in all time of our need. The first covenant could not give divine assistance, because it did not procure pardon; the second covenant secures the latter through Christ, and, therefore, gives the former in the influences of the Holy Spirit. The reason given by Jehovah for putting his laws into the minds of his people, and writing them in their hearts, is this: "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

Many of you, my brethren, are about to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Go then to that holy table, there to commemorate the sacrifice of your dying Lord, now your High-Priest in heaven, who not only has procured the pardon of your sins, but, in consequence, sends down his Holy Spirit to enlighten your minds and to renew your hearts to obedience. It is to his merits and mediation you owe this enlightening and sanctifying grace: and most appropriate is it, that on this day you should keep the perpetual memory of the Lord's death, and look, in the meet participation of the holy Supper, for fresh supplies of that divine influence which gives true wisdom and holiness.

Such then, my brethren, is the efficacy of the Gospel: first, pardon of sins, or justification through Christ; then, sanctification from his blessed Spirit. These are mercies which the law could never accomplish and therefore it was abolished. The very language of the prophet, which speaks of nant, implies the annulling of the Old. in fact but an introductory dispensation? a commandment going before" the Gospel, to lead the way

a

New CoveWhat was it

66

for its reception?-a commandment, and nothing more, unattended by any spiritual principle of life1?

As a temporary dispensation, it was, of necessity, mortal; gradually it decayed as time advanced, and sunk at length, as it were through age, into utter dissolution, vanishing away before the New and everlasting Covenant, even that covenant of mercy the Promised Seed of the Woman,

in

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. ver. 13.

which began to dawn to our first parents when driven from Eden, shone more clearly to the patriarchs, became brighter still to the Prophets, and burst forth in all its splendour under the Gospel.

As disciples, then, of the everlasting High-Priest Christ Jesus, commemorating on this glorious festival the descent of the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles, we are no longer under the law, but under grace. But what then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? Far be from us so awful a perversion of our mercies! No; the very object of divine grace, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, is to produce obedience to the commands of God; to work in us both to will and to do that which is good; to enable us to understand the divine "laws," and to write them in our hearts. Would you know, then, if you have the Spirit of Christ, and are really his true disciples? Look within. Examine carefully if you understand the laws of God, as contained in his written word, and, moreover, if you love and delight to obey them. These are the genuine fruits of the Spirit, and the only sure

1 Such as

"the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus."

proofs of his influence. If you are thus inclined to do the commandments of God, and that not as formal duties prescribed to you by others, but from understanding and loving them yourselves; then is the work of God's Spirit manifest within you. You are truly partakers in the efficacy of the Christian Covenant; and, through Christ, you may reverently, but cheerfully, look up to the Father as your God; and, as one of his "people," may hope for his blessing here, and for a portion in his everlasting kingdom.

LECTURE VII.

Hebrews viii.

NOTES.

(P. 124.) The completion-the crowning article.]—кepáλalov ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις. ver. 1.

(P. 124.) For every high-priest, &c. For if he were on earth, &c. ver. 3, 4.]-The first "For" refers to arouρyós; the second to σκηνῆς τῆς ἀληθινῆς.

(P. 124.) The Temple—had still its own priests.]—Jerusalem was not destroyed till a few (probably about eleven) years later. (See the Introduction.) The copy made in the Mount (ver. 5.) continued for some time after the original had been published, that men might study the resemblance, and feel the force of the prediction.

(P. 125.) Faint, imperfect copies.]-i. e. after the pattern shown in the Mount.

(P. 125.) Faultless.]—ãμεμπтоç (ver. 7.) may be active or passive both meanings are given in the exposition. Of TóжO also two meanings are given: "there would have been no need to look for a place," &c. That róоç signifies a place in the latter sense is abundantly shown in Schleusner's Lexicon. Take for instance, Matt. xxiv. 15. "Standing in the holy place." (ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ.)

(P. 131.) On the heart.]—" The Gospel, that new law which Christ delivered to the world, is not merely a dead letter without us, but a quickening spirit within us”- —*****. The secret mysteries of a divine life, of a new nature, of Christ formed in our hearts, cannot be written or spoken: language and expressions cannot reach them; neither can they ever be truly understood, except the soul be kindled from within, and

awakened into the life which animates them. A painter that would draw a rose, though he may flourish some likeness of it in figure and colour, can yet never paint the scent and fragrancy; or if he would draw a flame, he cannot put a constant heat into his colours; he cannot make his pencil drop a sound, as the echo in the epigram mocks at him, (“ Si vis similem pingere, pinge sonum.") All the skill of cunning artizans and mechanics cannot put a principle of life into a statue of their own making. Neither are we able to enclose in words and letters the life, soul, and essence of any spiritual truths, and as it were incorporate it in them. * * No surely: "there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding." But we shall not meet with this spirit any where but in the way of obedience: the knowledge of Christ, " and the keeping of his commandments, must always go together, and be mutual causes of one another." * * *

*

“All the books and writings with which we converse can but represent spiritual objects to our understandings; which yet we can never see in their own true figure, colour, and proportion, until we have a divine light within to irradiate and shine upon them. Though there be never such excellent truths set down in words and letters concerning Christ and his Gospel, yet they will be but unknown characters to us, until we have a willing spirit within us, that can decipher them; until, by secret whispers in our hearts the same Spirit, which at first indited them, become a commentary upon them." (See an excellent Sermon by Cudworth on 1 John ii. 3. 4. in the late Bishop Jebb's Piety without Asceticism;—a most valuable work, as every thing is which Bishop Jebb put forth.)

(P. 136.) An introductory dispensation—a "commandment going before" to lead the way.]—¿vroλý πpoayoúσŋ. See vii. 18. (P. 137.) Sunk at length into dissolution.]-iyyùs àpavioμoũ, ver. 13. There is an illusion here possibly, as in several parts of the Epistle, to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, as predicted by our Lord. See particularly ch. x. 25. (“ And so much the more, as ye see the day approaching:") and ver. 37, ("Yet a little while, and he that is coming will come, and will not tarry.")