this covenant is further described; And I Gen.xvii. will make thee exceeding fruitful; and I will 6, 7, 8, 9 make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee; and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and unto thy seed after thee; and I will give unto thee, and unto 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.

Before this, God had made a covenant with Abraham in terms somewhat different: Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of this thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, into a land that I will show thee; 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; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

In these promises there are some blessings peculiar to Abraham's own family, and some common to all the families of the earth. The blessing common to all the families of the earth is often repeated, to mark it for particular observation. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be

Gen. xii.

1, 2, 3.

Gen.

blessed in him? Again, on Abraham's rea xvii. 17, diness to obey the command of God, to sa

18.

crifice his son, an angel from heaven said (in the name of God), By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and inmultiplying I will multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, Gen.xxii. and in thy seed shall all the nations of the 16,17,18. earth be blessed.

The promises before you seem plainly to consist of two distinct parts, or rather, to use the words of a very learned and juBp. Sher- dicious author, " including two distinct coven ants; the one relating to the temporal state, and prosperity of his (Abra"ham's) seed, in the land of Canaan; the "other, to the blessing, which, through "him and his seed, was to be conveyed to "all nations of the earth.

lock of Prophecy,p.159.

Laws of religious worship given to a people in such circumstances, would, in all likelihood, have some proper regard to them, and to the promises of their particular covenant, as well as the more general service of true religion. They were under peculiar obligations, had hopes of peculiar blessings, in the faithful performance of all the promises of the covenant made with Abraham their father. It is hardly to be

supposed, that a ritual of worship should be given to a nation in such circumstances, which should not preserve the memory of the blessings promised, the nature of the grant, the condition on which the grant was made, and what religious use was designed should be made of it; especially as such a memory of the blessings promised by the covenant, was so powerful a motive to gratitude and hope, to reverence

and obedience.

66

Now, this being the case," to use the Id. ib. words of the fore-mentioned author, «'tis 162. "evident, that the promise of a blessing to "all nations subsisted in its full force and "vigour during the continuance of the "law of Moses; for, as that promise was "not completed by the giving of the

law, in which all nations were not con"cerned, so neither could so general a "promise be annulled, or set aside, by a

private law given to one people only. "Hence, another question proper to be "considered, with respect to the state of "religion under the Jewish dispensation," as our author very justly observes," is this, how far the religion of the Jews "was preparatory to that new dispensation which was in due time to be re

vealed, in accomplishment of the pro"mises made to all nations. Now, if "Abraham and his posterity were chosen, "not merely for their own sakes, or out

Vid. 6.

Id. ib. 164.

"of any partial views or regards towards
them, but to be instruments in the hand
"of God for bringing about his great de-
signs in the world; if the temporal cove-
"nant was given for the sake of the ever-
lasting covenant, and to be subservient
"to the introduction of it; it is highly pro-
bable, that all parts of the Jewish dis-
pensation were adapted to serve the same
"end; and that the law, founded on the
temporal covenant, was intended, as the
"temporal covenant itself was, to prepare
"the way to better promises. If this ap-
pears upon the whole to be a reasonable
supposition, then have we a foundation
"to inquire into the meaning of the law;
"not merely as it is a literal command to
"the Jews, but as containing the figure
" and image of good things to come.
"can hardly be supposed, that God in-
"tending finally to save the world by
"Christ, and the preaching of the Gospel,
"should give an intermediate law, which
"should have no respect nor relation to the
"covenant, which he intended to establish
"for ever.
And whoever will be at the
"pains to consider seriously the whole ad-
"ministration of Providence together,

It

from the beginning to the end, may see "perhaps more reason than he imagines "to allow of types and figures in the "Jewish law."

The evidence and use of this important

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

CALIFORNIA

OF THE HEBREW WORSHIP.

observation plainly appear in the Epistle to the Hebrews. None can, I think, observe with any attention, how the rites of the Hebrew worship, as explained and ap-` plied to the Christian covenant, agree so surprisingly in every thing with it, but he must be persuaded with the Apostle, that they were designed to be figures, or, in the common expression, types of the good things to come.

It was then highly fit in itself, well becoming the wisdom of God, in forming a ritual of worship for the Hebrew church, to order it in such manner as should make it preparatory to another state of religion, which was to succeed, and perfect it. How many wise and good ends would this serve, to show the Hebrews their present constitution was not designed for the most perfect, but was to be perfected in a better covenant, that their ritual law was not to be perpetual, but should give way to andther state of the church, truly universal and catholic; and yet, that their ritual ́ was a figurative representation of the more perfect constitutions in the days of Messiah the King. Hence the Shechinah, temple, priesthood, altar, sacrifices, and other parts of the Hebrew ritual, will have a wise and useful design, as figures of a better Shechinah, temple, priest, altar, sacrifice, and blessings an instruction of great benefit to both churches, the Hebrew and the

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