Rom. ix. 30 — 33. What shall ive say then ? That the Gen- tiles, which folloived 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 it not by faith, but as it xoere by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone ; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence : and tvhosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
A VERY great proportion of the controversies which exist in the Christian world, arise from an overstraining of just principles, and carrying them to an undue extent. Many are not contented with main- taining what God has plainly declared ; but they will
found on his declarations every thing that appears to be deducible from them. But, however legitimate any deduction may appear to us, we should make a great difference between it and the word on which it is founded ; more especially if there be in the Holy Scriptures other passages directly opposed to our deductions. We should remember, that our finite faculties are incapable of comprehending all that the infinitely wise God has seen fit to reveal : and there- fore, when we advance even an hair's breadth beyond what God has expressly authorized, we should pro- ceed with the utmost caution and diffidence. A rash and presumptuous mind will, without hesitation, build the doctrine of reprobation upon the declara- tions of St. Paul in this chapter. But St. Paul forbare to press his principles so far, because, however such an inference might appear just in the eyes of fallible man, it would have been in direct opposition to other declarations of Almighty God. His moderation is beautifully exhibited in this chapter. In order to silence the blasphemous cavils of an objector, he had been constrained to occupy high ground, and to assert God's sovereign right to dispose of all his creatures, even as the potter has power over the clay, which he has prepared for his own use. But when he comes to sum up his argument, he does not refer the rejection of the Jews to the mere sovereign will of God, but to their own obstinate pride and unbelief: thereby shewing us, that, whilst we properly refer all good to God, we must trace all evil to ourselves : if we are saved, it is God who saves us, from first to last ; but, if we perish, we perish through our own fault alone.
For the further elucidation of our text, we shall consider,
I. The fact here stated- It was a plain and undeniable fact, that the Gen- tiles had embraced the Gospel, and the Jews had rejected it —
[The Gentiles, till they heard the Gospel, were in a most deplorable state of wickedness3: nor did they, at least
See Rom. i. throughout.