Corresponding with these different states of men was the difference between the Jewish and the Chris- tian dispensations ; the one of which was intended to introduce the other : and it was good, as fin- as it an- swered that end: but, as an ultimate state to rest in, it was bad : it consisted only of " weak and beggarly elements," and imposed an insupportable yoke, from which it is our happy privilege to be released. It is in reference to that dispensation chiefly that the Apostle uses the word ''again;" because the Jewish converts at Rome had, previous to their embracing of Christianity, groaned under that yoke : but the others also, in their heathen state, had experienced a bondage not very dissimilar ; and therefore the same expression may not improperly be applied to them also.
That we may have a distinct view of the whole of the Spirit's operations, we shall consider them, I. In reference to the dispensation under which we live —
The Christian dispensation, as contrasted with the Jewish, is called " The ministration of the Spirit5," because under that dispensation the Spirit is poured forth far more abundantly than before.
The Jewish economy tended only to bondage —
[The terrific manner in which the law was given, gene- rated nothing but fear in all who heard it: even Moses himself said on the occasion, " I exceedingly fear and quake." And the strict prohibition to all the people not so much as to touch the border of the mount, clearly shewed to them that it was not a dispensation whereby they were ever to obtain a near access to God.
The two tables of the law, which were then given to Moses, were so holy, that though in the letter they might be observed, in the spirit they could not be kept by any child of man : and yet they were enforced with the most awful sanctions, the smallest violation of any one command subjecting the offender to death, even eternal death. What but fear could result from such a dispensation as this?
The very sacrifices prescribed for the relief of those con- sciences which were oppressed with guilt, tended, in fact, to
a 2 Cor. iii. 8.