CHAPTER B. 337 bis covenant with him in his original state of innocency, even the covenantof works ; which being violated by the sin of Adam, and thereby his posterity being brought into unhappy circum- stances, it pleased God, out of his rich mercy to provide another and a better covenant, even thecovenant of grace ; which is a wise, holy and merciful constitution of God for the recovery of fallen man to his favour and image by his Son Jesus Christ. Now the different dispensations, under which mankind have been placed ever since, are but different editions or manifestations of this covenantof grace to men in several ages of the world. CHAP. 1I. ,Tlae.Adamical Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace or the Religion of Adamafter his Fall. I. The first dispensation after the fall, was that constitution of God to recover guilty and sinful man to the holinessand hap- piness, whichwas given to our first parents, Adam and Eve, to be conveyed by them, with religious care, to all their posterity, who suffered by their fall. This is the first edition ofthe gospel, or the covenant of grace. Herein God promised by the seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head ; Gen. iii. 15. or as it is now explained by St. John : 1 John iii. 8. and might be then, perhaps, explained by God himself, that the promised seed came to destroy the works of the devil. This was the general blessing of this dispensation, as expressed in that early age of the world. it intimates the design of God for the salvationof men, by some mighty Saviour, who should be born ofa woman, and should recover them to the image of Godi and hit; favour, from which they fell by the temptation of the devil : And though it was not clearly revealed at first, what this Saviour was to door suffer, in order to reconcile God and man, yet all the. further steps and gradual blessings of this reconciliation in every age of mankind, are owing to the undertaking and the promise of this Saviour ; and all tend to accomplish this first promise. 1I. The duties hereinrequired of man, were repentance for past sin ; a return to new obedience, and sincere love to God, with a humble faith or trust in his mercy : This is an acceptance of thecovenant ofgrace. All this, indeed, is not expressly re- corded in Genesis ; but probably God made a more explicit dis- covery of these things than is written in -so short, a history : And thesethings are plainly and expressly required in several of the following dispensations. Besides, the very light of nature, under every dispensation of,grace, requires all this, even repentence, faith, love and obe- dience, to be practised by every sinner that would find mercy of God : And what is plainly written in the law of nature is nat always repeated so distinctly in every dispensation of grace, as T intimated before. This dispensation also, and perhaps, allthe VoL. tai.. Y
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