any

nation profeffing Chriflianity will meddle with the Jews after their converfion: Sure I am, no power that is truly Chriftian will do fo. From what has been faid, therefore, it appears, that after the converfion and restoration of the Jews, there will ftill be infidels in the world, not individuals only, but nations, powers and governments; namely, the Turk, and those whom we have already mentioned, as joining with him in his expedition against the Jews: confequently that of Romans xi. and 25. blindnefs in part has happened to Ifrael, &c. cannot mean, that the converfion of the Jews is not to happen till all the Gentiles are come in, but must be interpreted fo as to agree with the paffages above quoted.

First, Then, by the fulness of the Gentiles, we may here understand a great number or multitude of them, greater by far than was in the Apostle's days; there being many inftances, both in Scripture and other good authors, of fuch ways of fpeaking, where the whole is put for a part. See John xii. and 19. Luke ii, and 1. 2dly, The word till does not always denote the precife or exact time when the thing spoken of is to happen; fo till Shiloh come, does not perhaps fignify till Shiloh is come, but till about the time of his coming. Accordingly, the fceptre was in a good measure departed from Judah before the time of our Saviour's public appearance. In like manner, till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, may fignify till about the time when the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in; confequently, notwithstanding of this text, the converfion of the Jews may happen fome little time before the general ingathering of the Hea

then,

then, agreeably to what feems elsewhere to be ex. prefsly afferted. But, I confefs, I am not quite fatisfied with either of thefe ways of explaining this paf. fage, as the words of the facred writers are generally more precife and determinate: Therefore,

3dly, Another way of removing the difficulty, is, by altering the tranflation a little, which the original well admits of. The word eiseltbe, which we render be come in, is the 2d aorift of the fubjunctive, and the aorifts have often the fignification of the future, especially in the fubjunctive and optative moods; fo the words may be rendered, till the fulness of the Gentiles is to come in, or till the time when the fulnefs of the Gentiles is to come in.

4thly, By the Gentiles we may understand the Roman empire, or nations belonging to it. These were the Gentiles with whom the Apoftle was beft acquainted, and had the greateft connexion; the people whofe Apostle he was, and for whofe converfion he was raised up; the people which then made the greateft figure of any in the world, and that do fo fill. They are moreover the people that was called when the Jews were caft off, and that God fpeaks of, Deut. xxxii. and 21. when he tells the Ifraelites, that because they had moved him to jealoufy with that which was not God, he would move them to jealoufy with those which were not a people, and provoke them to anger with a foolish nation; that is, he would divorce. them and put that nation in their place; for though the nations that now make profeffion of Chriftianity are many, yet as they have all of them been under one government, fubject either to Rome, Pagan or

Papal,

Papal, they are both here and elsewhere confidered by the Holy Spirit as one people. It is probable, therefore, that by the Gentiles we are here to understand, not the Heathen world at large, but the nations fubject to the Roman power and monarchy, particularly those that have been, fubject to modern or Papal Rome. These are exprefsly called the Gentiles by our Saviour, Luke xxi. and 24. Jerufalem fhall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, for by the times of the Gentiles we are here to understand, as I have already fhewn the time, times and a half of the reign of Antichrift. The word feems alfo to be used in this fenfe, as Mr Poole thinks, Acts iv. and 27. and chap. xxi, and 11. Taking the Gentiles then in this place to fignify the Roman monarchy, or nations fubject to it, by the coming in of their fulness, we may understand their being all converted to true genuine Chriftianity, or brought to a right understanding of the doctrines and precepts of the Gofpel, which has never yet been the cafe; for, not to speak of individuals, of which there are vast numbers in every country grofsly ignorant in matters of religion, feveral great nations ftill continue in their fub. jection to the church of Rome, and are in a state little if any thing at all better than Paganifm. It is true, these nations were once good Chriftians, I mean before the rife of Popery; but when this was the cafe, there were other parts of Europe without any knowledge of the Gofpel at all. Moft of the northern nations, fuch as the English, Saxons, Danes, and a great part of Germany, being at that time in a ftate of perfect Heathenifm, and by the time these were converted,

converted, the other had degenerated; fo that, as I faid, the whole of the Roman empire or Europe has never yet been properly converted or brought in. If it be objected, that the northern nations above mentioned were never within the pale of the Roman empire, I answer, not indeed while Rome was Pagan or under the Caesarean head, but they certainly were so afterward, when fhe came under the last head or during the reign of Antichrift: and it is chiefly the nations that are, and have been under his jurifdiction, that are here meant by the Gentiles. The meaning of this paffage therefore is, that the blindness of the Jews will continue till all thefe or the greater part are properly converted, and brought to a right underftanding of the doctrines and inftitutions of the Gofpel; or, in other words, till a general reformation takes place in the church, that is, till the fall of Popery. So this paffage agrees exactly with those other places mentioned before, where the converfion of the Jews is made to coincide with the fall of Antichrift, and to happen prior to the general ingathering of the Heathen. Till the fulnefs of the Gentiles be come in, may alfo fignify till these Gentiles are fully, that is, thoroughly converted, which, as we faid before of the other fenfe, has never yet happened,Papists being but a fort of half Chriftians. But now that the reformed religion has been established, and that Popery is fal ling every day more and more, there is reafon to hope, that the time when this prophecy will receive its accomplifiment is not very diflant. Mr Poole's interpretation of this paffage, which the reader will find in his Notes, is, though fomewhat different from the

above, yet agrees with it as to the main thing, name. ly, that the converfion of the Jews will coincide with the fall of Antichrift, and precede the general ingathering of the Heathen. But taking the words of the Apostle, Rom. xi. and 25. as they ftand, or in the ftri&teft fenfe, all that we can infer from them is, that the whole of the Jewish nation will not be converted till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; that is, there will always be a confiderable part of them remaining in unbelief, to be witneffes to the reft of man. kind of the truth of the Gospel, till the fulness of the Gentiles or greater part of them be converted; but that does not hinder why there may not be a general converfion and ingathering of them before that time. There may be a general or national converfion of that people at any given time; though many individuals, or even a confiderable part of them, continue afterwards to hold out.

Thus, we fay, the Scots embraced the Proteftant religion in the the time of John Knox, though there were many Papifts in the country after that time, and not a few continue to this day. We cannot therefore, from this paffage, infer that the converfion of the Jews will not happen till all the Gentiles are brought in. The contrary is probable, nay, I think certain from Scripture, namely, that the converfion of the Jews is to precede that of the Heathen, and to be a means of it. To the paffages above quoted, I fhall only add another, Rom. xi. and 12. "Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulnefs?" By the riches of the world and