ture; and is not loaded with any Difficulties but what admit of an eafy Solution.

That a Conformity to the Image of the Son of God fhould fignify a Conformity to his Sufferings, will not appear ftrange or forced, to any who confider the conftant Doctrine of the Apostles concerning the Certainty of the Perfecutions of the primitive Church. Our Apostle St. Paul was ever preaching the Neceffity of thofe Sufferings, and exhorting the Difciples, as is faid particularly of those of Lyftra, Iconium, and Antioch, (Acts xiv. 22.) to continue in the Faith, and that they MUST through much Tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. To you it is given, fays he, to his Philippians, (i. 29.) not only to believe in Chrift, but also to SUFFER for his Sake. It is a faithful Saying, or if you please, an infallible Decree, fays he to Timothy, that if we be dead with Chrift we shall also live with him, if we SUFFER we shall alfo reign with bim, (2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.)

And St. Peter more expreffly calls the Perfecutions of the Christians, or, as he ftyles them in the Beginning of his Epiftle, of the Elect, a partaking of the Sufferings of Chrift. Beloved, fays he, think it not ftrange concerning the fiery Trial, which is to try you, as though fome Strange thing had happened unto you; but rejoice in as much as ye are PARTAKERS of CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS, that when his Glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad alfo with ex

ceeding

ceeding Joy. Seeing then, that to be conformed to the Image of Chrift is a very proper and beautiful Expreffion, to fignify the Suffering with him and for him, who appeared among us as a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief: Seeing that this Phrase, if fo understood, is not only very expreffive and natural in itself, but very agreeable to the Language of the facred Writers of the New Teftament, and particularly of St. Paul, in other Places, it cannot therefore be forced or unnatural to put that Conftruction upon it here; and feeing that this is not only a proper and eafy Conftruction, but that to which the Context does clearly and neceffarily confine it, it may furely be inferred, that this is, at least, a true, if not the only Meaning, of the Apostle in this Place.

That the Words has juftified, and has glorified, are not literally to be understood in the Præter-Tense, but of the Future, needs no Proof. It is a very easy and a very common Hebraifm, which occurs in every Chapter in the Bible; and this alone fufficiently fhews it to be faid of the future here, that St. Paul himself must be excluded out of the Number of the Predeftinated, if it be otherwife understood; fince he had not at that Time received that Juftification, or that Glory.

That by God's Elect, in ver. 33. is meant the fame Perfons who are before faid to be

the

the Called according to God's Purpose, and the Predeftinated, ver. 28, 29. will be readily granted; and who thefe called are St. Paul himself tells us, in the next Chapter, Even us, fays he, whom God bath CALLED, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles: That is, us Chriftians in general agreeably to his Quotation out of Hofea, where God fays, I will CALL them my People who were not my People, and her beloved which was not beloved. And lastly,

The Foreknowledge of God is as ftrong an Argument against the Freedom of his own Actions, as of thofe of Men. Known unto

God are all his Works from the Foundation of the World. And yet it is and must be allowed, that he is a free Agent, by all who allow of his Existence. And by a Parity of Reason then, his Fore-knowledge of the Ufe Men will make of his Difpenfations does no more imply his acting neceffarily upon them, than his Fore-knowledge of his own Actions does imply his Want of Liberty, or his acting neceffarily himself.

So that upon the Whole, there seems to be little to object, and much to urge in Defence of this Interpretation of St. Paul; whose Reasoning in this Place, if understood in the ftrict Predeftinarian Senfe, will run thus, Brethren, be of good Courage, and fupport your Sufferings chearfully; for God has arbitrarily fore-ordained that fome FEW among

you

you fhall, whether they will or no, ftrictly obey bis Laws here, and be eternally happy hereafter; and therefore you ought ALL to overlook your Dangers and Difficulties, and to support yourfelves under them, by fixing your Eyes always on that Happiness which it is irreverfibly decreed, the greatest Part of you shall never obtain. But fuch Abfurdities furely are too grofs, fuch Inferences too incongruous and illogical to be charged upon the Learning, apart from the Inspiration, of St. Paul; whose Arguments are in all other Places most cogent and conclufive, as well as his Exhortations nervous, and his Perfuafions ftrong and pathetick. But to proceed.

After he has thus removed this Difficulty of the Sufferings of Chriftians, he proceeds in the three following Chapters to answer fuch other Objections as feemed to arise from the Rejection of the Jews, and the Reception of the Gentiles; and the main Points he undertakes to prove here are, that the Revelations of God to Mankind in this World, in the Jewish and Chriftian Religion, are Matters of mere Grace and Favour, not refolvable into any extraordinary Merit in the Perfons by whom, and to whom, he has made them, but purely into his own good Will and Pleafure: That the Promises of God to the Jews were fulfilled, inafmuch as the Meffias was first preached to them: That the Reception of the Gentiles was no Diminution of the

Veracity

Veracity of those Promises, and that the Ifraelites had no Reason to complain, for being excluded the Benefits of the Meffiah, because it was founded in their own Unbelief. In the Pursuit of which Arguments, the Apostle drops feveral Expreffions which feem to favour the rigid Senfe, and particularly three, the Preference of Jacob to Efau, the Instance of Pharaoh, and that of the Potter. But all thefe, as here referred to by the Apostle, relate only to God's Difpenfations in this World, and bear no Manner of Allufion to the eternal Mifery or Happiness of those who profess the Name of Chrift.

It is

When Rebecca had conceived by one, our Father Ifaac, fays the Apoftle, It was faid, the Elder fhall ferve the Younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Efau have I hated, before the Children, who were yet unborn, could bave done any Good or Evil; that the Purpofe of God according to Election might stand, not of Works, but of him that calleth. That is, very evident from the Inftance of Jacob and Efau, that the Revelations of God to the Patriarchs, and his Promises that the Meffiah fhould defcend from them, was not founded in their eminent Virtues, but purely in the Good-Will and Pleasure of him that made them. Jacob was chofen rather than Efau, before the one could have done any Evil, or the other any Good; and this Choice therefore could not be built on the good or ill

Quality