George Paxton I.8
James Dodson
SECT. VIII.
SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.
WHEN the church was erected on earth, the relation between God and his people was constituted by this declaration, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This declaration, God made to Abraham, and in him to his descendents; “I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.” The Patriarch solemnly signified his assent to this promise, both as it respected himself and his posterity; such was the Abrahamic covenant. It was directed to the Patriarch, who was present and giving his consent; but it was also directed to his seed, both Jews and Gentiles, who were still in the womb of futurity; and though Abraham neither did nor could believe in that promise for them, yet he assuredly assented with his whole heart, that God should deal with them as he had now declared, according to the tenor of that covenant. In this manner he was the Father of believers, the Heir of the world, the Representative of all his seed. Thus the representation in religious covenants is no part of the Mosaic economy, for it began in Abraham four hundred years before Moses was born; and, accordingly, must be altogether disconnected from the peculiar circumstances of the chosen people. But when their church state was established, Jehovah renewed the promise which he had made to Abraham, to be their God, and the God of their seed: and Israel, as in duty bound, and as their illustrious ancestor had done before them, assented to the covenant, professing to take him for their own God; and, at the same time, their willingness that it should be extended to their seed; and that they and their children should be treated according to their fidelity. Thus were they constituted the representatives of their posterity; and all the
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succeeding covenants which that people swore, till their final dispersion, were no more than an echo to the covenant made with their fathers at Horeb, the truth of which has already been shewn from the language of their prophets, and the dispensations of Divine Providence towards them.
This species of representation which God constituted when he entered into covenant with Abraham, and afterwards applied to the Old Testament church at Horeb, was never abolished, and therefore must still remain. When the Gentiles were admitted into the visible church, at the beginning of the present Dispensation, the ordinance of circumcision, which ratified the covenant made with Abraham and his seed, was abolished, and another was instituted in its place, but the covenant itself remained unaltered. Therefore, the Gentile church, who gradually succeeded to the Promise of Abraham, became heirs to a covenant which was addressed at once to the fathers and their succeeding race. This is clear from the words of our Lord; “Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof*.” These words certainly denote that the Gentiles and their children were now comprehended in that covenant, from which the Jews and their posterity had just fallen; and, that the church state is the same among the Gentiles that it was among the Jews. The church state is not changed; but only taken from one and given to another; therefore, the terms of the covenant, constituting the relation between God and his people, must continue to run in these terms: “I will be your God, and the God of your seed;” and be followed by their corresponding assent, Be it unto us, and unto our posterity, according to thy word, O Lord.
The Gentiles did not succeed to another covenant, constituting another church state, but to the same which the unbelieving Jews had enjoyed. This truth the Apostle illustrates by the beautiful figure of the olive tree: “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive-tree, wert graffed in amongst them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree†.” It is perfectly obvious that the natural branches are the Jews, and the wild branches are the Gentile converts, who are brought into the same church state from which the unbelieving Jews, the natural branches, are broken off; and are united to the remnant of the Jewish church, and share in their religious state; for they are graffed in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree. The Church’s covenant,
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* Mat. xxi. 43.
† Rom. xi. 17.
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which constituted her relation to God, still remained—the root and fatness of the olive-tree which nourished all the branches. The believing Jews still constituted the church; and to them the Gentiles were joined, and formed one society, standing upon the old stock, and nourished from the same root.
In the same passage, the Apostle declares the time is coming when the Jews shall be restored to their ancient privileges, in connexion with the Gentile nations. “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree, which is wild by nature, and were graffed, contrary to nature, into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree*?” The Jewish people, the natural branches, are broken off, and cast aside for a while; but they shall be restored to their former religious state;—the very same state on which they originally stood, and on which they would have always continued, if they had not been broken off. But the covenant in which they were once interested, was addressed to them and to their seed, was made with them who were present, and them who were not, as Moses declares; and the metaphor authorizes us to conclude, that the covenant which God will make with them, at their restoration, will be precisely of the same tenor. Now, this privilege they are no longer to enjoy alone; for they are only restored to the stock on which the Gentiles shall continue to stand; and both shall flourish together till the close of time.
The unity of Jew and Gentile in the same church state, and by the same covenant which was given to Abraham, will farther appear from these words: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us†.” In this passage, the Apostle represents the Jewish people and the Gentile nations as two families separated by a partition wall. But this partition, he says, is now taken down, and the two societies are brought into one. Therefore, the Jewish church was not dissolved at the calling of the Gentiles; for the taking down of a partition cannot dissolve a society, nor can it alter the covenant by which the society exists. The Gentiles were not formed into a separate society, constituted by a separate covenant; but were added to the Jewish church, according to the promise of Abraham, their common father. From these things it follows, that Posterity, whether in being or not, hold the same place in the Gentile churches as they did among the Jews. But at Sinai, God declared, according to the promise made to Abraham, “I will be your God, and
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* Rom. xi. 23, 24.
† Eph. ii. 14.
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the God of your seed;” and to this declaration Israel gave their solemn assent. And, since the covenant is carried forward into the New Testament dispensation, and continues the very same as at the beginning, God reveals himself in the same manner to his people; and in the same manner, they express their consent, to this day.
We shall only add, that the representation for which we plead, is recognized by the Apostle Peter, as belonging to the New Testament dispensation: “For the promise, (or the covenant of Abraham) is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call*.” These words are a renewed display of the Abrahamic covenant, and almost in the very words which God used to the Patriarch; “I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.” But it is indisputable that the covenant with Abraham embraced himself and his posterity: and since the same terms must denote the same ideas, it must be equally certain, that a covenanting people, and their posterity, are intended by the Apostle in this address. The purpose of God, and the design of the Apostle, are not affected by the sense which the hearers of the gospel put upon the promise; but it is natural to suppose that the Jewish converts, on this occasion, clearly apprehended the meaning of the Apostle’s words; for, both the speaker and the hearers had been accustomed to consider themselves, not only as the children of Abraham, but the heirs of his covenant, and debtors to observe all its requirements.
In applying the covenant of Abraham, the Apostle distinguishes the persons to whom it is addressed into those who were present, and those who were absent. To those who were present, he says, “the promise is to you, and to your children;” to those who were absent, the promise is “to all that are afar off,” and to their children, even to the Gentile nations, who were hitherto strangers and foreigners, but who shall be called to the faith and fellowship of the gospel: the promise is to you; and not to you only, but also to your children; God reveals the covenant of Abraham to you; and, as he did to the Old Testament church, he will transmit its privileges to your succeeding race, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call. It is as essential to this covenant to be addressed to the children as to the fathers; it is as truly to the former as to the latter; and such was the design of God, if the obvious meaning of language is to be regarded. Thus, the covenant which constitutes the relation between God and his people, is as comprehensive as in the days of Abraham, or the congregation of Israel at Horeb or Jordan. In those days it comprehend-
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* Acts ii. 39.
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ed the immediate covenanter and his posterity, and reached down to all the individuals of that particular race, whom the Lord their God should call: in New Testament times, by a parity of reason, it still comprehends the covenanting society and their successors, and descends to all whom the Lord our God shall call to embrace the same testimony, and make the same profession.