grace, but a reward of debt, to which he was entitled, and in which he would to all eternity have had a ground of glorying before God^.]
In this promise " the Gospel was preached to him"—
[This way of salvation is emphatically and exclusively called " the Gospel" It was glad tidings to Abraham, when taken out of an idolatrous state, and ignorant of any means of acceptance with God, to be informed, that God had provided a Saviour for him ; and that, through a person who should descend from his loins, a righteousness should be brought in, fully adequate to the necessities of the whole world, and cer- tainly effectual for all who should believe in him. To that event he looked forward; and, beholding it by faith, he greatly rejoiced in ith. And this is glad tidings to us also : for where should we find a Saviour, if this promised Seed had not been given ? Or what hope should we have had of ultimate salva- tion, if we had been required to earn it in any measure by our own works? Were it required of us to produce only one single work on which to rest our claim of heaven, where should we find one? But, blessed be God, we are taught to rely on the Promised Seed, and on him alone : and it is this very cir- cumstance which warrants us to expect eternal happiness ; since, unworthy as we are, the free promise of God, duly appre- hended by faith, can never fail of its accomplishment \]
Such was the Gospel which the Scripture preached to Abraham : nor does it differ at all from,
II. What it preaches unto us also —
It declares to us,
1. That this is the way which God has ordained for us also —
[" The Scripture," that is, the Holy Spirit who spake by it, " foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached this Gospel to Abraham." There was not to be one way of salvation for him, and another for us ; but one and the same for both. And as God foresaw that men would be ready to catch hold of any thing that might afford in ever so slight a degree a ground of glorying, he took care to cut off all occasion for glorying, by justifying Abraham solely through faith, whilst yet he remained in an uncircumcised state : thus shewing to the uncircumcised of all nations, that, in relation to the great matter of their justification before God, they were
s Rom. iv. 1 — 5. h John viii. 56. ' Rom. iv. 16.