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56
EXCELLENCY
OF
[SBRM
]Sr.
The
first
is
that of
Adam.
No
sooner
was
man fallen
from
his
state of
innocency, and
had
lost
all
reasonable
hopes
of
happiness,
according to
that
constitution and
covenant
in
paradise
which
our
divines have
generally
called the covenant
of
works,
but
the
goodness
of God
was
manifested in revealing
to
Adam the covenant
or
constitution
of
grace,
as
it
was
contained
in
this obscure
promise, the " seed
of
the woman shall bruise the
head
of
the
serpent;"
Gen.
iii. 15.
which in
the language
of
the New Testament;
signifies
that
the Saviour, in the
fulness of
time,
should
be
born
of
a woman,
and
should
destroy this work
of
the
devil.
Gal.
iv. 5.
1
John
iii. 8.
This
first promise,
doubtless
was
more largely
explained
to
our
first
parents,
which
encouraged
sinful
mankind,
by
the
hopes
of
a Saviour,
and
of
acceptance
with
God,
to
repent of their
transgressions, and
return
to
their
Maker
in
a
way
of
new
obedience. This
is
that
gospel
which
is
the same
in
all
ages, and
which
runs
through
all the
bible;
viz.
that
there
is
forgiveness
for
sinful
men
who
return
to
God,
and
this
is
to
be
manifested
through
a
Saviour. But
in
the several discoveries
of
this
gospel
to
men,
there
were
several
additional duties or
promises,
or
both, which distinguish them
into what
we
call dif-
ferent
dispensations.
This
constitution
or
covenant
of
grace, in its
dispen-
sation
to Adam,
had the
appointment
of
sacrifices
su-
peradded,
which were figures
of Christ,
the
true
sacrifice
of
atonement. This covenant
was
also confirmed to
Noah
and
his
sons
after
the
flood, with
some
further
precepts about
the distinctions
of
meats,
and
the punish-
ment
of
murder,
and
the promise
that
the
earth,should
be
no more destroyed
by
water,
of
which the rainbow
was
an
appointed
seal.
This
is
that
dispensation
by
which
Job
and Melchisedec also
were saved, with
many
others
in
that
early
age
of
the
world.
The
saine
covenant
was
continued
to
Abraham,
with
some
clearer
promises
of the
Messiah,
or Saviour.
"The
gospel
was
preached
to
Abraham
;"
Gal.
iii. 8.
together
with the
addition
of
a promised
inheritance
in
the
land,
of
Canaan,
as
a type
of
heaven, and the
peculiar precept
of
circumcision, which
was
a figure
of the mortification
of
sin.
This
is
called the dispensation
of
Abraham.
The
same
gracious covenant or
gospel
was
yet farther