and holding and ruling her under that bondage, who for that reason is called by a Lordly Husband, Hos. ii. 16. For here God bears a double relation, as did Abraham to Sara and Hagar. For he accounted Sara the lawful wife, who had the promise of the true Seed, and as such he truly loved her. But she being barren, he, at her advice, turned aside to Hagar, who bore him Ishmael; but which woman he treated as a servant. Which double relation of Abraham to each woman, illustrates the double relation which God bore to the free church, called in the patriarchs; and to the servile, brought in above her at mount Sinai, which brought forth many sons to bondage; by virtue of that covenant not spiritual, but carnal, robust, minding the things of the flesh. Sara here sustains the emblem of the patriarchal church and a seed similar to it, which had the promises of grace to be fulfilled after many ages: Hagar the em blem of the people standing at mount Sinai, and by virtue of the covenant established there, brought into bondage." (Vitringa in Jesaiam.) But to pursue the allegory, we observe,

4thly, Sara was long barren, Hagar not. In like manner it was long ere the patriarchal church obtained the promised Seed, whether personal, in Messiah, or mystical, in the calling of the Gentiles: while the carnal Israelites resting on the Sinai covenant, had descendants without number. On the very first mentioning of Sara's name, we find her barrenness observed, Gen. xi. 30. Under the impressions of which she gave her maid unto Abraham, that by her she might have children, chap. xvi. 2. Ten years after the promise was she given unto him, verse 3. and about the close of the eleventh, she bare him a son, compare verse 16. with chap. xii. 4. Quite otherwise with Sara. It was not till five and twenty years after the promise, that she brought forth her Isaac, and that when she was ninety years of age, Gen. xvii. 7. and xxi. 5. How emblematic these things of the legal Israelites, and the patriarchal church! No sooner was the law added to the promise, but immediately it brought forth sons in a

bundance, viz. those who sought to be justified by it: Whereas it was not till many ages after the Sinai covenant, that the patriarchal church obtained the Seed personal and mystical. As Ishmael was born before Isaac, so were the carnal Israelites before the promised Seed. It is in allusion to Sara, that the prophet congratulating the barren woman, says, thou shall forget the shame of thy youth, Isa. liv. 4. i. e. thy barrenness; compare Gen. xxx. 23. Luke i. 25. As Sara in her youth was barren, and in, her old age brought forth a son, so was it with respect to the patriarchal church. It was not in her youth, but in her old age that she brought forth the promised Seed. Then it was, that the spiritual Sara forgot the shame of her youth.

Though this period, in one point of view, may include all the ages from the promises made to Abraham until the resurrection of Christ, as during all that time the church was in a state of minority, Gal. iv. 1-7. yet it may be chiefly applied to these times, in which the true faith and hope of the promises of grace were very low among the posterity of Abraham. During their bondage in Egypt, the true light was almost extinguished among them. There they revolted from the God of their fathers, and committed idolatry, Ezek. xxiii. 3. In the evangelic part of the Sinai transaction, God renewed the Abrahamic covenant with them in the days of their youth, in the day when they came out of the land of Egypt, Exod. xxiv. 8. Jer. xxxi. 32. Ezek. xvi. 60. Hos. ii. 15. and xi. 1. Yet how soon did they turn a side to the sin of the golden calf! During their wanderings in the wilderness, how oft did they tempt the Lord! After the death of Joshua and the elders, what a fearful defection until the times of Samuel the prophet! During that period the number of true believers was very small; the genuine sons of Abraham and Sara very few. Solomon was scarcely cold in his grave, when the ten tribes turned aside to idolatry. How low the interests of religion were in Isaiah's time, we may learn from his loud complaint; Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord re

vealed? Isa. liii. 1. What times of spiritual barrenness these! what a shame of youth! and as such the weeping prophet did lament them. Shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth, &c. Jer. iii. 24, 25. Penitent Ephraim is introduced saying, I was ashamed, yea even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth, Jer. xxxi. 9. "If it should be said that in these passages is meant the youth of the Jewish people, and not of Sara, who according to our hypothesis is the patriarchal church; the answer is, that the matter is entirely the same. For Sara is reck

oned to have existed at this time, in such as believed in the promise, among the Jewish people. But, since these times were nearer the date of the promise given to Abraham, therefore they are reckoned the time of Sara's youth." (Vitringa.)

5thly. Sara being as a woman forsaken, was grieved in spirit; while Hagar taken into her place, was puff ed up with pride. In like manner, the true patriarchal church mourned the absence of her God, while Israel after the flesh, gloried in their external relàtion to him. In the history, we read, that when Hagar saw she had conceived, her mistress was despis ed in her eyes; upon which Sara said unto Abraham, My wrong be upon thee. The Lord judge between me and thee, Gen. xvi. 5. She now had the air of a wo man forsaken, while haughty Hagar held her in contempt, boasting of her pregnancy to her master. The one was as a widow, the other as the married wife. In which things we have a striking image of the case of the church of believers in the promise, and the carnal Israelites. How grieved often was the former at thoughts of the Divine desertion. Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me: and my Lord hath forgotten me, Isa. xlix. 14. True believers were the mourners in Zion, chap. lxi 3. Those of her who were sorrowful for the solemn assembly, Zeph. iii. 18. They sighed and cried for all the abominations that were done in the church, Ezek. ix. 4. Meanwhile the carnal Israelites gloried in external privileges, saying, The tem

i

ple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord! Jer. vii. 4.

It is still in allusion to Sara that the church is addressed, Isaiah liv 6. The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit: and a wife of youth, when she was refused, saith thy God. As Sara was forsaken for a season by the patriarch, so in some measure was the church of believers, by her God. For a small moment, says he, I have forsaken thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, verses 7, 8. The forsaking and the hiding mentioned in these two verses, are not improperly referred, the former to the Babylonish captivity; the latter to the affliction from the Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes: the one narrated in sacred history, the other foretold to Daniel the prophet chap. viii. 9-19. And both may be considered as the time of the church's widowhood, when she suffered double reproach; one common, with other captive nations, and another, as she professed that Jehovah was her God, Isaiah lxi. 7. What anguish of heart she felt, while her enemies insulted her every day; saying, Where is now thy God? Hence Jeremiah bursts forth in the beginning of his Lamentations, How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! Lam. i. 1. True it is, that these calamities were common both to Israel after the flesh, and Israel after the Spirit. Yet it is the latter, who in the prophet is said to have been forsaken, and therefore to them also is the promise made again and again, With great mercies will I gather thee: with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. As Abraham, after a temporary desertion of Sara, returned unto her, the wife of his youth, Mal. ii. 14. and left her no more, knowing that by her he was to have the promised Seed, Gen. xvii. 15-21.; so did the Lord unto the patriarchal church, or those who were waiting the accomplishment of the promise, Zech. i. 16. and viii. 3. And that all

doubtings and discouragement might be for ever ba nished, he pledged his irrevocable oath, that he would not be wroth, or forsake her any more, Isaiah liv. 9, 10. 6thly. Sara's son was by promise, Hagar's not. In like manner, such as adhered to the Abrahamic covenant were the children of promise, not so they who clave to the covenant from Sinai. This part of the allegory is observed by our apostle. He who was of the bond woman, was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman, was by promise, Gal. iv. 23. In illustration of which it is added, verse 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. To the same purpose it is observed in the epistle to the Romans, That they who are the children of the flesh, are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son, Rom. ix. 8, 9. Of this promise we read, Gen. xviii. 10. Three men appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; whether these were the adorable Three, as some have thought, or rather the eternal Son of God attended by two created angels, I shall not say. Meanwhile the phraseology concerning them is most remarkable, for thus it runs, They said, where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; "and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. Thus Isaac was by promise, and herein he was a striking type of all the genuine children of God in every age, as was Ishmael of those who are not. All the saints, whether under the Old or New Testament, are the children of promise.

In the eternal covenant they were promised by the Father to the Son, the true Abraham. Unto him he did from all eternity give a people to be his " seed," Conf. chap. viii. sect. 1. and in his book their names were written, Rev. xxi. ult. Hence we read that when about to leave our world, he spoke to his Father concerning the given ones. Thou gavest me them out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.