The Presbyterian Quarterly Review

THE Covenant of God with Abraham under the old dispensation, and His covenant with men in these days of the Gospel, compose His great church arrangement for the salvation of the world.

In exposition of this statement, let it be observed, that the Church of God, as to its origin, was intimated to man at the moment of his fall, but found its first development in the Abrahamic covenant; as to its essence, the unity of the Church in earlier and in later times is established by identity of parties, relations, agencies and objects; as to its form, it was encumbered by a multitude of observances, ceremonial and political,. in ancient times, while its modern administration is marked by simplicity and spirituality; and as to its force, while the Abrahamic covenant worked as a temporal arrangement to the close of the first dispensation, it clearly carried at the same time a spiritual bearing, coëxtensive with the general features. of the Christian Church in the gospel dispensation.

We affirm, therefore,

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THAT THE CHURCH UNDER THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT DISPENSATION ARE SUBSTANTIALLY ONE AND THE SAME INSTITUTION.

There are here two legitimate sources of evidence; Old Testament language of the covenant, and the New Testament interpretation of it.

The Church of God in our day is based upon that permanent spiritual covenant between God and man, signed and sealed by a significant rite, whereby, through the atonement of His Son and the agency of His Spirit, God offers and secures salvation to all that believe.

The New Testament Church embraces six particulars, and only six that are material: 1. Its dignity; it includes a permanent covenant. 2. Its parties; God and man. 3. Its provisions; the Son and the Spirit. 4. Its great requirement of man; faith. 5. Its great promise by God; salvation. 6. Its appointed seal; a significant rite. If each of these particulars is fully embraced in God's covenant with the Patriarch, these being all that are material to either, then that covenant is the great gospel covenant; the constitution of the Church.

I. The Abrahamic covenant is a permanent arrangement. It is universally conceded that the Church is a standing institution for all ages. If, therefore, the Abrahamic covenant is a temporary arrangement, it is not the gospel covenant. God's stipulation with the Patriarch will be seen, however, to be an everlasting covenant, if we examine:

1. The language of the covenant itself; "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant." Gen. xvii. 7. This covenant is not confined to Abraham, for it extends to his seed; nor to the Patriarch's children, for it extends to his seed in their generations; nor to any limited number of generations, for it is established with Abraham and his seed, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant.

2. The multiplied and most solemn rehearsals of the covenant through all periods of the Old Testament dispensation, as an everlasting covenant.

In Abraham's day the Almighty said to the Patriarch, "Sarah, thy wife, shall bear a son, and thou shalt call his

name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." True to his word, God did renew this covenant with Isaac and with Jacob in their day. Nine hundred years after its formation, in the reign of David, this covenant was called up and confirmed in a most impressive manner. David said to Israel, "Be ye always mindful of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and unto Israel for an everlasting covenant." Here is a covenant of eternal remembrance; a command to a thousand generations; to Abraham a covenant; to Isaac an oath; to Jacob a law; to Israel an everlasting covenant. In like manner the Scriptures present frequent notices of this transaction as an everlasting covenant through all the days of the prophets, especially by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and even by Malachi. Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4, 6; Is. xxiv. 5, lv. 3, lxi. 8; Jer. xxxii. 40, xxxvii. 26; Ez. xvi. 60; Mal. ii. 10.

3. This institution survives the Old Testament dispensation and acts in full force under the reign of the Gospel, as an everlasting covenant.

We shall be compelled to present a multitude of testimonies to this point under every successive head of investigation, and shall therefore mention very few in this connection.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is spoken of expressly as everlasting, "Through the blood of the everlasting covenant." We know that this passage refers to the Abrahamic covenant, because it includes Christ, and Christ a curse for us, as we shall abundantly show. Indeed the writer himself gives us satisfactory evidence of this in a parallel passage in the same Epistle. The Abrahamic covenant is well known through all parts of the Old Testament by three marks. It is styled "an everlasting covenant;" carries the general promise, "I will be your God and ye shall be my people;" and usually annexes some special promise of spiritual regeneration.

In Jer. xxxii. 40, God holds out the everlasting covenant with the patriarchal promise, "I will be their God and they shall be my people," and then He adds, "And I will put my

fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me." Now in the eighth of Hebrews, Paul alludes to the Sinai covenant as an inferior abrogated one, and in contrast brings up that better, more enduring covenant which was established upon better promises. He gives us a sample of these better promises. One is, "I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people." Another is, "I will put my laws within their minds and write them in their hearts." Here are the three marks of the covenant of Abraham. It is an everlasting covenant, securing to Israel Jehovah as their God, and putting his fear in their hearts.

Whatever ambiguity may sometimes arise from the limited use of the term "everlasting" in the Scriptures, if the spiritual and permanent nature of the subject in hand, its contrast with temporal covenants, its recognition in the gospel as a permanent institution, did not dissipate all doubt, surely the following testimony must settle the question forever. Under the New Testament dispensation, an inspired writer argues out the necessary perpetuity of the Abrahamic covenant, from its very nature, as a solemnized compact. Such a transaction between men, says the Apostle, is stable and binding; "Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto." Gal. iii. 15. The Abrahamic covenant had been "ordered in all things and sure," and preceded the Sinai covenant more than four centuries, wherefore Paul continues, "Now this I say, brethren, that the covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after could not disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." In substance this is Paul's reasoning: All the integrities of the Godhead had solemnly pledged certain blessings to Abraham and his seed forever. This covenant is immutable in its nature. Therefore the introduction of a new economy five hundred years after, in the days of Moses, could not destroy the covenant. By parity of reasoning, the introduction of another, two thousand years after, in the days of Christ, could not make the promise of none effect. Thus with the strongest assurance, the Apostle speaks of the blessings of God's covenant with Abraham as actually descending upon Gentiles in these very days of the Gospel.

The Abrahamic covenant is therefore clearly a permanent

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