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
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
of the Promise enquired into I will be their God i. e. a God to them They shall have Interest in all the Perfections of my Nature For Either God is obliged by this Promise to communicate himself in the highest Degree possible to all those to whom it is made and to do the utmost for them that may be done without implying a Contradiction to his Being and the infinite Perfections thereof and so to bring them absolutely to the utmost Degree of Happiness that omnipotent Goodness can raise them to or else the Good promised must fall under some particular Limitation If it fall under any Limitation as certainly it doth Those Bounds must be set either by the Import of the Terms in which the Promise is made as considered absolutely and by themselves or some other way The first cannot be affirmed for the Terms are general and indeterminate Therefore it is some other way to be limited and that must be by the particular Promises and Conditions of that Covenant unto which this general Promise doth belong And if so then there is not nor can be any greater Good promised thereby then what the Nature of that Covenant admits of and its particular Promises give a Right in to them that are Parties concerned And these things being so None can from hence prove a Grant of spiritual Blessings to nor yet a Right in Gospel Ordinances for the carnal Seed of Abraham or of any Believer as such unless he could produce a particular Promise which did contain such a Grant or give such a Right unto them § 6. So then That which is principally intended and fully express'd in this Ingagement is no more than the necessary Result of any Covenant-Transaction of God with Men For where his Truth is once ingaged in a Promise there all the Properties of his Nature are ingaged respectively for the making good of that Promise And therefore Such a Promise as in its own Nature contains no more than a general Assurance of any Covenant that God makes with Men cannot by it self be the distinguishing Character of any one Covenant in Opposition to or Contradistinction from another neither doth it determine of what kind the promised Blessings are or the way wherein they shall be injoyed And hence it is that you find this Promise equally and indifferently annexed both to the Old Covenant and the New the Covenant of Works and that of Grace The Truth of this will be manifest by a diligent Conference of Heb. 8. with Jer. 31. and this with Gen. 17. and Exod. 6. 7. and Deut. 26. 17 18. There is no Reason therefore to conclude Because we find this Promise in the Covenant of Grace every Covenant in which it is found must be of the same Nature for the Covenant is not measured by this Promise but è contra its special Import is limited by the Covenant to which it belongs § 7. Thus far I have indeavoured to set before you the Genuine Sence and true Interpretation of this great Promise in the Covenant of Circumcision and to give you the Reasons by which it is confirmed And it may add some farther Light to what hath been said briefly to represent the History of its Accomplishment from the holy Scriptures which take as followeth The Lord did abundantly bless Abraham Isaac and Jacob and guided them with his Eye in all their Peregrinations from Nation to Nation and from one Kingdom to another People and when he brake the whole Staff of Bread in the Land of Canaan and the adjacent Countrys he made Provision by a wonderful Series of Providences for the Sustentation of Jacob's Family by sending Joseph before them into the Land of Egypt and for their Sakes raising him unto a Capacity not only to secure them from Want but also to preserve the Lives of thousands more And when the House of Jacob was by this means brought into the Land of Egypt the Lord was with them there and when the time of the Promise drew nigh he caused them to increase and multiply exceedingly and tho' the Egyptians sought by all means to oppress them and dealt subtilely with them yet by all their Artifice and Cruelty they could make no Earnings of their Work for the more they oppressed them the more they grew And in the midst of their calamitous Distress Moses was brought forth whom the Lord had designed for a Deliverer and a Saviour unto them and in order thereunto he was preserved in a miraculous manner from all Dangers and Temptations from his Birth to the time that he was sent about his great Work And in the time when the Bondage of Israel grew to its Extremity the Lord's Eye was still open upon them and he heard their Cry and remembred his Covenant with their Fathers and sent Moses and Aaron to deliver them Then was his Bowe made quite naked Hab. 3. 9. in a Course of Miracles by Signs and Wonders and mighty Works for which his Name is celebrated unto all Generations and in that very day which he had set in the Promise to their Fathers he brought them out of the Land of Egypt and delivered them from the House of their Bondage with an high Hand yea he divided the Red-Sea before them and led them thro' the Deep as on dry Land but buried Pharaoh and all his Host in the same Waters that had been as a Wall on the Right-hand and on the Left while the redeemed of the Lord passed over He guided them also in the Wilderness and afforded the visible Token of his Presence with them in a Pillar of Cloud by Day and of Fire by Night From his Right-hand there went forth a fiery Law for them because he loved them by which he formed both their Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity wherein they were immediately subjected to himself and made a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation and the Lords Tabernacle was pitched in the midst of them so that there was no Nation under Heaven that had God so nigh as the Lord their God was unto them in all that they did call upon him for Moreover he gave his good Spirit to instruct them which was poured upon Moses Aaron and Miriam with the seventy Elders and those Prophets which from time to time God raised up among them He fed them also with Manna from Heaven and gave them Water out of the Rock to drink and all the time of their forty Years Travel in the Wilderness their Feet were not swollen neither did their Garments wax old He dryed up Jordan also and brought them into the Land of Canaan and drove out before them Nations more in number and mightier than they and there he blessed them with the Blessings of Heaven above and of the Earth beneath so that there failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken concerning them Josh 23. 14. but their State was made prosperous and happy bcause the Lord was their God Psal 144. ult
and their Seed after them and that for perpetual Generations the Terms are parallel with those we meet with in the 17th Chapter in the Covenant made with Abraham for his Seed in their Generations And yet here two things are evident 1. That remote Generations to the end of the World are as much concerned in this Covenant as their immediate Offspring with whom it was first made and have equal Claim to the Blessings of it with them without any consideration had of their immediate Parents And 2. That altho' the Grace of the New-Covenant was mystically held forth in this Covenant with Noah which was thus stricken with him for all his Posterity yet were not the Grace and Blessings thereof by this means intailed upon all Mankind * The same may be said of the Promises of typical Blessings to Abraham's carnal Seed and their Interest in them They have all indeed an interest in that Covenant that signified and some ways included spiritual Blessings but those Blessings appertain not to all that have the Signs of them but remain the peculiar Right of those that do by Faith receive them Who are born not of Bloods nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God Joh. 1. 13. § 8. In the following Part of this History Gen. 9. 25 c. we may observe 1. That the Curse of Cham upon his Son Canaan prepared the way to the Blessing of Shem in his Posterity by Abraham for by the Execution of this Curse were the Canaanites afterwards disinherited and Israel planted in their room And in this prophetick Curse on Canaan and the Blessing on Shem you may read what is after noted by Moses Deut. 32. 8. It is also worthy of our Notice That the Seal of Israel's Covenant by virtue of which they inherited the Land of Canaan kept alive the Remembrance of Cham ' s Wickedness and was a perpetual warning to them not to degenerate into his Steps He was condemned to servitude for looking upon the Nakedness of his Father and they were circumcised in the foreskin of their Flesh 2. In the Blessing of Shem special Regard is had to the Messiah whose bringing forth into the World was now limited to the Line of Shem and therefore in his Blessing is the Spring of Japhet's Blessing also Shem is the first of whom it is expresly said that the Lord was his God And by the Lord God of Shem Christ who is now over all God blessed for ever is intended whose Name is here celebrated by Noah as the only Hope and Salvation of the Church 3. The Blessing of Japhet in the Interest of Shem's Blessing doth not only signifie his personal Interest in the Messiah who was to come of Shem but also the calling of the Gentiles of his Posterity to be joynt Heirs with the Jews in the Blessings of the New-Covenant yea his dwelling in the Tents of Shem doth intimate moreover the Succession of the Gentile Church unto the Church of the Jews who were to be disinherited of all Covenant-Interest for their rejecting of the Messiah In that Passage God shall * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perswade Japhet there is an Allusion to his Name and the calling of the Gentile Church is prophesied of in like terms Hos 2. 14 15. § 9. Some time after these things viz. about the fourth Generation we find that according to the Blessing of God upon Noah and his Sons Gen. 9. 1. there was a very great Increase of Men in the World and as they increased they evidently drew upon themselves the same Charge that was laid upon the Old World viz. That the Imagination of their Heart was evil from their Youth For in the days of * Gen. 10. 25. Peleg there was a very general Conspiracy and Rebellion against God managed by the Children of Men at Babel in pursuance of which they began to build a Tower there Gen. 11. 1-9 And it is very probable Nimrod that mighty Hunter was one chief Doer in the Business for A Defection from the true Religion and Tyrannous Oppression usually go hand in hand But this their rebellious Enterprize was interrupted by the * This gave the Name to the place Babel signifying Confusion Confusion of Languages that God brought upon them And hereupon the Hebrew Tongue which before was universal remained in its Purity only with the Family of Heber from whom it also had its particular Denomination and such other of the Patriarchs and holy Men then living as had not joyned themselves with these Workers of Iniquity in their cursed Design And on this occasion Heber hath a special Honour put upon him as you may collect from Gen. 10. 21. where Shem is in a peculiar manner said to be the Father of all the Children of Heber And Abraham with his Posterity the Heirs of Shem's Blessing are from him denominated Hebrews § 10. Now by this Confusion of Languages the Children of Men fell under a greater Evil than possibly at the first thought we may be aware of for it did not only frustrate their present Design and also render the means of their civil Converse difficult for the future and the Attainment of all Knowledg in things natural full of Labour and Travel but which is far more 1. It was virtually a kind of Excommunication from the Church then in being with whom the Hebrew Tongue remained that was from this time unintelligible to the greatest part of the World besides And 2. In the after Dispensation of God towards the Hebrews this Diversity of their Language from that of the rest of the World was as the Addition of a natural Fortification to that Wall of Separation whereby the Nations were excluded from the Priviledges of the Church and left destitute of that Blessing which of all other was the greatest Israel had Rom. 3. 1 2. of the Oracles of God which were committed to them in the Hebrew Tongue And therefore for many Ages they remained Strangers to the Covenant of Promise Eph. 2. 12. living in the darkest Cloud of Ignorance and Idolatry and so without Hope and without God in the World And this dismal Effect of the present Judgment remained upon them generally until the times of Restitution and Refreshing even until the last Days wherein God would perswade Japhet and bring him into the Tents of Shem And then a Door was opened for the breaking up of Light to the Gentiles by the Gift of Tongues at Jerusalem whereby the Apostles and Prophets of the New-Testament were enabled to preach the Gospel to all Nations in their own Tongue and thus the Salvation of God in Zion became a Light to the Gentiles whose Darkness was originally brought upon them by the Confusion of Tongues at Babel 3. Neither did the Judgment of God upon this Evil Generation stop here for their Days were also shortned and cut off in Anger for their Sin and that to the half of them for
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
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
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
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
force as well for the Benefit of more remote as nearer Generations Its Promises did include and its Law did equally bind both during the whole State of the Mosaical Oeconomy The Right of the remotest Generation was as much derived from Abraham and the Covenant made with him as that of his immediate Seed was and did not at all depend upon the Faithfulness of their immediate Parents And therefore the immediate Seed of those Israelites that fell in the Wilderness under the Displeasure of God were made to inherit the Land of Canaan by virtue of this Covenant with Abraham who otherwise could never have injoyed it by virtue of their immediate Parents Stedfastness in the Covenant § 3. I suppose it cannot be denyed but gross Idolatry was a manifest and full Breach of this Covenant on the part of the Idolater And yet when the Israelites in Ezekiel's time became guilty of the vilest Idolatries the Lord still claims an Interest in their Children by virtue of this Covenant Eezek 16. 20. 21. Moreover thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured Is this of thy Whoredoms a small matter that thou hast slam my Children c. The Children of an Apostatize Israelite were God's as well as those of his faithful Servants which could not have been if their Covenant-Interest had been suspended on the good abearing of immediate Parents And to this agrees the Story that we have of Mattathias his proceeding in the Reformation of the Church in his day who finding that many had denyed their God and forsaken his true Worship in that time of Persecution did according to the Law of Moses execute Justice upon as many of the Apostates as he could lay Hands on by slaying them as Josephus witnesseth but the Children that he found to be left uncircumcised in this Time of Apostacy he took and circumcised them The Words of the Author in 1 Maccab. 2. 46. are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This I know hath no farther Strength than of an humane Testimony But it speaks fully what the sence of those Times was concerning the Covenant-Interest of Children viz. That the Apostacy of their immediate Parents could not prejudice it so as to render them uncapable of Circumcision which strongly concludes their Covenant-Right to be derived from Abraham and not suspended upon them And Mattathias who did this was not only a Man zealous for the Law but also one that may be presumed to have understood it better than many others seeing he was a Priest § 4. And not only the Passages before insistted on but the whole Current of Scripture where these things are mentioned runs very smoothly this way but especially that Phrase before touched thy Seed in their Generations will admit no other Sence being by no means capable of a restraint to the immediate Seed but even as the like Expression Gen. 9. 12. secures Noah's Children from drowning by the Waters of an universal Deluge to the end of the World so did this Promise give a Covenant-Interest to the Seed of Abraham till the times of Reformation We exclude not the immediate Seed viz. Isaac but the Promise passeth on much farther and is to be fulfilled in a Seed multiplyed exceedingly and formed into a Kingdom which it was not until Isaac and his immediate Offspring also were laid in the Dust Moreover The Inheritance promised in the Land of Canaan is given to this Seed for an everlasting Possession which was fulfilled in their successive inheriting of it from Generation to Generation therefore the Seed intended was such as should be propagated thro' many Generations the last of which are as directly here spoken of as the first Circumcision being to be observed by them upon the account of the Promise and Command now given for an everlasting Covenant The Relation of the carnal Seed to God in an external typical Covenant the Inheritance of Canaan by virtue thereof and the Seal of Circumcision are all of one Date and did all expire together § 5. That these things may be the better understood we must farther observe This Covenant of Circumcision was the Foundation upon which the Church-State of Israel after the Flesh was built I do not say that their Church-State was exactly and compleatly formed by this Ordinance alone But this I intend That in the Covenant of Circumcision were contained the first Rudiments of that in the Wilderness and the latter was the filling up and compleating of the former yea it was made with them in Pursuance of it and for the full Accomplishment of the Promises now made to Abraham And therefore the Priviledge of the carnal Seed of Abraham by virtue of the Covenant of Circumcision can rise no higher than the Advantage and Priviledg of a Jew by virtue of the Covenant in the Wilderness § 6. For the Confirmation of this I shall offer these things First Circumcision was the Entrance into and Boundary of Communion in the Jewish Church and it was made so by the express Command of God himself who straightly injoyned that whosoever brake the Covenant by the neglect of Circumcision should be cut off from his People Gen. 17. 14. And as it was to them a Gate of Priviledg so was it no less a Bond of Duty not only obliging them to obey the Will of God so far as it was now made known to Abraham but also to the Observation of all those Laws and Ordinances that were after delivered to them by Moses when so delivered For the circumcised Person was a Debtor to keep the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. And this Obligation did result from its proper Vse and End in its primitive Institution for we read not of its Appointment to any new End by Moses nor of any Vse it was assigned to de novo which it had not at least virtually from its first Appointment It was from first to last a visible Character upon this People as separated unto God from other Nations and as such they made their Boast of it And therefore it may be concluded to belong unto that Covenant from which all their Rights and Priviledges as such a People did spring and where the Sign was not varied there was no essential Variation or Change in the Covenant it self § 7. Secondly All the Advantage and Priviledg of Israel after the Flesh is in the New Testament expresly referred to the Covenant of Circumcision For thus the Holy Ghost speaks by Paul Rom. 3. 1. What Advantage then hath the Jew Or what Profit is there of Circumcision You see these Phrases The Advantage of the Jew and The Profit of Circumcision are set down as Convertible they import the same thing what belongs to the one belongs to the other And wherever Circumcision is mentioned in the New-Testament it is spoken of as no less belonging to the Mosaical Oeconomy tho' the first Institution was not of Moses but of the Fathers
than any other part of the Law first given by him and boasting in Circumcision is esteemed a boasting in the Flesh as much as boasting in any other Old-Testament Priviledg of the Jew Phil. 3. From all which we may safely conclude that the Covenant of Circumcision was of the same Kind with the Levitical Covenant afterwards annexed to it or rather built upon it for the full accomplishing of its Design I might also insist upon Levi's paying Tithes in Abraham which could not have been reckoned to him if he had not been in Abraham considered as an Head in some Covenant Transaction wherein Levi was Covenanted for by Abraham Neither could this have been pleaded by the Apostle as it is in Heb. 7. 9 10. if that Covenant in which the Levitical Priesthood was founded and to which it did belong had not been originally made with Abraham But I pass this § 8. Thirdly The Scriptures do every where affirm That the Lord brought up Israel out of Egypt formed their Church-State by establishing the Order of his solemn Worship among them and gave them the Land of Canaan in Possession in Remembrance of his Covenant with Abraham and for the fulfilling of the Promises thereof For Instance let these Places be well weighed Exod. 2. 24 25. Deut. 29. 10 13. Neh. 9. 7 8 9 c. Psal 78. with Psal 105. And herein was he known to them by his Name JEHOVAH as giving Being to his Promise in the actual Accomplishment of it which their Fathers did depend upon his Alsufficiency for Conf. Exod. 6. with Gen. 17. 1. Thus if we follow the Clue of Scripture in our Enquiries after the Original of the Covenant of Peculiarity made with Israel after the Flesh it will certainly guide us to that Covenant which God made with Abraham for his natural Offspring and sealed by Circumcision And yet that Covenant of Peculiarity is in the New Testament always styled Old and Carnal a Covenant from which the Gospel Covenant is distinguished and to which it is in many Respects opposed See Jer. 31. 31 34. and Heb. 8. 8 13. Neither doth there lye any just Exception against what hath been said from the Inlargement of the Terms and Articles of this Covenant in the Consummation thereof in the Wilderness for that will not in the least infer any substantial Difference of this Covenant from the Covenant of Circumcision seeing it is no more than God hath done by the Gospel with respect to the New-Covenant that was confirmed in Christ unto Abraham which being first summed up in one Promise In thee shall all Nations be blessed was abundantly inlarged cleared filled up with its own Ordinances and made the intire Rule of the Church's Obedience when the Fulness of Time came which that Promise had respect to And yet the New Testament is not another Gospel differing from that preached to Abraham or another Covenant differing from that before confirmed of God in Christ In like manner the filling up of this Covenant of Circumcision was reserved to the time of God's performing what he now promised unto Abraham without the least change of the Nature or Design of the Covenant it self § 9. We come now to the second Proposition viz. That from the first Establishment of this Covenant some of the immediate Seed of Abraham were excluded The Promises thereof did belong to Isaac's Line in their Generations from Age to Age but they did not appertain to the immediate Seed of Abraham by Hagar or by Keturah Their extent being restrained by the express Caution of God himself to whom it belonged to set the Bounds of this Covenant-Relation and Interest and that in the very first making of the Covenant of Circumcision with Abraham Read diligently Gen. 17. 19 20 21. In Isaac shall thy Seed be called It was Isaac's Seed and not Ishmael's that the Lord would set apart for himself and would give the Land of Canaan unto and establish his solemn Worship among them to be a God unto them And â—et Abraham was as much a Believer and as much in Covenant with God as to his personal Interest in the â—ovenant of Grace when he begat the one as when he begat the other If it be objected That Ishmael was at first included and interested in the Covenant but was afterwards rejected and cast out for his prophane mocking at Isaac It will be answered That such a Supposition is against the express Words and Letter of the Text before urged and the Limitation which God the Author of the Covenant made of its Promises therein Before Ishmael was circumcised God declares that he gave not the Promises of his Covenant unto him but to Isaac with whom it should be established So that Ishmael's being cast out of Abraham's Family afterwards will in no wise infer that till then he was in Covenant but only thus much That then it was made more manifest than ever that the Covenant appertained not to him and that he must be concluded under the Exception that was before laid in against him And the divine Confirmation of what Sarah then required is grounded upon that Revelation of his Will that he now made unto Abraham as will be evident to him that compares Gen. 17. with Chap. 21. 12 13. Cast out the Bond Woman and her Son For in Isaac shall thy Seed be called And therfore Abraham did afterwards voluntarily send his Sons by Keturah far away from Isaac and from the promised Land Gen. 25. 1 6. altho' these were guilty of no such Wickedness as Ishmael who mocked at Isaac but for ought appears might be very holy and good Men the true Children of Abraham by Faith according to the Tenour of the Covenant of Grace tho' they might not be Joynt-Heirs with Isaac according to the Tenour of the Covenant of Circumcision § 10. It is moreover to be observed Notwithstanding the Covenant-Seed of Abraham was called in Isaac and his immediate Children were only two Sons Esau and Jacob yet the Right of this Covenant-Blessing did not equally descend upon them both but once more the Lord restrains it by the Rejection of Esau and choosing of Jacob and that before the Children had done either good or evil That the purpose of God according to Election might stand and that he might here set before us an awful Type of his Soveraingty in the after Dispensation of the Grace of the Gospel Esau indeed did afterwards by the profane selling of his Birth-right and despising the Inheritance render himself manifestly unworthy Conf. Gen. 25. 23. with Mal. 1. 2 Rom. 9. 10 13. of the Blessing but before this God had declared that Jacob and his Seed and not Esau should inherit the Promises of this Covenant And possibly it may be from hence that Isaac and Jacob are so particularly mentioned Act. 7. 8. because of the special Limitation of the Promises to them and because they were the Seed brought forth in the virtue of the Promise given
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
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