Chapter II: The promise and covenant with Abraham, renewed with the Israelites.

The promise and covenant with Abraham, renewed with the Israelites.

Ant. And, sir, did the law produce this effect in them?

Evan. Yea, indeed, it did; as will appear, if you consider, that although, before the publishing of this covenant, they were exceeding proud and confident of their own strength to do all that the Lord would have them do; yet when the Lord came to deal with them as men under the covenant of works, in showing himself a terrible judge sitting on the throne of justice, like a mountain burning with fire, summoning them to come before him by the sound of a trumpet, [yet not to touch the mountain without a mediator,] (Heb 12:19,20), they were not able to endure the voice of words, nor yet to abide that which was commanded, insomuch, as Moses himself did fear and quake; and they did all of them so fear, and shake, and shiver, that their peacock feathers were now pulled down. This terrible show wherein God gave his law on Mount Sinai, says Luther, did represent the use of the law: there was in the people of Israel that came out of Egypt a singular holiness; they gloried and said, "We are the people of God; we will do all that the Lord commandeth." Moreover, Moses sanctified them, and bade them wash their garments, and purify themselves, and prepare themselves against the third day: there was not one of them but was full of holiness. The third day, Moses bringeth the people out of their tents to the mountain in the sight of the Lord, that they might hear his voice. What followed then? why, when they beheld the horrible sight of the mountain smoking and burning, the black clouds and the lightnings flashing up and down in this horrible darkness, and heard the sound of the trumpet blowing long, and waxing louder and louder, they were afraid, and standing afar off, they said not to Moses as before, "All that the Lord commandeth we will do; but talk thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God talk with us, lest we die." So that now they saw they were sinners, and had offended God; and, therefore, stood in need of a mediator to negotiate peace, and entreat for reconciliation between God and them; and the Lord highly approved of their words, as you may see, (Deut 5:28), where Moses, repeating what they had said, adds further: "The Lord heard the voice of your word, when ye spake to me, and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee, they have well said, all that they have spoken," viz: in desiring a mediator. Wherefore, I pray you, take notice, that they were not commended for saying, "All that the Lord commandeth we will do." "No," says a godly writer, "they were not praised for any other thing, than for desiring a mediator"; [101] whereupon the Lord promised Christ unto them, even as Moses testifies, saying, "The Lord thy God shall raise up unto thee a prophet like unto me, from among you, even of your brethren; unto him shall you hearken, according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, when thou saidst, Let me hear the voice of the Lord my God no more, nor see this great fire any more, that I die not: and the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I command him"; and to assure us that Christ was the prophet here spoken of, he himself says unto the Jews, (John 5:46), "If you have believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me"; and that this was it which he wrote of him, the apostle Peter witnesses, (Acts 3:22); and so doth the martyr Stephen, (Acts 7:37). Thus you see, when the Lord had, by means of the covenant of works made with Adam, humbled them, and made them sigh for Christ the promised Seed, he renewed the promise with them, yea, and the covenant of grace made with Abraham. [102]

Ant. I pray, sir, how doth it appear that the Lord renewed that covenant with them?

Evan. It plainly appears in this, that the Lord gave them by Moses the Levitical laws, and ordained the tabernacle, the ark, and the mercy- seat, which were all types of Christ. Moreover, (Lev 1:1), "The Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle," [103] and commanded him to write the Levitical laws, and the tabernacle ordinances; telling him withal, (Exo 34:27), "that after the tenor of these words, he had made a covenant with him, and with Israel." [104] So Moses wrote those laws, (Exo 24:4), not in tables of stone, but in an authentical book, [105] says Ainsworth, called the Book of the Covenant, which book Moses read in the audience of the people, (Exo 24:7), and the people consented unto it. Then Moses having before sent young men of the children of Israel, who were first-born, [106] and therefore priests until the time of the Levites, to offer sacrifices of burnt-offerings and peace-offerings unto the Lord, "took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning these things"; whereby they were taught, that by virtue of blood, this covenant betwixt God and them was confirmed, and that Christ, by his blood shed, should satisfy for their sins; for, indeed, the covenant of grace was, before the coming of Christ, sealed by his blood in types and figures. [107]