16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

As if the apostle had said, "The foregoing instances abundantly show, That it is not of him that willeth: for Abraham willed that Ishmael might live to be partaker of the blessing promised to his seed, when he said, Gen. xvii. 18. O that Ishmael might live before thee! Nor is it of him that runneth: for when Esau ran to fetch venison for his father, that he might receive the blessing, Gen. xxi. the wisdom of God saw fit to have it otherwise, and to confer the blessing upon Jacob; but it is of God that showeth mercy, that any one is chosen to be the seed to which the promise made to Abraham belongs, and so to be his church and people." Learn hence, That it is of God's mere grace and mercy, that any sinners are called and admitted to the privilege of justification and adoption, upon any terms and conditions whatsoever. The reason why the sinful and unworthy Gentiles were called to be a people who were not a people, while the Jews were left out, and cast off for their obstinate unbelief, was not because the Gentiles were either more worthy or more willing, but from God's discriminating grace and mercy: It is not of him that willeth, but of God that sheweth

mercy.

17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Our apostle here proceeds to remove another objection, namely, the seeming injustice or severity of rejecting the Jews, and reserving them to wrath, giving them up to an obdurate heart, because they would not accept of the way which the wisdom of God had appointed for their justification; namely, faith in his Son Jesus Christ. This he clears by another instance; to wit, that of Pharaoh, who had so often hardened his own heart obstinately, and provoked God at last to harden him judicially. For this cause, says God, have I raised thee up; in the original it is, I have made thee stand: that is, "I have sustained thee, and kept thee alive, when thou deservedst, and mightest justly

have expected, to be cut off by the several plagues inflicted on thee for thy obstinate hardness of heart, that I might shew my power in thee, &c. Or, I have patiently borne thy stubbornness for a long time, that my power and justice might more illustriously appear at last in that conspicuous judgment, which I will execute upon thee in the sight of all the nations of the earth.” Learn hence, That some sinners, whom the patience of God has long waited upon, are preserved of him, and raised out of great and imminent dangers by him, for this end; namely, to make them examples of his just indignation against stubborn and obdurate rebels, and that in the most illusFor this cause trious and signal manner. have I raised thee up, that my name might be declared throughout all the

earth.

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

As if he had said, "From these scripture instances we may gather and conclude, that God may without the least injustice magnify his mercy, in sparing and pardoning some sinners, and render his justice glorious in punishing others; yea, in punishing sin with sin, hardening them judicially, who had hardened themselves obstinately." Here observe, That God did not harden Pharaoh's heart by any positive act or influx upon it, by infusing any evil into it; for this would make God the author of sin; but he was hardened by way of judiciary tradition, after he had long hardened himself. First, He was delivered up into the hand of Satan, who deluded him by the magicians counterfeiting the same miracle that Moses wrought; and this hardened him against the belief of any thing that Moses either did or said. Secondly, He was delivered up to his own lusts, particularly idolatry, ambition, and covetousand these hardened Pharaoh's heart. As an idolater, he was loath to receive a message from the God of Israel, whom he knew not: Who is the Lord, says he, that I should obey him? I know not the Lord. As an ambitious prince, it went to his very heart, to hear so mean a man as Moses control him in his own dominions, saying, Let the people go, that they may serve the Lord. This enraged him, to hear of any lord over that people but himself; and as a covetous man, he was loath

ness;

to hear of parting with a people, by whose pains, in making brick, he had so great an income. Thus Pharaoh's affected hardness was followed with inflicted hardness. Learn hence, That God doth justly deliver that man up to hardness of heart by way of punishment, who has often hardened his own heart against God by repeated acts of sin.

Juste toties cor ejus obduratur in pænam, Quoties ipse cor suum obduravit in culpam. LIGHTFOOT.

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 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 one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Here the apostle brings in the unbeliev. ing and rejected Jews making an objection against God: "If the case be thus, that God doth sometimes, and that justly, leave obdurate sinners to harden themselves, why is he offended at it, and complains of it? If God hardeneth us because he will, why doth he find fault with us for our hardness of heart? For who hath at any time resisted his will? How is it in our power to avoid being hardened, if it be his will that we should be hardened?" Learn hence, That guilty sinners are full of hard thoughts of God, and very prone to think the divine dispensations unreasonable, if not unrighteous; but upon false and mistaken grounds: Why doth he find fault? Who hath resisted his will? To this objection the apostle returns a very smart answer, saying, Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? Shall, &c. In which answer, Observe, 1. A vehement objurgation or reproof. 2. A substantial vindication of the righteousness and wisdom of God in his proceedings with men. Note, 1. The objurgation or reproof, drawn up in an interrogative form, which argues great intenseness of mind in the person speaking: Nay but, O man, who art thou? As if the apostle had said," What bold and unheard-of presumption is this, that man, blind and ignorant man, guilty, sinful man, obnoxious to wrath and eternal death, that he should undertake to reprove and cen

sure, to judge and condemn the actions and dispensations of the most high and holy God, as if they were crooked and perverse, defective either in justice or wisdom!" Learn hence, That it is no less than horrid and horrible presumption for so weak, sinful, and worthless a creature, as man is, to contest or dispute with the most high God about the wisdom or righteousness of any of his ways: O man, who art thou that repliest against God. Note, 2. How the apostle vindicates the wisdom and righteousness of God in his proceedings with men in general, and against the Jews in particular: showing, that there is God for rejecting the unbelieving Jews, and no more cause to make this objection against showing favour to the believing Gentiles, than for the pitcher to contend with him that formed it, why he made it of such a shape, and not of another figure; or for the clay, when it is marred and broken, to complain of the potter for making of one part of it a vessel unto honour, and the other unto dishonour. Learn hence, That men who have made themselves obnoxious to the justice of God by a long-continued course of sin and disobedience against God, (as the unbelieving Jews here spoken of evidently did,) have no cause either to complain of God's severe proceedings against themselves, or of his favourable dispensations towards others. What just cause had the Jews, rejected for their own unbelief and hardness of heart, to murmur against God for showing mercy to the Gentiles, who submitted to the terms of mercy?

22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

As if the apostle had said, "What though God doth not presently punish the obstinate and unbelieving Jews according to their desert, but beareth with them, and exercises forbearance towards them, and they go on by their continual rebellions to make themselves fit objects of his wrath; but he is pleased still with great gentleness

and patience to bear with them as he did with Pharaoh; and if after all they be more hardened, as he was, by God's forbearance, what show of injustice, I pray, is it, if he punishes them at last with greater severity, as God did him? If he swallow up their nation, destroy their temple, ruin their city, what injustice is it to destroy those, who by making themselves objects of God's wrath, are fitted for destruction?" Here note, That the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, are such as, the apostle saith, God endured with much long suffering; and therefore they were not made vessels of wrath by God, but by themselves; after they had filled up the measure of their sins, and thereby fitted themselves as vessels for destruction. God endured them with much long-suffering, though judgment at last took hold upon them to the uttermost. Learn hence, That Almighty God may, without the least suspicion of injustice or unrighteousness, punish with the utmost severity such a person or a people, whom he hath long endured with much forbearance, to go on in a course of sinning, if at last they repent not. This was the manner of God's dealing with the Jews here. His lenity towards the Gentiles is next expressed, ver. 22. That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, &c. As if the apostle had said, Can God be taxed with unrighteousness, in showing the riches of his glorious grace and mercy towards the despised Gentiles, whom he hath called to the faith of Christ, and thereby fitted and prepared them to be vessels of mercy? Hath he not just right to show his mercy to such persons who have submitted to the terms upon which he hath promised favour and acceptance, and to own them as his peculiar people, although they be not the natural seed of Abraham, seeing they are his spiritual? Note here, That as the unbelieving Jews were called, in the former verse, vessels of wrath; so the believing Gentiles are called, in this verse, vessels of mercy; because as vessels are fitted and formed by the hand of the artificer for the use to which they are designed, in like manner are believers wrought by God and framed by his Holy Spirit, and made meet to receive the mercy of God, that is, the fruits and effects of his mercy, especially pardon of sin and peace with God. Concerning the vessels of wrath, the apostle speaks passively; they are fitted for destruction: concerning the vessels of mercy, he speaks

actively, that God has prepared them unto glory; that is, made them meet and fit by grace here for glory hereafter. Learn thence, That the new creation of the saints, and all the spiritual workmanship that is found upon them, is to be ascribed unto God, and to the effectual working of his grace: He hath afore prepared them unto glory. Learn, 2. That the fullest measures of glory hereafter shall be the portion of such, and only such, as are first prepared by grace and holiness to receive them here. Learn, 3. That those only are vessels of mercy, prepared by God unto glory, who upon the evangelical call have been prevailed with, by faith and repentance, to answer the command and call of God: That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called.

26

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. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

Our apostle having hitherto vindicated the wisdom and righteousness of God in the rejection of the Jews, and calling of the Gentiles; lest the Jews should stumble and take offence at it, in these and the following verses he proves, that the calling of the Gentiles was long before foretold, both by the prophet Hosea, and the prophet Isaiah; by the prophet Hosea, chap. ii. 22. I will call them my people, which were not my people. And, chap. i. 10. Instead of, Ye are not my people, it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living God. Which expressions signify and import God's receiving the Gentiles into the church as an act of free and undeserved mercy, whom the Jews looked upon as castaways, as strangers, as dogs; accounting themselves only to be of his family and household. Next he produces the testimony of Isaiah.

27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. 28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because

a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. 29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

Here the apostle shows how the reduction of the obdurate Jews was foretold by Isaiah as well as Hosea: That although the number of the Jews, according to the flesh, were as the sand of the sea, yet the greatest number of them would be passed by for their unbelief, and a remnant only saved. This the prophet speaks of those Jews who escaped the hand of Sennacherib; and the apostle makes the deliverance of those few, a type of them that should believe in Christ, and be saved by him. And the prophet farther adds, That God would finish his work, and cut it short in righteousness; that is, God will make quick work with that incorrigible and unreclaimable people; such swift destruction shall come upon the multitude of evil doers in the land of Israel as shall bring them very low, cut them short, lop them off, so that they shall be left as a tree, of which only the stump remaineth. They shall be reduced to a small remnant, and a remnant only of that remnant shall be converted. Now first, from the literal import of those words, Though Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant only shall be saved, we learn, That a numerous people or nation, among whom God hath been truly worshipped, and this for a long season, may, notwithstanding, for their wickedness be destroyed, and reduced by God to a very small number. Secondly, from the typical import of these words, together with the apostle's scope in citing of them, we gather, that amongst those multitudes who are called by the gospel to believe on our Lord Jesus Christ, and who make profession of his name and truth, the number of those who will be at last eternally saved, will be but comparatively small and little; A remnant shall be saved.

30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith: 31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought

it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law; for they stumbled at that stumbling stone; As if the apostle had said, 46 Lord, what shall we say to this great mystery of grace, the calling of the Gentile world, and the cutting off and casting away most of the present Jewish nation? That the Gentiles who lived in ignorance and blindness, in sin and unrighteousness, should attain to righteousness by faith in Christ; and that the Israelites, who had God's own righteous law amongst them, and trusted to be justified by the observation of it, yet should not attain to that righteousness which God accepteth. And wherefore have they not attained it? but because they sought not justification by that faith which God prescribeth for that end, namely, faith in the Mediator; but thought it must be attained by the works of the law, keeping all the ceremonial precepts, by which no flesh can be justified: and the reason why they sought it not by faith was this, They stumbled at the stumbling stone; that is, at the Lord Jesus Christ, taking offence at his poverty and mean condition in the world, and at the spirituality of his kingdom." Learn hence, That the great humiliation of Christ in the days of his flesh, did prove a snare and occasion to many persons to despise and reject him, to stumble at him, and fall foul upon him. But in what respects is Christ called a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence? Ans. Negatively; not because he was by God designed, either intentionally or accidentally, to be such. All stumbling and offence-taking at Christ are accidental, proceeding from the depravity of man, not from the design of God. Much less were the Jews fore-appointed and ordained by God to stumble at his Son; for God appoints no man to do that which he prohibits all men from doing. And as no man is necessitated by the decree of God, so neither is he constrained or necessitated by Satan, by his corruption, or any other instrument, to stumble or take offence at Christ; for actions necessitated upon men are neither demeritorious nor punishable. But positively Christ is called a stone of stumbling, because men, willingly ignorant and wilfully perverse, do take offence at him. Though God never designed or deknew and foresaw that many, very many, sired any man's stumbling at Christ, yet he would stumble at him; and accordingly expressed him by a prophetical character

answering the event, and predicting that which in time came to pass: Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-block.

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

Observe here, 1. What use and office our Lord Jesus Christ is of to his church: he is a stone, a corner-stone, the chief corner-stone; a corner-stone for strength, the chief corner-stone for ornament and beauty. As the corner-stone bears the weight of the building, so doth Christ bear the weight of his church, and supports all the pillars and supporters of it; yet this precious corner-stone is accidentally and eventually a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence. Some are offended at the poverty of his person and the meanness of his condition, others at the sublimity and sanctity of his doctrine; some are offended at his cross, others at his free grace; but such as instead of being offended at him do believe on him, shall never be ashamed of, or confounded by, him. Learn hence, That those who, according to the direc

tion of the gospel, do believe on our Lord

Jesus Christ, shall never have cause to be ashamed. Here note, What they shall not be ashamed of, when and why they shall not be ashamed: 1. What the sincere believer shall not be ashamed of. Ans. He shall never be ashamed of his choice; he shall not be ashamed of his profession; he shall never be ashamed of the cause and interest of Christ, which he has owned and vindicated in the world: he shall never be ashamed of the work and service of Christ, nor of any time sincerely spent in that work and service; he shall never be ashamed of his reproaches and sufferings, tribulation and persecutions, for the sake of Christ. In a word, he shall never be ashamed hereafter that he never was ashamed here, either of Christ and his gospel, his work and service, or his cause and interest. Note, 2. When the believer shall not be ashamed; namely, when he is called forth to bear his testimony for Christ before the world, at the hour of death, and at the day of judgment: neither the dreadfulness of the day, nor the majesty of the Judge, nor the number of the accusers, nor the impartiality of the sentence, nor the separation that shall then be made, will in the Jeast cause him to be ashamed. Note, 3.

CHAP. X.

Our apostle prosecutes in this the argument which he had begun in the former chapter, viz. The temporary rejection of his countrymen the Jews, for their obstinate refusal of that way of justification which the wisdom of God had prescribed, namely, by faith in his Son Jesus Christ: and well knowing that what he was about to say upon that argument would sound very harsh in their ears, who were so addicted to seek justification only by the works of the law, he begins this chapter, as he did the former, with a most solemn protestation of his unfeigned love unto them, and most fervent desire for their salvation: for thus he speaks,

BRETHREN, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Where observe, 1. The mighty concern which the apostle had for the eternal salvation of his countrymen the Jews, who sought his destruction; their salvation lay very near his heart, and he was afraid they should miss it by taking the wrong way for obtaining it, by building all their hopes of salvation upon such a bottom as would never bear the fabric, but utterly fail them; namely, justification by works. Observe, 2. What it was that made the apostle so concerned for the Jews. It was not upon the account of their wicked lives and scandalous immoralities, but for their bad principles and fundamental errors. They opposed the honour of God to the Son of God, and the observation of the law to the faith of Christ. From whence learn, That we ought to be concerned for those who lie under damnable errors, although they be men of good carriage and commendable conversation. Not only the vicious and ungodly, but the erroneous and unsound, are to be the objects of our pity and prayer; for error as damnable as vice; the one is an open road, the other a by-path, to hell