are exprefsly mentioned in an after covenant, and evidently included in this one. In this transaction then, Noah may be confidered,As one of the ancestors of the Meffiah, the principal and extraordinary Seed of the Woman*; of confequence, this Covenant had a respect unto the first promife, and was a neceffary step towards the accomplishment of it. God faw meet to preferve the true religion in that family and fociety, in which was the ancestors of the promised Seed; and it was neceffary to fecure their natural lives until he raifed up fucceffors unto them.As one of the types of that glorious Seed. As to many of the ancestors of the Meffiah, according to the flesh, it may be justly doubted whether they were types of him or not; but Noah prefigured him in many refpects. The very names of the ancient Hebrews were usually expreffive of fome remarkable quality in the perfon on whom, or fome remarkable incident on the occafion at which they were impofed. Some of them feem likeways to have been impofed by the infpiration of the Holy Ghost. The name NOAH feems to have been of this kind: It imports REST, pointing forward to the glorious reft of the Meffiah. Noah's work at the ark was alfo an emblem of the work of falvation by Jefus Christ. Both Noah and Jefus were preachers of righteouf * Luke iii. 36. nefs But Noah was nefs unto impenitent finners. chiefly a figure of our Redeemer, as covenantpromises were made unto him, as the reprefentative of his feed. If Abraham was a type of Chrift, as unto Abraham, and his feed, the promifes were made, Why may not Noah be a type of him, on this account, likeways? As the father of that family in which the Church of the living God, both visible and invisible, was preferved. As he belonged to the latter, he was eminent in grace; as he belonged to the former, he was no lefs eminent for a holy profession and an agreeable converfation. In the former view, the facred hiftorian remarks, "That Noah, a just man, was perfect in his generation." Should any enquire how he obtained this character; the fame hiftorian anfwers, "He found grace in the eyes of the Lord." And the Apostle adds, "That he was an heir of the righteousness which is by faith." By this righteousness he was justified from all his iniquities, and accepted as righteous in God's fight. He was alfo a gracious perfon, being endued with the Holy Ghoft, in his gracious influences and faving operations; fuch as, faith, fear, love, and gofpel-fincerity, or perfection.In the latter view, he was an evangelical preacher of that righteoufnefs by which he was justified. By his doctrine, he bore a public teftimony unto the truths then revealed, as well as against all those errors and immoralities which then prevailed in the world. And I 2 And he was as exemplary in his religious deportment as found and pathetic in his fermons : HE WALKED WITH GOD. Neither the crooked examples nor bitter reproaches of that generation could bias his conduct, or fhake his confidence; but he perfevered in condemning it, even when he was inceffant at a throne of grace for preventing and fparing grace to it. As Job prayed for his friends *, and Daniel for his countryment, fo did Noah for the old world. Hence he is ranked with them, by the Holy Spirit, as a perfon whofe prayers were greatly prevalent at a throne of grace. Such is the harmony between CONDEMNING fin, both by profeffion and practice; and, at the fametime, wifhing well to the fouls of finners, by commending them to God! It is highly probable, God ufed his prayers as a means of keeping off the flood while he was a-building the ark. It is only in this latter respect that Noah was a pattern for covenanters in gofpel days. Happy were it for the Church of God at this time, and this land in particular, had we many covenanters of his spirit, SECONDLY, We must now confider the PARTS of this Covenant; and, in furveying them, we fhall-Specify the Privileges granted to Noah,―The Duties which God required of him, The Relation between this Covenant and *Job xlii. 10. + Dan. ix. 3-21. thofe thofe Obligations which the Church was under, antecedent to the making of it:-Then we must enquire, How far these things are for our Direction and Comfort. I. I MUST Specify the Privileges which God granted to Noah at this time. Mofes defcribeth them thus, “But with thee will I establish my Covenant: and thou shalt come into the ark; thou, and thy fons, and thy wife, and thy fons wives with thee." Thefe words, taken in connection, contain a promise both of temporal and fpiritual falvation. 1. THEY contain a promife of Temporal Salvation. The Apostle informs us, That Noah prepared an ark to the faving of his houfe; and the words of Mofes cannot imply lefs than a tem poral falvation: For they ftand opposed to a threatening of temporal, as well as fpiritual de◄ ftraction to the reft of mankind: "And I, behold I, bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven: and every thing that is in the earth fhall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant," &c. This promife, then, was a firm fecurity against that approaching defolation; and the event moft exactly anfwered the prediction, as appears from the fol lowing chapters of the Mofaic hiftory. 2. THEY 2. THEY contain a pronaife of Spiritual Salvation, typified and exhibited to the faith of Noah by this temporal falvation. Some eminent divines have doubted, I grant, whether fpiritual falvation might be contained in this fœderal grant: But there is no room, I humbly judge, to hesitate in this matter. For the warning God gave to Noah was a foundation to his faith, even fuch faith as is the evidence of things not seen, and the fubftance of things hoped for: It took up with things NOT SEEN AS YET; therefore, the promife, which is the foundation of it, muft exhibit things not feen likeways: For faith cannot reach farther than its foundation. And what are thefe UNSEEN things? Are they not the things which are ETERNAL * Moreover, by this promife, Noah was conftituted an HEIR OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH†; which is a most distinguished part of a spiritual falvation. Now, to constitute one an heir, there must be a deed of conveyance, by which the inheritance is transferred. The Apoftle Peter alfo affures us, That the falvation obtained by the death and refurrection of Chrift is the antitype of Noah's deliverance: "Few, that is, eight perfons, were faved by water. The like figure whereunto baptifm doth alfo now fave us, by the refurrection of Jefus Chrift." Though Noah's deliverance is reckoned among the darkeft of types; yet, from the apoftolic account of * 2 Cor. iv. 18. Heb. xi. 7. 1 Pet. iii. 20. 21. |