to them, however long and dark their night may be. This promife is found, Ifa. xliv. 3. I will pour my Spirit upon thy feed. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. I will put my Spirit within you. The elect of God being, even as the reft of mankind, dead in fin, through the breach of the first covenant, could not be recovered, but through a communication of the Spirit of life to them: but that Spirit they could not have from an un-atoned God. Wherefore, in the covenant, Chrift undertoook to fulfil all righteoufnefs in their name, thereby to purchase the Spirit for them: upon which was made the promise of the Spirit, the leading fruit of Chrift's purchase; called therefore the Father's promife by way of eminency, Luke xxiv. 49. In token hereof the great outpouring of the Spirit was at Chrift's afcenfion; when he, as our great High Prieft, carried in the blood of his facrifice into the moft holy place not made with hands, Acts ii. Fór as the fire which was fet to the incenfe on the golden altar, the altar of incenfe, was brought from off the brazen altar, the altar of burnt-offering in the court of the temple, fo the Spirit which caufeth dead finners to live, iffueth from the cross of Chrift, who fuffered without the gate.

Now, of the promife of the Spirit there are two chief branches; namely, the promife of fpiritual moral life, and the promife of faith.

1. The promife of Spiritual MORAL life, in virtue whereof the foul morally dead in fin, is raifed to life again, through the Spirit of life communicated unto it from heaven. This is the beginning, the very first of the eternal life itfelf promifed in the covenant. It is the lighting of the facred lamp of fpiri- • tual life in the foul, which can never be extinguished again, but burns for evermore thereafter. This promife we have, Ifa.xxvi. 19. Thy dead men fball live. And it belongs to the promife of the Spirit; as appears

from

from Ezek. xxxvii. 14. And fball put my Spirit in you, and ye fball live.

The effect of it is the quickening of the dead foul, by the Spirit of Chrift paffively received: Eph. ii. 5. When we were dead in fins (God, ver. 4.) hath quickened us. This is the fame with the renewing in effectual calling, whereby we are enabled to embrace Jefus Chrift, mentioned in our Shorter Catechifm on that question. And it is fitly called by fome divines, the first regeneration, agreeable to the ftyle of the holy fcripture: John i. 12. But as many as RECEIVED him, to them gave he power to become the fons of God, even to them that BELIEVE on his name: ver, 13. Which WERE BORN, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but oF GOD.. Sinners in their natural ftate lie dead, lifelefs, and moveless; they can no more believe in Christ, nor repent than a dead man can fpeak or walk: but, in virtue of the promife, the Spirit of life from Chrift Jefus, at the time appointed, enters into the dead foul, and quickens it; fo that it is no more morally dead, but alive, having new fpiritual powers put into it, that were loft by Adam's fall.

2. The other chief branch of the promise of the Spirit, is the promife of FAITH: to wit, that Chrift's fpiritual feed fhall believe in him, come unto him, and receive him, by faith: Pfal. cx. 3. Thy people hall be willing in the day of thy power; and Pfal.

xxii.

31. They hall come. God hath promifed, that upon the bedding of the blood of his Son, for the fatisfaction of justice, there fhall fpring up in the earth, after that coftly watering, a plentiful feed, to the fatisfying of his foul, Ifa. liii. 10. And therefore, whoever they be that believe not, all thofe who were reprefented in the covenant, fhall infallibly be brought to believe, as our Lord himfelf, upon the credit of this promife, doth declare; John vi. 37. All that the

Father

Father giveth me, fball come to me. Now, this alfo belongs to the promife of the SPIRIT; who is therefore called the fpirit of faith, 2 Cor..iv. 13. as being the principal efficient caufe thereof, Zech. xii. 10.

The effect of this promife is actual believing, produced by the quickening Spirit in the foul, immedi ately out of the fpiritual life given to it by the communication of himself thereto: John v. 25. The dead. fhall hear the voice of the Son of God; compared with Chap. i. 12. 13. 2 Cor. iv. 13. As receiving Chrift paffively, the finner that was fpiritually dead is quickened; fo being quickened, he receives Chrift activeby. Chrift comes into the dead foul by his Spirit: and fo he is paffively received; even as one, having a power to raife the dead, coming into a house, where there is none but a dead man; none to open the door to him, none to defire him to come in, nor to welcome him. But Chrift being thus received, or come in, the dead foul is quickened, and by faith embraceth him; even as the reftorer of the dead man to life, would immediately be embraced by him,. and receive a thoufand welcomes from him, who had heard his voice and lived. When Chrift in the womb of his mother, entered into the houfe of Zacharias, and the faluted Elifabeth the mother of John the Baptift, he, the babe in Elifabeth's womb, leaped as at the entrance of life: fo doth the foul, in actual believing, at Chrift's coming into it by his Spirit. As God breathed into the firft man the breath of life, and he became a living foul, who was before but a lifeless piece of fair earth; that is, God put a fpirit, a foul, into his body, which immediately fhewed itfelf in the man's breathing at his noftrils: fo Jefus Christ, in the time of loves, puts his Spirit into the dead foul, which immediately fhews itfelf alive, by believing, receiving and embracing him, known and difcerned in his tranfcendent glory. And thus the

union betwixt Chrift and the foul is completed; Chrift firft apprehending the foul by his Spirit; and then the foul thus apprehended and quickened, apprehending him again in the promise of the gofpel by faith.

Now, the promife of the Spirit, in both branches thereof, is grafted upon the promise of a refurrection from the dead, made to Chrift; and it is fo interwoven therewith, that there is no feparating of them. The promife of his refurrection, like the oil on Aaron's head, runs down to the skirts of his garments, in the promife of quickening his members too. Herein the fcripture is very plain, Ifa. xxvi. 19. Thy dead men fhall live, together with my dead body hall they arife. Eph. ii. 5. Even when we were dead in fins, hath quickened us together with Chrift. Our Lord Jefus, in the eternal covenant, became the head of a dead body, to wit, of the body of elect finners dead in fin; and that to the end he might reftore it to life. And being legally united with that body, that fo death might have accefs to fpread itself from it unto him in due time, he had the promife of a refur rection, both for himself and his members, made unto him. The appointed time being come, death drew together its whole forces, and made an attack upon the head of the body, which alone remained alive. It ftung him to the heart upon the cross, and laid him too in the duft of death: and fo it had them all dead together, head and members. Thus the condition of the covenant was fulfilled. Now, the promise comes next, in its turn, to be fulfilled; particularly, the promise of a refurrection: namely, that, death having exhaufted all its force and vigour on the head, he fhould be raised again from the dead: and that as death had fpread itself from the members into the head, fo life, in its turn, fhould fpread itfelf from the head into the members, they, together with his dead body, arifing. It was in virtue hereof,

that

that the frit or foul that animated Chrift's body, and which he yeilded up upon the crofs, (Matth. xxvii. 50.) fhewed by his breathing out his last there, (Luke xxiii. 46. Gr.), was returned again into his bleffed body: whereupon he came forth out of the grave. And it is in virtue of the fame, that the Spirit of life returns into the dead fouls of the elect again; upon which they live and believe. The time of the return of the Spirit, both into the head, and into the members, was prefixed in the covenant, refpectively: fo that as it was not poffible Chrift fhould be held in the grave after three days; even fo it is not poffible, that his elect fhould be held in the bonds of fpiritual death, after the time prefixed for their delivery: Hof. vi. 2. After two days will be revive us, in the third day he will raife us up, and we shall live in his fight.

And thus the promise of eternal life to the elect works in this dark period of their days; which dark period ends here. It appears now, and runs above ground ever after.

C

PERIOD II.

From Union with Chrift, until Death.

YOnfidering the promife of eternal life to the elect, as it is accomplished to, and hath its effect on them, from their union with Chrift, until death; the great lines to be perceived therein, are the promises, . Of juftification; 2. Of a new and faving covenant-relation to God; 3. Ob sanctification; 4. Of perfeverance; and, 5. Of temporal benefits; Of which in order..

I. The promife of JUSTIFICATION.

The promife of eternal life, to the elect, compre hends the promise of juftification, to be conferred

on

!