Romans 9
DODDRomans 9:1-13
The apostle now finding it necessary to speak more expressly of the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles, introduces the subject with very tender expressions of his regard to his Jewish brethren; and then shews, that the rejection of a considerable part of the seed of Abraham, and even of the posterity of Isaac, from the peculiar privileges of God’s chosen people, was an incontestable fact, which the Jews could not but grant to have happened, that is, with regard to the descendants of Ishmael and of Esau. Rom. IX. 1—13.
ROMANS IX. 1.
THUS, my brethren, I have endeavoured to I SAY the truth in xix. animate you by leading your meditations to Christ, I lie not, Rom. those inestimable privileges which we receive ix. 1 in virtue of the gospel, which renders us so far superior to all the hardships we can endure; and I hope the thought of them will be abundantly sufficient to establish your adherence to it. Faithfulness will also oblige me to add, that as all who embrace and obey this gospel, whether Jews or Gentiles, are accepted of God, so all who reject it, are rejected by him.ᵃ And lest, while I maintain this important truth, any
ᵃ As all who embrace, &c.] This the apostle had intimated all along in the preceding discourse, which is addressed to Christians, as Christians, without any regard to their having been Jews or Gentiles; nay, he had expressly declared in the 2ᵈ and 3ᵈ chapters, that their having been Gentiles would be no obstruction. And it is certain, the peculiar oppositions and persecutions, which the believing
Jews met with from their obstinate countrymen, would make encouragements and consolations like those suggested in the eighth chapter, as necessary for them as for any Christians in the world. So very much mistaken have some learned commentators been in the peculiar turn they have given to that chapter, and several passages in those preceding it.
he could wish to be an anathema for them,
should imagine that I bear hard upon my dear countrymen the Jews, on account of any personal injury, which I, or my Christian brethren, of whose sufferings I have been speaking, (chap. viii. 35—39,) have received from them, or by their means; I begin this discourse with the most solemn assurance I can give you to the contrary. And herein I say the truth in Christ, I speak with that candour and integrity which becomes a Christian, and as in the presence of that blessed Redeemer who searches all hearts. He knows that I lie not; my conscience also bearing me witness as to the truth of what I say, in the Holy Ghost, as under his influence who so thoroughly discerns the soul on which he operates. With all this solemnity, on so great an occasion, do I declare to you, that I have great grief, and incessant anguish in my heart, when I think of what hath happened, and will happen unto them, in consequence of their opposition to the gospel. For methinks, if I may be allowed to express myself so, I could even wish that as Christ subjected himself to the curse, that he might deliver us from it, so I myself likewise were made an anathema after the example of Christ;ᵇ like him exposed to all the execrations of an enraged people, and even to the infamous and accursed death of crucifixion itself, for the sake of my brethren, and kinsmen, according to the flesh, that they might thereby be delivered from the guilt they have brought upon their own heads, and become entitled to the forfeited and rejected blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom. So cordial and disinterested a regard have I
ᵇ Made an anathema after the example of Christ.] This sense is given by the learned Dr. Waterland, (Serm. Vol. I. p. 77, 78.) who urges the manner in which ἀπὸ is used, 2 Tim. i. 3, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπὸ τῶν, after the example of my forefathers. Compare 1 John iii. 16 Next to this I should incline to the interpretation given by Dr. Clarke, (Seventeen Serm. p. 340.) who supposes the apostle means, that he could be content that Christ should give him up to such calamities as these, to which the Jewish people were doomed for rejecting him; so that if they could all be centered in one person, he could be willing
they should unite in him, could he thereby be a means of saving his countrymen. Compare Deut. vii. 26; Josh. vi. 17; chap. vii. 12. Grotius understands it of a separation from the Church of Christ, (which is sometimes called by the name Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12; Gal. iii. 27,) or of excommunication. Elsner (who, agreeably to Dr. Clarke’s interpretation, joins ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπὸ τῶν with ἀπὸ τῶν) shews very well, as many other commentators have done, how ve absurd it would be to suppose he meant, that he could be content to be delivered over to everlasting misery for the good others.
Who were the see o Abraham, and heirs of the for my dear nation, who are Israelites, the seed of Jacob, that eminent patriarch, who, as a prince, had power with God, and prevailed; whose the spiritual adoption [i, ] in consequence of which, as a people, they were called the sons and daughters of the most high God; and the glory, which in the Shechinah resided visibly among them on the mercy seat; and the covenants made successively first with Abraham and then with Moses, and with the whole Jewish people in him; who were honoured with the giving of the law in such solemn pomp, and received with the precepts of that excellent polity, an exact ritual for the service [of God] in their tabernacles afterwards practised in their temple with unequalled solemnity and magnificence; who were also the heirs of such peculiar and important promises, relating not only to their abode in Canaan, under the administration of an equal and miraculous providence, but likewise including and centring in the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, who was to arise among them. I cannot but have a respectful and tender regard for a nation thus dignified and distinguished; a nation, whose privileges [are] handed down to them from so many illustrious ancestors, in a long descent, who were in their respective ages the great fathers of the world and church; and from whom, to crown the whole, according to the flesh Christ himself is [descended;] who, though found in fashion like a man, and truly partaker of our nature in all its sinless infirmities, is also possessed of a Divine nature, by virtue of which, he is above all our conceptions and praises, above creatures of the highest order, and indeed God blessed for ever, the Who are Israelites ] The apostle, with great address, enumerates these privileges of the Jews; both that he might shew how honourably he thought of them, and that he might awaken their solicitude not to sacrifice that Divine favour by which they had been so eminently and so long distinguished. The spiritual adoption is. ] That is, whom God hath taken into a special covenant with himself, whereby he stands engaged ever to act the part of a God and Father to them, and to own them as his children. Deut. xiv. 1; Jer. xxxi. 9; Exod. iv. 22; Hos. xi. 1. Resided on the mercy seat ] Hence the ark was called the glory. Psal. lxxviii. 61; 1 Sam. iv. 21, 22, to which some add Psal. lxiii. 2. Above all, God blessed for ever. ] How ingenious soever that conjecture may be thought, by which some would read this, or o Θoʊ o ʒi ʒi ʒi, to answer to or o ʒi ʒi, (whose are the fathers, and whose is the supreme God,) I think it would be extremely dangerous to follow
seed of Abraham are not the children of God ;
worthy Object of our humblest adoration, as well as unreserved dependence, love and obedience. Amen : let his Divine glories be ever proclaimed and confessed ! May all the house of Israel know this assuredly, and fall down before him, as in and with the Father of all, their Lord and their God !
Yet, notwithstanding all these tender prejudices in favour of my own dear countrymen, I cannot defend or excuse their conduct ; nor must I conceal the ungrateful truth asserted above, that by rejecting the gospel, they bring upon themselves rejection from God. But to prevent mistakes, let me in the first place observe, that it is not to be supposed, I would by any means insinuate, that the word of God hath fallen ineffectual to the ground, even all that glorious system of promises, by which he engaged to bestow protection, favour and happiness upon his people. For in order to provide against any such allegation, I must insist upon it, as a very certain and apparent truth, that all [are] not reckoned to be the Israel of God, so as to be the heirs of the promises made to his people, who are descended of Israel by natural generation. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, the head of the holy family according to the flesh, [are they] all children of the promise ; but you know it is said, (Gen. xxi. 12,) though Ishmael were the son of Abraham long before, “ In Isaac, then unborn, shall thy seed be called : the descendants of Isaac shall be spoken of as thy seed, by way of eminence, to the exclusion of those who may spring from thee by thine other children.” That is, on the whole, not the children of the flesh alone, nor any of them merely as such, [are] the children of God, but the children of the promise, in one peculiar line, are accounted as
this reading, unsupported as it is by any critical authority of manuscripts, or ancient quotations. Nor can I find any authority for rendering God be blessed for ever I must therefore render, and paraphrase, and improve this memorable text, as a proof of Christ’s proper Deir, which I
think, the opposers of that doctrine have never been able, nor will ever be able to answer. Though common sense must teach, what Christians have always believed, that it is not with respect to the Father, but to the created world, that this august title is given to him. Compare 1 Cor. xv. 27, &c.
As appears in the case of Ishmae an
the seed of Abraham, and honoured with the adoption; For this [is] the word of the promise, (Gen. xviii. 10, 14,) “according to this time, that is, reckoning the conception of the child from hence, I will come [to thee,] in a way of gracious and merciful interposition, and Sarah shall have a son:” which was said, when Hagar had many years been Abraham’s wife, and had long since borne a son to him.
Nor was [this] the only instance of the kind; but in the case of Rebecca, when she was with child of twins by one man, that is, our father Isaac; While [the children] were not yet born, and had done neither good to merit, nor evil to forfeit, the divine favour, that the sovereign purpose of God, according to his free election, might stand steadfast, and appear not to be formed in respect of the works done by either, but according to the mere good pleasure of him who calleth things that do not yet exist into being, and disposeth of all according to his own will: It was said to her, when consulting the Divine oracle on the unusual commotion she felt in her womb, that two different people should proceed from the birth then approaching, (Gen. xxv. 23,) and “that the elder of them, that is, the posterity of Esau, should serve the younger, that is the descendents of Jacob.” As it is also written, (Mal. i. 2, 3,) “I have loved Jacob, and hated Esau, that is, I have greatly preferred the former to the latter;⁸ bestowing many
² Greatly preferred the former to the latter.] That to love and hate have this sense in scripture, is evident. Compare Gen. xxix. 31; Luke xiv. 26; John xii. 25; and the notes there. These words in their connection with the preceding and following, do indeed prove, that God acts with a sovereign and unaccountable freedom in the dispensation of his favours; and do, I think, consequentially prove, that it was not upon the foresight of the obedience and piety of Jacob on the one hand, or the profaneness of Esau on the other, that this preference was given; for then the argument taken from their having actually done neither good nor evil, would be very weak, since, to an omniscient God, that which he certainly foreknew would be, is with regard to his purpose of events to succeed it, as if it al-
ready were. Nevertheless, it is certain the apostle does not here speak of the eternal state of Jacob and Esau, (whatever some may suppose deducible from what he says,) nor does he indeed so much speak of their persons, as of their posterity; since it is plainly to that posterity that both the prophecies, which he quotes in support of his argument, refer. Gen. xxv. 23; Mal. i. 2, 3 His laying waste the heritage of the Edomites for the dragons of the wilderness, is so different a thing from his appointing the person of Esau to eternal misery by a mere act of sovereignty, without regard to any thing done or to be done by him to deserve it, that I will rather submit to any censure from my fellow servants, than deal so freely with my Maker, as to conclude the one from the other.
Reflections on the apostle’s affection for his brethren, &c.
peculiar privileges and favours upon the posterity of Jacob, which I have denied to that of Esau, whose habitation I have laid waste, for the dragons of the wilderness, while that of his brother flourished in the richest abundance of all things.” We see then, to close this branch of the argument, that the exclusion of a considerable part of the seed of Abraham, and even of the descendants of Isaac, from the special promises of God, is not only a case which may be supposed possible, but a case, which according to the Jewish scriptures themselves, hath actually happened.
IMPROVEMENT.
LET that affection which the apostle expresses for the Jews, his countrymen and brethren according to the flesh, and the tender and pathetic representation which he makes of the privileges which they once enjoyed, awaken in our hearts an earnest solicitude, that they may by Divine grace be brought back; that they may again be adopted into the family from which they have been cut off, again clothed with the glory which is departed from them; that, through him who was given for a covenant to the people, they may receive the law of life and grace, be formed to that spiritual service which it introduces, instead of their pompous ritual, and embrace the promises on which the faith and hope of their illustrious fathers was fixed.
Let it likewise teach us spiritual compassion for our kindred, who are strangers to Christ, and let us be willing to submit to the greatest difficulties, and think nothing too much to be done or borne for their recovery.
Let our souls pay an humble homage to him, who is, in such an incommunicable and sublime sense, the Son of God, as to be himself over all, God blessed for evermore. With prostrate reverence let us adore him, as our Lord, and our God, and repose that unbounded confidence in him which such an assemblage of Divine perfections will warrant, putting our most hearty amen to every ascription of glory, to every anthem of praise, addressed to him.
And, to conclude, since we see that many of the children of Abraham, and of Isaac, failed of any share in the special promises of God, let us learn to depend on no privilege of birth, on no relation to the greatest and best of men. May we seek to be inserted into the family of God, by his adopting love in Christ Jesus, and to maintain the lively exercise of faith; without which no child of Abraham was ever acceptable to God, and with which none of the children of strangers have ever failed of a share in his mercy and favour.
VOL. 4.
God hath a right to shew mercy to whom he wil,
Romans 9:14-24
The apostle shews, that the sovereign choice of some peculiar privileges, to which none had claim, a appointment, from among many criminals, of and exemplary punishments, was perfectly cons reason and scripture. Rom. IX. 14—24.
ROMANS IX. 14.
I HAVE already shewn you how possible it is that persons descended from Abraham, and even from Isaac, may be cut off from the special promises of God; as the posterity, first of Ishmael, and then of Esau, evidently were. What therefore shall we say to this? [Is there] unrighteousness with God in the proceedings and distributions of his providence, in this or any other instance to be produced? God forbid we should insinuate any thing of that nature. It is, in the highest consistence with justice, matter of the freest choice, to whom such favours shall be granted. For he saith to Moses, (Exod. xxxiii. 19,) when intimating a gracious purpose toward Israel, though they had broke his covenant so soon after the first confirmation of it, and by an act of flagrant idolatry had just merited immediate destruction, I will have mercy on whomsoever I will have mercy, and will compassionate whomsoever I please to compassionate, so as to dispense acts of pardon according to my own sovereign pleasure.
Jacob and Esau, of whom I was speaking just above, may be farther considered as an illustration of the sovereignty of the Divine dispensations in such cases: the latter of them, after he had foolishly sold his birthright, was exceedingly desirous of obtaining his father’s blessing, and run out eagerly to hunt venison for him; (Gen. xxvii. 5—30;) nevertheless, it was bestowed upon Jacob. [It is] not therefore, you see, to be referred into the forwardness of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth; but it is of God that sheweth mercy, to one rather than another, on sovereign reasons, which we cannot penetrate, but must always believe to be worthy of himself.
And moreover we may add, that such is the conduct of God in other instances when of
what sinners he will the monuments of his wrath.
various sinners he appoints one, rather than another, to be a monument of special vengeance. For the scripture says to Pharaoh,ᵃ (Exod. ix. 16,) “For this cause have I raised thee up, to that height of eminence in which thou gloriest,ᵇ that I may remarkably shew forth my power in thee, and that my name, in consequence of distinguished judgments to be righteously inflicted upon thee, may be celebrated through all the earth, in the most distant nations and remotest ages.” And accordingly he hardened his heart, that he should not let Israel go; that is, he took measures which he knew would be attended with that effect, and at last brought the extremity of his wrath upon him. So then we must, after all our objections, rest the matter here, that the blessed God, as he is uncontrollable, so he is also unaccountable in his dispensations: that in choosing this or that creature to distinguished favours, or appointing this or that sinner to deserved punishment, he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he hardeneth and destroyeth whom he will.
But thou wilt perhaps be ready, while thou readest this declaration, to raise an objection against it, and say to me, If “God acts thus, why doth he then find fault, and blame his creatures for their obstinacy, when he determines to give what he knows will in fact prove
ᵃ Moreover the scripture says, &c.] It is plain, that this is no proof of what immediately goes before; I therefore choose to render you by moreover, which is consistent with making it introductory to what proves something asserted at some distance, if it come in as a coordinate proof. This is so important a remark in the illustration of scripture, and clears an attentive reader of so many embarrassments, that I hope I shall be excused repeating it on different occasions. The reader will observe, the apostle does not produce an instance of an innocent person being made an object of Divine displeasure, out of mere sovereignty, but one of the most insolent sinners that the world ever knew.
ᵇ I have raised thee up.] Some would render it, I have made thee to stand, that is, I have suffered thee during the
former plagues, that I might make thee a more remarkable example of vengeance; but though (as Dr. Shuckford, Connect. Vol. II. p. 433, and many others observe,) that agree with ἀνόησεν, the word used by the LXX. in their version of the text in question, and with the original ἀνόησεν; yet it does not answer to the Greek word used by St. Paul, ἐνόησεν. If, as some writers suppose, the Pharaoh here spoken of were an Egyptian king, (I think Apophis,) who made his way to the throne by treason, incest, and murder, the words had a singular weight, in the sense we have here given them. Mr. Taylor explains it of his having been recovered from the plague of blains, which was indeed said to have been upon Pharaoh, Exod. ix. 15 16, and this may possibly be the true sense; but I think the other stronger and nobler.
od may bear with hardened sinners, to make is
a prevailing occasion to it? Who hath ever, in any instance, resisted, or who can ever be able to resist his will? If he hath determined by such methods to destroy a nation, or a person, who can prevent it, or prevent those evils, which shall, according to his high appointments of Providence, be in fact the means of bringing on that destruction?"
Nay, but let me rather reply, Who art thou, O vain, weak and ignorant man, with all thy boasted wisdom and penetration, who art thou who thus arrogantly enterest into a debate with the allwise, almighty and allgracious God, and chargest his proceedings as arbitrary and unjust? Surely it becomes us, whenever we treat such a subject, to do it with the humblest reverence, and through the whole to remember the infinite distance between him and us. Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed [it,] Why hast thou made me thus? Let us remember he is our almighty Creator, and not imagine we can ever have any room or right to expostulate with him, or in any circumstance to complain of him. *Hath not the potter power over [his] clay,*ᶜ as God himself represents the case, (Jer. xviii. 4—6,) out of the same mass to make one vessel to uses of honour, and another to the basest offices of dishonour; and to break and renew it at his pleasure? [What] then is it to thee, or what right hast thou to find fault, *if God resolving at last to manifest the terrors of [his] wrath, and to make known his awful and tremendous power, in their aggravated destruction, hath in the mean time, endured with much longsuffering those who shall finally appear to be the vessels of wrath which are fitted to destruction?*ᵈ Is he to account to thee for punishing them who justly deserve punishment, at what time, and in what manner he pleases,
ᶜ Potter power over [his] clay.] It is observable, that Plutarch uses the very same similitude with this before us; and Aristophanes, among other contemptuous expressions, by which he describes the frailty of human creatures, calls them ἀνάμετα πάλι, vessels of clay. See Bos. in loc.
ᵈ Endures with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, &c.] The apostle seems here to have had the impenitent Jews in his thought, though he did not think it proper expressly to name them. It is certain, they were vessels of wrath, and that they were long borne with, under many advantages, which they ungratefully abused.
and with the vessels o mercy to make known his glory.
and to ask thy leave to delay or to execute the stroke of his righteous vengeance? And [what if,] on the other hand, that he may make known in the most affecting and endearing manner; the riches of his glory, and display his compassions in those whom he will make the vessels of mercy, he graciously waits upon them, and [long endures] them, even [those] whom he hath, by the power of his own grace, previously prepared to glory, that they might in the most honourable manner be at length called to partake of it? Even us, whom he hath already called into the happy number of his people, not only of the Jews, but of the Gentiles too. Shall he make an apology to thee, O man, that he hath appointed some of our sinful race to such mercy, that he hath exercised much longsuffering towards them, that he hath at length wrought upon them by his effectual grace; or that determining to deal thus mercifully with some of Jacob’s race, he hath added to their number others whom he hath taken from Gentile nations? Know thy place, and acquiesce in humble silence. Allow the blessed God to do what he will with his own, and let not thine eye be evil because he is good.
IMPROVEMENT.
LET us learn from the memorable section which we have now verse been reading, humbly to adore the righteousness and holiness of God, in all the most amazing displays of his sovereignty, which we are sure are always consistent with it. Let us own his right to confer on whom he pleaseth, those favours which none of us can pretend to have deserved; and adore his wonderful goodness, in choosing to exercise mercy and compassion on any of the children of men, yea, on many, who must own themselves in the number of those who had the least claim to it. He hath of his mere goodness given us those privileges, as Christians, and as Protestants, which he hath withheld from most nations under
He waits and endures.] As it is certain, there is an ellipsis in these words, and that something must be supplied, it seems most natural to borrow a word or two from the preceding verse, to complete the sense. Every attentive reader will, I doubt not, infer for himself the great difference of phrase in which they who are vessels o wrath, and they who are vessels of mercy, are spoken of: it being said simply of the former, that they were fitted for destruction, but of the latter that God prepared them for glory. A distinction of so great importance, that I heartily wish we may ever keep it in view to guard us against errors, on the right hand, or on the left. Compare Mat. xxv. 34, 41, and the note there.
Reflections on the righteousness of God in his dispensations.
heaven. And if we improve them aright, we have undoubtedly xx. reason to look upon ourselves as vessels of mercy whom he is preverse paring for eternal glory. Let us adore his distinguishing favour to us, and arrogate nothing to ourselves. It is neither of him to us, and arrogate nothing to ourselves. It is neither of him to us, and arrogate nothing to ourselves. It is neither of him to us, and arrogate nothing to ourselves. It is neither of him to us, and arrogate nothing to ourselves.
Long did his patience wait on us; and let that patience be for ever adored! It shall be glorified even in those that perish: for he is so far from destroying innocent creatures, by a mere arbitrary act of power and terror, that he endureth with much longsuffering, those who by their own incorrigible wickedness prove vessels of wrath, and whom the whole assembled world shall con- 18 fess fitted for the destruction to which they shall finally be consigned. That after long abuse of mercy they are hardened, and perhaps after long hardness are at length destroyed: yea that 17 some of the vilest of men are exalted by Providence to a station that makes their crimes conspicuous, as those of Pharaoh, till at length he shews forth his power the more awfully, and maketh his name the more illustrious, by their ruin, is certainly consistent with that justice which the Judge of the whole earth will never violate.
But if in tracing subjects of this kind difficulties arise beyond 20 the stretch of our feeble thought, let us remember that we are men, and let us not dare to reply against God. Retiring into our own ignorance and weakness, as those that are less than nothing, 21 and vanity, before him, let us dread by any arrogant censure to offend him who has so uncontrollable a power over us. As clay in the hand of the potter, so are we in the hand of the Lord our God. Let us acquiesce in the form he has given us, in the rank he has assigned us; and instead of perplexing ourselves about those secrets of his counsels which it is impossible for us to penetrate, let us endeavour to purify ourselves from whatever would displease him; that so we may, in our respective stations, be vessels of honour, fit for the use of our Master now, and entitled to the promise of being acknowledged as his, in that glorious day when he shall make up his jewels.
Romans 9:25
The apostle shews, that the admission of the Gentiles to the privileges of God’s peculiar people, when Israel should be rejected, was so far from being inconsistent with scripture, that it had been actually foretold, both by Hosea and Isaiah. Rom. IX. 25, to the end.
ROMANS IX. 25.
I HAVE been remonstrating as to the unreasonableness of quarrelling with the Divine
ROMANS IX.25. A S he saith also in Osce, I will
ea foretells the admission of the Gentiles :
dispensations, in distinguishing one creature from another, by his favours ; or one sinner from another, by appointing him to peculiar severities of punishment, not exceeding the demerit of his offence : I will now venture, without farther reserve, to say, that in what I have been writing, I had some peculiar reference to God’s calling so many of the Gentiles by the grace of his gospel, and his appointing the impenitent Jews to be monuments of wrath. And let me now address myself to the latter, and say, Who gave thee, O Jew, an authority to question and dispute with thy God on this occasion ? Yea, is there on the whole any reason for thee, who hast the scriptures of the Old Testament in thine hands, and professeth such a regard for them, so much as to be surprised at this, when there are so many hints of it in these Divine oracles ? As particularly in Hosea, where he hath spoken of calling Israel Loammi, as disowning them for their wickedness, and hath also said, (Hos. i. 10,) " I will call them my people, who were not my people before, and her Beloved, which was not for a long time beloved ; a And it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was most expressly said to them, Ye [are] not my people, there shall they be called, not only the people, but the sons and daughters of the living God, by special adoption and favour." As he is the living God, he can easily bring it into execution, and the more you reflect on the whole tenor of his word, the more you will be sensible of the propriety with which I apply this passage, whatever its original sense might be to the purpose in view. I must also observe, that Isaiah crieth concerning Israel with great earnestness and affection, (Isa. x. 22, 23,)
a Call them my people, who were not my people ] It seems very evident from the connection of these words in Hosea, that they refer to God’s purpose of restoring the Jews to the privileges of his people, after they had been a while rejected of him. But it is obvious, they might with great propriety be accommodated to the calling of the Gentiles ; and indeed that great event might with some probability be inferred, artl from the temporary rejection of the Jews, of which this te spake, (for it was not to be imagined G would have no people in the world ;) a partly, as it was in the nature of things more probable that he should call the hea then, than that he should restore the Jews, when he had cast them off for such ingratitude, as rendered them less worthy of his favour than the most idolatrous nations Compare Jefferies True Grounds, p. 149.
And Isaiah foretells the rejection of the Jews.
SECT. “Though the whole number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, [yet] only a remnant shall be saved, and the bulk of the people cut off. For the Lord is finishing and cutting short his account in righteousness; for the Lord will make a short account upon the earth: there shall be such a consumption of them, that when accounts come to be balanced, there will be found but a very small overplus.” As the same Isaiah hath formerly said in a passage very much resembling that which I just now referred to, (Isa. i. 9.) “Except the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been made like to Gomorrah.” There was then you see but a little remnant, which preserved the whole people from being utterly consumed; so that it is no unexampled thing that the main body of the Jewish nation should fall into a revolt from God, and become the object of his displeasure to the most dreadful degree. What shall we then say, in the conclusion of the whole argument? Surely this; that the Gentiles, who pursued not after righteousness, who had a little while ago no knowledge or expectation of it, and no desire after it, have now, to their own unspeakable surprise, and that of the whole world, attained to righteousness, that is, to the profession of a religion whereby they may be justified and saved; even the righteousness, which is by faith in the gospel, and consists in humbly committing the soul to Christ in the way that he hath appointed. But while Israel was pursuing the law of righteousness, and expecting to obtain righteousness by legal observances, it hath not attained to that, which is indeed most properly to be called the law of righteousness, that is, to the blessings of that dispensation by which alone righteousness and life is to be secured. And wherefore did they miss those blessings? Because they never heard of the way to Divine favour and acceptance? Nay; but because [they did] not [pursue it] by faith, whereby alone in this fallen
el, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith:
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Wherefore? Because they sought
ᵇ Cutting short his account in righteousness. In righteousness, shall make a short or small remnant in the earth. This is undoubtedly the Lord, finishing or cutting short his work the sense, but the version is not exact.
ections on the calling of the Gentiles.
state of our nature it is to be obtained ; but sect. merely, as if it was to be gained by the works xxii. of the law. For they in fact stumbled and fell at that stone of offence, which lay in their way. Rom. ix. 32 As it is written in these ever memorable words, 33 (Isa. viii. 14 ; chap. xxviii. 16,) “Behold, I lay in Zion, that is, I exhibit in my church, what, though so well fitted to be a foundation of their happiness, shall in fact prove a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, that is, an occasion of sin and ruin to many, through their own prejudice and perverseness : and every one who believeth in him shall not be ashamed, shall not be brought under a necessity of seeking his refuge elsewhere, in helpless and hasty confusion, to which all they who slight him shall at last be reduced.”
IMPROVEMENT.
How can we sinners of the Gentiles ever sufficiently acknowledge the goodness of God to us, in calling us to that full participation of gospel blessings which we enjoy ! That in our native lands, where the name of the true God was so long un- verse known, we should have the honour of being called his children ! 26 O that we may indeed be so, not only by an external profession, but by regenerating grace ! May we be of that remnant, that 28 little remnant, which shall be saved, when numbers countless as he sand of the sea, which had only the name of God’s Israel, shall perish, even in the day when his work shall be cut short in righteousness !
Blessed be God that there is a seed remaining. It is the preservation of the people among which it is found, and had it not been found among us, we had probably long since been made a seat of desolation. May it increase in the rising age, that the pledges of our continued peace and prosperity may be more assured, till our peace be like a river, and our salvation like the waves of the sea.
It will be so, if we be awakened seriously to inquire how we may be justified before God, and seek that invaluable blessing in the way here pointed out ; if we seek it, not as by the works of 31, 3 the law, but by faith in Christ, as the Lord our righteousness. He hath, in this respect, been to many a stone of stumbling and a 33 rock of offence. May Divine grace teach us the necessity of building upon him, of resting upon him the whole stress of our eternal hopes. Then shall they not sink into disappointment and ruin ; then shall we not flee away ashamed in that awful day,
VOL. 4.
The zeal of Israel for God not according to knowledge,
when the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters xxi. of that final deluge of Divine wrath shall overflow every hiding place, but that which God hath prepared for us in his own Son.