This covenant, at the foot of Mount Sinai, was renewed by Moses, (_Exod._ xix. 5) where the Lord commandeth Moses to speak to the people in this manner, _If you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar people to me, for all the earth is mine; and ye shall be unto me a sacerdotal kingdom, and an holy nation_. For a _peculiar people_, the vulgar Latin hath _peculium de cunctis populis_: the English translation, made in the beginning of the reign of King James, hath a _peculiar treasure unto me above all nations_; and the Geneva French, _the most precious jewel of all nations_. But the truest translation is the first, because it is confirmed by St. Paul himself (_Tit._ ii. 14) where he saith, alluding to that place, that our blessed Saviour _gave himself for us, that he might purify us to himself, a peculiar_, that is, an extraordinary, _people_: for the word is in the Greek περιούσιος, which is opposed commonly to the word ἐπιούσιος: and as this signifieth _ordinary_, _quotidian_, or, as in the Lord’s Prayer, _of daily use_; so the other signifieth that which is _overplus_, and _stored up_, and _enjoyed in a special manner_; which the Latins call _peculium_: and this meaning of the place is confirmed by the reason God rendereth of it, which followeth immediately, in that he addeth, _For all the earth is mine_, as if he should say, _All the nations of the world are mine_; but it is not so that you are mine, but in a _special manner_: for they are all mine, by reason of my power; but you shall be mine, by your own consent, and covenant; which is an addition to his ordinary title, to all nations. The same is again confirmed in express words in the same text, _Ye shall be to me a sacerdotal kingdom, and an holy nation_. The vulgar Latin hath it, _regnum sacerdotale_, to which agreeth the translation of that place (_1 Pet._ ii. 9) _Sacerdotium regale_, _a regal priesthood_; as also the institution itself, by which no man might enter into the _Sanctum Sanctorum_, that is to say, no man might enquire God’s will immediately of God himself, but only the high-priest. The English translation before mentioned, following that of Geneva, has, _a kingdom of priests_; which is either meant of the succession of one high-priest after another, or else it accordeth not with St. Peter, nor with the exercise of the high-priesthood: for there was never any but the high-priest only, that was to inform the people of God’s will; nor any convocation of priests ever allowed to enter into the _Sanctum Sanctorum_.