7,8. Such is the relation between the characters of the two great divine dispensations, and such the order of their succession. The MOSAIC, or NATURAL, came first; and the EVANGELICAL, or SPIRITUAL, followed. When I use these terms, I mean by "natural," that which in its character and conduct is more palpable and visible, and in its application directed more to the present motives of the creatures who were called to obey it: and by "spiritual," that which is more refined in its own features and character, and addressed to man, as to a spiritual and immortal being. For the more full comprehension of this view of revelation in all its branches, and for positive authority to sanction that which will be now pursued as a method of inquiry; let reference be made to those storehouses of meditation on the subjectthe chapter from whence the text is taken, and that which follows it; the general tenor of the Epistle to the Hebrews; and that comparison between the Law and the Gospel held out in the third chapter of St. Paul's second Epistle to the Co 2 Cor. iii. rinthians; If the ministration of death, written and engraven on stones was glorious,how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? and the context. I shall not however enter here into any detailed comparison of "glory" between the Law and the Gospel; nor into any consideration of the Law, a I mean, comparisons of essential glory: such (e. g.) as as typical of the Gospel; neither will regard be had to any earlier, less definite, and more obscure dispensations of the Almighty towards men, previous to the delivery of the Mosaic covenant. These are topics that have been frequently and ably illustrated by ingenious and learned writers; and they do not strictly concern our present purpose. The present Lecture will be confined to its own peculiar object; viz. an examination of the manner of appeal made to mankind, under the two great and explicit, and specially recorded dispensations, which make up the chief sum of the Oracles of God. What then is it, which we think may be discovered in this manner, calculated to dispose our understanding and affections favourably towards the divine authority of holy Scripture ? We assume that the Bible is what it professes to be-the statute-book of an everlasting kingdom; and that both of the two very different parts into which it is divided proceed, and have always been understood to proceed, from the same common Author. Now this being so, a very little consideration may persuade us to accept the statement of our seventh Article; that "the Old Testament " is not contrary to the New; but that both in the might arise from contrasting their respective efficacy, as methods of obtaining the divine favour; or the measure of promise vouchsafed to each; or the character and persons of their respective Promulgators. "Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered "to mankind through one only Mediator." For we cannot suppose the Divine Mind to have set forth two several schemes of moral government, dissimilar from the very foundation. The substance of the divine counsels must be indestructible. The appointment, for a season, of institutions, adapted to the state and necessities of man; and their abrogation in the fulness of time, when they had fulfilled a purpose intended; this is consistent with every notion we can form of perfect wisdom. But the fundamental will of the Al-. mighty we cannot suppose subject to change; neither can any voice that has once proceeded out of the mouth of God, for the general moral guidance of his creatures, ever sink into a dead letterb; so sink, I mean, as to lose all force of obligation upon subjects on whose conscience an eternal law is written, (as it is called, " of nature ;") nature;") with which such moral word of revelation is in Matt. xxiv. harmony. Heaven and earth shall Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word which God hath spoken shall not pass away. Admitting the latter Testament therefore to be true, and embracing it as such; it appears hardly optional to do otherwise than admit, as a truth involved in this, that the substance of the 35. b Compare with this, and with the whole scope of the Lecture, the first chapter of St. Peter's first Epistle; particularly towards the end of the chapter. Compare also what is said in Lecture V. concerning our Lord's parables. elder dispensation must in effect be one and the same with that of the later. Wherein then do the two differ; and wherein do they agree? 34. An illustration may be borrowed on this point from comparing our Saviour's declaration, that he gave to his disciples a new commandment, with John xiii. St. John's language in the seventh and eighth verses of the second chapter of his first Epistle o. It was a new commandment; but how? Not new in letter or in effect, but in extent and sanction; new in revealed motives; for it was founded, now, upon better promises; new in respect of the ex-Heb. viii. 6. ample set for its fulfilment, and the encouragement offered to the keeping of it: new also, (or comparatively become so,) by reason of the practical degradation and disuse into which it had fallen. But in purpose and effect it was old; in respect of its inherent tendency to bring man into present See Note ease and comfort, (and as we now know of a fu- ii. 7, 8. ture and glorious enjoyment also,) it was the same secker, in which was from the beginning. So is it, we think, with the great realities of the plan of salvation. on 1 John from Abp. the Family Bible. From the first utterance of the gracious promise concerning the seed of the woman, Redemption has Pascal's c John xiii. 34. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. 1 John ii. 7, 8. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning, &c. Thoughts. been one uniform and abiding scheme, under whatever varieties of circumstance. The chief corner stone of the temple of believers has been one and Heb. xiii. 8. immoveable-Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. The real sacrifice and Heber's Lect. VI. atonement for sin has been the same from the beRev. xiii. 8. ginning—the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That all acceptable obedience must have been under every form of dispensation a work of divine grace, is a proposition which cannot be Lectures. denied, without involving virtually some portion of Pelagian heresy, as to the power of man's unassisted strength. Consequently, there must in effect always have been an operation of one and the same Divine Spirit, under both covenants. Lastly, the real end and crown of faithful obedience must have been always the same; I mean, the resurrection unto life eternal, and an invisible future state of immortal glory d. d on this last great point, the resurrection unto life eternal, I cannot forbear referring, as to an example peculiarly illustrative of the whole position of this Lecture, to that memorable argument of our Saviour; (Matt. xxii. 32, &c.) As touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living: because this passage seems to contain a sort of argument, exactly fitted at once to prove the real existence of the doctrine at the time referred to, and at the same time to account for its obscurity. To us, with the Scriptures of the New Testament in our |