66 sage, which are these: " They shall not only swear by him," viz. the Lord of hosts, "giving him the honour of "appealing to him; but they shall, by a solemn oath "and vow, devote themselves to his honour, and bind "themselves to his service; they shall swear to cleave "to him with purpose of heart, and to worship him, not only occasionally, but constantly; they shall swear allegiance to him as their King, even to Christ, to whom "all judgment is committed."-Secondly, It is public social covenanting which is here foretold. To this purpose you will observe, that the swearing here mentioned is not described as the deed of a particular individual by himself, or the deed of a few single individuals by themselves, but as the joint deed of five cities, in which they are all represented as harmoniously concurring together, and glorifying God with one mind and one mouth. We have here only to add, thirdly, That the exercise here foretold is public covenanting in New-Testament times.That it is the New-Testament dispensation to which this prophecy refers, is manifest from the whole context. It is described (ver. 20.) as a period in which God shall have raised up a Saviour, and a great one, even our Lord Jesus Christ, for our deliverance. It is described (ver. 21.) as a period in which the Lord should be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians should know the Lord; or in other words, as a time in which the Gentile nations should be enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, by ineans of the glorious gospel. And, in fine, it is described (ver. 23, 24, 25.) as a period in which the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles should be broken down, and Egypt, Israel and Assyria, should all be the E third with one another in the worship and service of God, and should all be united together in one church state. Now, it is known to every one, that none of these things did take place till the introduction of the New-Testament dispensation, and the full accomplishment of some of them is yet in the womb of futurity.* A * It may not be improper here to take notice of the attempt made, by different persons, to deprive us of the argument in support of covenanting, drawn from this passage, by applying it to the building of a material temple and altar in Egypt, and the setting up of a corrupt system of worship there, about 150 years before the birth of Christ. The matter referred to was briefly this. certain Jew, named Onias, being disappointed of the high priesthood, to which he considered himself as justly entitled, retired in disgust, set off for Egypt, made his court to Ptolomy Philometer, king of that country, and Cleopatra his queen; and having ingratiated himself with them,be at length obtained their leave to build a stately temple there, bearing a near resemblance to that which had now stood for a long course of time at Jerusalem, together with a perpetual grant of the high-priesthood thereof for himself and his descendants. Hereby altar was erected against altar, and temple against temple. This altar and temple were set up in Egypt in direct opposition to those at Jerusalem, and continued to rival them so long as that dispensation lasted. This is the event to which different persons, in their opposition to covenanting, have attempted to apply this prophecy: and the enmity against it must certainly be very keen, that could induce any man in his sober senses to make such an application of it. The absurdity of it will appear, if you but consider the few following things. 1. They were no Egyptians, but a number of renegade Jews, who built that temple, and set up that worship in Egypt, of which you have just now had an account; whereas it is the Egyptians themselves who are the objects of the prophecy now under consideration, as you may see by attending to ver. 21. The *See Prideaux's Connections, vol. iii. p. 355-358. 66 66 ་ Another prophecy respecting this subject, you have in these words, Isa. xliv. 3. 5. "I will pour water upon the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour "my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and one shall say, I am the Lord's; and ano"ther shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and "sirname himself by the name of Israel." That this prediction has a respect to New-Testament times, needs no other proof than this one consideration, that it is a prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for bringing people to the exercise here described. The great Dr. Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord. 2. The prophecy itself expressly bears, that the objects of it should swear to the Lord of hosts; but in the whole history of that temple, and the worship in that place, the re is not the remotest hint given us, that the worshippers there engaged in any such exercises, nor the smallest probability that they ever did. 3. This prophecy refers to a time in which Egypt, Israel, and Assyria, should all be the third with one another in the worship and service of God; but no such thing ever did take place during the standing of that temple. 4. The whole business with regard to the building of that temple, and the setting up of the worship practised there, was quite unscriptural, in some respects idolatrous, and in every view irregular. After God had made choice of Jerusalem, and the temple' built in it, to put his name there, it was utterly unwarrantable, under that dispensation, to have any other altar for sacrifice, in a stated course of worship, but the altar which stood in that temple, as this would have been eversive of the very nature of that dispensation, one main design of which was to typify one Saviour, one altar and one sacrifice. And can any think, that an unscriptural mode of worship, set up in direct opposition to God's own institution, and to one of the leading designs of that dispensation, should be the accomplishment of one of the most glorious prophecies in the whole Bible? Owen has shown, that the phrase pouring out, when used in scripture, concerning the communication of the Spirit, always denotes a very liberal and abundant communication of him; and alledges, that wherever it is used, it very generally, if not universally, denotes that large and copious effusion of him, in his influences and operations, which is the distinguishing privilege of the NewTestament churgh.* The church, indeed, under the old dispensation, was also favoured with the communication of the Holy Spirit, but not in that plentiful measure signified by the phrase pouring out: and this may be, partly at least, the meaning of these words, "The Holy Ghost was "not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”t The period of the New-Testament dispensation being thus fixed as the time to which this prophecy refers, all that we have now to do for establishing the point in hand, is to show that covenanting is the subject of it; and this the several modes of expression here used fully evince. The matter foretold is, not merely that a people shall become the Lord's people, but that they shall say they are his; and shall even say it in such a manner as to subscribe with their hands what they say with their mouths. The characters in which they are his, are various. They are his people, his friends, his followers, his worshippers, his saints, his subjects, and his servants. In these various characters they openly avow their relation to him, and avow it in such a manner as to lay a foundation for their being called, in the following 8th verse, his witnesses. The saying here mentioned, must therefore refer to what is said by them in the matter of a religious profession; and the solemnity with which * Dr. Owen on the Spirit, p. 86. 87. + John, vii. 39. they make this profession, is pointed out, in their being represented as subscribing with their hand to the Lord what they say. In this there is an evident allusion to a practice very common among men, namely, that of persons, when they have given their oath about any matter, presently subscribing with their hand what they have sworn. In allusion to this practice, the promise here is, that people shall not only say they are the Lord's, but shall avow it upon oath, and, in testimony of their resolution, through grace, to abide by what they have said, shall ratify the whole by their own subscription. And, though the words run in the singular number, this is not to point out what is done as a mere private and personal transaction, which would be contrary to the whole scope of the passage, but to represent the great unanimity with which people should engage in it, and to show us, that in this work every one should speak for himself as particularly as if there was not another person speaking with him. The next prophecy respecting this work, to which we would now turn your attention, is in Isa. xlv. 23. "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in "righteousness, and shall not return, Thaf unto me every "knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." There can certainly be no need for spending much time in proving, that this prophecy bears a special respect to New-Testament days. The whole context presents us with the most abundant evidence of this. The words are brought in, to enforce the call given, in the preceding verse, (ver. 22.) to all the ends of the earth, to look to Christ and be sayed; and brought in, for the purpose of securing the suc |