Covenant still on which account it is promised of the New Covenant Heb. 8. 10. I will write my Law in their Hearts all which argue the perpetuity thereof 2. The Mount Sinai dispensation as a Covenant is not continuing It is generally granted that it is abrogated in respect of some circumstances fruits and effects of it as servile imbondaging fear and such like but I apprehend that none are under the obligation of it as a Covenant or Testament in Gospel times This may appear these waies 1. The succession of the New Covenant in the room and stead of the Old argue that it is not continuing for one must be removed when another taketh its place Deut. 2. vers 12 21 22. 25. vers 6. 19. vers 1. Now the new Covenant succeedeth the old the Hebrews were apt to be doting upon that made at Mount Sinai to take them off from it he telleth them of a better come in the place and stead of it Heb. 8. vers 8 9. and observe the contradistinction is between Covenant and Covenant not barely between circumstances and accidents of the same Covenant and vers 13. in that he saith a new Covenant he hath made the first old now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away It is the Covenant that is old and the same is said to vanish away and therefore it must needs be that the Sinai Covenant should cease and come to an end as Calvin saith because the second is of another quality It is true that the New Covenant in the substance of it or as a Covenant is found in that with Abraham though not under the notion of New for that is given it in opposition to the Old but it could not be said to succeed until the Old expired 2. The Ceremonial and Judicial Laws are generally granted to be abrogated and so the old Covenant as to them which make a considerable part of it is not continuing indeed the judicials as to their moral equity are deemed binding but not as they are a part of that Covenant for then they must oblige exactly as they stand in it these had a peculiar reference to the Jews They are called judgements Exod. 21. vers 1. determining of rights between man and man and of punishments upon transgressions with reference to the interest of that people in the land of Canaan saith Dr. O. on Hebrews pag. 275. and hence they cannot formally oblige others who have nothing in that Land As to Ceremonials the Apostle to evidence that they are abolished speaketh thus Heb. 7. vers 11 12. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical Priesthood c. where he asserteth perfection viz. as to remission of sin justification c. Heb. 10. vers 16 17 18. was not obtained by the Levitical Priesthood or legal sacrifices and performances but only by Jesus Christ who was typified therein this he proveth thus for under it the people received the Law which importeth that when they arrive at evangelical perfection they are free from the Law do not receive that viz. as a testament as vers 22. and he speaketh of the moral Law as distinguished from the Ceremonial and if perfection were by that saith he vers 11. what further need was there that another Priest should arise after the order of Melchisedeck and not be called after the order of Aaron The necessity of a new order of Priesthood argueth the imperfection of the old and thence he inferreth the abrogation of the Ceremonial Law Vers 12. For the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change of the Law there is such a connexion between the Priesthood and the Law as they stand and fall together if one be abolished as the Aaronical Levitical Priesthood is of necessity the Ceremonial Law by which it stood must be abrogated also and he calleth it a carnal commandment vers 16. vers 18. for there is verily not only an altering and changing but a disanulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof The same might also be cleared from Heb. 9. where he speaketh of Ceremonial usages and they were till the time of reformation they were the patterns and figures of heavenly things the substance being come the shaddow must vanish the antitype Jesus Christ being come the type must cease and O what a glorious priviledge is it that we have freedom from that load of burdensom ceremonies required in the Law There remaineth only the moral Law that any can suppose these promises and threatnings now to be annexed to and as to that 3. Jesus Christ hath perfectly satisfied and fulfilled the mount Sinai Moral Law as it was a Covenant for eternal life and therefore as such it is not still continuing it was impossible for us perfectly to obey the Law by reason of the infirmity of our flesh Rom. 8. vers 3 4. but whatever is demanded there in any of its Precepts as the condition of life Jesus Christ hath performed it for us Matth. 3. vers 15. 5. vers 17. and so hath brought in a perfect righteousness to be imputed to us Rom. 10. vers 4. 2 Corin. 5. vers 21. yet we are not exempted from all obedience to the Moral Law by his obeying perfectly in our stead for his righteousness was for one end viz. to merit eternal life for us Rom. 5. vers 21. our obedience is for other ends as to testifie our conformity and subjection unto God and so to glorifie him c. as his sufferings were for one end viz. to make satisfaction for our sin our afflictions and sufferings are for other ends and not for that Also he satisfied all the threatnings of the Sinai Covenant these all did meet upon him Gal. 3. vers 13. He was made a curse for us so that these faederal Precepts and Curses expire by satisfaction as the Judicial and Ceremonial Laws did by abrogation There remain then only the Promises of it and upon his satisfying the other he altereth these and turneth them from Conditional into absolute as we see in the New Covenant Hence whereas in the Sinai Covenant that cluster of promises concerning their being a peculiar treasure a Kingdom of Priests a holy Nation c. Exod. 19. vers 5 6. did run upon the condition of obedience If ye will obey Jesus Christ having done and suffered all which that Covenant could exact now he hath given all forth in an absolute form to believers and expresseth all as already accomplished unto them 1 Pet. 2. vers 9. But ye are a chosen generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation c. a peculiar people c. it is not now upon an If as in the Sinai Covenant but the promise is fulfilled to them and in Christ they are such as it was conditionally promised of old they should be Thus Rev. 1. vers 5 6. hath made us Kings and Priests unto Goâ— and his Father but how he hath loved us
Works though in its execution and application it cometh after and presupposeth the breaking of it As a healing balsam may be prepared before the wound is made and a salve before there be a sore although the applying thereof be afterward So the Covenant of grace was made from Eternity not actually with us in our own persons but with Jesus Christ for us as our great Feoffee in trust though we then were unborn and had not a being Corol. 7. Hence the whole contrivement of the Covenant of grace must be ascribed to God alone seeing it was from all Eternity No creature was then existing to have any hand or stroke therein there was none to counsel advise or perswade this way It was conceived in the heart and bosome of God and none but he had to do in the concluding of it and so he is alone to be magnified and extolled therein A Christian as one transported may cry out on this account as Isa 25. 1. O Lord I will exalt thee for thou hast done wonderful things thy Counsels of old are faithfulness and truth Now there is no room for our boasting nothing to be ascribed to our selves God alone is to be admired in Covenant grace seeing it was working towards as from all Eternity 2 Tim. 1. 9. It is said to be not according to our Works The Eternity of our mercy is exclusive of our duty as any cause of his affording of it This putteth a glory upon Covenant grace and love that it is antient before the world began Corol. 8. Hence there is stability is Covenant mercies seeing that compact which giveth assurance thereof was from all Eternity Saith he Psal 25. 6. Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses Why For they have been ever of old The antientness thereof is a good argument to urge for the obtainment of them We may have hope to receive what the Lord was so early determined to give out 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure The apostasie of eminent professors is a great temptation unto many sincere Christians they are apt to say If such glistering shining Stars fall good Lord how shall we stand But to help against it he telleth us the foundation that is stedfast firm unmoveable it standeth sure by the Covenant of grace they are granted to Jesus Christ from all Eternity 2 Tim. 1. 9. Such eternal acts of God are firm and stable abiding for ever will secure against defection or falling away Satan shall never utterly prevail against them grace shall never utterly be overthrown or extinguished Having this Seal the Lord knoweth them that are his He hath set his mark upon them and where ever they be he can distinguish them from the world as he knoweth them by number so also by mark or scal and when he maketh up his jewels not one of them which are his shall be wanting Corol. 9 Hence there is a bottom of consolation for all that are within the Covenant of grace in that it was established from all Eternity O how may it fill them with comfort that their salvation standeth by an eternal act of God that cannot be revealed altered or changed yea by a Covenant act wherein the fai hfulness of God â—s ingaged for the affording of it even by the Fathers gift How often doth Jesus Christ mention them as given to him Joh. 6. 37 39. Joh. 17. 2 9 12. as if he delighted and gloried in or boasted of this giving act How may this secure them gainst all fears of everlasting miscarrying that they are given to Jesus Christ from all Eternity For he will never forseit his Fathers gifts nor displease him so as he should withdraw them from him they will be gifts without Repentance This eternal act will never be recalled which may make for their everlasting Consolation CHAP. VI. Of the Old and New Covenant what they are and how distinct HAving cleared the Covenant of Grâ—â— as to the transactions between the Father and the Son from Eternity as to the first revelations of its grace to the Patriarchâ— as Abraham and David c. before the incarnation wherein the great thing promised was that blessed Seed so as alâ— blessings were to be expected only in him We now come to consider First that Dispensation which held forth the way and means whereby Jesus Christ came under our obligation and by answering of it confirmed the Covenant of Grace and this is contained in the Old Covenant made at mount Sinai Secondly that Dispensation whereby the special blessings and priviledges which an the issue of his obedience are imparted to us and this is the New Covenant The Apostle compareth these together iâ— diverse Chapters in the Epistle to the Hâ—brews and saith of Jesus Christ Heb. 8. He obtained a more excellent Ministry by bâ— much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant Which implies that there is another Testament viz. that at mount Sinai when they came out of Egypt ver 9. which the Aaronical Priesthood appeartained to that is worse but it is the excellency of Jesus Christ that his ministration is conversant about a better Testament that hath the pre-eminence on this account as being established upon better promises And the opposition is not laid between the Covenant of Works as with the first Adam and the New Covenant but between that at Sinai and the New The word for Covenant is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Testament it noteth a disposition or declaration by way of Will or Promise and may be the act of one or more Indeed the Hebrew word Berith is used Jer. 31. 31 32. and the same expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 8. v. 8 9 10. But the Apostle intimated that a Testamentary disposition is intended by it Gal. 3. 15 17. As if Jesus Christ by fulfilling the condition of the Covenant of grace had turned it into a Testament the blessings of it being now legacies absolutely promised to us in the New It will be necessary here to inquire what is the worse Covenant and what is this better Testament which is compared with it Answ 1. The worse Covenant is that Conditional Divine grant of blessings upon the obedience required in the Law of Moses Or that Old Covenant which was made amount Sinai This is undoubtedly it which is compared with the other For it is that which the Levitical Priesthood did belong to which the Priesthood of Christ is compared with as is manifest Heb. 7 and 8 and 9. Chapters It is that Covenant which the Lord made with the Fathers in the day when he took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt Heb. 8. vers 9. And therefore undeniably it was the Sinai Covenant for then that was made with them Exod. 19. vers 1 2 3 4 5. c. In the third moneth when the Children of Israel were gone out of the Land of Egypt the same day they came to the
wilderness of Sinai and both the matter of the Covenant and manner of its promulgation we see in that and the following Chapters It is a conditional grant it promiseth nothing but upon the condition of obedience Exod. 19. vers 5. If ye will obey my voice and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure All is upon an If So Levit. 26. vers 3 4 c. If ye walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments and do them then will I give you rain c. The like in many other places all Promises run there upon the condition of keeping his Commandments The whole Law is generally distributed into three parts viz. Moral Judicial and Ceremonial no Precept but may be referred to one of these and obedience to all of them is required as the condition of this Sinai Covenant or all are comprised therein 1. The Moral Law is such a principal part of it as it beareth the very name of the Covenant and the Table thereof are called the Tables of the Covenant Exod. 34. vers 28. Deut. 9. vers 9 11 15. Yea the terrible appearances of God in thundrings and lightnings and the noise of the Trumpet was at the promulgation of the Moral Law before the Ceremonial was given forth Exod. 19. vers 16. Exod. 20. 1 to 19. So that the first constitution of the Sinai Covenant was only of the Moral Law it is very observable that Moses having rehearsed these very Commandments Deut. 5. he closeth up thus vers 22. These words the Lord spake unto your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire of the Cloud and of the thick darkness and he added no more i. e. in making this Covenant he added no more than these Moral Precepts although he reserved to himself a liberty to add the Coremonials afterward yet for the present he did not indeed virtually they were contained therein but not actually before the discovery of them any more than Gospel Institutions which Israel was not obliged to until revealed and after that were equally reducible thereunto The holy God that he might tame their rebellious Spirits he cometh in this terrible way requiring exact obedience to the Moral Commandments and added no more At the first hand he revealed no way for their relief and succour yet then before any Ceremonials were added it made a Covenant vers 2. Even when the people could see nothing but wrath and a curse before them they were forbidden coming up into the Mount upon pain of death and so were not admitted to familiar converses with God must have dreadful tokens of a Divine presence as a consuming fire and in that respect the Sinai Covenant is opposed to the New Heb. 12. vers 18. to vers 25. For ye are not come to the Mount that might be touched and that burnt with fire c. That is ye are not come to Mount Sinai and the terrour of that Old Covenant but ye are come to Mount Sion To Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant 2. The Judicial Laws belong to it these are called Judgements Exod. 21. 1. and obedience unto them is urged therein upon as strict terms as to the other Levit. 18. ver 4 5. Ye shall therefore do my Judgements Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgements which if a man do he shall live in them I am the Lord. Here keeping his Judicial Laws is urged as necessary unto Life 3. The Ceremonial Law also appertaineth to the Sinai Covenant For the Apostle mentioneth the Levitical Priesthood and Sacrifices c. as belonging to the Old Testament and preferreth the Ministry of Jesus Christ before it even in the Text in that he is a Mediator not of the Old but of the New Testament Heb. 7 and 8. Chap. Heb. 9. ver 1 2 3 c. ver 15. These Ceremonial Laws were called by the name of Statutes containing Institutions of worship and are urged also on as strict terms as the Moral Lev. 18. v. 5. Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgements which if a man do he shall live in them These Positive Precepts his Statutes run upon those terms do and live and therefore belong to the Law in the strict sense Rom. 10. ver 5. Yea exact obedience to these ceremonials is required on pain of the Curse Deut. 26. ver 27. compared with Gal. 3. vers 10. So Levit. 26. vers 2 3 4 14 15. He injoyneth reverencing his Sanctuary and keeping his Statutes and Judgements threatening deâ—th upon the neglect thereof and Verse 46. These are the Satutes and Judgements and Laws which the Lord made between him and the Children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses and also he closeth up the Book of Leviticus thus Levit. 27. vers 34. These are the Commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the Children of Israel in mount Sinai By which it is evident that those Laws contained in that Book of Leviticus of which many are ceremonial and judicial as well as moral do belong to the Sinai Covenant So also do some contained in the Book of Numbers compare Numb 19. vers 3 4. with Heb. 9. vers 13. and 13. vers 11. And also some contained in the Book of Deuteronomy for the Apostle mentioneth that as part of the Law Gal. 3. vers 10. which is drawn from Deut. 26. vers 27. I do not say that all things in those Books are to be esteemed as parts of the Sinai Covenant For some matters are not of a federal nature as the taking the summ of the Congregation Numb 1. the order of their Tribes Numb 2. the stories of their murmuring Numb 10. vers 33. to the end Numb 11. vers 1. c. of Miriams case Numb 12. of the Spies searching the Land Numb 13 and 14. of the rebellion of Korah Numb 16. of Balaam and Balak Chap. 23 and 24. of Israels journeys Chap. 33. and many other stories as Deut. 1 and 2 and 3. These are not included in it but whatever scattered up and down in those Books hath the nature of such a Covenant in it whereof obedience is the condition that is to be deemed as belonging to the Sinai Covenant The Ceremonial Law came in by way of addition to the other after an apparent interval upon their desiring a Mediator that might receive the Law for and declare it to them Exâ—d 20. 19 24 25 26. and Exod. 21 and 22 and 23 Chapt. There was a solemnization and ratification of all upon the peoples promising to fulfill it Exod. 24. God himself uttered the Moral Law to the people with great terrour but the Ceremonial although it did after belong to the Sinai Covenant yet was revealed to Moses in the Mount without those thundrings and lightenings which the other was attended with I have wondred what should be the reason of these additional things But I consider that temporal mercies being promised by that Covenant unto Israel upon their
possibly by another Covenant But for the clearing of that Sinai dispensation and preventing some ill effects even in practice of misunderstanding the nature thereof I shall add 4. It is probable that Spiritual and Eternal blessings were not dispenced out to Israel by the Old Sinai Covenant but only were typically represented therein I take the main purport and design of it to be under that servile administration of the Covenant of Grace to point out the higher and more Spiritual matters thereof and to shew that as upon literal Israels performing the obedience which was required of them as a condition thereof they did injoy temporal blessings therein promised to them so upon the performance of the main condition thereof by Jesus Christ even perfect obedience the true Spiritual Israel should enjoy the Spiritual blessings promised unto them So that Temporal blessings were afforded by the Sinai Covenant but Spiritual blessings were not dispenced out thereby This with submission to better Judgements seemeth to me to be so upon these among other grounds 1. No life was attainable by Israels performing of the Sinai Covenant and therefore other Spiritual blessings were not dispenced out to them thereby Gal. 3. ver 21. For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the Law The great blessings then of the Covenant of Grace viz. life could not be had by their obedience to the Sinai Law of which he there speaketh Ver. 17. And therefore neither could other blessings be had thereby which had their dependance upon and issued from that As Christians are not now so Israelites were not then to do for Life That Moses and Aaron must not enter into the Promised Canaan but go up to the Mount and die may be to signifie that the Sinai Covenant would not give an entrance into the heavenly Canaan Moses obtained that not through the works of the Law but in a way of Faith 2. Spiritual blessings were not dispenced out upon the condition of Israels obedience to the Sinai Covenant for they often violated that Covenant Jer. 31. ver 32. Which Covenant they brake And therefore their Spiritual mercies had been forseited and lost if they had been dispenced out then upon the condition of their keeping that Covenant seeing they come so much short of it whereas there was no falling from special Grace in that day any more than now When they had made a forfeiture of their temporal mercies therein Promised by breaking of it they were forced to make another plea Exod. 34. ver 13. Remember Abraham Isaac and Israel thy Servants to whom thou swarest by thine own self c. When the anger of the Lord waxed hot against Israel ver 11. for committing Idolatry by making the Calf Moses doth not plead that made at Sinai but fleeth from that to the Covenant with Abraham for their relief Indeed there was an external representation of Spirituals in the Sinai Covenant As they making attonement and offering Sacrifices for diverse sins it is said they should be forgiven them Levit. 4. ver 26 27 28 29 31. Levit. 5. ver 10 13 16 18. Num. 15. ver 28. But no real attonement was made thereby for the Law made nothing perfect Heb. 7. ver 19. Heb. 9. ver 9. No real forgiveness was afforded by these acts of obedience unless so far as that those sins should not hinder their attaining the temporal mercies promised in that Covenant or that the temporal Curses of it should not be inflicted these did but typically represent the Spiritual forgiveness which they by another Covenant even that with Abraham should attain unto Thus their entring into Covenant with the Lord is said to be that he might establish them that day for a people to himself and that he might be unto them a God Deut. 29. ver 12 13. They were thereby owned or confirmed in a federal relation unto God but so as upon their miscarriages he could say to them Loammi Hos 1. ver 9. Ye are not my people and I will not be your God and therefore it was externally only that they were his and he theirs by that Covenant 3. The ceremonials which seemed most to intimate the dispencing out of Spiritual blessings were only typical representations thereof these were but shaddows of heavenly things Heb. 8. ver 5. The forgiveness of sin in the Sinai Covenant was such as not to have temporal punishments inflicted and thus it was but a shaddow of the real and true forgiveness which in opposition thereunto is restrained unto Jesus Christ Heb. 9 and 10. Chapters Their acceptance was unto some end viz. so as to be priviledged with their temporal mercies and it was but a shaddow of Spiritual acceptation Their long Life in Canaan a shaddow of Eternal Life in Heaven Spiritual blessings seem not to be dispenced out but only to be signified by these 4. Those that look for Spiritual blessings only by the Sinai Covenant and their personal performance of it are excluded from being sharers in them Gal. 4. ver 30. Cast out the Bondwoman and her Son for the Son of the Bondwoman shall not be Heir with the Son of the Free-woman The Bondwoman is expresly said to be the mount Sinai Covenant or Testament this is Hagar ver 24. and that as a Covenant must be cast out and also those that are the seed of it begotten to a profession only in a legal way by legal duties or terrours those that stand upon an Old Covenant bottom and put themselves under that shall not inherit shall not be Heirs of the everlasting Inheritance it is another an opposite seed begotten by a Gospel Promise which shall injoy that and therefore that Sinai Covenant was not intended that Souls should have Spiritual and everlasting blessings dispenced out by yielding obedience unto that for then its seed should inherit as well as the other but that by the sight of the impossibility of their keeping it they might be provoked to become the Children of the Free-woman which are born by Promise by a distinct Covenant Neither doth he speak in these things of the Law only taken abusively in the sense urged and intended by the false Prophets but really in its self as it was established by God at mount Sinai For as an Argument to draw them off from the errours of the false Prophets he saith ver 21 22. Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do ye not hear the Law for it is written that Abraham had two Sons one by the Bondwoman the other by a Free-woman c. And further that these were an antient Allegory foreshewing two Covenants or Testaments the one gendering to bondage whose seed must be cast out as giving no inheritance and therefore he concludeth that the Lord himself in giving that Covenant at mount Sinai never intended that it should be for communicating of the eternal inheritance unto the Sons of men he telleth them that