ever." Yes, when the ever-blessed, the co-equal, the co-eternal Son of God came into the world, that by his own obedience unto death, he might accomplish the redemption of sinful man, he assumed his human nature from them, even from a Jewish Virgin; so that, in a more strict and appropriate sense than any other person, a Jew may say of him, He is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.
Consider now how glorious these distinctions were. To what other nation was any one of them ever vouchsafed? or what has the greatest monarch upon earth that can be in any degree compared with them? The honours which come of man are lighter than vanity itself, when compared with those which come of God : and when weighed in this scale, the highest monarchs in the universe are not so elevated above a slave, as the meanest Jew is exalted above them. But what shall we say to the giving birth to the Messiah, who was " the mighty God," " Emmanuel, God with us?" Here all words fail us: in vain does the imagination attempt to grasp so wonderful an event. " God manifest in the flesh!" How "great this mystery of godliness!" and how infinitely ennobled are that people, to whom the ever-blessed God is so nearly related !]
The more we contemplate the privileges of the Jewish people, the more we see,
II. The deep concern which we should feel for them —
The Apostle declares his compassion for them in the strongest terms ; in considering which, it will be proper to notice,
1. What is implied in them —
[It is plain that St. Paul did not approve of that spurious charity which is so prevalent in our day. We cannot endure to think that any should finally be left to perish. We regard it as the summit of uncharitableness, to suppose that Jews and Gentiles are all in a state of guilt and condemnation, and that they can be saved only by their conversion to the faith of Christ. But let any one refer to our text, and he will see at once what St. Paul's opinion was on this most interesting subject. If the Jews in their unconverted state were safe, why was St. Paul so grieved on their account? Would he have felt such " great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart" for them, or made such solemn appeals to God respecting his anxiety for them, if they had been in a state of favour and acceptance with God ? There cannot possibly be a doubt on this subject : he regarded them all as perishing in their sins, according to that declaration of our blessed Lord, " If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall