them, certainly they ought to have been the happiest Men in the World: And yet they met with as many Troubles as any other Men, and supported themselves under all by Faith; which is a very uncomfortable Principle to live by in this World, if there be no Life hereafter. The Hiftory of the Children of Ifrael in Egypt, after Joseph was dead and gone, proves them to be fo far from being the happiest, that they were the most oppreffed People in the World. And yet thefe were the Heirs of the Promife, the peculiar People of God, and his first born, even while they were thus oppreffed. And does this then look like a mere temporal Covenant; Or, did not the Covenant and Promife of God take place all this while, that he would be the God of Abraham, and of his Seed after him?

But God in his appointed Time, at the end of four hundred Years from his making this Covenant with Abraham, own'd them vifibly for his peculiar People and Inheritance; deliver'd them out of Egypt by Signs and Wonders; and punish'd their Opreffors with grievous Plagues; carry'd them through the Red Sea on dry Land, and drown'd the Egyptians who pursued after them: These were Marks of a peculiar Favour. But yet, when they rebelled againft him in the Wilderness, he exercised great Severities towards them; made them wander and waste their Days forty Years in the Wilderness, til all that Generation of Men, which came out of Egypt, excepting Caleb and Joshua, were confumed. But, to pafs over the Wars of Canaan, when God fo vifibly own'd their Caufe, and by fo many miraculous Victories gave them Poffeffion of the promised Land; if we confult the Hiftory of their Judges and Kings, we fhall not find them fo very happy and profperous, as might be expected from a mere temporal Covenant. They were frequently opprefs'd by their Heathen Neighbours; engaged

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in bloody and doubtful Wars; confumed with Famine, and Peftilence, and Sword; Ten Tribes carried away into a final Captivity; and at length the City and Temple of Jerufalem burnt by the Chaldeans; and their two remaining Tribes carried away Captive to Babylon for Seventy Years. After their Return from Captivity, they met with new Troubles, were spoiled and oppreffed by the Egyptians and Affyrians, especially Antiochus, as the Hiftory of the Maccabees informs us. They were conquered and made Tributaries by the Romans; reduced into a Roman Province under Roman Governors, as it was in our Saviour's Time; and at laft their City and Temple finally destroy'd, and they difperfed into all Parts of the World, as it continues unto this Day. This is a brief Account of the publick State of that Nation; which was fo checquer'd with profperous and adverfe Events ; fo often opprefs'd and ruin'd, and so often restor❜d, and at last fo miferably destroy'd; that, as to mere external Profperity, no Man can ever pretend that the Jews were fo much happier than other Nations. And that gives us little Reason to think, that God's Covenant with Abraham was merely temporal, when fo many other Nations enjoy'd more temporal Profperity without a Covenant. And, as for particular Men, there were always the fame Complaints amongst them as among others, as I fhew'd you before, of the Profperity of bad Men, and the Afflictions and Sufferings of the Righteous; which ought not to have been under a Theocracy and a mere temporal Covenant. For if God's Covenant with Abraham was merely temporal, and reach'd no farther than this Life; all good Men at leaft ought to have been very profperous in this World, and the wicked miferable. So that if we will allow that God intended any peculiar Bleffings to Abraham, in entring into Covenant with him, and that he

did perform his Covenant, we must seek for fomething more divine in it than mere temporal Bleffings.

6. Those general Promises God made to Abrabam, cannot poffibly be confined to this Life, and to mere temporal Bleffings. As to fhew you this particularly. Gen. 15. 1. The word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a Vifion, Jaying, Fear not, Abraham, I am thy fhield, and thy exceeding great Reward. Now did any thing, that Abraham ever enjoy'd in this World, anfwer this Promife of God's being his Shield, and his exceeding great Reward? Would God have made fuch a Promife as this to a Man near a hundred Years old, and ready to drop into the Grave, fhould he have perished there, and for ever after been as uncapable of any Reward, as that which is not? For God to be his Shield, fignifies to be his Protector and Deliverer; which can fignify but very little, if he fuffer'd him to fall into Nothing. And to be his exceeding great Reward, fignifies that he would beftow exceeding great Rewards on him: But there are no fuch exceeding great Rewards in this World; and it is certain, Abraham receiv'd no fuch great Rewards while he lived; and therefore this must relate to future Rewards. And yet this is not all: God does not merely promife him, that he would exceedingly reward him, but that he himself would be his exceeding great Reward; that is, that he would exceedingly reward him in the Enjoyment of himfelf. But we know the perfect Enjoyment of God is reserved for the next World'; and muft fignify the immediate Prefence and Vifion of God. And thus the Pfalmift understood it; who plainly alludes to this Promife, Pfal. 16. 6, and the following v. The Lord is the Portion of mine Inheritance, and of my Cup; thou maintaineft my Lot; that is, God is my Shield, and my exceeding great Reward.

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are fallen unto me in a pleasant place; yea, I havė a goodly Heritage; which is a manifest Allufion to the Divifion of the Land of Canaan, the Land of Pro mife by Lot. I will blefs the Lord, who bath given me Counsel; my Reins also inftruct me in the Night Seafon. I have fet the Lord always before me; becaufe be is on my right hand, I shall not be moved; that is, God is my Shield, my Protector and Deliverer. Therefore my Heart is glad, and my Glory rejoyceth; my Flesh alfo fhall reft in hope, for thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell (or in the Grave,) nor wilt thou fuffer thy holy one to fee Corruption. Thou wilt fhew me the Path of Life: In thy Prefence is the Fulness of Joy; at thy Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore. This indeed is a Prophecy of our Saviour, and of his Refurrection from the Dead; but fhews us, what it is for God to be our Shield, and our exceeding great Reward; which extends beyond the Grave, to the eternal Vision and Fruition of God.

Much to fame purpose we find Gen. 17. 1. The Lord appeared unto Abraham, and faid, I am God Almighty, walk before me, and be thou perfect. Now can we think that God encourages Abraham's Faith by his Almighty Power, merely for the Performance of fome temporal Promifes; and not rather that he encouraged him to expect from his Almighty Power whatever Happiness his Nature was capable of; which muft extend to immortal Life, for that Almighty Power can bestow? v. 7. he promifes, I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations, for an everlasting Covenant; to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee. To be a God, fignifies to bestow all Bleffings on him that God can beftow; and an everlafting Covenant with Abraham and his Pofterity to be their God, cannot merely fignify, that he will be their God in all fucceffive

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Generations, as they come into the World, till they go out of it again; that he would be the God of Abraham as long as he lived, and the God of Isaac and Jacob, as long as they lived; and after the fame manner, a God to all his Pofterity. But an everlasting Covenant with Abraham and his Seed in their feveral Generations, to be their God, in the full Extent of that Promife, fignifies, That he will everlastingly be a God to all of them: And that must fignify, that they fhould everlaftingly be, and everlastingly be happy in the Enjoyment of him.

But there is another Promife which God made to Abraham, that puts this Matter out of Doubt. For God promifed Abraham, In thee fhall all the Families of the Earth be bleffed, Gen. 12. And renews this Promife with an Oath, Gen. 22. 18. And in thy Seed fhall all the Nations of the Earth be bleffed which muft neceffarily fignify either an univerfal temporal Monarchy, or the fpiritual Bleffings of the Mefias. The firft the Jews expected and hoped for, though without any fufficient Reason; and if we may judge of the Promife by the Event, it is certain this could not be the meaning of it: For the Jews never had an univerfal Monarchy. But the true promifed Seed of Abraham, the Bleffed Jefus, their promised Meffias, hath bleffed all the World; and all the Nations. of the Earth may be bleffed in him. But then thefe are spiritual Bleffings; which proves that the Covenant with Abraham was a fpiritual Covenant; that the promised Seed, and promised Land, were but Types and Figures of the Meffias and of the Heavenly Canaan: As will appear from what fhall follow.

7. As a farther Confirmation of this, that God's Covenant with Abraham, to be his God, was not