imitate the Faith of their Father Abraham. And therefore God might reject the unbelieving Jews, and own the believing Gentiles as his Children, and the Heirs of his Promifes, without difannulling his Covenant with Abraham and his Seed.

The next Example of Jacob and Efau, more expressly relates to the Difference between the two Covenants; the Law of Mofes, and the Gospel of Chrift. The Jews expected Juftification by the Law of Mofes, the Covenant of Works, and rejected the Faith of Chrift; and for this Reason the Apostle tells them, that God would reject them, and receive the believing Gentiles for Abraham's Seed, and his peculiar People. This is what he undertook to prove in this Chapter, as appears from the Conclufion, 30th and following Verses. What Jhall we say then, that the Gentiles, who followed not after Righteoufnefs, even the Righteoufnefs of Faith; that is, are own'd and juftified by God through Faith in Chrift Jefus; but Ifrael who followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness; are not accepted nor juftified by God. Wherefore? Because they fought it not by Faith, but as it were by the works of the Law: For they ftumbled at the ftumbling-stone, as it is written, Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-ftone, and a rock of offence; and whofcever believeth in him, fhall not be afbamed.

Now this, the Apoftle tells us, was typify'd and prefigur'd in Jacob and Efau, 10, 11, 12, 13 ver. And not only this, that is, God did not only make this Difference between Ifaac and Ishmael, but even when Rebeccab bad alfo conceiv'd by one, even by our father Ifaac; though Jacob and Efau had the fame Father and Mother, and Ifaac their Father was Son of the Promife, yet God made a visible Diftinction between them. For the children not

being yet born, nor having done either good or evil, that the purpose of God according to Election might Stand, not of Works, but of him that called. It was faid unto her, the Elder shall fere the Younger; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Efau have I hated. The fhort Account of which is this: Rebeccab conceiv'd Twins, which struggled in her Womb, and being concerned to know the Meaning of it, God tells her, Two Nations are in thy Womb, two Manner of People fhall be feparated from thy Bowels; and one People fhall be stronger than the other People; and the elder fball ferve the younger, Gen. 25. 22, 23. Ifaac was the Son of the Promise, and he had Efau and Jacob at one Birth; which was a Figure of two Covenants contain'd in that Promise which God made to Abraham. Efau, who was the Firft-born, prefigured the Law of Mofes, or the Covenant of Works, which God first gave to the Ifraelites, and confequently prefigured the carnal Ifrael, who were under the Difcipline of that Law. Jacob, who was the younger Brother, took hold of Efau's Heel, and immediately follow'd him into the World; which fignified the Gospel Covenant, which should be published towards the End of the Mofaical Difpenfation: The firft a Covenant of Works, the fecond of Faith: The first the carnal, the fecond the fpiritual Seed of Abrabam, the true Heirs of God's Promifes. For the elder fball ferve the younger; that is, the younger fhall be the Heir, and therefore the Lord of the Family. Upon which Account God is faid to love Jacob, and to hate Efau; that is, this myftical Jacob and Efau, this spiritual and carnal Seed; the one the Heir of the Promifes, the other rejected from being Heir. And the Apostle proves that this is the true myftical Senfe of it by this Argument, that the Birthright was given to the Younger

before

before the Children were born, and before they had done any Good or Evil. And therefore God did not make this Diftinction between them upon any perfonal Account, either perfonal Merit, or De merit, for this did not concern their Perfons; but they were Types and Figures, whereby God decla red his purpofe according to Election, that it is not of works, but of him that calleth. The Purpofe of Election is God's chufing Abraham a Seed, who fhould be accounted Abraham's Seed, and Heirs of the Promises. This Purpose God had declared in the Promise to Abraham, in Ifaac fhall thy feed be called; which does not fignify all his carnal Seed and Pofterity, but the Children of the Promife, the Children of Faith, as Ifaac was. This purpose God declared in rejecting Ifmael, and chufing Ifaac for his Seed; and to confirm this purpose, he gave another Inftance of it in Jacob and Efau. There was no Difference in their Birth; or if there were any, Efau had the Advantage, as being elder Brother; no Difference in Merit, for neither of them had done Good or Evil. Which proves that God, in chufing Abraham's Seed, who fhould be Heirs of the Promifes, (which he calls here the Purpose of Election, which does not refer to the Election of any particular Perfons, but of Abraham's Seed) did not regard their mere natural Defcent from Abraham; for both Ishmael and Efau were rejected, though defcended from Abraham. Nor the Righteousness of Works, or of the Mofaical Law; for Efau was rejected, and Jacob chofen, before either of them had done either good or evil. But God's Purpofe of Election was, in Ifaac fhall thy Seed be called; that is, as I have already fhewn, all thofe who are born by the Power of Faith, as Ifaac was, are Abraham's Seed. This

is

is the Apostle's Proof, that Abraham's Seed, who are Heirs of the Promifes, are the Children of Faith: That is, that thofe who believe in Chrift are Abraham's Seed, and were originally intended in that Covenant God made with Abraham. Which fhews the Diftinction between Abraham's carnal and fpiritual Seed; and that the Promifes made to Abraham were all the Bleffings of the Meffiah: Not merely the temporal Promises of the Law of Mofes; but that Life and Immortality, which was brought to light by the Gofpel.

Nintbly, I fhall add but one thing more, that the Land of Canaan, which God promised to Abraham and to his Seed, was a Type of Heaven. All that I have already faid, to prove that God's Covenant with Abraham was not a mere temporal Covenant, but contain'd Spiritual and Eternal Bleffings, neceffarily proves that the Land of Canaan, which was the only Inheritance that God in express Words promised to Abraham and his Seed, was not a mere temporal Inheritance. And if Chrift was that promifed Seed in whom all the nations of the earth were to be bleffed, as I have now fhewn you; and not Abraham's Carnal, but Spiritual Seed were the Heirs of the Promifes; then that promifed Land, which only the Spiritual Seed of Abraham was to inherit, could not be a mere temporal, but a heavenly Canaan. But befide this, there are a great many Circumftances relating to this promifed Land, which, when put together, can never be well accounted for upon any other Principle: And have all the Force of an Argument, which the Nature of Types and their Mystical Reafons and Interpretations can give them. As to fhew this particularly.

The firft Command that we read God gave to Abraham was, Get thee out of thy country, and from

thy

thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will fhew thee, Gen. 12. I. This was the first Act of Abraham's Faith, which entitled him to the Promise of the Land of Canaan. By Faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which be fhould afterwards receive for an inheritance, obey'd: and he went out, not knowing whither be went, Heb. 11. 8. What then is meant by his own Country, and by his Father's Houfe? Is it only that Place where he was born, and where his Kindred and Relations lived? This indeed is one Senfe of his Country, and his Father's House; and in this Sense he obey'd, and went into Canaan, which was then an unknown Country to him. But it is somewhat unaccountable, why God fhould call Abraham out of his own Country, and make him forfake all his Kindred and Relations, not to give him the immediate Poffeffion of Canaan, but only a Promise of it, that fome Ages after his Pofterity fhould inherit it; but he himself should fojourn all his Days in it, without any Poffeffion, or any fettled Habitation there: As the Apostle adds, By Faith be fojourned in the land of promife, as in a Strange country; dwelling in tabernacles with Ifaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the fame promifes. If this were to take him from bad Company, it carried him into worfe. For the Canaanites were then fo wicked a People, that God was refolved to root them out, and to give their Land to Abraham's Pofterity for an Inheritance. And though Men have a natural Affection for their native Country, and for their Father's House; yet this is no fuch difficult Trial, to change the Air, and to transplant themselves into a better Country. And yet in this Senfe Canaan was no ftrange Country to Ifaac and Jacob, who were born there. And tho' they had no Inheritance in that Country, nor any