large, until, in that divided state every ray of it was successively absorbed and extinguished, was now at length concentrated and fixed by being specially committed to the charge of Abram and his posterity, and associated with institutions which should perpetuate it in its purity and integrity to the latest times. At first, indeed, with the exception of the rite of circumcision, and the circumstance of withdrawing him from the land of his birth, to reside in another nation, we find no special rule of life of a positive nature imposed upon Abraham or his immediate descendants. For, at this time, as the race of the patriarch had not yet increased to the magnitude of a nation, many of those forms and ceremonies, those festivals and laws which were afterwards ordained, were still unnecessary. And it would seem, as if in order to show that external rites formed no essential part of genuine religion, and that the existence of them when they did come into use was to constitute a preventive against the encroachment of idolatry and ignorance, God was pleased to defer the institution of them till the furthest possible period, when to dispense with them any longer would be injurious if not impracticable. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lived accordingly under the same form of the administration of the covenant of grace with the first patriarchs. They, no doubt, had received the promise, that of their race the Messiah should spring, and that thus, in their seed, all the nations of the earth should be blessed. But as domestic instruction and parental authority were sufficient to preserve the knowledge of true religion, and of this great promise in their family, without any other means, we do not find any ceremonial or ritual duties ordained to them. And accordingly the state of religion in the days of Abraham and his immediate descendants, revived and promoted as it had been by the promise given to them, and, at the same time, not burdened with any extraneous and cumbrous ritual, was a nearer approach to the purity and simplicity of the Gospel economy, than distinguished either the prior or subsequent ages of the world. And on this account, it is, that the

apostle Paul, and the other inspired writers of the New Testament, so frequently refer to this particular period in the history of the Divine dispensations, and illustrate the doctrines of the Gospel, more particularly its nature as a system of free grace, and of universal and permanent ordination, by the call of Abraham and the promise given to him.

In process of time, you are aware, the children of Israel became a great nation, and having entered Egypt in an honourable capacity, as the relatives and brethren of Joseph, who held the highest office of the state under the king, they were ultimately reduced to a state of the most grievous and cruel bondage, by the future rulers of the country. At length, God heard their cry, and remembered the covenant made with Abraham; and raised up Moses, to whom he gave a divine commission and miraculous powers, to accomplish the deliverance of the captive people, and to lead them to the possession of the land of Canaan, which had been given to them by promise for an inheritance. On their arriving at the base of Mount Sinai, God revealed himself to them in an ever-memorable manner, as their King and their Lawgiver, speaking to them from its summit canopied with smoke and fire, whilst thunderings and lightnings, and the sound of a trumpet exceeding loud, issuing from the mount, attested the solemn grandeur of the occasion, and filled the minds of the people with the deepest awe and terror. The character of the Sinaitic covenant, then established, is to be sought for, partly in the circumstances in which the Israelites came out of Egypt; partly in the general state of moral and religious apostasy and darkness in which the world at large at that time lay; and partly in the subsequent dangers and temptations to which the interests of revealed religion would be exposed during the course of the future history of the Israelitish commonwealth. And accordingly we find that a three-fold institute was presented to the people, comprehending first and chiefly the moral law, contained in the ten commandments; the ceremonial or ritual law, embodying a typical repre

sentation of the great truths of salvation, and constituting a visible and impressive representation of the fundamental principles of true religion; and lastly, the civil or political law, regulating the administration of temporal affairs, and drawing a line of demarcation around the Jewish nation, which seemed effectually to separate and distinguish them from every other race. The concurring effect of these several codes, was to terminate in the production of one great and important end; to prepare the way for the coming of Christ, the establishment and confirmation of the Christian dispensation, and eventually the universal enlightenment and restoration of the whole world, to the worship and service of the one Living and True God.

In the days of Abraham, the lamp of true religion was rekindled in the midst of profound and universal darkness; and put into the possession of this patriarch, that he might transmit it to his posterity: and, accordingly, when God selected him for this high honour, he intimated, at the same time, his full confidence, that he would prove faithful to the trust reposed in him. "For I know him, said Jehovah, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”

But during the severe and lengthened course of bondage to which they were subjected in the land of Egypt, the Israelites, as might readily be expected, lost much, both of their family virtues, and of their family privileges. The corroding chain of slavery · had entered into their soul. Ordinances had become neglected or been laid aside. Oppression had degraded their minds as well as their bodies. Even Moses, their future lawgiver, had not been circumcised according to the command given to Abraham, until he had arrived at the state of manhood. Now we read that the Law was added because of transgression,* till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. It was a publication of that pure and eternal

* Gal. iii. 19.

code of religious and moral duty, which mankind, when abandoned to themselves, not merely violate, but actually become ignorant of its very nature and first principles, until they are instructed in it by the word and Spirit of God.

And the necessity of publishing the moral law to the Israelites, in all the purity of its principles, and in all the sanctity of its obligations, with a view to prepare them for being the children of Abraham, not merely in a natural or civil but in a far higher and more important manner, in a religious and spiritual point of view; in other words, in order to prepare them for serving the end for which Abraham was called; living in covenant with God, receiving and cherishing the promises; and being the witnesses and servants of Jehovah, in the midst of a world lying in wickedness, is apparent from what takes place in the experience of every individual who is at any time led to embrace the Gospel of Christ, and to turn from a state of impenitence and sin, to become a new creature. The flames of Sinai must be apprehended with trembling awe, before the still small voice of mercy which emanates from Calvary can be attended to with a suitable degree of interest and affection. rigours of a fiery law must have shaken and penetrated the soul with its conviction, and cut off all hope, on the part of a sinner, of finding salvation through his own merits, before he can turn an. inquiring and profound regard to the gracious provision made for his salvation by means of the Gospel. Under the degrading bondage of sin and Satan have we all lost a spiritual and a full knowledge of the purity and the perfection of the statutes of heaven; and therefore it is, that the same law which was published to the Israelites from the burning mount requires to be revealed to every conscience by the Holy Spirit, in order that it may convince us of our sin and misery and condemnation, and serve as a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.

The

Such, then, was the use of the moral law, as a transcript of the Divine perfections, as a record of the

immutable claims of God, as a revelation of that perfect righteousness which it is necessary to possess, either actually or by imputation, in order to our acceptance. It is fitted to humble transgressors under a sense of sin, to open their eyes to an apprehension of their guilt and danger by nature, and to lead them to desire and cherish the offer of a free and full forgiveness, presented to them on the ground of the Redeemer's merits and sufferings, and as the fruit of his obedience.

The ceremonial law was, in its essence and design, an adumbration or shadow of the glorious gospel, and was eminently fitted to supply, when spiritually understood, that consolation and hope which the guilty feel themselves to require in the sight of God. It consisted of various ritual observances and acts of worship, which had each its own typical import and meaning, and when combined, represented, in a very full and significant manner, the nature and principles of evangelical religion. Even its very imperfections had for the time their use, and are calculated to inspire us with a profound conviction of the wisdom of its divine Author. It was in many respects dark and enigmatical, and only to be fully apprehended, at least in its more recondite lineaments and bearings, on being examined under the full light of the Christian dispensation. But this very circumstance evidently confers on it the dignity and the weight of prophetic manifestation-as coincidences unperceived formerly, but now clearly recognised, show that a representation so perfectly and minutely accurate and faithful, could not be the work of human contrivance, but of heavenly design. And then too, its nature, as a system of carnal ordinances or external observances, though it might seem liable to turn away the minds of men from spiritual and moral duties, to mere ritual and ceremonial compliances, as it often did, yet had its use; which abundantly justified the mode of its institution in this respect. In that, the infancy of the world, the minds of men, as is too frequently the case still, were more affected and governed