With regard unto the laft, it will receive a gradual accomplishment while the fun endureth.

4 GOD promifed DELIVERANCE unto his feed from that Egyptian bondage, which was then foretold; and from the pilgrimage in which Abram was then engaged: "Know of a furety, that thy feed fhall be ftrangers in a land that is not their's, and fhall ferve them, and they fhall afflict them four hundred years. And alfo that nation whom they fhall ferve will I judge and afterwards fhall they come out with great fubftance *." To ftate the matter of this promife in a clear point of view, it may be obferved, That the four hundred years commenced with the affliction of Abram's feed in the perfon of Ifaac: For, in the fifth year of his life, he was mocked; or, as the Apoftle terms it, perfecuted by Iflamael. This declaration does not fay that they should ferve four hundred years; but that they should be afflicted, and ferve, and be ftrangers; for that space of time. Some part of the time they were ftrangers, as in the life of Ifaac, and Jacob, and Jofeph: Some times they ferved without great affliction, as when Jacob served for a wife: Some part of the time they were afflicted without fervice, as Ifaac by Ifmael, and Jacob by Efau : And, laftly, they both

Gen. xv. 13. 14.

ferved and were afflicted, as when under the Egyptian talk-mafters. The four hundred years fpecified terminated in their deliverance from Egypt. The particulars which conftitute that fum will be afcertained when we confider the occafions of the Sinai Covenant. The promise itfelf tended greatly to try Abram's faith, on the one hand; and to encourage him in his peregrinations, on the other. Though his feed thould be greatly afflicted; yet they thould alfo be gracioufly delivered in due time. This deliverance muft alfo be confidered as an eminent type of falvation to genuine Ifraelites, from worse than Egyptian bondage, through our Lord Jefus Chrift.

5. GOD covenanted to beftow the land of Canaan on this covenanted feed. "The fame day 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 *." Here I may observe,

that

* Gen. xv. 18.-The land of Canaan is bounded, on the north, by mount Lebanon; on the fouth, by the wilderness of Paran, Idumea, and Egypt; on the east, by the mountains of Arabia; and on the weft, by the GREAT SEA, or the Mediterranean. These were the limits of it till the reign of David, who extended it to the river Euphrates on the east. The poffeffion was enlarged as the people encreased. It is only as it stood in the days of David, that it agrees to the promise here made to the patriarch. The length of this land, from

fouth

that this covenant included the promises above fpecified, as well as the promife of the land of Canaan. The original text, as Calvin well obferves, fhews that the covenant is of this extent: For it runs thus, "The fame day, the Lord cut a covenant with Abram." Now, the CUTTING meant is the cUTTING of the facrifices in twain, for ratifying the foregoing promises. This deferves the more particular confideration, as not a few confine the Abrahamic covenant unto the earthly Canaan. But, in this view, fpiritual bleffings were of the first and greatest confideration in it; while temporal bleffings were only appendages of it, or typical glaffes fubjoined to it.Again, i may add, That this promife was requifite, as a means of accomplishing others in this covenant. It was a means of accomplishing that promife, in particular, which refpected the Meffiah: For, if he were to fpring from Abram, it was requifite that the feed of Abram fhould be kept together in a bodý, that they might be known; and in a separate state (left they should be confounded with the reft of mankind) until that end was accomplished. Had they not been in a fixed habitation, apart

fouth to north, is near feventy leagues; that is, from Dan to Beer-fheba: The breadth, from the Mediterranean Sea to its eastern borders, fcarce thirty. But the breadth of it, from the river of Egypt, or Sichor, on the fouth-west part, to the river Euphrates, on the northeaft part, is much greater. Reland. Paleftin. cap. iii.

&c.

from

from the nations of the earth, they could not have been in a condition to receive thofe ordinances which ferved, at once, as a partitionwall, to diftinguish them from their neighbours, and as a glafs to bring the Meffiah into their view.-Finally, I fhall obferve, that this inheritance was a figure of the heavenly inheritance. As Canaan was the place of rest, after a wildernefs journey, fo is heaven to the weary traveller: After he has finished his courfe, he enters into his reft. Nor were there any reafon for conferring it on Ifracl, befides God's good pleafure: As it is ftill the FATHER'S GOOD PLEASURE to give this heavenly kingdom: Like Canaan, the heavenly country is the pleafant land: In it alone is to be found the tree of life, which yields all manner of PLEASANT FRUITS. If the carthly Canaan was a land of brooks, and fountains of waters; the heavenly Canaan is watered with the river of the Water of Life, pure as cryftal. If Canaan was the glory of all lands, as it had the feat of God's worship in it, and the symbols of God's prefence; How much more glorious is the heavenly Canaan? as there the King Eternal and Immortal ever reigns, in light inacceffible, and full of glory!I might also have obferved, That this promife is alfo conceived in fuch terms as if it were already accomplished, though the accomplishment was fome hundreds of years diftant. The reafon of this manner of expreflion feems to be, God

had

had already made a deed of conveyance to Abram; and this was an enlargement of those preceding grants. He might fay, then, that he had given this inheritance already, by promife, though not in actual poffeffion. Another reafon for this manner of fpeech is, the prophetic style in which God fpeaks of things future as paft; because his word is as certain as the accomplishment of it.

SECONDLY, The OCCASIONS of this Covenant may next be confidered.

1. IT obtained after Abram had been guilty of diffimulation concerning Sarai, his wife. Some have endeavoured to excufe the patriarch in this matter, indeed; but that is impoffible: No real, or fuppofed danger, can ever be a fufficient reafon of imitating the devil, who is a liar from the beginning. Now, God renewed the covenant with him, after this fall, to declare the ftability of his purpose, and the freedom of his grace. God prevents faints, as well as fimers, with the bleffings of his goodness. The treachery, even of his own people, cannot evacuate his covenant; nor debar them from accefs to himself by co

venant-renovation.

2. THIS COvenant-renovation obtained after God had given him a moft fignal victory over the four confederate kings who facked Sodom.

*

T