Christ that is the first Head thereof in and by him all the Promises of it are ratified as he was the Surety of the Covenant Heb. 7. 22. and in him they are all Yea and Amen 2. Cor. 1. From whom all the Grace of the Covenant is derived upon poor Sinners thro' Faith in his Name This the Apostle asserts most clearly Gal. 3. 17. and argues it from the Form of the Promises as made unto Abraham ver 16. Vnto Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made he saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ The Scope of the Apostle's Discourse will teach us that those Promises are meant which relate to the Justification and Salvation of poor Sinners even such as include that Grace by which the Gentiles are called to inherit eternal Life some do principally refer this to Gen. 17. 7. and it will readily be granted that some of those Promises that ultimately respect the spiritual Seed and spiritual Blessings are sometimes given to Abraham under the Covert of those Terms that have an immediate respect unto his natural Seed and temporal Blessings as made Types of the other and when they are so the Promise still runs to his Seed in the singular Number which the holy Ghost may here teach us to be on set purpose to gather up our Thoughts to Christ alone as the Spring and Root of Abraham's Blessing when we consider the mystical import of such Promises But this being allowed That the Apostle hath the form of that Promise in his Eye we cannot from thence conclude that the Promise is made to Abraham's Seed both natural and mystical in one and the same Tenour but only thus much will fairly follow upon it That the Apostle argues from the carnal Seed as typical to the spiritual Seed as typified thereby and so arguing makes special Use of the Terms in which the Promise is made as purposely fitted to its typical respect or mystical sence So is the Prohibition of breaking a Bone of the Paschal Lamb which was a Type of Christ applyed by John to Christ himself who was typified thereby Joh. 19. 36. with Exod. 12. 46. Howbeit I conceive the Apostle hath here a direct and special Eye to that Promise Gen. 22. 18. * This Promise is particularly cited by Peter as a summary of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham Act. 3. 25. In thy Seed shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed which runs directly parallel both in Terms and Sence with the Promise given to Abraham Gen. 12. 3. which was before pleaded by him Gal. 3. 8. This Promise was given forth in the Repetition and Confirmation of the Covenant before made with him upon the occasion of Abraham's having offered up Isaac whereby the Death and Sacrifice of Christ Jesus was in a most lively manner prefigured And clearly holds forth thus much That as all Nations should be blessed in a relation to Abraham as his Children so that Blessing should be derived upon them thro' Interest in Christ his promised Seed and by the Efficacy of his Mediation in the Interest of that Sacrifice and Offering of a sweet smelling Savour Eph. 5. 2. that in the fulness of time he should make unto God And if it be objected that the Promise there is made of or concerning Abraham's Seed and not to his Seed let it be minded that all the Promises made of this Seed viz. Christ in one respect may be said to be made to this Seed in another because they are originally established in the everlasting Covenant of Redemption that was between the Father and him * See Strong of the Covenant p. 126. Some do interpret this Text in Gal. of Christ mystical because of the order of the Words The Promise is made first unto Abraham then unto his Seed therefore say they it is such a Seed as comes to have Right in the Promise Secondly to Abraham and as his Children And also because the Apostles Scope is to prove that the Gentiles are justified by Faith as Abraham was But I should rather apply them to Christ as personally considered For the Seed to whom the Promise is made is the same in whom all the Nations of the Earth are blessed Gen. 22. 18. Now altho' as all Believers being the Seed of Abraham are blessed with faithful Abraham yet are they not that Seed in whom all Nations are blessed but the Nations who are blessed in this Seed And in the very next Verse the Covenant is said to be established of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or unto Christ who is the same Seed spoken of in the preceding Verse Now the Covenant is confirmed in Christ personal not in Christ mystical hence Paraeus concludes it is to be understood individuè de uno Christo ex quo omnis spiritualis Benedictio in fideles diffluit But this also is to be observed That Christ is given for a Covenant of the People Isa 42. 6. and therefore the Covenant is established in him and with him for all Believers who by Union with him become that One Seed of Abraham unto whom the Blessing of his Covenant doth belong And so in this sence it as strongly concludes for Justification only by Faith in Christ as in the other And for the order of the Words it need not seem strange that Abraham is first mentioned and then Christ his Seed for besides that of the Promises chiefly intended the first saith in thee and that given afterwards in thy Seed shall all Nations be blessed which is the order the Apostle observes This is also to be considered That Abraham was really the Father of Christ according to the Flesh and by Covenant appointed so to be as was David also and yet Christ is not only the Offspring but also the Root both of Abraham and David And altho' the Mercies of the Covenant are called the sure Mercies of David because of the Covenant which God made with him yet are they all originally from Christ in one respect tho' mediately by Christ in another as they flow from a Covenant first made with David which was to be after ratified and fulfilled in Christ the Son of David * Duorum maximè Filius dicitur Christus Abrahae David quoniam istū sapius ac disertius quam caeteris est promissus Lud. Viv. And perhaps it is upon the account of the Covenants made with Abraham and David concerning this Matter that in Mat. 1. 1. they are so peculiarly mentioned in the Genealogy of Christ as recorded by that Evangelist § 8. Fourthly This Covenant was made with Abraham as a Root of Covenant-Blessings and common Parent unto all true Believers Indeed Abraham himself obtained the Grace of this Covenant by Christ his Seed and so came into it at the second hand with respect to the Son of God who is the Prince of the Covenant but with respect unto us The Covenant was
of the Promise enquired into I will be their God i. e. a God to them They shall have Interest in all the Perfections of my Nature For Either God is obliged by this Promise to communicate himself in the highest Degree possible to all those to whom it is made and to do the utmost for them that may be done without implying a Contradiction to his Being and the infinite Perfections thereof and so to bring them absolutely to the utmost Degree of Happiness that omnipotent Goodness can raise them to or else the Good promised must fall under some particular Limitation If it fall under any Limitation as certainly it doth Those Bounds must be set either by the Import of the Terms in which the Promise is made as considered absolutely and by themselves or some other way The first cannot be affirmed for the Terms are general and indeterminate Therefore it is some other way to be limited and that must be by the particular Promises and Conditions of that Covenant unto which this general Promise doth belong And if so then there is not nor can be any greater Good promised thereby then what the Nature of that Covenant admits of and its particular Promises give a Right in to them that are Parties concerned And these things being so None can from hence prove a Grant of spiritual Blessings to nor yet a Right in Gospel Ordinances for the carnal Seed of Abraham or of any Believer as such unless he could produce a particular Promise which did contain such a Grant or give such a Right unto them § 6. So then That which is principally intended and fully express'd in this Ingagement is no more than the necessary Result of any Covenant-Transaction of God with Men For where his Truth is once ingaged in a Promise there all the Properties of his Nature are ingaged respectively for the making good of that Promise And therefore Such a Promise as in its own Nature contains no more than a general Assurance of any Covenant that God makes with Men cannot by it self be the distinguishing Character of any one Covenant in Opposition to or Contradistinction from another neither doth it determine of what kind the promised Blessings are or the way wherein they shall be injoyed And hence it is that you find this Promise equally and indifferently annexed both to the Old Covenant and the New the Covenant of Works and that of Grace The Truth of this will be manifest by a diligent Conference of Heb. 8. with Jer. 31. and this with Gen. 17. and Exod. 6. 7. and Deut. 26. 17 18. There is no Reason therefore to conclude Because we find this Promise in the Covenant of Grace every Covenant in which it is found must be of the same Nature for the Covenant is not measured by this Promise but è contra its special Import is limited by the Covenant to which it belongs § 7. Thus far I have indeavoured to set before you the Genuine Sence and true Interpretation of this great Promise in the Covenant of Circumcision and to give you the Reasons by which it is confirmed And it may add some farther Light to what hath been said briefly to represent the History of its Accomplishment from the holy Scriptures which take as followeth The Lord did abundantly bless Abraham Isaac and Jacob and guided them with his Eye in all their Peregrinations from Nation to Nation and from one Kingdom to another People and when he brake the whole Staff of Bread in the Land of Canaan and the adjacent Countrys he made Provision by a wonderful Series of Providences for the Sustentation of Jacob's Family by sending Joseph before them into the Land of Egypt and for their Sakes raising him unto a Capacity not only to secure them from Want but also to preserve the Lives of thousands more And when the House of Jacob was by this means brought into the Land of Egypt the Lord was with them there and when the time of the Promise drew nigh he caused them to increase and multiply exceedingly and tho' the Egyptians sought by all means to oppress them and dealt subtilely with them yet by all their Artifice and Cruelty they could make no Earnings of their Work for the more they oppressed them the more they grew And in the midst of their calamitous Distress Moses was brought forth whom the Lord had designed for a Deliverer and a Saviour unto them and in order thereunto he was preserved in a miraculous manner from all Dangers and Temptations from his Birth to the time that he was sent about his great Work And in the time when the Bondage of Israel grew to its Extremity the Lord's Eye was still open upon them and he heard their Cry and remembred his Covenant with their Fathers and sent Moses and Aaron to deliver them Then was his Bowe made quite naked Hab. 3. 9. in a Course of Miracles by Signs and Wonders and mighty Works for which his Name is celebrated unto all Generations and in that very day which he had set in the Promise to their Fathers he brought them out of the Land of Egypt and delivered them from the House of their Bondage with an high Hand yea he divided the Red-Sea before them and led them thro' the Deep as on dry Land but buried Pharaoh and all his Host in the same Waters that had been as a Wall on the Right-hand and on the Left while the redeemed of the Lord passed over He guided them also in the Wilderness and afforded the visible Token of his Presence with them in a Pillar of Cloud by Day and of Fire by Night From his Right-hand there went forth a fiery Law for them because he loved them by which he formed both their Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity wherein they were immediately subjected to himself and made a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation and the Lords Tabernacle was pitched in the midst of them so that there was no Nation under Heaven that had God so nigh as the Lord their God was unto them in all that they did call upon him for Moreover he gave his good Spirit to instruct them which was poured upon Moses Aaron and Miriam with the seventy Elders and those Prophets which from time to time God raised up among them He fed them also with Manna from Heaven and gave them Water out of the Rock to drink and all the time of their forty Years Travel in the Wilderness their Feet were not swollen neither did their Garments wax old He dryed up Jordan also and brought them into the Land of Canaan and drove out before them Nations more in number and mightier than they and there he blessed them with the Blessings of Heaven above and of the Earth beneath so that there failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken concerning them Josh 23. 14. but their State was made prosperous and happy bcause the Lord was their God Psal 144. ult
Oeconomy built thereupon 2. Their Notion who assert this Covenant-Interest to be the Basis of such a foederal Holiness of Believers Children under the New-Testament as gives them a Right to Baptism doth moreover labour under these Inconveniencies 1. They generally straiten the Terms of Covenant-Interest if we consider it as derived upon Isaac's Line by restraining it to the immediate Offspring which in this Covenant was not so restrained but came as fully upon remote Generations and also by excluding the Servants and Slaves of Christians with the Children born of them from that Priviledg which they suppose them to have enjoyed under the Old-Testament in being sealed with the Sign or Token of the Covenant of Grace But then 2. On the other hand according to what hath been already proved they make a Believer's Interest in this Covenant of larger Extent than ever Abraham's was in Truth For they will have all the immediate Seed of Believers to be included in it whereas we see of all the Sons of Abraham according to the Flesh but one only Isaac was admitted to the Inheritance of the Blessing and Promises of this Covenant Of the Covenant of Circumcision CHAP. VII The great Promise Gen. 17. 7 8. proposed in order to a more strict Enquiry into the proper meaning and extent thereof What some collect from it § 1. Several things are premised in order to a right Vnderstanding of it § 2. Israel to be considered in a twofold Respect under the Mosaical Oeconomy 1. As the whole Body of the People was constituted in a typical Church-state 2. As many of them were by Faith Members of the spiritual Church § 3. The Israel of God in Israel remained under the Law till Christ came Tho' they obtained eternal Life in Circumcision and under the Law yet not by Circumcision nor by the Law The Promise inquired into belongs to the Jewish Church and was fulfilled to the Body of that People § 4. The Promise fully opened It was an Engagement of God to make good the Covenant It gives no particular Good beyond what is contained in particular Promises § 5. The sence given farther confirmed This Promise added both to the Old Covenant and the New No proof that the Covenant of Circumcision was the Covenant of Grace deducible from it § 6. A brief view of the History of its Accomplishment to Israel § 7. All the Blessings of Israel after the Flesh as such fall short of the Blessings of the New-Covenant The first Tender of the Gospel belonged to the Jews Act. 2. 38 39. opened § 8. The Covenant of Circumcision was not that Covenant of Grace which God brings all the Elect into nor immediately a Covenant of spiritual Blessings The solemn Worship of God not presently confined to Abraham's Family thereby § 9. The Patriarchs and other holy Men then living were not bound to be circumcised tho' interested in the Covenant of Grace as well as Abraham The Consequence hereof § 10. The Question about Infants Church-membership considered § 11. Five things proposed in order to the clearing of it No Argument for Paedo-Baptism can be taken from thence § 12. § 1. IT will be expedient in the next Place more fully to search out the true meaning and extent of that great Promise in the Covenant of Circumcision which was before but briefly touched upon viz. I will establish my Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee Gen. 17. 7. And again The Promise of Canaan to Israel for an everlasting Possession is backed with the same Assurance and I will be their God v. 8. This Enquiry is the more necessary because many conceive That the intire Blessing of the New-Covenant is comprehended in these words seeing the like Promise is given forth as the Summary and Assurance of that Covenant in Jer. 31. and Heb. 8. And hereupon they conclude it is the Covenant of Grace that God is now making with Abraham and which he sealed with Circumcision and that spiritual Blessings are thereby directly bequeathed to him both for himself and his Seed and consequently it was no other than Interest in the Grace and Promise of the New-Covenant that was sealed to his Infant Seed by Circumcision This Notion militates against diverse things that have been before pointed at in the Account we have given of this Transaction But I conceive upon a more thorough Disquisition it will be found without sufficient Strength to shake those Principles that are already laid down and must yet be built upon in the Progress of our Discourse In order therefore to free you from any Intanglement by Objections raised from hence I shall proceed gradually to the Solution of the doubt moved § 2. And that I may not be misunderstood in what is to follow I shall prepare my way by offering these things to serious Thoughts 1. A considerable time before this Transaction recorded Gen. 17. the Covenant of Grace was by God confirmed unto Abraham in Christ Jesus and that not only in the Capacity of a private Believer but as one bearing the Relation of a Father to all Believers And this Relation is peculiar to himself none can claim a Partnership with him therein 2. In the establishment of this Covenant there was a Seed promised unto him that should certainly inherit the spiritual and eternal Blessings thereof for the Promise was sure unto all the Seed But this was a Seed of Believers collected out of all Nations and united to Christ by Faith and not the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh as is manifest almost in every Page of the New-Testament And 3. It hath been moreover proved That God did choose Abraham to be the Root and Father of a typical People even of a Nation the whole Body of which he would take into a peculiar Relation and Nearness to himself and upon whom he would bestow many great Favours and Priviledges until the fulness of Time came for the bringing forth of that Seed unto which the Promises of the New-Covenant did eminently appertain 4. One great End of this Separation of Abraham and his Seed by Isaac from all other Families in the Earth was the bringing forth of the Messiah in his Line and the evident Accomplishment of the great and first Promise therein This was a Priviledg that Abraham had in the Flesh and his Seed derived from him That they were set apart as a special Channel thro' which the promised Seed should be derived and brought forth into the World Rom. 9. 4 5. And therefore 5. On this account their Priviledg and Covenant-state was secured unto them so as they could never See Dr. Owen's Exercitations on the Heb. Vol. 1. be utterly divested of it in their Generations until the great End of it was accomplished by the Messiah's being come in the Flesh And that then it was to cease the Nature of the thing it self sufficiently demonstrateth in that it was now brought to the limited Time