2. The promise of a glorious exaltation, to be the Father's honorary servant, prime minister of heaven, as great administrator of the covenant Isa. lii. 13, "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." Chap. xlix. 8. "I will give thee for a covenant of the people." In fulfilling the condition of the covenant, he took upon him the form of a bond-servant, and humbled himself even unto the death of the cross: wherefore God also, according to the promise of the covenant, hath highly exalted him to the prime ministry of heaven, and given him a name as great administrator of the covenant, which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, Phil. ii. 7. 8, 9, 10. The nature, vast extent, and importance of this promise, will afterwards be unfolded, when we come to treat of the administration of the covenant, in virtue thereof put in the Mediator's hand.

3. The promise of a seed and offspring, numerous as the stars of heaven: Isa. liii. 10, "He shall see his seed." Gen. xv. 5, "So shall thy seed be;" namely, "as the stars of the sky in multitude," Heb. xi. 12: even the whole multitude of the elect, all of them to live by his death, and to bear his image, as a child doth that of his father. He consented to suffer the pangs of death; but they were travailing pains, to issue in a numerous birth. He was as a corn of wheat to fall into the ground, and die; but the promise secured to him, on that condition, his bringing forth much fruit, John xii. 24. It is in pursuance of the accomplishment of this promise, the gospel continues to be preached from age to age; forasmuch as, in virtue thereof," as many as are ordained to eternal life, shall believe."

4. The promise of his inheriting all things, as primary heir; Psalm lxxxix. 27, "I will make him my first-born." So the apostle says, God hath appointed him heir of all things, Heb. i. 2. And Christ himself declares his being put in possession accordingly, Matt. xi. 27,"All things are delivered unto me of my Father." Thus he hath by promise suitable treasures for the supporting of the dignity conferred on him. But of this also more afterwards.

5. Lastly, The promise of victory and dominion over all his, and his people's enemies: Psalm lxxxix. 23, "I will beat down his foes before his face." He was to encounter with Satan, sin, and death, in the quarrel of the designed heirs of glory; and no sooner was he engaged against them, but the wicked world of men began a war with him too but he had his Father's promise, for victory and dominion over them all: that, how beit he should get the first fall, and die in the battle, yet his death should be the destruction of Satan's dominion, sin's power, and death's bands over his people;

and that whosoever should go about to support that tottering interest, should fall under him: Psalm cx. 1, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."

And thus far of the threefold promise peculiar to Christ himself, in the covenant.

OF THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE TO THE ELECT, CONSIDERED IN THREE PERIODS.

THE promises common to the elect, made in and through Christ unto them in the covenant, are also many. A particular enumeration of them I intend not, though every one of them is more precious than the gold of Ophir: but it would be profitable for serious Christians, as they read through the Old and New Testament, to mark them in their bibles, for their spiritual treasure, stored with such variety, as affords what is suitable for every case they can be in. They are all comprehended in, and may be reduced unto this one, to wit, the promise of eternal life for which the two following texts may be viewed.

Tit. i. 2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began."

1 John ii. 25, "And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life."

In which words, three things for our purpose offer themselves to be observed. 1. The great and comprehensive promise of the covenant of grace, the sum of all the promises therein, to sinners; namely, the promise of life eternal: that is the order of the words in the original. The covenant is a covenant of life, designed for restoring dead sinners to life and so the promise of it is a promise of life. And that life is eternal. 2. The date of this promise, before the world began. While as yet time was not, and the foundation of the world was not laid, it was made, and eternal life thereby secured to the elect. 3. The parties concerned in it. The maker of the promise was God that cannot lie; whose promise therefore must needs take effect. And, by special appropriation, it was the Father it was HE that made it: ver. 24, "Ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father." Ver. 25, " And this is the promise that he hath promised us," &c. The party it was made to, is, (1.) and chiefly, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, head of the covenant for there is no necessity to recede from the proper signifition of the word here used, which is promising, to a catachrestical

one, to wit, purposing: since the promises were made to Christ, Gal. iii. 16. And he really was before the world began, and consequently then capable of having a promise made to him. (2.) The elect in him. He hath promised us, namely, us legally in him before the world began; that is the elect who apply and plead the promise then, when they believe.

And hence ariseth this truth, viz. The great and comprehensive promise to Christ's spiritual seed, in the covenant, is the promise of life eternal, made from eternity to Christ, and to them in him.

For opening of this promise of the covenant, we shall view it, (1.) More generally, (2.) More particularly.

I. In the general, it speaks two things, to wit, all true happiness and the everlastingness of that happiness.

First, It comprehends, as the matter thereof, all true happiness. For life is used for happiness in the holy language, 1 Sam. xxv. 6. So John iv. 50. And it is so used in the style of both covenants: Rom. x. 5, "The man which doth those things, shall live (i. e. be happy) by them." Hab. ii. 4, "The just shall live (i. e. be happy) by his faith." The damned have a life in hell that will last for ever: but, in the style of the Holy Ghost, they never see life, they are deprived of eternal life; because their life is not a happy life, but a miserable one. It is evident from the writings of the prophets and apostles, that the death threatened in the covenant of works, comprehended all misery, in this world and in the world to come; and, consequently, that the life therein promised, comprehended all happiness in time and eternity. Forasmuch then as the life promised in the covenant of grace, was designed for retrieving the loss sinners sustained by the fall; it must needs, in its comprehension, go as wide as the death which thereby they became liable unto. From all which we conclude, that God, in promising life to the elect in Christ, hath promised them all happiness: which accordingly goes under the name of life simply in the Scripture, 1 John v. 12, "He that bath the Son, hath life." And thus the covenant-life extends to all welfare of the whole man, and to all the means by which it is compassed.

1. The covenant-life extends to all welfare of the whole man, soul and body; the latter as well as the former. And therefore from the covenant our Lord proves the resurrection of the body, against the Sadducees, Matth. xxii. 31, 32. Though the soul is the principal part, it is not the only part, therein provided for. In virtue of the covenant, the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body;" as well as the soul is for him, and he for it, 1 Cor. vi. 13. As the body had its share in the death threatened in the first coveVOL. VIII.

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nant; so it hath, and shall have its share in the life promised in the second. Since the price of the Redeemer's blood was paid for the bodies of his people, in his fulfilling the condition of the covenant; the life secured in the promise must extend to them, as well as to their souls.

2. It extends to all the means by which that welfare is to be compassed, begun, advanced, and perfected: "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours," 1 Cor. iii. 22. For the securing of the benefit itself by promise, secures all the means by which it is to be brought about. Hence the covenant descends even to the bread and the water, necessary for the support of natural life, Isa. xxxiii. 16.

Secondly, The promise comprehends the everlastingness of that happiness. It is not only life that is promised, but life eternal, life for evermore, Psalm cxxxiii. 3; which, from the moment it is given, shall never be extinguished, through the ages of time and eternity. In the style of the Scripture, eternal life is not restricted to the state of glory in heaven. But the life communicated to a sinner, in the first moment of his union with Christ, is eternal: it is the eternal life promised in the covenant, according to the Scripture, John iii. 36, "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life." See chap. v. 24; 1 John v. 11, 12. Hence, from the promise of the covenant, "The just shall live by faith," the apostle proves the perseverance of the saints, Heb. x. 38. A plain evidence, that perseverance in grace, in this our state of imperfection, is a part of the eternal life promised in the covenant, as well as heaven's happiness. And thus the covenant-life extends to that which now is, and that which is to come, 1 Tim. iv. 8.

1. It extends to the life that now is in the world. And this is that eternal life begun in the several parts thereof, with respect both to soul and body. If men measure happiness by the smiles and frowns of common providence, no man indeed can be counted happy before death. But the sacred oracles teach us to take our measures of it another way, to wit, by a personal saving interest in the covenant; and do pronounce them happy, whose God is the Lord, whatever be between them and the grave, Psalm cxliv. 15. So there is promised in the covenant, happiness begun in this life, both as to soul and body; the happiness of the way to the kingdom; salvation happily begun, and infallibly to be carried on.

2. It extends to the life that is to come in the other world. And that is the same eternal life consummated and perfected, in respect both of soul and body, in heaven. There the promise of the cove

nant is to receive its full accomplishment; of which believers now have the earnest, which is not only a part of the things promised, but an assurance of the whole.

II. For a more particular view of the promise of eternal life to the elect, it may be considered in three periods: (1.) Before their union with Christ; (2.) From their union with Christ, until death; and, (3.) From death, through eternity. Of the operation of the promise, in the first and the last of these periods, we know but little; and indeed not much of it, in the middle period. For it is like a river issuing from a hidden spring, and running far under ground; then rising above ground, and running on, till it go forth into the ocean. The hidden spring from whence the promise of eternal life to the elect issueth forth, is God's free grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began, 2 Tim. i. 9. It runs under ground, undiscernible even to the parties themselves, till the moment of their union with Christ, in effectual calling; then rising, it runs on, as it were, above ground, in visible streams, until death; and thereafter, it runs full and perspicuous through the ages of eternity. We shall take a view of the great lines of the promise, in these its several periods.

PERIOD I.

BEFORE UNION WITH CHRIST.

If we consider the promise of eternal life to the elect, as standing in the covenant, and as accomplished to them, and having its effect on them, before their union with Christ, we may perceive two great lines in it; namely, a promise of their preservation, and a promise of the Spirit. Of which in order.

I. THE PROMISE OF PRESERVATION.

The promise of eternal life to the elect, in the covenant, comprehends a promise of their preservation, till the happy moment of their spiritual marriage with Jesus Christ, wherein they shall be settled in a state of grace: Ezek. xvi. 6, “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live." Heb. "I said to thee, Live in thy blood;" as several approven versions do read it. In this