the exercise of his prophetical office. In that prediction the light of Christ's redemption first began to dawn in the prophecies of it; in the institution of sacrifices it first began to dawn in the types of it; in this, viz. his beginning actually to save men, it first began to dawn in the fruit of it.

It is probable, therefore, that Adam and Eve were the first fruits of Christ's redemption; it is probable by God's manner of treating them, by his comforting them as he did, after their awakenings and terrors. They were awakened, and ashamed with a sense of their guilt, after their eyes were opened, and they saw that they were naked, and sewed fig-leaves to cover their nakedness; as the sinner, under the first awakenings, is wont to endeavor to hide the nakedness of his soul by a fancied righteousness of his own. Then they were further terrified and awakened, by hearing the voice of God as he was coming to condemn them. Their coverings of fig-leaves did not answer the purpose; they ran to hide themselves among the trees of the garden, because they were naked, not daring to trust to their fig-leaves to hide their nakedness from God. 'Then they were further awakened by God's calling them to a strict account. But while their terrors were raised to such a height, and they stood, as we may suppose, trembling and astonished before their Judge, without any expedient whence they could gather hope, then God took care to hold forth some encouragement, to keep them from the dreadful effects of despair under their awakenings, by giving a hint of a design of mercy by a Savior, even before he pronounced sentence against them. And when after this he proceeded to pronounce sentence, where4

Redemption.

by we may suppose their terrors were further raised, God soon after took care to encourage them, and to let them see that he had not wholly cast them off, by taking a fatherly care of them in their fallen, naked, and miserable state, by making them coats of skins and clothing them. This also manifested an acceptance of those sacrifices that they offered to God, which were types of what God had promised, when he said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head;" which promise, there is reason to think, they believed and embraced. Eve seems plainly to express her hope in and dependance on that promise, in what she says at the birth of Cain, Gen. 4: 1, "I have gotten a man from the Lord;" that is, as God has promised that my seed should bruise the serpent's head; so now has God given me this pledge and token of it, that I have a seed born. She plainly owns that this child was from God, and hoped that her promised seed was to be of this, her eldest son; though she was mistaken, as Abraham was with respect to Ishmael, Isaac with respect to Esau, and Samuel with respect to the first-born of Jesse. And especially does what she said at the birth of Seth, express her hope and dependance on the promise of God: "For God hath appointed me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain slew."

Thus it is very probable, if not evident, that as Christ took on him the work of Mediator as soon as man fell; so he now immediately began his work of redemption in its effect, encountering his great enemy the devil, whom he had undertaken to conquer, and rescuing those two first captives out of his hands; therein baffling him soon after his triumph over them, whereby he had made them his captives.

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And though he seemed sure of them and all their posterity, Christ the Redeemer soon showed him that he was mistaken. He let him see it, in delivering those first captives, and so soon gave him an instance of the fulfillment of that threatening, The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, and in this instance a presage of his subduing all his enemies under his feet.

After this we have another instance of redemption in one of their children, "righteous Abel," as the Scripture calls him; whose soul perhaps was the first that went to heaven through Christ's redemption. In him we have at least the first recorded instance of the death of a redeemed person. If he was the first, then as the redemption of Christ began to dawn before in the souls of men in their conversion and justification, in him it first began to dawn in glorification; and at his death the angels began first to act as ministering spirits to Christ, in going forth to conduct to glory the souls of the redeemed. In him they had the first opportunity to see so wonderful a thing as the soul of one of the fallen race of man, that had been sunk by the fall into such an abyss of sin and misery, brought to heaven, and in the enjoyment of heavenly glory, which was a much greater thing than if they had seen him returned to the earthly paradise. Thus they saw the glorious effect of Christ's redemption, in the great honor and happiness that was procured for sinful, miserable creatures.

V. The next remarkable thing that God did in farther carrying on this great redemption, was the first uncommon outpouring of the Spirit, through Christ, in the days of Enos. We read, Gen. 4 : 26,

"Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." The meaning of these words has been considerably controverted. We cannot suppose the meaning is, that then first men performed the duty of prayer. Prayer is a duty of natural religion, and a duty to which a spirit of piety most naturally leads men. Prayer is the very breath of a spirit of piety; and we cannot suppose that holy men, for above two hundred years, had lived without prayer. Therefore some divines think that the meaning is, that then men first began to perform public worship, or to call upon the name of the Lord in public assemblies. However, thus much must necessarily be understood by it, that there was something new in the visible church of God with respect to calling upon the name of the Lord; that there was a great addition to the performance of this duty; and that in some respect or other it was carried far beyond what it ever had been before, which must be the consequence of a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God.

If it was now first that men were stirred up to meet in assemblies to assist one another in seeking God as they had never done before, it argues something extraordinary as the cause; and could be from nothing but the uncommon influences of God's Spirit, which are always attended with a great increase of prayer. When the Spirit of God begins a work on men's hearts, it immediately inclines them to call on the name of the Lord. As it was with Paul af ter the Spirit of God had arrested him; "Behold, he prayeth!" so it has been in all remarkable effusions of the Spirit of God recorded in Scripture; and so it will be in the latter days. It is foretold that the

Holy Spirit will be poured out as a spirit of grace and supplication, Zech. 12: 10. See also Zeph. 3: For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."

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And when it is said, "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord," no more can be intended by it than that this was the first remarkable season of this nature. It was the beginning of such a work of God. In this manner such an expression is commonly used in Scripture. So 1 Sam. 14: 35. "And Saul built an altar unto the Lord; the same was the first altar that he built unto the Lord." In the Hebrew it is, as may be seen in the margin, that altar he began to build unto the Lord. So Heb. 2: 3. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which first began to be spoken by the Lord ?"

It may here be observed, that from the fall of man to our day, the work of redemption in its effects has mainly been carried on by remarkable outpourings of the Spirit of God. Though there be a more constant influence of God's Spirit always in some degree attending his ordinances, yet the way in which the greatest things have been done towards carrying on this work, has always been by remarkable effusions at special seasons of mercy, as may fully appear in our further prosecution of the subject. And this in the days of Enos, was the first remarkable outpouring of the Spirit recorded. There had been a saving work of God on the hearts of some before; but now God was pleased to bring in a harvest of souls to Christ; so that in this we see that great building, of which God laid the foundation immedi