But if our proud hearts be yet disposed to rise up against God, and reply against him, the extraordinary caution with which St. Paul gives his answer must silence us for ever. Be- tween the vessels of wrath and the vessels of mercy he makes this striking distinction ; that the vessels of wrath fit themselves for destruction, but the vessels of mercy are prepared for glory by their Godd. The judgments executed on the ungodly, at whatever period they are inflicted, are brought on them, not by any absolute decree of God, but by their own wilful and obstinate continuance in sin : but the blessings imparted to the godly are solely the fruit of God's sovereign grace and mercy. They who perish must take all the shame to them-
b 1 Tim. i. 16. c John xi. 6, 15, 40.
d See the Greek.
selves ; and those who are saved must give all the glory to their God.
The manner in which the Apostle states his argument, should not be altogether unnoticed. " What if" so and so? Who has any thing to reply against it? Is there any thing in it contrary to reason ? let him bring it to the test of reason. Is there any thing contrary to Scripture ? let him consult the passages to which I now refer him, and he shall see, that this very mode of dealing towards all mankind, whether Jews or Gentiles, is precisely that which all the prophets have taught us to expect at the hands of Gode. He has, for his own glory, left the Gentiles for two thousand years, and taken the Jews for his peculiar people ; and now, for his own glory also, will he for a season leave the Jews, and take the Gentiles. In this matter, neither the one nor the other have any claim upon him : in taking the one and leaving the other, he did no injus- tice formerly : and in now abandoning those whom he formerly took, (more especially since they have filled up the measure of their iniquities,) and in taking those whom he then left, he does no injustice now : but in both he is, and will be, glorified: he even in this world glorifies, both in the one and in the other, his patience and long-suffering, and forbearance ; but, in the world to come, he will glorify his perfections upon both of them in a more appropriate way ; — on the vessels of wrath, his poiver ; but on the vessels of mercy, his free, and sovereign, and unbounded grace.~\
Having investigated with care the Apostle's answer, we will conclude with suggesting, III. The proper improvement of the subject — The subject offers many important hints,
1. To objectors — -
[These, alas! are a very numerous body, even in the Christian world. Favoured as we are above the rest of the world, it might be hoped that we should be the last to arraign the sovereignty of Almighty God. Yet amongst us there are many who will dispute against the doctrines of grace, precisely in the way that the unbelieving Jew is represented as doing in our text. One would be ready to suppose, from the confidence with which they urge their impious objections, that they had been the secret counsellors of the Most High. They determine, without any hesitation or doubt, what will, and what will not, consist with the Divine attributes.
Beloved brethren, this is not the way in which it becomes frail dust and ashes to proceed : and if you will presume thus
c ver. 25 — 27.
1886.J god's sovereignty not to be arraigned. 365
to reprove God, you must " answer it" at your costf. Be assured that such conduct ill becomes you, and is most offensive to your Godg: and your wisdom is to forbear all such impiety in future1'. Go to any person deeply versed in sciences of any kind ; and he will tell you paradoxes without number which you cannot understand, which yet he knows to be true, and is able to prove, if you had sufficient knowledge of that particular science to comprehend him. Know then, that God also, if he have revealed what appears paradoxical to you, can fully re- concile his own declarations, and will do so in the eternal world ; though, if he were now to do it, you would not have capacity sufficient to discern the truth and excellence of his communications. Be assured, that, " as the heavens are high above the earth, so are his thoughts and ways high above yours."