accuracy in a single clause. The word StaKovta^ ministratioti^ means either the service^ i. e. the act of ministering, or the office of a hLaKovo<s or minister. Commonly the former. In what sense the ministry of the law was a ministry of death, and the reason why the law is described as engraven on stone, have already been stated. The law is thus exhibited as exter- nal, as opi^osed to what is spiritual.
Was glorious^ iyevq^rj Iv S6$a, existed in glory y was sur- rounded, as it were, by a halo. The reference here is only indirectly to the brightness of Moses's face, which was but a symbol of the glory of his ministration. The glory which per- tained to the old dispensation was not the illumination of the countenance of Moses, Avhich was merely an incident. It was of the same kind, though less in degree, as the glory of the gospel. The one dispensation was indeed glorious, but the other was more so. So that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Jfoses. The whole service was so glorious that even the face of Moses was so bright that the people could not look upon it. This brightness of the face of Moses was in two respects a symbol of the glory of the old dispensation. In the lii-st place, it was an outward brightness. So too the glory of the Mosaic dispensation was derived in large measure from its pompous ritual, its temple, its priest- hood, its sacrifice, and, above all, its Shekinah, or visible sym- bol of the divine presence. But what was all this to the glory of the gospel? What was a bright cloud overhanging the cherubim, to the light of God's presence filling the soul? And secondly, the brightness of the face of Moses was tran- sient. The particij^le Karapyovixiv-qv may be taken as imperfect — They could not behold it as it was va7iishing away ; or as present, which is evanescent^ ov perishable. It was in its own nature a mere transient brightness, analogous to the tempora- ry splendour of the service committed to him. How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious ? If the one Avas glorious, how much more the other ! The future shall is not to be understood in reference to the future world. The idea is not that hereafter, when Christ's kingdom is consum- mated, the ministration of the gospel shall be found more glo- rious than that of the law. The future expresses the certain sequence. If the ministration of death was glorious, the min- istration of the Spirit shall assuredly, if rightly considered, be regarded as glorious. This is plain from the fact that the things compared are the ministration committed to Moses and