fon on earth who can wish to enjoy more than what was promised to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, in the covenant which God made with them. They were believers, and Abraham is the father of all them who believe. In this covenant is contained all bleflings, temporal, fpiritual, and eternal.

There is one thing concerning the covenant, or promife of the land of Canaan which is worthy of notice, which proves that Abraham's title to that land ftands good now; and that is, that the covenant made with the pofterity of Abraham at mount Sinai, cannot difannul or make this promife to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob of none effect. Their title to it is the fame as though that covenant, which is now done away, had never been made. Paul fays, Gal. iii. 16, 17, 18, "Now, to Abraham and his feed were the promises made; he faith not, and to feeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy feed, which is Chrift. And this I fay, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Chrift: The law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot difannul, that it fhould make the promife of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promife." This proves that there never has, nor never will be any difpenfation to prevent the complete accomplishment of all which God has promised to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, and Chrift his feed, as it refpects the land of Canaan. All is not yet accomplished, therefore it is yet to be done.

Left fome fhould think there is not enough faid to prove that Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, will at a future period rife, and live in the land of Canaan, under the reign of Christ, I will here mention a few things which I think cannot be contradicted by any reafonable perfon.

In the first place, God promifed the land of Canaan to Abraham for a poffeffion, as well as to his feed. Gen. xiii. 15, "For all the land which thou feeft, to THEE will I give it, and to thy feed forever." It is a certain fact, that Abraham never come in poffeffion of what God promised; for Stephen fays, Acts vii. 4, 5

"Then came he (Abraham) out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran; and from thence, when his Father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell; and he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not fo much as to fet his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his feed after him; when as yet he had no child." This fhews that Abraham did not poffefs that land while he lived, but was a stranger in it all his days.

It is evident from Paul's writings, that the Patriarch died without receiving the promises refpecting this country, and that they confidered the promifes afar off, even at their death. Heb. xi. 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whether he went. By faith he fojourned in the land of promife as in a frange country, dwelling in tabernacles, with Ifaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the fame promifes; for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whofe builder and maker is God.-Thefe all died in faith, not having received the promifes, but having feen them afar off, and were perfuaded of them, and embraced them, and confeffed that they were ftrangers and pilgrims on the earth. [See Genefis xxiii. 4, "I am a STRANGER and a fojourner with you." Gen. xxxvii. 9, "The days of the years of my PILGRIMAGE are an hundred and twenty. Chronicles xxix. 15-Pfalm xxxix. 12, and cxix. 19.] For they that fay fuch things, declare plainly that they feek a country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had an opportunity to have returned; but now they defire a better country, that is an heavenly; wherefore God is not afhamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.”

One thing here is remarkable, and that is what is faid in verfe 16, "But Now they defire a better country, that is an heavenly; wherefore God is not afhamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city." Paul mentions the whole of what took place before their

death in the paft tenfe; but in this verfe, he fpeaks in the prefent time.; "but now they defire a better country." Why now? It may be that they were rifen from the dead at the time when Paul wrote this Epiftle.

When Jefus gave up the Ghoft on the Crofs, it is faid, Matthew xxvii. 52, 53, "And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the faints which flept arose, and came out of their graves after his refurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.'

It is poffible, that Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, were among the many which arofe, and being alive now are defiring that better country, and are with Jefus, waiting for the time when they fhall come into poffeffion of what God has promised them in the land of Canaan.

What Jefus Chrift faid to the Sadducees concerning Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob as a proof of the refurrection, feems to agree with this account. Matthew xxii. 31, 32, "But as touching the refurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was fpoken unto you by God, faying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead but of the living." What Chrift faid in thefe verfes, filenced the Sadducees. What he faid reads thus to me—If God is the God of these three men, he must and will fulfill all the promises to them which he has confirmed by an oath; they died, not having received the promises; and of courfe, they must have an existence to receive what God has promifed them; their fpirits live, and God cannot fulfill all he has promised unlefs their bodies rife from the dead; there must be a refurrection, or God will not prove himself a God of truth. Chrif in this way proved the refurrection to those who had before denied it, fo that they acknowledged it by their filence.

Another thing proves that they will yet poffefs the land of Canaan, that is, that in Abraham as well as in his feed, all the families of the earth fhall be bleffed ; that time has never been, and therefore it is yet to be.One proof more is, that neither Abraham nor his pof

terity, have ever yet peaceably poffe ffed ail the country which God faid they fhould poffefs.

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I will mention only one thing more to prove that Abraham and his feed will peaceably poffefs and enjoy what God promised; and that is, that the bleffings promifed to Abraham's feed, as it refpects the land of Canaan are entirely withheld from the feed of Abraham the Jews; they have been caft out of that land for almoft two thousand years, though Paul declares that all these promises remain and that in a future day they will be delivered out of their present fcattered, diftreffed fituation. Rom, xi. 26, 27, 28, 29, "There fhall come out of Zion the deliverer, and fhall turn away ungodli. nefs from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I fhall take away their fins. As concerning the gofpel they are enemies for your fakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's fakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repen-·

tance."

The covenant of promife made to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, remains as firm this moment as it did the night God fhewed Abraham the ftars of heaven as a proof of a numerous feed ; as when he told Ifaac not to go into Egypt; but to dwell a pilgrim in the promised land, as when Jacob dreamed of the ladder, and heard the promise, "unto thee will I give this land." The covenant is never called an old one ready to vanish away. It is never called the first covenant nor a faulty one; nor a broken one, all these things refer to the cov enant made with the pofterity of Jacob at mount Sinai. Had this been faulty, there would be room for another. Had it waxed old, it would vanish away. While I view this covenant which is made and will certainly be fulfilled in due time, I cannot but exclaim, O how wonderful are the ways of God to man! In the words of Paul on this ubject I cannot forbear faying; "O the depth of the friches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfearchable are his judgments, and his ways paft finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord?

Or who hath been his counfellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it fhall be recompenfed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory forever Amen.".... Rom. xi. 33, 34, 35, 36.

Thefe few prophecies and remarks may fhew the reader fome of that light which the fcripture prophecies af ford those who take heed unto them as a light shining in a dark place.