rcy he saved us_. "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose
you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the
fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because he
would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord
brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of
bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Deut. 7:7, 8); "For
thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great" (Psa.
25:11); "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness;
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions" (Psa. 51:1); "I do not this for your sakes, O house of
Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the
heathen whither ye went" (Ezek. 36:22); "We do not present our
supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great
mercies" (Dan. 9:18).

_By the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost._
"Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be
clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." "Create in me a clean
heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from
thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me" (Psa. 51:6, 7, 10,
11); "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer.
31:33); "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be
clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse
you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you,
and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments,
and do them" (Ezek. 36:25-27).

8. The stern character of the Mosaic dispensation is freely admitted. As
a preparatory dispensation, severity belonged appropriately to it. "The
law," says Paul, "was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith." Gal. 3:24. Its office was to educate the
human conscience to such a point that it should be prepared for the full
revelation of God's mercy in Christ. We may concede the prominence of
God's justice in the Old Testament, and his mercy in the New; but we
must never forget that neither