judgment. Therefore, he most remarkably foretells, that Judah, whether unbelieving or believing, shall never cease to exist as a distinct nation, so long as this present world shall endure. Other nations, successively, may flourish or may fade: but the high and extraordinary privilege of Judah is, that he shall lose his national existence only with the termination of all things.

Hitherto, this wonderful prophecy has been exactly fulfilled. Despised, harassed, and persecuted, in every quarter of the globe, the scattered and unconverted Jews mingle not with the families of the Gentiles; but remain in the midst of them, a perfectly distinct though broken nation. Nor will their distinctness cease, when they shall be converted to Christianity: for we are taught to expect, that they will not so embrace the Gospel as to be speedily lost and swallowed up in the several lands of their dispersion; but that they will be collectively brought back to the land of their fathers, that there they will still form a separate people, and that there they will be reckoned up among the nations of the earth. Verily, I say unto you, this nation shall not pass away, until all these things shall have been fulfilled. Hence, by the terms of the prophecy, when all these things shall have been fulfilled, then this nation shall pass away. But all these things will not have been fulfilled, until the day of final retribution. Therefore this nation shall not pass away, until the day of final retribution shall arrive.

The same privilege of a perpetuity, bounded only by the duration of the world itself, had already been promised to Judah by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah and Mr. Mede very reasonably thinks, that to the prediction of that ancient seer the corroborative prediction of our Lord had a special reference.

Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then shall the seed of Israel also cease from being a nation before me for ever1.

On the whole, I may remark in conclusion, that the present mode of explaining a passage, the difficulty of which has been felt and acknowledged, will remove the only objection that can be made to the consistent and uniform interpretation of the entire prophecy which has now been exhibited and we thus obtain a wonderful prediction, in all respects worthy of its divine author; a prediction, not stopping short with the mere overthrow of Jerusalem and with a figurative synchronical coming of the Son of man, but reaching in a regular chronological succession from the apostolic age to the final consummation of all things.

1 Jerem. xxxi. 35, 36.

See Mede's Works, book iv. epist. 12. p. 752, 753.

CHAPTER II.

RESPECTING ST. PAUL'S PROPHECY RELATIVE TO THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS, VIEWED AS CONNECTED WITH THE PERIOD OF THE SEVEN TIMES OR THE PERIOD OF THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES.

OUR Lord, we see, fixes the restoration of the Jews to the fulfilment of the times of the Gentiles: his Apostle Paul, unless I wholly misapprehend the purport of his language, fixes to the same epoch their conversion.

I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid-God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew-At this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace-What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for: but the election hath obtained it; and the rest were blinded-I say then; Have they stumbled, that they should fall? God forbid: but rather, through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 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 ?—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 of God: on them which fell, severity; 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 shall have 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 all1

I. That St. Paul, in this prophecy, foretells the conversion of the Jews to the faith of Christ, is indisputable. The Apostle, however, not only announces the simple fact of their conversion at some indefinite future period: he also gives us a distinct chronological note, by which the precise epoch of their predicted conversion may be determined.

1. Blindness in part, says he, is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in.

If, then, blindness in part be happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in: it is clear, that, when this fulness shall have come in, the partial blindness of Israel, or the blindness of the whole nation save those few individual con

1 Rom. xi. 1-32.