rn. Yet in Abraham they were present. By
the lamp of fire passing between the parts of the sacrifice, the Lord's
ratification of the covenant was denoted. And by the smoking furnace
also, proceeding between the parts, it was pointed out, that they even
then were taken into covenant with him. That covenant the Lord kept with
the whole house of Israel, even as if they had all of them been then
present. "Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and
broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name
of Abraham: and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a
covenant with him, to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to
give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art
righteous."[356] And the duties of the covenant, as if all Israel had
been before him when it was made, he enjoined on them. "And God said
unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore, thou and thy seed
after thee, in their generations."[357] Moreover, he commands all to
keep his covenant as made, not merely with his people at any given
period, but as entered into by the faithful who went before them. "He
hath commanded his covenant for ever." We have seen that these words
inculcate the exercise of Covenanting. It is manifest, also, that they
intimate that a covenant with God by each one, should be kept by those
who make it. But the full scope of the passage is not brought out, if we
do not view it as inculcating, not merely that the duty of Covenanting
should be performed throughout every age, but that, until all the
engagements of the people of God, made in every period, be implemented,
they confer obligation on their successors. And he is angry with, and
threatens those who keep not the covenants of those who represented
them, as if they had broken a covenant with him made by themselves.
"They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which
refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them:
the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which
I made with their fathers. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will
bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though
they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them."[358]

Hence, in conclusion,

First, Covenanting entails obligation even on the unbeliever who vows
and swears. W