Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy 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 part of divine revelation is complete in itself.  It is only when we view them in their connection with each other, as parts of one great whole, that we discern in them an all-pervading unity and harmony of spirit.

From the unity of revelation some inferences may be drawn of a very practical character, especially in reference to the interpretation of the Old Testament.