A FAMILIAR SURVEY

OF THE

OLD AND NEW COVENANTS.

INTRODUCTION.

THE new and everlasting covenant is nothing more than the development of the plan of redemption which was formed from eternity. The language of the apostles, in regard to its origin and ultimate accomplishment, is exceedingly simple: "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. They represent mankind as in a state of guilt and rebellion, and God as providing, of his self-moved love, for their full and everlasting salvation; but in speaking of the counsels of Jehovah, there is nothing of that unbecoming familiarity and that minuteness of detail, which ill accord with the simple grandeur and the awful sublimity of the sovereign plans of the Eternal.

The subject is unfolded and illustrated in the various statements and reasonings of the sacred

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writers; who employ a variety of figures taken from the things of this life, to elucidate its nature and its object. But this use of figurative language as a medium of illustration, is quite different from employing it literally to describe the dispensation of mercy. The latter has sometimes led to phraseology which is more adapted to a series of earthly transactions, than to the sovereign interposition of Heaven for the salvation of men. This, instead of elucidating the subject, produces confused as well as low ideas of its spirit and design. The mind gets too much occupied with the nature of a human paction, and with the many designations and relative interests connected with such a compact,-the simplicity with which the scriptures exhibit the plan of redemption is greatly overlooked, and the progress of the learner in Scriptural knowledge, instead of being facilitated, is exceedingly retarded.

In strict propriety, there has been but one grand dispensation of grace since the entrance of sin. This was revealed in different portions, and was connected with different subordinate dispensations; but all those portions were parts of one stupendous whole, and all those dispensations were but the scaffolding of the building. And now that Christ has come, the one great plan of redemption has been fully revealed in the new and everlasting covenant, which has been ratified by his precious blood, and the promises of which are now in the course of fulfilment through his heavenly ministrations. Heb. 1-4; xii. 22-24.

The way of salvation has been the same from the

beginning. The only variation adopted by God respects not the subject itself, but the manner in which the knowledge of it has been communicated to the world. This has given rise to several dispensations adapted to the circumstances of the parties at different periods, whilst the promotion of one grand and essential object was the uniform design of each.

The old covenant which was established with Israel at Sinai, was particularly designed to throw light upon the plan of redemption in its progress to fulfilment. Its rites, as explained in the Epistle to the Hebrews, agree so remarkably with the Christian covenant, that it appears strange that ever their typical import should have been questioned.

In interpreting the typical institutions of Scripture, however, particular care is necessary. It is most dangerous for a man to give unbridled scope to his fancy in order to discover their solution. Nor is the evil confined to them. The same fancy comes to be employed on the most plain historical facts. These are turned into allegory, and the instruction to be derived from their obvious import is despised. And hence, not a few have been led to look upon the Scriptures as a book of riddles and conundrums. It is true that certain historical facts have been allegorized by the sacred writers, and that types and symbols are employed as emblems of spiritual things. But in determining what are such, and also in interpreting them, we should be guided by that fixed standard which is furnished by the express declarations, or the evident implica

tions of Scripture. It is also true that the principle suggested by one passage may often be employed to throw light upon another, and that general principles may be applied to other things besides those which are immediately in view; but this is quite a different thing from the practice now in question. Some have unhappily confounded them; and hence that disrepute into which the subject of types and analogies has fallen, as if it were associated with forced explanations and the effervescence of a vain imagination. It is not every kind of resemblance that is sufficient to constitute a type, but such a similitude as proves it to be a designed though an imperfect likeness to the antitype.

It is of great importance in this investigation to distinguish between the type and the antitype. The kingdom of Israel, for instance, being a figure of the kingdom of Christ, the glory of the latter is prophesied of in language taken from the visible glory of the former; and the spiritual glory of "the true tabernacle," is described by allusions to the pomp and magnificence of the earthly temple. Now, as the Jews, rigidly adhering to the letter, to the neglect of the spirit, formed the most mistaken notions of the character and reign of the Messiah,— so the disciples of Christ, forgetting the typical design of the Levitical economy, are sometimes apt to adopt means for the embellishment of his worship and the extension of his cause, which are greatly at variance with the genius of a spiritual kingdom.

This is an unscriptural use of the ancient dispen

sation, and is to return, as it were, to its "beggarly elements," instead of being led by them, as we ought, to "go on to perfection." And the proneness of men to this error accounts for the fact, that much of apostolic teaching is occupied with admonitions against it. The glory of the church of God is of a spiritual nature, and it is extended only by subjecting the consciences of men to his Word, purifying their hearts, and renovating their character. Attempts to extend and adorn it by other means are inconsistent with its nature, and are but rude efforts to lacker the diamond.

It may be proper to refer here to the application of the term covenant, to the dispensation established with Adam. Considering the latitude in which this word is, in certain connections, employed in Scripture, the constitution established with Adam, as the head and representative of his posterity, may be called a covenant or dispensation. But care should be take nthat the nature of the covenant of peace through Christ be not misunderstood; and it is but just to say that care has been taken by many so to explain it as to prevent this. And one object of the Mosaic economy was to give a view of the bearings of the dispensation established with Adam, commonly called the covenant of works, in subserviency to the illustration of the mediatorial dispensation commonly called the covenant of grace. In par

ticular, it exhibited the nature and demands of the law when considered as the condition of life, to convince men of the need of a Saviour, and to induce them to embrace the promise of that Deliverer,