earth were to be blessed*; bleffed with a juftifying righteoufnels, and falvation from the guilt of fin and the curfe of the law: yet we are far from thinking, that the repetition of the moral law, as a covenant of works, included the whole of that folemn tranfaction between God and Ifrael at Mount Sinai. Both the ceremonial and judicial law, doubtlefs, belonged to the Sinai-covenant, as made with Ifrael; and thus the different views that are given of that covenant in the apoftolic writings may eafily be accounted for. There was fomething in that tranfaction which equally concerned all mankind, and fomething in it that was peculiar to Ifrael. So far as it contained a repetition of the covenant of works, promifing life upon the condition of yielding perfect obedience to the moral law, and threatning death for the leaft tranfgreffion of it, it was not peculiar to the children of Ifrael, but declarative of the natural ftate and condition of all mankind and in this refpect the new covenant, or covenant of grace, which requires no obedience; nothing to be done or yielded, by finful men themfelves, as a condition of life and falvation; but *Facta eft ifta fœderis operum commemoratio, ad Ifraelitas peccatorum & miferia fue convincendos, ex fe ipfis expellendus, de neceffitate fatisfactionis edocendos, &ad Chriftum compellendos: & fic infervit fæderi gratie, Roin. x. 4. That is; "The covenant of "works was repeated at Mount Sinai, to convince "the Ifraelites of their fins and mifery, to beat them "out of their felf-confidence, to inftruct them con cerning the neceffity of an atonement, and drive "them to Chrift, who is the end of the law for righ"teousness to every one that believeth: and thus it is "fubfervient to the covenant of grace." Witfii. Animadverfio. Iren. p. 99. D 3 pro promifes eternal happinefs and all fpiritual bleffings freely, is conftantly opposed to it in the New Teftament. The law to which the Apoftle Paul, in his epiftles to the Romans and Galatians, oppofes the promije and doctrine of the gospel, which he calls the law of faith, is a law that promifes life to the obedient, and threatens death to the tranfgreffor, for the leaft breach of it; and a law which he ftill fuppofes all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, to be originally, naturally, and neceffarily under the obligation of. It is therefore abundantly evident, that by the law of works we are to understand the covenant of works made with Adam*, in which all his pof * There is one text of Scripture in which, if the most obvious and natural fenfe of the words may be admitted, the law of works given to Adam, in the ftate of primitive integrity, is exprefsly called a covenant. The paffage is in Hof. vi. 7. which our tranflators have rendered, They like men have tranfgreffed the covenant; but in the Hebrew it is like Adam have tranfgreffed the covenant. TT: TT: They Thus the 33. If I Fob xxxi. as Adam: by hiding mine iniquity in my bofom. Here there feems to be a plain allusion to what is recorded of Adam, the first man, Gen. iii. 8-12. who, after he had eaten the forbidden froit, not only fought to hide himfelf from the Lord God among the trees of the garden; but, when God queftioned him about what he had done, endeavoured to palliate and conceal his fin. Though he could not deny the fact, he attempted to cover and excufe the fault: and in this all his pofterity are naturally inclined to follow his example. Some learned interpreters, among whom are the authors of our English translation of the Bible, have in pofterity have an equal concern: and thus far the diftinction between the old and new covenant, or between the law of works and the law of faith, and the diftinction ordinarily made betwixt the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, do exactly coincide; fo that the latter cannot be denied, or fet afide, without rejecting the former, and thus impeaching the wisdom of the Holy Ghoft the author of it; to do which would be both impious and blafphemous. When the letter-writer therefore acquaints us, that he has no concern with the diftinction betwixt the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, on which, he is pleafed to fay, our fyftems are formed *; he might as well have told us, that he has no concern with the diftinction which the apoftle Paul makes betwixt the law, which has concluded all under fin, and the promife, or the law of faith. However little concern he may think he has with this diftinction, it is of fo great importance to mankind, and a particular attention to it fo neceffary to the obtaining any true knowledge of God, and of themselves, or any due apprehenfion of their ftate before God, that we make no fcruple to affirm, that they who are ignorant of it, or imagine indeed taken Adam, in the first of these texts, for an appellative rather than a proper name; but we fee no reason why it should not be understood in its natural, and moft proper fenfe, in that, as well as in the text laft mentioned, efpecially, as this affords a much more plain and eafy view of the paffage. However, as the stress of the argument is not laid upon the expofition of this fingle text, if any fhould ftill refufe to admit the interpretation juft now given, I have no inclination to contend with them. *Letters on Theron, &c. p. 354. they they have no concern with it," are ignorant both "of the gofpel and of the true God." But as the revelation and promulgation of the moral law at Mount Sinai, fhewing on what terms men were to expect life according to the tenor of the covenant of works, or rather declaring their guilty and miferable state; that state of condemnation and death which they had brought themselves into by fin; was a very confpicuous part of the tranfaction between God and Ifrael on that occafion, and fuch a part of it as all mankind were equally concerned in; fo that from the condition, the performance of which was required, without the leaft abatement or defect, as abfolutely neceffary in order to obtain the bleffings promifed, they might fee the utter impoffibility of obtaining life and falvation by their own works; by works of any kind, legal or evangelical; and in the awful curfe and threatnings of the law read their doom, or the dreadful fentence of condemnation they were under on account of their fin original and actual, even for the leaft breach of the divine law that ever they were guilty of in thought, word or deed : there was alfo in that tranfaction fomething peculiar to Ifrael, and the then infant-state of the church for it included the whole ceremonial law, or all thofe typical inftitutions and ordinances which belonged to the Mofaic economy. Hence the apoftle refers the Levitical priesthood, facrifices, offerings for the errors of the people, and other ceremonial inftitutions, to the firft or Sinaitic covenant*. As all thofe types and ceremonies had evidently a respect to Jefus Chrift, the great antitype prefigured by them, undoubtedly they contained a more obfcure and imperfect administration of the * Heb. ix. cove covenant of grace. And as the great defign of promulgating the moral law, with the conditional promife and terrible threatnings annexed, at Mount Sinai, was not to put the children of Ifrael upon feeking life by their own obedience to the law, but to fhew, that, without a perfect righteoufnefs, answering all the demands of the law, neither they nor any belonging to the human race could have any title to everlafting life and happiness, or any promifed bleffing; fo by the ceremonial law, and typical facrifices fuperadded thereto, they were directed to feek that righteousness in another, namely, the Meffiah, the feed promised to Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blefed. It is evident therefore, that the law of works, in fo far as it made a part of that folemn tranfaction at Mount Sinai, was only fubfervient to the gofpel, or that typical adminiftration of grace which was contained in the feveral ceremonies and ritual inftitutions belonging to the law of Mofes Upon the whole, if we view the different parts of the tranfaction at Mount Sinai, it may be affirmed, that it contained a promulgation of the law as a covenant of works, requiring perfect obedience to all its precepts, as the condition of life and happiness, and threatning death, or everlasting mifery, for the leaft tranfgreffion or failure in obedience; in refpect of which the covenant of grace, promife, or law of faith, is conftantly oppofed to it in the New Teftament. And it likewife included a typical, obfcure, legal and fervile adminiftration of the covenant of grace; in respect of which the more clear, full, fpiritual and glorious adminiftration of this covenant, under the New Teftament, is alfo oppofed to it in the apoftolic writings. D 5 Hence |