74
said, 'Abraham saw my day, and was glad.' — The sign of this great covenant was the circumcision.
The Faithful believe, said Havilah, that in the seed of Ismael was the promise fulfiled, and therefore is the sign preserved among them.
The Christians preserve not the sign, replied Eber, because the covenant is fulfilled, and its outward forms abolished. That in Jesus the promise was fulfilled, we believe, not only because he himself said so, but because the words of the Scriptures of Moses are these: 'And Abraham said unto God, O! that Ismael might live before thee! And God said, Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ismael, I have heard thee. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly: twelve princes shall he beget; and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sara shall bear unto thee, at this set time in the next year[1].' Of Isaac
- ↑ Genesis xvii. 18-21.
