delivered him out of his distress, and reduced him to a frame of mind meet for the ministration committed to him, which in his surprisal and consternation he was not; and therefore immediately afterwards, when the people fell into their great horror and distress, he was able to relieve and comfort them, no doubt, with that kind of relief which he himself had received from God, Exod. xx, 20. It appears then that,

§4. Obs. All persons concerned were brought to an utter distress by the renovation and giving of the law, from whence no relief is to be obtained but by him alone who is the end of the law for righteousness to all that believe.

VERSES 22--24.

But you are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men 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.

$1. The state of the church under the gospel. A rule of interpretation. $2. (1) Believers are come to mount Sion. $S, 4. The city of the living God. $5. The company of angels. C. Inferences. $7. The general assembly and church, $8. Of the first born, written in heaven. 59. To God the Judge of all. 10. To the spirits of just men made perfect 11 To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant $12. The blood of sprinkling. $13 That speaketh better things than Abel's. $14, How we come to these things. $15-- 17. (II.) Observations.

$1. THIS is the second part of the comparison. In the former he gave an account of the state of the people and the church under the law, from the giving of it, and the nature of its commands. In this he so declares the state to which they were called by the gospel, as to manifest it to be incomparably more excellent in itself, and beneficial to them.

We have here a blessed, a glorious description of the Catholic church, as the nature and communion of

it is revealed under the gospel; which is distributed into two parts-militant and triumphant. There is in the religion of the papists another part of the church, niether in earth nor in heaven, but under the earth, as they say, in purgatory. But with this, they who come to Christ by the gospel have nothing to do. They come indeed to the "spirits of just men made perfect;" but so are none of those, by their own confession, who are in purgatory. Wherefore believers

have nothing to do with them.

That which we must respect as our rule in the exposition of the whole is, that the apostle intends a description of that state whereunto believers are called by the gospel. For it is that alone which he opposeth to the state of the church under the Old Testament. And to suppose that it is the heavenly future state which he intends, is utterly to destroy the force of his argument and exhortation. For they are built solely on the pre-eminence of the gospel state, above that under the law, and not of heaven itself, which none could question.

§2. (I.) And first we are said to "come to mount Sion." The sum of the whole is, that by the gospel we are called to a participation of all the glory which was ascribed or promised to the church under those names, in opposition to what the people received by the law at mount Sinai.

Sion was a mount in Jerusalem, which had two heads, one whereof was called Moriah, whereon the temple was built, whereby it became the seat of all the solemn worship of God; and on the other was the place and habitation of the kings of the house of David; both of them typical of Christ, the one in his priestly, the other in his kingly office.

And the opposition between these two mountains was eminent. For God came down for a season only

He appeared in

on mount Sinai; but in Sion he is said to dwell, and to make it his habitation for ever. terror on mount Sinai, as we have seen; but Sion was in Jerusalem, which is a "vision of peace." He gave the law on mount Sinai; the gospel went forth from Sion, Isa. ii, 2, 3. He utterly forsook Sinai, and left it under bondage; but Sion is free for ever, Gal. iv. The people were burthened with the law at mount Sinai, with which burden they were led to Sion, where they waited for deliverance from it, in the observations of those institutions of divine worship which were typical and significant thereof.

Sion therefore is the place of God's special gracious residence, the throne of Christ in his reign, the subject of all graces, the object of all promises, as the scripture abundantly testifies. This is the first privilege of believers under the gospel. They come to mount Sion; that is, they are interested in all the promises of God made to Sion, recorded in the scripture; in all the love and care of God expressed towards it; in all the spiritual glories assigned to it. The things spoken of it were never accomplished in the earthly Sion; but typically, spiritually, and in their reality they belong to believers under the New Testament. All the promises, therefore, which were made of old to Sion, do belong to the present church of believers. These in every condition they may plead with God; they have the grace, and shall have the comfort contained in them. There is the security and assurance of their safety, preservation, and eternal salvation. Hereon depends their final deliverance from all their oppressions.

Be their outward condition never so mean and destitute; be they afflicted, persecuted, and despised, yet all the glorious things that are spoken of Sion are theirs, and accomplished in them in the sight of God, however excellent and innumerable.

Let this be compared with the people's coming to mount Sinai, as before declared, and the glory of it will be conspicuous. And believers are to be admonished, to walk worthy of the privilege, Psalm xv; to be thankful for it; to rejoice in it; and to make it an effectual motive to obedience and perseverance.

§3. They are said to come "unto the city of the liv ing God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Both these are the same. So Jerusalem is called the city of God; Psal. xlvi, 4; xlviii, 1, 8; lxxxvii, 3. But in every

place with respect to Sion.

1. They came to a city. They received the law in a wilderness, where they had neither rest nor refuge, But in a city there is order, defence, and safety; it is the name of a quiet habitation,

2. This was the city of God. The state of the church under the New Testament hath the safety, and beautiful order of a city, the city of God; the only city which he takes peculiarly to be his own in this world. It is his on account of propriety; he framed it, he built it, it is his own; no creature can lay claim to it, or any part of it. And those who usurp a dominion over it, shall answer to him for their usurpation. It is his on account of inhabitation; for he dwelleth in it, and in it alone, by his gracious presence. It is under God's rule, as its only sovereign. Therein he disposeth all his children to a spiritual society. So Paul tells the Ephesians, that by grace they were delivered from being strangers and foreigners, and made fellow citizens with the saints, and the household of God, Ephes. ii, 19.

3. The apostle adds a property of God of great consideration in this matter. It is "the city of the liv ing God;" that is, of the true and only God. Of him who is omnipotent, able to keep and preserve his own

city, as having all life, and consequently all power in himself. Of him who lives eternally, and with whom we shall live, when we shall be no more here.

4. This city of the living God, is the heavenly Jerusalem. And the apostle herein prefers the privileges of the gospel, not only above what the people were made partakers of at Sinai in the wilderness; but also above all that afterwards they enjoyed in Jerusalem in the land of Canaan. For in the glory and privileges of that city the Hebrews greatly boasted. But the apos tle casts that city, in the state wherein it then was, into the same condition with mount Sinai in Arabia, that is, under bondage, Gal. iv, 25; and he opposeth thereto that Jerusalem which is above, that is, this heavenly Jerusalem. And it is called heavenly; because, as a city, it is not of this world; because no small part of its inhabitants are already actually instated in heaven; because as to its state on earth, it comes down from heaven, Rev. xxi, 2, 3; that is, hath its original from divine authority and institution; because the portion and inheritance of all its inhabitants lie in heaven: because the spiritual life and graces of all that belong to it are heavenly; and, finally, because their (Toupa) city conversation, is in heaven.

§4. And we may yet a little farther represent the glory of this privilege, in the ensuing remarks:

1. A city is the only place of rest, peace, safety, and honor, among men in this world. To all these, in the spiritual sense, we are brought by the gospel. Whilst men are under the law, they are at Sinai, in a wilderness where there are none of these things. The souls of sinners can find no place of rest or safety under the law. But we have all these things by the gospel. Rest in Christ, peace with God, order in the commun