2. The danger of neglecting it —
[The generality of Christians do lamentably neglect their duty in relation to our great High-priest. Instead of relying on that " better covenant," of which he is " the Mediator," they make covenants of their own precisely similar to the Mosaic covenant, which for its unprofitableness is abrogated and annulled". They reduce the standard of the moral law to their own fancied ability to fulfil it : they look for the first motions to good to arise from themselves, from some fancied stock of which they imagine themselves possessed ; and then expect ulterior blessings as a reward for their own. personal merits and deserts. They will be as little indebted to the free grace of God as possible : and, instead of receiving from the Lord Jesus Christ all their salvation as the fruit of what he has done and suffered for them, they give him no higher honour than that of obtaining for them a right and a power to save themselves. And this is the covenant which they prefer, and for which they abandon that " better covenant," which God has revealed in his Gospel. But let all such daring contemners of the Gospel hear what the Apostle Paul speaks to them in this epistle : " If," says he, " he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Mood of the covenant an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace''." Mark, this is not an assertion merely, but an appeal, an appeal to every con- siderate man : and, if you will only consider it candidly, I will
consent that you shall be judges in your own cause If
you say, ' I am not guilty of the things here spoken of;' I ask, ' How is it possible to deny your guilt, if you are systematically rejecting the Christian covenant, and substituting another of your own ? or how can you be guiltless in respect to these things, when you thrust the Lord Jesus Christ from his media- torial office, and seek to place his crown upon your own head ? ' Beware, I pray you, of this fatal evil : for, " how shall ye escape, if ye neglect so great salvationy?" Remember, there is no other covenant whereby any human being can be saved; no promise, but what is contained in that ; no mediator, through whom we can obtain an interest in it, but the Lord Jesus Christ. Lay hold on this covenant, and you are safe : reject it, and you perish for ever ]
" Heb. vii. 18, 19. '■ Ileb. x. 28, 29. y Heb. ii. 3.