Of the Rights of the Kingdom of God, in Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah
The father of the faithful, and first in the kingdom of God by covenant, was Abraham. For with him was the covenant first made, wherein he obliged himself and his seed after him, to acknowledge and obey the commands of God; not only such as he could take notice of (as moral laws), by the light of Nature, but also such as God should in special manner deliver to him by dreams and visions. For as to the moral law, they were already obliged, and needed not have been contracted withal by promise of the land of Canaan. Nor was there any contract that could add to or strengthen the obligation by which both they and all men else were bound naturally to obey God Almighty: and therefore the covenant which Abraham made with God was to take for the commandment of God, that which in the name of God was commanded him in a dream or vision; and to deliver it to his family, and cause them to observe the same.
In this contract of God with Abraham we may observe three points of important consequence in the government of God’s people. First, that at the making of this covenant, God spake only to Abraham; and therefore contracted not with any of his family, or seed, otherwise than as their wills, which make the essence of all covenants, were before the contract involved in the will of Abraham, who was therefore supposed to have had a lawful power to make them perform all that he covenanted for them. According whereunto ( Gen. 18:18–19), God saith, “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him; for I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” From whence may be concluded this first point, that they to whom God hath not spoken immediately are to receive the positive commandments of God from their sovereign, as the family and