Worsley(i)
1 I say then, Hath God cast off his people? God forbid! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast off his people, whom He foreknew. Do ye not know what the scripture saith of Elias? how he complains to God against Israel,
3 saying, "Lord, they have slain thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life."
4 But what saith the oracle of God to him? "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
5 And so in the present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 And if by grace, it is no more of works: for then grace is no longer grace. But if of works, it is no more grace: for then work is no longer work.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he sought: but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded,
8 (according as it is written, God hath given them a spirit of slumber, that their eyes could not see and their ears could not hear,) even unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table become a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompence unto them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and always bow down their back.
11 Say I then, Have they stumbled, that they should fall irrecoverably? God forbid! but this I say, that by their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles to excite them to emulation.
12 Now if their fall be the riches of the world, and their diminution be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more will their fulness be?