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ROMANS xi. 6.

If the first Fruit be Holy, the Lump is alfo Holy and if the Root be Holy, fo are the branches.

THE
HE Jews, as they were the most remarkable
people upon earth in many respects, fo
particularly in this: that they preferved the
pedigrees of their feveral tribes and families, with
a more fcrupulous and religious exactnefs, than
any other nation in the world.

This care was infufed into them, and many ways cultivated by God himfelf, in order to af certain the defcent of the Mefith, when he came, and to prove that he was, as the prophets had foretold he fhould be, of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David.

That tribe, indeed, was moft concerned, on this account, to preserve their genealogy entire. However, other tribes there were (for inftance, Ephraim) which, though not entitled to this dif tinguishing honour, yet fet up their pretences to it; and all of them, even without fuch a particular claim, had great reafon to glory in their common descent from abraham, Ifaac, and Jacobs the peculiar favourites of heaven, to whom the promife of the bleffed Seed was feverally made. All of them therefore ftudioufly cherished the memory of their honourable extraction, and carefully preferved the evidences of it.

The example of St. Paul is a proof, that there zeal, in this cafe, was laudable. For even he

himself, who was the apoftle of the Gentiles, in
VOL. II.
Y

those

thofe very epiftles which he wrote to the Gentileconverts (particularly to thofe of Rome; the proudest part of the heathen world, and who had entertained the most contemptuous opinion of the Jews) fails not to magnify the great priviledge of his birth, and highly to value himself upon it. Twice we find him, not only boafting of his parentage, as an Ifraelite at large, but particularizing his descent from the tribe of Benjamin, Rom. xi. 1. Phil. iii. 5. He often and amply declares the great advantage *, which belonged to the feed of braham, as fuch; "to whom (as he fpeaks†) pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the fervice of God, and the promises; whofe are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh, Chrift came." And though, And though, "as concerning the gofpel, they were" he fays, now enemies through unbelief, yet ftill he affirms, that, "as touching the election," or as the elect people of God, "they are beloved for the fathers fakes." Rom. xi. 28. And on this foundation he builds an argument of great importance; for the general converfion of the Jews to the faith of Chrift, when once "the fulness of the Gentiles" was come in : Then, he fays God would "provoke the Jews to emulation;" fo that they, feeing the univerfal reception of the gospel by the heathen, fhould be induced, at length, to believe in Chrift, as Abraham did, and, following his faith, fhould likewise fhare his reward: "For, if the firft-fruit be holy,

* Rom. iii. 1, 2. † Rom. ix 4, 5•

the

the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, fo are the branches.

By "the first-fruit" and "the root," in these words, we are to understand the three great progenitors of the Jews, Abrahim, jauc, and Ficob; chiefly the first of them, who, being eminently holy and dear to God, should derive a blessing to his pofterity on that account, and prevail at last, to have them alfo accepted as holy, and inftated in the favour of God. For, as the whole Lump, or Mafs of corn, under the law, was hallowed by the Heave-Offering of the Firft-Fruits dedicated to God; as the branches partake of the vigour and virtues of the root from which they fpring; fo the great body of the Jews are accepted in ibraham, and fanctified by their defcent from him. They cannot, therefore, be finally rejected; but fhall, in God's good time, be admitted to partake of all the privileges and benefits which belong to that facred alliance.

And this they fhall attain to, partly in virtue of the promife made by God, when he entered into the covenant with Abraham; and partly also in virtue of thofe principles of piety and goodnefs, which they derived from their ancestors, and from the holy law of God, committed to their cuftody; principles, which though they might be obfcured and buried for a time, yet would afterwards fpring up, and bring forth fruit; qualifying the heirs of promife for thofe bicflings, to which God had ordained them.

Num xv. 10 where the words φύραμα and xap, ufed by the apostle, are likewife employed, Y 2

All

All this I apprehend to be within the intention of the apostle's discourse. For the holiness he speaks of may be taken in a twofold fenfe; either for that external and relative holiness, which belongs to perfons, or things, offered to God, and appropriated particularly to his honour and fervice; or for thofe internal graces and qualities of mind, which fanétity our natures, and render us habitually holy. Both thefe St. Paul feems to point at, in the words before us; and hath, therefore, purpofely (if I miftake not) illuftrated his argument by two fuch inftances, as refer diftin&tly to each of them: For the holiness of the firftfruits and the lump, is an holiness merely of inftitution, outward, and nominal, whereas by the holiness of the root and the branches, is to be understood an holiness of nature, inherent, and real. So that the apoftle's meaning in this paffage may, after this manner, be more clearly represented and fully expreffed: That the bo"liness of the patriarchs fhould, in both fenses of "that word, extend itself to their progeny, and "should one day visibly rest on all the tribes of “Ifrael: who, as by virtue of their relation to "Abraham, they were ftill nearly related to God, "and particularly dear to him; fo fhould they "likewife inherit, and in God's appointed time, "exert the faith and virtues of Abraham; and,

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by that means, render themfelves every way ob"jects of the divine favour and benediction :” "For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is alfo holy; and if the root be holy fo are the branches.'

The words therefore that I have chofen, will

afford

afford me a very natural occafion of difcourfing (in a way fuitable to the defign of this annual affembly) concerning the great advantages and bieffings to which the fons of the clergy are entitled, as the holy pofterity of holy parents: efpecially, if it can be thewn, that the apoftle's way of reafoning was not confined to the oeconomy and nation of the Jews, but is of equal force alfo under the Chriftian difpenfation. And of this I need produce no other proof than that fingle paffage of the fame apoftle in his firft epiftle to the Corinthians, vii. 14. where he pronounces the children of fuch parents as were, one of them a Chriftian, and the other an unbeliever, to be clean and holy, on the account of the faith and holinefs even of one of those parents. "For the unbelieving hufband" (fays he) "is fanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is fanctified by the husband: elfe were your children unclean; but now are they holy." By the holiness of the children, here mentioned, I understand the near relation in which they ftood to God, as born from a believing parent, and the right which, on the account, they had to be admitted into that Christian covenant by baptifm. But, however this holiness be underflood, 'tis very plain, that it implies fome peculiar advantage, fome extraordinary privilege, which belonged to thefe children; and as plain, that they were entitled to that advantage and privilege (whatever it was) on the account of their parentage. And therefore the reasoning made ufe of by St. Paul in the text, holds equally with regard to Jews and Chriftians; and will accord

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