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." (And therefore if the Jews have now chosen the flesh as their hope and portion, and are thus the children of the flesh, they have separated themselves from the promises, which belonged to Isaac, only as the type and representative of the children of God, the spiritual seed, and have come under the rejection which lay on Ishmael, as the type of the flesh.) "For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son."

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The Apostle, however deeply affected he was by the thought of the rejection and overthrow of his nation, yet saw nothing in it but what was according to God's promises. The Jews, on the contrary, thought that their rejection would bring a charge against God of unfaithfulness to his promises. The object of the Apostle, accordingly, in this passage, is to prove to them, from the facts which occurred at the commencement of their family history, that all God's promises were really made, not to a fleshly line of descendants from Abraham, but to the spiritual mind, the spiritual seed of God,-those

who live in the hope of His kingdom-of whom Isaac was only a type;-so that he is here merely making a particular application to the Jews, of that doctrine about the flesh and the Spirit, which he had been laying down in the former chapter, and deducing from it the vindication of God's righteousness in punishing them. That this is indeed his meaning, is proved not only by the consistency and consecutiveness which the assumption of it gives to his reasoning, but chiefly (as I have before said) by the emphatic words in verse 8th, "That is," which, as they stand, most distinctly declare, that under this history of the birth of Isaac, and of his being preferred to Ishmael, as the heir of his father, a deeper and more important truth was concealed, namely, that God's favour and election rested not on the flesh, represented by Ishmael, but on the Spirit, represented by Isaac-for the child of the promise, that is, the heart which lives by the promise, and the spiritual mind, are one thing.

This view of the argument is abundantly confirmed by referring to Gal. iv. 24, where after the same history has been brought forward, the Apostle adds, "which things

are an allegory," or, which things contain under them an exposition of the general principles of God's dealings towards men.

The same view is farther confirmed, by referring to Gal. iii. 16, where it is said, that "to Abraham and his seed, were the promises made; he saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and thy seed, which is Christ:" for thus it is evident, that Isaac was but a type of him to whom the promises were truly made; and hence also it follows, that inasmuch as the Jews separated themselves from, and rejected Christ, they also separated themselves from, and rejected all the promises of God.

The coincidence of verse 9th in our passage, with Luke i. 35, also marks that it was God's seed, rather than Abraham's, that was the object of all this revelation. "At this time I shall come, and Sarah shall have a son." "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee therefore that holy thing, that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." As the one event was a type of the other, so the one child was a type of the other. And both births were in their outward circumstances typical of that personal regeneration, which takes place in those who

yield themselves to be led by the Spirit of God, which comes upon all, and striveth with all the children of men.

Thus Christ, being that true seed, to which the promises were made, was also the true Isaac, the true Jacob, and the true Israel that came out of Egypt; and therefore those who mocked him, were the true Ishmael, and those who despised his future kingdom, in comparison of this present world, were the true Esau, and those who slew him, were the true Pharaoh—in the judgment of Him who searcheth the hearts, whatever their names might have been amongst men. "For he is not a Jew, that is one outwardly;" "but he is a Jew that is one inwardly," and he only.

Now, what was the mistake which the Jews at that very time were making? They thought themselves Isaac, whilst in fact, by living in the flesh, they had actually taken Ishmael's place; and therefore whilst they were fondly appropriating to themselves the promises, the word that truly now applied to them was, "Cast out the bond woman and her son," &c. For they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children, of God, but the children of the promise

"

(who live on the hope of the promise,) are counted for the seed." (Ver. 8th.)

This was their error. They were set up as a type of the elect church—and they thought that they were the elect church. And this error was a wilful error, for God had been warning them against it from the beginning. For when He set up a type of the elect church in their family, He wrote, as it were, in large letters, on its very forehead, this fundamental truth, that His true Church consisted only of those who lived by the Spirit of Christ, waiting for the hope of glory beyond death.

The large letters in which He wrote this, were, the history of Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and Isaac; and of Isaac's two sons, Esau and Jacob. God set up Abraham as the type of the elect church; but there was much in Abraham that He could not approve or elect,—indeed, there was but one thing in him which he could approve, and that was his yielding to the Spirit. As far as Abraham lived by the Spirit of Christ, which led him to look beyond death for his portion, God approved of him, and elected him as an heir of the promise; and as far as he lived in the flesh, seeking a present portion, by present means, God disapproved of him. Abraham