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your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, &c. And if ye will not yet, for all this, hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." (Lev. xxvi. 3, 4; 9; 11, 12; 14-18.) "And it

shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do ALL his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.-But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do ALL his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee." (Deut. xxviii. 1, 2, 15.)

We might multiply passages upon this point, were it necessary. But it is enough, that we only observe further, the continual repetition of that word ALL. "Ye shall

walk in ALL the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live." "It shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do ALL these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us." "If ye shall diligently keep ALL these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in ALL his ways, and to cleave unto him; THEN will the LORD, &c." (Deut. v. 33; vi. 25; xi. 22.) Many more passages might be added; but these abundantly suffice to prove, that the blessings of this Covenant were only to be obtained by strict and universal obedience before the Lord. Not merely before men, who look only on the outward appearance; but before the Lord, who seeth not as man seeth, but looketh on the heart. The requirements of this Covenant, therefore, were very great, extensive, and spiritual.

It is evident that the Israelites never fulfilled those requirements. Their whole history presents but one continual series of the most flagrant violations of the Covenant. They did not even refrain from open and gross idolatry-the sin against which they were most strictly warned, and which (under their peculiar circumstances) was peculiarly aggravated and inexcusable.

The Covenant had scarcely been made forty days, when they broke it by setting up the golden calf. And though, upon the intercession of Moses, that sin was pardoned, and the Covenant renewed,-yet it was broken again and again, till the measure of the iniquities of that generation was filled up by their unbelief and rebellion at Kadesh-Barnea; and they were condemned to perish in the wilderness, without so much as setting foot upon the Promised Land. The Covenant was renewed with their children in the plains of Moab. (Deut. v. 3; and xxvi. 16-19.) And again by Joshua at the close of his life. (Josh. xxiv. 14-28.) And, though generation after generation still rebelled and despised it, (as we find from the beginning of Judges to the end of 2 Kings,) the Lord still was gracious to the people whom he had chosen, returning to them with mercies again and again, and (beyond all reasonable hope and expectation) fulfilling His part of the Covenant with unwearied patience and forbearance,—with most astonishing faithfulness and mercy. But all this patience and mercy was rendered unavailing by the perverseness and wickedness of the people. "This my Covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD." It was needful, therefore, for the vindication of His pure and spotless holiness, to manifest His wrath against such multiplied transgressions. His people had long walked contrary to Him: it now became Him "to walk contrary to them also in fury." (Lev. xxvi. 28.) He brought upon them the armies of His vengeance, who burned the holy and beautiful house, in which they gloried, with fire, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones: He cast them out of the land which they had polluted with their idols, and left it desolate, as He had threatened: and thus was that Covenant finally annulled. Then might all the nations say, "Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger?" And no answer could be given, but that which was written in the volume of prophecy more than 900 years before: "Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods

whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day." (Deut. xxix. 24-28.)

Here we must specially note, that it was the wickedness of Israel which made this Covenant void,—and nothing else. The Covenant was ordered by a wise and merciful and holy God; and there was no want of condescension and goodness on His part. From first to last, He manifested himself, such as He is,-merciful and gracious, long-suffering, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth. To make this more evident, pause awhile upon the following particulars:

1. The grace and condescension of the Lord in entering into Covenant with men at all. "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else besides him." "Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day." (Deut. iv. 32-35; x. 14, 15.)

2. The excellence of the Covenant itself. Divine wisdom and mercy contrived it: nothing was contained in the commandments of the Lord, which it was not their privilege and blessedness, as well as their duty, to observe. "Now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of

thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day FOR THY GOOD?" "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgements, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" (Deut. x. 12, 13; iv. 5-8.) What a deep sense of the excellence of God's law doth David express in Psalms xix. and cxix.!

3. The manifold provisions made to keep the people in continual remembrance of this Covenant, and of the wonderful displays of God's perfections on their behalf. To this end were all the monuments of the wonders which He had wrought set up, and all the solemn feasts ordained : so that the people, from one generation to another, had yearly, monthly, and daily remembrancers of these things, to confirm their minds in the truth and certainty of them, and to excite suitable affections in their hearts. The Law was read in the ears of all the people every seventh year, and the fathers were commanded to teach it to their children, and to explain the reasons of its various observances. "When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these

statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us." (Deut. vi. 20-25.) And, as if all this were not enough, how many times, from age to age, did the Lord interpose in a miraculous manner on their behalf! and thus add new motives of love, adoration, and obedience, to all that had gone before!

4. Neither would it be allowable to pass over the encouraging invitations to repentance, and the gracious provision, made for them who had transgressed, in the rites and sacrifices of the Ceremonial Law. By means of these, the sinner might return to God with acceptance, -except, indeed, in cases of the most flagrant and wilful transgressions, for which no sacrifice was provided under the Mosaic dispensation. No one, therefore, could take exception against the Covenant, on the ground of the ignorance and infirmity of human nature; for the way of mercy was opened, to all who did not offend with a high hand and presumptuously. In the ordinances of the Tabernacle, indeed, the glories of a new and better Covenant were shadowed forth,-and, in an impressive manner, continually presented to the eyes of Israel.

Moses, therefore, could fitly appeal to the people. "This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil.-I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." (Deut. xxx. 11-15; 19.) And the prophets use language equally remarkable. "Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it,

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