p You that cannot be content to receive Jeſus Chrift alone for Tuſtification ; but have a mind to maintain a neceſſity of obedi- ence to the Law of Circumciſion, and other Judaical Rites. q Do you not bear the Lam, the Law which curieth every one who continu- "oth not in all that is therein written todo it? or rather the ftory which follows; which is taken outof one of the Pooks of the Law, which the Apoſtle makes a myſtical Revelation of the divine Will, that there ſhould come a time when Circumcition ſhould be caft
out.
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two ſons, the one * by a bondmaid, the + other by a free wo- man 7.
7 The ſubſtance of this is written, Gerefis 26. where we read of Abraham's having /ſhmael by Hagar his bond-woman z and Gey. 21. 2. where we read of the birttof zac whom he had by Sarah who was his Wife.
23 But he who was of the bond-women * was born after the fleſh /, but he of the free-woman was by promiſe ?. Gs
{ They were both (in a ſenſe) born after the Fleſh, vize ina natu- ral way and courſe of generation 3 but after the fleſh is phinly in this Verſe oppoſed to by promiſe : and the meaning is, that 1ſhmael, the ſon of #7g4r, was not that ſan of Abraham to whom the promiſe was made, that in him all the Nations of the Earth ſhould be bleſſed, Gen. 15.4. chap. 17. 19. Iſaac is ſaid to have been born after the promiſe, either becauſe God gave Jſaac to Abraham, in complement, or ful- filling of the promiſe made to him, that he ſhould havean Heir out of his own loins 3 or becauſe the mighty and miraculous power of God was ſeen in his production, inabling Abrah:m at thoſe years to beget, and S:rah to bear a Child, when both their bodies were as dead. | :
24 Which thingsare an allegory «; For theſ> arc the two * covenants w, the one from the mount -| Sina, which gendreth to bondage x, which 1s Agar.
z That is called an Allegory when one thing is learned out of another, or ſomething is myſtically ſiznified and to be underſtood further than is expreiſed. The Scripture hath a peculiar kind of Allegories, wherein one thing is ſignified by and under another thing. The thing here fignitying, was Abraham's Wite and Concu- bine, Sarah and &:gar. w The Apoftle faith, theſe ſignified the two Covenants (for that's the meaning of, are). So as here we have one Text more, where the verb ſubſtantive is put for ſipnifieth: and it vill be hard to aſſhgn a reaſon why it ſhould not be fo interpreted in the inſtitution of the Lord's Supper (notwithſtanding the Papiſts and Lutherans ſo earneſt contending to the contrary.) The'very word is here uſed, Lea, that is uſed"in the inftiturion of the Lord's Supper. Here it is, theſe are the two Covenants or Teſtaments; there, ths # the New Covenant. The Apoſtle calls them two Covenants, (whereas they were but oze,) with reference to the time of their extibition, and manner of their Adminiftration, in which they much differed. Nor muſt we underftand the Apoftle as fignifying to us by theſe words, that Moſes wrote the Hiſtory of Sarah and Hagar, With ſucha deſign and intention 3 but only that that Hiſto- ry is very epplicable to the two Covenants ; and we ſhall find verſe 27. the Apoſtle juſtifying this application from the authority of the Prophet J/:7ah. And herein he complied with the general ſenſe of the Jews ; who judged that there was not only a literal, but a myſtical ſenſe alſo of thoſe Hiſtories of the Patriarchs. x The one Covenant was that of the Law delivered from mount $S7na:, this was like Hagar, for as Zagar was her ſelf a Pond-woman, and ſo her Child did partake of the condition of the Mother, and Hapar bare a Bond-man or Servant ; ſo the Law (which he calls a Covenant, becauſe of the ſtipulation of obedience from the people to che Will of God revealed, and declared,) left thoſe that were under it in a ſtate of bondage or ſervitude,
25 jor this Agar 1s mount Sinat in Arabia y, and # anſwereth to Jeruſulem which now is z, and is in hondige with her children 4.
* Agar the bondwoman fitly repreſented Mount Sinai, the
eountain ig Arbiz, trom which ths Law was given z; And Fern |
GB HLATIANY
ſatem which now 1, anſwereth to Meunt Sing) \ for as 51 Manes. che Law was given in a terrible matiner, G now #:r4ſy,.:. 1 . ſear of-the Scr:52s and Phariſees, who are the Doctors of = ag ' and rigidly pres the obſervation of ir. 2 By which th. Tor Law,
© OA! are
=
| kept in bondage : The Apoſile ſpeaketh not here of the Civil Pk i 1Þ
| tude that the Fews were in under the Romans, to whom | now Tributaries, but of that Religious ſervitude | Scrives and Phariſees kept them to their legal ſervices.
tiey wer n Which the
26 * Bur Jeruſalem which is above, is free þ, which + 7; . . wil 313.9 is the morher of us all c. He. b The new Covenant, or the diſpenſation of the Goſpel, or the 22 Ds
Chriftian Church z which is above, or from «bove, "which 1 to Sarah, and is ſaid ro be above, becaule revealed from Hear Chritt, ſerft out of the boſom of the Father, not as the Law revealed upon Farth, upon Mount $Sin2/. Hence Apoſtate; fro the Dottrin of the Goſpel, are ſaid to turn from him who hhetok rom Heaven, Feb. 12.25. Orelle it is ſaid to be abote, becauſe b is the aſſembly of the fir vorn written in Heaven, Ver-23. Hence t! ; Goſpel Church is called the Zexvenly Hieruſulem, Ver. 22. Of thi. Golpel Church the Apoſtle ſaith, that it is free, 2. e. free from the yoke and bondage of the Ceremonial Law, or from the Couenng and curſe of the Law. c Which Church he ſaith is the Mother of 2} Believers, they imbracing the ſame Faith, and walking in the ame ſteps, from whence was eaſfie for the Galatians to conclude, th freedom and liberty alſo from the Law.
27 For it is written, Rejoyce thon barren that he. reſt not; break forth and cry, thou thar travaileft no: for the deſolate hath many mo children,then ſhe which hath an husband b.
b It is written, Iſa. 54. 1. Some think that the Apoſtledoth hys allude to that of the Prophet, and that the ſenſe of the Prophet was only to comfort the Fews, whoſe City, though, it ſhould be for a preſent time barren, thin of Inhabitants, during the time f the ' Babyloniſh Captivity z yet it ſhould be again repleniſhed with yeo-