were bound, they in effect refused to be free. And O that their error had died with them! But alas! it runs as in the veins of all Adam's posterity. And that corrupt leaven which threatened to leaven the churches of Galatia, has long, long been infecting those which we call Reformed. How dimly now shines the lamp of truth, and how ready to die are the things that remain among us!

The apostle gives the unbelieving Galatians to understand that they were the children of the bond wo. man, and of the Sinaitic covenant. They were going about to strengthen that yoke which God had broken from off the neck of his church, and to revive that dispensation to which he had put an end by the sending of his Son. Such in our day as establish their own righteousness, refusing to submit to the Surety-righteousness of Christ, serve themselves heirs to the unbelieving Galatians; and are under the same covenant with them. They are under the covenant which was from Sinai, though not under the Sinaitic dispensation thereof: in the same manner as New Tes tament saints are under the covenant made with Abraham, though not under the Abrahamic dispensation thereof. The covenants are essentially the same after Christ's coming as before, though accidentally different with respect to the manner of their administration. The covenant of works is the same now, as of old, though its Sinaitic dispensation be no more: just as the covenant of grace is the same in substance now, as under the Old Testament, though its Abrahamic dispensation be no more. As believers are still Abraham's seed, the children of the free woman, Gal. iii. 29. iv. 31. so unbelievers are the sons of the Sinaitic covenant, the children of the bond woman, Gal. iv. 25, 29, 31. i. e. bastards and not sons, Heb. xii. 8.

3dly. See the happiness of such as have got from under the Sinaitic covenant, the covenant of bondage. They are no longer exposed to the wrath and curse of God, not under the dominion of sin, nor the tyranny of Satan. They have not received the spirit of bond

age again to fear, viz. to fear death or hell. But they have the Spirit of adoption, God's free Spirit, whereby they cry Abba, Father, Psalm li. 12. Rom. viii. 15. In one word, they are already entered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and at death and judgment shall fully enjoy it, Rom. viii. 21, 22, 23.

4thly. See how the liberty of the saints is now enlarged under New Testament times. No longer do they bow their neck beneath the yoke of ceremonies: a bloody yoke indeed. So far from that they are called upon by our apostle, to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free, and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage, Gal. v. 1. After the Sinaitic transaction, though they were not under the curse of the covenant of works, yet they were under its dispensation; as unbelievers among them, though not under the blessing of the covenant of grace, were nevertheless under its gracious dispensation, the gospel being preached unto them, Heb. iv. 2, 6. But the Seed, the personal Seed being come, the law is no longer added to the promise, the bond woman is cast out. The children of promise, the saints are no longer under any dispensation of the covenant of works. The covenant confirmed to Abraham and his seed is no more encumbered with a numerous train of ceremonies. It stands alone, and shines forth in its native glory. The weight of the cross has grinded the tables of stone as into powder; and the Mediator who hung upon it, has torn in pieces the hand-writing: so torn it, that he has not left a letter entire. Such, such the grace wherein we stand.

5thly. It is also observable that though the covenant of works gendering to bondage, was given from mount Sinai, yet grace, glorious grace, crowned the solemn transaction there: and therefore though not the whole, yet it was the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Of this we have a short but affecting history, Exod. xxiv. throughout. Moses having built an altar under the hill, and reared up twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel, sent young

men who offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings unto the Lord. These sacrifices were most expressive types of him who was an offering for sin, and made peace by the blood of his cross, Heb. ix. 18, 28. Half of their blood Moses sprinkled on the altar, and the book of the covenant; and half he sprinkled on the people. And while he sprinkled, he spake, saying, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. These words were the words of the Lord, delivered to Moses, and written by him in the book of the covenant, verse 4, 7. even all the words from Exod. xx. 22. to the end of the 23d chapter. The people being thus sprinkled in their leader, their priests, and representatives, they ascend the mount, and see the God of Israel. On their nobles he laid not his hand, also they saw God and did eat and drink. How different this scene from the late prohibition and threatening, chap. xix. 12, 21, 22, 23. There they must not come near, nor go up to the mount: Now upwards of seventy ascend. There they must not break through to gaze: Now they are admitted to see their own God. Then whosoever touched the mount was to die: Now they see God and live; on them he laid not his hand. Then they were kept afar, as by fire and smoke, and saw no manner of similitude: Now they are admitted near, and see the God of Israel in the form which he in the fulness of time was to assume: Now they eat and drink as in the divine presence. Then there was devouring fire: Now there is the blood of sprinkling. O how high, how sweet, how near their communion! What a tide of mercy overflows the sprinkled people! Here was grace, pure grace, not covered with smoke, nor surrounded with flame as at the first, when Jehovah said to Israel, I am thy God. Then there was a voice: Now there is a feast to give pleasure and strength. feast on the remains of the peace-offerings, and which therefore they carried with them, when they went up to the mount. Thus, at Sinai the covenant of grace was twice given, and that in very different manners. The

A

first filled the mind, (Exod. xix.) with terror: the second was love and joy, Exod. xxiv. The one was legal: the other evangelical. That attended with law: this confirmed by sacrifice. And these two different manners of administration shewed the different natures of the two covenants. The covenant of works, given at first with that of grace, banisheth men, and drives them to the greatest distance from God, Exod. xix. 12.: the covenant of grace most graciously calls, and makes them come near to him, Mat. xi. 28. Eph. ii. 13. Heb. iv. 16. That terrifies and confounds, Heb. xii. 19, 20.: this comforts and raises up, Isa. lxi. 1, 2. Rom. viii. 1, 16. That gendereth to bondage, like Agar: but this to liberty, like Sara, Gal. iv. 24, 25, 26. That is a killing letter and the ministration of death: this a quickening Spirit, and the ministration of righteousness, 2 Cor. iii. 6, 7. Under that, guilty man cannot endure the sight and the voice of God the judge: hence that word of the people, let not God speak any more to us, lest we die, Exod. xx. 19. Under this, the sons can without fear listen to their Father's voice, and enjoy his gracious presence, Exod. xxiv. 10, 11. Psalm lxxxv. 8. John xiv. 9. 1 John i. 1*. Happy, therefore, thrice happy they, and they only, who finding no rest for the sole of their foot under the covenant of works, have betaken themselves to that of grace; who terrified with Sinai's thunder, have fled to Sion hill. That is their rest, and there they shall abide. Her sacred

rounds they may ever walk, her stately towers they may daily tell, her bulwarks impregnable they may mark, her palaces fair they may ponder, and the blessed song they may raise, This God is our covenanted God for ever and ever: he will be our unerring guide even unto death, Psalm xlviii. 12-14. He hath made with us an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: and this is all our salvation, and all our de sire, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.

6thly. And to conclude, Let all who have heard of

* Turret. Institut. Loc. 12, Quest. 12. Th. 13. De Satisfact. p. 229.

the two covenants, speedily flee from the old to the new, the better covenant. Let them do, as they would avoid a Mediator's wrath. Though in mercy he be constituted the Mediator of the one covenant, yet he is appointed to inflict the vengeance due to the breach of the other. His it is to pronounce the final curse, as well as the blessing, Matt. xxv. He has one rod to slay, Isa. xi. 4. as well as another to support, Psalm xxiii. 4. His are the two staves, Beauty and Bands: I allude to Zech. xi. 7*. If the beauty of the gospel cannot allure, the cords of the curse shall bind: bind despisers in bundles to burn them, Mat. xiii. 30. If beauty do not draw them to Christ, bands shall drag them to the burning lake. Be wise, therefore, sinners, and bow before the golden rod, otherwise ye shall be broken in pieces as a potter's vessel with that of iron. Flee from the covenant which gendereth to bondage, and embrace that glorious liberty wherewith the Redeemer offereth to make you free. For if the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed. If ye be his, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise, children not of the bond woman, but of the free. May the God of all grace open your eyes, touch your hearts, draw you with the bands of love, unite you to his Son, and at last put you into the full possession of the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for all the saints. Amen and amen.

• Which by some are reckoned the same with the two covenants. Gerhardi. Harm. Evang. p. 365.

END OF THE TREATISE ON THE COVENANTS,