CHAP. IV. The Abrahamical Dispensation; or, the Religion of Abraham.

I. When the great God saw that the greatest part of mankind in some generations after the flood, had let go the knowledge and worship of the true God, or mingled it with many superstitions and idolatrics, he resolved to chuse out a special family for himself, in which the true religion should be continued through all ages, until the coming of the Messiah, and by that means also to the end of the world. For this purpose he chose the family of Abraham, who was a descendant of Shem, the son of Noah. First, God called him out of his own country, that he might leave all their superstitions and corruptions behind him, and then he appointed him to live in Canaan, a land overrun with idolatry and iniquity, that his house might be a standing monument for God, and a preservatory of true religion and virtue, in opposition to the degeneracies of the nations who dwelt all round him.

II. The next edition of the covenant of grace was therefore the same covenant of Noah, continued to Abraham and his family, with some clearer promises of the Messiah or Saviour. The gospel was preached to Abraham, viz. that the Messiah should arise from his posterity to bless all nations of the earth in due season; Gal. iii. 8. This was the third edition of it, and was distinguished by the addition of a new blessing, viz. a promised inheritance in the land of Canaan, as an emblem or type of heaven, and future happiness.

III. And here it should be observed that the promises that God would be the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, which are construed by Christ into the resurrection of the dead; Luke xx. 37. as well as the other promises of an inheritance which was typified by Canaan, were understood by Abraham so far as to mean a heavenly country, and a future recompence as St. Paul informs us; Heb. xi. 10-16.

IV. Besides all the duties before required, God was pleased to add another special duty to this dispensation, viz. the peculiar precept of circumcision, which was enjoined to Abraham and his posterity. It was given partly as a seal of his justification by faith; Rom. iv. 11. and partly as a sign or emblem of the mortification of sin, and consequently of true repentance, as the commencement of it. Whence it came to pass in after-times, that the scriptures speak of the circumcision of the heart, to signify sanctification, and to manifest the internal and spiritual design of this outward emblem or figure. And it should be observed, that while Moses is using this language, in one place he requires of the Jews to circumcise their own hearts; Deut. x. 16. and in another he promises that God would circumcise their hearts, and the heart of their seed to love God, &c. Deut. xxx. 6. whence we

may infer that it is God who promises to enable us by his grace to perform the duties which he requires. This runs through every dispensation.

V. This covenant is usually called the dispensation of Abraham, which in the literal sense, belonged chiefly to his family or posterity by Isaac and Jacob; but in the more spiritual sense, as it is explained by St. Paul in his epistles to the Romans and Galatians, it extended to all nations, and included all the good men among the Gentiles, who are the spiritual seed of Abraham, as St. Paul often represents them. See Rom. iv. 11-16. Gal. iii. 9, 29. though it was hardly possible they should know this so clearly, till Christ or his apostles explained it.

VI. In this dispensation of Abraham, it is therefore worthy of our observation, that the whole course of his life, from the time he was called from Chaldea to his death, was a continual series of acts of faith, or dependence on the promises and mercy of God, with acts of entire submission to his providence and obedience to his will. This faith and dependence of his, was so exemplary, and so well-pleasing to God, while he constantly acknowledged his own insufficiency, and trusted to the all-sufficiency of God, and to the promises of his grace, that he hereby became as it were a pattern or precedent of the way of man's acceptance with God, or justification by faith: Gen. xv. 6. compared with Rom. iv. 3. We are to be justified as Abraham was, when he believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness, that is, he was justified or accepted of God.

His submission also, and his obedience to the will of God in difficult trials was so honourable in that early age of the world, that hereby he was appointed a pattern to all future ages of obedience, as well as of faith. And the apostle Paul makes much use of the history of his life, in recommending his faith and obedience to their imitation; and those who practise it are called the seed of Abraham, and are said to be blessed with the blessing of Abraham; Gal. iii. 9.

VII. So great favour did he obtain in the sight of God, that God was pleased to bestow the special blessings of the covenant of grace on his posterity, Isaac and Jacob in the following generations, and to give them the land of Canaan also in possession. In the houshold of Abraham and his posterity, God set up a visible church for himself, which also was continued in their families after them. This church in the days of Moses was formed into a national church, as we shall shew immediately; and thus continued till the coming of the Messiah or Christ, who was born of this race of Abraham, a great many ages afterwards, according to the ancient promise.

VIII. Here is a remarkable controversy and dispute among christians, whether the promise or covenant, made by God to, and with the seed of Abraham in Gen. xvii. and in many other places, where God promises to be the God of Abraham and his seed, is to be construed to extend to his carnal seed, the Jews, in any of the spiritual blessings signified thereby? Or whether the spiritual blessings signified thereby, belong only to his spiritual seed, who are the imitators of his faith and obedience, whether they be Jew or gentile. And then it is debated also, whether the spiritual seed of Abraham, under the New Testament, that is, true christians have any spiritual blessings promised, or entailed to their children by the strong assertions of St. Paul, concerning their interest in Abraham's covenant, and whether their carnal seed or offspring, have any general and indefinite title to spiritual blessings, by virtue of these and the like promises to Abraham, as the father of the faithful: But I am not willing to embarrass this short essay with any such long and unhappy controversies.

... IX. Let it be observed that these three early dispensations of grace, are called the patriarchial dispensations, because they were first communicated to those three patriarchs, Adam, Noah and Abraham.

CHAP. V.-The Mosaical Dispensation; or, the Jewish Religion.

I. The same gracious covenant or gospel, was revealed further to the seed of Abraham, or the Israelites by Moses, together with all the same seals or emblems of sacrifice and circumcision, which signified atonement for sin, and sanctification or purification of our nature, God was pleased to discover this to Moses, as a fourth edition of the covenant of grace, and by him to the family of Jacob, who was the grandson of Abraham; that is, to the nation of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai ; but not to the other nations of mankind; Though the other nations might and did reap considerable advantages by God's setting up this one nation in the earth as a beacon on a hill to spread the light of true religion far around. This was called the Levitical or Mosaical or Jewish dispensation. And it is plain from Heb. iv. 2, That the gospel, that is, the true covenant of grace, or way of salvation, was preached unto them, as well as unto us, though their dispensation is oftentimes for special reasons, called the law in scripture*.

It is necessary to take notice here, once for all, that the word law," is used in various senses in St. Paul's epistles. Sometimes it signifies the moral law, or ten commandments, sometimes the five books of Moses, and sometimes, the whole Old Testament ; sometimes it means the peculiar covenant of Sinai, and at other times, it includes the whole Jewish dispensation, or the covenant of grace, as it was exhibited to them, with all its legal or Levitical appendices. Now it is only the connection in which this word stands, that can distinguish and ascertain to us, in which of these senses the word "law" is used; and I hope

II. Under this Jewish dispensation, the moral law, in all its duties, and the will of God in many and various particulars of his authority and his mercy, were more explicitly set before men: Their encouragements also to repentance and hope in divine grace for eternal life, grew greater by the many precious promises and blessings, both of pardoning and sanctifying grace, revealed to them, and many intimations and discoveries of the mercy of God, which they enjoyed. This was also eminently signified by the dwelling of God amongst them, both as their God and their King, in a visible glory, in his tabernacle or temple, upon the mercy seat, in the holy of holies.

III. Here also, there were a multitude of new emblems added, that is, new ceremonies, new signs and pledges, both of the blessings of God and of the duties of man, as well as types and figures of the characters and offices of the Messiah or Mediator; all which are usually called the Jewish ceremonies, and are too many to be enumerated here. The chief designs of them were, first, to give the Jews a ceremonious worship in that infant state of the church, that they might not be tempted by the pomp and ornaments of heathen worship, to run into their idolatry. Secondly, to unite them as a nation in one form of religion and government, and to make and maintain an evident distinction of them from the rest of the nations round about them, who are called Gentiles, which in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages, signifies the nations. Thirdly, to typify and figure out to them the various glories of the Messiah, and of the gospel, in the duties and blessings of it, under the veils and shadows, and figures of that age, which are more clearly explained under the New Testament.

IV. As this dispensation was begun by Moses, so it was carried on in the nation or church of Israel, during all the time of the judges, the kings and prophets, till the coming of Christ, or rather till his ascension to heaven, and pouring down of the Spirit. The business and design of the prophets, was not to introduce any new dispensation among the Jews, but to give them further assurances of the coming of the Messiah, or the promised Saviour, to keep him in their view in every age, and keep their hopes alive, even in their lowest estate. The prophets gave them also, more particular descriptions of his character and offices, in order to prepare them for believing in him, when he should come. They spoke more particularly of the promises of pardon of sin, of the sanctification of our natures by the Holy Spirit, with hints of a future state of recompence for the good and bad among

what I have here written, will go a great way towards shewing us, what the holy writer means by it, in any particular text, and how to understand his sense and his reasoning, which is of great importance, in learning the difference between the law and the gospel.

mankind; all which appear more eminently, in the writings of David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.

V. It was also a further design of the prophets, to put them in mind of their duty, to reprove them for sin, and by many motives and examples, by invitations, threatenings and promises of every kind, both temporal and spiritual, to encourage, to warn, and to reform them, to awaken them to repentance and trust in divine mercy, and the practice of holiness, in order to their temporal benefit, and their eternal salvation; and with all, to maintain their obedience to the law of Moses, or the whole Levitical dispensation, which carried in it, the covenant of grace. So saith Malachi, the very last of the prophets, in the end of his prophecy; Mal. iv. 4. Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb, with the statutes and the judgments; for these were appointed to continue till the Messiah came, even till the Lord, who was the messenger or angel of the covenant should come to his temple, who was to be introduced by John the baptist, under the name and character of Elijah the prophet, as is expressed, chapter iv. verses 5, 6. compared with chapter iii. verse 1.

CHAP, VI.-The Peculiar Covenant of Sinai.

I. But it must necessarily be observed here, that in this dispensation of Moses, there was several outward precepts or ordinances, which were partly ceremonial or sacred, and partly civil or political, together with divers promises of a carnal and temporal kind, superadded to the gospel of grace and salvation; which precepts and promises, together with all the ten commands, considered distinctly and apart from the gospel, made up that Sinai covenant, which separated the Jews from the rest of the nations, and which was really in the nature of it a covenant of works. This is evident, because their works of obedience were to be their justifying righteousness, so far as to preserve their lives and comforts, in the land of Canaan, as Moses expressly teaches them; Deut. vi. 24, 25, " And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day: And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments, before the Lord our God." Now this is very different language from what St. Paul speaks to the Romans, and to the Galatians, when he describes our righteousness for justification before God, according to the covenant of grace and salvation.

And if in any instances, the Jews had broken the rules or laws of this Sinai covenant, in outward actions, or ceremonial defilements, they were bound to offer particular sacrifices, or to apply themselves to special washings or fastings, or other methods of purification or atonement, and to a visible reformation;