seb: ■iiiviikii ^iillil^tl.lBaJl THE CONGREGATIONAL LECTURE. SEVENTH SERIES. THE CONNEXION AND HARMONY OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, M.A. LONDON : RICHARD CLAY, PRTNTEB, BKDAD STREET HILL. THE CONNEXION AND HARMONY OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS: AN INQUIRY INTO THE RELATION, LITERARY AND DOCTRINAL, IN WHICH THESE TWO PARTS OF THE SACRED VOLUME STAND TO EACH OTHER. W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, M.A. EDINBURGH. Ttt tv Trj Kaivti diaOiiKi] o'lKovo/jLOvneva, kv Ttj ■naKanj. 'ji/ <7Kia'ypa0oi''ju£i'a. Chrysostom. Testamentum Vetus de Christo exhibendo, Novum de Christo exhibito agit: Novum in veteri latet, vetus in novo patet. — Augustin. LONDON : JACKSON AND WALFORD, 18, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 184L PREFACE. " All Scripture," says Paul, speaking of the Old Testament, " is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." It is to be feared that many excellent persons, whilst they cannot but admit this statement of the Apostle, are far from enjoying a personal realization of its truth. From the more devo- tional parts of the Jewish Scriptures they may derive much spiritual advantage ; but for the book, as a whole, they find themselves unable to entertain the same feeling of grateful regard as they possess towards the writings of the New Testament, fi'om which they are in the habit of deriving principally their religious aliment. The existence of such a divided state of feeling towards the two great component portions of a volume which, if of Divine origin, must be har- monious in its texture, is a circumstance deeply VI PREFACE. to be regretted. If the Old Testament was xvntien for the use of Jews, it has been, by the gracious providence of God, preserved for the use of Christians ; and to them, no less than to the Jews, is held out the assurance, that "he that meditates in the law of God, shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, whose leaf shall not wither, and who shall prosper in what- soever he doth." To neglect a study recom- mended by such an assurance can neither be right nor safe. The main cause to which that neglect of the Old Testament to which I have referred is to be attributed, is not a disposition to underrate any portion of revealed truth, but rather an inability to perceive the bearing of many parts of that book, upon the principles and feelings which Christianity teaches us to receive and foster. We may hope to remedy it, therefore, by laying before the minds of intelligent Chris- tians right views of the close connexion, mutual dependence, and internal harmony of the Old and New Testaments, so as at once to convince them that Christianity must be found in the former as well as in the latter, and to put them on the right way of finding it. To supply what has appeared to the author a desideratum hitherto on this head in our British theological literature is the design of the present publi- cation. PREFACE. Vll The vastness of the field I have had to traverse has necessitated my proceeding upon principles of selection and condensation in the arrangement of my materials. I have, conse- quently, confined myself as much as possible to such points as seemed of most comprehensive- ness and moment ; and have, save in a few instances, rested contented with adducing the evidence in favour of my positions, without en- tering at length into the refutation of such objections as might be adduced against them. This I felt to be the less necessary, that the controversial bearings of the different branches of my subject are those which have hitherto almost exclusively occupied the attention of those who have written upon them. Desirous of consulting the interests of all classes of readers, I have abstained, as much as possible, from all exegetical disquisition in the text, and have placed such philological remarks as seemed necessary for the elucidation of the passages quoted in notes. For the same reason, I have rendered into English the quotations from ancient or foreign authors which I have had occasion to introduce ; judging it not only more useful, but, upon the whole, more scholarly, to do so, than to load my pages with masses of Greek, Latin, and German, which two-thirds, perhaps, of my readers could not undei'stand, and which no one would, in such a case, have had any security that I understood myself. Vlll PREFACE. Since the Lectures were delivered in the Congregational Library, they have been nearly entirely rewritten, and have, consequently, un- dergone considerable alterations in arrangement as well as in substance. My anxious aim has been to compress as large a portion of authentic information into my pages as was compatible with the limits within which I was necessarily confined. I now commend the work to the Divine blessing, and to the candid and enlight- ened judgment of my christian brethren. W. L„ A. Edinburgh, March 3lst, 1841. ADVERTISEMENT. (BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARY.) The " Congregational Library " was established with a view to the promotion of Ecclesiastical, Theological, and Biblical Literature, in that religious connexion with whose friends and supporters it originated. It was also designed to secure a con- venient locality for such associations as had previously existed, or might hereafter exist, for the purpose of advancing the literary, civil, and religious interests of that section of the Christian Church to which it was appropriated. Without undervaluing the advantages of union, either with Evangelical Protestants, or Protestant Nonconformists, on such grounds as admit of liberal cooperation, it was nevertheless deemed expedient to adopt measures for facilitating the concentration and efficiency of their own denomination. In connexion with these important objects, it was thought desirable to institute a Lecture, partaking rather of the character of Academic prelections than of popular addresses ; and embracing a Series of Annual Courses of Lectures, to be delivered at the Library, or, if necessary, in some con- tiguous place of worship. In the selection of Lecturers, it was judged proper to appoint such as, by their literary attainments and ministerial reputation, had rendered service to the cause of divine truth in the consecration of their talents to the " defence and confirmation of the gospel." It was also supposed, that some might be found possessing a high order of intellectual com- petency and moral worth, imbued with an ardent love of biblical science, or eminently conversant with theological and ecclesi- astical literature, who, from various causes, might never have attracted that degree of public attention to which they arc entitled, X ADVERTISEMENT. and yet might be both quahfied and disposed to undertake courses of lectures on subjects of interesting importance, not inckided within the ordinary range of pulpit instruction. To illustrate the evidence and importance of the great doctrines of Revelation ; to exhibit the true principles of philology in their application to such doctrines ; to prove the accordance and identity of genuine philosophy with the records and discoveries of Scripture ; and to trace the errors and corruptions which have existed in the (Chris- tian Church to their proper sources, and, by the connexion of sound reasoning with the honest intei-pretation of God's holy Word, to point out the methods of refutation and counteraction ; are amongst the objects for which " the Congregational Lecture" has been established. The arrangements made with the Lec- turers are designed to secure the publication of each separate course, without risk to the Authors ; and, after remunerating them as liberally as the resources of the Institution will allow, to apply the profits of the respective publications in aid of the Library. It is hoped that the liberal, and especially the opulent, friends of Evangelical and Congregational Nonconformity, will evince, by their generous support, the sincerity of their attachment to the great principles of their Christian profession ; and that some may be found to emulate the zeal which established the " Boyle," the " Warburton," and the " Bampton " Lectures in the National Church. These are legitimate operations of the " voluntary principle " in the support of religion, and in perfect harmony with the independency of our Churches, and the spirituality of the kingdom of Christ. The Committee deem it proper to state that, whatever respon- sibility may attach either to the reasonings or opinions advanced in any Course of Lectures belongs exclusively to the Lecturer. Congregational Library, Blomfield Street, Fiashunj, April, 1S41. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. EXTERNAL Oil LITEUAKY CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, Part I. Introductory Remarks — Design of this Course of Lectures — Import- ance of this Design — Subject of the present Lecture — General Affinity of the Old and New Testament — Affinity in point of Form and Structure; of Language; of Nomenclature — General Allu- sions in the New Testament to the Old — Testimony of our Lord and his Apostles to the Authenticity and Inspiration of the Old 'I'estament — Allusions in the New Testament to Historical Inci- dents, Institutions, and Characters recorded in the Old — Purposes for which these are made 1 — 3? Part IL Verbal Quotations from the Old Testament in the New — Sources of these Quotations — Deviations from the standard Text in many of the Passages quoted — Fornmlre of Quotation — Passages introduced without EormuliL' — Purposes for which Quotations are made by the New Testament Writers from the Old — Meaning of the phrase, " It is fulfilled," and the like in the New Testament — Concluding Remarks 37 — (iO XII CONTENTS. LECTURE II. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS DOCTRINES RESPECTING THE DIVINE NATURE. All Scripture from the same Divine Source — Consequent Harmony of all its Statements — Problem of a Religion — Divine Existence assumed in Scripture — Unity of God as taught in the Old Testa- ment— Jehovah not viewed by the Israelites merely as their tutelar Deity — Intimations in the Old Testament of the Plurality in the Divine Essence — Plural Names of Deity — Construction of these with singular Adjuncts — Use of the Plural by Jehovah when speaking of or to Himself — The Angel of Jehovah — The Spirit of Jehovah — Intimations in the Old Testament of the threefold Character of the Divine Plurality — Conclusion — Opinions of the Jews 67-112 LECTURE III. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS DOCTRINES RESPECTING THE DIVINE CHARACTER, AND CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF MAN. Part I. Moral Character of God — Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man — Consequences of the Fall — Doctrine of the New Testa- ment on this head — Penalty denounced in the primal Threatening not Natural but Spiritual Death — This Penalty incurred by all Men — Inquiry into the Knowledge possessed by the Old Testa- ment Saints respecting a future State of Rewards and Punishments — Degree of Knowledge upon this Subject possessed by the Jews in the Days of our Lord — Testimony of Paul to the Fact that such Knowledge was enjoyed by the Patriarchs, and to Abraham's Knowledge of a bodily Resurrection from the Dead . 113 — 139 Part II. Evidence from the Old Testament upon this Head — Translation of Enoch, Rapture of Elijah, &c. — Traces of a Belief on the part of the Patriarchs and Jews in the separate Existence of the Soul after Death — Traces of their Knowledge of the Resurrection and the Last Judgment — Result of this Inquiry — The Expectation of a future State of Retribution must have made those who entertained it deeply concerned as to their State before God — Prospects of Man as a Sinner — Reasons for Hope — A Way of Escape revealed in the New Testament — Probability of finding the same in the Old '. 139— IC7 CONTENTS. Xlll LECTURE IV. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS CRITERIA AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. Adaptation of Divine Revelation to the peculiar Circumstances of those to whom it was first addressed — Under the ancient Economy God made use of both Words and sensible Symbols to convey Truth to the Minds of Men — In relation to the Messiah the former Mode is used in the Prophecies concerning Him, the latter in the Types — Duties of the ancient Prophets — Subjects of their Oracles — Necessity of fixed Criteria of such Prophecies as refer to the Messiah — Internal Criteria — External Criteria — Authority of our Lord and his Apostles final in respect to such Prophecies as they quote — Theory of Accommodation — This Theory inconsistent with the Divine Authority of the New Testament, as well as with well-known Facts in the Life, Character, and Teaching of our Lord and his Apostles — Principles for the Interpretation of the Messianic Prophecies — Peculiarities of the Prophetic Style — • Theory of a Plurality of Senses in Prophecy . . . 1G8 — 226 LECTURE V. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS SURVEY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY FROM THE FALL TO THE TIME OF DAVID. Three Ages of Messianic Prophecy — First Age from the Fall of Adam till the Death of Saul, King of Israel— The first Gospel — Exclamation of Eve on the Birth of Cain— Noah's Blessing on Shem and Japheth — Promises made to Abraham — Blessing of Judah — Traces of Acquaintance with the first Gospel in the Book of Job — The Prophet like unto Moses 227 — 277 LECTURE VI. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS SURVEY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY DURING THE REIGNS OF DAVID AND SOLOMON. Second Age of Messianic Prophecy — Characteristics of the Prophe- cies belonging to this Age — Authors of these Prophecies — Prophecy of Nathan to David — Last Words of David — Messianic Psalms — Authorship of these — Messianic Character of Psalms ii. xvi. xxii. xl. xlv. Ixxii. ex. vindicated 278 — 328 XIV CONTENTS. LECTURE VII. INTERNAL OK DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THL OLD AN D NEW TESTAMENTS SURVEY OF MESSIANIC FHOPHEClf FROM THE DEATH OF SOLOMON TO THE TIME OF MALACHI. Third Age of Messianic Prophecy — Historical Notices respecting the Israelites and Jews during this Age — General Characteristics of the Prophecies belonging to this Age — Messianic Prophecies by Amos, especially chap. ix. ; by Hosea, especially i. 10; by Isaiah, especially vii. 14 — 16; ix. 5, 6; Hi. 13 — liii. 12; by Joel; by Micah, especially v. 1,2; by Jeremiah, especially xxiii. 6; by Daniel, especially ix. 24 — 27; by Ezekiel; by Haggai, especially ii. 7 ; by Zachariah ; and by Malachi — Concluding Remarks . . 329—382 LECTURE VIII. INTERNAL ORDOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS NATURE, CRITERIA, AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES EXAMINATION OF SOME OF THE LEADING TYPES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Part I. Definition of a Type — Illustration of this Definition — Resemblance of a Type to an acted Parable— Adaptation to the Human Mind of this mode of Instruction — Instances of the Use of it in Matters not directly connected with Christianity or any Religious Purpose — Criteria and Interpretation of Types : — I. Mere resemblance to it^ Antitype not the Essence of a Type — II. Nothing Typical which is not also Symbolical— Principles of Symbolical Interpretation — ni. Types to be distinguished from Comparisons and Allegories — IV. The Antitype always more glorious than the Type. 383 — 410 Part IL Typical Character of the Levitical Institutes — Component Parts of a Ritual — General Remarks on the Mosaic Ritual — Typical Cha- racter of the Tabernacle, the Sacred Seasons, the Purifications, the Animal Sacrifices, and the Priestly Oftice, among the Jews — Official Dress, Consecration, and Duties, of the High Priest — Services on the Day of Atonement — Meaning of them — Reference of the whole to Christ, and fulfilment of the whole in Him — Result of this Survey of the Messianic Types 411 — 465 Part IIL Summary of the whole Inquiry — Concluding Reflections on the Superiority of the Christian to the preceding Dispensations, and on the Oneness of the Church of God in all Ages . . 466 — 473 CONTENTS. XV APPENDIX. PAGE Note A. — Meaning of the term diadrjKT], as ajjpUed to the Sacred Writings 477 Note B. — Opinions of the Christian Fathers respecting the Claims of the Old Testament and its Harmony with the New 480 Note C. — Worls treating of the Subject of this Course of Lectures 484 Note D. — Remarks on some of the Quotations in the New Tes- tament from the Old 486 Note E. — Opinions of the Fathers regarding the Plural Appel- lations of Deity in the Old Testament .... 491 Note F.—Tkoluck on Heh. xi. 19 49G Note G. — Different Versions of Job xix. 25 — 27 497 Note H. — Allegorical Tnterjjretations of Scripture among the Ancient Jews 499 Note I. — Herder on the Doctrine of Accommodation . . . 502 Note K. — Knohel on the Manner in which the Theocratic Pro- phecies were fulfilled by Christ 503 Note L, — Hengstenberg on Psalm xlv. 6 506 Note M. — Brown on the Suggestive Pmver of External Objects. 508 CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. LECTURE L EXTERNAL OR LITERARY CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. ISA. XLVI. 9, 10. " Remember the former things of old : for I am God, and there is none else ; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.'' PART I. Amongst the numerous and diversified reli- lect. i. gious systems which have prevailed in the world, ^"'"<^'^'="°"- there are two, the Jewish and the Christian, which stand distinguished from all the rest by the marked peculiarity of being founded upon direct revelations from the Deity, embodied in written documents. Other religions, it is true, B EXTERNAL CONNEXION OP have their sacred books, but these are either confessedly the production of mere men, — emi- nent, perhaps, for their sagacity, their foresight, and their knowledge of men and things, but still laying no claim whatever to the enjoyment of supernatural assistance in the composition of their works, — or, when pretensions to a higher influence are made, the evidence upon which these rest is so entirely fictitious, that the slightest investigation suffices to set them aside. The sacred books of the Jews and of the Christians, however, after having passed through the most searching scrutiny, in which their claims to Divine inspiration have been analyzed by the severest tests, have come forth from the ordeal with these claims not only unimpaired, but rendered more clear and undeniable by every successive investigation ; so that, without the slightest extravagance, it may be affirmed that nothing beyond a careful and candid exami- nation is requisite in order to satisfy the most scrupulous inquirer of the Divine origin and authority of these books. From this circum- stance these two classes of religionists have been placed in a peculiar relation to each other. The Jews, as the professors of the older faith, and as those who have for the longest time enjoyed the privilege of a Divine revelation, naturally feel inclined to look down with mingled jealousy and contempt upon the pretensions of the Christians. They are ready to allege that the religious system THE OLD AND xNEW TESTAMENTS. t of the latter is entirely at variance with that lect. i. which God enjoined upon his ancient people ; and, in spite of evidence as convincing, at least, as any they can adduce in favour of their own Scriptures, they denounce those of the Chris- tians as false and supposititious. The Christians, on the other hand, admit to the fullest extent the Di\ine authority of the Jewish Scriptui'es, and receive with reverence the revelation which they contain. At the same time, as these Scrip- tures themselves announce the prospect of a new revelation, more simple in its statements, more precise in its details, and more final in its character, it is urged by Christians that the mere fact of the prior existence of these Scrip- tures forms no argument against the possibility of the Divine authority of those which they possess, but on the contrary forms of itself a presumption in favour of their claims. They further argue, that in that revelation with which * they have been privileged the acknowledged desideratum of the Jewish Scriptures has been supplied ; inasmuch as, whilst it sets forth the same gi^eat truths as are to be found in them, it presents these to the mind of the reader in a more direct and precise form, and at the same time throws light upon much that is obscure, and gives meaning to much that is unintelligible in the statements, intimations, and ordinances of the older revelation. They have accordingly incorporated the sacred books of the Jews with b2 4 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. their own, as equally a part of the sacred oracles, and equally demanding reverential homage from all to whom they may come ; assigning to both the common appellation of the " Holy Scrip- tures," and distinguishing between them only as the Scriptures of the Old Testament or Cove- nant, and the Scriptures of the New, according to a mode of phraseology of which the earliest intimation occurs in the writings of one of the inspired authors of the latter.* Object of How far the views thus entertained by Chris- course, tians, and which, sanctioned by the highest authority, have prevailed in the church from the earliest times downwards,f are susceptible of articulate proof, it is the object of the present course of Lectures to inquire. Assuming the genuineness, the authenticity, and the inspira- tion of both divisions of the sacred canon, it is proposed to examine into the relation of the two to each other; to estimate the influence which the existence of the earlier has had upon the com- position of the later ; to point out in what they agree, and in what they differ ; to show that, whilst they are substantially in perfect harmony, there is a difference of form, accident, and cha- racter, arising out of the different circumstances in which they were delivered, and the different ends they were primarily designed to answer; and thus to evince that, whilst each is perfectly * See Appendix, Note A. -\ Appendix, Note B. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 5 adapted to the purpose it was peculiarly intended lect. i. to serve, both must be taken together if we would perceive the full beauty, understand the full import, and reap the full benefit of either. An inquiry of such a nature must be admitted interest and ■ I ,, n • 1 • importance to be one oi no small mterest and importance, of this in- Involving, as it does, questions of moment con- '''"'^~" nected with the history of letters among the Jews, its interest even in a literary point of view is not inconsiderable ; but it is from its religious bearings that its main importance, and that which has chiefly prompted to the present course of investigation, arises. It must be obvious that on the right settlement of the various questions presented by such an inquiry depends in no small degree the opinion we shall form both of the meaning of many sections from its bear- of the Old Testament Scriptures, and of the meaningLd •■•• 1, , 1 D lA j^ use of the Old use it IS incumbent upon us to make oi that xestamentr portion of the sacred canon. If it cannot be shown to contain substantially the same reli- gious system with that developed in the Chris- tian Scriptures, and if its obscure and symbolical adumbrations of truth are not to be expounded by the clearer revelation with which we have been favoured, it will follow not only that much of it will remain to us a sealed book, but that even to those parts of it which we may be able to understand it will not be competent for us to appeal, either in polemical defence of any contro- verted dogma of our New Testament faith, or 6 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. in practical enforcement of those which are ad- mitted on all sides to be true. Another feature of this inquiry, which confers upon it no small value, is its relation to certain of those controversies which Christians have been called to carry on in defence of their com- -onthoin- mon faith. On the infidel controversy, for versy, iustaucc, tlic subjcct before us has a two-fold bearing : the one, as supplying materials for an important part of the direct argument in favour of the Divine authority of the Scriptures — that viz. derived from the fulfilment of prophecy ; the other, as aiding to repel the objections which, with its characteristic want of candom*. Infidelity has urged, alike from the irreconcilable discrepancies, and the too close resemblances alleged to exist between the Old Testament and the New, against the inspiration of both. On ^andontiie the coutrovcrsy between Christians and Jews, Jewish con- , ^ , . . . . ,. Tersy. also, the bearmg ot tins mqmry is too obvious to require to be pointed out ; for if that in- quiry can be successfully prosecuted ; — if it can be shown that the religious system unfolded in the New Testament is essentially the same with that inculcated in the Old ; that all the evi- dences of true Messiahship prescribed by the latter meet in the person whose history and doctrines the former is occupied in setting forth ; and that, besides all this, apart from the reve- lations of the New Testament, a gi'eat part of their own Scriptures must remain even to them- THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 7 selves unintelligible upon any rational principles lect. i. of interpretation ; — it must be obvious to all that the materials will be furnished for a most cogent appeal to the best feelings and most enlightened convictions of the Jews, the effect of which, when skilfully and devoutly made, has been already proved in the gathering up of not a few of these outcast branches, who, by the Divine blessing on the use of such means, have been *' graffed into their own olive-tree." Nor, in enumerating the advantages of such Pleasure it is an inquiry as that before us, must we omit the afford. '^ pleasure which it is calculated to convey to the pious mind, in the view which it will naturally unfold of the unbroken harmony of Divine truth, and the consequent unity of that church which is built upon the truth. In pursuing it we shall be led to trace the stream of gospel bless- ing from its first appearance in our world down to that point where, emerging from the limits to which it had been previously confined, it sent forth its healing and purifying waters over the length and the breadth of our barren and polluted earth. At every stage of its progress we shall have occasion to mark the same properties as characterising it, and the same benignant results as effected by its presence. We shall thus be brought into contact, as it were, with the entire family of the redeemed, and be taught to realize in some measure the delightful fact that, under the gospel dispensation, believers have even in 8 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. their present state, " come to the general assembly and chm'ch of the First-born which are written in heaven." By every christian mind an occupation such as this will be welcomed as replete with the materials of the purest and most elevated pleasure. Attention it ^ subjcct of SO much interest and importance has already received, botli iu itself aud in its relations could not fail to attract towards it much of the attention of those who devote themselves to the study of Divine truth. There exist, accordingly, both in our own language and in others, vast masses of learned and profound dissertation upon almost every point embraced in the present subject ; so that in treating of these little is left for a writer in the present day beyond the duty of arranging, condensing, and discriminating the materials of his predecessors. As these, however, exist chiefly in a controversial form, and as, consequently, the general question is viewed rather in its argu- mentative bearings, than in respect of its in- trinsic merits, it is not unfrequently the case that principles are hastily assumed, generaliza- tions rashly made, truth presented only in a one-sided aspect, and conclusions affirmed which rest upon very questionable bases. It seems desirable, therefore, to submit the general ques- tion, as I have already stated it, to a more rigid crisis ; and abstracting for the present from the uses to which the discussion may be applied, to endeavour to ascertain facts and fix principles^ THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 9 that thereby a satisfactory basis may be laid for lect. i. further inquiry. In this department some valu- able efforts have of late years been put forth by several German divines of eminence, of whose labours, however, a very discriminating use requires to be made.* Leaving for subsequent investigation the in- subjectofthe '=> '■ o present Lee- teiital harmony of the Old and New Testaments, ture. I shall in the present Lecture confine myself to the consideration of those affinities which subsist between them in an external or literary point of view. Viewing them simply as venerable remains of the literature of a great nation, we shall inquire in what relation they stand to each other, in what light the earlier was viewed by the authors of the later, and what use they made of it in the composition of their own writings. A person familiar with the Scriptures of the Old General am- nity of the Testament, and proceeding to the study of those ow and New of the New, would not advance far in that study without being satisfied that the two volumes are of the same kind, and belong to the literatm-e of the same people. The mode of thought and phraseology in both, — the peculiar opinions and prejudices of the writers, — the historical and topographical allusions, — are all essentially the same, with only such minuter peculiarities as lapse of time and change of circumstance natu- * See Appendix, Note C. 10 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF I'^cT. I. rally produce. The whole cast and character of the authorship of both is oriental and Jewish ; and that notwithstanding the western tongue in which one of them is written, and the greater notice its authors take of western and European affairs. The hterature of no other nation, per- haps, presents so remarkable an instance of two books composed in different languages, and at widely distant periods, in which so many literary affinities are to be found, and in which the national character of the composition is so tho- roughly preserved. Affinity in re- Amoug othcr poluts of literary resemblance spect of form . . ., . , o n andstruc- bctw^cu thc two, IS thc snmlarity oi form and structure by which they are pervaded. In neither is religious truth taught in a scientific or systematical form, but by means of narratives, apologues, conversations, popular discourses, or epistolary communications. In this respect both present a striking analogy to the work of God in nature, where the phenomena of every science are to be found scattered in boundless profusion over a wide field, and in every possible variety of combination, without any respect to system, yet always so disposed as never to transgress systematic unity, whilst the very irregularity of their arrangement effects the most useful pur- poses in the physical economy. It is also worthy of notice, that in both the Old Testament and the New an initiatory basis is laid in a historical narrative, to the facts recorded in which a con- THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1.1 tinual reference is made in the subsequent docu- lect. i. ments. In both we see the nucleus of a distinct and peculiar society laid in the announcement of certain grand religious truths, and gradually, under the auspices of a great Teacher and Legis- lator, endowed with miraculous power, and hold- ing direct intercourse with the Deity, developing itself into a vast, a powerful, and a privileged community, to which the God of the whole earth is represented as standing in a relation of singu- lar complacency, and for the benefit of which all his revelations of truth and duty are pecuharly designed. To neither of these communities, how- ever, is the idea of perfection or finality attached. On the contrary, both are set forth as introduc- tory of a better and more perfect state, of which they contain the germ, and to which the desires and expectations of their members are continually directed. And, as the earlier writers occupy themselves chiefly with the historical narration of the rise and progress of their respective com- munities, the intermediate are principally en- grossed with matters of a hortatory and didactic ^ character, and those towards the close with pro- phetical descriptions and triumphant anticipa- tions of that higher state into which their own was ultimately to emerge, and of which the dis- tinguished privileges they enjoyed were but the prelibation and the pledge.* * Some by descending to minute details have carried this formal resemblance of the Old and Now Testaments to an 12 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF i-ECT. I. Another thing that could not fail to strike the attention of such a reader of the New Testa- absurd extreme. Thus Dr. J. Ch. W, Augusti, of Bonn, in his Versuch einer Historisch-dogviatischen Einleitung in die Heilige Schrift, Leipz. 1832, the fifth chapter of which is devoted to the " Harmony and Connexion of the Old and New Covenant," enumerates, amongst other points of resemblance, the frequent occurrence of mountain scenes, as in the giving of the law on Mount Sinai by Moses, and the sermon on the Mount by our Lord, — the appearance of Moses and Elias with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, as compared with the mountain scenes in the history of these prophets, — and the ascension of our Lord from Mount Olivet, as compared with that of Moses from Mount Pisgah. He also compares the parting address of Moses (Deut. xxxii. and xxxiii.) with the valedictory discourse of our Lord, (John xvi. xvii.) These minutiae, however, afford no fair specimens of the valuable work from which they are taken. A more interesting, though, perhaps, equally fanciful speculation is that in which others besides Augusti have indulged ; viz. that a parallel may be traced between the history of man and the history of Christ, illustrative of the great truth that the latter came as the second Adam to retrieve the errors and repair the evils committed and caused by the first. For this purpose they compare the mira- culous creation of both, on account of which they are, though in different senses, called Sons of God ; the temptation and fall of Adam, the temptation and triumph of Christ, the tempter in both cases being the same ; the introduction of death through sin on the part of Adam, — the destruction of sin through death on the part of Christ ; the cry of Abel's blood for vengeance, as the utterance of justice against cruelty, — the commission of Christ to his disciples to make the first offer of salvation in the place where he had been crucified, as the expression of " mercy rejoicing against judgment ;" the confusion of tongues at Babel, as illustrative of the divisive nature of sin, — the gift of tongues to the Apostles, as indicating the undoing of the evil which sin had introduced by the reunit- ing power of Christianity, &c. &c. Of such a speculation one need say no more than valcut quantum valere possit. guage; THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 13 ment as we have supposed, is the obvious in- t-t^-<^t. i. fluence which familiarity with Old Testament ideas and phraseology has exercised upon the -of lan- language of the Evangelists and Apostles. The basis of that language is the common dialect (r^ KOLvr) SLoXeKTos) of the classical Greek ; but it is extremely doubtful whether a Greek familiar only with his own language could have perused with any great degree of ease or intelligence their writings. This arises not so much from the frequent use of Aramaic words by the New Testament writers, — a hberty which probably the laxity of the koluij SiaXeKros permitted, — as from the continual appropriation of authentic Greek words and phrases to denote ideas alto- gether foreign to that language, and the frequent ingrafting upon it of idioms such as will be sought for in vain in the works of those to whom that language was vernacular. In this respect it is true that differences obtain among the writers of the New Testament ; the language of Luke, for instance, is much purer than that of Matthew or John ; and the later epistles of Paul, written after extensive intercourse on his part with native Greeks, exhibit a marked approxima- tion to the language and idiom of the classical authors, as compared with his earlier epistles : still it is nevertheless the fact that Hebraisms abound to such an extent in every part of the New Testament, that the language of that book may be justly characterised in the words of one 14 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF ^^cT. I. -vvho more than any other perhaps has made its pecuharities the subject of careful investigation, as a sort of " Judaising Greek, which was for the most part uninteUigible to the native Greeks, and the object of their contempt."* The more closely that these linguistic pecuharities of the New Testament are studied, the more will it become apparent that they are to be traced to the intimate familiarity of its ^vl'iters with the language and phraseology of the Old Testament, and the influence thereby insensibly exerted upon their own.f To the same source also must be traced a remarkable peculiarity in the structure of their sentences exemplified by all the wiiters of the New Testament, though more frequent with some than others. Instead of following the full and rounded periods of the classical writers, their sentences are, generally speaking, brief, and consist of clauses, each of which has a com- plete meaning in itself, and which are united by the conjunctions koI, 8e, or ECT. 1. things is so great, that no ekicidation or enforce- ment of truth, however full and explicit, will suffice to keep the religious sentiments of a scattered community uncorrupt, if these senti- ments become identified with certain terms which suggest secondary ideas of a nature un- congenial with those which in the system they are primarily intended to represent. To the danger of employing such terms the New Tes- tament writers were peculiarly exposed, from the circumstance of their having to write in a language that had previously been employed almost exclusively to express the conceptions of heathens. It is remarkable, however, how few of their religious designations are borrowed from the ordinary phraseology of the Greeks. With a few exceptions the terms they employ for this purpose consist either of Hebrew words taken directly from the Old Testament, or of words and phrases translated from the Hebrew, — some- times as these existed already in the LXX. ver- sion, sometimes made for the first time by the New Testament writer himself, — or of words and phrases imitated from the Hebrew. Thus in designating the Deity, whilst we have the v/ common Greek word Qeos, — a word which the sacred writers might legitimately employ, inas- much as, though it was used by the Greeks with reference to the idol-gods of their mythology, it is in itself simply expressive of Deity in the abstract^ and is so used by the classical writers THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 17 in innumerable instances,* — we have also such ^■^^'^- ^- appellations as Kvptos cra^awO, ('■^''«?? ^F.., Isa. i. 9 ;) 6 v-yjrta-TOs, ((^'"'5', Deut. XXxii. 8 ;) SeairoTTjs^ O^'^O ^ TraTTjp rjfiwv, ("'??, Isa. Ixiii. 16 ;) Qeos 6 ^(ov, (D".f7 °'*«, Deut. V. 25 ;) and 6 mv, or more fully, 6 wv, koI 6 ?V, /cat * Compare such passages as these : — -"AXXw jjey yap e^cjKe 0£Off TToXEfirfia spya, ' AXXw S' 6p-)(r](TTvy, erepo) KiQapiv Koi doiS^y. II, xiii. 730. — 'O fiev C)) QeoQ, wtnrep icai 6 TraXaiog Xoyoc, ap-^^rjv rt kcu reXevrrji' cat fieaa rdx' ovroiv aTravTuiv CXWJ', K.T.X. Plato, de Legg. iv. — Tov Kparovrra fiaXdaKug Qeog TrpoffudEv tvpevioQ vpoahipKETau jEsch. Ag. 926, &c. — 0£oe is the Greek representative of a word of which traces are to be found in almost all the branches of the Indo-Ger- manic family : comp. Sans. Deva ; Pers. Khoda ; Lat. Deus ; Teutonic, Tuisto or Teut, (Tacit. Germ. c. 2 ;) and the Dis and Teutates of the ancient Gauls, (Cses. Bell. Gall. vi. 18 ; Lucan. Phars, i. 445.) It is amusing to find our lexico- graphers gravely adducing dew, curro, as the root of deoc, and referring to the authority of Plato in support of their opinion ! The passage in the Cratylus, (397, 398,) where this supposed authority is given, occurs in one of those pungent specimens of the Socratic irony (cf. Cic. De Orat. ii. 67 ; Acad. ii. [iv.], 5) with which the dialogues of Plato abound, and is conse- quently not in support but in bitter ridicule of this and similar pieces of etymology. See Stallbaum's Dissertatio de Cratylo, in his edition of Plato now in course of publi- cation, vol. V. sec. 2. — Ihre thinks he has found the true etymon in the Mceso-Gothic thiuths, good ; an opinion which derives some authority from the analogy of Gud, (Sueo-G.,) God, (A.S.,) and Gott, (Germ.,) which seem distinctly traceable to the Moeso-Gothic Gods, the ordinary term for good. (^Glossa- riiim Sueo-Goth. vac. Gud.) Even those who cling to the authority of Plato must lend a favourable ear to such etymo- logies, for the great master has himself told us, that " amid the incessant changes to which words are subject, it would not be wonderful should the ancient tongue be found identical with that of the barbarians." Crat. 421 D. 18 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF ^■'^■'^''- ^- o epxofievos, (m>, rrnM ntf« n^nw^ Exod. iii. 13 — 16 ;) which are all either borrowed, or translated, or imitated, from the Hebrew. The terms em- ployed in designating our Lord — the grand sub- ject of their writings — are also almost all derived from the Old Testament. He is called by such appellations as ' Efifj^avovrjX ('^nh^w), 6 MecrcTiay, 6 Jiplaros ("'"'P?'?), 'Irjcrovs, awrrjp (y^'^,, contr. i-i^j;), o vLos rov Qeov (°"^'^m, comp. Ps. ii. 7 ; Hos. xi. 1), o VLOS rov avOpcoTTov (d:k?1?, Ps. viii. 4 ; Chald. ^?«"'?, Dan. vii. 13), 6 dfivos rov Qeov, 6 •> > < I tj \ t ■> \ ep^^o/xevos, o TrpcoToroKos, o ap'^iepevs, o ap'y^LTToi/JbTjVy 6 pvofievos €K l.toov, (comp. Isa. lix. 20,) 6 ^A/x^v, 6 \€Ci)V o €K rr]s (f)v\r}S' 'louSa, rj pl^a AavcS, and many others, the appropriateness of which can be fully understood only by a reference to the writings of the earlier economy. To the same source must we look for the origin and full explanation of such expressions as the following : ?; SiaOyKr] aicovios, 7] eTTwyyeXia, 6 opKos rov Geou, used to designate the Divine purpose of redemption as revealed to men ; 7/ ^aaiKela rov Qeov and rwv ovpav(ov, r} avco 'lepovcraXrjfM, 'lep. errovpavLos, &C., as descriptive of the new state of things introduced by the advent of Christ ; o 'Icrpa?)x rot! Oeou, ol 7)yLaa/j,€vot, rj irepnroLricnSj \aos Trepiovaios, lepeis Kat /Sao-tXety, &c., as designating those who are in- terested in the christian salvation ; 6 UapaSeicros, o rpiros ovpavos, tj rovs 6e/jLe\iov9 e-^ovcra iroXis, "TTarpis Kpetrrcov rovreanv eirovpavios, KXrjpovofica, cra^^aria-fxos no Xacp rov Qeov, &C., as appellations THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 19 of the place of rest and glory prepared for the i-ect. j. genuine disciples of Christ ; and such meta- phors as marriage, to denote the union of Christ with his people, — sacrifice, to signify devotion on their part to him, (that which was laid upon the altar being regarded as devoted to the Deity to whom it was presented,) — incense, to signify what is acceptable, or renders something else accept- able, unto God, — chastity, to denote stedfastness and fidelity in the christian profession, — and many others which will naturally suggest them- selves to the mind of every one who is familiar with New Testament phraseology. The con- tinual occurrence of terms and phrases so obviously borrowed from the writings of the Old Testament affords a strong evidence of the familiarity with these writings possessed by the inspired authors of the christian documents, and of the influence exercised by the former upon the composition of the latter. It is not, however, from such slight and inci- proofs of * . more obvioiu dental comcidences alone that this conclusion nature. may be inferred ; there are proofs of a much more .obvious nature, arising from the direct references to or quotations from the Old Testa- ment occurring in the New. These are very numerous, amounting to several hundreds, and present matter for much interesting inquiry to the biblical student. The limits within which I am confined do not admit of our entering with mi- nuteness into this part of my subject ; but it is c2 V 20 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. too important, and too closely connected with the other parts of the course, to be passed over without an attempt, at least, to take a general survey of it. For this purpose the allusions referred to may be conveniently distributed into tlvree principal classes. TheoidTes- I. T\ie fifst class comprises those passages in lament re- ferred to in the New Testament which contain simple refer- the New ; i ^-\i i rrt o • efices to the Old lestament IScnptures as extant m "^ the days of our Lord and his apostles ; as being in their estimation of Divine authority ; and as containing pre-intimations of the facts and doc- trines of the christian revelation. — If the Scrip- tures of the Old Testament be what they profess, they must have been in the hands of the Jewish people from a period long anterior to the birth of our Lord; and as, by their own showing, they were the peculiar property of no class in the community, but belonged in com- mon to the nation at large, we must suppose that a general regard for their authority, and familiarity with their contents, was diffused through the mass of the nation by which they were possessed. Among a people thus circum- stanced, a religious teacher, in unfolding his own doctrines and precepts, could not avoid taking notice of the opinions already in vogue among them, and pointing out the relation in which these stood to what he himself had come forth to teach. For any one under such circum- THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 21 stances to have affected ignorance of or indif- i-^ct. i. ference to the writings of the Old Testament in his intercourse with the Jews, would have been to close the ears of that people for ever against his message, and to expose himself to their just indignation and contempt. We find, accordingly, in the discourses of our as extant ju Lord, and in the discourses and writings of his our Lord ; apostles, a continual recognition of the exist- ence and authority of the Old Testament Scrip- tures. Not only is the possession of these on the part of the Jews perpetually taken for granted by the first teachers of Christianity, but this circumstance is adduced by them as constituting one of the highest privileges of that favoured people, and as laying them under the most solemn responsibilities. To the question, " What advantage then hath the Jew ?" the apostle Paul emphatically answers, " Much " every way ; chiefly because unto them ze^ere " committed the oracles of God." " From a child," says he to Timothy, enumerating the advantages the latter had enjoyed in conse- quence of his descent from Jewish ancestors, " thou hast known the Scriptures, which are " able to make thee wise unto salvation^ And our Lord and his apostles continually repre- sent the enjoyment of this privilege as highly aggravating the guilt of the Jews in rejecting the gospel which they preached : " Ye do err," says Christ, in reply to one of their 22 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. cavils, " not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God."* as of Divine To the Scripturcs of the Old Testament our authority ; Lord and his apostles ascribe the highest au- thority, as the direct product of Divine inspira- tion. They are spoken of as the " holy writings/' as ** given by inspiration of God," as containing the Divine commandments and sayings, and as recording truths and statements which their human authors could have made only through the influence of the Divine Spirit.f The cha- racters of sufficiency, as a religious and moral rule, — of direct arid intentional adaptation to the spiritual profit of their readers, — of certainty and infallibility in all their declarations and predic- tions,— and of imperishable duratioii, are ascribed to them. J They are even identified by the apostle Paul with their Divine Author, for in one passage he ascribes to the written word the faculty o{ judgment, and in another the attribute of prescience : " The Scripture," says he, " hath " concluded all under sin ;" and again, *' The " Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify " the heathen through faith, preached before the * Rom. iii. 1, 2 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15 ; Matt. xxii. 29. t Comp. 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; 2 Pet. i. 19—21, &c. See Henderson's Lectures on Divine Inspiration, &c. Lect. VI. p. 296, ff. J Comp. Luke xvi. 31 ; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17 ; 1 Cor. x. 11 ; John X. 3.5 ; Matt. v. 18, &c. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 23 " gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all lect. i. " nations be blessed." (Gal. iii. 22, 8.) These are only more striking specimens of a species of personification which frequently occurs in the writings of the apostle, and a familiar instance of which is in the continually occm-ring formula, " The Scripture saith." Such being the representation of the Divine as consistent dignity and worth of the Old Testament given Tui ZT by our Lord and his apostles, consistency re- "a"! " quired that in demanding attention to their own doctrines, they should show that these were, at least, not inconsistent with those already re- vealed. Hence we find that the harmony of the truths which they taught with those un- folded in the Old Testament formed a prominent position in the message which, as teachers sent from God, they addressed to men. " Ye search the Scriptures," said our Lord to the Jews, "for *' in them ye think ye have eternal life, a7id they *' are they rchich testify of me. . . . Had ye " believed Moses ye would have believed me, for *' he wrote of me." " Think not that I am come " to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am not " come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I " say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, ** one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass " from the law, till all be fulfilled."* It is the continual care of the Evangelists, in recording * John V. .39, 46; Matt. v. 17, 18. 24 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. 1. the events of our Lord's life, to point out in these the fulfilment of ancient prophecy; and in all their expostulations with the Jews, the ground assumed by the apostles is, the necessity of Christianity as that to which the former dis- pensation pointed, and from which it could alone receive its explanation. " Those things," said Peter to the wondering crowd that had been drawn together by the cure of the impotent man, " which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath fulfilled." " We declare unto you," said Paul to the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, " glad tidings, how that the promise *' which was made unto the fathers, God hath " fulfilled the same unto us their children, in " that he hath raised up Jesus again." In his apology before Agrippa and Festus, he boldly asserts that, in dehveringhis apostolic testimony, he said " none other things than those which " Moses and the prophets did say should come : " that Christ should suffer, and that he should " be the first that should rise from the dead, " and should show light unto the people *' and to the Gentiles."* With such sentiments it is not surprising that the conduct of the Jews at Berea, who suspended their judgment of the apostle's doctrine until they had carefully com- pared it with the declarations of their own * Acts iii. 18, xiii. 32, 33, xxvi. 22, 23. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 25 Scriptures, should have been viewed by him as i-ect. i. worthy of the warmest commendation.* - This part of the doctrine of our Lord and his uses of such apostles is worthy of consideration, not only as it goes to show the existence in their day of the Old Testament Scriptures, — which is an impor- tant element in the proof of the authenticity of these writings, — but also as it gives the sanction of their infallible authority to the inspiration of the Old Testament, and to the essential harmony between its contents and those of the New. An attempt, indeed, has been made by certain writers of the Neologian school, to evade the force of this conclusion by resorting to the theory of accommodation, as it is called, according to which it is supposed that these and many other solemn declarations of the Divine Author of Christianity and his inspired followers, were uttered merely for the purpose of disarming the hostility, by flattering the prejudices, of the Jews. A more favourable opportunity of entering into the formal exposure of this unfounded and impious theory will occur at a subsequent stage of our inquiry ; suffice it at present to observe, that its application to the case before us is entirely pre- cluded by the fact, that it was not to the Jews alone, but to all to whom they delivered their message that the first teachers of Christianity proclaimed their reverence for the wiitings of * Acts xvii. 1 1. 26 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF t-ECT. I. the Old Testament, and the accordance of these with the doctrines which they themselves taught. Of this we have evidence sufficient in the lan- guage of Peter to Cornelius, (Acts x. 43,) and of Paul to the Corinthians, (1 Ep. xv. 3, 4,) as well as in those references to the Old Testament made by the latter apostle in those epistles to Gentile churches, in which a regard to the wel- fare of his brethren led him to contend against the imposition of Jewish rites and ceremonies upon Gentile converts. Had the apostle been one \^'ho was in the habit of accommodating his teaching to the prejudices of those whom he addressed, he could hardly, one would think, have resisted the temptation of cutting off at once all such occasions of offence, by repudiat- ing the claims of the Mosaic institutes to be regarded as of Divine origin ; and this the more especially that, upon the theory I am impugn- ing, he would in so doing have uttered the truth. In vain, however, shall we search for any evi- dences of such duplicity in the writings of the apostle, or of any of his confederates. The great truths which they testified to one, they testified to all ; and in regard to the matter before us, it was their grand desire to show to both Jews and Gentiles that the revelation with which the former had been privileged, pro- nounced upon all an equal sentence, and offered to all a common salvation. Nor was it in addressing churches and public audiences alone THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 27 that the apostles rendered respect to the Scrip- i-ect. i. tures of the Old Testament ; they carried the same sentiments into their correspondence with their most intimate private friends. It is in an epistle to Timothy, his " own son in the Lord/' a "man like-minded with himself," and with whom, consequently, it would surely have been a piece of very unnecessary hypocrisy to have kept up a mere accommodation to popular pre- judice, that Paul pronounces the highest eulo- giums on the Old Testament Scriptures, which his writings contain. In like manner, our Lord himself, in his most private communications with his followers, uses language as strongly expres- sive of the prophetical character of these writ- ings as in any of his addresses to the Jews ; comp. Matt. xxvi. 24, 31 ; Luke xxii. 37, xxiv. 44 — 47. Nay, so far does he carry this, that in his intercessory prayer for his disciples he says to his Heavenly Father, " Those that thou gavest '' me I have kept, and none of them is lost but ** the son of perdition ; that the Scripture might "■ he fulfilled."^ To suppose accommodation carried so far as this, would be to adopt the blasphemous opinion of the Jews, and charge our Lord with madness as well as impiety. The only alternative is to admit the conclusion already announced ; to receive, that is, the Divine authority of the Old Testament, and its harmony with the New, as among those truths * John xvii. 12, 28 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. to which Christianity is pledged by its Divine author and his apostles. Allusions in H. Thc secoud class of direct references in the the New Tes- tament to eer- New Testament to the writings of the Old, con- tain historical . p • 7 • 7 • • 7 /» parts of the sists 01 passagcs m which notice is taken of certain incidents, institutions, and characte7'S, mentioned in the historical portion of the latter. Such allu- sions are of very frequent occurrence in almost all the books of the New Testament, and indi- cate at once the familiarity of their authors with the historical records of their nation, and the close analogy which exists between the dispensa- tion under which they lived and that to which the subjects of their allusions belonged. When these allusions are viewed in relation to the purposes for which they are made, they may be conveniently disposed of under /oz^r heads. Genealogical To tlic Jirst of tlicsc I would rcfcr the cata- catalogues in the New Tes- logues of Old Tcstamcut worthies furnished by Matthew and Luke, as comprising the ancestry of our Lord, according to the flesh. Into the apparent discrepancies between these two gene- alogies it does not appertain to our present object to inquire ; it is enough simply to notice the fact that such catalogues exist, and to point out their obvious intention ; viz. the connecting of Jesus of Nazareth, — whom the apostles speak of as the second Adam, — with the original pro- genitor of our race, through the honourable line of David and of Abraham. With these two, and THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 29 with others in the same hne of descent, God for- ^^ct. i. mally established his everlasting covenant ; re- vealing to them his purposes of grace towards mankind, and confirming these by solemn pro- mise and oath. In that line were centred, if I may so speak, the hopes of the human race ; and each successive inheritor of the birthright was to the men of his day a living memorial of the existence of God's covenant of grace, an em- bodied prophecy of the Deliverer who was to come. In this line, consequently, the Messiah was expected ; nor, if the declarations regarding him, given from the earliest times by God to his people, were to stand firm, was it possible for him to come in any other. In claiming for Jesus, therefore, the honours of the Messiahship, it became necessary for his followers to show, that according to the flesh, he was the lineal representative of this illustrious family ; and hence the care with which the evangelists set forth the lineage of his mother and her affianced husband, and trace their genealogy up to David, Abraham, and Adam. To the second class of allusions in the New Anusions for Testament to historical facts and persons in theexampkor Old, I would refer those passages, of very fre-' "''''^""°" quent occurrence, in which the allusion is made for the sake of the illustration or enforcement of some doctrinal or practical statement. This is a practice than which there is none more common with didactic speakers or writers of all ages and 30 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF ^^^T- 1- countries. The slightest observation is sufficient to satisfy us that there is no mode of inculcating truth half so successful as by presenting it em- bodied in some illustrious example. The greater ease with which men apprehend a fact than an abstract principle, the obviousness with which a rule of action presents itself to the mind when it is displayed in actual operation, and the stimulus and encouragement afforded by the simple consi- deration that what is recommended has been adopted and successfully acted upon already, conspire to render this mode of working upon the minds of men of first-rate use to all who would act as instructors or guides of others. We find, accordingly, that our Lord and his apostles, who neglected no legitimate means of conveying to those whom they addressed the truths they had come forth to teach, make fre- quent appeals to facts in the Old Testament history, for the purpose of elucidating and en- forcing their doctrines both, in the way of warn- ing and of example. To enter upon even the most cursory consideration of the passages in which such allusions are contained, either in the discourses of our Lord, or in the writings of his apostles, would occupy too large a portion of the present Lecture. Contenting myself, there- fore, with a bare enumeration of the more im- portant of these passages,* and leaving it with * Matt. X. 15, xii. 3—9, 38—42, xxiii. 35, xxiv. 36—39 ; Luke iv. 25—29, xx. 37 ; John iii. 14, vi. 31, xii. 41 ; Acts THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 31 yourselves to compare them with the context in lect. i. which they stand, and the parts of the Old Tes- tament to which they allude, I proceed to ob- serve that such references, besides the particular use they were originally employed to serve, have a twofold importance in a more general point of view. In the first place, they furnish the attest- ation of infallible authority to the actual histori- cal character of the incidents referred to. Many incidental ot these — such, tor mstance, as the temptation ot uses of such our first parents, the swallowing of Jonah by a fish, and others of the same sort — are of such a nature, that by a little ingenuity they may be explained away as mere myths or parables which had no existence save in the fertile imagination of some ancient poet or sage. But the fact of their being referred to by the New Testament writers as illustrative of their reasonings or ex- hortations is plainly destructive of all such attempts. To quote a mere fable for the sake of enforcing duty or exhibiting the application of a principle, were at best but a trifling with the gravity of the subject, and an insult to the intel- ligence of the reader or hearer. From all such charges the inspired authors of our religion stand exempt. The references in their writings vii. xiii. 16—23 ; Rom. ix. 9— 18 ; 1 Cor. ix. 13, x. 1—10 ; 2 Cor. xi. 3 ; Gal. iii. 6, 14, 16, 17, iv. 22—31 ; Col. i. 16 ; 1 Tim. ii. 13, 14 ; Heb. xi. xii. 16, 18 ; James ii. 21, 25, V. 17; I Pet. iii. 5, 6, 19, 20; 2 Pet. ii. 5—7, 15, 16; 1 John iii. 12. 32 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF '^^^'^' ^- or discourses to the Old Testament are made in perfectly good faith. What they adduce as ex- amples they evidently believed to be facts ; and writing as they did, under unerring guidance, their opinion in this matter has all the force of law, and rebukes as presumptuous and profane every attempt, however ingenious, to explain away the literal truth of the passages to which they refer. These references are useful to us in the second place, because they frequently furnish us with a more complete acquaintance with the fact re- ferred to ; sometimes by the explanatory com- ments with which the reference is accompanied, and sometimes merely by the context into which it is introduced. In this way we become aware of the interesting facts that the Creator of the universe was our Lord Jesus Christ, (Col. i. 1 6, &c.;) that it was He who guided the Israelites through the wilderness, and against whom they spake their rebellious murmurings, (1 Cor. x. 9 ;) and that it was His glory of which Isaiah had a vision when he saw *' Jehovah sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filling the temple." (Isa. vi. 1 — 4; John xii. 41.) We also learn by the same means, that the real tempter of our first parents was the devil, (comp. 2 Cor. xi. 3, and Rev. xii. 2, xx. 2 ;) that though Eve was deceived by his craft, Adam was not deceived, but sinned wilfully, (1 Tim. ii. 14;) and that the connexion between the sin of THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 33 Adam and that of his posterity is not accidental lect. i. or merely apparent, but flows out of the relation in which, according to the Divine purpose, he stood to them before he fell, (Rom. v. 12 — 21.) The interest of these additional facts, in a dog- matical point of view, needs not to be pointed out. Besides these references to facts and persons References m the written records of the Jews, it may be Testament to proper here to mention, that the speakers and jewilh tradi- writers of the New Testament frequently refer *'°"'' to others which seem to have formed part of the traditionary learning of their nation. Thus, Stephen in his apology supplies us with certain facts in the history of the patriarchs, of which no mention is made by Moses ; such as the appearance of God to Abraham in Mesopotamia, before he migrated into Charan, — the removal of the bones of the other sons of Jacob ovit of Egypt, and their re-interment in Shechem, as well as those of Joseph, of whom alone Moses mentions this, — and the division of Moses's own life into three periods of forty years each, by his flight into Midian, his return to Egypt, and his death.* To a similar allusion by Paul, in 2 Tim. iii. 8, we are indebted for the knowledge of the names of the Egyptian magicians, Jannes and * Acts vii. 2, 16, 23—36. So also David in the 105th Psalm, adds to the Mosaic account of Joseph, the fact that " his feet were hurt with fetters, and that he was laid in iron," ver. 18. 34 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF T-FCT. I. Jambres, who sought to rival with their enchant- ments the miracles of Moses ; and from the epistle of Jude we learn the curious and interest- ing facts, that the apostate angels were the in- habitants of a particular department of the Divine empire, characterised as their own principality and peculiar habitation, (eavrcov apxv^ . ... to tSiov olKT^TrjpLov) ; that Michael, the archangel, disputed with Satan about the body of Moses ; and that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, an- nounced to the men even of his early day the certainty and solemnity of the final judgment. That these facts, thus incidentally referred to in the inspired writings of the New Testament, formed part of the traditionary knowledge of the Jews, appears highly probable from two conside- rations : the one is the cursory manner in which the allusions to them are made, as to matters with which those addressed by the speaker or writer were already familiar; and the other is the fact, that to all these incidents references more or less distinct are made in the Talmud, the compilers of which derived the mass of their materials from the traditions of their nation.* Let it not, however, be supposed that it is by this intended to insinuate that these facts rest upon a less authoritative basis than those which are formally recorded in the Old Testa- ment Scriptures. Tlie simple fact of a reference * See a collection of the passages in the work of Surenhu- sius, entitled Bi(3\og KaraWayrjg, p. 24. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 35 to them being found in an inspired composition, i-ect. i. gives them the stamp of authenticity, and en- titles them to credibihty. From whatever source derived, — whether from express revelation by God, or from tradition, or from public records, or from personal observation on the part of the writer, — the facts of Scripture are alike certified to us upon the simple ground of their being found in a book composed under the special direction of the Divine Spirit, and into which, consequently, nothing but truth, both as to facts and principles, could possibly enter. A third division of the passages containing Allusions to events on allusions to the narrative parts of the Old Testa- which some , . 1 • 1 • 1 doctrine or ' ment, comprises those m which a particular duty is based. event is brought forward as constituting the his- torical basis on which some doctrine or duty rests. Thus, the fact of the Fall is adduced by the apostle Paul as lying at the basis of his doctrine regarding the universal depravity of mankind, without respect to nation or age, (Rom. v. 12 — 19.) So also the revelation of the Divine pur- pose of mercy to mankind, as embodied in the covenant of promise, or, as it is elsewhere called, " the oath of God," and which he made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, and others, is frequently referred to as that upon which the hopes of mankind, whether Gentiles or Jews, can alone be founded, (Luke i. 72 — 75 ; Rom. iv. 13—18 ; Gal. iii. 7—29, &c.) In like manner, the Apostle grounds his doctrine con- D 2 tutes. 36 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. cerning marriage, and the relative duties of the parties in that union, upon the facts recorded by Moses respecting the creation of Eve, and the first institution of marriage in paradise, (Eph. v. 22 — 31,) — a ground upon which our Lord him- self had already rested his doctrine upon this subject, (Mark xv. 6 — 12.) These funda- mental facts in the Old Testament being neces- sarily few in number, the references to such in the New Testament are correspondingly few. Allusions to The last division which I would propose of typical facts andinsti- refcreuccs in the New Testament to the histori- cal records of the Old, comprises those passages in which some fact or institution of the former economy is adduced as having constituted a type or symbolical adumbration of the truths of Chris- tianity. Thus, the apostle Paul devotes the greater part of the epistle to the Hebrews to an exposition of the typical significance of the reli- gious ritual of the Mosaic economy; and allu- sions are found in other parts of his writings, as well as in those of others of the New Testament writers, to facts and observances, as having been divinely-appointed prefigurations of the truths and blessings of the gospel dispensation. The careful examination of the meaning and object of these references to alleged correspondences between the ceremonial of the Old economy and the spiritual realities of the New, will form an important part of our subsequent inquiries ; they are noticed at present simply for the sake THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. of marking their position in that classification which I have judged it useful to adopt. 37 PART II. III. We come now to the third and last class verbal quota- tions from of direct references to the Old Testament in the the ow xes- -. . -. 'Ill lament in the books of the New, under which are included New. those passages in which a quotation more or less exact of the words of the earlier Scriptures occurs. The number of such quotations is very large, — larger, indeed, than most readers of the New Testament are apt to suspect ; and so many are the perplexing questions to which the considera- tion of them has given rise, that we may venture to affirm, that on few subjects in the department of isagogical inquiry have greater difficulties been encountered than on this. What learning, ingenuity, and patient research can achieve for the removal of these difficulties we may safely assert has been already accomplished ; and if the results attained have not been in every respect so satisfactory as might have been desired, they are probably as much so as the nature and cir- cumstances of the case admit. A field that has been searched by such men as Surenhusius, Drusius, Hoffmann, Michaelis, Owen, Randolph, and Koppe,* not to mention a multitude of * Surenhusii Bt/3Xos KaraXXoy^e, in quo secundum Vet. Theol. Hehrceorum Formulas allegandi et Modes interprctandi conciliantur Loca ex V. in N. T. allegata. 1713. 4to. Drusii 38 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF _ others who have worked upon the materials which these have collected, can present but few addi- tional objects of interest to any subsequent inquirer. Instead, therefore, of attempting to institute an independent and original investiga- tion of this subject, which, apart from any other consideration, would be preposterous within such limits as those to which this department of my inquiries must necessarily be confined, I shall content myself with presenting a condensed view of the leading results to which the researches of Drusii Parallela Sacra : h. e. Locorum V. T. cum Us quce in N. cifantur conjuncta Commemoratio, Ehraice et Greece, cum Notis. 1616. 4to. Published also in the 8th vol. of the Critici Sacri. HofFmanni Demonstratio Evangelica 'per ipsum Scripturarum Consensum ex Oraculis V. T, in N. allegatis declarata. Edidit T. G.Hegelmaier. 1773—79—81. 3 vols. 4to. This work I have not been able to see. Michaelis's Einleitung in die Gottlichen Schriften des N. B. Erster Theil, s. 223 — 265. [English Translation by Bishop Marsh, vol. i. p. 200—246.] Owen's Modes of Quotation used by the Evangelical Writers Explained and Vindicated. 1789. 4to. Randolph's Prophecies and other Texts cited in the New Testament compared with the Hebrew original, and with the Septuagint Version. 1782. 4to. Koppii Excursus I. in Ep. ad Romanes, \_Nov. Test. Kop^ planum, vol. iv. p. 346. 1806.] The reader who has not the opportunity of examining these books, sonde of which are now so scarce as to be procurable only by those who have access to large public libraries, will find a very useful substitute in Mr. Home's excellent chapter upon the subject of which they treat; Introduction, vol. ii. p. 281, 8th edit. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 39 these learned and able writers seem to me satis- i-ect. i. factorily to lead. The first question upon this subject relates to sources of quotation. the sources whence the quotations m question are made, — whether by direct translation from the Hebrew original, or by borrowing from the Greek version of the Alexandrine Jews. Both of these we know to have been extant, and in use among the Jews, at the time the New Tes- tament was composed ; so that, in making their citations from the ancient Scriptures, the evan- gelists and apostles might employ either the one or the other exclusively, or both indifferently, as occasion or convenience might dictate. The problem is to determine which of these suppo- sitions approximates most to the truth ; in other words, whether the New Testament writers quoted from the Hebrew exclusively, or from the Greek exclusively, or sometimes from the one and sometimes from the other. Antecedent to any inductive reasoning from Proiiawethat 1 /• PI I'll '^'^ quota- the facts oi the case,^ — to which, however, the tions are ultimate appeal must be made, — we should be from t^e^ ^ led to conclude that, as the New Testament writers made use of the Greek language as the vehicle of their communications, and as they addressed these in the first instance to persons who, generally speaking, were, to say the least, more familiar with the Alexandrine version than with the Hebrew original, the probahility is, that their quotations would be made from that their sources. 40 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF i-T^cT. I. version in all cases where to follow it did not involve a departure from the meaning and pur- port of God's will as originally communicated in the Hebrew Scriptures. Quotations Tliis couciusion, suggested by the inherent classified in ,, ,,.,.. ^i respect of aud cL pnovi probabilities of the case, is pretty nearly that to which an articulate examination of the passages containing quotations leads. These may be divided, in relation to the ques- tion at present before us, into five classes : — i. Those in which the quotation agrees with both the Hebrew and the Greek ; ii. Those in which it agrees with the Hebrew, but not with the Greek ; iii. Those in which it agrees with the Greek, but differs from the Hebrew ; iv. Those in which it differs from both, but agrees more with the Hebrew than the Greek ; and v. Those in which it differs from both, but agrees more with the Greek than with the Hebrew. Of these, the first class must be left out of view, as obviously not determining any thing in regard to our present inquiry. The second class we may combine with the fourth, and the third with the fifth ; inasmuch as closer affinity to the Hebrew or to the Greek speaks as de- cidedly in favour of the one or of the other as full agreement. There will then remain two classes of facts to be considered by us : i. Those in which the quotation agrees wholly or chiefly with the Hebrew, and differs considerably from the Greek ; and ii. Those in which it agrees comparison lese classes. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 41 wholly or chiefly with the Greek, and differs lect. i. considerably from the Hebrew. By a carefril comparison of these two must the question between the Hebrew original and the Greek translation be determined. Upon making this comparison we find that Result of com""""" a very great preponderance in point of number of ti belongs to the second of these classes over the first, so that we are justified in inferring that the cus- tomary practice of the New Testament writers was to take their quotations from the Greek version of the Old Testament, rather than from the Hebrew original. .We find, also, that in those cases in which they have departed from this practice, and translated from the Hebrew, the discre- pancy between the original and the ancient ver- sion is so great as to render quotation from the latter altogether unsuitable for the purpose for which an appeal to the Old Testament is made. Thus, to take a single illustration : in 1 Cor. xv. 54, the Apostle, after an exalted and glowing description of the change to be effected by the resurrection, when all the evil that death has done to the people of God shall be undone, " when this mortal shall have put on immor- tality, and this corruptible shall have put on incorruption," adds, that in all this will be found the complete fulfilment of an ancient prophecy which says, '' Death is swallowed up in victory." Here the Apostle borrows his quotation from the Hebrew, and not from the LXX., and the 42 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF ^^'^T- ^- reason is obvious : — the latter departs so far from the actual words of the prophecy, that to have quoted it would have not only rendered the Apostle's statement incoherent, but would not have been to quote the prophecy at all.* On the other hand, in those passages in which the New Testament writers follow the Alexandrine version, even in its departures from the Hebrew original, either the difference between the two is so merely verbal, or the object of the quotation is so little dependent upon perfect accuracy, that no evil can result from deserting the original to follow the version. Thus the Apostle in warning the Jews against rejecting the gospel, quotes Hab. i. 5, thus, (Acts xiii, 41 :) ^^ Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish : for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." This is taken from the LXX., and differs considerably from the Hebrew, but not so as to affect the meaning of the passage, espe- cially as respects the pui'pose for which the Apostle quotes it. From these facts the conclu- sion appears unavoidable, that the New Testa- ment writers quoted always from the Alexandrine version, except when the errors of that version rendered an appeal to it incompatible with the object for which the quotation was made. Deviation lu havlug rcached this conclusion, however, * The Alexandrine version is KareTner 6 ddtarog la)(vaac- Isa. XXV. 8. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 43 we have by no means surmounted all the diffi- lect. i. culties that surround this part of our inquiry /^""^yjj^ijg^j There sti^l remains the fact to be accounted for, '""^"^"^ these quota- that of the quotations decidedly traceable to ''°"'- the LXX. (and the same may be said of those referable to the Hebrew) very few are made with perfect accuracy ; by far the greater part presenting certain deviations, more or less marked, from the received text of the book from which they are taken. These deviations may be classed under the following heads : — 1. Changes of person, number, or tense, in particular words. Thus in Matt. xxvi. 31, we read, Trara^co rov Troc/jueva, Kol hiacrKopTna-OrjcreTat, ra 7rp6/3ara rrjs irolfivrjs, whilst the LXX. giveS it, irara^ov rov iroLixeva, Kai StaaKopTriaOrjaovTat,* k.t.\. Zech. xiii. 7. John xix. 36, 'Oarovv ov awTpi- ^rjcrerai, avrov, for ^Ocrrovv ov crvPTpcy}r6T6 air avTov, Exod. xii. 46. 1 Pet. ii. 24, Ov tm /jlooXcottl avrov ladrjTe, for rw /xcoXcottl avrov laOrjfjbev, Isa. liii. 5, &C. 2. Substitution of synonymous words or phrases for those used in the LXX. : e. g. Matt. ix. 13, 'EXeoy Oekw, Kal ov Ovcriav, for ''EXeos deXco ri $v(TLav, Hos. vi. 6. John xiii. 18, 'O rpwr^cav fier €fiov TOP aprov, errripev eir kfjue rrjv Trrepvav avroVf for O eaOicov aprovs fiov e/xeyaXwev eir efie irrepviafjuov, Ps. xl. (xli.) 9. Sometimes the words thus substituted are synonymous with those for * This is the reading of the Alexandrine Codex ; that of the Vatican differs considerably ; Trnra^art rove Troif-uyag Kal 44 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF i-ECT. I. which they are used only historically ; as when Paul (Gal. iv. 30) calls Isaac 6 vlos rrjs eKevd'epas, in a passage quoted from Gen. xxi. 10, where, in the words of Abraham, he is mentioned by name as 6 vlos fiov 'la-aaK. Occasionally also this kind of substitution is effected by the use of a word describing a species for one designating the genus to which it belongs; as when Paul, in 1 Cor. iii. 20, substitutes the words rcov aocpMv for the more general expression rwv avOpcoTrcov, used in the passage (Ps. xix. 11) which he quotes. 3. Words and phrases transposed : e.g. Rom. X. 20, ^vped'qv Tols efi€ [xrj ^rjTovaiv, e/jicf^avrjs eye- v6/j,7]v TOts e/jue p.r) eirepwraxTLV, for 'RfMcpavrjs eyevrjdTjv T0t9 e/xe fXT] €7repa>ru)aLU, evpeOt^v roos e/xe fiij ^7]Tovcrt.v, Isa. Ixv. 1,* &c. 4. Words and clauses interpolated or added : e.g. John vi. 31, aprov Ik tou ovpavov eScoKev avrols ^ayelv, where the words e/c rov and (f^ayelv are an addition, (comp. Ps. Ixxviii. 24.) 1 Cor. xv. 45, 'Kyevero o nrpwros avdpwiros A8a/j, ets -x^up^^y ^maav, where the words irpcoros and 'A8tt/A are added by the apostle, (comp. Gen. ii. 7.) These additions are made sometimes from parallel pas- sages, and sometimes of the writer's own device, for the purpose of rendering the meaning of the passage clearer, or connecting it more readily with the preceding or subsequent context. * The Alexandrine Codex gives this passage exactly as cited by Paul. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 45 5. Words omitted, and passages abridged : e.g. Matt. iv. 6, toIs ayyeXocs avrov evreXecrat irepl aov, Kai, eTTL ■^eipcov apovcri ere, ixrjTrore irpoa-Koy^rjs irpos \iOov Tov TToBa aov, for rots dyyeXots avrov evreXeirat irept aov, tov SiacjivXa^ai ae ev iraaats rats COOLS aov eirt '^eipcov apovac ae, yLtr/Trore Trpo- aKoyjrrjs irpos \l6ov t. tt. a. Ps. XC. 11, 12. Comp. also Heb. iv. 4, with Gen. ii. 3, &c. 6. Several passages quoted together, so as to form one connected sense: e.g. 2 Cor. vi. 16 — 18, "Ori €voiK7)au> hv avTols, kcu efiTreptirariiaco' kcu eaofMac avrcov Qeos, koI avrol eaovrai /j,ot Xaos. Aio e^eXOere e/c fieaov avrav, Kac ar) Xeyei, or simply \eyei (sup. Geoy vel irpo- * See Appendix, Note D. quotation. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 49 (fyrjrTjs), ^'cpijKe Be ris, BXeTrere to eiprjfievov, OvSe- ^ect. i. TTore aveyvcore ; KT^). Surenhusius is of opinion, and labours in his learned way to prove, that by attending to the force of these different formulae, we may ascertain with what intent the words they re^ spectively introduce are quoted, as each formula, he asserts, involves a different meaning.* A fatal objection, however, to this opinion is, as Mr. Home justly remarks, "that we find the very " sa7ne quotations, expressed in the same words, " and brought to prove the very same points, in- " troduced by different formulae in different gos- " pels."f At the same time there are obviously two classes of these formulas, the difference be- tween which is distinctly marked by the circum- stance that, whilst some of them merely express the fact that what follows is a quotation, others of them intimate the existence of a material rela- tion between the passage quoted, and the sub- ject of which the writer quoting it is treating. Thus, when it is simply said, " The Scripture * His words are, " Etenim omni in loco ex V. T. in N. " allegato recte conciliando videndum est prius, qua allegandi "formula utantur apostoli; ex qua statim dignoscere licet, " quare sequentia verba hoc, et non alio modo, allegaverint, '* atque ad veteram scripturam Hebrceam plusve minusve " attenderint. Sic alium sensum jnvolvit ilia allegandi " formula epprjdr], alium ytypaTrrat," &c. Prcefat. in Bt/3. Kar. f Introduction, vol. ii. p. 339. K OU . EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF T-E'^T. T. saith/' nothing more is necessarily implied than that what follows is taken from the Old Testa- ment; but when it is said, " Then was the Scriptm-e fulfilled which saith," or " This was done that the Scriptures might be falfilled," we immediately perceive that the writer would inti- mate a real connexion of some sort or other between the event he is recording, and the statement with which he compares it in the passage quoted. We may, therefore, so far adopt the hypothesis of Surenhusius, as to admit a distinction between these two classes, and expect to find in the passages introduced by the latter of them something more than a mere verbal quotation. Some quota- Bcsidc thc quotatlons introduced by these for- tions intro- i i • • i i i i i uucedwith- mulae there is a considerable number scattered through the writings of the apostles which are inserted in the train of their own remarks with- out any announcement whatever of their being cited from other writers. To the cursory reader the passages thus quoted appear to form a part of the apostle's own words, and it is only by intimate acquaintance with the Old Testament Scriptures, and a careful comparison of these with those of the New, that the fact of their being quotations can be detected. In the com- mon version every trace of quotation is in many of these passages lost, from the circumstance that the writer has closely followed the LXX., whilst our version of the Old Testament is made THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 51 from the Hebrew. Thus, for instance, in 2 Cor. lect. i. viii. 21, Paul says irpovoovfievoL KdXa ov /xopov €V(o- TTiov Kvpcov, dWa koI evcoiriov dvOpooTrcov, which, with a change in the mood of the verb, is a verbatim citation of the LXX. version of Prov. iii. 4. Hardly any trace of this, however, ap- pears in the common version, where the one passage reads " Providing for honest things not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men," and the other, *' So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man." So also in 1 Pet. iv. 18, the apostle quotes word for word from the LXX. version of Prov.xi. 31, the clause, el 6 SiKatos fioXcs aco^erac, o aaejBrjs /cat ajubaprcoXos ttov (pavetrai, ', — a quotation which we should in vain endeavour to trace in the common version of the Proverbs, where the passage in question is rendered, " Be- hold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth ; much more the wicked and the sinner." Such quotations evidently show how much the minds of the New Testament writers were im- bued with the sentiments and expressions of the Old Testament, as exhibited in the Alexandrine version. The last thing to which we have to attend rurpososfor •.. f . iii-».T m which the regardmg the quotations made by the New Tes- om xesta- tament writers from the Old, relates to the p?i7'- ".Tterinthe poses for which these quotations are introduced. ^^^' These, as appears from an examination of the passages, arc f/nrc. E 2 52 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF i-ECT. I. 1. Por the explanation or proof of some doc- First pur- ^^^^^/ pos'ition. Thiis Paul, for the sake ol pose. ■* explaining and confirming his doctrine of the efficacy of faith, quotes repeatedly from Hab. ii. 4, the sentence, " The just shall live by faith." So also, in order to prove that mere natural descent from Abraham did not of itself entitle any one to the Divine favour, the same apostle quotes the terms of God's promise to Abraham, in which he expressly declares that in Isaac alone of all Abraham's family was the seed of Abraham, i. e. the spiritual Israel, to be called or chosen. Comp. also Rom. iv. 7, 8, ix. 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, xii. 19, 20, xiv. 10, 11, &c. It is to be observed that the passages thus adduced are almost always found in writings addressed to Jews, and are therefore to be regarded as con- taining argumenta e concessis. They are always applied, if not in the words, at least in the sense of the original from which they are taken. Second pur- 2. For the purpose of pointing out the appU- ^°^*" cation of the passage quoted to some statement or description in the context into which it is intro- duced. From the circumstance that several of the passages thus adduced are in the phraseology of the New Testament as well as in that of the Rabbinical writings, said to be " fulfilled," it has been hastily inferred by some that they are all to be regarded as designed prophecies of the events to which they are applied. For this opinion, however, no adequate support seems to THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 53 be afforded by the phrase in question. The lect. i. general idea attached to the verb 7r\r)p6co is that of filling up to its full capacity any thing of which it is predicated. Thus the Jews are said by Christ to have filled up the measure {TrXrjpco- aare to fMcrpov) of their fathers. Matt, xxiii. 32. The phrase in question consequently is suscep- tible of application to whatever is thought of as supplying the complement of any given capa- city, and that whether it is used in a literal or tropical sense. Hence it is appropriately used in the New Testament with respect to passages quoted from the Old Testament in the following cases : — First, when it announces the accomplishment usages of the „ - . , , , word fiiljil in 01 a prophecy contamed m the words quoted, reference to As the prediction is a mere empty declaration, as from the oid it were, until the fact predicted has occurred ; so that fact, by giving meaning and force to the prediction, is viewed as its complement or filling up. Thus the New Testament writers in re- cording the facts of our Lord's history, when they come to any which formed the subject of ancient prophecy, whether explicit or typical, direct the attention of their readers to the cir- cumstance by adducing the prediction and inti- mating its fulfilment in the fact they have recorded. Secondly, when it introduces some description or statement which affords a parallel to what the writer has been saying. Such a description 54 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. bein^ regarded as involving a fact of general applicability to the human race, or to certain portions of it, is thought of as being, so to speak, in a state of deficiency until the measure of its applicability has been filled up. Each new case, therefore, which affords a parallel to that to which the description was originally applied goes so far to supply this deficiency, by affording another instance in which the description holds ; and hence the New Testament writers are in the habit of quoting such descriptions as having been fulfilled in the cases to which they are applied by them. Thus a passage from the prophecies of Jeremiah, in which a description is given of the desolation caused by the Divine judgments upon the Jews, under the beautiful personification of Rachel rising from the dead looking in vain for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they are not, is adduced by Matthew as fulfilled in the sorrow which was produced by the massacre of the babes in Beth- lehem by order of Herod. No person who studies the context of the passage as it occurs in the Old Testament can suppose for a moment that it contains a prediction of the cruelties which were perpetrated on the occasion related by the Evangelist. The sole purport of the quotation seems to be to intimate, as Bp. Kidder remarks, that "such another scene of sorrow '' appeared then (upon the murder of the inno- " cents), as was that which Jeremy mentions THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 55 upon another sad occasion."* Comp. Matt. xv. lect. i. 7, 8, with Isa. xxix. 13; Matt. xiii. 14, with Acts xxviii. 25, and Isa. vi. 9, &c. It appears, then, that even when a quotation is introduced by a part of the verb m-Xripow it does not necessarily follow that it is to be re- garded as containing a prophecy. This is true as well of the conditional formula tW (ottws-) ir\r]po36fi, as of the more direct rore eTrXrjpwOr]' for these particles, as used in the New Testa- ment, frequently express nothing more than that occasion is given for a particular action or remark. Besides the passages introduced as fulfilled, there are others referable to the same general head which are introduced by others of the formulae above mentioned. Of these, some belong to both the classes just described — 'pro- phecies of which the New Testament announces * Demonstration of the Messias, Part. II. p. 215 ; " If we " look into Jeremiah," says Dr. Sykes, " 'tis plain that the " prophet is speaking about the dispersion of the Jews in " other countries ; and promises (chap. xxxi. 1 6) that they " shall come again from the land of the enemy ; and ver, 17, " there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children " shall come again to their own border. To fulfil, there- " fore, this prophecy, children (supposing that word really to " mean infants of two years old and under, which are the " children in Matthew) were not to be murdered, but to be " kept alive, and to be brought back to their own country or " border. This, therefore, cannot possibly be a prophecy of a " future event relating to the murdering of the infants by " Herod." — Essay on tlie Truth of the Christian Religion, ^c. pp. 217, 218. See also Blaney in loc. and Marsh's Notes to Michaelis, vol. i. p. 473. EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF the fulfilment, and general descriptions to which something parallel is brought forward. Another class consists of moral and religious maxims, which are adduced as applicable to the state of things of which the writer or speaker is dis- coursing, and which, though not said to be fulfilled thereby, are quoted under essentially the same idea. Such sentences embody, as it were, certain laws of human nature and con- duct— certain general facts in the human eco- nomy, of which we are to expect the verification wherever the necessary conditions are exem- plified. Like the laws of physical science, therefore, they are dependent for their verifi- cation upon the examination of the phenomena appropriate to that region to which they belong ; and as no law of science can be said to lie absolutely beyond the possibility of refutation until every one of the phenomena which it embraces has been examined and been found to support it, every experiment or occurrence that favours it may be said to fill up what is wanting to its perfect and undeniable certainty. Hence the New Testament writers, in recording events or describing characters which accord with and so exemplify the truth of the moral maxims of the Old Testament, speak of these as if they had contained actual pre-intimations of the oc- currence to which they are applied. They contain, in fact, the norm or rule according to which the matter in question has occurred. I THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 57 The usage of the New Testament writers in ^^ct. i. the cases we have been considering is illustrated f^^^'/,":^"'^" by that of the Rabbinical writers in their quota- ''^'"^'°^''" •' •■• milar usages. tions from the Old Testament, as Surenhusius has largely shown in his work upon this subject.* Instances have also been adduced of a similar usage by the classical and ecclesiastical writers. Thus, yElian introduces Diogenes Sinopensis as saying that " he fulfilled and endured the curses out of the tragedy," (oti, avros eKirXrjpot Kol virofiepet ras eK TTJs TpayoiBlas dpds.) Olympiodorus says of Plato, that " a swarm of bees made honey on his lips, {tva dXrjdes irepl avrov fyevrjTai, Tov Kal ciTro yXwVffjyc p.tXiTog yXvKicav pitv au'S/j, II. A. 249,) that it might become true concerning him what Homer says of Nestor," &c. Epiphanius says of Ebion, " But in him is fulfilled that which is written : I had nearly been in all mischief, be- tween the Church and the Synagogue," {dxx! h avT(p irXripovrai to yeypafifievov' k.t.X. HceresiS Ebion. cap. i.) So also the Latin implere is used by Jerome : " Casterum Socraticum illud imple- tiir in nobis. Hoc tantulum scio, quod nescio." E}). 103 ad Paulin. Thirdly ; a third purpose for which the New Third pur- ' o ^ pose. Testament writers make quotations from the Old, is that of clothing their own ideas in lan- guage aheady familiar to their readers, or attrac- * BljjXoc KaraXXayiic &c. &c. lib. i. See also Waehneri Antiquitates Hebrceonan, vol. i. p. 527, ff. EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF the from its beauty, force, or dignity. The writings of the Old Testament were, as we have ah'eady seen, evidently perfectly familiar to the apostles and their Jewish brethren. They were the great classics of their nation, venerable at once for their literary value and their Divine authority. In these the youth of Judea were carefidly instructed from their earliest years, and with their words all their religious thoughts and feelings were identified.* Hence it was natural and nearly unavoidable, that in discoursing of religious subjects they should express their thoughts in language borrowed from the books which had formed the almost exclusive objects of their study. *^ Whenever," remarks Michaelis, "a book is the object of our daily reading and "study, it cannot be otherwise than that pas- " sages of it should frequently flow into our pen " in writing, sometimes accompanied with a con- " scious recollection of the place where we have " read them ; at other times, without our possess- " ing any such consciousness. Thus the lawyer " speaks with the Corpus Juris and the laws, the "schoolman with the Latin authors, and the "preacher with the Bible. It is no wonder, "therefore, if the same has happened to the * Comp. Deut. vi. vii. &c. ; 2 Tim. iii. 15 ; Hist. Susannce, ver. 3 ; Joseph! Antiqq. Jud. lib. iv. p. 122. A. Ed. Genev. IGll. In the Mischna it is prescribed that "every child of five years old must be introduced to the knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures." See Hartmann's Enge Verhindung des Altes Testaments mit d. Neuen, u.s.w. s. 30, 377. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 59 " writers of the New Testament, most of whom lect. i. ''were daily occupied in the study of the Old " Testament, not only in the Hebrew, but also " in the Greek version. Of this the natural con- " sequence was, that they very often spoke with "the Old Testament, and especially the Greek "translation. Indeed, they have done this in " many places, where it is not perceived by the "generality of readers of the New Testament, " because they are too httle acquainted with the " Septuagint." Ehileitimg, Erster The'il, s. 223. What renders this more indubitable is, that in all the cases which are clearly referable to this head, the citations from the Old Testament are introduced without any sign of quotation, and appear simply as part of the writer's own dis- course. That such quotations are made for merely literary purposes, — for ornament of style, for vigour of expression, for felicity of allusion, or for impressiveness of statement, it would be absurd to deny. The passages thus incorporated with the writer's own thoughts and words, are not appealed to as proving what he says, or as applying to any circumstance to which he refers ; their sole use appears to be to express in appro- priate language his own thoughts. Thus, when Paul, after dissuading the Roman Christians from the indulgence of vindictiveness, adds in the words of Solomon, (Prov. xxv. 21, 22,) "There- " fore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he " thirst, give him drink, for in so doinc? thou V 60 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. " shalt heap coals of fire upon his head ;" the quotation evidently serves no other purpose than to express in language of an appropriate and im- pressive kind, the duty which the Apostle would enjoin, and which would have been equally in- telligible and equally binding if expressed in his own words, as when uttered in those of the inspired author of the Proverbs. On what other principle, moreover, are we to account for the quotation made by Paul, in Rom. x. 18, from the 19th Psalm, where in speaking of the diffu- sion of the gospel among the Jews he says, "But " I say, have they not heard ? Yes, verily, their " sound went into all the earth, and their words " into the end of the world," — a passage origin- ally applied by the Psalmist to the heavenly bodies ? To insist upon regarding this as a pre- diction of the diffusion of the gospel, or as fur- nishing even a parallel to it, is surely to sacrifice reason and common sense to prejudice or some favourite theory. Objection to Thc chlcf difficulty which many good men, this view con- , • , ii • • t i sidered. who rcjcct the opmion 1 am now advocatmg, find in adopting it, arises from the circumstance, that in several of the passages, as in that last quoted, there is upon this hypothesis an accom- modation of words originally used of one thing to designate another ; which they regard as incon- sistent with due reverence to the Divine word. On this objection I would remark, that it does not very clearly appear wherein the alleged THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 61 irreverence of such a practice lies. To employ ^-^ct. t. the words of Scripture to express low and un- worthy ideas, or for the sake of giving point to mere worldly reasonings, is to use them irreve- rently ; but to use them to convey ideas as elevated as those originally attached to them, if not more so, (which is the case, e.g. in Rom. X. 18,) has but little appearance of treating them with irreverence. The only ground on which such a charge could be maintained is, that words once employed by an inspired writer in a pecu- liar combination, become thenceforward sacred to the expression in that combinatioji of the one idea they were first used to designate, whatever others they may be susceptible of expressing. But who is there who could seriously attempt to defend such a position as this ? If this were the case, every quotation not made expressly as authority, would be liable to censure ; and, as the number of such in the New Testament is in- disputably considerable, hardly any of its writers would stand clear of blame. That those who urge this objection are really concerned to uphold the reverence due to Scrip- ture, it would be unjust to doubt. It may be questioned, however, whether with this object in view, it would not be better were they to take their ideas of what is due to Scripture from ob- serving the practice of the apostles, than to attempt to force by violent and arbitrary inter- pretations that practice into an accordance oC Paul in citing Ilea tlien writer: (J2 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF LECT. I. with certain preconceived notions of their own. This view Having disposed of the charge of irreverence theprrrticf towards the Old Testament Scriptures, alleged citfnri.el against the practice which I have ascribed to the '' apostles, I proceed to observe that the opinion above expressed appears to be confirmed by the practice of Paul, in his quotations from the heathen classics. Of these we have three in his writings which are known to be such ; of which only one appears to be adduced in the way of proof, one is brought in as if it formed part of the Apostle's own remarks, and the third, though formally quoted, is applied by accommodation to the subject of which the Apostle is discoursing. The first of these occurs in Titus i. 12, where Paul adduces a saying of Epimenides, a Cretan poet, regarding his countrymen, in support of the character he was himself ascribing to them ; the second is found in 1 Cor. xv. 34, where the Apostle conveys a warning in words borrowed from the Thais of Menander ; and the third in Acts xvii. 19, where, in his address to the Athe- nians, he quotes from the Phoenomena of Aratus, (v. 5,) part of that poet's address to Jupiter, and applies it (by accommodation of course) to the one living and true God. These instances show that the apostles were in the habit of expressing their thoughts in the language of others, when that occurred to them ; and if they did so with tlie Greek classics, of which they knew com- THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 63 paratively so little, how much more were they i-ect. i. likely to do so with those of their own nation, with which they had been famihar from their childhood ? The truth is, the practice of making use in and i.y the . . ... general prac- this way of previous and popular writers is oncticeofau- which was common, not only in the days of thCafjesand apostles, but which can hardly fail to be common "'""'"^'• wherever an established national literature exists. In proof of this, we have only to examine the writings of the later classics of Greece and Ptome, which abound in quotations direct and accom- modated fi'om their earlier authors. We see the same course pursued by the Rabbinical writers towards the Old Testament, and by the christian fathers towards both the Old and the New, as well as towards the profane classics. What is still more remarkable, perhaps, we find instances of it in the later prophets of the Jews in the use which they make of the writings of their prede- cessors. Thus Micah (iv. 1 — 3) quotes nearly verbatim Isaiah ii. 2 — 4 ; Hab. ii. 14 is apparently taken from Isa. xi. 9 ; in the prayer of Jonah, (chap, ii.) the latter part of ver. 3 is quoted from Ps. xlii. 8, and the beginning of ver. 5 from Ps. Ixix. 2 ; and of the short prophecy of Obachah no less than seven verses (1 — 6, 8,) are found in the 49th chapter of Jeremiah, but which was the borrower in this case is not agreed among critics.* Without multiplying instances, * See Rosenmiiller's Scholia in Proph. Min, (^Pruem. in Obadiam) ; Home's Tnlroductiun, vol. iv. p. 221, 8th ed. 64 EXTERNAL CONNEXION OF i-ECT. T. these are sufficient to show how extensively this habit prevailed even among the Old Testament writers themselves. Indeed, such quotations form so apt and natural an ornament of style, that wi'iters of all ages and countries, where the means of doing so exist, have availed themselves of it. As Dr. Jortin has remarked, in a sentence which at once commends and most happily exemplifies the practice, "A passage justly ap- plied, and in a new sense, is ever pleasing to the ingenious reader, who loves to see a likeness and pertinency where he expected none ; he has that surprise which the Latin poet so poetically gives to the tree : * Miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma.' "* Why, then, should we wonder that such a practice should have been followed by the sacred writers, who in other respects appear to have obeyed in the preparation of their works the ordinary rules and usages, both grammatical and rhetorical, of literary composition ? Conclusion. I havc uow finished what I have deemed it necessary to offer, in such a course as the pre- sent, on the external or literary connexion of the Old and New Testaments. From the survey which has been made it is obvious that that connexion is very close, and that a powerful influence has been exerted upon the compo- * Remarks on Eccles. Hist. Works, vol. i, p, 273. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. sition of the latter by the famiharity which its _^ authors possessed with the language and con- tents of the former. Though written originally in different tongues, and marked respectively by certain peculiarities of style, structure, and allu- sion, both belong evidently to the same national (^ literature, and bear the stamp and hue of the same national taste, intellect, and character. Besides establishing this connexion, however, the materials we have been considering clearly point us to one of a deeper and more intrinsic character- — to one not in outward form merely, but also in substance. The terms in which our Lord and his apostles speak of the Old Tes- tament, the frequent references which, in their discourses or writings, they make to its contents, and the purposes for which these references are made, are such as to leave no doubt in the mind of the reader respecting the views entertained and taught by them on this head. That the Jewish Scriptures contain a system of religious truth substantially identical with that which they promulgated, — that the prophecies re- j corded in these Scriptures concerning the Mes- siah and his kingdom find their fulfilment in the | events in which they either were chief agents, ' or of which they are witnesses to the world, — that the symbolical and typical institutions of Moses adumbrated those great spiritual truths which they had come forth to proclaim among mankind, — that, in short, Christianity is only 65 66 EXTERNAL CONNEXION, ETC. ^^^"^^ ^' the full manifestation of those glorious facts which had projected their prophetic shadows '' into the previous economies, — announcing that the source of light was in the direction from which they came, — are positions inseparably interwoven with the whole texture of the evan- gelical history and doctrines. If we profess to take our religion from the New Testament we must take this as a necessary part of the whole system therein revealed. To attempt an articulate proof and illustra- tion of these positions is the interesting and important duty which lies before us in the sub- sequent part of this course. LECTURE II. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. DOCTRINES RESPECTING THE DIVINE NATURE. HEB. I. 1, 2. " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the pro- phets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." In that revelation of the Divine will which the lect. h. Bible contains, we have a series of communications ^" ^"'p'"'^^ - , from the stretchmg through a course of many centuries ^^^ Divine ■1 , . . *^ ^ source. conveyed through mdividuals of different habits, tastes, education, and talents, and characterised by the greatest variety of form and style. Amid all this diversity, however, of outward circumstance, the great Author of the whole remained from first to last the same. By whomsoever the mes- sage was borne to men— whether by patriarchs, or prophets, or by the Son of God himself; at whatever period it was announced— whether in the early dawn of the world's history, or after " the fulness of the time" had already come ; and F 2 6^ INTERNAL CONNEXION OF ^^■^'^- "• in whatever form it appeared — whether clothed in symbols or conveyed in the language of direct annunciation, — whether set forth by some silent yet significant type, or proclaimed by the living voice of some gifted seer, — whether uttered in brief and naked terms, or wrapt in the gorgeous mantle of impassioned poetry ; it was through- out the same Divine Spirit who inspired the messenger and authorized the message. " God," the apostle tells us, " who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." As in the natural world, the media through which the rays of the sun pass, and the degree of warmth and illumination experienced in consequence at the earth's surface, are dif- ferent at different times — " Non habet officii Lucifer omnis idem" — whilst it is in every case and at all times the same luminary to which we are indebted for whatever of light and heat our atmosphere may transmit to us ; so in the spiritual world it hath pleased the Sovereign of the universe that the radiance of divine truth, flowing as it ever must from the fountain of his own eternal mind, should descend in different degrees and with diversified hues upon those to whom it was originally sent. Consequent Thc effluencc of all the portions of Scripture all Scripture. fVom the samc Divine source secures the perfect THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 69 harmony of the doctrines which they respec- ^-ect. n. tively unfold. Of their Ahnighty Author it has been justly said, " Opera mutat, nee mutat con- sihum,"* — he may change his mode of operation, but his counsel — that which embraces the prin- ciples of his government and the scheme of his grace — remains unchangeable. He is *Uhe Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, nor the shadow of turning;" — "nunquam novus, nun- quam vetus."f In him there is no deficiency; with him there is no progress. Growth, experience, acquisition, are terms without meaning if applied to him. No prejudice can bias, no ignorance becloud, no confusion mislead his holy and omniscient mind. " He is a rock, his work is perfect : for all his ways are judgment : a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."J Nor are the truths of revelation of such a kind as to be affected by the lapse of time, or any change in the circiunstances of the parties addressed. They are the expression of certain great facts respecting the character and govern- ment of God, the relation in which man stands to his Creator and Ruler, and the provision which God has made for the restoration of mankind to his favour, in consistency with the glory of his character and the claims of his government. These facts are necessarily the same in all ages and in every part of the world ; * Augustine. Confess. I. 4. + Ibid. i Deut. xxxii. 4. 70 INTERNAL CONNEXION OF ^ECT. II. so that what was true of them at one time, and as announced to one class of persons, must be true of them for ever, and to whomsoever made known. A Divine revelation, consequently, of how many portions soever it may be composed, cannot but exhibit a substantial harmony in all the statements of moral and religious truth which it contains. That such harmony of statement exists be- tween the Old and New Testaments is, as we have already seen, expressly affirmed by our Lord and his apostles ; and it now comes to be our business to endeavour to make this apparent by an examination of the principles laid down in both of these parts of the sacred volume, and a comparison of those of the one with those of the other. To avoid unnecessary prolixity, as well as to bring the subject within the limits of the present course, I shall confine myself in this inquiry to the consideration of such truths as may justly be regarded sl^ fundamental and cha- racteristic. If in respect of these I shall be able to show that all which Christianity teaches was taught also under the Patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, and that nothing was announced in the revelations enjoyed by those who lived under these dispensations, as a funda- mental principle of their religion, which does not occupy the same place in the Christian system, no legitimate ground will be left for desiring any further demonstration of the essen- THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 71 tial identity of the systems of religious truth i:^£Iii£: which these books respectively unfold. In its simplest form, the problem of a rehgion Prowem of ■*■ religion. may be expressed thus: — Given a supreme Deity, the Creator and Governor of all things, and an intelhgent creature in a state of aliena- tion and estrangement from his Creator ; to determine the means whereby a reconcihation may be effected, and the creature restored to the favour and service of his God.* In this form, however, the problem is plainly too indetermi- nate to be susceptible of a satisfactory solution. We must know what are the attributes of the * It is a controversy of long standing, whether the word religio comes from relegere, to reconsider, or from rcligare, to rebind. Cicero (De Nat. Deor. ii. 28,) is the patron of the former ; Lactantius {Instit. Div. iv. 28,) advocates the latter. Linguistically, Cicero's derivation is the preferable ; by no known process of etymology can religio be deduced from reli- gare. As respects the meaning, both are correct ; religion is the reconsideration of our obligations to God, and our reunion to him. But may not the true etymon after all be re-eligere, thus making religio equivalent to re-eligio, a re- choice ? Reli- gion is so in point of fact ; objectively, God's re-choice of us ; subjectively, our re-choice of God. I may observe, that this etymology has the merit of accounting for the re in religio being long ; a fact which has been strangely overlooked by writers on this matter. (Comp. Lucret. De Rer. Nat. i. 78, 101, &c. ; Virg. /Eneid, iii. 363, &-c.) A remark of Augus- tine, in his De Civitat. Dei, x. 4, greatly favours this etymology : " Hunc (Deum) eligentes vel potius religentes (amiseramus enim negligentes), hunc ergo religentes unde et religio dicta perhibe- iur," &c. Whichever etymology we adopt, the idea of pre- vious estrangement and subsequent reconcilement will present itself. 72 DOCTRINES RESPECTING LECT. n. Creator, what the principles of his government, what the character of his creature, what the cause of estrangement between them, before we can be in circumstances to consider the princi- ples upon which a reconciliation can be effected. Nay, we must possess information upon these points before we can decide whether the ques- tion be such as to lie within the sphere of our capacity ; for it may be that the relations of the parties are such, that only the Creator himself can determine the possibility and the means of a reconciliation. Such, in point of fact, is the case in regard to the question as applied to the human race ; and, consequently, the Scriptures, in announcing to us the possibility and the con- ditions of a religion for man, accompany this with a full development of the character of God, of the principles of that government under which he has placed his rational creatures, of the cha- racter and circumstances of mankind, and of the gracious provision which God has made for re- storing man from his fallen condition to a state of acceptance with Him. An inquiry, conse- quently, into the religion of the Bible involves an examination of what it announces upon these heads. Divine exist- lu both thc Old aud New Testaments, the enceassumed .. o /^ i • ii t J^ •l^ by the sacred existcucc 01 GoQ IS TathcT assumed than either formally announced or demonstrated. This is appropriate to the character of these writings. THE DIVINE NATURE. 73 which, as communications from God to man, i-^ct. h. necessarily take for granted the existence of the Being from whom they proceed, as well as of those to whom they are addressed. Nor do the inspired writers say much regarding what have been termed the natural attributes of Deity. Allusions to these, indeed, frequently occur, and the almighty power, infinite wisdom, unbounded benevolence, and absolute eternity, of the Supreme, are adduced as motives at once to reverence, submission, confidence, and gratitude towards him. But, as these are truths which may be gathered from the testimony of the natural creation, and as the primary object of the inspired Word is to announce truths of which the volume of Nature presents no traces, these must be looked upon rather as incidental references to things already known, or at least capable of being known, than as forming part of that peculiar system of religion which the Bible was written to teach. " That," says Paul, *' which may be known of God is manifest in " them, for God hath shewed it unto them ; for " the invisible things of him, from the creation " of the world, are clearly seen, being under- *' stood by the things which are made, even his " eternal power and Godhead."* The truths on which the sacred writers chiefly Truths re- insist, respecting God, are the Unity of the Divine on which the * Rom. i. 19, 20. 74 UNITY OF GOD TAUGHT IN ^^(^T- n. 7iature, and the absolute perfection and harmony chilfly^'su^ ^f f^^^ moral attributes of the Godhead. On both these heads, man is deeply interested in the pos- session of accurate information, on both he stands in need of instruction from God himself, and on both the revelations of the Bible are alike copious and explicit. Unity of God. Howevcr agreeable to enlightened reason, and however consonant with the facts of creation may be the doctrine of the Divine unity, it does not appear to be one which, in the absence of revela- tion, man has been able to retain, or, when lost, to discover anew. That, in the early ages of the world, there was but one religion, and that a religion of Monotheism, is clearly attested by the Mosaic history, and seems to be the conclu- sion to which a careful analysis of the religious remnants of ancient superstitions conducts the philosophic inquirer. How this doctrine came to be superseded by the Polytheistic and Pan- theistic systems of heathenism, it is not neces- sary for us at present carefully to inquire. Perhaps the most satisfactory hypothesis is that which traces this fact to the operation, under ^n ungodly influence, of that disposition to philoso- phize, i.e. to trace effects to a cause, which is characteristic of the human mind. In the in- fancy of science, men satisfy this disposition by ascribing all phenomena to the direct agency of Deity, who is conceived of, "not as having con- structed and set in operation the beautiful THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 75 machinery of the universe, regulating the move- i-ect. n. ments of the whole by great general laws, and interposing by a direct act of his own power only when he sees meet to suspend the ordinary course of things and introduce a new set of phenomena, but as being himself formally and directly the doer of all things, — the immediate and proximate cause of every event. In a mind thoroughly imbued with right views of the spirituality of the Divine essence, and which delights in the contemplation of an infinitely powerful and wise Deity, such a philosophy might produce no effects unfavourable to the belief of the Divine unity ; but on a mind already debased by gross conceptions of Deity, and to which the idea of an omnipresent, omni- scient, and almighty ruler was unspeakably re- pugnant, the effect could not fail to be very different. In such a case, the intellect would operate under antagonist forces. Superstition would lead men still to refer the phenomena of the material universe to Divine power, whilst an ungodly heart would repel the idea of that power being attributed to one great creative and universally superintending Spirit. The conse- quence could only be the adoption of a sort of medium course, whereby a distinct deity was assigned to each phenomenon or class of pheno- mena, over which he was supposed to preside, and which he was regarded in every separate instance as directly effecting. Thus, I appre- 76 UNITY OF GOD TAUGHT IN ^^cT. II. hend, arose that recondite nature-worship which appears to form the basis of all the older mytho- logies, and which in all probability constituted the first stage at which the human mind rested in its melancholy degeneracy from the simple, but magnificent faith of the fathers of the race.* Divine Unity At thc time wheu the earliest books of the IhroidTes- Bible were committed to writing. Polytheism was, with the exception of the descendants of Abraham and a few individuals of other tribes, apparently universally characteristic of those re- ligious systems which were professed among men. To prevent the entire obliteration of . Divine truth from the world, God was graciously pleased to select Abraham and his posterity as the recipients of a revelation concerning him.self, of which the assertion of his essential Unity formed a fundamental part. We find, accord- ingly, that this doctrine was fully recognised by that patriarch and his immediate descendants, as it had been by the pious among his ancestors, and such men as Melchisedek and Job among his cotemporaries or those of his sons. In sub- sequent times, too much intercourse with idola- tors tended in many instances to seduce the Israelites from their early adherence to this doc- trine, but this only gave occasion for more em- phatic declarations of the claims of Jehovah to be feared and trusted as the only God. At the * See some apposite remarks on this subject in the Quar- terly Review, Vol. LXIII. p. 124. THE OLD AND NEVY TESTAMENTS. 77 giving of the law on Sinai, this doctrine was I'Ect. it. asserted in the most solemn and impressive terms ; and occupies, indeed, in itself or its con- sequences, the preamble and the whole of the first table, as it is called, of that statute. In the address of Moses to the people when, before his death, he rehearsed to them all God*s dealings with them, and exhorted them to continuance in his service, great prominence is given to this doctrine : " Unto thee," says he, " it was showed " that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is " God ; there is none else beside him." ^'Know " therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, " that Jehovah he is God, in heaven above and " upon the earth beneath : there is none else." " Hear, O Israel, Jehovah thy God is one Jeho- " vah."* So also in later times the prophets were instructed to make to the people such declarations as the following : " Thus saith " Jehovah, the king of Israel, and his Redeemer, " Jehovah of Hosts, I am the first and I am the " last, and besides me there is no God." " I am " Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no " God besides me.''f In these passages, the doc- trine of the Divine Unity is taught with all the clearness of which human language is susceptible. How fully the doctrine of the Old Testament on this head accords \vith that of the New it would only be a waste of time were I to stop to point out. To some it may appear that I have * Deut. iv. 35, 39 ; vi. 4. f Isa. xliv. 6 ; xlv. 5. 78 UNITY OF GOD TAUGHT IN ^^^T. II. already gone to an unnecessary length in show- ing the place which this doctrine holds in the former, as it may be imagined that this is a point Jehovah not whlcli ttonc wouM presume to dispute. Among a the mere tutelar God ccrtaiu class, however, of theologians, especially of the 1 /^ • 1 ••11 Israelites, ou tho Coutment, the position has been dis- puted, and an attempt has been made to show that, from the writings of Moses especially, there is reason to conclude that the popular behef among the Hebrews was, that Jehovah was only their national or tutelar God, just as Chemosh was of the Ammonites, Moloch of the Moabites, and Baal of the Phoenicians. This opinion, which has found among its leading advocates such men as Bauer, Wegscheider, and De Wette, rests almost exclusively, as may be supposed, upon those passages in which Jehovah is called " the God of Abraham," " the God of the Israelites," "the rock of Israel," "the holy one of Israel," (numen venerandiim Israelitarum, as Bauer renders it,) &;c. Great stress is also laid by them on the words of Jephtha to the Ammonites, (Judg. xi. 24,) " Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy God giveth thee ? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess." " Here," says Bauer, " Jephtha places Jehovah " on a level with Chemosh, and attributes to the " latter the same power as to Jehovah."* On this * " Jephta Jovam aequiparat Camoso, et huic eandem vim, quamJovae, tribuit." Dicta Classiea Vet. Test. Pars. I. p. 17. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 79 I would remark, first. That, even admitting the i-ect. n. words of Jephtha to bear the meaning thus put upon them, it would not certainly follow that this was his belief, or that of his countrymen. In arguing with an opponent nothing is more common than to take up his own ground, and endeavour to show how, even on his own prin- ciples, he ought to yield the point in dispute. So here it is quite possible that Jephtha may be reasoning on the assumptions of the idolatrous Ammonites, and showing that even supposing Jehovah were no more than Chemosh, still, as they deemed themselves justifiable in taking possession of such territories as they conquered in the name of Chemosh, so they ought to admit the right of the Israelites to occupy what they conquered in the name of their God. It is obvious, therefore, that even on the neologian interpretation of this passage it affords no cer- tain evidence that the religious opinions of Jephtha were such as its authors would have impvited to him. But secondly. There appears nothing in Jephtha's words to justify the idea that he considered Chemosh to be as much a real deity as Jehovah. On the contrary, his reasoning is obviously a fortiori, as if he had said. If you, attributing your success to Che- mosh whom you worship, possess whatever you conquer, much more ought we to keep what Jehovah, the supreme disposer of all things, has given us. That this was really the idea in 80 UNITY OF GOD TAUGHT IN .^^^T- ^^- Jephtha's mind appears evident from what almost immediately follows in ver. 27, where he says, " The Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon." This plainly assumes the supremacy of Jehovah over both parties, and ascribes to him his proper place as the only and infallible arbiter of right and wi^ong. To infer, in the face of this, from the mere mention of Chemosh, that he placed this idol on a level with Jehovah, is as imjustifiable as it would be to ascribe similar views of God to the christian missionary who, in arguing with Hindoos, should refer to Brumha or Siva as their gods, and contrast with these his God Jehovah. Thirdly, On the general argument I observe, that when the Israelites spoke of Jehovah in the terms already quoted, they must have thereby intended either the one true God, or some imaginary deity. If the former, then they really beheved and maintained the doctrine of the Divine unity after all, not- withstanding the use of those terms which are supposed to be incompatible with this : if the latter, then the Jehovah they worshipped was as much an idol as any of the gods of the nations around them, — a supposition which would land us in the no less absurd than impious opinion, that all the denunciations of idolatry addressed by God to the Israelites, were directed not so much against that sin in itself, as against the indulgence of it in connexion with any other THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 81 imaginary deity than that which bore the name of lect. n. Jehovah. — Fom'thly^ Adopting the former part of this alternative, as that which reason and good feel- ing alike sanction, there can be no difficulty felt in the mind of any candid inquirer, as to the recon- ciliation of terms implying personal or national relation to the Deity, with the doctrine of the Divine Unity. The supposed discrepancy of these seems to rest upon some vague notion, that a Being who sustains certain universal rela- tions to other beings, cannot at the same time sustain particular relations to individuals or classes amongst these. But this notion is mani- festly opposed to all that we are most familiar with, both in regard to ourselves and to God. To all his intelligent creatures he sustains cer- tain relations in common, but to every class of them he sustains also other relations in particu- lar. To all men he stands in the common rela- tion of a Creator and Governor ; but to some of them, besides this, he stands in the relation of a reconciled Father, — a God whose character has been specially revealed to them, and of whose pardoning grace they have had experience. Now, whatever community of physical relationship to God the race may enjoy as such, it is clear, that in a moral point of view, this class of persons stand in a relation of a far more intimate and endearing character to Him than the rest of mankind. Hence they are described as "his people," " the flock of his pasture," the children G 82 UNITY OF GOD TAUGHT IN LECT. II. of his love ; and he is represented as in a pecu- liar manner their God, " manifesting himself unto them as he doth not unto the world." In this relationship stood Abraham and his pos- terity to the Almighty. Jehovah had chosen them from amongst all people to be " a special people " unto himself. He had favoured them with a revelation of his will, and instituted among them the ordinances of his worship. More than this, he had even condescended to place himself at the head of their political con- stititution as the King of Israel, by whom all their laws were enacted, and under whose special direction their government was administered. Under such circumstances, nothing was more natural than that they should speak of him as their God, without thereby intending to question or deny his universal supremacy as the God of the whole earth. This is language which even those who have borrowed their conceptions of God from the Christian Scriptures do not scruple continually to use ; nay, which they feel to be the natural and appropriate language of those to whom has been given the privilege of calling themselves " sons of God." That it should have been ever supposed susceptible of the interpreta- tion which the authors I have named have put upon it, can be ascribed, I think, only to the disposition which all errorists display to catch at every thing that can be constrained to give any countenance to their opinions, coupled with the essence in the Old Testa- ment. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. S3 melancholy fact, that the feelings of which this i-ect. h. language is the natural exponent, are not those which Rationalism is designed or quahfied to produce. Among the passages which I have cited from intimations the writings of Moses, as asserting the Divine m t^ue Divine Unity, there is one the phraseology of which is peculiar, and deserving of particular notice. It is that in which the people are solemnly called to listen to the announcement : " Jehovah thy God is one Jehovah." These words differ from all the other passages quoted, in this, — that they announce rather the unity of the Divine nature, than the soleity (if I may be allowed the word) of the Divine existence : they affirm not so much that there is one God, as that that God already conceived of as monadic, is also one in essence and nature. That such an announce- ment should have been deemed necessary, must be allowed to be somewhat remarkable. Amidst abounding Polytheism it is easy to see a reason for the repeated and emphatic declaration, that there is only one God, Jehovah ; but why it should have been necessary to add to this the announcement that Jehovah himself is One, seems to furnish occasion for careful inquiry. — A glance at the passage in the original will serve still further to quicken research. We there read : " Hear, O Israel, in^ njn'^ "'d^^ rm]^ Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah." The use of the plural Elohim here gives an appropriateness to g2 84 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY i-ECT. n. the declaration, which it is impossible to transfer with the same force to any other language. Plurality and Unity are thus obviously affirmed as belonging to Jehovah ; he is Elohim, and yet one Jehovah. The only expressible idea sug- gested by such a statement is, that whilst there is but one God, and whilst that God is one in substance, there is nevertheless a distinction of some sort or other coexisting with this unity, and compatible with it. Traces of the Whcu sucli a dcclaratlon is compared with theTrinuyin thc doctnuc of tho New Testament, regarding lament. ^^' ^hc Godlicad, we are naturally led to infer that, in all probability, it contains an intimation of that mysterious fact, the Trinity, which is so clearly set forth in the Christian Scriptures. This revelation is intimately connected with the entire system of religious truth which Christ and his apostles taught. We may expect, there- fore, on the assumption that their system was not essentially different from that which had been inculcated under the former dispensation, to find some traces, at least, of this doctrine in those writings, which inform us of what the godly who lived under these dispensations knew and believed. In this inquiry many able theolo- gians and ripe scholars have already embarked ; and the result I cannot but regard as decisively in favour of the affirmative side of the question. Intimations, both numerous and intelligible, of this great doctrine are to be found in the IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 85 Hebrew Scriptures ; not, indeed, so clear and i-ect. n. precise as those of the New Testament, but as much so as the character of the dispensation under which they were given admitted, and suffi- cient to guide the thoughtful and pious reader to the reception of the truth. In support of this, let me submit the following remarks ; premising that I confine myself, at present, to the doctrine of the Trinity, as such, leaving the declarations in the prophetic Scrip- tures respecting the Godhead of the Messiah to be considered subsequently. 1. It must be admitted by every candid in-useofpiurai I . -. Til terms for quirer as a cnxumstance not a little remarkable. Deity in the that the sacred writers should have selected amenJ'^ plural term as that by which they usually desig- nate the Supreme Being. Writing at a time when Polytheism abounded on every side, and to a people who showed themselves but too prone to take every occasion of forsaking the exclusive worship of the true God, it is natural to conclude that, commissioned as they were to teach the Divine Unity, they would have avoided every term or phrase which might seem to afford the slightest encouragement to set aside that doctrine. Instead of this, however, they freely and continually apply to the Deity terms indica- tive of plurality ; and that without any necessity as respects the language in which they wrote, for, as their own practice shows, the Hebrew affords an equal facility for the use of the sin- 86 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY ^^^'^' ^^' gular number with reference to the Deity. Some weighty reason, we may rest assured, gave rise to a usage in itself so anomalous, and in its possible results so dangerous to a doctrine which the inspired penmen were especially anxious to impress upon the minds of all to whom they wrote. No reason can be suggested so likely, as that they were guided to use such forms because of their appropriateness as designations of Him whose nature displayed a mysterious combina- tion of unity in one sense, with diversity in another. To weaken the force of this conclusion, it has been objected that the plural form Elohim is ap- plied in Scripture to idols, and as these must be conceived of as single, it will follow that nothing can be argued in favour of a plurality in the Divine Unity, from the application to the Almighty of a plural appellative. On this I remark, first. That whether we can explain the application of the term Elohim to idols or not, it is obvious that this does not in any degree help us to account for the application of the term to Jehovah. The question to be settled is not. Whether a term primarily used of the Almighty may be also used of false deities ? but. How came this term to be apphed to God at all? How is the fact, that the inspired messengers of the one living and true God spoke of him almost invariably in the plural, to be accounted for? To this question it is obviously no answer to say, that the same IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 87 form of speech is used of idol-deities ; for this t-ect. h. goes no farther than to show, that after the use of the pkiral form became common, it was ex- tended to false deities as well as the true. The question still remains, How came this usage into existence among the sacred writers at all ? and, as it is only upon the Trinitarian hy- pothesis that this can be answered with any degree of probability, we are entitled to assume for that hypothesis all the advantage which arises from the explanation of the phenomenon. But, secondly. There appears no difficulty in ac- counting for this application of the term Elohim to single idols, even upon the assumption that it is properly applicable only to the Triune God. As has been justly observed by Dr. Wardlaw, " there is nothing more wonderful in the name " being so used in the plural form than in its " being so used at alU^ * If, without impro- priety, the terms applicable to the Supreme Being might be used to designate those idols which human ignorance and depravity had put in his place, then surely the form in which these terms were usually applied to the one, might, without impropriety, be used when they were applied to the other. It does not necessarily follow from such an application, that all the ideas attached to the word in its iwimary appli- cation are carried with it into its subordinate * Discourses on the Socinian Controversy, p. 490, 4th edit. S8 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY i-^cT. II. usages. Nothing is more common in all lan- guages, than for words which in the first instance are appropriate to particular objects, because embracing a certain range of ideas, to become, in the course of time, by dropping one or more of these ideas, capable of being applied to other objects. So it appears to have been in the case before us. The plural form of the words appli- cable to the Deity came first into use as appro- priately expressive of the plurality in the one Godhead, and having thus grown into established use, as Dr. Smith observes, " it came to be *' transferred to those secondary applications " which in time arose, regarding only the ideas '' of sovereignty and supremacy, and dropping "that ofplurahty."* Plural names 2. Tlie coiiclusioii above announced is con- strued with firmed by another remarkable anomaly in the rctjunc^fa. language used by the Old Testament writers, when speaking of God, viz. the combination of these plural appellatives with singular verbs, pronouns, and adjectives. To this usage, only a few exceptions are found in the Hebrew Scriptures, from among hundreds of cases in which the plural appellative is used, — a circum- stance which, whilst it shows that this was the regular usage of the sacred writers, at the same time proves that it would have been equally consistent with the idiom of the lan- * Scripture Testimony, vol. i. p. 510. 2d edit. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 89 guage, to have followed the ordinary rule of i-^ct. h. grammar applying to such cases. For this anomaly, the Trinitarian hypothesis suggests a natural and easy solution. Assuming the fact of a plurality as existing in the Divine Unity, there appears nothing strange in supposing that the sacred writers might be directed by this to such a usage as that in question. So remark- able a departure from the ordinary construction would naturally attract the attention of the reader, and lead him to search after further in- formation, if previously ignorant of the mys- terious fact involved ; and if aware of that fact, would continually remind him of it as often as his attention was directed by the sacred writer to the being and works of God. Apart from this hypothesis, however, no explanation of this usage can be furnished ; and it must remain as one of the most unaccountable and capricious departures from , one of the fundamental laws of human speech, of which we have an instance in the literature of any nation. An attempt, it is true, has been made to Futiie account for this anomaly by a rule of Hebrew account for grammar, expressly contrived to meet this par- ticular case. Words expressing dignity, domi- nion, majesty, or honour, we are told, are commonly put in the plural, even when they denote a singular object, and are coupled with singular adjuncts. Of this pro re naia rule, I iudge it enough at present to say, that its advo- True gram- matical tlieory of it. 90 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY LECT. II. cates have never been able to substantiate its existence by any decisive instances, and that it has been consequently rejected by several of the ablest recent writers upon Hebrew grammar, even where the author's theological leanings might have induced him to retain it, had he felt that to be practicable.* For this fictitious rule I would venture to sub- stitute one which, if I do not greatly mistake, will be found to express a real idiom of the Hebrew language. It is this : Substantives in the plural are commonly construed with singular adjuncts, when they describe objects in which the * Prof. Ewald, whom no one will accuse either of ignorance of Hebrew or of inordinate zeal for the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, declares that " it is a great error to suppose that the Hebrew language, as we find it, has any feeling for a so- called plur. majestaticus." Grammar of the Hebrew Language of the Old Testament, translated by Nicholson. Lond. 1836, p. 231. Some vestiges of this usage, at a period antecedent to the composition of any of the books of the Bible, he thinks remain in the words for Lord and Master, which are always used in the plural ; but of this, as Dr. Smith and Dr. Wardlaw have shown, there is very great reason to doubt. See Smith's Script. Test. vol. i. p. 508, ff., and Wardlaw's Discourses on the Socinian Controversy, p. 448. Of Elohim, Ewald says, that it " appears to have remained always in the pi., in prose, from the earliest time ;" and in another place he says that it is " designedly construed with the plural, where polytheism " or idolatry is intended, Exod. xxxii. 4, 8, or where the *' angels may be understood at the same time. Gen. xxxv. 7 ; " otherwise, in accordance to the Mosaic monotheism, it is " almost without exception (2 Sam. vii. 23,) construed with " the sing, of the predicate, and rarely also with the pi. in ap- " position, Jos. xxiv. 19 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 26."— P. 354. IJS THE OLD TESTAMENT. 91 qualities of 'plurality and unify are combined. In ^-^^'t- "• support of this rule, I would adduce the following instances : Jer. li. 58, Tl^nn ysrip. mrnn '?23 nran, '' The broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly over- thrown," (the one wall consisting of many sepa- rate pieces of masonry,) Mcenia Bahylonis lata (fern, sing.) penitiis evertetur ; Ps. Ixxviii. 15, n3T ninhn^ " a gi'eat sea," (composed of many floods ;) Ps. xviii. 15, ^i d'iTj?, '' much lightning," (many flashes of hghtning ;) Psalm cxxiv. 5, n:)3ri n??, " The waters (the body of water) has gone over me ;" Isa. xvi. 8, ''^p^ ^'^T'^^ '' The fields (the glebe comprising several fields) languishes ;" Comp. Hab. iii. 17. To the same rule may be referred the following instances : Joel i. 20, where "ion? is 'Uhe animal a'eationf* Ezek.xiv. 1, where Q'^i« is " the body of men" who waited on the prophet; Isa. lix. 12, where wrnv^Tsn is ''our guilt" (consisting of many sins,) &c. Of such usages, the account given in grammars and com- mentaries is exceedingly unsatisfactory. Many of them are treated as mere anomalies, and the student who seeks an explanation is put off with some such piece of information as the following : " Constructio est, qua nomen plur. fem. junctum sibi habet verbum sing. masc."f ■ — which leaves the matter exactly where it was. Others of them are treated as coming under the head of verbs used impersonally, which assuredly is not * As they say in Scotland, "the bestial." ■f Kosenmiiller's ScJioI. in Hab. iii, 17- 92 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY i-ECT. II. the case ; and others as belonging to the rule for nouns used distributively, which is just as far from the fact. I cannot help thinking that the rule above proposed supplies the simplest and most probable mode of accounting for such usages. That rule is only a counterpart of the rule regarding collectives in the singular being construed with plural adjuncts, and the one is not less natural than the other.* If the rule be admitted, the use of Elohim and other appella- tions of Deity with singular verbs and adjectives will, upon the Trinitarian hypothesis, fall natu- rally under it : if that hypothesis be rejected, this usage is and remains an anomaly. Plural forms 3. Ill peffcct kccpiug witli the peculiar used by God of himself, phraseology already noticed, is that occasionally ascribed to the Divine Being, when speaking of or to himself. In the cases here referred to, Jehovah makes use of the first person plural, as in Gen. i. 26 : "And God said. Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." So also in chap. iii. 22 ; '^^And the Lord God said. Behold the man is become as one of us" &c. ; * Upon this principle, the learned and philosophic Kuehner proposes to account for the well-known usage in the Greek classics of neuter plurals with singular verbs. " This con- " struction," says he, "rests upon a deep and just sense of "language (Sprachgefiihle), The multitude of impersonal " objects denoted by the neuter plural was regarded by the " Greeks as one object, en masse as it were, in which all in- " dividuality was disregarded, as a simple heap." — Ausfuehr- liche Grammatik d. Griech. Sprache, II*^"^- Th. s. 49. Hanover,. 1835. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 93 chap. xi. 7, "Go to, let iis go down, and there i-ect. h. (let us) confound their language," &c. ; and Isa. vi. 9, "And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying. Whom shall I send,, and who will go for us .^" &c. These passages present a peculiarity which is well deserving of notice, and for which no satis- factory reason has been given by those who would banish from the Old Testament all traces of the plurality of persons in the one Godhead. The supposition that God uses this language with reference to the angels whom he had taken into his counsel ; or, that he spoke to the earth when about to create man ; or, that he uses this style to commend humility to men, seeing that he hereby speaks as if he took counsel with infe- riors, which are the opinions of different Rabbins, may all be safely left to that neglect which is unhappily due to the great mass of modern Jewish interpretations of the Scriptures.* As for the notion that God here uses the lanouage appropriate to a sovereign, it yet remains to be shown that the use of the plural number by sovereigns was customary among the Jews, or was known at all at the early period when the * It is a fact not unworthy of notice, that the two former of these interpretations are indignantly rejected by the Rabbins themselves. Thus Abarbanel : " The Blessed himself created all these, without any other thing, by his own infinite power ;" and Kimchi : " None of the angels, much less any of mankind, directed his Spirit, or suggested counsel to him when he was creating the world." Apud Witsii Judceus Christianizans circa Principia Fidei, ^-c. Ultrajecti, 1661, p. 294. 94 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY LECT. II. Mosaic writings were penned ; and, moreover, even could this be shown, it would still remain to be proved that any analogy whatever exists between the style of the passages above quoted, and that in which sovereigns usually speak when they use the plural number. The most natural, and, at the same time, satisfactory account of the usage in question is, that it contains an implied reference to the plurahty of persons in the Divine nature.* Distinction 4. Tlic iiistauces hitherto adduced can only visible and bc Tcgardcd as affording certain dim intimations Deui^nthe of thls gTcat truth ; I have now to call your meir''^ attention to one of a more direct and palpable kind. I refer to the distinction which is made in many parts of the Old Testament, between Jeho- vah as invisible and Jehovah as manifested to men, — a distinction which is so expressed, that we are constrained to come to the conclusion, that in the One Jehovah there is a mysterious plurahty of persons. The facts of the case are briefly these : In many narratives of the Old Testament, an exalted being is introduced bear- ing the appellation of " The Angel or Messenger of God or of Jehovah," (d'^-jn tj^^q^ r^n; tj«bD^) who appears as the commissioned agent of the Al- mighty, who speaks of himself as, in one sense, distinct from the unseen and eternal Jehovah, but who, at the same time, is styled God and * See Smith's Script. Test. vol. i. p. 524, if. and Wardlaw'sDfs- courses on the Soc. Cont. p. 42, ff. See also Appendix, Note E. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 95 Jehovah, and assumes to himself the honours lect. n. and the works of the Supreme. The only hypo- thesis upon which these facts can be reconciled and explained, seems to be that which regards this Angel of Jehovah as the second person of the Trinity, the essential equal of the first, but who, for the accomplishment of certain great purposes of their common counsel, assumed the human form, appeared as the Sent of God, had intercourse in this capacity with men, performed certain works on earth, and was known and wor- shipped by pious persons as manifested Deity. Such a view is in entire accordance with the New Testament doctrine regarding Him who is there clearly set forth as the second person of the Trinity. Of our Lord Jesus Christ it is said, that he is " Emmanuel, God with us — God mani- '' fested in the flesh — the image of the invisible " God — the brightness of his glory, and the ex- " press image of his person — the Word that was " God, but became flesh, and dwelt amongst us, "full of grace and truth."* These passages in- dicate, with that clearness which belongs to the Christian revelation, the same truth which ap- pears to be less directly and dogmatically, but not less necessarily, taught by the passages in the Old Testament, in which the "Angel of Jehovah " is introduced. It is not, indeed, at present contended, that by this term our Lord * Matt. i. 23 ; 1 Tim. iii. IG ; Col. i. 15 ; Heb. i. 3 ; John i. 14. 96 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY ^^^'^' "• Jesus Christ is meant. This will form matter of subsequent inquiry ; the appeal is made to these passages at present simply as authorizing the assertion, that a revelation was thereby conveyed to the Jews of a distinction in the divine nature, analogous to that which was with greater clear- ness and emphasis afforded by the incarnation of Christ.* Theories in To accouut foT tlie pcculiaT usage in question explanation . i /-«^ i i i i of the phrase 111 thcse passages, difierent hypotheses have been Jehovah." proposed. Passing over that of Herder, (Geist d. Hebr. Poesie, ii. 47,) who supposes the phrase '^ Angel of Jehovah" to be merely a figurative mode of announcing the occurrence of some re- markable natural phenomenon, as not deserving serious refutation ; there are two, besides the one already announced as that which Trinitarians commonly advocate, of which it will be neces- sary to examine into the merits. i. The former of these is, that the Angel of Jehovah spoken of in these passages, was nothing more than a created angel, who spoke and acted in the name of Him by whom he was commis- sioned, and whom he for the occasion repre- * The passages in question are the following : Gen. xvi. 7 — 13, where Hagar calls the angel that appeared to her, 'sn "jm, " the visible or manifested God," (comp. Rosenmiiller in loc.) ; xviii. 19—28, xxi. 1—19, xxxi. 11 — 13, xxxii. 24—30; Exod. iii. 2, 4, 14, xiv. 19 ; Numb. xxii. 22 — 25 ; Judges xiii. 3 — 23. The reader will find these passages adduced and ably illustrated by Dr. Smith, Script. Test. i. 482, and by Prof. Hengstenberg, Christologie, i. s. 218, ff. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 97 sented. This is the opinion of Origen, Augiis- ^-^ct. n. tine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great among the Fathers ; of Abenezra, and several other Jewish interpreters ; and in more recent times of several Roman Catholic interpreters, of Le Clerc, Gro- tius, and the entire school of Socinian and Neologian divines. This somewhat unusual con- fluence of opinion amongst these parties is trace- able, as Hengstenberg has justly remarked,* to a very different cause in the case of each. "The "^ Fathers named," says he, " believed that this " interpretation was necessitated by several pas- " sages in the Old Testament ; the Romish ''interpreters were desirous of finding some " scriptural ground for the practice of worship- " ping angels ; the Socinians were swayed by *' abhorrence of the orthodox doctrine of the *' Trinity ; the Arminians partly by their con- '' tempt of the Old Testament, and partly by " their philosophical rather than scriptural notions " of God ; and the more recent inquirers, by their " dread of stumbling upon a mystery, and a pre- '' intimation of the doctrines of Christianity.'* An interpretation which can be turned to so many uncongenial uses, carries in its very versa- tility of adaptation a strong suspicion of its un- soundness. That this is the case will, I think, be apparent from the following observations. First, this theory assumes as granted the posi- tion that it is competent for a creature, under * Cliristologie, i. 229. H 98 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY i-ECT. IT. any circumstances, to personate the Creator ; — a position, which in the absence of any support from Scripture, it is not too much to denounce as presumptuous and profane. That it should be allowed to any merely created being to call himself God, to speak in the person of God, to swear by himself, and to receive worship as God, simply because he comes forth as God's messen- ger to man, is repugnant to all our most correct notions of the reverence w^hich the highest of creatures owes to the Creator. Upon the same principle, the apostles, as the ambassadors of Christ, might have assumed his place, and re- ceived the homage which was due only to him ; but who needs to be told that the very idea of such conduct would have been associated in their minds with all that was daring and blasphemous, as well as ruinous alike to them and to their cause ? The feelings which they entertained upon this matter, are those which must fill every re- flecting mind that takes its views of the character and claims of God from the Bible. His own solemn declaration, that "his glory he will not give to another," (Isa. xlii. 4,) is felt by all such, as demanding the immediate and peremptory rejection of every assumption such as that on which this hypothesis is based. Secondly, the idiom of the Hebrew language forbids this hypothesis. If we follow it, the words rm> Tjxbn^ must be rendered " an Angel of Jehovah," indefinitely ; but, as every Hebrew IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 99 scholar is aware, such rendering would be false, i-ect. n. for it is a rule of that language, that a substan- tive followed by a proper name in the genitive is definite. The proper rendering, therefore, is " the Angel of Jehovah," which fixes the appella- tion to one person or being. The same remark holds true of the interchangeable phrase, D'n'?M ?[«bQ ; for, though D'nb« be admitted to have been origin- ally merely an appellative, yet having by usage become a proper name, the rule belonging to such applies to it.* Thirdly, in several of the passages in question, the Angel of Jehovah is expressly called by the sacred historian himself, God and Jehovah, (comp. Gen. xvi. 13 ; xix. 24, &c.) This is a fact of which the hypothesis under examination offers no explanation. Assuming it to be sound, it might enable us to account for the Angel's calling himself or allowing others to call him by these titles, but it will not explain how the inspired writer came deliberately to say what was not true. An ambassador may be conceived of as personating his sovereign whilst acting on his behalf; but that a historian, in recounting the circumstance, should apply to the ambassador the name of the sovereign is utterly inconceiv- able. This could only introduce confusion into his narrative, and occasion unnecessary per- plexity to his readers. Still less can this be * Hengstenberg, Christologie , i. s. 232 ; Ewald's Heh. Gr. p. 323, Entj. Trans. h2 100 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY supposed ill the case of a sacred historian, who had not only to record facts, but to teach certain truths, one of which, the Unity of the Divine nature, might be materially endangered by such a mode of writing, supposing it did not form part of that doctrine to admit a plurality of persons in the one Godhead. ii. The other hypothesis by which it is pro- posed to account for this remarkable phraseology without calling in the aid of the Trinitarian doctrine, is, that the phrase ^^ Angel of Jehovah" is only a periphrasis for Jehovah himself. Ac- cording to this it is affirmed that the word ^^^a, rendered " Angel," instead of meaning the sent, means rather the sending ; and that the whole phrase "^T^.. i^'?'? signifies " the sending or appear- ance of Jehovah," the deo^avla. Such is the opinion of Sack, Rosenmiiller, De Wette, and others among the recent theologians of Ger- many. Besides the authority of their names, it must be confessed that the theory has much in its favour. It violates no idiomatic rule or usage of the language ; it gives to ']t:° a rendering which, according to Ewald, its grammatical form requires ; it accounts for the greater promi- nence given in the narratives to the identity between the Angel of Jehovah and Jehovah himself, than to the distinction between them ; and it will serve to explain well enough many of the passages in which the phrase in question is used. Still, that it is not the true theory in IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 101 explanation of this phrase, may, I think, be very ^^<^t. n. fairly affirmed on the following grounds : — First, supposing it proved (which it is not as yet) that the proper meaning of ^i^)^ in this phrase is sending, it would not follow thence that the Trinitarian] hypothesis is inadmissible. For, upon that hypothesis, there was in each of these appearances a Theophany, as well as upon the hypothesis now under notice. It was Jehovah who appeared in human form to the eye of man on either supposition ; so that it matters little to Trinitarians whether the phrase in question be rendered " the Messenger of Jehovah" or "the Appearance of Jehovah." The only difference between the two hypotheses is, that the one unites with the assertion of this Theophany the assertion of a distinction in the Divine nature, while the other repudiates this latter assertion ; but it affords us no aid in deter- mining between these, simply to affirm that the Maleach Jehovah was a manifestation of Jehovah. Secondly, while it is conceded that, in the passages where the Angel of Jehovah is intro- duced, more emphasis is laid upon the identity of this mysterious personage with God than upon any distinction between him as God revealed and God the invisible, a reason for this is found in the practical advantage resulting from such a course, in the case of persons so circumstanced as were those for whom the Old Testament was first written. The danger to which they were 102 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY LECT. n. exposed came from the side of polytheism; so that there was more need for continually keeping before them the truth, that, though there was in such appearances evident diversity, there was nevertheless real and essential Unity. Even upon the Trinitarian hypothesis, then, this fact can be accounted for, so that no advantage over it is thereby gained by its rival. Thirdly, thus far, both hypotheses stand upon equal ground. There is one fact, however, which furnishes a decisive criterion of their re- spective claims. That is, that whilst the intima- tions of identity between the Angel of Jehovah and Jehovah himself may be explained upon both, it is only upon that of Trinitarians that the no less express, though fewer, intimations of personal distinction can be accounted for. For this the hypothesis imder examination offers no explanation, and of this its advocates, generally, take no notice. As the fact, however, is undeni- ably there, nothing can be more unphilosophical than thus to leave it out of view, rather than renounce a favourite theory with which it does not accord. On the contrary, it ought rather to be hailed as supplying, — what every philo- sophical inquirer knows to be, in every depart- ment of knowledge, of the greatest value, — an instatitia criicis, or directive fact, pointing out which of two paths that seem to lie equally before us is the only one which conducts to truth. Viewing it in this light, we gladly accept IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 103 its guidance, and recognise in the narratives we lect. h. have heen considering a very striking intimation of that mysterious but glorious truth of which the clearer revelations of Christianity afford us a fuller and more dogmatical announcement. 5. In many passages of the Old Testament, Phrase.spirit the phrase "The Spirit of God " or "of Jehovah" examined.' occurs in conjunction with certain attributes, qualities, and acts, which lead to the conclusion, that by that phrase is designated a Divine person. Thus we are told that the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters, — the Spirit of the Lord inspired the prophets, and through them, by his Spirit, Jehovah of Hosts sent his words to men, — the good Spirit of God is given to in- struct,— the Holy Spirit is vexed by rebellion, — the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against the enemy — remains with the people of God — and in answer to prayer is not taken away from them. These and many similar passages would seem to conduct to the inference, that by this " Spirit of Jehovah " was intended, as by the phrase already examined, "Angel of Jehovah," a Divine person in some sense distinct from, and yet, in another sense, one with the invisible Jehovah. To avoid this conclusion, two hypothetical inter- pretations have been advanced. i. The one is, that the phrase is only a peri- phrasis for Jehovah, and that nothing more is implied in it, than if the word God alone had been used. On this I remark — 104 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY First, that this hypothesis is in itself gratui- tous and improbable. The phrase in question, by its very grammatical constitution, conveys to the mind the idea of something which Jehovah may be said to possess. We have analogous cases (grammatically, I mean) in such phrases as " the hand of Jehovah," " the eye of Jehovah/' &c., which, as every person perceives at once, convey the idea of something belonging to Jeho- vah. So with the phrase before us. An attri- bute of God it may express, but God himself it does not. The Spirit of God is His, not He. Secondly, though this interpretation, if admis- sible, would suit some of the passages in which the phrase in question is used, there are others by which it is plainly repudiated. Such are all those in which Jehovah and the Spirit are repre- sented as distinct, and the latter as being sent by the former. Unless we would render the lan- guage of such passages altogether meaningless, we must understand the Spirit of Jehovah as something distinguishable from Jehovah simply so designated. When, e. g. God is said to have testified against the Israelites by his Spirit in (or through) his prophets, (Nehem. ix. 30,) it would be as reasonable to argue, that the prophets of God mean himself, as that his Spirit means nothing more. ii. The other hypothesis is, that by the phrase, " Spirit of Jehovah," is intended some attribute of the Deity, such as power, wisdom, he. That 105 IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. LECT. II. such may be the meaning of the phrase has been . already conceded; but it needs only a slight glance at the passages in which it is used, to satisfy us that this interpretation will not suit all of them. What, for instance, could David mean, upon this hypothesis, by the following prayer : *' Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me," Ps. h. 11? This language evidently implies, that the Psalmist had God's holy Spirit ; consequently, upon this hypo- thesis, that he possessed a Divine attribute, — which is absurd. Again, in another passage, the prophet declares, respecting the Messiah, that " the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord," Isa. xi. 2. Now we have only to apply the interpretation under consideration to this passage, to make the lan- guage of the prophet that of absolute absurdity. Let us take any of the Divine attributes, — that oi pozver, for instance, — and how will the passage read ? " The power of God shall rest upon him, the power of God of wisdom and understanding, the power of God of counsel and might, i. e. power, the power of God of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Can any inteUigible idea be gathered from this confused jargon of words ? Or can we suppose for a moment that such was the style of men who wrote by inspiration of God? It is obvious that neither of these hypotheses 106 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY i-ECT. II. will suffice to explain the phenomena. Our only consistent course, therefore, is to set them aside, and adopt that which will, viz. that by the Spirit of Jehovah is intended that Divine sub- sistence, to whom a similar appellation is given in the New Testament, and who there appears as the equal of the Father and the Son, the third person in the undivided Trinity. On this hypothesis, all the passages in question admit of an easy and harmonious explanation ; so that, . even though we were unwilling to adopt it, no other course would seem to be open to us on the principles of sound inductive reasoning.* Intimations 6. Bcsidcs tlie passagcs already adduced as foiddiarlT- containing intimations of a plurality of persons Divineplu- ^^ ^^^ ^^^ Godliead, there are one or two others raiity. wliicli it is important to notice, chiefly because they seem to convey that intimation in con- nexion with an allusion to the threefold extent of that plurality, as more clearly revealed in the New Testament. I pass over such passages as Numb. vi. 22 — 27 and Isa. vi. 1 — 5, where the whole amount of evidence bearing upon this question resolves itself into this, that in the former the name of Jehovah, and in the latter the ascription to him of holiness, is thrice re- peated. On this I humbly apprehend no argu- ment of any kind can be built, in the face of the obvious fact, that the threefold repetition of a * See Dr. J. Pye Smith's Discourse on the Personality and Divinity of the Holy Spirit. Lond. 1831. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 107 word or phrase is a common biblical mode of lect. n. adding force and vehemence to an affirmation. Thus Jeremiah represents the Jews as saying, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we ;" and the same prophet himself commences one of his oracles with the exclamation, " O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord."* In fact, the number three appears to have been very gene- rally regarded as carrying with it the idea of complete7iess and magnitude ; of which we have illustrations, not only in the Greek and Latin classics, but also in the languages, traditions, and proverbs of many nations.f If any shall insist * Jer. vii. 4, xxii. 29. Comp. also Ezek. xxi. 32, and 2 Sam. xviii. 33. So also in the New Testament, the judg- ments of God upon his enemies are announced by an angel saying with a loud voice, " Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of earth," &c. Rev. viii. 13. ■f Compare such phrases and sayings as the following : — Felices ter et amplius quos, &c. — Hor, Carm. I. xiii. 17. Ter si resurgat murus . ... ter pereat, &c. — Carm. III. iii. 65. Illi ses triplex circa pectus erat, &c. — Carm. I. iii. 10. KuKwv TpiKvixia, the greatest of evils. — -^sch. Prom. V. 1051, (cf. Blomfield, Gloss, in loc. et in Agam. 237.) TjOtra- Xalvai Kopai. — Eurip. Hippol. 736. TpitTjidKapiQ a-otye Kaari- yvrjTOL. — Horn. Od. vi. 155. Ev Tpiaiv wpd'iadrjv k.t.X. Tpia ^E e'icr) fjuiarjcrev »} 4'^X^ i""*^' '^•t-^- — Sap. Sirac. xxv. 1,2; cf. xxvi. 5. By three things the world stands, the Law, Reli- gion, Beneficence. — Simon the Just. Have these three things always in mind, and thou shalt not sin ; viz. that above thee there is an eye which sees thee, — an ear which hears thee, — and a book in which all thy deeds and words are written. — Rihhi. In three things is a man known, in a cup, in a purse, and in wrath. — Auct. incert. Rahbin. &c. 108 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY ^^<^^- "• that, at the basis and origin of this wide-spread notion, there hes an obscure reminiscence of primitive tradition regarding the threefold per- fection of the Divine nature, I shall not certainly dispute the assertion ; at the same time, this will furnish no good reason for our considering any passage of Scripture in which the linguistic usage arising from this notion is exemplified as affording a direct allusion to the Trinity. The same objection, however, does not apply to such a passage as the following : *' In all their afflic- tions there was no affliction, but the Angel of his Presence saved them ; in his love and grace he redeemed them, and bare them, and carried them from the beginning. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit, so that he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them," Isa. Ixiii. 9, 10.* In this passage mention is made not only of Jehovah as such, * Of the iniatory clause of this passage various interpreta- tions have been given. Our common version, following the K'ri, (i"j, to him, for n"?, not,^ renders it " in all their affliction he was afflicted ;" and so Vitringa, De Dieu, and others. The source of the K'ri here, however, is in all probability the diffi- culty of the text ; at any rate, the latter, being the more diffi- cult reading, is to be preserved. It is also the reading of all the old versions and of the Targum. Cocceius proposed the rendering : In omni atigiistia eonim non oppvgnabat [quisquam illos], et angclus faciei ejus salvavit ipsos ; and explains it as meaning, that, no sooner did any one assail them, than the Angel saved them. This rendering of i— n"; is supported by 2 Kings XX. 4, and by the analogy of ^—bi, Isa. xl. 24. In following this rendering, I have preferred viewing is as a noun, for the sake of the antithesis to ms in the former member. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 109 but of the Angel of his Presence and his Holy lect. h. Spirit, phrases which we have already seen to designate Divine persons, and which are used in this passage with the same mingling of the ideas of identity and diversity between them and Jehovah which we have seen in other passages. Upon the strength of our previous observations, therefore, we are justified in adducing this as a remarkable intimation of the doctrine of the Trinity ; in which light it has been regarded by many very able scholars.* Another passage to the same effect occurs Isa. xlviii. 16 : '^ Approach unto me, hear this; from the beginning have I not spoken occultly ; from the time when it was I was there, and now the Lord hath sent me and his Spirit." The speaker here is the same who in ver. 12 calls himself "the First and the Last," and in ver. 13 claims to himself the work of creation.f The speaker, therefore, must be regarded as Divine. But in the verse before us, this divine being speaks of himself as distinct from the Lord God, and as sent by him. He describes himself also as the author of communications to men from the first, and declares that from the time when this which he was about to announce existed, (for I take * Among the rest by Michaelis, Bih. Heh. in loc. -{" The supposition that the speaker here is the prophet himself, is so harsh, and introduces such confusion into the passage, that nothing but the absolute impossibility of finding another interpretation could justify its adoption. 110 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY I'ECT. 11. n.s'T to be the subject of the fern, verb p'gi'n,) i e. as Michaelis and others explain it, when the Divine purpose conveyed in the following verses was formed, — in other words, from all eternity, — he was. Such a Being can be none other than the second person in the Trinity, the revealer of God to man, at once the equal and the messenger of the Father ; and so the passage has been viewed by the great body of interpreters ancient and modern. The only objection to this view, ac- cording to Doederlein, (^in loc.)* is, that in no other place is the Messiah said to have been sent by the Spirit ; but, on the contrary, that the Spirit is rather said to have been sent by him, as well as by the Father. But Doederlein himself admits in a previous part of his note that the word imii may be rendered as in the accusative here, et splrltum ejus, which wou.ld not only obviate his objection, but make the verse utter a still more decided testimony in favour of the doctrine of the Trinity, than it does in the authorized version. To tliis rendering, I believe, no objection can be offered, either from the genius of the language, or the usage of the pro- phet ; and, as Dr. Smith has justly observed, (Script. Test. i. 532,) it is the rendering which the position of the word at the close of the sen- tence properly and naturally requires. We have * Esaias ex recens. Textus Heb. ad fidem Codd. MSS. et Yerss. Antiqq. Latine vertit, &c., J. Ch. Doederlein. Ed. 3tia. Norimberc'. 1788. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Ill here^ then, a clear recognition of that personal lect. h. distinction in the one Godhead, which in the fuller revelations of the New Testament we are taught to express by the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Such is a brief outline of the evidence in conclusion. favour of the position, that, while the Unity of the Divine existence and nature was emphati- cally taught to the Jews in their Scriptures, this was combined with numerous intimations of the existence of a plurality in that Unity, compatible with it and inseparable from it. That such inti- mations are otherwise than obscure, when com- pared with those of the New Testament is not affirmed ; but this is admitting nothing more than that they were appropriate to that dispen- sation which enjoyed only "a shadow of good things to come." Be it observed, however, that as the doctrine of the Trinity appears to have been revealed with an especial — we might say exclusive — reference to the Person and Work of the Messiah, it is only after the intimations con- cerning him have been considered, that the full evidence in favour of this doctrine has been collected. As this yet remains to be done by us, in relation to the present inquiry, we must con- sequently suspend our final opinion until the full merits of the case are submitted to our scrutiny. The argument is cumulative, and it is only when it rises to its full height that we can estimate aright its weight and worth. 112 INTIMATIONS OF THE TRINITY. i-Et;T. II. In the meantime, it may be observed, that the SiejeTr^ conchision at which we have arrived is not a httle confirmed by the fact, that among the Jews the doctrine of a manifested Deity, distinct from and yet one with Jehovah, and even some traces of the doctrine of a Trinity, have been found to prevail from a very early period. The evidence of this is supplied by the statements of Philo respecting " the Logos," by the use of the phrase " the Word of Jehovah " by the Targumists, by the Rabbinical doctrines regarding the Metatron, and by certain statements in the Cabbalistic writings. The most natural way of accounting for the rise of such opinions among the Jews is by tracing them, as many of the Jewish writers themselves trace them, to those intimations in the Old Testament Scriptures which we have been considering in this lecture.* There may be some who shall be disposed to regard the reasonings contained, and the hypo- thesis advocated in the preceding pages, as fanciful and unsound. To such objectors I shall con- tent myself with replying in the words of Arch- bishop Whately, used with reference to another subject :f '' They cannot deny that the pheno- *' menu exist, and must have some cause ; and the *' fairest and most decisive objection to any pro- " posed solution is to offer a better." * Cf. Witsii Jud. ChrisL p. 301, ff. •f- Essays on some of the Peculiarities of the Christian Reli- gion, p. 34, Note. LECTURE III. INTERNAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. DOCTRINES RESPECTING THE DIVINE CHARACTER AND THE CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF MAN. JOB IX. 2. How should man be just with God? PART I. Whatever obscurity may be supposed to lect. m. attach to the Old Testament revelations of the *^°"i '^^^^ racter of God. nature of the Divine existence, it must be ad- mitted on every hand, that nothing of this is carried into their announcements of the moral character and attributes of the Almighty. Here, their language is precise and full ; and perhaps we may say, that even greater prominence is given to this department of Divine truth in them, than in the New Testament itself. The reason of this probably is, that as it is chiefly in connexion with the scheme of redemption that the moral character of Jehovah is displayed in the Bible, the more perfect development of that scheme by the incarnation and work of Christ, I 114 MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. LECT. Ill, rendered it less necessary for his apostles to teach by formal statement the true character of God, than it had been for those who taught before his advent. Be this, however, as it may, no one can read the books of the Old Testament with any degree of attention, without being struck with the force and fulness with which the moral character of God is there set before us. The substance of what is taught in both parts of the sacred volume upon this head may be comprised in the following propositions : God is Holy, that is. He loves and wills whatever is true, good, and right, and for ever abhors all that is false, unjust, or vile (Lev. xix. 2 ; Ps. xi. 7, xxii. 3 ; Isa. vi. 3 ; James i. 13 ; 1 Pet. i. 15 — 17 ; 1 John iii. 3, &c.) : — God is Just, that is, in all his intercourse with his intelligent crea- tures. He maintains an inflexible regard to the claims of that Law, under which he has placed them, and in which he has embodied a revelation of his own intrinsic perception of what is true, good, and right (Deut. xxxii. 4 ; Job xxxiv. 1 0 ; Ps. ix. 5, cxlv. 17; Isa. v. 16; Rom. vii. 12; 1 Pet. ii. 23 ; Rev. xvi. 5, &c.) :—God is Faith- ful and True, that is. He never changes his rule of moral procedure towards his creatures, nor departs from the declarations he has made re- specting the consequences of particular courses of conduct, which they may pursue (Isa. xl. 8 ; Ps. xxxiii. 4 ; Mai. iii. 6 ; Rom. iii. 3, 4, iv. 20, MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 115 21 ; 2 Cor. i. 18 ; 1 Thess. v. 24 ; 2 Tim. ii. 13; i-ect. m. James i. 17, &c.) : — God is Good, that is. He loves all his creatures, provides for their happi- ness, pities them in their degeneracy, and is propense to the exercise of mercy and grace towards them, (Ps. civ. 10 — 31 ; Exod. xxxiv. 6 ; Ps. ciii. cxlv. 9 ; Jer. xxxi. 20 ; Joel ii. 13 ; Matt. V. 45 ; Rom. ii. 4, v. 8, 9 ; 1 John iv. 8, &c.) The knowledge of these attributes of the Divine character, (which are properly termed Moral, to distinguish them from those which are simply Ontological or Physical, such as Eternal Self-Existence, Infinitude, Omniscience, Omni- potence, &c,) is of the last importance to man- kind. It is with respect to them alone, that man as an intelligent and moral being sustains any religious relation to God. Hence it is almost exclusively in their bearing upon the condition and prospects of man, that these Divine attri- butes are brought before our notice in the Bible, and it is only as God's character in this respect is understood, that we can entertain any hopes of comprehending upon what conditions a religio7i can exist for man towards him. Before proceed- ing, however, to this inquiry, it will be requisite to glance at what the Scriptures reveal regarding the state and character of man. On this head also we shall find a perfect harmony between the Jewish and Christian revelations. At the commencement of the Book of Genesis Mosaic ao- we have an account of the creation of man, — of Fair""^"" I 2 116 ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION I'ECT. HI. the state of moral excellence in which he was formed, — and of his fall from that state through the influence of a mahgnant tempter, described by Moses as " the serpent." From this account we gather, that man at his first formation was pronounced by his Maker " very good ;" and specifically, we are informed of that which con- ferred upon man his peculiar excellence in the sight of God, viz. his conformity in moral ten- dency and character to his Creator : he was made, we are told, ''in the image and after the likeness of God."* In this state he conti- nued for a season, — we know not how long, — when by the crafty insinuations of the tempter, he conceived hard thoughts of God, became proud, selfish, and impatient of that restraint under which God, for wise purposes, had placed him ; and ultimately took the overt step of directly contravening the solitary prohibition which had been imposed upon him. By this act, his former relation to God was entirely changed. No longer pure, holy, and obedient, he ceased to bear the image, or to enjoy the complacency of Jehovah. As a transgressor, he had become liable to all that was involved in the unmitigated and unqualified sentence, as a legal penalty, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The change which had thus passed over man affected both his moral charac- ter and legal condition. As regarded the former, * Gen. i. 26. AND FALL OF MAN. 117 he was depraved ; as regarded the latter, he was ^^<^'^- J"- guilty and condemned. At the time Adam fell he was without any consequen- I'l '^^^ of the children, so that all his descendants, bemg born Fan. after that event, were involved in whatever con- sequences might be attachable to them from it, either simply as his descendants, or from any other relation in which they might stand to him. One of these consequences, as we learn from a subsequent chapter, was their commencing their existence in a state of moral tendency different from that in which Adam commenced his, and akin to that into which he had fallen. Thus, in regard to Seth, the sacred historian is careful to inform us, that he was begotten by his father " in his own image and likeness ;" evidently contrasting this with " the image and likeness of God," in w^hich he had said in a verse imme- diately preceding that Adam himself had been created.* Adam thus became the parent of an ungodly race, each of which comes into the world, if not with a direct bias against God, cer- tainly without any the slightest predisposition to love or serve him, — and all of whom show the penal defect of their nature by a course of actual transgression of the Divine law. To the fact thus narrated by Moses, frequent allusions are made in other parts of Scripture,f * Gen. iii. 3 and 1. f The passages alluding to the fall of Adam have been care- fully collected and ingeniously commented upon by Bp. Sher- 118 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. ^Ecr. iir. and with the doctrine deducible from it, all the sacred writers accord. In support of this latter position, it would be easy to multiply passages from almost every book of the Old Testament. Let the following suffice : " What is man that he should be clean, and he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous ? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight : how much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity hke water ? — Shall mortal man be just before God ? shall a strong man be pure with his Maker ? — I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men ? — Behold, I was shapen in ini- quity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. — Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified. — Who can say I have made my heart clean ; I am pure from my sin ? — For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not. — Lo, this have I found, that God made man upright, but lock, in his Dissertation on the Sense of the Antients before Christ upon the Circumstances of the Fall, appended to his Discourses on the Use and Intent of Prophecy. See also Holden's Dissertation on the Fall of Man. 8vo. 1823. In regard to several of the passages which Sherlock has adduced, I must profess myself unable to perceive their applicability, or to assent to the conclusiveness of the reasonings by which he endeavours to vindicate the use lie has made of them. At the same time, I venture to affirm, that by every impartial reader it will be allowed that he has, upon the whole, fully succeeded in proving, in so far as respects the Old Testament writers, the truth of the assertion above announced. CONSEQUENCES OF TIIE FALL. 119 they have sought out many inventions."* In these lect. m. passages, the entire ungodhnessof the human race, in heart and in hfe, is very clearly announced ; so that this may be fairly assumed as one of the doctrines of Old Testament theology. In the New Testament the same truth is pro- Doctrine of minently brought forward. Not only are the tament on facts of the Mosaic narrative assumed as literally true, and made, in that respect, the bases of certain reasonings, — as e.g. Rom. v. 12 — 19; 1 Cor. xi. 8, 9 ; 2 Cor. xi. 3 ; 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12, &c. — not only are we told, that " by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," even though they may "not have sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression ;" but we are also, as it appears to me, clearly taught that we suffer these consequences of Adam's apostasy, not merely because we are his descendants, but because during his probation in the garden of Eden he sustained a representative character, and acted not only for himself but for his race. There are two passages in the writings of Paul in which this appears to be set forth. The one is Rom. v. 12 — 21. In this passage the Apostle is drawing a parallel between Adam and Christ, and contrasting the consequences which flowed to mankind respectively from the obedience of the latter and the disobedience of the • Job XV. 14, 15, iv. 17, vii. 20 ; Ps. li. 5, cxliii. 2 ; Prov. XX. 9 ; Eccles. vii. 20, 29. 120 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. LECT. Ill, former. He concludes the whole by the decla- ration, that " as by one man's disobedience many (oi TToWoL, the mass,) were made sinners, so by the righteousness of one shall many (ol ttoXKol) be made righteous." Now this language would seem indubitably to mean, that on the one hand, the many were made sinners, and on the other, the many were made righteous, in the same sort of way. In what way, then, does the Apostle teach us that believers are made right- eous through Christ ? Is it not by having his righteousness imputed to them, so that on the ground of what he hath done they are treated by Jehovah as if they had never sinned ? If, then, it be by the imputation to us of Christ's righteousness that we are constituted righteous, it will follow from the Apostle's reasoning, that it is by the imputation to us of Adam's sin that we have been constituted sinners ; in other words, that as in consequence of the propitiatory obedience of Christ we come into circumstances of glory, honour, and felicity, without any merit of our own ; so, in consequence of the sin of Adam we have come, without any demerit of our own, into circumstances of pain, infirmity, depravity, and death. In both cases we have come into the circumstances mentioned, through the act of another who appeared as our repre- sentative; the only difference, as it appears to me, is that the one representative occupied the place of a Probationer, the other that of a Pro- CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 121 pitiator, — a difference arising solely out of the ^^<^'^- "^- different circumstances under which each ap- peared. The other passage is 1 Cor. xv. 45 — 47. In this passage the Apostle styles Adam and Christ the first and second man. Now, by this it cannot be meant that Christ was second to Adam, either in order of time or of dignity, as all will admit. The only meaning, therefore, which we can attach to these appellations is, that Adam and Christ sustained a peculiar character, by which they were distinguished from all other participants of human nature, and in relation to which, and the order in which they appeared as sustaining it, they are appropriately characterised as the first and second man. But we know from the whole tenor of the Apostle's doctrine, that the office sustained by Christ was that of public head and representative of his people, on whose behalf he acted, and for whom he procured the blessings of eternal life. It follows, then, that as Adam sustained, to those with whom he stood related, a character analogous to that which Christ sustained to those for whom he appeared, he must be regarded as the public head and representative, no less than the natural root of all mankind. Such appears to be the doctrine of the New Testament upon this deeply interesting subject, — a doctrine which not only fully accords with the Mosaic narrative, but invests it with aug- mented interest, by throwing around it a fuller 122 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. i-^cT. in. light. We now see with what awful responsibili- ties our first parent was intrusted, and how firm and lofty was that moral barrier which his Maker had gi'aciously placed between him and the com- mission of transgression. On obedience to that ■ one restriction, under which his freedom of action was laid, depended not only his own' fate, but the interests and happiness of unnumbered millions of his posterity. So long as he abstained from eating the forbidden fruit, so long had he a right to the tree of life, — the emblem and pledge of his own immortality ; and had he continued long enough in a state of obedience to have seen a child born in sinlessness, it may be assumed as probable, from the nature of that constitution under which he was placed, that the test would have been withdrawn, the probation closed, and the race confirmed in holiness, obe- dience, and joy. Be this, however, as it may, Adam, we may safely rest assured, was not ignorant of the position in which he stood with relation to his posterity ; for it would seem in- consistent to speak of him as the representative and public head of the race, and yet deny him any knowledge of the responsibilities under which he rested. But all these impressive restraints proved unavailing. Before the craft and subtilty of the Tempter, they were snapped asunder, as reeds before the tempest. Left to the guidance of his own will, Adam, by one act of folly, ingratitude, and sin, sealed the fate. CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 123 not only of himself, but also of that race of lect. m. which he was the head. A sinner himself, he became the progenitor of a sinful family, who soon filled the earth with violence, and made it corrupt before God. Man, no longer invested with the Divine image, or in the enjoyment of the Divine complacency, "became vain in his imagination, and his foolish heart was darkened," so that he fell under the slavery of passion, placed himself in an attitude of hostihty against God, " changed the truth of God into a he, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator." So wide-spread, so absolutely uni- versal was this degeneracy, that when He who had pronounced over man, at his creation, the sentence " very good," " looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God," the result of the Omniscient scrutiny was, "they are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no, not one."* It is alike fruitless to investigate the reasons These fact of that peculiar economy under which Adam i„to the dj- was placed, and to regret the unfortunate result re"gntr^ of his probation. The appointment of the one, and the permission of the other, are alike resolv- able into the sovereign will of God, acting upon the highest reasons, and for the most benevolent ends. An initiatory period of probation seems to be that which God is pleased to appoint for * Ps. xiv. 2, 3. 124 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. ^^'^T. Ill, all his intelligent creatures. As far as we can gather from Scripture, it is probable that in this state the angels were at first placed, — a period having been allowed them, during which their fidelity was subjected to trial, and upon their conduct during which, their future destiny was suspended. The result with them was, that when evil (whence derived, how originated, we cannot tell, as on this head Scripture throws not the least light,) assailed them, some fell and were driven from their celestial habitation, to be reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day ; while others, — and they a vast and glorious host, — retained their stedfastness, and have been con- firmed in holiness and purity for ever. This probation so far differed from that under which Adam was placed, that while he appeared for others as well as himself, each angel acted for himself alone, and received in his own person exclusively the consequences of his conduct. This difference is apparently connected with one in the physical constitution of these two orders of beings ; viz. that whereas the human race is gradually extended by propagation, each angel is physically independent of every other, and the number of these exalted beings is made up, not by propagation, but by immediate creation. Beyond this, however, we can assign no reason for the difference in the course of the Divine procedure towards them^ any more than we can CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 125 account for that procedure at all. It is enough lect. m. for us to know, that so it seemed good unto Him *^'who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." Of his mighty plan, both the appoint- ment of a probation and the permission of its anticipated result, formed a part. On that result, as relates to man, it becomes us to look with mingled feelings of humility, resignation, and hope. To rejoice in it, as some would have us, were unnatural and unseemly ; to mourn over it, as absolutely, and in all its consequences, deplor- able, were to doubt the power and the benevo- lence of Him whose attribute it is to bring good out of evil, and who will doubtless make this sad event the means of adding immeasurably to the ultimate felicity of the moral universe. Privi- leged with a revelation of his will, of this, at least, we are assured, that it has already given occasion for a display of the Divine character and perfections, the most wonderful, perhaps, and glorious, which his intelligent creatures have any where, or at any time beheld, in the plan which he has set in operation for restoring his fallen creatures to the enjoyment of his favour and likeness. From the development and opera- tion of this scheme, an amount of intelligence and joy has been already communicated even to the most exalted of God's creatures, which no human mind can adequately estimate, and which, destined to receive continual accessions as the wonders of Divine grace are successively 126 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. i^^cT. Ill, unfolded, shall fill the eternity of their being, and form the occasion of their loftiest praise. Penalty at- Bcforc procccdlng to consider particularly the transgres- doctrinc of ScHpturc, respecting this remedial *'°"' provision, it will be necessary to consider for a little the penalty to which man is exposed, in consequence of sin, and from which it is the design of the provided remedy to save him. not temporal Wlicu God first laid upon man the prohibition but spiritual n ^ n • o ^ />i death. to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, he coupled with it, as has been already observed, the threatening, "for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."* The penalty, then, of transgression was death, and this penalty Adam incurred, and doubtless received on the occasion of his breaking the Divine law. By this term in the primal threatening, many under- stand nothing more than temporal dissolution, or that which in ordinary language is denomi- nated death ; but that this is an interpretation which comes short of the meaning of the warn- ing is, I think, rendered probable by the follow- ing considerations. In the jirst place, the term death is frequently used in Scripture to denote a state of estrangement from God, and subjugation to his displeasure. " In his favour," we are told, "is life;'* and Wisdom says, "Whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. ... all they that hate me, love death" Moses set before the Israelites life and death, * Gen. ii. 17. CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 127 which he explains to mean blessing and cursing.* lect. m. And in the New Testament no mode of phraseo- logy is more famihar than that which represents the enjoyment of the Divine favour as a state of life, and the absence of that as a state of death.f We may regard this, therefore, as an accredited biblical usage of the term. Secondly, where the term is used in so unqualified a manner as it is in the case before us, it seems fair to understand it in its most unqualified sense. Death here, then, would mean the absence or destruction of all the life that Adam had. But was the union of soul and body the only life he possessed ? Did he not besides this enjoy that higher life, which consisted in the moral union of the soul with God? On what ground, then^ shall we exclude this from the number of the blessings, with the loss of which Adam was threatened in case of disobedience ? Thirdly, in order to esti- mate aright the import of this threatening, we must bear in mind that at the time it was uttered Adam was a pure and holy being, enjoying the Divine favour, and finding in that enjoyment his richest treasure, — emphatically, his life. Now, to such a being, the most appalling form in which the punishment of sin could present itself would be the loss of that favour, as consequent * Ps. XXX. 5 ; Prov. viii. 35, 36 ; Deut. xxx. 15. Comp. also Prov. xii. 28, xiv. 27 ; Jer. xxi. 8, &c. ■f See, e.ff. John iii. 36, v. 40 ; Rom. v. 17, viii. 6 ; 1 Pet. iii. 7, &c. 128 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. LECT. Ill, upon his transgression. No conceivable amount of temporal suffering, not even annihilation itself would, to such a being, convey aught so terrific as the simple idea of the Divine displeasure. To this, doubtless, Adam's mind turned when the threatening was uttered, as that which he cer- tainly should incur by sinning, and which would be to him the most awful penalty he could endure. Whether at such a moment he would so much as think of temporal death at all, may be fairly doubted ; but if such a thought did present itself, we may well believe that it ap- peared only to be instantaneously dismissed, as of too insignificant a character to mingle with the more solemn and appalling images, which the thought of the Divine displeasure would excite. Fourthly, if death in the original threat- ening mean temporal death, it appears unac- countable that Adam, after his transgression, should have continued in existence upon earth. No language could more forcibly convey the idea of instantaneous sequence between the com- mission of the crime and the endurance of the penalty than that employed in the primal threat- ening. "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" were the words of God, — words which certainly convey to the mind the idea that instant death (whatever that might mean) would be the consequence of man's violating the Divine prohibition. But Adam did not die, in the ordinary sense of that term, at the time of CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 129 his eating the forhidden fruit, nor for centuries I'Ect. m. afterwards, — a fact which can be reconciled with the threatening only by giving the word "death" as therein used a spiritual meaning. We thus exclude from it the idea of temporal dissolution entirely, as forming directly and primarily any part of the threatened penalty. It may, perhaps, occur to some as an objec- The fact that , . - Adam incur- tion to this view of the subject, that m the red death no interview which took place between God and this view. our first parents after their fall, distinct reference is made to temporal death, as forming part of that which they had incurred by their sin. " In the sweat of thy face," said God to Adam, "shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground : for out of it wast thou taken ; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."* That these words refer to temporal death there can be no question ; but it only requires, I think, a little reflection to satisfy us that this, instead of weak- ening, rather confirms the interpretation above given of the original penalty denounced against sin. For, first, if that penalty consisted solely in the death of the body, the fact that it had been already incurred, rendered it, to say the least, unnecessary to tell Adam thus solemnly that he must die. Secondly, if we look at the connexion in which this announcement of Adam's corporal mortality stands, we shall find that it follows close upon an assurance of deliverance * (ren. iii. 19. K 1 30 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. LECT. Ill, from the penal consequences of his sin, by means of the Seed of the woman. Now, if tem- poral death formed any part of these conse- quences, still more, if it formed the whole of these consequences, upon what principle can we account for the obvious inconsistency of first announcing deliverance from these consequences, and then declaring that part or the whole of them must be still endured ? This, as it appears to me, is to make the God of grace and truth say and unsay the same thing at the same time. But, thirdly, are not all the sufferings to which allusion is made by God, in his solemn interview with his fallen creatures, to be regarded rather in the light of outward and sensible mementoes of their fallen condition, than as forming part of the penalty originally denounced against trans- gression ? — With regard to the degradation in- flicted upon the reptile serpent, every one must, I think, admit, that it was not intended as a punishment upon the irrational brute, — to which, indeed, it was no punislime?it in any proper sense of that word, — but as an outward and impressive indication to Adam and Eve, of the spiritual degradation to which their tempter would be reduced by the curse of God. The mind repu- diates with instant abhorrence the very idea of God's making a mere brute the object of his indig- nation ; nor can we form a satisfactory conception of any end to be answered by the change which apparently took place on the form and habits CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 131 of the serpent, save that thereby was betokened lect. m. to our first parents the utter prostration and degradation of their gigantic destroyer, .by the might of the woman's Seed. But, if Adam and Eve needed something to remind them of the coming degradation of Satan, did they not stand in equal need of something to remind them of their own fallen state ? And what more likely to serve this purpose than the change which immediately took place, after this interview, on their outward condition ? By that change, their spiritual state was not necessarily affected ; but it continually reminded them of the melancholy change which that state had undergone. Had Eden continued to bloom around them as before, and yield its spontaneous fruits ; had no pain, or toil, or sorrow embittered their daily cup of pleasure ; had no prospect of a departure mto the world of spirits cast its anticipative shadow over their lives, they might have very soon for- gotten that they were at enmity with God, and, amidst the calm of their immortality of sin, lost all desire for the advent of the promised Deliverer. But, in mercy to man, he was not so left. By the toil and suffering he was called to endure, — by the painful consciousness which every day's experience awakened, that his sin had cursed the very soil on which he trod, — and by the prospect that erelong he, like the animals around him, must yield up his spirit to God, and mingle in his body with his kindred dust ; he K 2 132 CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. I'ECT. Ill, was surrounded with continual memorials of his fallen estate, and urged by the most impressive motives to avail himself of that gracious provi- sion which had been made for his recovery. From these considerations it is to my own mind clear that temporal death formed no part of the original penalty denounced by God against sin, but is rather, with its concomitant evils, to be viewed as part of a new arrange- ment of circumstances necessitated by the altered moral condition of man as an inhabitant of this world. The original penalty was death in the spiritual acceptation of the word — the death of the soul — the alienation of the heart from God, the loss of his favour, the perpetual endurance of his frown. This Adam incurred ; and this, without any qualification or prospect of mitigation, he must have endured during the entire period of his conscious existence, but for that gracious plan of deliverance which God had devised, and which he announced to him on the occasion of their first interview after the fall. The penalty Thc penalty thus denounced against sin has, denounced . i i i • i against sin 01 coursc, bccu mcurrcd by the entire human aumen. family, as all under sin. In connexion with this, the Bible teaches us specifically that our conscious existence does not terminate at death, but that, whilst the body decays, the soul con- tinues to enjoy the full possession of all its peculiar faculties in a separate state, — that in due season the body shall be again raised from CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 133 the dust and reunited to the soul, — and that lect. m. then the individual, after undergoing a trial at the bar of the Supreme Judge, shall be sent into the state in which he is to continue through eternity. That these truths are clearly taught in the New Testament it would be superfluous at present to point out ; but as the same clearness of statement does not appear in the books of the Old Testament, and as many have gone the length of denying to those whose history the Old Testament records, the knowledge of any future state of being, it may be necessary to offer a few remarks, for the purpose of showing that in this respect also there is a perfect har- mony between both parts of the sacred volume. i. The doctrine of a future state of existence The doctrine and of rewards and punishments, we know to have been very generally held among the Jews in the \ days of our Lord, and during a long period pre ceding. The evidence of this is to be gathered from the statements of the evangelists, the contro- versies of our Lord with the learned men of his nation, and certain of those apocryphal writings, which, however deficient in other claims on our respect, are at least of service in showing to us what were the religious sentiments of the Jews at the time they were written.* Admitting, then, as * Comp. Matt. xxii. 23, 34, and the parallel passages in Mark and Luke ; John v. 39, vi. 68, xi. 24; Acts xxiii. 6—9, xxiv. 14, 15 ; 2 Mace. vii. 9, 14, 23, xii. 43, 44, xiv. 45 ; Wisdom ill. 1 — 4. We may also add the testimony of the of a future state known to the Jews in the time of Christ. 134 DOCTUINE OF A FUTURE STATE i-ECT. Ill, on all hands it seems to be admitted, that at the period referred to the doctrines of a future life were not only known but tenaciously defended by a large portion of the Jewish people, the question naturally arises. Whence is it most likely that this knowledge was obtained by them? If to this it be answered, that they borrowed it from the surrounding nations, the answer cannot be held as satisfactory ; for in the first place, it yet remains to be proved that the sur- rounding nations were in circumstances to lend this doctrine to the Jews, supposing the latter to have required to borrow it ; and, secondly, such an answer assumes, what it would be monstrous to concede, that a nation possessing a Divine revelation had to acquire the know- ledge of one of the most important facts of religion from nations which were sunk in hea- thenism and idolatry. If, again, it be said that the Jews obtained this knowledge as the result of their own reflections upon those numerous considerations which render it probable that man Targumists here ; thus Onkelos on Lev, xviii. 5, "Ye shall keep my statutes and commandments, which he who doth shall live through them in life eternal ;" Anon, on Ps. xxi. 5, " Life eternal he sought from thee ; thou hast given him length of days for ever and ever." The testimony of Jose- phus, though not full, is satisfactory as respects the state of opinion in his day. See Contr. Apion. II. 30 ; De Bell. Jud. III. viii. 5, &c. In latter times the doctrine of immortality is one to which the Jews tenaciously cling. A cemetery they beautifully call, "The house of the living." Buxtorf. Syn. Jud. c. Sf). IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 135 is immortal, and destined to enter upon a state lect. m. of enjoyment or misery when this probationary scene is ended, — the difficulty will be immediately suggested. How came these Jews, who do not appear in general remarkable for comprehension and continuity of reasoning, to attain to a far firmer and more intelligent apprehension of this fact, than was enjoyed by the most refined, profound, and serioiis inquirers of Greece and Rome ?* If we reflect for a moment upon the nature of those processes, by which the mind arrives at conviction of the truth of positions which rest upon a cumulation of probable proofs, we cannot fail to see how much more adapted to such processes were the minds of the western philosophers, trained as they were in all the niceties of a severe dialectic, than those of men whose reasoning was usually loose and analogi- cal, and who taught rather by apophthegm and parable, than by argument and inference. How, then, it may be fairly asked, supposing these two classes of inquirers to have started upon * " Qua de re," says Lactantius, speaking of the immor- tality of the soul, " ingens inter philosophos disceptatio est : " nee quicquam tamen explicare, aut probare, potuerunt ii qui " verum de anima sentiebant ; expertes enim hujus divinae " eruditionis, nee argumenta vera, quibus vincerent, attulerunt, " nee testimonia quibus probarent." — Div. Just. iii. 13. The reader will find this point copiously and learnedly discussed in Lancaster's Harmony of the Law and Gospel with regard to the Doctrine of a Future State, p. 76, ff. ; and in Knapp's Scrii)ta farii Argumenti, Comment, iii. 1 36 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE LECT. Ill, equal terms, can it be accounted for that the latter should have so decidedly outstripped the former, in a department of research for which the one was so incompetent, and in which the other was so profoundly versed ? This fact may surely be allowed to beget, at least, the suspicion that the terms on which they started were not equal, but that whilst the philosophers of Greece and Rome were left to their own unaided efforts in this inquiry, the teachers of Israel enjoyed the benefit of a revelation more or less explicit, which, even if we should not find it embodied in their sacred books, we may well conceive would be embalmed in the traditions which were most religiously preserved among them. Affirmation ii. Wc arc lu posscssiou of an explicit affirma- Testament, tiou ou tlic part of ouc of the inspired authors patrilrlhs of the New Testament, to the effect that the J^,J^jg^ggpj patriarchs enjoyed full information respecting a a future state, ^^^^q of happy cxisteucc for the pious after death. I allude to the words of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who after enume- rating the names and some remarkable facts in the history of Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, adds : " All these died in faith, not having received the blessings promised, but having seen them afar off, and embraced them, and acknow- ledged that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who speak thus show that they are seeking [theirj native country. If, indeed, they had remembered that country IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 137 whence they had departed, they would have had J^^^t. m. opportunity to return ; but now they desire a better, that is, an heavenly ; wherefore, God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."* This pas- sage must, by every believer in the inspiration of this epistle, be held decisive as to the fact that, by the worthies enumerated, the knowledge of a future state of fehcity was possessed and enjoyed. But can we conceive that these persons would keep that knowledge to themselves ? that they would not teach it to their children and pro- claim it to their neighbours, supposing the latter ignorant of it ? This were to attribute to them a degree of selfishness which it is impossible to reconcile with their well-known characters. It were also to go in direct opposition to the testi- mony of Jude (ver. 14, 15) respecting one of them, Enoch, of whom we are told that he pro- phesied or proclaimed to the men of his day, the fact of a future judgment, and a separate award to the righteous and the wicked. Here, then, is an authentic source to which, even in the absence of all other evidence upon the subject, we may confidently trace the knowledge of the Jews respecting " the last things." iii. In the same chapter of the Epistle to the Abraham xTi i-ir»l • n 1 'issured of Hebrews, at the lyth verse, we are miormed the resurrec- that Abraham believed in the power of God to preservation raise his son Isaac from the dead, having received ° '^'^ * Heb. xi. 13 — 1(5. 138 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE ^^^^- '"• him thence h irapa^okrj. It matters Httle, com- paratively, for our present purpose, how we render and explain the latter part of this verse ; for whether we take it to mean that Abraham had a typical representation of the resurrection of Isaac, or that the recovery of the latter from apparent death was typical to Abraham of the resurrection generally, or that his preservation was as much as if he had been raised from the dead, or that his birth from those who were apparently for the purposes of procreation dead, was a pledge that God could give him life again, or simply that his salvation from death was very unexpected, — whichever of these interpretations we adopt, we shall still be brought to the same conclusion, as regards the purpose for which the passage is at present cited, — viz. that in that transaction Abraham had an occurrence which strengthened his faith in the power of God to raise the dead. We are justified from this, in inferring that Abraham and (by implication) his family and descendants were so far acquainted with the doctrine of a return to life after death, that they had conceived of such a thing, and were satisfied that God could accomplish it. Some of the above interpretations would justify us in going farther than this, and asserting that the salvation of Isaac was designed to illustrate and typify the resurrection ; but as the correct- ness of these interpretations is disputed, it seems better not to venture upon such an assertion. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 139 lest by aiming at too much we endanger that lect. m. which we already possess.* PART II. Hitherto, upon this subject, we have been Evidence reasoning from the statements of the New Tes- TesTamlm tament, to the opinions of parties whose history IJe u'now- belongs to the records of the Old ; it is now I-^t^'/gt^tg time that we should turn to these records, and "^ ^"'"sjas ^ possessed inquire whether in them any discernible traces ^'^^°"' ^''"''• are to be found of this faith, which the apostles impute to these parties. I accordingly remark : iv. That certain facts are recorded, which must have had a powerftil effect in establishing this faith in the minds of those by whom they were known. I say in estahUshing, for it is obvious that as they could not (in all proba- bility) originate the belief, so it is not necessary to suppose that they were required for this pur- pose. The testimony of Adam, who neither could be ignorant of these matters, nor would conceal them from others, is a sufficient source to which to trace the belief for its origin. All that was required after this was something to confirm and establish his posterity in the opinion ; and to this, the facts referred to appear to have been conducive. Such, for instance, was the Translation of Enoch. translation of Enoch, who, after a life of holy =1= s ee Appendix ; Note F. 140 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE i-ECT. Ill, fellowship with God, and pious zeal for the best interests of man, was suddenly, and in the very flower of his days, removed from this world, without having experienced death ; ^^he was not," says Moses, ^'for God took him." So sudden and mysterious a departure of one whose character and activity must have made him well known to the whole human community, at that time, could not fail to excite feelings of deep interest. His preeminent piety would forbid the thought that his early and sudden removal from earth was the result of the Divine displeasure; and yet if death was the termination of exist- ence, to what conclusion could the antediluvians come, but that the only reward of pleasing God was to be cut off before the half of the usual term of life was spent ?* But to them reflecting upon this matter it would doubtless occur, that he, by whose sudden removal they had been thus surprised, had often lifted up his voice among them in solemn warnings of a coming judgment and an awful futurity, and had mingled with these, as of necessity he must, a clear announce- ment of the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body ; and from this it would instantaneously be suggested, that the myste- rious close of his intercourse with them received its best explanation from the doctrines which he had preached among them. Unseen by human * This event is referred to by Jesus Siracides as a proof of the eminent piety of Enoch, Eccles. xliv. 16 and xlix. 14. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 141 eye, with silent and noiseless step, he had i-ect. m. crossed the mysterious frontier of that world of which he had been the prophet, — the first to carry the human frame beyond that sphere from whose dust it had been taken ; — and when men looked for their accustomed monitor, or tried to discover some traces of the manner of his departure, they looked and tried in vain ; the utmost they could say was, *" He is not, for God hath taken him." But if God took him, then would they infer that he was with God, dwelling in some higher, but not immaterial sphere, there to enjoy, without interruption, that intercourse with his Maker which he had sought on earth, and to await that coming of the Lord to judg- ment, with ten thousands of his saints, which he had so faithfully predicted. Occurrences like this are infinitely more potent in their effects upon the popular mind, than it is possible for any instructions in words to be ; and it cannot, therefore, be extravagant to assert, that from the translation of Enoch the truths of a future state of existence, of the materiality of heaven, and of the resurrection of the body, would be im- pressed upon the minds of his contempora- ries, and through them, upon those of their descendants, with a force which even the testi- mony of Adam himself could not reach. A case in many respects analogous to that of Rapture of Enoch was, in later times, the rapture of Elijah as recorded in 2 Kings ii. 1 — 12 ; but to this it 142 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE r.ECT. Ill Traces of belief in a future state among the Patriarchs and Jews. •_ is only necessary thus generally to refer, after the remarks which have been just made. Under this head also may be enumerated the apparition of Samuel to Saul, long after his death and burial, (1 Sam. xxviii. 7 — 20,) and those cases of the restoration to life of persons who were dead, which are recorded in the historical books of the Old Testament. Where a belief in the separate existence of the soul already existed, however faintly, such occurrences would tend considerably to strengthen it, as presenting what would be considered practical illustrations of its truth. V. There are distinct traces in the Old Testa- ment, of a firm belief, on the part of the patriarchs and Israelites, of the separate existence of the soul after death. In support of this, I would submit the following considerations : 1. Their doctrine of a Sheol or Hades involves this belief. Without waiting at present to inquire into the etymology or primary meaning of the word ^i^«?, let us look at the usages of this word by the sacred writers. From a comparison of these it appears, that by the Hebrews this was regarded as the appropriate designation of a place which was conceived of as of immense extent ; to which men went after death ; in which the shades or manes of the dead were congre- gated in a state of consciousness ; from which they were supposed capable of speaking; and where they were under the eye and control of IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 143 the Almighty. With whatever degree of obscurity i-^ct. m. such notions might be associated, it is obvious that they could not have been held by persons altogether ignorant of the separate existence of the soul. 2. The language in which the patriarchs and Their being gathered to Israelites were accustomed to speak oi death, their fathers, SiC. indicates clearly a notion in their minds, of a separate conscious existence after that event. They spoke of it as " a going to " their departed relatives, and as a ^^ being gathered to their fathers and to their people." That these expres- sions imply something more than that those of whom they are used were buried in the tomb of their family, (to which some writers have pro- posed to restrict them,) is proved by the fact, that they are used in cases in which no such interpretation is possible. Thus Jacob says, " I will go down into Sheol to my son mourning," (Gen. xxxvii. 35,) by which he could not mean that he would be buried with Joseph, for he believed that Joseph had been torn to pieces by wild beasts. So also of Abraham it is said, that he " gave up the ghost, and was gathered to his people," (Gen. xxv. 8,) which cannot mean that he was buried in the tomb of his ancestors, for their remains lay in a land far distant from that in which his were deposited. The same phraseo- logy is used of Moses when he died, though he was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, where none of his kindred was ever laid (Deut. 144 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE i^ECT. Ill, xxxiv. 6). To interpret this phraseology, then, of burial in the family tomb is absurd. What remains, but that we should recognise in such language an intimation of that happy assurance in which the Old Testament behevers died, — the assurance, that when they left the scenes and society of earth, it was not to sink into annihila- tion, but to emerge into a loftier state of being, where they should mingle their exalted spirits with the glorious and congenial host of their own people. 3. In the book of Ecclesiastes occur two pas- sages which very clearly intimate a belief in the separate existence of the soul after death. The former of these is found in ch. iii. ver. 21 : " Who knoweth the spirit of human beings (lit. of the sons of the man) which ascendeth ? it (belongs) to above ; and the spirit of the brute which de- scendeth ? it to below, to the earth." In the con- tents of this verse, the inspired writer is dis- coursing of death as a common event to both man and brute (ver. 19, 20), and lamenting the folly of those who live only for a present state, and perceive not that thereby they reduce them- selves to the level of the beasts (ver. 18). Such are ignorant of the immense difference between the human spirit and that of the lower animals ; so much so, that it may be asked. Who is there that knows it ? ^. e. that considers it, and believes it ? But, however such persons may treat this subject, the difference between the human soul IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 145 and that of the brutes is very great : the one ^^^"^- ''^- belongs to above, and after death goes upward, while the other is of the earth, and consequently goes downward, and is annihilated.* Such appears to be the meaning of this pas- ecci. xii. 7. sage, and it is fully supported by the other, from the same book, to which I have referred ; viz. ch. xii. 7 : — " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; but the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." The testimony of this verse to the separate existence of the human soul after death, is so explicit that it has been admitted on almost on all hands, even by critics whose general anxiety to depreciate the amount of religious knowledge possessed by the Hebrews would have led them to resort to any expedient for explain- ing away its force, had such been attainable. " You have here," says Doederlein, " an illustrious testimony that the immortality of the soul was a doctrine not unknown before Christ, which * Several of the older versions render this passage, " Who knoweth whether the spirit of mankind goeth up," &c., as if Solomon meant to intimate that nothing but uncertainty rested upon the future condition of the dead. So the Chald. LXX. Vulg. Syr. and Arab, of the Polyglott. But for such rendering there is no cause. The n before the participles here is not the interrogative sign, but the article with the force of a demonstrative. Comp. 2 Sam. xix. 6 ; Ps. ciii. 3, &c. I may farther observe, that the Hebrews often use the phrase " to know this and that," when they mean " to know or con- sider the difference between this or that." So Gen. iii. 5 is to be explained, I apprehend. In the same way, Plato uses jLViixTKu), Erast. p. 76 ( ed. Stutzniann), yiyrwaKEL tovq "^^p^cttov)^ Kiu {xo^Orjiiovc, " Discerns between the good and the bad/' L 146 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE ^E^T. Ill, sufficiently defends the pious author against those who, either from ignorance or audacity, allege that he believed the soul to return with the body to annihilation. He does not, indeed, expressly say whither the spirit goes, but only that it returns to God, as its judge, from whom, as its author, it came."* But it is not the creed of Solo- mon alone which this passage defends from the imputation of wanting the doctrine of the soul's immortality. From the manner in which the subject is introduced, the doctrine must have been one with which his readers were believed by him to be as familiar as himself. The doc- trine is announced, not as any new discovery which he had made, nor as a truth with which men generally were unacquainted, but as a mat- ter which was so obviously true, that it needed only to be announced to be admitted. It stands, in his announcement of it, upon the same footing with the decay of the body into dust — a fact which many amid the gaiety or cares of life might forget, but which no man in his senses would so much as think of disputing. We may, therefore, regard these passages from Ecclesiastes as conveying to us an intimation of what was the general belief of the Jews in the days of Solomon, respecting the continued exist- ence of the soul after death. f * Scholia in Libros Vet. Test. Poeticos, 4to. Halae, 1779, in loc. p. 187. 'j- See on both passages Wardlaw's Lectures on Ecclesiastes, IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 147 4. Whilst death was regarded by the patriarchs lfxt. m.* and Jews as in itself an event common to all, it ^J'^^^ ""^^ the same to was viewed as fraught with consequences of """ s<"«i and ^ ^ to the bad. momentous difference to the righteous and the wicked. In support of this, let me adduce the following passages in the order in which they occur in Scripture. Numb, xxiii. 1 0 : — " Let me die the death of the upright, and let my latter end be like his." These words plainly imply on the part of him by whom they were uttered, a conviction that it was extremely desirable to die the death of those whom God approved (p'i^r probus, \e\qui probatiir, comp. Deut. xii. 24). But as the /)////- sical circumstances of death are common to men of all classes, he must have seen that there was something in the moral consequences of death which made it so much more desirable to die the death of the good than that of the wicked ; and this evidently implies a belief in a future state of rewards and punishments. The utterance of such a sentiment by Balaam, shows at how early a period, and how universally, this belief was dis- seminated among men. Job vi. 8 — 10 : — J"^- "■ ^-'o- " O that my request might come. And that God would grant my expectation ; Even that it might please God to destroy me, That he would loose his hand and cut me off. Slill shall my solace abide, Lect. VI. pp. 165— 169, vol. i. and Lect. XXII. p. 292, ff. vol. ii. 1st edition. Holden's Attempt to illustrate the Book of EcclesJa^tes ; Prelim. Diss. § 4, and in loc. J. 2 148 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE And I shall exult in agony wliicli spares not, That I have not renounced the words of the Holy One."* Job, in this remarkable passage, wishes for death as a relief from the sore suffering by which he had been visited. He even goes the length of anticipating an increase to these sufferings as ne- cessary for the accomplishment of his wish ; but amid all, his consolation would be, that he had not denied, abjured, or renounced the words of the Holy One. Whatever meaning we attach to this latter declaration — ^whether we view it as intimating the speaker's attention to divine wor- ship, and obedience to the divine law, or his cordial reception of the divine revelation of mercy — it is obvious that it sets forth the ground on which alone Job saw that death would be a blessing to him, and resting on which, he was so * This tenth verse has occasioned considerable difficulty to interpreters, arising chiefly from the linal, Xeyofievoy, -f}^, and from the unconnected manner in which the words bian' x"? are introduced. The LXX and Vulg. concur in supporting the rendering of -ho above given in the text, as do also Schultens, Gesenius, Hitzig, &c. Rosenmiiller, following Kimchi, ren- ders it by ccstuem, which gives a sense not to be despised : " though I burn (waste away) with agony," &c. The ren- dering in the received version, " I would harden myself,'' is rejected by most critics as untenable on sound principles of lexi- cography. In regard to the other source of difficulty, I have followed Gesenius (in voc. Hd) and Lee, in understanding it as a relative clause, " which" being understood, and the antecedent being the " agony" of the preceding clause. Rosenmiiller and Hitzig suppose an ellipsis of t,^, which is less probable. The Syriac of the Polyglott renders the whole " et perficiam virtute sine mensura." IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, 149 assured of a happy futurity, that he was willing lf-ct. m. to undergo any extent of bodily agony which might be required to effect the anxiously ex- pected consummation. Such a state of mind it is not easy to reconcile with ignorance of a future state of blessedness for the true servants of God. Ch. xvm. 13, 14: — 13,14. " It shall devour the members of his body ; The first-born of death shall devour his members ; He shall be dragged from his tent, in which he trusted, And they shall bring him to the king of terrors." * This passage occurs as part of a description of the melancholy fate of the wicked. The por- * Verse 13. The subject of ■?:«' in both clauses of this verse seems to be the same, viz. nra iiDi, and the repetition of the verb, to denote the gradual progress of dissolution : " the first-born of death shall eat and eat," &c. The *' first- born of death" is a poetical expression for a very fatal disease ; just as among the Arabs the fever is called " the daughter of fate." The members of his body, lit. " the parts of his skin," — ver. 14. The subject of tlie verb here is obvi- ously the wicked person of whom Bildad is speaking, and inTDiD, which in the common version is made the subject, is in apposition with I'jrtNn : lit. " His tent, his confidence." And they shall briny. The verb here is used impersonally ; lit. " it shall be brought to him— he shall be brought." Gesenius and others, following the Vulg. would render this clause thus : " Terrors pursue or assail him like a king." But besides the somewhat unusual force thus given to the preposition \ this interpretation seems gratuitous and improbable. How is the meaning of pursue or assail got for the verb, which in Kal. signifies to advance, and in Hiphil to cause to advance, to bring ? And what particular analogy is there between the assault of fear and that of a king ? or how does the mention of the latter help to assist our conception of the former ? To most people tlie former is the better understood of the two. — In verse 15. 150 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE i-ECT. Ill, tion of it of most importance for our present object, is the concluding clause, which seems to intimate not only a knowledge of a future state, but also of the subjugation of the impenitent in that state to the power of Satan. I know not what other interpretation can be consistently put upon the words in question. A being to whom the wicked is to be brought after death, in spite of all his self-confidence and hope whilst alive, and to whom the appellation " king of terrors " may be appropriately apphed, can be no other, surely, than that mighty and malignant spirit under whose dominion, we are told, that all the finally impenitent shall suffer through eternity. Not a few of the German critics, accordingly, explain this of some oriental Pluto, who, they suppose, occupied some such place in the creed of Job as the fabulous deity of that name occu- pies in the mythology of the Greek and Roman classics* — an explanation which, while it shows Bildad goes on to describe the utter perishing from the earth of all memorials of the wicked : — *' There shall dwell in his tent strangers (lit. not his). Brimstone shall be poured on his habitation. Below, his roots shall be dried up, And above, his branch shall wither. His memory perisheth from the earth, ' And no name hath he in the streets." * " Fingitur regni mortuorum s. inferni rex, ut Pluto orci princeps, qui apud Virgilium Ai,nekl. vi. 106, Inferni Rex, et apud Ovidium JSIciam. v. 359, Tenehrosa sede Tyrannus dici- tur." Rosenmiillcri, Sch. in loc. Virgil, in his description of (he infernal regiony, uses im;igcry somewhat analogous to IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 151 their unhappy opposition to divine truth, at the lect. in. same time clearly evinces that they felt themselves constrained,, in interpreting this passage, to attri- bute to its author some knowledge, at least, of a future state of punishment, and of an awful tyrant under whom its wretched occupants were placed. Prov. xiv. 32 : " The wicked shall be driven Prov. xiv. 32. away in his wickedness ; but the righteous hath hope in his death." In this passage we have not only brought before us the marked difference be- tween the righteous and the wicked in regard to the circumstances of their departure from this world, but, in the language employed for this purpose, we are distinctly pointed forward to a future state, as the scene where the misery of the one and the felicity of the other will be con- summated. Whilst the wicked is driven away or destroyed by his wickedness (" mal'it'ia sua detru- ditur impius, i. e. perit, in perniciem ruit," Ge- senius in ^l), the righteous has hoj)e even while dying ; not merely that composure which springs from feeling that life has been well spent, but an expectation of future blessings still to be enjoyed. Had such a passage occurred in a heathen classic, no person would for a moment have scrupled to attribute to its author the knowledge of a future that of Job in this passage, when he represents the vestibule of Orcus, as occupied with — *' Griefs, vengeful cares, diseases pale, sad Age, Fear, ill-advising Hunger, and foul Want, Forms terrible to sec." — yE/?. vi. 273. ff. 152 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE ^^cf. Ill, state of rewards and punishments. Why should we be less ready to give Solomon, the wisest of men, the benefit of an equally candid in- ference ?* From these passages, selected from the older books of the Hebrew Scriptures, it must, I think, be admitted that information of a very decided character was possessed by the }:)atriarehs and their descendants respecting the very different aspect with which the event of death regarded the holy and the impious ; to the former of whom it was a change for the better, while to the latter it was a change for the worse. But such ideas and impressions being of necessity dependent upon the expectation of a future state, their occurrence in the Old Testament Scriptures must be held as evidence of the knowledge possessed from the earliest periods of such a state ; and this, coupled with the facts and statements already adduced respecting their views of Sheol, of the reunion of the pious after death with their own people, and of the ascent of the soul, after its separation from the body, to God, appears to me to afford no trifling support to the assertion, that distinct traces are to be found in the Old Testament of a belief on the part of the patriarchs and their successors, of the separate existence of the soul after death. intirnations y[ ThcTc SLYC scvcTal statcmeuts in the Old Tes- of the resur- lectioti ana tamcut, from which it may be justly inferred that * Conip. also ch. xi. 5 — 7- IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 153 the fact of a cor|)oral resurrection and of a future lect. m. judgment — a fact announced to the antedikivians {he'Sid"' " by Enoch — was not lost sight of or forgotten by ^"'^™^"'- those who lived under the Patriarchal and Levi- tical dispensations. In the book of Job — that invaluable record of Jo^"'!'^- 25—27. patriarchal opinions and manners — we have the following remarkable declaration, than which, perhaps, few passages of Scripture have more arrested the attention of interpreters, ch. xix. 25 — 27. In the form in which this interesting and remarkal)le passage appears in the conmion version, it is difficult to conceive what idea the latter part of it especially would convey to the mind of an intelligent reader, were he not to regard it as an expression of Job's faith and hope in the resurrection of the body. If, notwith- standing the destruction of his body, he expected in his flesh, and with his own eyes, to see his Redeemer- God stand upon the earth in the latter days ; what possible inference can be drawn from his words, but that he expected his decayed body to be restored and once more reunited to his soul ? The only question, therefore, now to be discussed, as respects the object for which the passage is at present quoted, is, what degree of correctness attaches to the rendering in the com- mon version. On this point, whilst there is considerable diversity of opinion as to the mean- ing of particular words and the force of particular constructions, there is a wonderful harmony as to 154 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE lECT. ni. the general sense which the passage, as a whole, bears, among almost all who are entitled to be placed in the first class of interpreters as Hebraists and as Exegetes. A comparison of the renderings of the Chaldee, Alexandrine, and Vulgate ver- sions, of Schultens, Rosenmiiller, Pareau, Smith, Michaelis, Hitzig, and Lee,* leads to the con- chision, that little beyond a few corrections is required to make our common version exactly correspond with the original. The following translation is offered as that to which a careful consideration of these versions, and such other helps as I have been able to command, has con- ducted : — But I, even I know that my Vindicator livetli, And He, tlie Last, shall abide by [my] dust ; Even after my skin [which] they shall devour, this [shall be] And out of my flesh shall T see God. Eecause I, even I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another, My reins are consumed in my bosom. -|- * See Appendix, Note G. -j- Ver. 25, the insertion of the ijx here and in ver. 27, is to give emphasis to the assertion : /, for my part, I, even J. — 7nj among the Hebrews denoted the avenger of blood (Numb. XXXV. 12); it properly signifies one who is related to an in- jured party, and seeks his vindication. It is applied by Job here to the Almighty, with an evident reference to ch. xvi. 19. • — >n is here the present tense from "n, and is construed with ■"■j^j as its subject. The omission of ■•D between the two verbs is not rare ; cf. ch. xxx. 23 ; Ps. ix. 17, &c. — pinx is a term applied to Jehovah, Is. xliv. G, and xlviii. 12, as expressive of his eternal existence. — Dip' iEi''"^i"- The preposition here has the force oinear, by, beside, which is its general meaning after IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 155 Presuming upon the accuracy of this version, lect. m. the testimony of the passage in favour of Job's behef in the reanimation of the body is incon- verbs of abiding, standing, &c. With this verb cip it usually has the force of against ; but instances occur in which this meaning must be exchanged for one similar to that given in the text, cf. Deut xxv. 6 ; 2 Sam. xii. 17 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 4. In Is. xxxii. 8, the phrase has the sense of abiding by or con- tinuing in. In Syr. and Arab, it is used to denote standing by and caring for one. Comp. "ji-nns, Dan. xii. 1. 1C5> is fre- quently used in this book to denote the dust with which the body mingles after death; cf ch. vii. 21 ; xvii. 16; xx. 11. &c. The omission of the possessive suffix is not unusual with Job. Ver. 2G. --iii- nnst, after my skin, i. e. after this wasting disease has finished its ravages, is;?! is used impersonally ; the relative -rejx is, according to a not unusual construction, omitted. There is an evident ellipsis after nxi, which Gesenius (in t]p:) and others have supplied as in the text. By some the former is referred to Job's body, and he is supposed to affirm that it is this very body of which he speaks. I greatly prefer the interpretation of Gesenius, which is also that of the Chaldaic Targum : " hoc sc. erit, eveniet, id nimirum quod prasceperet, ver. 25. Dei adventus."- — ■"icno. Some would render this " apart from my flesh," i. e. having laid aside his body; but it accords more with the proper force of the preposition to un- derstand Job as saying, " out of my flesh," i. e. encompassed by his body, he should see God. Ver. 27. -nnx I have ven- tured to translate because, and to make the clause which it introduces the protasis of the sentence. To render it by whom appears to me to violate the idiom, which in all such cases as this requires ■!©« to be followed by a personal pronoun. In Gen. XXX. 18 ; xxxi. 49 ; Jos. xxii. 31 ; Eccl. iv. 9, &c., we have instances which appear fully to justify the rendering I have given. The Targum gives it this rendering also. — n toi. et non alius (Vu1g.) So in Prov. xxvii. 2 : — " let another (-n) praise thee, &c." Some would render the adjective here iu the accus. as agreeing with ics ; but this is, of course, inadmis- sible in such an interpretation of -ni\^ as that a])ove given. 156 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE J^^cT. Ill, testable. He knew that though he might die, his Vindicator remained, and that he would stand by and watch over the dust of his servant. He was assured that, even after his body had been destroyed, he should enjoy the blessing he thus expected, and that, notwithstanding that destruc- tion, out of his flesh, with his corporal organs, he should see God. The certainty of this prospect consumed him with intense desire : like the Psalmist, his " soul fainted for the salvation of God." So firm and ecstatic was his confidence in the resurrection of the body. Nor is this the only passage in the book of Job in which the patriarch's expectation of resusci- tation after death is declared ; another, of a scarcely less remarkable kind, occurs in an earlier chapter : — Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, That thou wouldest conceal me till thy wrath be averted, That thou wouldest appoint me a fixed time and remember me. Though a man die, shall he not revive ? All the days of my appointed time will I wait Till my renovation come. Thou shalt call and I will answer thee, Thou shalt desire the work of thy hands.* Job xiv, 13—15. * Job xiv. 13 — 15. Ver. 14. There appears no necessity for rendering the first clause here as if the interrogative form was used to express a negation. The _^ is frequently em- ployed where it is the design of the writer rather strongly to affirm ; cf. ch. xx. 4 ; 1 Sam. ii. 27 ; Jer. xxxi. 20 ; Ezek. XX. 4. — Nia, from signifying an armt/, is used to denote not only a period of military service, but any definite -period of trial, anxiety, or suffering. Thus in Job vii. 1, it is used as parallel IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. In this passage we have the patriarch ira- ^'^^'^- ploring death ; but at the same time intimating that it is only for a season that he desires or expects to be in the separate state. He prays for a definite time to be fixed, at the close of which he might be remembered ; and by way of con- firming the expectation implied in this, he boldly asks, " Though a man die, shall he not revive ?" Supported by this assurance, he declares his readiness to remain in the disembodied state as long as the appointed interval shall last ; and concludes, by triumphantly uttering his assur- ance that God would call him from the sleep of the tomb, and thereby exhibit the regard which he entertained towards that body which was the work of his hands. Such I take to be, upon the whole, the most natural qnd consistent explana- tion of this remarkable passage. In the writings of David, we find many ex- 1" "le . Psalms pressions of confident expectation of the restora- tion of the soul from the separate state, and the resurrection of the body from the grave, such as might have been expected from the pen of one, who, when mourning the loss of his infant child, comforted himself with the assurance, that though the babe could not return to him, he should go to " the days of an hireling;" comp. Is. xl. 2, and Dan. x. 1. — \-iD^bn, my chavfje, i. e. " my discharge from my state of con- strained service, — my deliverance from the invisible world." Hitzig. How this was to be accomplished, Job declares in the following verse. 157 158 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE ^'^^'"- "^- to it. (2 Sam. xii. 23.) Thus addressing God in the person of the Messiah, he says, " Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol, neither wilt thou permit thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life : in thy presence is fulness of joy ; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." Ps. xvi. 10, 11. So also in Ps. xlix. 14, 15, in contrasting his own prospects and those of the righteous generally with those of the wicked, he says : — " Like sheep they (the wicked) are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God shall redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me." Here we have not only the Psalmist's own confident expectation that he should be delivered put of Sheol, and received by God, but also his assurance, that whatever superiority the wicked might sometimes obtain over the righteous here, their relative positions would be entirely changed at a period designated by him '^ the morning."* By many critics, this term has been supposed to denote the day of judg- ment, an opinion which they have supported on various grounds. Perhaps, however, we cannot safely go further than to regard the expression, as intimating generally the close of the period during which the body is to lie in the grave — the morning which is to succeed that night on which * Comp. Ps. xvii. 14, 15. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 159 the dead have entered, and which is to awaken lect. m. and arouse those who have been laid in the tomb. This, it is true, will be no other than the day of final doom ; but for the knowledge of this we are indebted rather to other passages of Scripture than to that before us. In the book of Ecclesiastes, there are two pas- in Eccie- sages which are worthy of being quoted under this head. ** Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth," says the Preacher, in the former of these (xi. 9), *' and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes ; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judg- ment." And, again (xii. 14), in closing the book he solemnly declares, as a reason for fearing God and keeping his commandments, that " God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." The language employed, especially in the latter of these passages, is such as to intimate very clearly that it is to " the judgment of the great day" that the Preacher refers. In the writings of the Prophets, passages occur m the pro- which are admitted by most interpreters to teach ^''*"" either directly or by implication the resurrection of the body, and a final state of felicity to the righteous, and misery to the wicked. In two passages. Is. xxvi. 19, and Ezekiel xxxvii. 1 — 14, the resuscitation of the kingdom of Israel is illustrated by a reference to the resurrection of 160 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE LECT. Ill, the body ; from which, as Bauer candidly ob- serves, "we may infer that the doctrine itself " from which the images are borrowed was known "to the authors of that period."* The most explicit and unequivocal declaration, however, is that of Daniel, ch. xii. 2 : — " And many (the multitude, or mass) of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlast- ing life, and some to shame and everlasting con- tempt." Critics are divided in opinion as to whether this passage refer to the final resurrec- tion, or to the great moral revolutions in the Jewish nation which should be consequent upon the appearance of the Messiah. Without enter- ing upon this question at present, I content my- self with remarking that whichever of these two opinions we adopt, the evidence will be alike clear in favour of the position that the doctrine of a resurrection from the grave was familiar to the Jews at the time this book was written. An attentive and impartial consideration of the evidence thus adduced, will, I am persuaded, induce the conviction, that knowledge of a * Dicta Classica Vet. Test. Pars IT. p. 69. The same argument is used by Pareau (Comment, de Immortalitatis No- titiis, &c. pp. 108, 9), and its force is admitted by Gesenius in his Notes on his Translation of Isaiah, thougli he insists that the doctrine was one of recent date among the Jews at the time this book was written. His assertions on this head are rebutted by Rosenmiiller (Scholia in Comp. red. in loc.J and by Henderson ( Translation of Isaiah, with a Commentary Critical, Philological, and Exegetical. Lond. 1840, in he.) IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 161 remarkably clear and impressive character, re- ^^c^. m. specting a futm'e state of existence and the events consequent upon death, was possessed by the Old Testament saints. What ought to strengthen this conviction is, that these evidences are ga- thered, not from books professing formally to set forth a system of religious truth, but from nar- ratives and poetical compositions expressive of the feelings, hopes, and convictions, of persons who may be fairly taken as characteristic speci- mens of the religious men of their day. From such sources we are to expect general intimations rather than formal and dogmatical statements of truth ; nor is it too much to affirm, that in point of evidence the former occupy in such composi- tions the same place which in an argumentative or doctrinal treatise is sustained by the latter.* It was not, then, to a mere temporal and inference transitory system of rewards and punishments ceding in as consequent upon human conduct, that the''''''^* * The reader who wishes to enter more fully into this subject, will find ample materials in the following works : — Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses. B. VI. — Whately's Essays on some of the Peculiarities of the Christian Religion. Ess. I. — Faber's Treatise on the Genius and Object of the Patriarchal, the Levitical, and the Christian Dispensations. Vol. II. pp. 11 — 194. — Lancaster's Harmony of the Law and the Gospel with regard to the Doctrine of a Future State. Oxford, 1825. — J. H. Pareau, Commentatio de Immortalilatis ac Vitce Futurce Notitiis ah antiquissimo Jobi Scrip tore in suos Usus adhibitis. Daventriae, 1807. — Lettres de quelques Juifs aM. de Voltaire, &c. Tome II. Lett. 4, Lyon, 1819. loth edit. M 162 DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE ^E^T. Ill, attention of mankind was directed by those Divine revelations which were enjoyed under the ancient dispensations. On the contrary, there does not appear to have been a time when they were not instructed to look beyond the present to a future and permanent state of existence, the character of which was to depend upon their conduct whilst on earth. But for this, their minds could not have acquiesced in those views of the Divine Being, as a just and equal governor, which they were taught to entertain. They had numerous instances then, as we have now, of the prosperity of the wicked and the sufferings of the righteous ; and but for their expectation of a state beyond this, where it should be made manifest that the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, this fact would not only have vexed their feelings, but perplexed and confounded their moral perceptions. On this head we have the express testimony of one of themselves. Dis- tressed by what he saw of the prosperity of the wicked and the sufferings of the righteous, his reflections upon the subject became too painful for liim, " until," says he, " I went into the sanc- tuary of God ; then understood I their end." By his going into the sanctuary of God, Asaph I apprehend here means his viewing the subject in connexion with the character of God as revealed to his true worshippers. By the consideration of this, he was led to see that all was consistent with truth and justice ; and to believe that, by the e7id IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 163 of the whole, the glory of God would be vin- ^^ct. m. dicated, and the arrangements of his Providence approved. It is not easy to see how he could have arrived at such a conclusion, had he been ignorant of that great event which is to close the history of our world, "Assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men." We are now in circumstances to understand Jjl^'^rernon the purport of the question contained in that "• ""^ '"' passage which stands at the commencement of this Lecture : — " How shall man be just with God?" That question, as asked by Job, and reiterated by many an anxious spirit by whom his book was perused under the former economy, meant in their lips the same as it would mean in ours. It indicates an awful conviction that man is guilty before God, in danger of everlasting punishment, and unable to clear or excuse him- self. At the same time, it seems to intimate on the part of the speaker a cleaving to the hope that some way may be discovered by which he shall be able to approach with acceptance unto God : else, why propose so solemnly the question ? Anxiety here evidently mingles with expectation, fear with hope ; and the words may well be taken as expressing the feelings of one who was too conscious of iniquity to have any trust in himself, but at the same time too confident of God's grace and wisdom altogether to despair. m2 164 WAY OF SALVATION R asons for hope. i-^'^T. HI. At first sight, indeed, and in the absence of marisasii- ^"7 Tcvelation from God upon the subject, the r^hforGod pi'oblem involved in this question would seem incapable of solution. The very fact, that the law of God had been broken by man, and the penalty thereto attached been incurred, would seem to foreclose all further inquiry into this subject. The sum of the whole matter would seem to be : — man is guilty, and must take the consequences of his guilt : righteous before God he never can be ; for how can a just and holy Governor overlook or forgive sin ? On further reflection, however, it might occur to the inquirer that a governor does not directly lie under the necessity of punishing the trans- gressor. The obligation laid upon him is, that of upholding the law and preserving inviolate the authority with which as governor he is invested ; and if this can be done without the infliction of suffering upon the guilty, wisdom and mercy would concur in recommending their forgiveness. This consideration suggests a ground of hope for the sinner towards God. It may be that some way may be discovered of upholding the Divine law without the eternal condemnation of the transgressor; and if such a way can be discovered, we may rest assured that it will not escape the Divine wisdom, or be otherwise than eagerly em- braced by the Divine compassion. To God alone, however, must we look for the contrivance of '=!uch a plan. In a case like this, all the wisdom, THROUGH AN ATONEMENT. 165 experience, and sagacity of the creature are of ^^cr. m. no avail. Ignorant of the full amount of our own guilt, — ignorant of the mighty interests pending on the question of our forgiveness, — we are utterly incompetent to enter upon the inquiry. To the grace of God alone must we stand indebted for that intelhgence which is to enlighten our igno- rance, hush our anxieties, remove our fears, en- kindle our hopes, and fill us with the happy assurance that man, though a sinner, may be just before God. Such intelligence it has pleased God to convey a way of escape re- to us in the gospel of his Son. By means of veaied in the that obedience unto death which he displayed mem. whilst incarnate in human nature, he has offered such an atonement for sin as renders it honour- able for God, because compatible with the claims of his government, to forgive the sinner. In the New Testament this " Gospel" is announced to us with undoubted clearness. The testimony of God concerning his Son is there presented to us as " a faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta- tion ;" and the apostles, as the appointed ambas- sadors of Christ, beseech us, as in Christ's stead, to be reconciled unto God. But how was it with those who lived under the former dispensation ? Did they possess any knowledge of this mode of justifying the ungodly which has been so fully revealed unto us ? Were they, burdened with a sense of sin, and trembling in the prospect of futurity, relieved by any glimpses, however slight. 166 WAY OF SALVATION LEci. Ill, of that "glorious Gospel" which diffuses over our minds '' the peace of God, which passeth all understanding ?" Or, were they left to wander in hopeless ignorance of God's designs of mercy to our race, and to sink into the tomb with no other consolation than that which a feeble hope of the 'possibility of salvation might supply ? Probability of j^ auswcr to these questions, every one must our finding ■•■ -' ./ the same in feel that the preliminary probabilities are in the Old . . Testament favour of the posltiou, that knowledge to a degree sufficient, at least, to ensure the salvation of all who believed it, was enjoyed by those who lived under the Patriarchal and Levitical dis- pensations. That the communication of such knowledge was possible^ no one will venture to question ; and when we reflect upon the grace and goodness of Jehovah, and the intimate re- lation into which he was pleased to enter with the pious in ancient times, we cannot but admit, that it is to the last degree zmlikely that he would withhold it from them. Further, when we find the apostles plainly declaring that there is no other name under heaven giten amongst men by which we must be saved bat that of Jesus, and at the same time admitting that salvation was enjoyed by many who had lived before the birth of Jesus ; — when we hear them asserting that the death of Christ had a retrospective as well as a present and prospective efficacy, (Rom. iii. 25 ;) and assuring us that the patriarchs were partakers of like precious faith with believers THROUGH AN ATONEMENT. 167 under the Christian dispensation ; — our reverence i-ect. m. for their authority forbids us to doubt that the truths, by the knowledge of which men are saved, were known from the earhest periods of human history. Nor do they leave us in any uncertainty as to the means by which the know- ledge of these truths was preserved; for they inform us that in the Scriptures of the Old Testament are contained the words of eternal life, (John v. 39,) and that they '' are able to make man wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus," (2 Tim. iii. 15 ;) and before that revelation was committed to writing, they assure us that such men as Enoch and Noah were preachers of righteousness unto those among whom they lived, (Heb. ii. 6, 7.) They further inform us that, at the time of our Lord's advent, there were persons among the Jews who had learned from their own Scriptures that a Saviour was to be expected, and who hailed the birth of Jesus as the rising upon them of the day-spring from on high, (Luke i. 76—79; ii. 25—37 ; John i. 41, 45, &c.) Emboldened by these considerations, we may proceed to the examination of the Old Testa- ment Scriptures, with the conviction that we shall certainly find in them, if our inquiry be wisely and honestly conducted, a full develop- ment of the truth concerning Him, in the light of whose salvation it is our inestimable privilege to walk. LECTURE IV. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. — CRITERIA AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. LF.CT. IV. REV. XIX. 10. The testimony of Jesus is the Sjnrit of Prophecy. Whilst there is every reason to conclude that Divine reve- God would not leave mankind, even in those tothecondi- ages of the world which preceded the birth of parties' ^ Christ, in total ignorance of that way of salvation receiving It. ^]^j^]^ |-jg \^^^ providcd, thcrc exists no ground for supposing that this knowledge required to be conveyed to them in the same way in which it has been communicated to us. On the contrary, the very different position which they, as ex- pectant of an event to which we look back as already accomplished, occupied from that which we sustain, would lead us to infer that, as a revelation upon this point has been given to us, suited to our peculiar position, the revelations conveyed to them would be no less suited to the circumstances in which they were placed. Character of tlie earlier economies. VEHICLES OF GOSPEL TRUTH. IdD The economies under which they hved were lect. iv. promissory and preparative of that to which we belong. They had the sliadow and the assm'ance of good things to come, but not the exact and accurate representation of these things. Where we enjoy the picture upon the canvass, the saints under these dispensations saw only the imperfect reflection of that picture as from a mirror. To us the message of God has come to assure us that the price of our redemption has been paid ; to them it came with the assurance that One had been provided, by whom, in the fulness of time, it should be paid. The revelation appropriate to our circumstances, consequently, is that of historical narrative ; the revelation appropriate to theirs, that of prediction and promise. In order, then, to ascertain what kind and degree of knowledge was possessed by the Old Testament saints respecting the gospel plan of salvation, we must go to the study of those pre- intimations and assurances which they received from Heaven upon this subject, and of which we have a record in the pages of the Jewish Scrip- tures. These may be divided into two great classes, vehicles -1 . I /• 1 • 11 througli accordmg to tiie nature ot the signs employed as which they ,1 TO • , • T , received the the media oi communication. In our present Divine com- state, it is only by the intervention of outward ""'""'*"•"'■ and sensible signs, that thought can be trans- mitted from one mind to another. The imme- diate intercourse of spirit with spirit is a matter 170 THE GOSPEL TAUGHT IN THE LECT. IV. of which we can form no just conception, and of which, at any rate, in our present compound state, we have no instance, — with the single exception of the mysterious and, to us, utterly incomprehensible operation of the Deity upon the human mind in inspiration and conversion. Of the signs which we employ for the purpose of conveying ideas to each other, there are two classes, — words and things; the latter including gestures^ actions, pictures, and models. Both of these have been used by God, as we learn from Scripture, for the purpose of conveying accurate and vivid impressions of divine truth to mankind. Under the New Testament economy, though it is chiefly by words that we are taught, there is also the use of real signs, as in the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. In like manner, under the Old Testament, the predictions respect- ing Christ and his work were conveyed, partly by verbal communications more or less plain, and partly by significant pictures and actions more or less obscure. To the former class belongs the title of Prophecy ; to the latter, that of Types. The truths conveyed by these two instru- ments to those who Hved under the Patriarchal and Levitical dispensations, it will now be our business to investigate. As a necessary prelimi- nary, however, we must, in regard to both, enter upon an examination of the nature, circum- stances, and criteria, of the instruments them- selves. OLD TESTAMENT BY PROPHECY AND TYPES. 171 Taking these in the order in which they have lect. iv. been named, and which is also the order ofp"^'f^'JJ°j5'J^!'.^ Nature, — inasmuch as knowledge can be con-*"'^- veyed satisfactorily by means of symbols only after it has been already inculcated by words,*- — let us now inquire into the nature, conditions, and characteristics, of Messianic Prophecy. The Hebrew word, «'?5, which we render by Duties oi ti.e , . - - ancient Pro Fropliet, is used in a much more extended sense puets. in Scripture, than the word by which it is trans- lated is, strictly speaking, understood by us. Besides denoting one who predicts future events, — the proper act of a prophet in the modern usage of the term, — this appellation was em- ployed to designate every one who was made the recipient of a Divine communication, and the medium of conveying that to his fellow men.f Hence, under the head lyropliectj, in * " Truth, " says a sound and accurate thinker, "may " be brought before the mind in two ways, — by verbal " statement, or by emblematical representation. The first is " best fitted for conveying new information ; the second is " admirably calculated for recalling, in a striking manner, to " the mind information already presented to it." — Introductory Essay to Henry's Communicant's Companion, by J. Brown, D.D. Edinburgh; 2d edit. p. 12. t See Henderson's Lectures on Divine Inspiration, p. 26, ff. Hulsii Theol. Jndaica, lib. i. p. 215. Pareau's Princi- ples of Interpretation of the Old Testament, translated by P. Forbes, D.D. vol. ii. p. 197- Crusii Hypomnemata ad Theol. Proph. Pars i. p. 70. The uses of ancient prophecy are thus enumerated by Eusebius : " The object of the Divine " Spirit's influence upon the Prophets, was to teach men the " knowledge of God, and the heavenly theology concerning 172 OBJECTS OF PROPHECY. LECT. IV. the present investigation, must be included not merely the announcement beforehand of those great historical events on which Christianity is based, but also all those communications of the principles of saving truth with which it pleased Jehovah to exercise the faith, and encourage the hopes, of the ancient saints. Under the Ante-Mosaic dispensation, the Knowledge of these facts and truths was con- veyed by God, either directly to the parties interested in them, or through the medium of some individual eminent for character or station in the community to which he belonged. On the establishment, however, of the theocratical constitution, under which it was the will of God that his chosen people should live, a more fixed and regular provision was made for their reli- gious instruction, in the appointment of an order of men whose office it was to act as the medium " the Father and the Son, — to instruct them in the way of true " godliness, and to remind them of those who had in former " times followed it with success, — as well as to show at length " the demonstration consequent upon these things (jov re jusTci " TOVTU)v 'eXty-^ov cid [laKpoiv i^^dfai Adywr).' It was also to " announce the advent of the Saviour and Teacher of every " race of men, and to foretell the transference through him of " the ancient religion from the Hebrews to all nations." — Demonst. Evang. lib. v. p. 208 B. Ed. Coloniens. 1688. 1 Montacutius (from a reprint of whose edition I quote) translates these words thus : " nee non eos, qui posterioribus temporibus, a pietate rituque majorum suorum excidissent, eosque longa oratione reprehenderet." How he gets this out of the words I cannot conceive. PROPHECIES RESPECTING THE MESSIAH. 173 of communication between the great Head of J-^^^t. iv. the Israehtish community and his subjects. This difference in the mode of communication is asso- ciated with some differences in the character and form of the communications themselves ; which, however, are not of such a nature as to render a separate treatment of the two departments of prophetical revelation necessary. As the purpose of these Divine communica- The subjects 1 •■ . . ■■ of Prophecy tions was not merely to advance the spiritual of different interests of those to whom they were vouch- intMest. safed, but occasionally also to direct them in regard to the management of many of their tem- poral affairs, it is to be expected that in those of them which have been committed to writing, and preserved to our time, there will be found a mixture of what was principally local and tem- porary in its interest, with what had an especial reference to those great facts and truths which compose that gospel which is " unto all people." As the latter, however, of these infinitely tran- scends the former in interest and importance, we may safely anticipate not only that it will occupy the larger share of the written prophecies, but that upon it the loftiest efforts of prophetic in- spiration will be bestowed. Of whatever advan- tage the Divine direction, in regard to temporal matters, might be to the patriarchs and the Jewish people ; and however necessary it might be to inculcate upon them the great truths of natural religion and ethics ; — it would be absurd 174 PROPHECIES RESPECTING THE MESSIAH. ^■^■^'^- ^v- to compare these for a moment with the an- nouncement of that glorious scheme of mercy, which alone can bring peace to the conscience of the sinner; or to imagine that, in a communica- tion from God to man, this would occupy any but a primary and prominent place. Accord- ingly, we are assured, that to Jesus "gave all the prophets witness ;" and that " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,"* or, as Bishop Hurdf more correctly renders it, " the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus ;" i. e. the main end and purport of prophecy is to bear witness concerning him. These considerations may help to keep us, on the one hand, from attempting to make all the prophetic parts of the Old Testament relate to the Messiah and his religion; and on the other, from admitting, save upon very clear and indubitable grounds, that any given prophecy does not. Under the cir- cumstances above referred to, the primary pre- sumption is clearly on the side of the affirmative, in every question affecting the claims of any prophecy to be regarded as relating to the Mes- siah ; and unless it can be very clearly shown that these cannot be maintained, we shall not be justified in altogether relinquishing them, though in cases of doubt it will not be expedient to urge the argument from the passage too confidently. * Acts X. 43 ; Rev. xix. 10. ■\ Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies concerning the Christian Church, &c. — Serm. 11, sub init. PROPHECIES RESPECTING THE MESSIAH. 175 IV. Criteria of To some it has appeared that the only crite- ^fcr ~ • • V 1 r r Criteria oi rion necessary for evincing the reterence ot any Messianic passage in the Old Testament to the Messiah, is ^"^'"'^^ ftirnished by observing the correspondence be- tween the statements of the passage in question and those of the New Testament respecting the person and work of our Lord. Now, that the evidence furnished by such correspondence is very important, and indeed indispensable to full and unhesitating conviction, is not a matter ad- mitting of question ; but to confine ourselves to this species of evidence, to the exclusion of every other, would be certainly injudicious. Not only should we thus be exposed to the risk of, in many cases, following the guidance of a lively fancy, and thereby multiplying prophecies be- yond what a sober judgment and sound princi- ciples of hermeneutics would sanction ; but we should also tacitly proceed upon the presump- tion that, as it was not until after our Lord had appeared and taught, that the real character of those parts of the Old Testament Scripture which we now see to relate to him, could be discovered, they must have remained a dead letter to the very men for whose benefit they were first and, we may add, chiefly designed.* * " It is doubtless a mistake to conceive prophecy to be intended solely or chiefly for their sakes in whose time the events predicted are to happen. What great occasion is there to lay in so long beforehand the evidences of prophecy to convince men of things that are to happen in their own times ; the truth of which they may, if they please, learn from 176 CRITERIA OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. r.f-'CT. IV. It seems much more natural, moreover, to proceed in such an inquiry as that before us, by first showing that there is in the passage itself some- thing which justifies us in regarding it as a pro- phecy, and consequently searching for its fulfil- ment in the history of our Lord and his church, than to begin by pointing out what appears to us a correspondence between the facts and princi- ples of the New Testament and certain descrip- tions occurring in the Old, and from that to argue that the latter were prophetical announce- ments of the former. For these reasons, it be- comes necessary that we should endeavour to fix upon certain criteria, by the application of which the Messianic character of any given por- tion of the ancient Scriptures may be determined. These criteria may be divided into internal and external, according as they are found in the words of the passage itself, or are drawn from extrinsic sources. their own senses ? . . . . As I think the prophecies of the New Testament are chiefly for our sake tvho live by faith and not hy sight ; so, I imagine, the ancient prophecies had the like use, and were chiefly intended to support the faith and rehgion of the old world. Had it been otherwise, a set of prophecies given some few years before the birth of Christ, would have served our purpose as well as a series of prophe- cies given from the very beginning, and running through every age." Sherlock On the Use and Intent of Prophecy, Disc. II. See, also, a valuable dissertation by the learned and pious Seiler, De Vaticiniorum Causis aique Finibus, in his Opuscula Theologica, Erlangen, 1783. INTERNAL CRITERIA. 177 I. Internal criteria. — Of these there are ^ect. iv. four which appear worthy of being adduced : — „ite'ri""'' i. When in the passage itself, or in the imme- 1''.^' ^"'""''1 1 c criterion. diate context, the subject of the piece is ex- pressly denominated the Messiah, or receives some appellation which can be shown to be ap- propriate only to him, we must regard the whole as prophetical of Christ. Thus, in Dan. ix. 24, 27, " Messiah the Prince" is distinctly named as the subject of the prediction. So, also, in Ps. ii. 2 ; cxxxii. 17, &c., mention is made of "Jeho- vah's Messiah," or Anointed One, though in these latter cases the evidence arising from the use of this term is not so complete as in the former, from the circumstance that the kings of Israel also received this appellation as the vicegerents of Jehovah (comp. 1 Sam. xxiv. G). Upon the same principle, in the declaration of the Almighty to the tempter, the phrase " seed of the woman," as applicable only to our Lord, indicates the reference of that part of the passage in which it occurs to him. In like manner the reference of Mai. iii. 1 may be determined to Christ, from the use of the words, " The messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in ;" — words which can be intel- ligently interpreted only of the promised Saviour. To this head, also, may be referred the inscrip- tion of the 45th Psalm, where the speaker de- clares that his song is " concerning the King," an appellation which, from the pen of the king of N 178 Second in- ternal crite- rion. INTERNAL CRITERIA OF : Israel, can apply only to the great Sovereign, whom David acknowledged and expected as his Lord. ii. When, to the subject of a passage, not referable simply to the Almighty as such, are ascribed attributes and actions incompatible with the ordinary conditions of humanity, but which fully accord with the New Testament declara- tions regarding Jesus Christ, the passage must be viewed as prophetical of him. On this ground may be determined the application to our Lord of all those passages in the Old Testament which ascribe to some one in human form, or who is distinguishable from the invisible Deity, the titles, attributes, honours, and works of the Godhead. Such e.g. are Ps. ii. 7; Is. vii. 13; ix. 6; Mic. V. 2; Dan, vii. 13, 14, &c. To this head, also, may be referred those passages which speak of one who is, in his own person, and by virtue of his own merits, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to effect the restoration of man to the favour of his offended God. To suppose it competent for a mere man to accomplish this, stands op- posed to the most settled principles of Old Testa- ment theology. In the religion of the Jews it was laid down as a fundamental tenet that "none could, by any means, redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him." All attempts to dis- cover any mode of meeting the difficulties of the case were discountenanced ; for the redemption- price of the soul was declared to be so precious MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 179 that it nevei' could be paid.* No pious Jew, i-^^ct. iv. consequently, would have presumed to ascribe to any, even the most distinguished and holy of his nation, the honour of acting as an independent mediator between God and man. But to the Messiah the ascription of such honour is not only allowable but appropriate. It is that, in fact, which is his peculiar due ; for as all the New Testament writers inform us, it was specifi- cally for the purpose of being a sacrificial substi- tute for the guilty that he became incarnate and dwelt among man as " God manifest in the flesh.'* To him, therefore, and to him alone, can such parts of the prophetic Scriptures be applied. iii. When a passage contains a description of Third in ternal crite- circumstances, as occurring in the case of the rion. person to whom it refers, which, though not absolutely incompatible with the ordinary limits of human performance or endurance, are, on the one hand, extremely unlikely to have happened in the case of any mere man ; and, on the other, cannot be shown to have ever occurred in the case of any person but Christ, to whom it can be shown that they exactly apply ; such a pas- * Ps. xlix. 7, 8. See Rosenmiiller's Scholium on this passage. Ewald renders ver. 8 thus : " For so dear is the ransom-'price of the soul, that it fails for ever ;" and thus explains it in his notes : " God is so high above men, that they, even were it permitted, could not, with all their treasures, give him a suffi- cient ransom-price ; so that, on account of its too great dear- ness, it must of necessity cease or be wanting for ever." — Die Poetischen Buecher dcs A. B. erkldrt. IF" Theil, s. 244, 5. N 2 180 INTERNAL CRITERIA OF ^^-'^^- ^^- sage must be determined to contain a Messianic prophecy. On this ground we may, for instance, with great certainty affirm the apphcation to our Saviour of the 22d Psahn. There is, perhaps, nothing mentioned in that sacred poem which might not by possibihty have happened to David, (to whom the Anti-Messianists understand it as referring ;) but it must be allowed that it is in the last degree improbable that this should have been the case ; and that, moreover, there is not, in the recorded history of that prince, the slightest allu- sion to the occurrence of many of the most remarkable events enumerated in this psalm ; — such, for instance, as the piercing of his hands and his feet, the rending of his garments, &c. — circumstances which, if they had occurred in the case of David, his historians could hardly have failed to commemorate. In Jesus Christ, how- ever, the whole of these events were hterally accomplished ; so that, apart from any corrobo- ratory evidence of an external kind, we should be justified in understanding this psalm of him, and of him alone. General prin- In tlicsc tln'ce Criteria a general principle is ciple in- voivedin involved, which no one can reasonably refuse to these three . . , criteria. graut ; VIZ. that, as the passages in question necessarily relate to some one, they are to be understood of Him to whom, and to whom alone, all the statements which they contain will apply. This is nothing more than an application to this subject of the inductive method of inquiry. MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 181 which, by a careful investigation of the facts of Lr:cT. iv. the case, and the successive rejection of all hypo- theses not consistent with these, succeeds at length in fixing upon that in which all the phenomena meet, and which is thereby shown to be the only true one. iv. Even where no allusion is made to the Fo"r"i in- ternal crite- Messiah personally, but where exalted and glow- no"- ing descriptions are given of scenes of future glory and felicity, especially when these are identified with the " latter days," the passage is to be interpreted as having a reference to the period of the Messiah's reign. The Jews were in the habit of regarding their own land as " the glory of all lands,"* because both of its religious advantages and of the amazing fertility of the soil, and the exuberant richness of its produce. When, therefore, in their prophetical books, we find descriptions of still more glorious scenes of plenty, felicity, and holy consecration, as yet to be realized, we are naturally led to regard these as intended to awaken in the mind of the reader a lively conception of the exceeding excellence of that dispensation of which theirs was the shadow and the antecedent. This conclusion is strength- ened by the association of these scenes of glory with the coming of " the latter days ;" for we know that by this phrase the Jews were wont to designate the dispensation of the Messiah.^ On * Ezek. XX. 6. \ See Prof. Stuart's note on Ileb. i. 1, in his Commentary 182 EXTERNAL CRITERIA OF i-ECT. IV. this ground we are emboldened to refer such prophecies as those of Hosea xiv. 4, 7 ; Amos ix. 11, 15 ; Is. ii. 2, 5 ; Ix., &c. to the times of the Christian dispensation, under which alone their elevated descriptions have been realized. II. External H. EXTERNAL CRITERIA. — Of these the most Criteria. important are the following : — First external i. Whcii a passaffc, tlic Mcssiaiiic character criterion. ■■■ '-' of which may not be decidedly apparent by it- self, can be shown to be parallel to others in which that character is more fully displayed ; or where several passages, obviously referring to the same thing, mutually confirm or supplement each other, so as to bring out more clearly the Messianic character of the whole ; an important addition is thereby made to the evidence which each by itself supplies of its reference to the Messiah. Prophecy, according to the Apostle Peter, was *' a hght shining in a dark place."* The lustre, however, which it shed, was not always the same. At times it shone with a clearer and less troubled radiance than at others. Now on that Epistle. On the words eV ecryjxTov Tuiv ^fxepijiv in this passage, Prof. Tholuck remarks : " It is a translation of the phrase D'o^'n n'nnNi, which became a later fixed designation of the lime when the kingdom of the Messiah was to commence ; so that the meaning here is, — on the confines of the time cur- rent and of the new eternal epoch, — neither within the one, nor within the other ; compare dc ovq to. teXt] (the two confines), Tbjy alujycji' Karip'Trjirey. 1 Cor. x. 11." Commentar zum Brief an die Hehriler, 1836. See also Crusii Hypomnemata ad Theol. Prophet. T. p. 215. * 2 Ep. i. 19. MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 183 it enabled the seer to look with a steady gaze on lect. iv. that point to which all the lines of Providence were converging; and now its rays seemed to struggle through a perturbing medium, and to reach that point with only a dim and partial illumination. Hence it is our wisdom, in endea- vouring to determine to what the different parts of these prophetic writings refer, to compare one part with another, especially the earlier portions with the later, the more figurative with the more literal, the shorter with the more extended and copious. We shall find this the best method, not only of getting at the meaning of their words, but, along with that, of deciding upon the application of their announcements. It happens, for instance, not unfrequently, that prophecies which were first uttered as mere general predic- tions of blessing, are repeated by subsequent prophets with such additional circumstances as fix their application to the Messiah as the me- dium through whom these blessings are to flow. Thus, the promise to Abraham, that in his seed should all the families of the earth be blessed, though capable of being shown to refer to Christ, upon general grounds, is decisively determined to such a reference when we find it quoted by David, (Ps. Ixxii. 17,) and directly applied to the Messiah. So, also, in regard to Jacob's prophecy concerning the Shiloh, which seems obviously to bereferred to byEzekiel (xxi. 27) asapphcable to the expected dehverer. Again, the mere fact that 184 EXTERNAL CRITERIA OF ^■'^'^'T- ^y- the same feature appears in different prophecies, which we have reason to regard a priori as Messianic, tends to confirm us in this applica- tion. Thus Gen. iii. 15, Is. vii. 14, and Mic. V. 3, mutually strengthen each other in this respect, by the evidence they furnish, that what had been subject of promise in the earlier age had become in the later subject of assurance and common expectation. So, also, a comparison of Ps. ii. with Ps. ex., and both withZech. vi. 13, — of Ps. xlv. with Ps. Ixxii., &c. — tends greatly to corroborate the application of the whole to the Messiah. Second ex- {\^ ^\^q testimouv of the ancient Jewish church ternal crite- '' r'O"- in favour of the Messianic reference of any pas- sage, affords a strong corroborative evidence of the application of that passage to Christ. The peculiarly fixed character of the Jewish people, and their reverence for whatever they know to have received the sanction of antiquity, concur to inspire confidence in their traditional in- terpretations of Scripture, as embodying the opinions which were generally entertained re- specting certain passages in the best days of the theocracy. In fixing the meaning of Hebrew words, the Lexicographers look with much con- fidence to this source of information ; and it is from its relation to this, that the Masoretic system of punctuation derives its chief value. The re- spect paid to the traditionary exegesis of the Jews in these matters, seems fully to justify us MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 185 in rendering the same respect to it in relation to I'Ect. iv. the meaning and application of the Messianic prophecies ; the more especially that in this case they frequently supply us with an argument against themselves. When, for instance, we find the ancient Jews understanding the 22d Psalm and the 53d chapter of Isaiah of the Mes- siah, we have evidence of a very convincing kind that such has been the unvarying sense of the Jewish church from the time in which these prophecies were first published. But for this and the reverence entertained for the opinions of their ancestors by the Jews, nothing could have induced so many of their Rabbins to give their suffrage in favour of the Messianic reference of these and similar passages, opposed as they are, so directly, to the carnal expectations which the majority of them have for many ages indulged of the temporal glory and power of the Messiah.* iii. The most decisive evidence of any yet Third ex noticed of the Messianic character of any portion ternal crite- rion. * The testimonies of the Jews in favour of the Messianic interpretation of the prophecies which are generally quoted by Christians as applicable to our Saviour, have been collected by several learned and accurate scholars. The works most in repute are those of Raymond Martin, Pugio Fidei adv. Mauros et Judceos cum ohss. Jos. de Voisin ed. J. B. Carpzov. Lips. 1687, fol. ; of Schottgen, Horce Hehr. et Talmud, in Theo- logiam Judceorum, ^-c. Tom. ii. Dresd. 1742, 4to ; and of Kidder, Demonstration of the Messias, ^^c. Lond. 1726, fol. For the citations from Jewish writers in the present vohmie, the author is indebted chiefly to the work of Hulsius, entitled Theolof/ia; Judaicce Pars Prima, deMessia, S^-c. Bredae, 165.3, 186 EXTERNAL CRITERIA OF LECT. IV. of the prophetic Scripture, is its quotation as such by our Lord or his Apostles. Assuming the Divine inspiration of the New Testament, it follows as a necessary corollary that every pas- sage so adduced by them is really that which they declare it to be, — a prediction of the Mes- siah, which found its fulfilment in the person, life, or work, of Jesus of Nazareth. But here the question occurs. How are we to determine what passages are so adduced by them ? It has been already shown that all the passages which they quote are not to be considered in this hght, even when they are introduced by such formulae as rore €7r\7)pM97], tva •n-Xrjpcod'Tj and the like. By what means, then, it may be justly asked, are we to determine, when they quote a passage as containing a real prediction concerning Christ, and when they quote merely for the sake of illustration or allusion ? To this question, I know no other answer which can be given than that each individual quotation must be judged of by itself, and that the light in which it was regarded by the speaker or writer who made it, must be determined by the object which he appears to have had in view in making it. The inspired volume, in all its parts, is addressed to the common sense of mankind. 4to, and to a little work by Schottgen, not much known in this country, entitled Jesus der wahre Messias aus der alien und reinenJudischen Theologic dargethan und erlautcrt. Leipz. 1748, sm. 8vo. MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 187 It contains Divine truths conveyed not only in lect. iv. human words, but in human words arranged according to all the formal laws of thought and speech prevailing among men. Hence we are left to judge for ourselves regarding the meaning and construction of its several parts ; and to de- termine, not only what is argumentative and what not, but in each argument what relation every successive statement bears to others and to the general conclusion. When, therefore, a sacred writer introduces into his own composition a quotation from some other part of the inspired volume, it is competent for us to ask. For what purpose was this quotation made ? — for the sake of argument, or only for the sake of illustration ? What we are thus competent to ask it ought not to be difficult for us, in the majority of cases at least, to answer. In a merely human com- position, where the most ordinary degree of accu- racy on the part of the author has been displayed, we find no difficulty in determining what the writer intended to adduce as argument, and what he has brought forward for merely rhetorical purposes. Is there any reason why a greater degree of difficulty should be anticipated in coming to a similar conclusion with regard to the sacred writings, when no confusion of thought, no error of judgment, no hurry of com- position, could exist to endanger the perfect accuracy of the writer ? Assuming, then, our abihty to determine when 188 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. LECT. IV. a quotation from the Old Testament is intro- duced into the New argumentatively, and when otherwise, we have a simple and a certain crite- rion for determining what passages are adduced by our Lord and his Apostles as prophetic of him, and what not. When it can be shown that on the quotation some conclusion is founded regarding the claims of our Lord to the honours of the Messiahship, or regarding the identity of his church and the Messiah's kingdom, it is proved that our Lord and his Apostles regarded the passage so quoted as containing a prophecy of him. What the Divine Founder of our religion and his inspired followers may be thus shown to have regarded as a prophecy of him, is by their infal- lible authority determined to us to have been really so. The only question for us is. Have they, indeed, cited this or that passage as pro- phetical of Christ ? This settled in the affirm- ative, nothing remains for us but thankfully to receive the intimation and to study the passage quoted in this hght. Theory of For tlic sakc of avoiding this conclusion, and accomraoda- . • t /nr. i • n • i tion. escapmg certam dimculties of an exegetical kind arising out of the application of this crite- rion, recourse has been had to a theory which, by vitiating the character of our Lord and his Apostles as public teachers, supplies its adherents with an easy method of setting aside all inferences built upon their declarations as to the meaning THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. 189 and character of the passages which they quote i-ect. iv. from the Old Testament. According to this theory it is pretended that Jesus and his followers were in the habit of accommodating their teach- ing to the prevailing opinions and habits of the Jews ; and more especially with regard to the Old Testament, that they gave in to that spirit of allegorizing which, it is affirmed, prevailed among the Jewish doctors in their day, and which had been adopted for the purpose of de- riving to certain favourite tenets the colour, at least, of sanction from the sacred books of their nation. On this ground, it is argued that nothing can be more inconclusive than to appeal to their opinion, as fixing the proper meaning or original design of any of the passages which they quote. This impious theory, which is generally asso- ciated with the name of the famous J. S. Semler, not to be con- Professor of Theology in the University of Halle otLrs wwch (died 1797), but which was known and had been theLmT"^" promulgated, both in this country and on the "^™^ continent, long before his time,* is commonly and * It forms the main thesis of a work which made no small noise in its day, but which is now known chiefly by the replies which it called forth from the pens of Chandler, Sykes, Sher- lock, and others ; I mean Anthony Collins's Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, Lond, 1724. To this flippant attack upon Christianity no less than fifty-two answers, more or less formal, are enumerated by Fabricius in his Lux Salutaris Evangdii, cj-c. Hamb. 1781, p. 173. The Theory of Accommodation appears, also, to have been a favour- ite with the Cartesians of the 17th and 18th centuries (see 190 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. ^-^^'^- ^^- properly designated the " Theory of accommo- dation." It must be carefully distinguished, however, from other opinions which have some- times received the same name. Such is the opinion already advocated in this volume respect- ing the use made by the New Testament writers of certain phrases and passages of the Old Tes- tament for the expression of ideas not by any means identical with those they were primarily employed to express. Such is, also, the doctrine that in the fo7in and manner of instruction, used by the first teachers of Christianity, much was accommodated to the national tastes, habits, and conceptions of those whom they addressed, and to whom they communicated truth in the way and degree in which they were best able to bear it. In both these cases there was doubtless an accommodation ; but it was an accommodation of a totally different kind from that supposed by the theory now under consideration. In the one case there was an accommodation of words which had been once used to express one thing, to the expression of another, no less true and important than the former. In the other case, there was a Hahn's Glaubenslehre, s. 6G), though in the works of Des Cartes himself I have not been able to find any doctrine with which it stands naturally allied. On the contrary, his repeated declaration that in a Divine revelation we are to believe all that is taught, even though we may not understand it (Prin- cip. Phil. Pars I. § 25, and § 76), appears to indicate a mind decidedly unfavourable to such a doctrine. THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. 191 coming down of the teacher to the level of the ^^^t. iv. scholar, that so the latter might be gradually raised by familiar steps to the full apprehension of the truths inculcated. But in neither case was truth itself sacrificed, or its integrity tam- pered with. There was no clothing of error in what had once been the guise of truth ; no at- tempt to disarm prejudice by giving currency to favourite fancies, or flattering the prejudices of the people.* In this lies the radical difference between these so-called theories of accommoda- tion, and that to which alone, I apprehend, this title should be given. The extent to which this doctrine has been Refutation of . . this impious embraced m recent times, especially among the theory. theologians of Germany, renders it necessary to make it the subject of a few strictures in this place ; otherwise, it is one so repulsive to the best feelings of the Christian, and so diametri- cally opposed to the truths most surely believed among us, that it might, without danger, have been left to the good feeling and sound judg- ment of my audience. I shall content myself with the two following general remarks upon it. * Origen, after observing that the word of God is so at- tempered as to suit different spiritual constitutions, furnishing milk for one, vegetable diet {Xdx'^'Vov) for another, and strong meat for a third, proceeds thus : — " The word doth not, how- ever, belie its own nature, though it becomes nutritive to each, according to his power of receiving it ; and it neither misleads nor lies." Cont. Cels, lib. iv. p. 171-2, ed. Spencer. 192 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. i-ECT. IV. First, if this theory were sound, it would go pitMe wuh ^o overthrow Christianity entirely as a system of the Divine J)[^[^q trUth. claims of Christianity. file tlicory Is plainly inconsistent with the Divine inspiration of the first teachers of Chris- tianity. Whether we regard our Lord and his Apostles as deceived themselves in the inter- pretations they put upon the Old Testament Scripture, — or as intentionally, and for sinister purposes, adducing these intei-pretations, knowing them to be fictitious, — we alike adopt an hypothe- sis fatal to their pretensions as teachers inspired of God in all that they taught. To suppose such con- duct compatible with such pretensions, would be to make God the patron of ignorance, fanaticism, or deceit. In so far, then, as Christianity depends for its authority upon the inspiration of its great Author and his commissioned representa- tives, (and there are none of my present auditory who will hesitate to admit that this dependence is entire and absolute,) in so far is its very existence as a religious system threatened by such a doctrine as that now under consideration. Involves the Furtlicr, tlils thcory involves the whole of the Tes°tamenlin Ncw Tcstameut iu uncertainty, and exposes its uncertainty, (joctriucs to coutcmpt. Thcrc are some who, though they will not admit the Divine inspira- tion of the first teachers of Christianity, yet profess no small reverence for their doctrines, on the ground that a Divine illumination of a certain sort had been vouchsafed to them, which, if it THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. l93 did not preserve them altogether from error, lect. iv. introduced them to the knowledge of truths, such as mere ordinary intellects could not have reached. Even with such low views, however, of the reverence due to the Nevv^ Testament, this theory of accommodation appears utterly inconsistent. Take the case, in the first instance, that our Lord and his Apostles knowingly made use of fictitious interpretations of the Old Testament for the purpose of gaining favour with the Jews. Is the perception of such conduct in them, I ask, consistent with respect for their persons or reve- rence for their doctrines ? Would not such a course indicate a consciousness on their part that they were impostors, and that their claims and opinions could not stand upon their own merits, or abide the scrutiny of an unbiassed examination ? Or what shall be thought of men, who, professing to be teachers of religion and morals, should so far transgress the first principles of both, as for the sake of a little temporary popularity to carry on for years a system of com- promise and deceit ? Can we, in such a case, separate the man from the system, and whilst we despise the one, embrace and revere the other ? Or do we not rather feel that the infa- mous conduct of the teacher casts doubt upon all his pretensions, assertions, and doctrines? It is true, that notwithstanding our ill opinion of him, we may make some use of his writings. We 0 194 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. ^^cT. IV. may read them for their hterary merits, or we may cull from them some choice maxims, obser- vations, or descriptions, just as we may from the writings of Shakspeare or Aristophanes, or, as Paul has done from one of the comedies of Menander (1 Cor. xv. 33); but what is this but to place them on a level with the performances of mere human genius, and by the very mode of using them to profess our entire rejection of their claims to our reverence and submission, as authoritative records of Divine truth ? Take, on the other hand, the case that our Lord and his Apostles were themselves misled as to the meaning and application of the passages which they quoted. This supposition will not much mend the matter, as respects the effect of this theory upon the claims of the New Testa- ment to the reverential submission of its readers. For in what light does this place the parties whose doctrines that book records ? In that of mere fanatics and enthusiasts ! The case, on this supposition, stands thus : In the days of Jesus an opinion prevailed among the Jews, founded on certain mystical and allegorical explanations of obscure portions of their sacred books, that a great deliverer and prince would arise from amongst them ; and from often hearing this opinion talked of, his imagination had become so excited that he deemed himself the person expected, as such presented himself to his coun- trymen, endeavoured to trace an analogy between THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. 195 the descriptions contained in these passages lect. iv. and the events of his own hfe, and was so far successful that he drew around him a considera- ble body of persons, some of whom have re- corded his history and sayings, and others have appeared as the expounders of his doctrines to the world. Such is the theory of the origin of Christianity to which this hypothesis reduces us. What else is it than a declaration that the founder of that system was a madman, and his followers no better? After this, it is folly and weakness to talk of respecting Christianity, or reverencing the book in which its principles are taught. If that book contain anything divine, it is such that the writers themselves could not distinguish it from the wild hallucinations of their own heated imaginations; and it must, of necessity, be so intermingled with these in their works, that all attempts on our part to sift it out of the heap must be precarious, if not altogether fruitless. The question, then, as to this theory of ac- commodation resolves itself into a question as to the truth of Christianity, and the inspiration of the sacred volume. Considered as a scheme for facilitating the interpretation of Scripture, it resembles a specific which professes to remove a disorder by rendering the patient not worth the curing. By all who would retain their reve- rence for the Great Author of Christianity, and the records of his truth, it must be peremptorily and indignantly rejected. o 2 196 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. LECT. IV. 2dly. The rejection of this theory is called r'os?dt7 ^^^ ^y i^^ glaring contrariety to the best ascer- facts. tained facts of the case. Our Lord's i- Whilst it is fruitless to deny, as some have t^ot^ofthe done,* the existence of a love of allegorical ^^Jj^j^p'/gpj^g. interpretation among the Jews long anterior to ciesnotaue- ^^^ |.-j^g ^f Jesus Christ, there is, nevertheless, so gorical. -' -^ marked a difference between such a mode of interpretation and that followed by our Lord and his Apostles in their references to the Old Testament prophecies, that nothing can be more fallacious than to argue from the one to the other. Without entering minutely into the matter at present, it may be enough to remark, that an allegory is professedly the affixing to some historical narrative of a secondary spiritual meaning, distinct from the literal meaning which its words set forth.f This is obviously some- thing very different from what we find in the interpretations affixed to the Old Testament prophecies by our Lord and his Apostles, which were designed to explain what was the one * See Appendix, Note H. ■f 'AXXtj-yopely qu. dWo dyopeiv " to speak some other thing," to wit, than that which the words literally set forth. Philo sometimes uses the word dXXrjyopia (I. p. 38), sometimes the phrase ?? (rvfifiuXiKri ctTro^oo-jc (I. 37), and sometimes rj Bi vTToyoiwv, " that which is accomplished by means of suppo- sitions or figures" (1.315, II. 14). The Hebrew word for such figurative interpretation is ttSrn or ttiiiQ, which, coming from a root signifying " to inquire," means that which is sought out, recherche. See Hartmann's Enge Verhindung u. s. w. s. 534; and Hulsii Theol, Jud. p. 443. THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. 197 simple and untransferable meaning of the pas-i-ECT. iv. sages cited. The ancient allegorists all proceed upon the admission that the meaning they put upon the passages which they spiritualize is not their proper meaning, and Philo even expressly says, that this literal meaning must be first ascer- tained before the allegorist can proceed with security.* The pr'mciple of their procedure, ac- cordingly, was that under certain historical events lay certain pregnant analogies to divine and spiritual truths, which a skilful and careful study might educe, and thereby at once give deeper interest to the history and a clearer view of the truth it was thought to shadow forth. How far such a principle of interpretation is a good one it is not at present our business to inquire ; this, at least, seems evident, that such is not the prin- ciple sanctioned by the New Testament writers in their quotations from the prophecies of the old. Their principle is, that in these prophecies a direct and primary reference is made to Christ and his church ; comp. Luke xxiv. 44 ; John xii. 41 ; Acts ii. 25, &c. Whatever opinion then, in other respects, we may adopt respecting these quotations, it is a gross mistake to assimi- late them to the allegories which the Jews were wont to build upon the histories of the Old Tes- tament. In the original they are not histories; in the quotation they are not allegories. * 0pp. T. 1. p. 450. Ed. Mangey. 198 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. i^ECT. IV. ii. This theory is opposed to all we know of tuhThfct- the character of our Lord and his Apostles. Of iTrdandhil ^^^^ charactcr, sagacity, prudence, intelhgence. Apostles, as well as honesty, integrity, ingenuousness, and perfect singleness of heart and purpose, were predominant features. For this we have the same evidence which we have that they lived and taught at all. Now, the laws of human nature forbid the supposition that men possessing such a character could be found prosecuting such a course, either of error or deceit, as this theory attributes to them. A mistaken opinion upon some abstruse or obscure subject the most intelli- gent teacher may sometimes form ; but for a man to assume that he is a divinely-commissioned teacher, the subject of ancient prophecy, and the Saviour of the world, and, in proof of this, to appeal to the fulfilment, in his person, of inspired prophecy, when he has no title whatever to any such assumption, is to suppose a case of mental hallucination utterly incompatible with ordinary sanity, to say nothing of such intelligence and sagacity as that which our Lord displayed. Into an occasional deviation from the path of upright- ness the best of men may, under the influence of strong temptation, be seduced ; but to affirm that a man whose prominent characteristic is honesty and integrity, would deliberately and systematically impose upon others for his own purposes, is nothing short of a contradiction in terms. If, then, the character of the first THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. 199 teachers of Christianity be such as all who admit lect. iv. the truth of history must regard it, this theory must fall to the ground. iii. The performance of miracles by our Lord inconsistent and his Apostles proves the falsity of this theory, miraculous The object of a miracle is to accredit the party performing it as divinely commissioned to teach the doctrines he inculcates. In virtue of this, whatever such an one declares is no longer to be regarded as his doctrine, but demands our reve- rence as the doctrine of God who sent him. In such a case, the supposition of en'or or deceit is necessarily excluded. To entertain such a sup- position for a moment would be to sap all the foundations on which our religion rests ; for it would amount to a denial that miraculous powers afford evidence of divine sanction, or an assertion that that sanction might be lent to what was deceptive, foolish, or false. iv. The theory that the first teachers of Chris- inconsistent tianity interpreted the Old Testament prophe-Ihatour^ '^^ cies in accommodation to the prejudices of the p°eTaHonr Jews, is glaringly opposed to the fact, that on no J^^"^"^*^^ point did our Lord and his Apostles come more directly and offensively into conflict with these prejudices than on this. Whether as respected the person, or the history, or the character, or the work, or the kingdom of the Messiah, the expla- nation which Jesus Christ and his followers put upon the Old Testament prophecies differed irreconcilably from those most fondly cherished 200 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. ^ECT. IV. by the great body of the Jews. So wide was this difference, and so distasteful to that people were our Lord's interpretations, that this formed one main cause of their hatred to him and their im- placable desire for his death. Had he given in to their carnal views of a temporal kingdom under the administration of the Messiah, and with his extraordinary powers of teaching and acting set himself to accomplish such an arrangement, there can be no doubt but that the whole power and influence of the nation would have flocked to his standard. When he acted a part so different ; when, instead of flattering their prejudices on this head, he even denounced them as gross and blinding errors ; and when, persevering in this course to the last, he preferred enduring the full vengeance of their infuriated malice to retracting one jot or tittle of what he had uttered, nay, borrowed from the very circumstances of his fate renewed proofs of the truth of his former doc- trines ; it seems the mere phrenzy of infidelity to reject his instructions upon the plea that he sacrificed truth to gain the favour of his igno- rant and prejudiced countrymen. Is it uncha- ritable to insinuate that the same spirit which urged on the Jews to seek his crucifixion, — a spirit of aversion from the purity and spirituality of his doctrines, — lies at the source of this auda- cious attempt to malign his character, and dis- credit his teaching ? It is hoped that the preceding remarks may THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. 201 suffice to show how impossible it is to adopt this lect. iv. theory of accommodation, and retain any respect for the character and teaching of the great Author of our religion and his commissioned ambas- sadors.* It is usual to recommend it, as tending to remove many difficulties which otherwise im- pede our endeavours to reconcile what appears to us the meaning of the Old Testament pro- phecies with that which our Lord and his Apostles have put upon them. Where such a dis- crepancy exists, it is natural to suggest whether instead of devising theories to account for what after all may be only the result of the imper- fection of our instruments of observation, our wisest course would not be, to try if we cannot, by improving our apparatus, remove the obstacles which have disturbed our conclusions. It were much to be wished that our prophetical herme- neutics were subjected to a thorough and search- ing analysis and reconstruction. They are far, as all, I think, will admit, from possessing that scientific form which other departments of her- meneutical science have received, and without which the student cannot proceed with confidence to apply them to the sacred text. On such a subject it would be at once presumptuous and preposterous to enter in this place. Without attempting this, however, it may be necessary, before entering upon the examination of those * See Appendix, Note I. 202 THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. r.ECT. IV. parts of the Messianic prophecies to which I in- tend to call your attention, to offer a brief state- ment of a few of the leading principles under the guidance of which that examination is to be conducted.* 2 Pet. i. 19- The Apostle Peter, in his second epistle, (ch. i. 21 examined. ^^^^ 19~21,) makcs ccrtaiu statements respect- ing the Old Testament prophecies, which it will be useful for us to consider in the outset of our present inquiry. This passage, literally ren- dered, is as follows : " And we [having had such convincing proofs of the Divine mission of Jesus, comp. ver. 16 — 18] have the prophetic word ren- dered more sure, to which when ye give heed ye do well, as to a lamp which shone in a dark place till day dawned and the sun arose in your hearts ; knowing this before, that no prophecy of Scripture is of self-interpretation, for at no time was prophecy announced by the will of man, but holy men of God, borne by the Holy Spirit, spoke." f * In preparing what follows, I have to acknowledge my obligations to the works of }leYigstenheicg(^Christologie I. 293 fF.) Knapp {Scripta Far. Argum. p. 1, fF.), Smith (^Select Dis- courses, p. 181, fF. 8vo. ed.), Pareau {Principles of Interpre- tation of the Old Testament, by Forbes, Vol. II. p. 196, fF.), Marsh {Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, p. 401, fF.), and Crusius {Hypomnemata ad TheoL Proph. Pars 1.) ■j" Ver. 16. BEjSaioVfpoj' here is obviously to be joined with eXOftevas part of the predicate — 'O irpoip. \6yoQ, " the prophetic word," embracing the whole body of ancient prediction re- garding Christ ; comp. Rom. xvi. 26. — ^aivovn, followed by the aorists oiavydari and draTiiXy, is more properly rendered THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION. 203 In this section of sacred writ the following iect. iv. things appear to be intimated : 1 st. That the study of ancient prophecy is one in which Chris- tians do well to be engaged ; 2dly, That the inti- mations of prophecy were before the appearance of Christ obscure, shedding only a lamp -like illumination upon the mind of the reader, but that since that event, they have become much plainer and more certain ; 3dly, That in inter- preting prophecy, we must look to the design and fulfilment of it as the best guide to the meaning of its statements ; and, 4thly, That this is a necessary consequence of the divine inspira- tion of the prophet, who, had he uttered merely in the imperfect than in the present ; comp. oyreg, ver. 18 — 1 already fui- pliet, lu mauy instances, to speak ot them as actually taking place while he writes. No mere guessers at probabilities, but seers, before whose inspired vision the persons and events of a far- distant futurity were presented in lively manifes- tation, the prophets, in announcing their oracles to others, naturally speak with the ardour and vivacity of those who do not so much narrate what has been, or foretell what shall be, as de- scribe what is actually at the moment passing before their view. Hence we find them in innu- merable instances using the f resent tense in their predictions instead of the future. " Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," exultingly exclaims Isaiah, when announcing the birth of the God-man. " Who is this,'* asks the same prophet, " that cometh from Edom, with dyed gar- ments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength ? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." * * Isa. ix. G ; Ixiii. 1. PROPHETIC STYLE. 211 In this latter passage, we have an instance of lect. iv. another consequence of the felt presence of the scene described by the prophet, in the introduc- tion of a second speaker without any formal men- tion that such a thing is to take place. This pe- culiarity is frequently exemplified, especially by Isaiah and David.* 2. The prophets pay more attention to the The prophets grouping and colounng oi then' pictures, than to regard to the historical and chronological sequence of the arrangement events they predict. Their visions, regarding lor^a/effect the Messiah, frequently embraced a vast compass dl'eriptions. of objects ; indeed, in most cases, the whole of the latter dispensation. They had thus, in one picture, to present a conception of scenes of spiritual condition extending over a course of centuries, and diversified by many varieties of accidental occurrence. To accomplish this suc- cessfully, the only plan open to the writer was that of grouping remarkable instances of the different points he sought to illustrate, so as to present them in their relative importance and dependency, and to bring out most forcibly the general idea of the whole. This is the course pursued by all emblematical poets and painters, who, in order to give due effect to their works, select the objects and characters most suited to their purpose, without any regard to chronological * See Pareau's Principles of Inter jiretat ion of the Old Testament, Vol. II. p. 171. p2 212 PECULIARITIES OF THE LECT. IV. or topographical accuracy.* Hence we find in the prophecies scenes and characters placed side by side, which in actual realization have been separated by centuries, or by half the globe ; just as, in gazing upon the firmament, (to use the illustration of Crusius,) we see the stars as if all at equal distances from us, though in regard to no two of them is this the case.f Hence their Heiicc also the rapid transitions which the pro- rapid trans- -. in itionsfrom phcts maKc from one topic to another, — so another. rapid, iudccd, that in many cases, one event appears as if it were immediately projected upon another, from which, in point of time, it may stand very far remote. In interpreting such prophecies, it is obvious that we must take the picture as a whole, and seek, not for a factitious accomplishment of every line and figure of which it is made up, but for the realization in the * Witness, for example, the emblematical description of Pride, in the first book of the Faery Queen, where knights, wizards, faeries, ^^ holy motiks," and '' gentle hushers," form the retinue, — and mirrors, ruffes, and coaches, are found in the equipage, — of the daughter of " griesly Pluto and sad Proser- pina." Canto iv. sub init. — For an analogous instance from the sister art, I may refer to Rilbens's " Triumph of Peace," in the National Gallery, in which there is a combination of figures that sets all chronology and history at defiance, but each of which has an ideal relation to the subject of the piece. f Hypomnemata ad Theol. Proph. Pars i. p. 623. The Rabbins have the maxim, " Non est prius et posterius in lege ;" and Jerome says, " Non curae fuit spiritui prophetali historise ordinem sequi." See the valuable observations on this head' in Smith's Select Discourses, p. 298. PROPHETIC STYLE. 213 kingdom of Christ of the great idea it is intended i-ect. iv. to convey. The object of the picture is not to foretel historical events, so much as to foreshadow a particular state of things as consequent upon the coming of Christ, and characteristic of his reign. In so far as the prophecy relates to the person of Jesus, it announces historical facts, but where this is not the case, the words of the inspired writer must be viewed in the light of a description of a picture which had emblemati- cally set before his view the character and glory of the latter dispensation. It is not in this age nor in that, in this country nor in that, we are to seek the fulfilment of the prophecy : it is ful- filled, more or less, in every age and in every country where the spiritual reign of Christ is set up ; in other words, the grand idea which the inspired picture presents is realized wherever the truth as it is in Christ Jesus takes hold of the minds of mankind. The characters of the Messiah's reign are the same wherever and whenever it exists, allowance being made for that difference of degree which the greater or more limited diffusion of its principles will pro- duce. Nothing appears to me more unscriptural than the notion which many entertain, that the kingdom of Christ is yet to come ; and that The kingdom during what is called " the latter day glory," the ylu'T'c'omr prophecies regarding the Messiah's reign shall be for the first time fulfilled, by something altoge- ther different in kind from any thing we have yet 214 PECULIARITIES OF THE LECT. IV. seen. Surely our Lord's own words should have effectually prevented all such theories : '' I tell you of a truth," said he to his disciples, " there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God ;" or, as it is given in the parallel passage in another gospel, "till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."* To understand this of our Lord's second coming, is to make him utter an assertion which has not been realised; and to refer it to the destruction of Jerusalem is to put a meaning upon the words altogether gratuitous and improbable. The " coming of the kingdom of God" and "of the Son of Man in his king- dom," are expressions having explicit reference to the expectations of the Jews regarding the establishment of the Messiah's reign, founded upon the predictions of their own Scriptures.f Our Lord's words, consequently, can be con- sistently understood in no other sense than, that, within the life-time of many then hearing him, these expectations would be realised. What is this but to affirm that the fulfilment of those oracles which spoke of the glory of his kingdom, was then nigh at hand ? and to teach us that instead of fixing our thoughts and wishes upon some far-distant era, we should rejoice in that * Luke ix. 27 ; Matt. xvi. 28. ■f Crusii Hypomnemata ad Theol. Proph. Pars i. p. 101. Tlioluck's Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, translated by Rev. R. Meiizies, vol. i. p. 97, ff. Bacon on this PROPHETIC STYLE. 215 which commenced at om' Saviour's resurrection, lect. iv. and amid which we now Hve, — that which is emphatically called in the Old Testament, " the day of salvation," — as the period to which the ancient church looked forward through the vista of prophecy ?* The opinion just advanced, as to the light in opinion of which the Messianic prophecies should be inter- head. preted, is more than hinted at by Bacon, in one of those sagacious paragraphs with which the writings of this great legislator of science are replete. "In this matter," says he, "that lati- * tude must be admitted which is proper and ' familiar to the Divine predictions ; viz. that ' their fulfilment should take place continuously ' as well as punctually. For they bespeak the ' nature of their Author, with whom ' one day is ' as a thousand years, and a thousand years as ' one day ;' and though the plenitude and ' summit of their accomplishment may be, for ' the most part, destined to some particular age ' or even given moment of time, yet have they ' in the meantime certain grades and stages of ' fulfilment, through different ages of the world. ' A work on this principle I judge a desideratmn ; ' but it is one which must be undertaken with ' great wisdom, sobriety, and reverence, or alto- ' gether let alone."f What was a desideratum in the days of Bacon is, unhappily, one still. So * See Calvini Comment, and Raphelii Annot. in loc. ']' De Augment. Scient. lib. ii. c. 11, sub init. 216 PECULIARITIES OF THE i-ECT. IV. little, indeed, has this " pregnant passage " been understood, that Bishop Hurd quotes it as con- taining the author's suffrage in favour of the doctrine of a double sense in the prophecies.* Even in the form in w^hich the passage appeared in Bacon's first sketch of his w^ork, which is that quoted by Bishop Hurd, I must profess myself utterly unable to trace any such doctrine in his words. A gradual, or as Hurd gives it, "iigerminant and sjmnging,'' is surely not a twofold fulfilment ; nor is a prophecy, which reaches its culminating point through successive stages, of the same sort with one which is fulfilled literally in one age, and then spiritually in another. I confess I am anxious to preserve the great authority of Bacon from being tortured so as to sanction a doctrine which, more perhaps than any other, has pre- vented prophetical interpretation from being either wise, sober, or reverential. The prophets 3. Closcly coiinectcd with what has been just very vaguely mcntioued, is tlic vague and indefinite manner in whenThdr whlcli tlic pToplicts generally speak of the period to which their Messianic announcements refer. With the exception of a few predictions of facts in our Lord's personal history, the prophets sup- ply us with hardly anything approximating to chronological data as to the fulfilment of what they announce. Their most frequent form of phraseology, in introducing their oracles, is * Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies, 8zc. Serm. iii. will be ful- filled. PROPHETIC STYLE. 217 "in that day," by which they intend the day Kar i-^-ct- iv. e^oxvv, to which all the Divine purposes of grace towards man have respect, and which is elsewhere described as " the day which God hath made " — the latter dispensation introduced by the advent of the Messiah.* To the same purport are such expressions as " in the latter days/' " in the end of the days," &c. ; terms which, as already re- marked, are expressly interpreted in the New Testament as describing the Messiah's reign in its whole extent.f Such vague and general modes of indicating time are entirely in keeping with the apparitional character of those revelations with which the prophets were favoured, and the pictorial cast of their oracles as delivered to others. Like all painters, they wrought, if I may so speak, in space, not in time ; and, conse- quently, must be allowed those liberties which the peculiarities of their art require. * Ps. cxviii. 24. So, also, in Mai. iii. 17, where Jehovah says of the pious among the Jews, at the time of the Messiah's advent, " In that day which I have made they shall be my special treasure," referring obviously to Exod. xix. 5. Zecha- riah, speaking of this day, says (xiv. 7), " It shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day and night ; but it shall be that in the evening there shall be light," i. e. it shall be " the everlasting age." ■f See above, p. 181, note. So, also, the Jews them- selves understand the phrase : " uti jam diximus R. Moses Gerundensis et alii omnes sapientes per finem dierum intelli- gunt dies Messioe." Menass. de Resur. III. iii. 5, quoted in Bp. Chandler's Defence of Christianity, p. 101, 3d edit. 1728. 218 PECULIARITIES OF THE ^^^'^- '^- 4. In depicting their visions the prophets fre- useZymbolI qucntly employ symbols and figures, drawn from lonvey to° ^atters with which their countrymen were con- fvivirider versanti for the purpose of conveying a clear sfJiTv""'^ and impressive idea to their minds of the truths sions. these visions embody. We find, from experi- ence, that there is no way of conveying a new or difficult idea into the mind so successful as to clothe it in figures drawn from what bears the strongest analogy to it within the region of ob- servation occupied by the party to be instructed. Hence, the all-wise Author of Scripture, in con- veying to us the knowledge of spiritual truths, has clothed these in symbols and figures bor- rowed from the relations, engagements, or phe- nomena of ordinary life. It is thus that he has sought to convey to our minds correct ideas of himself, of his government, and of his princi- ples of action towards the sons of men. It is thus, also, that he has unfolded to our view the glories and joys of the heavenly state, delineating these in metaphors furnished by the sublunary objects which are most associated in our minds with ideas of sublimity, purity, and beauty. Now heaven is not more really beyond the con- ception of us, living as we do under the full glories of the latter dispensation, than was the spiritual splendour of this dispensation itself to those whose lot was cast amid the shadows of the former. Indeed, they themselves speak of it in language which we are wont to borrow as PROPHETIC STYLE. 219 expressive of our own ignorance of the unseen lect. iv. world : " Since the beginning of the world," says Isaiah, in a passage which Paul quotes as apply- ing to Gospel times,* " men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." How, then, but by allusions, direct or figurative, to such things as the Jews were most familiar with, could ideas have been conveyed to them of the spiritual glo- ries of that reign which was to cover the whole earth with light, purity, and love ? We find, accordingly, that nearly all the Mes- Nature of , . n n !.• ^ 1. the symbols sianic prophecies are oi a figurative character, used. The progress of the Redeemer's kingdom is intimated by figures drawn from the actions of a victorious warrior ; its extent, by figures taken from the practices of monarchs who ruled over several subjugated empires ; and its prospeiitj/ by images borrowed from the condition of well- governed and happy nations, such as abundance of provision, security for life and property, equity in the administration of justice, and kindness to the poor and those who stand in need of comfort. From these general allusions and symbols, it was but a step to such as were of a more specific and still more familiar kind. Hence the Holy City • — the metropolis of the Theocracy — becomes the symbol of the New Testament church, or king- * Is. Ixiv. 4 ; comp. 1 Cor. ii. 9. 220 PECULIARITIES OF THE I'ECT. IV. dom of the Messiah, and Mount Sion, of the seat of the Messiah's authority and royal dominion ; the inhabitants of Jerusalem become the repre- sentatives of the Messiah's subjects, the members of his spiritual church ; the enemies of the Jewish nation, especially Edom, Moab, and Babylon, appear as personating the adversaries of the Messiah, over w^hom his victories are to be achieved ; and the nations which were tributary to the Jewish kings, or rendered them homage and service, are introduced as representing those who, once the foes of the Messiah, shall be brought to acknowledge his sway, and offer gifts for his ser- vice.* Closely allied with this is the practice of applying to the Messiah the name of David ; a practice originated not so much, I apprehend, by the circumstance that our Lord was to be " of the house and lineage of David," as by a felt analogy between the divinely-chosen king of Israel and the divinely-appointed Sovereign and Saviour of the church.f * Comp. Ps. ii. Ixxii. ex. Is. Ixii. Ixiii., &c. j- It seems common to all oriental poetry to introduce cer- tain characters by the names of remarkable individuals to whose circumstances theirs are analogous. Thus, in the fol- lowing couplet from a Persian poet, quoted with the original in Dr. A. Clarke's Commentary on Eccl. iv. 14, describing the extraordinary elevation of Rushn Achter from a prison to the throne of Hindostan, the name Joseph is applied to that prince from the analogy between his circumstances and those of the patriarch : — *' Rushn Achter [i. e. the bright star] is now become a moon, Joseph is taken out of prison and become a king." from the New Testament ain- ing these PROPHETIC STYLE. 221 In the interpretation of these symbohcal allii- lect. iv. sions of the ancient prophets, great advantage "^^^^*° j!.^^ will be gained by attending to the manner in which they are applied by the apostles in their j"^ '^•^p'' citations of the passages in which they are con- symbols tained. Proceeding upon the principle that it was spiritual relationship to the Father of the faithful, which constituted any one a member of that seed of Abraham who were heirs according to the promise, and that, consequently, " he was not a Jew, who was one outwardly, nor was cir- cumcision that of the flesh, but of the spirit," the New Testament writers seem clearly to unfold the idea, that at no time was the promis- cuous mass of the Israelites the church of God, but that during the whole of the ancient eco- nomy, the only persons viewed as such, really, and not iijpicallij, were true believers, devout worshippers, those who, like Simeon, " waited for the consolation of Israel." It is to such, accord- ingly, that the apostles regard the prophets as speaking, when they announce the restoration of glory to Jerusalem, and to the land of Judea ; and it is in accordance with the spiritual hopes, opinions, and feelings of such, that they interpret these predictions. Thus, the prophecy of Amos, that, under the reign of the Messiah, God would "raise up the fallen tabernacle of David, and build it as in the days of old," is explained by the Apostle James as having been fulfilled when the Gentiles were first added to the Christian 222 PECULIARITIES OF THE i-ECT. IV. church. ^'^ Simeon/' says he, '' hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets ; as it is written. After this will I return, and will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down ; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, that doeth these things."* In these words we have an inspired explanation of the symbolical language of the prophet. The raising up of the tabernacle of David is interpreted as the resuscitation of the long dormant and depressed church, by the introduction into it of converts from the Gen- tiles ; and the declaration of the prophet, that this tabernacle thus raised up shall possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen which are called by God's name, is translated into a prediction that the residue of men should seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom his name is called.f To understand this prophecy, then, as some persist in understanding it, of the literal Israel, and the restoration of the family of David to the throne of Judea, is to adopt the Neologian hypothesis of accommodation, and * Acts XV. 14—17. -]■ So also Paul interprets Isaiah's description of the sub- jugation of Edom, Moab, Amnion, and Egypt, (chap. xi. 14,) of the conversion of the Gentiles unto Christ, Rom. xv. 12. PROPHETIC STYLE. 223 give a direct contradiction to the inspired com- i-ect. iv, ment of the Apostle. From the manner in which the New Testa- ment writers apply these symbohcal prophecies, we may gather further, that by the throne of David, on which the Messiah was to sit, is meant the exaltation of Jesus, by his ascension into heaven, to the place of supreme authority in the church, (comp. Isa. xxii. 22 — 24, with Rev. iii. 7; Ps. cxxxii. 11, with Acts ii. 30, 31;) by the kings that set themselves against the. Messiah, and the nations that are to be destroyed by him, were intended the rulers and people of the Jews, no less than the other enemies of the Christian cause, (comp. Ps. ii. with Acts iv. 24 — 30 ; Ps. cviii. 10—12, 22, with Matt. xxi. 42—44, and Acts iv. 10 — 12 ;) by the promise of protection, deliverance, and blessing, to Israel, was intimated salvation, in all its extent, to the followers of Christ, (comp. Isa. viii. 13, 14, with 1 Pet. iii. 14, 15, and ii. 8 ; Isa. xxv. 8, and Hos. xiii. 14, with 1 Cor. XV. 50 — 57,) &c. These inspired explanations must be regarded by every con- scientious inquirer as Jixed by Divine authority ; and they are valuable, not merely in relation to the passages in connexion with which they are announced, but as suggesting a pi^'mciple of ge- neral application to all which may be justly regarded as coming under the same class.* * See Davidson's Test of Prophecy ; or, an Attempt to prove that the Neiv Testament Interpretation of Prophecy is the only 224 THEORY OF A DOUBLE SENSE i-ECT. IV. Among other advantages which the intelligent application of these principles promises to the student of prophecy, not the least important, in my estimation, is, that they enable him to dis- These princi- pcnsc wlth tlic thcory of a plm-ality of senses in unn/cTssI^ prophccy. Whatever charms this theory may ^plummy of possess for the mystic, or the man of warm senses in imacfination, it is one which the sober interpre- propnecy. o ' i ter will be very miwilling to adopt, if it can, by possibility, be dispensed with. A plurality of senses is so unlike what we should expect in a revelation of the Divine will ; the admission of it Objections to is SO apt to bc abused, and indeed, has so often been abused to the purposes of fanaticism and error ; the principle of it is so arbitrary, and so entirely unauthorized by any of the New Testa- ment expositions of prophecy ; and the applica- tion of it is so uncertain and fluctuating, even in the hands of its most able advocates ; * that sure and certain Criterion hy which the Meaning of all Divine Predictions may he discovered. Edin, 1839. — See also Ap- pendix, Note K. * It is a remarkable fact, that in hardly a single instance can this theory be carried out in its application to an entire passage. In most cases, its advocates present us, not with a double sense, a literal and a spiritual in each verse, but with two distinct subjects, of which now one and then the other is taken up. Thus, in Ps. xxii., for instance, instead of showing that every verse refers to David in one sense, and to the Messiah in another, we have the psalm cut into fragments, of which this is held to refer only to David, and that only to the Messiah. Of such a mingling of subjects, instances do occur in the prophetic Scriptures, but to speak of this as a double sense is plainly absurd. IN PROPHECY. 225 unless it can be shown to be absolutely indis- lect. iv. pensable for the consistent interpretation of pro- phecy, no sober inquirer after truth will consider himself justified in adopting it. It, in fact, exposes the prophetical Scriptures to be turned into a mere arena for the display of fanciful ingenuity, and endangers the entire evidence of prophecy, viewed as a prediction of future events. Nor are its advocates at all agreed as to the extent of its application, or the criteria by which its presence is to be determined ; some contend- ing for as many senses as the words will bear, while others restrict themselves to two — a literal and a spiritual ; some proposing one test of its applicabihty, some another ; whilst others, repu- diating all tests, insist upon pursuing their ambiguous course from beginning to end of the Old Testament. Where a rule of interpretation stands itself in so much need of being interpreted, it is not to be wondered at if it should be viewed with suspicion and distrust by those who, having no favourite system to defend at all hazards, aim exclusively in studying Scripture, at evolving from its words the precise meaning which the Divine Spirit has embodied in them. The more the ancient prophecies are studied in this spirit, the more do I feel satisfied will it be found that such a principle of interpretation is unnecessary, and that, to use the words of a profound scholar, *' there is really no prophecy which may not be " restricted to one sense, — such a sense as fully Q 226 THEORY OF A DOUBLE SENSE, &C. LECT. IV. " meets all the exigencies of the connexion in "which it occurs."* * Henderson's Introductory Dissert, to his Translation of Isaiah, p. 29. See also Marsh's Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, Lect. x. ; Smith (Dr. J. P.) On the Principles of Interpretation as applied to the Prophecies, &c. p. 51. LECTURE V. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. — SURVEY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY FROM THE FALL TO THE TIME OF DAVID. ACTS X. 43. To Him gave all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. It has been customary with writers upon pro- lect. v. phecy to divide its history into tzco great ages : ^^^'°^p'°' the former reaching from the fall of Adam to the time of Samuel; the latter from the time of Samuel to that of Malachi. Perhaps a more accurate divi- sion would be into three ages ; the first extending from the fall of Adam to the death of Saul, the second embracing the age of David and Solomon, and the third stretching from the death of Solo- mon to the time of Malachi. The prophecies delivered during these three epochs are suffi- ciently distinguishable to justify, if not to call for, such an arrangement. I propose, accord- ingly, to follow it in the general survey of a2 228 AGES OF PROPHECY FIRST AGE. ^^^'^- "^^ Messianic announcement, on which we have now to enter. First age of Thc first of thcsc ages is nearly identical with prophecy. what is commonly denominated the patriarchal age. The religion of this period was marked by the simplicity of its forms, the spirituality of its worship, and the ft'eeness with which its blessings were accessible to all. It was based upon the revealed purpose of God, to redeem mankind by the propitiatory sacrifice of the virgin-born Deliverer ; and its institutions seem to have had no other purpose than to preserve the knowledge of this great truth before the minds of those who lived under it. The covenant of God, which is repeatedly spoken of as *' the everlasting cove- nant," was established with them on the same terms, and with the same gracious universality in its offers, as under the Christian dispensation. In this respect the earliest economy stands dis- tinct from that which followed it, and more nearly resembles that which now exists.* The prophetical announcements regarding the Messiah during this age are characterised by their brevity, their simplicity, and their direct- ness. They were conveyed usually in the form * " The scheme of the new covenant behoved to be'^such as to extend its life-giving benefits to all nations, so that none who would live according to it should upon any account, whether of country, of kindred, or of place, be impeded. And in this respect the law and life appointed by our Saviour Jesus Christ appears as a going back to the oldest system of FIRST GOSPEL. 229 of express promises from God to his servants, or i-ect. v. in that of valedictory blessings pronounced by eminent saints, according to the custom of that reverend age, upon their children or followers before their death. As the basis of all our subsequent inquiries, interview we must go back at the outset to the promise J^nToTrm of a Deliverer, which was mven by God to our paints after ^ o •/ the Fall. first parents, immediately after their fall. In the Mosaic record of the interview which took place on that occasion, between the Creator and his guilty creatures, we are informed that God, in cursing the serpent, announced that im- placable enmity should exist between him and the woman, and between his seed and her seed ; the result of which should be, the partial injury of the seed of the woman, and the entire destruction of her deceiver. We have already assumed that the words addressed to the ser- pent on this occasion, were directed against that malignant spirit by whom the brute serpent was possessed, and that the degradation inflicted upon the latter was intended merely to symbolize to the minds of Adam and Eve the spiritual degra- religion, that which prevailed before the days of Moses, and according to which Abraham, the friend of God, and his ancestors lived. Therefore, if you will compare the life of Christians and the religion disseminated among all nations by Christ, with the system of those who in the time of Abraham obtained a good report for holiness and righteousness, you shall find them one and the same." — Eusebius, Dem. Ev. I. 5. suh. init. 230 FIRST GOSPEL. T'ECT. V. dation which then* unseen destroyer had, by his assault on them, brought upon himself. In ac- cordance with this assumption, the declaration now under notice may be regarded as intended to convey to our first parents an intimation of God's gracious designs towards them, in the utter overthrow, by One closely and peculiarly related to themselves, of the dominion which their malig- nant and crafty deceiver had acquired over them. In this point of view, the announcement of God to the serpent has been ever regarded as a declaration to man of a way of salvation through a Redeemer ; and hence it has with great pro- priety been styled, TO nPQTEYArrEAION, or First Gospel. The correctness of this opinion will be best evinced by an examination of the language of the passage. " And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall wound thee, as to the head (i. e. vitally, incurably), and thou shalt wound him, as to the heel {partially, curahly)."* "^ The first question which naturally arises here * Gen. iii. 15. ffixrjDT©' xin. The pronoun here agrees with im, materially, not formally, inasmuch as the seed spoken of is thought of as masculine. The verb, which is the same in this and the following clause, denotes originally to gape upon (= fjxiB, Gesen. in verb.), hence to seek with a hostile intention, to assault, Job ix. 17; and as in the passage before us, to succeed in that assault, to wound. So also in Ps. cxxxix. 1 1 , the only other passage in which this word occurs in Scrip- ture, the meaning is, " If I say, Surely the darkness shall FIRST GOSPEL. 231 relates to what is intended by the seed of the i-ect. v. woman, and by the seed of the serpe?it, in this passage. These two are placed in direct anti- thesis to each other ; and in attempting to ex- plain the passage, this must be clearly kept in view. With regard to the seed of the serpent, it is Meaning of obvious, at first sight, that this must be a phrase "reedSe indicative of spiritual similarity and association ; ^^'^''"^' for no being can be the child of Satan in any other sense than that he is imbued with the temper, or is obedient to the influence, of that malignant spirit. In this sense our Lord charges the Jews with being " of their father, the devil," whose desires they loved to fulfil. (John viii. 44.) So also Paul denounced Elymas as a " child of the devil," because of his hypocrisy and mis- chievous wickedness, (Acts xiii. 10;) and John expressly declares, that it is by the love and practice of sin that men become " children of the devil." (1 Johniii. 8, 10.) With these statements before us, we can have no difficulty in determining who form part, at least, of " the seed of the ser- pent." In this appellation are obviously included {assail, wound) destroy me, &c. ;" for as the preceding context shows, it is of the preserving, and not of the punitive om- niscience of Jehovah that the psalmist is speaking. — ©nt in this clause, and apr in the following, appear to be used tropically ; the former to denote the mortal, the latter the transitory and curable nature of the wound. No wound is so fatal to a serpent as one on the head, and no where is the bite of a serpent so innocuous to a man as on his heel. 232 FIRST GOSPEL. Tect. v. all ;) and it will not appear very extravagant to suppose either that this formed the object of their most earnest expectations, or that, when their first-born appeared, the happy mother should have deemed that already had the great one, even Jehovah come. It is quite impossible for us to form any adequate conception of the feelings of Adam and Eve, either in the anticipa- tion or on the occurrence of this event. With what mingled emotions of curiosity, delight, and dread, must they have looked forward to it! Something was about to happen which had never happened before — a new being, they knew not exactly what, was to be given to their affections and their society — the pangs of the threatened sorrow were to be endured by Eve, and for aught they could tell, the blessings of the first gospel realized in the birth of a child ; and, under all these circumstances, can we wonder that the enraptured mother — feeling that she had sur- vived her agony, and, borne along by that gush of unutterable tenderness with which she could not but survey the lovely being that she folded in her bosom — should have thought that her babe was none other than the promised seed — the expected Jehovah — at once her sovereign and her son ? Instead of deeming such an in- terpretation of her words harsh and strained, I cannot but regard it as putting into her mouth language the most natural for one in her peculiar R 2 M-, 244 EXCLAMATION OF EYE. ^^^"^^ ^' circumstances to employ. Expectant as she and her husband were of one in human form who was to destroy the serpent, it seems ahnost as if nothing short of an express revelation to the contrary could have prevented their falling into the opinion which we regard Eve's words as expressing. The fact that that opinion was a mistake, does not detract from its importance in relation to the position it is now adduced to support. On the contrary, this rather shows how strong and lively was the expectation in the minds of our first parents of the advent of their deliverer, inasmuch as it led them to lay hold, without any authority from God, of the very first circumstance that seemed to bear any resemblance to that event. When we come down to the times of the postdiluvian patriarchs, frequent instances occur of passages which can be interpreted satisfac- torily only on the supposition that they involve a reference to the promised Saviour. Of these, the first we shall notice is the prophetical bene- Noah's bless- dictlou prououuced by Noah on his sons Shem ing on Shem, and Japheth : — " Blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem," Gen. ix. 26, 27. The language employed by the patriarch in blessing Shem is strongly expressive of the reli- gious superiority of that branch of his descend- ants. This is evident, partly from the use of the term Jehovah, which, as already remarked. 245 noah's blessing on his sons. designates the Deity, not in his general relation to ^^c"^- ^ the world, but in his special relation, as the revealed object of worship and author of salva- tion, to his people ; and partly from the declara- tion itself, that God, in this character, would be the God of Shem and of his descendants. Of this the patriarch was so certain, that he praises God for it as if the anticipated blessing were already enjoyed. In the blessing pronounced upon Japheth we andonja- pheth recognise, in the first place, an assurance of a vast and wide-spreading progeny ; and, in the second, a prediction that the religious privileges enjoyed by Shem should ultimately be imparted in a peculiar manner to Japheth. This latter I take to be the meaning of the expression, " He shall dwell in the tents of Shem." In Scripture a tent or tabernacle is often used to denote the peculiar and most valued possession of an indi- vidual or nation. Thus, in Ps. Ixxxiii. 6, " the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites" are evidently put for what constituted the chief glory and resources of that people. In like manner, the tents of Jacob and of Judah are used to designate that which was the peculiar privilege, honour, and defence, of the chosen nation, viz. their religious advantages and relation to Jeho- vah ; comp. Numb. xxiv. 5 ; Is. iv. 6 ; xxxiii. 20 ; Zech. xii. 7 ; Mai. ii. 12 ; where not only the blessings of the Theocracy, but also the enlarged blessings of the Messiah's reign, are alluded to 246 noah's blessing on his sons, ^^^^- ^- under this figure. Hence, to dwell in the tents of any one, may be understood to signify a parti- cipation in the peculiar advantages which that one considers himself to possess. Thus, " to dwell in the tents of wickedness," is to enjoy the pleasures and favourite pursuits of the ungodly. In like manner, restoration to the privileges of their nation is promised to the Jews by the ex- pression, "\ will yet make thee to dwell in taber- nacles as in the day of the solemn feast," i. e. as Jerome paraphrases it, " As at that time I de- livered thee out of Egypt, and thou didst dwell in tabernacles hastening to go to the Holy Land and to the place of the temple ; so, also, now will I bring thee out of tribulation, and straits, and impending captivity, if thou wilt do what I have enjoined."* In accordance with this the extension of spiritual blessings to the Gentiles is symbolized by such language as the following : " Enlarge the plan of thy tent, and do thou stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations ; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes : for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left ; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." f With both the senti- ment and the language of this verse accords the interpretation above proposed of the words of * Hieronymi Comment, in Hos, xii. 10, apvd Rosenmulleri Scholia. t Is. liv. 2, 3. NOAH S BLESSING ON HIS SONS. 247 Noah concerning Japheth. The pecuhar dis- i-ect. v. tinction and privilege of Shem was that Jehovah was to be his God. In this, however, Japheth was ultimately to share ; he was to " dwell in the tents of Shem ;" he was to be a partaker of those inestimable religious advantages by which the family of his younger brother was to be peculiarly favoured. In point of fact, this has been the case. The family of Shem has been that from which religious blessing has flowed to all the nations of the earth, and especially to the descendants of Japheth. For many ages these two races were widely separated, by nothing so much as by reli- gious differences, but on the advent of the pro- mised Deliverer this separation came to an end ; the sons of the wanderer have obtained " inhe- ritance among them that were sanctified;" the " middle wall of partition" has been broken down, and He who is our peace hath made both one. This opinion, which is that espoused by the Chaldee Paraphrast, by Augustine, Jerome, and Chrysostom, as well as by Calvin, Horsley, Sher- lock, Hengstenberg, and several other modern interpreters, is favoured by the consideration that to explain Japhet's dwelling in the tents of Shem, of the conquests which the descendants of the former should achieve over those of the latter, would be to make Noah announce both blessing and cursing upon Shem in the same breath. The curse vipon Ham was the subjugation of his pos- terity to Shem and Ja])heth ; but if the posterity 248 PROMISES MADE TO ABRAHAM. LECT. V. of Shem was also to be overcome by Japheth, then on him also would light a portion of that disaster, than which to men of their habits of thinking there could be few greater. It forms no part, however, of Noah's object to damp the hopes of Shem ; on the contrary, the whole narra- tive impresses us with the conviction that upon him the largest and the fullest blessing came — an impression which at once forbids the idea that his father would, to gratify Japheth, announce a fact that could not but grieve and mortify his more favoured brother. Promisemade Thc fifrand truth thus indirectly intimated to by God to "^ '' ^ Abraham, thc SOUS of Noali, tliut tlic promised deliverer was to come in the line of the descendants of Shem, was more fully announced by God him- self to the most highly favoured member of that family, Abraham. On three different occasions the assurance was given to that patriarch that through his seed a blessing was to come on all the nations of the earth : " And all races of the earth shall be blessed in thee (Gen. xii. 3, and xviii. 18) ; and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth bless themselves"' (Gen. xxii. 18).* As- * The force of the Hithpael iDiinn, in this verse, is not, as Le Clerc, Jurieu, and some others would give it, " sibi invicem bona adprecabuntur," as if the meaning were " they shall bless each other by saying, May you be as Abraham, &c." which is in no case the proper force of that conjugation ; but " se ipsos felices reputabunt— felices erunt," so that, in effect, it differs little from the Niphal form used in the preceding PROMISES MADE TO ABRAHAM. 249 suming the accuracy of this translation, there i^ect. v. are two questions respecting the purport of the promise to which we must advert. In the first place, does the blessing here spoken of refer to the enjoyment of temporal or of spiritual advan- tages ? In reply, I would say, that it refers to both, but to the former only as included in and flowing from the latter. That it relates primarily ^^'-^'^^ f^- i .< jna]-i]y to spi- or exclusively to temporal blessings, as some r'tu^i wess- affirm, appears inadmissible, on the following grounds: 1st. All the blessings enjoyed by, or promised to, the patriarchs, were connected with the maintenance of the true religion, and were dependent upon their continuing to love and serve Jehovah as he had revealed himself to them (see Gen.xvii. 1 ; xviii. 17 — 19 ; xxii. 16 — 18; xxvi. 5). This being the case, they could not suppose that either they or their posterity could bless the nations in any other way than by extending to them the knowledge of those religious truths by which alone they themselves were blessed.* 2dly. How could Abraham expect that all the nations of the earth could be blessed in his seed, in a temporal point of view, when he had been already assured that over many of them his pos- terity were to achieve conquest, and by reducing them to bondage, to confer upon them the very example quoted. Cf. Jahnii Append. Hermeneuliccs, Fasc. II, Vuticinia de Messia, p. 199. sq. * See this copiously illustrated by Jahn, Appendix Her- mcneiificce, Fasc. II. p. 102. 250 PROMISES MADE TO ABRAHAM. LECT. V. opposite of worldly advantage ? 3dly. Abraham would at once understand how, in a spiritual point of view, he had the means of blessing the world, inasmuch as he possessed the knowledge of those truths which all needed, and without which none could be happy ; but in what sense, or by what means, he or his family might be the communicants of direct physical advantages to the race, he would be utterly unable to perceive ; the thing itself would have been physically impos- sible without a miracle, and therefore we may conclude was as little expected by Abraham as it appears to have been promised by God. Knowledge The otlier question which may be raised upon possessed by Abraham of thls prouiise to Abraham, respects the degree of the manner in which the knowledge which he may be supposed to have promise was . . , . , . possessed as to the particular manner m which it was to be fulfilled. His general conviction that it was by the dispersion of religious knowledge through the world that his seed was to become a blessing to all nations, did not necessarily involve an acquaintance with the fact that it was by the descent from him of the Messiah that this was to be accomplished. That Abraham, however, was ignorant of this fact, cannot, I apprehend, be with- out the greatest improbability supposed. In the first place, the very religion which his descend- ants were to diffuse, rested upon this as its foun- dation. It was in the promised Saviour that Abraham himself was blessed ; it was in him that he knew that his posterity could alone be blessed, tilled. PROMISES MADE TO ABRAHAM. 251 and hence he could not form any idea of their lect. v. becoming the means of blessing others without conveying to them the knowledge of this Saviour. We may, therefore, legitimately infer that he had an intelligent perception of the manner in which this promise was to be fulfilled. 2dly. Our Lord himself expressly states, that " Abra- ham saw his day afar off, and was glad." * What- ever meaning, in other respects, we attach to this declaration, we must regard it as affirming Abraham's acquaintance with the leading truths concerning Christ. But if he was acquainted with these, then must he have known in what way it was that blessing w^as to flow through him to all nations of the earth. 3dly. The Apostle Peter explains the promise to Abraham as announcing " the sending of Jesus Christ to bless men by turning them away from their iniquities." f But if this be the purport of the promise, can we suppose that God, who had entered into a relation of the most gracious inti- macy with Abraham (comp. Gen. xviii. 17) would conceal from the patriarch this glorious truth ? 4thly. The Apostle Paul expressly states that the faith which Abraham exercised in this promise was the faith of the gospel — saving faith (Rom. iv.). The same thing is affirmed by him, if pos- sible, still more clearly in writing to the Gala- tians (ch. iii. 8 — 16), where we are told that * John viii. 5plete and perpetual victory.* If this in- terpretation be correct, we may justly regard the passage we have been considering as a striking evidence of the hope and comfort which the first promise of a Saviour afforded to the pious in the early ages of the world. In the lips of Job such a mode of magnifying Jehovah may be viewed as * Ths older versions greatly favour the interpretation con- tended for in the text. The LXX. gives the passage thus : — Trpoffrayjuart Ce iQavariaae cpatcovra (xivoGTdri]v, By an edict he xlevj the apodate dragon. The Syr. and Arab, of the Polyo-lott give the meaning of " And his hand killed the serpent lohich fled ;" and the Chald. Targ. that of" His hand devoured, or de- stroyed, Leviathan, which may be likened to the biting serpent," Walton renders the verb here by creavit ; but he has evidently confounded ni3 with ^'li. 264 TRACES OF ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE TT'^'T. V. expressing much the same feehngs as Dr. Watts has embodied in the following verses intended for tlie use of Christians : — " Terrible God, that reign'st on high, How awful is thy thund'ring hand ! Thy fiery bolts, how fierce they fly ! Nor can all earth or hell withstand. " This the old rebel angels knew. And Satan fell beneath thy frown : Thine arrows struck the traitor through, And weighty vengeance sunk him down." B. II. Hy. 22. Doctrine of A passagc iudicatiug, with still greater minute- salvation by aninteices- ness aud precisiou, the knowledge possessed by sor and ^"-^1 i i • f • ' i atonement, Job aud his irieuds regardmg the way of a sm- stated in ch. • t /--i i • i ••• xxxiii. 23-28 ner s acceptance with God, occurs m ch. xxxni. 23 — 28. '' The main purport of this chapter/' says Professor Hitzig, whose general opposition to evangelical doctrine renders his opinion in such a case more worthy of attention, ''''is di- rected to show that afflictions are often in the hand of God means of discipline, by which the individual is led to a sense of his guilt, and deli- vered from the corruption of sin, in order that Job might view his trials in this hght, and learn to use them for his salvation." * For this pur- pose Elihu tells Job (ver. 14) that there are two ways in which chiefly God seeks to deter men from sin, and keep their souls from perishing: the one is by warning visions, the other by pain- * Hiob erkliirt von Ludwig Hitzig, s. 201, 8vo. Leipz. 1839. FIRST GOSPEL IN THE BOOK OF JOB. '265 ful afflictions (ver. 15—19). To these, however, i-ect. v. he does not ascribe any saving virtue of them- selves ; nor does he suppose that they will do more than lead the individual into a state in which, cured of his pride and self-confidence, he shall be disposed to avail himself of suitable means for securing the Divine favour. What these are he thus announces: — " Since there is on his behalf a commissioned Intercessor, One of a thousand, to announce to man his uprightness, And He [God] is propitious towards him [man], and -hath said, Redeem from going down to destruction ; I have found a ransom [expiation] : His flesh shall become fresher than a child's. And he shall return to the days of his youth. He shall pray to God, and He shall be gracious to him ; He shall behold His face with exultation; And to man shall he render his righteousness. Then shall he sing to men, and say, — I have sinned, and perverted the right ; But it has not been recompensed to me : He hath redeemed my soul from passing into destruction. And my life shall see light."* * Ver. 23. d« implies here not possible but actual condi- tion ; as in many other places, it is a particle of affirma- tion. Comp. eh. xiv. 5 ; xvii. 2 (" since there is not duplicity with me, mine eyes can endure their provocation"), 13 ; Prov. iii. 34, &c. — vbv, super eum, pro eo. Comp. Dan. xii. 1. — y^'^o^^'ja. I take the former of these words in its proper sense, of one who is sent or commissioned, and (according to a very common idiom of the language) as qualifying y'bo. The latter signifies an interpreter (Gen. xlii. 23), an ambassador (2 Chron. xxxii. 31), and an intercessor or mediator (Isa. xliii. 27) ; the last appears the preferable meaning here, as the case is not one in which the offices of interpreter or ambassador are so much 266 TRACES OF ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE _^^CT. V. Now, supposing Elihu to have possessed a thrpass^agl. knowledge of the great doctrine of propitiatory- acceptance with God, it is impossible to conceive of a more natural and appropriate occasion for introducing it than is afforded by the train of his previous observations. After reminding Job that afflictions were designed by God to be useful in awakening in man a sense of guilt, what more natural than that he should proceed to remind his friend that the advantage of such an awaken- insT arose from the circumstance that there was a way of acceptance with God provided for the required as those of an intercessor. One of a thousand, " i. e. a sort of person very rarely to be met with, and in this sense, perhaps, vh^, a wonder, Is. ix. 5." Lee, in lac. Comp. ch. ix. 3 : ilccles. vii. 28. The rendering '' one of the thousands," which is followed by Hitzig, is inadmissible on several grounds, ?]'?« being in the singular and inarticulated, and the allusion thereby introduced being foreign to this part of the sacred writings. — iTi", that whereby man might stand as just before God. Ver. 24. I follow Rosenmiiller in regarding this verse as part of the protasis, and in finding the apodosis in ver. 25. In accordance with this, I have rendered the verbs in the past tense ; which, indeed, the conversive Vau prefixed to them renders grammatically necessary. — nniB, from the verb nniiJ, he destroyed, means primarily perdition or destruction ; and so it is used Ps. Iv. 24, where the LXX. render by han ; but the reading in the received text is every way preferable. 268 TRACES OF ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE ^^'^'^- V- grandiloquence and verbosity ; nor upon this hypothesis can I form any conception of what EHhu referred to when he spoke of the necessity of a commissioned intercessor, one of a thousand, to declare to man his uprightness, or of God's being rendered propitious towards the man be- cause he himself had found an expiation, or of the song of thanksgiving which he puts into the mouth of the individual whose righteousness had been established. Language such as that just referred to, so strongly savours of evangelical sen- timent, that I wonder how any enlightened and pious interpreter can hesitate to understand it of the great doctrine of salvation by an atonement. It is in vain to say that this doctrine was unknown in the days of Job, for not only is this a mere begging of the question, but it is directly opposed to all the evidence which we possess upon the subject, and of which we have already considered the leading points. — The only objec- tion of any weight to this interpretation has been drawn from the declaration in ver. 25 : " His flesh shall become fresher than a child's ; he shall return to the days of his youth ;" which has been urged as an evidence that it is of the cure of mere bodily ailments that Elihu is speak- ing in this passage. There is some plausibility, it must be confessed, in this ; but a very few remarks will serve, I hope, to show that there is nothing more. It must be admitted, on all bands, that the Avords in question are highly FIRST GOSPEL IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 269 figurative, whatever we suppose to be their refer- ^^ct. v. ence, whether to the body or to the soul. If understood of the body, the words contain an hyperbole; if understood of the soul, they contain a metaplior ; and between these two figures our choice lies in interpreting the passage. Now, in the first place, I need hardly say, that a meta- phor, in all grave and serious writings, is a much more becoming and suitable figure than an hyperbole ; and that, consequently, the presump- tion is greatly in favour of the supposition that we have an instance of the former in the passage before us. To every reader of taste it must, I think, be at once apparent how much more of dignity and interest it gives to the passage to understand it of a spiritual renovation than of a mere bodily cure. — But, in the second place, this presumption rises to moral certainty when we find indubitable instances in Scripture in which the same or similar phraseology is employed to denote the renewal in the soul of divine and spi- ritual life. Thus, in Ps. ciii. 5, we read, " Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's ;" and in Is. xL 31, " They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength,'* &c. These passages have ever been understood as implying spiritual reno- vation ; and if this be the proper meaning of the figurative language employed in them, it is diffi- cult to see why the same interpretation should not be allowable and necessary in the passage we 270 TRACES OF ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE LT^cT. V. are considering. I conclude, therefore, that the words of Ehhu are to be understood as announcing the great and glorious moral change produced upon the man who avails himself of the gracious provision of an intercessor through whom he may have access unto God ; and with this the whole passage in letter and in spirit agrees. Evidence it I kiiow iiot why thcTc should be any unwil- affords of oi tit acquaintance Jiugness Oil tlic part of tliosc wlio bclieve the tmthsofthe gospel to admit that in this passage we have an utterance of the common faith in the doctrine of salvation by an atonement, professed by the worshippers of the true God in that early age. That there had been a revelation of that doc- trine, the passages already considered clearly show, as well as that it formed the subject of faith, and hope, and joy, to the pious cotem- poraries of Job, in the family of Abraham. Why should we not gladly hail the intelligence, that beyond that family there were some, per- haps many, who were " partakers of like precious faith," and sharers of the same blessed results from the truths which they believed? To an opinion so pleasing, and at the same time so probable, it seems to me we should be justified in clinging, even were the meaning of the pas- sages adduced less obvious than it is ; but when as a mere matter of exegesis the evangelical interpretation of these passages is so obviously the only one which the words will bear, it must be FIRST GOSPEL IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 271 some lurking prejudice alone which can make lect. v. us hesitate cheerfully to acknowledge them as evidence of the extent and clearness with which the truths of the " first gospel" were known and believed in the patriarchal age. The transition from this age to that which The Prophet followed, the levitical, is made through Moses, Moses. who in certain respects stands connected with both. By birth and education he belonged to the former, while to the latter he stands in the relation of founder and legislator. From this latter circumstance he was brought into a pecu- liar relationship to the Messiah ; for, as the economy which he established among the Is- raelites was designed, as we shall see more fully afterwards, to typify the kingdom of the Mes- siah, the office with which Moses was invested became typical of that which the great founder and legislator of the church sustains. Hence Moses was commissioned to announce the advent of Christ in a peculiar and much more definite form than had previously been employed. " The Lord thy God," said he to the Israelites, in his valedictory address to them before his death, " will raise up a prophet from the midst of thee like unto me ; unto him shall ye hearken." (Deut. xviii. 15.) The truth thus communicated to the people of Israel had been long before annoimced to Moses himself, when he appeared on Mount Sinai as the mediator between them and Jehovali. (Comp. Exod. xx. 19; Deut. v. 272 PREDICTION OF MOSES LECT. V. 27, and xviii. 17,18); and, indeed, from the manner in which he refers to it here, it is probable that it had been also previously communicated to them ; for he announces it not as something new, so much as something of which they were already aware, but of which his approaching departure rendered it of importance that they should be impressively reminded. This Prophet That by ''^ the prophet" here spoken of is in- duai. tended a particular individual, and not the body of Jewish prophets, as Origen and many of the modern German critics suppose, appears obvious, partly from the use of the singular noun, coupled as it is with singular suffixes, partly from the total want of any instance of the word ^i^j being used as a collective, or of the body of prophets being spoken of collectively, and partly from the ex- pression "like unto me," which not only is incompatible with the supposition that a col- lective body is referred to (which in no sense could be like one individual), but which directly precludes all reference in the passage to the ordinary Jewish prophets, of whom it is said, that "there arose not a prophet in Israel like unto Moses." (Deut. xxxiv. 10; comp. Numb, xii. 6, 7.) That reference is made in ver. 20 — 22 to the existence of a succession, of prophets, is very true ; but it does not necessarily follow from this, that the verses immediately preceding relate to the same. Moses had previously told the IsraeUtes that they were to have the benefit REGARDING THE MESSIAH. 273 of divinely-appointed teachers or prophets (ch. ^-ect. v. xiii.) This, therefore, was a settled point with them, and did not need to be formally annomiced anew; so that we may easily enough conceive how Moses, after directing their attention to the great Prophet who was to appear, and to whose words they were devoutly to submit, might pass on to remind them of some things regarding those persons who in the mean time were to act as prophets over them. Had he been speaking of Christ as a priest instead of a prophet, would there have been any impropriety in his saying, ^'A great High Priest shall God raise up unto you, who shall atone for your sins. But the priest who shall profane his office shall be cut off?" — or should we have felt any difficulty in understanding the former sentence of some par- ticular individual, and the latter of any of the ordinary priests who held that office among the Jews ? In the passage before us, the transition does not appear either more violent or more ob- scure than that in the case which I have supposed. If by " the prophet like unto Moses," be in- This prophet tended an individual, there can be no hesitation in fixing upon the Messiah as the individual referred to. Such was, unquestionably, the judgment of the Jewish church in the days of our Lord, as may be gathered from several pas- sages in the New Testament, (see John i. 46 ; vi. 14 ; Acts iii. 21—26 ; vii. 37 ;) and not of the Jews only, but also of the Samaritans, as appears T 274 PREDICTION OF MOSES LECT. V. from the language of the woman of Samaria, recorded John iv. 25. We have also the ex- press authority of our Lord himself for beheving that Moses wrote of him (see John v. 46, and Luke xxiv. 44) — a declaration which can be referred to no passage in the Pentateuch with so much probability as to the one before us ; whilst the manner in which both Peter and Stephen, in the passages already noted, introduce the prediction, clearly indicates that the fulfilment of it in Jesus Christ formed part of the truth which they had been commissioned to announce Analogy i.e to mcn. With all this accords the important and chrisr' fact, that our Saviour is the only one of the prophets sent by God, who could with any pro- priety be said to be like unto Moses. The points of resemblance between the two have been curiously multiplied by ingenious writers. The apostle, however, in writing to the Hebrews (ch. iii.) limits his consideration of the alleged likeness to the analogy which subsisted between the official relations which they respectively sus- tained to the house or church of God; and perhaps we shall follow the wiser, certainly the safer course, if we content ourselves within the same limits. In this respect the analogy is striking, singular, and unquestionable. The re- lation in which Moses stood to the Jewish church was altogether peculiar ; it was one in which he had had no predecessor, and in which he had no successor until Christ came. He was the REGARDING THE MESSIAH. 275 accepted mediator between Jehovah and his Jj^2Iili chosen people (Deut. v. 23 — 28), and in this capacity acted as their legislator, governor, and teacher, not merely in matters social and po- litical, but also in matters affecting conscience and religious belief. Power such as this no other prophet under the Old Testament economy was permitted to assume. The duties of the Jewish seers were those of mere expositors and enforcers of the law which Moses had appointed ; and to this their predictions of the Messiah had reference, no less than their ordinary hortatory admonitions. To Moses alone was conceded the honour of being a religious lawgiver to the people of God. '^ He commanded them a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was king in Jeshurun when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together." (Deut. xxxiii. 4, 5.) And yet Moses was only a servant in the house which he thus arranged and regulated ; faithful, indeed, in all things that were entrusted to him, yet neither possessing nor aspiring to any other than a servant's place. He came but to prepare the house for the reception of its Lord; and hence, though acting for a season in his master's place, and thereby sustaining an official likeness to him, he knew that it was only as his representative that he enjoyed these dignities, and that, as soon as he appeared, the servant must resume his proper station. The t2 276 PREDICTION OF MOSES '^^^'^- ^- true Lord of the house was the Son. For him it had been erected, by him it had been esta- blished, and of him the whole family by which it is occupied have been named. It is his peculiar and inalienable prerogative to legislate and rule in his church, as it is by his blood alone that the church has been purchased. Of him, in this respect, Moses was officially a living and memorable type ; and of his appearance in due time to fulfil the work of human redemption, the prediction of Moses that " a prophet like unto him" should God raise up, was a firm and com- forting assurance to the pious Israelites, when called to mourn the departure of their great lawgiver and leader. From the death of Moses to the close of the first of those ages into which we have divided the course of Messianic prophecy, we meet with no decided references to the advent of the expected Saviour. In the song of Hannah, indeed, (1 Sam. ii. 1^ — 1 0), Jehovah is praised because " he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed" (Messiah), — a passage which, ut- tered before there was any king in Israel, may with no small probability be understood of the promised Messiah. At best, however, this is uncertain ; and where there is so much that is incontrovertible to build upon, it seems better not to urge too strenuously what is of more doubtful import. Suffice it that we have every reason, from what precedes and from what REGARDING THE MESSIAH. 277 follows in the history, to believe that during this ^ect. v. interval the faith and hope of the pious were supported by the same blessed truths which gladdened the heart of Abraham, and turned the sufferings of Job into instruments of spiritual exaltation and life. LECTURE VI. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS SURVEY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY DURING THE REIGNS OF DAVID AND SOLOMON, 1 PET. I. 11. The Spirit of Christ, which zmis in them [the pro- phets] testified Ijeforehand the suffejings of Christ and the glory that should follow. LECT. VI. After a silence of more than four hundred years Second Age fj.Qj^ ^q death of Moses, the voice of prophecy of Prophecy ^ l l j was again raised, with even more than its former force and clearness, at the commencement of the period on which we are now entering. This period embraces what may be called the golden age of the Jewish Theocracy. The two sove- reigns by whom, in succession, the throne was occupied, were rulers who knew their proper place, as the mere representatives and vice- gerents of the Great King of Israel. Of the one it was said, that he was the " man after God's own heart" (1 Sam. xiii. 14) ; and to the other we are told that God "gave a wise and an CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SECOND AGE, &C. 279 understanding heart, so that there was none hke lect^jvi^ him before him, neither after him should any arise hke unto him." (1 Kings iii. 12.) The reign of David was disturbed in the earher part of it by many struggles with external enemies, as well as by occasional internal tumults, but it closed in victory, prosperity, and peace. Into the enjoyment of these inestimable advantages his son Solomon entered, and by his wisdom and sagacity realised the promise of God to his father concerning him, that " peace and quiet- ness should be given to Israel in his days." (1 Chron. xxii. 9.) By both these princes the greatest benefits were conferred upon the nation in a religious point of view. Idolatry was dis- countenanced (with the melancholy exception of Solomon's temporary seduction to its side through the influence of his heathen wives) ; provision was made for the proper instruction of the people ; the centre of the Mosaic ritual was fixed in the chief city of Judah ; and a splendid edifice was ultimately erected, which afforded a suitable sphere for the display of that imposing ceremonial in all its completeness. Concurrent with this was a flow of great temporal pro- sperity ; and, as consequent upon both, the diffusion of unequalled happiness, morality, and piety, throughout the body of the people. The prophecies regarding the Messiah which ci>aractci of belong to this period partake of a character in des wong- some degree corresponding to the circumstances ing to this age. 280 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ^^^'^- ^^- of the nation. In all of them there is a degree of confidence and assurance — a sort of familiarity with the subject, which one may naturally trace to the influence exercised upon the public mind by the full development of the Theocratical system and of the Mosaic ceremonial. No longer confined to particular and striking emergencies, the announcements of the Messiah are incorpo- rated with the every-day religious worship of the people, in sacred songs of various kinds. In these, in place of mere general intimations of a deliverer, the Messiah himself is often introduced as describing his own character and work, announcing the claims which he has upon the reverence and confidence of his people, and pre- dicting the ultimate glories of his kingdom in the world ; whilst, in other cases, these form the subject of triumphant thanksgiving on the part of those who were anxiously anticipating his promised coming. The varying fortunes of the nation, producing corresponding changes of feel- ing on the minds of the inspired authors of these compositions, may be also traced in their effects upon the form and tone of the compositions themselves; which are sometimes plaintive, sometimes jubilant, and sometimes calmly and serenely joyful. Authors of Of the Messianic predictions which belong to these prophe- , ..-,■■ p , cies. this period, by tar the greater part were conveyed through David and Solomon themselves, espe- cially the former. That there were other pro- SECOND AGE OF PROPHECY. 28 I phets living and teaching during their reigns, and j-ect. m. these men of no ordinary distinction, the history exphcitly testifies ; nor does it seem at all im- probable that they were commissioned to an- nomice to those whom they taught the great facts concerning the Messiah, or that many of the more striking of their predictions might be pre- served in the traditionary records of the Jews. It has not, however, pleased the Divine Spirit to insert any of these in the sacred volume, with one exception, — that of the prophecy of Nathan to David, recorded in 2 Sam. vii. 11, 16. On this interesting passage I shall, in the first instance, offer a few remarks, premising that I follow the rendering in the common version, which, save in one or two minute particulars, does not appear to me susceptible of improve- ment. In this prophecy we have the promise to2Sam. vii. David of a descendant who should erect a house to the name of Jehovah, thereby carrying into accomplishment the pious designs of David him- self, which it was not consistent with the Divine purpose that he should execute. The first and chief question to be determined is : Of what tius pro- descendant of David is this spoken ? At first re'fe7exc"u°' sight, the most natural answer is, that it is to Solomon that Nathan here refers, by whom we know that the design of David to build a house unto God was carried into effect in the erection of the temple at Jerusalem. To this interpreta- sively to So- lomon. 282 PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. i-ECT. v[. tion many distinguished scholars have given their adherence ; but, as it appears to me, upon insuffi- cient grounds. Not only is it opposed to the use which the Apostle (Heb. i. 5) makes of a part of this prophecy w^hich he applies to Christ, but it is exposed to a weighty objection which lies in the passage itself, arising from the unqua- lified and unconditional assurance of the per- petual continuance of the undiminished royal authority in the promised seed (ver. 13, 16). We know that in regard to the natural descend- ants of David such a promise was not fulfilled ; and in all those passages in which language similar to that here employed is clearly to be understood of Solomon and his descendants, the promise is not unqualified as here, but is clogged with the condition that they continue obedient to the laws, and devoted to the worship of Jeho- vah. (Comp. 1 Chron. xxviii. 7 ; 2 Chron. vi. 16 ; Ps. cxxxii. 12.) Besides, it is not easy on this interpretation to account for the exulting strain in which David expresses his gratitude to God, as recorded in the verses which immediately follow (18 — 29). If the language there ascribed to him be expressive of feelings inspired by the mere prospect of the continuance in his family of the throne of Israel, it is difficult to suppress an emotion of surprise that so good a man should be so much under the influence of personal vanity as the use of such extravagant expressions upon such a subject would indicate. PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. -^'^^ If we be reminded of the extraordinary desire of lect^JI- the Jews for the continuance of their famihes, it is obvious to reply that this arose from no natural cause, but from the hope which the pro- mise of the Messiah led each to indulge, that in his family, if continued, the expected Deliverer might appear. If this hope be attributed to David, as the source of the language used by him on this occasion, it would indicate that he had before his mind something of far greater moment to him and to his race than the mere continu- ance of his descendants upon the Jewish throne. Influenced by these considerations, a very large Nor excm . sively to the body of interpreters have explamed this pro- Messiai.. phecy of the Messiah ; understanding by " the house" which was to be erected, the spiritual temple into which believers '' are builded toge- ther for an habitation of God through the Spirit," (Eph. ii. 22 ;) and by the kingdom which was to be established, that " everlasting kingdom" which " is not of this world." (John xviii. 36.) In support of this interpretation not a little may be said ; but it appears liable also to the assault of several very strong objections. In the Jirst place, it is doing obvious violence to the passage to understand Nathan as referring in his response to David to a spiritual house, when the point on which that monarch consulted him respected the erection of a literal temple. Secondly, Both David and Solomon appear to have understood this promise of the literal temple ; for the former. 284 PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. i:cT. vr. [ii his valedictory exhortation to the leaders of Israel, says, " And He [God] said unto me, Solo- mon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts," &c. (1 Chron. xxviii. 6) ; and the latter, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, blesses Jehovah because he had granted the fulfilment in him of the promise given unto his father, that '' a son who should come forth of his loins should build the house for God's name." (2 Chron. vi. 9.) Thirdly, When God says, as recorded in the 15th verse, " My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee," it is natural to conclude, that, as it is undeniably of Sauls occupancy of the literal throne of Israel that he speaks in the one clause of the contrast, it must be to the occupancy of the same throne by the natural posterity of David that he refers in the other. Lastly, The statement in ver. 1 4, " If he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men," &c. is utterly irreconcileable with the exclusive reference of this passage to the Mes- siah, who did always that which was pleasing in his Father's sight, and of whom his faithful wit- nesses have recorded, that he was " holy, harm- less, undefiled, and separate from sinners." (Heb. vii. 26.)* * In order to evade the force of this objection, Dr. Kenni- cott (^Remarks on Select Passages of the Old Testament, p. 109,) has proposed to render the verb imyna by "in his suifering for iniquity;" alleging, that a verb which in Kal PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. 285 From these remarks, supposing them just, it i-^^ct. vi. appears that, whilst some portions of this passage terpretltion" may be understood of the natural seed of David, sage"'^""' but cannot be understood of the Messiah, others may be understood of the Messiah, but not of the natural posterity of David. This suggests signifies " to do iniquity," may in Niphal (for he regards the verb as in this conjugation here) signify " to suffer for ini- quity." As the learned writer does not favour us with any instances in support of this assertion, it must go for nothing, even were it more probable than it is ; for, if we were at liberty to affix to words any meaning which we think they may or ought to bear, it would be easy for us to prove any thing from Scripture for which we have a mind. A much more solid attempt to furnish such a translation of this word as shall obviate the objection in the text has been recently made by Dr. Forbes, of Aberdeen, in a note appended to the second volume of his translation of Pareau's " Principles of Interpretation of the Old Testament." Adopting Kennicott's opinion, that the verb is in the Niphal and not in the Hiphil, as tlie Masoretes have pointed it, he translates thus: — " Whom in his being bent down," &:c. I have little to object to this rendering, except that I cannot attach any definite idea in connexion with it to what follows : — " I will chasten him with the rod of men," &c. If by this we understand a mild and merciful punishment, it connects naturally with the former clause, as it stands in the common version ; but, if we make that clause refer to the humiliation of Christ, I am at a loss what meaning to give to these words, for in no sense could that chastisement which was laid upon him be regarded as partaking of a gentle character. It seems to me, upon the whole, better to adhere to the traditionary interpretation as indicated by the Masoretic punctuation, according to which the verb is regarded as in the Hiphil, and, consequently, as meaning, " in his transgressing, or sinning." Comp. ch. xix. 20, and xxiv. 17, where the verb occurs in the same con- jugation, and with this sense. 286 PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. JLECT. VI. the probability, that the proper interpretation of the prophecy will be found if we regard it as announcing to David that the throne of Israel was to be possessed by his descendants so long as they continued obedient to the commandments of God ; and that, whatever befel them in this respect, their line should not be cut off as Saul's had been, but should continue in regular succes- sion until it ended in the Messiah, the sovereign of that everlasting kingdom into which Judaism was destined to emerge. In favour of this inter- pretation I would observe, 1st. That it has the merit of harmonizing the different parts of this prophecy. On carefully reviewing the passage, the following things appear to be promised in it to David : — 1. A successor who should build the house of the Lord; 2. A line of descendants through him, who were to possess the throne of Israel conditionally upon their obedience to the Divine law ; 3. An assurance, that in case of their violating that condition, and so forfeiting the throne, they should not be treated as the poste- rity of Saul had been, which God had utterly cut off, but should be gently punished ; and lastly, that out of them should arise one in whom the kingdom of David should be established for ever. If these things be really contained in this section of inspired prophecy, there is no possible way of harmonizing the passage but by means of the interpretation I have proposed. 2dly. This interpretation fully accords with the language of, PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. 287 David in his acknowledgment of the Divine t-^^ct. vi. condescension and grace in the promise he had received. It is remarkable, that in this he makes no allusion whatever to the promised continuance in his family of the throne of Israel, regarding that, apparently, as a matter of incidental and second- rate importance. What he chiefly dwells upon is the goodness of God in having promised to build him an house and to establish it for ever ; language which, whilst it may be understood as including his natural posterity, cannot, with any propriety, be confined in its application to them. The thoughts of the pious monarch were evidently turned at this moment on that which was to be the chief glory of his house, the birth in it of the promised Messiah. This was the hope which gladdened his heart, and turned any feeling of disappointment he might have expe- rienced at being forbidden to carry out his cherished design of building a temple for the Lord into emotions of exulting anticipation and triumphant thanksgiving. Nor must we omit to notice, how much this view is corroborated by the very remarkable language contained in ver. 19, where David, after commemorating the Divine goodness, says, " And is this the order of the man, O Jehovah God?" In the parallel passage in 1 Chron. xvii. 17, for these words we liave substituted the following : — "And thou hast looked upon me according to the order of the 288 PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. LF.cT. VI. man that is to come, O Jehovah God."* All attempts to explain these passages, without ad- mitting into them a reference to the Messiah — the man, the second Adam — appear to me ex- tremely futile. The opinion of Dathe and others, that the former should be rendered by " And this is the law of men," i. e. a law to be observed by men, seems to me to put upon the words no meaning at all ; for I can form no conception of what could be meant by God's promise to David being a law to men. As little can we admit the interpretation of Buxtorf,f in which he is fol- lowed by Grotius, Gesenius, Maurer,and others, that David here praises God for treating him after the manner of men ; for, if ever there was a departure from the ordinary course of conduct which one man usually follows towards another, it was in the case before us, where the mere good intentions of David were not only praised, but rewarded by a promise of blessings so great, that he seems unable to find language adequately to express his sense of them. Tf we admit into these passages a Messianic reference, the whole be- comes natural and simple. David knew that the great Deliverer was to come in human nature, * The words rendered by " order" in these passages are not the same in both. In the former, we have mm and in the latter "nn ; but most interpreters and lexicographers are agreed in understanding these as synonymous here. Cf. Gesenii Lex. in voce. ■\ Lexicon Heb. et Chald. in vac. rmn. PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. 289 and on that advent all his hopes as a guilty ^ect. vi. sinner in the sight of God rested ; but he did not know before this that he was to be the progenitor of the illustrious seed. How natural for him, then, when such an unexpected honour was announced to him, to exclaim, " And is this the order of the man, O Jehovah God ? Is it, indeed, in my family that that great Saviour is to ap- pear? Hast thou condescended to look upon me as forming a link in that succession which is to end in the appearance of the Man who is to come ?" If any object against the proposed interpreta- probawe ob- tion of the words of Nathan to David, that it jnte'rpreta- presents a mingling of things temporal and things aereT.'"'^' spiritual, of events near at hand with those more remote, I remark, that this is not an unusual feature in the prophetic style. It has been ob- served in a former Lecture, that the prophets often project, as it were, a proximate event upon one more remote ; and that, not merely for the sake of heightening the effect of the picture, but, in many cases, to afford, by the accomplishment of the earlier and less important event predicted, an assurance of the accomplishment of the later and more momentous. We have an instance of this in our Lord's discourse concerning the de- struction of Jerusalem and the last judgment, both of which events are mingled up in the same prediction ; and the former of which, in its speedy occurrence, furnished a solemn assurance u 290 PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. ^^^"^^ ^^' of the ultimate occurrence of the latter. As respects the alleged mingling of things sacred with things secular in this prophecy; it is to be observed, that the prophets frequently speak of the kingdom of Israel as something continuous and perpetual, which is not to be dissolved at the advent of the Messiah, but rather to be absorbed in that kingdom which he should establish. In this way, as we have already seen, the prediction of Jacob concerning the Shiloh is to be understood ; and several passages might be adduced from the later prophets, in which the eternal duration of the throne of Israel, and of the family of David as its occupants, is announced in terms which clearly indicate a reference to the reign of the Messiah, as that into which the literal empire of Israel was to pass. (Comp. Is. ii. 7 ; Jer. xxxiii. 15 — 26 ; Amos ix. 11, &c.) Allusions to What appear to me to place the Messianic in'other'pfru rcfereuce of this prophecy beyond any doubt, 0 Scripture. ^^^ ^^^^ alluslous made to it in other parts of Scripture. One of these has just been noticed, that, viz. in Jer. xxxiii. 15 — 26, where, in a pas- sage obviously predictive of the Messiah, this promise of God to David is adduced as affording certainty of his advent. It is also spoken of as God's " covenant" with David ; a term which directs us to another allusion to it in the pro- phetic Scriptures, viz. Is. Iv. 3, where God by the prophet assures those who will accept the PROPHECY OF NATHAN TO DAVID. 291 offered salvation, that he " will make with them ^-^ct. vi. an everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David." By these " sure mercies of David" are intended the blessings promised to David by God, and especially the blessing promised in the verses we have been considering, as appears from the use of the same phrase by Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, with obvious reference to this promise. (Comp. 2 Chron. vi. 42, with 1 Chron. xxviii. 5.) Now these '^ sure mercies of David" are adduced by the apostle (Acts xiii. 34) as relating to our Saviour's resurrection from the dead; in other words, to that great event by which he was declared to be the appointed occupant of the everlasting throne. (Rom. i. 3, 4 ; Acts ii. 30, 31.) Unless, then, we would make the entire argu- ment of the apostle inconsequent, we must admit that the promise made to David of a seed in whose possession his throne should be established referred chiefly to the descent from him of the Messiah. How much this promise occupied the thoughts Davids joy- and gladdened the heart of David may be seen this promise. from many of his inspired writings, of which the glory of the Messiah's reign forms the subject. It appears, also, from that exquisite burst of inspired song, with which " the sweet singer of Israel" took leave of his harp, and which, uttered, perhaps, amid the infirmities of age, it was left to u2 292 LAST WORDS OF DAVID. lECT. VI. some other pen than his own to commit to writing : The Spirit of Jehovah speaketh by me, And his words are upon my tongue ; The God of Israel hath said to me, The Rock of Israel hath spoken : — There shall be a just Ruler among men, A Ruler fearing God. He shall arise like the light of morning ; Like the morning sun [when there are] no clouds ; Like grass from the earth, through sunshine after rain. For, shall not my house be so with [the help of] God ? For he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, Well-ordered in all things and sure ; For, all my salvation, and all my desire, Shall he not make to grow ? * The ruler here spoken of is evidently the Messiah; and so the ancient Jewish church understood the passage.f The language of * 2 Sam. xxiii. 2 — 5. The chief departures in this trans- lation from the common version are in ver. 3, and ver. 5. The former 1 have followed all the best interpreters in ren- dering as a prediction, and not as a general apophthegm, which would seem to be very much out of place here. In the latter, I have made the first and the last clause interro- gative, which gives a much better meaning to David's words, and for which, also, I have the sanction of the best authorities. Cf. Maureri Comment. Crit. in V. T. in loc. -f" The Targum of Jonathan upon the passage is as follows : " David said, in the spirit of prophecy of the Lord, I speak these things, and order the words of his holiness in my mouth. David said, the God of Israel hath spoken by me, the strong one of Israel ruling among the sons of men, the true judge hath said that he would appoint me a king, even the Messiah, who is to appear that he may arise and rule in the fear of the Lord." MESSIANIC PSALMS. 293 David is that of joyful confidence in the ve- ^-^^t. vr. racity of the Divine promise, and happy assurance that the hopes which that promise had inspired should in due season be fulfilled. His words afford abundant evidence that something more than mere vague and general expectations were awakened in the bosoms of the Old Testament saints by the prophetical announcements of the Messiah with which they were favoured. It is now time that we should proceed to the Messianic consideration of the sacred songs which have been already alluded to as the most striking characteristics of the second age of Messianic prophecy. In the number of such, there are some persons who would include the whole book of Psalms ; but this is an opinion to which the external evidence is irreconcilably opposed, and for which a mere shadow of support from the internal evidence has been obtained only by the most forced and violent efforts of misinterpreta- tion. In the present inquiry I shall not go beyond those Psalms the Messianic character of which is generally acknowledged by all chris- tian interpreters, and can be maintained upon solid grounds against the most vigorous assaults of those who have adopted an opposite opinion. These are the 2d, the 16th, the 22d, the 40th, the 45th, the 72d, and the 110th. Of these, the 2d, the 16th, and the 110th, are Authorship certainly the production of David. For this we Psaims. have the authority, not only of the inscriptions 294 MESSIANIC PSALMS. LECT. VI. which two of them bear, but also of the inspired writings of the New Testament. (Comp. Acts iv. 25 ; ii. 25 ; xiii. 35 ; Matt. xxii. 43.) Of the others, the 22d, the 40th and the 45th are, from internal evidence, with great probability ascribed to the same source, whilst the 72d is adjudged to Solomon, partly on the strength of the in- scription which it bears, partly from the tone of its contents, and the character of its allu- sions.* The Messianic character of these sacred poems is established upon the most satisfactory grounds. This will appear from an examination of the evidence which may be brought to support the claims of each, and which I shall now endeavour briefly to adduce, following the order in which they stand in the sacred volume. Psalm ii. — This Psalm, which celebrates the triumph of a divinely appointed king, is concluded to relate to the person of the Messiah, on the follow- ing grounds : — 1. This is the prevailing tradition * The inscription is nobirb, which some would render by concerning Solomon, and others by to Solomon ; the former viewing this prince as the subject of the poem, the latter supposing that it was dedicated to him by its author. Neither of these hypotheses,' however, accords very accurately with the contents of the Psalm ; and it may, on philological grounds, be questioned whether either of these be admissible, as they give a meaning to the preposition b which the usage of the language does not fully support. The translation hy Solomon is in every respect preferable ; and with this accords the Chaldee Paraphrast, who says it was uttered by Solomon prophetically. Reference of Psalm ii. to the Messiah. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 295 of the ancient Jewish church.* 2. This Psalm is i^ect. yi. four times cited in the New Testament as pro- phetical of our Lord. (See Acts iv. 25 ; xiii. 33 ; Heb. i. 5 ; v. 5.) The argumentative character of the passages in context with which all these quotations occur, forbids our supposing that they are introduced with any other view than that of showing their actual reference to Christ. 3. The hypothesis that the " king" here introduced was David himself, which is that of the anti-Mes- sianists, is inconsistent with the historical fact that David was crowned in Hebron, whereas the subject of this Psalm is said to have been inau- gurated or anointed in Mount Sion (ver. 6). 4. The language employed in ver. 7 is incom- patible with the supposition that this Psalm refers to any mere earthly monarch. The apostle, citing this verse, urges it as a proof that he to whom it applies was greater, not only than any of the sons of men, but than any of the angels ; " for unto which of the angels said God at any time. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee?" (Heb. i. 5.) The ap- pellation. Son of God, which we know that our Saviour claimed for himself as his appropriate title, is one which in the absolute and unquali- * " Rasche : Our Rabbins have explained this whole Psalm of the Messiah. — Kimchi : Some explain this Psalm of Gog and Magog, and the anointed here referred to is the King Messiah. And so also have many of our Rabbins interpreted it." — Ap. Schoettgen, s. 418. 296 MESSIANIC PSALMS. ^^^'^- ^^- fied sense in which it is here used, cannot without gross impropriety be apphed to any mere creature. The term. Son, is not, of course, to be understood, in such a connexion, in its proper acceptation. In attempting, how- ever, to unfold the metaphor, we must beware of losing sight of any of the ideas essentially involved in it. Now, with the relation here alluded to, — that of a son to his father, — we inse- parably associate the three ideas of an identity of nature between the parties, of the derivation of the former from the latter, and of the subordina- tion of the former to the latter. Without these the idea of sonship disappears, and the absence of any of these causes a material alteration in our conception of the term. As God, however, uses the term, in this his eternal decree, without any qualification, — as his design in using such terms at all is to convey to our minds by analogy what we never can learn by direct revelation, — and as it is only by our carrying out the analogy in its essential points, abstract- ing from all that is merely secondary or acci- dental, that we can grasp the idea it is designed to convey, — we must, in our inquiry regarding the subject of this decree, keep fast hold of these three conditions of sonship, and accord the title to Him alone by whom they are all satisfied. Pursuing this course, we at once cut off all creatures, even the most exalted, from any claim to this appellation ; for, however such may MESSIANIC PSALMS. 297 exhibit the conditions of derivation from and t.ECT. vi. subordination to God, they can lay no claim to that of identity of essence with him. There is but one in whom these conditions of sonship meet, — the mysterious QedvOpwiros, the Word that was God and became flesh. By him this title was claimed, and by him alone was any right to it possessed. Himself divine, the equal and fellow of the Father, yet born by the power of the Holy Ghost of a human mother, made under the law, and the servant of God, he united in an unexampled, and to us incomprehensible, manner the three conditions already specified of sonship to God. Of him, and of him alone, then, does Jehovah here speak, when he says, " I will declare the decree. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."* 5. With this * The concluding words of this verse have given occasion to considerable discussion, as to the doctrine which they in- volve. Some interpreters find in them a declaration of " the eternal generation of the Son," as it has been called ; and in order to support this, they contend that " this day" signifies " from all eternity." Tt would be as reasonable to contend that "all eternity" means "the present moment;" as no instance can be adduced in which the phrase has such a meaning as is thus put upon it. The apostle Paul suggests a much more rational interpretation of the passage, and by his inspired authority sanctions it as the only true one, when he quotes it as fulfilled by the resurrection of Christ ; Acts xiii. 33. That event was God's public acknowledgment to the whole world of our Saviour as his Son, and the Lord of his house, (Rom. i. 4.) It was in effect, therefore, equivalent to his saying to him, " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ;" for though our Lord did not at that time 298 MESSIANIC PSALMS. ^^^'^- ^^- agree all the other sentiments of the Psalm. It is only of the Messiah that we can understand with any propriety such language as that in the 2d, and in the 8th and following verses. Against none other of God's servants have " the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers taken counsel together;" to him alone has Jehovah given " the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession ;" and regarding him alone could it, without the grossest extravagance, be said to the kings and rulers of the world, " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little ; blessed are all they that put their trust in him." On these grounds it is justly concluded that this Psalm is prophetical of the Messiah. Viewed in this light, it announces the divine dignity of his person, the extent and stability of his reign, and the folly of opposing his authority, or refus- ing to acknowledge his rightful supremacy as King of Sion. Messianic PsALM XVI. — TliB refcreuce of this Psalm to Psalm xvi. the Messiah is placed beyond a doubt by the testimony of Peter and Paul, both of whom quote it as announcing the sufferings of our begin to be the Son of God, he was then by irrefragable proof shown to be so ; and in Scripture we know that it is no unusual thing for the public declaration of a fact to be spoken of as the actual doing of it. (See Home's Introduction, Vol. II. p. 459.) MESSIANIC PSALMS. 299 Lord, his unshaken confidence in the Divine lect. vi. power and favour, and his triumphant resurrec- tion from the grave. (Acts ii. 25, ff. ; xiii. 35, ff.) The apphcation of this Psalm to David, even in a secondary sense, these inspired teachers directly discountenance. The idea which some have entertained, that many of the expressions used by the subject of this Psalm are incom- patible with the character and pretensions of Christ, seems to derive no support from the history of our Lord's Kfe. The unshaken trust in God, which amid the changing and trying scenes of his earthly career he displayed, and the tri- umphant exultation with which he contemplated his resurrection and ascension, as these are re- corded in the narrative of the evangehsts, are entirely in keeping with the sentiments attri- buted to the subject of this Psalm. On the other hand, the assumption by the speaker here of the title "the Holy One of God,"* and the tone of confident sanctity, coupled with pious dependance upon Jehovah, and unhesitating assurance of the Divine power and intention to raise him from the dead, and show him the path of life, which he employs, seem clearly to indi- * The textual reading here is in the plural, " Holy ones ;" but our translators have followed the K'ri reading, and ap- parently with great propriety. This is demanded by the consent of all the ancient versions, by the authority of the majority of the best MSS., by the testimony of Peter and Paul, and by the parallelism of the verse itself. 300 MESSIANIC PSALMS. LECT. VI. cate that a greater than David, or any of the mere sons of men, is here. This appears to have been perceived and felt by the ancient Jews; for in theMidrash Tehilhm, on ver. 9, i: is said, " This treats of the king Messiah, who also must descend from David." * In this sacred song, then, the Jews were taught to view their Messiah as one who should be subject to the will of God, and ex- posed to sources of sorrow and of suffering from men, but who nevertheless should retain un- broken joy, arising from confidence in the Divine power and love. They must, also, have learned from it the fact that he was to undergo a real death, from which he was, after a brief season, to be restored, and exalted to the enjoyment of those pleasures which are at God's right hand. Messianic PsALM XXII. — Thc excluslvo application of this Psalm to the Messiah rests upon the most satisfactory grounds. 1. It has in its favour a considerable weight of Jewish testimony, in this case the more valuable that it is from this part of the Old Testament that the evangelists have drawn some of their most striking proofs of the Messiahship of their Master.f 2. It is supported * Fol. xi. 3. Ap, Schoettgen, s, 738. -j- " Whilst the Messiah was bound in prison, they daily gnashed on him with their teeth, winked with the eye, shook their heads, and shot out their lips, according as it is written in the Psalm, All who see me, &c. Pesikta Rahhathi in Jalkut Simeoni II. fol. 56, 4. ap. Schottgen, s. 428. character of Psalm x%ii. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 301 by the testimony of our Lord himself, and of the lect. vi. historians of his life. When hanging on the cross, the first words of this Psalm were those which Jesus appropriated to himself, as expres- sive of that horror and darkness which oppressed his soul, when, bearing the imputed guilt of man, he was called to the endurance of his Father's frown.* And in the bodily sufferings which he experienced, in the kind of death which was inflicted upon him, and in the conduct of the soldiers who had the charge of crucifying him, his beloved disciple was taught to see the ful- filment of certain predictions concerning him, which are contained in this Psalm, and to record it, that his countrymen might believe that Jesus was the Christ.f In the Epistle to the Hebrews, also (ii. 11 — 13), part of this Psalm is quoted as uttered by Christ, and as expressive of that fra- ternal relation to his people which he sustains and avows ; so that, unless we are prepared to set aside the authority of the divine Author of our religion, and the standards of our own faith, we must view this Psalm as uttered pro- phetically in the person of the Messiah. 3. This is strongly supported by the internal evidence from the Psalm itself. As the speaker is the same from beginning to end, the whole Psalm must be referred to him. Now, as, on the one hand, there is no person of whom we * Matt, xxvii. 46. Mark xv. 34. -j- John xix. 24. 302 MESSIANIC PSvVLMS. LECT. Yi. have any notice in Jewish history to whom all the expressions here used will apply, — and as, on the other, there is no affirmation made which may not be shown to be strictly true of our Lord Jesus Christ, — the necessary conclusion is, that he is prophetically the speaker in this part of Scripture. Those who oppose this view of the Psalm, for the most part suppose that the speaker is David ; but with this the character of many of the expressions employed is decidedly incompa- tible. At no season of his life could David have used language expressive of such deep and over- whelming sorrow as is here employed, without exaggeration amounting to extravagance. No fact in his history bears the remotest resemblance to the statement in ver. 16, "■ They pierced my hands and my feet," * or that in ver. 18, " They * Some of the Neologian interpreters have laid hold of the circumstance that the word nxD here does not belong to any of the regular forms of the Hebrew verb, for the purpose of doing away with the force of this argument. Instead of a verb they take it as a noun, and render it by " like a lion." That the word may bear this meaning cannot be doubted, any more than that, if this meaning be given to it here, the meaning of the whole verse will be destroyed. Such a com- bination of words as " The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me like a lion, my hands and my feet," is such as to produce simple nonsense. What, we are ready to ask, of the hands and the feet ? Are they enclosed ? then what of the me ? If, to solve this, we slip in a viz., and understand the hands and the feet as explanatory of the part of the me which was enclosed, then what is meant by an assembly enclosing a man by his hands and feet ? And what of the lion ? Is it the assem- bly that is like the lion, or the hands and the feet ? But MESSIANIC PSALMS. 303 parted my garments among them, and cast lots i-ect. yi. upon my vesture." Nor would David, we may rest well assm-ed, have so egregiously overrated his own importance as to imagine, far less to say, that as a consequence of his deliverance " all ends of the earth should remember and turn unto the Lord, and all kindreds of the nations should worship before him.*' In the lips of the Messiah, however, such declarations are fully appropriate ; as in the person, and sufferings, and work of Him who appeared in this character, they have been literally fulfilled. The evidence of this is obvious to every one vvho will compare the account given by the Evangelists of our Lord's last hours with the mournful complaints and plaintive lamentations uttered by the speaker in this Psalm. So close is the resemblance of the two, that the one seems the very echo and symphony of the other. Our Lord's exclamation on the cross, — the taunts and insults heaped upon him by his enemies, even to the very words in which they uttered their cruel sarcasms, — the conduct of the soldiers in dividing his garments, and casting lots upon his tunic, — and the deep mental dejection under which he laboured when " his enough of this ; too much, indeed, were not this ridiculous interpretation that of Ewald, Paulus, and Maurer. The true explanation of the word has been given by Gesenius (who, however, does not himself adopt it, but follows the lion theory) and others, who make it an irregular plural participle for cn^D from the verb 113, to hare or pierce. This is supported by the rendering of the LXX, dipv^ap, and that of the Syriac version. 304 MESSIANIC PSALMS. ^^<^'^- ^^- soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death/' — are announced in the history with hardly greater directness, certainly not more expressly, than in the earlier part of this Psalm. And if this part be thus shown to be applicable only to the Messiah, no less may that which follows from ver. 22d to the end, where the speaker, exulting in the anticipation of his final triumph over all his foes, praises Jehovah for the glorious result of the pains he had endured. All the ideas introduced, and the figures in which they are clothed, are eminently Messianic. The feeding of the meek, — the conversion of all the world to God, — the subjugation of the proud to his rule, — the preservation of a chosen seed who shall serve him and declare his righteousness, — are all in perfect keeping with the language of Scripture respecting Christ. Nor can we, without ab- surdity, suppose such descriptions as intended to apply to any other. " Of these things,'' says Theodoret, upon this passage, " we see none *' realised in the history of David or of any of his " descendants. Christ alone is the Governor, the " son of David according to the flesh, God the " Word in human nature, but who received from " David the form of a servant. He hath filled all " earth and sea with divine knowledge, and hath " persuaded those who formerly were wandering "and offering worship to idols, to worship the *' God that is, in place of those that are not." * * Quoted by Hengstenberg, Christologie I. s. 195. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 305 In this Psalm, then, we have a prophetical lect. vi. announcement of the sufferings the Messiah was to endure in the season of his humiliation, which passes, in the concluding portion of it, into a grateful and triumphant anticipation of the happy consequences which should result from that humiliation and endurance. Psalm xl. — In the Epistle to the Hebrews (x. Messianic _ ■*■ ^ _ character of 7 — 9) part of this Psalm is quoted as containing Ps. xi. the words of Christ. This supplies us with inspired authority for assigning to it a Messianic character ; a conclusion which the passage quoted itself clearly demands. After celebrating the Divine beneficence, and declaring that to enume- rate the separate acts of the Divine bounty is impossible, the speaker, as if passing at once to that which was the highest instance of God's grace to man, says, " Sacrifice and offer- ing thou didst not desire ; mine ears thou hast bored ; burnt-offering and sacrifice for sin hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come, (in the roll of the book it is written of me,) I delight to do thy will, O my God," &c. (ver. 6 — 8.) The purpose for which the Apostle quotes this passage is to show that the abolition of the Mosaic ritual by the Messiah had been foretold in the Old Testament. In making the quotation he follows the LXX. which, in some respects, differs considerably from the Hebrew ; and this has been urged as an evidence that he adduces the passage only by way of accommodation. X 306 MESSIANIC PSALMS. LECT. VI. The difference, however, between the version and the original is one merely in phraseology, not in meaning ; * and it requires only a glance at the Apostle*s reasoning to see that its whole force rests upon the supposition that in this passage there is a designed intimation of the ultimate abolition of the Mosaic sacrifices by the substitution for them of an act of personal obedience on the part of the Messiah. If this be not the meaning of the passage, the reasoning of the Apostle from it is plainly sophistical or incon- sequent. It is impossible, without disregarding all proper sentiment, to understand the language used in this passage of any other than the Messiah. By " the roll of the book " (yp. n>'^.94) all are agreed in understanding the Pentateuch, copies of which were written upon skins, which were folded round a cylinder or roller ; a fashion still retained by the Jews in the copies of the law used in their public worship. In this book the speaker affirms that it was written of him, that, without any of the sacrifices and offerings appointed by the law, he should come before God, delighting to do his will. There seems no way of understanding such a declaration but by referring it to Christ, of whom the Mosaic institute spoke in all its parts; but of whom, at the same time, as the substance of its symbols, it virtually predicted * See Appendix, Note D. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 307 that in fulfilling he should also supersede and lect. vi. abolish them all. To avoid the force of this conclusion, Rosenmiiller and some others have rendered the passage by " In the roll of the book it is prescribed to me," i.e. I am commanded, &c. ; by which they understand the speaker as affirming, that in coming without sacrifice and offering, but with entire devotedness of mind, he was coming as the law enjoined him to come. It may be doubted how far such a tra,nslation of the words is admissible ;* but, waiving this, let us ask, What, upon such a rendering, does this pas- sage mean ? It cannot mean, obviously, that, in coming before God without sacrifice and offering, the speaker, supposing him a pious Israelite, came as the law of Moses enjoined ; for the reverse of this was the case. Nor can it mean that the law prescribed spiritual worship rather than ritual ; for, on the one hand, there is nothing in the Mosaic institute which teaches that any worship was accepted apart fi'om the offering of sacrifice ; and, on the other, it is not so much the superiority of spiritual to ritual worship which is here announced, as the entire rejection of the latter in favour of some act of personal obedience to be performed by the speaker. Even, then, if we adopt this translation, we must re- gard the speaker as one for whom the law of Moses had prescribed a mode of approaching * See Stuait on Heb. x. 7. x2 308 MESSIANIC PSALMS. _X^ God entirely peculiar to himself ; — as one who^ witliout any of those sacrifices and offerings which were ifidispensable in the case of every other worshipper, could come before God with acceptance on the simple ground of his own per- sonal devotedness to the Divine will. But by whom could this be said of himself but the Mes- siah ? For him alone of the partakers of human nature was there a peculiar way of access unto God prepared ; and of him alone could it be affirmed that such access was attainable inde- pendently of the sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual. The proposed alteration in the transla- tion does not, therefore, destroy the Messianic reference of this passage ; it only, as compared with the common rendering, brings it out in a less satisfactory manner, both as respects the philology and the exegesis. On this account, and from regard, also, to the use made of the passage by the Apostle, the propriety of which is materially diminished by such a translation as that proposed, the rendering in the received version is unquestionably to be preferred. Assuming that the speaker in this Psalm is the Messiah, it must be regarded as announcing his complete subjection to the Divine will, — his gratitude to God for mercies experienced amidst his humiliation, — the sufficiency of his personal sacrifice for the great purposes for which it was made in accomplishment of the Divine will, — the abolition, through him, of the Levitical sacrifices MESSIANIC PSALMS. 309 and offerings, — and the consequences which i-^ct. vi. should flow to his enemies and friends respec- tively because of him. Psalm xlv. — This sacred poem consists of Messianic ■*• character of two parts, in the former of which the glory, per- ps. xw. fection, and triumph of Messiah the king, and, in the latter, the beauty and blessedness of his bride the Church, are celebrated in strains of very animated and elegant poetry. The refer- ence of this Psalm to Christ is assumed, and its statements made the basis of an argument in favour of our Lord's divinity and supremacy over the angels, by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews (i. 8, 9). The tradition of the Jewish church is also strongly in favour of its being understood of the Messiah.* With this the internal evidence most fully agrees. 1. The Psalm bears the title of Maskil, which, as Heng- stenberg has shown at large,f signifies something pious or sacred; and so the word is used (Ps. xiv. 2) to denote a person who "understands and seeks after God," as opposed to the "'ji, or fool, who " says in his heart. No God." With * The Targum renders ver. 3 thus : — " Thy beauty, O King Messiah, is greater," &c. Kimchi : — " This song treats of the King Messiah, and is called a song of loves, for God hath so loved him that he hath anointed him." Sohar on ver. 7 : — ** This must be understood of the King Messiah, who is called a sceptre, because he brings the sinners throughout the world under subjection, as in Gen. xlix. 10 it is written," &c. Ap. Schottgen, s. 431, 433. t Christologie, I. 112, ff. 310 MESSIANIC PSALMS. I'ECT. VI. this explanation of the word accords the charac- ter of all the psalms to which it is prefixed. 2. This song, we are told, was set to music by the sons of Korah.* These were persons who had to do with the management of the music used in the religious worship of the Jews. (1 Chron. vi. 33, 37 ; xxvi. 1 ; 2 Chron. xx. 19.) Hence it would appear that this Psalm was designed to be used in the regular public worship of the sanc- tuary. 3. The form of this Psalm being that of an Epithalamium, we must regard it either as celebrating the mystical union of Christ and his church, or as literally referring to the marriage of some earthly monarch. But we cannot under- stand it of the latter ; for, in the first place, such a mere carnal song as this would make it would never have been inserted by the Jews among the songs appropriated to their most sacred services ; and, in the second place, flattery so extravagant and blasphemous, as the language of this Psalm would be if addressed to any mere creature how- ever dignified, would not have been received by the very worst prince that ever occupied the * So I understand the words in the inscription n'^ttycrtr rR?3DS mp-'n'j, which may be translated, "A prevailer (^. e. a regular, stated song, suited for all occasions of public worship) upon Shoshannim, {i. e. some musical term denoting either an in- strument or a kind of music,) by the sons of Korah." The meaning given to nsjob here is supported by the translation of the LXX. eIq to reXoc, and of the Vulgate infinem. (Comp. Ps. Ixxiv. 10; ciii. 9, &c. and Rosenmiilleri Prolegomena in Psalmos, p, 19.) MESSIANIC PSALMS. 311 throne of David, even supposing a Jew could lect. vi . have been found wicked enough to present it. The hypothesis of De Wette, that it was not to a Jewish, but to a Persian monarch, that this piece of unbecoming adulation was presented, is not only purely gratuitous, but to the last degree impro- bable, not to say absurd ; for, even admitting his further hypothesis, that the collection of Psalms was formed at a late period, when the Jewish nation were sunk in religious degeneracy, (an hypothesis as gratuitous as the former,) there never was any period in their history when their degeneracy was so deep as to allow of the sup- position that they would have inserted among their sacred songs a profane and blasphemous poem, designed to humour the unhallowed pride of an idolatrous and hostile prince. Even if all fear of God had departed from them, — if all remembrance of the faith and hopes of their fathers had been lost, — if the thickest shades of spiritual gloom had descended around them, and concealed from them whatever was divine and heavenly in their religion, — there would still have been something in their enthusiastic patriotism, no less than in their well-known superstition, (if we must deny them the influence of any higher religious feeling,) which would have made them indignantly recoil from the mere attempt to pol- lute their sacred melodies by such an incon- gruous addition. But, if neither to a heathen nor to a Jewish monarch could this song " concerning 312 MESSIANIC PSALMS. ^E<^T. VI. the king " be addressed, what remains but that we should recognise in it a prophetical announce- ment of the glory and excellence of Him who is emphatically the King, and of the beauty and honour of his bride the church ? 4. With this view of the Psalm all its statements fully accord. The subject of the former part of it — the king — is addressed as possessing unparalleled beauty of person and gracefulness of speech (ver. 2), — as an invincible warrior in the cause of truth, meek- ness, and righteousness (ver. 4), — and as God, whose throne is eternal, whose sceptre is right, and whose glory and dignity are superior to that of all who are called kings. In all this we have what frequently occurs in the language of pro- phecy concerning the Messiah, and on which the writings of the New Testament furnish an exposi- tory comment in what they teach concerning the person and kingdom of Jesus Christ. Of no other king but of him could such things be affirmed as are affirmed of the subject of this Psalm. He alone of all who have appeared in human na- ture can be addressed as God ;* his is the only throne that is eternal ; on him alone as a king hath the blessing of God descended for evermore. As the sovereign of his church, the sceptre which he wields is " a right sceptre ;" he is no usurper ; Jehovah "hath set him upon his holy hill of Sion," and " on his shoulder has the government * See Appendix, Note L. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 313 been laid." To him, in this capacity, all perfec- lect. vi. tion, moral, intellectual, and official belongs; symbolised here, as in other places of Scripture, by beauty of person, grace of speech, and success in enterprise. The cause to which he devoted himself was that of truth, justice, and mercy. " He dwelt among us," says his beloved disciple, " full of grace and truth ; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father." (Johni. 14.) "I am a king," said he himself to Pilate ; " to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." (John xviii. 37.) In this cause he wages an incessant warfare with the enemies of his church,^employing no weapons but the arrows of truth, yet with these perform- ing terrible things, and causing the people to fall under him. And for that obedience which he displayed to the Divine will, when, that he might destroy the iniquity which he hated, and esta- blish for ever the righteousness which he loved, he came into our world, and gave himself as a sacri- fice and an offering on our behalf, " God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.'* (Phil. ii. 9, 10.) It thus appears that in Christ every part of this poetical prophecy finds its fulfilment. What in relation to any one else would have been extravagant, nay, blasphemous 314 MESSIANIC PSALMS. i-ECT. VI. flattery, is in regard to him the language of true description and sober piety. To whom, then, but to him can we regard the Psalmist as here referring ? In the latter part of this Psalm the general symbol employed is one than which none occurs more frequently as descriptive of the relation of Jehovah to his people, or of Christ to his church.* In this hght it was viewed by the Jews, as may be gathered from the Chaldee Targum and the Commentaries of Kimchi, many of whose explanations throw considerable light upon the meaning of the writer. By the " King's daughters," in ver. 9, they understand the nations who are to do homage to the Messiah; and by the queen at his right hand, the congregation or church of Israel. The exhortation in the 1 0th verse is paraphrased in the Targum thus : f * Comp. Is. liv. 5 ; Ixii. 5 ; Jer. iii. ; Ezek. xvi. ; Hos. i. — iii. ; Matt. ix. 15; John iii. 29 ; Rom. vii. 4 ; Eph. v. 27, &c. ■f The use of the term " daughter" in this verse, as applied by the poet to the queen whose praise he celebrates, affords another evidence that this Psalm does not concern a mere earthly monarch and his bride. No writer, we may rest assured, would have taken it upon him to address by such a familiar appellation the consort of one at whose feet he had just been laying such fulsome adulation. Understood, how- ever, as the Targumist has explained it, or (as it might be still more correctly explained when freed from the particu- larism of Judaism) of the ransomed church of God, the expression is entirely in keeping with the phraseology of the prophets, who perpetually personify countries, cities, and bodies of people, as virgins or women. (Comp. Is. iii. 16; iv. 4 ; Iii. 2 ; Lam. ii. 10, &c.) MESSIANIC PSALMS. 315 " Hear, O congregation of Israel, the law of his lect. vi. mouth, and incline thine ears to the words of the law. Forget the evil doings of the wicked among thy people, and the house of the idols thou hast served in the house of thy father;" i. e. as Jarchi remarks, " Forget the worship of the idols which thy fathers worshipped in the lands on the other side of the river" — the Eu- phrates. In place of these she is exhorted to worship the king, " for he," says the psalmist, " is thy Lord ;" and then, as consequent upon this^ are promised to her abundant joy, prosperity, and fame. To her shall the nations of the earth offer gifts ; with gladness and rejoicing shall her virgin companions — the Gentile converts — be brought unto her; instead of those she had forsaken, shall children of her own be given her, who shall be made princes in the earth, invested with spiritual dominion as "kings and priests unto God ;" and, for the blessings which shall flow from her to the world, her name shall be remembered in all generations, and the people shall praise her for ever and ever. On this interpretation a meaning is brought out of the passage, in full accordance with the descriptions of the New Testament concerning the church of Christ, and in perfect keeping with the best ascertained principles of symbolical interpre- tation. When the pious Jew, then, read this sacred poem, or heard it chaunted in the temple service. 316 MESSIANIC PSALMS. I.ECT. VI. his mind would be directed to the glorious advent of the king of Israel, and the blessings which should then be brought to his expectant church. He would learn to admire the perfec- tion, to adore the majesty, and to anticipate the triumphs, of his Saviour-God ; while the concep- tions he already entertained of the relation of Jehovah to his church, as that of a husband to his wife, would be rendered more definite and precise by being appropriated to the Messiah, the God who was to appear and dwell with men. Messianic PsALM Lxxii. — Thc aucicut Jewish Church character of ps. lxxii. has borne very decided testimony in favour of the Messianic application of this Psalm ; * and to this almost all christian interpreters have given their assent, if we except those whose de- termined opposition to every thing that is pecu- liar to Christianity renders it doubtful whether it be not a blinding abuse of language to apply * The Targum on ver. 1 is : — " O God, give the sentence (nibn) of thy judgments to the King Messiah, and thy right- eousness to the son of king David." Midrask Tehillim : — "It is to be understood of the King Messiah, of whom Isaiah says (xi. 1), ' And there shall come a rod out of the stem of Jesse,' &c. — Of the King Messiah it is written, Give thy judgment, O God, to the king." On ver, 8, Sohar : — " This shall be fulfilled of the Messiah, He shall reign," &c. Midrash: — " The last Goel is the King Messiah, of whom it is written, He shall reign," &c. Ap. Schottgen, s. 440, ubiplura. On ver. 16 Jarchi remarks that " the ancient rabbins explained these words of the times of the Messiah, and indeed understood the whole Psalm of the King Messiah." Ap. Rosenmiiller, in loc. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 317 to them the term Christian at all. With such an ^-Ecf- v- application, the sentiments of the Psalm itself eminently agree; they are such as, when cor- rectly explained, fully accord with the represen- tations of other parts of Scripture respecting the Messiah ; but cannot be, without great violence, understood of any other. The exclamation in ver. 1, " Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness to the king's son," is, as the following context shows, rather an an- nouncement of what shall be, than a prayer that the blessing named may be ; it is, moreover, an announcement of the communication to the king spoken of, not of those common principles of equity which regulate the affairs of well- governed earthly monarchies, but of those sublime and vast principles upon which God himself administers his moral dominion. The appellation " king," and " king's son," are appro- priate to the Messiah as the Sovereign of his church, and as the descendant of David according to the flesh ; if, indeed, the latter be not a mere orientalism for " the king himself," adopted, for the sake of variety, in the second member of the verse.* The moral characteristics of his reign, as delineated in the following verses, — righteous- ness united with peace, and regard for the wel- * So Rosenmiiller and Walford, (^Translation of the Psalms, with Notes, &c. Lond. 1837,) in loc. The former compares the inscription, at the present day, on the Turkish coins, " The Sultan, son of the Sultan." 318 MESSIANIC PSALMS. i-ECT. VI. fare of the poor and oppressed, — are those which most prominently appear in the prophecies, as distinguishing the kingdom of the Messiah. (Comp. Is. ix. 6, 7 ; xi. 1 — 9, &c.) To this, also, belong that permanency and extent of dominion which are ascribed to the empire celebrated in this Psalm ; of Christ alone can it be said, that men *' shall fear him as long as the sun and moon endure" — through all generations, (ver. 5 ;) and that he " shall have dominion from] sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth," (ver. 8;) subjecting to his gentle sway nations the most remote from each other, and the most dissimilar in manners, habits, and circumstances ; not by warlike power, but by the melting benignity of his government, and the resistless eloquence of his doctrine, which " distils as the dew, and drops as the rain." The consequence of his dominion will be, the utmost abundance of provisions even where before there was only a scanty and precarious supply ; and that notwithstanding such an increase of popu- lation, that " the men of the city," i. e. his sub- jects, " shall flourish as the grass of the earth," (ver. 16.) The idea here is entirely Messianic, and is repeated in different forms in other pro- phecies. (Comp. Is. xlix. 20 ; Zech. ii. 8, &c.) When spiritually interpreted, it intimates the numerous converts who shall submit to the Re- deemer, and find in him the supply of all their spiritual wants. In ver. 17, the Psalmist makes MESSIANIC PSALMS. 319 an evident reference to the promise which God I'Ect- v^- gave unto Abraham concerning Christ : — " Men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed ;" thereby identifying the subject of this Psalm with the subject of that ancient promise. The Psahn concludes with a sublime doxology to the God of Israel, by whose grace and power these wondrous things are to be brought to pass. In the opinion of nearly all interpreters, this doxology is the addition of a later hand. The evidence thus supplied by the Psalm itself of its reference to the Messiah is so forci- ble, that even Rosenmiiller, unwilling as he generally is to admit anything which favoiKS this view of the question, is constrained to say, that the qualities here celebrated can belong ''only to that king, greater than any human, whom the Hebrews in every age expected as sometime to arise from the family of David — the Messiah."* Viewed in this light, the Psalm supphes a deeply interesting, and to us in the present day, no less than to the pious Jews in former times, highly encouraging prospect of the universal diffusion and permanent glory of the Saviour's spiritual reign. In so far as that has been extended in our world, the elevated de- scription of the inspired poet has been fully reahzed; and, though we see not yet the full accomphshment of his predictions, enough has * Scliolia ill Psalinod, in luc. 320 MESSIANIC PSALMS. ^E^'T- ^^- transpired to certify us, that in due season the prophecy shall reach the culminating point of its fulfilment, and " the whole earth be filled with the glory of God." Messianic PsALM cx. — Tlils sacrcd song consists of two ps.cx. parts or strophes, (1 — 3, 4 — 7,) each of which is introduced by a reference to a Divine decree regarding the individual who is the subject of it. That this is the Messiah, is placed beyond any doubt by an overwhelming body of evidence, both external and internal. In addition to Jew- ish testimonies,* we have that of our Lord him- self (Matt. xxii. 4 ; Mark xii. 36; Luke xx. 42), who says, that David uttered this psalm iv Trvev- fiart dyia>, that is, whilst under the prophetic afflatus ; of Peter (Acts ii. 35, 36) ; and of Paul (1 Cor. XV. 25, ff.; Heb. vii. 17, ff., besides fre- quent allusions to it as in Eph. i. 20). No less decisive is the evidence furnished by the Psalm itself, of its exclusive reference to the Messiah. Besides, the general allusions which it contains to his victories as a warlike sovereign, and to the number and felicity of his adherents, who at the very commencement of his reign were to spring * Midrash TehilUm on ver. 1 : — " God speaks thus to the Messiah ;" and on Ps. xviii. 39, Rabbi Judan says, in the name of R. Channa, the son of Chanina, " In the future time the holy ever-blessed God will set the Messiah on his right hand," &c. Sohar on ver. 6 : — " The holy and ever-blessed God hath determined to clothe the Messiah in purple, that he may judge the people, as is here said." Ap. Schottgenj s. 453. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 321 up around him, as numerous, glorious, and bene- lect. vi. ficent, and by a process of preparation as imper- ceptible to human eye, as the drops of dew in the womb of the morning,* — allusions which we have frequently encountered in the psalms al- ready considered, — there are in this psalm certain statements of a nature so peculiar that no ingenuity can avail to show their appli- cabihty to any but Christ. 1st. The subject of this psalm is spoken of by the author of it as * In the words " in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth," we have a statement which has much puzzled interpreters. It appears to me, that no solution is more satisfactory than that which regards it as containing a condensed and imperfectly expressed comparison, which is to be resolved thus : — "As at the dawn of the day we see innumerable bright and refreshing dew-drops glancing on every blade and leaf, — the splendid ornaments which earth puts on to welcome her celestial lord, when he Cometh out of his chamber, and beginneth to run his race, — and as these brilliant gems of nature have been created by a process so invisible to us, that it would seem as if they had been really formed in the womb of the morning ; so shalt thou, O victorious Prince, in the very dawn and opening of thy reign, draw to thy standard a vast host of vigorous anddaunt- less warriors, collected with miraculous speed, beautiful in their holiness, and beneficent in their influence as the dew which adorns and fructifies the earth." If this be the mean- ing of the passage, it was fulfilled with wonderful complete- ness. Hardly had Christ arisen to his throne, when " the Lord gave the word, and great was the company of those that pub- lished it." Ere men had recovered from their first surprise, the word of the Lord had gone into all the world (Col. i. 6 ;) and wherever it went, its influence was blessed as that of the dew on the tender herb. Y 322 MESSIANIC PSALMS. LECT. VI. his Lord. But, as we have already seen, the author of this psalm was David, and to whom could he refer by such a title, but to Him who was at once his Lord and his son ? 2d. It is affirmed of the subject of this psalm, that Jeho- vah hath placed him at his right hand. This phraseology is expressive not only of enjoy- ment of the Divine approbation, but of participa- tion in the dignity, authority, and glory of the Divine administration.* It implies, that the Being so honoured is received as the associate and com- panion of Jehovah in the government of the uni- verse ; and, consequently, it cannot be, and never is in Scripture, used of any mere creature. Of our Lord Jesus Christ, however, it is freely used in the New Testament ; and the dignity which it predicates it is part of our religious creed to regard as enjoyed by him. (Mark xvi. 1 9 ; Acts vii. b5 ; Rom. viii. 34 ; Eph. i. 20, &c.) Upon the principle, then, that a 'peculiar quality or attribute indicates the presence of the subject in which it inheres, we conclude, that the person here celebrated is the Messiah, to whom alone it belongs '' to sit at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.*" 3d. The subject of this psalm is represented as uniting in himself the sacerdotal with the regal dignity, having been constituted * See this shown with admirable success in the Scripta Varil Argumenti, p. o9. Ed. Sec. Hal. 1823, of the late venerable and pious George Christian Knapp. MESSIANIC PSALMS. 323 by the oath of God a Priest for ever after the i-ect. vr. order of Melchizedek (ver. 4). Now such a combination of offices as this was never exem- phfied in the case of any individual hving under the Mosaic economy. On the contrary, the royal and the priestly dignities were ex- pressly separated ; and it is more than probable, from the sacredness attached to the office of priest, from its exclusive residence in the family of Levi, and from the punishments inflicted upon those who rashly interfered with its functions, (Lev. xvii. 3, 4 ; 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7 ;) that any attempt to unite them would have brought down upon the individual making it the summary ven- geance of Heaven. It is true, as De Wette and others of his school have suggested, that the kings of Judah had power in religious matters, though it may be doubted whether this ever amounted to any thing more than, to use the phraseology of modern ecclesiastical jurisprudence, a jns circa sacra sed non in sacris. Allowing, however, that they possessed the higher power, this no more invested them with the honours or office of the priesthood than the possession of a similar power by the sovereign of England over the Established Church of that country is regarded as consti- tuting him or her, as the case may be, a par- taker of the sacerdotal dignity. Under the theocracy, the king was no more, and in no other sense, a priest than as every member of the community was ; for Israel was unto Jehovali y2 324 MESSIANIC PSALMS. • '' a kingdom of priests, a holy nation " (Exod. xix. 6) ; so that to apply to any individual sovereign this as a 'pecuViar designation, still more to declare solemnly that the Lord had confirmed to him this title by oath for ever, would have been to utter language which every intelligent Jew would have felt at once to be bombastic and absurd. To the Messiah, however, the language used was strictly and literally appro- priate. When he ascended up to heaven it was not merely as a victorious King, but also as an atoning High-Priest. '' Now of the things which we have spoken," says the apostle, '' this is the sum : we have such an high-priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the lieavens ; a minister of the sanctuary and true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man." (Heb. viii. 1, 2.) Hence, by one of the prophets (Zech. vi. 13) he was described as one who " shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both ;" i. e. by the union of these two offices in him shall the Divine pur- pose of peace and redemption to men be effected. It is obviously, therefore, of none other than of him that David here speaks by Divine inspiration. 4th. To the subject of this psalm the writer ap- plies the title Aclonai, rendered in our version by Lord (ver. 5), a title which, as peculiar to the Deity, indicates that none other than the Divine Messiah is here referred to. To obviate the MESSIANIC PSALMS. 325 force of this argument, some expositors contend r-E^T. vi. that it is to Jehovah, and not to the subject of the psahn, that this title is apphed ; alleging, that as in the preceding verses Jehovah is spoken of in the third person, and the subject of this psalm is addressed in the second, it would be making too violent a transition to suppose that in this verse the person addressed is Jehovah, and the person spoke?i of is the king who is the subject of the psalm. This appears at first sight plau- sible ; but a little consideration will show, that neither the objection to the Messianic interpre- tation thus adduced, nor the interpretation pro- posed in its place, is worthy of regard. For in the first place, there is not on the Messianic hypothesis, in reality, such a sudden transition as is alleged. It has been already observed, that the psalm consists of two parts, each of which is introduced by the citation of a Divine decree addressed to the subject of the psalm. Now, in both of these introductory verses two parties are mentioned — Jehovah, the author of the decree, and the person to whom it is by him addressed. In proceeding, therefore, with his song of praise, the Psalmist was at equal liberty to choose eif/ier of these parties as the object of his address ; and this liberty he appears to have exercised in taking the one in the first strophe, and the other in the second. Had the psalm begun with ver. 4, no one would have felt that there was any violence in supposing that ver. 5 Avas addressed to 326 MESSIANIC PSALMS. ^^^'^- ^'^' Jehovah, who had spoken the decree cited imme- diately before. But ver. 4 is really the com- mencement of a new subject, just as much as ver. 1 is ; and, consequently, what would have been lawful had it stood at the beginning of the psahn, is equally lawful where it stands, at the beginning of a new division of the psalm. The alleged violent transition, therefore, resolves itself simply into this, that in a psalm composed of two distinct parts, each of which is introduced by a statement concerning two parties, the writer has in the former part addressed the one party, and in the latter the other. Secondly. Whilst the alleged violence of the Messianic interpre- tation is thus shown not to exist, that which it is proposed to substitute in its place is itself ex- posed to the charge which its advocates urge against the other. It is admitted by all, that in vers. 6 and 7 the person spoken of is not Jehovah, but the subject of the psalm. But if in ver. 5 Jehovah be spoken of, and the subject of the psalm spoken to, how can the advocates of this interpretation account for such a '^ violent transition" as we must suppose, if in ver. 6 Jeho- vah is the party spoken to, and the subject of the psalm the party spoken of? It thus clearly appears that the defect which the opponents of the Messianic interpretation of this part of the psalm erroneously allege against it really and fatally inheres in their own. Thirdly. To im- derstand the Adonai of ver. 5 of Jehovah the MESSIANIC PSALMS. 327 announcer of the decree, is to make the Psalmist lect. vi. flatly contradict himself. In ver. 1 he presents to us the subject of the psalm as placed at the light hand of Jehovah. But if ver. 5 be spoken of Jehovah, then we must regard the subject of the psalm as placed at his left hand ; for this necessarily follows from the assertion that Jehovah is at his right hand. It is useless to say that this is the language of metaphor, and must not be too strictly interpreted ; there is a propriety in metaphors as in every thing else, and such a blunder as must be ascribed to David upon this interpretation of his words is inconsistent, I do not say merely with his claim to inspiration, but with all pretension to correct and careful compo- sition. On these grounds, the title Adonai is vindicated for the subject of this psalm, and the important argument thence drawn in favour of the Messianic character of the composition esta- blished in its unweakened strength. From this psalm, then, we have evidence of the knowledge possessed by the ancient Jews not only of the Divine dignity, but also of the royal and priestly offices of the promised Mes- siah. By such utterances of the prophetic voice they were doubtless taught to view in him the substance of their splendid ceremonial, and joy- fully to anticipate the time when, not only as an all-powerful Prince he should vanquish his foes, but as an all-sufficient High-Priest he should make atonement for the sins of his people. 328 MESSIANIC PSALMS. LECT. VI. The value of these Messianic psalms in rela- tion to our present object of inquiry (and not of these only, but of many others whose claims to be regarded as possessing this character rest upon no slight basis of evidence, though for the sake of brevity they are in the present discussion omitted) is to be estimated not only by the num- ber and clearness of their references to Christ, but also by the fact that they convey to us what was the commonly received and popular feehng and belief upon the subject in the best days of the theocracy. A nation's tastes, opinions, and feelings, at any given period in its history, are no where more clearly depicted, or more faith- fully preserved, than in its favourite songs, whe- ther social or sacred ; and as, to use the words of Bishop Taylor, " the Psalms of David were the great office of the Jews, and the treasury of devotion to their nation," we can turn to no m.ore authentic source for information as to their pre- vailing religious faith and desires, especially at the time when these were composed. It is delight- ful to find the abundant evidence thereby afforded of their having found an object for both, in the testimony of God concerning Him '' who verily was preordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for them who do by him believe in God." LECTURE VII. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS SURVEY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY FROM THE DEATH OF SOLOMON TO THE TIME OF MALACHI. LUKE XXIV. 44. And he said unto them. These are the loords which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Pro- phets, and in the Psalms, concernmg me. We come now to cast our eyes over that age of lect. vu. Messianic Prophecy which stretches through the l^ll^^Hl^ °^ long period that elapsed between the death of ^''"p''^^- Solomon and the appearance of Malachi^ the last of the prophets. This is the closing, and, in many respects, the most remarkable age of Old Testament Prophecy. The unhappy events which transpired on the Historical accession of Rehoboam to the throne of Solomon of tws age, completely put an end to that state of peace and })rosperity which the kingdom had enjoyed diuing tlie greater part of the two preceding 330 THIRD AGE OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. LECT. VII. reigns. The secession of the ten tribes from their allegiance to the family of David, and their formation into a separate and independent king- dom under Jeroboam, led to national antipathies, and to frequent and bloody wars between the two great divisions thus formed of the once united race of Abraham. The weakening influence of mutual contention exposed them to the successful assaults of the powerful and warlike nations in their vicinity. Under these the kingdom of Israel was the first to fall. After a fierce and pro- tracted struggle with the Assyrians, the power of that kingdom was completely broken, the land dispeopled of its inhabitants, who were carried into exile, and the name of Israel, as a separate nation, '' utterly taken away." All this had been foretold by the prophets of God in the oracles which they uttered against the apostate tribes. (Comp. Amos v. 1, and Hos. i. 4, 6.) Of the kingdom of Judah the prophets were instructed to speak more favourably. Upon it the Lord would have mercy for the sake of David, and of that oath which respected a greater than David. Hence the tide of Assyrian conquest was rolled back from the gates of Jerusalem, and the legions of the invader swept away by a miraculous inter- position on the part of the Almighty. But the doom of Judah had also been predicted. Hardly had the Assyrian host left their territory, when an act of vanity and folly on the part of the Jewish monarch, in displaying his resources. THIRD AGE OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 331 wealth, and glory, to the ambassadors of the king lect. vu. of Babylon, led to the utterance of the divine oracle against his kingdom through the agency of Isaiah. In this was announced to Hezekiah the utter spoliation of the treasures he had so boastfully exhibited, the overthrow of his empire, and the exile of his people under the reign of one of his descendants, by that very power to the emissaries of which he had made the vain and unseemly exhibition.* The fulfilment of this prediction took place when the Chaldeans^ under the direction of Nebuchadnezzar, captured and sacked Jerusalem, slaughtered a vast multitude of its inhabitants, and carried the rest captives, with all the treasures, both of the temple and the palace, into Babylon. Jehovah, however, had threatened only to punish, not utterly to destroy the Jewish nation. Long before their exile commenced, its duration had been, by divine prediction, limited to seventy years ; and, accordingly, about the expiry of this period, the captivity of Judah " was brought back hke the streams in the south," and the land which had, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, " lain desolate and kept sabbath to fulfil threescore and ten years" (2 Chron. xxxvi. 21), was once more occupied by those to whom Jehovah had given it for an inheritance. After the first troubles and difficulties attendant upon their return from exile were surmounted, the nation settled down into * Is. xxxix. '1 ; 2 Cluon. xxxii, 27. 332 THIRD AGE OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. i-ECT. VII. a state of quiet regularity, which, compared with their condition in the days of David and Solo- mon, may be justly termed one of political insig- nificance. In this state inspired history leaves them until the appearance of Christ, when we find them reduced to the condition of a Roman province. Idolatrous Tlic calamitics which befel the kingdoms of tendency of ixii i*o* j_i1 the people. Isracl auQ Judah are traced m Scripture to the prevailing tendency of the people to idolatry, and the flagrant as well as frequent instances in which that tendency was followed. The king- dom of Israel, indeed, was founded in idolatry. In his anxiety to prevent any return of the people to their allegiance to Rehoboam, which might arise from their continuing to regard Jeru- salem as their religious metropolis, Jeroboam erected in Samaria a system of idolatry which he incorporated with the constitution of his king- dom. When he placed the golden calves in Bethel and in Dan, and proclaimed, '' These are thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt," he struck a fatal blow at the worship of Jehovah among his subjects. The people, too readily following his counsel and ex- ample, soon became wholly joined to their idols; and so strong was the evil influence of his con- duct, that in the long line of his successors there -• does not appear one who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and but one in whom the passion for idolatry displayed itself THIRD AGE OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 333 even in a mitigated form.* Hence the dark and lect. vn. abiding stigma which, in Scriptm'e, is continually affixed to the name of Jeroboam, that it was he who '''made Israel to sin." In the kingdom of Judah idolatry made less open and rapid progress; but the pernicious leaven was nevertheless pow- erfully at work. Unwarned by the example of God's judgments upon Israel, the Jews were con- tinually exhibiting a strong disposition to follow in the same ruinous course ; nor was it until their return from Babylon that their tendency to idolatry was radically cured. The first fervid outburst, however, of pious zeal, occasioned by that happy event, having passed away, they soon sunk into a state of mere formal and self-com- placent orthodoxy — the fruitful source of that pride, bigotry, and ungodliness, which, nursed for centuries, at last displayed its malignant fury in the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, and in his crucifixion as a deceiver of the people. Of the prophets who appeared during this General cha- f f • •^ 1 1 1 , • n racterisfics of age, sixteen have been privileged to obtain, tor the prophe- a portion at least, of their oracles, a place in the ^,' sacred canon. Differing, as these writers do, in a gi'eat variety of particulars, they agree in this, that they all take notice of the events which were transpiring around them, especially in regard to their own countrymen, and make these the theme of their exhortations, encouragements, or * Jeliu ; 2 Kings x. 18, fF. cies belong- ing to this age. 334 THIRD AGE OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. LECT. VII. rebukes. Hence arises a peculiarity in the style of those who have delivered predictions regarding the Messiah. All of these appear to have been occasional ; that is, suggested to the mind of the prophet (under divine inspiration, of course,) by the varying character of the scenes which he was called to witness, and sometimes of the temporal events he was appointed to predict. The moral and political condition of the nations of Israel and Judah becomes thus the shaded back ground on which the inspired painter lays the brighter colours of his Messianic anticipations. These are always brought out in relief. Whether it be that the prophet describes the invasion of the Assyrian and Babylonian armies, or laments the coming desolation of the daughter of his people, or inveighs against the delinquencies and idolatries of his countrymen, or comforts them amid the sorrows of their exile, or encourages them, on their return, in the work of restoring their city and temple to their former beauty ; — whatever be the starting point of his discourse, the goal to which he almost invariably turns is the new order of things which is ere long to arise under the Messiah's reign. The triumphs of the invading powers are contrasted with those of the Messiah over his foes ; the iniquities of the people, and their consequent punishment, give occasion to celebrate the glories of that reign under which " the people shall be all righteous," and when the fallen tabernacle of David shall be THIRD AGE OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. 335 raised and re-adorned ; the superstitious abuse of lect. vn. the Mosaic ritual is laid hold of as an occasion for announcing the ultimate cessation of its ceremonies, and the substitution of a purely spiritual religion in their place ; the sorrowful lamentations of the prophets over the sufferings of their nation often pass into a still deeper wail over the humiliation and woes of Him whom they foresaw as " the man of sorrows and ac- quainted with griefs ;" the return of the Jews from Babylon calls forth many a jubilant anticipation of that still more gladsome scene, when *^'the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads ;" the inferior glory of the second temple to that of the first is made the occasion of announcing that amidst the shaking of the nations around, Judah and her temple should stand until " the Desire of all nations " should come and fill it with Jehovah's glory ; and when once more, with respect to the greater part of the nation, the zeal of the restoration had evaporated, leaving only a residuum of dry formality and careless infidelity, the voice of the last prophet was heard amidst the vehement rebukes which he uttered against the treacherous and deceitful crowd, announcing to the pious few who still " feared the Lord, and thought upon his name," that " the Messenger of the Covenant " was on his way at once to burn up the wicked as stubble, and to rise upon the pious as " the Sun of right- 336 THIRD AGE OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. i-ECT. VII. eousness with healing in his wings." Every thing in the temporal history of their nation was thus, if I may so speak, tmiied to account by the prophets, in relation to their great office as witnesses for Christ. The light in which all events were viewed by them was reflected from the truth concerning him, and this enabled them to see for themselves and enforce upon others the lessons with which these dispensations were fraught. As in certain chemical experiments we see that which was formerly only a dull and fluid mass, suddenly converted into a beautiful and regular piece of crystallization by the slight touch of some homogeneous solid ; so, in the minds of the prophets, the floating and often gloomy thoughts, feelings, and forebodings which passing events awakened, were, by ever-recurring visions of the Messiah, touched into instantaneous order, and arranged in those forms of majesty and loveliness which their writings exhibit, and which have drawn to them the admiration and delight of the greatest minds of succeeding generations. In that brief and hasty survey which alone it is in our power at present to make of the Mes- sianic predictions, it will not be expected that I should attempt to notice minutely all the passages which may be fairly referred to this class in the writings of the larger and lesser prophets. The most I can presume to attempt, is to notice a few of the more important, espe- MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS, &C. 337 cially such as concern the Messiah personally, lect. vn. and announce the establishment of his kingdom on a more enlarged basis than that of Judaism. In pursuing this course, I shall take up the books in chronological order, as that best adapted to the end of showing the course and progress of Messianic announcement.* Amos. (B. C. 810 — 785.) The greater part Messianic ^ character of of this prophet's book is occupied in denouncing Amos ix. . ^ 11,12. the divine vengeance upon Israel, and it is not till the last chapter that we meet with what can be justly regarded as an allusion to the times of the Messiah. After announcing the entire rejec- tion of the people of the ancient covenant as a people, (symbohzed by the overthrow of the temple, and the crushing of the people under its ruins, (ix. 1,) — and the transference of Jehovah's favour from the nation, as such, to the pious handful among them, who were to be sifted from the ungodly heap by the troubles that were coming upon them, — the prophet announces, as consequent upon this, the introduction of that state of abiding excellence and felicity which is characteristic of the Messiah's rei^n. That the * The order followed is that of the Chronological Table given in Home's Introduction^ vol. iv. p. 155. The accuracy of some parts of that table may, I think, be questioned ; but as this is not the place for chronological disquisition, and as the table is sufficiently accurate for all the purposes of my present use of it, I have contented myself with implicitly fol- lowing it. 338 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE i-ECT. Yii. closing verses of this chapter relate to the advent of the Messiah was not only the opinion of the ancient Jews,* but is confirmed to us by the authority of an inspired apostle. In a passage already cited in a former lecture, (Acts xv. 14 — 1 7,) the apostle James announces that this pro- phecy had its fulfilment in the establishment of the Christian Church, and the reception within its pale of Gentile converts upon equal terms with Jewish. That such a fulfilment was previously expected by the Jews, or could have been antici- pated merely from what is stated by Amos, it would, perhaps, be rash to affirm. The passage, however, is one which no intelligent Jew could understand in any other way than as referring, generally, at least, to the Messiah ; for the hopes and destinies of that people were so interwoven with the promise of his appearance, that in answer to the question of the prophet, " By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small ?" (vii. 5,) no hesitation would have been felt in saying, " By the King Messiah." The prophecy, more- over, appears to be introduced with allusion to the promise of God to David by Nathan already considered. With the fulfilment of that promise * Sohar : " It stands written concerning the times of the Messiah by Amos, " At that time I will raise, &c.'' " When the ever-blessed God hath determined, in the time of the Mes- siah, to stretch his right hand, with this excellent oil, over all, what stands written of that time ? What Amos says, &c." Ap. Schottgen, s. 189, 389. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 339 the awful judgments denounced in the early part J-e^t. vir. of the book, and in the commencement of the ninth chapter, might appear at first sight incom- patible. If Israel was to be no better than Ethiopia, — if the chosen people were to be re- jected, and all but utterly destroyed, — how, it might be asked, was God's promise to David, that in his seed should the throne of his kingdom be established for ever, to be fulfilled ? In reply to this, the prophet, as it were, assures his readers that, amid all the agitation and disasters which he had predicted, the word and the truth of God would stand secure. If not in the way which they had expected, yet certainly in a way con- sistent with his own words, and with the best interests of his church, that promise should be fulfilled. Nay, by the very agitation and suffer- ing through which the sinful nation of Israel was to pass, and which was to end in their being rejected by God as his people, the way was to be prepared for the final and glorious accomplish- ment of this promise. " In that day" says Je- hovah,— the day of vengeance to the sinners among his people, and of separation between the bad and the good, — " in that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as the days of eternity." The judgments of God upon his people, there- fore, so far from being adverse to the fulfilment of his promise to David, were, by their rebelHon z 2 140 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ^^^'^- '^'"- and ungodliness, rendered necessary as prepara- tory of that state of things in which alone such a fulfilment could take place, in the sense in which it was intended by God. Nor was this all that an intelligent Jew might have gathered from this passage. From the announcement of Jehovah's determination to preserve, in that new order of things which was to succeed the ruin of the Theo- cracy, those only who were true worshippers, it might be inferred that the kingdom of the Mes- siah was to be a spiritual kingdom, from which the ungodly, whether Jew or Gentile, were to be for ever excluded. From what follows in ver. 1 2, '' That they [the restored family and state of David, the Messiah and his church] may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations upon whom my name is called, saith Jehovah, who doth this," the Jews might further have learned, that this spiritual sway was not to be limited to persons of their nation, but was to embrace all those, even of the former enemies of God and his cause, upon whom his name was called, that is, who should acknowledge him as their God. Who shall say that these spiritual views of this prophecy were altogether hid from the minds of those ancient students of God's word who " inquired and searched diligently " concerning that salvation which was to come ? Messianic HosEA. (B.C. 810 — 725.) Likc his contem- character of Hoseai. 10. porary Amos, this prophet directs his denun- ciations principally against the house of Israel, WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 341 whose iniquities he depicts in the darkest colours, ^^^"^^ '^^^- and whose condign punishment and final rejec- tion he emphatically predicts. As in contrast to this he introduces his Messianic intimations. Notwithstanding the utter rejection of the natural seed of Abraham, he, nevertheless, declares that God's promise to that patriarch should be ful- filled. " Yet," says he, with evident allusion to Gen, xxii. 17, "the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which can- not be measured nor numbered ; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them. Ye are not my people, it shall be said to them. Ye are the sons of the living God." (i. 10.) The latter part of this verse is quoted by Peter, (1 Ep. ii. 10,) and by Paul, (Rom. ix. 25, 26,) as referring to the introduction of con- verts into the Christian Church ; and by the latter especially, as predicting the calling of the Gen- tiles in consequence of the rejection of the Jews. That the prophet directly, and in so many words, announces these things, the Apostles do not necessarily affirm ; but that his announcements refer to some such event as the fulfilling of the promise to Abraham from some other source than by the simple increase of his natural de- scendants, must have been plain to the mind of every attentive and unprejudiced reader of his words. If, notwithstanding the utter rejection of Israel as a people, the promise to Abraham was to stand firm, and the number of Israel was to be as 342 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. VII. that of the sand of the sea, — and if in that veiy place where the sentence of rejection had been uttered, the language of welcome and of accep- tance was to be heard, — to what can it be supposed that the prophet refers, if not to the fact that the church of God — the true seed of Abraham, — which, by the apostasy of the Israelites, was threatened with overthrow, was to be established in the midst of their nation in a new and perma- nent form, by the reception into it of such only, whether Jews or Gentiles, as possessed that cha- racter, the want of which had led to the rejec- tion of the former possessors of its privileges ? From this it is no difficult matter to infer, as the Apostle does, the calling of the Gentiles into a common participation with the pious Jews of the promised blessings ; for after the national rejec- tion of the latter, it was from among the former alone that the ranks of the sacred host could be recruited. Nor is such an idea so repugnant to Jewish notions and habits as we are apt to suspect. At no time were the privileges of the Theocracy perfectly exclusive. By the circum- cision of slaves, procured from foreign nations, (Exod. xii. 44,) — by the admission of circumcised strangers to participate in the passover, (ibid. 48,) — ^by the command that they were to allow the child of an Edomite or Egyptian to enter the congregation of the Lord, (Deut. xxiii. 8,) — and by their continual practice in the reception of proselytes, — the ancient Jews were habituated to Isaiah. WRITINGS OF THE PROrHETS. 343 the idea that the number of the chosen people i^ect.vh. might be augmented by other means than that of natural descent. Isaiah. (B. C. 810—698.) The writings of m---'<= announce- this prophet excel all the rest in the number and ments m interest of the Messianic predictions which they contain. So prominently is this feature charac- teristic of them, that their inspired author has from a very early period in the history of the Christian Church, been regarded rather in the light of an evangelist than in that of a prophet.* Besides many glowing delineations of the peace, prosperity, and felicity, of the Messiah's dispen- sation,— introduced, generally, by way of contrast to the disasters caused by the invasion of Israel and Judah by the Assyrian and Babylonian powers, — we find in his writings many minute predictions of the Messiah himself, which have been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. His descent from the family of David, (xi. 1,) — his birth by a virgin, at a time when that family was in a low and almost expiring condition, (vii. 14 ; xi. 8,) — his union in his own * " [Esaias] non prophetiam mihi videtur texere, sed evangelium." Hieronymi de Led, Script. § 5. " Non tarn propheta dicendus est quam evangelista ; ita enim universa Christi, Ecclesiasque mysteria ad liquidum persecutus est, ut non putes eum de futuro vaticinari, sed de praeteritis histo- rian! texere." Ejusd. Prol. in Es. Proph. " Isaias .... de Christo et Ecclesia multo plura quam caiteri prophetavit : ita ut a quibusdam evangelista quara propheta potius dice- retur." Au^ustin. Dc Civ, Dei. xviii. 29. 344 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. VII. person of the Divine nature with the human-, (ix. 6,) — the outpouring upon him of the Holy Spirit in all his fulness, (xi. 2; xlii. 1,) — the blessing which, through him, was to come upon the district of Galilee, (viii. 23,) — the announce- ment of his advent by a forerunner, (xl. 3,) — the indifference and opposition with which he should be received by the Jews, (liii. 1 — 3,) — the miracles by which he should confirm his pretensions, (xxxv. 5, 6,) — his substitutionary and propitiatory sufferings for mankind, (liii. 4 — 6,) — his unjust and cruel death, (liii. 7, 8,) — his burial with the rich, (liii. 9,) — and his triumphant reward in the success of his efforts for the salvation of sinners, (liii. 10 — 12, &;c.) — are all presented with a clear- ness of statement which is more like that of a historian recounting events which are past, than that of a prophet announcing transactions which are yet to be realized in a far distant futurity. Of these predictions, perhaps, the most striking and interesting are those contained in chap. vii. 14 — 16 ; in chap. ix. 6, 7 ; and in chap, lii, 13 — liii. 12. These, at any rate, have been more violently assailed than any of the rest by the perverse criticism of the Anti-Messianists ; and on this account, as well as on account of their own intrinsic importance, demand a more careful consideration ere we pass on to other parts of the prophetic volume. The first of these passages contains the WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 345 announcement of the fact that the Messiah was ^-^^t. vh. j_ 1 1 /> . . tj • p n Messianic to be born oi a virgin. It is as lollows : — character of Is. vii. 14 — Behold a virgin conceives and bears a son, *^- And she shall call his name Immanuel. Milk and honey shall he eat, Until he know to refuse evil and choose good. For before the child shall know To refuse evil and choose good, The land shall be desolate Because of whose kings thou art troubled.* * Ver. 14. Some have laboured to show that rra?s> may mean a young married woman, as well as a virgin ; but this neither the etymology of the word, (from obj? to hide, he con- cealed, wiknoiv)},) nor the common usage of it, nor the transla- tion of it by irapQiroQ in the LXX., will admit. The use of the article n prefixed, shows that some particular virgin, well known to the Jews, is referred to. — The verb mV is in the Benoni part., and is expressive of a present action. Dr. Henderson says, that this part, with ren always indicates the futurity of the action specified ; but this remark is surely too unqualified. In Gen. 1. .5, and Exod. xxxiv. 10, we have instances to the contrary; and, in general, where the future is indicated by this construction, it is strictly such a future as is near at hand, a present or paulo post future. Ver. 15. The prep. '7 here is used in its temporal meaning of w^ to the time of, until, as in Lev. xxiv. 12. Ver. 16. The land shall be desolate, &c. This seems to be the best rendering of this passage, both because it is incor- rect to say that Ahab and his people abhorred the land, and because no instance occurs of 'ddd following are. Henderson adduces xvii. 9, as a case in point, but in his own note he finds it necessary to suppose a conslructio prccynans, and make '3Do depend from some verb understood. The construction of this adverbial form with the verb sip is frequent. It may be doubted also whether 'jdo ever means by. See Rosenmiiller and Maurcr in loc. 346 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ^ECT. VII. Part of this passage is cited by Matthew (i. 22, 23) as fulfilled in the birth of our Saviour by the Virgin Mary. The citation is made in such a way as to forbid the idea of a mere accommodation of the passage to that event, for the Evangelist expressly says, " All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, &c." Reverencing the Divine authority, then, by which Matthew wrote, we are shut up to the opinion that this passage contains a direct prophecy of the birth of Christ ; and in this light we must interpret it, whatever difHculties may be thereby thrown in our way. These difficulties, it must be acknowledged, are considerable, but surely they are not insuperable; and, perhaps, if interpreters had viewed the passage more in connexion with some of those peculiarities of the prophetical style, to which your attention was called in a former Lecture, they would have arrived ere now at a more harmonious and satisfactory conclusion regarding it. After a careful consideration of what has been written upon it by the most eminent ex- positors, I feel convinced that no one has more nearly approached to a simple, and tenable inter- pretation of it than Calvin and Vitringa ; the latter of whom has devoted to it a Dissertation, no less modest than learned and acute, in his Ohserva- tiones Sacrw ;* and has also followed it in his * Lib. V. cap. I. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 347 Commentary on this Prophet. The leadmg lect. vh. outline of this interpretation I shall, therefore, submit to your consideration. It will, I suppose, be admitted on all sides that Expianatioa ^ *■ of this pas- no objection can be found to the direct applica- sage. tion of this passage to the Messiah, except what arises from the context in which it stands. In itself, the passage is strikingly appropriate to our Lord Jesus Christ ; and in so far as this goes, I believe, no one will object to its appli- cation. But when it is compared with the context, two questions arise: — 1st. How could the birth of Jesus Christ be a sig?i to those whom Isaiah then addressed? and 2dly. What connexion could there be between the birth and growth of Christ, and the overthrow of the nations by whose kings Ahab was then vexed ? In order to answer these questions, let us look at the course of events in the chapter before us. We are told at the commencement of it, that Ahab and his people were under great alarm because of the threatened invasion of the kings of Israel and Syria ; and that Isaiah was sent to meet them with an assurance that their fears were groundless, for that the Lord had said of the design of their enemies, " It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass." To the impious and incredulous monarch this message brought no comfort; and hence, the prophet, to convince him of his sincerity, desires him to ask 348 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE i!i[iZli' a sign of the Lord his God, either in the depth or in the height above. Ahab rephes to this by saying, with a tone of mock humiUty or ironical sneering, " I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord," — a piece of migodly conduct which draws down upon him the denunciation of the prophet, who assures him, that though he should escape the threatened danger, yet the Lord would bring upon him a more fearful calamity from the king of Assyria. From this exhibition of royal folly and wickedness the excited spirit of the prophet, rapt into one of those sudden ecstasies which have already been described as incident to the Jewish seers, — and beholding in apocalyptic vision, as already happening, the occurrence of that mighty event which was the pledge and foundation of all God's promises and blessings to the Jews,- — announces, for his own comfort, and that of all the pious of his day, a sign which no caprice or iniquity of the monarch could hinder, and which carried with it an assurance that, whatever Jehovah promised, that would he perform. " Behold," says he, " the new thing is come to pass. The Virgin con- ceives and bears her son. That son is Imma- nuel, our delivering God. The land around him is in plenty and peace. Is anything too hard for God ? I assure you, that before that child whom I now see in prophetic vision entering the world shall have passed the years of infancy, (?. e. within a period long enough for such a WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 349 thing actually to happen,) your enemies shall be ^^^'^- ^^^- vanquished and their empire overthrown." We are now in circumstances to say what The birth of . Christ a real answer should be given to the questions above sign to the proposed. If it be asked Jiozu in what sense the birth of the Messiah could be a sign to the Jews of the truth of the prophet's message, the answer is. In the highest of all senses, inasmuch as upon the certainty of that event depended the certainty of every promise which God gave to his people. The word here rendered by sig?i (ni«) denotes anything the certain existence of which affords a pledge and assurance of the certainty of something else, which is either not an object of sense, or for which there is not the same independent security as for the former. Now, it was in Christ Jesus, and in him alone, that all the promises made to the Jewish people stood certain. Every blessing they had to expect rested upon the fact that they were the people among whom the Messiah was to appear. Hence, as Calvin observes,* '' It is usual with the prophets, in order to confirm special pro- mises, to lay this as the foundation — that God would send a Redeemer. On this general prop God every where rests whatever he specially promises to his people. Hence, as often as men- tion is made of famine, pestilence, or war, it is by placing the Messiah before their eyes that he * Comment, in loco. 350 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. VII. seeks to inspire in them the hope of reUef." The words of the prophet on the occasion before us, then, would convey a sigii by an argument a fortiori. It is as if he had said : — " I see the fulfilment of that great promise which we all beheve ; and if God will fulfil that, can you doubt his ability or willingness to fulfil such a promise as that I have come to give ?" Isaiah, in short, uses here much the same sort of argu- ment as the Apostle employs when he says, '' If God withheld not his own Son, but freely gave him up to the death for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ?" If we are sure of the greater, how can we doubt con- cerning the less ? If it be said that this, after all, is making an event as yet unrealized the sign of another event also future, I reply, that this is an objection which will apply as well to any other interpre- tation of the passage as to that which I have proposed. Upon no hypothesis is the sign re- ferred to supposed to have had any actual existence, save in the conception of the prophet ; and the only difference in this respect between this interpretation and those which suppose the prophet to refer to some female then alive, or then actually before him, is that in the latter case the sign would be something which was to occur soon, whilst in the other, it must be viewed as something which would not happen for some centuries. In both cases, the only WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 351 pledge which the people had at the time for the i-ect. yh. accomplishment of the promised deliverance lay in their conviction, that what Isaiah saw in pro- phetic vision concerning this sign would actually come to pass. Now, on which hypothesis, let me ask, would this be stronger? Let us suppose the prophet's words to announce merely the birth of a child in the ordinary course of nature ; and what conviction would the belief that the prophet foresaw that afford of his also foreseeing their deliverance from the impending attack of the hostile kings ? As Luther pithily remarks, a bystander might in such a case have said, " That truly is no sign, for the prophet may have liis own reasons for knowing that what he predicts will come about in the ordinary course of nature." * If, on the other hand, we suppose that the sign here referred to was the birth of the Messiah, how much more dignified, forcible, and rational do the prophet's words become ! That was an event which human agency could not accomplish. It was one, moreover, of the occurrence of which no Jew could have any doubts. It was the most certain thing within the whole region of Jewish antici- pation. It was that on which their very exist- ence as a nation rested. To doubt it, would have been to become sceptics in regard to the * " Der .Tilde spriclit : O nein ! das ist kein zeichen vveil der Prophet die Alma geschwangert liat." Ap. Calovii Bib. Illust. in he. 352 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT.vii. niost fixed principles of their national and reli- gious creed. If it were uncertain, their entire system of polity and worship was a delusion and a falsehood. To what, then, could a prophet have appealed with more effect, than to a fact which all who heard him knew was as certain to occur as that they were Jews, and their nation the chosen people of God ? To them his de- claration would become thus of the nature of an oaihy in which the certainty of the one event was asseverated by an appeal to the certainty of another of infinitely greater moment, and of which they had full assurance from the word and promise of God. Connexion Thc aiiswer to the second question above between tlie predicted proposcd, VIZ., What connexion could there be and the de- bctwecn thc birth and growth of Christ and the deliverance of the land of Judea from the assaults of those who were then vexing it ? is to be found, I apprehend, in that peculiarity of the prophetic style which arose from the presejit and actual character of the prophet's visions. The whole scene here described must be thought of as passing in vision before Isaiah's mental eye. He saw the child born, not as what should occur ages afterwards, but as an event actually realized at the moment when he spoke. Hence, when passing from the vision of prophecy to the reali- ties around him, with his soul full of what he had seen, he still continues to speak of it as some- thing which had actually there and then tran- liverance of the land of Judea from the hostile powers. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 353 spired. In short, the birth of the child in the i-^ct. vn. prophet's \dsion becomes to him a real event, and supplies him with a date from which to calculate the time of the accomplishment of his prediction concerning Israel and Syria. The meaning of his words, then, seems to be, that before the close of a period long enough for a child, born at that moment, to become capable of exercising moral discrimination, the land, on account of whose kings Ahab and his people were distressed, should be desolated, and the deliverance of Judea secured. If these remarks be correct, it appears that this passage admits of a direct and immediate reference to the Messiah. Of all the hypotheses which have been framed in order to give it another application — such as, that the " virgin " here spoken of was a young woman standing near the prophet at the time, or that it is of the queen of Ahab that the prophet spoke under that term, or that it is of his own wife that he utters this prediction — it may be safely affirmed that they are the mere contrivances of minds which, disliking the doctrine concerning the Messiah, are anxious to obliterate all traces of it from Scripture, at whatever expense of philology or reason. This has been made abundantly clear by the scrutiny to which they have been sub- jected by the friends of the Messianic application of this passage ; so that it is now very generally allowed, that it is only on the hypothesis of the A A 354 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. VII. latter that any satisfactory explanation of this prophecy can be hoped for. To such the inter- pretation above given is submitted as upholding the Messianic reference of this passage, and at the same time freeing it from those unscrupulous assumptions by which it has been too often clogged. Messianic Xhc ucxt passaffc in the prophecies of Isaiah character of ± o i ± is.ix. 5,6. to which I would particularly call your atten- tion, is that remarkable announcement in chap. ix. ver. 5, 6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given ; And the government shall be upon his shoulder ; And his name shall be called Wonder, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and its peace there shall be no end. On the throne of David, and over his kingdom To establish it and strengthen it with justice and equity, Henceforth and for ever : The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts shall do this.* * Ver. 5. The names here given to the subject of this prophecy are not appellations by which he should be called, but annunciations of the qualities by which he should be dis- tinguished, n'td is any thing that is strange, wonderful, or mysterious ; and seems here to denote the supernatural and miraculous character of the person spoken of. The abstract is used for the concrete for the sake of emphasis. — yj.'-v Coun- sellor, an epithet descriptive of the tvisdom belonging to the subject of this prophecy. — mna "?« Mighty God. (Comp. x. 21.) The adjective here denotes one who excels in power and strength ; it is used of Jehovah, in Deut. x. 17, and of the Messiah, in Ps. xxiv. 8; Zeph. iii. 17. — 15? 'i^* Father of eternity, i. e. the absolutely eternal one. According to an Oriental idiom, a person is said to be the father of anything WRITINGS OF, THE PROPHETS. 355 This passage is introduced by a highly poetical t.ect. vh. description of the change which at some future period was to be effected upon the troubled affairs of the people of Palestine, The darkness which was to visit them was not to be perpetual ; deliverance was ere long to arrive, and that from a quarter least expected- — " the region beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations," (viii. 23.) Joy and peace should be the happy result of that light which was to arise upon them ; the bur- densome yoke, with the staff of the exactor, should be broken as in the day of Midian ; and all the accoutrements of the warrior should be " given for a burning and for fuel to the fire." This happy state of things the prophet traces to the birth of the great Deliverer, whom he had already announced as Immanuel, the child of a virgin, and whom he now, in accordance with that, describes by epithets indicative of the mys- terious and glorious character which he should sustain. That this passage refers to the Mes- siah is placed beyond any reasonable doubt, not only by the reference to it in the New Testa- ment,* but also by the terms of the passage itself. Of whom but of Christ could it be said that he was a " child born," and yet the " mighty God," — partaker of the attributes at once of of which he is absolutely possessed. (Comp. »Ta« the father of knowledge — the absolutely wise, &c.) — ut-a nuj Prince of peace. There is, perhaps, an allusion here to the Shiloh of Jacob's prophecy. * Luke i. 32, 33. A a2 ,356 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE i^ECT. VII. humanity and deity ? To whom but to him could the title " Father of Eternity" or Eternal One be applied ? Who but he was the " Prince of Peace ?" And though there were many be- sides him of whom it could be said that they occupied the throne of David, of none of them could it, without the gi'ossest extravagance and absurdity, be added that his dominion was bound- less, his reign uninterrupted, and his throne esta- blished and settled for ever. The notion that Isaiah here refers to Hezekiah, king of Judah, which is the favourite hypothesis of the anti- Messianists, is really not worth a refutation. Not only is such a notion incompatible with the terms in which the prophet speaks of the subject of his oracle, but it renders unmeaning his direct allusion to Galilee as the district which was to enjoy in a remarkable manner the blessings which he predicts ; for Hezekiah was in no way connected with this district, and in no sense conferred blessings upon it. The only consistent and admissible view of this noble passage is that which understands it of Him who came out of Galilee, and fully realized in his own person the elevated description of the inspired seer. We now come to what may be justly con- sidered the most remarkable passage in all the Old Testament regarding the Messiah — that which is contained in Is. lii. 13 — liii. 12. In the commencement of this section of his writings the prophet introduces Jehovah as speaking of some Messianic character of Is. lii. 13; liii. 12. WRITINGS OF THE PROrilETS. 357 one whom he designates his " servant," and of lect. vh. whom he announces, that, though he was to suffer the utmost indignities, yet should he rise to unequalled power and eminence, and become the priest of many nations.* The prophet then speaks in his own person, and, still continuing to refer to " the servant of Jehovah," gives a fuller exposition of what had been more briefly an- nounced by God himself concerning him, en- larging upon the unmerited sufferings of the subject of his prophecy, on the mild and bene- volent patience with which he endured his sufferings, and on the glory and honour which were to accnie to him as the result of these sufferings in the salvation of those for whom they had been undergone. The question mainly to be determined in regard to the reference of this passage obviously is. Whom does the prophet here designate as " the servant of God ?" Very numerous have been the theories which AntiMes- have been formed in order to answer this ques- nations of ^ tion in a way unfavourable to the Messianic *^'' ^^''^^^' claims of the passage. To recount and examine all of these would be not only wearisome, but a * This seems to be implied in the words, " So shall he sprinJde many nations." The verb here employed is used to designate the ceremonial of purifying performed by the priests under the Levitical economy, as when they purified the mercy seat by the sprinkling of blood upon it ; and the meaning of the declaration seems to be, that the " servant of Jehovah" should purify, by sprinkling, many nations, and so act the part of an atoning oriest for them. See Henderson in loco. 358 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE I'ECT. vn. needless waste of time and space, as most of them are only modifications of certain leading hypotheses which have had their origin in the school of the Jews, and the refutation of which involves the overtm'n of all the subordinate hy- potheses which have been erected upon them.* Those which appear most worthy of considera- tion, and that, chiefly, because of the number and eminence of those who have maintained them, are two : — the one, that by the servant of God is designated collectively the more pious portion of the Jewish nation ; and the other, that by this term is intended the whole body of the Jews. On these two hypotheses it may be of service to offer a few remarks for the purpose of showing their utter unsoundness. Hypothesis, Thosc who maintain the former hypothesis, that the ser- vantofGoa supposc that the speakers in the 53d chap. sagermCns ^Tc thc wlckcd portloii of the Jews, who, lionTthe^*"^ on their return from Babylon, and having fS/^ witnessed the superior excellence and greater triumph of their more pious countrymen, are introduced as lamenting their own folly and sin, and expressing their obligations to the righteous. Against this theory there lie the most weighty objections. In the first place, it is purely gra- * The reader who wishes to see this subject treated on the exhaustive system, may consult Hengstenberg's Christologie, i. 168 — 396. Part of this valuable and profoundly learned dissertation has appeared in English in the American Biblical Repository, from which it has been reprinted in the Edinburgh Biblical Cabinet, vol. ix. p. 182. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 359 tuitous in its assumption. No evidence can be lect. vn. adduced to show that the two parties here are portions of the same nation, or that the phrase "servant of God" was ever used to designate the righteous part of the people as distinguished from the wicked. All this is mere assumption, neither very probable in itself, nor supported by a single instance in which that phrase is used. But 2dly. — This hypothesis is palpably opposed to the statements of the passage itself. The prophet, for instance, distinctly intimates that the speakers in the 53d chap, felt themselves in- debted to the servant of God for the exemption from deserved suffering which they enjoyed through what he had endured, (ver. 5, 6.) Now, on the hypothesis under consideration, this must mean, that in Babylon the righteous por- tion of the Jews alone had suffered, whilst the wicked enjoyed an exemption from suffering on account of their vicarious endurance. But is such a statement consonant with fact ? Is there the shghtest hint in history that such a distinc- tion was made in Babylon between the pious Jews and the wicked ? Is not the very opposite more in accordance with all we know of the state of the Jews during their exile, when many of the pious were promoted for the services they ren- dered to their masters, while the ungodly and insubordinate were frequently severely punished ? It is preposterous, then, to suppose for a moment that such is the meaning of the prophet in this 360 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ^''-^T. VII. passage. Besides, in what sense could it have been said that the pious portion of the Jews had suffered a violent death, (ver. 8,) — had been buried with the wicked and the rich, (ver. 9,) — had offered themselves voluntarily as a sacrifice for the sins of their countrymen, (ver. 6, 7,) — and yet had been exalted to enjoy happiness, to make many righteous, and to make intercession for the transgressors? (Ver. 10 — 12.) On such an hypothesis these expressions have obviously no meaning, or one which is self-contradictory ; — a reason amply sufficient for rejecting the hypo- thesis, as altogether inapplicable to the ex- planation of this passage. Hypothesis, Thc sccoud hypothesis appears in a double that the ser- vant of God form. By all who have adopted it, the servant means the whole Jewish of God is Tcgardcd as the body of the Jews ; but futed.' some understand thereby, only that generation of the Jews which died during the Babylonish captivity; whilst others understand by it the nation, as such, without any such limitation. By the former, the speakers in the 53d chap, are held to be the generation of the Jews which re- turned from exile ; by the latter, the speakers are supposed to be the surrounding heathen. We shall briefly consider these opinions succes- sively. Let us suppose, then, in the first place, that the servant of God is the whole of that generation of the Jews which had died in exile ; and that the speakers are the collective body of Jews who were alive at the close of the exile, and WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 361 whom the prophet introduces as expressmg the I'Ect. vn. joy which they felt, that, in consequence of what their fathers had suffered, they had been deH- vered from bondage, and brought out of the grave of exile, into the life of restoration to their native land; and, let us inquire how far this hypothesis agrees with the train of thought and expression in the passage itself. Now, in the first place. What, upon this theory, are we to understand by the statements in ver. 4 and 5 ? According to it, these must mean that the former generation of the Jews which had died in exile, had done no sin, but had suffered solely for the sins of their children. But is this the doctrine of Scripture ? Is it even common sense ? How, upon any inteUigible principle, can sin be punished in one generation which is to be committed in that which follows it ? We read in Scripture of children suffering for the sins of their fathers ; but it is certainly a novel doctrine to find it asserted, that fathers are punished for the sins of their unborn posterity. It is plain, that the hypothesis which fixes on this passage such an idea must be false. 2dly. How, upon this hypo- thesis, are we to account for the closing verses of the passage under consideration, in which is con- tained a description of the living glory of the servant of God ? By the supposition, that ser- vant is the generation of Jews who had died in Babylon; how, then, I ask, come they to be spoken of as still ahve, and in the enjoyment of 362 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE tECT. VII. great honour and felicity ? If it be said, that the latter part of the chapter refers to the generation then alive, this will introduce great confusion into the prophecy ; for we shall then have the speakers applying the same term alter- nately to themselves, and to the generation of their fathers. At lii. 13, the servant of God who was to be exalted, must, on this interpreta- tion, mean the Uvhig generation; then in the next verse, the servant of God whose visage was to be marred, must mean the former generation. But to any reader, it will be obvious that all this is mere gratuitous assumption, for the language of the prophet plainly intimates, that it is of one and the same person that he speaks in all these verses. Had he written in such a style as would thus be ascribed to him, no confidence could have been entertained by his readers in the pos- sibility of ascertaining with any degree of pre- cision his meaning. 3dly. In chapter liii. 7, it is said, " He was oppressed, and he was afflicted ; yet he opened not his mouth ; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." According to this theory, these words describe the meekness, patience, and unresisting submission with which the former generation of the Jews had gone into exile and submitted to its penalties. But was this the case ? Did they really exhibit this meek and willing acquiescence in the claims of the king of Babylon ? On the WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 363 contrary, did they not resist to the last, and by ^^<^t.vii. every means in their power endeavour to avert the calamity with which they were threatened ? How, then, can we suppose that the prophet would make use of such language in reference to them ? Here comes in that modification of the hypo- The hypothe thesis under notice, which consists in making the l\^^!,^^l\n speakers in this 53d chap, the surrounding l^';*'^^^^,'^ heathen. By those who adduce this view, it is ""'"' '^^"^'"^• supposed that the praises bestowed upon the servant of God, the Jewish people, are to be regarded merely in the light of a piece of flat- tery, uttered for the purpose of gaining the favour of the Jews, and here dramatically put into the mouths of the heathen by the prophet. On this supposition, it is hardly worth while to offer many remarks ; its entire gratuitousness, and direct opposition to the real character of Isaiah's writings, must awaken an insuperable objection to it in every pious and reflective mind. When, we may ask, does Isaiah or any other of the prophets, introduce the heathen as uttering their erroneous and false opinions, without giving due warning of the fact, of which there is here no trace ? Besides, what writer who had any regard to consistency — any dramatical talent, if the passage is to be viewed as dramatical — would introduce a body of per- sons professedly acting the part of religious penitents, and, at the same time, giving utterance 364 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. vii. to the language of false and fulsome flattery ? And, finally, even were such an idea admitted, as serving to account for the language in the 53d chap, it will not account for the language used by Jehovah himself in the 5 2d, where the innocence of his suffering servant is as clearly, though not as fully, set forth as in the context which follows. On these grounds, we must re- ject the idea that the speakers here are the heathen.^ — Against the whole hypothesis, that the servant of God in this context is the Jewish people, it may be further remarked, that it assumes a doctrine to which the Old Testament, as well as the New, gives no place, viz., that the sufferings of one man, or body of men, may form a meritorious satisfaction for the sins of another. Even De Wette admits, that " in the Old Testa- ment, the doctrine of human substitution is not found, and, according to the prevailing doctrinal idea, cannot be found. (Mic. vi. 6 — S.)" * Nothing, then, can be more violent than to suppose that Isaiah would so prominently introduce it into this part of his writings. TheMessia- Thc rcfutatioii of these two hypotheses re- nic interpre- . . i • i i tation alone movcs tlic ouly mtcrpretatioiis whicli have ever consistent . I'l ' ^ i i ' t n t • with the Ian- coiiic iiito Tcal rivahy with that which linds m passage. '^ tliis passagc a direct and formal prediction of the Messiah. How feebly that rivalry is maintained * De morte expiatoria, p. 22, np. Hengstenberg, Christ. i. s, .382. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 365 by them, the remarks ah'eady made will enable lect. vn. us to judge. Let us turn, then, gladly and thankfully, to that interpretation which was the first ever put upon the passage,* which was the prevailing interpretation in the early Christian Church, and which has come down to us sanc- tioned by the infallible authority of our Lord and his apostles.f To this interpretation, there is nothing in the passage itself which offers the slightest difficulty ; on the contrary, all its state- ments receive upon it a due and harmonious explanation. The sinlessness of the suffering servant of God, — his vicarious substitution for others, — his meekness and unrepining gentleness under the cruelties of his enemies, — his triumph in the salvation of those for whom he suffered, — and even the historical allusion to the circum- stances of his burial and resurrection, — all find their counterpart and fulfilment in the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God. * A great collection of Jewish testimonies in favour of the Messianic interpretation, is furnished by Hulsius, Schottgen, and others. As a specimen, the following may be given. Targum Jonathan : " Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper, &c." Tanchuma : " Behold, &c. This is the King Messiah,who shall be extolled, and exalted, and be high. He shall be ex- tolled above Abraham, exalted above Moses, and be high above the ministering angels." 72, Alshech : " The Rabbins of blessed memory, with one mouth, according to the received traditions, declare that this discourse is concerning the King Messiah." Ap. Hulsii, Theol Jud. p. 321, 322. -j- See Luke xxii. 37 ; John xii. 38 ; Acts viii. 28 ; 1 Pet. ii. 21 — 25, &c. 366 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ^^-^'^- '^"- In vain has the perverse ingenuity of his enemies sought to find these criterial quahties exemph- fied in any other. The improved philology and hermeneutics of modern times, have only served more clearly to show that the earliest interpreta- tion of this memorable passage is not only the best, but the only one that can stand the test of a searching and scientific scrutiny.* Messianic JoEL. (B. C. 660.) Tlils prophct does not in- character of _ ... n • Joel ii. 28- troduce into his writings any allusion to the 32. Messiah personally, but he announces as charac- teristic of the latter dispensation, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon individuals of all ranks and ages, without respect of sex or any of those official distinctions which were peculiar to Ju- daism, (ii. 28 — 32,) — a prophecy which Peter announced as fLilfilled on the day of Pentecost, when he and his fellow disciples assumed the office of teachers under the guidance of Divine influence. (Acts ii. 16 — 21.) Messianic MicAH. (B. C. 758 — 669.) This prophet fur- Micaii. nishes several delineations of the glories of the Messiah's reign, some of which are identical with those found in Isaiah.f He also announces the union of the divine and human natures in the Messiah, — refers to his mysterious birth, as a matter with which the Jews in his day were * See Heiigstenberg, I. c. Henderson in loc. Jahnii, Append, in Her. Sac. Fas. ii. p. 3^ — 66. f Comp. chap. iv. 1 — 3, with Is. ii. 2 — 4 ; chap. vi. G — 9, with Is. 1. 11— 17, &c. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 367 familiar, — and especially names Bethlehem as i-i^ct. vn. the place where he was to be born : — And tlioii, Bethlehem Ephratah, Art thou too small to be among the thousands [tribes] of Judah ? Out of thee shall come forth unto me He who is to be ruler in Israel. But his forthgoings are from old, from the days of eternity. Wherefore He [Jehovah] shall deliver them up until the time when she who is to bear shall bear, and the residue of his brethren shall return unto the sons of Israel.* Jeremiah. (B. C. 628 — 586.) As this pro- Messianic . , 1 . Prophecies in phet delivered his oracles very near the time Jeremiah, of the Babylonish captivity, not only are hisxxiii.c. writings filled with sorrowful meditations upon the crimes and ruin of his nation ; but his Messi- anic predictions partake of a hue borrowed from the prevailing colour of his feelings. They con- sist chiefly of announcements of the abolition of the Levitical system of worship, (iii. 16 — 18,) * Mic. V. 1, 2. I have followed Newcome, in reading the second member of the first parallelism interrogatively, as the best mode, in the present state of the text, of bringing out the sense. And his forthgoings, &c. The word thus rendered, vnNSini, properly means the time or place, and not the act of going forth. (See Hengstenberg, Christ, iii. 298 fF.) The clause in which it occurs here is in evident contrast to the preceding, and intimates, that though, as a man, the Messiah was to come forth from Bethlehem, yet, his birth-place was eternity. This accords with Isaiah's application to him of the title, " The Father of Eternity." For evidence of the Messianic reference of this passage, see Matt. ii. 5 ; John vii. 41, 42. 368 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. vii. and the making of a new and spiritual covenant with the chosen people, (xxxi. 31 — 34.) With these are coupled several announcements of the personal Messiah, under the name of *'the Righteous Branch" whom God was to raise up to David, and with evident allusion to the pro- mise of God to David by Nathan the prophet, (xxiii. 5 — 8; xxxiii. 15 — 22.) The most re- markable feature in these announcements, is the title " Jehovah our righteousness" which the prophet applies to the Messiah. Understanding by the term " Righteousness" here, what is its leading biblical meaning, jiistificatmi, or acquit- tal in the sight of God, the prophet must be viewed as announcing the grand fundamental doctrine of Christianity, viz. ; the justification of sinners through the merits of incarnate Deity. To avoid this conclusion, many have proposed to render the passage by '' Jehovah is our righte- ousness ;" and in support of this, they adduce the practice which prevailed among the Jews, and which had been received by them from the patriarchs, of giving significant names to objects, not so much for the sake of describing the objects themselves, as indicative of the feelings of the person by whom they were bestowed. Thus Moses called an altar which he built, " Jehovah-nissi," Jehovah my banner y as a memo- rial of the Lord's gracious interposition on behalf of his people when fighting against the Amale- kites, (Exod. xvii. 15 ;) and so in like manner. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 369 it is contended, that the prophet here simply i-ect. vir. affirms, that the people who shall live under the Messiah's sway, shall, in gratitude to God for sending him, give him the memorial-name of " Jehovah-tsidkenu," Jehovah our Righteousness. It must be allowed, that in this objection there is considerable force ; the more especially, that in chap, xxxiii. 16, the same name is apparently bestowed by the prophet on Jerusalem. Let it be observed, however, in the first place, that there are certain palpable differences between such announcements as that concerning Moses in the case referred to, and that made by the pro- phet here concerning the Messiah. The fact affirmed is not the same in both. In the one case, we are told that a particular individual gave a significant name to a certain object connected with a specified transaction ; in the other, we have only a general declaration that an indivi- dual about to appear shall bear a particular name, descriptive of his character and office. The ends to be answered by the two statements are not the same for both. The purpose of the one is, that the reader may know the simple fact, that a certain person took the specified way of shewing the importance he attached to a certain transaction ; the purpose of the other is, that we may obtain a more correct idea of the character and office of the individual announced. Under these circumstances, it seems hardly competent to compare the two cases for the purpose of B B 370 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE '■^<^T. vir. putting upon the latter the same inteq^retation that we put upon the former. 2dly. The Scrip- tural usage of the phrase " his (or its) name shall be called," is in favour of the meaning which Christians generally have put upon this passage. It may be asserted confidently, that where that phrase is used for the purpose of announcing a significative name as pertaining to any object, it intimates the actual realization, at some future period, in that object of the fact or quality, as the case may be, which the significative name denotes. Comp. Gen. xvii. 5 ; xxxii. 28 ; Isa. iv. 3 ; Ixii. 4, &c. Upon this principle, the state- ment under consideration must mean, that the Messiah was actually to be Jehovah the Righte- ousness of his people. 3dly. It is not unusual with the prophets to announce the truth con- cerning the Messiah, by giving him significative names. Comp. Isa. vii. 14 ; ix. 6. So also in the New Testament, he is called " the True light," " our Peace," '^ our Hope," and is said to have been " made of God unto us. Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemp- tion."* Finally, with regard to chap, xxxiii. 16, it is to be observed, firstly, that it is not exactly parallel to that under consideration, but is strictly rendered by " This (is he) who shall proclaim to her," &c. or, taking the verb ^srip;. as in the Niphal conjugation, " This (is he) who shall be called by her," &c. ; and secondly, that the readings here * John i. 5 ; Eph. ii. 14 ; 1 Tim. i. 1 ; 1 Cor. i. 30. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 371 fluctuate between that in the received text, and i-ect. vn. one the same as in chap, xxiii. 5. From this passage, therefore, no sohd support is obtained in favour of the objection to the ordinary interpre- tation of the passage under consideration. The removal of this objection on these grounds, leaves us in indisputable possession of the valuable tes- timony which this passage affords, of the know- ledge dispersed among the Jews concerning the Divine dignity and justifying work of the promised Messiah. Daniel, (b. c. 606 — 534.) The Messianic Messianic Prophecies in announcements of this prophet, though not nu- oaniei, espe- cially ix. merous, are very remarkable. Besides intimating 24-27. in general terms the felicity and perpetual dura- tion of the Messiah's reign, (ii. 44,) he expressly announces the coming of the Messiah as the Son of Man, attended by the clouds of heaven, to the Ancient of Days, to receive this kingdom, (vii. 13, 14,) — a statement which must be understood, I apprehend, of our Lord's triumphal ascension into heaven after his resurrection, when he car- ried his human nature into the upper sanctuary, and, surrounded by a cloud of angels, took his seat as the God-man on the eternal throne.* * Comp. Acts i. 9; Psalm Ixviii. 17, 18. In the New Testament, cloud or clouds, is a term used to designate a body of persons, as in Heb. xii. 1 . The same is its meaning, ob- viously, in 1 Thess. iv. 17, where it is said of the resurrection and ascension of the blessed, that they shall ascend " in clouds" to meet their Lord. On the same principle, we ought, I submit, to interpret the frequent assertion, that our Lord is to B B 2 372 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. VII. Daniel also announces his violent and propitia- tory death; nay, fixes a time when that shall take place, and when, as consequent thereupon, the city of Jerusalem and the holy place shall be destroyed, (ix. 24 — 27.) Whatever difficulties may attach to the determination of the time announced by Daniel for these events, two things seem to be placed beyond any doubt in regard to the meaning of this passage. The one is, that in it there is a real and direct announcement of the Messiah's death, as a sacri- ficial substitute for the sins of man, and of the sufficiency of his propitiation, " to shut up trans- gression ; — to seal the sin-ofFerings ; — to expiate iniquity ; — to bring in an everlasting righteous- ness ; — to seal vision and prophet ; — and to anoint [with the oil of gladness and triumph] an All-holy one."* The other is, that from whatever point " come in the clouds" to judge the world. Are not these clouds the attending myriads of " His own and his Father's angels ?" * A few slight departures have been made here from the com- mon version, for which it may be necessary to account, abii is from the verb xbs to shut up, to restrain. A various reading would make it part of the verb nbs to finish, or complete, and this our translators have followed. The textual reading, however, is unimpeachable, and gives a meaning more in accordance with what follows. To restrain transgression is the great end of the gospel of Jesus Christ, nnrt to seal. As a seal renders the letter to which it is affixed private, so the phrase to seal, is used tropically in Scripture to denote the placing of a thing in concealment. Comp. Deut. xxxii. 34 ; Job ix. 7 ; xiv. 17 ; Is. xxix. 11, &c. From this, the transi- tion to the idea of abolition is very easy, the concealment of WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 373 we begin to calculate the specified time, pro- lect. vh. vided only that we fix upon some point not far diverging from the aera of the return of the Jews from exile, to which we are bound by the general language of the prophet, we shall find its close at, or near to the period of our Saviour's death. These two points being ascertained, it is unne- cessary for us to inquire further at present into the meaning of the passage, as they sufficiently fix its application to our Lord, to justify us in classing this passage among the most remarkable and instructive of the Messianic predictions of the Old Testament. EzEKiEL. (b. c. 595 — 536.) As this prophet Messianic delivered his oracles during the time of the Ezekiei?^"" Babylonish exile, his references to the Messiah are generally introduced in immediate connexion with predictions concerning the return of the Jews to their own land ; the one blessing being as it were suggested to his mind by the other. Hence, he speaks of the Messiah by the name of " David," (xxxiv. 23, &c.) and of his kingdom, as certain things being, ipso facto, their annihilation. The mean- ing here, then, I take to be, that the Messiah should put an end to the sin-ofFerings of the Mosaic economy; comp. ver. 27. niMTDn is the word used by Moses to designate the sin-offerings under the law. — id3 is the verb properly used to designate the offering of a ransom, or expiation for sin. The sealing of vision and of prophet, seems to refer to the removal of the pro- phetical office from the place it was to occupy till the coming of the Messiah. The verb is the same as in the preceding clause, where it is predicated of the sin-offerings. Comp, Matt. ii. 13. 374 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE LECT. VII. if it were to consist in a complete re-establish- ment of the theocracy as it was in the happiest days of that prince, (xxxvii. 1 — 28.) At the same time, he gives us a key to the spiritual interpretation of these prophecies, by continually introducing into his Messianic pictures, images and descriptions indicative of the fact, that it was no literal empire whose fortunes he predicted, but the rise and establishment of that invisible and eternal kingdom '' which is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Thus, in chap, xxxiv. 25 — 27, we have an animated announcement of the puri- fying operation of the Holy Spirit under the new economy, and of the entire spiritual renovation of the people of God in consequence. So also in chap, xxxvii. 26, 27, God announces concerning the new state of things under the Messiah's reign, that he will make with his people a covenant of peace; that he will set his sanctuary among them; that his tabernacle shall be with them, and that he will be their God, and they shall be his people. The terms of these passages are such, that it would be doing violence to them to understand them in any other sense, than as predicting the realization in the kingdom of the Messiah, of those scenes of holy beauty and spi- ritual excellence of which the Theocracy, even in its most perfect state, contained only the out- ward type. In the eight concluding chapters of his book, the prophet carries out his theocratical WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 375 adumbration of the latter dispensation to an iect. vn. extent, which has rendered this portion of his writings amongst the obscm'est parts of the Old Testament. Haggai. (b. c. 520 — 518.) This prophet fur- Messianic nishes only one decidedly Messianic passage. Haggai, espe- Living at the period of the building of the second "^ ^ "' temple, and commissioned to encourage and direct the people in their work, he comforts those who were grieved at the inferiority of that edifice to its predecessor, by assuring them that an honour was in store for it far beyond any that had been conferred upon the former temple ; for whilst it was standing the Messiah should come and fill it with the Divine glory : — " And I will shake all the nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come ; and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of Hosts," (ii. 7.) That by " the Desire of all nations" in this passage is meant the Messiah, has been the prevailing opinion among Christian interpreters from the earliest times. Those who oppose it, adopt the render- ing suggested by the LXX. version of the pas- sage, {l]^€l Til €K\€KTa TTClVTUiV TWV edvWV,^ VIZ. ; " The desirable (precious) things of all nations shall come," /. e. the heathen shall bring many rich and valuable offerings into this house. But, in the first place, even admitting the superior excellence of this rendering, it does not neces- sarily exclude the reference of the passage to the Messiah. Plural terms are not always expressive 376 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE lECT. VII. of a plurality of objects ; but are frequently used to indicate, merely, the intensity with which any quality inheres in the subject of which they are predicated.* In this view, therefore, even if we adopt the plural rendering of the passage, we may still understand it of the person of the Mes- siah. 2dly. The affirmation that the subject here spoken of is to come to the temple, agrees better with the idea of a person than with that of inanimate objects, of which it would have been more correct to say, that they were to he brought. 3dly. The reference of this to the Messiah, is the only one that accords with the dignity of the passage. From ver. 6, it appears, that the realization of the blessing promised, was to be preceded by great politi- cal convulsions and revolutions. The apostle understands this of the providential occur- rences in the political world, by which the establishment of the Messiah's reign is to be secured, (Heb. xii. 26, 27,) a meaning which accords well with the solemnity of the language employed. But, if we suppose the end to be attained to be nothing more than the constrain- ing the heathen nations to beautify the temple at Jerusalem, we are ready to ask, was the end * So in the case of the very word here used, we have Daniel denominated rrnon U5'« a man of desires, i. e. greatly beloved ; and in 1 Sam. ix. 28, where the sing, occurs in the Heb. we have it rendered as a pi. by the LXX. Comp. Catull. Carm. i. 1. "Passer, delicicc meae puellse." WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 377 worthy of the means ? Must nations be over- ^^^'^- ^"- turned, that a frail and perishable fabric may- be adorned with a few additional ornaments ? Shall God resort to such an expedient to gain an end which was neither useful in itself, nor dependent on such means for its attainment? 4thly. When Jehovah announces that " the glory of the latter house should be greater than of the former," (ver. 9,) he, of course, speaks of " glory" as it was reckoned by Him. Now, it was not in the outward beauty of the temple that he delighted, nor was it in this that in the view of any real servant of His its true glory consisted. The glory of the temple lay in the manifestation there of Jehovah's presence ; and it was the fuller display of this by the appear- ance of the Messiah, which was to give the second temple its superiority to the first. This is confirmed by what God says in ver. 8, a passage which, when compared with one closely resembling it in Ps. 1. 9 — 12, must be under- stood as equivalent to an assertion, that such honour as silver and gold could confer Jehovah did not covet, and would not care for. Lastly. Such an appellation as " the Desire of all nations," closely harmonises with the prophetic promises concerning the Messiah, in whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed, and to whom the gathering of the nations was to be. Of him, therefore, we conclude that this prophecy is to be imdcrstood. 378 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE i-ECT. Yii. Zechariah. (b. c. 520 — 518.) In the writings Sr hedes in ^^ ^^^^ propliet, wc havc many remarkable intima- zechariah. ^ions of thc Messiali and his kingdom, delivered in a style which combines the symbohcal imagery of Ezekiel with the animated diction, and subhme conception of Isaiah. As to the proper interpreta- tion of some of the symbols which Zechariah employs, there is considerable uncertainty and dissension among expositors ; but, leaving these parts of his writings out of view for the present, there is enough of clear and precise announce- ment to render it matter of unquestionable cer- tainty, that this prophet also gave witness con- cerning Christ. The character of our Saviour, as a meek, yet victorious sovereign, and even the personal act by which he symboHzed this when he entered Jerusalem sitting upon an ass, — a well-known oriental emblem of peacefulness ; his betrayal for a bribe of thirty pieces of silver ; his cruel murder by the Jews, and the rejection of that people for their continued rebelKon and infi- delity, as well as their final restoration, and the remorse for their former impenitency with which this should be accompanied, are all announced with more or less of clearness in different parts of his prophecies.* He refers also, with great dis- tinctness, to the close union subsisting between the Messiah and Jehovah, to the sufferings of the former as the shepherd of the sheep, and to the * See chap. ix. 9, 10 ; xi. 12 ; xi. 1 — 14 ; xii. 10 ; xiii. 1 and 9; xiv. 20, 21. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 379 combination in his person of the royal and i-ect. yn. priestly dignities.* The name by which the Messiah is emphatically designated by this pro- phet, is " The Branch/' in which there is an allusion to the lowly, and apparently feeble com- mencement of his ministrations as " the servant of God." t Malachi. (b. c. 436 — 420.) The oracles of Messianic 1 • ITT 1 in Prophecies in this prophet were delivered to the people ot a Maiaciii. degenerate age. Carnality had usurped the place of devotion, and even in many cases the mere form of religion had been laid aside. Under these circumstances the prophet comes forth as a severe rebuker of his countrymen, and an em- phatic preacher of the necessity of a real spiritual worship on the part of all who would approach with acceptance before God. In accordance with this, his predictions of the Messiah assume chiefly the form of threatenings denounced against the ungodly, and of blessings promised to the pious portion of the people. Instead of appearing, as the body of the nation were expecting, in the character of a mighty Prince who was to van- quish their enemies, and raise them to great earthly glory, the Messiah, according to Malachi, was to come as " the Messenger of the Cove- nant," to sit in judgment upon them as the people of the Covenant, and to separate, by a * See chap. xiii. 7 ; vi. 9 — 15. •f See chap. iii. 8; vi. 12; and comp. Jer. xxiii. 5; Isa. liii. 2. 380 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE i-ECT. VII. searching analysis, the ore from the dross. Not to the nation at large, fallen as it was from its high rehgious dignity, but to the few within it who still preserved among them the fear of the Lord, was the Messiah to appear as the bringer of salvation. By the former, the privilege of being God's especial treasure had been forfeited, and in the day of the Messiah, that should be found to be possessed only by the latter. The day of his advent was to be one of burning decision between the righteous and the wicked ; a day in which the proudest of the wicked should fall and perish as stubble; but when to those who feared the Lord " the Sun of Righteousness should arise with healing in his wings."* With these glimpses into the spiritual character of the Mes- siah's reign, and with the announcement, that the forerunner already promised by Isaiah, who was to prepare the way of the Lord, should in spirit and power be a second Elijah, the prophet closes his oracle, and with it the volume of Old Testa- ment inspiration. Result of the In the survey of Messianic Prophecy which Messianic has uow bccu brought to a close, many things, doubtless, have been omitted which, with a less specific object in view, and a larger space at my disposal, it would have been interesting and in- structive to have noticed. Partial, however, and cursory as that survey has in many respects been, enough, I trust, has been said to satisfy you in * See chap. iii. 1—3, 16—18; iv. 1—3. Prophecy in the Old Testament. WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. 381 regard to the position, for the sake of supporting i-ect.vii. which, I invited you to enter upon it. It has shown us how continuous a stream of gospel radiance pervaded the whole of that spiritual atmosphere in which the saints of the former dis- pensations lived and breathed. We have beheld the luminary of Divine revelation, emerging from the midnight gloom which covered the destiny of man after his fall, and have followed its course as it shone brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Its rays, we have found, were able to reach as far on its first appearance above the horizon, as when it had attained to the full zenith of its splendour, and poured upon the object of its illumination its directest beams. The pro- mise given to Adam was that of the salvation of his race through a virgin-born Redeemer. " This," as an able writer has justly remarked, " was the primitive promise ; and the last of the prophets cannot go beyond it."* It was left for them only to fill up the minuter parts of the picture, and bring out in more prominent relief the grand features of the scene. With matchless skill and consummate fidelity they fulfilled their trust. On one after another of the truths con- cerning the promised Seed they cast the reveal- ing light of which they were the ministers, until, at length, the picture in every lineament stood displayed, and the mighty scheme of redemp- tion drew to it the admiring gaze, alike of the * Davison's Discourses on Prophecy, p. 75, third ed. 382 MESSIANIC ANNOUNCEMENTS. LECT. vn. prophet who had unfolded it, and of the anxious multitudes who waited upon his instructions, and to whom his words were as the bread of hfe. At this point, the whole church of God meets as at a common centre. Into these things the angels desire to look. To the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, are drawn the re- gards of all the unfallen, and all the ransomed creation of God. On Him as the key-stone of the arch, the entire superstructure of the Divine government rests. And when the grand result of all his propitiatory and mediatorial work shall be secured in the final redemption of his people, to Him shall the according voices of angels and of saints sing, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." LECTURE VIII. INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS — NATURE, CRITERIA, AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES EXAMINATION OF SOME OF THE LEADING TYPES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. COL. 11. 17. Which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ. PART I. Having in the immediately preceding Lectm*es lect.yhi. considered the information conveyed to the ancient church by means of prophecy, I now invite you to proceed to the investigation of the truths taught by the other instrument of instruction already mentioned as employed by Jehovah towards his ancient people, viz. Types. A type, in the sense in which that word is Definition of used in such discussions as the present, is a re- presentation of spiritual truth by means of actions or objects placed before the senses, and calculated to convey through them to the mind a lively conception of the truth which they are designed 384 NATURE OF A TYPE. LECT.viii. to represent.* A type is not, as is too often imagined, anything in the Old Testament, between which and certain doctrines of the New a hvely imagination may succeed in tracing some analogy or resemblance ; it is something which the Divine Author of Scripture announces to us as having been specifically contrived and appointed for the one purpose of adumbrating certain religious truths, and foreshadowing certain future trans- actions with which these truths were connected. Viewed simply in itself it is a hieroglyph or sym- bolical representation of divine truth ; viewed in its relation to Christianity, it served the purpose of a pre-intimation or memorial, to those who lived before the advent of Christ, of the great facts connected with him on which Christianity, as a religious system, rests. Its parallel is prophecy. Like it, it teaches a present truth, and announces a future fulfilment of it ; like it also, it has in its capacity of a type one definite meaning and one definite fulfilment, to both of which it was in- tended and designed to point. The difference between a prophecy and a type lies only in this, * The word Type (jvivoq) signifies a model. Now, a model may be used for two purposes, according as it presents to us a copy to be followed by us, or as it simply enables us to con- ceive of the character and qualities of that of which it is a transcript. In the former sense, the word occurs in the New Testament frequently (cf. Acts vii. 44 ; Phil. iii. 17, &c.) ; in the latter, it is used in such inquiries as the present. The New Testament terms for the ancient types are, aKLo., vTrodeiyfia, and 7rapa/3o\)). NATURE OF A TYPE. 385 that the former teaches by words, the latter by lect.vhi. things : the former, that is, by an artificial com- bination of signs ; the latter, by a scenical repre- sentation of the whole truth at once. A word is the symbol of an idea ; a type is the symbol of some principle, or law, and the prediction of some great general fact in the economy of re- demption. This mode of instruction bears a considerable Resemblance . - . between a resemblance to what we may conceive an acted iy^e ami an 77 •■■■I T, p-i. acted parable. parable would be. Let us suppose, tor instance, that our Lord, instead of describing in words the conduct and circumstances of the prodigal son, had, by the help of suitable actors and scenes, made the whole to pass before the eyes and ears of his auditors, the lesson would have been con- veyed to them much in the same way as the truth concerning himself was conveyed to the ancient Jews by the typical rites of the Mosaic economy. In neither case is the lesson nezc^, nor fully to be understood without an elucidatory comment ; the object of both being to impress vividly a truth, otherwise reasonable or familiar, upon the minds of those to whom it is presented. There is this difference, however, between such a representation and a type, — that the former being merely doctrinal would be exhausted in inculcating a present truth, whilst the latter would, with the doctrine, incorporate a prophetic reference to some great event yet to happen, on which the doctrine was based. c c 386 NATURE OF A TYPE. LECT.viii. The peculiar adaptation of this mode of con- Adaptation to • i. j.1 j. j,i • l 1 1 'j. j. the human vcying trutli to the mind, rendered it at once "Ideot^'a fitting vehicle for the instruction of those struction. ^jj^ livcd uudcr a preparatory economy hke that of the Jews, and a favourite instrument of tuition with them and most ancient nations. We are so constituted, that ideas suggested by impressions upon the senses are generally much more vivid and permanent than those which come in consequence of previous trains of thought ; and among the senses themselves, that of sight is the one whose suggestions are the most impressive, a fact of which Horace reminds us in the well- known lines, — " Segnius irritant aniraos demissa per aurem, Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quae Ipse sibi tradit spectator."— i?P' «^ Pisones, 180 — 182. Hence, nothing suggests an idea so forcibly to the mind as the appearance of some object with which that idea has been wont to be associated. It matters not what the pii?iciple of association Imay have been — whether resemblance, contrast, or contiguity ; provided only the sensible object has been strictly associated with the absent idea, the perception of the one immediately recalls the conception of the other, and that with immensely greater vividness than any process of reasoning or reflection could have done. We may sit down and think, for instance, of some dear departed friend ; we may recall his gait, his look, his smile; we may muse over scenes of ever-memorable NATURE OF A TYPE. 387 delight which we have witnessed in his society ; lect-vih. and the time may ghde away in a sweet dream of days that have passed for ever, and joys that, but for memory, would have long since perished. But how vague after all and evanescent are the conceptions which such a process excites, com- pared with those which rush into the bosom, when our eye gazes upon a faithful portraiture of our friend, or even upon some trifling relic which we have seen him use, and with which his person and conduct may be associated in our minds! The eye then most powerfully affects the heart. Our friend seems, once more, to stand before us, in form, and lineament, and look, exactly as he used to be when we enjoyed his society in days that are past ; and we almost fear to move lest we should break the spell which has so vividly restored to us the much loved form.* It is upon this principle, I apprehend, that the The same Lord's Supper, as an institute of Christianity, mlde'Vse of receives its rationale, and is shown to be, like all sulver. " the other provisions of that system, based upon a profound acquaintance with, and adapted to the peculiar necessities of, our mental and moral constitution. That ordinance teaches us no doctrine or fact with which the written records of our religion do not make us acquainted ; it only aims at making use of that law of our nature above referred to for the purpose of impressively * See Appendix, Note M. c c !2 388 SYMBOLrlCAL ACTIONS AND USAGES LECT.Yiii. commemorating to us the grand fundamental fact of the Christian system. It is true we could have remembered Christ and his propitiatory death, without such an ordinance, just as we must believe is done by many excellent persons who either entirely neglect this ordinance, or observe it at such distant periods of time, that the disciplinary effect of it must be very much lost upon them ; but had no such ordinance existed — had no similar provision been made for bringing the grand truths concerning our Saviour sensibly before our minds, who can tell to how low and lifeless a state the average piety of the Christian Church might have sunk under the depreciating and degrading influences to which in this world it is continually exposed ? Instances in Upou tlic samc priuciplc, we may account for the Scrip ■ ■. /. tures of sym- thc irequeut use of symbolical actions amongst all bolical usages . . , ,- and actions, uatious, cvcu ui regard to matters not at all, or only indirectly, connected with religious ideas. Thus, in the time of Abraham, the binding nature of an oath was symbolized by the putting of the hand of the person sworn under the thigh of him by whom the oath was administered. So also, in later times, the practice of boring the ear of those slaves who refused to avail themselves of the liberty which the year of Jubilee brought, — the striking of hands and the dividing of an animal into halves in making of covenants, — the ex- changing of garments as a token of amity, and the rending of garments as a sign of grief; and RECORDED IN SCRIPTURE. 389 many other customs among the Jews partook of lect.vih. this symbolical character, and are referable to the same source. Nor was this confined to the Jews. Among the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and even in many cases in our own country at our own day, we find important transactions solemnized by certain symbolical acts, which but for their symbolical character would often appear ludicrous or childish. In the Scriptures, we find many instances in which symbolical actions were performed for purposes of instruction and impression, even in regard to matters not immediately relating to the Christian revelation. This was especially the case when the matter in question was something future, in which case the symbolical action became a type or predictive sign of what was to come. Thus Abijah, when commissioned to announce to Jeroboam the secession of the ten tribes from the house of Solomon, and their adherence to him, met him in the way and caught the new garment that was on him and rent it into twelve pieces, of which he gave ten to Jeroboam, thereby signifying to him what was to happen. A still more remarkable instance is that recorded in 2 Kings xiii. 14 — 19, where we are informed of the means which Elisha took, upon his death- bed, to indicate to the King of Israel the victories which he should obtain over the Syrians. " Now Elisha," we are told, "■ was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king 390 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS AND USAGES LECT.viii. of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horseman thereof. And Elisha said unto him. Take bow and arrows : and he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow ; and he put his hand upon it : and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said. Open the window eastward : and he opened it. Then Elisha said. Shoot: and he shot. And he said. The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria : for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And he said. Take the arrows : and he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground : and he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said. Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times ; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." Here the apparently unmeaning action became, when accompanied with the prophet's explanation, a highly impressive and memorable type of the events which were to happen, as well as of the agency by which they were to be brought about, — the hand of Elisha upon the king's hand evidently betokening the union of divine and human agency in the matter. Symbolical 111 tlic writiugs of the prophets, we have actions of the . . i i • i • i i i prophets, numerous instances recorded, m whicli they were RECORDED IN SCRIPTURE. 391 enjoined to perform certain transactions for the lect.yhi. purpose of thereby becoming signs or types of what was to come to pass. Thus, Jeremiah was directed to break a potter's earthen bottle in the valley of Hinnom, for the purpose of indicating to the Jews that, even so, would God break the people and their city.* So also, on several occasions, Ezekiel was a sign unto the people, as in one instance he was especially instructed to tell them, when, having prepared his stuff for removing, and dug through the wall of his house and carried it out thereby, he, in answer to the question, '' What doest thou ?" replied, " I am your sign : like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them : they shall remove and go into captivity.*'f An instance of the same kind is furnished in the New Testament, when Agabus took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, *' Thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle.";]; Without unnecessarily multiplying instances, the above are surely sufficient to show that the mode of instructing by types was one with which the patriarchs and Jews were familiar, and of which they made frequent use. This being the case, can it surprise us that this mode should have been adopted, and employed upon a large scale and in a systematic form, for the purpose of keeping before the minds of the people of God those grand * Jer. xix. 1 — 11. f Ezek. xii. 3—16. % Acts xxi. 11. 392 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. LECT.vni. truths, upon which their hopes for eternity could alone be founded ? On the contrary, is it not natural to suppose that an instrument, which both philosophy and experience show to be remarkably adapted to the purposes of religious instruction, should be adopted by Him, who, in condescending to be the Teacher of our race, has in all the means employed for that purpose displayed at once his unerring wisdom and unbounded grace ? Principles for Beforc proccediiig to the examination of the the deter- ^ ^ mination and different Mcssiamc types of the Old Testament, tion of types it will bc iiccessary to offer a few preliminary to be sought t n l^ n t • i n after. remarks, lor the purpose ot placing beiore you certain principles, by the application of which we shall be enabled to proceed with greater security, both to the determination of what is a type of Christ, and to the explanation of the truths which each type sets forth. These principles appear to me to be involved in the definition and description already given of a type ; and will therefore be best exhibited in the form of deductions or inferences from our previous remarks. Mere resem- I. It follows, from tlic abovc dcscription of a antitype does typc, that its esscucc does not lie in 7}iere re- Msence^of I semhlaiice between it and its fulfilment, or anti- type, type. The end which it serves in relation to the antitype is that of vividly suggesting it to the mind. Now it is obvious that for this mere resemblance will be of no use ; for whatever may be the accuracy with which that resemblance CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. 393 is framed, it will never suggest to us, of itself, tECT.vin. any thing beyond itself. A picture may be minutely accurate in all its delineations, but if we have nothing beyond the picture to instruct us, it will, of course, suggest nothing but what has a reference to itself as an object of art. The most accurate likeness of an individual will never, of itself, suggest that individual to the mind, unless we have known him by some other means. The fact is, as it appears to me, that resem- The use of a blance does not enter necessarily mio the idea of suggest the a type at all. The essential element of a type '"''"^^''' is, associative or suggestive capacity, i. e. the power of calling vividly before the mind some- thing which is itself absent. Now this may exist either with or without resemblance, just as in the case of words, where a particular sound, or combination of sounds, may become the inva- riable symbol of certain ideas, between which and the sound the liveliest fancy can trace no vestige of a resemblance. The main point in all such cases is, that the mind have acquired a habit of connecting the two together, so that on the perception of the one may invariably follow the conception of the other. Of course, where resemblance exists, so much the better, both as regards the certainty, and the vividness of the consequent conception ; and the general pre- sence of this in a type, conspires to give that mode of teaching one great advantage over 394 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. xECT.vni. mere verbal instructions ; still, it seems essential to a right view of this matter, and to its deliver- ance from the mass of absurdities under which it has been crushed, that we should bear in mind, that it is as possible for a type to exist without any natural resemblance to its antitype, as it is for a word to be the sign of an idea to which it bears no analogy real or supposed. Thispowerof But it may bc asked, if the essence of a type defiled"rom coiislsts lu Its powcT of calliiig before the mind a poTntment. vlvld couceptioii of its antitype, by what is this power itself determined ? In other words, how comes the type to possess this faculty ? I an- swer, by the expi^ess appointment of Him by whom the type was ordained. According to the definition, it is an institution, created for the express purpose of foreshadowing the great truths of the Christian revelation. Its adaptation for this purpose, then, is derived primarily from the fact of its appointment. There may be, and in general there is, besides this, a natural adapta- tion for this purpose, arising from the intended similarity between the type and the antitype ; but this seems rather to serve the purpose of keeping up the habit of connecting the two together, than to have originally created that habit. In the course of time, perhaps, the habit becomes so confirmed, that, as is the case with words, people yield to it without any thought or inquiry as to its origin ; but, in the first instance, it could only have been by their being expressly CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. 395 told that such and such acts and objects were lect.vih. designed by God to picture to them such and such truths of Christianity, that any associative connexion came to be estabhshed between the one and the other. The truth upon this head has been briefly, but very clearly and forcibly expressed by the late Bishop Marsh, in the following terms : — ■ " To constitute one thing the type of another, as the term is generally understood in reference to Scripture, something more is wanted than mere resemblance. The former must not only resemble the latter, but must have been designed to resemble the latter. It must have been so designed in its original institution. It must have been designed as something preparatory to the latter. The type as well as the antitype must have been pre-ordained; and they must have been pre-ordained as constituent parts of the same general scheme of Divine Providence. It is this previous design, and this pre-ordained connexion, which constitute the relation of type and anti- type."* The importance of the principle here an-Evusto nounced, must be allowed by all who have paid negiectofthis any attention to the history of typical theology, lei ' To the neglect of it, are in a great manner to be traced those exegetical monstrosities which * Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, p. 374. 396 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. LECT.viii. have brought a stigma, not only upon the doctrine of the types, but upon all spiritual interpretation of Scripture together. Proceeding upon the assumption, that every thing in the Old Testament was typical of something in the New, and that the only criterion of a type, was resemblance between it and its antitype ; men of lively imaginations have revelled in the exercise afforded to their ingenuity by the multiplication of such resemblances, until they have left no- thing that can be regarded as simply historical in the whole of the Old Testament.* Error has thus found a cheap method of defence; for, what more easy than to find some person, or action, or ordinance, which might be shown to bear a resemblance to the opinion in question, and, consequently, to confer upon that opinion a Divine sanction ? Truth has, by the same means, received many an injury ; for what can be more detrimental to a good cause, than to rest its defence upon baseless analogies and fanciful comparisons? And worst, perhaps, of all, the friends of Christianity, by treating the histories of Scripture as if they were mere contrivances * Of this, the early Greek Fathers were especially guilty. Thus, Clemens Romanus makes Rahab's red thread a type of faith in the blood of Christ ; and Barnabas teaches, that Moses's stretching out his hands when Israel fought with Amalek, was typical of our Lord's crucifixion ; with many other bizarreries of the same sort. Patrum Apostol. 0pp. p. 37, and p. 19, ed. Hefele. TUb. 1839. CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. 397 for the adumbration of spiritual truths, in other lect.vht. words, mere fables, have taught its enemies first to doubt, and then boldly to deny the truth of those histories, and thereby to sap the very foundation upon which our religion rests. The safeguard against such extravagances is. Nothing is to to keep fast hold of the principle, that nothing is typlcirwhidi to be viewed as a type which cannot be shown to !,'.,XiJ'°i have been expressly appointed to be such by God. II. A second principle involved in the view above given of the Scripture types is, that nothing can be regarded as typical which is not also symbolical. This follows immediately from the position, that a type is a sensible emblem, or prefigurative token of some spiritual truth, which itself rests upon certain events yet future, but of which events a certain degree of knowledge is possessed by those to whom the type is exhibited. In all such cases, a twofold impression is con- veyed to the mind : in the first place, that a particular truth already known, is symbolically indicated ; and in the second place, that those events on which that truth depends shall cer- tainly take place. It may aid my hearers in the apprehension of the principle I am now enforcing, if I remind them, that in the testimony of God concerning his Son there are two points ; one of fact, and one of doctrine, on both of which we must be instructed before we can really believe that testimony in all its fulness. What God calls us 398 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. LECT.vm. in the Bible to believe, is, first, " the truth ;" and, secondly, that "truth, as it is in Christ Jesus." With regard, for instance, to the doc- trine of salvation by the atonement, there is, first, the general principle, that such a mode of salvation is reasonable, practicable, and intended by God ; and, secondly, the matter of fact, that such an atonement has really been presented by our Lord Jesus Christ, and accepted by the Sovereign and Judge of all. Now it was, of course, the same under the Old Testament dis- pensation : there was both the doctrine to be an- nounced, and the fact to be predicted, before a complete statement of saving faith could be laid before the mind ; and it was only as both of these were apprehended, that the belief of a Jew in the truth became full and intelligent. How, then, was this exigency met by the typical system of instruction ? In this way, — that every type contained at once a symbol of the truth, and a prediction of the fact. It presented to the senses of the beholder, an outward sign of a great general truth, and a memorial, that in due season the event on which that truth rested would take place. Thus, for instance, in the case of sacrifice, there was both a symbol and a type. The slaying of the animal, and the burning of its flesh, were emblems of the great truth, that the sinner whose substitute that animal had become, deserved death and subsequent agony, as well as of the general truth, that God's plan CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. 399 of saving men from that desert, was by the lect.vih. substitutionary sufferings of another. All this, however, would have been of no avail to the sin-burdened Israelite, who knew well, that no mere animal could make atonement for the sins of man, had not that act prefigured and predicted the great sacrifice for sin on the part of the Lamb of God. But, pointed forward to this, his faith obtained an object on which to rest, and he was enabled to rejoice in the salvation of God. So also with regard to the immediate conse- quences of sacrifice. When a Jew had committed a trespass against the Mosaic law, he had to offer certain sacrifices before he could enjoy his civil and political rights. Immediately, however, on presenting these, he stood rectus in curia ; he was acquitted of the sin he had committed, and restored to his civil privileges. With this, a mere carnal and worldly Jew was content. But to the pious believer, all this was only the symbol and type of something spiritual. It reminded him, that his sins against God had made him guilty, and excluded him from the Divine favour; it directed him to the need of a sacri- fice for sin ere God would forgive his trans- gression ; and it assured him, that just as by sacrifice he had been restored to his place in the Jewish state, so by the great sacrifice might he be restored to the Divine favour, and to a place in that spiritual kingdom, of which the Jewish nation was the type. 400 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. r.ECT.viii. The principle here laid down, has been little S'^'fronuhe attended to by typologists. Hence, they have neglect of created a multitude of types which have no tins principle. ^ '■ existence, and could have none, in reality. They have forgotten in their interpretations to ask. What did this figure ? and have confined them- selves to the question. What did this prefigure ? The consequence has been, not only that their explanations have been arbitrary and fanciful; but that they have made types of what could not, in the nature of things, have possessed any such character. How many persons, for instance, have been made types of Christ ! as if an indi- vidual in his personal character could be a type or model of any thing but himself! And how greatly have the minds of many been perplexed at the idea of wicked men, as many of the Jewish kings and priests were, being types of the pure and sinless Saviour. For my own part, I could as soon conceive of God making an individual lamb or goat simply as such a type of Christ, as his making an individual man a type of Christ ; nay, the latter supposition is more monstrous than the former, for it is easier to conceive of an innocent animal being the type of the holy Jesus, than of a wicked and depraved man being so. The truth is, that neither the one nor the other, as an individual, was the type ; and if typologists had but kept fast hold of the principle, that nothing is typical which is not also symbolical, such errors would not have been propagated. CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. A person, as such, can never be a symbol. He may do a symbolical act, or sustain a symbolical office, or be the subject of a symbolical transac- tion ; but, in all these instances, it is the act, or office, that is symbolical, and not the man. Thus, under the Mosaic economy, it was not the priest, whether good or bad, that was the type of Christ ; it was the symbolical office with which that priest was invested. It was not the animal, whether lamb, or bull, or goat, that was the type ; but the symbolical act of sacrifice of which that animal was the object. And so of other things. It was not David, or Manasseh, or Ahab, that was the type of Christ, as King of Zion ; it was the royal office with which these were invested, symbolical as that was of the theocracy, which was typical of the kingly dig- nity of the Redeemer. It was not the mingled mass of Israelites, good and bad, pure and vile, which was the type of the Christian Church ; it was the national institution — the symbol of the chosen and special community of which God, the Father of spirits, is head and ruler. In inter- preting types, we must lay mere persons out of view entirely, and confine our attention to such things as can possess, and can be shown to possess, a symbolical character. Such must be things divinely instituted^ and invested with the peculiar character they bear; not mere indivi- duals entering the world in the ordhiary course of nature, and carrying throughout their whole D D 401 LECT.VIU. 402 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. ^-'^^'^'^^"- life a personal, individual responsibility, as moral agents acting for themselves, and accountable to God for all that they purpose or perform. Hence, it is only to offices, places, times, and actions, that a typical character can be really imputed. All these admit of receiving a sym- bohcal character, and of being the subject of Divine institution ; and it is to such, therefore, as they are presented to us in the Old Testa- ment, that we ought to confine our attention in attempting to ascertain what and how much of instruction was conveyed by means of typical adumbrations to those who lived under the an- cient economies. Recent in- Thc Way foT the scientific and successful inter- quiries into • n ancient pTctatiou of tho Mosaic symbols has been greatly lacihtated by the inquiries which many eminent scholars have of late pursued into the ancient symbolology generally. It had long been a favourite opinion, that the mythological tales with which the ancient heathen religions are replete, were, in their origin, only so many para- bles in which certain fLindamental truths were taught, and certain great facts commemorated in a popular and memorable style ; and that the secret mysteries which belonged more or less to all these religious systems, were only more re- condite adumbrations of still higher truths than the vulgar mythology embraced.* Proceeding * " The followers of Orpheus sought by means of symbols, and th.ose of Pythagoras by means of similitudes, (tiKoriov) to CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES, 403 upon this assumption, recent inquirers have sue- lect.vih. ceeded in unfolding a profound system of sym- bolical nature-worship which pervades all the ancient mythologies, and the exposition of which has cast no small light upon the spiritual history of antiquity, and explained much that seemed strange and capricious in the religious systems both of the east and of the west.* In making use, however, of such inquiries for the explanation of the Mosaic symbols, it is necessary continually to bear in mind the radical distinction between the object for which these were used, and that which the symbols of heathen mythology were designed to serve. The object of the latter was to repre- sent the fundamental principles of a philosophical nature-worship ; the object of the former was to keep up the remembrance of the truths of a purely spiritual religion conveyed by Divine reve- lation to mankind. To this belong, therefore, indicate the truths concerning God." Prochis in Theol. Plat. i. 4. " Every discourse concerning the gods is an investiga- tion into old opinions and myths, for the ancients vi^ere wont to wrap up in figures the conceptions which they had concern- ing the nature of things, and always to add a myth to their discourses. To solve accurately all their enigmas, therefore, is not easy." Strabo, lib. x. p. 474. * See R. P. Knight's Enquiry into the symbolical language of ancient Art and Mythology, 8vo. 1818. F. Creuzer's Sym- bolik and Mythologie der Alten Volker, besonders der Griechen, G bde. 8vo. 1821 — 4. Baur's Symbolik und Mythologie, oder die Natur-religion des Alterthums, 8vo, 1824. The most successful expounder of the Mosaic symbols is Prof. Baelir of Heidelberg, whose work is entitled, Symbolik des Mosaischen Cultus, 2 bde. 8vo. 1837—1839. DD 2 404 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. LKcT.viii. the symbols, not of powers, influences, and ten- dencies, but of spiritual truths — of grand facts, or laws in the administration of the Divine government, and especially in relation to the plan of redemption through Christ. To forthshadow these was the specific object of the ancient Jewish ritual ; and it is for these we are to look amidst "the mysterious meanings," as Milton terms them, of its splendid ceremonial. Principles for For tlic safc interpretation of the Mosaic tauonofthe symbols, tlic following principles, taken, with a ^jsaicsjm- ^^^^ alterations, from the work of Professor Baehr may be found of advantage. 1. The symbolical ritual, as a whole and in its individual parts, can set forth only such ideas and truths as accord with the known, and elsewhere clearly announced, principles of Old Testament theology. 2. An accurate knowledge of the outward constitution of each symbol, is an indispensable condition of its interpretation ; for, as the sole object of the symbol is to convey spiritual truth by sensible representations, to attempt to discover the former before we understand the latter, is to endeavour to reach an end without using the means. 3. The first step in the interpretation of a symbol is the explanation of its name; for, as this is generally given with a direct reference to the idea symbolized, it forms of itself a sort of ex- ponent of the symbol to which it is affixed. 4. Each symbol expresses, in general, only one grand idea ; at the same time, of course, CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYTES. 405 including all subordinate ideas that may be in- i-ect.yiii. volved in it. Thus, in the case of sacrifices, a variety of truths are presented to the mind, but all going to make up the one grand truth which that rite symbolized. 5. Each symbol has always the same fundamental meaning, however differ- ent may be the objects with which it is combined. Thus, for instance, the act of purification has the same symbolical meaning, whether it is per- formed upon a person or an animal,, or upon a material object. 6. In interpreting a symbol, we must throw out of view all that is merely necessitated by the laws of its physical condition, and that does not serve to help out the symbo- lical representation. Symbols have often acces- sories of two kinds : the one consisting of such as are in themselves symbolical, and which go to make up the sum total of the representation ; the other, of such as are, from the nature of things, required by the material objects com- posing the symbol for their continued existence. Thus, in the case of the candlestick in the sanc- tuary, it was provided that it should have branches, and knops, and flowers, and also that it should be supplied with snuffers and snuff dishes. Now, of those accessories, the former were not indispensable to its serving the purpose for which it was designed — that of giving light ; but they, having each a symbolical meaning, added to the symbolical effect of the whole ; whereas, the latter were merely required in order 40G CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. LECT.viii. to prevent the lights from dymg out for want of cleansing. Keeping this distinction in view, we need not be afraid of going too minutely into the explanation of the Mosaic ritual. Every thing, in fact, of which it was composed was a symbol, with the single exception of such things as the earthly, physical condition of the substance or persons employed rendered indispensable* Types to be HI. Tlicse obseTvatious will enable us to dis- distingiiished Horn tinguish Types from two things with which they have often been confounded, viz. Comparisons and Allegories. Comparisons, The New Tcstameiit teachers, occasionally, for the sake of illustrating their meaning, intro- duce a cornparison, drawn from some well-known fact in the history of the Jewish people, between which and the point they are discussing there exists some obvious analogy. In this way, our Lord makes use of the fact of Moses's erecting the brazen serpent in the wilderness for the purpose of illustrating his own character as a dehverer,who was to be'^'^hfted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John iii. 14, 15.) On another occasion, he instituted a comparison between his own case, as about to be consigned for a season to the tomb, and that of Jonah, who had been " three days and three nights in the belly of the fish." (Matt. xii. 40.) From this, it has been hastily * Biihr, lib. cit. bd. i. s, 4fi— 52. CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. 407 concluded, that these events, and others alluded lect.vih. to in the New Testament in a similar manner, were real types and prefigurations of the facts they are brought to illustrate. It is obvious, however, that there is a great difference between an historical event,- — whether occurring in the natural course of things or by the special inter- position of the Divine power, and which a sub- sequent writer or speaker may make use of to illustrate, by comparison, some fact or doctrine of which he is treating, — and a symbolical institute expressly appointed by God to prefigure, to those among whom it was set up, certain gi'eat transactions in connexion with that plan of redemption, which, in the fulness of time, he was to unfold to mankind. In the two cases above referred to, there is the total absence of any evidence that the events recorded possess any other than a simple historical character. In the case of the brazen serpent, indeed, we have Divine appointment ; but along with the appoint- ment, we have the specific mention of the purpose for which it was set up, which was not to teach any religious truths at all, or form any part of religious worship, but simply that it might act as an instrument of cure to the Israelites who were bitten by the fiery flying serpents. It is also possible that such a thing as the brazen serpent might possess a symbolical character ; but if any will, from this, argue that it really had such a character, and that it was a symbol of Christ, it 408 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. LECT.viii. will be incumbent upon him, in the first place, to show some evidence in favour of his inference, and, in the next, to explain how it should come to pass that the express symbolical antithesis of the Messiah, the serpent, could form part of an institute intended to prefigure his work as the Saviour of Men. As to the case of Jonah, we do not find in it so much as the appearance of any- thing typical ; and, indeed, it would have been very strange, had God caused the prophet to perform an action, typical of the burial and resurrection of Christ, under circumstances in which there was no human being to receive any instruction by it except himself. A type is an acted lesson — a visible representation of invisible truths. To its utility, therefore, spectators are as indispensable as actors ; and where the former are not present, to say that God appoints the latter to go through their performance, is to charge Him with doing something in vain.* Besides comparisons borrowed from the Old Testament histories, the New Testament writers occasionally allegorize events recorded in these * Some may say, in reply to this, that though no person saw the transaction, many read the record of it, and so learned by it. But to argue thus is virtually to give up the typical character of Jonah's deliverance altogether ; for the record that a type was enacted, is no more the enacting of a type than the history of a battle is a battle. If types were worth anything as instru- ments of instruction, it was by the actual exhihiiion, and not by the mere description,' of them that they served' their pur- pose.— Others insinuate that the type was performed for our And allego ries. CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. 409 histories, i e. put a spiritual interpretation upon lkct.vht. the historical occurrences. Thus, Paul, in order to explain the doctrine of the covenants, allego- rizes the anecdote of Sarai and Hagar recorded by Moses, making Sarai represent the Abrahamic or new or everlasting covenant, and Hagar the Sinaitic or old covenant. (Gal. iv. 24, 25.) In the same way, he allegorizes the fact of the water from the rock following the Israelites through the wil- derness, speaking of it as representing Christ in the blessings he confers upon his Church. (1 Cor. x. 4.) These allegorizings {dWrjyopovfjLepa) are only comparisons without the form ; and their use is obviously merely to explain one thing by another. To regard the objects thus allegorized as designed types of the things they are brought to illustrate, is to confound things which essentially differ. Between a type and such objects there are, at least, two very palpable distinctions. The o?ie is, that the latter are historical events, whilst the former is a divine institution ; and the otiier is, that the allegorical sense is aJictUious meaning put upon a narrative for the sake of illustrating instruction, who have our Saviour's explanation of it. This is doubly wrong : 1st, by, as in the former case, confounding a type with the mere record of it ; and 2d, by maintaining that a transaction was performed many centuries before, for the instruction of persons who must possess the knowledo-e it embodies before they can find out that it was intended to convey it ! A. was done to teach us B. ; but it is only after we have thoroughly mastered B. that we can find out that such was the design of // / In such a case, of what use to us is A ? 410 CRITERIA AND INTERPRETATION OF TYPES. - LECT.vm. something else ; whereas, the explanation of a type is its true and ojily meaning, and is adduced solely for the sake of unfolding that meaning. The radical difference between the exposition of a type and an allegorical interpretation of history, is apparent from the use which the Apostle makes of them respectively. His allegorizings are mere illustrations on which, by themselves, nothing is built; whereas, his typical explanations are all brought forward as forming the basis of arguments addressed to those who, admitting the type, were thereby pledged to the admission of the truths it embodied. I V. It follows, from the principles above laid down, that we should always expect in the anti- type something more glorious and excellent than we find in the type. This is so obvious as hardly to require illustration. If the design of a type be, by outward symbols, to foreshadow spiritual truths, it follows that, in proportion as the thing signified is more valuable than the mere sign, and as things spiritual and eternal are more glorious than things material and transitory, the type must be inferior in value and in majesty to that which it is designed to prefigure. A remark so obvious as this it would hardly have been worth while to make, had not a disposition been shown by many to find the antitypes of some of the ancient types in objects even less glorious and imposing than were the shadows of which they are adduced as the substance. TYPICAL CHARACTER OF THE LEVITICAL INSTITUTES. 411 PART II. Having made these preliminary observations lect.vhi. on the Natm'e, Criteria, and Interpretation of Typical ciia- racter of the Types, we shall be the better prepared to enter Mosaicenact- mcnts. upon the consideration of those symbolical In- stitutes by w^hich God sought to keep ahve, in the minds of his people, the memory of the truth concerning the way of redemption which he had provided through the propitiatory sufferings of his Son. Of these, we have a full account in the Old Testament, and especially of those of them which were organized by Moses, under the Divine direction, among the Israelites. That the entire system, not only of rites and ceremonies, but also of social and political relations, which this great legislator established, was designed to bear a typical character, can hardly admit of a question with any who receive as authoritative the declarations of our Lord and his Apostles. If the Law was only one great prophecy of Christ, as our Lord himself seems repeatedly to teach ;* if it was a mere shadow of good things to come, of which the body was Christ ; if it only served to the example and shadow of those heavenly things which are reahzed under the Christian dispensation ; if it contained only the patterns of things in the heavens ; if its most solemn rites * Matt. V. 17 ; xi. xiii. ; Luke xxiv. 44, &'c. 412 TYPICAL CHARACTER OF LF.cT.vTii. were only figures for the time then present, by which the Holy Spirit signified that the way to heaven, which Christ opened, was not yet made fully manifest ; if, in short, the dispensation which Christ introduced was not only one of grace as opposed to the rigid severity of the law, but one also of truth or reality as opposed to the shadows of the law ;* what room can there be for any reasonable doubt as to the fact, that the Institutes of the Mosaic economy were designed and adapted adumbrations of that better economy under which Christians are privileged to live ? Nor, upon any other hypothesis, does there appear a satisfactory mode of accounting for the minute directions given by Jehovah to Moses in regard to every part of the complicated system which he was appointed to establish. '^ Doth God take care for oxen?" is the question of the Apostle in relation to one of the Mosaic enact- ments concerning the treatment of animals ;f and the 'principle of this inquiry may be extended to all the other provisions of that code. If these provisions served no other purpose than the out- ward one which they immediately respected, we cannot refrain from the question. Was the end really worthy of the means employed, and of the anxious care manifested by Jehovah for its attainment ? Keeping in view the main purpose of our * Col. ii, 17; Heb. x. 1 . ; viii. 5 ; ix. 9 ; John i. 1 7. t 1 Cor. ix. 9. THE LEVITICAL INSTITUTES. 413 present investigation, viz. the ascertainment of lect-vih. what kind and degree of information the Israehtes possessed regarding the way of a sinner's ac- ceptance with God through an atonement, I shall confine myself, in my subsequent remarks, to the sacred ritual of the Mosaic code, leaving out of view all those parts of it which concern the domestic, social, and political relations of the Jews. For the full development of a system of ^1^"^^"'^°''* ■'- '' complete re- religious rites, as distinguished from a system ^'e"'"sntuai. of purely spiritual worship, four elements are necessary. 1. A sacred place to which the worshipper may turn as the centre-point of his religion — the peculiar habitation of his Deity. 2. Fixed and appropriate seasons at which worship may be offered in this place to its gi'eat Inhabitant. 3. Certain appointed acts, by which the worshipper may approach acceptably to the object of his devotion. 4. A set of properly qvi?iMie^ functionaries, who may act the part of mediators between the sinful worshipper and the great Being whose favour he im- plores. In all systems of symbolical and ritual worship, these four elements may be traced with more or less of distinctness and prominency. In that of Moses, they are all very clearly recog- nised and minutely prescribed. Before proceeding, however, to the considera- ^en^rai ob servations tion of these four elements of the Levitical '^^ ^'°'^'*' ritual, I must detain you with a few brief remarks 414 MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viri. of a general nature, upon that system as a whole. !JopJdfrom 1- Whilst all the parts of that ritual were ex- Irehaun'sti- pi'Gssly appoiuted by the Divine instructions to tutes. Moses, the germ, and sometimes more than the germ, of them is to be found in the ceremonial worship of the patriarchal ages. As the latter was itself, doubtless, of divine origin, it was already suited to become a part of any system, of a more extended and formal kind, which it might please the Almighty to appoint ; and hence we find it not superseded by, but rather incorporated with, the ritual of Moses. Many of its 2. Mauy tliiugs in the Mosaic system, not in secondary thcmsclves typical, have become so from the and relative. . , • • i i Simple fact of their connexion with that system. As many words, from being placed in com- bination with other words, acquire a meaning which by themselves they do not bear, so we find many things which, apart from the Mosaic institutes, possessed no typical character, invested with that character from the simple circum- stance of their being brought into contact with a system the prevailing character of which was typical. Thus, for instance, from the circum- stance that the nation of Israel, as such, was typical of the spiritual kingdom, or church of Christ, arose the typical character of the royal and prophetical offices among the Jews. Considered in themselves, these offices were merely of a political and disciplinary character. i MOSAIC RITUAL. 415 But, viewed in their relation to the national lect.vih. institute — the type of the Church, they became emblematical of that which, in relation to the Church itself, occupies the same place which belonged to them in relation to the type of the Church, viz., the royal and prophetical offices of Christ. Such may be called secondary, or rela- tive types. 3. From this typical character of the nation Many of its of Israel, a twofold character came to belong to LtVoioid many of the sacred institutes of the Mosaic'''""^"' ritual ; the one arising from their relation to the nation as a visible community; the other, from their being symbolical of certain spiritual truths, and typical of the facts of the Christian revelation. Thus, sacrifice, for instance, came to possess a twofold character, as a propitiation for sin. Every sin committed by a subject of the theocracy, was a political, no less than a moral offence ; an act of insubordination to Jehovah, at once as the King of Israel, and as the Moral Governor of the universe. Hence it was provided, that the offer- ings made for sin should meet this twofold character of the transgression, by procuring really a pardon for the political offence, and typifying that sacrifice by which the guilt of the moral offence was to be carried away. Attention to this fact will throw no small light upon the whole Mosaic institute. It will enable us also to understand how the Jews should have con- tinued to offer sacrifices, even where there economy. 416 MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viTT. seemed to be the total absence of all faith in the sacrifice of the Messiah ; and what is meant in Scripture by a man's being righteous, and *' touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless/' whilst he is still a stranger to true piety and spiritual obedience.* Each type, as ^^ Eacli Separate part of the Mosaic ritual typi- such, pointed -•• *- *^ ■■■ to only one f^g^j Qj;jiy Qj-^g f^ct ill tlic Chnstiau dispensation. fact in the '' ■*- Christian This follows, necessarily, from the peculiar cha- racter of the rites of which that system was composed. They were not only symbohcal of certain spiritual truths, but prophetical of certain great events with which these truths stood con- nected; and their value as indices depended entirely upon the steadiness with which they pointed each to its own peculiar object. As a dial would be worthless if the gnomon cast more than one shadow, so a type, as a type, would have been worthless had it pointed to more than one given fulfilment. It is the more necessary to insist upon attention to this in interpreting types, because nothing is more common in this depart- ment than for writers to assign different refer- ences to the same type. Thus, the tabernacle in the Jewish ritual has, by very able writers, been made to typify at once the human body of Christ, the Christian Church, and the heavenly world. This appears to me much the same as if one were to affirm, that three separate bodies * Comp. Ezek. xxiii. 45 ; Philip, iii. 6. THE TABERNACLE. 417 subtending different angles from the eye of the ^^ct.vui observer could cast towards him a common sha- dow, which is physically impossible. Having made these preliminary observations, I have now to call your attention to the explana- tion of some of the leading features of the Mosaic ritual, considered as typical of the Christian dis- pensation. I. Following the division already indicated. The xaber- the first thing which falls to be considered is, the PLACE in which it was appointed that this ritual should be observed. Of this, we have an ac- count in Exod. xxv. — xxvii., and xxxv. — xxxviii. The edifice described in these passages was a large oblong erection, consisting of two parts separated from each other by a vail ; the outer part being denominated the Holy Place, the inner the Holy of Holies, or Most Holy Place. There was also an open space before the en- trance, called the Court of the Tabernacle. The building, as a whole, was symbolical ofxheHoiyof Jehovah's residence among his people. " Let them make me,'* said he to Moses, " a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them."* The Holy of HoHes, which the apostle calls " the second tabernacle," was the appropriate residence of Jehovah as the God of Israel. In this the prin- cipal thing was the ark, in which was placed ''the testimony" (™'';?), and which was covered * Exod. xxv. 8 ; see also xxix. 45. E E Holies. 418 THE TABERNACLE. LECT.viii. by " the mercy seat" (^7=3). The testimony was the book of the law, and it was put into the ark as a witness against the people because of their sinfulness. (Deut. xxxi. 26, 27.) This symbol- ized the great truth, that the first relation into which Jehovah comes with the sinner, is that of a ruler whose law testifies against the transgres- sor. But this testimony was hid by the mercy- seat, on which the blood of atonement was sprinkled by the high priest when he entered within the vail, and on which the visible emblem of his presence — the schechinah between the cherubim of glory, was enthroned ; and in this there was an emblem of the fact, that the con- demning and accusing power of the law was taken away by the propitiatory covering which God had appointed. By all this was indicated the grand truth, tliat the character in which Jehovah dwelt among his people, was that of a justly offended but merciful and propitiated sovereign, who having received atonement for their sins, had put these out of his sight, and would remember them no more at all against them.* The Holy jj-^ j^^ fiY^t, OY outcr tabemacle, were the altar of incense, the table with the shew-bread, and the golden candlestick. The first was symboHcal * Philo says, regarding the capporeth, that " it was a cover (f 7rt0£jua) like a lid (7rw/xa), and is called in the sacred books, a propitiatory (^iXacxTijpiov). It seems," he adds, " to have been a symbol, when viewed physically, of the propitiated power of God." De Vita Mosis, lib. iii. sub init. Place. THE TABERNACLE. 419 of the necessity, and the acceptableness of prayer, lect.vih. of which the smoke of sweet incense which was to ascend from it morning and evening appears to be the appointed bibhcal symbol.* The second was emblematical of the necessity of good works to accompany our devotions; the bread being the offering of the children of Israel to their Divine King, (Lev. xxiv. 8,) and consecrated to him by the offering of incense along \vith it as emblematical of prayer. The third was the symbol of the Church, or people of God; the gold of which it was formed, denoting the excellence of the church, the seven lamps its completeness, and the oil by which they were fed, being the appropriate symbol of the Divine Spirit dwelling in his people, and causing them to shine.f In the fore-court of the tabernacle stood the The outer altar of burnt-offering, on which were offered the sacrifices of the people ; and the laver, in which the priests cleansed their hands and feet before entering the holy place. The meaning of these acts will be considered in a subsequent part of this Lecture. Whilst the tabernacle was thus, in its different The tauer- parts, symbolical of several important truths, whole', typical there appear to be only two things in Chris- bodylfwr" tianity of which it, by itself, contained the tijpes. These were the human body of our Lord, which * Comp. Ps. cxli. 2 ; Luke i. 10 ; Rev. v. 8 ; viii. 3, 4. f Comp. Zech. iv. 2, 3 ; Matt. v. 14, 16 ; Rev. i. 12, 20. E E 2 420 THE TABERNACLE. LECT.viii. was typified by the tabernacle as a whole ; and the propitiatory merits of his work, which were prefigured by the capporeth, or mercy-seat. For the typical character of both of these, the evidence from Scripture seems undoubted. The tabernacle was God's dwelling, in which he abode amidst his people ; and Christ is revealed as the abode of God — as " Immanuel," God with us. Hence John, with apparent reference to the an- cient tabernacle, says of him, '' The word became flesh, and tabernacled (ecr/crji/wo-ey) among us." Paul also says, that in Christ " dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;" and in Heb. ix. 11, he expressly says, after speaking of the ancient tabernacle, that Christ came, or appeared {irapa'yevofjbevos) ^' an high priest of good things to come, {i. e. of the blessings of the latter dis- pensation,) hy means of a greater and more per- fect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation ;" the meaning of which appears to be, that the human nature of Christ was that xvhereby he came as an high priest. This agrees entirely with what the apostle had said before in chap. viii. 2, where he calls our Saviour, " a minister of the true (or real) taber- nacle which the Lord pitched and not man ;" by which he plainly means, that it is in and through his human nature (the substance of the ancient shadow), that Christ oflficiates as an high priest in heaven. It is worthy of remark also, that the final presence of Christ with his Church in his THE TABERNACLE. 421 glorified humanity, is announced as the presence of lect.vih. " the tabernacle of God with men."* These con- siderations appear to justify the conclusion, that the ancient tabernacle was the appointed type of Jehovah's dwelling with men in the person of his Son. As to the typical character of the mercy-seat. The mercy- seat, typical we have the testimony of the apostle, when hcfchrist's . propitiatory says, that God hath set forth Christ " to be a ciiaracter and propitiatory, (or mercy-seat,) through the faith in his blood." f The word here used, is IXacrr-q- pcov, which is the term employed by the LXX., by Philo, and by Paul himself (Heb. ix. 5), to designate the covering of the ark in the Holy of Holies. The application of it to our Lord, therefore, in this passage, is doubtless intended to intimate the analogy between him, as the true medium of propitiation between God and the sinner, and the mercy-seat, or symbolical cover- ing of sin under the law. J * Rev. xxi. 3. -f Rom. iii. 25. |; By some, the word Wauriipiov in this passage is rendered by " propitiatory sacrifice ;" but this appears inadmissible, on the ground, that the usus loquendi having already assigned to iXaari'ipiov a proper technical signification, no writer would have used it in another without the addition of something to point out such a change. To lepuy signifies only " the Holy,' and might therefore be used of any thing which is holy ; but having by usage become fixed to the meaning of " the holy place " i. e. the temple, no writer would venture to use it of any thing else, without expressly mentioning the thing of which he used it. So in the case before us, had the apostle intended to use the word WaaT^piov of a sacrifice, he must have added Qv^ia, or some such word. 422 SACRED SEASONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viii. II. In the Mosaic ritual, provision was made Tn7Vihe fo^ the observance of certain sacred seasons. Mosaic ritual. ^|-^-^l^ wcre to bc dcvotcd exclusively to the performance of certain appointed religious ob- servances. These were the weekly, monthly, and yearly Sabbaths ; the year of jubilee ; the three annual festivals, viz. the Passover, the Pentecost,- and the Feast of Tabernacles ; and the great day of Atonement. On these I have to submit to you two general remarks. In all of 1. Of all these sacred seasons, the fundamental these is em- . -ni i X'O/?? bodied the idea IS substantially the same — that oi a oaooat/i. Sabbath. This term is used in Scripture, to denote the solemn festivals of the Jews generally ;* and in that part of the law which refers to them, we find prescribed concerning them all, that the same abstinence from labour which marked the Sabbaths, strictly so called, was also to mark them.f Now, the idea of a Sabbath is generally supposed to be solely that of rest, or cessation from toil, anxiety, and sorrow. In this, however, we have only, strictly speaking, the negative of an idea ; mere abstinence fi'om labour carrying with it the conception of nothing positive, and moreover, possessing no character, religious or moral. Hence, it is plain that something more must be involved in the idea of a Sabbath than mere rest ; and this, some have supposed, must lie in the dedication of the appointed time to the * See Lam. i. 7 ; Ez. xxii. 8, 26, &c. ^ t Comp. Lev. xxiii. and xxv. 1 0, fF. SACRED SEASONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 423 Divine service. That such a mode of employing lect.vih. the hours of their sacred seasons was followed by the pious Jews, there can be little doubt; but that this entered essentially into the idea of a Sabbath, neither that word itself, nor any part of the law regarding the Sabbath, supplies the slightest evidence. We must, therefore, endea- vour to find some other idea than that of reli- gious service, as that which formed the positive side of this conception. Here our first step is, to have recourse to the meaning and usages of the word itself and its cognates ; for, as has been already observed, there is no more faithful mirror of such ideas as that of which we are in search, than the words which by especial appoint- ment were used to designate them. Now the word ni^ comes from the root 11©, which signifies to return, and, in some of its parts, to he restored to a state of former excellence, (1 Sam. vii. 14; Ez. XXXV. 9, &c.) With this the idea of rest is closely connected ; for, as we invariably conceive of a state of repose as preceding one of motion, we naturally think of rest from activity as a returning to the antecedent condition of repose. Carrying this meaning of the root, then, into the derivative, we get as the complete idea of a Sabbath, a return from the toil and confusion of our present state, into one resembling that con- dition of rest and excellence, in which man's primordial felicity consisted. If this be cor- rect, we shall be justified in concluding that the 424 SACRED SEASONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.vni. Jewish Sabbaths were the symbols, not merely of rest, but of restitution, and became, consequently, the appropriate types of that state of blessedness which is to form the consummation and perfec- tion of the Messiah's reign, and which is de- scribed in the New Testament by terms an- swering to both of these.* This state is also called a Sabbatism, (Heb. iv. 9,) which supplies us with another evidence of the relation to it of the Jewish Sabbaths.f predomi- 2. All thcsc fcstlvals were appointed to be number seren observed at and for definite periods of time, in relation to -, r> ^ ' ^ • i , • -x • these fes- each 01 which is determined, in one way or another, by the number seven. Thus, the seventh day of the week, the seventh month, the seventh year, and the year after seven times seven years, were the sabbaths; in the * KaraTraviTie, Heb. iv. 1 ; airoKaraaTatriQ, Acts iii. 21. Among the Rabbins, the Sabbath is set forth as the type of eternity. Sohar. Gen. fol. 32, 125 : — " R. Simeon hath said, wherefore they have taught that the Sabbath is a type (xDJn) of the world to come." Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 95. 4 : — " The Israelites retorted, saying, O God of the whole earth, show us a type of the world to come. To them the ever-blessed God replied. Such a type is the Sabbath." Ap. Bahr. Bd. II. p. 535. f The opinion, that the idea of the Sabbath embraced the notion of spiritual restitution as well as of rest, is greatly confirmed by the terms of the law concerning the Sabbatic year of jubilee. " And ye shall return (cna-c) every man unto his possession, and every man shall return unto his family," Lev. xxv. 10. " In the year of the jubilee, the field shall return to him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong." Lev. xxvii. 24. SACRED SEASONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 425 seventh month, were the Day of Atonement, and lect.vth. the Feast of Tabernacles ; and with this month the Sabbatic year and the year of Jubilee com- menced ; the Passover and the Feast of Taberna- cles lasted seven days ; the Feast of Pentecost was determined by counting seven times seven days from the first day of the Passover ; and the Holy Convocations of the people, in each year, were seven. For this marked predominance of the number seven in relation to these festivals, there must have been some special reason ; and this is suggested at once by the consideration, that among the Hebrews, as among the Egyptians and others, that number was the symbol of per- fection and holiness. Of this readers of the Scriptures are so well aware, that I need not adduce examples. It may be worth while, how- ever, to mention, as illustrative of the complete hold which this idea, as involved in the number seven, had acquired over the minds of the Hebrews, that according to an idiom of their language, to swear an oath was designated by the word for seven (3??^) used as a verb. Thus, Ezek. xxi. 28 (23), the words rendered in the common version by " to them that have sworn oaths," literally mean " to them that have sevened sevens." Compare also Gen. xxi. 28 ; Deut. iv. 31, &c. In the minds of the Jews, consequently, the idea of sacredness — of solemnity of con- secration, was always associated with the number seven ; and it was doubless on this account that 426 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viii. that number was made to predominate so much in the arrangement of the festivals of the Jews. These were not only seasons of rest and renova- tion, but of holy consecration, when the whole people were refreshed, and appeared in their character as holy unto the Lord. There can be little doubt, I think, but that in this there was a type of that scene of glory and rest when the true Israel, the church of God, shall be presented to its great Head, holy and without blemish, to enter upon the rest and joy of heaven. Symbolical HI. Thc Symbollcal Actions in the Mosaic actions in the ^ . . ^ . i <-^ • Mosaic ritual, ritual wcTC of two kluds. Purifications and Sacri- Jices. Purifications. Upou all occaslous of ceremonial uncleanness, the individual by whom it was incurred had to undergo a lustration before he could occupy his former place in the congregation. The most grievous case of ceremonial uncleanness was that occasioned by leprosy, and for this the fullest purification was prescribed. Two birds were to be taken, one of which was to be killed over a stream of running water, and the other, after having been dipped in the blood of the slain bird, was to be set at liberty. The leper was then to be sprinkled seven times with the blood, and after that was to shave his head, and wash his body and his clothes in water. By this process of purification he was rendered fit to appear among the people, but he was not yet quahfied to approach the tabernacle. For this another SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 427 process of cleansing must be gone through on lect.vhi. the seventh day after his return to the camp, and on the eighth he was to offer certain sacri- fices. On this occasion, the officiating priest was to touch, first with the blood of the trespass- offering, and then with oil brought for the purpose, the person offering it, on the tip of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the great toe of the right foot; after which, he was to pour the remainder of the oil upon the in- dividual's head. The latter was then declared to be thoroughly cleansed from his leprosy. Unless all this was a mere empty and un- meaning form, it must have had a symbolical reference. Nor is it very difficult to see to what great spiritual truths it pointed. As leprosy was a loathsome, an infectious, and a fatal disease, it became necessary to separate the person afflicted by it from among the people, and to take care that before he was permitted to return he was thoroughly cleansed. But, as leprosy separated a man from the people of Israel, so does the prac- tice of sin — the leprosy of the soul — separate a man from the church of God ; and as that church must be kept pure, no one who has been so separated ought to be permitted to return until he is thoroughly cleansed. For the cleansing of the leper, both blood and water were requisite ; for with his disease, both guilt and impurity were connected ; and it is only by *' having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 428 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. I.F.CT.VIII. washed with pure water," that we can '' draw near to God with the full assurance of faith," after we have sinned.* And as we need, not only the pardon of our sins and the removal of impurity, but also the bestowal upon us of posi- tive holiness, we must receive "^ an unction from the Holy One," even as the leper was anointed with oil above the blood of atonement, before he could stand and worship with acceptance before God. Besides the purification of the unclean, it was required that the priests should undergo a lustra- tion every time that they entered the sanctuary to perform any of their official functions ; and for this purpose the laver stood ready in the outer court of the tabernacle. The meaning and purport of this we shall consider when we come to speak of the oflEice of the Priesthood. Sacrifices. Into a full cousidcratiou of the important subject of animal sacrifice, my limits forbid any attempt to enter. I shall therefore confine myself to a few remarks in support of the opinion that such sacrifices were piacular, and were intended to shadow forth the great atonement of the Son of God. piacuiarcha- By somc it has been contended, that the racter of . . animal sacri- aucicut SEcrifices wcrc not of a piacular character, but were either mere eucharistic or mere federal rites ; that is, were offered either as expressions of * Heb. X. 22. SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 429 homage to the Deity, or, fi'om being partaken of lect.vhi. by the offerer in the presence of God, as emblems of fellowship with him. For these opinions, however, there is no good ground in any of the facts, with which we are acquainted, connected with this subject. 1. The notion that sacrifice was intended to universal prevalence propitiate the gods has prevailed universally of "»« opinion. among all heathen nations by whom the rite is practised. For this the evidence is so copious, that I suppose no one will call the assertion in question.* Now this universal consent of all nations, however remote from or strange to each other, carries with it a very strong proof of the justness of the opinion which they, in common, have entertained regarding sacrifice. For either they must have derived that view of the rite from a revelation enjoyed by the ancestors of the whole race from heaven ; or it must lie so essentially in the very nature of the thing itself, that no one, however degraded, can fail to discover it. Which side of this alternative is to be preferred, I do not at present inquire ; it is enovigh, that, take which we will, it shuts us up to the admission that the true and original idea of sacrifice is, that it propitiates the Deity towards the sinner. 2. The most ancient form of sacrifice was the The most an- Jiolocaust, or ri)hole hurnt-offering, in which the sacrifice ^vas the holo- * See Magee's Disc, on Aionement and Sacrifce. No. v. caust. xxxiii. Ivi. 430 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viii. victim, after being slain, was entirely consumed by fire upon the altar. This fact, also, is too well supported to admit of question or doubt; and it must ever form a fatal objection to the theory, that sacrifice was originally a mere fede- ral rite. That theory rests exclusively on the supposition, that the offerer ate parts of the sacrifice which he had presented to the Deity. But in the case of the holocaust this was impos- sible, for the rvhole sacrifice was consumed by fire ; so that the idea of its being shared between the Deity and the worshipper was necessarily excluded. This shows incontestibly, that in the most ancient form of sacrifice, the notion of its being a federal rite was unrecognised, and conse- quently, that this cannot have been the primary and fundamental meaning of that observance. The same objection does not arise from the fact now under notice to the theory, that sacrifice was a mere act of homage to the Deity, for it is perfectly consistent with the gross conceptions which prevailed in the heathen world as to the personal gratification derived by the gods from the ofierings which were consumed upon their altars. He must be a bold theorist, however, who will venture to affirm that such notions were at any time entertained by the worshippers of Jehovah, or sanctioned by Him. Case of hu- 3. Tlic existciice from an early period of man sacri- -. . „ . ..,,., fices. Iiiiman sacrifices, proves the originally piacular SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 431 character of all sacrifices. For this revolting lect.vih. practice nothing will account, but the reason which Cagsar assigns for its existence among the Gallic tribes. " Those/' says he, " who are afflicted with severe diseases, or who are much exposed to danger and conflict, either immolate, or vow that they will immolate men in place of victims, (in which sacrifices they use the aid of the Druids) because, unless the life of man be given for the life of man^ they imagine that the majesty of the immortal gods will not be pro- pitiated."* This passage shows clearly the prin- ciple upon which these sacrifices were offered ; and, when we find them prevailing from the earliest periods, we are justified in drawing the conclusion, that the ideas of substitution and propitiation were essentially connected with the offering of sacrifice from the time of its first adoption by the human race.f 4. The instances recorded in Scripture of case of cam sacrifice during the ages preceding the giving of ""^ the law by Moses, show that from the first, this rite possessed a piacular meaning. The first of these was that of Abel, who, besides, or in place of, such a thank-offering as his brother Cain brought, presented a sacrifice " of the firstlings * De Bell. Gall. lib. vi. — The prophet Micali (vi. 7,) gives the same account of the design of such sacrifices. •f Moses speaks of human sacrifice as a thing already, at the time of the giving of the law, common among the Canaanites, (Lev. xviii. 21, 24 ; xx. 1—5.) 432 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viii. of his flock, and of the fat thereof."* Regardmg this, we have the remarkable fact stated, that " Jehovah had respect unto Abel and his offer- ing ; but unto Cain and to his offering, he had not respect," (ver. 4, 5.) Now it is natural to ask, whence this difference in the manner in which these offerings were received by Him to whom they were presented ? Viewing them merely in the light of eucharistic gifts to the Supreme, the one was as appropriate to the cir- cumstances of the giver, and consequently, as justly expressive of homage and gratitude, as the other ; and if we regard them as pledges of a covenant union with God, indicated by the offerer's partaking of what he laid upon the altar, the offering of Cain must be regarded, not only as equally suitable for the purpose for which it was presented with that of Abel, but greatly more so, inasmuch as it could be eaten, whilst the other, at a time when animal food was not permitted, could not. Excluding these two hypotheses, there only remains that which places the reason of the Divine preference in the fact, that Abel's offering was a propitiatory sacrifice, and therefore better, because more suitable to him as a sinner, than that of Cain, which was a mere expression of his reverence as a creature to his Creator. This seems to be placed beyond doubt, by the statement of the apostle, that it was "through faith" that Abel was led to offer * Geii. iv. 4. SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 433 his " more excellent sacrifice."* If this have any i-ect.viii. meaning at all, it must mean, that Abel acted under the influence of the belief of some Divine revelation which had been made to the human family at that early period. But the only reve- lation of which we read as having been given at that time, was the assurance to our first parents of the birth of a Deliverer — the seed of the woman. Was it the faith of this, then, that led Abel to offer animal sacrifice, whilst Cain, from want of faith in it, only presented a thank-offering? If it was not, then what was it that he believed ? If it was, then what could his offering have been but a piacular sacrifice ? Further ; let us look for a moment at the reason assigned by Jehovah himself to Cain for the rejection of his offering, and we shall find a striking confirmation of this opinion. " And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth ? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou dost not well, a sin- offering coucheth at the door."f In these words Jehovah appears to me to lay before Cain the grand alternative in his moral administration of our world — sinless obedience meriting the Divine favour on the one hand, or acceptance for the transgressor, through a sin-offering, as an act of * Heb. xi. 4. "j" Gen. iv. 6, 7. For a satisfactory defence of the render- ing here given to the latter clause of this verse, see Faber's Treatise on the Origin of Expiatory Sacrifice, p. 85, ff. F F 434 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viii. grace, upon the other. These are fixed prin- ciples in the Divine government as it respects us. If we do well, we shall be accepted ; if we obey the lavv without failure, we shall live by the law ; but if we do not — if we fail in any point of obedience and well-doing, then it is only by means of an atonement, or sin-offering, that we can be accepted by the just Governor of the universe. If this be the meaning of the passage, it places in a very clear light at once the true meaning of sacrifice as an offering for sin, and the fact, that the way of salvation through an atonement was revealed to man from the earliest period of his existence as a fallen and guilty creature. Finally, it may be added in corro- boration of what has just been said, that the apostle in one part of his writings compares the blood of Abel's offering with that of Christ, and thereby clearly establishes the propitiatory cha- racter of the former. " Ye are come/' says he, " to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel." * It seems a very mistaken view of this passage which under- stands by "the blood of Abel," the blood of Abel's person shed by Cain. For, in the first place, it appears impossible to see what con- nexion the blood of Abel's person had with the subject of which the apostle is here speaking, viz. the superiority of the Christian to the pre- ceding dispensations. Of these dispensations, * Heb. xii. 24. SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 435 blood shed in murder formed no part, nor was i-ect.vhi. the occurrence of such a thing pecuHar to them ; so that, to allude to this in such an argument as that which the apostle is pursuing, would be to introduce something quite foreign from the point in hand. It is otherwise, however, with the blood of Abel's sacrifice. The shedding of that was the first instance of what formed the grand peculiarity of the ancient dispensations ; and to refer to it, therefore, lay altogether in the way of the apostle in such a course as that which he was pursuing. Besides, secondly ; the terms of the apostle's expression require us to understand him as referring to something which in itself spoke good things, though not so good as those spoken by the blood of Christ. The proper contrast to better is not bad, but an inferior degree of good. Now the blood of Abel's person spoke nothing good, for its voice was a cry for vengeance ; but the blood of Abel's sacrifice did speak good, for it was " a shadow of good things to come," and, as such, brought peace to the troubled conscience of the sinner. For these reasons, I follow the opinion of those interpreters who understand the apostle in this passage as referring to the blood of the sacrifice which Abel presented unto God, and consequently, as giving us direct authority for the assertion, that that sacrifice was of a propitiatory character. The other instances of animal sacrifice men- cases of I Pill • 1 1 Noah, Abra- tioned as periormed by the patriarchs, need not i.am.andjob. F f2 436 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. LECT.viii. detain us long. The first is that of Noah after he came out of the ark. This was a holocaust, and accordingly, as we have seen, must have had a propitiatory character ; of which we are still further assured by our being informed that when it was offered, " Jehovah smelled a savour of rest or propitiation." This phrase is frequently em- ployed in Scripture for the purpose of indicating the acceptance of the sacrifice, and the granting of the prayer of those by whom it is offered.* It plainly, therefore, implies that the offering of Noah was presented with a view of procuring the Divine favour, and that in this he succeeded. Of the sacrifices offered by Abraham and his sons, nothing is recorded that can help us to determine their character, excepting that they were holocausts. But in the book of Job we have two instances of sacrifice, in which the piacular nature of the rite is very clearly announced. The former of these is the sacrifice which Job offered for his children ; the latter, those which Job's three friends offered by Divine injunction for themselves.f As to the propitia- tory character of these there can be no doubt, from the reasons assigned in the narrative for their being presented. Job presented his, lest his children " might have sinned and cursed God in their hearts ;" and his three friends were com- manded to present theirs because God's wrath * Comp. Lev. xxvi. 31 ; Numb. xv. 3 ; Ez. xx. 41, &c. t Job i. 5, xlii. 7, S. Levitical saciifices. SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 437 was kindled against them, and in order that on lect.vih. Job's praying for them they might be forgiven.* 5. Under the Levitical economy animal sacri- fice had a piacular character. On this head it will not be necessary to say much, as there are comparatively few by whom it is disputed, and as it follows by necessary consequence from what has been already proved regarding the patriarchal sacrifices ; for if these were propitiatory, much more so were those which Moses instituted by adoption from the patriarchal practice. Perhaps it will be sufficient to quote in this place only one passage, and I confine myself to it the more willingly that it is not only very explicit in its statements, but has also the advantage of refer- ring to all classes of animal sacrifice under the law. The passage alluded to is Lev. xvii. 11 ; where God, in forbidding the use of blood for food, says : " For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it unto you upon the altar, to make atonement for your lives, for the blood maketh atonement by means of the life.f From these words we learn, 1. That the blood of the animal was that on which the essential * See Faber's Treatise on the Origin of Expiatory Sacri- fice, Sect. 11. and III. •f In the common version, and generally by interpreters, the last clause of this verse is rendered by " the blood maketh atonement /or the soul," or life. But in all other eases where nD3 is followed by i, this preposition denotes the means hy tvJdch the action of the verb takes place. Comp. Lev. v. 16, vii. 7; Numb. V. 8, &c. Biihr Bd. II. s. 207. 438 SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. I.ECT.VIII. part of the observance depended ; 2. That the object for which this appointment was made was to atone for sin ; and, 3. That the blood of the victim atoned for sin on the principle of substi- tution,— it was life for life, for it was by means of the life that was in it that the blood came to possess any suitableness as a medium of atone- ment. I submit this plain declaration of Scrip- ture to you as sufficient, even in the absence of all other arguments, to prove the propitiatory character of the Levitical sacrifices. Divine origin Tho establishment of the piacular character of of animal .i •, •/-» • • i-\ • i i sacrifice. the ancient sacrmces carries with it two impor- tant conclusions. The former of these is, that the rite must have been of Divine origin and appointment ; the latter, that as ordained of God it was symbolical of the doctrine of atone- ment, and typical of Christ, the great sacrifice for the sins of men. The argument in support of the former of these is very brief, but it appears conclusive. It is this : Piacular sacrifice must have been of Divine origin, because there is nothing in the nature of the thing that would necessarily suggest it to the mind of man, and a mere accidental and arbitrary origin is placed out of the question by the universality of the practice. The natural unreasonableness of pro- pitiatory sacrifice presented itself to the minds of many of the thinking heathens,* and Eusebius tells us that the general opinion among the * See Faber's Origin of Expiatory Sacrifice, p. 24. SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 439 Greeks was, that animal sacrifice " was unhal- r^ECT.vni. lowed, and unjust, and by no means acceptable to God ; for tliat there was no difference between the rational soul of man and that of brutes, and consequently, that those were guilty of murder who sacrificed animals.'** From this, and the fact, that " the lovers of God " in the earliest ages observed this rite, he argues that the reason of sacrifice hes in "nothing merely accidental, nor is of human discovery, but was suggested by Divine counsel."f In support of this conclusion, it has been urged with much probabihty that the ordinance was instituted when Jehovah first con- veyed to Adam and Eve the promise of a Re- deemer, and that the animals from whose skins garments were made for our first parents, were animals which had been slain to furnish the offer- ings presented on that occasion. If this suppo- sition be rejected, we must conclude that as animal food was not then required, the animals were killed merely for the sake of procuring their skins ; a conclusion which appears hardly compatible with the dignity and resources of Him who was the agent in this matter. The same natural unfitness of animal sacrifices Ancientsacn- for the purpose of atonement, which necessitates of tLTone the conclusion that they were of Divine origin, Lj"d. °' °"' seems also to lead to the conclusion that they must have been intended as symbols of the great * Demonst. Evang. lib. i. c. 10. f Ibid. 440 THE PRIESTLY OFFICE LECT.viii. doctrine of salvation by atonement, and typical of Christ as the great propitiation for the sins of men. Apart fi'om this, they can be viewed in no other light than as mere unmeaning and useless formalities, from which no lesson could be learned, and no practical result could flow. But as it would be absurd, on the one hand, to attribute such a character to any institute of the Divine wisdom ; so, on the other, we have the clearest evidence of Scripture, that in all the ancient sacrifices there was the shadow, and the prefigura- tion of that which found its substance in the death of Christ, as the Saviour of the world. Of this the reasonings of the Apostle in the 9th and 10th chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews may be taken as a specimen. It is impossible to attach any meaning to the train of observation therein pursued, unless we regard it as designed to show that the legal sacrifices were types of the sacrifice of Christ ; and that the ceremonial purgation which an Israelite, as a member of the holy nation, obtained by means of sacrifice, was a symbol of that real spiritual purification which alone could fit him, or any, for a place in the true church of God, and which was obtained solely through faith in the merits of the promised Redeemer. The Priestly IV. I havc passcd the more rapidly over the Office. ■,. . . „ three divisions of the Mosaic ritual already noticed, that I might be enabled to enter the more fully into the consideration of the Priestly IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 441 Office under the ancient dispensation. This i^^ct.viu. was not only the most iUustrious type of Christ in the Levitical ceremonial, but in illustrating it we shall have occasion to offer some additional illustration of those parts of the ancient ritual which we have just been considering. Among the patriarchs the priestly office ap- The patn- archs priests. pears to have been vested in the head oi each family, every patriarch being the priest as well as the sovereign of his household. It would appear, however, that individuals, from greater excellence of character, or the circumstances in which they were placed, occasionally acted as priests beyond the circle of their own tribe. Thus Job not only offered sacrifices for his children, but, it would appear, acted as a priest for his three friends also ; for Jehovah says to them, " Take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for your- selves a burnt-offering ; and my servant Job will pray for you : for him will I accept," (chap. xlii. 8.) Abraham also not only acted as the priest of his tribe, but on one occasion, at least, seems to have been applied to as an intercessor for a stranger, (Gen. xx. 8 — 18.) The most remark- able instance, however, in the patriarchal age of this kind, is that of Melchizedek, whom Moses describes as " the priest of the most high God," (Gen. xiv. 18 — 20.) From all that is recorded of this remarkable and somewhat mysterious person, it would appear that his official character 442 THE PRIESTLY OFFICE LECT.vm. ;vas intended to exhibit to those amongst whom he lived a figure of the official character of Him who sits as a priest upon his throne in the heavenly Jerusalem, the Lord our Righteousness, the Prince of Peace. For such an opinion, indeed, we have the express sanction of the apostle in Heb. vii. 2, 3. thf St °^ Among the Jews, the priestly office was shared hood among \)y ^ numcTous body of persons, belonging to the tribe of Levi, and comprising the family of Aaron in that tribe. To these belonged exclusively the public discharge of the strictly religious parts of the ritual, such as the offering of sacrifices ; while to the rest of the tribe of Levi was entrusted the duty of watching over the private religious interests of the people, such as the keeping of the sacred books pure, the making known of their contents, and the exposition of their meaning to the nation at large. To this tribe, no portion of the land of Canaan was assigned, because the Lord God was to be their inheritance, — an arrangement obviously intended to keep up an impression of the heavenly and religious character of their position in the community. At the head of this priestly family stood Aaron, who is some- times simply denominated, kut e^oxvv, " the Priest," and sometimes "the Anointed Priest," and whose successors came, in later times, to be denominated " High Priests " — a term which does not occur in the Pentateuch, and is found for the first time in 2 Kings xii. 10. To this officer IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 443 alone belonged the privilege of entering into the lect.vhi. immediate presence of Jehovah within the vail, and appearing there as the Intercessor for the people. To his office then, as the most important, I shall at present confine myself. Connected with this, there are three things which principally require to be noticed. These are, the official dress of the High Priest — his official consecration — and the official duties he had to discharge. 1. There were two official dresses with which omciai dress the High Priest was invested ; the one, his ordi- Priest. nary dress, — the other, that which he put on, on the great day of Atonement. The ordinary official raiment of the High ordinary , ^ ... dress of the Priest is fully described in Exodus xxviii. 1 — 40, High Priest. and xxxix. 1 — 26. From these two passages, we learn that it consisted of eight different articles. There was, first, the "?;"?, or coat, which was to be made of fine linen, the work of the weaver, and which covered the whole body from the neck to the heels. Secondly, the "^W, or mitre, which was also to be of fine linen, and which, from the etymology of the word (from?'?j, the calyx, or cup of a flower), seems to have been some covering for the head, of a flower-like shape. Thirdly, the D3?o^ or covering for the loins and legs, which was also to be of fine linen. Fourthly, the ^.?^«, or girdle, which was to be of gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, and which was used to encircle the waist, and confine. 444 SYMBOLICAL GARMENTS I.ECT.VIII. in that part of the body, the loose garments of the priest. These four articles of dress were common to all the priests, and seem especially to have been significative of the integrity and purity that appertained to their office. They were to be made, partly of fine linen — the emblem of that garment of light and holiness in which the Great Inhabitant of the Holy Place was enrobed, and partly of the most costly materials — the emblems of honour and dignity. It is to be observed, however, that no covering was provided for the feet ; a fact which may be regarded as having reference to the holiness and purity of the place in which the priest officiated. As Moses, when he saw the burning bush, was com- manded to approach it barefooted, for the place on which he stood was holy ground, so were the priests enjoined to enter the Holy Place bare- footed. The rationale of the symbol appears sufficiently simple. The use of the shoe, in a warm climate, is chiefly to protect the feet from defilement. Hence, as the wearing of it would seem to indicate a fear of defilement, the priests were enjoined to appear with their feet uncovered, to indicate the perfect purity of the place in which they served, i.e. the moral purity of the whole service itself. Besides these articles of dress, which were common to all the priests, the High Priest had, fifthly, the vvp, or rohe of the ephod, which was to be made entirely of blue, woven throughout, and OF THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST. 445 on which neither knife nor needle was to be lect.vhi. used. On the lower border of this, was a row of artificial pomegranates and golden bells, alter- nating with each other. Sixthly, the ephod (licN), which was to be made of gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen (the work of an artist), and which seems to have consisted of two separate pieces, each somewhat resembling a scarf, the one falling down before, and the other behind, and joined at the shoulder by the onyx-stone clasps on which were engraven the names of the children of Israel. Seventhly, the i«n, or breastplate, a large square, composed of the same materials as the ephod, and having upon it twelve precious stones inscribed with the names and signets of the tribes of Israel. And, eighthly, the f?, or crowns which seems to have been something wrapped around the mitre of the ordinary priests to make it higher, and on the front of which was a plate of pure gold, with the inscription upon it, " Holiness to the Lord." That all these portions of the High Priest's leaning of dress had a symbolical meaning has been shown PrLt'sdress. by several learned inquiries, especially by Bahr, in his SymboUk des Mosaischen Cultus.'* Into this, however, I must at present enter very cursorily, contenting myself with stating merely the general meaning of the whole. That the dress of the High Priest, thus appointed, was his official dress, and was designed to symbolize certain truths * Hd, II. s. 70 fr., 11. -3 it 446 SYMBOLICAL GARMENTS LECT.viir. connected with his office, must be kept in view as a fundamental principle in this inquiry. Now, in appearing before God, he appeared as the representative of the people of Israel ; and this seems to have been, in the first instance, symbol- ized by the dijfferent parts of his dress in their relation to each other. When Jehovah formed the covenant with Israel at Sinai, he said to them, " Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine ; and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." * We learn from this passage that the people of Israel, in their national capacity, sustained a threefold character. They were the people of the cove- nant, or the law ; they were a royal people ; and they were a priestly people, or nation of priests. Now this threefold character of the people for whom he appeared, was denoted by the three di- visions of the High Priest's dress. The first of these consists of those which he had in common with the other priests, and by which his priestly character, simply as such, was indicated. The second consists of the Ephod and the Hoshen, or breastplate, which evidently form one united portion of his dress, and by which was symbolized his theocratic character as judge and ruler in Israel. And the third consisted of the Meil, or * Exod. xix. 5, 6. OF THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST. 447 robe, which belonged to neither of these two, lect.vhi. but was put on between them, and was the symbol of the covenant character wliich he sus- tained. I may remark in passing, that this seems to throw some light upon a passage already referred to in a former Lecture (Zech. vi. 13), *' He shall sit and rule upon his throne ; and he shall be a priest upon his throne : and the counsel of peace (elsewhere called God's covenant,) shall be hetxmen them both" i. e. between the royal and the priestly offices sustained by the exalted Saviour. The symbolical character of the common The Meii, or priestly garments, as denoting purity and in- tegrity, has been already hinted at. A less fami- liar, but no less certain, symbol lay in the Meil, or robe, which formed the first part of the High Priest's peculiar dress. It was prescribed that this should be throughout of a blue or hyacinth colour. Now bhie was the Jehovah-colour, if I may so speak, in the Mosaic symbolology, — the colour symbolically indicating the revealed God, or God in his relation to his people as their God. Hence it was used on all occa- sions when it was necessary particularly to remind the Israelites of that relation. Thus, e.g. they were commanded, as a peculiar national distinction, to put fringes upon their garments, adorned with ribands of blue, in order, as it is said, that " when ye should look upon it, ye may remember all the commandments of Jehovah, 448 SYMBOLICAL GARMENTS LECT.viii. and do them I am Jehovah your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God : I am Jehovah your God."* Here it is plainly stated that the ribands of blue were to remind the Israelite of his relation to Jehovah, and the duties consequently devolving upon him. And so in the tabernacle blue formed a predomi- nating colour, as well as in other departments of the Mosaic ritual. In all such cases, it was the symbol of the revealed Jehovah, and the memo- rial of the relation in which, in consequence of that revelation, Israel stood to him. The natural origin of such a symbol is easily traceable to the peculiar colour of the heavens, which the Jews regarded as manifesting or revealing God's glory to men.f Connected with this is the perfect integrity of the Meil, denoted by its being of woven work throughout — an emblem of the unbroken perfec- tion of that covenant relation of which it was the symbol. So also the pomegranates, and the bells around the border, were the symbols, the one of the fulness or completeness of the Divine law, the other, of its clear and imperative announcement to the people. Among the Jews, the pomegranate was the accredited symbol of the word of God, just as the apple was of words generally. Hence the Rabbinical writers continually compare the fulness of the Divine law to a pomegranate : " The fire of hell," says the Gemara, " shall * Numb. XV. 37 — 41. j- Comp. Ps. xix. 1. OF THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST. 449 have no power upon the children of Israel, who lect.vttt. are full of the commandments [of God] as a pomegranate." So also the Chaldee Paraphrast on Cant. iv. 13, explams the words: "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates," by the Targum, " Thy children are filled with the com- mandments like a pomegranate." Hence, on the High Priest's robe these pomegranates became the symbol of the collected commands of God, — the law in all its integrity and perfection ; and the alternation of these with the bells denoted that not only were these commands full and complete, but that they were announced to the people. In relation to the priest himself, all this signifies his covenant character as the re- presentative of the covenanted people. His robe of blue was the general symbol of this character, and its fringe pointed out the twofold duty of this relation ; viz. his preservation of the Divine law in all its integrity, and his declaration of that law to the people : " The Priest's lips were to keep knowledge ; and the people were to seek the law at his mouth, for he was the messenger of the Lord of Hosts."* In the ephod and breastplate we have thexheEphod symbols of ruling dindi judging. The former was piate. a shoulder-dress, and as such appropriately de- noted rule ; for, in the Scriptures, and, indeed, throughout all antiquity, the shoulder is the seat of rule. Hence of the Messiah it is said, that * Mai. ii. 7. G G 450 SYMBOLICAL GARMENTS LECT.viii. « the government shall be upon his shoulder ;" and in the classics instances of similar phraseo- logy occur.* In accordance with this, that which was laid upon the shoulder of the High Priest symbolized the authority with which he was invested. So also the Hoshen, which he bore upon his heart, denoted the judicial wisdom with which he was endowed. The heart was with the Jews the seat of the judgment, or, as Gesenius tells us, "of the reflective faculties rather than the observing."f It became, accord- ingly, identified with the place of wisdom and sagacity, and from the necessary relation of these to judgmgf deter?nifiing, and discriminating, the sign or verbal symbol of these. Thus Solomon prayed for an understanding heart, that he might judge the people and discriminate between good and evil. The laying of the Hoshen, then, on the High Priest's heart, signified the endowing him with the right and the capacity for acting as a judge in Israel ; and hence it is expressly called the Breastplate of Judgment. Head dress. Jn thc hcad-drcss of the High Priest the same truths appear to have been symbolically repeated. It consisted of the mitre, which was common to all the priests, with this difference, that that of * Thus Pliny : — " Cum abunde expertus esset [Pater] quam bene humeris tuis sederet imperium tibi terras te terris reli- quit," Paneg. cap. x. § 6. Ed. Gierig. f Handworterbuch iib d. Schriften d. Alien Testaments s. V. i\ OF THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST. 451 the High Priest was larger than that of the lect.vhi. others, — of the crown, with its inscription, " Hoh- ness to the Lord/' — and of the Jillet of blue, with which the crown was bound to the mitre. All these pointed out the High Priest as the head of the priestly kingdom, — the representative of the chosen and consecrated people. The inscription on the crown indicated the entire consecration of the people to God, as well as the grand design of the whole priestly institute, viz. to produce holiness mediatorially throughout the nation. In connexion with this, it is worthy of notice that the law expressly enjoins this to be " on Aaron's head, that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts, and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord."* There was thus evidently taught to the Israelites, on the one hand, that without holiness no man could see the Lord ; and on the other, that without a holy and con- secrating mediator, neither they nor their offer- ings could be hallowed before God. Arrayed in these significant garments, — glorious in his apparel, and sparkling with jewels and gold, — the High Priest presented to the Israelites a vivid symbolical representation of the great truths which, in more direct because real exhi- bition, are set before us in the office of our great High Priest, Christ Jesus. He appeared * Exod. xxviii. 38. gg2 452 SYMBOLICAL CONSECRATION LECT.viii. as the representative of the chosen people, with their names upon his shoulder and his breast, and invested with all the honours, and discharging all the duties, of the priestly office. Perfect in holiness, unerring in wisdom, unlimited in power and authority, — the angel of the covenant, — the head of his people, — the King in Sion, — he ap- peared to redeem unto himself a peculiar people, purified from their iniquities, and made kings and priests unto God, even the Father. Of Him, in this capacity, the dignity of the High Priest, pre- sented in symbolical representation by the three- fold arrangement of his dress, was prefigurative. Hence, the Jews expected the Messiah to unite in himself the three dignities with which the High Priest, as the representative of the people, was invested. Thus, on Psalm cxviii. 22, " The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner," the Rabbinical book, Tikkune Sohar says, referring this to the Mes- siah, " He is the Crown of the Law, the Crown of the Priesthood, the Crown of the Kingdom." The phraseology here will be best explained by a sentence in the Pirke Aboth : " Israel is crowned with three crowns — the Crown of the Law, the Crown of the Priesthood, and the Crown of the Kingdom." These three dignities the High Priest's dress set forth, and these three the Jews expect to find in the Messiah. Consecration 2. lu closc kccpiug with thc ti'uths symboh- priest. cally shadowed forth by the High Priest's gar- OF THE HIGH PRIEST. 453 ments, were the ceremonies attendant upon his LFCT.vnr. consecration to office. In order really to quahfy a descendant of Aaron for such an office, three things were essentiafiy requisite : — 1st, The re- moving from him of all that was incompatible with, or prejudicial to, his official character; 2dly, The laying upon the individual, thus nega- tively prepared for it, of the office, to which, by right of birth, he had succeeded ; and 3dly, The endowing him with those positive qualities by which he should be fitted for the proper discharge of its duties. In the case of the High Priest, these three steps were symholically gone through at his inauguration to office. Already perfect in bodily form and feature, the only thing from which he required to be purged was ceremonial defilement ; and the only thing with which he required (officially) to be endowed was ceremonial holiness. Hence, he was first cleansed with water, to denote his ceremonial purification, and symbolically to teach, that He who appeared as a High Priest for men must be free from every stain. Then, he was solemnly invested with the robes of his office, by which was indicated his elevation to the office itself, and his assumption of all that ceremonial dignity, which we have already seen to have been symbolized by that dress. Lastly, he was anointed with fine oil, prepared for the purpose, and which was poured upon his head, that thereby he might be sancti- fied. This was the crowning step in the con- 454 SYMBOLICAL CONSECRATION LECT.vTTi. secration — the most important part of the whole ceremony. Oil was the wonted symbol of the Divine Spirit. Hence, Isaiah says, (Ixi. 1,) " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me," &c. So also, when Samuel poured out the oil on the head of David, it is added, " And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David, from that day forward." On the same principle, is to be explained the prophetical symbol, Zechariah iv. 1 — 10, where the picture of a lamp, fed from two olive trees, is said by the angel interpreter to indicate that, not by the might nor by the power of man, but by the Spirit of the Lord, should the fallen theocracy arise. The natural qualities of the oil of the olive ren- dered it a fitting emblem of the Divine Spirit. No fluid known to the Jews fed so purely or brightly the flame of the lamp as this ; — it, in a great degree, ministered to the comfort and health of the people, in their dry and hot climate ; — it was an important material in medicine as a re- storative ; — and it seems even to have been used as a means of embalming the dead, to preserve them from too speedy dissolution. All these qualities tended to associate it, in their minds, with the idea of the Divine Spirit — the quickener, the enlightener, the restorer, the preserver of men. Thus associated, it became the symbol of the Spirit; and hence, besides the usage of it already noticed in the case of the leper, and the sprinkling of it upon the altar seven times. OF THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST. 455 the pouring of it upon the head of the High i^ect.viii. Priest at his consecration, denoted the out- pouring, or, as it is called in the New Testament, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, by whom alone moral purity could be produced. By this ceremony, then, the Israelites were taught, that without the entire absence of sin, and the positive possession of holiness, as well as the solemn investiture with office by the Divine sanc- tion, that would be wanting which was essential to the proper discharge of the office of Mediator between God and man. As they could not, however, imagine for a moment that the High Priest, as an individual, was by this washing and anointing made personally holy and sinless, — of which, alas ! they had innumerable and glaring instances to the contrary, — they would be natu- rally led to inquire, " What meaneth this ser- vice ?" and the only answer that could be given is, that, just as these services made the High Priest among them ceremonially holy, so would the Great High Priest in his human nature, — though taken from among men, " bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh," — be, by the out- pouring upon him of the Holy Spirit, rendered perfectly holy, and therefore qualified to appear in the presence of God for his people. They would thus be directed to the true High Priest, and have their faith and their hope in him confirmed. 3. We now pass on to the especial duties of Duties of the the High Priest. The duties of the priestly "°o'^- Atonement. 456 OFFICIAL DUTIES LECT.vrir. office generally consisted in the presenting of gifts and sacrifices to God for the people according to the law. Of the latter, by far the most interest- ing and important were those presented on the great day of Atonement, when the High Priest alone officiated, and the people appeared as offerers, not in their individual or family capa- city, but as a nation in their symbolical character, as the type of the Church of God. Proceeding on the principle of selection already pursued, it is to this part exclusively of the priestly ser- vice that I shall confine your attention at present. The day of xhc law regarding the service of the day of Atonement, occurs in Leviticus xvi. 1 — 34, with which may be compared Leviticus xxiii. 26 — 32, and Numbers xxix. 7 — 1 1 . In these passages, it is enacted that this day shall be the tenth of the seventh month, and that it shall be a ]in2Ti) n3?>, '' a high day of rest," the only day in the year in which the whole people, as such, fasted and worshipped. On this day, the High Priest having washed himself and laid aside his ordinary dress, put on one suited to the services of the day, consisting of the four garments which he had in common with the other priests, viz. the coat, the covering for the loins, the girdle, and the mitre. All these were of fine linen, clean and white. His service began by his taking a bullock and a ram, both from his own possessions ; the latter for a burnt-offering, the former for a OF THE HIGH PRIEST. 457 sin-offering for himself, and the rest of the priests, i-ect.yiii. For the body of the people he took two goats and a ram, the latter for a burnt-offering, the former for a sin-offering. Of the goats only one was slain, and which of the two the High Priest had to determine by casting lots. The goat thus selected was appointed for sacrifice ; the other was preserved alive before Jehovah, that sin might be laid upon it, and it might be sent " to Azazel into the wilderness." A great difference of opinion exists among interpreters as to the mean- ing of the term " Azazel" in this passage ; some supposing it to be the name of some place, which is a merely gratuitous supposition ; others, to be a designation of the wilderness, which would produce a repetition and tautology in the words of the law ; and others, that it is the appellation of the wicked spirit, the devil, which is altoge- ther unsupported by evidence, and not in itself very probable. The meaning which appears most to commend itself is, that the word ex- presses the idea of entire and perfect removal, a meaning which has been proposed by Pro- fessor Tholuck, and has been adopted by Winer and Bahr.* * " As respects the form of the word, it is the Pealpal form, from bw removit, with the final letter of the penult omitted, and its place supplied by an immutable vowel, like n^jii'n for lansn. This form is intensive, and in the present instance means complete removal^ Comment, zum d. Hebr der brief e, Beilage ii. s. 80. Winer's Real-Worlerb. bd. ii. s. 767, 2te Aufl. Bahr's Symbolik d. Mos, Cult. ii. 668. 458 SERVICE ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. LECT.viii. These preliminaries being settled, the High Acts of the pj^gg^ proceeded to make atonement first for High Priest I on this occa- hinisclf and his order, by slajdng the bullock of the sin-offering, with the blood of which he went into the Holy of Holies, having with him a censer full of burning coals from off the altar, and on which he had to cast two handfuls of sweet incense, that the mercy-seat before which he had to appear might be covered with the smoke of the incense. Having seven times sprinkled the mercy-seat with the blood of the victim, he returned to the outer court. Having then slain the goat on which the lot had fallen, he once more entered with the blood of atonement into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it upon the mercy-seat. On coming back to the people, he laid his hand upon the head of the other goat, confessed over it the sins of the nation, and laid these upon the head of the goat ; after which he sent it off by the hand of a fit man into a perfect removal into the wilderness. With this ended the services peculiar to this important day, the remaining observances being merely such as be- longed to the daily ritual. Signification Aud was all this a mere reliorious pageant, of this day, , o r O ' without meaning, without real advantage to the parties interested in it ? Was not the whole designed to utter a language which only the deaf would fail to hear, and exhibit a picture which none but the blind could be unable to see ? The very name of the day would remind the Israehte SERVICE ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 459 of the true character of the service. It was the i-ect.viii. day of expiation ; the day whose grand end and object, as an institute of God, was the making atonement for the sins of the people. It was also the day of perfect rest — the Sabbath of Sabbaths — the day in which that rest and spiri- tual renovation which were symbolized by every Sabbath reached their most perfect development. How beautiful is the association of the ideas thus symbolically set forth ! A day of entire atone- ment, and of perfect rest ! A day when Israel appeared in the symbolical representation of the prime idea embodied in their national institution, as a whole people ceremonially sanctified, the emblem of that spiritual community which was among them, and the type of that glorious com- pany which shall at last be gathered, as the fruit of the Messiah's sacrifice, into the rest of heaven, — all their iniquities forgiven, all their impurities cleansed, and all their sorrows cured ! With this, the general idea of the day, all the parts of the appointed service harmonize. It was to be a day of unbroken fasting ; the people were to fast from evening to evening, L e. during the entire twenty-four hours of the day. This was appointed, not as a symbol of grief, but as a token of humihty and spiritual earnestness ; they were to mortify the mere animal appetites of their nature, that, with emblems of a true and sincere penitence, they might enter upon the mighty service which symbolized the expiation of the 460 SERVICE ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. LECT.viii. sins of God's church. It was, further, a day of universal expiation. Not the people merely, but the priesthood and the very vessels of the sanc- tuary had to be cleansed from iniquity ; and the latter had to precede the former, to indicate, that, as without a purified and accepted priest the Israelites could not approach unto God, it is only through the medium of a holy and accepted Intercessor that sinners can find access unto Him. And of the The acts of the priest in making atonement services per- formed on it. for thc pcoplc consistcd, — -first, in the slaying of the victim, by which, as in all cases of sacrifice, was denoted that that of which death was the sign or emblem, namely, the endurance finally of the Divine displeasure, was the merited portion of those whose substitute the animal was ; — secondly, in the carrying of the blood, amid the smoke of incense covering the mercy-seat, into the holy of holies, and there sprinkling it seven times before the Shechinah, by which was indicated the need of a Mediator to approach for the people unto God, and the fact that without blood that Mediator could not draw nigh or open his plea for the people ; — and thirdly, after the atonement had been made, and the incense had ascended to heaven, in the laying of the sins of the congregation upon the live goat, and the sending it away, to bear these sins into perpetual removal into the wilderness, by which was betokened the full and final removal, from all true penitents, of their SERVICE ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 461 guilt, in virtue of an atonement. Such were the lect.vih. grand leading truths connected with the Divine plan of reconciling the world to Himself, which were presented to the Israelites by the services of the day of atonement. Be it remembered, however, that all this was symbolical - . , . , i' character of nothmg more than a scenic representation — a the day, and symbolical forth-shadowing of the truth. \yg of ''^ *""<="• shall greatly err if we imagine, that the fasting of the Israelites secured their sincere humility and penitence, or that the service of the High Priest secured the forgiveness of sin, or that those who trusted to such mere outward observances re- ceived any spiritual benefit to their souls. No ; all these were but the shadow; and without an exercise of mind in apprehending the truths adumbrated in them, the people walked in a vain show, and went down to the grave with a lie in their right hand. It was the doctrine, and not the symbol, that sanctified ; the body, and not the shadow, that inspired peace and hope. That body the apostle tells us is Christ. Apart Reference of I'll' 1 II *''® whole to from him, the doctrines themselves taught by chnst. these ceremonies were mere abstract truths — principles of the Divine government, of which men could make no use — facts of the Divine administration, from which they could g^ither no direction or comfort. But when from the symbol they advanced to the type, and viewed these truths in connexion with the predicted sacrifice and intercession of the Messiah, their faith ob- 462 SERVICE ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. LECT.vin. tained an object, and their hope rested upon a secure and solid foundation. They then not only learned that substitution was a principle of the Divine procedure in human redemption ; but they were reminded, at the same time, that a sub- stitute sufficient for the pui'poses of human redemption had been provided of God, and would in due season appear. They not only perceived that a pure and accepted Mediator was necessary for them, who could go into God's presence and plead on their behalf; but they were carried forward by faith to that great Mediator whom God had already accepted and appointed for the purpose, and whose right it was to stand in the Divine presence. They not only saw, that without the shedding of blood there was no remission ; but they were reminded be- forehand of Him, who, not with the blood of bulls and of goats, but with his own precious blood, was to appear in the presence of God for his people. And they were not only taught that when an atonement was presented, God would put away the sins of all who truly repented from them into perpetual forgetfulness ; but they were assured, that for the sake of that atonement, which already in the unchangeable counsels of God had been offered, there was free, full, and irrevocable pardon to all who should unfeignedly change their minds and forsake their sins. It was thus, that even then, while as yet the church was under tutors and governors, the germ of her SERVICE ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 463 spiritual strength was nurtured by foretastes ofi-ECT.vni. that heavenly good, which in these latter days has been so abundantly provided to support her amid the increasing responsibilities, and weightier duties of her maturer growth. When these typical shadows are compared Fulfilment of with the actual history of our Lord, the strict chrut." correspondence between the two becomes very striking and instructive. On his head were laid the iniquities of the Church, and as a sacrifice for them he shed his blood. It is true that he did not, though uniting in his own person the priestly office and the sacrifice, actually inflict the blow by which his life was taken ; but as the slaying the victim formed no part necessarily of the priest's office, and seems to have been per- formed on the day of atonement by the High Priest, not as such, but in his character of the representative of those by whom the victim was presented, — it was not essential to the perfect correspondence of the antitype to the type, that our Lord should perform such an act ; — an act which would have been a violation of that very law which he had come to establish. The laying of the carcase of the animal on the altar, and the burning of the parts appointed for this purpose, were hvely emblems of that agony which he endured, when his soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, and when, under the pressure of that more than mortal agony, his spirit passed away, whilst his body was still strong and 464 SERVICE ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. LECT.viii. unenfeebled. Further, as all these parts of the type were transacted in the outer court, and after that the High Priest entered within the vail, so did Jesus Christ endure his agonies on earth as the appointed sacrifice, and then passed as our Great High Priest into the heavens, there to appear in the presence of God for us. Finally, as the High Priest entered with blood into the Holy Place, so did Jesus Christ enter with his own blood into the heavenly sanctuary. But for the blood of the sacrifice in his hand, the High Priest would have been struck dead the moment he presumed to withdraw the vail that concealed from common vision the mystery of the secluded sanctuary ; and, but for the blood of his atone- ment, our Saviour could not have entered the heavenly sanctuary with acceptance as our re- presentative and priest. At this point, however, the strict correspondence between the type and its fulfilment ends. Under the typical economy, the people had to rest content with a mere representative appearance in the presence of God ; but when Christ ascended into heaven, it was not merely as the representative, but as fore- runner of his people. He became " God-with- man," that they might become " Men-with-God." He suffered for them, not only that they might be saved through him, but that they might reign with him. When he entered heaven, therefore, it was as the first-fruits of a great and precious harvest that was ere long to be gathered in. CONCLUDING REMARKS, &C. 465 By so much does the reahty of salvation exceed i-ect.viii. the shadows by which an idea of it was conveyed to the minds of the ancient Israel. The survey which we have thus taken of the Resuitonuis .- _ •111 survey of mstruction by means of types, enjoyed by the Messianic people of God under the former dispensation, ^'^'^' may suffice to show how full and impressive was the representation thus set before them of the grand truths of the Gospel of Christ. Of all that is essential to salvation, nothing appears to have been omitted. The guilt of the sinner, the evil of sin, and the importance of holiness ; — the necessity of a mediiitor between God and man, and of a sacrificial atonement for man's transgressions ; — the freeness and sufficiency of that remission of sins which such an atonement procured, and the full realization of all these truths in the person and work of the Messiah ; were continually held before the view of the Jews by the ceremonies of their symbolical ritual. That ritual thus secured the preservation of the true religion among them, fed the faith, and kindled the hopes of the truly pious, and paved the way for that fuller and more perma- nent development of the plan of mercy which has conferred its pecuhar glory on the dis- pensation of the latter days. H H 4()() GENERAL SUMMARY. PART III. J-^cTviii- I HAVE now traversed, though with hasty steps, ttTSingthe wide field which I proposed to myself in un- ii'ons'^'"'' dertaking this course of Lectures. Allow me, be- fore bringing it to a conclusion, to recapitulate, in one or two sentences, what it has been my aim principally to establish in regard to the connexion and harmony of the Old and New Testaments. Assuming the Divine authority of both, I have endeavoured to show — First : — That both belong to the same national literature ; and, that on the composition of tlie latter, a great influence has been exerted by the familiarity of its human authors with the former. Second: — That both teach the unity of the Divine existence ; but, at the same time, intimate the mysterious fact, of a plurality in that unity : the New Testament more fully and dogma- tically ; the Old, generally by hints and intima- tions, and, in one or two instances, by more express and explicit statement. Third: — That both present the same view of the moral character of God, as holy, just, and good ; and of the relation in which man stands to Him as one who has broken his law, insulted his government, and merited his displeasure. Fourth : — That the penalty denounced against GENERAL SUMMARY. 467 sin in both, and which both assure us man has lect.vui. incurred and deserves to receive, is, eternal death — exclusion during the whole course of his being from the love and favour of God. Fifth: — That both, representing God as full of love, announce the glorious fact, that he has found a way for the display of that love in the salvation of sinners, whereby so great an act of mercy has been rendered consistent with the claims of his government and law. Sixth .-—That both announce the great truth, that by the incarnation of the Son of God, and his substitution on our behalf, this way of salva- tion has been opened up : — the Old Testament, by promises, predictions, and types ; the New Testament, by the history of our Lord and the statement of his doctrines, in which all these promises have been fulfilled, and all these types substantiated. Upon the whole, the aim of the Lecturer has been, to show that the religion of Jesus Christ, the only religion which, as our own experience amply testifies, can meet the case, and relieve the miseries of man, has been from first to last the sole religion of Divine revelation, and unfolds the onhj plan which God has ever announced to man, as that by which he saves the guilty. From the data thus furnished, it is easy to suj.ei ioruy of , , , . . 1 . 1 tlie Christian deduce a conclusion as to what it is which to the pro- constitutes the superior glory and advantage of penTaHous. the Christian dispensation over those which H II 2 468 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. I.ECT.VII1. preceded it. It is not because under it truths are revealed which were unknown before ; nor, because the rehgious system which it unfolds is radically different from that displayed to the patriarchs and the Jews ; nor, because under it any relaxation of moral discipline, or mitigation of the Divine claims upon the obedience and devotion of man has been conceded, that its glory is greater than that of its predecessors. On the contrary, its excellence lies in its being the fulfilment and substance of that of which the former dispensations contained only the germ and the shadow. It has no truth of which the sons of God in the earlier ages were altogether ignorant ; but it presents the truths which these saw through a glass darkly, in substance and reality before the mind. Where they had predictions, we have narratives ; where they had types, we have realities. They were under the discipline of a schoolmaster ; we are under the guidance of the Master of the house. Whilst they had clear views of the jwinciples of Divine truth, but could have only vague and imperfect conceptions of the great facts on which these principles rested ; to us, the facts are as certain and intelligible as the principles which they in- volve. Theirs, in short, was the season of the Church's nonage, when it was under tutors and governors ; ours is that of its full maturity, when, having received the anointing of the Spirit of truth, it needs not that any man should be its CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 469 teacher ;* and when its unimpeded faculties are i.t:cT.vTH. to be fully exercised in the service of its exalted Head. This view of the relation of the Christian dis- intimated in pensation to those which preceded it is unfolded, Testament as not only in the New Testament, but also in the nL!' Old. In the writings of the prophets, nothing is more clearly foretold than the cessation '"of the old covenant, and the substitution in its room of a spiritual dispensation, under which neither priest nor prophet fi'om among men should be required for the religious prosperity of the Church. The law of God was then to be writ- ten on the hearts of his people. All were to be taught of God, so that none should teach his neighbour, saying. Know the Lord, for all should know him, from the least unto the greatest. The people of God should then be called the priests and ministers of Jehovah. They should be all righteous and holy. And so entirely should the outward distinction between sacred and profane, which had subsisted under the Jewish economy, be superseded by the universal diffusion of true piety consecrating all things unto God, that even on the bells of the horses should be inscribed " Holiness to the Lord ;" — that inscription which once belonged peculiarly to the High Priest, as the representative of the holy people.f A carnal * 1 John ii. 27. t Jer. xxxi. 31 ff. ; Isa. liv. 13 ; Ixi. G ; Ixvi. 22 ; Zcch. xiv. 20. 470 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. ]-r-cT.viii. dispensation was adapted to the end wliicli Jehovah had in view, in selecting the ancient Israel, and separating them from all nations as a living type of his Chm'ch. But when that end was gained, the means used for its accomplish- ment were laid aside. " There was a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weak- ness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but was the bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw nigh unto God."* When the darkness had past, and the twilight had served its purpose, '' the true light that lighteth every man" came into the world. In setting out upon a journey, it often hap- pens to us to start whilst the mists of night are still upon the ground, and the features of the landscape are to a great extent veiled from our inspection. On such occasions, the little we can discern serves oftener to perplex than to assist us in forming a true idea of the landscape ; and though passing, it may be, through the richest scenery, we may imagine that it has little which would interest us, even could we distinctly behold it. But after a brief space the veil is lifted up, and the sun casts his revealing lustre over the whole extent of the scene, unfolding to us beau- ties that excite our warmest admiration, and teaching us how uncertain are our conjectures, when, from the little we may at any time behold of the works of God, we form to ourselves a * Heb. vii- 19. CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 471 conception of the whole. Even so it is with us i-ectvui. in our journey ings through the scenes which mark the history of the ancient Church. So long as we have only the dim illumination of conjecture and theory, we mistake the character of the country, and are apt to pronounce it a mere barren and fruitless waste ; but when we so incline the horizon of our path, as to catch upon it the radiance of the Sun of righteous- ness, and gaze upon the scene under the light which it has thus received, we stand amazed at the rashness of our former estimate. A scene of vast extent and glorious attraction bursts upon our sight. Everywhere we behold traces of the Divine skill, and power, and grace, equalled only by that scene of still greater beauty, into which the former is beheld gradually to expand. The land which, in our ignorance, we despised as sterile, we now see to be a land whose " mountains drop wine, and all whose hills melt ;" and, hastening to retract our former censure, we linger amidst its abounding beauties, and exclaim, " The land is Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in it." Besides the greater interest which such oneness of ^ . - - tlie Church of researches as those in which we have been God in aii engaged throw around the Old Testament, as a'° part of Divine Scripture, they present to us abundant materials for pleasing contemplation, in the view which they suggest of the pervading oneness of the Church of God, from first to last. 472 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. I.ECT.V1II. They have conducted us to the cheering con- clusion, that the same faith, and hope, and joy, are the portion of all the people of God, how- ever great the distance in time or in space by which they may be separated. It is unspeak- ably animating, thus to find a sufficient basis laid for the harmonious intercourse and elevated sympathy of the holy and the good of all ages, when they shall meet together in the heavenly world. There is something sublime in the thought, that, by a few principles of truth revealed by God to man, conquests have been achieved over the power of sin, and vice, and ignorance in our race, which have drawn to them the admiration of men in every age ; which have been gradually filling heaven with the trophies of regenerating grace ; and which shall ere long spread over the whole earth the reign of right- eousness and of love. Of Christ, " the whole family in heaven and in earth is named ;" he is " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last." To him shall " the desire of all nations " turn, when the earth shall be full of people, as to him were the hopes of humanity directed when as yet there was but a solitary pair on its vast and uncultivated sur- face. Under the influence of such considera- tions, a scene of surpassing glory, rich with the wonders of redeeming love, opens to our view. Already we anticipate the time when the vast family of God shall be gathered into one, and by CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 473 the hand of its exalted Head be " moulded mto lect.vih. an immortal featm*e of loveliness and perfection." " The goodly fellowship of the prophets, the glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs," seem already assembled, with " the holy Church throughout the world," to praise and acknowledge God. And as the elevating prospect floats before the view, it seems as if the jars and discords of a too long divided Church were at length composed ; as if the visions of prophecy were already reahzed, and all who had gotten the victory over the beast were already standing upon the sea of glass which is before the throne, and mingling their accordant voices in the song of Moses and of the Lamb.* A^ios el ev iraai Katpols Y fjbvelaOaL (pcovals ocnais, Yte Qeov, ^corjv 6 8c8ov9. Aio 6 Koa-fios (T€ So^a^ec. Hymn. Vespertin. Eccles. Antiq. * Rev. XV. 2, 3. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. NOTE A. Page 4. Meaning of the term diadtjKT] as applied to the Sacred Writings. The appellation usually given in the New Testament to the sacred writings is rj ypacptj or al ypacpal, sometimes m lepd ypd^- jxara. In the writings of Paul, however, frequent reference is made to the difference between what he calls »j TraXam SiaStJKr) and jj Kao't] SiadijKr] (2 Cor. iii. Heb. ix. &c.) ; and though in these passages the reference is obviously not so much to any written documents as to the covenant, the promise, the engage- ment of God with his people under the old and the new dis- pensation, yet as that was the object of a writteti revelation, the term designating it may very legitimately be extended to de- signate the documents in which it is announced. The Apostle himself appears to have had this in his eye when, in writing to the Corinthians (2 Ep. iii. 14), he speaks of the drdyrojcnq t^q ■jr. 2. the reading of the old covenant, an expression which ne- cessarily conveys the conception of a written document ; so that if we have not direct inspired authority for this usage of the word, we have the nearest possible approximation to such authority. The word duiOriKr] having two meanings, that of a testament and that of a covenaid., it has been a controversy of long stand- ing, in which of these senses it must be taken when applied to de- signate the collected body of the Jewish or Christian Scriptures. 478 APPENDIX. The only proper mode of determining this controversy, appears to be to inquire in Avhat sense the word is used by the sacred writers themselves, and especially by Paul, from whose use of it the appropriation of it to the purpose in question is derived. Now in regard to this point, it is admitted on all hands, that the almost unvarying sense attached to it in the Scriptures is that oi covenant. By the LXX. it is used to express the Heb. nni and in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles there is only one instance, respecting which the mass of interpreters are not agreed in attaching to the word the same meaning. That occurs Heb. ix. 15 — 17, where the Apostle is speaking of the necessity of the death of the ZiaQejitvoQ, in order to the validity of the hiaQriKT}. In the common version, the former of these words is translated " Testator," and the latter ^'Testament;" but as they may also be translated " the appointed victim" and ''covenant," the question is, which of these is to be preferred? Dr. Macknight {in loc.^ has followed the latter rendei'ing, and the reasons which he has assigned for this appear perfectly satisfactory. 1 . In what sense could the law of Moses be called a testament, which is a disposition of benefits to a person, which he may either accept or refuse as he pleases, seeing its obliga- tions were imperative upon all who lived under it ? 2. How was the Mosaic law, if a testament, established by the death of the testator? 3. If the gospel dispensation, as Christ's testament, was confirmed by his death, was it not as a testament or will rendered null and void by his resurrection ? If a testator after being dead revive again, does his will continue of force? 4. What connexion have the office of a mediator and the sprink- ling of blood here mentioned, with the making of a will ? or what is meant by transgressions of the former will, to atone for which the maker of the new will died ? Do not all these things relate to a covenant, and not to a testament ? And, in fine, if Christ died merely that his will might have effect, his death cannot be regarded as having been the procuring cause of the blessings thus offered to his people ; whereas, if we re- gard the Apostle as speaking here of covenmits, we are taught to view our Lord as the great sacrifice bv which the covenant APPENDIX. 479 was confirmed. On these grounds, Macknight appears to me to argue conclusively in favour of the rendering which he gives to this passage. Among the early Greek fathers, the word ^tadrJKri is used in both of the senses above given, so that from their writings nothing certain can be determined as to the meaning attached by them to the term when employed to designate the sacred writings. By the Latin fatliers, the word used is Testavientum^ and that this usage must have prevailed from a very early period is obvious, not only from the occurrence of it in the writings of TertuUian, but from his express declaration that this was in his day the common designation of the two divisions of the sacred volume ; " alterius Instrumenti," says he, adv. Marc. lib. iv. c. 1. " vel {quod magis nsui est dicere) Testamenti." This would seem to show that among them, the idea of a Testament prevailed. The argument from tliis, however, in favour of our adopting the same rendering of ciaOqi^r) may be met by the suggestion that the usage of the Latin fathers in this respect is probably to be traced to their translating ciaOtJKy] into what was its primar-y and pj'oper equivalent in their tongue, without adverting to the fact that, as used to designate the books of Scripture, it bore a secondary and derived meaning. It may be dotibted, moreover, whether the word Testamentum was really used in its ordinary meaning of " a Will," when thus employed by the early Latin fathers. Thus the old trans- lation of Irengeus (adv. Hcer. lib. iii. c. 11) makes him speak of four testamenta which have been given by God to the human race, viz. the Adamic, the Noachic, the Mosaic, and the Chris- tian, thus clearly using the word in the sense of covenants. TertuUian also in the passage cited, whilst he states that Testa- mentiim was the usual word, seems inclined to substitute for it, at any rate uses as equivalent to it, the word Tnstrumentum, which means simply a confirmatory or authoritative document,* which would seem to indicate that whilst the Avord Testamentum * " Instrumcntum est Scriptura ad rcrum gcstaruni fidem facicndam con- fecta." Vitriarius, Universiim Jus Civili Privatum, Sic. lib. iv. tit. 17, p. lOOt. — Coiiip. Quintil. fiisl. Oral. lil). xii. c. 8. 480 APPENDIX. was used as a literal version of SiadrjKt], it was not felt to be a suitable designation of the Scriptures. We may gather also from the pains which certain of the later fathers, such as Lac- tantius {Instit. Die. lib. iv. c. 20) and Ambrose {Lib. de Cain et Abel) take to defend the appellation of Testamentum in the sense of Will, that its proi^riety was doubted by many in their day. The Romish Church has all along strenuously defended the rendering by " Testament," as tending to favour her doctrine concerning the cup in the Eucharist being the pledge of Christ's legacy to his priests. The conclusion to which these considerations lead is, that the proper meaning of ciadrJKrj, as applied to the collected books of Scripture, is that of Cooenant. NOTE B. Page 4. Opinions of the Christian Fathers respecting the Claims of the Old Testament and its Harmony with the New. The repeated and strong avowals of reverence for the Old Testament Scriptures on the part of the divine Author of Christianity and his inspired followers, and of the harmony of the doctrines therein revealed with those which they taught, must be familiar to every reader of the New Testament. Of these, notice will be taken in due course in the body of this work ; but it may not be uninteresting in this place to adduce a few quotations to the same effect from the works of the earlier christian fathers, for the sake of showing that the thesis maintained in this volume has, from the earliest ages of the church, formed one of the things most constantly affirmed amongst Christians. Ignatius. " But your prayer to God shall perfect me, that I may be successful in that lot with which I have been favoured, betaking myself to the gospel as to the flesh of Cbrist, APPENDIX. 481 and to the apostles as to the prcsbyteiy of the church [?. e. as to Christ still living, and to the apostles as to the permanent rulers of the church]. The prophets also let us love, because they also have preached, until the gospel, that men should hope in him and abide in him ; in whom they also having believed were saved by the unity of Jesus Christ, being saints worthy of love, worthy of admiration, attested by Jesus Christ, and counted together with (us) in the gospel of the common hope." Ep. ad Philadeljyhenos, cap. 5. Patrum Ajwstoll. 0pp. Ed. Hefele, p. 104. iRENiEUS. " Both Testaments hath one and the same Master of the household produced, even our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who spoke both to Abraham and Moses, and hath anew restored liberty to us, and multiplied that grace which is from himself." Adv. II(eres, lib. iii. c. 21. Clemens Alexandrinus. " First there was to the ancient people an old covenant, and the law tutored the people with fear, and the Word was an angel ; but to the new and recent people a new and recent covenant hath been given, and the Word hath become {yeyivriTui), and the fear is changed into love, and He, the mystical angel Jesus, is born. For this the same tutor who then said, ' Thou shalt fear the Lord,' hath charged us, ' Ye shall love the Lord thy God,' &c." Pcedagoff. lib. i. c. 7. § 59. "Now prophecy and the law both came by him [ChristJ, and have been uttered by him in parables. Never- theless the Scripture says, ' All things were right to those who understood,'* that is, to those who, receiving the interpretation according to the ecclesiastical canon, which was made clear to them by him, preserve it. Now the ecclesiastical canon is the concert and symphony of the law ajid the prophets with the * Prov. viii. 9. Clement's mode of quoting this passage greatly resembles that in which the New Testament writers frequently quote the Old Testament. The original is Trarra ivd-Kiov rols avviovai koX opOcL rois fiiplaKovai yvwaiv, which is quoted thus by Clement, airavTa opda ivcLinov rwv ffvvitvToiv. Here we have words transposed, grammatical changes introduced, and the whole aspect of the sentence altered, while its substance is retained ; as we shall have occasion to set- in the course of this Lecture is frequently the case with tha New Testament quotations from the LXX. I I 482 APPENDIX. covenant given at the coming of our Lord." Stromat. lib. vi. c. 15. § 125. Opj). Ed. Klotz. vol. i. p. 14G, and vol. iii. p. 175. Tertullian in liis Apologetica argues, in support of the claims of the Jewish Scriptures, first on the ground of their " high antiquity" (cap. 19), and then on that of their " majesty," as the products of divine wisdom (c. 20). In the same context he speaks of the Christians as " a sect under- propped (suffultam) by these very ancient documents of the Jews" (c. 21). Origen. " The same God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ himself gave the law, the prophets, and the gospels ; he also is the God of the apostles, of the Old Testament as well as of the New It is most clearly proclaimed in the churches that the same Spirit inspired each of the sacred (writers) whether prophets or apostles; and that it was not one Spirit in the old saints, and another in those who were in- spired at the advent of Christ." Prts. in Opus cle Princi2niSf § 4. Apud Augusti Chrestomathiam Patrist. vol. i. p. 25. " Wouldest thou see that Moses is ever with Jesus, the law with the gospel 1 Let the gospel itself teach thee ; for when Jesus was gloriously transfigured, Moses also and Elias appeared with him in glory, that thou mightest know that the law, the prophets, and the gospel, always agree in one and abide in one glory. Moreover, when Peter Avould make three tabernacles for them, he is branded with ignorance, as one that knew not what he was saying; for the law, the prophets, and the gospel have not three tabernacles, but only one, which is the church of God." Horn. VI. in Levit. Apud Rheinwaldi Homiliar, Patrist. I. p. 49. — " By ' every good pasture,' and by ' the water appointed,' here (Ezek. xxxiv. 17 — 19) I think the whole of the sacred Scriptures is intended ; and further, as there are some who select some parts of Scripture as useful, and reject others as not wholesome, these are they who, after they have fed upon the pleasant pasturage of such as they have chosen, and have drunk the water placed before them which they judged the best, trample down the rest of the pasture, and trouble the rest of the water with their feet. Of this sort are both such as choose the APPENDIX. 483 new covenant but reject the old, and such as affirm that of the ancient Scriptures, some parts are of a more divine and a higher power, others of a feebler But let not us trample down the prophetic pasturage, nor trouble the waters of the law. Moreover, as some sin against even the gospel pasturage, by- trampling down some parts of the gospels, and feeding on other parts as on good pasture, and of the apostolic writings either reject the whole, or select some and reject others, be it ours to feed upon the whole gospels, treading no part of them under foot, and to drink in all the apostolic doctrines, as much as we can, which is the water appointed for us ; these let us keep, and trouble nothing which is in them by that unbelief which con- founds those who are unable to understand the things that are said."* Philocal. cap, xi. Ed. Spencer, p. 38. Lactantius. " All Scripture is divided into two Testa- ments. That which came before the advent and passion of the Lord, namely, the law and the prophets, is called the Old ; but those things which were written after his resurrection are called the New Testament. The Jews use the old, we the new ; yet are they not different, because the new is the filling up of the old, and the Testator in both is Christ." Dlvin. Jnstit. lib. iv. c. 20, p. 377. Ed. Spark. Oxon. 1684. Chrysostom. " The old covenant anticipated the new, and the new interprets the old. And I have often said that two covenants, two handmaids, two sisters attend upon the one Master. In the Prophets, Christ is predicted ; in the new [covenant] he is preached. The new are not new, for the old anticipated them ; the old have not been extinguished, for by the new they have been explained." Horn. cxi. tom. v. p. 716. Ap. Suiceri Thes. Eccles. sub voc. diadijicrj, uhi plura. Cyrill of Jerusalem. " These things are taught by the inspired writings of the old and new covenant. For of the two covenants the God is but one, who announced beforehand in * In this extract, Origcn seems to have had the Marcioiiites in his eye. In his Dialogue against tiuit sect he frequently introduces the subject of their low views as to the autliority of tlio Old Testament and the Apostolic Epistles. Compare p. .5I, AT. 06, ff., {vc. Ed. Wetstein. Basil, 1694. 1 I 2 484 APPENDIX. the old the Christ who hath appeared in the new, and who by the law and the prophets tutored us unto Christ. If, then, thou shoiUdst hear any of the heretics blaspheming the law or the prophets, retort upon him with the words of the Saviour, * I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.' " Cateches. Quarta. Ap. Augusti direst. Pat. vol. i. p. 153. The opinions thus entertained by the Fathers are retained in the confessions of all the orthodox Protestant Churches. The above extracts from their writings are not given as the best which tlieir works contain upon the subject to which they re- late ; but simply as those which my own readings and the parva sii2)enex of my own library have enabled me to supply. NOTE C. Page 9. Works treating of the Subject of this Course of Lectures. Without pretending to furnish a full enumeration of the works bearing directly or indirectly iipon the subject of this Lecture, it may not be uninteresting to the reader to give the titles of a few of the more valuable, especially of such as I have chiefly used in the preparation of this volume. Eusebii Pamphili Caesariens. De Demonstratione Evangelicttf libri decem. Coloniae, 1688. Folio. Calvini. Institiitionis Christian(B Religionis, lib. ii. cap. 7 — 11. Ed. Tholuck. 2 vols. 8vo. Berolini, 1834. Witsii. De CEconomia Fcederum Dei cum hominihus, libri iv. Utrechti, 1693. 4to. Sykes, A. A. Essay vj)on the Truth of the Christian Heli- gion, wherein its real Foundation on the Old Testament is shown. Lond. 1725. 8vo. Chandler, Ed. Defence of Christianity from, the Prophecies of the Old Testament. Third ed. Lond. 1728. With a Vindica- tion of the Defence. 3 vols. 8vo. APPENDIX. '485 Berriman, W. Gradual Revelation of the Gospel from the Time of Jila/i's Ajwstasy. Lond. 1733. 2 vols. 8vo. Becani, M. Analogia Veteris ac Novi Testamenti in qua primuni Status Veteris, deincle consensus projwrtio et con- spiratio illius cum Hovo explicatur. Lovanii 1754. 12mo. Jahn, J. Appendix Hermeneuticce seic Exercitationes Ex- egeticce. Fascc. I. et II. Vaticinia de 3Iessia. Viennae, 1813—15. Svo. Michaelis, J. D. Entwurf der Tyjnschen Gottesgelartheity 2teAufl. Gottingen, 1763. Svo. Kanne, J. Arn. Christus in A. T. Untersuchungen i'lher d. Vorbilder und Messianischen Stellen. Niirnberg, 1818. 2 thle. 8vo. Faber, G. S. Treatise on the Genius and Object of the Pa- triarchal, the I/cvitical, and the ChriUian Dispensations. Lond. 1823. 2 vols. 8vo. Smith, J. P. Scripture Testimony to the Messiah. Vol. i. Seconded. London, 1823. 3 vols. 8vo. Hengstenberg, E. W. Christologie des A. T. und Commentar iib. d. Messian. JVeissagungen d. Propheten. Berlin, 1 829 — 35. 3 tlile. 8vo. Hartmann, A. Th. Enge Verbindung des A. T. mit dem N. aus rein biblischen standpunkte entwickelt. Hamburg, 1831. 8vo. Knobel, Aug. Prophetismus der Hebrder vollstdndig darge- stellt. 2 thle. Breslau, 1837. 8vo. Biihr, K. Ch.W. F. Symbolik des Mosaischen Cultus. 2 bde. Heidelberg, 1837—9. Other works, to which I have been more partially indebted, or which bear less upon the general subject of this volume, the reader will find noticed in foot notes, as occasion demands. 486 APPENDIX. NOTE D. Page 48. Remarks on some of the Quotations in the New Testament from the Old. Mr. Horne has given, (in his Introduction, vol. ii. p. 282, fF. 8th edit.) a very useful Table of the quotations in the New Testament from the Old, with explanatory Notes from Dr. Randolph and others. A still more complete list, including not only passages directly quoted, but those also which are more obscurely hinted at, will be found appended to Knapp's edition of the Greek New Testament, Lond. 1824. On one or two of the quotations, which have been usually regarded as most difficult to trace to any source in the Old Testament, I have a few obser- vations to submit to the reader in this place ; taking them in the order in which they occur in the New Testament. Matt. ii. 15. Out of Egypt have I called my son. This pas- sage is generally said to be a quotation from Hosea xi. 1, but for no other reason than that the Hebrew of the prophet may be rendered by such Greek as we find in the Evangelist. Beyond this correspondence between the passages there is nothing to favour the idea that the one is a quotation of the other. The subject of the one is entirely different from that of the other ; the one being the deliverance of the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt, the other being the return of our Saviour from his place of safety in Egypt. Nor does the lan- guage of the prophet bear the remotest semblance of a prediction, but on the contrary is entirely expostulatory and historical. And, in fine, if his words are to be viewed as containing a pre- diction of Christ, they must mean, that though God loved him when a child and called him out of Egypt, yet when he grew up he ceased to please Jehovah and departed from him. This is plainly the statement of the prophet, but who would by any means apply this to Christ ? Various attempts have been made to show that Matthew merely accommodated this passage to the case of our Saviour j but this appears to be forbidden by the APPENDIX. 487 obviously argumentative purpose for which he introduces it. Nearly akin to this is the opinion of those who argue that as Israel was a type of Christ, what was said of the one, might be applied to the other ; for tliis after all just amounts to the asser- tion, that Matthew accommodated what Hosea said of the literal Israel to what is supposed to have been the antitype of that people. Had the evangelist quoted the supposed type itself diS fulfilled in the antitype, his reasoning would have been direct and free from any accommodation ; but to suppose him to afiirm that Hosea foretold Christ's being carried into Egypt, because he referred to the fact of the deliverance of the type of Christ from Egypt, is only to affirm in a roundabout way that he accommodated the prophet's words to suit his own purpose. Besides, how absurd to talk of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt being a type of our Saviour's being carried down to Egypt and back again by his parents ! One historical fact the type of another ! and that, when haidly any analogy subsists between them ! The truth of the matter is, that the quotation is not to be found in the Old Testament, and Matthew does not say that it is to be found there. He simply affirms it to have been spoken by the prophet, and seems to have had in his eye not any of the written prophecies at all, but some one which had been handed down by tradition among the Jews. That there must have been many such, no one who remembers the names of Samuel, and Nathan, and Gad, and Elijah, and Elisha, and others who are mentioned in Scripture, all of whom doubtless prophesied concerning Christ, will see much reason to doubt.* That Matthew should refer to any of these it may be more difficult to admit : but when it is considered, in the first place, that, supposing such to exist, it was as natural and as desirable to show their fulfilment in Christ as it was to show that of the written prophecies j and secondly, that it is just as probable that the evangelist should have referred to traditionary j)'''02^hecies, as that the apostles should have referred to traditionary ^acis, as we have seen that they * " Non dubitandum est," says Surenhusius, " quin apud Judaeos multa veteruni proplietarum oracula memovia tantuni conservata fuerint sine scriptis eaque iutciduin ad memoriani juvandam a qiiibusdam aimotata fuisse." — Bib. Kat. p. 25. 488 APPENDIX. repeatedly do, — this diiRculty may, perhaps, be surmounted. I would submit to my readers whether it be not better to resort to such an hypothesis, than to make volcanic efforts to remove a difficulty which, after all, remains just where it was. I would propose to account upon the same principle for Matt, ii. 23 : That it might le fulfilled which was spoken hy the pro- jyhets, He shall be called a Nazareyie. It is well known that no such prophecy exists in the Old Testament, though many have toiled hard to find or make one. The favourite hypothesis appears to be that, since many prophets foretold the mean and despised estate of the Messiah, and as " Nazarene " was a syn- onym with the Jews for a mean and despicable person, so the affixing of this name to our Lord was a fulfilment of these pro- phecies concerning him. From this it would follow, 1st, that the only way in which our Lord fulfilled these prophecies was by bearinor the name of Nazarene ; for Matthew does not say that he thereby fulfilled j?a7t of what was spoken, but the whole: and 2d]y, that Joseph was divinely directed to take up his abode in Nazareth, in order that our Lord might acquire a nickname for the fulfilment of prophecies which make no allusion to his bear- ing such a name, and which would have been fulfilled, whether he had borne that name or not ! It is amazing that so absurd a supposition should have found any quarter with any friend of inspiration. No less futile appears to be the hypothesis that Matthew here refers to Isa. xi.l. If I understand the reasoning of those who support this opinion, it is this. — Nazareth was originally and properly called Nezer ; but Isaiah in that passage calls the Messiah Nezer ; therefore, when Jesus Christ was taken down to Nazareth and was called a Nazarene, this prediction was fulfilled. I am not aware of having misrepresented this theory, and yet when thus reduced to its elements, it is so very ridicu- lous that I almost fear I may have misunderstood its supporters. According to it we must conclude, that what Matthew calls a fulfilment of prophecy, was really nothing better than a sort of pun upon words. Isaiah said that the Messiah should be a Nezer, and in fulfilment of this, says Matthew, he was carried APPENDIX. 489 to Nezer that he might be called a Nazarene. Can we really suppose such arrant trifling as this on the part of the sacred writer ? Or can we wonder that infidels should laugh when, by such means as these, we seek to defend Scripture from their cavils ? On the hypothesis which I have submitted to the reader, these references are accounted for, without our having to resort to any violence of interpretation. The authority of the Evan- gelist is sufficient to satisfy us that such a prophecy had been delivered, and the fact which he has recorded is a sufficient proof that it was literally fulfilled. John vii. 38 : He that helievetli on me, as the Scinpture hath said, out of his belli/ shall flow rivers of living water. If the latter part of this is to be taken as a quotation from some part of the Old Testament Scripture, it will not be easy to determine satisfactorily what that part is. Perhaps the best solution of the difficulty is to regard our Lord as not making any direct quotation from any part of the Old Testament, but as only referring in metaphorical language, suited to the strain of his previous address, (comp. ver. 37,) to a fact which in plainer style is unquestionably announced in the ancient prophecies ; viz. the abundant possession of divine knowledge by those who should live under the Messiah's reign. That this is what our Saviour here refers to is abundantly clear, both from what goes before, and especially from what follows the passage in question. The " drink" with which he ofiers to quench the thirst of those who should come to him, can be nothing else than the truth concerning himself as the Saviour of the world, which fully satisfies the anxious mind ; and if, as John tells us in ver. 39, the declaration in ver. 38 had reference to the effects that should result from the gift of the Spirit, to what else can it refer than to the abundant possession by the individual in his oa\ti mind of that truth which it is the Spirit's office to teach ? Now that such a privilege should characterise the subjects of the Messiah was clearly foretold by the prophets who predicted his advent (comp. Isa. liv. 13; Jer. xxxi. 33,34; Joelii.28,29, &c.); so that M'c may easily regard our Lord as making a general 490 APPENDIX. allusion to such predictions, on the occasion and in the manner recorded by John. 2 Cor. vi. 18. And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall he my sons and daughters, salth the Lord God Almighty. There is no passage in the Old Testament to which this can with any degree of probability be referred. Mr. Scott conjectures that the apostle only intended to make a general allusion to such promises as those contained in Jer. xxxi. 1, 9, and Hosea i. 9, 10 5 an idea which is by no means unlikely. But perhaps there has in this case been supposed what really did not exist in the mind of the apostle, viz. an intention to refer to the Old Testa- ment as the source from which these words are borrowed. To me it appears more likely that, having in the preceding verses quoted as applicable to Christians, Jehovah's gracious promise to the Israelites that he would dwell with them and receive them, Paul goes on in ver. 18, to explain more fuUy in his own words the full import of that promise. James iv. 5. Do ye think the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? This passage is truly a crux interpretum, both as respects its exegesis and as respects the source of the quotation which it professedly con- tains. Without occupying space by attempting an examination of the different suggestions which have been offered in explana- tion of it, I shall, in a few words, lay before the reader what has appeared to my own mind the most satisfactory view of the subject.* Rejecting the division of the sentence into two questions, which has been proposed by some critics, as quite unauthorised, and as making James ask a question too indefinite to be an- swered either one way or another, (for who could tell what was the purport of such an inquiry as "Think ye the Scripture speaketh in vain ?") the first point to be determined is the * Theile in his commentary on this epistle notices no less than eleven dif- ferent modes of punctuating this verse, and eleven corresponding modes of explaining it. In the second Number of the Theologische Siudien und Kri- tiken, for 1840, there is an able paper on this and the following verse, by Prof. Xyro, of Bern. APPENDIX. 491 object designated by tbe pbrase, " The spirit that dwelleth in us." Is this tlie natural spirit of man, or the Divine Spirit in the believer? The translators of the received version have evidently followed the former of these opinions; and in this they are countenanced by a great number of very excellent inter- preters. It may be seriously doubted, however, how far they are correct in this. The phrase, " that dwelleth in us," is never used of the human spirit, which is regarded by the New Testa- ment writers rather as the man himself than as something merely belonging to him; while it, or something quite equivalent, is frequently used of the presence of the Divine Spirit in the heart of the believer; conip. John xiv. 23 ; Eph. ii. 22 ; 2 Tim. i. 14 ; 1 John iv. 12, &c. It is questionable, moreover, whether Trpev/da is ever used in the New Testament to designate the seat of carnal lusts and propensities in man, which must be the meaning of it here in connexion with iTrnrodel, if it be used of the human spirit ; the proper word in such a case is ^pv^n or Understanding this phrase, then, of the Divine Spirit, the next question respects the meaning of Trpoe