DISCOURSE XX. ON GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM. GEN. xvii. 7. I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee THE church of Christ is one society, or body aggre gate, in all ages. She has but one head, Christ; one uniting vital bond, the Spirit; one system of divine truth, exhibiting the characters of the divine persons, and their operations in the economy of salvation, and the way by which sinners are interested in it. She is, it is true, as a visible society, still losing members on one hand, and gaining on the other, so that through the lapse of time the members are all changed, nevertheless it is still the same body. God has ever dealt with mankind in this manner. The whole human race was formed into such a body under Adam as their public head. The elect are also formed into one body in Christ. On account of such a connection, successive generations hold a peculiar relation to each other. They enjoy similar privileges, and exist under similar obligations. Hence it is that the moral obligations, under which God brings his church, in one generation, descend to those that succeed, and equally bind them. The promises which he makes to the one, are so laid as to comprehend the other. We see this verified in the promise to Abraham. The grant made to him included his seed. "I will be a God to thee and to thy seed." The nature of this grant, as ratified and conVOL. II. * Ee firmed by God has been considered, the seed connected with him in that grant requires next to be noticed. Very different and discordant views have been held on this point. It belongs not to our present design to discuss these opinions, but to enquire into the character of the seed promised to Abraham, and their connection with him. 1. THE seed more eminently intended in the promise was Christ. Without him the possession of any seed, however great and numerous, would have been a matter of small moment. This was the seed promised, as the seed of the woman, soon after the fall, which was to bruise the serpent's head. The eternal transaction or covenant between God and Christ the Mediator, has been already considered, and that all promises which related to the salvation of sinners were, in that transaction, made primarily to him has been shown. Being set up as the head of the elect, and to act the part of Mediator between God and men, in the great work of their salvation, so that they could receive no blessing except through him, it was fit and necessary that all the promises should be first made to him, and their accomplishment vested in him. This seed has been the grand substance of all the promises made or fulfilled to the church since its first promulgation. He implemented the terms on which the promises were to be fulfilled, by his obedience unto death; and now holds all power in heaven and in earth, for conveying the promised blessings to his people. This was the seed God had in view when he said to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Gen xxii. 18. In no other of Abraham's seed could this promise be accomplished, but in the Messiah. Not in Isaac; for the nations never have been blessed in him, nor yet in Abraham's descendants considered as a nation. The Apostle Peter assures us of this. A&s iii. 25, 26. "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning every one of you from your iniquities." With this agree the words of another Apostle, Gal. iii. 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." By Christ here, some understand Christ mystical, the head and the body. The name CHRIST is so used, 1 Cor. xii. 12. But there does not appear any good reason to take it in any general sense here. The text just now quoted from the Acts and this, seem to be of the same import. Here the seed is mentioned, to which the promises were made, in the other Jesus is that seed raised up according to the promise. Besides the context immediately adjoin. ing does not seem to favour this view. It is Christ personal, not mystical, who was made a curse for sinners, in order to redeem them from the curse. 13. It is natural to infer that it was the same Christ to whom the promises were made. This is put beyond doubt, by ver. 19.-"The law was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made," &c. These words can apply to none but Christ. The period of the duration of the law, and the coming of the seed, sufficiently esta, blish this, as it can have no relation to Christ's mystical body. That believers are the seed of Abraham is undeniable, but why they should be connected with him here is not so evident. This seed was to proceed ver. from the loins of Abraham, by a participation of the same nature, yet in a spiritual sense Abraham and all believers are the seed of Christ, both promised to him, He is the root and offof Abraham. Whatever and proceeding from him. spring of David, so was he seed besides Christ, and in whatever view we take them, were promised to Abraham, were to have a special respect to the Messiah. But this leads me to observe 2. THAT the seed promised to Abraham included a very numerous natural offspring. This seed was to be in the line of Isaac, and in this same line was Messiah to proceed from his loins. God said to him, "He that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." Gen. xv. 4, 5. I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." chap. xvii. 6. Of Sarah he said, "I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her." ver. 16. Abraham had other seed by Hagar and Keturah, but as the blessing seed was not to come of them, but of Sarah, so Isaac and his descendants were separated from the others, and had special privileges conferred upon them on that account, especially the possession of the land of Cannan till Christ came. But there was doubtless another reason for separating the whole of Abraham's descendants in the line of Isaac, besides that of bringing forth the Messiah. The promised seed was in Abraham's loins; in Isaac's, but not in Ishmael's; in Jacob's, not in Esau's; in Judah's, not in any other of the eleven patriarchs. As they multiplied, they were formed into distinct tribes and numerous families, but the seed remained in one tribe, and one family. The separation of one family was sufficient to transmit the seed, and preserve the connection between Abraham and the Messiah. After the flood apostacy became very great, the worship of the true God was exceedingly corrupted, and the knowledge of the promised seed was nearly lost. God chose Abraham from among idolaters, and set him and his seed in their generations apart for himself as his church, and gave them such laws and ordinances as were proper to preserve the knowledge of him, be a standing memorial of the Messiah, and that he might have, in all succeeding generations, a seed to serve him, as his peculiar people. In this way the law afterwards given" was a schoolmaster to lead to Christ," in and by whom more glorious displays of divine grace should be given. Under this pedagogue the church was shut up to the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 3. THE seed of Abraham includes all visible church members to the end of time. It has already been shown that God, in promising to be a God to him, and to his seed after him, intended a church state, or spiritual society, of which Abraham was made father or founder. Had he disbelieved the promise he could neither have been the father nor a member of this society. When God constituted him the "father of many nations" he not only promised that he should be so, but gave him grace to believe the promise. Abraham fully manifested his belief of it, and the profession of his faith in submitting to circumcision. In this way was he to keep God's |