are they all a children: but in Ifaac shall thy feed be called. 8. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promife are counted for the feed. 9. For this is the word of promite, "At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a fon. 10. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Ifaac, 11. (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the (1) purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.) 12. It was faid unto her, The • * elder [Or, greater] shall serve the * younger [Or, leffer]. 13. As it is written, a Jacob have

Joh. 8.37, 39. I know that ye are Abraham's Seed.- Jefus faith unto them, if ye were Abrahams Children, ye would do the Works of Abraham.

r

becca, his Wife conceived.

I

11. Rom. 4. 17. -God who quickneth the Dead, and calleth those Things which be not, as 5 though they were.

12. Gen. 25. 23. The Lord said unto her, Two Nations are in thy Womb, and two manner People shall be feparated from thy

Gen. 21. 12. God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy Sight, because of the Lad, and because of thy Bond-woman; in all that Sarah hath faid unto thee, 10 Bowels: and the one People shall

hearken unto her Voice, for in
Isaac shall thy Seed be called. † Heb.
11. 18. Of whom it was faid, That
in ifaac shall thy Seed be called.
8. Gal.4.28. Now we, Bre-15
thren, as Ifaac was, are the Chil-
dres of the Promise.

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of

be stronger than the other People, and the Elder shall serve the Younger. 2 Sam. 8. 14. And he put Garifons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he Garisons, and all they of Et dom became Davids Servants.

13. d* Mal. 1. 2, 3. I have loved you, faith the Lord: yet ye say, Wherein haft thou loved us?

9. u * Gen. 18. 10. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the Time of Life: 20 Was not Efau Jacobs Brother?

and Sarah thy Wife shall have a

Son.

faith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Efau, and laid his Mountains and his Heritage waste, for the Dragons in the Wilder

10.a † Gen. 25. 21. And Ifaac intreated the Lord for his Wife, because she was barren: and the 25 ness. Lord was intreated of him, and Re

(1) The Purpose and Election of God here, does not respect the eternal Condition of Jacob and Efau. The Meaning therefore is not, that God, by an absolute and unconditional Decree, determined Jacob to Happiness, and Efou to Mifery, before either of them were born, or had done Good or E, vil; but the Meaning is, that God before Jacob and Efau were born, had determined that Jacob should be the Father of the Jewish Church, and that Christ should defcend from his Loins, not from the Loins of Efau. This God might do, without any Injustice to Efau, who was notwithstarding capable of eternal Happiness.

I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14. What shall we fay then? Is there f unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15. For he faith to Mofes, I will have mercy (1) on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compaffion on whom I will have compaffion. 16. So then it is (2) not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17. For the h fcripture faith unto Pharaoh, Even for this fame purpose have I (3) raised thee

up, all my Goodness to pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be 5 gracious, us, and will shew mercy whom I will shew Mercy.

on

14. f† Deut. 32. 4. -All his Ways are judgment: a God of Truth, and without Iniquity, just and right is he. + 2 Chron. 19. 7. There is no Iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of Persons, nor taking of Gifts. + Job 34. 10. -Far be it from God that he should do Wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit 15 Christ might be given to them that believe.

17. h† See Gal.3.8, 22. The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith, 10 preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all Nations be blesled. The Scripture hath concluded all under Sin, that the Promise by Faith of Jesus

Iniquity. Pfal. 92. 15. There is no unrighteousness in him.

15. * Exod. 33. 19. I will make

+ !

Exod. 9. 16. In very deed, for

(1) These Words are cited to prove, that God was at liberty, if it fo pleased him, to admit the Gentiles to the same Privileges which were offered to the Jews, which even the believing Jews were unwilling to allow. They do not imply that God will deny Mercy to any Person who' is a fit Object of it; nor is it here implied, that God will be wanting to any, or refuse to give Grace sufficient to fit those for Mercy who do their own Part, and apply themselves to him for it. I will farther add, that in the Gofpel Sense, he is a fit Object of Mercy, who sincerely performs the Conditions on which it is promifed.

(2) It is not here implied, that God will reject any one that defires to accept of Salvation on the Terms it is offered. But the Sense of the Words seems to be this: The Person chosen by God to inherit the Bleffings promised to Abraham, (among which the principal was, that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed) was thus remarkably distinguished by the Mercy and Bounty of God. It is not therefore of him that willeth, as Abraham willed that the Blefsings to be derived to Mankind by Christ, who was to descend from his Loins, should come by Ishmael; and as Ifaac willed and intended the Blessing for Efau; nor of him that runneth, as Efau ran, to get the Venison, and to obtain the Blessing; but it was purely an Act of God's Favour, who appointed Jacob to be the Person.

(3) The Meaning of these Words is not, that God created Pharaoh on purpose that he might be an Example of his Vengeance and severity;

for

up, that I might shew my Power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18. Therefore (1) hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardneth. 19. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20. Nay but, Oman, who art thou that * repliest against God [Or, answerest again, or, disputest with God]? * shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why haft thou made me thus?

for this cause have I raised thee up, for to thew in thee my Power, and that my Name may be declared throughout all the Earth.

21. Hath not the (2) Pot

ter

our Father: we are the Clay, and thou our Potter, and we all are the Work of thy Hand.

21.Prov. 16. 4. The Lord

20. Job 9. 12. Behold, he ta 5 hath made all things for himself:

yea, even the Wicked for the Day of Evil. Jer. 18. 6. O House of Ifrael, cannot I do with you as this Potter? faith the Lord. Be

keth away, who can hinder him ? Who will fay unto him, What dost thou? Job 33.13. Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his Matters. To hold, as the Clay is in the Potter's

Ifa. 29. 16. -Shall the Work say of Hand, so are ye in my Hand, O him that made it, He made me not? House of Ifrael. * Wifd. 15.7. Or, shall the thing framed, say of The Potter tempering soft Earth, him that framed it, He had no unfashioneth every Vessel with much derstanding? *Ifa. 45. 9. Wo un- 15 labour for our Service: yea, of to him that striveth with his Ma- the fame Clay he maketh both the ker: let the Potsherd strive with Vessels that serve for clean Uses, the Potsherds of the Earth: Shall and likewife also all such as ferve to the Clay say to him that fashioneth the contrary : but what is the it, What makest thou? or thy 20 Ufe of either fort, the Potter him

Work, He hath no Hands? † Isa. 64.8. But now, O Lord, thou art

self is the Judge.

for God made no Man to be miferable. The Hebrew in Exodus, from whence this Passage is cited, fignifies, for this Cause bave I made thee to Stand, That is, I have preserved and kept thee alive, notwithstanding the Plagues which have been already inflicted, though thou hast long since deserved to be destroyed. Or, the Words may relate to Pharaoh's Advancement to the Throne. Those who will have them to fignifie, that Pharaoh was created for this purpose, cannot blame him for answering the End of his Creation.

(1) The Calling of the Gentiles to partake of the Blessings of the Gospel, was an inftance of the great Goodness and Mercy of God. The Jews too were likewise called, and their rejection upon their hardning their Hearts, and refusing to accept of that gracious Offer, was an instance of his Justice. God is indeed said to have hardned the Hearts of Pharaoh, and of the Egyptians, of Sihon, and the Kings of Canaan, but that is to be understood figuratively, as importing only a bare Permission. See the Notes on Joh. 12.40. and Acts 7.42.

(2) The Meaning of this Allusion seems to be this: As the Potter, out

of 22.

- ter power over the clay, of the fame lump to make mone vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour ? What if God willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the nvessels of wrath * fitted [Or, made up] to deftruction: 23. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory? 24. Even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. 25. As he faith alfo in Ofee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her, beloved, which was not belov26. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where ordained to this Condemnation, ungodly Men.

ed.

n

23. P† Col. 1. 27. See on Rom.

2.4.

m†2 Tim. 2. 20. But in a great House there are not only Vessels of Gold, and of Silver, but alfo of Wood, and of Earth; and some to Honour, and fome to Dishonour. I Thef. 1. 10. - Jesus which delivered us from the Wrath to come. I Thes. 5. 9. God hath not appointed us to Wrath ; but to obtain Salvation by our 1o not a People, but are now the People Lord Jesus Christ.

22.

† 1 Pet, 2. 8. A Stone of stumbling, and a rock of Offence, even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient, whereunto alfo they were appointed. † Jude Ver. 15 4. There are certain Men crept in unawares, who were before of old

5
25. 4* Hof. 2. 23. - I will fay
to them which were not my People,
Thou art my People; and they shall
say, Thou art my God. 1 Pet.
2. 10. Which in time past were

F

of God; which had not obtained Mercy, but now have obtained Mercy.

26. Hof. 1.9, 10. -Ye are not my People, and I will not be your God. Yet the Number of the Children of Ifrael shall be as the

of the fame Lump of Clay, hath Power to make one Vessel for an honourable Ufe, and another for a dishonourable Use, so Almighty God may, without injustice, make choice of one Nation to be in a peculiar manner his People, and confer fingular Favours upon them, which he does not think fit to bestow upon other Nations. If therefore God be confidered only as the Creator of the World, the Jews will not have any thing that they can reasonably object against him, for casting off the Bulk of their Nation, and choofing for his People, those of them who believed, and the believing Gentiles. But God did not proceed in an arbitrary manner with them, as is manifest from the Reasoning in the following Verse. He bore long with them, and they had many gracious Offers made to them by the Son of God. Nor were they delivered over to Punishment, before they had, by their own Deservings, fitted themselves for Destruction. It is farther obfervable, that when God made choice of the Pofterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be his peculiar People, the refidue of Mankind were not left in an hopeless Condition; for they were manifestly included in the Promise made to Abraham, Gen 22 18. In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be bleffed. See the Note on Ads 13.48.

where it was faid unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. 27. Efaias also crieth concerning Ifrael, Though the number of the children of Ifrael be as the sand of the sea,

a

S

remnant shall be saved. 28. For he will finish * the work [Or, the account], and cut it short in righteousness : because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. 29. And as Efaias faid before, a Except the Lord of fabaoth had left us a feed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. 30. (1) What shall we say then? that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is

of

29. a* Ifa. 1. 9. Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a very small Remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been

the Sand of the Sea, which cannot be measured nor numbred; and it shall come to pass, that in the Place where it was faid unto them, Ye are not my People, there it shall be 5 like unto Gomorrah. † Lam. 3. 22.

faid unto them, Ye are the Sons of the living God.

27.$* Ifa. 10. 22, 23. Though thy People Ifrael be as the Sand of

It is of the Lords Mercies that we are not confumed, because his Compaffions fail not.

b + Ifa. 13. 19. Babylon, the the Sea, yet a remnant of them 10 Glory of Kingdoms, the Beauty of

shall return: the Confumption decreed shall overflow with righteousnefs. For the Lord of Hosts shall make a Consumption, even determined in the midst of all the Land.

† Rom. 11.5. Even so then at this present time also there is a Remnant according to the Election of Grace.

the Caldees Excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Jer. 50. 40. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, 15 and the neighbour Cities thereof, faith the Lord: So shall no Man abide there, neither shall any Son of Man dwell therein.

20

30. See on Rom. 1. 17.

(1) In this and the following Verse, we have the Conclusion the Apostle draws from what he had laid down in the former Part of the Chapter; namely, That the Gentiles, who before the Coming of Christ had no Notion of the Method of obtaining Juftification and Salvation, upon its being made known to them, complied with the Terms it was offered to them upon, and therefore obtained it: Whereas the generality of the Jews, who had fome knowledge of these Things, mifled of it, because they fought it not in God's Way, but thought to obtain Justification or Pardon, and Salvation by the Law of Moses. Hence it is manifest, that the Apostle had no design to teach, in this difficult Chapter, that God was a respecter of Persons; which he would be, had he by a fecret Decree determined, before People had done good or evil, that some few should be necessarily happy, but the much greater Number of Men and Women neceffarily Miserable; for if this had been the Apostle's Meaning, he would have mentioned it in the Conclusion he draws from what he had faid.