66 find the command, "Seek the Lord, and his strength; seek his face for evermore." And to point out the nature of the duties which it includes, are those to whom it was first tendered, thus addressed, -"O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations."79 Where a most emphatic promise is made, that the duty of vowing and swearing to the Lord shall be discharged, occurs the declaration, "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." 80 And the man who, seeking God, shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord, and stand in his holy place, is described in language that certainly not merely refers to the oath as given to confirm testimony, but also as given in vowing other duties to the Lord, as "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." For their apostacy, the Hebrew people were cast out of the good land that had been covenanted to their fathers; and for many ages they have been scattered among all nations. But as, for their breach of covenant, they were cast off, and the goodly heritage that had been given them became waste; so, at their restoration to the precious privileges which through unbelief they forfeited, to this glorious Object they themselves, and with them the heathen nations, shall look as to a covenant sign. “He said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." "Thus saith the Lord, In an 79 Ps. cv. 4, 6—8. 80 Is. xlv. 19. acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages."81 Το How glorious this sign!-The Messenger of the Covenant, the Mediator of the New Covenant, Immanuel-God with us! But for his covenant, he had remained unseen by the eye of man. make that known, he made his fallen creatures see God. The universe of material nature is glorious. More glorious is the intelligent creation. Both together are tokens of God's wisdom, and goodness, and power. But what was to be a token of his attributes in all their glory displayed in the salvation of man? The laws which he has given to his creatures are tokens of his will concerning them. But what creatures could sufficiently denote his covenant, its blessings, and its duties? The sabbath, and circumcision, were each, at once a privilege and a duty, and, as well as other things, a sign of the Covenant. But what among the effects of Jehovah's sovereignty, could betoken it in all its glory? Its effects on creatures being finite, what is finite might these in some measure point out. But could any dependent being fully designate its glorious origin, and infinite Surety? The world is finite, though due to Almighty power, and so are its ordinances; and a finite being might betoken these. Miracles of healing, raising the dead, of controlling the material world, and the actions of angels and men, and of bringing from spiritual death to life are all finite, but beyond the might of less than Almighty power. And all these in some measure by some creature as a token might be signified. But the law of God embodied in his covenant is exceeding broad; its blessings are inconceivably great. God is the author of the 81 Is. xlix. 6, 8. Covenant. God is the mediator of the Covenant. God in his own nature and in the nature of man, is the glorious body to which are spiritually united the children of the Covenant. God, in the nature of man, alone could have afforded a manifestation of the Covenant adequate to its character. Behold, then, as the most glorious display that has been made of God or his ways, the Lord Jesus given to denote the Covenant that had been made for the people! CHAPTER XII. COVENANTING PERFORMED IN FORMER AGES THAT the Lord gave special token of his approbation of the exercise of Covenanting, it belongs to this place to show. His approval of the duty was seen when he unfolded the promises of the Everlasting Covenant to his people, while they endeavoured to perform it; and his approval thereof is continually seen in his fulfilment to them of these promises. The special manifestations of his regard, made to them while attending to the service before him, belonged to one or other, or both, of those exhibitions of his acceptance of them in the discharge of the duty. They afford peculiar illustrations, brought out by Him in a wondrous providence, of the important truths concerning his Covenant, which all his other dispensations to his people also present. First. He approved of engagements made in Personal Covenanting. The vow of Jacob at Bethel, at the distance of several years, was followed by a command from God to erect there the altar, which in that he had virtually promised to build. The vow of Hannah was acknowledged by the gift of a son, whom the Lord honoured to be a signal blessing to Israel. The vow of David,-" To find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob," received the approval," It was well that it was in thine heart," though the duty was made to devolve upon his son. These are examples of Covenant engagements made by individuals, to be performed by themselves, or by others, according to the will of God, and which he afforded grace to parties chosen by himself to fulfil. Secondly. He approved of engagements made in Social Covenanting. The Covenant made with Noah was dictated by the Lord himself. The patriarch and his family acceded to it. He and they, along with the living creatures concerning which he had received instructions, entered the ark according as God had commanded; and the Lord shut him in.' That Covenant was renewed with the patriarch by the express words of God; a promise kindred to that delivered to man in a state of innocence, but which, containing also the grant of animal food, and thereby affording an intimation of the exercise of feeding by faith on the flesh of the Redeemer, included a gracious grant which the other promise could not contain, was added at the renovation; and the bow in the cloud was declared a token that the Lord would not forget the transaction, but while that emblem should continue, even to all ages should fulfil the promise made by Him, and accepted in faith by his servants. The Covenant with Abraham was graciously proposed by the Lord himself. And the faith of the patriarch, called into exercise at the ratification of it, was encouraged by the appointment of a special sacrifice, and the wondrous phenomenon of the smoking furnace and the burning lamp.2 That covenant was ratified a second time, while the Lord appointed the ordinance of circumcision as a sign and seal of it, to be extended to the descendants of the patriarch, not merely as the progenitor of the Israelites, but as the father of many nations. The extension of the privilege to Ishmael, the descendants of whom observed the rite, and to the other males of Abraham's household, was a pledge that all the Gentile nations should in due time become interested, not merely in the outward advantages, but also in the spiritual privileges of 1 Gen. vi. 17, 18. vii. 16. 2 Gen. xv. 9-18. |