ned in the Scriptures, and even distinguished as
_old_ and _new_. Jer. xxxi: 31; Heb. viii: 8; yet we must understand
these as only different and successive modes of administering one and
the same Covenant of Grace. This covenant was proclaimed before the
deluge by prophets, as Enoch and Noah; after the flood by patriarchs;
then by the ministry of Moses and other prophets, when John the Baptist
and the Messiah in person proclaimed it; and from the day of Pentecost
till the end of the world is the last dispensation--still, the covenant
is immutably the same. The most solemn and memorable act of covenanting
with God was at Horeb, otherwise called Sinai, when the Israelites were
first and formally organized in ecclesiastical and civil relations. Then
"Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion." Ps. cxiv: 2.

Besides circumcision and the passover, both of which involved covenant
obligation, God instituted the additional ordinance of public and social
federal transaction, that the whole body might glorify him by a united
act of solemn dedication as his special property separated visibly from
the world. Is. lxiii: 19. And that this is a moral ordinance, and of
perpetual obligation, is evident from the practice of God's people, both
under the Old and New Testament, and the language of prophecy. Deut.
xxix: 10-12; 2 Cor. viii: 5; Is. xliv: 5.

Again, when we renew our covenant, we do not mean that the obligation
has ceased, or that we can increase its obligation, for this is infinite
and permanent; we intend by our personal act to deepen and render more
durable our sense of preexisting obligation. This is, indeed, the
immediate object of all renovations, by Moses, Joshua, kings of Judah
and Nehemiah. And as we have seen, this ordinance was observed by
Christians in the time of the apostles, so their practice may be traced
through history afterwards, however obscure, until the time of the
Reformation from Popery; when in Europe, both continental and insular,
this ordinance was revived and exemplified. Among all nations in
Christendom Scotland stands preeminent since first emancipated from
bondage in mystical Babylon, for the frequency and fidelity of her
ecclesiastical and national vows to the Most High. After many struggles
with Popery and Prelacy, during which Christ's witnesses in that land
derived strength and courage from vows renewed to withstand these
organized oppressors; at length by their example and influence t