blessing, who are only of the law, ver. 14. those only being admitted who are of the faith of Abraham. But those descendents of Abraham, who received the covenant proposed to them by God, as a covenant of works, and circumcision as the sacrament of such a covenant, are of the law, and indeed only of the law. These things are at large and with accuracy deduced by the very learned author. But if this interpretation holds, the brethren are so far from finding any support in this passage, that rather every thing is against them.

LXXVIII. For the proof of the latter, it is alledged, that the time of the Old Testament is called the time of SANGAM, wrath and severity, Is. x. 25. Dan. viii. 19. and that Moses, the minister who gave the law, is called the minister of death and condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 7, 9. and that the law worketh wrath, Rom. iv. 15. that is, imposeth something, which proceeded from sin and guilt, and so from wrath. But these things are not to the purpose. For, 1. There is nothing there concerning a curse or execration, which constantly in scripture denotes the deplorable condition of the wicked, especially if any one is said to be under it. 2. Isajah and Daniel speak not of the time of the Old Testament in opposition to that of the New; but represent that period of time, in which God more severely punished the sins of his people; which he likewise does sometimes under the New. 3. Moses is called the minister of death and condemnation, because his ministry,. for the most part, tended to terrify the sinner, and convince him of his sin and curse. 4. In the same sense the law is said to work wrath; which is not to be understood of the ceremonial law alone, but also, and indeed, chiefly of the moral law, which, by its most accurate precepts, discovers sin, and, by the dreadful comminations of divine wrath against sinners, raises in

the soul a sense of wrath. But these things are no proof that believers of the Old Testament were under

HOWEVER

OWEVER the Old Testament had really some peculiar defects, on account of which it is found fault with, Heb. viii. 7, 8. and, because of these, it was to make room for the New. When we say this, we do no injury to the divine wisdom, as if it was inconsistent with that, to make the first covenant with his people, such as would afterwards want correction. For as God, in the first creation of the world, began with things that were more rude, and by degrees, as it were, first rough-hewed them, then polished and exactly squared them, till they attained to that beauty, in which he acquiesced so in like manner, in the formation of his church, he would have the beginnings to be more unpolished, which, in the regular course of things, were to arise, in process of time, to a more beautiful symmetry and proportion, till he should put the last hand to them, at the consummation of the world. And if it was not unworthy of God, to have made something imperfect in the kingdom of grace, which shall be brought to absolute perfection in the kingdom of glory; neither is it unworthy of him, to have granted something more sparingly under the Old Testament, which he most liberally vouchsafed under the New. Nay, by this very thing he displayed his manifold wisdom, in that he distinguished the diversity of times by proper and suitable

marks or signs. Paul represented the Jews, as resembling children; Christians, grown men. What irregularity is there in God's thus ordering matters, that he should confine the former to the rudiments, as being more suitable to their measure of age, and train up the latter in a more hardy, and as it were manly discipline?

II. But let us particularly rehearse in order the things, in which the Old Testament was defective. The first is, that the fathers under the Old Testament had not the cause of salvation present, much less completed. They had the figure of Christ in various appearances, as preludes of his future incarnation, in the pillar of cloud and fire, in the tabernacle, the temple, in the pictures of the ceremonies, the riddles of the prophecies: but they had not the privilege of beholding him present among them. The prophets of those times prophesied of the grace that should come unto us. And unto them was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto us concerning the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, 12.

III. And as the cause of salvation did not then appear, namely, God manifested in the flesh, neither did righteousness, or that on account of which we are justified. Because the Captain of their salvation was not yet made perfect thro' sufferings, Heb. ii. 10; that in which the expiation of our sins consists, did not then exist, and consequently, everlasting righteousness was not yet brought in, Dan. ix. 24. For as the ransom was not yet paid, the debts were not actually cancelled; that day had not yet shined, on which God removed the iniquity of the earth, Zech. iii. 9. The fathers, indeed, had a true and sufficient remission of sins, yet had not that, for which sins are justly, and in a manner worthy of God, remitted; namely, the satis

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faction and expiation of Christ. Pareus says well, ad Heb. viii. 18. "The expiatory offering was not yet made, in which the remission of sins, wherewith they were favored, was founded."

IV. In this respect it is no absurdity to say, that the sins of believers remained, and still existed, till they were cancelled by Christ's satisfaction. For they existed in the accounts of the Surety, who was to answer for them; nor were they blotted out, till after the payment was made. We are not to think, they so lay upon believers, as that they went to heaven loaded with the guilt of them; than which nothing can be more ab surd; nor are we to maintain, that they were entirely cancelled out of the book of God's accounts: for, in that case, Christ's satisfying for them had been superfluous. But they remained as debts upon the Surety, which he was to pay. And therefore God, who had already beforehand remitted very many sins, exacted them of Christ at the time appointed, Is. liii. 7. to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are. past, Rom. iii. 25. Pareus again, I. c. "In the mean time therefore, sins, even remitted without true expiation, remained, till they were at length expiated by the death of the Mediator; which expiation being made, both their sins and ours were at last truly abolished in the judgment of God." Calvin uses the same way speaking, Instit. lib. ii. c. 7. § 17. "For which reason the apostle writes, that the remission of the sins, which remained under the Old Testament, was at length accomplished by the intervention of Christ's death." This then was the first defect of the Old Testament, that it had not the cause of salvation completed, and consequently not a true expiation of sins.

of

V. The second defect was the obscurity of the old economy. This follows from the preceding. What

can there be at most but twilight before the rising of the sun? The Lord therefore dispensed the light of his word to them, in such a manner, that they could only view it still at a distance and obscurely. Peter has elegantly represented this, by comparing the prophetic language unto a lamp that shineth in a dark place, 2 Pet. i. 19. When he calls it a lamp, he intimates the absence of the sun; and when he speaks of a dark place, he represents the condition of the ancients, which, amidst the darkness, had the glimmering small light of a burning taper, and no more than a taper, which is used only in the night-time, not in the full day. To this purpose also is the saying of Christ, Matth. xi, 13. that the law and the prophets were until John. From that time the kingdom of God was preached. What did the law and the prophets discover to those who lived in their days? Certainly nothing but a taste of that wisdom, which was afterwards to be clearly displayed, by foretelling it as shining at a distance. Whenever

Christ can be pointed out with a finger, the kingdom of God is disclosed.

VI. There was certainly in the ceremonies, an institution concerning Christ's person, offices, and benefits. And therefore it was a distinguishing favor, that God should honor Israel alone, above all other people, with that kind of instruction, as we have formerly intimated. But, as the ceremonial rites were vastly increased, and the repetition of the promises of grace was in the mean time more sparing and uncommon; the very great number of rites was like a vail, by which the naked simplicity of the ancient promise was very much clouded. And the event shewed, that the greatest part of the Israelites cleaved to the ceremonies themselves, sought for justification and expiation of sin in them, and did not penetrate into the spiritual mysteries, which