B>--<I>have dealt with me.</I> In
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prayer we deal with God, commune with him, discourse with him: it is
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said of Elijah
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:17">Jam. v. 17</A>)
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that he <I>prayed in praying.</I> We are then likely to pray in
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praying, to make a business of that duty, when we pray as those that
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are dealing with God in the duty. Now Elijah in this prayer spoke as if
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there were one left faithful in Israel but himself. See to what a low
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ebb the profession of religion may sometimes be brought, and how much
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the face of it may be eclipsed, that the most wise and observing men
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may give it up for gone. So it was in Elijah's time. That which makes
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the show of a nation is the powers and the multitude. The powers of
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Israel were then persecuting powers: They have <I>killed thy prophets,
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and digged down thine altars,</I> and they <I>seek my life.</I> The
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multitude of Israel were then idolatrous: <I>I am left alone.</I> Thus
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those few that were faithful to God were not only lost in the crowd of
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idolaters, but crushed and driven into corners by the rage of
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persecutors. <I>When the wicked rise, a man is hidden,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:12">Prov. xxviii. 12</A>.--
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<I>Digged down thine altars;</I> not only neglected them, and let them
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go out of repair, but digged them down. When altars were set up for
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Baal, it is no wonder if God's altars were pulled down; they could not
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endure that standing testimony against their idolatry. This was his
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intercession <I>against Israel;</I> as if he had said, "Lord, is not
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this a people ripe for ruin, worthy to be cast off? What else canst
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thou do for thy great name?" It is a very sad thing for any person or
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people to have the prayers of God's people against them, especially of
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God's prophets, for God espouses, and sooner or later will visibly own,
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the cause of his praying people.
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[2.] The rectifying of this mistake by the answer of God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>I have reserved.</I> Note, <I>First,</I> Things are often much
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better with the church of God than wise and good men think they are.
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They are ready to conclude hardly, and to give up all for gone, when it
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is not so. <I>Secondly,</I> In times of general apostasy, there is
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usually a remnant that keep their integrity--some, though but a few;
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all do not go one way. <I>Thirdly,</I> That when there is a remnant who
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keep their integrity in times of general apostasy it is God that
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reserves to himself that remnant. If he had left them to themselves,
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they had gone down the stream with the rest. It is his free and
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almighty grace that makes the difference between them and
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others.--<I>Seven thousand:</I> a competent number to bear their
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testimony against the idolatry of Israel, and yet, compared with the
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many thousands of Israel, a very small number, one of a city, and two
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of a tribe, like the grape-gleanings of the vintage. Christ's flock is
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but a little flock; and yet, when they come all together at last, they
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will be a great and innumerable multitude,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+7:9">Rev. vii. 9</A>.
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Now the description of this remnant is that <I>they had not bowed the
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knee to the image of Baal,</I> which was then the reigning sin of
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Israel. In court, city, and country, Baal had the ascendant; and the
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generality of people, more or less, paid their respect to Baal. The
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best evidence of integrity is a freedom from the present prevailing
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corruptions of the times and places that we live in, to swim against
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the stream when it is strong. Those God will own for his faithful
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witnesses that are bold in bearing their testimony to the
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<I>present</I> truth,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+1:12">2 Pet. i. 12</A>.
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This is thank-worthy, not to bow to Baal when every body bows. Sober
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singularity is commonly the badge of true sincerity.
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[3.] The application of this instance to the case in hand: <I>Even so
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at this present time,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:5-7"><I>v.</I> 5-7</A>.
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God's methods of dispensation towards his church are as they used to
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be. As it has been, so it is. In Elijah's time there was a remnant,
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and so there is now. If then there was a remnant left under the Old
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Testament, when the displays of grace were less clear and the pourings
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out of the Spirit less plentiful, much more now under the gospel, when
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the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, appears more
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illustrious.--<I>A remnant,</I> a few of many, a remnant of believing
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Jews when the rest were obstinate in their unbelief. This is called
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<I>a remnant according to the election of grace;</I> they are such as
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were chosen from eternity in the counsels of divine love to be vessels
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of grace and glory. Whom he did predestinate those he called. If the
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difference between them and others be made purely by the grace of God,
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as certainly it is (<I>I have reserved them,</I> saith he, <I>to
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myself</I>), then it must needs be according to the election; for we
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are sure that whatever God does he does it according to the counsel of
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his own will. Now concerning this remnant we may observe, <I>First,</I>
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Whence it takes its rise, from the free grace of God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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that grace which excludes works. The eternal election, in which the
|
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difference between some and others is first founded, is purely of
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grace, free grace; not for the sake of works done or foreseen; if so,
|
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it would not be <I>grace. Gratia non est ullo modo gratia, si non sit
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omni modo gratuita--It is not grace, properly so called, if it be not
|
|
perfectly free.</I> Election is purely according to the good pleasure
|
|
of his will,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+1:5">Eph. i. 5</A>.
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Paul's heart was so full of the freeness of God's grace that in the
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midst of his discourse he turns aside, as it were, to make this remark,
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|
<I>If of grace, then not of works.</I> And some observe that faith
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|
itself, which in the matter of justification if opposed to works, is
|
|
here included in them; for faith has a peculiar fitness to receive the
|
|
free grace of God for our justification, but not to receive that grace
|
|
for our election. <I>Secondly,</I> What it obtains: that which Israel,
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that is, the body of that people, in van sought for
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for,</I> that is,
|
|
justification, and acceptance with God (see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+9:31"><I>ch.</I> ix. 31</A>),
|
|
|
|
but the <I>election have obtained it.</I> In them the promise of God
|
|
has its accomplishment, and God's ancient kindness for that people is
|
|
remembered. He calls the remnant of believers, not the elect, but the
|
|
<I>election,</I> to show that the sole foundation of all their hopes
|
|
and happiness is laid in election. They were the persons whom God had
|
|
in his eye in the counsels of his love; they are the election; they are
|
|
God's choice. Such was the favour of God to the chosen remnant.
|
|
But,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. <I>The rest were blinded,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some are chosen and called, and the call is made effectual. But others
|
|
are left to perish in their unbelief; nay, they are made worse by that
|
|
which should have made them better. The gospel, which to those that
|
|
believed was the savour of life unto life, to the unbelieving was the
|
|
savour of death unto death. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay.
|
|
Good old Simeon foresaw that the child Jesus was set for the fall, as
|
|
well as for the rising again, of many in Israel,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+2:34">Luke ii. 34</A>.--
|
|
|
|
<I>Were blinded;</I> <B><I>eporothesan</I></B>--<I>they were
|
|
hardened;</I> so some. They were seared, and made brawny and
|
|
insensible. They could neither see the light, nor feel the touch, of
|
|
gospel grace. Blindness and hardness are expressive of the same
|
|
senselessness and stupidity of spirit. They shut their eyes, and would
|
|
not see; this was their sin: and then God, in a way of righteous
|
|
judgment, blinded their eyes, that they could not see; this was their
|
|
punishment. This seemed harsh doctrine: to qualify it, therefore, he
|
|
vouches two witnesses out of the Old Testament, who speak of such a
|
|
thing.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Isaiah, who spoke of such a judgment in his day,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+29:10;Isa+6:9"><I>ch.</I> xxix. 10; vi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
The <I>spirit of slumber,</I> that is, an indisposedness to mind either
|
|
their duty or interest. They are under the power of a prevailing
|
|
unconcernedness, like people that are slumbering and sleeping; not
|
|
affected with any thing that is said or done. They were resolved to
|
|
continue as they were, and would not stir. The following words explain
|
|
what is meant by the spirit of slumber: <I>Eyes, that they should not
|
|
see, and ears, that they should not hear.</I> They had the faculties,
|
|
but in the things that belonged to their peace they had not the use of
|
|
those faculties; they were quite infatuated, they saw Christ, but they
|
|
did not believe in him; they heard his word, but they did not receive
|
|
it; and so both their hearing and their seeing were in vain. It was all
|
|
one as if they had neither seen nor heard. Of all judgments spiritual
|
|
judgments are the sorest, and most to be dreaded, though they make the
|
|
least noise.--<I>Unto this day.</I> Ever since Esaias prophesied, this
|
|
hardening work has been in the doing; some among them have been blind
|
|
and senseless. Or, rather, ever since the first preaching of the
|
|
gospel: though they have had the most convincing evidences that could
|
|
be of the truth of it, the most powerful preaching, the fairest offers,
|
|
the clearest calls from Christ himself, and from his apostles, yet to
|
|
this day they are blinded. It is still true concerning multitudes of
|
|
them, even to this day in which we live; they are hardened and blinded,
|
|
the obstinacy and unbelief go by succession from generation to
|
|
generation, according to their own fearful imprecation, which entailed
|
|
the curse: <I>His blood be upon us and upon our children.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) David
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
quoted from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+69:22,23">Ps. lxix. 22, 23</A>,
|
|
|
|
where David having in the Spirit foretold the sufferings of Christ from
|
|
his own people the Jews, particularly that of their giving him
|
|
<I>vinegar to drink</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>,
|
|
|
|
which was literally fulfilled,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:48">Matt. xxvii. 48</A>),
|
|
|
|
an expression of the greatest contempt and malice that could be, in the
|
|
next words, under the form of an imprecation, he foretels the dreadful
|
|
judgments of God upon them for it: <I>Let their table become a
|
|
snare,</I> which the apostle here applies to the present blindness of
|
|
the Jews, and the offence they took at the gospel, which increased
|
|
their hardness. This teaches us how to understand other prayers of
|
|
David against his enemies; they are to be looked upon as prophetic of
|
|
the judgments of God upon the public and obstinate enemies of Christ
|
|
and his kingdom. His prayer that it might be so was a prophecy that it
|
|
should be so, and not the private expression of his own angry
|
|
resentments. It was likewise intended to justify God, and to clear his
|
|
righteousness in such judgments. He speaks here,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Of the ruin of their comforts: <I>Let their table be made a
|
|
snare,</I> that is, as the psalmist explains it, Let that which should
|
|
be for their welfare be a trap to them. The curse of God will turn meat
|
|
into poison. It is a threatening like that in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:2">Mal. ii. 2</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>I will curse your blessings.</I> Their table a snare, that is, an
|
|
occasion of sin and an occasion of misery. Their very food, that should
|
|
nourish them, shall choke them.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Of the ruin of their powers and faculties
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
their eyes darkened, their backs bowed down, that they can neither find
|
|
the right way, nor, if they could, are they able to walk in it. The
|
|
Jews, after their national rejection of Christ and his gospel, became
|
|
infatuated in their politics, so that their very counsels turned
|
|
against them, and hastened their ruin by the Romans. They looked like a
|
|
people designed for slavery and contempt, their backs bowed down, to be
|
|
ridden and trampled upon by all the nations about them. Or, it may be
|
|
understood spiritually; their backs are bowed down in carnality and
|
|
worldly-mindedness. <I>Curvæ in terris animæ--They mind
|
|
earthly things.</I> This is an exact description of the state and
|
|
temper of the present remainder of that people, than whom, if the
|
|
accounts we have of them be true, there is not a more worldly, wilful,
|
|
blind, selfish, ill-natured, people in the world. They are manifestly
|
|
to this day under the power of this curse. Divine curses will work
|
|
long. It is a sign we have our eyes darkened if we are bowed down in
|
|
worldly-mindedness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Another thing which qualified this doctrine of the rejection of the
|
|
Jews was that though they were cast off and unchurched, yet the
|
|
Gentiles were taken in
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:11-14"><I>v.</I> 11-14</A>),
|
|
|
|
which he applies by way of caution to the Gentiles,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:17-22"><I>v.</I> 17-22</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The rejection of the Jews made room for the reception of the
|
|
Gentiles. The Jews' leavings were a feast for the poor Gentiles
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Have they stumbled that they should fall?</I> Had God no other end
|
|
in forsaking and rejecting them than their destruction?" He startles at
|
|
this, rejecting the thought with abhorrence, as usually he does when
|
|
any thing is suggested which seems to reflect upon the wisdom, or
|
|
righteousness, or goodness of God: <I>God forbid!</I> no, <I>through
|
|
their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles.</I> Not but that
|
|
salvation might have come to the Gentiles if they had stood; but by the
|
|
divine appointment it was so ordered that the gospel should be preached
|
|
to the Gentiles upon the Jews' refusal of it. Thus in the parable
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:8,9">Matt. xxii. 8, 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Those that were</I> first <I>bidden were not worthy--Go ye therefore
|
|
into the highways,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+14:21">Luke xiv. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
And so it was in the history
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+13:46">Acts xiii. 46</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken
|
|
to you; but, seeing you put it from you, lo, we turn to the
|
|
Gentiles;</I> so
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+18:6">Acts xviii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
God will have a church in the world, will have the wedding furnished
|
|
with guests; and, if one will not come, another will, or why was the
|
|
offer made? The Jews had the refusal, and so the tender came to the
|
|
Gentiles. See how Infinite Wisdom brings light out of darkness, good
|
|
out of evil, meat out of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong. To
|
|
the same purport he says
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>The fall of them was the riches of the world,</I> that is, it
|
|
hastened the gospel so much the sooner into the Gentile world. The
|
|
gospel is the greatest riches of the place where it is; it is better
|
|
than thousands of gold and silver. Or, The riches of the Gentiles was
|
|
the multitude of converts among them. True believers are God's jewels.
|
|
To the same purport
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The casting away of them is the reconciling of the world.</I> God's
|
|
displeasure towards them made way for his favour towards the Gentiles.
|
|
God was in Christ <I>reconciling the world,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:19">2 Cor. v. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
And therefore he took occasion from the unbelief of the Jews openly to
|
|
disavow and disown them, though they had been his peculiar favourites,
|
|
to show that in dispensing his favours he would now no longer act in
|
|
such a way of peculiarity and restriction, but that in every nation he
|
|
that feared God and wrought righteousness should be accepted of him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+10:34,35">Acts x. 34, 35</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The use that the apostle makes of this doctrine concerning the
|
|
substitution of the Gentiles in the room of the Jews.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) As a kinsman to the Jews, here is a word of excitement and
|
|
exhortation to them, to stir them up to receive and embrace the
|
|
gospel-offer. This God intended in his favour to the Gentiles, to
|
|
provoke the Jews to jealousy
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
and Paul endeavours to enforce it accordingly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>If by any means I might provoke to emulation those who are my
|
|
flesh.</I> "Shall the despised Gentiles run away with all the comforts
|
|
and privileges of the gospel, and shall not we repent of our refusal,
|
|
and now at last put in for a share? Shall not we believe and obey, and
|
|
be pardoned and saved, as well as the Gentiles?" See an instance of
|
|
such an emulation in Esau,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+28:6-9">Gen. xxviii. 6-9</A>.
|
|
|
|
There is a commendable emulation in the affairs of our souls: why
|
|
should not we be as holy and happy as any of our neighbours? In this
|
|
emulation there needs no suspicion, undermining or countermining; for
|
|
the church has room enough, and the new covenant grace and comfort
|
|
enough, for us all. The blessings are not lessened by the multitudes
|
|
of the sharers.--<I>And might save some of them.</I> See what was
|
|
Paul's business, to save souls; and yet the utmost he promises himself
|
|
is but to save some. Though he was such a powerful preacher, spoke and
|
|
wrote with such evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, yet of the
|
|
many he dealt with he could but save some. Ministers must think their
|
|
pains well bestowed if they can but be instrumental to save some.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) As an apostle to the Gentiles, here is a word of caution for them:
|
|
"<I>I speak to you Gentiles.</I> You believing Romans, you hear what
|
|
riches of salvation are come to you by the fall of the Jews, but take
|
|
heed lest you do any thing to forfeit it." Paul takes this, as other
|
|
occasions, to apply his discourse to the Gentiles, because he was the
|
|
apostle of the Gentiles, appointed for the service of their faith, to
|
|
plant and water churches in the Gentile nations. This was the purport
|
|
of his extraordinary mission,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+22:21">Acts xxii. 21</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles;</I> compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:15">Acts ix. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was likewise the intention of his ordination,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+2:9">Gal. ii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+13:2">Acts xiii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
It ought to be our great and special care to do good to those that are
|
|
under our charge: we must particularly mind that which is our own work.
|
|
It was an instance of God's great love to the poor Gentiles that he
|
|
appointed Paul, who in gifts and graces excelled all the apostles, to
|
|
be the apostle of the Gentiles. The Gentile world was a wider province;
|
|
and the work to be done in it required a very able, skilful, zealous,
|
|
courageous workman: such a one was Paul. God calls those to special
|
|
work whom he either sees or makes fit for it.--<I>I magnify my
|
|
office.</I> There were those that vilified it, and him because of it.
|
|
It was because he was the apostle of the Gentiles that the Jews were so
|
|
outrageous against him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+22:21,22">Acts xxii. 21, 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet he thought never the worse of it, though it set him up as the
|
|
butt of all the Jewish rage and malice. It is a sign of true love to
|
|
Jesus Christ to reckon that service and work for him truly honourable
|
|
which the world looks upon with scorn, as mean and contemptible. The
|
|
office of the ministry is an office to be <I>magnified.</I> Ministers
|
|
are ambassadors for Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, and
|
|
for their work's sake are to be esteemed highly in love.--<I>My
|
|
office;</I> <B><I>ten diakonian mou</I></B>--<I>my ministry,</I> my
|
|
service, not my lordship and dominion. It was not the dignity and
|
|
power, but the duty and work, of an apostle, that Paul was so much in
|
|
love with. Now two things he exhorts the Gentiles to, with reference to
|
|
the rejected Jews:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] To have a respect for the Jews, notwithstanding, and to desire
|
|
their conversion. This is intimated in the prospect he gives them of
|
|
the advantage that would accrue to the church by their conversion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:12,15"><I>v.</I> 12, 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
It would be as life from the dead; and therefore they must not insult
|
|
and triumph over those poor Jews, but rather pity them, and desire
|
|
their welfare, and long for the receiving of them in again.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] To take heed to themselves, lest they should stumble and fall, as
|
|
they Jews had done,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:17-22"><I>v.</I> 17-22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> The privilege which the Gentiles had by being taken into
|
|
the church. They were grafted in
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
as a branch of a wild olive into a good olive, which is contrary to the
|
|
way and custom of the husbandman, who grafts the good olive into the
|
|
bad; but those that God grafts into the church he finds wild and
|
|
barren, and good for nothing. Men graft to mend the tree; but God
|
|
grafts to mend the branch.
|
|
|
|
1. The church of God is an olive-tree, flourishing and fruitful as an
|
|
olive
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+52:8.Ho+14:6">Ps. lii. 8; Hos. xiv. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
the fruit useful for the honour both of God and man,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+9:9">Judg. ix. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. Those that are out of the church are as wild olive-trees, not only
|
|
useless, but what they do produce is sour and unsavoury: <I>Wild by
|
|
nature,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was the state of the poor Gentiles, that wanted church privileges,
|
|
and in respect of real sanctification; and it is the natural state of
|
|
every one of us, to be wild by nature.
|
|
|
|
3. Conversion is the grafting in of wild branches into the good olive.
|
|
We must be cut off from the old stock, and be brought into union with a
|
|
new root.
|
|
|
|
4. Those that are grafted into the good olive-tree partake of the root
|
|
and fatness of the olive. It is applicable to a saving union with
|
|
Christ; all that are by a lively faith grafted into Christ partake of
|
|
him as the branches of the root--receive from his fulness. But it is
|
|
here spoken of a visible church-membership, from which the Jews were as
|
|
branches broken off; and so the Gentiles were grafted in,
|
|
<B><I>autois</I></B>--<I>among those</I> that continued, or in the room
|
|
of those that were broken off. The Gentiles, being grafted into the
|
|
church, partake of the same privileges that the Jews did, <I>the root
|
|
and fatness.</I> The olive-tree is the visible church (called so
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+11:16">Jer. xi. 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
the root of this tree was Abraham, not the root of communication, so
|
|
Christ only is the root, but the root of administration, he being the
|
|
first with whom the covenant was so solemnly made. Now the believing
|
|
Gentiles partake of this root: <I>he also is ason of Abraham</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:9">Luke xix. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
the <I>blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:14">Gal. iii. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
the same fatness of the olive-tree, the same for substance, special
|
|
protection, lively oracles, means of salvation, a standing ministry,
|
|
instituted ordinances; and, among the rest, the visible
|
|
church-membership of their infant seed, which was part of the fatness
|
|
of the olive-tree that the Jews had, and cannot be imagined to be
|
|
denied to the Gentiles.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> A caution not to abuse these privileges.
|
|
|
|
1. "Be not proud
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Boast not against the branches.</I> Do not therefore trample upon
|
|
the Jews as a reprobate people, nor insult over those that are broken
|
|
off, much less over those that do continue." Grace is given, not to
|
|
make us proud, but to make us thankful. The law of faith excludes all
|
|
boasting either of ourselves or against others. "Do not say
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They were broken off that I might be grafted in;</I> that is, do not
|
|
think that thou didst merit more at the hand of God than they, or didst
|
|
stand higher in his favour." "But remember, <I>thou bearest not the
|
|
root, but the root thee.</I> Though thou art grafted in, thou art still
|
|
but a branch borne by the root; nay, and an engrafted branch, brought
|
|
into the good olive <I>contrary to nature</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
not free-born, but by an act of grace enfranchised and naturalized.
|
|
Abraham, the root of the Jewish church, is not beholden to thee; but
|
|
thou art greatly obliged to him, as the trustee of the covenant and the
|
|
father of many nations. Therefore, <I>if thou boast,</I> know (this
|
|
word must be supplied to clear the sense) <I>thou bearest not the root
|
|
but the root thee.</I>"
|
|
|
|
2. "Be not secure
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Be not high-minded, but fear.</I> Be not too confident of your own
|
|
strength and standing." A holy fear is an excellent preservative
|
|
against high-mindedness: happy is the man that thus feareth always. We
|
|
need not fear but God will be true to his word; all the danger is lest
|
|
we be false to ours. <I>Let us therefore fear,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+4:1">Heb. iv. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
The church of Rome now boasts of a patent of perpetual preservation;
|
|
but the apostle here, in his epistle to that church when she was in her
|
|
infancy and integrity, enters an express caveat against that boast, and
|
|
all claims of that kind.--<I>Fear</I> what? "Why fear lest thou commit
|
|
a forfeiture as they have done, lest thou lose the privileges thou now
|
|
enjoyest, as they have lost theirs." The evils that befal others should
|
|
be warnings to us. <I>Go</I> (saith God to Jerusalem
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:12">Jer. vii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
and <I>see what I did to</I> Shiloh; so now, let all the churches of
|
|
God go and see what he did to Jerusalem, and what is become of the day
|
|
of their visitation, that we may hear and fear, and take heed of
|
|
Jerusalem's sin. The patent which churches have of their privileges is
|
|
not for a certain term, nor entailed upon them and their heirs; but it
|
|
runs as long as they carry themselves well, and no longer. Consider,
|
|
|
|
(1.) "How they were broken off. It was not undeservedly, by an act of
|
|
absolute sovereignty and prerogative, but <I>because of unbelief.</I>"
|
|
It seems, then, it is possible for churches that have long stood by
|
|
faith to fall into such a state of infidelity as may be their ruin.
|
|
Their unbelief did not only provoke God to cut them off, but they did
|
|
by this cut themselves off; it was not only the meritorious, but the
|
|
formal cause of their separation. "Now, thou art liable to the same
|
|
infirmity and corruption that they fell by." Further observe, They were
|
|
<I>natural branches</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
not only interested in Abraham's covenant, but descending from
|
|
Abraham's loins, and so born upon the premises, and thence had a kind
|
|
of tenant-right: yet, when they sunk into unbelief, God did not spare
|
|
them. Prescription, long usage, the faithfulness of their ancestors,
|
|
would not secure them. It was in vain to plead, though they insisted
|
|
much upon it, that they were Abraham's seed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+3:9,Joh+8:33">Matt. iii. 9; John viii. 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is true they were the husbandmen to whom the vineyard was first let
|
|
out; but, when they forfeited it, it was justly taken from them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:41,43">Matt. xxi. 41, 43</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is called here <I>severity,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
God laid righteousness to the line and judgment to the plummet, and
|
|
dealt with them according to their sins. Severity is a word that sounds
|
|
harshly; and I do not remember that it is any where else in scripture
|
|
ascribed to God; and it is here applied to the unchurching of the Jews.
|
|
God is most severe towards those that have been in profession nearest
|
|
to him, if they rebel against him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+3:2">Amos iii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
Patience and privileges abused turn to the greatest wrath. Of all
|
|
judgments, spiritual judgments are the sorest; for of these he is here
|
|
speaking,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) "How thou standest, thou that art engrafted in." He speaks to the
|
|
Gentile churches in general, though perhaps tacitly reflecting on some
|
|
particular person, who might have expressed some such pride and triumph
|
|
in the Jews' rejection. "Consider then,"
|
|
|
|
[1.] "By what means thou standest: <I>By faith,</I> which is a
|
|
depending grace, and fetches in strength from heaven. Thou dost not
|
|
stand in any strength of thy own, of which thou mightest be confident:
|
|
thou art no more than the free grace of God makes thee, and his grace
|
|
is his own, which he gives or withholds at pleasure. That which ruined
|
|
them was unbelief, and by faith thou standest; therefore thou hast no
|
|
faster hold than they had, thou standest on no firmer foundation than
|
|
they did."
|
|
|
|
[2.] "On what terms
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness,</I> that
|
|
is, continue in a dependence upon and compliance with the free grace of
|
|
God, the want of which it was that ruined the Jews--if thou be careful
|
|
to keep up thine interest in the divine favour, by being continually
|
|
careful to please God and fearful of offending him." The sum of our
|
|
duty, the condition of our happiness, is to keep ourselves in the love
|
|
of God. <I>Fear the Lord and his goodness.</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+3:5">Hos. iii. 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Another thing that qualified this doctrine of the Jews' rejection
|
|
is that, though for the present they are cast off, yet the rejection is
|
|
not final; but, when the fulness of time is come, they will be taken in
|
|
again. They are not cast off for ever, but mercy is remembered in the
|
|
midst of wrath. Let us observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. How this conversion of the Jews is here described.
|
|
|
|
(1.) It is said to be their fulness
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
that is, the addition of them to the church, the filling up again of
|
|
that place which became vacant by their rejection. This would be the
|
|
enriching of the world (that is, the church in the world) with a great
|
|
deal of light and strength and beauty.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It is called the receiving of them. The conversion of a soul is
|
|
the receiving of that soul, so the conversion of a nation. They shall
|
|
be received into favour, into the church, into the love of Christ,
|
|
whose arms are stretched out for the receiving of all those that will
|
|
come to him. And this will be as <I>life from the dead</I>--so strange
|
|
and surprising, and yet withal so welcome and acceptable. The
|
|
conversion of the Jews will bring great joy to the church. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+15:32">Luke xv. 32</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>He was dead, and is alive;</I> and therefore <I>it was meet we
|
|
should make merry and be glad.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) It is called the <I>grafting of them in again</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
into the church, from which they had been broken off. That which is
|
|
grafted in receives sap and virtue from the root; so does a soul that
|
|
is truly grafted into the church receive life, and strength, and grace
|
|
from Christ the quickening root. They shall be <I>grafted into their
|
|
own olive-tree</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>);
|
|
|
|
that is, into the church of which they had formerly been the most
|
|
eminent and conspicuous members, to retrieve those privileges of
|
|
visible church-membership which they had so long enjoyed, but have now
|
|
sinned away and forfeited by their unbelief.
|
|
|
|
(4.) It is called the <I>saving of all Israel,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
True conversion may well be called salvation; it is salvation begun.
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+2:47">Acts ii. 47</A>.
|
|
|
|
The adding of them to the church is the saving of them: <B><I>tous
|
|
sozomenous,</I></B> in the present tense, <I>are saved.</I> When
|
|
conversion-work goes on, salvation-work goes on.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What it is grounded upon, and what reason we have to look for
|
|
it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Because of the holiness of the first-fruits and the root,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some by the first-fruits understand those of the Jews that were already
|
|
converted to the faith of Christ and received into the church, who were
|
|
as the first-fruits dedicated to God, as earnests of a more plentiful
|
|
and sanctified harvest. A good beginning promises a good ending. Why
|
|
may we not suppose that others may be savingly wrought upon as well as
|
|
those who are already brought in? Others by the first-fruits understand
|
|
the same with the root, namely, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and
|
|
Jacob, from whom the Jews descended, and with whom, as the prime
|
|
trustees, the covenant was deposited: and so they were the root of the
|
|
Jews, not only as a people, but as a church. Now, if they were holy,
|
|
which is not meant so much of inherent as of federal holiness--if they
|
|
were in the church and in the covenant--then we have reason to conclude
|
|
that God hath a kindness for the <I>lump</I>--the body of that people;
|
|
and for the <I>branches</I>--the particular members of it. The Jews are
|
|
in a sense a holy nation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+19:6">Exod. xix. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
being descended from holy parents. Now it cannot be imagined that such
|
|
a holy nation should be totally and finally cast off. This proves that
|
|
the seed of believers, as such, are within the pale of the visible
|
|
church, and within the verge of the covenant, till they do, by their
|
|
unbelief, throw themselves out; for, <I>if the root be holy, so are the
|
|
branches.</I> Though real qualifications are not propagated, yet
|
|
relative privileges are. Though a wise man does not beget a wise man,
|
|
yet a free man begets a free man. Though grace does not run in the
|
|
blood, yet external privileges do (till they are forfeited), even to a
|
|
thousand generations. Look how they will answer it another day that cut
|
|
off the entail, by turning the seed of the faithful out of the church,
|
|
and so not allowing the blessing of Abraham to come upon the Gentiles.
|
|
The Jewish branches are reckoned holy, because the root was so. This is
|
|
expressed more plainly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They are beloved for the fathers' sakes.</I> In this love to the
|
|
fathers the first foundation of their church-state was laid
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:37">Deut. iv. 37</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Because he loved they fathers, therefore he chose their seed after
|
|
them.</I> And the same love would revive their privileges, for still
|
|
the ancient loving-kindness is remembered; they are <I>beloved for the
|
|
fathers' sakes.</I> It is God's usual method of grace. Kindness to the
|
|
children for the father's sake is therefore called the <I>kindness of
|
|
God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+9:3,7">2 Sam. ix. 3, 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though, as concerning the gospel (namely, in the present dispensation
|
|
of it), they are enemies to it <I>for your sakes,</I> that is, for the
|
|
sake of the Gentiles, against whom they have such an antipathy; yet,
|
|
when God's time shall come, this will wear off, and God's love to their
|
|
fathers will be remembered. See a promise that points at this,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:42">Lev. xxvi. 42</A>.
|
|
|
|
The iniquity of the fathers is visited but to the third and fourth
|
|
generation; but there is mercy kept for thousands. Many fare the better
|
|
for the sake of their godly ancestors. It is upon this account that
|
|
the church is called their own <I>olive-tree.</I> Long it had been
|
|
their own peculiar, which is some encouragement to us to hope that
|
|
there may be room for them in it again, for old acquaintance-sake.
|
|
That which hath been may be again. Though particular persons and
|
|
generations wear off in unbelief, yet there having been a national
|
|
church-membership, though for the present suspended, we may expect that
|
|
it will be revived.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Because of the power of God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>God is able to graft them in again.</I> The conversion of souls is a
|
|
work of almighty power; and when they seem most hardened, and blinded,
|
|
and obstinate, our comfort is that God is able to work a change, able
|
|
to graft those in that have been long cast out and withered. When the
|
|
house is kept by the strong man armed, with all his force, yet God is
|
|
stronger than he, and is able to dispossess him. The condition of their
|
|
restoration is faith: <I>If they abide not still in unbelief.</I> So
|
|
that nothing is to be done but to remove that unbelief that is the
|
|
great obstacle; and God is able to take that away, though nothing less
|
|
than an almighty power will do it, the same power that raised up Christ
|
|
from the dead,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+1:19,29">Eph. i. 19, 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise, can these dry bones live?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) Because of the grace of God manifested to the Gentiles. Those that
|
|
have themselves experienced the grace of God, preventing,
|
|
distinguishing grace, may thence take encouragement to hope well
|
|
concerning others. This is his argument
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
"If thou wast grafted into a good olive, that was wild by nature, much
|
|
more shall these that were the natural branches, and may therefore be
|
|
presumed somewhat nearer to the divine acceptance." This is a
|
|
suggestion very proper to check the insolence of those Gentile
|
|
Christians that looked with disdain and triumph upon the condition of
|
|
the rejected Jews, and trampled upon them; as if he had said, "Their
|
|
condition, bad as it is, is not so bad as yours was before your
|
|
conversion; and therefore why may it not be made as good as yours is?"
|
|
This is his argument
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:30,31"><I>v.</I> 30, 31</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>As you in times past have not,</I> &c. It is good for those that
|
|
have found mercy with God to be often thinking what they were in time
|
|
past, and how they obtained that mercy. This would help to soften our
|
|
censures of those that still continue in unbelief, and quicken our
|
|
prayers for them. He argues further from the occasion of the Gentiles'
|
|
call, that is, the unbelief of the Jews; thence it took rise: "<I>You
|
|
have obtained mercy through their unbelief;</I> much more shall they
|
|
obtain mercy through your mercy. If the putting out of their candle was
|
|
the lighting of yours, by that power of God which brings good out of
|
|
evil, much more shall the continued light of your candle, when God's
|
|
time shall come, be a means of lighting theirs again." "<I>That through
|
|
your mercy they might obtain mercy,</I> that is, that they may be
|
|
beholden to you, as you have been to them." He takes it for granted
|
|
that the believing Gentiles would do their utmost endeavour to work
|
|
upon the Jews--that, when God had persuaded Japhet, Japhet would be
|
|
labouring to persuade Shem. True grace hates monopolies. Those that
|
|
have found mercy themselves should endeavour that through their mercy
|
|
others also may obtain mercy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) Because of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament, which
|
|
point at this. He quotes a very remarkable one,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:26,Isa+59:20,21"><I>v.</I> 26,
|
|
from Isa. lix. 20, 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Where we may observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] The coming of Christ promised: <I>There shall come out of Zion the
|
|
deliverer.</I> Jesus Christ is the great deliverer, which supposes
|
|
mankind in a state of misery and danger. In Isaiah it is, <I>the
|
|
Redeemer shall come to Zion.</I> There he is called the Redeemer; here
|
|
the deliverer; he delivers in a way of redemption, by a price. There
|
|
he is said to come to Zion, because when the prophet prophesied he was
|
|
yet to come into the world, and Zion was his first head-quarters.
|
|
Thither he came, there he took up his residence: but, when the apostle
|
|
wrote this, he had come, he had been in Zion; and he is speaking of the
|
|
fruits of his appearing, which shall come <I>out of Zion;</I> thence,
|
|
as from the spring, issued forth those streams of living water which in
|
|
the everlasting gospel watered the nations. <I>Out of Zion went forth
|
|
the law,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:3">Isa. ii. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+24:47">Luke xxiv. 47</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] The end and purpose of this coming: <I>He shall turn away
|
|
ungodliness from Jacob.</I> Christ's errand into the world was to turn
|
|
away ungodliness, to turn away the guilt by the purchase of pardoning
|
|
mercy, and to turn away the power by the pouring out of renewing grace,
|
|
to save his people from their sins
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+1:21">Matt. i. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
to separate between us and our sins, that iniquity might not be our
|
|
ruin, and that it might not be our ruler. Especially to turn it away
|
|
from Jacob, which is that for the sake of which he quotes the text, as
|
|
a proof of the great kindness God intended for the seed of Jacob. What
|
|
greater kindness could he do them than to turn away ungodliness from
|
|
them, to take away that which comes between them and all happiness,
|
|
take away sin, and then make way for all good? This is the blessing
|
|
that Christ was sent to bestow upon the world, and to tender it to the
|
|
Jews in the first place
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+3:26">Acts iii. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
to turn people from their iniquities. In Isaiah it is, <I>The Redeemer
|
|
shall come to Zion, and unto those that turn from transgression in
|
|
Jacob,</I> which shown who in Zion were to have a share in and to reap
|
|
benefit by the deliverance promised, those and those only that leave
|
|
their sins and turn to God; to them Christ comes as a Redeemer, but as
|
|
an avenger to those that persist in impenitence. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+30:2,3">Deut. xxx. 2, 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that turn from sin will be owned as the true citizens of Zion
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:19">Eph. ii. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
the right Jacob,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+24:4,6">Ps. xxiv. 4, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Putting both these readings together, we learn that none have an
|
|
interest in Christ but those that turn from their sins, nor can any
|
|
turn from their sins but by the strength of the grace of
|
|
Christ.--<I>For this is my covenant with them</I>--this, that the
|
|
deliverer shall come to them--this, that my Spirit shall not depart
|
|
from them, as it follows,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+59:21">Isa. lix. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
God's gracious intentions concerning Israel were made the matter of a
|
|
covenant, which the God that cannot lie could not but be true and
|
|
faithful to. They were the <I>children of the covenant,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+3:25">Acts iii. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
The apostle adds, <I>When I shall take away their sins,</I> which some
|
|
think refers to
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+27:9">Isa. xxvii. 9</A>,
|
|
|
|
or only to the foregoing words, to <I>turn away ungodliness.</I> Pardon
|
|
of sin is laid as the foundation of all the blessings of the new
|
|
covenant
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+8:12">Heb. viii. 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>For I will be merciful.</I> Now from all this he infers that
|
|
certainly God had great mercy in store for that people, something
|
|
answerable to the extent of these rich promises: and he proves his
|
|
inference
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>)
|
|
|
|
by this truth: <I>For the gifts and callings of God are without
|
|
repentance.</I> Repentance is sometimes taken for a change of mind, and
|
|
so God never repents, for he is in one mind and who can turn him?
|
|
Sometimes for a change of way, and that is here understood, intimating
|
|
the constancy and unchangeableness of that love of God which is founded
|
|
in election. Those gifts and callings are immutable; whom he so loves,
|
|
he loves to the end. We find God repenting that he had given man a
|
|
being
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+6:6">Gen. vi. 6</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>It repented the Lord that he had made man),</I> and repenting that
|
|
he had given a man honour and power
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+15:11">1 Sam. xv. 11</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king</I>); but we
|
|
never find God repenting that he had given a man grace, or effectually
|
|
called him; those gifts and callings are without repentance.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ro11_33"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro11_34"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro11_35"> </A>
|
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<A NAME="Ro11_36"> </A>
|
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Divine Sovereignty.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 58.</TD></TR>
|
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
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</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
|
|
of God! how unsearchable <I>are</I> his judgments, and his ways past
|
|
finding out!
|
|
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been
|
|
his counsellor?
|
|
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed
|
|
unto him again?
|
|
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, <I>are</I> all things:
|
|
to whom <I>be</I> glory for ever. Amen.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The apostle having insisted so largely, through the greatest part of
|
|
this chapter, upon reconciling the rejection of the Jews with the
|
|
divine goodness, he concludes here with the acknowledgment and
|
|
admiration of the divine wisdom and sovereignty in all this. Here the
|
|
apostle does with great affection and awe adore,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The secrecy of the divine counsels: <I>O the depth!</I> in these
|
|
proceedings towards the Jews and Gentiles; or, in general, the whole
|
|
mystery of the gospel, which we cannot fully comprehend.--<I>The riches
|
|
of the wisdom and knowledge of God,</I> the abundant instances of his
|
|
wisdom and knowledge in contriving and carrying on the work of our
|
|
redemption by Christ, a depth which the angels pry into,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:12">1 Pet. i. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Much more may it puzzle any human understanding to give an account of
|
|
the methods, and reasons, and designs, and compass of it. Paul was as
|
|
well acquainted with the mysteries of the kingdom of God as ever any
|
|
mere man was; and yet he confesses himself at a loss in the
|
|
contemplation, and, despairing to find the bottom, he humbly sits down
|
|
at the brink, and adores the depth. Those that know most in this state
|
|
of imperfection cannot but be most sensible of their own weakness and
|
|
short-sightedness, and that after all their researches, and all their
|
|
attainments in those researches, while they are here they cannot order
|
|
their speech by reason of darkness. Praise is silent to thee,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+65:1">Ps. lxv. 1</A>.--
|
|
|
|
<I>The depth of the riches.</I> Men's riches of all kinds are shallow,
|
|
you may soon see the bottom; but God's riches are deep
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:6">Ps. xxxvi. 6</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thy judgments are a great deep.</I> There is not only depth in the
|
|
divine counsels, but riches too, which denotes an abundance of that
|
|
which is precious and valuable, so complete are the dimensions of the
|
|
divine counsels; they have not only depth and height, but <I>breadth
|
|
and length</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+3:18">Eph. iii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
and that passing knowledge,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.--
|
|
|
|
<I>Riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.</I> His seeing all things
|
|
by one clear, and certain, and infallible view--all things that are, or
|
|
ever were, or ever shall be,--that all is naked and open before him:
|
|
there is his knowledge. His ruling and ordering all things, directing
|
|
and disposing them to his own glory, and bringing about his own
|
|
purposes and counsels in all; this is his <I>wisdom.</I> And the vast
|
|
extent of both these is such a depth as is past our fathoming, and we
|
|
may soon lose ourselves in the contemplation of them. Such <I>knowledge
|
|
is too wonderful for me,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:6">Ps. cxxxix. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:17,18"><I>v.</I> 17, 18</A>.--
|
|
|
|
<I>How unsearchable are his judgments!</I> that is, his counsels and
|
|
purposes: and his <I>ways,</I> that is, the execution of these counsels
|
|
and purposes. We know not what he designs. When the wheels are set in
|
|
motion, and Providence has begun to work, yet we know not what he has
|
|
in view; it is <I>past finding out.</I> This does not only overturn all
|
|
our positive conclusions about the divine counsels, but it also checks
|
|
all our curious enquiries. Secret things belong not to us,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:29">Deut. xxix. 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
God's way is in the sea,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+77:19">Ps. lxxvii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:8,9,Ps+97:2">Job xxiii. 8, 9; Ps. xcvii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
What he does we know not now,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+13:7">John xiii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
We cannot give a reason of God's proceedings, nor by searching find out
|
|
God. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:9,9:10">Job v. 9; ix. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
The judgments of his mouth, and the way of our duty, blessed be God,
|
|
are plain and easy, it is a high-way; but the judgments of his hands,
|
|
and the ways of his providence, are dark and mysterious, which
|
|
therefore we must not pry into, but silently adore and acquiesce in.
|
|
The apostle speaks this especially with reference to that strange turn,
|
|
the casting off of the Jews and the entertainment of the Gentiles, with
|
|
a purpose to take in the Jews again in due time; these were strange
|
|
proceedings, the choosing of some, the refusing of others, and neither
|
|
according to the probabilities of human conjecture. Even so, Father,
|
|
because it seemed good in thing eyes. These are methods unaccountable,
|
|
concerning which we must say, <I>O the depth!</I>--<I>Past finding
|
|
out,</I> <B><I>anexichniastoi</I></B>--<I>cannot be traced.</I> God
|
|
leaves no prints nor footsteps behind him, does not make a path to
|
|
shine after him; but his paths of providence are new every morning. He
|
|
does not go the same way so often as to make a track of it. <I>How
|
|
little a portion is heard of him!</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+26:14">Job xxvi. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
It follows
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>For who hath known the mind of the Lord?</I> Is there any creature
|
|
made of his cabinet-council, or laid, as Christ was, in the bosom of
|
|
the Father? Is there any to whom he has imparted his counsels, or that
|
|
is able, upon the view of his providences, to know the way that he
|
|
takes? There is so vast a distance and disproportion between God and
|
|
man, between the Creator and the creature, as for ever excludes the
|
|
thought of such an intimacy and familiarity. The apostle makes the same
|
|
challenge
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+2:16">1 Cor. ii. 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>For who hath known the mind of the Lord?</I> And yet there he adds,
|
|
<I>But we have the mind of Christ,</I> which intimates that through
|
|
Christ true believers, who have his Spirit, know so much of the mind of
|
|
God as is necessary to their happiness. He that knew the mind of the
|
|
Lord has declared him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:18">John i. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
And so, though we know not the mind of the Lord, yet, if we have the
|
|
mind of Christ, we have enough. <I>The secret of the Lord is with
|
|
those that fear him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+25:14">Ps. xxv. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do?</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:15">John xv. 15</A>.--
|
|
|
|
<I>Or who has been his counsellor?</I> He needs no counsellor, for he
|
|
is infinitely wise; nor is any creature capable of being his
|
|
counsellor; this would be like lighting a candle to the sun. This
|
|
seems to refer to that scripture
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:13,14">Isa. xl. 13, 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor,
|
|
hath taught him? With whom took he counsel?</I> &c. It is the substance
|
|
of God's challenge to Job concerning the work of creation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:1-41">Job xxxviii.</A>),
|
|
|
|
and is applicable to all the methods of his providence. It is nonsense
|
|
for any man to prescribe to God, or to teach him how to govern the
|
|
world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The sovereignty of the divine counsels. In all these things God
|
|
acts as a free agent, does what he will, because he will, and gives not
|
|
account of any of his matters
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:13,33:13">Job xxiii. 13; xxxiii. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet there is no unrighteousness with him. To clear which,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He challenges any to prove God a debtor to him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Who hath first given to him?</I> Who is there of all the creatures
|
|
that can prove God is beholden to him? Whatever we do for him, or
|
|
devote to him, it must be with that acknowledgment, which is for ever a
|
|
bar to such demands
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ch+29:14">1 Chron. xxix. 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Of thine own we have given thee.</I> All the duties we can perform
|
|
are not requitals, but rather restitutions. If any can prove that God
|
|
is his debtor, the apostle here stands bound for the payment, and
|
|
proclaims, in God's name, that payment is ready: <I>It shall be
|
|
recompensed to him again.</I> It is certain God will let nobody lose by
|
|
him; but never any one yet durst make a demand of this kind, or attempt
|
|
to prove it. This is here suggested,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To silence the clamours of the Jews. When God took away their
|
|
visible church-privileges from them, he did but take his own: and may
|
|
he not do what he will with his own--give or withhold his grace where
|
|
and when he pleases?
|
|
|
|
(2.) To silence the insultings of the Gentiles. When God sent the
|
|
gospel among them, and gave so many of them grace and wisdom to accept
|
|
of it, it was not because he owed them so much favour, or that they
|
|
could challenge it as a debt, but of his own good pleasure.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He resolves all into the sovereignty of God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things,</I> that
|
|
is, God is all in all. All things in heaven and earth (especially those
|
|
things which relate to our salvation, the things which belong to our
|
|
peace) are of him by way of creation, through him by way of
|
|
providential influence, that they may be to him in their final tendency
|
|
and result. Of God as the spring and fountain of all, through Christ,
|
|
God-man, as the conveyance, to God as the ultimate end. These three
|
|
include, in general, all God's causal relations to his creatures: of
|
|
him as the first efficient cause, through him as the supreme directing
|
|
cause, to him as the ultimate final cause; for the Lord hath made all
|
|
for himself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+4:11">Rev. iv. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
If all be of him and through him, there is all the reason in the world
|
|
that all should be to him and for him. It is a necessary circulation;
|
|
if the rivers received their waters from the sea, they return them to
|
|
the sea again,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+1:7">Eccl. i. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
To do all to the glory of God is to make a virtue of necessity; for all
|
|
shall in the end be to him, whether we will or no. And so he concludes
|
|
with a short doxology: <I>To whom be glory for ever, Amen.</I> God's
|
|
universal agency as the first cause, the sovereign ruler, and the last
|
|
end, ought to be the matter of our adoration. Thus all his works do
|
|
praise him objectively; but his saints do bless him actively; they hand
|
|
that praise to him which all the creatures do minister matter for,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+145:10">Ps. cxlv. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Paul had been discoursing at large of the counsels of God concerning
|
|
man, sifting the point with a great deal of accuracy; but, after all,
|
|
he concludes with the acknowledgment of the divine sovereignty, as that
|
|
into which all these things must be ultimately resolved, and in which
|
|
alone the mind can safely and sweetly rest. This is, if not the
|
|
scholastic way, yet the Christian way, of disputation. Whatever are
|
|
the premises, let god's glory be the conclusion; especially when we
|
|
come to talk of the divine counsels and actings, it is best for us to
|
|
turn our arguments into awful and serious adorations. The glorified
|
|
saints, that see furthest into these mysteries, never dispute, but
|
|
praise to eternity.</P>
|
|
|
|
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