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28. We therefore of 28. Now we, brethren, as Ifaac was, are the children the Chriftian Church of promife.

were figured by Isaac,

and owe our fpiritual Birth to the Promife and Free Grace of God.

29. But as then be that was born after the flesh per fecuted him that was born after the spirit, even fo it is

now.

29. Nor are the Jews wanting to carry on the Allegory; but resemble the Difpofition and Behaviour of Ishmael, in vexing the Chriftians, as he did Ifaac.

30. And at the laft Their Fate fhall be his too, to be caft out from that Inheritance they would arrogate to their own Works: While We,

30. Nevertheless, what faith the Scripture? caft out the bond-woman and her fon; for the fon of the bond-woman shall not be beir with the fon of the freewoman.

who depend on the Promise of God, and expect to be juftified by the Evangelical Covenant, not the Legal, fhall be the only Heirs.

31. You fee then, how thefe things belong to us; and confequently,

31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free.

how far we Chriftians are from any Obligation to that Law of Mofes, which would destroy our free Condition, and difparage the Title our Birth gives us.

T

COMMENT.

HE principal Defign of this Epistle to the Galatians was to root out fome falfe Notions, infufed into them by their new Teachers, concerning the Neceffity of ftill adhering to the Law of Mofes. In Confutation whereof, he firft infifts on feveral Topicks, with regard to the Nature and proper Ufe of that Law, and the Conditions and Privileges of the Gofpel, as being far preferable to, and now inconfiftent with the Obfervation, of it. Then he goes on, in this Portion of Scripture, to propound one Argument more, One drawn from the Writings of Mofes himself; And therefore fuch, as ought to weigh with Them, whofe intemperate and unfeasonable Zeal for the Law, delivered by Him, proved them to hold his Authority in the higheft Veneration.

The Strel. laid on this Argument is apparently fo great, as to cl for a more particular Explanation, than a Paraphrafe can be fuppofed to allow it. My

2

prefent

prefent Endeavour fhall therefore be, First, To enlarge a little upon fome of the moft material Paffages relating to this Matter, and Then to deduce fome few Inferences, agreeable to the Subject.

1. Now the Apostle here, by grounding his Argument upon a Point of Hiftory, feems plainly to imply, that, in fome Facts related by Mofes, the Jews ought not to reft in the Letter and Narration only. For that God intended the things then done, to be Figures of Others, which should be done hereafter; and, under the Rehearsal of some memorable Events read there, couched a myftical and very important Meaning. In fome particularly, wherein Abraham was concerned, his Pofterity, both carnal and spiritual, had an Intereft; and might be let in to the Reasons and manner of God's Proceedings with Them, by obferving how he had dealt heretofore with Him, their renowned Father, and Common Representative..

2. To this purpose the Apostle takes notice of Two Sons born to that Patriarch, as Emblems of the Law and the Gofpel; And, by fome Circumstances relating to Them, applied to thefe Two Covenants, he forms his Reasoning, and confutes the vain Pretences of the Mofaical Inftitution being still obligatory, and the Gofpel Terms being, either inferior to it, or infufficient for Salvation without it.

The First of these Circumstances is the different Condition of their refpective Mothers. The One a Bondwoman, the Other a Free-woman: From whence follows the like Difference in their Children. For, fince

it was a known Maxim in Law, that the Children can have no Quality defcending to them, but fuch as the Parent had, that bore them; and all that were born of Servants in the Family, the Master had, by fuch Birth, the fame Title to, and Dominion over, as he had to their Parents by Contract: It follows, that the Son of this Bond-woman must be no better than a Servant. On Bb 2

the

the other hand, the Free-woman, being the Master's Wife, and Mistress of the Family, Her Son must, in Conformity, be born in a State of Liberty; Such as gives him a Title to the Prerogatives of the First-born, and the Inheritance of his Father's Fortunes, exclufive of all Sons, (tho' born before in Time) begotten of any other Woman. The Bond-man born must be content with the Treatment, the Wages, the Provifions fuitable to his Station; The Heir may depend upon all the Tenderness, the Affection, the liberal Education, the free Accefs, the encouraging Profpects and Reverfions, due to the Quality and Succeffion he is born to.

3. Thefe Mothers, in the Application, the Apostle hath acquainted us, are the Two Covenants, that is, the Law of Mofes, and the Gofpel of Jefus Chrift. Their Children confequently are the Perfons living under thofe Covenants. The Bond-woman's, Thofe under the Law; the Free-woman's, We under the Gofpel. How fitly fo compared, will appear, by attending to the Characters given here of Each.

The Law is reprefented by Agar, a Mother of Servants only. This was given in Mount Sinai in Arabia, this answered to the Jerufalem that then was, and this gendereth to Bondage.

Whether the Name of that Mountain (in the Arabian Language called Hagar) were any part of the Apostle's Meaning in this Allufion or not: there is a great deal to justify it upon other Accounts. It is not without good Reason, that, after the gendring to Bondage, the Apoftle takes particular notice, that Sinai, reprefented by fuch a Mother, is a Mountain in Arabia. A Place inhabited by the Pofterity of Agar, but withal, a Place at fome distance from the Land promised to Abraham and his Seed; and, by the very Situation of it, intimating, that the Law iffued, and the Covenant ftruck there, could not indent for the Bleffings of Heavenly Canaan. Asa Bond-woman then could not produce

Free

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Free-children and Heirs, who her felf was not free (in the literal Senfe of this History) So neither (in the Myftery and typical Senfe) could the Law, given without the Borders of Canaan have any Influence on, or convey a Title to, the Inheritance of Heaven; because Arabia, in which that Law was given, was not, and Canaan alone was, the Figure and Type of Heaven.

Again, this Agar anfwers to Jerufalem, that then was, and was in Bondage with her Children. The Defcendants of Hagar in Arabia were then under the Roman Yoke; fo were the Jews in Judea. The Hagarens too obferved Circumcifion, as a federal Rite; fo did the Jews. In both Refpects the Refemblance holds. And, if we chufe to understand him in the Latter, no wonder the Apostle charges it with Bondage. Since this is the very Yoke, which, through this whole Epistle, he exhorts his Difciples to break; and afferts, as a most valuable Inftance of Chriftian Liberty, the Happiness of being exempted from it.

On the Other hand, Sarah the Free-woman is the Gofpel-Covenant, and anfwers to Jerufalem above. A Covenant that came down from Heaven, and intimated God's good-liking, by its Promulgation, not only from the Promised Land, but from the Place in that Land, which God delighted moft in, confined his folemn Worship to, kept his peculiar Refidence at, and placed his Name and all the Emblems of his Mercy there. The Perfons under this Covenant are as Ifaac, and his Favourite Pofterity. They fucceed into all the Privileges of their Mother, and to the Inheritance of their Father. A Mother, like her Type, fruitful in numerous Defcendants from her, tho' it were late, e'er fhe began to bear; And, notwithstanding the Law was a Difpenfation antecedent to the Gofpel, (as Abraham had Ishmael feveral Years before Ifaac) yet the Profelytes to the Gospel are many more, than ever thofe to the Law had been. As Ifaac's Seed was more mighty than Ishmael's.) Bb 3

The

The Prerogatives of this Latter Iffue excel thofe of the Firft; as Ishmael's Eldership gave him no Precedence. And by the Works of the Law no Flesh is juftified, but all are faved by Virtue of this Second Covenant; as Ifaac's Seed alone, but none of Ishmael's, inherited the Promised Land of Canaan.

Thus ftands the Allegory, with regard to the First Branch of it, which distinguishes the Two Sons of Abraham, according to the different Condition of their refpective Mothers. Before I proceed to the Second, it will be expedient to interpofe a few Obfervations, for the more effectual clearing and confirming fome of the Differences already mentioned, between the Covenants and Perfons, of which St. Paul declares thofe Mothers, and their Children, to have stood for Figures.

See Epift. for Sun. after Christmas.

1. We fhall do well, upon this Occafion, to obferve, wherein that Servitude properly confifted, which the Apostle charges the Law of Mofes with keeping Men under. Or, in other Words, how that difpenfation dealt with Men, in the Quality of Servants. Now that Charge is made good, by the Nature of the Services it enjoined ; a Burthen of Ceremonjes, in themselves of no value; A Number of Purifications, which reached no farther than the cleansing of the Body; A Prohibition of grofs and outwards Acts of Sin, which prevented the Scandal, but not the Guilt. As we employ our Servants in the drudgery and meanest Offices about the Houfe; And provided our Bufinefs be difpatched, are not follicitous, from what Principle and Difpofition our Commands are executed. It is again made good, by the Nature of the Rewards and Punishments, chofen for enforcing Obedience to that Law. A Land flowing with Milk and Honey, Victory over Enemies, Health to their Bodies, Increase to their Families, Profperity in their Fortunes, to compenfate the Trouble of their Compliance with this Law. Captivity and Exile, Scarcity and

Barren

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