nay, he ratified his promise with an oath, "I will give you whatever you require, said he, tho' it be even the half of my kingdom."

they were glad to hear him, and promis'd to give him money. upon which he contriv'd the most favourable occasion to betray him.

according to the antient promise he made by the mouth of the holy prophets,

Lord, thou wilt grant thy servant a happy death, according to thy promise.

and I am going to send you what my father has promis'd you. but continue in the city of Jerusalem, until you shall be endued with power from on high.

though then ye shall ask in my name: I need not promise, that I will pray the father for you;

being with them when they were assembled, he order'd they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what the father had promis'd, which, said he, I mention'd.

therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the father the promise of the holy spirit, he has diffused that spirit, the effects of which ye now see and hear.

for the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

it is of his posterity that God, pursuant to his promise, has rais'd up Jesus to be the saviour of Israel.

to you therefore we declare, that the promise which God had made to the fathers, he has now perform'd to us, who are their children, by his having raised up Jesus again.

and now I stand arraign'd for expecting the accomplishment of the divine promise made to our fathers,

Besides, the promise that he should possess the world, was not made to Abraham, or to his posterity in consideration of the law, but with regard to the righteousness by faith.

for if they only who are of the law have right of possession, faith is made useless, and the promise becomes of no effect.

therefore the inheritance is of faith, that it might be meerly of favour, to the end the promise might be assured to all his posterity, not to that part only who have the law, but to that also who have the faith of Abraham, the father of us all, as it is written,

he was not incredulously diffident of the divine promise; but was strong in faith, and did honour to God,

However, the divine promise cannot but have its effect. for they are not the whole of Israel, who are descended from Israel:

that is, the children by natural descent are not thereby the children of God: but the children of the promise are alone considered as his posterity.

for the words of the promise run thus, "at this time I will come, and Sara shall have a son."

for he, who has called you to the communication of his son Jesus Christ our Lord, will make good his promise.

this therefore I say, that the law, which was not till four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul the promise, that was ratified before by God, so as to set the promise afoot.

now if the right to the inheritance be from the law, it is no longer founded upon the promise; altho' God made a donation of it to Abraham by promise.

"To what purpose then was the law?" it was added as a check to transgressors, till the offspring should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels with the intervention of a mediator.

and if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's offspring, and his heirs by virtue of the promise.

he, who was of the bond-woman, was born according to the ordinary course of nature; but he, who was of the free-woman, was born by virtue of the promise.

Now we, my brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise.

that at that time ye were without all knowledge of the Messiah, being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and living in the world without any true knowledge of God.

"that the Gentiles should be heirs as well as the Jews, make one body together, and partake of the divine promise in Christ by the gospel."

the first commandment with a promise annexed, is, "honour thy father and mother,

Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, appointed by God to declare the promise, which Jesus Christ has made of eternal life;

Let us therefore fear, lest any of us by rejecting the promise of entring into his rest, should be excluded from it.

for to us was the good promise made, as well as to them: but the word address'd to them was not effectually receiv'd with faith by those that heard it.

Since there remains then a rest which some are still to enter into, for they to whom the promise was first made, did not enter in, because of their incredulity;

for God is too just to his promise not to regard your piety, and the love which you have shewn to the christian religion by the assistance ye have given to the saints, and still continue to give.

but imitate the example of those who by faith and patience have obtain'd the inheritance that was promis'd to them.

For when God gave his promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying,

wherefore God was willing to give the heirs of promise a stronger proof of the immutability of his counsel, by the intervention of an oath:

'twas by faith that he sojourned in a land that was promised, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were equally entitled to the same promise.

let those then, whom God calls to sufferings, by virtue recommend their souls to him, as to a creator, who will make good his promise.

whilst they promise others liberty, they themselves are slaves to their corrupt passions. for he that is vanquished, is a slave to the conqueror.

"where is the promise of his coming? for since our fathers are dead, the state of things is the same it has ever been since the beginning of the world."

the Lord does not delay the accomplishment of his promise, as some do imagine. but he waits with patience upon our account, as being unwilling that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

As for us, in consequence of his promise, we expect a new heaven, and a new earth, where justice shall reside.