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EDITORIAL.
W 3.1,..1,. BEEBE, Editor.
To Correspondents. —Many of our brethren who
Lave heretofoie written for publication in the Mes
senger, seem to have forgotten us altogether, in the
confusion attending the terrible war now going on in
our country. In a time of great calamity in the na
tion of Israel, similar to the present with us, when
they called the proud happy, and they that wrought
wickedness were set up,, and such as tempted God
were even delivered; “ then they that feared the
lord spake often one to another ;” and can we afford
to lose sight of each other in this wilderness of sin ?
Brethren Mitchell, Patman, and others, who wish the
paper supported, you must not leave all the contribu
tions to its columns to be furnished by our imme
diate neighbors. The Brethren Montgomery and
Purington have geneiously furnished us with a very
liberal amount of matter for our columns, and we
hope they will not grow weary in well-doing; still
we desire to hear from other brethren and sisters,
some of whom formerly favored us with occasional
articles, and others who could do so easily. We were
very glad indeed to receive the article in this number
from Bro. Power, as also the note from Bro. Hassel,
of North Carolina, which showed that he had not
forgotten us. We hope both these brethren particu
larly will let us hear from them eften. By the way,
Bro. Power, where are those essays of which you
spoke in a former letter, and which we requested
you to forward us ?
Remarks on Rom. xi. 17--2&L
This text, on which Sister E. F. Wilson requests
our comment, is only a small portion of the-Apostle’s
argument concerning the rejection of national Israel
in the manifestation of Go*S mercy to
Israel, or the church of Christ, who stand justify
before God in the of their Redeemer,
which argument runs through the ninth to the twelfth
chapters of this epistle inclusive. He takes particular
care, while he shows the- expiration of the limitations
of the old covenant, to the Gentile disciples
against the error of supposing that all the Israelites
were irrecoverably lost, which might tend to make
them despise their Jewish brethren. In the course
of his argument he introduces this figure of grafting,-
which was, doubtless, familiar with them, to illus
trate the relationship which exists between the Gen
tile members of the church and those of Jewish de
scent naturally. As in literal grafting, the relation
ship is changed entirely, so that the branch which is
grafted into another tree becomes a part of the tree
into whieh it is inserted; so in the church there is
neither Jew nor Gentile, but the members are all one
in Christ Jesus, and members one of another. This
is the extent of the application of the illustration in
tended in the text.
Literally, men graft a superior branch upon an
inferior stock; but that this is not the sense in which
the Apostle uses the figure, is evident from the 18th
to the 21st verses of this chapter, as also from Ps.
xiv. 3, and the quotation of the same in this epistle,
chapter iii. 10. Neither is it the meaning of the
Apostle that the Gentiles were improved into fit sub
jects for heaven by being grafted into the stock of
Israel; for in the preceding portion of this chapter he
eays, “ Israel [that is, as a whole nation,] hath not
obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election
[the spiritual seed of Abraham] hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded*”
80 U TII ER N BAPTIST MESSENGER.
The spiritual Israel comprises everyone of that
family who have received like precious faith with
faithful Abraham, and they are united by the most
sacred of all ties, that of a common parentage spiritu
ally. This seed is that which is justified in the Lord,
and not in themselves, as it is written, “ In the Lord
shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall
glory.”—lsa. xlv. 25. As those disciples, to whom
this letter was written, were Gentiles, they were conf
parable to the branches of the wild olive tree, in
contrast with the natural Israelites, who possessed
great advantages over them in nlany ways, but chief;
ly, because to the Jews were committed of
God, or the sacred Scriptures which contained 4he :
written word of truth, which was, a3
the Psalmist, “a lamp to their Hence
had always been accustomed to look jtvith a sort of
contempt on the less favored Gentiles. But when
the gospel church was instituted it abolished all the
old distinctions between Jew and Gentile, bond and
free, rich and poor, so far as their church standing is
concerned. Ihe natural effect of this leveling pro
cess was to place its subjects in an entirely new po
sition relatively so each other, so that it was neces
sary that those who had previously held high posi
tions should be taught that “except ye be converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven;” and the poor in spirit have
the assurance that the kingdom of heaven is theirs’.
Yet, to guard them against errors in their estimation
of their liberties or privileges, as well as to clearly
define their respective duties, Paul labors in this, as
in all his letters, to explain clearly all those points
.be misunderstood: On the subject of the
course pursued by the A*postls in preaching the
gospel among the G<?ntfles* Paul said to tho Jews, —
“ It wus necessary the word of God should first
have been spoken to you ; but seeing ye put it from
you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
‘TiiJ, 10, we turn to the* Gentiles.” Those GentiM
who could receive the words of truth as stolen by
the Apostles, were the spiritual seed of Israel to
whqpi the promise properly
not all Israel which are of Israel; neither because
they are the seed of Abraham, are children ;
but In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they
which are tho children of the flesh, these vc not the
children of God; hut the children of the promise are
counted for the seed.” This is the substance of the
Apostle’s proposition for the illustration of which all
that io included in these three chapters is his argu
ment, in whichHhe text is introduced to make it plain
that it was not in accordance with the common usage
among men, hut upon the higher principle of God’s
sovereignty that the Gentiles were grafted into the
church of Christ, as the objects of divine favor, and
recipients of grace. The Gentile believers, in com
mon with the rest of* the human family, had a cor
rupt and sinful nature, which was prone to be puffed
up with pride ; and under the influence of this spirit
they were very liable to become exalted in view of
the distinguishing mercy by which they had been
grafted into the manifest spiritual family, and made
partakers with the saints in the high privileges of
the. church of Christ. Hence, the admomition in
cluded in the text, “ Be not high Rinded, but fear.”
Some may be disposed to wrest the remark appended
to this caution of the Apostle into a warrant for their
darling idea of the possible apostacy of the saints ;
but this is obviously an erroneous understanding from
the very text itself. The rejection of national Israej
was not a final casting away of all that people ; but
as it is written, “ Though the number of the children
of Israel life as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall
be saved.”—Rom. ix. 27, and Isa. x. 22, 23.
Recollect that the text assigns the reason of the
rejection of those who were cast away as leing unbe
lief, whereas the cause of all men being condemned ‘
to the death which never dies, is sin. This proves
conclusively that the casting away here spoken of is
not in reference to the final perishing of the souls of
such as werg cast away ; but rather it must be un
derstood as pferring to something of a temporal na
ture. The casting away of the Jews was the with
drawal from them of the light of the gospel church
privileges. As in the case of national Israel, those
j*ho were found murmuring against God -were still
Israelites, ven though they died literally for their
wickedness, so the spiritual Israelites may expe
rience a death as to their enjoyment of their divine
inheritance, but though .that is the most terrible
punishment that'can be irffiictcd on them, the assu
rance remains firm as over that not even Death shall
be able tfl separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. viii. 38, 39.
But if tfciß. elect of God among that most highly fa
vored natidfc, whose are the faihers, and of whom, as
concerning %ie flesh, Christ came, who is over all,
God blessed forevermore; if they even were not
spared, hut suffered the just reward of their unbelief
in being left to the darkness which their carnal
minds loved, we may well take to ourselves the
Apostle’s admonition, “Be not high minded, but
fear.” Not that the saints are to pass their life-time
in continual terror. The fear enjoined upon the
saints is that filial fear with which a dutiful child re
gards its parents, that fear of the Lord which is the
of wisdom, which is founded in supreme
love WBod, and regard to his honor and glory. This
fear is rather a fear of disgracing the profession of
godliness by an unworthy course of conduct than the
dread of the penalty or punishment clue to transgres
sion ; so tlicw the saints, while they serve their Lord,
can shag—
“ Not by the terrors of a slave
Do we perform his will;
But with the newest powers we have
His sweet commands fulfill.”
t
We have thus jriven a brief sketch of our views of •
this subject, which are submitted to Sister
•and our readers generally with all deference to the
views of those yaftose minds may be better instructed
on the subject*than our” own. CJf tho truth of the
general principles advanced in this article we have
no doubt, though they might have been better ex
pressed by more gifted pens. May the God of all grace
bless these remarks as far as is in accordance with his
truth, and pardon anything erroneous, and finally
lead us into a perfect knowledge of all truth, is our
pray ex', for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
receipts!
[From April 2 to. April 12.]
GEORGIA.—Mrs. S. Edwards, 1; Mrs. M. M.
Newsom, 1; Elizabeth J. Bellflower, 1; J. W. Com
mander 2; Eld. W. S. Jarrell, (to March 15,1862,) 2;
Mrs. A. E. Hardy, 1; K. Branam, 4; C. Bostic, 1;
Piety Brooks, 1 ;T. McKenney, 1; J. Cagle, 1; John
Keen, sr., 1, $17,00
ALABAMA.—John Hendrick, 6,70; John
Whitaker, 2, 8,70
TEXAS.*—EId. H. L. Power, 1, 1,00
Total, $26,70
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