பட A General Introduction 3dly, That the taking the Gentiles to be God's peculiar People, when Ifrael fhould be rejected, had been actually foretold, both by Hofea and Ifaiab. (Ver. 25. to the End.) by 4thly, ThatGod hath graciously offered the Gofpel Salvation to Jews and Gentiles, on the fame equitable and eafy Terms; though Ifrael, a bigotted Attachment to their own Law, had rejected it. (Chap. x. throughout.) 5thly, That nevertheless, the Rejection of Ifrael, though according to their own Prophefies it be general, and attended with aftonishing Blindness and Obftinacy, yet is not total, there still being a Number of happy Believers among them. (Chap. xi. 1,-10.) 6thly, That the Rejection of the reft is not final, but that the Time fhall come, when to the unfpeakable Joy of the whole Christian World, the Jews fhall in a Body be brought into the Church of Chrift. (Ver. 11,-31. And lastly, That in the mean time their Obftinacy and Rejection is over-ruled to fuch happy Purposes, as ferve through the whole various Scene, to difplay, in a glorious Manner, the unfearchable Wisdom of GOD. (Ver. 32. to the End.) The Remainder of the Epistle is taken up in a Variety of practical Inftructions and Exhortations, which hardly admit, and indeed do not need, fo particular an. Analyfis. The grand Defign of them all is, "to engage Chriftians to act in a Manner worthy of that Gofpel, the Excellency of which he had been illuftrating." He more particularly urges,- an entire Confecration to GOD, and a Care to glorify him, in their respective Stations, by a faithful Improvement of their different Talents; (Chap. xii. 1,-11.)-Devotion, Patience, Hofpitality, mutual Sympathy, Humility, Peace, and Meekness; (Ver. 12. to the End,) and in the whole thirteenth Chapter,-Obedience to Magiftrates, Juftice in all its Branches, Love as the fulfilling of the Law, and an univerfal Sanctity of Manners, correfpondent to the Purity of thofe religious Principles which they profeffed. In the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth Chapter, he dilates more largely on mutual Candor, efpecially between thofe Chriftians who did, and those who did not, think themselves obliged in. Confcience to obferve the Ceremonies enjoined by Mofes, and pleads a Variety of moft pertinent and affecting Confiderations in this View; (Chap. xiv. 1. to Chap. xv. 17.) in profecuting fome of which, he is led to mention the Extent of his own Labours, and his Purpofe of vifiting the Romans; in the mean time recommending himself to their Prayers: (Ver. 18. to the End.) And after many Salutations, (Chap. xvi. 1,16.) and a neceffary Caution against thofe that would divide the Church, he concludes with a Benediction and a Doxology, fuited to the general Purport, of what he had been writing. (Ver. 17. to the End.) 2 From to the Epifle to the Romans. From the Sketch here given, the Reader might form fome Conjecture of the rich Entertainment provided for him in this Epiftle, were he yet a Stranger to its more particular Contents: But bleffed be GoD, they are already familiar to almost all who have any Regard for their Bible, and take any Delight in perusing any Part of it. I shall not therefore detain fuch from Paul's invaluable Periods, any longer than whilst I obferve, that whereas the Interpretation of several Phrases, which oc- cur here, has very much divided Commentators, and laid the Founda- tion for many unhappy Contentions, which have been more efficaci- ous to alienate the Affections of Christians, than all the Apostle's Ar- guments, powerful as they are, have been to unite them; I am very follicitous to handle this Epiftle in as pacifick a Manner as poffible. I fhall therefore, as plainly as I can, give that Sense of the difputed Phra- ses which appears to me most natural, and briefly fuggeft, in the Notes, the Reasons which induce me to understand them in the Senfe I have preferred. And I hope, my Readers will be contented with this; for were I to produce what Interpreters of different Opinions have alledged, and canvass the Reasons by which they have endeavoured to fupport their Explications and Criticisms, I must turn my Work into a Trea- tife of Polemical Divinity; and fo quite change that original Plan, which I hope will be found much more entertaining and useful: Nor should I, if the Scheme were thus changed, be able to comprehend in this whole Volume, what I might eafily find to offer on this Epiftle alone. 7 A PARA- A PARAPHRASE AND NOTE S ON THE EPISTLE to the ROMANS. SECT. I The Apoftle begins his Letter with a general Salutation to the Christians at ROME; in which he tranfiently touches on fome very important Doctrines of that Gofpel, which it was his great Defign to illuftrate and enforce. Rom. I MY ROMANS I. r.. Y dear Chriftian Brethren, you receive Sect. T. ty he humbly profeffes himself to be, and glories ter 10 Rom. I. I. 2 (Which he had pro mifed afore by his Prophets in the holy Scriptures;) Paul, infcribing this Epiftle to the Romans, Sect. 1. ter of an Apoftle (a) in the Church. He once indeed boasted, that he was of the Pharifaïck Sect, feparated from the reft of the Jews by ceremonial Obfervances, in which they place fo peculiar a Sanctity; but he now rejoiceth much more, that he is, by fo fpecial an Act of condefcending Grace, feparated to the glorious and faving Gospel of the bleffed GOD, destined and devoted to its facred Interefts; Even to that Gospel, which, before it was thus exprefsly committed to the Christian Apostles, was in a more obfcure Manner promifed, and in fome Measure declared and exhibited, by his Prophets, in the Records of the Holy Scriptures, on which fuch bright Luftre is now thrown by comparing the Predictions with the Events. I would take every Opportunity of promoting in your Minds, and my own, the higheft Regard to this bleffed evangelical Difpenfation with which God has favour'd us; relating chiefly to his only begotten and beloved Son Jefus Chrift our great anointed Saviour, our ever honoured Mafter and Lord, who was born a few Years ago of the Seed and Family of David, according to the Flesh, that is, with Refpect to his human Defcent, and fo far as Flefh was concerned in the Constitution of his Nature: [But] who is alfo to 4 And declared to be the be regarded by us in a much higher View, as hav- Son of GoD with Power, according to the Spirit of ing been determinately, and in the most convincing Manner, mark'd out as the Son of GOD (b), with the most aftonishing Difplay of divine Power, according to the Operation of the Spirit of Holi 3 4 nefs, 3 Concerning his Son Jefus Christ our Lord, which vid, according to the Flesh, was made of the Seed of Da Holi (a) Called to be an Apoftle.] As the judaizing Teachers difputed Paul's Claim to the Apoflolical Office, it is with great Propriety that he afferts it in the very Entrance of an Epiftle, in which their Principles were to be intirely overthrown. And the attentive Reader will obferve, with great Pleafure, what a Variety of other moft proper and important Thoughts are fuggefted in other Claufes of this fhort Introduction: Particularly, the Views which the Jewith Prophets had given of the Gofpel, the Defcent of Chrift from David, the great Doctrine of his Refurrection, and Deity, the fending the Gospel to the Gentiles, the Privileges of Chriftians as the called and beloved of GOD, and the Faith, Obedience, and Sanctity to which they were obliged, in Virtue of their Profeffion. Occafion will be given for the like Reflections on a thousand other Occafions, though the Limits of fuch a Work as ours will not allow us fo particularly to trace them. (b) Determinately marked out.] That this is the exact Signification of pobres, Elfner has learnedly proved. Compare Acts xvii. 31. |