PART THE SECOND.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

SECTION VII.

WHATEVER may be the diversity of opinions respecting those who lived before the Flood, or who were swept away by it, there is scarcely any room to doubt that it was a signal act of mercy to all succeeding generations, inasmuch as it has shortened human life, and thereby enforced every motive for penitence and piety, and in the same proportion, diminished our temptations and incentives to evil.

When the life of man was protracted through several hunded years, his hopes of reward and fears of punishment were very faint and distant, his terrestrial pursuits and enjoyments grew up amidst centuries of indulgence, the strength of his constitution and the violence of his passions overcame all the dictates of reason and

conscience. Hence, "the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and the imaginations of his heart were only evil continually." It was to rectify this scene of crime and atrocity, that God thought fit to sweep away the old world, and thus, by contracting the bounds of this probationary existence, to bring us, as it were, into contact with the rewards and punishments of a future life.

On this account, it should be considered that the argument will now assume a far more plain and practical form, because it will become strictly applicable to ourselves and to those who resemble us in every part of the world. By the universality of the Flood, all men were transformed into one common character, they were reduced to the same level and to the same origin. As far as we are concerned, this was a new creation of the world, and it is from this second creation, we undertake to shew that the promise of God in Christ relates alike to all generations, and that all are rendered salvable through the divine mercy.

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SECTION VIII.

The Covenant with Noah.

GOD spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying, And I, behold I, establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you." Gen. ix. 8, 9. "By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness by faith." Heb.xi. 7.

The covenant which is here spoken of, it is admitted, related solely to a temporal promise; viz. that there should be no more such a flood upon the earth. But, when it is recollected, that it was made with Noah on behalf of all flesh, it must at least prove that Noah was now dealt with, like Adam before, as the federal head and representative of all his posterity. But, if so, it deserves consideration, whether when he "became heir of the righteousness by faith," this inheritance did not extend as matter of

title to all his descendants; in other words, whether the dispensation of grace was not the promised inheritance of all succeeding generations ?

The least which can be inferred from the terms of the covenant, is this, that the providential love and mercy of God should be extended to all his posterity; but, when we consider that the distinction between Providence and Grace is a distinction of artifical theology, rather than implying any difference in the Divine mind, we ought to pause, before we attempt to disunite the one from the other.

It is clearly to be understood also from the expression of St. Paul (Heb. xi. 7.), that Noah acted in confidence of that promise which had been previously given to Adam of a Redeemer; and if so, the temporal covenant was but a seal to the spiritual blessing, and they are both to be referred to all mankind. This reasoning is still further confirmed by the consideration, that the terms of the original blessing (see Gen. i. 28.) were now repeated to Noah and his sons. "Be fruit

ful and multiply, and replenish the earth," &c. Gen. ix. 1. And to show that the image of God had not altogether perished in man through the Fall, the crime of murder is prohibited on this very account. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man," ver. 6.

As these declarations were made "to Noah and his sons, of whom the whole earth was overspread," we are obliged to interpret them in reference to all mankind. And, as it took place at a period when the whole human race consisted of one single family, and when the world was starting, as it were, from a new creation, it seems necessary to comprehend all future generations under this general covenant. This covenant was the covenant of mercy and of grace through Jesus Christ, being founded on the original promise, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.”

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Noah had not only the temporal covenant given to him and his sons, but he was also, as the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us, heir of the righteousness which is by