The next thing that we are to observe, is, that the covenant of grace is called the _Second Covenant_; and this leads us to enquire, whether we have any ground, from scripture, to conclude, that there are more covenants than these two; or, at least, whether what we call the _Second Covenant_, or the covenant of grace, may not be subdivided into two covenants; since the apostle seems to speak of two covenants made with fallen man, _viz._ one that was made with the Israelites, given from mount Sinai, which was designed to continue no longer than that dispensation they were under, lasted; and the other is, that which the church has been under, ever since the gospel dispensation was erected, which is to continue to the end of the world. These are described by their respective properties, in an allegorical way, and illustrated by a similitude, taken from two mountains, Sinai and Sion; and two persons, mentioned in scripture, Agar and Sarah: The former of these is said _to gender unto bondage_; the latter brings those, who are under it into a state of liberty, Gal. iv. 24. _& seq._ and one of these covenants is said to be better than the other, and particularly called a new covenant; the other is represented as _decaying, waxing old, and ready to vanish away_, Heb. viii. 6, 8, 13. Moreover, the apostle seems to speak of more covenants than one, made with the Jewish church; for he says, that _to them pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants_, Rom. ix. 4. &c. and elsewhere, speaking concerning the Gentiles, as _aliens from the commonwealth of Israel_, he adds, that _they were also strangers from the covenants of promise_, Eph. ii. 12. which seems to argue, that there were more than two covenants with man; one with innocent man; the other, the gospel-covenant, which we are under; and, besides these, there were other covenants, made with Israel, which seems to carry in it the appearance of an objection, to what was before observed, that there was, in reality, but two covenants, and that whenever we read of any covenant in scripture, it is reducible to one of them. This may, without much difficulty, be accounted for, consistently therewith, if we consider the sense of those scriptures above mentioned. _First_, As to those scriptures, that seem to speak of two distinct covenants, made with fallen man, to wit, one with the Israelites, the other, that which we are under, they really intend nothing more than two different dispensations of the covenant of grace; in which sense we are to understand the apostle, when he speaks of the two covenants, the _Old_ and the _New_, the _First_ and the _Second_: the covenant is the same, though the dispensation of the grace of God therein, or the way of revealing it to men, differs. But this will be more particularly insisted on in those following answers, which respect the various administrations of grace, under the Old and New Testament; therefore we proceed,