Before I enter upon some expressions in the concluding part of the chapter, which throw light upon the phraseology of the New Testament, I shall allude to others, which are found from the 20th to the 24th verse, and which have been perverted to the doctrine of absolute and arbitrary election and reprobation. The language is peculiarly figurative, and borrowed from the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah. That prophet is illustrating God's absolute power in disposing of nations, by imagery drawn from the potter's power over his clay. St. Paul adopts the same imagery in aid of the very same proposition; only he enters with somewhat more of minuteness into the comparison. As the potter from the same lump of clay makes one vessel unto honour, another unto dishonour; that is, one for an honourable, another for a degrading use; so does the Almighty endure with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; i. e. so does He permit the existence of nations, which abuse the blessings of His providence, and become the instruments, through whom His power in punishing objects of His displeasure is displayed. In like manner, does He make known the riches of His glory upon the vessels of His mercy; i. e. in like manner does He extend His bounty to others in such a way, that they may seem created as instruments and examples of His exceeding goodness. Surely, here is nothing strained in this interpretation; nor is any meaning conveyed at all derogatory from the attributes of God, or at variance with the usual tenor of His dispensations to His creatures. Communities, as well as individuals, appear to differ so remarkably in the

degree, in which the gifts of Providence are assigned to them, that some, in comparison of others, may appear" vessels of wrath;" while others are mere objects of "mercy."

We may now proceed to the consideration of some phrases in the ancient Prophets, which have had much influence upon the language of the Evangelists and Apostles. "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Here the words of Isaiah, x. 22, 23. are quoted, though the latter verse is translated in words very different from those, which I have just read from St. Paul. The Apostle evidently quotes from the Septuagint; and between his words. and those of the Greek version, the difference is slight and merely verbal. But between the Hebrew and the Septuagint there is a great dissimilitude; as you will judge, when I read to you the corresponding verses of Isaiah. I shall however prefix the two verses which immediately precede, as they are important for the matter, which I am anxious to illustrate. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return; even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant shall return: the consumption

decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of Hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land." The con

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cluding words of this passage are rendered very differently in the 28th verse of this ninth chapter, as we have just observed. I will give the sense of the passage, according to some learned Expositors. Though the number of the Israelites be as the sand of the sea, yet but a remnant will so behave themselves as to be saved. For when the Lord comes to cast up the numbers of good and bad, He will find but a short balance of true Israelites, and the destruction of the unbelievers will be very large and great.

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" a

I wish now to fix your attention upon the words,

a remnant shall be saved," as illustrated by the 29th verse, which in fact is taken from the 9th verse of Isaiah, c. i. “ Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah."

In many passages of the antient prophets, which are cited by the sacred writers of the New Testament, as alluding to the circumstances of the Gospel Dispensation, mention is made of a small number of Israelites, who should form an exception to the great body of their countrymen, by embracing the terms proposed in the New Covenant. This small number, or remnant, were to be saved; or, to escape that manifestation of the Divine displeasure, which was

a Pyle.

a

denounced against such as might continue impenitent, and refuse to believe and accept Him who was in due time to be revealed as their Redeemer; even the Messiah. This was in perfect conformity with the warning, which their inspired Lawgiver had given of the sure consequences of disobedience. "Ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldst not obey the voice of the Lord thy God." The prophetic anticipations of the Messiah in the succeeding ages of the Law were in complete accordance with this terrific warning; while they lay open some source of hope in the favour, that was to be shewn to the chosen few. "The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this." Such are the words of the Prophet Isaiah in his xxxviith chapter, vv. 31, 32. and there is an obvious coincidence between them and those of Joel in the last verse of his second chapter. "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant, whom the Lord shall call."

Now it must be observed by those, who wish to mark the properties and ascertain the signification of words in the New Testament, that, in the passage

a Deut. xxviii. 62.

just quoted from Isaiah, the Septuagint has Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐξελεύσονται οἱ καταλελειμμένοι, καὶ οἱ σωζόμενοι ἐξ ὄρους Σιών" corresponding with these words of our translation, "Out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Sion.”—Also in the passage from Joel; what is rendered, "shall be delivered," is in the Septuagint version," shall be saved;" and for " in Mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance" the same version has ἔσται ανασωζόμενος, “ shall be he that is saved."

Hence it appears that, in the phraseology of the Septuagint version, which affords the best clue to the meaning of the original of the New Testament," the remnant,” so often spoken of in the Old Testament, is identified with the term oi owóμevoi, or "the saved,” in the New; that the meaning of " to save” and “ salvation” must by no means be restricted to the benefits of eternal life; but, in a great variety of instances, may be shewn to imply relief from temporal evils, as sickness, or any national calamity. Oi owlóμevoi, or "the saved," will then be found to σωζόμενοι, designate, in the first instance, those among the Jews, who formed an exception to the rest of their countrymen, by giving implicit credence to the mission of Jesus, as their Messiah; and so escaping the fate, which awaited their impenitent countrymen in the destruction of their capital, and their total extinction as an independent state: in a more lax sense, it may be taken to denote, generally, converts to Christianity. From this explanation, intelligent readers of the New Testament will be able to detect the real meaning of