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"fen to put his name there," 1 Kings xi. 36. This light, this fun, is now turned into darkness, and has disappeared, to give place unto the "Sun of righteoufnefs," who reigns in Mount Zion, and "before his ancients gloriously." The old fanctuary, with what belonged to it, fitly compared to the moon, (as being changeable, and regulated by the moon, and having no true light of its own, but what is borrowed from Chrift typified in it), hath its iffue in the blood of Christ, Eph. ii. 15. "Thus the fun is turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, and all the light they give" is far outshined by the light of that "great" and notable "day of the "Lord that now is," Acts ii. 20.

In a word, all the glory of the letter is done away, to give place to the more excellent glory of the spirit and sense of that letter, 2 Cor. iii.

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These things were not removed but by the removing the covenant which did establish them. And these texts plainly fhew the doing away of that covenant, Gal. iv. 22. 24. 30. "For it is written, that Abraham had two fons; the one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman."Which things are an allegory: for these are the two cove"nants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to "bondage, which is Agar. Nevertheless, what faith the "Scripture? Caft out the bond woman and her fon: for the "fon of the bond woman fhall not be heir with the fon of "the free woman." Heb. viii. 6.—1 3."In that he faith, "A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now, that "which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away."

That covenant could not be removed but by its being fulfilled by Chrift, and reaching its end in him, Matth. v. 17. 18. Eph. ii. 12.--- 16. "That at that time ye were without "Chrift, being strangers from the covenants. But now "in Christ Jefus, ye who fometimes were far off, are made "nigh by the blood of Chrift. For he is our peace, who "hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle "wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh "the enmity, the law of commandments in ordinances," &c.

That first covenant therefore is now removed, and that on these accounts. (1.) As being the ministration of death, and "gendering unto bondage," 2 Cor. iii. Gal. iv. 24. (2.) As being unable (by itself) to justify the covenanted, and bring them truly near to God, or to make a man perfect as pertaining to the confcience, Heb. vii. 18. 19. and viii. 9. 12. and ix. 1.9. 15. and x. 1. 2. 16. 17. (3.) As affording on

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ly a fhadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, but vailing them, 2 Cor. iii. Heb. x. 1. and viii. 7.9. 11. And fo not being able to make God manifest to all the covenanted people. (4.) As not being able to make the covenanted people holy, and truly obedient to God, nor to keep them for ever in fubjection to him, 2 Cor. iii. 3. Heb. viii. 9. 10. (5.) As being worldly, and not fpiritual and heavenly, 2. Cor. iii. Gal. iii. 3. and Col. ii. 8. 20. (6.) As being a wall of partition betwixt the covenanted nation, and all other people, excluding all them that came not within the bond of it, from the church of God, and from hope in the promise of Christ, Eph. ii. 1 1.—14.

By the abolishing of this covenant, the earthly feed, the earthly nation, that ftood related to God by it, are likewife removed, Gal. iv. 30. 31. John viii. 33.-36. and Heb. viii. 6.-13. And if that people come in again, as no doubt the elect among them will, they must come in upon another and more durable footing; even the fame upon which the fpiritual feed of Abraham in all nations ftand eternally related to God.

Obf. 7. "The things that are established by this shaking " of the heavens and the earth, are things that must remain." And what are these things that cannot be shaken, and therefore remain?

1. All that was spiritual and eternal in the word and promifes of God, and in the experience of the faints, stands and remains in and by the new covenant. As we observed before, that all that was earthly and typical about the church of God, from the fall of man, was carried into the covenant at Sinai, the old teftament; fo now we may observe, that all that was spiritual of old stands and is established in the new covenant: "All the promises of God are yea and amen "in Chrift," 2 Cor. i. 20. The promise of the feed of the woman, the enmity betwixt the two feeds, and the victory of the woman's feed; the promise of the feed of Abraham, and of eternal bleffedness to all the nations in him; the promife of the feed of David to fit on his throne, and rule the true Ifrael, the true kingdom of God, for evermore, with all the promises and prophecies explaining and enlarging upon thefe, ftand good in the accomplishment of them, by this fhaking of the earth and heaven; and all they who died in the faith of these promises, have reached the end of their faith, and remain in the New-Teftament church, to enjoy eternally that which they believed and hoped for.

2. The moral law, the fame for fubftance under all covenants, and which has been in all the covenants that God made with men, ftands and remains here, and is written, not on tables of stone, but in the hearts of all them that are within the bond of this covenant, that they may never depart from God.

This eternal rule of righteoufnefs could not be fhaken, Matth. v. 17. 19.; but as it was always fuited to the manifeftation God made of himself in the covenants he entered into with man; fo the New-Teflament revelation being the cleareft and fulleft, and making known what before was hid in God, makes that law fuitable to itfelf; and therefore it is given in the New Teftament in another and more excellent manner than it was given to Adam, or the children of Ifrael at Sinai. It would be long to declare this fully, we shall only notice, that the moral law ftands in the new covenant, delivered by the Lord Redeemer to the church, and we have it in this covenant, together with the institutions of Christ, under the covert of his blood, even as the book of the law in the first covenant was fprinkled with the blood of the facrifices, Heb. ix. 19. 20. 23. And to engage to do the du ties required in the law any otherwife but as the law ftands. in the new covenant, fprinkled with the blood of Christ, is to engage to fulfill the covenant of works fome way, and fo to fubject ourselves to the curfe; and therefore there can be no fuch thing as a covenant of duties between God and us under the New Teftament, diftinct from the New Testament which is in Chrift's blood. The obedience of the Lord's covenanted people is better fecured in the new covenant than ever it was before, either in the covenant made with mankind in the firft Adam, or in the covenants made with Ifrael after the flesh for now he puts his laws into their mind, and writes them in their hearts and as their obedience is there. by, and in its own nature, more fpiritual, and more free; fo, when they are perfected, as they will infallibly be, their obedience will very far excel, not only Ifrael's poor fervice, in the "oldness of the letter," but Adam's obedience before he fell. And how much more excellent is conformity to the fecond Adam, who is the Lord from heaven, in our obedience, by his Spirit, than conformity to the first Adam, even while innocent, by our natural powers?

3. When the types, the fhadows, are fled away, and the patterns of heavenly things are fhaken off, the heavenly

things themselves, the substances of these shadows, stand by the new covenant, and remain established for ever.

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The original word rendered removed, may import tranflated; and we may make this observe upon it, "That whatever was excellent in the types, we have it unto much "better advantage in the antitype, when the types are fet "afide." For here we have heavenly things for earthly, and the things themselves established to remain for ever, when the figures and patterns of them are done away.

Here is the eternal covenant, fealed with the blood of the Son of God, instead of that earthly temporal covenant, dedicated with the blood of beafts: A covenant more fure, more efficacious, more extensive, established on better promises, and having a better people covenanted.

Here is the glorious heavenly fanctuary instead of that worldly figure of it, and ordinances of divine fervice more pure, fpiritual, and heavenly, wherein we have a more glorious discovery of the living God in the perfon of Jefus Christ, and more intimate nearness with him. This fanctuary is a houfe of prayer for all people, and it hath more excellent worshippers than the old, and fhall ftand for ever.

Here alfo is the "inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, " and that fadeth not away, referved in heaven for them who "are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto" it; even the inheritance which the Father gave to his Son Jefus Chrift, and of which he took poffeffion for himself and his people, when he afcended, that they might enjoy it with him for evermore.

And here is the true kingdom, not earthly, as of old, but heavenly; and managed, not by dying men, but by Jesus, the true God, manifest in the flesh, and that has arisen from the dead to judge the earth, and to inherit all nations, Pfal. lxxxii. 8. A more excellent kingdom for power and glory, number of fubjects, and their quality, profperity, and peace; and for ftability. Of this kingdom there fhall be no end, for it hath the things that cannot be moved.

But against this it may be objected, Shall not this king. dom, and the things of it, be moved at the fecond coming of Chrift? and will there not be a new ftate of things, when he fhall deliver up the kingdom to the Father? How is it then faid, that this is an everlasting kingdom, and that this state of things will remain for ever?

Anf. 1. It is evident, at leaft, this kingdom, and the things

established

established in the fhaking of the heavens and earth, will remain until the confummation of all things.

2. These things that thus remain will, at that time, have their perfection; fo that will not be another state of the church, but the perfection of this that now is; even as the fetting afide of the tabernacle, and building the temple, and the glory of the kingdom under Solomon, after the people were settled in the land of promife, made not another state of that church, but was the perfection of that state which was before. So we fee fometimes the Apoftle speaks of our being come to the heavenly Jerufalem, and receiving this kingdom already; and fometimes fays, "It is to come,” and that we "feek this city to come: " for though we be come to it, and it be already fet up; yet it will not appear till then, nor will it till then be perfected; and so we seek it and expect it as to come.

Now, whatsoever things they be that fhall then be done away, they are fuch things as belong unto the imperfection of this ftate of the church; and when the full perfection of this state is come, at the appearing of Jefus Christ, then the things that attended it while not yet perfected, will be no more. Of this fort are the preaching of the gospel, and the inftitutions of the New Teftament for the subjects of this kingdom fojourning on earth, which are to continue only till the end of the world, Eph. iv. 10.-13. We may also notice what the Apoftle fays, 1 Cor. xiii. 9.-12. “For we "know in part, and we prophefy in part; but when that "which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall "be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, "I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I "became a man, I put away childish things. For now we "fee through a glafs darkly, but then face to face; now I "know in part, but then fhall I know even as also I am "known."

The fubjects of the Son of God, fo far as they are fub. ject to him, are fubjected to the Father, who is excepted in putting all things under him, for this purpose, that the things fubjected to the Son may be thereby subject to him, who is reprefented by the Son in his kingdom. But though the fubjects of Chrift, who are his members, be thus fubject to the Father; yet they are not fully fubjected to him, while the enemies of his Son's kingdom remain, or while he rules in the midst of his enemies, and his people are not totally delivered from them. But when Chrift fhall have fully destroyed

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