the effects of the curse, and transmitted them to his posterity, seems evident from the peculiar blessing which he gave to Shem. Blessed, says he, be the God of Shem, &c. Gen. ix. 26. 27. Why the God of Shem, and not the God of Japhet, who was the elder, and equally pious towards his father, &c.? This blessing farther commented on to the end.

DISCOURSE IV.

WE have seen the beginning of prophecy, and its first entrance into the world, and what measure of light and hope it brought with it. The next inquiry is, to examine by what degrees this promise was opened and unfolded in the succeeding ages of the world, and to trace the methods of divine Providence in preparing all things for its accomplishment.

If we consider the first prophecy as the foundation of those hopes in which all the sons of Adam have an interest, in which the ages yet to come, as well as the present and those already past, are concerned; we shall not wonder to find that the administrations of Providence have had in all ages relation to this prophecy, and shall have, till the end of all things brings with it the appointed time for the full accomplishment.

One thing, I presume, will be easily granted, because it cannot be easily denied; that if the ancient prophecies which concern the general state and condition of man with regard either to this world or the next, are indeed divine oracles, there must be a consistency in the whole; and how dark or obscure soever some part of them might be at the first delivery and for generations afterwards, yet must they in the event conspire and centre in that great end which was always in the view of Providence : 'known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world:' Acts xv. 18.

Taking then this prophecy to contain the purpose of God with respect to mankind, the administrations of Providence, together with such farther declarations as God has thought fit to make, must needs be the best comment to help us to its meaning.

The account we have of the antediluvian world is very short, and conveys but little knowlege to us of the religion of those times, or of the hopes and expectations then entertained;

yet something there is to show that the curse of the fall was remembered and felt during that period; and that those who preserved a sense of religion, had an expectation of being delivered from the curse; which could be grounded, as far as appears, on nothing but the prophecy already mentioned.

Noah was born in the eleventh century after the fall, and at the time of his birth his father Lamech, by the spirit of prophecy, declared, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed:' Gen. v. 19.

This passage is a very material one, and, considered in all its views, will give some light to the state and condition of the world during this period. We may, I think, from hence fairly collect: 1. that the curse on the ground subsisted in all its rigor to the days of Lamech; and that the work and toil necessary to raise from the ground a sufficient support for life, was a grievous and irksome burden. There is no reason to imagine but that Lamech had as good a share of the things of the world as any other in his time; and yet he speaks of the labor and toil of life much more like a man reporting what he had felt than what he had only seen. 2. That there was an expectation in his time, at least among those who had not quite forgotten God, of a deliverance from the curse of the fall. Lamech's prophecy does not introduce this expectation, but is grounded on it he seems to speak to such as had the same common hope with himself of a deliverance to come, and points out to them the child then born as the instrument designed by Providence to ease them of their burden. THIS SAME shall comfort us :' that is, this is the seed of the woman, the heir of the promise, the effect of which shall be seen in his time. 3. That the ancient expectation, founded on the prophecy given at the fall, was not of an immediate and sudden deliverance. Above a thousand years were passed from the curse to the birth of Noah, and yet the expectation of deliverance continued; whereas, had the notion been that the prophecy was to be immediately fulfilled, the delay had been long enough to tire out their patience and their hopes. 4. That the ancient expectation was not that the world should be delivered all át once from the whole curse of the fall. Lamech, who so well

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remembered the Lord's curse on the ground, cannot be supposed to forget the greater curse on man: dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return' and yet from this part of the curse he gives no hopes of deliverance. Noah was not the seed who should bring life and immortality to light; of him he only foretells that he should save them from the labor and toil of their hands,' and leaves the hopes of deliverance from the greater curse to stand as they did, on the faith of the first prophecy. This notion of a gradual deliverance from the old curse is agreeable to all that has happened since, and to the present state of things under the gospel: it is frequently to be met with in the inspired writers, particularly in St. Paul, who tells us, THE LAST enemy that shall be destroyed is death.' In consequence of this exposition of the prediction of Lamech, it must be maintained that the prophecy has been verified in the event; that the earth has been restored from the curse laid on it at the fall, and now enjoys the effect of the blessing bestowed on Noah. There will arise many prejudices, I am sensible, against this notion now advanced. In the first place, the prophecy which was given at the fall has been usually appropriated to Christ Jesus, and to the deliverance we expect from him by the restoration of life and immortality; and it may be thought perhaps no good service to give any other person a share in this prophecy.

In answer to this I have some few observations to offer : 1. that the curse of the fall manifestly consists of several parts. Man was doomed to a life of labor and sorrow here, the ground cursed for his sake, and he condemned to seek his food in the sweat of his brow; and after this life ended, he was sentenced to return to the dust from whence he was taken. 2. The prophecy given as a support to man under this curse, mentions no kind of deliverance particularly, but conveys a general hope, which is limited to no one circumstance of the curse more than another, and is therefore naturally understood to relate to the whole. 3. Should there appear reason sufficient to induce us to think that this prophecy has already in part had its completion, and that the one part of the curse has been already removed; it will be so far from weakening, that it will mightily support and strengthen our hopes of seeing the whole removed

in God's own time. 4. It ought to be no objection that this prophecy is supposed to point out more events or more persons than one. This is according to the analogy of the ancient prophecies. And why may not this prophecy mean Noah and Christ, as well as many others mean David and Christ, Solomon and Christ, &c. ?

Another prejudice will arise from the common notion of the present and past state of the earth. Instead of seeing any alteration for the better, according to the prophecy of Lamech, men think they see an alteration for the worse in every age: nature seems to them to be almost spent and worn out, and less able to provide for her children now than formerly. These are the sentiments of the present age, and they were so of those past. We meet with many reflexions of this kind in graye and serious authors. St. Cyprian, I remember, complains that things were sensibly grown worse even in the compass of his own time; that the seasons of the year were not so pleasant, nor the fruits of the earth so delightful and refreshing as he remembered them. I wonder not at his judgment; for I find myself every day growing into the same opinion. The best and the choicest fruits served up at the tables of the great have no such relish as those which they once provided for themselves when they were young; and many there are who can now find but few days good enough to be abroad, who yet can remember when there were few bad enough to keep them at home. Such observations, therefore, as these, show how much men alter themselves; but they show nothing else.

But this prejudice has a greater support from ancient tradition we read of a golden age when peace and plenty reigned, when fraud and violence were little known. The old writers to whom we are indebted for this piece of knowlege, set off the story by mixing with it great complaints of their own times; that iron age, as they call it, in which they lived. From these authorities many have been led to think that the curse on the earth has been ever growing and shall grow till the end of all things.

But it ought to be considered that the most ancient writers, to whom we are beholden for these accounts, lived at such a distance of time from the flood, that we may very well sup