with some publick Person Head or Representative for all others that should be concerned in them Thus it was in the Covenant of Creation which God made with Adam in his upright State and with all Mankind in him and the same is to be observed in the Noachical Covenant as also in the Covenants made with Abraham considered either as the Father of Believers or of the Israelitish Nation in the interest of a spiritual Relation to him Believers claim the Blessings of the Covenant of Grace that was made with him and in the interest of a natural Relation to him his off-spring according to the flesh did claim the Rights and Priviledges of that Covenant of Peculiarity which was first made with him as the Head of that separate People but more eminently the Covenant of Grace is established in Christ as the Head thereof all its Promises were first given to him and in him they are all Yea and Amen It is by Union to him that Believers obtain a new-Covenant-interest and from him they derive a new Life Grace and Strength to answer the Ends of the New-Covenant § 6. Now as it is evident from what hath been already said that all foederal transactions of God with Men flow only form his good pleasure and the counsel of his Will so upon that ground it is certainly to be concluded that our Knowledg and Understanding of them must wholly depend upon Divine Revelation none can pretend acquaintance with the Secret of God but as he hath pleased to reveal it in his Word this Light must guide all our Inquiries after it and our sentiments of things of this nature must be strictly governed by this Rule seeing the nature of them is such as transcends the common Principles of Reason or natural Light inasmuch as they owe their original to the free acts of the divine Will and Wisdom which are unaccountable till revealed by God himself and therefore it becomes us to captivate all our thoughts of them to the obedience of Faith as knowing that Learning and Strength of parts tho' of excellent use in their place not guided by Scripture-light in these Inquiries can only form an ingenious error and lose a Man in the Labyrinth of his own Imagination and uncertain guesses seeing the single advantage of those assistances in this case trusted to and stretched beyond their line can reach no further than to enable him cum ratione errare and so to wander from Truth in a Path seeming more smooth tho' no less dangerous than others light upon And therefore in these things lies the Spring of most Mistakes and corruption of Doctrine and Practice in matters of Religion Men do easily find out and agree in the true dictates of the Law of Nature but in things pertaining to the Covenants of God how various are their Sentiments Yea many great learned and good Men have been divided in their Judgments about some things of great importance to the Faith and Edification of the Church tho' not absolutely necessary to her Being and some one error admitted about the nature of God's foederal transactions with Men doth strangely perplex the whole Systeme or Body of Divinity and intangle our interpretation of innumerable Texts of Scripture and by this means Jars and Contentions have been perpetuated in the Church to the great grief and hindrance of all the offence of the weak and greater scandal of the blind World and all this hath been much occasioned thro' the want of a due and humble attention to that Revelation of Truth which God hath given us in the holy Scriptures and indeavouring to collect the mind of God from thence without prepossession of Judgment which is a greater occasion of these mistakes then Men are generally aware of and a careful avoiding the undue mixture or confusion of things natural with those that are purely of a foederal nature Forasmuch then as the Covenant of God is his Secret and he only can make us to know it and yet our Faith and Practice Comfort and Holyness is nearly concerned in a good acquaintance with it we need no other Motive to a diligent and humble search of the Scriptures for the right informing of our Judgment thereabout nor no other Caution not to attribue overmuch to our own Wisdom or Abilities but to manage all our Inquiries with earnest prayer to God for that holy spirit of Light and Truth who only can lead us into all this Truth and bring us to a clear acquaintance with the mind of God concerning it Of God's Transactions with Adam CHAP. II. The Importance of this Enquiry the method proceeded in stated § 1. The original state of man the Law that he was made under both moral and positive the sanction of this Law and the Reward proposed to him § 2. That he had a promise of Reward farther asserted and proved § 3. Some farther remarks upon this Transaction Reward and Punishment not alike necessary the sanction of the Law by the Curse most expresly mentioned and why it was so § 4. Adam a publick person the consequent hereof § 5. That Transaction with Adam of a foederal nature proof that it was so herein consists the Mystery thereof § 6. The general nature of this Covenant Man left to the freedom of his own Will under it his mutability the original of Sin § 7. The sin of our first Parents some Remarks thereupon § 8. The state and condition of Man fallen described in several particulars the death threatned in the sanction of the Law was eternal death two reasons urged for the proof of it § 9. The Mercy of God to fallen Man two things premised to the consideration thereof § 10. God holds a treaty with man the issue of it A Promise of Redemption implyed in the commination of the Serpent A restraint and modification of the Curse ensuing thereon this the occasion of temporal Death the institution of Bloody Sacrifices the Covenant of Grace not made with Adam as a publick person § 11. The state and condition of Adam's Posterity after the Fall described in some particulars § 12. § 1. IN the former Chapter I have briefly touched upon some things of a more general nature which I thought needful to be premised to the handling of those Particulars which are to follow and now my work is to consider the first state of Man an account of which is to be taken from the state of Adam in whom the world of Mankind was Epitomized and in the Transactions of God with him the Relation he had to God with the Event and Issue thereof we are all most nearely concerned for the right understanding of these things is not only necessary in order to but lies in the very Foundation of all useful Knowledg of our selves and of the mind of God in all Revelations that he hath in following Ages made of his Will and Counsel to the Children of Men either before or in the Law of Moses or by the word
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
you may observe in the Genealogy Gen. 11th that as none which were born after the Flood attained to the Years of those that lived before it so most manifestly the ordinary Age of Man was again shortened from the time of this Defection at Babel insomuch that none of the Generations after Heber attained to more than about half the number of his Years Of the Covenant of Grace as revealed to Abraham CHAP. IV. God puts a special Honour upon Abraham by his Covenant-Transactions with him § 1. Abraham's Descent and Contemporaries his seeming Incapacity for that Covenant-Relation which God brought him into § 2. Abraham to be considered in a double capacity the Covenant not made with him as an ordinary believing Parent The Method of the following Discourse proposed § 3. The Covenant of Grace revealed to Abraham Gal. 3. v. 6 7 8 9 16 17. proposed § 4. The time of this Covenant-Transaction exactly noted some Inferences from thence § 5. The Sum of all spiritual Blessings included in it Abraham made the Father of the Faithful by it § 6. This Covenant confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3. 16 17. farther opened why Abraham and David so particularly named in the Genealogy of Christ § 7. Abraham a Root of Covenant-Blessings and common Parent to Believers why Paradise called Abraham's Bosom § 8. An eternal Settlement of the way of Salvation by Faith in Christ in this Covenant § 9. The Promise of this Covenant given to Abraham twenty five years before the Covenant of Circumcision no outward Sign added nor Ordinances of Worship peculiar to it till Christ's time the Seed as well as the Blessing promised their Interest in the promised Blessing compleat and full the Reason of this and a mistake removed the Claim of Believers in the Interest of Abraham's Seed and not as Coordinate with him § 10. § 1. THE next signal Advance that was made of the Discovery of God's Grace to Men was in Abraham's time and by the Foederal Transactions of God with him whereby he was brought into such a Relation to God and the whole Church as was in some respects peculiar to himself and never was the Lot of any other of the Children of Men either before or since his time in respect of which Abraham may be considered as a Type of Christ who is eminently the Head and Prince of the new Covenant And because of that special Grace and Favour that the Lord bestowed upon him in his Transactions with him is he styled The Friend of God And the Covenant is said to be Mercy to Abraham and Truth to Jacob Mic. 7. ult intimating the beginning of it to be with Abraham which was of meer Grace and Mercy tho' when once made with him the Truth and Faithfulness of God was ingaged to make it good to the succeeding Heirs thereof not but that the Covenant of Grace as made with Abraham was the same for Substance that had been more darkly revealed in the Ages before but it pleased God to transact it with him as he had not done with any before him It may be noted also that Abraham is the first Man in the World unto whom God is said to have appeared or been seen Act. 7. 2. with Gen. 12. § 2. This Abraham was of the Posterity of Shem descended from him in the Tenth Generation and chosen of God from amongst all his rumerous Offspring to be in an especial manner the Heir of his Blessing Gen. 11. Yet are we not to imagine that Abraham and his Family were the only People that God had in the World in his Days for altho' there was then a very great Defection of the World from God and his true Worship yet was it not universal as in Noah's time but there were many alive that did truly fear God and were accepted with him besides Abraham and those immediately depending on him for even Shem lived till Abraham was 150 years old and Arphaxad lived till he was 88 which was 13 years after that Covenant was confirmed with him mentioned Gen. 12. Salah lived until Abraham was 118 years of Age which was about 19 years after the Covenant of Circumcision was given to him And Heber lived after his Death even until Jacob was about 19 years old for he was the longest Liver of all that were born after the Flood And there is no doubt but these Patriarchs with their Houses and others joyning with them and under their Conduct did worship and serve the true God yet it pleased the Lord to single out Abraham call him to his Foot and make him an Head of all future Covenants with Men And this notwithstanding such a Bar lay in his way at the time of his calling as to his entering into any such Relation as was impossible to have been removed but by Omnipotent Grace and Power And that both upon a Moral and Physical Account 1. Upon a Moral Account Abraham was not a Person eminent for Holiness and Religion when God called him to inherit Shem's Blessing he was not better or more deserving then any of the rest of his Posterity but was swiming down the Stream of a wicked World being degenerated from the Religion and Piety of his Ancestors unto false Worship and Idolatry Josh 24. 2 3. And therefore it is not without reason that the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 16. 3. upbraids the People of Israel with this that their Father was an Amorite and their Mother an Hittite not properly but metaphorically so called because even they had been involved in the Guilt of like Apostacy from God as these Nations before the Lord graciously called them out of it 2. Upon a natural Account For Sarai the Wife of Abraham was barren and noted to be so before God called him Gen. 11. 30. And yet the Blessing of Shem must have been lost the hope of the Church perished and all Covenant-Transactions with Abraham proved of none Effect if he had not had Seed forasmuch as by virtue of God's Covenant to be established with him the Messiah as concerning the Flesh was to come of him And yet all this was no Impediment or Obstruction in his way who quickeneth the dead and calleth the things that are not as tho' that were Rom. 4. § 3. There is one thing more to be premitted to the Consideration of God's Covenant-Transactions with Abraham in particular which we have most clearly stated in the New Testament viz. That with respect to them Abraham is to be considered in a double Capacity both as the Father of all true Believers and as the Father and Root of the Israelitish Nation and for both these Seeds God did enter into Covenant with him howbeit these Seeds being formally distinguisht the one from the other their Covenant Interest must of necessity be diverse and fall under a distinct Consideration and the Blessings appropriate to either must be conveyed in a way agreable to their peculiar and respective Covenant-Interest And these things may not
by Jacob's Blessing each of them obtained a Right in Canaan equal with the Brethren of their Father and yet themselves enjoyed not the temporal Good of that Blessing but their Posterity after them And indeed that Lege Riveti exercitationem in Locum ubi dubium hoc proponitur accuratè solvitur is properly said to be given to Parents which is given to their Posterity upon the Account of that Promise which they have received and which makes them the Heads of that Covenant-Blessing which descends upon their Offspring And that the Fathers embraced the Promise in this sence is put beyond doubt by the express Limitation of the time of its Accomplishment in Gen. 15. 13 16. Secondly The other Difficulty ariseth from the Extent of the Pomise in point of time for here God promiseth to give this Land to Abraham and to his Seed for ever and again Gen. 17. 8. for an everlasting Possession whereas it is evident they have now for many Ages been disinherited of it But the Solution of this Doubt will be easie to him that consults the Use of these Terms in other Texts and the necessary Restriction of their Sence when applyed to the State or Concernments of Abraham's Seed in the Land of Canaan For the Priesthood of Levi is called an everlasting Priesthood Num. 25. 13. and the Gates of the Temple everlasting Doors Psal 24. 6. and this in the same sence as Canaan is said to be an everlasting Inheritance no more being intended than the Continuance of these for a long time viz. throughout the Old Testament Oeconomy until the days of the Messiah commonly spoken of by the Jews under the Notion of the World to come wherein a new State of things was to be expected and when their old Covenant Right and Priviledge was to expire as having its proper End and Degsin now fully accomplished § 5. In Gen. 15. we have an account of another solemn Transaction of God with Abraham wherein besides other things included and intermixt the Promises before given to Abraham concerning his carnal Seed and their Inheritance are renewed and farther explained in diverse Particulars And Abraham being now more stricken in years than when he first received the Promise and as yet having no Son tho' his eternal Happiness as well as other Blessings depended on the Seed that should be given to him he was now brought to a greater Tryal of his Faith then formerly and the present acting of it being rendred the more Illustrious by the Difficulties it overcame the Holy Ghost is pleased in this Place to give an express Testimony thereto ver 6. He believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness And Conf. Rom. 4. this is the first time that either Believing or the Imputation of Righteousness is in terminis mentioned in the Scripture Not but that both these were true of Abraham before even from the first giving out of the Promise to him Gen. 12. He then believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for Righteousness but as his Faith was now manifested in a higher Degree so it pleased God from this time to leave upon Record a more particular Encomium thereof than formerly And as a farther Token of Favour immediately hereupon follows that Explication and Inlargement of the Promise to his natural Offspring that was before mentioned Many things I shall pass over and only note here these few that follow as direct to my present Purpose 1. The Lord informs Abraham of the Affliction that should befall his Posterity and the seeming Death that should be upon the Promise before they were brought into the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan And also particularly limits the time thereof they should be afflicted four hundred Years the Account of which I suppose must take its Rise from the mocking of Isaac the Heir of the Promise by Ishmael the Son of Hagar the Egyptian from which to the deliverance of Israel from their Bondage in Egypt is exacty four hundred Years 2. The Lord gives Abraham an Assurance that in the appointed time he will redeem them from their Servitude and that by signal Judgments upon their Oppressors and so great Favour to them as should suddenly change their Condition from Want and Penury to the Enjoyment of great Riches and Substance Gen. 15. 14. And as for Abraham himself should go to his Fathers in Peace and be buryed in a good old Age and in the fourth Generation the Blessing of this Promise should certainly come upon his Posterity ver 15 16. The exact Accomplishment of all this you may read in the Book of Exodus all the Wonders there recorded being the Birth of these Promises Exod. 2. 24. Act. 7. 17. for it was not the Goodness of the People but the Stability of the Promise that all those things are to be ascribed to 3. A Reason is given for the referring of the Accomplishment of the Promise to this time Because the Nations whose Land they were to possess were not yet ripe for Judgment and the Measure of their Iniquity must be filled up before the Curse of Canaan was fully executed upon them Thus we see that although the Children of Canaan bare his Curse many Generations after him yet this Curse descended not upon them without a full Measure of their own Sin as there is no doubt but Canaan's partnership with Cham in his Wickedness did at first bring the Curse of his Father upon himself But to return 4. These things are expresly said to have been transacted in a way of Covenant with Abraham and also the Bounds of Israel's Inheritance are set and those Nations marked out by Name Gen. 15. 18 19 20 21. that were to be dispossessed and destroyed by them § 6. Before we pass on farther in the History of God's Transactions with Abraham respecting his natural Offspring Let it be observed 1. That as this Seed was afterwards raised up to Abraham by virtue of a Promise so the first Grant of the Land of Canaan to them for an Inheritance was by a gratuitous Promise also and that Promise past into the Form of a Covenant with Abraham long before the giving of the Law as a Condition of their Inheritance therein yea before the Institution of Circucmision And the Original of their Claim being from a free Promise the Severity of that Law which afterwards they came under was so far restrained thereby as that notwithstanding their manifold Breach of Covenant with God and Forfeiture of all legal Claim of their Rights and Priviledges in the Land of Canaan thereby they were never utterly cut off from that good Land nor ceased to be a peculiar People unto God until the End of their being made so was fully answered and that Promise expired with the Accomplishment of its Design in the Introduction of the Israel of God to the full Enjoyment of those spiritual Blessings which were the Substance of what was but darkly
shadowed by their temporal Enjoyments This will be of great Use in our Reflections upon the Typical State of that People which I shall not now inlarge upon 2. Hitherto it is not expresly signified That Sarai shall be the Mother of this Seed And therefore in the delay of the Promise Abraham and Sarai not knowing but it might be fulfilled that way agreed about Abraham's going in to Hagar the Hand-maid of Sarai that by her they might obtain Children Gen. 16. It will be granted that on good grounds they might have other Apprehensions of the Promise before as it will appear they had by Conference of Gen. 15. with Rom. 4. and that this proceeded from some Vacillation and weakness of Faith in them but yet it was not such as did directly cross and call into Question the Promises before given neither doth any thing appear to the contrary but that Abraham accounted of Ishmael as Heir of the Promise until the Lord appeared to him again Gen. 17. and fully compleated his Covenant with him about his natural Offspring 3. Much less was there as yet any Intimation given of a Distinction to be made in point of Priviledge or Covenant-Right betwixt the Children that might in one way or another be brought forth unto Abraham But the Claim of such suposing as it after proved that there might be many seemed to be equal until the farther stating thereof Gen. 17. Neither was there as yet any distinguishing Character appointed for his Seed as a Foundation for their rising up into such a Church-State as that the solemn Institutions of divine Service should be appropriate to them and none accounted Members of the visible Church but themselves and such as became Proselites to them Tho' its true all that hath been before mentioned was disposed in order hereunto being in the wife Counsel of God directed towards such an End for known unto him are all his Works from the Beginning And therefore the former Promises are still recollected and taken in in the after Transactions about this People 4. The Promises hitherto given unto Abraham for his natural Offspring do as much concern them in remote Generations as in an immediate Descent from him nay in some Respects were more fully made good unto them than the other for it was not until the fourth Generation that God was known to them by his Name JEHOVAH Exod. 6. in the actual Accomplishing of his Word the Fathers having only his Alsufficiency ingaged for the after fulfilling of the Promise in its proper Season It was not Abraham's immediate but his mediate Seed that became numerous as the Dust of the Earth and took Possession of the Land flowing with Milk and Hony § 7. We shall now pass on to Gen. 17. And what is there more largely recorded we have briefly pointed at by Stâ—phen in his general view of the History of Israel Act. 7. 8. And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision And so Abraham begat Isaac c. By the Covenant of Circumcision we are to understand that Covenant of which Circumcision was the Sign or Token or that Covenant in which a Restipulation was required by the Observation of this Rite or Ordinance as in Gen. 17. 9 10 11. It is observable That in this Transaction of God with Abraham we first meet with an express Injunction of Obedience to a Command and that of positive Right as the Condition of Covenant-Interest And the whole is ushered in with this Prologue Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect In which Words first the Alsufficiency of God is revealed for the Ensurance of the Promises and then a strict and intire Obedience to his Precepts is required in order to the Inheritance of the good things that were to be given by this Covenant And in this Mode of transacting it the Lord was pleased to draw the first Lines of that Form of Covenant-Relation which the natural Seed of Abrahim were fully stated in by the Law of Moses which was a Covenant of Works and its Condition or Terms Do this and live For altho' the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham hath in all Respects as well in point of time as Excellency the Precedence to the Covenant made with his carnal Seed in Isaac's Line yet in the wise Counsel of God things were so ordered That the full Revelation of the Covenant of Grace the actual Accomplishment of the great Promises thereof and its being filled up with Ordinances proper thereunto should succeed the Covenant made with Israel after the Flesh And take place upon the Dissiolution thereof when it waxed old and vanished away And therefore the Covenant-Interest of the natural Seed was to be perfected by the Law of Moses before the Gospel preached unto Abraham was unveiled and accordingly this Chapter leads us on a great Step towards the Sinai Covenant and the Terms thereof § 8. Altho' this Covenant of Circumcision do properly and immediately belong to the natural Seed of Abraham and is ordered as a Foundation of that Oeconomy which they were to be brought under until the times of Reformation yet by way of Preface thereunto you have in Gen. 17. 4 5. a Recapitulation of former Transactions and a renewed Confirmation of one great Promise of the Covenant of Grace before given to Abraham viz. A Father of many Nations have I made thee That this is principally to be understood of his believing Seed collected out of all Nations indifferently appears from Rom. 4. 17. And that Abraham was constituted the Father of the faithful before this Covenant of Circumcision was made and did not obtain the Grant of this Priviledg thereby hath been before proved from Moses's History and is also argued by the Apostle strongly in the former part of that forementioned Rom. 4. Nevertheless That it should be thus repeated in this place there is very great reason upon a twofold Account 1. That it might be evident that the Covenant of Peculiarity with the carnal Seed which was first to take place and that Wall of Separation which was to be raised up betwixt them and other Nations the corner Stone of which was now to be laid in Circumcision should not evacuate or intrench upon the Covenant of Grace or the Right and Priviledg of the spiritual Seed stated therein or of any part of it but was added and made subservient to the great Ends thereof The Springs of New-Covenant-Mercy which God had before opened to all Nations were not to be shut up again by this Covenant nor the Heathen * Read diligently Gal. 3. excluded from inheriting the Blessing of Abraham thro' Faith in Jesus Christ by any Priviledg or Right conferred upon the Jew And therefore when the Covenant of Circumcision was given to the carnal Seed in order to a full Separation of them from other Nations It pleased God therewith to revive the Remembrance of that Promise of the Covenant of Grace which should in due time
bring forth Salvation to the Gentiles That so there might be no colour of Reason left for interpreting this Covenant to their Prejudice in the straitening of the Grace of the Gospel which was designed of God only as an Handmaid thereto 2. Because Things were so ordered by God in this Covenant that as the Promises thereof should be subordinate to the great Promise so also spiritual Blessings should be mystically implyed in them so Abraham's being the Father of Believers of many Nations was typified in his numerous Offspring by Isaac viz. Israel after the Flesh And hence a Confirmation and sealing of the one must include a Ratification of the other also And therefore at the same time to assure Abraham that he should certainly become the Father of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Multitude or of many Nations his Name is changed into Abraham and also Circumcision is instituted for the sealing of the Promises made to his carnal Seed The mutual respect of these different Promises and the order observed in their Establishment being such Circumcision it self was so far from everting the Covenant of Grace in its Promise to the Gentiles as that it became to Abraham a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 11. This it had not from its next and peculiar End or its proper Nature with respect to all the carnal Seed or others that were to be the Subjects of it but from the Disposition of the Covenant to which it was annexed and the present Circumstances of Abraham with whom it was made and to whom Circumcision was now given for a Seal thereof But this we must farther inlarge upon in speaking to The mutual respect of God's Foederal-Transactions with Abraham And at present it shall suffice to remind you That there is no way of avoiding Confusion and Intanglements in our Conception of these things but by keeping before our Eyes the distinction of Abraham's Seed which is either spiritual or carnal and of the Promises respectively belonging to either For this whole Covenant of Circumcision as given to the carnal Seed can no more convey spiritual and eternal Blessings to them as such then it can now inright a Believer tho' a Child of Abraham in their temporal and typical Blessings in the Land of Canaan Neither can I see any reason for an Assignment of Covenant-Interest in all spiritual Blessings typified as well as in the temporal Blessings that were the Types of them to the carnal Seed and yet not to admit the Conveyance of the same Covenant to hold good in point of temporal Blessings to the spiritual Seed seeing as some conceive both are directly included in the same Covenant and the Promise of both was sealed with the same Seal But the Truth is Notwithstanding the respect this Covenant hath to the Covenant of Grace it yet remains distinct from it and can give no more then external and typical Blessings unto a typical Seed The stating of their Rights and Priviledges in Subserviency and with a typical Respect to the Dispensation of Grace to the Elect in the New-Covenant is the proper End and Design of this Transaction in Gen. 17. as will more fully appear in the particular Account of the Promises given therein § 9. The Sum of those Promises is set before us in Gen. 17. 6 7 8. In the 6th Verse The Promise of a numerous Offspring is repeated in such Terms as do import if not Inlargement yet at least a farther Explication of what was before promised in Gen. 13. 16. And I will make thy Seed as the Dust of the Earth c. For here the Promise runs thus I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make Nations of thee and Kings shall come out of thee These Words in their first and literal Sence had their Accomplishment in the natural Offspring of Abraham and are particularly intended of his Seed by Isaac For tho' it be true that other Nations besides Israel did spring from Abraham yet the Context will evince it to be that Seed with which the Covenant of Circumcision should be established that is here meant and that was with the Seed of Abraham by Isaac only To see therefore the fulfilling of this Promise we must look to the twelve Tribes of Israel that were as so many distinct Peoples and Nations with respect to their Power and Number tho' with respect to Religion and Government united in one Polity and so but one people And to this Promise Jacob hath an Eye in his blessing of the Sons of Joseph Gen. 48. 19. where he saith that Manasseth the Father of one of the Tribes of Israel shall be a People and shall become great i. e. His Seed shall be numerous and strong and shall make up one People or one of the Nations that God had promised should come of Abraham And yet Ephraim his younger Brother must have the Preeminence in being the Father of another distinct People or Tribe that should be stronger then Manasseth and more numerous in that his Seed should become the Fulness of Nations so it is in the Hebrew i. e. a very great Nation and People That Distinction of Tribes which was after observed among the Israelites seems to be first pointed at in these Words I will make Nations of thee And the following Words viz. Kings shall come out of thee do not only signifie the Eminency of Abraham's Seed in general but more particularly respect their forming under a distinct Polity and Government of their own or as Ezekiel speaks Chap. 16. prospering into a Kingdom and living under the Rule and Conduct of Judges and Princes raised up among themselves as they were from Moses his time who was King in Jeshurum when the Heads of the People and the Tribes gathered themselves together Deut. 33. 5. by whose Ministry God settled their State and Government by Laws peculiar to themselves and fulfilled the Covenant of their Fathers therein This Branch of the Promise contains more than was expresly given to Abraham before § 10. In the following Words Gen. 17. 7. we have the Assurance of this and of the ensuing Promises also which God gives unto Abraham by passing them into a solemn Covenant and consequently an Interposition of himself and Engagement of all the Perfections and Properties of his divine Nature to be exerted for the making of them good Thus you read And I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee Unto this is added the Promise of their Inheritance Ver. 8. And I will give unto thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a Stranger all the Land of Canaan for an everlasting Possession and I will he thire God The Difficulty arising from those Terms in the Promise which give the Right of the Inheritance of Canaan to Abraham in the first place hath been already
to Abraham § 11. Thus plain do these thing lye before us in the History of the Scripture That they will hardly be called into Question if our minds be not prepossest with some particular Notion unto which they are not suited But it is earnestly pleaded by some That all the immediate Seed of Abraham were interested in this Covenant and that the first Right in its Promise did belong unto them inasmuch as the Seal of the Covenant was applyed to them all in their Circumcision the doing of which must be absurd and useless if they had not been Parties in that Covenant unto which this Seal did belong To this I answer 1. It is no way meet our uncertain Conjectures or Inferences should be opposed to the express Testimony of God himself or that his Wisdom should be called into Question upon their Account Now tho' God laid his Command upon Abraham to circumcise Ishmael yet at the same time he tells him that his Covenant should be established with Isaac excluding Ishmael unto whom he will not grant tho by Abraham interceded for a Joynt-Interest with Isaac in this Covenant but dismisseth his Claim and lays out his Portion by himself in another inferior Blessing 2. Abraham was as strictly bound to circumcise all the Males in his Family that were bought with his Mony of the Stranger that was not of his Seed and the Children of those Bond-Servants that were born in his House as he was his own Children Gen. 17. 12 13. And this Obligation remained upon the Heirs of his Covenant in their Generations And yet none of these Servants no nor yet Ishmael were hereby made Parties in the Covenant so as that the Promises of it should be sealed unto them by Circumcision as their own Inheritance And 3. To suppose an Interest in the Covenant without a Right to the Promises thereof is to introduce a meer Chimera or Fancy instead of a real Covenant-Interest Now the Promises of this Covenant are that God will give unto the Seed of Abraham called in Isaac the Land of Canaan for an everlasting Possession and that he will be a God to them in their Generations and they shall be a peculiar People unto him And can we suppose that these Promises did belong to Ishmael and to the Bond-Servants in Abraham's Family or were they ever made good to them If not seeing the Performance of these Promises was the fulfilling of the Covenant on God's part whose Faithfulness is to all Generations we must conclude they never had the Grant of them or an Interest in them And if the Promises of the Covenant did not belong to them then were they not Parties in Covenant and if not in Covenant then they were not circumcised upon the account of their own Covenant-Interest but in obedience to the particular and positive Command of God § 12. It appears therefore from what hath been already said that Circumcision was a Seal of the Covenant upon all but not to all that were circumcised it was a Seal of the Covenant unto the Children of the Covenant and gave them admission to all the Blessings promised therein but it did not make their Slaves free of the Commonwealth of Israel nor was it given for their sakes And if they could not claim the outward Priviledge of an Israelite thereby it will hardly be granted that singly upon the account of their being bought by a Jew tho' their Master himself perhaps had no Interest in the Covenant of Grace they should be made the Subjects of a New Covenant-Blessing and that whether they knew or were capable of consenting to the Terms of that Covenant or not For that might be the Case of many of them seeing the Law concerned such as were purchased in their Infancy as well as those of riper Years As well the one as the other must needs be circumcised because of the Command given to his Master Perhaps this might belong to the typical Holiness of the Family of an Israelite but whether we can fully understand the Reason of it or not it sufficeth that the wise God ordained it so to be However this is certain that it was the positive Command of God and not simply Covenant-Interest that was the Rule according to which Circumcision was administred and by which both the Subjects and Circumstances of it were determined And so must it be in all things of like Nature For in Matters of positive Right we can have no Warrant for our Practice but from a positive Precept For things of this kind fall not within the compass of Common Light or general Principles of natural Religion but have their Original from a particular distinct and independent Will of the Law-giver And therefore Inferences built upon general Notions may soon lead us into Mistakes about them if upon such Inferences we form a Rule to our selves of larger Extent than the express Words of the Institution do warrant § 13. The Propositions laid down being thus far explained and confirmed I shall draw to a close of this Chapter with an Inference or two grounded upon the foregoing Discourse 1. He that holds himself obliged by the Command and interested in the Promises of the Covenant of Circumcision is equally concerned in the whole of them seeing they together are that Covenant And therefore omitting now to speak of the Yoke of the Law belonging thereunto he that will apply one Promise or Branch of this Covenant to the carnal Seed of a believing Parent esteeming every such Parent to have an Interest in the Covenant coordinate with Abraham's ought seriously to consider the whole promissory Part of the Covenant in the true Import and Extent thereof and see whether he can make such an Application of it together without manifest Absurdity For to pass by other things If I may conclude my Concern in this Covenant to be such as that by one Promise thereof I am assured That God hath taken my immediate Seed into Covenant with himself I must on the same ground conclude also that my Seed in remote Generations shall be no less in Covenant with him seeing the Promise runs to the Seed in their Generations yea and that this Seed shall be separated from other Nations as a peculiar People unto God and shall have the Land of Canaan for an everlasting Possession seeing all these things are included in the Covenant of Circumcision But inasmuch as these things cannot be allowed nor are by any that I know of pleaded for we must conclude That Abraham was considered in this Covenant not in the Capacity or Respect of a private believing Parent but of one chosen of God to be the Father of and a Foederal Root unto a Nation that for special Ends should be separated unto God by a peculiar Covenant And when those Ends are accomplished the Covenant it self by which they obtained that Right and Relation must cease And the like cannot be pleaded for by any other without a reviving of the whole
Grace 3. That the whole Oeconomy this People were under did in its typical respect subserve the Ends of the Covenant of Grace to the Elect who were the true and spiritual Worshippers of God And the greatest and only visible Number of them was to be preserved among that People until the Gospel Church-state should take place 4. But yet this spiritual Relation to God according to the Terms of the New-Covenant which the truly Godly then had was not so clearly held forth under the Old Testament as it is in the times of the New and by the Dispensation of the Gospel But the things relating thereto were very much wrapt up in dark Shadows and Figures And therefore Many times the things and People typified are spoken of in prophetical Scriptures under the names of those Things and that People which were the Types of them And the Promise of the choicest Gospel-blessings and most glorious State with respect to spiritual Glory of the New-Testament Church are given forth to Israel of old in those Terms that did suit the present State of things and are peculiarily directed unto them and their Seed but these Promises being given to them as considered in their Relation to God as his only visible Church and Covenant-people are not to be applyed to Israel after the Flesh as such but had their Accomplishment in the Church when Israel was rejected and the Gentiles called to inherit the Blessing of Abraham Howbeit they being directly given out to Israel and Jacob as the only true Church then in being and a People in whom the Church which should be was typified it was but meet and necessary especially considering that the spiritual Glory of the Gospel and the calling of the Gentiles was a Mystery not to be unfolded in those times but kept under a Veil that the Terms made use of in those Prophecies and Promises should be acommodated unto that Oeconomy under which the Church then was which yet must be interpreted in a Sence agreeable to those times and that Dispensation in which they were to have their full Accomplishment And therefore seeing the Church was then continued in a Line of natural Descent from Abraham being propagated by Generation as long as the Old Covenant state thereof remained unshaken the Promises made to the Church respecting her future Glory Peace and Blessedness in the days of the Messiah are given forth as to the Seed and Offspring of the Church then in Being tho' they did really belong to and were intended for not a carnal Offspring but those that God should continue to own as his Covenant-People and Church even such as should walk in the steps of Abraham's Faith the Gentiles as well as Jews § 10. All that now remains to be done before I draw to a Period of this Discourse is to consider how far the mutual Respect of the Promises made to Abraham may guide us towards a right understanding how Circumcision became unto Abraham a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith c. which the Apostle affirms it to have bin Rom. 4. 11. And in opening that Text the grand Objection against that Notion of the Covenant of Circumcision which I have insisted on will be obviated In order hereunto I shall first set down the Text and give you a brief Exposition of it then shew you wherein it was verified and offer something for the strengthening and Eviction of the Sence given The words of the Text are And he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteouness of Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe tho' they be not circumcised that Righteousness may be imputed unto them also In the Verses foregoing the Apostle is discoursing of the time wherein Abraham's Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness and proves from thence the equal Right of the uncircumcised Gentile if a Believer with the circumcised Jew in the Blessings of the Gospel by means of a spiritual Relation to Abraham inasmuch as his Faith was reckoned to him for Righteousness not in Circumcision but in Vncircumcision And he received the Sign of Circumcision i. e. Circumcision which was a Sign It is genitivus Speciâ—i as when we read the City of Jerusalem for the City Jerusalem and the like Some Greek Copies do here read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This belongs to the general use nature and end of Circumcision it was a Sign but moreover unto Abraham it was A Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised A Seal is for Confirmation and Assurance and in this notion of a Seal there may be some respect to that visible Mark and Character which remained in the Flesh of him that was circumcised for we read not that any other Ordinance no not Baptism is so called in Scripture but in the New Testament the sealing of Believers is attributed to the Holy Ghost Of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being uncircumcised that is of his being Righteous before God thro' believing which Faith he had and which Righteousness was imputed to him the Relative may agree with either Antecedent while he was uncircumcised There are some Words supplyed by the Translators to fill up the sence in our English Phrase which the learned Dr. Lightfoot in his Hor. Hebraic on Cor. 7. 19. fills up by another Supply that gives somewhat a differing sence of the Text which I refer the Reader to as not unworthy his Consideration but shall here rest satisfied with that sence which our Translation affords us It follows That he might be the Father of all that believe in Vncircumcision the sence is that he might be manifested to be things are in Scripture oftentimes said to be when they are by any solemn Act declared or confirmed the Father of all believing Gentiles tho' they be not circumcised inasmuch as they also are a part of that spiritual Seed promised to him in Uncircumcision That Righteousness might be imputed to them also take it as before that it might be made manifest and confirmed that Righteousness is and shall be imputed to thm also See ver 23 24. § 11. Having given this brief Explication of the Terms used in the Text the next thing to be enqurired is wherein are the Contents of it verified or how or in what respect was Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which Abraham had being yet uncircumcised For answer to this Enquiry observe 1. That in the Prologue to this Covenant of Circumcision Gen. 17. God did expresly renew and confirm to Abraham the great Promise of the Covenant of Grace concerning the justifying of the Gentiles by Faith in Christ which Blessing they should receive in the Relation of Children to Abraham and so he should become the Father of many Nations And the Covenant of Circumcision being added to former Transactions wherein God had confirmed his Covenant in Christ with Abraham the
use of Circumcision as to him was not limited to that Covenant of Peculiarity unto which it did immediately belong but must necessarily reach farther and include a Confirmation of all preceding Transactions the Promises given in them especially of that which was repeated immediately before the Institution thereof The Promises of God to Abraham tho' of a different Nature did not interfere one with another but the latter still implyed a Confirmation and Ratification of the former This Covenant therefore did not supplant but confirm the Truth of the Gospel before preached to Abraham it was not added to disannul the Promise but to serve the Ends thereof and therefore Circumcision did not only seal to Abraham the Promises of typical Blessings now given but also was a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all that believe in Vncircumcision 2. It was so tho' more indirectly on this account also Abraham's Faith as we have seen before was much concerned in the Promise of Isaac's Birth and the separating of his Seed from other Nations for the bringing forth of the Messiah and he knew well that the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him in pursuance of the great Promises before given and so the Seal of this Covenant became unto him a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had before and confirmed him in his paternal Relation to Believers in all Nations which was an Honour before conferred on him It is the Discovery of the Subserviency of Circumcision as received by Abraham to the great End and Design of the Covenant of Grace which was confirmed to Abraham before he was circumcised that the Apostle particularly aims at in this Place and he proves that the Covenant of Circumcision is so far from excluding the Gentiles from inheriting the Blessing of Abraham by Faith as that it was to him an Assurance and Seal of the Promise of so great a Priviledg to them as also of his own Justification thro' Faith while uncircumcised And moreover The Covenant of Circumcision not being so compleat in it self as to bring the Church unto that Perfection which in the eternal Counsels of God's Soveraign Grace was intended and therefore not capable to make any thing perfect by it self must needs be established as typical and subservient to the Covenant of Grace in a temporary Dispensation that should usher in and then give place to the Gospel in the fulness of Time and in respect of this Disposition of the Covenant now made the Sign by which it was confirmed became ultimately and in its typical respect a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which Abraham had before § 12. It is no ways difficult to conceive that Circumcision might have a different Respect according to the differing Circumstances and Capacity of its Subject Yea that it had so in another Instance hath been already proved It was a Seal of the Inheritance of Canaan to the Children of Israel and did ensure the Promise thereof to them and their Seed But it gave their Bond-servants no such Right or Claim Even so it was to Abraham a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had c. but this arose from the peculiar and extraordinary Circumstances and Capacity that he was in for it is not possible to conceive that Circumcision should be a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all that believe in Vncircumcision to one that never had Faith either before or after his Circumcision nor ever had or should have the Relation of a Father to all Believers as Abraham had Now that the Apostle speaks of Circumcision here with respect to the peculiar Circumstances and Capacity of Abraham who received it is evident from the scope of his Discourse in the Context in which the Argument that he manageth is to prove that neither could Circumcision give to any an Interest in that Grace that justifies a Sinner before God nor the want of it hinder any from obtaining that Interest in the way and upon the Terms of the Gospel seeing Abraham himself obtained it not by his carnal Prerogative but was justified before he was circumcised And the whole stress of his Argument lies upon the Supposition of Abraham's being a Believer and justified by his Faith before he received Circumcision Remove this and his Discourse concludes nothing of what he intends And hence he infers that Abraham received Circumcision so as that it was to him a Seal not simply of the Righteousness of Faith or of the New-Covenant but of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised as also of his paternal Relation to all Believers tho' they be not circumcised for so it follows that he might be the Father of all them that believe And it is equally absurd to say that Circumcision was a Seal unto all its Subjects of the Righteousness of Faith which they had while uncircumcised as to affirm that it was the Seal of a paternal Relation to all Believers unto every one that received it Both these must necessarily be resolved into the peculiar Circumstances of Abraham the particular Relation he had in the Covenants made with him and the order of their Disposition and not into the nature of Circumcision considered simply and in it self And moreover it is observable That immediately after in the continuance of his Discourse in Rom. 4. the Apostle refers Circumcision to the Law in contradistinction from the Gospel for when he hath told us that the circumcised Jew could not obtain the Blessing of a spiritual Relation to Abraham by virtue of his Circumcision unless he did walk in the steps of Abraham ' s Faith which he had while uncircumcised ver 12. he assigns this as the reason of it in the 13th Verse For the Promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his Seed thro' the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith And I cannot see how the Conclusion which the Apostle makes concerning the Inefficacy of Circumcision is enforced by this Reason if Circumcision immediately and in its own Nature had not belonged to the Law but to the Righteousness of Faith or Covenant of Grace as an ordinary Seal thereof Again The Interpretation made of this Text is farther strengthened by the conference of other Places in the New-Testament where we find that Circumcision is stiled an unsupportable Yoke Act. 5. 10. and is said to lay Men under an Obligation to keep the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. and the compleat Dispensation of Grace in the Gospel according to the New-Covenant is constantly insisted on as that which renders it utterly useless to the Gospel-Church and manifests the Inconsistency of retaining the Practise thereof with the Liberty of their present State See for Instance the Epistle to the Galatians and in Chap. 5. 13.
be confounded without a manifest Hazard of the most important Articles in the Christian Religion And yet such is the mutual respect of all God's Covenant-Transactions with Abraham and such was to be his Dispensation towards the Church for some Ages following as did require a present Intermixture of the Promises and an involving of spiritual Blessings in the shade of temporal and of a spiritual Seed in a natural This I suppose is more evident then to admit a Denyal and other Relation of Abraham in the Covenants made with him the Scripture speaks not of neither can we prove thereby That any of the Covenants given to him were transacted with him simply under the Notion or in the Relation of an ordinary believing Parent or Head of a particular Houshold And therefore for the better understanding of these things it is necessary that with due Attention both to the History of the Old Testament the Light of the New we humbly enquire concerning 1. The Covenant of Grace as made with Abraham 2. The Covenant made with him for his natural Offspring And 3. Their mutual Respect and Dependence one upon the other § 4. To begin with the first That God did reveal the Covenant of Grace to Abraham as also the general nature of that Covenant and the Seed concerned in it we have plainly declared in that Account which the Holy Ghost gives of it in Gal. 3. 6 7 8 9 16 17. Verses which I shall here transcribe at large Vers 6. Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham 8. And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen thro' Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed 9. So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham 16. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made he saith not And to Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ 17. And this I say that the Covenant that was confirm'd before of God in Christ the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise of none effect These Words contain the whole of what I intend in this Discourse the Sum of which as to my present Purpose I shall briefly collect in some Observations upon them § 5. First That the Gospel was preached to Abraham and the Covenant of Grace revealed to him we have asserted in such full Terms in this Context as none can rationally doubt thereof and moreover in ver 17. we have the Time of God's establishing this Covenant with him exactly noted It was saith the Text 430 years before the giving of the Law Gal. 3. 17. viz. on Mount Sinai Now the Law was given in a very little time after the Children of Israel came out of Egypt And from the giving of the first Promise to Abraham which we have recorded Gen. 12. 2 3. unto that very Night in which the Children of Israel were brought out of their Egyptian Bondage is the Computation of these Years made as will be evident to him that shall diligently compare the Chronology of those times with the express Testimony of Moses Exod. 12. 41. And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years even the self same day it came to pass that all the Hosts of the Lord went out from the Land of Egypt From the time of the first Promise to the end of Israel's sojourning in Egypt was 430 years tho' their Abode in Egypt was not near so long And from hence we collect 1. That in the Transaction of God with Abraham recorded Gen. 12. he did solemnly confirm his Covenant with him altho' Moses makes not express mention of the Term Covenant until another occasion be offered Gen. 15. 18. For the Promise there mentioned the Apostle asserts to be the Covenant confirmed of God in Christ unto Abraham 2. The Mercy of Israel's Redemption out of Egypt was in some respect to be referred to this Covenant as the Spring thereof tho' it was not immediately and in its own nature a New Covenant-Blessing to all that did partake in it And all the dealings of God with them as a select and peculiar People in Covenant with himself were in Subserviency to the great Ends of this Covenant with Abraham and therefore none of them may be interpreted to the Prejudice or disannulling of those Promises in which the Gospel was preached unto Abraham 3. By the Computation of Moses Exod. 12. it appears That the Promise we are speaking of was given to Abraham on the 15th day of the Month Abib the first Month according to the religious Account of the Jews on which day Israel a Typical Church obtained a Typical Redemption in the Interest of a Typical Passover And on that same day Christ our true Passover was sacrificed for us upon the Cross obtained eternal Redemption and by confirming the Covenant of Grace with his own Blood passed all the Promises thereof into * The Covenant of Grace is to be considered by us a Testamentary Covenant Conf. Heb. 7. 22. with Chap. 9. 16. an unalterable Testament § 6. Secondly The Sum and Substance of all spiritual and eternal Blessings was included in the Covenant and Promise given unto Abraham Gen. 12. In these words I will bless thee and thou shalt be a Blessing The Grace and Blessings of the New-Covenant were given and ensured unto Abraham for himself and moreover this Honour was conferred on him That he should be an Head of Covenant-Blessings as the Father of all true Believers No less is intended in those words thou shalt be a Blessing They suppose indeed that He should be blessed but the Promise terminates not in himself but also conveys Blessedness to many others thro' a Relation to him as his Children which is yet more fully exprest in that which follows In thee shall all Nations be blessed This general Promise intends not that every individual Person in every Nation should at any time be blessed in Abraham but that his Blessing should not be confined to any one Nation excluding others and that all in every Nation that were blessed should be so by virtue of the Covenant now made with Abraham and in a Relation to him as their Father This was the Gospel preached unto Abraham and a Promise of the Justification of the Heathen thro' Faith Gal. 3. 8. and in the Interest of this Blessing of Abraham they receive the Promise of the Spirit as being his Seed ver 14. And this Promise of a believing Seed which should with himself inherit the Blessings of the Covenant of Grace was farther confirmed unto Abraham a considerable time after this Gen. 15. compared with Rom. 4. 3 18. § 7. Thirdly This Covenant was made with Abraham in and thro' Jesus Christ It is not Abraham but
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
first given unto Abraham and we are brought into it in the Interest of Relation to him as Children which also is by Faith in Jesus Christ This special Honour did God put upon Abraham by the manner of his entring into Covenant with him that thenceforth no People should be taken into Covenant with himself but as his Seed This is evident as to Israel after the Flesh in the Old Testament that their Covenant-Interest was derived from Abraham and it appears as plainly concerning the spiritual Seed and Israel of God in the New-Testament that Abraham is their Father Rom. 4. and all true Believers are blessed in him as his Seed Gal. 2. 8. 29. with Gen. 12. 3. for by that Promise in Genesis Abraham was ordained and constituted of God the Father of the faithful as hath been before touched And hence it is that their Fruition of Paradise is called a resting in Abraham's Bosom Luk. 16. because as they have their Entrance into a State of Grace so they are also brought into the Kingdom of Glory and made to possess Heaven as his Children They are also said to sit down with Abraham in the Kingdom of of Heaven Mat. 8. 11. § 9. Fifthly The last thing I shall note is The eternal Settlement of the way of Salvation according to the Tenour of the Covenant which is by Faith in Christ This is a Covenant that conveye the Grace of Life to poor Sinners by a free and gracious Promise which admits of no other Restipulation in order to Covenant-Interest but Believing 〈◊〉 is of Faith because it is of Grace Rom. 4. 16. And this way is the only way of Life There is but one Covenant of spiritual and eternal Blessings in Christ Jesus founded in the eternal Decree and Counsel of God's Love and Grace which is now revealed unto Abraham and there is but one Seed which is of true Believers in Union with Christ promised to him as the Heirs of this Covenant and the Grace given thereby and thus is the Way of their Justification and Acceptance with God determined not by a natural Descent from Abraham or any external Priviledg appendent thereunto but by a walking in the Footsteps of Abraham ' s Faith Rom. 4. 13. who is made the Exemplar of Justification unto all in future Ages for whose perpetual Instruction this is recorded That he believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness The Tenour therefore of the Promise now given unto Abraham could never be altered nor any ways evacuated or superseded by any future Dispensation that the Church was brought under but whatsoever Law or Covenant was afterwards given unto them must of necessity lye in an order of Subserviency unto it and be directed towards the 〈…〉 ring in of the Perfection of that Dispensation of Grace which was unalterably fixed thereby Gal. 3. 17. It was the everlasting Gospel that was now preached unto Abraham which was afterwards to break forth with the fullest Glory and Lustre in the days of the Messiah when the Lord performed his Mercy to Abraham and remembered his holy Covenant Luk. 1. 72 c. § 10. I shall now close this Chapter with some Coâ—laries deduced from the things already cleared and then proceed in the Method before propounded 1. This Covenant of Grace whereof we have been speaking and which the Holy Ghost in the New-Testament hath so remarkably pointed out 〈◊〉 us whereby Abraham was made the Father of the Faithful and all Believers according to it were to be considered as a Seed that God would give to him was confirmed and ratified by a sure Promise unto Abraham a considerable time before the Covenant of Circumcision was given to him viz. about twenty five Years before it and had then no outward Sign or Seal annexed thereto And indeed that which hath been of late affirmed That the Covenant of Grace always had an outward Sign on Seal added to it is so wide a Mistake that on the contrary it may be affirmed That altho' the Efficacy of its Grace did reach Believers in all Ages yet it was not filled up with Ordinances of Worship proper and peculiar to it self until the times of Reformation nor had till then any outward Sign or Token immediately belonging thereunto For had it been so this Sign or Token as the Covenant it self had remained without Change and not vanished away with the other Shadows of the Mosaical Oeconomy 2. The Promise made unto Abraham gives the Seed as well as the Blessing of that Seed unto him Believers are the Children of Promise Typified by Isaac afterwards being begotten unto God of his own Will by the Efficacy and Grace of his free Promise and in the Virtue thereof yea the Seed is first supposed in the Promise and then the Blessing of that Seed is promised which being of Grace is made sure unto all of them Rom. 4. 16. And as the Blessing is spiritual so is the Seed also nor can it be extended farther then to that Seed which is the promised Subject thereof 3. The Sum of all Gospel blessings being comprized in this Promise it will hence follow That the proper Heirs of this Blessing of Abraham have a Right not only in some but in all the Promises of the New Covenant and that not in a limited Sence and as suspended on uncertain Conditions but in a full Sence and as secured by the infinite Grace Wisdom Power and Faithfulness of God and accordingly they are in time made good to them all And this will be more manifest if we consider that all the Blessings of this Covenant redound upon Believers by means of their Vnion and Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ who is both the Head and Root of the New-Covenant and the Fountain from whence all its Blessings are derived to us which as they were intirely purchased by him so are they intirely applyed to all that are in him and to none other The Limitation therefore of a New Covenant-Interest to the Grant of an external and temporary Priviledg only I conceive to be utterly inconsistent with the Promises of the Covenant it self even such as these Isa 54. 13. chap. 59. 21. Jer. 31. 33 34. Ezek. 36. 26 27. with Heb. 8. and many others of like import Neither will these Texts admit of another Notion of late insisted on for the Commendation of Paedo-Baptism viz. That the Infant Seed of Believers during their Infancy have all of them a certain and definite Interest in the Covenant of Grace by virtue of which they are compleatly justified before God from the Guilt of original Sin both Originans and Originatum and yet when they come to Years of Discretion may yea must by their actual closing with or refusing the Terms of the Covenant either obtain the Continuation and Confirmation of their Covenant-Interest or be utterly and finally cut off from it and so perish eternally in their Ignorance of God and Rebellion against him And as the Promises
of the Covenant will admit of no such partial Interest therein so neither can this Opinion consist with the Analogy of Faith in other Respects For either the Stain of original Sin in these Infants is purged and the Dominion of Concupiscence in them destroyed when their Guilt is pardoned or it is not If it be then the case of these Infants in point of Perseverance is the same with that of Adult Persons that are under Grace by their actual Faith and then a final Apostacy from the Grace of the New Covenant must be allowed possible to befal the one as well as the other notwithstanding all the Provisions of the Covenant and Engagement of God thereâ—n to make the Promise sure unto all the Seed But this the Author will not admit If he say that their Guilt is pardoned but their Natures are not renewed nor the Power of original Corruption destroyed so as that Sin shall not have Dominion over them It will be replyed that then notwithstanding their supposed Pardon they remain an unclean thing and so uncapable of Adminion into the Kingdom of Glory But the Truth is None are at any time justified before God but such as Christ hath loved and washed from their Sins in his Blood Rev. 1. 5. And none are washed by him but those that are in him as the second Adam It is by Union to him as the Root of the New-Covenant that the free Gift comes upon them to the Justification of Rom. 5. 14 c. Life And none can have Union to him but by the indwelling of his holy Spirit and wherever the Spirit of God applies the Blood of Christ for the Remission of Sins he doth it also for the purging of the Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God And as certainly as any derive a New-Covenant Right from Christ for Pardon they also receive a vital Influence from him for the Renovation of their Natures and conforming their Souls to his own Image And therefore to assert That the Grace of Christ is applyed to some for the Remission of Sins only or that the Guilt of any Sin can be pardoned to any Person and yet that Sin retain its Dominion over him is so far as I can discern both unscriptural and incoherent with the Doctrin that is according to Godliness 4. To conclude It is plain That a Believers Claim to the Blessings of the New-Covenant is in the Interest of Abraham's Seed and by virtue of the Promises given to him relating to such a Seed and not as Coordinate with him in Covenant-Interest They are not each one by this Covenant made the Father of a blessed Seed as Abraham was the Father of the Faithful neither can they claim the Promise for themselves and their Seed according to the Tenour of Abraham's Covenant and as he might but they must rest in a Relation to him as Children and so receive his Blessing that is the Blessing promised to him for his Seed and that by their own Faith and for themselves alone Believers because they are Abraham's Seed are blessed with faithful Abraham And If we be Christs then are we Abraham ' s Seed and Heirs according to the Promise Gal. 3. 29. Of the Covenant of Circumcision CHAP. V. The Subject of our present Inqiury the Promises gived to Abraham for his natural Off-spring these given forth gradually all summed up in the Covenant of Circumcision § 1. Gen. 12. 2. farther opened in its respect to the carnal Seed Abraham called out of Ur of the Chaldees Heb. 11. 8. conferred with Gen. 11. 32. their Harmony shewed § 2. Abraham comes into Canaan and builds an Altar his Journey into Egypt Return to Canaan parting from Lot the renewing of the Promise thereupon § 3. Gen. 13. 15. opened how the Promise of the Land of Canaan was made good to Abraham in what sence said to be an everlasting Possession § 4. The History in Gen. 15. considered the 6th Verse explained the Promise renewed and inlarged the Bondage of Israel in Egypt foretold The time limited to 400 Years when they began one reason why the Promise was no sooner to take place the Iniquity of the Amorites not yet full how the Curse of Parents comes righteously upon their Children § 5. The Seed of Abraham and their Inheritance first given by Promise One consequence of this Abraham goeth in to Hagar the Reason of it as yet no mention of a Distinction of Abraham's natural Offspring among themselves nor any distinguishing Character appointed for them his Seed in remote Generations as well as in an immediate Descent from him intended in the Promises § 6. The Covenant of Circumcision why so called Gen. 17. 1. opened This a Praeludium to the Sinai Covenant § 7. Gen. 17. 4 〈◊〉 opened The Promise of the New-Covenant rehearsed Two reasons thereof Abram's Name changed to Abraham How Circumcision became a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith briefly touched The necessity of distinguishing of the Promises given to Abraham and of the Seed to which they belong § 8. Gen. 17. 6. opened the first Intimation of a distinction of 〈◊〉 in Israel § 9. The general Scope of Gen. 17. 7 8. the word Everlasting how to be taken as applyed to this Covenant no proof of its being a Covenant of spiritual Blessings deducible from thence § 10. The Church-State of Israel after the Flesh the principal Blessing of this Covenant This evinced by the Story of Ishmael and Esau Their Exclusion from this Covenant The preference of Israel's Lot § 11. § 1. THE Method before laid down leads us in the next place to inquire after the Promises given to Abraham for his natural Off-spring and the Assurance of them which it pleased God to give him by Covenant-Transactions And here as formerly I shall diligently review the History that Moses wrote of these things by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost and comparing the Promises made with the Records of their Accomplishment in other parts of holy Writ indeavour to collect from both the true Import and Extent of them with the proper Nature and Ends of that Covenant unto which in a peculiar manner they do belong Only this I shall premit to the whole That these Promises were not all made unto Abraham at one time Nor the Covenant of them perfected by one Transaction but they were given forth by several Parts and Degrees until at last the whole Charter of Priviledges and Blessings granted to the natural Offspring of Abraham was fairly drawn and the Covenant of them sealed by Circumcision This will immediately appear in the historical Account we shall have of these things and some Regard hereunto may be also remarked in the Progression of Stephen's Discourse when he gives a Recapitulation of them Act. 7. 5 6 7 8. § 2. In Gen. 12. 2. we find That when the God of Glory first appeared unto Abraham and called him out from his own Country from his Kindred and from his Fathers
House besides the Promise of spiritual Blessings that was given to him both for himself and his spiritual Seed he had also the Promise of a numerous Offspring which should naturally descend from him No less can be intended in these Words I will make of thee a great Nation than this Thou shalt be the Father of a great Nation which shall spring and issue from thy Loyns such is the plain Sence of the like Words to Moses Num. 14. 12. And this Promise with the rest Abraham embraced by Faith for to an Eye of Reason there was no present Likelihood of its Accomplishment seeing at this time he had no Child for want of which he also makes Complaint a considerable time after this Gen. 15. 2 3. and Sarâ— his Wife was barren Yet esteeming him faithful and able to make good his Word that haâ— given him these Promises he embraced them and upon the Call of God * Cui non magis est dulce proprium tugurium quam palatia Poregrina Voluntaria Casa quam digesta Praetoria Cui non est durum illos conscioâ— nâ—â—alium Parâ—â—tes dulcia ill◠〈◊〉 mina atque amabilem larem quem parentum memoria ipsius Infantiae Rudimenta commendant Inter 〈◊〉 ergo tam 〈…〉 dulcia 〈…〉 Exi ait de 〈…〉 Quis haec 〈…〉 August forsook all that before was dear unto him and went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11. 8. For it doth not appear that the Land of Canaan was mentioned to him at his first calling but rather an absolute Resignation of himself unto divine Goodness and Conduct was required of him and he knew no more than this that he must travel from his own to another Country which was to a Land that God would shew to him tho' as yet he knew not what or where it was And therefore tho' we read Gen. 11. 32. That he went from Uâ— of the Chaldees to go into the Land of Canaan I conceive those Words are to be taken as an historical Anticipation and not a Relation of what fell within Abraham's Knowledg and Intention when he first undertook his Journey * Vid. Riveti exercitationes in 〈…〉 His Peregrination was in the Counsel of God determined to the Land of Canaan and by a divine Conduct he was brought thither tho' himself knew not the Place designed at least not till he came nearer to it viz. unto Haran where the Lord gave him a second Call after the Death of Terah to proceed in his Journey to the Land of Canaan Gen. 12. 4 5. § 3. When Abraham came into the Land of Canaan unto the Place of Sichem the plain of Moreh the Progeny of cursed Canaan being then the Inhabitants of the Country the Lord appeared unto him again and gave him a full and express Promise of that Land which for Pleasantness and Gen. 12. 6 7. Fertility was the Glory of all Lands for an Inheritance unto his Seed And there he first built an Altar unto the Lord that by worshipping him he might testifie his Gratitude for the Promise so freely given to him and also receive a Ratification of it in the Blood of his accepted Sacrifice Soon after this a Famine drives Abraham into Egypt and there Sarai's Chastity was indangered by the Egyptian King but the Gen. 12. 17. Psal 105. 13 14 15. Lord's rebuke upon him delivered his Servant from that Affliction and by his good Providence he was again brought back in Peace to the Land of Canaan All this time Lot Abraham's Brothers Son was with him but now their Substance being increased and some Contention happening between their Servants Abraham to take up the present Controversie and prevent the like makes a Proposal for their parting the one from the other which was accepted of by Lot Gen. 13. And after that Lot was separated from Abraham the Lord again renew and confirms the Promise of the Land of Canaan to him and of the great Increase of his Seed that should possess it with a special Command to Abraham to walk thro' it in the Length thereof and the Breadth thereof to survey and by Faith to take Possession of it while as yet he was a Stranger and had no Inheritance in it no not so much as to set his Foot on Act. 7. § 4. In the Promise thus renewed there are two things that require some farther Explanation First The Conveyance of this Inheritance is directly made first unto Abraham himself and then unto his Seed All the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed Gen. 13. 15. Now it is evident Abraham had no Possession in it all his Days save that of a Burying-place which he after purchased for his Money paid to the full value thereof Gen. 23. And like was the Case also of Isaac and Jacob who were the Heirs of this Promise together with Abraham Heb. 11. 9. A Question therefore ariseth How was this Promisemade good to Abraham In Answer hereunto waving at present the Typical Respect of the promised Land and Abraham's Inheritance of the spiritual and heavenly Blessings signified thereby observe 1. That as to those Words to thee and to thy Seed the latter may be taken as an Interpretation of the former and then the sence is to thee that is to thy Seed The Hebrew Particle here used is undoubtedly to be taken in this sence in some other See Ainsw Annot. places and is to be interpreted not as Copulative by And but as explicative by Even or that is See 1 Chron. 21. 12. where it is so rendred And the like Interpretation must be given of it in 2 Sam. 17. 12. Of him and rather that is of all the Men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one Now this rendring removes all appearance of Difficulty from the Text. 2. A Man may have jus ad rem that hath not jus in re All Right is not persently actionable but a Man may have a Right to an Inheritance by Promise or otherwise without the Right of present Possession which he may not enter upon till a long time after or perhaps not himself but his Posterity are to be possessed of it by that Right which is at present made over to him Neither doth the annexing such Terms render the Promise vain or fruitless unto him that first receives it for the Assurance that the Good promised shall in its time certainly redound upon his Offspring is a present Comfort to himself as it is an Honour also for him this way to be made capable of transmitting such a Right to them And therefore it was a pleasing Thought to old Jacob when he lay dying That God would surely visit his Children and bring them up out of Egypt to inherit the promised Land Gen. 48. 5 20 21. tho' he went to his Fathers without sight of its Accomplishment As it was also a special Favour to Ephraim and Manasseth that
considered and cleared as also how the Land of Canaan may be said to be an everlasting Possession And in the same fence is this Covenant said to be everlasting Israel could not be finally cut off from the promised Inheritance until the Covenant it self by which it was given to them did expire As was therefore the Duration of the Inheritance and of Israel's Right therein so was the Duration of this Covenant Everlasting not absolutely but with such a Limitation as the Nature of the things spoken of doth necessarily require and as is usual in those Scriptures that speak of things pertaining to the Jewish State There is therefore no more Reason to conclude from this Term That the Covenant of Circumcision was directly and properly a Covenant of spiritual and eternal Blessings than there is to affirm that the Land of Canaan and the good things thereof were a spiritual and eternal Inheritance § 11. Howbeit From the strict Connexion of this 7th Verse with the 6th and the Assurance here given that God will establish his Covenant with the Seed of Abraham to be their God it is evident That the Number of Abraham's carnal Seed and the Grandeur of their civil State is not all that is promised in this Covenant nor yet the principal Blessing bestowed on them therein but rather The forming of them into a Church-State with the Establishment of the Ordinances of publick Worship among them wherein they should walk in a Covenant-Relation to God as his peculiar People understand it still of the old Covenant whereing they had their peculiar Right and Priviledg No less can be intended in this I will be a God unto them in their Generations And it is also made more evident by the following Account that is given of this Transaction with respect to Isaac and Ishmael Gen. 17. 18-21 When the Lord had promised unto Abraham a Son by Sarah whose Name should be called Isaac he thus prays for Ishmael O that Ishmael might live before thee which the Chaldee paraphraseth thus might live and Worship before thee No doubt his Prayer was that Ishmael might also be an Heir of the Blessing of this Covenant But that was not granted to him for the Lord would have his Covenant Seed called in Isaac only with him God would establish his Covenant having appointed and chosen him alone to be the Heir thereof who was to be a Child of Promise and Son of the Free-Woman And yet for Ishmael in special Favour to Abraham whose Seed he was thus much is obtained that he should be made fruitful and multiplyed exceedingly twelve Princes or Heads of great Families should spring of him which imports some Analogy to the twelve Tribes of Israel after the Flesh whose old Covenant-State was typified in Ishmael and God would make him a great Nation And yet all this lay short of the Blessing of Abraham's natural Offspring by Isaac from which Ishmael was now excluded It is plain therefore that the Priviledg of the Ecclesiastical as well as the flourishing of the Civil State of Israel did arise unto them out of the Covenant of Circumcision The like may be observed of Esau afterwards whom the Lord rejected before he was born excluding him from the Priviledg and Blessing of this Covenant which descended upon Jacob only And yet Esau was also the Father of a great Nation and of many Kings and had the Inheritance of many outward Blessings assigned to him Gen. 27. 39. We conclude therefore That notwithstanding the carnal Seed of Abraham could not as such claim a Right in the spiritual and eternal Blessings of the New-Covenant because of their Interest in the Covenant of Circumcision yet their Priviledges and Advantages in their Church-State tho' immediately consisting in things outward and typical were of far greater Value and Use than any meer worldly or earthly Blessing as giving them choyce means of the Knowledg of God and setting them nearer to him than any Nation in the World besides Of the Covenant of Circumcision CHAP. VI. The general design of this Chapter Two Propositions laid down § 1. The first Proposition that the mediate and remote Seed of Abraham in Isaac's Line are included in the Covenant of Circumcision Proved from the Terms of the Promise and the Instance of their Children who fell in the Wilderness § 2. Farther confirmed from Ezek. 16. 20 21. § 3. The Current of sacred History and accomplishment of the Promises pleaded § 4. The Church-State of Israel built upon this Covenant § 5. This proved Circumcision the Door of Entrance into and Boundary of their Communion and an Obligation to keep the whole Law § 6. Rom. 3. 1. proposed How Levi payed Tythes in Abraham § 7. Israel brought out of Egypt and planted in Canaan by virtue of this Covenant An Objection prevented § 8. The second Proposition Some of the immediate Seed excluded proved from Gen. 17. 19 c. An Objection answered § 9. The Instance of Esau insisted on why so particular Mention made of Isaac and Jacob Act. 7. 8. § 10. An Objection from the Application of the Seal of the Covenant stated Answer 1. The express Testimony of Scripture removes it 2. Abraham was bound to circumcise his Servants as well as his Children 3. No Covenant-Interest without Interest in the Promises of the Covenant These not made to all that were circumcised § 11. Circumcision a Seal of the Covenant upon all but not to all the Subjects thereof This farther explained The Command of God not Covenant-Interest the Rule of applying Circumcision § 12. Some Inferences from the Discourse foregoing § 13. § 1. THose Passages in Genesis that have been last discoursed of give me an Occasion of Inlargement upon some things which as they are deduced from the Texts that have been in part considered already so the farther clearing and strengthening of them will not only confirm what hath been already hinted but also contribute very much to the right Understanding of the Nature and End of this Covenant of Circumcision that I am treating of and to a removal of the Grounds of many mistaken Deductions from it by those that would from thence determine the right Subjects of Baptism What I intend is summ'd up in these two Propositions 1. The mediate and remote Seed of that Line to which the Promises of the Covenant of Circumcision did belong were as fully included and interested in them as the immediate Seed 2. From the first establishing of this Covenant some of the immediate Seed of Abraham were excluded from Interest in it § 2. I shall begin with the First The Truth of which appears sufficiently in the express Terms of the Promises now given to Abraham which run to him and to his Seed after him in their Generations and the Covenant it self is said to be an everlasting Covenant which they are strictly commanded to keep in their Generations Gen. 17. 7 9 13. These Terms are used because it was a Covenant in
and End appointed to it And hereupon all the carnal Priviledges and Ordinances of Worship suited to that State did necessarily cease and become useless also 6. During the time wherein their Covenant retained its full Vigor and all their carnal Priviledges remained good to them in their utmost extent all their Advantage lay short of Interest in the Covenant of Grace This they could never claim by virtue of a carnal Descent from Abraham Mat. 3. 9. For it was not a carnal Relation to Abraham but walking in the steps of his Faith that alone could interest them in this Covenant and the Blessings thereof This the Apostle professedly discourses in Rom. 4. and many other places So then § 3. 7. The carnal and the spiritual Seed as also the Covenants wherein their respective Priviledges are stated were from the Beginning in their own Nature distinct the one from the other Altho' during the Minority of the Church under the Mosaical Oeconomy these different Blessings did ordinarily meet in the same Subjects For in that time the Seed of Abraham after the Flesh comes under a twofold Consideration 1. The whole Body of them is to be considered as a People separated unto God for the Ends before mentioned and formed into a typical State by the Law of Moses vested with carnal Priviledges and having an earthly Inheritance which things were typical of spiritual Blessings under the Gospel 2. As a great number of them were made the true and real Members of the spiritual Church and Assembly of the redeemed of the Lord who did by Faith inherit and enjoy those spiritual Blessings which the outward Priviledg of the carnal Jew was but a shadow of For that Nation was so made a typical Church as that they were also the only true visible Church that God then had i◠the World And therefore while the Wall of Separation stood betwixt them and the Gentiles the Oracles of God were committed to them and his true Worship wa◠settled among them the Covenants of Promise were given to them and the way of Salvation by a Covenant of Grace thro' the promised Seed was made known tho' but darkly among them and the Blood of God's special Elect did generally run in their Veines that People who were savingly interested in God and truly holy being for the most part found amongst them while the Gentiles lived without God in the World Thus I say it was ordinarily for even then the Grace of God might superabound to some few among the Gentiles And therefore that Church that was really and not only typically Holiness to the Lord was found within the Compass of their Enclosure Thus as Isaac was not only a Type of the Children of Promise in the New-Testament but was also one of them that did by Faith truly inherit the spiritual Blessing of Abraham and Jacob was not only a Type of the Elect Seed but also a real Part thereof so the like may be said of all that came after of the Circumcision who were not of the Circumcision only but did also walk in the Steps of the Faith of their Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised They were in one respect a Type and in another true Members of the general Assembly and Church of the First-borne Tho' the one of these they found as pertaining to the Flesh the other they obtained by Faith § 4. And of this Israel in Israel two things are to be observed 1. That notwithstanding their Interest in the Promise by Faith they were not freed from the Yoke and Discipline of Moses his Law until Christ came They were indeed Children even the Children of Abraham on a spiritual Account and by the Grace of a free Promise which the Law could not disannul they were relieved from its Rigor as to their spiritual and eternal State but being Children under Age the Paedagogy they were under differed nothing from that of Servants neither could they be discharged of this School-Master before Christ came 2. They were blessed with spiritual Blessings and had Interest in eternal Life in Circumcision and under the Law but none of them obtained this by Circumcision or by the Law That whole Oeconomy that Israel after the Flesh was under was in and by it self insufficient and weak as to the End of eternal Happiness and the Justification of a Sinner before God in order thereto It could not make the Comers thereunto perfect nor make the carnal Seed Heirs of spiritual Blessings But a Right to them was evermore grounded upon a spiritual Relation to Abraham and Interest in that Promise which the Covenant of Circumcision was but an Hand-maid to And therefore those that rested in their carnal Priviledges and sought eternal Happiness from them did pervert their true End and could never obtain what they followed after Lastly To conclude The Covenant of Circumcision did belong to the Body of the carnal Seed even to the Jewish Church The Foundation of their State is laid therein and their Right and Priviledg is thereby expresly stated in their Generations And therefore as we readily grant the Promise now under consideration to belong to the Seed of Abraham after the Flesh so we do with good Reason affirm that it must be taken in such a sence as we may find verified in that People and Nation unto whom it did belong and that shall no ways contradict or interfere with the general Design of the Gospel or the plain and indisputable Sence of other Texts of Scripture § 5. These things being premised we shall now come more close to the Words themselves and enquire what that Good and Blessing is which by them is ensured unto this Seed of Abraham That this Promise I will be their God with that foregoing in Gen 17. 7. do give a general Assurance of some Good to the People in Covenant is evident but that they are Promises of some particular Good or Blessing that is of an higher Nature then is comprehended in any other Promises of the Covenant is not to be supposed For the true Import of this general Promise is That God hath ingaged himself and all the Properties of his Nature for the exact fulfilling of all the Promises of the Covenant now made with them according to the true Tenor and Conditions of the said Covenant All the divine Perfections See Mr. Whist Prim. Doctr. p. 124. are laid in as Pledges that the Promises shall not fail on God's Part seeing as need requires they shall be all exerted for the Good and Advantage of this People in fulfilling the Promises given to them But still these Communications of God to them and Actings for them both in respect of the Blessings he will bestow as also the Terms and Conditions on which they shall be bestowed are limited by the Covenant he hath made with them and the Nature and Extent of the Promises thereof And this will more plainly appear to be the true Sence if we duly weigh the Terms
And notwithstanding all their Provocations he had Compassion upon them when in their Distresses they cryed unto him and delivered them so that the Scepter did not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his Feet untill Shiloh i. e. Christ came Much of this you have summ'd up in Neh. 9. Psal 105 and Psal 144. with Act. 7. § 8. In all these Respects with others of like Nature before insisted on there was a Glory 2 Cor. 3. 7 11. upon the Ministration of the Old Testament The Jew had a great Advantage and there was Profit of Circumcision but chiefly in that to them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 1. and Chap. 9. 4. Their's were the Covenants of Promise and the solemn Worship of God was maintained among then For Salvation was of the Jews Joh. 4. 22. and in these things was this Promise fulfilled That the Lord would be a God to them Many to whom the Lord was a God according to the Tenor of the Old Covenant dyed in their Sins and were eternally lost But those to whom he is a God according to the Tenor of the New Covenant receive from him the Blessings of a new Heart Remission of Sins and eternal Salvation in their Generations And yet all this lies short of an actual personal and saving Interest in the Covenant of Grace as the Apostle Paul argues at large in his Epistle to the Romans and particularly in Chap. 9 10 11. Neither could he have affirmed that the committing of the Oracles of God to them was the chief Profit or greatest Benefit of Circumcision if ever God had appointed it to be the Seal of their Interest in the Covenant of Grace which undoubtedly is much greater than any external Benefit or Advantage But moreover This Priviledg the Jews had That as the Son of God was to be made Flesh of the Seed of Abraham and to be manifested among them being made a Minister of the Circumcision for the fulfilling of the Promises made unto the Fathers Rom. 15. 8. so also the first Tender of the Grace and Salvation of the Gospel did of Right belong unto them The preaching of Repentance and Remission of Sins in Christ's Name was to begin at Jerusalem Luk. 24. 47. And as this was an Argument of God's great Favour so it might be unto them a great Incouragement to receive the Gospel and expect Salvation by Christ according to the Tender made therein And for this End is it urged by Peter Act. 2. 38 39. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins and Ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost For the Promise is to you and to your Children c. The Promise which he hath a particular Respect to is that before cited of the Salvation of all who in the day of the Gospel call upon the Name of the Lord and the pouring out of his Spirit upon all Flesh c. see ver 17 21. The Promise of the Spirit is also mentioned by Paul as the great Blessing of the Gospel Gal. 3. 14. The Spirit was then to be poured out upon many in the miraculous and extraordinary Gifts thereof and upon all true Believers in a New-Testament Measure accordingly the Apostle exhorts them to the Obedience of the Gospel that they might obtain the Remission of their Sins and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost which he assures them of upon the Terms proposed For saith he the Promise is to you and your Children You are in no wise excluded from the Hope of this Blessing tho' you have been the Betrayers and Murtherers of Christ himself but on the contrary you as Jews have a special Interest in the Promise so far as that its Accomplishment is to be begun among you and the first Offer of its Blessing belongs to you An actual Interest in the Promise unto Salvation they could not have until they believed and repented but as before explained the Promise was to them while Unbelievers and in a like sence the the Apostle Paul saith of them That the Covenants and the Promises as well as the giving of the Law and Levitical Service were theirs Rom. 9. 4. Their Covenant brought Salvation to them but it was the receiving of it by Faith when so tendered that gave them particular Interest in it And the Interest of their Children or Posterity in the Promises can reach no farther then their's from whom it is supposed to be derived And it is the same thing in Effect that Peter urgeth upon the same People to perswade their Obedience to the Doctrine of Christ Act. 3. 25 26. Ye are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy Seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be blessed Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning every one of you from his Iniquities And suitable hereunto we find the Apostles in all Places where they came with the glad Tydings of the Gospel first applyed themselves unto the Jews as holding it necessary that the Word of God should first be preached unto them Act. 13. 46 47. § 9. From that Account which hath been given of the Covenant of Circumcision the Nature and Promises thereof these Corolaries do follow 1. That this was a Covenant of Grace and Mercy as having its Original from the meer Goodness and undeserved Favour of God towards Israel Deut. 7. 7 8. whereby many excellent Priviledges were given to them which no other Nation under Heaven had a Right in but themselves and these were conferred on them in Pursuance of the great Design of God's Grace in the Covenant of Redemption by Christ Yet was it not that Covenant of Grace which God made with Abraham for all his spiritual Seed which was before confirmed of God in Christ and thro' which all Nations that is true Believers in every Nation have been ever since now are and shall be blessed with the spiritual and eternal Blessing of Abraham 2. Altho' it be granted This Covenant had ultimately a respect to spiritual Blessings as it was disposed in the manifold Wisdom of God in a Subserviency to the Covenant of Grace and as added to the Promise until the fulness of Time came yet was it not immediately and directly a Covenant of spiritual Blessings nor could it ever convey to the carnal Seed of Abraham as such a Right and Interest in them 3. Notwithstanding the Promises made in this Covenant of Circumcision and the Separation of Israel to be the peculiar People of God in Pursuance of them whose Church-state was compleated by the Covenant in the Wilderness when the set Time for the fulfilling of those Promises in that respect was fully come Yet for the present this Covenant did not confine the solemn Worship of God by Sacrifices or otherwise to Abraham's Family nor were other holy Men
for the most part as shadowed and figured by outward things And hence That which concerns the State of Israel under the Mosaical Oeconomy is more expresly and fully declared unto Abraham than what concerns his spiritual Seed under the Gospel And therefore tho' this latter be the chief thing intended and aimed at because the perfection of all the rest in all divine Transactions with Abraham yet is it for the most part mystically infolded in and to be inferred from the typical Respect of the other thereunto which leaves the Glory of Gospel-grace still under that Vail which accompanied the Old Testament-state of the Church the full opening of those Promises that did immediately belong to the Covenant of Grace being reserved for another State of things in the Church God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Heb. 11. 40. A dim Light was suited to those Times and it could be but dim so long as the Promises lay so much intangled one within another The like is to be observed in After-times in the Revelation of the Mind of God to Israel by the Prophets For in the prophetick Writings as it appears that the temporal Deliverances of Israel are considered as typical of the spiritual Redemption of the Church so we often meet with sudden and seemingly abrupt Transitions from the Promises of things relating to the present State of Israel after the Flesh unto Promises and Prophecies of those things which are accomplished in the New-Testament by the Ministration of the Spirit which being generally delivered in Terms suitable to the present Dispensation of things and their typical Respect are by the Jews wofully perverted unto this day while they contend that themselves are the only People concerned in them to whom the Blessings promised and prophesied of do belong and that they are to be fulfilled unto them in a way agrecable to their former State and suited to their own carnal Lusts and Imaginations whereby they harden themselves in their Contempt of the Grace of God in Christ and the spiritual Blessings of the Gospel wherein the Accomplishment of those Prophecies according to the true Sence of them is only to be sought And thus Jesus Christ himself became a Stone of stumbling and Rock of Offence to them because the State of his Kingdom suited not their carnal Minds nor answered their groundless Expectation § 3. It is also to be observed That there is not only a singular Congruity and Fitness in this Method of giving forth the Promises in regard of the Time wherein they were made to Abraham and that State of the Church which was next to follow upon these Transactions but there is also in some respect a Necessity of it arising from the Nature of the things promised and their mutual Dependence one upon the other For All the Promises of a spiritual Seed and spiritual Blessings to be bestowed on that Seed which belong to the Covenant of Grace as revealed to Abraham are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus And this Messiah in whom the Covenant was confirmed was to be made of the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh and for the bringing of him forth according to the Promise was the Seed of Abraham by Isaac and Jacob separated unto God for a peculiar People and kept distinct from all other Families in the World and in this respect the Blessing of Grace and eternal Life given unto Abraham and his believing Seed was suspended upon the Effect and Accomplishment of the Promises concerning his natural Offspring and particularly upon the Promise of Isaac's Birth who was to be begotten by Abraham and brought forth by Sarah at such a time when Nature in them both was so weakned by Age that they were as unapt he to beget and she to conceive a Son as if they had been already dead Rom. 4. 19. And hence it is that the Apostle doth lay so great Weight upon Abraham's Faith in this Particular even in the Business of his Justification before God The Object of justifying Faith the Messiah to come being thus included in the Promise of Isaac's Birth On this account his Parents had the greatest Cause of rejoycing at the Birth of this Son who hath his Name from Laughter and Rejoycing Gen. 17. 17. and Chap. 21. And to this in part may be referred the saying of our Saviour Abraham rejoyced to see my Day and he saw it and was glad Joh. 8. 56. He saw it in the Birth of Isaac and afterwards in the offering of him up who was a Type of Christ and from whom he was to come whose miraculous Birth in the virtue of a Promise when Nature could not have effected it afforded also some Adumbration of and was a Praeludium to the more miraculous Birth of Christ who was conceived and brought forth by a pure Virgin the Power of the most High overshadowing her for the fufilling of that Promise The Seed of the Woman shall break the Head of the Serpent As Isaac in the Type so Christ more eminently sprang up as a Root out of a dry Ground Isa 53. § 4. Now from these things we may collect with Ease and great Clearness wherein the Greatness of Abraham's Tryal and the Eminency of his Faith in offering up Isaac did specially consist To part with a Son an obedient Son a Son grown up as Isaac now was yea an only Son was indeed a great Tryal howbeit Abraham was not only required to part with him but to sacrifice him and for a Father to become the Executioner of his Son the Son of his old Age and the Object of his most endeared Affections for him I say to be appointed the Priest that must slay this Victime adds yet much more to the Tryal And in Abraham's addressing himself to such a Service had there been no more in it without Debate murmuring or delay we have an unparallell'd Instance and Example of Piety and Obedience But alas There is a Concern infinitely greater in this Case than all that hath been yet mentioned Isaac was the Son of the Promise And upon this account the Holy Ghost places it he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son Of whom it was said in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Heb. 11. 17 18. Abraham had no other Son in whom he might expect the fulfilling of the Promise when Isaac was lost and yet upon the Accomplishment of this Promise in the bringing forth of the Messiah in Isaac's Line the eternal Salvation of Abraham and of the whole Church depended and therefore he is called his only begotten not because Abraham had no other Son but because he was the only Hâ—ir of the Promise This might have caused the greatest Anxiety of Mind imaginable in Abraham had he at all consulted with Flesh and Blood in the case but his Faith overcame this Difficulty and silenced all carnal Reasonings about the Impossibility of the Accomplishment of the