Neither is it the Abrahamic covenant with which the Chris- tian covenant is compared ; for they are, in fact, the same covenant, and differ only in the measure of light with which they are revealed. Nothing that is subsequent to the Abra- hamic covenant has ever disannulled it*^: and consequently, inasmuch as it never vanisheth away, it cannot be the one to which the Christian covenant is here said to be superior.
It remains then that the covenant with which the Christian covenant is compared, is that which God entered into with the Israelites in the wilderness. This was of a mixed nature : it was, in part, a covenant of works ; and, in part, a covenant of grace. In as far as it promised manifold blessings to sincere though imperfect obedience, it was a covenant of grace ; but in as far as it suspended those blessings altogether upon the performance of those works, it was a covenant of works. The full account of this covenant is given by Moses in the twenty- fourth of Exodus^ The Prophet Jeremiah contrasts it
with that new covenant which God promised to make with his
people under the Christian dispensation s and the
Apostle, in the words following our text, expressly tells us, that it was of that covenant he spake, when he said it was inferior to the Christian covenant and superseded by it^ But,]
2. Wherein was the Christian " covenant better" than it ?
[It was so iji its oivn nature, being incomparably more liberal in its terms, more rich in its provisions, more permanent in its duration. The Mosaic covenant (as I will call it) granted nothing but in a way of remuneration for services performed : the Christian covenant grants every thing upon the simple condition of our laying hold of the covenant, and asking for the blessing for Christ's sake. The Mosaic covenant held forth only temporal benefits to those who were under it : but the Christian covenant imparts to the believer all the blessings both of grace and glory. The Mosaic covenant waxed old and vanished away : the Christian covenant will endure for ever and ever.
It was so also in the promises with which it loas established. The possession of the promised land, with a long continuance of peace and plenty, was the chief promise of the Mosaic cove- nant. It is true, there were promises of pardon and accept- ance through the offering of certain sacrifices : but the pardon did not bring peace unto the conscience ; nor continue longer than till the next day of annual expiation ; nor extend at all
e Gal. iii. 17.
f Compare Exod. xxiv. 3 — 8. with Heb. ix. 19 — 21.
s Jer. XX xi. 81— ;j4. >> vcr. 8, 9.