Covenant

COVENANT. The word Testamentum is often used in holy Scripture, and Diatheke in the Greek, to express the meaning of the בריתBerith. Fœdus. Græc. διαθήκη Testamentum.Hebrew word Berith, which signifies Covenant; from whence come the words Old and New Testament, to denote the Old and New Covenant. The first Covenant with the Hebrews, is that sworn between God and Abraham, when the Lord chose Abraham and his Posterity for his People, and gave them Circumcision for a mark of his Covenant with them; which was solemnly renewed at Sinai, where principally the Old Covenant begins, as comprehending all those who observe the Law of Moses. The New Covenant, whereof Jesus Christ was the Mediator and Author, and which was cemented by his Blood, comprehends all who believe in him, and are in his Church. This succeeded the Old Covenant, and will subsist to the end of Ages.

The first Covenant between God and Man, was that which he made with Adam at his Creation, when he required him to Gen. ii. 16.forbear the use of the forbidden Fruit. The Lord took the man, and put him into the garden, and commanded him saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, or you shall become mortal. This, says S. Austin, is the first Covenant which God made with Man.¹ Testamentum autem primum quod factum est ad hominem primum, profecto illud est: Qua die ederitis, Eccl. xiv. 17. according to the Greek. 1 Cor. xv. 22.morte moriemini: Hence it is written, Testamentum a sæculo morte moriens.

The second Covenant, is that which God made with Man after his Fall, by promising him not only forgiveness, provided he repented; but also the coming of the Messiah, who should redeem him and all his Race from the death of Sin, and from the second death, which is that of Eternity. St. Paul in many places speaks to us of this Covenant, whereby the second Adam has redeemed and delivered those from Death, who had been condemned to die, by the procurement of the first Adam. As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. And in another place, As by Rom. v. 12.— 19.one man sin entred into the world, and death by sin, and so Gen. iii. 15. Heb. ii. 14.death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned---- as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous. And God said to the Serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The Woman’s Posterity which should bruise the Serpent’s Head, is the Messiah, who by his death hath been the destruction of the Devil, who had the power of Death.

Gen. vi. 18. With thee will I establish my Covenant.A third Covenant, is that which God made with Noah, when he directed him to build an Ark, or large Vessel, wherein he might preserve all the Animals of the Earth, and convey a certain number of Men into it, that by their means the new World after the Deluge might be repeopled.

Gen. ix. 8, 9, 10, 11.This Covenant was renewed an hundred and one and twenty years afterwards, when the Waters of the Deluge having fallen, and Noah with his Wife and Children left the Ark, God said to him, Behold I establish my Covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, from all that go out of the Ark, to every beast of the earth: so that all flesh shall not be cut off any more by the waters of a flood: and I will set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Gen. xii. 1, 2, 3, &c. xv. 4, 5. —18.All these Covenants were generally between Adam and Noah, and all their Posterity. But that which God made afterwards with Abraham, was more limited, it concerned this Patriarch only, and his Family, which should be derived from him by Isaac. The other Descendants of Abraham by Ishmael, and the Sons of Keturah, were to have no share in it.

The Mark and Seal of this Covenant was the Circumcision, which all the Males of Abraham’s Family were to receive, Gen. xvii. 10, 11, 12.upon the eighth day after their Birth. The Effects and Consequence of this Covenant are discernible throughout all the History of the Old Testament; the coming of the Messiah is the Consummation and End of it. The Covenant of God with Adam forms what we call the State of Nature; that with Abraham explained farther in the Law of Moses, constitutes the Law in all its rigour; the Covenant of God with all Mankind, through the Mediation of Jesus Christ, makes the Law of Grace. In common discourse, we seldom speak but of the Old and New Testament, of the Covenant between God and the Posterity of Abraham, and of that which he hath made with all Men by Jesus Christ, because these two Covenants contain in the way of Eminence all the rest, which are Consequences, Emanations, and Explanations of them: For example, when God renewed his Promises to Isaac and Exod. ii. 24. vi. 4,7. ib. xix. 5, 6, &c. xx. 1, 2,5,&c.Jacob, and made a Covenant at Sinai with the Israelites, and gave them his Law: When Moses a little before his death, received the Covenant which God had made Deut. xxix.with his People, and recalled to their remembrance all the Miracles which he had wrought in favour of them: When Joshua Josh. xxiii, xxiv. 25.perceiving himself to be near his end, swore with the Elders of the People, that they would observe an inviolable Fidelity to the God of their Forefathers; all this was no more than a consequence of the first Covenant made with Abraham. Josiah2 Kings xxiii, 1, 2, 3., Esdras, and Nehemiah renewed in like manner at different times their Engagements and Covenant with the Lord; 2 Chr. xxxiv. 26. Esdr. x. 3. Neh. ix. 38.but this renewal of them was only an Act of Zeal, and a promise of observing the Law already given to their Fathers with more Fidelity.

The greatest, most solemn, most excellent, and most perfect of all the Covenants which God ever made with Men, is that which he entred into with us through the Mediation of Jesus Christ: That eternal Covenant which must subsist to the end of Ages, whereof the Son of God is the Guarantee, which is cemented and confirmed with his Blood, the End and Object whereof is Eternal Life, the Priesthood, Sacrifice and Laws whereof are infinitely more exalted than those of the Old Testament. See S. Paul in the Epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews.

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