LORD our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear, and do.

And the LORD heard the voice of your words when ye spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to thee: they have spoken well all that they have spoken. O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments at all times, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! Go, say to them, Return you to your tents again. But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak to thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

Ye shall observe therefore to do as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. In all the way which the LORD your God hath commanded you, walk ye, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may lengthen your days in the land which ye shall possess. DEUT. V.

[The Apostle Paul thus contrasts the mode in which the Ten Commandments were given, with the Gospel dispensation:]

For ye are not come to a mountain that may be touched,* and that burns with fire, nor

* That may be touched, i. e. a literal mountain of tangible matter, not a figurative mountain as mount Sion, when spoken of under the New Testament dispensation, as a place of access to God.

to blackness and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (for they could not endure that which was enjoined,* "And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:" and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I am terrified and quake:) but ye are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

See that ye reject not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who rejected him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things which are shaken, as of things which are made, that those things which cannot be shaken, may remain. Wherefore we receiving an immoveable kingdom, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.-HEB. Xii.

[In another passage he thus alludes to the writing of the law on tables of stone:-]

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation

*They could not endure, &c. i. e. they could not endur to receive God's instructions immediately under so awful a threat to those who should approach too near.

to you, or of recommendation from you? Ye are our letter [of reommendation] written in our hearts, known and read of all men: because ye are manifestly the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.* And such is the confidence which we have through Christ towards God: not that we have power of ourselves to reckon upon [effecting] anything as of ourselves; but our power is from God; who also hath given us power to be ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Now, if the ministration of death in letters engraved in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit‡ be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation

The meaning is, that the Apostle Paul did not stand in need of human testimony to prove his apostleship. The spiritual blessings conferred on the Corinthians, and manifested by their lives, were proof that God had employed him as his apostle. The writing with ink is said with reference to the book of the law which was so written by Moses, and the writing on tables of stone with reference to the Ten Commandments, which were so written by the finger of God. And these operations he contrasts with the infinitely nobler operations of the Spirit of God, in bringing the judgments and inclinations of true Christians into accordance with the will of God; which operation is figuratively described in Scripture as putting the law in the heart, and writing it in the inward parts.

† Ministration of death, i. e. the giving of the law on mount Sinai; which, in consequence of the disobedience of the Israelites, wrought their destruction.

Ministration of the spirit, i. e. the introduction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through whom the Holy Spirit of God comes and writes his law on the hearts of Christians, so that they are inclined and enabled to obey it.

be glory, much more doth the ministration of justification abound in glory. For even that which was rendered glorious has no glory, in this respect by reason of the surpassing glory. For if that which cometh to an end came with glory, much more that which is to remain is in glory.*-2 COR. iii.

QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXXIX.

How long was it after the Israelites left Egypt, that they came to the wilderness of Sinai ?

Where did Moses go?

What message did God give him to the Israelites? When Moses delivered it, what did the people say? What directions did God give respecting the mountain? What was to be done to any creature that should touch or approach the mountain?

What happened on the third day?

What appearance had the mount?

What sounds were heard?

When the trumpet sounded loudly, what did Moses do? What did the Lord do?

What did he direct Moses to do?

What did God say to the people? Repeat his commands What did the people do when they heard these things? What did they say to Moses?

*The Apostle in this passage contrasts, in various points of view, the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the former, the law was written on tables of stone, and announced to the Israelites as a rule of conduct; by the latter, it is written on the heart, as a living principle. The former was a ministration of the letter of the law, the latter a ministration of the spirit of the law: the former was a ministration of death, the latter a ministration of the Holy Spirit, who gives life: the former was a ministration of condemnation, the latter a ministration of justification : the former was to be done away, the latter to remain: the former was glorious in the mode of its introduction and in its own nature; the latter is so much more glorious in all respects, as by the comparison to deprive the former of all its glory.

What did Moses reply to them?

To what does the Apostle Paul compare the giving of

the law?

To what does he compare the writing of the commandments on stones?

What contrast does he draw between the Law and the Gospel?

LESSON XL.

FROM EXODUS XXIV.

AND [the LORD] said to Moses, Come up to the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near to the LORD: but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him.

So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people and they said, All that the LORD hath said we will do, and we will be obedient. And Moses 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 all these words.

Then Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. And

O. T. No. 2.

C