5. Of the tine and place of writing it.-6. Of its ftyle.-- Efay VII. Onthe mediation of Christ. Sect. 1. Of his media tion as a piest.-2. Proving that he hath made atonement for fin by his death.-3. Of his mediation as a prophet, and ESSAY V. On the Covenant which God made with Abraham the Father of the Ifraelites. UR Lord, John v. 39. thus exhorted his Jewith hearers; Search the fcriptures, (the writings of Mofes and the prophets) for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Also, at his first appearance to his difciples after his refurrection, he said to them, Luke xxiv. 44. Thefe are the words which I fpake to you while I was was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Mofes, and in the prophets, and in the pfalms concerning me. And that they might know what things were written in these books concerning him: 45. He opened their understandings that they might underftand the scriptures; he gave them the knowledge of the meaning of those paffages of the fcriptures which relate to himself, that they might be able to confirm the gospel which they were to preach, by teftimonies taken from the law and the prophets. Accordingly the apostle Paul, who, like the other apostles, had the true meaning of the Jewish scriptures communicated to him VOL. III. B by by inspiration, hath on these writings founded thofe enlarged views of the doctrines of the gospel, and of the divine dispensations, which he hath delivered in his epiftles, in fo much that his explications of the Jewish fcriptures, and the conclufions which he hath drawn from them, make a principal part of the gospel revelation. The paffages of the writings of Mofes, which Paul hath explained in his epifles, and which deserve our especial attention, are thofe in which God's tranfactions with Abraham the father of the Ifraelites are recorded: namely Gen. xii. 1.-3. xii. 14, 15, 16. xiii. 14.-16. xv. 1.—7. 18. xvii. 1.-8. xviii. 19. xxii. 10.-18. In the first of these paffages we are informed, that God commanded Abram to leave his country and kindred, and go into a land which he would fhew him. And to encourage him to break his connections with his idolatrous kindred and acquaintance, God faid to him, Gen. xii. 2. I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blefing. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curfe him that curfeth thee: and in thee fhall all the families of the earth be bleffed. Having received this command, Abram obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went, Heb. xi. 8. He went out, notwithstanding he did not know whether the land into which he was going, was a good or a bad land; or whether it was far off or near. On leaving Haran, Abram it feems was directed to go to Canaan. For on his coming to the plain of Moreh in Canaan, Gen. xii. 7. The Lord appeared to Abram and faid, Unto thy feed will I give this land. Some time after this, when Abram separated from Lot, Gen. xiii. 14. The Lord faid to Abram, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and fouthward; and eastward, and weftward, 15. For the land which thou feeft, to thee will I give it, and to thy feed for ever.— 16. And I will make thy feed as the duft of the earth: fo that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then fhall thy feed also be numbered. All this while Abram had no child; for which reafon, eight years after he left Haran, when God faid to him, Gen. xv. 1. Fear not Abram I am thy fhield and exceeding great reward, he re plied, What wilt thou give me feeing I go childless? Being now above eighty years old, the performance of the promise to make of him a great nation, appearing every day more and more improbable, he became uneafy at the delay. Wherefore, ver. 5. God brought him forth abroad, early in the morning, and faid, Look now toward heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them : and he faid unto him, fo fhall thy feed be. 6. And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. 7. And he said to bim, I am the Lord who brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it; and ver. .8. In that fame day, to affure him of the performance of this promife, the Lord made a covenant with Abram faying, Unto thy feed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. In an after tranfaction, recorded Gen xvii the Lord explained to Abram the particulars comprehended in the covenant which he made with him, after counting his faith to him for righteoufness. Ver. 1. When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and faid to him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. 2. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3. And Abram fell on his face and God talked with him faying, 4. As for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5. Neither fall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name fhall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy feed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy feed after thee. 8. And I will give unto thee and to thy feed after thee, the land wherein thou art a ftranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting poffeffion, and I will be their God. Some time after this tranfaction, to fhew us that the things promised to Abraham in the covenant, depended on his continuing to believe and obey God, and on his commanding his children after him to keep the way of the Lord, and to do justice and judgment, the Lord faid concerning him, Gen. xviii. 19. I know him, that he will command his children after him, and his household, to keep the way of the Lord, and to do juftice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. At length, when Abraham was an hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety, fhe brought forth her long expected fon, whom Abraham named Ifaac, (laughter) on account of the joy which his birth occafioned to his parents.-But lo! when this only fon, to whom all the promises were exprefsly limited, was grown up, God put Abraham's faith to a trial, ftill more fevere than that which was occafioned by deferring his birth fo long: He commanded him to offer this only fon as a burnt-offering, Gen. xxii. 2. This most difficult command, Abraham without hefitation fet about obeying. He went with Isaac to the appointed mountain, raifed an altar, put wood on it, bound Ifaac, laid him on the altar on the wood, and ftretched forth his hand, and took the knife to flay his fon : and would have flain him, had not the angel of the Lord called to him and said, ver. 12. Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, feeing thou haft not withheld thy fon, thine only fon, from me.-15. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven the fecond time, 16. And said, By myself have I fworn, faith the Lord, for because thou haft done this thing, and haft not withheld thyfon, thine only son, 17. That in blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thy feed as the ftars of heaven, and as the fand which is upon the fea-fhore, 18. And in thy feed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. Here it is to be remarked, that God confirmed all his former promises with an oath; and declared that he would perform these promises, because Abraham had done the difficult work of offering up his only fon as a burnt-offering. Alfo he gave him a new promife, That the perfon in whom all the nations of the earth are to be bleffed, should be one of his descendants; and declared, as before, that he made him this promise, because he had obeyed his voice. From the foregoing account of God's transactions with Abraham, it appears that God's covenant with him contained fix feparate promises or ftipulations on the part of God, namely, I. That God would exceedingly blefs Abraham. II. That Abraham should be the father of many nations, and very fruitful. III. That God would give to Abraham, and to his feed after him, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting poffeffion. IV. That |