186 FßRGIVENEB3 OF SIN. also that he give it out to us for the end and purpose, that the may know him thereby, and place our trust and confidence in him, according to what that name im- ports. And this was the case wherever he revealedhim- self to any in a peculiar manner, by an especial name. So he did to Jacob, " I am the God of Abraham and Isaac," Gen. 28 : 13 ; assuring him, that as he had dealt faithfully in his covenant with his fathers Abra- ham. and Isaac, so also he would deal with him : and, Gen. 31:13, "I am the God of Bethel;" he who ap- peared to thee there, and blessed thee, and will con- tinue so to do. But when the same Jacob comes to ask after another name of God, he answers him not ; as it were commanding him to live by faith on what he was pleased to reveal. Now, then, God had not made himself known to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, by his name Jehovah, because he had not peculiarly called himself to them by that name ; nor engaged it in his covenant with them, although it were otherwise known to them. They lived and rested on the name of God Almighty, as suited to their support and consolation in their wandering, helpless condition, before the promise was to be accomplished : but now, when God came to fulfil his promises, and to bring the people, byvirtue of his covenant, into the land of. Canaan, he reveals him- self to them by, and renews his covenant with them in the name of Jehovah. And hereby God declared that he came to give stability and accomplishment to his promises ; to which end they were now to live upon this name of Jehovah, in an expectation of the fulfilling of the promises, as their fathers did on that of God Almighty, in an expectation of protection from him in their wandering state. Hence. this name became the foundation of the Jew- ish church, and the ground of the faith of those who sin- cerely believed in God. And it is strangely fallen out
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