obtain this End, viz, their Salvation, he cou'd have been content to have laid down his Life for them, which is the highest Inftance of Chriftian Charity: For greater love than this hath no man, that one lay down his life for his friend: So that he hereby expreffes his extremely paffionate Concern for his Brethren, Kinfmen, and Relations according to the Flefh, and endeavours to perfuade them that the Arguments he was going to make ufe of, proceeded from his great Affection and Concern for their fpiritual Welfare, and therefore ought not to be flighted and difregarded as Things of little moment. His main Design therefore being to convince them that, notwithstanding their Advantages of Birth and Defcent which they gloried in, it would be of no Service to them, fo long as they rejected the glorious Difpenfation of the Gofpel: And fince they insisted that God's Mercies did folely belong to them, from his Promises to their Forefathers; therefore this Chapter is almost wholly spent to convince them to the contrary, that tho' they were Abraham's Seed, &c. which he allows at large, ver. 4, 5. but denies, ver. 6. that that can give them a Title to the Promises made to Abraham; For they are not all Ifrael, which are of Ifrael : Ver. 7. Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Ifaac fhall thy feed be called. Abraham Abraham had feveral other Children befides Ifaac, yet to Ifaac was the Promise made, that according to the Flesh Chrift fhould come; In whom all the nations of the earth fhould be blessed. Therefore those that believe in Chrift, and only those, are Abraham's feed and heirs according to promife: For, Ver. 8. They which are the children of the flesh, thefe are not the children of God, but the children of the promife are counted for the feed. Ver. 9. For this is the word of promife, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a fon: To whofe Line Chrift was promised. Ver. 10. And when Rebecca alfo had conceived, of two, by Ifaac; Ver. 11. For the children not being yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might ftand, not of works, but of him that calleth; Ver. 12. It was faid unto her, The elder fhall ferve the younger. Ver. 13. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, and Efau have I hated. In these Verfes is fhewn God's Choice of Jacob the Son of Isaac, that from his Loins Thould proceed the promifed Meffias, but not from Efau's. This is therefore God's Election of Jacob before he was born, to give him the Preference, which is to be understood only as a temporal Advantage, and which which indeed he enjoy'd accordingly; for he got both the Birthright and Bleffing. This Election therefore, or Choice, which God made of Jacob rather than of Efau, only refpected his temporal Profperity, and the Promife of Chrift from his Family; but not a total Rejection of Efau with refpect to a future State: So that when God is faid to love Jacob, and hate Efau, 'tis only a comparative Way of speaking; and the Word hate can only fignify lefs Love fhew'd to Efau in refpect of temporal Privileges: Thus was Jacob faid to love Rachel and hate Leah; which could certainly fignify no more than lefs Love for her; and because he had an extraordinary Love to Rachel, his small Love to Leah was comparatively counted Hatred. As to fpiritual Advantages, and the Happinefs of a future State, I make no doubt Efau had an equal Right with Jacob; and as for the Expreffion, that Efau found no place of repentance, tho' he fought it carefully with tears, it is plain, that it refpects only the Irrecoverableness of his Birthright, which had entitled Jacob and his Pofterity to the fruitful Land of Canaan; whereas the Dominions of Efau and his Pofterity were the barren Mountains of Mount Seir. Ver. 14. What shall we fay then, Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. That is, God may justly bestow his temporal Bleffings on whom he pleases; for he certainly certainly best knows when to bestow them, and upon whom, and what Ufe will be made of them; and fince our spiritual Welfare is the chief End of our Beings, and what God chiefly aims at, we ought not to conceive God acts unjustly. Ver. 15. For he faith to Mofes, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compaffion on whom I will have compaffion. At this time Mofes had been pleading the Jews Prerogative and fpecial Title to his Favour, when God through their Rebellions had threatned their Destruction, faying, Let me alone, that I may destroy them in a moment. Now Mofes hereupon argues, that he could not deftroy them but be guilty of the Breach of his Promises to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob; and therefore, notwithstanding their Rebellions, he was bound to be merciful to them in the most peculiar manner. The Jews alfo in Difpute with the Apoftle seem to make thefe Reasonings their Defence against complying with any other Difpenfation than the Mofaic; and that on account of the Privileges of their Parentage, God could not justly remove his Mercies from them, to bestow them upon any other Nation or People: Wherefore the Cafe being alike in the Reasoning of Mofes with God, and the Jews with the Apoftle, the Apoftle quotes God's Anfwer as fufficient to remove their Dependence upon their Descent and Parentage; Parentage; I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compaffion on whom I will have compaffion; that is, My Mercies are not fo confin'd to them, if they be rebellious, as to preferve them from my Juftice: I have Mercy in Store for other Nations as well as they, even for all that fear me; and can justly punish the Rebellions of those with whom my Covenant is establish'd, and fhew Mercy to thofe that fear me, of what Generation or Nation foever: As the Bleffed Virgin very well explains it, His mercies are on them that fear him throughout all generations. Ver. 16. So then it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that fheweth mercy. In the Explication of this Text, I fhall make use of the Words of a learned Divine of my Acquaintance, viz. "Here is a plain Reference to the Cafe " of Abraham, Ifaac, and Efau. Abraham "willed that the Bleffings to be derived to "Mankind by Chrift, who was to descend " from his Loins, fhould come by Ifmael; " and Ifaac willed and intended the Bleffing "for Efau; and Efau ran to get the Veni fon, and to obtain the Bleffing: But fince temporal Bleffings are the Donation of "God, who bestows them as he pleases, "and this in particular was purely an Act "of God's Favour, who appointed Jacob " to |