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TREATISE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 COVENANT OF WORKS; 
 
 By JOHN COLQUHOUN, D. D. 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, LEITH. 
 
 But tliey, like men, margin— -like Adam, have transgressed iJit 
 covenant. Hosea vi. 7. 
 
 By one man, sin entered into the "world, and death by sin; and so 
 death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. 
 
 Rom. v. 12. 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
 PRINTED FOR THOMSONS, BROTHERS, 
 No. 2, PRINCE'S STREET. 
 
 1821. 
 
Lfith : Printed by A. Allardice. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 As the doctrine of the Covenant of Works, and of 
 our breach of that covenant in the first Adam, is a 
 fundamental doctrine of Divine revelation, which 
 the Holy Spirit usually employs, for convincing 
 sinners of their sinfulness and misery ; the main 
 design of the following Treatise is, to explain and 
 apply it for that important purpose. 
 
 " By the law," says an Apostle," " is the know- 
 ledge of sin." It is not so much, our preaching the 
 spirituality, perfection, and great extent, of the mo- 
 ral law in its general acceptation, to sinners, that is 
 a means of convincing them thoroughly, of their 
 sin and misery ; as our pressing upon their con- 
 sciences, a deep consideration of that spiritual, per- 
 fect, and most extensive law, in its covenant-form* 
 It is, when we demonstrate from Scripture, to the 
 conscience of the secure sinner, that the law as a 
 covenant of works, demands from him in particular, 
 perfect obedience as the condition of eternal life, 
 and that it condemns him, for his innumerable sins, 
 to death in all its dreadful extent and duration ; 
 that, he is most likely to be convinced and alarm- 
 ed.— As the unregenerate sinner, is under the law 
 in its federal form, it is in this form only, that it 
 can be pressed upon his attention, with any reason- 
 able hope of reaching conviction to his mind, 
 
IV PKEFACE. 
 
 The enemies of the truth, have often insinuated, 
 and even affirmed, that the gospel, in its strict ac- 
 ceptation, tends to licentiousness ; and its friends 
 have frequently evinced, by argument, that, instead 
 of having any such tendency, it is, on the contrary, 
 the only doctrine that is according to godliness. 
 When we preach, for instance, this fundamental 
 and cheering doctrine of the gospel, — " By the 
 obedience of One shall many be made righteous ; 11 
 and accordingly inform our hearers, That Christ, as 
 the Surety of elect sinners, yielded, in their stead, 
 perfect obedience to the moral law, for their justifi- 
 cation, and that this consummate obedience, is im- 
 puted to all who believe in Him ; our adversaries, 
 willingly take occasion to draw from our doctrine, 
 the following inference, which, after all that we have 
 said in defence of the gospel, appears to them, an 
 obvious one : — ' If Christ, as the Surety of his peo- 
 ple, yielded all that perfect obedience for them, that 
 the law required of them, and if this be imputed to 
 them, as soon as they believe in him ; then, the law 
 cannot justly require any obedience from them, in 
 their own persons : its demand of perfect obedience 
 is already satisfied by their Surety, and, therefore, 
 it can have nothing more to demand from them." 
 But if, instead of saying in general terms, as is too 
 often done, That Jesus Christ performed perfect- 
 obedience to the law, for his people, we declared ex- 
 plicitly, as we ought to do, that he yielded perfect 
 obedience, for them, to the law only as a covenant 
 of works ; — we would leave to the enemies of the 
 gospel, no apparent occasion for such an inference. 
 The only inference that, with any show of reason. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 they could deduce, would be, That believers, by 
 Christ's obedience unto death, imputed to them for 
 their justification, are set free from obligation to 
 obey the law, in its covenant-form. This inference 
 would be no less true than obvious : for the apostle 
 Paul informs us, That believers are delivered from 
 the law, as a covenant of works ; in order that, they 
 might be enabled to serve in newness of spirit, Rom, 
 vii. 6. By their having been delivered from the 
 law as a covenant, they are laid under the firmest 
 obligation possible, to yield even perfect obedience 
 to it as a rule of duty. As for the gospel, I see 
 not, how it can be dispensed faithfully to condemn- 
 ed sinners ; except the law as a covenant of works 
 be, on proper occasions, exhibited to their view, and 
 pressed upon their attention. 
 
 To understand clearly, and to relish well, the doc- 
 trine of the covenant of works, as contained in the 
 Scriptures, is necessary to our attaining, under the 
 illuminating influences of the blessed Spirit, clear, spi- 
 ritual,, and delightful, views of the covenant of grace, 
 It is by comparing the grace, manifested in the first 
 covenant, with the exceeding riches of grace, display- 
 ed in the second, that the devout reader will be able 
 to discern more distinctly, and consistently, the 
 transcendent glory of the wonderful scheme of re- 
 deeming grace, which shines in the latter. 
 
 Though to some readers, there may appear in 
 the following work, too frequent a recurrence of the 
 same sentiments, and of similar modes of express- 
 ion ; yet, I cannot but entertain the hope, that to 
 others, these will, in some degree, serve to render 
 my meaning the more plain and determinate. Such 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 repetitions of the same, or almost of the same, sen- 
 timents, as they have been made with new illustra- 
 tions, and applications, will not, I trust, be counted 
 vain repetitions. 
 
 I occasionally consulted several of those writers 
 on the subjects treated of, who appear to me, to 
 have been the most judicious and consistent ; espe- 
 cially, Turretine, Witsius, Rutherford, Brown, 
 Gib, Edwards, and Boston. These especially I 
 consulted, — not that they might, in the smallest 
 degree, divert my attention from the sacred Oracles ; 
 but, that they might, in the hand of the Spirit of 
 truth, afford me some assistance in searching them, 
 and in extracting from them, those heavenly trea- 
 sures, of which they are incomparably full. 
 
 I shall only add, that as, if I know myself, I have 
 uprightly intended this treatise for the glory of 
 God, and for the welfare of immortal souls, without 
 sinister views ; I now lay it at His feet, looking up 
 to him for a blessing upon it, that spiritual fruit 
 may abound to the profit of many, that they may 
 be saved. 
 
 Leith, 30th November, 1821 . 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 Introduction 1 
 
 Chap. I. Proofs of a Covenant of Works, 5 
 
 Chap. II. Of the Contracting Parties in that Cov- 
 enant, , 25 
 
 Chap. III. Of the Condition of the Covenant of 
 
 Works, 43 
 
 Chap. IV. Of the Promise of the Covenant of 
 
 Works, 65 
 
 Chap. V. Of the Penalty of that Covenant, ... ..... 86 
 
 Sect. 1. It comprehends Natural Death, 88 
 
 Sect. 2. Spiritual Death, 91 
 
 Sect. 3. « Eternal Death, 98 
 
 Chap. VI. Of the Seals of the Covenant of Works,..\\Q 
 
 Chap. VII. Of the Reasonableness of God's enter- 
 ing into a Covenant of Works voith Man, 
 and especially ivith Adam, as the Repre- 
 sentative of his Natural Posterity, 119 
 
 Chap. VIII. Of the Breach of that Covenant, 131 
 
 Chap. IX. Of the Imputation of Adams first Sin, 
 or Preach of Covenant, to his Natural 
 Posterity, 159 
 
 Chap. X. Of the Subjection of Mankind, to the 
 
 broken Covenant of Works, ........183 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 . Pa g e 
 Chap. XI. Of the dreadful and inevitable Misery 
 of Mankind, under the Curse of that vio- 
 lated Covenant, 213 
 
 Sect. 1. The Curse operates in this Life, on 
 
 those who continue under it, , 217 
 
 Sect. 2. It operates at Death, on them who still 
 
 remain under it, 238 
 
 Sect. 3. It produces the most dreadful Effects 
 on all who are under it, after Death, and 
 
 throughout Eternity, * 241 
 
 Chap. XII. Objections answered, 270 
 
 Chap. XIII. Conclusion, »...286 
 
 Erratum, — Page 16, before the first word of the 18th 
 line, read 8", 
 
A 
 
 TREATISE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 COVENANT OF WORKS 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In order to render Divine grace and condescen- 
 sion the more glorious, the happiness of men, in 
 subordination to the Divine glory, the more se- 
 cure, and their obedience to God, the more cheer- 
 ful and free, Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Spi- 
 rit, from eternity, purposed to deal with them in a 
 covenant-zvay. He never dispenses, either Grace 
 or Providence to them, but according to the tenor 
 of a covenant, previously made with them. The 
 relation in which he stands to them, is a covenant- 
 relation. The bond, in which he is united with 
 them, and they with him, is the bond of a covenant. 
 A covenant established with them, either in their 
 own persons, or in the person of a public represent- 
 ative, is the invariable rule of his procedure to- 
 ward them. 
 
 The original word -in the Old Testament, which 
 the Spirit of inspiration employs to express a cove- 
 nant, denotes, in some passages, a sure promise ,- 
 in others, a precept ; and in others, an unalterable 
 statute or constitution. But properly and most fre- 
 quently, it signifies a mutual paction, agreement, 
 or covenant, upon certain terms proposed. In ge- 
 neral, it denotes a constitution or establishment , 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Hence, we read of God's " covenant with day and 
 night*." The word seems to have been derived 
 from a root, which, in one of its forms, signifies to 
 choose out, and in another, to cut down, or strike 
 through. The parties between whom, the objects 
 for which, and the conditions upon which, a cove- 
 nant was wont to be made, were usually selected 
 for that purpose. And when persons in ancient 
 times, entered into a solemn covenant with one an- 
 other, they used on the occasion, to cut or strike 
 a beast in two, and to pass between the pieces of it, 
 in token of their wish, that God might so strike and 
 cut asunder, the party who should break the cove- 
 nant. In allusion to this ancient rite, the making 
 of a covenant is, in the Old Testament, often styled 
 the cutting of it b . As the word, which the Spirit 
 of truth uses in the Old Testament, denotes in ge- 
 neral, an establishment, so does the word which he 
 uses in the New. It signifies a disposition, or an 
 establishment in the form of a testament, or a testa- 
 mentary covenant c . 
 
 The covenants which God has made, for promot- 
 ing his manifested glory in the happiness of man- 
 kind, are two ; — the covenant of works, and the co- 
 venant of grace. The former of these, the apostle 
 Paul (Rom. iii. 27.) styles, " The law of works," 
 
 a Jer. xxxiii. 25. 
 
 b The ancient Hebrews used to call the making of a covenant, 
 " Chorefh berith," The cutting of a covenant; alluding, it would 
 appear, to the practice of cutting one or more beasts in two, and 
 passing between the parts of them, when they would ratify a solemn 
 covenant. Of this very ancient rite, we read in Gen. xv. 9, 10. and 
 in Jer. xxxiv- IS, 19, 20. 
 
 Hence we find the Romans often using these expressions : ic&re, 
 ferire, per cuter c, fvedus . We have the form of the curse, which the 
 contracting parties, on such occasions, imprecated on themselves, if 
 they should transgress their covenant, recorded in the first book of 
 Livy, in these words : Mis legibus populus Romanus prior non defi- 
 cit : si prior defecerit, publico consiUo, dolo malo, tu Mo die, Jupiter, 
 populum Romanum sicferito, ut ego hunc porcum ftriam; tantoquc 
 7nagis fcrito, quanto magis potes pollesque, 
 « Heb, ix. 15. 
 
INTRODUCTIONS O 
 
 and the latter, " The law of faith." He calls the 
 covenant made with Adam, " The law of works ;" 
 because the terms of it were all proposed to him, by 
 Jehovah the sovereign Lawgiver. We sometimes 
 style it, " The covenant of nature" because the 
 law of it is the law of nature, and because Adam 
 was endued, by the glorious Author of his nature, 
 with sufficient ability to perform the condition of 
 it; and, "the covenant of friendship" because 
 God made it with Adam, as with a friend. We also 
 style it, u the legal covenant," to show, that per- 
 fect conformity of heart and of life to the law, writ- 
 ten on the heart of the first man, was the condition 
 of it ; " the first covenant," because it was first re- 
 vealed, and was made with the first Adam ; " the 
 old covenant," to distinguish it from the covenant of 
 grace, that new, and better covenant ; " the cove- 
 nant of life" because life in all its extent, was the 
 blessing promised in it ; and " the covenant of 
 works" because obedience, or the performing of 
 works of obedience, was the sole condition of ob- 
 taining a title to the promise of it. 
 
 These two covenants, are the bonds of all our 
 religious connexion with Jehovah, the adorable 
 Three in One. They are the two hinges on 
 which, as it were, all the other parts of revelation 
 turn. What is the Gospel, but an exhibition of 
 the covenant of grace, to sinners of mankind ? And 
 what is the Law, in subservience to the gospel, but 
 a display, an awful display of the covenant of works, 
 and of the direful consequences of their breach of 
 it, in the first Adam ? To understand, therefore, 
 these two covenants well ; or to discern clearly, the 
 nature, the properties, and the designs of each, is 
 the way to attain clear, consistent, and connected 
 views, of all the other articles of revealed truth.— 
 Such views of the truth, especially when they are 
 rendered spiritual, and experimental, are of inex- 
 pressible importance to the holiness, the usefulness, 
 
* INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and the comfort, of the true Christian. The know- 
 ledge of Christ, and of Him crucified ; or, in other 
 words, the saving knowledge of the everlasting co- 
 venant, made with him as the last Adam ; as it is 
 the most excellent knowledge, so it is the most ne- 
 cessary. " This is life eternal," says our blessed 
 Lord, " to know thee, the only true God, and 
 Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." And says the 
 prophet Isaiah, " It is a people of no understand- 
 ing; therefore, he that made them, will not have 
 mercy on them, and he that formed them, will show 
 them no favour d ." 
 
 Persuaded that the doctrine of the covenant of 
 grace, which is a covenant of reconciliation, cannot 
 be understood to advantage, without a previous and 
 proper knowledge of that of the Covenant of Works, 
 which was a covenant of friendship ; and at the 
 same time, ardently desirous that I may, in the 
 hand of the Spirit of truth, be instrumental in as- 
 sisting those into whose hands this Treatise may 
 fall, to attain, as easily and as early as possible, a 
 clear and connected view of this first covenant, I 
 shall, in humble dependance on the Father of 
 lights, observe the following method : In the first 
 place, I shall prove that there was and still is, such 
 a covenant. Next, I shall take a view, — of the 
 Parties contracting ; — of the condition ; — of the 
 promise ; — of the penal sanction ; — of the seals ; 
 — of the reasonableness and equity ; — of the 
 breach of that covenant ; — of the imputation of 
 Adam's breach of it,. or of his first transgression, to 
 all his natural posterity ; — of the subjection of 
 mankind to it, as a broken covenant ; and, — of the 
 inexpressible, and inevitable, misery of such as are 
 under the dreadful curse of it. After which, I shall 
 suggest answers to some objections ; and then, con- 
 clude with a few general reflections. 
 
 d Isa. xxvii. 11. 
 
PROOFS, &C. O 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PEOOFS OF A COVENANT OF WORKS. 
 
 A covenant, is a free and mutual compact be= 
 tween two Parties, on express terms or conditions. 
 By the covenant of works, the reality of which, I 
 propose in this chapter to evince, I understand, a 
 free compact or agreement, between Jehovah and 
 the first Adam, as the head and representative of 
 all his natural offspring ; in which, he promised to 
 him life, in all its possible extent and duration ; if 
 he would continue for a limited time, to perform 
 perfect obedience to his commandments, and threat- 
 ened death, in all its awful extent and duration, if 
 he would in the least instance disobey ; to which, 
 Adam freely and fully consented. 
 
 Now that Jehovah, the blessed Three in One, 
 did, in the astonishing greatness of his condescen- 
 sion, enter into such a covenant with Adam, whom 
 he had lately formed after his own image, will, I 
 trust, appear evident to the humble and impartial 
 reader, from the few following arguments, drawn 
 from the oracles of truth. 
 
 1. This contract between God and the first 
 Adam, is in sacred writ, expressly styled a covenant. 
 " These are the two covenants ; the one from the 
 mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which 
 is Agar e ." Here are two covenants mentioned, 
 the one of which, genders to bondage, and the 
 other, to liberty or freedom. The covenant of 
 grace, or " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus," is the one which genders to liberty, or 
 which makes free from the law of sin and death. 
 The one, therefore, which genders to bondage, 
 must be that law or covenant of works, which was 
 
 5 Gal. iv. 24 
 
PROOFS OF 
 
 republished to the Israelites, from mount Sinai ; 
 which required perfect obedience to the ten com- 
 mandments, on pain of death, and contained a pro- 
 mise of life, to the man who should do, or perform 
 such obedience. This covenant, which " the thun- 
 derings, and lightnings, and thick cloud, and voice 
 of the trumpet exceeding loud, on the mount," pro- 
 claim to have been a covenant of works, u gendereth 
 to bondage. 11 By the awful manner, in which it 
 was then displayed ; by the strictness of its pre- 
 cepts, and the dreadful severity of its penalty, it 
 tends to beget a slavish and servile spirit, in all 
 who are under the dominion of it, and to subject 
 them to bondage of the most ignominious kind*. 
 Now this covenant, is here contrasted with the co- 
 venant of grace, which, for his comfort, was re- 
 vealed to Adam immediately after the fall ; and, 
 therefore, it must have been made with him, before 
 the fall. And indeed, we cannot suppose that Je- 
 hovah, to whom infinite Goodness, as well as infi- 
 nite Justice, is always essential, could have pub- 
 lished such a covenant of works, from Sinai, to 
 man in his state of sin, in which he is " without 
 strength 11 to obey, if he had not already entered 
 into it with him, in his state of innocence. 
 
 2. We find mention made, in the sixth chapter 
 of Hosea and the seventh verse, of Adanis having 
 transgressed a covenant. " But they, like men, 11 
 on the margin, " like Adam, have transgressed the 
 covenant. 11 The original word, is found only in 
 two other places : in one of which, (Job xxxi. 33.) 
 our translators have rendered it, as Adam; and 
 if they had so translated it, in the other, (Psal. 
 lxxxii. 7) the passage would have been much more 
 plain, and striking. " I have said, ye are gods; 
 and all of you are children, Heb. sons of the most 
 High : but ye shall die like Adam," like Adam who 
 
 f Gal. Hi. 12, 13. 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS. 
 
 was a son of GocK The phrase in Job, evidently 
 refers to Adam's excusing, or attempting to cover, 
 his sin of eating the forbidden fruit h . As, there- 
 fore, the word is the same in all the three places, 
 the marginal reading in Hosea, which is the literal 
 one, seems to many others, as well as to me, to be 
 the true one : " But they, like Adam, have trans- 
 gressed the covenant V 1 If the Spirit of inspiration, 
 in one of these passages, refers to Adam's covering 
 of his transgression, and in another, to the death to 
 which, by his transgression, he became obnoxious ; 
 is it not natural to conclude, that in the third, he 
 refers to the transgression itself, which occasioned 
 both the one and the other ? Since then the Israel- 
 ites transgressed, like Adam, the covenant, under 
 which they at that time were, it follows, that Adam 
 transgressed some covenant. But, we no where read 
 of any covenant, transgressed or broken by Adam, 
 except the covenant of works. This one, he trans- 
 gressed ; — he covered his transgression; and — he 
 died for his trangression. 
 
 3. If a covenant had not been made with Adam, 
 for such a purpose, he could not have been the mo- 
 ral representative of his natural descendants ; and, 
 if he had not been legally constituted their head 
 and representative, they could not have sinned, nor 
 died, in him, as the Scriptures declare they have 
 done k . They could not possibly have sinned in 
 him, when he committed his first sin, otherwise 
 than by representation. If, therefore, he who was 
 created their natural root, had not, by a covenant 
 made with him, been at the same time, constituted 
 their moral representative ; they could not, in the 
 estimation of law or justice, have fallen under the 
 
 6 Luke iii. 38. h Gen. iii. 1 2. 
 
 1 " While Adam's hiding his sin, and his death, are made an ex- 
 ample, how natural is it, that his transgression, that led the way to 
 all, be made so too ?" Bos. view of the Cov. of Works t page 8. 
 * 1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
ra PROOFS OF 
 
 guilt of his first sin, any more than of the other 
 sins, which he afterward committed. They could 
 no more have been found guilty of his first trans- 
 gression, or been punished for it as their sin, than 
 a child could in justice be charged with, or con- 
 demned for, a crime, which one of his remote ances- 
 tors had committed, hundreds of years before he 
 was born. But, it is abundantly evident from many 
 passages of Scripture, that all the posterity of 
 Adam, by natural generation, are under the guilt 
 of his first sin ; or, in other words, that they have 
 all sinned in him, and died in him. 
 
 To illustrate and enforce this argument, I shall 
 select, and endeavour to explain, only two passages 
 in the fifth chapter of the epistle to the ltomans. 
 The one, is in the 12th verse of the chapter;— 
 " Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the 
 world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon 
 all men, for that all have sinned.' 1 The one man, 
 in this very remarkable text, can be no other than 
 the first Adam, that first man. The sin, that indi- 
 vidual sin 1 , which entered into the world by that 
 one man ; and did not follow after, but went before, 
 and introduced his falling under the sentence of 
 death, could only be his first transgression, his sin 
 of eating of the forbidden fruit. By him, that sin 
 entered into the world of mankind, and by that sin, 
 the death ; the sentence, and the beginning of death, 
 which had seized on himself, as the due desert of 
 sin, entered into the world, and passed upon all men, 
 or found their way to all his natural posterity. All 
 the human race, then, are become subject to that 
 death in all its extent, which entered into the world, 
 by the first sin of that one man, and found its way 
 to all men ; or, as our Apostle elsewhere expresses 
 it, " In Adam all die :" — In Adam ; on account of 
 the first transgression of Adam, all mankind die, or 
 
 J 7) a/AacTKx,* 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS. V 
 
 are subject to misery and death. But how comes it 
 to pass, that under the government of that adorable 
 Jehovah, who is infinitely holy, and just, and 
 good, all mankind are condemned to die in Adam ; 
 to die, as the punishment due for his first sin ? 
 The Apostle here assigns the reason ; " For that 
 all have sinned." The original words, according 
 to the marginal reading, run thus : " In whom, 
 all have sinned;" In whom, namely, in the one 
 man, and in his first sin, all have sinned. They 
 all sinned in him ; and his first transgression, 
 was the sin, the only sin, that ever they committed 
 in him. But there is no need to depart here, from 
 our translation of the words ; because the meaning 
 is, in all respects, the same. For, by all who have 
 sinned, we must understand, all men upon whom 
 death is said, in the foregoing clause, to have pass- 
 ed ; all the men, descending from Adam by ordi- 
 nary generation, that ever were, are, or shall be, in 
 the world. All these, are here said to have sinned ; 
 to have already sinned ; which they could not pos- 
 sibly have done, in their own persons, and therefore 
 must have done, in the person of that one man, as 
 their public representative. They are said to have 
 sinned, not after, but — before death made its way 
 to them, or passed upon them : for it is expressly 
 declared, that death passed upon all men, "for 
 that, v in regard that, because that, all have sinned ; 
 —have sinned, previously to the passing of death 
 upon them. The sinning therefore which preceded, 
 and procured, the passing of the sentence, and, of 
 the beginnings of death, upon all men, could only 
 be the first sin of that one man ; the sin, which he 
 committed as their public representative, and which, 
 on that ground, is legally accounted their transgres- 
 sion. 
 
 But might not Adam's first sin, have been im- 
 puted to all his natural offspring, merely on the 
 ground of his having been their natural root, or first 
 
 %2 
 
10 PROOFS OF 
 
 parent ; and not, on the ground of his having been 
 their federal representative ? No ; for if natural re- 
 lation only, were the ground of the imputation of 
 iniquity, the sins of our intermediate, and especially 
 of our immediate parents, because our natural rela- 
 tion to them is nearer, would have been imputed to 
 to us, rather than the sin of Adam, our most remote 
 parent. Nay, if the imputation of Adam's trans- 
 gression to us, had been founded solely, on his hav- 
 ing been our natural root or first parent, which af- 
 ter the fall he still continued to be, all his sins 
 would have been imputed to us ; but instead of this, 
 it is by — one offence, as it is rendered on the mar- 
 gin, {Rom. v. 18.) that "judgment came upon all 
 men to condemnation." It follows, then, that all 
 the natural descendants of Adam, sinned in him, 
 not only as their natural root, but also and chiefly, 
 as their head and representative : and he could not 
 otherwise, have been constituted their representa- 
 tive, than by his having a constitution or covenant, 
 made with him, appointing him to stand in that re- 
 lation to them. He could not otherwise, have been 
 their moral, than by having been their federal or 
 covenant-representative. 
 
 The other passage which I select, to illustrate 
 and enforce the same argument, is that which fol- 
 lows immediately upon the former; {Rom. v. 18, 
 14.) "For until the law, sin was in the world, but 
 sin is not imputed, when there is no law : never- 
 theless, death reigned, from Adam to Moses, even 
 over them, that had not sinned after the similitude 
 of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him 
 that was to come." The sin, which, by one man, 
 had entered into the world, and had an entail of 
 death upon it, as the proper punishment of it, was, 
 since the time it was committed, or since the fall, 
 always in the world. It lay, in all its guilt and de- 
 merit, upon the world of mankind, as their sin, 
 which they had all committed in that one man. 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS, 11 
 
 Thus it was in the world, until the law ; until the 
 external revelation of the law, given by Moses, du- 
 ring a period of more than two thousand five hun- 
 dred years. All that time, it was so in the world, 
 as to be imputed to every individual, who descend- 
 ed from the one Man. Now this evidently supposes, 
 that there was then a law, of which that sin was a 
 trangression, and which was the ground of the im- 
 putation of it ; " for sin is not imputed, where there 
 is no law." If during that period, there had been 
 no law, there could have been no transgression ; 
 and, by consequence, no legal ground for either the 
 imputation, or the punishment, of transgression. 
 " Nevertheless," adds our Apostle, "death reigned 
 from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not 
 sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." 
 By sinning after the similitude of Adam's transgres- 
 sion, we are not to understand, the eating of the 
 forbidden fruit, like him ; for this is what none of 
 his posterity had ever access to do. It is here as- 
 serted, however, that some of them, had not sinned 
 after the similitude of his transgression ; which sup- 
 poses that others of them, had sinned in such a man- 
 ner. The Apostle, therefore, could mean no more, 
 than the general similitude or likeness of his sin- 
 ning ; namely, of his sinning actually ', or commit- 
 ting an actual transgression. By them, therefore, 
 who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
 transgression, we must necessarily understand, in- 
 fants, who were incapable of committing actual sin, 
 like him. Now, says our Apostle, " Death reigned 
 from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not 
 sinned after the similitude of his " transgression ;" 
 that is, death, with all its dismal train of attend- 
 ants, during the whole time from Adam to Moses, 
 exercised an universal dominion even over infants, 
 who could not possibly have committed any actual 
 sin, to deserve such a punishment. — Since, then, the 
 Judge of all the earth, who in all his procedure is 
 
12 PROOFS OF 
 
 unchangeably just, hath punished infants with 
 death, who could commit no actual transgression, to 
 deserve such a punishment, it follows that they de- 
 served it, by their original transgression ; by that 
 one offence of the first man, imputed to them. 
 
 But that sin could not justly, or legally, have 
 been placed to their account, but upon the ground 
 of Adam's having been their head and representa- 
 tive in law, at the time in which he committed it ; 
 and this he could not have been, but by virtue of a 
 constitution or covenant, made with him for that 
 purpose. I conclude then from this, and the for- 
 mer passage, That a covenant was made with the 
 first Man, and with all mankind in him, not mere- 
 ly as their natural root, but as their moral represent- 
 ative. 
 
 4. The law of works, and the law of faith, are 
 in Scripture set in opposition to one another.— 
 " Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By 
 what law ? of works ? Nay ; but by the law of 
 faith M ." 
 
 The law or doctrine of works, is the moral law, 
 under the form of a covenant of works ; requiring 
 works, or acts of obedience, as the ground of one's 
 title to eternal life. It is the law of the ten com- 
 mandments, not as a rule of life, but as a covenant 
 of life, which enjoins men or commands men to 
 obey, as the condition of their title to the promise 
 of life. Since it requires perfect obedience, as the 
 condition of eternal life, it makes the reward to 
 be of debt; and so, does not exclude boasting. 
 Whereas, the doctrine of the covenant of grace, 
 or of the free justification of a sinner, by grace, 
 on the ground of the surety-righteousness of the 
 last Adam, received by faith, and not on that of 
 the works of the law, excludes boasting, and shuts 
 it out of doors for ever. As therefore, the law of 
 
 m Rom. iii* 27. 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS. 13 
 
 faith, or doctrine of justification by faith, without 
 the works of the law, which excludes all boasting on 
 the part of the sinner, is the law or doctrine of the 
 covenant of grace ; the law of works, which as we 
 have seen admits of boasting, can be no other than 
 the covenant of works. 
 
 5. The apostle Paul informs us, That the com- 
 mandment was ordained to life, " The command- 
 ment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto 
 death n ." By the commandment, as the context 
 plainly shows, is meant the moral law, that bright 
 transcript of the image of Jehovah ; which is a 
 system of holy commandments, so intimately con- 
 nected, and so entirely consistent with each other, 
 as if they had been but one precept. This law, he 
 tells us, " was ordained to life,'' or was unto life. 
 When it was given to mankind, it was given with 
 a promise of life, to all who should yield to it a per- 
 fect obedience. Now since it is evident, that the 
 perfect obedience, either of Adam, or of any other 
 mere man, could not by any intrinsic value of its 
 own, merit life for him, at the hand of the infinitely 
 high and holy Jehovah; it follows, that when 
 the law was given with a promise of life, to such as 
 should perfectly obey, it must have been given as a 
 covenant of life ; a covenant, according to which 
 the Lord condescended to promise life, upon condi- 
 tion of perfect obedience ; saying, " The man 
 which doeth those things, shall live by them ." 
 The law could not have secured a title to life, to 
 such as should have performed perfect obedience, if 
 it had not been vested with the form of a covenant 
 of life, for that, as well as for other purposes. 
 
 6. The covenant of works, is by the apostle 
 Paul referred to, under the terms, Old covenant. 
 We read that Jesus is the Mediator of the New 
 covenant. The new covenant or covenant of grace y 
 
 a Rom. vii. 10. ■ Rom. x. &, 
 
14 phoofs of 
 
 of which Christ is the Mediator, is doubtless here 
 intended, in contradistinction from another cove- 
 nant, which was an old one, and of which he was 
 not the Mediator. The covenant of grace, indeed, 
 is represented in one place p , as covenants in the 
 plural, and in another q , as an old covenant and a 
 new. But the terms used in the last of these pas- 
 sages, primarily denote two different and distinct 
 dispensations of one and the same covenant of 
 grace; the one, called the Old Testament-dispen- 
 sation of it, and the other, the New. It is also 
 readily granted that, when Jesus is styled the Me- 
 diator of the new covenant, it has a more imme- 
 diate respect, to the New Testament-dispensa- 
 tion thereof under the Gospel, in distinction from 
 the Old Testament-dispensation of it under the 
 law, as published from Sinai. At the same time, 
 as the covenant of grace was administered, as 
 really, under the Old Testament, as under the 
 New ; and as Jesus was as really, though in a dif- 
 ferent manner, the Mediator of it, under that dis- 
 pensation, as under this ; the terms new covenant^ 
 as applied to the covenant of grace, can convey no 
 complete meaning, except as referring ultimately to 
 another, and an old covenant, altogether different 
 from the covenant of grace, under what dispensa- 
 tion soever, it be viewed. 
 
 The new testament or covenant of which, Jesus, 
 in the most positive terms, is styled the Mediator r , 
 cannot but refer ultimately to an old covenant, of 
 which he was not the Mediator ; and to which, af- 
 ter it had been broken, and become weak through 
 the flesh, the first dispensation of the covenant of 
 grace, succeeded. 
 
 7. That there was a covenant of Works, made 
 with mankind in Adam, is demonstrated from these 
 words of the apostle Paul : — " But when the fulness 
 
 p Eph. ii. 12. i Heb. viii. 13. r Heb. ix. 15. 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS. 15 
 
 of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made 
 of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them 
 that were under the law s ." It is evident from the 
 scope of the Apostle in the context, and from the 
 words themselves, especially when compared with 
 the 10th and 13th verses of the third chapter of 
 this epistle, That by the "law" here, we are 
 chiefly to understand the moral law, the foundation 
 of the ceremonial and judicial laws, given to the 
 ancient Israelites ; that law, which in sacred writ is 
 presented to us, under no other general form, than 
 either that of a rule of life, or of a covenant of 
 works. The Apostle here informs us, that Christ, 
 the eternal Son of the Father, was " made of a 
 woman, made under the law, to redeem them that 
 were under the law." But is it the moral law con- 
 sidered as a rule of life, that is meant ? Let us sup- 
 pose for a moment that it is, and then attend to the 
 consequence of such a supposition. It will make the 
 Apostle's meaning to be this : " God sent forth his 
 Son, — made under the law " as a rule of life, " to 
 redeem them that were under the law " as a rule, 
 from subjection to the authority of it, or from obli- 
 gation to perform obedience to it. — This detestable 
 doctrine, if admitted to be true, would at once, dis- 
 solve the believer's obligations to holiness, and 
 make Christ the minister of sin. 
 
 Far be it from me to believe that this, can be the 
 meaning of the holy Apostle. If, then, Christ was 
 not made under the moral law as a rule of duty, to 
 redeem his people from subjection to it, the Apostle 
 must be understood to mean, That he was made 
 under it as a Covenant of Worlcs, to redeem them 
 from the dominion and curse of it under that form. 
 — This, and no other, must be his meaning. Since 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, as last Adam, and Surety 
 of his people, engaged to stand in their law-room, 
 
 s Gal. iv. 4, 5. 
 
16 PROOFS OF 
 
 it behoved him to be made under the law, in the 
 same form, in which they were under it, and ac- 
 cording to which, they were to be redeemed from 
 it. Now they were all under it, and were to be re- 
 deemed from the bondage, and the curse of it, as 
 it is a covenant of works. " God therefore sent 
 forth his Son, — made under, 1 ' or made subject to 
 the precept, and to the penalty, of the law as a co- 
 venant of works ; that by his obedience, sufferings 
 and death, he might redeem them who were under 
 the law as a covenant, from their bondage under the 
 dominion and curse of it, in that particular form *. 
 The moral law, then, was given to Adam, and in 
 him to all the human race, under the form of a pro- 
 mise of life, for perfect obedience, and of a threaten- 
 ing of death, for disobedience ; which is the form 
 of a covenant of works. 
 
 The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, 
 thus expresses himself": — "Wherefore, my bre- 
 thren, ye also are become dead to the law, by the 
 body of Christ." " But now we are delivered from 
 the law, that being dead, wherein we were held, 
 that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not 
 in the oldness of the letter. 1 ' By the law, in these, 
 and in all the other passages of the epistle, where 
 the term occurs, is principally meant the moral law, 
 the remains of which, were still found in the con- 
 sciences of the Gentiles ; the law according to which, 
 " all the world is become guilty before God," and 
 by which, " is the knowledge of sin ;" the law that 
 says, a man " shall not steal, shall not commit 
 adultery," and " shall not covet ;" concerning which 
 our Apostle thus writes — " Do we make void the law 
 through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish the 
 law." — " I had not known lust, except the law had 
 said, Thou shalt not covet." — " We know that the 
 law is spiritual."— 4 ' I delight in the law of God, af- 
 
 * Gal, iii. 10, 13. u Rom. vii. 4, 6. 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS. 17 
 
 ter the inward man." Such things as these, cannot 
 be affirmed of any law but the moral law. Now the 
 Apostle, in the passage above cited, asserts that he 
 and the believers to whom he wrote, were become 
 dead to, and were delivered from that law. He sure- 
 ly cannot mean, that they were delivered from it as a 
 rule of duty ; for he tells us, that the express design 
 of their having been delivered from it, was, that 
 they " might bring forth fruit unto God" and, 
 that they " might serve in newness of spirit." His 
 meaning therefore is, That they were dead to it, or 
 were delivered from the dominion, and the curse of 
 it, as it is a covenant of works. The moral law, 
 then, was given to all mankind in Adam, under the 
 form of a covenant of works. 
 
 9. That a covenant of works was made with the 
 first man, is no less evident, from the ardent, and 
 incessant, desire after eternal happiness, which God, 
 when he created him, impressed on his heart. Per- 
 fect obedience was, what he already owed to that 
 God who had created him, who still preserved him, 
 and who was infinitely exalted above him ; and 
 therefore it could not in the smallest degree, merit 
 for him that happiness, which consists in the never- 
 ending enjoyment of the infinite God. Since, then, 
 his desire of eternal life, was lawful and reasonable; 
 since his infinitely kind Creator impressed it on his 
 heart; not surely with a design to torment him 
 with disappointment, but with an intention, upon 
 his having performed the perfect obedience required 
 by the law, to satisfy it to the full ; — there must 
 have been a promise of this happiness, made to him, 
 which, in the event of such obedience, should have 
 been fulfilled to him. He could not have claimed 
 it, on the footing of any intrinsic merit in his obe- 
 dience; and, therefore, could not have claimed it 
 at all, nor have had the least ground to expect, 
 that ever he should have attained the enjoyment of 
 it, unless a positive promise of it, had been made to 
 
18 PROOFS OF 
 
 his perfect obedience. But a promise of life, made 
 to man upon condition of his obedience, is the very 
 form of a covenant of works. 
 
 10. The 'parallel which is stated in the fifth 
 chapter of the epistle to the Romans, between the 
 first and the second Man, evinces, in the clearest 
 manner, the reality of such a covenant. In the 
 14th verse, the Apostle informs us, that Adam 
 " was the figure of him who was to come." By 
 " him who was to come," is evidently meant, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who said to his eternal Father, 
 when the covenant of grace was proposed to him, 
 " Lo, I come ;" and, who accordingly was to come 
 into this world, in the public character of a federal 
 Representative, and of a Head of righteousness and 
 life to his spiritual seed. Now Adam <s was the fi- 
 gure of Him.'" In a manner peculiar to himself, 
 and entirely different from that of all other men, he 
 was an eminent type or figure of Him. In respect 
 of themselves as persons or individuals, the dispa- 
 rity between them was infinitely great. " The first 
 man Adam, was made a living soul ; the last 
 Adam was made a quickening spirit.'" " The first 
 man is of the earth, earthy," a mere man ; " the 
 second Man is the Lord from heaven *." In no 
 respect, then, could the former be the type or pat- 
 tern of the latter, but in that of a public character, 
 common to both, and peculiar only to themselves. 
 The Lord Jesus Christ sustains the public charac- 
 ter of a covenant-Head, representing his spiritual 
 seed ; and Adam's having been the figure of Him, 
 can import no less, than that he likewise was a co- 
 venant-head, representing his natural offspring. — 
 As, therefore, it was by a covenant made with 
 Christ, that he was constituted the Representative 
 of his spiritual offspring ; so it must have been by 
 a covenant made with Adam, that he was consti- 
 
 * 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47. 
 
A COVENANT OF WOltKS. 19 
 
 tutecl the representative of his natural descend- 
 ants. 
 
 In the ISth verse of the same chapter, our Apos- 
 tle thus expresses himself : " Therefore, as by the 
 offence of one, judgment came upon all men to con- 
 demnation, even so, by the righteousness of one, the 
 free gift came upon all men, unto justification of 
 life." An opposition is here stated between con- 
 demnation, and justification ; between the condem- 
 nation of all men, that is, of all men descending 
 from, and belonging to Adam the first man, and the 
 justification of all men, belonging to Christ the 
 second Man. The condemnation of those, is by 
 the offence of one, or as the words might be render- 
 ed, by one offence ; the justification of these, is by 
 the righteousness of One, or by one righteousness. 
 While, therefore, the justification of all the spiri- 
 tual seed of Christ, comes by his one, his indivi- 
 dual righteousness, which he as their federal Repre- 
 sentative, fulfilled for them, the condemnation of all 
 the natural posterity of Adam, comes by the one 
 offence, of which he as their covenant-head, was 
 guilty. 
 
 Once more : In the 19th verse, we have these 
 very remarkable words ; " For as by one man's dis- 
 obedience, many were made sinners, so by the obe- 
 dience of one, shall many be made righteous." The 
 causal particle for, intimates that the Apostle is 
 here proving, as well as explaining, what' he had 
 advanced in the immediately preceding verse, con- 
 cerning condemnation and justification. Here he 
 presents to our view, the legal ground of the con- 
 demnation, of all the natural descendants of Adam, 
 namely, his one offence or act of disobedience, im- 
 puted to them ; and the legal ground of the justi- 
 fication, of all the spiritual offspring of Christ, 
 which is, his obedience imputed to them. " For," 
 says he, " as by one man's disobedience" imputed 
 to them, " many," even all his natural descendants, 
 
20 PROOFS OF 
 
 " were made," or judicially constituted, " sinners," 
 and as such, were condemned ; " so, by the obedi- 
 ence" or righteousness "of one," imputed to them, 
 " shall many," even all his spiritual seed, be judi- 
 cially constituted righteous, and as such, be justi- 
 fied. Now, as the obedience of the last Adam, is 
 so imputed to his spiritual children, as to be legally 
 accounted their obedience in him, their covenant- 
 Representative ; the parallel and opposition conti- 
 nued in this verse, require, that the disobedience of 
 the first Adam, that one man, be so imputed to his 
 natural posterity, as in law, to be reckoned their 
 disobedience in him, their head and representative. 
 Many were constituted sinners, then, by their of- 
 fence, their one act of disobedience in Adam their 
 public representative. A covenant, therefore, was 
 made with him, constituting him the head and re- 
 presentative of all, who by ordinary generation 
 should descend from him. 
 
 11. To conclude, In the account given of this 
 transaction by Moses, we find every thing, that is 
 requisite to constitute a proper covenant. — All that 
 is necessary to constitute a covenant, is, contracting 
 parties, a condition, a promise, and if one of the 
 parties be fallible, a penalty. Now, the inspired 
 Historian thus expresses himself: " And the Lord 
 God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of 
 the garden, thou mayst freely eat ; but of the tree 
 of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of 
 it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
 surely die *P Here, are Parties contracting ; " the 
 Lord God," and the man whom he had formed. 
 Here, is obedience to a Divine command, prescribed 
 as the condition; " The Lord God commanded 
 the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden, thou 
 mayest freely eat ; but of the tree of knowledge of 
 good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it." Here also, 
 
 J Gen. ii. 16, IT. 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS.. 91 
 
 is an awful penalty denounced, if the condition be 
 not performed ; "In the day that thou eatest 
 thereof, thou shalt surely die." Here likewise, is 
 a promise of life, though not expressly mentioned. 
 The threatening of death, for disobedience, neces- 
 sarily implied a promise of life, upon obedience ; 
 and the license too, which God had given Adam, 
 to eat freely of the tree of life, imported such a 
 promise. — Now, the promise of life, and the threat- 
 ening of death, superadded to the Divine law or 
 precept, made it to the man, a covenant of works, 
 proposed ; and his own voluntary consent, which a 
 holy creature could not refuse, made it a covenant 
 of works, accepted. Adam's silent acquiescence in 
 the will of the Lord, implied this consent. The 
 rectitude of his nature while it continued, was such 
 as to secure his consent, both to the righteous com- 
 mand of God, and to the promise of eternal life in 
 the full enjoyment of him. Eve acknowledged this 
 consent. " The woman said unto the serpent, We 
 may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; but 
 of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the 
 garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, nei- 
 ther shall ye touch it, lest ye die z ." When an ab- 
 solute prince proposes to his subjects a law, and 
 promises to them, a reward for obeying it ; what 
 he in this manner proposes to them, is a covenant \ 
 as well as a law ; and when they consent, to perform 
 obedience to such a law, they enter thereby into a 
 covenant with him, and may, upon fulfilling the 
 condition, claim the promised reward. — In like 
 manner, the law given to Adam, while it was a law 
 of works, was no less a covenant of works. 
 
 Thus I have selected, and endeavoured to illus- 
 trate, a variety of Scripture-arguments, to prove 
 that a covenant of works was made with Adam, and 
 in him, with all his natural posterity. I have 
 
 2 Gen. iii. 2. 3. 
 
22 ntooFs of 
 
 shown, — that the contract between Jehovah and 
 the first Adam, is in Scripture, styled a covenant ; 
 — that mention is made in Hosea, of Adam's hav- 
 ing transgressed a covenant ; — that if a covenant 
 had not been made with Adam, for that purpose, 
 he could not have been the moral representative, of 
 his natural posterity, and, that if he had not been 
 their moral head and representative, they could not 
 have sinned and died in him^ as the records of truth 
 declare, they had done ; — that the law of works, 
 and the law of faith, are, in the epistle to the* Ro- 
 mans, placed in opposition to each other ;-— that 
 the commandment was ordahied to life ; — that the 
 covenant of works is referred to, by the Apostle of 
 the Gentiles, under this title or designation, The 
 old covenant. — That there was such a covenant, I 
 have also shown from these words ; " But when the 
 fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his 
 Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to re- 
 deem them that were under the law 3 ;" — from these 
 words in the epistle to the Romans ; " Wherefore, 
 my brethren, ye are also become dead to the law by 
 the body of Christ i" " But now we are delivered 
 from the law, that being dead wherein we were 
 held ; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and 
 not in the oldness of the letter b ;" — from the ardent 
 desire after endless happiness, which God, in his 
 creation, impressed on the heart of the first man ; — 
 from the parallel which, in the fifth chapter of the 
 epistle to the Romans, is stated between the first 
 and the second Adam ; — and, from the account 
 given of this contract by Moses, in which, we find 
 all that is requisite to constitute a proper covenant. 
 I conclude, then, that a covenant of works was 
 made with Adam, and in him, as their natural root, 
 and moral representative, with all his natural pos- 
 terity. 
 
 a Gal. iv. 4, 5. b Rom. vii. 4, 6. 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS. 23 
 
 Fuom what has been said in the preceding pages, 
 presented to our view, we may see what ground 
 we have to believe^ and at the same time, how ne- 
 cessary it is, that we firmly and with our heart be- 
 lieve, that Jehovah made a covenant of works 
 with the first Adam, as our natural root and moral 
 representative, and with us in him. This is ne- 
 cessary to a true discernment of the connexion, 
 consistency, and glory of the doctrines of redeeming 
 grace, the only doctrines that are according to 
 godliness. Without admitting the reality of such 
 a covenant, we cannot consistently with our doing 
 so, believe any article of that glorious gospel, which 
 is an exhibition of the covenant of grace, to sinners 
 of mankind. Except we believe, that such a cove- 
 nant was made with the first man, it will be impos- 
 sible for us, ever to account for the imputation of 
 his sin, consistently with the honour of Divine jus- 
 tice, to his posterity. It will be impossible other- 
 wise, to account for the imputation of his first sin 5 
 rather than for that of the other transgressions, of 
 which he was afterwards guilty ; or, for the imputa- 
 tion of his sin, rather than for that of the sins of our 
 intermediate progenitors. Without admitting the 
 imputation of Adam's first transgression, to his na- 
 tural descendants, it will be utterly impossible to ac- 
 count, consistently with the infinite equity of the 
 Divine administration, for the conveyance of uni- 
 versal depravity of nature, from him to them. If 
 the universal corruption of human nature, be not 
 admitted to be true, it will never be in our power, 
 to account for the unnumbered actual transgres- 
 sions, that are every moment, committed by the 
 children of Adam, in this world. And without the 
 supposition of actual, as well as of original sin, we 
 cannot account for the necessity, of having an infi- 
 nite atonement made for the sins of the elect ; of 
 the imputation of the righteousness of the second 
 Adam, to their persons ; or, of the communication 
 
24 PROOFS OF 
 
 of holy influences, to their souls. In a word, if you 
 believe not, that the infinitely high and holy One, 
 entered into a covenant of life "with Adam, and with 
 you in him, you cannot consistently believe, that 
 you are by nature, and by practice, undone sinners ; 
 nor, that you stand in need, either of the righteous- 
 ness, or strength, of Christ the second Adam. 
 
 The apostle Paul tells us, as was already ob- 
 served, That true believers, " are become dead to 
 the law by the body of Christ." As he cannot be 
 supposed to mean, that they are dead to it as a rule 
 of duty; his meaning must be, that they are be- 
 come dead to it as a covenant of works. But how 
 can they be dead to it as a covenant of works, if 
 such a covenant never existed? — Do you, reader, 
 believe, then, that a covenant of works, was made 
 with the first Adam, as your natural root, and pub- 
 lic representative ; and that in him, you have bro- 
 ken that covenant? Do you believe it with the 
 heart ? It is only " with the heart, that man be- 
 lieveth unto righteousness.'" If you believe it with 
 the heart, you approve and embrace it, as a part of 
 the Divine testimony. You receive it affection- 
 ately or in love. What does your belief of it, is- 
 sue in ? Does it issue in a deep and abiding con- 
 viction of the infinite malignity, deformity, and de- 
 merit, of the sin of your nature and life ? And in 
 an impressive, and abiding concern, to be by faith, 
 instated in the covenant of grace ; that everlasting 
 covenant, which the creature cannot break, and 
 which the Creator will not P See, O see, I beseech 
 you, that you be under no deception, in a matter of 
 such unspeakable moment. 
 
 On a review of the foregoing detail, we may also 
 learn not to wonder, that working 1 to entitle them" 
 selves to life, is so very natural to all the children 
 of Adam. A covenant of works, was the covenant 
 which was made with the first man, and in him, 
 with all his natural descendants ; and so, it is con- 
 
A COVENANT OF WORKS. 25 
 
 sonant to the nature of man. Legal principles and 
 tempers, are natural to men ; and, therefore, though 
 good works are seldom seen, works performed 
 to entitle the performer to heaven, are very fre- 
 quent. It is as natural to the sons of Adam, to 
 rely on their own professions and performances, for 
 a title to eternal life, as it is, to breathe. Nothing 
 can destroy this legal spirit, this inclination in them, 
 to lean to the way of the old covenant, for accept- 
 ance with God, but the quickening Spirit of the 
 last Adam c . Reader, are you convinced by the 
 law, in the hand of the Spirit of Christ, that such 
 a legal temper is in you ; and, that it is so deeply 
 rooted in your heart, that no power can enable you 
 to mortify it, but the exceeding greatness of Al- 
 mighty power ? If your conviction of it be saving, 
 you see, nay, you feel, the strength of it to be so 
 great in you, that no strength appears to you, to be 
 fit to deal with it, but the strength of the grace of 
 Christ. It is only the second Adam, who can cast 
 the first Adam out of the heart, and seize upon it 
 for himself; who can make the proud legalist will- 
 ing, instead of " going about to establish his own 
 righteousness " for life, to go about to work righte« 
 ousness from life already received. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES IN THAT COVENANT, 
 
 After having, in the preceding chapter, evinced 
 the reality of the Covenant of Works, it will be pro- 
 per now, as was proposed, to take a view of the con- 
 tracting Parties. 
 
 The Party, on the one hand, who planned and 
 
 • Rom. viii. 2. 
 
26 THE CONTRACTING PARTIES 
 
 proposed that covenant, was God, Father, Son, and 
 Holy Spirit, the Three- One, the infinitely adorable 
 Jehovah; considered as the almighty Creator, 
 the great Preserver, the supreme Governor, and 
 the sovereign Disposer of man, as well as of every 
 other creature. u The Lord God commanded the 
 man*" he. Though without the smallest imputa- 
 tion of injustice, the high and lofty One might 
 have governed man, his own dependent creature, by 
 a law simply so called, without promising to him, the 
 least reward for his obedience ; yet, he was graci- 
 ously pleased to propose, and to enter into, a cove- 
 nant with him; by which he bound himself to 
 reward his perfect obedience, and to reward it with 
 nothing short of life, in all its vast extent and dura- 
 tion. " The man which doeth those things, shall 
 live by them e ." 
 
 Now, in proposing this covenant to the first man, 
 Jehovah, in the first place, manifested infinite and 
 admirable condescension. Man, his creature, his 
 dependent, his subject, was infinitely beneath him, 
 infinitely distant from him, and infinitely mean in 
 comparison of him. — When therefore he stooped so 
 low, as to require by paction, that obedience which, 
 as sovereign Lord of the being, and operations of 
 his creature, he could have demanded simply, by 
 his supreme authority ; — and so low, as to make 
 himself a debtor to the man, upon his obedience, 
 which, without a covenant, he could not have been ; 
 nay, so low, as to take a greater obligation on him- 
 self^ than he laid upon man ;-— he discovered the 
 most astonishing condescension. When the glori- 
 ous Majesty of heaven, was pleased to require such 
 obedience, and to promise such a reward, to such a 
 creature; it behoved him, as it were, to rise from 
 his lofty throne, and to stoop infinitely low. 
 
 2. In proposing such a covenant to man, he dis- 
 
 d Gen. ii. 16. e Rom. x. 5. f Luke x. 28. 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 27 
 
 closed treasures of unbounded goodness. After he 
 had manifested great goodness, in creating man af- 
 ter his own image, he afforded a farther, and a still 
 brighter display of it, in promising such a reward 
 for his perfect obedience, as it could never, by any 
 intrinsic value of its own, have merited for him. 
 So kindly did Jehovah prevent him, with the 
 blessings of his goodness, as to pledge his faithful- 
 ness, in a sealed promise of eternal life, to him and 
 his posterity. So bountifully did he deal with him, 
 as not only to make him holy, and to make ample 
 provision for his happiness, in the present world ; 
 but, to make a covenant with him, in which, upon 
 the easiest terms, he promised to him and his off- 
 spring, infinitely greater blessedness in the world to 
 come. Nay, so abundant were the overflowings of 
 his goodness to him, that he proposed to him a 
 method, which of all others, appears to have been 
 the shortest, and the easiest^ of securing for himself 
 and his offspring, the everlasting enjoyment of Him- 
 self, as their God and their portion. His kindness 
 to man appeared as much, in the matter, as in the 
 manner, of the law which he prescribed to him. In 
 the moral precepts which he gave him, he com- 
 manded him to do, or to forbear nothing, but what 
 was most conducive to his own interest ; and in the 
 •positive precept, respecting the forbidden fruit, no- 
 thing, but what was most easy. Thus, by God's 
 entering into such a covenant with him, did streams 
 of uncreated goodness, of unbounded liberality, flow 
 forth upon the man. 
 
 3. In this covenant, Jehovah at the same time, 
 manifested his supreme dominion over the man. 
 He gave him not only a natural law, the transcript 
 of his own infinitely holy nature, but a positive law, 
 depending entirely on his own sovereign will, as the 
 supreme Lawgiver ; and he commanded him to obey 
 each of them, upon the highest, and most dreadful 
 penalty. " The Lord God commanded the man, 
 
28 THE CONTRACTING PARTIES 
 
 saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest 
 freely eat ; but of the tree of knowledge of good and 
 evil, thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou 
 eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die s ? While his 
 goodness disposed of life to mankind, it was upon 
 what terms soever he pleased. In this constitution, 
 then, he afforded an illustrious display of that su- 
 preme and absolute dominion, which is founded in 
 his glorious supereminence over man, and in man's 
 natural dependence upon him. 
 
 4. In proposing this covenant to the first man, 
 he likewise discovered the most exact, and inflexi- 
 ble justice. When he threatened the man with 
 death, in all its dreadful extent and duration, if he 
 should but for once, dare to commit transgression ; 
 he threatened no more, than what the least instance 
 of sin, committed against such infinite holiness, and 
 such transcendant majesty, justly deserves. 
 
 5. Lastly, in this federal transaction, Jehovah 
 afforded too, a glorious display of the most consum- 
 mate wisdom and prudence. He created man, a 
 reasonable, as well as a holy creature ; and in mak- 
 ing this covenant with him, he dealt with him in 
 such a manner, as was most suited to his rational na- 
 ture. — The dread of the punishment which the Lord 
 had threatened, and the hope of the reward which 
 he had promised, tended in a high degree, to render 
 his obedience reasonable, voluntary, and free. 
 
 Thus he wisely hedged in the will of man, on the 
 one hand, with a denunciation of the sorest punish- 
 ment, and on the other, with a promise of the great- 
 est reward ; that he might continually be disposed 
 to obey ; and that, whenever he should be tempted 
 to turn to the right hand, or to the left, danger 
 might be kept out, and he might be kept in, by the 
 fear of the one, and the hope of the other. Besides, 
 there could not be another way of obtaining, and 
 
 *Gen. ii, 16, 17. 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 29 
 
 securing, everlasting blessedness for mankind, in a 
 state of innocence, so short, and so simple as this, 
 According to this method, the perfect obedience of 
 one man, and that for a time, probably a very short 
 time, would have infallibly secured eternal happi- 
 ness, for all the children of men; whereas, had 
 every man been left to procure his own title to life, 
 to many of them, that title might, for a long time, 
 have continued to be very precarious. — These are 
 some only, of the instances, in God's establishment 
 with the first man, in which the most consummate 
 wisdom shines. 
 
 On the one hand, then, the Party who projected 
 and proposed the first covenant, is the blessed 
 Three in One, the eternal Jehovah : and in doing 
 so, he manifested infinite condescension ;— immense 
 goodness ;— supreme dominion ; -—inflexible justice ; 
 —•and consummate wisdom. 
 
 The Party on the other hand, who consented to 
 that covenant, was Adam ; and in consenting to it, 
 he is to be considered in a three-fold capacity. 
 
 1. He is to be viewed as a man, a holy and righ- 
 teous man. In making that covenant, <s The Lokb 
 God commanded the man 71 ."" Adam is here to be 
 considered, not merely as a man, a reasonable crea- 
 ture, subject to God, and capable of being governed 
 by a moral law; but as a man, who had the moral 
 law inscribed on his heart, and who was thereby 
 "made upright 1 ;" as a man, made after the image 
 of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holi- 
 ness; endued with sufficient ability to believe 
 whatever God should reveal, and to do whatever he 
 should command ; as a man, furnished with suffi- 
 cient power, to enable him, not only to perform per- 
 fect obedience to the law, but to retain and preserve, 
 the rectitude of his nature inviolate, during the 
 continuance of his state of trial ; without standing 
 
 h Gen. ii, 16, l Eccles. vii. 29, 
 
30 THE CO^TKACTING PAItTIES 
 
 in need, for that purpose, of any further supplies of 
 habitual grace. Created in the image of God, his 
 understanding was adorned with perfect knowledge, 
 and profound wisdom. When he came out of the 
 creating hand of Jehovah, his understanding was 
 to such a degree, enlightened with rays of Divine 
 light, and to such a degree, filled with stores of con- 
 summate wisdom, that he knew perfectly, the good 
 which he ought to pursue, and the evil which he 
 ought to avoid. " And the Lord God said, be- 
 hold the man ; Heb. — he was as one of us, to know 
 good and evil k ." As if the blessed Three in One 
 had said, — w He wets as one of us> to know good and 
 evil, but is not so now ; created in our image, he 
 once resembled us, in his knowledge of good and 
 evil, but is now destitute of that resemblance. ,, As 
 long as he knew good and evil, he had a perfect 
 knowledge of God, the chief Good of his soul, not 
 only as possessed of all Divine perfections, but as 
 subsisting in three adorable persons. God was the 
 same then, that he is now; and we know, that he 
 who does not now know and worship Him, as resid- 
 ing in three Divine Persons, does not know nor 
 worship Him at all, as the true God. Elihu re- 
 garded it as sinful, when " none said, where is God, 
 Heb. — my makers, who giveth songs in the night 1 ?" 
 Adam, therefore, so long as he continued without 
 sin, knew God as his maker, who had said, " Let 
 us make man, in our image, after our likeness m ." 
 
 Whilst Adam was created after the image of God, 
 in knowledge, he was no less so, in righteousness, 
 and true holiness. While his understanding was 
 endued with the light of perfect knowledge, his will 
 was adorned with righteousness, or rectitude of in- 
 clination. It was inclined perfectly to be, and to 
 do, what the holy law required ; and to follow the 
 will of the high and holy One, expressed in his 
 
 k Gen. iii. 22. » Job xxxv. 10. ■ Gen. i. 26. 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 31 
 
 law, as closely as the shadow follows the body. No 
 contrary bias or propensity was found in it. It was 
 righteous ; it lay closely, or as it were, in a straight 
 line, with the will of God, expressed in the righte- 
 ous precept. Thus was the moral law, not merely 
 put into his mind, in respect of his knowledge of it, 
 but into his heart ; so that, his will was perfectly 
 bent upon performing what it required of him *." 
 The affections of his soul were perfectly holy. 
 They were completely free from the least defilement, 
 distemper, or disorder. In all their motions, they 
 were under due subjection, and regular subordina- 
 tion, to the dictates of his enlightened mind, and to 
 the inclinations of his righteous will. Thus, the 
 man was <fi made upright ;" or was created after the 
 image of his maker, in knowledge, respecting his 
 mind ; in righteousness or rectitude, in relation to 
 his will ; and in holiness or purity, in respect of his 
 affections. His mind was formed for knowing, un- 
 derstanding, and dictating; his will, for choosing, 
 and consenting ; his affections, for loving, and de- 
 lighting in; and his conscience, for enforcing his 
 duty. God gave him also, an executive power ; a 
 power of performing all the duty, which the law re- 
 quired ; which his mind dictated, his will inclined 
 him to perform, his affections delighted in, and his 
 conscience enforced ." And doubtless, if God had 
 not thus made the man, fully capable of yielding 
 perfect obedience to his law, the man could not have 
 been obliged to perform such obedience : God infi- 
 nitely just, would not have required it ; far less 
 would he have proposed, and entered into, a cove- 
 nant with the man, threatening him and his poste- 
 rity with death eternal, if he should fail in perform- 
 ing it. 
 
 2. In this constitution, Adam is to be consider- 
 ^ed not merely as a man, made in the image of God 5 
 
 * Heb. viii, 10. * Gen. i. 31. 
 
 ' 
 
32 THE CONTRACTING PARTIES 
 
 made capable of yielding perfect obedience to the 
 law inscribed on his heart, but as the Jirst man, the 
 natural root, of all his natural offspring. When 
 God covenanted with Adam, he entered into a co- 
 venant with all mankind in his loins, or in him as 
 their first parent, or natural root. All the children 
 of men are of one blood, of one stock or parentage. 
 God — "hath made of one blood, all nations of 
 men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth ? ." 
 Adam then was the natural root, from which, all 
 the generations of men on the face of the earth, 
 spring, the first parent, from whom they all de- 
 scend. The history which we have of him, in the 
 first three chapters of Genesis, sufficiently shows, 
 v that what the Lord said, either to him, or of him, 
 he did not say to him, or concerning him, as a sin- 
 gle individual, but as the compend, as it were, of 
 human nature, the head of the human race. When 
 Jehovah said, " Let us make man in our image, 
 and let them have dominion over the fish of the 
 sea V &c. the words refer to his posterity, as well 
 as to himself. When he said to Adam and Eve, 
 " Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, 
 and subdue it, — Behold I have given yon every 
 herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the 
 earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a 
 tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat," 
 and, " Unto dust thou shalt return 1 ;" the expres- 
 sions relate as manifestly to his descendants, as 
 when God said to him, " Dying, thou shalt die." 
 Nor did the following words, relate to Adam as a 
 mere individual, exclusive of his posterity : — " It is 
 not good that the man should be alone ; I will 
 make him an help meet for him." " Therefore, 
 shall a man leave his father and his mother, and 
 shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one 
 flesh 8 ." Indeed, there is scarcely one word, that 
 
 v Acts xvii. 26. * Gen. i. 26. * Gen. i. 28, 29, and iii. 19= 
 s Gen. ii. IS, 21. 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WOItKS. 33 
 
 the Lord ever spake to Adam or Eve, recorded in 
 Genesis, but what includes in the design of it, their 
 descendants : which evidently shows, that he re- 
 garded Adam, not as a private person, but as the 
 progenitor, principle, or root, of all mankind. 
 Adam, then, in his consenting to the terms of the 
 first covenant, is to be considered as the first pa- 
 rent, the natural root, and head of all his natural 
 posterity. 
 
 Lastly, He is likewise to be regarded as the mo- 
 ral head, or public representative, of all who by or- 
 dinary generation were to descend from him. He 
 was constituted by Jehovah, a public person, a 
 covenant-head ; representing, or sustaining the per- 
 sons, of all who were by ordinary generation, to 
 spring from him, as their natural root. I said, by 
 ordinary generation ; for the Lord Jesus Christ, as 
 to his human nature, descended from Adam, but 
 not by ordinary generation, and so, was not repre- 
 sented by him. Indeed, it was impossible that Ue 9 
 could have been represented by the first Adam, in 
 the covenant of works ; for — he was the eternal, 
 and only-begotten Son of God. — He was " from 
 everlasting,'' set up as the Head of another cove- 
 nant, and the Representative of another seed ; and 
 is, in Scripture, opposed to the first man, as the se- 
 cond Man, the last Adam, or as one public repre- 
 sentative, to another'. His human nature, never 
 had any human personality, or personality of its 
 own, as every other individual of Adam's descend- 
 ants has. 
 
 If the covenant made with Adam, had not been 
 broken, Christ could not have come into our world, 
 to repair the breach ; and so, to establish the earth, 
 by fulfilling the conditions of another covenant.-— 
 As the Lord Jesus was, from eternity, constituted 
 the Representative, and the Surety of his elect seed, 
 
 4 1 Cor. xv. 47, 48. 
 
34 THE CONTRACTING PARTIES 
 
 and, therefore, was to be considered as one in law 
 with them, and as bound to take unto him, the same 
 human nature with them u ; so, he legally derived 
 his human nature from Adam, after Adam had 
 ceased to be a public person. He descended from 
 Adam, not by ordinary or natural generation, but 
 by the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit, as 
 the fulfilment of a promise made after the fall, and 
 consequently, after Adam had ceased, to be a pub- 
 lic representative of his natural posterity. Though 
 therefore Adam, in covenanting with God, could 
 not represent the man Christ Jesus, yet it is evi- 
 dent, that as their covenant-head, he represented or 
 stood bound, for all his natural descendants ; and, 
 that in dealing with him, God dealt with human 
 nature in general, or, with all the human race. 
 
 This is manifest, not only from the most of the 
 arguments, advanced in the preceding chapter, 
 which prove no less, that Adam was the public re- 
 presentative of his posterity, than that a covenant 
 of works was, in that capacity, made with him ; but 
 also, from the following considerations : 
 
 First, As the spiritual seed of the second Adam, 
 are called after his name*, to show that they were 
 all included in him, as their glorious Representative; 
 so, the natural posterity of the first Adam, are, in 
 the original language of the Old Testament, more 
 than four hundred times, called Adam. On the 
 other hand, as Christ the second Man, to show 
 that, in the covenant of grace, he represented his 
 spiritual offspring, is, in the Old Testament, de- 
 nominated Jacob and Israel, which are names be- 
 longing to them ; so, in the same sacred record, 
 Adam, to show that in the first covenant, he re- 
 presented and included his natural descendants, is 
 called by a name which is most common to them. 
 Oftener than twenty times, is he styled the Adam, 
 
 u Heb. ii. 11, 14. * Jer. xxxiii. 16. 1 Cor. xii. 12. 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 85 
 
 or the Man y , as the word signifies ; that is, the 
 Man, by way of eminence, who comprehended or 
 sustained, the persons of all other mere men ; — 
 that Adam, that Man, who was not only the first 
 man, but who included, as their natural root and 
 moral representative, all other men. As Christ 
 therefore and his spiritual seed, are called by the 
 same name, to indicate that, in the covenant of 
 grace, he was their covenant-Head and Representa- 
 tive; so, Adam and his natural posterity have, 
 by the Spirit of inspiration, the same appellation 
 given them, to show that, while he was their great 
 progenitor, he was at the same time, their federal 
 representative. 
 
 In the second place, That Adam considered him- 
 self, as the head and representative of his posterity, 
 appears from the reason, which the sacred historian 
 assigns, for his calling his wife's name Eve :— 
 " Adam called his wife's name Eve," says he, " be- 
 cause she was the mother of all living V When 
 Jehovah first presented her to him, in their state 
 of innocence, he called her name Woman. But 
 now, after they had both fallen under the sentence 
 of death, and after the promise of life, by Messiah 
 the seed of the woman, had been intimated to them, 
 he called her by the new name of Eve, which sig- 
 nifies life ; because that now, in virtue of that pro- 
 mise, she was to be the mother of all living. — The 
 meaning cannot be, that he gave her this name, be- 
 cause she was to be the mother of all the human 
 race ; for, if that had been the reason of the name, 
 he doubtless, would have given it at the first, when 
 " God blessed them, and said unto them, be fruit- 
 ful and multiply, and replenish the earth ;" and 
 when he had the prospect of her being the mother 
 
 y Leusd. Spicilegii, &c. p. (mihi) 445. The sons of Adam, 
 in the Old Testament, styled the Adam, about 114 times. 
 * Gen. iii. 20. 
 
36 THE CONTHACTING PAETIE3 
 
 of mankind, in a state of immortal life. But that 
 now, when they were fallen under the sentence of 
 death, instead of giving her a name, expressive of 
 her being the mother of a dying race, he should, on 
 the contrary, have given her one, expressive of her 
 being the mother of all living ; cannot be account- 
 ed for, but by admitting, that by all living, Adam 
 understood, all those whom the great Redeemer, 
 the promised seed of the woman, was to deliver 
 from that death, which had been, as it were, already 
 brought upon them, by the instrumentality of the 
 serpent. Adam then knew, from the promise of 
 an almighty Redeemer, that many of his posterity 
 should be delivered from that sentence of death, 
 under which he, and they in him, had already fall- 
 en. But they could not be supposed, to have al- 
 ready fallen in and with him, under that sentence 
 of death, if they had not, in the threatening of 
 death, which preceded the sentence, been compre- 
 hended with him, as their covenant-representative a . 
 Again, In all the peculiar and typical covenants, 
 which Jehovah anciently made with men, the 
 parents or heads of the race, represented their de- 
 scendants. Thus Noah b , Abraham c , Isaac, Jacob, 
 Phineas d , and David e , represented each of them his 
 posterity. In what the Lord said of Shem, Ham, 
 Japheth, and Canaan*, he had their posterity in view, 
 as well as themselves. When Isaac blessed Jacob, 
 and Esau, and when Jacob blessed Ephraim, Ma- 
 nasseh, and his own twelve sons, they chiefly meant 
 their posterity. This manner of speaking, which 
 seems to have been very well understood, in those 
 early times, was used, as far as we are informed, in 
 almost every thing, that God said to our first pa- 
 rents ; and they appear to have so understood his 
 words. 
 
 * Edw. on Original Sin, page (mini) 205. b Gen. ix. 9. 
 Gen. xii. 3. and xvii. 2, 7, 8. d Num. xxv. 12, 13. 
 
 * 2 Sam. vii. 1G. f Gen, ix, 25, 26, 27, 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 37 
 
 Further, This is also evident, from these words 
 of the apostle Paul g : " For since by man came 
 death, by man came also, the resurrection of the 
 dead ; for as in Adam, all die, even so in. Christ, 
 shall all be made alive.''' By the one man here, is 
 evidently meant Christ the second man, and by the 
 other, is understood Adam the first man. By the 
 one, comes the resurrection of the dead, for in 
 him, shall all his spiritual seed be made alive ; by 
 the other, came death, for in him, all, that is, all 
 his natural descendants die. But, how could all 
 his posterity die in Adam, if they had not all si n- 
 necl in him, as their natural head, and federal re- 
 presentative ? and, how could they have sinned in 
 him, as their covenant-representative, when he sin- 
 ned, by eating the forbidden fruit, if when the Co- 
 venant of Works was made with him, he had not 
 been their representative ? He could not, surely 5 
 have been a head of death to them, if he had not 
 previously been a head of unrighteousness or sin, 
 by breaking as their representative the law, the 
 rule of that righteousness, which was the condition 
 of life ; and he could not possibly, have been a head 
 of unrighteousness to them, if he had not been theii 
 covenant-head. 
 
 In the next place, It is as the execution of this 
 original sentence, " Dust thou art, and unto dust 
 shalt thou return h , v that all the unregenerate chil- 
 dren of Adam, in their successive generations, die 
 and return to their dust. Now, if they all die, as 
 the execution of that sentence, it is obvious, that 
 they were all under, and were all transgressors of 
 that law, to which, the threatening of death was an- 
 nexed. But they could, in no other sense, have 
 been under it as a covenant, when that sentence 
 was pronounced, than as in Adam, their first parent 
 and federal representative. 
 
 s I Cor. xv. 2L, 2?. * Gen. iii. 17. 
 
38 THE CONTRACTING PARTIES 
 
 Again, The wrath of God which, Adam, by 
 breaking the covenant of innocence, deserved and 
 incurred, falls on all the human race. The elect of 
 God are naturally under it, even as others. The 
 believers in Ephesus " were by nature children of 
 wrath, even as others 1 ." They were naturally 
 chargeable with original sin, and from their very 
 conception, were infected with it. On that account, 
 they were condemned, and exposed to the eternal 
 wrath of Jehovah as really, as those are, who are 
 chargeable with actual transgressions. The first sin 
 of Adam, is imputed to the persons of his posterity, 
 and the corruption of nature, under which he 
 thereby fell, begins, as soon as they are conceived 
 or formed in the womb, to be interwoven with their 
 nature. They, therefore, as soon as they are con- 
 ceived and born, before they can be capable of com- 
 mitting any actual sin, deserve, and are justly ex- 
 posed to, the wrath of God. The obvious conse- 
 quence is, that all the offspring of Adam, were 
 comprehended or comprised in him, as their cove- 
 nant-head and representative, when he sinned, and 
 so became liable, to the sin-avenging wrath of the 
 most High. 
 
 In the last place, The great Apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles writes thus : " The first man is of the earth, 
 earthy ; the second Man, is the Lord from heaven. 
 As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy ; and 
 as is the heavenly, such are they also, that are 
 heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the 
 earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heaven- 
 ly V The second Man, is the second or last 
 Adam ; the first man, is the first Adam. The 
 Lord Jesus Christ, is the second Man, in respect 
 that, in the covenant of grace, he is a public Person, 
 the Representative of his elect-seed. Adam there- 
 fore is the first man, because in the covenant of 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 3. * 1 Cor. sv. 47, 48, 49. 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 39 
 
 works, he was not only the natural, but the moral 
 root, the public representative of his posterity. 
 Since then there is a second Man, representing all 
 his spiritual children, the opposition in the passage 
 requires, that there be also a first man, a public 
 person, representing all his natural offspring. When 
 the covenant of works then was made, it was made 
 with Adam, as — a holy and upright man ; as the 
 natural root ; — and as the moral head or represen- 
 tative, of all his natural descendants. 
 
 Here the attentive reader will, perhaps, be ready 
 to ask, Did Adam who, in the first covenant, repre- 
 sented all who were to descend from him, represent 
 Eve ? I answer : As he was the natural root of 
 Eve, from whom she was taken, it would seem that, 
 in that federal establishment, he was also her moral 
 root or representative. He was not only the origi- 
 nal, from whom she proceeded, but was her head : 
 " The husband is the head of the wife 1 ." — The co- 
 venant was proposed to one person : " The Lord 
 God commanded the ma?i 9 saying, Of every tree of 
 the garden, thou may est freely eat ; but of the tree 
 of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat, 
 for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
 surely die 111 ." — In the series of the history, in the 
 second chapter of Genesis, the covenant is repre- 
 sented as having been made with Adam, before Eve 
 was formed out of him ; previous to which forma- 
 tion, she was both naturally and federally in him, as 
 much as any of his posterity, can be supposed to be. 
 Though she as an individual, fell, for her part, by 
 her own transgression ; yet the fall of mankind was 
 not effected, till Adam had transgressed the cove- 
 nant, by eating of the forbidden fruit. For it is very 
 remarkable, that though it was she, who first sin- 
 ned, it was he, who was first charged and convicted D . 
 We do not read of any terrors of conscience, that 
 
 [ Eph, ?. 23. » Gen. U. 16, 17. ° Gen. w. 9. 
 
40 THE CONTRACTING PARTIES 
 
 she felt for what she had done, till after he had sin- 
 ned. It would seem, then, since his being her na- 
 tural root, qualified him for being her moral root or 
 head, that he was her federal head or representative 
 as well as that of their descendants. 
 < It is evident from what hath now been advanc- 
 ed, that it is not enough that we assent, simply to 
 the truth concerning the Covenant of Works, but 
 that we believe and consider it well, with applica- 
 tion to ourselves. We cannot consistently, take 
 hold of God's covenant of grace, or apply to our- 
 selves any of the promises of it, unless we previously 
 believe with particular application, his covenant of 
 works. Be persuaded, reader, that this covenant 
 was made with the first Adam, in thy name, or for 
 thee in particular. Consider it attentively, and 
 with application to the state of thy own soul. Lay 
 to heart, O, lay to heart, without a moment's delay, 
 thy own case in relation to it. If thou be still un- 
 der the dominion of sin, thou art as really, as com- 
 pletely, under that covenant, as if thou hadst in thy 
 own person, consented to all the articles of it. O, 
 do not any longer doubt of the reality of it. Thou 
 and I, reader, have sufficient evidence even within 
 ourselves, that a covenant of life, was made with 
 our common parent. Nothing is more natural for 
 us than to do, that we may live ; than to think, 
 that our performances will entitle us to the favour 
 and enjoyment of God ; and that if we do our part, 
 God will do his. O do not flatter thyself, that, by 
 thy own righteousness or strength, thou wilt be 
 able to discharge, and dissolve the obligations of 
 this covenant. Thy violation of it in Adam, in- 
 stead of setting thee free from it, lays thee effec- 
 tually and completely, under the dreadful penalty of 
 it. Thou canst not otherwise be delivered from it, 
 than by a discharge obtained from Jehovah himself, 
 the other contracting Party : and such a discharge 
 cannot be granted, but upon full satisfaction given 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 41 
 
 to all its demands. Thou canst not have thy dis- 
 charge, from the hand of Divine justice, till the very 
 last farthing, of thy debt of obedience and suffering 
 to the lav, be paid.—-" Till heaven and earth pass, 
 one jot, or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
 law, till all be fulfilled °." It is impossible for 
 thee, O sinner, ever to satisfy the demands of the 
 law as a covenant, otherwise than by receiving 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, as Jehovah thy righteous- 
 ness, and counting to the law, all that he did and 
 suffered, as done and suffered for thee. Assure 
 thyself, that if ever thou " become dead to the 
 law" in its covenant-form, it must be " by the 
 body of Christ p ." Accept Him, then, as the end of 
 the law for "righteousness to thee in particular ; and 
 having received abundance of grace, and of the gift 
 of righteousness, thou shalt reign in life by one 9 
 Jesus Christ, the glorious Head of a new, and a 
 better covenant. 
 
 What are thy views of Jehovah, as a Party in 
 the first covenant ? Though he hath an absolute, 
 an infinite right, to the perfect obedience of man 3 
 his own creature ; yet so low did he stoop, as to 
 enter into a covenant with him, and to become a 
 debtor to him, for that obedience ; while man, at 
 the same time, had no power to perform the least 
 obedience, but what he himself had given to him, 
 Now does his condescension, in thus treating with 
 dust and ashes, appear inexpressibly amiable and 
 admirable, in thy view ? Art thou ready to say 3 
 what ineffable, what stupendous condescension is 
 this, that the infinitely high and holy One 9 
 should have so bound himself to man, who is so 
 mean, and so infinitely beneath him, as to promise 
 to him eternal life, as the reward of that obedience^ 
 which by right of creation he already owed him ?— = 
 Does the goodness of the Lord, as manifested in this 
 
 Matth. v. 18. p Rom. vii. 4 3 
 
42 THE CONTRACTING PARTIES 
 
 constitution, appear excellent and amiable, in thine 
 eyes? Does it here appear to thee, so to overflow 
 upon the creature, as to encourage his unbounded 
 confidence in his bountiful Creator ? Is it not, 
 thinkest thou, reasonable to suppose, considering 
 the perfection of the first man's nature, and the ad- 
 vantageous circumstances, in which he was placed, 
 that, if all his posterity had been present upon 
 the occasion, they would have thankfully accepted 
 it, gladly ratified it, and unanimously acknow- 
 ledged that he and they had an advantageous 
 bargain of it ? — Doth divine justice, that glorious 
 attribute, which is so dreadful and so hateful, to 
 every impenitent and unpardoned sinner, appear in 
 this covenant, to be altogether lovely in thy esti- 
 mation ? Dost thou love the Lord, because of the 
 justice, as well as because of the goodness, which 
 shines so illustriously in it ? Dost thou see that, 
 having made man upright, Jehovah set him up, 
 as his confederate, with a stock abundantly suffici- 
 ent, to enable him to discharge all his debt of co- 
 venant-obedience ? and art thou satisfied that, fall- 
 ing off from his obedience, he is left completely 
 without excuse, and that, his sin and misery are 
 wholly owing to himself? 
 
 Was the first man, made in the image of God ? 
 It was, that he might be fully qualified, to become 
 the contracting party for mankind, in the first co- 
 venant. — Did Jehovah, who was to be the one 
 contracting Party, create him after his natural 
 image ? did he make his soul, spiritual and immor- 
 tal ; that it might resemble himself as nearly, as it 
 was possible for a finite creature to do ? It was, 
 that he might be fitted to be the natural root, of all 
 who were to descend from him. Did he create him 
 after his moral image, in knowledge, righteousness, 
 and true holiness ? The design was, that he might 
 be qualified to be their moral root. The former, 
 fitted him to be their father, or natural head ; the 
 
IN THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 43 
 
 latter, to be their representative, or moral head; 
 and so to be the contracting party for them, as well 
 as for himself, in the covenant. How conspicuously 
 then does the grace, a3 well as the wisdom, of Jeho- 
 vah shine, in his dealings with the lirst Adam i 
 Instead of murmuring or disputing, let every child 
 of Adam, as it well becomes him, contemplate and 
 adore the glory of the Lord, as it shines in the 
 first covenant. 
 
 Finally, was man such a holy and happy crea- 
 ture, when Jehovah entered into covenant with 
 him ? How unlike is he now, to what he then was ! 
 How low is he now brought J how unholy ! how un- 
 happy ! Ah ! He is now fallen as a star from hea- 
 ven. He is no longer that spotless, that upright 
 creature, who was fitted to contract, and to maintain 
 communion, with the holy Lord God. No longer, 
 is his understanding a lamp of light. No longer, is 
 his will conformed to the will of God ; nor are his 
 affections, regular or pure, harmonious or heavenly. 
 No longer, do his members yield to his affections, 
 his affections, to his will, his will, to his reason, 
 and his reason, to the law of God. This, O sin- 
 ner, is the state, the depraved, the deplorable, state 
 of thy soul. And if ever the Holy Spirit come, to 
 convince thee savingly of sin, He will make thee see 
 and feel it to be so ; and will enable thee, to betake 
 thyself, as an undone sinner, to the second Adam ? 
 the glorious Head of the new covenant. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE CONDITION OF THE FIRST COVENANT. 
 
 JL he two essential parts of a proper covenant, are 
 the condition and the promise. The condition is 
 
44f THE CONDITION 
 
 that, which the one contracting party engages to 
 perform, in order to acquire a meritorious, or at 
 least a pactional, title to the reward promised by the 
 other. When a condition is proposed, and a pro- 
 mise thereupon made by the one party ; and when 
 that is agreed to, and this accepted, by the other, a 
 covenant is made between them. The condition of 
 the covenant of works, or in other words, the con- 
 dition of life in that covenant, was that obedience 
 to his holy law, which the Loud required Adam to 
 perform, in order to acquire for himself and his pos- 
 terity, a right to the reward of life, which he had 
 upon that ground promised to him. The rule,— 
 matter, — and manner, of that obedience, require our 
 most attentive consideration. 
 
 The rule of it, was the law of the covenant. 
 This law was two-fold ; namely, — the natural, and 
 —the positive law. Concerning the natural law, 
 let it be observed, 
 
 1. That it is founded, both in \he nature o£ God, 
 and of the man whom he had created. The infi- 
 nitely glorious majesty, supereminence, and amia- 
 bleness, of the Triune Jehovah above man ; and 
 his being the sole Creator, constant Preserver, and 
 supreme Benefactor of man, necessarily require, 
 that he prescribe such a law to him, as should re- 
 gulate the moral qualities of his nature, and at the 
 same time, the matter and manner of his thoughts, 
 words, and actions. — His right to command his 
 reasonable, and dependent creature, is primarily or 
 radically founded, in his infinite supereminence, 
 amiableness, or moral excellence. Hence are these 
 words of the prophet Jeremiah ; " Forasmuch as 
 there is none like unto thee, O Lord : thou art 
 great, and thy name is great in might. Who would 
 not fear thee, O King of nations ? for to thee doth 
 it appertain : forasmuch as among all the wise men 
 of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 45 
 
 none like unto thee V Since Jehovah, then 5 is 
 so transcendently great and high, his creatures, in 
 their being and operations, cannot but be entirely 
 dependent on him. And since his amiableness or 
 moral excellence, is so inexpressible, so infinite, as 
 to deserve the highest possible degree of love ; he 
 cannot but require his reasonable creatures, to love 
 him with a superlative esteem ; and it cannot but 
 be unjust in them, to withhold such love. That 
 right is, in a secondary degree, founded upon the 
 relation in which he stands to man, as his Creator, 
 Preserver, and bountiful Benefactor; and also on 
 that, in which man stands to him, as his dependent 
 creature. 
 
 2. It is also to be observed, that this natural law 
 is the law of the ten commandments, or the moral 
 law, which was long afterward, promulgated from 
 mount Sinai. The ten commandments are, as 
 Moses expresses it, those statutes and judgments, 
 " which if a man do, he shall live in them*; 1 ' and 
 which the apostle Paul styles, " The commandment 
 which was ordained to life 8 ," and the law which 
 " was weak through the flesh V It is also the mo- 
 ral law, which the same Apostle mentions in Gal. iii. 
 10, 12, when he says, " It is written, cursed is every 
 one, that continueth not in all things, which are 
 written in the book of the law, to do them." — " And 
 the law is not of faith ; but, the man that doeth 
 them, shall live in them." The tenor of the cove- 
 nant was, Do, and thou shalt live. Hence our 
 blessed Lord, thus replied to the young Pharisee : 
 " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
 ments." The sum of these commandments, is com« 
 prehended in what he says, (Matth. xxii. 37 — 40.) 
 " Thou shalt love the Loed thy God, with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind-. 
 
 ■3 Jer. x. 6, 7. r Lev. xviii. 5, 
 
 * Rom. vii, 10. * Rom. viiL 3. 
 
lit THE CONDITION 
 
 This is the first and great commandment. And the 
 second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bour as thyself. On these two commandments hang 
 all the law and the Prophets.' 1 
 
 3. I would further observe, that no sooner was 
 the first man formed, than this moral law was writ- 
 ten in his heart, as a perpetual rule of righteous- 
 ness to him. As it behoved him to know it, in or- 
 der to his yielding of perfect obedience to it; so 
 it was made known to him, by being inscribed on 
 his heart, or inlaid in the image of God, after which 
 he was created, before it was proposed to him, in its 
 covenant-form. " God created man in his own im- 
 age," or as Solomon expresses it, " made man up- 
 right V The moral image of God, which consist- 
 ed of knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness x , 
 was concreated with, and in his nature. The know- 
 ledge of the law, therefore, which is an essential 
 part of this image, was so concreated with him, that 
 he knew it naturally. His glorious Creator breath- 
 ed it into his soul, when he " breathed into his nos- 
 trils, the breath of life, and made him a living soul." 
 He no sooner made him a man, than he made him 
 an intelligent, a righteous, and a holy man. Hence 
 this law, considered as written in his mind and 
 heart, is frequently styled, the law of nature, or the 
 natural law. 
 
 4. This law was afterward incorporated into the 
 covenant of works, and under that form, was pro- 
 posed to Adam, as the head and representative of 
 his posterity. The natural law existed, before the 
 covenant of works was made : that, was engraven on 
 the heart of Adam, in the very moment of his crea- 
 tion ; this, was made with him, after he had been 
 placed in Paradise'. The law as written in his 
 heart, had no promise of life. It does not appear, 
 
 Eccles. vii. 29. * Col. iii. 10. Eph. iv. 24 
 
 * Gen. ii. 7, 15, 10, 17. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 47 
 
 that the infinite Majesty of heaven was under any 
 previous obligation, to reward the obedience of a 
 creature so mean, in comparison of Him, with the 
 eternal enjoyment of himself. — But, when he an- 
 nexed to that law, a promise of life, upon condition 
 of obedience to it, and an express threatening of 
 death, as the wages of disobedience ; he thereby, 
 turned it into a covenant of works, and under that 
 form proposed it to him. 
 
 As to the positive, or symbolical law, of not eat- 
 ing the forbidden fruit, which was also, the rule of 
 man's covenant-obedience, I would observe, 
 
 1. That it depended not upon the nature, but 
 upon the will of God. — Adam's eating of the fruit 
 of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil, was not 
 forbidden because it was evil ; but was evil because 
 it was forbidden. This prohibition was not given, 
 because of any evil in the fruit of that tree; for 
 «' God saw every thing that he had made, and be- 
 hold it was very good"* The forbidden fruit had 
 nothing malignant, or hurtful in its nature, more 
 than that of any other of the trees of the garden. 
 This positive law, therefore, was founded in the so- 
 vereign will, or mere good pleasure of Jehovah. 
 Whilst the natural or moral law, was founded m 
 the Divine nature ; this positive precept, was 
 founded in the Divine will. While that, was 
 founded in the moral perfections of God ; this, was 
 the result solely of his good pleasure. Though the 
 natural law has a reason, both in the nature of God, 
 and in the nature of the things themselves which it 
 enjoins ; yet it is the will of God, expressed in the 
 commandment, and not the intrinsic reasonableness 
 of the thing commanded, that is the formal and im- 
 mediate reason, of obedience to him. As the su- 
 preme Lawgiver, he is entitled to an implicit obe- 
 dience ; or such, as has no reason for it, but his 
 will. His will, therefore, which is the 
 
48 THE CONDITION 
 
 jormal reason of all obedience to him, was, in this 
 positive law, made the sole reason of obedience. 
 
 2. This law, as well as the former, was revealed 
 to the man, under a covenant-form. " The Lord 
 God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of 
 the garden thou mayst freely eat. But of the tree 
 of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat 
 of it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou 
 shalt surely die V That the positive law was given 
 to Adam, under the form of a constitution or cove- 
 nant, appears with no inconsiderable evidence, from 
 the term in the original language, in the passage now 
 cited, which is rendered commanded. The original 
 word so translated, signifies not only, to enjoin the 
 performance of a duty, but to constitute, ordain, or 
 establish a person or thing. Thus it is used, to ex- 
 press God's constituting or ordaining David, king 
 over Israel*, and his constituting, or establishing 
 his covenant of grace. " He hath commanded his 
 covenant for ever b ;"' that is, He hath constituted, 
 ordained, or established his covenant for ever. In 
 the passage before us, the first clause of the 16th 
 verse, according to the original, runs thus : The 
 Lord God commanded upon the man. — He consti- 
 tuted, or established upon the man ; or in other 
 words, He made a constitution upon the man c . 
 Here, as it appears to me, we are taught that, the 
 Loud made or established a constitution upon the 
 man ; " saying, of every tree of the garden, thou 
 mayest freely eat : but of the tree of the knowledge 
 of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the 
 day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." 
 He established a constitution or covenant, upon 
 him, or with him, as the Adam, the man, the first 
 man, the representative of all mankind, who by or- 
 dinary generation, were to descend from him ; and 
 
 ■ Gen. ii. 16, 17. * 1 Sam. xiii. 14. k Psal. cxi. 9. 
 • See Gib's Sacred Contemplations, p. 22. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 49 
 
 in- that covenant, a right to all the trees of the gar- 
 den, under the restriction of a certain tree, called 
 " The tree of the knowledge of good and evil." 
 As, therefore, this restriction or prohibition had a 
 threatening of death, which implied a promise of 
 life, annexed to it, it was not only a positive, but a 
 covenant-vestnciiow. This positive law, then, which 
 was divinely revealed to Adam, probably by an au- 
 dible voice, was revealed to him, under the form of 
 a covenant of works. 
 
 3. The whole of the natural or moral law in its 
 covenant-form, was virtually comprehended in the 
 positive law. The positive law was, as it were, a 
 compend or summary of the law of nature, inscrib- 
 ed in the man's heart. All the precepts, summed 
 up in the two commandments, of love to God, and 
 to our neighbour, were therein comprehended. In 
 his not eating of the forbidden fruit, Adam would 
 have discovered, supreme love to God, and due 
 love to his posterity. Now " love is the fulfilling 
 of the law." By obeying this, he would have 
 obeyed the whole law ; and by breaking this, he 
 broke the whole. " For whosoever shall keep the 
 whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty 
 of all d ." Adam's love to God, and to his own 
 descendants, as manifested in his keeping of the 
 positive law, was to be accounted, a fulfilling of 
 th£ whole moral law, under which he then stood. 
 The positive law, therefore, is to be considered as 
 extending to every article of that duty, which the 
 man owed to Jehovah, according to the moral 
 law ; and a trampling upon his authority in the 
 former, to be regarded, as a trampling upon it in 
 the latter. 
 
 4. Lastly, let it be observed, that the natural or 
 moral law, obliged Adam to obey the positive law.—* 
 It enjoined him to obey the will of Jehovah, in 
 
 d James ii. 10. 
 
50 THE CONDITION 
 
 all things ; to believe whatever God should reveal, 
 and to do whatever he should command ; and so 
 extended his duty, to his not eating of the fruit of 
 the tree of knowledge of good and evil, since God 
 had forbidden him to eat of it. Hence it follows 
 that, in proportion as this positive law was obeyed, 
 the natural or moral law as a covenant, was obeyed ; 
 and that, the least act of disobedience to the one, 
 was a violation of the other. The natural law, 
 then, which was written in the heart of Adam, 
 obliged him to obey the positive law, as soon as it 
 should be revealed to him, as well as to obey the 
 natural law itself, revealed to him in its covenant- 
 form. 
 
 The commandment given to the first man, not to 
 eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and 
 evil, was, in a very eminent degree, calculated, 1st, 
 To manifest the Lord's sovereignty over him. — It 
 served to show him, that the sovereignty of Je- 
 hovah over him, was so absolute, so supreme, so 
 transcendently high, that whenever he pleased, he 
 could enact his mere will, into a law ; and try 
 man's obedience, in a matter which should serve 
 effectually, to manifest his absolute subjection to 
 his will. The man's obedience to this positive law, 
 was to hinge or turn, on the precise point of the 
 will of God. His glorious Creator, who had so 
 lately invested him, with dominion over the other 
 creatures, would hereby intimate, that He still had 
 dominion over him, and could prescribe a law to 
 him, of which no other reason should be given, 
 than his own sovereign will. That he might re- 
 collect his subjection to God, whenever he reflected 
 upon his own dominion over the inferior creatures ; 
 the Lord put an act of restraint upon him, and 
 abridged his liberty, in a thing which might prove 
 his obedience, and at the same time, not diminish 
 his happiness. 2d, It served to teach him, that 
 he held all his enjoyments of, and under the Lord, 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 51 
 
 as the sovereign Proprietor both of him and them ; 
 and that even in paradise itself, he must not so 
 much as touch an apple, without His express al- 
 lowance. — As Jehovah his infinitely exalted Su- 
 perior, placed the man in paradise ; a place richly 
 furnished with every thing proper for necessity, 
 convenience, and delight, it became his consummate 
 wisdom, and his supreme Majesty, to forbid him 
 the use of one of the trees in the garden, as a tes- 
 timony of his holding every thing of Him, as the 
 great Possessor of heaven and earth. 3d, It was 
 also, in an eminent degree suited, to render the 
 man's obedience, or disobedience, the more con* 
 spicuous, and the righteousness of the infinite Ma- 
 jesty of heaven, in rewarding, or punishing him 
 and his posterity, the more manifest. — This law, 
 respected an external object, a thing obvious to 
 sense ; and therefore, that God might be clear in 
 judging e , was eminently calculated to render his 
 obedience, or disobedience, the more evident and 
 undeniable, both to himself, and to every other in- 
 telligent creature. No obedience is so illustrious, 
 nor appears to such advantage, as that which re- 
 spects an object which is evil, only because the 
 Lord hath forbidden it. 4th, It served at the same 
 time, to intimate to the man and his posterity, 
 That they must be content, to be without the most 
 desirable of earthly objects, if it should be the 
 will of God ; and that there is more real happiness, 
 in obedience to one, even of the least of his com- 
 mandments, than in the fruition of the greatest, 
 and most delicious, of worldly comforts. 5th, It 
 was calculated to teach him, That the Lord had 
 endowed him with freedom of will. If he had not 
 formed him a free agent, able and willing, per- 
 fectly to obey the whole law, he would not have 
 added the positive precept. 6th, It tended also to 
 
 • Psal. li. 4» 
 
52 THE CONDITION 
 
 remind him, That his true happiness, consisted 
 not in the enjoyment of earthly delights, but in 
 the favour, and fruition of God himself, the chief 
 Good of the immortal soul. His infinitely bounti- 
 ful Creator, would not have prescribed to the man, 
 abstinence from the fruit of that tree, if the eating 
 of it could have, in the smallest degree, contributed 
 to render him more happy. He would not have 
 abridged his liberty, but in a matter which, while 
 it served to try his obedience, could not in the 
 least, impair or lessen his real enjoyment. 7th, It 
 served to be a continual monitor to him, that he 
 was fallible ; that though he was a happy, yet he 
 was a changeable creature. — The tree of knowledge, 
 as standing under such a peremptory prohibition, 
 was an incessant monitor to him, to remind him, 
 that he was still but in favour on his good be- 
 haviour ; and, therefore, that since his state was 
 mutable, he had need to take good heed to his 
 ways, and to watch against every possible attempt 
 of his spiritual enemies. 8th, Finally, It afforded 
 an eminent display of the condescending goodness 
 of God to him. As long as his state of trial con- 
 tinued, his natural fallibility extended to all the 
 precepts of the natural or moral law; so that, he 
 was naturally liable to be seduced, and to fall into 
 a transgression of any one, or of all its precepts. 
 But by the positive law, his fallibility was favour- 
 ably abridged, and confined to the single point of 
 his eating, or not eating, of the forbidden fruit. 
 All his hazard of sinning was restricted, solely to 
 the article of his eating of that fruit. When the 
 Loud threatened that in eating, he should surely 
 die, the threatening could import nothing less, 
 than that in not eating, he should surely not 
 die. His danger then either of sinning, or of dy- 
 ing, was kindly restricted, to his eating of the fruit 
 of a certain tree, of which he could have no manner 
 of need. — Respecting the natural or moral law, he 
 
OF THE COVENANT OP WORKS. 53 
 
 was hereby already introduced, into a conditional 
 state of confirmation. — So long as he continued to 
 obey the positive law, he was so confirmed, as to 
 be in no danger of being left to fall, into a trans- 
 gression of any one of the commandments of the 
 moral law f . Add to this, that nothing could have 
 been so easy to him, as to have abstained from eat- 
 ing of the fruit of a single tree ; which had no 
 peculiar excellency in it, and of which, as I al- 
 ready observed, he had not, circumstanced as he 
 was, the smallest need. The giving, then, of this 
 positive law to him, was an instance of special 
 kindness, to the first man and his posterity. . 
 
 The next thing in this chapter, that claims our 
 consideration, is the matter of that obedience, which, 
 in the first covenant, was the condition of life.— 
 The matter of the obedience, which Adam was com- 
 manded to perform, as the ground of his own, and 
 of his posterity's title to life, was the conformity of 
 his heart, and of his life, to the whole law of God, 
 moral and positive ; or, his being and acting in ail 
 respects, according to it, from a principle of rever- 
 ential, and supreme regard, to its Divine authority. 
 In the first place, It implies his being conformed 
 in his nature, to the whole law, or the conformity 
 of his nature to it. God had made man upright ; 
 perfectly conformed in his nature, to the Divine 
 nature and will, expressed in his law, without which, 
 none of his actions could have been performed ac- 
 ceptably. The law accordingly commanded him, 
 to be conformed to it in his nature, and to retain 
 his conformity of nature to it, untainted and undi- 
 minished. When the Loud God commanded the 
 man, he enjoined him to retain that original right- 
 eousness, or rectitude of nature which he had given 
 him, in all its immaculate purity.-r-" The end of 
 the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart g ," 
 
 f See Gib's Contemplations, page 133. s 1 Tim, i. 5. 
 
54i THE CONDITION 
 
 The first and great commandment of the moral law, 
 is, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all 
 thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind h ." 
 This moral law is sometimes styled, The law of 
 nature, not merely, because it was originally in- 
 scribed in the nature of man, but also because it was 
 the rule of his nature ', and required it to be per- 
 fectly holy. Lastly, The matter of Adam's obe- 
 dience, included the conformity of his life, or of his 
 thoughts, words, and actions, to the law. — The law 
 requires conformity of life, as well as of nature ; and 
 such conformity or righteousness of life, as proceeds 
 from holiness of nature. It required of Adam, the 
 highest exercise of all the powers of his upright 
 nature, in conformity to it ; and that, in all his 
 thoughts, words, and deeds. His original right- 
 eousness, then, or the matter of his obedience, to the 
 natural and positive law of the covenant of works, 
 as the stated condition of life, to himself and his 
 descendants, was his conformity, both of nature, and 
 of life, to that law. Upon the ground of his conti- 
 nuing for a certain time, to yield such obedience, 
 life, in all its latitude, extent, and duration, was 
 promised to him and his posterity. 
 
 The kind or manner of that obedience, in the 
 last place, requires our attentive consideration. 
 
 First, It was requisite that it should be perfect, 
 Adam was required to yield perfect obedience to the 
 law, as the condition of life, in the first covenant. 
 It was necessary that his obedience should be per- 
 fect, 
 
 1. In principle. — It was to be performed with the 
 whole heart, from a principle of love to God, and 
 to his own posterity; for the law saith, "Thou 
 shalt love the Loud thy God, with all thy heart, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and 
 with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself 1 ." 
 
 h Matth. xxii. 37. l Luke s. 27. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 55 
 
 It was necessary, that it should flow from a princi- 
 ple of delight, in the law of the Lord, and from an 
 inclination of heart toward God, in which, there 
 was not to be the smallest shadow of imperfection. 
 While it was to have proceeded from the most pure, 
 and ardent love, it was requisite, that it should be 
 internal, and at the same time external; that it 
 should be altogether voluntary and cheerful, with- 
 out the least reluctance, or indisposition of soul ; 
 and that it should be performed, with a supreme 
 regard to the glory of Jehovah, as its ultimate 
 end : for the law says, " Whether, therefore, ye eat 
 or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do ail to the glory of 
 God k ." Hence it follows that, that obedience was 
 not to have been performed simply, or merely, for 
 the purpose of procuring a title to life. This 
 would have rendered it a selfish, and mercenary 
 obedience. As the obligation of the law, did not 
 depend upon the promise of the covenant, it could 
 not admit of the man's having any regard at all, to 
 his own benefit, but in subordination and subserv- 
 ience, to the glory of God. 
 
 2. It was no less requisite, that it should be per- 
 fect in its parts ; so perfect as to be entire, wanting 
 nothing in respect of integrity. It was requisite 
 that it should be perfect, in respect of the parts of 
 the law. It was necessary that it should be as ex- 
 tensive, as the whole law, moral and positive, reach- 
 ing to every precept of it; that the man should 
 omit nothing which the law required, and do no- 
 thing which it forbade him to do 1 ." Every precept 
 was to be obeyed, in all its spirituality, and vast ex- 
 tent ; and every failure in obedience, was not only 
 to be considered as a breach, but as an universal 
 breach, of the law of the covenant. " For whoso- 
 ever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
 point, he is guilty of all m ." It was necessary too, 
 
 k 1 Cor. x. 31. l Gal. iii. 10. m James ii. 10. 
 
56 THE CONDITION 
 
 that it should be perfect, in respect of the parts of 
 the man. As it was to extend to the whole law ; so 
 it was to be the obedience of the whole man n . His 
 whole spirit, soul, and body ; or, his soul and body, 
 with all the faculties of the one, and all the mem- 
 bers of the other, were to be employed in yielding 
 that obedience. It was to be the obedience, both 
 of the inward, and of the outward man, and that in 
 thought, word, and deed. It behoved it also to be 
 perfect, as to the parts of the action. — Not only wa3 
 it requisite, that every thing that is good should be 
 done, but that whatsoever was to be done, should be 
 well done ; that the work should not only be per- 
 fectly good, as to the matter of the action or actions, 
 but perfectly well done. 
 
 3. It was likewise necessary, that it should be 
 perfect in degree. — The obedience of Adam, was 
 not merely to be as broad, but in every article to be 
 as high, as the law. It was to rise to the very 
 highest degree of perfection, required by the law °; 
 whatever at any time, fell short of perfection in de- 
 gree, was to be considered as imperfection or sin. 
 
 Secondly, It was necessary that it should be per- 
 sonal. Not that it was to be incumbent on every 
 individual, of the sons of men to obey, in order to 
 procure for himself, a particular title to life: for, 
 if death was adjudged to the descendants- of Adam, 
 and entailed upon them, on account of his disobe- 
 dience p, before any of them could have committed 
 actual sin ; it follows, that life, in all its extent and 
 duration, was to have been conferred upon them* 
 on the ground of his personal obedience to the law 
 in its covenant- form. And, as to that obedience, 
 which they were to have performed, upon his and 
 their confirmation ; it would have been presented to 
 the moral law, as an eternal ride of duty, divested 
 of its covenant-form, and performed from confirma- 
 
 ° Mark xii. 30. • Matth. xxii. 37, 38, 39. r Rom. v. 12, 14, 15. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 57 
 
 tion in life, as its principle, and as a continued ex- 
 pression of the purest gratitude, to their covenant- 
 God. If Adam had stood in his integrity, until he 
 had fulfilled the condition of the covenant, he should 
 have entered upon a state of confirmation, in perfect 
 holiness and happiness ; and ail his descendants 
 should, in their successive generations, not only 
 have had original righteousness from him, trans- 
 mitted to them ; but, should have been born in a 
 state of confirmation, in which, they would have 
 been secured, in a course of perfect, and perpetual, 
 obedience to the law as an immutable. rule- of life. 
 It was necessary then that, that obedience which 
 was the condition of life, should be personal. It 
 was to have been performed by one person, and not 
 by a number, associated for the purpose; or, to 
 have been begun, and finished by the same indivi- 
 dual person. Hence Adam is, in Scripture, styled 
 the first man, the one man, and that one man ; who, 
 as the public representative of his posterity, was to 
 have obeyed the law as a covenant, in order to en- 
 title himself and them, to eternal life. It was re- 
 quisite, that the righteousness to be fulfilled, as the 
 ground of a title to life, in that covenant, should 
 not be a patched garment, made up, one piece of it, 
 by one person, and another, by another ; but that 
 it should be all one piece, one obedience, or the 
 righteousness of one. For the same reason, it could 
 not have been fulfilled by a sponsor or surety, sub- 
 stituted in his room. If a surety could have been 
 admitted to obey for him ; whenever that surety 
 should have begun to fail in obedience, his disobe- 
 dience could not have broken the covenant, nor have 
 subjected him, to the begun execution of the threat- 
 ening ; nor could the obedience of a surety, have 
 been accepted as a fulfilment of the condition of it. 
 Thirdly, It was as requisite, that it should be 
 performed in a covenant-form, or presented to the 
 law, under the form of that covenant made with the 
 
 d2 
 
OO THE CONDITION 
 
 first man. — Although the man was 'previously bound 
 to obey the law, in virtue of a natural obligation, 
 as a reasonable creature, who cannot but be under 
 law to God ; yet, he was still more strictly bound 
 to obey, by the superadded tie of a covenant, made 
 with him for the purpose. It was, therefore, in- 
 cumbent upon him, to fulfil the law, not merely as 
 imposed upon him, by the infinitely high authority 
 of the adorable Three in One, but also as sub- 
 mitted to, by his own voluntary consent and en- 
 gagement ; and to fulfil it for life, to himself and 
 his posterity. Thus his obedience was to be per- 
 formed in a covenant-form ; performed to the law, 
 not only .as a rule of righteousness, but as a cove- 
 nant of life. He was, in all his obedience, to have 
 a strict and invariable regard to the covenant. 
 
 Lastly, It was necessary that it should be perpe- 
 tual. It behoved Adam to continue in all things, 
 which were afterward " written in the book of the 
 law, to do them," till the Lord should release him, 
 from under that law in its covenant-form 1 He 
 was to continue under it as a covenant, during all 
 the time in which, he was to remain in his state of 
 trial. This state could not have been eternal ; for 
 in that event, it would have excluded all possibility 
 of a reward, at the end of his service, and have ren- 
 dered the promise, of no avail. If he was to have 
 remained in a perpetual state of probation, he never 
 could have attained the promised reward : for when 
 a reward is promised for obedience, a time is always 
 understood to be fixed, when the party is to enter 
 upon the enjoyment of that reward. Though the 
 period of Adam's probation is not mentioned in the 
 sacred records, yet it would appear, that it was to 
 have been but very short ; probably no longer, than 
 till he had begotten his first child, — or, till the fruit 
 had all dropped off the forbidden tree, — or, till his 
 
 i Gal: iii. 10. Ezek. xviii. 2*. 
 
OP THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 59 
 
 eldest child had been capable of acting for itself. 
 The angelic tribes, were at first, in a state of trial. 
 This did not however continue, but for a few days 
 at most. They seem to have been created, on the 
 second day of the creation, and many of them had 
 fallen, before the end of the sixth; when all the 
 rest of them, it would appear, were forthwith, intro- 
 duced into a state of confirmation. Now, it is not 
 at all probable, that God should have dealt more 
 severely with man, so far inferior to angels, in dig- 
 nity and capacity, by obliging him to continue for a 
 long space, in a mutable state. Indeed it would seem, 
 that according to the tenor of the covenant under 
 which he stood, the time fixed for the duration of his 
 trial, must have elapsed, before he could have had 
 any offspring ; or at least, before any of them could 
 have been capable of acting for himself: for, the 
 entering of sin into the world, by the breach of that 
 covenant, could not, in the first instance, have been 
 by any of his descendants, but only by himself, 
 with whom, as their representative, the covenant 
 was made. As none of them, continuing in a state 
 of personal innocence, could have died by his sin- 
 ning ; nor been in a state of confirmation, while he 
 continued in a state of trial ; it would appear that 
 his state of trial, was to have continued but a very 
 short space. During the continuance of it, how- 
 ever, it was requisite, that his obedience should be 
 perpetual, without the smallest intermission or de- 
 fect. Till that time, spent in a course of uninter- 
 mitted obedience, had elapsed, he could have had no 
 legal claim to the promised reward, nor have enter- 
 ed on a state of confirmation. 
 
 Thus I have endeavoured, briefly to illustrate 
 the rule, — matter, — and manner, of that obedience, 
 which in the first covenant, was the condition of 
 life. 
 
 Was the happiness of mankind, then, suspended 
 on the obedience of one man ? We may learn, how 
 
THE CONDITION 
 
 eminently the sovereignty of Jehovah, is herein 
 displayed. This federal transaction bears a striking 
 impress, and affords an illustrious display, of Divine 
 sovereignty. It flowed from the nature of Jeho- 
 vah, that he should prescribe a law, to the reason- 
 able creature whom he had formed ; but, that he 
 should make a covenant with him, was the result 
 of his sovereign will. He might have made a co- 
 venant with Adam, as a private person. He might 
 have so framed it, that the performance of the con- 
 dition, should have depended, on every one of his 
 offspring in an individual capacity. He doth not 
 ask the consent of all, who are concerned in that 
 covenant ; nor doth he so much as require the for- 
 mal consent, even of their public representative* 
 He proposeth the covenant, in the form of a com- 
 mand : " The Losd God commanded the man," 
 he. As a Sovereign, he refuseth liberty to his 
 creature, so much as in the least to desire to dis- 
 pute his high authority. The time limited for 
 Adam's probation, depended entirely on his sove- 
 reign will. His sovereignty no less appears, in 
 suspending the happiness of mankind, on the first 
 man's obedience to a positive command. Why 
 make his regard to a positive precept, the hinge, 
 on which his whole obedience was to turn ? Why 
 not rest it rather, on a moral precept, the reason- 
 ableness of which, could have been more easily per- 
 ceived by the man ; while thoughts of disobedience, 
 might probably have affected his mind with deeper 
 horror? Here Jehovah displayeth his absolute, 
 sovereign authority. He teacheth the creature, 
 that his sovereign will, is the formal reason of 
 obedience to his law; and that man is as much 
 obliged to obey, when he does not, as when he 
 does, see the reasonableness of the duty required of 
 him. There was nothing in the appearance of the 
 forbidden fruit, that could indicate the fatal ten- 
 dency, which was ascribed to it. On the contrary, 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 81 
 
 f * It was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes.-'" 
 Yet the man is bound to believe, that the taste o£ 
 it is mortal, because God hath said so ; and to dis- 
 credit rather, the testimony of his own senses, than 
 that of God. Nothing can be more reasonable, 
 than that the high and holy One, should mani- 
 fest to angels and to men, his transcendent sove- 
 reignty : and here, that display of the glory of it 
 which he affords, is in an eminent degree, Ufa®* 
 trious. 
 
 We may also infer, from the preceding account 
 of the conditionary articles of the first covenant, 
 That justification or salvation, by the works of the 
 law, is absolutely impossible. The garment of self- 
 righteousness was- stained, and worn to pieces, on 
 the back of the first Adam. "-All our righteous- 
 nesses," said the ancient Church, " are as filthy- 
 rags? It cannot, therefore, be a garment of sal- 
 vation for a sinner. Consider, O sinner, that per- 
 fect obedience, is what the law originally required, 
 and still requires of thee, as the condition of eter- 
 nal life : And though thou wert able, in thy own 
 strength, to yield sincere obedience for such a pur- 
 pose, Divine justice neither could, nor would, ac- 
 cept of it, in place of that which is perfect. In- 
 finite justice can be satisfied with no degrees of 
 obedience, but what are commensurate to the high 
 demands of the righteous law. Thy obedience,, 
 must be altogether perfect, wanting nothing of that 
 perfection which the law requires ; otherwise, it can 
 give thee no manner of right, to justification in the 
 sight of Gocl. Though it were in thy power, to 
 give complete satisfaction to sin-avenging justice, 
 tor thy innumerable offences ; still thou couldst 
 not, under the Covenant of Works, be exalted to 
 eternal life, unless thou wert able at the same time, 
 to yield, and actually did yield, perfect obedience 
 to the precepts of the law. As no sufferings but 
 such as are infinite, can give satisfaction for the 
 
62 THE CONDITION 
 
 breach ; so, no obedience but such as is perfect, 
 can amount to a fulfilment of the condition of that 
 covenant. Boast no longer then of thy repentance, 
 thy sincere endeavours, thy good intentions, thy 
 ardent desires, as thy grounds of title, to the fa- 
 vour of God and eternal life. The covenant under 
 which thou art, admits of no repentance, no will 
 for the deed, nothing short of perfect obedience, 
 and complete satisfaction for sin. There is no la- 
 titude left in that covenant, for sincere endeavours, 
 instead^of perfect performances. Consider, O se- 
 cure sinner, the tenor of that covenant. Is thy 
 obedience, perfect, personal, and perpetual f If not ; 
 why dost thou presume, to expect eternal life on the 
 ground of it ? Dost thou not know, that Jehovah 
 denounceth the most tremendous curse against 
 "every one, who continueth not in all things, written 
 in the book of the law, to do them r ? ,, Dost thou 
 not know, that He is infinitely just, and will by no 
 means, clear the guilty ? infinitely holy, and will 
 not admit a sinner, as such, to stand in his sight ? 
 Dost thou not know, O self-righteous man, that 
 his goodness, as well as his justice, and holiness, 
 determines him to vindicate the honour of his right- 
 eous law ; and that, therefore, " heaven and earth 
 shall sooner pass, than one jot, or one tittle pass 
 from the law, till all be fulfilled?" And dost 
 thou not perceive, that by rejecting the glorious 
 Surety of a better testament, thou keepest thyself, 
 under an obligation to do the whole law, and that, 
 on pain of the most dreadful penalty ? Ah ! what 
 folly, what madness is it, in a sinner, to expect sal- 
 vation by a covenant, that suspends it upon perfect 
 obedience I That covenant proposes the very same 
 condition of life, to every one who continues under 
 it, that it did to the first man ; to be performed in 
 his own person, and by his own strength, if he will 
 
 r Gal. iii. 10. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 6S 
 
 have life by it. Adam is now, no longer his re- 
 presentative, to act for him. He must therefore 
 act and answer for himself. If the pilot, carefully 
 conduct the ship into the port, the passengers have 
 no such office to perform for themselves ; but, if 
 he run the ship on a rock, and then desert her, 
 each of the passengers must be pilot for himself, or 
 else perish by ship-wreck. 
 
 Can nothing, amount to a fulfilling of the con- 
 dition of that covenant, but perfect obedience ? 
 Hence learn the folly of a sinner's attempting, to 
 add his own performances, to the righteousness of 
 Jesus Christ, as the ground of his justification be- 
 fore God. If the obedience of Christ is perfect, 
 infinitely perfect, why does the sinner offer to add 
 any more to it, for such a purpose ; and if not per- 
 fect, why pretend to add that to it, which he him- 
 self, acknowledges to be imperfect ? One imperfect 
 righteousness, annexed to another, which is also 
 imperfect, cannot surely between them, constitute 
 a perfect one. The condition of eternal life, in- 
 fatuated legalist, must be the perfect obedience not 
 of two, but — of One. "By the obedience of 
 One, shall many be made righteous." u The law 
 is not of faith ; but, the man that doeth them, shall 
 live in them V Thou must, therefore, either be- 
 take thyself wholly by faith, to the perfect righte- 
 ousness of the second Adam, or trust wholly to 
 thy own. His and thine cannot be blended toge- 
 gether. The robe of righteousness for justification, 
 must not be a patched garment. If ever, therefore, 
 Jehovah the Spirit begin to make thee wise unto 
 salvation, thou wilt begin, with the great Apostle 
 of the Gentiles, to desire above all things — " to 
 win Christ, and be found in him, not having thy 
 own righteousness, which is of the law, but that 
 which is through the faith of Christ, the righteous- 
 
 8 Gal. iii. 12. 
 
64« THE CONDITION 
 
 ness which is of God by faith v \ O, that this may 
 be thy case, before the shadows of the long even- 
 ing, be stretched forth upon thee ! 
 
 Was Adam's consenting to the covenant of 
 works, a thing different from the condition of that 
 covenant ? The proud legalist, may hence learn 
 that, consenting by faith, to the covenant of grace, 
 is a different thing, from the proper condition of 
 that everlasting covenant. To consent to a proper 
 covenant, is to consent to the conditions, as well as 
 to all the other articles of it. The consenting, 
 therefore, is one thing, and the condition is another. 
 — Nay, the second Adam's consenting, as the glo- 
 rious Representative of his spiritual seed, to the co- 
 venant of grace made with him, was not the condi- 
 tion of that covenant ; for he consented to fulfil the 
 condition of it, in the fulness of time : and if his 
 consenting to do this, is not the proper condition, 
 much less, is our consenting to receive it by faith. 
 
 How necessary is it to the salvation of a sinner, 
 that he have a sufficient Surety, to answer for him ! 
 The condition of the first covenant was so high, 
 and the penalty so dreadful, that, in the event of a 
 man's breach of it, he could not possibly, from any 
 resources of his own, ever be able to recover him- 
 self. The awful penalty must be endured ; and 
 that is what the finite, creature cannot, in any li- 
 mited length of time, endure : the unalterable con- 
 dition of life, must after all be fulfilled ; and that 
 is what the sinful creature cannot perform. How 
 necessary, then, O how. necessary is it, to the sal- 
 vation of a sinner, that a sufficient surety, answer 
 and suffer for him ! Hence says our blessed Lord, 
 " Ought not Christ to have suffered these things ?" 
 And again, " The son of man must suffer many 
 things. 1 ' He only, who was God as well as man, 
 was qualified to become Surety for sinful men ; and 
 
 « Phil. iii. 8, 9. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 65 
 
 to answer the demands of that covenant, after it was 
 broken, which Jehovah had made with man. How 
 necessary is it, reader, to our salvation, that you and 
 I be united by faith, to that transcendently glorious 
 Surety ! Have you ever had such a- deep, and im- 
 pressive sense, of your need of his surety-righteous- 
 ness, as impelled you, without delay, to betake 
 yourself to it, for the justification of life ?■ 
 
 Was the will of God, the precise reason of that 
 obedience, which Adam was commanded to perform 
 to his law ? We hence learn, that there is no ac- 
 ceptable obedience to God, but what is performed 
 in a direct regard to his will, as the formal reason, 
 and rule of it. — To learn this, is of the utmost im- 
 portance, both to the saint, and to the sinner. It 
 was upon the precise point of the will of Jehovah^ 
 that all the obedience of the first Adam, was to 
 turn. And says the blessed second Adam, " I de* 
 light to do thy will, O my God." As it is not the 
 nature of God, or the reason of duty in his nature, 
 but the will, or authority of God, as expressed in his 
 law, that should be the immediate reason and rule of 
 our obedience ; so, no obedience is acceptable to him 5 
 but what proceeds from a supreme regard to his re- 
 vealed will, as the immediate, the precise reason of it. 
 Suppose the duty required, to be ever so reasonable in 
 itself, it is not so much the reasonableness of it, as Je- 
 hovah's requiring of it, that we are to have an im- 
 mediate respect to, in our acts of obedience. We 
 are to do that which is commanded, not so much be- 
 cause we think it right, as because He requires it* 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 OF THE PROMISE OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 
 
 In that covenant, God promised life to Adam and 
 all his posterity represented by him 5 as the reward 3 
 
6G THE PROMISE 
 
 due to his fulfilling of the condition of it. It was 
 by the promise of God, that the reward of life to 
 him and them, was annexed to his performing of 
 perfect obedience. The promise was a conditional 
 promise, which rendered the reward or benefit pro- 
 mised, a debt, upon the fulfilling of the condition ; 
 and therefore was to be performed to him, for him- 
 self and them, as soon as he had fulfilled it. Thus 
 the commandment, which Jehovah gave to the 
 man, " was ordained to life," and " could have 
 given life." 
 
 That a promise of life, to himself and his de- 
 scendants, upon condition of his perfect obedience, 
 was made to Adam, in the first covenant, appears 
 evident from the nature of the penalty. — When the 
 Lord threatened, That " in the day he eat of the 
 forbidden fruit, he should surely die ;" this, by the 
 rule of contraries, necessarily implied, that if he did 
 not eat of it, he should surely live u ." The threat- 
 ening of death, in the event of disobedience, plain- 
 ly implied, that the man had no ground to fear the 
 loss of his life, so long as he continued obedient ; 
 and that if he persevered in his obedience, till he 
 completed it, he might reasonably hope for such a 
 reward, as should be sufficient to counterbalance 
 that death, which had been annexed to a breach, 
 even of a positive precept. — The promise, is not 
 merely supposed or implied in the threatening ; but 
 is as it were expressed, in these words : " Of every 
 tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat ;" — of 
 every tree, and therefore, of the tree of life in the 
 
 u These words, — " In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
 surely die," necessarily and plainly imply this promise: " If thou 
 wilt not eat of it, thou shalt surely live." Though this is not an ex- 
 plicit promise, yet it is an implied, and therefore a real, and a cer- 
 tain one. — Indeed, though we had no other evidence in Scripture, of 
 a promise of life in all its extent, to Adam and his posterity, upon 
 condition of his perfect obedience, this might well suffice, to render 
 such a promise absolutely certain, and the smallest doubt of it utterly 
 inexcusable. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 67 
 
 midst of the garden, as the symbol of life, upon 
 perfect obedience. Thus it seems to have been un- 
 derstood by Moses ; " Ye shall therefore keep my 
 statutes, and my judgments, which if a man do, he 
 shall live in them x ;" and is expounded by the apos- 
 tle Paul, " For Moses describeth the righteousness 
 which is of the law, that the man which doeth those 
 things, shall live by them y ." This appears evident 
 likewise, from the following passages, which express, 
 in clear and direct terms, the nature and sanction 
 of the law ; and contain a repetition, and as it were, 
 an exhibition, of the covenant of works to man- 
 kind :— " The Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou 
 wroth ? and why is thy countenance fallen ? if thou 
 do well, shalt thou not be accepted f and if thou 
 dost not well, sin lieth at the doorV " They 
 hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned 
 against thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall 
 live in them V " And I gave them my statutes* 
 and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, 
 he shall even live in them b ." "The law is not of 
 faith, but the man that doeth them, shall live in 
 them c ." " Indignation and wrath, tribulation and 
 anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil; 
 of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. Eut glo- 
 ry, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh 
 good ; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile d ." 
 64 If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
 ments 6 ." These, and many other passages that 
 might be quoted, clearly show, that the covenant of 
 works was a covenant of life ; that it contained a 
 promise of life, to Adam's finished obedience. The 
 same truth is not obscurely hinted, by God's annex- 
 ing rewards of grace, to that obedience of his peo- 
 ple, to the moral law as a rule, which is far from 
 
 s Levit. xviii. 5. s Rom. x, 5. z Gen. iv. 6, 7. 
 
 a Neb. ix. 29. fc Ezek. xx, 11. c Gai. iii. 1%. 
 
 d Rom. ii. 8, 9. e Matth, xix. 1 7. 
 
68 THE PROMISE 
 
 being perfect V In a word, that the Lord gave, 
 in that covenant, a promise of life to Adam, is set 
 beyond all doubt, by the tree in the midst of the 
 garden, called " the tree of life C That tree, could 
 not be styled " the tree of life," from any inherent 
 virtue that it had, above the other trees of the gar- 
 den, to preserve or prolong life : for if it had been 
 possessed of any such virtue, Adam, instead of 
 having been allowed the free use of the other trees, 
 would have been restricted to eat, for the most part, 
 of that particular tree, so long as it should have pro- 
 duced enough of fruit for him. The name, there- 
 fore, which was given to that tree, could only have 
 been the result of a Divine appointment, setting it 
 apart for a peculiar purpose. It was presented to 
 the man, as a sacred emblem and pledge, as a sa- 
 cramental sign and seal, of that life, in all its lati- 
 tude and extent, which, according to the promise, 
 he was, on finishing his covenant-obedience, to be- 
 gin fully to enjoy. Whilst he continued to obey, 
 it served in a high degree, to confirm his faith and 
 hope in the promise. 
 
 The life, which was promised in that covenant, 
 to the man and his posterity, as the reward of his 
 obedience, was the continuance of his natural life, 
 consisting in the union of his soul with his body ;— ■ 
 the continuance likewise, of his spiritual life, con- 
 sisting in the favour,. and the resemblance of Gocl, 
 or in the union of his soul with God ; — and, his 
 entering, in due time, upon the full fruition of eter- 
 nal life, in the celestial Paradise. 
 
 1. This promise, was a promise of the continu* 
 ance of Jus natural life. His natural or animal life, 
 consisting in the union of his soul with his body, 
 was, according to the promise, upon his continuing 
 in obedience, to have been continued to him. It 
 was a promise of the prolonging of his natural life, 
 
 * Heb. xi. G. 26. Psal. xix. 11. e Gen. ii. 9. 
 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 69 
 
 as long as he continued to obey. As his body was 
 created, without any principles of corruption, or 
 seeds of mortality, his continuing in obedience 
 would have kept off death from it. In his keeping 
 of the commandments, Adam was to have had a 
 great reward. The promise was to have kept pace 
 with his obedience, and to have secured to him a 
 concomitant reward. When the Lord God said to 
 him, " In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou 
 shalt surely die, or, — to die, thou shalt die ;V it was 
 as if he had said, — " While thou eatest not, to live$ 
 thou shalt live ; in order to live an eternal, thou 
 shalt continue to live a natural, and a spiritual life. 
 Thou shalt live, during the course of thy fulfilling 
 the condition of life, in order to live, after it is ful- 
 filled . Whilst thou eatest not of the forbidden fruit 5 
 thou shalt live in thy state of trial, in order to live 
 in a state of confirmation." — The Lord then pro- 
 mised to the man, that, so long as he himself conti- 
 nued not to dissolve the bond of the covenant, the 
 union between his soul and his body, should conti- 
 nue indissoluble ; that, while he continued in the 
 vigour of his obedience, his natural life should con- 
 tinue in all its vigour, without the smallest tend- 
 ency to decay or dissolution ; and that, while he 
 chose to retain the comfort of his innocence, he 
 should continue to enjoy the comfort of life, and be 
 a stranger to sorrow or pain. When God said to 
 him, "-Of every tree of the garden," and conse- 
 quently of the tree of life, as a symbol of life, " thou 
 mayest freely eat," he hinted, or rather expressed, 
 the same promise that was implied in the threaten- 
 ing; namely, the promise of natural life, with all 
 the conveniencies and comforts of it ; with all the 
 unmixed delights, and refined pleasures, which it 
 implied. 
 
 By those words he signified to him, That while 
 he refrained from eating the fruit, of the tree of 
 knowledge of good and evil, he should continue to 
 
70 THE PROMISE 
 
 enjoy a prosperous life ; and, that nothing should 
 ever separate between his life, and the unnumbered 
 comforts of it. — Moreover, that was a promise, not 
 only of the continuance of his natural life, upon his 
 persevering in obedience, during the time of his 
 trial ; but also of the continuance of it, in a state of 
 confirmation, upon his having finished that obe- 
 dience. It was a promise, that when he had finish- 
 ed the fulfilment of the condition imposed on him, 
 he should be introduced into, and forever fixed in, 
 an unchangeable state of holiness and happiness, in 
 which he should be set far beyond the reach of na- 
 tural death. Whether his abode in the earthly pa- 
 radise, or in the world at large, before his admis- 
 sion into the heavenly Paradise, had been intended 
 to be longer or shorter, he should still have been 
 removed beyond the remotest danger, or possibility 
 of dying. His body should have been absolutely 
 and for ever secured, against the least hazard of dy- 
 ing, or even of hurt from accidents of any kind.— 
 Thus, according to the promise, his natural life 
 should have begun to lose itself, in life eternal. 
 
 2. It was also a promise to the man, of the con- 
 tinuance of thai spiritual life which he already pos- 
 sessed 11 . — The spiritual life, with which his benign 
 Creator had endowed him, was, the union and com- 
 munion of his soul with Himself, and its perfect con- 
 formity to him. The conformity of his soul to him, 
 was, its being completely adorned with his moral 
 image, which consisted of knowledge, righteousness, 
 and true holiness. Now God promised, that this 
 spiritual life should continue with him, during the 
 course of his performing the condition of the cove- 
 nant ; or, as long as he continued to refrain from 
 eating of the forbidden fruit. His soul, which in 
 its own nature was immortal, should, in his so do- 
 ing, have still continued, in union and intercourse 
 
 h Gen. ii. 17. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 71 
 
 with Jehovah, the glorious fountain of life. He 
 should have lived to God, and should have enjoyed 
 the continuance of his favour^ and of spiritual pros- 
 perity, in perfect union and communion with him. 
 As a holy God cannot but favour a holy creature, 
 the life which is in his favour, should, as long as 
 the man refrained from eating of the tree of know- 
 ledge of good and evil, be secured to him. The 
 Lord promised to him, on that condition, not merely 
 a continuance of knowledge, righteousness, and ho- 
 liness, as his image on his soul ; but, of his favour, 
 friendship, and familiar intercouse, in every exer- 
 cise and duty suited to that state ; together with 
 the continuance, of the comfort of a good conscience, 
 and of the sure hope of his approaching nearer and 
 nearer, to the full enjoyment of eternal life. He 
 promised to him, that while he continued to observe 
 the covenant, which was a covenant of friendship, 
 nothing should diminish this favour, dissolve this 
 friendship, or mar this intercourse. As Jehovah 
 cannot hide his face from, or frown upon, a creature 
 beautified with his own image, Adam's communion 
 with him, should have been immediate, and his ac- 
 cess to him at all times, ready and easy. — Thus, by 
 virtue of the promise, he had a present reward of 
 his obedience, as the earnest of what he was after- 
 ward to enjoy. But while this was to Adam, a 
 promise of the continuance of his spiritual life, upon 
 his continuing to perform the condition, during his 
 state of trial ; it was, at the same time, a promise of 
 the further continuance of it, in a state of confirma- 
 tion, after he had finished the performance of the 
 condition. It was a promise to him, that, as soon 
 as he had completely fulfilled the condition of life, 
 he should be confirmed in a state of holiness and 
 happiness, and have his spiritual life continued to 
 him, in that state ; that, if he stood firm in his 
 perfect conformity to the law as a covenant of works, 
 he and his posterity should, in consequence of that. 
 
72 THE PROMISE 
 
 be confirmed in perfect conformity to it as a rule of 
 life, or be secured against the remotest possibility, 
 of ever after falling into sin. Thus, the stream of 
 his spiritual life, was to have discharged itself into 
 the boundless, the unfathomable, ocean of life eter- 
 nal. 
 
 3. Finally, It was at the same time, a promise to 
 the Man, that, on accomplishing his covenant-obedi- 
 ence, he should immediately enter upon the enjoy- 
 ment of eternal life ; — that, as soon as he entered 
 into a state of confirmation, he should enter upon 
 the begun fruition of eternal life, in the earthly 
 paradise, and in due time, upon the full enjoyment 
 of it, in the heavenly. According to that promise, 
 his natural and his spiritual life, were to begin to 
 lose themselves in his eternal, as soon as the con- 
 dition of the covenant was fulfilled ; and were to 
 be swallowed up in it completely, as soon as he 
 should be translated up to heaven. As is now the 
 case of true believers, in their state of justification, 
 his eternal life, was to have begun with his confir- 
 mation, in a state of perfect holiness and happiness. 
 He and bis descendants, were to have been so jus- 
 tified, on the ground of his finished obedience to 
 the law, in its covenant form, as never to have 
 come into condemnation ; and, to have been so in- 
 fallibly secured in life, as never to have been in 
 the remotest danger, of passing from life to death. 
 Upon his fulfilling of the condition of life, as their 
 representative, he and they, were to have had their 
 bodies unalterably secured against natural death, 
 and whatever accidents might pave the way to it. 
 No combined force, either of this, or of the infernal 
 world, could ever have inflicted, so much as the 
 smallest hurt, on the body of any one of them 4 
 much less, have compassed the death of any one. 
 Besides, in performing that promise, their covenant- 
 God should have confirmed Adam and his posterity, 
 in perfect conformity to his law, as the immutable 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 73 
 
 and eternal rule of their duty. Adam indeed was 
 created mutable, and so, was naturally subject to 
 change; but upon his finishing of his covenant- 
 obedience, he should have been so confirmed in 
 perfect holiness, as never to be any more liable to 
 the least shadow of change. It should have been 
 as impossible, for him and his descendants, to have 
 fallen into sin or misery, as it would have been for 
 the confirmed angels. As a necessary consequence 
 of this, their persons would have been unalterably 
 fixed in a state of favour with God, and there 
 should have been no danger, of their ever falling 
 out of it any more. His favour should have con- 
 tinued, to compass them about as a shield ; and 
 the light of his countenance, should never for a 
 moment, have been intercepted from them. And 
 at length, without the least dissolution of the 
 union between the soul and the body, both should 
 at the time appointed, have been translated to 
 heaven, that paradise of God ; to be there blessed 
 with the most immediate, perfect, and everlasting, 
 enjoyment of the ever-blessed and adorable Three 
 in One. — They should not always have remained 
 on the earth, where it would be necessary, for the 
 support of their bodies, to eat and drink and sleep ; 
 but should at the fittest time, have been removed 
 to the celestial paradise, to live throughout eter- 
 nity, as do the angels of God. 
 
 That eternal life in heaven, was promised to 
 mankind, in the first covenant, may be evinced by 
 the following arguments : 
 
 1. The life, which the second Adam, by his 
 surety-righteousness, merited for his spiritual seed, 
 is the same that the first Adam had forfeited, by 
 his disobedience. Now that was life eternal. If 
 ki he who believeth, hath eternal life," and, if " the 
 just shall live 1 ' an eternal life " by faith," " The 
 man which doeth those things, shall live by them V 
 
 1 Rom. x. 5. 
 
74 THE PB0MI3E OF 
 
 that is, shall also live the same eternal life. Hence 
 too, are these words of the apostle Paul : " That 
 no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, 
 it is evident ; for the just shall live by faith. And 
 the law is not of faith ; but the man that cloeth 
 them, shall live in them V That eternal life, 
 then, which is received by faith, is here represent- 
 ed, as in substance the same with this, which, by 
 the law, is connected with the perfect fulfilment of 
 all its demands. 
 
 2. Our blessed Lord, when proposing the cove- 
 nant of works, to a young man who was a legalist, 
 told him, that he should have eternal life, as the 
 performance of the promise of it, upon his fulfilling 
 of the condition. " Behold one came and said unto 
 him, good Master, what good thing shall I do, that 
 I may have eternal life ? And he said unto him, — 
 If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
 ments V On another occasion, he returned a si- 
 milar answer to a lawyer, who put a similar ques- 
 tion to him : " He said unto him, thou hast an- 
 swered right ; this do and thou shalt live "V that 
 is, — shalt live an eternal life. It was eternal life, 
 then, which, in that covenant, was promised to 
 Adam, upon condition of his perfect obedience to 
 the law. 
 
 3. If for the breach of that covenant, Adam and 
 all his natural posterity in him, were condemned to 
 eternal death n ; it is requisite, according to the 
 rules of remunerative justice, and the infinite equity 
 of the Divine procedure, that if the condition of 
 life had been fulfilled, they should have been ad- 
 judged to eternal life. Was the penalty of death 
 eternal in the infernal world, annexed to the trans- 
 gression even of a positive precept ? We may war- 
 rantably conclude, that life everlasting in the hea- 
 venly world, was included in the promise. 
 
 k Gal. iii. 11, 12. l Matth. xix. 16, 17. 
 
 m Luke x. 28. » Rom. vi. 23. Matth. xxv. 46. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 75 
 
 4 Reason also suggests, that, his all-bountiful 
 Lord would promise to the man, as the reward of 
 his obedience, a better life, than that which he al- 
 ready possessed ; — that, as the earthly paradise, 
 was adapted principally to promote the happiness 
 of his body, there would be another, and a future 
 state and place, fitted to afford such spiritual feli- 
 city, as should chiefly correspond to the spiritual, 
 and heavenly, nature of his soul ; — and that, after 
 his present state of service and of trial, there would 
 very likely be a future one, of reward and of en- 
 joyment. 
 
 5. The divine appointment of the tree of life, as 
 a symbol and seal of that covenant, plainly hinted 
 that the promise of it, was a promise of a better, 
 and even of an eternal life. — The tree of life sig- 
 nified and sealed to Adam, that upon the ground 
 of his finished obedience, he should be confirmed 
 in life, and should live for ever. It appears from 
 the following words, that he so understood the de- 
 sign of it : " And now lest he put forth his hand, 
 and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and — live 
 
 forever ; therefore the Loud God sent him forth 
 from the garden of Eden. And he planted at the 
 east of the garden of Eden, Cherubim and a flam- 
 ing sword, which turned every way, to keep the 
 way of the tree of life °. v 
 
 6. Christ the second Adam, by his unsmiling 
 obedience, merited for his spiritual offspring, that 
 very life, which the law could not, because of the 
 sinfulness of their nature, afford to them. — " For 
 what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
 through the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin 
 in the flesh : that the righteousness of the law 
 might be fulfilled in us p ," &c. The law or com- 
 mandment, under the form of a covenant of works 3 
 
 e Gen. iii. 22, 23, 24. p Rom. viii. 3, 4. 
 
76 THE PROMISE Or 
 
 " was," we are told, "ordained to life ;" ordained, 
 to confer on them who should keep it, eternal life 
 in heaven. " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
 commandments q ." The inability of the law, there- 
 fore, to afford eternal life now, arises merely from 
 the sinner's inability, to afford that perfect obe- 
 dience, which it originally required, and still re- 
 quires as the ground of a title to life. If sin had 
 not been committed, the law as a covenant of 
 works, could have still conducted men to that 
 everlasting life, which Christ the last Adam, con- 
 fers upon his children. 
 
 7. In the last place, Though justification, in 
 which men are confessedly declared righteous, and 
 entitled to eternal life, is, in the sacred records, 
 affirmed to be altogether impossible now, by the 
 works of the law ; yet, it is nowhere suggested, 
 that this proceeds from any other cause, than the 
 sinner's own inability, to answer the just demands 
 of the violated law r . It is nowhere hinted, that 
 the reason why a man cannot be justified, or procure 
 a title to eternal life, by the deeds of the law, is, that 
 the law never had a promise of eternal life ; but, 
 that — " by the law, is the knowledge of sin ;" and, 
 that — >" all the world have become guilty before 
 God." Thus it is manifest, that eternal life, was 
 Ised in the covenant of works. 
 It ought here, however, to be observed, that 
 though the eternal life in heaven, which was pro- 
 mised in the covenant of works, was the same in 
 its nature, with that which is promised in the cove- 
 nant of grace ; yet, in several respects, it would 
 have been inferior to it. — I shall mention a few of 
 ] 
 
 1. The title of Adam in innocence, to eternal 
 life, could not have been confirmed, in the adorable 
 person, and stupendous death, of the Son of God 
 
 " I lath. xix. IT. * Rom. iii. 19, 20. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS, 7/ 
 
 incarnate ; nor could the charter of his right to it, 
 have been what it now is, to every true believer in 
 Jesus, — a new testament, or new covenant in his 
 blood. Adam was to have had good security for 
 life, namely, the covenant of works fulfilled ; but 
 the true Christian, has a far more glorious charter ; 
 — the everlasting covenant of Grace, written with 
 blood, the infinitely precious blood, of Jesus the 
 only begotten of the Father. 
 
 2. Upright Adam, could not have seen in hea- 
 ven, what the glorified saint will now behold, the 
 incarnate Lamb, the Lamb, as if it had been slain. 
 He was to have enjoyed bright discoveries of God 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit : but he could not 
 have been blessed with the beatifical vision of the 
 eternal Son, in human nature ; — 'that immaculate 
 Lamb, who is ten thousand times brighter than out 
 meridian sun, and will to all eternity, continue to 
 be the light of the heavenly temple. He could 
 have beheld Jehovah sitting upon the throne ; 
 but not, the Lamb in the midst of the throne. He 
 could have contemplated the only-begotten Son, in 
 heaven, and in the bosom of the Father, but not, 
 in the human nature ; not, as his near kinsman, 
 his brother, who for him and for his salvation, 
 was dead, but is now alive, and liveth forevermore. 
 He could have had none of those astonishing, and 
 transporting, manifestations of the glory of Jevo- 
 vah, in the face of Jesus Christ; none of those 
 delightful discoveries of his perfections, and pur- 
 poses, in the glorious work of redemption, which, 
 in heaven, are and shall be enjoyed by the ran- 
 somed of the Lord. 
 
 8. Again, Innocent Adam, could indeed have 
 praised Him who sitteth on the throne, as the 
 Creator and Preserver of all things ; but he could 
 not have joined, in this transporting anthem : 
 " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our 
 sins in his own blood ; and hath made us kings and 
 
78 THE PROMISE 
 
 priests unto God and his Father : to him be glory, 
 and dominion for ever and ever, Amen 5 ." 
 
 4. Adam could have dwelt in heaven, as the 
 creature, the servant, and the friend, of God the 
 Son ; but the redeemed present themselves there, 
 as his brethren and sisters, bis spouse, his mem- 
 bers 1 , and his spiritual seed, the fruit of the travail 
 of his soul. He could not have been so nearly al- 
 lied, nor so intimately related, to the only-begotten 
 Son, as they are honoured to be. 
 
 5. Upright Adam, could have sat down before 
 the celestial throne, arrayed in the garment of his 
 own righteousness ; but not, as invested with that 
 spotless, that best robe, the immaculate righteous- 
 ness of the incarnate Redeemer, with which, as their 
 garment of salvation, his ransomed are adorned, 
 
 6. In a word, Adam's enjoyment of eternal life, 
 could not have been sweetened^ by his remembrance 
 of any sad experience, that he formerly had had of 
 sin, or of misery, or of sorrow ; as will be that of 
 the redeemed from among men. The relish, which 
 the saints shall have, of the pleasures that are at 
 the right hand of God, will, after their bitter expe- 
 rience of sin, sorrow, sickness, and pain, be higher 
 than Adam's could have been, who is supposed 
 never to have known, what it was to experience any 
 of those evils. 
 
 It will be proper now, to take notice of the con- 
 nection of that reward of life, with Adam's finished 
 obedience. As Adam was not only created and 
 preserved by Jehovah, but was infinitely beneath 
 Him, his perfect obedience was originally, and justly 
 due to him ; and, therefore, as it would have been 
 no more, than the payment of a just debt to him, it 
 could not in itself, have merited any reward from 
 him. There could not, surely, have been the small- 
 est proportion, between the perfect obedience of a 
 
 * Rev. i. 5, 6. Eph. v. 30. John xiv. 19. 
 
OP THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 79 
 
 finite creature, and the perfect enjoyment of an in- 
 finite God ; nor, between the temporary obedience 
 of such a creature, and the everlasting fruition of 
 such a God. — The whole connection, therefore, of 
 such an infinitely great reward, with the perfect 
 obedience of the first man, necessarily depended, on 
 the sovereign grace and good pleasure of Jehovah, 
 in condescending to make a promise of it to him, 
 and, on his faithfulness, pledged for making the 
 promise good. Upon his fulfilling of the condition 
 of life, in that covenant, eternal life was to have 
 been due to him and his posterity, as a debt by 
 paction, but not by merit u . The infinitely high 
 and holy One, should in such a case, have become 
 a debtor, not properly to Adam and his descend- 
 ants ; but, — to his own free favour, to his sovereign 
 good pleasure, and to his faithfulness in the pro- 
 mise. — While the man's perfect obedience, could 
 possess no intrinsic value, to merit or naturally de- 
 serve any good thing, at the hand of his sovereign 
 Lord ; because it was what he naturally and justly 
 owed to him ; the promise of life, could not be the 
 effect of the justice of God, but of his unmerited 
 favour, and mere good pleasure. Whilst the man 
 was naturally bound to God, by the precept, God 
 became graciously engaged to him, by the promise. 
 The continuance of life therefore to him, upon his 
 persevering in obedience, as well as his right to 
 eternal life, after his obedience was finished, was 
 founded solely on the promise of the covenant, 
 which the Lord was pleased to make with him. As 
 this promise did not naturally, nor necessarily, be- 
 long to the law, Jehovah, in condescending to re- 
 veal it to the man, and to pledge his faithfulness 
 for the performance of it, manifested inexpressible 
 kindness and grace, toward him and his posterity. 
 Goodness, as an essential perfection of his nature, 
 
 Rom. i. 35. 
 
so 
 
 THE PROMISE 
 
 is necessary to God. But though it is necessary in 
 him, the egression of it upon the creatures, is not 
 necessary, but absolutely and divinely free. Adam, 
 therefore, was to look for that life, which was the 
 good of the covenant made with him, not imme- 
 diately, on the ground of the essential goodness of 
 the divine nature, but on the ground of the promise 
 of the covenant. All his hope of eternal life from 
 God, upon his fulfilling of the condition of it, was 
 to rest immediately upon the revealed will of God, 
 expressed in a free and positive promise. Indeed, 
 though no covenant at all, had been made with 
 Adam, he might, from the natural goodness of God 9 
 have expected, in a course of perfect obedience to 
 the natural law, a prosperous and happy life, as 
 long as he continued to exist. But still, it would 
 have been consistent with the nature of God, to 
 have so withdrawn his supporting hand from him, 
 as at length, to have left him to drop into his ori- 
 ginal non-existence : for, as his perfect obedience 
 could not have, properly speaking, merited the con- 
 tinuance of his life, Jehovah should not have been 
 under any obligation, to continue it to eternity. 
 His suffering it to come to an end, would be no- 
 thing more, than his taking freely away, what he 
 freely bestowed. God's making, then, a covenant 
 with Adam, in which, he promised to him and his 
 natural posterity, eternal life, upon condition of his 
 perfect obedience, was an instance, not only of in- 
 finite condescension and goodness, but likewise of 
 sovereignly rich grace, of absolutely free favour. 
 
 Thus far, of the promise of life, in the first cove- 
 nant. 
 
 Reader, behold here, the goodness and grace of 
 God to man. Though the first covenant, was a 
 covenant of works, there was, notwithstanding, 
 much grace displayed in it. Though man had no- 
 thing to work with, but what he had received from 
 yet God promised him life,—* 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 81 
 
 eternal life, as the reward of his work. He made 
 himself, as it were, debtor to his own creature, for 
 eternal life upon his perfect obedience ; while in the 
 mean time, his ability to obey, was all from God, 
 and while there was an infinite disproportion, be- 
 tween the work, and the reward. Here, infinite 
 goodness overflows upon man. Here, Divine grace, 
 sovereign free favour, gloriously shines. And if 
 such grace appears in a covenant, which notwith- 
 standing is a covenant of works, O what riches, 
 what transcendent riches of grace, are manifested 
 in the covenant of redeeming grace I O what a 
 good, what a gracious God must He be, who could 
 covenant with a creature infinitely beneath him, in- 
 finitely dependent on him ; and, while he owed him 
 nothing, could make himself an infinite debtor to 
 him, for that perfect obedience, which he already 
 owed him ! Who could condescend to make heaven 
 so sure to him, that heaven and earth should sooner 
 pass away, than that, one jot or tittle of the promise 
 should fail ! Who could promise, and by promise 
 secure, eternal life to all the children of men, for 
 the temporary obedience of one man ! 
 
 Was so much grace, conspicuous in a covenant 
 of works? Was Adam bound to acknowledge so 
 much grace, in God's giving him a promise of eter- 
 nal life ; while, in the mean time, he was to expect 
 eternal life, mainly on the ground of his own per- 
 fect obedience to the law ? Hence, we are not to 
 wonder 5 that so many of the children of Adam ? 
 profess an attachment to free grace, and at the same 
 time, trust to their own righteousness, for a title to 
 the favour of God, and to eternal life. The ancient 
 Pharisees x , and the most of modern legalists, do in 
 their profession own free grace, and will not admit 
 that they are enemies of it. They own, that they 
 are much indebted to grace, and yet go about to es~ 
 
 *Lukesviii, 31. 
 
 e2 
 
82 THE PROMISE 
 
 tablish their own righteousness, in order to furnish 
 themselves with a title to life. Legalists cannot see 
 any right purpose, that good works can serve, ex- 
 cept it be, to procure for them a title to life. This 
 is quite natural ; and shows them, to be still under 
 the covenant of works, as well as to bear, in a strik- 
 ing degree, the image of their father Adam. Ad- 
 am in innocence, whilst he acknowledged himself a 
 debtor to free grace, for the promise of life, could 
 at the same time, innocently depend on his own 
 obedience, for a title to eternal life. Not so, his 
 guilty offspring. When they presume, to thrust in 
 their repentance and their faith, their professions 
 and their performances, between themselves and the 
 grace revealed in the gospel, and to expect eternal 
 life, on the ground of these, their dependance on 
 them is most criminal. Hereby, they make them- 
 selves debtors for life, to their own performances, at 
 first hand ; but to free grace, only at second hand. 
 Such persons are the enemies of that grace, which 
 is revealed to sinners in the gospel. It is not the 
 grace of that covenant, which is styled the cove- 
 nant of grace ; not the grace, which reigns through 
 the righteousness of Jesus Christ, unto eternal life ; 
 but, the grace of the covenant of works, to which 
 they are content, and that only in a secondary 
 sense, to become debtors. Had it been said in the 
 gospel, " By grace ye are saved," through works ; 
 the proud self justiciary could have endured the 
 thought : for this would have been, to be saved in 
 the way of the covenant of works, and to have been 
 a debtor to the grace, only of that covenant, and 
 that too, in a secondary point of view. — But that is 
 nowhere said. It is true, their obedience is far 
 from being perfect as was that of Adam ; but, when 
 a man purchases a commodity, far below the stand- 
 ard-price, he as really buys it, as another does, 
 who buys it at the full value. The grace, then, to 
 which legalists profess attachment, is not the free, 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 83 
 
 the absolutely free grace revealed in the gospel, 
 that grace, by which believers are saved through 
 faith ; but such grace, as is consistent with their 
 own works, in the article of justification. Against 
 the grace of the new covenant, or of God in Christ, 
 as a God of grace, the carnal mind, in every son 
 and daughter of Adam, is enmity, enmity in the 
 abstracts Hast thou then, reader, been, by the 
 Spirit of the last Adam, convinced of the sin of 
 thy nature, and especially of the enmity of thy 
 heart, against the grace of the new covenant ? If 
 not; thou hast reason to tremble. Thou art at 
 this moment, under the dominion of the carnal 
 mind ; and this is an evidence, that thou art under 
 the dominion, and the curse, of the broken covenant 
 of works. O betake thyself without delay, by faith, 
 to the second Adam ; and plead that, for his right- 
 eousness"' sake, this great promise of his covenant, 
 may be fulfilled to thee ; " I will put my Spirit 
 within you, and ye shall live," &c. 
 
 Could that obedience of the first Adam which 
 was perfect, have, strictly speaking, merited nothing 
 for him, at the hand of God ? What ignorance, 
 then, what folly, what pride, does it argue in a sin- 
 ner, to pretend that his performances, notwithstand- 
 ing their acknowledged imperfections, merit for him 
 not something merely, but eternal happiness ! If 
 Adam could have presented more obedience to God, 
 than that perfect obedience, which God already re- 
 quired from him, whatever he presented more than 
 he was obliged to do, should indeed have merited 
 for him a proportional reward ; but he neither did, 
 nor could, present more : and therefore his perfect 
 obedience, as it was already due to God, could 
 merit nothing from him. How infatuated, then, O 
 secure sinner, must thou be, who imaginest that thy 
 imperfect, thy polluted performances, are meritori^ 
 
 ? Rom, viii. 7» 
 
THE PROMISE 
 
 ous of eternal life ! " Whatsoever is not of faith, 
 is sin ;" and sin merits eternal death. Now if thy 
 performances, are defiled with sin, which deserves 
 death, how can they at the same time, merit life 
 from God, or even the smallest favour ? Perfect 
 obedience does not merit life, because it is already 
 due to God. Sin merits death, because it is not 
 due to him z . How then can that which is already 
 due to him 3 merit life from him ? And how can 
 that which is not due, and which deserves eternal 
 death, merit at the same time, eternal life ? That 
 a reasonable creature, could once imagine such a 
 thing, would have been altogether unaccountable, 
 if an Apostle had not told us, that sinners, in 
 their natural state, are darkness itself, darkness 
 in the abstract. " Ye were sometime darkness, 
 but now are ye light in the Lord a ," &c. Man as 
 <i creature, owes himself to the Lord, and as a 
 redeemed creature, owes more than himself. A 
 holy man b long ago, thus expressed himself: " As 
 a redeemed one, I owe myself, and more than my- 
 self to thee ; because thou gavest thyself, who art 
 so far more than myself, for me, and thou promisest 
 thyself to me." 
 
 Was Adanvs whole hope of receiving good from 
 God, in his state of innocence, to proceed upon the 
 positive promise of God ? It plainly follows, that 
 those do miserably deceive themselves, who satisfy 
 themselves with general conclusions, and expecta- 
 tions, from the goodness, or mercy, of God's na- 
 ture ; such conclusions, as man even in innocence, 
 v?as not warranted immediately to proceed upon. 
 If Adam in innocence, was not to depend for hap- 
 piness, immediately on the goodness of God's na- 
 ture, but on the promise of his covenant ; how evi- 
 dently, does that sinner expose himself to woful 
 .ointment, who trusts to general, to uncove- 
 
 b Antrim. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. "85 
 
 nanted mercy ! Consider, O secure sinner, that 
 though goodness is essential, and necessary in Je- 
 hovah, yet the egress of it upon creatures, is not 
 necessary, but on the contrary, infinitely free. 
 Consider too, that since the fall, no benefit from 
 the promise of the first covenant, is to be expected 
 by any of the sons of Adam. No good thing, as 
 issuing from the favour of God, is now to be ex- 
 pected, but in the way of disclaiming all confidence, 
 both in the general mercy of God's nature, and in 
 the promise of the covenant of works ; and, of tak- 
 ing hold of the covenant of grace, looking for the 
 mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the ground of 
 the promises of this everlasting covenant. O that 
 this, reader, may now and may often, be thy exer- 
 cise I — " He that believeth on the Son, hath ever- 
 lasting life c ," &c. 
 
 Finally, was the first Adam's state of innocence, 
 his state of trial ? Then a state of trial or proba- 
 tion, is not, properly speaking, the state of man 
 since his fall. Man is no longer innocent, no lon- 
 ger able, to perform perfect obedience to the law. 
 Before the covenant of works was broken, man 
 was in a state of probation for eternal life. If he 
 had stood, during the period of that state, and so 
 fulfilled the condition of life; his state of proba- 
 tion, would forthwith have issued in a state of 
 confirmation. But now, since he has failed in his 
 obedience, and broken the covenant, his state of 
 trial, has issued in a state of condemnation, This 
 is the deplorable condition of all Adam's posterity, 
 while they remain under the first covenant. Were 
 we then to say, that fallen, that condemned sin- 
 ners, are notwithstanding in a state of probation,, 
 as Adam was, it would be to insinuate, that they 
 are still under a covenant, that can justify the 
 doer, or that they are under a law, that can give 
 
 «Johniii»35» 
 
86 THE PROMISE 
 
 life : but says the apostle Paul, " If there had been 
 a law given, which could have given life, verily 
 righteousness should have been by the law d .' 1 Ev- 
 ery individual of mankind now, is either in a state 
 of condemnation, in the first, or in a state of justi- 
 fication, in the second Adam e . The Lord still, 
 however, deals with men as rational creatures, cap- 
 able of rewards, whether of debt or of grace, of 
 justice or of mercy, according to their state, and to 
 their works f . How deeply concerned, then, should 
 the sinner be, to pass, in the use of the means of 
 grace, and by the exercise of faith, from condem- 
 nation in the first, to justification and sanctification 
 in the second Adam ! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF THE PENAL SANCTION OF THE COVENANT OF 
 WORKS. 
 
 JL he penalty of the covenant of works, was death, 
 in all its latitude, extent, and duration. The 
 awful threatening is thus expressed : — " In the 
 day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely 
 die g ,*" or, as on the margin, — " Dying, thou shalt 
 die," or rather, — To die, thou shalt die. This 
 form of the threatening, in the original language, 
 is exceedingly expressive and emphaticaL It im- 
 ports not merely, as in our translation, the infal- 
 lible certainty ; not merely the dreadful nature, the 
 awful extent and latitude ; but, — the perpetual or 
 eternal duration, of that death. " To die, thou 
 shalt die," is, as if Jehovah had said, "On eating 
 the forbidden fruit, thou shalt die presently, in thy 
 
 <• Gal. iii. 21. e See Fisher's Cat. Fifth Edition, p. 88, 
 
 { Matth, xxv. 32— 46. « Gen. ii, 17. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 87 
 
 own person, in order to die perpetually, in thy pos- 
 terity : thou shalt die spiritually, in thy soul, and 
 naturally, in thy body, in order to die eternally, 
 in both soul and body : thou shalt die judicially, 
 in order to die actually ; and shalt begin to die 
 actually, in order to continue so to die. The exe- 
 cution of the sentence shall begin, in order to pro- 
 ceed and to continue, throughout all eternity." 
 
 This most tremendous threatening, or penalty 
 threatened, for breaking the first covenant, is, in 
 respect of God's eternal purpose, styled in Scrip- 
 ture, the wrath of Jehovah ; in respect of the 
 condemning sentence of his law, the curse ; and, 
 in respect of the execution of that sentence, death. 
 If death was thus annexed to a breach of the posi- 
 tive precept, or to a doing of that which was evil, 
 only because it was forbidden ; Adam could not 
 but perceive it, to be annexed to a breach of the 
 moral law, or to his doing of any thing, which was 
 forbidden, merely because it was evil. 
 
 Death, in the general acceptation, may be con- 
 sidered as legal, and as actual. First, It may be 
 viewed as legal, or judicial. — No sooner had Adam 
 sinned, than he died legally. He was legally con- 
 demned, or laid under the condemning sentence of 
 the law, which instantly fixed upon him ; which 
 girded him with cords of death, and bound him 
 over to the vindictive wrath of the Almighty Je- 
 hovah. As is the case of every criminal, legally 
 condemned to die, he fell under a legal sentence of 
 condemnation, and so became dead in law. Thus 
 Adam died, that very moment he brake the co- 
 venant : for the satisfaction of divine justice, he 
 then became liable to death, with all its dismal 
 train of miseries h . Secondly, It may likewise be 
 considered as actual, or real. — Actual death, was 
 the actual execution, of the curse or condemning 
 sentence, upon the man, as soon as he had finished 
 
 * Gal, iii. 10. 
 
88 THE PENALTY 
 
 his first sin. From the moment he transgressed, 
 the curse of the law began to be executed upon 
 him. Death, comprehending all the evils denoun- 
 ced in the awful threatening, began to seize on him. 
 This, when viewed more particularly, may be dis- 
 tinguished into death natural, — spiritual, and— 
 eternal. 
 
 Sect. I. The Penalty of the Covenant of Works 
 includes Natural Death. 
 
 First, It was comprehensive of natural death, 
 the death of the body ; which consists in the sepa- 
 ration of the soul from the body. Jehovah, who 
 had lately formed man's body of the dust of the 
 ground, pronounced upon him, a sentence contain- 
 ing this dreadful article: — " Dust thou art, and unto 
 dust shalt thou return ' ;" as if he had said to him, 
 if Thy body, which was formed of the dust of the 
 ground, to which it is always capable of being re- 
 solved, shall, as a part of thy punishment, again 
 return to the earth, and be reduced to its first 
 principles." This then was a sentence of natural 
 death, passed upon the man, after he had been 
 found guilty. And we may be sure, that the high 
 and holy One, would not have pronounced such a 
 sentence upon him after, if the death of the body, 
 had not been included in the threatening denounced 
 before, he sinned. 
 
 Natural death, which, it is evident, is a part of 
 the penalty of the covenant of works, is not death 
 unstinged, which separates the soul from the body 
 of a believer, united to the second Adam, according 
 to the promise of the covenant of grace ; but, death 
 armed with its envenomed sting, which separates 
 the soul from the body of an unregenerate sinner, 
 according to the curse. Now, this natural death is 
 twofold ; it is inward or real, and outward or rela- 
 tive. 
 
 * Gen, iii. 19. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 89 
 
 1. It is inward or real, It is inward, seated in 
 the sinner's body. No sooner had the first man 
 sinned, than death spread itself from his soul, where 
 it had begun, to his body, and rendered it mortaL 
 Whilst he retained his innocence, his body was im- 
 mortal ; not, that it had like his soul, a natural im- 
 mortality. On the contrary, it was naturally as dis- 
 solvable into parts before, as after he sinned. But 
 the immortality of it, or the perpetuity of its union 
 with his soul, in the event of his not sinning, was 
 unalterably secured to him, by the will and the 
 power of God, according to the tenor of the cove- 
 nant under which he stood. But in the day in 
 which he transgressed the covenant, his body fell 
 from that state of immortality. It became mortal 
 or subject to the dominion of death, and had the 
 seeds or principles of death, implanted in it. It 
 then received its mortal wound ; of which it after- 
 wards died. The shame, perturbation, and dread, 
 which the man then began to feel, could not but oc- 
 casion a new, and a distempered, motion of the 
 blood and spirits ; which would naturally issue, in 
 various diseases, and at length, in the entire disso- 
 lution of the corporeal frame. 
 
 Thus death worketh in the body of every son and 
 daughter of Adam, and either more speedily, or more 
 slowly, conducts it forward to the grave, that gloomy 
 mansion of the dead. Every instance of pain, or 
 sickness, or even of weariness ; while it is sent be- 
 fore, to give warning of the approach of death, 
 serves at the same time, as a token of the body's re- 
 turning again to the dust. After marking its ap- 
 proach to the body, or rather its progress in it, by 
 a train of distempers, it is at length consummated^ 
 in the separation of the soul from the body k . Af- 
 ter the pins of this tabernacle of clay, are gradually 
 loosened, it falls to pieces, and the soul its inhabit- 
 
 *Heb. ix. 27, Gen. iii. If , 
 
90 THE PENALTY 
 
 ant, is forced to make its escape. The soul and the 
 body joined together, in breaking the covenant ; 
 and therefore they are most justly punished, with 
 so painful a separation from each other. Thus, na- 
 tural death is inward or real. But, 
 
 2. It is also outward or relative. It extends to 
 all the creatures, the beasts and the fruits of the 
 earth, on which the continuance of man's natural 
 life in this world depends. 
 
 Jehovah said to Adam, after he had sinned, 
 " Cursed is the ground for thy sake : in sorrow 
 shalt thou eat of it, all the days of thy life l ," As 
 this sentence condemned the man to nothing, but 
 what was previously threatened ; so the penalty 
 threatened for violating the covenant, comprehend- 
 ed all that vanity, and death, to which, those crea- 
 tures which are the support of his natural life, are 
 now subjected. As the life which, in the covenant, 
 was promised to man, included the continuance of 
 them, in their primitive constitution, and fitness for 
 the support, and comfort of his bodily life ; so the 
 death which was threatened, could not but extend 
 to them, and deeply affect them. 
 
 When man, therefore, had by his transgression, 
 become vain, or empty of original righteousness, 
 and so, had fallen under the awful punishment of a 
 corrupted nature ; the creatures, on account of his 
 sin, became subject to vanity, and fell under the 
 bondage of corruption. The weight of the curse is 
 so great, and the pressure of it so heavy, upon them, 
 that the whole creation, as it were, groans, and 
 struggles for deliverance. " We know," says the 
 apostle Paul, " that the whole creation groaneth, 
 and travaileth in pain together, until now m ." 
 Hence it is, that the beasts of the earth, and the 
 fishes of the sea, are armed against man, and even 
 against one another ; that the sun in the firma- 
 
 1 Gen. iii. 17. m Rom. viii. 22 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 91 
 
 ment, oppressing men with scorching heat, causes 
 them to languish, and withdrawing to a greater dis- 
 tance, leaves them benumbed with cold ; that the 
 air is often infected with noxious vapours, which 
 prove fatal to multitudes of them ; that the unfruit- 
 fulness of the earth, terminating in all the horrors 
 of famine, makes death ride in triumph among 
 them ; that the sea rages with tempests, and swal- 
 lows them up ; that the devouring fire, torments or 
 consumes them ; and, that the very stones of the 
 field, on some occasions, become the instruments 
 of executing the awful sentence upon them. 
 
 The curse has now penetrated so deeply in the 
 earth, and, as one expresses it, " hath so impaired 
 her vigour, that having waxen old and feeble, her 
 breasts do not afford such nourishment, as in her 
 youth." The shortening of man's life is the conse- 
 quence. He is of less stature, and strength, than 
 once he was ; and the continuance of his life, is but 
 about a thirteenth part of what it was, at the first B . 
 The day too is coming, when, under the influence 
 of that tremendous threatening, the visible heavens 
 and the earth shall, like an old garment, be rent and 
 cast into the fire. The death, denounced for break- 
 ing the covenant, shall extend to and demolish, the 
 magnificent, and beautiful fabric of heaven and 
 earth. The frame of this lower world shall be dis- 
 solved. " The elements shall melt with fervent 
 heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein 3 
 shall be burnt up V 
 
 Sect. II. The Penalty of the first Covenant in- 
 eludes also Spiritual Death, 
 
 Secondly, The penalty of the first covenant 5 
 comprehended likewise, spiritual death, the death 
 
 n Psal. cii. 23. and xc. 10. ° 2 Pet. iii. 10, 
 
92 THE PENALTY 
 
 of the soul. In the day, in which man eat of the 
 forbidden fruit, he not only became liable to death, 
 but according to the threatening, actually died. 
 The moment he began to eat, sin, and the curse 
 procured by it, separated his soul from God, the 
 sole fountain of life ; which was infinitely more 
 dreadful, than the separation of it afterward from 
 his body. During his state of innocency, his soul 
 was, by the bond of the covenant of works, united 
 to God. But no sooner was that sacred bond brok- 
 en, than this union was dissolved, and they parted 
 from one another. Thus, man was separated from 
 the blessed God, the only source of life, or as the 
 apostle Paul expresses it, — " was alienated from 
 the life of God^; 1 ' upon which, spiritual death, 
 which is the death of the soul, necessarily ensued. 
 This spiritual death, imports — the relative, and the 
 moral, death of the soul. 
 
 1. It implies the relative death of the soul. As 
 soon as the soul is separated from God, it is sepa- 
 rated from his favour, friendship, and fellowship. 
 Its relation to him is dissolved. The moment 
 Adam transgressed the covenant, his soul forfeited 
 and lost, all friendly communion with his Maker, 
 and all favourable communications from him. " In 
 his favour is — life V' the life especially of the soul. 
 The separation therefore of the soul, from the fa- 
 vour, and fellowship, of the ever-blessed Jehovah, 
 cannot but be death to it. When man sinned, and 
 fell under the curse, God left him ; and when God 
 left him, that communion with God, on which, 
 those divine principles, which were the life, happi- 
 ness, and glory of his nature, depended, entirely 
 ceased ; as the light ceases in the natural world, 
 when the sun is gone down. Hence man in his 
 natural state, is, in Scripture, said to be " without 
 God in the world V Upon this breach of friend- 
 
 PEph.iv. 18. i Psal. xxx. 5. * Eph. ii. 13. 
 
OP TILE COVENANT OF WORKS, - 93 
 
 ship, and loss of fellowship, the Lord 5 as the right- 
 eous governor and judge of the world, became the 
 enemy of man ; and, as an object of his infinite 
 displeasure, abhorrence, and indignation, he set him 
 up as the mark at which, all the arrows of his al- 
 mighty vengeance should be aimed. That Adam 
 thus lost the favour, and fell under the awful dis- 
 pleasure, of the Most High, is evident, from his 
 attempting to shun, and to hide himself from his 
 presence. — u Adam and his wife hid themselves 
 from the presence of the Lord God, amongst the 
 trees of the garden s ." 
 
 2. Spiritual death likewise, implies the moral 
 death of the soul ; or, as the apostle of the Gentiles 
 styles it, a being " dead in trespasses and sins V 
 This consists, in the loss of the moral image of 
 God, or of conformity to him, in knowledge, right- 
 eousness, and true holiness ; or, in other words, in 
 the loss of that original righteousness, in which, 
 Adam as the root or parent of his posterity shone, 
 before he violated the covenant. No sooner had he 
 eaten of the forbidden fruit, than he became desti- 
 tute of that vital principle of holy obedience, and 
 could no more will, or do, any thing spiritually 
 good, than a dead body, can perform the actions 
 of one that is alive. Now, as the soul cannot but 
 be either holy or unholy, righteous or unrighteous; 
 universal corruption of nature, succeeded to origi- 
 nal righteousness, and followed, on the absence of 
 it in the soul, as naturally, and as necessarily, as 
 darkness follows, on the setting of the sun. — " They 
 are corrupt ; — they are all gone aside, they are all 
 together become filthy*? Knowledge in the under- 
 standing was succeeded by ignorance, darkness, van- 
 ity, pride, and proneness to deceit. Light and im- 
 partiality in the conscience, gave place to blind- 
 ness, partiality, and stupidity. Rectitude or confor- 
 
 * Gen. iii. 8. * Eph. ii. L u Psal. xiv. i, S, 
 
94 THE PENALTY 
 
 mity to the law and will of God, in the will, was 
 succeeded by a perverse opposition to what is good, 
 a fixed inclination to what is evil, and a wilful 
 aversion from the nature, the word, and the image 
 of God. Regularity, purity, and supreme love of 
 God, in the affections, gave place to disorder, dis- 
 temper, earthliness, and enmity against him. And 
 a readiness in the memory, to receive impressions 
 of spiritual objects, and faithfulness to retain them, 
 were succeeded by a readiness to forget or let slip x , 
 every thing that is good, and to retain every thing 
 that is vain, sinful, and that ought to be forgotten ; 
 to retain the remembrance of injuries, and of 
 naughty objects, and to forget favours bestowed, 
 and objects that are spiritual. Thus the soul of 
 man, did sink into the abyss of universal corrup- 
 tion, of entire disconformity, to the holy nature 
 and law of Jehovah. 
 
 Spiritual death, importing, as was now men- 
 tioned, both the relative and moral death of the 
 soul, continues, as long as the sinner is under the 
 dominion of it, to work and prey upon his soul. It 
 preys upon his soul, on the one hand, in the increase 
 or growth of corruption in it. After a dead body is 
 laid in the grave, putrefaction spreads through it, 
 and gains ground upon it, till it be completely dis- 
 solved. In like manner, when sin lays, as it were, 
 the soul in the grave, spiritual death continues to 
 work in it, to increase the corruption of it, and so 
 to render it, in the sight of God, more and more 
 loathsome. The swarms of lusts which breed, and 
 are in continual motion in it, deface the beauty, de- 
 stroy the form of it, and render it in the highest 
 degree abominable. Hence, actual transgressions, 
 which are the workings of that death, or are the 
 motions of those lusts, that continually prey upon 
 the soul, are in Scripture styled, " dead works, 11 and 
 
 * Heb. ii. 1. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS, 95 
 
 66 abominable works." And says the apostle Paul, 
 " She that liveth in pleasure, is dead while she liv~ 
 eth ;" is — dead spiritually, while she liveth a natural 
 life y . And again,' " Evil men and seducers, shall 
 wax worse and worse 2 ." On the one hand, then, 
 spiritual death preys upon the dead soul, in and by 
 the increase of corruption in it : on the other, it 
 preys upon it, by the infliction upon it, of many 
 spiritual plagues. The dead soul is the receptacle 
 in which, a multitude of spiritual plagues meet, as 
 the worms do, in a dead body lying in the grave. 
 Of some of them, the soul is in a certain degree 
 sensible ; such as, disappointments, anxieties, sor- 
 rows, vexations, terrors, and despair : Of others of 
 them, it is for the most part, insensible ; such as, 
 judicial blindness of mind, searedness of conscience, 
 hardness of heart, a reprobate sense, vile affections, 
 strong delusions, and the like, Thus, the relative 
 and moral death above-mentioned, which are in- 
 cluded in spiritual death, continue to prey upon the 
 soul, as long as it remains under the curse of the 
 law. 
 
 Before I dismiss this article, it will be proper 
 to remark, that while the moral death of the soul, 
 as well as the relative, is a part of man's punish- 
 ment for his first sin, it is at the same time, sinful. 
 While in one view, it is his punishment for sin, 
 in another, it is to be considered as his sin; the 
 sin, the depravity, the corruption, of his nature. 
 In the 7th and 8th chapters of the epistle to the 
 Romans, as well as in many other places of sacred 
 writ, the names, properties, and effects of sin, are 
 attributed to that corruption. Whilst the moral 
 death of the soul, then, is a part of the punishment 
 of Adam's first sin, which is — original sin imputed; 
 it is, at the same time, to be considered, as truly 
 and properly sin, — original sin inherent. 
 
 » 1 Tim. v. 6. » % Tim. iii. 13. 
 
90 THE PENALTY 
 
 Sect. III. That Penalty comprehends likewise 
 Eternal Death. 
 
 Thirdly, That awful penalty, in the last place, 
 comprehended death eternal. This is the death of 
 the whole man ; and issues from the everlasting 
 separation of both soul and body, from the ever- 
 blessed God. Here, natural and spiritual death 
 are, as it were, conjoined, and carried to their high- 
 est possible degree. This, which the Scripture 
 styles, " the second death," and which is the full 
 execution of the curse of the broken law, consists in 
 general, in the everlasting destruction of both soul 
 and body in hell ; to take effect on the soul, imme- 
 diately on its separation from the body, and on both 
 soul and body re-united, at the resurrection of the 
 body. That this, was included in the penalty of 
 the covenant of works, is manifest from these awful 
 words of the apostle Paul : " The Lord Jesus shall 
 be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, 
 in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know 
 not God" such as heathens, who rebel against the 
 light of nature, and glorify Him not as God, " and, 
 that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," 
 as unbelievers, or rejecters of Christ, whether they 
 be Jews or Gentiles ; " who shall be punished 
 with everlasting destruction, from the presence of 
 the Lord, and from the glory of his power 3 . 11 
 This i( everlasting destruction," or, as it is else- 
 where styled, " everlasting punishment, 11 to be in- 
 flicted for the satisfaction of Divine justice, offend- 
 ed, and for the reparation of the Divine honour, 
 impaired, by the sin of man, more particularly con- 
 sists, 
 
 1 . In the irretrievable loss of all that is good, ox 
 that has so much as even the appearance of good.— 
 
 • 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 9. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WOUKS. 97 
 
 " Depart from me, ye cursed b . ,, The everlasting 
 separation of condemned sinners, from Jehovah, 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; their local separation 
 from the man Christ Jesus, and their exclusion 
 throughout eternity, from that blessed place, where 
 He shines, in all the ineffable splendours of his 
 mediatorial glory, must not only be a loss, but a 
 loss infinitely great ; a loss, which nothing in the 
 boundless creation can compensate. God is the 
 chief good of the immortal soul. In this respect, 
 " There is none good but One, that is, God c ." 
 To be separated from Him, therefore, must of all 
 natural evils, be the greatest. No other loss can be 
 so great, as the loss of Him. To be fully, and for 
 ever, separated from Him, must be the deepest, and 
 most dreadful degree of misery, to which, it is pos- 
 sible for sinners to be reduced. — To perceive, that 
 his heart is infinitely, and immutably, alienated 
 from them, and that they shall never be permitted 
 to taste of his bounty, nor of the rivers of pleasures 
 which are at his right hand ; to see, that cast out 
 into outer darkness, they are to be eternally seclud- 
 ed from his presence, never to have part any more, 
 in the beatifical vision and enjoyment of Him ; to 
 know, that they are totally and finally separated 
 from him, never to meet more ; and that they are 
 shut up in the infernal prison, with the devil and 
 his angels, under chains of everlasting darkness, and 
 horrible despair ; to perceive, that all comfortable 
 intercourse between the blessed God and them, is 
 irrecoverably cut off; that every thing in, or about 
 them, which was formerly comfortable, has now re- 
 turned to its fountain, and that not so much as the 
 smallest drop of consolation, is mingled in their 
 cup ; to see and to feel, that in their separation 
 from God, all peace, and rest, and comfort, and 
 joy, and hope, and restraining influence, are abso- 
 
 b Matth. sxv. 41. c Matth. xix. IT. 
 
98 THE PENALTY 
 
 lutely and irrecoverably withdrawn from them,— 
 and that their increasing desire of happiness, will 
 never in the least degree be satisfied ; — to feel, that 
 no sleep is afforded, to refresh the weary, no food, 
 to strengthen the faint, not a drop of water, to cool 
 the tormented tongue, no good company, to comfort 
 the desponding, or to soothe the sorrowful, and that 
 every door in heaven and on earth, at once is shut 
 against them ; and to recollect, that the time was, 
 when they might have been saved, nay, when they 
 assured themselves of salvation, but now see, that 
 their loss is utterly irrecoverable, and that they are 
 the party against whom, the Lord will have indig- 
 nation for ever ; — to see, to feel, to reflect on such 
 objects, I say, cannot but fill them, with the most 
 inexpressible anguish, the most exquisite sorrow, 
 and the most tormenting despair. 
 
 2. This everlasting punishment consists also, in 
 the most tormenting sense of the infinite wrath of 
 Jehovah. " Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
 everlasting fire^" is the dreadful sentence, which 
 is to be pronounced upon them. The floods of his 
 overwhelming wrath, go quite over them ; and 
 throughout eternity, without ever being capable of 
 reaching to the bottom, they sink as lead, in the 
 mighty waters. The empoisoned arrows of his al- 
 mighty vengeance, incessantly fly, and penetrate 
 their hearts. The fire of Tophet, which is fire 
 prepared for the devil and his angels ; and which, 
 the breath of Jehovah like a stream of brimstone 
 doth kindle, fastens on their souls and bodies, and 
 causes torments inconceivably more exquisite and 
 excruciating, than any that can in this world be en- 
 dured. Burning, as it occasions the most torment- 
 ing and terrible pain, is considered as the most 
 dreadful punishment, that men can inflict. When 
 therefore we read of the fire of hell, which must be 
 
 d Matth. xxv. 41. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 99 
 
 inconceivably more vehement, and tormenting, than 
 any fire that we ever saw or heard of, in this world, 
 and of — being cast into it ; we are to consider such 
 phrases, as expressive of a punishment, the most 
 tormenting and horrible, that souls and bodies, 
 though strengthened to an inconceivably great de- 
 gree for the purpose, can possibly endure. 
 
 The punishment and pains of hell, are in Scrip- 
 ture, set forth under other images besides that of 
 fire ; that what is wanting in one notion of them, 
 may be supplied by another. We read of — " the 
 great wine-press of the wrath of God, wherein he 
 treads sinners in his anger, and tramples them in 
 his fury e ;" of — " the worm that dieth not," which 
 shall continually gnaw them f ; of — u a lake of fire, 
 burning with brimstone g ," into which they are cast, 
 than which, it is impossible to conceive any thing 
 more horrible ; of — " utter darkness," without the 
 comfort of the smallest ray of light, " where there 
 is weeping and gnashing of teeth ;"" and, of — " the 
 second death,"'' which follows upon the death of the 
 body, and under the dominion of which, both the 
 soul and the body re-united, shall throughout all 
 eternity continue 11 . 
 
 As the fire of hell was prepared, for the devil 
 and his angels who are spirits, it will torment, not 
 only the bodies, but the souls of the damned. It 
 will enter into the inmost recesses of their souls, and 
 occasion the most vehement burning in their spirits, 
 where torment is the most intolerable. This is 
 the fire, which Jehovah Himself hath prepared ; 
 which his infinite wisdom has contrived, and his 
 omnipotent power has kindled : and since, to de- 
 monstrate the awful severity of his offended justice, 
 he hath prepared it for his enemies who hate him, 
 it must be terrible, and the anguish occasioned by 
 
 • Rev. adv. 19, 20. * Mark ix. 44. 
 
 • Rev. six. 20. * Rev. xx. 6. 
 
100 THE PENALTY 
 
 it, exquisite, infinitely beyond, what men or angels 
 can ever say or think of them.— The eternal Je- 
 hovah, will himself be a consuming fire to his ad- 
 versaries. The fire of the fierceness of his anger, 
 will continue to devour them, as long as the endless 
 ages of eternity, shall continue to revolve. " The 
 smoke of their torment," we are told by the Spirit 
 of inspiration, " ascendeth up for ever and ever; 
 and they have no rest, day nor night V Their 
 punishment is styled, " everlasting punishment 16 ;" 
 " everlasting contempt 1 ;" " eternal judgment m ;" 
 " everlasting fire n ;" "everlasting burnings ° ;" " a 
 suffering of the vengeance of eternal fire p ;'" " a 
 furnace of fire, where shall be wailing and gnashing 
 of teeth q ;" and " the fire that shall never be 
 quenched 1 "." Thus, the penalty of the first cove- 
 nant, comprehended death eternal. 
 
 Before I quit this part of my subject, it will be 
 proper to remark, that the penalty of the covenant 
 of works, flows, not from a mere act of the will of 
 God, as the making of the covenant did, but from 
 the essential perfections of his nature ; particularly, 
 from — his supreme majesty, — his immaculate holi- 
 ness, and — his vindicative, or vindictive justice. 
 
 1. It proceeds from his supreme, and transcend- 
 ent majesty, as Jehovah, and as the moral Gover- 
 nor of his reasonable creatures. The majesty of 
 the Loud is infinitely high ; and therefore every 
 act of disobedience to his law, is high treason, — in- 
 finite in demerit. It is a practical contempt of in- 
 finite dignity, of unbounded liberality ; an act of 
 rebellion, against the supreme authority, and an 
 attempt even upon the infinitely precious life, of 
 " the blessed and only Potentate, the King of 
 kings and Lord of lords;" 'and therefore it must, 
 with respect to its object, be an infinite moral evil ; 
 
 1 Rev. xiv. 11. k Matth. xxv. 46. ' Dan. xii. 2. 
 
 m Heb. vi. 2. n Matth. xxv. 41. ° Isa. xxxiii. 14. 
 
 p Jude v. 7. * Matth. xiii. 42. r Mark ix. 43. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 101 
 
 which in strict justice, cannot deserve less than an 
 infinite punishment. But since a finite creature, 
 cannot endure an infinite punishment, otherwise 
 than in an infinite duration ; the torments of the 
 damned, must be of an infinite, or which is the 
 same, of an eternal duration. Adequate satisfaction 
 for such a crime, can never be completed by a finite 
 sufferer. Sin includes all moral evil, against the 
 infinitely glorious Majesty of heaven, and therefore 
 justly deserves all natural evil, at his hand. Our 
 God is a jealous God, ready to revenge every af- 
 front that is offered to him ; and cannot, therefore, 
 conceal his majesty, when rebellious dust and ashes, 
 presume to attempt to rob him of it, and to enthrone 
 themselves in his room. In EzeJc. xxxix. 25, He 
 thus speaketh ; " I will be jealous for my holy 
 name ;" in which glorious name, this is included, 
 that " he will by no means clear the guilty," or 
 hold them guiltless s . " He cannot deny himself V 
 or, on any occasion, act contrary to his settled de- 
 clarations, respecting the punishment to be inflicted, 
 on impenitent transgressors of his holy law. He 
 eannot conceal the zeal which he hath for the ho- 
 nour of his glorious name, or do what would make 
 him appear to be, what he is not ; by suffering base 
 worms of the dust, to act with impunity, when they 
 dare to act, as if there was no God to whom they 
 owed obedience, or to whom they were to give ac- 
 count. His moral dominion over his reasonable 
 ereatures, cannot be maintained, but in one of these 
 two ways ; either by the creature's active obedience, 
 to his preceptive will, or by his passive subjection, 
 to his punishing will. If the creature were ex- 
 empted from subjection, either to the one, or in the 
 event of sinning, to the other, he would instantly 
 cease* to be any longer in a state of moral depend- 
 ence on God. The supreme Majesty of heaven., 
 
 9 Exod. xxxrg. 7^ t 2 Tim. ii. 13,„ 
 
102 THE PENALTY 
 
 then, could not suffer sin to pass unpunished, with- 
 out renouncing his sovereign dominion over the 
 sinner. 
 
 2. It is derived from, or founded on, the infinitely 
 immaculate holiness of his nature. His holiness, 
 which is an essential property of his nature, neces- 
 sarily requires such a punishment of sin. He can- 
 not but hate sin, which is infinitely opposite to his 
 spotless holiness, with infinite detestation. He can- 
 not, without infinite abhorrence, look on that, which 
 is so unspeakably abominable to him. <* Thou art of 
 purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on 
 iniquity". 1 '' "Thou art not a God who hath pleasure 
 in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with Thee \ w 
 He cannot, therefore, but abhor them who love, and 
 who practise that abominable thing which he hates. 
 " Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity y ." And 
 what is the necessary consequence ? " The foolish 
 shall not stand in thy sight." " Thou shalt destroy 
 them that speak leasing V " Every one that is proud 
 in heart, is an abomination to the Lord V And what 
 is the effect ? "Though hand join in hand, he 
 shall not be unpunished." As, therefore, the high 
 and holy One necessarily hateth sin, and sinners 
 as such, and cannot endure sinners in his sight, or 
 bless them with the tokens of his favour, or the 
 light of his countenance, in which, the life of the 
 soul consists ; his secluding of them from his fa- 
 vour, must in effect, be an excluding of them from 
 life, and so, be a most dreadful punishment of their 
 sin. As, then, his abhorrence of sinners as such, 
 is founded in his holiness, and his casting of them 
 out of his sight, a necessary consequence of his 
 hatred of them, the penalty of the covenant of works, 
 flows from his spotless holiness, as well as from his 
 supreme majesty. — Besides, as infinite holiness, is 
 
 u Hab. i. 13. x Psal. v. 4. * Psal. v. 5. 
 
 3 Psal. v. 6. * Prov. xvi. 5. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 103 
 
 natural and necessary to Jehovah, he cannot ad- 
 mit persons enslaved, and wholly polluted by sin, 
 to communion with him ; nor can he otherwise 
 sanctify them, so as to make them meet for such 
 communion, than by delivering them from the 
 curse of the broken law, in consequence of their 
 having a perfect righteousness, including a complete 
 satisfaction for sin, imputed to them. " What fel- 
 lowship,' 1 says the apostle Paul, " hath righteousness 
 with unrighteousness ? and what communion, hath 
 light with darkness 15 ? 1 ' Indeed it is absolutely im- 
 possible, that a man can be admitted to fellowship 
 with the high and holy One, while he continues 
 with delight, to touch the unclean thing. Now if 
 God cannot admit sinners, continuing impenitent, 
 to communion with himself, he cannot but punish 
 them ; for the want of union and communion with 
 him, is in itself, a most dreadful punishment. — In a 
 word, his holiness renders it necessary for him, 
 never to resemble, nor so much as to appear, in the 
 smallest degree, to resemble the sinner. But if he 
 declined, or were unwilling, to punish sin, he would 
 appear to the sinner, to be such an one as himself. 
 His moral image, which consists in holiness, would 
 in that case appear, as if it consisted in sin. He 
 cannot, then, without appearing unholy; or in 
 other words, he cannot, consistently with the honour 
 of his holiness, forbear to inflict a just punishment 
 for sin, either on the sinner himself, or on a suf- 
 ficient surety, substituted in his room. Hence are 
 these words, dictated by the Holy Spirit ; — " God 
 that is holy, shall be sanctified in righteousness c : 1 ' 
 that is, He shall be acknowledged to be holy, after 
 he hath executed the judgments, or inflicted on im- 
 penitent sinners, the punishments, threatened in 
 the immediately preceding verses ; and after he 
 hath sufficiently shown, that he cannot, and will 
 
 * % Cor. vi. 14. • Isai. v, 16. 
 
104} THE PENALTY 
 
 not, pardon even his own people, but upon the 
 ground of a consummate righteousness, placed to 
 their account. Hence also, are these words of Jo- 
 shua to the tribes of Israel : — " Ye cannot serve the 
 Lord ; for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God, he 
 will not forgive your transgressions, nor your sins' 1 ." 
 3. Lastly, The inflexible justice of Jehovah 
 likewise, renders his punishing of sin, necessary. 
 Sin, as has been already shown, richly deserves, 
 all the punishment which is threatened in the cove- 
 nant of works 6 . Divine justice therefore requires, 
 that sinners should have what is due to them, or 
 what they justly deserve to have. The righteous 
 Jehovah cannot be just, without rendering to 
 every man his due, either in his own person, or in 
 that of a sufficient surety. " It is the judgment, 
 or, the right of God, v says an Apostle, " that they 
 who commit such things, are worthy of death f ." 
 The right of God, is that to which he has a right, 
 which he demands as his due, and which cannot 
 justly be withheld from him. Since his justice, 
 then, is an essential property of his nature ; since 
 the exercise of it, consists in giving, on the one 
 hand, to himself, and on the other, to the sinner, 
 what is due to each ; he cannot, in justice either 
 to himself, or to the sinner, but inflict punishment 
 on him, unless full satisfaction be afforded, by a 
 sponsor in his stead. To forgive sin, without a 
 propitiatory sacrifice to satisfy his justice, would be 
 unjust, and what Jehovah could no more do, than 
 he could cease to be God. Hence are these for- 
 cible words, of the great Apostle of the Gentiles :— 
 " Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation, 
 through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous- 
 ness for the remission of sins that are past, through 
 the forbearance of God : to declare, I say, at this 
 time, his righteousness ; that he might be just, and 
 
 * Josh, x*iy, 19. e Rom, vi. 23. f Rom. i. 32. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 105 
 
 the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus g ." It 
 is true, he " hath no pleasure in the death of a sin- 
 ner,'" considered as in itself, or, as the death of his 
 creature; but, considered as a vindication of the 
 honour, of his injured perfections in general, and, 
 as a satisfaction to his glorious justice in particular, 
 for the infinite offence given to it by sin,, he is, in 
 one place, said — to have it in his desire h ; in an- 
 other, — to comfort himself from it 1 ; nay, in an- 
 other, as the original word signifies, — to rejoice 
 greatly in it k . He loves his creatures, but in afar 
 higher degree, himself. And though he takes no 
 pleasure in the death of an impenitent sinner, on 
 its own account ; still, however, he chooses rather 
 the death of his sinful creature, than the loss of the 
 glory of his essential attributes. 
 
 Should my reader now be disposed to ask, In 
 what capacity, doth Jehovah execute the penalty 
 of the first covenant, on the transgressor ? Is 
 it, in the capacity of supreme and absolute Lord of 
 all ; or, — in that of Governor , Ruler, and Judge ? 
 I would answer, the infliction of the punishment 
 threatened for sin, belongs to him as the Governor, 
 Ruler, and Judge of men, rather than as the su^ 
 preme Lord of all. Considered as the supreme or 
 sovereign Lord, sin is indeed an injury offered to 
 him, for which, he hath a right to demand restitu- 
 tion, or reparation ; but, as the Kuler and Judge of 
 the world, it is a transgression of the law of his 
 kingdom ; a violation of the public right, for which, 
 his justice can, and must, demand public satisfac* 
 turn. The Lord, as an injured sovereign, hath an 
 undoubted right to demand a reparation of die in- 
 jury, but here, a reparation is impossible ; for where 
 there is nothing to give, the proprietor loses his 
 own. The execution of the sentence, then, is to 
 
 * Rom. iii. 25, 26. h Hos. x. 10. 
 
 ' Isai. i. 24, k Deut. xxviii. 63. 
 
 f2 
 
106 THE PENALTY 
 
 be considered as a public punishment, inflicted by 
 God, as the ruler and judge of all, rather than as a 
 simple reparation of a private injury, required by 
 him as the sovereign Lord of all. It is, therefore, 
 the avenging of a transgression of the law, by God 
 as a judge or public person ; rather than the repar- 
 ation of an injury, demanded by him in a private 
 capacity. The execution or infliction of punish- 
 ment properly so called, can be ascribed to God un- 
 der no relation, but that of a ruler and a judge. 
 
 Now, from what has been advanced in this chap- 
 ter, it is manifest that man, even in his best estate, 
 was a changeable creature. The penalty of that 
 covenant which Jehovah had made with him, pro- 
 claimed him to have been, even in his state of inno- 
 cence, a mutable creature; a creature capable of 
 failing in his duty, and of forgetting his best inter- 
 ests. If God had not seen, that he was liable to 
 change, and capable of becoming unfaithful in that 
 covenant, he would not have proposed a penal sanc- 
 tion, to deter him from failing in his covenant-obe- 
 dience. The most faithful mere man that ever 
 lived, was capable of being unfaithful to the trust 
 reposed in him, and actually was so. Is not he, 
 then, who trusts in his own heart, a fool ? Is it not 
 as foolish, as it is sinful, to trust in man, and to 
 make flesh our arm ? If Adam, when he was up- 
 right, was not to be trusted, dost not thou, reader, 
 adopt the readiest method of securing for thyself, 
 disappointment, when thou presumest to place thy 
 happiness, or thy hope, in man who is a sinner ? 
 Let no Christian lean to his own understanding. Let 
 him not trust to his endowments of nature, or even 
 to his habits of grace received. 
 
 The subject treated of, in this chapter, serves al- 
 so to instruct us, in the doctrine of the exceeding 
 sinfulness of sin. How tremendous, is the punish- 
 ment threatened for breaking the first covenant ! 
 Death in its utmost latitude, extent, and duration ! 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 107 
 
 The righteous Jehovah, would not have fixed such 
 an infinitely dreadful penalty, for one act of sin, 
 and that against a positive precept, if one sin, — if 
 the least sin, did not deserve such a punishment. 
 Nothing is contained, within the compass of that 
 terrible threatening, but what the sin of eating of 
 the forbidden fruit, justly deserves. And O, if the 
 transgression even of a precept, the whole goodness 
 of which, consisted in the sovereign will of God, 
 was to be so punished, what punishment, does the 
 transgression of those precepts, which are a bright 
 transcript of his infinitely holy nature, deserve ! 
 Augustine observes, That he who thinks, that the 
 punishment threatened to Adam, was too much, or 
 was unjust, certainly does not consider, how great 
 the evil of sinning must be, when it was so easy not 
 to sin. The less difficult it was, to obey the pre- 
 cept, the disobeying of it was so much the greater. 
 Sin could not deserve, as we here see it does, all the 
 compass of natural evil from God, if it did not con- 
 tain all moral evil against him. You, who will not 
 have God to be for you, must have him to be 
 against you. When you do not choose, that he 
 should be wholly for you, it is just, that he should 
 be wholly against you. He cannot be unjust to 
 himself; and therefore it is just, perfectly just, that 
 you who have sinned, should die. You see here, 
 as well as in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 what you have to expect, if you continue under that 
 broken covenant. The terms of it, you see, are 
 'perfect obedience, or, perpetual punishment. O, 
 the malignity, the infinite malignity of sin ! How 
 inexpressibly evil must that be, which justly deserves 
 so great a death ! how exceedingly sinful must that 
 be, which was sufficient to ruin a world of creatures, 
 and to dissolve the fabric of heaven and of earth ! 
 How infinitely doth Jehovah abhor, even the least 
 sin ! It is that abominable thing which He hateth ; 
 which He infinitely, unchangeably, and eternally 
 
108 THE PENALTY 
 
 hateth. When we survey the penalty of the first co- 
 venant, we may well exclaim, — " Who is like unto 
 thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glo- 
 rious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders 1 ? 1 ' 
 
 Is it necessary, when we consider the infinite ma- 
 jesty, holiness, and justice of Jehovah, that he 
 thus punish sin? Let the believer, however, re- 
 joice and be thankful, that it is not necessary, that 
 he punish the — shiner. The guilt can be trans- 
 ferred, and the awful punishment due for it, can 
 be inflicted, on an all-sufficient Surety, in the sin- 
 ner's room. 
 
 Does the punishment of sin, necessarily result 
 from the nature of God ? How necessary was it, 
 that the Surety and Redeemer of elect sinners, 
 should be GW, as well as man ; and both God and 
 man, in one adorable Person ! His being man was 
 necessary, that he might be capable of obeying, and 
 of suffering, in the same nature that sinned ; his 
 being God was requisite, that his obedience and suf- 
 ferings, might be of such infinite value, as to satis- 
 fy the high demands of law and justicei for sinners ; 
 and, his being both God and man in one person, 
 was necessary, " that the proper works of each na- 
 ture, might be accepted of God for us, and relied 
 on by us, as the works of the whole Person m ." 
 None could obey and suffer, so as to satisfy, but 
 God in our nature. If our Redeemer had not been 
 God, he could not have endured, in a limited time, 
 the fnll execution of the penalty of the first cove- 
 nant. The task was by far too arduous, for the 
 highest angel, or mere man. 
 
 Here also, as in a glass, we may contemplate the 
 transcendent love of God, to sinners of mankind. 
 He so loved us, as to give his only-begotten Son, to 
 endure as our Surety, that tremendous penalty. O 
 what infinite obligations are we under, to admire, to 
 
 1 Excd. xv. II. » Larger Cat. Quest, 40. 
 
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 109 
 
 adore, to serve Jehovah who sent him, and Him 
 who came, in the name of the Lord, to save us ! 
 Behold, reader, what manner of love this is. Con- 
 template " the breadth, and length, and depth, and 
 height" of it, that you may "know the love of 
 Christ which passeth knowledge, and be filled with 
 all the fulness of God V Oh, where is that su- 
 preme, that strong, that glowing, that vehement 
 love, that such unparalleled loving-kindness de- 
 serves I Alas ! how few are suitably affected with 
 such matchless love; or, constrained by it to love, 
 and live to Him, who died for them, and rose again ! 
 O bless the Lord, that the penalty of the first cove- 
 nant, left room for the substitution of such a glori- 
 ous Surety, to endure the execution of it. O the 
 kindness and love of God our Saviour ! It is He 
 who died, and who, by dying and rising again, has 
 converted natural death, from being an old enemy 
 to believers, to be their new friend. 
 
 We may likewise learn from what has been stated 
 above, That natural death is not a debt to nature, 
 as some choose to speak; but on the contrary, is, 
 in the case of all, who live and die under the cove- 
 nant of works, " the wages of sin," a debt due to 
 the sinner. " The wages of sin, is death." The 
 sin of human nature, and the death due for sin, are 
 not so ancient, as human nature itself. 
 
 Finally, How unable is man now, to attain eter- 
 nal life, by the works of the law ! Adam, was able 
 to work for life, having a sufficiency of strength af- 
 forded to him, and yet he failed in his work. How 
 then can it prosper in the hand of the sinner, who 
 is without strength ! Adam had much less to do, 
 than the sinner now has. Only perfect obedience, 
 was at first required of him ; but, of the sinner now, 
 is demanded, not merely perfect obedience, but full 
 satisfaction for sin. Not only, is he obliged to per- 
 
 ■ Eph. iiu 18, 19. 
 
110 THE SEALS OP 
 
 form that perfect obedience, which was the original 
 condition of life ; but to endure the whole penalty 
 of the violated agreement. Art thou, then, self- 
 righteous professor, able to do all this ? Thou hast 
 far more work, and far less strength, than Adam 
 had. O be persuaded, that it is altogether impos- 
 sible for thee, to attain justification and life, on the 
 footing of thy own righteousness. Thy passive 
 obedience, is as insufficient to secure thee against 
 eternal death, as thy active obedience is, to entitle 
 thee to eternal life. Betake thyself then without 
 delay, to the second Adam, who " is the end of 
 the law for righteousness, to every one that be- 
 lieveth °." 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OF THE SEALS OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 
 
 As the existence and properties of objects, which 
 we see before our eyes, are better known, more firm- 
 ly believed, and make a deeper impression on the 
 mind, than those of objects at a distance, of which 
 we only hear; God has wisely and graciously condes- 
 cended, to appoint certain visible symbols or signs, 
 for sealing his covenants with men. He appointed 
 the rainbow, to be the seal of his covenant of safety 
 with Noah ; the sign of circumcision, to be a seal of 
 the righteousness of faith, and consequently of the 
 covenant, in which, Canaan was promised to Abra- 
 ham and his seed ; circumcision and the passover, 
 to be the seals of the covenant of grace, in its old 
 dispensation to the Israelites ; and baptism and the 
 Lord's supper, to be the seals of it, in its new dis- 
 pensation to us. In like manner, when he made 
 
 Rom. x, 4* 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. Ill 
 
 the covenant of works with the first Adam, as the 
 head and representative of his posterity, he appended 
 seals to that covenant. These were, — " the tree of 
 life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of 
 knowledge of good and evil p ." These sealed the 
 covenant with the first man. While they served 
 continually to remind him, of his high obligations to 
 perform the condition, and to warn him of the dan- 
 ger of his failing in it, they were appointed to seal 
 the promise and the threatening of it to him, and at 
 the same time, his faith of them ; or in other words, 
 to confirm the truth of these, to his faith, and his 
 faith, in that truth. Though Adam in innocence, 
 was not called to exercise faith in a Redeemer ; 
 yet, in the first commandment of the moral law, he 
 was required to exercise it in the Three-One-God, 
 the other Party in the covenant. He was enjoined 
 to act faith, agreeably to the nature of the cove- 
 nant, under which he then was. He was to be fully 
 persuaded, that the promise of life, would be per- 
 formed to him and his descendants, upon condition 
 of his perfect obedience ; and, that the threatening 
 of death* would be executed upon them, if, in the 
 smallest instance, he disobeyed. The necessity of 
 the fullest assurance of such a faith in Adam, to his 
 persevering in perfect obedience, was admitted on 
 all hands. It was admitted by the tempter him- 
 self; who therefore determined, that his faith 
 should be the first object, he would attack, and try 
 if possible to shake. " The serpent said unto the 
 woman, ye shall not surely die q ." In order then to 
 confirm this faith, Jehovah appointed, 
 
 In the^r,^ place, " the tree of life? to be a seal 
 of his covenant with man. " Out of the ground, 
 made the Lord God to grow, every tree that is 
 pleasant to the sight and good for food ; the tree of 
 life also in the midst of the garden 1 ." It was 
 
 * Gen, ii. 9, "J Gen. iii. 4. * Gen. if. 9, 
 
112 THE SEALS OF 
 
 styled " the tree of life," not because the fruit of it, 
 had any virtue to render man immortal ; for that it 
 ever possessed such a power, we cannot for a mo- 
 ment believe, because finite power cannot exert that 
 infinite efficacy, which is necessary to support the 
 life of the body, during an infinite length of time ; 
 but, because it was appointed to be a sign and seal 
 of the life, which Adam as the root of mankind, 
 already had, and of that which, according to the 
 promise, he was to have, upon his fulfilling the 
 condition of the covenant. It was a token or sign 
 to him, of that natural, and that spiritual life, 
 which he already had ; and a seal to confirm him 
 in the belief, that he should continue to enjoy them, 
 as long as he continued to yield perfect obedience, 
 to the law of the covenant. As often as Adam 
 was to eat of the fruit of that tree, he was to con- 
 sider it as a sacramental sign and seal, of God's 
 continuing to support his natural, and his spiritual 
 life, as long as he continued to obey. It was 
 likewise, a pledge and a seal of that eternal life, 
 upon the enjoyment of which, he was to enter, as 
 soon as he fulfilled the condition of the covenant. 
 
 Whilst he had the promise of life eternal, to be per- 
 formed to him, upon his finishing his course of perfect 
 obedience ; he had at the same time the tree of life, 
 to seal that promise to him, and so to confirm his 
 faith in it. While the fruit of this tree, like that 
 of other trees of the garden, was a mean of sup- 
 porting the vigour of his natural life, it was at the 
 same time intended, to be a mean of preserving the 
 vigour of his faith, in the promise of eternal life to 
 him and his posterity, upon his performing of per- 
 fect obedience. Thus, then, it was a sacramental 
 sign and seal of eternal life, according to the tenor 
 of the first covenant. This is evident, from the 
 22d and 23d verses of the third chapter of Genesis. 
 " And now lest he put forth his hand, and take 
 also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever ; 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 1 13 
 
 therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the 
 garden of Eden," &e. It is also plain from this, 
 that the Lord Jesus Christ, as enjoyed by the 
 saints in heaven, is called by the same name. " To 
 him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree 
 of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of 
 God s ." And again, "In the midst of the street 
 of it, and on either side of the river, was there the 
 tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and 
 yielded her fruit every month ; and the leaves of 
 the tree, were for the healing of the nations 1 ." 
 From these passages we learn, that the last Adam, 
 who^was made a quickening Spirit, is, as Mediator, 
 the Life, as well as the Light, of the saints in 
 heaven. He is that in reality, of which, the tree 
 of life in the earthly paradise, was only the sign 
 and seal. It is from the merit of his spotless right- 
 eousness, and the efficacy of his glorious grace, 
 that his spiritual seed live. 
 
 When this adorable One, is as the Mediator of 
 the new covenant, here styled " the tree of life," 
 methinks it would appear, that to Adam in para- 
 dise, He was represented by that tree, not indeed 
 as the Mediator ; for the covenant of works could 
 not admit of a mediator, but as the Second Person 
 in the ever blessed Trinity. While the tree of 
 life, in the terrestrial paradise, signified and sealed 
 life to innocent Adam, it would appear, that it 
 also foreshowed that glorious second Person, who, 
 as the Creator and Preserver of all, and he by 
 whom all things consist, is the uncreated Fountain 
 of all that life, which, in the first covenant, was 
 promised to Adam and his posterity. It seems to 
 have signified to Adam, that, that infinitely glori- 
 ous Person was even under this covenant, to be ac- 
 knowledged as the Fountain of all the life which 
 he had, either in possession, or in promise ; so that s 
 when he was afterward to be revealed to him, and 
 
 ■ Key. ii. 7. * Rev. xxii. 2. 
 
114* THE SEALS OF 
 
 his guilty race, as a Saviour to eternal life, he and 
 they might recollect, that from the beginning, he 
 was represented to them by that significant symbol. 
 And, indeed, he could not have been the Life of 
 man, as a sinful creature, if he had not been the 
 source of life to him, as an innocent creature. 
 
 Thus the tree of life, was a sacramental sign and 
 seal of that life, which God had promised to the 
 first Adam, and to his posterity in him. He had 
 access to eat of the fruit of it, as long as he con- 
 tinued to obey. But after he had by sin, forfeited 
 his right to the life promised, and thereby sealed, 
 he no longer had any right to eat of the fruit of it, 
 as the sign and seal. Hence we read, that upon 
 his breach of the covenant, the Lord thrust him 
 out of the garden. " He drove out the man," &c u . 
 As none have, in the sight of God, a right to par- 
 take of the seals of the covenant of grace, but they 
 to whom, that spotless righteousness which is the 
 meritorious condition of life in it, is imputed ; so 
 Adam had no right to eat of that tree of life, after 
 he had failed in fulfilling the condition of the cove- 
 nant, of which it was a seal. God therefore would 
 not suffer him, to make any use of the seal of life, 
 after he had sinfully forfeited the life itself. He 
 would not allow him to profane the sacrament of that 
 life, to which, according to the covenant, he had no 
 longer a right. 
 
 There seem to be at least two oilier reasons, why 
 the Loed excluded him from the tree of life. 1st, 
 Adam, it would appear, now began to imagine, that 
 by eating of the fruit of that tree, he would recover 
 the life which he had lost, and so live for ever. 
 And 2dly, since he had already eaten of the forbidden 
 fruit, God excluded him from the tree of life ; that, 
 after having had the covenant of grace revealed to 
 him, he might not have the smallest encouragement, 
 according to the legal temper of men since the fall, 
 
 u Gen. iii, 24. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 115 
 
 to return to the covenant of works, by partaking of 
 a sacrament of that covenant, and so to reject the 
 covenant of grace. God hereby declared, that all 
 hope of salvation to man, by the first covenant, was 
 now for ever cut off. 
 
 In the last place, the Lord appointed " the tree 
 of knowledge of good and evil," to be a seal of his 
 covenant with man. After, as the sacred Historian 
 informs us, he had made this tree to grow out of 
 the ground, " the Lord God commanded the man, 
 saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest 
 freely eat ; but of the tree of the knowledge of good 
 and evil, thou shalt not eat V Though this tree 
 was not to be touched, yet like the rainbow, the 
 seal of the covenant with Noah, it might be looked 
 at. It was not styled the tree of knowledge of good 
 and evil, because of any virtue in it to make one 
 wise. The tempter told a lie, when he pretended 
 this. But it was so called, because it was a sacra- 
 ment of the covenant which was made with Adam, 
 and as such, a sign and seal to him, both of good 
 and evil. It sealed, on the one hand, all good, all 
 the good included in natural, spiritual, and eternal 
 life, to him, as long as he refrained from eating of 
 it ; and on the other, all evil, every ingredient in 
 the death threatened, the moment he should begin 
 to eat of it. It sealed life to him, as long as he 
 continued only to look upon it, and death, as soon 
 as he began to eat of it. " In the day thou eatesi 
 thereof, thou shalt surely die." Thus it served to 
 confirm with our first parents, the covenant, both 
 in its promise of life, and in its threatening of 
 death, according as they should either eat, or not 
 eat of it ; and so, to confirm their faith in both 
 these parts of the covenant. It served as a sign 
 and a seal to them, both of the promise of good, 
 and of the threatening of evil ; that their faith of 
 
 s Gen. ii. 9, 16, 17a 
 
116 THE SEALS OF 
 
 each, might possess every advantage for continuing 
 firm. It was called the tree of the knowledge of 
 these, on another account. — If Adam was to pre- 
 sume to eat of it, he was to know good, by falling 
 from it, and evil, by falling into it ; good, by the 
 loss of it, and evil, by the sad experience of it, and 
 the difference between the good of obedience, and 
 the evil of disobedience ; that what he did not 
 know either of good or of evil, by the precept, en- 
 joining the one and forbidding the other, he should 
 know by experience. As he had an experimental 
 knowledge of good, by not eating, so he was to 
 have an experimental knowledge of evil, by eating 
 of that tree. As he already knew much of his 
 Creator's goodness, by what he had done for him ; 
 so he was to know much of his displeasure, if he 
 dared to eat of the fruit of that tree. While thus 
 it was a sign of good and evil, it represented the man, 
 as upon a trial of obedience and disobedience ; of 
 obedience, for good, and of disobedience, for evil; 
 and that, according as he behaved himself, while 
 upon trial, he was, either to continue to experience 
 the one, or to begin to experience the other. 
 
 Besides, as it was placed in the midst of the gar- 
 den, " was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes y ;" 
 it was of special use to admonish Adam, not to fail 
 of performing the perfect obedience, which God re- 
 quired of him. It served to remind him, of the ne- 
 cessity of his contemplating frequently, the good of 
 the covenant made with him, and of his desiring it, 
 for himself and his offspring ; and at the same time, 
 to admonish him never to try to obtain it, by any 
 other means, than those which were already ap- 
 pointed, and agreed upon, in the covenant. It 
 served also to represent to him, that his happiness 
 did not lie in the enjoyment of things, which were 
 suited only to gratify his bodily senses ; but, that 
 
 y Gen. Ui. 3, 6. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 117 
 
 it consisted in the fruition of that, which was suited 
 to please and satisfy his soul ; namely, in Jeho- 
 vah himself, as his God, his infinite Portion, and 
 the chief Good of his immortal soul. 
 
 Had the first man, as the root of his posterity, 
 natural and spiritual life, given and sealed to him, 
 as wages in hand ? We may hence infer, the base- 
 ness of his ingratitude, to his gracious and condes- 
 cending Lord. He had a present reward of obe- 
 dience, sealed, and thereby secured to him, by the 
 tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good 
 and evil ; and yet, he would attempt to make his 
 condition better, before the set time. His real fe- 
 licity did not lie, in being as a god, but, in enjoy- 
 ing God as his covenant-God. His all-bountiful 
 Creator, had favoured him with spiritual and natu- 
 ral life, and with all the comforts of each, and had 
 given him seals, to confirm his faith in the promise, 
 that he should continue to enjoy them, as long as 
 he continued to obey ; and, that upon finishing his 
 course of covenant-obedience, he should enter upon 
 the everlasting enjoyment of life eternal. But, in- 
 stead of continuing to admire that grace, and to re- 
 joice in the hope of this eternal life, of which he 
 had the promise and the pledge, he made the most 
 ungrateful return. He returned evil for good. He 
 was no less unkind to his God, than he was to him- 
 self and his posterity. He disbelieved, and so des- 
 pised, the Divine promises which were sealed to 
 him. 
 
 Did the seals of the covenant of works, serve to 
 confirm the faith of the first man, in the truth of 
 the promise, that upon his performing of perfect 
 obedience, he should have life ; and, in the truth 
 of the threatening, that upon his disobedience, he 
 should die the death ? Let the sinner, hence take 
 occasion to assure himself, That unless he come to 
 Christ, who redeems his people from the curse of 
 the law, that dreadful curse must be executed upon 
 
118 THE SEALS OF 
 
 him. Had Adam performed the condition of the 
 covenant, the seals of it would have confirmed our 
 faith, as well as his own, in the promise of eternal 
 life, on that ground. But, since as our represent- 
 ative, he brake that covenant, they serve to confirm 
 our belief of the threatening ; or to assure us, that 
 it shall be executed in all its dreadful extent, upon 
 us, if we continue under it. Be persuaded then, 
 secure sinner, that as thou hast sinned in Adam, 
 and in thy own person, thou must, without the 
 smallest possibility of evading it, die the death. 
 Having read the account here given, of the seals of 
 that covenant, assure thyself, that unless sovereign 
 grace interpose for thy rescue, thou art forever un- 
 done. Do not doubt of it. The tremendous threat- 
 ening is directed against thee. It is sealed ; and 
 the everlasting execution of it upon thee, is in due 
 time to begin, if thou live and die under the first 
 covenant. " The soul that sinneth shall die.'" 
 " Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not 
 be unpunished." O say not, thou who continuest 
 in sin, I hope the threatening will never be execut- 
 ed on me. The seals of the covenant, are seals of 
 the truth of it ; and of the absolute certainly, of its 
 being about to be executed on every son and daught- 
 er of Adam, who is not vitally united to the second 
 Adam. O that, without a moment's delay, thou 
 wouldst accept the Father's offer of Him, and by 
 faith, become united to him. 
 
 Is the Lord Jesus Christ, that in reality, which 
 the tree of life signified, and of which, it was the 
 pledge ? Is He the life of all, who by a true faith, 
 betake themselves to him ? Is he the uncreated 
 Fountain of all that life, which, in the first covenant, 
 was promised to Adam and his descendants ? We 
 may hence learn, that He who, as the second Per- 
 son of the ever-blessed Trinity, was the fountain of 
 life to innocent man, is, as the Mediator of the new 
 covenant, infinitely well qualified to be the life of 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 119 
 
 sinful man. Come to him, then ; trust in him for 
 eternal life, upon the warrant of the Father's offer 
 of him to you ; and you shall have experience of 
 the truth of these inexpressibly endearing words :— 
 " I am the Resurrection and the Life : he that 
 believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
 live; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, 
 shall never die V Man was to have, upon his 
 breach of the covenant of works, an experimental 
 knowledge of the evil of disobedience, and of the 
 evil of punishment due for it. Come to Christ, and 
 you shall have an experimental knowledge of good ; 
 of all the good, promised in the covenant of grace. 
 " Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul de- 
 light itself in fatness V 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF THE REASONABLENESS OF GOD'S ENTERING INT© 
 A COVENANT OF WORKS WITH MAN, AND ESPE- 
 CIALLY WITH ADAM, AS THE REPRESENTATIVE 
 OF HIS NATURAL POSTERITY. 
 
 feixcE it is evident, that Jehovah actually enter- 
 ed into such a covenant with man, we must at once 
 conclude, that his doing so, was most equitable and 
 reasonable, whether we can trace out the reasons of 
 it, or not ; since he who is the immutable Fountain of 
 reason and of equity, can do nothing but what is most 
 reasonable. " He is the rock, his work is perfect ; for 
 all his ways are judgment : a God of truth, and 
 zvithout iniquity , just and right is he b ." And says 
 the prophet Isaiah, He "is wonderful in counsel, 
 and excellent in working c ." Whatever has a na- 
 
 * John xi. 25, 26. * Isa. lv. 2. 
 
 b Deut. xxxii. 4. c Isa. xxviii. 29. 
 
120 THE REASONABLENESS OF 
 
 tive tendency to promote the manifested glory of 
 God, and in subordination to it, the good of man- 
 kind, appears, as far as it has such a tendency, to 
 be altogether reasonable. But, that covenant which 
 he made with man, evidently tended to subserve 
 these two great purposes. 
 
 In the first place, It served clearly to manifest 
 Jus own glory. 
 
 1st, The glory of his infinite, his astonishing 
 condescension, was hereby displayed. Though his 
 dominion and authority over mankind, are absolute 
 and sovereign, so that he can lay upon them, any 
 injunctions he pleases ; yet by this constitution, he 
 tempered his supreme authority, with the greatest 
 mildness and condescension. He would not exer- 
 cise dominion over man, but with man's own con- 
 sent. He would require nothing of man, how just 
 soever it might be, but what man himself, by con- 
 senting to the terms proposed, should judge and ac- 
 knowledge to be, both equitable and easy. 
 
 2rf/?/, The honour of his boundless goodness, was 
 also hereby displayed. As he did not create man, 
 because he had any need of him, but, that he might 
 be an object suited to receive the overflowings of 
 his goodness ; so, neither did he enter into cove- 
 nant with him, from any necessity of nature, but, 
 that he might afford him clearer discoveries, and 
 fuller communications, of his goodness and grace. 
 Though Jehovah could have required all that 
 obedience from man, which it was possible for him 
 to have performed, as a just debt which man already 
 owed him, and that, without promising to him, any 
 reward for it ; yet, so great was his goodness, so 
 boundless his benignity, that he would bind himself 
 by a covenant- engagement, not merely to reward 
 man's obedience, but, to honour it with a reward so 
 exceedingly great, as that of life eternal. If the 
 Lord, instead of making such a covenant with 
 Adam, had proceeded on the footing of mere jus- 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 121 
 
 tiee, and gone no further than justice required him 
 to go ; he might have demanded, that he and his 
 posterity, should yield perfect, and perpetual obe- 
 dience to his law, upon pain of death, without con- 
 descending to promise them, the smallest reward for 
 that obedience. — None is obliged to reward his 
 debtor, for paying him a just debt. Man's perfect 
 obedience, therefore, being previously due to God, 
 could not possibly merit any thing at his hand ; 
 and, even on the supposition, that it were not pre- 
 viously due to him, there could surely be no pro- 
 portion, between the perfect obedience of a finite 
 creature, and this infinitely great reward. 
 
 Sdly, The glory of divine justice also, was hereby 
 illustriously displayed. The more condescension 
 and goodness, God shows to man, the more un- 
 grateful is man, and the more aggravated is his sin, 
 if he despises the riches of such overflowing good- 
 ness ; and consequently, the more does the glory of 
 Jehovah's vindictive justice shine forth, in his in- 
 fliction of punishment upon him. 
 
 4thly 9 In that covenant too, the honour of Di- 
 vine jaitlifulness, was gloriously manifested. The 
 glory of the unchanging faithfulness of Jehovah, 
 had not been so brightly displayed, if he had not 
 made a covenant with his own creature ; a creature 
 so mean, so infinitely beneath him, and a creature, 
 to whom he could have been under no original ob- 
 ligation, either to make, or to fulfil a promise. 
 
 5thly, In few words, By means of that covenant, 
 the glory of his unsearchable wisdom, shines forth 
 with the brightest lustre. The manifold wisdom 
 of Jehovah, shines gloriously, in suiting the me- 
 thod of his dispensations, to the nature of the ra- 
 tional creature, and in governing him with his own 
 consent. His making of a covenant with man, was 
 the most sure, the most effectual, method of secur- 
 ing his voluntary obedience. For though the pre- 
 cept alone, issuing from the supreme authority of 
 
 G 
 
122 THE REASONABLENESS OF 
 
 the adorable Three in One, was necessarily bind- 
 ing ; yet, the man's own consent to obey, strength- 
 ened and increased the obligation. And, as the 
 covenant was mutually binding, it was the firmest 
 and the sweetest bond of man's fidelity, and pre- 
 sented him with the strongest encouragements to 
 his duty. By establishing an indissolvable con- 
 nection, between his duty and his privilege, it fur- 
 nished him with every reasonable, nay, with every 
 possible advantage, for voluntary, cheerful, and un- 
 ceasing obedience. The man was previously obe- 
 dient, and, from the condition of his nature as a de- 
 pendent creature, was bound to obey ; but now, 
 that the covenant was made with him, he became 
 obedient from choice, and with his own formal con- 
 sent. God's entering, then, into that covenant with 
 man, was most proper, most reasonable; — for it 
 served to afford, to the intelligent creation, a glori- 
 ous display of the infinite condescension, the un- 
 bounded goodness, the inflexible justice, the im- 
 mutable faithfulness, and the unsearchable wisdom, 
 which are essential to him. 
 
 Lastly, That covenant served no less clearly, to 
 promote the good of man. For, 
 
 1st, Hereby the high and holy One, admitted 
 the man, into still more intimate, familiar, and en- 
 dearing intercourse with himself. In a covenant- 
 transaction, parties can approach to each other, with 
 the greatest freedom and familiarity. The first 
 man, was admitted to much more nearness to Je- 
 hovah, by this, than he could have been, by any 
 other of the ways known to us, in which, he hath 
 condescended to reveal his will. By this method, 
 man's intercourse with heaven, became more free, 
 and more easy, than it could have been, by pre- 
 cepts, or even by promises. Precepts would, in- 
 deed, have discovered the supreme authority of Je- 
 hovah ; absolute promises, the riches of his grace ; 
 but, his entering into a covenant with man, a crea- 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 123 
 
 lure, and a creature so infinitely mean, in compari- 
 son with Him, manifested that most marvellous fa- 
 miliarity with himself, to which, he thereby admit- 
 ted him. Now, as " it is good for man to draw 
 near to God," the overflowing fountain of eternal 
 blessedness ; the nearer, he is allowed to approach, 
 the better it is for him. 
 
 2dly, By that covenant with man, God establish- 
 ed him in obedience to his law, as far as it could 
 consist with his leaving him, to the freedom of his 
 own will. Perceiving how inconstant, the heart, 
 and how changeable, the condition of man naturally 
 is, the Lord, to bind him the faster, laid him un- 
 der covenant-obligations to obedience. His con- 
 senting, to the covenant made with him, and his 
 engaging, to perform all the obedience required of 
 him, were an additional tie, to bind him the firmer 
 to his duty. Whilst the greatness of the punish- 
 ment threatened, served to render him the more so- 
 licitous to guard against, even the remotest appear- 
 ance of evil ; the greatness of the reward promised, 
 served to encourage him to constancy, in his obedi- 
 ence. By this covenant, then, Adam was favoured 
 with every advantage, for persevering in perfect 
 obedience. 
 
 Sdly 9 By this agreement also, man's obedience 
 was rendered more free and 'voluntary. A law en- 
 joining obedience, constitutes it duty ; but it is a 
 covenant in which consent is mutual, that affords it 
 an opportunity of being free, spontaneous, and 
 cheerful. According to this covenant, man's obedi- 
 ence was to be the result of his own will, as well as 
 of the Divine will, and of his own choice, as well as 
 of the Divine appointment. 
 
 Mhly, In few words, By this constitution, Jeho- 
 vah put the highest respect upon the man. Here- 
 by he showed him, that though He had supreme 
 dominion over him, yet he would not rule him, but 
 with his own leave, would not command him, but 
 
124< THE REASONABLENESS OF 
 
 by his own consent. If it is a distinguished honour 
 for one of low degree, to be united, in a bond of in- 
 tercourse and amity, with one of royal dignity ; how 
 much greater is the honour, which was conferred on 
 man, by exalting him to be the friend, the confede- 
 rate of Jehovah, the only Potentate, the King of 
 kings, and the Lord of lords ! Thus we see, that 
 the first covenant, was highly conducive to the good 
 of man, as well as to the glory of the ever-blessed 
 God. 
 
 Should my reader now be disposed to ask,— 
 Was it reasonable, that a covenant of works, should 
 have been made with Adam, as the natural root, 
 and moral representative, of his descendants, rather 
 than with each of them, in his own person ? I would 
 answer, Nothing could be more reasonable, nothing 
 more equitable, nothing more conducive to their res- 
 pective advantage. 
 
 Besides what has been already advanced on this 
 article, under a different head, I would, 
 
 In the Jirst place, observe, that Adam, consider- 
 ed as the first parent, or natural root, of his poster- 
 ity, and his natural posterity, springing as so many 
 branches from him, constituted but one moral person. 
 As the root and branches of a tree are, by a Divine 
 constitution, one ; whatever change takes place in 
 the root, one answerable to it, will co-exist in the 
 branches. In like manner, no sooner do any of the 
 offspring of Adam, begin to exist, than a depraved 
 disposition begins to exist in their hearts, answerable 
 to that which was in his heart, when he had eaten 
 of the forbidden fruit. When he, as their natural 
 root, sinned, they all sinned in him ; they were all 
 constituted sinners by his act of disobedience, as 
 much as he himself was ; and they come into exist- 
 ence, with the same corruption of nature. — Indeed 
 Adam's Jirst sin, was the sin of human nature, as 
 residing not only in his own person, but in the per- 
 sons of all his natural posterity. As Adam, by his 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 125 
 
 first sin, became exposed to all the calamities of this 
 life, and to all the horrors of natural, spiritual, and 
 eternal death ; so do his posterity, and that too, as 
 soon as they come into the world. Jehovah, the 
 Judge of all the earth, treateth him and them as one. 
 And no just reason can be assigned, why the only 
 Potentate, the only wise God, who, according to his 
 own good pleasure, constitutes every other kind of 
 unity, that is to be found among his creatures ; 
 might not establish a constitution according to 
 which, the natural offspring of Adam, springing 
 from him, as so many branches from the stem of a 
 tree, should be treated, in the event either of his 
 standing or falling, as one with him. There is, 
 doubtless, a beautiful analogy between such a con- 
 stitution, and other Divine constitutions, established 
 throughout the whole system of nature in this world ; 
 every part of which, springs from the first of the 
 species, as from its root, and derives from it, all the 
 good and bad qualities, inherent in that particular 
 species. No class of creatures, with which we are 
 acquainted, is endowed with any property or perfec- 
 tion of nature, but what was in the first of that class. 
 That the offspring of Adam, then, should be with- 
 out that original righteousness, which he had lost ; 
 or, in other words, that they should have no pro- 
 perty or perfection of nature, more than he had, 
 when the first of them began to be propagated from 
 him, is strictly analogous to other laws or constitu- 
 tions, which obtain amidst the works of God, in this 
 lower world. 
 
 Besides, since the Divine appointment, respect- 
 ing the manner of mankind's coming into the world, 
 in their successive generations, was such, as should 
 make them in many respects, one ; as should na- 
 turally conduct them to a mutual dependence on 
 each other, and in society, to an intimate connec- 
 tion with one another ; it was wisely ordered, that 
 they should be in one moral state. Were the dif- 
 
126 THE REASONABLENESS OF 
 
 ference in their condition, as moral agents, to be so 
 great, that some of them should be holy, and others 
 depraved ; some perfectly righteous, and others 
 completely wicked ; some confirmed in holiness and 
 happiness, and others sentenced to endless misery 
 and wo ; some by their perfect obedience, exalted 
 above the sufferings of this present time, and others 
 by their sins, exposed to manifold, to continued 
 tribulations ; such a great difference in their condi- 
 tion, would not be compatible with the necessary 
 connections, the unavoidable intercourses, and the 
 natural circumstances of mankind ; who, as united 
 together in society, were to participate together, 
 both in the good things, and evil things, of this 
 world. It was most reasonable and equitable, there- 
 fore, that the first covenant should have been made 
 with Adam, as the natural root of mankind, and 
 that he and they should have been regarded, and 
 dealt with, as one moral person. 
 
 In the last place, I would remark, that as Adam 
 was the natural head, so nothing could be more rea- 
 sonable, than that he should be pitched upon, to be 
 the moral head, or federal representative, of his na- 
 tural posterity ; and that the covenant should be 
 made with him, in that public capacity. It was 
 most reasonable, that he who was their natural, 
 should at the same time, be their moral root ; or, 
 which is the same, their moral head or represent- 
 ative. The infinitely wise God, the Fountain of 
 reason, made this choice for them ; and since what- 
 ever he does, is, and cannot but be, done with the 
 greatest reason, the choice was not only reasonable, 
 But infinitely reasonable. If earthly judges, as one 
 well observes, "may choose tutors for minors,'" might 
 not the righteous Judge of all the earth, choose the 
 first man, to be the public representative of his des- 
 cendants ? This choice was altogether reasonable ; 
 for — Adam himself who was perfectly upright, and 
 whose reason, in his state of primeval innocence, was 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 127 
 
 perfectly right, approved of it, and consented to it. 
 And, in every age of the Church, it is found, that 
 the more any man's reason is rectified, by the sanc- 
 tification of the Spirit, the more cordially, does he 
 approve of it. 
 
 Indeed, Adam was evidently the fittest, that 
 could have been selected for such a purpose. He 
 was the common parent, the natural head; and 
 therefore the fittest to be the moral, or covenant- 
 head, of his posterity. It is reasonable to suppose, 
 that Adam was at least as much qualified, and 
 therefore as likely, to persevere in obedience, as 
 any of his natural descendants, had each of them 
 been put upon trial for himself. Nay, there was 
 manifestly a greater tendency to a happy issue, in 
 such an appointment, than if every one, had been 
 appointed to stand for himself.- — Adam was in full 
 vigour, in a state of complete manhood, when he be- 
 gan to enter upon his state of trial ; whereas his 
 descendants, coming into existence in a state of in- 
 fancy, and continuing for a long time in childhood, 
 and in comparative inperfection, before they arrive at 
 maturity, would be much more exposed, to the danger 
 of seduction to sin ; and consequently much less qua- 
 lified, to stand for themselves, than he, to stand for 
 them. Besides, Adam had more powerful motives, 
 to incessant watchfulness and circumspection, than 
 any of his natural posterity could have had ; in 
 that, not merely did his own everlasting happiness, 
 but that of all the numberless individuals of his off- 
 spring, depend on his persisting in perfect obedience. 
 —Add to this, that he was made upright ; and 
 therefore was perfectly able, as well as willing, to 
 perceive all the import, to feel all the force, and to 
 yield to ail the influence of that, as well as of every 
 other motive. 
 
 Did Adam, by consenting to the condition of the 
 covenant of works, acknowledge that, perfect obe- 
 dience was equitable in itself and easy to him? 
 
]2.P> THE REASONABLENESS OF 
 
 We may hence warrantably infer, that it was much 
 easier to him, to yield perfect, than to us who are 
 sinners, to perform sincere obedience, as the condi- 
 tion of life. It was easy to him, to perform the 
 perfect obedience, which the law in its covenant- 
 form required from him, for God had made him up- 
 right and perfect ; but, it is difficult, nay, simply 
 impossible for a sinner, to perform in his own 
 strength, sincere obedience ; for having fallen from 
 his uprightness, he possesses no sincerity of heart, 
 as a principle of such obedience, till it be given to 
 him. He is " without strength,'' and, "in his flesh, 
 dwelleth no good thing." When Adam was re- 
 quired to work for life, he was able so to work ; but 
 the sinner is not sufficient of himself, so much as to 
 flunk one good thought. His strength for accept- 
 able obedience, is entirely gone. Besides, if sincere 
 obedience, including faith and repentance as parts 
 of it, be the condition of life, in the covenant of 
 grace, this covenant, is as really a covenant of works 
 to the sinner, as ever the first covenant was to 
 Adam ; and it will be as impossible for him, to at- 
 tain eternal life by it, as by the covenant made with 
 Adam. Consider, self-righteous sinner, that to at- 
 tempt sincere obedience, as the growid of thy title 
 to life, is not merely to attempt a thing that is im- 
 possible, but to reflect dishonour on the glorious 
 second Adam, who, by his fulfilling of all righteous- 
 ness, has answered for them who believe in him, all 
 the demands of the law as a covenant. 
 
 Was the covenant of works proposed, eind made 
 with Adam, by the only wise God, the infinite and 
 immutable Fountain of reason, who can at no time 
 devise, or do, any thing but what is infinitely rea- 
 sonable ? How unreasonable then is it, to find fault 
 with any thing in that covenant ! How presump- 
 tuous is it, in worms of the dust, in creatures who are 
 but of yesterday, whose views are so limited, so con- 
 tracted, so darkened, and who are so apt to mistake 3 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 129 
 
 to quarrel with it and to say, " The ways of the 
 Loud are not equal !" This is what no earthly 
 master would endure from a servant, no parent, 
 from a child, no king, from a subject. Nothing can 
 be more absurd, than for men to pretend, that they 
 discover superior reason, or even, that in any degree 
 they act rationally, when they condemn or disap- 
 prove it. How can such men, perform any " rea- 
 sonable service 1 "' to God d ! 
 
 Though the first covenant, is agreeable to sanc- 
 tified reason, and in nothing, contrary to it ; yet, it 
 is for the most part, far above finite reason, however 
 much sanctified it may be. Be not, therefore, 
 stumbled nor discouraged, believer, because thy 
 reason cannot comprehend every thing in it so fully, 
 as to be able to account for every thing, or to an- 
 swer every cavil that may be raised against it. If 
 thou wert able, fully to comprehend every thing 
 respecting it, this would be an evidence, that it was 
 not a divine constitution, the result of infinite rea- 
 son. The more thou spiritually apprehendest it, 
 the more will the reasonableness of it, appear to thy 
 understanding. Thou wilt not only perceive, that 
 it is equitable and reasonable ; but that it is more 
 reasonable, than any other constitution that, in the 
 same circumstances, thou couklst devise. God did 
 not see it proper, to bring into being all mankind at 
 once, as he did, the angels : but, to produce them 
 rather, through a course of successive generations. 
 As the first man, therefore, was their natural root, 
 it was most proper, that God's settlement with him, 
 respecting his eternal interests, should include all 
 his natural posterity, as being in his loins. That 
 God should have made a new or distinct covenant 
 of works, with each individual of them in their ge- 
 nerations, could not consist with any ideas that we 
 can have, of Divine wisdom ; as it would be totally 
 
 d Rom. xii 1. 
 
 g2 
 
130 THE REASONABLENESS OF 
 
 inconsistent, with their state of propagation from 
 the first man. It was most reasonable, then, that 
 their natural root, should at the same time, be their 
 federal representative. 
 
 Was the first sin, a breach of a covenant which 
 was planned, and proposed by him, who is the un- 
 changeable Fountain of reason ? Let the proud sin- 
 ner hence learn, how unreasonable it is, either to 
 love, or to approve, or to commit iniquity. The 
 covenant of works,, was a most reasonable constitu- 
 tion. The breach of it therefore was most unreason- 
 able. Ah ! how vain are their pretensions to right 
 reason, who allow themselves to love, and live in 
 the practice of any sin ! There was all the reason in 
 the world, that Adam should perform perfect obe- 
 dience, to the law of the covenant made with him ; 
 and no good reason can be assigned, why he chose 
 to withhold such obedience. To disobey commands 
 which proceed from infinite reason, must be in- 
 finitely unreasonable. — We are not to wonder, if 
 the wisdom of God manifested in the first covenant, 
 is foolishness, in the estimation of those men, who 
 see nothing unreasonable, in choosing to commit sin. 
 
 Finally, Is it that which has a native tendency, 
 to promote the manifested glory of God, and the chief 
 good of mankind, that is reasonable, or consonant 
 to right reason ? It follows of course that it is un- 
 reasonable, not to make the glory of God, our chief 
 aim or design in all our actions, and not to seek af- 
 ter the enjoyment of Him, as our chief happiness. 
 No man, begins to act reasonably in religion, till he 
 begin, in all his thoughts, words, and actions, to 
 aim at the glory of God in Christ, as the ultimate 
 end of them ; and to place his chief happiness, in 
 the everlasting enjoyment of Him. Then, and not 
 till then, does he begin to think, speak, and act, 
 like a reasonable creature. The man who acts only 
 from, and for himself, has reason, but cannot have 
 right reason. 
 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 131 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 OF THE BREACH OF THE FIRST COVENANT. 
 
 J. hat this covenant was broken, is in the highest 
 degree evident. " Sin early entered into the world, 1 ' 
 and still " reigns unto death." It reigns everywhere, 
 and in all its innumerable forms, is, either in thought, 
 word, or deed, committed by the children of Adam e . 
 All mankind are born in a state of sin and misery, 
 destitute of original righteousness, and of the favour 
 of God, and so exceeding poor, as to be in want of 
 every thing ; nay, are born in debt to Divine justice, 
 the vast amount of which, by their actual trans- 
 gressions, they daily and hourly increase. For 
 this enormous debt, they are shut up in prison; 
 and they are imprisoned for their Father's debt, as 
 well as for their own f . — The awful tokens of the 
 wrath of Jehovah, due for sin, are everywhere to 
 be seen. This wrath "is revealed from heaven, 
 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of 
 men g ." — The sin of covenant-breaking, is a sin to 
 the commission of which, mankind, in every gene- 
 ration, are exceedingly prone 11 . 
 
 That that covenant was broken by one man, is 
 no less evident. The apostle Paul, in the most ex- 
 press terms, informs us, That — " through the of- 
 fence of one, many are dead ;" that — " by one man's 
 offence, death reigned by one £? that — " by one 
 man's disobedience, many were made sinners ;" and 
 that — " as by one man, sin entered into the world, 
 and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for 
 that all have sinned 1 ." That this one man was 
 Adam, is also manifest. It is manifest from the 
 express narrative of this fatal event, given by the 
 
 * Psal. xiv. 1.— 4. Rom. iii. 10 23. 
 
 f Rom. v. 18. Isai. xlii. 7, Zech. ix. 11, 12. 
 
 « Rom. i. 18. h Fsal. lxxviii. 10, 37. '* Rom. r. 15, 17, 19, 12. 
 
132 THE BREACH OF 
 
 Spirit of truth, in the third chapter of Genesis. It 
 is clear likewise from these words of our Apostle : — 
 44 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Modes* 
 even over them that had not sinned after the simil- 
 itude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of 
 him who was to come k ." The truth of it, is also 
 established from these words, in the 7th verse of the 
 sixth chapter of Hosea ; — " But they, like men, — 
 like Adam ;" as many translators, and our own, on 
 the margin, render the original word, " have trans- 
 gressed the covenant."' 1 In a former chapter I ob- 
 served, that the word occurs only in two other 
 places; namely, in Job xxxi. 33. and in Psalm 
 lxxxii. 7., and that in each of them, it is so under- 
 stood. The meaning of the passage in Hosea, there- 
 fore, appears plainly to be this : — They, like Adajn, 
 their first ancestor, have transgressed the covenant. 
 He transgressed the covenant of works, which had 
 been made with him, and they, the covenant of 
 grace, which, in respect of the external dispensation 
 of it, had been made witk them. 
 
 Now the sin by which, Adam, as the root, and 
 the representative, of all his natural posterity, trans- 
 gressed the covenant of works, was, 
 
 In the first place, his eating of the forbidden 
 fruit. His eating of the fruit of the tree of know- 
 ledge of good and evil, which Jehovah had forbid- 
 den him to eat, was his first act of disobedience, and 
 the sin by which he violated the covenant. " When 
 the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and 
 that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be de- 
 sired to make one wise, she took of the fruit there- 
 of, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband 
 with her, and he did eat 1 ." He was expressly for- 
 bidden, on pain of death, to touch this fruit. To 
 the high prohibition he freely consented. And yet, 
 in contempt of this solemn contract ; a covenant, in 
 
 k Rom. v. H. i Gen. Hi. 6. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. IBS 
 
 which Jehovah himself, was the other contracting 
 Party, he presumed to take and eat of it. 
 
 He, and his wife, who in that contract, and in 
 this violation of it, was included in him, began to 
 commit this great transgression, by doubting and 
 disbelief. Yielding to the enticement of Satan, they 
 first doubted, and then disbelieved, the truth of G-od 
 in the threatening. Satan made his first, and his 
 main attack, on their faith. And no sooner did it 
 begin to fail, than their heart began to yield. A 
 desire after the forbidden fruit, ensued, which issu- 
 ed in their taking and eating of that fatal morsel. 
 By a mist arising out of the bottomless pit, their un- 
 derstanding was darkened, which issued in their dis- 
 belief of the threatening. Straightway their will, 
 swerving from the precept, the rule of their cove- 
 nant-obedience, consented to eat; and then, their 
 affections coveted or lusted after it ; upon which, 
 they took and eat of it, and thereby completed their 
 first transgression. This transgression, then, be- 
 gan in ignorance and unbelief, and ended in Adam's 
 actual eating of the forbidden fruit. The reason 
 why his actual eating of it, is called his first sin, is 
 not because he was not previously guilty, but be- 
 cause it was his first sin finished ; an express, a 
 complete, transgression of the Divine commandment. 
 
 Secondly, This transgression of Adam was a sin, 
 that had many sins included in it. It particularly 
 included, 
 
 1st, Unbelief, as the radical, the main ingredient 
 in it. Adam did not merely, give more credit to 
 the devil, than to God, but chose to believe him, in 
 opposition to God ; to believe words, uttered in di- 
 rect contradiction, to those of the God of truth. He 
 believed a liar, in preference, and in opposition, to 
 Jehovah, " who cannot lie m ." He first question- 
 ed, then disbelieved, and then denied, the truth of 
 
 m Gen. ii, 1 7. and iii. 4, 
 
13* THE BREACH OF 
 
 God in the threatening. He believed the promises 
 of the devil, that liar and murderer from the begin- 
 ning, rather than, the threatenings and promises of 
 Jehovah, whose " truth endureth for ever.'" What 
 was this, but to impute iniquity to the holy One ; 
 and, as far as it was in his power, to make God a 
 liar ? — " He that believeth not God, hath made 
 him a liar n ." 
 
 2dly, It contained the vilest ingratitude to his 
 munificent Lord, and the basest discontentment with 
 his own condition. His all-bountiful Creator had 
 loaded him with benefits. He was the confederate 
 of the most High ; was adorned with his image ; 
 was the companion of angels ; the envy of devils ; 
 lord of the inferior creatures ; of every thing in the 
 world but one tree ; and yet, he dared to grudge his 
 sovereign Benefactor, the use of that small reserve. 
 As if all this had been too little, — a most spacious 
 garden, a garden which, as some say, might be 
 equal to a third part of the terraqueous globe, was 
 afforded to him ; that it might minister to his neces- 
 sity, convenience, and delight. His choosing, then, 
 to eat of no fruit so much as of that which was for- 
 bidden; his despising of all that rich profusion, 
 that boundless variety of good things, which he had 
 at full command ; and his coveting of that, of which 
 he had not the smallest need, was the most mon- 
 strous ingratitude °. 
 
 3c%, This first transgression implied, likewise, 
 the most intolerable pride, and ambition. God had 
 set the man in paradise, and made him lord of this 
 lower world. Nothing, however, could satisfy his 
 ambition, but to be as God himself. — " Ye shall be 
 as gods, knowing good and evil," said the serpent, 
 " And when the woman saw, that the tree was good 
 for food, — and a tree to be desired to make one 
 — wise ; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, 
 
 n 1 John v. 10. ° Gen. ii. 16. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 135 
 
 and gave also unto her husband with her, and he 
 did eat p ." So enormous was his ambition, that he 
 aspired to an equality with the most High, in his 
 incommunicable perfections ; and more especially, 
 in his infinite knowledge. He knew much, but he 
 would know all, he enjoyed much, but he would en- 
 joy every thing ; and would eat that, which God had 
 forbidden him to touch ; as if he was resolved, that 
 nothing should be withheld from him. Was he not 
 happy enough, and high enough, already, in the Di- 
 vine favour ? Nay ; nothing would please him, but 
 to mount up, to the throne of the supreme Majesty 
 of heaven, and to sit down in his stead. He him- 
 self would be — God ! Alas, it was this wretched 
 attempt, " to exalt his throne above the stars of 
 God ; to ascend above the heights of the clouds, and 
 to be like the most High," that brought him and 
 his posterity " down to hell, to the sides of the 
 pit V 
 
 4*thly 9 The strangest inadvertency, was also in- 
 cluded in that sin. Our first parents discovered the 
 most unaccountable inattention, in entering into 
 conversation with any creature, how much soever 
 disguised, about transgressing an express, and per- 
 emptory command of Jehovah. They ought to 
 have pondered well, the invaluable benefits, which 
 they had received from God, and to have set a 
 thankful sense of them, against every temptation to 
 displease Him. Besides, they should have looked 
 to God, that glorious Giver of every good thing ; 
 and should, in humble confidence, have called on 
 him, for ability to resist and stand in the evil day. 
 
 5thly, It included, moreover, the most cruel and 
 atrocious murder. Adam, by this transgression, 
 was at once guilty of his own death, and of the 
 death of all his descendants ; and was guilty, not 
 merely of their natural, but of their spiritual, and 
 
 p Gen. iii. 5, 6. 1 1sa. xiy. 13, 14, 15. 
 
l%& THE BREACH OF 
 
 eternal death r . He could not but know, that 
 death in all its awful extent, was threatened to him- 
 self, and all his posterity, if he should at any time, 
 transgress the Divine commandment ; and yet, re- 
 gardless of such awful consequences, he willingly 
 ventured to transgress. 
 
 tSthly, In a word, the most unnatural rebellion 
 and revolt, were contained in it. By this sin, Adam 
 openly rebelled against the Lord, and ungratefully 
 apostatized from him. Renouncing his covenant, 
 he threw off all dependance on him, all subjection 
 to him, and revolted from him to the devil. Con. 
 temning, and rebelling against, his infinite authority 
 in the command, he entered into a confederacy with 
 Satan, against the Lord, and thereby chose him for 
 his god, instead of the true God who had created, 
 and preserved him. By such a conduct, he practi- 
 cally declared, that the holy One had enticed him, 
 into a foolish and hurtful contract, and had thereby 
 ensnared him. Forgetting the greatness, and the 
 goodness of Jehovah ; and presuming that he him- 
 self, could consult his own interest to better purpose, 
 than God had done, he brake his bands, and cast 
 his cords from him. He dared, to cast off the su- 
 preme dominion of the most High, than which, no- 
 thing can be more atrocious. And therefore his 
 first sin is, by way of eminence, styled disobe- 
 dience ; as having in the nature of it, nothing but 
 downright disobedience to the highest authority; 
 no difficulty to excuse it ; no necessity to extenuate 
 it ; no pleasure to plead in behalf of it. 
 
 In Adam's first transgression, then, there was 
 unbelief, contradicting the truth of God; ingrati- 
 tude and discontent, denying his goodness ; pride, 
 opposing itself to his sovereign prerogatives, and 
 indeed to all that is essential to him ; inadvertence, 
 forgetting his boundless beneficence ; murder, hat- 
 
 * Rom. v. 12. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 187 
 
 ing and opposing his image ; and rebellion, setting 
 aside his supreme authority. 
 
 In the third place, that first sin was, moreover, 
 a complication of all moral evil, a transgression of 
 all the precepts of the moral law. The whole law 
 of God, was violated by that one act of disobedi- 
 ence. The Divine authority which enforces it, 
 was thereby trampled upon. The love, which is 
 the sum of all acceptable obedience to it, was dis- 
 regarded, and hatred substituted in its place. By 
 that sin, every particular commandment of the 
 moral law, was broken. 1. Adam thereby, chose 
 for himself and his posterity, other gods. He chose 
 self for his god, his belly for his god, — nay, the 
 devil for his god. — These were the trinity, that 
 Adam, as the representative of the human race, 
 chose to worship. 2. He did not continue to 
 observe, but on the contrary, he despised and set 
 aside, that great ordinance, respecting the fruit of 
 the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which Je- 
 hovah had expressly appointed, and chose rather, 
 to serve him in some other way. 3. He took the 
 name of the Lord his God in vain. He con- 
 temned his attributes. He abused his ordinance ; 
 that sacred and sacramental tree. He profaned 
 his word, by putting a harsh construction upon 
 it, and even venturing to disbelieve it ; and his 
 works, by eating of that fruit, which he should 
 not have presumed to touch. The Lord therefore 
 did not hold him guiltless. 4*. He kept not that 
 state of holy rest, in which, God had graciously 
 placed him ; and so far was he, from keeping the 
 Sabbath-day holy, that by that sin, he rendered 
 himself and his offspring utterly unable, either oa 
 that or on any other day, to worship God accept- 
 ably. 5. He honoured not his Father, his infinitely 
 high Superior, who is in heaven. He performed 
 not that relative duty, which he owed to his spouse. 
 Instead of reproving her for her sin, or exhorting 
 
138 THE BREACH OF 
 
 and urging her to repent of it, he, by yielding to the 
 temptation, countenanced and encouraged her, in 
 her criminal conduct. Neither did he discharge 
 the duty, which he owed to his offspring. His 
 days, therefore, were not long in the pleasant 
 land, which the Loud his God had given him. 6. 
 By that sin, as I observed above, he was in the 
 greatest degree guilty of murder. He was guilty 
 of self-murder, and at the same time, of the murder 
 of those innumerable multitudes, who were to de- 
 scend from him. 7. By his sensuality and luxury, 
 discovered by eating forbidden fruit, he made him- 
 self naked to his shame, and then sewed fig-leaves 
 together, to cover his nakedness. Thereby also he 
 committed spiritual whoredom. 8. In that trans- 
 gression, he committed theft and robbery. He 
 presumed to put forth his hand, and, against the 
 revealed will of the great Proprietor, to take and 
 use that, which did not belong to him. 9. When 
 he thus sinned, he bore false witness against the 
 God of truth. By his presuming to eat of that 
 fruit, in defiance of the most express prohibition, 
 and threatening, he on the matter, said, not merely 
 that the word of God did not deserve credit, but 
 that God himself, grudged his felicity, and did not 
 sufficiently provide for his comfort. 10. Finally, 
 Not contented with that happy condition, in which 
 God had placed him, he coveted the fruit which 
 his Lord had reserved, to be his own peculiar 
 property : and so, like that king, of whom we 
 read in the second chapter of Habakkuk, " he co- 
 veted an evil covetousness to his house, that he 
 might set his nest on high ;" which issued in the 
 misery, and shame, of him and his descendants. 
 That sin, then, while it was a direct violation of 
 the positive precept, about the fruit of the tree of 
 knowledge, which was, as it were, a summary of 
 the moral precepts ; was at the same time, a trans- 
 gression of all the commandments of the moral law. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 139 
 
 Fourthly, That transgression was exceedingly 
 aggravated. It was aggravated, 
 
 1. From the condition of the person, who com- 
 mitted it. It was committed by one, who had been 
 newly formed after the image of God; who had 
 had not only a covenant of friendship made with 
 him, and express warning of the great danger of 
 eating that fruit, given to him ; but, who had had 
 a fair copy of the law in his heart, and a sufficient 
 stock of grace in his hand, with which, he might 
 easily have resisted the strongest temptation. It 
 was committed by one, who had been perfectly 
 righteous and holy, and able to continue such ; 
 who had been adorned with the perfect image of his 
 Maker, and, therefore, with the power of being 
 perfectly able not to sin. It was not a sinner who 
 did this iniquity, but an innocent person ; whom 
 God had created free from all sinful ignorance, 
 from all inclination to evil, and fully able to stand, 
 if he pleased. It was one, who was endued with 
 original righteousness, without the smallest stain of 
 original depravity, in whom Satan had nothing on 
 which, to fasten the least temptation, that fell be- 
 fore the slightest temptation. 
 
 % It was greatly aggravated, from the number 
 and circumstances of the persons, who are deeply 
 injured by it. Adam committed that sin, not only 
 against himself, against his soul and his body, upon 
 which, he brought death and the curse, with all 
 that dismal train of woes, which are the conse- 
 quences of sin ; but, against all the individuals of 
 his natural posterity, who were represented by him, 
 and were to descend from him. Instead of pre- 
 serving, and transmitting to them, the inestimable 
 inheritance of original righteousness, and eternal 
 life, he thereby entailed upon them, the wrath of 
 God, and all the direful effects of it ; under which, 
 " the whole creation groaneth, even until now." 
 While that sin, spread its destructive influence over 
 
140 THE BREACH OF 
 
 the creation of God, and subjected the earth to the 
 curse, it rendered all mankind inconceivable miser- 
 able. It was the wide door, by which sin entered 
 into the world, and death by sin. But as if this 
 had been all too little, Adam sinned against Je- 
 hovah Himself, to whom he owed supreme love, 
 and perfect obedience; against his most express 
 precept, his most tremendous threatening, and his 
 most gracious promise. 
 
 3. That sin was also aggravated in a high de- 
 gree, from the small value of the thing, for which 
 it was committed. It was occasioned by fruit of 
 small importance, and of which, Adam and his 
 wife had not the smallest need. Judas had the 
 prospect of thirty pieces of silver, to allure his 
 covetous heart ; but Adam had only a morsel of 
 the fruit of a tree, a thing of very small value, and 
 of which, he could have had no manner of need ; 
 having the richest abundance, of the most delicious 
 fruit besides. But the smaller the thing was, and 
 the less his need of it was ; the more inexcusable 
 was the sinner, and the more heinous the sin. Be- 
 sides, that fruit was not only a small, but — a sacred 
 thing. Jehovah had set it apart, as a holy thing 
 for a holy use ; and therefore as his special pro- 
 perty, reserved for himself, it was not to be touched, 
 not to be alienated to any other purpose. He had 
 set it apart, to be a seal of the covenant, which he 
 had condescended to make with man ; and therefore 
 to presume to touch, or take of it, was a sacrilegious 
 usurpation of his peculiar property, and at the 
 same time, a profane abuse of a sacrament, which 
 He had appointed. 
 
 4. It received likewise a great aggravation, from 
 the circumstance of the time, in which it was com- 
 mitted. It was committed, it would appear, on the 
 very day, in which Adam had been created in the 
 image of God, and on which, the covenant of friend- 
 ship had been made with him. The holy Psalmist 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 141 
 
 thus expresses himself: "Man being in honour 
 abideth not, 5 — stayeth not a nighty'' as the original 
 word most frequently signifies t . Our blessed Lord 
 likewise informs us, that " the devil was a murderer 
 from the beginning"-" It is highly probable, that 
 this envious and malicious enemy, not knowing how 
 soon, man might be confirmed in holiness and hap- 
 piness, seized upon the earliest opportunity possible, 
 of attempting to seduce him to sin. Adam then 
 on the very day, in which he was created, it would 
 appear, chose to rebel against his bountiful Crea- 
 tor ; on the very day, in which he was adorned with 
 his image, he sinned it away from him ; and on the 
 same day, in which the covenant was made with 
 him, he transgressed it. His apostatizing so very 
 early, was doubtless, a very great aggravation of his 
 transgression. 
 
 5. Lastly, It was no less aggravated, from the 
 place where it was committed. It was perpetrated 
 in Eden, the pleasantest part of the earth, and in 
 paradise, the most delightful spot in Eden. It 
 was committed, where Jehovah was residing as in 
 his temple; where every surrounding object, was 
 loudly proclaiming his infinite glory in himself, and 
 his immense goodness to man ; and where man had 
 every thing in the richest profusion, that could be 
 either necessary, or delightful, or that could in any 
 degree, contribute to engage him to obedience. As 
 
 s Psal. xlix. 1 2. 
 
 * From this passage, the Hebrew doctors, in Bereschct Italia, 
 concluded, That the glory of the first man, did not abide a night 
 with him. Broughton our own countryman affirms, That man did 
 not continue in his integrity, a day ; and tells us from Maiinonidcs, 
 that this was believed by all the Jews, and by all the ancient Greek 
 fathers. Poll Synop. in Psalm xlix. 13. 
 
 u John viii. 44 The devil " was a murderer from the beginning," 
 
 that is, from the days of the creation. From the beginning, wa the 
 common phrase by which the Jews used to express, The days of 
 creation. Accordingly they called the works of creation, the works 
 in the beginning. If then Adam fell within the days of the creation, 
 he fell on the day that he was created. 
 
142 THE BREACH 01 
 
 the sin of the fallen angels, was exceedingly aggra- 
 vated, by its having been committed in the midst 
 of heaven ; so was the first sin of Adam, by its hav- 
 ing been committed in the midst of paradise. 
 
 In the -fifth place, That great transgression was 
 committed in the following manner : 
 
 1. The infinitely wise God, had left Adam to 
 the liberty ', or freedom of his own will. Though he 
 was a perfect, yet still he was a mutable creature, a 
 creature naturally subject to change. The free- 
 dom of will, to which Jehovah had left him, did 
 not consist in an unchangeable inclination, however 
 voluntary, to moral good, like that which God him- 
 self, elect angels, and glorified souls have ; nor, in 
 in an equal bias to good, and to evil, for God had 
 created him after his own image ; nor, in his 
 having one principle in his will, inclined to good, 
 and another inclined to evil, as is the case of 
 the saints while in this world ; far less, in a volun- 
 tary and settled, inclination only to evil, after the 
 manner of infernal spirits : but, it consisted in a 
 perfect liberty and " power, to will and to do that 
 which is good and well-pleasing to God, but yet 
 mutably, so that he might fall from it V " Man 
 was created upright y ," an ^ received from God a 
 power, constantly to persevere in innocence ; — yet 
 so, that his act of perseverance, was left to the li- 
 berty and choice of his own free will. God gave 
 him a heart, wholly, and only, inclined to good, 
 but liable to change, and that only, by himself, 
 or by his own will. The freedom of will, then, 
 or the liberty to act according to pleasure, to 
 which, God left Adam, consisted in his being in- 
 clined only to good, though seducible to evil. The 
 natural bent of his heart, was only to that which 
 is good, but was at the same time, subject to 
 change. Being therefore thus liable to change, 
 
 * Confession of Faith, chap. ix. Sect. 2. * Eccles. vii. 29. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 143 
 
 God did not incline him, nor tempt him z , nor 
 force him, to any change ; but so left him to him- 
 self, that himself, and himself alone, could pro- 
 duce a change, in the inclination of his own will, 
 from good to evil. Jehovah had set him, beyond 
 the remotest hazard of change, by any other than 
 himself. He could only have been made a sinner, 
 by himself, or by — his own voluntary choice. In 
 this sense, he was created immutable m holiness ; 
 for none, either in heaven, or on earth, or in hell, 
 could have made him a sinful man, if he had not 
 chosen to do it himself. 
 
 If his Maker had set him, beyond all hazard of 
 change by himself, or by his own free choice ; such 
 an exemption from change, must either have been 
 interwoven with his very nature, or have arisen 
 from confirming grace. 
 
 If it had been interwoven with his nature, he 
 must, in that case, have been naturally immutable. 
 Now natural immutability, in moral goodness, is the 
 incommunicable property of Jehovah alone. It 
 cannot be conferred on any creature, how exalted 
 soever, that creature may be a . Natural immuta- 
 bility, is the distinguishing prerogative of Jehovah 
 himself, and cannot be made the natural property 
 of a creature. Mutability belongs so to the nature 
 of a creature, that it would cease to be a creature, a 
 dependent being, the moment it ceased to be mut- 
 able. Adam as a creature, then, was totally in- 
 capable of it. Besides, if he could have been creat- 
 ed with such an immutability, or, without so much 
 as a remote power in Ms nature, to change himself, 
 he could not have been — a free agent; he could 
 not have obeyed, but by a fatal necessity. 
 
 If such immutability had, on the other hand, 
 arisen from confirming grace, then, no wrong was 
 done to Adam, by withholding from him, that 
 
 a James iii. 13. a Mai. iii. 6. James i. 17. 
 
144 THE BREACH OF 
 
 which was not due to him. Jehovah did not owe 
 him, any supernatural, or extraordinary assistance, 
 to secure his persevering in a state of innocence. 
 That natural power with which, in his creation, 
 God had endowed him, was sufficient to have kept 
 him standing, as long as he chose to stand. And 
 if he chose not to stand, but to fall, his falling 
 could not have proceeded from weakness, but from 
 wilfulness. Besides, God's rendering him immut- 
 able by an act of grace, would have confounded 
 his state of service and trial, with that of his re- 
 ward ; and could not have consisted, with the te- 
 nor of the covenant, which he had made with him. 
 Acid to this, that as his sovereign Lord, was no 
 debtor to the man for confirming influence ; so, in 
 the depth of his adorable sovereignty, he saw meet to 
 set up, in this case, a striking monument of the in- 
 finite difference, between himself, and the holiest 
 creature ; and between his own essential immutabi- 
 lity, and that mutability, which necessarily be- 
 longs to the nature of a creature. In few words, 
 he was pleased, in the depth of his unsearchable 
 wisdom, to permit this dismal event of the fall of 
 man ; and to take occasion from it, to afford the 
 brightest disphiys, of the glory of his redeeming 
 grace and mercy. " How unsearchable are his judg- 
 ments, and his ways past finding out b !" 
 
 2. Satan by subtlety tempted Adam, to commit 
 that sin. The angels, it would appear from the 
 1st verse of the first chapter of Genesis, and from 
 the 6th and 7th verses of the thirty-eighth chapter 
 of Job, were created on the first day of the creation. 
 The angels who were not elected, had not fallen 
 earlier than the sixth day ; for we are told, that 
 " on the sixth day, God saw every thing that he 
 had made, and behold, it was very good c ." Full of 
 hatred against God, and of envy against man, who 
 
 b Rom. xi. 33. G Gen. i. 31." 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 145 
 
 shone in the image of God, one of them seized, it 
 would seem, without a moment's delay, the earliest 
 opportunity, of assaulting him with a temptation. 
 He laid his train, for enticing him to eat of the for- 
 bidden fruit, in the following order : 
 
 1st, He chose a serpent, to be his instrument in 
 the temptation. He chose, entered into, and pos- 
 sessed for this purpose, a real or material serpent ; 
 because " the serpent was more subtile, than any 
 beast of the field V' an ^ therefore was not only the 
 fittest of any other, to serve his infernal design, but 
 the most agreeable to him. He preferred this in- 
 strument, not so much from any expectation of as- 
 sistance, from the subtlety of it, as because he liked 
 best a creature, the craftiness of which, bore a near 
 resemblance to his own. And it is remarkable, 
 that the devil ever after, retained a great regard, to 
 this instrument of his first temptation : for long af- 
 ter this, he instigated various heathen nations, to 
 worship him under the form of a serpent, which 
 some continue to do to this day. We read that, in 
 the ancient Greek-mysteries, they used to carry about 
 a serpent, and to cry, Evah. What sort of a ser- 
 pent it was, which Satan on this occasion possessed, 
 is not known. Some learned writers think, that it 
 was one of the most shining and beautiful of them. 
 In the 1 5th verse of the eighth chapter of Deut- 
 eronomy, we read of serpents, that in the original 
 are called seraphim ; which, in Scripture, is a name 
 given to angels, who used to appear in fiery or 
 splendid forms. And so Eve, who seems not to 
 have known as yet, any thing of the apostacy of 
 angels, might probably have thought, that this ser- 
 pent was y either one of the holy angels or seraphim, 
 or that it was inspired by one of them. There is 
 nothing improbable, in her supposing that one of 
 those holy angels, who after this, used to appear in 
 
 d Gen. iii. 1. 
 
146 THE BREACH OF 
 
 a human form, might now appear and converse with 
 her, in the form of a shining serpent ; and, that 
 conscious of no sin, and, therefore, dreading no in- 
 jury from any of the good creatures of God, she 
 might safely and freely converse with this one. 
 But, whatever she took it to be, we are certain, from 
 Moses 1 comparing of it, with other beasts of the 
 field, that it was a real serpent e ; and we are no 
 less certain, as serpents have not the faculty of 
 speech, nor of reason, that Satan entered into, and 
 actuated the body of that serpent, in order, the more 
 easily and effectually, to accomplish his hellish de- 
 sign : for we read that, " the dragon, that old ser- 
 pent, is the devil and Satan f ." 
 
 2d, He assaulted the woman in the absence of 
 her husband. That he might succeed the easier, 
 he attacked the woman, the weaker vessel, the one 
 who appeared most liable to be seduced ; and who, 
 perhaps, had heard the terms of the covenant, only 
 from Adam. He assaulted her first, concluding 
 that, if he once prevailed over her, he could by her 
 instrumentality, the more easily overcome the man. 
 He knew that, if he once gained her consent, she 
 could easily entice her husband. He persuaded 
 himself, that a temptation offered to Adam, by Eve, 
 so very soon after they had been joined together, in 
 the bands of matrimony, and when they were so 
 dear to one another, would the more readily prevail 
 over him. He addressed himself to her, at a time 
 when she was alone, in the absence of her husband, 
 that he might succeed the sooner, and with greater 
 ease. Had Adam been present with her, they 
 might together, without difficulty, have resisted the 
 temptation. 
 
 3d, He started a doubt, concerning the Divine 
 prohibition, of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. 
 To weaken the authority of the prohibition, and so 
 
 e Gen. iii. L f Rev. xx. 2. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 147 
 
 to shake her belief of it, he thus addressed the wo- 
 man : " Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of 
 every tree of the gcirden g ?" The manner in which 
 these words were introduced, shows, that some con- 
 versation had previously passed between Eve, and 
 the serpent. It is highly probable, as some learned 
 writers have supposed, that more discourse passed 
 between them, than is recorded by the sacred His- 
 torian. The serpent, seizing the opportunity of her 
 being absent from her husband, " makes," accord- 
 ing to some, " his address to her, in a short speech, 
 saluting her as empress of the world, and giving her 
 many encomiums, and dignifying titles. She won- 
 ders, and inquires what this meant ? Whether he 
 was not a brute creature ? and how he came to be 
 endowed, with understanding and speech ? The 
 serpent replies, That he was nobler than a brute, 
 and did indeed once, want both these gifts ; but, 
 that by eating a certain fruit in this garden, he had 
 attained to both. She immediately asks, What 
 fruit that was, which had such a surprising influence 
 and virtue. When he had shown it to her, she re- 
 plied, This, no doubt, is an excellent fruit, but 
 God hath strictly forbidden us the use of it. To 
 which the serpent replies, as in the close of the 1st 
 verse, of the third chapter of Genesis, " Yea, hath 
 God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the gar- 
 den h ? ? ' The question which he here proposes to 
 her, is expressed in terms, the most ambiguous and 
 crafty. He does not at the first, discover his de- 
 structive design ; but, as one who did not know, or 
 was in doubt, he artfully pretends, that he would 
 wish to be informed by her. It is difficult to un- 
 derstand, what he here meant to ask. Whether it 
 were, that God had forbidden them, to eat of the 
 fruit of every tree in the garden, or of any tree, or 
 of some particular tree, or of the tree of knowledge ; 
 
 f 'Gen. iii. 1. h Gen. iii. 2, 3. 
 
14:8 THE BREACH OF 
 
 or, whether he meant to insinuate, that God, who 
 had forbidden the use of such excellent fruit, was 
 an austere Master; or, that he who forbade it, 
 could not be the true God, who had so lately created 
 them, and created them for this very purpose, that 
 they might participate, in the highest degree, of the 
 blessings of his goodness. Here, the subtlety of the 
 old serpent clearly appears. To this ambiguous, 
 and ensnaring question, the woman returns a plain 
 and resolute answer. " The woman said unto the 
 serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the 
 garden ; but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the 
 midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not 
 eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die *." 
 
 4<th, Failing, in his attempt to overturn her 
 faith of the proJiibitlon, he makes his next assault, 
 upon her belief of the penally. He endeavours, to 
 make her doubt the truth of the threatening, and, 
 through unbelief, to contemn the faithfulness and 
 power of Jehovah, manifested in his execution of 
 the threatening, upon her transgression of the pre- 
 cept ; and thus, proudly to aspire after a state of 
 independence, on the most High. He labours to 
 make the truth of the threatening, appear, not mere- 
 ly to be doubtful, but improbable, or rather impos- 
 sible. To accomplish this diabolical design, he 
 conducted his attack, in the following manner :— 
 He first, directly contradicts the Divine threaten- 
 in^. " The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall 
 not surely die 14 / 1 He informs her, that God's pun- 
 ishing of them to that degree, was not quite so cer- 
 tain as she imagined, and so, flatters and allures her 
 with the hope of impunity. " Ye shall not surely 
 die ;" as if he had said, — " God did say so, for 
 your terror, to keep you in awe ; but, do not you 
 entertain such hard and unworthy thoughts of that 
 
 • Boston's Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, 
 tol. I. p. 343. 
 k Gen. iii. 4. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WOUKS. 140 
 
 God, who is infinitely good and gracious. Do not 
 suspect, that for such a trifle, as the eating of a lit- 
 tle fruit, he will undo you and your posterity for 
 ever ; and so soon destroy, the most excellent piece 
 of his own workmanship, in which, his image shines 
 in the most resplendent manner V — He next, pres- 
 ents the object, the fruit of that forbidden tree. 
 And there were three things, on account of which, 
 he represented that fruit to be exceedingly desir- 
 able. He told her that " it was good for food," 
 and of the most delicious taste ; that " it was pleas- 
 ant to the eye," fruit, that had the most beautiful 
 appearance ; and that it was " to be desired to 
 make one wise ;" a fruit, not merely desirable to the 
 sensual, but to the rational appetite. He then, 
 pretending a great desire to promote their know- 
 ledge, and their happiness ; nay, a higher regard 
 for their happiness, than even God himself had, la- 
 bours to persuade her, that on their eating of that 
 fruit, she and her husband should, in the great ex- 
 tent of their knowledge, be like God ; and he im- 
 proves the name, as well as the sight, of the tree, 
 to enforce the temptation. Pretending to show, 
 how they might speedily attain a very high degree 
 of felicity, and especially of knowledge, he appeals, 
 for the truth of what he affirms, not merely to God 
 himself, but to the very name of the tree. For, 
 says he, li God doth know, that in the day ye eat 
 thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ; and ye 
 shall be as gods, "knowing good and evil m ." Here, 
 that crafty, that murderous foe, insinuated to the 
 woman, That God envied the happiness of her and 
 her husband ; and well knew, that on their eating, 
 the eyes of their understandings, which were now in 
 a great measure shut, should be so widely opened, 
 that they would see far more clearly, than now they 
 
 1 Boston's Illustration of the Doctrines, &c. vol. I. p. 3i3* 
 m Gen. iii. 5, 
 
150 THE BREACH OF 
 
 did ; and, that so far should they be from dying, as 
 he had threatened, that they would be like himself, 
 and in some sense be omniscient. And perhaps he 
 either now, or as I hinted above, earlier, pretended, 
 that he had attained his own vast superiority, in 
 knowledge and understanding, above all others of 
 the brute creation, by eating of that fruit. Thus 
 " the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty n ." 
 
 In his managing of this temptation, he adds one lie 
 to another. He first, contradicts the Divine threat- 
 ening, and says, — " Ye shall not surely die." He 
 next, represents himself, as one who was exceedingly 
 desirous of their happiness, and who was now in- 
 forming her, how they might advance to higher de- 
 grees of it ; and, — the high and holy Oxe, as one 
 who envied them that dignity, knowledge, and feli- 
 city, at which, by complying with his proposal, they 
 might immediately arrive. He pretends, that it 
 was because God had envied them this happiness, 
 that he forbade them the use of that fruit ; and 
 boldly asserts, with an appeal to God himself, and 
 to the name of the tree, for the truth of his asser- 
 tion, That if they would bat eat of it, they should 
 be as gods, knowing good and evil. Thus he ut- 
 tered a series of lies. And it was by his being a 
 liar, that he became " a murderer from the begin- 
 ning/' 
 
 5th 9 Having thus enticed Eve to eat of that 
 fruit, he abused her as his instrument, to seduce 
 her husband. No sooner did he shake hex faith, or 
 prevail upon her to discredit, and to despise, the 
 Divine threatening, than overcome, she instantly — 
 stretched forth her hand, to pluck the fruit of that 
 forbidden tree.—" And when the woman saw, that 
 the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant 
 to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one 
 wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and 
 
 ■ 2 Cor. xi. 3. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WOERS. 151 
 
 gave also to her husband with her, and — he did eat °." 
 Thus having swallowed down the fatal morsel, and 
 begun to taste death, herself, she straightway, per- 
 suaded her husband to partake with her ; who 
 doubtless was the more easily enticed, when he saw 
 that she had eaten of it, and yet had not died. 
 
 8. Adam, left by God to the freedom of his own 
 will, abused his liberty, by his thus choosing to 
 comply with the temptation. His righteous and 
 benign Creator, instead of tempting, or inclining 
 him to sin, had given him as much strength, as 
 might have sufficed to enable him, to resist the 
 temptation, if it had been suitably improved. As 
 God therefore did not, and could not, force his will 
 to comply ; so neither did Eve, nor even Satan 
 force it. The man freely and voluntarily, apostat- 
 ized from Jehovah. He sinned from free choice, 
 without the least degree of compulsion. It was 
 himself, and himself alone, that was the real cause 
 of his first transgression. *' God hath made man 
 upright ; but they have sought out many inven- 
 tions p." 
 
 In the sixth and last place, It was by this first 
 transgression of Adam, that he braize the covenant. 
 For, 
 
 In the 1. place, He hereby failed of performing 
 the condition of that covenant. The law of the co- 
 venant, required perfect obedience, as the stated 
 condition of life ; but this Adam, as the natural 
 root, and federal representative, of his posterity, 
 failed to perform. It enjoined likewise unceasing 
 obedience, but this he ceased to yield. He " con- 
 tinued not in all things, written 1 ' in his heart, and 
 required " in the law, to do them." The law com- 
 manded him, not to eat of the forbidden fruit ; but 
 the high authority of Jehovah, in that positive in- 
 junction, he trampled under foot. He took, he 
 
 Gen. Si. 6. ? Eccles. vii. 29, 
 
152 THE BREACH OF 
 
 swallowed down, the fruit, and with it, the poison 
 of the old serpent. In this, he disobeyed the ex- 
 press command of the Most High, and by so doing, 
 sinned against Him. Putting forth his hand to 
 take, what the Lord had forbidden him to touch, 
 he shook off the yoke of that perfect obedience, 
 which he owed him, and thereby violated' the whole 
 law of the covenant. While his eating of that fruit, 
 was a formal breach of the positive law, it was at 
 the same time, a material breach of the moral law. 
 It was a transgression and violation of it, in all its 
 precepts, as enforced by the same Divine authority. 
 It was a sin, which he committed in enmity against 
 God, and at the same time, against his own off- 
 spring; and was the very reverse of that love, 
 which is the fulfilling of the law. Thus, then, by 
 the sinfulness of that most atrocious act of disobe- 
 dience, Adam completely transgressed the law of 
 the covenant, in ail its articles, and so failed of ful- 
 filling the condition of it. 
 
 2. By that transgression, he forfeited Ms title 
 and that of his descendants, to the life which was 
 promised in the covenant. Having by that sin, 
 failed of performing the condition, he completely 
 forfeited all claim, to God's performing of the pro- 
 mise. Thus losing all title to the benefit promised, 
 he rendered the promise of life, to himself and his 
 posterity, completely void and of no avail. 
 
 Having failed of that perfect obedience, on con- 
 dition of which, the performing of the promise was 
 suspended, he lost all pretension to the promised 
 reward, and could no more plead a covenant-title 
 to it. Nor had he any more, on the footing of that 
 promise, a capacity of procuring a right to it, by 
 any obedience of his own. The life which was 
 promised, was now lost, and, by the works of the 
 law, could not possibly be recovered. Adam in his 
 own name, and in the name of his posterity, set at 
 nought that great and precious promise of Jeho- 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 158 
 
 yah, and chose to prefer a promise of the devil be- 
 fore it ; and, therefore, he most justly forfeited the 
 life which was promised. 
 
 3. Lastly, As by his first transgression, he fell 
 off from the promise, so by the same, he fell under 
 the begun execution of the penalty. According to 
 the import of the awful threatening, he became 
 liable to death, in all its latitude and duration. 
 Having thereby forfeited the life promised, as well 
 as the favour of God, he fell under, or became 
 actually subject to, the curse or condemning sen- 
 tence. No sooner had he transgressed the cove* 
 nant, than it seized on him, began to be in actual 
 force against him, and to bind him over to endure, 
 for the satisfaction of Divine justice, all the punish- 
 ment denounced for sin. The blessing, by his dis- 
 obedience, having been lost, the curse of the broken 
 covenant, fastened on him, and bound him over to 
 the death threatened for transgression. The death, 
 accordingly, which was threatened, began to seize, 
 and to take effect on Adam and Eve, as soon as 
 they had sinned ; and lay ready in the awful threat- 
 ening, to take effect on every one of their natural 
 descendants, as soon as he or she, should begin to 
 exist, or the soul, begin to be united to the body in 
 the womb. 
 
 If Adam, as the head and representative of all 
 mankind, descending by ordinary generation from 
 him, had not, by that sin, transgressed and broken- 
 the covenant, the penalty threatened in it, could 
 not, under &ie government of the infinitely right- 
 eous Jehovah, have fastened either on him or them. 
 But, that it has actually fastened on him and them, 
 is 5 as we have already seen, too evident to be de- 
 nied. — It has fastened on the body of man, and made 
 it mortal; — on his soul, for it died spiritually, 
 losing at once, the image and the favour of Jeho- 
 vah ; — and on his soul and body together, which 
 were thereby subjected and bound over, to the 
 
 h2 
 
154 THE BREACH OF 
 
 punishment of death eternal in hell-fire. Thus was 
 the covenant of works, transgressed and broken, by- 
 Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit. 
 
 Did Satan, as we have now seen, seduce our first 
 parents into such a great transgression ? How ne- 
 cessary is it, that the true Christian be ever on his 
 guard ! Be sober and vigilant, believer, lest thy 
 adversary the devil, obtain advantage over thee, 
 and through his subtlety beguile thee. He con- 
 tinually watches for opportunities, of making sue* 
 cessful assaults on thee. Watch always therefore 
 and pray, that thou enter not into temptation. 
 Never so much as once encounter him, apart from 
 Jesus, the Captain of thy salvation. Be strong in 
 the Lord, and in the power of his might. Resist 
 him steadfastly in the faith, and he will flee from 
 thee. Guard against dallying with his temptations. 
 Listening to him, will issue in doubting, doubting, 
 in disbelieving, and disbelieving, in compliance. If 
 thou even for a moment, give place to him, he will, 
 ere ever thou art aware, instil into thy mind, the 
 old heresy, That " there are sins, which do not de- 
 serve eternal death."" Be always content with such 
 things as thou hast. It is not in becoming a god, 
 but in the enjoyment of God in Christ, as thy cove- 
 nant-God, thy sure portion, that thy happiness 
 consists. 
 
 Was man, even in his best estate, liable to 
 change ? Hence learn not to trust in man. The 
 holiest mere man, that ever was in the world, was 
 capable of being forgetful of his duty, and unfaith- 
 ful to the trust reposed in him. The best of crea- 
 tures, when left to themselves, cannot be safe one 
 moment q . The Lor d left some of the angels to 
 themselves, and they soon became devils. He left 
 our first parents to themselves, and they quickly 
 became sinners. How necessary is it then, O 
 
 * Psal. xlix. 12. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WOEKS. 155 
 
 Christian, that thou trust only, trust always, in thy 
 faithful Redeemer, for strength to persevere ; and 
 that thou thereby, receive continual supplies of 
 grace from his fulness, to keep thee from falling ! 
 
 Was the sin of Adam, by which he brake the first 
 covenant, so heinous in itself, and so greatly aggra- 
 vated ? How deeply humbled for it, should every 
 one of us be ! How frequently, how deeply, how 
 bitterly, should we lament it ! If all the children 
 of Adam, in their successive generations, were, 
 while the world continued, to do nothing else, than 
 bitterly to bewail that first transgression, it would 
 not be sufficiently lamented. Ah how great a sin 
 was it ! How wide is the breach, that it has made 
 between God and man ! How justly does it de- 
 serve, the wrath and curse of the infinite Jehovah ! 
 How infinitely, are we indebted to the blessed se- 
 cond Adam, for repairing that breach ; for " restor- 
 ing that which he took not away !" — " Oh Adam, 
 what hast thou done ! O Christ, what hast thou not 
 done I" Blessed, ever blessed be thou, who earnest 
 in the name of the Lord, to save us ; who, in the 
 astonishing greatness of thy love, consentedst to be 
 made sin for us, that we might be made the right- 
 eousness of God in thee. 
 
 Had man, on the footing of the promise of the 
 first covenant, no more the capacity of procuring a 
 fight to eternal life, by any obedience of his own ? 
 How impossible, then, must it be for a sinner, to 
 be justified in the sight of God, by the deeds of the 
 law ! The life promised in that covenant, only for 
 perfect obedience, is now lost, and cannot, by any 
 obedience or sufferings of the sinner, ever be re- 
 gained. The first covenant, was a covenant of 
 friendship ; and man, after he had once broken it, 
 could not again make up the breach. If Adam 
 though upright, could not of himself, standj how 
 shall the sinner who is fallen, and who lies in wick- 
 edness, raise himself up ! If an innocent man, 
 
156 THE BREACH OF 
 
 could not be his own keeper, how shall a sinful 
 man, how shall a self- destroyer, be his own saviour!' 
 —These are the settled terms of the covenant of 
 works, and it knows no other ; either personal and 
 perfect obedience, in all things, or personal punish- 
 ment, to all eternity. Oh, that poor sinners would 
 be persuaded of this, and would cease from going 
 about to establish their own righteousness, as the 
 ground of their title to eternal life ! " Moses," as 
 one expresses it, " describes the first covenant with 
 a running pen ; for, as it was the way of life then 
 proposed, it passed away as a flying shadow." Sin- 
 ners cannot now be entitled to life, by the perfect 
 obedience of the first Adam ; for Adam soon ceased 
 to yield perfect obedience. They cannot be entitled 
 to it, by their own perfect obedience ; for since the 
 fall, they never could perform such obedience. 
 
 From what has been stated in this chapter, we 
 likewise learn the true origin of moral evil. Here, 
 we have a description of the first sin, that the first 
 man committed. By one man, that sin entered into 
 the world, and with it, all other sin. The corrup- 
 tion of nature, under which he thereby fell, was 
 from him, propagated to all his natural posterity. 
 
 Was man left to the freedom of his own will, and 
 was no confirming clause, annexed to the first cove- 
 nant, to secure his continuing in the state of inno- 
 cency, in which he was created ? Hence we may 
 learn, That through occasion of man's breach of 
 that covenant, infinite wisdom had a most glorious 
 scene to open ; — a scene of redeeming love, of sove- 
 reign grace, to be gloriously manifested, in the re- 
 demption of sinners by Jesus Christ. The cove- 
 nant of works, then, was, as it were, a scaffold 
 erected, for the building up of a far more glorious 
 fabric s . 
 
 Did our Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam, 
 
 1 2 Cor. iii. 5. s Psal. Ixxxix. 2. 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 157 
 
 perfect that work, in which the first Adam had 
 failed, and repair that breach, which the first Adam 
 had made ? It follows, as a native, a necessary, 
 and a delightful consequence, That all who are vi- 
 tally united to Him, and covered with the robe of 
 his righteousness, are so confirmed in a state of 
 holiness and happiness, that they can never totally 
 or finally fall away. Adam and his posterity were, 
 by his perfect obedience, to have been entitled to a 
 life, which should have endured for ever. But the 
 spiritual seed of the second Adam, "the just by 
 faith," are said in Scripture to be entitled to the same 
 endless life. " The just by faith, shall live V This 
 passage, the apostle Paul cites, in his epistle to the 
 Hebrews, to prove the perseverance of the saints u . 
 Be it known, therefore, to you, who believe on the 
 name of the Son of God, that ye have eternal life*. 
 O, inestimably precious, O, unspeakably glorious 
 privilege ! You shall never perish, nor shall any 
 pluck you, out of the Almighty Saviour's hand. 
 
 Learn hence, how necessary it is to our happiness, 
 that we believe in the second Adam, and be vitally 
 united to Him. He performed the conditions of the 
 covenant of grace, and thereby fulfilled the demands, 
 and repaired the breach, of the covenant of works. 
 Nothing could repair that breach of covenant, of 
 which the first was guilty, but the broken body of 
 the second Adam ; or, his " bearing our sins, in his 
 own body on the tree." Hence are these words of 
 the apostle Paul, to the believers at Rome ; " where- 
 fore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the 
 law, by the body of Christ y ."— Was it in a garden, 
 that the first Adam sinned ? It was in a garden, 
 that the second Adam was buried. Was it by eat- 
 ing of the fruit of a forbidden tree, that the first 
 Adam brake the covenant ? It was by hanging on 
 
 * Hab. it. 4. « Heb. v. 38, 39. 
 
 x 1 John v. 13. I Horn. vii. 4. 
 
158 THE BREACH OF 
 
 a tree, that the second Adam bare the curse, satis- 
 fied justice, and so repaired the breach. By eat- 
 ing of forbidden fruit, all the natural posterity of 
 Adam die : by eating of his flesh, and drinking of 
 his blood, those commanded fruits, all the spiritual 
 seed of Christ live. Come then, reader, to the se- 
 cond Adam, and thou shalt not only be saved from 
 all sin, and in particular from the first sin, by which 
 the first covenant was broken ; but thou shalt be 
 instated in the second covenant, which, because the 
 conditions of life in it are already performed, can 
 never be broken. Thy life was originally in the 
 first Adam, but he lost both himself and thee : the 
 last Adam, by losing as it were himself, saves thee. 
 O believe in Him. Believe with application to thy- 
 self, the record concerning him, and eternal life in 
 him. Let thy heart trust in him ; and the loss 
 which thou sustainedst in the first Adam, shall be 
 repaired with inexpressibly great advantage. 
 
 Lastly, Is the covenant of works broken ; and is 
 it therefore, utterly in vain for the children of the 
 first Adam, dead as they are, in trespasses and sins, 
 to pretend to work, in order to procure for them- 
 selves a right to eternal life ? We may hence learn, 
 That the spiritual seed of the last Adam, ought at 
 no time, to attempt to work for life. The children 
 of the first Adam, ought not to try to work^/br it ; 
 because they have already lost it in him, and, at 
 the same time, have lost all ability so to work for 
 it, as to recover it by their own performances. The 
 children of the second Adam, should not presume 
 to work for it ; because they have it already in 
 Him, on the ground of his having fulfilled all right- 
 eousness in their stead, which is legally imputed to 
 them ; and because their doing so, would reflect 
 dishonour, on his consummate righteousness. The 
 unregenerate should receive the second Adam, of- 
 fered in the gospel to them, that they may begin, 
 to woxk from life ; the regenerate should frequently, 
 
THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 159 
 
 should daily receive him, that they may go on, to 
 work from life ; that their work, may more and 
 more, be the work of faith, and their labour, the 
 labour of love. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OF THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM S FIRST SIN, OR 
 BREACH OF COVENANT, TO HIS NATURAL POS- 
 TERITY. 
 
 After having considered Adam's first transgres- 
 sion, as that by which he brake the covenant, it will 
 be proper, in this chapter, to take a view of the 
 concern, that we his posterity have, in that viola- 
 tion of it. We are never truly convinced of our 
 breaches of the law, in our own persons, nor hum- 
 bled for them, till we begin spiritually to discern, 
 and truly to be humbled for, our breach of covenant, 
 in the first Adam. It is of the highest importance, 
 then, to every one who would desire, evangelically 
 to repent of his sins, clearly to understand, and cor- 
 dially to believe, this fundamental doctrine of holy 
 Scripture ; That Adam's breach of that covenant, by 
 his sin of eating of the forbidden fruit, is our breach 
 of it as well as his, and is accordingly imputed to 
 us as ours. 
 
 That this momentous subject, may be the more 
 distinctly illustrated, it will be proper, 
 
 First, To show the nature and extent, of the 
 imputation of Adam's first sin, to his posterity. 
 
 Secondly, To consider the grounds. And 
 
 Thirdly, To prove the reality, of that imputation. 
 
 First then, It is proposed to show the nature and 
 extent, of the Divine imputation of Adam's first 
 sin, to his natural posterity. In doing this, I would 3 
 in the 
 
160 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S FIRST STN 
 
 1. place, observe That this transgression, in all 
 its infinite malignity and demerit, is the sin of his 
 posterity. It is ours, who are the descendants of 
 Adam, in all its extent, and in all the aggravating 
 circumstances, which attended the commission of 
 it. There were, it is true, some things in that sin, 
 which were peculiar to Adam himself, and could 
 not belong to us; such as,— his committing of it, 
 in his own person, while we on the contrary, com- 
 mitted it, not in our own persons, but in him ; — 
 his transgressing, as our federal representative, 
 while we sinned only as represented by him ; and 
 his destroying, not merely himself, but the whole 
 human race, while we thereby destroyed only our- 
 selves. Still however, these circumstances except- 
 ed, that sin, in all the exceeding sinfulness, and in- 
 finite demerit of it, and in all the ingredients and 
 extent of it, belongs to us. In all the ingredients 
 which compose it ; the unbelief, the ingratitude, the 
 pride, the ambition, the inadvertence, the rebellion, 
 the murder, and such like, it is our sin, as much as 
 it is the sin of Adam our common parent. It is 
 ours also, in all its aggravating circumstances. 
 Every thing in it, every thing connected with it, 
 that rendered it inexpressibly heinous, in the sight 
 of Jehovah, belongs as really to us, as it did to 
 Adam. It is as really, and as much, our sin, as is 
 any sin, that ever we committed in our own persons. 
 " By one man's disobedience, many were made sin- 
 ners '." As it is imputed to us, for what it is, and 
 not, for what it is not, it is wholly imputed. The 
 fault, — the stain, — and the guilt of it, are ours. 
 
 1st, The faidt of it is our fault, as well as the 
 fault of Adam. It is not ours merely in its effects, 
 as a father's crime of rebelling against his Prince, 
 reaches his family, and reduces them to indigence ; 
 but is ours also in itself. The fault of it, as com- 
 
 z Roqi. v. 19. 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 161 
 
 mitted against the infinite Majesty of heaven ; that 
 in it, which rendered it a very faulty, or criminal, 
 or sinful deed, is our fault. In the first Adam, we 
 transgressed, and so violated the covenant. " By 
 one man, sin entered into the world, and death by 
 sin." We are all punished for that sin. "■ Death 
 passed upon all men, for that all have slimed*" 
 And again, " Death reigned from Adam to Moses, 
 even over them, that had not sinned after the simil- 
 itude of Adam's transgression V Now God the 
 Judge of all the earth, doeth right ; and would on 
 no account whatever, punish the children of Adam 
 for a fault, that was not their fault. We, then, are 
 to be charged with the fault of that sin, or blamed 
 for it, as well as Adam. And therefore, 
 
 2diy, The stain or taint of it, is likewise ours. 
 It is the hereditary taint, infection, and reproach, 
 of our fallen and condemned nature, propagated to 
 it from Adam, that first sinner. Human nature, 
 in every individual of Adam's natural offspring, is 
 blemished and vitiated by it ; and thereby rendered 
 so polluted, and so loathsome, in the sight of the 
 holy One, as to be altogether unfit for performing 
 the least acceptable obedience to him. From Adam 
 the source of it, that disobedience like leaven, issues, 
 spreads through, and pollutes, the whole mass of 
 human nature. It was the sin of human nature, 
 not merely as that nature resided, in the person of 
 Adam, but as it resides, in every individual of his 
 natural posterity. 
 
 To illustrate a little this article, which is little 
 understood, by many who profess to know the truth, 
 it will be proper to observe, That God, in all his 
 dealings with Adam, according to the tenor of the 
 covenant which he made with him, regarded his 
 posterity who were then in his loins, as one with 
 him. In every step of his procedure with Adam, 
 lie dealt with him, as the root of the whole tree, or 
 
 » Rom. v. 12. b Rom. v. 14. 
 
162 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAJl's FIRST SIN 
 
 as the head of the whole body ; and with every 
 one of his natural offspring, as a branch existing 
 on that root, or as a member belonging to that 
 body. 
 
 Hence it follows, that depravity of nature begins 
 to exist in the heart of every child of Adam, just 
 as it began to exist in the heart of Adam himself. 
 Adam was not, and could not, be punished with the 
 loss of original righteousness, and with the cor- 
 ruption of his whole nature, as parts of spiritual 
 death, till after he had finished his sin of eating the 
 forbidden fruit. But a corrupt inclination, a desire 
 after that fruit, had begun in his heart, before he 
 began to stretch forth his hand to take and eat. 
 This first beginning, then, or rising of depravity in 
 his heart, is not to be considered as a punishment 
 of his first sin, but rather as a part, a leading part 
 of that sin. In like manner, the first beginning, 
 or rising of corruption, in the heart of a newly- 
 formed infant, is not, I humbly apprehend, to be 
 viewed as a punishment of Adam's first transgres- 
 sion, but as a part of it, diffusing itself throughout 
 the heart of every one, that naturally descends 
 from him. The continuance indeed of that cor- 
 ruption, as a confirmed principle; or, in other 
 words, the want of original righteousness, and the 
 corruption of the whole nature, are to be considered 
 as a punishment of this sin ; but not so, I appre- 
 hend, the very first beginning of depravity in the 
 heart. This was in the heart of Adam, as a main 
 part of his first transgression, before he began to be 
 punished for that sin, by spiritual death ; and is, 
 in like manner, in the heart of every son of Adam, 
 as a part, or as the extended pollution, of the same 
 first sin, previous, in the order of nature at least, 
 to his beginning to be punished with spiritual 
 death, or, with the continuance of it, as a confirmed 
 principle. 
 
 To render my meaning here, still more obvious, 
 let me suppose a tree with many branches ; some of 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 163 
 
 which, are already formed and growing on it, and 
 others, are to sprout forth at some future period : 
 and suppose the root of this tree, to begin to be in- 
 fected with some poiso?zotis 9 or malignant quality. 
 No sooner is the root thus infected, than it commun- 
 icates the infection to every one of the branches. 
 The change in the root, extends to the branches, 
 and becomes a change likewise in them. And if 
 any sprout, however small, shall in future begin to 
 shoot from it, this, as soon as it exists, or becomes 
 visible on the tree, begins to partake of the infection 
 of the root. Now, Adam was as it were the root 
 of mankind. Every one who, by natural genera- 
 tion, descends from him, is a branch springing from 
 that root. Adam still continues to be the root, the 
 malignant root, from which, all the branches of his 
 posterity, do one after another spring. No sooner, 
 then, does God create and unite the soul, to the 
 tainted body in the womb, so that the infant there- 
 by becomes a child of fallen Adam, than the heart 
 of the infant, begins to be tainted with the same 
 depravity, or desire to eat of forbidden fruit, that 
 began to exist in the heart of Adam, before he 
 finished the first sin. The soul of the infant forth- 
 with begins, as the soul of Adam did, to be disposed 
 to consent to that first sin ; or in other words, to be 
 corrupted : so that, nothing now prevents, the 
 child's repeating the act of eating of forbidden fruit, 
 but the want of ability and of opportunity. Thus, 
 as far as the depraved disposition of the heart is 
 concerned in it, that sin is the sin of the child, and 
 is accordingly imputed to it, as its sin. That very 
 corruption or consent to it, which stained the heart 
 of Adam, seizes and stains the heart of the infant'; 
 upon which, it is punished with the continuance, 
 and the dominion, of that depravity of hearth 
 
 The reader may see this more fully explained, in Edwards on 
 Original Sin, (mihi) p. 378—387, 
 
164 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAilS FIRST SIN 
 
 Hence are these words of the holy Psalmist, <£ Be- 
 hold I was shapen, or, brought forth in iniquity, 
 and in sin, did my mother conceive me d ." Thus 
 the stain, or spot, of Adam's first transgression, is 
 ours. We participate with him in it, as the com- 
 mon sin of human nature. 
 
 Sdly, It follows of course, that the guilt of that 
 sin is ours. The guilt of that first transgression, 
 or the obligation or liableness to punishment, on 
 account of it, has extended to us, and is our guilt. 
 The charging of it by law, in order to punishment, 
 seizes and lies on all the race of Adam, as their 
 guilt ; and it is accordingly charged on them. 
 They are, on account of it, laid under a sentence of 
 condemnation, and so are bound over to the wrath 
 of a sin-avenging God. Infants, we have seen, are 
 guilty of it ; and, therefore, are condemned to suffer 
 punishment for it, before they be capable, of com- 
 mitting the least actual transgression. They are 
 not innocent, but guilty creatures, and are born in 
 iniquity. Thus the first transgression of Adam, 
 in all its malignity, and demerit, — in all the fault, — 
 all the stain, — and all the guilt of it, is the sin of 
 his natural posterity. 
 
 2. It is the sin of all the posterity of Adam. It 
 extends to all mankind, descending from him, by 
 ordinary generation. I say, by ordinary generation : 
 for though the Lord Jesus Christ as man, was a de- 
 scendant of Adam, as it is evident from his geneal- 
 ogy traced up to Adam e ; yet he descended from 
 him not by ordinary, but by extraordinary genera- 
 tion. It was necessary, to his being our near Kins- 
 man, in order that the right of redeeming us, might 
 devolve upon him, and to his satisfying of Divine 
 justice, by the sufferings and death of the same na- 
 ture that sinned, that he should become man, and 
 be — a son of Adam. But it was not necessary, that 
 
 3 Psal. li. 5. e Luke Hi. 38. 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 165 
 
 Ke should be represented by Adam, or comprehend- 
 ed with Adam, in the covenant of works ; nor, that 
 he should descend from him, in consequence of the 
 blessing of fruitfulness, conferred on the man and 
 woman, in their state of innocence. He was the 
 seed of the woman only ; — born of a virgin, and 
 born in fulfilment of a special promise, made after 
 Adam had broken the covenant, and after he had 
 fallen, from his station of being the federal represent- 
 ative of his offspring. The breach of that covenant, 
 therefore, could not extend, nor be counted to him, 
 who was neither represented by Adam, nor properly 
 a descendant of his ; but, who derived his human 
 nature legally, after Adam had ceased, to be any 
 longer a public person. 
 
 But though that transgression, could not extend 
 to the human nature of Christ, it extended to all 
 the natural descendants of fallen Adam. It is the 
 sin of every son and daughter of Adam, by ordin- 
 ary generation, that ever was, or that ever shall be, 
 born into the world. It is the sad, the direful in- 
 heritance, which he left to all his offspring, from the 
 least to the greatest. Each of them may, and must 
 say of it, " This sin is my sin, and deserves con- 
 demnation and death, for me." Hence these words 
 of an inspired Apostle, already cited, — " By the of- 
 fence of one, judgment came upon all men, to con- 
 demnation f ;" and — "In Adam all die g ." The 
 guilt of that offence, lies upon all the seed of Adam, 
 to condemnation ; and is removed from none of 
 them, but such as believe in the second Adam, and 
 are by faith, spiritually united to him, as their Head 
 of righteousness and eternal life. 
 
 3. Lastly, It is not only the sin of all mankind, 
 but of all mankind, in the estimation of law and 
 justice. As it is our sin, in all its extent, and is 
 extended to all of us without exception ; so it is 
 
 f Rom. v. 18. s 1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
166 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAJl's FIRST SIN 
 
 ours, in law-reckoning, or legal estimation. It is in 
 truth ours, and accordingly is in law, accounted or 
 imputed to us. Jehovah, who is essentially Jz^, 
 and whose judgment is always according to truths 
 imputeth it to us, and to all the natural posterity of 
 Adam ; — because it is ours already. Let it be 
 carefully attended to, that it is not ours merely, be- 
 cause it is imputed to us ; but, it is imputed to us, 
 because it is already ours. The Divine imputation 
 of it, indeed, confirms our interest in it ; but our 
 interest in it was real, previous in the order of na- 
 ture, to that imputation. It is really, or to all in- 
 tents and purposes, our transgression ; and, there- 
 fore, is legally charged upon us, or imputed to us, 
 by the most High, the righteous Governor and 
 Judge of all. His imputing of it to us in law, pre- 
 supposes it to be already ours. It is because we 
 are indeed sinners in Adam, that God accounts us 
 in law, to have transgressed in him. The first sin 
 of Adam, then, by which he violated the first cove- 
 nant, is, in the estimation of Divine law and justice, 
 our sin. It is imputed to us, or placed on our ac- 
 count, attributed, or ascribed, or reckoned, or ac- 
 counted to us. — The faidt, as well as the stain and 
 guilt of it, is counted to us, is charged on us. " By 
 one man's disobedience, many were made sinners h " 
 
 Secondly, It will be proper now, as was propos- 
 ed, to consider the grounds of this Divine imputa- 
 tion of Adam's first sin, to his posterity. The 
 grounds or reasons, why the first transgression of 
 Adam, by which he violated the covenant, which 
 God had made with him, is our sin, and is imputed 
 to us as such, are the two following : 
 
 1. He was one with us, by a natural union. The 
 union of a father with his offspring, is a natural 
 union. Adam was our common parent, our seminal 
 or natual head. He and we, as it were, constitute 
 
 h Rom. v. 19. 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 16? 
 
 ed but one natural, and therefore but one moral per- 
 son. All mankind spring out of him, as their na- 
 tural root. When he committed his first sin, they 
 were all in his loins, as Levi was in the loins of 
 Abraham, when Abraham paid tythes to Melehize- 
 dek. On the ground, therefore, of the natural un- 
 ion of him and them, that transgression, was the sin 
 of their common nature ; and on account of his hav- 
 ing been originally, as well as naturally, one with 
 them, it was their primitive, their firsts their ori- 
 ginal sin. It is in consequence of this natural and 
 moral union, between them, that the depraved dis- 
 position, implied and exerted, in Adam's first trans- 
 gression, mentioned above, derives itself to the 
 countless myriads of his descendants, and is legally 
 accounted theirs. 
 
 2. Lastly, He was one with us, by a federal or 
 legal union. He was our covenant-head, our pub- 
 lic, our common representative ; and therefore, he 
 and we were one in covenant, one in law. We were 
 federally and legally one. When the covenant was 
 made with Adam, it was made with him, not as a 
 private person, but as the public representative of 
 all his natural descendants, acting for them, as well 
 as for himself. When, therefore, by his first trans- 
 gression, he brake that contract, he brake it, not as 
 a private individual, but as their public representa- 
 tive* In committing that sin, he represented them ; 
 and his representing of them in it, renders it their 
 sin in law, and is the main ground, of the legal im- 
 putation of it to them. While they were naturally, 
 and originally, one in Adam, as their natural root* 
 they were, by the covenant of works, made legally 
 and federally one with him, as their legal, and fe- 
 deral representative. In addition to that natural tie, 
 subsisting between him and them, which made them 
 one in nature, they were, by the bond of the cove- 
 nant, made one in law. The foundation, then, of 
 the imputation of his first sin to them, is not mere- 
 
1G3 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM's FIRST 'SIN 
 
 ly their union with Adam, as their natural, but 
 their union with him as their federal head. Whence 
 it evidently follows, that as he represented the per- 
 sons of his posterity, in the making of the covenant 
 with him ; he represented them no less, in his 
 breaking of it, or in his committing of the sin, by 
 which it was violated. That act of disobedience, 
 therefore, which he committed, as their head and 
 representative, before he sunk into the state of a 
 private individual, was their sin, as well as his ; 
 their sin in Mm ; and so, was legally counted to 
 them as theirs. It was theirs — naturally, and 
 theirs — legally ; and therefore was justly and le- 
 gally imputed to them. 
 
 Thirdly, and lastly, It now remains that I ex- 
 hibit some proof, of this very important doctrine. 
 
 That the first transgression of Adam, is legally 
 imputed to all his natural posterity, is clear, 
 
 In the 1. place, From the express testimony of 
 Scripture. It is evident from this forecited pas- 
 sage; " Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered in- 
 to the world, and death by sin, and so death passed 
 upon all men, for that all have sinned *." The 
 Apostle, when speaking of sin in general, in the 
 13th verse of the chapter, calls it simply sin. But 
 in this 12th verse, we read in the original, twice 
 over, of the sin, or that sin ; that particular, that 
 first sin, that sin by way of eminence, that first ac- 
 tual transgression. He speaks of it, as the sin of 
 one man ; and as the sin, by which death entered 
 into the world. " By one man," says he, or, as it 
 is in the original, " By the one man, that sin enter- 
 ed into the world, and by that sin, death." Plere 
 it is obvious, that it was by that first actual trans- 
 gression of the one man, that death entered into the 
 world of mankind. Our Apostle adds, " and so 
 death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" 
 
 * Rom. v. 12. 
 
TO KIS POSTERITY. 169 
 
 By that sin, which all have sinned, previous to 
 death's beginning to pass upon all, and on account 
 of which, it began to pass, we must, according to 
 the terms of the passage, understand that sin which 
 entered into the world, by the one man. Whilst it 
 entered into the world by the one man, all men sin- 
 ned it. They could not possibly, previous to the 
 entrance of death, have sinned it in their own per- 
 sons. They sinned it, therefore, in the person of 
 that one man. God the righteous Judge, accounted 
 that they did so. Death could not, according to 
 the rules of distributive justice, have entered, and 
 passed upon all men, for that sin, if all men had not 
 previously sinned it, and sinned it in him. 
 
 The imputation of that first transgression, to all 
 the posterity of Adam, is also evident, from the fol- 
 lowing words of the Apostle in the same chapter : 
 " But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For 
 if through the offence of one, many be dead, much 
 more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which 
 is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto 
 many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is 
 the gift : for the judgment was by one, to condem- 
 nation ; but the free gift, is of many offences unto 
 justification. For, if by one marts offence, death 
 reigned by one; much more, they who receive 
 abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteous- 
 ness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. 
 Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came 
 upon all men to condemnation ; even so, by the 
 righteousness of One, the free gift came upon all 
 men unto justification of life k ." Here we read of 
 "the offence" or fall, and of " the offence of the 
 one," namely, of " the one man" Adam. Here 
 also we read, that " through the offence of the one, 
 many are dead ;" that " the judgment," or judicial 
 sentence, which supposes a legal charge of guilt, 
 
 k Rom. v. 15 18. 
 
170 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAil's FIRST SIN 
 
 was M by one to condemnation ;" that " by the of- 
 fence of the one man, death reigned by one f* and 
 that «< by the offence of one" or, as some render the 
 words, " by one offence, judgment,'" or a judicial 
 sentence, " came upon all men to condemnation." 
 Now, if " through the offence of the one, many be 
 dead, 1 ' (ver. 15th.) it follows, that it is also the of- 
 fence of the many. Many could not be punished 
 with death, for the sin of one man, if it were not 
 counted, at the same time, their offence as well as 
 his. If judgment, or a judicial sentence, which al- 
 ways supposes a legal charge of guilt, was by one 
 man, or by one sin, to condemnation, (v. 16th.) 
 doubtless that one sin of the one man, is placed on 
 the account of all, who are under condemnation for 
 it. As there can be no just, no legal condemnation, 
 where there is no crime ; so none, by an infinitely 
 righteous God, could be condemned for that one of- 
 fence of the one man, if it had not been accounted 
 to them, as their transgression in him. Again, If 
 by the offence of the one man, death reigned over 
 mankind, by that one, that one man, and his one 
 offence, or first sin ; (v. 17.) surely, under the 
 government of an infinitely good, and righteous 
 God, death could not invade, nor exercise dominion 
 over them, for that one sin, if it had not been im- 
 puted, and justly imputed to them, as their sin. — 
 It is only " the soul that shmeth? that " shall die." 
 In few words, If, as we are told in the I Sth verse, 
 by the offence of one, or by one offence, a judicial 
 sentence came upon all men to condemnation, it ne- 
 cessarily follows, that all men are charged with the 
 guilt oi that offence of one man : for none can be 
 justly condemned to death for a sin, of which, they 
 are not in legal estimation guilty. 
 
 This is abundantly clear likewise, from these words 
 already cited, in the 19th verse of the same chapter: — 
 "For as by one man's disobedience, many were made 
 sinners, so by the obedience of One, shall many be 
 
TO HIS POSTEltlTY. 171 
 
 made righteous" The Apostle's introducing of 
 this verse, with the causal particle for, shows, that 
 he is here proving what he had asserted, in the pre- 
 ceding context, from the 12th verse. The disobe- 
 dience of the one man, therefore, which is here men- 
 tioned, must be that sin, that offence, of the one 
 man, or that one offence, of which we read in the 
 immediately preceding verses. Our Apostle does 
 not here inform us, That many were made sinners, 
 by their own inherent depravity, or by their own 
 personal transgressions ; but, that they were made 
 sinners, by the disobedience of one man. Neither 
 does he say that they are, but that they were, made 
 sinners. No sooner was Adam guilty of that act of 
 disobedience, than it was accounted the sin of all 
 his natural posterity, then in his loins. Nor does 
 the Apostle say, That by one man's disobedience, 
 many were made miserable, or made mortal, or made 
 merely guilty ; but, that they were made, or consti- 
 tuted — sinners. 
 
 Now, we cannot be legally constituted sinners, by 
 the disobedience of another, but in one or other of 
 these three ways : either by the imitation, or — the 
 approbation, or — the imputation of it. It cannot 
 be by the imitation of Adam's first disobedience, 
 that his descendants are constituted sinners : for 
 multitudes of heathens, never so much as heard of 
 the example, which he hereby, left to his posterity ; 
 and therefore could with no propriety, be said to 
 imitate him, or copy after his pattern. A very 
 great proportion of the human race, are punished 
 with pain, sickness, and death, in their infancy. 
 But infants are incapable of imitation. The Apos- 
 tle tells us in a forecited passage, That 4t death 
 reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them, that 
 had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans- 
 gression V It reigned even over infants, who were 
 incapable of imitating Adam, in committing so 
 
 1 Rom. v. 13. 
 
172 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAJl's FIRST SIK 
 
 much as one actual sin. — Neither is it by the appro- 
 bation of his disobedience, that his posterity are 
 made sinners. For infants, and countless multi- 
 tudes of mankind in the heathen world, who never 
 so much as heard of Adam, or of his disobedience, 
 and who, therefore, could not render it their sin, by 
 any direct or formal approbation of it, were, not- 
 withstanding, — constituted sinners by it. It re- 
 mains, then, that they are constituted sinners, by — 
 the imputation of Adam's first disobedience to them. 
 
 As many, even all the spiritual seed of the second 
 Adam, are by his obedience, made righteous, and 
 as such, are justified and live ; so many, even all 
 the natural seed of the first Adam, are by his diso- 
 bedience, made sinners, and as such, are condemn- 
 ed and die. Now, as it is not by the imitation, 
 nor by the approbation, but by the imputation, of 
 the obedience of Christ, that many are constituted 
 righteous ; so neither is it by the imitation, nor by 
 the direct approbation, but by the imputation, of 
 the disobedience of Adam, that many were legally 
 constituted sinners. When he, as their common 
 parent and covenant-representative, disobeyed, they 
 were, by that disobedience, made sinners. In con- 
 sequence of their natural and legal union with him, 
 that first act of disobedience, was their sin ; and 
 therefore was legally accounted theirs. 
 
 To show us the force of his reasoning on this im- 
 portant subject, the Apostle, in the 14th verse of 
 the same chapter, informs us, That Adam " was 
 the type, or figure, of Him that was to come." In 
 the parallel, therefore, which here, and in the fif- 
 teenth chapter, of his first epistle to the Corinthians, 
 he states between them, he styles the one, the first 
 man, and the other, the second Man ; the former, 
 the first Adam t and the latter, the last Adam. 
 Hence it necessarily follows, according to the par- 
 allel, That, as the second Man obeyed the law, not 
 as a private Person, but as the public Representative 
 of his spiritual seed; so, the first man disobeyed it, not 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 173 
 
 as a private individual, but as the public representa- 
 tive of his natural seed, whose act of disobedience, was 
 to be imputed to them, as theirs ; that, as the obe- 
 dience unto death, of the last Adam, is legally im- 
 puted to, or accounted the obedience of, all his spi- 
 ritual offspring, not in its effects only, but in itself, 
 so the disobedience of the first Adam, is legally ac- 
 counted the disobedience of all his natural poster- 
 ity, not in its effects merely, but in itself; that, as 
 the obedience of the One, merits for all who were 
 represented by him, the life promised in the cove- 
 nant of grace, so the disobedience of the other, de- 
 serves for all who were represented by him, the 
 death threatened in the covenant of works ; that, as 
 in the last Adam their Representative, his spiritual 
 seed, are accounted to have fulfilled the law in its 
 covenant-form, as is clear from many passages of 
 sacred writ, so in the first Adam, their representa- 
 tive, his natural seed, are accounted to have vio- 
 lated the law in its covenant-form ; and therefore 
 that, as the blessed second Adam, was to be a 
 Head of righteousness, and consequently of life, 
 to all his spiritual offspring, so the first Adam was 
 a head of sin, and consequently of death to all his 
 natural progeny. Hence are these words of our 
 Apostle: — "For as in Adam all die, even* so in 
 Christ, shall all be made alive m ." It is for the 
 righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to them, 
 and received by faith, that the souls of all who are 
 united to him, and who are partakers of a new, and 
 spiritual nature from him, live, and that their bo- 
 dies shall at the last day, be quickened to an immor- 
 tal life. In like manner, it is for the disobedience 
 of Adam, with whom, as their covenant-head, all 
 his natural posterity were legally united and com- 
 prehended, that they are all condemned and sub- 
 jected to death. It is not here said, that in, or by 
 themselves, all die, but, that " in Adam, all die,'" 
 
 1 Cor. 
 
174 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAm's FIItST SIN 
 
 But how could all, according to the rules of impar- 
 tial justice, die in Adam, if they had not in him, 
 deserved to die ? And how could they, otherwise 
 have deserved to die in him, than by having sinned 
 in him ? It is, therefore, as the Apostle informs 
 us, " by the offence of one that many are dead ;* 
 and " by one man, that sin entered into the world, 
 and death by sin, and that death passed upon all 
 men, for that all have sinned? It follows, then, 
 That " by the disobedience of one man" imputed 
 to them, " many," even allhls posterity, " were con- 
 stituted sinners." 
 
 2. That Adam's first sin, is imputed to all his 
 natural posterity, is also evident, from the death of 
 such a great proportion of them, in their hifancy. 
 Vast multitudes, in their early infancy, long before 
 they be capable, of committing the least actual sin 
 in their own persons, are subject to pain, to sick- 
 ness, to a great variety of other miseries, and even 
 to death itself. Myriads who had never sinned 
 actually, perished in the deluge, in the plague of 
 the first born of the Egyptians, in the extermina- 
 tion of the Amalekites, and of other devoted na- 
 tions. But, since God " will not destroy the right- 
 eous with the wicked," we may rest assured, that 
 the infants, over whom death was permitted to 
 reign, were not viewed by Him as righteous. If 
 infants are innocents, as some choose to style them, 
 is it possible to conceive, that Jehovah, to whom 
 infinite holiness, and justice are unchangeably ne- 
 cessary, could treat them in that manner? " Who 
 ever perished, being innocent ?" Can it be con- 
 sistent with the immaculate holiness of his nature, 
 or with the infinite rectitude of his administration, 
 to punish the souls of those with spiritual, and the 
 bodies of those with natural, death, who had never 
 previously, done any thing to deserve, such a se- 
 vere and continued punishment ? Is it equitable, 
 that death should have been suffered to reign, from 
 Adam to Moses, and from Moses to this day, over 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 175 
 
 them who had not sinned, after the similitude of 
 Adam's transgression ; who had not, and could not 
 have, like him, committed in their own persons, 
 actual transgression, if they had not sinned in that 
 common parent, " who," as a covenant-representa- 
 tive, " is the figure of Him, that was to come ??' 
 Was it not as the punishment of sin, that death was 
 threatened to mankind ? is it not expressly styled, 
 " the wages of sin n ?" Doth not distributive justice 
 require, that none receive the wages, but they who 
 have done the work of sin ? that none be punished 
 for it, but such as are guilty of it ? Infants, then, 
 in the eye of Divine law and justice, have done 
 this work : — but as they could not possibly have 
 done it, in their own persons, they must have done 
 it, in Adam. — " All have sinned ;" which, respect- 
 ing infants, can only be true, of their having sin- 
 ned in Adam, and by his sin. An infinitely good 
 and merciful God, could not so very early afflict, 
 and even destroy, the noblest work of his own hands, 
 in this lower world, if they had not in his sight, 
 been chargeable with some great transgression. 
 
 3. Finally, The universal corruption of human 
 nature, clearly evinces the truth of this doctrine. 
 The nature of man not merely after, but in its for- 
 mation, is stained by Adam's first sin ; is destitute of 
 original righteousness, and become wholly corrupted. 
 No sooner is the soul created, and united to the 
 body in the womb, than the individual becomes a 
 child of fallen Adam, tainted by his first transgres- 
 sion, legally and spiritually dead, under the curse of 
 the broken law ; or, in other words, destitute of 
 that rectitude of nature in which, Adam in his state 
 of innocence shone ; upon which, the corruption of 
 the whole nature, as necessarily succeeds, as dark- 
 ness succeeds, upon the setting of the sun. His 
 nature, instead of being adorned with the image of 
 God, in which man was originally created, is now, 
 
 B Rom. vi. 23, 
 
176 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM^ FIRST SIN 
 
 wholly corrupted with a reigning propensity to eviL 
 Hence are these words of the Holy Spirit . " There 
 is none righteous, no not one °." " Who can bring 
 a clean thing out of an unclean ? not one p ." All 
 the children of Adam, Christ alone excepted, are 
 born into the world, in this condition. " That 
 which is born of the flesh, is flesh V " Behold," 
 said the holy Psalmist, " I was shapen, or, born 
 in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive 
 me r ." Depravity is so interwoven with their na- 
 ture, that in every place, and in every age, they 
 have, as soon and as fast, as their opportunities and 
 abilities permitted, run to evil, and proceeded from 
 one degree of evil to another. So bent are they, 
 upon the committing of sin, that, contrary to their 
 strongest resolutions, to their most solemn promises 
 and vows, and to the frequent remonstrances of 
 their consciences ; contrary to the plainest warnings 
 and checks of Providence, and to the strictest laws 
 of men, and even of God himself, they have spoken 
 and done evil things, as they could s . Universal 
 experience, as well as sacred writ, loudly attests 
 this melancholy fact. Every son of Adam, may 
 experience in his nature, an inclination to hearken 
 to evil counsel, rather than to that which is good ; 
 a solicitude for the concerns of the body, more than 
 for those of the soul ; a discontentment with some 
 one thing or other, in his lot ; a disposition to rely 
 upon something in himself, as the foundation of his 
 right to eternal life ; and, an aversion from being an 
 everlasting debtor to sovereign grace, for salvation. 
 Now, while such universal corruption of nature, is 
 in itself sin, and a source of sin, it is at the same 
 time, misery, and the greatest of miseries. It is, 
 therefore, to be considered as a punishment of some 
 sin ; and of a sin, which, every descendant of 
 Adam, by ordinary generation, committed, before 
 
 Rom. iii. 10. p Job xiv. 4. i John iii. 6- 
 
 Psal. li. 5. s Jer. iii. o. 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 177" 
 
 lie began to be punished with it. That can be no 
 other, than the sin that he committed in Adam, or 
 Adam's first transgression, counted to him as his 
 sin. It is not possible, to account otherwise, under 
 the government of the infinitely righteous Jeho- 
 vah, for the equity of this dispensation. The want 
 of original righteousness, and that dominion of de- 
 pravity in the heart, which necessarily ensues, are 
 the leading ingredients, in that spiritual death, 
 which was threatened to Adam and his offspring, if 
 he should presume to break the covenant ; and 
 which began to be executed upon him, the moment 
 he brake it, as a part of the punishment, due for 
 that sin. All his posterity, have the very same 
 punishment inflicted on them. They are born, as 
 we have already seen, destitute of original right- 
 eousness, and under the dominion of depravity ; 
 which cannot possibly be, for any personal trans- 
 gression of their own. Unless we suppose, then, 
 that from their very conception, they are stained, 
 and charged, with a sin previously committed; 
 or, that their souls are united with their bodies, 
 under a charge of guilt, and a sentence of con- 
 demnation on account of it, we are entirely at a loss 
 to conceive, how the infinitely holy and righteous 
 God, can permit them, the moment they are formed 
 and united, to fall under the dominion of spiritual 
 death, a leading part of the execution of that sen- 
 tence. 
 
 The first transgression of Adam, then, by which 
 he violated the covenant of works, is imputed to all 
 his natural posterity, as their transgression ; since 
 it is, in such an awful manner, punished on every 
 individual of them. 
 
 Having now, attended to the nature, the grounds, 
 and the proofs, of the imputation of Adam's first 
 sin to his posterity, which have been in this chap- 
 ter, presented to thy view, permit me, reader, to 
 ask thee, in the presence of the omniscient Judge 
 
 i2 
 
178 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM's FIRST SIN 
 
 of quick and dead, How dost thou stand affected to 
 that doctrine? Dost thou, in any good measure, 
 perceive the consistency of' it, with the wisdom, the 
 holiness, the justice, and the goodness of Jehovah ? 
 Is the justness of it, in any degree, demonstrated 
 by the Holy Spirit, to thy conscience, so that, 
 though thou canst not comprehend it to such a de- 
 gree, as to be able to answer every cavil raised 
 against it ; yet thou seest that it is right, and that 
 there is nothing in it, contrary to the rectitude of 
 the Divine administration ? Dost thou, then, be- 
 lieve this doctrine, as a part of revealed truth ? 
 Dost thou with the heart believe it ? It is with the 
 heart, that man believeth unto righteousness. If 
 thou dost, thou approvest it, relishest it, restest 
 persuaded of it, and lamentest, that thou canst not 
 consent to it so cordially, as thou wouldst. Come, 
 reader, dost thou indeed see and believe, That the 
 first sin of Adam, \s justly, and legally, imputed to 
 thee ; and that thou in particular, justly deservest, 
 the full execution of the awful sentence of the bro- 
 ken covenant ? Thou art never savingly convinced 
 of any sin, till thou begin spiritually to see, that 
 thy original, as well as thy actual sin, deserves, in 
 time and to all eternity, the wrath and curse of 
 God. It is only when thou beginnest to see, that 
 thy condemnation is just, that thou seest it neces- 
 sary, that Divine grace should be absolutely free.— 
 Had Adam fulfilled the condition of the covenant, 
 and had his posterity on that ground, entered on 
 the begun possession of life eternal ; none of them, 
 I am persuaded, would have complained, that it 
 was in the smallest degree, unjust, either to impute 
 his perfect obedience to them, or to perform to them, 
 the promise of eternal life, on the ground of that 
 obedience. — But if the imputation of his obedience 
 to them, in that event, would have been deemed 
 just, how can the imputation of his disobedience, in 
 the contrary event, be unjust ? 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 179 
 
 We may hence also learn, how exceedingly in- 
 fectious sin is. One sinner, and that by one sin, 
 infected all his natural posterity. The first sin of 
 Adam, like the most contagious plague, has been 
 communicated from him, without a single exception, 
 to every individual of his natural descendants, in 
 every successive generation. It spreads from him, 
 to all the human race, defiling and destroying, 
 whithersoever it comes. The purity, and peace, of 
 the whole world of mankind, were thereby marred. 
 It has communicated its virulent nature, to all the 
 powers of the soul, and to all the members of the 
 body, turning all into corruption, and loathsome- 
 ness. " The whole head is sick, and the whole 
 heart faint. From the sole of the foot, even unto 
 the head, there is no soundness in it, &c V It Is 
 long since Adam died ; but his sin is still living, 
 still working, still destroying, wherever its influence 
 extends. " One sinner destroyeth much good u ." 
 Oh, what a plague, what a scourge to mankind, is 
 that first transgression ! Ah, the deep malignity, 
 the contagious influence, the destructive tendency 
 of sin ! the stain that it leaves on the heart, on the 
 life, of the sinner ! so deep, so malignant, so in- 
 veterate, is that stain, that no blood, but the blood 
 of— God, can wash it out. 
 
 Let the true believer, from what has been ad- 
 vanced, see the adorable sovereignty of Jehovah. 
 He, in the height of his awful, his glorious sove- 
 reignty, created angels independent of one another, 
 so that each was to stand or to fall, for himself; 
 but he comprehended mankind under one covenant- 
 head, and then permitted him to fall, and by his 
 fall* to subject them, as well as himself, to guilt and 
 misery. While there is not, and cannot be, any 
 unrighteousness in this awful dispensation, there is 
 at the same time, every thing that is suited, to af- 
 
 * Isai. i t 5, 6. u Eccles, ix. 18. 
 
 
180 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S FIRST SIN 
 
 ford a most illustrious display of Divine sovereignty. 
 Draw nigh then, O believer, and while, with the deep- 
 est humility, thou contemplatest the infinite sove- 
 reignty of thy Lord, cry out, with the great Apostle 
 of the Gentiles, "O the depth of the riches, both of 
 the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearch- 
 able are his judgments, and his ways past finding 
 out x !" O learn to love this dispensation, because 
 it exhibits such a glorious display, of the unsearch- 
 able wisdom, and awful sovereignty, of thy God 
 and Father. How infinitely reasonable is it, that 
 the glory of these attributes should be displayed, in 
 all his dealings with his creatures ! 
 
 Is Adam's first sin imputed to us, on the ground 
 of our union with him, as our natural root, and es. 
 pecially as our federal representative ? The be- 
 liever, united to the second Adam, need not hesi- 
 tate a moment to conclude, that his spotless right- 
 eousness is imputed to him, for his justification. 
 Did that Jehovah to whom, immense goodness, as 
 well as inflexible justice, is always essential, impute 
 the sin of the first Adam, to ail his natural off- 
 spring, for their condemnation ; and will he not 
 much more, impute the righteousness of the last 
 Adam, to his spiritual seed, for their justification ? 
 Was the one, O Christian, thine, on the ground of 
 thy union with Adam, thy public representative, 
 in the covenant of works ? The other is no less 
 thine, in consequence of thy union and communion 
 with Christ, thy glorious Representative, in the 
 covenant of grace. u For as by one man's disobe- 
 dience, many were made sinners ; so by the obedi- 
 ence of One, shall many be made righteousV 
 Let thy faith, then, in the gift, and imputation, of 
 the righteousness of thy dear Redeemer, to thee, 
 be firm and unsuspecting. Draw near to thy cov- 
 enant-God in him, " with a true heart, and in full 
 
 * Rom, xi. 33. * Rom. v. 19. 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 181 
 
 assurance of faith 2 ;" and then, adopt the resolution 
 of the ancient church, " I will greatly rejoice in 
 the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for 
 he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, 
 he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, 
 as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, 
 and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels a ." 
 
 Is that first transgression, charged on all the 
 natural posterity of Adam, and charged by God 
 the Judge of all the earth ; who is so infinite in 
 understanding, that he cannot charge it from mis- 
 take, and so infinitely righteous, that he cannot 
 charge it unjustly ? Then, every sinner of man- 
 kind, ought to charge it on himself, and say, This 
 is my sin, for which I am justly condemned ; — my 
 sin, as much as any actual transgression, that ever 
 I committed. O sinner, be convinced that this sin 
 is thine ; that by one man's disobedience, thou in 
 particular, hast been made a sinner. Indeed, if 
 ever the Holy Spirit has begun, savingly to con- 
 vince thee of sin, he has convinced thee of original, 
 as well as of actual ; of original sin imputed, as 
 well as of original sin inherent. Consider, I be- 
 seech thee, that, as a breaker of the first covenant 
 in Adam, thou hast fallen under the dreadful pen- 
 alty of that covenant. Be deeply humbled for this, 
 as the first of all thy innumerable transgressions. 
 Confess it as such, to the high and holy One ; and 
 let the stream of godly sorrow for it, flow forth 
 before Him. Is it not thy sin, thy debt, under 
 which, Adam thy first father has left thee ? Is it 
 prudent, is it safe, to continue unconcerned about 
 it, while thon hast to do with the infinitely inflexi- 
 ble justice, of the Almighty Jehovah ? O believe 
 it ; — this great transgression, shall sooner, or later, 
 press heavy on thy soul. This is the dreadful 
 source of all thy other iniquity. Whence do all 
 
 a Heb. x. 22. a Isaiah Ixi. 10. 
 
182 THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S F1EST SIN 
 
 thy actual transgressions proceed, but from the 
 corrupt heart ? and from what source, does the 
 depravity of the heart flow, but from the guilt of 
 that sin ? Be persuaded, then, that thou canst 
 not be truly humbled for sin in the streams, if thou 
 be not sensible of it, and humbled for it, in the 
 fountain ; and, that the only sure way, to dry up 
 the deadly streams, whether in the heart, or in the 
 life, is to stop, or cut off, the poisonous fountain. 
 
 Once more, Is the first sin of Adam, imputed to 
 all his natural descendants ? We may hence learn, 
 That he is a head of sin, of condemnation, and of 
 death, to all his posterity ; and, that all who are 
 still connected with him, under the first covenant, 
 are under the guilt, and dominion of sin ; are un- 
 der a sentenee of condemnation, and are not only 
 dead in law, but dead in sin. This, O secure sin- 
 ner, is thy state before God. Attend to it. It 
 is a state of — sin, of — condemnation, of — death. 
 Thou art an enemy of God, and art under his 
 wrath and curse. The awful sentence of the broken 
 law, is in part, already executed upon thee. O 
 believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the second 
 Adam, for righteousness and life ; and He will be 
 a Head of righteousness, of justification, and of 
 life eternal to thee. O be persuaded, without a 
 moment's delay, to " receive abundance of grace, 
 and of the gift of righteousness" presented to thee, 
 in the offers of the Gospel; and thou shalt " reign 
 in life, by One, Jesus Christ. 11 Believe cordially, 
 and with application, the Divine record ; and in- 
 stead of the boundless debt of sin, which is now 
 charged to thy account, the spotless righteousness 
 of Jesus Christ, will be imputed to thee, for thy 
 justification of life. Quit now thy hold of the first 
 Adam, and of the first covenant : and receiving 
 the second Adam, take hold of that second cov- 
 enant, of which he is the blessed Head. The 
 eternal Father, raaketh an indefinite grant of Him 
 
TO HIS POSTERITY. 183 
 
 in the Gospel, to sinners of mankind, and to thee 
 in particular. Come, O come then, as an undone 
 sinner in Adam and in thyself, and cordially accept 
 of the inestimable, the unspeakable Gift : so shalt 
 thou enter into the bond, of that well-ordered, that 
 sure covenant, of which He is the glorious Head. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OF THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND, TO THE BROKEN 
 COVENANT OF WORKS. 
 
 lo elucidate this momentous truth, let the follow- 
 ing articles be distinctly considered : 
 
 In the first place, No sooner did Adam violate 
 that covenant, than his representation of his pos- 
 terity in it, ceased. He was displaced, from his 
 honorary station of supporting a vicarious character, 
 and of being a covenant- head. He fell from his 
 public character, of being the federal representative 
 of his natural posterity ; and fell back into that 
 character, of a private individual, which he had 
 sustained before the covenant was made with him. 
 Having by his disobedience, fallen under the do- 
 minion of spiritual death, he was no longer qualified 
 to act for others, in a covenant which was ordained 
 to life, and whose promise was a promise of life. 
 The removal of him from his covenant-headship, 
 was also necessary on another account; namely, 
 that the covenant of grace might without delay, be 
 intimated to him, and that he might for himself, 
 enter into it, and have his standing under the 
 second Adam, as his glorious Representative, in that 
 better covenant. Adam, then, instead of continu- 
 ing to be a public party in the first covenant, fell 
 into a state of subjection to that broken covenant 
 
184 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 Secondly, The covenant of works though broken, 
 is still binding' on all who continue under it. It 
 was indeed violated by man, but was so far from 
 being repealed or annulled by God, that by his ap- 
 pointment, it continues to retain, all its original 
 force and obligation. The moral law in its cove- 
 nant-form, is far from being abrogated. It con- 
 tinues unalterably binding in that form, on all the 
 children of Adam, who are in their unregenerate 
 state. The consequence, of Adam's having fallen 
 from his being the representative of his descendants, 
 was, that he himself and every individual of them, 
 stood under the broken covenant, bound each for 
 himself b . The demand of infinite satisfaction for 
 sin, according to the penalty threatened, was now 
 added to the original one, of perfect conformity of 
 heart and life, to the law, as the indispensable, the 
 immutable, condition of eternal life. The natural 
 law of the covenant, founded in the nature of Je- 
 hovah, and on that relation, which necessarily 
 subsists between Him and mankind, as his reason- 
 able creatures, cannot but continue binding, as 
 long as his nature, and their relation to him, re- 
 main the same. The penal sanction too, originat- 
 ing from the very nature of God, and adapted to 
 the relation in which he stands to mankind, as their 
 supreme and righteous Governor, must be as un- 
 changeable as the law itself. >Man now, therefore, 
 became at once, obliged to perform perfect obedi- 
 ence, and to endure to the uttermost, the whole 
 penalty of the violated contract. Such is his natural 
 subjection to it ; and such is the demand of perfect 
 obedience, on pain of eternal death, which it still 
 makes upon him. Nothing of its original force is 
 diminished. It is as capable as ever it was, of 
 giving eternal life to man, upon his completely en- 
 during the penalty, and his perfect obedience to the 
 
 * Gal.iii, 10> 12. 
 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 185 
 
 precept. As all the race of Adam, were included 
 with him, in that original contract; so none of 
 them, can be freed from the obligation of it, but 
 they only who are discharged by Jehovah, the 
 other contracting Party : and he dischargeth none, 
 but on their completely answering all its demands, 
 — " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one 
 tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 
 fulfilled c . w — " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
 commandments d ." Fully to answer those high de- 
 mands, is what no man, in his lapsed state, can do, 
 otherwise than by applying, and presenting in the 
 hand of faith to them, the surety-righteousness of 
 the second Adam. 
 
 The Scriptures no where insinuate, that the 
 moral law in its covenant-form, was ever abrogated ; 
 but on the contrary represent it, as immutably 
 binding on all who are under it. — u Moses describ- 
 eth the righteousness which is of the law, That the 
 man which doeth those things, shall live by them e ." 
 Paul informs us, That " as many as are of the 
 works of the law, are under the curse : for it is 
 written, Cursed is every one, that continueth not 
 in all things written in the book of the law, to do 
 them V In sacred writ we are also told, That the 
 inability of those who are under the law, to fulfil 
 it as a covenant, is the sole reason, why they can- 
 not be justified by the works of it. Hence are 
 these words of the apostle of the Gentiles ; " For 
 what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
 through thejlesh, God sending his own Son, in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin 
 in the flesh : that the righteousness of the law, 
 might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the 
 Hesh, but after the Spirit g ." — " For not the hearers 
 of the lav/ are just before God, but the doers of the 
 
 • Matth. v. 18. d Matth. xix. 17. e Rom, x, 5 5 
 
 f Gal. iii. 10, s Rom, viii. 3, 4?. *" 
 
186 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 law shall be justified h ." — " Therefore, by the deeds 
 of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his 
 sight ; for by the law, is the knowledge of sin L" 
 We are also informed, That the deliverance of true 
 believers, from the obligation of the law in its cove- 
 nant-form, is entirely owing, to their having fully 
 answered all its demands, in Christ their Divine 
 Surety. " For," says our Apostle, " he hath made 
 him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in him k ." 
 " Wherefore, my brethren, ye are also become dead 
 to the law by the body of Christ, &C. 1 " 
 
 The obedience and sufferings of the second Adam, 
 did not annul the obligation of this covenant, on 
 such as are still under it. On the contrary, he 
 thereby fulfilled, both the precept and the penalty of 
 it. He " is the end of the law for righteousness, 
 only to every one that believeth m '." Nor does the 
 law of faith, abrogate this law of works. " Do we 
 then make void the law through faith ? God for- 
 bid : yea we establish the law n ." Far less, does the 
 sin of Adam, or the sin of any of his posterity, 
 make it void. Instead of doing so, their sin binds 
 them up, under the awful curse of it. It were in- 
 deed most absurd to imagine, that disobedience to 
 a divine law, could nullify the obligation of it, and 
 render the sinner so independent of the supreme 
 Lawgiver, as no longer to be under any obligation 
 to obey him. " Ought the supreme Majesty of 
 heaven," as one expresses it, " to be punished with 
 the loss of his high Authority, if men choose to 
 rebel against it ?"" Man's rendering of himself un- 
 able, perfectly to obey, cannot deprive Jehovah, 
 of his unalienable right, to require perfect obedi- 
 ence from him°. Sinners, therefore, who by their 
 unbelief, reject the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 
 
 h Rom. ii. 13. ■ Rom. iii. 20. k 2 Cor. v. 21. ■ Rom. vii. 4. 
 "*" Rom. x. 4. n Rom. iii. 31. ° Gal. iii. 10. 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 187 
 
 offered to them in the gospel, do thereby keep 
 themselves under the broken covenant of works, 
 and under an obligation " to do the whole law p." 
 The covenant of works, then, though it be a broken 
 covenant, is still binding, on every individual of 
 Adam's race who is under it ; and none of his 
 guilty offspring, can ever be released from the ob- 
 ligation of it, otherwise than by union, and com- 
 munion with the second Adam. 
 
 In the third place, All the posterity of Adam, 
 while in their natural state, are under the covenant 
 of works. — They are under the moral law in its 
 covenant- form ; to be justified by it, if they answer 
 all its demands, or condemned by it, if they do not. 
 All who are in their natural state, are under the na- 
 tural or moral law, as it is a covenant of works. 
 They are all under the twofold obligation, of per- 
 forming perfect obedience to the precept, and of 
 enduring the full execution of the penalty. This 
 is the inexpressibly dreadful, condition of every son 
 of fallen Adam, while in his natural state. Every 
 one is bound for himself. And that which he is 
 bound to do, is, to present perfect obedience, and 
 infinite satisfaction for sin already committed, to 
 the law, as the stated condition of eternal life, in his 
 own person, and in his own strength ; or, if that is 
 now impossible, — in the person of an all-sufficient 
 surety. 
 
 That all mankind who continue, and while con- 
 tinuing, in their natural state, are under the cove- 
 nant of works, is abundantly evident, from the fol- 
 lowing words of the apostle Paul : — i( Ye are not 
 under the law, but under grace q ." Here we are 
 taught, that every man is either under the law, or 
 under grace. There is no such thing as a middle 
 state, between these two. To be under grace, is to 
 be under the covenant of grace, and in a state of 
 
 p Gal. v, 3. i Rom. vi. 14. 
 
188 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 grace. To be under the law, cannot mean one's be- 
 ing under it, as an eternal and unchangeable rule 
 of duty, for in that sense, all who are under grace, 
 are, and — cannot but be under it ; but only,— 
 one's being under it as a covenant of works. Here 
 we are told, then, That they who are not under 
 grace ; — who are not under the covenant of grace, 
 nor in a state of grace, are — in a state of nature, 
 and under the law or covenant of works. This 
 truth is no less manifest, from the words that fol- 
 low : — " As many as are of the works of the law, are 
 under the curse r ." To be of the works of the law, 
 or to look for eternal happiness, by our own works 
 of obedience to the law, is to be of the law of works ; 
 that is, to be under the law or covenant of works. 
 But says our Apostle, " As many as are of the 
 works of the law, are under the curse." Now, it is 
 they only, who are in their unregenerate state, and 
 so not in Christ, that are under the curse or con- 
 demnation of the law s ." Since those, then, who 
 are unregenerate, or are not in Christ, are under 
 the curse of the covenant of works, they must all of 
 necessity, be under that covenant itself. More- 
 over, the same Apostle informs us, That " what 
 things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are 
 under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, 
 and all the world may become guilty before GodV 1 
 What things soever the law, under the form of the 
 covenant of works, says, either for the conviction, 
 or for the condemnation of sinners, it says to them 
 who are under it ; that every plea of righteousness, 
 on the footing of their own performances, may be 
 silenced ; and, that they may have nothing to say 
 in their own excuse, but own themselves, to be un- 
 der a most just sentence of condemnation. Now it 
 is the unregenerate, and they only, who are under 
 that condemning sentence, and who at the same 
 
 " Gal. iii. 10. s Rom. viii. 1. * Rom. iii. 19 
 
 i 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 189 
 
 time, plead their own performances, as a ground of 
 title to the Divine favour. It is to them only, and 
 to them all, that it speaks words of condemnation 
 and wrath. All of that description, then, are, ac- 
 cording to the Spirit of inspiration, under the law in 
 its covenant- form. 
 
 Some have alleged, That if unregenerate persons 
 who hear the gospel, be under the command of the 
 covenant of works, they must be required by it, to 
 seek justification by the works of the law, while, at 
 the same time, they are required to seek it, by faith 
 in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But let it be 
 observed in reply, that the covenant of works, can- 
 not oblige sinners to ^^justification, by their own 
 performances, when even perfect obedience itself, 
 cannot satisfy the demands of it, without full satis- 
 faction at the same time to Divine justice, for the 
 sins that are past. The obedience, even of the last 
 Adam himself, which was so perfect, as to be strict- 
 ly meritorious of eternal life for his elect, would, 
 notwithstanding, have been insufficient for such a 
 purpose, if he had not besides, given infinite satis- 
 faction for their sins. Adam himself, even while 
 he stood, was not required to seek justification by 
 his perfect obedience ; but to perform perfect obe- 
 dience, in hope of that gracious reward, which God 
 had promised to such obedience. All that, the law 
 of the covenant required him to do, was, to perse- 
 vere in perfect obedience, leaving it to him who is 
 faithful and true, to perform his promise, when, and 
 in what manner soever, he pleased. In few words, 
 Since the law in its federal form, commanded man 
 to believe, whatever God might afterward reveal, 
 and to accept, whatever he might at any time offer ; 
 it cannot but require every sinner who hears the 
 Gospel, to credit the Divine record with application, 
 and so to receive the surety-righteousness of the 
 second Adam, which is therein offered. It requires 
 perfect obedience to all its precepts, and among 
 
190 THE SUBJECTION Oi MANKIND 
 
 other things, faith in Jesus Christ the second Ad- 
 am, as Jehovah our Righteousness ; and that, on 
 pain of the most tremendous punishment. But no- 
 where, does it command sinners to seek justification, 
 on the ground, either of their own works, or of their 
 faith V 
 
 Fourthly, Persons may know by the following 
 marks, that they are still under the covenant of 
 works. 
 
 1. If they be under the dominion, or reigning 
 power of sin, it is an infallible mark, of their being 
 under the dominion of that law, which, an Apostle 
 informs us, " is the strength of sin*." All who 
 are under the dominion of the law in its covenant- 
 form, are at the same time, under the dominion of 
 that corruption of nature, which is spiritual death, 
 and which as such, is the execution of a part of the 
 curse of the law. The apostle Paul, in a forecited 
 passage, thus expresses himself: — " Sin shall not 
 have dominion over you, for ye are not under the 
 law y ." The reason which he here assigns, why 
 sin should not have dominion over them, is, — 
 their being not under the law, the moral law in its 
 covenant-form ; intimating, that if they had been 
 under the law in that form, sin should have had 
 dominion over them ; and, that if sin had had do- 
 minion over them, it would have been an evident 
 token of their being under the law. They who 
 are under the dominion of sin, or the power of 
 spiritual death, threatened in the first covenant, 
 continue still where Adam left them, " Dead in 
 trespasses and sins." The same Apostle likewise 
 informs us, that " he through the law, was dead 
 to the law, that he might live to God 2 " If, then, 
 a man be not spiritually alive to God, in confor- 
 mity to the law as a rule, he is not yet dead to it 
 as a covenant ; and if he be not dead to it, or de- 
 
 » 1 John iii. 23. John iii. 36. x 1 Cor. xv. 56. 
 
 i Rom. vi. 14. z Gal. iii. 19. 
 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 191 
 
 livered from it, as a covenant of works, he is still 
 under it in its covenant-form. But how may a 
 man know, if, instead of being spiritually alive to 
 God, he be still spiritually dead, or under the 
 reigning power of sin ? I answer : — If there be any 
 depraved temper, or sinful inclination in his heart, 
 from which, he is unwilling to be presently, and en- 
 tirely delivered ; or, if he trust in Christ, rather 
 for salvation in some sin, or to sin, than for deliv- 
 evaricefrom all sin, he may assuredly conclude, that 
 he is yet under the dominion of the body of sin, and 
 also of the law. 
 
 2. If men have not believed in the second Adam, 
 as Jehovah their Righteousness, they are still un- 
 der subjection to the broken covenant of works. 
 The apostle Paul tells us, That persons are united 
 to Christ, or as he expresses it, are married to ano- 
 ther, only upon their being dead to the law, or de- 
 livered from it as a covenant a . Now it is by faith, 
 that sinners are, in a marriage-covenant, spiritually 
 united to Jesus Christ, that other Husband. As 
 all then who are true believers, are married to 
 Christ, and have their Maker for their Husband ; 
 so, all who are unbelievers, are wedded to the law 
 as a covenant of works, and have the law in its fe- 
 deral form, for their husband. Though the law is 
 weak through the flesh, and not able either to justi- 
 fy, or to sanctify, or to protect or provide for them, 
 or so much as to do any thing, be what it may, for 
 their comfort ; and though it is so rigorous in its 
 demands, as to exact perfect obedience from them, 
 on pain of everlasting punishment, and to be pleased 
 with nothing that they do ; yet, they practically 
 prefer union with it, and subjection to it, before 
 union with Christ, and subjection to the dominion 
 of grace. As it is by faith, that one is united to 
 Christ, and stands under him in the covenant of 
 
 a Rom. vii. 4. 
 
192 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 grace; so all who are destitute of true faith, or are 
 under the power of unbelief, do still continue under 
 the dominion of the covenant of works. Hence are 
 these awful declarations : — " He that believeth not, 
 is condemned already." — " He that believeth not 
 the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him b ." Unbelievers are persons, who 
 do not cordially credit, nor confide in the second 
 Adam, for the whole of his salvation, according to 
 the tenor of the new covenant. All such do still 
 remain, where the first Adam left them, — under the 
 old, and violated covenant of works. 
 
 3. If persons be not led by the Spirit of Christ, 
 they may assure themselves, that they are still un- 
 der the dominion of the broken law. Our Apostle, 
 in his epistle to the Galatians, thus expresses him- 
 self: " If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under 
 the law 6 ." If men be led by the Spirit, they are 
 under the government, guidance, and influence of 
 the Spirit, according to his word, and also to the 
 bent of that holy nature, which he has given them. 
 In the habitual frame of their hearts, and tenor of 
 their lives, they are led off' from the ways of sin, 
 into the paths of evangelical holiness. Having re- 
 ceived the begun performance, of this great promise 
 of the new covenant : — " A new Spirit will I put 
 within you," they have the Spirit of the last Adam, 
 dwelling in them. He accordingly dwells in them, 
 as a Spirit of faith, enabling them cordially to cleave 
 to Jesus, and confide in him, as their Head of righ- 
 teousness and of life ; as a Spirit of love, enabling 
 them supremely to love all of God, all of Christ, 
 and all of that covenant, of which he is the blessed 
 Head, and to delight in the spirituality and perfec- 
 tion of his law, as a rule of duty ; and as a Spirit of 
 holiness, rendering them conformable to his image, 
 in holy tempers, exercises, and performances. Evan- 
 
 b John Hi. 18, 36. « Gal. v. 18. 
 
THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 193 
 
 gelical holiness, therefore, in their heart and life, is 
 a sure evidence, that they are delivered from the 
 law of works. He likewise dwells in them, as a Spi- 
 rit of conviction, convincing them of sin, of right- 
 eousness, and of judgment ; as a Spirit of grace, en- 
 abling them to admire the doctrines, and cleave to 
 the covenant of grace, and to desire to be everlasting 
 debtors for their salvation, to sovereign redeeming 
 grace ; and as a Spirit of supplication, conducting 
 them daily to the throne of grace, and enabling them, 
 sensible of their extreme unworthiness of the least 
 favour, at the hand of the Lord, to plead the pro- 
 mises of that grace, which " reigns through right- 
 eousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." Such happy persons, instated in the new 
 covenant, which is the ministration of the Spirit, 
 and serving in newness of spirit, and not in the old- 
 ness of the letter, — are not under the law of works, 
 that ministration of condemnation. They " re- 
 ceived the Spirit, not by the works of the law, but 
 by the hearing of faith d ." And " there is now, no 
 condemnation to them, who" show that they "are 
 in Christ Jesus," by walking "not after the flesh, but 
 after the Spirit e ." It follows, then, that all who are 
 not led by the Spirit, are under the law as a cove- 
 nant of works. 
 
 4. If men be of a slavish spirit, it is an evidence, 
 that they are still under the first covenant. When 
 a man is under the law as a covenant, the terror, 
 torment, and wrath, which it worketh, when the 
 dreadful penalty of it is discerned, weaken his hands, 
 and dispose him to be of a mean, a base, a slavish 
 turn of mind. While they press, like an insupport- 
 able load, on his soul, and bow it down, he is there- 
 by in a manner, imprisoned and fettered. Hence 
 the law is represented as a strong hold, in which he 
 is held ( . He is held or shut up, in the prison of 
 
 d Gal. iii. 2. e Rom. viii. 1. t £ om , y -± Q m 
 
 K 
 
194 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 the broken law ; and therefore cannot serve the 
 Lord freely, or in newness of spirit. The free and 
 ingenuous spirit of the gospel, is what he cannot re- 
 ceive, while he is thus held under the dominion of 
 the law. Under the broken covenant, he is held in 
 bondage ; severe bondage, to the peremptory com- 
 mand of perfect obedience, on pain of eternal death, 
 and to the dread of everlasting vengeance, as the 
 execution of the tremendous curse. In this con- 
 dition he is bound up, and can do nothing, but in 
 the manner of a slave. It is the slavish fear of 
 hell, that urges him to his performances: He has 
 neither heart, nor hand, to " serve God without 
 fear, in holiness and righteousness before him." He 
 is not free for cheerful, and spiritual service ; nor 
 can he walk at liberty, like those " whom the Son 
 maketh free." Is this, reader, the habitual frame 
 of thy spirit ? the reigning principle of thy per- 
 formances ? If it be, it is a sure token, that thou 
 art one of " the children of the bond-woman," and 
 art under the dominion of that broken covenant, 
 " which gendereth to bondage." 
 
 5. Finally, If men be legalists, it is a sign that 
 they are under the law as a covenant. A legalist 
 is one, who is of a legal spirit ; a self-justiciary, a 
 self-righteous formalist ; one who " being ignorant 
 of God's righteousness, and going about to establish 
 his own righteousness, hath not submitted himself 
 to the righteousness of God g ." He is one who 
 works for eternal life ; who pretends to serve God, 
 merely that God may save him. " I delight to do 
 thy will?* said the blessed Surety of the " better co- 
 venant :" nay, says the legalist, I rather choose to 
 do it myself. He is one, who attempts to perform 
 his duties, in his own strength, acting from self as 
 his principle, and to self as his end ; one who over- 
 values his own performances, and thinks more of 
 
 8 Rom. x. 3. 
 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 195 
 
 what he himself has done, than of what Christ has 
 done; more of his own penitential tears, than of 
 Christ's precious blood. He is one who is so proud, 
 as to disdain to live upon the righteousness of an- 
 other; and who boasts of his own good heart, and 
 good intentions, and good works ; saying, I intend 
 well ; I do what I can, and what, I hope, will pa- 
 cify and please God. Boasting is not excluded by 
 the law of works h . He is one who, if at any time, 
 he be alarmed with fears of Divine wrath, retires to 
 the law for safety and comfort, and seeks rest to his 
 conscience, in his duties. As a husband comforts 
 his distressed spouse, so it is the law that quiets and 
 comforts him. He resorts to duties, and they af- 
 ford him ease. It is the law, that casts him down, 
 and the law, that lifts him up ; the law that wounds, 
 and the law that heals him. When he is convinced 
 of sin, instead of fleeing to the blood of the Lamb, 
 he betakes himself to his repentance ; and he hopes 
 that he will pacify God, by lamenting bitterly, and 
 repenting seriously of his sins. Hence, was that 
 paradoxical saying of Augustine ; — " Repentance 
 damns more, than sins do." He never spiritually 
 sees nor feels, his legal temper ; and it is never mat- 
 ter of exercise to him, how to be delivered, either 
 from sin, or from self-righteousness. In few words, 
 The legalist is one who is either a mere moralist, or 
 a formal hypocrite. For rest to his conscience, he 
 betakes himself, either to shreds of moral honesty, 
 or to empty forms of godliness. He indeed profess- 
 es, to be joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, but was 
 never yet divorced from that first husband, — the 
 law as a covenant. He is brought to duties, but is 
 never brought over them and out of them, to Christ, 
 " the end of the law for righteousness, to every one 
 that believeth V Such an one is a legalist ; and 
 his persisting thus to cleave to the law, for protec- 
 
 h Rorn. iii. 27. i Rom. x. 4. 
 
196 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 tion, or provision, or comfort, is an infallible token, 
 that he is still under it in its covenant-form. 
 
 In the Jiftli place, The power of the broken cove- 
 nant of works, over those who are under it, is — 
 fivefold. 
 
 1. It has a commanding power over them. In 
 every covenant, if the one party fail of his duty, 
 the other party is freed, from the obligation of per- 
 forming his part ; but the party failing, is not freed, 
 till the other choose to release him. Though there- 
 fore, in consequence of man's breach of the covenant 
 of works, the Lord is under no obligation, to per- 
 form his promise to him ; yet mail's obligation to 
 fulfil the condition of that covenant, still remains 
 firm. The law as a covenant, still retains its fede- 
 ral commanding power, over all that are under it ; 
 binding them to perfect obedience, as the condition 
 of eternal life. It continues to have its original, 
 its full, commanding power over them. The com- 
 mands of the law are bound on them, by the tie of 
 the covenant. The moral law, indeed, as a natural 
 law, and also as a rule of duty, in the hand of the 
 blessed Mediator, commands all who are under it, 
 simply to do, to perform perfect and perpetual obe- 
 dience ; but in its covenant-form, it requires all 
 who are under it as a covenant of works, to do, and 
 live ; to do, in order to live ; to yield perfect obe- 
 dience to it, as the condition of life, in their own 
 persons, or if that is now impracticable, in the per- 
 son of a sufficient Surety. " This do, and thou 
 shalt live k ." 
 
 The law commands all, who are under it as a co- 
 venant, to yield in their own strength, perfect obe- 
 dience, as the ground of their title to life. That 
 obedience it requires, without the promise of any 
 ability to perform it. The condition of persons 
 under that covenant, is represented by that of the 
 
 k Luke x. 28. 
 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 197 
 
 Israelites in Egypt, when Pharaoh gave them this 
 command : " Go therefore now and work ; for there 
 shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the 
 tale of bricks ! ." Thus the law as a covenant shows 
 sinners under it, what to do, and with unpitying 
 severity, demands the arduous task ; but instead of 
 furnishing them with resources of strength, it com- 
 mands them to do all in that strength, which was 
 already given them in the first Adam. Man was 
 at first, intrusted with a stock of ability sufficiently 
 large ; and therefore the law justly requires him, 
 to trade for heaven with that stock, with which, he 
 was at the beginning set up. That stock, alas ! has 
 been long since, lavished and lost ; but the right- 
 eous law, can neither furnish it anew 3 nor yet forbear 
 to make its original demand. 
 
 It at the same time requires that obedience, on 
 pain of death, in all its awful extent and duration m . 
 The law as a rule, in the hand of our glorious Me- 
 diator, requires his spiritual seed, to obey in his 
 strength, on pain of fatherly chastisement, which is 
 always salutary ; but as a covenant, it enjoins all 
 who are under it, perfectly to obey in their own 
 strength, under the tremendous penalty of vindic- 
 tive wrath. It cannot command them in a softer 
 strain. 
 
 2. The power which it has over them, is also 
 a condemning power. While they are bound to 
 perfect obedience, according to the command, they 
 are also bound to give full satisfaction for the sins 
 that are past, according to the threatening. Every 
 son and daughter of Adam, while under that broken 
 covenant, is under condemnation. They are in a 
 state of condemnation. The dreadful sentence of 
 the broken law, dooming them to die ; binding 
 them over to suffer the eternal wrath of Jehovah, 
 for their sin, is passed upon them. This is the 
 
 1 Exod, v. 18. m Gal. iii. 10, 
 
198 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 terrific language of the broken law, respecting every 
 one who continues under it ; " Cursed is every one, 
 that continueth not in all things, which are written 
 in the book of the law, to do them V 1 — " He that 
 believeth not, is condemned already . w Every one, 
 then, who is under the law, is a cursed creature, a 
 condemned criminal. A sinner, whether he believe 
 it or not, cannot continue under the jurisdiction, 
 without continuing at the same time, under the 
 condemnation of the broken law. 
 
 The law in its federal form, had no such power 
 as this over man, till once he became a sinner. It 
 was only, on his violation of the precept, that he 
 fell under the penalty. Since it was a clause in the 
 contract, that in the day man sinned, he " should 
 surely die," no sooner is he born a sinful, than he 
 is born a condemned creature. Every actual trans- 
 gression, that he afterward commits, exposes him to 
 have this most galling yoke, faster and faster 
 wreathed around his neck. The time was, when 
 the law had power to justify man. But when man 
 had by his sin, lost his power to obey, the law lost 
 its power to justify him, and in place of that, began 
 to be able to condemn him. — This power it retains, 
 and exercises over him, as long as he remains 
 under it. 
 
 3. It has a retaining power over them. The 
 condemning sentence of it girds, and holds them 
 fast, under the dominion and influence of spiritual 
 death. Since, according to their apprehensions of 
 it, it connects personal righteousness with eternal 
 life; this gratifies the pride of their hearts, so that 
 they choose to remain under it, and not to go out 
 free. Accordingly the unregenerate are, by the 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, said, as was formerly ob- 
 served, to be held in the law p . As a woman is 
 bound by the law, to her husband, or as a criminal 
 
 n Gal. iii. 10. ° John iii. 18. p Rom. vii. 6. 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 199 
 
 is kept, who is detained a prisoner ; so are they 
 "kept under the law, shut up qn as in a prison- 
 house. They are so shut up and held, in the pri- 
 son of the broken law, that they are not at liberty, 
 spiritually to serve the Lord. And so great is its 
 power to retain them under its dominion, that no 
 strength is sufficient to rescue them, but the 
 strength of that Almighty Redeemer, who was able 
 completely to answer, all the high demands that it 
 had on them. 
 
 4. The power which it has over them, is at the 
 same time, an excluding power. It has power to 
 exclude them from all happiness, both in time, and 
 in eternity, and from all well-grounded hope of it ; 
 unless its arduous condition be completely perform- 
 ed, and its tremendous penalty be fully endured. 
 Since they can neither perform perfect obedience to 
 its precept, nor present infinite satisfaction to its 
 penalty, it cannot justify them, or pronounce them 
 entitled to eternal life. When our blessed Re- 
 deemer himself was, in the character of our Repre- 
 sentative and Surety, under it, it could not, on 
 any lower terms, justify — Him x . While man kept 
 that covenant, it secured happiness to him ; but 
 the moment he presumed to break it, it shut him 
 out from it, and set it far, infinitely far beyond his 
 reach. — " By the deeds of the law, there shall no 
 flesh be justified in his sight ; for by the law, is the 
 knowledge of sin V 
 
 None of the sons of Adam can enter into heaven, 
 while he remains under this broken covenant ; for, 
 according to the terms of the contract, there is no 
 access to life, for the sinner, till he 1st, pay the pe- 
 nalty of the bond. He must give infinite satisfac- 
 tion, for the wrong which he has done to the in- 
 finite Jehovah, and to his most righteous law. — 
 " In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
 
 9 Gal. iii. 23. r Luke xxiv. 26. s Rom. iii. 20. 
 
200 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 surely die? He has violated the covenant, and 
 therefore must die. Dying he must die, till infinite 
 justice be completely satisfied. Since he is but a 
 finite creature, no sufferings, no death to be endured 
 by him, can amount to a full compensation, for the 
 infinite wrong done, and the infinite offence given, 
 by his sin, to the high and holy One, but such as 
 is to be endured eternally, or for an infinite dura- 
 tion. According to the import of the awful threat- 
 ening, he must die in an infinite degree, or which 
 is the same, must die an eternal death. But is it 
 possible for the sinner, to give such a satisfaction 
 as this ; and after all, — to come back again from 
 the eternal world ? Absolutely impossible ! But 
 suppose this to be accomplished, — there is still more 
 to be done, before the sinner under the broken co- 
 venant, can recover a legal title to life. He must 
 2dly, in addition to this, present to the holy law, 
 that perfect, that personal obedience, which origin- 
 ally, was the stipulated condition of life. The con- 
 dition must, in terms of the agreement, and accord- 
 ing to the true spirit and meaning of it, be per- 
 formed, before he can have a right to plead the 
 promise. He must, for the time to come, present 
 to the law, that perfect holiness of nature, and that 
 perfect obedience of life, which it originally required 
 from man ; otherwise it will continue to fix an im- 
 passible gulf, between him and eternal life. 
 
 Now this is a bar, in the sinner's way to everlast- 
 ing happiness, which, while he remains under the 
 law, it will be altogether impossible for him to get 
 over. He is as unable, in his own strength, to per- 
 form perfect obedience, as he is, to present infinite 
 satisfaction. He cannot answer the demand made 
 by the law, of original righteousness or holiness of 
 nature, and instead of being able to yield perfect 
 obedience, he can do nothing that is spiritually 
 good. Suppose heaven were to be procured by one 
 good work, nay, by one good thought, he could not 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 201 
 
 even on such terms, acquire it. He is " dead in 
 trespasses and sins ;" and can no more perform one 
 good work, than a dead body in the grave, can per- 
 form one of the functions of one that is alive. — As 
 nothing less than infinite satisfaction for past sin ; 
 so nothing short of perfect obedience for the time to 
 come, can be regarded or accepted, as adequate to 
 the just demands of the broken law. Let not the 
 sinner imagine, that these conditions of life, can in 
 the least degree be abated to him. — If neither jus- 
 tice nor mercy, could procure the least abatement 
 of them, to the last Adam, the dearly Beloved of 
 the Father, when He stood in the law-room of his 
 chosen ; how vain must it be for the rebellious sin- 
 ner, who chooses to continue still under that broken 
 covenant, to look for any. The violated law can 
 admit of no such indulgence to them, who choose to 
 keep themselves under the dominion of it. " With- 
 out shedding of blood, there is no remission" of 
 sin*. 
 
 5. Once more, The power, that the broken cove- 
 nant of works has, over them who are under it, is 
 an irritating power. When the precept, and the 
 penalty, of the law as a covenant, are applied to the 
 conscience of the sinner under the dominion of sin, 
 his unmodified corruptions, which lay before as it 
 were dormant, are irritated or provoked, and so be- 
 come worse and worse. When the law is brought 
 home to unregenerate sinners, and fixed in their 
 consciences, the strictness of the precept, and the 
 severity of the threatening, lay them under awful 
 restraints. The reigning vitiosity of their hearts, 
 impatient of restraint, hence takes occasion to stir, 
 to swell, to rage in sinful desires, against the law. 
 Every restraint on their lusts, from such a holy 
 law, forbidding the least sin, and that, under the 
 greatest penalty, awakens, as soon as it is felt, an 
 
 * Heb. ix. 22. 
 
 jl'2 
 
202 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 inward rage against the immaculate holiness, both 
 of the Lawgiver and of the law. No sooner, are 
 they touched and restrained by the law, the holi- 
 ness of which, is so opposite to the bent of their de- 
 praved nature, than their hearts swell, and rally 
 all their forces, to oppose, and if possible to prevail 
 against their enemy. As when the heat of the sun, 
 strikes powerfully on a dunghill, it gives a more 
 nauseous smell, than at other times ; so, when the 
 precept and penalty of the broken law, press hard 
 on the conscience of the sinner, his corruptions, 
 crossed and contradicted, awake, arise, and become 
 outrageous in acts of sin. The restraints of the 
 law, set an edge on them, and innocently occasion 
 their becoming more keen. The desire of the sin- 
 ner, after any desirable object, becomes the more 
 vehement, if he but perceive it to be a forbidden 
 object". Ever since Adam eat of the forbidden 
 fruit, his children have been fond of forbidden 
 things. They long more, after forbidden fruit, than 
 after any other. " Stolen waters are sweet" to 
 them. The natural man would never choose any 
 thing that is materially good, were he left, freely to 
 follow the bias of his own corrupt heart ; but the 
 law is a painful curb to him. It commands him on 
 pain of the curse, to perform perfect and perpetual 
 obedience. It threatens him with everlasting pun- 
 ishment, if he shall, in the smallest instance, pre- 
 sume to disobey. This is what his depraved heart 
 cannot endure. It stirs, it struggles, and becomes 
 the more outrageous, when it feels the holy law, 
 checking and keeping it down. As the wild bull is 
 the more outrageous, that he feels the net on him, 
 the serpent the more mischievous, that it is warm- 
 ed, and a torrent of water, rises and overflows the 
 more, that methods of stopping its current, are 
 used ; so, the more the sinner's conscience is plied 
 
 u " Nitimur in vetitum," has long been a common proverb. 
 
TO THE BBOKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 203 
 
 by the law, the more ready is he, to break forth in- 
 to every kind of enormity. 
 
 A striking instance of this, we have in ancient 
 Israel. " As they called them, so they went from 
 them*." The more pressing, and the more fre- 
 quent, the Prophets were, in calling them to the 
 performance of their duty ; the more refractory 
 were they, and the more resolute in pursuing their 
 wicked courses. We have another instance of it in 
 Saul of Tarsus, when he was in his natural state. — 
 " For when," says he, " we were in the flesh, the 
 motions of sins which were by the law, did work in 
 our members, to bring forth fruit unto death."— 
 " Sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought 
 in me all manner of concupiscence."*—" For sin 
 taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, 
 and by it, slew me y ." It is very observable that, 
 in the 5th verse, the Apostle does not say, That 
 the motions (or passions) of sin, which worked in 
 him, and in others of the carnal Jews, were from, 
 the law, as if the law had been the cause of them ; 
 but, that they were by the law ; irritated, by the 
 opposition made against them by the law. In the 
 8th verse, he does not say, That the commandment 
 of the law, forbidding to covet, gave occasion ; but, 
 that the sin or corruption of his heart, took occasion 
 by it, to work in him all manner of concupiscence. 
 The reigning depravity of his heart, perversely took 
 occasion, from the strictness and just severity of the 
 law, to work in him all manner of sinful desire, af- 
 ter what was forbidden by it. The law, therefore, 
 is to bear no part of the blame. The fault lay, not 
 in the law, which is holy, and just, and good, but 
 entirely in his own heart. In the 11th verse, he 
 tells us, That the inveterate depravity of his na- 
 ture, taking occasion from the strictness of the pre- 
 cept, proceeded even so far, as to deceive, and to 
 
 % Hos. sfJ 2. ? Rom. vii. 5, 8, II* 
 
204} THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 slay him ; that is, to represent to him, the holy- 
 commandment, as unreasonably severe, and so to 
 beguile, and insensibly to draw him, into daring and 
 dangerous acts of rebellion against Jehovah. 
 
 Now, there are three awful consequences, of cor- 
 ruption's taking occasion by the violated law, to 
 break forth into sinful actions. 1st, It becomes 
 thereby stronger and stronger. It acquires strength, 
 by occasion of the opposition, made to it by the law. 
 As graces, in believers, are strengthened by exer- 
 cise, so are corruptions, in the unregenerate ; and 
 the more eager and impetuous they are, in urging 
 the sinner to acts of sin, they become the more pow- 
 erful. 2dly, When the sinner considers the immac- 
 ulate purity and perfection, of the divine precept, 
 and finds himself utterly unable to obey it ; and 
 when at the same time, he perceives the tremendous 
 threatening, and how impossible it is for him, by 
 any thing, his own righteousness or strength can do 
 for him, to avoid the execution of it, his depraved 
 heart often hardens itself in secret despair. — " Thou 
 hast said there is no hope. No ; for I have loved 
 strangers, and after them will I go z ." Foregoing 
 his vain hope, of ever being able to answer the high 
 demands of the violated law, he hardens his heart 
 in rebellion, against the authority of the most High ; 
 and, with unwearied diligence exerts himself, to 
 stifle his conviction of sin, and to muzzle the mouth 
 of conscience. 3dly, Hence arises in a high degree, 
 an inward abhorrence, both of the nature, and of the 
 law of God. Such a sinner is not merely a hater 
 of God a , but is despiteful ; he hates Him and his 
 law, with an inexpressibly great degree of virulence. 
 " The carnal mind is — enmity? enmity itself, enmity 
 in the abstract, against God ; " for it is not subject, 
 to the law of God, neither indeed can be b ." Finding 
 that he can neither bring his heart up to the holi- 
 
 1 Jer. ii. 25. a Rom. i. 30. b Rom. viii. 7. 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 205 
 
 ness of the law, nor the law down to the impurity 
 of his heart ; instead of loathing, as he ought to do, 
 his own impurity, he detests from his inmost soul 3 
 the immaculate purity of the holy commandment^ 
 and wishes, That the high and holy One, were 
 not ; or at least— were not what he is. The conse- 
 quence often is, that he abandons himself, to work 
 all wickedness with greediness. Ah ! what a de- 
 plorable state, is the state of a sinner, under the do- 
 minion of the broken law, as a covenant of works ! 
 —It has, a commanding, a condemning, a retaining, 
 an excluding, and an irritating power over him. 
 
 In the sixth and last place, The posterity of 
 fallen Adam, do notwithstanding naturally desire, 
 to continue under the law in its covenaiit-form* 
 " Tell me," says the apostle Paul, "ye that desire 
 to be under the law, do ye not hear the law c ?" So 
 powerful, so prevalent, and so universal is this de- 
 sire, that even those of the children of Adam, who 
 have the covenant of grace, that better, that sure 
 covenant, opened and offered to them, do, notwith- 
 standing, desire rather to remain under the broken 
 covenant of works, and to obtain eternal life, on the 
 ground of their own righteousness. — This would be 
 altogether unaccountable, were it not that, 
 
 In the 1. place, they are deplorably ignorant, of 
 the high demands of the violated law, and of their 
 own entire inability to answer themA Were they 
 spiritually to understand, were they truly to be sen- 
 sible, how firmly, the law of that covenant, binds 
 them to give infinite satisfaction for their past 
 sins, and to yield perfect obedience for the time to 
 come ; — how spiritual, and of what vast extent, the 
 precepts are, and how rigorous and tremendous, the 
 penalty ; — and were they to perceive, how necessary 
 it is for infinite Justice to see to it, that all the de- 
 mands of this righteous law, be completely answer- 
 
 8 Gal. iv. 21. u Rom, x. 3. 
 
206 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 ed, it could not be so easy for them, to desire to 
 continue under it. Were they attentively to "hear," 
 and were they to understand, the law, they could 
 no longer, continue " alive without the law e ." Were 
 they at the same time, to be thoroughly convinced 
 of their own utter inability, to do what the law re- 
 quires, and to endure what it threatens, as the just 
 punishment of sin, they would at once see, That 
 their repentance, their reformation, their sincere en- 
 deavours, their prayers, and their tears, could no- 
 wise answer the law's demand of perfect obedience ; 
 far less, satisfy Divine justice, for the least of the 
 sins, that they have committed. They would see 
 that imperfect, could not stand for perfect, obe- 
 dience ; and that, it is not by doing, but by dying, 
 that the offended justice of Jehovah, is to be sa- 
 tisfied. In few words, they would clearly perceive, 
 that a sinner cannot exercise repentance for sin, or 
 perform any duty acceptably, except in union with 
 the second Adam f . But as one judiciously ob- 
 serves, — " There is a thick darkness about mount 
 Sinai, throughout the whole dominion of the law ; 
 so that, they who live under the covenant of works, 
 see little, but what they see, by the lightnings now 
 and then flashing out g ." This, in some degree, ac- 
 counts for the desire, which the unregenerate sons 
 of Adam, have, to abide under the broken law. 
 
 % Another reason of that desire, is the pride of 
 their hearts. Men's doing and suffering, in order 
 to merit eternal life at the hand of God, are exceed- 
 ingly suited, to gratify the pride of the depraved 
 heart. They afford a sinner the pleasure, of re- 
 garding even Jehovah Himself, as a — debtor to 
 him. Indeed to disclaim all confidence, in his own 
 wisdom and strength, professions and performances ; 
 and, in the article of justification, to cast away his 
 
 e Rom. vii. 9. f Eph. i. 6. 
 
 s Bost. Cov. of Works, page (mihi) 155. 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. Wl 
 
 own righteousnesses, as filthy rags, is what the 
 proud heart of the sinner, cannot submit to. The 
 heart of such an one, must be bruised, and deeply- 
 humbled, before he will stoop so low, as cordially to 
 embrace the covenant of grace, and gladly to live 
 upon the unmerited bounty of the second Adam h . 
 Rather than submit to be an entire, and an everlast- 
 ing, debtor for salvation, to infinitely free and sov- 
 ereign grace, the un mortified pride of his heart, will 
 determine him, to hazard his eternal welfare, on his 
 own polluted performances. 
 
 3. Their inveterate enmity against Jehovah, es- 
 pecially as a God of grace, may likewise in some 
 degree, serve to account for that desire. The pos- 
 terity of corrupt Adam, while in their natural state, 
 have a peculiar enmity against the glorious purpose, 
 and plan of redemption, and the transcendent right- 
 eousness and grace of the incarnate Redeemer. 
 This disposes and determines them, to take pleasure 
 in opposing the honour of free grace, by pursuing 
 opposite, or self-righteous, methods of attaining 
 happiness. — " Israel which followed after the law of 
 righteousness, hath not attained to the law of right- 
 eousness. Wherefore ? because they sought it not 
 by faith, but as it were by the works of the law ; for 
 they stumbled at that stumbling stone 1 ." 
 
 4. Lastly, their self-righteous or legal temper, 
 serves in a great degree, to account for this. The 
 law under the form of the covenant of works, was 
 the first husband, to which human nature was wed- 
 ded ; and, therefore, the desire of all the race of 
 Adam-, is to that husband. It is natural to them 
 to cleave to it ; and while it often wounds, and ter- 
 rifies, and treats them with inexpressible rigour, 
 they still profess to do all that they can, to pacify 
 and please it. As they are all, while unregenerate, 
 under the dominion of the law in that form, they 
 
 ft Rom. x. 3. l Rom. is. 31, 32. 
 
208 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 are also under the reigning power of a legal spirit ; 
 proceeding on this principle, That it is by doing, 
 they are to live k . Nothing is more natural to them, 
 even after they have been convinced of sin, and af- 
 ter they have seen the insufficiency, of their own 
 righteousness and strength, to answer the high de- 
 mands of the broken law, than to offer to deal with 
 God, in the way of giving so much obedience, for 
 so much happiness, so much work, for so much 
 wages. When the hearers of the apostle Peter, 
 were by the law, pricked in their hearts, or pierced 
 with arrows of conviction, and of sorrow for sin, 
 they still said,— ."What shall we do 1 ?"" Indeed 
 so natural is it to the children of Adam, to hang by 
 the broken law, that quitting their hold of it, is in 
 Scripture compared to the pangs, or agonies of 
 death m . 
 
 From what has now been discoursed, we may be 
 able to discover a reason, why wickedness of every 
 sort, abounds much in the world, and why true ho- 
 liness is rare. The most of men are under the 
 broken covenant of works, where sin reigns. All 
 who are under the dominion of the broken law, are 
 under the dominion of sin. The reason why sin 
 has not, and shall not have, dominion over believ- 
 ers in the last Adam, is because they are not un- 
 der the law as a broken covenant n . The reason, 
 therefore, why sin and death reign over unbeliev- 
 ers, is this : — they are under the covenant of 
 works, where sin and death universally reign. All 
 who are under the power of the broken law, are 
 under the strength of sin. " The strength of sin 
 is the law ." The strength of corruption, in the 
 heart of every sinner under the law, is spiritual 
 death, a part of the execution of the curse of the 
 law. As long, then, as a man continues under the 
 
 k Luke x. 25. i Acts ii. 37. m Rom. vii. 4. 
 
 n Rom. Yi. 14. ° 1 Cor. xv. 56, 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 209 
 
 condemning, and irritating power of the law, be 
 remains under the power of spiritual death. He 
 continues in the love and practice of sin. Under 
 the law as a covenant, no good works, no evangel- 
 ical holiness, is to be found. In the barren re- 
 gion of the fiery law, no genuine fruits of right- 
 eousness, can ever grow. It is only by new creat- 
 ures, created in Christ Jesus to good works, and 
 acting on new covenant-ground, that new obedi- 
 ence is performed. The broken covenant, bars all 
 who are under it, from communion with Christ, in 
 his sanctifying influence. 
 
 Reader, is it under this broken covenant, that 
 thou art ? Examine and see. Art thou still un- 
 der the reigning power, or dominion of sin, in thy 
 heart ? Is there any depraved inclination, or de- 
 sire in thy soul, from which thou art unwilling, to 
 be presently, and entirely delivered ? Hast thou 
 never yet with the heart, believed in the last 
 Adam, as " Jehovah thy righteousness ?" It is 
 not till thou be united to Christ by faith, that thou 
 art delivered, from a state of subjection to the law 
 as a covenant. Hast thou never been " led by the 
 Spirit ?" Hast thou never been under the guidance., 
 and influence, of the Spirit, according to the word ; 
 so as to be led off from the ways of sin, into the 
 paths of evangelical holiness ? Is it the fear of 
 hell merely, that deters thee from sins, and that 
 drives thee to duties ? If it be, thou art of a slav- 
 ish spirit, and art a child " of the bond-woman." 
 In few words, Art thou a legalist ? art thou one 
 who works for eternal life ; who serves God, that 
 God may save him, and that he may thereby serve 
 himself? Dost thou still continue to cleave to the 
 law, for protection, provision, and comfort ? hast 
 thou never yet parted with the law, upon a divorce 
 obtained, and after counting to it, the perfect obe- 
 dience, and infinite satisfaction, of the second 
 Adam thy Surety, as the payment of thy boundless 
 
210 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND 
 
 debt ? If so, thou art yet, under the dominion of 
 the broken covenant of works. 
 
 And ah ! how inexpressibly dreadful, is thy con- 
 dition ! Thou hast seen, what power the broken 
 law has, over them who are under it. Such, O 
 sinner, is the power, the dominion, that it has over 
 thee. It has power to command thee to yield per- 
 fect obedience to it, on pain of damnation ; and 
 power to condemn thee to death eternal, for the 
 smallest act of disobedience. As a transgressor, 
 thou art already under its condemning sentence, 
 bound over to everlasting punishment. This con- 
 demning sentence, has power to hold thee fast, 
 under the dominion of spiritual death; to shut thee 
 up, to chain thee down, to retain thee, as in a 
 strong, a dark prison-house. Besides, it has power 
 to shut thee out from happiness, and from the 
 well grounded hope of ever attaining happiness. 
 Thou canst not enter into Heaven, nor have the 
 remotest access to life, so long as thou remainest 
 under that covenant. Since thou canst not perform 
 its arduous condition, it cannot admit of thy enter- 
 ing into eternal life. But this is not all : — it has 
 power, so to irritate, to provoke, to enrage, the reign- 
 ing corruption of thy nature, as to occasion a kind 
 of hell in thy bosom ; and a dreadful increase of the 
 hardness, and enmity of thy heart, against the in- 
 finite holiness and justice of Jehovah. The law 
 as a covenant continues, as to both precept and 
 penalty, in its full force upon thee, till redeeming 
 grace, reigning through the righteousness of the 
 second Adam, set thee free. Nothing of its origi- 
 nal force is abated ; nothing of the original claim, 
 which it made of perfect obedience, on pain of eter- 
 nal death, is in the smallest degree diminished.-— 
 This, sinner, is thy dreadful, thy dismal condition, 
 under the broken law. And yet so great is thy 
 ignorance, thy pride, thy enmity against free grace, 
 thy self-righteous spirit, that thou, alas ! desirest 
 
TO THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 211 
 
 tc be under the law. Hear, I beseech thee, what 
 the law says to thee ; — " The soul that sinneth, it 
 shall die p ." Come, O come then, without delay, to 
 the Almighty Redeemer, whom the eternal Father 
 offereth in the gospel, to thee. Come to Him, and 
 by his spotless righteousness imputed, he will de- 
 liver thee, from thy direful subjection to the cove- 
 nant of works ; and " will put his law as a rule of 
 life in thy mind, and write it in thy heart.' 1 
 
 Is the true believer, not under the law as a cove- 
 nant, but under it, only as a ride ? It follows, 
 That the law which he is under, does not justify, nor 
 condemn him ; — does not adjudge him to life for his 
 obedience, nor to death for his disobedience. The 
 law to thee, O believer, is stripped of its promise of 
 eternal life to obedience, and of its threatening of 
 eternal death to sin ; and, therefore, though thy 
 sins richly deserve so great a death, it cannot, it 
 shall not, be inflicted upon thee. Thou art " be- 
 come dead to the law, by the body of Christ," 
 and art " married to another, even to him who is 
 raised from the dead, that 1 ' thou shouldst " bring 
 forth fruit unto God. ,, " There is therefore, no 
 condemnation to thee who art in Christ Jesus,"" and 
 who evidencest thy union with him, by walking 
 " not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The 
 promise of eternal life, is not now to thy obedience, 
 but to thee in Christ, evidencing thy union with 
 him, by thy obedience. — Thou art " become dead 
 to the law" as a covenant. O live to God. " Serve 
 him in newness of spirit." Do not perform good 
 works, that they may answer the demands of the 
 law, in its covenant-form; but perform them, be- 
 cause those demands are already answered for thee, 
 by thy blessed Surety. Perform them, because He 
 commands thee, and because He loved thee to such 
 an astonishing degree, as to answer all those de= 
 
 ? Ezek. xviii. 20, 
 
312 THE SUBJECTION OF MANKIND, &C. 
 
 mands in thy stead. Let nothing satisfy thy con- 
 science, as a ground of title to eternal life, but that 
 which satisfies law and justice. Count to the law, 
 all that Christ has done and suffered, as done 
 and suffered for thee. Thou art delivered from 
 subjection to the covenant of works : O praise thy 
 glorious Deliverer, and henceforth be subject to 
 Him. Thou art become dead to the law, by the 
 body of Christ ; let the legal spirit that is in thee, 
 gradually, and daily die. Thou art, in thy justi- 
 fication, delivered from the commanding power 
 of the law as a covenant of works ; keep, in the 
 faith of the free promise, all the commandments 
 of the law as a rule of life. Thou art delivered 
 from the condemning power of it, and shalt never 
 more enter into condemnation ; "go and sin no 
 more." Thou art freed from its retaining power ; 
 ?■ stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith 
 Christ has made thee freeV — " The Son hath 
 made thee free, and thou art free indeed :" " serve 
 the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness 
 before him, all the days of thy life 1 ." Thou art 
 saved from the excluding power of the law : O 
 place all thy hope, and all thy happiness, in thy 
 Saviour and thy God. Improve the access, which 
 thou now hast, to the increasing enjoyment of Him, 
 and of the exceeding riches of his grace. Thou art 
 at the same time, rescued from the irritating power 
 of the law : be more and more pleased with Christ, 
 as the end of the law for righteousness, and more 
 and more displeased with thyself, as a transgressor 
 of the law. 
 
 i Gal. v. 1. ' Luke i. 74, 75. 
 
THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE, &C, ^13 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 OF THE DREADFUL AND INEVITABLE MISERY OF 
 MANKIND, UNDER THE CURSE OF THAT BROKEN 
 COVENANT. 
 
 All who are under the covenant of works, as a 
 violated covenant, are under the curse, or condemn- 
 ing sentence of it. " As many,' 1 says the apostle 
 Paul, " as are of the works of the law, are under 
 the curse s ." The curse, is the malediction, or con- 
 demning sentence of the law in its covenant-form^ 
 binding over all who are under it, to everlasting 
 punishment, as " the wages of sin." As it is the 
 curse of the law 1 , so it is "the curse of the Lord," 
 of that " one Lawgiver" and Judge, " who is able 
 to save, and to destroy u ." It is that sentence of 
 death, that dreadful doom, which He pronounces 
 on every transgressor of his holy covenant. It is 
 called " the curse of the Lord x ;" for they who 
 are under it, are said to be 4i cursed of Him y ," and 
 to be " the people of" His " curse 2 ." As it is 
 His curse, and the curse of His law, it is a sentence 
 which is holy, and just, and good ; the execution of 
 which, the holiness, justice, and goodness of Jeho- 
 vah, cannot but ensure. It is a property even of 
 his goodness, that He u will by no means clear the 
 guilty a ." This curse is a breathing forth of the 
 fury, or fiery indignation, of a holy and just God ? 
 against the sinner. " The anger of the Lord and 
 his jealousy, shaU smoke against that man, and all 
 the curses that are written in this book s shall lie 
 upon him b ." It is a separating of the sinner to 
 the evil of suffering, in time, and throughout eter- 
 nity, as that which is due to him, for the evil of 
 
 s Gal, iii. 10. * Gal. iii. 13. * James iv. 12. 
 
 * Pro. iii. 33. i Psal. xxxvii. 22. * Isai. xxxiv. 5. 
 
 a Exod. xxxiv. 7. b Deut. xxix. 20, 
 
214 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 sinning. " The Lord shall separate him unto 
 evil, — according to all the curses of the covenant, 
 that are written in this book of the law e ." Sinners 
 under the curse, are set apart as vessels of wrath, 
 to everlasting destruction. In a word, This curse 
 of the Lord, is not merely a separating, but a 
 binding of sinners over, to destruction ; a binding 
 of them over to death, in all its awful extent, till 
 Divine justice be satisfied, and the honour of the 
 Divine law and government, be repaired : or, in 
 other words, it is his execrating of them, as objects 
 infinitely abominable to him, and his devoting of 
 them for their disobedience, to eternal punishment. 
 
 Now, to be under such a curse, must be inex- 
 pressibly dreadful. It implies no less, than to be 
 under the insupportable wrath, of the Almighty Je- 
 hovah. The sinner who is under the broken co- 
 venant, is under a thick and dark cloud of Divine 
 anger, ready every moment, to burst in showers of 
 vengeance, on his devoted head. " God is angry 
 with the wicked every day.' 1 He cannot look upon 
 him, but with infinite detestation. He cannot en- 
 dure, that he should so much as stand in his sight d . 
 The sinner " is condemned already, and the wrath 
 of God abideth on him e .* He is separated to death, 
 in all its tremendous extent, and set as a mark, for 
 all the arrows of almighty vengeance f . The faith- 
 fulness of Jehovah, securing the execution of the 
 dreadful sentence, lays him under the arrest of vin- 
 dictive justice ; and justice seizing him, and saying, 
 " Pay me what thou owest," binds him over to 
 punishment, until the uttermost farthing of his 
 boundless debt, be paid. " It is a fearful thing,'" 
 thus " to fall into the hands of the living God." 
 
 That all who are under the broken covenant of 
 works, are under that tremendous curse, is abun- 
 dantly evident, 
 
 « Deut. xxix. 21. d Psal. v. 5. e John iii. 36. 
 
 f Psal. vii. 12, 13. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 215 
 
 1. From the consideration of the nature, both of 
 the sin of man, and of the justice of God. On the 
 one hand, sin, or the violating of the covenant, of 
 which, all who are under it are guilty, deserves the 
 full execution of the curse. The reason why sin 
 deserves such a great punishment, is this : it is in- 
 finitely contrary, to the commandments of that holy 
 law, which is a fair transcript of the moral perfec- 
 tions, and a clear expression of the will, of the in- 
 finitely high and holy One. On the other hand, 
 since sin richly deserves the full execution of the 
 curse, Divine justice, which cannot but do right, 
 and, therefore, must give to every man, what he 
 deserves to have ; cannot but require, and ensure, 
 the full execution of it, on the finally impenitent 
 sinner. It is because He is " the righteous Lord, 
 and loveth righteousness," that he "shall rain upon 
 the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone, as the por- 
 tion of their cup g ." 
 
 2. It is evident too, from the threatening, which 
 in the making of that covenant, was annexed as a 
 penal sanction to the precept. That threatening 
 was a denunciation of death, in all its awful extent, 
 as the due reward of sin. While the justice of God, 
 therefore, requires, that the curse or condemning 
 sentence, pronounced on mankind for breaking the 
 covenant, be fully executed ; his truth no less de- 
 mands, that the sentence to be executed, be a sen- 
 tence condemning to the same death, in all its 
 extent, that was denounced in that threatening. 
 Man consented to and came under, the first cove- 
 nant, in which, death was threatened to him, as 
 soon as he should fail of performing the condition 
 of it. It was necessary, then, as soon as he brake 
 that covenant, that a sentence should be pronounced 
 on him, corresponding exactly to the threatening ; 
 or, binding him over to the very same punishment, 
 
 s Fsal. xi. 6, 7. 
 
216 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 that was previously threatened. It follows, there- 
 fore, that all the posterity of Adam, who are under 
 the broken covenant of works, are at the same time, 
 under the condemning sentence or curse of that co- 
 venant, and have it standing in full force against 
 them h . 
 
 3. We read that, when Christ the second Adam, 
 was made under the law in its covenant-form, as the 
 Representative of his spiritual seed, he was made a 
 curse for them. " Christ," says the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, " hath redeemed us from the curse of the 
 law, being made a curse for us *." When He was 
 substituted under that broken covenant, in the room, 
 and as the Surety of elect sinners, he was made a 
 curse for them ; that is, he came under the curse of 
 that covenant, and under the execution of it, that 
 by bearing it for them, he might redeem them from 
 it. Those then whom he thus redeemed, were, in 
 common with the rest of the posterity of fallen 
 Adam, under that curse ; and they could not other- 
 wise, have been redeemed from it, than by his hav- 
 ing borne it for them, and by their having his doing 
 so, upon their union with him, imputed to them. 
 
 4. If Adam had performed the condition of the 
 covenant, he and all his natural descendants, should, 
 according to the promise of it, have been upon that 
 ground justified, or adjudged to life eternal k . Since, 
 therefore, instead of performing the condition of life, 
 lie brake the covenant, it was indispensably requi- 
 site, according to the threatening, that he and they 
 in him, should be condemned to death eternal, or in 
 other words, that they should fall under the curse, 
 
 5. Lastly, This is no less evident, from express 
 declarations of Scripture. Thus it is written, 
 " Cursed be he that conflrmeth not all the words of 
 this law, to do them V This the apostle Paul cites. 
 
 h John iii. 18. s Gal. iii. 13. k Levit. xviii. 5. 
 
 ] Deut. xxvii. 26, 
 
DEE, THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. $17 
 
 UN. 
 
 as has been already hinted, with very little varia- 
 tion, in his epistle to the Galatians. "For as many," 
 says he, " as are of the works of the law, are under 
 the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one 
 that continueth not in all things, which are written 
 in the book of the law to do them m ." Those, 
 against whom that dreadful sentence is passed, he 
 in another epistle informs us, are under the law, 
 K We know that what things soever the law saith, 
 it saith to them who are under the law, &c. n " No- 
 thing then can be more certain, than that sinners, 
 who are under the broken covenant of works, are at 
 the same time, under the dreadful curse of that cov- 
 enant, and consequently, that their misery is in- 
 conceivably great. 
 
 In pointing out more particularly, the direful 
 misery of such a situation, it will be proper to show, 
 that the curse of the law, operates on them who 
 live and die under it, first, In this life ; secondly, 
 At death ; and thirdly, After death, and throughout 
 eternity. 
 
 Sect. I. The Curse of the Law operates in this 
 life, on them who continue under it. 
 
 First, It operates on them in this life. The 
 execution of the curse is not altogether delayed, till 
 a future state. It is begun in this world. Accord- 
 ingly in this life, the sinner who is under that 
 dreadful sentence, is cursed, 
 
 1 . In his soul. No sooner had man sinned, than 
 his soul fell under the curse of the law. And since 
 the soul is the principal part of the man, it has the 
 heaviest part of the curse pressing upon it. While 
 the curse presses upon it, it sinks down into it. It 
 comes into the " bowels, or, inward man, like water, 
 and like oil, into the bones °." It cuts it off from 
 
 m Gal-iii. 10. n Rom. iii. 19. ° Psal. cix. 18. 
 
 L 
 
218 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 God the Fountain of life, and from all communica- 
 tion of saving or sanctifying influences from him. 
 It separates the soul from Him, in whose favour is 
 life, and from all gracious intercourse with him. 
 Hence the natural man is, in sacred writ, said to 
 be separated from God p , to be " alienated from the 
 life of GodV' and to be "without God in the 
 world 1 ." Hence infants too, since as children ot 
 fallen Adam they are under the curse, due for the 
 sin which is imputed to them, are destitute of 
 original righteousness. The condemning sentence, 
 under which they begin to lie, as soon as they 
 are formed in the womb, obstructs all communi- 
 cation of holy influences to their souls. And, 
 indeed, it would be altogether unaccountable, 
 how that corruption of nature, which ensues upon 
 the loss of original righteousness, could, upon 
 their [formation, so quickly enter and overspread 
 their souls ; were it not that it did so, under the 
 influence of an incumbent curse, which withholds 
 all sanctifying influence from them, and subjects 
 them to the dominion of sin, as a part of the 
 punishment of Adam's first sin imputed to them. 
 Hence it comes to pass, that though many of them 
 when they become adults, hear the word, they do 
 not hear the voice of Christ. Though they pray, 
 " God heareth not sinners"." Though in profess- 
 ion, they watch daily at the gates, and wait at the 
 posts of Wisdom's doors, they are notwithstanding 
 — far, very far from God himself 1 . No more real 
 intercourse exists between God and their souls, than 
 does, between a living body, and one lying in the 
 grave". This is owing to their being under the 
 curse of the law ; which, like a great gulf fixed be- 
 tween God and them, obstructs all holy intercourse 
 between them, so long as it is not, by the applica- 
 
 p Isai. lix. 2. i Eph. iv. 18. ' Eph. u. 12. 
 
 3 John ix. 31. * Eph. ii. 13. u Psal. ▼. 4, & 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OE WORKS. 219 
 
 tion of the blood of Christ, removed out of the 
 way. 
 
 No sooner is the soul thus separated from God, 
 than spiritual death seizes it, and deprives it of all 
 the spiritual comeliness, which it should otherwise 
 have had. Under the curse, the soul of the natu- 
 ral man with all its faculties, is " dead in trespasses 
 and sins." Though it inhabits a living body, it is 
 dead, — twice dead ; dead to God, dead to Christ, 
 dead to righteousness, and dead to spiritual enjoy- 
 ment. Every spiritual sense is locked up. The 
 eyes of the understanding are shut ; the speech of 
 spiritual prayer and praise, is laid ; the pulse of 
 holy affections toward a Holy God, is stopped ; 
 and the soul lies — speechless, motionless, insensible, 
 and cold as a stone. The beauty of the dead soul 
 is gone. It is no more of a comely or lively, but 
 of a ghastly countenance. The aspect of the body, 
 after the soul is gone, is ghastly ; but much more 
 so, is the aspect of the soul, when God is gone. 
 Ah ! how hideous, how loathsome a spectacle, is a 
 dead soul, under the curse Gf the great and terrible 
 God! 
 
 Hence we are not to wonder, if the faculties of 
 such a soul, are corrupted in a very high degree ; 
 if, under the influence of the incumbent curse, they 
 are in a state of subjection to «' the strength of 
 sin*;" and, if being destitute of original righteous- 
 ness, they infect and corrupt each other. As the 
 body, after the soul is gone, becomes corrupted and 
 loathsome, so the soul, after the spiritual comeli- 
 ness of it is departed, becomes altogether corrupt. 
 " They are all gone aside, they are all together be- 
 come filthy y." " The heart is deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked, who can know it ?" 
 As the earth and air, when laid under the curse, 
 had their original constitution altered to the worse, 
 
 s 1 Cor. xv. 56. ? Psal. xiv. 3. 
 
220 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 so the soul under the curse, is quite altered from 
 its original moral constitution. As there is no mo- 
 tion, in a dead body lying in the grave, but that 
 of worms, and putrefaction ; so there is no motion, 
 no activity, in a dead soul lying under the curse, 
 but that of sin. 
 
 The soul thus corrupt and loathsome, is, under 
 the curse, shut up in unbelief, as in a prison-house 
 or a grave z . The curse shuts it up, from all ability 
 and inclination to use spiritually, any appointed 
 means of attaining deliverance. Accordingly, when 
 the almighty Redeemer comes to such a soul, with 
 his offers of salvation, he finds it imprisoned and 
 bound. He finds it under the chains of the curse ; 
 those chains of darkness, which it can no more shake 
 off, than a dead body, its grave-clothes. " He hath 
 sent me," saith Messiah, — " to proclaim liberty to 
 the captives, and the opening of the prison to them 
 that are bound a ." Being thus shut up in unbelief, 
 it is buried as it were, out of God's sight, in cor- 
 ruption as in a grave. The curse lies upon it as a 
 grave-stone, sealed, as well by the justice of Jeho- 
 vah, as by his faitlifulness pledged in the threat- 
 ening. This secures, in the most effectual manner, 
 its continuance in the grave of sin, and of a state of 
 sin; and no possibility of escaping, remains to it, 
 but in the way of the second Adam's removing in 
 justification, the awful curse. Were it to attempt 
 escaping, in any other way, every such attempt 
 would but fix it the more deeply, in its deplorable 
 condition. 
 
 Hence it follows, that the corruption of the soul 
 which, under the curse, is thus dead and buried in 
 sin, is gradually increasing. " Evil men and se- 
 ducers wax worse and worse b ." As a dead body, 
 the longer it lies in the grave, becomes more and 
 
 z Rom.xi. 32. Gal. iii. 22, 23. a Isai. lxi. 1. b 2 Tim. iii. 13. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 221 
 
 more putrid, till death entirely dissolves it ; so, 
 the dead soul under the curse, becomes more and 
 more corrupt, till it arrive, under the power of 
 eternal death in hell, at the utmost degree of cor- 
 ruption. 
 
 This corruption, which is the sin, as well as the 
 punishment, of the soul, is, in proportion as it in- 
 creases, framed into a multitude of particular lusts ; 
 which the apostle Paul calls, The lusts or " desires 
 of the flesh, and of the mind .'''' Hence says our 
 blessed Lord, — " For from within, out of the heart 
 of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornica- 
 tions, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, 
 deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, 
 foolishness : all these evil things come from within, 
 and defile the man . e " These lusts are, as an 
 Apostle expresses it, the " flthiness of the flesh 
 and spirit ;" and, the members of the old man, or 
 body of sin, which continually exert themselves, in 
 opposition to that which is good f . They are also in 
 Scripture styled, ungodly lusts, contrary to the na- 
 ture, to the law, to the love, and to the service of God, 
 and therefore infinitely abhorred by him g ; devilish, 
 or the lusts of the devil, the image of the devil on the 
 soul, delighted in and supported by him h ; worldly 
 lusts, reigning in the hearts of worldly men, and 
 disposing them to cleave to the world, as their por- 
 tion 1 ; and warring lusts, lusts which war among 
 themselves, against the grace and providence of 
 God, and against the honour and happiness of the 
 souls of men k . They are, moreover, represented 
 as diverse, because of the diversity of their forms 
 and objects 1 ; as deceitful, rendering the heart de- 
 ceitful above all things m ; as foolish, rendering the 
 soul imprudent, inconsiderate, and contemptible 11 ; 
 
 ~ Eph. ii. 3. d Mark vii. 21, 22, 23. e 2 Cor. vii. 1. 
 
 f Rom. vii. 21, 23. s Jude v. 18. h John viii. 44. 
 
 1 Tit. ii. 12. fc 1 Pet. ii. 11. l Tit. iii. 3. 
 
 85 Eph. iv. 22, Jer. xvii. 9. « 1 Tim. vi. 9. 
 
222 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 as hurtful, piercing men through with many sor- 
 rows ; as drowning them in perdition p ; as burn- 
 ing them up, inflaming them with irregular, and 
 inordinate desire q ; and as insatiable, so vehemently- 
 desirous of gratification, as never to be satisfied 1 ". 
 In a soul which is under the curse, these lusts 
 spring up, like thorns or thistles, in such abun- 
 dance, as to cover the whole face of the soul. The 
 more corrupt the soul grows, the more nourishment 
 does it supply to them ; and the more nourishment, 
 they receive, the more vigorous and active, do they 
 become, and by activity, do attain such a degree of 
 power, as at length to become quite uncontrollable s * 
 Ah ! how deplorable is the case of that soul, which 
 is under the dominion of such lusts ! 
 
 But this is far from being all the misery, to 
 which, such a soul is in this world exposed. — Under 
 the curse, it is liable to a variety of additional plagues. 
 Some of these, though inexpressibly dreadful, are 
 not felt by the soul as plagues; but on the con- 
 trary, are chosen and delighted in : such as, 1st, 
 Judicial blindness of mind. To punish unregene- 
 rate sinners, for loving darkness rather than light, 
 and for rebelling against the objective light of his 
 blessed word, Jehovah, in righteous judgment, 
 and, as a part of the execution of the curse of the 
 law, often gives them up to moral blindness of 
 mind t . 2d, Judicial hardness of heart. To punish 
 their hardening of their hearts in sin, especially 
 under the means of grace, which have a great tend- 
 ency to melt the heart, the Lord often gives them 
 up to judicial hardness of heart ; and then, neither 
 the terrors of his law, nor the grace of his gospel, 
 nor the dispensations of his providence, do their 
 souls any good. — " Whom he will he hardeneth u ." 
 
 • 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. p 1 Tim. vi. 9. * Rom. i. 27. 
 r Isai. lvii. 10. s Jer. xiii. 23. 
 
 * Job xxi. 14. 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. u Rom. ix. 18, 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 223 
 
 He permits them to prosper in a course of wicked- 
 ness x ; blasts the ordinances of his gospel to them *; 
 withholds his grace from them z ; leaves them to 
 the temptations of the devil, and of the world ; and, 
 in his adorable Providence, exposes them to objects, 
 from which they take occasion, to indulge them, 
 selves more and more in sin a . 3d, Strong delusion. 
 To avenge his quarrel against them, because they 
 receive not the truth in love, and because they de- 
 tain the truth a prisoner as it were, in their head, 
 and will not consent, that it should influence their 
 heart or their life b , the Lord, as a part of the exe- 
 cution of the curse, gives them up to a spirit of 
 strong delusion. — " Because they received not the 
 love of the truth, that they might be saved, — for 
 this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, 
 that they should believe a lie ; that they all might 
 be damned, who believed not the truth, but had 
 pleasure in unrighteousness c ." 4th, Vile affections 
 too, are plagues of that description. To punish 
 their indulging of such vile affections, as often 
 spring up in the depraved soul, against which, nat- 
 ural conscience itself, frequently remonstrates, Je- 
 hovah, in righteous judgment, so giveth them up 
 to dishonourable affections, as to permit them to be, 
 in a most deplorable degree, under the dominion 
 and disposal of them d . Hence, reason and con- 
 science cease to rule the soul. A tumultuous 
 crowd of vile affections, seize the government of it, 
 and without control, hurry it before them whither- 
 soever they incline. — This plague is, in a peculiar 
 degree, dreadful e . 5th, A spirit of slumber. As 
 a punishment of their resolute unbelief, the Lord, 
 in righteous judgment, gives them up to the stu- 
 pidity and wickedness of their own hearts, and to 
 
 x Jer. xii. 1* y Rom. xi. 9. z Deut. xxix. 4. 
 
 a Deut. ii. 30. b Rom. i. 18. c 2 Thes. ii. 10, 11,12. 
 
 * Rom. i. 26. e Eph. iv, 19. 2 Pet. ii. 14. 
 
224? THE MfSERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 the^ower of Satan. Then their eyes are so blind- 
 ed, that as they would not see, they shall not see, 
 the clear revelation which God has made of his 
 will, respecting their duty and their best interests ; 
 and their ears are so deafened, that as they would 
 not hear, they shall not hear, the loudest warnings, 
 either of his word, or of his providence. " Accord- 
 ing as it is written, God hath given them the spirit 
 of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears 
 that they should not hear unto this day f ." The 
 prophet Isaiah thus addressed the Jews in his 
 days : " The Lord hath poured out upon you, the 
 spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes ; the 
 prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. 
 And the vision of all, is become unto you, as the 
 words of a book that is sealed," &c. g 6th, Lastly, 
 A reprobate mind, is one of those awful plagues. 
 To avenge on sinners under the curse, their sinning 
 against rational conviction and common sense, the 
 Lord, in awful judgment, giveth them up to a re- 
 probate sense 11 . As they who have lost the sense 
 of taste, perceive no difference between sweet and 
 bitter ; so, men who cleave so fast to their lusts, as 
 by no means to be induced to part with them, are 
 often in righteous judgment, permitted to proceed 
 so far, as to " call evil good, and good evil," to 
 " put darkness for light, and light for darkness," 
 " bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter," and to see 
 no evil, even in gross abominations. Ah dreadful 
 plague ! 
 
 There are other spiritual plagues, to which souls 
 under the curse are exposed, which are of a torment- 
 ing nature ; and, which so pierce and rend the 
 soul, as to compel it to feel them. These are, 
 
 1st, Discontent. The soul would not rest con- 
 tent in God ; and from that day, it could no more 
 enjoy contentment within itself. The sinner must 
 
 f Rom. xi. 8. s Isai. xxix. 10, 11. h Rom. i. ? Q , 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 225 
 
 have his own will, else he is discontented, and that 
 is what he cannot have, till his will be swallowed 
 up in the will of God ; which cannot take place, so 
 long as he continues under the curse of the law, 
 and the dominion of sin. Hence, as one well ob- 
 serves, " Wretched man is born weeping, lives 
 complaining, and dies disappointed." Discontent 
 harrows up the soul. It disposes it to be im- 
 patient and fretful, to repine and murmur, and on 
 many occasions, to quarrel with God himself, as 
 well as with man. The discontented soul, to show 
 that something is wanted, and that it is uneasy, is 
 like that of Haman, ruffled and chagrined with the 
 very slightest trial; and it renders the sinner a 
 trouble to himself, and to every one about him. 
 
 2d, Anxiety is another tormenting plague, to 
 which the soul under the curse, is continually liable. 
 By this, the soul is racked, tortured, and as it were 
 pulled in pieces. In proportion to the number, 
 and the strength of a sinner's lusts, is his soul rack- 
 ed with anxiety, how to get each of them satisfied. 
 By the contention of inward lusts, and the distrac- 
 tion occasioned especially by worldly cares, the 
 miserable soul is, as it were torn asunder. Hence, 
 as the holy Psalmist expresses it, " he travaileth 
 with iniquity 1 ." Like a woman in travail, the 
 sinner is in pain to bring it forth. 
 
 ■ 3d, Inward wrath is another. From the deep 
 discontentment of the soul under the curse, follow- 
 ing on its loss of God, and from its gnawing hunger, 
 and tormenting thirst, after forfeited happiness, 
 from which the curse excludes it, proceed peevish- 
 ness, anger, and wrath. These are like a fire in 
 trie sinner's bosom, and like a sword, or an arrow, 
 which pierces him to his inmost soul. " Wrath," 
 said Eliphaz, " killeth the foolish man k ." It makes 
 his soul " like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest 3 
 
 i Psalm vii. 14. k Job v. 2. 
 
 l2 
 
THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 whose waves'" roll and toss themselves, casting " up 
 mire and dirt." 
 
 4th, Sorrow of heart is another plague, to which 
 the soul under the curse, is often liable. An awful 
 plague this ! As an un supportable load, laid on 
 the sinful soul, it lies hard upon it, and presses it 
 down ; and as an overflowing flood rushing upon it, 
 it swallows it up and overwhelms it. A flood of 
 sorrow, arising from worldly disappointments, losses, 
 and troubles, overflows the condemned soul. Not 
 only do the evils which come on men themselves, 
 but the good, which falls to the share of others 
 around them, serve to cause those waters to swell. 
 "Envy slayeth the, silly one 1 ." This stream,, 
 therefore, to a soul under the curse, never runs 
 dry. A flood of legal sorrow too, arising from a 
 sense of the guilt of sin lying upon it, and from a 
 slavish dread of death and hell, sometimes over- 
 flows the soul. Ah ! how deplorable is the case of 
 the condemned sinner, when these bitter waters 
 swell up to the brim ! 
 
 5th, Terror of heart, under apprehensions of 
 impending misery, is another plague, to which such 
 a soul is often exposed. Moses gives an awful 
 description of this, in the 2Sth chapter of Deu- 
 teronomy, 65th, 66th, and 67th, verses, — " The 
 Lord shall give thee there, a trembling heart, and 
 failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. And thy life 
 shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear 
 day and night, and shalt have none assurance of 
 thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would 
 God it were even ; and at even thou shalt say, 
 Would God it were morning, for the fear of thine 
 heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight 
 of thine eyes which thou shalt see." — The poor 
 sinner has made the omnipotent Jehovah, bis en- 
 emy. He is under a sentence, condemning him to 
 
 1 Job v. 2. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 227 
 
 endure, throughout all eternity, his avenging wrath. 
 He knows not how soon, the endless execution of 
 the dreadful sentence, is to begin. No wonder then 
 if like Cain, he trembles at the slightest accident, 
 and if the least indication of the approach of the 
 king of terrors, fills his soul with tormenting dread. 
 This terror of heart includes horror of conscience ; 
 which arises from a painful sense of guilt, and from 
 a deep impression, or apprehension, of infinite wrath 
 against the soul. This makes a deep, and inex- 
 pressibly painful wound, in the spirit of a man. " A 
 wounded spirit, who can bear 01 ? 1 ' Cain could not 
 bear it n ; Judas could not endure it ° ; and it ren- 
 dered Pashur, a terror to himself p . " The sinners 
 in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the 
 hypocrites ; who among us shall dwell with the 
 devouring fire ? Who among us shall dwell with 
 everlasting burnings q ?" This horror of conscience. 
 which is a foretaste of hell, in the condemned soul, 
 is either more confused and suspicious, as in Herod r , 
 or more sharp and transient, as in Felix s , or more 
 violent and abiding, as in Judas fc . When it is ve- 
 hement and abiding, it is like the fire of Tophet, 
 already kindled in the soul, and burning with an 
 unquenchable flame. The conscience is like Sinai, 
 all in fire and smoke. The soul is covered with 
 blackness, and darkness, and tempest. The em- 
 poisoned arrows of Jehovah's vengeance, shot by 
 his almighty hand into the soul, so work in it, that 
 the poison thereof drinketh up the spirits. Then 
 the terrors of God are round about it, and are set 
 in battle-array against it. Then, the sinner begins 
 to feel hell within himself, as the dreadful earnest, 
 of his being about soon to be cast into hell. 
 
 6th, Lastly, Despair is one of those plagues. A 
 sinner may be under great terror and horror of con- 
 science, and yet be supported by some secret,, some 
 
 m Pro. xviii. 14. n Gen. iv. 13. ° Matth. xxvii. 3, 4. 
 p Jer. xx. 4. i Isai. xxxiii. 14. E Matth. xiv. 1, 2» 
 
 ■ Acts xxiv. 25. * Mat. xxvii. 3, 4. 
 
228 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 faint, hope of deliverance. But who can conceive 
 the anguish of that soul, on which, absolute despair 
 hath fastened ! Despair, is the greatest degree of 
 torment and of misery, that the soul while in this 
 world, is capable of enduring u . It leaves to the 
 wretched soul, no degree of ease or comfort ; and 
 renders life, with all its external comforts, an in- 
 supportable burden : and no wonder ; for it is a 
 special ingredient, in the endless torment of the 
 damned. — Here let it be observed, That those tor- 
 menting plagues, which have now been mentioned, 
 while they are parts of the execution, are at the 
 same time executioners, of the curse of the law, 
 upon the miserable souls which remain under it. 
 
 2. The unregenerate sinner is, in this world, 
 cursed likewise in his body. Man eat of the for- 
 bidden fruit, and in virtue of this curse, swallowed 
 down death with it. The first sin was finished by 
 an action of the body. The body of the natural 
 man, therefore, as well as his soul, is not only under 
 the curse, but under the begun execution, of that 
 dreadful sentence. The original blessing, which was 
 pronounced on the bodies of our first parents, was, in 
 consequence of the first transgression, succeeded by 
 a tremendous curse. " Cursed shall be the fruit of 
 thy body V The cursing of the fruit of the body, 
 evidently imports a curse on the body itself, from 
 which that fruit proceeds. Hence it comes to pass, 
 
 1st, That the temperament of the body under 
 the curse, is greatly altered, and is become such, as 
 to dispose the soul, in a still greater degree, to the 
 commission of iniquity f. The animal frame of it, 
 is changed into a suitableness, to the sinful incli- 
 nations and desires of the corrupt soul, with which 
 it is united. Hence it is called sinful flesh z . This de- 
 generate constitution of the body, which commenced 
 with the first sin, is by the curse penally bound on ; 
 
 u Isai. xvii. 11. * Deut. xxviii. 18. 
 
 y Gen. iii. 7. 2 Rom. viii. 3. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 220 
 
 sc that the seeds of sin, being a part of that spiri- 
 tual death, to which by the curse it is bound over, 
 are never, so long as the curse continues to lie upon 
 it, removed. Thus, sinful flesh and a sinful soul, 
 so intimately united together, cannot but be mutual 
 snares to one another. While the soul adapts the 
 body, the body on the other hand, disposes the 
 soul", to sin, and occasions a multitude of fleshly 
 lusts, which war against the soul a , and which serve, 
 not only to sink it in a mire of corrupt flesh and 
 blood, but to " drown it in destruction and perdi- 
 tion." 
 
 2d, Hence also the body is, in respect of defor- 
 mity, liable to great variations from its original 
 constitution. The body of man in his state of in- 
 nocence, was entire, sound, and beautiful ; but now, 
 that it is under the influence of the curse, there is 
 a variation, in the formation and frame of it, from 
 the original pattern. Some are born, or afterwards 
 become, deaf, dumb, or blind ; others are born with 
 a defect, in some necessary sense or organ, or even 
 with a want of one, and others, with a superfluity. 
 Some again, are afflicted with such a constitution of 
 body in general, as renders them utterly unfit, to 
 discharge the common functions of rational life. 
 And indeed, it is owing to sovereign mercy in Je- 
 hovah, that such blemishes are not more frequent, 
 or rather, that they are not universal. 
 
 3d, It is at the same time, liable to have many 
 mischiefs from without, heaped upon it. While 
 man continued upright, the promise of the cove- 
 nant, shielded him so, that no harm could at any 
 time befal him. But now that he has sinned, and 
 is under the curse, his covenant-defence is departed 
 from him ; and Jehovah hath armed all the crea- 
 tures against him, and hath ordered them, to be in 
 readiness to attack him, on the shortest notice, All 
 
 a 1 Pet, ii. 11. 
 
230 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO AKE 
 
 the creatures of God, whether animate or inanimate; 
 whether about him, or above him, or beneath him, 
 are the enemies of man, because he is become the 
 enemy of God ; and the very least of them, the 
 moment it receives a commission, is able easily to 
 destroy him. Hence, some are consumed by fire, 
 and others are swallowed up by water ; some are 
 bruised, wounded, torn, or stung by the beasts, and 
 others are overwhelmed by the stones, of the field. 
 Frequently are sinners themselves, the executioners 
 of the curse on one another. 
 
 4th, It has the seeds of unnumbered diseases, in 
 its constitution. Under the influence of the curse, 
 it is become a weak body, subject to weariness, 
 feebleness, and langour; and at the same time, has 
 such seeds of distemper in it, as spring up into a 
 great variety of diseases and pains, tending to its 
 dissolution. No part of the body, is beyond the 
 reach of diseases. No care can prevent their spring- 
 ing up in it. The curse has, as it were, turned this 
 world into an hospital. Some are languishing un- 
 der one malady, some under another ; and some for 
 the most part, never know what it is, to enjoy per- 
 fect freedom from sickness or pain. Thus death, 
 in one form or another, continues to work in the 
 body of the sinner under the curse, till at length it 
 brings it to the dust of death. 
 
 5th, The body under the curse, becomes by con- 
 sequence, a heavy encumbrance to the soul, when 
 it would attempt to perform religious duties, or to 
 be spiritually exercised. The depraved soul, while 
 under the curse, is in itself and that in a most de- 
 plorable degree, indisposed for the spiritual per- 
 formance of duty. The body however renders it 
 still more indisposed. The weakness and weariness 
 of the body, often occasion inattention and slumber- 
 ing, in the worship of God. The care of the body, 
 prevents due solicitude for the concerns of the soul. 
 The health and vigour of the body, while they con- 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OP WORKS. 2S1 
 
 tiiiue, are such snares to the corrupt soul, that it 
 will not, and the sickness and infirmity of the body 9 
 are such entanglements to it, and do so engross its 
 attention, that it cannot, to any good purpose, at- 
 tend to the momentous concerns of eternity. 
 
 6th, Lastly, Under the influence of the curse, it 
 becomes a vessel of dishonour. While contrary to 
 nature, it appears to have attained the command of 
 the soul, it is at the same time, itself the abject slave 
 of imperious lusts and passions. In some, it is a 
 slave to covetousness, in others, to vanity or ambi- 
 tion, and in others, to envy and wrath. In its ori- 
 ginal constitution, it was a vessel of honour, conse- 
 crated to honourable uses, every member having its 
 own honourable office assigned to it ; but now, 
 Alas ! its honour is laid in the dust. The mem- 
 bers of it, are yielded as instruments of unrighte- 
 ousness unto sin b . By the depraved soul, as far 
 as the soul can be supposed to have any influence 
 over it, it is abused to the very basest of purposes. 
 It is degraded to the dishonest employment of still 
 taking and eating, forbidden fruit. The covetous 
 man renders it, if I may so say, — a weary drudge ; 
 the drunkard, — a sewer or sink; the glutton, — a 
 draughthouse ; the wrangler and slanderer, — a hiss- 
 ing serpent c ; and the revengeful or passionate, — 
 a burning lake, a lake as it were, of fire and brim- 
 stone. Thus, under the curse of the broken cove- 
 nant, the body of the sinner is degraded from its 
 primitive honour, and cannot be again restored to 
 it, otherwise than by the removal of the curse, and 
 the inhabitation of the Spirit of the second Adam. 
 
 3. The unregenerate sinner is also, in this world, 
 cursed in his person. His whole man, his soul and 
 body, considered as united together in one person, 
 are fallen under the curse. The malediction of the 
 law fastens on him, and engages the wisdom, faith- 
 
 * Rom. vi. 13. . c Rom. iii. 13. 
 
232 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 fulness, and power of Jehovah, not only to with- 
 hold all real good from him, and to bring all real 
 evil upon him, in such a manner as will be most 
 suited, to afford bright displays of the glory of vin- 
 dictive justice ; but to make all things, how good 
 soever in themselves, work together for evil to him. 
 Since he is a sinful man under the covenant of 
 works, he is a condemned man; and since he is 
 condemned to death, he has fallen under the power 
 of the devil, who has the power of death. As a 
 miserable captive taken in war, he is shut up in that 
 dark, that horrible prison, of which Satan is the 
 keeper, and therefore is under bondage to him d . 
 There, he is loaded with bands of strong corrup- 
 tions, as a condemned malefactor in a dungeon, is 
 loaded with chains. The devil, who keeps the 
 keys of the prison-house, watches narrowly that he 
 do not escape ; and will on no account, be prevail- 
 ed on to let him go, till the almighty Redeemer, in 
 the day of his power, force open the prison-doors, 
 and say to the prisoner, " Go forth." And to add 
 to his misery, the sinner under the curse, is every 
 moment, in danger of being set for ever, beyond 
 the most distant possibility of deliverance. Were 
 the eyes of his understanding opened, he would see 
 himself, every moment, in the most imminent dan- 
 ger of dropping into the bottomless abyss. As no 
 particular day is intimated, for the execution of the 
 dreadful sentence, under which he lies, he knows 
 not but he may, the next moment, be led forth to 
 execution. Besides, he is in the midst of an in- 
 numerable host of armed enemies, ready on the 
 word of command, to rush forth and destroy him, 
 while he is utterly incapable, of doing any thing to 
 defend himself. He is without strength, and though 
 he had armour, he could not wield it. He is chain- 
 ed hand and foot, and though he were ever so will- 
 
 d Isai, Ixi. 1. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. S33 
 
 ing, he could not escape e ; and if he could escape 3 
 whither could he flee for safety ? The gates of 
 heaven, are ever barred against him. The cloud 
 of Divine wrath, in the curse of the law, hangs con- 
 stantly over him, and the small rain of that over- 
 whelming wrath, is still falling on him. How soon 
 death, which is on the pursuit after him, may over- 
 take him, he cannot tell ; and then, the impending 
 cloud bursts, and the great rain of Jehovah's 
 strength, descends on him, and sweeps him off into 
 the overwhelming, the bottomless, gulf of everlast- 
 ing destruction. Then, is " he suddenly hurled out 
 of his p!ace, 1, and " driven away ia his wickedness." 
 
 4. He is cursed also, in his use of the Ordinances 
 of the gospel, those Divinely instituted means of 
 salvation. " According as it is written, God hath 
 given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they 
 should not see, and ears that they should not hear 
 unto this day f ." All his opportunities, of waiting 
 on God in ordinances, are cursed to him, and so 9 
 they contribute to his hurt. He is as " the earth 
 which drinketh in the rain, that cometh oft upon it, 
 but " bringeth forth" no herbs meet for them by 
 whom it is dressed." Good grapes are expected, 
 but behold, only wild grapes appear. He reads 
 and hears the gospel, but it does him no good. The 
 preaching of the gospel, which "is the savour of 
 life unto life" to some, " is the savour of death 
 unto death"" to him. He is " hewen by the pro- 
 phets, and slain by the words of God's mouth g ." 
 
 5. His "Outward lot in the world, whether it be 
 afflictive, or prosperous, is cursed to him. Provi- 
 dential dispensations come to him, in the channel 
 of the curse. Affliction is cursed to the man who 
 is under the curse. His heart is not humbled, nor 
 mortified to the world by it, as that of others is, but 
 rather is hardened ; and instead of taking occasion 
 
 e Isai. Ixi. 1. f Rom. xi. 8. s Hos. vi- 5. 
 
234< THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO AltE 
 
 from it, to come and cleave to the all-compassionate 
 Saviour, he takes occasion rather, to depart still 
 further from him. He indeed groans under the 
 burden of it ; but turns not to the hand that 
 smiteth him. He says not, " Where is God my 
 Maker, who giveth songs in the night b ?" The 
 Loud bindeth him with cords of affliction, but he 
 crieth not. He remains impenitent and incorrigi- 
 ble. — " Thou hast stricken them., but they have 
 not grieved ; thou hast consumed them, but they 
 have refused to receive correction : they have made 
 their faces harder than a rock ; they have refused to 
 return KV " Why 1 ' said the Loud to the people of 
 Judah, " should ye be stricken any more ? ye will 
 revolt more and more V His prosperity also, is a 
 snare to him, and contributes to his destruction. 
 If his ground bring forth plentifully, it affords him 
 an occasion, of neglecting the concerns of his soul. 
 If his family prosper, his riches increase, and his 
 house be in safety, " pride compassed him " about 
 as a chain, violence covereth"" him "as a garment.'" 
 He " is corrupt ;" he " speaketh wickedly con- 
 cerning oppression :" he " speaketh loftily. 1 ' He 
 " setteth his mouth against the heavens ; and" his 
 " tongue walketh through the earth 1 ." " There- 
 fore they say unto God, Depart from us, for we de- 
 sire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the 
 Almighty, that we should serve him ? and what 
 profit should we have, if we pray unto him m ?" 
 His prosperity, flowing upon him in the channel of 
 the curse, thus carries him further and further from 
 God. — " The prosperity of fools, shall destroy 
 them 11 :' 
 
 6. He is likewise cursed in his Relations. 
 " Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body ." The 
 curse has extended far and wide ; and sinners may 
 
 h Job xxxv. 10. ' Jerem. v. 3. k Isai. i. 5. 
 
 1 Psal. lxxiii. 6, 8, 9. m Job xxi. 14. 15. n Pro. i. 3?. 
 
 • Deut. xxviii. 18. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 235 
 
 feel the weight of it, in every condition of life. In 
 the church, ministers of religion, are often unwatch- 
 ful, unactive, unfaithful, and unsuccessful. In the 
 state, magistrates often oppress, entangle the con- 
 science, and instead of being a terror to evil doers, 
 are a terror to them who do well. Neighbours of- 
 ten are selfish, unjust, ensnaring, and mischievous. 
 Many husbands, are such men of belial, that their 
 wives cannot speak to them ; and many wives, such 
 a continual dropping, such a rottenness in the bones 
 of their husbands, that they cannot live with them. 
 Many parents, are unfaithful to, and careless of 
 their children; and many children, are perverse 
 and stubborn, a reproach and a grief to their pa- 
 rents ; prodigals, to waste their substance, and ar- 
 rows, to pierce their hearts : many daughters, like 
 carved palaces in comeliness, and like corner-stones 
 in cementing families, fall on the heads of their pa- 
 rents, and crush them with vexation. Many mas- 
 ters, are unjust and severe to their servants ; and 
 many servants, perverse, rebellious, and unfaithful 
 to their masters. Thus the curse of the law, has 
 pervaded every condition, and has made it in one 
 form or other, a source of misery to the sinner. 
 
 7. He is cursed in his reputation among fellow-crea- 
 tures. Every man is desirous of a name ; and the 
 desire which he had to exalt his name, was the snare, 
 in which the first man was caught. Since that time, 
 his honour has been laid low ; his name has been 
 covered with reproach. A good name, indeed, is 
 better than precious ointment ; and though the name 
 of the condemned sinner, may for a little, shoot up 
 and flourish ; yet the curse is a worm at the root, 
 which will soon blast it with ignominy, and cause 
 it to wither and perish. The higher he rises in the 
 world, the more remarkably does this appear. No 
 eminence in worldly riches, rank, or splendour, can 
 secure him for a moment against it. Sin has laid 
 the sinners honour in the grave ; the curse has laid 
 
236 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 the grave-stone upon it ; and it cannot rise again, 
 till the curse be removed. Whatever of it appears, 
 before that be clone, is only as it were, a spectre of 
 honour, which quickly vanishes away. " The seed 
 of evil doers shall never be renowned p." 
 
 8. He is cursed also in his worldly employments. 
 —In the employment of his mind, the curse works 
 against him. No class of persons for the most part, 
 have more evident symptoms of the curse, on their 
 employments, than those, whose usual labour is the 
 labour of the mind. The toil is great, and often 
 issues either in vanity, or in mischief. " I gave 
 my heart,"" says Solomon, " to seek and search out 
 by wisdom, concerning all the things that are done 
 under heaven : this sore travail, hath God given to 
 the sons of man, to be exercised therewith q ." The 
 success at the most, is but small, and the impedi- 
 ments and disappointments, are innumerable. "For 
 in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increas- 
 eth knowledge, increaseth sorrow r ." — The employ- 
 ment of his hands also, is marred by the curse. The 
 sinner is exposed to much toil and weariness, in his 
 worldly employment ; and after all, the fruit of his 
 labour is uncertain, and at best, but scanty s . He 
 labours in the very fire, and wearies himself for very 
 vanity. He works hard, but it is often with the 
 greatest difficulty, that he can earn a comfortable 
 subsistence ; for the curse is secretly working against 
 him. Hence are these words of the prophet Hag- 
 gai ; " Ye have sown much, and bring in little ; 
 ye eat, but ye have not enough ; ye drink, but ye 
 are not filled with drink ; ye clothe you, bat there 
 is none warm ; and he that earneth wages, earneth 
 wages to put it into a bag with holes V 
 
 9. Finally, He is cursed in his worldly substance. 
 Wherever he has it, whether in the city, or in the 
 
 p Isai. xiv. 20. i Eccles. i. 13. x Ecclcs. i. IS. 
 
 6 Gen. iii. 19. x Haggai i. 6. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 237 
 
 field, or in the house, he has the curse with it, 
 " Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt 
 thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket 
 and thy store V " The curse of the Lord, is in 
 the house of the wicked x ." Under the weight of 
 the curse, which lies on it because it is his, his 
 worldly substance as it were groaneth, longing to 
 be delivered out of his hands y . Sometimes Divine 
 justice seizes it, and recovers it out of them in this 
 life, as men do goods, out of the hands of unjust 
 possessors. " Therefore, I will return, and take 
 away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in 
 the season thereof, and will recover my wool and 
 my flax, given to cover her nakedness. And I will 
 destroy her vines and her fig-trees, &c z ." Under 
 the influence of the curse, " riches certainly make 
 themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle towards 
 heaven," to bear witness against the sinner, for his 
 manifold abuse of them a . Wanting the hedge of 
 covenant-protection, around what he has, he fre- 
 quently sustains damage, at the hands of them who 
 deal with him. He heaps up, and diligently watches 
 his wealth ; but the curse like a moth so devours it, 
 and the secret fire of Divine wrath, so consumes it, 
 that it melts away, like snow before the sun. Or if 
 it continue in his possession, it is sometimes so 
 locked up from him, that he has not the power to 
 use it, for any of the honourable purposes to which, 
 the Lord hath commanded him to apply it b . It 
 may in truth be said of such a sinner, that what he 
 loses by his possessions, is much greater, than all 
 that he gains by them. 
 
 Thus the curse of the broken covenant, operates 
 in this life, — on the soul, — on the body, — on the 
 person of the sinner, — on his use of the means of 
 grace, — on his outward lot, — on his relations, — on 
 
 u Deut. xxviii. 16, IT. x Prov. iii. 33. ? Rom. viii. 21, 22. 
 * Hos. ii, 9, 12. a Prov. xxiii. 5. b Eccles, vi. 2. 
 
238 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 his reputation, — on his worldly employments, — and 
 on his worldly substance. 
 
 Sect. IL The Curse of the Law operates at death, 
 on them who still remain under it. 
 
 Secondly, The curse operates on sinners who 
 continue under it, in their death, and renders their 
 condition, at that awful moment, inexpressibly 
 dreadful. They die under the curse ; and so their 
 death is to be considered, 
 
 1. As a part of the execution of the curse on 
 them. Then, the awful sentence begins to be fully 
 executed, on the wretched sinner ; and the execu- 
 tion of it, to be so immovably fixed on him, as 
 henceforth to render deliverance from it, absolutely 
 impossible. All that hitherto he endured, was but 
 an earnest of this. Death is the king of terrors ; 
 and in every view that we take of it, has a very ter- 
 rible aspect. It is the destruction of animal nature ; 
 and, therefore, can scarcely miss to make the crea- 
 ture shrink back from it. But to the sinner, who 
 is under the curse, it is peculiarly dreadful. — He 
 dies in virtue of the curse. His soul and body com- 
 bined in committing sin, and by his sin, he separat- 
 ed himself from the holy Lord God. Divine just- 
 ice therefore requires, that those companions in sin, 
 should at length be separated from each other, as 
 well as from God ; and, that they should never any 
 more, be united together, except for the purpose of 
 being able, to endure throughout eternity, a still 
 greater degree of torment. Accordingly, no sooner 
 had man sinned, than the curse seized him ; and 
 continuing under the first covenant, it still contin- 
 ues to work in him, till at length it works his soul 
 and body asunder. 
 
 2. The stroke of death is to them, a vindictive 
 stroke ; a stroke from the hand of Jehovah, as an 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 289 
 
 Infinite, an almighty enemy. ^ It is a deep, a fatal 
 wound, the wound of an avenging enemy ; a wound 
 inflicted by the sword of vindictive justice, for the 
 destruction of the sinner. Because he chose to 
 break, and chose to continue under, the broken co- 
 venant of works, he is then crushed, under the 
 weight of the tremendous curse of that covenant. 
 To the true believer, the stroke of death, is a stroke 
 from the hand of God in Christ, as a Friend and a 
 Father, according to the promise of the covenant 
 of grace, in order to render his happiness complete ; 
 but to the sinner under the curse, it is a stroke 
 from the hand of Jehovah, as an absolute God, as 
 an infinite enemy, according to the threatening of 
 the covenant of works, in order to render his misery 
 complete. " He shall be driven from light into 
 darkness, and chased out of the world c ." Having 
 trusted his life to that broken covenant, the curse 
 of it, tumbles him down headlong into the horrible 
 abyss of infinite wrath. He falls " into the hands 
 of the living God," who to him, is and ever will 
 be, " a consuming fire ;" and it is, and will especially 
 then, be found to be, "a fearful thing to fall into"' 
 his "hands," as a sin- avenging God d . 
 
 3. Death, to them whom it finds under the curse, 
 is armed with its envenomed sting. When its sting 
 is plucked away, as it is, in the case of all who are 
 united to the second Adam, death, whatever the 
 circumstances which attend it may be, can do them 
 no real harm. But when it is armed with its sting, 
 and consequently, with all the strength, which it 
 derives from sin, and from that holy and righteous 
 law, of which sin is a transgression, it stings the 
 sinner to the heart. " The sting of death," with 
 which it pierces, and torments the heart of the con- 
 demned sinner, " is sin, and the strength of sin, is 
 the law e ." When death approaches to the sinner, 
 
 8 Job xviii. 18. d Heb. x. 81. e 1 Cor, xv> $6, 
 
240 THE MISEE.T OF THOSE WHO AILE 
 
 the guilt of all his sins lying on him, binds him 
 over, as with cords of death, to everlasting punish- 
 ment. Those cords cannot be broken ; for their 
 strength, is the lazv, which threatens eternal death, 
 as the just punishment of transgression ; and the 
 faithfulness of Jehovah, pledged for the execution 
 of the threatening, cannot fail. 
 
 4. It puts an everlasting period to all their case, 
 and to all their comfort. While death puts an end 
 to the earthly comforts of the saints, it lets them 
 enter into the joy of their Lord ; into the full, and 
 the eternal, fruition of those heavenly, those un- 
 fading pleasures, -which are at Jehovah's right 
 hand. But as for sinners under the curse of the 
 law, whilst at death, they must leave all their 
 worldly comforts behind them, they have no com- 
 forts of any kind before them, in that place of end- 
 less torment, to which they are hastening. The 
 curse at that awful moment, draws an immovable 
 bar between them, and every thing that is pleasant 
 or comfortable. It quenches their coal, and puts 
 out all their light, that the spark of their fire may 
 not shine, and that the light may be dark in their 
 tabernacle f . 
 
 5. Besides, death is to them, a most dreadful 
 passage out of this world, into everlasting Jire. It 
 leads the condemned sinner, as an ox to the slaught- 
 er, or, as a malefactor to the place of execution. 
 It opens as it were a trap-door under him, and, ere 
 ever he is aware, lets him fall down into the bottom- 
 less pit, the lake of fire and brimstone ; where in a 
 moment he is swallowed up, in the unfathomable 
 abyss of irretrievable misery g . 
 
 6. It shuts for ever, the door of mercy against 
 them. Now, the sinner under the curse, while 
 living within the pale of the visible church, is by 
 the gospel, privileged with free and frequent offers 
 
 f Job xviii. 5, 6. s Luke xvi. 22, 23. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 241 
 
 of salvation, and overtures of reconciliation ; but 
 when once death has done its office, there shall be 
 no more, any good tidings of peace proclaimed to 
 him. Death under the curse, is God's setting of 
 his seal, to his proclamation of perpetual war with 
 him. It fixes an unpassable gulf between them, 
 cutting off all comfortable communication with 
 heaven ; so that no message of peace can pass or 
 repass, any more for ever h . It is, therefore, a final 
 breaking up of all treaty respecting salvation, be- 
 tween Jehovah, and the condemned sinner. — 
 Thus, the curse operates on sinners who are under 
 it, at, and in their death, and renders their condi- 
 tion, at that awful moment, inexpressibly dreadful. 
 
 Sect. III. The Curse of the Law operates on them 
 who are under it, after death, and through- 
 out ETERNITY. 
 
 Thirdly, It operates on them likewise after death, 
 throughout all eternity. 
 
 1. Immediately after death, their souls are, by 
 the power of the curse, dragged before the tribunal 
 of God, each of them to receive its own sentence of 
 damnation. — " It is appointed unto men, once to 
 die, but after this, the judgment K" — " The spirit 
 shall return unto God who gave it k ." Before that 
 awful tribunal, they are judged ; and, a particular 
 sentence is passed on each of them, according to its 
 state, and " to the deeds, done in the body." All 
 their transgressions, are brought forth as out of a 
 bag, in which the curse had bound up and sealed 
 them, that they might be carefully preserved 1 . 
 Where the curse is, there is no remission, and 
 where no remission is, " the Lord hath sworn by 
 
 b Luke xvi. 26. l Heb. ix. 27. 
 
 k Eccles. xii. 7. 1 Job xiv. 17. Hos. xiii 12. 
 
 M 
 
24>2 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 the excellency of Jacob," that he " will never for- 
 get any of their works m ." Thus they stand before 
 the judgment-seat of Jehovah, with all their sins 
 upon them, without so much as one of them missed. 
 Oh ! dreadful, deplorable condition ! 
 
 As their iniquities are increased over their head, 
 so also are the curses of the broken law, multiplied 
 upon them. Every transgression appears in view, 
 bringing its own curse along with it. It is, there- 
 fore, impossible that they can escape, whilst, in the 
 presence of the omniscient and righteous Judge, 
 unnumbered cords of death are on each of them, 
 binding them over to deserved punishment. They 
 chose to live under the law of works, in preference to 
 the law of faith, and therefore by that law, they 
 must now be judged. — " As many as have sinned 
 in, or, under the law, shall be judged by the law*? 
 The awful tribunal before which they stand, is a 
 tribunal of strict justice, without the least mixture 
 of that mercy, which they so often, and so in- 
 solently despised. There, there is no mediator, 
 no surety, no advocate, for souls to have recourse 
 to, which are brought thither under the curse. 
 
 As, therefore, the ungodly cannot stand in the 
 judgment, they must inevitably fall a sacrifice to 
 Divine justice, for their sins ; and so fall, under the 
 insupportable weight of the tremendous curse, for 
 evermore. The affronted justice of Jehovah, re- 
 quires that satisfaction be given ; and such satisfac- 
 tion, as shall be commensurate to the injury, which 
 was done to the honour of his infinite Majesty. 
 Since they not only deserved to perish, but refused 
 to transfer by faith, their guilt, to the blessed 
 Surety of a better covenant, choosing rather to live 
 and die, under the violated covenant of works; 
 their guilt must now and henceforth, lie on their 
 
 m Amos viii. 7. n Rom. ii. 12. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 243 
 
 own head, and they must be " driven away in their 
 wickedness." 
 
 g. Their condemned souls are, under the curse, 
 lodged in hell, the state and place of the damned.— 
 66 In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, &c°." 
 They are forthwith haled from the tribunal of 
 judgment, to the place of torment. According to 
 the sentence of the broken law, sinners are in death, 
 cut asunder by the sword of vindictive justice ; and 
 their wretched souls " have their portion appointed 
 them," where " shall be weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth." They shall then find, to their inexpressible 
 anguish, that they have begun to pay a debt, which 
 can never, either be remitted to them, or discharged 
 by them. Shut up in hell, as in a strong and dark 
 prison, reserved to further judgment at the last 
 day, they have the bars of that infernal pit, so 
 fastened upon them, as to preclude the smallest ray 
 of hope, that ever they will be delivered. — Who 
 can conceive the horror, that must then seize the 
 lost soul, when it finds itself fixed, in an unalter- 
 able state of the deepest misery ! What a sudden, 
 what a dreadful, change will it be, to souls which 
 lived in ease and pleasure, and which, but a few 
 moments ago, fondly indulged a hope of everlasting 
 felicity, to be fixed among other damned spirits, 
 devoted by the same curse, to eternal torment ! 
 Conscience, fully awakened, and fully sensible, will 
 fasten in them, the most pungent convictions of 
 past sin, and the most horrible apprehensions of 
 future vengeance. It will gnaw them, like a worm 
 that never dies, and scorch them, like a fire that 
 never can be quenched p . They shall then clearly 
 see the evil of the sins, which they committed in 
 the body ; which will pierce them with the keenest 
 anguish, like so many empoisoned arrows. 
 
 All the dregs of the wrath of Almighty God, 
 
 • Luke xvi. 23. p Mark ix. 44, 46, 48. 
 
244 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 wrung out under the influence of the curse, will 
 then begin to be drunk by them q . The separate 
 souls of those who die under the curse of the law, 
 are far from being, as some vainly suppose, in a 
 state of insensibility. — Whilst they are laid under 
 the punishment of loss, being not only deprived of 
 all the blessedness of heaven, but also of all those 
 objects in which they used, when on earth, to place 
 their happiness, they feel and cannot but feel, the 
 keenest anguish. It pierces them with the most 
 tormenting anguish, to see that all their happiness 
 is lost, irrecoverably, and eternally lost r . Besides, 
 they have now, a far more affecting view of what 
 they used to hear when on earth, concerning the 
 blessedness of them " who die in the Lord." This 
 occasions in them, the keenest remorse, and the 
 bitterest rage against themselves, for having pre- 
 ferred the pleasures of sin, to joys so unspeakable, 
 and so full of glory, as are those of " the spirits of 
 just men made perfect.'" — Whilst in like manner, 
 they are punished with the punishment of sense ; 
 with a piercing sense of the wrath of a sin-reveng- 
 ing Jehovah, poured out on them, how exquisite, 
 how inconceivable their torment ! Now, the great 
 rain of the fury of Jehovah, begins to fall on 
 the men of his curse. Now, they begin to sink, 
 in the bottomless gulf of his infinite wrath ; and so 
 cannot but sink, in an overwhelming flood of sor- 
 row. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus 8 , 
 their anguish is set forth, under the figure of 
 one's being tormented in a Jlame. This however 
 is not all : — they likewise, lie under the wire- 
 strained influence of their sinful lusts; and the 
 tormenting passions of pride, envy, anxiety, rage, 
 and despair, keep them perpetually on the rack. 
 In sacred writ, these and alFthe other unrestrained 
 passions, with which they are tortured, are express- 
 
 * Psal. lxxv. 8, r Luke xvi. 26. * Luke xvi. 24. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 245 
 
 ed by their " weeping, and wailing, and gnashing 
 of teeth." The depravity of their nature, con- 
 tinues in them in all its vigour ; and all the former 
 restraints which were laid on it, are now taken en- 
 tirely off, They are, therefore, continually com- 
 mitting sin, as they did while they were in this 
 world; but with this difference: — they had plea- 
 sure in their sinning here, but there, the utmost 
 pain, without the smallest degree of pleasure. Shut 
 out from such acts of wickedness, as afforded them 
 pleasure while in the body, such a restraint, such 
 a want of opportunity, contributes exceedingly to 
 increase their torment. 
 
 In that state and place of torment, they must con- 
 tinue till the day of judgment, when they shall be 
 reunited, each of them, with its own respective 
 body, and the whole man, be sentenced to everlast- 
 ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels*. 
 After they depart out of their bodies, their wicked- 
 ness may be still living in the world behind them. 
 The stream of their corrupt example, like the sin of 
 Jeroboam, may be still continuing to run upon earth, 
 in the practice of every one, who by their means, 
 may have either directly or indirectly, been drawn 
 to sin u . As therefore they must, at that dreadful 
 day, give to the Omniscient Judge, a strict account 
 of all such sins, as well as of the sins which they 
 themselves have committed personally ; it will be 
 necessary that they then, be reunited with their 
 respective bodies. Such a prospect, doubtless, can- 
 not but be a horrible prospect to them. 
 
 3. In the mean time their bodies are, under the 
 curse, committed to the grave. While sin made 
 those bodies mortal, the curse due for sin, binds 
 them over to death, and to corruption in the grave, 
 that gloomy territory of death. " Like sheep they 
 $re laid in the grave ; death shall feed on them ; - - - 
 
 i Matth. xxv. 41. ■ 2 Kings x. 29. 
 
2&6 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 and their beauty shall consume in the grave, from 
 their dwelling V -As they are laid up, in virtue of 
 the curse, so they are shut up in the grave, as in a 
 strong and dark prison-house, to be reserved till the 
 day of execution. While the souls of sinners under 
 the curse, are lodged in the prison of hell, their bo- 
 dies are consigned to the prison of the grave, as 
 malefactors to a dungeon, to be kept till the judg- 
 ment of the great day. Hence, in the phraseology 
 of the Holy Spirit, hell and the grave^ are express- 
 ed by one and the same term y . To the bodies of 
 the righteous, the grave is a hiding and a resting 
 place, where they rest as in their beds, till the morn- 
 ing of the resurrection 2 ; but to the bodies of the 
 wicked, it is not a hiding nor a resting place, but a 
 prison, where they are confined from doing injury 
 to those around them. — " There the wicked cease 
 from troubling ;" " There the prisoners rest to- 
 gether a ." 
 
 Sin and guilt still continuing on them, without 
 any further possibility of ever being removed, take 
 fast hold of them, never any more to let them go, 
 and when they are laid down in the grave, lie down 
 together with them. — " His bones are full of the 
 sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in 
 the dust V Like vile and loathsome things, which 
 one cannot endure the sight of, and which cannot 
 be cleansed, they are cast and covered up, with all 
 their filthiness about them, in the grave. — " I will 
 make thy grave, for thou art vile c ." When the 
 saint dies, one grave is, as it were, made for him- 
 self, and another for his vileness ; because when he 
 shall rise again, his vileness is not to rise with him. 
 But when the condemned sinner dies, there is but 
 one made, for himself and his vileness, where they 
 both lie down together, in order that, in the day of 
 final retribution, they may rise together. 
 
 * Psal. xlix. 14. y Psal. xvi. 10. a Job xiv. 13. Isai. Ivii. 2, 
 » Job ui. 17, 18. b Job xx. 11. c Nah. i. 14. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 247 
 
 It is likewise, in virtue of the curse, that the bo- 
 dies of sinners who die under it, see corruption in 
 the grave. Death separates, not merely their bo- 
 dies from their souls, but the various parts of those 
 bodies from each other, till it reduces the whole to 
 dust. " Drought and heat consume the snow-wa- 
 ters ; so doth the grave, those who have sinned d ." 
 The bodies of saints, in the grave, are consumed 
 too. The difference however is very great. It is 
 the curse, which produces those effects, on the bo- 
 dies of them who are under it ; but it is not the 
 curse which produces them on the bodies of the 
 saints. It is death with its sting, which causes 
 them in the former ; but it is death deprived of its 
 sting, which occasions them in the latter. All 
 those effects, are parts of the execution of the curse, 
 for the satisfaction of Divine justice, on those ; but, 
 they are parts of the 'performance of the promise of 
 the covenant of grace, on these; and as it were, 
 are the melting down of the shattered vessel, in or- 
 der to cast it in a new mould. 
 
 4. Since the bodies of those who live and die, un- 
 der the covenant of works, go down to the grave, 
 under the curse of it ; and since, nothing that be- 
 falls them in the state of the dead, can amount to a 
 full payment of the boundless debt, which they owe 
 to the precept and the penalty of that broken cove- 
 nant, they shall rise again at the last day, under 
 the curse of it, " And shall come forth ; - - - they 
 that have done evil, unto the resurrection of dam- 
 nation e ." As it is, in virtue of the condemning 
 sentence or malediction of the law, that they are 
 shut up in the grave, till the last day, the day of 
 execution ; so it is, in virtue of the same awful sen- 
 tence, that they are then to be brought forth, out 
 of that prison-house. Whilst the bodies of them, 
 who are united to the second Adam, shall at that 
 
 d Job xxiv. 19. s John v. 29. 
 
248 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 day rise, in virtue of that itnion, and at the same 
 time, of the promise of the covenant of grace ; the 
 bodies of the wicked, shall then rise, in virtue of 
 their connection with the first Adam, and of the 
 curse of the covenant of works. 
 
 Having, in their former state of union with them, 
 been instruments of unrighteousness, to their sinful 
 souls, they shall now, upon their reunion with them, 
 be marked in a horrible manner, with their sin, as 
 vessels of dishonour ; perhaps, each with a mark, 
 which will serve to denote the particular lust, which 
 formerly used to prevail most over it. Those bodies 
 which were laid in the grave, stained as unclean ves- 
 sels, as foul instruments of their polluted souls, in 
 the service of diverse lusts, shall rise again, with all 
 their moral defilement cleaving to them. Their 
 pollution, not washed away with the blood, and by 
 the Spirit, of the second Adam, cleaves to every par- 
 ticle of their dust in the grave, and shall appear 
 with it at the resurrection. — " They shall be an ab- 
 horring unto all flesh V 1 The wicked shall then, 
 have a dreadful discovery of the use, which they 
 made of their bodies, and of every member of them, 
 in the service of sin. Ah ! what a shocking, what 
 a hideous appearance, will their bodies, reunited 
 with their souls, then have ! Who knows what a 
 frightful appearance, the deep impressions of the 
 wrath of Jehovah, and the unutterable anguish of 
 their souls, may give to their bodies, at that day ! 
 As the reunion of their souls with their bodies, will 
 doubtless be attended with inconceivable anguish 
 and horror; their aspect, when, under the curse, 
 they shall come forth out of their graves, and stand 
 again upon that earth, on which they committed in- 
 numerable sins, will be beyond all conception horri- 
 ble. When, at the sound of the last trumpet, they 
 shall awake and rise from their graves, what a ter- 
 
 1 1sai. Ixvi. 24 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 249 
 
 rible awakening out of their long sleep will it be to 
 them ! When they shall be cast forth, as abomin- 
 able branches ; and shall see the righteous Judge of 
 quick and dead, sitting in terrible majesty, on his 
 great white throne, and themselves dragged before 
 his dreadful tribunal, what ghastly looks will they 
 have ! what a horrible appearance will they make ! 
 Through inexpressible anguish, horror, and conster- 
 nation, their faces, how fair soever they may now 
 be, shall then be black as a coal. How will they 
 tremble ; how will their hearts be pierced ; how will 
 their knees smite, one against another, when they 
 begin to anticipate the tremendous prospect before 
 them ! What hideous clamour, what horrible yell- 
 ing, will be heard among them, when reluctant, they 
 shall be driven forward to the dreadful tribunal of 
 the omniscient and inexorable Judge ! How will 
 " the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the 
 
 rich men, and the mighty men, say to the 
 
 mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from 
 the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from 
 the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his 
 wrath is come ; and who shall be able to stand s ?" 
 But all to no purpose, for, 
 
 5. They must appear however reluctant, " before 
 the judgment-seat of Christ." As they shall ap- 
 pear under the curse, before the tribunal of Christ, 
 so in virtue of the same, they shall be set on his 
 left hand h . Shame an(J everlasting contempt, are 
 designed for them; and, therefore, there shall be 
 no access for them, to his right hand, among the re- 
 deemed. They shall be ranged together as chained 
 malefactors, on his left hand; and their station 
 there, with all the ignominy attending it, will mark 
 them accursed of God \ 
 
 The curse, intervening between the Judge and 
 them, will render his appearance exceedingly terri- 
 
 s Rev. vi. 15, 16, IT. b Matth. xxv. 33. « Dan. xii. 2. 
 
 M 2 
 
250 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 ble to them k ." When they see him, they shall 
 know him to be He, who, with the other glorious 
 Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity, gave that 
 law and made that covenant, which they trans- 
 gressed ; whose sentence, the curse of that law 
 against transgressors, was, and is, and whose full 
 execution on them, his holiness, justice, and truth, 
 render indispensably necessary. His countenance 
 will, in a peculiar degree, appear terrible to those 
 of them, who have had the gospel preached, and the 
 offers of salvation frequently addressed to them ; and 
 the more terrible, the more plainly, powerfully, fre- 
 quently, and affectionately, they have been intreat- 
 ed and urged, to accept salvation. Oh ! what 
 piercing anguish, what overwhelming horror, will 
 seize them, when they shall see Him, who had so 
 frequently and so freely, offered himself and eter- 
 nal life to them, sitting in tremendous majesty, on 
 his great white throne, about to pronounce, and 
 also to execute upon them, in their everlasting de- 
 struction, the dreadful sentence of the broken law ! 
 How will they tremble, when they shall see the 
 Lamb of God, whom they had despised and reject- 
 ed, turned into a devouring Lion, ready to tear 
 them in pieces, when there shall be none to de- 
 liver 1 ; and shall see that face, from which, the 
 earth and the heaven will flee away, and no place 
 be found for them, frowning with infinite displea- 
 sure on them ! 
 
 To manifest the equity of the public proclama- 
 tion, and of the everlasting execution, of the tre- 
 mendous sentence, now to be pronounced on them, 
 all their sinful inclinations, and thoughts, and 
 words, and deeds, will be clearly and in all their 
 vast extent, stated to their account" 1 . The sins of 
 their heart, and of their life, shall be searched out, 
 
 * Rev. i. 7. and vi. 16, 17. l Psal. 1. 22. 
 
 ■> Eccles. xii. 14. 2 Cor. v. 10. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 251 
 
 and laid to the straight rule of the righteous law ; 
 and the exceeding sinfulness of them, will be openly 
 discovered. The mask will drop off, and all their 
 pretences to holiness, be declared to have been but 
 vile hypocrisy. The corruption of their nature, in all 
 its malignity, all its deformity, all its demerit, will 
 be laid open, and set in the light of God's counte- 
 nance. Their secret abominations, which they con- 
 cealed so artfully, and so successfully, as to elude 
 every possibility of discovery by man, and in ac- 
 complishing the concealment of which, they often 
 rejoiced ; will then be proclaimed, as on the house- 
 top, and exposed to view, in all their hideous de- 
 formity. They shall then see the truth of the de- 
 claration, and of the oath of Jehovah, that He 
 would not forget any of their works. The sinful 
 tempers, thoughts, words, and deeds of others, 
 which they have either directly, or indirectly, ap- 
 proved or encouraged, will also at that day, follow- 
 ed out in all their extent, be clearly stated to their 
 account, and fully proved against them. The hor- 
 ror of conscience, (for their consciences will, at 
 that day, awake and witness against them, and for 
 the equity of every article of the charge,) and the 
 overwhelming shame, that shall then seize them 
 will be unparalleled. 
 
 Nothing now remains, but that the righteous 
 Judge solemnly pronounce, before an assembled 
 universe, their horrible and irrevocable doom ;— 
 " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
 prepared for the devil and his angels 11 " These 
 will be the last words, that ever they shall hear from 
 the mouth of Him, who sitteth upon the throne. 
 The full execution of that unspeakably dreadful 
 sentence, on the whole man soul and body, reunited 
 for the purpose, is now without delay to take place. 
 6. Whilst in virtue of the curse, thus publicly 
 
 a Matth. xxv. 41. 
 
252 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 pronounced, and now ready to be fully executed, 
 the holy angels will drive, and the devils drag them, 
 from the judgment-seat of Christ, into hell ; that 
 same curse, which, ever since the entrance of sin, 
 had infected this lower world, will now kindle it 
 into one universal blaze, to bid them a final fare- 
 well. — 6S The heavens shall pass away with a great 
 noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
 heat, the earth also and the works that are there- 
 in, shall be burnt up ." When, by the breach 
 of the first covenant, sin was committed on the 
 earth, the curse was laid upon it. By its rela- 
 tion to man, it came within the compass of the 
 curse for his sin, and so was devoted to destruction 
 by a general conflagration. — Nay, " the whole cre- 
 ation," in so far as it has a relation to man, was for 
 his sake " made subject to vanity p ." The heavens 
 which, because they are over the head of the sinner, 
 are sometimes made brass, shall then on the same 
 account, pass away with a great noise; and the 
 earth which, because it is under his feet and sup- 
 ports him, is sometimes made iron, shall then be 
 burned up. By this means, the sea, and air, and 
 sky, as well as the earth, shall be set free from the 
 curse ; and all that corruption and vanity, which 
 long infected them, shall be returned in fiery indig- 
 nation, on the sinners who occasioned them. Then, 
 all the sin, and all the misery, which are now scat- 
 tered throughout the creation of God, shall be ga- 
 thered up, and cast with the damned, into the lake 
 of fire, and thenceforth be confined to it for ever- 
 more q . Sin, and misery, and death, in almost every 
 form, are everywhere to be found now ; but they 
 shall be found no where then, except in that one 
 place. " There shall be no more curse," and there- 
 fore no " more death" any where, but in the place 
 of the damned. 
 
 • 2 Pet. iii. 10. p Kom. viii. 20. VRev. xx. 14<, 15. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 253 
 
 7. Under the weight of the curse, they shall for 
 ever lie in hell, that state and place of torment. 
 There, it will lie on their souls and bodies reunited, 
 with all its weight, and prey upon them, with all 
 its strength r . While sinners under the malediction 
 of the law, continue in this world, they contrive to 
 live in some degree, at ease ; and if their ease is at 
 any time disturbed, they ordinarily though not al- 
 ways, devise some expedient or other, to recover it. 
 And even while their souls are in the place of tor- 
 ment, during the time that elapses between their 
 death, and the day of judgment, their bodies in the 
 grave lie at ease ; so that it is only, as it were, the 
 half of the person, which is in torment. But when 
 once the men of Jehovah's curse shall have re- 
 ceived their final sentence, and the eternal state of 
 the creation be introduced, the execution of the 
 curse, will begin to be full, and their misery, to be 
 complete. 
 
 For that purpose, the infernal pit, having re- 
 ceived them, will close its mouth upon them, and 
 shut them up, as in a fiery oven s . " Thou shalt 
 make them as a fiery oven, in the time of thine an- 
 ger : the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, 
 and the fire shall devour them." The awful curse 
 will so draw, and fasten, the bars of that horrible 
 pit about them, that sooner, shall they be able to 
 remove the everlasting mountains, than to remove 
 them. Like chains of adamant, it will bind them 
 hand and foot, and render their escape for ever im- 
 possible K 
 
 It will also be a final and everlasting obstruction, 
 to all sanctifying, and sin-restraining influence, to 
 them. Whilst they remain in this world, there is 
 still a possibility, of their having the curse remov- 
 ed, and of having restraining, and even sanctifying, 
 influence admitted into their souls. But in hell, 
 where there is a total, and a final separation from 
 
 r Matth. xxv. 41. s Psal, xxi. 9. * Matth. xxii. 13. 
 
254i THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 God, no such influence can have access to them. 
 The reigning depravity, which thy carry thither 
 with them, must, therefore, in all its vigour and 
 virulence, continue in their nature : and shocking 
 to think ! — they will for ever hate, the infinitely 
 amiable, the eternally excellent Jehovah. The 
 iron-sinew of their inflexible will, will, by the ra- 
 ging flames of hell, grow harder and harder. And 
 as they cannot but act there, since their being, and 
 capacity for action, still remain, their corrupt na- 
 ture, in so far as it acts, will always act corruptly u . 
 Removing all those restraints, which were formerly 
 laid upon them, and withholding all that restraining 
 influence, which formerly held them in, the Lord 
 will abandon them, to the full fury of their impetu- 
 ous lusts ; while they shall have nothing afforded 
 them, wherewith, in the smallest degree, to satisfy 
 them. Should sensual appetites remain in hell, it 
 will be impossible for them there, ever to be grati- 
 fied. They " shall snatch on the right hand, and 
 be hungry ; and" they " shall eat on the left, and 
 shall not be satisfied : they shall eat every man, the 
 flesh of his own arm V 
 
 The curse likewise, will be " the breath of the 
 Lord," which shall blow up the fire of his fiercest 
 indignation, upon them, and keep it continually 
 burning ; so that " the smoke of their torment, 
 shall ascend up for ever and ever.'' 1 " For Tophet 
 
 is ordained of old, he hath made it deep and 
 
 large ; the pile thereof, is fire and much wood ; 
 the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, 
 doth kindle it y ." There the worm which shall 
 gnaw them, can never die, for the curse will keep it 
 alive ; the fire which shall burn them, can never be 
 quenched, for the curse will feed it, and cause it to 
 flame forth, with unabating and unparalleled fury. 
 The curse will then enter into their hearts, and 
 cause them to melt within them, like wax before 
 
 » Matth, vii. 17. * Isai. ix. 20. I Isai. xxx. 33. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 255 
 
 the fire. It will sink into their bowels, like boiling 
 lead, and torment them in every part. The arrows 
 of the Almighty, dipt in the poison of the curse, 
 will be incessantly piercing, inflaming, and sticking 
 fast in them. No pity, no sparing, will any more 
 be shown to them. The torment both of soul and 
 body, which, in the lake of fire and brimstone, they 
 shall endure, will be far more exquisite, than the 
 highest angelical understanding, shall ever be able 
 to conceive. 
 
 8. Finally, This tremendous curse will prolong, 
 and increase their misery, to all eternity. They 
 " shall be punished with everlasting destruction, 
 from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory 
 of his power z ." " Depart from me ye cursed," 
 will the inexorable Judge say, " into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels V Sin, 
 in respect of the infinitely glorious Object^ against 
 whom it is committed, is an infinite evil, and con- 
 sequently deserves, an infinite punishment. The 
 curse, therefore, binds over the sinner who is under 
 it, to give infinite satisfaction to Divine justice, for 
 the wrong done to the honour of the infinite Je- 
 hovah. — But as infinite satisfaction cannot be 
 given, but by enduring infinite punishment, and as 
 no finite creature can bear an infinite punishment, but 
 in Bxihifinite duration, or which is the same, in an eter- 
 nity of duration ; the torments of the damned must, 
 therefore, continue throughout all eternity. " The 
 smoke of their torment, ascendeth up for ever and 
 ever V There is ?io proportion, between that which 
 is finite, and that which is infinite. The finite 
 creature, therefore, can never by his sufferings, ex- 
 piate his crimes against an infinite God. Hence, 
 after the wretched sinner has suffered in hell, the 
 most inconceivable torments, through millions of 
 millions of ages, the tremendous curse will still 
 bind him over, to endure more and more ; because 
 
 a 2 Thess. i. 9. • Matth. xxv. 41. b Rev. siv. 11. 
 
256 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 he is yet infinitely far, from having given enough 
 of satisfaction ; and since he never can sufficiently 
 satisfy, it will continue, to bind him over still to 
 more and more, whilst eternal ages continue to re- 
 volve. Divine justice will be still renewing its de- 
 mand of infinite satisfaction, and will never, never, 
 throughout the innumerable, the endless ages of 
 eternity, say, It is enough. While it will prolong 
 their torture of soul and body, throughout all eter- 
 nity, it will, in the most dreadful manner, uphold 
 them in enduring it ; and as they will be perpetually 
 adding to their guilt, it will perhaps be increasing 
 their exquisite torments, without intermission and 
 without end. As it is very probable, that the hap- 
 piness of the righteous, will eternally increase, so 
 is it, that the misery of the wicked, will perpetually 
 wax greater ; and that, to render their dread and 
 despair, the more tormenting, they will before hand 
 know, that it is to do so. Oh, how would it stamp 
 a bow in their cloud, were they to think that their 
 torments, after myriads of myriads of ages, were to 
 come to an end ; or even if they should never have 
 an end, if they were to be in some degree lessened ! 
 But, alas ! no hint is given, that they shall have 
 the slightest foundation, for any such hope. 
 
 Thus I have endeavoured, to give a general de- 
 scription, of the operation of the curse of the vio- 
 lated covenant, on them who finally continue under 
 it ; or, of their most dreadful condition, — in this 
 life, — at death, — and after death, through eternity. 
 But after all, no heart can conceive, no pen can de- 
 scribe, what they who live and die under it, do, 
 and shall, throughout eternity, endure. " Who 
 knoweth," O Almighty Jehovah, " the power of 
 thine anger ? even according to thy fear so is thy 
 wrath ." 
 
 From the preceding description we may learn, 
 I low great the difference is, between the death of 
 
 c Psal. xc. 11. - 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 257 
 
 the believer in Christ, and the death of the sinner 
 under the curse of the law. The death of the true 
 believer, is death without its sting : the death of 
 the sinner, is death armed with its sting. Death 
 without its sting, separates the soul from the body, 
 in virtue of the promise of the covenant of grace ; 
 but with its sting, it separates the one from the 
 other, in virtue of the curse of the covenant of 
 works. Death without its sting, is an article in the 
 promise of the new covenant ; or a benefit of the 
 new covenant, made over to the spiritual seed of 
 Christ, as a part of the legacy which he left to 
 them d ; but with it sting, it is a part of the execu- 
 tion of the threatening of the old covenant, on those 
 whom it finds under that covenant. " The sting 
 of death is sin," and the curse due for sin. Now 
 believers, being interested in the second Adam, 
 who as their Surety, received the sting of death in- 
 to his own soul and body, that they might be freed 
 from it, have full security against it, so that though 
 they must receive the stroke, they shall never re* 
 ceive the sting ; whereas unregenerate sinners re- 
 ceive not only the stroke of death, separating the soul 
 from the body, but the envenomed sting, which 
 sticks fast, both in their souls and their bodies. 
 That natural death, which is a part of the penalty 
 of the first covenant, is not merely the death of the 
 body, but the stinging death of the body 5 separating 
 the soul from the body, in virtue of the curse. 
 There is, therefore, a specifical- difference between 
 the death of believers, and the death threatened in 
 the covenant of works. They are of a very differ- 
 ent kind. Rejoice ye ransomed of the Lord : 
 While death armed with its sting, is threatened to 
 the unregenerate sinner, death disarmed of it, is 
 promised to you e . Death, that curse of sin, that 
 common evil of nature, is neither a curse, nor an 
 
 d 1 Cor. iii. 22. * Isai. xxv. 8* 
 
258 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 evil, to you. On the contrary, it is an important, 
 an inestimable privilege. " Precious in the sight 
 of the Lord, is the death of his saints." Embrace, 
 then, the glorious promise recorded in Hosea xiii. 
 14, and learn to adopt the triumphant language of 
 the apostle Paul, — " O death ! where is thy sting ? 
 O grave ! where is thy victory ? f " 
 
 Is the misery of sinners under the curse of the 
 law, so dreadful ? How astonishing then, is the 
 love of the eternal Father, in proposing to the eter- 
 nal Son, and of his dear Son, in consenting to 
 become the Surety for poor condemned sinners ! 
 
 " Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, 
 
 then said I, Lo I come, I delight to do thy 
 
 will, O my God *." Consider, O believer, what, as 
 thy Surety, he had to do and to suffer ; and then 
 with adoring wonder, admire the greatness of his 
 love to thee, of that infinite love, which was 
 " strong as death,"'' and which constrained him, in 
 thy debased nature, to become " obedient even unto 
 death." — How glorious is the love of the Father, in 
 not admitting merely, but in providing a Surety, 
 and such a Surety for thee ! In the infinite depths 
 of his unsearchable wisdom, and in the exceeding 
 riches of his glorious grace, He gave his only-be- 
 gotten Son, to be, in the character of thy Sponsor, 
 made sin and a curse for thee, to redeem thee from 
 the curse of the law. It pleased the Lord to 
 bruise Him, and to put Him to grief, that he might 
 heal and comfort thee. He spared Him not, that 
 he might spare thee. — And O how generous, how 
 matchless, how marvellous, how ineffable, is the 
 love of the adorable Son ! With infinite readi- 
 ness, He consented to endure the full execution of 
 the curse, for thee ; to bear thy griefs, to carry thy 
 sorrows, to suffer thy hell ; to satisfy in thy room, 
 the righteous demands of the broken law. He an- 
 
 f 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56, 57. § Psal. xl. 6, 7, 8. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 259 
 
 swered to the law, for all thy boundless debt ; and 
 justice will never any more, require the payment of 
 that debt from thee. Here the love of the incar- 
 nate Redeemer, shines forth, in all its transcendent 
 lustre, in all the exceeding riches of its glory, 
 When thou wast an enemy to him, he reconciled 
 thee to God by his death. He died for thee, that 
 thou mightst live to him ; was made a curse for thee, 
 that thou mightst be blessed in him ; and endured 
 thy sorrows, that thou mightst enter into his joy, 
 He descended from his glorious throne, to save, and 
 to serve thee. He stooped to be a Servant of ser- 
 vants for thee, that he might exalt thee, to be a son 
 and an heir of God. Constrained by such stupen- 
 dous kindness, it becomes at once thy duty, thy in- 
 terest, and thy privilege, to give up thyself, and.thy 
 supreme affection to him. O Christian, thou hast 
 experience of the translation of the curse of the 
 lav/, from thy person, to the Person of thy blessed 
 Surety, and through him, to the body of sin in thee, 
 for the crucifixion and destruction of it. Let thy 
 soul, and all that is within thee, bless thy great 
 Redeemer, and God in him, for this inestimable 
 benefit. Let the warmest gratitude, for such a 
 great salvation, glow in thy bosom, and say, " What 
 shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits 
 towards me ?" Do not turn back again, either in 
 principle or in practice, to the broken covenant of 
 works. The more thy exercises and duties savour 
 of it, the more unsavoury will they be to thy Lord, 
 The more the temper of thy spirit, is a legal tem- 
 per, the more unholy will it be, and the more indis- 
 posed for spiritual exercise. Since the bands of 
 death are now removed, and thy soul set at liberty s 
 i4 walk in newness of life." " Walk worthy of the 
 Lord to all pleasing." Be holy in all manner of 
 conversation. Let the uniform tenor of thy life 
 testify, that thou art redeemed from the curse of the 
 
260 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 law, and that thou art " blessed with all spiritual 
 blessings, in heavenly places in Christ." 
 
 We may also from the preceding sections, learn 
 the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Doth sin deserve 
 such complicated wo, such unparalleled anguish, 
 such a great death ? O, how infinite must the ma- 
 lignity, how inconceivable must the odiousness of 
 it be, in the sight of the high and holy Jehovah ! 
 Behold sin, O believer, in the glass of the execution 
 of the awful curse ; that, seeing what an evil and 
 bitter thing it is, thy abhorrence, thy horror of it, 
 may be excited. Contemplate the dreadful curse, 
 not merely as it was executed on thy Divine Surety, 
 but as it is to be executed on the impenitent sin- 
 ner ; and let thy sense of the infinite evil, and de- 
 merit of sin, become more and more lively. O be 
 ashamed, that thy thoughts of the evil of sin, are 
 so slight, and that thy indignation against it, is so 
 far from being high. Consider the effects of the 
 curse, as represented above, and see what thy sins 
 do in themselves, deserve ; and what thou shouldst 
 have undergone for them, if thy dear Redeemer 
 had not suffered it for thee. O " abhor that which 
 is evil." " Ye who love the Lord, hate evil ;" 
 hate all evil ; hate it with a perfect, an irreconcil- 
 able hatred. What ye cannot hinder, be sure to 
 hate. 
 
 And O unbelieving, secure sinner, see and be 
 convinced of thy dreadful, thy inevitable misery. 
 Thou art under the dominion of some lust, some 
 member of the body of sin, as an evidence, that 
 thou art under the dominion of the whole body of 
 sin ; and this demonstrates, that thou art at this 
 moment, under the dominion of the dreadful curse. 
 Thy cleaving to the works of the law, for justifica- 
 tion before God, shows that, thou art still under its 
 awful sentence ; for, " as many as are of the works 
 of the law, are under the curse." Thy name is on 
 the black roll of the people of the curse. The 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 261 
 
 condition of such as are under the curse of the law s 
 is thy present condition. O, do not put the thoughts 
 of thy being under it, far from thee. What will it 
 avail thee, to bless thyself in thy own heart, when 
 Jehovah hath already denounced against thee, his 
 tremendous curse ; and when it is by his irrevers- 
 ible sentence, that thou must either stand or fall ? 
 If, when thou hearest " the words of this curse," 
 thou continue to bless thyself in thy heart, " say- 
 ing, I shall have peace, though I walk in the ima- 
 gination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst, 
 the Lord will not spare" thee, " but the anger of 
 the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke against" 
 thee, " and all the curses that are written in the 
 book of the law, shall lie upon" thee, "and the 
 Lord shall blot out" thy " name from under hea- 
 ven, — and separate thee unto evil, — according 
 to all the curses of the covenant." It may be thou 
 art ready now to ask me, Would you have me to 
 despair ? Yes ; — Thou canst not be delivered from 
 the curse, but in the way of being brought to des- 
 pair of ever attaining life, by the works of the law. 
 Thou canst not begin to live to God, till thou be 
 divorced from, and dead to the law. O sinner, be 
 convinced that thou art under the awful curse. 
 Hast thou not heard, that Christ himself, as Surety 
 for elect sinners, was made a curse ? How is it pos- 
 sible that, that could have come to pass, if they 
 themselves, had not been under the curse, and ex- 
 posed to the dreadful execution of it ? Imagine not 3 
 that because the Lord hath vouchsafed to thee, 
 many external deliverances and comforts, thou art 
 not under the curse ; for those blessings may be 
 cursed to thee, as they are to all who are under 
 it. — " I will send a curse upon you, and I will 
 curse your blessings ; yea, I have cursed them al- 
 ready h ." Do not think that, because thou enjoy est 
 
 fc Mai. ii. 2. 
 
262 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 gospel- ordinances, professest the true religion, and 
 performest good works, thou art not under the 
 curse ; for David says of such, — " Let their table 
 be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, 
 and a recompense unto them \" Be convinced 
 then, O sinner, whether thou be a professor, or be 
 profane ; whether thou be sober or dissolute, young 
 or old, that thou art under that dreadful sentence, 
 and that what things sover, the law saith to them 
 who are under it, it saith to thee. 
 
 Be convinced that, being under the dreadful 
 curse, thy condition is inconceivably miserable. No 
 finite understanding can comprehend, how wretched 
 thou art and shalt be. The case of a malefactor, 
 loaded with the curses of a country or kingdom, 
 and so put to the most ignominious and tormenting 
 death, is deplorable ; but, it is nothing in compari- 
 son of thy case, who hast the curse of the omnipo- 
 tent Jehovah, lying upon thee, and binding thee 
 over to infinite vengeance, to everlasting destruc- 
 tion. The weight of this awful malediction, is so 
 insupportable, that it will sink thee, in the lake of 
 fire and brimstone, that horrible abyss, still lower 
 and lower, whilst everlasting ages continue to re- 
 volve. In this world, the black cloud of Jehovah's 
 wrath is hanging over thee, and the small rain of 
 his indignation is falling upon thee : in the world 
 to come, the great rain, the floods of Almighty 
 vengeance will, if thou die in thy present state, fall 
 on thee and overwhelm thee. Thou art continually 
 exposed, without the least shelter, to all the em- 
 poisoned arrows of infinite vengeance. It may be 
 thou dost not feel thy misery, but on the contrary, 
 flatterest thyself that thou art safe and happy. But, 
 I beseech thee, consider, that the curse works by in- 
 sensible, by silent strokes, as well as by those which 
 are tormenting. Many are so far gone, under th e 
 
 1 Rom. xi. 9. 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 26$ 
 
 curse, as to have their consciences seared, and to 
 be past feeling. O consider, that so long as thou 
 continuest under the Divine curse, thou remainest 
 under the guilt of all thy sins, and under the do- 
 minion and strength of the body of sin. " The 
 strength of sin, is the law." While the strength 
 of sin continues in thee, the fountain of misery re- 
 mains, which will spring up, and send forth waters 
 of bitterness. The holy law condemns every thing 
 thou doest, because thou doest nothing, in that per- 
 fection which it requires ; nothing, but what is de- 
 filed and debased with sin. The several instances 
 of thy guilt are innumerable, are past reckoning, 
 and thou art every moment, adding to the vast ac- 
 count ; whilst in the mean time, it never is nor 
 can be, in the least diminished. The curse permits 
 more instances of guilt to be added to it, but will 
 let none be taken away. That broken covenant, 
 can admit of no pardon to them who continue un- 
 der it k . The pardon of one sinner, or even of one 
 sin, under that covenant, would render the threaten- 
 ing vain ; and so fix an indelible stain, both on the 
 faithfulness, and the justice of God. Nay, to speak 
 with reverence, it would occasion that Divine cove- 
 nant, to be almost as little regarded, and as much 
 injured, by — God, as it has been, by the sinner. 
 Thy guilt, O sinner, may be forgotten by thee ; 
 but it is remembered by Jehovah, whom thou hast 
 made thy infinite Enemy. It is written before Him, 
 as with a pen of iron, and with the point of a dia- 
 mond. Nothing can suffice, to remove the guilt 
 even of one sin, but what is at the same time suf- 
 ficient, to remove the curse of the law. 
 
 Consider also, that it is simply impossible that 
 thou canst be holy, while thou art under that con- 
 demning sentence h Man having once become a 
 sinner, under the first covenant, could never again 
 
 k Acts xiii. 39. l Rom. vi. 14 
 
264 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 become a saint, under it. All who are under it, 
 are under the strength of sin. Their heart is des- 
 perately wicked. Their condition is desperately 
 sinful. They are " dead in trespasses and sins." 
 Thy performances then, secure sinner, may be 
 multiplied, but they are all "dead works;" they 
 are all selfish, all slavish : they may have some- 
 thing of the matter, but they have nothing of the 
 manner, of works which are spiritually good and 
 acceptable to God. The curse, standing as a high 
 partition-wall between God and thee, hinders the 
 course of sanctifying influence, from reaching thy 
 soul ; so that, thou canst have no communion with 
 him, no communications from him, and therefore 
 no conformity to him. It is not the love of God 
 in Christ ; but it is the fear of punishment for thy 
 sins, and the hope of reward for thy services, that 
 are the springs of every thing that thou doest in 
 religion. Do not imagine, that thou canst be de- 
 livered from the curse, without being at the same 
 time, delivered from the covenant. As long as 
 thou continuest under that violated covenant, and 
 under the reigning power of a legal spirit, thou re- 
 mainest under the curse. If thou die under the 
 covenant, thou diest under the curse. Alas ! while 
 thou remainest under the broken covenant, the aw- 
 ful curse continues to be wreathed about thy neck, 
 and to chain thee down, under the dreadful domin- 
 ion of spiritual death. 
 
 Moreover, it is impossible, O self-righteous sin- 
 ner, that ever thou canst, consistently with the 
 honour of the justice, faithfulness, and law of God, 
 be delivered from that dreadful sentence, but by 
 either the one, or the other of these ways ; — either 
 by thy bearing of the execution of it, for thyself, to 
 the full satisfaction of vindicative justice, or — by 
 another's bearing of it, in thy stead, and that 
 legally imputed to thee. By the former method, 
 it is absolutely impossible for thee, ever to be de- 
 
U^BER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. %65 
 
 livered from it. Whatever thou hast, either in thy 
 soul or thy body, suffered, or mayest suffer, is still 
 but the suffering of a finite creature ; and can never 
 satisfy justice, for the infinite wrong offered to the 
 honour of Jehovah, or which is the same, for the 
 wrong offered to his infinite honour, by thy disobe- 
 dience. — By the latter, thou canst not be saved other- 
 wise from it, than by vital union with the second 
 Adam, and a saving interest in the covenant of 
 grace; both which, are totally inconsistent with 
 thy continuing, under the broken covenant of 
 works. The imputation of the obedience and satis- 
 faction of Christ, and deliverance thereby from the 
 curse, are fruits of the souPs vital union with Him 
 hy faith, which is a quitting hold of the first, and a 
 taking hold of the second covenant. While, there- 
 fore, thou remainest under the first covenant, thou 
 continuest under the curse. But, suppose the 
 curse due to thee, for thy breach of covenant in the 
 first Adam, were removed from thee, still thou 
 canst not deny, but that thou hast, in thine own 
 person, omitted some duties and committed some 
 sins. Thou canst not refuse, but that, however 
 diligently thou mayest have attempted to obey the 
 law, thou hast, at ieast now and then, been guilty 
 of some sinful thought, or word, or action. Now, 
 since thou art under a covenant which curses the 
 sinner, and says, " The soul that sinneth, shall 
 die? the least sin, inevitably lays thee under the 
 curse of it. Nay, not only do thy sins, but — thy 
 very duties as performed by thee, lay and leave 
 thee, under the curse. Thou hast never in thy 
 life, performed one duty as the law requires. 
 Whatever good thou do, thou doest it not in per- 
 fection ; and perfection of obedience is, under that 
 covenant, required on pain of the curse. Though, 
 therefore, thou shouldst perform every duty, and 
 perform it with all the diligence and vigour, of 
 which thou art capable; still the law would go on 
 
 N 
 
266 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 
 to condemn thee, for that thou doest not perform 
 it in perfection. Know then, O sinner, that since 
 thou doest nothing in perfection, nothing but what, 
 in one respect or another, is amiss in the eye of the 
 law; thou canst not, so long as thou continuest 
 under the violated covenant, but be under that 
 dreadful doom. — Nay, suppose it were possible for 
 thee, under that covenant, to attain perfection, thou 
 shouldst, notwithstanding, remain still under the 
 curse ; for the iniquity which thou hast already 
 done, cannot be undone. The guilt of it, cannot 
 be expiated by doing, but by dying. Perfect obe- 
 dience for the present and for the future, is a debt 
 which thou owest to the Lord, and thy paying of 
 it, can never in justice, be reputed the payment of 
 a former debt. 
 
 Be at length convinced then, O secure sinner, 
 that there is no salvation, no happiness for thee, 
 under that covenant. Whilst thou art under the 
 covenant of works, thou art under the curse of that 
 covenant. But to be saved, and yet to be under 
 that condemning sentence, is absolutely impossible. 
 Thou must, therefore, either forsake without delay, 
 the dominion of the law, or perish under its awful 
 sentence. O be persuaded, to quit old covenant- 
 ground, and by faith, to betake thyself to the new 
 covenant ; where thou shalt, in union with the last 
 *\dam, be fixed under the dominion of rich, reign- 
 ing, redeeming, grace. Be assured, that it is im- 
 possible for thee ever to be delivered from the cov- 
 enant of works, otherwise than by taking hold of 
 God's covenant of grace ; so as to enter personally 
 into the bond of it, and be personally interested in 
 Christ, the glorious Head of it. None of the sons 
 of Adam, shall ever get up the bond of the first 
 covenant, but upon advancing full payment, both 
 of principal and of penalty, both of perfect obedi- 
 ence and of infinite satisfaction for sin. But this, 
 is what neither thou, nor any other of the race of 
 Adam, can ever do, otherwise than by attaining 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 267 
 
 union with the second Adam, and communion with 
 him in his surety-righteousness. Come then, as a 
 lost sinner ; come, without staying for any good 
 qualifications, to recommend thee to the Divine 
 favour, or to entitle thee to the Divine Redeemer, 
 as thy righteousness and strength. Come, and 
 under the regenerating influence of the blessed 
 Spirit, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive 
 the divine testimony concerning Him, and his great 
 salvation. Believe with application to thyself, the 
 record of God who cannot lie; and what is that 
 record? — " This is the record, that God hath 
 given to us eternal life ; and this life is in his Son." 
 — " I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles ; 
 that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the 
 earth." — " I will preserve thee, and give thee for a 
 covenant of the people." — " God so loved the world, 
 that he gave his only-begotten Son ; that whoso- 
 ever believeth in him, should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life." — " My Father givetli you, the 
 true bread from heaven V Believe with the heart, 
 then, believe with application, this glorious, this 
 free, this present, this particular, this unspeakable 
 gift. Believe, that the second Adam, with his 
 righteousness and salvation, is freely, fully, pre- 
 sently, and particularly, offered to thee as a sinner 
 of mankind ; and, that by his Father's authentic 
 gift of him, and his own offer of himself, thou art 
 Jully zvarranted to receive, and trust in him, for all 
 thy salvation. O accept of the inestimably precious 
 gift. Trust in him for deliverance, from the curse 
 of the covenant of works, and for the possession of 
 the blessings of the covenant of grace. Reader, 
 let thy heart trust confidently in Him. Let it trust 
 in him, with an unsuspecting, an unshaken, an un- 
 bounded, an unintermitted confidence. Venture the 
 whole of thy salvation, in his hands. The moment, 
 
 » 1 John y. 11. Isai. xlix. 6, 8. John iii. 16. and vi. 32. 
 
26$ THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO AR£ 
 
 thou beginnest so to confide in him, thou passest 
 from the first to the second covenant, from death to 
 life, from darkness to light, from condemnation to 
 justification, and from sin to holiness. Nothing 
 that thou doest, no humiliation for sin, no repent- 
 ance, no performances of thine, can be acceptable to 
 God, till after thou be delivered from the curse, 
 through faith " in him, who justifieth the ungodly." 
 — " Without faith, it is impossible to please him." 
 — " Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." The cov- 
 enant of grace, is intimated and offered to thee. O 
 receive Christ, the glorious Head of that covenant ; 
 receive his spotless righteousness, the proper con- 
 dition of eternal life in it ; and present that to the 
 law in its covenant-form, as thy answer to all its 
 righteous demands. 
 
 Before I take my leave of thee, self-righteous 
 sinner, permit me, in bowels of compassion, so- 
 lemnly to warn thee of thy extreme danger, while 
 under the curse of the law. Thus saith the faith- 
 ful and true Witness, — " He that believeth not, is 
 condemned already. — He that believeth not the 
 Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God, 
 abideth on him." Say, Is it not just that, that 
 sinner should eternally perish, who not only deserves 
 to perish, but who refuses to accept eternal deliver- 
 ance, when it is freely offered to him ? If in a 
 little, thou shouldst be surprised by a sudden death, 
 and die under that curse, the day is coming, when 
 the inexorable Judge of quick and dead, shall with 
 an infinitely terrible frown, pronounce upon thee, 
 and such as thee, this inexpressibly dreadful sen- 
 tence : — " Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- 
 lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 1 ' 
 If Jehovah is just; if He is faithful and cannot 
 lie ; He " will render indignation and wrath, tribu- 
 lation and anguish, to every soul of man that doth 
 evil." Indeed, thou art condemned already, con- 
 demned to everlasting fire. Thou art bound over 
 
UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF WORKS. 269 
 
 already, to sink, throughout all eternity, in the 
 horrible abyss, in the burning lake, — where thou 
 shalt be " tormented with fire and brimstone ;" — 
 and, where " the smoke of" thy " torment," shall 
 " ascend up for ever and ever." " Thy foot shall 
 slide in due time; the day of thy calamity is at 
 hand, and the things that shall come upon thee, 
 make haste." The time is perhaps just at hand, 
 when, if Sovereign Mercy prevent it not, thou shalt 
 begin to sink beneath the overwhelming weight of 
 everlasting wrath. The believer has, in the free 
 promise, " a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
 of glory ;" but thou, in the tremendous threaten- 
 ing, hast a far more inconceivable, and eternal 
 weight of wo. If thou continue in thy present 
 state, but a very little longer, the awful moment 
 may be just at hand, when thou shalt "seek death, 
 and" shalt " not find it, and" shalt "desire to die, 
 and death shall flee from" thee. As thy torment 
 shall be without measure, so also without end. Now, 
 thou mightest have life, but wouldst not ; and then, 
 thou wouldst have death, but canst not°. Under 
 the raging waves of Almighty vengeance, thou must 
 continue to lie, as long as the unnumbered ages of 
 eternity, continue to revolve. When as many mil- 
 lions of years, as there are of drops in the extended 
 ocean, or of grains of sand on the sea- shore, and 
 these, multiplied by as many millions more, have 
 revolved ; thy — increasing torment is but beginning. 
 Thou art not only a sinner, and deservest thus to 
 suffer ; but thou presumest to despise, the everlast- 
 ing righteousness, the eternal life, and even the 
 eternal Son of God ; and therefore, nothing can be 
 more just, than that thou shouldst endure his eter- 
 nal indignation. How shalt thou "escape" this, 
 if thou continue to " neglect so great salvation," or 
 to slight the tenders of such redeeming grace ? — 
 The omniscient Jehovah Himself, knoweth not how, 
 
 Bev. xx. 10, 
 
270 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 But if thou wilt now come to Christ, and receive 
 Him, as the gift, the divinely free gift of God, to 
 sinners of mankind, thou shalt be saved, thou shalt 
 be redeemed from the curse of the law ; thou shalt 
 not be hurt of the second death ; but on the con- 
 trary, shalt inherit everlasting life. Come to Him, 
 I beseech thee, come without delay, and he will 
 exalt thee, to communion with himself in his right- 
 eousness, to conformity to him in his image, and to 
 the enjoyment of him in perfect blessedness for ever- 
 more. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 1. It is objected by some, That, "if unbelievers 
 who hear the gospel, are under the commanding 
 power of the covenant of works, they must be under 
 two opposite commands, at one and the same time ; 
 namely, a command to fulfil a perfect righteousness 
 in their own persons, and at the same time, a com- 
 mand to seek it by faith, in Christ the Surety of a 
 better covenant." 
 
 In answer to this, It will be sufficient only to 
 observe, That though the law in its covenant-form, 
 requires of them who are under it, a perfect active 
 and passive righteousness, in their own persons ; 
 and at the same time, upon the revelation and offer 
 of Christ in the gospel, as Jehovah our Righteous- 
 ness, requires, that they believe in him as such ; 
 yet, as in various other cases, it requires both the 
 one and the other of these, not, as they say, in senso 
 composite, but in senso diviso. The law is content 
 to receive and sustain as good, the payment which 
 is presented to it, by a responsible Surety, and 
 directs, or commands sinners, being of themselves 
 utterly insolvent, thankfully, and without delay, to 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 271 
 
 receive that spotless righteousness which, in the 
 gospel, is offered to them. But until convinced, of 
 their total want of a righteousness of their own, they 
 accept and plead that glorious righteousness, in 
 their own behalf, the holy law does, and will go on, 
 in its just demands upon them. Having no pleas- 
 ure in the sinful creature, by reason of unfaithful- 
 ness, the law can easily admit of its marriage to an- 
 other husband, upon a lawful divorce, after due 
 reckoning, and full satisfaction for all the violations 
 of its honour, which have been committed. But 
 when sinners, not disposed to hear of any such mo- 
 tion, still continue to cleave to the law their first 
 husband, it is not to be wondered at, if the holy law 
 in that case, go on to treat them as they deserve. 
 
 The law, accordingly, says to all who are under 
 the dominion of it in its covenant-form, — Make full 
 payment yourselves, or else find me sufficient pay- 
 ment by a surety ; — till you do so, I will continue 
 to proceed against you, without mercy. Unbeliev- 
 ers, therefore, are justly condemned by the law; 
 both, because they " continue not in all things, 
 which are written in the book of the law, to do 
 them," and, because they " believe not in the name 
 of the only- begotten Son of God." 
 
 2. It is objected, That " man is not now in a 
 friendly covenant with God ; that God cannot justly 
 require from man, that which he is unable to per- 
 form ; and that it would not be becoming, in a sin- 
 ful and condemned creature, to trust in God and 
 love him, as his own God." 
 
 In reply, it may suffice only to observe, That 
 though man has forfeited, all friendly connection, 
 and intercourse with God, yet he is still his reason- 
 able and dependent creature ; and, that man's 
 sinning away his strength, and thereby disqualify- 
 ing himself for obedience, cannot deprive God of 
 his right to demand it. Ought the infinitely right- 
 eous Jehovah, to speak with reverence, to be pun- 
 
27& OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 ished with the loss of his authority, if man but 
 chooses to rebel against it ? Cannot God require 
 obedience from man, though man has rendered 
 himself unable to perform it ; in order to convince 
 him of his sinfulness, and to make his conscience, 
 approve his punishment? If Christ is offered in 
 the gospel, to sinners of mankind, as an all-suffici- 
 ent Saviour, and if they are kindly invited, and 
 even commanded, to embrace him as such ; can it 
 be unbecoming in them, to confide in him and love 
 him ? If the justice, or holiness, or power of Je- 
 hovah, is terrible to them, they have not Him, 
 but themselves to blame. Are not sinners on earth, 
 nay, are not sinners even in hell, eternally bound 
 to love God, and to love even that justice, and 
 holiness, and power in Him, the glory of which, he 
 manifests in their everlasting destruction ? 
 
 3. It is objected too, That " the Scriptures no 
 where, make express mention of a promise of eter- 
 nal life, made by Gocl to Adam, for himself and his 
 posterity, upon condition of his perfect obedience 
 to the divine law." 
 
 To this it may be replied, That though the 
 Scriptures do not make express mention, of God's 
 having made a promise of eternal life, to Adam and 
 his posterity, on the. ground of his perfect obedi- 
 ence, as their representative ; yet, by just and natu- 
 ral deductions, from express passages compared to- 
 gether, it is sufficiently evident, as has been shown 
 in the preceding pages, that he made such a pro- 
 mise to him. It is justly inferred — from the express 
 threatening of death in all its extent, for sin ;— 
 from the tree of life, which, as Adam evidently 
 knew, was a sign and seal of that promise of life ;-— 
 and from the repeated declarations, " That the man 
 which doeth those things, shall live by them."'! 
 Though Moses is sparing, and therefore in some 
 degree obscure, in the account which he gives us of 
 that promise, and of most of the other matters, 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 27S 
 
 respecting a covenant which was so very soon vio- 
 lated; yet, doubtless, they were all distinctly re- 
 vealed to the first man. 
 
 4. It is often urged, That " since the promises 
 of the new covenant, are in Scripture, said to be 
 better than those of the old, the promise of eternal 
 life in heaven, was not a promise of that old cove- 
 nant." 
 
 To this I would answer ; The promises of the 
 new covenant are said p to be belter than those of 
 the old, not so much, in respect of the matter or 
 subject of them, for the same eternal life was the 
 subject of both, as in respect of the manner of their 
 being procured, proposed, and applied. The pro- 
 mises of the covenant of grace, as the performance 
 of them was procured, not by the obedience of a 
 mere man, but by the righteousness of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, are more freely, more absolutely, 
 more clearly, and more efficaciously exhibited ; and 
 by him, as the Mediator of this better covenant, 
 are more closely applied, and their accomplishment 
 more amply secured, than that of the promises of 
 the covenant of works. According to the promises 
 of the covenant of grace, not only is that assistance, 
 which was afforded to Adam, granted to believers, 
 without which, they cannot persevere in holiness ; 
 but, that assistance with which, they cannot but 
 persevere. Besides, in the covenant of works, it 
 was life only, which was promised ; whereas, in the 
 covenant of grace, not only is life promised, but also 
 salvation from death. In the old covenant, life was 
 promised to the man who was perfect and was de- 
 serving, upon the ground of his own perfect obedi- 
 ence ; but in the new covenant, it is promised to 
 the believer, who in himself is a sinner, and is alto- 
 gether unworthy of it, upon the ground of the right- 
 eousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to him. 
 
 P Heb. viii. 6. 
 
 N2 
 
274 OBJECTIONS ANSWEIlED. 
 
 5, It is sometimes urged, against what is ad- 
 vanced in proof of the reality of the covenant of 
 works, from the threatening of eternal death, an- 
 nexed to the precept, That " a threatening of eter- 
 nal death in hell, is inseparable from the moral 
 law, considered as the law of creation, or the law of 
 nature" 
 
 To this I would reply, That though in respect 
 of intrinsical demerit, sin justly deserves eternal 
 death in hell, and that though, on the supposition 
 that sin was to be committed, the penalty of the 
 covenant of works, flowed from essential properties 
 of the Divine nature ; yet I humbly apprehend, it 
 will be impossible to prove, that a threat of eternal 
 death in hell, is inseparable from the law of nature, 
 or the moral law, considered merely as the law of 
 nature. The obligation to obey that law, because 
 it results, both from the nature of God, and from 
 the nature of the rational creature, is infinite, eter- 
 nal, and immutable ; and therefore glorified saints, 
 and confirmed angels, are all naturally, necessarily, 
 immutably, and eternally obliged, perfectly to love 
 and obey Jehovah, and to make Him their ulti- 
 mate end, in all that they do. But it will, I think, 
 be impossible to prove, that they have a threatening 
 of eternal death in hell, annexed to the law which 
 they are thus obliged, perfectly and perpetually to 
 obey. A true believer likewise, in the present 
 world, is under the same moral law as his ride of 
 duty ; and is naturally, necessarily, unchangeably, 
 and eternally obliged, to perform perfect obedience 
 to it as such. While he transgresses it daily, 
 every one of his transgressions, deserves eternal 
 death in hell; and yet, no one of them, lays him, 
 for the smallest moment, under the threatening of 
 eternal death, or the condemning sentence of the law 
 as a covenant of works, The threatening of eter- 
 nal death, is actually, or in fact separated, from 
 the precepts of the natural or moral law as a rule of 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 275 
 
 life, under which, believers united to Christ are q . 
 It was not, then, the law as a necessary and eternal 
 rule of duty, to the reasonable creature ; but the 
 law as having received the form of a covenant of 
 works, that had a threatening of eternal death in 
 hell, annexed to it. 
 
 6. It is also objected, That " the separation of 
 the soul and body from each other* by death, was not 
 the penalty of the law ; otherwise, the souls of the 
 wicked could not be again clothed with their bodies, 
 at the last day." 
 
 In reply to this, let it suffice briefly to say, That 
 such a separation was not the whole, but only a 
 part, of the penalty which was threatened ; and, 
 that there is no more inconsistency, in comprehend- 
 ing both the separation, and the reunion, of the 
 sinner's soul and body, in the penal sanction of the 
 first covenant, than there is in comprehending, in a 
 sentence of death from a human tribunal, the lay- 
 ing up of the malefactor in prison, for execution, 
 and afterward the leading of him forth to it, on the 
 day appointed. It was an article in the penalty of 
 the first covenant, that the soul and body of the 
 transgressor, should first be separated from one an- 
 other, and afterward be reunited, in order that it 
 might be fully executed upon them. 
 
 7. It is sometimes urged against the Divine im- 
 putation, of the first sin of Adam, to his natural 
 posterity, That " though in sacred writ, action is 
 often said to be imputed or reckoned to one, yet it 
 is no other, than his own action or deed." 
 
 In replying to this objection, I have no concern 
 with any kind of action, which in Scripture is said 
 to be imputed, but siitful action only. Now it is 
 so far from being true, that sinful action, is in 
 Scripture often said to be imputed, or accounted to 
 a man, when it is no other than his own action or 
 
 ^ John v. 24. Rom. viii. 1. 
 
27G OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 deed, or his own personal sin ; that as far as I have 
 been able to observe, it is only once, that it is said 
 to be imputed, or laid to his charge'. The amount 
 of the argument in the objection, then, is no more 
 than this: The original term rendered to impute, 
 is in Scripture used once, to express God's imput- 
 ing of sin to persons, where there is any evidence, 
 that it is their own act or deed, but never so much 
 as once, to express his imputing of Adam's first 
 sin ; therefore Adam's first sin, is not imputed to 
 his natural posterity. Now, though in the passage 
 above referred to, the original word, which is often 
 rendered imputed, is used to express personal sin, 
 the very act or deed done by the persons there 
 spoken of; yet, this word's being not so much as 
 once, used to express the imputation of Adam's first 
 sin, does no more argue that, that sin of his is not 
 imputed to his posterity, than it argues, that un- 
 belief, pride, persecution, oppression, theft, lying, 
 adultery, idolatry, perjury, and many other sins, 
 are not imputed to the persons who committed 
 them ; because that word, though so often occurring 
 in Scripture, is never once used, to express the im- 
 putation of any one of those kinds of sin. 
 
 If it shall here be said, That though those sins 
 are not expressly said to be imputed, yet other 
 words are used, which do as certainly imply, that 
 they are imputed to them who committed them, as 
 if it had been said in express terms ; so say I, with 
 regard to the imputation of Adam's first sin. The 
 thing expressed by the term imputed, may be as 
 certainly expressed by using other terms, as if that 
 term were used ; nay, more certainly, because the 
 words used instead of it, may serve to explain the 
 meaning of that term. Though therefore the term 
 imputed, is not, in Scripture, used with respect to 
 Adam's first sin, yet there it is recorded, that — 
 
 * 2 Tim. iv. 16. 
 
(OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 977 
 
 P All have sinned ;" that — " by one man's disobe- 
 dience, many were made sinners ;" that — " the 
 judgment was by one, to condemnation ;" that — i 
 " by the offence of one, judgment came upon all 
 men to condemnation ;" that — " through the of- 
 fence of one, many are dead ;" and that by this 
 means, — u death passed upon all men." These 
 phrases, amount to a proper and full explication, 
 of the term imputed; and, therefore, do more 
 clearly determine the point in question. 
 
 8. It is used as an argument, against the doc- 
 trine of the imputation of Adam's first sin, to his 
 posterity, That " the sacred Scriptures represent 
 the righteous Judge, at the great day, as dealing 
 with men singly, rendering to every man according 
 to his works." 
 
 The force of this objection will evanish, if we 
 consider what the great design, of that public and 
 general judgment, will be. The design of it will 
 not be, to afford the omniscient Judge, an opportu- 
 nity of finding out, what men are, or what punish- 
 ment or reward, may be proper for them, or what 
 judgment he should pass on them ; which is the de- 
 sign of trials, before a human tribunal : but it will 
 be, to manifest what men are, to their own con- 
 sciences, and to assembled worlds. Hence the day 
 or judgment, is styled the day of the " revelation, 
 of the righteous judgment of God s ." In order to 
 make it manifest to themselves, and to the universe, 
 what men are, the righteous Judge will, at that day, 
 make use of proofs or evidences, Now the proper 
 evidences of that depravity of heart, which ensued, 
 and still continues to ensue, upon the first sin of 
 Adam imputed, are the 'personal works of men. The 
 special design, then, of that public and solemn judg- 
 ment, will be> to make a complete,and open distinction 
 among men ; to manifest the difference, both in point 
 of state, and of disposition, which subsists among 
 
 B Horn, ii. 5. 
 
279 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 them ; in order to that awful separation, and that 
 inexpressibly great difference, in their everlasting 
 retribution, which are to follow. The righteous 
 Judge, in order to manifest their real state and 
 disposition, will at that day, judge men according 
 to their personal works. But to inquire, in that 
 solemn day, whether men are to be considered as 
 one with Adam, and so partakers with him, in his 
 first sin, can have no manner of tendency, to mani- 
 fest their distinction from one another, either in the 
 one of those respects, or in the other. 
 
 9. It is objected, That " if the posterity of Adam 
 come into the world, under the guilt of his first 
 sin, and under the corruption of their whole nature, 
 it must disparage the goodness of God, in giving 
 them their being ; which they ought to receive with 
 thankfulness, as a special gift of his beneficence, 
 and a fundamental fruit of his liberality ." 
 
 This objection, is founded on the supposed truth 
 of a thing in dispute, and therefore is a begging of 
 the question. It is built on this supposition ; That 
 the posterity of Adam, are not to be considered as 
 one with him, or as included in him, in the state 
 in which God at first created him, and in his hav- 
 ing fallen, from that holy and happy state. If they 
 are one with him, it becomes them, gratefully to ac- 
 knowledge the great goodness of the Loud to them, 
 in the happy state, in which they were at first, cre« 
 ated and placed, and in the fair opportunity, with 
 which they were then favoured, of obtaining confir- 
 mation in endless felicity ; and at the same time, 
 humbly to confess it, as a deep aggravation of their 
 apostasy, that they were so basely ungrateful, as to 
 rebel against their all-bountiful Creator. If the 
 meaning of the objection be, That it cannot con- 
 sist with the goodness of God, to give their being 
 to mankind, in a state of misery, whatever the con- 
 duct of Adam might have been, whether he chose 
 to sin, or not to sin ; I would reply : — If it is just- 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 279 
 
 ly so ordered, that posterity should descend from 
 Adam, and that these posterity of his, should be 
 deemed one with him, as their natural root, and cov- 
 enant-representative ; then, it is no more contrary 
 to the goodness of God, to give being to his poster- 
 ity, in a state of punishment or misery, than it is, 
 to continue the being of the same individual sinner, 
 that by his personal wickedness, has rendered him- 
 self guilty, in a state of punishment or misery. If 
 the objector still urge, That it cannot be justly so 
 ordered, that Adam should have descendants, who 
 should be regarded as one with him ; it is a begging 
 of the question. 
 
 10. It is urged, That ** to suppose persons, to 
 be born with depravity of nature, is to make him, 
 who is the Author of their nature, the Author of 
 their depravity." 
 
 I answer : The Scripture doctrine of the univer- 
 sal corruption of human nature, since the fall, were 
 it to imply, that the nature of man, is corrupted by 
 positive influence, by evil dispositions, infused or 
 implanted in it ; it would, I admit, be liable to such 
 an objection. But it neither implies, nor infers, 
 any such thing. In order to account for the total 
 depravity of the heart of man, there is not the small- 
 est need of supposing, that any evil disposition, is 
 infused or implanted in his nature ; or, that such a 
 disposition in it, is owing to any positive influence, 
 either from the Creator or the creature. The want 
 of original rectitude, or the absence of positive 
 principles of goodness, and the withholding of Di- 
 vine influence to impart and maintain them ; leav- 
 ing the common principles of self-love, and of nat- 
 ural appetite, which man in his state of innocence 
 had, to themselves, without the government of su- 
 perior Divine principles, will certainly be followed 
 by the total corruption of the heart, without any 
 positive influence at all. Thus it was, that a total 
 corruption of nature seized Adam, as soon as he fell, 
 
£80 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED* 
 
 and still seizes all his natural posterity, as having 
 sinned in him, and fallen with him. But God's 
 withdrawing, of that spiritual and gracious influ- 
 ence, from fallen Adam, and withholding of it, from 
 each of his descendants, as soon as he comes into 
 existence, without which, his nature falls under cor- 
 ruption, do not, in the smallest degree, render that 
 holy One, the Author of sin. 
 
 11. It has been objected, against the posterity of 
 Adam's being believed, to come into the world, un- 
 der a forfeiture of the Divine blessing, and an ob- 
 noxiousness to the curse, through his first sin; 
 That, " upon the restoration of the world after the 
 flood, God pronounced equivalent, nay, greater 
 blessings on Noah and his sons, than he did, on 
 Adam at his creation, when he said, Be fruitful, 
 and multiply, and replenish the earth,' 1 he. 
 
 To this I would reply : It is no more an evi- 
 dence, of the posterity of Adam's being not included 
 in the threatening, denounced for his eating of the 
 forbidden fruit, that they still have the temporal 
 blessings of fruitfulness, and of a kind of dominion 
 over the creatures, continued to them ; than it is an 
 evidence, of Adam's being not included himself, in 
 that threatening : for he had those blessings con- 
 tinued to him ; he was fruitful, and had in some 
 sense, dominion over the creatures, after his fall, 
 equally with his descendants. Besides, there is 
 good ground to believe, that the benefits included 
 in those benedictions, which Jehovah had pro- 
 nounced on Noah and his descendants, were granted 
 on a new foundation ; on the foundation of a cove- 
 nant of grace, made and established with Christ the 
 second Adam ; of a constitution, the design of 
 which is, to deliver sinners from the curse, which 
 came upon them, by the sin of the first Adam, and 
 to bring them to the enjoyment of greater blessings, 
 than ever he possessed in his state of innocence. 
 Noah, had his name prophetically given to him, by 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 28! 
 
 Lamech his father ; because, by his seed, deliver- 
 ance was to be obtained from the curse, which came 
 upon mankind by the sin of Adam. " And he 
 called his name Noah," — which signifies rest, 
 " saying, This same shall comfort us concerning 
 our work, and toil of our hands, because of the 
 ground which the Lord hath cursed V According 
 to the intent of this prophecy, were the blessings 
 pronounced on Noah, after the deluge. That those 
 blessings, were conveyed in the channel of the cove- 
 nant of grace, and through the redemption that is 
 in Jesus Christ, is evident, from their having been 
 obtained by means of sacrifice, or bestowed, as the 
 effects of Divine favour to sinners of mankind ; 
 which was the consequence, of Jehovah's smelling 
 a sweet savour, in the sacrifice which Noah offered. 
 Now it is evident, that the ancient sacrifices, and 
 that one in particular, could not obtain the favour 
 of God, otherwise than in virtue of the relation, 
 which they bore to the sacrifice of Messiah. The 
 Lord, on occasion of the redemption which is in 
 Jesus Christ, deals with the generality of mankind, 
 in their present state, in a manner very different, 
 from what he otherwise would have done. He af- 
 fords them, as subjects capable of redeeming mercy, 
 free and full offers of salvation, a day of grace, and 
 of forbearance, and a great variety of temporal 
 good things. 
 
 But besides the sense in which, the descendants 
 of Noah in general, may be said to partake of those 
 blessings, Noah himself, and all the individuals of 
 his posterity, who have obtained like precious faith 
 with that, which he exercised, when he offered 
 up his sacrifice, have, in union with Christ, domin- 
 ion over the creatures, in a far nobler sense, than 
 Adam in innocence had. By the covenant of grace, 
 as they are made kings and priests unto God, and 
 reign with Christ, all things are theirs. They par- 
 
 * Gen. y. 29, 
 
£82 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 take with Christ, of that dominion over the beasts 
 of the earth, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of 
 the sea, mentioned in the eighth Psalm ; which, by 
 the apostle Paul, is interpreted of the dominion of 
 Christ, over the world u . The time accordingly is 
 coming, when the most part of the posterity of 
 Noah and his sons, shall partake of this more ex- 
 cellent dominion over the creatures, through Him 
 in whom, " all the families of the earth shall be 
 blessed." And we are under no necessity of sup- 
 posing, That those blessings are to be completely 
 bestowed, till many ages after they were granted by 
 promise, any more than the blessing of Japhet, ex- 
 pressed in these words: — "God shall enlarge Japhet, 
 and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." Now, that 
 men have certain blessings through grace, is no 
 evidence whatever, that they are not justly exposed 
 to the curse, by nature ; nay, it is an evidence of 
 the contrary : for if they did not deserve the awful 
 curse, they could not with any propriety, be said to 
 depend on free grace, and on an Almighty Re- 
 deemer, for the removal of it, and for bringing 
 them, into a state of reconciliation with God. 
 
 12. It is objected too, That " our having come 
 into the world, under the power of moral depravity, 
 or, of moral inability to obey the law of God, is at 
 least very obscurely and sparingly hinted, in the 
 sacred Oracles ; and, that a doctrine so very im- 
 portant, had it been true, would, doubtless, have 
 been plainly, and even frequently mentioned." 
 
 In reply to this, it may suffice to say ; It is in- 
 deed true, that the doctrine of the universal de- 
 pravity of human nature, in all the natural des- 
 cendants of Adam, is a very important one ; but 
 that it is either obscurely, or sparingly hinted, in 
 the Oracles of truth, is altogether false. There is 
 such a number of passages in the Old, and especi- 
 ally in the New Testament, expressive of it, as ex- 
 
 » 1 Cor. xv. 27. Heb. ii. 7, 8. 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 283 
 
 hibits the fullest, arid most undeniable, evidence of 
 the truth of this fundamental article. There are, 
 indeed, few doctrines of Scripture, which are taught 
 more expressly, or more plainly. To cite all the 
 passages, which might be brought in proof of it, 
 would be, to transcribe a great part of the Sacred 
 Volume. But supposing it were true, that this 
 doctrine was sparingly taught in Scripture ; yet, if 
 we rind that it is indeed taught, that there is good 
 evidence of its being held forth to us, by any one 
 passage, it becomes us cordially to receive a doc- 
 trine, which He thus teaches us ; and not, instead 
 of this, to prescribe to him, how often he shall ex- 
 press it, or to insist upon knowing his reasons, for 
 expressing it no oftener, or no plainer, before we 
 believe him. Were we to suppose this objection, 
 to be a reasonable one, the ancient Sadducces, might 
 have argued their cause successfully, against our 
 Blessed Lord, when he blamed them, for not know- 
 ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God ; and for 
 not knowing from the Scriptures, that there would 
 be a resurrection, to spiritual and eternal enjoyment. 
 They might have urged, That those doctrines if true, 
 were very important, and, therefore, ought to have 
 been more frequently, more directly, and more 
 plainly taught. And to Christ's argument for a 
 resurrection, from God's calling himself, in the 
 books of Moses, " the God of Abraham, of Isaac, 
 and of Jacob," they might have replied, That Mo- 
 ses was commissioned to teach the people, the will 
 of God ; and, therefore, that if that doctrine were 
 true, he ought to have taught it, plainly and fre- 
 quently ; and not to have left the people, to find 
 out such an important doctrine, from God's saying, 
 that he is " the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of 
 Jacob." 
 
 13. It is also objected, That "such a doctrine, 
 has a tendency to create and promote melancholy 2? 
 
 My reply to this, shall be very short. Suppose 
 
284 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 a man, by what means, or in what manner soever, 
 to have become a sinner, and to be thereby exposed 
 to the wrath of God ; if ever he begin to have the 
 eyes of his mind opened, and to have arrows of 
 conviction fastened in his heart, reflection on the 
 state of his soul, cannot but tend to fill him with 
 sorrow. In such a state, till he become sincerely 
 willing to trust in Christ, for all his salvation, and 
 to forsake all his sins, he may well be filled with 
 dread and sadness of heart. There is nothing, in 
 the doctrine of our having come into the world, 
 under the dominion of moral depravity, which has 
 the remotest tendency to promote gloominess of 
 spirit, or to hinder cheerfulness, in a man who can 
 find in his heart, a sincere willingness to confide in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, for all his salvation, and to 
 depart from the love and practice of all iniquity. 
 Nay, on the contrary, it is only he who believes, 
 and who is suitably influenced, by a true belief of 
 that doctrine, that in due time, attains to "joy un- 
 speakable, and full of glory."" 
 
 14. It is by some urged as an objection, against 
 the doctrine of our having come into the world, un- 
 der the guilt and dominion of sin, That " it tends 
 to beget in us, a bad opinion of each other, and to 
 promote ill nature, and hatred of one another." 
 
 To this I would answer, That our conviction, 
 and hearty acknowledgement of our having come 
 into the world, under the power of sin v tend rather 
 to promote humility, and self- abhorrence ; and on 
 the contrary, that our disowning of the sin and 
 guilt, which indeed belong to us, and our labouring 
 to persuade ourselves and others, that we are great- 
 ly better than in truth we are, tend to produce pride 
 and self-sufficiency. Now, it is evident from the 
 experience of mankind in general, as well as from 
 the Scriptures of truth, That it is pride, which is 
 the great source of all the hatred, malice, and con- 
 tentions which prevail so much in the world ; and 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 285 
 
 that nothing, so powerfully promotes the opposite 
 tempers, as humility. Nothing has, in the hand of 
 the Spirit of Christ, a greater tendency to promote 
 mercy, gentleness, forbearance, forgiving of injuries, 
 and every other amiable disposition, than a true 
 sense of the infinite need we have, of the Divine 
 forbearance and forgiveness, and a well-grounded 
 hope of obtaining mercy, through the blood of the 
 Lamb. Such a doctrine serves to teach us, that 
 by nature, we are all companions in a most sinful, 
 miserable, and helpless condition ; which, under a 
 revelation and belief of redeeming mercy, tends ex- 
 ceedingly to promote mutual compassion and good 
 will. 
 
 15. Another objection which is urged against 
 that doctrine, is, That " it pours contempt, upon 
 the nature of man." 
 
 Here I must be permitted to observe, That not 
 the smallest contempt is, by this doctrine, poured 
 upon the noble faculties of human nature, or, upon 
 the exalted employment, or immortal happiness, of 
 which it was made capable. As to the moral state 
 of mankind, it cannot, I presume, be denied, that 
 confusion of face belongs to them, who either by 
 nature, or by practice, have sinned. If this is our 
 natural character, if as we come into the world, we 
 are really sinful, and consequently miserable, he 
 acts only the part of a friend to us, who endeavours 
 fully to discover to us, our disease ; whereas on the 
 other hand, he acts the part of an enemy, who 
 strives to hide it from us, and so in effect does all 
 that he can, to prevent our having recourse to a re- 
 medy from that, which if not remedied in time, 
 must finally bring us to shame, and everlasting 
 contempt. — It seems this doctrine is not complai- 
 sant enough. It is confessedly far, from being suit- 
 ed to the taste of those among us, who are so de- 
 licate, as to be able to bear nothing but flattery. 
 
 16. Finally, It is objected that " to teach per- 
 
286 CONCLUSION, 
 
 sons, That sin belongs to their very nature, or in 
 other words, that it is natural, and therefore in 
 some sense necessary, tends to encourage them in 
 all manner of iniquity." 
 
 In answer to this, let it suffice to say, That 
 if this doctrine, which teaches that sin is natural to 
 us, does at the same time, inform us, that it is not the 
 less sinful, nor the less hateful to an infinitely holy 
 God, nor the less deserving of his eternal wrath, 
 nor the less to be condemned that it is natural ; 
 then, it does not, it cannot in the least degree, en- 
 courage the commission of sin. Is it just or rea- 
 sonable, to represent it as encouraging a man wil- 
 fully to neglect, or continue under, a malignant dis- 
 ease, without seeking for a cure ; to tell him, That 
 his distemper is real, inveterate, in the highest de- 
 gree fatal, and what he can never cure himself of, 
 and then, to direct him to a skilful physician, who 
 is able and willing to heal him ? The application 
 is obvious. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 h rom what has, in the preceding pages, been ad- 
 vanced, we may learn in general the following 
 things : 
 
 First, That Adam by his first sin, corrupted hu- 
 man nature, and human nature as such, being cor- 
 rupted, corrupts every human creature, that by or- 
 dinary generation descends from him. Adam's per- 
 son first corrupted our nature; and our common 
 nature, being corrupted, corrupts our persons. The 
 depravity of every individual man, is the depravity 
 of his nature. He is by nature a sinner, before he 
 begins as a person, to commit actual sin. 
 
conclusion. 287 
 
 Secondly, Was the first covenant but as it were 
 a scaffold, erected for the building up of mercy, in 
 the second covenant ? How magnificent, then, how 
 glorious, must that building of mercy be I And 
 how transcendentiy glorious, must this covenant of 
 redeeming grace be, according to which, it is, and 
 " shall be, built up for ever !" This is that edifice, 
 which redeeming grace is erecting for sinners of 
 mankind; into which, they who believe are re- 
 ceived, and where they shall dwell for evermore, 
 While the plan of this building was drawn, and the 
 foundation of it laid deep, in the eternal counsel of 
 Jehovah ; every stone, from the foundation to the 
 cope-stone, is unmerited kindness, is free, unsolicit- 
 ed mercy. And the day is coming, when our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, whose office it is, to " build the tem- 
 ple of the Loud," will " bring forth the head-stone 
 thereof," the crowning mercy, " with shoutings f 
 and then, all the redeemed will cry, " Grace, grace 
 unto it. 1 ' Oh, what a splendid, what a glorious fa- 
 bric will this be, which is to " be built up forever ,•" 
 which is to continue to be built up, not only in 
 time, but through all eternity ! 
 
 Thirdly, Hence also we may learn, how we ought 
 to use the moral law. We should, in the hand of 
 faith, present the spotless righteousness of Jesus 
 Christ, to it as a covenant of works, and our own 
 sincere obedience, flowing from a principle of faith, 
 to it as a rule of life. Since we cannot now, answer 
 its high and righteous demands, we should attempt 
 to present no righteousness to it, as it is a covenant 
 of works, but the consummate righteousness of the 
 second Adam, received by faith ; and no obedience 
 to it, as it is a rule of duty, but our own personal 
 obedience. To offer to present our own perform- 
 ances, to it as a covenant, would be legalism ; to at- 
 tempt to present the righteousness of Christ, to it 
 as a rule, would be antinomianism. To present 
 our own obedience, along with that of Christ, to it 
 
288 conclusion. 
 
 as a covenant, and the obedience of Christ, along 
 with our own, to it as a rule, would be, to be guilty 
 at once, both of legal pride, and of antinomian licen- 
 tiousness. " The law is good, if a man use it law- 
 fully."" It is of use to the unregenerate, to convince 
 them, in the hand of the Spirit, of their sin and 
 misery, to plough up the fallow ground of their 
 heart ; and so to be their school-master to bring 
 them to Christ, that they may be justified by faith. 
 To the regenerate, it is of manifold use. It serves 
 to discover to them, more and more of the strength, 
 malignity, odiousness, and dement of their sin ; and 
 so, to make them more highly esteem Christ, whose 
 righteousness completely answers both the precept, 
 and the penalty of it. It is likewise of use to im- 
 pel them, to trust more in Christ, for pardoning 
 mercy and sanctifying grace; and to excite them, 
 to express their thankfulness to him, for his fulfill- 
 ing of it as a covenant, by pressing after more con- 
 formity to it, as the rule of their obedience*. 
 
 Fourthly, Hence likewise we may see, what it is 
 to be a legalist. A legalist, is one who leans or 
 cleaves to the law, in its covenant-form. He obeys 
 it, in his own strength ; obeys it, in order that his 
 obedience may secure him, from the execution of its 
 curse, and entitle him to the performance of its 
 promise. He expects eternal life, only as it was 
 promised in that covenant, and pretends to serve 
 God, that God may save him. In every extrem- 
 ity, he looks for comfort, to the works of the law. 
 In the prospect of trouble, it comforts him to think, 
 that he has committed few sins, and performed 
 many duties. In the prospect even of death and of 
 judgment, it affords him no small consolation to 
 think, that he has done something, which will con- 
 tribute to make him die in peace, and stand in judg- 
 ment, which others have not ; that he has made 
 
 * Rom. vii. 22. and xii. 2. 
 
CONCLUSION. £89 
 
 many a prayer, and on many occasions, has prayed 
 with much liveliness of frame, and ardour of affec- 
 tion. Thus, he " hatches cockatrice-eggs, and 
 weaves the spider's web y ;" he spins and weaves a 
 garment, out of his own bowels. Here, he wraps 
 himself up and shelters himself, whenever he appre- 
 hends danger. Here, he dwells, here, he feeds, 
 here, he works. He is alive to the law ; and since 
 he is under the commanding and condemning power, 
 of the law as a covenant, he is under the com- 
 manding and condemning power of sin. The law 
 commands him, and he obeys it ; sin commands him, 
 and he obeys it also, and by his duties, paci- 
 fies his conscience, when at any time, it accuses 
 him of having committed sins. He at the same 
 time, persuades himself, that he has believed in Je- 
 sus Christ. While the true believer performs gos- 
 pel-obedience to the law, the legalist, exercises a 
 legal faith of the gospel. He believes, before he be 
 convinced of his unwillingness, or inability to be- 
 lieve ; before he see from the word, his warrant to 
 do so ; and before he have a humbling discovery, of 
 his absolute need of a Saviour, either from sin, or 
 from wrath. A legalist, then, is one who cleaves 
 to the law as a covenant of works. Not that he 
 loves, or delights in the law of the Lord, either as 
 it is a covenant, or as it is a rule. On the contrary, 
 he disregards, he despises it. To such a degree, 
 does he despise it in its covenant-form, as to present 
 to it, his own poor and polluted performances, in- 
 stead of the all-perfect righteousness of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Nothing but proud, but gross, ig- 
 norance both of the law and of the gospel, can ac- 
 count for the temper and conduct of the legalist z . 
 
 Fifthly, Is the first covenant, an unalterable 
 constitution ? Are none saved from the curse of 
 it, but upon condition of Christ's answering all the 
 
 * Isai. lix. 5. % Rom. x, 3. 
 
 O 
 
290 CONCLUSION. 
 
 high demands of it, in their stead ? Hence we may 
 learn, That to presume to substitute a new law, re- 
 quiring faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, as 
 the conditions of eternal life, in the place of the mo- 
 ral law, requiring perfect obedience, as the condition 
 of it, is to set aside or make void, this pure and per- 
 fect law. To tell us, that God has now given us 
 a new law, in place of the original law of the ten 
 commandments ; that sincere obedience to this new 
 law, is our righteousness ; and, that this sincere 
 obedience gives a title, not merely to Christ and to 
 pardon of sin, but even to eternal life itself, — is to 
 undermine, the whole authority of the Divine law. 
 Such persons, undermine at once, the commanding, 
 and the condemning, power of the law ; for as they 
 themselves, can do nothing but what is imperfect, 
 they show that they consider the lav/, as less rigor- 
 ous in its demands, than it really is or can be. 
 Whatever their pretensions, to a superior concern 
 for the interests of holiness, be, they are in fact, 
 the greatest enemies of the holy law. Under the 
 mask of being advocates for the honour of the law, 
 they are among the worst of antinomians. 
 
 Sixthly, Hence also we may see, how much of 
 conviction of sin and misery, is requisite to the ex- 
 ercise of saving faith in Jesus Christ. So much of 
 it is necessary, as will render the sinner dead to the 
 law. To live by faith, is to live to God. Now, 
 the sinner must, " through the law, be dead to the 
 law, that he may live to God." As much of con- 
 viction, then, is necessary to the exercise of justi- 
 fying and saving faith, as will serve to make the sin- 
 ner entirely despair of life, by the works of the law ; 
 as will serve to destroy his legal hope, or to make 
 him disclaim all confidence in his own righteous- 
 ness, for eternal life ; and so, to render him dead 
 to the law, as it is a covenant of works. This con- 
 viction, is not necessary as a conditional article, to 
 render it warrantable for him, to believe or trust in 
 
CONCLUSION, 291 
 
 .Jiesus for salvation ; but it is necessary, as a motive 
 to urge him. 
 
 Finally, Is my reader, to the praise of the glory 
 of redeeming grace, delivered from the broken cov- 
 enant of works ? Bless the Loud for delivering 
 thee, and for that adorable Redeemer, who is the 
 end of the law for righteousness to thee. He hath 
 delivered thy soul from death, thine eyes from tears, 
 and thy feet from falling ; and, therefore, thou art 
 under the strongest obligations, to live to Him, and 
 to walk before Him, in the land of the living. Search 
 frequently the Scriptures, that thou may est more 
 clearly see, from what, redeeming grace, reigning 
 through his spotless, his law-magnifying righteous- 
 ness, has delivered thee ; and that thou mayest have 
 deeper impressions of thy infinite obligations to 
 Him, and to God in him. How exalted is thy pri- 
 vilege ! Thou through the lav/, art dead to the law ; 
 art delivered from it as a covenant, that thou may- 
 est live, and live to God, thy own reconciled, thy 
 covenant-God, in obedience to it as a rule. Advance 
 daily, therefore, in conformity of heart and of life 
 to it, as thy unalterable rule of life, in the hand of 
 the glorious Mediator. Be as careful, in the faith 
 of the promise, to maintain good works, as if they 
 were to entitle thee to heaven ; and depend as little 
 on them, for a title to eternal life, as if thou hadst 
 never so much as performed one of them. Trust 
 with unshaken confidence, in the last Adam, thy 
 blessed covenant Head, for increasing supplies of 
 his Spirit ; and, . through the Spirit, mortify the 
 remains of the legal temper, that dwell in thee. 
 The more thou diest, in thy inclination, and thy 
 exercise, to the law as a covenant ; the more wilt 
 thou live, and be lively, in spiritual and evangelical 
 obedience to it as a rule. The death of thy legal 
 hope, thou wilt find to be the life of thy evangelical 
 obedience. 
 
 To the Lord Jesus, I commend thee, in whom 
 
292 CONCLUSION. 
 
 thou believest, 'and upon whose righteousness and 
 fulness, thou livest. May He strengthen thy faith, 
 establish thy heart in his love and fear, and enable 
 thee daily, on new covenant-ground, to walk with 
 him in newness of life : To whom, with the Father, 
 and the Eternal Spirit, three Persons in One Je- 
 hovah, be everlasting praise, honour, and glory. 
 Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Leith: Printed hj A. Allardic*.