V. How fharp and fad foever God's dealings be with his own people, whom he is about to chaftife, and howbeit they be ready to have hard thoughts of God's dealings, as if he were too rigorous and unjuft; yet all his judgments are executed in righteousness; when he makes a fhort work, it is in righteoufnefs: he will cut it Short in righteousness. See Pfal. ix. 8. Neh. ix. 33. Lam. i. 18.

VI. When God is about to execute his anger against a people for their iniquities, he can fend a rod which thall make their • ftrength foon decay and come to a hair, and their multitudes melt like fnow before the fun, like a confumption weakening them daily; and when he is fending a rod, which, like an inundation, is overflowing a whole land, fparing no ranks or conditions of people; even then it is ruled by a fure decree, which it cannot overpaís, and conveyed in righteousness, so as none have any juft caufe to complain at the Lord's doing: for thus we read it in the original, The confumption decreed fhall overflow with righteoufnefs; the Lord will make a confumption determined in all the land; his ftroke may be a confumption, and a confumption overflowing, and yet over flowing in righteoufnefs, being a confump

tion decreed.

VII. The Lord Jehovah is fupreme Governor of heaven and earth, Matter of all the militia and forces there, and can make ufe of all his creatures in heaven and earth, and of the moft fecklefs of them as an army, wherewith to prevail over proud enemies; he, as the Lord of hosts, or of fabaoth, ordering and difpofing of all ar mies as he thinks fit, being the great Ge neraliffimo, making even fuch forces as are employed against his people and work, pro mote his defign. See Gen. xxxii. 1. Jof. x. 11. Pfal. Ixviii. 17.

VIII. Whenever God is delivering us

from the fire, as Amos iv. 11. Zech. iii. 2. we should take him up as manifetting his almighty power, that his mercy may bulk more in our eyes, and we may be made more thankful: therefore fays he, Except the Lord of hofts had left us a feed.

IX. God may be to provoked to anger by the carriage of his people, as to cut off the body and bulk of a nation, and leave but very few confiderable perfons behind, by fword, famine, and peftilence, and other ordinary rods.: there was here but a fmall remnant left,. as the feed in comparifon of the crop; Except the Lord had left us a feed.

X. It is a great mercy, that when God draweth forth the fword of his anger to execute his vengeance upon finners, that ever be fhould fheath the fame, until he hath made an utter end of them, that there fhould not be fo much as a remnant left; and how fore foever God ftrike his own, it is a mercy that he puts any difference betwixt them and his enemies, whom he maketh examples of his fury for ever: Except the Lord had left us a feed, we had been like unto Sodoma and Gomorrba.

XI. When God's face is begun to fhine upon his people, after he has chaftifed them for their iniquities, then any little mercy they meet with, how fmall foever it be, will prove an inlet into, and arles of more, and be as a door of hope unto them: for that which Ifaiah calleth a very small remnant, the apostle calleth it a feed; taying, unless he had left us a feed; and feed is the beginning of more: See Hof.ii. 14. 15.

VERSES 30. 31. 32. What shall we fay

then? That the Gentiles which followed not after rightecufnefs, have attained to righteoufness, even the righteousness which is of faith:

But Ifrael, which followed after the law of righteoufnefs, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

Where

Wherefore? Because they fought it, not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law: for they ftumbled at that stumblingStone.

N this laft of the the a

I pois e do afturf er chapter and it

luftrate the purpofe he was upon, viz. the calling in of the Gentiles, and rejecting of the Jews, by giving the grounds and reafons of both; which he layeth forth in anfwering an objection which he propofeth to be cleared. The objection is not only propofed, but further ftrengthened, by adding what feemed to fortify the fame, What shall we fay then? Or, the objection is this, How can it be that the Gentiles, a cursed nation, a people which followed not after righteoufnefs, had no regard thereof, but detained the truth in unrigh teoufnefs, and lived in all lafcivioufnefs, fhould be taken within the covenant and church, and fhould be made partakers of a righteousnets which fhould do their turn, and carry them to heaven; and the Jews who were moft zealous of the law, they followed after the law of righteousness, and were at great pains to conform themselves unto the law, which prefcribed righteoufnefs, and promised life unto the perfect keepers thereof, and fo laboured for that righteoufnefs required; and yet have come hort of the mark, and never could attain unto juftification, nor to that righteoufnefs by which people are juftified; they have not attained unto the law of righteousness, they have loft their reward, and are now unchurched? To this feeming paradox, the apostle aufwereth, by giving the true reafon both of the one and of the other: And, 1. he gives a reafon, why the Gentiles came fpeed, and got that which the Jews could not get, verfe 30. in thefe words, Even the righteousness which is of faith; that is, there was a righteoufnefs of fered them who had none of their own, and this they gripped by faith; Christ and his righteoufnefs was offered unto them, and

him they accepted with all their heart, And, 2. The reafon, why the Jews were rejected for all their pains, is, (1.) because they fought it not by faith; but, (2.) as it were by the works of the law; that is, they all refted upon

righteourners, and thought by the works

of the law to win to a perfect righteousnefs, which fhould fatisfy juftice, and do their turn, and fo would never come out of themselves to lay hold upon the offers of a Mediator; and the ground of all is added, because they stumbled at that stumbling.ftone; that is, they ftumbled at Chrift, and the way of juftification thro' him; he proved, thro' their own folly, a stumblingitone to them, on which they fell, and brake their own necks.

OBSERVATIONS.

I. All by nature are void of that righteoufnefs with which we must appear before God, and by which we must be juftified and faved, being altogether guilty, and liable to the wrath and vengeance of God: the Gentiles, by nature, do not fo much as follow after righteousness; and the Jews, or Ifrael, do not attain unto the law of righteousness.

II. This righteoufnefs by which alone all are accepted, be they Jew or Gentile, is a righteousness of another, a righteouf nefs imputed, a righteousness received by faith, clofing a bargain with Chrift, who is our righteoufnels; it is a righteousness which is of faith.

III. Though none by nature can do any thing to fatisfy juftice, or purchase a righteousness to themselves; yet vain man will be trying his own way: Though now the covenant of works be broken, and life can never be had by it again; yet fuch is the pride of the heart, that he would still be at the old way, and out of God's common, to speak fo: for Ifrael is here feeking the law of righteousness by the works of the law.

IV. There are none more ready to reject

3

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V. Men and women may be at great pains, and toil much for heaven, yea, and may out-ftrip others far in aiming at hea ven, and in external duties, and yet come short of the prize; much may many do, and continue long in doing, and yet fhoot fhort of the crown: Ifrael did not attain to the law of righteousness, though they followed after the law of righteousness; much pains were they at in keeping the moral, judicial, and ceremonial law, and yet all in vain.

VI. Such is the way to life and communion with God, revealed in the new covenant, viz. by faith in Chrift offered in the gofpel; that whoever fhall betake themselves thereto, and fly in to Chrift, trusting to him allenarly, fhall certainly be faved, whatever vile and abominable wretches they have been before: for even the Gentiles, and fuch Gentiles too, as followed not after righteousness, have attained to that righteousness which is by faith.

VII. So ready are people, who have attained to any outward civility and fhew of religion, to rest upon the fame; that whoremongers, adulterers, and fuch lewd

as measure the ways of the infinitely wife God by their own apprehenfous, to hear that prophane ruffians may out-strip such as feem to themselves to be near heaven; but if we confidered how the way to heaven and righteoufnefs is by faith alone, the paradox would evanish: What shall we fay then? that the Gentiles, &c.

IX. The feeking of righteoufness by the works of the law, and by faith in Chrift, are fo diametrically oppofite and irreconcileable, that they cannot be united; but whofoever feeketh righteousness by the one, miffeth it; and whosoever fecketh the fame by the other, obtaineth it: Wherefore? because they fought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.

X. Whoever feek righteoufnefs by the works of the law, do reject Jefus Christ, and wage war against him, and stumble at him: For, they ftumbled at that stumblingftone.

XI. The caufe why the Lord unchurched the people of the Jews, was, becaufe they rejected the Meffiah, and would not have him to reign over them, but stumbled at that stumbling-ftone: for this is the reafon why the Jews were excommunicated, because they stumbled at that stumbling.jtone.

VERSE 33. As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a ftumbling-stone, and a rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on him, fhall not be afbamed.

Ecause what he faid laft, touching

to come out of themselves, and to accept of the offer of Chrift, than they; and will enter into the kingdom of heaven, before fuch as are not far therefrom; fo the Gentiles come better fpeed than the Jews: The Gentiles which followed not after righteoufnefs, have attained to it; when Ifrael, which followed after the law of righteouf nefs, have not attained to the law of righteoufnefs.

VIII. It feemeth a great paradox unto fuch

viz. that he should be a stone of ftumbling, who is the only means of falvation, and one on whom many fhould ftumble and fall, and never rife again, therefore he confirms the fame out of feveral paffages of Ifaiah, faying, As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling-flone, and a rock of offence; where he joins two places together, viz. Ifa. viii. 14. and xxviii. 16, In the firft it is only thus, And he fhall

be

be for a stone of ftumbling, and a rock of offence; and in the next it is faid, Behold, I lay in Zion; and fo cleareth, that in both places Chrift the Meffias is spoken of; and he is faid to be laid in Zion, that is, in the church, whereof Zion was a type; a Stone of ftumbling, that is, a ftone lying in folks way, which ftrikes the feet and makes them halt, and hurts them, Jer. vi. 21. and not only fo, but a rock of offence, that is, fuch a ftumbling-block as he that ftumbleth at it fhall not win over, but thall, as a veffel by a rock, be dashed to pieces, and driven backward.

Then, left this should have fadened the hearts of the godly, he adds a word out of the forecited Ifa. xxviii. 16. And whofoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed; therein following the Seventy, for in the Hebrew it is thus, He that believeth fall not make hafte: but all cometh to one; for he who is afhamed and confounded, or put through-other, makes haste, and doth not his business with deliberation, but precipitately: This is added, I fay, to comfort the hearts of the godly, who might poffibly fall a trembling when they hear that he is a ftone of ftumbling, and be afraid to come near him; and therefore he fays, Tho' he be a stone of stumbling to fome, yet fuch as will come unto him, and roll themselves over on him, fhall never be confounded; they fhall not be the worse of that, but much the better.

OBSERVATIONS.

I. Whatever expreffions we have of Christ, at which ill-willers are ready to take up hard thoughts, fhould be well guarded and backed with fcripture, that fo if enemies will have hard thoughts of Chrift upon any fuch ground, they may fee that they juftie against the word; therefore fays he, As it is written, this is the expreffion of the Spirit of the Lord, Behold I lay in Zion, &c.

II. Tho' Jefus Chrift be precious in himself, being the chief among ten thousand,

Song v. 10. and worthy of all-acceptation; yet many thro' the corruption of their own hearts, take up a prejudice at him, his ways, ordinances, and followers, and reject falvation in and through him; thus he

a ftumbling-ftone to many, and they ftumble at him: Behold, I lay in Zion a ftumbling-stone.

III. Even in the church of God, where most of Chrift is revealed and manifested, his excellency and beauty most held forth, there are many that ftumble at him, and take up a prejudice to their own deftruction: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of ftumbling.

IV. Among many things which occafion the ftumbling of many at Chrift, this is one, that if they lay hold on him, and follow his way, they must renounce their own righteousness, and come quite out of themfelves, and expect falvation through the righteoufnefs of another, which their fpirits cannot condefcend unto; they fought righteoufnefs by the works of the law, and therefore they stumbled at that stumblingStone, verfe 32. and it is fuch as believe not who stumble: Behold, I lay in Zion a ftone of ftumbling, and they that believe, shall not be confounded.

V. God hath a holy and finless hand in the ftumbling of the wicked at Jefus Chrift; it is not an accident that falleth out beyond his expectation, but according to his determination and appointment: Behold, I lay in Zion, faith the Lord, a tone of Itumbling, and a rock of offence, &c. See

I Pet. ii. 8.

VI. Notwithstanding of this fecret and holy counfel of God, determining of the exiftence of finful events, and laying a ftumbling-ftone in Zion; yet is God, who infufeth no evil in man, James i. 13. free of their guilt who ftumble; and Christ is not the cause thereof, being in fome kind paffive, and they themfelves are guilty before God, because they willingly reject the counfel of the Lord, and dafh themfelves upon the rock; for tho' the Lord hath laid

a