The body is dead, or is become mortal, because of sin, Rom. viii. 10 and it is liable, on the same account, to various diseases. 2. Labour of body, with toil, fatigue, and weariness, is another penal effect of sin. Man is born to labour as the sparks fly upward; so the word may be rendered, Job v. 7. And it may be observed, that the punishment pronounced on Eve, that her conception and sorrow should be multiplied; and that in sorrow she should bring forth children, is continu ed in her daughters; some of the greatest calamities and dis tresses in life, are described and expressed by the pains of a woman in travail. 3. Loss of dominion over the creatures, is another sort of punishment of sin. Adam had a grant over all the creatures, and these were in subjection to him, But by sin man lost his power over them. 4. The many distresses person, in family, and in estate, are the penal effects of sin; the curses of the law, for the transgression of it, come upon men, and on what they have; in the city, and in the field; in basket, and in store; in the fruit of their body, and of their land; in the increase of their kine, and flocks of sheep; when these are affected, and there is a failure in them, i is for sin. 5. Public calamities are to be considered in this light, as pun ishments of sin; as the drowning of the old world; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah; the captivities of the Jews; the destruction of other nations and cities; the devastations made by wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, &c.`

in

II. There is an eternal punishment of sin, in the world to come forever. This takes place in part on wicked - men as soon as soul and body are separated; the wicked rich man when he died, in hell lift up his eyes being in torment. This punishment will be both of loss and sense; it will lie in an eternal separation from God, and will be poured forth like fire; and both are expressed in that sentence, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, Matt. xxv. 41. The reasons of the eternal duration of punishment for sin, are, be. cause it is committed against an infinite and eternal being. Besides, the wicked in the future state, will always continue.

sinning: to which may be added, that there will be no repen. tance for sin there, no pardon of it, no change of state; He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, &c. Rev. xxii. 11. But of this more hereafter. The reason why this punishment, to which all are subject, is not inflicted on some, is because of the suretyship-engagements of Christ for them, and his perfor. mance of those engagements; whereby he endured all that wrath and punishment due to their sins in their room and stead, and so delivered them from it, which otherwise they were exposed unto; the dawn of which distinguishing grace the next Part of this work will open and display.

BOOK I.

OF THE ACTS OF THE GRACE OF GOD

IN TIME.

OF THE MANIFESTATION AND ADMINISTRA. TION OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE.

I AM now come to the dawn of grace to fallen man, to the breakings forth and application of the covenant of grace, and the blessings of it to the spiritual seed of Christ among the posterity of Adam.

I have considered the covenant of grace, as it was a comPact in eternity, and now I shall consider the administration Of that covenant in the several periods of time, from the be. Sinning of the world to the end of it. The Covenant of Grace is but one and the same in all ages, of which Christ is the substance. The patriarchs before the flood and after, beFore the law of Moses and under it, before the coming of Christ, and all the saints since, are saved in one and the same way, even by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that is the

grace of the covenant, exhibited at different times, and in divers manners. Though the covenant is but one, there are different administrations of it; particularly two, one before the coming of Christ, and the other after it; which lay the foundation for the distinction of the first and second, the old and the new covenant, observed by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, chap. viii. 7, 8, 13.-ix. 1, 15. The one we commonly call the Old Testament-dispensation, and the

other the New Testament-dispensation; for which there seems to be some foundation in 2 Cor. iii. 6, 14. Heb. ix. 15. these two covenants, or rather the two administrations of the same covenant, are allegorically represented by two women, Hagar and Sarah, the bond-woman and the free, Gal. iv. 2226. which fitly describes the nature and difference of them. Before I proceed any farther, I shall just point out the agree ment and disagreement of those two administrations of the covenant of grace,

I. The agreement there is between them.-1. They agree in the efficient cause, God: I have made a covenant, Psal. lxxxix. 3, 34. whenever any exhibition of this covenant was made to any of the patriarchs, as to Abraham, David, &c. it is ascribed to God, Gen. xvii. 2. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. the new administration of it, runs in this form, I will make a new covenant, &c. Heb. viii, 8.-2. In the moving cause, the sovereign mercy and free grace of God, and therefore it is called, the mercy promised to the fathers in his holy covenant, Luke i. 72.-3. In the Mediator, who is Christ; there is but one Mediator of the covenant of grace, let it be considered under what dispensation it will; signified by the expiatory sacrifices, under the law; the Shiloh, the peaceable One, and the PeaceMaker, the living Redeemer of Job, and of all believers under the Old Testament. There is but one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; and he is the Mediator of the new covenant, 1 Tim. ii. 5.—4. In the subjects of these cove. nants, or administrations of covenants of grace, the elect of God, to whom the blessings of it are applied, Eph. i. 3, 4.5. In the blessings of it; they are the same under both administrations. Salvation and redemption by Christ is the great blessing held forth and enjoyed under the one as under the other, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Heb. ix. 15. Justification, Isai. xlv. 24, 25. Forgiveness of sin, Psal. xxxii. 1, 5. Regeneration, Deut. xxx. 6. Eternal life were made known in the writings of the Old Testament, as well as in those of the New, Job xix, 26, 27. John v. 39. In a word, they and we eat the same

spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink, 1 Cor.

X. 3, 4,

II. In some things there is a disagreement between these two administrations of the covenant of Grace.-1. Under the first administration saints looked forward to Christ that was to come; under the second and new administration, believers look backwards to Christ as being come.-2. There is a greater clearness and evidence of things under the one than under the other; the law was only a shadow; whereas, believers under the present dispensation, with open face, with faces unveiled, behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, 2 Cor. iii. 13, 18. then it was night, now broad day.-3. There is more of a spirit of liberty, and less of bondage, under the one, than under the other; saints under the one differed little from servants, but under the other are Christ's freemen.-4. There is a larger, and more plentiful effusion of the Spirit, and of his gifts and graces. Grace, in all its fulness, and truth in all its learness and evidence, are come by Jesus Christ, John i. 17. -5. The latter administration of the covenant extends to more persons than the former. The Gentiles were strangers To the covenants of promise, but now the blessing of Abra. ham is come upon them, Eph. ii. 12.-6. The present admi. nistration of the covenant of grace, will continue to the end Of the world; it will never give way to, nor be succeeded by another.-7. The ordinances of them are different. The first covenant had ordinances of divine service; but those were at best but typical and shadowy, other ordinances now take place, Heb. ix. 1, 10. and xii. 27.-8. Though the promises and blessings of grace under both administrations are the same, yet they are differently exhibited; under the former dispensation, not only more darkly and obscurely, but by earthly things, as by the land of Canaan; but under the latter, more clearly, more spiritually, unclogged of all conditions, and so called better promises; God having provided for new testament saints, some better thing, at least held forth in a better manner; that old testament saints might not be made perfect without them, Heb. vii. 22. viii. 6. and xi. 40..