Deut. xxx. 11 — 14. This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it ? neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it ? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
IT is a very prevalent idea in the world, that all people shall be saved by the law under which they live ; so that Jews, Turks, and heathens of every description, have as good a prospect of salvation, as those who enjoy the light of the Gospel. But there has been only one way of salvation from the fall of Adam to the present moment. How far God may be pleased to extend mercy for Christ's sake to some
who have not had an opportunity of hearing the Gospel, we cannot presume to say : but to those who have the Scriptures in their hands we are sure that there is no hope of acceptance, but through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the way of salvation revealed to Adam, confirmed to Abraham, and more fully opened in the Mosaic law. It was of this that Moses spake in the words before us : to elucidate which, we shall inquire,
I. What is the commandment here spoken of — What it was may be seen by consulting,
1. The testimony of Moses himself —
[It was not the moral law that was given on Mount Sinai, but " the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the cove- nant which he made zvith them in Horeba." The law given on Mount Sinai, of which Horeb was a part, was strictly a cove- nant of works: but that which was given in the land of Moab, was a covenant of grace. That on Mount Sinai made no pro- vision for the smallest transgression : it simply said, Do this, and live : but that in the land of Moab was accompanied with the sprinkling of the blood of sacrifices both on the altar and on the people b; and intimated, that through the blood of the great Sacrifice their iniquities, if truly repented of, might be forgiven. And this distinction is very carefully noticed in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where St. Paul, mentioning some particulars not related by Moses, declares, that, by the cove- nant thus ratified, remission of sins was provided for, and might be obtained by all who sought it in the appointed way.]
2. An inspired exposition of the passage0 —
[St. Paul is expressly contrasting the nature of the two covenants : the Law, he tells us, required perfect obedience, and said, " He that doeth these things shall live in themd." But the Gospel, that is, " the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise ; " and then he quotes the words before us, and explains them as referring to the Gospel. Some have thought that he quoted these words only in a way of accom- modation ; but it is plain that he understood them as strictly applicable to his point. Speaking of the righteousness which is of faith, he says, " But what saith iTe?" He then, quoting
a Deut. xxix. 1. b Exod. xxiv. 3 — 8. c Rom. x. 5 — 10.
d Lev. xviii. 5. and Deut. xxvii. 26.
e Some would rather substitute the word he. But our translation is right. See Beza in he.