18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that h repliest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ?

21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make lone vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour 22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his Chr. 20.6. Job 9.12 & 23 13. Dan 4.36.-h Or, answerest ag Wind 15.7. ; or, disputest ed this privilege, it was not Moses' willing, nor any prior obligation God was under, but his own sovereign mercy, which continued it to them.

with Gail Job 33 14 —¡ Isa. 2.16 & 45.9. & 64.8-k Pro, 16.4. Jer, ;

|

before he punishes them.

power known, endured with much long-suffering" the vessels
of wrath" fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known P the riches of his glory
on the vessels of mercy, which he had 9 afore prepared unto
glory,

24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but
also of the Gentiles?

25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

12 Tim 220m 1 Thess. 5.9-n Or, made up-01 Pet 2.8. Jude 4.-p Ch 2.4. Eph.1.7. Col 1.27-q Ch.8.93, 29, 30.-r Ch. 3.29- Hos. 2.23. 1 Pet.2 10. mansion; and, therefore, he made it for a less honourable place; but as necessary for the master's use there, as it could have been in a more honourable situation. Then the word of 17. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh] Instead of show the Lord come to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do ing the Israelites mercy, He might justly have suffered them with you as this potter? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's to have gone on in sin, till He should have signalized His wis. hund, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At what indom and justice in their destruction; as appears from what stant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a God in his word declares concerning his dealings with Pha kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if rash and the Egyptians, Exod. ix. 15, 16. For now, saith the that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from Lord, I had stretched forth my hund, (in the plague of boils their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto and blains,) and I had smitten thee and thy people with the them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a na pestilence; and thou hads! (by this plague) been cut off tion-to build and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, that it from the earth, (as thy cattle were by the murrain,) but in obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up. I have resto said I would benefit them. The reference to this parable shows, red thee to health, by removing the boils and blains, and by most positively, that the apostle is speaking of men not indi respiting thy deserved destruction to a longer day, that I may,vidually, but nationally and it is strange that men should in thy instance, give such a demonstration of my power, in have given his words any other application, with this scripture thy final overthrow, that all mankind may learn that I am God, before their eyes. the righteous Judge of all the earth, the Avenger of wickedness. See this translation of the original vindicated in my notes on Exod. ix. 15, 16. And about the hardening of Pharaoh, see the notes on those places where the words occur in the same book.

18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will] This is the, apostle's conclusion from the facts already laid down: that God, according to his own will and wisdoin, in perfect right-wrath, the vindictive justice of God, inflicted; after he had eneousness bestows mercy; that is to say, his blessings upon one part of mankind, (the Jews of old, and the Gentiles of the present time;) while he suffers another part, (the Egyptians of old, and the Jews of the present day,) to go on in the abuse of his goodness and forbearance, hardening themselves in sin, till he brings upon them, a most just and exemplary pu

nishment.

22. What if God, willing to show his wrath] The apostle refers here to the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians; and to which he applies Jeremiah's parable of the potter: and, from them, to the then state of the Jews. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were vessels of wrath, persons deeply guilty before God; and, by their obstinate refusal of his grace, and abuse of his goodness, they had fitted themselves for that destruction which the dured their obstinate rebellion, with much long-suffering: which is a most absolute proof, that the hardening of their hearts, and their ultimate punishment, were the consequences of their obstinate refusal of his grace, and abuse of his goodness; as the history in Exodus sufficiently shows. As the Jews of the apostle's time had sinned, after the similitude of the Egyptians, hardening their hearts and abusing his goodness, after every 19. Why doth he yet find fault) The apostle here introduces display of his long-suffering kindness, being now fitted for dethe Jew making an objection similar to that in chap. iii. 7. struction, they were ripe for punishment; and that power, If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto which God was making known for their salvation, having his glory, that is, if God's faithfulness is glorified by my wick been so long and so much abused and provoked, was now edness, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? Why am I about to show itself in their destruction as a nation. But, even condemned for that which brings so much glory to him? The in this case, there is not a word of their final damnation ; question here is, if God's glory be so highly promoted and much less that either they, or any others, were, by a sove manifested by our obstinacy, and he suffers us to proceed in reign decree, reprobated from all eternity; and that their very our hardness and infidelity, why does he find fault with us 7 sins, the proximate cause of their punishment, were the neces or punish us for that which is according to his good pleasure. sary effect of that decree, which had, from all eternity, doomNay but, O man, who art thou] As if he had said-ed them to endless torments. As such a doctrine could never weak, ignorant man, darest thon retort on the infinitely good come from God, so it never can be found in the words of his and righteous GoD1 Reflect on thyself; and tell me, after thou apostle. hast abused the grace of God, and transgressed his laws, wilt thou cavil at his dispensations? God hath made, created, formed, the Jewish nation: and shall the thing formed, when it hath corrupted itself, pretend to correct the wise and gracious Author of its being; and say, Why hast thou made me thus ? Why hast thou constituted me in this manner? Thou hast done me wrong in giving me my being under such and such

conditions.

Old John Goodwin's nee on this passage is at least curious: "I scarce, (says he.) know any passage of the Scripture more frequently abused than this. When men, in the great questions of predestination and reprobation, bring forth any text of Scripture, which they conceive makes for their notion; though the sense which they put upon it be ever so uncouth and dissonant from the true meaning of the Holy Ghost; yet, if any man contradict, they frequently fall upon him with, Nay but, O man, who art thou? As, if St. Paul had left them his heirs and successors in the infallibility of his spirit! But, when they call a solid answer to their groundless conceits, about the meaning of the Scriptares, a replying against God; it savours more of the Spirit who was seen falling like light ning from heaven, than of His who saw him in this his fall." 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay? The apostle continues his answer to the Jew-Hath not God shown, by the parable of the potter, Jerem. xviii. 1, &c. that he may justly dispose of nations, and of the Jews in particular; according as he, in his infinite wisdom, may judge most right and fitting; even as the potter has a right, out of the same lump of clay, to make one vessel to a more honourable, and another to a less honourable use; as his own judgment and skill may direct; for no potter will take pains to make a vessel merely that he may show that he has power to dash it to pieces. For the word come to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, go down to the Potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my cords. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold he wrought a work upon the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay, was marred in the hands of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. It was not fit for the more honourable place in the

23. And that he might make known] God endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath; 1. To show his wrath, and to make his power known: And also, 2 That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of

mercy.

Which he had afore prepared unto glory.) The Jews were fitted for destruction long before; but the fittest time to destroy them was after he had prepared the believing Gentiles unto glory. For, the rod of the Messiah's strength was to be sent out of Zion, Psal. ex. 2. The Jewish nation was to supply the first preachers of the Gospel; and from Jerusalem their sound was to go forth into all the earth. Therefore, the Jewish state, notwithstanding its corruptions, was to be preserved till the Messiah came; and even till the Gospel preached by the apostles had taken deep root in the Gentile world. Another thing which rendered the time, when the Jewish polity was overthrown, the most proper, was this, because then, the imme. diate occasion of it was the extensiveness of the divine grace. They would not have the Gentiles admitted into the church of God; but contradicted and blasphemed, and rejected the Lord that bought them: thus then, the extensiveness of the divine grace occasioned their infidelity, ver. 33. chap. x. 3. xii. 11, 12, 15, 28, 30. Thus the Jews were diminished, by that abun. dance of grace which has enriched the Gentiles. And so the grace of God was illustrated; or, so God made known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy-the apostles and primitive believers among the Jews, and the Gentile world, which received the Gospel by the preaching of the apostles and their successors.

24. Even us, whom he hath called] All the Jews and Gentiles who have been invited by the preaching of the Gospel to receive justification by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; and have come to the Gospel feast on this invitation.

25. As he saith also in Osee] It is a cause of not a little confusion, that a uniformity in the orthography of the proper names of the Old and New Testaments has not been preserved. What stranger to our sacred books would suppose that the Osee above, meant the prophet Hosea? from whom, chap. íi. ver. 23. this quotation is taken: I will have mercy on her that

The Gentles have attained

were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it stumbling stone;

33 As it is written, f Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

e Ch.10.2 & 11.7.-d Gal.5.4.-e Luke 2.34. 1 Cor. 1.23-1 Psa. 118.92. Isa.8.14.& calling or inviting of the Gentiles is this; whereas they had 28.16. Matt. 21.42. 1 Pet.2.6, 7, 8-g Ch. 10. 11-h Or, confounded. no apprehension of being reinstated in the privileges of God's peculiar kingdom, and consequently used no endeavours to obtain that blessing; yet, notwithstanding they have attained to justification, to the remission of sins, and the privileges of God's people: not on account of their prior worthiness and by faith on their part. And so by embracing the scheme of life, published by the Gospel, they are adopted into the family obedience, but purely by the grace and mercy of God, received and church of God. Thus the Gentiles are called or invited have hitherto been the people of God, though they have been industrious in observing a rule by which they supposed they 31. But Israel, which followed after] But the Jews, who could secure the blessings of God's peculiar kingdom; yet have not come up to the true and only rule, by which those blessings can be secured.

norant of God's righteousness-of his method of saving sinners by faith in Christ; they went about to establish their 32. Wherefore 71 And where lies their mistake? Being ig own righteousness, their own method of obtaining everlasting salvation. They attend not to the Abrahamie covenant, which stands on the extensive principles of grace and faith; but they turn all their regards to the law of Moses. They imagine that their obedience to that law, gives them a right to the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom. But finding that the Gospel sets our especial interest in God, and the privileges of his church, on a different footing, they are offended, and refuse to come into it.

28. For he will finish the work, and cut it short, &c.] These appear to be forensic terms, and refer to the conclusion of a judicial proceeding;-the Lord has tried and found them guilty; and will immediately execute upon them the punishment due to their transgressions.

29. And us Esaias said before] What God designs to do with the Jews at present, because of their obstinacy and rebellion, is similar to what he has done before, to which the same prophet refers, chap. i. 9. Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah: i. e. bad not God, who commands and overrules all the powers in heaven and earth, in mercy preserved a very small remnant, to keep up the name and being of the nation, it had been quite cut off and extinct, as Sodom and Gomorrah were. Thus we learn, that it is no new thing with God to abandon the greatest part of the Jewish nation when corrupt; and to confine his favour and blessing to a righteous believing few.

Instead of remnant, T sarid, both the Septuagint and the apostle have orspua, a seed, intimating that there were left just enow of the righteous, to be a seed for a future harvest of true believers. So, the godly were not destroyed from the land; some remained, and the harvest was in the days of the apostles.

30. What shall we say then ?] What is the final conclusion to be drawn from all these prophecies, facts, and reasonings? This, that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, &c. This, with the succeeding verses, together with what belongs to the same subject, in the beginning of the following chapter, I have explained at large in the notes on chap. i. 17. to which I must refer the reader; and shall content myself in this place, with Dr. Taylor's general paraphrase. We may suppose the apostle to express himself to the following effect: Thus I have vindicated the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles, with regard to the divine veracity and justice. Now let us turn our thoughts to the true reason and state of the affair, considered in itself. And in the first place: What just notion ought we to have of the calling of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews? I answer, the true notion of the 62

counts, ancient and modern, exactly correspond. Homer, who it must be recollected, wrote more than nine hundred years be "With these facts thus related from the Scriptures, all acfore the Christian era, although he describes chiefly the common sacrifice of quadrupeds, yet gives one account of human ceived that one great and most malignant spirit was the pro per object of their fear, or that subordinate provincial gods, victims. But, in succeeding generations, when it was conequally malignant, nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda, disposed of all things in our world; men bound their own species to the altar, and in circumstances of national dis tress, presented such as they valued most, either their chil dren or themselves. Herodotus informs us, that when the army of Xerxes came to the Strymon, the Magi offered a sa crifice of white horses to that river. On his arrival at the Scamander, the king ascended the citadel of Priam, and having surveyed it, he ordered a thousand oxen to be sacrificed to the Trojan Minerva. But on other occasions he chose human victims; for we are informed that when, having passed the Strymon, he reached the nine ways, he buried alive nine young men, and as many virgins, natives of the country. In this he

Obserrations on vicarious

CHAPTER IX.

"The Egyptians, in Heliopolis, sacrificed three men every day to Juno. The Spartans and Arcadians scourged to death young women; the latter to appease the wrath of Bacchus; the former to gratify Diana. The Sabian idolaters in Persia, offered human victims to Mithras; the Cretans to Jupiter; the Lacedemonians and Lusitanians, to Mars; the Lesbians to Bacchus; the Phocians to Diana; the Thessalians to Chiron. "The Gauls, equally cruel in their worship, sacrificed men, originally, to Eso, and Teutate; but latterly to Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Cesar informs us, that whenever they thought themselves in danger, whether from sickness, or after any considerable defeat in war, being per suaded that, unless life be given for life, the anger of the gods can never be appeased; they constructed wicker images of enormous bulk, which they filled with men, who were first suffocated with smoke, and then consumed by fire. For this purpose they preferred criminals; but when a sufficient num. ber of these could not be found, they supplied the deficiency from the community at large.

sacrifices among the heathens. followed the example of his wife, for she commanded four- | hundred children, taken from the most distinguished families teen Persian children, of illustrious birth, to be offered in that in Carthage: beside which, three hundred citizens presented manner to the deity who reigns beneath the earth. Thus, in themselves, that, by their voluntary death, they might render the infancy of Rome, we see Curtius, for the salvation of his the deity propitious to their country. The mode of sacrificing country, devoting himself to the infernal gods, when, as it ap- these children was horrid in the extreme; for they were cast pears, an earthquake had occasioned a deep and extensive into the arms of a brazen statue, and from thence dropped chasm in the forum; and the augurs had declared, that the into a furnace, as was practised amongst the first inhabitants portentous opening would never close, till what contributed of Latium. It was probably in this manner the Ammonites most to the strength and power of the Romans should be cast offered up their children to Moloch. The Pelasgi at one time into it; but that by such a sacrifice they would obtain immor. sacrificed a tenth part of all their children, in obedience to an tality for their republic. When all men were at a loss how to oracle. understand this oracle, M. Curtius, armed as for battle, presented himself in the forum, and explained it thus:-'What is more valuable to Rome than her courage and her arms?'So saying, he urged forward his impetuous steed, and buried himself in the abyss. His grateful countrymen admired his fortitude, and attributed the increasing splendour of their state to the sacrifice he made. Animated by this example, Decius, in the war between Rome and Latium, having solemnly offered himself as an expiatory sacrifice, rushed single into the thickest ranks of the astonished Latians, that by his death he might appease the anger of the gods, transfer their indignation to the enemy, and secure the victory to Rome. Conspectus ab utroque acie aliquanto, augustior humano visu, sicut Cœlo missus piaculum oinnis deorum iræ, qui pestem ab suis aversam in hostes ferret. "Here we see distinctly marked the notion of vicarious suffering, and the opinion that the punishment of guilt may be transferred from the guilty to the innocent. The gods call for sacrifice; the victim bleeds; atonement is made; and the wrath of the infernal powers falls in its full force upon the enemy. Thus while Themistocles at Salamine was offering sacrifice, three captives, the sons of Sandance, and nephews to Xerxes, all distinguished for their beauty, elegantly dressed and decked, as became their birth, with ornaments of gold, being brought on board his galley, the augur Euphrantides, observing at that very instant a bright flame ascending from the altar, whilst one was sneezing on the right, which he regarded as a propitious omen, seized the hand of Themistocles, and commanded that they should all be sacrificed to Bacchus, (wung Scovvoy-cruel and relentless Bacchus! Homer has the same expression,) predicting on this condition safety and conquest to the Greeks. Immediately the multitude with united voices called on the god, and led the captive princes to the altar, and compelled Themistocles to sacrifice them. "So when Eneas was to perform the last kind office for his friend Pallas, he sacrificed, (besides numerous oxen, sheep, and swine,) eight captives to the infernal gods. In this he fol. lowed the example of Achilles, who had caused twelve Trojans, of high birth, to bleed by the sacerdotal knife, over the ashes of his friend Patroclus.

A hundred feet in length, a hundred wide,
The glowing structure spreads on every side;
High on the top the manly corse they lay,
And well-fed sheep, and sable oxen slay;
Achilles covered with their fat the dead,
And the piled victims round the body spread;
Then jars of honey, and of fragrant oil,
Suspends around, low bending o'er the pile.
Four sprightly coursers, with a deadly groan
Pour forth their lives, and on the pyre are thrown.
Of nine large dogs domestic at his board,
Fell two, selected to attend their lord;
The last of all, and horrible to tell,

Sad sacrifice! twelve Trojan captives fell.

On these the rage of fire victorious preys,
Involves and joins them in one common blaze.
Smeared with the bloody rites, he stands on high,
And calls the spirit with a cheerful cry,
All hail, Patroclus! let thy vengeful ghost
Hear, and exult on Pluto's dreary coast.

"The Germans are said to have differed from the Gauls, in having no Druids, and in being little addicted to the service of the altar. Their only gods were the Sun, Vulcan, and the Moon; yet, among the objects of their worship, was Tuisco, their progenitor, and Woden, the hero of the north. It is true that neither Cesar nor Tacitus say any thing of their shedding blood in sacrifice; yet the probability is, that, like the Saxons, and other northern nations, they not only offered blood, bu! took their choicest victims from the human race.

"In Sweden, the altars of Woden smoked incessantly with blood; this flowed most abundantly at the solemn festivals celebrated every ninth year at Upsal. Then the king, attended by the senate, and by all the great officers about his court, entered the temple, which glittered on all sides with gold, and conducted to the altar nine slaves, or in time of war, nine captives. These met the caresses of the multitude, as being about to avert from them the displeasure of the gods, and then submitted to their fate; but in times of distress, more noble victims bled; and it stands upon record, that when Aune their king was ill, he offered up to Woden his nine sons, to obtain the prolongation of his life.

"The Dunes had precisely the same abominable customs. Every ninth year, in the month of January, they sacrificed ninety-nine men, with as many horses, dogs, and cocks: and Hacon, king of Norway, offered his own son, to obtain from Woden the victory over Harold; with whom he was at war. "In Russia, the Slavi worshipped a multitude of gods, and erected to them innumerable altars.-Of these deities Peroun, that is, the Thunderer, was the supreme; and before his image many of their prisoners bled. Their god of physic, who also presided over the sacred fires, shared with him; and the great rivers, considered as gods, had their portion of human victims, whom they covered with their inexorable waves. But Suetovid, the god of war, was the god in whom they most delighted: to him they presented annually, as a burnt-offer ing, three hundred prisoners, each on his horse; and, when the whole was consumed by fire, the priests and people sat down to eat and drink, till they were drunk. It is worthy of remark, that the residence of Suetovid was supposed to be in

the sun.

"To this luminary, the Peruvians, before they were restrained by their Incas, sacrificed their children.

"Among the sacred books of the Hindoos, the Ramayuna

tent of country through which it is revered, and the view which it exhibits of the religion, doctrine, mythology, customs, and manners of their remote progenitors.

POPE'S Homer, IL. xxiii. ver. 203. "How much was it to be lamented, that even civilized nations should forget the intention for which sacrifices were origi-demands particular attention, because of its antiquity, the ex nally instituted! The bad effects, however, would not have been either so extensive or so great, had they not wholly lost the knowledge of Jehovah; and taken, as the object of their fear, that evil and apostate spirit, whose name, with the ut most propriety, is called Apollyon, or the destroyer; and whose worship has been universally diffused, at different periods, among all the nations of the earth.

"The practice of shedding human blood, before the altars of their gods, was not peculiar to the Trojans and the Greeks; the Romans followed their example. In the first ages of their republic, they sacrificed children to the goddess Mania; in later periods, numerous gladiators bled at the tombs of the Patricians, to appease the manes of the deceased. And it is particularly noticed of Augustus, that after the taking of PeTusia, he sacrificed, on the ides of March, three hundred senators and knights to the divinity of Julius Cesar.

"The Carthaginians, as Diodorus Siculus informs us, bound themselves, by a solemn vow, to Chronus, that they would sacrifice to him children, selected from the offspring of their nobles; but in process of time they substituted for these the children of their slaves, which practice they continued, till, being defeated by Agathocles, tyrant of Sicily; and, attribufing their disgrace to the anger of the god, they offered two

"In this we have a golden age of short duration, succeeded by a state of universal wickedness and violence, which con. tinued till the Deity, incarnate, slew the oppressors of the human race, and thus restored the reign of piety and virtue.

"This poem contains a description of the Ushwamedha, or most solemn sacrifice of the white horse, instituted by Swuymbhoo, that is, by the Self-existent. At the celebration of this festival, the monarch, as the representative of the whole nation, acknowledged his transgressions; and when the offerings were consumed by the sacrificial fire, he was considered as perfectly absolved from his offences. Then follows a particular account of a human sacrifice, in which the victim, distinguished by filial piety, for resignation to his father's will, and for purity of heart, was bound by the king himself, and delivered to the priest; but, at the very instant when his blood was to have been shed, this illustrious youth was, by miracle, delivered; and the monarch, as the reward of his intended sacrifice, received virtue, prosperity, and fame.

"It is well known that the Brahmins have, in all ages, had their human victims, and that even in our days, thousands

On the doctrine of election and reprobation

ROMANS.

have voluntarily perished under the wheels of their god Jaghernaut." Townsend's Character of Moses, p. 76. Though in the preceding Notes I have endeavoured to make every point as clear and plain as possible; yet it may be ne cessary, in order to see the scope of the apostle's design more distinctly, to take a general survey of the whole. No man has written with more judgment on this epistle than Dr. Taylor; and from his notes I borrow the principal part of the following observations.

The principal thing that requires to be settled in this chap. ter is, what kind of election and reprobation the apostle is ar. guing about: whether election, by the absolute decree and purpose of God, to eternal life; and reprobation, by a like absolute decree, to eternal misery; or only election to the present privileges and external advantages of the kingdom of God in this world and reprobation, or rejection, as it sig nifies the not being favoured with those privileges and ad vantages. I think it demonstrably clear, that it is the latter election and rejection the apostle is discoursing on, and not the former, as the following considerations appear to me to demonstrate.

I. The subject of the apostle's argument is manifestly such privileges as are enumerated, verses 4, 5. who are Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, &c. From these privileges, he supposes the Jews had fallen or would fall; or, that for a long time they would be deprived of the benefit of them. For .t is with regard to the loss of those privileges that he was so much concerned for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, ver. 2, 3. And it is with reference to their being stripped of these privileges, that he vindicates the word and righteousness of God, ver. 24. Not as though the word of God had taken no effect, or failed, &c. proving that God according to his purpose of election, was free to confer them upon any branch of Abraham's family. Consequently, those privileges were the singular blessings which, by the purpose of God, according to election, not of works, but of him that calleth, were conferred upon Jacob's posterity. But those privileges were only such as the hole body of the Israelites enjoyed in this world, while they were the church and people of God: and such privileges as they might afterward lose; or of which they might be deprived. Therefore, the election of Jacob's posterity to those privileges was not an absolute election to eternal life.

II. Agreeably to the purpose of God according to election, it was said unto Rebecca, the elder shall serve the younger, meaning the posterity of the elder and the younger; for, Gen. xxv. 23. The Lord said unto her, Two NATIONS are in thy womb, and two manner of PEOPLE shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one PEOPLE shall be stronger than the other PEOPLE; and the elder shall serve the younger. These are the words which signify the purpose of God according to election. Therefore the election refers to Jacob's posterity, or the whole nation of Israel. But all the nation of Israel were not absolutely elected to eternal life. Therefore, the purpose of God according to election, referred to temporal and not to eternal blessings; and was a privilege of which they might be deprived.

III Agreeably to the purpose of God according to election, it was said to Rebecca, the elder shall serve the younger: but to serve in Scripture, never meant to be eternally damned in the world to come. Consequently, the opposite blessings bestowed upon the posterity of the younger, could not be eternal salvation; but certain privileges in this life. Therefore, the purpose according to election, refers to those privileges; and the servitude does not imply everlasting perdition.

IV. The election the apostle speaks of, is not of works, ver, 11. but of the mere will of God, who calls and invites; and refers to no qualifications in the persons thus elected and called: but in no part of the Sacred Writings is final salvation said to be given to any who are not qualified by holiness to receive and enjoy it. Therefore, election to eternal glory cannot be what the apostle speaks of in this epistle.

V. The election, of which the apostle speaks, took place, first in Abraham and his seed, before his seed was born; and then (secluding Ishmael and all his posterity,) in Isaac and his seed before they were born. And then secluding Esau and all his posterity, in Jacob and his seed before they were born. But the Scripture no where represents eternal life as bestowed upon any family or race of men in this manner. Therefore, this election mentioned by the apostle, cannot be an election unto eternal life.

VI. Vessels of mercy, ver. 23. are manifestly opposed to ves sels of wrath, ver. 22. The vessels of mercy are the whole body of the Jews and Gentiles, who were called or invited into the kingdom of God, under the Gospel, ver. 24. conse quently the vessels of wrath, are the whole body of the unbelieving Jews. So in ver. 30, 31. the whole body of believing Gentiles, who, according to God's purpose of election, had attained justification, are opposed to the whole body of the Israelites, who came short of it. But men shall not be received into eternal life, or subjected to eternal damnation, at the last day, in collective bodies; but according as particular persons, in those bodies, have acted well or ill. Therefore, this election is not of these particular bodies unto eternal life, &c. VII. Whoever carefully peruses the ixth, xth, and xith chapters, will find, that those who have not believed, chap. xi. 31. are the present rejected Jews; or that Israel to whorn

mentioned in the preceding chapter.

blindness hath happened in part, ver. 25. the same who fell,
and on whom God hath shown severity; ver. 22. the same
with the natural branches whom God spared not; ver. 21.
who were broken off from the olive-tree; verses 20, 19, and 17.
who were cast away; ver. 15. who were diminished and
fallen; ver. 12. who had stumbled, ver. 11. who were a diso
bedient and gainsaying people; chap. x. 21. who being igno
rant of God's righteousness, went about to establish their
own; ver. 3. because they sought righteousness not by faith.
but as it were by the works of the law; chap. ix. 32 and
therefore, had not attained to the law of righteousness; ver. 31
the same people spoken of in all these places, are the tesse's
of wrath fitted for destruction; ver. 22. and the same for
whom Paul had great heaviness and continual sorrow of
heart; ver. 2, 3. in short, they are the unbelieving nation, or
people of Israel; and it is with regard to the reprobation or
rejection of this people that he is arguing, and vindicating the
truth, justice, and wisdom, of God, in this ninth chapter.
Now, if we turn back and review those three chapters, we
shall find that the apostle, chap. xi. 1. heartily desired and
prayed that those same reprobated and rejected people of Is
raef might be saved; he affirms that they had not stumblest
so as to fall finally and irrecoverably; chap. xi. 11. that tay
should have again a fulness; ver. 12. that they should be re-
ceived again into the church; ver. 15, that a holiness still pe
longed to them; ver. 16. that if they did not still abide in un-
belief, they should be graffed into their own olive-tree again:
ver. 23, 24. that blindness had happened unto them only for a
time, till the fulness of the Gentiles he come in; ver. 25. and
then he proves, from Scripture, that all Israel, all those na
tions at present under blindness, shall be saved; ver. M, 27
that as touching the (original) election, they were still beloved
for the fathers' the patriarchs' sake; ver. 28. that in their
case, the gifts and calling of God were without repe-tance:
ver. 29. that through our (the believing Gentiles') mercy, they
shall at length obtain mercy, ver. 31. All these several things
are spoken of that Israel, or the body of people concerning
whose rejection the apostle argues in the ninth chapter.
And, therefore, the rejection which he there argues about,
cannot be absolute reprobation to eternal damnation; but to
their being, as a nation, stripped of those honours and privi
leges of God's peculiar church and kingdom in this world,
to which, at a certain future period, they shall again be re-
stored.

VIII. Once more: whoever carefully peruses those three
chapters will find, that the people who in times past beloved
not God, but have Now obtained mercy through the unbelief
of the Jews, chap. xi. 30. are the whole body of the believing
Gentiles: the saine who were cut out of the olive-tree which
is wild by nature; and were graffed, contrary to mature,
into the good olive-tree, ver. 24, 17. the same to whom God
hath shown goodness, ver. 22. the WORLD that was reconeiled,
ver. 15. the GENTILES who were enriched by the diminishing
of the Jews, ver. 12. to whom salvation came through their
fall, ver. 11. the Gentiles who had attained to righteousneSA,
(justification,) chap. ix. 30. who had not been God's people,
nor beloved; but now were his people, beloved, and childres
of the living God, ver. 25, 26. even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jers only, but also of the Gentiles, ver. 24. who are
the vessels of mercy, on whom God has made known the
riches of his glory, ver. 23. the vessels made unto honour.
ver. 21. He speaks of the same body of men in all these
places; namely, of the believing Gentiles, principally, but
not excluding the small remnant of the beliering Jetes, who
were incorporated with them. And it is this body of men,
whose calling and election he is proving, in whose case the
purpose of God according to election stands good, chap. ix
11. And, who are the children of the promise that are
counted for the seed, ver. 8. these are the election, or the
elect

Now, concerning this called or elect body of people, or any particular person belonging to this body, the apostle writes thus, chap. xi. 20-22 well, because of unbelief, they (the Jews) were broken off, (reprobated, rejected,) and thou stand est (in the church among God's called and elect,) by faith: be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the na tural branches, (the Jews,) take heed lest he also spare not thee, (the Gentiles.) Behold therefore the goodness and se verity of God: on them (the Jews,) which fell, severity; but towards thee, (believing Gentiles,) goodness; if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off, rejected, reprobated. This proves, that the calling and election, for which the apostle is arguing in the ixth chapter, is not absolute election unto eternal life, but to the present privileges of the church; the honours and advantages of God's pecsliar people; which election, through unbelief and misimprovement, may be rendered void, and come to nothing Notes, p. 330, &c.

From thus carefully considering the apostle's discourse, and taking in his scope and design, and weighing the different expressions he uses, in connexion with the Scripture facts and Scripture phrases employed in describing those facts; we must be fully convinced, that the doctrines of eternal, absolute, unconditional election and reprobation, have no place here; and that nothing but a pre-established creed, and a total inattention to the apostle's scope and design, could ever have induced men to bend these scriptures to the above purpose; and thus

CHAPTER X.

to endeavour to establish, as articles of faith, doctrines, which, | done the work of Apollyon in the name of Christ. If men far from producing glory to God in the highest, and peace and will maintain these, and such like, for Scriptural doctrines, good will among men, have filled the church of God with con- doctrines repugnant to the Divine nature, it is but reasonable tention, set every man's sword against his brother, and thus to request that it be done in the spirit of the Gospel. CHAPTER X.

The apostle expresses his earnest desire for the salvation of the Jews, 1. Having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, they sought salvation by works, and not by faith in Christ, 2-4. The righteousness which is of the law, described, 5. That which is by faith described also, 6-10. He that believes and calls on the name of the Lord shall be sared, 11-13. What is necessary to salvation-believing, hearing, preaching, a divine mission, the Gospel, and obe. dience to its precepts, 14-16. Faith comes by hearing, 17. The universal spread of the Gospel predicted by the prophets, 18-20. The ingratitude and disobedience of the Israelites, 21. [A. M. cir. 4062. A. D. cir. 58. An. Olymp. cir. CCIX. 2. A U. C. cir. 811.]

|

NOTES-Verse 1. My heart's desire, &c. Though the apostle knew that the Jews were now in a state of rejection, yet he knew also, that they were in this state through their own obstinacy; and that God was still waiting to be gracious; and consequently, that they might still repent and turn to him.dent, that there can be no justification by works, as all are sin Of his concern for their salvation, he had already given ample proof, when he was willing to become a sacrifice for their welfare, see chap. ix. 3.