king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward, shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." And so all Israel shall be saved: be converted to the faith, which now they reject and refuse: 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.?

Further, as it was ordained that the present blessing to the Gentiles should come to them through the Jews: so likewise the future blessing to the Jews should reach them through the Gentiles.

30. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

31. Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

God has for a while concluded them all in unbelief, permitted a veil to be spread over their hearts, that in the end he might have mercy upon all: admit to his covenant of grace both Jews and Gentiles. And of this blessed consummation ye Gentiles shall be the instruments. Through the mercy enjoyed by you, mercy shall extend to them.

After eighteen hundred years, we begin to see the accomplishment of these words. It is indeed but the dawn of what we hope may end in perfect day. But

2 This interpretation of prophecy was universally received by those who lived nearest to the apostles' days.

the dawn is the beginning.

Blindness is now

removed, from time to time, from some of the sons of Israel and the light does come to them, if it comes at all, through Gentile mercy: through the mercy enjoyed by the Gentiles, which makes them possessors of God's saving truth: and through the mercy exercised by the Gentiles, who labour to return to the children of the nation the Gospel which they received through that nation's forefathers.

What can we do, then, but exclaim with the apostle,

33. 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!

34. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor ?3

35. Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

This is the proper conclusion of every inquiry into the ways of God. The apostle had been discussing many things of great depth and mystery, which could only be referred to his sovereign will and counsel. He raises himself, and others with himself, to admiration of these counsels, as far as they are revealed to us; and warns us against desiring to seek farther. As Job had said before, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!* Suppose a vast army, in some long campaign. What could a spectator know of the plan of the commander, from the Job v. 9; xi. 7.

3 Isa. xl. 13, 14.

march of a single day? Suppose a ship, on a voyage round the world. Who could judge of its destination, from the course of a few hours? The plan by which God governs the world, the chart by which its movements are directed, can never be made clear to us. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor ? Our wisdom is to say with the Psalmist, "Lord my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me."

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And then, from things too high for us, from general views too extensive for our field of vision, St. Paul brings us back to those individual mercies of which each man may be conscious. Who hath first given to the Lord, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? Who, when he looks towards himself, has anything to claim from God? Who has not everything to acknowledge? And yet we no more understand how much we have to be thankful for, than we comprehend the whole of God's counsels respecting us. The watchfulness of his providence, the extent of his grace we shall never see, till, with enlarged faculties and unclouded vision, we are able to look back upon the course we have traversed, the dangers from which we have been preserved, or the trials which have been made a blessing to us. Those who are permitted to attain "that world and the resurrection from the dead," will all unite in one common strain of praise: "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God." For of

6 Ps. cxxxi. 1.

7

Rev. vii. 12.

him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.

Amen.

LECTURE XXXIV.

THE DEVOTION OF THE HEART TO THE SERVICE OF GOD, THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE.

ROMANS xii. 1—8.

1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

From among the Jewish people, now no longer "the people of God," there was "a remnant," as we have seen, "according to the election of grace.' To these Paul was now writing, who had received Jesus as the Messiah, and were united with the Gentile converts as a body of believers. To these he now points out the duties to which they were called. He begins with a thought familiar to them. They had been used to offer sacrifice. They had been used to acknowledge that their souls were due to God, having been forfeited by their trespasses, and to bring their victim to the altar, beseeching him to receive it in their stead. This type of "Him who was to

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come," had been fulfilled. Christ by his one sacrifice of himself once offered had made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of all men, and therefore for their sins. For by their faith they had claimed to themselves the merit of this sacrifice. "The Lord had laid on him the iniquity of them all."2

The heifer and the lamb, therefore, were required of them no longer. But a different and a better offering was required. They should present their own bodies as a living sacrifice: not like the victim which was slain; not a dead or formal obedience; but a warm, a living sacrifice, a heart breathing with fervent prayer, and flowing with abundant love. And, again, a holy sacrifice; as the animal offered was to be perfect, the best of its kind, a male of the first year, and without blemish:3 so must the Christian "cleanse himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.”* Such a sacrifice is acceptable to God, who had redeemed them for this very purpose, that there might be such a people. And such a service is a reasonable service: the service of beings whom God has made to differ from the rest of the creation, that they might know, and love, and honour, and obey their Maker. Surely when we consider who and what we are, nothing else is reasonable; no other way of life is rational, except that we be not conformed to this world, fashioned according to the pursuits, and thoughts, and habits of those who look for nothing beyond, but be transformed by the renew1 This is Paul's own conclusion, Heb. ix. 26-28; x. 12. 2 Is. liii. 6. 4 2 Cor. vii. 1.

3 Lev. i. 3.