Hence it appears, that the old and new covenant are compared, or contrafted with each other, in the New Teftament, on very different accounts. Sometimes a comparifon is ftated between them, on purpose to fhew the difference between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works, or the way of falvation by grace and the way of falvation by works*. Thus when the apoftle oppofes the promife, the law of faith, or covenant of grace, to the law, or old covenant; it is plain, that this is to be understood no otherwife than as a covenant of works. So that the law of works which he speaks of, is the very fame with the covenant of works 'made with Adam before the fall, which, for fome fpecial and weighty réafons, was repeated, and publifhed with awful folemnity on Mount Sinai.

The two covenants are, by the fame apostle, elfewhere t, compared for a very different reason; namely, to fhew how far the difpenfation of grace under the New Teftament excels that legal and imperfect administration of the covenant of grace which the church was under before the coming of the Meffiah. And when the old covenant is thus contrafted with the new, by it we are to understand that whole typical difpenfation which Ifrael and the Jewish church were under during the Mofaic œconomy; and by the new covenant, not the covenant of grace, but that more excellent and glorious adminiftration thereof which has taken place fince the coming of Chrift, and the erection of the gofpel-church.

And here it may be obferved, that, without attending carefully to thofe different views that are

* Rom. iii. Gal. iii. 4. 24. † Heb. viii. ix. x. See alfo 2 Cor. iii.

given

given of the two covenants in the apoftolic writings, it is impoffible to understand the fcope. and tendency, or perceive the force and propriety of the apostle's reafoning in those paffages, where he ftates a comparison between the law and the gofpel, the old and new covenant, and fets the one in oppofition to the other. Let the impartial reader then judge, whether the author of the letters had any reafon to affert, with fo much confidence as he does, that the commonly received diftinction betwixt the covenant of works and the covenant of grace ferves to fet afide, obfcure and confound the capital diftinction fet before us in the apoftolic writings, betwixt the old and new covenant. He might with equal reafon have affirmed, that the diftinction between the law of works and the gospel, or the covenant of grace upon which the apoftle Paul builds much of his reafoning in his epiftles to the Romans and Galatians, ferved to fet afide, obfcure and confound the distinction which the fame apoftle fets before us, in the 8th and 9th chapters of his epiftle to the Hebrews, betwixt the first and fecond covenant, and thus taxed the infpired apoftle with inconfiftency and felf-contradiction. For it must be evident to every one who attentively confiders the scope of the apoftle's reafoning in thofe places where he oppofes the promife, or covenant of grace, to the law, that the diftinction which he makes betwixt them tallies exactly, or rather is the very fame with that distinction betwixt the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, which this Gentleman would make us believe owes its rife only to the fond conceit of fome fyftematic divines, and has a manifeft tendency to confound the fcriptural distinction betwixt the old and new covenant.

*

This author alfo attempts to fix a charge of contradicting the apostle Paul upon those who teach, that thefe covenants are fometimes compared and opposed to each other in the New Teltament, not as two covenants differing in fubftance from each other, but as two difpenfations of one and the fame covenant : yet nothing can be more plain, than that the apostle, in the 8th and 9th chapters of the epiftle to the Hebrews, does not speak of them as two covenants for life and falvation specifically diftinct from each other, but only as containing two different adminiftrations of one and the fame covenant. This must be granted, unless we fhall fuppofe that the Levitical priesthood, facrifices, and ceremonies belonging to the Old Teftament economy, had no relation at all to Jefus Chrift, or the covenant of grace, or no way belonged to the administration But there is no room for any fuppofition of this kind, while the apostle plainly intimates, that the great defign of all these was to typify and prefigure Chrift, his priesthood and facrifice, with thofe fpiritual bleffings and privileges which were thereby purchased and fecured to all his people; and therefore he calls them patterns and figures of heavenly or fpiritual things, and tells us, that the law had a fhadow of good things to come +. Hence it is abundantly evident, that Chrift, his righteousness and grace, were exhibited, though darkly, to the faith of believers under the Old Teftament difpenfation.

of that covenant.

As Palemon, with a degree of confidence peculiar to himself, has thought proper to reject what

* Letters on Theron, &c. p. 355. † Heb. ix. 23, 24

X. I.

is

is contained in the confeffions of all the Reformed churches, and has hitherto been taught by all found Proteftant divines, concerning the covenant of works, and the two different administra tions of the covenant of grace, it might have been expected, that he would at leaft have clearly delivered his own opinion concerning them; but all we have from him is comprifed in a few dark hints, which it is difficult to make any thing of Hence it would appear, that his defign was rather to overthrow, than to build; for he cavils at almost every thing, without eftablifhing any thing, or even fo much as attempting to do fo, by any fair method of reafoning. He indeed, fomewhere, is pleased to tell us, "that he would not chufe to ❝rank with thofe who unfettle two points where "they fix one "" but we do not find that he has been fo good as his word; for we cannot help thinking, that he has endeavoured to unfettle many points of great importance where he has fixed

none.

*:

Had this writer acted as ingenuous and fair a part as most of thofe fyftematic divines whom he treats with fo much contempt, have done, we might much more eafily have formed a judgment concerning his fcheme of principles, and known what is his real opinion with regard to the feveral points in controverfy between him and his antatagonifts. They ordinarily deliver their fentiments in fuch a plain and regular method, as gives the reader an eafy view of what they maintain; of the connection of the feveral purposes they treat of, and the dependance which one part of their fcheme has upon another: but it is evident, that fuch a method would not at all have fuited the

Letters on Theron, &c. p. 214

de

defign of this author, which, fo far as I can perceive, is rather to defame, and pour contempt upon the memory of his opponents, than with a becoming zeal to affert and vindicate the truths of the gospel, in oppofition to the feveral errors and falfe opinions by which proud self-seeking men have endeavoured to obfcure and pervert them.

One thing, relating to the diftinction betwixt the old and new covenant, is confidently afferted by our author, which deferves particular notice, as being evidently falfe in itself, and having a native tendency to give a falfe view of, and beget very erroneous notions concerning fome important truths taught, and inculcated, in feveral paffages of the apoftolic writings. He affirms, that the diftinction betwixt the old and new covenant is the fame with the diftinction betwixt flesh and fpirit, fo often mentioned in the New Teftamentt. Hence an unwary reader may be apt to conclude, that wherever the words fiefb and fpirit occur in the New Testament, they fignify the old and new covenant; and that wherever the infpired writers diftinguish, or put a difference, betwixt flesh and Spirit, and oppofe the one to the other, they intend only to fet before us the distinction betwixt the old and new covenant; or that typical difpenfation the Old Teftament church was under, and the more fpiritual difpenfation of grace which the church has been under fince the coming of the Meffiah, and the erection of the gospel-kingdom. But this is fuch an extravagant imagination, and fo contrary to the plain scope of the feveral paffages in the New Teftament, in which the flesh and Spirit are diftinguished from, and opposed to, each other; that I can hardly perfuade myself,

+ Letters, &c. p. 354.

that