offered upon the altar. And in making of great and solemn cove- nants, men, in old time, were wont to kill and cut asunder sacrificed beasts ; and to pass between the parts divided, for a solemn testimony, or for the confirmation of the covenants that they had made, Gen. xv. 9, 10, 17.1 And as learned men have long since observed, that the very heathen, in their covenanting, used sacrifices, and divided them, passing between the parts ; and this they did, as some conjecture, in imitation of God's people. This third is the common opinion, about the original of this name ; and therefore preferred before all other. So this word /in2, Berith, covenant, seems to sound as much as nnD, Kerith, a smiting or striking, because of sacrifices slain in cove- nanting. Hence the word covenant is often joined with JllD, Karath, which signifies striking of covenant. An example of this beyond all exception, saith my author,^ is in that sacrifice, wherein God by Moses, made a covenant with all the people of Israel, and bound them to obey his law : the description of it is in Exod. xxiv. 4-8, ' And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morn- ing and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins ; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people ; and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said. Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.'^ I shall not trouble my reader with that mystical and too curious a sense, that some of the ancients put upon these words : ^ the historical sense is here more fit : for in this ceremony of dividing the blood in two parts, and so besprinkling the altar with the one half, which represented God ; and the people with the other, between whom the covenant was confirmed, the old use in striking of covenants is observed. For the ancient custom was, that they which made a league or covenant, divided some beasts, and put the parts asunder, walking in the midst ; signifying that as the beast was divided, so they should be which brake the covenant. So when Saul went against the Ammonites, coming out of the field, he hewed two oxen, and sent them into all the coasts of Israel, 1 Sam. xi. 7 ; expressing the like signification, that so should his oxen be served that came not forth after Saul and Samuel. After the same manner, when God made a covenant with Abraham, Gen. xv. 12-19, and he had divided certain beasts, as God had commanded him, and laid one part against another, a smoking firebrand went between, representing God, signifying, that so he should be divided, which violated the cove- nant. So in this place, not much unlike ; the blood is parted in twain, shewing that so should his blood be shed, which kept not the covenant.
^ Jer. xxxiv. 18-20, and Lev. xxvi. 25. Weigh well these two scriptures. Cove- nant breakers may well look upon them as flaming swords, as terrible thunderbolts.
2 And. Rivetus in Gen. xxxi ; Exercitat 135. [Misprinted ' lliven.' — G.]
' Anciently covenants were made with blood, to betoken constancy in the covenant, even to the shedding of blood, and loss of life.
* Rupertus, Ambrose, Cajetan, &c.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 291
[4.] Fourthly, Some derive the word Berith from ^<■^2, Bara, to create ; and the reason they give for this derivation is this, because the first state of creation was confirmed by the covenant which God made with man, and all creatures were to be upheld by means of observing of the law and condition of the covenant ; and that covenant being broken by man, the world, made subject to ruin, is upheld, yea, and as it were created anew, by the covenant of grace in Christ.
[5.] Fifthly, Some derive the word Berith from Pr\2, BeratJi, which signfies firmness, sureness, because covenants are firm and sure, and all things agreed on are confirmed and made sure by them. God's covenant is a sure covenant : Deut. vii. 9, 'The Lord thy God, he is the faithful God,' or the God of Amen, ' which keepeth covenant with them that love him : ' Ps. Ixxxix. 34, ' My covenant will I not break ' — Hebrew, ' I will not profane,' ' nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.'i All God's precepts, all God's predictions, all God's menaces, and all God's promises, are the issue of a most just, faithful, and righteous will. There are three things that God can- not do: — (1.) He cannot die. (2.) He cannot lie: Titus i. 2, ' In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.' (3.) He cannot deny himself. Now the derivation of Berith, from the several roots specified, and not from one only, doth give much light to the point under consideration ; and doth reconcile in one, all the several opinions of the learned, and justifies their several derivations, without rejecting or offering any wrong or disgrace to any.
(2.) Secondly, The Greek name AiadrjKT), Diatheke, a covenant or a testament. By this Greek word the Septuagint, in their Greek translation, do commonly express the Hebrew word Berith ; and it is observable that this is the only word by which the Hebrew word Berith is rendered in the New Testament. This Greek word, AiadrJKo], is translated covenant in the New Testament about twenty times ; and the same word is translated testament in the New Testament about twelve times. 2 Wherever you find the word covenant in the New Testament, there you shall find Diatheke ; and wherever you find the word testament in the New Testament, there you shall find Diatheke ; so that it is of importance for us to understand this word aright. Now this Greek word, AtadrjKT], is derived from AiaTidrjfzi, JDiati- themi, which hath divers of the significations of the Hebrew words of which Berith is derived ; for it signifies to set things in order and frame, to appoint orders, and make laws, to pacify and make satis- faction, and to dispose things by one's last will and testament. Now to compose and set things in order is to uphold the creation ; to walk by orders and laws made and appointed is to walk by rule, and to live, to deal plainly and faithfully without deceit. To^ pacify and make satisfaction includes sacrifices and sin-offerings. To dispose by will and testament implies choice of persons and gifts ; for men do commonly by Avill give their best and most choice things to their most dear and most choice friends. Thus the Greek which the apostles use in the New Testament to signify a covenant, to express the Hebrew