first called, but their own voluntary choice. They chose to be "excused ;" and "one went to his farm, and another to his merchandise." They were, therefore, justly left to their own choice, and thus entered into the state of reprobation.

The general strain of Scripture promises, both in the Old and New Testaments, is conditional: "If thou doest well, shalt not thou be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." Gen. iv. 7.

- 66

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known." Deut. xi. 26-28.

"And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store."-" The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thy hand unto:”"The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt

keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.”

"But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee; Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store."-" And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron."

I have taken only a few verses out of this chapter; (Deut. xxviii.) but it is entirely filled, though it contains sixty-eight verses, with blessings and curses, all conditionally promised and denounced.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Matt. vii. 7,

8.

"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” v. 21.

But why need we multiply passages to prove this point? We can scarcely read a chapter in the Bible, without finding this important truth incorporated in the precepts, or illustrated by the facts recorded in it.

Much stress has been laid on that passage in the Epistle to the Romans: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Rom. ix. 13. And by blending this with a part of the 11th verse of the same chapter,-" For the children being not yet born, neither having done

any good or evil, &c." an idea is conveyed, that this related personally to Jacob and Esau, the one loved and the other hated, previously to their being born, or doing any good or evil.

But by taking the texts as they stand in the Scriptures, and bearing in mind the great objects for which the apostle was labouring, we shall find that the doctrine in question will receive no support from these passages.,

In the first place, it may not be improper to quote the language of the apostle; and in doing this, to remember that he quotes two texts-one from Gen. xxv. 23, and the other from Mal. i. 2, 3, &c. The apostle, after expressing his earnest desire for the salvation of his brethren, and alluding to the high privileges which had been bestowed upon them, adverts to the ground on which they had miserably stumbled: "For," says he, " they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the Children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Rom. ix. 6-8. In these verses he breaks in upon their vain confidence in an outward and lineal descent from the patriarch, and their expectation of receiving the promises through that claim. He then proceeds, in connection with the latter part of the passage just quoted, to point them to the true ground of acceptance, which is in Christ; of whom Isaac was a lively type; and who is very appropriately called the son of promise. He then goes on to allude to a text in Gen. xxv. 23, where it is recorded of Rebecca, that she went to seek counsel of the Lord, in relation to her

peculiar condition. Then it was that the children not being yet born, nor having done either good or evilthe apostle says, "that the purpose of God according to election might stand: not of works,” (on which the Jews so much relied, as if their rituals brought debt on the Almighty,) "but of Him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger." Rom. ix. 11, 12. The text in Genesis of which the apostle quoted a part, informed Rebecca that she should be the mother of two nations-that their manners should be different, and that the one should be stronger than the other, and the elder should serve the younger. To the part of this Scripture quoted by the apostle, he adds a text from Mal. i. 2, &c. which was introduced by the following impressive language, to the rebellious house of Israel; "I have loved you saith the Lord." Yet they said; "Wherein has thou loved us ?" The responding language runs thus: "Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith; We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness."

Thus it is evident that there was, in the passages above quoted, an allusion to nations; and at the very time at which it was said, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated," it appears that the judgments of the Almighty had been poured out upon Edom, personated by Esau-and that to this nation was applied the striking expression, "The border of wickedness."

“The elder shall serve the younger,” could not relate to the individuals who seemed to be the ostensible objects of the prophecy: for Jacob never exercised authority or dominion over Esau; but first fled from him, and afterwards greatly feared him. But in the giving of the Law, and the coming of the Messiah through the descendands of Jacob, there was a fulfilment of this prophecy.

But we often find that passages of Scripture have a mystical and spiritual meaning, as well as one that is more obvious and outward; and this is peculiarly the case in Rom. ix. 12: "The elder shall serve the younger." Not only did the apostle bring into view the dealings of the Almighty with the Jewish nation, and his Divine prerogative to extend his favours to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews; (a doctrine hard to be borne at that day;) but the two states of man the first, as he stands in the fall, or unregenerate nature-and the second, as the new birth is produced by the operation of Divine Grace, are beautifully typified by Jacob and Esau-the one loved, the other hated. The carnal mind, inseparable from the fallen, corrupt nature, has been, through all ages, at enmity against God, and obnoxious to his displeasure: while He regards, with parental love, the first breathings of the new birth. Nor does the similitude end here; for all our natural faculties and propensities, must be brought into subjection to the Divine Principle, if ever we attain to a state of acceptance.

The first and second natures are often brought into view, by instructive metaphors and allegories; for "that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;