The Grace of the Abrahamic Covenant.
James Dodson
On the Covenant with Abraham.
PART II.
WE have only a very succinct account of the nature of the divine dispensation with adult or infant man in the Antediluvian age and in the subdiluvian until the days of Abraham, who is called the father of the faithful.
Learned men are of different opinions with regard to those early times, in many points. Whether they had any written annals, has been among other things controverted.
One thing we know, that whatever means of evangelical instruction they enjoyed, to which we have not access, that was not considered of importance to us. The discoveries which the voice of God made to Adam, when he announced the gospel promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent—the institution and signification of the typical sacrifices, which represented the lamb slain from the foundation of the world would no doubt be contemplated with great interest by these patriarchial sages, and be transmitted, with peculiar care to their numerous successive progeny.
Methinks I see the pristine sage himself, at once the teacher, priest and ruler of his numerous descendants, binding in their sight the devoted victim, and with tears in his eyes explaining to them the reason and meaning of this strange apparent cruelty. Ah! says he, “behold the effects of my first sin, by which death hath been brought into the world, and all our woe: by this as well as by our actual sins, I and all my posterity are bound over to death. But lo, with a smile bursting through the cloud of grief, and showers of sorrow, he cries, ‘Behold the typical substitute.’ And sprinkling himself and his offspring with the blood of the sacrifice, they are called by the name, of Jehovah, and extol in raptures of wondering joy the name of their redeeming God. The night advances. They draw near, with hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and bodies washed with pure water, to present their evening acknowledgements. Beneath the shade of some lofty wide spread citron, entwined with the pliant vine, they participate a refreshing meal; reclining for repose under the sable curtain of night, and wrapt in the skins of the sacrifice, the Father still teaches them lessons of saving import. Ah! says, he, By my sin you and I became naked to our shame; but lo, the imputed righteousness of the promised seed, the second representative is for a covering from the storm, and the rain of this present dark and dismal night. In this, then, let us repose, until the eternal day shall dawn upon as in the beatific rays of which we shall be gloriously clad and ever lastingly happy.
We should egregiously err, however, should we imagine there were then many preachers of such righteousness. No, the great mass of mankind were plotting their licentious & ambitious projects even while the ark was a building, which was 120 years; and after this period, while all the terrible vestiges of that catastrophe stared the subsequent generations wide in the face. The world after the flood is as mad as it was before. Their ambition yet towers—their hearts are towards their idols—they follow their own sinful ways—their counsels and their tongues are judicially divided to prevent the execution of one sinful and silly device—they scatter to plan and execute more—they multiply colonies and colonial deities. God, however, will have a seed to serve him, on whom he may mark his name, as the sheep of his pastoral care. Abraham is for this purpose called from Ur of the Chaldees. As one of his chosen sheep he hears his voice—he follows his shepherd, he knows not whither. It is enough that he hears the voice of the illustrious leader, saying, “This is the way.”
It is true he has no posterity when he starts with his kinsman and wife, yet this covenant is made with him and his seed. It is proper that we should now consider this covenant, its seal, its promise. The words by which making a covenant was expressed, chere cheteb, signify to cut the sacrifice, or divide the purifier. Doubtless the idea of the word, and the phraseology are derived from the ancient and general rites performed in making treaties or covenants; the parties passed through the bloody divided victim, invocating such curses, divisions & death upon themselves, if they brake the stipulations of the solemn paction.
The kind of animal which, according to the taste of the nation, was considered peculiarly excellent for food, was generally used.
Hence we find the Greeks and the Romans bisecting the swine.—The Jews cutting the calf in twain. Whence the practice originated the reflecting mind will not be at a loss to tell. No doubt the typical beasts which the great high priest of our profession slew when he first announced the mysteries of the covenant of grace, gave rise to all these ceremonies among the several descendants of Adam. When man by his sin had broken the legal covenant, and so excluded himself from all access to the favorable presence of God, and the tree of life, there was thus a way—“a new and a living way opened up.” Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Christ the substitute stood in the gap—he took our sins upon him—he approached the Father, sustaining the majesty of celestial royalty, against which we had rebelled. He approached, although he knew he must be smitten with the sword of justice, instead of all those tribes of elect men, whose names he bears on his breast, and in his heart. Verily, “He was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all, says the church. Isa. liii. Abraham saw his day, and was glad. Before Abraham was I AM. It must be very evident to all who know anything of the burning majesty of the great God, that no mere man in his fallen state can approach this absolute God. His brilliant divinity must be vailed, his burning holiness must be quenched with vicarious blood. He must be approached by a Mediator. Hence Jehovah says by the prophet, “WHO IS THIS that engaged his heart to approach unto ME” Jer. xxx. 21. Surely it can be no other than the Father’s equal Son. There is but one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. He is the Father’s equal in his essence and nature, for every son is of the same nature of his father. The son of man is properly man. The Son of God is also really and properly God. In this respect, therefore, he says, I and my Father are one. He condescends, however, not only to wear our nature but also to humble himself to Mediatory servitude. In this nature and character, he says, “My Father is greater than I.” John xiv. 28. From another fact, it must appear evident that Abraham could have no intimacy with God, but in and through a Mediator. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. John i. 18. In and through him God makes a covenant, or ratifies a testamentary deed with all believers. Isa. lv. Incline your ear, and come unto me, hear and your souls shall live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David.
There can properly be only two covenants respecting man’s happiness in the enjoyment of felicitating fellowship with God. First. A legal covenant with man in innocence. Second. A gracious covenant respecting man in a fallen state. This cannot be made primarily with man himself. It must be made with the surety and Mediator of a better covenant. A covenant have I made with my chosen. Mercy shall be built up for ever. Psalm lxxxix. This second and better covenant then, or testament, must be viewed as originally, & properly made with the Son of God in behalf of those whom he is graciously to save. It is made with all believers in the reception of Christ by faith. They lay hold of the covenant. For Christ is given a covenant of the people. This latter covenant of grace, though one in itself, may receive several names, according as it is viewed in the different steps of its exhibition. As primarily made with Christ for the purpose of buying back and restoring to liberty the poor captive and bankrupt man, it may be called the covenant of redemption.—Considering the principle which moved it, and the character of the divine emanation which it was to communicate, it may be called the covenant of grace. Considering the obligations under which the privileges of this covenant lay covenanters, it may be called a covenant of duties, personal, ecclesiastical or national, as the case may be. Considering the final end to which all leads, and the subserviency of the whole to the happy result and final close in delivering the blessed legatees from all evil, and introducing them into the enjoyment of all good, it may be called the covenant of salvation.
A right consideration of these facts and principles will assist much in understanding, not only the term, I will make with you a covenant; but also to understand the justification of all believers without the righteousness of the law, and yet the necessity that faith should not be without works. It will, shew that faith alone justifies, because it unites its subject the believer with Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness, and yet that faith does not justify, being alone. It must work by love, and demonstrate its own genuine nature by works. From these principles too it will appear that all negotiations with sinful men must be upon principles of grace and mercy, whether duty is first exacted, or privilege first announced. No matter whether “I will be your God, and ye shall be my people” or “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
We reason then thus with respect to the covenant. There is no covenant, whereby God can be the God of sinful men, but the covenant of grace; but God by the covenant under consideration became Abraham’s God; therefore this was the covenant of grace.
There is no dispensation whereby any can be justified but by a dispensation of grace; but Abraham was justified by this dispensation; therefore this was a dispensation of grace. The principle of this is most plain and obvious. By the works of the law, Truth hath said, no flesh shall be justified in the sight of God. He hath concluded all under sin. They who believe not the promises which are all yea and amen in Christ, are condemned already. But Abraham was justified. By what law? asks the Apostle; of works? Nay but by the law of faith or dispensation of grace. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. This same principle was of general concern in that early period of the world and of the display of mercy, and so we find the inspired psalmist in the xxxii Psalm sing of the blessedness of such characters generally. “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not his sin.” The Apostle Paul quotes this and reasons from it in proving what we are now proving, viz. The Grace of the Abrahamic Covenant. Rom. iv. 4. Now to him that worketh, i.e. hath life by the covenant of works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But without stating and illustrating by fairest syllogism the arguments upon this topic, let any man read the chapters of Genesis, in which this patriarch’s life is recorded, and at the same-time have in his hand the epistles of Paul, especially those to the Romans and Galatians, and see unless he has some favorite system to defend, if he can deny that the covenant with Abraham was a dispensation of the covenant of grace. We refer you to those original documents, where you will find this truth not only stated, but argumentatively proved. It certainly can be no objection against this, that the land of Canaan was promised to him and his posterity. For, beside that the land of promise was a typical land, the covenant of grace secures to all believers, that they shall dwell in the land and verily have food. Their place of defence is the munition of rocks, bread shall be given them, and their water shall be sure. With regard to the first of these principles, the Apostle reasons in direct reference to Abraham, and his travelling posterity. “For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country; and truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had an opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. By what charter did he become their God, if not by the covenant of grace? If it was not by that, it must have been by one as good, for that is all he can become to us. If God is not ashamed to own him as a member of his family below, and an heir of blessedness of the heavenly city above, how arrogant it is, for any to say that this covenant respected nothing more than the land of Canaan? But again, if the fact that the promise respected their temporary accommodation be admitted; that can not militate against its being a dispensation of the covenant of grade, unless you would choose to say that the covenant which is ordered in all things, makes no provision for the bodily and temporary wants of God’s own people, and is it likely, think you, that Christ has redeemed the bodies of his ransomed ones, and made no provision for their sustenance? Oh, no. Bread shall be given them; their water shall be made sure. Though the lions should be hungry, they shall lack nothing that is good. To such as seek first the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness, all other things shall be added. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world, all is yours, and ye are Christ’s. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Do these appendages alter the spiritual and everlasting privileges of all the saints? Do these temporal benefits embraced in the covenant charter destroy the grace of the dispensation under which they live? Certainly not. If these do not destroy the grace of the covenant with which the faithful generally are favored, why should they do so in respect of Abraham, the father of the faithful? Oh! I see. The reason is obvious. If that was the covenant of grace, then circumcision was its seal, and his posterity were its subjects. Why should not ours? Then where goes the plea of the Anabaptist?
Let us next consider the seal of this covenant.
The seal of any covenant is that mark and impress, whereby the parties themselves, and others may recognise the instrument to be theirs, and whereby the consent of the covenanters is formally and legally exhibited. It has always been used by great men, when vouchsafing any particular favour, especially grants of sovereigns to their subjects. Esther iii. 19, 12. When the persons of the parties are particularly respected in the covenant, the seal is put upon the persons. Esth. viii. 2. Thus the bridegroom betroths or marries the bride by putting on her finger a ring. This is a token of endless attachment—a pledge of mutual possession and permanent kindness in the circle of their intimate union. So the seals of the covenant of grace plight the faith of our divine husband, that he will be ours in an everlasting covenant, on our part we set to, thereby the seal of our consent to his overtures, and persuasion of his truth. We bind ourselves to be constant and chaste in our affection, and punctual and diligent in the observation of his ordinances and statutes. He who is our maker binds himself to be our loving and faithful husband, and we bind ourselves to be his chaste, obedient wife. Circumcision was such a seal, for by it, the Apostle reasons, that men were bound to keep the whole law. It was also the seal of the righteousness of faith.
In times of more patriarchal simplicity and purity, it was not hazardous to describe the mode of this rite’s performance.
The times are now too licentiously delicate to admit of such description. We must, therefore, refer the reader to inspired documents, and to ancient histories of Jewish ritual.
It is well known that circumcision was a bloody rite performed upon the generative organ of the male. It alluded, no doubt, to the tragic story of our fall in our first parent, and also to the glorious mystery of godliness, God manifested in the incarnation and passion of Jesus Christ. The time of his passing by was a time of love. He said when we were in our blood; live. This command could not take effect without satisfaction paid to divine justice. “Without the shedding of blood there could be no remission.” Forasmuch therefore as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also took part of the same, that through death he might destroy death. Thus, when there was no eye to pity, nor hand to help, he laid help upon one that was mighty to save. God sent forth his Son to be made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. It is no objection to this interpretation that females were not personally subjects. They were considered in and represented by the males. Had they not been considered of the circumcision, the Israelitish males in being forbidden to marry the uncircumcised, would have been prohibited marriage altogether. More over, had this not been the case, it would have been impossible, according to the carnal, secular and superficial way in which our opponents consider this rite and seal, for women to be heiresses of land in the Jewish commonwealth: This was given to the circumcised and belonged to them, yet the daughters of Zelophehad who had no male representatives, could enjoy fast property.
The truth is, females were then, except in a case of this kind, not known ; they were viewed either in their fathers or husbands, as their representatives. Although it was a sign and a seal of separation from the natural, and of incision or inoculation into the supernatural stock, it did not effect either of these by any immediate agency. Hence Abraham was a sincere believer before he was circumcised, and no doubt many were converted after this rite had been performed. As the scripture says, He received the sign of circumcision. “A seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised.” Rom. iv. 11. So closely, however, was the seal connected with the covenant, that the one is sometimes put for the other. Gen. xvii. 10. “This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee: Every man child among you shall be circumcised.” It is explained in the next verse—“and it shall be a token between me and you, and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations.—And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” The subjects of this ordinance were adult descendants of Abraham and, their infant male seed; proselytes and their male offspring. Nay, not only their immediate descendants, but all of their households of whose education they had a charge. v. 23, 24, 25, 26. And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised, &c. chap. xviii. 19. For I knew him, that he will command his children and household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.
The great promise of this covenant we have already in part considered. “And I will be their God.” It is evident that this embraces everything. They are a blessed people whose God is Jehovah. It must embrace immortality, for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. It is trifling to say that according to this reasoning all the circumcised would necessarily be saved. Try this reasoning with relation to baptism as administered upon any subject and in any mode. Circumcision only profited when the thing signified was by grace present. Circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law, if otherwise, circumcision became uncircumcision. Those who had been circumcised in infancy, and acted according to that vow, fulfilled the moral and religious rites, to which they were by that early honour and privilege bound. It was profit able to them. They were visibly in covenant with God, and had a right, of course, to the fellowship of the Church; if otherwise, they lost their right to this gracious promise. I will be your God. This promise is evidently a running or current promise. I will be their God. Are there any who may now claim an interest in this covenant promise? Under what covenant are they? Doubtless under the covenant of Grace. But why should not Abraham be considered under that same covenant of grace, unto whom this promise was first given? Its permanency is also evinced from the extent of its application. Gen. xvii. 3, 4. And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him saying, as for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Can we limit this expression to the nation of the Jews? Certainly not. Nay, it contemplates the good of all nations in a future day, for he has promised who will perform, “I will bless them that bless thee; and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. It is admitted that many received privileges, both temporal and spiritual, by becoming citizens of the Jewish commonwealth and members of the Church. These were proselytes of the gate and proselytes of the covenant. It will also be granted that some who were friendly towards them, received favours on that account. Instance Hiram, [in the] Bible, Alexander [the Great], [in] Josephus, &c. But this promise seems to imply something more. That they even all the families of the earth, should be blessed in him. But how, it will be asked, in him? It will be granted that those who descended legally and naturally from him, had many advantages. They were in him seminally—he was their natural parent—they were in him, when the promise was given—they had a primary interest in this covenant. Hence, when Cephas preached and baptised, he performed this his ministry among the descendants of Abraham in the wilderness of Judea. Christ preached to them almost exclusively. From them he called his disciples—he commands them to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Although the inhabitants of Samaria called Jacob their father, and said our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet our Saviour knew they were mongrels and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and so he says to his disciples—“Into the cities of Samaria enter not.” “It is not meet to take the children’s meat and cast it to dogs.” He calls them emphatically his own. John i. [11]. He came unto his own. Though they are now under sore judgments for rejecting and crucifying their Messiah, yet they are still preserved a distinct people for singular blessings in the latter days, according to the covenant which sovereignly manifests such favors for the descendants of Abraham. 2d. In him respects the descent of Christ from him. Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is God over all, blessed forever. Rom. ix. 5. Not as though the word of God had taken none effect. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel: 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. This is quoted and argued from Gen. xxi. 12, where Abraham is comforted upon the expulsion of Hagar’s son from before the face of Sarah. The Apostle reasons on the same topic, and to the same amount in his epistle to the Galatians. iii. 16. Now to Abraham and to 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. The Son of God by incarnation was clothed with human nature, and that in an eminent sense from Abraham, as the first noted character, from whom he should directly spring. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Heb. ii. 16. This may seem hard to reconcile with what has before been quoted. How is he the seed and yet takes on him the seed? He is the seed when he takes his name from his humanity. He takes the seed when he is denominated from his divinity. This will receive illustration, if we attend to what is said of Christ and David in relation to each other. Says Christ, “I am the root and the offspring of David. He was David’s root as God—David’s offspring as man. So also, though before Abraham in his divine nature, He was in him and from him as man. 3d. In thee or in thy seed respects his spiritual descendants. “Say not, we have Abraham to our Father, for God is able of these stones to raise up seed to Abraham.” All then are the children of Abraham who are believers, heirs of his faith. But how are they his children or seed, if he and they do not believe substantially the same promises, and be interested in the same covenant? Are not believers now heirs of the covenant of promise or of grace? Is not this the same as being heirs of his faith? If this be the case, then either they are not in the covenant of grace, or he was. If he was, then the Abrahamic covenant was a dispensation of the covenant of grace. But his posterity, even when infants, were visibly admitted into the same external privileges, and had, until they forfeited the right, an interest in the blessing of God being their God. Why should not this be the case still? the reflecting reader will ask. We leave the answer to those who oppose infant baptism. It is evident that believers and their seed have now the same essential privileges that Abraham had. Had he God for his God? was he an heir of God by the promise? So are we. Those who rejected the promise of the Saviour are for a while rejected. We are in their room admitted into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. John i. 12. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. No matter whether they are descended of him or not, if they are in the same covenant by regeneration. Who are born not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. He is no longer exclusively the God of the Jews, or natural descendants of Abraham, No, the covenant charter continues the same in its internal and essential benefits; is become far more liberal in its exhibition; more inward and spiritual in its application. “Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not of the Gentiles also? yes of the Gentiles also.” Rom. iii. 29. Has the Jew then no advantage? Yes; because to them was the covenant of promise or grace first given. They had a precedency in the order of succession; but we [have] a pre-eminence in the nature of the dispensation. Many of the Fathers and righteous men desired to see the days which we see. For though they had the promise given, they received not what it very emphatically contemplated. But it is evident their dispensation was of grace or promise notwithstanding. The covenant of grace was the same, its dispensation was different. To them it was dispensed by promises; prophecies, circumcision and the passover, which were for the time, by the same spirit of God which is now necessary, sufficient for the salvation of all whom God designed to save. Now when Christ the substance is exhibited, the same covenant of grace is exhibited by preaching the word, and administering the sacraments with more fullness, evidence and efficacy to all nations. If this view, which reforming divines have always taken of this subject, be not correct, and the view which the Anabaptist takes be correct, then was Abraham, and were the ancient believers and saints of the Old Testament saved at all? By whom? By Christ, who is the same yesterday, to day and forever. There is no other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved. But by what covenant did Christ become their $aviour? We call that the covenant of grace whereby Christ and salvation are graciously communicated unto men, however the mode of dispensation, may circumstantially vary. If our opponents then agree about this fundamental point, we will think we have gained something of importance. If not, then, how were they honored and privileged by the revelations given them. Might not the same external favors have been granted without the formality of a covenant at all? If not, what are we to think of the Apostle’s reasoning? Without faith it is impossible to please God. But how could they believe in him, of whom they had not yet heard? and how can they hear without a preacher? as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings, or preach the gospel! From all this then it would seem they had the covenant of grace, and the gospel, or they could not believe. If this were not the case, how could believers all unite in a song to Him that washed them from their sins, and redeemed them out of every kindred and place and nation? Is Abraham and the saints of venerable story to be mute when this celestial exercise is felicitating the hearts of others? No; to him and to them the gospel was preached. Further, let us consider the Abrahamic covenant, as it affected the social state of his posterity, and that of his Gentile believing descendants. Sometimes this is compared to a vine or tree, sometimes to a city or corporation, sometimes to a nation or community.
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt. Psalm lxxx. 8, Trees may undergo a great many incidental changes, and yet continue the same. They may shed fruit, cast leaves, increase vastly in size by the process of vegetation; may lose branches by the pruning hook, may receive new branches by ingrafting. So long as the stock remains, the tree is the same. Thus the visible society of God’s people is represented as still the same vine, even in the days of David, notwithstanding the many years and revolutions which had taken place while the Church was in the wilderness, in the time of the judges, and of his predecessor Saul. Yea, after the captivity they are still viewed as the same society, although during that time the cities had been laid waste without inhabitants, and the houses without men, and the land desolate. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten; as a teil tree and as an oak whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Isa. vi. 13.
Now what was it that maintained the identity of this plant? It was the holy seed. It had not only the organization of a plant by the covenant charter, but it had also a substance from the spirit of Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. Thus he speaks of the same subject in the New Testament. John xv. 1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit. From this passage it is evident that there are two ways of being in Christ, viz. one by profession of religion, and another by possession of real grace. The former the great husbandman taketh away. This he does in several ways. By discipline when faithfully administered by the servants of God and stewards of his house, those who bear no fruit, or bad fruit, will be taken away. The laborers will cut off the dry branches by the authority of the great Husbandman. By persecution or some worldly inconvenience, those who held not religion in supreme consideration, will be tempted to part with it. When the profession of the truth requires sacrifice—anon they are offended—they went out from us, i.e. from our visible connection, because they were not of us, i.e. by inward, spiritual union. Sometimes this may be omitted, till death make the final separation, when the tares resemble very much the wheat;—the taking of the tares may be postponed until the wheat is ripe, and then the wheat will be gathered into the heavenly granary, and the tares will be cast into the unquenchable fire of hell. Those who, like the rich man in the parable, do nothing for God’s poor church and people, but think themselves bound to do nothing more than what the laws of the community bind them to do, will then see their mistake, when the Lazaruses whom they have neglected, shall be in Abraham’s bosom, and they rejected, and not a drop of water be afforded to cool their scorching tongues.
This subject will receive farther illustration, if we attend to the Apostle’s reasoning. Rom. xi. He asks—Hath God cast away his people? God forbid For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. He shews that there was an election or remnant of the body of Israel, even at that time, when the multitude were unbelieving and so evidently going to destruction. He seems to hint too that there were more of these than perhaps some superficial observers would reckon. In times of prosperity in the Church, there seems to be more than they really are; in times of persecution and of Sion’s trouble, there will appear to be fewer than they really are. This he illustrates from the state of the church in Elijah’s time. When the prophet concluded that he was alone, God told him he had reserved seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Seven thousand who had walked in the holy way of their father Abraham, who, with his posterity, were to be separated, by profession and practice, from the idolatrous nations was a considerable number, and yet it was nothing to the many thousands of Israel who followed the popular and court religion of that very corrupt time. The Apostle accordingly says—“Even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” This small remnant however are more counted of than all the rest, although a very inconsiderable minority. They have the ecclesiastical constitution upon their side. Accordingly the rest are represented as branches broken off; they are spoken of as the original stock. v. 17. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches: but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root but the root thee. What then is this good olive tree from which some branches were lopped and into which some others were engrafted? It is evident it must be a church state; for about church matters he is reasoning. Whether then is it about a church state of ancient or of modern organization? of Jewish or of Gentile origin? or to speak in the ordinary way about this subject, does the Apostle mean by this good olive tree the Jewish or the Christian Church? It is evident it cannot be the latter, for the Jews as such never belonged to this organization; of course could not be taken off that on which they never were fixed. The Apostle considers however the Church constitution essentially one. There is but one Church. It is quite absurd to speak of a Jewish and a Christian church, for the same church which was in the wilderness, is now and ever will be. The mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but the covenant of his peace, eminently revealed to Abraham, renewed with Isaac and Jacob, shall never be removed. I would not have you ignorant, says the Apostle, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud & in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2, 3, 4, The Saviour and spiritual things were known to them by different names, and exhibited in different modes, but these spiritual things are still the same.—The Saviour still one and the same. There are diversities of administration, but the same spirit. Were the Gentiles now introduced into gracious privileges and blessings of the covenant of grace in a church state? Well. It was the same blessing and the same covenant state which Abraham before enjoyed, and into which his posterity were through him introduced. Thus the Apostle reasons. Gal. iii. 14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. v. 15. Brethren, I speak, after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant; (does not this most clearly shew that the covenant he speaks of is God’s covenant, or the covenant of grace, for he reasons from the less to the greater) yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto, v. 16. Now to Abraham and his seal were the promises made. All this is so congenial not only with the tenor and scope of scripture, but even with the honest and fair negotiations of men in a social state, according to the representative system, that it may indeed seem strange that any should either deny, or misunderstand it. Sure everyone knows that so long as the charter of any society continues, or the constitution of any community, that it is still the same society, and the same community, although it may change a thousand times its members; be increased or diminished, or altered in its by laws to any degree you can imagine. Suppose a civil society to be formed by settling at first all of one nation, it is afterwards mixed, and finally the descendants of the original stock become extinct—it is still the same political body. All the treaties or contracts made by the aborigines would stand in the court of nations, and the original constitution would just as much belong to the last members as to the first. This principle of the identity of organic bodies, seems to be understood in physics and ethics, and jurisprudence—in everything but where it is most true and of most importance that is in regard of the Church.
What privileges do we Gentiles now enjoy? Is it not that though once aliens, we are now fellow citizens, and of the household of faith? We are come, not to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire and to blackness and darkness, or we are not introduced into the dark, typical, and terrific legal part of ancient dispensations. But we are come to mount Sion and unto the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. To the general assembly and Church of the first born which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.
Were God’s people as a nation called out of and separated from an unbelieving idolatrous world? So are we—called out of every people and tongue and nation, to be to him a peculiar people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. But are we by this made a new society or different community from that which God of old redeemed? He has but one body, for he is one head; he has one sheep-fold, for he is one shepherd; one kingdom; for he is one king. By the blood of the covenant he has made of twain one new man, so making peace. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free: all are one. He has united all things in heaven or in earth. Is this done by altering the constitution and arrangement of things respecting those already in glory, or is it not rather by altering and conforming things on earth to the pattern of things in heaven? Either then the ancient saints were trained up for that place, by a dispensation of grace, or we are not, or they and we cannot be united. If they were not, and we are, then our education and theirs are essentially different. They and we are not, cannot, be socially and beatifically united. One will speak the language of Canaan, and the other the language of Ashdod. They will be barbarians to us, and we to them. We cannot be united as one nation, our language, our sentiments, our spirit have been so different. Who but sees the absurdity of this? They without us could not be perfect, nor we without them. The reason is obvious. The body is one. We are all members one of another. All must be unitedly exhibited as the reward of his suffering, when he shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied; when he shall surrender the kingdom unto his father; saying here am I and the children whom thou hast given me. Though gathered from different ages and places, they shall then be ONE GREAT NATION. The charter has always been the same. The one charter of all their rights has been the covenant of grace, and when all the diversities of opinions shall be dispelled, by the vision of glory, the differences of times, in which they have lived, shall be all lost in the duration of eternity. Then shall Abel, the Protomartyr, whose spirit first of human souls, enjoyed celestial bliss, and the last believing spirit, who shall close up, the rear of the great ransomed multitude, unite in sweetest symphony, in shouting, “Grace, Grace, unto it.”
But are we still told that this all might be the case, and yet the Abrahamic covenant not be a dispensation of the covenant of grace, because he lived in a typical period? What! might grace be exhibited, and grace applied for salvation, and yet the dispensation not be gracious? It must be remembered that typical and gracious are not opposites, capable of being contrasted, or contradictory, incapable of reconciliations. Of what were the ordinances of that period typical? Do you, say, of the external ordinances of the gospel, dispensation? Then there must be some antitype in these of the rite of initiation. What is that, if not baptism? Again do you say, they were typical of spiritual things? If so, then what is the essential difference between them and the ordinances of grace, now? In this sense the ordinances may still be called typical, for they still address men’s reason through the organs of sense and perception. They yet regard inau as consisting of soul and body; a candidate in time for eternity.
Is it farther objected, that our system makes Abraham a Mediator? We answer, by no means. On the contrary, we establish from scripture that he had the same One Mediator that all believers have. The covenant we have seen was not originally made with him. It was the eternal covenant which only received a formal and eminent ratification with this illustrious patriarch. Finally. Is it objected that nothing but a natural birth was required in the Abrahamic covenant, but that a spiritual birth is necessary in order to partake of the privileges of the covenant of grace?
To this we answer, by asking; Were there any saved under that dispensation? Were the believers of that day, and under that dispensation regenerated or unregenerated? Did they believe without the operation of the Spirit, or with it? If with it, then they were regenerated, as well as we. If they were not, how did they enter into heaven? Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Is it said the kingdom in John iii. means the visible Church? Grant it, and are the terms of admittance into the latter stricter than into the former? Can they be admitted into the heavenly society without regeneration, and not into the earthly—into the triumphant, and not into the militant Church!!!
Again, can none be members of the church now unless they be regenerate? Was Judas regenerated? No; he was the son of perdition. Was Simon the sorcerer regenerated? No ; he was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Were the stony ground hearers, the tares and the many that shall say, Lord, Lord, &c. at the last suing for admittance renewed? Were they who fled for fear of persecution, regenerated, who went out from us, because they were not of us? These descriptions were all privileged with the participation of gospel ordinances; belonged to the visible society of the saints, yet unregenerate.
The truth on this subject appears to be this, that the Church in old and new testament times, has had true and false members. The true members always were made so by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. This benefit is certainly implied, and, that not obscurely, in the great promise of this dispensation. I will be your God. This the apostle Peter quotes to encourage his 3000 converts. “The promise,” says he “is to you and to your children.” This he mentions to encourage them that they should receive the Holy Ghost. It is then evident that if a dispensation, whereby God is manifested in mercy through Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of God be a dispensation of grace, this covenant with Abraham must be so called, i.e. The Abrahamic covenant was gracious. Not only has it continued to unfold its stores of grace to all ages past, but will in all ages of time and eternity to come.
I will be your God. It intimated that all the several advances of the covenants execution, would take place in their proper order and time; of course, that Christ would appear as the great seed—that he would be cut off, but not for himself, that he would bring in an everlasting righteousness, Dan ix. 24, that in him, all nations of the earth should finally be blessed.
Hence it is evident that a great many blessings of this covenant are yet to be enjoyed. We are not without our interest in it, if we be believers, God is our God, and the God of our seed, as well as he was the God of Abraham and his. We reckon that he is so by the greatest grace. This promise will be eminently accomplished, when the Jews shall be brought in by the fulness of the Gentiles. All Israel shall be saved, as it is written, Isaiah lix. 20. “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth; nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. Then shall men be particularly blessed in; the seed of Abraham; all nations shall call Hm blessed, according to the promise of this gracious covenant. The people shall praise him, all the people shall praise him: The earth shall yield its increase, and God, even our God, shall bless us. Whereas, but a small people, inhabiting a little spot of territory, were anciently his peculiar possession, then shall the kingdoms of the world, become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ. This great dominion shall extend from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. The whole world shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. One shall say, I am the Lord’s, and another shall subscribe himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. They shall say, come and let us join ourselves unto the Lord, in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten. But even in all the glories, and felicity of the millennial age, we shall not exhaust the blessings and grace of this covenant. “I will be your God, no, they shall come from the east, and from the west, and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of our heavenly Father. They shall encircle, according to this charter, the Eternal’s throne. They shall inhabit those mansions, which the Redeeming Seed hath purchased, prepared, and preoccupied. Then all the ransomed of the Lord, shall meet on the summit of the heavenly Sion, and join in the harmonious choir of praise to God and the Lamb, in the new Jerusalem, for ever and ever.