And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.-Rom. xi. 6. THE apostle again springs upon the disputatiousness of the Jews, in what has just been quoted; and on this point he opposes it, and from it bereaves them of excuse. For you can not, he means, so much as say, that the prophets called indeed, and God invited, and the state of things cried aloud, and the provoking to jealousy was enough to draw us to him, but what was enjoined was grievous, and this is why we could not become proselytes, since we had a display of works demanded of us, and laborious well-doings. For you can not even say this. For how should God have demanded this of you, when this would just throw his grace into the shade? And this he said out of a wish to show that he was most desirous that they might be saved. For not only would their salvation be easily brought about, but it was also God's greatest glory to display his love toward man. Why then are you afraid of coming over, since you have no works demanded of you? Why are you bickering and quarrelsome, when grace is before you, and why keep putting me the Law forward to no purpose whatever? For you will not be saved by that, and will mar this gift also; since if you pertinaciously insist on being saved by it, you do away with this grace of God. Then that they might not think this strange, having first taken those seven thousand; he said that they were saved by grace. For when he says, Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace; he shows that they also were saved by grace: nor does this only show it, but likewise the saying, I have reserved unto myself. For this is the language of one who shows that he himself was the chief contributor. And if by grace, it will be said, how came we all not to be saved? Because ye would not. For grace, though it be grace, saves the willing, not those who will not have it, who persist in fighting against it, and turning aside from it, and opposing themselves to it. Observe how throughout, the point he is proving is, that it is impossible the Word of God should have failed, by showing that the worthy were those to whom the promise came, and that these, few though they be, may yet be the people of God; and indeed he had stated it in the beginning of the epistle with much force, where he says, For what if some did not believe, and did not even stop at this, but proceeded, Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar. And here again, he confirms it another way, and shows the force of grace, and always the one were being saved, the other perished. Let us then give thanks, that we belong to them that were saved, and not having been able to save ourselves by works, were saved by the gift of God. But in giving thanks, let us not do this in words only, but in works, and actions. For this is the genuine thanksgiving, when we do those things whereby God is sure to be glorified, and flee from those from which we have been set free. For if we, after insulting the King, instead of being punished have been honored, and then go and insult him afresh, since we are detected in the utmost ingratitude, we should with justice, have to suffer the utmost punishment, one greater far than the former. For the former insolence did not show us so ungrateful as that committed after honor and much attention shown us. Let us then flee those things from which we have been set free, and not give thanks with our mouths only, lest it be said of us also, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. For how is it else than unseemly, when the heavens declare the glory of God, and thou, for whom the heavens were made that glorify him, dost such things that through thee the God that made thee is blasphemed? It is for this that not only he that blasphemeth, but thyself also, wilt be liable to punishment. For the heavens also do not glorify God by sending forth a voice, but by putting others upon doing it at the sight of them, and yet they are said to declare the glory of God. Thus too they furnish a life to be wondered at, even though they hold their peace, yet glorify God, when others through them glorify him. For he is not so much reverenced because of heaven, as of a spotless life. When then we are discoursing with the Gentiles, let us not call the heavens before them, but the men, whom though they were in worse plight than brutes, he hath persuaded to be the angels' competitors. And let us stop their mouths by speaking of this change. For far better than the heaven is man, and a soul brighter than their beauty may he possess. "God of almighty love, "Through Jesus Christ the Just, My faint desires revive, And let me in thy goodness trust, AUGUST 23. LEIGHTON. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.— Heb. iii. 17. HERE is a very sad supposition. This is a thing that may come, and, possibly, which the prophet did foresee would come, among other judgments; and it is of all other outward scourges the sorest, most smarting, and most sweeping; cuts off most people, and can least be suffered and shifted. It lieth among the rest in the storehouse of Divine judgments. He who furnished the earth, and gave being by the word of his mouth to all these things, hath still the sole, absolute power of them: they obey his word of command, and, rightly looked upon, in our use of them, and the sweetness we find in them, lead us to him as the spring of being and goodness. He is invisible in his nature; in his works most visible and legible. Not only the spacious heavens and the glorious lights in them, but the meanest things on earth, every plant and flower in their being and growing, yea, every pile of grass, declare God to us. And it is a supernatural light in natural things to see and taste him in them. It is more pleasant than their natural relish; it is the chief of inner sweetness, the kernel and marrow of all; and they that take not the pains, and have not the skill to draw it forth, lose the far better half of their enjoyments, even of the things of this earth. To think, how wise he is, who devised such a frame, how powerful he who made all these things, how rich he must be who still continues to furnish the earth with these varieties of provisions, how sweet must he be, whence all these things draw their sweetness! But, alas! we are brutish, and in our use of these things, we differ little or nothing from the beast. We are called to a higher life, but we live it not. Man is in honor, but he understandeth it not; he is as the beast that perishes. Now because we acknowledge God so little in the use of these things, therefore he is put to it, so to speak, to teach us our lesson in the want and deprivement of them, which our dullness is more sensible of. We know things a great deal better by wanting them, than by having them, and take more notice of that hand which hath power of them, when he withdraws, than when he bestows them. Besides all other provocations, and particular abuses of these things by intemperance and luxury, were it no more than the very neglecting of God in his goodness, this calls for a famine, to diet us into wiser thoughts, and to remind us of our own and all other creatures' dependence on that God whom we so forget, as to serve our idols and lusts upon his bounty. This was the case of Judah and Israel. But when more sparingly fed, and better taught, in the wilderness, those mercies were restored again, and then all acknowledged the dowry of that blessed marriage with himself, which is so far beyond all account. Hosea ii. 8-16. See How wretched ingratitude is it, not to regard and love him in the use of all his mercies! But it is horrid stupidity, not to consider and seek to him in their withdrawment, or in the threatening of it. Few have a right sense of his hand in any thing. They grumble and cry out, but not to him. As in the case of oppression it is said, By reason of the multitude of oppressions, they make the oppressed to cry; they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty, but none saith, Where is God my maker ?—so, of this very judgment of famine, the prophet Hosea speaks, And they have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their beds: they assembled themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. They did not humbly and repentingly seek to God by prayer, but a natural brutish sense of their wants pressed out complaints; they howled as a hungry dog would do for bread. This is all the most do, in years of dearth, or harvests threatening it. No beast in the mountain or wilderness is so untamed as the heart of man, which, when catched in God's judgments, lies and cries as a wild bull in a net. It is true, they are somewhat nearer sober thoughts in distress; and their grief though merely natural, yet is nearer spiritual grief, than their mirth and laughter; but it must have a touch of that Spirit above, to make it spiritual, to No scourge make it change to gold, to turn it to godly sorrow. carries a power of changing the heart with it; that is a superadded work. Many people, and particular persons, have been beat as in a mortar with variety of afflictions, one coming thick upon another, and yet, are never the wiser, and yet, have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore, if you be afflicted, join prayer with your correction, and beg by it, that God would join his Spirit with it. Seek this in earnest, else you shall be not a whit the better, but shall still endure the smart, and not reap the fruit thereof. Yea, I believe some are the worse, even by falsely imagining they are better, partly presuming it must be so, and partly, may be, feeling some present emotions and meltings in the time of afflictions, which vanish and presently cool when they are off the fire. Ay, but these two go together to make a happy man; Blessed is he whom thou correctest, and teachest out of thy law. And he said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.-Luke xxii. 46. Ir is a wise counsel of St. Bernard, for securing us against the approaches of sin, "Let every man, in the first address to his actions, consider, whether, if he were now to die, he might safely and prudently do such an act, and whether he would not be infinitely troubled, that death should surprise him in the present dispositions; and then let him proceed accordingly." For, since our treasure is in earthen vessels," which may be broken in pieces by the collision of ten thousand accidents, it were not safe to treasure up wrath in them; for if we do, we shall certainly drink it in the day of vengeance. 66 Before, and in, and after all this, the blessed Jesus propounds prayer as a remedy against temptations: "Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptations." For, besides that prayer is the great instrument of obtaining victory by the grace of God, as a fruit of our desires, and of God's natural and essential goodness; the |