I 36 Of'tbe Promi(es of ' as well as heaven's happinefs. And thus the covenant· :life e~tends to that which now i,f, and that 'Which is to come, 1 Tim. iv. B. · Firjl, It extends to the life that now is, irt this world. .And this is t-hat eternal life b~gun in the feveral parts thereof~ 'with refpeCt both to f9ul and body. lf men meafure happinefs by the fmiles and fro\vns of ·common· providence, .no man indeed can be counted 'happy before death. ·. But the, facred oracles teach us to take our mea(ures ofit another way, to wit, by ~ perfonal faving interefi in the covenant; and do pro· nounce them happy, whoft .God is the Lord, whate~ ver be between tbe.m and the grave, Pfal. cxliv. 15. So·there's promifed in the cove11ant happin'efs begun in this life, both as to foul and body ; the happinefs of the way to the kingdom; falvation' happily begun, and infdllibly to be carrie.d on. Secondly, It extends to the life that is to come in the other wprld • .And that is the fame eternal life con– fummated and perf~Cted, in refpeet, both of foul and .body, in heaven. There the promife of the covenant, is to receive its full accomplilhm~nt; of which belie– vers now ·have the earnefi,'which is not only a part of the thing promifed, but an affurance of the whole. II. For a more particular view of the promife of e– ternal life to the eleCt, it may be confidered in three Pe– riods; (r.) Before their union with Chrifi; (2.) From their union with Chrifi, until death ; and (3.) From death, through eternity, Of the operation qfthe pro– mife, in the firfi and the ]aft of thefe periods, we know bu~ little ; :md indeed not much ,of it, in the middle period. For it is lil<e a river, iifuing ftom a hidden · i}xing, and running ff!r under ground i then rifing above ground, and running on, till it gq forth intd'the ocean. The hidden fpring, from whence ' the pro!nife oferernai life to the eleCt iffueth forth, is, God's free grace,' which was given us in ChriH Jefus, before th.e world began,' 21'im.i.9.It runs under ground,' undifcernable ·even to the parties themfelves, till the moment
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