CHAPTERVI. 349 mankind ; all which appear more eminently, in the writings of David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel: V. It was also a further design of the prophets, to put them in mind of their duty, to reprove them for sin, and by many mo- tives and examples, by invitations, threatenings and promises of every kind, both temporal and spiritual, to encourage, to warn, and to reform them, to awaken them to repentance and trust in divine mercy, and the practice of holiness, in order to their tem- poral benefit, and their eternal salvation ; and with all, to main- tain their obedience to the law of Moses, or the whole Levitical dispensation,whichcarried in it, the covenant of grace. So saith Malachi, the very last of the prophets, in the end of his pro- phecy, Mal. iv. 4. Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb, with the statutes and the judgments; for these were appointed to continue till the Messiah came, even till the Lord, whowas the messenger or angel of the covenant should come to his temple, who was to be introduced by John the baptist, under the name and character of Elijah the prophet, as is expressed, chapter iv. verses 5, 6. compared with chapter iii. verse 1. CHAP. V1.The Peculiar Co'venant of Sinai. I. But it must necessarilybe observed here, that in this dis- pensation of Moses, there was several outward precepts or ordi- nances, which were partly ceremonial or sacred, and partly civil or political, together with divers promises of a carnal and tem- poral kind, superadded to the gospel of grace and salvation ; whichprecepts and promises, together withall the ten commands, considered distinctly and apart from the gospel, made up that Sinai covenant, which separated the Jews from the rest of the nations, and which was really in the nature of it a covenant of works. This is evident, because their works of obedience were ' to be their justifying righteousness, so far as to preserve their lives and comforts, in the land of Canaan, as Moses expressly teaches them ; Deut. vi. 24, 25, " And the Lord commanded us tondo all these statutes, to fear the Lordour God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day : And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these command- m ents, before the Lord our God." Now this is very different language from what St. Paul speaks to the Romans, and to the Galatians, when he describes our righteousness for justification before God, according to the covenant of grace and salvation, , And if in any instances, the Jews had broken the rules or lawsof this Sinai covenant, in outward actions, or ceremonial defilements, they were -bound to offer particular sacrifices, or to apply themselves to special washings or fastings, or other me- thods of purification or atonement, and to a visible reformation;
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