trary to equity and justice, when he punishes the sins of men with eternal torments both of soul and body. Which the event shews, as I have made appear above. § 17.

XLI. But I know not, if it can be determined, whether this eternity ought necessarily to consist in the punishment of sense, or whether the justice of God may be satisfied by the eternal punishment of loss, in the annihilation of the sinful creature. This I apprehend, may be said with sufficient probability and sobriety: If God shall be pleased to continue in existence for ever, the sinful creature, it is necessary (without satisfaction) that he for ever inflict punishment on him, not only the punishment of loss, but likewise that of sense. The reason is, because not only the guilt of sin always remains; but also the stain with which sin, once committed, infects the whole soul, and which can never be purged out but by the blood of Christ. But it is impossible, as we proved, § 22, 23, 24. that God should admit man stained with sin, to communion with himself: and it cannot be, that a rational creature, excluded the enjoyment of the divine favor, should not feel this indignation of God with the deepest anguish. Conscience most severely lashes the wretches for having squandered away the chief good. Which with no small care we have also shewn, § 13. and the following sections.

XLII. But whether it be necessary, that God should preserve forever the sinful creature in a state of existence, I own I am ignorant. May it not, in its measure, be reckoned an infinite punishment, if God should please to doom man, who was by nature a candidate for eternity, to total annihilation, from whence he should never be suffered to return to life? I know, God has now determined otherwise, and that with the highest justice. But it is queried, whether, agreeably to his justice, he might not have settled it in this manner: If thou O man, sinnest, I will frustrate thy desire of eternal happiness, and

of a blessed eternity, and, on the contrary give thee up to eternal annihilation? Here at least let us stop.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Sacraments of the Covenant of Works.

T hath pleased the blessed and almighty God, in every dispensation of his covenants, to confirm, by some sacred symbols, the certainty of his promises, and, at the same time to remind man, in covenant with him, of his duty: to which symbols ecclesiastical practice has long since given the name of Sacraments. This was certainly appointed with an excellent design by the all-wise God. For, 1. What God has made known concerning his covenant, is, by this means, proposed to man's more accurate consideration: since he has not only once and again been instructed in the will of God by a heavenly oracle, but frequently, and almost daily, beholds with his eyes those things, which by heaven, are granted him as pledges of the greatest blessings. What believers see with their eyes, usually sink deeper into the soul, and leave clearer impressions of themselves, than those only which they hear with their ears. Elegantly to this purpose says Herodotus,* Men usually give less credit to the ears than to the eyes. 2. These symbols also tend to confirm our faith. For though nothing can be thought of that deserves more credit than the word of God; yet where God adds signs and seals to his infalliable promises, he gives a twofold foundation to our faith. Thus he more abundantly shews unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.† 3. By means of this institution* Lib. i. † Heb. vi. 17, 18.

a holy man does, by sight touch, and taste of the sacred symbols, attain to some sense of eternal blessings, and accustoms himself, under the symbols, to a contemplation and foretaste of these things, to the plenary and immediate fruition of which he will one time or other, be admitted without any outward signs. 4. The man has in these something continually to remind him of his duty; and as from time to time, they present to his thoughts, and give him a prelibation of his Creator, so at the same time they refresh his memory with those very strong obligations, by which he is bound to his covenant-God. And thus they are both a bridle to restrain him from sin, and a spur to quicken him cheerfully to run that holy race, which he has happily entered upon.

II. God also granted to man such symbols under the covenant of works; concerning which we are now to speak, that nothing may be wanting in this treatise; and, if I mistake not, there were four in all, which I reckon up in this order, ì. PARADISE. 2. THE TREE OF LIFE. 3. THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. 4. THE SABBATH. In speaking of each of these, I shall distinctly shew, first, What good they signified and sealed to man, with respect to God. Secondly, What duty and obligation they reminded him of.

III. But I think it previously necessary to observe that it is altogether foreign to this treatise, and out of its place, to propose such significations either of Paradise, or of the tree of life, or of the Sabbath, as relate to the gospel, the grace of Christ, and to glory as freely given to the elect by the Mediator and Spirit of grace. Here I observe, that men otherwise great have stumbled, who, when explaining the nature of those sacraments, too uncautiously blend things belonging to quite a different covenant. Nothing is here to be brought in, which does not belong to the covenant of works, the promises of that covenant, and the duties of man under the same: all of which are

most distinct from the covenant of grace. Here we are to say nothing of Christ, nothing of justifying faith in him, nothing of our ceasing from our own works as impure, nor any thing of that rest after the miseries of this life. All these belong to another covenant. I do not indeed refuse, that the unsearchable wisdom of God did appoint and order these symbols in such a manner, that the remembrance of them, after the fall, might be able to instruct man in many things relating to the covenant of grace, and its Mediator. Thus according to Paul, we observe in the first Adam, a type of the second; in Eve curiously formed out of Adam's rib while asleep, a type of the church, as it were, taken from Christ in virtue of his death; and in the first marriage a great mystery, which regards Christ and the church. These things, however, were neither known to nor thought of by Adam in the state of nature; nor are they to be mentioned in a discourse on the Sacraments of the Covenant of works. Having premised these things, let us now inquire into each particular with all the care possible, beginning with Paradise.

IV. It is far from our design, elaborately to inquire into the situation and topography of Paradise. Let it suffice to observe, that it was a garden, and a most agreeable inclosure, planted by God himself, toward the east, in Eden, a most fertile region, and abounding in all kinds of delights, as very learned men think near Haran, the mart of Arabia, at the conflux of the Euphrates and Tigris, not far from Mesopotamia. Which was watered with four rivers, washing, by many windings and meanders, the most fertile orchard. When' man was formed from the earth without paradise he was introduced by God as a new guest into this place, with design that he might afterwards give an account of his stewardship and care, Here he wanted nothing that could contribute to the proper pleasures of this life, God frequently revealing himself to man, and familiarly admitting him to the sweetest fel

lowship with himself. Moses also mentions the gold and the precious stones of that country, as of the best kind, and in the greatest plenty. What now was the meaning and mystical signification of all these things?

V. First, In general, this pleasantness of this place, every moment setting before man the most profuse bounty of the Deity, and exhibiting the same to the enjoyment of all his senses, assured him, that he was, to expect another residence far more noble and grand; where he should not, as now, enjoy his God through and in the creatures, but immediately delight in his Creator, to his being fully satisfied with his likeness. For if God now conferred upon him such things while on his journey, and before the course of his appointed trial was finished; what might he not, nay what ought he not to promise himself from that immense munificence, after having acted his part well, with the boldness of asking his most ample recompense, he had acquired the right of approaching his rewarder? Was not the Lord, amidst this abundance, that lacked nothing pertaining to this animal life, frequently addressing him, how shall I one day place thee among my sons, if thou constantly continuest obedient to my voice? If there is so much sweetness in these created rivulets of my goodness, in which now thou swimmest with so much pleasure; what will there not be in myself, the unexhausted fountain, and the most plentiful spring? Ascend, O man, by the scale of the creatures, to Me the Creator, and from a foretaste of these first-fruits, conclude, what I have prepared for thee against that time, when I myself shall be thy exceeding great reward. And certainly, unless we suppose Adam to have been stupid, and divoid of all divine light, he I could not but have such thoughts.

VI. The scripture declares, that by paradise is signified the seat of perfect bliss, when it calls heaven, the habitation of the blessed, by the name of paradise.* *Luke xxiii. 43. 2 Cor. xii. 4.

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