But in what respects is this a better covenant ? It is by God himself called " a better covenant :" and well does it deserve that name ; since, as he tells us, it is " established upon better promises." The cove- nant, so far as it was a national covenant, made with the Jewish people, promised nothing but temporal blessings ; and, as made with Adam in Paradise, and with all mankind in him, it promised nothing but upon perfect obedience. But the new covenant engages to supply our every want : it points out a Saviour to us ; and makes over to us, not pardon only, but purity ; assuring us, that God will send to us his Holy Spirit, to renew us after the Divine image ; and to give us, not heaven only, but also a meetness for the enjoyment of it. One of its principal provisions is, "A new heart will I give unto you, and a new spirit will I put within you." In a word, the covenant of works required every thing, and imparted nothing : whereas the covenant of grace imparts every thing, and requires nothing, except that we should receive thankfully what God offers to us freely, in the Son of his love. (Of course, in the free offers of God I include the new heart, of which I have just spoken, and the entire sanctification of the life as flowing from it.) I may add, too, that the new covenant has a better Mediator. Moses, the mediator of the cove- nant of works, could do nothing for his people, but make known to them what God had revealed to him : whereas our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, is ever living to intercede for us with the Father ; and has in himself a fulness treasured up for us, a fulness of all that we ever can stand in need of. In fact, he is not a Mediator only of the covenant, but a " Surety of itg" also : and he engages with us for God, and with God for us : with us for God, that " he shall never depart from us to do us good ;" and with God for us, that " he will put his fear in our hearts, so that we shall never depart from himV This, I say, is the very covenant which he makes with us : and it is from
g Heb. vii. 22. h Jer. xxxii. 40
i 9.