Of EleElion. 1ll~turat 6r ..mch(s, Rom. I J, And iunher, that after then· eminent breaf<jog,........_,.._. off by unbelie f, tor well.nigh two thoufand years fmce, their Covenant C11up. 1. !hould be remernbred, and tor their Fathers fakes atl If ratt fbo,.ldyet 6e fa·~ ved , as in the fame Chapter: .And as the place which he thore guotes out of Ej<Jy, alfo promlferh, that tbetr feeds feed ./ho11ld be convated m a fucce!live way from their fecond call to the vVorlds end: And perhaps of every one, at lea!t the mort of that Nation, And indeed it hath fcemcd to me to be one reafon why all that Nation were outwardly holy ( which no Nation c~cr was) before Chrifts rime, that this might be a l'rophetique Type that all ihould one day be inwardlyand really holy. How tran!cendenr a Privilcdge is this then, that they fhould have fomething peculiarly prom,fed to them, which is evident even by this alfo , that ilbr,,bamand his Seed had the peculiar promifc of Canaan, which we Gentiles have not. But yet let us fcarch into the Records of Holy Writ, if out of this their great Charter, there be not a Seal·Grant of a leffer, though like P!iviledge ; and this by verrue of Chrift; in that we have the honour to be accounted A6ra– bams Seed os truly as they; and likewife intbat, to have the Cqvenant erttail– ed unto Chil8ren isfo great and a Spiritual Priviledge as would tend infinitely to the comfort of godly Parents now, as then it did to theirs, to have our Seed within the Covenant , as theirs were. Wherefore though this was peculiar unto Abrabam and them, to have an Entail to them and to their Seed tor ever, yet that we !hould have our eyes and hearts blert with the hopes of our next Seed, (how far further I will not now dtfpute) as involved in this Covenant, was a meet mercy for Gods free Grace to vouchfafe to us Gentiles alfo: And feeing A6rabam and they did ·partake of fo great a Priviledge otherwife, it may well be hoped and expected, that fo fmall an one correfpondent to theirs, God !hould vouchfafe to us Gentiles, upon whom the Blelling of A6rabam through ChriCt is come, in a conformity unto his blelling upon him and his. And fearching this; Fir!l, I find that this very Priviledge is given unto n Gentile Convert by Chrift himfelf, and founded upon this very ground, that he was n So" of Abrabam, being become a Believer. This we have Lr1h 19. declared by Chrirt of Zachws when he was converted, who by all cir– cumftances was a Gentile; and fo the Ancient• carry it ; for he was a 'Pt~.bfican: And though fome, yet but few Jews were fuch, becanfc of the hatred of their own Notion; yet he being a chief Publican was furely therefore a Gentile : It being an office of truft, to be chief Cu!lom-gatherer for the Emperours;they would be fure to put none into that office but a Gentile. And fo I find out of Antiquity, Cyprimzand others quoted for it, that in thofe chief places of Cu· !lom, none but Equitfs Romam' , Roman Knights were placed. * And where- • Sec CDnt .•• fame object, that if Zacbeus had been a Gentile, that then the Jews would Z~n uro have clamoured againft Chrift, for going in unto a Gentile, and that fo pro- 1 'P "'' feffedly as under that notion, becaufe a Gentile; The ~ofwer is not far off, for verf. 7· we read th•t they did quarrel him for it, thtya/J murmttred, f!Ywg, that be waogone to bt a guefi to a Sitmer; that is a Gentile : for the Jews ufually c•lled the Gentiles by the name of Si1m1rs, as 'Pauls phrafe is, Gat. 2.. t 'i. S11mers of tbe Gentilrs. But then further, That Anfwer which Chrift there gives unto their murmuring doth ftrengthen this, for he lJys of him [In as much as Be al(o u tbe fim of Abrabam,] ver.9. The meaning of which words evidentlv IS this, That he who is not by birth a Son of AhrobJm, but a !inner, a Gent1le, yet is made one now by grace, And when Zache110 was thu; converted,Chrirt enlargeth his Covenant to Zachem his family alfo,[ tbu d"l. is Stllvatio1t come tothu Houfe, in a& m11ch no he alfo i4 tbe Son of A6rabamJ ver{;g,This was fpoken of him as now believing inChrirt.Now ifChrifts intent had been in t his his Anfwer given,roihew that he was a Jew, and fo though a great finner,yet was convertedas being a Son of A6raham~as fome expound it) he would have made it the reafon but of this only, why Zachem was favcd himfelf perfonally: But he makes it the reafon why his houfe fh~uld be favcd alfo, and fo the Covenant ftuck with them of his famil v likewifc, becaule he the Father cif the Family was now a Believer: Where~s had his Children and Family
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