through the Mediator, it would also convince Adam of that judgment which he deserved, which through the offered mediation of Christ was averted from the chosen seed of the woman, and for ever settled on the seed of the serpent; and oh! how fatal must it have been for Adam, (we say not for the human race, seeing that none were yet born of him) had the sentence gone out, before the intervention of a Mediator could have given effectual assistance to his fallen soul.

3d. The promising the seed of the woman.

The purposed death of Christ for fallen man, which was typified to Adam and Eve so soon after the fall, in the victims slain, in whose skins they were clothed, was productive instantly of this good effect, that it drew a line of distinction between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And hence the æra of the fall presents to our view, the blessed exhibition of discriminating grace beaming forth from God, who by the sovereign exertion of his will," Will be gracious (as he himself de"clared) to whom I will be gracious, and will "shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy," Exod. xxxiii. 19. From the first period, God put a marked difference between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, not because there was any natural or moral difference, seeing both were descendants of Adam, and both equally under the curse of the fall: but because he had determined to shew that he had put the seed of the woman

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into Christ, who himself should be born of a virgin, that thus they might visibly be objects of his special favor. And here it may be observed, that whilst Christ promised the seed of the woman, or a seed to the woman, he promised himself: and that, 1st. In his human naturé, as being emphatically "her seed," Gen. iii. 15, and 2d. In his mediatorial offices; "thou shalt bruise "his heel," ver. 15. But more particularly he promised a seed to be chosen out of all nations, and in due time gathered from all quarters of the globe, who should spring from the woman in a natural relation; his own spiritual relation to the woman by taking our nature being the cause of the choice of them; for when Eve became through Christ taking her for his spiritual spouse, his only beloved and chosen spouse, then all the fruits of that mystical and spiritual union, became both the seed of the woman and the seed of Christ, the chosen seed of a chosen virgin, betrothed unto Christ for ever and ever. And this union procured;

4th. The pardon and acceptance of all the seed of the woman.

Though the righteous are the seed of the woman Eve, the mother of all the living in a spiritual sense, yet they are born in sin, because she herself sinned, and because they are in common with the seed of the serpent, federally children of her earthly husband Adam; thus they pass through the curse to the blessing, and must bitterly feel their fall in the first Adam, before they rise in Christ. Their pos

session then of the blessing, ariseth from the union of Christ to the spiritual Eve, whereby a grant of pardon and acceptance is soon bestowed upon her` spiritual children. Observe this visible in the two first children of our first parents, one of whom was the seed of the serpent, and the other the seed of the woman. Observe the fruits of this, visible in the comluct they soon adopted, "Cain (the first "born) brought of the fruit of the ground, an "offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also

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brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offerings. But unto Cain, and "to his offering he had not respect. And Cain "talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him," Gen. iv. 3, 4, 5 and 8. the murder of Abel.

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And see how God avengeth "What hast thou done?

"the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me

from the ground. And now art thou cursed "from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to "redeive thy brother's blood from thy hand. "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not kence'forth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive "and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth," Gen. iv. 10, 11, 12.

But to speak more of that pardon and acceptance which the seed of the woman enjoy; this pardon is

for ever sealed to them in the courts above. Not that the seed of the woman are eternally justified in their sins, but above their sins: for this spiritual seed, before they are brought by regeneration and effectual calling, are as much deserving of the wrath of God as the seed of the serpent, and often more sensibly feel God's displeasure in this present world. But their pardon runs thus: that they shall be made sensible in God's own time of their lost and ruined state, of the heinousness of their sins, of the terrors of the law, and of the awful nature and sad effects (if grace had intervened not) of sinning against God; of the justice of God's sentence, though he should condemn them, yet of the riches of his grace, in accepting them through the beloved. This brings them, through the Spirit, humbly to sue for pardon through the blood of the cross: and to ask every mercy through their covenant head, their kinsman Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ: and then as to their acceptance: the woman's seed `are made to know and feel their interest in Christ; not that all feel it alike, for many scarcely feel it at all; yet the most trembling are tremblingly alive to their lost condition out of Christ: and when they can scarcely hope are resolved if they perish to perish in praise at God's footstool. Nor does this encourage the enthusiasm of those who think they have sufficient love to God to praise him for ever, if they were for ever doomed to perish in the flames of

hell not considering that their presence in torment, would prove they had been enemies at heart to him; for God could not according to his oath and purpose in Christ Jesus, doom to hell any who delighted in his ways, revered his name and walked in his truth. Thus far as to the primary effects of Christ's death; to speak of the secondary, on their application to every believer, they are these;

1st. The effectual calling of the seed of the womau. A call to salvation is the only way of salvation, as man hath no willingness to come to be saved. Nor is an invitation all that is necessary, seeing man with an unrenewed heart is obstinately bent on refusing mere offers of mercy. A call, expressly personally, irresistibly and effectually is necessary; which whilst it breaks the stubborn heart into ten thousand pieces, makes it willing in the day of God's power; and draws it by that "love," which is strong as death," Solomon's Song viii. 6. To consider these-a call expressly, " Awake "thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and "Christ shall give thee light," Ephes. v. 14. where particular characters are mentioned, even those who sleep on carelessly in their sins. A call personally, Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory

of the Lord is risen upon thee," Isaiah lx. 1. and to instance particular characters; behold Saul of Tarsus, met by Christ himself whilst going to persecute his church, with this language," Saul, Saul,