f f 2
take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God : on them that fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness : otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off" What can be plainer? And how do all human systems vanish before such declarations as these6! And says not our Lord also the same ? Yes, precisely the same : " If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned*. " Here is precisely the same idea as in my text. Our Lord speaks of all his people as engrafted into him. The fruitful branches he purges and prunes, in order to render them more fruitful : but the unfruitful branches are broken off, and cast into the fire. Thus it is, and thus it shall be : and it becomes every per- son, who professes to have been engrafted into the true olive-tree, to look well to his ways : for if he improve not duly the Lord's goodness to him, or, having begun to do so, continue it not to the end, he shall surely perish ; and the very profession that he has made, and the advantages he has enjoyed, will only aggravate his final condemnation. If an unbe- lieving Jew must perish for rejecting Christ, much
e It is worthy of remark, that whilst Calvinists complain of Ar- minians as unfair and unscriptural, in denying personal, though they admit national, election, they themselves are equally unfair and unscriptural in denying the danger of personal apostasy, whilst they admit it in reference to churches and nations. It is lamentable to see the plain statements of Scripture so unwarrantably set aside for the maintaining of human systems. Happy would it be for the Church, if these distinctions were buried by the consent of all parties, and the declarations of Holy Writ were adhered to by all, without prejudice or partiality !
The Author's views of this subject are simply these. All good is from God, dispensed by him in a way of sovereignty according to the counsels of his own will, and to the praise of the glory of his own grace. All evil, whether moral or penal, is from man ; the moral, as resulting from his own free choice ; the penal, as the just and neces- sary consequence of his sins. The Author has no doubt but that there is in God's blessed word a system : but it is a far broader system than either Calvinists or Arminians admit. His views of that system may be seen in the Preface to this Work. f John xv. 6.
1898.3 god's dispensations to jews and gentiles. 437
more shall the disobedient Christian, who " crucifies him afresh, and puts him to an open shame."
Towards the Jews, also, will God proceed upon the same principle of equitable retribution. In the days of old, he always returned in mercy to them, when they sought him with penitence and contrition : and at this very hour would he restore them to his favour, if they would " look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn." The Apostle affirms this in our text, saying, " And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in again." We are apt to imagine that the blindness and obduracy of the Jews are utterly incurable. But there is nothing impossible with God : " He is as able to graff them in again," as ever he was to graff in scions from amongst the Gentiles. Indeed, whatever we may imagine to the contrary, the restoration of the Jews is a far easier matter than the conversion of the Gentiles : for the Gentiles are altogether ignorant of the very first principles of religion : they have every thing to learn : they do not so much as know that there is one supreme God ; much less have they any idea how they are to find acceptance with him. But the Jews have a perfect knowledge of the unity of God : they are instructed also in relation to his will, having in their very hands a transcript of his law. They pos- sess also the prophecies relating to the Messiah, whom they confidently expect. Nothing is wanting to them, but to have the veil taken from their hearts, so that they may see their prophecies accomplished in the Lord Jesus. The very moment their eyes are opened to behold him as the true Messiah, they will possess all that the most favoured of the Christian world possess; and in a moment, as on the day of Pentecost, will the work of graffing them into their primitive stock be effected. This we are apt to overlook ; but we are told it plainly in our text : " If they abide not still in unbelief, they shall be graffed in : for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou, thou Gentile, wert cut out of the olive-tree which is xmld by nature, and wert graffed, contrary to nature, into a good olive-