that they should not fee, and ears that they fhould not hear. carelefly in the matter, but hath ordained that it fhall come to pafs thro' his permiffron, and hath purpofed to order it to his own holy ends. This flumber whereby they fee not, nor hear, is a grievous fin, and yet we hear, that God hath given them the Spirit of flumber. V. When the Lord is greatly provok ed by the carriage of a wicked people abufing his ordinances and fhuting their eyes, . as Matth. xiii. 15. Acts xxviii. 27. he will fill them with their own ways and fend upor on them fpiritual plagues in great abundance; for in the Hebrew it is, God hath poured upon them the fpirit of a deep fleep. XV. Where this blindnefs and hardnefs is upon a foul, the cleareft light of the gofpel will not ferve to convince fuch; but they will remain even blind and fenfelefs when the truth is glancing moft excellently; they were blinded even to this day, wherein Chrift was clearly preached, and his ex XI. As God may, and often doth punish fuch with fin, as we fee, Ifa. xliv. 18. Rom. i. 26. 27. 2 Theff. ii. 11. 13. fo, in particular, he useth so to punish such as refuse to receive information from the word and other means of conviction and light, with ftupidity, fenfeleffnefs and blindness; and this he doth, partly by giving fuch over unto Satan, that he who worketh in the children of difobedience, Eph. ii. 2. may frame up the works of darkness in them,cellency held forth. and fo block up door and window, 2 Cor. iv. 4. and lead them wrong, 2 Theff. ii. 10. 11. God gave them the fpirit of flamber, or gave way to that evil fpirit which works this effect of deadnefs and flumbering, as his executioner to punish them. XII. God likewife hardeneth and blindeth the wicked (whom he judicially hath punished) by thefe means, which thro' his bleffing tendeth to the converfion of others; fuch as, the offers of Chrift in the gospel, and the like, which thofe wicked wretches abuse to their own perdition: and therefore in that Ifa. vi. 9. 10. the Lord fends the prophet to preach, and thereby to make their heart fat, and their ears dull that they may not hear, &c. fee Mat. xiii. 14. John xi. 40. Acts xix. 9. XVI. This plague of hardness of heart is a judgment, not of one generation and age, nor a judgment that time will wear out; but rather a plague, that the longer. it lafts, the worfe it grows, and so proves often (as it were) hereditary, paffing from father to fon, or from one age to another; for it was among the Jews from Ifaiah's days, even to the time of writing this e-piftle; Even to this day. From Verses 9. 10. OBSERVE, I. Tho' it were granted that David ins his imprecations of evil to his enemies was not altogether free of human paffion and frailty at other times; yet in thofe imprecations here made ufe of, he was acted by: the Spirit, as a prophet foretelling what XIII. Tho' God approve not of this fhould come upon the incorrigible enemies. blindness, nor doth he infufe it into fin- of Jefus Chrift: for the apostle makes use ners, by making fuch who had ears to of this paffage as a prophecy confirming hear, to hear none, and fuch as were able the purpose he is upon, and thereby teach- to fee, to fee none; yet he with-holdetheth us how to understand fuch imprecations the grace of light and fenfe, (not being as thefe which David ufed against his eneobliged to any) and gives them fo up tomies, even as fo many predictions of evil Satan and their own corrupt minds, as that things to come upon his enemies, as the certainly their further blindness and deaf-type; and upon the enemies of Jesus nefs doth follow as a penal ftroke and pu nish nent upon them; God gave them the pirit of flumber; and then followeth, Eyes Chrift (of whom David was a type) as the antitype; and fo fuch can no ways warrant our private imprecations flowing from a fpirit of bitterness and ill will, given to revenge, upon whatfoever pretext; And David faith, Let their table be a fnare. II. When God is wroth with a people or a perfon, for often abufing his goodnefs and turning his grace into lafcivioufnefs, he fends fuch a plague and judgment upon them, as makes the very means of life turn means of death and destruction unto them; so that they fhall meet with a black and doleful difappointment, in geting poifon inftead of food, and death inftead of life; Let their table become a fnare. These means and ordinances which if rightly improven would have been a table well covered with all neceffaries, to have refreshed and satisfied their foul, fhall become as a fnare to take birds; they fhall prove means of their utter ruin and overthrow. III. The wicked and malicious enemies of God, on whom the means of grace doth not work, fhall certainly and inevitably be thereby overthrown, Let their table become a fnare and a trap, &c. many metaphors ufed to fet forth the certainty of this black ftroke upon incorrigible enemies. IV. It is a black and doleful mark of a dreadful plague and judgment of God upon the foul, when it stumbles at the very ordinances, in the high way, which is plain, and wherein folks may walk and not wan der, or err, Ifa. xxxv. 8. as it is a mark of a man befoted with drink, who cannot hold his feet on the high streets but ftumbleth and falleth; Let their table become a ftumbling unto them, an occafion whereupon they fhould fall and break their necks. V. As the righteous Judge may, and often doth punish one fin with another; fo he will even punish his enemies, when they dream of no fuch thing; he may be purfuing them with his anger and indignation, when they imagine he is fmiling upon them; when they think they have their alking, he may be leting out upon them his heavy wrath and indignation, and he may be paying them home for their wickedness, when they think he is reward ing them for their good, Let their table be a recompence unto them, even their table may become a recompence unto them. God may be purfuing them with his wrath, when they think he is fawning on them, and covering their table to them with all delicates. VI. It is a dreadful judgment and plague of God, to have the understanding so blocked up, that it cannot take up the things of God, tho' they be clearly unfolded: Let their eyes be darkened, that they cannot fee. See Deut. xxviii. 28. 29. VII. Howbeit poor, dead and fenfelefs creatures, may walk lightly under the fpiritual plagues of God upon their fpirits, as if there were no burden upon them yet these spiritual plagues are the heaviest load that ever came upon a foul; a backbreaking burden, a foul-cppreffing load, rendering the poor foul unfit for any duty, either towards God or man; it bows down their bik fo as they cannot look up, and makes their loins to fhake: Bow down their back always. VIII. Where-ever this fpiritual plague of hardness of heart and blindness cometh, it is hard to get it shaken off, let men think it never fo eafy to be done; and therefore fays he, Bow down their back always. VERSE 11. I fay then, Have they fumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall falvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. TN this fecond part of the chapter he IN anfwereth another objection, the clearing whereof would ferve not a little to illuftrate this bufinefs better. The objection which he hath hitherto been clearing, was touching their univerfal apoftacy, and fo concerned mainly particular persons, to wit, Whether the Jews were fo rejected, as every particular perfon was out of all hope of mercy? This objection looketh more unto the body of that people as a visible vifible profeffing church; and it may thus be taken up, Hath the Lord finally caft off the people and 'church of the Jews, and put them out of doors, fo as they shall never enter again, and be accounted the spouse of Chrift? Unto this he answereth at length, and fheweth by many arguments unto ver. 33. that God had a mind to enchurch them again, and that their cafe was not defperate and irrecoverable; and hereby he would now in the clofe of this dif pute, chear up the fpirits of his countrymen, and not leave them in fadnefs, but under hope, for their encouragement; and Withal in profecuting of this purpose, he dealeth with the Gentiles, to be humble, and not to misken themfelves, as if they were paft all danger, and infult over the poor Jews. This is the fum and drift of the pitle unto ver. 33. the taking in of the Gentiles into their place; and fo the Lord's end and defign in making the Jews table become a Inare unto them, and a stumbling-block, was, that thereby the Gentiles might be taken in into their room, and thereby move the Jews to jealoufy, (according to that paffage which he cited before out of Deut. xxxii. 2.1.) by making them defirous of re.. covering their state, when they fee such as they do not love to be inferior unto, taken into their place. OBSERVATIONS. not final, nor their cafe irrecoverable; a neceffary point to be known; I fay then, Have they tumbled that they should fall? I. As minifters ought to be fuch as are able to ftop the mouth of gainfayers, Tit. i. 9. and should labour to clear truths fully, by obviating what might be objected.; fo they fhould not propofe needlefs and unedifying queftions and objections, the Having proven out of scripture that God anfwering whereof will not profit, but had blinded and hardened the Jews, for tend to engender ftrife and contention, all the most part, and in his juft judgment, which the fervants of the Lord fhould fhun, had made the means of life become aftum- Tit. iii. 9. but only fuch as are neceffary bling-block unto them; he now takes oc- to be cleared for edification, and the furcafion to start the next main objection; I ther explication of the point in hand, as fay then, the fame pre-occupation which he these are here which the apoftle meddleth ufed ver 1. Have they fumbled that they with; for by answering this objection, he fhould fall? that is, Hath God in his righ-cleareth, that the rejection of the Jews was teous judgment, fo appointed and ordered that they fhould ftumble, to the end they might fall and never rife again, nor recover themselves? Was it God's defign to overthrow and destroy them utterly, when he made their table a stumbling block unto them? He answereth, God forbid: his ufual way of rejecting abfurdities. The cafe of the Jews is not defperate and irrecoverable, none must think fo; and why fo? he giveth one reafon in this ver. 11. in these words; but rather thro' their fall falvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them unto jealousy. That is, There will a time come, wherein they fhall be reftored; for they shall be provoked to jealoufy, and fo fhall return unto their old husband, from whom they have played the whore; and how will that be? Even by the means of justice and judgment against an ungodly naII. Ministers should so speak of God's tion, or graceless unbelievers, as no door of hope or comfort, which God-alloweth to be keeped open, to his own among them, or to the whole body of the land be clofed; they fhould rightly divide the word, giving every one their own due, 2 Tim. ii. 15. and fo fpeak of his judg-' cies, which he hath a purpofe to fhew in ments as they may not fhut out the merdue time. Therefore the apoftle, in end, for the comfort of the godly among them, and keeping them all up in hope, fheweth that their rejection is, not final, but their cafe is remediable; I say then, Have they 3 K fumbled fumbled that they should fall? God for-, and abominable courfes, in rejecting Christ, bid. III. People are oft ready to pafs the wort construction upon the Lord's difpenfations to a land, and conclude their cafe irremediable, when God is inflicting fad and fore judgments, and to account their cafe defperate, when God's hand is stretched out against them; Have they stumbled that they should fall? The objectors thought, becaufe God, in his wrath and juft difpleafure, was pursuing them with spiritual plagues, that therefore the cafe of that land was defperate and gone for ever. IV. God may be ftretching out his hand against a land, with very fharp and fore rods, and purfuing many among them with fpiritual plagues; and this difpenfation of his, may continue long, and yer, ere all be done, he may fhew good to them, and follow them with loving kindness: for the nation of the Jews tho' now they stumbled being blinded of God in his wrath, yet were not irrecoverably caft down, or fi nally loft, but (as we fhall hear further af terwards) will meet with mercy in the latter end; Have they fumbled that they Should fall? God forbid. V. Albeit a people being judicially deferted of God, and plagued, may run on in a courfe of fin and apoftacy with full head, and rage and reel fo, as if there was not a God in heaven; yet as the Lord for his own holy ends hath inflicted fuch a judicial and foul-destroying ftroke, and fo permiteth them, in the depth of his wif dom, to reel and flagger; fo, in his wife and all-ruling providence, he is fo ordering their rebellious practices and furious acts, as they prove a mean for the compaffing of his own holy ends; thro' their fall falvation is come to the Gentiles, &c. the Jews were raging at Chrift, and like as many mad-men, were rejecting the Meffias; and yet God made this turn to his own ends, and to the glory of his name, in the falvation of the Gentiles. VI. Tho' men by their wicked pranks, be oppofing the kingdom of our Lord Je fus Chrift; yet our wife God can fo difpofe and order thefe oppofitions of ene mies, as to make them tend for the very promoting and advancing of these ends which they are ftudying to crofs; and all the oppofition which Chrift meeteth with, will make him 'become greater in end: Thro' their fall falvation is come to the Gentiles, and thereby Chrift's kingdom is no lofer, but spreadeth further. VII. Tho' à land, or particular perfons, are ready to conclude, that God has caft them off for ever, when he is futting and correcting them for their iniquities; yet God may be defigning their good, and in. the way of bringing the fame about, and using the fame fharp rod as a mean thereto: Thro' their fumbling salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealoufy; even in their ftumbling there was a project of provoking them to jealoufy, and fo of recovering them. VIII. When the Lord has a mind to do good unto a land, or a perfon, he can bring it about by very unlikely means; yea, even by fuch means as, to the carnal apprehenfion of men, rendereth the matter more unfeasible and improbable; for the coming of falvation to the Gentiles (whereby the Jews thought themselves out of all poflibility of recovering) is a mean to provoke them. to jealousy. IX. That which makes a people look upon things as defperate, and to conclude themfelves gone, and their cafe irrecoverable, when God's difpenfations are rougher than ordinary, is, that they fee not what good God is extracting out of that fad condition for them; and how God can make it tend to their advantage. A thorough fight of God's intentions in the fadeft of difpenfations, would keep us from defperate conclufions; for thus he answereth dhe objection, Rather thro' their stumbling, falvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealoufy; and therefore they have дор not stumbled that they fhould fall, as was objected. X. Wherever God fets up the gospel in life and power, there falvation is come; the gofpel being the only mean thereto : Salvation is come to the Gentiles. Tho' many think little thing of the gospel, and be defirous to be quit of it; yet whenever God takes it away, death comes in the stead of it; for it is the power of God unto fulvation, Rom. i. 16. fhall have braver' days then, than ever they had; for if their fall, or ftumbling, was the occasion by which the Gentiles difperfed up and down the world, enjoyed the riches of the gospel, and of the knowledge of God in Christ, and their diminishing (to the fame purpose, and explicating what is meant by their fall) that is, their rejecting of the Meffias for the most part, fo as there were but few behind, and that nation was worn to a thin company and a fmall number of fuch as embraced the gofpel, be the riches of the Gentiles, the fame with the riches of the world; how much more fhall their abundance be? that is, How much more fhall their inbringing and ful XI. Tho' God might have fent the gofpel both to Jews and Gentiles alike, and may fend it to many nations at once; yet for the further punishment of fuch as have had the first offer thereof, and have abused it, he will take it from them, and give it to ano-nels, or the converfion of the body and ther people; and, as it were, delay the fending of it to fome parts, till thofe who have it provoke God, by their abufe of it, to take it from them; Thro'. their fumbling, falvation is come to the Gentiles. See Acts xiii 46. Mat. xxi. 43, XII. God's taking any kindness or favour from us, and giving it to fuch as we esteem far below us in worth, fhould call aloud on us to repent of our doings, and turn home: Salvation came to the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy. VERSE 12. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles: how much more their fulness? A Second argument whereby he proveth the future converfion of the Jews is here; and in it the apottle obviateth another objection which might arife from what he faid laft, and tend to the difcouragement of the Gentiles, who, when they hard that the Jews (thro' occafion of whofe ftumbling, and being caft off, there was room made for them, and they were taken ia.) fhould again be brought in, will be ready to think that they fhould be caft out : To this the apoftle anfwereth, That, on the contrary, the Gentiles bulk of that nation (for it is oppofed to their diminishing) tend to the enriching of the Gentile world, in the knowledge of Chrift; and fo the Gentiles need not.fear that the converfion of the Jews fhall any. way prejudice them; but they may expect to reap advantage thereby. And hence we gather the fecond argument thus: If the conversion of the body of the Jews fhall tend to the riches of the world, then it shall be: But fo their converfion fhall tend to the enriching of the Gentiles; Therefore: Or, If God diminished the Jews, or made them fall, to the end the Gentiles might be enriched; much more will he restore them, and make them to abound, for that end? But the former is true; Therefore, &c. OBSERVATIONS. I. Such is our ignorance of, and unac quaintedness with the ways of the only wife God, that oftentimes when he is about to do us good, and is taking a course to establish us in our privileges and enjoyments, and to increase them upon our hand, we may think he is doing the quite contrary; our thoughts do not always agree with his: the Gentiles thought that his taking in the Jews fhould be to their prejudice, and tend to the puting them out of their privileges, when God had 3 K 2 fome |