Chap. 31. verfe 31, 32, 33.

this wife; Behold the days come, faith the Lord, that I will make a new Covenant with the House of Ifrael, and

with the House of Fudah, not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the Land of Egypt; which my Covenant they brake, &c. But this fhall be the Covenant that I will make with the Houfe of Ifrael, After those Days, faith the Lord, I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their

bearts.

Chap. 11.

V. 19, 20.

Ezechiel also gives it the following Character, And I shall give them one heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a Heart of flesh; Tha they may walk in my Statutes, and keep my Ordinances and do them: And they fhall be my People, and I will be their God.

By these and the like Prophecies, it is not only mani feft, That the Covenant God defigned to make in com mon, both with Ifrael and all other Nations, should be new, but also that it should be more perfect than the other, and as fuch only, it should fucceed the former. This the Prophet Jeremiah, above quoted, does fo plainly demonftrate, as to convince the most ignorant of it, I will make a new Covenant, &c. Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers, &c. which my Covenant they brake. Who fees not, That this Prophecy promifes a Covenant far more excellent than that God had formerly made with the Ifraelites ¿

But if, after having confulted the Scripture, we fhall further confult the Light of Reason, it will inform us, that this Covenant was made up of two different Per fections; the one in oppofition to the Pagan Worship,

which it was to abolifh, the other with relation to the Jewish Religion, whofe Gaps and Imperfections it was, as it were, to fill up and reform.

Whilst Paganism flourish'd in the World, there was no true Knowledge of God or of Vertue. Temperance was become fo rare, that all the Earth was but like one great Sodom. Humility and Charity were fo utterly loft, that they had not fo much as a Name given them. God could not therefore but difpel their blindnefs in all these refpects, by the light of his Revelation, when he was making a Covenant with them. And indeed what is the whole fcope of the Gospel, but to instruct us in the knowledge of one God, Maker and Preferver of all things, to fhew us how we ought to direct all our Actions to his Glory (in the doing of which confifts the Effence of true and folid Vertue) to love our Neighbour, humble our felves before God, whom we ought alone to be continually admiring, as the Universal Fountain of all good Gifts? This Covenant of the Gospel was therefore the most suitable to the Wants and Neceffities of the Gentiles.

But although the Jewish Religion wanted not good Precepts and Exhortations, which enjoyned Men the performance of all their Duties, yet it had no Motives powerful enough to perfwade them to it, because it propofed none but fuch as were Carnal and Temporal. How could the Ifraelites fo far force their Inclinations, as to pay entire Obedience to the Law, when the Land of Canaan, a Temporal Profperity, &c. wee the only Rewards propofed for their Obedience, by that private Covenant which God had made with them? But here they have a fecond Covenant, which not only captivates Mens Wills and Affections, by Motives fo univerfal and fublime, as to be able to balance the Inclinations with which worldly Pleasures fo ftrongly influenc'd Men withal to difobey God's Law, but also E e

by

by its Celestial Ardor to diffolve, as 'rwere, all world! Affections into nothing, before the brighter Objects o Eternal Life and Immortality propofed in the Gospel, t enable us to the performance of our Duties, and t fight againft our depravation, by opening unto us a once both Heaven and Hell, by the Revelation of bleffed Eternity which attends the Faithful, and d infinite Torments which threaten the Wicked. Grea and Powerful are thefe Objects indeed, and worth that New Covenant, which uniting all Men to ether fo well fupplies them with an univerfal and Principle of Obedience, and exalts their above all Paffions and Vices, as were no

by its Celestial Ardor to diffolve, as 'twere, all worldly Affections into nothing, before the brighter Objects of Eternal Life and Immortality propofed in the Gospel, to enable us to the performance of our Duties, and to fight against our depravation, by opening unto us at once both Heaven and Hell, by the Revelation of a bleffed Eternity which attends the Faithful, and of infinite Torments which threaten the Wicked. Great and Powerful are thefe Objects indeed, and worthy that New Covenant, which uniting all Men together, fo well fupplies them with an univerfal and invariable Principle of Obedience, and exalts their Minds fo far above all Paffions and Vices, as were not to be curbed by any fuch Motives, as are proposed in the Law of Mofes, which is very weak, according to the Flesh. Thus again, you fee how the Covenant of the Gospel fills up the Gaps, and reforms the Imperfections of that which God had made with the Ifraelites; whence it is very deservedly called a New and more Perfect Covenant than the former. In it the Oracle is anfwerable to the Event, and the Event is juftified by the Oracle, fo that the proportion we ftill find on this account betwixt them, is, a wonderful confirmation to our Faith.

CHAP