the Mosaic dispensation, as considered in itself, and as distinct from those heavenly predictions of mercy, which are in truth more ancient than the law, being coeval with the fall of man-though the promises, I say, of the first covenant were of an inferior kind, referring only to the enjoyments of earthly prosperity in the land of Canaan, and therefore requiring no more than a correct adherence to the letter of the Mosaic institutions and commands, still with this covenant the chosen people were unable to comply; they could not fulfil its conditions; "like a broken bow," which disappoints the archer of his aim, they "started aside" continually, at first even into idolatry, and when cured of this by their long captivity in Babylon, still they fell off into disobedience. Accordingly, a new covenant was promised, which should supersede the first. "For finding fault with" his people for not adhering to that covenant, God promised, by Jeremiah, to "make a new one with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;"-a covenant, to which we Gentiles also should be admitted; one totally different from that which the Almighty made at Mount Sinai, when he led his people through the wilderness: for in that, as we have seen, they continued not; and therefore the Lord could no longer, under such a covenant," regard them" as his people. The nature of this new covenant is described in the words of our text, and in the two following verses, from which we have now to learn its leading features.

I. In the first place, the new or Christian covenant is distinguished by a promise of divine teaching.

The people of Israel, under their covenant, were, it is true, taught of God; but not in a direct manner;

This is

even their moral law was written only on tables of stone, not on their hearts. the great reason, why they were unable to obey it: the corruption after those days, saith

of the human heart is too great to allow it of itself, without the pre

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their

venient and assisting grace of hearts: and I will be to God, to keep the divine command

them a God, and they shall be to me a people. ver. 10.

ments. Hence the giving of the tables of the law to the Israelites is called, in another place', the ministration" of the letter only," "the ministration of condemnation," or, more nay, strongly still, "the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones." Such was "the law given by Moses," in itself "holy, and just, and good," but meeting with hearts not inclined to receive it, though naturally calculated to promote life, it was "found to be unto death"."

What, then, did the Gospel do? Did it abrogate that holy law of the Decalogue, and introduce one more suited to man's corruption? No! it took the other course, not of corrupting the law, but of enlightening the understanding and sanctifying the heart of man. The commandments are still the same. The moral law of God is, in fact, unchanged; as it is, in itself, unchangeable. But there is this important difference in the manner of giving the commandments. They are no longer "written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God;" no longer engraven "in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." "I will put my laws," saith the Lord, "into their mind,"

1 2 Cor. iii. 6, 7.

2 See Rom. vii. which chapter is parallel to v. 7-13 of this.

that we may understand them, "and write them in their hearts," that we may remember, love, and obey them and then, indeed, will "He be to us a God, and we shall be to Him a people." It will be no formal covenant, such as we shall be unable to keep, and which shall only aggravate our condemnation, but one of "grace and truth," in which we shall draw nigh to God in obedience, and he to us in blessing.

Earnestly, then, let us pray, as indeed we are continually admonished to do in the liturgy of our Church, that we may not only hear the divine commands, but that God would be pleased to write all his laws in our hearts; that so we may prove Christians indeed, partakers really in the benefits of the new cove

nant.

We have said that the Gospel is peculiarly distinguished by a promise of the divine influence of the Holy Spirit, teaching men with their minds to know, and with their hearts to love, the laws of God. Under the law, or rather by the law-for even under the law, yea, and before the law, the Gospel was in force, as it were, by anticipation, being in some degree intimated from the very first: and therefore we find pious men of old, as, for instance, the Psalmist, praying God to open their eyes to discern his law, not to take his Holy Spirit from them, but to give them the comfort of his help :-But by the law no such help was promised, no divine teaching vouchsafed. The law was engraven on stones, then written with ink: and this law was read to the people, and expounded by a class of men, a portion of the scribes, expressly devoted to the study of it, and thence called "lawyers," or teachers of the law. These scribes explored

the law for themselves, and then

taught it to the people: nor was there any other help. Hence we

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all

least to the greatest. ver. 11.

to the authority of Now this was no

find even the Apostles, when they shall know me, from the first became followers of Christ, appealing, as a matter of course, the public teachers of the law'. longer to be the case under the Gospel. Christians were not to be left, on the one hand, to their own natural inclination and understanding, nor yet, on the other, to the mere dictation of the teacher of the law; but were to have, moreover, and chiefly, in fact, to depend upon, the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit of God. "They shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. for all shall know me from the least to the greatest." But what are we to conclude? Is human

instruction unnecessary ? Or are the labours of the Christian ministry unauthorized by the New Testament? Far be it, brethren, that I should lead you into so dangerous an error! Yea, far be it, that I should derive from the pure word of God an excuse for indolence in myself, or for fanaticism in any of my hearers! The language of the prophet is undoubtedly strong; and, at first sight, it almost seems to set aside all human teaching. But that this is not the real intention of his words, will appear from the following considerations.

First of all, the Apostle is not, perhaps, speaking of religious knowledge generally, but of those first

"Why say the scribes," &c. Mark ix. 11.

principles of religion, which relate to a belief in God'; -principles, which in the Christian Church are acquired almost without any teaching, especially where there is, from the prevenient grace of God, a heart honestly disposed to that which is good. But be this as it may, we must never interpret one part of Scripture so as to contradict another. Now, from other parts of holy writ, it is abundantly evident that God himself did not, as a matter of fact, leave the teaching of the Gospel solely to the internal agency of his Holy Spirit on the minds and hearts of men. Christ sent his Apostles, and they, by his authority, sent others, to preach the word, commanding that they should be received with respect, and, at the peril of men's souls, heard with attention.

The efficacy, indeed, of all their preaching depended upon the Holy Spirit, "opening the hearts” of their hearers (as in the case of Lydia of Thyatira, mentioned in the Acts',) to attend to the things which were spoken, that "the word preached might be mixed with faith in them that heard it." Paul planted, and Apollos watered: but it was God alone who gave the increase. They were "labourers together" under the divine Spirit, who alone could command the harvest. And so must it be still. The Christian minister must preach, and the Christian disciple must hear, as if all depended upon preaching and hearing; for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" being preached. Yet both preacher and hearers must

"They shall not teach, &c., saying, Know the Lord." ver. 11. 2 Ch. xvi. 14.