cles of God; that by them the history of God's great works of creation and providence might be preserved; that Christ might be born of this nation; and that from hence the light of the Gospel might shine forth to the rest of the world. These ends

could not well be obtained, if God's people, through all these two thousand years, had lived intermixed with the heathen world. So that the call of Abraham may be looked upon as a kind of new foundation laid for the visible church of God, in a more distinct and regular state. Abraham, being the person in whom this foundation is laid, is represented in Scripture as though he were the father of all the church, the father of all them that believe; a root whence the visible church rose as a tree, distinct from all others. Of this tree Christ was the branch of righteousness; and from it, after Christ came, the natural branches were broken off, and the Gentiles grafted in. So that Abraham still remains, through Christ, the father, the root of the church. It is the same tree which, from that small beginning in Abraham's time, has in these days of the Gospel spread its branches over a great part of the earth, will fill the whole in due time, and at the end of the world shall be transplanted from an earthly soil into the paradise of God.

II. There accompanied this a more particular and full revelation and confirmation of the covenant of grace than ever before. There had been before this two particular and solemn editions or confirmations of this covenant; one, to our first parents, soon after the fall; the other to Noah and his family, soon after the flood. And now there is a third, at and after the calling of Abraham. It was now re

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vealed to Abraham, not only that Christ should come, but that he should be his seed; and promised that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him. And God repeated the promises of this to Abraham. The first promise was when he first called him. Gen. 12:2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." The same promise was renewed after he came into the land of Canaan. Chap. 13: 14, &c. Again after Abraham had returned from the slaughter of the kings. Chap. 15:5, 6. And a fourth time after his offering up Isaac. Chap. 22:16-18.

In this renewal of the covenant of grace with Abraham, several particulars concerning it were revealed more fully than before: not only that Christ was to be of Abraham's seed, but also the calling of the Gentiles, that all nations should be brought into the church, all the families of the earth be blessed. And then the great condition of the covenant of grace, which is faith, was now more fully made known. Gen. 15: 5, 6. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And Abraham believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness;" which is much noticed in the New Testament, as that for which Abraham was called the father of believers.

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And as there was now a further revelation of the covenant of grace, so there was a further confirma. tion of it by seals and pledges; particularly circumcision, which was a seal of the covenant of grace, as appears by the first institution of it. Gen. 17. It there appears to be a seal of that covenant by which God promised to make Abraham a father of many

nations. Ver. 5, 9, 10. And we are expressly taught, that it was "a seal of the righteousness of faith." Rom. 4:11. Speaking of Abraham, the apostle says, "he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith."

Abraham's family and posterity must be kept separate from the rest of the world till Christ should come; and this sacrament was the principal wall of separation. Besides, God gave Abraham a remarkable pledge of the fulfillment of the promise he had made him, in his victory over Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him. Chedorlaomer seems to have reigned over a great part of the world at that day; and though he had his seat at Elam, perhaps a thousand miles from the land of Canaan, yet he extended his empire so as to reign over many parts of the land of Canaan, as appears by chap. 14 : 4, 5, 6, 7. It is supposed by learned men, that he was a king of the Assyrian empire at that day, which had been begun by Nimrod at Babel. And as it was the honor of kings in those days to build cities for the seat of their empire, (Gen. 10: 10-12,) so it is conjectured that he had gone forth and built him a city in Elam, and made that his seat; and that those other kings who came with him, were his deputies in the several cities and countries where they reigned. But yet, as mighty an empire as he had, and as great an army as he came with, Abraham, only with his trained servants, that were born in his house, conquered and subdued them all. This he received of God as a pledge of what he had promised: the victory that Christ his seed should obtain over the nations of the earth, whereby he should possess the gates of his enemies. It is plainly

spoken of as such in the 41st of Isaiah, where is foretold the future glorious victory the church shall obtain over the nations of the world. This victory of Abraham is spoken of as a pledge and earnest of victory to the church. "Who raised up the righte ous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet."

Another remarkable confirmation Abraham received of the covenant of grace, was when he returned from the slaughter of the kings; when Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, that great type of Christ, met him, and blessed him, and brought forth bread and wine. The bread and wine signified the same blessings of the covenant of grace, that the bread and wine does in the Lord's supper. ** And Melchisedec's coming to meet him with such a seal of the covenant of grace, on the occasion of this victory, evinces that it was a pledge of God's fulfillment of the same covenant. Gen. 14: 19, 20.

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Another confirmation of the covenant of grace, was the vision he had, in the deep sleep that fell upon him, of the smoking furnace, and burning lamp, that passed between the parts of the sacrifice. Gen. The sacrifice signified that of Christ. The smoking furnace that first passed through the midst of that sacrifice, signified the sufferings of Christ. But the burning lamp that followed, which shone with a clear bright light, signifies the glory that followed Christ's sufferings, and was procured by them.

Another remarkable pledge that God gave Abra ham of the fulfillment of the covenant of grace, was his giving that child of whom Christ was to come, in his old age; (Heb. 11 : 11, 12, and Rom. 4: 18, &c.) and his delivering Isaac, after he was laid upon the wood of the sacrifice to be slain. This was a confirmation of Abraham's faith in the promise that God had made of Christ, that he should be of Isaac's posterity; and was a representation of the resurrection of Christ. Heb. 11: 17-19. And because this was given as a confirmation of the covenant of grace, therefore God renewed that covenant with Abraham on this occasion. Gen. 24: 15, &c.

Thus it appears how much more fully the covenant of grace was revealed and confirmed in Abraham's time than ever it had been before; by means of which Abraham seems to have had a clear view of Christ the great Redeemer, and the future things that were to be accomplished by him. And therefore Christ informs us that "Abraham rejoiced to see his day, and he saw it, and was glad." John, 8: 56. So great an advance did it please God now to make in this building, which he had been carrying on from the beginning of the world.

III. The next thing is God's preserving the patriarchs for so long a time in the midst of the wicked inhabitants of Canaan, and from all other enemies. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were those of whom Christ was to proceed; and they were now separated from the world, that in them his church might be upheld. Therefore, in preserving them, the great design of redemption was carried on. He preserved them, and kept the inhabitants of the land where they sojourned from de