ness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.1 (5) And, as if these distinctions did not suffice for the man whom God delighted to honour, we find Jehovah making as it were a league offensive and defensive with Abram his friend. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. This is language never used, but of one especially favoured by the Most High. It declares, not only that he should be blessed himself, but that all others should be blessed or cursed, as they respected or injured him. Of this amazing condescension towards him, the histories of Abimelech, Laban, Potiphar, both the Pharaohs, and especially Balak and Balaam, furnish remarkable examples: "I wot," said the idolatrous enemy of the sons of Abram, "that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed." "How shall I curse (said the wretched seer, when his heart vainly longed to call down defeat and ruin upon Israel) "how shall I curse

whom God hath not cursed?

or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? (6.) I pass however to the climax of the

1 Dan. xii. 3.

2 Fuller on Genesis Vol. i. p.

152.

3 Numb. xxiii. 8.

whole gracious declaration of Jehovah to his servant: because a spiritual meaning of the last promise is involved in it. "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." In these few words, the germ of the covenant of salvation is brought before the eye of the Church, as it was exhibited to the apprehension of its earthly representative: and he must have reasoned on this wise, concerning the amazing communication thus vouchsafed to him. "If all families of the earth are to be blessed in me, the mercy cannot have its existence vested in myself personally, for I shall not live to behold it. This mysterious good and benediction, must arise therefore from one who shall be born of me; who, himself eminently distinguished of God, shall bring with him a blessedness, of which the length and breadth shall embrace the whole earth. He must therefore, be not man merely, but God also; though be must assume human nature, in order to be born as my descendant." Thus, did a divine communication, involve in a few simple words, that mystery of an incarnate Saviour, which holy patriarchs and prophets more largely and clearly explained, for the faith and hope of his waiting Church.1

1 Luther in Genesin, Cap. xii.

The world, liberated from the yoke of Satan, death and hell destroyed, the law fulfilled, and its curse removed, sin forgiven, eternal salvation provided, and the kingdom of heaven opened unto all believers, were among the mercies comprised in this promise. They broke upon Abram's mind, as the dawnings of that day of Christ, which he saw perhaps even now dimly in spirit, though not in flesh, and whereof he was glad, as a believer, though yet an infant in the life of faith. All the posterities of Adam were cursed in him; and God here promises that they should be blessed in the seed of Abram, and by him, in the seed of the

woman.

Now this blessing must extend to, and embrace all the good whereof men are deprived by the curse, or it cannot establish its claim and assumption. Its declaration was delayed from the promise in Eden, to that in Ur; because the Most High intended to leave mankind to walk, for a long and dark period in their own way; that thus He might exhibit his severity against sin; that thus He might display the sovereignty and freeness of that mercy, through which He had provided and promised a Deliverer; and that thus He might make

trial of the wisdom of man, in seeking out for the person of the Redeemer, and the nature of the freedom which He would confer. In this most precious promise therefore, was that gold deposited, in the keeping of the Church, which after many generations was brought forth, and stamped with the image of God.

The curse pronounced upon Satan in paradise is here renewed. "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." The blessing is to many, the curse refers to one, the apostate angel and god of this world, who brought sin and shame and ruin upon it.1 This gracious promise was again and again renewed: for Infinite Love and Wisdom knew it to be the foundation, on which faith must rest through many ages, to elapse before the advent of Christ. Thus was the gospel preached to Abram; "that the blessing of Abram might come upon the Gentiles, through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Through this declaration does every believer trace up, as it were, the ancestry and lineage of his spiritual mercies, in the Lamb of God; because it connects the

1 Owen on the Hebrews, Vol. I. p. 175.

person, nature, and offices of the Incarnate Word, with the first hope and ray of salvation, that burst through the darkness of man's fallen soul in Eden, and took away that load of sin, which, if it had remained upon him, would have eternally overwhelmed and destroyed him. Sweetly then, as every message of a Saviour's love should strike upon our ears, a peculiar delight should be felt, by those who have experienced the power of redeeming love, in this promise to Abram, which not only gives an assurance of pardon and peace to the world, but vests it in an individual and his posterity, for safe keeping, until the coming of Him of whom the patriarch was a type and shadow. "Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, hath sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."1 A Bible, a Gospel, and a Saviour, are the blessings thus given to Abram, and left by him as a rich legacy to the church and the world.

1. Are such promises as these precious when apprehended by the heart of a believer? Then should they be diligently pleaded before God in prayer. If we would enjoy them in their

Acts iii. 26.