Earlier text: THE WORDS WE SPEAK“Afore Prepared Unto Glory.”
By R. F. Cottrell
“Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.” Rom. ix, 21–24. The argument of the apostle in this text, is not that God created a certain portion of mankind for salvation, and another certain portion for damnation, and so fixed the case of each individual that their own agency could have no influence on their salvation or destruction; but his aim evidently is to show that God had foreseen and foretold by the prophets, whom he quotes in the connection, that not all the Jews, but only a remnant of them would believe, obey the gospel, and be saved, and that a portion of the Gentiles also would be prepared to receive the gospel and be saved. The potter can form different classes of vessels out of the same lump of clay. So God, by his word and providence, could, out of the Jewish lump, prepare a few to receive the gospel and be vessels of honor, while the residue of the same lump, whom he had “endured with much longsuffering” while carrying out the gracious plan of the gospel, would, by the same means, be fitted and ripened for destruction. So also with the Gentile lump. God had foreseen that, by a work of preparation preceding the introduction of the gospel, he could “take out of them a people for his name.” Now how were the elect, of both Jews and Gentiles, prepared beforehand to be saved by the gospel? In answer to this we say, The gospel proposes to save those that believe. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” There is no doubt that the Jews had the word of God in the prophecies and promises of Christ, which had they believed, they would have believed and received Christ and his gospel. But how could the Gentiles be prepared before to receive the gospel? By the same means that the Jews were, that is, by the same word of God published among them. In the providence of God the Holy Scriptures were translated into the Greek language a little less than 300 years before the Christian era, so that all those nations which understood this language could learn of the promised Messiah, and the believing among them could be looking for his advent, who was to be “a light to lighten the Gentiles,” as well as “the glory of Israel.” And it is possible that they could appreciate somewhat the promises contained in those Scriptures to themselves, promises which the prejudices of the Jews did not permit them to see. “In this manner did God prepare the way for the gospel which was then approaching, and facilitate the union of so many nations, of different languages and manners, into one society, and the same worship and doctrines, by the instrumentality of the finest, most copious, and correct language that ever was spoken in the world, and which became common to all the countries that were conquered by Alexander.” Rollin. By such means there were among the Gentiles those, who, like Cornelius and his household, were devout, feared God, gave much alms, and prayed to God alway. Acts x. They were ready—“afore prepared”—to receive the gospel when God should send it to them. My object in taking up this Scripture is, not so much to answer to the doctrine of particular election and reprobation, which some infer from it, as to meet another argument founded upon the total ignorance of the Gentiles in relation to the Old Scriptures, at the time of the introduction of the gospel to the Gentiles. It is claimed that the Gentiles to whom the gospel first came, were entirely ignorant of what God had revealed in the Scriptures, and therefore the Sabbath commandment could not be binding upon the Gentiles, unless it were repeated in the writings of the apostles. As though there could be “devout men out of every nation under heaven” brought together at Jerusalem, as converts to the Jewish religion and yet those nations be utterly ignorant of the ten commandments, the fundamental principles of all true religion! Such an idea is absurd. “The Holy Scriptures which are able to make men wise unto salvation,” were known to Gentiles as well as Jews, and thus they were prepared to be saved “through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” The vessels of mercy among the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, had been before prepared for the reception of the gospel and of the final glory. Those therefore, who, to evade a known law of God, would make the Gentiles of those times so extremely ignorant of revelation, only expose their own ignorance, or presume upon the ignorance of others.
R. F. COTTRELL. Battle Creek Bible Class, April 4, 1868.
By James White
Verses 1, 2. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Q. What is meant by the beginning? A. The beginning of Creation—parallel with Gen. i, 1; but this does not show that other things were not created before this system. Angels were created, but before the creation of our system. Job xxxviii, 4-7. A. Christ, the Son of God. Q. Why is he called the Word? A. Because in him was manifested the Divine Power; and God's word is frequently made to express his power. See Ps. xxxiii, 6, 9. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. . . . He spake and it was done.” The Son executes the will of the Father. A. They were united in the work of creation. Gen. i, 26: “Let us make man.” Heb. i, 2: “By whom he [the Father] made the worlds.” A. Because of his divine nature; he is exalted above all. As the beloved Son of God he takes the name of his Father. Isa. ix, 6, was referred to. Reason as above why he is called the mighty God. Heb. i, 9, shows that he is not called God in the first or highest sense. “Therefore God, even thy God,” &c. “Everlasting Father.” This refers to his relation to his people; the New Jerusalem, his bride (Rev. xxi, 9, 10,) is called their mother, (Gal. iv, 26,) of course he, the bridegroom, is called their Father. But “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. i, 3, &c.,) is certainly Father in a higher sense. It was queried, what bearing does this text have on the doctrine of the trinity? Answered, that it could not possibly favor the doctrine, but rather disproves it; for the term trinity supposes three persons, and that is the doctrine; but if Christ is both Son and Father, there cannot be three, and of course no trinity. Verse 2 is a reiteration of the same. Verse 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. REMARK. Theologians say this was impossible: that creative power can only be exercised by the supreme, self-existent One. But we rest on the plain declarations of the Scriptures, that he derived his power from the Father, and the Father created all things by his Son, who is his representative in creation as well as in salvation. Verse 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. Q. What is meant by the expression, in him was life? A. He is the Life-giver; the author of eternal life. A. He brings light in the sense of revealing God and his salvation to us. Verse 5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. Q. Why is this change of tense? A. Different versions have different renderings of this; but our common version gives as nearly the exact meaning of the original as is possible in our language. It is, in the Greek, in the 2d aorist tense, which is peculiar, and may be used indifferently. Q. How did the light shine in darkness? A. Christ came to give light, but was not known and appreciated. Q. Does this apply to that time? A. Probably refers specially to the time of his advent, when his divine power and mission to the world were not recognized. Verses 6, 7. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. Q. What does this name signify? A. As one who testified in his preaching the coming Messiah. Q. What is meant by “all might believe?” A. All who heard him. His preaching was with a277 demonstration and power that carried conviction to all his hearers. Verse 8. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. A. The multitudes believed John's preaching, and care is taken to distinguish between him and the true light, of which he was only the herald, or forerunner. Verse 9. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Q. How was Christ to lighten every man? A. He was the only true light, and he is sent to all, as is said of him in Isa. xlix, 6: “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth.” This denotes that he was sent to all, without respect of persons. Verse 10, 11. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Q. When was this fulfilled? A. In his incarnation, at the time of his ministry. A. Those who believed not in his word, nor the prophecies respecting him. There was also a time, previous to his baptism, when, probably, he was entirely unknown to the world as Messiah, or Son of God. REMARK. The word rendered world three times in verse 11, is Kosmos, literally the world which was made by him; and in the last instance—the world knew him not—is used to represent its inhabitants, showing that it is sometimes used figuratively. A. They were his own people; he was born a Jew; also he was “born King of the Jews,” Matt. ii, 2; therefore, they were legally his subjects. Verse 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Q. What is meant by this power? A. The margin says privilege; but the word power more nearly represents the original; it has the sense of conferring ability to become what they before were not. This was through faith in his name. Verse 13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Q. What is here meant by being born? REMARK. The original is the same for born and begotten; and the distinction seems to be correctly made in this manner: In all cases where the agent or cause is in the masculine gender, it should be rendered begotten; where the agent or cause is in the feminine gender, it is properly rendered born; as we should say begotten of the father, but born of the mother. Hence, in all cases where God is referred to, it seems both natural and necessary to render it “begotten of God.” Q. What is meant by this—not of blood, nor man, &c. A. The means and power were divine, not human; and it was not according to kindred or descent. By the Spirit of God. Verse 14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Q. How was the word made flesh? Q. Was his nature changed from divine to human? A. No; the divine and human were united in one, so, as this verse expresses it—the word became flesh. Q. If he retained his divinity, what did he sacrifice in coming to the world? A. He left his glory. By an exercise of omnipotent power, his manner of being was so changed as to become subject to death. See Phil. ii, 8. Q. Could divinity suffer? A. It doubtless did, otherwise the offering was only human. On this point Heb. i, 1-3; Col. i, 14-20, &c., were read. John also traces the pre-existent Logos or word from his work of creation, through his incarnation, ministry, to his death, &c., without changing the subject from one person to another; i. e. the same that was with God in the beginning was made flesh and died. Q. When did they behold his glory? A. At his transfiguration. Q. Is Christ the same now, as relates to his body, that he was at his resurrection? A. Probably he is; we cannot suppose that any change has taken place since his resurrection. So his followers will have the bodies in the resurrection they will have forever. Q. Why did not the disciples see his glory? A. Probably for the same reason that they did not know him, because “their eyes were holden,” Luke xxiv, 16. The young man who was with the prophet saw “horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha,” when the Lord opened his eyes, which he could not see before. 2 Kings vi, 15-17. Angels of glory have been seen of men when they were not permitted to behold the glory, and they knew not that they were angels; at other times, when their glory was seen, the beholders have fallen as dead before them. As the day was very stormy, and but few were out, the general questions, given out the week before, were not all answered. The following only were considered: On Matt. xv, 11, the Saviour's words were in answer to a question in regard to eating with unwashed hands; that they could go no further than to refer to the small particles of dust which might adhere to them, or to supposed defilement by contact with others—a question of tradition only. Can not possibly be made to refer to any kind of food or drink. On Rom. xiv, 14, 20; it was remarked that verse 14 must have some limitation, for there are some things unclean, and unfit to eat and drink. Whatever intoxicates, for instance, should not be used, as drunkenness is prohibited in the New Testament. Therefore, we must endeavor to understand what the limitation is. It appears from the first part of the chapter that it concerned their traditions also, and the distinctions therein claimed were quite immaterial, being matters of tradition and not of revelation. It is wrong to violate conscience, however, and do that which we consider wrong, whether wrong in itself or not, as by such violation the conscience is seared, or hardened, and will not reprove when the light comes. Verses 20, 21, should be considered in connection. Here is the same necessity for limitation, as in verse 14. If verse 21, were conscientiously considered, and acted upon, it would be a happy thing for the church. On 1 Tim. iv, 4. The person to whom this text was given was not present. It was briefly considered, however, and generally agreed to, that a satisfactory exposition is given in Eld. Loughborough's report in the Review for March 31, 1868, to which the reader is referred. Other questions laid over. J. H. W. METRICAL VERSION OF PSALM XIX.
By R. F. C.
1. The heavens declare the glory of the Lord,
The firmament his handiworks record. 2. Day uttereth speech to day, and night to night,
Showing his knowledge and his glorious might. 3. No speech have they, nor language, not a word,
Yet without these their voices still are heard. 4. Their rule throughout the earth is seen and known,
Their words unto the end of it are gone.
There is a tabernacle for the sun, 5. Which like a bridegroom from his chambers come,
Rejoicing as the strong a race to run. 6. His going forth is from the end of heaven,
Throughout his circuit wide, his heart is given. 7. God's law is perfect; it the soul converts;
His testimony sure instructs our hearts, 8. Gladdening the heart, his statutes all are right;
Pure his commands; to eyes imparting light. 9. His fear is clean, enduring o'er the same,
His judgments true and righteous, all of them. 10. More than fine gold they are to be desired,
Than much fine gold, by men so much admired.
Sweeter than honey also to the taste,
Or honeycomb, to pilgrims on the waste. 11. Thy servant, warned by them, is on his guard,
In keeping of them there is great reward. 12. Who can his errors see in their true light?
Cleanse me from faults which still escape my sight. 13. Keep me from open sins, presumptuous, bold,
Let them not have dominion o'er my soul,
Then shall I, in thy judgment, be upright,
Free from the great transgression in thy sight. 14. Oh! let the words that from my mouth proceed,
And my heart's meditation be indeed
Accepted in thy sight, I pray, O Lord,
My Rock, Redeemer, and my great Reward.
R. F. C. Another View Suggested.
By John Nevins Andrews
UNDER the head of “Scripture Notes” in the Review for March 10, is the following text and comment: Deut. xxix, 28. And the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. As it is this day.] Probably the clause was added by Ezra, or some scribe, who had witnessed the desolation of the Babylonish captivity.—Scott. The difficulty which Scott discovered in this text is that the children of Israel are represented as rooted out and cast forth from their own land “as it is this day,” when at the time that Moses spoke and wrote the words of this chapter they had not even entered it. I think that the careful reading of the previous verses relieves this text of all difficulty without supposing this clause, “as it is this day,” to be added by some other sacred writer. Was it true that when Moses spoke these words Israel was rooted out of the land of promise? It was not. Does the language affirm this to be the case? It does not. If the reader will turn back to verses 22–25 he will see that these words are represented as being spoken by the nations who look on and witness their punishment at the time that God should cast them out of their land because of their sins in his sight. Moses does not use these words as his own, but as the words of those who were to be eyewitnesses of the calamities of Israel at the time when they should come to pass. Temptation and the Strength of Virtue
We should never go in the way of temptation for the purpose of trying the strength of our virtues. If Achan handles the golden wedge, his next work will be to steal it. Scripture Notes.
By Townsend
THE NATIONAL RIGHT OF ISRAEL TO CANAAN.
Josh. xxi, 43. And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. The laws of nations are always the same. If any nation, or tribe, or part of a tribe, takes possession of an unknown, undiscovered, unoccupied, or uninhabited country, the right of property vests in them; they are its proprietors and owners. After the deluge, the world might be said to be in this state; and Michaelis has endeavored to prove, that the ancestors of Abraham were the original occupiers of the pasture land of Canaan. Canaan, therefore, by the law of nations, as well as by the promises of God, was the lot of Abraham’s inheritance; and the rightful land of his descendants. The Canaanites and the Perizzites had only just established themselves in Canaan when Abraham removed from Haran to that country; and were so weak and few in number, that they never interfered with the rights of sovereignty, assumed and exerted by Abraham. The Canaanites were merchants and adventurers, who had been originally settled near the borders of the Indian ocean; and who, having been dispossessed by the Cuthic Sidonians, had migrated westward, to form establishments on the sea coasts of Palestine, and carry on commerce with the herdsmen who traversed it. They were for some time contented with their factories on the sea coasts, but they gradually obtained possession of the inland country. The Perizzites, too, were a warlike tribe, who now first made their appearance in Canaan; they had originally inhabited the N. E. of Babylonia. Whether they had been dispossessed of their settlements; whether they were seeking new establishments; or for whatever purpose they were now in Palestine, they gave no interruption to Abraham’s progress, although he entered the Holy Land, and continued his journeying with a large retinue, as a powerful prince. He took possession of Canaan as the territory of his ancestors; not indeed as a fixed habitation, but as a pasture land adapted to his numerous flocks and herds. He traversed the whole country as a proprietor, without a competitor. He had the power of arming three hundred and eighteen of his own servants, born in his own house: and it is most probable he had others (whether trained like these to arms or not) who are not enumerated. He declared war as an independent prince of this country, against the neighboring princes; and formed an alliance with Abimelech, as an equal, and as a sovereign. It is true he purchased land of a Canaanitish family of Heth, but this was because the Hittites had gradually made a more fixed settlement in that part of the country; their intrusion had not been at first prevented by the ancestors of Abraham, and by this sufferance they made that district their peculiar property. As Abraham thus traversed and possessed Canaan, with undisputed authority, so too, did Isaac and Jacob. They exercised, as he, sovereign power; they never resigned that power; nor gave up to others the property of that land, which now by long prescription, as well as by the promise of God, had become entirely their own. The ancestors then, of the Israelites, Michaelis argues, were either the sole sovereigns, or the most powerful of those princes who possessed, in early ages, the Holy Land. By the famine in Joseph’s time, they were compelled to take refuge in Egypt; yet they never lost sight of the sepulchres of their fathers. And though we do not read that acts of ownership were continued to maintain and perpetuate their right, we can have but little doubt that something of the kind took place, for Jacob was taken from Egypt to be buried there; [and St. Pierre remarks, “savages consider the tombs of their ancestors as titles to the possession of the lands which they inhabit.” See Burder.] Joseph assured them they should return; and their Egyptian oppressors, a kindred branch of the powerful tribes which had by this time entirely taken possession of Palestine, refused to let them go, lest they should claim the inheritance of their fathers. If this claim of the Israelites can be proved to be well founded, they would have been entitled, by the law of nations, forcibly to take possession of the Holy Land; and it will be interesting to observe how God, in his merciful providence, afforded them the opportunity of successfully regaining their lawful inheritance, and at the same time accomplishing his own divine purposes to the fulfillment of his prophecies, and to the happiness and security of his church. The Israelites may be considered as the servants and ministers of God, punishing the idolatry of the Canaanites, and instituting in its place, in the midst of an apostate world, the religion of the one true God. In every victory they obtained, they must have admired the faithfulness of that promise, which had foretold their entire possession of this land; and they must have been persuaded, that if they served other gods, they would bring down upon themselves the punishments predicted by Moses. See Michaelis and Faber. —Townsend. WHEN persons unbelievingly turn away from the love of divine truth and salvation, the strong-holds and towering walls of God's preserving power are at once swept away before an in-coming flood of delusion, that drowns the soul in perdition. Thus we are kept by the power of God through faith; the act of believing. 1 Pet. i, 5. Those who receive not the love of the truth, are left, unprotected, to believe strong delusion, and a lie. 2 Thess. ii, 10-12. Verse 9, of the chapter under consideration, tells us about the hardened infidelity of some. As the believers depart from them, truth is put forth in greater power; special, astonishing miracles are wrought to confirm its divinity; and here we see the lamentable fruits of skepticism in a resort to the dark and unlawful mysteries of incantation and adjuration. The seven sons of the chief priests dared, under the solemn oath of Heaven, to employ the name of God's own Son in these abominable proceedings. Heaven frowns upon them; the demon, so far from recognizing their pretended authority, causes the man in whom he dwells to spring upon them as a wild beast. “They fled out of that house naked and wounded.” Inspiration gives this narrative to show us the danger of making presumptuous experiments. Men who step out with self-confident assumption and take the work of God into their own hands, are on dangerous footing. “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully,” is the anathema written over against the record of their doing. If the sacred vessels of God are borne negligently their contents will prove the bitterest curses to the presumptuous retainers. The frown of Omnipotence will rest upon them for their daring lordliness. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” The command resting upon the Lord's ambassador is, Feed the flock, with a ready mind, to your utmost ability, taking the oversight or care thereof, not as lords, but an ensample; renouncing the hidden things of shame; not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; recommending himself to every man's conscience, not by word of mouth simply, but by manifestation of the truth, giving the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ; always bearing about in his body the tokens of his dying Lord; speaking from a heart filled with living faith, looking not at those things which are seen, but to the unseen realities of eternity. He is to commend himself every where by manifestation of the truth. That which is manifest strikes upon the mind at once, and with overpowering conviction, leaving no reasonable chance for doubt. If the gospel is thus represented by its ministers, it is hid only to those who are lost beyond recovery, with their minds blinded by the god of this world, and their consciences seared as with a hot iron. F. W. MORSE.