DISCOURSE XVII.

ON GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM.

GEN. xvii. 4, 7, 8.

with thee, and thou

And I will establish

As for me, behold, my covenant is shalt be a father of many nations. 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. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land in which thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

IN

every dispensation of God to mankind, unmerited grace has formed a constituent part. This grace has always been exhibited in promises containing good things to be conferred on men, in order to promote their happiness. The completion of a promise has sometimes been suspended on the performance of some prescribed condition, as in the covenant of works. If the promise of that covenant was intended to secure permanent happiness, on the condition of perfect and persevering obedience, it could not be said to contain grace: for every holy creature must be happy while he perseveres, without sinning, in the way of righteousness. But that covenant is justly understood to have secured to Adam a state of confirmed felicity, to commence when the period of his trial should terminate. This security was purely of grace, as it could never result from the moral relation between God and Adam.

According to this primeval constitution of things, the endless felicity of man was founded in a gracious promise; but it contained no grace to enable Adam to perform the condition on which that promise rested; hence, by abusing his liberty and ability, he violated the paction, and failed of obtaining the promise.

IN consequence of this a new establishment was introduced, containing a more extensive and more glorious display of grace than the former. The state of things which succeeded the fall required this, otherwise the whole human family must inevitably have perished. The terms of enjoying a life of happiness were now become much more difficult than at first. Sin and death had entered. These terms, according to this new state of things, were not prescribed to the sinner, but to a surety provided for him by God. This appeared, though obscurely, in the promise of a seed, by which the serpent's head should be bruised, and sinners saved. The same God, whose law had been violated, and whose goodness had been despised, announced the joyful message. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. iii. 15. The grace couched under these words is very extensive, though wrapped up in much obscurity. This glimmering ray of light which now sprung from heaven, gradually acquired additional strength, and, with the lapse of time, shone forth with increasing splendour, till the Sun of righteousness, the promised seed, appeared. It is past all doubt that the antediluvian saints must have had much more comprehensive and clearer views of that promise than could be collected from the written records of that period, now extant: for if they had not, their faith could not have been founded in

knowledge. But as they were accustomed to familiar interviews with God, they would receive additional information, though it is not transmitted to us. By faith in the promised Messiah, Abel offered unto God an acceptable sacrifice, and Noah also became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

mise was a SEED.

WHEN God called Abraham to forsake his native country, possessions and relations, he renewed to him this original promise, with much additional light, giving him some view of the extent of the promise, and the amplitude of its blessings. Gen. xii. 1-3. It was repeatedly renewed to him, with a considerable variety of circumstances, unfolding more fully the intention of the original grant, and discovering the particular concern which himself was to have in it. As it was the design of God to reveal his gracious purposes gradually, so we find a variety of circumstances taking place which lead to more particular discoveries. The matter of the first proThis seed, more or less immediately, was the substance of every after promise made to the church. In these promises, either the seed itself was specified, or some blessing promised on account of that seed. This seed was to proceed from the loins of Abraham, who, when the promise was first made to him, had no issue, at least by Sarah. Twenty-five years elapsed ere the promise began to be fulfilled in the birth of Isaac, that it might be certain from the decay of procreative virtue in the parents, that he was a son, not of the flesh but of the promise. The faith of Sarah languished as her bodily vigour decayed, and, impatient for the accomplishment of the promise, substituted her bond servant in her place. She received seed, but not the seed intended in the promise. The fixed time comes, and the proper season arrives.

Abraham's body and Sarah's womb are both dead, their prolific virtue is gone, and every gleam of hope from the strength of nature evanishes. Now is the fit time. for God to manifest the truth and efficacy of his promise. Therefore, in this chapter from which my text is selected, the promise is again renewed and amplified; ratified by annexing the seal of circumcision, and assurance given to Abraham, that Sarah should bring him a son in the course of the year. This transaction is one of the most singular and interesting contained in the sacred volume. It comprises the utmost extent of the divine goodness and mercy manifested, either in temporal or spiritual blessings, to mankind, both under the Old and new Testament states of the church, from the publication of the promise, including the felicity and glory of the church triumphant. No part of divine revelation has been a subject of warmer discussion, or more fruitless litigation, than these promises of God to Abraham, though one would think, that a common reader of moderate discernment could hardly mistake the nature and design of them. But nothing is more easy, for those who have a purpose to serve, than to perplex a plain case. It is very distant from my present design to discuss this subject as a matter of controversy, but to state what, to me at least, appears to be the nature and design of this covenant with Abraham. In discussing this subject it will be ne cessary to consider-The nature of that covenant-the seed promised in it-the blessings conferred by it-and the manner and means of its administration. I am then

I. To make some enquiry into the nature of what is denominated God's Covenant with Abraham. But before I proceed to this it will not perhaps be improper

to consider briefly that transaction between the Father and the Son, according to which the whole work of salvation is conducted. Just and accurate conceptions of this will very much facilitate our enquiry into the nature of the covenant with Abraham.

THE state in which sinners exist, in consequence of the breach of the first covenent, renders it impossible for them to accomplish their own salvation. Their carnal minds are enmity against God. Every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts, is only evil continually. Their necks are like an iron sinew; and there is nothing to which they are more reluctant than to obey the law of God. A sentence of condemnation, excluding them from acceptance with God, has passed against them, so that nothing which they can do, while under it, can be favourably received by him. They are, besides, liable to bear all the punishment due to their sins. The law which was given as the condition of life, was the law of their creation, unchangeable as its Author, and inflexible in its demands. It still remains to be the condition of obtaining eternal life: for one jot or tittle of it can in no wise pass, all must be fulfilled. On the other hand, Justice demands satisfaction for sin ere the sentence of condemnation can be reversed. As sinners cannot answer any of these demands, and as they cannot be superseded, some other person must answer for them, otherwise they can never be saved. From this it is evident that whoever proposes to save sinners, must do it on these terms: for if they could be set aside, in any degree, consistently with the divine character, they might have been wholly giv en up.

SINCE the Son of God is denominated a Surety, and a Mediator between God and men, it is easy to VOL. II.

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