and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

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For, if the casting away of them (be) the reconciling of the world, what (shall) the receiving (of them be) but life from the dead? For, if the first-fruit (be) holy, the lump (is) also (holy) and, if the root (be) holy, so (are) the branches. And, if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and, with them, partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree: Boast not against the branches. But, if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say, then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well: because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded but fear. For, if GoD spared not the natural branches, (take heed) lest He also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity" (cutting off, dнoтoμay) "of GOD; on them which fell severity" (being severed, separation, cutting off, àτотoμix), "but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in (His) goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in, for God is able to graff them in

again. For, if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed, contrary to nature, into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural (branches), be graffed into their own olive tree? For, I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness, in part, is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, (they are) enemies for your sakes: but, as touching the election, (they are) beloved for the fathers' sakes. For, the gifts and calling of God (are) without repentance. For, as ye, in times past, have not believed God; yet, have now, obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so, have these, also, now, not believed, that, through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy. For, GOD hath concluded them, all, in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of GOD! How unsearchable (are)

His judgments, and His ways past finding

out! m

What words can, more plainly and strongly, express, than these do, the purport of the Apostle's argument; namely, that the "election" of a portion of the Jews, only as converts to the gospel, was a part of God's eternal purpose; as was, also, the "blindness" of the greater portion of that people; that, through the "belief" of some, and the "unbelief" of others, GoD advances the designs of His mysterious scheme?

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even

u Rom. xi. 11,12,15 -33.

30.

The belief," of those that believed, was imputed to them for righteousness, the righteousness which is of faith," while Rom. ix. the "unbelief" of others was made subservient to the scheme of Christianity; and, with regard to these latter, GoD "concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all."w

How consistent is this view of the Apostle's argument with that which we have taken of the Christian scheme, embracing, as it does, man's entire deficiency on the score of merit, and his full and free justification through Christ, as the free gift of God. Yet, notwithstanding the caution of St. Paul, who, throughout his argument, tells those, whom he ad

W

- xi. 32.

* Rom. xi. dresses, not to boast, not to be high-minded,

18.

11

20. not to be wise in their own conceits, as

25.

though their " election," as converts to the gospel, was an evidence of their exclusive participation of the benefits of the Christian scheme; and, as though "unbelief" and rejection of the gospel, on the part of the Jews, was a proof that God had "cast away His people;" notwithstanding this caution, the See 2 Pet. statements of this apostle have been wrested a from their proper import, to support a doctrine, which maintains, that, as all men derive from the sin of Adam what has been termed

iii. 16.

See Con

fession of

Faith as

ratified by the Scots Parliament in 1560.

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original sin,” and are, by nature, enemies of GOD, slaves to Satan, and servants unto sin; so are all doomed to everlasting death, excepting such persons, as GOD, has, of mere grace, elected, from everlasting, in Christ Jesus; which persons, so elected, are regenerated by the power of the Holy Ghost working in their hearts an assured faith in the revealed promise of GOD. And this doctrine, so opposed to the view which we have taken of the scope, and purport, of the Apostle's argument; and so at variance with the view which our whole investigation has furnished of the scheme of Christianity, is founded upon the doctrine of "original sin;"

and is supported, principally, if not entirely, by distorted arguments derived from those statements of St. Paul which we have been considering. It, first, assumes, that man is born into the world a creature meriting eternal perdition; and it, then, assumes, that he is left to his merited fate, except in those few partial instances, in which God has interposed, according to His eternal design, to rescue him from destruction, and to bestow upon him eternal salvation. Was this, then, that scheme of wondrous love which the Deity, from everlasting, planned and instituted; a scheme, which brought into existence (an existence which the beings created could not avoid) countless myriads of beings, for the sole purpose of dooming them to eternal perdition? Was this a scheme, whose tendency was, to give "glory to GoD in the highest," and to evince "good-will toward men?" Can that view of God's eternal scheme, which represents Him as creating, of His irresistible will, a vast and overwhelming majority of the human race for the express purpose of punishing them everlastingly, consist with the attributes of that Being, whose glorious character is, comprehensively, summed up in that beautiful expression, "GOD is love!" What,

C

c 1 John iv.

8.