is is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write
them in their hearts. HEB.8:10.
STEAM PRESS, BATTLE CREEK, MICH. 1875
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an
husband unto them, saith the Lord; but this shall be the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, 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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I
will remember their sin no more." Jer.31:31-34.
THE first covenant was made with the people of Israel at the time of their
departure out of Egypt. This covenant no longer exists. The new covenant long
since took its place. But a very serious error prevails in the minds of many
persons respecting the points of difference between these two covenants. The
old covenant was made with the Hebrew people. For this reason, whatever
entered into it is supposed to be Jewish. Thus the law of God is summarily set
aside as Jewish; and thus might the God of Israel himself be discarded as a
Jewish God. But the new covenant is held up to our admiration, because it is, as
they say, not made with the Jews,
4
but with the Gentiles. The old covenant belonged to the Jews, and with it we
have no concern; the new covenant is made with the Gentiles, and we, as
Gentiles, are interested in it.
How can men thus carelessly read the Scriptures? The language of
inspiration is very explicit in stating that the new covenant is made with the same
people that were the subjects of the old covenant. Thus Jeremiah, speaking in
the name of the Lord, says: "I will make a new covenant with the house
