and that Circumcision was only a Seal of these things to be enjoy'd by them will further appear from that account which the Scriptures give us of Esau If the Covenant mentioned in Gen. 17. unto which Circumcision is annexed be the Covenant of Grace and the Infant-seed of Believers by virtue of their Parents Faith have a right to new Covenant-Mercies and ought to be sealed with the Seal of the Covenant how doth this agree with Gen. 25.23 And the Lord said unto her that is to Rebekah Two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the one People shall be stronger than the other People and the elder shall serve the younger Compared with Rom. 9.12 13. It was said unto her that is to Rebekah The elder shall serve the yopnger As it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated What shall we say then is there Vnrighteousness with God God forbid He as an absolute Soveraign over the Works of his hands may dispose of Persons and Things as pleaseth him But to return to the matter in hand here is Esau the Seed of believing Isaac and so without controversy he had a Covenant-right to what was intended by the Covenant to the Seed of Abraham as such yet even while in the Womb excluded from any share in new Covenant-Mercies it must then follow that this Covenant did not convey new Covenant-Mercies but was a Covenant of Peculiarity to the natural Seed of Abraham others se there is a failure in the Covenant but it is the highest Wickedness to imagine there should be any on God's part in performing what he covenants to give But if we look upon the Covenant here as intending Earthly Blessings there was no failure of these Blessings either to Ishmael or Esau or to the natural Seed of Abraham from Jacob after they were imbodied into a Nation and had that Church-state set up amongst them until by aggravating Sins and Rebellion they forfeited their right to these Covenant-Mercies Secondly As the Covenant mentioned in Gen. 17. carried in the Womb of it the imbodying of the Seed of Abraham into a separate Nation in order to have that Old Testament Church-state set up amongst them so their Deliverance out of Egypt and the appointing of the Paschal Lamb was to shew forth to them that God was punctual in the accomplishing what was contain'd in the Covenant Altho God in Gen. 17. did enter into Covenant with Abraham and with all his natural Seed yet the accomplishment of what was contain'd in the Covenant in respect of the gathering the Seed of Jacob into a National Church was not accomplished until many hundred years after Exod. 2.23 24 25. And it came to pass in process of time that the King of Egypt died and the Children of Israel sighed by reason of the Bondage and they cried and their Cry came up unto God by reason of the Bondage And God heard their groaning and God remembered his Covenant with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob. And God look'd upon the Children of Israel and God had respect unto them He remembred what he had promised in Gen. 17. and so remembers it as to take in hand the accomplishment of it Exod. 3.17 And I have said I will bring you up out of the Affliction of Egypt into the Land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites unto a Land flowing with Milk and Honey This the Apostle calls the entering into Covenant with the Israelites when he brought them out of the Land of Egypt which was the accomplishing of what was contain'd in Gen. 17. the faultiness of which Covenant lay in the Promise of Earthly Enjoyments which were fading and liable to be lost and the want of inward Grace by which God comes to be enjoy'd and new Covenant-Mercies presented to the Soul That the Apostle in Heb. 8.7 8 9. compared with ver 10 11 12 13. doth thus lay it down is plain to every Person that hath not a mind wilfully to shut his Eyes against the Truth For the further Confirmation of what is said look into Deut. 29.1 2 3 4. These are the words of the Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Children of Israel in the Land of Moab beside the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb. And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your Eyes in the Land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his Servants and unto all his Land the great Temptations which thine Eyes have seen the Signs and those great Miracles Yet the Lord hath not given you a Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear unto this day Notwithstanding this Chapter does contain in it a renewal of the Covenant to bring them to the accomplishment of the Covenant Gen. 17. yet we find not in the whole Chapter a promise of internal Grace without which no Person can be said to be brought into the new Covenant for notwithstanding the wonderful Trials that they went through and the Soul-amazing Deliverances which they received from God the holy Spirit being wanting inwardly to fasten these upon their Hearts and to soften their Hearts before God these great Appearances of God on their behalf quickly wore off their Hearts and they forgot all his Benefits That the gathering the Seed of Israel into a Nation and the appointing of the Passover led to point unto the natural Seed the fulfilling of what was contain'd in Gen. 17. which was the enjoyment of Earthly Inheritances will appear in that the admittance unto the Passover run to the same Persons to whom Circumcision was granted Gen. 17.13 And that it was to be a Sign to the natural Seed of God's performing his Promise in bringing them to the enjoyment of the Earthly Canaan which was but a Type of that Heavenly Canaan reserved for the spiritual Seed doth appear from Exod. 12.25 26 27. And it shall come to pass when ye be come to the Land which the Lord will give you according as he hath promised Gen. 17. that ye shall keep this Service And it shall come to pass when your Children shall say unto you What mean you by this Service that ye shall say It is the Sacrifice of the Lord 's Passover who passed over the Houses of the Children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our Houses And they bowed the Head and worshipped It is clear from a multitude of Scriptures that from the first giving forth of the Covenant in Gen. 17. until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the Seed of Abraham from Jacob downwards were made Partakers of many outward Privileges even those of them that were strangers to internal Grace which no other People that stand in the outward part of the Worship of God in Gospel-times can lay claim unto
Nations be blessed Compared with ver 16. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made He saith not To Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ From which Words I do observe this Truth That the Covenant entred into by God with Abraham was but a renewing of the same Promise of a Messiah to come which the Threatning in the 3d Chapter of Genesis and the 15th Verse contained in it granted unto him for the strengthning of his Faith in the Messiah whose Day of appearance he beheld by Faith and rejoyced to see it and so was justified before God by that which Faith beheld in these new Covenant Promises Rom. 4.21 22 23 24. And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform And therefore it was imputed to him for Righteousness Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead As Abraham by Faith was led to believe this Promise which related to the Coming of the Messiah and thereby was privileged in a large share of the Mercies which accompany the Messiah so all true Believers that can lay claim to the same Faith with blessed Abraham are reckoned his Spiritual Seed and become Sharers with him in the same Mercies Gal. 3.28 29. There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham 's Seed and Heirs according to the Promise As faithful Abraham was made Partaker of such pretious Promises by Christ to whom all New Covenant Promises do first run so every Believer coming to share in the same Faith with Abraham lays claim to the Promises with him and becomes a Sharer in them Abraham in respect of the Greatness of his Faith above others stands as a glorious Pattern before them where we may behold him led forth to God by Acts of Obedience in a wonderful manner not staggering how God would accomplish his Promises but minding his Obedience So that he that had received the Promises in Isaac offers up this his only Son accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead from whence he received him in a Figure We may by looking at what passed betwixt God and Abraham as in a Glass behold his sincere Obedience to God and God's Faithfulness to him in performing to a tittle what he had promised to his Servant which may be matter of Encouragement to us humbly to relie upon our Heavenly Father Having treated of God's renewing the Promise to Abraham of the Coming of the Messiah of his Seed I come in the next place to treat of that numerous Offspring which were to proceed from him and the Privileges of which his natural Seed as such were made Partakers In the 15th of Genesis ver 4 5. God promises him a numerous Offspring And behold the Word of the Lord came unto him faying This shall not be thine Heir speaking of Eliezer of Damascus but he that shall come forth out of thine own Bowels shall be thine Heir And he brought him forth abroad and said Look now towards Heaven and tell the Stars if thou be able to number them and he said unto him So shall thy Seed be As God did perform his Promise to his Servant Abraham in bringing forth such Multitudes of People from him as the Promise treats of so he is pleased to afford them Privileges above the rest of the World for many Generations together which are held forth in the 17th Chapter of Genesis Where God is pleased to grant unto the Seed of Abraham the Promise of the Land of Canaan for a Possession and a Church-State set up amongst them wherein his Worship should be carried on in such a way as was of his own appointing until the Coming of the Messiah Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be That God's End in affording this People his Worship before the rest of the World was thereby to gather the Elect that were amongst them into the Covenant of Grace is clear from a multitude of Scriptures but that their Admittance to be Members of this Old Testament Church which was a Privilege that they enjoy'd by Birth-right did of it self bring them into the Covenant of Grace is against both Scripture and Experience The Apostle in Rom. 9.4 5. doth reckon up the many Privileges that they enjoy'd In the 6th Verse he breaks forth Not that the Word of God hath taken none effect yea it had answered the end for which it was appointed the Elect were gathered in by it But all are not Israel that are of Israel Ver. 7. Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall thy Seed be called That is they which are the Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise are counted for the Seed These Scriptures if compared with Gen. 17. do let us clearly see what that Covenant was even a Church-state unto which the Children of the Flesh had admittance to be Members by virtue of their Birth-right and that by the very appointment of God This Covenant having answered the end for which it was appointed is ended and a better state in respect to the Church doth succeed it which I hope to clear up when I come to treat of the Church of Christ now in the times of the New Testament CHAP. III. Of the Ordinances of the Old Testament Church what they did point at to the Seed of Abraham as descending from him by Generation and what they pointed at to his spiritual Seed IN the last Chapter I shewed the nature of that Covenant made with Abraham and his Offspring as they proceeded from him by Generation that it contained in it the Promise of an Earthly Canaan or Earthly Inheritance to all his Seed God intending to shew forth some particular marks of his Bounty to them as they were the Offspring of this holy Man To which Covenant or Promise Circumcision was added as a Seal even in the time of the Infancy of that Old Testament Church and the Paschal Lamb afterwards added when they were brought out of Egypt as a Confirmation of the fulfilling of the Covenant made with their Father Abraham of which Covenant the Apostle speaks in Heb. 8.7 8 9. For if that first Covenant had been fauliless then should no place have been sought for the second For finding fault with them he saith Behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah Not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord. The Apostle in these words doth refer us to the bringing the Children of Israel out of Egypt the imbodying of that People into a Nation and God's setting up his Worship amongst them which the 17th Chapter of Genesis and the Covenant there mentioned carried in the Womb of it the Insufficiency of which Covenant lay not only in the unvailed Administration of Gospel-Grace which was darkly typified forth in the times of the Old Testament but chiefly in the want of internal Grace from having a share of which Grace the greatest part of the Seed of Abraham were excluded not the Elect who were of his Offspring but those which were put off with Earthly Enjoyments which they by their Rebellions in process of time forfeited the Forbearance and Patience of God being wearied out Having by way of Introduction opened the way to that which I intend to treat of in the following Discourse I shall lay down these three Heads to enlarge on First That the Seed of Abraham were in Gen 17. taken into Covenant with God unto which Covenant temporal Mercies were annexed and Circumcision given as a Seal of the performance of it on God's part Secondly That as the Covenant mentioned Gen. 17. carried in the Womb of it the imbodying of the Seed of Abraham into a separate Nation in order to have that Old Testament Church-state set up amongst them so their Deliverance out of Egypt and the appointing the Paschal Lamb was to shew them that God was actually on the accomplishing what was contained it the Covenant Thirdly Where internal Grace did accompany these Ordinances and other parts of that Old Testament Worship the Elect Seed were brought to have spiritual Mercies convey'd to their Souls through it First That the Seed of Abraham were in Gen. 17. taken into Covenant with God unto which Covenant Temporal Mercies were annex'd and Circumcision given as a Seal of the performance of it on God's part doth appear as it is laid down from ver 4 to v. 15. extending it self not only to all his Seed that should descend from him by Generation but likewise to those that were born in his House or bought with his Mony And the uncircumcised Manchild whose Flesh of his fore-skin is not circumcised that Soul shall be cut off from his People he hath broken my Covenant That all the Persons that were brought into this Covenant had inward Mercies convey'd to their Souls crosseth the words of Abraham ver 18. And Abraham said unto God O that Ishmael might live before thee If he had understood that this Covenant into which Ishmael was going to be taken by the initiating Ordinance of Circumcision had been the Covenant of Grace he needed not have doubted of that there being a sincere performance of what was required of Abraham's part on the behalf of Ishmael But we find by God's Answer that there was not that intended by that Covenant for him but as the Covenant promised an Earthly Canaan so Ishmael tho he had not that Land yet he should have other Earthly Greatness which should carry with it the performance of what was held forth by the Covenant unto the natural Seed of Abraham ver 20. And as for Ishmael I have heard thee Behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly twelve Princes shall he beget and I will make him a great Nation This is that which the Covenant intended for him and doubtless Abraham did so look upon it or otherwise he would have interceded farther for Ishmael Evident it is that Ishmael was taken into this Covenant contain'd in Gen. 17. for Abraham did circumcise him as the Covenant required yet we find the Apostle Paul making Agar and Ishmael to represent the Covenant of Works Gal. 4.22 23 24. For it is written that Abraham had two Sons the one by a bond-maid the other by a free-woman But he that was of the bond-woman was born after the Flesh but he of the free-woman was by Promise Which things are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants the one from the Mount Sinai which gendereth to Bondage which is Agar Mr. Edward Leigh in his Annotations upon the New Testament doth speak so fully to the Truth that I shall insert his words at large Ver. 23. Born after the Flesh That is by a bare natural Power of Generation By Promise That is not so much by the natural strength of Parents as by virtue of God's Promise which bound his Truth to set his Omnipotency at work above Nature Ver. 24. Which things are an Allegory That is being the things that they were signify the things that they were not a Figure of some other thing mystically signified by them that is they represent or signify the two Covenants For these are the two Covenants That is distinct Covenants of Works and Grace first and second Covenant not the Covenant of Grace differently administred in the Old and New Testament Ishmael was not under the Covenant of Grace in any sense Isaac and Ishmael represented all Men regenerate and unregenerate all which are under the Covenant of Works and Grace Mount Sinai Which came thence being there published and promulgated the Law and Covenant of Works To Bondage That is begets not Children of a free and ingenuous Spirit loving God and out of Love doing him Service and meerly of his Grace Love free Favour and Promise expecting their Reward but Bondslaves which out of a fear of Punishment or hope of Reward do Service and expect the Reward for the worthiness sake of their Works This Covenant is Hagar That is signified by Hagar so called for a double respect First For its Condition because it begets all Children to Bondage Secondly For Subordination Sarah's Maid the Law is a Servant to the Gospel and Gospel Ends. If as Mr. Leigh saith Ishmael was not under the Covenant of Grace in any sense I do wonder how he can as he doth in other places make it the Covenant of Grace and Circumcision the Seal of that Covenant for of it was Ishmael made a partaker Gen. 17.23 24. And Abraham took Ishmael his Son and all that were born in his House and all that were bought with his Mony according to the appointment of the Covenant ver 13. every Male among the Men of Abraham 's House and circumcised the Flesh of their fore-skin in the self-same day as God had said unto him A second Proof for the Confirmation of what I have laid down under this first Head that the Covenant mention'd in Gen. 17. did only hold forth Earthly Things to be enjoy'd by the Seed of Abraham by the Seed of Abraham I intend the great number of his fleshly Seed as separated from the Elect which were amongst them That this Covenant did only hold forth Earthly Enjoyments