made to him, Genesis xii. 1. It was proper that the covenant should be dated here. All transactions of this kind are dated at their first establishment. This will do nothing towards proving that the covenant recorded in the 17th chapter of Genesis, is numerically distinct from the covenant promises previously made.

III. A third remark respecting the covenant of circumcision, entitled to notice, and to be noticed carefully, because it confirms what has been already said, is, that its promises are absolute.

An absolute promise is one, which is not suspended upon any contingence. It cannot be vacated by any circumstance whatever. Absolute promises may respect very different things. The execution of them may involve, as has been already suggested, activity on the part of him, whom the promises respect. In this case they are absolute, no less, than if all the agency were on the part of the promisor. For the term absolute characterizes, neither the agent nor the object; but the promise. The promises made to Abraham were all of this kind. They respected moral beings, and secured an active conformity to the spirit of the promises in them. To say therefore, that if Abraham and his seed had not been obedient to the covenant, it would not have taken effect with respect to them;" though it be true, is to say nothing incompatible with the idea, that its promises were absolute. A bare inspection of the promises of this covenant, one would think, sufficient to shew them to be absolute. "I will multiply thee exceedingly-my covenant is with thee -thou shalt be a father of many nations-and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee And I will give unto thee, and thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God-I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing-I will bless him that blesseth thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be

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blessed." These promises are of one kind, and they are certainly absolute; for not a condition is mentioned. Nothing like reserve or contingence appears. Hence it was that God revealed himself to Moses, under this peculiar, lasting memorial, "the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob;" i. e. as maintaining his unalterable engagements, to them. Hence also, when anticipating the then future perverseness of a large proportion of Abraham's natural descendants, and foretelling the judgments, which, in consequence, he would bring upon them, God, to preclude all suspicion of his faithfulness, says, Leviticus, xxvi. 24, "Yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. But I will, for their sakes, remember the covenaut of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God." This passage teaches us, that no perverseness in Israel, could induce God to break his covenant. Then the promises of it were not suspended upon any contingence; no, not upon the condition of obedience. There seems then, to be abundant evidence of the absolute nature of the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, from the unconditional manner in which they are expressed. But this idea is confirmed by all the representations of scripture, by the nature of the purpose which these promises unfold, by fact, and by the necessity of the case. To collect and arrange this evidence, would be superfluous. But I cannot forbear to mention the manner in which the promises of the covenant are spoken of, in Hebrews vi. 13th, and onward, as God's swearing, and as his oath, and as declarative of his counsel; therefore, exhibiting ground of sure confidence to Abraham. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, surely, blessing, I will bless thee ; and multiplying, I will multiply thee; and so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise: For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confir

mation is to them the end of all strife. Wherein, (that is, in this very engagement entered into with Abraham.) God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong con. solation who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have, as an anchor to the soul, both sure and stedfast, entering to that within the vail." It is to be noticed, that the immutability of God's counsel, is here said to be revealed in the promises made to Abraham; and is extended to all the heirs of promise, or subjects of grace, who are considered as united with him in the reception of the blessing. This immutable counsel, this strong consolation, and this hope which is sure and stedfast, are a common inheri tance among all who, as believers, are objects of promise; whether they now exist or not; those who live after Christ, as well as those who lived before him; and are all connected with the oath, addressed to Abraham. The counsel was what the oath confirmed to him, and to all the heirs of promise. The counsel and the oath are two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie. He can neither alter his purpose, nor forfeit his veracity. As this counsel, and this oath respect all the heirs of promise, they furnish strong consolation to them, the moment they have evidence that they have fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before them. The hope they possess, being founded upon such a bottom, is indeed sure and stedfast. It is so sure and so stedfast, that nothing, not even their own perverseness, can unsettle it. Surely then, the covenant. established with Abraham, is the Gospel covenant; God's one gracious and eternal covenant, under a particular application; and its promises are absolute. It is evidently in this view that Christ's advent is spoken of, Luke i. 72, as taking place "in remembrance of the covenant." If he had not come, God would unfaithfully have forgotten his covenant.* * Dr. Bellamy, though in favor of the conditionality of the covenant of circumcision, concedes, that "it was expressed in the form of an absolute unconditional promise." See Reply to Mather, page 32.

Το suppose the promises of this covenant conditional, is to suppose, that at the time they were made, there was no security that one of them would take effect. It is to suppose there was no certainty that God would establish his covenant with Abraham's seed at all; thathe would ever give them the land of Canaan; or that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.

If any one should imagine that the initial language of this covenant, "Walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee," implies, that the promises of the covenant are suspended upon a condition, a recurrence to what has been said will surely correct his mistake. This was simply a direction which respected Abraham personally; the observation of which was indeed his duty. But this duty was so far from being a contingence upon which the covenant was suspended, that it was secured by the promise of it. It was the determined way in which it should take effect, That promise which assured that God would be the God of Abraham, his shield and exceeding great reward, assured, that Abraham would dutifully maintain this relation. The promise that secured a seed, to whom God would be a God, secured the holiness of that seed. Law, though always obligatory, is never against the promise. Grace and duty. are perfectly coincident. If any doubt remains with the reader respecting the doctrine now advanced, that the promises of the covenant of circumcision were all absolute, it is presumed none will remain after he has progressed a little farther in this analysis.

IV. The next thing to be ascertained, in regard to this covenant is, who the covenantees are. Respecting Abraham the father there is no doubt. To him the promise is expressly addressed as its immediate object. But the convenant was not only to be established with him; but also, and as unfrustrably, with his seed. God promised to Abraham a seed, that he would establish his covenant with that seed, and be their God. Whom are we to understand to be here intended by the seed? To settle this question rightly, is of the great

est consequence; and, as contrary theories have spread a good deal of obscurity over it, requires a patient investigation. Beyond all doubt, if we will impartially follow the light of scripture, we shall find this question determined conclusively. That we may proceed with certainty, it seems necessary to premise, that the term seed has both a literal, and a figurative meaning. The literal meaning is one thing, and the figurative meaning is another. Christ Christ says to the unbelieving Jews, John viii. 37, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you." And again, verse 39. "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." Here, though a different term is used, the two senses are brought into view. The former is the literal; the latter is the figurative sense. In the first passage, Christ acknowledges that the Jews were what they claimed to be, lineal descendants from Abraham. But he denies the conclusion, that they were of his character, and partakers with him of the blessing. In the second passage he speaks of them, as not being children of Abraham in character. If they were, he tells them, they would do the works of Abraham. If these Jews had been disposed to do Abraham's works, they would have proved themselves his true seed, his seed in both respects, morally considered, as well as by lineal descent. The term seed is used by Paul in the figurative sense, Gal. iii. 29. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." The term seed is here applied to converts from the Gentile world. These converts were not Abraham's seed, by natural descent. They were his seed, only as they were of faith, and blessed with him, or partakers with him of promise.

These two entirely distinct meanings of the term seed, cannot be confounded. They are as distinct, and remote from each other, as if they were exact contraries. It is true, that in two or three instances, and the examples have been already introduced, the term seed is extended to the saved from the Gentile world,