28. We therefore of

28. Now we, brethren, as Ifaac was, are the children

the Christian Church of promise.

were figured by Ifaac,

and owe our spiritual Birth to the Promise and Free Grace of God.

29. Nor are the Jews

29. But as then be that was born after the flesh per

wanting to carry on the fecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is

Allegory; but resemble the Disposition and Be

haviour of Ishmael, in vexing the Chriftians, as he did Ifaac.

30. And at the last Their Fate shall be his too, to be cast out from that Inheritance they would arrogate to their

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

own Works: While We, who depend on the Promise of God, and expect to be justified by the Evangelical Covenant, not the Legal, shall be the only Heirs.

31. You see then, how

thefe things belong to us; and consequently,

31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the

bond-woman, but of the free.

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

T

HE

COMMENT.

principal Design of this Epistle to the Galatians was to root out fome false Notions, infused into them by their new Teachers, concerning the Necessity of still adhering to the Law of Moses. In Confutation whereof, he first insists on several 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 inconfistent with the Observation, 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, whose intemperate and unseasonable Zeal for the Law, delivered by Him, proved them to hold his Authority in the highest Veneration.

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

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present Endeavour shall therefore be, First, To enlarge a little upon some of the most material Passages 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 History, seems 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 fome 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 observing 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 these Two Covenants, he forms his Reasoning, and confutes the vain Pretences of the Mofaical Institution being still obligatory, and the Gospel Terms being, either inferior to it, or infufficient for Salvation without it.

The First of these Circumstances is the different Condition of their respective 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 such 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

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 Provisions fuitable to his Station; The Heir may depend upon all the Tenderness, the Affection, the liberal Education, the free Accefs, the encouraging Profpects and Reversions, due to the Quality and Succession he is born to.

3. These Mothers, in the Application, the Apoftle hath acquainted us, are the Two Covenants, that is, the Law of Mofes, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their Children confequently are the Persons living under those Covenants. The Bond-woman's, Those under the Law; the Free-woman's, We under the Gospel. 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 Allusion or not: there is a great deal to justify it upon other Accounts. It is not without good Reafon, that, after the gendring to Bondage, the Apostle takes particular notice, that Sinai, reprefented by fuch a Mother, is a Mountain in Arabia. A Place inhabited by the Posterity of Agar, but withal, a Place at fome diftance from the Land promised to Abrabam and his Seed; and, by the very Situation of it, intimating, that the Law issued, and the Covenant ftruck there, could not indent for the Blessings 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 Mystery 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 answers to Jerusalem, 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 observed Circumcifion, as a federal Rite; fo did the Jews. In both Respects the Resemblance holds. And, if we chuse 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 Disciples to break; and afferts, as a most valuable Instance of Chriftian Liberty, the Happiness of being exempted from it.

On the Other hand, Sarah the Free-woman is the Gospel-Covenant, and answers to Jerufalem above. A Covenant that came down from Heaven, and intimated God'sgood-liking, by its Promulgation, not only from the Promised Land, but from the Place in that Land, which God delighted most in, confined his folemn Worship to, kept his peculiar Residence at, and placed his Name and all the Emblems of his Mercy there. The Persons under this Covenant are as Ifaac, and his Favourite Posterity. They succeed 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 she began to bear; And, notwithstanding the Law was a Difpenfation antecedent to the Gospel, (as Abraham had Ishmael several Years before Ifaac) yet the Profelytes to the Gospel are many more, than ever those to the Law had been. As Ifaac's Seed was more mighty than Ishmael's.) Bb 3 The The Prerogatives of this Latter Issue excel those of the First; as Ishmael's Eldership gave him no Precedence. And by the Works of the Law no Flesh is justified, 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 stands the Allegory, with regard to the First Branch of it, which distinguishes the Two Sons of Abraham, according to the different Condition of their respective Mothers. Before I proceed to the Second, it will be expedient to interpose a few Observations, for the more effectual clearing and confirming some of the Differences already mentioned, between the Covenants and Perfons, of which St. Paul declares those Mothers, and their Children, to have stood for Figures.

See Epift. for Sun. after Christmas.

1. We shall do well, upon this Occafion, to observe, wherein that Servitude properly confifted, which the Apostle charges the Law of Mofes with keeping Men under. Or, in other Words, how that dispensation 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 cleanfing of the Body; A Prohibition of gross 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 House; And provided our Business be dispatched, are not follicitous, from what Principle and Disposition our Commands are executed. It is again made good, by the Nature of the Rewards and Punishments, chosen 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