1121,6176 7-
Nerrmi: 3-

2L

22.

R O MA NS.
PARAPHKASE.

little, ﬂiall Kingdoms that are raifed or de-
prelled, fay to him in whole hands they are, to
difpofe of them as he pleafes, Why halt thou
made me thus? Hath not the Potter Power
over the Clay of the fame Lump, to make this
a Vellel of Honour, and that of Dilhonour (l)?
But what halt thou to fay, O Man of judea, if
God willing to lhew his Wrath, and have his
Power taken notice of in his Execution of it,
did with much long fuﬂ-“ering (m) bear with

the

TEXT.

power over the clay, of
the fame lump to make
one vellel unto honour,
and another unto difho-
nour ?

to {hew his wrath, and
to make his power known,
endured with much long-
fuffering the velfels of
wrath ﬁtted to deﬂrutti-
on :

NOTES.

at (1) Vejfel unto Honour, and Vwfel unto Dijbonour, ﬁgniﬁes a thing deﬁgned by the
Maker to an honourable or difhonourable Ufe: Now why it may not deﬁgn Nations as
well as Perfons, and Honour and Profperity in this World as well as eternal Happinefs
and Glory, or Mifery and Punifhment in the World to come, I do not fee. In common
Reafon this ﬁgurative Expreflion ought to follow the fenfe of the Context : And I fee
no peculiar Privilege it hath to wreft and turn the viﬁble meaning of the place to {ome-
thing remote from the SubjeEt in hand. I am fure no fuch Authority it has from fuch an
appropriated lenfe fettled in Sacred Scripture. This were enough to clear the Apoftle’s fenfe
in thefe words, were there nothing elfe 5 but fer. r8. 6, 7. from whence this inftance of a
Potter is taken, fhews them to have a temporal Senfe, and to relate to the Nation of the

ews.

I zz (m) Endmed wiib mud: Ion fuﬂerin . Immediately after the inﬂance of Pbaraob,
whom God faid he railed up to ew his ower in him, ver. r7. ’tis fubjoyn’d, var. :8.
and wbom be will be bardcnetb, plainly with reference to the Story of Pbaraob, who is faid
to harden himfelf, and whom God is laid to harden, as may be feen Exod. 7. g, 2.2, 2.3. 8c 8.
15,31. 8c 9. 7, 12., 34. 8c to. I, zo, a7. 8c rr. 9, to. 8c 14. 5. What God's part in hardning
is, is contained in thefe words, endured wit]: nmcb longfuﬁring. God fends Mofe: to Pbaraob
with Signs, Plmriwlﬁs Magicians do the like, and fo he is not prevailed with. God fends
Plagues; whilﬂ the Plague is upon him, he is molliﬁed, and promifes to let the People go:
But as foon as God takes off the Plague, he returns to his Obllinacy, and refufes, and thus
over and over again; God’s being intreated by him to wvith-draw the feverity of his Hand,
his gracious Compliance with P/mraolfs deﬁre to have the Puniihment removed, was what
God did in the Cafe, and this was all Goodnefs and Bounty : But Pbaraob and his Peo-
ple made that ill ulc of his forbearance and long-fulfering, as llill to harden themfelves the
more for God‘s Mercy and Gentlenefs to them, till they bring on rhemfelves exemplary
Dellruéiion from the viﬁble Power and Hand of God imploy’d in it. This carriage of
theirs God fore-faw, and f0 made ufe of their obﬁinate perverfe Temper for his own
Glory, as he himfelf declares, Exod. 7. ;—-$. 8c 8. 18. 8c 9. r4, t6. The Apoﬂle, by the
inﬁance of a Potter’s power over his Clay, having demonﬂrared, that God by his Domi-
nion and Soveraignty, had a Right to fet up or pull down what Nation he pleated; and
might without any injuﬂice take one Race into his particular Favour to be his peculiar
People, or rejeét them as he thought ﬁt, does in this verfe apply it to the Subject in hand,

(t-iiz.) the carting off of the jewiﬂi Nation, whereof he fpeaks here in Terms that plaiaxtlly
m e

Hath not the pattern

What if God willing“

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