| 4 number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house the hand of bondmen, [bondsmen] from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt. Know, therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, which proves the long continuance of the blessings of this highly favored people.
And the Lord said unto her, [Rebecca, Gen. xxv:23] the elder shall serve the younger.-And why? Because that Isaac, the father of Esau and Jacob, the husband of Rebecca, and the son of promise to Abraham, was the heir; and as Esau was the elder son of his father Isaac, he had a legal claim to the heirship; but through unbelief, hardness of heart, and hunger, he sold his birthright to his younger brother, Jacob, Gen. xxv:33, and God knowing before hand that he would do this of his own free will and choice, or acting upon that agency which God has delegated to all men, said to his mother, the elder shall serve the younger; for as the elder son, Esau; has sold his birthright and by that means lost all claim to the blessings promised to Abraham, those blessings and promises must have failed, if they had not descended with the purchased birthright unto the younger son, Jacob, for there was no other heir in Israel's family; and if those blessings had failed, the purposes of God according to election must have failed, in relation to the posterity of Israel, and the oath of Jehovah would have been broken, which could not be, though heaven and earth were to pass away.
Rom ix.13.-As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Where is it written? Malachi i:1, 2, verses. When was it written. About 397 years before Christ, and Esau and Jacob were born about 1773 years before Christ, according to the common computation of time in scripture margin, so that Esau and Jacob lived about 1376 years before the Lord spoke by Malachi, saying, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated, as quoted by Paul. This text is often brought forward to prove that God loved Jacob and hated Esau, before they were born; or before they had done good or evil; but if God did love one and hate the other, before they had done good or evil, he has not seen fit to tell us of it, either in the old or new Testament, or any, other revelation; but this only we learn that 1376 years after Esau and Jacob were born, God said, by Malachi, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated; and surely that was time sufficient to prove their works, and ascertain whether they were worthy to be loved or hated.
And why did he love the one and hate the other? For the same reason that he accepted the offering of Abel, and rejected Cain's offering; because Jacob's works had been righteous and Esau's wicked; and where is there a righteous father who would not do the same thing? Who would not love an obedient and affectionate son, more than one who was disobedient, and sought to injure him and overthrow the order of his house? [Objection.] 'But God seeth not as man seeth, and he is no respecter of persons,' Acts x:34. True, but what saith the next verse, 'He that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him; but it does not say that he that worketh wickedness is accepted, and this is a proof that God has respect to the actions of persons;.and if he did not, why should he commend obedience to his law? for if he had no respect to the actions of men, he would be just as well pleased with a wicked man for breaking his law, as a righteous man for keeping it; and if Cain had done well he would have been accepted as well as Abel, Gen. iv:7, and Esau as well as Jacob, which proves that God does not respect persons, only in relation to their acts, see Mat. xxv.34, to the end, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was an hungered and ye gave me meat, &c.; and because that God blessed Abel and Jacob, this would not have hindered his blessing Cain and Esau, if their works had been righteous like unto their brethren; so God's choosing one nation to blessing, does not doom another to cursing, or make them reprobate, according to the reprobation of God, as some suppose; but by resisting the truth, they become reprobate concerning the faith, 2 Tim. iii:8, and are abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate, Titus, i:16, consequently are not the fit subjects for the blessings of election.
Rom. ix:15, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion, see Ex. xxxiii:13 to the 19. My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name, and I will make all my goodness to pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew [show] mercy on whom I will show mercy, Rom. ix:16. So then it is not of him
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